Pole Position?

Two Tuesdays ago I booked on the evening match at Fusion near Chesterfield, and after a poor performance the previous week I was looking for a good result. The turnouts at Fusion are always fantastic for an evening match, and last week was no exception with 24 anglers tipping up.

I drew peg 26 which is at the narrow end of the lake and from what people were saying not in the best area. To make matters worse I drew next to Eddy, the same bloke who gave me a battering off the next peg the previous week!

Now I had been in a real quandary as to how to approach the venue given the fact that my usual chopped worm approach hadn’t worked the previous week. I had talked to Sir Matt and Joe about it and both seemed to think if the fish weren’t having worms and casters then maybe a ground bait approach would be best. I just couldn’t see it though with the venue being full of ide, and given the fact that my mate had won the match on worms the previous week, I came to the conclusion that there weren’t any fish in my peg before, and worms were right.

I fished one line with chopped worms at 14.5 metres, and after an half an hour I was suffering from a very bad case of De Ja Vue- I had two perch and one small ide and Eddy to my left was getting an ide a bung!

I got off my box and mixed up a bag of Ringers, and started feeding it little and often with a kinder pot. Suprisingly, I caught skimmers though rather than the ide that Eddy was catching. They weren’t coming thick or fast by any means, but the improvement from fishing just worms and casters was unbelievable.

Interestingly, although I was catching in five feet of water, I seemed to get more bites feeding a nugget of ground bait and a bit of loose to create a cloud. Red maggot was best on the hook, and though the line got decidedly quieter towards the end of the 3 hour match, I managed to keep the odd fish coming right up to the whistle. I ended up with 11 skimmers, four ide and two perch. Eddy was first to weigh putting 11-0-0 on the scales, I was pleased when my net went 17-4-0, a lot more than I thought I had. I was even more pleased when I looked on the board at the end of the match and found out that I had won! A Wetherspoons mixed grill rounded off a very enjoyable evening.

Carterhall

It was back down to earth with a bang on Thursday with the evening match at Carterhall. We had major floods last Thursday in Sheffield, and the water temperature had dropped by about 5 degrees!

We had another good turnout with 14 anglers putting in an appearance. Sir Matt proved he still has the midas touch with the drawbag, pulling out the peg we both saying we wanted to draw in 15, which was also the golden peg!

I drew peg 8, I have been on it twice so far this year and had a first and a second so I wasn’t too disappointed.

After three hours I was very disappointed however, I just couldn’t seem to get bites! I ended up weighing 8lb, I can only put my poor performance down to there being a lot of anglers in my area of the lake and of course the poor weather.

It didn’t effect Sir Matt however, he walked the match with 24lb, winning us £104 between us. Don’t you just love gingers?

Glutton for Punishment

It was back to Lindholme on the Sunday for another round of the UK Pole Championships. I drew peg nine on Oasis Lake, and was armed with plenty of worms and casters, looking for a shallow extraction! I was in good company however, as I had Ben Holmes to my left and Tommy Pickering two to my left.

To cut a long story short, the shallow extraction never really happened for any of us in my section, and I gave it a good go, wasting nigh on two hours on it. Ben Holmes was bagging up on the paste fishing at nine metres (something I have never seen anyone catch on before there- ever) while Tommy was catching well fishing tight across. The people below me, with the exception of Josh Newton on peg 3 weren’t catching a lot however.

As seems to be the usual thing for me at this venue at the moment, I left it late, beginning my extraction about an hour and a half from the end. I ended up with a few bigger uns, dragging the scales around to 55lb. This was only good enough for fourth in my ten peg section tough unfortunately, with Josh winning the section with a terrific 90lb weight. If I could fish the match again I would fish across in the shallower water at like 17 metres. I fished in 2 and a half feet of water at 16 metres, but talking to Ash Clemence after the match this probably wasn’t far enough across, he caught on chopped worms, and he says he found that the fish kept backing off, and ended up in ten inches of water, pretty much tight to the bank.

Got It Sorted?

I was really looking forward to last Tuesdays evening match at Fusion after my extraction the previous week, thinking I had the venue ‘sussed’ it was obvious that the venues bream loved maggots, right?

Wrong. I drew the peg next to where I won the match from the previous week, and fished in exactly the same way, but for some reason all I could catch was tiny roach. After half an hour of trying to feed them off, I decided that my best bet was to get my head down and fish for them. I had 103 fish after three hours, and to be honest I thought I might have enough to frame.

How wrong I was. My fish went 9-14-0, which was good enough only for 5th on the 16 peg match and no money. I am back to thinking chopped worm might be a better approach now!

Little John

I didn’t go on the Thursday match at Carterhall, as me and Sir Matt went to see a David Bowie tribute band, so the open match at Little John on Saturday was my next trip out. I drew peg 16, and asked a couple of people what they thought of the peg, and they grimaced. “Its not fantastic down there kid as its very narrow, but the only saving grace is its usually the end peg.” It wasn’t even the end peg on this occasion though as there were so many on the match they had to put the peg below it in!

I fished chopped worms up to the island at 16 metres, but after an hour I only had four carp. There were fish moving though, so I dropped back to half way down the slope, and starting catching the odd ide in with the carp but it was by no means hectic. I gave it a good go down the edge after some bonus barbel that allegedly inhabit the peg, but I never even had a fish on the line!

The time I wasted doing this probably cost me however, at the end of the match I weighed 32lb and 35lb won the section. Gutted!

Early Morning Trout Fishing

We had a night on the ale on Saturday night, and what a night it turned into, with Ash Clemence coming down from Guisborough to join in the fun, and a load of Matts mate from college coming over as well. We rolled up back at mine about 4 in the morning, just as it was coming light. The other piled off to bed, but me and Sir Matt decided a stroll and a bit of trout fishing was in order!

We caught one between is in our drunken sate (or should I say he caught one) and then it was back to annoy the others, who were by now soundly asleep!

Barbel Fishing

While at White Acres last year I mentioned to John Cayless that I had never caught a river barbel before, and he said he would take me somewhere this year to catch one. A date was duly arranged, and last Monday we went to do the deed. I am not going to say too much about it here as I am going to write an article about the day for the Angling Star, and Matt is going to do a blog on here about it (no, really he is) but we both agreed it was the best days fishing that either of us have ever had, so thanks a lot John. Awesome!

Heads To Heads

We had agreed to do a two part pairs feature for the Angling Star with me and Matt fishing against Ash Clemence and Josh Newton in a round at home and also away. For there home round they took us to the The Oaks at Sessay to fish Alders Lake. It was an awesome day, again I cant say too much as it will be going in the paper, but by a stroke of luck managed to lick them by nearly 11lb, so we have a good advantage when we bring them to our home venue. With the foreit for the losing pair being a night on the two dressed as female disney characters I sure as hell hope we beat em!

Pole Position?

I fished the open match at carter hall last night, and when I got to the venue I realised I had forgotten that most important of pieces of equipment- my rodbag!

With no option of going back for it as work where I keep it would be locked up I had to make do with what I had got, and managed to scrounge a landing net and a few bits of pole off Jake Dye and Matt Dalton, who kindly went to his house near the venue to fetch me some bits.

Although better than nothing, the carp pole I had was a nightmare, and I kept bumping fish off the hook with the heavy elastic. Pity, as my peg was solid!

I ended up with 20lb which was good enough for second in the nine peg match and a £20 pick up. 14 year old Jake Dye put up a stirling performance to win the match with 32lb, off a peg that I must say I didn’t really fancy. Now I know Jake reads these blogs, and he is a cracking young angler, with a really nice bottom, so well done mate, and me and Matt are really looking forward to our week at White Acres with you. Does anyone know where you can buy Vaseline in Bulk? That will teach him not to beat me!