Cefn Mably

After a small incident in work Friday getting a face full of crap from old ceiling tiles I woke up this morning with my left eye still very uncomfortable like it was full of sand, but decided to head off to Mabley for a knock up arranged by Sean Verbal Wilson. I got there nice and early and noshed down a full breakfast then went in the draw bag and pulled out 38. That meant nothing to me as the few times I've fished the match lake I've always drawn the other end of the lake. To cut a short storey even shorter after setting up the wind that was blowing realy started to aggravate my eye and made it vertically impossible to see from it. Seeing a pole float was impossible and even looking at the end of my bomb rod was a no go as I was squinting so much my other eye was watering as well. If I had any bites I couldn't see them so after 1 1/2 hours I had to give up. So I got no idea what won or who won it. After leaving my gear in the Cardiff Angling Centre at the lake I headed straight to A&E at the Gwent where I sat for 2 hours before I was seen. After an examination and rather uncomfortable eye wash I was sent home with some antibiotic cream as I had scratched my eyeball quite badly. Ah well, I gave it a go but it wasn't to be today. Roll on next time.

Mather Mill winter league round 4

A short 5 minute drive to Mathern today for another bash at the winter league. Into the Drawbag and out comes peg 17, one before the end of the island on the right hand side. As usual of late it was blowing a hooli but luckily when o got to my peg it was off my back. Tidy!!. For company I had Lee "Peanut" Pesticcio on 19 to my left and Ron Gibbs, Giles Cochrane  and Steve Shaw to my right. Giles and Steve only set up a bomb Rod each so it was obvious they were going for a pellet attack.  Two rigs today. Both .5 slims to fish 12 meters on pellet and 2+2 to fish maggot or caster. At the start the wind changed and was blowing a bastard from left to right so it was out on the bomb. Giles had a carp first chuck as did Gaffyn Jones two pegs to my left. Steve wasn't far behind them and after 30 minutes it looked like everybody except Ron, Lee and myself were catching
To keep it short the ole was just too hard today and all I got was one carp and about 20 skimmers on pellet. Most of the day was spent on the bomb using 8mm pellet taking 8 more carp including a couple of beasts. It was close between me and Ron and I was guessing at 75lb. Steve, Giles, Alan Davis on 11 and John Calli had all caught well. But Ron said Craig had a net full on 7, and that turned out right as he put 164lb 14oz on the scales for the win with his second net of 9 carp going 92lb. Three more ton plus weights came out before they got to me and Ron. Ron put 9 carp plus a few silvers on the scales for74lb 2oz. My silvers went 6lb odd, and my 9 carp went just over 80lb for an 87lb 6oz total. Not bad for a slow day. All in all it fished it's nuts off with 5 ton weights and over a 1000lb taken in total. Pretty good for winter fishing.

Results

1st Craig 164-14
2nd John Calli 139-14
3rd Giles Cochrane 127-9
4th Alan Davis 107-10
5th Steve Shaw 105-12

Acorn winterleague

First of all, I just wish I could fish a match when it's not monsoonal backed up by a hurricane. Just about sick of all this wind and rain now. And drying out my gear, I'm over that!!!!! My house looks like a tip two days a week as all my gear stays in the house.
Whinge over and onto today. It was the last of the series and I'm only here to make up the numbers as I've had a poor series. Into the bag and out comes number 11. Not a peg I've fished before but it's a good spot for a few F1's. Got to the peg and as usual the wind and rain was howling  through and it looked as though long pole across was a no go'er. Three rigs today. A  .5 slim with an 18 to .013 to fish just about all areas in front as it was the same dept all over. But 2+2 was about all I would go today as I like my pole with all the section in one piece. Maggot to my left and pellet in front of me. A  .4 pencil with an 18 to .011 to fish 12 meters along the left bank inline with the edge of the trees on maggot hopefully for a few F1's. And a .2 mugger with a 16 to fish maggot at 6 and 9 meters along the left bank at the bottom of the first ledge. A bomb Rod was set up to use if the wind got too bad. At the start I cupped in on all lines and found one of my top kits blown off the roost and tangled in the grass. So out went the bomb on hair rigged bread punch while, while I sorted it. A missed pull round after a few minutes got me all excited lol. So I stuck with it for 15 minutes but had nothing. Out on the 2+2 pellet line for 20 minutes and battling to hold the float still resulted in no bites. Dropped down the peg on the maggot line and same result. Presentation was very hard in the howler.  Rod Wooton to my right had nothing at this time. The guy on 13 had one carp by now and I could see a couple on the island catching. Out to 12 meters to the trees on single red maggot, and after 10 minutes my first bite resulted in a small roach. Ten minutes later a better one but catching these was gonna get me nowhere. I stuck on this line for a while and managed a small F1 and a decent carp around 6lb but then bites dried up.  Switched to the margin lines where I had been drip feeding maggots for an hour and a half expecting to catch F1's but there was nothing there. I had to get off my box several times during this time to retrieve top kits, pole sections and even my rollers that were sent down wind on more than a few a occasions.  Back out on 2+2 for a while but still no bites on either line. It was looking like a tough day. I needed a warm up so while I had a cuppa I put maggot on the bomb rod out over the 12 meter line and had 2 F1's in quick succession, then nothing. Rod had a few small carp and one decent one  by now so I was behind him. I think I was behind everybody at this point. I had to put the pole rollers away as after the third time they got blown over i thought it was just too risky to have them around my pole and I just slid my pole along the grass after that. With two hours to go I went back on the margin lines and started catching a few. Three reds was doing the trick with about ten maggots potted in each drop. It was quite enjoyable after that taking some good F1's and two more carp to end a frustrating day. At the all out I thought Rod had beaten me as it looked like the carp he was catching were big fish. Neither me or rod followed the wiegh in, we just sheltered behind his van as we were both fed up with the wind beating we had taken all day. Rod wieghed first and put 41lb 8oz on the scales. Didn't think I'd match that but was surprised when my 3 carp went just over 17lb and my F1's went 30lb 15oz, which was top silvers for the day, for a total of 48lb 6oz. That got me second in section and a nice bit of coin for the day. After the wiegh in Andy Gard got a bit impatient and tried to reverse around a car on the boggy ground. BIG mistake. It took four of us over half an hour to move him. Plonker lol.

Results on the day can be seen on my Facebook page. Not sure of final placing but will try to get them and post them later.

Landsend fishery Saturday open

Another day on this very good venue for me today. Had a couple of the Welshie guys, Craig Challingsworth and Sean Wilson,  come down today for a first visit here. Got there early for a breakfast then into the draw and out comes 24. A corner peg that would shelter me a bit if the wind got up. Three rigs today. A  .5 slim to fish pellet at 14 metres toward the island and the bottom of the end bank shelf. A  .4 slim for meat  at a 10 o'clock angle to my left at 2+3 length, and caster at 2+2 straight in front. It would also do to fish in front the next platform on a variety of bait's. And a .2 mugger to fish the margin to my left and at 14 metres along the end bank. At the start I cupped in small amounts on all lines and started on single caster. Hoping to get perch roach or skimmers I was disappointed when i had nothing. A switch to the meat line brought nothing either. In fact I never had a bite on anything for two hours even though I was switching different rigs regularly trying to find the fish. But looking around the lake it was obvious it was hard as hardly anything had been caught. The first bite I had was at 12-30 on the end bank margin line but I missed it. That was the only bite I had there.  Then at around 1 o'clock I had my first carp on the 14 metre line towards the island. That was followed by another carp next drop in then nothing for a while. I continued switching lines but the only place I could get a bite was towards the island. I never had a single bite on meat or caster all day. At the end I had 7 carp, an F1 and a skimmer all at 14 metres. I was last to wiegh today and managed to put 30lb 3oz on the scales for 5th on the day. After the very bad start I thought I did OK in the end.

Mathern Mill winter league. Round 3

After yesterday I was hoping to get up to a nice bright sunny day. Hahaha yeah right. Wind, rain, hail, we had it all today. This league is run on a wieght basis so no sections to go for so its an all out carp fest. Into the draw and out comes number 7 at the bottom end of the lake in one of the open bowls. With the wind coming in at a 2 o'clock angle the pole was gonna be hard work but I did set up a .5 slim for 13 meters on pellet, 6's over 4's, and a .3 slim to fish in front of the next platform for corn or pellet, 5 meters out, and it would also do for a 2+2 line for maggot. I did set up a margin rig but it never got used. Better to have it and not use it than need it and not have it. I also set up 2 bomb rods, which would be my main attack to fish hair rigged big punch, and 8mm pellet. For company I had Steve 'the bomb master' Shaw to my left on 10, a realy in form peg, and Ron 'I only draw peg 11' Gibbs on 11. I've heard he's going for a mortgage to buy that peg as he's draw it 6 of the last 8 matches. The other two he was on 10. At the start I started on an 8mm robin red pellet cast to the island. Within a minute the tip rips round and a 5 pounder finds its way into my net. Then it was just liners for the next hour. Even coming away from the island the liners persisted. Steve had 3 by now and Ron only had the one I think. A switch to double 10mm punch brought instant results with 2 good fish in a row, then it was back to a waiting game. After 3 hours I had 5 good fish in the net. Steve continued to catch and was about 6 fish ahead by now on the usual bomb and pellet approach. Ron was also starting to get a few. A look to my right and Giles Cochrane was also getting a few. After a bite less period I stuck the pole out but it was very hard to hold it still and bite presentation was hopeless. Stuck with that for 20 minutes with only one small skimmer for my efforts. Back on the bomb and I started casting around in the deeper water off the end of the island. The last hour and a half produced 5 more carp to double figures. Steve had slaughtered it on peg 10, and it was clear he had the win today. My 10 carp went 76lb 3oz which got me 4th on the day. Steve weighed next and had around 20 carp for 158lb 8oz. Ron had 84lb. Craig Challingsworth put 76lb 14oz in the net on peg 20. Overall it fished well today. Just wish I'd changed to the deeper water earlier. Ah well we live and learn.

Results.
Steve Shaw, 158lb 8oz.
2nd Ron Gibbs, 84lb.
3rd Craig Challingsworth, 76lb 14oz.
4th Me, 76ln 3oz.
5th Giles Cochrane, 71lb10oz.
6th Doug, 67lb 6oz.

Landsend saturday open.

Left home nice and early today to make sure I would be in time for a breakkie in the new onsite cafe and very nice it was too. Unlike the weather. It was blowing a hooli and persistently pouring down. Mike Duckett said it would be better after lunchtime and the wind would drop. Stick to running a fishery Mike cos your weather forecasting sucks lol. Possibly the worst wind I've ever fished in. Only 7 of us brave souls today and with all on the far bank of Match I drew out peg 15. Had it 3 weeks ago and did OK with a forth. Three rigs today. A .5 slim for caster and meat on 2+2 at 2 and 10 o'clock angles. A .5 slim for pellet at11 meters. That was as far as I wanted to go in the wind today. And a .6 margin slim in 4 feet of water to me left between the trees. I feed all swims at the all in and started on the meat line to my right. After 30 minutes without a touch a switch to caster to my left. Again 30 minutes with no bites. Scratch head time. Out to 11 meters on 6mm pellet over 4's. 15 minutes and not a touch. Things were looking bad. Shane Lovell on 13 had been catching silvers and a few small carp on meat. Adie Crawley on 17 had a decent carp early on the bomb but not much else at this time. Didn't see much else as I didn't want to stick my face out from my hood. Couldn't hear anything either as the howling wind and rain was deafening.
Back in on the caster line and eventually got my first bite and missed it. Then I managed to get a small perch in the net. Phew, blank avoided. After 2 hours and just one stripy I thought it was time to try the margin. Lowered it in and it buried. Carp number one on. Then it found the snag and it was off. Back in and five minutes later another one on. So I pulled a bit harder and pulled the hook. Bugger!. 20 minutes later number three, same result. Double bugger. Hmmmmm what to do. I changed top kits for a softer elastic and a begger hook. Three casters on a 14 and straight into a good carp which duly ended up in the net. I spent most of the rest of the match in the margin. But the snag and two fish lost under my keepnet kept the score low loosing to the12 out of 17 hooked. A good bream and perch were also added to my nets before the all out. Got to admit I was glad when the end came. The weather just got worse and worse. I was second to wiegh and put 6lb odd of silvers and 5 carp for 32lb for a total of 38lb 10oz and first on the day. Felt sorry for Shane next to me. He had to strip off and go for a swim after the wind picked up his 4and 5 section and dumped it in the lake. Then when he was in the water some of his cloths blew in. Not his day was it. He did get his sections back though.

Final result.
Me 38lb 10oz.
2nd. Mike Duckett 30lb 8oz
3rd Shane Lovell 28lb 1oz