08/03/17 - Sedges - Tile

Weight - 40lb 10oz (15lb 3oz - silvers)
Catch - 6 Carp, 18 Skimmers, 1 Tench
Weather - Mild & showers
Match - Costcutter - 2nd out of 8

With the upcoming pairs series this Saturday and the individual league starting in 3 weeks time, I really wanted to have a practice to get back in tune with the place, because its been a nearly a year.

When ever you turn up at Sedges you cant help but be impressed at how well kept the venue is. Today there were only 8 of us, including Mark Poppleton, my partner for the pairs series. the concensus was the weather report of heavy rain had put off a couple from turning. So we could at least stay clean (relatively speaking) Jamie pegged us along the road bank of Tile and I ended up with p23. Mark drew next to me on p22.

I hadn't done much prep, particularly for my rods, so kept it simple with a straight lead rod and a small hybrid feeder. I did have a waggler rod already set up, but after a couple of casts it wasn't right and never got around top sorting it put properly. 2 pole rigs were also set up, both 0.14 bottoms, 1 to target the deep water at 13m and 6m, plus another to fish up the near shelf. I had considered setting up a proper skimmer rig, but to be honest with only 2 pay outs today carp needed to be my main target.

On the all in micros and few 4s were introduced at 13 and 6mm meat and hemp at 6m. Started on the straight lead and bread towards the island.

After 15mins I landed my first carp and was soon attached to another before the hooklength snapped. Schoolboy error, because when I was landing the first carp the line had snagged on its dorsal fin and I really should have checked it, but didn't. On the hour mark my 2nd carp was safely netted. With no further bites, a switch to 13m and 4mm expander resulted in a 3lb+ tench which was a nice start and I was soon catching skimmers, toss potting micros/4s every fish, but think I over did it as bites slowed.

Mark had also switched to his pole line, but catching more quickly by pinging pellet. More pinging and less toss potting brought the fish back and had a nice little run of skimmers up 3lb, before they backed off again.

A 3rd carp mid match on the lead/bread kept my total ticking over, but it was obvious the majority of fish were the other side of the rope. As for my meat line that was a complete bust, despite several attempts during the match I never had a bite. Fortunately 3 carp on the lead & bread by the island in the last hour helped, bring my total to 6.

I had seen a few fish being caught, but it didn't appear anyone was running away with it and when the all out was called was hopeful of framing. By the time the scales arrived 28lb was the best weight, which I knew I would beat since I estimate I had about 35lb. As it was I had more silvers than expected my weighing 15lb of silvers. Mark had 18lb of silvers, which was the best silvers on the day, but only 4 carp to finish with 32lb. The angler on the end peg had a good last hour fishing against the end bank, weighing 10lb of silvers, but his 5 carp weighed 33lb to beat me of by 4lb.

Overall an enjoyable return to the venue and between us a couple of pointers for Saturdays pair's match.

1. 44- 5 - Rob Dodds (Sedges) - p21

2. 40-10 - Ken Rayner (Colmic) - p23

3. 32- 6 - Mark Poppleton (Colmic) - p22

4. 28-11 - Nick Selway (Sedges) - p29

11/03/17 - Sedges - Brick

Weight - 10lb 9oz
Catch - 5 Skimmers, 1 Carp
Weather - Mostly cloudy, cool south easterly
Match - Pairs Series rd 1 - 33rd out of 34.

The first round of the pairs series and I was really looking forward to it. Mark did the honours with the draw, handing me p4 and p32 on Tile for himself. Neither pegs were great, but ultimately we were only fishing for our 4 peg section.

To be honest my day didn't get any better, as in hindsight I killed my swim at the start, introducing 3 balls of groundbait and micros at 13m.

Starting on the straight lead towards the rope, didn't produce any bites regardless of what I put on the hook. A switch to the feeder resulted in a 1lb skimmer, but again no more bites.

An hour into the match and it was time for the pole and after 10mins realised I had made a mistake. Trying to be positive for the skimmers back fired, as feeding micros and 4s was the way forward. Mind you, bumping 3 skimmers didn't help my cause.

Pushing out to 14m helped a little but bites were at a premium. My section included pegs 1,3 and 5. The angler on p1 had already caught a couple of carp, Rich Coles on p3 had a couple of skimmers, as had Vic Bush on p5 and I was falling further behind.

My short line were I had fed pellet hadn't produced a single bite. There were a few carp boshing mostly on the other side of the lake, so I setup a waggler to fish half depth with 8mm pellet. On the 3rd cast I had a 6lber and thought I might be able to rescue my position. Unfortunately not, as I didn't have another bite. Out of desperation I kept firing 8s over the waggler line hoping to pull some fish into the swim, but it just didn't happen.

10lb was a miserable return for the peg. Had I been less aggressive at the start and simple fished pellet, I'm confident I would have had 15lb of skimmers as both Rich and Vic had done, and then probably nicked a couple of carp. Only 30lb won my section which turned out to be the worse section over the 2 lakes, as the rest of the complex fished really well.

Mark had a tough time from his peg which has a reputation of being poor. Fishing for pride in the next round! 

If I cant catch because of the draw, then I don't tend to beat myself up, however to mess up the way I did today, well I was pretty angry with myself.

1. 99- 3 - Ben Hagg (Guru) - p11
2. 189- 7 - Tom Mangnall (Mosella) - p31
3. 144-12 - Dan White (Garbolino) - p25
4. 121- 3 - Dave Romain - p21
5. 119- 0 - Luke Pester - p10
6. 110- 9 - Keith Bilder - p20

05/03/17 - Viaduct - Cary

Weight - 30lb
Catch - 2 Carp, 2 Skimmer, 1 Hybrid
Weather - Very windy, heavy showers
Match - Winter League rd 5 - 10th out of 19 section

So to the last round of the winter league and following a good start in the first 2 rounds, however poor draws in the last 2 proved to be a bit of disaster for team Colmic, leaving us in 8th. It was down to Calum Craig to draw us some flyers so we could hopefully make the top 5. Well I wasn't complaining about my draw, p100, which won the lake is the last round and has been a good area for skimmers.

As a team we needed to make up 18pts to have any chance of getting into the top 5, so decided to be really positive focusing solely on the lead, fishing for carp - boom or bust! I would have to forego the silvers, but to be honest, with winds forecast to gust 40mph, blowing left to right I was glad to leave the pole in the bag.

As for the rest of the team, Nick Merry ended up on p131, Mark Poppleton p70, Martin Preston p51 and Calum probably drew himself the worst peg on p20.

After 30mins I had 1lb skimmer on corn, my next fish was a big hybrid again on corn after approximately 2hrs, but as yet no carp. Ricky Mills to my left on p102, plus pegs 77 and 78 were all catching, as were the anglers at the other end of the lake (p90 & p94) and I was falling further behind.

The 2 anglers to my right hadn't caught and any indications I had all came to my left opposite the vacant p101. I was briefly attached to carp which came off, which was annoying. But at least it suggested there were some carp in the area.

I had been pinging corn and some meat at 13/14m, but only caught 1 small skimmer. With 30mins left the tip finally went round went round and a proper carp was attached picking up my 8mm punched meat.

Needless to say I was relieved to have landed it and just needed another tug. Fortunately I got one in the same area to my left, giving me an extra 26lb in the last 30mins and 10pts, which was much better than the 3pts I was potentially staring at. It was just a shame the fish didn't move out of Ricky's swim a little earlier. The 2 anglers to my right weighed 3lb and 15lb, so not many fish in the area.

As for the team we finished 5th on the day, with Mark winning Lodge and Nick doing well from Campbell. Martin was a little unlucky on Match lake, due to the 'spring' mini section fishing so well for the first time this year and Calum as expected struggled from his poor draw.

Overall we finished 8th, which considering the 2 poor draws in rounds 3 & 4 we were reasonably happy with.

Overall:
1. Lee Werrett (Natural Talent) - 116lb - peg 127
2. Clayton Hudson (Future Networks) - 110lb 14oz - peg 113
3. Paul Greenwood (M5 Angling) - 106lb 15oz - peg 129
4. James Knight (Somerset Angling) - 103lb - peg 38
5. Ricky Mills (Moaning Maggots) - 101lb 11oz - peg 102
6. Glyn Reynolds (Viaduct All Stars) - 99lb 4oz - peg 128
Silvers:
1. Andy Power (PI Thatchers) - 32lb 11oz - peg 61
2. Sam Powell (PI Thatchers) - 31lb 10oz - peg 37
3. Jon Gray (Somerset Angling) - 22lb 12oz - peg 12
4. Phil Hardwick (Moaning Maggots) - 21lb 1oz - peg 71
5. Paul Faiers (2nd Time Lucky) - 17lb 5oz - peg 56
6. Andrew Cranston (PI Thatchers) - 16lb 12oz - peg 125

Team Points On The Day:
1. Natural Talent - 70
2. Thatchers Vets - 67
3. Mosella Bathampton - 64
4. Silverfox - 62
5. Colmc SW - 59
6. Somerset Angling - 58
7. Maver Cadbury Angling - 56

26/02/17 - Viaduct - Campbell

Weight - 36lb 10oz (11lb 10oz - silvers)
Catch - 3 Carp, 10 Roach, 9 Skimmers, 1 Tench, 1 Perch
Weather - Windy and mostly cloudy
Match - Winter League - 11th out of 19 - section

The penultimate round of the winter league and after the last round Colmic SW needed a decent draw to maintain our top 5 position. Well that honour fell to Martin Preston and when he came out of the lodge the look on his face said it all, he had failed.

Mark Poppleton on was p94, Martin Preston p62, Calum Craig p46, Nick Merry p15 and I had p126 directly opposite were I was yesterday. So far this series the best weight from my peg was 12lb and I wasn't filled with a great deal of optimism since the majority of weights have been coming from the other side of the spit around the aerator.

Anyway I had a job to do and based on yesterdays match felt that silvers was going to play a part in picking a few extra points, that was assuming the wind blowing down the lake would allow. For company I had Nick Collins on p127 and Steve Skelton on p125.

On the all in, I deposited a 1/4 pot of caster with a few bits of corn at 13m, deciding against using the groundbait. Instead of starting on the tip like every one else, I went short at 7m with meat just in case. If there were any carp in the middle of the lake those around me would soon catch them.

After 15mins and no bites on the meat and no one had caught on the tip, I switched to the pole, conscious that I needed to make the most of the favourable wind since the forecast was for the wind to increase in strength later in the day. I also decided to fish double caster, since I really needed to catch some proper fish rather than little roach and it wasn't long before I caught a 2lb skimmer, followed by another. On the hour mark I had an 8lb carp on the lead and corn.

The rest of the match was a case of catch a fish on the pole, pot 50 or so caster and a couple of bits of corn. If I had a run of roach, a bigger pot of bait was introduced and whilst that settled I would switch to the lead. A near 10lb carp at 20m after 3hrs meant I was beating those around me, however most of the anglers on the opposite bank were catching and it was becoming apparent that I was probably in the poorest area of the lake.

The wind in the last hour was increasing in strength and it was becoming difficult to hold the pole even at 13m with a bump bar. A margin swim fed with caster didn't yield anything and a try over the 7m meat line resulted in a lost foul hooked carp, but I couldn't get decent presentation due to the undertow.

With 30mins to go, a big pot of caster and some corn was deposited at 14m, but instead of fishing the pole, I switched to the straight lead at 16/17m and caught my 3rd carp again on corn.

By the end of the match, I felt I fished a good match, beating those around me, but simply couldn't compete the current form pegs.

As for the team, we had a mare, with Mark and Martin struggling we ended up with 40pts, which has dropped us down to 8th in the league. A decent draw and a bit of luck is required for the last round to get back into the top 5.

1. Mark Leader (Maver Cadbury Angling) - 101lb 2oz - peg 113
2. Mash (M5 Angling) - 95lb 3oz - peg 131...
3. Scott Cousins (Viaduct All Stars) - 88lb 1oz - peg 111
4. Matt Parsons (M5 Angling) - 87lb 5oz - peg 100
5. Bob Giles (Natural Talent) - 84lb 14oz - peg 18
6. Ben Hagg (Natural Talent) - 82lb 1oz - peg 68
Silvers:
1. Bob Giles (Natural Talent) - 28lb 12oz - peg 18
2. Paul Greenwood (M5 Angling) - 27lb 8oz - peg 20
3. Alex Nadin (Garbolino BVMG) - 23lb 10oz - peg 19
4. Glyn Reynolds (Viaduct All Stars) - 22lb 2oz - peg 3
5. Vince Brown (Mosella Bathampton) - 20lb 10oz - peg 4
6. Steve Hutter (Viaduct All Stars) - 17lb 12oz - peg 41

25/02/17 - Viaduct - Campbell

Weight - 11lb 4oz
Catch - 23 Roach, 12 Skimmers, 2 Perch, 1 Skimmer
Weather - Windy, cloudy with some rain
Match - Open - 2nd out of 19 - silvers

With 19 booked in, there would be 16 on Campbell and 3 on Cary. I really wanted to be on Campbell, because I would be on the same lake in tomorrows Winter League.

P115 wasn't a good start, because it has shown very little form for carp or silvers and coupled with the wind which was blowing up the lake a tricky day was likely. It just seems I cant draw on the carp at the moment, since all my recent pick ups have been on the silvers.

As we were setting up there was a lot of fish showing themselves in the more sheltered end around the aerator and that's were I expected the winner to come from.

On the all in 3 balls of groundbait with some caster was deposited at 11m at a slight angle to my left and I started on the tip with meat, then corn and finally prawn, but after 45 mins no fish. In fact except for p119 no one had a carp at this end of the lake.

A switch to fishing maggot over the groundbait didn't produce a bite - oh dear. fortunately I managed a small roach over loose fed caster at 13m, were I caught a few more, before switching to caster which produced a slightly larger roach, but they were becoming a pain. I kept messing about with my feed, finding it best to pot in small amounts of caster and I started to pick up some better sized fish.

The wind was also becoming an issue. I really wanted to push longer to 14m, but the wind simply wouldn't allow me. A switch to heavier rig, fished double bulk proved decisive catching 2 big perch and a skimmer, but presentation was far from prefect.

As the match drew to a close I felt I was probably winning the silvers although the angler on 128 had caught a couple of big skimmers. So losing a tench at the net was very frustrating, but my timing could have been better as Dave White and Dave Romain who were stood behind me offered little sympathy as I let out a few expletive.

Any thoughts of winning overall though were thwarted because Emma Drysdale on 81 had caught some big hybrids and tench by the monk. That's about the 6th or 7th time I come 2nd in the silvers at viaduct in the last 10 months.

I felt I didn't get most out of the swim due to wind, but relieved to at least pick up another brown envelope.

1. 110- 0 - Nick Ewers (Preston) - p77
2. 84-11 - Phil Penslow - p111
3. 69-12 - Matt Hall (Dynamite Baits) - p112
4. 64-12 - Lenny Terry (Viaduct) - p130
5. 64-12 - Ben Hagg (Guru) - p129
6. 55- 5 - Roland Lucas (Preston) - p132
Silvers
1. 20- 7 - Emma Drysdale (Legacy Tackle) - p81
2. 11- 4 - Ken Rayner (Colmic) - p115
3. 10-11 - T Burrell - p128

19/02/17 - Lands End - Match

Weight - 38lb 10oz (6lb 12oz - silvers)
Catch - 5 Carp, 3 F1s, 3 Skimmers, 4 Roach, 1 Perch
Weather - Mild and mostly cloudy
Match - Winter League rd 4 - 3rd out of 33 silvers (12th overall)

It was back to a random draw today and to be honest I wasn't concerned about which lake to draw. After 3 rounds my league hasn't quite gone to plan, were any pick up in the overall league was unlikely, but a top 2 position in the silvers league was a definite possibility since I was lying 3rd.

Have to say I was more than happy to draw p20, since it made up my mind to target the silvers, because with the current flyers of p11, 13 & 15 were in my section it was unlikely I could compete. Also having won the silvers from p19 yesterday and winning the silvers in round 3 from this peg 2 weeks ago I was hopeful of another good day.

For company was Joe McMahon on p18 and Rich Lovering on p22 (in a different section) who was also hoping for a day on the silvers as he was lying 2nd in the silvers.

Tactics would be similar to yesterday, so started on the corn without feeding and in the first 90 mins I picked up 3 carp and more importantly 3 F1s. Despite trying various spots I caught all the fish from 1 spot slightly to my right at the bottom of the far shelf.

After those initial 90mins I fed gonuts black micros in 2 spots at the bottom of the shelf. A switch to fishing maggot over caster at 7m where I had fed from the start proved fruitless and down by the p19 pallet also proved disappointing, catching only caught a 1lb perch on caster.

In fact the remainder of the match was really frustrating, I managed to pick up 3x 12oz skimmers on 4mm expander over the micros, but nothing else. It was strange, because all my usual 'tricks' to catch were failing me.

I knew Russ Peck on p11(in my section) had caught 2 decent skimmers for about 5lb and could very easier steal the silvers section points. As I struggled to get bites I started to be more aggressive with my feed to try and pull in some fish, but all I ended up doing was killing my swim.

A bit of a tense end to the match and was relieved when Russ hadn't added to his 2 skimmers, which meant I had won my section for silvers. Rich got pipped for his silvers section points by 1oz - thanks Dave Hodgson!

As expected Bob Gullick on p13 and Steve Hutter on p15 came 1st and 2nd in section, so the decision to focus on the silvers proved to be the right one since I am now leading the silvers league.

1. 156-13 - Bob Gullick (Mosella) - p13

2. 129-14 - Nick Duckett (Lands End) - p7

3. 106- 9 - Steve Hutter (Garbolino) - p15

4. 78-11 - Rod Wootten (Lands End) - p55

5. 71- 1 - Andy Hembrow - p32

6. 58- 8 - Martin Rayet (Bristol) - p31

Silvers

1. 16- 8 - Mike Duckett (Bristol) - p41

2. 14-12 - Andy Hembrow - p32

3. 6-12 - Ken Rayner (Colmic) - p20

4. 6-10 - Emma Drysdale (Legacy Tackle) - p68

5. 5- 8 - Gary O'Shea (Preston) - p61

6. 4-12 - Bob Gullick (Mosella) - p13

League Tables below 

18/02/17 - Lands End - Match

Weight - 25lb 6oz (16lb 14oz - silvers)
Catch - 6 Roach, 5 Skimmers, 3 F1s, 3 Perch, 1 Tench, 2 Carp 
Weather - Mild and mostly bright
Match - Open - 1st out of 14 - silvers (4th overall)

I made a very late decision to fish, since I was expecting to return from a couple of days in Christchurch with Sue today (Saturday), but managed to get away a day early, which was handy. One afternoon I left Sue with her mother and took a walk along the Royalty stretch of the Avon, including the famous parlour swim. Couldn't see any fish due to some extra water in the river, but it certainly looked inviting as did a number of other swims.

Back to today I arrived in plenty of time to have one of Di's breakfasts and those in the café loved the fact I blanked at Viaduct, all the one liners were coming out.

With 14 anglers today, we were all on Match lake, so very few spaces for the fish hide, but everyone still wanted the pegs at the top end of the lake, i.e. 11, 13 & 15. I was first into the draw and pulled 19, which is usually worth a few a fish so at least I should have a days fishing and if there weren't many carp in residence then you can usually catch a few silvers.

On the all in I started on corn without introducing any feed to see what fish were in the swim. The float hardly settled off the point of the island and I was attached to a tench. Rod Wootten next to me on p18 was still potting out his bait. Next put in I netted an F1, which was a nice start.

After an hour I only managed to add 1 carp, despite the fact there were a number showing themselves around the island, but they weren't interested in feeding. With no further bites I feed some gonuts black micros in 2 areas along the bottom of the far shelf.

It became obvious that pegs 13 and 15 were catching as was peg 1 and 24, so the carp appeared to have pushed to either end of the lake and any chance of an overall pick up was looking slim.

The remainder of the match was focused on fishing soft pellet over micros to catch some silvers, but it was proving tricky, since I couldn't get more than 1 fish from any one swim before I had to refeed, leave and try elsewhere.

I also fed caster to my left by the bush which produced 2 decent perch on prawn, plus a good skimmer on caster. I also lost 2 decent fish when the hook pulled, which was annoying.

Rod had managed a couple of decent skimmers on meat over pellet, but was generally stuggling. The only other angler I needed to worry about was Paul Faires on p7 who was catching consistently albeit mostly small roach.

I just kept plugging away picking up the odd fish and by the all out felt I had done enough to win the silvers, which is how it turned out.

The water was still very cold, however a couple more weeks of this mild weather and the fish should start waking up properly.

1. 74- 2 - Eric Fouracre (Mosella) - p13
2. 41- 3 - Russ Peck (Lands End) - p1
3. 38-12 - Rich Heatley (Bristol) - p15
4. 25- 6 - Ken Rayner (Colmic) - p19
5. 25- 0 - Matt Baber (Bristol) - p11
6. 21- 2 - Dave Wescott (Lands End) - p24
Silvers
1.16-14 - Ken Rayner (Colmic) - p19
2. 10-10 - Paul Faires (Thyers) - p7
3. 7- 0 - Mike Duckett (Lands End) - p5
4. 6-10 - Rod Wootten (Lands End) - p18