Better than I thought

Thursday 23rd April

Today was round three of the tyke’s league at Langwith lakes in York. www.langwithlakes.com
This is one of my favourite fisheries, well run by Norman and Carole Dixon that always make us feel welcome. The match was to be on Kevin’s and Bethany’s lakes, with the League one anglers on Bethany’s and leagues 2 and 3 on Kevin’s.
The draw was made around 9.30 and the match was to be fished 11 till 5 (6-hours). I drew peg 8 on Kevin’s and made my way to the peg. My bait had cost nothing on the day just taking what I had in at home, sweetcorn, worms, and pellets in various sizes and my paste. To start I set up three rigs two at 11mtr with size 18 on one and 16 B911 on the other with 0.10mm hook lines. This was the bottom of the shelf.

The third rig was an after though when I saw fish moving around the aerator to my left, I set this up with a size 16 B911 to 0.12mm hook line. While I was checking the shotting on my rigs I hooked into a carp close to the aerator on a bare hook but soon pulled out. That decided it for me that was to be my first point of attack at the all-in.

At 11 O’clock I shipped out to the aerator with a pellet on the hook and was into a small carp before my rig had even settled, then it went dead and the fish just vanished. I tried straight infront at 11meters and had a couple more small carp. I was messing around with my baits all the time with corn, worm, and pellets on the hook, the fish just weren’t coming as quick as I had hoped.

I decided I would mix some paste and set up that rig at 6 meters down the middle, with a size 12 B911 to 0.14mm hook line. The action was instant with 4 or 5 fish in the fish 5 put ins. I staid with the paste for the rest of the match and ended up with 28 small carp for 60lb 4oz. As I packed up and waited for the scales I was wondering had I done enough?

I had seen Tony on peg 5 get a few good fish and George in the next peg (9) had caught steady all day and so it proved with Tony getting over 80lb and winning the lake and George weighing 74lb for second and me third.




League 2
Name Draw Weight Position Points
A. GLEW K5 82-04 1 13
G. GRUNDY K9 75-12 2 12
M. MILNES K8 60-04 3 11
T. POOLE K1 39-14 4 10
W. MOUNTAIN K10 39-08 5 9
J. TAYLOR K28 37-12 6 8
J. DALE K22 32-12 7 7
P. DONALD K23 32-02 8 6
G. VAUSE K29 29-08 9 5
G. CAIRNS K20 29-06 10 4
R. ROSS K02 29-06 10 4
R. ROBERTS K26 28-12 12 2
A. MULLIGAN K29 DNW 13 1

Tollerton

Thursday 9th April was round 2 of my clubs league at Tollerton, I am in league two and was on Kingfisher Lake. I was picked up at about7.30 to head off for a breakfast in the lay-by café just before the venue. This is run by Bev the fishery owner. The draw was made at 9, I drew peg 20 which is the end peg in the corner right next to the busy A19. I set up two pole rigs one that covered straight in front at 11m and under the tree to my left, the second was shallower to the corner. I also set up the bomb rod with a hair rigged 8mm pellet.

The wind was blowing off my right shoulder and so my peg was flat calm, and I wasn’t expecting too much from the peg given the conditions. It turned out I was to expect little from the peg, in the six hours I managed just 5 fish for all my efforts. Two small carp and a tench on the bomb, a third carp on the pole at 11mtr and a Bream of about 5lb which was my biggest fish of the day. I was expecting around 10lb at the weight in, but surprised I had 12lb8oz which got me 5th place from the 10 on the lake.

Match results
Name Draw Weight
GLEW 17 29-10
G. GRUNDY 19 21-00
J. DALE 03 20-04
J. TAYLOR 01 15-08
M. MILNES 20 12-08
T. POOLE 12 11-10
R. ROSS 02 11-04
R. ROBERTS 09 10-06
G. VAUSE 15 06-10
A. MULLIGAN 08 DNW


This leaves me in second place with ten matches to go on 21 points.

What a weekend

4th/5th April 2009

Due to my disability (Multiple Sclerosis) it is very rare that I manage to fish two days on the run but at the weekend I did, and am now still paying for it.

Saturday saw me at Lindholme lakes for the second round of the maggotdrowners spring series to be fished on Oasis Lake. A horseshoe shaped lake with between 13 and 16 meters to the far bank. After the usual banter in the café and a quick chat to one of the venue regulars I thought I was ready. I had drawn peg 67, peg 68 the end peg was empty so I had the end peg.

I set up two rigs one at 13meter to the far bank and one at 7 down the track. The wind was blowing across, but at the time it wasn’t too bad so that was where I was going to start with maggot to just pick up what ever swam past my hook. I had two small roach early on then the wind picked up and holding the pole became impossible so I came short. I did pick up the odd fish but they just weren’t there as I had hoped.

I noticed a few carp splashing at the end of the lake and so threw out a hair rigged pellet on the bomb. I picked up a few small carp but not as many as I would of hoped. That’s fishing for you. I ended up with just 11lb11oz to show for my hard work and finished about 18th from 24, not a good day.

So it was home to prepare for Sunday on the canal and a trial for the England disabled team. Once home I had a drink and a little rest before sorting the car out ready for the morning.
I was up at 6 had a coffee and left about half-hour later for the Delves café. Here I met up with two other lads for breakfast before heading back the way I’d come and the trial. I had a slight detour back home as I had forgotten some joker. Lucky for me the Bramwith stretch of the canal is less than 5 minutes from my house.

Once there we had a chat with Joe Roberts the England manager while waiting for the others to arrive, 14 of us in total. Joe placed us on pegs and off we went to set up once the bait we had had been split between the four of us who had chipped in for it.

We had 2 hours to set up and I had none to spare, as I wanted everything as near perfect as possible. I made up 5 balls of leam with joker and a few squatts. I started with bloodworm on the hook but soon tried the pinkie, which brought me a small perch. We fished for 4hours and I have never felt so much pressure knowing what was at stake. I ended up with a mixed bag of perch, roach, gudgeon, ruff and a skimmer late on. I wished I had gone with the groundbait but to late for that now.

I was well down the field on weight, but I new I was in a bad area in the middle. Dick Clegg had been down for a couple of hours to see how we were going and left early. After the session Joe decided we had all fished well enough to earn a second chance on a second trial on Molem’s mere at Packington summers on the 30th May.

I came home to tell the wife how thing had gone to which the reply was so that’s another Saturday without the car and me stuck at home with the kids, I got much the same response from my mum and dad but stuff them.