Month: February 2024

February 2024 – Part 2 the rise and fall…

jacksonb1 Uncategorized , , , , ,

With Gareth and family safely back in China I made preparations for a Maggotdrowners match at the Glebe on Saturday 17th. I had talked Darren into having a go and arranged to meet him at Moreton in the Marsh so he could follow me up to the Glebe as it was his first time. We arrived on time without incident and Darren drew peg 20 and I was on 26. My preparations had not been done that well as I realised that I had left my pole cup in the other bag when I had been out with Gareth, fortunately Darren lent me a spare. For some reason I forgot to take any pictures but I started on the feeder tight across and was patting myself on the back when the feeder was going down the same hole each time – a rare incident! Anyway a roach, skimmer and monster gudgeon made the way to the net by the time we reached the 30min mark while peg 24 had about 4 carp in this time.

The match had been split into two payouts- silvers only and everything counts -with each section getting a silvers and overall winner, you could win one but not both. I had set out for silvers as I wanted to see if I could get the usual bream of 1.5lb to 3lb feeding as being February I suspected the carp may be more bunched up. Hence, I had fished maggot on the feeder and had primed a long line at 13m and a short line at 2+2, the long line with groundbait, 4mm pellet and corn, while the short line received one ball of groundbait and a pot of micros with a few 4mm expanders and a few maggot. Tackle was unusual for me as the long line was normal with a 0.8g homemade float on 0.14mm line, a 0.12mm hooklength to a 16, the short line however was again homemade but took just three no8 shot spread in the last 3 feet again to a 0.12mm line and 16 hook.

The feeder was put up the bank and I had a look on the long line and began to pick up small skimmers of only an ounce or two on maggot or expander at 13m but although I was putting fish in the net along with one better skimmer of a pound it was not fast enough due to the size of the fish. So on to the 2+2 line again it was a case of small skimmers interspersed with the odd roach and gudgeon no matter whether I had maggot or expander on the hook, but expander brought the bites faster. I stayed on this line for the rest of the match but the fish were very small in comparison to the usual silvers at the Glebe. After three hours I hooked and landed a carp of around 8lb but it was the last 40 minutes when the silvers got pushed out by the carp. I caught two carp of a similar size to the first but then I managed to snap my hook off in the bank side vegetation and instead of just tying on a new hook I took the hooklength off and replaced it with a similar one but with a narrower gauge 16 hook – a big mistake as I lost three carp on the bounce as the gauge of wire was pulling through and not holding the carp. I managed one further carp of about 3lb. I was on the board for the weigh in and Darren had had a good day – sticking on the 2+2 line and feeding and fishing maggot he had caught consistently all day and ended up winning the silvers pot for the section. Looking at his fish I guessed I had caught a similar amount but mine were a great deal smaller. I ended up with 15-11 of silvers and my 4 carp went 29-10 that put me 6th overall, and 5th in the silvers.

Darren went home pleased with his day and looking forward to the next on 16th March! It was only at the end of the match that we discovered that Roy Marlow, the owner and ex-Likely Lad, had died on the bank the previous day, a true loss to angling.

Events and weather then conspired against me, with a recurrence of my dodgy knee and monsoon type weather at times I stayed in until the following Siunday when I packed the haversack seat and took a rod bag with a waggler and feeder rod up to the Stock Pond at Bowood on the premise that it would do me good and was the only place likely to be fishable. It was fishable but no-one told the fish!The main lake was muddy after all the rain and it looked as if they had opened the sluice as the water level was lower than normal. I squelched my way up to the Stock Pond and despite it only being 1C on arrival I expected to get a few bites- how wrong can you me – 9:30 to 11:30 fishing and not a bite on either waggler or lead. There had been one hardy pike angler on the main lake when I walked up but he had gone when I walked back.

Tuesday sees me pluck up the courage to go to peg 10 at Bowood, there was a lot of debris and large sticks on the platform and walkway which gave credence to the theory that the rain over the last week or so had risen the level to over the platform and the sluice had then been opened to alleviate the situation.

There was an undertow from right to left against the strong cold wind again a cold night and only 1C on arrival. I fished in my usual manner, the pike rod was untroubled but I did prevent a blank with 3 roach, 2 rudd, 2 skimmers/blades and a micro-perch for 0-06. Two other anglers came after me on the other bank but I did not see them catch, Oh for a period of settled weather! It has to be said that apart from one bite that took the float under the rest merely moved the tip a mm or so which meant I needed to concentrate hard on the float.

March means 14 days maximum of Bowood to end of season and then the return to the Glebe.

February 2024 – The big and the small

jacksonb1 Uncategorized

Well the month starts with Gareth and family spending some times at Newark (antiques fair and fishing) and Castleford (family and Rugby League match). In the few hours that he managed to get fishing he had some success.

Anyway on their return it was The Tuesday that I had my first excursion of the month as a dodgy knee required some rest and a visit to the doctors. So Gareth and I fished Bowood from 2:30 to 4pm, I plonked him on 10 and I had 9. Nothing much to write home about for me with 4 roach, 6 skimmers/blades and 15 rudd for 1-15. Gareth on 10 had about 50 silvers but my day was made when he had a run on the pike rod and he hit a fish that was keeping down and felt heavy, I suspected a good double but Gareth’s face was a pictuire when it surfaced and I subsequently netted it – a new PB of 17-05.

Wednesday sees us back at Bowood from 2:30 to 4pm only taking the pike tackle but with a very heavy water colour after rain there were no runs although there was fish moving. Next day following yet more rain we gave Bowood a miss and headed for the Marden at Hazeland, fishing any slacks we could find in the top field that was high and rising still with chocolate water. The third spot we tried Gareth had a Minnow on red maggot – we were just using leger rods and lowering our weights into the slacks.

Buoyed by the relative success of saving a blank I had a go in the same spot and had probably the smallest fish I have ever cleanly hooked – just about an inch long, I then had a second even smaller drop off probably just holding on to the maggot.

The weather prevented any real attempts at fishing over the next few days although Gareth had a go after the pike on the canal at Rowde without landing any although he hooked 3, but the Sunday sees us on the canal at Horton from 9:30 to 11:45 just fishing the whips. It was hard going, made even harder by the numerous canoes that were practicing for the Devizes to London race and paddleboarders! However we managed to scrape together 12 fish each, mine consisted of 8roach, 1 rudd, 1 gudgeon and 2 perch for 1-03 while Gareth’s 12 weighed 1-02!

Monday sees us back at Bowood with me on 9 and Gareth on 10. Fishing 2:15 to 4:15 but this time just taking the whips and the pike rods. Gareth fished a more conventional homemade chianti style float whereas I stuck with my Chinese varieties. Whip fishing resulted in 13 roach 11 rudd, 8 skimmers/blades and a micro perch for 3-06 after a slow start. Gareth went off like an express train but then slowed right up (probably a pike sitting there) and had 1-12 but he then had a pike of 9-06 which was , I suspect, the culprit of the slowdown.

I also had a run and the fish came in steadily rather than spectacularly, as it got closer I could see that the line had wrapped under its body safely netted it went 17-06! We speculated whether it was the same fish Gareth had but it was unlikely.

With their return to China due on Wednesday, Gareth had a couple more fruitless pike sessions, one at Bowood on the Wednesday morning and the other on Tuesday afternoon on the Canal at Froxfield where he did at least see a couple of pike but they just nudged the bait and were not interested in the smelt. Normal service now resumes after their safe return to China!

Zachary does it himself!