Welcome to my fishing blog… December 2023
December 10th & 14th – The Highs And Lows Of The Crazy Christmas Match Season
So, starting with the Kingswood RBL AC Christmas match at Bitterwell Lake on the 10th. Originally, we had 15 names down for this one but after a series of unforeseen events including a heart operation, flu and chest infections plus a late night on the razzle the night before, we ended up with just 10. Paul, the Fishery Manager allowed us to use any pegs and so with a cold wind blowing toward the ‘Sunny Bank’, we left this for the pleasure anglers. I would have been happy to draw anywhere except the roadside bank today, which I have always struggled on for some reason.
Well, into the draw bag with a hope and a prayer and out comes my worst nightmare… permanent peg 6 on the roadside (our peg 4). Permanent pegs 5,6,7 & 8 can be so unpredictable even in during the summer months so I wasn’t expecting much action at this time of year. Never mind, I still had a job to do. I set up a rig for fishing short at 6 metres with soft pellet to my right and maggle to my left. I also set up a longer line at 10 metres to fish pinkle over groundbait but because of the gusty wind I had hoped the shorter lines would produce. On the all-in, I cupped out a small nugget of groundbait laced with dead pinkles to the 10-metre line and dropped some loose feed onto the two shorter lines.
I started on a short line to my right with 4mm soft pellet over micros but after 30 minutes there were no signs of life so I switched to the maggle line to my left and gave that 30 minutes… also nothing! So, back onto the pellet line for another 30 minutes and STILL nothing. Well, Merry fecking Christmas… It wasn’t looking good and what’s more, others on my bank were also struggling for bites. The wind had picked up by now and so reluctantly, I went out onto the 10-metre line with a single pinkle on the hook. It was a real effort to hold the pole still in the wind but after an indication on the float, I was sure there was at least one fish out there, somewhere. The lake began to tow from left to right so I added a couple more inches to the depth of my rig.
This made a difference to the presentation and so finally I got a proper bite from a tiny roach. I could see fish being caught from the higher-numbered pegs and conceded there and then that I was never going to be in contention. I tried both short lines again several times during the match but there just wasn’t anything feeding over them. With just an hour left to go, I decided to totally focus on the 10-metre line, which produced a few more small roach before the final whistle. What a rock-hard day! I ended up with just 10 ounces, finishing in 6th place. Jason Pitman won easily from peg 17 (I think) with 18lb of quality skimmers taken on… soft pellet. Anyway, with the match now over it was off the ‘Mill House’ pub in Emerson’s Green for a nosh-up and the presentation of prizes. On the upside, I was well happy to collect a bottle of Bushmills Irish Whiskey for my troubles. Lubbely Jubbely!
Over to Windmill Fisheries…
I ended up working flat out between Monday and Wednesday in order to finish a contract for a new client, who wanted the work completed before Christmas. So, I was looking forward to getting back out onto the water come Thursday with Windmill in my sights. This was the Xmas Costcutter, which was limited to 20 pegs. These Costcutter matches, run by Ray Bazeley and Dave Haines, are very popular and I was lucky to get in on this one. I arrived at the venue car park at about 8am and was soon greeted by what has now become the usual taunts including… “Got your speedos?”… “No diving today”… “Did you bring your goggles?” “Have you got your flippers?” Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Is my falling-in experience going to follow me around forever? It appears so.
Moving on… The weather was mild and the wind was blowing from a southerly direction so I was happy to draw anywhere today. As it happened, I pulled out peg 22, which was not one I had fished before. It’s quite wide on this peg with about 17 metres to the far bank reeds and it did look like it had real potential. So, after plumbing up I had about 7 feet of water down the middle at 8 metres and so I set up 2 lines here. One at about 2 o’clock to my right and one at around 10 o’clock to my left. The same rig would do for both, which was a .4 gram Chianti-style float, 0.17 mainline and 0.15 hook length to a size 16 Guru hook. At 13 metres, I had around 6.5 feet of water and for this line, I set up a 0.4-gram pencil float rig with the same line and hook as my other rig.
I liked the look of my right-hand margin and so I set up a rig for here too. It was 4 feet deep just off the reeds and I would give it a try later with bread, meat and maggle. Finally, I had a feeder rod set up for fishing a small maggle feeder right across. On the all-in, I cupped out a golf-ball size of groundbait and micros to both 8-metre swims with a few soft pellets to the left and a few dead reds to the right. On the 13-metre swim, I dropped in a ball of groundbait and micros together with a few dead and live reds. Then I chucked out the maggle feeder to within a metre of the far bank. A good thing about fishing the feeder or straight lead is line bites. It tells you that fish are in residence. However, it took about 30 minutes before I hooked my first carp, which was only about 4 pounds. I spent the next 30 minutes striking at ghost bites before foul-hooking and losing a carp.
So, a switch to the bomb brought another carp after 10 minutes but it was back to liners only after that so I picked up the pole and tried both 8-metre lines for about 30 minutes offering a variety of baits. That proved fruitless so back onto the maggle feeder only to hook and lose another carp… FFS! What was happening? Too many fish in the swim? So, that was enough of feeder and bomb fishing for me as I was getting hammered on the next peg. It was time to do something different. I decided to concentrate on the 13-metre line with double red maggle, firing loose maggles over the top. It wasn’t long before I was in again only to lose that one too.
A quick look down the edge on maggle only brought a 1-ounce rudd so that was immediately discontinued. I then adjusted the shotting pattern on my long line rig, spreading out the shot so the bait would fall more slowly through the water. I also added another section so I could now fish at 14 metres. I fired out 2 pouchfuls of maggles and laid my rig over the top with just a single maggle on the hook. The rig had only just settled when a carp snaffled it. That was a nice 10-pounder in the net. A few more followed on this method, which left me wondering why I hadn’t done this in the first place. Now with 6 carp in the net time was fast running out.
What I didn’t need was to lose any more but of course, as I always do… I lost 2 in the last 20 minutes, which cost me second place. I was never going to catch Paul Barnfield on the next peg who won the match easily with 64lb 3oz, almost doubling my weight of 32lb 12oz. However, my haul was still enough to get me into 4th place and a section win so happy days are here again. Afterward, we all went to the ‘Ring O Bells’ pub for sausage and chips and a free beer courtesy of the Fishery Management plus everyone got a festive prize. So, it ended up being a nice day out all round. Well, hopefully, my foolish ways and dire days are now behind me but with the Alcove Christmas match at Whitehouse Farm looming, anything could happen this coming Sunday… keep you posted.
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December 2023
10th – Kingswood RBL AC – Bitterwell Lake
17th – Alcove Xmas match – Whitehouse Farm
28th – Windmill Fisheries & K&A Canal
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