Catching up.....

Firstly I must apologise for my lack of blogs of late. I have been so busy at work that I've hardly had chance,and I've only managed to fish three matches in the past month or so. The first of these was at Greenridge Farm. I fancied one more crack at the surface fishing as I was 2nd on Canal 2 when I fished it last time with 122lb,mostly caught when I switched to the bread at the halfway stage. I felt sure that if I fished it for the duration I could do a bigger weight. This time I drew peg 7 on canal 1. I set up fairly standard rigs- 0.22 line to a size 16 fox series 2 hook and red vespe bi-core. I started on paste at 3m but apart from a foulhooked fish that I lost it was very slow. It was hard work fishing on the top across as it was a bright day and I had bare bank,the fish were definitely shying away from the pole. It was only when,with 2 hours to go I moved further to my right towards some over hanging grass that I started to catch....and quickly! I ended the match with 42 fish but they were smaller than those on canal 2 as I weighed a total of 118lb. I was kicking myself for not moving to the cover earlier,a real schoolboy error! For the third time in a total of 3 visits I had come 2nd on my canal.... must try harder!!!!


The Sunday match saw the final round of the summer league at Whinwhistle. It was really strange as I simply couldn't motivate myself to fish as I had already won the league with a match to spare. I contemplated not going but with the promise of a post match BBQ I made the effort. Normally I really look forward to all matches and spend ages preparing gear and thinking things over but no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't be bothered. I drew a good peg (27) but for some reason fished a poor match. Instead of doing what I have done all summer at Whinwhistle I decided that I might as well go sh*t or bust and subsequently bust. I weighed in 7lb odd for 8th (they paid top 6 as the golden peg money was spread about) I can honestly say I have never endured a match like it and didn't enjoy myself for a minute. The highlight was hooking an 8lb+ common that I played for 10 minutes before the hook pulled right at the net. It was foulhooked but would have been most welcome and would have been worth £40-50 on the day. The end of series BBQ was great as always and I took a box of beer along for all the lads. After picking up my trophy and winnings I headed home in a bad mood and fancying a break from fishing.

Last week I had a phonecall from Andy Shanks informing me that there was an open match being held on the match lake at Broadlands. I duly booked in and was quite looking forward to it. I had fished the match lake a couple of times around 7 years ago when I stayed with family during the summer holidays. I had only been fishing for a couple of years but caught a load of carp fishing a bomb to the central island (it's about 14m away on most pegs)

After getting as much info as possible from Andy I established that there were two main cathcing areas- at the base of the far slope at around 9m and tight across to the island. It was around 7ft deep down the middle with a foot or so tight across. Arriving at the venue at around 7.45 I had a chat with the owner,who I have to say is one of the nicest fishery owners you could wish to meet. He also sells Skretting pellets at a bargain of £2.00 for 5 pints! Come the draw there were 23 of us ready and I went into the bag and pulled out peg 26. This didnt mean a great deal to me except it was in the middle of the far side.....probably the longest walk,great!

Arriving at my peg it looked to be around 16m wide. After shipping my pole out it was only around 13.5m wide...I was quite suprised,as were the anglers either side of me who also had 16m of pole out! I decided to set up one rig for across to target the carp and two rigs for down the middle where I hoped to catch skimmers and the odd carp. For across I set up a 4x10 KC Chimp on 0.18-0.16 and a 16 B911. This was shotted with a bulk of 10's and matched to red vespe bi-core. I spent ages plumbing up to find the base of the slope at around 9.5m. I set up two rigs for here. The first was a 4x14 KC Chimp on 0.16-0.14 and a 16 B911 set just touching bottom. The second rig was a 4x16 KC Chimp on the same gear but set 4 inches overdepth. For bait I had a tin of corn,some micro pellet,4mm pellet,dampened crushed expander and hooker pellets. I also had a tin of meat for a throwaway 5m line where I had the same depth as the 9.5m line.

The all in was called and I potted a decent ball of micros and a full pot of 4mm pellets at 9.5m along with a pot of meat at5m slightly to my right. I shipped across with a cadpot of crushed expander and corn on the hook and despite plenty of lifting and dropping I couldnt buy a bite. After shipping out a with a new cadpot of crushed pellet and 2 grains of corn every 5 minute's I finally had a bite after 25 minutes or so and had the welcome site of elastic pouring from the pole. A fat little carp of around 3lb was soon in the net. It was fishing quite hard so I dropped down to a 0.14 hooklength,an 18 B911 and spread the bulk out. I went out with a 4mm expander and some crushed pellet and hooked a fish as I lifted the bait- foulhooked. I carefully played it all the way to the net before the hook pulled- ROLLOCKS!! I then had a similar sized carp before losing one on the way in that definitely wasn't foulhooked- the water was so clear I could see it was in the mouth when it was 6m out. I then had a tench of about 2lb before the line went quiet. Not to worry,this was my cue to sack up on skimmers at 9.5m......

I dropped in with a 4mm expander ( I had already changed to an 18 B911 as the far side was fishing hard). No matter what I did I couldn't buy a bite. The lad to my right was filling it in across with a big pot and the catapult. I couldn't believe it when he started to catch as the only way I could catch across was by feeding light and moving the bait constantly. I decided to put a pot of bait over the far side and give it 10 minutes. Well I didn't manage another inidcation here all match,hmmmph!! Despite the lad catching by feeding heavily it wasnt right for me as I hadnt managed a bite down the track and the far line had died. I plumbed up a new line further along the shelf to my left at 11m and cupped in four pellets. Straight over the top and the float dinked and a 2lb skimmer was soon in the net...sorted!! Errr,not quite. Despite trickling in small amounts of bait I didnt manage any more bites here either. It was time to plumb a new far bank line to my left at 15m,out with some crushed pellet,single grain of corn,lift,drop,dink...fish on! Another 3lb carp was in the net with his mates. It was really hard going and I was at a loss to why. The two lines where I had fed a potfull hadnt given the merest sign,yet the lad next door was filling it in and spraying bait all over the place and catching.

I took one more carp from the left hand line and despite trying all over the peg I didnt manage any more fish. I finished with just four carp,a tench and a skimmer that went 19lb odd for nowhere. I was battered either side by a 30lb and 36lb- Andy on my left had 30lb of skimmers up the slope over groundbait and the lad to my right caught carp and bream across by filling it in. I was not in a good mood and after loading up the car (and taking plenty of stick!) I headed home.

I'm booked in for the match on Lower lake in 2 weeks but might be struggling to make it,and if I can't fish that I won't be fishing for another month! To be honest after my last two matches a break might not be the worst thing....roll on winter!!