Time for a catch up!

Well its been over a year since I last managed to pen something on my blog page!...Time really does go way to quick!

In reality, my Facebook page has allowed me to post quick and concise updates as and when something interesting happens.

With a new addition to the family, fishing has taken a bit of a back seat, but I am conscious this page has been a brilliant outlet in the past and I don't want to let it fade away.

In fact having a read of my past exploits often reminds me of some tips and tricks at certain venues which I may have forgotten, it is almost a sort of diary.

What has been happening:

Spring and Summer 2018 was fairly uneventful in some respects, I decided to concentrate on my club season with my Eight Bells A.C. and just try my best, whilst fishing the odd open. A fair few section wins kept things ticking over, but just the one club win meant I fell short of any title challenge finishing a disappointing 4th over the season.

Eight Bells A.C. Standings for 2018

I enjoyed my usual August trip to Lindholme lakes finishing 3rd in our little mini festival format and winning the last day with a nice weight. Visiting one or two new venues over the year too was good, but in general, with a pregnant wife to look after and very little time off to be used for fishing, it was difficult to get stuck into matches properly.

I imagine I am in the same boat as many, trying to juggle work and family life means that fishing is no longer the main priority.

Keeping it basic:

What I did find interesting and very enjoyable was getting out with  minimal tackle and really going back to basics.

It began with a trip to Australia to visit family and using my nephews rudimentary set up was really fun...a rod, reel, some weights/hooks and a bit of bait....fish a chuck!

No choice but to travel light using a kids set up in the sea.

The theme continued with a trip to Cornwall in September. I would have loved to have visited the likes of Whiteacres or Porth etc, but I didn't want to drag all my gear down there when the idea was to see some sights and relax with the wife, who was  heavily pregnant at the time.

I took a rod, reel and net with some sea bits.The plan wasp to catch some mullet in the harbour, but sea conditions did not permit this. I ended up finding a little sea fishing shop with some really basic coarse gear! A bag of  pellets, a waggler and some weights along with hooks to nylon allowed me to have a dabble on a pretty little complex near where we stayed. Four hours spent in lovely weather and catching anything that swam was as enjoyable as any recent match win.

No box...just a blanket :)

Fish on

A quick summer session on my club water for Tench one early morning gave up 4 stunning fish and all done and dusted before breakfast!

I guess the point being is... if you cant get out fishing matches regularly, get out when you can! The amount of gear you carry is irrelevant. Location and presentation are the key things.

River Revival:

The main highlight of  this winter was getting out onto a river for the first time in a long time...same theme,minimum tackle, but a full day fishing with natural baits.

Me and my mate John went up to the river ribble on three occasions in various conditions and every time we went, learnt something new. I tried both a stickfloat, waggler and whip on various occasions and each time managed plenty of silvers, catching more each time as I became familiar with flowing water.

Completely different from commercials and something I intend to do more of in the future!

Getting back onto the rivers has been a real highlight

Lovely Roach and Dace being the mainstay of my visits back on the rivers.

John even sneaked a pike in whilst trotting for Roach

Our club season has now kicked off again and after two matches I have had a 5th and a 1st, so not a bad start.

I also recently spent a great 3 days down at my favourite docklow pools and enjoyed catching 175lb+ over those days, not bad for spring, which feels like it hasn't kicked in yet.

Conclusion:

Catching fish on minimal tackle and getting out as and when I can has been very enjoyable, as has getting back on running water. With not being able to fish "as and when" I want, it means I am able to focus more when I can get out on the bank... meaning I try harder.

As spring kicks in there will be plenty to fish for and if I can, I will keep this page updated...if not check out Eastwood's angling on Facebook.

Good luck when you are out and maximise every opportunity you get to wet a line.

Some highlights from the last 12 months.

A Weary Winter!

It has been some time since I scribed my latest outings, but the truth is there has not been much to write home about! So this wont take long :)

This winter so far has been terrible, so much so that next winter I will need to sit down and work out where I want to fish and evaluate my approach big time.

Still, Autumn gave a couple of good results, so here is what happened since my last blog:

Wrightington - Rivington View

We neared  the end of the club season with my Eight Bells A.C. and it was onto "Rivi View". I drew a decent peg towards the end of the main island. A peg I had won from a few years previously fishing a method feeder and pinging pellets over the top.

This time the weather was relatively mild so I began on the method, but anticipated fish might come shallow. They did indeed, and the match went relatively simple fishing a 6mm hard pellet around 3ft deep for a nice stamp of carp. 90lb 12oz gave a nice win and I had the impression it could be the last decent weight of the year.

Last decent weight of 2017. Part of the 90lb 12oz

Bradshaw Fishery - Lake 3 Fur & Feather

With the temperature dropping, our last match of the season was our fur & feather on a lake that I always enjoy fishing. The draw I didn't fancy as it put me on a peg towards the far end of the lake by the car park where everybody had been crashing and banging about. However within 20 minutes of fishing a soft pellet and tapping micros over, I could sense the fish coming up in the water despite the cool conditions. Again a switch shallow against the far bank grass gave me a nice busy day with lots of fish averaging around 1lb and ended the season with a win.

A nice days autumn fishing with part of my 58lb 8oz

Docklow Weekender:

For those who have read my blogs since they began will know over the years I have spent a lot of time at Docklow Pools in Herefordshire. However the last couple of years I just haven't had the time to get down there enough. Still, I managed to run a weekend for the lads in my club with a couple of the midland lads joining us. I enjoyed a couple of days fishing for silvers with a few F1s but could only muster a section win by default. My mate Jez Bown bossed us all with a weekend total of 4 points and 81lb weight total.

My mate Jez bashed us all up in November

Partridge winter league teams of 4 Burt Baits Team:

I usually spend the winter fishing with my pals in the midlands and their Ice Breakers A.C. but this year wanted to concentrate closer to home to avoid all the driving.

Since then I have rued my decision! I cannot fish every round but was determined to fish over half and help the lads try and do well. Captain Colin Mulholland has been realistic from the off stating that if we could finish half way against some quality opposition that would be a good result.

Round 1 I kicked off quite well on Covey 1 with 20lb+  beating 5 and posting 7 points on the scoreboard.

Round 2 on Covey 3 I fished a nice steady match putting 29lb on the scales off a decent peg for 2nd on the lake and 2 points winning my section.  I then missed a round due to work commitments and each round since has been a disaster.

Covey 4 left me last on the lake with 13lb and Covey 3 gave me a blank, literally not a bite.

Two rounds to go and I can fish one of them so hopefully a bit of redemption would be nice. As a team we lie 10th from 12 teams which has been disappointing but as a whole the complex has been very difficult and a lot of good anglers have struggled.

One oft the few highlights from Partridge this winter.

Alongside the blank at Partridge I also suffered another one pre-xmas. I thought I would mention it as it is possibly the worst match I have ever fished on a commercial. The venue was Packington Somers Little Gearys with my Ice Breakers pals as I promised I would fish their pairs match.

Long story short 15 of us fished and 1 F1 was caught between all of us. We literally had to draw for the prize money. I think that demonstrates how hard some waters have been...no matter how prolific they maybe. My old mate Keith Hanley bagged the one fish so well done to him!

Packington, a long journey to catch sweet FA.

Section Success:

Now January is out of the way things have perked up a little bit. A trip to Tunnel Barn Farm with the Ice Breakers gave me a section win. I felt I drew the wrong end of the lake with a difficult wind. But 13lb+  was better than a poke in the eye with a stick, especially after the recent blanks!

To avoid much travel I have concentrated on my Rochdale club water the past couple of weeks. First up on the more carp focused water called Startch. I managed 6 small specimens and a nice Skimmer for 13lb+ and section win. Next up it was for a days bit bashing on our match lodge. I aimed for 4lb but the bonus skimmer I targetted didn't materialise so 30+ little roach for 1lb 5oz and another section win was OK.

Conclusion:

A really disappointing winter so far, but fingers crossed a corner has been turned. When I have had a poor result I cannot put my finger on what I have done wrong. I have fished nice and tidy and kept things very simple, but just not had the results.

One thing I have realised is that I will not do a winter league on a snake lake venue again. I find it too restrictive and being honest...boring. Everybody fishes very similar in lines of 4ft across the far shelf trickling maggots in, with a few fish down the track later on. Dobbing also comes into play which has never been my cup of tea.

I like venues that give plenty of options, be it species or tactics and some of the north west snake lakes do not offer anything except Pole and F1s.

Food for thought for next winter, but in the meantime I will keep plugging away and look forward to Spring.

Tight Lines
Dave

A final note must go to the memory of my old mate Steve Brookes who was the Match Secretary of our Eight Bells A.C. club. He also helped me begin match fishing when I was a kid with my first club the Failsworth Pelicans, ferrying me down to the Trent or giving me tips on our local canal.

His last cast came at my docklow weekender in November, but a couple of weeks later in December passed away in his sleep. He will be sadly missed for all he did for our club and for being a good bloke.

RIP Brooksie

A Steady September

Carrying on from my last blog some 7 weeks ago, we all headed off to Lindholme lakes for our annual 4 day bash. The weekend runs in a sort of festival format with points over the days for a winner takes all pot as well as individual pay outs each day. The difference being this year, we broke the match down into two smaller sections rather than just 1 point for the win down to 10 for last.

Having won the mini festival last year I was really looking forward to it, but anybody who saw my Facebook live posts on my Eastwood's Angling page will know it was a bit of a disaster!

Me and my mate Bobby sharing a beer before our first match. Unfortunately the highlight of day 1!

Lindholme Lakes
Day 1 saw us fish an afternoon/evening match on the Willows pool. Peg 40 at the end of one of the spits had me literally running to it. I fancied a decent weight fishing long and shallow with caster. For some reason I just could not get anything to work for me. My preparation was not the greatest too as I had a couple of elastics snap and generally a disaster weighing only 35lb which put me last in section and ended my hopes of defending last years crown straight away.

Day 2 and it was onto a pool I had not fished before... The strip pond. Peg 9 was home for the day and with no wind and high temperatures I knew it could be tough. Everybody fudged through the day trying to put what they could in the net, but in general it was a struggle. I managed a couple long on banded 6mm pellet pinging over the top and a couple shallow, but I managed to get my favourite margin paste attack for the last 90 minutes or so.  Not a great weight but 50lb 8oz at least got me a couple of section points. I was motoring towards the end and another 15 minutes or so would have seen me win the section as only 58lb was needed.

Day 3 and the madness was to commence on Bennies lake. Here I managed my PB match weight in 2015 so i was hoping for similar. Again warm conditions with little ripple brought the F1s very shallow. I fished scruffily for the first 90 minutes which cost me a good weight and learnt some valuable lessons for these speed type fish races.

Firstly I was relying on the fish taking a dead maggot or caster on the hook whilst I fed 4mm pellets. The fish would not have this so i was forced to band a pellet. I went through lots of snapped bands and changing of hooklengths and on this occasion a lasso would have been the quickest way to change bait. I also think i fished too light an elastic wasting time getting the fish in. I should have been more aggressive. On the plus side I felt i got the feeding right, it was just the wasted time doing other things. 157lb 15oz was a decent return (only 7lb less than my PB) but fishing tidier and smarter would have got me 200lb for sure.  With 2 weights over 200lb (albeit one of those bending the rules somewhat) the 10 of us put over 1500lb of fish on the scales.... crackers stuff.

Part of my 157lb from peg 55 Bennie's

One of the great things about Lindholme is that we have private pegs on our lodges. Every year we all have a muck about with a top kit and some bits and pieces of an evening. This year was no exception and everybody had a play around with my Shimano Beastmaster and caught a few whilst we enjoyed a few beers and a laugh to unwind from the hectic day on Bennie's.

Top Kit Challenge throws up alsorts

Dave Darlington... Special

Young Tom smashing some Barbel on the top kit

A few beers after a bagging day on Bennies

Day 4 and our last day took us to Bonsai. Overall I fished like a bit of a knob on the previous 3 days. Tactically error strewn and generally just a bit messy. Bonsai was a chance to make amends especially when I pulled peg 84 that I drew last year. In comparison to the other days I fished very tidily swapping between feeder across, caster shallow in open water and pellet to the right against the trees. The big difference this year being that my margin did not kick in properly (Although I did get snapped by an absolute Tuna at the net around 15lb) however 98lb 15oz was a nice days fishing, but the pegs in the 60s on at the end of the spit cleaned up.

Despite a poor performance I cannot really grumble with 340lb+ over the 4 days and I am already looking forward to next year.

 The Glebe Power Pairs

Another competition to defend which me and Partner Warren Kirby won last year. This time at the Glebe Fishery where my mate Harry runs a pairs match annually. We decided to fish to our strengths and I put myself on Lake 1 and Wazza on 6 or 7. When I drew peg 2 on lake 1 I was very happy as it has form and looked the part when we had a wander around.

There is a bay across and with accurate casting should account for a few. Short line and margins later on would hopefully the do the trick.

peg 2 on Lake 1 ....  Dollytub

Having played around with a selection of Burt Baits since July I have settled on what I think is a cracking feeder mix. 50/50 of Green Fishmeal and Sweet Carp, mixed light and fluffy so it explodes out of the feeder. Only open end feeders with a 20inch hooklength is allowed at the Glebe.

A perfect open end feeder mix for carp

I was in trouble straight away as my tip on my drennan feeder rod had snapped and the only spare tip I had was for a daiwa rod that was at home! Still, I rammed it into the drennan rod and proceeded to snap that too and fished with it held together with gaffer tape!

Anyhow double dead reds on the feeder put a number of carp in the net for the first couple of hours, however they were of a very small stamp... perhaps 2lb.

During quiet spells I managed to nick a couple of fish on banded pellet at 12.5 metres on the deck. The problem was my stomach had taken a turn for the worst and I wasted quite a bit of time trotting to the toilet 3 times.

Last hour down towards a tree to my right fishing corn over sloppy groundbait nabbed me a couple of extra fish. I was convinced I had over 120lb which would have got mega points, but annoyingly fell short of the ton weighing 98lb 13oz.

As it was it gave me 2nd in section and 3rd on the lake, which was no disaster, but news filtered through that Wazza had struggled and mucked up on his silver and carp nets and had weight deducted. So there was no defence of the title for us, but at least we picked up a few quid for my second in section so not all was lost and it was a great day as always.

Part of my 98lb for 2nd in section. Half caught on a broken rod whilst having the shits!

Bradshaw Fishery up Lake 3

Next up it was back with the Eight Bells lads to Braddies. This lake has served me well over the last few years and when I drew in an area I knew reasonably well I fancied my chances.

I believe you need lots of water to play with on Lake 3.

Beginning across on a small pellet feeder, then a small pellet waggler into open water and finally bringing the fish back onto the pole line I had a lovely days fishing catching alsorts for 79lb 13 and a win. Shallow 4mm standard pellets with a bright Chocolate Orange 6mm on the hook did the damage. My mate Dave Darlington is running away with the league but it keeps things interesting to keep on his tail.

Part of my 79lb+ on lake 3

Lloyds Meadow Badger Lake

After a little break away, it was back to the crap weather and a new venue for me called Lloyds Meadow with the club. Badger lake was the venue and apparently it is very clear as you can see fish mooching about, so quite an odd venue in that respect.

Permanent peg 8 on Badgers pool

Upon inspection and probably due to a lot of heavy rain there was a bit of colour in the water, but you could see Ghost Carp mooching about.

I kicked off across "dobbing" a piece of corn in about 3ft of water to see what was lurking under the brambles across and immediately had a ghostie of around 2lb. But then that was basically it tight over.

I have ended up dobbing a Choc Orange expander all around the peg. Sometimes flicking towards the ghosties, but generally working across the peg in an arc fishing around 3ft deep in 7ft of water and have caught the odd carp without feeding a thing. I was told that there are mirrors and commons sat below the ghosties that you cannot see and that they will snatch at a slow sinking bait.

Later on down the track I have caught a couple of stamp fish fishing a soft pellet over micros. 58lb 13oz has given me another match win from a venue I will definitely re-visit. I imagine with a few less bodies and decent weather a big weight is on the cards. The owner also stated that one of the lakes (Kingfisher) has Perch to over 4lb so I fancy a dabble at them one day too.

Part of 58lb 13oz on Badger Lake

Wrightington Canal 2: Rochdale AS evening series final

Having sneaked into the final almost by default, I was looking forward to getting upto wrightington on the canal I have not fished before. Unfortunately autumn has well and truly arrived and it was freezing! The pegging was a bit strange too where the all pegs were put in and the 16 of us just sat where we ended up. This meant I was sandwiched between two anglers who each had 2 pegs either side of them spare.

I felt I fished a really tidy match here fishing across in 3ft I nabbed 4 carp in the first hour on an expander over micros. But I felt the fish were coming into the micros and kicking them all over the shop giving me liners and foul hookers. A quick change to a shallow rig and hard 4mms helped me catch nice and steady for the next couple of hours. Mirror carp around 2lb a piece. The chap next door was fishing meat down the track at mid-depth and was catching some real dogs. My last hour was very slow and I had a sense it would cost me.

Peg 26 Wrightington Canal

I was proved right with Old Mike Beattie next door pipping me by 3lb. My 54lb 15oz was enough for 2nd and I cant help thinking that with a little bit of room I could have won.

Speaking of Mike, I remember him winning loads of matches around our way when I first began match fishing (25 years ago) and although he is now a ripe old pensioner he can still nail our hats on. I reminded him we were in the same national team 20 years ago and he didnt have a clue! His memory might not be the best but I hope I can still fish a bit like him when I get to his age.

As we enter into October we have 3 more rounds left of our club season and then its onto Partridge lakes for the Saturday winter league with my Burt Baits team mates.

Good luck
Dave

Short and Simple... Simply Lovely.

Hi all and a happy August! A quick fire overview of our club fishing campaign with my Eight Bells club these past few weeks....

Round 5 took us to Lindholme Lakes on Loco. Large and deep with some real munters, I was hoping for a good day. It was hot and blustery and I really struggled to make anything work...especially shallow which I was hoping would be my banker! 40lb 6oz (Mainly on a straight lead with bright single hookbaits) was not what I hoped for, especially as 68lb won my section. A disappointing day.

Loco wasn't as crazy as hoped.

Round 6 we were back to Hampton Springs on the Long island pool. I drew straight facing one of the islands which was within reach at 16 metres. Strangely the pole was a struggle with presentation not quite as positive as hoped. Instead a small (but weighty on the slope) pellet feeder was much more responsive. 37lb didn't capture the section but it put me 4th overall which wasn't a disaster in the hunt for good points. The problem being is that my mucker Dave Darlington keeps winning them all!

Long island yielded decent points but no overall spoils

Round 7 and it was a re-visit to Hall Lane Fisheries in Lancashire. Merlin's was the pool for the day which had been yielding some big weights in the fisheries summer league. As always expectations were quite low for the club as we have every peg being used so fishing was much tighter. 

Dave Darlington smashed us all up again, this time with 115lb. I sneaked 2nd spot and a section win, with 57lb which was a decent result. I actually had to work really hard to put a weight together as there seemed to be a lack of carp in my peg. I probably had around 25lb of Silvers including Barbel, Tench, Ide and a fair few Chub kept things ticking over.

I am a big fan of Hall Lane, although the big weights have eluded me so far.

Round 8 and we were back to Lindholme at Laurels. I drew sock on one of the points and really thought I would be in for a days shallow fishing into the open water. Things didn't quite work out that way. The open anglers on the opposite bank were a good indicator of how the match would pan out. It seemed the margins were the way to go and it all happened a little too late for me as I was pipped to the section by 1lb. Not all was lost as 69lb 6oz gave me decent points. Dave Darlington made it 6 wins from 8 rounds and in the process set a new club match record with 151lb 5oz. Good on ya lass!

I rued not fishing the margins earlier on Laurels pool.

Round 9 was a water I had not fished before in the form of the Copper Beech pool at Dunham Fishery in Cheshire. A comfortable 13 metres across to the far side with lots of features makes this pool an attractive proposition. I decided on a "catch all" approach so fished chopped worm. A steady day taking around 25 F1s and various silver fish gave me a comfortable win with 55lb. Worm across, Corn over micro pellets down the edge, and maggot shallow down the middle of the lake all accounted for fish.

Copper Beech is an attractive comfortable water

An enjoyable win at Dunham.

Highs and Lows on the club scene so far this season, currently I sit in 2nd place in the club championship points which looks to be the best i can finish for this year as Dave Darlington has plenty in the tank even when he has dropped his worst results. 

Still lots to play for, especially with my favourite season approaching...Autumn.

Other goings on:

Evening Series: Rochdale and District Angling Society

I managed to sneak onto my local club water for a couple of evening matches during July. I travel light to these matches with just a rudimentary set up. Anything between 10-30lb can win these matches so I just tend to fish for bites and put anything in the net. First match I managed 3rd place with a mixed bag of 17lb. The second match fished a lot harder and I managed 2nd place with 9lb made up of mainly silver fish. The bonus being that by default I qualified for the series final to be held at the end of September at Wrightington Fishery (I will be taking my proper kit to that!)

Evening Series yielded some success

Fir Tree Fishery knock up: 

A little invite match to a venue I hadn't been to for a few years with just the 8 of us along one side of the Firs water pool. This is a great venue with loads of different species and they all pull back! This was one to forget really as I didn't make anything work properly. 43lb and a thanks for coming. It was one of those matches I would love to fish again! 

Fir Tree Fishery... well worth a visit

Burt Baits: Another good news story from July came in the form of me linking up with Burt Baits. Anybody who has read my blogs since my ramblings began in 2012 will know I have always been a fan of using groundbait, paste, additives etc. As part of the deal I will be using their wide range of baits and hopefully joining up with their other fellow North West Anglers to enter some team events. 

So far since ordering my first consignment of bait I have had the chance to use the Silverfish groundbait during the evening series yielding success. My most recent win on Dunham also saw me using 

P-Redator liquid on my chopped worms. 

The Expander pellets have a great consistency and I have also had a dabble with the Glow groundbait and looking forward to using that in the near future. Loads to get stuck into and I will review the products as I go along and give tips and tricks on how to use them. 

Check out the range and order online:  www.burtbaits.co.uk 

And Finally.... 

I touched upon the evening series at Rochdale. With some help from the wife I put together a short video on how to approach these mixed fisheries. If you haven't seen it then check it out on YouTube. Any ideas for future videos then give me a shout.

Click here to view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmo_8H0WLBY&t=61s

Next up is my annual 4 day trip to Lindholme lakes. Ten of us will be heading over for 4 matches and a mini festival format. I will keep my facebook page @EastwoodAngling updated and write a more thorough blog next month.

Tight Lines

Dave

Tears of a Clown

Summer is in full swing and with that comes my club fishing season.


This year we have 27 members and the four rounds so far have been really well attended which is great to see.


Since my previous blog entitled "tough times" I was hoping for an upturn in fortunes, but things have been a bit mixed and there have been a couple of matches where I have fished like a clown.


On the plus side, the last couple of weeks I have managed to take stock, regain composure and begin putting some form together.


May was a bit hectic with getting married and then going away for a week so I felt a little bit rusty when it came to our first club match of the year. But I was also hoping the break would distance myself from results in April and early May.


Eight Bells A.C. match 1: Hall Lane Fishery. Bessie's lake

Bessie,s Lake

Bit of a funny one to start the year as the lake also had another club match on it, so it was very busy. With a Spring league also taking place the previous day, I thought it might be a tough day.


And so it proved, I have had to swap lines throughout the day to try and keep bites coming. The mud line across using Maggot and a couple of edge fish ensured my 29lb 8oz gave me the section. 75lb won the match so I was miles off getting good club points, but felt I did ok and bit of a result to start the season.


The following week saw us visit a regular haunt of ours in the form of Bradshaw Fishery.


Eight Bells A.C. match 2: Bradshaw Fishery Lake 4

Lake 4 is a different beast nowadays

Traditionally Lake 4 was always our big weight event. Over recent years Lake 4 has also offered up the highest average weights against any other venue we choose. It traditionally always fished well to Pellet Waggler and Bomb tactics. However over the last 12 months the fishing has changed considerably. F1s and Silver fish are now the mainstay of the venue.


I mucked and messed around fishing on the long pole up and down in the water for a few odd F1s. I drew permanent peg 22 and thought it might be ok for a weight of F1s but it was skimmers on the slope at around 4 meters from the bank that made up the majority of my 29lb 2oz. I knew the skimmers would come in, but it was just too late. Match number 2 and again nowhere with points so not much help towards the cause.


I believe one of the biggest disadvantages us mere mortals have when it comes to competitive fishing is purely the lack of time on the bank and time to prepare in advance.


Working away through the week and then with a bit of luck fishing once a week just doesn't offer the opportunity to get in tune with venues and/or tactics. I genuinely believe if I could get out twice or three times a week I would be able to compete effectively on the open circuit, but this match really shown how I have lost touch with this lake in the space of 12 months.


Anyway next up was an opportunity to get stuck into three days of fishing over a long weekend.


Argos invitational charity team match: Tunnel Barn Farm Fishery :  New Pool

New Pool

I was looking forward to this match as it is a team event and myself and a few of the Eight Bells lads were involved in a couple of teams. Last year I finished 2nd on the match overall and with over 100 anglers fishing along with some big names, it is well worth having a crack.


I have had relative success on New Pool in the past so chose this lake to try and help the team.


Caster shallow down the track and two margins was to be the relatively straight forward approach. I did plan to go across if things were desperate but I felt fishing over 16 meters would not be quick enough.


I set off on a top kit fishing maggot and put around 10lb of F1 and bits and pieces in the next in a quick fire 40 min spell whilst I primed my shallow line. Instantly I hooked an F1 and thought a good day might be on the cards, but alas I really struggled to get through a lot of hand sized skimmers.


Down the edge on meat over groundbait worked to a degree, but then I noticed the lads to my left were fishing paste. I hastily knocked some up, but the consistency and my rig didn't feel right. I plugged away and had a nice busy day with over 120 fish for 63lb 9oz. I beat all I could see to my right so did ok for team points, but unfortunately no individual spoils nor a team result.


Moorlands Farm Meadow Pool: Hollyfields A.C. v Crown A.C.

Moorlands Farm is a venue I have fished once previously last summer when it was absolutely boiling hot so couldn't really gauge how to effectively fish the venue.


But on the day of this team match (I was representing the Crown) I really fancied it. With a warm wind pushing down my end of the lake I fancied banded pellet at around 12 metres with a corn line short.


I chose corn due to its heavy nature as by the all in, the wind was really ripping through. This made my pellet line impossible to fish so I ended up fishing a bomb just beyond the pole line. This accounted for an F1 and Skimmer, but looking around nobody appeared to be catching anything!


Dropping onto the short pole one or two skimmers began to show, but I wasn't pulling up any trees. Where were all the carp!? It got so desperate I had to put a pole line in at about 5 metres downwind with some chopped worm and caster to try and create a skimmer line.


To cut a long story short the venue fished terribly as did the Open on the adjacent bank pool. 15lb 12oz for my hard work, something didn't seem quite right. Still I managed to beat the Hollyfields lads either side of me which was important for team points and overall we did win as a team.


I thought I actually fished a tidy match, but in hindsight would have maybe made up some little PVA bags for the bomb line as even catapulting loose feed out was impossible due to the wind.

Poor fishing at moorlands but we won as a team.

Eight Bells A.C. match 3: Partridge Fishery Covey 5

The following day and back in the north west, wind again was ripping through the peg at Partridge. Covey 5 isn't a lake I have fished before, but standard snake lake F1 fishing is the way.


Most of the pegs were being used so it was never going to be an easy match, but presentation was horrendous across, so I started on a top kit and one section down the near slope. I was sat bite less whilst the lads to my left fished straight down the track and were catching odd fish. When the wind settled I managed a couple of fish across in 18 inches of water to catch people up that I could see, but fish were still being caught regularly in the deep water down the track. I kicked myself for not putting this line in from the off.


When I made the switch I caught the odd F1 for the remainder of the match. This was the opposite to the previous day where I felt I fished a tidy match...this day was scruffy and I should have done better. 21lb 12oz was a poor return, but with the section being won with 24lb I could have managed this if I wouldn't have wasted so long down the slope, but a lesson learnt.


Garbolino Club Angler of the Year : Tunnel Barn Farm High Pool

It was back to Tunnel Barn for the CAOY competition. Having qualified for the final in 2015 and narrowly missing out on a place last year I really needed to get my head back on and stop fishing like a clown to be in with a chance to qualify.

High Pool stuck to my mitt and although it has been a while I since I fished it, I fancied it for a few fish, but really wanted to be in some space. I had a peg either side of me, but felt I needed to be on one of the back straights to be in with chance to qualify rather than the little spit I was sat on.


I started off fishing down the edge against the next pallet with pellet and managed a few early fish whilst priming a shallow line down the track with casters.


I was putting the odd fish in the net, but nothing amazing. When I switched to shallow down the middle I managed one or two fish, but couldn't keep in touch with them. I made the decision to go across in 14.5 meters because unlike the previous match where I felt fishing long wouldn't be quick enough, I felt on this day fishing long was exactly what I needed to do with a lovely mudline and 10 inches of water across.


Groundbait and dead maggots put a steady run of fish in the net, and I felt I was beating everyone around me, but knew a chap on the other side of the island was catching very well.

48lb 14oz gave me a section win by default as the chap around the corner caught steady breaking the ton and finishing 2nd overall. It transpires he fished a jigger rig using caster. I didn't realise that method was allowed and it made perfect sense how he caught. I felt the fish were up and down and darting through the bait and the jigger would have allowed the chap to find them every chuck. Finishing 5th on the lake with only 3 going trough means that I wont be in the final again, but I felt I fished a good match and beginning to get my head together.


Eight Bells A.C. match 4: Hampton Springs Meadow Pool


For some strange reason I seem to do quite well at Hampton Springs. I have only ever fished here on our club matches and during one season won all 3 of our matches we had on the venue over 3 different lakes.


The latest round was on a water I hadn't fished before, the Meadow pool. With temperatures above 30 degrees and 23 anglers on it was going to be difficult, but when I saw my peg with a long margin and lots of cover I knew the match was mine to lose.


I decided to concentrate pretty much 90% (the other 10% were spent mugging cruising fish) of the match fishing 3 lines along the bank. Natural baits of Worm, Caster with some Corn and Micros saw me pick off odd fish throughout the match. I actually thought I had blown it when I lost 2 in the first 20 minutes, but I soon beefed up elastic to address the issue. The problem I believe was that I was entering the fishes love nest with lots of spawning going on in the rushes, so foul hooking was the issue. 59lb 9oz gave me a comfortable win with a margin of 23lb over 2nd place.

A relief to get a win at last after a couple of terrible months results.

Rochdale and District A.S. weekly open: Match Lake

For anybody who has read a few of these blogs in the past you will know I often use my local club waters to try out different things. Well it has been a while since I have been up to the waters and the word on the street was that the match pool was fishing very well. Some big Bream, Ide and stocky Carp had been added in March and matches had been won with 40lb+ of Bream.


Temperature on the day had dropped somewhat to around 15 degrees with a chilly rain and with quite a decent turnout of 19 I felt that double figures would be a good weight.

Note on the peg there were 3 empty pegs straight facing me and I felt that the fish would back off into that area, and although I couldn't cast more than halfway, a little cage feeder was set up. Sonubaits new Worm Fishmeal groundbait with chopped worm, micros and maggot were the bait for the day.


Just one pole line in 8ft of water at 13 metres was fed with 3 balls. A 1gram Maver Black Ice float, .11 to a 20 F1 Maggot with Drennan 4-6 hollow being the set up. Nice and simple for a days skimmer bashing...or so I thought!


The lake fished rock hard and despite two skimmers on the feeder, all I could muster on the pole were very small roach and perch. A bonus Ide came 20 minutes before the all out, but for some reason and despite a nice tinge of colour the lake switched off (35lb won the mid-week match) I can only assume the number of anglers and the drop in temperature was the reason. 4lb 4oz 8dr (Yep, we always use drams as matches can be so tight) gave me a section win so mustn't grumble.

Old Skool weights for Old Skool fishing.

Despite it being hard I always enjoy these matches as it is like going back to matches when I was a teenager and double figures was a great weight!


Conclusion:


A shaky start to the club season and a couple of messy matches along the way, but having picked up a bit of coin on my last 3 outings things are picking up. It's like a striker who hasn't scored for a while... you just need to keep going and break your duck.


Looking forward to the next couple of trips with some good venues lined up.


Good luck
Dave