The 3rd match in the Shannons series and I was looking ok on points but needed a good result and for the leaders to drop a few points. Unfortunately the weather forecast was as bad as it could be for me .............. hammering it down all day! Luck was on my side though as I drew what they call 'the comfy peg' which holds fish and is a bit more protected than most pegs with trees and bushes around.
On my way up to the peg Mickey told me to set up duplicate rigs as the peg is very snaggy but my plan was so simple that 2 identical rigs would cover my pole lines and a bomb rod would give me an option to cast to the space I had to my left.
I'm not sure why they call it the comfy peg because you have to be very careful to avoid getting your rig in to those far bank trees and the margins aren't exactly easy to fish. In fact at the last match Mickey hooked a far bank tree with a plummet on his rig and ended up getting the boat out to rescue a top 5 that slipped off while he was pulling back..............quite entertaining really lol.
Anyway, with the rain set to stay all day my main priorities were as follows:
1 - Don't get too wet
2 - Get a top 3 finish
3 - Don't get too wet
So as I said my plan was very simple. I opted to fish mussels with corn as feed. This would allow me to fish a heavy bait targetting large carp and I could ship out easily, push the bait under the far bank trees and ping or cup corn over the top. As the fishing had picked up at Shannon's I decided to ping and spread the feed around a bit. I fed 2 lines across either side of a bush and between the trees and both margins although the margins were not a priority for me. I also pinged pellets about 15m to my left in open water in case I needed the bomd rod to fish the conker.
After an hour I had 24lb which wasn't good but it wasn't a disaster. I wasn't feeding a great deal, maybe a dozen grains every put-in. Due to the recent form of the lake I didn't want to over-feed it and if the fish were there already I shouldn't need a lot anyway.
For the next 2 hours the fishing was steady and improving. It seemed to me that I should up the feed because even with rotating those far bank swims it was still taking a few minutes to get fish there and get a bite. I therefore increased the feed to a whole pouch in both swims every put in and the response was good. During the last hour I probably had 8 or 10 fish between 4lb and 8lb and ended up 3rd with just under 150lb. Jonny Watt did my favourite 'gate peg' justice coming 2nd with 160 odd and the winner came from the damn wall but as he was a guest Jonny and I earnt 1st and 2nd in the points stakes. The leaders are still up there as they also earnt good points but me and Jonny are both snapping at their heals and we can still drop our worst result so all to play for.
So, why have I re-named this peg 'the mortage peg'?
Well firstly, even though I was careful and did not put my rig in those trees, a few carp decided to bolt off and the rig came pinging back sideways in to the tree and I lost a couple of precious NG Floats. I then busted a top kit playing a fish, I wasn't pulling too hard, I think the top kit was just a bit over-worked and had developed a weak point but these fish at Shannons WILL find any weak point in your pole! I got through about half a dozen hook lengths as well so all in all it was quite an expensive day hense 'the mortgage peg'.
Can't wait for the next match but for now I'm having a bit of a break from fishing to enjoy my summer weekends ....................... and make up some more rigs!
Saturday, 23 July 2011
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
Spring League, Nick's Lake 8-05-11
As I drove to Hartleylands my thoughts were on one thing and one thing only......5 points. I was already 2 points off a maximum after dropping my worst 1 point result so with 4 matches left out of 6 I would need 4 section wins to come anywhere near the top of the league. The competition is harder this year and with my mind not really focused on fishing at the moment I was hoping for a warm, calm day and a half decent peg.........and then the heavens opened and dashed my hopes of a comfortable day in the sun.
As I pulled up the rain had eased and the sun was drying things up. Perhaps there was light at the end of the tunnel. Nick anounced that he wanted to draw his own peg which I thought was probably a good idea just for change so out popped 33 for him followed by a load of moaning and groaning as I whipped out peg 8 which apparently was going to win the match hands down (yeh right, i've heard that one before and with most pegs capable of winning I wasn't as excited about the peg as some seemed).
Off I went around the lake and as I walk up the spit I noticed the wind pushing through the islands right in to my face..............great (not). I stood there and told myself that if I wanted 5 points then I would have to bite the bullet and get the method rod out but as usuall the thought of fishing the method all day for small fish had a more than passing similarity to watching paint dry whilst having your teeth extracted without anaesthetic. I looked long and hard at the island and memories started coming back to me about fishing this peg before in a strong wind and being able to draw the fish away from the island and fishing the pellet wag out in to open water. If I could do this today then I wouldn't have the problem of casting up against a very snaggy island with a very uneven bank in blustery wind. So my mind was made up, the wag it would be with 8mm pellets. The shallow pole didn't get a look in due to the wind in my face (too hard to feed accurately and frequently for my liking) and the method rod stayed in the bag. I did set up a bomb rod which goes hand-in-hand with waggler fishing and 1 margin rig and 1 deck rig for fishing to my right at 11m as a back-up line to rest the other swims.
As I was casting and clipping up I noticed the bloke opposite chucking a waggler up to the same corner of the island so I was now more convinced about my approach because there a few anglers that feed as much as me on the wag and I was hopefull of drawing fish away from the island in to open water where I would have no competition. I needed heavy floats for the job at hand and a number of catapults on stand-by because they were going to get a proper hammering today with the wind problem!
For company today I had a pretty tough section. Paul 'the magician' Kell on peg 4, John 'my peg's crap' Pantry on peg 6 and John Robinson on peg 9 (not sure of a nick name for John yet as he's just a very nice chap without anything really to take the piss out of.............but I'll keep looking! So, with Paul Kell in my section (who can turn a puddle of piss in to a swarming black mass of hungry carp) and 2 other very handy anglers, life was not going to be easy but I felt comfortable that for the first time this year I actually knew that what I was doing was the right thing.
So on to the whole plan then, 2 waggler rods at 12” deep and 24” deep, a bomb rod to fish the conker, a margin rig for under the tree and a full depth rig at 11m. Both pole lines would be fed with corn and fished with mussels and I do recall having a few fish from under the left hand tree the last time I fished peg 8.
Now, as I was chatting to John Pantry just before the whistle, that blustery wind suddenly changed (as it often does here) in to the mother of all gales and my mind uncontrollably flashed back to thoughts of the method feeder...............but only for a split second!
So, the match was started and after feeding my 11m line I began spreading pellets over an area the size of a netball pitch and chucked out the waggler to around 6' off the island. I started catching right away and it looked like I could be in for at least a decent day's fishing. Then I noticed John 'nice bloke' Robinson catching very quickly on the method and quite quickly it was obvious that we were going to be having our own little competition (which is quite nice seeing as you can almost pick each other's noses from pegs 8 and 9).
An hour in to the match and I knew John had more fish than me but he insisted that they were a lot smaller than my fish (which is usually the case here). My clicker showed 15lb in the first hour which isn't too bad as I was still building the swim and gradually fishing further and further away from the island.
At the half way mark I had 60lb on the clicker so was now catching around 25lb an hour which wasn't too bad given the fact that the wind was taking my pellets all over the shop but I was concerned that John was ahead of me and I kept thinking about the 11m line and whether it was soild with good sized fish...........but I told myself 'no' and persevered with the waggler.
Around this time John was concerend about the size difference between our fish and I mentioned to him that it is normal for shallow fish to be larger than method fish here so he gave the waggler a go and he started catching well but eventually concluded that he couldn't keep up with me and was better off on the method. I'm not sure whether I would have preffered him to stay on the waggler though because I can usually out-fish most people on the waggler (I did say MOST though).
Time was now ticking down and during the last hour I was itching to take a look under the tree but still I told myself 'no........no no no no NO'. While I was catching I should stay on it and not distract myself with what 'could be'. Still I was catching regularly and now I was about 20-30 feet off the island corner but I wasn't going to win the match, I simply couldn't keep things tight enough.
With 10 minutes to go then I eventually gave in and stuck a mussel on the hook and swung it under the tree. WHALLOP!.........the float went under and a nice 6lb ghosty was in the net. A couple of minutes to go and WHALLOP!.......... a decent 3 pounder joined it just before the whistle went............worth a look then as 9lb in 10 minutes was my best catch rate all day!
And so the scales came round with the words Paul 'the magician' Kell 141lb written on the board.........BUGGER! I reckoned on 125lb and could see John Pantry had already weighed that in and was now wondering whether I would scrape any decent points at all. My nets went 131lb to my relief and John 'nice bloke' Robinson had my bum hole tightened as he got close.............VERY close, with 128lb. I remember saying to John that those last 10 minutes under the tree swung it for me and gave me 4 valuable points.
So, I still couldn't win my section, I still couldn't draw a nice 'mill pond' peg but yes, at least I can now call him John 'bum clencher' Robinson!!!
As I pulled up the rain had eased and the sun was drying things up. Perhaps there was light at the end of the tunnel. Nick anounced that he wanted to draw his own peg which I thought was probably a good idea just for change so out popped 33 for him followed by a load of moaning and groaning as I whipped out peg 8 which apparently was going to win the match hands down (yeh right, i've heard that one before and with most pegs capable of winning I wasn't as excited about the peg as some seemed).
Off I went around the lake and as I walk up the spit I noticed the wind pushing through the islands right in to my face..............great (not). I stood there and told myself that if I wanted 5 points then I would have to bite the bullet and get the method rod out but as usuall the thought of fishing the method all day for small fish had a more than passing similarity to watching paint dry whilst having your teeth extracted without anaesthetic. I looked long and hard at the island and memories started coming back to me about fishing this peg before in a strong wind and being able to draw the fish away from the island and fishing the pellet wag out in to open water. If I could do this today then I wouldn't have the problem of casting up against a very snaggy island with a very uneven bank in blustery wind. So my mind was made up, the wag it would be with 8mm pellets. The shallow pole didn't get a look in due to the wind in my face (too hard to feed accurately and frequently for my liking) and the method rod stayed in the bag. I did set up a bomb rod which goes hand-in-hand with waggler fishing and 1 margin rig and 1 deck rig for fishing to my right at 11m as a back-up line to rest the other swims.
As I was casting and clipping up I noticed the bloke opposite chucking a waggler up to the same corner of the island so I was now more convinced about my approach because there a few anglers that feed as much as me on the wag and I was hopefull of drawing fish away from the island in to open water where I would have no competition. I needed heavy floats for the job at hand and a number of catapults on stand-by because they were going to get a proper hammering today with the wind problem!
For company today I had a pretty tough section. Paul 'the magician' Kell on peg 4, John 'my peg's crap' Pantry on peg 6 and John Robinson on peg 9 (not sure of a nick name for John yet as he's just a very nice chap without anything really to take the piss out of.............but I'll keep looking! So, with Paul Kell in my section (who can turn a puddle of piss in to a swarming black mass of hungry carp) and 2 other very handy anglers, life was not going to be easy but I felt comfortable that for the first time this year I actually knew that what I was doing was the right thing.
So on to the whole plan then, 2 waggler rods at 12” deep and 24” deep, a bomb rod to fish the conker, a margin rig for under the tree and a full depth rig at 11m. Both pole lines would be fed with corn and fished with mussels and I do recall having a few fish from under the left hand tree the last time I fished peg 8.
Now, as I was chatting to John Pantry just before the whistle, that blustery wind suddenly changed (as it often does here) in to the mother of all gales and my mind uncontrollably flashed back to thoughts of the method feeder...............but only for a split second!
So, the match was started and after feeding my 11m line I began spreading pellets over an area the size of a netball pitch and chucked out the waggler to around 6' off the island. I started catching right away and it looked like I could be in for at least a decent day's fishing. Then I noticed John 'nice bloke' Robinson catching very quickly on the method and quite quickly it was obvious that we were going to be having our own little competition (which is quite nice seeing as you can almost pick each other's noses from pegs 8 and 9).
An hour in to the match and I knew John had more fish than me but he insisted that they were a lot smaller than my fish (which is usually the case here). My clicker showed 15lb in the first hour which isn't too bad as I was still building the swim and gradually fishing further and further away from the island.
At the half way mark I had 60lb on the clicker so was now catching around 25lb an hour which wasn't too bad given the fact that the wind was taking my pellets all over the shop but I was concerned that John was ahead of me and I kept thinking about the 11m line and whether it was soild with good sized fish...........but I told myself 'no' and persevered with the waggler.
Around this time John was concerend about the size difference between our fish and I mentioned to him that it is normal for shallow fish to be larger than method fish here so he gave the waggler a go and he started catching well but eventually concluded that he couldn't keep up with me and was better off on the method. I'm not sure whether I would have preffered him to stay on the waggler though because I can usually out-fish most people on the waggler (I did say MOST though).
Time was now ticking down and during the last hour I was itching to take a look under the tree but still I told myself 'no........no no no no NO'. While I was catching I should stay on it and not distract myself with what 'could be'. Still I was catching regularly and now I was about 20-30 feet off the island corner but I wasn't going to win the match, I simply couldn't keep things tight enough.
With 10 minutes to go then I eventually gave in and stuck a mussel on the hook and swung it under the tree. WHALLOP!.........the float went under and a nice 6lb ghosty was in the net. A couple of minutes to go and WHALLOP!.......... a decent 3 pounder joined it just before the whistle went............worth a look then as 9lb in 10 minutes was my best catch rate all day!
And so the scales came round with the words Paul 'the magician' Kell 141lb written on the board.........BUGGER! I reckoned on 125lb and could see John Pantry had already weighed that in and was now wondering whether I would scrape any decent points at all. My nets went 131lb to my relief and John 'nice bloke' Robinson had my bum hole tightened as he got close.............VERY close, with 128lb. I remember saying to John that those last 10 minutes under the tree swung it for me and gave me 4 valuable points.
So, I still couldn't win my section, I still couldn't draw a nice 'mill pond' peg but yes, at least I can now call him John 'bum clencher' Robinson!!!
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