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.
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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| 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.
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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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.
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...
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!)
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.
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| Fish On! |
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| A couple of chunky little carp kicked off the session on the feeder |
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| Good fun on the pellet waggler |
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| Come here! |
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| Wallop! The stamp of fish on the pellet waggler |
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...
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| Words of wisdom from Admiral Marlow |
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| Admiral Marlow was soon into fish down the slope. |
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| 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.
A succession of carp and skimmers came on this tactic until I had to call it a day.
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| Fish on! |
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| Get in! |
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| Good Stamp carp over the sloppy sweet success |
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| 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.
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| Around 30lb of Skimmers, perch etc to add to my carp weight.. |
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
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| Day 3 at the Glebe and 120lb 8oz for nowhere! |
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