This Sunday I was off to the Fennes on the Hill and Black lake, after my practice on the thursday I was concerned the fish may be bunched up in a few pegs out of the wind, so I felt as though not drawing this area could make it really hard!
It had been ice cold over night and there was cat ice in places on the lake, I was hoping for a draw on 15 or 16 to be out of the freezing wind and hopefully where the fish were. I ended up drawing peg 26, which in normal conditions I would consider a good skimmer peg, but being the other end of the lake to where I caught Thursday it could be a quiet day!
I decided to fish a 6 meter line where I would introduce one small golf ball of joker to start, and an 11 meter line where I decided to put about 400 ml of joker in 10 balls, with 3 really rich balls in the center. The idea being I could start by catching a few little fish, to avoid a blank and also give me somewhere to go when things were slow. The idea of feeding loads on the long line was down to how I had caught on Thursday, I really felt as though you had to get allot down there, and once the fish finally came in you should catch for the rest of the match, for some reason on Thursday the bream didn't respond to topping up after eating the initial feed, so id opted to just feed more in case they didn't respond again! I also set up a tip rod to chuck out for the first half hour in the hope of a lucky rap round.
Rigs for the day were my favorite Drennan lake 0.8g float (unfortunately they no longer make this older sensitive pattern) this was for the long line which was about 7 foot deep, tied to a 20 Drennan silverfish onto an 0.08mm hooklenght. The short line was identical except with a 0.4g float.
I started the match and fed my lines, I opted for the trusty 50/50 black lake and roach mixed in 50/50 with some damp leam. This is a reliable mix that never lets you down if you are trying to catch bream or roach when fishing bloodworm and joker.
After 2 chucks and 30 bite less minutes I was on the 6 meter line, which produced one roach in 15 minutes, id avoided a blank at least I then tried the long line and caught 2 more roach before nothing. Back on the short line and I had a small skimmer about 8 oz, this was a good sign and gave me confidence there must be a few in the area as you very rarely catch just one, I had a couple more in the next 30 minutes before topping the short line up and deciding the long line must be ready.
I caught a 2 lb bream first put in on the long line followed by 3 roach, it was good to be getting bites as no one else seemed to be able to string two bites together.
Back on the short line and I had a couple more roach, but they didn't seem to be coming very fast,so i topped up with 2 balls and then went back on the long line.
By this time it was 12 o'clock and 2 hours had passed, I felt as though I was neck and neck with the people on 15 and 16 so felt as though I still had a chance despite being in what I thought was the wrong area.
I caught 3 bream on the bounce on dead maggot before not getting any more bites, I topped up with another orange sized ball and had 2 more bream instantly. It seemed as though they were responding to the top up balls well. I decided to try 4 bloodworm as a hook bait, as sometimes this can work really well for bream, and it was the case today as it completely outclassed the dead maggot.
I refined my feeding throughout the day, finding that it was best to top up with 2 golf balls of joker after every 3 bream, the last hour was a real flier and as well as good bream I started catching skimmers in between which meant I was putting something in my net every put in.
I finished the match with 19 bream and some skimmers and roach, for a final weight of 57 lb, a fantastic weight of silvers from what can be a difficult venue in the cold! second place finished with 16 lb, and weights of 15 lb and 14 lb were recorded.
It had fished exactly the same to when i fished it the Thursday except a few roach had fed, and also the bream responded to top up balls of joker, id caught two good weights of bream from opposite ends of the lake, which makes me feel I had a good method worked out. You never know if you were sitting on a ball of fish on venues like this, and I may possibly have done, but it did take 2 hours to get one to feed so it didn't seem like it!
I certainly feel as though I've learnt something in specific for this lake to catch bream, and hope to use this knowledge in future matches, the key was certainly to put loads of joker in at the start, and not worry if you haven't caught anything for 2 hours!
Next week I am off to Long pond in Clare I have never fished this place in the winter, which makes a difficult bait menu! I've opted to try a similar bloodworm approach to what I used this Sunday and also a pellet line with the option of corn as a hook bait. there are also some swims I may be able to fish the tip, but not knowing how clear the water will be or anything makes it hard to know what to do! I will simply take my gear and work something out when I arrive at my peg!
Thanks for reading,
see you next week!
Reece.
Thursday, 28 February 2013
Thursday, 21 February 2013
Arrans lake and the fennes
This weekend I had two matches booked in.
The first being a Saturday match on arrans lake, no one really new how it would fish with the cold weather.
I drew the ow near the aerator so felt I could at least snag a few on the tip if nothing else.
I had 2 fish in the first hour on pellet cone and was left wondering what to do! The corner pegs were bagging so I had a lot of catching up to do!
I managed a few on the long pole before the swim died, I struggled up until the last hour and a half when I managed to put a few more fish together, I had a good last hour, finishing with 116lb for a section win and 4th overall. Top weight was 138lb so I'd done well considering I seemed in the wrong area on the day!
Sunday was a club match on Hobbs croft on the fennes.
Is was a rod and reel match only, and with the frosts overnight it was lookin grim! On arrival the lake was frozen so it was I've breaking to begin. As it were throughout the day the ice melted as the temperature rose to 8c.
I caught well on the waggler from the start, fishing caster over the top of a bed of joker, I fed 8 balls long and one ball short and basically topped up when bites died, I managed some decent skimmers long and loads of roach short to finish with 166 fish for 26lb 13oz. This was enough to win on the day as second was 24lb. Only one carp was hooked and lost all day, so I didn't waste my time fishing my bomb line, if I had done I may not have won the match so it was a good call on the day.
Today I went to hill as black at the fennes as I had a day off work, and thought I'd see what was happening on the lake in preparation for Sunday.
I didn't get a bite in the first hour, and considering I was fishing bloodworm and joker I was fairly concerned! All of a sudden my float slid away and I had a bream! Not what I was expecting at all. I had 16 on the trott before having to top up the swim, I just couldn't believe it! I finished with 25 bream for about 50lb. I was expecting 10lb of roach at best so a fantastic surprise!
The only problem I had was that I didn't catch a single roach! This concerns me for Sunday as not everyone will catch bream, maybe two or three people. So if you don't catch bream what else is there to catch?!?!
I'm just hoping I can net a few of those slabs Sunday in my match!
Thanks for reading and il see you next week!
The first being a Saturday match on arrans lake, no one really new how it would fish with the cold weather.
I drew the ow near the aerator so felt I could at least snag a few on the tip if nothing else.
I had 2 fish in the first hour on pellet cone and was left wondering what to do! The corner pegs were bagging so I had a lot of catching up to do!
I managed a few on the long pole before the swim died, I struggled up until the last hour and a half when I managed to put a few more fish together, I had a good last hour, finishing with 116lb for a section win and 4th overall. Top weight was 138lb so I'd done well considering I seemed in the wrong area on the day!
Sunday was a club match on Hobbs croft on the fennes.
Is was a rod and reel match only, and with the frosts overnight it was lookin grim! On arrival the lake was frozen so it was I've breaking to begin. As it were throughout the day the ice melted as the temperature rose to 8c.
I caught well on the waggler from the start, fishing caster over the top of a bed of joker, I fed 8 balls long and one ball short and basically topped up when bites died, I managed some decent skimmers long and loads of roach short to finish with 166 fish for 26lb 13oz. This was enough to win on the day as second was 24lb. Only one carp was hooked and lost all day, so I didn't waste my time fishing my bomb line, if I had done I may not have won the match so it was a good call on the day.
Today I went to hill as black at the fennes as I had a day off work, and thought I'd see what was happening on the lake in preparation for Sunday.
I didn't get a bite in the first hour, and considering I was fishing bloodworm and joker I was fairly concerned! All of a sudden my float slid away and I had a bream! Not what I was expecting at all. I had 16 on the trott before having to top up the swim, I just couldn't believe it! I finished with 25 bream for about 50lb. I was expecting 10lb of roach at best so a fantastic surprise!
The only problem I had was that I didn't catch a single roach! This concerns me for Sunday as not everyone will catch bream, maybe two or three people. So if you don't catch bream what else is there to catch?!?!
I'm just hoping I can net a few of those slabs Sunday in my match!
Thanks for reading and il see you next week!
Friday, 8 February 2013
Fennes Ash Grounds
This Sunday I was off to the Fennes yet again for a match on Ash grounds lake, after all the ice had melted I wasn't really sure how it was going to fish. Previously the in form peg has been 55 as its full of F1s! I certainly wouldn't mind drawing here as if they feed your on them and if they don't then at least you can still catch roach on the bloodworm and joker.
As my luck seems to have left me at the draw bag lately, I went in to draw peg 14, basically the worst peg that was in! Roach don't seem to head up here very often, and you normally catch skimmers instead, but with the ice gone in would they even want to know?
Anyway, I decided on 2 pole lines and set up a bomb to chuck out some pop up bread or boilies just while I left the joker to settle. One line was 11meters in about 6 foot of water, ideally I would have liked to go atleast 13 for the skimmers but it was way to windy and I could only manage 11. My other line was 6 sections at an angle to my right, so about 5 sections out, just away from my other line, this was in about 4 foot of water, the reason for this line was to give me a starting point while the longer 'balled' in line could settle.
I started by putting a golf ball of joker in on the short line, and 8 orange sized balls on the long line, I then proceeded to chuck the lead out with some bread, 15 minutes was enough boredom on that so on the short line. Nothing. If you don't get a bite on this line within 10 minutes, you know its going to be hard!
No-one else had caught anything at this point from what I could see either. I gave the long line 15 minutes before chucking the bomb out again. To cut the next 2 hours out, I basically didn't get a bite until about 12 when I had a tiny perch! Over my balled in line bizarrely enough. By this point I was about 2lb of fish behind the two guys to my left on 10 and 12, these are really good roach pegs, all i could hope is that they moved up to me!
Im not one for normally walking about, but I was so bloody bored I took a wander around the lake, a few people were catching some small roach, no F1s were feeding and it was rock hard all over. I arrived back at my peg about 20 minutes later, sat down, got the long rig out with a caster on and it just buried! A nice 4oz roach! I started catching quite steadily, and found dead maggot to be the best bait, sometimes they just dont take caster confidently enough, and the fish were no smaller on dead maggot and I got quicker bites so I carried on bagging on this, after an hour it died off, so I took the risk of topping up with a small golf ball of joker, it didn't work! After 10 bite less minutes moving the rig about I decided to try my short line, I hadn't topped this up for a while cause its normally redundant after you catch on the balled in line. I dropped my rig in and it just buried roach, roach and more roach. I don't know why they moved here, maybe Id overfed the long line? Maybe they wanted shallower water? who knows! But I wasn't complaining! Everyone was struggling at this point, and I was catching within a second of my float settling, I had a fantastic last half hour, and felt as though I should have done enough to beat the guy to my left, even though hed caught 2 hours before me!
I was the first to weigh in, and I had 79roach for 8lb 9oz, a fantastic weight seeing as id only caught properly for 2 and a half hours! The bloke to my left weighed in 7lb 2oz, so the last 30 minutes was what did it for me!
I went round with the weigh in, id beaten everyone down the left bank, including my new bills tackle team mates! Thats the 4th time ive drawn this bank and the 4th section ive won, certainly got something right!
Anyway, we got round to the last peg, Mr Banks! This was the important person to beat as I could get my all important £1 back, he was owning up to 5lb, which normally means 10lb. As he pulled his fish out he failed to mention hed caught a stray 3lb bream! That with his roach and a chunky perch went 9lb 8oz, another £1 I lost! Second week on the trott hes beaten me by less than 1lb as well! Gutted!
That put me 2nd in the match anyway, and I got my section so still got good points! This match was for the Huit cup as well the huit cup was spread over 3 rounds this year, I managed to finish 1st in the first round and 2nd in the last 2 rounds, so only dropping 2 points meant I won the trophy as well.
In terms of the overall club championship, I am still leading, not sure by how much but I hope a considerable amount! Theres 5 matches left in the season, so hopefully I can hold things together and wrap it up!
Next week im off to our notley lake. My granddad went up there for a little look last week and blanked so i might not have much to look forward to! hopefully it was just the ice water that put them off!
Thanks for reading and see you next week! (providing I get a bite)
As my luck seems to have left me at the draw bag lately, I went in to draw peg 14, basically the worst peg that was in! Roach don't seem to head up here very often, and you normally catch skimmers instead, but with the ice gone in would they even want to know?
Anyway, I decided on 2 pole lines and set up a bomb to chuck out some pop up bread or boilies just while I left the joker to settle. One line was 11meters in about 6 foot of water, ideally I would have liked to go atleast 13 for the skimmers but it was way to windy and I could only manage 11. My other line was 6 sections at an angle to my right, so about 5 sections out, just away from my other line, this was in about 4 foot of water, the reason for this line was to give me a starting point while the longer 'balled' in line could settle.
I started by putting a golf ball of joker in on the short line, and 8 orange sized balls on the long line, I then proceeded to chuck the lead out with some bread, 15 minutes was enough boredom on that so on the short line. Nothing. If you don't get a bite on this line within 10 minutes, you know its going to be hard!
No-one else had caught anything at this point from what I could see either. I gave the long line 15 minutes before chucking the bomb out again. To cut the next 2 hours out, I basically didn't get a bite until about 12 when I had a tiny perch! Over my balled in line bizarrely enough. By this point I was about 2lb of fish behind the two guys to my left on 10 and 12, these are really good roach pegs, all i could hope is that they moved up to me!
Im not one for normally walking about, but I was so bloody bored I took a wander around the lake, a few people were catching some small roach, no F1s were feeding and it was rock hard all over. I arrived back at my peg about 20 minutes later, sat down, got the long rig out with a caster on and it just buried! A nice 4oz roach! I started catching quite steadily, and found dead maggot to be the best bait, sometimes they just dont take caster confidently enough, and the fish were no smaller on dead maggot and I got quicker bites so I carried on bagging on this, after an hour it died off, so I took the risk of topping up with a small golf ball of joker, it didn't work! After 10 bite less minutes moving the rig about I decided to try my short line, I hadn't topped this up for a while cause its normally redundant after you catch on the balled in line. I dropped my rig in and it just buried roach, roach and more roach. I don't know why they moved here, maybe Id overfed the long line? Maybe they wanted shallower water? who knows! But I wasn't complaining! Everyone was struggling at this point, and I was catching within a second of my float settling, I had a fantastic last half hour, and felt as though I should have done enough to beat the guy to my left, even though hed caught 2 hours before me!
I was the first to weigh in, and I had 79roach for 8lb 9oz, a fantastic weight seeing as id only caught properly for 2 and a half hours! The bloke to my left weighed in 7lb 2oz, so the last 30 minutes was what did it for me!
I went round with the weigh in, id beaten everyone down the left bank, including my new bills tackle team mates! Thats the 4th time ive drawn this bank and the 4th section ive won, certainly got something right!
Anyway, we got round to the last peg, Mr Banks! This was the important person to beat as I could get my all important £1 back, he was owning up to 5lb, which normally means 10lb. As he pulled his fish out he failed to mention hed caught a stray 3lb bream! That with his roach and a chunky perch went 9lb 8oz, another £1 I lost! Second week on the trott hes beaten me by less than 1lb as well! Gutted!
That put me 2nd in the match anyway, and I got my section so still got good points! This match was for the Huit cup as well the huit cup was spread over 3 rounds this year, I managed to finish 1st in the first round and 2nd in the last 2 rounds, so only dropping 2 points meant I won the trophy as well.
In terms of the overall club championship, I am still leading, not sure by how much but I hope a considerable amount! Theres 5 matches left in the season, so hopefully I can hold things together and wrap it up!
Next week im off to our notley lake. My granddad went up there for a little look last week and blanked so i might not have much to look forward to! hopefully it was just the ice water that put them off!
Thanks for reading and see you next week! (providing I get a bite)
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