Wednesday 18/09/2013 - Amalgamation Summer League - Round Six - Pawlett Ponds

One of the advantages of fishing Pawlett Ponds is that it is just over the road from the Hill Top café so there were a few of us in there is morning all acknowledging that the fishing was going to be hard. For me I do like a change and can do hard from time to time and gets me away from the Carp racing.

 

Pawlett ponds is certainly a nice place to spend a day fishing, although it does needs some renovation and some stocking. Lake Four looks to me as one of the better stocked lakes but suffers from dilapidated platforms that cannot be fished due to safety concerns limiting it to 2 pegs. Andy Smith tells me that the Amalgamation is planning to refurbish the platforms and stock some 1,000 Skimmers. Hopefully in time for next years series.

 

After picking some Blackberries which there are abundance for the “Special one” to do a Mary Berry pie it was in to the draw bag and out comes peg 16 which is in the far corner on the venue on Lake Three.

 

Arriving at the peg it can only be described as a Mr Crabtree peg. A fallen Hawthorn to my right margin and Sedges infest end bank. Bound to catch a carp or two here you think. For company I had the back of Mike Jones (pictured right with Andy Smiths umbrella in the far distance on Lake One - is this not a great place to fish) who had drawn the corner peg of Lake Two.

 

I initially only set up a paste rig which would do for any swim I choose as it was all 5 foot deep even up to the sedges. Because of the wind blowing the sedges I couldn’t get as close as I would have liked. Mike Jones then reminded me that the league pays out both silvers and overall with no default so you can win both. So up went the Ronnie rig and a 4x 16 Jolly.

 

Believe it or not I could not get an indication on the paste nor were their any signs of Carp throughout the match. So no more narrative on the Carp and paste, except I did spend far too much time trying to catch what wasn’t there! So lucky I set up the Silvers rigs.

 

I fed a ball of GB laced with a few maggots at 7 metres at 1 o clock and had a few Ronnie’s on maggot on the jolly and by switching between this and the Ronnie rig kept a few Rudd coming that was until the bloody Motherless Minnows arrived in their droves. I tried feeding loosing GB down the side to try and attract them away but alas there were just too many. So I put plan C in to action which was to fish for Eels. So in went a pot of CW&M with big piece of worm on the hook. Nevertheless the bloody Minnows still had a go at it until it reached dead bottom. I soon had a 8oz Eel in the landing net and after some arm to arm combat ended up in the keep net. I was worried about the hook length as it had roughed up a bit and should have changed it, but I didn’t and next Eel regretted not doing so, as I broke on the next Eel – lesson learnt – doubt it. I went on to catch a couple more. I like catching Eels I especially like watching their bites develop.

 

With no Carp I weighed 6lb 10oz of Silvers for 6^th in the match and 3^rd Silvers pick up – one decent carp would have produced a double pick up, so might have bee right spending time after one – who knows!

 

The match was won by “Three Wheeler” Dyer (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 28lb 10oz from Forth Lake peg 7. Colin caught all his Carp on maggot from his margin over maggot. Apparently Colin lost a good few.

 

The Silvers was won by “Pole Fixer” Fitchew with 9lb 1oz from peg 10 on the Second Lake. Barry caught three Bream and a few smaller fish on dead maggot over an initial bombardment of ten balls of GB. I think this approach is probably spot on as it is a shit or bust type of venue.

 

Full Result:

 

1. Colin Dyer 28-10-0 peg 7 – 4^th Lake
2. Dave Poole 20-08-0 peg 12 peg 12 – 3^rd Lake
3. John Osborne 10-03-0 peg 3 – 1^st Lake
4. Barry Fitchew 9-01-0 peg 10 – 2^nd Lake
5. Mike Jones 8-15-0 peg 15 – 2^nd Lake
6. Mike Nicholls 6-10-0 peg 16 – 3^rd Lake

 Top Silvers:

 

1. Barry Fitchew 9-01-0 peg 10 - 2^nd Lake
2. Mike Jones 8-15-0 peg 15 – 2^nd Lake
3. Mike Nicholls 6-10-0 peg 16 – 3^rd Lake

 Weigh Sheets:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday 24/07/2013 - Amalgamation Summer Open League - Pawlett Ponds

The last and first time I fished Pawlett Ponds was a pleasure session with Dad when I was a teenager. It’s strange because I have never forgotten that day. I remember dad hooking a big Eel and losing it then again a big Tench which he did land. As for me I sat there catching small Rudd and Ronnie’s all day which I thoroughly enjoyed. This pleasure session influenced my match fishing immensely throughout the years. For me it is about getting bites and more the merrier irrespective of size (Motherless Minnows excluded), rather than catch a big weight or big fish. This probably explains my demeanour regarding Ronnie fishing.

 

After a breakfast in Hill Top with Mike Jones it was off to find the fishery which we didn’t on first attempt. I was sure I could identify the swims dad and I fished. However, it looked totally different with high sedges around all the four ponds. Mike and I walked the ponds twice. Mike was salivating about all the Rudd we could see in the majority of pegs. Mike was going to set up just three whips to focus on them all match. I could also see millions of Motherless Minnows (thank god that they haven’t yet migrated further north than the Huntspill)!  I wasn’t sure as in my experience after the first few minutes they do a disappearing act.

 

In to the draw hessian bag and out comes peg 4 (see pond layout and pegging right) at least I would be in the shade for most of day because I had a Willow tree on my left. Because Andy Smith had pegged it for 20 and 16 were in attendance it meant that there would be some pegs not drawn. Lucky for me the two pegs to my right weren’t drawn (5 & 6) which left me with half a pond. However, I wasn’t as lucky as Pete Greenslade who had Pond 4 to himself!

 

After checking the platform would take my weight I set up two paste rigs one to be fished at 6 metres where I had five foot of water and the other under the Willow into a very deep 3 foot margin. Under the influence of Mike Jones I set up two whips one at 3 metres and the other at 2 metres. Finally a 4x16 Jolly to be fished at 5 metres to the end of the tree with CW&C (I didn’t know what to expect hence so many differing rigs).

 

On the whistle I fed a pot of micro in at 6 metres, a put of CW&C at 5 metres, started to lose feed 4’s in the margin. After thrashing around with caster/maggot for half hour catching 10 small Rudd and an abundance of tapping by the Motherless, I switched to the worm line and once again I was getting tapping from Motherless. I switched to maggot and foul hooked a 3oz Eel, followed by two tiny Perch which both fell off. This rig was then dumped along with the whips. So it was out on the familiar pasted and I was soon fighting an over zealous 3lb Wild Carp. Out again on the paste and I had a 2 ½ lb Skimmer followed by a 8oz Hybrid, that was it for the Silvers for the rest of the match. I then had a run of three Wild and one Mirror Carp. I then had a blank two hours during which I had a disaster when my catch was reduced from five to four! One of the Wild carp decided to jump put of the keep net landing at my feet and scaring the living daylights out of me. I did have it trapped between my feet foe a few seconds whilst I tried to ship my pole back to b ring my hands into action, but alas not back it went – bugger. With half hour to go I hooked another Carp which did me in the sedges – fair play to the Carp it really fooled me. I then hooked and landed two more. Just before the whistle I hooked another Carp which I got too confident with and once again I ended up losing it in the Sedges – bugger again.

 

My Silvers weighed 3lb 13oz and my Carp 28lb 4oz for a total of 32lb 1oz for third in the Silvers and second overall.

 

The match was won by Colin Dyer (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 34lb 4oz (ouch) from peg 16. Colin caught all his Carp on double sweet corn over pellet fished in his margin. Colin also had a disaster with one Wild Caro taking his top three!

 

The Silvers was won by Pete Greenslade from lonely peg 7 with about 100 Rudd caught dapping maggot.

 

As for Mike Jones who drew peg 11 he DNW'ed and Dave Bacon Blanked!

 

Full Result:

 

1. Colin Dyer 34-04-0 peg 16
2. Mike Nicholls 32-01-0 peg 4
3. Barry Fitchew 18-11-0 peg 21
4. Pete Greenslade 14-10-0 peg 7
5. Bob Black 14-08-0 peg 2
6. John Osborne 13-03-0 peg 18

 Top Silvers:

 

1. Pete Greenslade 4-10-0 peg 7
2. Andy Smith 3-15-0 peg 14
3. Mike Nicholls 3-13-0 peg 4

 

Weigh Sheets follow: