I was again invited to fish this open by Ian Hayes (BURT BAITS) and I was again looking forward to fishing this new build venue. Woke up to -3C and heavy fog, I could just about see the houses opposite! Got to the Fishery and the temp had risen to -1C and the fog was still lingering. There was cat ice up the top end of the lake so it was decided to fish 4 and 4 on both sides of the horseshoe. I drew Peg 5, which was permanent Peg 27 on this elongated horseshoe lake. An end peg so was really happy. Set up my station and plumbed 3 lines:
(1) Mud line,#10 solid elastic, GORTINI mini margin, 0.13 main line to 0.11 hook length 16 forged hook, 18cm, bread line.
(2) 15m, #8 solid elastic, GORTINI 4×12 round body orange tip, 0.13 main line to 0.11 hook length 16 forged hook, 1.6m, hook bait maggot.
(3) 9m, #8 solid elastic, GORTINI 4×12 round body orange tip, 0.13 main line to 0.11 hook length 18 forged hook, 1.2m, hook bait maggot.
These lines were getting chopped and changed throughout the day as I had a miserable 5 hours without a bite, absolutely nothing, I had to keep checking to see if I still had bait on my hook!!
I tried every combination of hook bait, moving up in the water, fishing over depth, at my feet and every meter out to the mud line but there were just no bites. That was it for 5 hours, keeping busy every 10 mins or so trying something new without success.
It was even more disheartening seeing peg 8 (24) putting in a second net at 3 1/2 hour mark, he had been pulling out stockies almost one a chuck all day, he ended up with the win with 54lb 5oz, well done Simon.
Havannah Flash, Club Sweepstake 12/1/2020
erm! After the torrential rain overnight I wasn’t expecting much and I wasn’t dissapointed with that thought. 11 brave men turned out in the rain to see the Flash was well up and it was a dark chocolate colour with visibility less than a foot. Plan was to keep it dead simple, so plumbed 2 lines;
( 1) 13.5m, 12 O’clock . No 3 solid elastic, GORTINI 4X12 yellow tip round body float, 0.13 mainline to 0.08 hook length 20 wire hook. Flouro pinky line, 1.9m dead bottom.
(2) 9m, 12 O’clock to 2 O’clock. No 3 solid elastic, GORTINI 4X12 black tip round body float, 0.13 mainline to 0.06 hook length 22 wire hook. Flouro pinky line, 2m dead bottom.
I also chucked out and clipped up a bomb line to the stickups @ 20m, 20mm teabags with BURT BAITS 2mm F1 Sweet Carp, 4mm Winter White and 4mm Polony Pellet mix, hook bait was bread/maggot/worm/4mm hard pellet.
That in a nutshell was the most action I seen all day. Non of my lines produced so much as a liner. It was cold, wet, windy and I was consoled in that no one else was having much luck either. Ian Alexander (Burt Baits) to my right had 5-6 macro roach in the first hour and then just the odd roach over the next 3 hours. It really was a dismal days fishing.
1lb 14oz took the spoils, 1lb 0oz took second and 10oz took the final coin. 5 of the 11 attending, including me, didn’t weigh.
In celebration of a lousy day my wife washed my salopettes for the first time in 4 years!
Partridge Lakes Open, Sunday 5/1/2020
Full English washed down with a nice cup of tea, booked on and sat around for the draw. The team of 4 winter league also started today and Partridge was rammed. Covey 1 through 4 for the Open, plucked out Peg 6, Covey 1. Never fished Covey 1 but was told that 6 was a so-so type of peg. My Peg was pretty sheltered and it was mirror smooth with a few ripples caused by the duck. Set up and plumbed 3 lines:
(1) 6m, 10 O’clock to 2 O’clock. No 8 solid elastic, GORTINI 4X12 yellow tip round body float, 0.13 mainline to 0.11 hook length 20 wire hook. Maggot line, 1.9m dead bottom.
(2) 9m to 11m, straight out. No 8 solid elastic, GORTINI 4×14 red tip round body float, 0.13 mainline to 0.11 hook length 16 forged hook. 4mm BURT BAITS expander soaked in BURT BAITS F1 sweet Carp additive. Feed; BURT BAITS 2mm F1 sweet Carp soaked pellet. 1.5m dead bottom.
(3) 13.5m, mud line. N0 10 solid elastic, GORTINI Mini Margin float, 0.13 mainline to 0.11 hook length 16 forged hook. 6mm BURT BAITS expander soaked in BURT BAITS F1 sweet Carp additive. Feed; BURT BAITS 2mm F1 sweet Carp. 50cm
At the all in I started dobbing warBURTons mighty white bread disks on my 13.5m line all along the mud line. Kept seeing my float go under but didn’t strike into anything so I think the Gudgeon were just being a pest and ruining my presentation. Switched to my 9/11m line and again just flashes of my float going under but nothing getting hooked. Fed my 6m line constantly with 5-6 maggots every few minutes and fed the 9/11m line with 2mm BURT BAITS 2mm F1 sweet Carp pellet. Took an hour but I finally had a fish, pesky gudgeon! The wind started to get round my side of the lake and put some ripples across the surface. First decent fish was a nice little stocky F1 at 11m on expander, had 3 more then it went dead again. Re-plumbed my mini margin for the near bank @12m, fed some 2mm pellet and within a few minutes hit into a 3-4lb common, then a few stockies. Switched to my 6m line and fed a few maggots, dropped my rig in and it took off as soon as the float had settled, played it for a good few minutes and when I got it’s head up I could see it was a good 8-9lb common, got it to the keep net safely. Had a mirror and a few more stockies and at the all out weighed in 22lb 1oz and 3rd on the lake, well chuffed with that result.
Happy New Year, hello 2020.
My blog has had it’s first full year of updates, ramblings and inane posts. To me it has been a success not only as a window into my presence at the bank side but also to highlight the ups and downs of this sport. It has allowed people to see me, personally, and Newton-le-Willows Anglers Association. The match results, fish stocking, available waters and numerous other tasks that normally get no mention in mainstream media.
Thank you every one who visits my blog regularly, those who find it and come back and those who find it by accident and become regular visitors.
This year alone I have had 12,275 visitors, 3,021 who found me not by direct contact through social media or invite, from 28 countries around the world. I didn’t know where Aruba was until it popped up as somewhere visitors had viewed my Blog.
I will begin my 2020 fishing where I left off in 2019, at Partridge Lakes on the open Sunday 5th January.
Thank you to those who leave positive comments and those who ‘like’ my posts.
Special thanks go to my sponsors: Brian Gort @GORTINI POLE FLOATS. and Simon Hales and his team @BURT BAITS. the members, bailiffs and committee at Newton A Asc
Have a great New Year’s eve and a fantastic 2020. Cheers 🍻🥂.
Partridge Lakes, Open, Sunday 29/12/19
My last match of 2019 and it wasn’t memorable by any standards. Got to Partridge nice and early, had a sausage on toast and a cup of tea before the draw. Covey 1 to 6 was in today and there were 67 or so booked on. I was about middle of the group on the draw and pulled Peg 48 (Covey 2, Island peg on the snake lake). Cries of “thanks for coming” from the peanut gallery filled me with dread, speaking to a few of the regulars and these Pegs; 45-49, are pretty much dead unless the wind is blowing round the main lake. Today it was 11C and dead calm!
Peg 46 was the only other Island Peg occupied. I was told to fish negative and not to feed ground bait as it would just push whatever fish were in the swim away on these conditions. There were a few fish topping, but in hindsight I think it was the same fish 😂😂. Set 3 lines;
(1) 6m, 10 O’clock. No 8 solid elastic, GORTINI 4X12 yellow tip round body float, 0.13 mainline to 0.11 hook length 20 wire hook. Maggot line, 1.5m dead bottom.
(2) 9m, straight out. No8 solid elastic, GORTINI 4×14 red tip round body float, 0.13 mainline to 0.11 hook length 18 forged hook. 4mm BURT BAITS expander soaked in BURT BAITS F1 sweet Carp additive. Feed; BURT BAITS 2mm F1 sweet Carp soaked pellet. 1.5m dead bottom.
(3) 12.5m, mud line. N0 10 solid elastic, GORTINI Mini Margin float, 0.13 mainline to 0.11 hook length 16 banded hook. 6mm BURT BAITS expander soaked in BURT BAITS Winter White additive. Feed; BURT BAITS 4mm Winter White pellet. 40cm
At the all in, started dobbing 6mm bread disks on the mud line (WarBURTons mighty white), dobbed the full track of the mud line for about 20 minutes, without a knock.
Moved to my 9m line cad potting in 2mm feed pellet and had a nice 1 1/2lb F1 within about 10 mins. That was it less for a few small roach and a gudgeon over the next hour and a half. Continued cad potting small balls of 2mm and dropping maggot in my maggot line occasionally. The company to my left on Peg 46 was doing no better so it was a case of you can’t catch what isn’t there!
Pulled in 20 or so roach and gudgeon before hitting another F1, foul hooked and all I got for my troubles was a scale. Alternated my lines, dobbing bread on the mud line as well as presenting Winter White pellet. With 30 mins to go I struck on a F1 on my maggot line, this again was about 1 1/2 lb. At the all out I had 5 on my clicker, weigh in was 4lb 6oz for that inevitable “Thanks for coming”!
My dream of this peg didn’t materialise! 🐟🐟🐟🐟 Stock pond in front of the cafe.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 🎄🎁
I’ve had my last outing on the bank side until after Christmas, so I want to wish all my friends, readers, followers and casual visitors throughout the world; A very Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year.
2019 has been a monumental year for me, I have secured sponsorship with GORTINI POLE FLOATS and BURT BAITS in the last half of this year. I feel privileged and proud to be supported by Brian @ Gortini and Simon and his team @ Burt Baits. 2020 is going to see me on the bank side of fisheries and waters I have not ventured on to yet, try different disciplines that are not practised enough when I go out and about and get to meet (hopefully) some seasoned anglers who can teach me some of the finer actions I have not yet learned.
Havannah Flash, club match. 15/12/19
I’ll start off by saying that 14oz won this 4 hours winter match, you can gauge from that the direction my blog is going to take!
The Flash was flooded and access to the Twangs was going to be a safety issue, so everyone was going to be pegged on the canal towpath, with 17 booked on this was going to be tight. Thankfully a few dropped out so pegging for 13 was required. A squeeze at best, all the platforms were under water so fishing from the bank was the plan of action. Sane people would have gone home at this point 🧜♂️but not us knobheads… We were there and we were going to fish 😂🤣🤣😂. Cold but no wind so the surface was mill pond smooth, there was lots of colour in the water and I just knew it was going to be hard. At the draw Peg 15, near ran to the peg in excitement, end peg and has been fishing really well during this cold spell. Set up 3 lines:
(1) 13.5m No3 Solid Elastic. GORTINI 4×14 round body, 0.13 main line to 0.06 hook length 22 wire hook. 4″ over depth.
(2) 9m No3 Solid Elastic. GORTINI 4×12 short shallow, 0.13 main line to 0.06 hook length 22 wire hook. Dead bottom.
(3) 7m whip flick tip. GORTINI 4×16 round body, 0.11 main line to 0.06 hook length 20 forged hook. 4″ over depth.
Hook bait was going to be flouro pinky or 4mm bread disks.
Bait: BURT BAITS 50/50 Silver Sensation/Natural Silvers, BURT BAITS 2mm F1 sweet Carp feed pellet, BURT BAITS 2mm Chocolate Orange pellet.
Didn’t have a bite until 30 minutes before the All Out! Consolation was that this end of the tow path only had me and Ian Alexander (Burt Baits) catch a fish all day. I even tried on the tip for an hour hoping that the bream would show, but it was a wasted hour other than giving me time to have a brew and eat my Branston Pickle Pork Pies. The rain started late afternoon which seemed to spur a couple of lads to jack it in for the day. There were as many “Did not catch” as “Did not weigh”, thankfully I was in the latter group 😂.
This was our last match on the venue before Christmas so attire and decorations had been requested. Only a couple of us turned out to look the fool!
1. 14oz Dave Lever
2. 12oz Ernie Hankinson
3. 10oz Tony Smith
4. 4oz Paul Hill
