I heard today that Pete Hodge passed away last week. I for one will miss him - one of the great characters in Angling and a superb Bream angler - rest in peace matey.
Why do Skimmers and Bream fly when hooked? I have found this an interesting phenomenon. I have never experienced this on rivers, canals or non commercial lakes over 40 years of catching Bream. Flying only seems to occur on commercial waters with a good head of Carp to double figures.
It was whilst fishing the Thursday rover match at Whiteacres that I believe I found the answer. I drew my usual peg 135 rover position to draw and decided on the last peg left of Sycamore Lake peg 12. Having thrashed about with the pellet waggler for a while I decided to fish paste at 10 metres, over micro pellet. This resulted in a string of Bream to 3lb. None of these fish flew, and then one did. The next fish was a 6lb Carp! The next few Bream again didn’t fly, then one did. Guess what a 4lb Carp followed.
I was fishing about nine foot deep and it took from having an indication on the float to the Bream breaking the surface of the water less than a second! For a Bream to swim to the surface in this time means it must surely already be swimming quite fast prior to taking the bait.
I have concluded the answer to the question is that the Bream are driven a short distance and most probably up in the water away from the feed by intruding Carp. The Bream sees the hook bait and takes the opportunity to swoop at speed for it and take it on the move in the attempt to avoid the Carp. The Bream then swims on towards the surface until it leaves the water. This also appears to happen more (and fly higher) the deeper the water.
I don’t often loose Bream due to them flying. This is mainly due to the pole elastic keeping the line tight to the fish. I am sure it would be a different story using running line.
Any Floyd and I tried to catch a flying Bream on video without any luck. However, two flying Skimmers cost me the magic 50 lb today.
Back to the Sedges already. It was nice to most of the anglers back again, shows how good the fishing is. I travelled with Darren Gillman (pictured bottom left) and ended up next to him. Darren on peg 4 and me on peg 5. It's not very often you can use groung bait and maggot on theis venue without gettin Ronnied out. However, The Ronnies had not been feeding so started on this combination. Darren followed and we borth fished similar matches. Cutting out my sob stories Darren won the Silvers with 48lb and I came second with 47lb 5oz for a pick up of £30.
The match winner was Mark Hanham from peg 9 with 133lb 2oz. Mark started on the feeder which produced four Carp then at the two hour mark started to catch Carp to double figures on the pellet waggler. I predicted Mark to win, others were favouring Steve Jackson on end peg 15.
Full Result:
1. Mark Hanham 133-02-0 peg 9
2. Adrian Bishop 61-10-0 peg 6 (to avoid a Duck Adrian put two in his keep net!)
3. Darren Gillman 49-14-0 peg 4
4. Colin Goldin 47-14-0 peg 14
5. Mike Nicholls 47-05-9 peg 5
6. Roy Short 41-06-0 peg 13
Top Silvers:
1. Darren Gillman 48-0-0 peg 4
2. Mike Nicholls 47-05-0 peg 5
3. Richard Cole 34-0-0 peg 8 (Richard qualifies for the Carps Wednesday Silvermania)
My original plan was to share accommodation with Glenn Bailey and Mark Jefferies, but for various reasons both cancelled. However, Colin Golding and Bill Ferris had booked a caravan on the Sedges site and had a spare bed. Very comfortable too. The cost each was £33 for the two nights - so cheaper than driving. We arranged to have evening meal and breakfast at the Sedgemoor Inn, five minutes down the road. Food was good, particularly the breakfast.
Day One: Brick Lake pegs 1 to 10:
With the wind in the South West the higher pegs were favoured. I drew peg 8, which is currently the form Skimmer peg, so I was happy with this. I started on the pole at 9 metres and caught Skimmers straight away on 6mm GOT pellet. The Skimmers backed off at half time, so a change to the feeder kept them coming steady for the rest of the match. I weighed 48lb 8oz of Skimmers, which included three Eels to 2lb. I also landed two Carp for 12lb 5oz for a total weight of 60lb 13oz. This gave me first in the Silvers and third overall and a pick up of £50.
Match Winner was Mark Hanham (pictured top right) from peg 6. Mark weighed a total of 121lb 13oz of quality Carp. Mark caught 50% on pellet waggler and 50% on the pole and paste over 4mm coarse pellet. Runner up was Gordon Cannings from corner peg 10 with 80lb 13oz of Carp. Gordon also caught on paste.
Day one full result:
1. Mark Hanham 121-13-0 peg 6
2. Gordon Cannings 80-13-0 peg 10
3. Mike Nicholls 60-13-0 peg 8
4. John Bennett 54-03-0 peg 9
5. Adrian Bishop 44-14-0 peg 5
6. Paul Blake 39-6-0 peg 3 (Paul's weight was an all Skimmer catch!)
Top Silvers:
1. Mike Nicholls 48-8-0 peg 8
2. Paul Blake 39-06-0 peg 3 (Excellent result from this peg)
Day Two Tile Lake pegs 31 to 40:
Gale force South Westerly wind greeted us for day two. Everyone was hoping for the most sheltered peg 40. Guess what I drew it! However, I was a little concerned as an earlier walk round the lake indicated that most of the fish were at the end the wind was blowing in to. I had drawn this peg before, from which, I won the Silvers and with a few small Carp gave me second overall. I had a plan in place - wind permitting. I started after the Ronnies with a wire stem float to help combat the wind. It was a bit slow, with the fish wanting to feed close to the surface, which made them very difficult to catch in the gales. I fed some ground bait and casters at 6 metres where I had 8 foot of water, again a wire stemmed float with casters saw a steady stream of Skimmers and Eels (including a personal best Eel). I heard that Tench were being caught, so decided to try the margins with paste for the last 90 minutes. I had a run of small Carp, one Tench and another PB Eel (on paste!!). I weighed 14lb of small Carp and 31lb 2oz of Silvers. This gave me second in the Silvers and once again third in the match and a pick up of £50 by default.
Colin Golding (pictured left with his rig tray - Quote made to Colin by Bob Nudd "Colin you do remarkably well considering the tackle you use") won both the overall match and Silvers from peg 37. Colin had a total weight of 48lb 14 oz. Colin used his usual 6mm expander pellet fished over loose fed 6mm expander pellet fished at 6 metres. His weight included 33lb 6oz of Silvers including 4 Tench. Considering the gales force conditions this was a remarkable performance.
Day two full result:
1. Colin Golding 48-14-0 peg 37
2. Gordon (corner peg) Cannings 40-02-0 peg 31
3. Mike Nicholls 45-02-0 peg 40
4. Adrian Bishop 38-14-0 peg 33
5. Mark Hanham 35-14-0 peg 39
6. Ian Dawe 28-0-0 peg 32
Top Silvers:
1. Colin Golding 33-06-0 peg 37
2. Mike Nicholls 31-02-0 peg 40
Day Three Brick Lake pegs 1 to 10
I was hoping for a peg between 5 and 9 and got peg 6. A good Silvers peg again! The wind had dropped which made fishing easier. I adopted the same plan as with peg 8 and had a good days fishing (the thunder storm excepted). I Had one Carp (which I have now caught three times - I think it has an identity crisis) for 4lb 12 and a Silvers weight of 49lb. This gave me first in the Silvers and a pick up of £50.
Mark Hanham won the match for the second time from peg 8 with 73lb 14oz, most fell to the pellet waggler. Mark said after the match that he had lost eleven Carp, all due to his Maver hook lengths letting him down.
Day three full Result:
1. Mark Hanham 73-14-0 peg 8
2. Gordan Cannings 70-01-0 peg 3
3. Mike Nicholls 53-12-0 peg 6
4. Colin Golding 47-12-0 peg 9
5. Ian Dawe 27-06-0 peg 5
6. Adrian Bishop 13-08-0 peg 10
Top Silvers:
1. Mike Nicholls 49-0-0 peg 6
2. Colin Golding 20-04-0 peg 9
Results and points over the three days:
Overall Festival weights:
1. Gordon Cannings 6 penalty points total weight 199-0-0 (pictured bottom left)
2. Mark Hanham 7 penalty points total weight 230-14-0
3. Mike Nicholls 9 penalty points total weight 159-11-0
Silvers:
1. Mike Nicholls 4 penalty points total silvers weight 128-10-0
2. Colin Golding 6 penalty points total silvers weight 72-10-0
3. Bill Ferris 11 penalty points total silvers weight 42-09-0
Biggest Carp:
Bill Ferris (pictured bottom right) with a Common Carp of 16-04-0 from first day peg 7. Bill caught it on his Roach rig and top set to single caster and landed it just in time after the whistle.
Biggest Silver Fish:
Gordon Cannings Tench 4-12-0 from second day peg 31.
I must say that Jamie and Denise have put a lot of hard work in to this fishery and it shows. Tile Lake is as good as Brick in terms of the quality of fishing. They now have 40 quality match pegs. The Caravan accommodation is also very good. Where else are you offered a hot drink after the weigh in! Well done to both.
Sedges are holding a weekend Festival in 27/28 September 2008 with £1,000 first prize up for grabs, contact Denise on 01278 445221 if interested.
This was the warmest I have been at this venue, but still needed a fleece! I was dreading the next peg 8, as it has the worse weights so far. However, I did have a cunning plan, which was to fish for the small Crucians. The Crucians are anything from 1oz to 8oz. I started on the corn and landed four Carp to 4lb - then nothing. Tried the paste in the margin and caught a small Crucian. Put on a 6mm GOT pellet on my paste rig, complete with a 12 hook and caught fifty small Crucians. Out on the corn for the last half hour and anther two small Carp. I was surprised to weigh 22lb 12oz for third place and a pick up of £20.
The match was won by Steve Jefferies (the shady character - pictured top right). Steve fished soft pellet over loose fed hard pellet for a weight of 35lb 1oz.
Runner up Phil Coulam with 28lb 4oz retaining the lead on 24 points.
Full Result plus points to date:
1. Steve Jefferies 35-01-0 peg 2 - 20 points
2. Phil Coulam 28-04-0 peg 3 - 24 points
3. Mike Nicholls 22-04-0 peg 8 - 18 points
4. Bob Feltham 18-0-0 peg 4 - 15 points
4. Bill Ferris 18-0-0 peg 5 - 11 points
6. Mark Tanner 11-15-0 peg 9 - 9 points
7. John Bennett 11-12-0 peg 7 - (Reserve for Bob Price)
8. Tom Coulston 8-04-0 peg 6 - 16 points
9. Colin Golding 8-01-0 peg 1 - 10 points (but watch this space)
Bob Price has 8 points
Carps AC enlisted the experience of Bob Warren and Terry Bruton to decide on the pegging. What a difference! Well done to both. The close results reflect this with only one fish separating the frame. I drew peg 69 (again). I started after the Ronnies on caster, only to get bitted out by Perch! The Perch were anything from eyes to 4oz - really not worth catching. Decide to switch to pellet and started to catch 1 to 4oz Ronnies and small Skimmers from bottle tops to 4oz. No better than the Perch. As the Carp were apparently not feeding I stayed on this for all of the match. I lost two Carp then landed two for 13lb 12oz (the second was a double). I weighed 24lb 8oz of Silvers for a total of 38lb 4oz. This gave me first in the Silvers and 2nd overall. For some reason I picked up £33 for second overall rather than first in silvers. However, this did give Colin Golding second in the Silvers (third pacing) by default and for the second time left Steve Jefferies without a pick up coming third overall. Why does a third in Silvers pick up and third overall does not?
The match was one by Dave Bacon (pictured top right - ready for fishing on after the match - is that Cat meat I see) from peg 68 (having originally set up in my peg!). Dave fished both the pellet waggler and straight lead for seven Carp and a couple of decent Bream for a total weight of 40lb 4oz. Dave caught on pellet loose feeding 11 mm hard pellet.
John Bradford qualified for the Wednesday Silversmainia by triple default with 18lb 12oz of Silvers up to 4oz - again a lot of Perch evident in John's catch.
Full Result:
1. Dave Bacon 40-04-0 peg 68
2. Mike Nicholls 38-04-0 peg 69
3. Steve Jefferies 36-06-0 peg 50
4. Bob Warren 34-13-0 peg 43
5. Chris Fox 30-04-0 peg 58
6. John Bennett 30-03-0 peg 47
Top Silvers:
1. Mike Nicholls 24-08-0 peg 69
2. Bill Ferris 22-12-0 peg 72
3. Colin Golding 21-08-0 peg 41
4. John Bradford 18-12-0 peg 42 (Qualifies for the Carps AC Wednesday Silversmainia)
I am not superstitious (ask Bob Warren), however since I have been saluting single Magpies I have been doing well. I saluted three on the way to this match but must have missed a couple! I drew peg 24 on Match Lake and was expecting to catch a good bag of Silvers - failing this its a noted Carp swim. The upshot was that I started OK at 10 metres on paste with three Tench and two Skimmers - then struggled for Silvers. Switch to the end margin for Carp and nothing other than one foul hooker. Spent rest of the match scratching around for bits with caster. I ended the match with 14lb 14oz of Silvers and two Carp for a total of 21lb 8oz. I think I am now too far behind to consider any of the main overall league prizes.
Andy Neale (pictured top right) completed what must be the perfect weekend as yesterday Andy qualified for the Fish-O-Mania final at Moorland Farm and today won the match. Andy drew Match Lake peg 13 and finished with 172lb 14oz of Carp. Andy fished in to the end margin and down to his right margin using over pellet - WELL DONE MATEY. Carps AC members will undoubtedly be supporting you on the big day at the Arena.
The Silvers was won by Tom Thick on Match Lake peg 4 with 34lb 4oz. Tom fished bits of worm over chopped worm and caster.
Full Result:
1. Andy Neale 172-14-0 peg 13
2. Lee Werrett 125-13-0 peg 26
3. Martin Rayett 110-01-0 peg 18
4. Alan Oram 77-15-0 peg 31
5. Roger Young 76--02-0 peg 5
6. Dick Bull 69-02-0 peg 36
Top Silvers:
1. Tom Thick 34-04-0 peg 4
2. Roger Young 76-02-0 peg 5
3. Martin Rayet 28-08-0 peg 18
It was last Christmas that I decided to have a clear out of my accumulated ground baits and pellets. I found a large number of various makes of expander pellet which was destined for dusty bin. Being prudent I decided to crush some up as an additive to my skimmer ground bait. I was surprised that once crushed (using a 4lb lump hammer) that most sank without adding water.
I added one third crushed expander to one third Sensas Lake (My favourite all time ground bait) and one third Gimps Gold (John Bradford – not the Gimp in “Pulp Fiction”) fish meal. This mix has worked very well for me over the winter for the Skimmers particularly in the deeper venues such as Huntstrete. Now we have warmer water temperature the mix appears to be less effective - as I discovered today. The ground bait is improved when mixed the night before, or used from frozen. So get crushing!
Drew peg 28 today - again a good draw (whats new). The brisk wind was blowing at 11 clock in to me so decided to go for the silvers to my right where there was some shelter. I started on the caster and caught some Ronnies and skimmers for about an hour. I then latched in to a double figure Carp. I tried the 6mm expander pellet at 6 metres over my ground bait, but pestered by 1 to 2 oz Ronnies. I came back on the caster, but found it very slow, then another Carp. At this point I decided to focus on Carp using paste. I ended the match with 14lb 9oz of Silvers and twelve Carp for 93lb 8oz and a total of 108lb 1oz for first in the match and first in the Silvers and a pick up of £25.
John Bennett who was on the next peg 29 offered to to take my photo. John was shaking so much that Chris Snow also took a photo. However, John assured us that his photo would be fine! I have published both can anyone tell the difference?
My long time friend Terry Bruton was runner up (for once) with 65lb 13oz of Carp from peg 24 using the shallow pellet waggler.
Full Result:
1. Mike Nicholls 108-01-0 peg 28
2. Terry Bruton 65-13-0 peg 24
3. Dave Bacon 51-01-0 peg 8
4. Martin Alexander 39-04-0 peg 3
5. Colin Young 36-14-0 peg 10
6. Pete (the real) Phillips 33-04-0 peg 6
Top Silvers:
1. Mike Nicholls 14-09-0 peg 28
2. Pete Phillips 14-0-0 peg 6
3. Chris Snow 13-0-0 peg 26
3. Keith Firks 13-0-0 peg 32
Tried to fish Cider Farm last Wednesday, with the fishing gear all packed, I started car to find that the alternator warning light stayed on - up to the local garage and with a new alternator fitted and £190 later back on the road. I was very disappointed as I like this venue, not only for the very competitive fishing with usually only one or two fish separating the frame placings, but it is a very nice and quiet place to spend a day.
However, made it to the venue this week and drew peg 21 on Dabinett. This is a good draw as it is in the gap between the islands - opposite the aerator. I set up a 4mm and paste rig at 5 metres and a 6mm pellet rig at 10.5 metres. Started on the 4mm pellet kinder potting micro pellet - no indications - switch to paste - no indications. I decided to leave this line and feed no further. Went out at 10.5 metre with 6mm GOT pellet - nothing! I decided to switch this line to paste and started to catch steady by drip feeding 4mm hard pellet. I lost 8 foul hookers and netted 13 reasonably sized carp for a weight of 32lb 10oz for second overall and a pick up of £40.
The match was won by Banbury based angler Derek Cullip (pictured top right). Derek weighed 39lb 7oz from peg 18. Derek caught Carp up the far shelf using soft pellet over potted hard pellet.
Full Result:
1. Derek Cullip 39-07-0 peg 18
2. Mike Nicholls 32-10-0 peg 21
3. Dominic Sullivan 31-10-0 peg 28
4. Lewis Jones 24-13-0 peg 22
5. Andy Britt 23-03-0 peg 20
6. Dave Wride 23-02-0 peg 25
I heard today that Pete Hodge passed away last week. I for one will miss him - one of the great characters in Angling and a superb Bream angler - rest in peace matey.
The match winner was Mark Hanham from peg 9 with 133lb 2oz. Mark started on the feeder which produced four Carp then at the two hour mark started to catch Carp to double figures on the pellet waggler. I predicted Mark to win, others were favouring Steve Jackson on end peg 15.
