2019 round 8 Portand Canal Lakes 22.6.2019

[Leo Martin]

Big Bash summer league Portland Lakes Cansl 22.6.2019

Summer league round 8 Portland Canal.

Well as we move into the second half of 2019 summer finally arrived for us which as Bashers we are not used to dry days and bright sunshine except for our sun god Glen. Portland Lakes was our destination and Canal Lake was the venue which was new to many of us. 13 Bashers in attendance and two regular welcome guests in Nige Cooke and his good friend Fred Turtle (nice to see you on the bank again buddy). Sally satnav proved everyone wrong and I arrived in time for breakfast and this in itself deserves a special mention to those out there yet to try a Kingfisher breakfast and also to other fisheries cafe owners as the standard has been set. Exceptional service, quality, quantity where customer service, value and satisfaction come first. Thankyou.

Thank you to Glen and "gang" who went walk about to select peg numbers alongside info from our good friends James Maude who have fished the venue many times. Thanks also to Jack and John Balmforth for assisting in the draw. It was to be 3 sections of 5 today with the lake fee being paid prize money was to be subsidised due to numbers on show.

Canal Lake for those who have not seen before is a canal type lake set in a horseshoe. Good parking available and only a short walk to your peg, no barrow required. Early pegs have trees at side of some pegs, higher numbers no tree cover. Early pegs have some natural reed margins, higher numbers have over hanging grass for the carp to rummage in. Width varies from 13m to 15m so can be reached with a long pole. Depth 4 feet to 18 inch in the higher number pegs. All nets to be dipped and any pellets can be used so another bonus.

On arrival we were greeted with fish everywhere and the lake looked very fishy, would we all be in for a good day, time would tell. Peg 28 was home for the day for yours truly, decent draw if I was to believe. Andy "golden draw hand" Waite on corner and end peg 30 and John Utting to my right on peg 26. 15 anglers gave us loads of room which may have been a bonus to some pegs but possibly not to everyone.

Across to far bank for me at 14.5m after Glens whistle and into a fish after a few minutes and things we looking good. Fish seemed to go then and it was downhill from there. The bites were sporadic, never two fish together. Fish were in the swims but not interested in my offerings. Anyhow a frustrating day was had to retain my recent run of poor form. To my right, Andy never went wrong, long pole, track lines and margins all produced, he did "suffer" some quiet periods but a good angler on a good peg and he went to town to win the match. Well done Andy on taking 112-5 to the net and a match win.

Section winners

Max Steelcowboy Bates peg 1 95-15

John Lanelly peg 11 48.15

Mike Roche peg23 99-2

Second in sections

Steve Curtis peg 9 56-4

Glen Hanysz peg 17 37-0

Kev Indian Webster peg 24 94-3

The match results show a vast difference in angler's returns, some had good days, some had not so good but that's our sport we love and what makes it interesting, rewarding and frustrating.

Thank you once again to Steve Curtis for weighing in duties.

Also the day saw the fish off for the challenge cup first final winner. Mike Roche vs Glen and Mike went on to win the crown

Thanks for everyone who made the journey, if you didn't manage to catch a fish then hopefully the breakfast hit the spot. To those who sampled the after match chocolate cake or pint to quench their first, I guess it completed the day.

Next match is Steve Gregory's Wold View which is rapidly building its reputation, Places to confirm on the forum, and guest spaces available.

[weldec]

Great account of your day Leo, were there any signs of fish spawning, some fisheries are having a spawn ours was bad at Janson's. The breakfast is one of the very best around and free refills on your drinks.   The Canal lake can be a very frustrating lake at times. Good weight from Max on peg 1, Glen on a flyer peg 17 ( must try harder).  Was nice to be in the sunshine for once mate. Well done Andy and your fellow packet pickers.

[Leo Martin]

Hi Billy, the fish were in the margins and feeding an all things except bait offerings for yours truely. I dont think they were actively spawning but feeding on it.

The results come across as a very peggy lake although wrong to judge on one visit. I am glad we had the recent rains as I cant imagine the depth in my area if the recent rains had  not topped it up. peg 29 had 12 inch near margins, 18inch to 2 feet middle track and far bank.

Interesting to get the views of everyone else on venue, lake and how their day went. If I can speak for John Utting in next peg I think we both had a similar day but others in our section bagged up with Andy taking the crown and could do nothing wrong in peg 30.   

[steelcowboy]

Day started at 5:30 for me ! Long long boring drive with numerous speed cameras on route and some average speed cameras that suddenly changed from 50mph down to 40mph so probably another ticket happy days finally arrived at the venue after 1hour 40minutes and it's only 45miles from home

Peg 1 stuck to my hand and reading previous reports from Billy and co this was a bit hit or miss peg
Lots of options to go at but most meant fishing nearly 16mt and being the lazy angler I am I quickly ruled out fishing the far bank and chasing the fish all the way around the peg.

Small hybrid feeder for fishing across this to be used for 1st 30 minutes while a feed my 12mt line and top2 plus 2line and also when I fancy a coffee and sandwich 😉

Having read on FB you needed meat and worms down the edge my bait for the day was micro pellets for feeder and edge with 1pint of dead reds for left margin ,4mm pellet feed on both pole lines and down my short right side margin
Hook bait in front on everything was 6mm hard pellet left margin was gluing to be a big bunch of maggots and right side pellet

Had a couple on feeder across while having a coffee and got broke on a 2lb carp that went ballistic near the net 😂

Went on Long pole line had a few carp on deck with 6mm hard pellet had to wait for bites but it was nice day and I wasn't doing anything else ,

Left margin produced 1 carp 5 gudgeon mostly hooked in the belly and 1 roach my right margin was a lot more productive feeding 4mm all day went on this line around 2oclock and had 10 carp all caught on either a 6mm expander or 8mm expander

I ended up with 28 carp for 95lb so I nice days fishing , my short line although feed by hand all day n produced zip zero nowt not even a liner

Elastic out in front orange elite, float .5 Conway , hook length .12 to a 20 b911 banded
Edge rig elastic blue elite 10-14 ,float .4 AS4 , hook length .16 to a 14mwg

Well done to Andy8 and to all brown envelopes pick ups

[fishfinder]

Longest drive of the year.not fished this lake before so went for look around before the off pegs 1 and 30 were full of fish with what little wind there was blowing down that end.Liked the look of corners 11.17.18 23 and 24.To the draw Andy before me in the queue said where  do you fancy I said 30 so he proceeded to draw it.i drew peg 9.Could see max had drawn peg 1 he was in my section so was looking for 2nd in section.was 16m across so method feeder rigged up.Fished mainly paste at 11m 1 fish all day nothing at 4m few crucians and f1 down edge and odd one on method.Struggled to put any fish together in runs.after 2hrs had 3lb and all round me not catching. Chucked feeder and had 4 in 4 chucks thought I'd sorted it but no more .Keep returning to feeder and picking odd 1 up when nothing else working.Finish with 56lb which shocked me as I thought 35lb max.seemed all top end fished hard and apart from a few people catch a few lumps down the edge late on the weights would have been poor. Thought it looked peggy and so it proved.dont think the fact that it was flat calm helped.