Winter matches
Back by popular demand and not
a moment too soon either. There are all sorts of things that have to be
mentioned and before I go on, I would like to apologise to everyone in
advance for upsetting them with what I write here. The good thing about
these diaries is that if you have had a match that you would rather
forget, and then you are living in denial and by sharing those moments
with others on the net it means that you have begun to face your problems.
Bringing certain matters to the attention of other anglers should entitle
me to counsellor rates but I ought to point out that I don't want praise
for my efforts. (Like as if?)
So to begin with, the winter
is here now and the fishing has been very good due the prolonged fair
weather we have been experiencing over the past few months, but I envisage
a change for the worst before too long and that means a change of tactics
and venues. Throughout the autumn, I have been fishing Woodland View and
what a brilliant venue it is too. I am kind of biased towards it because
years ago, it was the first commercial fishery I had ever been to and I
won quite a lot of money on the waggler there.
I went there for the first
time this year since January and drew the bonus peg and won the match with
103lb and collected a few quid for that one. I went on to win the next two
matches fishing shallow on the pole with caster with 87lb and 189lb. I
worked it out that I was three fish off the match record for Woodlands
which stands at 204 lb but there is still time.
As the water temperature
started to cool, woodlands became a little 'peggy' so I concentrated my
efforts on Docklow because there are very good turnouts there every
winter. In fact the majority of matches are Kamasan qualifiers there. I
turned up for the Sunday match three weeks ago and drew peg 19 on the
Match Lake, I was a little off my best on the morning of the match as I
had gone out the night before with my girlfriend to her local
'anti-social' club to watch some 'live entertainment' - two girls up on
the stage singing. We got there and had a few drinks before the show
started but when they came on there was a slight problem, they couldn't
sing! We all carried on talking because they were awful and then some
jumped-up steward announce that there ought to be some quiet as the girls
were doing this for nothing. He was dead right because I wasn't even going
to clap! We all applauded his announcement but then someone pointed out
that it was us he was referring to. DOH!! The beer was cheap and it was
good laugh but although I stopped drinking early to avoid a headache, I
still didn't feel too awake in the morning.
Back to the fishing, or lack
of it! Peg 19 is not the best peg on the match lake but I stuck it out for
carp because they were in the area the week before so that dictated my
approach To be honest, I wish that nobody told me that because I would
have fished for roach and chub shallow because the carp very rarely show
there. I tipped back about 8lb but wasted a lot of time fishing for carp
that weren't there. My mistake and I should have known better than to
listen to anglers who have difficulty in stringing a sentence together
without incorporating the words 'butt' and 'innit'
First and second came off the Match Lake Sean Jones
won it from peg 10 with 54lb, which was a really good result form the peg
and Andrew Murphy was second from 29 with 52lb. There was a little bit of
excitement when he drew peg 29 because it was the bonus peg and had won a
lot of matches over the past few years in winter but it wasn't to be.
There is a lot of controversy at Docklow this year over bait quantities.
Certain anglers have been putting in 4 large tins of corn every match. IN
WINTER? and you really do not want to draw near them because they are
killing it by pushing the fish further out. There are only a few doing it
but it is enough.
They were winning the odd
match there last year but now the effects are beginning to show. The carp
are behaving like true commercial fishery carp and backing away from the
bait until dusk.
I believe that his weight
would have been a lot higher had he fed the swim more sensibly. It's not
as if he had to draw the fish into the peg. they were there from the
start! I do not agree with that style of fishing because it involves using
size 12 or size 10 hooks and 5lb line. Some of us are using .12
hook-lengths to a size 18 or 20. I tried telling one of them but he did
not want to know so I just let them get on with it. The anglers in
question are all sponsored by Green's Tackle but I think that it is short
for Green Giant. They must have done a deal with Happy Shopper as they
spend more on corn than I do on casters!
Years ago I started a method
at Moorlands for catching carp on the waggler, feeding corn and using corn
as hookbait in the middle of winter. You had to fish it with small hooks
because a lot of your final weight was made up with crucians and skimmers
but the method would really get you out of trouble on some of the harder
sections of the complex. When I see how they are fishing the waggler, it
is different to say the least, but each to their own I suppose. Most of
the bites they are missing are from the smaller species but it is just as
well they miss them. If they ever did hook a skimmer or a roach, it would
land behind them striking like they do. I think the carp are being dragged
6metres on the strike!
Bonus peg
The following Sunday I decided
to fish the match at Docklow because the attendances are over 50 each week
apparently and I usually take my eldest son Sam with me. I fish the match
and he fishes the Moby-dick pool, which has a lot of big roach and carp in
it. I think at this time of year it is always good to catch a few fish and
it is virtually guaranteed on there.
I love fishing Docklow but it
has a down side and that has something to do with some of the anglers that
fish it, there is a lot of petty rivalry there and I know why. It's only
an open match but a few anglers have mentioned it. It seems to originate
from the Welsh fraternity who only fish Docklow and a few local matches in
the valleys. I thought it was me that they had a problem with but
evidently not. It is anyone who wins money. Ah well, that's life.
I try not to speak to the
guilty parties as I can usually find someone to have a laugh with.
Speaking of which, I bumped
into Bob Marklew, (Lucky Bob to his mates,) It is good to see that Bob, a
seasoned campaigner, is winning his battle against Anorexia after all
these years. I wish him all the luck for the future. It would be nice to
see him at the 'All Winners Final' again this year. He was there last year
because he thought it was an open but he didn't qualify so they wouldn't
let him fish it. How we laughed! (at Bob) With the atmosphere at these
matches, I tend to pay my money, have a walk around the lakes and then
have a chat with some mates there. Sam likes to draw my pegs for me at
Docklow as he thinks it brings me luck.
I haven't got the heart to
tell him that he draws me some right 'crocks of shit' so I let him go in
and get me one. It saves me having to queue with anglers who like to say
things for my benefit, like what a really good method it is, feeding 4
tins of corn.Is it really? And what qualifies you to make such
assumptions? Anyway, he went in and came out with a ticket and when I
opened it I found he had drawn me the bonus peg. Number 6 on the
Day-ticket pool. It never wins anything apart from sections because the
Match Lake dominates every match here but I felt that with the conditions
being so mild, I was going to have a good days fishing.
I got to my peg and Steve
Harris was on the 'goal posts' next to me. Peg 6 is the stumps area but in
actual fact you are the first peg in open water. Steve's peg was in
between the two tree trunks and I have drawn that one before. I hated it
as you have to steer the carp through a narrow gap to get them out and
very often they don't come out. As I looked at the lake I noticed that
there were signs that a few fish were about but the pegging was a little
too tight to really catch well and I was not necessarily going to catch
anything as two of the founder members of Team Green Giant were opposite.
The match started at 10:30 and the bloke opposite had one first chuck
about 3lb. He then had another of around 5lb, then lost two carp in the
stumps. Andrew Murphy was next to him and he had about three in the first
15 minutes, losing one at the net. This was not good as I could only
manage a few chublets and skimmers on corn. Then it started, they both
started to feed really heavy to keep the fish there..with sweet corn?
The pegs are only 18 inches
deep and they immediately stopped catching. I was still catching a few
chub and then after about two hours I caught a small carp, then another
three in as many chucks. After three hours I had about seven carp with the
biggest going around 4lb. I was fishing an area in the middle of the lake
just beyond where all that corn had gone in and the fish seemed to have
settled there. I think that the carp might have moved back to where they
were originally but there were still heavy corn showers and the forecast
looked bleak. Steve next to me was fishing the same line as him opposite
and he went for a walk because he couldn't even get bites, but as soon as
he went there was a big difference in my catch rate.
Steve had fed the peg sensibly
but he was fighting a losing battle. What is the point in feeding three
grains when the guy opposite is feeding 40 and some of them are landing on
your float?
When Steve got up I started to
get more bites and at one stage I was getting a carp every chuck. There is
a knack to getting these fish out from snag-pits in the winter and there
is a method I developed a few years ago which really works. When the float
goes under and there is something on the other end, don't wait to see what
it is! There is a good chance that it is a carp or a decent fish when you
are using corn. Simply wind into the fish and 'pump' the fish as quickly
as you can to get as much line on the reel as possible. In winter the
carp's metabolism is lower and its reactions are slower. This means that
it takes them a while before they start to move. It is like pulling a dead
weight for the first few metres. I can get about 10 to 15 metres on them
at times but when they decide to fight a little they are safely out from
the snags. You have to see that stumps peg to believe it. Those carp are
there because they feel safe. This method works! I only use .12
hook-lengths in the winter and I have seen anglers getting broke on .18
and .20 diameter there. I did have one that snagged me solid and I did
pull out of one foul-hooked but I got over 30 carp out. The biggest was
around 7lb-8lb.
When I heard that the weights
were low on the Match Lake, I thought I might be in with a chance of
winning some serious coin. I worked it out that I had over 70lb but I was
not sure exactly what I had because the carp were all sizes. When the
scales arrived there was a little tension because Dave Hinton had caught
on the Figure of Eight pool. He weighed 50lb odd so I knew I had won with
86lb. I had the winnings for the match plus the super pool for the lake,
which came to about £145 and the £500 bonus peg money too. WHICH WAS NICE
!
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