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- May 19, 2002
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OK - not strictly true but Friday night was our annual Moonlighters Trophy[
]
Fished as usual on Tontine Lake it's a 12 hour match from 9pm to 9am
We have two of these all-night matches every year and for some reason the second one is never as well attended as the first - only six of us fishing this year.
That's not a bad thing as the lake always seems to fish better with fewer anglers anyway.
Since there were only a few of us I decided to make it a roving draw and, drawing last as usual, I was pleased to see number one stuck to my mit[]
Nobody was in the least bit surprised when I plumped for the island peg - I've fished it countless times over the last thirty plus years that I've been a club member.
Up to three rods can be used for this match, so I set up three carp rods with large inline method feeders, short hooklengths and baits varying between corn, pellets and various boilies. Plus a 5m whip and a waggler rod - to be used with maggots and worm for smaller fish.
I shouted time at 9pm and cast one method feeder (with a couple of grains of fake corn as bait) to the stumps out in the centre of the lake and a second on roughly the same line but only half the distance - I then set about trying to catch a few 'bits' on the whip.
It had been a beautiful sunny day but it clouded over quite quickly as the evening wore on and well before ten I was forced to abandon the whip as I couldn't see the float any more. I switched to the waggler (with a starlight attached) and added a couple more perch to the dozen or so I'd caught on the whip.
Bites tailed off on the waggler so I abandoned that too and a third method feeder was cast out slightly to my left where there appeared to be a big gap between two beds of pondweed.
There were certainly fish moving about - occasional double bleeps from my alarms and odd liners every few minutes indicated that - but I had no positive bites or runs.
I nodded off for a couple of hours (after setting my alarm for 4am[]) and just after waking up Steve trotted round from peg 18 with a bream for me to weigh.
It was one of the lakes smaller specimens but still a nice fish weighing 4lb 8oz
Recasting two of my method feeders I returned to my whip fishing and quickly started catching small roach, perch and odd little skimmers (the latter being the fish we stocked last November) - sport was patchy though I'd have a little run of three or four fish and then have to wait a while before I started catching again. It was also apparent that the roach were sitting about two feet deep with the perch being a couple of feet deeper - I would have thought that the perch would have bullied the roach out of the way to get to my loose-feed quicker.
Just before six Ed shouted across from peg three that he had a bream that was too big for his keepnet - it was a big 'un too - weighing in at 7lb 9oz - the biggest that's ever been caught in a match and only just over a pound shy of the lake record (8lb 12oz)
Whilst I was over that side of the lake I had a quick chat with the rest of the lads - George on peg seven had had a few roach and perch - Chris on peg eight fishing with a cheap glass fibre whip reckoned he was bagging - with skimmers and perch pushing eight ounces. Mally was stil fishless from peg thirteen and Steve hadn't managed to add to his early bream.
I still couldn't keep the fish coming, so I switched to the waggler with a couple of redworms as bait to try and tempt a better perch - I did get one fish about six ounces but then I think the perch started having a competition to see just how small a fish could engulf two worms []
Calling time at 9am, Ed had added a brace of the small carp we stocked last year to his catch - the bigger one, a lovely fully-scaled mirror going 4lb 2oz. Those, together with a few small perch, and his earlier bream gave him a total of 16lb 5oz.
George's collection of perch and roach went an ounce over 2lb
Chris hadn't been telling fibs - he really had been bagging up - his fish weighing 8lb 6oz - which, from what I remember is the best weight of 'bits' for the last twenty years or so.
It's a good job he doesn't take match fishing too seriously[]
My perch, roach and baby skimmers went 4lb 7oz so I missed out on third by an ounce[]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zotZOTbpOVs[/youtube]
Next up is the final round of the evening series at Dromonby Farm on Wednesday - and according to the current forecast it promises to be fine, warm and dry - which I find hard to believe[]
Simon
]Fished as usual on Tontine Lake it's a 12 hour match from 9pm to 9am
We have two of these all-night matches every year and for some reason the second one is never as well attended as the first - only six of us fishing this year.
That's not a bad thing as the lake always seems to fish better with fewer anglers anyway.
Since there were only a few of us I decided to make it a roving draw and, drawing last as usual, I was pleased to see number one stuck to my mit[
]Nobody was in the least bit surprised when I plumped for the island peg - I've fished it countless times over the last thirty plus years that I've been a club member.
Up to three rods can be used for this match, so I set up three carp rods with large inline method feeders, short hooklengths and baits varying between corn, pellets and various boilies. Plus a 5m whip and a waggler rod - to be used with maggots and worm for smaller fish.
I shouted time at 9pm and cast one method feeder (with a couple of grains of fake corn as bait) to the stumps out in the centre of the lake and a second on roughly the same line but only half the distance - I then set about trying to catch a few 'bits' on the whip.
It had been a beautiful sunny day but it clouded over quite quickly as the evening wore on and well before ten I was forced to abandon the whip as I couldn't see the float any more. I switched to the waggler (with a starlight attached) and added a couple more perch to the dozen or so I'd caught on the whip.
Bites tailed off on the waggler so I abandoned that too and a third method feeder was cast out slightly to my left where there appeared to be a big gap between two beds of pondweed.
There were certainly fish moving about - occasional double bleeps from my alarms and odd liners every few minutes indicated that - but I had no positive bites or runs.
I nodded off for a couple of hours (after setting my alarm for 4am[
]) and just after waking up Steve trotted round from peg 18 with a bream for me to weigh.It was one of the lakes smaller specimens but still a nice fish weighing 4lb 8oz
Recasting two of my method feeders I returned to my whip fishing and quickly started catching small roach, perch and odd little skimmers (the latter being the fish we stocked last November) - sport was patchy though I'd have a little run of three or four fish and then have to wait a while before I started catching again. It was also apparent that the roach were sitting about two feet deep with the perch being a couple of feet deeper - I would have thought that the perch would have bullied the roach out of the way to get to my loose-feed quicker.
Just before six Ed shouted across from peg three that he had a bream that was too big for his keepnet - it was a big 'un too - weighing in at 7lb 9oz - the biggest that's ever been caught in a match and only just over a pound shy of the lake record (8lb 12oz)
Whilst I was over that side of the lake I had a quick chat with the rest of the lads - George on peg seven had had a few roach and perch - Chris on peg eight fishing with a cheap glass fibre whip reckoned he was bagging - with skimmers and perch pushing eight ounces. Mally was stil fishless from peg thirteen and Steve hadn't managed to add to his early bream.
I still couldn't keep the fish coming, so I switched to the waggler with a couple of redworms as bait to try and tempt a better perch - I did get one fish about six ounces but then I think the perch started having a competition to see just how small a fish could engulf two worms [
]Calling time at 9am, Ed had added a brace of the small carp we stocked last year to his catch - the bigger one, a lovely fully-scaled mirror going 4lb 2oz. Those, together with a few small perch, and his earlier bream gave him a total of 16lb 5oz.
George's collection of perch and roach went an ounce over 2lb
Chris hadn't been telling fibs - he really had been bagging up - his fish weighing 8lb 6oz - which, from what I remember is the best weight of 'bits' for the last twenty years or so.
It's a good job he doesn't take match fishing too seriously[
]My perch, roach and baby skimmers went 4lb 7oz so I missed out on third by an ounce[
]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zotZOTbpOVs[/youtube]
Next up is the final round of the evening series at Dromonby Farm on Wednesday - and according to the current forecast it promises to be fine, warm and dry - which I find hard to believe[
]Simon
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