I've neglected me bloggings a bit of late, but a quick glance at my last one reveals how quickly we've moved into autumn / winter fishing. Ton weights on catfood ? Pah, thats yesterday's news. Roll on next summer ! In the meantime heres what i can remember from the last 6 weeks or so:
Sun 15th Oct - Surrey Winter League - River Mole
Yet another venue I hadnt fished but was keen to have a go on given that i spent my younger years on small rivers in Yorkshire. A few mails & calls to my Leatherhead Mole expert chums gave me some pointers, I just needed a half decent draw and there could be a good chance i'd catch my first chub in over 10 years ! Blimey, time flies. I was informed I'd drawn just that - half decent, not a flier, but half decent, and could expect some roach & dace with the chance of chub showing late on. Twas a lovely looking peg on the Leatherhead stretch, about 10 mtrs wide with an elderberry bush trailing in the water on the far bank, and some trees right down the peg on my own bank. I could see the bottom upto halfway over before it dipped into a deeper channel 2 rod lengths out which is where i fancied a few bites.
The various information pointed to a pole and waggler affair, most poeple ruling out a stick float, but as it'd been a few years since i'd had a spliced tip rod out of the holdall i set one up anyway :) a 4 x 6 Pete Warren (just for old times sake) on 2.5lb Matchwinner and a size 18 Drennan Maggot hook. A 3BB wagg featured identical terminal tackle, with a couple of no10s and a tiny swivel above the hooklength, and i ran a 4 x 12 up-bodied pole float shotted with no9s onto 0.14 with the same hook. I pulled the waders up, got in the water, put the bait into my apron (dug out of the shed), the sun was shining; it was heavenly.... !
And a very pleasant day ensued, switching mainly between the waggler and the pole, i caught about 7lb of silvers with some lovely roach coming on the pole & caster after i sussed out that the better fish were sat right on the deck upstream of where i'd been feeding (which was a good 3 yards downstream of me) - so i'd bulked down bar one dropper, put it a few inches overdepth lowered it in at the head of the swim and as it passed over the hotspot, just slowed it down and every 5 mins a 6-10oz roach would come out. Alternatively i could run the waggler through to the end of the bush and usually catch a small dace or chublet and so on. However i got to thinking that this wasnt gonna get me that many points - it would only take a couple of chub from any peg to batter me. The dilema was to up the feed and kill off the roach and hope for a chub showing, obviously i'm a bit wary of killing the swim if they dont show, so i left it as late as possible - an hour to go - before feeding much heavier. The bites faded out, but 20 mins later the waggler dipped and something much lumpier headed for the bushes, 3 mins later a nice chub about 2lb10oz went into the net. 10 mins later a slightly smaller brother of about 2lb joined it, no more are forthcoming and I've weighed in 11lb 14oz, 3rd in section, 4pnts, a really enjoyable day, out in the sticks, lovely little river, cows moo'ing, fresh air, wicked.
Saturday 21st October - Bury Hill Bonds
As previously stated, I like Bury Hill, and have been trying to get there ever since Ken Collins started running matches at the end of summer. Bonds is the out & out match carp lake there, I've pleasure fished it in the middle of winter before and had really goods weights, so was hopeful it would fish well. Unfortunately i did hear there'd beena fish kill, and so it proved on the day, as it fished pretty hard. The main thing was the feeding has definitely shifted to all things wintery, which was where i fell down, i didnt exactly fill it in, in fact i didnt feed much at all however i just got it wrong by potting in after catching a couple of early fish. The outcome was about 2 hrs without a fish, and it was only in the second half that i managed to sort it out and put together a relatively regular spell of bites & fish. I didnt miss any bites, its just that they were at a premium. Anyway, I've weighed in 55lb for 6th (3rd in section) which is first out of the money.
Sunday Nov 5th - Wey Nevigation Canal @ Black Boys
Something new again, what is seemingly the first of my yearly 2 visits to the Wey Nav, one to fish in the Winter Leagiue, and one to practise there a couple of weeks beforehand. Having said that i do like it, mainly cos its different - a canal that runs like a river - and i get a chance to fish breadpunch and bloodworm, 2 methods i like but rarely ever fish nowadays. After a bit of a chinwag to a couple of Wey Nav regulars, i decide to focus on 2 main lines of attack, punch down the middle in the deepest part, with a b&j line at the bottom of the far shelf. The punch rig is a 4x12 Drennan Trio on about 3.5 mtrs of 0.08 to a size 20 511, shotted with 9s & 11s, the worm rig is a Sensas 0.5grm flat float, with a bulk of 8s and 2 11 droppers. I decided to make these rigs up with Preston Shotz, which are great on thick line cos they move about really easily, and i figured the same principle must apply to light lines - even more so, moving a shot on thin lines is a nightmare - and they worked really well, especially as the bulk shot moving very easily with no line damage. Anyway...
80% of a 1/4 kilo of joker in double leam went into 6 hard balls and were plonked at the foot of the shelf where they would sit for at least an hour while i had a whirl on the punch. A golfball of liquidised bread started that line, 3rd run down the float dips and a 2 oz roach comes to hand. This carries on for about an hour or so, before i reach the point that comes to all bread punch swims; how to refeed. And at this point, i cock it up, not because i've refed it completely wrong, but cos i refed it badly - ie inaccurately, and the fish get scattered all over the place. After 5 or 10 biteless minutes i finally catch a couple right down the swim and realise that i've made a bit of a mess of it. I limp on til about halfway, refeeding a marble of punch and catching the odd fish here and there but with no consistency and i'm getting frustrated. I decide to look on the longer line, but know that really i should still be catching one a bung on the punch.
The bloodworm line just doesnt seem to work either with only 3 fish in 20 or 30 mins and i quickly lose confidence in it. About this point my neightbour nets a 3lb tench from his far bank chop & caster line and i decide to have a look against the far boat where i've pinged a few casters throughout the day. This doesnt work either, and the next thing i know theres only about 90,100 mins left, i've knackered all my swims and on a venue like this i just cant see where i'm gonna get a bite from. I decide to be positive and focus on the line that has been the most productive, the punch line.
I've been flicking 2 or 3 casters over this every 10 mins or so, and decide to feed a small hardish ball about 1.5" dia just downstream of me through the cupping kit with a little bit of loose punch to make the cloud. I refine the rig and 2nd run down i'm back into fish. They are back right over the feed, and my little mission now is to just really concentrate and fish as well as possible til the end of the match. I resist all urges to throw bait in, instead using the cup with a marble every 10 mins or so, and it works, i keep the fish coming steadily. I've been having the odd look on a caster, I've only caught 2 or 3 on it, 1 about 5 oz, but as the light fades i fancy the bigger ones to show, sure enough 2 proper fish show late on to the shell, one about 12oz. Final weigh in is 5lb 4 or something, for 4th. Just short of 12lb has won, but 8 is 2nd, 7 odd is 3rd and i know i should have beaten those. Interesting day, lots of things learnt and very much looking forward to returning next week, however straight after the match everyone tells me that the Winter League match has been swapped with the Willinghurst one, so i've just spent the day practising on the worng venue. Doh !
Sunday 12th Nov - Surrey Winter league @ Willinghurst
So I havent been here since the first of October, I know full well thats its changed a lot since then and its been fishing hard on most lakes, with only Top Lake showing any fish, even then most blokes are fishing for roach weights and nicking the odd carp early or late. I fancy a day on Horsheshoe, at least you can usually geta few bites from the F1s to keep you interested. I duly draw Horseshoe 1
Now, I've drawn this peg before last winter, and was battered off the next peg. 1 & 2 sit next to each other on a point facing into the middle, however from peg 2 you can dominate the middle of the lake whereas peg 1 is a bit more restricted. Well thats my excuse - last time on there i weighed in 13lb or so while peg 2 had 45lb. Still, at laest i should have a better idea of what to expect, i hear it fished hard yesterday with 20lb winning the lake so i'm thinking if i can get to 15lb i'll be happy anything beyond that would be good.
Its deep - 7' or so over the shelf, and while you can catch big weights shallow in teh warmer months, i wasnt expecting much off the deck today. Like most of the anglers sat round the lake, i started on a maggot feeder, after 20 mins the tip jagged round and i caught the first f1 on the lake. Over the next hour or so, most people catch at least one or so, however the Dorking bloke in my section, Mark Goddard, also lands a lumpy carp from his corner peg, so the rest of us are playing catch up.
About 1hr in, and i decide to have a good look on the pole, theres a few roach around, 30 mins later the white hydro tugs out properly and the 2nd f1 hits the pan. Its not going mad, but to be honest, i'm in the hunt with 2 at this point. However, i commit the winter sin again and over feed it, the f1s are so finicky i can literally sense them move away from the bait, the bites get really iffy and then they stop completely. A sit without a bite for an hour and thrown the feeder out - i'd like to say it was strategic, but really its just in desperation :) My neighbour obviously concurs and follows suit, however the difference is he catches 3 f1s in 3 throws, while i remain biteless. Bah.
I can sense a blowout here so i decide to think like any good team member and try to catch anything that might be swimming. I shuffle the rig around, resume pingiong a few casters & maggots and start to catch small roach again. It should be possible to catch 4 or 5lb of these in the last 2 hours, which could potentially prevent a last in section. At least its a few bites and abit of fun, and no-one else is really catching in my section either. I strike at a regular roach bite and its immediately eveident it aint no roach - i've had to set the white hydro really soft to prevent me from bumping the little roach, within moments theres about 30' of it wanging out of the tip, that'll be a carp then, and when the elastic is so stretched out theres no real way of knowing what kind of size - they regularly come out to 18lb in this lake; this could be fun.
10 mins later and i'm in with a chance of landing this - i've somehow managed to find a bung extractor from my box while playing the fish, and have pulled the elastic back out of the top kit in the same manner as a milo pull bung (works a treat, must buy one !) - and then its finally in the net, about 8-9lb, its turned what was a miserable birthday into something far more interesting (yes, 21 again). A few more roach show, no more f1s, but i'm just happy i've salvaged some points, at the scales i weigh 12lb 10, 3rd in section (again) and 4 more points. Funny old day.
Tight Lines
Sun 15th Oct - Surrey Winter League - River Mole
Yet another venue I hadnt fished but was keen to have a go on given that i spent my younger years on small rivers in Yorkshire. A few mails & calls to my Leatherhead Mole expert chums gave me some pointers, I just needed a half decent draw and there could be a good chance i'd catch my first chub in over 10 years ! Blimey, time flies. I was informed I'd drawn just that - half decent, not a flier, but half decent, and could expect some roach & dace with the chance of chub showing late on. Twas a lovely looking peg on the Leatherhead stretch, about 10 mtrs wide with an elderberry bush trailing in the water on the far bank, and some trees right down the peg on my own bank. I could see the bottom upto halfway over before it dipped into a deeper channel 2 rod lengths out which is where i fancied a few bites.
The various information pointed to a pole and waggler affair, most poeple ruling out a stick float, but as it'd been a few years since i'd had a spliced tip rod out of the holdall i set one up anyway :) a 4 x 6 Pete Warren (just for old times sake) on 2.5lb Matchwinner and a size 18 Drennan Maggot hook. A 3BB wagg featured identical terminal tackle, with a couple of no10s and a tiny swivel above the hooklength, and i ran a 4 x 12 up-bodied pole float shotted with no9s onto 0.14 with the same hook. I pulled the waders up, got in the water, put the bait into my apron (dug out of the shed), the sun was shining; it was heavenly.... !
And a very pleasant day ensued, switching mainly between the waggler and the pole, i caught about 7lb of silvers with some lovely roach coming on the pole & caster after i sussed out that the better fish were sat right on the deck upstream of where i'd been feeding (which was a good 3 yards downstream of me) - so i'd bulked down bar one dropper, put it a few inches overdepth lowered it in at the head of the swim and as it passed over the hotspot, just slowed it down and every 5 mins a 6-10oz roach would come out. Alternatively i could run the waggler through to the end of the bush and usually catch a small dace or chublet and so on. However i got to thinking that this wasnt gonna get me that many points - it would only take a couple of chub from any peg to batter me. The dilema was to up the feed and kill off the roach and hope for a chub showing, obviously i'm a bit wary of killing the swim if they dont show, so i left it as late as possible - an hour to go - before feeding much heavier. The bites faded out, but 20 mins later the waggler dipped and something much lumpier headed for the bushes, 3 mins later a nice chub about 2lb10oz went into the net. 10 mins later a slightly smaller brother of about 2lb joined it, no more are forthcoming and I've weighed in 11lb 14oz, 3rd in section, 4pnts, a really enjoyable day, out in the sticks, lovely little river, cows moo'ing, fresh air, wicked.
Saturday 21st October - Bury Hill Bonds
As previously stated, I like Bury Hill, and have been trying to get there ever since Ken Collins started running matches at the end of summer. Bonds is the out & out match carp lake there, I've pleasure fished it in the middle of winter before and had really goods weights, so was hopeful it would fish well. Unfortunately i did hear there'd beena fish kill, and so it proved on the day, as it fished pretty hard. The main thing was the feeding has definitely shifted to all things wintery, which was where i fell down, i didnt exactly fill it in, in fact i didnt feed much at all however i just got it wrong by potting in after catching a couple of early fish. The outcome was about 2 hrs without a fish, and it was only in the second half that i managed to sort it out and put together a relatively regular spell of bites & fish. I didnt miss any bites, its just that they were at a premium. Anyway, I've weighed in 55lb for 6th (3rd in section) which is first out of the money.
Sunday Nov 5th - Wey Nevigation Canal @ Black Boys
Something new again, what is seemingly the first of my yearly 2 visits to the Wey Nav, one to fish in the Winter Leagiue, and one to practise there a couple of weeks beforehand. Having said that i do like it, mainly cos its different - a canal that runs like a river - and i get a chance to fish breadpunch and bloodworm, 2 methods i like but rarely ever fish nowadays. After a bit of a chinwag to a couple of Wey Nav regulars, i decide to focus on 2 main lines of attack, punch down the middle in the deepest part, with a b&j line at the bottom of the far shelf. The punch rig is a 4x12 Drennan Trio on about 3.5 mtrs of 0.08 to a size 20 511, shotted with 9s & 11s, the worm rig is a Sensas 0.5grm flat float, with a bulk of 8s and 2 11 droppers. I decided to make these rigs up with Preston Shotz, which are great on thick line cos they move about really easily, and i figured the same principle must apply to light lines - even more so, moving a shot on thin lines is a nightmare - and they worked really well, especially as the bulk shot moving very easily with no line damage. Anyway...
80% of a 1/4 kilo of joker in double leam went into 6 hard balls and were plonked at the foot of the shelf where they would sit for at least an hour while i had a whirl on the punch. A golfball of liquidised bread started that line, 3rd run down the float dips and a 2 oz roach comes to hand. This carries on for about an hour or so, before i reach the point that comes to all bread punch swims; how to refeed. And at this point, i cock it up, not because i've refed it completely wrong, but cos i refed it badly - ie inaccurately, and the fish get scattered all over the place. After 5 or 10 biteless minutes i finally catch a couple right down the swim and realise that i've made a bit of a mess of it. I limp on til about halfway, refeeding a marble of punch and catching the odd fish here and there but with no consistency and i'm getting frustrated. I decide to look on the longer line, but know that really i should still be catching one a bung on the punch.
The bloodworm line just doesnt seem to work either with only 3 fish in 20 or 30 mins and i quickly lose confidence in it. About this point my neightbour nets a 3lb tench from his far bank chop & caster line and i decide to have a look against the far boat where i've pinged a few casters throughout the day. This doesnt work either, and the next thing i know theres only about 90,100 mins left, i've knackered all my swims and on a venue like this i just cant see where i'm gonna get a bite from. I decide to be positive and focus on the line that has been the most productive, the punch line.
I've been flicking 2 or 3 casters over this every 10 mins or so, and decide to feed a small hardish ball about 1.5" dia just downstream of me through the cupping kit with a little bit of loose punch to make the cloud. I refine the rig and 2nd run down i'm back into fish. They are back right over the feed, and my little mission now is to just really concentrate and fish as well as possible til the end of the match. I resist all urges to throw bait in, instead using the cup with a marble every 10 mins or so, and it works, i keep the fish coming steadily. I've been having the odd look on a caster, I've only caught 2 or 3 on it, 1 about 5 oz, but as the light fades i fancy the bigger ones to show, sure enough 2 proper fish show late on to the shell, one about 12oz. Final weigh in is 5lb 4 or something, for 4th. Just short of 12lb has won, but 8 is 2nd, 7 odd is 3rd and i know i should have beaten those. Interesting day, lots of things learnt and very much looking forward to returning next week, however straight after the match everyone tells me that the Winter League match has been swapped with the Willinghurst one, so i've just spent the day practising on the worng venue. Doh !
Sunday 12th Nov - Surrey Winter league @ Willinghurst
So I havent been here since the first of October, I know full well thats its changed a lot since then and its been fishing hard on most lakes, with only Top Lake showing any fish, even then most blokes are fishing for roach weights and nicking the odd carp early or late. I fancy a day on Horsheshoe, at least you can usually geta few bites from the F1s to keep you interested. I duly draw Horseshoe 1
Now, I've drawn this peg before last winter, and was battered off the next peg. 1 & 2 sit next to each other on a point facing into the middle, however from peg 2 you can dominate the middle of the lake whereas peg 1 is a bit more restricted. Well thats my excuse - last time on there i weighed in 13lb or so while peg 2 had 45lb. Still, at laest i should have a better idea of what to expect, i hear it fished hard yesterday with 20lb winning the lake so i'm thinking if i can get to 15lb i'll be happy anything beyond that would be good.
Its deep - 7' or so over the shelf, and while you can catch big weights shallow in teh warmer months, i wasnt expecting much off the deck today. Like most of the anglers sat round the lake, i started on a maggot feeder, after 20 mins the tip jagged round and i caught the first f1 on the lake. Over the next hour or so, most people catch at least one or so, however the Dorking bloke in my section, Mark Goddard, also lands a lumpy carp from his corner peg, so the rest of us are playing catch up.
About 1hr in, and i decide to have a good look on the pole, theres a few roach around, 30 mins later the white hydro tugs out properly and the 2nd f1 hits the pan. Its not going mad, but to be honest, i'm in the hunt with 2 at this point. However, i commit the winter sin again and over feed it, the f1s are so finicky i can literally sense them move away from the bait, the bites get really iffy and then they stop completely. A sit without a bite for an hour and thrown the feeder out - i'd like to say it was strategic, but really its just in desperation :) My neighbour obviously concurs and follows suit, however the difference is he catches 3 f1s in 3 throws, while i remain biteless. Bah.
I can sense a blowout here so i decide to think like any good team member and try to catch anything that might be swimming. I shuffle the rig around, resume pingiong a few casters & maggots and start to catch small roach again. It should be possible to catch 4 or 5lb of these in the last 2 hours, which could potentially prevent a last in section. At least its a few bites and abit of fun, and no-one else is really catching in my section either. I strike at a regular roach bite and its immediately eveident it aint no roach - i've had to set the white hydro really soft to prevent me from bumping the little roach, within moments theres about 30' of it wanging out of the tip, that'll be a carp then, and when the elastic is so stretched out theres no real way of knowing what kind of size - they regularly come out to 18lb in this lake; this could be fun.
10 mins later and i'm in with a chance of landing this - i've somehow managed to find a bung extractor from my box while playing the fish, and have pulled the elastic back out of the top kit in the same manner as a milo pull bung (works a treat, must buy one !) - and then its finally in the net, about 8-9lb, its turned what was a miserable birthday into something far more interesting (yes, 21 again). A few more roach show, no more f1s, but i'm just happy i've salvaged some points, at the scales i weigh 12lb 10, 3rd in section (again) and 4 more points. Funny old day.
Tight Lines
posted by The Northerner at
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
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