Month: May 2024

May 2024 – Part 2

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Well it has been a strange end of month but we will get to that later. First the trip up to Yorkshire was okay until we hit traffic on the A1 and the car started to play up in that it was refusing to get into gear. We managed to get to the hotel, park up and RAC attended and managed to fix the problem – low brake fluid. On return without mishap managed to call in garage and arranged for them to check it over when in for MOT at end of June.

So Tuesday 21st sees me head of back to Monkhall to run the MFS festival. What you don’t get a notion of from the aerial photo is that the lakes are on a steep hillside with Lark at the top and Owl at the base. Day 1 we were on Owl and Swallow – so I was left with peg 6 Swallow, this meant on day 3 I would be on Owl as we always do a swap around if we have the same lake twice. Anyway with all the organising and setting up I forgot to take any photos! I set up similar to Owl with an 8m line a top2+1 line and the margins all on 0.16mm line and 14 hooks but with one rig on 0.18mm.From my previous experience I decided not to pot in micros, instead opting to toss pot along with my paste on the 8m line to start and drip feed some micros and corn into the margins and short line.

Third put in and I had my first carp and after an hour I had clicked 17lb but then it slowed! The 2+1 line produced a solitary F1 so it was the margins I turned to as unlike other venues the margins at Monkhall can be productive throughout. Corn on the hook was the answer and when bites slowed 6mm expander, by swapping between the two margins and baits I clicked 48lb in the first net before starting on the second and reckoned I had about 11lb in that at the end. I tend to stop once I get past 45lb in a net as although the net limit is 60lb, I have to lift it out! The landing nets and keepnets are supplied by the fishery so it makes life a lot easier. At the weigh in my first net went 48-10 and the second 12lb for a 60-10 total and last in section of 5 (5pts).

Day 2 and I am left with Hawk peg 8 rather than being on the preferred Buzzard lake. The previous night the weather had changed and we had a heavy downpour all night and all through the match so everything was soaked and the phone stayed tucked away so again no photos. Setting up in similar fashion it was again the margins that produced the most bites on corn. The weather was so bad with an our to go I was shivering so much it took me two minutes to put a piece of corn on the hook! I was glad when I called the all out with net 1 weighing 38-01 and net 2 18-03 for a 56-04 total and 4pts. I had started the second net early as I was feeling that rough!

Day 3 and I am on Owl 5, a fine breezy day so things were spread out to dry! Same approach starting on paste but this time a carp on first put in, then an F1,then a run of 10 missed bites before a tench came to the net. I decided that the fizzing and missed bites were probably tench so looked at the margins and by alternating corn and expander in both margins managed to put 51-14 in the first net and 12-09 in second for a 64-07 total and 4pts. Unfortunately in my haste to get packed up and sort the results, photos got missed again! I ended up with 13points and 16/20.

Since returning I have not been able to get out with me either being hampered by heavy rain or with a stomach bug! Still 16 days to Bowood.

May 2024 Wanderlust!

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A slow start to the month mainly caused by various health appointments, visits from friends and various jobs I had been putting off! As I write this my new passport has just arrived prompted by the impending election (although my bus pass would do) and Gareth’s short trip from China to Jurassic Fishing Lakes in Thailand.

Gareth and family arrived at the lakes on the Thursday evening, fished all day Friday and half a day Saturday before leaving for China. So they draw for choice of pegs on the day before so there is no mad scramble for the “best” areas and Gareth ended up on peg 14 both days. On the Friday he missed a run second cast and then finally latched into a Siamese carp that went 50lb.

Things went a bit quiet as the day got hotter and it was Wendy, Gareth’s wife, that talked him into buying chicken hearts to try. Chicken hearts delivered a whole kilo of them were deposited into the margin and two put on the hook, ten minutes later and a run produces a 85lb carp, ten minutes after resuming it goes again with another at 95lb and a bit later one of 105lb.

He also had a run on the predator rod that resulted in his mackerel being bitten clean in half. Day 2 sees him back at the same peg which again produced, this time a 95lb carp and a 20lb Chao Praya catfish with seven missed runs, probably off the catfish before they had to leave.

Anyway back to more normal sized fish! With the Monkhall festival approaching I decided to make my way there to finalise arrangements and to have a short session on Owl pool which I had not fished before. I decided to limit myself to testing two areas and baits – paste and expander in the margin and at 8m. Feeding micros the long swim was soon fizzing and the 0.16mm line was teamed with a size 14 hook for both paste and margin. First discovery was that there are too many fish in my swim! I was getting constant nudges/liners and the first 4 fish hooked were foul hooked, second discovery was that the new 2mm elastic I was trying was perfect if the fish were lip hooked but was definitely undergunned if foulhooked .

I persevered and ended up with a clutch of F1s up to 2-12 and a few carp plus 10 tench, but at least now I had an idea of what tackle and bait I needed! The time before the event will be preparing the paperwork and tackle plus slotting in a three day trip to Yorkshire!

Another tail hooked Monkhall carp!

April 2024 Part 2 – Away Days!

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It was on 19th that I made my way up to Woodland View near Droitwich to have a practice session in preparation of the three dayer at the end of the month. One reason was I had not fished a “proper” commercial for carp for some time and I wanted to check out the new elastics I had bought from China, the second was I wanted to buy the fishery pellets in readiness as I would have enough to do on the first morning with collecting three days of peg fees and pools.

Making a relatively early start I arrived about 8:30 and duly paid the day ticket and bought my 2mm and 4mm pellets at the on-site tackle shop. It is easy to distinguish Woodlands pellets as they are a blue green colour like the water of the pools! I made my way up to peg 37 on Arles and set up a rig for the margin, one for 2+2 and one for 11m. The two non margin rigs were the same depth, so I had a “light” rig of 0.14mm to a 16 with a float taking 4 no 8 shot and a “heavy” rig of 0.16mm to a 16 with a float taking 0.5g.

Starting on the short line after cupping out a handful of micros to 11m and a large pinch on the 2+2 line it was very quiet, I fed some chopped worm and caster on the 2+2 line with some caster and started feeding a pinch of caster every put in. Eventually I began to get the odd bite but decided to try the long line which I had been feeding with catapulted micros and an expander on the hook to no effect. I brought the rig in and made some adjustments, flicking it out directly in front of me I was putting the pole together when the line tightened and a carp of 3-12 took the expander!

I continued at 11 m for a while and had another carp of 4-08.

Arles carp.

I had most success on expander on the 2+2 line with further carp of 5-04 and 5-00 with five small stockies, nine bream, four rudd, a roach and a perch for about 40lb in the four hours I fished. I came away pleased with the elastics and content that I had a plan for Arles.

No further fishing for me until the three day festival and of course on the Saturday it chucked it down, so much so that on Sunday on my way to the venue a lot of the roads were in a state of flood and it was not a pleasant driving experience. Worse still I knew that the rain would have adversely affected the fishing, so I would need to play things by ear as the matches progressed. Money collected, pegs allocated and weigh boards filled out we got on with the draw and the last peg left was mine. I was hoping for a peg in the high 20s or 30s but ended up on peg 5 (the board) which was upwind and hence flat for a lot of the time.

It was hard, very hard and with two hours to go I had four small fish, two carp a skimmer (blade really) and a perch. With Tony on peg 3 also struggling I decided to spend time down the margin, worm produced another small carp to take my tally to about 2lb. I then threw caution to the wind, put corn on and started to drip feed micros in every put in with just the odd piece of corn. The result was two late carp that took my final weight to a level 12lb and 4/5 in section.

Day two sees us split between Ghost and Back Deans, I was left with peg 38 on Deans with the board again! On looking at the section board it really was a deadly section – peg by peg- Carl Liddle (collector of many brown envelopes), me, Barry Gabriel (winner of many of our festivals and others), Pete Bailey (of Garbolino and many festival wins) and Rolly (Fishomania finalist and winner of many matches). I told myself realistically I was last and so decided to just have a pleasant day ignoring what others were doing. I set up four rigs – a margin one on 0.18mm to a 14, the 2+2 I used on practice and two long rigs one on 0.14mm the other 0.16mm both to 16s.

At the start I cupped in a ball of micros with some casters and a pinch of corn at 11m, a handful of micros mixed with caster and chopped worm on the 2+2 line and a half cup of caster and micros down my left margin. I ignored the right margin as there was a goose sitting on 4 eggs right next to where I would be fishing. I went straight on the 2+2 line with an inch of worm, within five minutes I had my first fish in the net, an bream of about two pound. Apart from a brief try on the margin line that produced a solitary F1 I spent the whole match on the 2+2 line apart from a short look-see on the 11m line. I had 23lb of carp over 2lb, 20lb of silvers, mainly bream and 41-08 of F1s and carp under 2lb for a 86-08 total. I was pleased with the day as I had been kept busy and I was even more delighted and shocked at the weigh in- see pic.

For me to have been that close to so many very good anglers was like winning!

The final day arrives and as is custom those who fished one lake on day two would fish the other on day 3 so I ended up on Ghost 16. The previous day we had strong winds coming off our backs or to our side but today the wind was just as strong but blowing directly into us. Once again with the board and once again next to Barry, who said (tongue in cheek) he would never speak to me ever again if I beat him again! Anyway no such chance of that happening. I must add that I set up a bomb rod each day and never picked it up! With the same rigs set up, worm didn’t work neither did expander other than me losing my first 4 fish (possibly foul hooked) and still blanking after 2 hours. Eventually I had a bream on the 2+2 line, but needed to use a heavier float (the 11m rig) to get presentation right, again I went down the margins alternating between left and right, feeding via a toss pot micros and 4mm with just two grains of corn each put in This got me a few carp and I ended up with 46-00 despite losing two in the last five minutes, making me 3/5. Overall the festival went well with me finishing 12/21 and after finishing the match at 3:30, we packed up, did the weigh in sorted the results paid out three days of brown envelopes and was out of the gate by 4:50.