Steve Mayo Angling » Coarse Fishing

Winter League River Mole

Feb 152012

Winter League River Mole 16-10-2011

It’s not often I fish rivers these days so when I got the phone call from Steve Saunders to fish this round in the winter league for Diawa Dorking it was a case of sorting through some old kit and taking out some kit that was not going to be needed (more importantly lightening the load because there are some long walks!).

As with most rivers the Mole was very low and in places hardly moving. I drew a peg on the outside of a bend that was 2ft deep in front of me but then dropped of to 4ft deep 1mtr down the peg before shallowing up again about 8mtrs down the peg. I could touch the far bank with 6mtrs of pole so as you can imagine there was not a lot of water to play with. If there was going to be any fish in my peg they were going to be in that 4ft deep hole!

I set up a 4×14 pole stick on a top 4 kit, this gave me plenty of line above the float to control the float through the catching zone. I regularly loose fed hemp and casters just above my float fishing either caster or maggot on the hook. I did set up a small waggler to run further down the peg but as there was next to no flow so this was a waste of time.

The float went under every put through the only problem was that 99 times out of a 100 it was a minnow (deep joy!!) I did have a few small roach, dace and gudgeon but the best was the 3 chub I had the best of which must have been pushing 5lb. The 3 chub gave me a few problems in such a small peg but I did get then all out! I had a total weight of 14lb 12oz to win the section, 2nd in the section was 4lb 11oz.

We won the match on the day by 1 point. I don’t do much team fishing now but it was good to see the rest of the team and get a good result.

Source: Steve Mayo Angling

Post Date: 15/01/12

Website Link: http://coarsefishing-uk.net/stevemayo

Garbolino Silver Fish Festival – Day 1

Steve Mayo Angling

Jan 152012

Whiteacres Garbolino Silver Fish Festival Nov 28th – Dec 2nd 2011

This probably the best festival of the whole year with 60 of the best anglers that fish Whiteacres battling it out for the glory.

As with most festivals at Whiteacres they pay the top 10 anglers over the week. We all go and fish to win but a top 10 place is a great result as you are fishing against a quality field.

Day 1 – Pollawyn peg 24

The weather is still mild but it is very windy, peg 24 is on a point and is probably one of the deepest pegs on the lake. I fished groundbait and maggot at 14.5mtrs and a shorter 10mtr line also with groundbait and maggot. casters down the edge is also good for big perch so this was set up but the strong wind was coming towards my margin line making it difficult to present the bait with the float coming back under the pole. I also had a caster line at 4mtrs in front in 6ft of water.

I caught on the 4mtr caster line but the groundbait lines were not happening so it accoured to me that as it was so mild maybe the skimmers wanted to be in shallower water. A quick plumb up at 5mtrs to my left found 6-8ft of water, I fed 2 balls of groundbait and 15 mins later I caught my first decent skimmer of about 2lb. Alternating between my 4mtr line with casters, my 5mtr line with groundbait and casters down the edge I caught well for the last 90 mins.

I ended up the match with 32lb and third in my section. 2nd in section was 33lb and the section was won with 39lb. A few changes earlier and I would have definitely been 2nd maybe even 1st.

Source: Steve Mayo Angling

Post Date: 15/01/12

Website Link: http://coarsefishing-uk.net/stevemayo

Plantation Lakes Open Match

Steve Mayo Angling

Jan 152012

Plantation Lakes 22-10-2011

SM-1000

Plantation Lakes is a local fishery to me only 20 mins down the road and I had never fished it before. I get so wrapped up in chasing the bigger events I rarely get a chance to fish locally. The local Clevedon club invited me to join them for this open match.

I was met with a warm welcome from everyone and the lake looked great. At the draw I was told the pegs not to draw was pegs 11 and 12. You guessed it I drew peg 11 (I draw a good peg most of the time, not all of the time!!!

The good thing about these matches is that there is a separate silver fish prize, so if you are not on a pile of carp you can get your head down catch some silvers and still pick up some money for your efforts.

As I had never seen the place before so I set up a long pole with pellets and a short pole with casters as well a down the edge rig as I was back in a bay. The edge looked good but the wind was blowing out of the bay.

I did catch at 14.5mtrs on pellets but it was very slow I had one carp and a few small skimmers. I caught some roach at top 5 but this was still not a fish a chuck.

A look long down the edge did not bring me any rewards so I decided to start feeding casters at 4mtrs down the edge to catch everything that swims. There was a good depth here, I had about 2 1/2 to 3ft. This was a great move as I started to catch a roach a put in with the odd hybrid, skimmer and I had a couple of perch touching 2lb each. I did catch a couple of carp there as well so I really enjoyed my day.

I ended up with 33lb 8oz of silvers to win the silvers prize on the day. The carp fed well down the other end of the lake with 130lb winning the match. What a great venue and only 20 mins from my house, I will have to come back when I have the time.

Source: Steve Mayo Angling

Post Date: 15/01/12

Website Link: http://coarsefishing-uk.net/stevemayo