H&C

9
Aug
2010

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Matches, practice and wins

Russ nets a bream

“Since my last blog a few days ago, I held a one-to-one lesson at the fishery with Jeremy Gamble, who wanted a brush up on his rod and reel float tactics. The coaching lesson was held on Milton Lake as requested and after introducing Jeremy to the art of accurate plumbing, shotting a float correctly and how to use soft expander pellets plus how to feed the peg. The lakes Crucian carp and tench were feeding in a frantic manner providing my pupil with bite after bite and plenty of different species along the way. With my pupil enjoying himself, catching some quality roach over the pound mark, I could not help but notice when scanning around the lake how erratic some anglers' feeding habits were. Some feed heavy, then nothing at all for long periods catching very little in the process and some were feeding all manners of hook baits which does nothing but confuse the issue. I guess at the end of the day as long as they are enjoying themselves in pleasant surroundings, then that is all that matters. But to me I find that very frustrating as I know they would get more out of their sport more if they would employ a feed little and often policy. Of course, I always advise this when asked for help and tips in the shop but alas some of the information on offer goes straight out of the window by the time they have reached the lakeside.

Low pressure makes the Milton fish very finicky

In the last couple of days in the South East we have had some low air pressure followed by some stormy and very wet rainfall, which I witnessed first hand on a recent open match on Milton Lake. The report of the result is below (4th August) but despite finishing third overall earning some coin in the process, it proved a really finicky bites day for all of the 24 competing anglers. After a prolonged spell of high air pressure when the fishing can be really excellent, the first few days after a low can make the fish go off the feed altogether or just as worse make them finicky for long spells. When I booked the lake for the match I was expecting some really big weights to be on show with some excellent anglers taking part but that was never going to happen and after leaving my wet gear in the car not expecting much more than just a light shower, imagine my face when I saw one of the biggest and blackest clouds looming over the trees in our direction with the rumblings of thunder backing it up. Needless to say the clouds reached us and I got one big soaking, in fact I could not have got any wetter if I had fallen in headfirst. On the bright side, the rain was very welcome for the lakes and surrounding bleached looking grass banks around the fishery.

This Sunday I will be back on the River Rother near Wittersham competing in the 50th annual Holland Cup and as always I will be looking forward to another successful day on my favourite river. After my recent eel exploits on the Rother during the recent KAL match where I had 12 of the slimy critters for a section win I will be showing the cameras of Match Fishing magazine later in the month just how I did it and what is needed to target these bonus fish whilst competing anglers are busy catching tiny bleak and going nowhere weightwise. With another coaching lesson to do next week followed by a team practice on the Royal Military Canal at Aldersgate looming, August looks a busy one already.

Hadley Angling Club 1st Aug 2010

Laney shows the way with a mixed bag of fish

Milton Lake hosted Hadley Angling’ latest club match and with the weather warm and overcast conditions could not have been any better as the lakes mixed species had a good feed to provide all the competitors with plenty of bites. The winning peg numbers were not supplied but with the whole lake fishing well the weights were well spread out.

Top rod on the day was Alan Laney who pole fished his way to success catching his fish on soft pellet and caster close in. With plenty of tench and crucians in the net Alan then switched his bait to caster up in the water and helped himself to around 20lbs of rudd for a final total of 41lbs 15oz. The burst of silvers made all the difference between winning and losing as Alan had just over 4lbs to spare over second placed Andy Gosland who decided to fish a feeder all day with sweetcorn hook bait and with bream, tench and crucians scaled a decent weight of 37lbs 8oz.

Russ Hackle was not far behind either with a level 37lbs, which consisted of a mixed bag, caught on close in pole tactics with maggots and soft pellets. With three other anglers all weighing in over 20lbs plus it was an enjoyable and close match enjoyed by all.

Result: Top 6 (12 fished)
1st Alan Laney 41lbs 15oz
2nd Andy Gosland 37lbs 8oz
3rd Russ Hackle 37lbs 0oz
4th Alan Tunney 29lbs 4oz
5th Mehmet Kayim 28lbs 12oz
6th Shane Foster 24lbs 0oz

Bury Hill Open 4th August 2010
Milton Lake, 24 pegs Silvers Only

Good Scott, Bruce wins on tough day

Low air pressure and stormy conditions made this latest Bury Hill midweek open a tough match, which was a shame as Milton Lake had been in sparkling form these past few months. With 24 anglers taking part it in the Silvers Only match this certainly was a match worth winning and when Bruce Scott drew peg 29 by the aerator he did not fancy his chances despite the organiser advising that quite a few fish tend to favour that part of the lake. With the fish in a very finicky mood, more so than normal, everyone was catching the odd fish, which was the format for the whole match. Those that scaled right down on their terminal tackle and switched baits on a regular basis were the ones that kept a few fish coming to the net. After a slow start Bruce then started to put a few crucians and the odd tench together plus a few nice roach and rudd, while others were struggling mid match, peg 29 came alive with burst of action for Bruce who used pole and soft pellet to good effect. At the final weigh in, his 31lbs 2oz mixed bag was good enough to take top place winning £140.00 in the process.

Further round the corner of the lake on peg 22 Andy Ryan after a slow start managed to tempt a few nice tench and crucians late on to come from nowhere to second spot. His long pole tactics next to the lily pads on soft pellet came good as put plenty of small stamp fish in the net to gain a nice little pick up on the day.

Bury Hill tackle shop manager Russ Evans (me!) had the pleasure of drawing noted peg 3 for the first time in a match but drew the peg on a day when the fish were not playing ball. However with 8 tench and a few crucians Russ managed to scale 21lbs 8oz for third place on the day. Changing his hook baits like soft pellet, corn, worm and double red maggot Russ managed to tempt some bonus tench into having a go and secure third.

On opposite peg 4 Terry Harrison caught on and off all match to put in a mixed bag for 18lbs 8oz and fourth.

In general the conditions played a big part in how the fish fed and when a big storm came crashing down on the proceedings late match with thunder and lightening it kind of confirmed that the atmospheric air change can switch the fish off overnight.

Result Top 6
1st Bruce Scott, Anglers Base 31-2-0
2nd Andy Ryan, KC Angling 22-8-0
3rd Russ Evans, NDP10 21-8-0
4th Terry Harrison, Dorking 18-8-0
5th Tony Barthomlew, Anchor Croydon 17-8-0
6th Neil Jakes, Hackbridge 17-4-0

The next Open match at the fishery takes place on Wednesday 18th August 2010 on the front bank of the Old Lake, unfortunately I will not be able to fish the match as I will be out with Eeling with Match Fishing magazine, but it sure to be a cracking match as the bream feed well in the months of August and September.

With plenty of other angling projects in the pipeline for the coming months, I think this is going to be an exciting time ahead, so keep watching this space.

Tight lines,

Russ Evans.”