20/11/16 - Todber Manor - Hillview

Weight - 34lb 0oz
Catch - 14 Carp, 3 Skimmers, 3 Tench, 2 F1, 1 Roach, 1 Perch
Weather - Breezy start, flat calm later
Match - Pairs Series rd 3 - 4th out of 6 section.

As well as I am doing in the Avalon silverfish league, I am doing equally badly in this pairs series. A wrong tactical decision in the first round, a poor draw (on the day) in the second round, I was hopeful for a reversal of fortunate in the third round and it was my turn to fish the worst section (pegs 34-41).

Travelled down again with Tony and Chris Fox joined us due to an intermittent problem with his van. After a decent breakfast at Cannards Well, Tony managed to make it as far as Wincanton, before deciding he needed an emergency toilet break. An appropriate layby was found and Tony did the business, only to return to the van with a sore arse. He only got stung by some nettles. We didn't laugh much!

At the draw I found myself on 34 and felt I needed to be further along the section, but at least it made unloading the van easier, because Chris was behind on 62 Ash.

The overnight wind and rain was forecast to clear and fishing the pole at 13m was manageable in the side wind, which is where I fed some micros & 4s, 3 balls of groundbait & micros was also fed at 11.5m at an angle to my right, hopefully to entice the local skimmers into feeding.

On the all in the lead/bread was cast to various points along the island without so much as a twitch. After 30mins I switched to the 13m line toss potting micros and corn, with corn on the hook and had a small F1 straight away. Staying on the corn, the swim gradually built up and starting catching 3-4lb carp and after 2hrs felt I was probably close to leading the section.

Then the wind dropped, which was like flicking a switch, I just couldn't get a bite. A switch to fishing dead maggot produced a few smaller fish, but it was slow going. With the lake going flat calm, Alex Murray to my right on 35 started catching on the waggler, including some proper lumps. Ash and Alex Nadin were also now catching.

Unfortunately I didn't bring a waggler rod, but tried the straight lead along the island without any bites and the right hand 11.5m swim only produced a couple of small fish.

In an effort to make something happen I started pinging 4s at 14m and a new swim was set up 14.5m to my left with micros & 4s. Things improved a little, switching from maggot to expander, but still catching too many small fish, although I did manage a 6lber late on from the left hand swim.

A disappointing finish after my good start and for some reason I just got to grips with the venue.

1st - 90-12 - Nick White - p67 (ash)
2nd - 76- 8 - Allan Oram - p45 (hillview)
3rd - 69- 0 - Steve Tucker - p64 (ash)
4th - 64-14 - Fred Roberts - p60 (hillview)
5th - 63-12 - Chris Fox - p62 (ash)
6th - 55- 9 - Ash T

ompkins - p37 (hillview)

19/11/16 - Avalon - Match Lake

Weight - 12lb 8oz
Catch - 15 Skimmers, 14 Roach, 1 Golden Tench
Weather - Sleety start, mostly cloudy and slight breeze
Match - Silverfish League - rd 5 - 2nd out of 17

On the drive down it was sleeting heavily and the prospects for the day weren't encouraging. Fortunately on arrival the worst of the storm had passed and the rest of the day was quite pleasant, if not a little chilly.

Peg 9 hasn't been great this series, however Vic said it was one of the most consistent pegs and to be honest I was quite happy, because the peg was in a gap between the islands, plus p10 wasn't in which meant extra space. For company I had Ziggy to my right on p8 and Vic to my left on p11. With Chris Fox on p12, meant 3 out of the top 4 were all in a line.

Following a cold and wet week, I set myself a target of 10lb, although I expected 15lb or so would probably win.

On the all in 3 balls of gonuts black groundbait/micros was deposited at 13m, a small ball of groundbait/micros at 14.5m to my left and finally a small ball of groundbait plus caster at 5m. I started a small gripmesh feeder with dead maggot cast into the gap. After the 3rd cast without a bite a change to a micro cage feeder and pinkie produced a 2lb skimmer, but it was loner and no further bites followed.

On the 50min mark I switched to fishing the 13m line. Over the next hour I swapped between a double bulk rig (Dino Long Bream 0.75g > .10 > 18 silverfish pellet) and a conventional rig (jean francios 0.6g > .08 > 22 silverfish maggot).

With 2 hours gone I caught a big skimmer and a golden tench on the conventional rig and pinkie, which just put me ahead of Ziggy who also had a golden tench, plus a few smaller skimmers.

As the match progressed it was a case of topping up with a small ball of groundbait and micros at 13m, gradually pushing out to 16m and fishing the 14.5m left hand swim. When that swim died it was topped with mostly micros and a small ball of groundbait, before switching to the long line.  

I didn't catch any more big skimmers, but managed a number of hand size skimmers, plus a couple up to 1lb and felt I was keeping ahead of those around me, although it would have been a different story had Ziggy landed a foul hooked a big skimmer which he lost at the net.

A brief look over the short line and down the margin, only produced 1 roach, so with the match drawing to a close, I deposited 3 feeders full of bait. 15mins later I topped up both pole line and switched to the feeder. Unfortunately I got my timings wrong (as did a few others). When Vic called all out at 3pm, I was expecting a further 30mins. To be fair, I wasn't at the draw when Vic made the announcement.

When the all out was called I thought I had about 10lb, but started doubting myself when Pete Neate weighed 10-14 and then Ziggy weighed 10- 8. My 12- 8 was the best weight on the left hand bank and Jim Jenner won the match with pellet caught skimmers.

As for the league, I made up ground on Vic who weighed 6-10, Chris had 6-0 and John had 9-0, which means I'm now 2nd in the league, but its very tight between the 4 of us.

1st - 20- 2 - Jim Jenner (Avalon) - p37
2nd - 12- 8 - Ken Rayner (Colmic) - p9
3rd - 10-14 - Pete Neate (Trowbridge) - p5
3rd - 10-14 - Rich Coles (Bridgewater) - p35
5th - 10- 8 - Ziggy (Garbolino) - p8
6th - 9-12 - Eric Fouracre (Mosella) - p39

League Standings
1st - Vic Bush - 88-10
2nd - Ken Rayner - 84- 4
3rd - Chris Fox - 82- 5
4th - John Fuidge - 81-14
5th - Lee Woodhouse - 66- 9
6th - Eric Fouracres - 65- 1

6/11/16 - Todber Manor - Ash Lake

Weight - 35lb 10oz
Catch - 12 Carp, 13 Skimmers, 1 F1, 1 Tench
Weather - Mostly sunny, cold northerly wind
Match - Pairs - rd 2 - 14th out of 24 overall, 6th out of 6 section.

Travelling down with Tony and Judith I was a little late which Tony didn't appreciate! The breakfast as Cannard Wells eased the pain!

It was my turn to fish "D" section on Ash lake and with the prevailing northerly wind blowing straight down the lake a draw from 67 upwards would do. Unfortunately peg 62 would be my home. A tough day was likely, since it was the same peg I drew last week and with the cold wind blowing into my end of the lake, I wasn't very optimistic.

At least Tony was happier with his draw having the wind blowing off his back. Ash Tomkins was next to me on 64 and we debated who would be last for the section.

And my fears to be well founded when it took 20mins to catch my first fish, a hand size skimmer on 4mm expander and it was a further hour until I caught my first carp, again on 4mm expander at 13m. In the meantime the pegs further along were all catching.

I persevered with the pellet, toss potting a few 4s and micros at 13m where the bottom starts to slope up towards the end bank and at 13.5m to my right. It was slow going but bites were starting to come more regularly, including a big tench, before the wind picked up and bites stopped.

The lead & bread produced a 2.5lb carp, whilst a spell on the maggot feeder only produced 2 small carp. I was really going nowhere. Ash stayed on the pole, but was also struggling and we both had 17 fish with roughly 2.5hrs to go.

A switch to fishing further right, with double dead maggot still toss potting 4s & micros produced another run of fish including some proper skimmers, a big F1 and a couple more carp. I also managed a couple more carp in the last hour on lead/bread, plus a couple more at 13m from the bottom of the end bank where I had been pinging pellet all day.

However I was never going to compete with the middle pegs and finished bottom of the section. Ash finished with 3 more fish than me, but had more carp weighing 47lb and the other end peg only had 36lb, so you really needed to draw the middle of the lake at the moment.

Tony also struggled catching plenty of fish, but no real quality. As such we have slipped down to 9th, however its still really tight so there is still hope of a decent finish.

1st 79- 6 - Alex Murray - p70 (ash)
2nd 73- 4 - Calum Craig (Colmic) - p67 (ash)
3rd 66- 5 - Nick Ewers (Preston) - p48 (hillview)
4th 66- 4 - Alex Nadin - p73 (ash)
5th 58- 4 - Nick Merry (Colmic) - p43 (hillview)
6th 55- 9 - Ian Willetts (Devizes) - p60 (hillview)

5/11/16 - Avalon - Match Lake

Weight - 16lb 13oz
Catch - 27 Skimmers, 21 Roach, 1 Perch
Weather - Mostly sunny, but cold wind
Match - Silverfish League - rd 4 - 6th out of 20

A change in the weather system yesterday saw the winds switch to a northerly, which meant a freezing start and most of us thought it would be hard with 10lb likely to be a good weight.

Peg 14 is an open water peg, which in theory should be a good area, however a look at past weigh sheets suggested otherwise with only 10lb being the best this series.

4 pole rigs were set up, but only ended up using 2, one of them was a new float pattern I brought from dino floats spefically for fishing double bulk called "bream long" (see photo) 0.75g with an .10 bottom and 18 silverfish pellet hook. The other rig was an old jean francois 0.6g with an .08 bottom and 22 silverfish maggot hook. A small grip mesh feeder with .10 bottom and 18 B911 completed my set up.

On the all in 2 balls of groundbait with only a few casters and micros at 13m, plus a small ball of groundbait at 6m. Whilst that settled I started on the feeder, however Ray White and Pete Neate opposite also did the same, so wasn't too sure how productive it would be. After an hour I had a 1.5lb skimmer, 3 hand sized skimmers and a decent roach all on dead maggot. Neither Ray or Pete caught, but they didn't give it much time.

A switch to the 13m line proved to be a bit of struggle, catching another 1.5lb skimmer plus a few smaller fish over the next hour on the double bulk rig.

I really needed some decent skimmers because I could see a few further along landing some good fish.  Initially I wasn't overly concerned because it was still early and I just needed to be patience.

The 6m line turned out to be a surprise, as I had a good run of hand sized skimmers and roach on the light rig, over loose feed caster and the occasional nugget of groundbait.

Back on the feeder produced a 2.5lb skimmer, but nothing else, so the rest of the match was spent switching between the long line were I gradually moved out to 16m and the short line. It was really difficult to work out how best to feed. I had set up a pellet line at 14m at angle to my left, which didn't produce a single bite, yet the Nick to my right caught on pellet all day to win the match.

By the all out I probably had more fish than most, but only 5 proper skimmers which was disappointing. For what ever reason the skimmers didn't want to be in the area, with the other 3 weights in the gap weighing 7-4, 4-8 and 3-4. At least I kept myself in the running for the league as I'm currently now lying 4th overall with 2 rounds to go.

Despite the weather the lake fished very well, but I hope it warms up a little for the next round in 2 weeks.

1st 28-6 - Nick Fuidge - p13
2nd 21-13 - Rob Dodd - p12
3rd 20- 4 - Eric Fouracre (Mosella) - p16
4th 18- 4 - Chris Fox (Bristol) - p18
5th 17- 8 - Vic Bush (Mosella) - p6
6th 16-13 - Ken Rayner (Colmic) - p14

30/10/16 - Todber Manor - Ash Lake

Weight - 80lb 8oz
Catch - 52 Carp, 3 Skimmers, 1 Gudgeon
Weather - Mild, sunny and a light breeze
Match - Open - 5th out of 10

Nick Merry had arranged todays open/knock up, which was very timely in light of the fact I would be fishing Ash in next weeks pair's series and never fished the lake.

Peg 62 put me on the first peg, which everyone mentioned was a flier. However, now the weather is starting to cool down, I wasn't convinced it would be a flier, particularly when I saw a number of carp moving around in front of the middle pegs.

Due to the light breeze which was mostly off my back I set up a waggler, along with a method feeder (which was only cast once).

Plumbing up revealed a uniform flat bottom of around 5ft which sloped up to a couple inches towards the end bank.

On the all in, micros & 6s were fed at 13m where it began to slope up and started on the waggler with dead maggot. 2nd cast I had a small carp, followed by another shortly afterwards before that died.

A switch to the 13m line proved to be frustrating because there were obviously fish in the swim but lost more than I landed and just got the feeling the fish hadn't settled. In the meantime I had been pinging 4s 2m off the end bank and switched to let the 13m line settle, produced a beautiful 8lb mirrored ghostie, followed by a smaller carp soon after, before it than died.

Resting the 13m line did it some good, as I started catching and got into a rhythm mostly catching on corn over 6s. The end bank swim produced a few carp when I felt the need to rest the 13m line and looking down the lake I thought I was keeping pace with the middle pegs. Martin Preston next to me on p63 was by his own admission having a mare, probably spending too much time on the waggler.

As the match progressed the 13m line continued to produce most of my fish, but it was noticeable the fish were becoming smaller and I started to catch a few skimmers. In hindsight I made a mistake, cupping in a 1/2 pot of pellet, because the swim was never as good as it was before.

To honest I wasn't that concerned, a) because I was experimenting with feed and b) I fully expected my end bank swim to come on strong late on. I also had a number of fish on the waggler and with just over 90mins left I still felt I was in touch with the middle pegs. Unfortunately those last 90mins turned into a bit of a mare. It was if the fish simply moved out of the swim.

I still managed a couple of small carp from the 13m line, although the waggler produced a better stamp of carp, but it had slowed right down. The end bank swim didn't produce, so switched from feeding pellet to potting in groundbait and dead maggot. I had 1 gudgeon!

At the half way point I had also started feeding meat at the bottom of the near shelf, which didn't produce anything. So a really disappointing end to the match and felt had I kept catching at the same rate as the first 4hrs, then 100lb was definitely on the cards, but the peg simply died on me, as the middle pegs got stronger, where the top 4 weights came from.

Having said that, I cant be too disappointed with 80lb and plenty of bites at the end of October. Just wish the place was closer to home.

1st 114- 2 - Ash Tomkins (TackleUK) - p68
2nd 105-14 - Nick Merry (Colmic) - p66
3rd 95- 0 - Phil Cardwell - p69
4th 89-12 - Alex Nadin - p65
5th 80- 8 - Ken Rayner (Colmic) - p62