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Diary Of A
Matchman Part 8
by
Giles Cochrane
Wednesday open
Docklow Pools
I decided that I was going to return to the complex after my weekend success there but, the matches are a little smaller midweek. I think that you can really learn a lot about your fishing methods when there is more room and I never pass up the opportunity to learn something in this game. It means that you are still fishing under match conditions but you are not under the same pressure as you are with the weekend matches.
I set off for Docklow at around 6:30 am because the traffic tends to get really bad around Hereford after 7:30. I think it has something to do with the cattle market that takes place there on Wednesdays but I am not sure. I suspected that was the case because everybody was dressed in wellies and flat caps. It could have been the people who work in the bank though. I could just imagine them looking at me revving the guts out of my car at the traffic lights.."Bloody Townies, some of us been up since the crack of dawn. Ooooo Arrr!" Anyway, there were loads of people about and I was going to be late. I got there and I was the first to arrive so the traffic had been bad for the Valley lads too. Although, saying that, I am living near them at the moment so I have to be careful.
They always fish the Match Lake on Wednesdays so I knew what bait I was going to take with me. I wanted to draw around one of the islands and fish shallow for roach and chub but to do the method justice you need to be on the first island where the chub live. I drew peg 27 on the second island so that was a bad start to the day. I set the waggler up and had a chuck at the start with corn to see what was about but we had a massive pressure change during the night.
It was very mild with a strong cross wind blowing but the skies were clear and with that high pressure, I didn't think there would be many carp caught until later. Mike Yendel next to me was fishing corn down the edge and catching chub regularly but I wasn't getting any signs on the waggler at all. I had put a shallow rig up on the pole but it was too windy to fish where I wanted to at 14.5 metres. I settled for the 13-metre line but the roach were there in numbers. Mike had a carp down the edge after an hour so I was forced to set a rig up at 14 metres down the edge as I had some room, although I didn't think there would be any carp there until later. Mike never hooked any more so I kept on with the roach swim. I was getting them regularly with the odd small chub in amongst them but I was now fishing 10 metres because the wind had made things difficult.
I was feeding about a dozen casters and then leaving it and the method seemed to be better than drip-feeding it on the day. I set the rig about six inches deep with about a foot of line above the float. I was getting one every drop and some of them were nearer a pound in weight but the majority were in the 4 to 8 ounce bracket. John Cockayne turned up to watch for about an hour and I had told him in the past about this method I use so he had the opportunity to witness it first hand. Although, no doubt he will develop his own style to fishing it. Class anglers like that always do. Good anglers take the idea and further it. John was amazed at the quality of the roach I was getting and the speed at which I was getting them. It is a very consistent method too. There are too many pegs that you cannot catch carp from, so this method allows you to frame from those areas with impressive weights of silver fish. I had to stop fishing at one stage though because he was making me laugh so much.
He was drawn next to some chap on Sunday and this guy said to John that, he thought John had fished the peg really well. John said that he couldn't agree more and at times he was fishing that well that he had to get up twice to watch himself. Enough of that, but I had a look down the edge in the last hour and I forgot that the rig I had put up, had that Hydro-elastic through the top kit. I have sworn never to use the stuff but I was assured that the white stuff was brilliant so to I agreed to try it but I still would never pay that much money for it. If I had to buy it I would have said no way. I had a bite at 14 metres on corn and it never stopped until it got to about twenty metres. This carp wasn't that big but I had absolutely no control over it. I eventually netted it after twenty minutes with about 10 metres of pole in the air. I will never use that rubbish again. I have always said that it was a gimmick but how people have got the cheek to charge that amount of money I will never know. I got it in and I had wasted all that time when I could have been bagging with red-fins. The carp probably went about 5lb. When the scales arrived I knew I had won but I never thought it would have been by that much. The rumours were that the carp had not fed and the best weight I had heard of was 19lb. there may well have been bigger weights but that was either second or third.
I weighed 54lb of silver fish including one carp. WHICH WAS NICE! I really enjoy fishing for those roach as it is literally a bite a chuck. I did a feature on it with Match Fishing last year, which should be out soon, but I have improved on the method a lot since then. I can't wait for the next match there.
Sunday Open
The forecast for the weekend was dire so I decided to make the effort to get to Docklow as I was at Woodland View the day before fishing the silver fish league there. That was not too good but at least I had some bites, but the day was so uneventful that I decided not to comment on it in the diary. I can always find something to write about at Docklow matches so the decision was made for me really. I got there early to avoid disappointment because I hadn't booked a ticket but when I got there it was really cold and white with frost. The air pressure had been constant for about two days so it was not going to be too good as there were only going to be carp feeding on the day. The venue is stuffed with roach and skimmers and if you want a good days fishing you don't have to worry about drawing carp. It was carp or nothing for this match though which is a shame. I managed to get peg 17 on the island on the Day-ticket Lake, which is not too bad at all.
I told a few anglers at the start that I wanted to draw between peg 1 and 7 on that lake as I didn't fancy the other two lakes at all because they were going to be well peggy. I wasn't that far out because it was a good area and I have won from it before .The water was a little clear and I didn't think I was going to catch that much but I still fancied it for a few chub. There was one of those Team Green Giant blokes on the other side of the island and I could see where he was thinking of fishing, which was the point of the island. You have to be pretty accurate to get there everytime because there are over hanging trees there but at the point is where the fish usually are so its worth making the effort to cast properly. When the whistle went there was a few anglers feeding the pegs sensibly, which is a really good sign that these idiots have had a rethink about bait quantities. After a few minutes I could see there was going to be a slight problem as the guy round the back of the island was fishing the same line as me, but he wasn't putting in as much bait as he usually does so that was a good start. With about 20 minutes of match gone, I could see the trees on the island shaking violently which meant that this chap had hooked the branches. Not long later there was a loud crack and another waggler hung from the branches.
It went quiet for about ten minutes while he retackled and then next chuck the tree started to shake again, only more violently this time. Cracked off again eh? I could see the pole going out so that meant I had the point to myself. People who go on about how easy it is to fish the waggler usually prove that it is not that easy and usually in front of a crowd. I attempted to feed the peg lightly with odd grains of corn and surprisingly enough, when it is well cold, the corn will out score maggot and caster. The only difference being that you have to feed it carefully. I tried really hard to catch but on the day it was not going to happen. The fish were really tightly shoaled in small pockets, which meant that certain anglers were going to catch carp and others were not. The bloke on peg 4 was getting carp up against the stumps but he was losing rather a lot too. It didn't really matter though, because he was the only person catching, so even if he did lose a shedful, he would still weigh more than anyone else on the lake. The match was won from the Match lake peg 34 and Des Shipp was second from peg 1, which is directly opposite it. I tipped back a hour before the end because there are times when you know that you are not going to catch and the air temperature was very cold. I think the bloke on peg 4 on our lake was third with about 50lb. I watched him fishing for a while and he didn't so much fish the peg wrong, but he was hooking carp on the waggler and they were snapping him off in the stumps. You really have got to think about that method I use in circumstances like that, where you hook and pull before they wake up. Otherwise the casualty rate is quite high. I am fishing Woodland View Silver fish League next week, but the forecast doesn't look too good at all. I have been fished two of the rounds so far but have only managed to draw the top end of Arles where I have struggled with about 5lb of roach on Joker.
Silver fish league
Woodland View
The third match in the series and I drew an area where there have been a few weights, peg 43 on back Deans. I think I must have got my bearings wrong because I worked it out that the cold Northeasterly wind was going to be off my back. How wrong could I have got that? I had it in my face! Had drawn the cold end of the lake I didn't fancy it at all as I had drawn next to Mark Warren from the Starlets who seemed to be slightly nearer to where the weights had come from. We both started on the 13-metre line with joker in damp leam but Mark had put a lot more in than I had. I wouldn't argue with his logic because he is far better at this type of fishing than I am as I am new to it. The wind was really gusting down the pool and when I started and I put up two rigs with .5 olivettes and Sarfix floats which have really thin carbon stems and bristles. I found that by holding the float back I was not getting the presentation I wanted so I decided to let it drag through but as is often the case with olivettes, they pick up the under current. The tow was going in the other direction and the float was holding in the swim brilliantly. The only problem was, the feed was not landing where some anglers thought it was. The current was pulling hard on the bottom which meant the feed was somewhere to the right of where I had fed it.
Mark had fed about 4 Jaffas of leam and joker while I thought I would feed smaller balls and top them up later. My method seemed to respond quicker because I started to get bites from the off with about six fish in the net before Mark had a bite but later he started to catch up.
I was getting a few roach and perch while Mark seemed to be getting a few small carp which do not count in this league. At about half way through, my first line dried up and I was contemplating re-feeding it but I decided to try a single joker on the hook rather than the doubles I had been catching on. I let it drift to the right a little further in the hope of a stray roach and the float went under, but when I lifted into the bite, the elastic came out quite a lot. This was a bonus fish, a skimmer just over a pound. I re-fed the line and moved to the other line which kept me busy until the last hour where I caught two crucians and two tench after a switch back to the first line.
These bonus fish seem to feed well if left alone but what I have found is, that it is better to feed a line and leave it alone for most of the match because the bigger fish are put off by the continual disturbance of netting smaller samples in the main swim. I have fed lines a little further out which have always produced a few better stamp fish. There seems to be a lot of big perch being hooked in these leagues although some of them are foul- hooked. I think they are coming in after the small fry which are feeding on joker so from now on I am going to feed some chopped lobworms down one of the shelves to see what happens.
At the weigh in I knew it was tight between Mark and myself as he had caught well at the end of the match. He weighed 6lb 12 oz and I weighed 6lb 13oz. I won the lake but I was pleased at beating Mark because of his ability. You know when you are on the right track with the feeding and presentation when that occurs. The next match is going to be one of Gary Plant's silver fish matches at Moorlands farm where bloodworm and joker is allowed.
Moorlands silver fish pool
The following Sunday I was booked in to the match and Gary had ordered my bloodworm s everything was perfect until I got there. There was a severe frost which is not so much of a problem but John Talbot, in his infinite wisdom, had decided to leave the aerators on all night to prevent the water freezing. Some of the lads were not too happy about this and in addition, there was a Christmas fare match on the other pools. Some of the welsh lads had turned up for it because al the other venues where still frozen solid and they suggested that I fished their match because the silver fish match was not worth fishing. I wanted to fish the silver fish event because I am out to learn this bloodworm fishing and I see that by fishing against some of the best bloodworm anglers, I a going to learn that much quicker.
I drew peg 26 which is at the far end of the pool and the aerator is at the other end so that looked a little promising. The problem with fishery owners and aerators is that they ruin the fishing. By mixing the different layers of water together, which are separated by temperature differences, you get a pool where the water temperature is the same throughout. As that temperature is just above freezing, it prevents the fish from feeding. If anglers are allowed to clear the ice from their peg, then the fishing is always better but who are we to argue with such knowledge?
I was glad t be away from that aerator as it was still going when the match started. I cupped in about three small balls of joker in leam on my main line of attack, while putting one small ball on the other two lines. I found that the rigs I had set up where ideal because although the water is quite shallow on this lake, it was pulling hard from the current created by the aerator. I used a .5 gram float, again the Sarfix pattern, with an olivette and two droppers. The olivette was just above the lake bed while the hook-length was dragging slightly. I used .10 man line to a. 08 hooklength and size 26 kamasan B611.
I had to wait about twenty minutes for my first bite but it was well worth it. A roach about a pound! I was catching small perch and roach from every line as long as I didn't plunder the line for too long. I had caught a few net roach which are a little bit of a problem under the ice. I did lose one off the hook but apart from that, I was bagging compared t everyone else on the lake. The aerator had made the match very peggy and some anglers had not had a bite with an hour to go. I think that first second and third all came from the other end of the lake from the aerator which goes to show how bad these things are for anglers. I topped one line up to see if it would make any difference and it killed it for an hour. Rob Brennan walked down and I told him what had happened and he advised me to put some neat joker in. I tried this and did manage to net a perch but the line had gone tits-up so I concentrated on the other two for the last hour.
I netted another couple of big roach and then a skimmer of about six ounces on my first line where the majority of the initial feed had gone in. I decided to stick to this line in the hope of some better fish. I had two skimmers which went 3lb between them in the last few minutes so I was glad I had stuck to this line. That olivette made a big difference to the presentation because it was still pulling hard at the halfway stage of the match and I am more inclined to use them for joker fishing. I won the match with 13lb 6oz and second was the young lad opposite me. I think his name is Callum Dicks but I am not to sure, any way he did well because I think he I only about 12 years of age. He weighed 7lb odd and Rob Gandley was third with 5lb. It is good to see young blood coming into the game and it is surprising how cheap it is to fish bloodworm and joker these days. I am having a lay off for Christmas but will resume the fishing in the New year.
Giles
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