30/01/14 - Viaduct - Cary

Weight - 37lb 3oz
Catch - 4 Carp, 5 Roach, 1 Skimmer, 1 Hybrid, 1 Ruffe
Weather - Cloudy - cold northerly breeze
Match - Cost Cutter - 5th out of 10

With the 2nd round of the Winter League on Sunday, I decided to book in for today’s cost cutter match, with the expectation it would be on Campbell, which would have been perfect since I will there Sunday, but the match had been moved to Cary, because Campbell hasn’t been fishing well. The 10 of us that turned up were well spread around the lake and I was happy enough with p102, although the wind had switched around to a northerly direction and I was the coldest I have been for a while.

Setting up was easy today, since my 2 lead rods were already set up and a waggler rig didn’t take long to sort out. With too much time on my hands I also set up a couple of pole rigs to fish caster/maggot at 13m in front and 13m to my left 5m from the bank.
On the all-in the waggler was cast out with triple dead maggot and 15mins a 10-11lb carp was safely netted. I spent the next hour on the waggler casting to various areas of the swim, but only caught a small skimmer.

So I could warm up my hands I cast out the lead rig with maggot. An hour later I had a pull round and was attached to a decent fish, that came in well enough, but once under the rod tip kited right and kept going. It was obviously a big fish, but the hook eventually pulled.

Unsurprisingly not much had been caught. Chris Davies on p74 had 2 carp, p78 had 1, as did Dan White on p87. Andy Power in the meantime had 3 or 4 carp on p96. During the middle part of the match I tried the 13m line which only produced a few small fish and was soon binned after 20mins, so it was a case of sticking with the waggler or lead.

Going into the 5th hour I had 3 carp all on meat on consecutive casts, including another low double, but also 2 small carp (well small for Cary), bring my total to 4, which compared favourably with Chris who also had 4, whilst p78 and Dan both had 3. Andy in the meantime kept catching and we were fishing for 2^nd. 

at least someone fancied by bait

 

Unfortunately the final hour was a disappointment, I expected a least 1 more pull round which didn’t happen. My left hand 13m swim, which I had kept topped up with caster in the hope of a late carp, only produced roach on double caster.  By the all out I thought it would be between Chris & I for 2nd spot, however p98 landed a 19lber late on to add to his 2 carp and winning bag of silvers, Dan had a 22lber and Chris’s 4 fish were ultimately bigger than mine.

 

1st 135- 0 - Andy Power - p96

2nd 55-13 - D Bancroft - p98

3rd 46- 0 - Chris Davies - p74

4th 41-13 - Dan White - p87

5th 37-13 - Ken Rayner - p102

 

Silvers

1st 16- 1 - D Bancroft - p98

2nd 7- 6 - Colin Dyer - p77

Lands End Winter League - rd 4 - league tables

Overall League tables after 4 rounds & includes dropped result

1st Craig Edmunds 18pts (242-6)
2nd Mark Poppleton 18pts (195-9)
3rd Ken Rayner 17pts
4th Thomas Thick 16pts (170-5)
5th Bob Gullick 16pts (162-9)
6th Mike Duckett 16pts (153-6)
7th Dave Wescott 15pts (165-10)
8th Chris Fox 15pts (115-3)
9th Adrian Clark 15pts (103-12)
10th Paul Elmes 14pts (122-8)
11th Gordon Cannings 14pts (102-6)
12th Mark Brennan 14pts (93-12)
13th Mike West 14pts (92-0)
14th Tony Rixon 13pts (130-5)
15th Tom Mangnall 13pts (123-14)
16th Anton Page 13pts (114-2)
17th Nick Merry 13pts (111-2)
18th Nick Duckett 13pts (81-7)
19th Darren Fordham 13pts (68-1)
20th Gary O'Shea 12pts

Top 10 - Silvers League - after 4 rounds and includes dropped results
1st Chris Fox 18pts (35-14)
2nd Nigel Bartlett 18pts (32-14)
3rd Bob Gullick 17pts (49-14)
4th Ken Rayner 16pts (27-0)
5th Mark Brennan 16pts (26-7)
6th Tom Thick 16pts (24-11)
7th Mike Duckett 16pts (21-2)
8th Gary O'Shea 15pts (30-13)
9th Leon Hubbard 15pts (27-4)
10th Tom Mangnall 14pts

26/01/14 - Lands End - Speci

Weight - 62lb 2oz
Catch - 7 Carp, 4 Skimmers, 1 Roach
Weather - Wet start, but very windy for most of the day
Match - Winter League 4th round - 4th out of 33 overall, section win

Back to a random draw for the 4th round of the winter league and with the heavy wind and rain everyone was hoping for a sheltered peg. Unfortunately we had a couple of no-shows due to illness. However special mention to Steve Skelton who was covering for another angler and couldn’t make the match, but still paid up his money – much appreciated.

 

During the draw I was getting some stick about “resting” peg 11 yesterday and no doubt if it won today a little more stick would be coming my way.

 

I couldn’t quite believe I drew p32 again and already could hear the shouts of fix! But I wasn’t complaining, particularly since p31 was drawn either, so a real opportunity to secure some goods points, particularly after my first round disaster. Opposite was Gordon Cannings on p33 and Dave Hodgson on p34, but they weren’t in my section.

 

The only real issue today was the weather, as we were setting up the rain was lashing down and the southerly wind was howling through from behind. The intention was to catch as much as possible from the right hand bank, before the wind swung around to a forecast westerly which would have made presenting the bait long very difficult.

 

On the all in caster was deposited by the tree down the end bank, some micros/dead maggot at 13m and some caster/dead maggot by the pallet of p31. ¾ cup of micros/caster/dead maggot was dumped at 13m towards the island as a throwaway line.

 

Starting along the end bank on prawn (Ackoo carrat 0.3g > .14 > 14 B911) only produced a few liners, before I foul hooked a carp. I tried again with double caster (Ackoo carbon carrat 0.3g > .12 > 16 B911) and the same thing happen. Dave in the meantime already had 2 or 3 carp and looked set for a good day, in fact he caught for most of the match to easily win. Since the fish didn’t seem to be settled along the end bank, a switch to the 13m line (HB chump 0.4g > .12 > 18 silverfish pellet) with double dead maggot didn’t produce, so decided to try my throwaway line early. 30mins later I had 3 skimmers and a carp! Well that was a bonus.

 

Keeping the end bank swim topped up with caster, I did manage a carp on triple dead maggot, but the fish just didn’t seem to be there in any numbers. The 13m open water swim produced a couple more carp including a cracking 14lb common on 4mm expander and it looked like the fish preferred to be in open water today, but just past the half-way point the wind indeed switched around and despite my best efforts I couldn’t present properly.

 

I had no choice but to cast out the straight lead with double dead maggot. I tried different areas of the peg, but it was best cast towards the tree, landing 3 carp, where I managed to at least keep the swim topped up with micros and dead maggot. Surprisingly I didn’t have a bite by the pallet.

 

Without the switch in the wind I am certain I would have caught more, because the open water swim was showing signs of getting stronger, but never mind. The most important thing was winning the section, which means I’m now 3rd in the overall league – just need 2 more decent draws.

 

1^st 119-15 – Dave Hodgson – p34

2^nd 90-14 – Mike Duckett – p68 (and broke 3 pole sections in the wind)

3^rd 62-14 – Mark Poppleton – p55

4^th 62- 2 – Ken Rayner – p32

5^th 57-13 – Steve Seagar – p11 (yes I did get some stick for resting it yesterday!)

6^th 53-14 – Bob Gullick – p62

 

Silvers

1^st 18- 6 – Clint Wotlyla – p28

2^nd 15-10 – Tom Mangnall – p26

3^rd 13- 1 – Paul Elmes – p17

4^th 12- 8 – Chris Fox – p41

25/01/14 - Lands End - Match Lake

Weight - 19lb 15oz (12lb 0oz - silvers)
Catch - 16 Perch, 2 Roach, 1 Skimmer, 1 Carp
Weather - Mostly dry, but windy later
Match - Open - 4 out of 7 (3rd - silvers)

After 2 days & nights at a Conference in the Celtic Manor I was looking forward to some fishing. One the guest speakers was Sir Ranulph Fiennes and I will never again complain about being wet & cold. Completely in awe of someone with that much dedication and drive, in what would have been very challenging as well as life threatening situations.

There was only 7 of us for today’s match, so no real bad draws, but plenty of space for the fish to hide away. After the first draw I was on p22, but a re-draw was quickly organized after there was only 6 tickets in the bucket! When sorting out the money, Mike found the 7th ticket. Someone had obviously picked up 2 and threw one back into the wrong bucket. The re-draw found me on p11, which I was happy with since there has been a few carp showing in the area, plus I was likely to sheltered from the forecast wind later in the day.

Dave Wescott was opposite on p13 and Andy Hembrow on p15. As I was setting up there was no sign of fish moving around, except for the other side of the island so wasn’t sure how it would fish. Plus with yesterdays heavy rain the lake was very full.

4 rigs were set up, to fish various parts of the peg. On the all in some caster was deposited by the reed bed next to the island and by the platform of p10. Micros were cupped in at 13m in open water.

It was 30mins before I had my first fish a tiny perch from the reed bed, but it wasn’t long before I hooked 7lb ghostie which bust me as it dived under the platform. I really hoped that wouldn’t prove costly. Next drop in I landed an 8lber, before losing the next carp which was foul hooked. Unfortunately that was it for the rest of the match as far as the carp were concerned.

Tried all over the peg, but couldn’t get a bite. The only place that was proving productive was under the p10 platform. I had been feeding mostly caster with some dead maggot and was catching perch mostly on prawns, plus a big skimmer on double caster.

By the end of the match Andy was the obvious winner, but that lost ghostie cost me 2nd overall, although I managed to pick up the silvers money by double de-fault!

Overall it didn't fish well, but with so much space for the fish to find away it was hardly a surprise.

1st 54- 1 - Andy Hembrow - p15
2nd 23-10 - Rod Wootton - p22
3rd 22- 2 - Mike Duckett - p19
4th 19-15 - Ken Rayner - p11

Silvers
1st 13- 8 - Andy Hembrow - p15
2nd 12-12 - Rod Wootton - p22
3rd 12- 0 - Ken Rayner - p11

19/01/14 - Viaduct - Spring

Weight - 7lb 7oz
Catch - 32 Roach, 6 Skimmers, 2 Perch, 2 Ruffe, 1 Hybrid, 1 Rudd
Weather - Cold start, bright & clear
Match - Winter League (17th out of 19 - section)

The Viaduct Winter League is the biggest competition in the south west and probably one of the biggest in the UK with 19 teams of 5 anglers. My team was Match Fishing Scene (MFS) with Richard Wyatt (captain), Fred Roberts, Martin Fisher and Mike Walker.

With so many anglers on the venue, everyone wanted a decent draw, or at least avoid the worst pegs. Unfortunately I was handed peg 9 on Spring and no one had a good word to say about it. Being a team match I didn’t feel I could just sit it out for a single carp and besides it’s not something I enjoy.

With the bright clear & flat conditions, I fancied the waggler. So the plan was to fish the waggler with maggot/caster over caster catching what I could and hopefully pick up a carp along the way. At least I was going to have an entertaining day with Tom Thick on p10, Fabio on p11 and Ben Bentley on p8 in the corner.

After feeding my pole lines, the lead & meat was cast out, but with no indications after 25mins it was time to try the waggler. In the meantime Andy Power on p16 already had 2 carp, but most seemed to be struggling, which was hardly a surprise., although Tom was catching (& losing) a few perch from the monk.

The next couple of hours was quite enjoyable catching mostly small roach on the waggler, but very few fish bigger than 2oz, expect for a 1lb hybrid hooked in the tail. I tried increasing the caster feed over the waggler, but the fish starting getting smaller.

The pole over groundbait produced a few small skimmers and in hindsight I could have caught a few more skimmers had I concentrated on it, instead of the waggler, but I had hoped to pull in more fish on the waggler – swings and roundabouts.

I had also fed caster down the right hand margin next to the tree, which produced zero bite. I tried a light maggot rig, a double caster rig and prawn. A big pot of caster late on also failed to produce.

In the last hour it was becoming obvious I needed a carp. I had a couple of casts on the tip with bread or meat, but couldn’t cast to the island, so got as close as possible without taking the piss, but evidently not close enough. With 10mins to go the tip did go round on meat. Happy days,  as I felt a decent fish on the end and Tom’s face was a picture. However as I got the “carp” closer, I realised that perhaps this fish wasn’t as big as I hoped, then a 2.5lb bream popped up – bugger.

The team didn’t do particularly well with Fred (24-10 from p73 for 14pts) & Mike (77-10 from p3 for 17pts) getting the majority of our points. The low numbers on spring opposite the island all caught With Nicky Ewer catching 156lb to win the match.

Campbell next time for me in 2 weeks. Really hope I drew on a few fish, otherwise it will be a case of scratching around for a few silvers.

1^st 158- 7 – Nick Ewers – p5
2^nd 96- 1 – James Knight – p102
3^rd 88- 8 – Peter Bailey – p85
4^th 88- 5 – Luke Sorokin – p66
5^th 87- 6 – Andy Power – p16
6^th 85-14 – Steve Tucker – p77

Silvers
1^st 23-10 – Nick Chedzoy – p38
2^nd 18- 0 – Gary O’Shea – p105
3^rd 17- 8 – Des Shipp – p88

11/01/14 - Lands End - Match

Weight - 47lb 1oz (6lb 4oz - silvers)
Catch - 8 Carp, 3 Perch, 1 F1, 1 Skimmer, 1 Roach
Weather - Chilly start. Bright & sunny
Match - Open - 1st out of 13

This up & down weather is really having an effect on the fishing. After a week of mild and thankfully drier conditions, this morning was a little chilly, as well as being very bright, which is hardly ideal. However the sun brought out 13 anglers from their festive slumber and we were all on Match Lake, which meant there were a few pegs to avoid. Fortunately I found myself on p19, which whilst it hasn’t been the best peg recently it’s usually worth a few fish. I was just relieved to avoid the bottom end of the lake.

 

For company Andy Hembrow was on p21 and Steve Martin on p17.  I did set up a rig to fish the top of the shelf, but never got around to using it, simply because it was bright & clear and experience has told me it usually not worth bothering with. So 3 rigs were set to fish in the deeper water:-

- HB Frostie 0.3g > .10 .18 silverfish pellet

- Ackoo Carbon Carrat 0.3g > .12 > 18 B911 (strung out)

- Ackoo Carrat 0.3g > .14 > 14 B911

 

After feeding some micros & 4s, left & right, I started by the left hand bush on prawn over caster and soon had a 1lb perch, followed by a smaller one. By the end of the hour I had a 3lb carp on dead maggot over the right hand pellet, then an 8lber on prawn from the bush.

 

Unfortunately the second hour didn’t produce anything, other than a lost foul hooker. Everyone was struggling, so it was just a case of keep rotating swims. The left hand bush swim produced one more perch, as well as a couple of bumped fish. It doesn’t seem to matter what kit you use, you will lose a few perch!

 

For the rest of the match it was a case of switching left and right, initially with dead maggot, but I lost a couple foul hookers which snapped my hooklengths, so decide to fish the strung out rig with 4mm expander. By lifting and dropping I had fewer foul hookers, hooking more carp in the mouth, plus a big skimmer and a F1.

 

During the middle of the match I was surprised to look down at my watch to see there was only 75mins left, so I must have been enjoying myself. Just hope I get some decent draws for the Viaduct series.

 

1^st 47-1 Ken Rayner – p19

2^nd 32-11 Steve Martin – p17

3^rd 29- 7 Rod Wootton – p9

4^th 26-12 Mike Duckett – p11

5^th 22- 4 Andy Hembrow – p21

6^th 17-12 Jim Jenner – p13

 

Silvers

1st 11- 9 Andy Hembrow - p21

2nd 6-13 Chris Fox - p3

3rd 6-12 Mike Duckett - p11

Lands End Winter League - rd 3 - League Tables

Top 20 Overall
1st - Craig Edmunds - 18pts
2nd - Mark Poppleton - 16pts
3rd - Dave Wescott - 15pts (165-10)
4th - Chris Fox - 15pts (115-3)
5th - Adrian Clark - 14pts (110-1)
6th - Mark Brennan - 14pts (93-12)
7th - Tom Thick - 13pts (161-4)
8th - Ken Rayner - 13pts (121-6)
9th - Nick Duckett - 13pts (81-7)
10th - Mike Duckett - 13pts (70-3)
11th - Tom Mangnall - 12pts (128-12)
12th - Bob Gullick - 12pts (118-5)
13th - Gary O'Shea - 12pts (117-7)
14th - Nick Merry - 12pts (86-13)
15th - Adrian Jefferies - 11pts (105-9)
16th - Paul Elmes - 11pts (96-12)
17th - Gordon Cannings - 11pts (76-10)
18th - Mike West - 11pts (73-9)
19th - Steve Musitano - 10pts
20th - Tony Rixon - 9pts

Top 20 Silvers League
1st - Nigel Bartlett - 18pts (32-14)
2nd - Chris Fox - 18pts (31-10)
3rd - Bob Gullick - 16pts (51-7)
4th - Ken Rayner - 16pts (27-0)
5th - Mark Brennan - 16pts (24-1)
6th - Leon Hubbard - 15pts
7th - Gary O'Shea - 14pts
8th - John Bradford - 13pts (27-7)
9th - Adrian Clark - 13pts (16-10)
10th - Mark Poppleton - 12pts (33-11)
11th - Tom Mangnall - 12pts (22-13)
12th - Mike Duckett - 12pts (19-6)
13th - Craig Edmunds - 12pts (18-10)
14th - Nick Merry - 12pts (12-14)
15th - Steve Seagar - 11pts (17-14)
16th - Nick Duckett - 11pts (17-5)
17th - Tom Thick - 11pts (16-15)
18th - Darren Fordham - 10pts
19th - Tony Rixon - 9.5pts
20th - Pete Nurse - 9pts

Dropped results will be shown after the next round

05/01/14 - Lands End - Speci

Weight - 75lb 4oz (11lb 2oz - silvers)
Catch - 8 Carp, 4 Perch, 3 Skimmers
Weather - Cold start, became wet & windy
Match - Winter League - 3rd out of 36 (1st out of 6 - section)

The 3^rd round of the Winter League and it was my time for Speci Lake. Like everyone else the pegs to draw were 31 to 34. Tony Rixon offered to draw for me, which I’m glad I declined as he drew p40. With only 2 pegs left (32 & 39) I left Tony Thick to draw 39, leaving me with p32 and a real opportunity to put me back in contention for the overall league as well as consolidating my position in the silvers league.

The weather this morning was cold, but with very little wind, although it was forecast to become wet & windy by mid-day. The only good news would be the wind would be blowing directly from behind, so at least I could continue to fish the pole.

Speci lake has a reputation for big perch, which the regulars catch using prawns. As a backup plan I decided to bring some prawns in case I needed a perch or two to get me out of jail, but with a decent draw I didn’t expect they would be used. So 3 rigs for today:-
- HB Chump 0.3g > .12 > 18 silverfish pellet (soft pellet/maggot)
- Ackoo Carbon Carrat 0.3g > .12 > 16 B911 (double caster)
- Ackoo Carrat 0.3g > .14 > 14 B911 (prawn)

On the all in micros & a few 4s were deposited at 14m in open water and then caster & a few bits of prawn at 14m down the right hand margin. Starting in the open water on pellet, Tom Thick on p33 had already hooked 3 carp (landing 1) by the time I got my first bite, which I missed. A look down the right hand margin on double caster resulted in 1 lost foul hooked carp.

Before I knew it an hour had already gone and I was still fishless, whilst Tom was mostly playing fish, but landing few. I was starting to get indications down the margin and lost another foul hooker. Time for the prawn rig. Not knowing what to expect the float dipped almost immediately and a big perch was soon landed, which was a relief.

The rest of the match was a case of rotating between the 2 swims, keeping with the same feed pattern, although I included some dead maggot with the pellet in the open water swim. Everytime I fed one swim I would fish the other. The open water swim, produced 3 carp up to 10lb, plus 3 skimmers, all on double dead maggot. The right hand swim proved more problematic, losing 6 foul hookers, which wasn’t as bad as Tom who reckons he lost 20 carp. The caster rig only produced one carp, but the prawn rig proved to be the most successful, with 5 carp up to 12lb, plus 4 big perch. Also I had fewer foul hookers on this rig.

I did set up a 7m swim, but never had a bite, so stuck with the long swims, which meant a simple match in the end. After drawing p25 2 weeks ago I was simply relieved to catch a few and get my league back on track, but one poor draw will put paid to that.
1st 143- 1 - Craig Edmunds - p11
2nd 95- 0 - Tom Thick - p33
3rd 75- 4 - Ken Rayner - p32
4th 60- 7 - Mark Poppleton - p20
5th 54- 7 - Adrian Jefferies - p58
6th 45- 0 - Gary O'shea - p5

Silvers
1st 14- 4 - Gary O'Shea - p5...
2nd 11- 2 - Ken Rayner - p32
3rd 10-10 - Chris Fox - p24