Hathers

2006-06-19T15:12:00.000-07:00

SUNDAY JUNE 18th

WILLINGHURST - TOP LAKE - MY ACHILLIES HEEL !

Sunday saw me at Pikey’s 2nd home the Top Lake at Willinghurst . This venue has really switched on this summer with some huge weights. It’s no coincidence that a better class of angler has been fishing the venue and I’m sure the aggressive feeding tactics are the reason behind it as well as the ban on floating baits.

This Leatherhead DAS club match saw 19 anglers in attendance. Was it only 5 years ago that I had to book at least 2 lakes and even then we had a waiting list to fish, but in those days the matches were probably the biggest in the area and hardened open anglers saw a great opportunity. It was great for the clubs funds but the loyal club member resented the ……..I digress !

To the draw, everybody wanted a draw out of the main lake, either the back spit or the bomb hole. To those not familiar with the top lake, the main body of the lake is oval shaped and has 19 pegs. At the top end it narrows into a small bowl (bomb hole) with 3 pegs and in the bomb hole there is a 2 metre gap that leads into the back spit. The spit is a 22 metre wide straight with an island at one end and has just 7 pegs. The first peg in the spit peg 22 nearest to the bomb hole is where Will Raison smashed the match record with 450lbs and has always been a summer flyer.

I helped ‘The Major’ with the draw and it appeared if you wanted the spit you had to be first in the queue, 6 of the first 7 pegs drawn were in the spit ! I like to be one of the last in the draw as having helped run matches for the last 10 years there always seems to be a couple of good pegs at the death. I don’t follow the first in the draw rule cos “All the pegs are in“ all the crap are as well !! With 3 to draw I decided it was my turn, left in the bag was 13,18 or 21. I fancied 13 only because of the scum at that end of the lake showed the wind had been blowing that way. Next 21 would do, I’ve fished it before and it’s the nearest peg to the bomb hole. 18 (between the trees) is not my favourite but there was plenty of room if you drew it. Gus drew out 21for me, good enough. Of the fancied anglers Gus was on back spit p23, the Northern blogger ’margin pig’ was on end peg 28 (the scene of Pikey’s win in May). Bream Brain was on p24. Method man Woody on p6, Tippy on P13 and Meatbasher on p20.

Arriving at my peg the fish were thrashing around the reeds and obviously up to no good. I just hoped it wasn’t going fish like my recent Priory trip.
I set up a conventional 6mtr paste rig and a lighter rig with a smaller hook for fishing ‘The Pea’ and two margin rigs for the tree 6mtrs to my left. One for down the shelf and one for the top. I potted a big pot of hemp and paste at 6mtrs and a full pot of hemp and corn in the margins. It was slow start, but I expected that as the fish were spawning. The day before only 7 carp were caught from the peg and the angler was plagued by roach. I had 4 carp to 5lbs and some roach in the first hour at 6mtrs, my first put in down the edge produced an 8 pounder. It then went very iffy, the ‘Pea’ produced a couple of small fish and plenty of missed bites (roach) but I was going nowhere. Woody and Gus were catching consistently. Into the 3rd hour and I never put a carp in the net, a few foul hookers but only roach went into the keepnet. I would love to say I did something to improve things but alas No! My Achilles heel which is Willyhurst in summer had kicked in. I was plagued by roach, even on 50p pieces of hard paste or 4 pieces of corn. In all I fed 3 pints of hemp and 5 tins of corn mainly in the margins in an attempt to feed them off but I only took odd carp apart from a good last hour. At the end of the match I had 17 carp and about 10lb of roach for 83:10:00 for 8th place, a frustrating but nevertheless enjoyable day.

At the weigh in it was clear Gus had a big weight, he even admitted that he couldn’t lift any of his 3 nets. As the scales reached Gus, the Eagle was leading with 160lb from p4 with Woody 2nd with 125lb from p6. Gus’s first two nets went 180lbs and now I was worried my LDAS match record of 304lbs might go. He even wound me up by getting the clubs strongest man Schultz to help lift the 3rd net. The 112lbs was not quite good enough but his 292lbs won the match easily, all caught at 1 mtr in 2’ of water and feeding 10 pints of corn and hemp. Well done Gus.

Hopefully next week our 3 bloggers will be at Stubpond for our first 3 way sweep. The Notherner is getting better as he was one out of the money this week with 111lbs of paste caught fish.

Full results for Pikey who is away painting the ‘Eden project’ doh !

P1 Schultz 65:00
P2 Eric 59:00
P4 Eagle 160:00
P6 Woody 125:00
P8 Bag Up 50:00
P10 Jim 75:00
P12 Bitch 65:00
P13 Tippy 93:00
P18 Major 112:00
P20 Basher FTW (about 80:00)
P21 Hathers 83:10
P22 Deaf Bloke 62:00
P23 Gus 292:00
P24 Bream Brain 115:00
P25 Spindle 75:00
P26 Cyclist 65:00
P27 Withers 60:00
P28 Notherner 111:00

2006-06-12T15:25:00.000-07:00

FRAMFIELD - SPRING LAKE

TAKE EM ON AT THEIR OWN GAME !

Given a decent a draw I would dispense with my refusal to fish the floater and take-on the big players at their own game. Following the disappointment of priory farm the previous week I had an early chance for a bag-up session. This is the most prolific water LDAS fish , although for some reason it is never well supported. Even when we banned floating baits there was still only the loyal band who travelled to East Sussex. On arriving at the venue it was great to hear from The Major who having pegged the water reported lots of fish movement and no evidence of spawning. We were all confident of a good days sport on whatever method we chose.

To the draw and everyone wanted one of the pegs in ’The Gap’ between the islands, with P63 being the favourite. It was here in March that Pete Davies an ex- LDAS member had 280lbs on the floater, the week before the venue was frozen !! I dreamed of drawing P63 but would happily take 49, 50, or 62. We had removed some pegs from the least favourite area’s to give anglers some room. All the flyers went very early and I was left with P39, not the best but I was the only angler in 6 pegs as Chris the fishery manager had the foresight to remove P41 as it’s ’Not a good area’ GREAT !

Arriving at my peg I was encouraged by the fish activity and noticed several lips mouthing at scum that was being pushed to my right into peg 37. With the floater men Gus and Woodie drawn on the flyers I decided my target was to beat my P.B of 134lbs and let the rest of the day take care of itself. I set-up 2 rigs to 0.16, a margin rig for corn over hemp and a paste rig to try out my new hemp mix. I did of course find time to tie a length of cat gut to my black hydro with a mustad method feeder size 14 attached to the sharp end.

On the whistle I put 250ml of hemp at 5mtrs with some pieces of paste, and the same of corn and hemp in the margins. Out went the paste rig and the float did a ‘Crouchie’ before popping up paste gone, this did the same in the next 3 put ins. I had a quick look in the margins and that was sold with Rudd. 10 minutes gone and loads of signs. At this point I flicked out 2 cat biscuits and two fish leapt out and took them in mid-air (just trying to exaggerate how solid the peg was). My mind was made up, if you can’t beat em join em ! On went a mixer, out when 5mtrs of pole, flick the bicckie to 8mtrs, lift, carp on. I repeated this for the next 2 hours and fed virtually nothing. I wish I was as hungry as that after sex.

The 2.5 hrs first half flew by, to protect the fish we have a rolling weigh-in. I estimated my 45 fish to weigh 100lbs plus and was very pleased to put 131lbs on the scales. What a venue, elsewhere Pikey had taken a lowly 80lbs and the floater kings 115 &122lbs. Into the 2nd half and straight away I had beaten my P.B when I placed a 5lb fish in the keep net. It was much the same as the first half, except I fed heavily with hemp in the margins and the odd biscuit and this got me some bonus fish in the last 30 minutes. I did spend a while trying to catch a ghostie having forgotten that there was a match to be won. I could also tell when an F1 appeared as they took the bait at speed coming up underneath the floater as opposed to nudging it around. I also found the red cat biscuit caught commons as opposed to mirrors and the commons were bigger fish.

3 hrs quickly passed and I caught as well as in the morning, estimating 70 fish at a slightly smaller stamp. As the scales were passed down the bank, Pikey had redeemed himself and led with a bread caught 262lbs. Gus’s bitch ’Oh No’ Kenward another floater king weighed a double ton. For some reason Pikey seemed surprised about my morning weight ( I don’t do bagging you see) he was even more surprised when my first net went 83lbs and I struggled to lift the 2nd. I had smashed my P.B with a weight of 304lbs.

At the car park I was aware that my closet rivals had yet to return, this was not a good sign, either they had bagged or Woodie was having trouble with his sums. In fact it was both, Woodie was first home and had been beaten, his 279lbs not good enough, Gus was 4lbs short of a triple. So at last, not only had I bagged but I had won and beat the floater kings, cos make no mistake anyone can catch on the method but no Leatherhead member had ever had 300lbs before and this just a 5.5 hr match. The lowest weight was 75lbs and ‘Bag Bryan’ after 50 years of fishing had his maiden ton.

What a great venue Spring Lake is, solid with fish, picturesque and well managed by Chris. He’s sensible with his rules and the anglers respect this, he supplies his own nets and insists on mid match weigh-ins. He’s so fish conscious that he even supplies escape holes in his nets ( eh ! Pikey). I couldn’t come to Framfield every week and I wouldn’t like to fish the biscuit either BUT following a winter of discontent this made a very welcome change. A real Red Letter day.

Next week see’s LDAS at Willyhurst on the Top Lake. Pikey has been banned and sent off to the west country for a week so we have a chance. Except for me as Willyhurst in the summer is my achilles heel.

See you sooner

Hathers

2006-06-05T14:28:00.000-07:00

Sunday June 4th - Priory Farm

YOU ONLY SING WHEN YOUR WINNING

I decided to ditch my Leatherhead DAS mates this weekend and return to fish for the club I first joined when I returned to fishing in the early 90's (after 20 years of playing hockey) Dorking and District. The original home of the crack Daiwa Dorking match squad. I've been a member for 15 years and always try to get out a few times a season. I didn't really fancy Gold Valley Syndicate lake with LDAS and decided I wanted a few bites, so booked in for Priory Farm. Priory was the scene of my 134lbs frame weight from about 3 weeks ago.

Dorking decided to ban anything that floats for this match and that included the pole. Great I thought having caught a lot of fish in the margins on my last visit. My main attack would be hemp/corn if drawn at either end of the venue. All the time I would ping pellets at a comfortable distance for when they came up in the water. I dismissed paste as there are so many fish competing for food they just rag any soft baits.

We were promised a hot day, so what could be better, a bit of sun worship and bag at the same time. Arriving at the venue early I walked around the lake, the fish were crashing in the reeds and obviously upto no good. This didn't put me off, there are so many fish and having fished Framfield in similar conditions we still caught loads. As I said I really fancied a draw at either end but to be honest with 25 fishing any peg with some room would do. You don't draw your own pegs on Dorking matches (which does take some of the anticipation away), the match organisers draw your peg against your name on the booking-in sheet. I was really pleased to draw peg 5 with P6 empty and just 3 away from my previous visit, although it was the peg that 'Tippy' retired early from after being Frightened To Weigh and tipping back 30lbs. Not only that I managed to retrieve my bungy that I had left strapped around the reeds on my last visit.

I cleared my margin and setup 4 rigs, two for the margins (0.16/16 B911) and two for 'up n air' but to a 14 B911. I was ready in 35 minutes which is quick for me. At the whistle I put in a full pot of pellets at 12 mtrs from a height (ready for fishing up) and a 1/2 pot of hemp and corn in the margins. Within 5 minutes and a liner every put in, I had an 8oz up the bum fish. 1 hour later I still had the 8oz fish and anglers either side were blanking. The lad in Pikeys peg had 1 x 3oz carp, looking at anglers around the lake everyone was motionless, apart from fish crashing in the reeds there wasn't the usual topping of fish in open water or the dark shapes of fish patrolling the upper layers. The venue had switched off like no other I have ever fished, this is a place you dont go to that often because it's so boring.

We were asked to weigh-in after 3 hours to save harming the fish, harm the fish !!!! I weighed 1:12:00, 3 carp and a roach. YES Pikey mainly small stuff. Oh yes I phoned our friend Mr. Pikey at GV, he had not only drawn flyer peg 101 but had 7 carp in the opening 60 minutes. Wrong choice of venue or what. In the hope that it would improve in the afternoon, I fished on but was forced to retire with 90 minutes to go and didn't even add to my 4 fish.

It was a real disappointing end to what had been a good weekend. Still I'm already thinking about next week and the chance to fish the prolific Spring lake at Framfield. Will I draw P63 (I expect Pikey will !)? Should I follow the crowd and fish floaters? Should I concentrate on paste? Should I ball it and fish up in the water? All will be revealed next week....

See you soonest

Hathers

2006-05-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

Friday May 26th & Saturday May 27th

The TF Glebe festival in aid of the ACA Charity

This week saw me on the TF Glebe 2-dayer. I've been each year and really enjoy it. In true southern shandy style I normally have one night on the sauce and blow out on the other, a bit like my fishing this year (read on). I have no doubt that many will recall the 'Craic' stories, so not to much detail from me other than to say my highlights were;

- Scones GB whisk wind-up
- The 'Red Hot Chilli Pepper' pizza's
- UDH asking fellow anglers to 'Give his a TUG'
- Antmusic - 'Play your cards right' and donating £66 to the nose bag fund
- Nick Merry's 'Ginger Biscuit' method
- Meeting a decent Manc ! - (Red Army)
- Drinking a gallon of shandy Friday night. That was after ending up on Baileys on the Thursday (sauce night)

Day 1

Following a good nose bag at the Shoot, it was off to Mallory Park worse for wear for the draw. First thing was to sell some raffle tickets in aid of the ACA, to be honest this was a simple task. I stood at bar and bellowed out to people to buy them, in no time I had done nearly two books (hats off for being so generous). The draw was running super smooth, offering anglers an hour to put there hand in.I had been promoted to the Elite list this year following my relegation to the Numpties the year before (funny what a Roach can do !). I really wanted to get on Pool 1, I've never got on there, alas, not this year either. I drew Foundation peg 1 in the carp park, I wasn't happy and did whinge to one or two.

Arriving at my peg, the island would be unreachable with a feeder, well ! I could have got there but I would have never been accurate enough. I had Matt Hall on peg 2 and Mr. Bones on peg 3, I expected to see a bit of class feeder fishing from Alex (?). The good thing was the wind was blowing my way and the pegs on the left hand bank (p42-45) were left out, so maybe I might sneak a couple.

I set up a feeder for fishing in no mans land midway between me and the island and 3 pole lines. 13 mtrs aimed at pellet/corn, a 6 mtr paste line and a margin swim down the shelve about 2 mtrs out and 7mtrs to my left. The wind was gusting badly so I ruled out an up in the water approach. I started off on the feeder, casting every 2 minutes and had one liner in the first 45 minutes, Matt had lost a fish and Alex had taken two. I came off the feeder and looked on the long pole line, Yeeks where had that Tow come from ! It was moving far to much for my 4x16 rig, so I came inside at 6mtrs and was just as bad there, ripping my soft paste from the hook or when I stiffened it up dragging the float under. With 75 minutes gone I was blanking and wondering what to do. I had another 10 minutes pondering time on the feeder (h'rig maggot) when I noticed a dark shape next to my net, a couple of carp grazing on loose offerings that had come out of my feeder before casting. A quick retrieve
and shallowing up my 2mtr rig, 10 minutes later I had 2 carp and 8 lb in the net. Phew I was away.

I noticed Alex the 'feeder' king was on the pole and Matt had joined him, I was surprised Alex had changed after the two early fish. After the match Alex confirmed he never had a sign against the island, both fish had been caught on the feeder in the margins after he had seen some cruisers.

With no more signs of fish close, I went to my down the shelf swim at 7mtrs. I'd been feeding hemp and corn, I had early indications and took a couple of skimmers and then some roach before it went quiet, was this a sign of some carp moving in? Kindering some bait in my magical pink pot the pole was ripped from my hand as carp No.3 was hooked and landed. I took two more to 5lbs up until the half-way mark. Reports were not that encouraging from the pegs that I could see, my 5 carp was up there with them, although one angler on the far bank was bagging on the inside. Matt was now on 2 carp with Alex on 4. The tow had eased off, no idea why or how as the wind was the same ???

I looked on the paste line, I had some encouraging dips before it flew away and fish No.6 was panned, another 15 minutes went by without a sign. With just over 2 hours to go I decided to concentrate my efforts close on the 2mtr shelve swim. I steadily took a run of fish, I would get two and then nothing for 15 minutes until steady feeding brought more fish in the peg. I caught quite well until the end of the match including some maggot fish. Matt had struggled and Alex was not owning up to much. I had 18 carp to 5lbs and a few silvers and thought I'd done ok from a peg I didn't fancy. Oh yes I bloody well enjoyed it as well !!

I was first to weigh in my section putting 78lbs 1oz on the board, immediately other anglers said that could win the section and I only had to worry about Fred Davis and Mickyd. The thought of a section win hadn't entered my head, but once we got to Fred the 7th angler to weigh I was still in front. Fred had already tried to congratulate me, but I was having none of it from this old dog ! He put 40lbs on the board on his first weigh and his 2nd net looked the same, but he was 4lbs short (caster up in air). I accepted his hand shake now. Mickyd had fished the feeder, his silver net was 5lb, two 2.8 chub from the Thames, how the hell did he get them in his flask ? His carp net went 64lbs. Hooray a section win ! and some scalps along the way.

Driving back to Mallory for the raffle my thoughts were already on Day 2, a good draw, an end peg preferably and maybe I had a chance, 2 or 3 pts overall would win it. Getting back the fishery had not disappointed, my section win and weight count back put me equal 8th with Tamb. Giles was leading the way with 125lbs (does he ever catch less than a ton) on the feeder from Pool 1.

I sorted out the raffle prizes, didn't win a thing and got mugged along with a few others by THE SCONE. Nose bag at the Longshoot was the carvery paid for by the winnings of Antmusic from the previous nights quiz. I lived up to the southerners name and drank shandy for the night, retiring just as the pizzas arrived.

Day Two

A damp day welcomed those with a heavy hangover, not me I was already for my flyer end peg (I wished). I was at the draw by 7:20, a couple of bacon sannies and a chin wag with Maddog and Martin and in the draw bucket I went. Slowly opening the ticket revealed pool 7, the least favoured of pools, looking further I saw 109. The end peg !!!

Martin had taken 40lbs plus the day before for 2pts and 2nd in section, that'll do I thought as I drove to my peg. Word had it that Giles had drawn the boards on Uglies pool with nobody opposite and with his weight from yesterday would be hard to beat, also Andy Kind and Kev Russell (russelli) section winners from yesterday had drawn end pegs behind me on pool 6. Slider also had a favourable draw P28 on pool 1.

With 3 hours to set-up I walked the pool with Mickyd the wind had changed slightly and rather than blowing down towards my end of the lake it was now off our backs and over our heads, that pleased Micky as he had 10 pints of caster to feed. I also noticed that carp were moving on top towards the middle of the section, as I got to my end all I could see were the odd bubble of skimmers. I remained confident as any end peg on the Glebe is good for fish. I had Ginger Nick Merry for company at the next peg.

I set up a feeder rig. which I promptly planted in the far bank vegetation when setting the clip, I had a curved bank and any mis-cast was exaggerated either put the rig in the bank or dropped it short, this would be a challenge. I also set-up a paste rig at 6 mtrs in 6' of water and two margin rigs, one at 12" for 'In the foliage' and the other at 3' down the shelf. I intended to feed hemp and fish corn, maggot or expander on the hook.

I was ready and still an hour to go, l walked down my section and as well as Nick and Micky I had Kev Coke, Baz Gannon and the inaugural winner Steve Martin in my section as well as a couple of Glebe members. I was that confident in catching a few that I even picked up a 3rd net
but didn't want to suffer the jibes of my section so returned to my peg via pool 6. At the far end was Russelli and on asking him for any tips he kindly got off his box and walked to my peg. To be honest the peg talks for itself however he gave his views which I appreciated.

On the whistle I potted in a pint of hemp and some paste on the 6mtr line, I didn't really expect to catch on this as the water was notably colder than Foundation lake was the day before. I also put a 1/2 pot of hemp/corn at 13 mtrs down the shelf and sprinkled another 1/2 pot in the veg. I also had a closer margin line near to the inlet that I could feed by hand (3mm swimstims). Out I went with the feeder, but the brollie hampered my casting and to be honest I was all over the place. I eventually got in the rhythm, the lake was very slow to start, fish were moving but not feeding, Mickyd had the first fish after about 20 minutes. I then had a liner followed by a drop back, a small 2lb mirror had taken the liking for 5 dead maggots on the hair ! Two casts later and a 3lb mirror was in the net. Looking along the bank, Nick was biteless, Micky had 3 fish and Steve M 2.

Another 30 minutes passed without a sign of a fish, I could hear comments from Russelli behind me that the middle pegs on both lakes were fishing and that he and moorzy were struggling. I went over the pole lines without a sign, this pattern continued for the next 3 hours. I fished each line for 20 minutes and apart from a couple of dips from skimmers on the paste line nothing, my chance of framing was rapidly disappearing. Mickyd was fishing an excellent match, catching fish on all methods but best of all was pole up in the air, not bagging but nice and steady. Nick had even taken to walking to his car for his forgotten Ginger biscuits, this tricked worked as he went from fishless to 5 lbs ahead of me within 20 minutes of returning to his peg.

With 60 minutes to go I was just going through the motions, the wind changed direction slightly for the first time in the match and I had a ripple in my peg, within seconds odd fish appeared. I would love to say I emptied it but no, the ripple lasted for 15 minutes and gave me two more fish. Kev and Moorzy behind also caught a few in that 'window'. The whistle or shout soon came and my TF Glebe chances were over for another year. My four Carp went just 10:13:00 for second last in section only beating Kev Coke who had spent most of the match watching Giles bag and become champion.

Kev Russell behind me suffered a similar fate, both of us section winners on day 1, both with potential section winning draws but no fish, his 21lbs also giving him 9 points and a mid-table finish.

I returned to HQ, Giles was champion with two section wins and nearly 300lb of fish, awesome. I was pleased for my mate Martin Carbin who had returned 5 points. There is always a long wait for the weigh-in at the Glebe which delays the presentation. With a 3 hour drive I said my good-byes, only for Geeps and Steve Martin to hold me back to present me with the TF Specimen award for that Roach I caught :-)

It would have been nice to hear the applause of my fellow club members but at risk of falling asleep at the wheel as is my habit I had to depart, so apologies.

Despite a few whinges it was another great return to the Glebe to meet my old TF foes, I will be back again in September to take some £1 stakes off those tight fisted Northern Munkees in the North v South clash.

This weekend I return to Priory Farm to fish with Dorking AS against Ockley, floaters are banned in this match so I expect weights to be lower than in the Leatherhead match, but I'll take peg 3 again !

See you soon

Hathers

2006-05-23T14:18:00.000-07:00

SUNDAY MAY 21st

A BITE A CHUCK

Sunday saw me visit Hungerford Lake at Priory Farm with Leatherhead DAS. This venue is solid with fish from pain in the “arris” gudgeon to carp to 10lbs, although most of the carp are around the 2lb mark. The biggest fish in this match was taken by Tippy at 8:12 with ‘Bag up’ Bryan not far behind on 8:4.

This season might be the last for Leatherhead at the venue, it has 35 pegs, but with very tight pegging, 25 is about the maximum you want. We had 19 anglers and at £250 for the venue it doesn’t take a mathematician or thick northern munkeee to work out the day ticket price per angler. Although even at these prices the fishery manager tells me the ‘Sold Out’ signs are up every Sunday. I think there maybe some resistance next season. Nevertheless if you want a bite a chuck then this is the place to be !

The favoured draw are the pegs at the rear of the island at one end of the lake, the fishing’s great and it never rains in that corner. The out an out flyer is end peg 34, although pegs either side are good but can’t compete with 34. Into the draw queue I went and with 5 anglers left to draw and to my surprise all the best pegs were left apart from p14.Being the gentlemen that I am (sound up bringing) I allowed Bream Brain to jump me in the queue and take that peg. I was next in and P3 “that will do nicely”, RossN was on 2, The Major drew 32 leaving the flyer in the bag. Ok he didn’t draw it but it went to Pikey who is on fire at the mo- Match over !

The previous week at Willyhurst I had concentrated my initial efforts against the island and failed. This week I didn’t really fancy 16mtrs in pouring rain (yea the wind changed) and with a sloping bank behind I was more likely to spend more time shipin than fishin. With peg 4 vacant and Ross unlikely to go further than 8 mtrs, I decided to fish the margins and to see if I could get fish on the surface at around 10mtrs. This is a floater venue but in the wind and rain would they oblige?

I’d learned a valuable lesson on my one and only visit last season. The reeds go out for 2mtrs in the margins and the regulars cut back small holes in the reeds to make sure they are in really tight. If your lucky pulling the newly grown reeds might reveal an inviting gap. I don’t bash the reeds down but tie them back with a bungee, I found my gap and a perfect 3’ depth.

I fed generously with hemp and corn, fishing corn on the hook. I was plagued by gudgeon and roach for the first 30 minutes, until a run of hand size crucians made an appearance, eventually a better stamp of fish moved in and I soon began to enjoy myself taking fish around the 1lb mark. Elsewhere Pikey was bagging on floating bread, Ross was keeping pace with me fishing the margins and his bitch Nick Kenward, The Major and Mr.Smee were all in contention. The rest of the LDAS losers were being blown and hissed on by unseasonable weather conditions.

With 45 minutes to the 1pm rolling weigh-in a few fish had appeared on the surface. I had my fish shaped bikkies with me but unfortunately over wetted and they sunk ! But at least they stayed buoyant just long enough to get the Carp interested. Ross was already on the surface but attracting to much bird life to his perfectly weighted biscuits. I had a really good finish taking 10 x 3lb carp before the whistle, all caught watching the carp snatch the bait just under the surface and with no bird trouble. I may have screwed up my bait preparation (or did I have it critically balanced). I weighed 50lbs, 25lbs behind Pikey but a few pounds ahead of the rest.

Ross was soon back fishing, whilst I weighed in those around me. My peg took 30 minutes to revive following returning fish. I caught well down the edge but in pouring rain the fish were reluctant to return to the surface. Ross was flying at this stage and Pikey? Well he was getting bored and tried to get fish to leap out of the water to eat his bread ! Eventually my fish arrived back on the surface, I caught consistently until the end of the match but did lose some time (crucial) weighing a couple of 4lb fish
(must be 4lb or under in nets) and also with a 40lb net limit I got twitchy with an hour to go and weighed a net in (31lbs) - Just in case !

Everyone happily bagged until the end of the match. At the whistle I was pleased with my 134lbs but would it beat Bagger Ross next to me? Ross beat me by 3lbs, the time spent weighing in mid match had cost me runner-up spot, even so third will do ! An excellent day. Pikey won with 30lbs more than me with The Bitch and Mr. Smee also managing tons .

This weekend will see me on The Glebe fishery for the Total-fishing ACA charity event. No LDAS boys on this one, there’s only so much diet coke the shandies can drink. In 5 visits my best weight is 48lbs, I normally complicate things, too much tackle and a huge variety of baits, but not this time. A feeder rod and pole in the bag along with 3 different baits. I would love to draw pool 1 and an end peg on one of the other pools, a few bites and a Saturday morning hangover. Perfect !

See you Soon

Hathers

2006-05-17T05:22:00.000-07:00

SPRING TIME IN IRELAND (It pissed down !)

Well here goes, if Northern Munkees, a B:T Stato and a young wipper snapper can do it, then a man with 25 years I:T experience has no chance :-)
I fish once a week, on a Sunday, every Sunday almost without fail. I hardly fish mid-week and I fish on Saturdays as often as Spurs win titles. I’m an active member of both Leatherhead DAS and Dorking DAS and have just completed my first year as LDAS match captain (cos nobody else would) and then promptly resigned !

My summers are spent fishing commercials with LDAS on a variety of southern waters, odd Total-fishing. com get together, Winter pre xmas will see me on the winter league circuit, for the last 11 years that’s been the Surrey winter league for Sunmead and more recently Leatherhead. The New Year gets me back on my beloved River Mole and that’s interspersed with fishing Pikeys ‘Aquatic Bingo’ Willinghurst Masters Winter League.

Moving into Spring I normally take a few weekends off before preparing for my pilgrimage to Co. Fermanagh and Loch Erne for a festival. That had been fishing ’The Classic’ but with the fishing harder and so many poor sections I switched 3 years ago to the Mahons festival that at least gave you a decent section each day and a 25/1 chance of a flyer as opposed to 400/1 with the classic. The draw bag has been very kind to me over there so that’s where we will start.

MAHONS FESTIVAL -

I travel on my own from Purley (Jnct 6 of the M25) to Holyhead and meet up with at least 15 guys from Milton Keynes each year. There a good crowd and I simply wouldn’t go if they stopped. We travel Friday and book a venue (Airport) for the Saturday and Sunday and run our own mini festival. It‘s nothing to serious and the £600 pot is spread out and normally spent over the bar before the weekends out. Without fishing it’s nuts off there were plenty of fish around. I amassed 80lbs over the two days to come nowhere, although I did pickup a section default. My room mate Phil Bardell (Mahons winner 2005) won the mini festival with 125lbs. We caught plenty of big roach, very few hybrids and the frame weights were Bream to 2k as always.

To the main festival I was sharing pools with Phil as I did the previous year, that year the hotel had cocked up the accommodation. Phil and I had to share a room so we also decided to share pools, I donated £100 and Phil £2500 !!! He won it, so same again this year I hoped.

There are 5 sections each day (25 anglers on each) and you draw at the start of the week to see which order you fish them. So your against the same anglers each day. There’s always a buzz at the draw and to be honest the sequence of sections is irrelevant as nobody knows how each section will fish. For company this week I had some real Ireland stalwarts Darren Davies, Mark Lichtenberg, Gary Drew, Andy Leathers to name a few and I was soon to meet a very tidy feeder angler Tommo.

Day 1 saw me at the most scenic venue Ely Forest and on a flyer P15 to the right of the point, I fancied a few fish, the peg is deeper than the 10 pegs to my right and to be honest the only peg I feared was P14. It was a feeder job at 50 turns. Mark Lichtenberg (p16) got off to a flyer with 14 Big Roach (1lb fish) in the first 30 minutes. I managed 1 perch, Mark’s swim died a death whilst mine got better.I slowly built the peg, catching roach and hybrids before some small 1k bream moved in, I caught for most of the match. At the weigh in Mark weighed 10K and I had 28k to win the complete section and come 2nd overall. Phil had a good start with 18k of roach from Sligo Rd for a section win and 5th overall. A great start and £400 (also winning our hotel sweep).

Day 2 and a trip to Trory p24, I hate this peg. I drew it in my first year here in '94' and caught just 8k when they had 25k either side. I remember Mark Downes weighing me in and laughing at my efforts. Well he had 4k the previous day on the feeder, I fished the same way for 5k 600grms. Phil drew Ely P14 came 2nd on day with 29k. Whey hey ! another £250

Day 3 and maybe I would go to Killadeas, in about 75 draws in Ireland I had never drawn there (some call me a lucky bar steward) well I didn’t this time. In the section was a short 5 peg section a mile before and I drew there. It blew a hooley and I drew next to Tommo who had battered me at Trory, he did me again on the feeder but only by 50grms. I had 9k 900grms, a few hybrids and a couple of late Bream. What happened to Phil? Well he let me down he caught 11k from Trory 27 and won bugger all! (oh yes another Milton Keyner Steve Wroe came second from Ely p15)

With two days to go we were doing very well in the overall, as long as you have one decent weight then you will always be there about’s. Following our success on day 1 & 2 , 10k a day would see us in the top 10. At this stage Phil was 2nd and I was 6th.

Day 4 and a pole day for me on Cornograde P16, Phil had drawn the same section as me the day before where Gary Drew had won the section with 18k. I aimed again for 10k, my peg was 14’deep and was in a bay, this is a river section and when the river flowed it actually went backwards against the normal flow. I laid off the GB and fed caster via a bait dropper and really enjoyed myself short lining, worked hard for my fish mainly roach and hybrids to put 12k on the scales and reach my target. Tommo won my section with 15k on the feeder. Phil, well he did the opposite to what I told him (big baits on the feeder) to fish tiny pieces of redworm to catch 24k, Win the day !! And move to 1st overall, I moved up to 4th and we put another £300 in the pot.

Day 5 was crucial, my best festival was 10th (135 anglers) the previous year. I was on the poorest of sections in the town, but drew ok Derrycharra p6. Downsie had double figures the day before. Phil drew my peg the previous day 16 at Cornograde. If we could both catch 10k then we had a chance of consolidating,although normally someone comes from the pack. There was at least 10 anglers within 5k of me, all I wanted to do was go to the stage Friday night and be in the overall, as they paid top 9. I started on the feeder at 35yds, sneaked a couple of roach and fluked a bream (what bite !)but was going nowhere. I had fed a waggler line at 20yds, after 90 mins I gave it a go and had a few roach but it was very slow, panic set -in. Another blank spell on the feeder and with just 2 hours to go I re-adjusted my thoughts, I guess I had 3-4k if I could double it by scratching for roach then I might get in. Up the bank (well along the landing stage went the feeder rods) and I plugged away on the waggler. I soon got into a rhythm and began to put some Roach of various sizes in the net, before out of the blue I had a kilo bream, it was flowing hard so it was a surprise to catch one ‘running it at them’ then another followed. I did try going over depth and even flicked a bomb over the line in case it was solid.I caught 2 more bream including a 2k fish and more roach, putting 13k on the scales.

I couldn’t get hold of Phil on the mobile, rumour was he’d blown out with the guy chasing catching 22k, Roddy Scott had caught 33k to win the day and I knew he would a pass me in the overall. Getting back to the Hotel Phil had caught 14k, I gave him a big Frenchie (well not quite) we were sure he had won it back to back (just like Chelsea !).

Mal Scott did the presentation, I had 68k, ”In 9th place with 60k….” I had done it framed overall in an Irish festival, eventually he called my name at 6th place and £400. Brilliant ! The Milton Keynes boys gave me a good cheer, the biggest cheer though was for Phil my pools partner who had won it again. 2 years on the bounce, take a bow. We had adapted our fishing to English style and had two brilliant years, sure we had drawn well and at last I was able to make a contribution to the overall pot, it was great dividing the monies. The holiday was paid for, I gave the wife a ‘pony’ and still had more than enough change for another holiday.

Thanks Phil !

I returned to these shores to get a battering from Pikey the ’thinking fishes’ angler at Willinghurst, repeated elsewhere. This Sunday sees me on Hungerford lake, Priory Farm that I fear will be a floaters venue. I’ll let you know if I beat my fellow bloggers.

Hathers