20/12/14 - Emerld Pool

Weight - 17lb 9oz
Catch - 29 Skimmers, 5 Tench, 3 Roach, 1 Eel
Weather - Mostly cloudy, windy
Match - Silverfish League rd 6 - 4th out of 7

Yes, my blog is a little, but to be honest after suffering one of the worst weekends fishing, not because of the fishing itself, but the context of missing out on 2 leagues, I didn't have much enthusiasm. Although having said that I haven't had much spare time, since starting my new job, which is going really well.

So Saturdays match and the fact I was still in contention for an overall payout was a surprise, particularily after the 4th round when I caught very few silvers, but plenty of carp. However a win in the last round and a few results going my way, meant that Tim Lewis, Kev Jefferies and myself were all on the same number of points, although I had the lowest weight aggregate, which meant 1 of us was going to missed out, because Dom Sullivan already had the league sewn up.

Its a shame that Dom could only muster 9 anglers for the league, however getting anglers to fish Saturday proved difficult. Unfortunately only 7 turned up for today.

Drop outs seems to be a real problem at the moment regardless of who is running the league. Its usually the same people, which is why I didn't invite 2 anglers to the Lands End winter league this year. There will always be very good reasons why an angler cant attend a match at short notice, but not to attend because you aren't doing well, is unacceptable. Personally I think its disrespectful to the other anglers who are committed to fishing and unless the organiser can get a replacement, it means the numbers are down, which reduces the pay outs and makes it harder for those in the "chasing pack" to get into the pay out positions. I think some anglers, just need to consider the consequences of their actions and how it affects others, because the amount of effort to set-up and manage a league is considerable, which is made harder when people don't turn up. Just remember without match organisers who volunteer their own time there wont be a match or league to fish in the first instance.

Anyway, having got that off my chest! Back to Saturday match. We were all surprised to see the aerator was on when we arrived. Fortunately it was turned off, but since there was only 7 of us, Dom decided not to include pegs 1 & 2 on the island, because they haven't been the best and the carp seem to be in resident in the area.

I fancied either 3 or 8, but ended up with p9, on the left hand shallow end of the lake, which wasn't ideal. Tim drew p8 and I immediately thought he would be difficult to beat. Kev in the meantime was on p6 so at least I could keep an eye on them both.

I had set up 3 rigs, but only ended up catching on 1 (jolly 4x12 > .08 > 22 silverfish maggot). As I was setting up a robin was very eager to take advantage of any free offering. Also Alan the owner came round and said I would struggle from the peg, due to the cold week - great, thanks for that.

Plumbing up revealed the deepest part of the peg was to my right, which received a golf ball of groundbait and pinkie, as did the 13m line, which was shallower. I also started feeding maggot at 5m.

Tim had already landed a tench, before  I finished feeding. After a slow start I began catching on single pinkie, toss potting pinkie, whilst keeping the right hand swim topped up. Over the next 2.5hrs, by rotating swims I kept putting fish in the net, including some better fish on double pinkie or maggot.

The short line only produced 1 tench, but plenty of ineligible fantails, so I didn't spend too much time here. I also started feeding to my left in the corner, but never had a bite.

The 4th hour was interputed by carp and a busted rig that pinged up into the branches, slowed my progress. Everytime I thought I had caught up with Tim, he would catch a couple tench. Kev looked like he was struggling, but beyond that I couldn't how everyone else was doing.

An improved last hour saw me land some better sized skimmers and  to be honest thought I done OK from the peg, only just being beaten by Tim. Dom completed his dominance of the league winning the match. Unfortunately whilst I beat Kev, todays match proved to be his dropped result and Andy Gards late run of tench meant I finished 4th in the match and 4th in the league on weight count back.

Looking back I should have done better in the earlier rounds, however well done to Dom who showed us all how to fish for silvers.

1st 23- 4 - Dom Sullivan - p5
2nd 19- 9 - Tim Lewis - p8
3rd 18- 6 - Andy Gard - p4
4th 17- 9 - Ken Rayner - p9

Final League Position
1st Dom Sullivan - 7pts
2nd Tim Lewis - 17pts
3rd Kev Jefferies - 19pts (116-0)
4th Ken Rayner - 19pts (111-15) 
 

06/12/14 - Emerald Pool - Emerald

Weight - 14lb 4oz
Catch - 18 Tench, 6 Skimmers
Weather - Frosty start. Cold, sunny and flat
Match - Silverfish League - rd 5 - 1st out of 8

After the disappointment of the last round, when I couldn't catch anything but carp in the later half of the match, I felt any chance of a league pick up was unlikely. However there was an outside chance assuming I won and other results my way.

Another freezing start and the colour had dropped out of the lake, which at least meant the carp where unlikely to be active. I thought 10lb would be a good weight today, although Dom was a little more optimistic with 18-20lb being needed to win. I found myself on peg 8, which along with peg 3 has been a good area for tench, which I didn't think would feed after a frost.

Only 2 rigs for today, because it was pretty much the same depth all over, including down the margins.

- Jolly 4x12 > .08 > 22 silverfish maggot
- HB Frostie 0.3g > .10 > 20 silverfish pellet (only used for 5mins)

On the all in, a golf ball of groundbait (black mussel & squid & black lake) with a pinch of pinkie and caster was deposited at 11.5m and some micros at 13m to my left. Starting at 11.5m I had a few tremors on the float and missed a bite on maggot. So switched to single pinkie and got a positive bite, which I initially thought was a carp or fantail (which don't count), but was relieved to see an unseasonal tench pop up.

By toss potting pinkie I kept catching mostly tench, which to be honest was a surprise, because I didn't expect them to feed, but I wasn't complaining. It was becoming obvious that everyone was struggling. John to my right had a couple of fantails, but no proper silvers, Dom to my left on peg 6 hooked his first fish after 2hrs, which was a carp, as was his 2nd. 

Swapping left and right kept the fish coming, but in the 3rd hour it slowed down. I had been feeding both margins, with maggot/pinkie to my left and maggot/caster to my right, but never had a bite from either.

With an hour to go, I was still catching the odd fish, but really needed to increase my catch rate, because I could Dom starting to catch quiet regularly. Over the left hand swim I put in a full toss pot of pinkie and my 11.5m swim was extended to 13m which received a ball of groundbait.

All this improved matters, particularly in the last 30mins when I had another run of fish, which made me breath a little easier. Come the weigh in it became obvious how hard it was, with 2 anglers only catching a single fish, which is incredible when you think about how many silvers are in this lake.

This series hasn't quite gone to plan for one reason or another, so I really pleased to have won and with other results going my way, there are now 3 of us all on the same points in 2nd place, which means a straight forward shot out in the last round.

1st 14-4 Ken Rayner - p8
2nd 10- 0 Dom Sullivan - p6
3rd 8- 7 Barry Fitchew - p4
4th 6- 9 Kev Jefferies - p3
5th 6- 1 Andy Gard - p1
6th 5- 8 Darren Greenwood - p5

22/11/14 - Emerald Pool

Weight - 9lb 13oz
Catch - 26 Skimmers, 2 Tench, 2 Hybrids, 2 Roach, 1 Rudd
Weather - Wet start, but mostly sunny
Match - Silverfish League - rd 4 - 7th out of 8

Not much to write about in this blog. The 4th round of this silverfish league and with 3 of us sat on the same points for 3rd in the league a decent draw would be required. The weather this week has seen colder, wetter conditions moving in and on the drive down the motorway the rain was so heavy I had to slow down. Fortunately by the time I arrived the storm had pasted, however the aerator was on and all this was doing was circulating the cold water. So a draw well away from the aerator would be required.

Only 8 of us today, because the 9th man decided not to fish the rest of the league and Dom decided to leave out peg 2 which was the closest the aerator. I really fancied peg 3, 7 or 8, but found myself on peg 1 again, which I wasn't happy about

The tow created by the aerator wasn't too bad if I fished to my right, but a combination of the light and constant waves created by the aerator meant I had to choose carefully were I fished so I could see my float

The first half of this 5hr match proved to be OK, I had a few fish at 4m on maggot over caster and the most productive swim was 11m towards the overhanging tree on the other island. After initially cupping in a ball of groundbait and then toss potting caster I picked up a number skimmers. On the opposite bank Barry on p3 had a few tench and was ahead of me, but I felt I was on par with Kev and Tim on p4 & p5.

The 2nd half of the match proved to be very difficult with very few silvers, but I did catch carp and fantails. I even set up a swim at 13m in open water and still managed to catch carp. With so many carp in the swim it unsettled the skimmers and ended up tipping back 7 carp & 8 fantails for about 30lb, as well as a few lost carp, which was to be expected when using 0.08 bottoms.

All this meant my league is effectively over with 2 rounds to go. Whilst its tempting not to bother with the next 2 rounds I have committed to fishing. Its not fair on the organiser who has taken time out to set things up and its not fair on the other anglers, since it makes it harder for those with an outside chance of picking up

Overall the venue fished quite hard and the big weights of last year seem to be a distant memory. It could be the weather or it could be the fish have wised up, although its noticeable I haven't caught nearly as many hybrids I did last year. Today I don't think it was any surprise that the top 3 weights came from the pegs closest to the aerator. I'm not bitter, honest! 

1^st 27- 4 – Dom Sullivan – p9
2^nd 25-11 – Andy Gard – p8
3^rd 22-13 – Barry Fitchew – p3
4^th 18- 8 – Kev Jefferies – p4

08/11/14 - Emerald Pool - Emerald

Weight - 11lb 6oz
Catch - 34 Skimmers, 5 Hybrids, 2 Perch, 2 Roach, 1 Rudd
Weather - Wet & windy start, clearing later
Match - Silverfish League - rd 3 - 3rd out of 7

Sometimes you have to question your sanity, as I was setting up on peg 1 in the wind and rain for the 3^rd round of this silverfish series. Unfortunately we had 2 no shows, Barry let Dom know he couldn’t make, but Simon decided just not to turn up. As a fellow match organiser, it is incredibly frustrating when people do this and I don’t understand why people think it’s acceptable.

 

Anyway, peg 1 was on the right hand side of the small island. So far it won the first match, but came last in the 2^nd match and carp can be a problem, so it was anyone’s guess how it would fish. Having said that, I thinks it’s fair to say winter finally arrived this week, with much colder overnight temperatures.

Today was at least milder, but it was raining hard and the wind was blowing straight up the lake left to right. I set up 4 rigs to cover all eventualities.
-  Chimp 0.3g > .10 > 20 silverfish maggot (top 7)
- Jolly 4x14 > .10 > 20 silverfish maggot (top 4 & margin)
-  Chimp 0.4g > .10 > 18 silverfish maggot (in case I started bagging or the wind really picked up)
-   0.2g shallow rig

Based on the last match, decided to simplify my approach, so on the all in, only 2 swims were fed, leaving plenty of space to move into if required. On my top 4 a small ball of groundbait/caster was fed and my top 7 got 2 small balls/caster.

Starting on the top 4 I soon had a perch, and then hooked 3 carp. A switch to the top 7 line and I started to catch, but it was slow going. In fact everyone seemed to be struggling and not what we expected.

The next few hours was a case of switching lines and working out how to feed. Actually found it best to feed a small ball of feed with caster, leave it alone for a 10mins or so and I would get a run of skimmers, before they back off again. At one point early on I tried the shallow rig, without success.

The top 4 line proved to be really disappointing, which had been feed with caster and only produced a few skimmers/hybrids. So this was binned and I started feeding caster in the margins hoping for a tench or 2. I also started another top 7 swim to my right. This worked a little better, providing a few more skimmers, but it was still hard going.

Fortunately the rain stopped after a couple hours and it was a lot brighter, which seemed to coincide with the fishing slow down even further. From the anglers I could see, I thought Tim opposite on p5 may be ahead of me thanks to some tench, but everyone expect for Dom were struggling for bites and thankful the match was only 5hrs instead of 6 hrs.

The last hour for me proved to be difficult as the carp became more active. I tried starting 2 new swims, but only had 1 skimmer and several lost carp.

I was first to be weighed and Dom thought I would have enough to claim 2^nd and that was the way it was looking until John Barker on p8 put 29lb on the scales made up of quiet a few tench.

1^st – 29-11 – John Barker – p8
2^nd – 27-14 – Dom Sullivan  - p6
3^rd – 11- 6 – Ken Rayner – p1
4^th – 9- 8 – Kev Jeffries – p7

25/10/14 - Emerald Pool

Weight - 39lb 3oz
Catch - 74 Skimmers/Hybrids, 12 Tench, 3 Rudd, 1 Roach
Weather - Mostly cloudy.
Match - Silverfish League rd 2 - 4th out of 9

The 2^nd round of this silvers league and after a bad first round I needed to put in a better performance. 

Peg 8 was home for the day, which put was on the shallower left hand side of the far bank, which is a nice peg, but it is a bit of birdcage with low overhanging branches, which meant I had to be careful where I placed my box to ensure the branches would cause the least problems.

 

Plumbing around I decided to fish 8m left and right, as well as the margins. Only 2 rigs got used a SM Chimp 0.3g > .12 > 16 silverfish pellet and a Jolly 4x12 > .10 > 20 silverfish maggot.

On the all in, 2 balls of groundbait went in to my right and a single ball to my left. Starting on the left hand side I soon caught a few skimmers and tench on worm or maggot, but after an hour only had 13 fish, which I didn’t feel was quick enough. I had been toss potting a small ball of groundbait/caster, which certainly pulled the fish in, but it was taking too long to get a proper bite and I had to change something.

Since the chimp rig sat better in the skimming breeze I switched to a lighter .10 > .20 silverfish pellet hooklength and stopping feeding groundbait into the right hand swim, simply feeding caster/maggot i.e. toss pot. I still kept feeding groundbait into the left side.

This definitely improved matters catching a lot quicker over the right side with either single or double maggot. Whilst I couldn’t catch as quickly over the left hand groundbait it did produce slightly better sized skimmers.

By the half way stage I was up to 53 fish and really enjoying my day. Unfortunately the fourth hour proved difficult, losing 2 tench at the net and on both occasions my rig ended up in the overhanging branches. The 2^nd time it happened I couldn’t save the rig so had to set up a new one from scratch, since ruining my duplicate plumbing up whilst setting up.

Throughout I had been feeding caster into the left side margin and groundbait/caster into the right. Strangely the left margin only produced 1 bite after feeding it for 4 hours, so I ended up concentrating on the right side catching some decent skimmers and a few more tench, including a 3lber which I thought it was another carp when I hooked it, quickly getting it back onto my to top kit. When I realised it was a tench, I played it a little more carefully!

During the last 90mins I got back into a rhythm catching more from the margin. Come the weigh in I have to admit I was disappointed to miss out on framing and a pickup. Those 2 lost tench proved costly. This is the 3^rd match on the trot where lost fish has cost me money. Losing rigs to overhanging trees didn’t help either.

That aside it was an enjoyable day with plenty of bites and this was my best silvers weight from the venue, so an improvement on my part. Dom definitely has the venue sussed at the moment, easily winning and he will be difficult to beat for the overall league.

1^st 61-2 - Dom Sullivan – p7
2^nd 43-10 – Tim Lewis – p3
3^rd 40-13 – Kev Jeffries – p5
4^th 39- 3 – Ken Rayner – p8
5^th 27-11 – Barry Fitchew – p4
6^th 26-14 – Darren Greenwood – p2

11/10/14 - Emerald Pool

Weight - 29lb 6oz
Catch - 58 Skimmers, 25 Hybrids, 2 Roach, 1 Tench, 1 Perch
Weather - Mostly warm and sunny
Match - Silver Only Series rd 1 - 7th out of 9

I’ve been a little slack on my blogs recently, mainly due to a lack of time as a result of work pressures, so last weekend’s blog will be fairly short and both matches proved frustrating for different reasons.

Saturdays match was the first of 6 rounds of a silvers only league at Emerald Pool run by Dominic Sullivan. Originally I think Dom wanted 14 or so, however getting people to commit to a Saturday league proved difficult with the final total being 9. For this series the definition of silvers would exclude anything with carp in the name, so fantails, F1, goldfish and crucians wouldn’t count.

I have to admit my silverfish fishing with natural baits is a little behind some of the anglers fishing today. Ideally I would have wanted to have a practice but since I couldn’t decided to fish positively, targeting the skimmers and hybrid using pellet & groundbait.

I was happy with my draw which put me on the island, feeding groundbait/pellet at 10m left and right, plus a short caster swim.

I started really well at 10m, catching 40 fish in the first 2 hours either on 4mm expander or worm. Unfortunately, it gradually got worst. I had plenty of fish in the swim judging by the number of bubbles, but getting bites simply proved increasingly difficult.

My caster swim didn’t quite produce as expected and in hindsight I should have replaced my caster rig when it got busted by a carp. So despite the good start, a disappointing result in the end, although plenty learned. I certainly caught plenty of fish, however I didn’t have any bonus tench (except for a small one) or big skimmers.

Either way, nearly 30lb of silvers isn’t a bad days fishing.

1^st 51-11 Darren Greenwood – p1
2^nd 41- 3 Dom Sullivan – p7
3^rd 40-10 Kev Jeffries – p9
4^th 38- 8 Tim Lewis – p8
5^th 32- 4 Andy Gard – p3
^6th 30- 9 Barry Fitchew – p6

08/10/14 - Emerald Pools - Ruby

Weight - 87lb 6oz
Catch - 44 Carp, 5 Roach
Weather - Mostly bright, with odd shower & breezy
Match - Avon Angling Open - 8th out of 15 (3rd out of 9 - lake)

A week off work – yay! Since the budget announcement in March that no one needs to annuitise their pension, my position has effectively become redundant. So I have been working hard in other areas and as yet haven’t taken any prolonged time off, which was much needed.

No fishing last weekend due to Mark Poppleton’s wedding at Wookey Hole, which was a very enjoyable day/evening in excellent company.

Back to today, Tony had 15 turn up with 9 anglers on Ruby and 6 on Sapphire. I had thought about targeting the silvers with a view to the silvers league starting on Saturday and had today’s match been on Emerald I probably would have. Instead I decided to focus on pellet & corn.

My draw put me on Ruby opposite the small island with Emerald behind. Must admit I thought with the forecast wind I would be at the wrong end of the lake and I was disappointed not to have a proper margin to attack, with a willow tree to my left and reed bed to my right.

The intention was to fish pellet or corn at 5m left and right, but decided to set up a paste rig as well, just in case. A shallow rig was also set up to fish by the small island, which was 16m away.

 

Starting on the paste rig next to the reeds I soon had 2 carp, before I couldn’t a proper bite but loads of liners. A switch to the shallow line resulted in 3 lost carp which was frustrating, before I caught a couple of roach on 6mm pellet. 16m was too far to catch roach so concentrated on 8mm pellet, but I spent too long trying to make the shallow line work.

All the while Giles Cochrane opposite was catching well down his margin. Fortunately for me the 2^nd hour was much better by the reeds where I had kept feeding 6s by hand, catching 10 carp all on paste.

The middle part of the match proved to be more difficult. The shallow line produced only 1 carp, which meant I needed to concentrate on the 2 short lines. I had considered setting up a line at 11-13m, but with the increasing wind thought it would be a non-starter.

 

Of the anglers I could see, I thought I was doing OK. Giles had stopped catching carp and switched to silvers, John Thompson and Ron Hardiman were also struggling, as was the angler to my left. By cutting back on my feed I managed to keep the odd fish coming from the reeds on paste, but needed the left hand swim to kick into life.

 

I tried hard pellet, expander, corn and worm, but it was slow going. It may have been because the wind was starting to create a bit of a tow, even a switch to a heavier rig didn’t help, so I was back the paste.

 

The left hand swim eventually kicked into life, by toss potting pellet and a purple patch meant I quickly added more carp, although a little smaller than before, although I managed to nick a couple of better fish from the reeds. Unfortunately, I think I buggered up the last 25mins, by cupping in too much bait when the swim faded, which was disappointing.

 

By the all out I was confident of beating the anglers I could see, but it transpired my fears about being at the wrong end of the lake was well founded with Lee Pesticcio and Phil Harding catching behind the island. Sapphire was the lake to be on through with most anglers catching over a ton. So overall happy enough to claim 3^rd on the lake, but can’t help feel I should have got a ton had I got my feed right.

 

1^st 134- 5 – Lee Pesticcio – Ruby

2^nd 131-10 – Steve Kedge – Sapphire

3^rd 124- 4 – Tony Rixon – Sapphire

4^th 114- 2 – Matt Tomes – Sapphire

5^th 105-15 – Bob Price – Sapphire

6^th 98- 9 – Phil Harding  - Ruby

 

Silvers

1^st 18- 3 – Phil Harding – Ruby

2^nd 17- 4 – Giles Cochrane – Ruby

3^rd 16- 1 – Steve Kedge - Sapphire

23/03/14 - Emerald Pools - Sapphire

Weight - 31lb 8oz
Catch - 17 Carp, 15 Roach, 5 Rudd, 1 Skimmer, 1 Hybrid, 1 Tench
Weather - Mostly, occasional shower. Strong NW breeze
Match - Avon Angling Open - 25th out of 30

I didn’t sleep well, worrying about the consequences of the budget and was wide awake by 4am. At least it gave me a chance to start the 2nd series of Game of Thrones on DVD. After the usual good breakfast at Shipham, 30 of us turned up at Emerald with the match split between Sapphire (16 anglers) and Ruby (14 anglers). I really didn’t care where I drew so long as it was out of the strong north westerly wind. Peg 2 meant I would be fishing from the chalets on Sapphire and more importantly I was out the worst of the wind. 

I’m not going to go into too much detail about how my match went, because I fished a bad match. Admittedly it wasn’t helped by an increasingly bad headache where I felt like throwing up towards the end because I felt so tired. That aside I couldn’t get into any rhythm.

Starting short I had a run of silvers and a couple of carp on 4mm expander, before that died. Fishing towards the island which I hoped would be my banker, however there wasn’t any shallower water and if I got too tight to the reeds there was some underwater obstruction to get hooked on.

I did manage a few fish on pellet by the reeds, but also lost quite a few when they dropped off shipping back. I eventually managed to get a run of  carp by fishing pellet shallow, but in all honesty my swim was worth a lot more than I produced. I was just glad to get home and get my head down

1st 87-12 - Gordon Cannings - p14 (sapphire)
2nd 86-11 - Bela Bakos - p4 (sapphire)
3rd 85-10 - Tom Thick - p3 (sapphire)
4th 80- 8 - Matt Tomes - p28 (ruby)
5th 78- 4 - Dom Sullivan - p20 (ruby)
6th 76- 4 - Craig Edmunds - p19 (ruby)

Silvers
1st 16- 1 - John Bradford - p17 (ruby)
2nd 14- 4 - Steve Seagar - p11 (sapphire)
3rd 13-13 - Clive Feddery - p10 (sapphire)

05/03/14 - Emerald Pool

Weight - 36lb 8oz
Catch - 91 Hybrids, 25 Skimmers, 12 Roach, 1 Rudd
Weather - Light cloud, sunny periods. Frosty start.
Match - Open - 8th out of 16

So a re-run of the match from 2 weeks ago and the weather has become milder, which meant the carp were likely to be more active, which could & did prove problematic for some. Also because some can’t tell the difference between F1s, fantails, crucians and proper carp, all were excluded for the purpose of this match.

Having loaded the trolley with my all my kit, I then walked the 4 paces to my peg, as I drew the peg closest to the draw. Not a great area, with the open water on the opposite bank being the favoured area, however I was looking forward to getting plenty of bites and just enjoying the day. Needless to say there was plenty of banter flying around, particularly from Tom Thick, which was entertaining.

Plumbing around the swim, I found the deepest spot adjacent to the island at 10m and down the channel to my right towards the footbridge. So both these areas received a consignment of groundbait and caster. At 5m I started loose feeding caster.





Rigs for the day:-
- SM Chimp 0.4g > .10 > 18 silverfish pellet – maggot/caster over groundbait
- Jolly 4x12 > .10 > 18 silverfish maggot

After an initial slow start I soon had some pound roach and a few hybrids from the 5m line, before the line faded and a switch to the 10m line produced a run of fish, before that faded. So after the first hour I had 20 fish and 50 by the end of 2^nd hour following a strong run of fish from the 5m line.

The 3^rd hour slowed again, but a golden 45mins over the 10m line during the 4^th hour, where the float barely had chance to settle when a run of better sized skimmers arrived following a big pot of caster and a ball of groundbait. Unfortunately the trick didn’t work quite as well for the a 2^nd time.

The right hand 10m line was proving to be a useful fall back swim for a few extra fish. The 6^th and final hour proved to be really slow, when I only caught a couple of fish in a barren 30min spell. The final 30mins was better when I set up a new swim at 11.5m, plus I had a couple carp which didn’t help. In hindsight and speaking to a couple of regulars I over fed the swim towards the end, but I was hoping to pull in some better fish.

To be honest I wasn’t expecting to do that well from my peg and thought I was ahead of the anglers opposite except for Tom & Steve Tucker, because I was catching quicker, but ultimately it was the average size of fish that let me down. 2 weeks ago I was averaging 3 fish to a pound, today it was 4 fish to a pound, with only a handful fish in excess of 8oz. Having said that what a lovely days fishing and the weights were really tight.

1^st 67- 4 – Tom Thick – p9
2^nd 53- 0 – Steve Tucker – p6
3^rd 45- 0 – Tim Clarke – p5
4^th 39-14 – Harry Muir – p7
4^th 39-14 – John Bradford – p1
6^th 38- 6 – Barry Fitchew – p13