Big Bash Wrinklies knock up 5 Saturday 18th January 2025

[Leo Martin]

Update,

Heron lake is slowly clearing of ice. It has been fished Wednesday 15th after ice had been broken previously with digger.

Still some ice in middle so Wednesdays match was fished with poles.

If temperature continues above freezing it is hoped the thaw will also continue and clear most of the ice by Saturday morning

Steve is to issue pegs to me late Friday after it is understood how many pegs the club sharing the lake with us require for our draw Saturday  morning .

12 anglers now fishing and I am fishing with 3 sections instead of 2 to share payments out further

[Leo Martin]

UPDATE

Ice had been broken using machine earlier in week for a match to take place Wednesday 15th. Note this was fished on poles as ice still in place from 13m to island although still thawing out. please bring breakers just in case.

MATCH FULL

Big Bash knock-up Grange Park Heron Lake.

Lake being shared with another small club but 19 pegs guaranteed so plenty room. Good practise opportunity for next Winter league match

Match fee to be paid on Saturday and draw to be inside the site cafe on day ( hoping its open and allowed). if not car park

£15 pegging and pools to be paid on the day for 08:15 am. Please bring correct money to help match admin.
Draw to be at 08:15 prompt inside cafe if allowed

Fishing 10:00 to 15:00

12 Anglers fishing in 3 x 4 sections to share monies around more

Payouts will depend on number of anglers but hoping for match winner, section winners and 2nd in sections to share things around.

Please be aware of fishery and Big Bash AC rules.

1 Leo
2 John Lanelly
3 John Utting
4 Steve
5 Indian
6 Glen
7 Mark Radford
8 Paul Smiler Atton
9 Tracey Benson
10 Paul Quinton
11 Wayne Smith
12 Dave Fox
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[Leo Martin]

Big Bash knock-up Grange Park Heron Lake.

Lake being shared with another small club but 19 pegs guaranteed so plenty room. Good practise opportunity for next Winter league match

Match fee to be paid on Saturday and draw to be inside the site cafe on day ( hoping its open and allowed). if not car park

£15 pegging and pools to be paid on the day for 08:15 am. Please bring correct money to help match admin.
Draw to be at 08:15 prompt inside cafe if allowed

Fishing 10:00 to 15:00

12 Anglers fishing in 3 x 4 sections to share monies around more

Anglers on pegs 2 to 12 to travel down to pegs in numerical order and after unloading park in top car park please as there is a second match on osprey who are also using this bank.

Payouts will depend on number of anglers but hoping for match winner, section winners and 2nd in sections to share things around.

Please be aware of fishery and Big Bash AC rules.

1 Leo
2 John Lanelly
3 John Utting
4 Steve
5 Indian
6 Glen
7 Mark Radford
8 Paul Smiler Atton
9 Tracey Benson
10 Paul Quinton
11 Wayne Smith
12 Dave Fox

Pegging 2,4,6,8,    10,12,17,19,   25,27,29,31. 3 sections of 4 anglers.

[Leo Martin]

Wrinklies knock up 5 Grange Park Heron 18.1.25

Just coming out of a deep freeze and with the fishery management team working hard to clear the lake ice as late as Friday afternoon it would be interesting if the fish would feed or not. Freezing at the start of the week and very thick ice, 6 degrees yesterday when most of the ice was broken however back nudging freezing Friday night and Saturdays temperature a tropical 2 degrees, to say it was cold in the breeze is an understatement.  At least it was dry.

12 Wrinkly anglers turned up, (thanks for the support) for the draw and paid on a timely manner. Ably assisted by Glen and it was off to the lake we go all before 8.15. lads sharing Osprey bank all drove in order and dropped off their tackle to park in top car park and free the travel for the match on Osprey. Thank you.  All of Heron generously donated and pegged with 6 anglers on the West Bank ( Osprey) 2 on the South Ban ( Café) and 4 on the East Bank ( Merrys). North bank was left out as this was still iced late Friday.

Peg 27 for yours truly halfway down East bank opposite the bank jutting out, happy with that and no ice meant rods could be used. My plan on Friday suspecting carp wouldn't be feeding was light floats, fine line, small hooks maggots and pinkies and try build a weight of small fish to try achieving something from a section. With water free of ice I set up Bomb and method rods to chuck across and see if anything would be there.  Pole lines set up at 2+2 and 2+ 4 for the small fish.

The match was off to a flier and with a muted whistle lads were fishing whilst I was still putting my net in. John Utting into a carp on his first chuck, followed by Indian also a carp in his net. Foxy next door took pole approach and small roach graced his net as I chucked 3 6mm discs of bread out across on my bomb rod. All lads on my bank chose pole approach whilst I went on bomb rod, my plan was to try for an hour hoping for a carp whilst feeding pole line in readiness for small fish match. 6 minutes in and rod dropped back then progressed to twitch as I retightened my line, fish on and a 3lb carp graced my net. Back out  and second cast, 7 minutes in and similar bite, lay back and twitching line a bream but it was another welcome carp. 15 minutes in and 5 lbs in my net. After an hour it was 6 carp in net and by 12 o'clock 12 carp. Happy days.
12 clock the fish switched off for a period  (allowed my to have my snap) then rod tip was on the move again and another fish graced my net.  The  afternoon session was much quieter than the first part of the match and bites were hard to come  by. I kept adopting the pattern if not bits after 8 minutes rebait and recast which seemed to be the key approach. Around 13:30 with 16 fish in my net I chose to add a second keepnet and yes it was the big kiss of death on bites. I changed to corn and fished mid lake on  my corn line,  which I had primed during the match just in case. 3 casts and 20 minutes later the tip flew around, and first carp went into my second net. I did manage 2 more from island chucks, one on corn and one back on bread discs giving 3 fish in second net then it was 3pm and match end.
Pole lines not used at all, and neither was method rod but looking around the lake I was happy to continue on the bomb approach with bread discs prime bait. Did have a scare as I only had 2 slices Guru bread with me as I had left other slices at home on side, doh. Nearly run to café for some or phone Mrs M to bring me some across as morning developed. In the end frugal use ( tight Yorkshire man, I know) I managed to end of match with a 3rd of a slice to spare.  Happy with my weight on my bank but word was Mr Guy was also having a good day on peg 4 so we would have to wat and see. 45lb 1 ounce my weight with about 21 bites, 19 fish and 2 lost ones.

Section 3 also consisted of Dave Fox on peg 25 to my left. Started on his pole and picking up small fish on maggot, soon moved onto his rod after I had 3 fish in my net. The bites for Dave were not quite the same frequency and after a couple of fish they dried up. Dave switched back to pole and back on rods again for rest of match. Picked u0p a couple of fish but the fish were not in the same presence as peg 27 . Dave weighed in 19-4 for a section win. He even offered me a slice of his jam and bread when he knew I was running out of bread, what a man. 
Peg 29 saw Wayne Smith who chose pole line as initial approach then switched across to rods but it was turned 13:15 before his first carp. He had a couple in quick succession then they moved on. Wayne brought 9-5 to the scales.
Peg 31 and end of island and Big Mark Radford who also chose pole approach initially before switching over to rods. Similar to others he would catch a fish then have a long wait for further bites so alternated his lines. Mark took 15-10 to the scales for 2nd in section.

Section 2
Hardest section to be drawn in it would appear from the results, well done for sticking it out.
Peg 10 saw smiler who despite arriving late, some mix up on either café location of venue and yes his good friend was involved I am told. Paul took 4lb to the scales for a 2nd in section.
Quinny on peg 12 chucked back his net of small fish, well done for sticking it out.
Peg 17 was John Lanelly who weighed in 7-13 with a couple of late carp helping him to 7-13 and a section win.
Peg 19 was our John "Darkhorse" Utting who despite the flying start struggled with any further carp bites and weighed in 3-4. Well done mate and some great banter.

Section 1
Peg 2 saw Tracey Benson  who alternated rod and pole to weigh in 11-4
Peg 4 Mr Steve Guy who also set off like a train and was catching on his rod similar to myself. From the word around the lake, he was actually in front of me at lunch time. Steve weighed in one net for 43-2 and a section win, giving me a match win.  Well done mate and so close.
Peg 6 was B iug Glen who after struggling initially for fish, ( there was a little complaining to be heard). Fishing  several yards in from the island and took a commendable 39-15 to the scales for second in section. Well done mate.
Peg 8 saw Indian and again after a flying start with a carp early on had to work hard to put 17-5 to the scales.

Majority of rod fish were caught on either bread or corn. Pole fish were on maggot. Some fish taken on wafters and method. The fishing after 12pm seemed to switch off for most and afternoon bites hard to come by for all. It did warm up to 2.5 degrees when the wind dropped slightly and some stages in the afternoon the water was flat calm but it was still very very cold. A lot of heated jackets, waist coats, socks came into play and the little handwarmers are brilliant.

Many thanks to fishery management for clearing the ice to enable fishing to take place. All 4 lakes had matches on.

Thanks to Mark assisting with weigh in, Glen timekeeping and everyone turning out and sticking with it on a bitter cold day.

Next Big Bash Winter league is on same lake on 25th, next week. Same peg please Jasper. There are 15 anglers on the lake next week so it may be different dynamics as its is fishing, and they have fins to swim to other areas.

Names also being taken for next Wrinklies match on the 1st February, please let me know if interested so I can choose a venue to numbers. I will be watching the weather closely and if its going to be horrendous ( trusting the weathermen) we probably wont be fishing. I do however need numbers to align a venue.