Well it seems like ages since my last blog but unfortunately a combination of work and Mrs Pikey hogging the laptop has left me little time to update my blog lately - and not a lack of success as some have suggested.
So, where do I start ? Do I run through the matches where I've drawn badly and caught bugger all or shall I just report on a couple of recent results on two of my favourite venues - a tricky decision eh !
Match number one was at Willow Park on my favourite Small Lake and with 18 anglers fishing the Leatherhead DAS club match, I didn't really mind where I drew. After a hearty breakfast and a couple of walks round the lake to help with the pegging, I drew Peg 11, almost right outside the clubhouse. I quite fancied the peg as it had a small bush overhanging the water to my left and with a five o'clock finish, I fancied catching a few fish late down the edge, especially as last time I drew near the peg, the chap in it lost some decent sized carp in the edge. With the bush being close to my platform, I placed my box as far to the right of the platform as possible so that I wasn't sitting right on top of it. My plan of attack - as always at Willow Park in the summer was to fish Paste at 7 and 12 metres and also feed an edge peg for later in the match.
For the first three quarters of the match I was picking up the odd fish or two at 12 metres but unfortunately couldn't seem to catch close. However, although I couldn't see everyone on the lake, I knew I was up with the leaders and was confident that I had one of the better edge pegs on the lake and if the fish came in the edge then I had a good chance of framing.
I'd been feeding hemp and 4mm cubes of meat in the edge for most of the match and although I had been trying the edge on and off since the start (as the fish are sometimes there right from the off) it wasn't until 3.30 that I had my first indication. My rig was basically a 4x12 Andy Ward paste float on 0.18 G line with a size 10 B911 hook, all attached to a length of Red hydro in my H10 edge pole. Despite feeding meat and hemp, paste was to be the hookbait as I've found that it is still the best hookbait and the particle feed just holds the fish in the peg.
What followed was probably one of the best 90 minutes fishing I had ever had at Willow as I started to catch fish every put in, a some of them were proper lumps. I could see that Plummers had been catching well opposite me and at the weigh in thought my £1 was in danger as his net went fractionately over 100lb which is a hell of a weight from Willow even if we did fish an hour more than most of the open matches. When my "Final 90 minute net" weighed nearly 60lb, I knew it would be close and when the scalesman totted up my three weights it came to 108lb and Plummers was gutted to have caught 100lb and still lost a pound ! Pete Turnbull weighed 8olb odd for third and there were a number of other big weights as the lake fished really well.
Last Sunday saw me back at not only one of my favourite venues but also one of the closest to home as it is the local Leatherhead DAS ponds about 150 yards from my front door. Not being a driver, it is nice not to have to rely on others to give me a lift to a match, as for this one I put the wheels on my box and walked there. I arrived at the ponds to find that Competition Secretary Pete Turnbull was not there so popped back home to get some pegs and draw stuff. Aftr pegging the ponds with 11 pegs on the Top Pond and 5 pegs on the smaller bottom pond, the Pegs I fancied were 2,3,4,5,8 and 11 on the top and whilst I thought I'd rather draw those, I knew you could have a days fishing from probably all of the pegs on the bottom lake although I didn't think you could win from it.
With only a few pegs left in the bag, I asked Haydon Woods to draw for me and he duly picked me Peg 15 on the bottom lake and whilst I wasn't that happy to be there, I didn't realise at the time that the alternative was Peg 9 on Top which Ross drew and I really didn't fancy. After years of drawing the top lake, I've actually now drawn the bottom one for the past 4 or 5 matches and not done that well, due mainly to the fact that I've been too stubborn and only fished paste - which is THE bait on the the Top Lake where the carp are bigger.
This time I'd decided to fish two lines with 4 and 5mm expander pelletts at 11 metres (10 and 2 o'clock) and paste at 7 metres and in the edge, where I hoped to catch late. I must admit it made a pleasant change not to fish with red hydro and 0.18 line as my rig consisted of a 4x16 Carpa Porth float as the lake is about 5 foot deep and you need to get the bait down to the bottom quite quickly with a Gamakatsu size 16 pellet hook attached to 0.12 line. The red hydro being replaced with white hydro and a puller bung should I hook any whales.
I started off by cupping a small drennan pot of 3mm pelletts on all four lines and began by fishing the left hand long line. I was soon catching small carp between 6 ounces and a pound at regular intervals and sooon had the carp blowing in the peg. The funny thing was that despite continuing to feed all 4 areas of the peg, I never saw a blow on either of the lines except the one I originally started on and the fish seemed happy to stay there as long as I kept feeding them a "Kinder" of pelletts every put in. During the morning we had a few visits from Top Pond anglers who reported that it wasn't fishing too well although one or two anglers were catching and I expect they realised I was catching as I remained at my peg for the duration of the match which is very unlike me !
At half time I started to use my other keepnet as I thought it would be interesting to see how the two halves compared. With the fish digging up the bottom to get at the feed pelletts, I found that if I kept adjusting the depth I could keep in contact with the fish but did have one slow spell of about half an hour when I am now convinced I was actually fishing well off the bottom and because I was still getting the odd fish, I didn't notice. When I added another two inches to the depth (and some more line as the distance between my float and pole tip and float was now much too short) I started to catch again.
A big rain storm in the last hour slowed the action a bit but luckily it had stopped in time for us to pack up and weigh in. Starting on the Top Lake Plummers put 39lb on the scales from Peg 1 and having weighed all but one of the lake, he was still leading. I'd heard that Don Garnish had been catching from Peg 11 as someone had told me he 'd had 16 carp which finally pulled the needle round to 51lb. I knew I'd caught a few fish but it wasn't until Pete Strutt weighed 34lb from the botom lake that I thought I might actually win it as he was opposite me and although I saw him catching well in the afternoon, I knew I'd caught a lot more than him in the morning.
Sure enough my afternoon net weighed just over 26lb and when I pulled out the morning net it only needed to weigh the same to win, and it felt a lot heavier. The needle finally settled on 36lb dead as my final weight was recoded as 62-2-0 a lovely days fishing and Plummers pound again - what more could I want ! John Clifford gave me a bit of a scare from the corner peg as I'd hardly seen him catch a fish all day but a few lumps in the edge late on pushed his total to 53-2-0.
So that's it, you are now up to date with my fishing expeditions and with my Winter League starting at Willinghurst on Sunday I hope to keep the blogging up to date - so come back next week to see how Round 1 went.
