26/05/14 - Tylers Lake (Brinsham Green)

Weight - 26lb 4oz
Catch - 36 Skimmers, 14 Roach, 11 F1s, 3 Crucians
Weather - Cloudy

A change of scenery fishing with my mate Jim and my godson Ross, whilst helping Ross catch a few fish I managed this tidy net of silvers which made a pleasant change from targeting carp. To keep things simple it was a 1 rig job at 13m feeding 4s & micros with 4mm expander. I did set up a margin rig, but only gave it 5mins.

25/05/14 - Acorns - Paddock

Weight 0 48lb 10oz (7lb 7oz)
Catch - 10 Carp, 15 Skimmers, 3 Perch, 1 Roach
Weather - Bright & sunny, but windy!
Match - Pole Only Series rd5 - 9th out of 30 overall, 1st out of 10-section

The 5^th and penultimate round of this league and it was my turn for A section which is the worst of the 3 sections and with the forecast for wind I really wasn’t looking forward to it, because there was no shelter on any of the pegs in the section.

I was disappointed to draw peg 2 having struggled from there during the first round, although I did win the silvers section. Having said that a few more carp had shown is recent rounds, however the wind was blowing strongly straight up the lake from left. Because I knew I would be in for a tough day I brought plenty of maggots to feed at 5m, with the intention of catching a few silvers. I was in good company today with Andy France on peg 1 (bit a different section) and Glenn Calvert on peg 3.

After feeding a nugget of groundbait/micro/maggot at 5m, plus micros/4s at 11m, I started across fishing 6mm hair rig (SM chianti 0.2g > .14 > 16 B911)  over potted micros/4s and despite the wind caught 4 skimmers and 2 carp by the end of the first hour. However the wind had picked up and presentation was difficult to say the least. I even set up a new heavier 0.3g HB Billybob rig to fish worm or maggot, but other than 1 lost carp at the net I didn’t have another fish, despite trying throughout the match. The margin was also a bust, but I didn’t expect it to produce so didn’t spend too much time on it.

My 11m line did produce a couple of skimmers, but again trying to get any sort of presentation was tricky, which meant the only area I caught consistently was at 5m. Initially fishing single maggot (polar ice 0.75g > .10 > 20 silverfish pellet) loose feeding maggot & 4s, I managed a few skimmers, but the middle part of the match proved to be very difficult. In fact I couldn’t see much being caught in my section and thought Glenn was properly leading having caught 4 or 5 carp. Andy on P1 was catching by fishing the round the corner in the margin.

The wind really was really having an effect and fishing longer than 5m was proving fruitless, but with an hour to go I picked up a couple more skimmers, plus a carp but it was very slow going. It was decision time. I thought Charlie Barnes on p4 would be leading the silvers, but I also thought if I could catch a few carp I could get a top 3 section pick up. So I quickly knocked up some paste, stopped feeding maggot and started feeding more pellet.

The final hour had me wondering whether I should have switched earlier landing 7 carp, overtaking Glenn and hopefully taking the section. During the weigh in I was surprised to beat Charlie for the silvers and pleased to win the section quite comfortably. Overall the pegs at the windward end of the lake fished best.

1^st 90-12 - Kevin Lloyd – p7
2^nd 82-12 – Pete Bartlett – p12
3^rd 67-12 Bela Bakos – p40
4^th 62- 8 – Lewis Jones – p22
5^th 62- 5 - Rob Fogg – p6
6^th 54- 0 – Andy France – p1

Silvers
1^st 24- 2 – Paul Faires – p5
2^nd 15- 6 – Eddie Wynne – p9
2^nd 15- 6 – Chris Fox – p10
4^th 7- 7 – Ken Rayner – p2

17/05/14 - Viaduct - Cary

Weight - 191lb 3oz (13lb 1oz - silvers)
Catch - 17 Carp, 7 Skimmers, 1 Tench, 1 Perch
Weather - Warm & sunny, becoming cloudy later
Match - MFS - 4th out of 31, 2nd - section

When this 2 dayer was organised accommodation was also arranged for those who wanted it and it sounded like a good idea, so a room was booked. Originally it was going to be in Somerton, but ended up at Cannards Well in Shepton. Now many of us in Bristol pass this B&B/Pub on the way to Viaduct, which also offers breakfasts as well. My suggestion – keep going, its really shabby accommodation, which offered up a tasteless carvery. Breakfast was better, but it really was rubbish. However, it saved an hour long journey home and it was an enjoyable evening at the bar.

 

Back at the draw it was my turn for Cary, which fished a little patchy yesterday, with the Campbell bank fishing the best and the diagonal bank being the worst. I was a little disappointed to draw p94, particularly when I knew Pete Bailey would be in my section on p86, and then Alex Murray rocked up on p85. The good news, however there were a few fish moving around ready for an 8mm pellet to be dropped in front of them.

 

For company I had Barry Richards again opposite on p90 and Calcum Craig next to me on p96. I had a quick chat with Roland Lucas who caught 110lb -yesterday from the peg and I was hopeful of catching a few.

 

Because I wasn’t sure how to catch I set up a lot of kit, including 2 wagglers (full depth & shallow), lead rod, margin rig, pellet rig, paste rig and finally a long line dobbing rig.

 

Since there were a few cruisers out and about, I went straight out and caught one immediately. After 2hrs I had 9 and close to 100lb in the net. As expected the fishing got more difficult, but so far was holding my own against 85 & 86.

 

The middle part of the match was quiet. I had been feeding 6s at 13m and caught a few skimmers on 8mm pellet, but no carp, although I managed a few cruisers whenever they drifted close enough. I had also been feeding 8s towards the end bank from the start, which did produce a small carp on meat/lead. At the half way point I also started potting in groundbait down the right hand margin, hopeful of a few carp late on, disappointingly this only produced a few silvers.

 

My 5m line was now fizzing and 10mins of trying caught a decent carp, but was getting loads of little knocks and a switch to the pellet rig confirmed my suspicion. Skimmers, were the culprits and that carp was the only one I had.

 

Trying the waggler produced 2 carp on the full depth rig, plus the odd mugged fish, but they were difficult to spot since it had clouded over a little. With 10mins to go, some scum had drifted into the corner and a few carp were slurping, so swung in the shallow rig and hooked one, but as I was pulling it out of the corner the elastic snap which was annoying. I suspect the elastic had grated on the side puller and the sooner I get the freenze side puller the better! I wasn’t happy.

By the end of the match, I thought I had about 180lb, but knew Pete had taken the section, including some full depth waggler caught carp, and then he made his margin work, something I really need to get sorted. Come the weigh in, it transpired that last carp proved expensive, since it would have put me definitely 3^rd, maybe 2^nd overall. Oh hum.

 

Despite the late disappointment, I was pleased with the result and had my best Viaduct weight.

 

1^st 283-11 – Pete Bailey – p86

2^nd 199- 4 – Roy Worth – p81

3^rd 192- 0 – Fred Roberts – p125

4^th 191- 3 – Ken Rayner – p94

5^th 181- 0 – Neil Morgan – p118

6^th 167- 5 – Mark Poppleton  - p112

 

Silvers

1^st 73- 1 – Martin Fisher – p123

2^nd 40- 0 – Dan White – p97

3^rd 34- 0 – Calum Craig – p96

16/05/14 - Viaduct - Campbell

Weight - 95lb 9oz (10lb 4oz - silvers)
Catch - 15 Carp, 17 Skimmers
Weather - Warm & sunny
Match - MFS - 15th out of 31, 2nd - section

Today was the first of a 2 dayer at Viaduct, fished on Campbell & Cary under the MFS (Match Fishing Scene) banner. With 31 anglers, 16 were on Campbell and 15 on Cary, and then we reverse around the next day. Must admit I do like fishing these matches, because it’s good to catch up with people I hadn’t seen for a while and also meet some new ones. There was also plenty of banter flying around, which makes for an enjoyable day.

I had hoped to have a practice prior today, because there were quite a few local anglers fishing who were in tune with the venue and a battering was on the cards. Tried to book in on Saturday but there were club matches on, then Thursday was the UK champs.  Oh well never mind, it just meant the car was fully loaded with kit and bait.

Fortunately the carp hadn’t yet started spawning, although they had started on Lodge, but it won’t be long before feeding is the last thing the carp want to do.

I found myself on Campbell p128, which was Ok, but walking around prior to the match there was a lot of fish between 110 & 132, so no guesses where everyone wanted to be. The format for the matches was sections of either 5 or 6 and my section ran from 127 to 132. Ben Hagg drew p132 who on a run of form recently at the venue and the feeling was we were all fishing for 2^nd in section. Then the other local draw bag Dan White drew 110.

Next to me on p127 was Barry Richards who travelled from Wales, and we both had a great time winding up Calum Craig, which to be fair was a little too easy at time.

Starting the match, some meat & hemp was potted by the spit, then I started at 14m, toss potting 6s with banded 8s (Carrat 0.2g > .16 > 16 B960). After 90mins I had 5 carp, by continually lifting and dropping, which so far seemed to be doing OK, but was soon struggling for a bite.

The spit only produced nibbles from silvers, in fact I only hooked on e foul hooker all match here despite keeping the swim topped up. Although in hindsight I should have been a bit more positive with my feed.

From the start I had been feeding 4s at 5m to fish 6mm pellet (carbon carrat 0.3g > .14 > 16 B911) hoping for a few skimmers in case the carp didn’t show. Fortunately a few did show up, plus a carp, but action only lasted 90mins or so.

Back out long I tried fishing shallow and deep, but nothing, just liners and a couple of foul hookers. Since my spit swim had also failed, I was relying on my 5m line to come good. Fortunately it did, but after getting lots of  liners on the pellet rig a switch to paste resulted in some proper bites and 6 more carp.

I knew Ben had the section sewn up, but was really hoping for 2^nd, but Barry had 3 late fish on his meat line to make for a close finish. In the end those skimmers proved useful, beating Barry by 2lb. Other the 2 end pegs I had the best weight along that bank, so in the end I was quite pleased with how the match went.

1^st 291-11 – Dan White – p110
2^nd 199-14 – Fred Roberts – p77
3^rd 175-12 – Chris Fox – p74
4^th 169- 6 – Ben Hagg – p132
5^th 143-13 – Stuart White - p80
6^th 143-12 - Nick Merry - p116

Silvers
1^st 50- 7 – Steve Martin – p97
2^nd 45-12 – Alex Murray – p123
3^rd 20- 9 – Neil Morgan – p96

05/05/14 - Lands End - Johns

Weight - 28lb 8oz (10lb 5oz - silvers)
Catch - 9 Carp, 14 Skimmers, 7 F1s, 2 Crucians, 2 Roach
Weather - Bright sun start, becoming increasingly cloudy
Match - Avon Angling Open - 17th out of 21, 6th - silvers

My third straight days fishing and must admit I was feeling a little tried, but the usual good breakfast at Shipham and a late draw (10am) meant I was raring to go and looking forward to it. Today’s match was split over Match & Johns Lake.

 

I had mixed feeling about p70, since it can be very good, particularly in the winter or very poor, but it usually holds a few silvers in the shape of F1s and skimmer. Unfortunately Tony had decided to pay out overall rather than per lake, which meant winning with silvers was going to be tricky.

 

Plumbing up tight to the spit it was disappointing to find 4ft of water which was too deep and a snag stole my plummet and hooklength as well. In the end I decided to target silvers fishing expander over micros & 4s at 13m towards the weed bed and 6m in front using a Chump 0.3g > .12 > 16 B911. I also had a meat rig and long line shallow rig just in case.

 

After feeding some caster & meat between the weed bed and margin, I started on double 6mm meat and 10mins later a carp was hooked, but the hook pulled. I did hook another carp down there later on, but lost that one as well. Despite several tries I never had another bite, but to be honest I suspect I may have overfeed trying to force the swim.

 

By toss potting 4s & 6s at 13m after an initial slow start, it took me 40mins before I caught my first fish a F1, several small skimmers followed, plus a couple crucians. I would have been happy to stick with this, but after landing a small carp I struggled to get any more bites. So the swim was topped up with some micros and 4s. A switch to the 6m line produced another small carp and then a small roach, but nothing else.

 

Going back to the 13m line and it was struggle to get another bite in the increasingly bright conditions. Throughout I had been catapulting 6s towards the spit and some carp were showing an interest. Since I couldn’t catch the silvers quick enough and I was sure that Match Lake would produce some decent silvers weight, I started chasing the carp across by the spit. By swinging the rig into the spit so the carp didn’t shy away from the pole, which they did very quickly, I caught a few carp on 8mm pellet, however they were small, with biggest only being about 3lb. The fish eventually backed off and knew I wasn’t going to do any good today as reports that both Trigger, Tom Thick and Andy Hembrow were catching, Also whilst Tom Mangnall & Joe McMahon opposite were catching some better fish than me, they were also struggling, but doing better than me.

 

With 90mins to go I decided to convert my 6m pellet line to meat, priming it whilst chasing carp with the shallow rig and down my margin. I was left wishing I had tried it earlier, because I started to catch again on 6mm meat, but instead of proper carp it was more F1s and a small carp.

 

I did have the highest silvers weight on the lake, but couldn’t get close to what was produced on Match Lake. Never mind, at the moment the carp on Johns, are well spread, with the bigger fish sitting around the middle areas of the lake.

 

1^st 167- 6 – Tony Rixon – p1

2^nd 134-14 – Craig Edmunds – p46

3^rd 128- 4 - Bob Gullick – p13

4^th 121- 3 – Andy Hembrow – p58

5^th 103-10 – Tom Thick – p62

6^th 92- 2 – Dave Sawyer – p7

 

Silvers

1^st 30- 0 – Rod Wootton – p24

2^nd 24-14 – Dave Sawyer – p7

3^rd 16-14 – Eddie Wynne – p19

04/05/14 - Acorns - Paddock

Weight - 26lb 12oz (8lb 8oz - silvers)
Catch - 7 Carp, 8 Skimmers, 8 Perch, 1 Tench, 1 Roach, 1 Rudd
Weather - Warm & sunny
Match - Pole Only Series - 5th out of 10 - section.

The 4^th round of the Pole only series and it was back to a free draw. After chatting to Tom Thick in the café there was only 3 tickets left. I pulled p28 and Tom p33 – need I say more!

Oh well, at least I had plenty of room, with a spare pallet either side, but there is a reason for that, since it is a poor area. From my peg I could see most of my section (pegs 21,22,23,25,26,30,32), but couldn’t see pegs 36 & 38, although that wasn’t an issue since I expected these 2 pegs to do well any way.

Rigs were set up to fish tight to the island, the 2^nd shelf, down the track and finally for fishing in front of the pallet either side of me. My intention today was to fish the 2^nd shelf off the island, feeding micros & 4s in 2 spots left and right, fishing 4 or 6mm expander, hoping for a few carp. I didn’t expect many, but hoped they would be a decent size.

On the all in I also fed swims at 6m left & right with caster & groundbait, plus some pellet tight to the island. Starting across, other than 1 liner after 10mins this line was binned for the rest of the match, although I did keep an eye on Mike Owens (p26) and Lance Tucker (p25) who was fishing across and if they started to catch I could always change my mind. They didn’t.

Nothing so far from the 2^nd shelf, so I just kept topping up with micros & 4s. Nothing from the down the track either. It wasn’t until after 45mins I eventually had a rudd from the left hand margin.

A change back to down the track produced some small perch on single maggot, before a skimmer made an appearance, but that was it. Another groundbait topped up killed the swim-oops!

A switch to the 2^nd shelf & 4mm expander (HB Chump 0.3g > .12 > 16B911) and the float went under! And it was a skimmer. By swapping left & right I added a few more skimmers, which was getting Charlie Barnes concerned on peg 30, but he needn’t have worried because he was always ahead of me.

During the match the EA made a visit to check rod licences and the bloke who checked mine only checked it yesterday at Lands End. Just like buses!

The left hand margin so far had been fed with caster and some dead maggot, hoping for a few more silvers, but other than a few perch and a skimmer, it was small carp that put in an appearance. As for the right margin I had decided not to feed until the last couple of hours, again feeding caster/dead maggot with some pellet. This produced a tench and another small carp on triple dead maggot.

My 2^nd shelf swims had died, so fed further left & right which produced some more carp and a couple more skimmers. A final look down the right margin and I hooked what I think was a big carp, since there was a big swirl, but a few seconds later the hook pulled.

Overall, despite the result I was pleased with how I fished, it was a shame about the lost carp at the end, which would have pushed me into 4^th in section, but beating pegs 32, 36 & 38 was always going to be hard.

1^st 95- 1 – Mike Nicholls – p7
2^nd 87-15 – Russ Peck – p12
3^rd 81-15 – Tom Thick – p33
4^th 69- 8 – Brian Slipper – p9
5^th 53- 5 – Kev Perry – p10
6^th 52-14 – Mark Broomsgrove – p36

Silvers
1^st 13- 6 – Chris Fox – p17
2^nd 10- 9 – Charlie Barnes – p30
3^rd 10- 4 – Lance Tucker – p25
3^rd 10- 4 – Glenn Calvert – p38

03/05/14 - Lands End - Match

Weight - 76lb 10oz
Catch - 14 Carp, 6 Perch, 3 Skimmers, 1 Tench, 1 Rudd, 1 Roach
Weather - Bright & sunny
Match - Open - 1st out of 11

Today was the first of three days fishing this bank holiday and I making the most of it because I’m likely to be very busy at work next month which is likely to reduce my fishing opportunities, so no mid-weekers or evening matches this summer.

It was nice to turn up to the fishery, with no wind or rain and the prospects of a nice day weather wise. Peg 15 was home for the day which has been pretty consistent peg for while so more than happy.  To my right was Rod Wootton on p17 and Martin Pettifer to my left on p13. Martin wasn’t very happy because his swim was covered in white fluffy blossom, which extended into Vic Bush’s swim on p11. As for my swim the covering of blossom wasn’t quite as thick and was for hoping a bit breeze to blow the stuff away.

Prior to the match reports suggested that the skimmers had been spawning and as I was setting up there was some silvers thrashing about in the margins, but no carp, so hopeful they would be willing to feed. Since the fishing can be awkward at this time of year, I decided to hedge my bets, so meat was deposited at 5m to my right and caster at 8m. Across by the island 4s & 6s were feed to the left and half a cup of caster slightly to my right. Starting on double caster, other than a liner I had no bites after 15mins, in fact no one did, which wasn’t a good sign. A switch to the left hand side and the float buried straight away and 10mins later an 11lber was safely netted, followed by a 4lber. However it was really slow going.

A look over the caster line only produced a perch, in the meantime Rod was targeting the skimmers and was struggling since the fish weren’t feeding. I kept feeding meat at 5m, plus potting meat/caster by the pallet of p16 for later.

For the next couple of hours I decided the best opportunity of catching was targeting the island. I had been catapulting 6s across, but it didn’t seem to be working properly and found it best to cup in a small amount of pellet. By fishing 8mm pellet, I periodically kept putting carp in the net, plus a big skimmer and a tench to keep me ahead of those around me.

So far neither the meat line nor margin had produced and the pellet line at 12m which I had fed regularly with micros & 4s only produced a small skimmer. Back on the far line, the fish appeared to have backed off completely, so decided to revert back to feeding caster, which produced a couple more carp, but the blossom was becoming a problem.

A switch to the margin on double caster produced 3 carp, plus a few perch and then I finished with 3 carp on meat at 5m.

Overall a tough day when the fishing hadn’t been as good as in previous weeks, but that’s understandable due to the time of year.

1^st 76-10 – Ken Rayner – p15
2^nd 64-14 – Andy Hembrow – p7
3^rd 62- 5 – Mike West – p24
4^th 52-12 – Chris K – p1
5^th 45- 6 – Rod Wootton – p17
6^th 42- 9 – Martin Pettifer – p13

Silvers
1^st 18- 7 – Andy Hembrow – p7
2^nd 11- 4 – Rod Wootton – p17
3^rd 8- 8 – Ken Rayner – p15
3^rd 8- 8 – Vic Bush – p11