MATCH REPORTS 2017/18
Birkwood Farm Cockney Winter League – Match Report Rounds 1 & 2, 5th & 19th Nov 2017
Well, here we are again, the start of another winter league at Birkwood Farm. We’ve lost a few of the olds hands but welcome Roy, Steve, another Steve, Ryan, Tom, Hayden, Andy and John. The new guys take our numbers back up to 21 so it’s three sections of seven anglers. Welcome to you all and hope you enjoy the series and venue as much as we have.
We’re ready to draw for round 1; 3TT dips in first for me and pulls out peg 10. Not the best draw in the world but at least I won’t be confused having to decide what to fish for! 3TT dips again and pulls 21 for my pretty assistant Elvis and then draws 13 for himself. Perhaps I ought to rename him three-dips Dave! Step forward remaining combatants and Byron is on 1, Squirrel 2, Alan 3 (didn’t look happy!!!), Steve Hook 4, Tom 5, Phil 6, Andy G 7, John 11, Ryan 12, Marjorie 14 (standing in for Charlie), Hayden 15, Cas 15A, Mick 16, Steve Hanson 17, Paul 18, Roy 22, Andy C 23 leaving Scotty with 28.
The weather is set fair for a good match: not cold, a light breeze blowing down to the high numbers and sunshine, fine for some as it keeps us warm but please, right in the face for those of us between 10 and 14 !!! Soon it’s 10AM and I call time.
I start by cupping in half of pot of mostly red maggot, chopped on top with a very few finely chopped worms at 12 metres. I also start loose feeding casters at about 7 metres to see if anything turns up close and shallow. Out on the long line and don’t have to wait too long before I’m into roach, some half decent hybrids and small skimmers. It’s steady away.
From 10 I can’t see too much of the pond but not long in Cas has snared a carp from 15A. Fish are being caught but it is hard to judge what is happening. All I know is Byron is very quiet on peg 1, either that or the wind is blowing very kindly for me and I just can’t hear him !!!
Cutting a long story short, I can see silvers being caught, an odd trout (thank goodness they are disappearing) and Cas and Hayden knocking the odd carp. Ryan on peg 12 makes a very brave choice and feeds a few pellets near the tree but out into about four feet of water. He occasionally takes a look to see if any carp have turned up. Eventually he snares a beast. In the net, re-feed and back to the silver line. On a second look he bags carp number 2. These aren’t supposed to be in C section !!!!! Before time he snares a third.
All too soon it’s 3PM and time is called. At the weigh in Alan has taken A section from peg 3 with carp for 15-6 and nearly 10lbs of silvers, which included a snotty spotty. Squirrel cops second with a mixed net of carp and silvers weighing just shy of 20lbs. Mick takes third spot with 17-8.
Cas takes B section with 52-12, a net that included 49-8 of carp. Hayden goes second with 28-11, almost all carp. What are they doing in B section?? Browny lands 3rd in B with a great net of silvers pushing almost 20lbs.
C section is won by Ryan, his three carp weighing in just shy of 20lbs giving him a total of 26-10. Scotty takes second spot with almost 18lbs of silvers and a flukey carp, taking his weight to 20-2. I manage third with 17lbs of all silvers. Well done Ryan – you mad a brave decision, stuck with it and it worked.
And the prize for dummy of the day goes to Bilbo. Thought his peg was in B section so fished for carp when he saw Cas and Hayden catching. His peg was in A section and if he’d fished for silvers he would have finished a lot higher up the leader board…………..doh!
On to round two and the weather is still dry, a slight breeze again blowing to the higher numbers but, boy, we’ve had a cold night with a sharp frost. This was probably the second or third frost of the week so it will be interesting to see how it affects the fishing. It does have some impact on the carp but the silvers normally feed with some abandon so we should still see a good number of fish caught.
Today we have four regulars missing but welcome Pete, Matt and Steve (Howard – another Steve H) to fill the gaps. Marjorie is again standing-in so we have all pegs filled. Now we draw for section. 3TT (or 3DD) can’t draw for me as we are both in A section but up steps Matt, one of our guests and, dear boy, draws out peg 22 for me. I don’t think a physical display of affection is really appropriate so I’ll just say “thanks Matt”!!
The rest of A section sees Matt on 1, John 2, 3TT 3, Phil 16, Scotty 17 and Andy on 23. B section draw puts Roy on 4, Mick 5, Steve Hanson 14, Squirrel 15, Alan 15A, Pete 18 and Byron 21. Hells teeth, that’s next to me and I don’t have any ear defenders with me!
C section goes Elvis on 6, Marjorie 7, Steve Howard 10, Cas 11, Steve Hook 12, Paul 13 and Hayden takes the far corner peg 28.
I’m a few minutes getting sorted but I am helped to my peg by a very kindly Hobbit – thanks Bilbo, much appreciated (22 is the longest walk!!!). I set up three rods; bomb, method and pellet waggler. I also set up two pole rigs one for 7 metres and one for 10 metres. This causes Bilbo much merriment.
“What you setting a pole up for?” he asks “’Cos everyone else does” says I
There follows a period of raised eyebrows, tutting etc. but his heart is in the right place!!!
Just before we start we suddenly notice John is in the water in front of peg 2. There can only be two reasons for this:
1. John is confused and thinks the match is over, he has won and has thrown himself in, or
2. He really wants to be deadly accurate in his plumbing-up of the peg and wants to make sure everything is spot on.
Whatever the reason the poor lad was totally wet through. Apparently, he launched himself in head first. Sad to say only Roy responded and gave him a 10.0 !!!! Happy to report John does have a good carer in Mandy!!
Kick-off at 10AM and I’m straight out with bomb and pellet. Andy on 23 does the same so do Phil and Scotty (or I think they’re on bomb and pellet. They’re on something on the deck!!). A few minutes in and I’ve only had the odd liner but Scotty has landed a carp. A little while later he’s battling another. Looks a big fish the time he’s taking! What I didn’t know was he’d hooked it up the bum !!!
Now it’s brown trouser time. The last time peg 17 threw up a start like that it ended with Cas putting 102lbs in the net and 22 struggled. I swallowed hard but carried on, all the while firing out 8mm pellets and searching around for a little more than a line bite. Byron, or I shall now call him “If I could only get a bite, Byron” was not only fishless but bite less. No bites in 30 minutes – no bites all the time. Yes, he was telling the truth (I can hear the folks reading this and fainting in disbelief) but “If I could only get a bite, Byron” went 55 minutes before he got his first bite – well off a fish anyway, he’d already had a few from me !!!!
Then wallop, my tip went round and I landed my first carp. Relief. But it did not open any floodgates. I had another that will be a carp when it grows up, followed by a third that may have pushed the scales to 8ozs! Then a whole lot of nothing. Tried meat, bread, corn, pop-ups but still nothing. Then I decided to chance method. The first chuck went awfully long chaps but produced nothing but the odd liner. Chucked again, this time dropping just over my feed and within two minutes was playing my best fish of the day. Next chuck, a little shorter, and the feeder had hardly settled when it ripped round with a three-pounder hanging on to my pellet hook bait. Between then and the end I managed another four carp on method. Phil had snuck three and a trout from 16, Andy G found a couple next door but Scotty had struggled.
Called time at 3. Now to weigh in and I have managed to win A section and the match with a shade over 21lbs. Phil takes second with 13-6. John takes the prize for the dive of the day!
Squirrel takes B section with 14-4 and guest Pete fills second spot with 11-12. “If I could only get a bite, Byron” has managed third spot with 10lbs – surprise, surprise !!
Cas takes C section with 16-10 that includes a carp of 3-10. Paul is second with an all silver net of 14-10 and Hayden takes third with 10-6. Hayden’s net included a carp of 6-14, fished for in peg 28 on bomb and pellet. He also lost a large fish just before time!!
After the carp-fest in B section in the last match only two were caught this time around. Four pegs in C section coughed up single carp. The pond fished unusually hard today, not typical of the venue, but, looking at other results we were not alone; the fishing has proved hard all around the piece.
Let’s just hope we can continue with fair weather for the next match, which is on December 3rd. Look forward to seeing you all there.
Cheers
Des
Birkwood Farm Cockney Winter League – Match Report Round 3, Dec 3rd 2017
Round three of the winter league is upon us already (don’t the years go quick!). A few lads missing this match but welcome back Tom and Andy C. Welcome to our guests Pete, CK, Aaron, Steve Howard and Marjorie (Pete will be joining the league as a replacement for Charlie, who is suffering from work commitments).
All ready at 8.30 for the draw. I say all but not so sure about Tom. Damned works Christmas party has taken its toll and Tom is a delicate shade of green and still inebriated (that’s pissed to you Bilbo!!!). Still, he’s a brave lad and lines up for a dip in the bag.
Cas is first to dip in A and comes out with…………..wait for it…………peg 22. We had a book going on either Cas taking it or CK. Chris said the way Cas’ drawing arm has been working lately it was inevitable he’d lift 22!!! For the rest Pete is on 1, CK gets 2 (half way there Chris), Hayden 3, Tom 16, Elvis 17 leaving Steve Hook with 23.
B section next and mine is pulled out first, which sees me on 18. Happy with that. Scotty takes the “paddling pool” – as he calls it – peg 4, Marjorie is on 5, Aaron 14, Steve Howard has 15, Phil 15A and 3TT is on 21. Finally, section C goes Roy with 6, Mick 7, Squirrel 10, Bilbo 11, Steve Hanson, 12, Andy C 13 leaving Alan with 28.
The weather is set fair; cold but dry with a cold lap going into the corner between 18 and 21. Well, it was supposed to be dry but we were greeted by heavy drizzle before the draw and a smattering just after the all-in, but it soon cleared and we did enjoy a dry day with the sun putting in an appearance later on.
Predictions made before the start – Cas to p..s it from 22and Tom most likely to take a dip from 16. At least he would have a valid excuse if he did fall in – John!!!!!!!.
Kick off this week at 9.45. Cas obviously started on the bomb as were most at the top end of the lake. I decided to start on a small pellet method but didn’t get too many indications. I would give it about half an hour. About 20 mins in and something was fiddling with the bait. Suddenly my tip rips round, strike, carp on………………ah, no…………3 oz skimmer!!! And that was it for the method. Fed a line with maggot and a very small amount of chop and secured a run of 20 fish in about 15 minutes. As they were mostly gudgeon I felt I had stormed to at least 4 ozs! Not the start I wanted.
An hour in and most at the top end were struggling even Cas, who had only managed the one carp. Silvers were being caught in the lower numbers, 10 round to 15A, Tom on 16 had turned an even more delicate shade of green and was yet to catch.
Now Cas starts to catch carp with monotonous regularity on bread and pellet, even having a look on pellet waggler. 3TT has snared one from 21 (or was it 22 heheheh) but most of us here are still struggling. Then Elvis snares a modest lump on meat. Time to have a look on the bomb. I try bomb and meat – nothing; bomb and pellet – nothing; bomb and corn ……….you guessed it – nothing; Finally I tried bomb and bread, had two bites, one a skimmer, which I lost!!! I think I should have tried bomb and bomb!!!!!!!
Cas is now getting boring, landing yet another carp. 3TT gets number 2. I can see Phil catching from 15A but I’m struggling to put a decent run of fish together. I put it down to the slope of the lake caused by the hill behind 21, 22 and 23, causing the roach to slide down to the far end of the pond (the carp in front of 22 are strong enough to hang on!!). Tom is having a struggle of his own. Not sure which of his two tips to watch he finally packs up and goes home. I can’t say he took an early bath as that’s Johns province!!
All through the match a steady noise has emanated from peg 11. Bilbo is still waiting for his first bite (!) and admitting to very little. From the honest Bilbo of two weeks ago he has reverted to type, swearing that Squirrel has at least double his weight. We shall see, we shall see!
All too soon we get to 2.45 and its time to call the all out and to the weigh-in.
Cas has taken section A with a great net of carp and a couple of silvers for just over 61lbs. Pete takes second spot with an all-silver net of 11-12. Phil takes B section with 13-12 of silvers with 3TT second with 10-5, a catch that included 3 carp. C section is taken by young squirrel with 19-8 from 10, followed by Steve Hansen who weighed 19-4 from 12. Oops………what happened on peg 11 !!!!!!
Next match is on Dec 17th. Can Cas make it 4 section wins from 4!! This will be an open draw and I look forward to seeing you all there, ready to draw by 8.30
Cheers
Des
Birkwood Farm Cockney Winter League – Summary Report March 2018
A better entry than last season’s Winter League with 21 anglers paid and signed up against the 18-fielded last term. We lost a few old hands but welcomed Roy, Ryan, Steve Hooks, Steve Hansen, Tom, Hayden, Andy Crampton and John Stark to the ranks of those sufficiently disturbed to be mental enough to fish regularly through the dark months! And this winter proved to be darker than most and I seemed to have booked the fortnightly matches to coincide with cold, frosty and snowy spells with milder weather in the intervening weeks!
With fair weather on the first match the carp were spread a little more, showing in all sections with top carp weights coming from pegs 15A, 15, 12, 3 and 16 but, as the weather got colder, they moved more toward their winter home and seemed shoaled mainly in front of 22 and 23 with odd weights coming from 2, 16 and 17 but with even colder weather they became more balled.
Silver fish could be caught from every peg with some notable double figure weights coming mostly from B and C sections. There were a few from A but this is not normally the case as we are mostly fishing for carp from these pegs.
Despite the cold, catches were generally decent apart from the match held on January 7th when the pond continued to ice over through the morning and only two of the seven anglers in C caught fish as the ice just moved in and shut off the pond from peg 6 round to 11. As ice cleared in front of 13 and then 12 only then were a few fish caught. Probably the worst result we’ve ever had at Birkwood.
The silver fish habits had changed too; in past seasons the best nets and quality fish responded to casters and came shallow through to full depth. This time casters (or carsters, as we say dahn sarf) proved a poor choice with fish responding best to maggot. The carp proved more reliable on bread baits fished on the deck or popped-up.
The series was not without other incident either; in round 2 John decided to accurately plumb his peg by personally checking the depth by the platform on peg 2. Strangely followed in the last match by Phil who tried some accidental wading form 18! Noise levels were as previous years with Byron proving the major source. At times I couldn’t hear him but those were days when I was up-wind. On the last match some of us commented he must have been catching as we couldn’t hear him! “Not so” said those fishing pegs 10 to 14, “he hasn’t shut up all day”. Somethings never change!
Other matters that remain unchanged are Cas, Paul and Squirrels ability to catch fish, all three returning good weights on most matches wherever they were drawn. A hapless Byron, who claims he can no longer catch fish, also strung together some very good weights of silver fish, finishing the last match with 24lbs of small roach. A bloody good catch by any standards. He finished fifth overall, another great result as he was the only one to go the series and not catch a single carp!
As we progressed through February and into March the weather got even colder and we had to suffer “the beast from the east”, not once but twice. We struggled on, however, and managed to complete the league programme on the last match.
With three matches to go the overall winning spot was still open for grabs as Squirrel and Cas swapped the lead with Paul waiting in the wings. But, going into the last match we did have a deserved winner in Cas but second to fifth places were still very much open. Also, the default prizes for best cumulative carp and silver weights were still available. Hayden, in his first season with us, was leading the carp weights with just over 71lbs with little prospect of being caught but that depended really on Scotty winning section A for a top five finish if he drew on 22 or 23, where the fish had been shoaled for weeks. The silvers prize was open between me, Byron and Phil, all of us with over 70lbs but, again, it depended on the section results from the last match.
As it transpired the section winners were Squirrel, Byron and Paul. Paul took second league spot, tying on points with Squirrel but taking the place on most section wins. Squirrel took third with Phil a clear fourth. Byron’s section win saw him tie with Scotty on points but took the fifth spot on most section wins. Scotty drew 22 on this last match and managed to put 23 ½ lbs of carp on the scales, which saw his weight go to 75lbs plus, so pipping Hayden at the last gasp. With Byron finishing fifth I managed to scoop the silver prize with a shade over 87lbs.
All-in-all it was an up-and-down series with the weather issues but came right in the end. I have already booked the matches for the next two winters and hope to see you all, or at least most of you, in the next series.
Cheers
Des
