29/01/17 - Viaduct - Spring Lake

Weight - 17lb 1oz
Catch - 20 Roach, 13 Skimmers, 1 Ruffe
Weather - Rain - lots of it!
Match - Winter League - rd 2 - 7th in section, 2nd overall in silvers

After the first round's good start, team Colmic were hoping for a decent draw, however what we ended up with wasn't great where the previous team came 13th in the first round. Martin Preston was on p118, Mark Wynne p85, Nick Merry p56 and Mark Poppleton p9. As for me it was my turn for Match Lake, which included 6 pegs on Spring/Middle. I ended up on p24 and was pleased to avoid the corner pegs on Match and the 2 pegs on Middle.

The weather forecast was for rain and it certainly did, but at least the wind wasn't too bad.

On the all in, 3 balls of black gold groundbait with a few dead pinkies was deposited at 13m, whilst that settled I started on the straight lead and corn cast towards the island. On the 2nd cast I had a decent skimmer. The intention was to stay on the straight lead until I stopped catching, before switching to the pole and/or the waggler were I had been feeding caster at 20m.

I didn't switch to the pole for nearly 2hrs, however all I caught was plippy little roach, whilst on the waggler the roach and small skimmers were only slightly bigger. I had also been feeding caster under the tree to right hoping for a late carp, but only caught a roach.

The rest of the match followed a similar pattern, stay on the tip until bites dried up, before switching to the pole and waggler picking up a few small roach, then switching back to the straight lead when bites slowed. In the last 10mins I managed 2 good skimmers which was a nice boost finishing with 9 proper skimmers.

Fortunately with no carp being caught in my mini section I won the section and picked up £40. I was also 2nd overall in the silvers and picked up a further £100 in the superpools, so a profitable day.

As for the team, we had an excellent result, Martin was 5th on Campbell, Mark Wynne won Cary, Nick fished a blinder to finish 3rd on Lodge, Mark Poppleton as expected took one for the team on Spring and I was 7th on Match. In total Colmic won the day with 69pts and we are leading the league.

Overall

1. Richard A’Herne (Frenzee SW) - 143lb 2oz - peg 53
2. Steve Seagar (Maver) - 131lb 14oz - peg 119
3. Jason Radford (Viaduct All Stars) - 119lb 12oz - peg 113
4. Andy Neal (Natural Talent) - 119lb 11oz - peg 66
5. Steve Tucker (Thatchers Vets) - 113lb 4oz - peg 129
6. Craig Edmunds (Mosella) - 92lb 14oz - peg 127

Silvers

1. Dave Romain (Team Keyford) - 24lb 8oz - peg 124
2. Ken Rayner (Colmic SW) - 17lb 1oz - peg 24
3. Simon Hebditch (Garbolino BVMG) - 15lb 4oz - peg 125
4. Nick Chedzoy (Thatchers Vets) - 14lb 14oz - peg 18
5. Gordon Cannings (Silverfox) - 14lb 2oz - peg 69
6. Ricky Mills (Moaning Maggots) - 13lb 6oz - peg 41

Team Points On The Day:
1. Colmic SW - 69
2. Viaduct All Stars - 68
3. Natural Talent - 67
4. Thatchers Vets - 63
4. Mosella Bathampton - 63
6. Silverfox - 61

Teams Overall League

1. Colmic SW - 128

2. Thatchers Vets - 124

3. Natural Talent - 121

4. Frenzee SW - 114

5. Future Networks - 112

6. Garbolino BV - 111

28/01/17 - Lands End - Speci Lake

Weight - 6lb 3oz
Catch - 1 Carp, 1 Perch
Weather - Mostly sunny and showers
Match - 10th out of 13

Originally there was 16 anglers booked in today, including 2 anglers who haven't fished Lands End before but confirmed they would definitely fish. Well the draw time arrived and they weren't here, but Mike decided to give them the benefit of doubt and thought they would arrive soon. Needless to say they never did and in the end we only had 13, but the draw had already been completed with 10 pegs on Match and 6 on Speci. In hindsight it would have been better to have all 13 pegs on Match Lake.

I was pleased to draw p33 particularly after being on p34 last sunday. However I was also a little apprehensive because with so few people (4 in the end) on the lake, as well as being iced up for most of the week, the anticipation was the fish would find the quiet areas of the lake.

And that's how it turned out. I started on corn and lost a foul hooker after 15mins. With no further bites or liners, I fed some micros/groundbait by the aerator and caster down the left hand bank on the hour mark.

The left hand swim started showing signs of life, when I bumped a perch on prawn, then lost a good perch as I shipped back, which I was a little upset about, because I thought I had properly set the hook.

Eventually landed a carp after 3hrs, followed soon afterwards by a 2lb 2oz perch, both on prawn. I actually spent most of the last 2 hours on prawn feeding caster down the left hand bank, since I couldn't see me getting into the overall frame, but thought if I could catch a few more big perch then I might sneak into the silvers.

Well it just didn't happen and Matt next to me on p34 didn't even have a bite! At least this week's weather will be milder and hopefully the fish will start feeding.

1st - 29-12 - Allan Oram (Dynamite Baits) - p19
2nd - 25- 0 - Eric Fouracre (Mosella) - p21
3rd - 21- 4 - Rich Lovering (Bristol) - p40
4th - 19-15 - Stuart Barnett (Bristol) - p32
5th - 16- 3 - Derek Beard - p3

Silvers
1st - 12-12 - Allan Oram (Dynamite Baits) - p19
2nd - 10-13 - Roy Myers - p13
3rd - 8- 8 - Mike Duckett (Lands End) - p5

22/01/17 - Lands End - Speci

Weight - 43lb 13oz
Catch - 5 Carp, 4 Perch
Weather - Cold, most bright and sunny
Match - Lands End 'So Simple' Winter League - rd 2 - 4th out of 31 overall, 2nd on lake

I was 2 short today, I knew about one in advance, but the other was too hungover. He has subsequently apologised and will be paying their pools.

For this 2nd round, ice breakers were in evidence again, which meant another hard match was likely for most. It was my turn for Speci Lake and was relieved to be handed p34, which usually produces a few fish. My section included Adrian Clark (p25), Roger Crago (p31), Joe McMahon (p32) and Mike West (p33), so all the better pegs on the lake.

Fortunately the left hand side of my peg was ice free and the ice that was in front of me was quite thin and would soon melt away. Plumbing up revealed it was a little deeper off the point of the island, the problem however was the light and reflections, which meant spotting my float was a nightmare, made worse by the sun being directly on front.

On the all in I decided to fish the lead and double corn off the point of the island, because it was easier than struggling to see my float. Mike West was still potting out bait when the tip went round and a 5lber was netted. Well that was the blank saved. Next cast the tip went round again and this time it felt like a much better fish. At 15lb 1oz it was very welcome and the pressure was now off with 20lb in the net after 15mins.

Staying on the tip for a further hour didn't produce any bites. By this time the ice that was in front of me had mostly disappeared, so fed 2 spots at the bottom of the far shelf with a pinch of micros in front and groundbait and micros to my right. It was the swim to my right that produced all my perch and a carp to single maggot.

Fishing on top of the shelf didn't produce anything, not even a liner. With the sun moving round I tried fishing off the end of the island, but discovered I couldn't get in too tight due to some line and snags. Fishing a little off the island I managed a carp on corn, but it was more luck than judgement because spotting the float was still very difficult.

After a slow start, Joe on p32 had picked up fish along the end bank as well as losing a few and it looked likely he was going to win the lake. With half an hour to go I couldn't get a bite anywhere, so finished the match on the tip and corn again. Fortunately I managed an 8-9lber with 10mins remaining .

1. 151-12 - Craig Edmunds (Mosella) - p13

2. 65- 6 - Nick Chedzoy (Preston) - p15

3. 52- 4 - Joe McMahon (Bristol) - p32

4. 43-13 - Ken Rayner (Colmic) - p34

5. 35-14 - Mike West (Bridgwater) - p33

6. 25- 7 - Stuart Barnett (Bristol) - p41

Silvers

1. 14- 4 - Martin Rayet (Bristol) - p5

2. 8- 2 - Rich Lovering (Bristol) - p42

3. 6- 0 - Rod Wootten (Bristol) - p1

4. 5- 9 - Stuart Barnett (Bristol) - p41

5. 4- 8 - Mike Duckett (Lands End) - p55 

6. 3- 5 - Adrian Clark (Bristol) - p25

21/01/17 - Lands End - Match Lake

Weight - 9lb 6oz (1lb 15oz - silvers)
Catch - 2 Carp, 4 Perch
Weather - Freezing. Bright & sunny
Match - Open - 5th out of 14 (2nd in silvers)

I have to say on the drive down the temperature gauge in the car read -5c and I was really questioning why I was bothering. However one of Di's breakfast soon cheered me and there were 14 of us, which meant 10 on match and 4 on Johns (no3) lake.

I drew peg 1 which usually holds a few fish and I could also easily break the ice along the end bank. In fact breaking the ice was probably the most exciting part of the day.

On the all I wasn't quite ready so chucked the straight lead and corn out towards the overhanging pipe. 10 minutes later I netted a 5lber. Unfortunately no more followed, I tried down by the right hand tree throughout the match on various baits, but never had a bite.

I spent most of the match, fishing 16-17m down the end bank, feeding a small amount of gonuts black groundbait in the deeper water. Fishing maggot over the top I managed another smaller carp and a couple perch. Fishing tighter to the end bank only produced 1 perch.

A tough day for most and I managed to sneak a pick up for 2nd in silvers. Paddy Curry opposite on p24 managed 1 carp and a couple of small silvers. Allan Oram to my right on p3 had 2 skimmers and a few bits to win the silvers pool. However the majority of the fish appeared to be down the other end of the lake, with Russ Peck winning from p15 and Dave Wescott was 2nd from p13.

It could have been worse, I could have been sat at Todber, where only 10lb was needed to win! Spring cant come quickly enough.

1. 74-15 - Russ Peck (Land End) - p15

2. 31- 4 - Dave Wescott (Lands End) - p13

3. 22- 6 - Rod Wootten (Lands End) - p10

4. 10- 0 - Allan Oram (Dynamite Baits) - p3

5. 9- 6 - Ken Rayner (Colmic) - p1

Silvers

1. 5- 1 - Allan Oram - p3

2. 1-15 - Ken Rayner - p1

15/01/17 - Viaduct - Lodge

Weight - 50lb 3oz
Catch - 7 Carp
Weather - Mild, but cold during the week. Windy.
Match - Winter League - rd 1 - 3rd out of 19 in section, 15th overall

Today was the first round of the Viaduct Winter League with 19 teams of 5 and Mark had managed to get a Colmic team submitted.

There is always a sense of trepidation at the draw, because with 95 pegs in we all wanted the favoured areas, however there were more than a few poor draws waiting for us, where anglers would only be looking for a couple of fish.

Mark Wynne drew (I cant be trusted at the moment to draw well at the moment) for us today and on the whole it wasn't too bad. Mark put himself on Campbell p128, Calum Craig (Cary - p97), Mark Poppleton (Match - p48), Joe McMahan who was guesting for Martin Preston (Spring - p17) and I had p66 on Lodge.

With wind blowing into this end of the lake the pressure was on, since it was expected there would be a few fish under the trees. Well that's what I hoped. 

Set up 3 rigs to fish under the tree, 1x dobbing bread, 1x for prawn and 1x to fish corn/meat. I also set up a silvers rig to fish 13m over groundbait if needed. As it happened I gave the 13m swim 5mins without a bite and since all the anglers along the pathway bank were struggling for bites I didn't see any point pursuing that swim.

On the all in I started off on the deck with corn by the first post of the pallet (see picture) and soon had a liner. A couple more liners followed but no fish, so switched to bread at 3/4 depth. 10mins later I had my first carp of about 5lb.

No more bites followed for 30mins, so tried the prawn which resulted in another carp, quickly followed by a 3rd. The fourth one took its time arriving but after 2 hours I had 4 carp, which I knew would guarantee good points. Chris Fox opposite me on the monk had yet to have a bite, although he wasn't the only one.

I had also been feeding caster to my right under the bush, but that didn't produce a bite. The only place I could get any indications was under the tree and was now pushing further under the tree.

On the half way mark a switch to corn brought a quick response with my 5th carp. So far I had managed to pull the carp free of their lair so I shouldn't have been surprised when I hooked another carp that some how managed to get in behind p65 pallet and under some sunken roots, claiming my entire rig.

I managed to land 2 more carp on corn and lost another 2, 1 was a decent fish that dived under my keepnets snagging me on the leg of the platform and the hook pulled out of the other as I went to net it. As it happened it wouldn't have made any difference, as Tony Rixon and Nicky Collins in the opposite corner had 94lb & 96lb respectively for the 1, 2 in section, leaving me 3rd in section which I was pleased with.

Chris must have been the most relieved man on the lake. With 4mins to go he had his first bite, netting a 6.5lb carp giving him 9pts.

As a team we did OK, Mark Wynne was 2nd on Campbell, Calum had 14pts from Cary thanks to a 24lber caught on the prawns I gave him, Mark Poppleton had 8pts from a poor draw on Match and Joe struggled for 3pts on Spring.

1st - 154-11 - Colin Dyer (Balti Boys) - p102
2nd - 150- 6 - Tim Clark (Future Networks) - p113
3rd - 111- 9 - Paul Greenwood (M5 Angling) - p77
4th - 96- 0 - Nicky Collins (Somerset Angling) - p53
5th - 94- 2 - Tony Rixon (Future Networks) - p73
6th - 67-12 - Mark Wynne (Colmic SW) - p128

Silvers
1st - 18- 0 - Sam Powell (Preston) - p2
2nd - 17-10 - Des Shipp (Preston) - p103
3rd - 15-13 - Chris Sandford (Amigos) - p24
4th - 13- 3 - Steve Jackson (Balti Boys) - p71
5th - 12-14 - Alex Murray (Somerset Angling) - p25
6th - 12- 1 - Ryan Shipp (Moaning Maggots) - p126

Teams on the day
1st - Future Networks - 76pts
2nd - Garbolino BV - 75pts
3rd - Somerset Angling - 65pts
4th - Thatchers Vets - 61pts
5th - SW Nomads - 60pts
6th - Colmic SW - 59pts

08/01/17 - Lands End - Johns (no3) Lake

Weight - 31lb 4oz (16lb 12oz - silvers)
Catch - 31 Skimmers, 7 F1s, 1 Roach, 1 Rudd, 2 Carp
Weather - Mild & overcast
Match - Open - 2nd in silvers, 5th overall.

With 15 anglers, we had all of lake 3 and one side of match lake.  I definitely wanted a draw on no.3 lake, because it has been the most consistent lake recently. So was really pleased to see p42 staring back at me. A decent draw, at last.and its usually worth a few fish.

The plan was to look for an early carp and if they didn't show try for some silvers since the peg can throw up some decent silvers weight. The only issue on the silvers front was I had Martin Pettifer next to me on p41, John Bradford opposite on p68 and Rod Wootten on 70, so it was likely we would all be targeting the silvers.

On the all in it was straight out with a bit of corn and soon had an F1. Exploring further around the island for bites didn't produce, so wasn't confident there were many carp in the area.

A switch to 14m in a 5ft deep hole off the point of the island where I fed gonuts black micros and black groundbait produced a small skimmer on maggot. By feeding a tiny nugget of micros binded with the groundbait ever 2nd put in, I started catching skimmers and the occasional F1 on 4mm expander.

When the swim needed resting I tried in front of the island where it was a foot shallower and at 5m just past the weedbed, but neither swim produced anything of any significance. However resting the 14m line proved useful as I would have another run of fish. More importantly I was catching more silvers then everyone. Rod & Martin had an intial good hour or 2, but the fish seemed to have backed off for them. I think because my swim was that much deeper the fish seemed more settled in the clear water. John on the other hand started slowly, but was now catching by the weedbed on caster, including some big perch.

With 2 hours to go my 5m line really hadn't produced anything, so decided to switch to feeding meat just in case. And with an hour to go a full pot of caster, dead maggot and groundbait was dumped down the left hand margin.

My long line was starting to really fade and pushing out to 16m helped, producing a few better sized skimmers. With 30mins left, I snagged up and broke the hook length. Knowing it was unlikely I was going to be caught in the silvers, I tried down the left margin with double caster. A 5lb carp hooked in the tail was my reward, followed by a small roach.

A switch to the 5m line with meat with 5mins left and the float went under and initially throught I had foul hooked another carp as it bolted for the aerator and got caught on the rope. Fortunately it freed itself and a rather angry 8lb carp hooked in the top lip was landed 10mins after the all out.

Pleased and relieved to have finally picked up, winning the silvers on no3 lake.

1st 88- 0 - Adrian Jeffery (Bristol) - p51
2nd 47- 4 - Stuart Barnett (Bristol) - p58
3rd 42-10 - Kev Molton (Bristol) - p55
4th 38- 7 - Tony Rixon (Mosella) - p15
5th 31- 4 - Ken Rayner (Colmic) - p42
6th 28- 6 - Steve Seager (Maver) - p62

Silvers
1st 18- 3 - Tony Rixon - p15
2nd 16-12 - Ken Rayner - p42
3rd 11-10 - Joe McMahan - p21
4th 10- 2 - John Bradford - p68

07/01/17 - Lands End - Speci Lake

Weight - 7lb 4oz
Catch - 1 Carp, 6 Perch, 1 Rudd
Weather - Overcast and mild. 
Match - 5th out of 7

Back to familiar ground and was really hoping for a decent draw. With only 7 of us today we decided to fish speci lake since it was the smallest of the lakes and hopefully fewer areas for the fish to back off to.

The draw saw me on p36. Not a great draw, but wasn't overly disappointed until I saw how clear the water was. For most of the week the lakes had been iced over, only defrosting yesterday, so plenty of melt water and this peg usually struggles when its cold and clear

Started off fishing corn along various points along the far shelf hoping for an early carp, but never had a sign of a fish. Switching to the bottom of the shelf, fishing left and right with maggot over micros & groundbait did produce a few micro perch & rudd. After 2 hours hooked a carp in the tail which I eventually landed after it did everything to gain its freedom, including getting behind my keepnets, much to the amusement of everyone! I did foul hook another carp, but this one came off.

The second half of the match I just couldn't get a bite any where. I started pinging 4s to my left, hoping to pull a few carp in for later - never had a bite. Caster/maggot down the bottom of the right hand margin at 14m - produced one perch. I even tried fishing the straight lead further down the peg, but nothing not even a liner.

Russ on p34 had been struggling until he started fishing the end bank in p33. He had 1 carp off the point of the island, but nothing else, which really confirmed there wasn't many fish in the area. Top weights came from the expected areas.

Oh well always tomorrow.

1st 39- 6 - Martin Rayet -p40

2nd 35-15 - Mark Walsh - p30

3rd 33-12 - Russ Peck - p34

Silvers

1st 6- 4 - Martin Rayet - p40

2nd 3-15 - Dave Wescott - p28

3rd 3- 4 - Mike Duckett - p32

31/12/16 - Todber Manor - Ash Lake

Weight - 16lb 8oz
Catch - 7 Carp, 3 Skimmers, 3 Roach, 1 Tench
Weather - Mild
Match - Open - 7th out of 11

Firstly an apology for the lack of blogs recently, its not because I haven't been fishing, but to be honest I've been having a shocking time on the bank and really struggling, which doesn't leave much enthuastism for writing a blog. Also the last month or so has seen quite a bit of uncertainty at work, which hasn't improved my mood and taken up a lot of my spare time.

However, it's a new year and time to put things in perspective. The first 9 months of 2016 was pretty good on the fishing front, managing some decent results, big weights and picking up 70% of the time. The last 2 months, those pick ups have dropped off quite dramatically, ironically since I started fishing for Colmic, although I did manage to finish 4th overall in the Avalon Silverfish League. Cant really pin down why my results have dropped off, certainly there has been a few poor draws, but I think there has also been some poor decision making on my part.

This latest match at Todber is typical of how things are going. Mark Poppleton had organised a knock up on Ash Lake which has been one of the most consistent lakes in the south west recently. I needed to pick up my new pole rollers (which are very nice - see picture) from the shop so decided to book in.

Having only fished Ash twice before, both occasions on end peg 62, when the bulk of the fish were in the middle pegs, I joked with Mark that I was due a draw in middle and couldn't drew 62 for 3rd time. Well I didn't, but 63 wasn't what I wanted and knew I was in for a hard day.

I wont dwell too much on the details. I caught all my carp from the far bank, mostly on the waggler or lead. The pole lines seemed to be devoid of fish with only a few silvers, either on pellet or maggot. Because I knew there probably wouldn't be many fish in the area I felt I needed to make something happen and spent all match pinging 6s at 14m, but it just never happened. The fish I did catch was over micros/4s at an angle to my right. In hindsight I wish I concentrated on the silvers, since Matt on 66 had 16lb of mostly skimmers to pick up the silvers pool. As I said poor decision making.

Hopefully the new year will see an upturn in results, although I probably need to improve my drawing arm.

1st 95- 8 - Nick White - p70
2nd 68- 6 - Ashley Tomkins - p66
3rd 31- 8 - Mark Poppleton - p74
4th 28- 8 - Alex Nadin - p73

Silvers
1st 16- 0 - Matt Skyme - p65
2nd 9-10 - Ashley Tomkins - p66