Sunday, October 20^th – Alcove Club Match At The Lido – As Tough As You Like!

I’ve just experienced 2 very tough matches this week. The first one was at Windmill Fisheries, where 35lb was enough to win the match and the second one was at the Alcove AC Lido, in Fishponds, where 6lb was enough to clean up…

Thursday October 17th – Windmill Fisheries

This match was originally supposed to be an all-out attack on the silvers stocks of both the Carp Lake and the Top Lake with a view to moving all fish caught to the Match Lake. However, due to waterlogged ground and so not being able to drive to your peg, it was hastily switched to an all-in match on the Match Lake. For some, that meant they would still fish a silvers match but for me, I preferred to go for the carp… big mistake!

There were 19 fishing this one so a pretty good turnout. I was a bit late getting to the draw as I had car trouble in the morning with a flat battery. Luckily I was able to get a jump-start thanks to a friendly neighbour. It was all down to a loose battery terminal connection, which I have now sorted… I hope. Well, I was one of the last into the draw bag but I was pleasantly surprised when Peg 16 came out. I haven’t drawn this one for a while and it would make a nice change to be on the right-hand bank after many months of looking at the same old scenery.

There has been a lot of rain lately and way too much for the carp in this lake. They just don’t like it and so I was expecting the fishing to be a little hard going. With that in mind, I set up a bomb and maggle rig for fishing toward the island. A size 18 hook and a single maggle offering were what I had in mind. My main pole line was set at 9 metres as the wind was expected to get up later in the day. It was 7 feet deep on this line and worm and groundbait would be my only approach. To my left-hand margin, I would feed 4mm pellets of meat and to my right-hand margin, it would be loose-fed maggles only with singles and doubles on the hook.

So, that was my “simple small bait approach for a few carp plan” all set-out and ready to go. On the all-in, I chucked out the bomb and maggle rig to within inches of the island. After a few minutes, I had a liner, which was encouraging. On the next cast, I stopped a little shorter, fishing about 2 feet from the island. The tip shot round but I missed the bite. I repeated the process for the third cast and bingo! A 5lb carp hooked and safely netted. However, that was the end of the carp action on this line as all I could catch afterwards was a couple of very small perch. Well, an hour gone already and now it was time to try the 9-metre line with worm. I gave it an hour and never had a bite.

I could see that everyone was struggling and in fact, I was quite sure I was winning the match at this point with my one carp. The wind soon began whipping up the waves and I couldn’t see if there were any bubbles rising in my swim but I plugged away for another hour before throwing in the towel on this line. Next, I started loose-feeding maggles down my right-hand edge and I had a couple of roach but there were no signs of any carp. I kept feeding the swim anyway.

I had a look down my left-hand edge with meat but there was nothing there as yet. Well, you know how it is at this stage… you just keep trying all your lines in turn and hope that something will show up. It didn’t! A few casts further afield on the bomb proved fruitless as did a couple of drop-ins at 14 metres with the pole toward the island. So, I had now ruled out the worm line at 9-metres and the bomb and maggle. I also gave up on the right-hand edge as there were only small roach and perch showing any interest in my maggles there.

All I had left to play with was the left-hand margin where I had been regularly dropping in some pellets of meat. So, with just over an hour left on the clock, I focused really hard on presenting my bait down this edge and then finally I hooked onto a big carp. Problem was… it was foul-hooked and I lost it after a couple of minutes. FFS! I really needed that fish as I had heard someone now had 2 carp to my one. Well, I just plugged away and then I hooked another. This was a lovely fish of about 10lbs and much needed. With 30 minutes left, I reckoned if I could get 2 more then I could be in with a shout.

With about 10 minutes to go, I hooked into another big double… and for fooks sake… it shot across the lake and I had to quickly add a couple of pole sections so I could stay in touch. After a few minutes, I managed to get it a bit closer and I reached for my landing net but it wasn’t ready yet. It decided to go on another run, tearing down the lake to my right-hand side where it just kept on going until it broke me. That was a 0.17 hooklength, snapped just above the hook. That cost me the section for sure. I weighed in just over 16lbs and my section was won with just under 22lbs. Fooking tough day! Well done to Haydn Withers for winning the match.

Alcove Lido

The weather forecast wasn’t good for today with Storm Ashley about to ruffle our feathers and dump some more wet stuff on us. A few members also called in sick and some stayed away so we were down on numbers. Well, as it turned out the weather wasn’t as scary as predicted although we did endure a really heavy downpour, which lasted the best part of an hour. I wasn’t too worried about where I would be drawn today as I had a heavy cold (still got it) and just wanted to go through the motions rather than sit at home in front of the TV and in the warm. That’s for whimps…lol! (Yeah, wish I had done that now).

Well, I drew peg 8, (the tree swim) and was happy with that. I’ve fished this peg many times with mixed results but was sure to catch a few roach if nothing else. So, 3 rigs today. One at 8 metres out in front with a full depth of 11 feet. One to my left at 7 metres and in front of the overhanging tree branches. It was about 10 feet deep there and then one for my right-hand edge next to some lily pads. It was about 5 feet deep there. The main problem with all these swims was that there was weed on the bottom. This lake is crystal clear and so a bed of weed growth is inevitable.

So, my plan was to fish a single or double maggle on the 8-metre line and feed a sloppy mix of Sensas 3000 Black Lake groundbait over the top, targeting roach and perch. On my 7-metre line, next to the tree, I would feed chopped worm and caster and fish worm on the hook for carp, tench or bream. On my margin line, I planned to loose feed 4mm pellets of meat and offer a 6mm pellet of meat on the hook. Sounds like a plan… right?

On the all-in, I cupped out some groundbait to the 8-metre line and began fishing with a single maggle on the hook. It wasn’t long before I began getting a few small roach although I had to wait quite a while for bites. I probably had about 10 fish in the first hour before the swim died. So, onto the worm at 7-metres. After a few minutes I began to get a few indications but no proper bites so I made some adjustments to the depth. Then I had a real proper bite… it was a carp!

I don’t know whether it was foul hooked or not, it defo didn’t feel like it but after a tussle, it broke free and was gone. Well, I was encouraged so I carried on with the worm and caught a couple of small perch, which wasn’t so encouraging. Then the rain came and did it come! It rained so heavily it downed hundreds if not thousands of leaves and so my swim was now awash with leaves making presentation difficult, to say the least. The wind was blowing them across the path of my 2 swims so I had a steady stream of large sycamore leaves to contend with, hooking one at almost every put-in. FFS! My right-hand margin was totally covered in them. There was absolutely nowhere to put a float!

Eventually, the number of leaves moving across my swims became fewer and I was able to drop a rig into my 7-metre swim again. I was still being hindered by them but there were enough gaps to be able to drop my rig in and hold it firm against any that built up in front. Well, after a little while I hooked into another good fish. It didn’t realise it had been hooked at first and began coming toward me without too much fuss. As I gently pulled it closer, it came to its senses and bolted out toward the middle of the lake. I’m sure it wasn’t a carp and so I assume it was a tench.

Well, that was the last of the action for me. It was a scrappy day and as usual, lost fish have cost me big time. I ended up with just 1-15-0 of roach and perch but I did finish up in third place so I managed to snatch a little wonga for all my troubles. Tony Welsby came out on top after landing a match-winning tench in his 6lb bag. Well done Tony! Andy Gard was second with a nice net of quality waggler-caught roach for 5lb odd, and Jason Pitman took the top silvers prize with 3lb of mainly roach. (I’m not sure what happened to the result sheet).

Well, I’ll be back at Windmill next Thursday for a silvers-only match on the Carp Lake and then I’ll be heading over toward Hardwicke, Glos, to fish a Kingswood RBL club match on the Glossy Canal on Sunday 27^th. Keep you posted! (If I ever get rid of this damn cold!) 

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