News has reached Marginpig Mansions of certain unruly elements clamouring to hear of my latest ventures. Such are the demands a pioneer of Fishy-blogging must face, so without further delay...
Sunday 25th June -Stubpond
After my attempts to master Stubpond ended in a poor match at the Fishomania qualifier a couple of weeks back, I'd had time to think about how I'd been approaching the place. A few things came to mind, namely that most of the local cracks focussed on picking the odd fish off the deck instead of losing loads of fish & wagglers by fishing to the boards. I decided this would form my attack if the conditions were right, otherwise I'd fish a feeder to the far bank and pick off the fish that wanted to feed as opposed to trying to snare the cruisers. A quick walk round the lake seemd to vindicate my plans - lots of fish blowing on the deck both short and down the middle, not many showing on the surface. The far end looked nice, and I'd not drawn up there before, so was quite chuffed to draw 26 last but one peg, and look at that, my blogging apprentice and paste-ace Dave Pearson has got his honourary end peg draw next to me. A pleasant day of fish and banter beckoned.
A 4x16 KC Paste float on 0.21 to a size 10 Drennan Method hook, set in about 5' of water was the rig. This was the depth at 11mtr and at the bottom of the shelf, about 5mtr out, so I set up a duplicate cos something was bound to get trashed in 7hrs, plus a margin rig to fish meat to me left & right. First cast and a fish about 6lb graced the net, then it was 3-1 to the carp, foul hookers. Undettered, I plugged away and come the half way stage I've put 56lb on the scales, all long bar a double just before the break caught short. Endpeg has nearly a ton and will be very hard to catch, but I'm focussing on a ton weight and a frame place - I'm second in our half of the length, so looking good.
Now, I'm very wary of rolling weigh ins -obviously they make perfect sense for fish care, but it can knacker the fishing for a few hours when you tip em back. We should all really have got 2 nets from the hut and avoided the scenario, one learnt for next time I think... With this in mind, my secret plan was to go straight onto the feeder against the far bank rushes, an area I'd left all match but was showing signs of life. I'd have a couple of quick looks on the pole, not expecting to see a sausage, and then go straight over. However within minutes I'd hooked a big fish short, so I decided to persevere, especially as the short lines should start producing later in the match. The next fish off this line was 16lb, so I decided to just fish this line now, the fish were much bigger under my feet. Bad move. I spent an hour watching my paste getting chiselled to death by skimmers and roach, at one point actually hooking a kamikaze 2oz roach on a size 12 hook and a lump of paste ! They just would not be fed off at all, so more out of frustration I've gone long again and immediately started to catch with an hour to go. I've had 4 or 5 fish long when a telltale cloud of bubbles appears at 5mtrs, 10 mins left. Straight in and a fish about 8lb. As I rebait with my last piece of paste another cloud appears, 5 mins left. The float goes almost immediately, I'm expecting a nice fat double however something's all wrong and possibly the smallest carp in the lake flies through the air towards me. The whistle goes before I can make find something to put on the hook, and I'm sure that carp-sprat is a bad omen.
I'm chuffed with the final weight, 121.4lb - I've learnt from previous trips, kept it simple and focussed on one rig, it feels like I've finally got something back for all the legwork I've put in. Pikey has had a dreadful afternoon, mainly spent singing "Here FishyFishy" and has just scraped me by about 5lb. Oops sorry miss-type, I meant 50lb. Ross Nursey has had a crap afternoon too, there's no way he could have beat me, he's positive of it, he's not even got 40lb in his net. I'm deeply suspicious of all this hoohah, especially as his first fish weighs 16.12. His final weight = 121.14 - he's done me by 10oz, and we're both beaten by Jim Heasman, he's drawn peg 11 and put 123.4 on the scales, all on paste short and including a 16lb sturgeon that took 30 mins to land.
Beaten into 4th by 2lb, I knew the tiddler was gonna cost me. There again, 2nd ton in a week 'snot so bad. This time last year I caught 2 fish at Willinghurst, 2 fish at Stubpond and the idea of framing seemed years away, so something's starting to go right, lets see if it carries on when I get back from my hols....
Til then
Tight Lines !
Sunday 25th June -Stubpond
After my attempts to master Stubpond ended in a poor match at the Fishomania qualifier a couple of weeks back, I'd had time to think about how I'd been approaching the place. A few things came to mind, namely that most of the local cracks focussed on picking the odd fish off the deck instead of losing loads of fish & wagglers by fishing to the boards. I decided this would form my attack if the conditions were right, otherwise I'd fish a feeder to the far bank and pick off the fish that wanted to feed as opposed to trying to snare the cruisers. A quick walk round the lake seemd to vindicate my plans - lots of fish blowing on the deck both short and down the middle, not many showing on the surface. The far end looked nice, and I'd not drawn up there before, so was quite chuffed to draw 26 last but one peg, and look at that, my blogging apprentice and paste-ace Dave Pearson has got his honourary end peg draw next to me. A pleasant day of fish and banter beckoned.
A 4x16 KC Paste float on 0.21 to a size 10 Drennan Method hook, set in about 5' of water was the rig. This was the depth at 11mtr and at the bottom of the shelf, about 5mtr out, so I set up a duplicate cos something was bound to get trashed in 7hrs, plus a margin rig to fish meat to me left & right. First cast and a fish about 6lb graced the net, then it was 3-1 to the carp, foul hookers. Undettered, I plugged away and come the half way stage I've put 56lb on the scales, all long bar a double just before the break caught short. Endpeg has nearly a ton and will be very hard to catch, but I'm focussing on a ton weight and a frame place - I'm second in our half of the length, so looking good.
Now, I'm very wary of rolling weigh ins -obviously they make perfect sense for fish care, but it can knacker the fishing for a few hours when you tip em back. We should all really have got 2 nets from the hut and avoided the scenario, one learnt for next time I think... With this in mind, my secret plan was to go straight onto the feeder against the far bank rushes, an area I'd left all match but was showing signs of life. I'd have a couple of quick looks on the pole, not expecting to see a sausage, and then go straight over. However within minutes I'd hooked a big fish short, so I decided to persevere, especially as the short lines should start producing later in the match. The next fish off this line was 16lb, so I decided to just fish this line now, the fish were much bigger under my feet. Bad move. I spent an hour watching my paste getting chiselled to death by skimmers and roach, at one point actually hooking a kamikaze 2oz roach on a size 12 hook and a lump of paste ! They just would not be fed off at all, so more out of frustration I've gone long again and immediately started to catch with an hour to go. I've had 4 or 5 fish long when a telltale cloud of bubbles appears at 5mtrs, 10 mins left. Straight in and a fish about 8lb. As I rebait with my last piece of paste another cloud appears, 5 mins left. The float goes almost immediately, I'm expecting a nice fat double however something's all wrong and possibly the smallest carp in the lake flies through the air towards me. The whistle goes before I can make find something to put on the hook, and I'm sure that carp-sprat is a bad omen.
I'm chuffed with the final weight, 121.4lb - I've learnt from previous trips, kept it simple and focussed on one rig, it feels like I've finally got something back for all the legwork I've put in. Pikey has had a dreadful afternoon, mainly spent singing "Here FishyFishy" and has just scraped me by about 5lb. Oops sorry miss-type, I meant 50lb. Ross Nursey has had a crap afternoon too, there's no way he could have beat me, he's positive of it, he's not even got 40lb in his net. I'm deeply suspicious of all this hoohah, especially as his first fish weighs 16.12. His final weight = 121.14 - he's done me by 10oz, and we're both beaten by Jim Heasman, he's drawn peg 11 and put 123.4 on the scales, all on paste short and including a 16lb sturgeon that took 30 mins to land.
Beaten into 4th by 2lb, I knew the tiddler was gonna cost me. There again, 2nd ton in a week 'snot so bad. This time last year I caught 2 fish at Willinghurst, 2 fish at Stubpond and the idea of framing seemed years away, so something's starting to go right, lets see if it carries on when I get back from my hols....
Til then
Tight Lines !
posted by The Northerner at
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
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