The first round of this years Odd's and Sod's England Qualifier was at Rutland on 16th June. I was drawn with Bart Farmer for this first round.
Practice day the day before with Chris Bobby didn't really help a great deal as the weather was terrible. 20mph plus wind and a big swell on the water meant that the best we could do was pull lures. We did try some nymphs but to no avail. We both had 4 by the end of a hard,wet and blustery day.
We had identified a few areas though and the match day weather was going to be a lot better.
Match day and Bart and and I agree to start on the Normanton Bank between the church and blue pipes. Both on Di5 sweeps with tequila blobs or fab's. I had 4 fish quite quickly, 3 on the blobs and a brownie that took a Diawl Bach on the hang.
12.00 and with 4 to me and Bart nil we moved to Barnsdale Bay. Bart changed tactic to a midge tip and nymphs but I stuck with the Di5 setup that had worked earlier. I had 2 more fish before Bart finally had a fish in the boat. 6-1 up I was confident I would bag up soon. Not so!
Chris Bobby came past at 1.30 having finished as well as his boat partner. I was still on 6 though.
Bart switched back to the Di5 and FAB and started to catch me up. Soon it was 7 each and 3.45 Bart got his 8th fish. Eventually at 4.30 I got that elusive 8th fish and we headed back to the harbour to weigh in.
Not a good bag weight at all. 15lb 9 3/8oz plus 1lb 8oz time bonus my total weight of 17lb 1 3/8oz was only good enough for 18th place. Bart did a little better in 15th place but here was some much bigger fish caught in other areas of the lake.
So, round 1 done and all to do in the 2nd round at Grafham in 2 weeks time. Still a r easy able chance of qualifying for the National Final but I need a really good result at Grafham.
Monday 17 June 2013
Sunday 2 June 2013
AW - Airflo International Midland Heat
Saturday 1st June was the Midland Heat of the Anglian Water-Airflo International held at Grafham Water
12 teams were entered including 2 teams from GWFFA with 6 teams going through to the Midland Final in July. Most of our 2 teams had practiced in the days leading up to the match and the favoured method was floating line or midge tip with either straight line nymphs and buzzers or washing line using a booby on the point.
Match day though the weather was not the same as practice. At least the morning was a lot cooler, cloudier and windier. I decided to stick with the midge tip with traitor line nymphs despite my boat partner, Charlie Abrahams, from Sonik Pirates opting for a Di5 and blobs pulled. As did most of the boats, we headed for valley creek just to the left of the harbour. Although some boats were catching, noticeably Rio Masters, I did not get a pull here in over an hour and half. With no fish to the boat we decided to move to E buoy near the Seat. On the way past the harbour Charlie and I both saw a fish jump near Perry Point and Richard Slater, Elinor, had a fish on so we set up a drift from W buoy to Perry Point. After a few drifts we both had 2 fish but it wasn't enough to keep us there despite seeing Richard take a few fish.
We headed to E buoy where I saw Norman Rushden take a fish in Sailing Club Bay. We had a drift but nothing. A fruitless drift at Seat, E buoy and Sludge Bank saw us move to A buoy near the South End of the Dam.
This was the most productive area for both Charlie and I. A change if set up to a slow glass with 2 buzzers a hairs ear and a cormorant on the point i caught 2 more fish but also hooked and lost a couple here as well. A very frustrating afternoon saw us both return to the harbour 4 each!
At the weigh in things looked tight for the lower places in the top 6 but was clear that Rio Masters had won as all 6 had bagged up.
The results were given and GWFFA 1 had qualified in 5th place. Phew!
Unfortunately GWFFA 2 missed out on 6th place by only 11oz's!
We had made it to the Midland Final on 22nd July. A good result there will see us in the International Final in October.
12 teams were entered including 2 teams from GWFFA with 6 teams going through to the Midland Final in July. Most of our 2 teams had practiced in the days leading up to the match and the favoured method was floating line or midge tip with either straight line nymphs and buzzers or washing line using a booby on the point.
Match day though the weather was not the same as practice. At least the morning was a lot cooler, cloudier and windier. I decided to stick with the midge tip with traitor line nymphs despite my boat partner, Charlie Abrahams, from Sonik Pirates opting for a Di5 and blobs pulled. As did most of the boats, we headed for valley creek just to the left of the harbour. Although some boats were catching, noticeably Rio Masters, I did not get a pull here in over an hour and half. With no fish to the boat we decided to move to E buoy near the Seat. On the way past the harbour Charlie and I both saw a fish jump near Perry Point and Richard Slater, Elinor, had a fish on so we set up a drift from W buoy to Perry Point. After a few drifts we both had 2 fish but it wasn't enough to keep us there despite seeing Richard take a few fish.
We headed to E buoy where I saw Norman Rushden take a fish in Sailing Club Bay. We had a drift but nothing. A fruitless drift at Seat, E buoy and Sludge Bank saw us move to A buoy near the South End of the Dam.
This was the most productive area for both Charlie and I. A change if set up to a slow glass with 2 buzzers a hairs ear and a cormorant on the point i caught 2 more fish but also hooked and lost a couple here as well. A very frustrating afternoon saw us both return to the harbour 4 each!
At the weigh in things looked tight for the lower places in the top 6 but was clear that Rio Masters had won as all 6 had bagged up.
The results were given and GWFFA 1 had qualified in 5th place. Phew!
Unfortunately GWFFA 2 missed out on 6th place by only 11oz's!
We had made it to the Midland Final on 22nd July. A good result there will see us in the International Final in October.
Wednesday 15 May 2013
AMFFC Div 1 at Grafham
Tuesday 14th May was Rd 2 of AMFFC. Both GWFFA teams were out as the day combined Div1 and Div 4 matches. I was drawn with John Hancocks from Bewl Bridge.
3 of our team headed for the same area, Q to I buoy right in the middle. Pulling it was to be on Di5 sweep with fusion blobs top and bottom and a cormorant in the middle. Steve E was on a Di 7 and Richard Kesek went complete opposite on a midge tip with buzzers. Peter Hartley had gone to deep water point, Chris Bobby had gone to Savages on buzzers and Mark Brinkman was nymph inch somewhere. I started catching and quickly got to 6 by about 11ish. Richard had 4 or 5 and Steve had a few too. It took a while to get my last 2 but I finished at 12.50. 5 hours time bonus was great but I didn't have a big bag of fish. Steve E finished at 2.30 and Richard at 3.00. Mark was struggling a bit but eventually got his 8 by about 5. Nobody had seen Peter H but it turned out he finished at 4.00 from deep water point. Chris Bobby had 5 in Savages and had a 6lb+ fish and a couple of 4lbers too. He came to I buoy in a bit o finish but needed te day on 7. With much bigger fish he didn't need 8.
So weigh in time and we had 5 limits and a 7. More than enough and won by over 11lb in weight to win the Div 1 match.
The B team in Div 4 match did very well with a few limits and came 2nd in their group.
Next round for the A team is at Draycote in a few weeks time. I won't be there but have 2 more rounds to fish later in the season.
3 of our team headed for the same area, Q to I buoy right in the middle. Pulling it was to be on Di5 sweep with fusion blobs top and bottom and a cormorant in the middle. Steve E was on a Di 7 and Richard Kesek went complete opposite on a midge tip with buzzers. Peter Hartley had gone to deep water point, Chris Bobby had gone to Savages on buzzers and Mark Brinkman was nymph inch somewhere. I started catching and quickly got to 6 by about 11ish. Richard had 4 or 5 and Steve had a few too. It took a while to get my last 2 but I finished at 12.50. 5 hours time bonus was great but I didn't have a big bag of fish. Steve E finished at 2.30 and Richard at 3.00. Mark was struggling a bit but eventually got his 8 by about 5. Nobody had seen Peter H but it turned out he finished at 4.00 from deep water point. Chris Bobby had 5 in Savages and had a 6lb+ fish and a couple of 4lbers too. He came to I buoy in a bit o finish but needed te day on 7. With much bigger fish he didn't need 8.
So weigh in time and we had 5 limits and a 7. More than enough and won by over 11lb in weight to win the Div 1 match.
The B team in Div 4 match did very well with a few limits and came 2nd in their group.
Next round for the A team is at Draycote in a few weeks time. I won't be there but have 2 more rounds to fish later in the season.
2013 a great start
So, 2013 season finally arrived with freezing temperatures, snow, ice, and bitterly cold winds. Despite the weather I managed a several hours at Pitsford at opening weekend. Joined by a few regulars in the afternoon we all caught a few fish.
Grafham opening day was mid March and I met up with Steve and Chris at The Seat where I caught 7 on floating line with Pitsford Pea. Not a bad day really and a steady start to the season.
Rutland opening weekend was Easter Weekend. Good Friday I fished on the bank at Whitwell and although there was still snow in the ground it wasn't too cold. Floating line, nymphs and even buzzers lat in the day all helped to catch and release 17 fish. By 4pm it was getting colder so packed up and went to the lodge.
Easter Saturday I shared a boat with Chris Bobby on Grafham. Still very very cold and even snowing at times we had a great day on Di7's with orange blobs where we both caught and released 17 each by 5 pm.
Easter Sunday and the 3rd consecutive days fishing I had arranged a boat with Sheena Goode at Draycote. The boat harbour was frozen over at 9 am so we had to break the ice to leave the harbour.
Sheena found the method early, Di5 sweep with blob, nymph, Pitsford Pea combination. I changed from a slow glass to match Sheena and the fish just kept coming. By lunch time we were frozen so headed in to the lodge for lunch and to warm up. 16 fish caught and released in a couple of hours. Warm again we headed out forth a afternoon and b 5pm we had caught and released 38 fish and killed 1 each. Both were over 4lb!
The following weekend I fished the Lexus European Qualifier at Rutland. Paired with Joan Russell I had a good idea where to go and the right method as I had been of the day before with Chris Bobby. I bagged up by 1.45 and Joan finished and hour later. 5th place was my result but only 2 wen brought to the final so no good enough.
The next weekend I was back at Grafham with Steve Ellerbeck for a Team England Pairs fundraiser. A friendly competition with some different rules. Only 8 fish killed in the boat on any method then a maximum of 12 catch and released but only on floating or slow intermediate lines. We ended the day with our 8 killed but only 11 released. Still, there were prizes for everyone and we had a good day.
The next day was the Bob Church Open at Grafham. No chance to practice so the only info I had was Gaynes Point to Q buoy. Most boats stayed near he lodge so I thought I had made a mistake. Another Di7 day by his time with black and green blobs. Bagged up at 3pm for a 3rd place finish. Really pleased with that.
Finally, to complete he catch up of the start to the season, was the annual GWFFA/EDFF day. It's annual friendly competition pairs up able bodies with disabled anglers and we fish as a pair. Drawn with Mike Hills who had won the previous 2 years I hoped we would be in for a good day. After staring at Hill Farm we quickly moved to G Buoy then eventually D buoy. I think we had our 16 in the boat b about 4pm and Mike made it 3 wins on the trot and my first win.
Phew! Been a busy couple of months. Will try and keep up to date from now on. Next match is an AMFFC Div 1 match at Grafham. Look out for the update.
Tight Lines
Grafham opening day was mid March and I met up with Steve and Chris at The Seat where I caught 7 on floating line with Pitsford Pea. Not a bad day really and a steady start to the season.
Rutland opening weekend was Easter Weekend. Good Friday I fished on the bank at Whitwell and although there was still snow in the ground it wasn't too cold. Floating line, nymphs and even buzzers lat in the day all helped to catch and release 17 fish. By 4pm it was getting colder so packed up and went to the lodge.
Easter Saturday I shared a boat with Chris Bobby on Grafham. Still very very cold and even snowing at times we had a great day on Di7's with orange blobs where we both caught and released 17 each by 5 pm.
Easter Sunday and the 3rd consecutive days fishing I had arranged a boat with Sheena Goode at Draycote. The boat harbour was frozen over at 9 am so we had to break the ice to leave the harbour.
Sheena found the method early, Di5 sweep with blob, nymph, Pitsford Pea combination. I changed from a slow glass to match Sheena and the fish just kept coming. By lunch time we were frozen so headed in to the lodge for lunch and to warm up. 16 fish caught and released in a couple of hours. Warm again we headed out forth a afternoon and b 5pm we had caught and released 38 fish and killed 1 each. Both were over 4lb!
The following weekend I fished the Lexus European Qualifier at Rutland. Paired with Joan Russell I had a good idea where to go and the right method as I had been of the day before with Chris Bobby. I bagged up by 1.45 and Joan finished and hour later. 5th place was my result but only 2 wen brought to the final so no good enough.
The next weekend I was back at Grafham with Steve Ellerbeck for a Team England Pairs fundraiser. A friendly competition with some different rules. Only 8 fish killed in the boat on any method then a maximum of 12 catch and released but only on floating or slow intermediate lines. We ended the day with our 8 killed but only 11 released. Still, there were prizes for everyone and we had a good day.
The next day was the Bob Church Open at Grafham. No chance to practice so the only info I had was Gaynes Point to Q buoy. Most boats stayed near he lodge so I thought I had made a mistake. Another Di7 day by his time with black and green blobs. Bagged up at 3pm for a 3rd place finish. Really pleased with that.
Finally, to complete he catch up of the start to the season, was the annual GWFFA/EDFF day. It's annual friendly competition pairs up able bodies with disabled anglers and we fish as a pair. Drawn with Mike Hills who had won the previous 2 years I hoped we would be in for a good day. After staring at Hill Farm we quickly moved to G Buoy then eventually D buoy. I think we had our 16 in the boat b about 4pm and Mike made it 3 wins on the trot and my first win.
Phew! Been a busy couple of months. Will try and keep up to date from now on. Next match is an AMFFC Div 1 match at Grafham. Look out for the update.
Tight Lines
Catch up on 2012
Here's a brief catch up on 2012
Highlight of the year was making a 2nd English National final which was at Bewl Water in September. The 2 qualifiers went really well for me with a very fast limit at Rutland in May followed by 7 fish at Grafham in June. This put me in 2nd place overall so qualified for the final.
The National Final was a different matter altogether! Steve Ellerbeck and I travelled to Bewl on the Thursday evening and aft a bit of cockup with accommodation we headed for Bewl on the Friday morning for a practice day. We found fish and methods that worked and so retired to our B&B fairly confident we knew what to do.
Match day and the weather was completely different. Hardly any wind and a virtually flat calm greeted us. Well, to say I had a bad day! Lots of follows but not a single pull. Blanked!
Enough said about that.
Rest of the year was fairly quiet!
Back end of the season and I fished the Fur and Feather at Rutland without much success but December was the Grafham Fur and Feather. After a fruitless morning at the Seat with Steve and Chris we moved to Plummers where another 15+ anglers had also decided that was the best area! The wind turned NW and blowing into us and the onl way I could get a line out was with a Di5 sweep. A Hairs Ear and Pitsford Pea did the job and I took my 6 fish in 2 hours.
At the weigh in I had won by just 4oz.
And so ended 2012. Was counting the days down to 2013 opening day.
Highlight of the year was making a 2nd English National final which was at Bewl Water in September. The 2 qualifiers went really well for me with a very fast limit at Rutland in May followed by 7 fish at Grafham in June. This put me in 2nd place overall so qualified for the final.
The National Final was a different matter altogether! Steve Ellerbeck and I travelled to Bewl on the Thursday evening and aft a bit of cockup with accommodation we headed for Bewl on the Friday morning for a practice day. We found fish and methods that worked and so retired to our B&B fairly confident we knew what to do.
Match day and the weather was completely different. Hardly any wind and a virtually flat calm greeted us. Well, to say I had a bad day! Lots of follows but not a single pull. Blanked!
Enough said about that.
Rest of the year was fairly quiet!
Back end of the season and I fished the Fur and Feather at Rutland without much success but December was the Grafham Fur and Feather. After a fruitless morning at the Seat with Steve and Chris we moved to Plummers where another 15+ anglers had also decided that was the best area! The wind turned NW and blowing into us and the onl way I could get a line out was with a Di5 sweep. A Hairs Ear and Pitsford Pea did the job and I took my 6 fish in 2 hours.
At the weigh in I had won by just 4oz.
And so ended 2012. Was counting the days down to 2013 opening day.
Tuesday 30 April 2013
Been a while
It's been a while since I posted an update, almost 2 years but I will get back to it soon. A lot has happened in the last 2 years including moving from Grafham to Oakham near Rutland Water.
Can't remember most of 2012 now but will try and catch up best I can. 2013 has started really well so I will bring the blog up to date very soon.
Come back and check for updates really soon.
Can't remember most of 2012 now but will try and catch up best I can. 2013 has started really well so I will bring the blog up to date very soon.
Come back and check for updates really soon.
Monday 4 July 2011
AMFFC Round 3 - Hanningfield
Round 3 of AMFFC was held at Hanningfield Reservoir on Sunday 26th June. Just for a change the wind had stopped and we were faced with a scorching hot day and virtually no breeze so it was going to be a tough day for different reasons that of late.
We were a man down as well so starting with 5 instead of 6 meant I had to fish on my own making it even harder.
10.00 and we left the pontoon and the 12 boats split with half heading for Middlemead and the other half staying near the harbour. I stayed close to the harbour and started with 3 buzzers fished static under a bung. Only 5 mins into the match and I had a fish on the point fly. Only now did I realise I had too long a leader as I couldn't get the fish to the surface and eventually I knocked it off the hook trying to net it.
45 mins later and no pulls I started to tie up a new leader for 3 nymphs when I had a great take on the buzzers but missed that as I wasn't holding the rod at the time.
I moved over to the far shoreat Middlemead and did pick up a fish there on a Diawl Bach fished between two blobs on a Di5 but there was too much weed and the water was coloured so I left and went back to the harbour where Joan was close to bagging up and eventually did. She told me the method and I did pick up another fish, lost one and had to put one back as I hooked it whilst motoring.
Finally I moved to where I hooked the first fish in the morning, went back to buzzers and bung and caught a nice 3lb fish about 5.00pm.
At the weigh in we had Joan with 8, Tony with 8, Steve with 5, Chris with 4 and my 3.
The results given out over the meal at the pub had us in 2nd place beating Bewl and Tonbridge and Invicta winning but a recount a day later showed that Bewl's weights had been added up wrong and we were beaten in to 3rd place by 2oz's. Oh well, with a man short we did well and if I hadn't lost 2 fish we would have been 2nd.
We were a man down as well so starting with 5 instead of 6 meant I had to fish on my own making it even harder.
10.00 and we left the pontoon and the 12 boats split with half heading for Middlemead and the other half staying near the harbour. I stayed close to the harbour and started with 3 buzzers fished static under a bung. Only 5 mins into the match and I had a fish on the point fly. Only now did I realise I had too long a leader as I couldn't get the fish to the surface and eventually I knocked it off the hook trying to net it.
45 mins later and no pulls I started to tie up a new leader for 3 nymphs when I had a great take on the buzzers but missed that as I wasn't holding the rod at the time.
I moved over to the far shoreat Middlemead and did pick up a fish there on a Diawl Bach fished between two blobs on a Di5 but there was too much weed and the water was coloured so I left and went back to the harbour where Joan was close to bagging up and eventually did. She told me the method and I did pick up another fish, lost one and had to put one back as I hooked it whilst motoring.
Finally I moved to where I hooked the first fish in the morning, went back to buzzers and bung and caught a nice 3lb fish about 5.00pm.
At the weigh in we had Joan with 8, Tony with 8, Steve with 5, Chris with 4 and my 3.
The results given out over the meal at the pub had us in 2nd place beating Bewl and Tonbridge and Invicta winning but a recount a day later showed that Bewl's weights had been added up wrong and we were beaten in to 3rd place by 2oz's. Oh well, with a man short we did well and if I hadn't lost 2 fish we would have been 2nd.
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