Whilst I do love being busy at work, the downside is that over the past few weeks, I've had no lunch breaks and therefore no time to update my fishing blog.
As I 've had loads of people nagging me to get it sorted (well one actually, my mate Howard - he of the long hair and alice band), I have taken a break today just to get it updated.
My first trip following a couple of weeks of piscatorial inactivity (due to a family holiday and one work commitment) was one I'd been looking forward to for ages..................a visit to Roy Marlow's superb Glebe Fishery for teh Match Fishing Scene Pairs event.
As my mate Ross knows Roy well, we always go up the day before to have a chat and a bit of a dabble before the big event. It means we don't have to travel the 2 and a half hours on the day of the match and also gives us another opportunity to catch a few fish. Arriving at about 2.30pm we found Roy and with a corporate day on lakes 1,4,5,6 and 7, we were advised by Roy to have a dabble on Lake 2 as we should get a bite or two there.
We settled down in adjacent pegs and after 30 minutes, having caught a few carp between 1 and 3lb, we stopped fishing to go and help Roy with the weigh in. An hour later we were back at our pegs, where we started the silliest afternoons fishing I've had for a while. It didn't matter what bait you used or where you put it as every put in resulted in a carp. I finished up fishing a top 2 standing behind my box and fishing 6 inches in front of my platform, catching 4lb carp one a bung ! As we packed up about 7pm Roy came around and we then spent a most enjoyable half hour or so just sitting on the bank chatting - mainly about Marukyu as that is Roy's favourite topic at the moment !
The following morning was the first day of the MFC Pairs event and the eagerly awaited draw saw me partnered with Chuckle Brother Number 1 - the infamous Sconeeee ! Whilst I was happy with my partner (as he is a Glebe member and not a bad angler) I was a bit concerned how he'd fish on Day 2 after a night and probably a good bit of the early morning spent in the Longshoot Bar !
The Day 1 draw put Sconneee on a Peg in the middle of Lake 4, which although not a flier, he was more than happy with and me on Peg 23 on Lake 1. A quick scan of the weigh sheet revealed a little known angler at the next peg, a certain A KINDER ! That was just what I needed, I had decided not to fish the feeder (cos I'm crap at it) despite the fact that ALL the locals (including Roy) told me to do so, and then I get a superstar at the next peg.
I had decided to fish paste at 5 metres, feeding small balls of hard GB with some 3mm pelletts in and then hemp and corn in the edge both sides. I did also set up a paste rig to fish 13 metres and balled in about 10 big balls of GB at the start on this line, much to everyones amusement. I would like to say that this was an inspired tactic but as I only caught one carp and 2 skimmers over it, it proved to be a very expensive tactic compared to the number of fish I caught.
After about 2 hours I had 2 carp, 2 skimmers and a crucian in the net, whilst Andy K at the next peg had about 15 carp and to be quite honest was beginning to get on my nerves a bit as his accurate casting to the far bank was proving far too successful !
Fortunately for me, a few carp turned up on the 5 metre line and with 2 hours to go with about 60lb in the net, I tried my edge peg to the left for the umpteenth time during the match but this time the float buried as a decent carp took a liking to my double corn bait. Another followed next put in but then there was a bit of a lull. I then decided to give paste a go and having modified my long paste rig, I dropped it in the edge and within seconds the float had gone. I continued to feed corn and hemp in the edge and fish paste over the top as my edge peg got better and I started to catch up with Andy K as his feeder peg seemed to be slowing.
A fish of about 5lb on the whilstle was a nice end to the match and when the scales reached AK he put 113lb on the scales. I was confident I had beaten that and sure enough my final net pushed my weight to 136lb and a very welcome section win.
The following day I let my partner down badly ! I drew two pegs from the far end of Lake 6 (which I didn't really fancy) and to cut a long story short, I finished like a knob ! I fed too much, fished it all wrong and didn't bother weighing in about 20lb of skimmers and 1 carp as I knew I'd still be last in the section - Sorry Sconneeeee. All in all though I had a great time and am already looking forward to next years event.
Since then I've fished another two matches which I really enjoyed but you'll have to make do with a shortened report or I'll never catch up !
Last year I fished a club match on Lake 4 at Monk Lakes and after finishing 2nd with just under 100lb I was looking forward to this years return visit. We did have a bit of a dilemma though as following the USA's last minute winner against Algeria in the World Cup, it then meant that England were scheduled to play Germany at 3pm on Sunday ! For me there was no contest as fishing is fishing and if I wanted to watch England play footie I could always watch the highlights - which not suprisingly once we knew the result, I didn't.
With the weather men predicting the hottest day of the year so far, it was likely to fish quite hard but suprised us all with Donald Garnish winning with 192lb, followed by Smiffy on 162lb, Hathers with 151lb and then me with 132lb (although I was docked 10lb for having 12 ounces too much in one net) ! All my fish came fishing paste in the edge or at 5 metres. One of the highlights of the day was Hathers singing the National Anthem just prior to the England V Germany kick off.
My final match for this report came at another of my favourite venues, The Small Lake at Willow Park. It's another regular Leatherhead DAS haunt and one where I first started using paste many years ago. The matches have over the years almost turned into a Pasteheads V Up in the Water challenge as the two methods battle for supremacy. A quick tour of the lake to sort out the pegging revealed that apart from the usual feature pegs, the wind was blowing into the Peg 20 corner, so a favourable draw would probably be from Peg 18-22. As usual Plummers was one of the first to draw and as usual he drew a flier - Peg 21, whilst I hung back a bit and drew Peg 11, a nice short walk from the clubhouse but not one I really fancied - unless I could catch in the edge to my left by a small bush.
Fishing paste at about 10 metres I had three F1's and a 4lb carp early on but then the peg died. By adding an extra section and messing about with different paste's, I managed to still catch the odd fish and was having a good little tussle with Ross at the next peg as we went fish for fish for a while. However, looking round the lake at those still in contention, I could see that I was one of the few who had any sort of edge peg and if I could nick a few from down the edge then I could be in with a chance. I'd been feeding hemp and meat down the edge all match and after a few "looks" with no response, decided to concentrate on the edge for the last hour as I needed a few lumps to push me up the leader board. I then had the best hours edge fishing that I have had for years as I think I had 12 fish for about 65lb in the final hour and that included a blank last 15 minutes - except for a big fish I had last put in.
Plummers came round before the weigh in to let me know he had caught 36 carp - and as you can imagine I was really pleased for him ! although he did say they were all small (but would probably still average 3lb each). As the scales came round to me, Ross was leading with 71lb and then my nets totalled 108-8-0 and Plummers was 2nd with 100-8-0 and couldn't believe he'd weighed in over 100lb at Willow Park and still owed me a pound !
So, that's me caught up with my match news, I'll try not to get behind in future and will hopefully include some pictures next time. We are off to StubPond next week for another spot of paste fishing, so hopefully I'll have another decent days sport to report on next week.
JPZ's from Marukyu - "The Dogs Danglies"
Jordan Whitby with a PB Carp of 18lb from Newdigate
Maggotdrowning.com
Exclusive Pictures
Fred Davis with his personal best chub of 7-2-0 from the River Lea
and his 6-8-0 tench !
Neil Humpage with part of his 89-10-0 match winning chub catch from the River Wye
Mike Spragg with his personal best Barbel from the The Wye, a whopping 10-1-0.
Davey P's Locker - Tackle I would recommend
Drennan Lake Floats - I used to use these floats for crucians and have recently started using them again for my silvers fishing, The cane bristle makes them especially sensitive.
I use this hook for nearly all my carp fishing from Size 10's with paste, 14's with the knotless knot on the lead and 18's for Hook in the loop rigs and they have never let me down.
How smart are this lot - Andy May and his wife with some of the motley Total fishing.com crew. There is a small pond just out of the picture and they fished a small sweepstake between the wedding ceremony and the reception ! Andy May won, Haisman was last - no change there then !
Myles Levy and his mate Chris with a 59lb catfish from France.
When I was writing in the Angling Times I promised some friends that I would try and get "Fish Cakes" mentioned in an article. However, as I was sacked before I could do so, I thought I'd put them on here ! So Mick and Karen Jones, here they are as promised !
At least one member of the Baxter clan can catch fish ! Young Dylan with a 4lb bream.
Hathers at Stafford Moor - Let this picture be a lesson to you all, those last couple of drinks the night before are never a good idea !
World Exclusive !!!!!!!
Andy Toplis playing a fish.
Ryan Hughes with part of an 80lb bag from White Springs Fishery in Wales
Mick Bull wont have received many points for this dive - but having just won the Fisho Final and £25k I don't think he really cared !
Another exclusive for Pikey's Progress - Terry Molloy not talking ! Oh yes and with a decent River Thames Pike.
OK Own up - who lent Mick The Bookie some fish to pose with ?
Martin Harper with a superb 8lb tench from Farlows Lake
Young match star Tony Curd with an 11lb barbel from the River Kennet - he didn't say where, these spessy hunters are so secretive !
Total Fishing's Justin Laundon with a fine net of fish from Lindholme Lakes
Fred Davis with 3 chub over 5lb and a small one from the River Lea.
http://www.carpvader.com/index.asp
Jeff Moors took part in the recent Catfish Challenge and caught this one - more of a "kitten" than a cat really !
And here are some proper ones that the winners had.
BNF - with part of a near 100lb haul from the Glebe
Scone - Angling writer, float maker and all round good egg !
"Hathers" with his 3-8-0 roach from Timsbury Manor - some claim it was really a hybrid, I couldn't possibly comment !
"Fordy on the Telly" with 40lb of prime River Kennet chub.
.........and this one weighed 5-2-0
Alan Dove with a small Skimmer Bream of 15-8-0 from Walthamstow Reservoir
Fred Davis plied Alan Dove with coffee all day then when he went to attend to a call of nature caught this one with his gear !
Colin Ormston (Billy no Fish) with the reason that some anglers still fish rivers !
Phil Stone (Pebs) with a fine net of roach and rudd from Witherington Farm
Total Fishing.com ventriloquist Gary Haisman with his two new dummies - Billy No Fish and Pebs.
