Simple Match Fishing Forum

After a month off fishing with work commitments Christmas and family staying i've really enjoyed the time off spent a little time on my kit but mostly hook tying with a baileys in one hand and a mince pie in the other .Active Christmas with Football matches and rugby matches to be watched in the cold wet weather the kids dragging me to the pictures and the odd Mcdonald's along the way . Well my winters brake is well and truly over and can't wait now to get my gear out on the banks again although following a few of you i've not missed too much .With the calendar out its time to plan the rest of the season and it didn't take long with dropping out of Team fishing for a while its hard to find individual matches when you're used to Team events .so i'm starting off at ryecroft just a individual match just to get back into the swing ;)after that was booked i had a few phone calls and i'm helping out on the rest of the stainy league for a team from there its hands on for the sensas challenge 8/9th march on the river Ouse again fell into a team which have already booked digs and bait how goods that so that it will take a few days holiday up practicing . Now the real planning Holland or Ireland or could i get away with both ::) [i'm think not as finding the right time to ask has simply not happened yet] Ireland i fancy for a change and the muckno pairs fished very well last year well all of the Irish festivals fished well full stop plus i'l be going with a great crowd .Holland holds my heart as its such a nice place great bunch of lads from Belgium England and of course Holland so Ive penciled in Ireland but the september festival and will work on the Dutch one in april so the calendar has soon filled up .With the new season i have a new competition coming out with the help of Brian Hull The Sensas River Soar Masters 6 qualifing rounds 5 section winners go through to a 30 peg final which is in september so i'm looking forward to that plus Evesham in between and hopefully perhaps get in a team for the national and pick a few River fest competitions off and i'm pretty sure that will see me through to the winter league where again i hope to fill in for a Team

What plans have you for the later season and next season
ps I must find sometime for a family holiday

Joffie, from the way you have written that, it looks like you are really enjoying the freedom of picking and choosing your own events. Fair play mate, and I think that more than vilifies the major decision you made last year 

As for me.....I went into hospital on Tuesday to have some stress tests done on the heart. The results will decide if any more treatment is necessary, or if I am given the all clear to go back to work and live as normally as I can. Hoping to get some positive news next week.  ::) ::)
If thats the case, I hope to get out on a lot more open contests myself in 2014 , including the Riverfest, which I had to miss last year due to my health. 
I am also looking to going back to Ireland, with she who must be obeyed (she loves it over there, and likes to fish herself). Thinking of trying the North this time though.      

Good luck mate, and I will give you a call soon to arrange a day out with you 

I'm going to buy a Burton Mutual season ticket and fish the Trent as much as i can. Hopefully find some Bream at Stuanton Harold reservoir too. May fish a match at Ryecroft as well, but don't really don't want to get battered doing so and then loose interest in fishing all over again.


Tight lines.

Booked and already have ferry tickets for Irvinestown in May and Blayney in September

Put deposit down on 2 weeks in Holland today, hoping for Enniskillen come September Fishing at home I'll just take week by week and go where the mood takes me. One things for sure I wont go longer than a week without wetting a line

Tights lines to all

I'm back competiive match fishing in the spring , that's after some winter sun in the canaries and a birthday holiday break in Barcelona 

Joffie, from the way you have written that, it looks like you are really enjoying the freedom of picking and choosing your own events. Fair play mate, and I think that more than vilifies the major decision you made last year 

As for me.....I went into hospital on Tuesday to have some stress tests done on the heart. The results will decide if any more treatment is necessary, or if I am given the all clear to go back to work and live as normally as I can. Hoping to get some positive news next week.  ::) ::)
If thats the case, I hope to get out on a lot more open contests myself in 2014 , including the Riverfest, which I had to miss last year due to my health. 
I am also looking to going back to Ireland, with she who must be obeyed (she loves it over there, and likes to fish herself). Thinking of trying the North this time though.      

Good luck mate, and I will give you a call soon to arrange a day out with you 

Yes MrV we will make a date along with bill on the cut see if we can prise some of his bread secrets out of him I'd like to of fished Teds league on the trent and mersey again but couldn't get in a Team still might as Mark downes is fishing it this year so i might stand in for him if he doesn't like it
Arch thats a blast from the past Staunton Harold Res used to go years ago just past the boats waggler fishing mind you you had to wade out a fair way big roach and perch with the odd bream good nets as well .further down the res stood a tree on its own this used to a big bream area let us know what its like when you go
I'm also toying with the idea of getting a Switherland res book its hard fishing but its full of big perch and roach in the winter and the tickets are only £85
and not for getting Nanpantan Res as well

I'm back competiive match fishing in the spring , that's after some winter sun in the canaries and a birthday holiday break in Barcelona 

sounds like the break has done you a lot of good as well Dodge

Booked and already have ferry tickets for Irvinestown in May and Blayney in September

by the way Bill its a GREEN light from the Tank commander its penciled in already on the holiday calendar it fits in just right as well as the final of the soar masters is on the 21st of september the day after we get back so i won't miss anything

Yesterday i was a little rusty at Ryecroft being the first match back in the swing.Saturday afternoon back to normal fishing kit all over the the house i was like a kid in a sweet shop .A great turnout when i arrived and was told the whole lake would be in with 20 to 25 anglers fishing and all capable of winning .Needless to say everyone fancied the deeper pegs 8,9,10,11,12 and both points .Tafty managed one of the points peg 3 i think i managed to pull out 24 on the back bank about as far away from the deeper water as you could get.the good point about my peg is you can see everyone and you have some real open water to go at ::) ::) ::) so the first item of tackle i was going to set up was my trusted waggler rod after learning loads at packington earlier in the year i thought this would be the method But i got it wrong it wasn't a float only match it was a pole only match and as i placed the last joint to my rod i was soon told in the best possible taste and after the draw Tafty and myself spoke about the waggler being good on a day like it was white all over ice in the margins .So when i saw tafty setting his up i did have a laugh to myself but did let him know after he had set it up never mind still a lot of open water and with no breeze it looked as if it was going to be a nice day and the sun was hitting our bank with a little warmth in it.Rigs set up 0.2 0.4 one margin one 5m for caster.
with it being so cold i mixed just two handsful of Sensas gold and one of fishmeal lake not a lot and then added soil my 13 metre line i just feed casters via cup in fact i feed everything through a cup 11 metre line was the depth and feed two balls of G/B one line to the left and one to the right in the G/B i put very few loose offerings a few dead pinkies dead maggots and a few casters the plan was to leave these two lines for at least an hour and a half and concentrate on the 5 metre well it was rock hard with no one catching any fish in the first hour i moved to my 13 metre line with 12in on the bottom but as usual the wind had got up from the start of the match and blow left to right so a couple of shot came off so i could see a little more of the float it went under a roach not big but it was a start another followed i had 6 fish and thought i'd top this line up with 0nly 10 or 12 casters then left it and had a quick look on 5m but still nothing back out to 13m and the wind had become strong float shot under and the laggy raced across the lake yep i hooked a carp and not in the mouth the way it shot off.Needless to say no hook length and a broken tip to my float Time for the 11 metre its wasn't long before i was catching small roach not fast and not big and with having two lines i could force one with extra feed and fish the other i feed no more G/B all match just pinkies a few dead maggots and casters just to keep fish coming 3inch on the bottom was the best rig yet it was only 0.2 and i'm sure from what was happening around me it was the movement of the float and bait that got me the bites every time before refeeding i'd put my caster rig over the line just to see if any bonus fish were around but this often resulted in a small roach. by the end of the match i thought i'd perhaps 4lb and weighed in well what i thought said 4lb 14 oz but looking at the board it said 4lb 4oz :-/not a problem as i'd of been beaten off the end peg for the section 4lb 14oz but all around me on the open bank was a real struggle great bunch of lads plenty of banter and home for the second half of the football
Tafty won the match with 10lb and as he was in my eye sight Tafty fished a very good match again swapping and changing although a few bonus fish helped Tafty fished a good match.bonus fish for me just didn't happen and if i'd of stopped trying for them i'd of perhaps put another pound or two on the scales still i learn loads and was quiet pleased with the way i fished after a month off
but i'm sure the waggler would of caught me a couple of bonus fish for sure

sorry TK it won't happen again but i didn't take any pictures A i was so cold and B i wanted to catch faster :( :( :( sorry kiddo

It's a shame we couldn't fish the wag, I blamed you tho, told them all Joff said I could fish it .

It's unusual to get bonus fish on the wag, what it does is let you put some fish in the net while letting other lines settle. some lads have been fishing it right through and framing on it.

The wind had changed 180 degrees from the day before on the carp match when I had been on peg 18 and had it at me. , Peg 3 is ok, but normally the prevailing wind is off your back there , not in your face .
as there was no wag and some of the lads on the previous days match had caught a few skimmers on pellet I decided to start at 14.4m on pellet, having fed a 13m line with a bit of gbait and dead reds and a short line ( which I always go just where the slope bottoms out) which was 9m. This is where I like to be my best line so never start on it and feed heavy with gbait and black leam.
1 small skimmer on pellet, so came on the 13m line and had 4 or 5 quick skimmers on 2 dead reds, then nothing. refed and killed it.

I had a look on the 9m line earlier than I liked but it was fishing hard and I couldn't get bites anywhere else. A few small roach on pinkie but really slow. slipped a caster on and 2 minutes later a perch of getting on for 2 pounds didn't half help, put me on about 4lb. Pleased with that as I have been losing perch after perch there lately so to land one for a change was good.

I saw Bomber on peg 10 have a couple of bream and as I was going nowhere I fed my long line with a ball of micros, left it 10 minutes and first drop had a skimmer followed by another 3 or 4 then the usual tiny roach, so refed, left it then another 4 or 5 including one about a pound and half, Refed once more and had 2 or 3, then couldn't fish it properly as the light was so bad ( aswell as my eyes lol) I couldn't see my float and that was my lot.

Pellet hasn't really been working there this winter, but maybe its worth another go when the Saturday matches start again as they are about 4 to the pound and you can get a good start in the match with them, it does need to be fairly calm tho, cos it can tow hard if it's windy and you really need to fish dead depth and lift and drop constantly to get bites

cracking set of lads from Match Catch, I used to work there for a bit in the early 90's when Helen owned it. ( 20 years ago, blimey, where did the time go)

yes Joff, no excuses again, photos are compulsary

Interesting Tafty perhaps i fished a little too negative but I've seen fish back off G/B more this winter on commercials everything I topped up it was via a pot but not G/b as I had the fish quiet active at one stage . Food for thought

I don't think you did, that back bank can be really hard and it was a really bad frost.

I can't make a long gbait line work properly, I catch a few then nothing except odd small roach, topping up with gbait just makes it worse and brings too many small roach in.
Maybe putting some feed just past and fishing that, you know like we did in Holland feeding maggs in a bait dropper just past your gbait.

Also on the usual matches we can use joker and I put a decent initial amount in gbait and leam ( only 25% gbait). some matches I never put anything else on this line or if I do it's joker and casters in just enough of the initial mix to hold it together.

Some lads loose feed casters over the top, but it seems to just bring me lots of small fish.

You'd have had more fish if you could have fed a bit of joker yesterday.

Maybe Dazzla or Mr Wright may have some thoughts.

Ive spoke to Bicko today
I'm not sure if i should of had a more positive line somewhere topping up with loose feed did work well at one stage i thought about the catty but as soon as 1 forced the line they backed off whether bigger fish had moved in and this is why i spent time on the caster

sorry TK it won't happen again but i didn't take any pictures

yes Joff, no excuses again, photos are compulsary

You tell him Crafty

:( :( :( sorry

Wish would of said joff i didnt fish ted league because didnt have a team we could made one,
I had to break the ice yesterday at my match and caugh 6lb of roach over micros on 4mm and worm,

Well done Damo that's a good days fishing for the conditions
It's great to see you out on the bank as well the weather puts a lot of anglers off
I'm off u the stainy this weekend I'm told it's fishing great so fingers crossed