Lower Broadheath fisheries open match Saturday 7th of January

Its been a long time since I've actually fished an open carp match at Lower Broadheath Fisheries or the jam factory as its more affectionately known. Its a venue that holds some great memories and some sad ones. The spring leagues were awesome and the teams of 4 competitions, however these have long gone.

The weather has been on the cold side running up to this match, meaning that unfortunately we have had several days of melt water, cold nights and ice. Upon arriving at the fishery I was rather hoping that the lakes would be ice free, as they average 8-10ft deep so tend to hold the temperature a little better than most places.

Alas, the lakes still had ice on them in some places so of course some anglers were going to end up breaking the ice on some pegs and others who draw well (like me) will have ice free pegs.

The lakes being used were Oak and Willow, both pools have around 20-22 pegs so there would be some room for us all. I managed to draw a fancied ice free corner area in the shape of permanent peg 10, this area is a little shallower than the early pegs and a little more sheltered. I had an inviting corner some 17m to my left covered by a willow tree and plenty of open water in front to have a few different lines.

So I've decided on 3  pole lines initially, my first and primary line was at 14.5m at the 10 o-clock position and my second open water line would be at the 2 o-clock position (but only at 13m) my third pole line was into that lovely looking corner to my left at 16m into the slightly deeper water just off the marginal ledge in around 4ft of water.

The techy bit, rigs!!

My open water swims were made up on 0.145 Stream line (see earlier review) utilising a Perfect Control plus float, these are my current favorite float for deep water fishing. They are similar in shape to a carpa chimp, but have a stronger wire at the base and a thick solid plastic tip. I prefer these thicker plastic tips for a couple of reasons, Firstly I believe they are more sensitive and you can have a little more of the bristle showing so bite detection is a little easier, secondly I find them easier to shot.

I have used a reverse taper shotting pattern of number 10s on a 4 x 16 size float in 8ft of water, with a 6 inch hooklenght of 0.125 Stream line and a size 16 Milo Suehiro T213 hook. This was matched with a 10-12 hollow elastic on a pulla kit.

Now, Ive also set up a lighter float in the shape of a 4x14 Perfect Control plus float, again with a reverse taper shotting pattern of number 10 shot, again matched to a 0.125mm hooklength and sizze 16 T213 hook plus the same grade 10-12 hollow.

My reasoning behind this is the lake has a mixture of large carp and decent skimmers, as per winter carping, all the carp could be up the other end of the lake and skimmers might be worth aiming for, some of them can go 3lb plus.

My margin line was made up using a handmade 0.3grm float mounted on 0.165mm Stream and hooklength of 0.145mm matched to a size 16 T213 hook.I prefer a slightly heavier hollow for the margin and opted for a 12-14 hollow. These fish can approach 20lb in the lake so are worth hanging onto if I found one.

Owing to the depth of the lake I have also set up a 12ft waggler fished at 5ft initially with a light waggler, 4lb mainline and an 0.125mm hooklength armed with a Guru LWG size 18 hook. I would use this in the first 15-30 minutes of the match looking for anything mid water around the peg.

Bait - Nice and simple.

I had on my side tray 2 pints of swimstim green pellets, 1 tin of corn, 2 pints of maggots and 2 sizes of white expanders plus some Ringers wafters for the waggler.

The start of the match,

I have initially cupped in a quarter cup of micros squeezed into a ball with a couple of grains of corn in at 14.5m made into a slightly uneven ball so that it doesnt spin off from where Im planning on fishing.
Same again at 13m but with added maggots as this would be the line I would concentrate on if the skimmers were present in any numbers.
The margin line then received a half cup of loose micro pellets and 30 grains of corn, as i would not be looking at this line for at least 2 hours.

Pole lines fed, it was time for me to search the peg with the waggler and watch what others are doing on the lake to see if a particular method or area would catch fish. Of course the obligatory bomb and bread went out from some pegs, pellet feeders on others and some started on the pole. the two anglers opposite each other had carp on straight leads around 10 minutes into the match, literally at the same time, in fact I was wondering whether they were playing the same fish. However watching them land carp of around 3lb a piece I wasnt overly worried.

My match started off very slowly, I never had a touch on the waggler despite changing depths, hookbaits and exploring the open water in front of me. (although I hadnt seen a fish move or top yet ether) after 40 biteless minutes the waggler was put up the bank and out the way as it just wasnt meant to be. The angler opposite me in the other corner hadnt had a bite yet so i was beginning to worry that the fish were under the ice at the other end of the lake. indeed the anglers in the middle of the lake had all caught 1 or 2 carp now and the skimmers were starting to show in the early pegs.

Time to concentrate on the pole lines which I had fed once more at the 30 minute mark, giving them around 10 minutes rest before hopefully plundering a load of carpy type creatures! Alas, my float tips remained motionless for the next 20 minutes, despite changing hookbaits and lifting and dropping to try and entice anything. an hour and 15 minutes in I was still biteless and the middle pegs were now on 3-4 carp, this was looking like an early bath.

Finally after another small tosspot nugget* of pellets my float has buried on the 14,5m line and a skimmer was on its way to the net. this had a least given me a little hope that some fish would move in to these lines. I swapped to my 13m line and after 5 minutes another followed, again at 2lb it was a welcome fish.

On the next cast I've decided to change hookbaits and tried a piece of corn, hoping that maybe a carp would have moved over the bait at 14.5m after the initial fish activity. A few lifts and drops and the float has buried and my first carp nudging 6lb was in the net in double quick time. This gave me more hope that the fish would actually move up the lake or at least any resident fish in the area would move over my lines. Re-feeding again with a tosspot nugget* I've moved over to my 13m swim and waited for 15 minutes without a sign or indication.

Now 2 hours in I've had 3 skimmers and 1 carp for my efforts, so a change back to white expanders on the lighter rig resulted in another decent skimmer around 3lb and a carp shortly after on the 14.5m line. At this point I've decided to discontinue feeding the 13m line as another 15 minutes of no indications has led me to believe the fish wanted to be that little further out and perhaps I'd made the mistake of starting too far out.

So concentrating on the 14.5m line I've managed to snare another 2 carp both around 7lb mark, one gave me a right runaround for some reason? properly hooked in the top lip too, must have taken me 7-8 minutes before it finally found the way into my landing net, albeit reluctantly.

Time to try the margin line, I had been prepping the margin to my left with small amounts of bait during the course of the match and was rather hoping i would have an immediate fish. On went a tosspot, a few grains of corn topped off with loose micro pellets. I've put my rig in first, gently lowering the hookbait into position in the hope a carp might be waiting before depositing the tosspot contents over the top. alas, no bites for a few minutes and it was time to feed and wait.

Unfortunately after 10 minutes of waiting Ive had to come off this line as no signs down there meant i needed to look elsewhere for fish for the time being. Back outon the 14.5m line the rest has done it some good and a little run of 2 carp and another skimmer moved me into the last hour of the match.

The guys in the middle of the lake had slowed down and I was quite sure I was only 1 or 2 fish away from contending for 1st place, time to make a new 16m line in the open water and see if the carp had moved away. I've fed this with a a tosspot nugget* and 4 grains of corn and left it for 5 minutes. No more signs on the 14.5m line and it was time to try the new area.

The float has buried as soon as the corn hit the bottom, perfect!!! The last hour saw me add 3 carp and 1 more skimmer to the total and i knew I was somewhere close, although the angler in the far opposite corner at the top of the lake had caught well in the last 2 hours on bomb and pellet cast tight to the edges. This has frustrated me somewhat as my margin line just didn't work, perhaps i also needed to just ping some 6mm pellets up the edge and look over it with a banded 6mm?? Food for thought on the next one.

I was also quite sure the angler to my right ion the middle of the lake was also 2 fish ahead which was later confirmed by the scales.

The angler in the far opposite corner has managed some right lumps and weighed a very creditable 64lb to win the lake, the angler to my right in the middle of the lake weighed in 62lb and my estimate of being 2 fish behind was just about right with me weighing in 50lb on the nose for 3rd overall.

I enjoy this venue as you can catch up relatively quickly if the bigger carp turn up, so you are never quite out of the match and its worth persisting with big fish lines. Roll on the next one!!


*Tosspot nugget - compressed ball of pellets large enough to fit in a medium sized cad pot, this ensures the pellets go down to the bottom on deep venues without breaking up or sitting in the lower levels of the water.