Summer League round 12 Grange Park New lake 10.9.2022

[Leo Martin]

Summer league round 12 Grange Park New Lake 10.9.2022

After the sad historic events this week, the Big Bash summer roadshow ended up at Grange Park Fisheries and with 24 attending on the new 38 peg lake the pressure was on. 21 club members and 3 adopted Basher guests in Paul Whitehouse, Wolfy and Codders making for a very full lake, would it deliver with the pressure, match day would tell and the Bashers are always up for a test.  Grange Park has always delivered loads of bites keeping you busy however the small goldfish of years gone by are now replaced with carp. There is a head of small bred carp coming through but there is a healthy stock of fish between a 1lb and 2lb which like to stretch the elastic out. Also reported some zoo creatures well over 10lbs to keep you on your toes.

Friday's wheel of fortune delivered peg 38 as my office for the day, far bottom naughty boys corner. With peg 1 out but Mick Roche on peg 2 and Guru Robson on peg 37 it made for a simple match as pole only, as there was no feeder chuck to be had so as not to cross people's lines. We are very respectful in our club after all. 

Simple 2 top kits for 2+2 and 2 for 6inch margins, both same set up, a banded hook and a plain hook for each.  Bait was hard pellets, paste, corn and dead reds which I didn't use.
Fish were showing all over the lake, balled up in places and along the margins in front of most people at our end of the Lake. Not sure what the top end was like as I didn't walk round.
A respectful pause before the whistle for all in and Steve Curtis (who wasn't happy bunny with his peg draw ) was straight into a fish closely followed by Jasper ,then Andy Waite and Guru Robson, it looked like it was to be a busy day.

I started at 2+2 where I found 3 feet of water, 6 mm hard pellet andcouldn't hit the bites then got 2 small carp. I upped to 8mm and found better fish. Stayed on 8mm pellet for a long time and it gave the best yield although it is beyond me how a 2 inch carp tries to eat an 8mm pellet?  The stamp of fish were mostly just over a pound and can certainly pull the laccy out.

I tried the margin numerous times to no real success as chucking feed in brought a showing within minutes. It reminded me of Jansons but these fish don't jump on the hook!  Loads of foul hookers, loads of missed bites and in the afternoon I fell into the trap of trying too long for very little reward which meant I didn't catch many for about 2 hours. The fish were there but not interested in my offerings and I suffered one of those frustrating periods. Paste, corn and hard pellet tried and not a lot to show for it. 6 inch deep, move to 2inch deep, lay on bottom, just off, you name it I was sucked in , one day I will learn,  grrrrr.

The 2+2 line gave best results off 8mm pellets, corn gave crucians and smaller fish, Paste I struggled hitting the bites. I had a decent morning session but poor afternoon with a long fishless spell after going in the margin.
Cant grumble, enjoyed the day and I think the new lake stood the test of the increased pressure on the lake from 24 anglers and most people had lots of bites and caught fish.
Guru Robson had a session on 2+3 dead depth, top kit at side of his nets, some out of his margin but his best session came off method chucked just short of island I the middle of the match with one bung.

Mick Roche to my right on peg 2 was going to have a paste day. He took some time to get going and also was drawn to his margins where he had some success but never quite got into a rhythm I think it's fair to say. There were periods of fish and periods without which I think cost him a higher weight as he is a good angler and this lake suits his style.

Andy Waite on Peg 3 went straight to his margin and had a frustrating session missing bites, loosing fish and catching tiny ones. He then found the fish in front of him and got his head down around 12 o'clock with the fish being netted one after another. He also suffered a few lean spells (maybe 10 minutes) however these were short lived. He also managed to snare (as Andy does) a couple of the new lakes Zoo creatures to build him to 162lb/ well done Andy.

It must be mentioned that there was a duck caught off unfancied peg 33. I am sure everyone will be updated in a match report as it did bring a moment of light entertainment at our end of the lake.

Looking at the weights caught 1868 lbs on a lake that is just about a year old, 6 ton weights and 2 of these in 180's. Massive credit to the fishery owner making the decision to change things around understandable why it is becoming a bashers favourite as well as the accompanying breakfast I still have to sample (I keep behaving on with my cereals and fruit). There was a good spread of weights around the lake as well, and although there were ton weights in most sections, there were 30, 40 and 50+ weights in the adjoining pegs. Well done everybody.

The leader in the roll of honour went to Mr Codlin esquire on peg 11, with 186-6 to take the match. Closely followed by section winner Steve Curtis on his unfancied peg 33 with 184-8, one fish shy. Other ton weights were Andy Waite peg 3 and 161.12, Jasper on peg35 for 146-8, Joe Martin joined the ton up club from peg 5 with 123-4 and Keith TT Smith now a ton up paid member 101-15 from peg 12.

Congratulations to brown envelope winners and hopefully those who didn't pick up any winnings enjoyed their day. I am sure we will continue to visit this fishery going forward and there are those venue experts who frequent the opens.

Our next match is at Lindholme on Bonsai, September 23rd, loads to confirm and pay on please. 

We also have the Winter League post on the forum, 16 Bashers joining to date which is a lot more than our usual stalwarts. Please indicate if you wish to join, check out the venues as Jasper has once again done a great job in his organising and listening to the members.

Thank you Jasper for the organisation and running the show, thank you to Steve Curtis lifting nearly a ton of fish out in a short time. Thank you to timekeeper Glen for tooting his whistle. Massive thank you to everyone for the support in the club with 24 paid on for the match. Its getting interesting now as we look forward for match venues, lake bookings and the balance between peg availability, fees and how many will attend. Definitely a discussion point for the AGM meeting trading off finances around space and quality of fishing.

[fishfinder]

Another quality report from Leo,peg 33 for  was not too happy with this as 32 and 33 had not been fished all year due to loading sand out behind them but you never know it was last peg put in because of late addition to the match. At the start there was a few about so optimism Improved, no feeder chuck but rigged it up for short chuck or in edge,top 3 in front and edge,fed lines ,both edges and was going to start on paste in front but some came to my left margin,got 5 or 6 early on then they disappeared never to return on that side,caught mainly in left hand margin on paste but had to keep moving swims to in front and edge,did not see many in the edge just odd ones all match which was probably better as just a couple in the swim usually makes them a bit easier to catch,had a good run in front with an hour and half to go on paste but then seemed to shut up shop with 45 minutes left and nothing in edge so under armed feeder to both sides and kept a few coming till the end.Only really saw jasper on 35 catching well and max having a few,John on 34 struggled a bit so was sam on 31,did not look across other bank and was pleased it fished well on that bank.At the weigh in all had a few with 4 tons on osprey bank with a 186 and 160 so with me thinking I had about 120 thought was well out of it,but wieghed 184 ,2nd by 2lb well done codders on winning.

[jasper31]

Well the lake fished better than i thought it would with the most anglers its ever had on it and the rain during midweek....

Started on method in edge as i had seen a few fish milling about, had a few carp and a couple of tiny freshly produced carp. Then spent a fair bit on method catching better stamp fish tight against the island, there seemed to be a snag on it to as a lot of fish kept getting snagged but pulled free easily until the last one totally got me snagged and i lost the rig, so that was the end of that  :-[.

Fished corn about 3ft from the bank in slightly deeper water ( I say deeper, but talking 10 inches  ;D), fed over 3 tins of corn whilst feeding big pots over the top of it - it did manage to keep the bits away and caught mainly carp from 1lb to 2lb each - only really managed one big bugger about 9lb.... >:D

Venue is excellent along with the breakfast - be better if the edge were dug out to 12" but just being picky