It seems an age since I threaded a line through some rod rings and cast something out! So this month I was determined to get out there and catch something on rod and reel.
It so happens that all the matches I have been fishing recently have been on snake type venues with F1's being the main quarry. Pole presentation is unbeatable when faced with those conditions so Its been difficult.
First let me reflect on my matches since last month:
Partridge lakes - Covey No6
As I mentioned last month, my mate Rich Bratt has put together a squad for the Drennan Supercup and he kindly added me to his squad of 15. The problem being there are only 8 places in the team! So in the interest of fairness, Rich decided to run a points based qualifier to get into the team (Even he as the captain was not guaranteed a place)
The draw by organisers Angling Times was made and "Bratty's Partridge Drawbags" have a home tie Vs "Woolston Legion A.C." The home draw puts us on Covey No6 and the practice matches began in earnest.
Qualifier one: I drew peg 168 which is just over the bridge. It made no odds to me as I have never fished the water. The far slope seemed to go on forever so I decided on a couple of pellet lines in a comfortable 3ft of water and although still chilly have a line tight across in 15 inches. I also had a maggot line at the base of the near shelf in near 7ft of water. Pegs 170 and 173 caught consistently from the off, and I could never really keep up. What I did get though was a better stamp of fish using my JPZ hookbait over Mircos and Jpelletz. Just short of 18lb gave me a double default section win as 173 won with over 40lb and 170 second with over 30lb. Overall I finished around 5th in the match.
Qualifier two: I draw exactly the same peg 168. This time it was with a twist. Woolston A.C. took Rich up on his offer of a practice match, so the lake was full. I felt I could do better having learned from a few mistakes the previous week...how wrong I could be! 6 fish and 3lb 14oz later!! The lake fished awful with 8lb to my left and 2 small Chub to my right. Peg 173 again did the damage Rich Bratt with 27lb. A dent in my quest for a team spot.
Qualifier three: Peg 146 this time on the opposite bank. Wind, Rain, Hail and Sun made for a disastrous day. Only 16lb was needed to win the match overall. My 4lb 5oz was another grueller!! But due to my weight advantage from the first round I managed to sneak into the team. This lake is not easy and I just hope it trips up the Woolston A.C. mob too. Roll on round 1.
Partridge Lakes - Ribbon Lake
A break from Covey No6 took me and Bratty's drawbags back to the complexes Ribbon lake. I drew Peg 10 which was on the corner of an island. The wind was again howling and this time it was coming across my face into an inviting corner to my right. It meant presentation was going to be hard over to the island and I might have to plunder my right hand margin.
A chunky F1 and its smaller brother came to dobbed bread across along the reed line, whilst I waited for my pellet lines to settle.
Partridge lakes - Covey No6
As I mentioned last month, my mate Rich Bratt has put together a squad for the Drennan Supercup and he kindly added me to his squad of 15. The problem being there are only 8 places in the team! So in the interest of fairness, Rich decided to run a points based qualifier to get into the team (Even he as the captain was not guaranteed a place)
The draw by organisers Angling Times was made and "Bratty's Partridge Drawbags" have a home tie Vs "Woolston Legion A.C." The home draw puts us on Covey No6 and the practice matches began in earnest.
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| I have been enjoying my time at Partridge Lakes near Warrington |
Qualifier one: I drew peg 168 which is just over the bridge. It made no odds to me as I have never fished the water. The far slope seemed to go on forever so I decided on a couple of pellet lines in a comfortable 3ft of water and although still chilly have a line tight across in 15 inches. I also had a maggot line at the base of the near shelf in near 7ft of water. Pegs 170 and 173 caught consistently from the off, and I could never really keep up. What I did get though was a better stamp of fish using my JPZ hookbait over Mircos and Jpelletz. Just short of 18lb gave me a double default section win as 173 won with over 40lb and 170 second with over 30lb. Overall I finished around 5th in the match.
Qualifier two: I draw exactly the same peg 168. This time it was with a twist. Woolston A.C. took Rich up on his offer of a practice match, so the lake was full. I felt I could do better having learned from a few mistakes the previous week...how wrong I could be! 6 fish and 3lb 14oz later!! The lake fished awful with 8lb to my left and 2 small Chub to my right. Peg 173 again did the damage Rich Bratt with 27lb. A dent in my quest for a team spot.
Qualifier three: Peg 146 this time on the opposite bank. Wind, Rain, Hail and Sun made for a disastrous day. Only 16lb was needed to win the match overall. My 4lb 5oz was another grueller!! But due to my weight advantage from the first round I managed to sneak into the team. This lake is not easy and I just hope it trips up the Woolston A.C. mob too. Roll on round 1.
Partridge Lakes - Ribbon Lake
A break from Covey No6 took me and Bratty's drawbags back to the complexes Ribbon lake. I drew Peg 10 which was on the corner of an island. The wind was again howling and this time it was coming across my face into an inviting corner to my right. It meant presentation was going to be hard over to the island and I might have to plunder my right hand margin.
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| Ribbon Lake peg 10 |
A chunky F1 and its smaller brother came to dobbed bread across along the reed line, whilst I waited for my pellet lines to settle.
One line was placed to the right of the island in 3ft of water up the shelf. And one at 8 metres in open water to the right slightly in 5ft. I caught sporadic fish between the two lines for the first half of the match.
I also placed some dead maggots and a little Marukyu EFG 170 Nori in 3ft of water to my right hand margin next to some rushes. Here I managed a couple of F1 and some useful chunky IDE.
But it was mid-way through when I felt the temperature had rose and the match had settled that I chose to attack the far bank. If you look at the picture closely you can see the island is heavily undercut. There was a flat spot of around 18 inches as the bank cuts under. From my lessons at Docklow Pools I know how tight you have to get into these crevices to extract fish. A sprinkle of Micro pellets with a grain of corn saw me go latch into 2 Mirror carp around the 3lb mark in two chucks. I was conscious not to abuse this line too much, but at the same time needed to catch what was there whilst the wind allowed me to present.
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| Pete Rice TBF floats are perfect for sticking up rat holes. Ben Scott Wire for open water. |
In the end I had to use 3ft of line above the float due to the movement of my pole and keep swapping lines concious not to spook everything in the area. Chopping between Corn and a JPZ hookbait did the trick and 35lb 9oz gave me a comfortable win.
Tunnel Barn Farm Winter League: Jenny's Pool
The final round of the mini winter league with the Forget me not club based in Birmingham with me leading by 1 point. Colin Kettlewell was my closest rival, with such a slender points advantage and only a 1lb weight advantage I just needed to beat him.
Peg 24 was the area for the day on the point of an island. Unfortunately peg 21 was in too so we were both sharing the point. As it happened the wind was so strong I would not be able to present my pole over there until the wind died down.
A maggot and a pellet line down the track in around 6-7ft of water and a margin swim were my plan. I kicked off down the track on Maggot and a welcome Tench made an appearance, but bites were finicky. I was using 0.75grm Maver Finesse float to give some sort of decent presentation in the wind. Next door Steve Gardner (Not the one who fishes for England!) was catching F1 steady and seemed to have it sussed (Turns out he drew the peg he was fishing the previous week)
To cut a long story short I blew out! I chopped and changed to try and put fish in the net, but never really made anything work. Steve was catching regularly and it made me think that Colin Kettlewell would be also. If the truth be told I probably put too much pressure on myself and didn't fish my own match. I should have stuck to what I knew would work and got my noggin down.
I also fished far too negative thinking it was another Covey No6 match. I fished Micros, Steve next to me fished 4mm...say no more. He knew the fish were feeding, where as I was too busy feeling my way into the match.
I was down the track, down the edges, up in the water, I even hastily set up a little Banjo feeder to chuck across (I had quite a few on it to be fair) but never really got my head down and cracked on.
Steve won the match with 73lb. My 54lb 8oz put me in 5th overall and with Colin Kettlewell weighing 65lb for 3rd it meant he had pipped me to the winner of the winter league. Well done Col good skills.
Tunnel Barn Farm Winter League: Jenny's Pool
The final round of the mini winter league with the Forget me not club based in Birmingham with me leading by 1 point. Colin Kettlewell was my closest rival, with such a slender points advantage and only a 1lb weight advantage I just needed to beat him.
Peg 24 was the area for the day on the point of an island. Unfortunately peg 21 was in too so we were both sharing the point. As it happened the wind was so strong I would not be able to present my pole over there until the wind died down.
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| Peg 24 looked very inviting. But the wind was playing havoc |
A maggot and a pellet line down the track in around 6-7ft of water and a margin swim were my plan. I kicked off down the track on Maggot and a welcome Tench made an appearance, but bites were finicky. I was using 0.75grm Maver Finesse float to give some sort of decent presentation in the wind. Next door Steve Gardner (Not the one who fishes for England!) was catching F1 steady and seemed to have it sussed (Turns out he drew the peg he was fishing the previous week)
To cut a long story short I blew out! I chopped and changed to try and put fish in the net, but never really made anything work. Steve was catching regularly and it made me think that Colin Kettlewell would be also. If the truth be told I probably put too much pressure on myself and didn't fish my own match. I should have stuck to what I knew would work and got my noggin down.
I also fished far too negative thinking it was another Covey No6 match. I fished Micros, Steve next to me fished 4mm...say no more. He knew the fish were feeding, where as I was too busy feeling my way into the match.
I was down the track, down the edges, up in the water, I even hastily set up a little Banjo feeder to chuck across (I had quite a few on it to be fair) but never really got my head down and cracked on.
Steve won the match with 73lb. My 54lb 8oz put me in 5th overall and with Colin Kettlewell weighing 65lb for 3rd it meant he had pipped me to the winner of the winter league. Well done Col good skills.
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| 54lb 8oz should have been more with a little more aggression and confidence |
Rod and Reel time: Bradshaw Fisheries Lake no4
The weather has been up and down quite a lot lately and I really wanted to try and catch a few fish on the pellet waggler to get some practice in for the summer. With a few hours spare I nipped off to Bradshaw's near Bolton. No4 lodge is normally always good for a few fish, its just a case of getting them to feed and finding their depth.
The noted pegs on the wall side were not available so I chose Peg 6 which should hopefully have a few fish mooching in the area. Unfortunately the air temperature had dropped to 9 degrees and the North Western wind blowing into my face didn't fill me with pellet waggler confidence. With this in mind I also set up a straight lead.
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| Peg 6 Lake No4 |
Baitwise it was straight forward. A mixture of 8mm pellets. Robin Red's, Standard feed pellets and one or two Halibut pellets. The thinking here is the different speeds at which they sink and differing breakdown speeds. I was looking to fish a comfortable chuck around 25 metres in no particularly tight area. Just 2 or 3 every 5 minutes or so until indications begin. If the fish are not coming up for anything then a straight lead with a 10mm JPZ will hopefully snare a few fish. I also had a couple of different 10mm Boilies
This lake is full of snags and the fish do pull back so I had to find a balance of attracting bites and getting them out. So for both lead and waggler I chose powerful 12ft rods combined with Daiwa TDX reels.
On the waggler I went with a 6.6lb mainline with a 6lb bottom and size 18Guru MWG hook. The waggler itself was a Middy 8grm "Popper" a lovely little float that makes just the right splash and casts with ease. The waggler is held on with 2 gripper stops....simplicity in itself.
The lead was 3/4oz attached with a Guru sliding clip. Mainline is a little different as it is red in colour and has similar properties to braid, it is called Stone River and at 0.20 breaks at over 10lb. Hooklength of 2ft was 6lb to a 18 Korum CS hook and band.
The reason for the relatively small but strong hooks are due to the fishes mouths. Lots of them are damaged a legacy of a tactic in the 90s called "the rattler". Some well known North West match anglers used crude pike bungs and bubble floats for the then tiny 4oz mirrors to hook themselves. Shameful.
I kicked off the waggler 3ft deep and went upto around 7ft (The lake is about 8ft deep) trying different feeding patterns etc, but could not get any indications. I half expected to foul hook something or at least get a couple of roach attacking the pellet, but after 90 mins or so I decided on seeing what was on the deck.
My good mate Paul Adrian owner of Carp Fever Tackle here in Manchester, put together a range of additives that come under the Nash name. He is very proud of his dips and Boilies and the new Manchester Specials v2 are something I have wanted to try for a while. A sweet spicy aroma hits the nostrils and fills me with confidence. Along with Marukyu Sanagi the Tangee Spice will be in my bag this summer.
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| Waggler set up on the Left : Straight Lead on the right |
On the waggler I went with a 6.6lb mainline with a 6lb bottom and size 18Guru MWG hook. The waggler itself was a Middy 8grm "Popper" a lovely little float that makes just the right splash and casts with ease. The waggler is held on with 2 gripper stops....simplicity in itself.
The lead was 3/4oz attached with a Guru sliding clip. Mainline is a little different as it is red in colour and has similar properties to braid, it is called Stone River and at 0.20 breaks at over 10lb. Hooklength of 2ft was 6lb to a 18 Korum CS hook and band.
The reason for the relatively small but strong hooks are due to the fishes mouths. Lots of them are damaged a legacy of a tactic in the 90s called "the rattler". Some well known North West match anglers used crude pike bungs and bubble floats for the then tiny 4oz mirrors to hook themselves. Shameful.
I kicked off the waggler 3ft deep and went upto around 7ft (The lake is about 8ft deep) trying different feeding patterns etc, but could not get any indications. I half expected to foul hook something or at least get a couple of roach attacking the pellet, but after 90 mins or so I decided on seeing what was on the deck.
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| Manchester Specials Tangee Spice |
My Tangee Spiced up pellet whacked around instantly for a nice small Tench around 2lb, I also had a couple of liners and indications. Fish had definitely found my pellets and were having a sniff about my area.
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| A spring Tench on a Tangee infused pellet |
I didn't quite feel the straight lead was the way to go, so after ditching the pellet waggler I now ditched the straight lead. I felt a small method feeder with a little groundbait would get the fish more confident and get their heads down. So off came to lead and on went a 25g Drennan method with a short 4inch hooklength. I knocked up a bag of Marukyu Luxus Method mix and popped on a 10mm JPZ
First cast and my decision was vindicated. A Skimmer around the 1lb mark took a liking to my JPZ and Luxus combo. The previous lead line bites were probably Skimmers and the longer hooklength of the lead wouldn't give the bolt effect of the method. I was hoping the silver action may attract carp.
2 more Skimmers followed and then a change to a spicy 10mm Boilie caught this plump F1. When mixing the Luxus Mix I added a good glug of the Tangee Spice dip so it made sense to marry up with a spicy hookbait. But still where were the proper carp??
Wallop! at last. A carp around 6lb on a 10mm JPZ. This one was so slippery I nearly dropped it back in the lake 5 times before eventually getting a shot! Another carp soon had me snagged in the underwater roots. Another Skimmer of around 2lb, then an F1 and a final carp of 5lb completed the short day. At last some rod bending action!
I was glad of my decision making. The pellet waggler and lead didn't feel right, yet the method did. The groundbait and attractions definitely turned inquisitive fish into feeding fish.
Summary
It has been a funny old month really. With some success and some missed opportunities. April brings the start of the Club season for my Eight Bells A.C. Hopefully I can go one better this year and improve on the many 2nd places from 2013. The month also brings Fish 0 qualifiers and the Drennan Supercup.
Hopefully the weather will settle and weights will increase. We now need to start thinking about preparing for the Summer months!
Enjoy your fishing Dave
