Now that the spring league is over and I managed to claw back some good points to show a half respectable 6th position, it is time for myself and Nick to join the plight of the NG Floats team who have already fished 3 matches in the series and are quite low in the points table.
With one match every month through to October, perhaps there would be a chance to pick some points up and move the team higher in the league. This would be quite a challenge though as this is probably one of the toughest fields of anglers you are likely to meet in the South East.
The matches on Nick’s lake are all pole-only due to the tight pegging and the rules banned anything longer than 16m, floating baits, pole feeders etc. It is a basic pole-only match. This can present a problem because if you can’t draw fish within pole range then you have few options. I therefore prepared 3 lines of attack which would be shallow out in front, corn down the bottom of the near shelf and corn in the margins.
Envelopes were drawn by each team captain and we then pulled out our individual pegs, mine being 21. I think I have drawn this peg a couple of times already this season and I knew there were a few fish there but I would have been targeting the island back then, I wasn’t sure how the peg would handle a pole-only approach. However, the weather was hot and lake’s form was spot on so I had no trouble proceeding with my plan to ball it in and fish my socks off. The only change I made to my plan when seeing the peg was to forget the swim at the bottom of the near shelf because the bank-side bushes meant I would be fishing quite a way out from the margin anyway.
So, with 2 shallow rigs and 2 margin rigs set up I proceeded to throw 6 babies heads at 8m on the whistle which I think quite surprised the paste anglers either side of me who were cupping in a few pellets. I also decided to cup some corn down both margins just in case the shallow line didn’t respond. Normally I would leave feeding the margins until the half way point but being pole-only I really needed a back-up plan from the start.
15 minutes in to the match I hadn’t had a bite although the water was fizzing and I was feeding pellets every 5 or 10 seconds to get them up. The paste anglers were taking a few fish each but I wasn’t too worried as it usually takes 10 or 20 minutes to get the fish shallow here in open water especially if you have balled it in. Clearly the fish are on the deck but soon would be coming up to take the pellets.
Sure enough after 20 minutes I had my first fish and registered 20lb in the first hour by which time the paste anglers had slowed up which is what I expected. I have often wondered if I should start on the deck and take a few before the fish come up but I am reluctant to risk foul hookers that would spook the fish instead of building their confidence.
The sport continued through the day with around 25lb going in the nets every hour while those around me were struggling. The only angler I could hear catching was the guy on flyer peg 23 which is without doubt the best shallow pole peg on the lake but I couldn’t see what was happening elsewhere. I suspected 150lb plus would be needed to win but my clicker was showing that I would probably finish with 100lb plus.
Given that my shallow line was producing and apart from the odd quiet spell the sport was consistent, I chose not to fish the margins as my concentration on feeding out in front would have lessened. This is probably the first time this year I have been able to fish one line for the whole match and although there was a chance of some lumps down the edge, I didn’t want to risk it. The steady catch rate of my shallow line might mean valuable points.
As the whistle went I was playing a fish which was soon netted and my clicker registered 120lb. The scales came around and Mark to my right weighed in 49lb. My fish went 129lb 15oz, to my left was around another 50lb and then peg 23 had about 156lb. Nick on 9 had 129lb odd but didn’t beat my 15oz lol. Then Derrick Gladwin weighed in about 133lb so I had to settle for 3rd place, a £40 payout and we walked away with something like 25 points out of a possible 28, not bad.
After the match I was chatting to Nick and he was able to keep the fish coming all day on the shallow pole as well but had odd quiet spells. I told Nick I was thinking about topping the swim up half way through the match with a few more balls. Nick said he chucked in a small ball half way through to try and kick-start the swim again and it worked. Maybe next time I will take a chance and ball it again half way through to see if it improves the overall weight.
Today I was using the following:
NG Dibber set 2’ deep, shot under float, hair rigged band to 14 Drennan Carp Match on 0.16 to 0.18 Fox Micro +
NG Dibber set 1’ deep, shot under float, hair rigged band to 14 Drennan Carp Match on 0.16 to 0.18 Fox Micro +
Frequent feeding was the key (every 5-10 seconds), slapping got more bites, tapping caught the odd fish.
The next match on 10th July is the same lake, same rules so let’s see what happens.
Friday, 9 July 2010
Tuesday, 15 June 2010
Spring League final round - Nick's Lake Hartleylands
The last round of the spring league was upon us today and with the top 2 probably decided barring a total disaster, the other 3 places from 3 to 5 were still up for grabs, plus of course the individual match payout on the day.
With the weather being warm with clouds and ripple, the fishing promised to be good and there was a distinct buzz at the draw as everyone was hoping for a decent peg. Our welcomed guest Mick the Chippy stepped forward and drew for Nick and myself, I got 26 and I think Nick had 20…………..both worth a few fish although I fancied John Pantry on 32 to take the honours. I have never been drawn up that end of that bank before so it was a bit of an unknown to me but with a reasonable chuck to the right hand island, some open water in front and a decent bush down both margins I felt comfortable for a ton plus. To my left I had last year’s winner Paul Kell with a long chuck to the island but miles of space up the left margin and lots of open water.
My approach was to be 3 fold, the pellet waggler out in front with the wind pushing it towards the point of the island, the shallow pole at around 8m and then a deep margin rig in front of both margin bushes as I had a good 4’ there. No need to go through my rigs as you will know them by now but they consisted of the usual NG Floats in glorious red with the usual line, hooks and shotting style. I set up 2 waggler rods at different depths, 2 shallow pole rigs at different depths and a margin rig plumbed up to suit both sides with the bulk just off bottom. Bait would be 6mm hard pellet out in front and corn down the edge with mussles for the hook.
At the start I fed 5 babies heads on the pole line and proceeded to go out with the waggler and had a fish within a minute………and then a duckling! The ducks soon swarm around you if you are feeding but I put up with them for an hour and had 30lb in the net. I then wanted to try the pole line as there was a lot of fizzing and the ducks were annoying me out by the island. During the next hour I had another 30lb with some nice sized fish.
It wasn’t long before the ducklings arrived again and for the third hour I alternated between pole and waggler to get away from the pesky things but the sport slowed down as I was holding back from feeding to try and allow the ducks to move away while I cast out. I could see that soon I might give up fishing shallow all together so in preparation for this I fed 3 large cups of corn from 4’ off the water down both margin swims.
With about 2 hours left I had 80lb in the net and saw that Paul Kell had started catching well down the edge so out came the margin rig and I proceeded to catch steadily with fish between 3lb and 8lb coming out as well as a few greedy silvers taking a whole mussel!
At the weigh-in I walked with the scales and it seemed that most had struggled to pass the ton mark. I estimated 120lb in my nets and thought it would be tight between myself, Paul Kell and John Pantry. Nick had a reasonable day with around 95lb beating everyone from 9 through to 24. My nets went to 120lb odd but crafty Mr Kell pipped me to the post with his margin fish and put 131lb on the scales.
So, I had to settle for 2nd on the day, £70 in the bank and 6th overall in the league which wasn’t bad after the few rubbish early draws I suffered. So congratulations to the top 5 Mark Smith, John Robinson, John Pantry, Paul Lamb and Nick Gilbert - overall league places are below and I would like to send special thanks to our sponsors GOT Baits who supplied enough prizes for the winners to take a carrier bag of bait home and every other angler getting a freebee. Now it is time for me to focus on the teams of 4 league at Hartleylands and a few opens and qualifying matches for the Fish to Win competition.
1. Mark Smith 87
2. John Robinson 84
3. John Pantry 81
4. Paul Lamb 76
5. Nick Gilbert 74
6. Matt Love 73
7. Paul Taylor 73
8. Ian Carley 71
9. Mark Hathway 68
10. Jeff Driscoll 62
11. Russell Graves 55
12. Colin Wood 55
13. Richard Hall 51
14. Jonny Watt 49
15. Paul Kell 49
16. Kevin Pack 46
17. Mark Nevins 38
18. Stephen Lovell 24
With the weather being warm with clouds and ripple, the fishing promised to be good and there was a distinct buzz at the draw as everyone was hoping for a decent peg. Our welcomed guest Mick the Chippy stepped forward and drew for Nick and myself, I got 26 and I think Nick had 20…………..both worth a few fish although I fancied John Pantry on 32 to take the honours. I have never been drawn up that end of that bank before so it was a bit of an unknown to me but with a reasonable chuck to the right hand island, some open water in front and a decent bush down both margins I felt comfortable for a ton plus. To my left I had last year’s winner Paul Kell with a long chuck to the island but miles of space up the left margin and lots of open water.
My approach was to be 3 fold, the pellet waggler out in front with the wind pushing it towards the point of the island, the shallow pole at around 8m and then a deep margin rig in front of both margin bushes as I had a good 4’ there. No need to go through my rigs as you will know them by now but they consisted of the usual NG Floats in glorious red with the usual line, hooks and shotting style. I set up 2 waggler rods at different depths, 2 shallow pole rigs at different depths and a margin rig plumbed up to suit both sides with the bulk just off bottom. Bait would be 6mm hard pellet out in front and corn down the edge with mussles for the hook.
At the start I fed 5 babies heads on the pole line and proceeded to go out with the waggler and had a fish within a minute………and then a duckling! The ducks soon swarm around you if you are feeding but I put up with them for an hour and had 30lb in the net. I then wanted to try the pole line as there was a lot of fizzing and the ducks were annoying me out by the island. During the next hour I had another 30lb with some nice sized fish.
It wasn’t long before the ducklings arrived again and for the third hour I alternated between pole and waggler to get away from the pesky things but the sport slowed down as I was holding back from feeding to try and allow the ducks to move away while I cast out. I could see that soon I might give up fishing shallow all together so in preparation for this I fed 3 large cups of corn from 4’ off the water down both margin swims.
With about 2 hours left I had 80lb in the net and saw that Paul Kell had started catching well down the edge so out came the margin rig and I proceeded to catch steadily with fish between 3lb and 8lb coming out as well as a few greedy silvers taking a whole mussel!
At the weigh-in I walked with the scales and it seemed that most had struggled to pass the ton mark. I estimated 120lb in my nets and thought it would be tight between myself, Paul Kell and John Pantry. Nick had a reasonable day with around 95lb beating everyone from 9 through to 24. My nets went to 120lb odd but crafty Mr Kell pipped me to the post with his margin fish and put 131lb on the scales.
So, I had to settle for 2nd on the day, £70 in the bank and 6th overall in the league which wasn’t bad after the few rubbish early draws I suffered. So congratulations to the top 5 Mark Smith, John Robinson, John Pantry, Paul Lamb and Nick Gilbert - overall league places are below and I would like to send special thanks to our sponsors GOT Baits who supplied enough prizes for the winners to take a carrier bag of bait home and every other angler getting a freebee. Now it is time for me to focus on the teams of 4 league at Hartleylands and a few opens and qualifying matches for the Fish to Win competition.
1. Mark Smith 87
2. John Robinson 84
3. John Pantry 81
4. Paul Lamb 76
5. Nick Gilbert 74
6. Matt Love 73
7. Paul Taylor 73
8. Ian Carley 71
9. Mark Hathway 68
10. Jeff Driscoll 62
11. Russell Graves 55
12. Colin Wood 55
13. Richard Hall 51
14. Jonny Watt 49
15. Paul Kell 49
16. Kevin Pack 46
17. Mark Nevins 38
18. Stephen Lovell 24
Wednesday, 9 June 2010
Guest blog by Jeff Driscoll - 2nd from along the spit
Hathers Tri Forum Match
I recently fished a match on lake 2 ,organised by Mark Hathway which he opened to members of MFS,MD and Nick Gilberts forum sites.There were many familiar faces in attendance and a couple of new ones.
I drew peg 71 which I was not too disappointed with. In a recent league match I remembered some good weights coming from this area so was confident of a reasonable day.
Mark had pegged the lake well giving everyone a spare peg apart from the endpegs.
To my right on peg 73 was Squeaky and to my left on peg 70 was Mutley.After an hour of the match Mutley felt unwell due to the very hot sunny conditions and packed up, so I was left with plenty of space.
My general plan for the day was to try and catch shallow at 10m and feed at the bottom of the shelf at 4m regularly for when my shallow swim died and to feed the margins for late on. I also planned to feed the pellet waggler line as there were a lot of fish cruising beyond the pole line.
For my shallow rig I was using a NG Dibber to 0.16 mainline with a 0.14 trace size 16 b911 banded hook.
At the bottom of the shelf I set up a 0.3g NG Decker to 0.16 mainline with a 0.14 trace size 14 b911.
The margin swim was a MW Slim Power with a 0.18 mainline with a 0.18 trace size 12 Drennan wide gape. All my line was silstar.
At the whistle I cupped in a ball of fishmeal groundbait at 10m and threw out 2 more on top of it. I then cupped in a small amount of 6mm pellets at height to make a bit more noise. I did not want to put too much in at the start as there was hardly a ripple on the water and I thought conditions could be tough to start with. I then put in a ball of groundbait and a good couple of handfuls of pellets at the bottom of the shelf. I was less worried about being a bit more aggressive on this line as it would be for later in the match.
Whilst I pinged pellets over my shallow line at the start I had a look down the margin with a bit of meat whilst I let everything settle. The reeds on this peg go out into the lake quite a bit and the depth is about 4ft tight to them. I had no indications and did not give it long before having a look on my shallow line. I was not confident of catching in the margin as it just seemed too deep.
The first hour was very slow and I had under 10lb in my net. The water surface was dead flat , which is a rarity at Monk lakes. I could see fish cruising around in small groups but they did not seem interested in feeding. Quite often when fishing shallow you can flick your rig over these fish and mug a few during a session but they just would not have it.
I was feeding 6mm pellets by hand over my 10m line and was varying the amount and timing to try to get the fish interested, but I could only get the occasional take and would then have to vary my depth or shotting to get another take. I had been feeding the pellet wag line also and managed a couple of fish but again things were slow and I was suffering a few bumped fish and missed bites which was probably silverfish.
Squeeky to my right was struggling and Jonny Watt and Trev Little behind me were not doing any better so I was not too worried about the slow start. I had a look at the bottom of the shelf after an hour but the fish had not settled here either so I kept it topped up with pellet and concentrated on the shallow line.
Over the next couple of hours I started to catch Carp and f1s more regularly over my shallow line by constantly changing my depth and feeding and had about 40lb after 3 hours. At this stage a slight breeze picked up just putting a ripple on the surface and the fish seemed to respond better and my catchrate started to improve. I had been fishing a long line on my shallow rig as I felt the fish would not want the pole over there heads in such calm conditions which I felt got me more bites but also a few missed bites but still an advantage.
With an hour and a half to go I had about 70lb and decided to have a look at the bottom of the shelf and foul hooked one first put in. I had a couple of fish and another foul hooker and then a few missed bites. I was not comfortable with the way things were going here so went back out on the shallow line which I had kept feeding and had a Carp of 4lb first put in. I stayed on this line for the rest of the match as my catch rate improved and the fish were of a slightly bigger size than the rest of the day.
The Monk bait limits are not a major problem during a match as I find 8 pints is enough for most situations providing you keep things simple over a couple of lines. The real challenge is taking the right bait and size of pellet to match the conditions on the day.
At the weigh in I managed to weigh in 109lb for 2nd place just beating Matt (off the endpeg flyer) but not managing to get near Wayne on peg 45.
I was pleased with the result on the day but as ever I was still driving home thinking I could of done better.
Jeff Driscoll
I recently fished a match on lake 2 ,organised by Mark Hathway which he opened to members of MFS,MD and Nick Gilberts forum sites.There were many familiar faces in attendance and a couple of new ones.
I drew peg 71 which I was not too disappointed with. In a recent league match I remembered some good weights coming from this area so was confident of a reasonable day.
Mark had pegged the lake well giving everyone a spare peg apart from the endpegs.
To my right on peg 73 was Squeaky and to my left on peg 70 was Mutley.After an hour of the match Mutley felt unwell due to the very hot sunny conditions and packed up, so I was left with plenty of space.
My general plan for the day was to try and catch shallow at 10m and feed at the bottom of the shelf at 4m regularly for when my shallow swim died and to feed the margins for late on. I also planned to feed the pellet waggler line as there were a lot of fish cruising beyond the pole line.
For my shallow rig I was using a NG Dibber to 0.16 mainline with a 0.14 trace size 16 b911 banded hook.
At the bottom of the shelf I set up a 0.3g NG Decker to 0.16 mainline with a 0.14 trace size 14 b911.
The margin swim was a MW Slim Power with a 0.18 mainline with a 0.18 trace size 12 Drennan wide gape. All my line was silstar.
At the whistle I cupped in a ball of fishmeal groundbait at 10m and threw out 2 more on top of it. I then cupped in a small amount of 6mm pellets at height to make a bit more noise. I did not want to put too much in at the start as there was hardly a ripple on the water and I thought conditions could be tough to start with. I then put in a ball of groundbait and a good couple of handfuls of pellets at the bottom of the shelf. I was less worried about being a bit more aggressive on this line as it would be for later in the match.
Whilst I pinged pellets over my shallow line at the start I had a look down the margin with a bit of meat whilst I let everything settle. The reeds on this peg go out into the lake quite a bit and the depth is about 4ft tight to them. I had no indications and did not give it long before having a look on my shallow line. I was not confident of catching in the margin as it just seemed too deep.
The first hour was very slow and I had under 10lb in my net. The water surface was dead flat , which is a rarity at Monk lakes. I could see fish cruising around in small groups but they did not seem interested in feeding. Quite often when fishing shallow you can flick your rig over these fish and mug a few during a session but they just would not have it.
I was feeding 6mm pellets by hand over my 10m line and was varying the amount and timing to try to get the fish interested, but I could only get the occasional take and would then have to vary my depth or shotting to get another take. I had been feeding the pellet wag line also and managed a couple of fish but again things were slow and I was suffering a few bumped fish and missed bites which was probably silverfish.
Squeeky to my right was struggling and Jonny Watt and Trev Little behind me were not doing any better so I was not too worried about the slow start. I had a look at the bottom of the shelf after an hour but the fish had not settled here either so I kept it topped up with pellet and concentrated on the shallow line.
Over the next couple of hours I started to catch Carp and f1s more regularly over my shallow line by constantly changing my depth and feeding and had about 40lb after 3 hours. At this stage a slight breeze picked up just putting a ripple on the surface and the fish seemed to respond better and my catchrate started to improve. I had been fishing a long line on my shallow rig as I felt the fish would not want the pole over there heads in such calm conditions which I felt got me more bites but also a few missed bites but still an advantage.
With an hour and a half to go I had about 70lb and decided to have a look at the bottom of the shelf and foul hooked one first put in. I had a couple of fish and another foul hooker and then a few missed bites. I was not comfortable with the way things were going here so went back out on the shallow line which I had kept feeding and had a Carp of 4lb first put in. I stayed on this line for the rest of the match as my catch rate improved and the fish were of a slightly bigger size than the rest of the day.
The Monk bait limits are not a major problem during a match as I find 8 pints is enough for most situations providing you keep things simple over a couple of lines. The real challenge is taking the right bait and size of pellet to match the conditions on the day.
At the weigh in I managed to weigh in 109lb for 2nd place just beating Matt (off the endpeg flyer) but not managing to get near Wayne on peg 45.
I was pleased with the result on the day but as ever I was still driving home thinking I could of done better.
Jeff Driscoll
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