By Tom | No Comments
Last updated: Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Well at long last it seems my luck may be changing, and for the first time in a number of weeks I have an almost successful weekend to report!

Saturday was the first round of the Summer League at Lakeside Fisheries, Ranskill. The venue is fishing its proverbials off at the moment, with the venue record recently being broken with 264lb, and winning weights on the weekly opens consistently topping 100lb, as the venues resident carp have woken up from the winter in style!

There was a police match on the Thursday before our match on the Saturday, and the carp were spawning however, and not one was caught, which I must admit I was glad about as I’m not much of a fan of dabbing which seems to be how they are being caught at present.

I had of course bought the obligatory bread and dog biscuits, but was hoping for a nice days fishing for the silvers with worms and casters. I drew peg 24, probably the worse peg for carp on the lake, but a good one for silvers, so in a sense it suited the way I like to fish the place.

A look on the board revealed that I had drawn the section of death however, with Mark Holmes and Carl Sweatnam to beat, probably the best two anglers on the league, there aren’t many weeks go by without one of them winning or framing in a match at the venue.

I fancied my peg if to win the section if the carp didn’t feed, but if they did I expected to get beaten, as Mark had an island to fish too, and Carl could reach right down the edge from his peg, where as a large bush to my left meant I could only get down about six metres.

I plumbed up two lines for the silvers, one at six metres and one on my top two, as there is no need to go far out here. In terms of rigs I opted for 0.12 mainline to an 0.10 bottom with a size 18 B911 hook, I used a 4×12’s Chianti on my six metre line, and a 4×10’s down the edge, and matched both to a soft set eight elastic.

I also plumbed up a meat line down the edge under the bush, with 0.18 line and a 16 hook, so I could drag out any edge pigs if I should hook them! In addition to this, I reluctantly tied up a length of 0.22 line with a 12 hook, should the dreaded dabbing need to come into play.

Steady Start

I kicked off on the six metre line taking a run of ide and rudd but it took a while to get going. With an hour gone I had got a steady rhythm going however, and I reckon I was marginally in front of Mark and Carl, who were round the corner from me on the other bank, so I could see exactly what was happening.

The odd carp was starting to show on the surface however, and before long the inevitable happened and Carl slipped a dog biscuit on and took a carp pretty much straight away. It was a big un as well, probably nudging 12lb.

Before long, Mark was doing it as well, but with no feature to fish to I knew I wouldn’t compete, so stuck with the silvers. Towards the end of the match I managed to get them going on the top two, and they were a better stamp of fish, with a few skimmers to 2lb putting in an appearance.

I weighed 49lb of mixed silvers, a thoroughly enjoyable days fishing. This put me second in section, I managed to beat Carl who weighed 45lb having taken four carp on the dabber, but Mark Holmes won the section and finished second in the match with 72lb comprising of five carp on the biscuit and a mixed net of silvers.

Fortunately, as Mark framed I picked up the section money by default. I didn’t think my peg was worth 70lb, and for the first time in a few weeks I thought I fished a tidy match. When I saw Mark and Carl catching on the biscuit I was tempted to sit on it myself, but I felt I made a good decision fishing for the silvers, as only one angler on our bank went for them, and he blew out. Second in section, though not as good as first, is a steady result for the league, a solid start , I just have to build on it now.

Pastures New!

On Sunday, Matt suggested a trip to Kiveton Waters, as it has been fishing quite well, and they have been getting plenty on there open matches. It is the first time I have been to the venue, and Matt suggested an out an out pellet attack, and as its venue pellets only I went armed with just a few RS Elite Hookers, half a pint of reds and a tin of corn.

Matt’s dad Kev and my mate Paul Gorman came along with us for the ride, and after a cracking breakfast at Fullers in Kiveton, we set off on the mammoth trek to the venue, taking all of five minutes!

There was a good turnout of upwards of 30 anglers, and my first impression was that the lakes were nice, well laid out with well built platforms. Matt introduced me to Collette who runs the fishery, who proved really friendly and helpful, and I knew a lot of the other anglers who were fishing from Wetlands, it felt like a regular haunt already!

I drew peg 27, and not knowing the lake I wasn’t sure whether the draw was good, bad or indifferent. Matt reckoned it wasn’t too bad, with a bit of room and with the wind pushing up that end of the lake he said I might get a few. I decided to keep things simple, and do as I was told and fish pellets, so I plumbed up a line at 14.5 metres in the deep water, and two margin lines in 3 feet of water, one at 13 metres towards the spare peg to my right, and one at four metres at an angle in the same depth of water.

I kicked off at 14.5 metres, and no bites were forthcoming, and from what I could see no one on the lake was catching a deal. As the end of the first hour approached I saw Matt get a few on a short six metre line, and I decided to follow suit and try my margin line, as it was obvious that no fish were in the deep water.

I had four in four puts before it went quiet, to be honest I didn’t expect to catch on it for long so early in the day, so I re fed it and decided to plumb up a six metre line. I did this and it worked, indications were instant and I took three in as many drops, before the line seemed to quieten down, and then I caught a skimmer, so I trickled some more pellets in and had a look down the edge.

Again I had three in three puts before it went quiet, and a pattern seemed to be emerging, a few carp would move in, feed, and then back off. I decided therefore to feed a couple more lines up the shelf therefore, to allow me to rotate between them and keep fish coming a bit quicker.

This worked quite well, and though I wouldn’t say there was any point in the day when I was bagging I managed to catch steady taking a few fish off each line. Towards the end of the match I was surprised to find that my closest line was best at five metres. I ended up with 30 carp and one tench for just over 45lb, which was enough to win the match!

It was close though, Chris Dyson to my left weighed 44-1-0, and Matt was third with 43-12-0. Matt was the man of the match for me, he had someone either side of him and battered them both, while me and Chris had the benefit of two spare pegs a piece. He caught really well late on in the match, and I must admit I was looking over my shoulder towards the end of the day, and thought he might have done me.

So it was off to the pub to share the money out, and a couple of pints in the beer garden rounded off a thoroughly enjoyable day. I don’t know how he managed it, but Mr Godfrey riddled out of paying his forfeit for poorest result on the day on a technicality: ‘It doesn’t count if we both come in the money’.

After forcing me to eat a mouldy pork scratching, and eat a PVA bag the last two times I have not done very well, I thought he had a right cheak and I am currently plotting my revenge! It may well involve a razor and his eyebrows the next time he stops at mine!

Evening Encounter

This Tuesday saw the first evening match at Kiveton Waters, and after having a good match on the Sunday me and Matt decided to have a pop at it. I got off work at half four, and was round at Matt’s for five to five and we made it to the venue just in time to enjoy a bacon sandwich before the draw.

I pulled out peg 29, two round from where I was Sunday. The peg wasn’t in on Sunday, and the chap to the left of it struggled, but I felt it was in the right area so I wasn’t too pessimistic, Matt was a couple of pegs further down as well, and told me he fancied the draw so we were both brimming with confidence!

I plumbed up a line in front at nine metres and two close in, and that was about all I had time to do as we only had 40 minutes to set up! I cupped in some pellets on my longer margin line and my deeper line, and started long.

I had a steady first hour, putting six or seven small carp and tench in the net, but I was itching to get down the side as I could see a couple of people catching on this line, and there were at least three people catching quicker than me.

In hindsight, I should have stopped on the longer line, as I tried down the side three times probably for a total of around 20 minutes, and never had a fish from the line. I ended up weighing 28-12 for sixth in the match, another 4lb would have put me third, and three fish in twenty minutes is about what I was catching long. Lesson learnt!

The only good thing I can say about my performance is that I managed to beat my mate and fellow Woodseats Angler Terry Oldfield off the next peg, and we had a good laugh and plenty of next peg banter as per usual, especially when the Morris dancers started their routine a couple of fields behind us!

A particularly witty line when they ended their the routine with the standard shout of ‘Hoy!’ was “He’s either just kneed him in the bollocks or hit him with that piece of 4X2 hes been banging about” half of the pond creased up laughing.

This weekend I’m off to Barlborough Saturday and Kiveton Sunday, so hopefully my better run will continue! Tight Lines!

Popularity: 11% [?]