By Tom | No Comments
Last updated: Thursday, May 8, 2008

‘Better to be lucky than good’ is the slogan used by fellow blogger Mark Wragg, but at the moment I seem to have the wrong end of the stick- I’m being unlucky at the draw bag and fishing like a tosser!

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!