29/12/13 - Todber - Park Lake

Weight - 36lb 7oz
Catch - 15 Carp, 7 Roach, 2 Skimmers, 1 Perch
Weather - Hard overnight frost. Bright & sunny day
Match - Open - 13th out of 24

The weather forecast was for a bright day with light winds, however the hard frost was a bit of a surprise. I travelled down with Tim Ford which made a pleasant change from driving down sole and the roads were a little slippery in parts with the temperature gauge reading -5c in some more sheltered parts. The question was would the lake be frozen. Unfortunately it was, but fortunately it was only thin.

24 were booked in and I was more than happy to draw p5, which was also ice free – bonus. Everyone was a little unsure how it would fish particularly since yesterday’s club match was won with only 10lb (5 carp).

Plumbing up my peg it was deeper to my right close in, swallowing up towards the far bank. I plumbed up by a clump of sedges on the far bank, but didn’t really fancy the fish to feed in the shallow water. Instead I started in the deeper water, where I fed micros. I expected a slow start, but after 15mins I had to switch from 4mm expander to maggot to get my first fish a small roach. A further 15mins later I managed by first carp, but I was already falling behind everyone around me, except for Martin Lenaghan on p7.

It was a real surprise I couldn’t catch down the track, whilst those around me were catching across in the shallower water despite the heavy frost. So I had no choice but to switch across and I was soon catching on double maggot, feeding micros and maggot. Action was unfortunately short lived.

For most of the match it was a case of rotating swims, setting up new swims to try and find some feeding fish, but the only place I could catch any number was tight across by the clump of sedges.

So a disappointing day. Martin McMahon and Steve Nadin on pegs 2 & 3, both caught more & bigger fish than me, Martin Lenaghan only had 1oz less than me, before the weights started to improve again. Dave Romain on p38 got to flyer catching well by the island, but caught very little fishing down the right hand margin, which wasn’t far from my far line swim. Speaking to the anglers who caught it seems most caught on maggot over micros and looking at the results sheet it just seems the carp were shoaled up in certain areas, but that’s winter fishing!

Happy new year to everyone and thank you for reading my blog.

1^st 98-7 – Phil Harding – p37
2^nd 94- 2 – Steve Nadin – p3
3^rd 81- 5 – Tony Rixon – p35
4^th 80-10 – Nick Merry – p11
5^th 74-15 – Mike Nicholls – p10
6^th 69-13 – Fred Roberts – p34

 

28/12/13 - Lands End - Match

Weight - 18lb 12oz (9lb 9oz - silvers)
Catch - 11 Perch, 1 Golden Tench, 1 Skimmer, 2 Carp
Weather - Frosty start and sunny all day
Match - Open - 1st out of 7

We can’t seem to win with the weather at the moment. It’s either blowing hard and raining or freezing cold. This morning the wind & rain was replaced by a frosty start. With only 7 of us today I wasn’t too worried were I drew, because the fish would soon disappear into the quiet areas of the lake.

I ended up on p13, which has shown some recent form and for company Jim Jenner was on p11 and Rod Wootton on p15. I had hoped to catch on pellet, but recently caster seemed to be better, so decided set up swims to cover both options. Caster was fed by p14 pallet and down the left hand margin, whilst micros & a few 4s were fed in open water by the aerator and 14m towards the island.

 

Rigs for the day were:-

- HB frostie 0.2g >.10 > 18 silverfish pellet (left hand margin)

- HB frostie 0.3g > .10 > 18 silverfish pellet (open water)

- Ackoo Carrat 0.3g > .12 > 16 B911 (p14 pallet)

 

Starting down the left hand margin I had a carp on double maggot, but that was the only bite after 30mins. I did try here later in the match, but the fish obviously didn’t want to be in the shallower water. Both the pellet swims only produced a few nibbles from roach.

 

The only place I could catch was on double caster by the p14 pallet, where I had all by perch up to 1¼lb. Rod in the meantime was catching skimmers on pellet, which was frustrating because I simply couldn’t get a bite.

 

A new swim fed with caster & dead maggot at the bottom of the left hand shelf only produced 1 carp. It was fishing hard, with 90 mins left everyone seemed to be struggling, with most of us having a couple of carp and a few silvers, so it was still wide open,  but I couldn’t get a bite from anywhere. Fortunately neither could anyone else.

 

With 30mins left, it was time to try by the aerator again, after feeding some micros and dead maggot. With 15mins left I had this golden tench on double dead maggot, followed by a skimmer 10mins later, which was very welcome. By the all out it wasn’t clear who won what. Fortunately my late fish sealed the win.

 

Failure of the match was Rod, who had been feeding in the deep water by the bush, but hadn’t fished it yet, until after the match when he had an 11lber first drop in. He wasn’t happy.

 

1^st 18-12 – Ken Rayner - p13

2^nd 16-10 – Eric Fouracre – p20

3^rd 15-15 – Tom Mangnall – p22

4^th 15- 6 – Rod Wootton – p15

5^th 12-14 - Andy Hembrow – p5

6^th 6- 9 – Jim Jenner – p11

 

Silvers

1^st 12-10 – Tom Mangnall – p22

2^nd 11- 2 – Rod Wootton – p15

3^rd 9- 9 – Ken Rayner – p13

22/12/13 - Lands End - Speci

This blog will be very short! Well it’s very difficult to write loads about catching 2 perch.

 

My drawing arm has really deserted me recently, with only 1 flyer in the last 15 matches, so I shouldn’t have been surprised when I opened up the ticket to see 25 staring back at me. This part of the lake has simply been awful recently, even when the lake didn’t fish well it was usually worth a few fish.

 

However, not today.  I tried soft pellet over micros and lost 1 decent fish after an hour. I eventually caught a perch down the left hand bank after 3.5hrs on maggot, but with just over an hour left I had enough and packed up early.

 

At least I had a few laughs with Paul Elmes (p40) & Nick Duckett (p39), because there wasn’t anything else to do. Kev Molton on p26 only had 1 skimmer, so this end of the lake is definitely one to avoid for the 3^rd round of the Winter League on 3^rd Jan.

 

Look on Tony’s blog for the results

21/12/13 - Todber Manor - Park Lake

Weight - 23lb 4oz
Catch - 12 F1, 8 Roach, 7 Skimmers, 3 Carp, 1 Rudd
Weather - Windy! and showers
Match - Todber Christmas Match - 15th out of 27

I was looking forward to getting plenty of bites for today’s match, however forecast heavy wind & rain was going to makes things difficult. In the end 27 turned up and I found myself on peg 29, which meant any chance of winning had already gone. Although I picked up a section from p28 last month, with the calibre of angler fishing today a decent draw really was needed, as the photo below shows.

 

For company I had Steve Denmead on p30 and an angler I don’t know on p27, so at least I had some space, however it was upwind so wasn’t sure whether I could take advantage. Only 2 pole rigs today, 1x fish the margin/far shelf and another to fish down the track. I also had a tiny pellet feeder in case the wind got too much.

 

Ideally I would have wanted to fish tight across, however there were loads of brambles, plus the wind meant it I could only fish 14m. Starting on double dead maggot over micros, I had my first fish, as a small roach after 15mins. A switch to 4mm expander produced a few F1s, but getting any presentation was difficult. If I could hold the float still for longer enough I would get a bite, so there was definitely feeding fish.

 

Trying the tiny pellet feeder, surprisingly only produced a small carp and 2 roach. Fishing down the track at 6m only produced 1 F1 and a few skimmers & roach. With 90mins left of the 5hr match the wind seemed to getting stronger and fishing across was no longer possible. I had been feeding down the margin towards p28 and so far only had bites from small fish, however I eventually had a carp on pellet, followed by a bigger fish 10mins later. Unfortunately I lost the next 2 carp, 1 of which was definitely foul hooked.

 

Overall a disappointing day, which was badly affected by the weather. Well done to Des who made the most of an average draw.

 

1^st 53-15 – Des Shipp – p14

2^nd 48- 3 – Ben Bentley – p9

3^rd 46- 3 – Mark Harper – p5

4^th 44-12 – Faletto – p27

5^th 44- 4 – Addie Damon – p26

6^th 36-10 – Nick Chedzoy – p35

15/12/13 - Harescombe - Match Lake

Weight - 41lb 7oz
Catch - 32 F1s, 1 Carp
Weather - Very wet & windy
Match - Club - 3rd out of 10

The attitude of some people leaves you surprised and on this occasion stunned. 2 weeks ago a club member reversed into my car and drove off despite the attempts of other members who witnessed the event. The damage was only very minor and I assumed the driver didn’t feel the impact and didn’t see a 6ft 4in bloke waving their arms to attract his attention as he drove off. However after cleaning the car last week the damage was obvious, although probably inexpensive to repair, so I wasn’t too bothered. Fast forward to today I was just finishing my breakfast at the venue café, when the member walked in. Bearing in mind the damage was minor I was quite relaxed about, so I told the member he had hit my car. What happened next surprised everyone on the café. Before I could say anything else, he denied hitting me, it was my word against his, he was on private land so it didn’t count, and I was having a go at an old man. A couple of us tried to explain there were witnesses and the private land argument was irrelevant. However, said member got very agitated, saying I can go f*** myself and the club can throw him out of the club. I actually said very little during all this, but hoped to have a quiet chat after the match when he had calmed down. Unfortunately this didn’t happen, another member tried to have a chat to him on the bank explaining there was witnesses, but he has flatly refused to accept responsibility. The reaction was completely over the top to a very minor incident, and I was prepared not to take it any further. However, this is now a point of principle and I will let my insurers sort it out. Unfortunately the member refused to provide their insurance details, which just compounds the situation, but the cost of their excess, the potentially for losing their no claims discount and increases in next year’s renewal will cost more than an apology.

Back to the match, after the clubs visit in October we were keen to come back, because everyone had a few bites. Today was originally booked in for the Harescombe Christmas match, but clashed with another local match, so the owner asked us if we wanted to fish instead. Only 10 could make it, with a few late drop outs, but at last we would have plenty of space, but the weather looked like it would have a big impact with wind & rain forecast.

Speaking to the fishery manager suggested that maggot was the best bait and the corner pegs were best, particularly 29 & 30 which were at the sheltered end of the lake. I drew 18, which was on the far side, 3 pegs from the corner which Kev Millard drew and who would be very difficult to beat.

Only 2 rigs for today, an Ackoo carbon carrat 0.3g > .08 > 22 B911 to fish the far shelf and 4x18 polar ice for down the track, but I never had a bite on that. The nice thing about this lake is there is nothing bigger than 5lb in the lake, with most fish being F1s between 8oz & 2lb, so you can fish light without fear of being broken by a rouge munter.

Starting on the far bank toss potting maggot & micros I was soon catching, but presentation was difficult in the strong wind which was blowing straight down the lake, which meant plenty of lifting and dropping. The only annoying aspect was lost fish. I lost a few fish using the double 5 elastic, a switch to a single 5 resulted in a fewer loses, but took longer to land fish and still had a couple of hook pulls at the net. In the end I found it best to use a size 20 silverfish maggot hook, still with .08 bottom and 6-10 hollow.

I caught steadily all match, except for the 4^th hour when I spend time sorting out rigs (a lack of pre match prep) and disappearing fish. The last 45mins proved to be best with 7 fish all falling to a single red or bronze maggot. To keep in touch with the fish I had to keep moving back and forth along the far bank. An enjoyable day, except for the weather and I was thankful for my new Gore-Tex which was certainly tested.

As expected Kev won the match from the corner and Andy came 2^nd from a very sheltered end peg – I’m not bitter – lol. So 3^rd was the result, which I was happy enough with, but those earlier lost fish cost me 2^nd.

1^st 52- 9 – Kev Millard – p16
2^nd 44- 2 – Andy Lord – p24
3^rd 41- 7 – Ken Rayner – p18
4^th 38- 4 – Andy Bradley – p3
5^th 37- 4 – Dave Bradley – p29
6^th 20- 0 – Tim Allen – p30

14/12/13 - Bristol Avon - Barton Farm

Weight - 4lb 8oz
Catch - 69 Roach, 2 Perch, 3 Minnows
Weather - Chilly, foggy start. Increasingly cloudy & breezy

Something different for Saturday, instead of fishing Lands End, Mark suggested fishing the river at Barton Farm. Initially I said no, but Mark persuaded me with tales of big bags of roach.

 

So at 7.30 the kit was being wheeled down to the river. The early start was influenced by the weather with wind and rain being forecast for later in the afternoon, so avoiding that seemed like a good idea. Another relative mild week, but this morning was a little chilly, after the skies cleared following some overnight rain.

 

I really wanted to fish the rod & reel, instead of the pole, which meant a crowquill set at 10ft and a waggler to fish across in the hope of a few late chub.

 

After feeding 5balls of groundbait (with some added mole hill soil), with a pinch of caster, pinkie & hemp, I started on the crowquill, feeding a small ball of feed every 5^th fish. In the meantime I kept feeding maggot across the river, but the waggler only produced a few roach.

 

I certainly had plenty of fish, but mostly very small. I was not bothered since it was nice to get out on the river and dust of the rods. After nearly 4hrs fishing the wind was picking up and we decided to call it a day. Mark finished with a nice net of mostly pole caught roach and a couple of waggler caught pound chub, 10-7. I have no doubt a proper river angler would have caught much more, or if I used a pole, but I had a plenty of bites, just a shame I couldn’t catch anything bigger than 3oz.

08/12/13 - Lands End - Johns

Weight - 40lb 15oz (10lb 11oz - silvers)
Catch - 6 Carp, 25 Skimmers, 4 Crucians, 3 Perch, 2 Roach, 2 Rudd
Weather - Mild, mostly sunny with a light breeze
Match - Winter League - 7th out of 36 (2nd - section)

2^nd round of the Lands End Winter League and it was my turn for Johns (no.3) Lake. After the first rounds disappointment I was really hoping for a decent draw and any of the corners would do me. With only 2 tickets (p41 & p46) left in the bucket Tom Thick plucked 46, leaving me with 41. Result, happy with that, at least I would have a few bites – I hoped, particularly since there was a little more colour than expected in the water.

For company I had Tony Rixon on p42, who seemed to be enjoying the fact I was pegged next to me! Opposite was Pete Nurse (p70) and Gordon Canning s (p68). I wasn’t convinced I would catch too much fishing short, so focused on 2 swims, feeding 4s and some micros at the end of the spit and towards the aerator in open water. I also started feeding some caster into the right hand corner.

Starting on corn hoping for an early carp, but other than a few knocks had no proper bites, so a switch to my soft pellet rig (HB Chump 0.3g >.10 > 18 silverfish pellet) and soon started catching 4oz skimmers. The aerator swim seemed to be best by toss potting a few 4s and micros and since I wasn’t catching too many from the spit started pinging 4s over the top to draw some carp in.

After 3hrs I was still catching mostly skimmers, plus a couple crucians and a 2lb perch all on 4mm expander or a JPZ. I lost 2 decent fish, the first I’m not sure where it was hooked, but the hook pulled half way back, but the 2^nd fish was definitely a carp hooked in the rear which eventually snapped me as it tried to bury itself into the left hand weed bed. The lack of carp was a little concerning and I was thinking about sticking with the silvers, but both my far lines were fading. A look in front of the spit only produced a couple of small fish and fishing into the corner resulted in a small perch.

As far as the section was concerned, everyone seemed to have caught a couple of carp, so it was likely I was last in section, although my silvers was probably top. The next hour was quiet, but noticed a few carp starting to move around in amongst the bushes along the right hand bank. So far I had ignored feeding here because underwater branches meant it’s a bit of a tackle graveyard, however since the silvers had slowed I felt I had no choice but to give it a go.

I kept feeding caster and some dead maggot into the right hand corner, plus 4s & micros at 13m along the end bank, where I hoped was a clear a spot, although I lost 2 hooklengths striking into an unseen branch. During the last 90mins (Ackoo Carrat 0.2g > .14 > 16 B911) produced 6 carp, 2 from the 13m swim on 6mm pellet expander and 4 from the corner including a double figure common on double caster.

A pleasing end to the match and thankful to have claimed 2^nd section and a de-fault section pick up as Tom won the lake thanks to 3 large carp caught late on. Overall Johns Lake fished better than Speci and Match, however to put into context we could be at Westerleigh Lakes was won with only 18lb and there was only 3 weights over 10lb. Hopefully there will be a little more colour in Match and Speci by the 3^rd round on 5 January 2014. Draw will be 8.30, fishing 10-3.30.

1^st 72- 4 – Mark Poppleton – p33
2^nd 71-13 – Dave Wescott – p11
3^rd 55-15 – Tom Thick – p46
4^th 52- 4 – Bob Gullick – p7
5^th 49-15 – Mark Brennan – p58
6^th 44- 1 – Pete Nurse – p70

Silvers
1^st 22-12 – Mark Poppleton – p33
2^nd 20- 8 – Bob Gullick – p7
3^rd 14- 5 – Tom Mangnall – p40

08/12/13 - Lands End Winter League - rd 2

Top 10 Overall Weights
1st 72- 4 - Mark Poppleton - p33 (speci)
2nd 71-13 - Dave Wescott - p11 (match)
3rd 55-15 - Tom Thick - p46 (johns)
4th 52- 4 - Bob Gullick - p7 (match)
5th 49-15 - Mark Brennan - p58 (johns)
6th 44- 1 - Pete Nurse - p70 (johns)
7th 40-15 - Ken Rayner - p41 (johns)
8th 39- 1 - Keith Fielder - p36 (speci)
9th 38- 4 - Nick Merry - p13 (match)
10th 32-10 - Aaron Britnall - p66 (johns)

Top 10 Silverfish Weights
1st 22-12 - Mark Poppleton - p33 (speci)
2nd 20- 8 - Bob Gullick - p7 (match)
3rd 14- 5 - Tom Mangnall - p40 (speci)
4th 13-10 - Leon Hubbard - p5 (match)
5th 12-12 - Chris Fox - p32 (speci)
6th 11-13 - John Bradford - p34 (speci)
7th 10-13 - Pete Nurse - p70 (johns)
8th 10-11 - Ken Rayner - p41 (johns)
9th 10- 4 - Nigel Bartlett - p20 (match)
10th 9- 4 - Aaron Britnall - p66 (johns)

Top 10 Overall League Positions
1st - Dave Wescott - 12pts (149- 3)
2nd - Craig Edmunds - 12pts (99- 5)
3rd - Bob Gullick - 11pts (108-11)
4th - Mark Brennan - 11pts (72- 8)
5th - Mark Poppleton - 10pts (122- 1)
6th - Chris Fox - 10pts (70-10)
7th - Mike Duckett - 10pts (62- 8)
8th - Adrian Clark - 9pts
9th - Tom Mangnall - 8pts (105- 3)
10th - Nick Merry 8pts (69-10)

Top 6 Overall Silverfish Positions
1st - Bob Gullick - 12pts (49-11)
2nd - Nigel Bartlett - 12pts (27- 6)
3rd - Chris Fox - 12pts (21- 0)
4th - Mike Duckett - 10pts (18-14)
5th - Mark Brennan - 10pts (18- 1)
6th - Ken Rayner - 10pts (15-14)

01/12/13 - Fishponds

Weight - 123lb 6oz
Catch - 18 Carp
Weather - Cloudy with a slight northerly breeze
Match - Club - 2nd out of 14

14 turned up for today’s match which was a bit of a surprise, particularly since a couple of members couldn’t fish because they were fishing the Sedges Winter League. Today was also the final of the knockout and I was up against Ian Pople. With 14 on the lake it would mean a couple of tights spots and I really wanted an open water swim, but my drawing arm let me down again as I drew p17, which was in the top corner of the lake. Opposite was Roger Putterill and Ian was to my right on p19, so at least we could keep an eye on each other.

I had hoped to fish the waggler, but due to the lack of room, decided it was a 2 swim pole job. 13m slightly to my right and 8m to my left next to the willow bush. 2 rigs were set up, an Ackoo powertrap 0.3g, by the bush fishing hair rigged double corn (I needed a big hook and bait on strong kit to pull the fish out of what has been a tackle graveyard). The other rig was a HB Dweezil 0.3g > .16 > 16 B911 fished at 13m in 7ft of water. I also had a straight lead rod already set-up, but only had a couple of casts on that.

Feed was 4s, corn and some micros to kick start each swim. After 30mins I landed my first carp at 13m on 6mm expander, which was followed up by a 10lber on 4mm expander. After an hour I had those 2 carp, but lost another 2. Ian in the meantime had 3.

During the 2^nd hour I landed a further 4 at 13m on 4mm expander, however Ian was up to 7. Fortunately Ian struggled from this point, as I put a further 4 carp into the net during the 3^rd hour. The bush swim started to produce a few fish and the remaining 2 hours, it was a case of rotating left and right with most fish caught on corn.

By the all out, I thought I may have won, however Tim Allen did well from peg 4 with 20 carp meaning I finished 2^nd and won the knockout.

1^st 138-10 – Tim Allen – p4
2^nd 123- 6 – Ken Rayner – p17
3^rd 77- 2 – Nick Pople – p12
4^th 73- 0 – Nick Jordell – p7
5^th 68-11 – Andy Bradley – p10
6^th 63- 5 – Craig Davidge – p6

30/11/13 - Lands End - Speci

Weight - 34lb 13oz (7lb 14oz - silvers)
Catch - 3 Carp, 7 Roach, 4 Skimmers
Weather - Bright & sunny with little wind
Match - Open - 2nd out of 11

1 of us today on Speci lake and I think most of us were looking forward to a change from fishing Match lake. However, the lakes were iced over mid-week and the water certainly looked quite clear, so a challenging day was on the cards.

Mark Poppleton had threatened mid-week to go home if he drew p36, so he was really happy when he actually drew p36. After spending several minutes in the car park contemplating what to do, he eventually decided to fish, but he wasn’t in the mood for any banter- lol.

As for me, my drawing arm seems to have deserted me recently and p28 hardly filled me with joy. However the last time I fished here earlier in the year, I picked up in the silvers, so that was my intention today, because normally you would expect the carp to come from the end of the lake.

For company Andy was on p26 and Martin Heard on p29, but at least the sun would be behind us on what would be a very bright day with very little wind. Fishing was 10.15 – 15.45, it was suggested we have an earlier draw, but I don’t think Mike West can get out of bed any earlier!

On the all in some micros & 4s was deposited at 13m and some caster on top of the far shelf. I started on double corn fished at 14m to my left hoping for an early carp, but didn’t have so much as liner, which just confirmed my fears there were no carp about. To fair no-one was catching much, although Martin had a few skimmers on pellet.

A switch to my pellet line produced nothing, I even set up a 2^nd pellet swim to my left at 14.5m, but again not a bite even on maggot, whilst Martin was still getting the odd skimmer. I like to feed some groundbait with my micros and normally add some sweet fishmeal, but today I was trying some Marukyu Nori silverfish groundbait, but just got the feeling it was too pungent for a cold clear lake, so mixed up some of my normal mix, re-feeding my 2 pellet swims.

A switch to the far line produced a small roach on maggot. So after an hour and 35mins I avoided a blank. Another roach soon followed, but they didn’t hang about in the shallower water.

So back on the pellet, using a HB Frostie 0.3g > .10 > 18 silverfish pellet and I had a 2lb skimmer on 4mm expander. Was it the change in groundbait? I don’t know, but I felt more confident using bait that I have used successfully before.

3 more skimmers came by rotating left & right, then I hooked what I thought was another skimmer, but as I shipped back it became obvious it was a carp. 15mins later a big common weighing 13-2 was safely netted, which put me back in contention, before Martin landed 2 smaller carp.

Unfortunately both Martin & I struggled to catch for the next 90mins or so. Those skimmers obviously didn’t like the carp charging around and neither of us caught another skimmer for the rest of the match. I had a couple more roach from the far bank, but it didn’t last.

It was difficult to assess my position in the match, because it was very close. Mark had a few silvers and a couple of carp, Allan Oram on p31 had 3-4 carp and Steve Martin on his first visit to the venue on p33 was probably leading.

So target the silvers on maggot/caster or stick with pellet? Another look over my 5m line produced a roach, but I had to wait for a bite, so decided to stick with pellet. Fishing 16m to my left at the bottom of the shelf, produced 2 carp in the last 10mins and was now fairly certain I had framed, which is how it turned out. Even without the carp, I would have picked up the silvers by double-default.

1^st 49-10 – Steve Martin – p33
2^nd 34-13 – Ken Rayner – p28
3^rd 32-14 – Mark Poppleton - p36
4^th 31- 1 – Allan Oram – p31
5^th 18-12 – Martin Heard – p29
6^th 16-13 – Mike Duckett – p38

Silvers
1^st 11- 0 – Mark Poppleton – p36
2^nd 10- 8 – Steve Martin – p33
3^rd 7-14 – Ken Rayner – p28
4^th 7- 8 – Martin Heard – p29

23/11/13 - Lands End - Match

Weight - 17lb 5oz (4lb 5oz - silvers)
Catch - 3 Carp, 4 Skimmers, 1 F1
Weather - Frosty start, Bright & sunny, light northerly breeze
Match - Open - 3rd out of 9

When I got into the car the temperature gauge read -1c and I knew today was likely to be tough for the 9 of us. We were on Match Lake today, but Mike has stated he will alternate Match & Speci for Saturday matches, which I along with a few others was pleased to hear.

 

I wanted to avoid a draw on the near end of the lake, because I have been down this end a little too often recently but drew p21, which used to be a flyer, but hasn’t been the best in recent months although it should be worth a few fish. Despite the northerly breeze being light it still felt cold and Wednesday match result suggested a hard day ahead.

 

For company I had Mark Poppleton who was on p19 again and Rod Wootton suggested (as he walked past to p15) he have a bench with his name on it. To my right was Mike West on p24, so plenty of room, but this normally works against you when its cold.

 

I didn’t bother setting up any rigs to fish the top of the shelf, because with the sun shining bright in the clear water I just felt it would be a waste of a rig. So on the all a pinch of micros was deposited to my right at the bottom of the shelf, plus some caster down by the p22 pallet.

 

Hoping for a few early carp, I started with double corn, fishing to my left into a quiet area and was soon attached to a carp, but the hooked pulled when I got it half way back – bugger. I thought it was properly hooked. The 2^nd fish hooked 5mins later was definitely fouled and that came off as well – double bugger.

 

I eventually landed a carp and that was it after an hour. In fact everyone was struggling which set the tone for rest of the match. Rotating between swims, I caught the rest of my fish on 4mm expander, as well as losing a few which I suspect were foul hooked.

 

Fishing maggot didn’t produce any bites and under p22 pallet resulted in 2 small perch, both of which the hook fell out. I think it’s fair to say the frost really knocked the fishing on the head and I was glad I made the decision not to fish Sunday.

 

1^st 37-12 – Rod Wootton – p15

2^nd 25- 9 – Andy Hembrow – p17

3^rd 17- 5 – Ken Rayner – p21

4^th 16-15 – Ray White – p7

5^th 16- 8 – Jim Jenner – p11

6^th 12-15 – Dave Wescott – p5

 

Silvers

1^st 9- 7 – Andy Hembrow – p17

2^nd 6-12 – Rod Wootton – p15

3^rd 6- 0 – Ray White – p7

17/11/13 - Todber Manor - Park Lake

Weight - 58lb 2oz
Catch - 19 Carp, 19 F1s, 5 Roach
Weather - Heavy cloud, but no wind
Match - Wests Open - 6th out of 21 (2nd out of 7 section)

I don’t think Sue was too impressed that I went fishing today. I’ve been feeling crap since Friday due to a heavy cold, also a lack of sleep wasn’t helping. However I reasoned some fresh air would do me some good, which it did although I forgot to take any medication and suffered as a consequence.

21 eventually turned up, which meant only one peg (p17) was put in on cyanide straight, which Fred Robert drew from match organiser Steve Ince, then promptly drew p5 for himself. As for me my drawing arm seems to have deserted me recently, with p28 being my home for the day. Not great, but usually there are a number of F1s in the area, although I couldn’t see me framing, so was hoping for a section win instead.

Following some cold nights, I decided a cautious approach would be best and see how the fish respond. Starting off fishing tight across (HB Frostie 0.2g > .12 > 18 silverfish pellet), slightly to my right with 4mm expander, toss potting a pinch of 4s and micros, I soon had a couple of carp and gradually increased my feed to a big pinch of pellet.

After an hour I had 6 carp and a roach, so it was steady. I had also started catapulting 4s into a gap to my left and by rotating both swims was up to 13 carp after 2hrs, but it was slowing down. Talk around the lake suggested most were struggling, except for Steve Musitano on p31 and Mark Poppleton on p32.

Hooking up on a snag from the right hand swim saw me move further right to ensure I didn’t catch it again. As for the left hand swim a switch to toss potting bait, instead of catapulting proved to be better, probably because a few pellets were getting caught on the overhanging sedges.

Weary that the far lines wouldn’t last, I had been feeding caster and later some corn at 5m, but only had 1 roach here. I had also been feeding meat into the left margin, but again without success.

So my main catching area turned out to be the left hand swim. The carp were replaced by F1s up to 1.5lb, but they are crafty little buggers. On a couple of occasions they managed to nip off ½ a 4mm expander, leaving the other half on the hook. Most fish came by lifting and dropping and towards the end of the match the carp returned.

Quite a simple match in the end and knew it was unlikely I would frame, but was hopeful of a section win, which ran from my peg round to peg 13. Come the weigh in Tom Ince on p22 had 85lb for 2^nd overall, which meant I picked up the section money by de-fault. From my draw I was pleased to catch, because Craig on p29 had 25lb, whilst the 2 anglers to my left didn’t weigh. Overall the lake didn’t fish well, which seems to the picture with a number of fisheries at the moment. Once the fish settle down and get used to the cold things should improve.

1^st 90- 8 – Mark Poppleton – p32
2^nd 85- 0 – Tom Ince – p22
3^rd 81- 8 – Fred Roberts – p5
4^th 69- 4 – Steve Musitano – p31
5^th 62-10 – Jon Howell – p11
6^th 58- 2 – Ken Rayner – p28

10/11/13 - Lands End - Match

Weight - 5lb 3oz
Catch - 5 Perch, 5 Roach, 2 Skimmers
Weather - More heavy overnight rain. Bright, sunny day
Match - 34th out of 35, 5th out of 5 section

 

I have taken over the running of the Lands End winter league and with 36 booked in the series was full, despite a couple of late drop outs a few days before hand, so thanks to Darren Fordham and Gary O’Shea who stepped in late. Unfortunately Aaron couldn't make it. Just found out he couldn't attend due to a family illness.

 

After the initial rush of anglers drawing, there were 5 pegs left in the bucket, with peg 1 and 37 being the pegs neither Mike Duckett nor I wished to draw. I got p1 and Mike got p37. At least we couldn’t be accused of fixing the draw! The remaining 3 pegs were 7, 32 & 58, with p7 not drawn, I could see & hear the fish boshing all day between 6 & 11.

 

I was seriously disappointed to find myself on p1, I just can’t get away from this end of the lake at the moment, particularly with the other pegs in the bucket. After last year’s series, where I struggled for a decent draw, it appeared my form in this league was going the same way. I consoled myself with the fact there were a few silvers in area, however another night of heavy rain, followed by bright, flat conditions, meant I wasn’t confident the skimmers in particular would feed.

 

For company Tony Rixon was on p24, Tom Thick on p22 and Clint Wotlyla p20, so it was never going to be a quiet day, with loads of banner flying around.

 

Well, I experienced one of my worst days fishing at Lands End for a long time. Rigs and feed were the same as yesterdays, but I just couldn’t catch. I did lose a big skimmer and a carp at the net, but it wouldn’t have been enough to improve my position. Looking back over last years results, this peg was one of the worst, but even so, really surprised to have struggled so badly.

After a good run of results over the last 4 months, I was due a shocker, just wish it wasn't today!

 

Tony did well to catch from under the tree, but Tom had a mare as well catching 2 carp and 3lb of silvers. Fingers crossed for a better draw on the next round (8 December).

 

1st 84-11 – Tom Mangnall – p55

2nd 77- 6 – Dave Wescott – p31

3rd 70-11 – Craig Edmunds – p66

4th 68-14 – Paul Elmes – p19

5th 57-14 – Chris Fox – p70

6th 56- 7 – Bob Gullick – p33

 

Silvers

1st 29-3 – Bob Gullick – p33

2nd 17-2 – Nigel Bartlett – p32

3rd 12- 1 – Mark Brennan – p3

09/11/13 - Lands End - Match Lake

Weight - 38lb 12oz (20lb 4oz - silvers)
Catch - 4 Carp, 11 Skimmers, 11 Perch, 8 Roach, 2 Rudd
Weather - Cold heavy overnight rain. Cloudy with the odd shower
Match - Open - 1st Silvers (3rd out of 9 overall)

At least all this rain meant the lakes are now nearly full, however it would be interesting to see what effect last nights heavy cold deluge would have on the fishing. With only 9 fishing today, it would also mean there would be a few extra spaces for those carp to hide away.

I couldn’t quite believe I drew last week’s p22 again. So since June, that’s 9 matches on Match Lake and 5 times I’ve been on down this end of the lake, either on peg 22,23 or 24 – not happy, because at the moment this isn’t the place to be if you want to win. However, at least I knew the contours of the peg and decided that silvers were likely to be my best option. For company I had Mike West on p20 and Ray White on p1. Peg 24 wasn’t in, which meant a little extra space to my right.

I had some new floats to try out courtesy of Ackoo (Mark Haskins), which were a more defined model of the Carrat, with a thinner 1.2mm tip and carbon stem, instead of glass. So a 0.2g model was set up with .12 bottom and 18 silverfish pellet hook, to fish the bottom of the shelf with either soft pellet or corn. Other rigs included a HB Frostie 0.3g > .10 > 18 silverfish pellet to also fish down the track and a HB Frostie 0.2g to fish caster on top of the far shelf and margin.

On the all in, micros were deposited @ 14m towards the point of the island, a big cup of the same @ 14m to my right in open water towards p24 and some caster by the island.

Starting on corn fishing into the undisturbed water to my left, hoping for an early carp, I lost 2 foul hookers, confirming there was at least a few fish around but they weren’t feeding. After 30mins it was time to try the far side. Mike was off to a flyer catching plenty of perch from the island, but whilst I caught a few fish (as well as losing a few), it was very slow.

So after an hour and only 3 perch, it was almost a repeat of last weeks match, although everyone seemed to be struggling and was glad I put on my thermals for the first time this autumn, because it was a little chilly.

Like last week, it was again a case of rotating swims to keep the fish coming, but at least this time I was catching the odd decent skimmer on pellet, in amongst the roach and perch I was catching on caster or maggot. The far line only produced a couple more fish, fishing against the pallets, left and right, produced some perch and roach, but no big boys. I bumped 2 skimmers from the far right hand swim, where I dumped a load of feed, but only caught a few small roach.

Mike in the meantime had slowed down and struggled in the last 2 hours. As for me my left hand swim, which I kept topped up catapulting 4s at the bottom of the shelf got stronger, with some bigger skimmers and a couple of carp. I thought (and hoped) I had overtaken Mike, but knew it would be close.

At the weigh in it became obvious the weather and really knocked the fishing, with most continuing to struggle. Mikes silvers net was slightly more than I thought, but at least I got my 3rd silvers win on the bounce at Lands End.

1st - 62-13 - Rod Wootton - p11
2nd - 40-14 - James Wither - p18
3rd - 38-12 - Ken Rayner - p22
4th - 22-11 - Dale Howsen - p13
5th - 19-13 - Dave Wescott - p15
6th - 17-13 - Mike West - p20

Silvers
1st - 20- 4 - Ken Rayner - p22
2nd - 17-13 - Mike West - p20
 

03/11/13 - Sedges - Brick Lake

Weight - 28lb 11oz
Catch - 2 Carp, 18 Skimmers, 2 Roach
Weather - Sunshine & showers. Very windy
Match - Club - 6th out of 13

Another wet & windy day, although fortunately we seemed to have missed most of the heavy showers, however the wind was blowing hard.

13 members turned up today for this and on the advice of the fishery were told to avoid pegging the bottom of the lake and I was happy enough to draw p12, although the wind would be straight into this corner of the lake. Because the owner wanted us off the fishery before it got dark, the match was cut to 5hrs, so little time to correct any mistakes.

Today was also the semi-final of the club knock-out and I was drawn against Craig, who has been fishing the Sedges Winter League and was disappointed to draw p5.

With the wind, I set up a 1.5g rig to fish at 11.5m over groundbait (gimps gold & black lake) with caster & pellet. After potting in 4 balls, I started on the pellet feeder, but after 2 casts with pellet & no bites, a switch to corn produced a skimmer, shortly followed by a 2^nd, but no carp.

A switch to the pole was slow going on worm, but double maggot was better producing a run of small skimmers, before the swim dried up. Topping up the swim only improved matter a little, but small skimmers wasn’t going to get me anywhere, besides a few carp started to show around the lake and since I hadn’t caught any decent skimmers on this line it was binned.

Back on the feeder and I managed another skimmer, but I really needed a carp. I had been feeding 4s and corn at 5m from the start, but trying to get any sort of presentation on the pole in the deep water was difficult due to the wind and tow. I had a few knocks, losing a foulhooker, but no fish in the net.

Since I couldn’t get any decent presentation I could have changed to a heavier float, but decided it was easier to drop a straight lead rig with hair rigged corn at 5m. I soon had another skimmer, following by a 12lb carp, before the line died.

With 90mins to go I started feeding caster and corn into the left margin, which produced 1 carp on double caster, but no other bites.

A disappointing day. The wind ruined what should have been a decent day, however in hindsight I think I got several things wrong. I shouldn’t have bothered with the long groundbait line, since there wasn’t a silvers pay out and I should have targeted carp all match. Also I should have fished worm more often on the hook. Andy won the match fished worm over caster fished at 5m.

At least I managed to beat Craig who had 17-13 to progress into the knock out final. The top 3 all came from the pegs with spare pegs in between.

1^st 75-15 – Andy Lord – p18
2^nd 43- 2 – Chris Davidge – p14
3^rd 41-11 – Ian Pople – p16
4^th 39-15 – Andy Bradley – p10
5^th 30- 5 – Tim Allen – p7
6^th 28-11 – Ken Rayner – p12

02/11/13 - Lands End - Match

Weight - 32lb 0oz (18lb 12oz - silvers)
Catch - 24 Perch, 8 Roach, 5 Skimmers, 2 Ide, 1 Hybrid, 2 Carp
Weather - Showery and windy
Match - Open - Jt 1st silvers (8th out of 12 overall)

The wind and rain has been with us all week, but at least it’s slowly topping up the lakes which were in need of water following a hot summer.

With the Lands End winter League nearing there was a few extra bodies fishing today. Initially it was thought 14 would be fishing, but 2 didn’t turn up so all 12 of us were on Match Lake.

The bulk of the fish seem to be around pegs 15-19 at the moment, but I found myself on p22, which was disappointing, because 3 of the last matches I’ve been on 22, 23 & 24. At least a few silvers have shown in the area, so if there wasn’t any carp then hopefully I could target a few silvers.

For company Martin Heard was on p20 and Dave Wescott on p24. Fortunately the strong wind was from behind again and the trees were proving an effective barrier, which meant fishing long wasn’t a problem. Once again I set up rigs to cover both carp and silvers, but ultimately only caught on 2 of the 4 set up.
- HB Frostie 0.2g > .12 > 18 silverfish pellet (caster/maggot – island & margin)
- HB Chump 0.4g > .12 > 18 silverfish pellet (down the track)

On the all in micros & 4s was deposited at 14m at the bottom of the shelf by the point of the island and 14m to my left again at the bottom of the shelf. Caster was also fed at 5m & on top of the far shelf.

Starting on corn hoping for an early carp didn’t produce anything other than a few knocks. Double caster by the island produced a number of perch, but nothing bigger than 6oz. The 5m line also failed to produce anything bigger. I also started feeding caster into the right hand margin, but again nothing of any size. Where had last week’s big perch gone? I wondered whether the week’s heavy rain was having an effect, because it was slow for most.

My 2 pellet lines were also struggling to produce. The right hand swim, which I kept topped up by cupping in a small amount of pellet, but it only produced a few small roach. As for the left hand swim, this had been topped up with loose fed 4s, produced 1 carp and a small hybrid on 4mm expander.

With 2hrs left I probably had 5-6lb of silvers, whilst the anglers to my left where catching, particularly Rod Wootton and Nick Merry on pegs 15 & 17. Dave was struggling on p24, but Steve Seagar on p1 had netted a couple of skimmers and I was hopefully they would start to feed.

My swims seemed to died, since I could catch anywhere, so decided to cup in a pot of caster and a few micros into the 14m right swim and kept the loose feeding 4s into the left hand swim. The last 90mins proved to be the best of the match. By rotating left and right, I caught 3 decent skimmers and a carp from the left swim on expander, plus 2 big ide, a skimmer and big perch from the right on double dead maggot.

I was sure I had overtaken Steve for the silvers, but was surprised when he weighed 15-8, because I thought I only had 15lb. Eric Fouracre plonked 18-12 on the scales and I was adamant I didn’t have that. As expected pegs 15, 17 & 19 all framed. So I was pleasantly surprised to weight 18-12 and jointly claim the silvers money with Eric.

1^st 105- 5 – Rod Wootton – p15
2^nd 95- 3 – Nick Merry – p17
3^rd 62- 7 – Mark Poppleton – p19
4^th 50- 0 – Keith Fielder – p7
5^th 43-12 – Martin Heard – p20
6^th 41- 1 – Mike Duckett – p13

Silvers
1^st 18-12 – Ken Rayner – p22
1^st 18-12 – Eric Fouracre – p7
3^rd 15- 8 – Steve Seagar – p1

27/10/13 - Lands End - Match

Weight - 28lb 8oz (19lb 12oz - silvers)
Catch - 18 Perch, 7 Skimmers, 3 Roach, 2 Tench, 3 Carp
Weather - Showery and windy
Match - Avon Angling Open - 1st silvers on match (4th silvers overall)

Today had originally been booked for a MFS match, however unless the match is at Viaduct, getting a decent number of anglers to commit is difficult, because there isn’t a high concentration of MFS anglers in the South West, with us being spread around from Bristol, down to Yeovil and across to Bournemouth. So rather than lose the date it proved ideal for as a practice match for the Winter League starting in 2 weeks.

A bit of cock up at the draw on my part, as I put 23 pegs in the bucket instead of 22. I should have double checked the list, but never mind. The peg not drawn was 21 and Trigger drew 19, who doesn’t need to any help to frame at the moment, but gifting him a space peg meant he was favourite to win.

Fabio drew 24 for me, leaving yesterday’s winning p7 for himself. The last couple of times on 24 it’s been Ok, but I wasn’t that confident today, since the bulk of the fish seemed to be in the central area of the lake. For the second match running Keith Fielder was opposite on p1 and Clive Feddery to my left on p22.

I set up a couple rigs to cover both carp and silvers, but only caught on 2.
- HB billybob 0.1g - > .14 > 16 B911, later changed down to .12 > 16 B911 (tight to the end bank)
- HB chump 0.4g > .12 > 18 silverfish pellet

With storm St Jude on its way, we were quite fortunate the wind was blowing from behind, which meant the trees acted as a wind break and we could all fish the pole sensibly.

On the all in caster was deposited at 6m to my left at an angle, micros & 4s at 14 at the bottom of the shelf and then 4s tight in to the bank at 14m. First drop in on pellet against the end bank resulted in a carp, but it was a loner and I couldn’t get a proper bite other than from little fish nipping at the pellet.

So after 30mins and only 1 carp, it was time to see whether I could catch any silvers. The decision was made easier by Keith who wasn’t fishing long against the end bank, which meant any carp weren’t under any pressure to come my side. So I started to feed caster against the end bank, which resulted in a run of perch on double caster ranging from 4oz up to 1½lb, before that line died. Since there wasn’t any carp about I also switched down to a .12 bottom which brought a few more bites.

I had kept the 6m line topped up with caster and eventually caught a decent skimmer, then a tench on double dead maggot, but it was slow going. It was then just a case of rotating swims, because I couldn’t catch more than 2 fish before the swim died.

With just over 2hrs to go, my swims seemed to have died.  Fishing towards p23 pallet only produced 1 little perch, a few smallish fish came from 6m and a few more perch from the end bank. The pellet line was the surprise, since I was expecting a few fish, but only had a small carp and a roach.

It was time to try something different so a cup of caster with some micros was deposited at 13m in open water. Whilst that settled I had a decent tench from my pellet line, plus a big perch from 6m. Initially when I went over the dumped caster I had a roach, so left it for another 10mins, when I had a proper skimmer, quickly followed by 2 one pounders.

After the slow start I was gradually putting together a decent net of silvers. By continuing to rotate swims, a couple more perch & skimmers were put in the net. In the end I nearly ran of caster, as I fed 2pts to keep my swims.

Clive who had been targeting the silvers, packed up early and the only other person to have caught any of silvers was Martin McMahon on p11. Fabio tried to wind me saying he had a load, but I knew it wasn’t true, because I overheard him shouting to Trigger at the end of the match about the lack of silvers showing. However, at least I didn’t go 9lb over my net limit, dropping me from 3^rd to 5^th on the lake!

Martin’s silvers weighed 14-11, which meant I picked up the silvers for Match Lake. Trigger made full use of the extra room romping home to win. Allan Oram won Speci Lake with 135-6 from p34, whilst Mike West won the speci lake silvers with 36-8 of mostly perch on caster. With the colour starting to drop out, those perch are definitely on the munch.

1^st 177- 9 – Craig Edmonds – p19
2^nd 135- 6 – Allan Oram – p34
3^rd 112- 5 – Tony Rixon – p17
4^th 101-11 – Tom Mangnall – p13
5^th 98- 4 – Mike Duckett – p3
6^th 94- 3 – Phil Harding – p6

Silvers
1^st 36- 8 – Mike West – p39
2^nd 27- 8 – Kev Molton – p36
3^rd 24- 0 – Allan Oram – p34
4^th 19-12 – Ken Rayner – p24