2011 here I come

Angling Times semi final
Milton Keynes

Fishing with Gordon League I am hoping to quialfy for the Angling Times final.  We have been practing for the main event on 6th March.  I will let you know how this goes.  Fingers crossed!!!!

(see link http://www.vespe.com/blog/milton-keynes/)

Fish O mania

Very disappointed that I didn't quailfy last year as I did have my chancer at Larford Lakes.  It would be nice to get into the final again (2001 I was there).  I have only got 3 tickets.

Viaduct on 09/04/11

http://www.viaductfishery.com/#0

Tunnel Barn on 21/05/11

http://www.tunnelbarnfarm.com/

Lindholme on 29/06/11

http://www.lindholmelakes.co.uk/

Maver Match This

Another big money final.

I have four tickets for this, which cost me a whopping £200.

The tickets I have:

Saturday 7th May at Woodlands.

Saturday 4th June at Larford lakes

Sunday 17th July at Heronbrook

Saturday 23rd at Larford lakes

http://www.mavermatchthis.co.uk/tickets.php#buy

Uk Champs

I have one chance of quailfying this year at Barston Lakes on 25th May

http://www.barstonlakes.co.uk/

uk champs link

http://www.ukanglingchampionship.co.uk/

me playing a foul hooked carp.... i did get it out......... in the end!

(http://www.ukanglingchampionship.co.uk/8.jpg)

Manor Farm festival

9th May to 13th May.

http://www.manorfarmleisure.co.uk/fishing/

Lindholme Festival

25th July to 29th July



http://www.lindholmelakes.co.uk/

County Champs

I am going to try and ensure I get into the final this year and put some time and effort into the semi final, as last year I didn't practice and it did cost me at Hillview.

Ensure you are registered.  See link below:

http://www.gofishing.co.uk/Angling-Times/Section/News--Catches/County-Champs/

Pewsey 6/02/11

Milkhouse and Wharf



• Peg 10 (milkhouse)
• 6lb 1oz,
• Won section and 6th overall.
• 20 people fished

Boats at Pewsey is solid with  fish

Wharf

Milkhouse Strecth

Milkhouse

Gary O'shea wins again, 8lb 10oz. Well done two on the bounce

Milkhouse

On arrival to my peg I was unsure what to do as no one had fished it for a while and after plumbing the depth it shallowed up quickly at 8 metres and therefore limited my options. I feel unless you have a distinctive feature, like a bush,  you will not catch productively in less than two feet of water as the water clarity is quite clear this time of year.  Also fishing joker in very shallow water normally equals ‘blade roach’ (small roach), which won’t win you any coin. I decided to fish 6 metres in front of me on bread and then have two lines at a 45degree angle each side at 9 metres each. The line to my left was in 2 and half feet of water and i fed Russian joker in ground bait and my other 9 meter line was raw polish joker in grey leam to stiffen it up into a ball.  When fishing grey leam I don’t add any water as normally the moisture from the joker is enough to form a ball, I don’t add much as this stuff is like concrete.   Russian joker is al lot less active and therefore much better for skimmers and the polish tends to be more active and therefore  normally far better for Roach.  Russian joker is very small and can’t really be hook bait whereas Polish can be.

The Match

I fed my 3 lines lines and started on the bread at 6 metres which resulted in a Ruffe after a fruitless 15 minutes, which is something I have never done before in over twenty years of fishing. Therefore I shipped out to my raw joker line at 9 metres, with a single bloodworm which resulted in a Perch of 8 oz. However this seemed to be a loner and then I quickly rotated to my right swim at 9 metres over the ground bait, which produced nothing. Things were not looking good! The guy next to me (Nicky Ewers) was also struggling and he persisted on his bread line which produce a couple of fish. I returned to my bread line which was unproductive therefore minced some lobworms up and shipped out 9 metres at almost a 80 degree angle to try and get myself out of trouble!!  I went on my raw joker line for 20 minutes to rest the Lob line and let it settle before fishing it.  When I went on the lob line I caught a couple of Perch which boosted my total weight to a whopping 1lb 8oz in an hour and half! Then I decided to put some joker in black damp leam and at 6 metres over my bread line which transformed my peg and I began to catch Ruffe and the odd Roach. This was a positive sign as I felt these small fish would attract the bigger fish through their activity of feeding. I caught well on this line for an hour and boosted my weight with a couple of bonus Perch up to 12 oz.  With 3 hours gone I had about 4lb and I know that I would need about 8lb to frame.  So I decided to put damp leam over my raw joker line to try to make it more productive, which didn’t happen.  The groundbait line at 9 metres began to catch a few Roach but wouldn’t last i.e I would only catch 2 quick Roach and that would be it and I would have to change lines.  I regularly fed my lobworm line with 4 minced lobworms every 20 minutes to try and build it up and I was rewarded with a 12oz hybrid for my efforts. The final hour proved to be very difficult and all I did was rotate my four lines and try to continue to put fish in the net but the only issue was that  they were two small to make a real difference.   To make matters worse, I lost a 1lb perch, as it snagged me in a branch in the last twenty minutes, which was a little upsetting, as I knew this fish would cost me dear, which it did!!!!

I was a little disappointed to weigh in 6lb1oz, I may have won my section and be second overall at Milkhouse, but I felt the peg was worth more and maybe I should have fed damp leam on all 3 lines.   Also losing that perch cost me third place, which would of meant I would of framed and been a little richer!

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Pewsey 31/01/11

Pewsey Open 30/01/11

·         30 people fished

·         3^rd overall and section win

·         3lb 3oz (40 tiny fish and 3 bonus perch)

Lucky big "billy" ( about 12oz)

Nigel Franks with 2lb 3oz, unlucky to loose the section by default.

Mr Pollard with 3lb for 4th

Nigel Crewe

Very hard match, 3lb 7oz won it (well done Gary O'Shea)

 see report on the Vespe site, see link below:

http://www.vespe.com/blog/

Manor Weekend 22/01/11 and 23/01/11

Windmill 22/01/11

• Peg 26
• 27lb 6oz
• 6th out 16
• 2nd in my section
• I had 3lb 4oz Perch (personal best)

Match Results – Saturday 22nd January – Windmill and Island Pools

1^st ANDY POLLARD 46-4-0
D G L / Mosella Peg 15 Windmill
2^nd CHRIS CAMERON 39-8-0
Mosella S W Peg 4 Island
3^rd MIKE POLLARD 31-2-0
Mosella Peg 24 Windmill

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Island 23/01/11

• Peg 34
• 16lb 4oz
• no good.... must try harder



Nigel Crewe on his way to 3rd overall.

Match Results – Sunday 23rd January – Island, Middle, Boundary and Windmill Pools

1^ST STEVE SEABOURNE 83-0-0
Wye Angling Peg 3 Middle
2^ND TONY SHEPHERD 64-12-0
Oxford Peg 28 Middle
3^RD NIGEL CREWE 52-12-0
DGL Peg 13 Island
4^TH ROB WILSON 46-10-0
MFL Peg 15 Island

 

Open at Manor Farm

Windmill Lake

• 27lb 10oz (lost section by 8oz)
• Peg 24
• 9 carp and 5 chub
• 2nd in section and 3rd on the lake

see full report on

http://www.vespe.com/blog/

match report via Manor Farm

http://www.manorfarmleisure.co.uk/latest-news/

Open Match at Manor

Manor Farm 9th Jan 2011

Peg 27 on Windmill, my kit neat as ever

• Weighed 3lb 10oz of all little roach
• I was lucky and won the 5 peg section.

Peg 27 which is in bowl, which is around 7 foot deep which is good depth, but the pegs to my left are 10 foot which are the hotspots.  Steve Ford had 128lb midweek match on peg 16, which was a superb weight for this time of year.  However, after speaking to Steve on the morning he reassured that is a good peg, but I wasn’t  so sure to be honest and was disappointed to be here. 

I thought it would be rock hard, and the match did turn out to be a real shocker.  I started by feeding two lines at 14.5 meters as I felt that wouldn’t catch any closer, so feed 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock.  The 10’clock line I fed around 50 4mm pellets and at the12 o’clock line I fed 15 pellets.  This would enable me to judge the response between the two.   The depths were the same, and therefore maybe life easy, as I could quickly rotate between the lines without changing rigs.  I fished 4mm skretting pellet on the hook, the same ones that I am feeding.

 I didn’t feed anywhere else but these two lines, and fished between the two for 1 hour and thirty minutes, and had one bite which I missed.  So I decided to fish 16 meters at 12 o’clock for half hour and again failed to get any bites.  Now I was beginning to think I wasn’t going to catch a carp, also no else had caught a carp in the bowl at this stage.  The guy to my left was catching silver fish, roach, so I got off my box and quickly made up a roach rig.  My roach rig was a Malman winter wire 4x14, 0.125 main line to a 0.75 hooklength and a 22 green gama.

I potted in 30 pinkies, 10 maggots along with 10 pellets at 14 meters at 12 o’clock.  Shipped out to 14 meters and caught a ½ oz roach straight away, and shipped out again and another quickly followed, so I decided to loose feed over the top, but this had a negative effect, as bites dried up quickly.  Therefore, I decided to put 30 pinkies with 10 maggots and 10 pellets every five fish and have a very quick look for a carp, just to left the roach settle on that line and give me a chance of catching a carp on both lines.  Also loose feeding didn’t work as the fish didn’t what to complete for food, as the water was so cold, I think this made them very lethargic and were getting spooked by lose feeding.  Inflection I think groundbait and pinkie would of been best for roach, but hey I went to a carp water to win!!

I caught around 40 roach and 4 small skimmers to give me 3lb 10oz.

See link for full match details

http://www.manorfarmleisure.co.uk/latest-news/

Bread fishing



The essential items for bread fishing

• Good quailty bread, Hovis, Kingsmill or Warburtons
• A good food blender or coffee grinder
• Flour sieve
• Good punches with a pin or needle





 Good punches, Drennan Brass, they cut the bread cleanly and the pin is there to unblock the punches when I am fishing.  Very effective when it is raining, as the punches do get clogged.



Cutting the crusts off will make the bread sink faster.  So if  pike are a problem or the canal is flowing then the bread will get to the bottom quicker.  Also cutting the crusts off will make the bread less filling.  However, if you fishing a canal that is full of fish or catching skimmers then leave the crusts on.

Once blender up, you may wish to put through a flour sieve or pinkie ridd.

The leftovers you can blend again

See the differnce between the sieved (left) and unsieved (right)

Sensas 21 floats from 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 is used

I use Gamakatsu or B511 size 22 for baggin on 4mm punch

Image Im1's in 24 or 26 or 95% of my bread fishing


South Cerney Club match on K&A canal station

Andy Burns winning the match on peg 1, with over 12lb. 

Dad on peg 2, with 2lb 11oz



My peg 8, same one as the Angling Times winter league



Andy Bright on Peg 11, the bush peg.  2lb 6oz.

Feeding bread

Or use your float




Only had 2lb 13oz, for 5th out of 12 anglers.  Couldn't catch a bonus.