Second Round Summer Pairs League 21/7/19

My pairs partner Ray Roughley was fishing Lyme Pool as this is what he fished in the Cory’s match, I was on Wood same as Cory’s match.
At the draw I pulled Peg 2, not too shabby (I had Peg 1 on Cory’s) and not too bad a Peg. At least we had carried out a de-weeding during the week and there were lots of clear areas to fish to. I plumbed up a 6m, 8m and 13m track right up to the lilys. Even doing the plumbing up I could feel that my back wasn’t fully healed, hopefully the ibuprofen would kick in.
6m Track; Gortini 4×12 chianti, 0.125 main line, 6″ hook length 0.09 to forged #20 hook.
8m Track; Gortini 4×12 round body, 0.125 main line, 6″ hook length 0.09 to forged #20 hook.
13m Track; Gortini 4×16 round body, 0.15 main line, 6″ hook length 0.125 to forged #18 hook.
I plumbed the rigs to dead bottom then set up duplicate rigs at 20″ depth each.
Pulling plenty of silvers and perch from the 6 and 8m Track, I was sporadically fishing at 13m but could only manage 10-15 mins at a time. Late afternoon I managed to get into a 1lb 6oz F1 which boosted my all out weight to 3lb 14oz for 32 silvers/perch and 1 F1. Not too bad and midway in the placings. Hook bait was worm, big red and expanders.
Burt Baits: I made up 2mm choc orange pellets, 20 second soak then drained. Natural Silvers Light groundbait, Belachan Splash mix and dry 4mm F1 sweet pellets.
The splash mix was made up a bit sloppy so I added some more mix, should have left it alone for 1/2 hour as it really did soak up the excess water. Cad potted the 2mm every other drop in and it really did make a difference to my swim. The splash mix I used on my 6m track and was dropping in walnut sized lumps and fishing in the cloud, I was hoping it would bring the fish up in the water but there was no evidence of that happening.
As in the first round I will post up the results and standings as they become available.

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Burt Baits

https://burtbaits.co.uk/Store/

With all the hype, publicity and advertising. Plus Newton AA having a Burt Baits sponsored angler, I thought I would give this new bait supplier a try. So far their products are only available on-line but this could change once they get out into the main stream tackle shops and more people get to use and endorse the products. I was given a ‘trial package’ of their Natural Silvers Ground Bait, if nothing else it smells fantastic, a hint of aniseed and turmeric?
Flat rate shipping is £7.99, which to be fair isn’t bad. But when you only want to try out a few products it is actually restrictive as the average price of 900 grams of bait is only £3.99 a bag. Anyway I gave the Natural Silvers a bash on the Cory’s match Sunday last and decided that as it is free shipping on orders over £50, plus there was a promo code for 25% off I made an order. Processed the order Tuesday evening and the box was on my front step for 10:00 Friday so no issues with shipping. All in all I am impressed. A few weeks trying out the different ground baits and flavourings will be needed to give a ‘scientific analysis’ 😀 . I will write up next month on how I have found the products, how and where I fished them and what my personal opinions are.

Cory Environmental, Annual Challenge Trophy 7/7/19

Lyme and Wood Pools. Lyme and Wood Country Park.

I was really hoping to draw on Lyme Pool, I fished it last Sunday and had a very productive day. Murphy’s Law and I drew Peg 11, the first Peg on Wood Pool, bugger! A few anglers said this peg was a flyer, last time I fished this pool was 2 years ago on the same Trophy match, I have no clue and that was pretty evident from my result. 2 tracks, 13m right up to the mud line directly to my front, Gortini 4×16 margin, was advised not to fish with the pole here due to the abundant lily and weed that the fish know well to just pull you into it and throw the hook while you lose your rig in a snag. 7m out, Gortini 4×12, just inside a lily pad that we raked out on Monday during a work party on this water. I also had my 5m whip and 9 foot tip rod. Started off in the first minute pulling out tiny roach from the 7m track, managed to snag a lily stalk 2 out of 3 strikes! It was a pretty poor swim. I wan’t the only one struggling with lily stalks either. Against advise I shipped out 13m and dropped a few 6mm expander pellets from my pot and almost immediately got dragged off into the lily’s and lost a hook. replace the hook length and again got dragged off into the lily’s. This time the hook let go and I ended up with a birds nest round my float. Scrapped that idea and went back to my 7m track catching bits occasionally. I tried not to overthink my tactics and stuck to how I fished last Sunday, the only difference was the inclusion of Burt Bait’s silvers ground bait and bream ground bait mixed 2:1 pretty dry. I dropped this in from my pole pot every second ship out or so. The verdict is out on the ground bait, but only because I had a terrible swim, the silvers/bream mix may have played a part in the 23 roach, 2 perch and 1 skimmer I landed today. The last hour I threw my tip rod out dropping the method a few inches from the mud line, again the 4 positive strikes I had finished with me being dragged into the lily pads and dropping the hook. Not a great day, but at least it was warm and dry. Didn’t place, in fact didn’t get close to placing.

  • There is actually 20 odd fish in this net!!

Lyme and Wood Country Park 30/6/19

This is a reclaimed pit slag tip (as I understand it) and has been landscaped and made into a beautiful local asset with trails for walkers and runners. It also has 3 of Newton AA waters in it’s grounds; Lyme Pool, Wood Pool and Ron Hassall Pool.
Today I fished Lyme Pool.

Lyme is a doughnut pool, I picked a peg on the back side, middle peg. Lily pad (left) and rushes (right) directly in front 8m and 2 weed beds to the left and right of the peg frontage. Plummed 2 tracks; 8m, 5-7 dual core elastic, Gortini 4×16 Chianti float, 0.12 main line to 0.09 6″ hook length, #20 forged hook. top 2 plus 1, Matrix 4-6 ‘Slik’ elastic, Gortini 4×10 0.09 main line to 0.06 6″ hook length, #20 forged hook.
4 and 6mm expanders for hook bait and 2mm soaked pellet, 6mm hard pellet as feed.
Started off on my 8m track and almost immediately hit into a nice ~3lb F1. Stayed on this track for the next hour feeding the 2+1 track occasionally with 6mm pellet. Had a few Crucians, tench and a shed load of nice stamp roach. Switched to the 2+1 track and was having some nice bream to entertain me. Stayed an hour ish on each track and I was having a great day. At the normal 4 hour match time I was 34 fish in, and there were some nice weights as well. Pity I can’t fish this well when on a match!! Greg Dale said he was going to break my legs or something like that if I drew this peg on the upcoming Cory’s match 😀 😀 . I must fish this pool more often, it really is a little gem. The last hour or so the wind got up and was blowing right to left making it difficult to fish the 8m track so I stayed on the 2+1 and was pulling roach out consistently. Finished the day with 57 which isn’t bad on a water I have only ever fished once before, about 3 years ago.

  • 2+1 track had me pulling these out by the dozen.

First round, Summer Pairs League. Cow Hay Dam/Lagoon. 23/6/19

What a difference a week makes!

Fished this venue last Sunday and had a storming day, bite a chuck all day. Thursday seen the Over 60’s and Disabled match, which didn’t show too well and held in store an indifferent day today.

Drew Peg 1, the one Peg I did not want! Right in the far left corner and nothing to fish to other than the left margin, no features at all on this Peg. Set 3 tracks; Left margin @ 6m, directly in front at 9m and directly in front at 13m.

Left margin, Gortini mini margin float, 1′ 4″ deep, 0.09 main line to 0.06 hook length, 20 hook.
9m track, Gortini 4×12 Chianti float, 2′ deep, 0.09 main line to 0.06 hook length 20 hook.
13m 2′ 5″ deep 0.09 main line to 0.06 hook length 20 hook.
At the all in, started on my margin track and it took a good 10 minutes before my first decisive bite, a small roach. Within 40 minutes I had the best part of 5 fish and a nice bream that I managed to drop back into the water as I was putting it in the net! Yep, this was not going to be my day.
9 and 13m were producing nothing in the first 2 hours, not even a nudge. Looking around me it was obvious that I wasn’t alone in sparse bite. Graham Sixsmith to my right however was tight up to a overhanging bush and a bank line that ran away and in front of his swim, I could see he was having far more luck than me and the other anglers on this pool. Switched about tracks during the day, but nothing was producing and I was just picking bits here and there. Late on I had a Tench but this was just a baby and I had bigger skimmers in my net.
Finished the day on 2lb 6oz, not good, but not last. I will post up the results and standings once they are published on Newton Anglers page.
My new Maver fishing box was on it’s first outing today and bloody comfortable it is as well. Will take a few days on the Bank to get everything sorted and accessories set comfortably, but first impressions are great.

Cow Hey Dam 16/6/19, 100 + fish and end of an era.

After all the rainy days we have had this week it was a welcome change for it to be dry this morning. Everywhere is still water logged and it was muddy along the pathway to the peg I had chosen to fish from today. 2 Pegs up from the last time I was on this water. Pole and Whip today, on the whip I was using a 4mm sphere fly fishing bite indicator as a ‘float’ (florescent red) down to 0.06 hook length, 18 pellet hook a single #11 stotz 4″ from the hook. Set up with 2 tracks on the pole; 10m out fishing over the top of the lily pad out front, #5-7 elastic Gortini 4×12 0.10 hook length to 20 hook and 7m out #3 solid elastic Gortini 4×10 0.06 hook length to 20 hook.
09:15, Started on my 10m track, big red over 2mm soaked pellet. This turned out to be a very rewarding track all day. Plenty of big roach, skimmers and a few decent hybrids. Later in the day I hit into a real nice 2lb plus Bream.
Switched out to my Whip about 11:00, 2m line with the ‘float’ set at 1m single pinky. A shed load of silvers for a good hour and a half. Started to attract some hybrids and skimmers that were getting to be to big for the whip set up so switched to my 7m track. On my 7m track I had a few that just ran with the #3 elastic and it was a waiting game to see if they threw the hook or snapped the hook length. Couldn’t stop catching all day. At 4 hours in (normal match duration) I had 63 fish and was well chuffed with that result. Carried on for another ~3 hours, switching tracks regularly. 16:00 seen my tally at 110, a personal best on this water, time to pack up and go home.
End of an Era. This was the last day I was going to get out on my Avanti RDX2000 seat box, I am retiring it after 3 1/2 years of faultless service. It has been a great box with some great storage and well laid out draw configuration. I am getting a Maver MV-R elite Z frame box to replace it. Substantially lighter than the Avanti and a bit more ‘gucci’.

  • Whip ‘float’
  • Fish number 100
  • plenty of these today

Organisation

The table I have dedicated to making my pole rigs on has been getting a little bit unorganised. With a little bit of will power, a couple of hours and an old filament box from my 3D printer, I made a float organiser and have got things looking so much better. I still need to find some sort of organiser for my main line and hook length line spools, but at least now they are not spread all over the place. This also does far more for my OCD as well.
Scissors, float rubbers, stotz etc are housed in an old Dove gift set tin from Christmas.
The float organiser was made so much more simple by the fact that I exclusively use Gortini Pole floats, hand made by Brian Gort. The chart on the front is what I have found to suit me from using these floats over the last 12 months or so.