Old Hough fishery - 27th December 2016

So Colin and Pete Mercer have an annual Christmas match that they very kindly subsidize for the benefit of the members on MFS (Match Fishing Scene website - see links lower right of page)

This year they had booked Old Hough fishery and the lake was to be Big Max.

I've never visited this venue before and information was kindly supplied via Colin Mercer and a couple of others on the website. The pool itself has a large island in the middle and supports some 40 pegs. The pool is filled with lots of roach, skimmers, carp and F1s...simple!

So Ive drawn a peg literally within inches of the carp park the draw was made on, perfect!! Means no trolley required, mince pies in easy reach and a bum warmer if the weather got any colder.

So looking at my peg I had a corner of the island to throw a waggler or feeder/bomb too, lots of open water in front of me and the pleasure of Steve "Daddy" May to my left and Colin "I have a chuck at the island" Mercer to my right, and just round the corner a little further I had Jim Manc and Andy "Oooooosh!!!!" May. The banter was going to be very good...

So swim choice, the obvious choice was a feeder chuck to the island initially, I was a little undecided as to what to do but I just couldn't get the little niggle in my head that said micro method feeder. So going with the niggle I set up a small 15grm garbolino inline method feeder around 2m from the far bank of the island, this would be loaded with fishery micro pellets and a 6mm pellet mounted on Guru 4 inch method rig, size 18 MWG and a band. this was set up on my Colmic Next Adventure 10ft feeder rod, what an awesome little bit of kit these rods are, super soft actions but with lots of power in reserve to handle any carp, a Daiwa TDX 3012 reel loaded with 0.23mm Colmic Feeder Pro NXAT70 line.

Ive also set up a 12ft waggler rod loaded with 0.20mm Colmic Feeder Pro and a TDX 2508 reel. Waggler was a hand made Scott Pynton loaded waggler with 3 number 10s down the line with a 0.12 Stream hooklength to a size 18 Milo Suehiro T213 hook. This would be suitable for a piece of corn, double maggot etc, this was set initially at 4ft deep.

Pole lines,

The topography of the lake is quite unusual, as it has quite deep margins which shelves off quite quickly to 6-7 ft out to around 12/13m then it steadily shelves back up to around 4ft again all the way to the island. So ive set up a 13m line directly in front of me just at the base of the shelf, this was set on 0.145mm Stream line with a 4x14 handmade float, this would have a shirtbutton style bulk of number 10s, this would give me the ability to move the shot around if required. I have set up a duplicate but with a bulk set above 2 droppers spaced 6 inches apart. The hooklength was a 6 inch length of 0.125mm Stream line and size 18 T213 hooks. I was going to fish small balls of micros laced with a few maggots to tempt anything that swims I hoped.

Ive also set a line on top of the shelf at 16m away from the 13m line, this would be fed a lot heavier primarily with corn and micros and left until the later period of the match.
Using the same 0.145mm Stream line, 4 x 12 handmade float and a 6 inch .125mm hooklength with a size 16 T213 hook. This was setup again with a shirt button style bulk of number 11 shot.

All my top kits had an 8-10 orange hollow with pulla kits.

Bait,

Again I've tried to keep my side tray as simple as possible, some Micro Pellets, 2 pints of maggots, 1 tin of corn, a few expanders in 2mm and 4mm plus a few 6mm pellets for the hook on the method feeder.

A little hint for fishing the method feeder, well micro ones. use a small plastic bag and put your method mould into it, then fill the mould with the bag over the top, this helps stop the pellets sticking to the mould and breaking away as the made up feeder is pried from the mould.

The all in!

I've initially fed my 13m line with a small uneven ball of micros and 30 maggots, then fed my 16m line with 30 grains of corn and few loose micro pellets easy!! I've then cast my method feeder out tot the corner of the island and the wait began. Sitting on a method or bomb gives you the chance to a) have a cup of coffee, b) a mince pie and c) watch everyone else and seeing what happens initially. This can give you an idea of whats going on around the lake, especially if a method like the waggler works immediately casting to features, pole lines coming alive very quickly etc etc.

During the first 20 minutes I've re-cast once as I like to leave the feeder in 15 minutes or so when its so cold, this allows me to see any liners and keep an ever watchful eye on Others.

Andy May further to my right was casting a bomb and bread some 10m short of the island, whilst feeding a waggler line some 18m out with casters...interesting!! Jim Manc was also searching his swim using a bomb without any early success. colin Mercer to my right was looking on the pole lines but remained biteless for the time being. Steve May to my left however had managed a couple of little roach on the pole fishing over his worm lines...worm??? worm??? nobody said anything about bringing any worm.

27 minutes in (second mince pie time..how rude!!) my tip has gone round with my first fish, a mirror carp of around 6lb. Great start fro me as nobody I could see had around me had a carp or decent fish up till now. Although I couldn't resist an OOOOOSH for Andy May's sake.

Now, I've made a cardinal sin here i guess, Ive not re-cast my method back to the island, I wanted to give it a few minutes to settle after finding that fish and try my 13m line. Im sure Andy may would tell you, "Dont come off feeding fish" but I couldn't resist looking just incase an F1 or carp had found my bait. I spent 5 minutes on the pole catching a few small roach on the maggot and decided that the fish were not there yet, time to re-feed and let it settle.

So back to the method rod, Ive cast out again letting the feeder hit my clip and fall 2m short of the island and sat back to wait. (cup of coffee 2 and finish off that mince pie) So now the lake is starting to wake up, Andy May has come off the bomb and is now looking on his waggler line and catching the odd roach, Jim Manc is still casting a bomb, Colin Mercer is catching some small roach fairly regularly on the pole and Steve May has had some decent roach over his worm lines. I am also aware that a carp has been snared further to my left on the pole.

After another re-cast the tip has gone round with another carp, this time around 5lb in weight, things were looking good. I've also just re-fed all my pole lines with just a trickle of bait to hopefully keep anything there interested.

A fruitless 10 minutes and ive watched Steve May to my left hook and land a carp of around 4lb on the pole, this has prompted me to wind in and look on my own pole lines for a while. So Tosppot added to my top kit, a small nugget of micros and 10 maggots went out to my 13m swim and I lowered my rig over the top, I have initially started on the strung out rig just to see if anything was about. an instant reaction from a couple of 2oz roach on double maggot and a missed bite...hmmm

So an expander was next on the hook with another small nugget of pellets and maggots. This time I've waited all of 20 seconds and a bite has been met with solid resistance and a carp around 4lb was the culprit, easy subdued on the pulla kit. so 3 carp in the ent and a few silvers, not a bad start and I was doing well from what I could see.

Re-feeding my pole lines ive now decided to have a quick look on the 16m line with a garin of corn on the hook, this has resulted in...nothing and a wasted 10 minutes. Back to the 13m line and again just a couple of small roach for my efforts, time to try that method again.
Casting just short of the island, the method has gone in with a lovely plop...just thought I'd share this with you, i was rather pleased with my casting for a change.

Andy may has now caught a few decent skimmers on his waggler line alongside the roach and one foulhooked carp/F1 which unfortunately found freedom.
Colin Mercer is rotating his pole lines looking for bites, but is still catching odd bits and pieces. Jim Manc is now on the waggler pinching Andy May's fish, Steve May is still catching odd bits on the pole and has now found a whopper of a perch!
News from the bank is that Rich Hodgkis is catching out the edge further to my left and Jay (pellethead) was catching fish regularity on the pole around the other side of the lake.

Ive managed another carp and F1 on my method line but I'm waiting a very long time for bites, Colin Mercer has now settle on a shorter line at 11m pinging maggots and catching small roach a bung, Andy May has now gone back onto the bomb whilst letting his pole lines come to life, Steve May has now started to cast a small bomb with maggot at 18m pinging maggot...this was an interesting method...As this line came to life for him, as hes had 5 F1s/carp in the last hour on this method.

I've switched back to my pole line at 13m and started to get indications, finally foulhooking a carp that steamed off into Steve's peg and breaking my hooklength. After sorting out a new hooklength I've re-plumbed, fed a small amount of maggots and hey presto...F1 on the pole, followed by a carp and then another carp...and another carp!

A decent last hour has put me into contention I thought, Steve to my left has had a good last hour, Colin Mercer has worked hard and managed to snare a carp on his maggot lines whilst fishing for roach, middy 6-8 orange elastic is ever so good for this.
Andy may has had a few more decent silvers and a clonking great big perch which he reckoned would eat Daddy May's (the result was Daddy May's was the bigger specimen, his words to Andy were..let that be a lesson to you.)

Ive managed to trouble the scales with a 39lb for 2nd overall, not a bad result! The match was won by Jay (pellethead) with a cracking net of F1s and carp. A great little venue and one which I would love top come back to, maybe when its not quite so cold.

Thanks to Colin and Pete Mercer for organizing the match and for subsiding it, most generous!