Hillview Lakes – 7/11/2009
22 Pegs

This was meant to be the start of the winter league but with a disappointing turn out willing to fish the league it was just an open match. This was very annoying as I had put a lot of time and effort tying rigs and hook lengths preparing for this league. At least it was a decent 20 peg open to go at. At the draw I pulled out peg 13 which was a terrible draw, with peg 11 and peg 14 in! Luckily it was my bro on 14 and we agreed on fishing spots at 13 metres to avoid us clashing lines. Wind was blowing a hooly and it was freezing cold. I planned on catching at 7 metres again at the base of the shelf but also set up a rig long for fishing banded pellet. Again the 2 margins were plumped up just in case but it looked far too clear.

Rig wise it was a 0.4 Diamond short on 0.14 Silstar to 0.12 hooklenth of the same material finished off with a size 18 Tubertini 808. This was for fishing corn or soft pellet. I then set up a light rig 0.2 Ackoo Pelli Stick for fishing a banded pellet; this was exactly the same apart from the hook which was an 18 Kamasan Animal. My 13 metre rig was a 0.5 Slim Pellet 0.14 to 0.12 with a 18 Kamasan animal with a hair rigged band. I also set up a 0.6 Diamond for fishing corn with a number 1 Tubertini 175 hook. My margin rig was a 0.1 Hillbilyy Grizzly 0.16 straight through with a number 2 Tubertini 175.

Bait wise it was simple. Half a pint of 4mm feed pellet which would be soaked, 1 tin of Jolly Green Giant, nice and soft for winter, 4mm and 6mm soft hooker pellets and some 4 and 6mm hard pellets for banding. Simple!

At the all in a cupped in 20 pieces of corn short and went straight out long with 20 4mm pellets and a 6mm hard pellet on the hook. After 15 minutes without a bite I tried short again with nothing. After 45 minutes I finally hooked a skimmer about 1lb on a banded 4mm long. I tried this again with nothing. I was feeding 5-10 pellets at a time and hoped they would switch on at some point. I then foul hooked a carp which I lost at the net and then didn’t have another bite for an hour. I changed to fishing corn long and feeding corn (5 grains at a time) and after 10 minutes I was playing carp number 1 about 5lb. I then hooked another next cast about 3lb. At this time Josh was sat in the café because of the cold! When he came back I couldn’t buy a bite so I slid my pole out to 14m and had a car first drop! Then nothing again. Going into the last hour I felt I was 2 fish behind the section leader and needed to try something so I cupped in half a pot of pellet and corn at 14 metres and waited. The float buried and I was attached to a carp which was deposited in the keep net. Next cast same thing happened with a slightly smaller carp but then a 5 minute wait saw me drop onto my short line looking for a lump to sneak the section. With double corn on the hook and 2 minutes to go the float buried, wrong, it was a skimmer nudging 1lb! What a bummer. All out was called on a tough cold day! I weighed in 25lb and was beaten by 29lb for the section. Sean won with 41lb and some monster perch, Simon (SHALLOW KING) was 2nd with 30 odd. Not a million miles away but could do better.

Hillview Lakes - 31/10/2009
27 Pegs

Not a lot to write about here as I drew the dreaded canal in peg 88 and just couldn’t put a run of fish together. Fish were cruising up and down all day but just wouldn’t feed. No matter what type of ‘balaclava’ rig was put in front of them, no matter what bait, they wouldn’t have it! Welsh Simon (Shallow fishing master) won the match with 90lb from peg 35……..fishing shallow!

Hillview Lakes – 24/10/2009
14 Fished

Going in for the draw I felt that most pegs could win the match, 29 will always be a winner with the right angler on it... the only pegs I didn’t fancy was 12 and 15. In for the draw I pulled out.. You guessed... Peg 15. Possibly the worst draw on paper but I was optimistic.

I planned on basing my attack around long pole with pellet but arriving to my peg it was obvious this was never going to work as the wind was terrible so I decided to fish 2 lines at the bottom of the shelf to my left (into the vacant corner where the wind was blowing). One at 6 metres of pole and the other 11 metres down. The other 2 lines were to fish the margins either side.

Rig wise I had a light 0.4 diamond and a heavier 0.8 diamond if the wind got real bad. Both were on 0.16 Silstar to 0.14 hooklength of the same material finished off with a Tubertini Number 2 hook… Shotting was a simple bulk of number 8’s with 2 number 10 droppers. A bit different to how I normally fish, I left a good 2 foot of line above the float because of the wind and I didn’t want to be dragging my rig about the place every time there was a gust. Elastic on both of these rigs was a 14 Middy. My margin rig was a Hillbilly Grizzly 0.1 on 0.16 to an 0.16 hooklength, giving me the option of scaling down if necessary. Hook was a number 3 Tubertini 175 again matched to Middy 14. Bait wise I had 1 tin of corn and a pint of feed pellet along with some hooker pellets (ringers 4mm and 6mm).

Whilst shotting my rig before the all in I had a massive liner on my 6 metre line and the float would not keep still so when the whistle finally blew I cupped in just 10 bits of corn. I then lowered the light rig down the same hole and in seconds it shot under and a nice plump 5 pounder was in my net 2 minutes in! I then cupped in 10 more bits of corn and waited. And waited. And waited. Nothing was really happening on this line so I tried my margins where I had fed half a pot of pellet and corn at the start, I managed just one small carp from my edges. For the next couple of hours, I was really struggling but I was keeping the feed tight and to a minimum as I didn’t want to over feed my peg too soon. I was potting in 10 bits of corn, waiting 10 minutes, potting in 10 more pieces. This is a tactic I use a lot in the winter and always seems to work.

Finally at 1 o’clock I bit the bullet and gave the 11 metre line a pot of pellet and corn and left it, in this time I nicked a couple of carp on the 6 metre line still feeding light. After 10 minutes I baited up with a nice big piece of corn and lowered it down the shelf. 2 minutes later I netted a carp banging on 7lb. I decided not to feed but go back in, this time with the heavier rig as the wind was a real pain. I even took one shot off so the float was a bit further out the water and I could distinguish liners from real bites. This cast after about 5 minutes the float shot under and I was now wishing I’d dumped it earlier. After this carp I had a frustrating 10 minutes foul hooking 4 carp and losing them all. I gave it another half pot and come off it. I think I had over done it with a big pot so instead of wrecking my 6 metre line completely I just gave that half a pot. The carp were on it straight away and I netted a stockie minutes after. I then upped the feed, feeding 10 grains of corn when I hooked a fish by hand then concentrating the fish with 10 more pieces of corn in the toss pot going back out. This was lining the fish up and I was catching a carp roughly 2 minutes at a time. Going into the last hour I was really motoring and I didn’t have to even rest the line as the fish were there in numbers and really competing for food. I was fishing the 0.8 rig to bomb the hook bait down to get it to the feeding fish as quick as possible and was using a bulk 7 inches from the hook. Bites were very positive and I didn’t miss a thing, I also never lost a fish in the last hour. The majority of the fish I was catching were 3 pounders but last cast 1 minute before the all out I hooked a nice 8 pounder and slid the net under it 5 minutes after. I was left bamboozled and couldn’t believe how much feed they wanted, if I had fed heavy earlier I could have easily won the match catching at that rate. But it was done and I finished 2nd to Nev who had 126lb feeding heavy from the start I weighed in 83lb which wasn’t bad from a crap peg!