Bela, Glenn Bailey and me decided on another trip to Ivy
House. A nice steady drive, except, for another early Sunday morning mobile
speed camera positioned at the top of Mill Lane. Hopefully Bela was less than
35 mph, otherwise it’s two fines in four weeks!!
The connoisseur of quantity went for the Ivy House big
breakfast which wasn’t enough because Bela didn’t feel sick afterwards!
It was nice to meet up with three of the original Swindon
Talisman who was always hard to beat in the South West Winter League on the
river. I sat with them for a while to talk old times – felt at home with the
“done it all before” oldies.
Apparently the Skimmers switched on last Friday with weights
up to 80 and 60lb. I doubted if they would show again today in any numbers. Nice
if they did though.
Twenty nine booked in so about the right numbers for the
match lake all having plenty of room.
Chatting to another oldie – Gary Etheridge we decided peg 27
or 29 would be a good draw especially as the wind was blowing in to their end
bank. Choosing a peg like this usually means I end up on a no hoper (no that only
happens if Bela starts choosing). I was pleasantly surprised to pull peg 29.
Thankfully it meant I could fish reasonable short, with plenty of options. This
peg would suit all types and styles of fishing.
I wasn’t going to be caught short this week on bait options
taking caster and expanders. The end margin was obviously going to my banker
swim. However, I decided initially to fish just down the shelf at 10 metres at
12-o-clock for some Silvers. I set up a 4x16 Jolly for this line and backed it
up with a 0.5 gram paste float for the bigger Skimmers and Carp if they do
their usual disrupting. For the end margin I set up a 0.4 gram paste float –
heavier than usual due to the depth (30 inches) and wind for stability.
On the all in I fed the margin with a big pot of mixed multi-ethnic
dead maggots and hard 4’s. On the long line a big pot of a 50/50 mix of caster
and wetted micro. I started on the Jolly with double caster and had a 2lb
Skimmer first put in, followed by a few smaller versions. All the anglers I could
see were struggling to get bites so I stayed on this, now catching 3oz
Ronnie’s. Although I was getting a fish as soon as the float settled it was
slow, fish of this size need to be caught to hand which is something I will try
on my next visit with my Ronnie rig. After an hour I re-fed both lines and
noticed a fizz on the long line and try the paste which resulted in a 4lb
Mirror Carp. Out again and I foul hooked a carp which I decided to let go. With
the fizz all but gone I went back on the Jolly this time trying the expander,
which produced nothing. I then tried a semi hard soaked 4 pellet and amazingly
I started catching small Skimmers and Ronnie’s. Has expander had its day I
wondered? As the fish were the same size as the caster I switched back.
Again everyone I could see were still struggling Dean Malin on
peg 43 was blanking on his favourite method The Method.
With two hours gone it was time to try the end margin which
I fished at 9 metres. So out went the paste and the float buries straight away
sure to be fish - but not? Every time I went out with paste hook bait the float
would bury but couldn’t hook anything. It was one of those occasions when I
kept saying one more try, one more try, etc…I finally got up and set up a
caster/maggot rig for the margin (I had been feeding caster with the maggot). I
slipped on double caster and the float buried again this time I nailed the
culprit – a 1 ½ lb Chub! I followed this with another three small versions and
some better Roach. It went quite so I switched to triple maggot from which I
didn’t get any indications. So back on the caster and I hooked a big Carp (I
was told to expect to catch the recently stocked small Carp from this swim)
which broke me. So time to get back on the paste this time kindering hard 4’s
with each new piece of paste. I then had a run of four decent Carp to 12lb. I
then had a nightmare period of foul hooking fish. I stopped kindering a
reverted back to dump feeding and kept some decent Carp coming to the end.
My Silvers weighed 10lb 8oz and my 10 Carp 68lb 5oz for a
match second overall with 78lb 13oz.
The match was won by fishery owner and landscape gardener Andy Lloyd (pictured
right with his catch) with 122lb 14oz from peg 47. Andy caught at 14.5 metres
down to his end margin fishing either worm or maggot hook bait fished over GB
laced with a few maggots. Andy fed about 1kg of GB throughout.
The Silvers was won by Roop (pictured right fishing on after
the match) with 26lb 3oz of decent Skimmers from end peg 21. Roop caught on
either soft or hard pellet fished at 12 metres over wetted micro.
All three of us enjoyed the day especially as we all drew
really well – does help a lot - and all three framed. Because of how close the
venue is to us compared with other venues we fish we decided to spend more time
up there in the winter.
Full Result:
1.
Andy Lloyd 122-14-0 peg 47
2.
Mike Nicholls 78-13-0 peg 29
3.
Derek Hammond 75-07-0 peg 8
4.
Derek Young 57-13-0 peg 37
5.
Glenn Bailey 55-10-0 peg 5
6.
Bela Bakos 55-09-0 peg 41
Top Silvers:
- Roop (Rupert) 26-03-0 peg 21
- Gary Etheridge 19-08-0 peg 12
Weigh Sheet:
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