Ton Up at Monks

With the Maver Pairs match at Monks lake on Saturday I thought I would have the day off work and fish the Wednesday Open and get a bit of practice. Today it was going to be held on lake 1 which is the fairest lake on the complex so was confident of a decent weight wherever I drew. These mid week matches are never easy to win as it attracts some good anglers.

At the draw I pulled out peg 39 which is in the middle of the far side, I was quite pleased cos I had the wind blowing from behind making it more comfortable when the forecast rain starts!

Bait wise I had with me my usual Monks lake menu, lots of 6mm Skretting pellets, 2 pints of 6mm and 4mm expanders, and some paste made from ground pellets. I had some corn too but I probably won’t use it! I also knocked up a bit of fishmeal groundbait to feed at the start.

The rigs again were much the same that I always use at Monks, two shallow with Drennan carp 4 dibbers, with a size 14 Drennan carp hook attached to 0.14 hook length. One on the deck rig with a Carpa Chimp float set up hook in the loop style, also a BGT Short for fishing on a top 4 at about 3 meters out.

The intention today was to fish a main line out at 7-9 meters shallow, and a top 4 when I wanted to rest the this line, I had 7 balls of groundbait laced with 6mm pellet to feed at the start, 5 in front to draw in a good number of fish then lose feed over the top to bring the fish shallow, and a couple either side of me for fishing a top 4.

At the whistle the groundbait went in and I started off on the top 4 rig with 6mm pellet as bait, flicking a few pellets out over the float, I was soon catching a few small tench. While catching these I was feeding out at around 8 meters over the groundbait. After about half an hour into the match it was about time I went out on the shallow rig, about the same time it started raining.

I shipped out this rig and flicked in a few pellets and was straight into a small F1 carp! I caught a few in the next hour trying to suss out the best way to feed, today wrapping the pellet in soft paste got me a bite quicker, feeding about 10 pellets then dropping the paste on top, also throwing is a small ball of soft groundbait and dropping the rig down the “same hole” caught me a few. Every now and again having a look with the on the deck rig when it went quiet shallow also picked up a few fish. I recon by the end of the third hour I had about 50-60lb in the net, with two hours to go I needed to catch quicker to have a chance of framing.

I stepped up the feed to about a dozen pellets every 15 seconds to try to up the catch rate, this started to work well, shipping out then throwing out a dozen pellets followed by the rig started to produce one a bung. I also fed a small ball of soft groundbait every few minutes to keep a cloud hanging in the water. I had a good last 90 minutes catching well up to the whistle which strangely coincided with the rain stopping.

I guessed I had between 80-100lb in the net, and when the scales arrived 99 was winning so far. I had 112lb of mostly F1s and took the lead, following the scales round the rest of the lake one other ton catch was recorded, lucky for me it was 106lb, so that gave me yet another win at Monks, that is 3 so far out of 4 matches this year at the venue.

I will report back soon with how I do in the Maver pairs, hopefully avoid a draw on lake 3!

BCUK League Round 6, Monks Lake 2

I was off back down Monks today, on Lake 2 this time. It was the last round today and even after missing a match and a potential 4 points I was 4th in the league.

To be sure of getting a cash payout I needed to finish in the top 8 of the League so another section win was needed, can I do it?

At the draw I pulled out peg 85 right over the back of the lake in a poor area, so that was it for a potential match win today the best I could do was win the section. Added to this the weather forecast for the day was looking grim with rain. Looks like I am stuck on a crap peg today and am going to get wet!

I unloaded my gear out of the car and the sky was getting darker all the time, just as I got to the peg the rain started. Anyway enough about complaining about the weather on to the subject of bait for the day, I had my usual shedload of 6mm pellet, a couple of pints of 6mm and 4mm expanders, a bit of corn, and because of the rough forecast a pint of mixed maggots. I mixed up a small amount of groundbait to feed at the start, this would either kick start the pole line or kill it, Shit or bust tactics!

I had been told this area of the lake is quite shallow, so I guessed the waggler would be a good tactic today with every peg in the fish may be pushed out of pole range. I set up 2 rods one to fish shallow on the pellet with my home made float, the other to fish a bait on the drop set at full depth which was around 4ft at 25 meters, this rig had a small dumpy bodied waggler, both had 018 main line and a 0.14 trace. I also set up a few pole rigs one deep, 2 shallow, and a margin.

At the start I fed the groundbait and then went out with the full depth waggler at about 20-25 meters, bait was a 6mm banded pellet, feeding 6mm pellet with a catty over the top, I did not have a touch for half a hour, a switch to corn still produced nothing, 45 minutes in and I was fishless! Out of desperation I stuck on a 12mm pellet, cast out and had a bite as the rig settled, 30 second later I had a 2lb mirror in the net.

The big pellet didn’t produce any more fish so after an hour I decided it was time to have a look on the pole line while continuing to feed out on the waggler where hopefully the carp would eventually turn up in numbers. First put in on the pole and I had an instant bite on a lump of paste, this was a F1 of about a pound, I went back out then had one about two pound, then nothing, two hours in and I had 3 fish, things were looking grim.

A change of tactics were in order so I took off the deep waggler rigs trace and switched it to a size 16 Kamasan 611 attached to a 0.12 trace. Maggot was going to be the bait, the only problem was I didn’t have enough to feed the swim for the rest of the match so decided to feed pellet with the odd pouch full of maggot to make them last the duration of the match. Not ideal as I like to feed what I have on the hook but I was getting desperate by now.

This at last started to produce a few fish a mixture of, small carp, chub, ide and the odd barbel. I desperately needed some carp as I was being battered in the section so as I got into the 4th hour of the match I fed just maggot and this done the trick and I had a run of carp and as I get to the last hour of the match I recon I had about 25lb, unfortunately I was running out of maggots so had to switch to feeding pellet, hook bait wise pellet or corn produced no bites, so I had to stick with maggot hook bait and feeding pellet, I still caught a few more carp adding the biggest fish of the day in the last hour, one about 4lb.

It rained for most of the match so I was glad it was all over, amazingly when it ended the rain stopped. So the question is how well had I done in the section?

The scales came round and the first guy in my section put 16 lb on the scales so he must have struggled. Next weight went 44lb not so good as I don’t recon I had that much, 30lb odd was next, and eventually I weighed in 37lb for 2nd in the section. 98lb won the match. A quick mental calculation was worked out and I reckoned I was going to just going to snatch 8th place the last money spot in the league.

The result had been worked out and a few had dropped some points and I ended up in 6th place and picking up a few quid.

I will say well done to Paul Kell who was the eventual winner and an excellent angler particularly when fishing the pole shallow for carp.

Individually in the matches I did quite well 2 ton up match wins at Monks, 72lb for second at Framfield and a lake win with 63lb at Hartleylands. Only fishing poorly in the last one, tactically and bait wise getting things wrong.

Realistically 6th was the best I could have done, the winner had 22 points made up from 4 section wins and 2 section seconds fished over 6 matches and I was on 19 from 4 section wins and 1 section second from 5 matches. I was a little disappointed as I feel I could have won it if I didn’t miss a match, but there is always next time and I can’t complain really picking up a average of £80 a match!

The full results of the BCUK League can be found here, the website should be updated in a day or two.

RESULTS

BCUK League Round 5, Monks Lake 1

Today I was off too Monks the day after the fishery hosted the Fishomania qualifier, which I didn’t get a ticket for! I was worried how it was going to fish after 130 angler were at the lakes yesterday. 36 are fishing today so nearly every peg on the lake will be in.

I arrived at the draw and was chatting to the guys in the queue saying that all the times I have fished Monks I have never drawn one of the favoured end pegs, I stuck my hand in the bag and pulled out peg 24, with peg 23 not in today I had at last drawn an end peg! This is exactly where I wanted to be as I needed another section win to keep in contention; the down side is I will be fishing against peg 21 that was also on the end and a very good draw.

I got to the peg and there was a brisk crosswind blowing from right too left, anybody who fishes Monks will know that the wind always blows here as it is so exposed. Tactics today will be the pole as short as I can get away with because of the wind, I set up 2 shallow rigs, 0.3g & 0.4g Drennan carp 4 dibbers, a deep rig with a 4x14 Carpa Chimp to fish hook in the loop style, and a margin rig with a 0.3g BGT Short also hook in the loop style, all rigs had a 0.14 trace.

Bait for the day was simple I had with me 10 pints of 6mm Skrettings coarse pellets, 2.5 pints of 6mm expanders. I also had some 4mm expanders and corn with me but didn’t expect to use it. To kick start the swim I had 6 balls of BCUK groundbait, this was all going in at the start and I intended to lose feed over the top to bring the carp up shallow. This tactic has worked well here in the past.

The whistle went and in the groundbait was thrown in at about 7-8 meters, also a ball went in each margin, I dropped the margin rig in to start with, while the groundbait settled for a while, I fed 6-10, 6mm pellet over the top about every 15 seconds, after about 10 minutes and no bites in the margins it was out with the deep HITL rig where I was feeding. I had a bite after another10 minutes that resulted in a small carp. After a couple of missed bites I figured the fish were up shallow already so out with the shallow rig, I was picking up the odd fish on this rig and in the first hour I had 10 small carp in the net for about 10lb.

Steady feeding produced more carp shallow and by the second hour I had added another 20, some of these were a bit bigger and I guessed I was on about 40lb now, things were going well and I added another 10 in the next half an hour, then something strange happened. Bites virtually dried up catching just 1 carp in the next half an hour!

I was puzzled a bit as to why I was not catching, the only explanation is that I had over fed a little and the fish had gone deeper, this seemed to be the case and a switch to the deep rig produced a carp first put in, feeding 10, 6mm expanders then dropping the rig in over the top produced a run of carp and I was catching well again for about half a hour, again bites stopped and a switch to the shallow rig produced another few fish.

By changing between the deep and shallow rigs for the rest of the match I caught steady until the whistle at the end. Ending up with about 70 fish.

I was sure I has done quite well as I didn’t notice anybody really emptying it, and that seemed to be the case when the scales got round to my section, top weight was in the 60s and I was sure I had over 80lb? I was a bit worried when the 2nd guy to weigh in my section put 92lb on the scales and took the lead, it was my turn did I have enough? 3 weighs later and I had 101lb, getting the section win and taking first place in the match.

I was quite pleased today as I managed to get a good result on the pole which makes a change from having to fish the pellet waggler in the previous 3 matches.

Unbelievably I think I have moved up to 4th place in the league, which is some going as I missed one of the matches, with just one match to go I can’t win it but may jump up another place or two and get a decent payout at the end, on top of match payouts I have won already.

BCUK League Round 4. Hartleylands

I was off today to my favourite Commercial fishery to fish the next round of the BCUK League, today the match was to be fished over 2 lakes, Nicks and Bramley.
I wasn’t too fussed what lake I drew on as the payout today was going to be for the top 4 on each lake. I thought this was a good idea as I expected Nicks lake to produce the top 3 weights.

At the draw I pulled out peg 13 on Bramley (good job I’m not superstitious). I wouldn’t have been disappointed with any draw on this lake as I believe it can be won from anywhere, it wasn’t the easiest peg on the lake to fish either as it was opposite the point of the island with gusting wind blowing right to left.

As I walked round to the peg a lot had discounted the waggler as the best method to use in the wind, and I notice a lot of feeder and poles being set up, this wasn’t going to be my tactics for the day, as far as I’m concerned pellet waggler is the way to go here, and my 3 previous visits to the lake last summer had produced two firsts and a second place using these tactics.

I set up 2 rods one being the 11ft Carbonactive float, being gusty I had to use a 3SSG float, normally you can get away with a 4AAA here, the business end had a 0.16 trace attached to a 14 Drennan carp hook. The other rod was a 12ft Maver Reactolite float, the only reason being that I brought it some time ago and wanted to just catch a few fish on it to try it out! I also had a power 2 and a no4 section of my pole set up just to drop in the margin if I wanted to rest the pole line for a while.

6mm pellets was going to be the feed and hook bait for the day, with a bit of paste to wrap round the pellet if needed, I also had some 8mm pellets in my bag just in case the wind made it difficult to feed the 6mm.

I was going to attack the swim from the off today as the pegging was a bit tight at the end of the island and I wanted to try to draw fish in quickly before the other realised what was happening! So at the off 3 large pouch fulls of pellet went in by the island, or they were supposed to go there, with the wind they were dropping slightly short. The float followed and I was straight into a small carp while others on the lake were still messing about feeding on the pole. This promptly came of at the net though so it was out with the feed and float again, third chuck I managed to hook another small carp and this time it ended up in my net, conditions were difficult in the wind but not impossible and the first hour produced about 10 small carp, as the match want on I was catching steady but not as I expected, but glancing around the lake I didn’t see anybody really doing too well. I couldn’t seem to get a run of fish together just getting 2-3 then nothing for a while, I was also experiencing a high number of missed bites I suspect where liners even though I was only fishing a foot deep.

A quick change of float was done to one of my short stumpy balsa inserts being only 3 inches long, then shortening the trace to 6 inches finished the new rig.

Although I didn’t empty it with this rig the catch rate improved a bit and the missed bites ended, after an hour bites seemed to tail off again and I was struggling, the fish became reluctant to go near my float, so lengthening the trace and casting more frequently got me picking up a few carp again, I had to chop and change to the end of the match to catch, it was one of them days when the fish just didn’t see to want to feed and you had to work for ever bite. A switch to 8mm pellets toward the end got me catching again and it was soon the all out netting my last fish just as the whistle blew.

When the scales arrived 40 lb odd was winning my section and the lake, I was sure I had more than that. I stuck 63 lb on the scales to take the lead, but I heard a shout some guy over the other side of the lake was catching well on the feeder and had about 90lb! As it turned out 90lb was really 50lb and I was the top weight on the lake.

One thing I noticed today is a lot of people set up waggler, pole with a multitude of top kits set deep and shallow, and feeder rods. On a venue like Hartleylands you are never going to do any good chopping and changing methods during the match, you need time to build and feed the swim, I find its best to pick one on the day that you are good at and commit to it fully.

Picking up maximum points again, and a few quid for wining the lake I was well pleased, I might even end up placed quite high in the overall standing at the end but need another 2 sections wins so quite a task.

As I predicted the top weight come off of Nicks lake and it was won by Mike Jamerson with just over a ton, off of peg 29 down the margin.

BCUK League Round 3. Monk Match Lake 2

Unfortunately due to family illness I missed round 2 which effectively ruined my chances of winning the league, but I still had a chance of a placing in the top 6 and picking up a few quid at the end. But it would be a tall order as I would have to win my section on all of the remaining matches!

After a 2nd in the first round at Framfield I was looking to go one better this time, all I needed was a draw on the near side of the lake as I thought the far side would not produce a frame weight. I was first to draw and pulled out 53, this was 1 in from the end peg and not really a favoured draw but I fancied it for a few and was not to too disappointed.

The talk at the draw was about lots of ton up weight, but as nearly every peg was in I thought anybody would to well to put that sort of weigh together although it wouldn’t stop me trying!

When I arrived at my peg I noticed quite a few larger carp moving out in the middle of the lake, so immediately I thought it could be a day for the shallow waggler, but I didn’t want to go straight out at the start with the method and decided on a two pronged attack, I was going to start shallow on the pole and feed the waggler line for at least a hour or two before dropping in on it. Obviously if the pole produced well I would stick with it for the whole match.

I set up a couple of shallow pole rigs, a 4AAA home made pellet waggler rig to fish about 2 foot. I also set up a hook in the loop rig to fish on a top 4 as the lakes skimmers seem to patrol at this distance and it is a good way to keep catching a few fish if you want to rest the shallow lines.

Bait was my favourite Skretting 6mm pellets with a couple of pints of 6 and 4mm expanders; I also mixed up a bit of paste, and about half a kilo of fishmeal based groundbait to kick start the shallow swim.

At the off 4 balls of groundbait laced with pellet went in at 8 meters, and a couple of balls went in at the distance of the top 4 for the skimmers.

I started feeding 6mm pellet over the groundbait and kicked off with the shallow pole rig, it was a good 20 minutes before I picked up the first fish a small ide, some small f1 carp followed over the next hour but I wasn’t really catching too well, probably only putting about 10lb in the net, the second hour wasn't much better maybe putting another 15 lb if assorted fish in the net on the shallow rig, and also picking up a few decent skimmers on the top 4 rig . At this stage I was quite happy with what I had in the net as I hadn’t seen anybody really emptying it!

All the while I was on the pole I had been feeding 6mm pellet out on the waggler line around 25 meters out, after a couple more small f1s on the shallow pole and as it got into the third hour of the match I could wait no longer, I picked up the waggler rod, and a pouch full of pellets was followed by the float, it hit the water settled and went under, a carp was on first cast, then promptly came off. This happened on the 2nd cast too!!! Luckily the third drop in I managed to get a small f1 in the net this time, and that’s how it went for the next two hours, it was solid and I recon I put 40 odd f1s in the net and a few ide, strangely I had no proper carp. During this time I decide to not bother feeding the pole lines any more and fish the match out on the waggler.

As I got into the last hour the wind seemed to changed direction slightly, the expected last hour hauling just didn’t happen, only catching about another 10 fish, the good new was two of these were proper carp probably over the 6lb mark so made up for it, I had a lot of fish in front of me but just couldn’t put a run of them together and I tried all the tricks I know.

The whistle went to signal the end and I was sure I had enough to take the section but did I have enough for a frame place? I was one from last to weigh and 96lb was winning from the favoured corner flyer peg 46(or was it 45) and 80 odd second, after 3 weighs I put 103 lb on the scales to snatch first place, just breaking the ton and was well pleased.

In summary I think it paid off to not fish the waggler at the start and let the fish gain confidence. Roll on next round at Hartleylands in two weeks, I cant wait.

Two Quid For A Float, You're Having A Laugh!!

I just can't see how the float company's have the nerve to charge £2 for a pellet waggler, all it consists of is a straight bit of balsa dowel.

This prompted me to make my own, I had some old plastic float eyes left from the days when I used to make all my own wagglers, a trip to the local model shop for some fluro paint, cellulose dope to seal the wood, some meter lengths of balsa, and I was ready.

Here are my mk1 NJG wagglers, cost was a few pence each.

This prompted a trip out to try them, as Vince from the Maggotdrowners Forum was off to Hartleylands today I was going to join him.

I decided to fish peg 23 on Nicks Lake, there was a stiff breeze blowing which would make things interesting. I had my usual Carbonactive 11ft float and TD-Sol reel. I used one of my pellet wagglers that took 4.5 AAA, this was a nice size to chuck to the island.

It was quite cold in the morning and it took a hour to get the carp feeding well, but a steady stream of 6mm pellets eventually got them going. I deepened up bit by bit until I started to get bites at around 2.5 feet. once a good number of fish had arrived in the swim I stepped up the feed rate and was soon catching plenty of small 1-2lb carp at around a foot deep.

I fancied a change after a while so stopped fishing the waggler and set up the pole, I plummed up at about 7 meters at the bottom of the shelf and used a Carpa Chimp float hook in the loop style, and also a smaller float for the margins.

Vince turned up as I was just about to start fishing the pole and had a go on my float rod, he was soon catching one a bung! After a while he handed me back the rod and I started on the pole, I was busy explaining to Vince why I use a number 10 elastic even for bigger sized carp and how you can land them no problem, I tried for quite a while to hook a carp to demonstrate but all I could catch was small skimmers!

Vince eventually left and just as he got into his car I hooked a big lump! I had the fish in the net after 30 seconds and here it is about 8lb ish.

I managed a few more carp and nice sized skimmers on the pole at 7 meters and down the margin over the neext few hours.

I had one more thing to try, it was a float I made for when the fish were feeding very shallow, it is just over 3 inches long but takes 4.5AAA so casts well, I caught well on it too, remeber you saw it here first!

BCUK League, Match 1 Framfield Brookhouse Lake

I was looking forward to the first match of the year until I looked out the window at 6.30am, the weather had turned cold and it was raining. The forecast was saying that the rain would dry up but it was going to be windy so not too bad. Today I was fishing the first of a series of 6 matches on a few of my local commercials, there will be 36 anglers entered with sections of 4 to keep the points tight, you need to be 1st or 2nd in your section to stay in contention for the overall payout. There are some very good local guys (and a girl) fishing so it won't be easy to win.

My lift for the day was late so by the time I got to the draw there was only 2 pegs left. The venue is a 36 peg long lake with a central island running down the middle, this can be anything from 11-20 meters away, with every peg in I reckoned the wider sections would be the place to be, I ended up on peg 7 which I wasn't disappointed with as it is on one of the wide part of the lake.

I arrived at the peg and the wind was howling from left to right so the long pole was out. I set up 3 rigs for the pole to fish 9 and 7 metres, also a margin rig, they all had different sized Carpa Chimp float set up hook in the loop style. This wasn't going to be my main method of attack today, for that it will be the shallow pellet waggler! Yes that is right, I was convinced it would work on what was a pole dominated venue and very much doubted it has been tried here before.

The rod and reel was my favorite combination of the Daiwa TD-Sol and 11ft Carbonactive, the balsa pellet waggler float was not going to be any use in this weather, so I opted for a 3.5g+ Drennan Puddle Chucker as I find these will stay in position longer in a strong cross wind. Trace wise I had a 0.14 attached to a size 14 Drennan carp hook with a hair rigged bait band. I was going to start at full depth which was about 4ft by the island.

At the all in as usual there was the normal waving of pole pots along the bank as most fed the pole lines. I kicked off with hair rigged corn cast to the island margin and fed 8, 6mm pellets, 2nd cast this produced a small carp, at least I wasn't going to blank! I was obvious I wasn,t going anywhere fishing on the bottom and a few line bites told me the fish were already shallow, I wasn't going crazy with the feed just 6-8 pellets every 15-30 seconds, shallowing up to 18 inches, then eventually 12, with steady feeding I managed to put 12 carp in the net in the first 2 hours. Things were going slow for everybody so I was pleased with what I had so far, well apart from a low double figured carp slipping off the hook under the rod tip!

Things were difficult though because of the strong cross wind, I was only able to hold the float in position for about 10 seconds so lots of casting was required, and I could only catch close to the island the fish refused to come out into open water, but I plugged away feeding and casting stepping up the feed a bit to try and draw more fish in, this worked well and the catch rate uncreased and I caught steady for the rest of the match, every one around me still seemed to be catching the odd fish on the bomb and pole but nowhere near as many as me.

The whistle to mark the end came a bit to quickly as I got into a run of fish in the last 20 minutes as they really started to have it and the wind started dropping.

When the scales came round 88lb was winning and 44lb was top in my section, I put 72lb on the scales easily wining my section and putting me 2nd overall. I was well pleased with my result as the league is all about winning your section and getting maximum points, the 2nd overall payout was a real bonus on top.

So a good days fishing and a excelent start of my match fishing year. I didn't pick up the pole all day, not sure why I set it up!!!!

Real test for new reel.

Yesterday two new reels arrived in the post from the States, they are Daiwa TD-Sol 2500, similar looking to the UK TD-R but better spec.

I decided to visit a local club lake that is full of carp and roach, There is a sunken island in the middle full of tree roots that holds a lot of carp and this would be perfect to give the reel a good workout.

I set up a very simple rig a small 2.5AAA stumpy bodied waggler, attached to this was a size 18 Kamasan Animal hook to 0.14 line, this was set to fish just touching the bottom, bait and feed was 6mm expanders, I also had some 6mm hard pellets and maggots. The rod was my favorite Carbonactive 11ft float.

I started by catapulting a few expanders out by the trees and the float was cast over the top, it was slow going at first but by feeding a few pellet little and often I could see a few carp fizzing arounds the float, I was soon into a fish this small common.

I was soon picking up a few small carp and the odd bigger sample of a couple of pounds with 6mm expander hookbait, after about a hour or so I notice I was getting lots of liners after feeding and the fish had come up in the water, shallowing up to 18 inches deep I was now picking up a bigger stamp of fish with some running to about 5lb, I changed the hooklength to a hair rigged bait band, attached to a small pellet waggler and stuck on a 6mm hard pellet, feeding 5-6 hard pellet at a time, I was able to cast and feed 2-3 times twitching the float causing the bait to rise and fall with the feed, now every cast was producing a fish! The swim was alive with fish now swirling at the feed and it was more like fishing on a hot summer days.
A little trick that works in the summer and sort out the bigger fish is to wrap the pellet with paste, so out when a pouchfull of pellets followed by the paste and it hit the water and the rod was almost draged out of my hands! The culprit was this nice looking common the biggest fish of the day. I will let you guess the weight as I dont carry scales.

Fishing for the rest of the afternoon was easy really just feed cast and hook a fish! they were in a real frenzy, who says you can't catch shallow in the cold? I didn't have a keepnet with me but I would guess I had well over 200lb of fish!! This was a massive weight as it is not a stocked commercial im fishing.

The few trips I have had out this winter the carp have always been willing to feed shallow on the waggler, even in the coldest of weather, you just have to be confident and give it a try.

The reel got a good test and was excelent, smoother and lighter than the Daiwa Capricorns I have been using, a perfect match with the 11ft rod.

Hook in loop thingy & the shallow wag.

I decided to get out today and try a few new rigs I have knocked up. To try things out you need to pick a venue where you will get lots of bites and fish as there is no point trying things out on a hard venue. So I headed for Monk lakes peg 57, this is at the top end of match lake 2 and is always solid in the colder weather.

Ive been reading a lot about this hook in the loop recently on the forums and in the mags, I have been using a similar rig with a bulk close to the hook but without the loop for a while now but adding the loop is supposed to make it easier for fish like F1s & skimmers to suck in the bait and I can see the thinking behind it. The rig was tied up with a 4 x 18 Carpa Chimp float with a bulk set about 2ft from the hook and 2 number 8s just about the loop, trace line was 0.12 attached to a Drennan Carp hook like in the picture below.

I also had a selection of different sized Carpa Chimp float set up in a similar way for different depths.

You dont need to fish out to far here so I plumbed up at dead depth at about 7 meters on a top 6 with the 4 x 18 float and had about 9ft of water here, also I had a top 4 rig set up with a smaller 4 x 12 float into about 3.5ft of water, I had a few bait with me to try, corn, maggot, 4 & 6 mm expander pellets, I fed both swims little and often with a few pellets and caught one a bung for a couple of hours switching between the two swims, a selection of F1s, small carp, tench, barbel & skimmers were netted.


Also a huge bleak!

I found with the loop rig I was missing very few bites, each was either a slight lift, or the float vanished out if sight, a lift of the pole resulted in a hooked fish virtualy every time, in conclusion the loop rig would without doubt out fish the standard bulk and 2 droppers sort of presentation, it worked particularly well for the skimmers where some times bites can be hard to hit. I can draw this opinion from fishing the lake many times before with a more standard rig.

Now for a change of tactics and to try out my new rod a 3 piece 11ft carbonactive float, I liked to 2 piece rod so much I brought it slightly softer brother, this was set up with a 3g Drennan puddle chucker, set to fish 3ft deep in 12ft of water, 0.12 trace attached to a 18 hook, white maggot was the feed/hookbait and steady feeding at about 25 yards had the chub and ide biting well and I was soon catching a few to about a pound, after a while I started to pick up some of the bigger F1s. These seem to feed in the coldest of weather and are always willing to come up shallow, you pick up a bigger stamp of fish compared to fishing on the deck with the pole too.

So a good days fishing probably catching the best part of a ton or more (one of my highly acurate estimates!!), Im ready for the first match of the year now at Framfield.

Looking Back over the Summer

I have hung up my match gear till next March as I have decided just to pleasure fish during the colder months.

I thought I would reflect on my results over the Summer.

Starting in June with the local clubs evening series of 6 matches.

Wierton 1st

River Beult 2nd

The next 4 were on the River Medway and all the matches were won of of the same peg with bream (I never drew it), but i did manage a 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, & 2nd. This ended my unbeaten run on the river that lasted 6 matches over 2 years!

This resulted in retaining the trophy for the year.

Moving into July I fished the Hartleylands festival winning it with 2 section wins and top weight, over the 2 day I was 2nd & 4th overall.

I fished another 2 in July at Hartleylands having a 1st and a 3rd.

Moving into August I concentrated on fishing Monks Lake, out of 3 matches fished I had some good results catching shallow, winning 2 of them with weights of 88lb 170lb! The 3rd match I fished I came nowhere with 50lb odd. I also fished on on the Medway and was out of the frame with a 8th place.

I started off September with a good result winning at Monks again with 170lb 1oz, then off to Moat Park Lake where I managed a 2nd with 30lb of roach. I fished the Surrrey Mirror match at Hartlelands it was pole only and I was 2nd. The last 2 weekends of the month were taken up with a 2 day match at Monks lake, winning my section on the first day with 113lb put me in contention, but a section 3rd on day 2 put me well out of it.

I also fished a Pellet Waggler vs Floating Feeder match that I managed to win with 135lb against 93lb. Watch out for the article in Southern Angler.

Pellet Waggler vs Floating Feeder

People seem to think I am some sort of venue expert at Hartleylands and spend a lot of time at the venue but I am far from a regular, I have only fished 4 matches at the venue since May and rarely pleasure fish the lakes, though it dosent matter really as carp are carp wherever you fish and once you have a method sussed you can adapt it for any venue.

The first match I fished the pellet waggler was the two day festival getting 1 section win and a lake win to take the title, the 2nd a Bromley club match which I won with 88lb. Then a third place in an open weighing in 107lb from what I consider a poor area, on that day Mike Jamerson won the match with 127lb on the floating feeder, I felt that day if I had drawn in the middle of the lake with a bigger area to draw fish from a net of 150-200lb was on the cards with the pellet waggler. That is what prompted the challenge as I reckoned on any day and with a fairish draw the waggler can beat the floating feeder every time.

The plan was to fish Nicks lake pegs 23 and 25 but we decided to change lakes on the day as the wind was blowing awkwardly and there didnt seem any point in making thing difficult, so peg 17 & 20 on Bramley lake were picked, I won the toss and picked peg 17 to fish, the only reason is it was closer to the car! I expected the weights to be slightly less on this lake as the fish are a smaller stamp and you dont seem to get many lumps to boost your weight, but I was still expecting to get around 150lb

I had 2 rods with me one set up with a 4g puddle chucker to a 0.14 trace, attached was a size 14 hook with a hair rigged bait band set the fish 24-12in deep, the other had a 3.5aaa short pellet waggler for fishing less that 12in,, this had a 0.16 trace and a 12 hook, bait and feed was 6mm hard carp pellets as I always like to feed what I am using on the hook, I also had some 8 & 11mm pellets for hook bait although I didnt expect to use them. Initially I clip up at a distance to just drop short of the island margins but after about half an hour I will remove this after getting a feel for the distance cast then it allows me to give line if needed if I hook a bigger fish.

I kicked of with the 4g rig feeding about 10-12 pellets every 10-20 seconds, and after the about the 5th cast 2-3 minutes into the match I had the first small carp, I reckoned in the first hour I had around 30 fish, things were going quite well with around another 30 added in the second hour although most were on the small side, by casting around the feed area a bit in the next couple of hours I was picking up a few bigger fish but most remained on the small side, the last hour the fish come right up in the water and were boiling on the surface every time I fed, a switch to the shallow 3.5aaa rig and cutting the feed back a little had me catching one a bung in the last hour putting around 50 fish in the net.I wasnt sure how Mike was doing as I was busy fishing myself but I did notice he stopped fishing about 5 minutes from the all out so guessed it hadnt gone as well as expected, or maybe he had caught so many he didnt need to fish for the last 5 minutes!

As it turned out Mike put 93lb odd on the scales a very good weight that would win nearly every match that had been held on the lake, but I had 135lb a little less than expected as I failed to pick up many of the bigger fish but still over 30lb above the lakes match record which I think is 104lb.

In conclusion I dont think the match really proved what was the best method only what worked on the day, then again I still think the waggler will beat the floating feeder every time until Mike can convince me otherwise!!!!!

Monks Lake Festival

Day 1

I heard about this match a few weeks back, the fishery owner Simon was putting up £500 prize money for the top 3 and charging no peg fee, so it was well worth entering as at worst you would get 2 days free fishing and catch a good net of fish.

I was surprised when arriving to find out only 24 fishing the event! I thought it would be a sell out!! It was to be fished on lake 1 & 2, whatever lake you drew on day 1 you would swap day 2, there was quite a few local top rods at the draw so it wasn’t going to be easy even to win the section, I pulled out peg 6 on lake 1, not a particularly noted draw as I expected the winner to come from the pegs near the aerator but it looked OK with the wind blowing towards me giving the water a nice ripple, I had Omega Mike in the same section as me on the opposite bank so at least I could keep a eye on him!

Bait for the day was 10 pints (yes 10 pints!!!) or 6mm carp pellets, about a third of a kilo of groundbait, and a bit of paste, the pellets are so cheap I always carry plenty cos I don’t want to run out do I? It was a bright sunny day so there was only one method to fish that is shallow on the pole, I set up 2 rigs one short line and another with a long line to the float in case they were shy of the pole tip which quite often happens at Monks.

At the whistle in went 2 big balls of groundbait laced with pellet! The idea of this is to initially draw a lot of fish into the swim then lose feed to bring the carp up shallow, it has worked for me big time here winning 3 out of the 4 matches I have fished at the venue this summer. I started down the edge to try to pick off a few early fish while I fed the shallow line for a while, after 10 minutes without a bite down the edge I gave up on that and went straight out over the shallow line at around 7 meters, almost straight away I was picking up the odd carp on the shallow rig catching steady for the first 2 hours probably around 30 fish, the next two hours things picked up a bit and I recon I had another 40 odd, keeping them coming by constantly changing depth & the way I fed, every time I changed things a little it resulted in a fish or two. The last hour turned out to be the best putting at least another 30 fish in the net. At the all out I guessed I had getting on for my target weight of 100lb.

I wasn’t that far out this time putting 113lb on the scales to win the section, pick up £75 and I think second or third overall, I was so pleased with the section win I forgot to check my finishing position overall! This put me in contention to do well in the festival as it is all about winning the section to score maximum points. Roll on the second match; I will be on lake 2 and all going well catching a big weight.

Day 2

Today I was fishing lake 2, I had been in two minds today if the fish will be “having it” shallow as the air pressure had dropped, my instinct was telling me they wouldn’t, but the weather was telling me they would! Its decisions like these that can make the difference between being a winner or pools fodder.

Looking at the lake there was only two pegs I didn’t want to draw they were in the corner with the wind coming from behind, number 64 and 65, I thought these two wouldn’t hold enough fish to win the section, I pulled out 64, just where all the other 3 section winners from day one wanted me to be!!

I though regardless of the draw I would go for it, and still wasn’t sure if shallow was the way to go, so set up a positive bottom rigs shotted double bulk style, a margin rig with a single bulk 6in from the hook, and two shallow rigs one light with a short line and a heavier 0.4g one for swinging out beyond the pole tip. Bait was the usual 6mm carp pellets, 6mm expanders, paste and some corn.

The tactics was the same as the week before, 3 balls of groundbait at the off then feeding the fish up shallow, things started off ok as while I fed the shallow line I picked up a few small tench down the edge on paste, after 20 minutes it was out with the shallow rig and straight away I was into a small carp, from there things were very slow during the next hour and I only picked up the odd fish although I wasn’t too worried as you can soon catch up as quite often the fish don’t really start to have a go till the you get into the third hour, but by the halfway point I was thinking I should have gone with my instinct and started off deep.

At the halfway point a change was in order and it was out with the deep rig and pellet, things picked up a bit and I was into fish straight away, one a bung in fact, unfortunately they were mainly small tench and certainly not big enough to do any damage, a hour of this and I had had enough of the small tench and with only 20-25lb in the net it was out shallow again as I had still been feeding half a dozen pellet about every 30 seconds, this time amazingly it was solid! I had to swing the rig out beyond the pole tip but was picking up fish virtually every cast, I must have put 40 fish in the net in the last hour or so but was thinking it was a bit too late to trouble the leaders, and that’s how it turned out, the 75lb I put on the scales was not enough to do any damage, 130lb winning the section and 89lb being second. I’m not sure of the overall winner as I had to shoot of to a wedding reception so missed the presentation.

Thinking about how I fished the second day I was possibly on to a hiding for nothing off of the peg I was on. But maybe I wasn’t and got the tactics wrong, because fishing shallow got me 3 wins in a row on the lake I didn’t go with my instinct to target the fish on the bottom. I will know better next time.

Here it is

Hi all.

I thought I would write down an account of the matches I fish, with the hope it entertains a few of you.

First off all a quick account of how I ended up match fishing, apart from entering the odd match I had been mainly a pleasure angler since I was a kid (I am now 43!), I grew up fishing in and around London.

It wasn’t until I moved To Maidstone in Kent and joined the local Maidstone Victory club that I decided to have a go at some matches, First one I fished was on the River Beult, everybody was fishing the pole, I set up a light waggler and fished for roach and came 2nd to the amazement of the rest fishing. That was 3 seasons ago and I have been fishing them ever since, I ended the season just one point off the club champion that year which I didn’t think was bad for a first attempt. The next year I won it with an unbeaten run of 5 match wins in a row, also I had a good run in the evening series of matches the club wining 4 out of the 6.

More recently I have turned to fishing more open matches on commercial pools, and trying to get to grips with pole fishing for carp, after getting quite a few battering last year (and winning a few quid sometimes), I have adapted my style of fishing and to suite these venues.

It was fishing the well run Beastmaster league this spring where things started to come together, I didn’t win any matches in the series with my best result being a 2nd place on Monks lake, but I picked up lots of top info fishing against the very good opposition, and spent a lot of time watching those around me fish especially the ones doing the winning!

It was July and I had I decided to have a go at the Hartleylands Festival run over 2 days, it was the £80 entry fee that prompted me to take this match seriously and I have wrote a account of the match and how it went.

Day One

I drew peg 5 on Bramley, which put me on the end of the island so I was quite pleased
and fancied catching a few, the target is mainly carp from 8oz to 1.5lb with the odd bigger fish, being a big event I set up quite a lot of gear, 2 waggler rods (one deep and one shallow) this was the main plan of attack, and also the pole as plan B, I didn’t have a plan C!! I had plenty of 6mm had pellet with me as these were a perfect size to catapult to the island, and I had planned to fish 6mm pellet on the hook.

Looking at the peg I was going to kick off with the waggler feeding pellet and corn, on the hook hair rigged hard pellet and corn was the bait. Starting on the deep waggler rig and corn I didn’t get much action in the first 5 minutes while the guy next to me had already had 3 fish! They were attacking his feeder as it hit the water, in a big swirling mass. I decided a couple more chucks with the deep waggler and I was going shallow, the next cast with the rod would be the last as it broke in two while swinging it back behind me .So sooner than planned it was out with the shallow rig with a short 3g float, and hair rigged 6mm pellet as bait, feeding about 10 pellets every 15 second soon had the fish swirling in the peg, after about half a hour I had my first fish a small carp, and feeding and casting I had about another 12 in the next hour, but as the match continued I caught more fish and by the halfway point I guessed I had a good 30lb+ in the net, carrying on feeding about every 15-20 second and dropping the float on top was producing almost a fish a chuck as I got into the 4th hour, I didnt need to watch the float as it was better to just wait for the rod to go round as I was getting a lot of liner with a huge number of small carp in the swim, in the last hour of the match I must have had 25-30 fish.

I was the first to weigh and put 90lb 14oz on the scales, a new lake record, and a section win, next best was around 75 lb on the feeder, unfortunately I only held the lake record for about 15 minutes as a guy in the other section on the lake had 106lb, it didn’t matter as I had won the section I was in, was second on the day picking up £80 and getting my entry fee back, and had only 1 penalty point going into day 2.

Day 2

I was pretty relaxed about day 2 as I had already picked up £80 on day 1 so the worst I could do was break even!

I couldn’t believe my luck when I stuck my hand in and pulled out peg 7 on Bramley just 2 off of where I was yesterday although I was confident of dong well anywhere, Colin Wood had peg 7 on day 1 and commented to me after the match that he had a lot of fish in front of him but was having trouble catching them, I had my theory why he struggled and was sure I wouldn’t have the same problem. I was right in the middle of 5 anglers, pegged next to Derek Gladwin(also on 1 point) and Vince Webb 2 good anglers it was going to be a hard section to win.

I fished it exactly the same as day 1 but this time catching from the start, the fish were slightly smaller that the previous day but I still had plenty of the 1lb+ one that you need, I must have had 90 fish during the match and had an arm ache at the whistle!! I didn’t know what anybody else in the section had as I was to busy fishing to take notice but did fancy my chances for another section win, the scales turned up and peg 7 weight in 85lb, did I have enough I wasn’t sure, I couldn’t believe it when I put 96lb in the scales enough to win the section again and top weight on the lake.

I decided not to follow the scales around and see how the other section winners had done and had a cup of tea. Near the end of the weigh in I walked round and discovered that two of us were tied on 2 points but I had a 6lb weight advantage making me the festival champ.