Sunday 31 May 2015

Tony Rixon's Float Only League, Round One, Viaduct, Sunday 31st May 2015

This is going to be short, as there isn't much to write about.  This really starts on Thursday, when I was discussing this match with Tony and asking if he was putting peg 109 in, as I had a bad feeling that I would draw it, if he did.

I wasn't at all surprised when it came out of the draw tin, disappointed and pissed off yes, surprised no.  When I went to look at the peg, there were a couple of carp showing themselves in the RH margin, as everyone came into the car park and got their gear, slamming car doors etc, the fish moved up the lake and I didn't see a sign of a fish again.

I set up a waggler, but the wind and the trees made it impossible to get it where I wanted it, so up the bank with it after 10 minutes of trying, not to be used again.

I set up 5 topkits, 2 for the edge as the margins were different depths and I wanted to feed GB in one and particles in the other, a meat rig, a pellet rig for 13m towards the willow tree and just in case, a paste rig.

Starting on the meat short, I had a small (for Cary) carp and then a small tench, that apart from a roach, was that for the meat line for the rest of the day, after half an hour I switched to the 13m pellet line, fishing a 8mm pellet over 6mm feed.  Another carp, this one a bit bigger, but still not a 'Barney' and that apart from 4 skimmers proved to be that for the pellet line. I swapped between meat, pellet and both margins, as well as trying paste for the next 4 hours and had one carp at about 2pm from the LH margin at 14.5m.

That was the sole action until 25 minutes before the all out, when I had 2 more carp, lost a fouler and lost one that got snagged in something under the willow tree.  I had landed plenty of sticks, twigs and other various bits of foliage, but the peg seemed to be fairly devoid of fish, the RH margin produced 2 perch and the ducks mopped the rest of the bait up.

My fish went 44lb for a section win, so some consolation for 6 hours of intense effort.  But once again, I found myself in the worst section, an ongoing theme since my days of team fishing in the 70's and 80's.... 

I didn't get the results, but Tony won from 114, with 176lb, Trigger 2nd from 96 with 175lb and Glenn Calvert top silvers with 38lb.  See Tony's blog for full result.

Friday 29 May 2015

Costcutter Open, Avalon, Thursday 28th May 2015



As much as I enjoy fishing Viaduct, it’s nice to have some variety, so I booked into this week’s costcutter at Avalon.  I was quite intent on just taking 6 & 8mm pellets and a bag of paste, but a conversation with owner Vic Bush saw me putting so GB and a kilo of worms (that have been in the fridge since March, surely they won’t last much longer) into the bait bag.

Travelling down with Tony Rixon,  we had the usual Shipham brekkie and then drew next to each other, me on peg 5 and Tony on 3.  He badgered me into a £1 side bet, which I don’t usually indulge in, it was because he knew I had the worms and would be tempted to use them……….
A short walk and plenty of time, so I set up a pellet waggler, a depth waggler and a lead rod.  Three topkits as well, a rig to fish banded pellet, one for paste and one for down the edge.  Bait tray just had 6 & 8mm pellets initially and I started on the pellet waggler.  This was producing bites and fish, not big fish, several carp to 3lb and a couple of hybrids which were just over 1lb.  The fish were tight to the rushes and backing off into the gap under a tree, after the first hour which saw 20lb in the net, the wind made the waggler fishing fairly pointless, it kept switching directiom fron R-L and then back to L-R.  It wasn’t even a consistent breeze up the lake, just a wind lane which was less than 2m wide and this was catching the line and pulling the float along within seconds of it landing.

I did try the lead, but 10 minutes of watching a motionless tip was enough, so I had a look over the feed I’d put in on the pole line, nothing,  not that I was surprised, as I hadn’t seen any blowing or other signs of fish.  Time to mix the GB and try the worms, this was fairly uneventful, then Vic turned up and encouraged me to up the feed, this brought a 6oz rudd to the worm bait, this remained the only fish caught on this bait.

Dropping paste over the worm/GB feed, saw a carp netted, a carp lost then three skimmers of a decent size landed, before the line quietened down again. I refed and had another look on the waggler, this brought another odd fish or two, but the wind remained a constant frustration to presenting a bait that wasn’t trotting along and away from the rushes.

Back on the paste and another fish netted, but it was slow going and at the all-out, I knew my messing about with worms had cost me £1 to Mr Rixon.  Vic jumped on my box and had a go with the paste, landing a 13lb fish shortly afterwards…….  How do they know the match has finished??
So, with hindsight, 6 hours thrashing the reeds with a waggler would probably have been the best thing to do, also a lesson learnt about feeding at Avalon – they want some, no place for gentle drip feeding here!!  Frustrating but enjoyable day, hopefully I can get back here before too long, my fish went 64.15 and that 13lb carp that Vic had after the whistle on my gear would have seen my £1 safe if it had found the paste 10 minutes earlier……..

1: Glenn Bailey 108lb peg 16
2: Mike West 99.13 peg 1
3: Tony Rixon 72.07 peg 3
4: Paul Lock 67.02
5: Chris Fox 64.15 peg 5

Silvers
1: Mike Nicholls 37.10 peg 23
2: Paul Lock 35.01

Monday 25 May 2015

Viaduct Spring League, Round Three, Sunday 24th May 2015

I should have known that today was all going to go wrong after the week I've had.  Last Saturday driving to Viaduct, the van started to make a noise, I suspected a charge air hose, but the turbo and hoses are tight between the back of the engine and the bulkhead.  I put it into the local diesel specialists, as it needed a ramp to sort it, I am still in shock from when they rang, "it's not the charge air hose, it's the turbo, that'll be the best part of grand" including the bloody VAT - what value is there in that for me...... 

So without a van, Tony Rixon kindly picked me up and I squeezed in with him and Fabio. we were going to try The Brewers Fayre in Glastonbury for breakfast, the second time in a week my wallet has been hammered!!  £8.75 for breakfast, I reckon that's the first and last visit there.

Now onto the match and there is little of consequence to write about, I drew 135, which is a feast or famine peg, after Ben had 220lb off it last week I was hopeful of catching a few, but when I got to the peg, my hopes faded pretty rapidly.  The pipe was running water into the RH side of  peg 136, I believe this comes in at about 11deg, so cooling the area. There was a lot of debris and detritus floating about on the surface and an unpleasant looking green scum lining the margins. (Is that enough excuses now....). 

I felt there would be little point in getting either a lead rod or waggler rod out of the bag, so 4 topkits, a meat rig for 6 sections, a pellet rig for 14m and two margin rigs, one with a banded hooklength and one without.  In my experience, when this peg does well, it's the margins that do the damage, so that was my main line of attack, but I started on the meat and had a fish after 10 minutes, after that came the start of the days major frustration, tiny roach and skimmers whittling down 8mm and even 11mm pellets, meat, tugging at double worm and holding 7 maggots and the bulk shot off the bottom.  I would go as far to say, that this was the worst I have ever experienced this at Viaduct and whilst it seems like an easy cop out, I honestly believe it was due to the lack of bigger fish in the peg to push them out.

I fed groundbait into the LH margin and had a perch and two rudd from there, no sign of a carp, the RH margin produced six carp to 8mm pellet over the full duration of the match, I had two fish on pellet at 14m and two fish on meat at 6 sections, the shallow water can be where they want to be some days, but not it would appear, today.  I reckon I had 65lb by the end and with the next lowest weight in the section being 80lb, I didn't trouble the scales, as it wouldn't affect either my or anyone elses league position.  No results, you'll find them on Tony's blog.






Monday 18 May 2015

Short Pole Series, Round Two, Trinity Waters. Sunday 17th May 2015

I was expecting this to fish well after the warmer weather and wind oxygenating the water, but it proved to be a struggle for many!!

With a couple of the league anglers off watching some pointless non-league football match, we had some stand-in's, so the match was up to strength in numbers.  Bob Gullick did look a bit upset when he realised the bridge pegs on the venue weren't on the lake we were fishing.......

When I got to the draw tin, Tony said, "at least most of the pegs on the top bank are gone", as that is the one area I have never won or framed from on this lake, so what come out, 17 on the top bank, oh well, it has to produce for me one day surely and with the wind blowing towards it, why not today.  He couldn't smile too much at my misfortune, as he had been handed peg 18, so it was going to be an interesting battle between us, although on reflection, interesting may well be a misleading description.

We set up similar rigs to fish pellet, meat short and the margins, although I knew Tony would have a band on his pellet rig whereas I intended to start on soft pellet. I had some paste on the tray, 6 and 8mm pellets, 8mm meat and dead maggots, but on plumbing the margins and finding nearly 4' and a steep drop off with no shelf, I didn't think they'd see the hook.

Starting on the soft pellet over hard feed 6mm pellets I had a little wait for bites, before landing a small carp and a skimmer. It was painfully slow going, to get any sort of reaction from the peg, it needed feed going in, but bites were few and far between, with the odd skimmer gracing the net.  I then lost a 3ln tench, hmmm, I was trying a different elastic and maybe a match where I was looking for a section win at least, wasn't the ideal time to do it.

The short meat line produced one fish, a hybrid with huge eyes, but it was only 3 or 4 ounces, so not much more to say about that.

A switch to worm on the hook over the pellet line, saw a couple of carp and a couple more skimmers netted, before this died off again. The margin resulted in one fish, another small carp, thereafter, every put in ended up in a snag and another MW float bit the dust as if flew back into the keepnet.

I decided to concentrate on the long line and fed some dead maggot in with the pellet, this with 3 dead maggots on the hook produced two more carp and some more big skimmers, a 3lb+ fish coming off, that new elastic wasn't right for skimmers really, but they weren't the target. So a tough day, with some entertainment from Tony, as he had a torrid day, snapping a No6 section and a topkit, I thought I had him beaten, but was expecting to be 3rd or 4th in the section, so was pleasantly surprised to get second in section, still keeping the league alive, but I think only 2 section wins will do now.  Also my silvers got second, so an envelope for the 3rd day in a row.

Best bit of the day was the news that the non league team from oop north had scored, worst news was when the non league team from oop north Bristol  fluked a penalty shoot out win, even so boys "Mind The Gap........"

1: Rod Wotton  117.12 peg 6
2: Paul Elmes 87.12 peg 25
3: Mike Nichols 79.04 peg 22
4: Craig Edmunds 79.03 peg 9
5: Bob Gullick 61.14 peg 13
6: Adrian Jeffery 59.11 peg 33

Silvers
1: Paul Faiers 25.07 peg 31
2: Chris Fox 14.03 peg 17

MFS Two Dayer, Day Two. Saturday 16th May 2015

Cary for me today, it would have been good to get out with the boys that had a curry and a few beers in Yeovil last night, but I was glad I didn't feel like some of them looked..........

The tin of dreams beckoned and I fancied any peg with a decent margin, the fish seemed to be happiest in shallower water yesterday, so it was mixed feelings when 86 came out.  the wind was stronger today, so I set up two lead rods, two rigs to fish meat at 6m and a rig to fish the short margin down to the LH side.  I started on the meat short, hoping for a quick fish, which didn't happen, even with the chop on the water I could see some blowing and didn't have long to wait after the first chuck with an 11mm pellet for the tip to go round and one of Cary's 'Barney Rubbles' in the net, next chuck another and then a third..... how easy is this lead fishing!!!

The next couple of chucks were not so prolific, so a swap to a piece of punched meat saw the tip curl round and a big fish took line at a rate of knots, getting it in gave the 8lb Shimano Technium and the 0.22 hooklength a good test, which passed, as a nigh on 20lb fish was netted.  A lean spell followed, so a look back on the meat line, where there had been some bubbles, this was a frustrating spell, as I foul hooked and lost 3 fish, one hook pull, one snapped hook length and one snapped elastic - gutted one of my favourite MW floats vanished into the depths......

Back on the lead and I had what looked like a liner, when I saw a skimmer jump out of the water, it knew it was hooked before I did!!  In fact it was one of two immaculate condition bream I had on 11mm pellet. A couple more 'Barney's' followed on the lead, but it wasn't possible to keep fish coming from the same spot.  The wind was making feeding difficult, maybe a PVA bag of pellets might be the answer in that situation.

I had left the margin well alone, as its so short, aiming to fish it in the last couple of hours, I fed it with GB and maggot, first drop in with 7 maggots saw the float bury and a 15lber safely netted.  The margin wasn't full of competing fish, which isn't a bad thing when they are that size, I had 4 more over the next hour, but could hear Ben on 85 catching well down his edge too.  I then hooked a big common of 15lb+ that wallowed in like a skimmer, I touched it with the net, that woke it up and it swam off, shedding the hook as it went...... bugger.  One more from the edge before the all out and I thought I had at least the weight I had yesterday.

Ben weighed 221 and I didn't think I had that, so it proved, the lost common costing me dearly, as I weighed 207.  This was second on lake, fifth overall on the day and 4th overall for the two days, so not the worst result, but frustratingly close.  A good couple of days, good company and an awesome fishery, glad its only 50 minutes drive.

1: Jon Martin 238.09 peg 121
2: Mark Poppleton  225.06 peg 118
3: Ben Hagg 221.02 peg 85
4: Dan White 213.14 peg 114
5: Chris Fox 207.08 peg 86
6: Martin ? 198.07 peg 116

Silvers
1:Scott Russell 37303 peg 128

Overall

1: Ben Hagg 2 points
2: Mark Poppleton 2 points
3: Jon Martin 2 points
4: Chris Fox 3 points

MFS Two Dayer, Day One, Viaduct. Friday 15th May 2015

With the lessons from yesterday lodged in the grey matter, I was looking forward to this couple of days, some good banter and good fishing were in prospect.  The draw on the first day was an open draw and I found myself heading to 123, I have only drawn it once before, last years MMT and there weren't many fish there then.

I set up a rig for 5m to fish meat, a rig at 14m to fish pellet and a rig to fish 13m down the edge towards the corner.  I also set up a lead rod, that was packed away at the end, unbent by a fish.
The lake started off fishing slowly, I had an early fish on the short meat line, the long pellet line produced only one fish and a couple more back on the short meat line, but it wasn't really happening. 

With less than half the match gone I looked down the edge, feeding and fishing 8mm pellet, I had three quick fish, not the usual size of the edge dwellers, before switching to feeding groundbait and maggot.  This brought an instant response and a run of fish, before the line went quiet. Another fish off the 5m line helped to rest the margin and it switched back on, this was repeated twice more before the all out, I thought I had about 160lb, the scales once again proving my estimating skills are in need of polishing, as they gave me 183.06, which was good enough for the section win, second on lake and third overall, so something to fish for on Saturday.

1: Ben Hagg 224.15 peg 135
2: Mark Poppleton 200.15  peg 81
3: Chris Fox 183.06 peg 123
4: Fred Roberts 176.04 peg 115
5: Pellet King 174.14 peg 118
6: 76 Trombones 160.00 peg 131

Silvers
1: S White 30.00 peg 78

Viaduct Cost Cutter, Thursday 14th May 2015

With the MFS two dayer on Friday and Saturday, I wanted to take the opportunity to try something out and the cost cutter was an ideal opportunity.  The warm day on Wednesday had me thinking that the fish might have a go on paste, so Thursdays tactic was paste - if it proved anything, its that you shouldn't go into a match with blinkers on and another option or two should be considered and available.

The lovely day that was Wednesday gave way to a cold and wet Thursday and it seemed that the cold rain had sunk straight to the bottom, making my paste attack all wrong.  19 fishing today, i guess the weather cut the numbers down,  I drew 126 and pursued my paste attempt, even though it was all wrong, short and long.  When paste fishing at Viaduct, its common to see the fish approach the bait by the bubbles, usually when the reach the float, fish on and it buries.  Not today, the bubbles came towards the float, the float wobbled and the bubbles carried on past, in the majority of times the fish approached. Suffice to say I DNW, I chucked back about 85lb, which was a long, long way off the pace, but some useful things learnt for the 2 days following.

1: Mark Warns 246.10 peg 112
2: Andy Neal 230.01 peg 80
3: Keith Ashby 193.08 peg 125
4: Dave Romain 191.11 peg 191.11
5: Vic Nugen??  174.10 peg 131
6: Tich Williams 166.05 peg 102

Silvers

1: Keith Ashby 38.0 peg 125
2: Andy Neal 25.05 peg 80

Monday 11 May 2015

Viaduct League Round Two, Sunday 10th May 2015



I needed a good result from today’s match, as the first round was a dropper, so I was first in the draw bucket – at least all the good pegs are in the tin – first dip in, I picked up two stuck together, dropped them back. Second attempt another two stuck together, third dip in one seemed to fly into the palm of my hand….. an omen.  A portent of doom rather than a good omen, as I opened the swimcard to reveal 55. 

Next to me on 56, was Paul Elmes who had been on 55 last match and won the section from it, but with corner pegs 53 and 59 in and seeming a plenty of room for Lee Werrit on 62, I wasn’t so convinced that it would do it again.  I set up 4 rigs, one for the margin down to my left, which looks like it should hold a few fish, a rig for meat fished out to my No6 section, a pellet rig to fish at 14m and finally a paste rig that would do for fishing over the pellet line or anywhere else in the peg, as apart from the margin, the depth varied by little more than 4-6”.  I also set up a waggler to fish on the drop at full depth.

I tried starting on the meat short, sometimes this nicks an early fish or two, but apart from roach bites, that was a non-starter.  A switch to the pellet line feeding 6mm and fishing a banded 8mm brought a couple of small skimmers, even a switch to 6mm in the band didn’t encourage more of them.  By now others around the lake were starting to catch, whilst myself and Paul were struggling.

Coming up to the half way stage of the match, I had managed a couple more skimmers, one on the waggler, one on the meat, but it was pitifully slow and as there were signs of carp out by the rope, I decided to set up a lead rod.  I had no bread with me, so popped up a bit of 10mm meat 6” below the surface,  this was desperation plan Z, as myself and Paul were both finding that casting a waggler towards the fish, saw them back off tighter to the rope.  First two chucks had me thinking it might work, as I had liners, then that was it, they had even backed off a 1/4oz bomb dropping in.

At five to three, I saw a bubble or two over the meat line and in the next half an hour had 3 carp for 34lb, Paul also had a couple of fish and I thought that we would go on and catch a few, apart from a couple more skimmers that was my lot. The margin produced a perch and two rudd, all about 4oz.
With the all-out imminent I had switched over to paste, as Paul had caught a carp on it over his meat line, I said to Paul hopefully one will take it on the drop, one did, it was a skimmer about 1lb and that was enough to beat Paul by 8oz, my carp and skimmers going 47.00, to Pauls 46.08 that was the highlight of the match, as we were well beaten by everyone else in the section.

Really not sure what else I could have done, the pegs felt devoid of fish, no idea why they turned up for 30 minutes and then disappeared again, I had no liners, no foulers, no blowing, nothing to give hope that there were fish there to be caught for 51/2 hours of the match.   I think had I fished for skimmers I could have had a days fishing, but would have been last in section, as they weren’t exactly going mad, so there was no point.  That it for the series, treat the rest as opens and hope for a better draw.  I didn’t get the results, but the weigh sheet pictures are on the Viaduct Facebook page.

Friday 1 May 2015

Viaduct Costcutter, Thursday 30th April 2015

I have been using the new Mossella keepnets since the Bait Tech Festival and they are an improvement on an already good product, they have been redesigned and are slightly smaller, this is a great help on venues where multiple nets have to be used. They seem to have retained the strength and hard wearing of the previous versions, the best nets I have used.

On to the fishing and after Sundays disappointment (I would have not considered that I'd be last in the section from 128) I was keen to get back to Viaduct and put things right in my head. 30 in for this match, so Campbell and Cary in, I was into the tin early and had 116 as my home for the day.  That meant another day with a cold wind blowing straight at me, although it was more left to right initially, but changed round to face on by the time the all-in was called.

Bait tray consisted 8mm pellets and 10mm meat, I also couldn't resist some dead maggots and a bit of GB for down the edge.  With the wind making it difficult to feed accurately at distance, the waggler rod stayed in the bag, I did set up a lead rod and gave that 25 minutes as far as I could fire 8mm pellets, one liner in that time saw it go up the bank and stay there.

4 topkits set up, a rig to fish 8mm pellet at 13m, two meat rigs for the 5m line, shotted differently to try something out and a margin rig, which would do to the 'point' on the RH margin and to a tree in the LH margin.  After the wasted 25 minutes watching a motionless tip, I switched to the pellet rig at 13m and first drop in had a skimmer, next put in a 5lb carp and that was that, no more bites, I switched the line to meat, feeding through a toss pot and this brought a couple of skimmers, but no sign of carp.

I switched to the 5m line and this was slow, but did produce a couple more skimmers and two tench, before finally, 3 carp in 3 put ins, but that was a false dawn again. Swapping back to the long line produced nothing again and I'd been feeding pellet and meat in the LH margin, that was also seemingly devoid of fish.

Persisting with the 5m line I did put a few fish together, but it wasn't hectic action, interestingly, I didn't catch anything on my usual rig, all the fish fell to my experimental set up and feeding via a toss pot. So food for thought and I need to try this out on a couple more occasions before coming to any conclusions.  With a couple of hours to go I fed GB and maggots into the RH margin and it didn't take long for the tails to appear, I waited 20 minutes and dropped in with 7 maggots on the hook and had 3 or 4 fish, but they were small, 3-4lb, before they disappeared, I re-fed it and went back on the 5m line, taking another fish or two, before seeing the tails and vortexes in the margin again.

Back in with the bunch of maggots and this time the proper edge fish had moved in, in the last half an hour or so I had 4, which were 9-12lb, I landed on with a minute to go and didn't have time to thread the maggots on, I put a piece of meat on, dropped it in and the float just kept going, another decent fish landed after the whistle.

I knew Dave Romain had been catching well on 114, he'd been catching up to the pallet of 113, Ian Parsons on 123 had been catching well down the edge, so I wasn't sure how I'd done, but it was better than Sunday, thankfully.  It had been hard work and constant changes to keep the fish coming, an enjoyable day.  As it panned out, my 138.10 was enough for 4th and Sundays woes banished to history.

1: Chris Rolfe 242.01 peg 96
2: Dave Romain 226.10 peg 114
3: Ian Parsons 149.12 peg 123
4: Chris Fox 138.10 peg 116
5: Tich Williams 135.02 peg 97
6: Shep 114.07  peg 85

Silvers
1: Paul Greenwood 54.12 peg 86