After a couple of weeks away and a hectic workload, I couldn't wait to get back out on the bank!
This month I explore the idea of fishing short and keeping busy. I have had a bit of success recently fishing very close in and putting everything that came my way in the net. All too often I see people wielding 16 metres of pole when sometimes the fish are under your feet.
First off lets look at where we have been:
Action Update June/July:
After my last blog at the Glebe I managed to fit one more match in with my Eight Bells Club at Hampton Springs Fishery Rock pool in Cheshire before going on holiday.
I drew a nice peg with a Lilly bed 12 metres down to my left margin and an island across at 14.5 metres. Using fishery pellets and swapping between a worm and Jpz I managed 30lb 14oz of small carp, tench and barbel for 2nd place (As usual) I foul hooked a couple of larger carp but didn't manage to get them in which was a bit of a gutter.
After my jollies I had a serious case of holiday blues! But I was straight into it with 2 matches at Heronbrook fisheries.
First off my local tackle shop runs an annual event and attracts 150+ of the regulars and a few local stars. I drew peg 15 on the Bridge pool. Although it looked the part nothing of any substance seemed to show. I was 3rd in section with 21lb of small barbel and little f1s. 30lb won my section and I wish I would have stuck at the small stuff. This got me thinking....
Next up it was Maver Match this at the same venue. Again I drew the bridge pool and peg 11 around from where I was the previous week. I knew immediately I had no chance, but still persevered and attacked the peg very aggressively. There is no point fishing for the section on these matches with such high calibre of anglers. My aggression did not work and I left learning pretty much nothing. The only thing I would say about both of these matches is that I could have prepared a little better in terms of my tackle, I just was not really feeling it, so I had to buck my ideas up!
Back with the lads from the Eight Bells A.C. to a place I have not visited before. Wrightington in Lancashire. We were on the match canal with another club filling the end pegs, so the lake was virtually full.
Typical of many commercial venues it was a uniform 14.5 metres across with a central track and margins. Everybody wanted an end peg and as it transpired Match Secretary Steve Brooks smashed the match off one of the ends with 54lb of small barbel and carp. I beat either side of me weighing 19lb but made little impression coming around 8th overall.
Next up with the Eight Bells it was to Bradshaw Fisheries in Bolton. I guess I would class this as my "local" commercial now. We were back on lake 3 which I really enjoyed back in April time. Small fish with plenty of bites. The difference was it was cold and windy back then, now it was a lovely day and I could present properly.
The great thing about club fishing is it is always a good laugh. I always travel to the club matches with a guy called Bob Price and I guess you could call him a character! Bobby complains that I never mention him in the blog, the thing is he rarely frames on the matches, so what is there to write? (Only joking Bobby, we all know you won a few in the 80s)
Thinking back to Heronbrook and the small fish, Lake 3 does have one or two larger stamp carp. I could go for them fishing long into the open water. But I decided to fish short, literally a top kit feeding casters and catching everything. I also had an open water swim, but I found it was the same depth right up to 14 metres, so I settled at 9 metres. Nice and comfortable and if the fish did back off I had lots of scope to go at.
I started catching Rudd up in the water feeding casters heavily knowing a few would get to the bottom. Then I changed to my bottom rig. Caster accounted for a couple of little barbel and tench, but it was the switch to 6mm Marukyu Jpz over the casters that brought a better stamp. I had to wait a little longer for the bites, but they were better fish.
To rest the short line I simply went on my 9 metre line. Originally I fed micro pellets, but it didn't feel right as the peg was fizzing like mad. A change to 4mm Marukyu skrill feed pellets with one on a band as hookbait, snaffled some skimmers and small carp. In all I had 8 different species of fish and in the region of 100 fish for 37lb 10oz with nothing over 1lb in size. A lovely days sport fishing short.
The day was good fun because I had a real head to head battle with Chris "the raider" Pickering in my section. I pipped him by 2lb or so and I am convinced that those early Rudd and silvers probably did it for me.
Short and Sweet:
When I was a kid I spent every minute I could on my local Rochdale canal. 20 years ago all I used to fish was the waggler and 9 times of out 10 I would fish at my rod end with a Drennan Canal Grey float. There was no flow back then as the locks were closed so not a particularly defined marginal shelf. It was a case of finding a nice level area with no rubbish or shopping trolleys and flicking maggots or casters steady until some fish arrived. Then you could tailor your feeding to what was happening. That's how I have been approaching the short line.
Things had been crazy busy the last couple of weeks so to get away from it all I decided on a last minute visit to Docklow pools in Herefordshire. Flicking through my blogs you will see it is a regular haunt of mine and one of my favourite venues. Good tackle shop, good pub and more importantly some great people and friends.
First I had a crack on the match pool open. I decided on the short approach but this time down the margins. I drew peg 21 which is OK, but the margin was over 3ft which I wasn't comfortable with. Still I tried a pellet and fish for anything approach, but could not get through the small roach (and I mean small!). Method across to the island was better and 41lb was a nice day, but didn't trouble the frame. Simon "Shed" Bradford is the main man in form at the match lake and won with 98lb.
Next up was the stock pond open which gave me the perfect opportunity to again fish short and put anything that comes along to the net. Target are the ample shoals of F1s which are putting on weight, but I never dismiss the many roach, perch, ide and skimmers. Peg 20 was my home for the day.
Peg 20 can be great or can be a real challenge as the picture shows there is only 9 metres of water to the overgrown island across. It is pointless fishing over as it is too snaggy.
Fishery micro/4mm pellets were dampened down with Marukyu SFA450 liquid krill to give something a bit different from everybody else. I also pumped my expander pellets with the krill additive to compliment my feed.
Preston Dura 10H elastic, 0.12 silstar line with a 4x12 Jim Standish Slimzee and a size 16 Drennan Carp maggot hook was the rig for the top kit. Here I had 3 pints of red and white maggots.
The plan was to feed micros at 9 metres to the left of the island as my "plan B". But the main line of attack would be the top kit feeding maggots heavily to keep the fish down. If small silvers became a pest I would fish an expander over the maggots and trickle in a few loose pellets as well.
The plan worked a treat and heavily feeding maggots kept the fish confident towards the bottom. A little trick I did use was to lay my double maggot or expander in first, then feed the maggot over the top. I found this drew the really small fish into the upper layers to intercept the initial feed, but inevitably bait was still getting down to where I needed it as I was feeding good handfuls of bait. When bites did tail off I went long and nicked the odd fish whilst the short line settled.
A very similar match to the Bradshaw fisheries, although with a bigger stamp of fish. F1, Roach, Perch and Skimmers came in abundance. My Mate Jez Bown was doing well on peg 5 and when he weighed in 123lb I didn't think I had a chance. I knew I stopped counting at 100 F1s but my last hour was pretty slow. In fact I had put in some corn down the edge as peg 20 sometimes attracts the odd lump, and I ended up nicking half a dozen small fish doing this in the last 30 minutes.
The day was very hot and sticky, and despite those odd quieter spells the short line did the damage with me winning with 131lb 11oz. Again did those odd silvers make a difference over Jez? Probably.
A recurrent theme throughout my blogs has been to improve, keep busy and enjoy it. For me I still have the odd pants match, but overall I am definitely improving in terms of putting a weight together (3 x 100lb + weights in 2014).
I intend on keeping busy, whether it is fishing short, long, waggler or lead.
And as for enjoying it, well as long as I feel prepared and confident in what I am doing I always do!
Remember a bad days fishing is still better than a good days work!
Tight Lines
Dave
This month I explore the idea of fishing short and keeping busy. I have had a bit of success recently fishing very close in and putting everything that came my way in the net. All too often I see people wielding 16 metres of pole when sometimes the fish are under your feet.
 |
| A scene replicated on every commercial across the country, but is this chap ignoring the short line? |
First off lets look at where we have been:
Action Update June/July:
After my last blog at the Glebe I managed to fit one more match in with my Eight Bells Club at Hampton Springs Fishery Rock pool in Cheshire before going on holiday.
I drew a nice peg with a Lilly bed 12 metres down to my left margin and an island across at 14.5 metres. Using fishery pellets and swapping between a worm and Jpz I managed 30lb 14oz of small carp, tench and barbel for 2nd place (As usual) I foul hooked a couple of larger carp but didn't manage to get them in which was a bit of a gutter.
 |
| Hampton Springs is a popular Cheshire water |
After my jollies I had a serious case of holiday blues! But I was straight into it with 2 matches at Heronbrook fisheries.
First off my local tackle shop runs an annual event and attracts 150+ of the regulars and a few local stars. I drew peg 15 on the Bridge pool. Although it looked the part nothing of any substance seemed to show. I was 3rd in section with 21lb of small barbel and little f1s. 30lb won my section and I wish I would have stuck at the small stuff. This got me thinking....
Next up it was Maver Match this at the same venue. Again I drew the bridge pool and peg 11 around from where I was the previous week. I knew immediately I had no chance, but still persevered and attacked the peg very aggressively. There is no point fishing for the section on these matches with such high calibre of anglers. My aggression did not work and I left learning pretty much nothing. The only thing I would say about both of these matches is that I could have prepared a little better in terms of my tackle, I just was not really feeling it, so I had to buck my ideas up!
Back with the lads from the Eight Bells A.C. to a place I have not visited before. Wrightington in Lancashire. We were on the match canal with another club filling the end pegs, so the lake was virtually full.
 |
| Wrightington Match Canal. Lovely but end peg draw needed. |
Typical of many commercial venues it was a uniform 14.5 metres across with a central track and margins. Everybody wanted an end peg and as it transpired Match Secretary Steve Brooks smashed the match off one of the ends with 54lb of small barbel and carp. I beat either side of me weighing 19lb but made little impression coming around 8th overall.
Next up with the Eight Bells it was to Bradshaw Fisheries in Bolton. I guess I would class this as my "local" commercial now. We were back on lake 3 which I really enjoyed back in April time. Small fish with plenty of bites. The difference was it was cold and windy back then, now it was a lovely day and I could present properly.
The great thing about club fishing is it is always a good laugh. I always travel to the club matches with a guy called Bob Price and I guess you could call him a character! Bobby complains that I never mention him in the blog, the thing is he rarely frames on the matches, so what is there to write? (Only joking Bobby, we all know you won a few in the 80s)
 |
| Me and Eight Bells travelling partner Bobby Price sporting our new Guru "Jaffa" waterproofs. |
Thinking back to Heronbrook and the small fish, Lake 3 does have one or two larger stamp carp. I could go for them fishing long into the open water. But I decided to fish short, literally a top kit feeding casters and catching everything. I also had an open water swim, but I found it was the same depth right up to 14 metres, so I settled at 9 metres. Nice and comfortable and if the fish did back off I had lots of scope to go at.
I started catching Rudd up in the water feeding casters heavily knowing a few would get to the bottom. Then I changed to my bottom rig. Caster accounted for a couple of little barbel and tench, but it was the switch to 6mm Marukyu Jpz over the casters that brought a better stamp. I had to wait a little longer for the bites, but they were better fish.
To rest the short line I simply went on my 9 metre line. Originally I fed micro pellets, but it didn't feel right as the peg was fizzing like mad. A change to 4mm Marukyu skrill feed pellets with one on a band as hookbait, snaffled some skimmers and small carp. In all I had 8 different species of fish and in the region of 100 fish for 37lb 10oz with nothing over 1lb in size. A lovely days sport fishing short.
The day was good fun because I had a real head to head battle with Chris "the raider" Pickering in my section. I pipped him by 2lb or so and I am convinced that those early Rudd and silvers probably did it for me.
 |
| Carp, F1, Tench, Rudd, Roach, Gudgeon, Crucian, Barbel and Skimmer Bream for 37lb 10oz. |
Short and Sweet:
When I was a kid I spent every minute I could on my local Rochdale canal. 20 years ago all I used to fish was the waggler and 9 times of out 10 I would fish at my rod end with a Drennan Canal Grey float. There was no flow back then as the locks were closed so not a particularly defined marginal shelf. It was a case of finding a nice level area with no rubbish or shopping trolleys and flicking maggots or casters steady until some fish arrived. Then you could tailor your feeding to what was happening. That's how I have been approaching the short line.
 |
| My local canal helped me fall in love with the sport and learn some valuable fish feeding lessons. |
Things had been crazy busy the last couple of weeks so to get away from it all I decided on a last minute visit to Docklow pools in Herefordshire. Flicking through my blogs you will see it is a regular haunt of mine and one of my favourite venues. Good tackle shop, good pub and more importantly some great people and friends.
First I had a crack on the match pool open. I decided on the short approach but this time down the margins. I drew peg 21 which is OK, but the margin was over 3ft which I wasn't comfortable with. Still I tried a pellet and fish for anything approach, but could not get through the small roach (and I mean small!). Method across to the island was better and 41lb was a nice day, but didn't trouble the frame. Simon "Shed" Bradford is the main man in form at the match lake and won with 98lb.
Next up was the stock pond open which gave me the perfect opportunity to again fish short and put anything that comes along to the net. Target are the ample shoals of F1s which are putting on weight, but I never dismiss the many roach, perch, ide and skimmers. Peg 20 was my home for the day.
 |
| Peg 20 can be hit or miss. |
Fishery micro/4mm pellets were dampened down with Marukyu SFA450 liquid krill to give something a bit different from everybody else. I also pumped my expander pellets with the krill additive to compliment my feed.
 |
| Expanders pumped in SFA450 give that extra confidence and something different. |
The plan was to feed micros at 9 metres to the left of the island as my "plan B". But the main line of attack would be the top kit feeding maggots heavily to keep the fish down. If small silvers became a pest I would fish an expander over the maggots and trickle in a few loose pellets as well.
 |
| Top 2 with my float dotted to a pimple. |
The plan worked a treat and heavily feeding maggots kept the fish confident towards the bottom. A little trick I did use was to lay my double maggot or expander in first, then feed the maggot over the top. I found this drew the really small fish into the upper layers to intercept the initial feed, but inevitably bait was still getting down to where I needed it as I was feeding good handfuls of bait. When bites did tail off I went long and nicked the odd fish whilst the short line settled.
A very similar match to the Bradshaw fisheries, although with a bigger stamp of fish. F1, Roach, Perch and Skimmers came in abundance. My Mate Jez Bown was doing well on peg 5 and when he weighed in 123lb I didn't think I had a chance. I knew I stopped counting at 100 F1s but my last hour was pretty slow. In fact I had put in some corn down the edge as peg 20 sometimes attracts the odd lump, and I ended up nicking half a dozen small fish doing this in the last 30 minutes.
The day was very hot and sticky, and despite those odd quieter spells the short line did the damage with me winning with 131lb 11oz. Again did those odd silvers make a difference over Jez? Probably.
 |
| Despite an eyeful of sweat, I still managed to pose with part of my 131lb short caught haul. |
A recurrent theme throughout my blogs has been to improve, keep busy and enjoy it. For me I still have the odd pants match, but overall I am definitely improving in terms of putting a weight together (3 x 100lb + weights in 2014).
I intend on keeping busy, whether it is fishing short, long, waggler or lead.
And as for enjoying it, well as long as I feel prepared and confident in what I am doing I always do!
Remember a bad days fishing is still better than a good days work!
Tight Lines
Dave
