Friday 29 July 2016

I am very pleased to announce I am now sponsored by Colmic.
Feel really privileged to be sponsored by them, and to be part of there great company. I have a lot of people to thank for helping me get here and appreciate all their help. 
Feeling really optimistic in what the future will hold! 
Bring it on!!!





Wednesday 27 July 2016

Sunday 24th July - Ivy House open.

I drew peg 15.
I made the decision at the start to try and catch skimmers and fish for them most of the day.
I started off catching ok on my worm mix. Then I couldn't get a bite on it???
At around 2:00 I set up a paste line which was good.
I caught some bigger skimmers on this and 2 carp. 
In hindsight I should of done it earlier. 
Weighed in 33-0-0 for nowhere overall.
Did ok in the area I was in but deffintly should have fished other things instead of just worms.
But this should lead me in good stead for when I go back.



My worm mix 

Saturday 23rd July - Manor farm leisure



Today I went to Manor farm for the open match that was held on island pool. 
With the venue fishing well I thought we were all in for a good days fishing.
A couple of areas I fancied were
Peg 6. 14 and 16 and I felt u needed to be there to win.
I drew peg 33.
It's the deepest part of the lake and with it being really warm I thought the fish would want to be in the shallow water. So with this in mind I based my approach fishing shallow on the pole, this is more of an F1 area and was geared up to catch them.
I set up the following:
Colmic Next Adventure 60 rod. 0.20 method line. To a pellet feeder. Fishing 0.13 F1 spider line to an 18 B911 and hard pellet.
Next Adventure 45 rod. Fishing a bomb with 6mm pellets.
X1 deck rig at 14.5m on the pole.
X3 shallow rigs all at different depths to help me cover all layers of the water.
I began the match feeding my pole line and chucked the pellet feeder tight against the island.
The first hour started really slow for everyone and I only had a couple of small F1s on the feeder.
2nd and 3rd hour I decided to have a look shallow and in two hours i managed to catch F1s and small carp quite steadily, having to work really hard slapping and feeding.
As always around 1 o'clock at manor farm normally everything seems to go dead. So I decided to start pinging a bomb line and stay on the pellet feeder to catch what I could.
Going into the last hour i was hoping my shallow line would get stronger as it had been rested and I kept constantly feeding it. 
I caught quite well last hour and ticked over nicely building up my weight with a few better stamp carp and bigger F1s.
As the scales came round i weighed in 101lb.
This was enough to put me 2nd overall and win my section. 
Well done to Chris Telling on winning the match with 110lb.
In hindsight I needed a few bigger stamp fish just to help me build up a bigger weight.


Tuesday 19 July 2016

Sunday 17th July.





Mick Telling memorial match today at wick water.
With it being really warm it was always going to be hard.
This was the first time I'd ever seen this place and I must admit, it's a lovely looking lake!
Getting to my peg. Peg 15. It was really shallow close in so I decided to use a platform.
The colmic platforms are solid! So I set this up to give me 3 advantages:
1 - my nets are in deeper water. 
2- I get further out passed the trees as this peg has trees surrounding it.
3- I'm another metre out from the anglers next to me. Meaning when I fish long I'm automatically fishing longer than them!
I fished a positive match.
Paste short.
Pellets long. 
A method feeder
A Waggler.
I started off really slow.
Didn't have a sign for an hour then lost one on the Waggler so as it fishing hard I  decided to stay on it.
I managed 4 carp to weigh 21-0-0
I lost 3. 1 broke me and 2 just pulled out.
Came nowhere with that but still had a few bites.
I felt I didn't really do my homework and maybe should of tried a bomb over the top of this as a few fish were caught on this but this should lead me in good stead for the next time I return back. 
We managed to raise £340 for Cancer Research so that was brilliant. 
So well done to Chris Telling and everyone who came along. 
And Well done to the 6 qualifiers.  Good luck in the final!

Monday 18 July 2016

Colmics Next Adventure Rods.


A few photos from the last few months.




Saturday 16th July - Ivy House open match.




Today I fancied a trip back to ivy house.
Haven't been here for a few weeks and this is only my 5th visit to the venue. But I really like the place and it keeps me going back. 
With 16 fishing and a bright warm day it was always going to be hard for everyone.
As the draw took place i found myself heading towards peg 13. This is on the causeway, with the airator directly in front of you.
With the thought it mind that it was going to fish hard I based my approach like this:
Line 1: Worms at 14.5m. The rig was a Map SD3 pole float. 0.13 Colmic F1 spider mainline to and 0.10 Stream Hook length. Size 18 B911.
Line 2: Short pellet line. Jon Walker float. 0.15 Spider mainline to an 0.125 Stream hook length.  Fishing a lasso'd 4mm pellet.
Line 3: Margin rig. 0.18 spider mainline to an 0.15 hook length to a size 16 B911.
Everytime at Ivy house i always start short, Im not sure why but this normally produces a big bream or a carp to get you off to a nice start. 
So as the whistle sounded I shipped my Colmic F44 Airon Pole out with a golf ball size of my worm mix and came short at top 5 on pellets. 
I rattled in 10 4mm pellets and fished a 4mm on the hook and sat there. A few minutes past before a positive bite came from nowhere resulting in a big 3lb bream.  Just the start I needed.
Looking round not a lot was being caught. And I felt it's going to be a case of catching what you can.
For the first 20 minutes I spent it short and after only having that one fish it was time to look on my worm line. 
After around 2 hours I persevered with the worm line, the key was to keep feeding it and just being patient. I had caught a few decent stamp fish on this but had also lost 2 carp so it was clear they were starting to feed.
Going into the 3rd hour I decided to go back onto my short pellet line where I'd been regularly feeding pellets. I then went onto put a further 4 good stamp bream in the net and 2 very welcome carp.
By now I felt I was doing ok but needed to boost my weight up so began pinging a few pellets into the Ripple to my right slightly.  After 20 minutes or so I decided to have a look shallow on this. And managed another 2 Carp.
So going into the last hour I had a decent amount of silvers and a few carp but the worm line had completely died. 
So I made the decision to spend the rest of the match short on pellets. I had 1 carp and 2 bream in the last hour and wasn't sure what had been caught silvers wise.
I knew I hadn't won the match as the guy 3 pegs down had caught steady all day.
I managed to weigh 31lb of silvers and 28lb of carp giving me a total of 59lb.
This put me 3rd overall. 
2nd was Chris Telling with 62lb
1st was Alan Smith with 84lb.
41lb won the silvers so I needed those bream to come back short to get closer to that.
I had a very nice day catching skimmers and learnt a lot.
Until the next one....



Friday 15 July 2016

Sunday 10th July

Manor farm leisure open.
Peg 4 middle.
Had a frustrating day. Couldn't line any fish up. 
Caught carp at 14.5m on pellets and caught down the edge on groundbait and dead maggots.
Weighed 74-0-0 for 4th on the lake.

Saturday 9th July

Barston Masters qualifer.
First visit to the venue.
I drew peg 46.
Fished the method feeder at 65yards for most of the day.
Everyone struggled.
I managed 1 carp and 4 skimmers. Didn't bother weighing in.
Will deffintly be heading back though.



Monday 4 July 2016

Sunday 3rd July. Manor Farm Leisure



I returned back to manor farm today to try and improve on where I went wrong yesterday. With 16 fishing all on island it was going to be hard with quite a bit of pressure on the lake.
I drew a peg I quite fancied.
Peg 5. It's not normally in which I thought could make it quite good.
I fished a very positive match.
Shallow at 17m to the airator.
Method feeder to the island. Simple!
Began on the method and pinged my shallow line.
I caught a small skimmer on the method early and a few small F1s.
It was noticeable that there were a few fish on my shallow line so after 20 minutes decided to have a look...
Shipped out my Trustee Colmic F44 Airon pole and on the 3rd spin round the poles buckled over.... ooosssh!
I was catching some good stamp F1s on this but the wind made it rather difficult.  I was fishing tight to the airator which was to my left slightly.  And with the wind blowing to the left I really had to slap into the wind.
2nd hour of the match I was flying. I caught quite a few big F1s chasing them around, anything from 8" to 2ft.
As I've found with manor farm your peg does switch off. So I decided to try and not waste that part of the match and under armed my lead over that line.
A very good idea. I caught steady on this for the next hour and a half.
And I'd hoped I'd build up my shallow line and fish it in the last hour. 
We'll things didn't really work out.  I came off the bomb and tried shallow but by now the wind was really picking up.
So I picked up my Colmic Next Adventure 45 bomb rod to chuck over my shallow line hoping for a few more! I struggled from then on.  I caught a few but it was noticeable the fish were no longer on my shallow line.
I managed to weigh 89-0-0. Which put me 3rd overall and won my section.
Colmics Next Adventure 45 rods are something else.
Landing anything from 4oz Skimmers to 15lb+ carp.  

A perfect versatile all round rod. 

A perfect conditioned mirror caught on the Colmic Next Adventure 45 Rods. 


Saturday 2nd July. Manor Farm open.

This weekend I decided to have 2 days at manor farm. The open today was on island pool.
I really wanted to draw peg 16 as it's had a lot of form lately.
I drew peg 33.
Personally I have never drawn this bank at manor farm. 
It's one of the deepest parts of the lake and it's mainly an F1 area. So I based my approach dead simple...
I decided to fish 14.5m of my Colmic Airon F44 pole. 
X1 4x14 float. 0.15 Spider line to a 0.125 stream hook length.
X1 .2 Jon walker floats. 0.15 spider again to a 0.125 stream hook length.  Both on 18B911 hook lengths to a lasso'd pellet. 
X2 shallow rigs. One set up at 2ft one at 4ft for chasing fish up and down.
And  finally a Next Adventure 60 rod 11ft. 0.20  colmic method line to 0.125 hook length fishing a pellet feeder. And a 6mm pellet.
And that's it.
I began my match by feeding 40 ish 4mm pellets on the pole and chucked the pellet feeder. Hoping for some liners or indications that there were some fish about.
Without a bite on this I had a look on the pole on the deck.  
I began catching steadily on this by pinging a bit of bait but it was clear my fish were small. It was noticeable that the fish were coming shallow as I was getting a lot of indications on the float. So had a quick look shallow and caught reasonably well on this for a few hours. Had to work really hard. Slapping and feeding, which as the day went on got harder as the wind got progressively worse.
At around 1:00 my peg just shut down. I probably had around 45lb and was going nowhere.
Neil Mckinnon next peg was catching really well on the pellet feeder but I couldn't seem to get a bite on it.
My next decision proved to be a good one... I under armed my Next Adventure 40 rod with a little bomb over my pole line and began feeding heavily over the top to push them down. I had 6 fish on this in the last hour which has helped.
At the end of the match I knew I hadn't done any good. I think I had around 30 f1s.
Gary Donachie on peg 16 had emptied it and weighed 178lb.
I weighed in 59lb which put me 5th overall.
I felt like I started off well but the middle part of the match I should of come off my shallow line and done something totally different and built that up until the last hour.
Maybe going on the pellet feeder earlier would of been better or even another pole line somewhere else.
Until the next time!