11/11/23 - Goodiford Mill

Weight - DNW

Catch - 1 Carp, 1 Rudd

Weather - Bright and sunny

Match - Uzit Feeder & Lead League - rd 3

Being 3^rd in the league I was hoping for a decent draw to maintain my position. Well, my day went badly. P27 looked like a boom or bust peg being in a corner and in the last round John struggled for only 4pts and lost lots of kit to snags.

After 90 minutes I had already lost a couple of fish and rigs, and nearly packed up in frustration. The main snag was a sunken branch that had been left in after a tree had been cut down.

I decided to cast to my right in an attempt to avoid the branch and netted my first fish, but again lost more fish and kit on trailing brambles and then some discarded line, which was the final straw.

I had enough and as I was trailing everyone in my section decided to pack up in sheer frustration. I also decided to pull out of the league, as it’s a 200-mile round trip to a poorly managed venue.

14/10/23 - Goodiford Mill - Match Lake

Weight - 32.540 (71lb 9oz)

Catch - 20 Carp, 3 Skimmers

Weather - Cold overnight. Mostly sunny and breezy

Match - Uzit Bomb & Feeder Series - rd 2 (17 fished), 2nd in section, 4th overall

The 2^nd round of the Uzit Bomb & Feeder league. As quite a few anglers weren’t keen on returning to Trinity Waters the remaining rounds were changed to Goodiford Mill.

Must admit I wasn’t best pleased, as it meant a 200-mile round trip and the venue is a bit of a snag pit. However, the decision was made in the best interests of the league.

I drew p36, which put me in a shallow corner and to be honest I quite fancied it, although following yesterday’s heavy rain yesterday and a cold night was cause for concern.

I started on a small method to the far trees with a mixture of 2mm P-Nut pellet soaked of Green Betaine and Dark Crushed Expander groundbait with a 6mm yellow or orange wafter, pinging 6mm P-Nut pellet over the top. After 60mins I had 5 fish, before the swim died, however the cross wind had picked up and I had to feed 8s, but the swim was never the same.

I had also been pinging 6s to my left towards the end bank and caught a couple of fish on meat, but after 90mins my swim just died with only 2 fish over the next 90mins.

Up to this point I was winning the section, however Jacko next to me started catching by the small island to his left and to my right. I had been pinging 6s towards the island although so far, I had resisted the temptation to fish the swim due to overhanging branches and judging by the amount of line and rigs in the tree it looked like an anglers Christmas tree!

As I couldn’t get a bite elsewhere, I had no choice but to give it a go. Fortunately, I could get reasonably close and only caught a trailing branch once, and only pulled out of 2 fish trying to stop them making the underwater snags. Initially I fished a small tea bag filled with micros and fished an 8mm P-Nut pellet and later swapped to the method.

As a back-up I fed meat short, hoping to catch some bigger fish late on, however this only resulted in 1 skimmer. I also tried the left-hand bank a couple of times and never had another bite and only had 1 more fish from the far trees. I just felt the fish had drifted out of the corner.

In the end the lake fished harder than some expected, so I ended up 2^nd in section behind Jacko who won the match and now lie 3^rd in the league.

1.    40.920 – Steve Jackson – p34

2.    39.890 – Kev Crouch – p3

3.    39.800 – Dave Romain – p28

4.    32.540 – Ken Rayner – p36

5.    24.030 – Paul Homewood – p51

25/09/22 - Goodiford Mill - Match Lake

Weight - 66lb 2oz

Catch - 13 Carp, 5 Skimmers, 2 Roach

Weather - Chilly start, mostly sunny and flat, cloudy later.

Match - So Simple League - rd 8 (18 fished) - 11th overall (4th in section)

The last round of the So Simple league and I was lying 2^nd courtesy of a better weight advantage as 3 of us (Karl, Gary and myself) were all on the same number of points.

When I drew peg 1, I initially thought I would be able to cast to the island on my right with the willow tree, but when Chris Whitehead turned up on p51 I realised that wouldn’t be possible. With Phil Hart on peg 2, I had no features to fish to, just open water.

I was told there was a bar and to fish on top of this, although no one could tell me exactly where it was. Plumbing around revealed a very slightly shallower spot about 30m out, but no bar. I was also told it was a good peg for the pellet waggler, however it was a very chilly start, bright and there was no ripple. Other than fishing the open water I had very few options. I set up a pole line at 13m fed with 4s and a margin rig which I wasn’t hopeful about as the pegs either side were quite tight.

Well, the first 3 hours was a struggle, I only had 1 skimmer on the method, 3 carp and 2 big roach on the waggler and a few silvers on the pole. I was long way behind everyone in my section, as they all had shallow water or islands to target, which it soon became obvious the fish preferred to be and not on the deck in 5ft of water.

At the halfway stage, I was going nowhere and felt I had to force the peg, dumping a pint of 8s via a catapult in 5mins. This seemed to work, as I managed to pull in a few carp catching a further 5 carp on the waggler and 5 on the straight lead and red 8mm gonut up to 10lb. In total I fed 6pts of 8s, which was all I had!

I’m pleased I managed to pull back 2 section places, but I needed a further 35lb to claim 3^rd in section. Unfortunately, lost fish was a problem, either due to a snag or some of the carp had poor mouths resulting in hook pulls, which was quite frustrating.

In the end I finished 4^th overall, collecting £125. Karl managed to win his section, to claim 2nd, although there is a suggestion, he was coached all the way by Giff – lol. Gary had a similar match to me, and Chris Whitehead claimed 2^nd in section to finish on the same number of points as me and claimed 3^rd spot by 4lb. So, a tight finish and well done to Chris ‘Giff’ Ware who comfortably won the league.

It has been an interesting league due to the variety of venues; it was just unfortunate that Durleigh didn’t fish as well as expected. However, it was good to meet up with a good bunch of lads and an enjoyable league fished in good spirit, it was just a shame that Andy was unable to attend as he waits for a knee operation.

1.    161-10 – Elliot Faye – p7

2.    148- 8 – Karl Turner – p28

3.    134- 4 – Andy Bull – p36

4.    117- 3 – Simon Poynter – p16

5.    113-11 – Chris Whitehead – p51

27/02/22 - Goodiford Mill

Weight - 28lb 11oz (3lb 10oz)

Catch - 5 Carp, 13 Skimmers, 9 Roach

Weather - Bright & clear. Cold south easterly wind

Match - So Simple League rd 1 - 8th out of 18 (3rd in section)

What started as an idea, developed quickly and 18 So Simple members signed up to what should be a very interesting 8 match league. Interesting because there are 2 rounds at Goodiford Mill and Todber, plus 4 rounds at Durleigh. So, a real mix of venues and I am personally looking forward to catching a big bag of bream from Durleigh.

There always seems to be something going on when Andy is around and he didn’t disappoint, getting his car stuck in the soft grass verge, which took the efforts of most to push him out, only to realise he managed to beach himself on a hidden tree stump!

Back to the match and p29 for me. My peg had a small island which was covered in brambles at 17/18m slightly to my left and the back of the island at 25m. Space was a little tight with Andy Bull to my right on p28 next to the end bank.

Plumbing around revealed a shallow bar

comes off the island and then 4.5ft to 5ft elsewhere. Following last weeks match it looked like silvers may prove important, so 2 balls of BMG: FA1 with micros and dead maggot was deposited at 6m.

Whilst that settled, I was hoping for an early pull on a small method cast other side of the bar. I also started pinging 6s onto the bar, but after 50mins and 1 roach I had to try my silvers line to catch

Unfortunately, this line proved to be slow. In the meantime, Andy landed his 3^rd carp on the method cast into the corner by the sunken

trees, leaving me with no choice but to cast tight to the far bank trees (and snags) to get a bite and I soon landed my first carp.

The rest of the match was a real struggle. I did manage 2 more carp from the far bank, however Andy kept catching. I simply couldn’t pull the fish out of the corner, but to be fair to Andy, he kept pinging pellet into the corner to keep the fish in his swim.

I managed a few more silvers from my short line, but would catch a few before they back

offed and just wouldn’t settle.

With 2hrs remaining I started feeding 4s and corn down my left margin. Fortunately, I managed a 9lber and then a 5lber on the all out to sneak 3^rd in section. 2^nd in section was 64lb and I simply don’t think that was in the peg.

So, a steady start to the series and I am looking forward to the next round at Todber.

Finally thanks to Simon Poynter for the photos.

1^st 172- 0 – Elliot Fay – p12

2^nd 76- 3 – Chris Ware – p7

3^rd  69- 9 – Andy Bull – p28

4^th  67- 1 – Dave Wykes – p51

5^th  64- 1 – Karl Turner – p21

17/02/22 - Goodiford Mill - Main Lake

Weight - 16lb 3oz (5lb 14oz - silvers)

Catch - 3 Carp, 21 Skimmers, Roach, Perch and Gudgeon

Weather - Increasingly windy, mostly cloudy with sunny periods

Match - So Simple (18 fished) - 14th overall, 4th in section

A message to Andy suggesting a practice session at Goodiford before the start of next weeks league, turned into an 18 pegger. We had the whole lake, so plenty of space, although there were very few pegs that didn’t have a snag of one sort or another in it.

Ideally, I would have preferred to draw around the main island; but I ended up on p38 at the bottom of the right hand arm and the shallowest peg on the lake. I really didn’t fancy it, although I was assured it has won matches in the past, but l just felt it had the look of a boom or bust peg.

At the start the wind was very manageable and I set up a swim at 14.5m to fish expanders, feeding 4s and micros. Starting on a small method, blue ice RTG’s and blue ice groundbait, with a 6mm yellow gofter cast towards the clean area of the far bank. With no bites after 30mins, I just felt it was too shallow, so tried by the sunken tree to my left, but again no bites.

A switch to the pole resulted in a few small skimmers on 4mm Janners, but the wind had picked up meaning I had to come back to 13m. I kept plugging away, switching to double dead maggot, but fishing was still difficult, although a big perch of 1-11 was a welcome addition. Ideally, I should have fished shorter for the silvers, as the wind was becoming increasingly strong, but I was hoping by continually feeding 4s and micros I would pull in a few carp. In the end the wind became too bad, and I had to put the pole away to save any breakages.

When the wind allowed, I had been feeding 8s towards the sunken tree and towards the end bank, and so far, I hadn’t had a bite on either the feeder or straight lead. With 90mins remaining, a switch from the method to a small 24g banjo resulted in my first carp by the sunken tree, which I promptly lost at the net. Fortunately, I netted 2 carp, plus a few skimmers over the next 40mins and thought I could have a strong finish, but the swim died on me and I couldn’t get a bite anywhere else.

By casting a little tighter to the tree, I caught another carp before the end of the match.

So, not great on the fishing front, but it was great to catch up with some people I haven’t seen for a while, as well as meeting up with some new faces who will be fishing the league. Overall, the fishing was hard for most, but what was evident is you can’t ignore those silvers as there were several good silvers weights.

Well done to Elliot on the comfortable win. Hopefully those carp will spread out a little for next week’s match and I can get a new drawing arm.

1^st 148-13 – Elliot Fay – p36

2^nd 60-14 – Kelvin King – p23

3^rd 32-12 – Mike Duckett – p21

4^th 24- 7 – Bruce Hunt – p28

5^th 23- 7 – Andy Seery – p2

Silvers

1^st 24- 7 – Bruce Hunt – p28

2^nd 20- 6 – Andy Seery – p2

3^rd 17- 3 – Chris Ware – p1

08/02/17 - Goodiford Mill

Weight - 14lb 1oz
Catch - 40 Skimmers, 10 Roach
Weather - Cold overnight. Bright & sunny

I am currently in between jobs, starting a new one in 11 days and since I have some time on my hands, I contacted Andy Seery's to arrange a time for a together. We decided on Goodiford Mill, because its a venue Andy has fished a lot recently catching many of the venues silvers population.

When we met at McDonalds just off the motorway we tried to work out how long it has been since we last saw each other and concluded it must have been about 8 years! How time fly's. Andy generously agreed to sponsered this years Lands End Winter League and I was presented with 3 more boxes of groundbait and pellet which should cover the next couple rounds. Well it saved on the postage.

I've never been to Goodiford Mill and was pleasantly surprised it only took me 75mins to get there and it was only a few minutes off the motorway junction. As for the main lake, it certainly looked interesting and speaking to the new owner who is taking over from his deceased step father, the intention is to tidy up the lakes and include some much needed platform.

Mal King joined us as well and with 3 competitive anglers fishing it didn't take long, before we agreed to have a knock up. We settled on pegs 9,10 and 11 which is a deep area of the lake. I drew 9, Andy was on 10 and Mal 11.

As expected Andy knocked up a good amount of his Black Gold groundbait. Me on the other hand took a slightly less aggressive approach since the weather had turned colder in the last couple of days. I think Andy got a bit dizzy with excitement after seeing photos of big skimmers caught yesterday, introducing 4 big balls with plenty of micros at the start.

Plumbing up revealed just over 6ft of water all over, which would keep things simple. Only 2 rigs, a 0.75g Dino Long Bream float fished double bulk and 0.5g chimp shotted up more conventionally.

The day proved to be quite tough due to the recent cold weather combined with a chilly northerly breeze.

My day was spent rotating 3 swims. 13m to my left over groundbait, including a few micros and dead maggot, 13m to my right fed negatively with black micros and a 6m line with groundbait and caster.

The fish never seemed to settle properly. The double bulk rig initially was quite successful, until the fizzing started and foul hookers became a problem particularly over the left hand swim. Switching the light rig improved matters, fishing just on bottom.

The right hand swim was my banker for later in the session, because I thought and hoped the better skimmers would turn up over the micros, fishing a 4mm expander. Well I did catch some better skimmers over this line, but it never really took off.

As for the short line, at one point I thought I had it sussed because I had a spell fishing the caster were the float was burying almost instantly, but again the fish just didn't settle.

When it was time to pack up, mainly governed by the fact it was starting to feel really cold, I finished with 14-1, compared to Andy's 10-2 and Mal's 9-9. None of us had any real quality which was a shame, but I could certainly see the potential for the place.

Overall a lovely day's fishing in great company.