2010 Annual General Meeting

All members are requested to attend the AGM which is to be held on Monday 22 February 2009 at The Black Bull, Somersham.

We will have a lot to get through so I'd be gratefull if could arrive in good time to commence the meeting at 8pm sharp and let's stick to the agenda as much as possible.

Jonty

Fur & Feather, Old Nene, Ramsey St Marys - 6 December 2009

8 members and one guest fished this years Fur & Feather on the Old Nene at Ramsey St Marys.

The three contenders for the Champtionship, Ray, Trev & myself drew on pegs 2, 3 & 4 respetivley. Guest John Pierrepont was on peg 1, Martin on 5, Weasle 6, Ron 7, El Presidente 8 & AT Tony was on end peg 9, just to the right of the 'Wires'; a noted area for bonus fish.

As we set up in atrocious conditions, Ron decided he wasn't going to take any more and opted to have a days fishing at the relativley sheltered Factory Bank just around the corner. This left Weasel and El Presedente with a spare peg to one side. The wind and rain eased in good time for the start of the match and the conditions were relativley pleasant for the rest of the day.

With the bonus fish proving elusive for many of those who were targeting them, most of the lads opted to concentrate on fishing for the abundance of small fish in the venue. John, Ray & I spend the majority of the day fish to hand at 4m with myslef making a switch in the last hour to my hemp line which brought a dozen or so better stamp roach. Trev opted to fish top 3 to hand as any other line he investigated was full of snags. AT Tony on end peg 9 did pick up a couple of bonus Perch of 1lb 8oz and 1lb 6oz.

AT the weigh in John on peg 1 weighed just under 6lb. Ray on 2 had 9lb 2oz which I was sure to be enough to win. Fortunalely for me my net of fish went just under 10lb. Trev weighed in 7lb 15oz, with AT Tony landing the only other 7lb weight of 7lb 14oz.

As a result I just pipped Ray to the Winter League by one point and secured the Championship for the 3rd time in 5 years. Along with the Summer League title won earlier this year it has been a good year for me. I have been lucky in the draw bag and I hope this luck continues next year as I look to defend all 3 titles!

Fur & Feather, Top 4

1st - Jonty 9lb 15oz
2nd - Ray 9lb 2oz
3rd - Trev 7lb 15oz
4th - Tony 7lb 14oz

See you all at the AGM on 22 February 2009

Jonty

P.S. The food in The Lion this year was really good, there was plenty to go round and it would certainly get my vote for next year.

Scores on the doors

Current league positions after 10 Matches: (Top 6)

Championship (taking best 8 scores from the 11 matches)

1 - Jonty 55pts (counting 7)
2 - Ray T 54pts (8)
3 - Trev 53pts (8)
4 - Ron 45.5pts (8)
5 - Weas 44pts (8)
6 - Mike 28pts (8)

Winter League (taking best 3 scores from 4 matches)

1 - Ray T 23pts (counting 3)
2 - Trev 18pts (3)
3 - Weas 16pts (3
1 - Jonty 15pts (2)
5 - Ron 13.5pts (3)
6 - Mike 9pts (3)

Handicap Cup (taking best 8 scores out of the 11 matches)

1 - Mike 60pts (counting 8)
2 - Dennis 45pts (8)
3 - Stu 43pts (8)
4 - John E 41pts (6)
5 - Steve 40.5pts (6)
6 - Ray T 36pts (8)

Speci cup entries, as before. The full points and positions will be read out at the next meeting

2009 Fur & Feather

Grebe AC - fur n Feather match 2009 is to take place on Sunday 6th December 2009.

Fishing takes place at - Ramsey St Mary's, R.Old Nene, draw 0830hrs fish 10-3pm, £20 all in for members, £25 for guests wishing to fish the match and eat afterwards. This includes match pools, dayticket, meal contribution (the club is squaring up the remainder of the tab), £1 winner takes all and the 50p golden peg.

Eating to take place at - the Lion, Ramsey St Mary's (sat nav PE26 2TB) sitting down at around 4.45pmthe menu is a choice from;

STARTERS

Cream of Broccoli soup served with a warm bread roll
Prawn Cocktail with a slice of Wholemeal bread
Smooth Chicken liver pate, served with toast and salad garnish

MAINS

Roast of Sirloin Beef
Roast Breast of Turkey
Sea Bass Fillet
All accompanied with seasoned vegetables, roast puddings & parsnips, homemade stuffing, gravy and Yorkshire pudding.

DESSERTS

Traditional Christmas Pudding served with brandy sauce
Apple pie & custard

What I need to know is the following and also by the end of this current month at the very latest!

A) Are you coming to fish only, eat only or both? B) If you are eating what is your choice from the menu above?

Please let me know ASAP as it is important that we have the correct numbers and menu choices for the chef. We have reserved 15 places for the meal and provisionally booked 15 pegs on the St Mary's stretch, all of this can though be expanded upon if more of us turn up!!!

I look forward to hearing from you all in due course. If you wish I can be contacted on 07789 931031 or 01354 677753 (eves) to reserve your place.

Best regards

Steve G(Grebe AC Treasurer)

Dents Farm Shop - 1 November 2009

Match report by Mr T:

Expectations were high for the forthcoming match at Dents with the weather forecast favourable and a continuation of the Indian summer stretching ahead for the week, but days before the match came a weather warning for Sunday, Gale force winds and rain, and so it was, for once the met boys got it spot on. Looking out the window before leaving home there was no rain and just a fresh breeze, 20 seconds later and one foot out the door and it started raining, bugger!! from then on it got steadily worse.

A small group of soddened anglers gathered around big Ron for the draw, with news just in that Jonty had bowed out with a case of Delhi belly and had sportingly forfeited his place in the K.O.Cup, it was all to play for. With Mike unable to make the Fur and Feather which would have been the final, and the possibility of winning by default, it was decided to make this match the final between the last three( Trev, Mr T and Mike).

Ron went for another trek around the lake to try and find the best pegs to catch fish and also some respite from the increasing force of the wind. He made the wise decision to fish pegs 1 to 10 as this offered the best of both worlds.Also, who ever drew peg 1 gets to pick either peg 1 or 9, both flyer's? In goes cool hand Luke (Trev) and bingo, peg1.Now he's got a problem, which one will he take.Guiding his platform barrow with the reinforced axle and the contents of Preston Innovations warehouse, he heads for peg 9, after much deliberation he decides against it and heads back towards peg 1, this time battling against a strengthening head wind.

I drew peg 7 which was one of the bottom pegs which were more affected by the wind but were afforded some protection by the trees either side. I decide to keep things simple, one rig for the pole at 10 metres, no point in going out further as the wind made holding the pole at distance impossible. The rig is a .5grm with olivette to a 18's b911 on .10 line. I will bait two lines, to the right I put in pellet over hemp and to the left I put in choppped worm and caster in a groundbait Jus ( I picked that up from a snobbish resturant). I also make up a carp rod for the margin, no red hydro for me this time, the carp here just trash it.

On the whistle I cup in a small amount of bait to the left and right swims but leave the margin till later and keep topping up with a 'toss pot' every put in. I didn't get a bite for the first half hour and was starting to think either the fish were further out or it was going to be a tough one, but slowly they started to come, first a rudd, then a roach, then a skimmer, things were looking up. After the first hour I think I may have a couple of pounds and the fish were now coming steadily, but only on the chopped worm and caster line, I didn't have a fish on the pellet line all day.By twelve o'clock I thought I had approx 6lb and the crucians were starting to show in numbers although the skimmers seemed to be on the small side from what you would normally expect from here.

It was now time to have a quick look in the margin, not right close in but down the bottom of the shelf just beyond a top two. I cupped in some catmeat, then baited the size 10 Drennen specimen hook tied direct to 12.5lb through a 2.5lb test curve diawa carp rod ( I told you I was getting serious) I flicked out the lightweight waggler float and catmeat just beyond the baited area and held back to allow it to drift back on to the baited area and let the weght of the catmeat set the float.Within seconds the float buried, in disbelife and total surprise I overstruck, missed the fish and put the whole lot into the bramble infested tree to my left, arse!! With it all just out of reach, I had to snag the offending bramble with the landing net and heave it in until I could grab hold, the line snapped, the top of the cristal float broke off and sailed away and the thorns of the bramble had the last laugh at the detriment of my fingers,so I started again.When I recast the new setup back in no bites were forthcoming so I suspect it was rudd taking the meat, I tried every half hour on the meat line but only one carp fell to it,a fish of two pounds took the bait and the poor thing never know what hit it, as I wasn't prepared to give any ground with the snags either side of me, he was in the net before he could blink ( yes, I know they don't have eyelids but you get my drift)

So back to the pole line and with continual steady feeding and the wind turning to behind us, my swim started to bubble but even though I know the fish were there I was struggling to get them to take my bait. I think it was the crucians starting to gill feed and it was only by constently alternating between worm, maggot and bread punch that I kept fish coming to the net.Once again for me just lately, my swim died in the last hour and at the whistle I felt I had done ok but not enough to win.

Talking to Jon Bowland on peg 6 after the match he was of the same opinion, he thought he had got double figures but not fifteen plus, ditto myself. Unsurprisingly, word was filtering down that Trev had been catching but I didn't know if Mike had been able to get into any big fish down on peg 10.As the scrum of people around the weigh-in slowly edge towards me I could see reasonable bags of fish being weighed, this looks close? At peg 6 I look over Jon's shoulder at the score sheet and see Trev has 18lb, oh dear!! I haven't got anywhere near that. Then Jon Bowland weighs in 25lb only for him to receive a firm lashing from my tongue for vastly underestimating his catch.Err, time for egg on face!! When I put my fish to the scales they read 27lb, I can't belive it! I would have bet serious money on not having more than fifteen pounds, in my defence I didn't click my fish this time, also the weather was a big distraction as my umbrella constantly tried to unwind itself into tilt mode and at one point came down with me inside it.
Mike on peg 10 didn't get into any of the big fish and because I think it is shallower at that end he did well to put together 12lb of fish.

Trev I think made the right decision to fish peg 1 as he lost a number of big there but I feel he would have lost more on peg 9 and probably wouldn't have had the smaller fish in numbers to make the difference, but who knows.

At the end of the day no one was more surprised than me, very pleased mind you, but also slightly embarrassed.

And finally I'll finish with an apology to Jon B for being a little harsh in my comments from someone who can't add up himself.

Dents Farm Shop, 1 November 2009

With the weather forecast to remain exceptionally mild for the time of year a good match is expected with the possibility of plenty of fish being caught.

The good thing about the Farm Shop lake is the variation of fish and the different methods that can be used to catch them; be it pellet for the crucians, worm for the skimmers (which now average 1.5-2.5lb), maggots and caster for a net of small fish or gambling for a big fish or two down the side.

The fishery does not have many rules, but it's worth noting the following;

Barbless hooks only
1 Kg of Groundbait Maximum
1/2 Kg boilies maximum
Max 2nr 400g tins of meat
Carp/coarse pellets only (no trout/high oil pellets)
Damp nets should be dipped.

There are no net weight restrictions listed on the rules on the web, however we will need to check the fishery rule board on the day.

I hope to see you all there on Sunday.

Jonty

Scores on the doors

Current league positions after 9 Matches: (Top 6)

Championship (taking best 8 scores from the 11 matches)

1 - Jonty 55pts (counting 7)
2 - Trev 53pts (8)
3 - Ron 45.5pts (8)
4 - Ray T 45pts (7)
5 - Weas 38pts (7)
6 - Mike 28pts (8)

Winter League (taking best 3 scores from 4 matches)

1 - Jonty 15pts (counting 2)
2 - Ray T 14pts (2)
3 - Trev 13pts (2)
=4 - Weas & Ron both 10pts (2)
6 - Mike 7pts (2)

Handicap Cup (taking best 8 scores out of the 11 matches)

1 - Mike 56pts (counting 8)
2 - Dennis 45pts (8)
3 - Stu 43pts (8)
4 - John E 41pts (6)
5 - Jonty 35pts (7)
6 - Steve 34.5pts (5)

Speci cup entries, as before.

The full points and positions will be read out at the next meeting on 2nd November 2009

Knock-out Cup, 2009

Anglers through to the Semi final are:

Trev, who beat Weasle at Cuckoo
Mr T, who beat Pete at Cuckoo
Mike, who beat Karl at Fieldsend
Jonty, who beat Ron at Cuckoo

The semi-final draw will be held before the draw at Dents on 1 November. The plan is, should all semi-finalists fish the dents match, the final will be held during the fur and feather at Ramsey St Marys on 6 December 2009.

The Pool, Fieldsend Fishery - 18 October 2009

I was a bit dubious about fishing this match. Having never seen the venue before, hearing how the pellet waggler often dominates and the recent cold weather made me almost stay at home to watch the Football and Grand Prix! In the end I bit the bullet and decided to make the effort with this year’s match attendances frequently being below par.

I drew peg 6. I wasn’t too happy with the draw after recent matches being won off pegs 1-4. The way the match was pegged meant peg 6 was an end peg in the section which made it more appealing. Trev drew peg 2 which was the golden peg. As one of the contenders for the club championship, I really needed to beat him in the section to stand a chance of competing in the league myself. The other main championship contenders, Mr T & Ronnie, were pegged in the other section.

I did manage to glean some info from a few sources which narrowed my plan of attack to 2 areas; the pole with pellet and the method feeder. I felt the pole would offer the best presentation if the conditions allowed and the method feeder would be my plan B if the wind was a problem.
Before the off I plumbed up two pole lines, one at 13m and the other at 8m. With the 8m line being my main line of attack and the 13m line fed in case the fish wanted to be in the deeper water as the water cools. I set up one rig on the 13m line in about 10 feet of water; the float was a 1.5g maver pattern with 0.14 line to a 14 B911 hook, bulked with an oli with 4 nr 9 droppers. This was set at dead depth so the bristle was still showing on a slack plumbed line. I didn’t fish this line during the match.

I set up 2 rigs for the 8m line in 6 feet of water. One was a standard pellet rig with a .75g Tipo and 0.14 line to a 14 B911, this was shotted with a spread bulk of nr 9s with the lowest around 12 inches from the hook. The other was a 4x18 chimp set up with a 360 rotating hook length and a double bulk with the bottom bulk above the pivot about 3 inches off the bottom. I have had a few fish on this type of rig recently but this didn’t produce a fish today, with all fish falling to the strung out rig fished at dead depth.

At the start I cupped in a mixture of 6 & 4mm softened hard pellets on both pole lines and went out immediately onto the 8m line with a 6mm expander. Working the bait by lifting and dropping I kept fish coming throughout the day, feeding a toss pot of bait after each fish, bite or 200 count. This ensured I kept the bait going in, even during slow spells. Although the seasons are turning I still felt the fish would want some feed before the frosts set in. The fishing wasn’t manic but it was steady with around 5 fish per hour. The fish generally came in spurts with no obvious rhyme or reason why and when the appeared.

I had a look on the method after half an hour as Karl had 3 fish on it to my 2 on the pole. I hooked a fish first cast but lost it at the net so decided to focus on the pole.

At the weigh-in I had 17 fish in net 1 for 54lb 4oz and 6 fish in net 2 for 27lb 4oz, including one of around 8lb. I was frustrated that I lost 12 fish in total but I expect many people lost fish so I wasn’t too disheartened, I do however feel that black hydro was too heavy and grey would have been more appropriate.

I think the lost fish may have been down to the fact the bottom of the lake is clay which often means the fish in these venues often have quite soft mouths compared to those in other venues. Speaking to Ray Sladden after the match he said that losing fish is quite common on the venue.

Ray was 2nd in the section with 58lb of pellet waggler caught carp followed by new man Shaun who fish similar tactics to Ray for 33lb. Mr T won the other section with Ronnie 2nd.

There was some commotion at the weigh-in regarding the counting weights as a few anglers had over 50lb in a net. I think we need to make it clear at the next meeting how we are going to move forward regarding to venue net rules and our previous turning a blind eye.

These sort of disputes are not good for the image of the club or for the rapport between members, especially when membership and attendances are below par.

The Pool, Fieldsend, Doddington - 18 October 2009

Not having fished the water as a club before I have found out a little bit of info for us all:

The pool has a maximim depth of around 14ft in the middle.
It contains Carp, Chub, Orf , Barbel & Tench
The rules on the internet say No Method feeders, however Method feeders are allowed but must be free-running. NO STOPS TO BE POSITIONED BEHIND THE FEEDER.
It is relativley deep on the pole line so rigs should be tied to top 4s.
There is a bait shop on site. It's best to pre-order lives baits if required.

More information about the venue and the venue rules can be found at

http://www.fieldsendfishing.co.uk/

NEXT MEETING

The next general meeting will be held on 2nd November 2009, 8pm, usual place.

2009 Fur and Feather

After learning that many of the venues worth fishing are already booked on the 13th of December, the REVISED date for this years Fur and Feather is Sunday 6th December 2009.

Venue: The Old Nene, Ramsey St Marys
Times: Meet 8-8.15 for the draw at 8.30, fish 10-3.
Food: The White Lion, Ramsey St Marys (sit down to eat at 4.45)

15 Pegs and 15 meals have been provisianally booked.

Watch this space for further details.

Scores on the doors

Current league positions after 8 Matches: (Top 6)

Championship (taking best 8 scores from the 11 matches)

1 - Trev 53pts (counting 8)
2 - Jonty 46pts (6)
3 - Ron 42.5pts (8)
4 - Ray T 38pts (6)
5 - Weas 33pts (6)
6 - Mike 25pts (7)

Summer League FINAL STANDINGS (best 5 from 7)

1 - Jonty 40 pts
2 - Trev 34pts
3 - Ron 31.5pts
4 - Ray T 31pts
5 - Weas 28pts
6 - Ray S 22pts

Winter League (taking best 3 scores from 4 matches)

1 - Trev 9pts (counting 1)
2 - Ray T 7pts (1)
=3 - Jonty & Pete both 6pts (1)
=5 - Weas & Den both 5pts (1)

Handicap Cup (taking best 8 scores out of the 11 matches)

1 - Mike 49pts (counting 7)
2 - Dennis 45pts (7)
3 - John E 41pts (6)
4 - Stu 39pts (7)
5 - Steve 34.5pts (5)
6 - Trev 32pts (8)

Speci cup entries, as before.

The full points and positions will be read out at the next meeting, date TBC.

Cuckoo Canal, Townsend Fishery - 13 September 2009

Match report by Trev:

By not updating my diary with the second-edition venue change and subsequently booking in and cancelling out of an Open Match the week before, I first set eyes on the venue on the morning of the match.

By chance, Keith and I stopped for breakfast at the infamous Green Wellie café in Chatteris, (it’s been dramatically improved and the breakfast was fab) and bumped in to a couple of the March lads. They had cancelled six matches not due to the fishing but because of the nightmare walk you have to undertake when it’s muddy and the general un-loved condition of the venue. They both had no complaints over the fishing but stated the biggest error people made was to under-feed. They commented the venue has a huge head of fish which are ravenous. The problem is made more difficult by the fact you have to use their own feed pellet and at £1.00 a pint, it’s not cheap, ( a little too much profiteering I felt considering other venues such as Tunnel Barn who adopt the same policy make their pricing as keen as shop-bought prices). I mentioned I had come armed with a kilo of worm, a pint of castor and red maggot and after they had stopped laughing instructed me, unless I wanted to be plagued by “bits”, to keep them in the car!!

I pulled peg seven, noted for an unusual feature of a six-foot blow-up killer whale pegged out on the far bank, (fact stranger than fiction eh?). That was the only thing notable in the swim. The banks were scraped blue clay; it was a good 2 foot down with a steep side slope. It was at its deepest just short of middle at four foot.

I set up four rigs, an inside 4x12 to a 16 808. Fishing on the slope, (3 + 2) to my left and right with sweetcorn as the predominant hook bait. An identical rig but with a band on a hair to fish hard pellet. A one gramme, olivette rig at depth down the centre of the track, (3+4) to get through the bits and fish soft hook pellet, this may seem a bit heavy but the wind was whistling down the lake causing a strong surface skim. I had back shotted the rig allowing me to “lean” on it allowing the presentation to be more natural. My last rig, another 4x12 was for across pushing up the steep sloop with banded pellet. I had purchased 5 bags of pellet, three 4mm and two micro but realised before the draw that with the strong cross-wind, the micro would probably end up in Guyhirn and so jumped in the motor and exchanged them for 4mm, (as well as buying two more bags).

At the whistle I cupped in pellet and corn over all my lines. John-baggin’-Ellis had already netted two fish before I had finished! I started down the track and caught two micro tench on soft pellet in two put-ins. That rig went up the bank never to be used again. I went in on my inside line on corn and immediately was in to a carp of about a pound. It was clear they were coming to the sound of the pellet “rattling” in and I quickly learnt that if I just dampened the hook pellet lightly it made far more noise than wetter ones going in. I was still missing bites and getting frustrated by small fish and so decided to go “balls-out” with a 12mm banded pellet on the hook. This immediately settled the bites that were no where near as frequent but every time the float sailed away it was a decent fish. If I did not keep the feed going in they backed off and so it I focused on one line and fed heavily. At times the wait was too long on the big banded pellet and so I would switch to my corn rig to keep something going in my nets.

As for the line over the far bank, don’t know, never bothered with it!

At the finish I was pleased with my clicking. I weighed in 123lb with only some 10lb of bits meaning I averaged nearly 38lb a net. The owner informed us the venue record is 125lb in a five and a half hour match. I was frustrated with the amount of fish I dropped, (estimated 20 – 25lb), which I believe was down to the hair rig and a few foul hookers, (at one stage I had to fish away from the margin as it was absolutely solid with fish). Jonty also had a good match (and a lovely back wind) with 120lb. Maybe the big banded pellet was the edge?

It was clear that our arm of the lake had far more fish present than the other stretch behind us. Fishing maggot/worm would keep you busy wherever and Borug bitterly complained he hadn’t time to eat his sandwiches! and weighed in some 30lb of bits!! A great venue for a match but just needs a bit of TLC and a fairer bait pricing policy!!!

2009 Knock-out Cup, 3rd Round Draw

The 3rd round draw as follows:

Trev vs Weasel
Ron vs Jonty
Mike vs Karl
Mr T vs Pete

This round is to be completed by 18 October and the result that counts will the the earliest match both anglers attend.

Cuckoo, Townsend Lakes Fishery - 13 September 2009

Directions:

The fishery is off the A1101 just north of Threeholes near Upwell. Post code for SAT NAV users is PE14 9HJ.

Selected rules for Cuckoo lake:

Barbless hooks only, max size 14
All fish must be netted
Keepnet and Landing net supplied by fishery
No floating pole; pole rigs must have a float
No Bread
No Meat
No Paste
No Groundbait
No fishing shallower than 12 inches deep
Fishery feed pellets only (£1 per bag from the onsite shop)

Please make sure you are aware of the full venue rules before the match.

SUMMER LEAGUE 2009

With an 8 point per match average, the winner of the 2009 Grebe AC Summer League is Jonty. 3 match wins, a section win and a 2nd in section make up his 40 point from 5 match score.

He said; "Fishing the pellet shallow has really helped me out this year, accounting for match wins at Beastie, Willows and Magpie. It also helped me sneek a few extra points on the Kingsland Silver Fish Lake early on this year where it accounted for a few Chub on the waggler. Lets hope the 2nd half of the season is as successful. Good luck to the rest of the lads for the Winter League, Handicap Cup and Champtionship. Lets enjoy it."

Scores on the doors

Current league position after 7 Matches: (Top 6)

Championship (taking best 8 scores from the 11 matches)

1 - Trev 44pts (counting 7)
2 - Jonty 40pts (5)
3 - Ron 38.5pts (7)
4 - Ray T 31pts (5)
5 - Weas 28pts (5)
6 - Ray S 22pts (4)

Summer League (taking best 5 scores from the 7 matches)

1 - Jonty 40 pts (counting 5)
2 - Trev 34pts (5)
3 - Ron 31.5pts (5)
4 - Ray T 31pts (5)
5 - Weas 28pts (5)
6 - Ray S 22pts (5)

Handicap Cup (taking best 8 scores out of the 11 matches)

1 - Mike 43pts (counting 6)
2 - Dennis 36pts (7)
3 - Stu 35pts (6)
4 - Steve 34.5pts (5)
5 - John E 34pts (5)
6 - Trev 26.5pts (7)

Speci cup entries, as before.

The full points and positions will be read out at the next meeting, date TBC.

Magpie Lake, Pidley - 16 August 2009

12 members attended our latest outing to Magpie Lake at Rookery Waters, Pidley. Having reserved pegs 1-22, Ron had a chat with the venue bailiff and old Grebe member John Dighton who advised on leaving out the early and late pegs and peg the match from 5-17.

All members caught fish on what was a warm and breezy day.

Drawn on Peg 14, Mr T caught well close in on his left hand margin to take carp to 8lb on pellet to win the section. Ray Sladden was 2nd in section with his catch consisting of past caught carp.

Ron, Trev & Jonty drew in a line on pegs 5, 6 & 7 respectively. Ron fished tight to the left and right hand margin and caught steadily all day for his weight of 70lb 8oz and 2nd in section. Trev fished shallow with pellet and with some fruitless looks on the inside weighed in 69lb 12oz for 3rd in section. 

Jonty started fishing paste at top2+1 in 6 feet of water. He caught a few early fish but the swim was very slow. He also took a few carp from his margin swims but the depth as tight as he could get being 4.5feet ment he suffered lots of frustrating line bites. So at 1pm he decided to try and catch up with Trev who had been catching well shallow during the first part of the match. It was a fish-a-chuck for Jonty on 4mm banded pellet over loose fed pellets and at the weigh-in he put 90lb 12oz to win the section and pip Mr T to a match win.

Result:

1st- Jonty 90lb 12oz

2nd - Mr T 88lb 12oz

3rd - Ron 70lb 8oz

4th - Trev 69lb 12oz

Magpie Lake, Rookery Waters, Pidley - 16 August 2009

For your info, below are the rules and directions to the fishery.

Rules:

GENERAL

1) OPEN DAWN TO DUSK BUT NOT LATER THAN 9PM.
2) JUNIORS UNDER 16YRS MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY AN ADULT.
3) NO CARS OR DOGS AROUND THE FISHERY.
4) ALL VEHICLES & EQUIPMENT LEFT AT OWNERS RISK.
5) TAKE ALL LITTER HOME.
6) FISH FROM PLATFORMS ONLY.
7) DO NOT FISH UNTIL YOU HAVE PAID AND TAKEN A TICKET.

TACKLE

1) ALL NETS MUST BE DIPPED.
2) FISH FRIENDLY NETS ONLY.
3) 50 LB MAX WIEGHT PER NET.
4) EMPTY NETS AFTER MAX OF 5 HRS.
5) MIN OF 2 KEEP NETS IN MATCHES.
6) MANUFACTURED, BARBLESS HOOKS ONLY UP TO SIZE 12.
7) NO FIXED LEADS OR BRAID.
8) METHOD (IN LINE) & BAGGIN WAGGLER PERMITTED ON ROOK ONLY.

BAITS

1) NO FLOATING BAITS.
2) NO SEED BAITS OTHER THAN SWEETCORN.
3) NO NUTS OR BOILIES.
4) MEAT- 2 STANDARD TINS MAX.
5) ROOK - GROUNDBAIT ALLOWED 2 KGS MAX.
6) MAGPIE/JAY – GROUNDBAIT IN FEEDER ONLY 1 KG MAX.


Directions:

- Leave A14 at Huntingdon exit, signed A141 March
- Follow A141 to Warboys- Turn right on to B1040 towards Pidley
- After passing Pidley Church turn left into Fen Road next to village pond
- Rookery Waters is 2.5 miles down Fen Road and is signed along Fen Road
- Sat Nav PE28 3DF

Scores on the Doors

Current league position after 6 Matches:

(Top 6)

Championship (taking best 8 scores from the 11 matches)

1 - Trev 39pts (counting 6)
2 - Ron 32.5pts (6)
3 - Jonty 31 pts (4)
4 - Ray T 24pts (4)
5 - Weas 23pts (4)
6 - Steve 19pts (5)

Summer League (taking best 5 scores from the 7 matches)

1 - Trev 34pts (counting 5)
2 - Jonty 31pts (4)
3 - Ron 29.5pts (5)
4 - Ray T 24pts (4)
5 - Weas 23pts (4)
6 - Steve 19pts (5)

Handicap Cup (taking best 8 scores out of the 11 matches)

1 - Mike 36 pts (counting 5)
2 - Stu 35 pts (6)
3 - Steve 34.5pts (5)
4 - Dennis 31pts (5)
5 - John E 25pts (4)
6 - Trev 22pts (6)

Speci cup entries, as before.

The full points and positions will be read out at the next meeting on 7 September 2009.

Six Island, 19 July 2009

By Trev:

Speaking to the owner Pete Band in the shop before the match, he advised a softly-softly approach to the feeding as they had an incredible three inches of rain on the Friday including massive hale storms that had chilled the water considerably. With the lay of the land cold water was still seeping in to the margins making them considerably cooler than the main body of water. 

I pulled peg six and in true fashion moaned. Martin Parker raved about it stating I should plumb up on bottom of the shelf on the island as well as fishing shallow close to it. Now, I don’t know what pole he has but mine doesn’t reach the necessary 20 metres it would take to get there? 

I arrived at my peg and stuck my arm in the water. It was very cold.

I set up half of Shelton’s tackle shop which included the pellet waggler, (that being a short thin pole with strange twists of wire down it), a at-depth 0.5 gram rig on a white-hydro as a scratch rig, a 4x12 sweetcorn margin rig for my right hand side swim, a 0.5 gram meat rig which I plumbed up on a small shelf between the margin and full depth. It was about eighteen inches deeper than the margin and eighteen inches shallower than main depth. It was also just off a bush to my left with the prevailing wind banging in to that bank. I also set up two up-in-the-water rigs to bag on banded pellet….. 

The wind was at Hooley strength, but I thought at the whistle I would start on the pellet waggler to the island hooking a carp first put-in and promptly losing it. After a few more chucks in to the wind and vain attempts to loose feed a tight pattern of pellet it went up the bank. 

I was feeding hemp and luncheon meat on my meat swim, hemp and corn on the two others. I kept pinging pellet on my “banker” up-in-the-water swim although in the wind the feed pattern was a bit “loose”. 

I had chopped a few worms only bringing the few I had left over from Beastie and cupped them in on my scratching full-depth 3+3 swim. The float immediately buried to a 1.5lb tench. A couple of F1 and a small barbell quickly followed but with little worm left I decided to cup in 4mm soft pellet and leave it. 

A quick look on both corn swims brought the inevitable zero and so I slipped a piece of luncheon meat directly on to my size 12 Drennan power barbless hook 0.14 to 0.16 with a 0.5 gram thick bristle float. I was using a toss-pot for the meat but cupping and throwing, (for the noise) hemp over the swim. I missed the first bite but hooked and landed a 5lb lump on the second. 

Although I topped up and tried all the swims throughout the day, I kept on the meat swim catching lumps regularly throughout the match. Hours three and four were the most productive mainly as I had to thin the meat feed down as I was running out of the four chopped tins I had prepared. Interesting I could not buy a bite on a 6mm soft pellet or sweetcorn over the meat swim. At one stage I was fishing a yard off the feed area as it was liner-city directly over it. 

Although I fed it when I went for my third net, it took ages to get a bite on my return. True to form, I also did not get a bite once the lads on horseshoe started to pack up. Clearly the bank disturbance is a factor.

I was pleased that my clicking was far more accurate than I thought with a 46lb and 48lb first two nets with a round 40lb in the third making the 134lb total. 

I had used, 4 tins of meat, a few worms, 4 cans of can that produced nothing and pinged pellets all day to no avail.

Great match though with Ray to my right realising where I was fishing in the last two hours and bagging like crazy to pull him up to third in section. Ronnie was always a threat in the corner but the cold water put pay to his shallow peg and he done well to finish second.

As it stands, 5 matches fished

(Top 6)

Championship/Summer:

1, Jonty; 31 pts
2, Trev; 30 pts
3, Ron; 26.5 pts
4, Ray T; 19 pts
5, Steve; 17 pts
6, Weasle; 16 pts

Handicap Cup:

1, Stu 31 pts
2, Steve; 29.5 pts
3, Mike; 27 pts
4, John E; 25 pts
5, Dennis; 24 pts
6, Ron; 17.5 pts

Specimen Cup Entries to date:

Ron, Chub, 3lb 8oz, Kingland.
Trev, Golden Orfe, 2lb 8oz, Kingsland.
Ray T, Common Carp, 16lb 4oz, Farmshop lake, Dents.
Ray T, Bream, 6lb 1oz, Button Hole
Trev, Bream, 6lb 1oz, Button Hole


The full points listings will be advised duiring the general meetings.

Beastie lake, Decoy - 8 July 2009

This seasons Dun-No-More cup match was held at Beastie Lake, Decoy. For those of you who are not aware, the Dun-no-more Cup is held in memory of the late Ralf Webb, a tackle shop owner from Peterborough whose shop was frequently visited by many current and old club members. Our very own Martin Parker ran Webb’s for a duration in the 1990’s.

The Dun-no-more is different in 2 ways to our usual club matches. 1, it is held on a Wednesday and 2, it is the only match where guests are invited to fish.

14 club members at 8 guests fished on what was forecast to be a rather wet day. Fortunately the weather held off and plenty of fish were caught. At the draw, when Martin Howard drew peg 4, many of the guests predicted that Martin would win the match as he is a regular at the venue (as were many of the other guests!) who often frames.

In fifth place was Martin Parker. Martin drew peg 15 and started on the feeder with a 35-40 yard chuck to the recently trimmed island. After a slow start he decided to fish shallow like Andy Gausden to his right and Jonty to his left. He was frustrated by small fish until the odd better F1’s started to make an appearance. He decided to fish the pellet waggler at around 16m for the 2nd half of the match. Martin weighted in 84lb.

Amazingly there was a tie for 3rd between Kevin Wilmot and our very own Trevor Dew. Their catches couldn’t have been any different. Kevin on peg 24 fished pellet shallow for the duration to weigh in 94lb 8oz. This weight could have been more however he was knocked back 6lb for having 56lb in one of his nets. Trev, on the other hand was getting frustrated fishing shallow as he was again getting pestered by small fish on peg 25. He decided to concentrate fishing down the edge to his right for the resident lumps, with died red meat doing the damage. At the weigh in Trev’s 10 lumps and 32lb bag of shallow caught bits also weighted 94lb 8oz.

Jonty came 2nd with 96lb. He started fishing shallow from the off and first put in hooked and lost a lump at the net. After an hour fishing expanders shallow and getting ‘pestered’ by small carp and skimmers he decided to feed and fish 4mm hard pellets instead. After around 10 minutes he was into one of 60-odd F1 caught between 18 & 12 inches deep. He was frustrated as he lost between 20 & 30 fish after hooking them and before getting them in the net.

The 2009 Dun-no-more trophy went to Martin Howard with his catch of 131lb. Martin fished pellet shallow all day taking F1 carp which averaged 1.5-2lb from peg 4. Interestingly he mentioned he had lost between 30 & 40 fish after hooking them.

For the club result, the sections were split on the basis a 50:50 split of club members starting from peg one. As a result Jonty won the club match with Martin 2nd in section. Trev won the other section followed by Muzzy.

Result:

1st – Martin Howard (Guest) 131lb
2nd – Jonty 96lb
Jt 3rd – Trev & Kevin Wilmot (Guest) 94lb 8oz
5th – Martin Parker 86lb

Buttonhole Lake, 28 June 2009 - Report

Thanks to Mr T for putting a few words together in my absence:

Only ten members attended the match at buttonhole even though the whole lake was booked ( something for a future AGM perhaps), in liaison with the owner, pegs were well spaced and unproductive ones left out? The day started overcast and misty but come the time of the draw it was already starting to warm up and expectations were high, but as the day progressed and the temperature soared, the fish were somewhat elusive for many. With the sun beating down there were muffled expletives as third degree burns were administered to unprotected hands as poles were shipped in and out and cry’s of ‘ I’ll never play the piano again’ were heard around the lake!!

Drawing fancied peg 20 Trev first fished to the island on the waggler but unable to locate the carp both in front and in the margins, decide to target the silver fish. Fishing shallow on casters he worked hard in the sweltering heat with a steady flow of silvers coming to the net. Three quarters of the way through the match his number four section slide down the bank and disappeared into the lake, after some frantic searching, it was declared lost and without a replacement with him he carried on with the rod and wag until the final whistle. At the weigh-in he had a respectable and hard earned 33lb of silvers plus a nice tench and a specimen bream of 5lb 17oz? ( JB now on scales!!) finishing third with a total weight of 41lb 8oz.

At right angles to Trev and fishing the same bay was Ray T on peg 23, after speaking to Mr Button ( owner) before the match, he decided to take his advise and fish long out into the bay at 13 metres and cup in plenty of catmeat and pellet from the off. Fishing catmeat to a 14’s in eight foot of water he was soon into a couple of carp early on but this soon dried up and the margins weren’t producing either, but regular cupping in at distance slowly brought the carp in and by early afternoon they were steadily coming to the net. A short session later in the margins brought him some bonus fish on pellet including another specimen bream of 6lb 1oz. Not wanting to be out done by Trev on the pole front, ten minutes before the end of the match he ‘popped’ the top five sections off his pole on a carp which towed it around the bay like a barge. With it heading for the aerator and a good shredding, Mr T scampered after it with the remaining sections of his pole and manage to reclaim it and with the kind assistance from Dennis, also landed the fish (fish was released). At the scales Ray T secured second place with 61lb 4oz.

Unbeknown to the rest of us at the top of the lake, the real action was happening at the other end. Drawn peg 12 by proxy as Jon Bowland was running late ( what!! JB late..never!!) he plumped for a surface bait tactic for stunning effect. Fishing floating dog biscuit it was slow to start but come the afternoon, they were ‘having it’ and put together a nice couple of nets of fish. At the weigh in a nonchalant JB quipped ‘ only got four in this net, as he slipped four slabs into the weigh net which sent the scales pointer slamming round to 44lbs ( er, me thinks these are all doubles gentlemen), bringing out the second net for the ‘coup de grace’ (that’s froggy language for` you are all stuffed’) takes his total to a match winning 94lb 4oz. Nice one mate.

Taking the winners pot, he missed out on the ‘winner takes all kitty’ as he was late arriving so this went to runner up Ray T, on being asked how he felt about this unexpected windfall Mr T replied, JB’s doing a good job and should continue to arrive let in the future.

You could say the match was a game of two half’s as the weights came from both ends of the lake around the area of the aerators, considering the heat it was unsurprising but the club members did well as the weights were well above the previous days match also fished by ten anglers.

Mr T's Buttonhole photo's

Mr T Tries to Stitch up the Button Hole

MR 'T' TRIES TO STITCH UP BUTTONHOLE LAKE!!

As is my way with match venues that I haven't fished before, I like to have a practise session, this serves two purpose's, one, find the place and how long the journey takes so I'm not late for the match and secondly try and understand the venue, what works, what doesn,t.I'd found the place on Google Earth and it seems in the middle of nowhere, although it was surprisingly easy to find. Once you enter Marshland St. James and turn on to School Lane drive as far as the pub( nice pub by the way, anyone up for an after match pint, this might be a good way of relieving the winner of his winnings), this is the last building on your left or first building on your right depending on which direction your coming from, and turn right immediately opposite, down road which becomes a gravel track and before it becomes grass turn right into the car park.

Before I unload the car its time for a amble round the lake and get my bearings, only one fishing at the moment (8.00am). Peg 1 is the first peg on the right of the lake as you enter and goes anti-clockwise round to peg 25. Roughly, peg 19 round to peg 5 is a large bay and no features, the rest of the pegs have the island in front of you, although its 14 metres away (min), ok for all you young bucks, but bloody hard work for us oldies!! A quick chat with the bloke fishing on peg 20, he tells me he's already had a 18lb carp, when I ask him what he's fishing on he tells me he only uses maggot ( it may be true but I think he's talking cobblers so I move on and talk to the owner).The owner is a thoroughly nice bloke, very helpful, he said the Tuesday evening match that is held every week didn't fish too well as the lakes not really on form yet after spawning but he did win the match with 39lb off peg 24, this comprised of some carp and tench plus 3 bream to 6lb.I asked him where I should fish as we have a match here Sunday, he says he as a booking for 15 pegs Sunday for us, but we can choose which pegs we want if we let him know in advance ( I've e-mailed Jonty, I think he's on to it). So, I plump for peg 8 towards the end of the island, it had a tree there for a bit of shade as it looked like I was in for a glorious sunny day plus I tend to go for an average swim when match practising, chances are that's what you draw rather than the flyer.

So, am I going to tell you which method works best? Well I start of by plumbing the depth,as you do.First up to the island, try and find the shelf, well there isn't one, its straight off the eiger, except of course for the thick carpet of tree roots, well that's one plummet gone for a burton already!!once clear of the roots its straight down to 5ft in old money ( 1.7333 metres recurring or something like that).So, we pop a bit of catmeat, pellet and corn over there and follow with the rig and a piece of the trusty catmeat from the kid himself. The float cocks, gives me the two fingers and disappears, out goes the elastic, the fish goes into kamikaze mode but after a very spirited battle gives up to superior forces and a nice conditioned tench of 3lb is in the net, em nice start, will it last. Out again, the float settles, has some sort of orgasm and buries, I think this fish is having bets with its mates to see how far they can get an elastic to stretch as it tanks off down the island.After another epic battle a nice ghostie ( I think they are all on steroids) surrenders to the net greeted by a standing ovation from the crowd gathered behind me (only kidding, I'm on my own down here), this is followed by another tench.But fishing at this distance is doing me in and as the depth of water doesn't change much, 6ft tops, I drop a section and come in a bit and try again, I still catch, I try pellet, I try sweetcorn, they all work.I drop another couple of sections ( now we getting comfortable) and cup some bait in, in a short while we are in the action again, tench, F1's, quality roach and rudd, skimmers, mirror carp, you just don't know what's coming next. I even had skimmers and tench up in the water.

As you know, time flyes when your enjoying yourself, and as my stomach thought my throat had been cut, it was time for a spot of lunch under the shade of the tree as its a bit of a sun trap here and I am gently frying, also a good time to take stock of the session. As the egg mayo filing of my butty gently slips down the front of my T shirt (that will be a bollocking later) I contemplate the days findings so far, everything seems to work everywhere except the margin, time to give that a go next.

Cupping in a bit of feed to my left, can't go to the right as there's a tree stump blocking my way. First up we try a piece of catmeat, but other than it getting whittled away by the smaller fish sharpening up their teeth, the float just gave me the two fingers and decide to sulk,as I was having none of it I change to pellet, I gave the float the one finger, told it to swivel, it did and buried as a nice tench of 5lb towed it up the lake. Alternating hook baits in the margin saw fish regularly coming to the net, including some very nice roach ( I wonder how this fishery does in the winter?) So, at the end of the day how did I do, well my clicker says seventy one pounds, I tend to be conservative about weights when pleasure fishing, no forfeit for going over and I tend not to include anything under 8oz. Is there a particular tactic that works here better than others, well on the day I would say no.There are no bait bans here (very refreshing) and the general stamp of fish here is very good, if the fish are having it on the day its going to be an interesting match.

I've enjoyed it here today, I hope you do too. If this report helps you win the match on Sunday, mines a pint of Fosters.I was so impressed by the venue and the owner, I shall return for other pleasure session, I hope you can join me. As our old mate Arny said ' I'LL BE BACK'

Photos to follow.....

Button Hole - Net Requirements

You'll need a minimum of 2 nets, one for carp, one for silvers. Max 50lb in a net but the bailiff doesn't seem too concerned if this is exceeded. I suggest take a spare, especially if you get up to 50lb with plenty of time left on the clock.

Ray "Mr T" Torrington went for a 'practice' session yesterday, I am expecting a bit of a report from him soon so watch this space for further info...

I wont be there Sunday but I did call the bailiff, Tony (number off the venue we site) and this is what he told me:

Island pegs:

Fish tight to the island (14-14.5m) on the shelf (6-12 inches deep) with big baits (cat meat or paste). Bites will either be small dips or your pole will be pulled round. Small dibber floats best.

Open Water Pegs:

Fish long (11-13m) with pellet/paste and look for signs of fish shallow. if they come shallow feed and fish for them there. Pole line depth vary from 5-7 feet, depending on what end of the lake you are at.

Any Peg:

Feed the margins: these will produce but are best when there is not much bank side disturbance. I'd suggest catmeat or paste for the better fish from what I have gleened.

Dont ignore the silvers: A match was won recently with 70lb of rudd caught 12inches deep at 2-3m on maggot. Keep dripping in the feed. I suggest keeping an eye on others around you and if carp aren't being caught, get on this line to add a few lb to your weight.

Tony also said dont be shy with the feed but I'd suggest not to dump a load in as you cant take it out!

Hope this helps

Jonty

Buttonhole Lake, 28 June 2009 - Driving Directions

Button Hole Lake
Rand Drove
Marshland St James
Wisbech, Cambs
PE14 8HA

Directions

 

Once at Marshland St James turn at the cross road onto School Road (next to Hickathrift Residential home) carry on to the Marshland Arms pub, directly opposite is Rands drove which leads to the lake.

A new comers view...

CONCOCTED BY Ray 'Mr T' Torrington (the only similarity I have to him is I wear a small gold chain, thank god, Christ he was an ugly bastard!! Some also call me the 'catmeat kid' amongst other things.

I first became aware of Grebe AC on a visit to Ken Wades tackle shop in Peterborough where a notice stuck to his fridge door listed the venues for this years matches held by the club, this is what first drew my attention as all the venues are good, and all along the bottom of the notice were cut off and keep contact details of Jon Wilson (smart cutting edge thinking). I asked Ken about the club and he said they were a small but friendly club with a reasonable standard of angler ( I think its higher but I don't know what circle of anglers Ken fishes with, if we had the likes of Steve Ringer. Bob Nudd etc then we would all be just pools fodder!!). I emailed Jon and he kindly downloaded the club rules and AGM details and dates of the meetings for my perusal, the rules are common sense and not over burdened with red tape ( always remember we fish for enjoyment, red tape kills that, refer to government for good example, ok don't get me started!!). So, all signs are good for joining the club but first I will have to ask the wife, not that she would normally mind but let me explain. I started fishing when I was thirteen and when I started working, I joined the companies angling club (Leicester) and started fishing matches in the fens on Sundays but due to marriage, work, children, divorce, .you know, the normal things that life throws at you, then you don't get the time to commit to match fishing and you just grab the pleasure sessions when you can. Then I joined the MOD at RAF Wittering in 1999 and they actually pay you to go fishing ( I kid you not) I had to keep pinching myself, I thought I'd gone to heaven.Then the powers that be (sqn leaders) made my job into total crap ( they got promotion, we got the shaft) I decided to jump ship and retire with is why I had to ask the wife because I haven't fished on a weekend in years, as my wife works and I don't (excellent partnership) it didn't seem fair to go fishing when she's at home when I can go anytime in the week,but she fine with it bless her, so I came to the AGM and joined.

With some trepidation I set off for the distant lands of Somersham, thinking I was leaving in plenty of time 6.45, then my car wouldn't start due to a flat battery, thought ten minutes on the charger would be enough just to get it started, wrong! back in doors to grab keys to the wifes Nissen Micra and explain why her car will be missing. Hit the road and the accelerator, not much seems to be happening, this one litre engine needs a bit of winding up, soon I'm thrumming nicely across the switchback that is the subsided roads of the fens in the pitch black, all is going well till I hit Raveley then the signposts ran out, I know, a quick look at the map should put me back on the right road, wrong! wife's car, don't do maps, don't drive anywhere she doesn't know. OK so I'm now lost in the pitch black with no map, right follow your nose, its big enough, so I swing a left and head for civilisation, after a few miles I enter a village with an open petrol station, jump out and ask directions, good, not too far of track but its after eight. Good job I put Jonty's mobile number on my phone, quick call lets him know I'm on my way.Eventually coax the Micra in to Somersham only to be overwhelmed by the number of pubs (consider moving here ) I think the Black Bull was possibly the one at the end, cruise in to the car park and enter the empty front bar (where is everyone?) Order a pint and ask if there's an angling club meeting here tonight, yes she say's, just head to the rear and follow the racket, righto I say imbibing deeply and enter a tightly packed room in full flow, I've made it.

Ok, so what were my first impression as I didn't know anyone. Well there's definitely a good cross section of people of all ages and from all walks of life, the loud, the quiet, the comedians, all the ingredient's of a well rounded club. I was also impressed by the number of trophies and prizes that were handed out, especially the ones for things other than outright winners, and when there were surplus prizes at the end then these were entered into a draw for everyone at the meeting, including me, who nobody know from Adam and didn't even know if I would join.But the most important thing that I've noticed from the start of that first meeting is the quality of the committee members, these are the guys that make the club work, for those of us who are lucky enough just to be able to turn up and fish should spare a thought for all the hard work these guys put in to make it happen.We should help them when ever we can, they are like gold dust, without them we have no club

Now, onto what could be a contentious issue, talking tactics. I think I possibly sit between both camps on this one. I agree that we should assist each other in enjoying our sport, but as most things in life, you get out what you put in.We are fishing matches to get points and points make prizes, so its understandable that some may not want to give away their hard earned knowledge in what is a competitive sport. I personally don't mind talking to people about tactics as long as its a two way thing, experiences as shown me that some are good at asking questions but don't answer any. This is not aimed at anyone in this club as I don't know anyone well enough and hopefully you don't crucify me for raising the issue. What I would be really interested in is helping those in the club that would like to increase their catches, I don't mean those who are consistently at the top of the league because I believe you know what your doing, its those that may get a little disheartened at not doing quite as well as they would like. Of course helping people on a match day is difficult so what I would like to offer people is a practise session at a match venue usually in the week before a match, I know not everyone is as lucky as me to have time in the week due to all your commitments but the offer is there for those who wish to take it. I shall be going to Button hole lake probably next Wednesday for those who are interested ( called them Sunday, no matches booked during the week, except Tuesday evening, must be off the lake by 4.00pm on that day). I know someone will suggest that I write a revue on the venue after the practise session, well if I get time maybe ( I'd sooner be fishing than writing, this is taking me hours) and if I do write something I just might leave a key element out, best to join me on the bank if you can. May have just dug a hole for myself there?

Full marks for Jonty's match report and his tactic's, truly awesome win, what energy. If I had fished like he did on the day they would have had to stretcher me off.Let me show you the difference in my tactics on the day. Drawing peg 34 I didn't fancy my chances very much as it was devoid of features, 25 metres to the island, nothing in the margins, what shall I do? Right, I'll set up a feeder rod to cast to the island ( always dangerous, thats another fivers worth of feeders out the window), set up an up in the water rig and a bottom rig for 11 metres and finally a margin rig for those lovely lumps.On the whistle I thought I'd try something different and didn't put any feed in anywhere and dropped a piece of catmeat in the margin to my left, nothing!! so I dropped it to my right and it buried, with a tench in the net I dropped in again and it buried, another tench, then an f1 and so it went on. Nothing from my left, all from the right, it was steady but not great, should I change tactics, maybe waste time getting them up in the water or get a feeder to the island, normally takes time to get them on to the feed. Should I stick in the margin and hope for the lumps, pressures mounting as Trev to my left and Martin to my right continue to bag up up in the water. Never mind I'll stick to the margins, once those lumps move in I'll take the match apart, whats this!! last hour ,margins gone dead, Trev's catching lumps...bugger!! O well wait till next time.

Right, thats enough of my gibberish, hope I haven't offended anyone and its only my view. Finally, jonty asked if anyone has a good camera for photo's for the blog, well I'm not sure how good my camera is but I've been quite impressed with the quality, so I'm quite happy to bring it along to matches if you so wish ( subject to remembering, age related, and the batteries are not flat, camera that is or on second thoughts maybe thats me)

Happy Fishing

Willows, Decoy - Winning tactics??

If you are interested, I have penned a bit of a report of how my match went last Sunday, here goes...

After speaking with Kevin Wilmot earlier in the week I was persuaded to forget a pellet shallow and consider fishing caster instead. I don’t fish a lot of caster shallow because it’s too expensive (Credit Crunch and all that) but after the venues recent form, reading stuff Lee Kerry writes in the magazines about catching F1’s shallow on caster and knowing the diversity of species in Willows, I decided a caster approach would be most suitable and wont be as selective at the pellet may be.

As far as I’m concerned the key to fishing shallow (or any type of fishing come to that) is feeding. Shallow fishing usually requires a constant stream of bait falling through the water to either entice the fish to come shallow or to keep fish in the top layers searching and ultimately competing for food. The question then was how much do I feed and how often?

After speaking to Ron to see how he pegged the match it was good to see he had, as usual, left out the not-so-good pegs, left in the good pegs and gave the mediocre pegs plenty of room. I drew peg 18 and wasn't very optimistic, however with the nearest anglers on 15 and 24, I had plenty of space and I was confident of getting a few shallow....

Many venues respond to shallow fishing later on in a session after an hour or so of feeding to get the fish going. With this in mid I set up a paste rig at 5m with a view to go on after a quick look shallow first thing to see if the they are about. I started off at 11m, feeding 10-12 casters constantly (but not very accurately J). The fish were obviously already ‘up’ as on my first put in on double maggot fishing 18 inches deep I had a 1lb F1 hybrid. When I said I went straight on the hallow line, I mean I didn’t even feed any other lines beforehand. 

After a couple of roach in the next 2 put-ins I decided to try an inch long piece of worm as a ‘target’ bait try and entice any better fish that may be in the area. After all I had an F1 first put in so they must be around. The worm done the trick and more F1’s followed. I decided then to concentrate on the shallow line as it responded so early. I put the paste line to the back of my mind. Wheely on 15 and Ron and Graz on pegs 24 & 25 we all I could see from peg 18 on what I call the second bay. From what I could make out, Ron had started on the feeder against the island opposite and Graz was fishing the pole against the island to the right of 25.

I kept up the process of feeding and working my rig and began to get into some kind of rhythm. After about an hour I had about 25lb of mainly F1’s and the odd tench. At this stage I was still fishing 18 inches deep but getting plenty of indication on the float. This lead me to believe the fish were probably feeding shallower than I was fishing my hook bait. The indications were probably caused by fish swimming into my line above the hook. With this in mind I decided to alter my rig to fish 12 inches deep with my bulk of nr 10s 6inches from the hook. My rig consisted of 0.14 mainline to a 6 inch 0.12 hooklength and a size 18 Mustad still water power hook. The float was a Maver ‘Margin’ in 4x12 size. By coming shallower my catch rate improved and I started to fill my second net at the start of hour 2.

As I was fishing worm on the hook, I decided to chop some more into 1 inch sections and give them a squirt of red colouring to give the fish something different as a target bait. This worked a treat, I guess the bright red colour was more visable to the fish that a dull piece of worm and this resulted in more positive bites. The fish did become wise to this after an hour or so and as I had been feeding caster I decided to spend some time with double caster on the hook. Again this change of hook bait meant my slowing catch rate increased once again. For the next hour or so I alternated between double caster and ‘red’ worm on the hook to keep the fish coming.

One thing I found was essential was working the rig. I got in to a rhythm of lifting and dropping my rig almost constantly. One thing that worked well was as soon as I let go of my catty pouch when feeding, I lifted my rig and dropped it back in, this meant the hook bait and feed were going in at exactly the same time. If I hadn’t had a bite after a few lifts, I stopped feeding and ‘slapped’ the rig up to 4 times. Slapping the rig means rotating the pole tip at speed and flicking the rig round on to the waters surface, perpendicular to the pole. I think the sound of the float, bulk and bait hitting the surface when slapping mimic’s that of the loose feed but the only bait in the swim when slapping being the hook bait. Doing this often resulted in my double 6 laccy being pulled from the end of my pole! At 2pm, with 2 and a half hours to go I decided to go for a third net.

The last 2 hours were manic. I decided that as I had been feeding casters all day, the wary fish would probably be selecting the single baits and would be confident eating them at this stage. I decided to cut back the feed to 4-6 casters each time to increase competition in the peg. The fish were swirling as they came ultra shallow for my loose feed. I decided to change to my 4x10 rig at 12 inches deep with all the bulk under the float to give the caster as slower fall as possible. I would have liked to have come shallower but the 12 inch rule meant I couldn’t.  I tried to keep the bait a high in the water as often as possible by constantly working the bait and slapping the rig. I went and got my 3^rd net at 2pm and at 4pm went for my 4th as I had lost track of what I had put in net 3. It was a good job I went for another net as my third net weighted in at 51lb and was knocked back to 50lb at the weighin. My 4^th net, which went in with only half an hour to go, weighed just over 20lb which just shows how good the last part of the match really was.

I wasn’t sure what weight I had at the end of the match. Ron weighed in first with 120lb and we thought I was between 15 and 20lb ahead of him My 4 nets went 159lb 8oz. I was surprised I had caught that much, chuffed I had beaten my personal best match weight and was absolutely fooked!

So what did I learn:

Feeding and getting into a rhythm. I had to keep bait going in all the time. I’d feed and work or slap the rig until I hooked a fish, guide the fish away from the swim and feed again before shipping back. When I got to my top kit I took the pole apart and fed again. I then played and netted the fish and fed again before I un hooked the fish. I’d then put the fish in the keep net, check (worm) or re-new (caster) the hook bait and feed again before shipping the rig out for the next fish. Cutting the feed back saw more competition in the peg as the match drew to a close.

Working the rig. It was important to keep the hook bait dropping through the water to mimic the loose feed. If I left the bait stationary, I simply struggled to get a proper bite.

Slapping the rig. This was really important to encourage the fish to take the bait, particularly the larger f1’s, probably due to the bait falling through the water and the hook bait entering the water away from the pole tip. I did however find the fish were attracted to the tip of my pole. They probably associated it with feed raining in!

Practice. I’m not the most prolific angler but it’s easy to see why the top anglers are where they are. They spend more time on the bank and with practice come precision, something I believe key in most aspects of match fishing.

Listen to those in the know. If I hadn’t spoken to Kev I would probably have fished pellet. On the day I’m not sure if pellet would have caught as much as caster and I’ll never know.

Keep it simple. There was nothing complicated about what I was doing. I set up 5 rigs but only used the 2 shallow ones.

Rig up some spares. I did suffer a few tangles which I guess come with the territory when fishing shallow. Next time I will certainly have spares on winders, if not already on top kits.

….and finally, don’t  bother asking Ray Sladden how he caught, because he wont tell ya, even after the match!

Willows, By Keith 'Magnum PI' Walker

A beautiful sunny day at Decoy on the Willows lake, not being used to lakes and ponds I took a "Blitzkrieg" approach. I always fish with rod and line, I took a variety of baits including maggot, castor, pellet, hemp, corn, dynamite and hand grenades. I fished shallow, deep, far bank (island) and in near margins. Using 8lb line with a 6.5 hook length with hooks ranging from 18 to a grappling iron. My finishing weight was dismal at around 5.5lb plus one Carp that suffered a heart attack. I came last in my section, last in the match, in fact it was probably the lowest weight in the whole of the Decoy complex but it was a fantastic day fishing with a great bunch of blokes (some comedians) and that is what makes it all worthwhile.

That is my match report and will probably be published in all the major fishing mag's, might even be made into a movie - who knows.

Keith Walker, Grebe Novice

As it stands (3 matches fished)

(Top 6)

Championship:

1, Jonty; 22 pts
2, Ron; 19.5 pts
3, Trev; 17 pts
4, Karl; 14.5 pts
5, Ray T; 12 pts
6, Lewis; 11 pts

Handicap Cup:

1, John E; 21 pts
2, Steve; 18 pts
3, Stu; 17 pts
4, Ron; 12.5 pts
5, Mike; 12 pts
6, Jonty; 11 pts

Specimen Cup Entries to date:

Ron, Chub, 3lb 8oz, Kingland.
Trev, Golden Orfe, 2lb 8oz, Kingsland.
Ray T, Common Carp, 16lb 4oz, Farmshop lake, Dents.

The full points listings will be advised duiring the general meetings

Result - Willows, Decoy, 14 June 2009

15 members attended Willows at Decoy for the latest club match. This is one of the most anticipated matches on the Grebe AC calendar as recent club matches here have seen weights over 100lb making up 3 or 4 of the top weights.

With the whole lake booked, there was the opportunity to spread the lads about and leave out some of the worse pegs. Ron decided upon a fair split of sections, selecting the pegs with the better form and leaving plenty of space for angler on the ‘bay’ pegs.

Pegs with the island in pole reach, pegs 1, 25, 29 & 35, were favorites along with peg 15 which won the charity match on the previous day, however the bay pegs have proved to be consistent in previous club matches on the venue as we have been able to give these pegs some room.

Trevor, on peg 30, caught shallow on caster and later down the edge with corn for a very respectable 104lb for 2nd in section and 4th overall. Taking advantage of a bit of space on peg 13, Karl fished pellet shallow at 13-14.5m for 116lb catch consisting predominantly of F1 carp for 3rd in the match and 2nd in section. After a quick look on the feeder on peg 24, Ron fished caster shallow for the majority of the match with a few smaller fish caught late on in the margins. His 120lb was enough to earn him a section win and 2nd over all. Jonty, also making use of the space he had on peg 18 (you still have to catch them…) fished shallow from the off. Feeding caster and fishing worm, double or single caster on the hook he caught steadily all day. With one of his net reduced to 50lb for weighing 51lb, his 4 nets totaled 159lb 8oz for his first match win of the season.

With 4 weights over 100lb and many in the 50-90lb bracket it just goes to show how prolific the venue is.

Result (top 4)

Jonty – 159lb 8oz
Ron – 120lb
Karl – 116lb
Trev – 104lb

Willows Lake, Decoy - 14 June 2009

For those of you who have not fished Decoy before, the complex is signposted off the A605 between Eastrea and Whittlesey.

Please check the fixtures list for draw times and dont forget to let a club official know if you are likely to be late.

See you there.

Jonty

Caption Competition

Right lads, for a bit of fun let's see what we come up with. Here's one from the captor himself:

"First he puts a hook in my mouth, now he's got his finger up my arse. Bastard !!!"

Mr T's Dent's Common

Ray 'Mr T' Torrington with his stunning 16lb 4oz common caught during our club match on 17 May 2009. The fish was part of Ray's winning weight of 54lb 4oz. Nice fish mate!

Current Standings (2 matches fished)

(Top 6)

Championship:

1, Jonty; 13 pts
2, Ron; 12.5 pts
=3, Lewis & Trev; 11 pts
=5, Ray T, Steve & Tony; 9 pts

Handicap Cup:

1, Steve; 18 pts
=2, John E & Mike; 12 pts
4, Stuart; 10 pts
5, Ron; 7.5 pts
6, Jonty; 7 pts

Specimen Cup Entries to date:

Ron, Chub, 3lb 8oz, Kingland.
Trev, Golden Orfe, 2lb 8oz, Kingsland.
Ray T, Common Carp, 16lb 4oz, Farmshop lake, Dents.

Farnshop Lake, Dents - 17 May 2009

17 turned out to fish our latest club match and dispite a brisk southerly wind and a few showers plenty of fish were caught.

Tony on peg 2 had a busy day catching a mixed bag which mainly consisted of crucian carp for a level 30 lb, this catch earnt him 3rd in section. Lewis on peg 7 decided on an out and out waggler shallow attack, a decision which saw better quality fish fall consistently to his shallow fished maggot over loose fed caster. Fishing at about 15m out, Lewis caught steadily all day to record a excellent 38lb 12oz for 2nd in section and 2nd overall. Ray T on peg 5 won the section and match overall. His 38lb of mixed fish plus a beautiful margin caught common carp of 16lb 4oz gave him a total weight of 54lb 4oz and his first match win at the club. A win which is likely to be one of many to come.

In the other section Trev drew fancied peg 16 but the pegs resident big fish eluded him on this occasion, however he did manage a very respectable 34lb using his trusted chopped worm approach. A few pegs away on pegs 13 & 14 sat Ron & Jonty. Again the big fish lines didn't result in fish in the net for either of them. Ron's weight of 25lb was not enough to win the peg-to-peg battle as Jonty weighed in 36lb of pellet caught skimmers/crucians for a section win and 3rd overall.

Top 3:

Ray Torrington - 54lb 4oz
Lewis Harvey - 38lb 12oz
Jonty Wislon - 36lb

Speci-cup entry:

Ray Torrington, Commom Carp, 16lb 4oz, cat meat.

Farmshop Lake - 4 May 2009

As I was at a loose end yesterday afternoon I went and had a walk round with the weigh-in of the Witchford Social Club match as former Grebe member Alan was fishing.

They had pegs 1-18 and 13 fished. Alan was 3rd with 34lb 4oz from peg 14. 1st and 2nd were on pegs 5 and 4 and had 45lb and 41lb respectivley. After speaking to the top 3 what was surprising was the amount of feed used. The catches mainly consisted of the usual silvers/cru's/skimmers. The skimmers are putting on some weight (average 1.5-2lb) and I reckon those who can afford to put in some worm will do well in our match on the 17th.

Like we always have found the fishing slowed after lunch time so it will be key to catch for the duration of the match.

See you there in a few week.

Jonty

Farmshop Lake, Dents - 17 May 2009

Our next club match is fast apporaching. For those who are unsure where the venue is; pull in off the A10 as it by-passes the village of Hilgay, into Dents Of Hilgay farm shop & garden center. The lake is opposite the shop car park. Hilgay is between Littleport and Downham Market.

Meet at the venue in good time for the draw at 8.30. Fishing times are likely to be 10-4 but may be slightly varied on the day.

Current League Standings (1 match fished)

(Top 6)

Championship:

=1, Ron & Karl; 8.5 pts
3, Ray S; 7 pts
4, Jonty; 6 pts
=5, Lewis & Trev; 5pts

Handicap Cup:

1, Steve G; 9 pts
=2, Ron & Karl; 6.5 pts
4, John E; 6 pts
=5, Ray S & Mike; 5 pts

Specimen Cup Entries to Date:

Ron, Chub, 3lb 8oz, Kingland.
Trev, Golden Orfe, 2lb 8oz, Kingsland.

Kingsland Silverfish Lake, 19 April 2009

Whilst the forecast was for a plesent day, the venue was very much effected by the brisk North Easterly wind that had been prevailing for the the last few days. The abuncdance of quality silver fish were reluctant to feed in any numbers on the pole line and those who persevered fishing shallow for chub were rewarded for their efforts.

Sitting in the wind on peg 18 was Ray Sladden. He started on the pellet waggler from the off, feeding and fishing 6-8mm pellets into the brisk head wind. Halfway into the match Ray had around 10 chub, which averaged about 2 1/2 lb. Not much was happening on the pole line. The odd fish were comming out. Chappy had an early Tench from the peg Trev fished on the previous saturday when he had over 100lb on the pole. Ron caught the odd fish on the pole too, whilst pinging caster with a the hope of a chub or three later in the match.

Karl was quietly putting a few fish in his net. Fishing maggot shallow an the waggler but getting rudd'ed out, he decided to concentrated on fishing the long pole shallow with pellet to be more selective for the chub. A switch that will later prove to be decisive. By the halfway point Ron began to fish maggot shallow on the waggler and caught numerous chub. Lewis, one peg to Ron's left followed suit and also managed half a dozen chub.

Interestingly, as the match came in to the final stages the chub seemed to shut up shop and only the odd fish was being caught. Ray S managed a few fish from the wind swept margin to his right but would they give him enough of a boost come the weigh in?

Result:

=1st Ron Gilbert & Karl Richards 35lb
3rd Ray Sladden 31lb 4oz
4th Jon Wilson 23lb
5th Lewis Harvey 15lb 8oz

Matchfishing/Garbolino Club Angler of the Year 2009

Trev will be representing the club in Thursdays semi-final at Tunnel Barn Farm.

Good luck mate.

Proposed pools payout structure

No of Anglers	Payout fund (£)	Overall (£)			Section Default (£)
	Total	1st	2nd	3rd	Section 1	Section 2
7	28.00	14.00	9.00	5.00	-	-
8	32.00	16.00	10.00	6.00	-	-
9	36.00	18.00	11.00	7.00	-	-
10	40.00	15.00	9.00	6.00	5.00	5.00
11	44.00	17.00	10.00	6.00	5.50	5.50
12	48.00	18.00	11.00	7.00	6.00	6.00
13	52.00	20.00	12.00	7.00	6.50	6.50
14	56.00	21.00	13.00	8.00	7.00	7.00
15	60.00	22.00	14.00	9.00	7.50	7.50
16	64.00	24.00	15.00	9.00	8.00	8.00
17	68.00	25.00	16.00	10.00	8.50	8.50
18	72.00	27.00	17.00	10.00	9.00	9.00
19	76.00	28.00	18.00	11.00	9.50	9.50
20	80.00	30.00	18.00	12.00	10.00	10.00
21	84.00	32.00	19.00	12.00	10.50	10.50
22	88.00	33.00	20.00	13.00	11.00	11.00
23	92.00	35.00	21.00	13.00	11.50	11.50
24	96.00	36.00	22.00	14.00	12.00	12.00
25	100.00	37.00	23.00	15.00	12.50	12.50
26	104.00	39.00	24.00	15.00	13.00	13.00
27	108.00	40.00	25.00	16.00	13.50	13.50
28	112.00	41.00	26.00	17.00	14.00	14.00
29	116.00	43.00	27.00	17.00	14.50	14.50
30	120.00	45.00	27.00	18.00	15.00	15.00

Are you happy with the proposed payout structure? Please vote using the poll on the right hand side.