23/12/12 - Lands End - Match

Weight - 36lb 1oz (12lb 4oz - silvers)
Catch - 4 Carp, 10 Skimmers, 9 Roach, 1 Tench, 1 F1, 1 Crucian, 1 Rudd
Weather - Cloudy & mild
Match - Loyalty Open - 9th out of 19 (5th out of 10 - lake)

Having paid my 15 £1 I qualified for todays match. With £331 in the kitty (not everyone who paid turned up or paid the full £15, hence the odd amount), plus normal pools on the day, there was plenty to go for.

I just needed a decent draw and I couldnt believe it when I saw 19 staring back me. Only the 3rd time in 8yrs, so it was about time. For company I had Allan Oram on 17 and Adrain Jeffrey on 21.

What was noticeable was the amount of water in the lake, which after yesterday rain was hardly a surprise, but at least it was mild, although there was mixed views about how it would fish and as it turned out it didnt fish quite as well as expected, although the silvers certainly seemed to fed better than wednesday.

Since I was on a noted peg I decided to focus on catching carp and rigs were similar to wednesdays, feeding pellet down the track, caster across just in case and even meat to my left by the tree.

A pinch of 3s & 4s were dopisted at 14m to my right, whilst I searched the rest of the swim with soft pellet to my left. With only 1 bites after 15mins, a switch to the right hand swim resulted in a 7-8lb carp almost straight away. After an hour I had another, losing a 3rd which was foul hooked in the midrift, but none the less I was quite happy with my start, becasue I had also managed a few silvers from my left hand swim  where I had toss potted a pinch of 3s.

Today however I was struggling to get the expected reaction and in the end decided to abandon the left hand swim, creating another by feeding 4s via a toss pot at 13m in front.

I hadnt planed to fish tight to the island, but a further deposit of caster produced an F1 straighaway, plus a few roach, then a small carp. Other than Tom on p13 no-one was really running away with it and I decided to stay positive, feeding 4s to my right  by catpult, which has worked in the past, confident the carp would turn up, because 3 or 4 carp would put me in the frame.

So far the 13m line hardly produced, neither had the short meat line. The only swim that continued to produce was the right swim, with a few 6-8oz skimmers and a tench. With 2 hours to go I was really expecting the carp to feed eventually and I did hook a decent 7-8lber, but the hook pulled at the net and the same thing happen agaon 30mins later. Needless to say I wasnt happy and as it turned out it was also costly. We have all lost fish, but when you get them within netting range, thats when it hurts.

My last 2 put ins produced a 2lb skimmers and a 5lb carp, but it was a little too late. After the good start I was disappointed not to catch a few more carp. In hindsight would have changed anything? Feeding meat over my short line was probably a bit ambitous, when feeding caster would have been the better option. However I was surprised not to get a better response over my pellet line.
 

1^st 94- 2 – Tom Mangnoll – p33

2^nd 65-12 – Tom Thick – p13

3^rd 50-11 – Adrian Jeffrey – p21

4^th 48- 3 – Kev Molton – p32

5^th 47-14 – Craig Edmunds – p40

6^th 44- 3 – Allan Oram – p17

 

Silvers

1^st 19-10 – Martin Pettifer – p11

2^nd 18- 6 – Paul Elmes – p5

3rd 18- 0 - Tony Rixon - p29

19/12/12 - Lands End - Match

Weight - 37lb 1oz (4lb 1oz - silvers)
Catch - 6 Carp, 8 Perch, 4 Roach
Weather - Wind & rain - but at least it was mild
Match - Avon Angling Open - 8th out of 14

When I got home, explaining how my day went, Sue described it perfectly as a "clumsy day", which seemed adapt.

The night before Sapphire managed to scratch my eye whilst playing with her ball, which meant vision in my right eye was a little blurry at times. With 14 booked in, we were all on match lake and I found myself on peg 8. I'll have to check my birth certificate to make sure I'm not related to Chris Fox, because I've had a poor run of draws recently.

Peg 8 isn't normally in, but with 14 pegs in it had to be included. For company I had Ziggy on p6 and Mike West on p11. The problem with this peg is the fish do settle here when 7 & 11 are in, but when ever you put an angler in this gap, you tend to get a couple of early fish, before they disappear. I can only put it down to this part of the lake being slightly narrower and shallower than other areas.

Must admit I was a little despondent to start with, but I made the effort to turn up in the wind and rain, so I had to give it a go, plus the peg was slightly sheltered from the worst of the wind and the rain wasn't quite as heavy as expected - see trying to stay positive.

My initial thoughts were I would do best targeting the silvers, because with Tony on 21 and Fabio on 19 I thought the main prizes would be sewn up. A couple rigs were set up to cover all bases.

- HB Frostie 0.2g > .10 > 20 silverfish maggot - caster/maggot on top of the shelf
- HB Chump 0.3g > .10 > 18 silverfish pellet - pellet down the track
- Jolly 4x14 > .10 > 20 silverfish maggot - caster/maggot down the track
- HB shindig 0.2g > .12 > 18 B911 - pellet/corn down the track

On the all in caster was deposited on top of the shelf, caster under p9 platform, as well as at 5m and micro/groundbait to my left at 13m. Starting on corn I searched the swim to my right to see if there was any fish around, however after 15mins & no bites I switched to the top of the shelf. 2 small roach & 1 perch was all I had from there and was never tried again.

A couple perch came from under p9 platform, but it was slow going and it didn't help when I bumped a couple which seemed to have spooked them. The 5m line didn't produce a bite and neither did the left hand pellet line.

After my initial try with corn, I had deposited some micros at 14.5 down the track to my right and started pinging 4s over the top for later. However, due to the lack of response from my other swims I tried this line earlier than I had intended. Just as well, because I had a carp straight away on soft pellet. Next put in I had another, but lost it at the net when my .10 hooklength gave away. My own fault really. A further 2 were foul hooked on the heavier rig only to be lost and much to Tony's amusement I may I lost my cool. Unfortunately the shoal that was there disappeared.

A new swim was set up at the bottom of the far shelf with caster/maggot. A switch to .08 bottom & 22 hook on the jolly rig didn't make any significant difference, so I switched back to .10, which was just as well as I had a few more perch, plus a decent carp on maggot.

The silvers just didn't appear to be feeding, Ziggy to my left packed up an hour early. In fact I had nothing to be left at all and with 45mins left another look over the right hand swim where I had kept pinging in the pellet, produced another 2 carp quickly, before landing my last one before the all-out.

In hindsight I was actually disappointed not to have framed, because other than the top 2 the weights were quiet close, but I didn't help myself losing fish. Other than Mike on p11, my weight was the next best along this bank, so I know where I want to draw on Sunday.

And as I was packing up, I managed to drop my side tray into the lake. I eventually retrieved it, so not one of my better days.

1^st 77-10 – Tony Rixon – p21
2^nd 77- 4 – Mike West – p11
3^rd 46-10 – Phil Harding – p19
4^th 44-11 – Mark Poppleton – p24
5^th 44- 5 – Martin Alexander – p13
6^th 40- 2 – Aaron Britnell – p16
 

Silvers

1^st 9- 3 – Adrian Jeffery – p15

2^nd 8-11 – Mark Poppleton – p24

3^rd 7- 4 – Matt Tomes – p5

16/12/12 - Trinity Waters - Woodlands

Weight - 11lb 13oz
Catch - 14 Roach, 7 Skimmers, 1 Rudd, 1Carp
Weather - Mostly sunny and breezy
Match - Avon Angling Open - 12th out of 20

I was hoping after the recent mild weather the lake would fish and it did for some, but most struggled. Being such a deep lake the water temperature takes longer to warmer up and it was still feeling the effects of last weeks ice.

The last time I fished this lake was 15mths ago and was told dead maggot over micros was the way to go. Peg 26 however wasn’t ideal, but at least the forecast wind would mostly be off my back.

For the first 30mins I searched the swim with corn on the hook, initially trying at 5m, 16m, then the straight lead out into the middle, but other than a couple of liners on the lead nothing. Andy Hembrow opposite had an early carp on the method from the middle, but no more followed.

In the meantime Steve Seagar on p27 & John Bradford on p24 had both started catching small roach. I went out to 14.5m where I deposited some micros & 4s and started catching small roach and skimmers, but it was hard work, particularly when they came off as you shipped back. I did hook a carp in the tail, which I eventually netted and I hoped a few more would turn up. Unfortunately they didn’t.

I had set up a positively fed swim at 14.5m to my right, but again only small roach. I tried soft pellet, but only had 1 bite on that. I had also been feeding 4s & corn at 5m, hoping to catch later on, but this didn’t yield anything. In fact most of the fish seem to have been caught to my left, whilst those to my right where struggling, except for Dave Evans on p15 who was catching down the margin on corn.

With the expectation of carp I had been fishing with .12 bottom and 18 silverfish pellet. I did swap to .10 & size 20 hook with a lighter elastic later on, which meant fewer bumped fish, but in reality I was going no where fast and was quite pleased when the match ended.

1st 66-10 - Martin McMahon - p32
2nd 50-14 - Rod Wootton - p31
3rd 48-15 - Mike West - p29
4th 45- 0 - Tony Rixon - p9
5th 43-12 - Kev Molton - p2
6th 42-12 - Dave Evans - p15

Silvers
1st 8- 8 - Andy Hembrow - p13
2nd 8- 5 - John  Bradford - p24
3rd 7- 9 - Tony Rixon - p9

15/12/12 - Tylers Lake (Brinsham Green)

Weight - 19lb 6oz
Catch - 31 Roach, 21 Skimmers, 12 Perch, 3 Rudd, 1 Crucian, 1 Goldfish, 1 Hybrid
Weather - Sunny, breezy start, showery later

Something completely today. I could have gone to Todbers Christmas match, but didnt fancy the long drive down, particularily since I'm going to Trinity Waters on Sunday. There was also a match at Lands End but with only 3 or 4 booked in, it wasnt worth it, besides I needed a lie in.

Tylers Lake is situated in Brinsham Green, Yate. I remember the lake when it was surrounded by fields, but that was 25 years ago and the last time I fished here was 10 years ago. So why did I decide on fishing here? I've walked Sapphire around the lake a few times when visiting my Mum who lives 5mins away and talking to some the anglers suggested there was plenty of skimmers, crucians and a few carp.

The recent mild weather has melted away the ice, but with a forecast wind, I settled on a more seltered area of the lake.

I only set up 2 rigs, Jolly 4x12, .08 & 22 silverfish maggot & Frostie 0.3g, .10 & 18 silverfish pellet.

A small ball of black roach & pinkie was deposited to my left at 13m and micros at 13m. Starting over the groundbait, I was soon catching small perch, then roach on pinkie or maggot, before catching better roach on caster, over tosspotted caster.

I had tried the pellet line a couple times, with no real success, but eventually the skimmers turned up on 4mm expander. I probably had the bulk of my weight in the last 2 hours of the session.

Well I had a better day than expected and they say a change of scenery is as good as rest - well sometimes.

09/12/12 - Lands End - Johns

Weight - 19lb 14oz (1lb 2oz - silvers)
Catch - 32 Roach, 3 Perch, 2 Carp
Weather - Mostly sunny, but strong cold westerly wind
Match - Lands End Winter League rd2 - 20th out of 35, 8th out of 12 section

Tom Thick is obviously a desparate young man. Following a pint of cider for breakfast, he decided it would be a good idea to try and bend me over the counter - if you know what I mean. Alas, I didnt feel a thing;¬)

It was my turn for Johns Lake and I had a gut feeling that following a crap week at work, I would be rewarded with a crap draw today. There was only 2 pegs left in the bucket. Mike West pulled 42 (flyer), whilst I was left with what is one of the worst pegs on the lake at the moment, peg 51 (just 15 in reverse). During round 1 Matt Tomes only managed 10th and Mark Poppleton the week previous hardly had a bite, so I was really looking forward to this!

I couldnt see me doing any good from the peg, but I hoped to at least catch a few silvers to keep me in the hunt in the silvers league and as such set up a jolly 4x12 with .08 bottom and 22 silverfish maggot hook. 2 more rigs were set up with .10 bottoms to fish either maggot or pellet.

On the all in a nugget of black roach and pinkie was cupped in to my left at 8m and a pinch of micros at 11.5m towards the point of the island. Starting by the island I had a roach on double pinkie, followed by a further 9 in 20mins. The problem was some of the roach were nearly transparent they were that small.

A quick look over the pellet, resulted in a lost foul hooked carp and the groundbait swim produced only a couple of tiny roach. Since the only area I could catch was next to the island, i stuck with the small roach feeding pinkie via a toss pot, hoping the activity would pull in some better fish. After 2hrs I was up to 30 fish, but the wind had really picked up making presentation difficult which meant I had to abandon fishing against the island.

Fishing over the pellet (which I had kept topped up) only more micro roach. There really wasnt any decent fish in the swim. Ray Bazeley to my right on 50 was also struggling and chucked the lead and maggot into the gap between the island. I followed suit half way into the match, but with hair rigged corn and 10mins later I was attached to a large carp which weighed 10-15.

A change to heavier 0.4g chump to fish down the middle, improved the presentation, but still could only catch micro roach. I had also been flicking caster/maggot down my left hand margin, but no bites on any bait. So the remainder of the match was spent swapping between swims, including setting up a new one down the track or fishing the lead into the gap, where I snared another carp again on corn.

A disappointing result, but I dont think I could have done any better from the peg. Ray only weighed 8lb, made up 1 carp and a few bits, so there was very few fish in the area.

1st 63-11 - Nick Merry - p40
2nd 61- 5 - Allan Oram - p32
3rd 54-13 - Mike Nicholls - p21
4th 52-11 - Clint Wotlyla - p31
5th 45-15 - Steve Seagar - p19
6th 44- 3 - Adrain Jeffrey - p5

Silvers
1st 18- 2 - Nick Merry - p40
2nd 13- 5 - Tony Rixon - p3
3rd 10-10 - Aaron Britnell - p11

After 2 rounds Mark Poppleton is leading the way with only 2pts, followed by Mike Duckett, Nick Merry, Aaron Britnell and Steve Seagar all on 6pts

02/12/12 - Lands End - Match

Weight - 17lb 14oz (6lb 12oz - silvers)
Catch - 2 Carp, 10 Roach, 6 Perch, 1 Bream
Weather - Sunny start, rain later
Match - Open - 8th out of 13 overall (3rd - silvers)

With 13 today, we were all on Match Lake. There was talk of more people booking in and using 1 side of speci lake, but the issue with that is if you fish one side of speci they will move to the other side. 

I was expecting it to fish better than yesterday, because the fish would have a less space to hid away, however it was peg 17 again for me. Unbelievable! At least I could use the same rigs as yesterday and my top kits were already marked with the depth. I did set up an additional rig to fish corn by the platform of p16, hoping to pull some carp away from the bush on p17, but never had a bite.

I decided to feed more positively with caster to my left, but kept with the frugal feeding at the bottom of the shelf in front of me.

Whilst the final weight is almost identical to yesterday it all happened in reverse. My first fish was an 1oz roach after 90mins. Tom in the meantime already had 5-6 carp on p17 mostly from the bush. The grapevine also suggested that Adrian on p1, Rod on p3 and Mark on p22 were catching.

As the match progressed I started catching a few fish from the bottom of the far shelf, either on maggot or pinkie, including a very useful 2.5lb skimmer. My positively fed LH swim didn't produce, whilst I had pinging pellet to my right, but this only produced small roach.

I had also been feeding caster/maggot under the platform of p18, which immediately produced a good perch, then the hook pulled out of the next. After that I only had a couple of small ones, before it died completely.

With only a couple of hours left it became obvious I needed to concentrate on the silvers and the only swim where I was getting regular bites was at the bottom of the far shelf. I did try on top of the shelf, but never had a bite. It was just a case of being patient and waiting for a bite, so it was really annoying when I pulled out of 2 good fish.

As always seems to be the way, when you make a decision to concentrate on the silvers, up pops a couple of carp. I knew I was falling behind Andy on p20 in the silvers who was catching skimmers, but I was hoping to at least pick up 2nd in silvers. As it happened I did pick in the silvers albeit by default, but that's 6 picks up from the last 7 matches.

1st 74- 4 - Adrian Jeffrey - p1
2nd 70- 8 - Mark Poppleton - p22
3rd 50- 0 - Rod Wootton - p3
4th 34- 8 - Tom Mangnall - p15
5th 30-12 - Nick Merry - p13
6th 27-15 - Andy Hembrow - p20

Silvers
1st 15- 9 - Andy Hembrow - p20
2nd 8- 8 - Mark Poppleton - p22
3rd 6-12 - Ken Rayner - p17

01/12/12 - Lands End - Match

Weight - 20lb 8oz (6lb 4oz - silvers)
Catch - 2 Carp, 10 Roach, 4 Perch, 1 Ide
Weather - Frosty, foggy start. Sunny later
Match - Open - 2nd out of 7 overall (2nd silvers)

This match was always going to be tough following 3 days of frosts and cold weather. The real surprise (or non surprise) was the fact the moors still looked seriously flooded a week after all the rain. Just proves how saturated the ground is, because the water has no where to go at the moment.

With only 7 of us today the fish would have plenty of space to hide and I was reasonable happy to draw p17. Due to the weather I had brought some pinkie, much to Mike Wests (p15) amusement, who was still pinning his faith in paste-lol

At the start I fed various swims with mostly caster/maggot and micro pellet/groundbait to my right. The first 30mins was a case of searching the swim with corn, but other than 1 bite/liner I had nothing to show for my efforts.

A switch to a Jolly 4x14 .10 > 20 silverfish maggot rig, brought a big perch from the bottom of the shelf. Tom Mangnall on p5 in the meantime was given the run around by a carp, whilst fishing with .08 bottom, he soon switched to .10 as well. Whilst .08 will probably bring you a few extra bites, you are in trouble if you hook that bonus fish. And I was glad to have started on .10 when I landed 2 carp within 10mins of each other on double pinkie, losing a third.

Most of my weight came in the first 2.5hrs, including a big Ide. Everyone was struggling, with Tom just ahead of me. The remainder of the match was a case of searching the swim looking a bite. Initially I hadn't set up a rig to fish the top of the shelf, but felt I had no choice but to give it a go. This produced a handful of roach up to 4oz, which in the end proved crucial, but the action was short lived.

It was a surprise that the perch failed to show in any numbers. I had kept trickling in bait by the pallet on p18, but no bites. A real hard day. On the all out I knew Tom had won and I was thankful for those roach from the top of shelf to sneak past Dave to claim 2nd spot.

1st 31- 4 - Tom Mangnall - p5
2nd 20- 8 - Ken Rayner - p17
3rd 20- 1 - Dave Wescott - p1
4th 16-14 - Jim Jenner - p21

Silvers
1st 6-12 - Tom Mangnall - p5
2nd 6- 8 - Ken Rayner - p17
3rd 3- 4 - Dave Wescott - p5

25/11/12 - Lands End - Match

Weight - 43lb 8oz (15lb 12oz - silvers)
Catch - 8 Carp, 15 Perch, 4 Bream, 2 Tench, 2 Roach, 1 F1
Weather - Bright start, clouding over, rain later
Match - Lands End Winter League - rd 1
Placing - 13th out of 35 overall, 9th out of 12 overall section, 2nd in section silvers

Being the first round of the league, I didn't mind which lake I drew, however p13 was fairly low on my wish list, since it hasn't showed much recent form. With all the rain during the week the somerset levels  had turned into one massive lake and Mike had to pump water out of the lakes so we could get on the platforms.

Because I had to do some gardening down the left hand edge, meant I was a little late starting, but I managed to feed micros & groundbait at 11.5m and caster down the left hand edge on time and started fishing about 10mins later.

I went straight out towards the aerator with corn and caught a carp and a tench, but with no more showing it was time to cup in some micros, really in response to Mark on p11, who after moaning like hell about his peg was catching carp on pellet over micros.

My 11.5m line only produced a pound skimmer all match, which was a real surprise, having done well recently over groundbait & pellet. Whether it was because the water was more coloured I don't know. I had also kept topping up with a small amount of pellet by the aerator, but again this failed to produce.

Fortunately the left hand margin, produced a number of perch, but nothing bigger than 8oz, along with a decent F1, a 3lb tench and a couple of small carp.

With 2 hours to go I thought I was doing OK. Mark was still catching but those carp would not come my side of the rope. At one point I thought I would start catching at 15m towards the island where I had been feeding 4s by catapult. First put in resulted in a carp, then I had 3 decent skimmers all on 4mm expander, but after this initial run of fish it was back to having to wait a while of a bite.

I had also been feeding caster towards p14 platform, but when I tried there I didn't have a bite, so ended up dumping caster & corn in an effort to pull in a few fish without success. Dale was on p15 and if there are any carp about he usually catching a few, but today he really struggled, which suggest there wasn't too many in this part of the lake.

In hindsight, I think I would have had my 11.5m swim at 8m and fed a metre or 2 off the aerator. Also I could have struck with catching down the left hand edge, catching perch, but I couldn't go further than 13m due to sunken branches at 14m. Over recent years, its been noticeable that if you want a weight of silvers, that the perch and chub which you would catch on maggot/caster are becoming less dominate and the skimmers which are growing on are becoming more important and generally caught on pellet. So sticking with catching those perch would have meant not catching the skimmers.

In the end I was disappointed to be 9th in section, i thought I had down better, although my carp where on the small side, however the majority of weights came from the form pegs. The only good news was coming 2nd in section in the silvers, picking up by default. The next round for me will be on Johns (no3) Lake on 9th Dec.

1st 104-10 - Mark Poppleton - p11
2nd 82-11 - Mike Duckett - p22
3rd 75- 4 - Criag Edmunds - p26
4th 60- 8 - Tom Thick - p17
5th 60- 6 - Tom Mangoll - p3
6th 60- 1 - Bob Gulluck - p68

Silvers
1st 17- 8 - Tom Thick - p17
1st 17- 8 - Mark Brennan - p31
3rd 15-13 - Bob Gulluck - p68
4th 15-12 - Ken Rayner - p13

18/11/12 - Lands End - Johns

Weight - 33lb 12oz (6lb 4oz - silvers)
Catch - 8 Carp, 3 Skimmers, 2 F1, 2 Roach, 1 Crucian, 1 Tench
Weather - Frosty start. Bright clear day.
Match - Open - 6th out of 16

Originally todays match was going to be only on Johns (no3) Lake, but with 16 booked in it was decided to have 4 pegs on Speci.

Following yesterdays mild day, this morning we were greeted by a frost and the prospect of a hard day with bright sunshine and a light breeze. I was reasonable happy with 58 since it can throw up a few fish, but after a cold night I suspected the fish would be happier at the bottom end of the lake.

Just 2 rigs today since it was the same depth all over. A HB frostie 0.3g > .10 > 18 silverfish pellet & a HB shindig 0.2g > .12 > 18B911. I also set up a 4x12 jolly to fish maggot, but that only got used for about 2mins.

The 3 main areas targeted were 13m to my right by the bramble bush, 14m in open water and the corner of the island. Usually this area of the lake only produces a few silvers, so carp would be the main focus, but I couldn’t see them feeding all match, so I wanted to cover my bases, hence the relatively light rigs.

A pinch of groundbait with a few micros was deposited in the open water. Whilst that settled I searched the swim with a piece of corn. Except for a few liners nothing showed, so started to catapult 6-8 4mm pellet into the other 2 swims to hopefully entice a few fish to feed later.

The open water swim started well enough on soft pellet, by toss potting a pinch of pellet, I caught a couple of skimmers, F1s and a crucian, but had to be patient, because you would wait 5-10mins before the float would go under.

As the match progressed, it became obvious there wasn’t too many fish willing to feed. I did try maggot, but that only produced a tiny roach, so struck with soft pellet which was still producing the odd fish.

I had my first carp from the right hand swim, but at less than 1lb it went into the silvers net. However I started picking up the a few better carp from the open water & RH swims all on soft pellet. The corner of the island only produced 1 carp, which was a surprise, because there was a few fish milling around, but they just didn’t want to feed. I even tried dumping ½ a cup of maggot & caster, without success.

Going into the last hour I was hoping the fish would feed late in the fading light. In fact it was dire, with only 1 small roach that had managed to whittle down the pellet. In the end I was quite pleased to have caught what I did and it was the best weight at the top end of the lake, however all the better weights came from the bottom end.

1st 58- 0 – Mark Walsh – p41
2nd 49- 2 – Tom Mangoll – p68
3rd 47- 3 – Adrian Jefferies – p45
4th 43-11 – Allan Oram – p31
5th 34-12 – Nick Merry – p65
6th 33-12 – Ken Rayner – p58

Silvers
1st 14-12 – Tom Mangoll – p68
2nd 12- 4 – Mark Brennan – p25
3rd 10- 0 – p70

17/11/12 - Lands End - Speci

Weight - 71lb 12oz (23lb - silvers)
Catch - 14 Bream, 7 Carp, 3 Roach, 1 F1, 1 Chub
Weather - Mild, sunny, light breeze
Match - Open - 2nd out of 8

I sent Mike a text early in the week about fishing a different lake this Saturday and my wish was granted. At least Speci lake had more colour at the moment, than Match lake.

During the draw some wag thought it was a good idea to put only pegs 11 & 15 in the bucket. Oh how they laughed when I opened the ticket to see 15 staring back at me! The real draw put me on 34 which is normally ok for a few fish.

I had Mike West to my left who was feeding enough for everyone. As for me, I took a more considered approach. A small ball of groundbait and micros was deposited at the bottom of the shelf slightly to my right, plus some caster tight to the island.

I started off on corn at the bottom of the shelf on the corner of the island, but the light reflection was awful and I really struggled to see the float amongst the leaves. So plenty of lifting and dropping and the float did go under (I think) and I was soon attached to a big fish. 15mins later a big common (12lb 3oz) was safely netted, which was a nice start.

No further fish came, but that was mainly because I couldn't see the float. A switch to the top of the shelf with caster only resulted in a few liners, but no fish. In fact I didn't have any fish on top of the shelf, despite trying pellet later.

A switch to the bottom of the shelf resulted in a chub first put in, then skimmers on 4mm expanders. By toss potting a pinch of pellet every put in I kept bites coming. When ever I couldn't get a bite I would top up with another nugget of groundbait & micros.

In the meantime I had kept catapulting 4s at the bottom of the shelf on the corner of the island, which initially produced another carp and a couple of roach.

Half way in, Jim on p32 had probably overtaken me when he had 4 or 5 carp in short time. However I managed to keep the skimmers going, which I was happy to stay with because not many carp were showing and I had managed a couple of carp on soft pellet.

With 90mins to go I thought a couple more carp would put me in the frame. I had been feeding the margin, but no carp. I tried pellet tight to the island, but again no carp. Another carp on corn, before 4 skimmers on the bounce, then another carp. In the last 10mins I had another 2 carp , 1 on pellet and the other on corn.

As we were packing up Tom walked down from p40, admitting to 4 carp and 20lb of silvers, but Keith on 25 had 10 carp, so it looked  I was likely to win. And that was how it was until Tom weighed in. His 4 carp turned into 5. As for his 20lb (and he was adamant he didn't have more than 20lb) turned into 44lb to beat me by 4lb!

Overall the lake fished well and most caught a few fish.

1st 75-13 - Tom Mangoll - p40
2nd 71-12 - Ken Rayner - p34
3rd 54-11 - Keith Fielder - p25
4th 40-11 - Jim Jenner - p32
5th 39-1 - Mike Duckett - p31
6th 34-13 - Mike West - p33

Silvers
1st 44- 4 - Tom Mangoll - p40
2nd 23- 0 - Ken Rayner - p34
3rd 19-15 - Dave Wescott - p36

11/11/12 - Fishponds

Weight - 223lb 1oz
Catch - 35 Carp
Weather - Overnight frost. Bright, sunny day
Match - Club - 1st out 8

I forgot to mention is yesterday’s blog that I passed my exam, which now means I have my diploma and will be able to continue to provide financial advice in the new year! The reputation of the financial services industry has taken a battering in recent years, however all advisers MUST be diploma status (equivalent to a university degree) before they can advice from next year. So there has been a big effort to promote a more professional industry, which it certainly is, as well as being very tightly regulated. The cost of this professionalism and increased regulation? With effect from 1/1/2013 there will be a fundamental shift from commission to an adviser fee, which is all well and good, however the negative aspect is likely to put those that really need financial advice are unlikely to be able to afford it.

Today’s match was originally scheduled to be on the deep stretch of the river at Reybridge, but access is a real bugger and with all the recent rain it was now nearly impossible. So it was switched to our club lake, which I wasn’t disappointed about.

Following an overnight frost and a forecast for a sunny, windless day, we were all expecting a difficult day. As it turned out we need not have worried, because the lake fished surprisingly well.

Peg 6 was my home for the day. I settled on 1 pole rig (HB dweezil 0.3g > 0.16 > 16 B911) to fish 9m left and right in 7ft of water. I also set up a Loaded Insert Waggler to fish 20m out in 8ft of water and a straight lead rod, but that never got used.

After feeding 4s & corn over my pole lines, it was straight out with the waggler, but with nothing to show for my efforts after 15mins, it was time to try the pole. In the meantime Tim on p10 already had 3 carp on soft pellet.

Over the next couple of hours I caught consistently, mostly on corn and 6mm expander, feeding a pouch of 4s & a few bits of corn after each fish. When the swims slowed, I would try the waggler, which I had been feeding with 6s & corn, but I didn’t catch here until the last couple of hours, with 6 carp coming to the waggler & corn.

A relatively trouble free match. I felt I was leading the way, but was aware that Glenn was catching around the corner on peg 3. Come the end he was admitting to 30 carp and 1 bream, so unless he had really big fish I was the winner.

1st 223- 1 – Ken – p6
2nd 195-15 – Glenn – p3
3rd 160- 1 – Marcus – p19
4th 147- 2 – Tim – p10
5th 110-10 – Chris – p5

10/11/12 - Lands End - Match

Weight - 34lb 2oz (12lb 12oz - silvers)
Catch - 5 Carp, 31 Perch, 15 Roach, 2 Skimmers
Weather - Mostly sunny.
Match - Open - 2nd out of 6

A disappointing turnout, but hopefully numbers will increase once the winter league starts.

There was only one peg I didnt want, peg 15 and I was less than impressed when I found myself there again. At least I knew the contours of the peg and set up similar to last week, with the addition of another rig (powertrap 0.2g > .16 > 16 B911) to fish the other side of the bush to my right on double corn.

With no ripple and clear water this match was always going to be difficult and with only 6 of us the fish had plenty of space to sulk away.

I started the match on corn looking for an early carp, but never had a liner. In the meantime Mike West on 17 had 2, whilst Mark on 7 and Nick on 19 had 1.

Time to try the island and I caught a couple of fish on caster, but they werent coming very quickly, probably unsettled by the sun & clear water. A switch to my left fishing under the tree resulted in a run of perch all on caster, but I was aware Nick seemed to be catching some better silvers.

I had a decent skimmer on 4mm expander over my micro/grounbait line which I had kept topped up every 30mins with a pinch of bait. 15mins later I hooked another, but bumped it when my elastic somehow wrapped around the pole tip. Needless to say I never had another from that swim.

Back onto the perch and I was struggling to keep them on the hook. It didnt help that I had to strike sideway when fishing to my left, however the average size was only 3-4oz and I really needed some quality.

With 2hrs to go and only 10lb in the net, I felt it was time to go looking for carp again. If I could get a run together it wont take long to catch up, becuase not many had shown so far. Time to be bold saw me throw a big hand of pellet and corn. 20mins later I put in a rig, really to have a cup of coffee, which I nearly spilt when the float went under and the carp was trying to snag me in the bush. Well that cheered me up. Another 3 from there meant I was back in the running.

I had also been catapulting 4s 14m to my left all match and eventually the swim showed signs of life in the fading light, with a decent skimmer on pellet, before losing a carp. 5mins from time my 5th and decisive carp was caught on corn.

A difficult match for everyone. Mark won from last weeks winning peg and he had much better quality fish. His 17-3 of silvers was made up of 6 skimmers, 2 perch and a few roach, plus he had 4 carp.

1st 44-13 - Mark Poppleton - p7
2nd 34- 2 - Ken Rayner - p15
3rd 32-10 - Mike West - p17
4th 31- 0 - Nick Merry - p19
5th 17- 0 - Jim Jenner - p21
6th 16- 4 - Dave Wescott - p5

Silvers
1st - 17- 3 - Mark Poppleton
2nd - 17- 0 - Nick Merry

03/11/12 - Lands End - Match

Weight - 33lb 5oz (11lb 13oz - silvers)
Catch - 6 Carp, 17 Roach, 12 Perch, 10 Skimmers, 2 F1, 2 Chub, 1 Hybrid
Weather - Cold. Showery start, cleared later
Match - Open - 5th out of 8 (2nd - silvers)

Not much to talk about this match. Initially there was suppose to be 11 fishing, but both Mike & Nick Duckett had to work and another cryed off becuase he had a cold!

Prior to the draw I said I didnt want, 1, 11 ro 15 becuase I've seen these pegs too frequently, so I shouldnt have been surprised to have pulled 15. I was even less surprised when Mark drew 21.

The last few days has seen a lot of cold rain fall, which meant the colour dropping out of the lake and it certainly made things tricky. The day was spent continually rotating swims. Firstly, by the island and under the tree to my left I caught roach, perch and chub on maggot or caster. At the bottom of the far shelf to my left I had carp and F1s over loose feed 4s on 4mm expander and to my right skimmers over micros & groundbait again on 4mm expander. By the bush to my right I didnt have a bite.

The problem today was the size of fish, which were mostly small and in my experience here if you get pestered by tiny roach, then there are usually few quality fish around. Even my skimmers were only handsized. After it became obvious there wasnt many carp feeding a change from .12 hooklength to .10 provided more bites, but it didnt improve the size of fish.

1st 71- 4 - Mike West - p7
2nd 50-10 - Dale Housen - p17
3rd 44- 9 - Mark Poppleton - p21
4th 35-10 - Dave Wescott - p13
5th 33- 5 - Ken Rayner - p15

Silvers
1st 20- 1 - Mark Poppleton - p21
2nd 11-13 - Ken Rayner - p15

31/10/12 - Lands End - Match

Weight - 43lb 4oz (16lb 8oz - silvers)
Catch - 7 Carp, 7 Roach, 6 Perch, 5 Skimmers, 2 Tench, 2 Crucians, 1 Rudd
Weather - Cloudy, showery and windy
Match - Avon Angling Open - 8th out of 10 (3rd in silvers)

With a few days holiday left over to use by the end of year, I decided to book in at Lands End, however as the day drew closer the weather forecast became increasingly miserable and as I was driving down in the rain the office really didn’t seem a bad place to be. Fortunately the really heavy rain managed to stay away until the drive home.

With only 10 of us today we had plenty of space and I fancied a peg with the wind off my back. So I was really disappointed to draw peg 1 with the blowing through the gap in the trees into my face – not what I wanted. We were all fishing for 2nd when Tony drew peg 19 with the next peg to his left being 22. One day I will draw that peg, even by the law of averages I should have drawn it a couple of times, but once in 5 years is starting to grate a bit.

Recent form of my peg wasn’t consistant. In Saturdays match only 3lb came off it, although 63lb weighed in on Sunday, but with a cool wind blowing straight in, I wasn’t sure. The other concern was the water clarity. The colour does drop out of this lake quite quickly.

At least with this peg you have plenty of options. So 4s were catapulted to the bottom of the shelf by the island, groundbait & micros at 14m in open water and caster on top of the shelf along the left bank. I deliberately didn’t feed anything initially at the bottom of the shelf along the end bank to see whether I could mug an early carp on corn, because with no-one opposite the fish had plenty of room to back off and I felt a softly, softly approach was required.

After 20mins I only had 1 skimmer. A perch and a lost carp on caster (under my platform) came from on top of the shelf and a crucian from the open water swim on soft pellet. However after 3hrs I only added a couple of small carp and a handful of small roach on caster or maggot.

I had started feeding caster and little corn at the bottom of the shelf along the end bank, but after an initial spurt of fish that soon died. I had also been feeding caster on the end of the bush to my right, but again only a few small fish. I was seriously considering packing up.

Due to the wind I had been using a HB Chump 0.5g, however the wind wasn’t quite as bad as expected and I had a gut feeling having the olivette bulk in the clear water wasn’t right, so switched to a HB frostie 0.4g with a spread bulk. I also re-fed my open water swim with groundbait & micros, which I had left alone simply because I couldn’t see the float due to the continuing changing light conditions, but with lighter winds the problem wasn’t quite as bad.

The remainder of the match produced some quality silvers and a couple of carp on 4mm expander. Throughout I had been feeding 4s to the point of the island where I picked up a few more silvers & carp.

The bush swim eventually produced a quality tench and a perch after feeding a big handful of caster. About ¾ of my catch came in the last half of the match, but all a little too late. Had I switched rigs even an hour earlier I think I could have challenged 3rd place, but ultimately I wont have picked up.

Fingers crossed for a better draw on Saturday.

1st  144-14 - Tony Rixon - p19
2nd 69- 6 - Adrian Jefferies - p22
3rd 52-10 - Ziggy Slowinski - p15
4th 51-11 - Phil Harding - p13
5th 46-14 - Aaron Britnell - p3
6th 46- 5 - Adam Caswell - p11

Silvers
1st 24- 8 - Aaron Britnell - p3
2nd 21- 0 - Nigel Bartlett - p5
3rd 16- 8 - Ken Rayner - p1

28/10/12 - Lands End - Speci Lake

Weight - 54lb 11oz (15lb 14oz - silvers)
Catch - 6 Carp, 12 Perch, 8 Roach, 3 F1, 1 Chub
Weather - Grey, gloomy & mostly rained
Match - Avon Angling Open - 9th out of 24 (4th out of 11 - lake, 4th overall silvers)

24 turned up today and we were all thankful yesterdays cold northerly wind had disappeared. Instead, it was replaced by grey low cloud and it rained most of the day, but at least it was milder.

I was not too disappointed when I opened my ticket to see 25 staring back at me, since its usually worth a few fish, however after the recent cold weather I was a little apprehensive about how the lake would fish, particularily since some of the colour had dropped out.

For company I had Martin Rich opposite on p40 and Adrian Jefferies to my right on p26. Becuase I wasnt sure how the lake would fish, various rigs were set up to cover my options.

On the all-in some caster was deposited 13-14m down the left hand bank and at 6m with a small ball of groundbait. Whilst that settled I went straight out at 14.5m with double corn to see if there was any carp in the open water. 15mins later I had a 4lber which was a nice start. A further 15mins later I hooked another, but I think it was foul hooked, becuase it shot off towards p40, before breaking me.

A switch to the end bank produced a few big perch up to 2lb mostly on maggot. I spent most of the next couple of hours fishing down the left hand edge where I caught more perch, mostly by lifting & dropping, but bites were little dinks. Inevitably I had a couple of carp, including one foul hooker which firstly tried to snag me on the point of the island, before finally snaggung on some underwater branches the other side of Adrians platform! I was just glad Rixon couldnt see me making a meal of trying to land the carp. Adrian kindly poked his landing net at the fish and unbelieveabley it came free. 10mins later with the hook firmly in the pectoral fin an 8-9lb carp was safely landed. 

I did try fishing mid depth, but only got bites from small roach.

The right hand swim produced a couple of F1s and a carp late on. The left hand open water swim responded to a small amount of caster and corn, with a big F1 and another carp, all on corn.

The end bank definately slowed towards the end and in an attempt to kick start it I cupped in some worm atomic cloud with caster, however this just lead to a mini roach invasion.

Overall, although I had to work hard for bites it was an enjoyable day. I beat those around me, it was just a shame I couldnt catch any more big perch, F1s or skimmers in the last hour to claim the silvers money which Neil Mercer took with 19-10.

1^st 108-  5- 0 Martin Pettifer – p5

2^nd 104-  2- 0 Dave Roper – p16
3^rd 81- 4 – Phil Harding – p28
4^th 77-15 – Dave Wescott – p29
5^th 65-14 – Mike West – p1
6^th 62- 2 – Paul Elmes – p15

Silvers
1^st 20- 8 – Paul Elmes – p15
2^nd 19-10 – Neil Mercer – p32
3^rd 17- 4 – Don Sutherland – p21
4^th 15-14 – Ken Rayner – p25

21/10/12 - Larford - Arena

Weight - 82lb 10oz (49lb - silvers)
Catch - 43 Skimmers, 6 Carp, 2 Roach
Weather - Cold & foggy start. Sunny later, but cool northerly breeze
Match - West Tackle Open - 1st out of 11

Larford is one of those venues I have always wanted to visit and when I found out that West Tackle was running an open on Arena Lake I wanted to book in.

Unfortunately a few couldnt make it due to a winter league on the river, plus Steve broke down on the motorway, which meant 3 more couldnt fish, leaving just the 11 of us.

Arena is the smallest of 3 lakes at Larford, with Match & Specimen Lake being the most popular (and famous). Arena is rectangular, wider at the car park end, becomig narrower at the far end and has 44 pegs, so with 11 of us we had plenty of space, Fishery rules meant we had to buy their own pellets, limited to 4x 100g (3pt) bags for a 5hr match. 6hr matches arent allowed, but the good news was Arena is float only, so no lead chucking which I was happy about.

The only information I was able to glean, was the lake was deep, with carp averaging between 2-10lb and skimmers. Tactics are to fish down the margins, short and a long line.

It was another cold morning, with fog and mist for most of the journey and by the time we had the draw at 9.15 you could just about see the whole lake. I drew 16 which is in the middle of the right hand bank, which meant absolutely nothing to me, in fact everyone was fishing this one blind.

As we were setting up there was a few carp crashing about and I almost wished I brought my waggler rod, however looking at the clarity of the water I wasnt sure too much would be caught shallow. In fact I wasnt sure too much would be caught in the margins either.

Plumbing up revealed about 3ft down the margins. However there wasnt any discernable shelf and at 5m I had 6ft of water, before it gently sloped away to nearly 7ft at 12m. Speaking to the fishery manager after the match he said there had been a couple of cold nights, plus heavy rain that had knocked the colour out of the water.

I really wasnt convinced the short line would be the place to start, instead I started at 12m, feeding a small ball of grounbait and a few 4s. On the 6m line I started feeding pellet and corn every 10mins.

Starting at 12m using a HB Chump 0.5g (0.12 >18 B911), I soon started to catch skimmers and by the end of the first hour I had a dozen skimmers and 2 carp, all on 4mm expander. Nick to my right also had a good start and we were neck & neck.

It became obvious the fish wanted a bit of grub and I kept the fish coming by feeding a nugget of groundbait with a few 4s, every second fish by a toss pot. Moving into the 2nd hour the fishing became difficult, then I lost a big carp, which broke me, unsettling the shoal. I decided to step up to a 0.14 hooklength, but bites were a little slower, so I switched back to 0.12 and during the 3rd hour I was catching really well. The pattern for the day was to keep feeding every second fish and when ever bites became iffy, I cupped in a larger ball and a few pellets. I also had to dot down the float, becuase most bites were just little dips.

Whilst I let that settle I would try my short line, catching a carp straight away on corn. I then pulled out of the second before that line died.

The sun finally made an appearance at 1pm which meant most of us could warm up a bit and by 2pm a cool northerly wind picked up blowing into my face.

My long line had slowed up, but I wasnt too worried, becuase at least my margins now had some ripple and I hoped the carp would be more willing to come in over the groundbait maggot and caster I had deposited. Alas I only had 1 carp on double corn and in reality I spent too long looking for another.

With my long line slowing down, I decided to start a new long line at an angle to my left feeding only pellet and corn. By switching between the two, I managed to keep the fish coming, albeit slower than before. My short line also produced a few fish towards the end, but it was slow going. 4mm expander was definately the best bait, whilst corn only produced the odd fish. In total I fed 3pts of groundbait and about a pint of 4s over the long line.

Nick had struggled towards the end, but I noticed Mark catching strongly towards the end and I thought it would be close between the 2 of us. I was first to weigh and my skimmers went 49lb. I must admit I thought I had a little more than that, but some of the skimmers were a bit thin and scrawny. Had they been a bit plumper then it could have been 55lb. My 6 carp however weighed a little more than expected giving me a total 82-10. Nick had 55lb which inlcuded 23lb of skimmers. Mark had slightly overestimated his skimmers, probably for the same reason I did weighing 33lb, whilst his 10 carp brought his total to 80-14. So less than 2lb in it.

Considering the conditions I was really pleased. Its been a while since I had 49lb of skimmers and I would be quite happy to make a return viist.

1st - 82-10 - Ken Rayner - p16
2nd - 80-14 - Mark Poppleton - p22
3rd - 58- 0 - Kev - p40
4th - 55-10 - Nick Merry - p19
5th - 39-15 - Andy Fox - p36

20/10/12 - Acorns - Paddock

Weight - 52lb 1oz (10lb 4oz - silvers)
Catch - 14 Carp, 34 Skimmers, 1 Tench
Weather - Cool start. Bright & sunny, with a slight breeze
Match - Open - 8th out of 16 (2nd - silvers)

Revision for my final financial services exam has meant no fishing for 2 weeks, because I really don't want to be taking a 3hr written exam for a second time, so I had to really concentrate and the fishing took a back seat. The exam was on Monday 15th and I am quietly optimistic, so keeping my fingers crossed when the results are released on 9 November.

Today I decided to attend the popular Saturday Open at Acorns and with 16 anglers we were well spread around the lake. One of the nice things about Acorns, other than the fact you can park behind most pegs, is there website which is kept up to date with match results, which revealed peg 40 is the form peg over the last 2 months. Alas I found myself on p15, which did win the silvers on Tuesday, but other than that hasn't featured too much recently.

On the drive down the temperature gauge dropped from 7c to 5c and coupled with the bright flat conditions, I wasn't really expecting the skimmers to feed in any numbers.

With plenty of room, the anglers either side were on 12 & 18, I decided to fish 12m left and right down the track feeding 3mms via a toss pot to my left and 4s to my right by catapult. On the all-in I went straight across to the far bank sedges where I had seen some movement, feeding a small amount of yellow atomic cloud & pellet, with corn on the hook. After 30mins I had 3 carp for 10lb before they disappeared.

I had kept both down the track swims topped up and kicked off down the left soon catching small skimmers on 4mm expander. The positively fed right hand swim, produced fewer, but slightly better skimmers up to 12oz. 

The match was spent rotating left and right, catching skimmers with the occasional carp, mostly on 4mm expander. In an attempt to target the carp, I tried hard pellet and corn, but soft pellet was definitely the best on the day.

Despite feeding pellet to the far bank all match I only managed another 2 small carp. I had also been feeding towards the pallets, caster & corn to my left and pellet & corn to my right. The right margin produced 3 carp, whilst the left margin didn't produce any.

I knew I had beaten the anglers around me, in fact Eddie and I were the only ones to weigh-in on the straight. I also knew I was unlikely to frame, which meant I was relying on my skimmers for a pick up. As it was my 10-4 was a little less than I thought and I scrapped 2nd in the silvers.

1st 124- 6 - S O'Toole - p40
2nd 112-14 - Mike Owen - p9
3rd 103- 8 - Eddie Wynn - p22
4th 86-12 - Rich Lovering - p2
5th 75- 5 - Andy France - p4
6th 69-10 - Andy Gard - p6

Silvers
1st 17-11 - Dave Wride - p36
2nd 10- 4 - Ken Rayner - p15

30/09/12 - Lands End - Match

Weight - 43lb 12oz
Catch - 14 Carp, 8 Roach, 4 Perch, 2 Skimmers, 1 Tench, 1 Chub
Weather - Mostly sunny, but windy
Match - Avon Angling Open - 18th out of 36

With 36 pegs in the bucket, this match was over 3 lakes, yet I still managed to pull p11. Oh well, at least I knew the contours of the peg having fished it so often. Actually I wasn't that disappointed, because with 14 on the lake I had some space to my right in p12.

Initially wasn't sure whether to go silvers or carp, so started on corn by the island and take it from there. 15mins later I had a roach, followed by a 1lb carp. A switch to double caster produced a tench, a couple of decent perch and roach, before it died never to produce another bite.

I had been drip feeding 4s to my right by the lilies, plus at 13m at the bottom of the island shelf. The RH swim only produced a couple of small fish, whilst the 13m started to produce a few silvers and a couple of small carp on expander, before the wind really picked up coming through the gap in p13 straight into my face. I could barely see my float due to the combination of the ripple & sunshine. I think my presentation was also suffering in the wind, so binned the swim.

So half way in the match I was really struggling, even on maggot. The one area I had left alone so far was 13m towards the end bank and first drop in on double maggot produced a 4lber. I kept firing in 4s and had a decent run of fish on 6mm hard pellet, before it slowed down in the last hour.

The RH lily swim failed to produced anything of consequence, but to be fair I had started feeding handfuls of casters in an attempt to pull in some better fish, because those that I was catching were on the small side. I had kept feeding pellet towards the point of the island, hoping the carp would turn up late on, but having waited 5mins for a bite on pellet which only produced a chub, suggested they really didn't want to be there.

On another day I would have been happy to catch 14 carp and would have probably weighed 60-70lb, but today the ones I caught were mostly the small ones introduced from lake 4.

1st 127- 8 - Tom Magnall - p5
2nd 113-13 - Tony Rixon - p36
3rd 108- 6 - Sam Elliott - p21
4th 73-14 - Dave Evans - p66
5th 69- 7 - Reg Elliott - p42
6th 68- 4 - Phil Harding - p7

Silvers
1st 27-12 - Tony Rixon - p36
2nd 22- 4 - Pete Wild - p24
3rd 21-10 - Anton Page - p28

23/09/12 - Lands End - Johns

Weight - 47lb 13oz (9lb 3oz - silvers)
Catch - 10 Carp, 7 Crucians, 6 Skimmers, 2 F1s, 1 Roach, 1 Rudd
Weather - Cold, wet and windy
Match - Club - 1st out of 12

Unfortunatelt the weathermen got it right today. Plenty of wind and rain, but at least I could hide under the umbrella.

Todays club match saw 12 anglers turn up on Johns (no3) Lake and I found myself on p68, which I was happy with, although I think its a better autumn/winter peg, becuase its one of the deepest pegs on the lake and  by the island its bearly 3ft, which is too deep for the summer.

Speaking to Mike before the match, he said that about 400 small carp had been transfered from no4 lake, plus a number of skimmers and other silvers.

Because the weather had turned colder, I started off cautiously potting in a small amount of 3s & 4s by the weedbed and 13m towards the point of the island. After 10mins I only had a small roach on corn, so switched 4mm expander and caught crucians, skimmers and a small carp by the weedbed. I had also been feeding 4s just off the point of the island by catapult fully expecting a few carp late on to settle over the pellet. I did hook one carp there, which ran the length of the island only to snag me, breaking my rig.

At this point I realised I had spent too much time fishing on the deck, because my watch stopped and I lost track of time. Since there wasnt a silverfish pool, I needed some carp and it was becoming obvious they werent feeding on the deck, so it was time for a change and half pot of caster was dumped by the island. Whilst I let that settle I went out on hair rigged 6mm pellet and caught a few better sized silvers and another small carp, but ites just werent coming quickly enough.

Time to try the island and I caught a couple of F1s, before landing a couple of better carp. I had been toss potting caster, but started to get too many liners, so went back  to cupping in the caster which resulted in proper bites. I could only catch 1 or 2 fish before they spooked, so in went another pot of caster and try a different area of the swim whilst that settled.

I did catch a small carp down the margin, but double caster by the island was best including a near 10lber.

I was expecting a bigger weight to win today, but the sudden colder this weekend did have an impact. A separate match on Match Lake lake was only won with 60lb

1st 47-13 - Ken - p68
2nd 46-14 - Andy - p61
3rd 35- 6 - Roger - p55
4th 32- 8 - Craig - p58

22/09/12 - Acorn - Paddock

Weight - 46lb 5oz (13lb 14oz - silvers)
Catch - 10 Carp, 32 Skimmers, 6 Perch, 2 Roach, 1 Tench, 1 Goldfish
Weather - Cold start, sunny, cool breeze
Match - Open - 9th out of 23 (1st - Silvers)

Originally I wanted to fish Lands End, however the Saturday opens seemed to have died with only a handful turning up, which to be honest I think is a shame.

Instead I decided to get a battering by the locals at Acorns. Well 23 turned up, which speaks volumes for the place and its certainly the closest commercial fishery to me, although its still 30mins away.

I found myself on peg 1, which has some recent silvers form, but I wasn't sure whether the skimmers would feed following the first cold night and bright, sunny conditions. Due to the weather I didn't fancy too many fish coming shallow so decided to focus on fishing down the track, with caster at 5m and pellet 11m slightly to my right & 12m to my left.

I started at 11m on 4mm expander, feeding a tiny pole pot of 3s and within 30mins had 4 carp and a skimmer before the swim died. This also co-incided with the wind picking up a little and it doesn't take much for the lake to start towing. As a consequence I had to change from the 0.3g HB Chump to a 0.5g, which definitely helped. I had been catapulting 4s at 12m, as well as caster at 5m. As the match progressed I had to keep rotating the 3 swims, because I couldn't catch more than 4 fish from one swim before I had to switch.

By the half way point a few more carp were being caught around me and I decided to stay focused on the silvers, since I couldn't see many being caught. However during the last 90mins I suffered a really dodgy patch, losing 4 carp (probably foul hooked) and missing a number of bites (probably liners).

As expected the weather had a say in the final result, but still plenty of bites, although no decent sized silvers to really boost my weight.

1st 80- 1 - Rod Wootton - p15
2nd 75-10 - Nick Harvey - p13
3rd 71- 4 - Garbriel S - p38
4th 64- 2 - Dom Sullivan - p37
5th 63- 0 - M Bellringer - p34
6th 50-13 - Jon Andres - p26

Silvers
1st 13-14 - Ken Rayner - p1
2nd 12-14 - Charlie Barnes - p11