Blogs

As I dont get on the bank that often there are a few blogs that I regularly read. Not only have most of these blogs provided me with advice and entertainment but also given me inspiration to try blogging for myself.

They generally follow anglers with a match fishing slant but I think they can be of interest to anyone with a coarse fishing interest. :-

Jim Hall`s Fishing Peg. http://www.jimhallsfishingpeg.com/   - Jim is sponsored by Browning listing his match & pleasure trips. Based in Yorkshire.                                                                                            

Woolavy`s Wanderings http://woolavy.blogspot.co.uk/        -   Lee William`s website following his match reports

Gary Matthew`s Blog  http://matthews580.wordpress.com/  - Gary Mathew`s match & pleasure fishing blogs from the N.W.of England

Lewy`s Lines - http://lewylewylewy.blogspot.co.uk/             -   Mark`s tales of matches and mini festivals, often with a laugh or 2 involving                                                                                                               Maggotdrowners or MFS members.

John Arthur - www.jonarthur.co.uk                                     -     Former Pole Fishing now Drennan Product developer. His reports from major opens and product reviews

Best Laid Plans - Friday 23rd May 2014 Angel Of The North Lakes

3 weeks on from my trip to The Oaks and I was champing at the bit to get on the bank, spurred on in part by a (nother) new pole to play with as the Grim Reaper had been superceded by a Maver Enigma Series 1 16m.

Due to family commitments time would be at a premium today something that despite being aware of, I never put into practice.

The weather had been glorious leading up to my session and Lookout Lake had actually had 2 matches on the same pegs on the Wednesday,  during the day and evening. Weights for both matches were very good but then the bubble burst.  20C plus on Wed had dropped to 10C on the thurs. The forecast for Friday was for more of the same, plus a blustery NE wind. Not a great portent for my trip ! In fact the temperature never got into double figures at all during the day.

Ann, the fishery owner confirmed the venue had fished hard the previous day. This meant I couldnt be sure if the carp would still feed, so I made a snap decision to buy some worm and casters to supplement my already bulging bait bag.

As usual I headed for Lookout, the slightly smaller of the 2 main lakes and a bit more exposed than Bowes lake. Because of this, and as there are no real west facing pegs on this lake to fish, I picked an area that had been quite fruitful a few days earlier and would hopefully have a bit of respite from the cold wind as it was slightly sheltered by the central island.

I picked peg 25/26.There was A closeish chuck to a cutback on the island for the feeder (which I didnt even set up in the end !) And a  floating bridge on the left of the peg to the island, easily in pole range. I also had decent looking margin swims on both sides, although depth tight to the reeds was about 18" on top of the shelf. I would have certainly preferred 2 feet plus here, especially with the sudden temerature drop. Undeterred I would ignore the margins until after 1pm.

Plumbing up gave about 6 feet off water after the shelf levelled out. So I decided on 3 areas to target. 

The first line was 10m at the 2 o'clock position. This would be my pellet line. I fed a couple of balls of groundbait with some 4mm feed pellets mixed in. I had a Nick Gilbert 0.4G gimp on 0.14 Middy Low-Viz to 0.125 Matrix Power Micron hooklength. The hook was my favourite B911 F1 18. I had a (huge) range of pellets to use and could fish with banded hard pellets or expanders. But started on some VDE 6mm Jellets.

At 10 o'clock I could use the same length of pole and reach the bridge, but decided to fish about 6 feet away and try and prise any fish out from under the bridge, rather than chasing them in. As I was unsure if any carp would feed I tried to cover my options here and cupped in a slop made from chopped worms and casters mixed with soaked micro pellets. I would fish here with a worm head, the line was the same as my pellet rig on a 0.4G DJK power pencil fished an inch over depth. The hook on this rig was a 16 Maver MT2 which is a heavier gauge than the B911.

I set up a NG XT mini-diamond .2G for the margins on the same line and hook as above.

Lastly and the rig I would start on was at 6m for an out and out silver rig. This would be casters loose fed by hand. Another NG Gimp but 0.3G this time. On 0.12 Lo-vis to 0.10 Preston Precision hooklength, with an 18 B911 F1.

After feeding the long lines I decided to let them settle and started on the short line. Sport was far from hectic but I started picking up some small roach and skimmers whilst feeding casters every few minutes. I tried the pellet line and had a better couple of skimmers  before moving onto the worm line. For some reason I felt this would be the banker line but after 10 mins I hadn't had a sniff of a bite. I decided to refeed using a toss-pot and within a minute the float buried and a spirited short fight led to an 8oz tench in the net. A beautiful little fish and my first tench of the year. Again the fishing was slow and I was getting some tiny fish, not a good sign for carp moving in. The next fish shattered that theory as 8 feet of yellow Drennan bungee shot off under the bridge.  A minute or so later and a nice 3lb common was in the net but turned out to be a one-off as the next fish was a mini-roach, and I didn't have any more carp on the long lines but the best fish was another tench around the pound mark. 

During this time the squally wind changed direction and blew my brolly inside out. Stupidly id left the seatbox bracket at home and had to stake it out with guy ropes. So when the wind changed I was effectively battling with a 6 foot kite and quickly ended up with a brolly spike shaped like a hockey stick. This lead to a great deal of swearing and attempting to rectify the problem was proving impossible. In the end the umbrella kept most of my gear dry but I was soaked through !

Trying to regain some rhythm meant I had 90mins left. I prepped the margins with loose groundbait and big handfuls of maggots and left for 30 mins before going over with 5 maggots on the hook. The float moved and bobbed before going undet and...I had another 1 oz roach ! It wasnt even hooked but just holding onto a maggot in its gob ! 10 mins later and I eventually hooked what turned out to be another carp that steamed off under the bridge.  But by burying the pole tip the middy 12-16 did its job and I had a 5lb common banked. Another scale perfect fish and a gorgeous bronze colour. Because of this fish I stuck on the margin swims until I packed up at 2.30 with only small skimmers and a crucian to add but painfully knowing that I was probably approaching the best time of the day as i was leaving.  but needs must.

I ended up with around 10lbs of silvers plus 8lbs for the 2 carp and felt that id spread myself far too thin today. I left feeling very despondent at my own fishing ability and certainly didnt want to write about it. However 24 hrs on and I have tried to think objectively about where I went wrong and writing about the day is almost carthritic.

As I was fishing with a new pole I hadnt even bothered with the feeder  despite seeing fish activity during the day near the far reeds, sometimes its best to fish methods to catch fish, not methods i want to use regardless. Id also gone with far too many ideas and baits to stick to a plan. The pellet line didnt work but id only fed it intermittently when not on it, so it was only used half-heartedly in truth. I could have certainly made life more comfortable by fishing the lower lake with a bit more shelter. I was the only angler all day on Lookout, so that tells its own story but also means I dont know how anyone else would have got on. On the up side despite a poor day I`d had carp,tench,roach,crucian,perch, ide and skimmers - so plenty of variety.

My final thought is this; if you look forward to something enough. If the weather is glorious for weeks before the day. Be assured that when the day comes round the British weather will have returned with a vengeance ! And never leave home without an umbrella bracket !

P.S. The new pole and Nick Gilbert floats were both spot on. I will probably review at a later date after a bit longer on the bank.

Thanks for reading.

Robin.

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Review - Maver Grim Reaper SX (13m pole) £299

I've had my old Shimano Technium XT 12.5m pole for around 8 years and whilst it was in good condition, It was heavy and started getting a bit of a handful at 11m Plus.

I decided the time was right for an upgrade but as unsual financial constraints and limited fishing opportunities meant I couldnt justify a large amount.

I wanted a 13m pole but not an out and out 'carp cruncher' as I still enjoy fishing for silvers. So weight and stiffness would also be a factor.

I'd considered offerings from Daiwa, Preston, Garbolino and MAP. But the MAP 101 seemed favourite from everything I'd read on the 'net.

I went to my local tackle shop Fishing Republic in Sunderland and was pointed in the direction of the Maver Grim Reaper, a pole I hadnt even considered due to its 'lump hauling' reputation.

However on comparing the full length pole to some of the others on my list and even some more expensive poles (such as the Browning Z All Round and the MAP 201), I kept coming back to the Reaper. I even looked at the 14.5m Maver Retribution which was a lot more than my defined price range and even with the butt section off it just didnt feel as "right" as the Reaper.

So the decision was made and the Reaper was bought. I also liked the 3 supplied easy-glide side puller power tops which came along with a match top 3 and cupping kit. I decided to also buy an extra match kit at the same time to bring the pole up to 5 kits.

Chris and Tony in the tackle shop offered to elasticate the pole for me, something im very capable of doing but they did a very professional job and although the tops are pre-bushed, this saved me quite some effort as I just chose the elastic I wanted and they did the rest. FOC. They also recommended dacron connectors which are so much tidier and less tangle-prone than the stonfos I`ve always used in the past.

Power Kits with side pullers

Since then I've used the pole on 2 trips.  First at The Angel Of The North Lakes where an unseasonly cold,  foggy day turned the carp off but I had some nice silvers up to 2lb at 11m and closer. The 2nd trip was to the Oaks and this gave the pole a much better workout, hitting F1 bites, silvers and carp to just under 7lbs from the margins.

The pole did everything id asked of it and feels strong but responsive and well-balanced. The cupping kit is very stiff and overall I couldnt be happier with the whole package.

Obviously there are much better poles out there, but for £300 I think you'd struggle to find anything to compete.The spares aren't the cheapest around, but nor are they the most expensive either and fishing at full length all day would be a bit of a chore but which pole Isn't without a section off ? if you need to fish at 13m a lot then try a bump/spray bar and 2 well set up pole rollers.

If you're looking for a good budget pole  for catching a bit of everything on commercials i dont think you'd be disappointed with this one.

Update... 9th May 2014

After reading a post on Maggotdrowning re: actual pole length, i measured the pole with the supplied power tops fitted. Without the mini extension the Reaper measured 11.6m and 12.4 with the extension fitted. How this compares to other manufacturers I dont know. However comparing the pole with the extension fitted in the shop against some of the other poles without extensions may have been totally different. I still like the pole, just feel a bit mislead.

Review - Kamasan B911 F1 Hook

As most of my fishing is now on commercials,  hooks have to be relatively strong. But due to my fishing ethos background and fishing I'll still try and fish as finely as is sensible to guarantee bites.

The B911 in sizes 16-20 probably ends up  on 80% of my pole rigs. Its my first choice for using maggot, caster and pellets and probably the only times I don't use this pattern is for margin fishing with paste or big baits generally and also for delicate silver rigs in the colder months.

Whilst ive never caught out and out lumps on this hook, ive landed carp to 8lbs and have never had one straighten. It also seems to retain its point very well even after a few fish. As everywhere I fish is  barbless only these days, I think its a great hook. And relatively inexpensive as well.

30th April - The Oaks, Cedar Lake

The Venue..

This was to be my first outing in over a month and Id decided  to head back to The Oaks in Sessay and go back to Cedar.The Oaks is around an hour and 20 mins drive from my home in sunderland, so I needed to be there in good time to get a decent session in before heading home to family duties. I’d fished there about 5 weeks ago in an area with little form (as I later found out) and hadnt done brilliantly, so looking at match

results I wanted to be around peg 56 if possible but  on arrival a club match was scheduled for pegs 50-80 when I arrived so i went for peg 32 which had also shown some form recently.

For anyone not familiar with The Oaks, the fishery has a number of lakes,  some for matches only and others pleasure or mixed. Cedar is a commercial snake lake that holds about 80 pegs, so the match had little impact on where I would fish.. The peg  was at the north end of the lake which is very picturesque. There is a bank of pine trees at your back which have been cut for pole access. The margins are grass lined with a good depth close in and the island again has trees making the peg very sheltered. In fact there was hardly a breath of wind on the lake at all, whether this would be good or bad for me I’d have to find out. I’d left Tyne & Wear under a thick veil of fog and a paltry 9° C, Sessay was cloudy but a barmy 16°C and fish were showing everywhere. I wasn’t expecting to blank !

I set up taking my usual age to get ready (how do I fix that ?) mixing groundbait, etc  and plumbed up.

Id been advised to look for 2′ of water across, but at the full 13m of my Grim Reaper I was still nowhere near the far bank and in 3.5′ to 4′ of water. So I decided to fish straight out as far as possible with meat and corn over  some hemp.An 8m swim at 45 ° with pellet over groundbait and straight out at 2+1 with meat over meat/corn/hemp (in hindsight putting this directly in front as well wasnt the best idea)

The Baits..

I had 2 tins of cubed meat (1 supermarket, one dynamite baits which was just too soft to stay on the hook.

2 pints of maggots

A pint of wetted fishery micros with a variety of expanders and hook pellets.

A tin of corn.

Some old ghost F1 match groundbait (which smells totally vile when i opened it in my opinion) plus a little special g green

The Rigs…

Im in the process of replacing some old diameters of pole line, so the rigs were tied on a real mixture.

The 13m line had a NG gimp .3g on 0.14 middy low viz to .0125 matrix micro and B911 F1 16.

A DJK Pencil 0.3g with the same line/hook was for the short line

And finally for the pellet line I had a .4g matrix pencil on .12 gline to .10 preston precision.

I would look at the margins after a few hours as there was a cutway in the near reeds about 6m down the edge into 2 feet of water but would not feed until 30 mins before fishing.

I fed the meat lines sparingly with a pinch of hemp plus about 5-6 grains of corn and 3-4 cubes of meat.

The pellet line was just fed with micros plus a tennis ball size of groundbait which I topped up every 5 mins a dozen or so micros via a catty whilst throwing in 3-5 cubes of meat short.

The Fishing..

Eventually I started at 10.30 on the long line with a cube of meat and found my current obsession with going for float tips designed for sensitivity (still in winter mode I guess !) was going to cause me trouble all day. The floats were just too fine to support meat and corn. After 10 mins I had a bite and landed a 4oz perch; not quite what I expected. This was followed by a dumpy 6oz roach both on a 4mm cube of meat. So I decided to cup in some more bait and try 8m. In all honesty I pretty much abandoned the long line as it wasn’t fun fishing full length tbh and having to re-ship every time the bait came off after a missed bite.

Moving onto the pellet line and it was slow going with lots of missed bites on a 4mm expander. I switched to a 6mm jellet which was a lot more durable and had a few F1s and a couple of roach.

I refed this line and tried meat short. Again I was faced with the sinking float syndrome and lots of missed bites  but had a few more nice F1s and some dumpy roach, then everything went quiet for an hour. I was still getting occassional bites but not connecting which was really frustrating, maybe I should have stepped up the hook size or drastically alter the feeding. I plugged away but really should have tried a new maggot line for silvers as I could have caught small fish all day long this way but I was focussed on bigger baits for bigger fish I think and it would have put fish in the net whilst waiting for the carp/F1s to switch back on. Eventually I tried upping the feed on the short line and after getting swirls on the top I decided to try shallow, lifting and dropping the bait or flicking out and holding it tight. This got me back amongst the fish, some lovely F1s and ide before a ‘proper’ carp took the meat hookbait. The fish made an initial run before plodding about for 10 mins, before it took off again. It was a long lean fish that I was a bit disappointed was 6.5lbs. The fight on grey hydro had made me think it had to be a double so I was a little disappointed to find it was nearer half that, I was sure it was going to be my P.B pole fish. Never mind it was a lovely looking mirror that fought really well but I was probably extra careful on the .125 bottom as I really wanted to land it !

The fish came and went in bursts and on trying the margin swim for the last 90 mins I picked up another half dozen fish, a couple more F1s and carp to 3lbs or so. I did lose a couple of better fish from this swim at least one of which was foul hooked from the scale that came back on the hook ! Alternating the margins with the now heavier fed 3m line and I also picked up some big ide to 2.5lbs and what I was sure was a chub of around the same weight.

I packed up after 5 hours to fight back through the traffic and on lifting the net out  Id guess about 60lb maybe a bit more (im rubbish at estimating weights !) Not a huge weight but still a good day for me. On the day perhaps but id gotten too sidetracked. 2 lines plus the margins would have sufficed with deep and shallow rigs set up rather than starting 3 from the off. I need to stop over complicating things !

The oaks certainly is a very well ran fishery offering different types of lakes for different types of anglers In a beautiful, clean setting.The tackle shop offers pretty much everything you’d need once you’re on the bank as well. The fish are in great condition and I will be back soon. I just wish the entire place could be moved 40 miles north !

Thanks if you’ve taken the time to read my ramblings. Tight elastics !

Robin

p.s.

A few weeks ago my mate Tony from Fishing Republic Sunderland dropped something sharp and pointy onto his Daiwa Air at Whiteacres resulting in a nice bullet hole type shape in one of the big sections. Of course I didnt mock or take the p***. So at the end of the session I was taking care packing up (despite my best intenions my peg usually looks like a hurricane has hit after 5 hours) I stepped over the no.4 section on my brand new Grim Reaper only I didnt…A 3″ crack down the top. So this weekend it’s off to see Tony at the shop. Where did I put my humble pie again ?

UPDATE.... total over reaction. The crack was less than an inch and easily repaired. Panic over !

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