Monday 28 April 2014

27/04/14 - Acorns - Paddock Lake

Weight - 31lb 9oz
Catch - 16 Carp, 3 Perch,2 Roach, 1 F1, 1 Skimmer
Weather - Breezy and very wet
Match - Pole Only Series - rd 3 - 18th out 30, 6th out of 10 section

The 3rd round of this series and I’m really struggling to build any enthusiasm. I had intended to practice for the series, by fishing the Saturday opens and maybe the occasional Tuesday cost cutter, but compared to other venues the fishing has been poor. My weekends are valuable & I don’t want to be fishing a venue where I’m your struggling to get a bite. It would appear I’m not the only one thinking that way with some Acorns regulars turning up at Lands End last week and Mark said a few turned up at Ridgeway on Saturday. Recently weights have improved, but I will be glad when then series finishes. I don’t mind fishing when it is hard, but it’s not right to be struggling to get a bite on single maggot in April.

C section for me today, with pegs 36 & 38 being the form pegs. Alas I found myself on p21, which put me on the right hand side of the bridge. In the previous 2 rounds the peg had come 3rd & 6th in section, so not the best peg in section, but should at least produce a few bites. Chris Fox was on the other side of the bridge and Nigel Vigus was to my right on p19, but a different section.

The wind was likely to be an issue today, but as it turned out it was blowing slightly from behind and wasn’t overly strongly, however it rained for most of the match which proved uncomfortable at times. Fortunately being able to park behind your peg meant I could keep most of the kit in the car.

Following a couple of decent results recently and despite my complaints about the venue, I was feeling confident of a fish. Plumbing revealed the far bank was deeper than any other peg I have been on & initially decided to pot in a small amount of micros & 4s, left and right along the far bank. Groundbait/micros/caster at 5m, micros & 4s at the bottom of the shelf at 11m to my right and some hand fed caster by the bridge.

Starting across with a HB Billybob 0.3g > .12 > 16 B911 & expander, after a few liners I landed a small carp, then a F1 came from the caster swim on maggot, but after an hour that was it! Chris was also struggling and it wasn’t looking good. The far bank was proving to be a waste of time, I even tried a 4x10 rig with a slow drop set off bottom, but nothing.

So far I had been cautious with the feed and decided to continue to trickle micros & 4s by the bridge and be more positive to my right. A switch to the 5m line did produce a skimmer and few small roach & perch on single maggot.

By the half way point I started to get a few indications and caught a small carp at 5m and a couple more at 11m on single maggot. However, it was a case of catch a fish, refed, try a different swim, and hope for a bite, before switching again.

The remainder of the match proved to be more productive. Dobbing a 6mm expander or piece of worm set at 2ft deep along the bridge produced a few better carp, but unfortunately the heavy rain came at the wrong time, putting the fish down. I also had a couple of carp from the positively feed right hand island swim and a couple of carp across by the bridge, either on expander, triple maggot or worm. With 90mins to go I targeted the right hand pallet. Nigel was already fishing tight to the bank and landed a carp. I decided to find a flat spot about a metre off the bank in the deeper water, cupping in a mixture of pellet & caster. I did catch another carp, but lost 2, 1 of which was definitely foul hooked.

A very bity match, where it was difficult to find a pattern, other than the need to continually rotate. I had more carp than most in my section, however their size went against me, finishing a disappointing 6th in section. Another 5lb would have seen me jump 2 places.  Except for Tom Thick on p25, most struggled along the straight, with the better weights coming from the other side of the lake. Chris only had 15lb from his side of the bridge and Nigel to my right had 11lb, so not to many fish in area. Well done to Russ for winning from unfancied peg 4.

1st 82- 2 – Russ Peck – p4
2nd 68-12 – Glenn Calvert – p7
3rd 61- 0 – Lewis Jones – p33
4th 56- 8 – Tom Thick – p25
5th 47- 9 – Dom Sullivan – p31
6th 46- 4 – Rob Fogg – p9

Silvers
1st 12- 4 – Eddie Wynn – p16
2nd 11- 9 – Paul Faires – p34
3rd 9- 8 – Charlie Barnes – p26
4th 8- 6 – Tom Thick – p25
5th 5- 4 – Norman Hugget – p40
6th 4- 9 – Lance Tucker – p38

26/04/14 - Fishponds

Weight - 220lb 11oz
Catch - 33 Carp
Weather - Cool & breezy
Match - Club - 2nd out of 8

Today was the first of my clubs 5hr summer afternoon/evening matches. Following all the rain & flooding earlier in the year access to the lake resembled a bog, which made pushing a trolley interesting - I made 2 trips on the way back.
 
With only 8 in attendance it at least meant we would be well spread, so I wasn’t fussed were I drew. Peg 3 was down the arm of the lake and the wind was funnelling down towards peg 1 were Chris Davidge was sat. Normally I would look to fish at the bottom of the shelf, but with the wind and likely tow, presentation was going to be difficult. I did bring a tip rod, but being an evening match decided to concentrate on fishing the 2nd shelf just off the margins and the tip rod never got used.
 
Plumbing up revealed the right margin was 4ft deep, whilst the left was closer to 5ft. Both margins got a half pot of 8s, 6s and couple of big chucks of meat. Starting down the right side, simply because I bumped a fish whilst plumbing up, I had 9 carp all on meat by the end of the first hour.
 
A switch to hair rigged 10mm JPZ pellet, following a series of missed bites on meat and I added another 8 during the 2nd hour. So far all the fish had come from the right side, but nothing so far from the left. In fact I only caught 4 or 5 fish from the left, with the majority coming from the right side.
 
The final hour proved to be really slow with only 4 fish, but my quick start meant a comfortable win and my first ton of 2014.
 
1st - 220-11 - Ken Rayner - p3
2nd - 169- 3 - Andy Bradley - p16
3rd - 155-15 - Chris Davige - p1
4th - 106- 1 - Nick Jordell - p11

Tuesday 22 April 2014

21/04/14 - Rood Ashton

Weight - 86lb 8oz
Catch - 26 Carp
Weather - Sunny with light breeze
Match - Wests Tackle Open - 2nd out of 20

A change of scenery today. I would have fished Lands End, but Tony had yet to make a decision about whether he was fishing so I booked in with Wests.

Reports so far had suggested the lake has been fishing well, with 4 tons in yesterday’s match, although there were only 11 fishing. With 20 today the fishing was likely to be a little harder, but at least it looked like being a decent day weather wise.

Pegging today meant peg 1 was on the far side opposite the reeds, then peg 2 by the car park rotating clockwise round the lake. I drew p20 in a peg called the “snag pit” and as you can see from the photo it’s a bit of a trek to get to the peg. Needless to say Mark was pleasure fishing on peg 1, which brought a few groans at the draw.
 
Most of the pegs on this side of the lake have deeper margins, because the land owner uses a digger to de-silt close in. However plumbing around discovered it was the same depth all around, just over a foot deep. Yesterday was cold & wet and I fully expected a slow start in such shallow water. As well as 2 pole rigs, a HB Billybob 0.1g > .14 > 16 B911 to fish at 13m & a HB AK47 0.1g > .16 > 16 B911 to fish the margin, I also brought my tip rod, thinking about setting up a method feeder, but instead decided on the straight lead, feeding 8s at 25m. 

On the all in a mixture of micros & 6s was deposited at 13m to my left where it was slightly deeper and started at 13m to my right in the slightly shallower water toss potting 6s. After 20mins I hadn’t had a bite from either swim so switched to the straight lead & meat, catching 2 carp before the end of the first hour.
 
Moving into the 2nd hour a switch to 6mm expander resulted in getting bites quicker and 3 carp, followed by 2 carp on the pole on 4mm expander. Over the pole line it was the left hand swim which produced, whilst the right hand swim didn’t produce a bite despite a couple of attempts throughout the match.
The 3rd & 4th hours were very slow. It was a case of catch a carp from 1 swim, before switching to another, landing 3 on the pole and 2 on the lead, but losing 3 carp to snags didn’t help my cause. I kept feeding 6s over the pole line and eventually the carp seemed to be more settled with 11 more carp on 6mm expander in the last 2hrs. I had also started feeding meat & little hemp into the margins, but this only produced 3 smaller carp in the last 2hrs.
I was in shouting distance of Mark and knew he had beaten me, but wasn’t sure about the anglers to my right, because I couldn’t see anyone, other than the anglers opposite on the lawns. After the initial slow start I had an enjoyable end to the match and the new pole had a proper workout as I had to stop a few carp from diving into snags, which gave me confidence that I have brought the right pole.
 
As for today many struggled in the bright conditions, particularly those that fished paste or meat and I think a few attacked there swims a little too much, forgetting it’s still only April. 

1st 118-14 – Mark Poppleton – p1
2nd 86- 8 – Ken Rayner – p20
3rd 73- 2 – Ady McTiffin – p9
4th 63- 2 – Paul Sims – p11
5th 43- 6 – Tim Martin - p8
6th 39- 0 – Bryan Neale – p17

Sunday 20 April 2014

19/04/14 - Lands End - Match

Weight - 33lb 4oz (22lb 12oz - silvers)
Catch - 4 Carp, 15 Perch, 8 F1, 4 Roach, 3 Skimmers, 2 Crucians, 1 Tench, 1 Hybrid
Weather - Cold overnight. Sunny all day, but cool easterly breeze
Match - Open - 2nd out of 15 - silvers (12th overall)

Back to one of my favourite venues today, which has been fishing well recently and I was looking forward to giving my new pole a proper try out. 15 had booked in today, so it was decided to put 10 on Match and 5 on one side of Johns (41-55).

I found myself on p11 which is a peg I have drawn more often than any other on the lake, so at least I’m familiar with the terrain, however recently it hasn’t been the best area, although Rod did have 44lb of skimmers last week. Overnight was very cold, so I fully expected a slow start, but on arriving to my peg an easterly breeze was blowing into the peg and was a little concerned that I might struggle, because typically the fish retreat to the more sheltered side of the lake in these conditions.

I had decided today would be a pellet & meat, however due to the cold overnight I was beginning to regret not bring more than 1pt of caster. On the all in micros & 4s were deposited at 5m & 13m to my right in open water, meat/hemp under the p10 pallet and finally some caster/meat by the reeds on the island.

Starting across on a HB Billybob 0.1g > .12 > 16 B911 & double caster I soon had a perch, followed by a small carp, then a few more perch. As expected it was a slow start for many, although Dave Sawyer opposite on p13 already started catching silvers including some skimmers on caster at 4m.

After an hour I had no more carp from the reeds, only perch. Neither of the pellet lines produced and only one perch came on meat by p10 pallet. The next hour was very slow, so decided to stick with fishing caster across keep catching perch which weren’t any bigger than 4-5oz and hope for a few better fish to turn up, but only had an F1 and no carp. I had kept toss potting caster with some meat, occasionally trying meat on the hook, but caster was producing the bites.

Moving in the 4hr hour I finally caught a skimmer over the pellet, catching 3 in the space of 20mins, but these were the only skimmers I had all match, which were replaced by tiny roach. I really wasn’t sure want to do, there just didn’t seem to be many feeding fish in the swim. Dave opposite was still catching at 4m, including some unwanted carp and Martin Pettifer on p15 was also catching carp, as was Rich Lovering on p18.

I had already started pinging 6s towards the point of the island and had already tried swinging a shallow pellet rig at the odd fish I could see, but they weren’t interested and every time I put the pole anywhere near the island any fish that were there disappeared. It probably wasn’t helped that the water levels looked to have dropped from there winter levels, which meant it wasn’t as deep as normal tight to the island.

I managed another 2 carp over my deep water pellet lines, but they were only small and it was becoming obvious that I was nowhere near framing, because the pegs on the other side of the lake kept catching carp and I did notice peg 1 landing a few as well. My meat line still failed to produce, so in the last 90mins decided to go back to the reed bed by the island with caster and hope a few better fish showed up. As it happens I couldn’t get the rig in quick enough as the perch were replaced by F1s, crucians, a tench and a small carp, to finish the match strongly. My only regret was bring 1pt of caster, ideally another pint would have changed how I approached the match and no doubt would have caught more silvers, by setting a 2nd caster swim.

Overall the lake fished well, although generally the skimmers didn’t feed in any numbers, but those that were caught had tubercles on their heads so they will be spawning soon.

1st 129- 3 – Martin Pettifer – p15
2nd 108- 3 – Rich Lovering – p18
3rd 78- 8 – Rod Wootton – p50
4th 75- 7 – Steve – p1
5th 74- 0 – Chris K – p54
6th 73-15 – Steve Seagar – p41

Silvers
1st 30- 4 – Dave Sawyer – p13
2nd 22-12 – Ken Rayner – p11
3rd 18- 0 – Rod Wootton – p50

Tuesday 15 April 2014

13/04/14 - Acorns - Paddocks

Weight - 33lb 4oz
Catch - 8 Carp, 1 F1, 1 Rudd
Weather - Sunny all day, but increasingly strong wind
Match - Pole Only rd 2 - 11th out of 30, 6th out of 10-section

At long last I have a new pole. After originally ordering a MAP 901 at the back end of last year, I ended up cancelling my order because the delivery date was put back, plus there were increasing concerns regarding spares, although at the time of ordering MAP assured me there won’t be a problem. Anyway following a recommendation from Mark and having a brief play with his pole, I ordered a Garbolino Super Legion, with a Power Legion expected this week - happy days!

Today was the 2nd round of the Acorns series and the weather was a big improvement from last week, with bright sunshine and light winds. My section today was the better pegs, i.e. 1,5,6,7,9,10,12,33,34 & 40. Ideally I fancied a bridge peg, because they seem to be the most consistent, plus the F1s have been hanging around them, which would be handy following my maximum points score for silvers last week.

Alas p12 found its way into my hand, but I wasn’t too disappointed because it can be a really good peg. As I was setting up the wind was very light, blowing out of the swim down the lake to my left and there was a few fish moving around.

The plan of attack was to start across catch a few early carp before they disappear, then catch a few silvers down the track, by which time the right hand margin would be solid! Best laid plans and all that!

On the all in micros & 4s were feed across by the island, on the 2nd shelf by the island and 13m to my right at the bottom of the shelf. The same again, with groundbait was deposited down the track at 8m in front and 12m to my right in open water.

Starting across with a 4x10 float > .12 > 16 B911 with 4mm expander I soon hooked my first fish, which fell off, as did the 2nd & 4th – all foul hooked. The 3rd was hooked properly, but I was having a mare. Previous recent experience has shown the fish backed off too much feed so I was just toss potting micros & 4s, but getting a proper bite was frustrating. I tried pellet, maggot & worm, all of which was ignored. Dom Sullivan on p10 however was catching across, although Glenn Culvert to my left on p13 was having the same issues as me.

The down the track swims didn’t produce anything, although the 13m right hand swim did produce a carp on expander. Even on the deep rigs carp were swimming into the line, just cruising around enjoying the sun. After 2 hours and several foul hookers I only had 2 carp in the carp in the net.

The wind was also picking up, so my 0.4g chump rig for fishing down the track was replaced with a SM Chimp 0.5g > .10. > 20 silverfish maggot hook to fish single maggot, never had a bite. I have to say I was having a bit of tourettes moment, I couldn’t hook the fish properly, I couldn’t get a bite from silvers and the wind was increasing in strength – I really was disappearing up my own arse vowing never to return to the venue, but its not fair to just drop out of a series, because it’s a lot of hassle for the organiser. After a quiet word to myself, I realised any silvers money was unlikely because Charlie Barnes on p9 was catching the odd skimmers, which probably helped Dom catch better from the island. Also I had a seen a few others catch in my section, which meant I really needed to recover from a bad position.

As well as getting stronger, the wind had also changed direction, blowing directly at me, which was fine to fish across to the island, but feeding pellet across was a bit like a scatter gun, so decided to ignore the island, instead potting small amounts of micros & 4s on the 2nd shelf where hopefully the carp (& may be a few skimmers) would settle later. Despite several small top ups, I never had a bite, which just left the right margin.

The wind had made my right hand 13m swim redundant, because any presentation was impossible, so I focused on fishing tight into the margin, however the change of wind direction meant all the scum & debris had blown into the swim, making presenting a bait very difficult. I really wasn’t having the best of days, although I did cheer up when I netted a 10lber on double maggot.

Another new rig was set-up this time so I could hair-rig a 10mm JPZ pellet. The theory being a bigger & heavier bait would sit better in the wind and got though the scum better. I kept feeding caster at 10m, but caught most of my fish further along away from the feed.

In the end I managed to claw back some section places and was only 10lb from claiming 3rd in section. Dom fished a great match making the most of fishing across then plundering his margin late on. With lighter winds, I’m certain I would have caught more, but ultimately it was that first hour when I couldn’t catch that cost me decent section points.

During the last 6 weeks I have really struggled to put any results together, following an 8 month period of picking up in 75% of matches fished. Hopefully normal serve will resume shortly. As for the new pole – what a difference, a real quality piece of kit, although the top kit package sold with it could be better.

1st 85- 6 - Dom Sullivan - p10
2nd 69- 8 - Russ Peck - p36
3rd 51-13 - Tom Thick - p34
4th 51-12 - Bob Gullick  - p21
5th 46- 8 - Nigel Vigus - p38
6th 45- 0 - Glenn Calvert - p13

Silvers
1st 10- 7 - Paul Faires - p15
2nd 10- 4 - Tom Thick - p34
3rd 9- 8 - Bob Gullick - p21
4th 9- 2 - Charlie Barnes - p9
5th 6-10 - Pete Bartlett - p30
6th 5-10 - Russ Peck - p36

Monday 7 April 2014

06/04/14 - Acorns - Paddock

Weight - 12lb 0oz (6lb 11oz - silvers)
Catch - 12 Skimmers, 2 Carp
Weather - Windy! Mostly cloudy, with occasional shower
Match - Pole Only rd 1 - 25th out of 30, 1st out of 10 - silvers section

The first round of the Acorns Pole only series and I don’t think anyone was particularly looking forward it, a) because of the forecast strong wind and b) the venue has been fishing hard.
 
For those that don’t know Clevedon AC now rent the water from Acorns, paying a sizable rent for the next 3 years. As such the club charges per lake instead of per peg, which meant Paddock Lake cost £180 (Campbell is only £120 and a far better lake, admittedly with fewer pegs) which will be too expensive for most clubs and will no doubt put off many club booking. This also meant all 30 anglers were on Paddock which would be tight, instead of being spilt with the “dog bone” lake. So 3 sections of 10 and the sensible decision was taken to the try and put the best and worst pegs into the same section to make each section as fair as possible, which isn’t easy.
 
With the strong wind no one wanted to be on the straight or on the island and I was absolutely gutted to pull peg 2, which is a proper rank draw and combined with the wind blowing across me I knew I was in for a hard day. The only consolation was pegs 2,3 & 4 on the island were in the same section as pegs 13-19 on the straight, which would be the hardest section of the 3 with p19 being the only peg with a spare peg.
 
At least I could see the whole the section opposite and keep an eye on how things were going, but my expectation was to spend most the match hoping for a few silvers. Mike Nichols tried to cheer me up saying he recommended to Chris not to put in p2 – great!
On the all in micros/groundbait/caster was deposited at 5m and micros/groundbait at 11m at the bottom on the shelf, plus a few pellets on top the shelf hoping for an early carp.
 
Starting against by the island I hooked a carp after 5mins, but it fell off as I was shipping back – bugger. In the strong wind it was difficult to get any decent presentation and I was soon fishing the 5m & 11m lines, with a 0.75g rig & .10 & 20 silverfish maggot hook and single maggot. After 2hrs I only had 2 skimmers to show for my efforts and really questioning signing up for this league. Fortunately everyone seemed to be struggling, although a few carp were being caught along the straight, particularly Mark Bartlett on p18.
 
I had kept feeding a nugget of micros every 15mins into the 5m & 11m swims, whilst pinging pellet across for later. As the match progressed a few more skimmers came from the 11m line and a swirl over the far bank prompted a look with the shallow rig. I managed 1 carp which was hooked properly and a decent skimmer, but also foul hooked 4 carp, 3 of which came off straight away, but the 4th came off as it neared the net. Strangely the pegs either side of me had a couple of carp at the same time, before none of us could buy a bite after this flurry of activity. Obviously a shoal was just swimming through.
 
With 90mins to go I was really struggling for bites again and with more carp being caught along the straight any section pickup was looking distant. However I hadn’t seen many silvers being caught, except for Charles Barnes on p19 who had a 3lb tench, but I hadn’t seen him catch much else. So with nothing to lose, decided to feed in a full cup of groundbait, micros and caster at 5m, simply because it was easier to present here rather than at 11m which got a smaller top up.
 
The 5m line produced 5 more skimmers and a carp, which proved handy. Come the weigh in I beat the 2 other pegs on the island in my section, but with carp showing along the straight 7th in section was probably the best I could have hoped for and the silvers section win was a welcome bonus.
 
The wind definitely affected the fishing today with the sheltered pegs producing the better weight. Next week it will be my turn for the better section (pegs 1, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 33, 34 & 40).
 
1st 43- 8 – Andy France - p25
2nd 41-15 – Bob Gullick - p34
3rd 39- 2 – Mark Bartlett – p18
4th 38- 7 – Lewis Jones – p23
5th 38- 0 – Kev Perry – p21
6th 33- 8 – Mike Nichols – p40
 
Silvers
1st 14- 8 – Andy Gard – p33
2nd 10-10 – Mike Nichols – p40
3rd 10- 2 – Paul Faires – p28
4th 6-11 – Ken Rayner – p2
5th 4-13 – Charlie Barnes – p19
6th 4-10 – Chris Fox p14/Paul Casson p17

05/04/14 - Docklow - Snake Lake

Weight - 4lb
Catch - 14 Roach, 9 Perch, 5 Ide, 2 Chub
Weather - Mostly cloudy
Match - MFS - 12th out of 13

Today’s match was organized via MFS (Match Fishing Scene) and the initial notification stated it would be silverfish only on a stock lake that isn’t often match fished. Now I have always fancied fishing Docklow, because its where final of the Match Fishing knockout cup is held and I imaged we would be sat on an open lake with a bulging bag of silvers by the end of the day.

The stock lake turned into a snake lake, but was assured it was full of silvers, mostly roach, with ide, skimmers, and chub and since I had already paid my money decided still to go. Chris Fox picked me up and we arrived in good time to have a quick walk around a very mature fishery and some familiar pegs from the magazines. We then found the snake lake, which was spilt in 2. One half was nicely coloured, whilst the other side was very clear. We were on the clear side.

The match was originally for a max of 20, but as the date got closer numbers dwindled to 13, which was disappointing, but speaking to an angler who practiced yesterday my enthusiasm was fired up again with tales of catching 200 fish for about 40lb, despite the clear water.

With the pegging complete the draw put me on p32 and to say I was disappointed when I got to my peg is an understatement. Most pegs were 13m wide, mine was on a corner and only 11.5m wide, with another angler to my left.

Needless to say we both struggled to catch and I was pleased when the match finished, in fact I was ready to go home after 2hrs. Herbie won the match from a wide end peg with 26lb – I wasn’t jealous at all. There was some lovely fish caught, including some roach in excess of 1.5lb, but generally most struggled. I would be happy to return, but on one of the other lakes.

Wednesday 2 April 2014

01/04/14 - Acorns - Paddock

Weight - 26lb 6oz
Catch - 11 Carp, 2 Tench, 1 Rudd
Weather - Bright & sunny. Light winds
Match - Open - 7th out of 18

With the forth coming Acorns Pole Only series coming up I thought it was about time I at least had a practice to see how it was fishing. So far the reports haven’t been good, with 30lb being a good weight and only 40-60lb needed to win, which is a contrast to last year when weights of 100lb started to show.
 
Upon seeing the lake for the first time since the summer there was a black algae bloom, but at least there appeared to be some fish moving around. It was quite a surprise to see 18 anglers for a mid weeker, obviously I wasn’t the only one thinking ahead to the weekend.
 
Peg 18 in the middle of the straight wasn’t what I wanted, since most weights have come from either the bridges or corners. Either side of me was Gabriel Skarba on p16 who does well down here and Harry Muir on the bridge p21. The other side of the bridge on p22 was Charlie Barnes. All I will say is you could easily mistake Harry and Charlie for an old married couple!
 
In previous years my peg was a good skimmer peg, so my intention was to target them at 6m and on the 2nd shelf off the island, feeding micros & 4s. Whilst I let that settle I went straight across to the far bank feeding 4s in the hope of a few early carp. After 90mins I had 6 on expander, but with no features to keep them, they disappeared.
 
Other than a couple of nips from small fish I didn’t have any fish down the track or off the second shelf. The only place I could get a bite was next to p19 pallet where I had been feeding caster, which resulted in 2 tench and a rudd.
 
During the last 90 mins I managed another 5 carp from the far bank to finish what was a boring day. I don’t know what is wrong with place. I don’t believe it’s a lack of fish, which seems to be the de-fault response to poor weights, because there were fish moving around at the beginning and towards the end of the match. Hopefully as the weather improves, so will the fishing, but I’m hardly excited about fishing the series.
 
Except for Mike Chapman on p24, which was the end peg today, my weight was the best along the straight, so I must have done something right, which is a positive, but it is difficult to compete with the feature pegs.
 
Apparently we have 30 maybe 29 anglers fishing the league and we will all be on Paddock Lake – time to get the camp bed out for the middle part of the match!
 
1st 59- 4 – Dave Wride – p33
2nd 41- 4 – Glen Bailey – p5
3rd 41- 1 – Lee Waller – p40
4th 35- 8 – Ray Bazeley – p10
5th 31-12 – S Rolf – p34
6th 28- 0 – Mike Chapman – p24
 
Silvers
1st 18- 0 – Charlie Barnes – p22
2nd 10-14 – Andy Gard – p31