22/12/24 - Shiplate - Hawthorns

Weight - 18- 0

Catch - 4 Carp, 1 Ruffe

Weather - North westerly gales. Cold, mostly sunny

Match - Winter League (14 fished)

I agreed to fill in for Luke Fothergill for this final round of the Winter League. I must admit I questioned why, as 50mph winds were being forecast. Fortunately, as we were on the canals, the north westerly would be mostly blowing from behind.

Peg 5 on Hawthorns was my home for the day and to be honest not a lot happened.

The far bank plumbed up horribly, not helped by the far bank shrubbery as I couldn’t get tight to the far bank. I did manage 2 carp dobbin bread in the first 15mins and thought it might be ok, however those fish were a false dawn.

I managed 1 more carp on maggot, fishing the bottom of the far shelf and 30mins from the end caught another carp in front of peg 6 on meat over micros.

Despite the tough run I’ve been on, I have always felt I’ve done OK, however today, it was obvious I had got something wrong as there was a 52lb to my left and 37lb to my right.

1.    124-  3 – Mark Poppleton – p7 (West Pool)

2.    117-  2 – Gary Flinders – p13 (WP)

3.      96-  4 – John Mills – p1 (WP)

4.      90-  9 – Mark – p5 (WP)

01/09/24 - Shiplate - West Pool

Weight - 257lb 8oz (15lb silvers)

Catch - 52 Carp, 14 Skimmers, 1 Tench

Weather - Cloudy and muggy. Rain later

Match - Open (9 fished) - 4th overall, 2nd on lake

After seeing there was an open being run at Shiplate over the canals I decided to jump on as I enjoy my visits. Sadly, there were only 9 of us and a decision was made to split us over both canals, rather than putting us all on the 1 lake, mostly because Steve Howell didn’t want to be surrounded by too many people. At least it would mean lots of space and hopefully bites.

I drew p2 on West Pool, which is a peg I have always fancied drawing. There was a reed bed to the left where I decided to fish GLM paste, although my main attack would be 8mm meat covered in A-krill cloud.

On the all-in I had thought about starting across on the far bank with meat, however there were a couple of pleasure anglers on the main lake who were doing a lot of walking between their pegs as they were setting up. Therefore, I decided to start by the left-hand reed bed whilst the pleasure anglers settled down and started fishing.

After an hour I probably had 50lb of carp, plus 10lb of skimmers and a single tench, and a much better start than I expected. I found feeding 6mm p-nut pellet was better than micros, probably because the swim was nearly 3ft deep.

A switch to fishing across on meat, which proved to be troublesome. On 3 occasions I managed to snag on underwater roots, which required me going around and pulling them out. Once the swim was cleared, I caught, but I didn’t feel it was quick enough. I also lost a complete rig, when the elastic snapped on the puller, which was annoying as I only checked the elastic last week, but obviously not closely enough.

A quick try down the right-hand margin in 18in of water, fishing meat over GLM groundbait and bubblegum micros resulted in a good run of fish that were a better stamp than those I was catching across. In fact, I never went back to the far bank again.

After 3hrs (6hr match) I probably had just over 100lb. Back down the left-hand paste swim, I had a really good spell for 30mins before I started foul hooking.

The remainder of the match was a case of alternating between the 2 margins swims, where feeding 6s down the left was still best and toss potting groundbait/micros, plus a couple of cubes of meat was best down the right.

I had the occasional look over a 2+2 swim fed with meat, where I caught a couple of carp, but the 2 margins swims were definitely best.

I was pleased to weigh 257lb and a PB for the venue, where I ran venue expect Kirt close, missing out on the lake win by 20lb and was left ruing my bad 2hr hours, but still a great days fishing. As it happened Hawthorns fished even better!

1.    309-  7 – Gary Flinders – p3 (Hawthorns)

2.    298-  8 – Dave Cockayne – p5 (H)

3.    279-12 – Kirt Pinkett – p6 (West Pool)

4.    257-  8 – Ken Rayner – p2 (W)

Silvers

1.    21-  8 – Ron Stark – p9(W)

2.    15-  0 – Ken Rayner – p3 (W)

3.    13-10 – Golly – p11 (W)

27/05/24 - Shiplate - Hawthorns

Weight - 156lb 12oz

Catch - 40 Carp, 1 Skimmer

Weather - Dry start, a couple of showers and a sunny afternoon.

Match - Open Rover (17 fished) - 6th overall, 1st on the lake.

I decided to fish a rover at Shiplate this bank holiday Monday, which was spread over the whole complex. I had 15^th pick and as expected the pegs I fancied drawing on the main lake had already gone. I could have gone on West Pool, but as I have fished there a few times recently decided to try p11 on Hawthorns.

When I arrived, there were a few fish sunbathing and hopeful of a catching a few. On the all-in I immediately tried the mugging rig and caught a carp within 5mins, at which point all the sunbathers disappeared, re-

appearing to my right in the quiet water.

Moving across tight to the far bank fishing paste (Uzit GLM & Betaine) over 4mm and micros p-nut pellet, catching straight away and finished the hour with 6 fish, although the swim had slowed, and I wasn’t sure paste was the right approach.

Therefore, I decided to switch to fishing meat covered in Uzit A-krill cloud, tapping in 6-8 pieces of 8mm meat with a few micros. It was slow to get going and by switching left and right along the far bank on a light strung out rig, I moved up to 17 fish by the halfway point (3hrs). The fourth hour was excellent with another 11 carp, before the fishing slowed.

I tried fishing paste in the margin, which was 4ft deep and a 2+2

line after I had been feeding both lines for the last 2hrs, but the response was disappointing catching only a handful of fish and I needed to move back to the far bank.

At the weigh in I had won Hawthorns, but reports were filtering through of a couple of  200lb weights on the other lakes and the chances of me being in the top 4 was looking remote for a pick up and that is how it turned out.

The only disappointment of what was an enjoyable day was the average stamp of fish, which were smaller than expected.

1.    220-12 - Dave Cockayne – p8 (west pool)

2.    215-  8 – Kurt Pinkett – p11 (main lake)

3.    215-  0 – Luke Fothergill – p7 (main lake)

4.    199-  1 – Dom Sullivan – p12 (west pool)

5.    185-  2 – Matt Shephard – p2 (west pool)

6.    156-12 – Ken Rayner – p11 (hawthorns)

05/05/24 - Shiplate - West Pool

Weight - 131lb 11oz

Catch - 25 Carp, 7 Skimmers

Weather - Sunny start, rain later

Match - Open (8 fished) 4th overall

Todays open was on the canals, however with only 8 of us it was decided to use West Pool, rather than Hawthorns which had loads of willow fluff on it. P5 for me, which is the last peg in the narrow section of the lake.

After feeding some p-nut micros and A-Krill cloud covered meat across to the far bank, I decided to start on paste (Uzit Betaine Green) to my left at the bottom of the marginal shelf, hoping for an early mug fish. After 10mins and no bites it was time to fish across, toss potting 4 cubes of meat and a few micros I soon caught my first fish, quickly followed by a second before I struggled to get a proper bite and foul hooked a couple of fish.

I tried swapping left and right along the far bank, which helped as I caught a couple more carp, but I had to wait for a proper bite. In fact, the first half of the match was a bit of a struggle as the far bank didn’t develop as I had hoped, just nicking the odd fish, however, I had fallen behind Steve to my right who got off to great start in the first hour.

In the meantime, I had kept feeding 4mm p-nut pellet and micros over my paste line and it was starting to show signs of life, as I caught a skimmer and a carp.

In the end I just kept rotating between the paste line, the far bank and a short meat line, catching a fish, switching lines, catching another (or wait 10mins if no bites) and so on.

After 4hrs I had about 60lb, but was still behind Steve and I could see Mark and Alan in the middle pegs were also catching.

The last 2hrs was much better as the fish finally got their heads down. I caught a couple more from the far line, but they were a smaller stamp and I ditched this line with an hour remaining. The paste line proved to be the most productive, whilst the short meat line was disappointing only producing 2 carp and 2 skimmers. I had also started feeding micros and meat down my right margin, catching another 2 carp, but I didn’t feel the carp wanted to come into the shallow water.

Overall, an odd day, as I didn’t feel the fish were feeding that well, however the last 2 hours were excellent.

1.    166-14 – Steve Howell – p3

2.    158-  4 – Alan Quatrill – p11

3.    132-  4 – Mark Poppleton – p9

4.    131-11 – Ken Rayner – p5

21/04/24 - Shiplate - Main Lake

Weight - 67lb 6oz (22lb 6oz)

Catch - 5 Carp, 18 Skimmers, 2 Tench, 2 Perch, 1 Roach

Weather - Mostly sunny, cool northerly wind.

Match - Open (19 fished) - 9th overall, 6th in silvers

A change of scenery this week, after spending a lovely week in Pembrokeshire.

I always enjoy my trips to Shiplate and todays match was on the main lake, which I haven’t fished for 3 or 4 years. With 19 booked it also meant it would be a bit cosy in certain areas of the lake. P12 put me in a good area, although I had venue regular Gary Flinders to my left on rarely used peg 12a.

Feedback was the lake had been fishing hard, but 120lb should win and 30lbs of silvers would be good. As I was out of touch with the venue I overcomplicated my approach in the first half of the match, which wasn’t helped by a strong northerly breeze blowing left to right.

I started on a tea bag and 8mm p-nut pellet, whilst I let my pole lines settle. The 14m line was fed with p-nut micros and 4mm, and a 7m line was fed with green Uzit ReAct groundbait and micros.

With no bites on the tea bag, I tried the 14m line fishing a 6mm expander, but the wind and tow meant I couldn’t get any decent presentation and gave up after 10mins. A new line was set up at 13m fed with groundbait and micros, and I caught a few skimmers on 4mm expanders at 7m and then 13m. But again, presentation wasn’t great and I ended up switching from a 0.4g chimp to a 0.5g chimp. This helped but the 13m line was a waste of time and I persisted a little too long on it.

I had been pinging 8mm pellets at 20m, but the wind was just spreading the bait all over the place. I did manage a carp on the tea bag, but I was really struggling and needed to simplify my approach.

I binned the 7m and 13m lines, fed some meat and micros off the right of the right bush at 9m and started pinging 6s at 16m.

After a slow start on the meat line, I started catching some decent skimmers and a couple of tench, before I caught a carp. After that the skimmers disappeared.

The 16m line produced a 12lber on the lead/meat. As a nothing to lose move, I dumped a pot of micros and 4s at 7m and fished paste (Uzit green betaine) over the top, catching 2 carp late on. Annoyingly I lost 1 carp on the paste, plus 2 carp from the right-hand bush.

To be honest I wished I had another hour, as I really fancied catching a few more on the paste. Overall, a half decent day where the wind didn’t help and the better weights came from the more sheltered end of the lake.

1.    154-  3 – Chris Fox – p1

2.    132-14 – Julian Pinkett – p2

3.    121-  2 – Kurt Pinkett – p13

4.    106-13 – Tom Thick – p14a

5.      86-10 – Gary Flinders – p12a

Silvers

1.    41-12 – Steve Howell – p3

2.    36-  8 – Roy Ede – p9a

3.    35-  4 – Tony Rixon – p5

19/02/24 - Shiplate - West Pool

Weight - 115lb 12oz (6lb 4oz - silvers)

Catch - 22 Carp, 10 Skimmers, 1 Roach

Weather - Heavy overnight rain. Mostly cloudy and mild.

Match - Open (13 fished) - 2nd overall, 1st on lake.

I always enjoy my visits to Shiplate and its good that more opens are being organised thanks to Dom Sullivan.

Todays match was spread over Hawthorns and West Pool, and I drew p12 on West Pool. After some very heavy overnight rain, there was a lot of standing water around and the lakes were certainly full, and I wasn’t sure how this would affect the fishing. As it happened, I thought the lakes fished quite well, probably as it was still quite mild.

I started fishing tight to the far bank, toss potting 7mm meat dyed with U-Zit bubblegum yellow and 2mm U-Zit P-Nut pellet. After 15mins I had 2 carp in the net and then it went a bit funny, losing the next 2 fish which I thought were both hooked properly.

To give the swim a rest, I tried a 14.5m swim slightly to my right where I had fed micros and 4s, fishing a 4mm expander. This produced a few small skimmers and a carp. A switch to a banded 4 immediately produced another carp, but no more followed.

I had also been feeding meat at 3+2 to my right at the bottom of the near shelf and caught another carp, as well as some better sized skimmers.

As the match progressed the far bank proved to be the best. By cutting out the micros and toss potting 8 bites of meat, I had a few liners, but never suffered from any foul hookers. Whenever I felt this line needed a rest, I would drop in on the near meat line or the pellet line where I had been pinging pellet. Both back up lines produced, with the meat line being the best, producing bigger fish, plus a few better sized skimmers.

With an hour to go I thought I might catch down my margin late, which was the same depth as the far bank. In hindsight, this was a mistake, as I didn’t catch, and I neglected the 3+2 line. I suspect that this may have cost me a couple of fish.

That said, I had a lovely day’s fishing winning West Pool and coming 2^nd overall.

1.    124-  0 – Mark Poppleton – p13 (Hawthorns)

2.    115-12 – Ken Rayner – p12 (West Pool)

3.      76-  8 – Steve Smith – p2 (West Pool)

4.      66-  4 – Andy Fry – p14 (West Pool)

5.      60-12 – Dom Sullivan – p11 (Hawthorns)

18/06/23 - Shiplate - West Pool

Weight - 113lb 0oz

Catch - 22 Carp, 4 Skimmers, 1 Roach

Weather - Warm and muggy

Match - Steve Martins Summer Series rd 2 (15 fished) - 1st overall

No matches last weekend, although I did attend a 2-day group coaching session on Thursday and Friday at Tunnel Barn with Jordon Holloway, Paul Holland and Kristian Jones. The format was in the morning rotate around the 3 anglers, then fish yourself in the afternoon.

Thursday saw Jordan fishing chopped worm across, Paul the mudline fishing micros/groundbait and Kristian caster shallow in open water. Come the afternoon I wanted to fish caster shallow as I had 4pts with me and it was something I wanted to improve upon as it’s been used a lot recently on Heron at Ivy

House.

Settling on House Pool p14, I initially struggled to get going, not helped by a gusty breeze, however by putting into practise what I had learned I ended up with 94lb of F1s in just over 4hrs, most of which I caught in the last 2hrs. Great fishing.

Friday saw Jordan fish hard pellet, Paul maggot on the short line and Kristian caster shallow towards cover. Come the afternoon I had considered fishing pellet, but it was obvious pellet wasn’t really working and to be honest I didn’t fancy buying 4pts of maggot (the shop didn’t have any casters). Instead, I spent a couple of hours with Paul, which was interesting.

Overall, a good couple of days with some top anglers. Unfortunately, some of the tactics I learnt I will not be able to use at Ivy House (heron lake) due to restrictions on the length of the latch and no overshotted rigs, but still some lessons were learnt.

Today was the 2^nd round of Steve’s summer series on Shiplate canals (Hawthorns and West Pool) and I drew p13 on West pool. The plan of action was to fish to tap in meat and micros tight across, see how it goes, then fish caster shallow and then down my margins late.

Starting across I soon stopped feeding micros as the fishing were coming up too easily, instead switching to feeding meat and a few 4s. After 45 minutes I had hooked 5 carp, but only had 1 in the net. I had been really cautious with my feed, but the fish just weren’t settling. Fortunately, I wasn’t the only one struggling in the muggy conditions, with the fish being really moody.

I had 6pts of (vacuum packed) caster with me courtesy of Mark Poppleton who said they needed using before they perished. Since the far line wasn’t fishing as expected, I decided to start priming a shallow caster line. Whilst doing that, I tried a short paste line to my left at the bottom of the near shelf in 4ft of water, that I had fed 4s and micros.

This produced a couple of skimmers and 1 carp, but I still had problems with the fish not settling. Back to the caster and I never had a bite. I fed 2pts to get them going, but no indications which was a surprise and left me wondering what to do next.

The far bank line was still proving frustrating catching another carp on meat, followed by more liners and a couple of foul hookers. A switch to paste across produced 2 more, but it just wasn’t right.

With 3hrs gone I only had 5 carp for 20lb. Fortunately the last 2.5hrs the fish decided to get their heads down. Initially, fishing 8mm meat down the right margin over caster/meat for 6 carp and then down the left margin in the deep water which proved to be really productive in the last hour where I was catching a much better stamp of fish on paste feeding a small handful of 4s and nuggets of micros.

My final weight was a touch more than I thought thanks to those late bigger stamp fish and the win puts me 2^nd in the league now, behind the ever-consistent Tony with 3 rounds remaining.

1.    113-  0 – Ken Rayner – p13 (West Pool)

2.      89-10 – Tony Gilbert – p9 (W)

3.      76-10 – Noddy – p4 (W)

4.      75-13 – Nigel Reeves – p11 (Hawthorns)

5.      72-  4 – Pete Ball – p7 (W)

02/04/23 - Shiplate - Hawthorns

Weight - 88lb 10oz

Catch - 18 Carp

Weather - Cloudy with sunny periods. Cool northerly.

Match - Pairs (32 fished) - 1st in section, 3rd overall pair

For the 3^rd year, Mark Poppleton and I entered the pairs match at Shiplate and this year there were 16 pairs. Mark would fish the main lake and I would be on the canals.

To be honest, neither of us were that enthusiastic about our draws, p10 for Mark and p3 on Hawthorns for me, as we both felt we were at the wrong end of our respective sections.

With 8 on the lake I at least had some space with Alex Murray on p1 and fishery manager, John Hawkins on p5.

I was told the locals were catching on maggot and whilst I had a pint of reds with me I was hoping to catch on meat. Starting a metre off the far bank on the 2^nd shelf I had a carp on 8mm meat quite quickly, feeding a small ball of micros with a couple bits of 7mm meat. However, it became obvious that the fish didn’t want to be on the deck as they started swirling around the float whenever I tapped in any bait.

Therefore, I was soon fishing tight to the far bank, again fishing either a 7 or 8mm meat over micros, switching left and right to limit any foul hookers. A pattern was emerging where if I didn’t get a bite within 2mins of feeding, I usually had a bite between 7-9mins. I stuck with this line for 4hrs, catching 40lb which was just ahead of those either side of me. 

In the meantime, I had started feeding micros down the right margin next to the p4 platform, meat at 3+2 and maggot down the left margin. Initially I tried paste down the right margin, but didn’t catch, so in the end I started feeding a small tosspot of meat plus a small ball of micros. I again had to wait for bites, however the stamp of fish was better than those from the far bank catching 7 carp, including 2 in the last 10mins which proved useful. I also managed a carp from the 3+2 line and 1 more from the far bank.

Fortunately those 2 late fish beat Dan Squires who weighed 86lb and Alex 82lb. Mark managed a very good 3^rd in section, which put us 3^rd overall and gave us £50 each for our troubles.

Pairs

1.    Gary Flinders & Alan Quantrill – 3pts (229- 8)

2.    Mark Wynne & Dan Squires – 3pts (190-14)

3.    Ken Rayner & Mark Poppleton – 4pts (179-14) 

Overall

1.    137-  8 – Gary Flinders – p2 (west pool)

2.    104-14 – Mark Wynne – p14 (main lake)

3.      94-11 – Dom Sullivan – p13 (west pool)

4.      92-  0 – Alan Quantrill – p13a (main lake)

5.      91-  4 – Mark Poppleton – p10 (main lake)

6.      88-10 – Ken Rayner – p3 (hawthorns)

05/03/23 - Shiplate - West Pool

Weight - 100lb 1oz

Catch - 22 Carp, 1 Roach

Weather - Grey and cold

Match - Open (12 fishing) - 2nd overall

I fancied going somewhere different this weekend and settled on Shiplate, which is a venue I wish was a little closer as its just over an hour’s drive from home.

There were 12 of us over Hawthorn and West Pool, so plenty of room. Peg 13 on West Pool for me and the general feeling from those I asked suggested it was an average draw. Steve Howell who was on peg 11 thought peg 2 would be difficult to beat as it had quite a bit of room today.

I was told by a number of people that maggot was the way to go and that is how I expected to catch. There was a match on the main lake which was due to start 30mins after ours and when our match started there was still anglers walking along the far bank, so decided to start down the middle feeding maggot and leave the far bank alone.

After 40mins I hadn’t had a bite, although Steve had a couple of fish doing the same. Switching to fishing tight across, I initially tried an expander which was being nipped by silvers, but I got the feeling there were a few carp about and tried dobbing bread, which produced a roach!

I then tried 7mm meat over a few micros and stayed on this for much of the match, fishing a 4x10 strung out rig, alternating left and right between the bush and the reeds. By feeding quite lightly I managed to keep the fish coming and avoided foul hookers, which can be a problem on this lake.

As the match progressed it was noticeable the average stamp of fish was reducing from 5-6lb to 3-4lbers. With 30mins remaining the swim was slowing so switched to a short (8m) meat line which produced 2 carp and a final fish from the right-hand deep margin.

I beat those around me, however as expected p2 won the lake. So overall I was pleased to have finished 2^nd overall, but to be honest a little annoyed to have not picked up as the pay out was top weight and top silvers on each lake. The silvers money on both lakes was won with accidentals, 5lb on West Pool and 14oz on Hawthorns.

That aside, I had a lovely day’s fishing and looking forward to going back.

1.    110- 6 – Dave Stevens – p2w

2.    100- 1 – Ken Rayner – p13w

3.      97- 0 – Matt Shepherd – p12h

4.      95- 0 – Alan Quantrill – p7h 

15/04/22 - Shiplate Farm - West Pool

Weight - 80lb 8oz

Catch - 16 Carp, 4 Skimmers

Weather - Warm & sunny

Match - Pairs (20 fished) - 5th overall, 4th on lake.

There were 10 pairs including myself and Mark Poppleton, the defending champions, spread over Hawthorn and West Pool; Mark would be on Hawthorn and I took West Pool, and the winners would be based on combined weight. At the draw neither of us were very impressed, with Mark on p13, which was too far up the lake and p14 for me, which is only 1 of 2 pegs without a spare peg.

The fish on the far bank are notoriously difficult to catch and with the improved weather I decided to fish paste (Kriller : Blue Ice) giving them a target bait. During the first hour, I had 4 carp, losing 2 to snags. However, p12 & p10 had both started well.

After that first hour the fishing became really difficult, so I pulled back to fishing next to the aerator where I had fed meat, but never had a bite. A switch to fishing 13m over micros with a 4mm expander quickly produced 4 skimmers before they disappeared, however I needed carp.

Giving the far bank a rest helped as I caught another 5 fish on paste and by the halfway point probably had about 45lb but was still behind the 2 pegs to my right and to be honest I was struggling to pull the fish to my side of the aerator rope. I tried pellet and meat across, but simply couldn’t get a proper bite

I had also been feeding micros down both margins and started seeing fish down the left margin which produced 1 carp. Unfortunately, as soon as p15 fed his margins I never had another bite.

I managed a couple more fish from the far bank, but it was no longer in the shade and bites were really at premium, which just left my short meat line. Despite periodically trying the meat line, it wasn’t until the last 30mins that I caught 3 fish.

In the end I was quite pleased with my effort but I didn’t quite have enough as Mark managed 75lb from Hawthorns and we finished 4^th in the pairs missing out on 3^rd place by 8lb. Well done to Mark & Dan on winnng.

1.    114- 4 – Tom Thick – p11 (W)

2.    113- 8 – Mark Jones – p13 (W)

3.    108-14 – Mark Wynne – p8 (H)

4.      99- 0 – Dan Squires – p9 (W)

5.      80- 8 – Ken Rayner – p14 (W)

Pairs

1.  207-14 - Mark Wynne (108-14) & Dan Squires (99- 0)

2.  164-  0 - Alan Quantrill (50- 8) & Mark Jones (113- 8)

3.  163-  4 - Tony Thick (49- 0) & Tom Thick (114- 4)

4.  155-10 - Mark Poppleton (75- 2) & Ken Rayner (80- 8)

03/04/22 - Shiplate Farm - West Pool

Weight - 36lb 0oz

Catch - 7 Carp, 4 Roach, 1 Skimmer

Weather - Frosty start, warm in the sun, but cold when cloudy.

Match - Open (23 fished) - 11th overall, 6th on the lake

With the forthcoming pairs match over Hawthorns and West Pool in 2 weeks’ time, Mark and I decided to get a little practice in, as we are the defending champions. We both drew the lakes we wanted, and I ended up on the same peg as I drew last year, peg 4 (West Pool) which is in the narrow end of the lake, being only 13m wide. 

It was -2c when I left home and apparently -5c overnight at the venue meaning a hard day was likely. At least with a match on the main lake opposite, there wouldn’t be any anglers walking or running up and down the far bank.

I started cautiously feeding a small ball of groundbait and maggot at 5m and went straight over to the far bank toss potting a small nugget of groundbait and micros with a 4mm expander. With no bites I tried maggot and still nothing. I had a few liners but no fish, whilst the anglers either side of me caught.

In the meantime, I kept the 5m line topped up with maggot in the hope of some skimmers or carp as a back-up line. After an hour I saved the blank catching a roach on maggot, but this line only produced roach proving to be an unnecessary distraction.

An hour later I eventually caught my first carp from the far bank on a 6mm baninion expander over baninion boosted micros. An hour later I caught my 2^nd & 3^rd carp and it is fair to say it was slow going!

The frustration was Steve Smith to my left on p5 had 4 or 5 carp in this time from that far line. With 2hrs remaining I knew I was behind p1 and p5 and decided to big pot micros and some groundbait to make something happen – it didn’t, although I did manage another carp off to my right at the limit of my swim, but the fish weren’t really feeding with all fish being hooked around the mouth.

I had been feeding meat at 6m to my right, but it wasn’t until the last 30mins that it produced 3 fish for 18lb. As for my margin, it wasn’t until very late that I saw any movement by which point I was concentrating on the meat line, but no one had more than 1 carp from the margins, probably not helped by the cold weather.

Overall, a bit of a head scratcher as I felt I should have caught more from that far bank. Had I, I would have been able to push for the section. That said a few lessons learnt for next time.

1.    84- 2 – Shawn Kitteridge – 11W

2.    75-10 – Mark Poppleton – 5H

3.    59- 0 – Daryl – 14H

4.    51-14 – Andy Myers – 14W

5.    51- 8 – Steve Smith – 5W

15/08/21 - Shiplate - Hawthorns

Weight - 49lb 13oz

Catch - 13 Carp, 1 Skimmer

Weather - Cloudy and showery

Match - Haines Summer Series - rd 5

Its difficult to write about this match, as I drew well in the shape of p1 on Hawthorns, but struggled to catch and ultimately finished well down.

I started well enough catching an 8lber carp down the left margin on paste, which did its best to bury itself in the reeds.

I tried to catch across on pellet, which produced 1 on pellet and few lost fish. Meat brought the same response and paste brought 3 carp, but it was a struggle. In the end I caught a few more fish down the left margin on paste or at 16m towards the far corner.

To be honest I am at a bit of a loss as to why I struggled. The lake generally didn’t fish well and appeared to switch off during the second half of the match.

14/08/16 - Shiplate - Squirle Pool

Weight - 56lb 4oz
Catch - 107 Carp, 71 (Goldfish, Roach, Rudd, Skimmers, Perch, Chub)
Weather - warm & sunny
Match - Float Only rd 5 - 22nd out of 40, 2nd in section

A trip to the Copper Kettle in Weston for breakfast which was very enjoyable.

At the fishery you have to say the owners have done a great job maintaining the fishery and we had sections on all 4 lakes, 3 sections on the main lake, 2 sections on the Hawthorns and West Pool and 1 section of 5 on the Squirle Pool which is effectively a stock pond. Ideally I would have preferred a draw on the Main Lake, but ended up on the Squirle Pool, which meant I would at least have plenty of bites.

My draw put me in a corner and was told there were plenty of small carp up to 2lb, as well as loads of goldfish and silvers. I really wasn't sure how to attack it and not people were either because its not match fished that often, but the match record for pool is approximately 60lb.

My section included Mike Nichols, Shaun Townsend, Martin McMahon and Adrian Jeffery, but I couldn't see anyone due to the foliage and the island.

I thought that by trying to target the better sized carp would be the best way forward, so set up a paste rig to fish on the top 3, plus a couple of shallow rigs to fish either margin again on the top 3, either with worm or hair rigged 6mm pellet.

Starting on the paste on the top 3 in 3ft of water, I had 3 carp for 1.5lbs, not the quality I was hoping for and I go the feeling it was right, because some fish were swirling on the 4mm pellet being feed, which encouraged me to switch to the margins immediately.

Fishing 6mm pellet down the right hand side where it was 1ft deep, finishing the end of the first hour with 25 fish, but it was starting to slow a little, so switched to the left margin where I had been feeding caster (mainly because I still had 3pts left over from yesterday), plus some sloppy groundbait again from yesterday that never got used. By fishing a worm head I caught more silvers, but was catching quicker than the pellet swim and the slop definitely brought in the carp, because I would get a little run of 4 or 5 carp after each ball, before the silvers returned.

The problem was I couldn't see anyone so was unsure how I was doing, but could hear that Mike was catching, so just kept going finishing the 3rd hour with 100 fish.

Unfortunately the wheels fell off a bit during the 4th hour, the left hand margin was only producing silvers and the right hand swim was proving difficult as well. Down the right the margin slopped up to 9ins deep and I moved further up the shelf but struggled to get bites on the pellet despite seeing fish in the swim. After a couple of changes decide to stop feeding 4s and switched to toss potting slop/caster fishing a worm and it was like flicking a switch because I started to catch carp quickly including a of 2lber, a monster for this lake.

By switching left and right I kept the fish coming but the right hand side was fading. I tried further down the right at 10m, without much success.

By the all out I really wasn't sure what weight I had and was pleased with 56lb, but was surprised by the size of the fish because I was hoping for more carp in the 1lb bracket. Mike Nichols got it right on the day weighing 71lb for the section fishing soft pellet. If I was to fish the match again I would have had a soft pellet rig to fish in the deeper water and I should have probably fished slop down the right hand side a lot soon. An enjoyable and different day. Certainly a sharp contrast to catching munters from cary.

1- 222-14 - Craig Edmunds - p14 (main lake)

2- 208-12 - Bela Bakos - p6 (hawthorns)

3- 142-12 - Jason Radford - p15 (main lake)

4- 132- 0 - Glenn Bailey - p14b (main lake)

5- 129- 5 - John Fuidge - p2 (main lake)

6- 108-14 - Tom Mangnall - p13 (hawthorns)

Silvers

1- 22-14 - Paul Faires - p12 (main lake)

2- 16- 8 - John Bradford - p5 (main lake)

3- 15- 6 - Paul Blake - p10 (main lake)

4- 14- 0 - Craig Edmunds - p14 (main lake)

5- 13-12 - Nick Chedzoy - p9a (main lake)

6- 11-14 - Nick Ewers - p6 (main lake)