The Blog is Back!!!

Well its back - its been far too long since my last post - a lot has happened, not a huge amount tho fishing wise as i haven't exactly been on the greatest form, but i always felt the blog helped me reflect on my matches and work out what went well, and what i could improve on, so its time to start it all off again. I best start off with a bit of a catch up - I organised the cob house winter league again this year, same format, same team with the Old Ghost lads - Me, John Watson, Pete Bailey and Daz Fisher - we were hoping for a repeat of last years league win, but this year we'd attracted an extremely strong group of teams and it was going to be a huge challenge - the pools used in the league had changed slightly, with Oak pool going through a refurb they had split and stocked a previously unused pool. its a very small pool pegged and stocked with original Oak fish, so there was no worry if there will be enough fish in there, but no one would know how to attack it or how it would fish. after a team meeting over a pint, we decided I'd attack the new oak pool, John would be on Wyatts, Pete on Laugherne and Daz on Laurel - it was a strange winter, not massively cold but extremely wet and all the pools were very full - we didn't get off to a great start coming joint sixth on the first round, but being knocked back to 8th after a weight count back! we won the league last year with 5 points, and we started this years with 8 after the first round - oh dear. personally i got it wrong and pretty much went past the fish! expecting a usual winter attack i went straight out to 14.5m with pellet and maggot and found it very slow going. after going through the motions, plan z came into action and i plumbed the bottom of the near shelf at around 6-7m and fed with maggot to try and catch anything (although oak stocking means that's carp, carp or carp). i had been feeding a deep margin with Old Ghost Krill Ground bait but hadn't tried it as i really wasn't confident. giving it 10 minutes for the new line to settle, first chuck the float disappeared! another chuck and bang it was gone again - found em. with a short line so productive i tried the margin and that went under 2 - so the match was spent between the 2 to give me 78lb and 3rd in section. this set the scene for the rest of the league, with 4ft of water being the magical depth - it was very strange that barely any fish were caught in the deepest water at all and pretty much everything caught at 3-5m. maggot hook bait was by far the strongest, and i combined with the Old Ghost Krill ground bait Link to put some scent in the water with out giving them any real food and it worked a treat with my worst section result being a 5th over the 6 matches. the prolific Wyatt's pool turned out to be a huge struggle - I'd pegged the one end after last years results, but it just didn't fish with a couple of pounds getting good points and it would take till the final round for it to really fish to its true potential. I'd managed to get hold of some of the new MAP dual core white elastic, rated to 6-10 and was loving it Link Here. its got enough power to keep control, but soft enough and stretchy enough to not pull hooks or break lighter hooklengths. I used it through the whole league catching fish from 8oz to 10lb, and it did it all without any issues (and I'm still using it now). Anyway we managed to pull ourselves back up the league and held in 4th place right up to the last round, and we still had the chance to nick second if we won and a couple of the other teams bombed out - a big ask, but you've got to aim high. We did our best and got second on the day, but the other teams in the equation didn't play there part and did far too well - we actually finished joint third, but 4th on weight count back - gutted!! we all enjoyed it, with some great weights across all of the pools, and some good banter! This leads me onto very recent history and i moved onto the Hillview spring league a week after Cob House finished - this is a teams of 4 league spread over the whole complex - the rules saw you pick a number which gave you a set of pegs and then the section order called - so you knew where you were based on the order your name was on the sheet and the order the sections drawn - prep was based around being anywhere!!! I've only fished the place 3-4 times previously so it was maximum homework time. the venue has carp and F1's as the main attack with Pellet and meat being the main baits. Round 1 saw me on peg 85 on the back canal - end peg (but on the wrong end apparently) the canal is around 13m wide with both banks full of features - plan of attack was short pole and pellet - very short a top kit, pellet over to the far bank, bread to the far bank and a margin line. i fed my pellet lines on the whistle and started on the bread at 3/4 depth to the thickest looking features i could find - i managed 8 fish on the bread in the first hour and was very happy, but it went very quiet and i spangled a couple of rigs getting a bit too close - snags and obstructions on both banks were a massive problem. i then found the odd F1 on the top kit line, but they were very iffy. i spent the middle of the match searching round my lines keeping the odd fish coming. going into the last 90 minutes i had my first look down the margin which had been fed with micros on the hour every hour. there were fish there as the float was bobbing about but they wouldn't take a 4mm expander - talking to the locals over breakfast they said a 6mm expander works well so i gave it a try and the difference was massive as the float just disappeared. again i was using the MAP white hollow dual core elastic and it performed brilliantly with barely any lost fish. was also using my favourite sconezone Munkeez floats on my pellet lines Munkeez - with a wire stem and 1.5mm tip they sit solidly and shot up perfectly every time and can be properly dotted down. these are the go to float for any work up to 5-6ft as I've got them in 0.2 and 0.4g - just need some bigger ones. the margin line saw my match out and from what i could see i thought id done reasonably well - the scales gave me 66lb but there was a 90lb odd on the other end peg and a 70lb in between so i was a bit gutted - the rest of the team i was guesting for hasn't done particularly well either so it was one to write off. if i was to fish it again id put my short pellet lines a little longer, top kit plus 2 to give me some room. Round 2 saw me on the right hand pool, peg 28 - the pools are rectangular and reed lined and both have a small island towards one end. i was lucky enough to have the island in my peg - the island on this pool consists of a dead tree and its branches in the water. this would be a massive part of my attack as on a previous visit id drawn on the opposite side to the island and caught from it. my attack was going to be waggler to the island, bomb and bread to the island, long pole and pellet, 5m meat line and a margin line. the wind on the day wasn't very nice at all with it blowing directly across me - i has to fish a long 4aa waggler in order for me to punch the waggler across against the wind and have some weight to straighten the line out when i feathered it in. the long pole line would be fed with 4mm and the margins with micros - Hillview rules don't allow any groundbait. i love the waggler so I'd work hard to make it work over the bomb to the island - on the whistle i fed my pole lines and started straight on the waggler - it took me a couple of calibration casts but with double maggot on the hooks i could get 15-20 seconds of good presentation before the wind took the line - 4th chuck it went under and carp number 1 was on - at 4lb a great start and i was winning the pool! (bit optimistic to get my hopes up after 10 minutes of the match) i kept the waggler going in and regular bites from roach and carp kept me interested - if the wind took the waggler to the left of the island i;d get a carp, if the wind died and it went in front of the island it would be a blade roach or an F1 (my casting isn't that bad honestly, it was the wind) the waggler line would go quiet after a couple or 3 fish so id rest it with a quick look else where - my long pole line didn't yield a bite so i binned it after a 2 hours - my meat line gave me a few chunky skimmers and it was easy to feed by hand so i kept it going through the whole match - my margin line gave me a tiny F1 but a feed every hour was easy enough so i kept it going. the waggler was yielding fish all match, but i could sense it was definitely getting slower - i gave my margin some more attention and a solid bite with an hour to go saw me hook a lump, which came off after i gave it a bit too much stick - straight back in and it went again and another was hooked - i took my time and got it in and at 8lb was a nice bonus - no more bites down the margin saw me end the match with a few last chucks to the island for antoher F1. i was definitely happy with my match and 75lb pretty much exclusively on the wagg goes up there with the best of them. this got me a section win and an envelope - the rest of the team had done fairly well and we ended up 3rd on the day and mid table overall. i did lose a couple of fish when they broke me - i set up a very light line on the waggler to cut through the wind and give me the best chance of presentation, but it was too light for the decent carp in that pool. Round 3 - back on the back canal, peg 88 this time - I'll start off saying this was definitely a match to forget!!!!!! same kind of attack as first time on the canal, apart from my short pellet lines slightly longer and in the margin and a meat line down the track. i started on the bread over at 3/4 depth under a willow and lost 2 fish straight away and spangled my rig!!! so i tried my long pellet line and found some F1's - i set-up a shallow rig for the long line and found some fish but couldn't line any up - my short pellet lines to the margins weren't producing and despite spending time with the plummet checking for snags i lost a couple of hooklengths to roots or reeds! it wasn't going well!!! i had a word with myself and set up a new longer margin line well clear of any reeds as it had grasses growing on the bank - i fed it with micros and left it for half and hour whilst i lost rigs and hooklengths elsewhere - first chuck on the new line and it went under with a 6mm Old Ghost EPS expander on the hook (my last bag of samples) and a better fish was landed. i found 4 carp around 4lb a piece in a short time and i was lot happier - i hooked a nice 8lb ghostie and got it to the net when it rolled over my line and broke my 0.14 hooklength - i re-fed, got off my box and set-up a proper margin rig on a power kit with black hydro and gave it another go as i seemed to be getting better fish - it went under again and i had a short run of chunky F1's when i then hooked another proper fish which powered off and then went solid!! putting extra sections on i moved the rig all around and let it go slack but no, fish gone, another hooklength gone! setting up again for what felt like the 100th time i went back to the margin and saw the match out catching the odd F1. 66lb on the scales isn't bad at all but 96lb won the section and i felt that was comfortably achievable from the peg, and i prob had it on the hook at some point in the match!! team blew out again! Round 4 - this was the week before last - this week saw me on the left hand pool again with the island slightly to my left but in my peg. weather leading up to the match had perked right up and was warm - first out the bag was the waggler rod again and the wind was a lot kinder so hope were high - the island on this pool is an actual island with reeds in the margins. i had and angler next peg to my right and a spare peg to my left, so my margin line was to my side of the next pallet to the left. i plumbed up a short meat line and found 2 near side shelves, so chose the bottom of the second to set my line - final attack was the pole at 13m with pellet - i set up deck and shallow rigs to cover my options - i fancied the shallow line as there were fish topping all over the pool. i was feeding micros down the margin again and 4's out - on the whistle i fed my margin short and long lines and chucked the waggler - the catty was straight in hand and i was pinging over my 13m line - a few chucks on the waggler to and around the island were very slow with just a couple of indications until a piece of meat on the hook saw a proper bite and a 4lb carp in the net - a few more chucks and nothing saw me gagging to try the shallow line and I'd noticed a couple of swirls - the shallow rig was made up on 0.16 mainline with a sconezone Jubleez float Jubleezand an 0.14 hooklength with a hair rigged micro pellet band and a 18 B911 eyed hook - the rig was matched to a match kit and the ever faith full MAP dual core white hollow elastic. it only took me a couple of drops with the rig before a carp was on and a 3lb mirror was in the net - straight back out and another was hooked - i had a great feeling about this line - i managed to catch consistently for around 90 minutes before the line quietened - i took a look on my meat line which had been fed by hand all match every few minutes, but it didn't produce a bite - a quick look in the margin and a bite saw a good fish hooked but it came off within a few seconds. i was having a lot of trouble with ducks coming into my margin line and feeding - it wasn't until i dropped some micros by my net and realised they sunk but then floated up after a few seconds!!!!!! i had a quiet time for around 45 minutes moving around my lines for only a couple of fish shallow until i upped my feed on the shallow line and the fish came back - going into the last 2 hours my shallow line was getting stronger - it was then the guy to my left started emptying his margin line with big carp but there want a massive amount happening elsewhere (or so i thought) i ended the match with a fish on and i was very happy - i thought the guy to my right would do me which turned out to be the case, but the guy on the end of the pool also did me by and pound and half - i put 121lb on the scales and by far my biggest weight in a long time. despite missing a decent section result i was really happy with how my match went and how i fished it - if i were to fish it again id have put my meat line half way up the first shelf and feed (hopefully sinking) 4mm pellet in the margin. the last round is next week and despite no real chance of a team result overall we've already paid our money in so its a free match and hopefully some good fishing. This takes me up to yesterday - i spent the day at Larford lakes fishing the annual Princes Trust Charity match organised by local lad Matt Balckmore - its a great match with banter flying all day and all for a great cause with a great raffle afterwards - i put together a bag of Old Ghost bait to go into the raffle. the match is also a pairs match but you don't know who your paired with until the draw itself - i drew peg 60 on the speci lake and with Brad a great angler who drew peg 6 on the match lake, end peg, but the wrong end at the moment.

After a long walk round to my peg i had all sorts of attacks going through my head and with loads of time to set-up i went for it. first out of the bag was a feeder rod for the method or bomb - this would be fished underneath a pellet waggler line fed with 8mm pellets. the pellet waggler rods were next - i set 2 up, one with a normal Styro type waggler which would be my 'light' set up and also a rod with one of the new Drennan Pellet Wagglers - these are like the John Bonney type wagglers which cast extremely well and are very stable in any wind or chop on the water.

Moving onto the pole, there are a few skimmers in this area so i set up a 13m line in around 12ft of water - i had 2 rigs for this, a 1 gram maver float (which i cant remember the name of) and a 0.8g Dave Harrell DH5 float on 0.8g. Both rigs were made up on 0.16 mainline, with the Bigger float featuring a 0.14 hooklength and size 16 T213 and smaller rig an 0.16 hooklngth and hair rigged bait band and a 16 B911 eyed hook. feed for the pole line would be 4mm fishery pellets soaked with some Old Ghost Krill liquid. The lake was pegged with every other peg in and i was lucky that the anglers either side of me were hemmed in by bank side vegetation so couldn't get anywhere near the spare platforms so they were mine - the platform to my right was a good 14m away so i plumbed my margin line at 13m around 3m from the bank in 3 foot of water - feed for this was to be groundbait and plenty of it - 1 bag of OG Match Carp, 1/2 Bag of Green Algae and 1/2 bag of Krill groundbait - this gave me a nice mix well wetted that would sink to the bottom quickly and give the fish something to graze over - my rig was made up on 0.21 direct to a size 12 drennan wide gape carp hook - this was matched to a power kit and orange bazookarp elastic - a no prisoners set-up - i set up 2 of these just in case as Larford holds some real beasts.

with time to spare i had time to set-up for and plumb up a 5m line which was around 6 foot deep and would be fed with meat - this was always going to be a desperation line if nothing else was working When the whistle finally went at midday the 13m line was fed with a pot of 4mm's, the margin fed with 2 pots of groundbait and the method was dispatched to around 30 meters and the catty was out and sending 8mm pellets over the top - first 30 minutes i didn't put the catapult down and i didn't have a twitch on the method. so it was a switch to the pellet wagg and i started off on the drennan version to get a fell for these new floats - they really do cast well, sit very stably and easily visible. after another half an hour of regular casting i didn't have a touch so nothing in the net - in the mean time the margin had had another pot or two and the 13m topped up once so on the hour mark i tried the pole line - with a 6mm snail carp EPS expander on the hook the float went straight under and a 10oz skimmers was in the net - i put 5 quick fish in the net so tried the banded pellet rig to speed things up - this rig was even better and i had a great run of skimmers to a pound and a half. all the time the pellet waggler line was being fed every 30 seconds. after an hour this line slowed massively so i rested it and got the pellet wagg out again - another biteless 20 minutes and it was back on the pole - this set a routine for the middle of the match - the pole was slowing all the time but the pellet wagg wasn't producing anything - i did put a bomb rig under the pellet waggler line but with only a couple of small liners it just wasn't happening - then out of the blue i had 2 quick fish on the pellet waggler and my first two carp for around 15lb between them - this took me into the last hour - i had tried the margin twice which only produced tiny perch to a big bunch of maggots, but id potted in groundbait every 20 minutes or so, so it was properly primed - my next bite after a quick dip from a small fish saw elastic streaming from my pole and my first margin fish hooked - this was the start of a frantic final 50 minutes which saw me put 6 proper fish in the net!! madness!! i had to put a full pot in after every fish to line the next one up and the more maggots i could cram on the hook the better and quicker the bite came. the scales quickly arrived - end peg 52 put 128lb in the sling, which i knew i couldn't get near, but i put 93lb on the weight sheet which i was more than happy with - this comfortably beat those around me - it actually put me second the whole bank so second in section and a brown envelope!!! get in! my partner on the day did well finish 6 in his section giving us 8 points and first out of the main money!! gutted! an after match pint was definitely needed and onto the raffle - my luck must have been well and truly in as i was first out the bag and chose a night away with 3 course meal included for me and Mrs P - double bonus!! that brings us up to date, a bit of a long entry and not including the kind of detail i like to usually include, but from now on in normal service should be returned. Tune in next time after I've fished the last round of the Hillview League