These are two of my favourite lakes on the complex and I would be able to find plenty out about Jenny’s from the Dorking lads on the festival the week before as Jenny’s had been used. I found out that they had been catching massive weights of Roach at around four metres with the odd pegs throwing a big weight of carp caught shallow on meat. We were allowed pellets on our match, so I decided if I was on Jenny’s I would fish the meat feeder at the start and try to catch an odd F1 or carp and would then switch to a caster line at four metres to catch Roach. I was fairly confident in these methods as caster shallow for roach is one of my favourites and the meat feeder was a method I had caught on last year so I felt I knew what I was doing. I also pumped a few pellets if it was hard and I needed to catch silver fish like skimmers and crucians.

For Trelawney I had already settled on fishing a meat feeder, corn and meat down the edge and corn at six metres. I would also set up a long line as a major back up in case I was desperate. So that was my basic plan of attack sorted so up to the club!! After chatting with a few Dorking lads such as Michael Saunders, Ben Leach and Gary Hamilton I decided that my basic plan of attack was pretty much ok. After teaching fellow England team mate Matt Godfrey how to play pool I went off to bed!!

The Draw!

Drawing is not normally one of my specialities, I normally tend to draw the wrong pegs on the wrong days, however I felt my last major flier had been down here at White Acres last year, so I was hoping lady luck was on my side again, I drew peg one on Trelawney in the junior festival and won the match. However this year I drew peg 24 which is one out of the bay, and as many people will tell you it is a bit of a flier. Being one of the last to my peg I noticed that the bay peg was empty and with Matt Godfrey sitting with me we decided that I had a fairly good chance of winning my section, however I knew the other end-pegs would be good. There were plenty of fish topping so I decided to fish the same as I said above but I also set up a pellet waggler just incase the wind dropped.

I started off on the meat feeder taking six quick fish, after the first hour I had ten and was easily winning my section. The middle two hours of the match were rather slow and I only managed to snare a couple more. However the last hour picked up and I managed a further three carp on the feeder and a quick one on the waggler. I had begun to lose feed pellets and that brought the fish back. I ended up with 14 fish for 56lb winning my section by a clear 6lb. This boosted my confidence for the next day and I was certainly well up for it!!
The next day at the draw I was pleasantly surprised to draw peg nine, the peg which had won its section the day before. It was also Connor Barlow a good friend of mine from the England junior side who had been on it. He caught loose feeding 8mm pellets and caught on a drilled pellet on the bomb. As it was a different day today and the wind had picked up I opted to mainly fish the meat feeder to the point of the island opposite. This is because it’s a method I have great confidence in and its one I thoroughly enjoy fishing and also mainly because the Van Den Eynde festival fished the week before weren’t allowed pellets so the meat feeder had thrown up some weights during that week.

I chose to fish a pole line at thirteen metres where I would feed wetted down micro pellets in small balls. I would also have a back up line at four metres where I would loose feed chopped worm and caster. The match started poorly for me as I had one fish in the first hour, a young fellow Farnborough lad two pegs up had been catching well on the bomb with pellets and had at least 20 lb. So I changed methods and started loose feeding 8mm pellets to the island where I would fish a bomb and hair rig a pellet. First chuck brought a small stocky and second cast I hooked into something a bit bigger, getting it to the net I could see it was around 6lb at least; reaching to net it the fish took a last dive breaking my 0.13mm Preston Powerline hooklength. I re-tied a hooklength this time on 0.15mm Preston Powerline to a size 16 PR36 with a band on the hair rig to pull through the pellet. Casting back out didn’t see another fish so I had a look on the pole.

I fished 0.11mm Powerline straight through to a Preston Innovations Chianti in the 4×12 size, I fished this straight through to a 18 PR21. I had a Crucian a Tench and a few skimmers in as many chucks and then the line died.
I topped up with a small ball of micro pellets again, however I had decided that I was too far behind to be catching silver fish. I decided to stick on the feeder for the last two hours. By regularly feeding 8mm pellets around five at a time tight to the bush against the island I was regularly catching stockies and F1’s. By the start of the last hour I had around 11 fish on the bomb and about 4lb of Roach and Rudd I caught on the short line, just so that I could rest the bomb line. As the last hour started I was struggling for a touch on the tip and I chucked the bomb in a totally different place and managed to snare a mug stockie.

After that I had no more fish their so I decided to try punching big pieces of meat and in the last half hour I managed to catch 3 more carp in my original spot against the bush.

The Weigh In!!

When the weigh in came I was first to weigh and I was astonished to bump 42lb on the scales, I knew it was going to be close as the lad two pegs up had caught and peg 1 had caught some lumps down the edge. The lad two pegs up weighed 30lb after having a last bad hour and the kid on the end had 40lb. Phewwwww I thought.

My victory had been sealed at last and as everyone congratulated me I reluctantly packed my gear away and phoned home. My Mum was over the moon and my Nan was there as well as my Granddad so they were both really pleased. But most of all my Dad was over the moon for me, it had taken me four tries to win this festival and I wish he had been there to see it. I want to thank everyone who helped me along the way and say congratulations to Luke Hancock who won the

Preston Innovations sponsored intermediate festival. But most of all I want to say a massive thanks to my Dad Adrian who funded the trip and helped me with methods and what to do. So thanks everyone and roll on the intermediates next year I say…

To be fair, I can’t really bemoan the draw I had on Saturday, when me and Mr Godfrey decided on a trip to Barlborough’s Woodlands Fishery. This is a venue that has been really kind to me this year, I had been in the opens twice up to last weekend and finished 1st and 2nd, but as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end!

As we had lost the darts to the nerf gun the source of much amusement in our hit and run attack of a couple of weeks previous, we had no choice but to draft in another novelty item- this time an atomizer, with a range of about 15 yards, so more fun and frolics were guaranteed!

After a hearty breakfast in Kiveton it was drawbag time and I pulled out peg 17, halfway along the back bank, fishing up to the end of the island, not the best peg on the lake but certainly not the worsed. Matt pulled out peg 10, again not the best of draws but not bad, fishing up to the corner of the island, so we were optimistic of managing to scoop some beer money together between us.

I could see there were a lot of carp moving around, but wasn’t convinced that they were feeding particularly well, as it looked like they were getting ready to spawn. I decided for this reason to fish chopped worms and casters to try and catch everything that swims, and a couple of margin lines as apparently this is where the carp had been showing best.

I set up two rigs for across, one on 0.18 line with a size 16 PR28 through to Blue Preston 15 elastic, this was to be my dedicated carp rig, as there were two nasty looking reed beds either side of where I was fishing and I had visions of whatever I hooked bee lining straight for them!

The other was a 4X10s Preston Chianti to 0.12 line straight through, with a size 18 Kamasan B911 hook, Which I aimed to use for the silvers and F1’s. I also plumbed a line up in front of me down the track at eight metres, and put some bait in here.

I started my match across on the heavy rig as the ‘proper’ carp have a habit of showing up early and late. I pricked one first drop, which pulled out and my next bite came ten minutes later- an eight ounce roach!

I fed again but still no carp and was reluctant to start going for the silvers as the chap to my left had three carp and the kid two pegs to my right also had two fish. I plugged away for them for another half hour, which in hindsight was a big mistake, as I was missing out on valuable silver fish time!

I switched to my lighter rig, and was into silvers straight away, I would get a burst of fish and then it would go dead, which I reckon was caused by carp moving into the swim and spooking them, but they definitely weren’t feeding! I tried to combat this by fishing up in the water away from the island, and to some extent it worked and I caught steadily, but after a while it felt like things were slowing down, and as the sun dropped in the sky I thought another look for the carp might be a wise move, as I didn’t think I would win anything by continuing to catch the silvers. Mistake number two!

I didn’t feed up the shelf again with worms, but tried down the edge instead, but it wasn’t exactly frantic here either! I could see a couple of pegs on the island catching, but for me things were really slow. I managed two carp down the edge in the last hour as well as a small F1 to weigh in with 23-12-0. This put me third in my 13 peg section, I was beaten by Matt who weighed 27-0-0 and a lad further round with 29-0-0, but he sneaked into the main frame so Matt got the section money.

In hindsight, if I had gone for silvers all match I am confident I could have caught 30lb, as they were a good stamp of fish when they came. I thought higher weights would be required, as a lot of anglers seemed to be getting carp, but they obviously weren’t big. 53lb won the match, with 36lb second and 29lb third.

Unfortunately, all beer tokens had to be saved for the following day as Matt had a family do that night so we had to get back, probably for the best to be honest as I was still suffering from Friday nights exploits!

Lindholme Revisited

On Sunday we decided to venture up to Lindholme, as the turnouts have been really good, and boy were there some top anglers there! Alan Scotthorne along with Sandra and Oliver, Johnny Kenning, Emma Pickering, Steve Barraclough, Steve Rothery, Paul Yates, Rob Perkins, Johnny Howard, not forgetting Matt as well of course! As Ken Dodd would say, I haven’t seen so many stars since I banged my head on the mangle!

The match was to be held on the Strip and on Oasis, and I really wanted to draw on Oasis as I have never fished strip, and I knew that other than the end pegs it wouldn’t compete with Oasis. In went my hand and out came Strip peg 7. Doh!

Its about a third of the way along the bank and was later described by Johnny Howard as’the worsed peg on the lake’, though he might have been saying that just to make me feel better! At least Matt had drawn half decent, on end peg one on Oasis.

As I had never fished the lake before I decided to ask venue owner Neil what to do. He told me that Lee Kerry had done a feature on the lake the previous week and caught loads of ide shallow, before getting plenty of carp on the bottom later on.

This suited me, so I decided to fish to my strengths and fish worms and caster long on the bottom with a view to coming shallow as soon as possible.

I also put a pellet line in a recess in the bank to my left, and one short at six metres to give me somewhere to go if things were harder than anticipated. I kicked off on the worm, and liners were a problem straight away, so I came shallow with the caster and took a steady run of ide, chub and small F1’s. The only problem was that other people were catching proper carp, both shallow on the pellet and on the bottom if they were sitting on a bigger bait such a paste or meat.

That’s the last time I listen to Uncle Fester! I was getting nowhere, as I was having to really ring the changes to get bites, switching between a rig set six inches deep and one set about 18 inches. I plugged away shallow with the caster though, as it strikes me as a method that sometimes takes a while to switch on, but when it does it can be bag up time.

Unfortunately, with four hours gone, things just weren’t happening, and I decided to give it up as a bad job and have a look for some lumps. I had been trying my six metre pellet line, and this wasn’t working, so I went to 14.5 metres and put in a few pellets and four pieces of corn, as corn has a habit of sorting out the better fish at Lindholme.

The whole lake was fishing slow by this point however, and I struggled taking four carp in the remainder of the match three long on the corn and one down the edge.

I weighed 24lb, and was well down on the lake, Johnny Kenning won the lake and the match off the end peg with 97lb, with 64lb being the second best weight on the lake, and taking the section spoils.

In hindsight, I should have fished pellets and corn all match, but in reality I doubt I would have caught enough to win any money anyway from the area I was in. So a slapped wrist for doing it wrong, but fortunately this time I don’t think it cost me, as the payout is concentrated very tightly, and with 18 peg sections you have to draw and do it right to win any money!

Matt delivered the goods once again from end peg one on Oasis Lake, winning the section by default with 63lb of F1’s and mirrors on pellets. We had agreed that whoever did the worst out of the two of us would have to pay a forfeit, and he gave me the biggest, most soggy pork scratching in the world to eat- must do better next time!

So after a consolidatory pint it was off home to get ready for the Green Un Semi Final at Hayfield Lakes, and with some mega money to be won I was praying for a good draw, as Hayfield can be really peggy at times!

Green ‘Un Semi

For those of you who don’t know about this competition, it is run by the Green’Un paper’s angling correspondent, Bob Roberts, and is heavily sponsored by Climax Tackle. To qualify for the final, you have to win your six peg section, which I know sounds relatively easy, but with the standard of anglers who fish the competition its not as easy as it sounds!

I was picking up my mate and former RAM colleague Keith Higginbottom, and after a tasty home prepared breakfast we were in the queue to draw. I was second to last and pulled out peg nine on Lucy’s. I haven’t got a clue what pegs are good and bad at Hayfeld, so I asked John Mills what it was like. “It’s the worst peg in that section, but you never know you might get a few down the edge” was the verdict.

When I got to the peg I could see why that was the case, in a bay set back about 20 metres from the rest of the lake, and with the angler on peg 10 facing across the bay to stop me casting out and into the open water. If there were any fish in the bay I had them to myself, but if not it was not exactly a peg with a lot of options. To make maters worse, I had the point pegs either side of the bay to beat, and with so many people on the bank (I doubt Hayfield has seen this many people on the bank since Fishomania) I felt sure fish would have pushed out to the middle.

I decided to fish long and shallow, feeding very little and slapping my rig on the water a lot to try and draw any stray fish in the bay that might be cruising. I also set up bomb and pellet, to try and explore the area, and a chopped worm line short to go for the silvers if the going was tough.

My main line of attack was my margin lines however, and I plumbed up in four places, at six and 14.5 metres either side of me. I fed hemp and casters long to my left, as I had a platform to fish under, and pellets on the other lines.

I kicked off shallow for the first hour and never had so much as a knock, while the chap on the end peg in my section proceeded to put five carp in the bag fishing the pellet waggler, and the chap to his left had a couple on the floating pole.

Branching Out!

The first section on the lake was won with 8lb, which shows just how hard a match it was for most anglers. My section ran from peg 7 to peg 12, peg 7 didn’t weigh in, and I don’t think he caught. For the benefit of those who read my blog, I decided to weigh in, and recorded 7-5-0.

Peg 10 didn’t weigh in, though he had two carp on floating pole in the last hour and definitiely had more than me. Peg 11 didn’t weigh either, though he had four carp on the floating pole. The reason they didn’t weigh in was that they could see Pete Ellis on peg 12 had comfortably won the section, weighing in 45lb. So on paper, Pete had won the section and I was second.

As the saying goes, no one remembers second place, but when Pete revealed he probably wouldn’t be able to make the final I was glad I weighed, and the lads who chucked back were spewing! I whole heartedly agree with Wraggy, its much better to be lucky than good!

I don’t know for definite whether I will be able to fish the final as yet, as Pete is a wedding photographer and is trying to arrange a replacement to come and cover for him, but my dreams of the Green Un final aren’t quite dashed as yet!

Next weekend I’ve got the first round of the Ranskill Summer League on Saturday, and Matt has talked me in to fishing an open match at Kiveton Waters on Sunday, so I will let you know how I get on!

The pegging is different to that of the festivals, peg 23 was in and so was peg 36 which is opposite me. I don’t know the guy who was on 23 but he plumbed up at 16 metres facing towards me and my inside line. Simon Gould drew peg 36 and he was plumbing at 13 metres straight out in front of him! Both were completely within their rights, and I do not have any issue with where they decided to fish, if I had drawn those swims I would have had a look there as well, as that is where a load of fish were topping. I just felt a little claustrophobic.

One to Forget!

I set up three up in the water rigs to fish between 5’ and 12 inches deep. The deeper rigs were set on .16 lines and consisted of .2 Cralusso Capri’s the sallower rig was a KC Carpa Shelf. Hooks were size 16 PR 28’s. I also set a rig up for the edge another .2 Capri on .18 line to a PR 28 size 14. Plus a half gram float to fish on the deck at 6 metres.

Before the start I was just checking that my floats were shotted correctly and I dropped the.5 gram rig in on the six metre line. The float went under and I instinctively l lifted into the bite, Carp on a bare hook, the peg was solid! I didn’t even have my landing net set up. I played the fish and managed to land it, the carp was about 2lb and hooked plumb in the middle of the top lip. As you can imagine there was a bit of banter flying around, especially from the comedy duo of ‘Gouldy and Dare’ opposite me on the island.

I was really looking forward to the start of the match. At the all in I fed a few pellets on the six metre line and some corn and casters down the edge well, about 2 metres from the bank to my left. I put three red maggots on my 3’ shallow rig and shipped out to 14 ½ metres fired a few casters around the float and waited for the float to dip and elastic to stream out of the pole. Well, after 1 ½ hours of this I was getting a little racked off with no bites! Everyone that I could see was struggling but most at least had a fish. All except Steve Bass who was on peg 18 and me!

The guy on peg 23 had about three or four from his long edge swim which prompted me to have a go there. First drop on corn and a bite missed, doh! Out again and the float goes under again this time yards of elastic comes out of the pole! I play the fish which is obviously foul hooked and eventually land a 12lb plus mirror. I don’t like foul hooking fish but it happens and I was back in the hunt, or so I thought!

I am going to cut this short as that was the only carp I caught in the whole match! I even contemplated loose feeding hooks at one stage, as I had caught one that didn’t count on a bare one earlier! I rotated all my lines but could not get anything on any of them. Around me Steve Bass ended up with 32lb, peg 23 packed up before the end and Gouldy had found a few down the edge of peg 36. I had tried an up in the water approach and failed miserably! The lake was definitely suffering from the pressure of the festivals.

Walking back to the car park I made the decision to give Gwinear a miss for a couple of weeks to let it settle down, time for a bit of travelling.

Walkabout Wednesday

I picked Harry up at 07.30am and he lifted Dudley into the van. Hi Duds, we are going fishing to Stafford Moor I say. I am sure I saw Duds cover his eyes with his paws, oh no he must have thought another long journey as these two go walkabout in Devon!

I am pleased to report that on our fifth trip to the fantastic Stafford Moor we finally find our way without any mishap or detours, great let’s hope we can remember that route for the future.

New Lodges at Stafford Moor

I liked the look of my peg, but then I like the look of loads of the pegs on Tanners. I have an island that is about 40 yards in front of me and a good looking edge swim to my right and left. The wind is quite strong left to right and facing slightly towards. It was a very sunny day and my initial thoughts on how to fish the peg were the pellet waggler shallow.

I set up two pellet wagglers, one shallow and the other shallower! I also set up a straight lead with PR36 size 14 and a hair rigged band. I also assembled a KC Carpa Margin float to tackle the edge. This was on 0.18 direct to a size 12 PR28. Bait wise it was to be a pellet day and I had a massive 16 pints of 8mm coarse pellets with me just in case! I looked at the peg and decided not to tackle the island. I was going to concentrate my feed ¾ over so that I could keep things tight. My thinking was if I was to catapult bait as far as the island it would spread over a wide area. Also, if needed later I could go to the island, if I started there I doubt I would be able to draw the carp away.

At the start I cast out the straight lead and fired some pellets over the top, after about 10 minutes I had a slight bite that I thought was a skimmer I lifted into the bite and was really surprised to feel the rod arc round. It was a mirror of about 5lb the next three casts produced two more carp and I lost one. I could see Chris Haines on peg 11 catching really well on the waggler so I decided to give it a try. As can happen when you go on the waggler you can spend too long on it if it’s not working, and I did! I fished it for about 30 minutes for nothing, I kept thinking that the float would go under next cast.

Ey up Duck!

The more I use my SPRO 2.70 metre picker rod the more I am impressed with it. My next door neighbour commented on how quick I seemed to get my fish in compared to him. I put it down entirely to the rod.

Whilst I waited for the scales to arrive I sat on my box and ate fish and chips that had been delivered to my peg! What a fantastic way to finish a match. Before long the scales arrived and 190lb from peg 20 was leading followed by 154lb from peg 18 which confirmed there flyer status. I put on 132lb on the scales for my first Staffy ton and briefly held third place until the scales reached Chris on peg 11 he had 151lb. I finished 4th and won the section albeit by default.

Thinking about my performance after the match, I believe I made a mistake trying to make the waggler work. I should have known better, if you are catching on one method stick to it. I kept thinking I was falling way behind to the float but obviously was keeping in touch, if I had stuck to the lead I could possibly have finished second.

Two new venues to report on next time. On Saturday I am going back to Gwinear! But, a silver only match on the specimen pool and on Sunday we travel to Milemead fishery in Devon.

A few of our lads had stopped down on Friday too fish the evening match, overall it fished reasonably well except one end of bank pool, about pegs 11-16 were devoid of carp, guess where yours truly went and drew!!!!! Bank 12, ouch! The team had a bit of a naff draw really but we were still slightly optimistic.

I got to my peg and didn’t know what the fuss was all about, a lovely long margin to my left and plenty of space I thought I was gonna bag- WRONG!!!!! I decided on a pellet and corn line at 13m a roach swim at 5m and down the edge, I also set a waggler and a bomb up for the crack. I kicked off at 13m with a grain of corn and my float never moved, now in 8 foot of water feeding pellets you would expect some kind of sign, not here!!!! I decided after 20 mins to put a maggot on to avoid a blank and caught a tiny skimmer.

I’d been feeding a caster swim at five metres from the off and decided to just get my head down as I wasn’t on the carp and the other end were all catching. After about an hour I had about 30 fish which was way off my target but with the odd better perch it wasn’t too bad.I couldn’t get any fish lined up shallow so it was a plodding day on a 4×12 Chianti and a 0.10 bottom and catch everything. I did have one carp of 2lb on the bomb but that was it. I weighed a disappointing 17lb but beat either side convincingly so I wasn’t too worried, the other end had caught though and all had 30-60lb!!!! Never mind.

The team finished 6th as Gary Jubb, Andy Geldart and Jonny Kenning all won there sections but other bad draws took their toll. When anglers like Steve Rothery only catch 7lb you know its bad!!!! Anyway Milo Bordon won it and deserved it after putting a weeks practice in, one final word on the subject though is the top 3 teams were all next to each other!!!! Please please please drennan can you put it on a decent ‘team’ venue next year!!!

On Sunday I was scheduled to go to Hayfield for the afternoon match, and a much deserved lie in!!!! until 7.45 when my phone rang ‘Joe can u fish with me in the pairs at Sessay, Craig has food poisoning!!!!’ as Id hate to let Geldart down I duly obliged but with only an hour to get up, sort my gear and get there for an 8.45 draw things were a little rushed!!!! The match was the Browning Quaker Pairs run over Poplars and Alders at Sessay and with 64 anglers its an event well worth fishing. It was the last round and Geldart had a chance of individual spoils and also a chance to come second in the pairs-no pressure then????

I was dead chuffed to draw Alders 9 as you can reach the island with the pole and also in a very good ide area, so my plan was to fish a 4×10 carpa shelf in 14inches of water tight across feeding pellets and fishing an expander on the hook, but also fish for the ide down the middle. My plan down the middle was to fish worms and casters and cut the worms out and hopefully catch them shallow with casters. I set up a 0.4gr mp3 for the deck and set up 6 shallow rigs, all with different sized floats and length lashes and different depths, all these where on 0.10 with an 18 808 hook.

At the start a fed a full black pot of worms and casters with loads of soil in to make a really nice cloud at 13m and then fed a small cad pot of micros across. First chuck resulted in a small f1 of about 6oz then another then another, then all of a sudden I had one 8lb!!! Happy days. I had 20 carp in the first hour for about 30lb which was a brill start but the line was fading so I felt a switch to the ide swim was in order, I started on the deck and caught a perch which wasn’t encouraging and I was soon fishing shallow. I was using a little float that ive doctored its basically a 3×8 Chianti with a wire stem but it still takes 6 no 13’s and the best way to induce a bite was slap the rig and hold onto it and usually the laggy just came out. I had a really good spell in the middle taking 10 in 10 casts at about 10oz each they where handy but I got the feeling there were not many there as everyone was fishing for them.

I was still catching more than the others though so I plodded on. My only concern was that I could see young James Dent bagging on peg 3, with 90 mins to go and about 25lb of ide snared, I decided to go back across. I had a really good 45minutes but it died again and I couldn’t buy a bite in the last half hour. Hopefully I’d done enough. I watched the scales and Denty had 62lb I thought it would be close but after three weighs and 87lb later id not only won the section but also the match! I was dead chuffed with that and couldn’t thank Andy enough for letting me fish!!!! Anyway a few beers and a watch of the presentation rounded off a great day.

On Monday it was the usual Woodlands pairs match with partner Mick Lodge again. I was really up for this one as they have started catching shallow which is my favourite method and also a few on the waggler so it would be interesting. Anyway I drew curlew 14 with every peg in around me- Not good. For the first 2 hours neither me nor the anglers either side had, had a bite!!!! But I plodded on and caught 4 in 4 chucks and either side had 3 in 3 and it was looking up WRONG AGAIN!!!! We never had another bite! Now woodlands is brilliant but when its pegged like that it just doesn’t fish. Lodgey also only had 4 fish so we retired to the bar and planned on fishing on after the match and getting our money’s worth!!!!

We bagged on the pellet wag and also geldart caught down the edge, it was daft really but cheered me up no end!!!!
Anyway I’ve got no team commitments next week so I think im going to fish a Sessay double header, and will let you know how I get on!

The Rushcombe Lake is highly stocked with small carp and has many winding islands which gives each peg a natural and intimate feel.

The Carp Lake has twenty-two purpose built swims with each having a feature to fish to. The best catch in one day was a huge 216lb.

The Match Lake has many islands which gives many of the thirty-one swims a secluded feel. This lake has high stocks of carp, tench, bream and roach and the match record stands at 135lb.

The North and South lakes are stocked with the same mixture of fish as the match lake, however they both have heavier stocks of bream.

This fantastic venue has a cafe onsite which provides breakfasts and a variety of snacks. There is also a caravan and camping site, with pitches available for hire or if you prefer self catering cottages are also available (please call phil and judy at the fishery on 01934 835020 for more details).

Directions:

From M5 Junction 20 come off the motorway and take the B3133 for Yatton. When the road goes through Kenn, it bears a left after a railway bridge. There is a sign here for kingston seymour and fishing lakes. Follow this road over the motorway and into the village. Turn right into Back Lane, Bullock Farm Fishing Lakes are signposted from the village centre. After half a mile you will see Bullocks Lane, take the next turning on the right, signposted Bullocks Farm Fishing Lakes .

Before all the trials and tribulations at Hayfield (the semi final venue) there was the small matter of a Matchgroup 2000 event at Lindholme, on the awesome Bonsai Lake. My mate Ian had been going on the opens on Thursdays, so up to the minute info was readily at hand. We went tooled up for a shallow caster approach, backed up with a tiny pellet feeder cast tight to the island, should it be out of pole range. Lindholme operates a 16-metre pole limit, meaning most of the islands here call for a feeder or waggler approach. I drew peg 46, which I fancied for a few fish as I’d caught well in the area on previous matches. Ian screwed his nose up a bit, saying the pegs opposite held more fish at the moment, and a section win was all I could realistically expect.

He then did no more than pull out the next peg, 44! (We were double pegged around the lake, as they do on the opens) Two less than happy lads unloaded the car between the pegs and set about sorting the gear for the day ahead.

Shallow 

I rigged up three shallow set ups, at 18”, 30”, and another about 2ft deep but with a long line above the float as the lake was flat calm and I suspected that the fish could become cagey about having the pole over their heads after I’d caught one or two. This turned out to be a wise move, as the long line rig was to turn out to be the most used on the day. At the all in I cast the feeder up to the island (in a very hap-hazard fashion I must add – I obviously don’t have ‘bad hair days’, but I do have ‘bad casting days’!) and settled back, awaiting the tip going round straight away as it usually does here. Ian was in straight away, but my tip didn’t move except for a slight tap, which at least showed there were some fish there I suppose.

A drop back saw me briefly attached to a fish, which came off almost instantly, and when the same thing happened next throw it was obvious something was wrong. Ian was experiencing the same problems, and listening to the general chat around the lake everyone was dropping one or two off. I finally opened my account on the fourth cast of the day with a tiny mirror hooked in the pectoral fin, proving my suspicions correct that the previous losses were down to foul-hooked fish. I remembered back to Bank End the previous Sunday when I’d had a similar problem and not really come up with a solution, but in this case I did have another option.

Short-Coming! 

I decided to cast a little short of the island, my thinking being that the shallow water tight up left me more prone to line bites, and that perhaps the fish weren’t really ready to sit in such shallow water anyway, and were simply darting in to pick off pellets, and hooking themselves against the rig. It worked to a degree, but to be honest there were no real signs telling me that there were a lot of fish present, Ian next door was getting twice as many bites as me and even he said he didn’t think a big weight was possible, so it was time for a change.

I’d been feeding a line at 13-14m from the start with casters, with a view to catching shallow, so this would be my next port of call. First drop resulted in a 1lb-plus F1, then a slightly smaller one next put in had me rubbing my hands, and set the tone for a really interesting day. These early fish would be the only time that I would catch on the same rig in quick succession all day, it needed a subtle change on a regular basis to keep the bites coming. Altering the feed pattern, moving a shot, laying the rig in differently, all brought me fish, a mixed bag of Carp, F1’s, Chub, Roach, Rudd and Ide, but pride of place had to go to the biggest DACE (!) I’ve ever caught, which must have been nudging a pound! I was so engrossed in the fishing that for once I lost touch with what was going on around me.

The match ended too soon for me actually as I was really enjoying myself. I’d been aware of my mate Roy Gibson getting one or two on the other side of the lake, and John Mills had also been catching from early in the match. Both these anglers have a good record here, and are never far away from the frame. Ian and a couple of the other regulars had said they would be difficult to beat, and so it proved, Gibbo getting the nod with 71lb 2oz, from John on 60lb 40z. The next two weights came from either end pegs, with 54lb and 48lb both sounding too rich for my blood.

I’d got so wrapped up in the day I’d honestly got no idea what sort of weight I had, but looking at the weights I suspected a default section would be my only hope, and that was how it turned out, the 54lb third weight taking third, leaving me to pocket the section by default, and a load of stick in the process! Most of the lads know me as Wraggy, but anyone meeting me for the first time on the bank could be forgiven for thinking my first name is Spawny!

Super Blades! 

Which leads nicely into my weekend match! I’d had the Saturday off, my little nephew was staying overnight, so I decided to take him to Bramall Lane to watch the Blades, and teach him how to swear a bit! He’s a United fanatic at 8 years old, that’s what I call being brought up proper! We got the result, a 2-1 win over Bristol City, so we were buzzing on the way home. Couldn’t interest him in riddling casters though, so it was play station for him, garage for me. I’ve joined a club from Rotherham called Turners Arms AC with my mate Dale Clarke, and their first match was on the silver fish lake at KJS Fisheries.

Regulars know it as the first pond, and it is stuffed with skimmers and roach, as well as crucians, tench, and some big carp, big enough to make a nasty hole in a hard-earned silver fish net! A walk round on the morning prior to going to the football had shown plenty of silvers finding their way to the net, mostly to chopped worm tactics. We would be using every peg however, so I expected it to be a little bit harder. I’d only fished the lake in the depths of winter, so the little preview was more than welcome! I’d figured that with skimmers being the main weight builders, an open water peg would be favourable, so when I drew behind the small island I was less than pleased I can tell you!

This island is around six feet in diameter, and with three anglers fishing up to it, it didn’t look a very attractive proposition. I put a pellet line in there just in case, but decided my best hope of putting a weight together would be catching roach shallow on caster half way to the island. When I tell you the island was only 11m away, perhaps you can understand my predicament! A margin rig was half-heartedly set up to snare any crap daft enough to poke its head between the keepnets, and I also plumbed up at the bottom of the slope away from the island, with a view to feeding chop there later if things got desperate. The heavily coloured water meant I could get away with 0.10 straight through on the roach and the choppy rigs, 0.14 up to the island, and my usual 0.16 in the margin.

A quick look up to the island while I loose fed casters on my shallow line saw me pick off a few tiny skimmers, and a small carp of maybe 8oz or so, but soon the roach were humping the surface of the water up as I fed the casters, so it was time for a look. I was immediately into decent stamp fish, going maybe three to the pound, but it was one of those days where the carp were cruising around nonchalantly, thinking about getting ready to spawn, and every time one drifted through the swim the roach would back off, and it was start again time. As the match wore on my catch rate slowed, the shoal thinning out and the carp ambling around both taking their toll, so I dropped a small cup of worm at the bottom of the far shelf.

Chop Time!

A quick look tight over produced another small carp of 12oz, and then it was onto the chop. This gave me another flurry of the same 4-6oz roach, but again it was short lived, so I topped it up and moved again. This proved to be the pattern for the final stages of the match, potting a tiny amount of bait in then moving to another line to pick perhaps one or maybe two fish off, then repeating the process. Another very interesting day came to a close, and I thought I’d have a double figure weight, but knew of two lads on the opposite side with a few fish. One of them had two carp, the other one and some roach. They were both admitting to 10lb-plus, and word came round of another carp on the end pegs, that the angler had landed on his roach gig after a lengthy fight, no mean feat. 8lb was winning when the scales arrived at my peg, and I registered 13lb 2oz to go into pole position. 6 & 8lb weights were the order of the day on the end bank, and the scales moved over to the three lads in a line who had a few.

First up was Frank Perryman with the carp and roach catch, with 12lb 2oz. Bit close for comfort, but it was to get even closer next door, as ‘Pud’, one of the longest serving members of the club, saw his two carp swing the needle round even closer, finally settling on 13lb exactly! Remember my motto, ‘better to be lucky than good’! The guy next door was something of a dark horse, his all silver fish catch weighing 10lb exactly, and the lad down the end with the hard-earned carp registering 9lb 6oz meant I’d won! All this after spending the first two hours moaning to myself about drawing one of three pegs I didn’t want!

Still, it’s not the first time I’ve made myself look a knob on the bank, and I doubt it will be the last!

So, two really interesting and rewarding matches, acouple of decent results, and the Green Un Semi looming on bank holiday Monday. Also, it’s the first match in a series I’ve joined with Woodhouse shop Bankside Tackle, this one being at Sherwood Forest Farm Park, on Holmedale Lade, the home of some real animals! I will fill you in on how I went on in these later on in the week, and remember, it’s better to be lucky than good!

River Eden - Pendragon

The Pendragon stretch of water lies from Pendragon castle down to below Dalefoot and offers fly fishing for wild brown trout. The upper section has lots of deep pools and small waterfalls and the middle section is the best but can be difficult to fish. This part of the river is rarely fished.

River Eden - Wharton Hall

The Wharton Hall stretch is immediately below the Pendragon and extends from Stenkrith upstream to white bracken. This part of the river has a no weekend fishing rule and is fly only. This stretch is not over fished.

River Eden - Stenkrith

This stretch is very interesting and accessible. The deep pool under the bridge can contain large amounts of salmon during late october. Below Stenkrith park there is a variety of good water that is rarely fished.

River Eden - Frank`s Bridge

This is a short stretch of the Eden which stretches from a field above frank`s bridge in Kirkby Stephen and ends approx 0.5km upstream. Some large trout may be found here.

River Eden - Eastfield Bridge

This stretch of water is from Eastfield bridge upstream to the flow station which is adjacent to the Kirkby Stephen Warcop road. This stretch can be difficult to fish in areas of dense vegetation, however there are some large wild brown trout residing here.

River Eden - Beckfoot

This stretch of Eden is from Eastfield bridge downstream to Beckfoot where scandal beck enters the Eden. This fishery has mainly shallow sheltered runs.

River Eden - Musgrove

This stretch lies from Blandsworth bridge (upper limit) to great musgrove bridge (lower limit) and can be accessed easily by either bridge. This stretch holds wild brown trout and grayling are also present. This is the most popular stretch of Eden owned by KSDAA. There are large and small pools with runs both fast and small. An excellent stretch for fly fishing.

River Eden - Ploughlands

This stretch is approx 2 miles long and lies from Musgrove bridge (upper limit) to Warcop old bridge (lower limit). This stretch is an easily fished fly water and has had reports of really large fish in recent years.

River Eden - Warcop

This stretch is downstream of Warcop old bridge and is a joint fishery shared with Appelby Angling Association. Below the first field it can be difficult to fish due to the steep banks, continuous trees and barbed wire that restricts access (fly fishing is virtually impossible). This water often contains large numbers of stock fish introduced early in the season by Appelby angling association.

River Belah - Above Belah Bridge

This fishery is upstream from Belah bridge on the Kirkby Stephen - Brough Road, starting 1 field above the bridge. This is a small but attractive trout stream.

River Belah - Below Belah Bridge

This fishery starts 1 field downstream from Belah bridge on the Kirkby Stephen - Brough Road. Overall there is a huge variety of water along the Beck but not all of it is easy to fish with fly. Avoid the river in spate conditions.

Good day for Daiwa sales

It was very windy and it was blowing into my bank, I decided that I was going for a simple plan of attack. I set up my 2.70 metre Escape picker rod and put a ¾ oz bomb on. I had a few casts around and found the shallow bar. I was going to fish this with very little feed looking for the odd carp. I put on a size 14 PR36 hook. I was going to fish this with double hair rigged corn and a small T bag.

Peg 46 to my left is empty, so I was going to fish near to the empty platform about 2 metes out, in about 4’ of water. This was going to be a very positive line where I hoped to draw some carp and get them grazing over a bed of loosefeed. The rig was a .2 gram Cralusso Capri made up on 0.18 line straight through to a size 14 PR28 hook. I also put up a .5 gram Capri to fish at 6 metres. This was on .14 line and had a size 16 PR28 hook so that I could have a go with all the baits I had with me.

I had 3 ½ pints of casters, ½ pint of maggots. 1 pint of 6 mm pellets and the rest was made up with corn and meat plus a kilo of worms.

Just before the match started I had to go back to the van for a drink. Whilst I was away my 4th 5th and 6th sections was blown by the wind, they were just about to go swimming, but fortunately for me it was rescued by another angler, thank you very much.

I decided to check my nearside line before the start as I had forgotton where my marker was, I put my top kit on and the weight of the plummet snapped my 4th section! I can only surmise that when it was doing the freestyle diving impression it hit something on the way! I made sure that everything was safe so that nothing else got broke.

At the start I cupped in a full 250ml cup of casters and a few chopped worms on my nearside line. I then put on double corn and a small T bag and cast to the bar. Pinging a few pellets onto my 6 metre line, I waited for the tip to pull around. After about 20 minutes I saw that Joff to my left was playing a carp that he had caught on his 5 metre line. He had broken down to his top kit and the fish decided it wanted to go for another run. He went to pick up his fourth section of his Spectron and it caught in something behind him and snapped! Not long after this my 7th to 14 metre sections took to the air and the seventh banged into my trolley and it cracked! Oh man, could the day get any worse?

I had a look on my nearside line with three maggots on the hook and the float buried immediately and I was attached to an angry 6lb common which cheered me up a bit. I had another look on the same line but with no more indications. In with some more bait and I stayed there for another five minutes with no success. Nothing either on the other pole line. Back on the straight lead and I had a mirror carp of about 5lb. That was the last bite I had until 4pm when I was trying my inside line once again, this time I had another carp.

Some more feed and out again I had another 5 in the last hour. The carp must have thought we finished the match at 4pm because they were on the feed big style! Quite a few anglers around me were catching. All too soon the match ended. I finished with 37lb, Joff on 47 had 39lb and Mark Pleavin on peg 1 had 38lb a very tight section in the end. I was pleased with the amount I caught as it was one of the best weights over the last two weeks from the peg but disappointed to finish third in section. Andy Dare won the match with 108lb from hot peg 25.

Warning, beer and wine monster about!

I stayed at White Acres that night for the first time this week. I had quite a lot to do swopping kit over for Porth the next day. Dave Schofield had a fridge full of beer and it was good having a beer whilst sorting the kit out. Well one led to another and so it went on. Full from beer we went onto red wine, reminiscing and talking A level gibberish. I couldn’t believe it when we looked at the time it was 2.15am! Straight to bed only to be woken at 6am by a flock of seagulls who were attacking the caravan! I was surprised to see three empty wine bottles on the table when I eventually got up, blinding headache and a match at Porth!

Day 5 Porth

I was late getting to the draw and was at the end of the line, there were only two pegs left in the bag whwn I got there, I picked one out and couldn’t quite believe that I was holding peg 77. Now I have been fishing matches at Porth for nigh on 20 years and have always wanted to draw that peg. I have been either side of it on a number of occasions but now it was mine for the day! For anyone that doesn’t know Porth, peg 77 has the only proper platform on the match length and it puts you about 3 metres out into the lake. No need for platforms or waders, and no need to fish a long pole, great. My headache cleared up immediately. Incidentally the other peg was end peg 40 and that went to my mate Andy Dare.

Over the last three festivals the average winning weight has been in the region of 12lb. So that was my target. I hadn’t mixed my ground bait as I wanted to see where I was drawn. I may have wanted to fish a sweet GB or fishmeal. As I was in the 70’s the target fish were skimmers, I chose 3 bags Green Swimstim and 1 of Mosella Eurocup that I mixed together. I took my drill with me so mixing was very quick. It was going to be the same mix for the feeder and pole. The feeder GB was mixed drier. I also had 3 pints of casters and a few maggots and pinkies, a tin of corn and a kilo of worms.

I set up four pole rigs and 1 feeder rod. The rigs were a 1.5 gram Cralusso Golf, a 4 x 20 KC Carpa Porth and two 4 x 16 KC Carpa Porths. The heavier floats were for the nine metre line where it was over 8’. Hook lengths were 0.10 to 18’s PR34.The lighter floats were for 5 metres and about 6’. The plan was fairly straight forward. At the all in I cupped in 4 large balls of GB packed with finely chopped up worm and casters on the nine metre line. I put 3 on the closer line. I wanted to know exactly where the feed went in. Both sides of me balled the pole line. I then had 6 quick casts on the feeder to put a bit of GB on the deck at about 18 metres out. I then put a hook length on and had three casts with bait on, I had no bites so picked up the pole. I kept an eye on the other anglers fishing the feeder just in case they started to catch well. At least I had a bit of bait out there.

Footballers

Starting on the Carpa Porth I found it was towing too much for the float so switched to the Golf and that was much better. I had a couple of small skimmers on double pinkie and then on a worm head. I was catching but it was not very quick. I could see that Chris Jenkinson on 79 had also switched to the pole and was getting a few fish.

About an hour in the float went under and I had about a 4’ of elastic come out of the pole, shipping back carefully I was thinking that maybe I had found a Bream when I broke down I saw that a 12 oz perch was the culprit, a nice bonus fish. The next four drop ins resulted in 3 other good perch and then I bumped one, a nice little run. I must have had a shoal move in and caught them quick, I never had another perch in the match.

I caught fish in fits and starts through to the end of the match. I had some better skimmers around the 10 oz mark. Funnily enough I could not make the shorter line work. I did catch three fish short, one each time I tried the line on the first put in! I could not get a bite after that one fish, really strange. Must have caught the scout on each occassion. It was a really enjoyable match, one that you had to work at to keep the fish coming. Most of the fish were caught on worm head, I had a couple on maggots and interestingly enough I never had a bite on caster. I fed around half my GB and two pints of casters.

The scales came and I was really pleased to see the scales settle on 11lb 5 oz more than I thought, I was leading the section with only Chris to weigh, he recorded 10lb 8oz another really close result. Third in section was about 6lb 8 oz. I packed up and loaded my kit onto the boat and walked back. I was over the moon to hear from the scales man that I had won the lake! Chris was second in the match. Andy Dare had won his section from 40 so perhaps it was fate that made me have that last bottle of wine!

Dorkings Ian Didcote was the festival winner with 36 points followed by Mark Pleavin and Kieran Rich. I finished with 30 points and was in 31st place.

Summing up

I really enjoyed the festival, and thinking back I could have improved on my place if I had fished a little better and perhaps made decisions a little quicker. I don’t think there was a chance of winning the section at Bolingey but could have improved on my points if I had fished longer away from the bank. I beat myself up about Tuesdays result, but a famous angler recorded 5 points from it the following day. Twin Oaks should have been two places higher. Gwinear, I was a little unlucky to finish third but wasn’t the best draw in the section.

With the rub of the green a 4 further points could have been achievable! I thought Mark Pleavin fished really well all week, he had a real mixture of draws some of them not great. Peg 4 on the match lake as an example, what a good section win that was for him. Well, that’s my festivals over until the autumn when I will be raring to go in the Maver and Parkdean matches.

Thanks must go to MILO for sponsoring the festival without great sponsors we wouldn’t
be able to take part in these fantastic festivals; all the top 20 all received some great prizes. Again, thanks to Parkdean and the staff at White Acres

Andy demonstrates the extent of his stocking fetish!

The good news is that if you fish pellets – whether on commercial stillwaters, specimen carp lakes or barbel rivers – then after reading this article you’ll have a new string to your bow. One which can genuinely revolutionise your efficiency with this super-effective but often frustrating bait.

The bad news is that you’ll need to beg your wives, mums or mistresses to buy you some stockings – or boring old tights. Unless of course you don’t mind buying them yourself and toughing out the strange looks from shop assistants and other customers!

Time to go public

Stocking pellets are not a new invention, and fishing4fun has no intention of trying to pretend otherwise.

A number of anglers have been using them with fantastic results for at least two seasons – and quite possibly more - on the Northamptonshire and Warwickshire match circuit. Understandably, as with any genuine ‘edge’, they’ve played their cards close to their chest whilst steadily picking up the brown envelopes.

However, as with all closely-guarded secrets, a ‘leak’ eventually springs. And the source of this leak was Andy Pell, a member of the Royal Mail Northampton club who lifted the coveted Angling Times/Van den Eynde Supercup trophy at Rocester, Staffordshire’s JCB Lakes earlier this summer.
This competition starts out each season with several hundred hopefuls fishing two regional knockout rounds. The best (or luckiest) progress to regional semi-finals, and then the final. Andy, 37, was part of a six-strong team of posties who made their long-established works club top guns for 2006.

As well as his full-time job in the Northampton sorting office, Andy works part time delivering Sensas bait and tackle to shops in Northants and neighbouring counties.

A speculative call to Andy enquiring whether he’d be willing to split the seams…sorry, spill the beans, met an initially guarded response. “I’ll have to check with the lad who gave us the method.” Happily, a couple of days later came confirmation that he’d got the green light to unmask the secret and go public.

Back on The Banks

To flash the stockings for fishing4funs eager readers, Andy chose The Banks Fishery at Barby, a couple of miles south east of Rugby.

Andy with a Bank’s carp

A further section has since been added, and although all of the 85-peg fishery’s is connected, you get the impression of a series of smaller pools. This is reflected in the names of the various areas, such as the marshes, the islands and the straight.

Setting down his tackle at peg 49 on the back loop, Andy said: “Our club first fished here soon after it opened and I won our match with 40lb the first time I’d seen the place. I’ve loved it ever since, and it’s got steadily better. Pole fishing to features is my favourite style so this place is perfect.”

As Andy set up his Rive box on the peg’s pallet, rigged up and began fishing, we took the opportunity to delve into his bait bag and search out some of these elusive stocking pellets. Locating a small resealable sandwich bag containing our Holy Grail, it was interrogation time.

How to prepare your pellets

Andy credits club-mate Shaun Smart with first putting him onto stocking pellets, but he’s unsure who the actual inventor was.

“I believe Steve Ringer has been using them, and my team-mate Mick Wheeler fished a match at White Acres a couple of years back and couldn’t understand how this guy who was bagging up on shallow pellet was hardly ever having to rebait. Mick is now convinced this is what he was using. It’s quite possible that there’s small groups of anglers all over the country who have cottoned on but been keeping the secret to themselves,” he reasoned.

Here’s all you need to knock up a batch of stocking pellets – some pellets, a pair of stockings or tights, some sharp scissors and a tube of Superglue.

Sticking stockings to the side of the pellets

As you can see, each one has a small piece of stocking mesh cut into a roughly circular shape and stuck to one end. “It’s the kind of job you can do in an evening while watching TV, and you’ll probably be able to do enough to last several sessions,” said Andy.

“The stocking goes almost invisible in water. It’s lighter, faster and less fiddly than a bait band, plus you can use far smaller pellets as hook bait. I’ve had three carp on the same pellet before it needed replacing ” he enthused.

Another quick hook option which Andy and his pals sometimes use is to cut up small sections of elastic band – the flat, thick type are best – then superglue them to pellets. “There’s never a shortage of elastic bands at the Post Office,” he grinned.

Two-pronged attack

Although Andy’s chosen peg has an attractive overhanging willow tree along the near margin to his right, he’s only got eyes today for a pair of far bank spots.

“In a match I’d feed either cat meat or a hemp and corn combination down the near margin and leave it until the final hour, expecting to catch some bonus big fish. They run to 15lb here, maybe even bigger,” he explained. This was confirmed by the bailiff who’d heard of a 27-pounder caught this year, which if true would be a clear venue record.

“

The margins are normally good for some better fish here

“I’ll start at full depth on the first line, which I’ll feed via a pole cup with pellets plus a bit of Sensas Crazy Bait Gold sprinkled on top then firmed down under light thumb pressure. This helps keep the pellets in the pot,” continued Andy. “But I’ll fish shallow in the right-hand swim so that means regular loose feeding by catapult.”

Andy is a big fan of the Hydrolastic range of pole elastics. Far and away the costliest, he reckons this fluid-filled hollow gear’s performance justifies every penny. And even when he’s finished with a length inside his pole, it still has uses. “I replace the latex on my catapults with old Hydrolastic. It’s superb stuff,” he grinned.

Both of Andy’s rigs are made up on 0.20mm line. The full depth rig has a size 1 Tubertini 175 barbless hook (approximately equivalent to a size 19), while an eyed Kamasan B911, knotless-knotted on with the tag cut off, adorns the shallow rig. Shotting for the full depth rig is a small bulk of No.10s, while none at all is needed shallow as Andy uses one of the self-cocking ‘Pea floats’ made by his pal Mick Wilkinson.

Hose The Daddy ?

Before examining Andy’s elastic set-ups – which are a bit different to how most anglers do it – there’s one burning question we’d still like an answer to. How much time does he save during an average match by using Stocking Pellets instead of an expander or banded hard pellet?

After some deliberation, Andy replied: “Over five hours I reckon it saves me 20 minutes. Obviously it’s less for evening sprints and more for the six hour matches which are increasingly popular on commercial fisheries. But however you look at it, that’s a significant amount of time.”

You’re not kidding! So are there any other big advantages to the stocking pellet? This time his answer was immediate. “Probably the biggest is the way it allows you to hook the same size pellet as you are feeding.”

Warming to the theme, he continued: “In this year’s Supercup semi-final we were fishing the Barford Lakes complex near Norwich. One of the lakes, Railway, has a big head of F1s and these were still very cautious feeders at the time of the match, late spring when the weather and water still hadn’t warmed up properly.

“They would come and inspect you hook bait closely, and if it wasn’t the same as the small pellets we were feeding then they didn’t want to know. Banding such small pellets wasn’t possible, but a tiny bit of stocking glued on solved the problem. I’m convinced it helped me win my section that day,” concluded Andy.

The tactic has certainly served the Royal Mail lads well. Following their Supercup successes, they picked up a sponsorship deal from Chiltern Baits who run a bait farm at Houghton Conquest, Bedfordshire, and a tackle shop at Desborough, Northants.

Meanwhile, the old grey matter was ticking. We’d arrived expecting a fairly straightforward demonstration of a summer commercial carp tactic, but now a whole host of other opportunities and possibilities was springing to mind.

How about Stocking Chum Mixers for specimen carp, rudd and chub? Or Stocking 10mm boilies under a bagging waggler? For anyone who finds the use of bait drills and baiting needles a bit of a chore, there’s got to be scope to experiment with a hook nicked through a stockinged-up bait instead.
Well and truly hooked on the whole concept, all that remained was for Andy to prove to us how well it catches fish…

Elasticating for success

Andy takes no prisoners when it comes to elastic!

1. Andy takes advantage of another service offered by Mick Wilkinson, namely cutting back his pole’s power tops, adding large bore internal bushes then a varnished whipping for extra reinforcement. A two inch loop of fly line backing attached to the Hydrolastic by a simple overhand knot is his favoured means of rig attachment. These are buffered by silicone sleeves.

2. When fishing close to reeds, Andy reckons standard Hydrolastic – even the heavy duty purple stuff he’s using through one top kit today – simply has too much stretch. “The fish get in the reeds and you lose too many. So we’ve worked out a balance, incorporating around two feet of fly line backing at the bung end of the elastic,” he revealed, extracting a bung to prove his point.

3. If the stiffer elastic created by the fly line backing is causing too many hook pulls, Andy simply unwinds two or three more inches from the winder bung. On the other hand, if fish are still getting into the reed stems then he can tighten up further.

4. A neat, simple loop knot connects the backing to the Hydrolastic. Just like the connector attachment at the tip end, Andy insists this never slips and the overall set-up is well worth all the effort because it results in fewer lost fish.

5. Standard Tosspots don’t fit Andy’s chopped-back pole tips, but the new, uniquely-shaped Vespe cup does. This also has an unusual method of fixing on, involving latex thread, which takes a bit of working out but is certainly light and effective.

A satisfying session

Andy kicked off fishing at dead depth, tight to the far side directly in front of him. After a couple of small roach, knocking reed stems indicated the arrival of carp. The first two or three were under 1lb, and no match for his black Hydro through one section. But gradually they began to get larger.

An experimental switch to the shallow rig after 40 minutes produced an instant bite, and from then onwards it was a case of swapping between the two lines and ensuring that the pellets kept going in.

The stocking pellets performed brilliantly, both for Andy and his club-mate Mick Wheeler who fished a few pegs away. Both ‘posted’ near-70lb hauls, and reckoned that a few bigger fish from the margin lines which they didn’t set up on the day but would have done in match conditions, would have given them the chance of topping the ton.

From what we saw, a time saving of 20 minutes over standard pellets is no idle boast. If anything, it’s erring on the safe side.

It now seems only a matter of time before some enterprising bait company produces ‘ready-stockinged’ pellets, or tackle shops begin stocking stockings! After all, many anglers would happily pay a premium rather than get the missus involved!

Venue File

The Banks, Barby, Warwickshire
Rules: Barbless hooks only. No fish over 2lb in keepnets. No under-14s without adult supervision. Keepnets may be banned at certain times of year.
Directions: From M1J18, head west on the A428 and follow signs for Barby. In the village, turn right at the pub then bear left on Barby Road. There are two car parks, the first on your right before the Onley Lane junction and the other on Onley Lane just before the canal bridge.
Day tickets: £5. Juniors and evenings (after 4.30pm) £3.50.
Contact: Richard Bubb on 07973 654336.

Andy with his net of carp

More pictures below from this feature…..

Mark Cotterell impaled three lively red maggots on his size 14 hook four feet beneath a distinctively shaped ‘lollipop’ float.

Dropping it in the edge, he shipped out 11 metres of his pole in a downstream direction then raised the tip to swing the one gram rig out in a straight line, settling heron-like on his seat box to hold it steady on a tight line.

No need for fine hooks on here!

This time the float’s tip had barely stabilised when it bobbed then sunk steadily from sight. A firm lift of the pole produced the pleasing sight of several feet of green elastic surging away. Another bream on. And another good one, as a large boil on the surface near the downstream limit of his swim quickly confirmed.

Mark’s grade 15 hollow latex soon convinced the fish that further downstream exertions would be pointless, and soon the float was flapping like a flag as he guided it back, shipped down and extended the net to scoop up his catch and lower it into one of two keepnets set in front of him.

Two keepnets? A common enough sight on a commercial stillwater, but on the Colne? Yes, Mark was well on his way to a ‘ton-up’ haul of river bream. A rare enough occurrence even on bigger, deeper rivers where heavy groundbaiting and feeder tactics can be employed. But something which Uxbridge Rovers members are growing accustomed to on their intimate little river.

The REAL Colne Valley

Also present on the banks of the Aquadrome stretch in Rickmansworth on a dull but mild late October morning were brothers David and Ben Bartram, plus Rovers chairman Bob Lane.

A good sized Colne barbel

Before a more detailed look at their tackle and tactics, a brief profile of this little-known river seems in order. After all, any mention of the Colne Valley makes most anglers think of massive carp, bream and tench.

Big lakes such as Savay, Harefield, Wraysbury and Farlows are part of UK specimen angling folklore, and rightly so. But it’s easy to forget or overlook the fact that there’s a river flowing nearby which was there long before their creation.

The Colne starts life at Colney Heath in Hertfordshire’s Chiltern Hills and eventually discharges into the Thames near Heathrow Airport in the London Borough of Hillingdon, some 30 miles south-west of its source.

In its lower reaches it branches into three channels - the Colnbrook, the Frays and the Wraysbury River. But today’s feature was taking place a fair way upstream, where the local council’s name is ‘Three Rivers’. But in this case it’s taken from the main Colne plus the rivers Gade and Chess which converge at Batchworth, between Watford and Rickmansworth.

The Grand Union Canal also cuts through the valley here. And within the Aquadrome country park where our foursome fished there are also several large stillwaters including Bury Lake, where Gordon caught a 14lb-plus tench which held the British record between 1993 and 2001. Fishing is no longer permitted on Bury, but Uxbridge Rovers now manage neighbouring Aquadrome Lake on behalf of the council. Alongside club permit holders, juniors and disabled anglers can fish here for free.

The Colne is fairly well known as a barbel river, with specimens to 15lb-plus documented. “We don’t shout about it, and I’m not saying they go that big in our two stretches - though they will one day, and bigger still,” disclosed Bob Lane. “It does amuse us though how some anglers from round here go chasing up to the Great Ouse when they could be fishing on their doorstep.”
More about barbel later - but for now, let’s take a look at how to catch these Colne bream…

Cralusso lollies can’t be licked!

It was noticeable that all four anglers were using lollipop floats. More specifically, lollipop floats from the Cralusso range.

Cralusso Floats were the order of the day

“I hardly ever use any other type nowadays. The body shape makes them sit far better in the water than the disc versions we were using a few years back,” noted Mark.

On his line was a 1 gram Cralusso Torpedo, which has a scooped profile on the body with a thinner section at the top.

“To hold back hard with a traditional round-bodied float would take at least 2.5 to 3 grams, and I’m sure you’d get iffier bites as the fish would feel the extra weight on the line, plus you’d miss more and probably lose more through poor hook holds,” he added.

David Bartram fishing downstream of Mark and using a Cralusso Bubble rather than Torpedo, pointed out another important factor in the success of this float.

“Because the tip is at an angle rather than a direct line with the stem, you must ensure that you fix the top rubber some way down the stem as the line shouldn’t touch the float’s body. A lot of anglers push the rubber right up underneath and that ruins the way the float sits. Think of the line like an isosceles triangle,” said school teacher David, going all mathematical on us!

There’s a geography lesson the be had here too - the Cralusso is a Hungarian invention, and that nation’s World Championships team used them to win gold medals back in 2003 in Slovakia.

Hemp draws the barbel

Hemp and casters are a good staple feed

“In July and August I caught 16 barbel from my back garden, the best weighed 11lb 9oz,” admitted David. “If I like, I can sit in my conservatory reading a book with the rods on alarms and still get to them in seconds.”

David really rates hemp as a means of attracting barbel, even though he fishes mainly for them in specimen style with hair rigged halibut pellets. But today, given the extra water which had gone into the river following heavy overnight rain, he fancied there’d be an outside chance of one or two coming to play amongst all the bream.

While the others cupped in mainly maggots and casters as feed, he opted to open up with a large cupful of hemp and casters. Lo and behold, his white Hydrolastic was soon shooting out of the pole as David hung on grimly to a bearded battler which had grabbed his double caster hook bait.

Eventually, against the odds really on 0.14mm line and an elastic rated as grade 6-10, a near-5lb barbus came splashing to the net. The hemp ploy certain worked then, David?

“This fish must have been in the swim anyway, the bite came so soon. But I think I’ll stick to catching them on proper barbel gear, it’s less hair raising,” he smiled.

Heading for the magic ‘ton’

After his early bonus barbel, David Bartram added a couple of big bream from his swim towards the bottom end of the top half of the fishery, marked by a footbridge beside a kids’ playground.
Ordinarily, 15lb-plus would be a fabulous small river catch in the opening hour - but all eyes are instead on Mark Cotterell in the record-breaking peg immediately upstream. Mark’s got eight bream already!

Proper ‘Un

Indeed, it’s clear that all the Rovers are not frightened of putting a bit of bait in. By the end of the five hour session, David reckons he’ll have gone through two pints of maggots and a pint of casters. Mark reckon on two and a half pints of maggots, but then he’s too busy catching to have time to feed!

Why no groundbait or chopped worm? After all, these are big hungry bream. “We find worm attracts too many perch which can unsettle the bream. And I don’t like to put groundbait in on shallow river swims as no matter how stiff the mix, there’s still a cloud that gets swept away and may take the fish with it. Regular cupfuls of maggots are all that’s needed,” asserted Mark.

Having moved on to 16 bream by the three hour stage, the magic ‘ton’ was definitely looking on.
Meanwhile, David had pouched a couple more slabs and 2004 club champion Ben managed one to prove the aren’t all just in the one area. He also landed a jack pike - a species which his club mates reckon follow him everywhere!

Upstream trotting?

Mark’s club mates favoured shipping out their rigs straight out in front then holding back hard before, if no bites were forthcoming, easing them a foot or two downstream before applying the brakes once again.

However, Mark’s ploy was the total reverse- partly due to the swim being no more than two feet deep directly in front of him, but more than three and a half feet at the lower end.
“That said, I tend to always do it this way on the lollipop because I’m fishing ten inches to a foot overdepth with a No.4 shot well on the bottom and a bulk of larger shots just off the deck. It’s far easier to work the rig back up the swim than down it, and a lot of bites have come straight after it settles again,” he noted.

The odd stray chub also put in an appearence

Downstream, David was into a very lively fish. Another barbel perhaps? No, it turned out to be a 2lb-plus chub which attempted the usual near bank trick of diving under his keepnet. The white hydro had just enough leverage to foil it.

The session wound to its end and a catch picture was planned, with all hands on deck to ensure Mark’s catch would be returned promptly and safely. Ben had added one more bream to claw his way to a total of around 12lb, but lost a far bank chub in the reed roots. Bob had around 20lb and David getting on for 40lb. Mark finished with 21 bream which totalled 101lb on Bob’s official West Middlesex Winter League scales. A river ton to remember for the vastly experienced Harefield Tackle worker. “I’ve had plenty of match weights over the ton on commercials, but never done it on a river with bream either here or in Ireland,” said Bob. “Next time I hope it’s in a match.”

Want to fish the Colne?

Formed around 1884, Uxbridge Rovers Angling and Conservation Society were founder members of London AA.
And when Bob Lane became chairman in 1979, all their matches were still rovers! “People used to be here there and everywhere, with three keepnets all along the river. It was chaos really, and we soon made the move to pegged down matches instead,” he recalled.
“We have good relations with the owners of our many w