01/06/14 - Acorns - Paddock

Weight - 19lb 2oz
Catch - 8 Carp, 2 Roach, 1 Crucian
Weather - Warm & Sunny
Match - Pole Only Series - 25th out of 30 overall, 8th out of 10 section

A recent article in this month’s Match Fishing Magazine by Jon Arthur in the Room 101 section made me smile. It referred to anglers who only promote their good results on social media, but stay quiet when they don’t do so well. You know who you are! Being a blogger means I don’t have that luxury, plus I think it’s good to write about your bad days, well sometimes. There have a one or two days in the past when I felt digging a hole and staying there! However, usually the bad days are those when I learn the most.

 

Today was the 6^th and final round of the Pole Only series and as you can see from the header I didn’t do very well! A quick note for Chris Fox and Paul Faires who have run a well organised event – well done chaps.

 

It was my turn for the good section and following last week’s success with paste decided I would concentrate on the putty for today’s match, knowing if it worked I could have a big weight. Ideally I would have preferred one of the pegs without a bridge, but ended up on peg 6 in the corner and the bridge opposite.

 

Starting on pellet by the bridge/island I got plenty of liners and hooked 2 carp, but both fell off. On the paste I hooked 2 carp but lost them both as well. In the meantime I was getting battered by Dom Sullivan on p40 and Mark Bromsgrove on p7.

 

After 3 hours I had 1 roach in the net and was becoming a little concerned it wasn’t going to be my day. I wasn’t concerned about the slow start, because I knew once the fish turned on to the paste I could build a weight very quickly. The problem was the fish never truly switched on. I managed 3 carp on paste by the bridge, followed up by 3 more on pellet against the island or the right hand bank in the second half of the match.

 

The big surprise was my banker swim at 5m which only yielded 2 carp, despite being fed constantly with 6s and a few bits of paste.

 

I did take a boom or bust approach to the match, when in hindsight I should have fed micros & 4s, instead of 6s and probably had some worm or dead maggot for the hook. However, I had nothing to lose and needed to win my section with a big weight to even consider getting close to the payout positions and hope others slipped up.

 

Well done to those whose who picked up. For me I fished a poor series and didn't do myself justice. Ironically I did better from my poor draws and messed up the good draws. For the rest of the summer I'm hoping to make a few visits to Viaduct, Lands End and the Glebe.

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

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

27/04/14 - Acorns - Paddock Lake

Weight - 31lb 9oz
Catch - 16 Carp, 3 Perch,2 Roach, 1 F1, 1 Skimmer
Weather - Breezy and very wet
Match - Pole Only Series - rd 3 - 18th out 30, 6th out of 10 section

The 3^rd round of this series and I’m really struggling to build any enthusiasm. I had intended to practice for the series, by fishing the Saturday opens and maybe the occasional Tuesday cost cutter, but compared to other venues the fishing has been poor. My weekends are valuable & I don’t want to be fishing a venue where I’m your struggling to get a bite. It would appear I’m not the only one thinking that way with some Acorns regulars turning up at Lands End last week and Mark said a few turned up at Ridgeway on Saturday. Recently weights have improved, but I will be glad when then series finishes. I don’t mind fishing when it is hard, but it’s not right to be struggling to get a bite on single maggot in April.

C section for me today, with pegs 36 & 38 being the form pegs. Alas I found myself on p21, which put me on the right hand side of the bridge. In the previous 2 rounds the peg had come 3^rd & 6^th in section, so not the best peg in section, but should at least produce a few bites. Chris Fox was on the other side of the bridge and Nigel Vigus was to my right on p19, but a different section.

The wind was likely to be an issue today, but as it turned out it was blowing slightly from behind and wasn’t overly strongly, however it rained for most of the match which proved uncomfortable at times. Fortunately being able to park behind your peg meant I could keep most of the kit in the car.

Following a couple of decent results recently and despite my complaints about the venue, I was feeling confident of a fish. Plumbing revealed the far bank was deeper than any other peg I have been on & initially decided to pot in a small amount of micros & 4s, left and right along the far bank. Groundbait/micros/caster at 5m, micros & 4s at the bottom of the shelf at 11m to my right and some hand fed caster by the bridge.

Starting across with a HB Billybob 0.3g > .12 > 16 B911 & expander, after a few liners I landed a small carp, then a F1 came from the caster swim on maggot, but after an hour that was it! Chris was also struggling and it wasn’t looking good. The far bank was proving to be a waste of time, I even tried a 4x10 rig with a slow drop set off bottom, but nothing.

So far I had been cautious with the feed and decided to continue to trickle micros & 4s by the bridge and be more positive to my right. A switch to the 5m line did produce a skimmer and few small roach & perch on single maggot.

By the half way point I started to get a few indications and caught a small carp at 5m and a couple more at 11m on single maggot. However, it was a case of catch a fish, refed, try a different swim, and hope for a bite, before switching again.

The remainder of the match proved to be more productive. Dobbing a 6mm expander or piece of worm set at 2ft deep along the bridge produced a few better carp, but unfortunately the heavy rain came at the wrong time, putting the fish down. I also had a couple of carp from the positively feed right hand island swim and a couple of carp across by the bridge, either on expander, triple maggot or worm. With 90mins to go I targeted the right hand pallet. Nigel was already fishing tight to the bank and landed a carp. I decided to find a flat spot about a metre off the bank in the deeper water, cupping in a mixture of pellet & caster. I did catch another carp, but lost 2, 1 of which was definitely foul hooked.

A very bity match, where it was difficult to find a pattern, other than the need to continually rotate. I had more carp than most in my section, however their size went against me, finishing a disappointing 6^th in section. Another 5lb would have seen me jump 2 places.  Except for Tom Thick on p25, most struggled along the straight, with the better weights coming from the other side of the lake. Chris only had 15lb from his side of the bridge and Nigel to my right had 11lb, so not to many fish in area. Well done to Russ for winning from unfancied peg 4.

1^st 82- 2 – Russ Peck – p4
2^nd 68-12 – Glenn Calvert – p7
3^rd 61- 0 – Lewis Jones – p33
4^th 56- 8 – Tom Thick – p25
5^th 47- 9 – Dom Sullivan – p31
6^th 46- 4 – Rob Fogg – p9

Silvers
1^st 12- 4 – Eddie Wynn – p16
2^nd 11- 9 – Paul Faires – p34
3^rd 9- 8 – Charlie Barnes – p26
4^th 8- 6 – Tom Thick – p25
5^th 5- 4 – Norman Hugget – p40
6^th 4- 9 – Lance Tucker – p38

13/04/14 - Acorns - Paddocks

Weight - 33lb 4oz
Catch - 8 Carp, 1 F1, 1 Rudd
Weather - Sunny all day, but increasingly strong wind
Match - Pole Only rd 2 - 11th out of 30, 6th out of 10-section

At long last I have a new pole. After originally ordering a MAP 901 at the back end of last year, I ended up cancelling my order because the delivery date was put back, plus there were increasing concerns regarding spares, although at the time of ordering MAP assured me there won’t be a problem. Anyway following a recommendation from Mark and having a brief play with his pole, I ordered a Garbolino Super Legion, with a Power Legion expected this week - happy days!

Today was the 2^nd round of the Acorns series and the weather was a big improvement from last week, with bright sunshine and light winds. My section today was the better pegs, i.e. 1,5,6,7,9,10,12,33,34 & 40. Ideally I fancied a bridge peg, because they seem to be the most consistent, plus the F1s have been hanging around them, which would be handy following my maximum points score for silvers last week.

Alas p12 found its way into my hand, but I wasn’t too disappointed because it can be a really good peg. As I was setting up the wind was very light, blowing out of the swim down the lake to my left and there was a few fish moving around.

The plan of attack was to start across catch a few early carp before they disappear, then catch a few silvers down the track, by which time the right hand margin would be solid! Best laid plans and all that!

On the all in micros & 4s were feed across by the island, on the 2^nd shelf by the island and 13m to my right at the bottom of the shelf. The same again, with groundbait was deposited down the track at 8m in front and 12m to my right in open water.

Starting across with a 4x10 float > .12 > 16 B911 with 4mm expander I soon hooked my first fish, which fell off, as did the 2^nd & 4^th – all foul hooked. The 3^rd was hooked properly, but I was having a mare. Previous recent experience has shown the fish backed off too much feed so I was just toss potting micros & 4s, but getting a proper bite was frustrating. I tried pellet, maggot & worm, all of which was ignored. Dom Sullivan on p10 however was catching across, although Glenn Culvert to my left on p13 was having the same issues as me.

The down the track swims didn’t produce anything, although the 13m right hand swim did produce a carp on expander. Even on the deep rigs carp were swimming into the line, just cruising around enjoying the sun. After 2 hours and several foul hookers I only had 2 carp in the carp in the net.

The wind was also picking up, so my 0.4g chump rig for fishing down the track was replaced with a SM Chimp 0.5g > .10. > 20 silverfish maggot hook to fish single maggot, never had a bite. I have to say I was having a bit of tourettes moment, I couldn’t hook the fish properly, I couldn’t get a bite from silvers and the wind was increasing in strength – I really was disappearing up my own arse vowing never to return to the venue, but its not fair to just drop out of a series, because it’s a lot of hassle for the organiser. After a quiet word to myself, I realised any silvers money was unlikely because Charlie Barnes on p9 was catching the odd skimmers, which probably helped Dom catch better from the island. Also I had a seen a few others catch in my section, which meant I really needed to recover from a bad position.

As well as getting stronger, the wind had also changed direction, blowing directly at me, which was fine to fish across to the island, but feeding pellet across was a bit like a scatter gun, so decided to ignore the island, instead potting small amounts of micros & 4s on the 2^nd shelf where hopefully the carp (& may be a few skimmers) would settle later. Despite several small top ups, I never had a bite, which just left the right margin.

The wind had made my right hand 13m swim redundant, because any presentation was impossible, so I focused on fishing tight into the margin, however the change of wind direction meant all the scum & debris had blown into the swim, making presenting a bait very difficult. I really wasn’t having the best of days, although I did cheer up when I netted a 10lber on double maggot.

Another new rig was set-up this time so I could hair-rig a 10mm JPZ pellet. The theory being a bigger & heavier bait would sit better in the wind and got though the scum better. I kept feeding caster at 10m, but caught most of my fish further along away from the feed.

In the end I managed to claw back some section places and was only 10lb from claiming 3^rd in section. Dom fished a great match making the most of fishing across then plundering his margin late on. With lighter winds, I’m certain I would have caught more, but ultimately it was that first hour when I couldn’t catch that cost me decent section points.

During the last 6 weeks I have really struggled to put any results together, following an 8 month period of picking up in 75% of matches fished. Hopefully normal serve will resume shortly. As for the new pole – what a difference, a real quality piece of kit, although the top kit package sold with it could be better.
1st 85- 6 - Dom Sullivan - p10
2nd 69- 8 - Russ Peck - p36
3rd 51-13 - Tom Thick - p34
4th 51-12 - Bob Gullick  - p21
5th 46- 8 - Nigel Vigus - p38
6th 45- 0 - Glenn Calvert - p13

Silvers
1st 10- 7 - Paul Faires - p15
2nd 10- 4 - Tom Thick - p34
3rd 9- 8 - Bob Gullick - p21
4th 9- 2 - Charlie Barnes - p9
5th 6-10 - Pete Bartlett - p30
6th 5-10 - Russ Peck - p36

06/04/14 - Acorns - Paddock

Weight - 12lb 0oz (6lb 11oz - silvers)
Catch - 12 Skimmers, 2 Carp
Weather - Windy! Mostly cloudy, with occasional shower
Match - Pole Only rd 1 - 25th out of 30, 1st out of 10 - silvers section

The first round of the Acorns Pole only series and I don’t think anyone was particularly looking forward it, a) because of the forecast strong wind and b) the venue has been fishing hard.

 

For those that don’t know Clevedon AC now rent the water from Acorns, paying a sizable rent for the next 3 years. As such the club charges per lake instead of per peg, which meant Paddock Lake cost £180 (Campbell is only £120 and a far better lake, admittedly with fewer pegs) which will be too expensive for most clubs and will no doubt put off many club booking. This also meant all 30 anglers were on Paddock which would be tight, instead of being spilt with the “dog bone” lake. So 3 sections of 10 and the sensible decision was taken to the try and put the best and worst pegs into the same section to make each section as fair as possible, which isn’t easy.

 

With the strong wind no one wanted to be on the straight or on the island and I was absolutely gutted to pull peg 2, which is a proper rank draw and combined with the wind blowing across me I knew I was in for a hard day. The only consolation was pegs 2,3 & 4 on the island were in the same section as pegs 13-19 on the straight, which would be the hardest section of the 3 with p19 being the only peg with a spare peg.

 

At least I could see the whole the section opposite and keep an eye on how things were going, but my expectation was to spend most the match hoping for a few silvers. Mike Nichols tried to cheer me up saying he recommended to Chris not to put in p2 – great!

On the all in micros/groundbait/caster was deposited at 5m and micros/groundbait at 11m at the bottom on the shelf, plus a few pellets on top the shelf hoping for an early carp.

 

Starting against by the island I hooked a carp after 5mins, but it fell off as I was shipping back – bugger. In the strong wind it was difficult to get any decent presentation and I was soon fishing the 5m & 11m lines, with a 0.75g rig & .10 & 20 silverfish maggot hook and single maggot. After 2hrs I only had 2 skimmers to show for my efforts and really questioning signing up for this league. Fortunately everyone seemed to be struggling, although a few carp were being caught along the straight, particularly Mark Bartlett on p18.

 

I had kept feeding a nugget of micros every 15mins into the 5m & 11m swims, whilst pinging pellet across for later. As the match progressed a few more skimmers came from the 11m line and a swirl over the far bank prompted a look with the shallow rig. I managed 1 carp which was hooked properly and a decent skimmer, but also foul hooked 4 carp, 3 of which came off straight away, but the 4^th came off as it neared the net. Strangely the pegs either side of me had a couple of carp at the same time, before none of us could buy a bite after this flurry of activity. Obviously a shoal was just swimming through.

 

With 90mins to go I was really struggling for bites again and with more carp being caught along the straight any section pickup was looking distant. However I hadn’t seen many silvers being caught, except for Charles Barnes on p19 who had a 3lb tench, but I hadn’t seen him catch much else. So with nothing to lose, decided to feed in a full cup of groundbait, micros and caster at 5m, simply because it was easier to present here rather than at 11m which got a smaller top up.

 

The 5m line produced 5 more skimmers and a carp, which proved handy. Come the weigh in I beat the 2 other pegs on the island in my section, but with carp showing along the straight 7^th in section was probably the best I could have hoped for and the silvers section win was a welcome bonus.

 

The wind definitely affected the fishing today with the sheltered pegs producing the better weight. Next week it will be my turn for the better section (pegs 1, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 33, 34 & 40).

 

1^st 43- 8 – Andy France - p25

2^nd 41-15 – Bob Gullick - p34

3^rd 39- 2 – Mark Bartlett – p18

4^th 38- 7 – Lewis Jones – p23

5^th 38- 0 – Kev Perry – p21

6^th 33- 8 – Mike Nichols – p40

 

Silvers

1^st 14- 8 – Andy Gard – p33

2^nd 10-10 – Mike Nichols – p40

3^rd 10- 2 – Paul Faires – p28

4^th 6-11 – Ken Rayner – p2

5^th 4-13 – Charlie Barnes – p19

6^th 4-10 – Chris Fox p14/Paul Casson p17

01/04/14 - Acorns - Paddock

Weight - 26lb 6oz
Catch - 11 Carp, 2 Tench, 1 Rudd
Weather - Bright & sunny. Light winds
Match - Open - 7th out of 18

With the forth coming Acorns Pole Only series coming up I thought it was about time I at least had a practice to see how it was fishing. So far the reports haven’t been good, with 30lb being a good weight and only 40-60lb needed to win, which is a contrast to last year when weights of 100lb started to show.

 

Upon seeing the lake for the first time since the summer there was a black algae bloom, but at least there appeared to be some fish moving around. It was quite a surprise to see 18 anglers for a mid weeker, obviously I wasn’t the only one thinking ahead to the weekend.

 

Peg 18 in the middle of the straight wasn’t what I wanted, since most weights have come from either the bridges or corners. Either side of me was Gabriel Skarba on p16 who does well down here and Harry Muir on the bridge p21. The other side of the bridge on p22 was Charlie Barnes. All I will say is you could easily mistake Harry and Charlie for an old married couple!

 

In previous years my peg was a good skimmer peg, so my intention was to target them at 6m and on the 2^nd shelf off the island, feeding micros & 4s. Whilst I let that settle I went straight across to the far bank feeding 4s in the hope of a few early carp. After 90mins I had 6 on expander, but with no features to keep them, they disappeared.

 

Other than a couple of nips from small fish I didn’t have any fish down the track or off the second shelf. The only place I could get a bite was next to p19 pallet where I had been feeding caster, which resulted in 2 tench and a rudd.

 

During the last 90 mins I managed another 5 carp from the far bank to finish what was a boring day. I don’t know what is wrong with place. I don’t believe it’s a lack of fish, which seems to be the de-fault response to poor weights, because there were fish moving around at the beginning and towards the end of the match. Hopefully as the weather improves, so will the fishing, but I’m hardly excited about fishing the series.

 

Except for Mike Chapman on p24, which was the end peg today, my weight was the best along the straight, so I must have done something right, which is a positive, but it is difficult to compete with the feature pegs.

 

Apparently we have 30 maybe 29 anglers fishing the league and we will all be on Paddock Lake – time to get the camp bed out for the middle part of the match!

 

1^st 59- 4 – Dave Wride – p33

2^nd 41- 4 – Glen Bailey – p5

3^rd 41- 1 – Lee Waller – p40

4^th 35- 8 – Ray Bazeley – p10

5^th 31-12 – S Rolf – p34

6^th 28- 0 – Mike Chapman – p24

 

Silvers

1^st 18- 0 – Charlie Barnes – p22

2^nd 10-14 – Andy Gard – p31

26/05/13 - Acorns - Paddock

Weight - 48lb 8oz
Catch - 23 Carp, 3 Tench, 1 F1, 1 Perch
Weather - Warm & sunny!
Match - Pole Only Series - rd6 - 19th out of 32, 4th out of 8 section.

Well regular readers noticed I hadn't blogged about round 5 of this series and I promptly received some stick at the draw, about you cant blog only about the good days, etc, etc. Fair enough and normally I do, but on this occasion, the wind buggered up the fishing and I was left a little fed-up. Peg 3 on the small lake, I decided to target the silvers, but presentation was difficult, combined with lost/bumped fish meant I only weighed 14lb 8oz of skimmers with a few carp. Very frustrating.

Back to today and I wasn't really looking forward it. I just wanted this series to end, because it has been really poor for me.

Peg 22 was OK, which offered a chance of a section pick up, but unlikely to frame. For company I had Eddie Wynn on the other side of the bridge and Lewis Jones to my left on p23 who was in the next section.

Well it made a nice change to be fishing in the sun. No thermals, no wind, no ice, something had to go wrong. With John Bradford (p13) and Kev Perry (p15) likely to target silvers, I didn't think there was any point targeting them from this peg, so only a couple carp rigs were set up.

- HB Billybob 0.1g > .14 > 16 B911 - expander/meat - across to the island
- HB Redneck 0.3g > .17 > 12 carp feeder - paste
- HB rat catcher 2 > .16 > 16 B911 - hair rig pellet

With the warm weather I didn't expect too much to be caught down the track, however from the start I fed 6mm pellet at 5m in the hope of catch a few carp late on paste.

On the all-in I started by the bridge toss potting 4s with either 4 or 6mm expander on the hook. By the end of the first hour I had a small tench and 6 carp, which was a good start, but the issue with these bridge pegs is the size of the carp, which tend to be on the small side. With that in mind I kept feeding the 5m line and had been catapulting 6s slightly to my left by the island where it was much shallower, however I struggled to get a proper bite on pellet.

Having rested the bridge swim, I kept catching on the expander, before it slowed down again. In an effort to refresh the swim I started to feed meat and I had a another run of fish, including a decent tench.

Despite catapulting feed to the left hand swim I was really struggling to get a proper bite, whilst Lewis was catching most put ins. Speaking to him afterwards he said there was quite a few fish between him and Jason Radford who was 2 pegs down.

I decided to set up a paste rig to fish against the island and soon had 3 carp, which were a bigger stamp than those from the bridge.

With 1hr 15mins to go I was up to 20 carp and decided to put in my 3rd net, not because I was near the 70lb limit, but knew I would be close to 40-50lb and if I kept going at the rate was I catching 60-70lb was likely. The 3rd net syndrome kicked in big time, were I didn't catch for an hour. From those I could see I thought I was doing OK, it looked like Tom Thick on p18 had the section sewed up, but 2nd place was up for grabs. I had seen Bob Gullick on p16 catching & walking around, Glen Bailey was catching a few and I was fairly sure I was ahead of Eddie.

However that hour blank spell cost me 2nd place in section. Initially I couldn't get a bite on paste, then I lost a fish, I couldn't get the paste rig to settle properly and I even managed to get my hook wrapped around the elastic on the catapult and started shipping that out. All the time Eddie & Glen in particular were catching, whilst I disengaged my brain and fished like a muppet. With my head up my arse, I forgot to do the things I had been doing, but after calming myself down, I caught 3 carp in the last 15mins. I only needed 2, maybe 3 carp during that blank hour spell to have claimed 2nd in section from Bob Gullick who weighed 52-4.

Congratulations to those who picked up in the league, I will fish next year and hope the weather gods are kinder.

1st 112-15 - Brian Slipper - p33
2nd 112- 3 - Pete Bartlett - p9
3rd 108-14 - Lewis Jones - p23
4th 99-15 - Tony Rixon - p1
5th 87-12 - Tim Ford - p8
6th 87-12 - Tom Thick - p18

Silvers
1st 34- 4 - Paul Faires - p3 - top lake
2nd 21- 4 - Glenn Calvert - p30
2nd 21- 4 - Russ Peck - p8 - top lake

28/04/13 - Acorns - Paddock

Weight - 20lb 14oz
Catch - 11 Carp, 3 Skimmers, 1 Crucian, 1 Rudd, 1 Perch
Weather - Sunny start, cool & windy later
Match - Pole Only series - 4th round

The 4th round of this well run league meant I was on D section, pegs 23-38, with 36 & 38 being the favoured pegs since they came 2nd & 3rd in yesterdays match. The question for our section would Bob “bridge troll” Gullick draw another bridge peg? Well I drew 33 and Pete Bartlett had 34, so Bob had to do with 23.

I was quite happy with my draw, there was a few a fish moving around and the signs were for a good day, although the forecast for increasing winds proved to be correct and it was quite chilly - back on with the extra fleece.

To be honest my match was quite forgettable. Initially targeted the far side fishing shallow with 6 or 8mm pellet, catapulting 6s, the problem was the fish were quite small and I wasn’t catching them quickly enough. I think had the sun stayed out the fish would have been happier in the shallow water, but with the wind & increasing cloud cover the fish backed off. Fishing meat by the bridge, only produced silly bites from small fish, so I going nowhere fast.

By the half way mark Pete, Bob & Brian Slipper (p30) had caught a few better fish and I expected Chris Fox (p38) & Gordon Canning (p36) to have caught as well. So I decided to target some silvers, since I hadn't seen many being caught. I had been feeding caster to the p32 pallet which has done me well in recent matches but nothing, not even on maggot. I had also been feeding a small amount of groundbait and pellet down the track, which didn’t produce either.

Eventually I managed a few skimmers down the track on 4mm expander and a couple of carp turned up over my caster. Targeting the silvers was the right idea, because Chris won the sections silvers with only 4-8, mostly thanks to a big tench, but I just couldn’t get a run of bites together. By concentrating on the silvers, meant I slipped down the section.

In hindsight, I was trying to do too much in the first half the match and ended up confusing myself, when I should have just focused on doing one thing or the other. To be honest I will be glad to see the back of this league, because it just hasn’t gone my way at all. Lets hope for a decent last 2 matches.

1st 104- 8 - Joe Mcmahon - p40
2nd 102-10 - Mike Nicholls - p9
3rd 68- 8 - Tom Thick - p12
4th 60- 6 - Matt Tomes - p4 top lake
5th 57-14 - Lance Tucker - p4
6th 54-13 - Andy France - p13

Silvers
1st 34- 6 - Mark Broomsgrove - p3 top lake
2nd 24- 6 - Paul Casson - p5 top lake
3rd 22- 2 - Glenn Calvert - p8 top lake
4th 21- 7 - Dave Wride - p2 top lake
5th 16- 4 - John Bradford - p6
6th 14- 7 - Tony Rixon - p1 top lake

14/04/13 - Acorn - Paddock

Weight - 27lb 11oz (9lb 3oz - silvers)
Catch - 6 Carp, 5 Skimmers, 3 Tench, 1 Rudd, 1 Roach, 1 Perch
Weather - Strong winds to start, quieten down later.
Match - Pole Only - rd 3 - 16th out of 32 (5th out of 8 - sections, 3rd - silvers)

I’m thinking of re-naming this Pole Only series the “poor weather series”. Following the bitterly easterlies in the first round and ice in the second round, we were back to the wind, but at least this time it was blowing from the south.

 

It was my turn for C Section (pegs 12-22) and being on the long straight meant no shelter for anyone, with the wind blowing the full length of the section. Despite the wind p12 looked to be the favourite draw (as it was in the previous 2 rounds) and we shouldn’t have been surprised when league leader Pete Bartlett drew it. So that was gone, which meant the next best draw would be 21 & 22 around the bridge. Again we shouldn’t have been surprised when Bob “bridge troll” Gullick drew 22, I think that’s 7 or 8 matches on the bounce when he has drawn a bridge! Russ Peck was on 22.

 

As for me p19 was my home, which I wasn’t particularly happy about since it’s the narrowest peg at 11m wide in the section. However I could at least reach the far bank in the gale force winds and with the increase in temperatures I was hopeful of catching a few carp shallow. Having said I considered my best chance of a pick up would be to target the silvers, although the pegs to my right is the better area.

 

Due to the wind I set up a 1g rig to fish down the track, over groundbait and micros and a 0.4g chump to fish by the p20 pallet which was fed with caster and maggot. Bob also fed the pallet, but only with a small amount of corn, so no damage done.

 

Starting at 8m I caught a small 8oz tench after 15mins on maggot, which was eventually followed by a 12oz skimmer. Looking around no one was really catching much, so I struck with the 8m line. In the meantime I had been catapulting 6s to the far bank, although quite a lot actually landed on the island. After 30mins of catapulting I saw a swirl and went straight over with hair rigged 6mm and promptly hooked a carp which was foul hooked and came off. At the time I thought at least the fish appear to want some feed and kept catapulting the 6s into the far bank. Unfortunately the carp just didn’t settle and I had to cut back on the feed.

 

The next few hours was a case of rotating between the pallet and the 8m line. The pallet produced a rudd, then a 2.5lb tench, whilst I had a couple more decent skimmers and a carp from the 8m line. With 2.5hrs left, I guessed I was near top in the section and well ahead in the silvers. At the time because I was “so far ahead” in the silvers I unsuccessfully tried for some more carp on pellet.

 

At this point the wind was easing to the point it dropped completely. My 1g rig no longer looked right and set up a 0.3g frostie to fish down the track. With the wind dropping it also meant I could more comfortably fish the 2^nd shelf down and soon had another skimmer and another tench, plus more carp – happy days, but I couldn't catch down the track.

 

Chris Fox to my right in the meantime could now fish his far line, catching a big 2lb perch and a tench. Oh dear, the silvers prize was no longer certain. During the gale, Chris had managed to catch small skimmers and a few roach, which meant it was now very close between the 2 of us, so time to concentrate on the silvers, because almost everyone was now catching carp from the far bank and I couldn't catch enough from my narrower swim.

 

I did manage a few more carp and skimmers, but in hindsight I was beginning to regret being too aggressive with my feed. I had kept pinging caster to the pallet with the intention of giving another go towards the end of the match. Unfortunately Bob beat me to it, losing a foul hooked tench.

 

Come the weigh in, it came as no surprise that Pete on p12 won the section with 75-14, which included 10lb of F1s. With no other silvers weights it was between Chris and myself and as soon as he pulled his net out I knew I couldn’t beat him when he weight 9-13. Those smaller fish counted for a lot. My 9-3 was more than I expected, but the good news was Chris came 2^nd in the section with 37-9 so I picked up the silvers my double de-fault.

 

The irony today was I needed the wind to keep blowing, because in the last couple of hours I struggled to catch.

 

1st 83-8 - Mike Owens - p7

2nd 75-14 - Pete Bartlett - p12

3rd 70-12 - Lewis Jones - p8

4th 60- 1 - Tim Ford - p30

5th 54- 3 - Tom Thick - p40

5th 54- 3 - Andy France - p9

 

Silvers

1st 16-12 - John Bradford - top lake 6

2nd 14-15 - Lance Tucker - top lake 3

3rd 12-14 - Mark Broomsgrove - p36

4th 12- 1 - Dave Poole - top lake 7

31/03/13 - Acorns - Paddock

Weight - 18lb 12oz
Catch - 9 Carp, 1 F1
Weather - Frozen overnight. Sunny, but cold easterly wind
Match - Pole Only Series rd 2 - 18th out of 32, 8th out of 8 section

After yesterdays match I was feeling confident, with a clear idea of how I would attack the match. However fishing has a habit of kicking you were it hurts sometimes.

Today was another free draw, but would dictate the rotation for the next 3 rounds with C section (pegs 12-22) in 2 weeks.

When we arrived the lakes were frozen, which tempered my initial excitement of drawing peg 6, the form peg in recent matches. As I was clearing the ice, the wind was blowing more into my peg and I spent as long as I could with the help from Chris Fox (cheers mate) clearing as much as I could from my peg.

For company I had Chris on peg 7 and Bob Gullick on p40. I started fishing tight to the bridge, but the wind was proving troublesome blowing right across me and both Chris & I swore a couple of times as we tried to control our rigs.

Fortunately I had a couple of carp on maggot and as yet hadn't fed anything. Bob in the meantime was able to control his rig more easily, since my side of the bridge resembled the north sea and Bobs was a mill pond.

The wind did ease a little later in the match, but what killed my match (as well as Chris's) was another sheet ice which had been covering peg 5 drifted into my peg, so I was off my box again clearing more ice. The wind also caused a strong undertow and the melting ice water ran though the peg.

I did try to catch close to the island, but only had an F1, which meant all my carp came from the bridge. I didn't fed much and too be honest I wasn't sure whether feeding was actually benefiting me, since all the fish caught were away from the feed.

To be honest I was gutted come the weigh in, to drew a flyer, but only for the weather to defeat me. I caught more carp than most, but they were a smaller stamp.

1st 65- 4 - Pete Bartlett - p8
2nd 52-12 - Paul Faires - A4 (top lake)
3rd 39-10 - Tom Thick - A2
4th 39- 4 - Bela Bakos - A5
5th 38- 7 - Bob Gullick - p40
6th 36-14 - Eddie Wynne - A8

Silvers
1st 37- 2 - Tom Thick - A2
2nd 36- 4 - Glenn Bailey - A3
3rd 20-10 - Andy France - A1
4th 10-12 - Mark Broomsgrove - p16
5th 9-12 - Russ Peck - p9

30/03/12 - Acorns - Paddock

Weight - 37lb 3oz (7lb 10oz - silvers)
Catch - 11 Carp, 7 F1, 7 Skimmers, 1 Rudd
Weather - Mostly sunny, cold NE breeze
Match - Open - 5th out of 25 (3rd - silvers)

Really bored with this weather now and the Met office predicts another 7-10 days of this easterly system. Also this March has been the coldest since 1962 - no kidding!

I was a bit surprised to find 25 had booked in. Turns out today was advertised as an Easter open, with £20 pools instead the usual £12. However, the payout was top 3 overall and top 2 silvers only, with no sections so the draw was going to be all important.

Peg 12 was my home for the day, which I was reasonably happy with, but felt I would be up against it, with the better draws at the moment being around the small island. For company I had Lewis Jones on p10 and an angler I didn't know on p13. At least I had some room into the corner, but another frosty night meant a slow start.

After plumbing around I settled on fishing down my right hand margin on the 2nd shelf feeding caster and 2 areas against the island on the 2nd shelf, feeding micros and 4s. I also had a swim in the open water to my right and at the bottom of the far shelf.

Rig wise I set up 3 rigs, but only ended up using 2. Jolly 4x16 > .08 > 20 silverfish maggot for the open water and frostie 0.3g > .10 > 18 silverfish pellet to fish the 2nd shelf.

On the all in a small ball of groundbait with micros was cupped into the open water and a pinch of micros at the bottom of the shelf. It was no surprise it took 30mins to catch my fist fish a small skimmer on maggot over the groundbait. My first carp was a 6-7lber over the micros, which took a while to land on .08 bottom.

I kept the caster going into the right hand margin, as well as loose feed 4s to the left side of the island and micros on the point. There was definitely a few fish moving around, but they were reluctant to feed in the cold. By the half way point I had a few more skimmers and carp for about 15lb on double maggot from the island, which was on par with Lewis, but every time I looked up pegs 6 & 7 were landing fish.

First look into the right hand margin and I had a carp straight away, but lost the 2nd. The open water swim produced a couple more skimmers and F1s mostly over the groundbait, whilst the 2nd shelf accounted for more carp.

With an hour to go I knew I was fishing for at least 3rd, but didn't realistically think I would challenge for the silvers, so stuck with the carp, landing another 4. That decision probably cost me £70. I beat everyone around me, p13 only weighed 4lb, whilst Lewis had 23lb. However my silvers weighed 7-10 and 8-2 was needed to win! A surprisingly low weight.

In the end I felt I fished a good match and got the most out of the swim (except for the silvers). If I repeated that in tomorrows pole only series I would have won the section.

1st 55- 6 - Mark Bartlett - p6
2nd 47- 1 - Ade Baker - p7
3rd 45-12 - Shane Lovell - p5
4th 37-15 - Mark Walsh - p37
5th 37- 3 - Ken Rayner - p12
6th 34- 1 - D Blakemore - p9

Silvers
1st 8- 2 - Charlie Barnes - p26
2nd 8- 0 - Rob Fogg - p15
3rd 7-10 - Ken Rayner - p12

10/03/13 - Acorns - Top Lake

Weight - 5lb
Catch - 12 Skimmers
Weather - Cloudy, bitterly cold north easterly wind
Match - Pole Only Series - rd 1 - 27th out of 32 (8th out of 8 - section)

I was looking forward to this series, with all matches on Acorns, rather than being split with Plantations. Originally there was suppose to be 40 anglers, but only 32 stumped up the cash, which at least means the pegging wont be as tight as it could be. What I wasn’t looking to was sitting in the bitterly cold north easterly wind and everyone wanted to draw out of the wind, which isn’t easy at Acorns.

I was more than happy to pull peg 2 on the top lake, because it was mostly out of the worst of the wind, although it was still blowing into my face. The lake is also nicknamed the dog bone lake, becuase it is wider at both ends and narrower in middle. My peg was opposite Nick Harvey on peg 1 who was looking very pleased with himself, with the wind off his back and flat water in front. We both thought we would do well, because neither of us fancied being drawn at the top end where it was really exposed to the elements.

On the all in a small amount of micros & maggot was deposited at 6m and against the end bank, which had the same depth as the rest of the peg. After 90mins I caught my first fish, a skimmer from the end bank.

Tim Ford on p7 called to see how I getting on. At the time I still only had 1 skimmer, whilst Nick had 1 small carp. Tim said that most had caught a few fish, so I was falling behind, although at the time I wasn’t overly concerned about the lack of activity, because I was sure I would catch, but I was in danger of having to play catch up.

Since my carefully fed short swim wasn’t working, a ball of groundbait was deposited at 10m, whilst I kept drip feeding micros and maggot into the end bank, expecting the swim to come to life later on. Having left the groundbait for 10mins, I caught a skimmer straight away, before losing 3 mainly due to the wind which was increasing in strength. I had been using a 0.5g chump, but felt I needed a heavier float so set up a .75g polar ice which sat better in the worsening conditions, but I couldn’t get another bite.

I had fed a ball of groundbait to my right, but never had a bite, so I fed another ball to my left and I had my best spell of the match with 7 skimmers in the last 30nins.

I think today I can genuinely say I had drawn the wrong of the section, with the bottom 3 in section all coming from my end of the lake. In hindsight I should have fed groundbait earlier, I may have caught more then Paul on p3 who had 7-11, but next best weight was 12lb so miles away really. At least I know which result I will be dropping.

1st 68- 2 – Paul Bartlett – p9
2nd 62- 9 – Mike Owens – p34
3rd 52-10 – Lewis Jones – p7
4th 44- 8 – Chris Fox – p33
5th 44- 4 – Matt Tomes – p38
6th 36-12 – Mike Nicholls – p12

Silvers
1st 14- 6 – Nigel Vigus – top lake 8
2nd 12- 0 – Tim Ford – top lake 7
3rd 9- 0 – Lance Tucker – top lake 4
4th 8- 8 – Nigel Bartlett – top lake 6

09/03/13 - Acorns - Paddock

Weight - 17lb 2oz (7lb 6oz - silvers)
Catch - 4 Carp, 8 Skimmers, 3 Rudd, 3 Perch, 2 F1, 1 Tench, 1 Roach
Weather - Cloudy, slight northerly breeze
Match - Open - 6th out of 9 (2nd - silvers)

With the 1st round of the pole only series starting on Sunday I decided to book in at Acorns and was surprised to see only 4 names on the list. Eventually 9 turned up, but the low numbers was a result of a league match at Plantations.

Since there were only 9 of us it was decided to have a rover and I had 7th choice. I picked p33, although in hindsight I should have gone for p5. For company I had Mark Walsh on p34, but everyone else was spread around. As we were setting up a couple of carp rolled 2 pegs down so I was hopeful of a few fish, but the cold easterly weather system was still persisting, so no-one was too sure how it would go.

Well the answer was hard. With so few on the lake, it was easy enough for the fish to hide away. I decided not to bother with the groundbait today because it proved fairly in conclusion on Tuesday, but settled on feeding micros, by the bridge and 11m to my right down the track.

Unfortunately I couldn’t get a bite and it was an hour before I had my first fish, a small rudd on maggot. I had started feeding caster by the pallet on p32, which produced most of my silvers throughout the day, but I couldn’t catch more than 2 fish at a time.

The bridge swim didn’t produce anything and Mark only had 2 F1s early on from his side of the bridge so they just didn’t seem to be any fish there. In fact Mark caught mostly fishing to his left in the open water. Down the track to my right I only managed a few small skimmers on pellet, by continually drip feeding micros.

In the 2nd hour of the match I had decided to start ping 4s to the far bank in an attempt to pull in those carp that had been boshing further down the lake. I had periodically tried the far side and eventually the carp turned up with only 30mins left, catching 4 and losing a 5th. Had they turned up 30-45mins earlier I am certain I would have framed.

Come the weigh in I was left a little annoyed to find out that silvers payout was worth more than 2nd overall. Because there was less than 10 anglers the normal ready reckoner pinned up in the café didn’t apply, so I was unfortunately deprived of a silvers pick up by default.

1st 32-12 – Lee Waller – p6
2nd 27- 1 – Andy Gard – p38
3rd 24- 2 – Mark Walsh – p34
4th 21-14 – Siman Ryall – p9
5th 18-14 – Rob Smith – p21
6th 17- 2 – Ken Rayner – p33

Silvers
1st 23- 4 – Andy Gard – p38
2nd 7- 6 – Ken Rayner – p33