Best day ever - so far!

The view from the van - come on, open the gate!

Beaver Fishery is rapidly becoming my second home. I was back there today queuing at the gate before it opened at 7am. For me that time makes perfect sense, I can get from my home in South East London to the venue in about 50 minutes and it is an easy run out on the A20 into Kent and a quick squirt around the M25 to the A22 gets me almost there. Believe it or not it is almost painless - even the M25 is not too bad at that time of day. Any later and that journey could take a couple of hours on a bad day.

My intended peg at Jeff's lake, first thing this morning

After parking the van and claiming my peg - it is first come, first serve at Beaver - I walked back to the tackle shop to pay for my day ticket and collect a few pints of pellets. For the last few sessions I have been trying my luck at pellet waggler fishing, with absolutely no success what so ever. After messing with the rig and lots (lots!) of practise I managed to just about get there last time out. I could cast and retrieve without getting in a mess but still no fish. Then it dawned on me, maybe the fish do not like the pellets I am using? I don't know, I have never tried to eat them. I decided to buy a few pints of the fishery's own pellets, working on the theory that the fish would be used to feeding on them.

Today was all about two things. Trying my new 8ft picker rod and having another go at pellet waggling!

Red Dog and Two Dog method mixes follow the links below for my recipes

First thing was to wet the method mix and let it stand for a bit. I wanted to try my latest method mix, Red Dog - see HERE. I also had some of my first mix that is now proven to work, Two Dog - see HERE. Once I was set up, the method mix was riddled a couple of times to make it nice and friable but just sticky enough to hold together. The secret to this method feeder lark is to keep the mix just right. That means adding water during the day if the weather is hot like it was today, and then riddling, riddling and more riddling, as discussed here HERE.

I set up the picker rod with a 15g method feeder and ready made 8lb Drennan Push stop hair rigs, size 14 barbless hooks. I like these a lot, they are ideal for meat and corn. You get eight in a pack for about £2.35. They are convenient but at just a shade under 30p each you pay for it. You have probably realised by know, I enjoy fiddling about making my own stuff so I have bought a pile of push-stops and I will be having a go at making my own in the future, but for now these got me going quickly. I also used special quick connection bead that fit the method feeder. This rig makes for easy changing of the hooklength. I had put the rod together and rigged it last night. I used the 1½oz quiver tip. Here is where my inexperience showed.  I cast the feeder out and tried to tighten up to it only to discover that the tip was far too stiff to record any bend using such a light feeder. A quick visit back to the van and the tip was changed for a much softer one rated at ¾oz. This did make a difference but the whole thing is much more delicate than the 11ft feeder I have been using up until now and will be far more suited to fishing smaller lakes like Maze.

As I was all set up I thought I might as well give it a go. I had a selection of bait with me, chopped and punched bacon grill, dyed and chilli coated red sweetcorn, and straight yellow sweetcorn. I first tried the new Red Dog method mix with Bacon grill - Nothing. I swapped to the Two Dog mix. Still nothing. Okay start again. Back to the Red dog and this time I used one red, chilli with one natural yellow kernel on the hair. That did it. No sooner the feeder has settled I was into a fish. This continued for about 20 minutes pulling a fish on virtually every cast. Some immediately others I might have to sit and wait for 20 seconds or so!

A selection of hook-bait for the feeder

I then made a cast and the line snatched and went limp... It had snapped sending yet another feeder to the bottom of the lake along with its quick change bead and hook length. I am not sure what happened but I think the line was probably not up to the job in hand. I must investigate this a bit further. Maybe I was pushing the very light tackle a bit too far. Besides, I had not bought it for this job and it was only a first time trial so the new rod was consigned to the back of the van and replaced with the 11ft feeder. This rod is so much better for a lake this size. No trees and plenty of power to throw a 30g feeder out to just where you want it.

Deadly combination - my Red Dog method mix and red chilli/yellow corn

I have been using 12 lb camouflage line on this rod. Although it looks very thick, it seems to do the job perfectly landing everything I hook. The hooklengths are 8lb so I should be able to get my gear back whatever happens.

After a while the bites dried up so I went back to the Bacon grill on a slightly different line, using the Two Dog method mix and the fish just kept on coming. I spent a good few hours ringing the changes between the hook bait and the method mix which gave me fish all through the day.     

Drennan Shorty PW floats

After a few hours on the method, I swapped to the pellet waggler to have another go at mastering this method, which has so far eluded me. I set up with the new pellets I bought this morning and prepared to fish.

My! The fishery new pellets did the trick. I had a pellet waggler set up using my one and only Drennan Shorty Pellet Waggler, a PW float adaptor and one of my specially tied hooklengths. The rig was set to fish at a maximum 12 inch depth. I placed a 6mm pellet on the bait band and cast the rig. The shorty float hit the water, the anti dive disc did its job and the float reappeared  instantly, before disappearing almost immediately. I had hooked a fish with my first cast and first pellet - I had not even had a chance to feed any! Thinking this was a fluke, after unhooking and releasing the fish, I recast the same pellet and was about to pick up the catapult when the same thing happened!

I managed to catch 3 or four fish with the same pellet - so far I had only used one pellet and although it was still there banded to the hair, albeit looking a bit tatty, I changed it. This time I fired a few smaller 4mm pellets into the swim and then cast... Nothing... I reeled in a couple of cranks of the handle into the area I had just fed a few pellets... Nothing. Hmmm... There I am, thinking the previous run was just a fluke after all and it was was now over. I recast and all in one go the float disappeared, the real started (just) to scream and the line broke. I looked in disbelief and then mutter a few words that I am not prepared to scribe here. The line had snapped above the float and that was the last I saw if it and the rest of my end tackle. The float will just pull off the line as it is only secured with a float adaptor and not very tightly so I was hoping that it might surface during the day, but it didn't (or if it did, I didn't see it). I hope the fish will be able to release it at some point.

The end of the line where it snapped - It looks as if it was stretched

The line looked stretched where it had broken. I don't think it was 'cut' by something. lesson learned. At 4lb the main line was obviously too light for these fish. Next time I will load the reel with 6lb line and see if that is any better. Another rod got returned to the van. I spent the rest day happily fishing the Feeder and pulling fish out one after the other between breaks for a quick chat with other anglers and the obligatory cup of coffee.

I wonder...

Next to my peg was a bush and a few wild flowers. Sitting on a yellow flowered common ragwort (senecio jacobaea) were a couple of Cinnabar Caterpillars (Tyria jacobaeae) - Impressed? My knowledge of caterpillars is not that good - I looked them up! Apparently these brightly coloured caterpillars can completely devour their food source before they reach maturity. When this happens they can turn cannibalistic and eat each other or starve to death - Isn't nature wonderful!
 

A Cinnabar caterpillar devouring its only food source 

As this plant is next to the lake and the caterpillar is prone to starving to death, I wonder if any fall in the lake and moreover if fish will eat them. It would make a good subject for a spot of experimentation.  I wonder if it would be practical to make a fly to represent the stripy little creature and have a go as plucking a few fish with nothing more than a hook, a few feet of brightly coloured thread and a few hairs...

And finally...

Around 4 o'clock I was just sitting there musing the day so far when a young lady and her son started to set up on the bank along from me. After a few minutes I heard a voice asking me if I was Ralph. "Err... Yes" I said, a bit startled but as there was no uniform to be seen I could see no reason to say no. The voice turned out to be Claire, Finlay's mum, the lad setting up his gear. Andy the Bailiff had suggested that she introduce herself to me and that I would be able to help Finlay get fishing.

It wasn't so long ago that I had needed help myself. Okay, I am no expert and I explained I was fairly new to fishing myself but I would do what I could. Finlay's gear was far too heavy really but I did what I could. We cocked the float and I showed him how to plumb the depth. Andy had lent him some gear, a landing net and unhooking mat. He even found him one of those fold-up chairs!

After a few tangles Finlay was making some casts of his own and before long he had a fish on. lots of cries of excitement from both Finlay and his mum got me and Andy rushing to help. Finlay had caught his first fish.

That smile says it all

It really did round off a great day. It was a close run thing as to who was the most excited out of the four of us. Even the fish behaved itself and let itself be held for the photograph after Andy gave him a quick lesson on how to hold a fish close to the ground in case it wriggled free.

I have to say, for many reasons this was the best day fishing I have had, so far. Even losing the gear was not going to put a damper on the day. It was good to discovered a few things now, and not in the middle of the match (only my second) I have booked myself in for in a couple of weeks time.

Ralph

Look out fish, here I come!

Jeff's lake

In a couple of weeks time I will be fishing in only my second match. I am still pinching myself when I think about entering a match.  A year ago I had no interest whatsoever in fishing. Even when I started fishing I had no intention of match fishing. I am not usually a very competitive person, but I enjoyed my first go far more than I thought I would. Now I need to get some time on the bank. Tomorrow I will be down at Beaver on Jeff's Lake trying out my tactics for the  match on the 5th August.

Most competitors seem to pole fish, and the winners last time were all on the pole, but as the nearest thing I have to a pole is a 5m whip (although it is labelled as a pole) that I got in my starter set (See HERE), I will stick to rod and line. I realise I have no real chance of winning a match, but I have my own personal goals to improve my performance as time goes on.

I am going to have another go at pellet waggling! If I can get this right I should be able to catch a few fish between bouts of feeder fishing. I have some proper pellet waggler float adaptors and, last time I was out, I managed to sort out the tangles. All I need to do now is get the fish to play nice.

Ralph

Feeder - Take your pick(er)

I have been pondering which day to go fishing this week. Looking at the weather, Thursday seems to be the best day of the week, down here in the south east. This will be my first chance to try my new rod. For a while now I have had trouble using my feeder rod. After ten months of fishing there are still some basics that I have missed out on.

Hmmm...

Pondering my options I was looking at the choice of rods out there and realised that there are all sorts of 'descriptive' names attached to rods that at best are confusing and at worst are misleading. I wanted a less powerful feeder rod that would not constantly end up throwing my feeders onto the far bank, but they all seemed to be big rods like my existing feeder. Smaller rods are listed and they are called 'picker' rods. Why? What's the difference?

Apart from the length, my picker rod is a lot thinner than the feeder

In the old days before the internet it would have been a case of trawling through the magazines, books and catalogues, looking for some explanatory write up and trying to make sense of one-way information. Today, however, it is a much simpler problem to solve. First, attack the internet via a search engine such as Google (there are others apparently). These days, this tends to turn up a myriad of sales listing and can be even more confusing, but it is always worth a try. Failing that, the next port of call is a forum.

There are lots of angling forums out there, I spent several months exploring the forums and eventually found one I liked, coincidentally with a similar name to this blog. The forum is MaggotDrowning.com. The post I made there asking what the difference between a picker and a feeder rod is, can be found HERE along with a goodly selection of replies. The upshot of this is that it appears shorter 'feeder' rods are called 'picker' rods. This is another one of those confusing facts that is not obvious to the newcomer, like me. As far as I can make out, there is no hard and fast rule at which point a picker becomes a feeder but it is around the 9-10ft mark as my 'feeder' is 11ft long and my new picker is 8ft long.

I will be trying out my new rod this week (Thursday looks like a good day) along with my latest bait experiment - my Red Dog method mix - See HERE. I am also going to try a new, to me, method of pre-rigging the rods. Recently I was made aware of a really useful looking accessory.

The Preston Innovations Spool Safe looks like the perfect answer to my current dilemma. I have more rods than reels and this week I would like to take my new picker and my existing feeder rod with me to get some sort of comparison. Before I rush of and buy one, I will try the theory out. One rod will be fully assembled, complete, and the other will be fully assembled but with just the spare spool filled with line. This time I will secure the line on the reel and place it in a small plastic bag, attached to the rod with some super-soft garden wire. If it works, I will invest in a Spool Safe, next time I am buying some tackle.  

Ralph.

Red Dog method mix...

Two Dog groundbait - my first method mix...

If you have been reading my blog from the beginning you will know I am no expert at any of this but I do like to experiment. Back in April I made some groundbait as a bit of a joke. Made using dog biscuit and hot-dog sausages, I called it 'Two dog ground bait'. The recipe is HERE. To my surprise it made a brilliant method mix, after a few passes through groundbait riddle. The turmeric makes a nice yellow cloud as it disperses in the water. I have used it several times now, matched with punched Hot Dog or bacon grill as hook-bait.

With this success in the bag, I am encouraged to experiment further. There is lots of discussion regarding colour of bait both on the bank, the internet and in the fishing press. My plan is to create some more method mix but this time in red. Working on the if it is not broke, don't fix it theory, I plan to use the same basic recipe as before and just substitute the turmeric with chilli-powder.

My modified savoury groundbait/method mix Recipe 

• 800g Breadcrumb
• 800g Rich Tea biscuits
• 350g Wagg
• 50g Chilli-powder
• 1tsp red powdered food colouring 
• 400g Can of Hot Dog sausages 

 
My breadcrumb is a combination of leftovers from the kitchen topped up with cheap sliced bread from the supermarket. If you shop around it is possible to find an 800g sliced loaf for 40p. This time the bread came from a Sainsbury's supermarket. Last time I bought any, I found it in Aldi but this time it was nowhere to be seen. The supermarket price war that seems to be constant is doing us a favour! A 800g sliced loaf will usually render 600g+ of dry crumb. The Rich Tea biscuits are Aldi's own brand and seem to be a stock line as they always seen to have them - at 23p for 300g they are the cheapest I have found. Both dry bread and biscuit is 'processed' to a fine crumb.

The Wagg dog biscuit is ground to a fine powder in a coffee grinder - that is the only smelly bit! You can buy Wagg (and other brands) in huge bags make a saving but It would take me a month of Sundays to use 17kg of the stuff, so I usually buy a 1kg box from Poundland - for a pound! 

Chilli powder and other spices are much cheaper if bought in larger quantities from the Asian supermarkets. I managed to buy a 400g bag of Chilli powder for £1.99 - a massive saving over buying small quantities from the mainstream supermarkets.

The quantity of red food colouring is a guess and I might have to add some more once I get to try it out this week. I use little 25g pots of food colouring powder (59p), from the same Asian supermarket I buy the spice.

Hunt around for the Hot Dog sausages as they are often on offer in the pound shops, multiple tins (2 or 3)  of six sausages for the pound. 

After mixing all the dry ingredients together, the can of Hot Dog sausages is 'processed' to a gritty soup. This is added to the dry mix and thoroughly mixed using a plastic spoon. The mix is left to stand for a couple of hours, remixed, bagged and labelled before freezing. 

The mix is still very dry at this stage but the freezing will preserve the meat and prevent any mildew from forming. I will take the mix out of the freezer the night before I go fishing. At the bank, lake water will be added as required and after standing for a while the mix will be passed through a groundbait riddle several times before use.  As the colour is dry powder, it has only partially been activated by the small amout of liquid in the tin of Hot Dog sausages. I will be interesting to see how red it will become, and how red it will make my hands, once the lake water is added on the bank.

Red Dog method mix bagged and ready for the Freezer. Not looking very red...Yet!

The next job is to die some meat to match the method mix and see if that makes any difference to its appeal to the fish. All good fun and I will let you know, later in the week, how I get on...

...Now, what day shall I go fishing? I had better go and have a look at the weather! 

Ralph. 

Fishing Friday...

Lots of room - I could even kip in there!

Recently I have taken to going fishing in the trusty Transit. There are many advantages to this. The main one being I can take my rods made up and there is no limit to the amount of gear I can carry, although this may turn out to be more of a problem than a benefit!

At first I was concerned about taking such a big vehicle to commercial fisheries but it does not appear to be a problem, it does not seem that big once it is there in the parking area. The daft thing is, it uses less fuel than Sue's Volvo Estate and is far more powerful. Also it is not a problem bringing back smelly nets and gear. We always have a pile of old pillows and blankets in the over-cab storage so these get used to lay the rods on. An 11ft rod fits across the floor perfectly with room to spare and I only have to remove the quiver tip to get my feeder rod in with no bending. This means I can set up and be fishing in about 10 minutes of arriving at the peg.

At the end of the day the rods and other gear is quickly stowed ready to go home

At this time of year, with a big tin box sitting in the sun all day it is a good idea to leave the doors open to let the air circulate, otherwise it can get really hot in there. One thing to remember if you decide to do this, turn the interior lights off (especially in a van as there are several of them) otherwise you can end up with a flat battery if it is not on tip-top form.  

Tip -  It is not worth asking me how I know this, you might get a rude answer...

Transport issues aside, I was determined to get a hold on this pellet waggler lark, but first I wanted to get some fish on the bank. I had modestly wet some groundbait as soon as I arrived and re-wet it ten minutes later, again being very sparing with the water. It was already slightly moist as it was the remains of of last mix I had used a couple of weeks ago. It has been sitting in the freezer until last night. Now it had a couple of trips through my riddle, following some helpful advice from a couple of the guys on the bank. With the groundbait perfectly fine and ready to use it was time to fish.

Maze Lake all to myself

I was back at my favourite venue and lake; Maze lake at Beaver Fishery. I had intended to go and fish Major Lake at the opposite end to last time but the man with the wetsuit was about to climb in and start clearing some of the lilly pads that were making it impossible to fish this section. I did look at the other side of Maze but in the end I went back to my favourite side and peg.

This for me is a learning experience and by fishing from the same place several times I keep the variables down to a minimum and start to get to know the lake. When I first fished here I was catching nothing but small silvers and the odd perch, fishing a crystal waggler, baited with maggot. I soon discovered that fishing with a method feeder and using my two-dog groundbait and bacon grill as hook bait I could catch some bigger fish, mainly F1's and bream. I had started off using reasonably large lumps of bacon grill (8mm) the guys from the match told me I was using meat that was far too big and that I should use smaller bits. last time out I did just that and caught next to nothing. so this time I went back to using the bigger bits. Having a naturally suspicious mind, I am now wondering if they were steering me off in the wrong direction...

Hello! Mr F1, sorry to disturb you...

After a slow start, an hour or so in and I was catching bream on every cast using the larger hook bait. Man, they are slimy things... Then, to my relief,  the F1s came in and I caught so many I lost count. Every chuck bore fruit within a few seconds. Okay, this was too easy. I decided this would be a good time to try the pellet waggler again. Last time I could not make a cast without the tackle getting completely tied up in knots. I could not workout what I was doing wrong. After a few hours I gave up (see HERE). After a few posts on the Maggot Drowning forum to get some advice I had discovered there were several things I could do to alleviate the tangle problem.

In the end it turned out to be a combination of things. The first thing I did was to increase the strength of the hooklength from 2lb to 6lb. this made it heavier than the main at 4lb. This seemed odd to me but that was the advice given. I also made the retrieve a bit slower and less frantic. This seemed to work as far as the tackle went. After a couple of hours of getting nowhere, I reverted back to the feeder rod and again the fish were coming thick and fast. I stopped for a bite to eat and a cuppa. While sitting there surveying the swim I thought to myself that this was turning out to be a very good day; lots of fish and no gear lost.

After my very pleasant short break I picked up the feeder rod and decided to cast towards the island, having previously been in open water just to the left of the lilly pads for a while. I was clipped up and that was well short of the island so I cast. No plop. WHAT! Where has that gone? Oh, blast! I said (well, something like that anyway!)  The feeder had snagged on a branch that was growing towards me and I had not realised it was in range. A good tug on the line made no difference. A lot of muttering and tugging ensued and eventually the line broke making yet another sacrifice to the tree Gods. I re-tackled and cast out again, fairly hard, into the gap between the island to the left of me. It went on an on and by the time I had realised that it was not clipped up any more it was too late. My brand new feeder that had never been wet was now hung up in another tree.

After a bit of a war-dance, accompanied by some Anglo-Saxon singing, while trying to resist the temptation to snap the rod over my knee and go to the pub, I managed to retrieve the line to the sound of a twang, as the line broke, and the plop of my virgin feeder hitting the water as it slid off the now parted line.

A lesser man may well have given up at this point, but not me. I was determined that this episode would not ruin my day. A cup of coffee and a caramel wafer works wonders to relieve the stress. That, along with the thought of loading the chainsaw next time! After another unsuccessful dose of pellet waggling I gave up and re-rigged for a spot of stranded float fishing. I am now getting a bit better at casting. Most of the time I can get the cast to fly in the right direction and my distance is reasonable constant. Getting the feed in the correct place was also coming on as some of the meat/corn or pellets landed in the right place! That was until the elastic in my catapult broke. Today was rapidly going down hill, but I was not going to be beat. I had a cheep feeder/mould, that came with a few swim feeders, my better half had found in Aldi  back at the end of last year. This worked really well and saved the day as more of the bream continued to slime my net.

Mrs. 'M'

Throughout the day a fearless female Mallard was helping herself to my bait at every opportunity. Even shouting "...and one number 27"  (The menu number of crispy fried duck at our local Chinese take away) didn't seem to work. After an 11hour session it was time to throw all the tackle in the van and head for the electric gate before it automatically closed and locked me in for the night.

Mr 'M' joined his mate to help with the cleaning up of my peg

As I was about to leave I noticed that the ducks were back sifting through the wood-chip covering looking for all the bits of bait I had dropped throughout the day. Even though I lost a few bits of tackle I still had a good day.

Ralph.

I am rapidly going off trees...

Not all trees, you understand, just the ones that try and claim my tackle. Ever since I started fishing, the Tree-Gods have been asking for sacrifices from my meagre tackle box. On recent fishing trips I have managed to avoid such expense, but today was one of the days the Trees won. No they did not claim any tackle (apart from one hook!) but they did spoil my day.

Nice looking lilly pads close to the island and some clear water to have a go at pallet waggling... Yeah right!

It is all part of that learning curve. Today's lesson was to look up and to each side of the peg rather than just looking at target swims. This may be obvious to many but, as it appears, not to me. After I got myself all set up and ready to go I discovered that I only had a very small window that I could actually cast at. The 'cover' either side of the peg was not a problem, it was the overhanging trees that prevented me from making a conventional cast in any direction other than at an angle of between approximately 75 and 85 degrees to the peg. 

My main aim of the day was to get to grips with pellet waggler fishing. I have tried a couple of times previously but to no avail. This time I was ready and ready to go, but every time I cast, the rig tangled. Today was not going too well... I had joined the hooklength to the main line using a small swivel, as had been suggested in something I had read. Maybe this was causing my problem.  Removing it made no difference, in fact it probably made it worse.

loading the method feeder seems to work well

At this point I decided to revert to my plan 'B' and get the feeder rod out again. As I have already said, from this peg I was restricted to a narrow window to where I could cast. I had got the method mix right, I know my two-dog groundbait mix works as I have caught lots of fish with it on previous occasions. With the help of a couple of the other guys I have got the constancy right.  I can make very neat method feeders up and they stay in place on the cast. My little black mixing bowl is great (See the top and bottom of THIS post from a few moths ago). I can pick it up and put it down with one hand and it sits on my lap a treat when filling the mould. I must say I do like this Preston mould, it seems to do exactly what it is supposed to do with ease.  After more hours casting at the same spot I got nothing. I should have got up and moved but you know how it is waiting for a bus - it will be along in a minute, it never comes and in the end it would have been quicker to walk! The same applies to moving peg, next time if it is not right, I will move.

The lesson was learned and it ended up spoiling my day in terms of catching fish. I still enjoyed myself and I packing up early, which gave me a chance to have a good look around the other lakes/ponds at Beaver. 

Juniors Lake looks interesting

Here bis just one of the other lakes... Lake No.9 is Juniors Lake. According to the literature, it is often overlooked because of its name but it is purported to hold a good stock of fish with carp up to 20lb and Tench to 6lb as well as many others. I might give it a go at some point in the future but it is a bit off the beaten track, well at least the end I fancy fishing is. For the time being I will stick to the pegs with easy access to the van. I should really sort myself out a trolley of some kind then it would not be so much of a problem...

Ralph. 

The great groundbait lesson...

After my match début at Beaver Fishery on Wednesday, I thought I should revisit the venue on Saturday to sign any outstanding autographs, not to upset my fan-base...

...As it turned out, they must have been busy. Never mind, I took the opportunity to get some fishing in.

The swans were being pestered this time...

I decided that I would fish Maze Lake where I have fished several time before. I like to go back there and, if I can, to the same peg each time. This way I can see if my technique is improving with the least number of variables. At the moment, time of year is going to make a difference but as time goes on I should be able to see the result of year on year visits. That was the plan

Mallet and 'protector' made from scrap

Beaver Fishery opens at 7:00 AM and it is about a three-quarter of an hour drive from where we live in South East London, always assuming there is not a problem on the dreaded M25  motorway, that is! I arrived about ten minutes before the gate was open and joined a short queue of keen anglers determined to get their favoured spot. Luckily nobody in the queue before me wanted my favoured spot on Maze Lake. I pulled up against the undergrowth and set to work setting up my peg. My latest piece of equipment, to join the growing collection, is a rubber mallet purloined from the workshop.  I had used it on Wednesday to drive the banksticks into the hard ground under the pegs around Jeff's lake, where the open match was staged. I also knocked up a stick 'protector' from a scrap piece of softwood. The bankstick is pushed into the ground enough to stand unaided. The protector is held in contact with the thread and is then hit with the rubber mallet, ensuring no damage is done to the bankstick or mallet. Worked a treat!

I now take the van fishing. This saves a lot of time as I can take the rods ready assembled and tackled up. All I have to do is take them out of the van, add bait and I am ready to go. I set up my chair, bait waiter and wet my bowl of groundbait. I was having terrible trouble filling the Method feeder from the mould. This is where inexperience came in. I did not know if it was too wet or too dry. Luckily for me, one of the guys, I had been match fishing with on Wednesday, came over to say hello and sorted me out.

Riddle, riddle, riddle and riddle some more!

Not only was my groundbait too wet, but is had lumps in and that is not as attractive to the fish as nice fluffy groundbait. Following the advice I had just been given I added some more dry base mix and added the other ingredients to make up the same proportions as the original bowl had contained. As you can see in the picture above, with the side door open on the van, the floor makes an table area to mix the bait and do all sorts of other things away from the peg. The spillages are easily swept out after riddling has been completed!  My two-dog groundbait mix seems to work well and I wanted it to stay constant. The whole lot was thoroughly mixed together and riddled several times to make a fine dryish mix that formed well in the hand as well as when moulded to the method feeder.

A nice sized bream - one of many I was catching on the feeder

With my groundbait sorted I was back fishing. I decided where I wanted to fish and set about finding the length to clip up to. Having got caught out last time I tried this on Maze Lake and ended up giving up, I went with no bait and no hooklength. Just as well I did as the first cast landed up in the trees again! This time, with a bit of a tug, the feeder returned to the lake with a stress relieving splash. I wound it in and recast, this time I was well short so I hand pulled a few meters of line and clipped up. This time the cast landed just about where I wanted to be.

Now the distance was set I secured the short hooklink and baited the hair with a small piece of punched bacon grill. I cast and set the rod in the rest, that had been set to the left of my chair, until l had a slight bend in the quiver-tip. The bait had only been out a few seconds when the bream started to bite one after the other for a while. I was starting to get bored with it. It would have been fantastic if it was a match, I couldn't believe it, virtually every chuck was producing a fish.

I decided to have a break and a coffee from the flask. I set the feeder rod to one side and thought I would have a go at a spot of float fishing. I had a pellet waggler set up in the van and decided to give that a go using soft expander pellets as hook bait and feeding 6mm hard pellets. This had been a method I tried on Wednesday in the match but I could not get it going. As I was wasting so much time, having only caught one fish I went back to the feeder. Now with no pressure I thought I would give it another go but the end result was the same - nothing. I am sure it must be down to my technique but after a few hours of trying I was getting nowhere, I decided to put the pellet waggler to bed and have a go at straight waggler fishing.

I re-tackled with nice long float as it was quite windy by now. Baited up with maggots and had a good time pulling all sorts of small fish out. I changed bait to the punched bacon and was on the fish again straight away. More bream and the odd skimmer - I even caught a small rudd trying to devour a big lump of bacon grill! I have yet to catch a decent sized rudd, but that will come.

A nice little rudd one day I will catch his mum!

I continued to fish for the rest of the day catching much the same - more than I have ever caught before! Towards the end of the day I decided to concentrate on the margins. I had been pre-baiting it most of the afternoon with a couple of lumps of groundbait and the odd sprinkling of maggot. It paid of. I changed my float to one of those short pre-loaded Drennon carp wagglers and baited up with a bunch of maggots. a couple of casts and that was it. The rod bent double and I had hooked me a fish with fight. I thought it must be a carp and as I fought to keep it out of the reeds, it showed itself and confirmed my thought. It turned out to be a common carp. Okay not a huge fish by most people's standards but it was the biggest I have ever caught!

My carp of the day just fitted in the net!

It looks a bit odd in this photograph but I was alone and I didn't want to keep it out of the water too long. It was a very nice looking fish and it made my day, not only because of its size, but because I had used my experience, as short as it is, to know that carp will often move into the margins late in the day to feast on the bait thrown in by homeward bound anglers.

I fished for over eleven hours on Saturday and learnt a lot - my next challenge is to work out what I am doing wrong with the pellet waggler fishing...

Ralph.

And now the video...

You have seen the blog and now here's the official Beaver Fishery video of the match - that's me in the check padded shirt - I must get some proper fishing gear!  

Now I am looking forward to the next match... The question is can I better my so far personal best (and only weight!) of 15lb? It was a great introduction to match fishing. I would never, in a thousand years, though I would enjoy it - but I did!

Ralph.

Match that!

First bag - 15lb... Thanks for the photograph Andy!

Back in September last year (2014) I started fishing as something to do with my brother. I must admit, I was not that enthusiastic at the beginning. I was aiming to sit about watching the world go by while Tim did all the fishing. You see, he was the keen one. He fished as a kid with our cousin (also his Godfather) and also in the outlet to the sea of The Swale while on holiday at our chalet, that was located on what was then  Seawview Caravan Site. All I can remember him catching were eels and our Mum trying to deal with them. Our first fishing trip together was aborted and I decided to go it alone. That first time, my wife, Sue, decided to come with me. She was happy to sit there reading her book while I fished for the very first time. That day I caught four reasonably sized (for me) common carp (See HERE). I had only expected to catch a few tiny fish if anything at all.

Since September, for one reason or another, Tim has not been able to come fishing very often so I have decided to go it alone on the days he can't make it. This week my favourite commercial held its usual monthly open match and I decided to give it a go. Yes, I know, I have said on more than one occasion that I had no plans to become a match fisherman. This seemed different being aimed at getting the less experienced angler into a spot of match fishing. It worked.

Setting up on the other side of the lake

Yesterday, I spent a good few hours at the June, Beaver Farm Fishery, open match. Everybody is friendly and helpful and they could not have been more welcoming to complete novice like me. I posted a comment on the Beaver Farm Fishery website's facebook page saying that my only goal was to have a good day and if I managed not to be last, It would be a bonus.

The match was to be over six hours, split over two sessions of three hours with an hours break at the halfway point. I arrived to discover I had drawn peg 4 along the southern side of the lake. Due to a hold up on the motorway, I arrived just after 07:00 AM and the rest of the entrants were well under-way with their setting up.

Scanning my competition for last place, it looked like this was going to be a walkover. The first thing I noticed was that most were 'on the pole'. I was suddenly eleven years old again. You know the feeling, arriving at secondary school for the first day wearing a new pair of short trousers only to discover that virtually every other boy in the school is wearing long trousers... well there I was carrying my float and feeder rods.

Having never done this before, I had to make do with my limited kit. First thing to go was the chair as I had realised this was not going to be high enough as I needed to unhook the fish in the net resting on my legs. My cheap plastic fishing box was pressed into service as a seat. A couple of kneelers were added to make the seat a bit softer. These were wired together and tied to the strap of the box to prevent them blowing away. I had ordered a cheap bait waiter from eBay which screws to a bank stick. I also had a couple of keep nets, one for silvers and one for carp. These also used bank-sticks to hold them in place. By this time I was getting low on bank sticks and my pre-match visit to Mat's Angling had paid dividends as I had picked up a couple more while I was there. After a bit of fiddling with the position of everything I was set-up. I am so glad I had taken the trouble to make up the rods overnight as I was not ready when the start time came but thankfully all I had to do was pick up the complete rod from the back of the van!

A few minutes late, but I was off. The plan was to go with the feeder initially and switch to the float later in the session. I have to let you into another secret here, this was the first time I have ever used a feeder to fish. The last couple of times I have tried to use it I lost the tackle in bushes on the far bank! on that day I gave up and decided to go back to the float at that point. Here I was using the rod and a method feeder for the first time.  I cast it out light to get the range and clipped the line up. I decided to use my two-dog groundbait (See HERE) and punched meat on the hair as hook-bait. I had punched all the meat the night before and had a good selection of sizes to use. I filled the mould with my hook-bait and moistened groundbait, and cast. Andy the bailiff came around to check my set up and suggested I moved the rod rest. As we did this the line went and I had a fish on! I am not sure who was more shocked, me or Andy, This was a huge fish - at least 20lb, I can't show you because it got away... Now, you may not believe me, but it was and just because all the other fish I caught subsequently were much smaller than that doesn't mean to say that the one that got away was not that big...  That's my story and I'm sticking to it! I fished the whole first session on the method and was catching fish every few casts for a while - I must say, my scruffy casting was turning a few heads and me catching reasonable sized fish was also creating a few looks...

By the mid match break I had a few fish in my carp net and one lonely skimmer in the silver fish net. I was feeling reasonably pleased with myself having not fished the method (or any other form of feeder) before. It was obviously working, I have never caught so many fish in one session before and I still had another three hours to go.

After a break for lunch I was back on my wobbly box ready to go. This time I had decided to fish the float using soft pellet hook bait and hard pellet feed. I had pre-baited my swims in the last 5 minutes before the break. See, I had a plan! First cast produced a fish within seconds - that turned a few heads. Luckily attention was diverted by someone on the other side of the lake reeling in the first duck of the day. A young female mallard had been caught in the bill. Between the angler, and the long suffering bailiff, Andy, the hook was extricated from the duck under the careful eye of one Jack Russell terrier and the venue's resident feline rodent control officer.

Apart from that one fish, I could not get anything going with the float so I reverted back to the feeder. Again the tactic worked and although not as productive as it had been earlier I was catching steadily. To keep to plan I went back to the float for the last hour but did not catch anything.  In retrospect, I should have stayed on the feeder, I may have added to my 15lb total. At the end of the match I came 10th out of 15 participants - That'll do me - I was sure I was going to come last.

And then...  

After the match everyone was packing up and I was talking to Mick Hull who had been placed third with 46lb. Mick had been fishing from peg 5, next to me, and had seen and heard (SPLASH!) my erratic casting. He very kindly offered to give me a quick lesson in casting the feeder to a spot. Although I was clipped up I could not seem to get my aim right. Mick showed me where I was going wrong and  now I can get it right where I want it. After everyone else had packed up and gone home I stayed on and continued to practise my casting. After getting the swim going, I was catching nice looking fish every chuck. If I could have done that a few hours earlier I would have caught a few more.

I was catching these F1s on every single cast

I caught as many fish in that couple of hours after the match as I did during the match. Mainly because the lake was my own and also the guys who went home had chucked in the remains of their bait and I just fished over that, from my side of the lake - yes my casting is getting better!

What a great day. I can't wait to get back there and try out some more tactics, now I have a better casting technique I should be able to concentrate on a small area and avoid the trees.

See the Video! >>>

Ralph.

I might have met my match...

Nine months in and I am now ready to take on the world! I have now got to the stage where I have caught so many fish in one day that I have lost count. Yes, there must have been at least a couple of pound of them! I have always said that I did not much like the idea of match fishing and that I am a pleasure angler. This is true, but I can't really say I don't like something if I have never tried it.

My favourite Fishery runs an open match, once a month, aimed at the less experienced angler. The fact that they do not allow the more established match anglers to compete gives us novices a better chance of winning. Personally, I will be delighted if I don't come last, but even if I do, I will have had a go and a day's fishing.

After talking to Mat at Mat's Angling in Lee High Road,  I have a plan (and some bait!) I am not going to reveal my total plan this side of the match, which is next Wednesday. I have done my homework as well and been boning-up on the technique I intend to use. I have a plan, unusual for me I know, but I think that is a big part of this match lark. The other alien concept to me is being organised, but organised I am determined to be.


It seems to me that I will need to keep fishing constantly, no messing around, just full on fishing. First thing to do is decide on a plan. So, I will be fishing a left and a right hand swim on the waggler and back that up with a feeder line straight up the middle. I plan to fish close in, throwing distance rather than having to use a catapult. As for bait, soft expanders on the hook and hard pellet banded on a hair. For the feeder it will be maggot and groundbait fished at a grater distance. That may all change on the day but we will see. whatever happens, the day will be an experience. The pictures may hole a clue as to my method mix, but I will reveal all after the Match... Now, where's my meat punch?

Wish me luck!

Ralph.