Well it has been a hectic month for me. For a start I had the awesome Evesham Festival to fish. This was my first experience of the Evesham weekend so I was hoping to get amongst the considerable prize money! I managed to draw Peg 9 on the Shakespeare match and although a good area for section points it generally isn’t good enough to win the match. I chose to fish for roach for the first three hours and apart from about 50 tiny fish, my match was no going well.
Dobbingis a bit of a Marmite tactic; it can be seen as extremely negative but it also catches a lot of fish, especially when the temperature plummets. Is there really any skill in it? We joined up-and-coming star Craig Goldstraw to discover the secrets behind hisdobbingsuccess.
What isdobbing? It’s actually quite a vague description of a method that can take many different forms. Saying you caughtdobbingis a bit like saying you caught on the feeder, or on the waggler; yes it gives an idea of how you caught, but with so many variables you’re still left pretty much in the dark.
Like most anglers, I work five days a week and quite often work weekends. A couple of weeks ago I had a Wednesday off work, so I decided to have a go at the open match on Blundells Fishery in Warrington.
I fish here regularly at the weekends but I had never previously fished a midweek open match. With turnouts of more than 40 anglers at weekends, the midweek matches are normally about half that and I was excited by the amount of room we would all have.
Last Thursday, I decided to do something a little bit different, and do a feature with the guys from fishing in the northwest. The lads are great and do some great work, helping new anglers gain lots of information and tips on, loads of north-west commercials and natural waters.
After a bit of discussion, we decided to pay Lloyds Meadow Fishery a visit, the lake we fished was Badger, A lake I fished for the first time only a few weeks ago. This time was decided to go for some of bigger carp in the lake on the pole, now the weather had improved.
Sometimes you just have a day's fishing that you will never forget, well last Thursday I had one, catching my personal best match weight ever.
I had a club match on the Match Lake at Heronbrook Fisheries, with the Cheshire Maver team. The match lake at Heronbrook is only a venue I have fished only a handful of times, so went I drew peg 4 I didn't quite know what to expect, the lake holds a good head of F1s and some big Carp upto 20lb. I started the match on the method feeder loaded with 2mm sticky method pellets and a banded 6mm , chucking to the big Island in the middle of the lake, I caught a couple of small F1s and a small mirror carp within the first 15 minutes.
After working all weekend, I had the bank holiday Monday off work, so I decided to go to my local fishery, Meadow View. The match was a special charity memorial for Dave Berry, the former fishery owner. It took place across the whole complex and with well over 40 anglers booked on, it was great to see so much support to celebrate a top bloke.
After purchasing a few tickets for the after-match raffle it was a draw time.
Margin fishing plays a huge part on commercial venues but tackling deeper pegs can be problematic! Darren Cox has all tricks to help you catch more from deep margins...
The Ivan Marks Story
First published in Match Fishing, July & August 1988
I’m often asked if I’m bitter that there isn’t more money to be made from angling, for certainly had I enjoyed the same success in golf or football that I have in angling I would be a wealthy man today. To be honest I don’t think about it, I’m 52 years old and I can honestly say it’s been a marvelous party. I’ve travelled the world, made some wonderful friends and I’m a happy man.
Angling has been very good to me, wherever I go in the country I’m made welcome and I’ve made a living for the past 20 years from doing something I adore, that I think makes me a rich man indeed.
Match Fishing's Tackle Award are back, and it’s your chance to vote on what you think is hot in the world of rods, reels, poles, luggage, clothing, bait etc…It’s a simple tick-box affair and should take you no longer than a couple of minutes to do. To thank you for taking the time to complete these important awards we’ve lined up an awesome prize – a day’s fishing with a top match angler and a full feature appearance in Match Fishing magazine! If you fancy the chance of winning this prize, or if you just want to make your opinions heard, then fill in our simple on-line form. Click here to enter. Alex Bones.
Feed ‘em and leave ‘em
Putting together a match-winning catch on a canal is not easy, although there are some anglers that make the most difficult things look simple. Lee Wright is one of those anglers and we joined him to find out just what he does that makes building a big catch look effortless.
Something I’ve always found on canals is that if you can keep catching fish you’ll rarely be far away from the main frame. This may sound a bit obvious, but one thing I see far too many anglers doing is sitting on a swim waiting for something to happen.
Top northern angler and Maver backed Matt Pillay reflects on the recent Maver Classic Final at the fantastic Maver Larford Lakes. Well it's that time of year again for the Maver classic final. it's a prestigious event which I've really enjoyed over the years as Larford is a terrific venue and when you get some of the country's top anglers attending it makes for a very special event. After a 3-hour drive (I might as well live on the moon) I got to the draw and managed to catch up with my old pals and patiently wait to draw which I don't mind admitting always gives me butterflies but I love it! The old hairy palm goes in the bucket and I pulled Peg 76 on Speci which is a good area that always holds lots of skimmers and plenty of carp so after a few reconnaissance conversations it came to light my peg had been second on the lake the day before with 36 kilos of carp on the method at 45 turns.
Frenzee’s Phil Canning gives you the lowdown on his meat fishing tactics that are a sure-fire winner on summer commercials.
Meat Storage
The first thing we need to look at is the bait itself and how to store it to keep it nice and fresh throughout the session. In my opinion fresh meat is the only choice and I am convinced it catches you more fish. The texture is better with freshly opened meat than meat that has been in water for a while, and it smells much nicer too.
Middy’s Chris Cameron knows a thing or two when it comes to Method feeder fishing, so we asked him to part with some of his knowledge to help you keep catching when the fish are fickle and tricky to catch.
