Post by tompo on Apr 26, 2010 14:28:02 GMT -5
Normally when I go fishing I just take the bits and bobs that I think I will need for that day.
Yesterday I was booked in to fish a match on a venue that I’m not too familiar with, only having fished it once before. The venue has an established specimen lake, a fairly new match lake and a brand new match lake that does not officially open until May 2.
Although we were due to be on the original match lake which averages about 3’ in depth I had a feeling that the match was going to be switched to the new lake which is deeper and so put a few extra suitable rigs in my box.
Sure enough when I arrived the match had been switched.
The new lake is a “snake” and still looks bare but by all accounts there are a lot of fish in there. Main species being perch and carp.
Plan was to fish two lines at 4m for perch, one line at 6 and 10m in the deeper water for carp and two far bank lines, in about 2’ of water, again for carp.
At the start I fed a ball of groundbait with a few maggots, casters and “B” soaked micro pellets sprinkled over the top on the two 4m lines. At 6m I fed a small cup of micros with a pinch of corn, maggots and casters, with the same at 10m.
At 11.5, in 2’of water I fed a few micros with a pinch of corn, again on two lines.
I started on the perch line at 4m in about 3’ of water with maggot on the hook. Had an 8oz perch first put in and by switching between the two lines and between maggot and caster on the hook, had a fish a chuck for an hour. The perch run to good size and by the end of the first hour I reckoned I had almost double figures.
I could see most pegs from mine and it didn’t look like much was being caught but after an hour I re-fed the two perch lines and had a look on a pellet at 6m. First put in I had a 3lb carp and then another next put in. These were followed by a run of 8-10oz fish.
After about 30 mins on this line I had look at 11.5m. Although I was getting the odd fish on pellet, the wind made presentation difficult and so I tried a piece of corn. Float buried straight away and that was the start of a run of getting a fish a chuck on both far lines. Bites were so quick I never had to worry about the presentation. Just had to lower rig in and keep a tight line to the float. All the time I was feeding a few micros through a Kinder cup.
After an hour of switching between the two far lines I decided to give the 11.5m line a rest and so cupped a small pot of pellets in each swim and went back to 6m but with a piece of corn on the hook. Again, the float just buried immediately and I had another little run of getting a fish of chuck. When it slowed I went to 10m and had another run of small carp.
Eventually this line also slowed and so I re-fed all the carp lines and had another quick look on the perch line while they settled.
I went back on the 11.5m line and again was getting a small carp every put-in.
While this was going on the guys in all of the pegs round me were really struggling. The one to my left could not catch a carp and only had a few perch. He did not weigh in, as did the guy to his left who only had three small carp.
The only really quiet spell I had was when the Fishing Correspondent from our local paper turned up and asked if he could sit behind me to take a few pictures as I appeared to be the only person catching. This coincided with breaking the float on my 11.5m rig and the wind getting stronger. I put a new rig on but the line from float to pole was a few inches shorter than the previous rig and presentation suffered as a result in the wind.
Eventually I did start catching again and was fairly confident that I would at least frame, if not win the match.
I weighed 73lbs 14ozs, which was a lot of fish. The net was made up of 61lb 14ozs of carp and 12lbs of perch. Although I had a few carp up to 4lbs, most were only about 10zs.
Second in the match weighed 38-7, of which 31lbs were perch and third had 37lbs.
I tried a couple of things slightly differently.
When I prepared my “B” I mixed it to winter strength and I also soaked the corn in it.
What was noticeable was that the smaller the piece of corn I put on the hook, the quicker I got bites.
Yesterday I was booked in to fish a match on a venue that I’m not too familiar with, only having fished it once before. The venue has an established specimen lake, a fairly new match lake and a brand new match lake that does not officially open until May 2.
Although we were due to be on the original match lake which averages about 3’ in depth I had a feeling that the match was going to be switched to the new lake which is deeper and so put a few extra suitable rigs in my box.
Sure enough when I arrived the match had been switched.
The new lake is a “snake” and still looks bare but by all accounts there are a lot of fish in there. Main species being perch and carp.
Plan was to fish two lines at 4m for perch, one line at 6 and 10m in the deeper water for carp and two far bank lines, in about 2’ of water, again for carp.
At the start I fed a ball of groundbait with a few maggots, casters and “B” soaked micro pellets sprinkled over the top on the two 4m lines. At 6m I fed a small cup of micros with a pinch of corn, maggots and casters, with the same at 10m.
At 11.5, in 2’of water I fed a few micros with a pinch of corn, again on two lines.
I started on the perch line at 4m in about 3’ of water with maggot on the hook. Had an 8oz perch first put in and by switching between the two lines and between maggot and caster on the hook, had a fish a chuck for an hour. The perch run to good size and by the end of the first hour I reckoned I had almost double figures.
I could see most pegs from mine and it didn’t look like much was being caught but after an hour I re-fed the two perch lines and had a look on a pellet at 6m. First put in I had a 3lb carp and then another next put in. These were followed by a run of 8-10oz fish.
After about 30 mins on this line I had look at 11.5m. Although I was getting the odd fish on pellet, the wind made presentation difficult and so I tried a piece of corn. Float buried straight away and that was the start of a run of getting a fish a chuck on both far lines. Bites were so quick I never had to worry about the presentation. Just had to lower rig in and keep a tight line to the float. All the time I was feeding a few micros through a Kinder cup.
After an hour of switching between the two far lines I decided to give the 11.5m line a rest and so cupped a small pot of pellets in each swim and went back to 6m but with a piece of corn on the hook. Again, the float just buried immediately and I had another little run of getting a fish of chuck. When it slowed I went to 10m and had another run of small carp.
Eventually this line also slowed and so I re-fed all the carp lines and had another quick look on the perch line while they settled.
I went back on the 11.5m line and again was getting a small carp every put-in.
While this was going on the guys in all of the pegs round me were really struggling. The one to my left could not catch a carp and only had a few perch. He did not weigh in, as did the guy to his left who only had three small carp.
The only really quiet spell I had was when the Fishing Correspondent from our local paper turned up and asked if he could sit behind me to take a few pictures as I appeared to be the only person catching. This coincided with breaking the float on my 11.5m rig and the wind getting stronger. I put a new rig on but the line from float to pole was a few inches shorter than the previous rig and presentation suffered as a result in the wind.
Eventually I did start catching again and was fairly confident that I would at least frame, if not win the match.
I weighed 73lbs 14ozs, which was a lot of fish. The net was made up of 61lb 14ozs of carp and 12lbs of perch. Although I had a few carp up to 4lbs, most were only about 10zs.
Second in the match weighed 38-7, of which 31lbs were perch and third had 37lbs.
I tried a couple of things slightly differently.
When I prepared my “B” I mixed it to winter strength and I also soaked the corn in it.
What was noticeable was that the smaller the piece of corn I put on the hook, the quicker I got bites.
