The Sweet Success of Spring

I think May has to be one of my favourite months. Everything seems to bloom and come to life.

Fields and forests are enveloped in greens and yellows. The offspring of nature are busy learning what life is about. Ducks, Geese, Rabbits, Frogs, Toads and of course the fish begin their own rituals. 

I knew this month was going to be really hectic and was nervous about getting enough time to prepare, but I managed to juggle work and fishing to have some good results...and some not so great!

May Action update:

Fish O Mania: The Oaks: 

The month kicked off with my 2nd of 2 Fish O qualifiers. I drew what looked a lovely peg on the point of an island on the Cedar lake. Former finalist Paul Richie was sat to my left and he explained we were probably at the wrong end of the lake. He was right, I chucked back around 12lb of Skimmers and a couple of F1. Around 60lb won the lake.

Bradshaw Fisheries open: A last minute decision to enter on new lakes 8&9. Peg 3 on Lake 8 was my draw, but the weather was cold and windy. 28lb 10oz was hard work but won me the section.

Garbolino Club Angler of the Year: Tunnel Barn Farm: 

The rules to qualify for this competition has been changed to allow the runners up from each club championship to enter. Nick Haymes was our Eight Bells A.C. champion and I was runner up so we both entered. I drew a noted flier on the House pool, between two islands and more importantly had room around me.

House pool....blown!

What I found on this match was that I never really made anything work. I had advice to fish by a tree stump to my right. It was a hot day too so I quite fancied mugging a few fish off the surface. I also received lots of advice from the Garbolino sponsored team as they walked around. The result was 59lb 8oz and way behind the winning 120lb & 110lb which qualified off the lake. Eight Bells club champ Nick managed to qualify off his water, so he will be in the final at bagging mecca Cob house in the summer. Good luck lad!

There was one stage where I was struggling to hit bites. I was fishing down the edge .15 through to a size 16 hook in search of proper carp. Darren Cox suggested I stepped down .12 and 18 hook and fish specifically for the F1's. I immediately had 7 fish in 7 chucks. The learning point being how cute F1's can be even in coloured water. If I did hook a carp I could have just took my time anyway!

Partridge Lakes: The Spey Canal:

I needed an upturn in fortune and a small match with most of the lads from my supercup team "Bratty's Partridge Drawbags" was to bring the first bit of good action. I drew peg 8 on the Spey canal. It didn't mean anything to me as I had only fished the water once around 3 years ago.

The Spey was coloured up with the fishy goings on. Either side of the reed bed kept them coming.

The weather was good and the fish were spawning like crazy so I was a little worried how the day would fish. Fishery pellets with a dash of Marukyu SFA 450 Krill and topped off with a little EFG170 groundbait across in the shallow water did the damage. Swapping between double maggot and Jpz hookbait I managed 43lb+ for a victory. A mixture of F1 and carp across and down the edge did the business

One of the funniest moments was Young Tom Dobson on peg 6, he hooked a carp in the reed beds next to him. He foolishly (Or not so foolishly as he go it in!) decided to fish with a solid 8 elastic down the edge = fun & games.

Tom "Dobber" Dobson and his 8s Laccy!

Eight Bells A.C: Fir Tree Fishery:

This was a nice little match on a water I had not fished before. The owner said that the target species were small carp up to 12oz as the lake is only a year or so old... He was right, the fish were tiny! 

Fir Tree Fishery - Small Fish match

I concentrated on a top kit, as that was where I wanted to catch them quick. But it was the track which kept bites coming regularly Jpz over tiny 1.5mm fishery pellets did the trick. Skimmers and tiny carp were the bulk of the weight with a few Ide.

Around 80 fish for 30lb 7oz gave me a section win and 2nd overall.  One trick here was to over-wet the micros and mould them into little marble size balls nice and tight. The water was around 10ft deep so this was important to concentrate the fish. There was also a very strong undertow so I had to be sure my feed was where I was fishing.

A 2nd place the day after the Spey win.

Sweet Success

For this months feature I headed off down to the Glebe Fishery in Leicestershire. For me this venue is the Rolls Royce of fisheries. I decided to repeat what I did last year and spend a couple of days down there. (May 2013 blog: The Glorious Glebe)

This month is a little different as I have actually done a video blog to accompany the usual script.  I hope it helps bring things to light a little.

Day 1:

First up it was the Maver Match this event. I drew lake 4 peg 88. Feeder to the far bank and a short Corn and Margin line was all I based my plan around. It was short sighted as the lake fished relatively poorly for the Glebe. I realised with 20 minutes of the match remaining there were fish to be caught on the pellet waggler.

I had a dismal 38lb 8oz, but there was lower than me and although the lake was won with 125lb there were no back up weights just 40s, 50s and 2 x 70lb weights. 

Day 2:

The second day allowed me to relax. Just like last year fishery owner Roy Marlow allowed me private access to the waters to do this feature. I wanted to try a new product launched by Marukyu called "Sweet success". As the name suggests this is a new groundbait with a very sweet almost caramel scent.  For me it just screamed Skimmers! 

I set up on lake 7 and ideally wanted to fish Chopped worm for the Skimmers. But learning from the previous day I also set up a feeder and a pellet waggler. The day was showery but also very still and fish could be seen in and around the upper layers.

Sweet success loaded with dead mags and chopped worm

I put in 4 big balls at the bottom of the near shelf loaded with chopped worm and dead maggots. I expected the Skimmers to be patrolling the the nearside ledge and wanted to get them settled.

Whilst waiting for the nearside shelf I chucked an open end feeder with the same groundbait mix across to the far side aimed at carp. I also fed the new Skrill Pellets in size 8mm 3/4 away across the lake for the pellet waggler.

A couple of line bites in the first 20 minutes told me the carp were not feeding on the bottom just yet. Then a couple of small carp made an appearance.

Fish On!

A couple of chunky little carp kicked off the session on the feeder

Rather than sit watching the tip, I wanted to be busy, so a re-feed of my skimmer line was in order before I went onto the pellet waggler. A banded 8mm Skrill pellet cast between 1/2 and 3/4 across the pool with a couple of loose offerings kept me busy instantly.

Good fun on the pellet waggler

Come here!

Wallop! The stamp of fish on the pellet waggler

Coming onto the short line for my original quarry I initially had a couple of small carp, followed by some decent perch and then the Skimmers. These were a good stamp around 2lb a piece, but I didn't feel I had things right.. enter uncle Roy!

Roy came down the bank and explained that it was no good fishing into the deep water. The skimmers had been spawning and not really showing very well lately. He suggested fishing off the bank into around 3ft of water. So Margin fishing, but slightly down the slope.

Roy added micro 2mm skrill pellets and corn to my sweet success groundbait and over wet the mix. A deeper rig with a longer line was assembled and 3ft was found a couple of metres off the bank. The interesting thing was how Roy bulked the shot under the float and left just 3 x 10 stotz as droppers.

The idea being that he wanted the bait to waft around and for the bigger fish to snatch at it. Traditionally I would always fish with a bulked down rig and go overdepth to try and avoid foulhookers. This could be interesting...

Words of wisdom from Admiral Marlow

The idea was to feed overwet groundbait for 15 minutes or so without fishing. This should attract the fish to come up the shelf, and those up in the water to investigate. Hookbait was the new prototype expander type pellets from Marukyu (Available in Red & Black very soon!)

Admiral Marlow was soon into fish down the slope.

The fish needed a good 15 minutes to build confidence

Video Clip:   Something new for this month is video footage to demonstrate this margin tactic.

https://vimeo.com/96672426

A succession of carp and skimmers came on this tactic until I had to call it a day.

Fish on!

Get in!

Good Stamp carp over the sloppy sweet success

Chunky Mirrors too dwelled down the edges.

Roy really got me thinking about how I fish down the edge. Does it really need to be the magical 2ft depth? Do I really need to bulk down my rigs? Would the tactic work elsewhere or is it just the Glebe is so good? etc etc. Either way it didnt really matter as I had a great day's fishing and food for thought for the following day's match.

Around 30lb of Skimmers, perch etc to add to my carp weight..

Video Clip: Carp net

https://vimeo.com/96644659

Day 3:
The following day I fished a match amongst the Marukyu sponsored anglers and the field testing team. The day was much more windy and Roy did mention that Corn tends to work only with a chop on the water.

Lake 5 was my home for the day. Similar tactics were assembled. The only difference is that due to the chop on the water I replaced the Worm line down the shelf with hemp and corn. I did not touch this line for 3 hours.

A couple of early feeder fish. A succession of carp and skimmers over the sweet success off the bank and a cracking last 2 hours over my corn lines gave me an enjoyable day. So really everything I wanted to work did! (Makes a change!)

120lb 8oz gave me a new personal best during a match. However that was only good enough for 4th on the lake! But again day by day I have improved and began "tuning" into the venue.

The glorious Glebe truly is a great fishery, but you can have too much of a good thing! For me it was a nice treat to get away from everything and improve my fishing with the help of Roy. For the locals 100+ 200+ and even 300lb weights are the norm. We simply are not blessed with that type of fishery in the North West.

June will not involve much fishing due to the World Cup and holidays. So I will be back in July sometime with an update of my latest goings on.

Tight Lines
Dave

Day 3 at the Glebe and 120lb 8oz for nowhere!

Fine Margins!

Wow what a month April has been!

With my club season starting, Fish 0 Mania qualifier and Docklow Festival it has been none stop, so let's get cracking with where we are at...

April Action:

Peg 155 Covey no6

April kicked off with our Drennan Supercup match against Woolston Legion A.C. from Warrington.

Bratty's Partridge drawbags team consisted of:
Me
Richard Bratt (Captain)
Tom Dobson
Paul Jagger
Stephen Physick
Stephen Hilditch
Scott Rutter
Carl McCormack

Venue: Partridge Lakes Covey no6

 I drew peg 155 and as the picture illustrates, its a bit of a much of a muchness in terms of features. I decided to have 2 deep track lines, 2 lines up the far slope in 3ft of water and a rig to fish tight across. Being a team match and only fishing against one other angler it was important to be cagey yet confident in my approach.

As per my previous blog, it is a small fish venue with the odd 4lb fish milling around. Just over 16lb of small F1 gave me a 9lb margin over my competitor so it was job done. JPZ over Jpelletz/Fishery pellets did the trick. I sensed as a team we had fished well and it was proven by an 8 section 0 victory.

Every one of the team beat their opposing man so a great score for the day. Carl McCormack put in a great performance to win overall with 32lb+.

Small F1 fishing was the way on Covey 6

Next round is early June away against Bay Malton A.C. on their Border Fishery. Fingers crossed I make the team and we can progress.

Old Hough Fishery

Next time out I decided to join "Captain Bratty" on one of his local venues in Cheshire. Old Hough isn't a place I have visited before, but I was instantly impressed. Good parking, well thought out waters and pegs. If the venue had a cafe and a tackle shop it would tick all boxes.

The match was split into two separate matches on the Upper and Lower Benbo waters. I drew Lower Benbo peg 11 which was an end peg just off the point of the central island.

Lower Benbo 11

Quite a breezy day made holding 16 metres of pole across difficult, but it was necessary. On the image there is a gap between the freshly grown rushes, here was where I would present double maggot or 6mm JPZ over EFG170 cupped in loose.

It paid off handsomely with a string of F1 and small carp. I also placed two track lines and a margin line. By rotating I had a lovely days fishing to weigh 39lb 7oz and win the match on my lake. My peg was clearly a good one being an end peg, but even so the next weight was over 10lb behind so I was happy that I weighed the peg up quickly and did the business.

Eight Bells A.C. -Whitmore Fishery - East Canal

Now I have to say I am not a fan of this venue. Lots of big barbel and carp are the mainstay but our club matches never seem to produce, I think we possibly fish the water too early on in the year. A measly 16lb sat on the feeder all day gave me 5th spot. Absolutely not my kind of fishing, especially with a million bait bans on the go.

Bradshaw Fisheries

I booked on the Easter Friday match to have a crack at Lake 3 as my Eight Bells club had it booked for Easter Sunday. As It happened I drew lake 6 and enjoyed a decent day weighing 28lb of Skimmers and Roach with a bonus Carp and a few F1, this wasn't enough to get me in the frame.

A couple of the lads fished the day and did ok too. Chris (The Wealdstone Raider) Pickering had 20lb+ and Nick Haymes framed with 40lb+ for 2nd place.

Come the Easter Sunday and Lake 3 was blowing an absolute hoolie! I drew around the back of the lake where the new platform pegs go out into the lake.

Peg 20 Lake 3

I sensed the going was to be hard and approached it that way. .09 through to a 20 Drennan Carp Maggot hook with little balls of EFG170 and a JPZ or krilled maggot over the top gave me a run of tiny F1 carp and silvers. Feeding maggots tight over ensured I had a back up plan.

Feeding the left side of my peg ensured I could attract any fish from my left hand neighbour. I fished it just as I would a canal match and won my section with 20lb 14oz. Second in section was only 7lb so very pleasing and came 4th overall.

Hayfield Lakes - Fish O Mania Qualifier

The less said about this match the better. I drew Big Adam's pool and had around 15 feet between myself and either peg on the river side. 1 small carp around 2lb spared me the blank. Next year its an expensive lottery I wont be getting involved in any more.

The Dave Jack (Jacko) Invitational Spring Festival - Docklow Pools, Herefordshire

Docklow Pools has given me a lot of joy the past 4 years.

Format: 
57 anglers. 4 Lakes: Match pool, Farmer Jack, Stock Pond, Snake lake.
(Snake weights not included)

Having finished 6th overall in this festival last year, as always I wanted to improve. The caveat being I had not visited since December due to work commitments. The venue has had a fresh head of fish introduced and I was nervous I would be out of touch.

The only difference to last year is that the lakes would be split into 2 sections of 7. Same points scoring 1 for first and 7th for last.

Many of the same faces from last year came up from London and I had a really good group where I knew even if the fishing wasn't what I wanted then the laughs and banter would be.

Before the festival Proper I fished the weekend opens. The snake I struggled for 9lb of very small fish, but the following day I managed 48lb+ of F1 and Carp on the Farmer Jack peg 43 for 2nd place. So a mixed start before the business end kicked off.

48lb for 2nd off peg 43 the day before the festival starts

Day 1: 
Farmer Jack Peg 15

peg 15 the polar opposite to the previous day

Day 1 draw did not fill me with optimism. It can be good or it can be rubbish. Pegs 6 and opposite 11 hold much more consistent form so I set myself a target of 3 points.

Top 2 +2 fishing Casters for anything should give me a bit of a head start. Long at 11 metres with hemp and meat to the right and pellet to the left would give other options. But it was the margins I needed to work come the last couple of hours.

Casters accounted for a mixed bag of Skimmers, Roach, baby Barbel and other silvers for around 15lb. A couple of stocky carp long also helped boost the weight. But it was the margins offering chunky F1 and Tench that did the trick for a surprising section win!

Weight: 52lb 10z 1 point 

Day 2:
Stock Pong peg 6

Bizarrely this is the 3rd festival in a row which I have drawn peg 6! The difference this time is that the section was split slightly different. My peg would be against the left hand pegs 7,8,12,15,16. I wasn't sure if this was a good thing as peg 16 won the section the previous day.

Peg 6 Again!

55lb had come off my peg the previous day and weights had not been the usual 100lb+ from previous experience so I decided on my usual Maggot and top kit approach, but have the plan B of a pellet line in open water. There had been a couple of lumps shown the previous day too so I also put in a Corn line at 9 metres.

As always my short approach did dry up and I was left chasing my tail a little bit trying to find extra fish. 64 F1 and a few silvers gave me 66lb11oz was only enough for 2nd in section.

Paul Jennings across the way on peg 15 caught consistently all-day where as I had that quiet spell in the middle of the match. I think the problem with this peg is that you don't really have a margin as such. Either side is full of tree roots and the margins can be really productive off some other pegs. Still 2 points wasn't bad.

Weight: 66lb 11oz 2 points

Day 3:
Match Pool peg 18

The "Roots" peg 18 :(

Peg 2-10 had been doing the damage throughout the week and I was disappointed to draw the opposite bank, because this was my last chance to get a decent weight on the board. However the positive meant I was in a more fairer section, although peg 30 had won the past two days.

peg 18 has an old tree's roots in the water to the right hand side and the fish know exactly where they are going! I decided on a waggler approach as there was a number of fish cruising around and the day was quite humid. I would also set up my margin pole to attack the roots. 

Meat up in the water accounted for 4 decent carp and a few decent chub although I did lose an absolute Donkey which tore right through the roots when I got it to the rod tip. Pole against the roots I did manage a number of chunky F1 and a couple of 5lb carp. Top 2+2 also accounted for a few F1. 

Trying to extract these from the roots was a huge challenge.

Terry Wade on the peg 20 had very little until he decided to empty the margins the last 2 hours. His last gasp  double figure carp hooked before the whistle put him on 85lb. My 74lb 1oz I thought was OK for the peg,  but the kick in the teeth came when Micky Robinson on peg 30 weighed 74lb 3oz to put me down to 3rd in section. I was gutted and sensed it might well cost me in the overall standings. It is incredible that when we are talking weights of 70lb+ that them vital ounces can make all the difference. 

Weight: 74lb 1oz  3 Points 

Total cumulative weight: 193lb 3oz

Day 4:
Snake peg 12 (Carp side)

Peg 12 Carp Snake

The weights from the Snake matches do not count, because the snake lake itself is split into two. One side has F1 Carp as well as the Silvers, this would be one section. The other section was Silvers only. Obviously the two don't really compare so they take away the weight advantage.

Although the silver side last year was my nemesis, I felt confident of doing reasonably well on any peg and I had fished peg 12 a couple of times in the past.

When the fish are not playing the Robin's always doo!

I started very negatively with .09 to a 20 hook and maggot with a taster of chopped worm and decided to feel my way in. Both snakes go down hill traditionally after pressure and with it being the last day I didn't expect much action. I set a target of 20lb for good points.

However I hooked 5 F1 and lost 3 in the first 30 minutes. I decided on fishing .12 to an 18 hook and using a 10H. After that I didn't lose another fish. A smattering of Skimmers and Roach made an appearance, but it was under the tree to my left using 6mm meat and JPZ that did the damage. I never expected the water to fish as well and rarely had to go tight across as the track and margin kept me busy all-day for a final section win and the highest weight off the lake all week.

Weight: 43lb 6oz Points 1
Total of 7 points

So I managed to beat last years total points and as the sections were actually bigger this was probably more of an achievement. Apart from maybe the snake, I don't think I had any particularly good draws so overall I have to be pleased.

My weight and points put me in 5th overall from 57 anglers. If I had the extra 3oz on the match pool that would have put me in second place. Such a fine margin yet a big difference.

But that is fishing and why we all love it. 4 waters, 4 different styles of fishing and I am really happy I improved with my highest finish yet.

Top 30 of the festival

A huge well done to Pat Pike for winning the festival. He has always been there or thereabouts whilst I have fished the festival and he fished a blinder with 3 section wins and a 2nd.


1st : Pat Pike (Dagenham) 5 points 235lb 4oz
2nd : Tony Williams (Birmingham) 7 points 232lb 7oz
3rd : Bobby Munroe (Dagenham) 7 points 232lb 6oz
4th: Keith Harris (Swindon) 7 points 210lb 5oz
5th : David Eastwood (Manchester) 7 points 193lb 3oz


So it is into May and lots more activity coming up!

Tight Lines

Dave