Wednesday 19/05/2010 - Carps AC - Sabre Lake

I really enjoy fishing new venues. A trait I have inherited from Dad and Granddad as they were both always looking for some where new to fish. I think it’s the unknown that does it for me. Fish species, water depth, baits, methods, etc….

Sabre Lake is just after Caln village on the left of the A4. On our arrival we were greeted by the Bailiff Ken Miles. What a nice man and he certainly has a grip of the fishery. Ken had kept the entire left hand bank free for us and made sure no pleasure anglers poached them. On arrival on the bank (after going back to get Colin Golding kit) I was amazed how well kept it was – not a sign of any litter (it looked like a fairway), with the water quality/clarity spot on (see pictures on the right). As it was a low turn out (those that didn’t fish, missed a great match) I spread the pegs along the entire bank. We offered Colin an early draw, but he said he'd take his chances. Guess what he drew the furthest peg. So I gave him peg 6 which was the closest and we all redrew. Amazingly, all except John Bennett drew the same pegs again. I drew peg 2. Other than the end pegs it all looked similar.

I set up about everything, as you do on a new venue. Three whips, one Ronnie rig, two paste rigs and a soft pellet rig. I was hoping to catch some Carp in the margins with paste but it was too shallow at 18 inches, so didn’t really try it out much. To cut a long story short I caught all on my fish on caster on the Ronnie rig and the elasticated 3.5 metre whip fished shallow. I landed two Carp that weighed in at 11lb 8oz (all Carp had to be weighed and returned), I also lost one at the net through the hook pulling free. I had a very memorable days Silver fishing with Ronnie’s to 12oz and Perch to 1lb for a total of 25lb. That added to my Carp weight, I had enough to win the match with 36lb 8oz and a pick up of £30 – but only just!! One of the Carp I landed was hooked on my very last cast on the whip – Dad was looking down on me again.

Both Steve Dawson and Colin Golding (Colin’s catch of Skimmers are shown right with Bailiff Ken and Andy Gard helping Colin hold his net – Colin is also shown holding a 1lb Roach) pushed me close with all Skimmer catches.

Well Ken Miles certainly was very helpful to the extent that he organise a Mobility Scooter for Colin plus carried his tackle back to his car for him!! What service, you don't even get this service on the Houghton club waters on the River Test. I won’t be surprised if Colin bought one for himself – perhaps all the fisheries should have one, similar to Super Markets – be prepared BAA!!

Full Result:

1. Mike Nicholls 36-08- 0 peg 2
2. Steve Dawson 36-0-0 peg 4
3. Colin Golding 35-02-0 peg 6
4. Bill Ferris 18-0-0 peg 5
5. Andy Gard 12-04-0 peg 5
6. John Bennett 11-12-0 peg 6

Top Silvers:

1. Steve Dawson 36-0-0 peg 4 (all Skimmers to 1lb)
2. Colin Golding 29-12-0 peg 6

Finally: I can’t wait to get back there – I am amazed there aren’t more matches on this venue – perhaps there will be in future. One we missed Dad!!

Sunday 16/05/2010 - Kev Perry Series - Bullocks Farm - Round Five

When it comes to international sport there are only four competitions that are important to win for England:

Beat the Germans at Football
Beat the New Zealander's at Rugby
Beat the French at Angling
Beat the Australians at Cricket

Well I have just finished watching England beat the Ozzie's in the 20/20 World Cup final – Brilliant. Bring on the Germans in July!

It was my turn on Rushcombe Lake this week. Most of the anglers fishing this “Lake” were very apprehensive especially after last week’s poor result. I was the only one on the Lake that did the super pool, so I wasn’t convinced it would fish that bad again – as it happened I was right. I drew peg C5. I was a tad disappointed as I was hoping for a draw near the bridge. However, I wasn’t as down in the mouth as Dave Wride who had drawn behind me in D section – moan, moan, moan – can’t have a flyer every week Dave. I took the piss a bit (probably too much) about his pre-match moans. He said he was sure to beat me whatever – not.

My main disappointment was that I didn’t have any margin swim to talk of. I had about half a metre to a tree to my right and that was it. However, I did set up a rig for this margin and had three early Carp there, but that was it. I also set up a “to hand rig”, a paste right for over and two soft pellet rigs for the Goldfish (Silvers), also for over, which was about 12 metres. As far as I am concerned unless you can catch the Goldfish to hand then you are going to find it very difficult to beat the Silvers pegs on Match Lake. So I started on the to hand rig and had one bite after 15 minutes – that line was quickly dumped. As I said I then fished out the RH margin – that didn’t take long. So over it was to be at 12 metres for the “Carrots”. After catching ten or so to 4 oz the swim slowed. I thought perhaps some bigger fished had moved in, so on to the paste, and I was right I had a run of Carp to 3lb. I then decided to open another swim over and thought that the gap caused by the ducks entering and exiting the Lake would be a good choice. I was right as I caught Carp steady to the end on the match (excluding the hour or so when the sun decided to shine bright). I weighed 2.300Kg (5lb 1oz) of Gold’s and 18Kg (39lb 13oz) of Carp for a total of 20.300Kg (44lb 14oz) for 7th overall but only gaining 4 points. As expected the first three pegs in my section all beat me – just. As it happens I think my decision to enter the super pool was exonerated, as I was only one out of picking up!

I was also amazed that the the Duck traffic in and out of my swim had little to no effect on my catch rate.

The match was won by Chris Fox (pictured right with fellow organiser Paul Faiers, who was came third in the Silvers - I must say they do a good job all considered - hang overs etc...) from match Lake peg 8 with 35.150 Kg (77lb 7oz). Chris caught on… see his blog for all the details and more.

Chris also won the Silvers with 10.95Kg (24lb 3oz)… see his blog I think casters played a big part in his catch.

Full Result:

1. Chris Fox 35.150 Kg (77lb 7oz) Peg 8
2. Shaun Kitteridge 25.300 peg C2
3. Dave Roper 24.300 Kg peg 22
4. Mark Walsh 23.850 Kg peg 18
5. Nick Harvey 22.700 Kg peg C3
6. Mark Bromsgrove 21.800 Kg peg C1
7. Mike Nicholls 20.300 Kg peg C5

Top Silvers:

1. Chris Fox 10.950 Kg (24lb 3oz) Peg 8
2. Andy Hembrow 10.500 Kg Peg 21
3. Paul Faiers 9.150 Kg peg 10

Wednesday 12/05/2010 - Viaduct Pole Only - Campbell and Carey

I was booked in to fish the Carps AC match at my local lake, Bowd Valley. I had a phone call from Colin Golding early evening explaining that the match was cancelled due to the lake owner miss booking the date. I was really looking forward to fishing the lake again, but was apprehensive as to whether the Roach would feed, as at present they seem to have done a disappearing act from most fisheries. Mark Tanner and I had two options – Hillview or the Pole only at Viaduct. The decision was Viaduct because it was a pole only even though it meant getting home late due to the midday start. Mark and I decided to have breakfast in the Little Chef at Farrington Gurney. I haven’t been in one for many years. We settled for two early starters and a tea and coffee. The breakfast hasn’t changed at all over the years and it was nice to be able to taste the pork in the sausages for once. The bill £18!! Thanks Mark.

Having reluctantly parted with £25 pools I then proceeded to draw flyer peg Campbell 119. I was pleased with this as it is opposite the best Silvers peg on the venue peg 123. So I was hoping to get in to the Skimmers and Tench. I set up three paste rigs – one for 11.5 metres at 1-o clock which also sufficed for 11.5 metres at 3-o-clock. The other two paste rigs were very similar but one on Red Hydro the other on Middy 18-22 blue hollow, for 16 metres to the end margin at 3-o-clock and the other a top set distance into the RH margin (I was hoping to bag Tench on this rig - but we all know about hope don't we). On the all-in I fed 125 ml of wetted micro at 11.5 metres (1-o-clock) and the same in to the short RH margin, followed up with a big pot of casters and corn. I also kept loose feeding this line whilst I was fishing the 11.5 metre line. First put in I had a 10lb Carp, quickly followed by one 6lb. I had been kinder potting in 4mm wetted pellet and had a few foul hookers due to this. I soon decided that the feed pattern was to dump feed and wait until the fizz stop then capture three fish or so, before re-feeding. This meant opening up my 11.5 metre 3-o-clock swim so I could capitalise on this feed pattern. I caught the odd Bream in between the Carp in the 1-o-clock swim and the odd Tench in between the Carp on the 3-o-clock swim. I kept trying the short line but soon realised it was a big mistake feeding casters as the swim was full of small Ronnie’s. I fed the this swim heavily amounting to 2 pints of caster, 1 big tin of corn and a pint of pellet and still I couldn’t get past the Ronnie’s to the Tench which I am sure were there. I tried all the usually baits to no avail. So I dumped this swim and concentrated on the other two to the end. For some reason I lost three Bream and one Tench, anyone of these fish would have put me first in the Silvers as I weighed 24lb for third in the Silvers and a pick up of £22. There were two weights of 25lb which beat me. My Carp weighed in at 82lb for a total of 106lb for 6th overall and taking my section by default for a pick up of £55.

Another excellent days fishing at this venue – more pole only's please. What stands out on this venue for me is the care that Steve and Paul afford thier fish. There are too many fisheries that sadly don't.

The match was won from peg 110 by Ray Hayward (pictured right with some of his catch) with 192lb 9oz. Ray caught on banded hard pellet.

Full Result:

1. Ray Hayward 192-09-0 peg 110
2. Jamie P 124-04-0 peg 123
3. Andy Power 122-15-0 peg 114
4. Paul Blake 120-12-0 peg 105 Carey
5. Tony Rixon 112-05-0 peg 74
6. Mike Nicholls 106-0-0 peg 119

Top Silvers:

1. Jamie P 25-03-0 peg 123
2. Gary Etheridge 25-0-0 peg 100 (Carey)
3. Mike Nicholls 25-0-0 peg 119

Finally: I understand that Tom Thick (pictured right) has accidently Crysidined his hair yellow – now an Airplane blond, apparently his mentor (pimp) Charlie Barns approves!

Sunday 09/05/2010 - Kev Perry Series - Bullocks Farm - Round Four

Every Sunday after a hard day’s fishing the Special One always and without fail has a roast beef dinner waiting for me. Today I counted up the vegetables and including the roast potatoes there were nine (eat your heart out Kenny Logan). As usual the dinner was absolutely wonderful, as is the Special One.

I was lifting some furniture yesterday and come Sunday morning my back was in agony. I spent most of the match sat on one cheek to mimimise the pain.

Why is it that when you are weighed in on metric scales (Kilogrammes) that you only seem to have half of what you think you caught!! Perhaps it’s because 1 Kg is equal to 2.204 lb.

Back on the Match Lake – thank God as Rushcombe fish absolutely crap today with quality anglers like Dave Roper catching three small fish and DNW’ing. I drew peg 18 and was a little disappointed as both 19 and 17 were pegged. So, not as much room as most pegs. I set up a paste rig for the RH margin (on good advice from Nick Collins). My usual Silver rig a 4x12 Jolly for the Crucians with use with 3mm expander over the wetted micro pellet at 10 metres, plus the Ronnie rig to use with caster in the LH margin (on advice from Bob Gullick). I started kinder cupping in a bit of micro and caught steady for about 2 hours – Crucians, three small Tench and the odd Skimmer. The Crucian's died off and I started to get the odd 4oz Skimmers. I had been feeding the margins and had a look in the RH with paste and had one small Carp (this was my Carp banker swim). I then tried the caster in the LH margin and didn’t have a bite – so this swim was dumped. On hind sight I then made the wrong decision to fish paste over my Silvers line for Carp, feeding wetted 4mm pellet with my paste. Although I caught another three Crucians, the Carp appeared to be not feeding – or weren't present. I opened up another paste line towards the reed bed and did catch a couple of small Carp. I did try and resurrect the Silvers swims but to no avail – why o why didn’t I stay catching the Silvers as I was one out of the Silvers pool by just 2lb. My Carp weighed in 3.85 Kg (8lb 8zoz) and my Silvers went 11.150 Kg (25lb 9oz) for a total of 15 Kg (33lb 1oz) for 2 section points and fifth in the Silvers.

The match and the Silvers was won by Dave Wride (pictured right – caught him smiling - perhaps - with some of his Carp catch) from peg 24 with 82lb 7oz overall and a great net of Silvers of 44lb 15oz. Dave caught most of the Silvers out in front at 11.5 metres and the Carp from the numerous options his swim presented to him.

As explained Nick Collins (pictured right with half his net of Crucians) came fourth in the Silvers pushing me to one out of the money. Interestingly, Nick caught all his Silvers on single caster over caster from peg 15 fishing at 7 metres. Well done matey. Apparently Nick tells me he has lost two stone since Christmas, through power walking up to twenty miles a week - those legs must be whirling!

Full Result:

1. Dave Wride 37.400 Kg peg 24 (82lb 7oz)
2. Andy Hockin 29.450 Kg peg 12
3. Bob Gullick 24-550 Kg peg 17
4. Tony Goodland 21.750 peg 22
5. Tom Thick 19.800 peg 21
6. Shaun Kitteridge 18.350 Peg 27 (I have only 20lb – on my Mums life”)

Top Silvers:

1. Dave Wride 20.400 Kg peg 24 (44lb 15oz)
2. Shaun Kitteridge 14.300 Kg peg 27
3. Tom Thick 13.600 Kg peg 21
4. Nick Collins 12.350 Kg peg 15
5. Mike Nicholls 11.150 Kg peg 18 (24lb 9oz)

Wednesday 05/05/2010 - Carps AC - Tanhouse Farm

It was interesting to see that the Lake owners have installed four rotating flashing buoys (see pictures right) equally spaced along the length of the fishery. I assumed they are to scare predatory birds. On one side of the bouy there are mirrored vanes and on the other side a face – I must admit it scared me as it looked very much like my first girl friend! I was left wondering if we will be seeing more of these as I only see one Coot chick and its Mother all day.

Colin asked me to peg out the match – well - put the pegs where he told me to. Colin still can’t let go. I wasn’t sure about peg 1 as the wind was blowing in the opposite direction towards the other end. I pulled out peg 1 (see I don’t always draw well). I really like fishing this venue as it is primarily a Silvers venue, plus the peace, quiet and tidiness. However, it is a disused quarry and therefore has a stone infrastructure, hence the deep water is clear at the best of times and the water temperature kept down. Because of the change in weather conditions I wasn’t expecting it to fish very well. I was right, for my end of the Lake at least. My prime target would be Ronnie’s and Skimmers, so I set up a 4x16 jolly set just tipping the bottom in 10 foot of water. I intended to fish 3mm soft pellet over micro pellet on this line. I also set up a 4.5 metre whip waggler to be fished at various up in the water depths with caster. On the whistle in went a 125 ml of wetted micro at 7 metres, starting on the whip with caster hook bait. I tried numerous depths to no avail. It wasn’t long after suspending the whip that I had also suspended fishing the pellet at 7 metres. I switched to maggot over this line kinder potting in some maggot and caster. From the whistle it took half an hour to catch my first fish – a Perch – not a good sign. I then had a run of Ronnie’s to 4oz but every time I fed I had to wait 20 minutes for the fish to follow the bait to the bottom. Chris Davis came down and said he hadn’t had a bite nor had Colin Golding. I subsequently resulted to fishing on the drop, adding a few more Ronnie’s to the net, but it was really slow. The last two hours were really painful adding only to more Perch. I weighed 4lb 13oz for 4th in the match and a pick up of £10.


The match was won by Steve Dawson (pictured right with runner up Andy Gard) from peg 8 with a credible 25lb 12oz of Skimmers to 2lb. Steve caught all his fish on 6mm expander over loose fed 6 mm pellet. Steve fed approximately 5 pellets after every fish.

Full Result:

1. Steve Dawson 25-12-0 peg 8
2. Andy Gard 11-09-0 peg 9
3. Mike Snudden 8-08-0 peg 6
4. Mike Nicholls 4-13-0 peg 1
5. John Bennett 4-06-0 peg 5
6. Bill Ferris 3-05-0 peg 2

NO CARP CAUGHT – TWO LOST!

Sunday 02/05/2010 - Avon Angling Open - Acorn Fishery - Paddock Lake

Off to a new venue – Acorn Fishery – Paddock Lake. It’s only the second time it’s been fished on a Sunday, and my first outing here.

The weather conditions that welcomed us was atrocious, high gusting, freezing NE winds with the temperature in single figures. After breakfast in the fishery café I had a quick walk round (see picture right). I predicted peg 7 or 8 (approximately where I am stood taking the picture) would be a good peg draw – I wasn’t proven wrong.

I drew peg 15 which is over the far side across two bridges. (I thought bridges were designed to have a space between the water and underside - perhaps they are fixed pontoons). The pegs are yet to have platforms and currently have black gravel put down over the clay. I don't mind fishing from a natural bank, but gravel is pole unfriendly. As you do when you are not sure what to expect you set up for every options - which I did. As it happened I only needed two rigs: a 4x14 PB14 for over the far bank (not used much because of the wind giving poor presentation) and Colmic Series Top. This float is the Brother to the Jolly. Colmic take a 4x16 Jolly, fit a wire stem (not that crappy bendy wire either) and label them 4x14, then paint the body blue, hence Brother and Sister. I used this float at 5 metres for most of the day and I must say it worked really well in the gusting conditions very, very stable, picking up a gently tow. I didn't know what species I was fishing for so I started by kinder potting in mixture of caster, maggot held in by soft micro. On went double red maggot and I had a 6oz Perch straight off, followed by another of about 10oz. Looking in it's mouth I could see that he had been eating maggot, but no signs of caster even though I was feeding more of this, but what was surprising it had a lot of micro pellet in his throat! I then started to catch Carp to 3lb and during the first hour I had about 20lb in the net. I don't know what happened but for the next 5 hours I could only muster another 5lb (very similar pattern to Rip off' and Dean Mallin's match). I think because these are new fish they scare off back to the main shoal (peg 7, 8, 9) - safety in numbers. I weighed 5lb 1oz of Perch and 20lb of Carp for nowhere.

The match was won by Shaun Kitteridge (pictured right with a quality stamp of fish to 5lb) from peg 7 with 135lb 13oz. Shaun caught 25% of his fish short at five metres and the rest over to the far bank using soft pellet over micro pellet. Although Shaun had the wind off his back I don't think this was significant as the fish are tightly shoaled up at this end of the Lake.

The Silvers was won by Paul Faiers from peg 4 with 25lb. Paul caught on chopped worm, caster and maggot over chopped worm and caster feed. Paul had Perch and some decent Skimmers.

Full Result:

1. Shaun Kitteridge 135-13-0 peg 7
2. Rod Wotton 64-04-0 peg 11
3. Gary Wall 60-0-0 peg 30 (Bridge peg)
4. Martin Rich 51-08-0 peg 15 (Bridge peg)
5. Tim Ford 49-14-0 peg 5

6. Paul Faiers 49-06-0 peg 4

Top Silvers:

1. Paul Faiers 25-0-0 peg 4
2. Rod Wotton 19-07-0 peg 11

Saturday 31/04/2010 - Hillview Open

Son Steve wanted to fish a Saturday match and his chosen venue – Hillview Fishery. Good choice. I was surprised at the turn out, high twenties, so both Moorhen and Heron Lakes were needed. Moorhen had been fishing well with a few ton weights recently, so I was expecting that you would need a ton to frame. I really didn’t mind where I drew, in to the black woolly hat (starting to smell a bit now Keith) and out comes peg 27 on Heron Lake. I was pleased with this draw as it does have a good deep margin ideal for my paste approach. Steve drew peg 10 on Moorhen, again another decent draw for the margin. I set up my paste margin rig, plus a 4x14 Jolly for the soft pellet just up the inside shelf at 5 metres. I also set up a paste rig for the same line at 5 metres. That was it. On the whistle I kinder cupped a few dry micros in on the 5 metres line with a 3mm expander on the hook. I also started to feed the LH margin with dry 4mm pellet with the occasional micro. I started well with a 2lb Skimmer first put in, followed by a three 2lb Carp. I was kinder potting between each fish and at this stage I started to foul hook Carp – too much feed then, so time to reduce. What I did noticed was that because the rules dictated you feed pellet dry (I don’t know why) some of them float for a short while until they take on water and sink, the Carp appeared to be only interested in the ones that floated, witnessed by them scooping them up along the surface. So I quickly set up a shallow rig – TBF taking 4 no 11 shot. This didn’t work as the Carp appeared to be only interested in the pellet that was either on the surface or falling through the water. I quickly set a 3.5 metre whip as I thought this might trick them. First cast with single red maggot I hooked and landed a 4lb Carp – sorted – NOT – the next four casts resulted in four small Ronnie’s. Time to try the LH margin - my banker. First put in resulted in a surprise 3 lb Skimmer – not what I was expecting, but welcome all the same. Out again and a 3lb carp in the net. I then started to get indications followed by the odd bite without connecting. So I adapted my shallow rig and put on a soft pellet which resulted in a foul hooked Ghost Carp which pulled free. Out next time with double maggot and once again Ronnie’s were in evidence (no Silver pool at this venue), so back out at 5 metres, this time I arranged the shotting on my Jolly to fish on the drop and had a run of Carp to 4lb. However, you needed to be very careful of the feeding p[attern, because if you got it wrong foul hookers would result. From my peg I could see more or less everyone and noticed a lot of Skimmers being caught (Skimmers will play when Carp are away), I thought I was doing reasonably well so decide to stay on the 5 metre line until the end. I weighed 13lb of Skimmers and 42lb 12 oz of Carp for an overall weight of 55lb 12oz for first overall and a pick up of £90.

I had a lot of bites that I missed. These weren't your usual swirly, dipping liners, but positive bites. I put this down to the fish taking my number 11 shot mistakingly for the micro pellet feed. I did try a micro on the hook, but that didn't produce anything.

Steve weighed 33lb for third on Moorhen, 2lb out from winning his section. He did point out that he beat Nev off the next peg!

I am not sure how second place Jake Cork caught, but in third spot was Tim Davis (pictured right with the overall winner) on peg 23. Tim caught long at 11.5 metres on soft pellet, but the lucky so in so landed a 10lb foul hooked Ghost Carp from his RH margin for a total of 50lb 1oz.

Both Steve and I thoroughly enjoyed the match, plus it kept dry, even though the BBC promised heavy showers. I am sure we will back again soon.

Full Result:

1. Mike Nicholls 55-12-0 peg 27
2. Jake Cork 54-04-0 peg 3
3. Tim Davis 50-01-0 peg 23
4. Josh Cork 47.05.0 peg 25
5. Terry King 41-06-0 peg 22
6. Francis Porter 39-08-0 peg 16