Viaduct Open (Cary & Lodge lakes).

Traveling With Don again today which is nice as there plenty of room in his van for all of the kit we seem to take these days' with the draw time being later at 9.30 we had plenty of time for breakfast at hilltops first, first thing to notice today was how pleasant the weather was with the sun out and hardly any wind" 23 fishing today meaning most anglers would be on Cary and a section on Lodge with a three peg overspill onto Cary, Yesterdays open was won from peg 81 with a total of  270lb so a draw on this lake would be nice'.

Near the front of the draw today hoping for a favoured draw saw me on 73 Lodge which is not the lake I was hoping for as I felt the best weights would be off Cary but I did have a corner peg with a tree in the water at 17mts which I was told held fish although I didn't plan to fish this far as I would be asking for trouble' so after pluming along from 11-14mts a found around 4ft of water just out from the bank which seemed snag free so a 4x12 rig on 0.15-0.13 to a 18 PR478 was made up to fish this line as well as to my inside left towards the next pallet in the same depth of water , I had another rig set up to fish a slightly heavier 4x14 made up on 0.13-0.11 for the open water at 6mts were I would feed meat by hand, last of all a bomb was set up to fish punched meat out into the open water.

At the all in I fed around half a pot of 6mm meat onto the inside left and the same towards the tree on my right at 11mts as I wanted to gauge my swim first rather than push fish further back towards the tree, after adding a palm full of meat onto the 6mt line I began on the bomb and punched 10mm meat and after 30 mins of casting around the peg I hadn't had so much as a liner so I swapped to meat on the 6mt line where I had been flicking some in by hand. A couple of missed bites saw me swap to a single cube and as a result started to catch roach so was soon topping the swim up with half a pot of meat and switch to my 11mt swim towards the tree with two 6mm cubes on the hook, another 15mins past and still no carp and after trying down to the right without success I new I had to fish further towards the tree so I fed another half pot at 14mts and went back on the 6mt line. I managed a couple of skimmers before hooking a flyer' which came off and killed it stone dead! back on the pole towards the tree I foul hooked a fish first put in which did its best to climb the branches before sheading the hook but at least it was a sign they were there and the rig came back intact so back in and ten mins later my first carp after 2hrs' of around 8lb was a start, I fe-fed the swim with a cadpot attached full of meat after every bite but was getting pestered by small fish so cut out the feed until I had a carp, the problem I had was the carp seemed more interested in basking in the sun under the tree than having a feed so the roach and rudd were having a field day'.

I found by not moving the rig if I managed to get the bait to the bottom to wait, I could get a carp and of good size I had three in a row then fishery manager Paul Greenwood came by and asked how things were going and no sooner had I told him I had started to catch it went dead as far as the carp went! (There all Jinxed"). I cupped in another half a pot and tried my left hand swim, first put in and a foul hooked big fish came off after 5mins and despite trying this swim a few more times until the end of the match I never had a sign of a carp and nor did the lad to my left fishing back towards the pallet towards me, on the 6mt line all I had were some smaller skimmers and roach so I concentrated towards the tree on double 6mm meat ending the match with 8 carp and 18lb of silvers for a total of 79lb odd and second on are lake with the other end peg 66 winning the lake with 128lb, first on the day went to Lewis Greenwood king on Cary peg 98 with 182lb catching on the waggler and pellet and bomb with meat.

Full Results-

1st Lewis Greenwood-King peg 98 Cary, 182lb 5oz.

2nd Steve Tucker (Garbolino) peg 80 Cary, 173lb 14oz.

3rd Steve Denmead (Viaduct) peg 86 Cary, 151lb 3oz.

4th Dan Squires (Viaduct) peg 66 Lodge, 128lb 1oz.

Silvers-

1st  Roland Lucas (Viaduct) peg 100 Cary, 42lb 6oz.

2nd T.Davis (Unattached) peg 103 Cary, 36lb 2oz.                      

Acorn Fishery Sat Open.

Back to acorn fishery today as I haven't been for a few weeks and with a few more fishing as a practice match for the series starting next Sunday helped to increase the attendance, Not to worried were I was draw today as after winning the last match on expanders I would be fishing along the same lines, into the draw and I ended up on peg 5 which I was happy enough with as I had the option to fish across to the island at 13mts as well as a line to my left at 8mts on the bottom of the inside shelf, being quite positive I plumed two swims across at the same depth in around 3ft of water to fish 4mm expanders over micro pellet on a 4x12 chanti to 0.13-0.10 and an 18 808, and a 4x12 chanti for my short 8mt swim in 5ft of water where I planed to fish a bigger 6mm expander over hard 4mm and 6mm pellet.

At the start  I cupped in half a pot of mixed hard pellet on the short swim and fed one line across with a small nugget of micro and a few dampend 4mm before starting across on my other line with a tiny cad pot containing a tiny amount of micro and 3-4 hard 4mm pellet, 15mins in and my first bite resulted in a carp of 4lb on the expander things were looking good as after a few liners I swapped to the more positive line across and took 3 more carp of the same size in the next twenty mins before disaster struck and the wind picked up from no were meaning it was nearly impossible to fish across and present the rig properly which was really annoying as from what I could see not much had been caught so far, Not having a choice I had to make a switch to the shorter line in the hope of catching here earlier than I had anticipated but after 20 bite less minutes I decided to make a new rig up to fish closer to the bank in just over 2ft of water but despite a skimmer of a pound I was going nowhere fast.

I tried in vain to attempt to hold the rig still enough across to induce a bite but after twice being span around on my seat box I had to give up hope until the last hour and managed to snare one more of the same size added to three late fish from the short line late on the big expanders gave me a total of 28lb 13oz, the lake had fished hard though and Bob gullit took the honours over on peg 21 with a total of 29lb 14oz and Lee Waller weighed 29lb 9oz  off peg 11 so missed out of a pick up or the second win on the bounce at the venue but I didn't lose any fish other than two foul hookers but that's fishing its just a shame the wind got up as I'm sure I would of had more off the long lines.

High light of the day had to be when Gabrial Skabba misses turned up and made her way to who she though was hubby only to realise she was just about to plant a welcome smacker on the chops of Phil (Fabio) Harding by mistake" I don't know who was more shocked!

Full Results -

1st Bob Gullit (BVMG) peg 21, 29lb 14oz.

2nd Lee Waller (Acorn) peg 11, 29lb 9oz.

3rd Dom Sullivan ( Maver/Cadbury Angling) peg 5, 28lb 13oz.

4th Nick Coles (Clevedon A.A) peg 22, 24lb 9oz

Silvers - Phil Harding , Peg 39, 18lb 8oz.                    

Emerald Pool, (Ruby & Sapphire lakes)

Tony Rixon's match today over both lakes and after another nice breakfast at hilltops I was off to the fishery in plenty off time for the draw and to get my kit on the trolley ready for the off and I did remember my wheels today which help', I haven't fished the lakes in question for years so was only going off the information from the match Tony had on Wednesday although I did make up some paste as they used to love it on sapphire so was willing to give it a try should I be lucky enough to draw there? With 30 fishing today it meant I had a 50/50 chance in the draw and when it came to my turn I ended up on Ruby peg 20 on the back of Emerald pool itself so I wasn't sure of the paste attack? so planned to fish hard pellet and meat on a couple of different lines, for company I had Craig (Trigger) Edmund to my right on 19 with his traveling partner Paul Elms on 18 so new they would be giving each other some stick' I forgot the camera after putting new batteries in again so couldn't take a view of my swim but had an island in front of me at 10mts and had a 4x12 chanti on 0.13-0.11 and an 18 808 to fish at the bottom of the shelf in 4ft of water, A rig the same was used to fish at the bottom of the shelf on the inside at 5mts to my left and right, one to be fed with 6mm meat and the other with 6mm hard pellet.

On the all in I cupped a palm full of meat to my inside left and the same of pellet to my right and started towards the island with a hard 6mm on the hook, the first twenty mins saw me hook two carp of a 1lb each which both shed the hook at the net' and by now Trigg and Paul were both catching short on the pellet and I felt I was falling behind and with the stamp of fish averaging up to 2lb I had to try short to catch up, starting with a 6mm cube of meat it didn't take long for me to get a better fish of 3lb but then I started to get iffy dinks on the float with small fish attacking the meat so cupped another palm full of meat in and tried a 6mm pellet to my left but getting ragged out I soon gave up and had to make a change so a banned 8mm was shipped out to the island swim and straight away I had a couple of carp to 2lb without feeding but then got a few foul hookers so decided to re-plum a swim closer to the island, with a 4x10 Chanti rig I found a flat spot in around 2ft of water so starting with an 8mm on the hook I decided to add a cad pot and cup in around five 8mm's  over the float once it had settled which seemed to work as the foul hookers stopped and with the average fish being 2lb I was making an inroads on Trig & Paul as there short lines had dried up along with Tim Fords swim opposite who started really well.

Every time the swim went quite I switched to the short meat swim and although they were of better stamp to 3lbs I would only catch one or two as they didn't seem to settle so by having most of my indications across in the shallower water I had to concentrate on this line, I caught as much as I could before resting it for ten mins and slowed to cad potting 4-5 8mm's after every fish, it wasn't fast but I did seem to be putting fish in the net as some anglers swims had totally died and had them starting new lines to follow the fish, I did try meat and 6mm pellet across but nuisance fish were a problem so I stuck to the hard 8mm for the rest of the match across and a couple more fish on the meat short pushed my weight up but I wasn't sure what weight I had thought I was sure Trig and Paul still had more than me. at the weigh in Paul was first to weigh and put 67lb on the scales followed by Trig's 76lb and was more than surprized when I took my first net out as it weighed 73lb but with the limit being 70lb I had 3lb deducted which was only me to blame, added with a few fish in the other net my total went 78ld odd which was ok until Matt Tomes weighed in 80lb on the far bank to win the lake  meaning I was to end up second due to my miss counting" It wasn't all bad as Tony paid the top Two on each lake and two sections so I ended up with £45 which paid for my weekend, the days top weight was off sapphire with Gordon Canning's taking 87lb so it turned into a very close match and a couple of fish either way could of swung things which is nice to see.

Full Results-

1st Gordon Cannings 87lb

2nd Bela Bakos 86lb

3rd Tom Thick 85lb

4th Matt tomes 80lb

5th Dom Sullivan 78lb

6th Craig Edmunds 76lb.      

                   

Paul Garrett Memorial Match Viaduct Fishery.

Traveling with Team mate Don Sutherland & Johnny Page for Company and after a nice breaky at hilltops we made are way to the fishery in plenty of time to load are kit up in time for the draw, or so I thought until I realised I had left my trolley wheels in are car so a draw with a short walk would be helpful as I had brought everything but the kitchen sink! A good turn out today with 45 fishing and the match being spread over Cambell, Cary & lodge lakes, We were chatting out side so were near the back of the draw today and when I pulled two tickets out John pinched the top one and ended up on 81 Cary which he wasn't happy with lol and I ended up on 111 Cambell which left me a short walk at least but I would have preferred to be further up the lake as these have been the form pegs.

Having not fished the venue as much as these local lads I new to compete I had to try and keep it simple so opted to fish the bomb and hair rigged meat or 8mm pellet toward the aerator in the middle of the lake, The pole at 14mts with banded 6mm or 8mm pellet over 6mm feed pellets and a 6mm meat line at 6mts which I would feed lightly by hand through out the match looking to catch big skimmers over it and hope some big carp turn up later in the day. My pole rigs consisted of a 4x14 chanti on 0.15-0.13 and a 18 PR474 for the long line and a 4x12 chanti on the same line for the shorter swim with an 16 PR 474 on the business end, After a Chat with John and a quid side bet struck before the start on the all in I cupped half a good pot of 6mm pellet with a few 8mm's in on the 14mt swim and a palm full of 6mm meat on the short line, I did feed half a pot of 6mm pellet on a short line to my left but didn't have a bite over it through the day.

Starting on the bomb with punched 10mm meat I was bite less for 20mins which saw me swap to 8mm hair rigged pellet as the guy on the peg opposite had already had two carp to which I believe he had on pellet but apart from a couple of liners I hadn't had a proper bite, The first hour flew by and I still hadn't had a fish and looking further up the lake I could see Dave Roper on 116 and Alex Murray on 118 were catching and I new I had to get some fish in the net soon".

I went out onto the long pole swim with a banded 8mm but 10mins later without a sign I swapped to a 6mm and had a 2lb skimmer first put in followed by a small skimmer and a few missed bites so I topped it up and tried a 6mm piece of meat on the short line, Another skimmer of the same size followed by a 3lb tench had me wondering should I spend the rest of the match fishing for the silvers but being as I had them on the meat line and expecting some carp later in the match I topped the line up with another palm full of meat after no more bites and went back on the bomb with meat again.

first cast and at last a carp of 5lb followed by one of 4lb the next chuck then nothing saw me casting to other areas of the swim and I did get my total up to 6 carp all on the meat but I was having to wait to long for bites and with others still catching I new my best chance to catch up would be the short meat swim and with 90mins left I was praying they had turned as fishing the long pole and pellet had now been ruled out with the wind, first drop in with a single 6mm cube saw a missed bite but with the tow coming towards me I felt the rig was to light so I swapped to the 4x14 rig about two inches over depth with two 6mm cubes on the hook.

Bingo" This worked a treat and a 6lb common followed by a 12lb mirror was a good sign to me they had turned up! after every fish or every couple of mins without a bite I fed 6-8 pieces by hand over the float and by lifting the rig and dropping it when I felt the bait had nearly reached the deck saw some un-miss able bites' I stayed on this line for the remainder of the match even adding another net in the last twenty mins and was catching some nice size carp with a few good size tench in between. At the all out I hadn't a clue what I had but new I would struggle to match the guys on the more fancied pegs but was happy to weight 18lb of silvers and 109lb of carp for a total of 127lb missing out by winning the section by 2lb to Dave Roper, and 3rd in the silvers by 3lb' but I felt I did it right on the day just a shame I couldn't catch um earlier. Don did well  despite drawing a good carp peg he went against the grain and fished for silvers ending the day with 51lb of big skimmers at 9mts on banded 6mm pellet over loose fed pellet which was easily enough to take the top silvers prize of £65 so fair play to him, Top Man on the day went to in form Gary O'Shea (P.I.Thatchers) from 102 on Cary catching on the bomb and cone with meat on the hook taking 16 carp for a total of 185lb so some big fish then" Back up weights of a couple of 160-150lb followed so I was happy with the way my day went seeing I'm adjusting to the fishery and taking on the regulars who are all hard to beat and look forward to my next trip.                                  

Shiplate Farm Open (Main Lake).

After grabbing a breakfast roll for fishery owner Steve we made a way up to share a sandwich with a cuppa and a chat, the wind today had made no let up and was straight in the face of the swims on the near bank in the low numbers so I was praying for fancied pegs 1 or 15 or any swim on the far bank with the wind off are backs, I had no maggots or casters today and was going to take a pellet and meat approach along with some corn, into the draw and out comes peg 11 on the far side so the hassle of the wind was avoided This swim suited what I wanted to fish today being the bomb with meat or 8mm pellet to fish tight to the island if need be and a waggler at depth just off the end of the island in 4ft of water both set up with hair rig stops size 14 and 16 hooks. Down to my left at 12mts there is a bush in the water so I made one rig to fish at depth just off the end of it in 5ft of water on 0.13-0.11 and an 18 PR474. I didn't make a rig up for silvers today as I felt I had to concentrate on the big boys'. (pic of island chuck & Inside swim)

  At the start I cupped in a pot full of hemp corn and some 6mm meat on the inside swim and started on the bomb and 10mm punched meat about a foot off the end of the island, Having caught a few fish like this on my recent pleasure session I new it was a case of waiting and after a motionless 15mins the tip flew round and carp number one was soon in the net of approx. 5lb, another 10mins and carp two was added of around 4lb's.

 Fish on'.

Another 30mins with no further signs saw me switch to the waggler slightly further off the island but the fish were having none of it and a change to hard 6's and 8mm pellet made no difference so I was back on the lead playing the waiting game, there was a strong breeze blowing into the pegs on the near bank and I couldn't help but laugh as I took my jacket off to look up and see Dave Coco adding more thermals"

Another carp out of the blue on the two hour mark then nothing made me give the pole a try down to the bush with double 6mm meat on the hook, and after a few minutes of careful lifting and dropping gave me a positive bite and a much bigger fish hooked only for it to come straight to the surface and shed the hook' another try and nothing had me top the swim up and try meat where I had been flicking a few pieces by hand around 2mts from the bank although this was short lived as the ducks appeared and found the exact spot diving down to wipe my peg clear even though it was 5ft deep and they didn't even see me feed!

   The rest of the match saw me trying down the edge a few times with know further signs and all I could do was fish the bomb and meat until the end, by leaving it as long as possible as I couldn't feed due to the wildlife saw me add 3 more carp of around the same size to finish with 5 fish for 23lb with a lone 8oz chub, Young Lewis Jones had a great day further up the lake on peg 13 catching 95lb of carp on the long pole and pellet to win the day and Andy France did well over on peg 3 to battle with the wind on the pole for the days top silvers weight of 28lb, All I picked up today was another quid off peanut but at least me and the wife were out off the wind which kept her happy'.

   Full Results-
1st Lewis Jones (Sensas Thyers) Peg 13, 95lb 8oz
2nd Paul Chapman (Shiplate) Peg 1, 70lb 3oz
3rd Tom light (Shiplate) Peg 14, 51lb 14oz
4th Tim Lewis (Shiplate) Peg 12, 31lb 4oz
Silvers-
1st Andy France (Cadbury Angling) Peg 3,  28lb 11oz
2nd Tim Lewis (Shiplate) Peg 12, 23lb 2oz.
 

Manor Farm Leisure Nr Evesham. (Saturday)

A first time visit to this venue for myself so I was looking forward to something different after an invite to travel up with Sensas Thyers Young un' Lewis jones and Steve (Peanut) Howell, Lewis thought he had more knowledge than the Tom Tom taking us on a scenic route of Evesham ending up back at the roundabout we past 30minutes earlier". Still making it in plenty of time for a breakfast on site before a wander around the lakes to see where we were going to be fishing with Windmill and Boundary being used for are open match, A quick chat before with the tackle shop owner told us willow had a depth running from 5ft to 12ft' and Boundary had a depth of 5-6ft although Lewis said he had 8ft but I don't think he has any idea how much a foot is..? Into the draw and I and up on windmill 13 only to have Peanut for company on 15 so I thought with the way he draws we must be in a good area", Lewis drew on 38 boundary which is an open water lake in the nice sun as me and Steve had the wind in are chops shaded under the conifers 6ft behind us' Pluming up at 13mts I had 12ft of water so a touch of line was added to make the rig long enough being a 0.4g PB3 on 0.13-0.10 and an 18 808 for fishing expanders over hard 4's at dead depth and a rig to fish the same down my inside in 5ft of water, all I had time left to set up was a pellet waggler to fish hard 6's & 8's but I didn't expect it to work as the wind was blowing into are faces from the left so feeding 6's as advised was going to be out of the question.

At the all in and after having a quid with Steve I cupped in half a pot of 4mm hard pellet and some 4 and 6mm expanders on both lines and started at 13mts, 2omins and my first fish being a 8oz skimmer followed by to smaller samples and two tiny roach on 6mm expanders had me thinking something wasn't right and I new I had to change, It was time to try the waggler and after 30mins I had an F1 of around 3lb but I was struggling to keep the float still in the harsh breeze and could only feed 8mm pellets which I felt were to big for the size of the fish in this lake and the lad a couple of pegs down on the opposite bank had taken a few fish on the waggler feeding 6mm, despite trying the long pole again and taking a carp of 3lb down the edge on a 6mm expander and losing another bigger fish in the last 5mins I spent most of the match tying to make the shallow waggler work but it wasn't until the wind let up going into the last hour that I managed to feed some 6mms and with the same on the hook I added a few more F1s and some smaller carp but with a top weight of 60lb odd on Boundary we new are lake had fished harder and was happy to weigh 23lb to Steve's 21lb so I had a quid and was winning the section but we think it would have been beat?? and Lewis ended up catching some big f1s to finish with 29lb, shame the wind spoilt the day as I'm sure I could of had a few fish from the open water to have had a result but that's fishing and we had a good laugh which was the main thing.                      

Time For A Rant"

For those that know me new I took a few years away from fishing for a while and returned to fishing matches three years ago now, In that time things have changed some what with most of the fishing being on commercials which all seem to of average attendance except for some well run leagues through the year.

Being involved with Maver/Cadbury Angling has given me the chance to fish a variety of venues as well as the natural venues especially in the last 18mts, now I fully appreciate the help from Toby at Cadbury Angling but on my return to fishing I new I wanted to take it seriously and always new if wanted to progress any further I would have to give it 100% if I was going to be lucky enough to get noticed and progress to a private sponsorship. To date, My return saw me start at Shiplate Farm Fishery and I wasn't long before I got back into the swing of things racking up 8 match wins on the trot, last year I had change of scenery and fished some matches at Summerhayes Fishery in Bridgewater were I notched up 5 wins on the trot and felt confident in the 6th visit to win only to snap my pole meaning I couldn't fish where I wanted and had to start a line for silvers which I went on to win and the next time I won the match again' All this was in between fishing Acorn fishery most Saturdays and some Tuesdays which I had many wins and was in the frame every week, Now I don't claim to be the best angler in the world by any means but you don't get these results without putting the effort in and being able to read your swim on the day is something that's always going to make a difference to doing well, To date I haven't been approached which I understand because as far as I'm concerned I building a good C.V should the opportunity arise.

Now this is where my Rant begins, As you can see from this blog lately I have been running Open matches on Saturdays At Emerald Pool Fishery in West Huntspill, Now these matches have been very popular as its silver fish matches with plenty of bites' so to the extent I was running them every fortnight, Now in not going to name and shame, Though I find it a bit annoying that somebody has chosen to do an article on the Fishery for their Sponsorship' to keep them happy" When I'm the person who approached Owner Alan & Anita to start the matches up and currently hold the match record so am I missing the boat somewhere or perhaps this person should have took a few seconds to think how it would affect others as I'm sure if it were the other way around they wouldn't be best pleased...? I understand the pressure to perform for your Sponsor's and having to do the articles when need be but with a Varity of venues to chose from which give good silvers sport so why when I'm trying to build on a sponsor does someone see it as their right to jump in on a good opportunity for me to get somewhere? Perhaps something like a head to head may have been appropriate or is it the thought of maybe (God For Bid) getting beat in front of the cameras is the worry? all I do know is this certain individual thought no further than Himself..   I will be interested in your thoughts next time you see me on the bank because as for those who run matches all know its not just a case of turning up and it all falling into place there's a lot of arranging to do as well as the moaning when someone has draw were they don't want to be'                                    

Viaduct Teams of Five Final Rd.

Traveling with Don Sutherland again today for the final round of the viaduct league and with 95 anglers involved there's a lot to fish for, We planned to grab a breakfast roll at the wooden spoon in Weston although as norm they had over slept or to many beers the night before? so we made are was to the globe for the draw and managed to get there in time for a full breakfast to help us through the day, We had team mate Sam Johnson draw for us today as Chris Hook hadn't been to clever for us to date, Back with the team draw card and Bingo' I had managed to draw on the overspill to spring lake peg 3 not that I didn't fancy match lake I just felt I had a few more options, Happy with my draw which gave me an island chuck for the carp on the straight lead and plenty of room for fishing the pole for the resident lakes skimmers as well as a tree in the water to my left which I planned to feed casters for the perch, for company today I Had Chris Davis for company on peg two and Andy Crooker from the welsh mob on peg 4 .

After setting up the bomb with hair rigged size 16 Drennan hook I had two rigs of the same set up for fishing the pole at fourteen and a half meters with 0.4g mick Wilkinson skimmer floats on 0.10-0.09 and an 18 Drennan silver fish hook coupled to Middy 6-8 Hi-Vis elastic. I have to make a point to mention this elastic as I've been using this for silvers now for the last few months and I rate I highly and to date I haven't lost hardly anything I've hooked' and being a solid elastic its only around £2.50 for 5mts".

At the all in a cupped in 5 balls of darkened ground bait with casters and a few floro pinkees in on the long pole swim and some loose casters at 2 o'clock at 13mts being the same depth, Last week there were some big skimmers caught in the area although today was very bright and warm unlike the rain from the previous week so I was unsure they would settle but wanted to put a good carpet down if they did.

Starting on the straight lead with punched 10mm meat with a motion less 20mins on the tip, To be honest I was struggling to reach the distance as I don't carry the leads some of these guys do" but with a bit more welly' I got the distance sorted and a switch to 3 discs of punched bread and had a skimmer first chuck of 2lb, nothing followed so I was itching to get on the pole with double caster, First put in and 3mins later and another 2lb skimmer was added before a smaller 10oz sample then nothing , this is were I had to make a decision as to re-feed the long pole line which I chose not to as im sure I still had enough feed in the area to graze over. Back on the lead and reaching the half way point I was having to make the choice for best as my rod was nearly wrenched in on popped up bread resulting in a nearly 9lb carp but another 30mins with nothing and two hours left I topped up the long pole with a small ball containing more casters and ten mins later went out over it with double caster and the results were instant with 3 nice size skimmers before things slowed down again, I felt they were happy to have a bit of feed so fed another ball'' of casters , a try down by the tree saw me have two small perch were I had been flicking casters by hand and a quick try back on the lead and bread leading to nothing made my mind up to concentrate on the long pole for the last hour.

I was soon finding a pattern of having a couple of fish before having to add another small ball and repeat the process leaving it to settle for 5mins and trying over the loose fed long line which only produced two small roach, I managed to catch steady for the last 30mins including two fish on my last two put ins I was gutted the all out sounded, match lake had fished really well and 90lb was top weight with good back ups so point wise I wasn't going to score well but would be interested  to see what my silvers would weigh and when they went just short of 27lb I thought I might get in the silvers frame and back at the results I was happy to find out I had second overall in the silvers picking up a nice £100 making a great finish to this popular league. owe and just to note I never lost a fish so the elastic must be a good choice".

Freeze Southwest Orange took the league title with an impressive 318pt and Fishery owner Steve Long was top individual, although as a team this year didn't get the best of results although I fully enjoyed the series and look forward to next year.

Full Results -

1st Martin Preston (Viaduct) peg 115 Cambell, 110lb 10oz

2nd Steve Nadlin (BVMG) peg 119 Cambell, 104lb 2oz

3rd John Moody (BVMG) peg 42 Match. 90lb 15oz

4th Clint Wojtyle (Avon Angling) peg 116 Cambell, 88lb 9oz

5th Andy Pritchard (Amigos) peg 123 Cambell, 72lb 1oz

Silvers -

1st Dan Squires (Viaduct Select) peg 16 Spring, 30lb 3oz

2nd Dominic Sullivan (Maver Cadbury Angling)  peg 3 Spring, 26lb 15oz

3rd Bela Bakos (Silverfox) peg 37 Middle, 26lb 4oz.               

Acorn Saturday Open (Paddock)

Off to Acorn today for the weekly Clevedon A.A match and with the forecast of a nice day a few were expected to dust of there kit off and return to the bank for a spot of fresh air if nothing else, 16 fishing today and a friendly pools of £12 gave me time to chat with team mate young James over a cuppa and a bacon sarnie had us hoping for a bridge peg as the resent form shows these to be more consistent of late and after seeing Steve Howell this morning he advised me to pick my peg with my left hand so into the draw out comes 38 which was the last place I wanted to be if truth be told as nobody had caught from it in the last few matches as they tend to be by bridge peg 40 at this time of the year and Darren Vowles was certainly smiling having draw it and it being todays bonus peg" to boot. obvious for me then, just beat Darren and i'le be alright, Simples'?

Sometimes when you don't draw the more fancied pegs you hope for it some what makes it easier to go about your day I believe as you don't have the pressure on to produce the goods the 'hot' pegs do, I planned two fish two swims to left and right around two metres out from the bank 9mts to either side and a the same rig to fish the bottom of the far shelf, all lines being the same depth at around 5ft deep so a 4x12 chanti on 0.11-0.10 and an 18 808 was assembled, another rig with a 4x10 chanti on 0.10-0.09 and a 20 808 was set up to fish on top of the shelf at 13mts in 3ft of water which I expected to have most indications on very late in the match.

My main feed today was going to be 4mm expanders fished over damped micro and hard 4mm's for across whilst I would feed caster and corn on my left on the shorter line and hard 4's with a few expanders to my right short line . Both lines were fed with a good handful of each before I cupped a nugget of micro with a sprinkle of loose offerings and hard 4's at the bottom of the far shelf, Starting with a tiny freeze cad pot attached containing two expanders and around 10 micro's up onto the top of the shelf I was looking for the odd fish quickly whilst my other lines settled and after an hour and a couple of dinks I had a carp of around 4lb but with no other signs except a brief tussle with a foul hooker I topped it up with a tiny amount of micro and switched to the bottom of the far shelf with 4mm expander and had a 3oz skimmer before I missed a quick bite but then nothing despite trying maggot and corn on the hook.

Another small nugget and a few expander re-fed the line before I tried up on the shelf again and another carp on pellet of 2lb was added but by now the wind had picked right up making it nearly impossible to hold the pole still so I had to change plan , I decided to cup in a palm full of bait on top of the shelf hoping to hold any passing carp to stay in the swim and have a look back over when the wind allowed, starting with double caster on the left short swim saw no indications and a try with corn didn't produce so a switch to the right hand swim with an expander saw a positive bite and another 4lb fish, followed by 2lb & 5lb fish so by looking around I was already making an impression as I hadn't seen much caught and Darren on the flier' only having one fish.

By now 2hrs had passed but I was now confident I would catch some more fish over if the wind was to drop into the last hour so now I new I had two lines to pinch fish off when ever possible, No more bites short made me top it up with another palm full of micro's and hard 4's before trying my best to hold the pole still long enough to induce a bite across but they didn't seem to want be in the shallower water so after trying the bottom of the shelf  for 10 mins without success I was back on the short pellet swim and another fish first put in was landed and after 10 more mins I attached a cad pot and began dripping in some micro and 4mms over the float and shortly after I had a nice 6lb common before it went quite again, by now I had an hour to go so I new if I was going to catch some more over it was going to be now so another top up short had me reach for the shelf rig, By now Lewis Jones had come down to see how we were getting on and was behind me as explained how I felt I was going to catch over and no sooner had I layed the rig in and emptied a micro amount of feed I was connected to a bigger fish and a minute later a 7lb common was netted' (I love it when it goes to plan) the same happed next put in and a 4lb fish was added then it went quite again so I swapped between both the long and short line ending the match with 11 carp which I thought was going to be their about from the pegs I could see not having that much,

As I thought the fishing had been hard and my 45lb was enough to take top weight and a win on the day with £40 added to the wallet to help which goes to prove you don't always have to be on the good pegs to get a result its how you approach it on the day and by fishing lighter lines and rigs can help as you have to make it look as natural as the feed to the fish, many of my bite came today just after the rig had settled or after I had lifted and dropped the rig a little. what was nice to see today we had a female angler in the name of Maria Green fishing who made my day by beating Darren Vowles & Dave Smart Either side of her so they wont get much stick next time will they" Go Girl!'

 Maria's Catch 10lb.

 My catch.

 

 Overall results                           

1st Dominic Sullivan (Maver Cadbury Angling) peg 38, 45lb 10oz

2nd  Paul Nicholls (Clevedon A.A) peg 11, 27lb 8oz

3rd Gabrial skarba (Acorn) peg 22, 23lb 8oz

3rd Lee Waller (Acorn) peg 34, 23lb 8oz. 

Top silvers

Paul Faires (Clevedon A.A) 11lb 2oz

                                   

Emerald Pool (Tony Rixons) Re-Arranged Silvers Match.

You know some days when things go wrong from the minute you start the day I had a sinking feeling it wasn't going to be mine as I realised I had forgot the camera half way to hilltops for breakfast and when I put my hot cuppa on the passengers seat it tipped over soaking my cap" still I made it to breky in one piece and had a good chat with fellow blogger Mike Nicholls and Harry Muir & Charlie Barns among others before getting to the fishery to arrange the pegging for Tony, 16 fishing today so there were going to be some dodgy areas to draw with the way the recent form on the lake had been going.

At the draw I was hoping for any peg with a single number so what do I end up with? Peg 11 which is along the bottom end of the lake tucked in the corner next to where Nigel Wickham drew on the Saturday match and failed to trouble the scales so it wasn't promising although I did have Tony on the next peg 12 on the same bank and we agreed to a quid side bet to keep us entertained, the lake at this end is a lot shallower the other  and I could only find around two and a half feet where ever I plumed up so I chose to fish at 10mts to my left and right at ten and two o'clock angles, one swim to fish over loose fed caster by hand and the other over groundbait and maggot, Rigs today were 0.02g on 0.10-0.09 and 18 63-13 and a 4x10 chanti on the same lines to an 18 PR490 to catch off the deck if they came off the bottom but I didn't really expect it to work with It being shallow.

At the all in I cupped one small ball containing a few red maggots and casters and a cup full of loose groundbait over the top on my right hand swim and cupped some casters on the other swim were I planned to feed by hand, starting over the groundbait it was very slow and in the first hour I had only managed around 5lb including a 3lb tench on the head of a worm  but I couldn't seem to catch more than a couple of fish before having to keep swapping swims, already Tom Thick on peg 9 along the fancied bank was catching quite well and Tony was putting a few fish in the net but was already catching carp on the same line at which point I had to mention to Tom the last time the sun was out it was like someone flicked a switch at 1pm and all the lakes carp had a munch as he was playing his 5th and it was only 12.40' 

I re-plumed a swim at twelve mts and cupped in some chopped worm and caster and left it to settle for 30mins before trying it but never had a bite' by now I was finding it hard to string anything together and approaching the half way stage I had to do something different as I was falling behind mainly due to the depth I think as they were spooking, I had had most of my fish over the groundbait line were I had been topping up with the odd nugget so I went for it and cupped in two bigger balls with a palm full of red maggots and floro pinkees in as well as 3 large pots of loose groundbait over the top, This might seem harsh but I had to try and draw some fish into my swim to hold them there for a longer period as although Tony was doing a fine display of carp fishing he was still adding the silvers to his net, I went straight on it as I was finding the fish weren't coming to the loose fed caster line and maybe they didn't like it over there heads.

A couple of lift bites saw a run of skimmers from 3oz-12oz right over the feed so I new they came to the groundbait' but I didn't milk it and fed a ball over the loose fed line and fished the rest of the match rotating between the two swapping the hook bait around, by the end of the match I had put more in the net in the last 3 hours than I did in the first but didn't have time to catch up with Tony and lost my pound as he had 35lb to my 27lb so a quid lost but still a good day and a few laughs along the way mainly for Tom doing a good impression of trying to catch birds with the rig ending up in the tree as a fish came off swinging it in' for him start a trend as Barry Fitz on 13 did it next followed by Tony, and yep you guessed it' Me..!

It was nice to have a day in the sun for a change and everybody caught fish so a good day had by all with Tom winning the match with 67lb of mainly skimmers on soft pellet over micro pellet at 8mts a method he likes and he's good at so fair play to him and its nice to see someone try a different method although I tried it last time the sun was out and got carped to pieces so though twice about it and I'm sure if I had tried it I would of nicked the carp from Tony so left him to it". 

Full results -

1st Tom Thick (Thatchers Tackle) peg 9, 67lb 4oz

2nd Steve Tucker (Garbolino) peg 7, 53lb

3rd Tim Clark (Avon Angling) peg 1, 45lb

4th Barry Fitchew (Pole Repairs) peg 13, 38lb 6oz.    

             

 

Viaduct teams of five round 4.

With Don picking me up this morning it was a trip to the wooden spoon for a breakfast sandwich to have on the way to the globe in Somerton for the draw, a quick chat to the rest of the team saw captain Chris Hook to do the team draw for us again, I got a feeling after today it will be down to someone else having a go as Chris hasn't had the dab hand this series so far, I was to be on lodge today with an overspill onto Cary Lake for 5 of the pegs so were do I end up? yep" 103 Cary!

Not what I fancied at all and the Thursday open had produced no carp at this end of the lake so that didn't bow well to beating many pegs on lodge with the fancied corner pegs expected to produce the best, The plus side was the wind was of are backs so my main attack would be the pole long at 16mts with maggot and caster over groundbait for silvers and the waggler to fish punched meat to start beyond the pole line in the hope of snaring a carp that might be lost" the pole line was three and a half feet deep so a so two rigs were assembled on 0.10-0.09 with a Mick Wilkinson 0.4g skimmer float and an 18 63-13, the waggler was a loaded 0.3g drake to an 0.15 hair stop hook length and two no.10 down the line to fish at dead depth.

For company today I had Thatchers Nicky Ewers on peg 104 although he was the start of the other section on Cary so after a quick chat it was down to the all in and I had planned to feed 6 balls containing a few casters,dead reds, and some pinkees on the long pole 16mt line although being as I had to break the pole down with the narrow bank behind me and the fear of dipping into Nick Chedzoys peg I got to five balls and felt I had been arm wrestling Mike Tyson' so knocked it on the head!, though I did have enough strength to fed my left hand swim at 14mts with some minced worm and pinkee cupped in loose, I did feed a half big pot of caster down to the next pallet in 3ft of water in case I had a chance of a late margin munter?.

Starting on the waggler with meat 20mins in and no signs for me of anyone chucking within the same area saw me switch to hair rigged corn and 5mins later a nice bite saw me connect with nothing' Another 20 bite less mins and only Tom Thick having a carp first put in (14lb") down the edge on the opposite bank we were all struggling and I was soon on the pole and first put in I had a 10oz skimmer on dead maggot, ten more mins and a switch to a single caster tipped with a floro pinkee saw me connect to another bigger skimmer of around two pounds, not a bad start as I fully expected the peg to get better as it went on, a couple of small roach saw me top the swim up with a small ball with caster and dead reds in before trying the 14mt line with a single red maggot but this only gave me two small roach so a change was in order.

Removing the hook length on the waggler I swapped it to 0.09 and an 18 490 to fish single caster beyond the pole line, by feeding small amounts of caster and waiting I caught and 8oz skimmer and a couple or roach but I new the bigger skimmers were around so went back to double caster on the pole at 16mts and another two pound skimmer was added 10 mins later but you didn't seem to catch anything but small fish after so I found it best to top up with another small ball and try something else, despite trying over the worm line at 14mts and a couple of roach on the waggler I found it best just to sit and wait for a bite at 16mts swapping between baits on the hook and top ups with small balls saw me add another good skimmer and some smaller samples including an 8oz fish on the whistle for a final total of 10lb of silvers, but it wasn't going to be good team points despite beating the pegs to my left in my section, all but two people had caught carp out of the 14 pegs on Lodge with Dave Romain was top weight with 113lb odd,  teams standings show the freeze outfit are winning overall with the last match next week my final match with me on match lake and five on the overspill on spring which next time I wouldn't mind being on"

individual results -

1st Chris Sandford (Amigos) 166lb 8oz ,Cambell 115

2nd Mark Williams (Thatchers Anglio Welsh) 160lb , Cambell 116

3rd Dave Romain (Viaduct Select) 113lb 2oz , Lodge 64

4th tony Rixon (Avon Angling) 101lb 11oz Lodge 56

Silvers -

1st Clint Wojtyle (Avon Angling) 25lb 6oz , Spring 12

2nd John Harvey (Thatchers Anglio Welsh) 24lb 9oz.                     

    

Emerald Pool Silvers Match.

Traveling with Steve(Peanut)Howell and a trip to the wooden spoon for a spot of breky before heading to the fishery to peg the match out and with 13 fishing I managed to space them so we could see each other, We did have the legend Des Shipp fishing though he had to cancel due to a Dorking Match which was a shame as it would of been interesting to see how he went about it, Paying the top two and two sections to make it fair I let Kev Jeffries do the honours for me today and he handed my peg 7 on the far bank of the lake which has been producing the top weights of late so I was happy enough for starters, For company to day I had Ray Wickham on peg 8 and my good friend Darren (Bigbird) Greenwood on peg 6 so a quid was struck with him and peanut before the start. I caught at around 6mts last time I was in this area so chose two lines to target my attack around one just off to my left and the other 10mts down the swim, rigs were 0.13-0.09 and 18 63-13, one being a 0.3g PB2 for catching on the deck and the other a 4x12 chanti strung out rig for catching through the water. Depth wise I had around 3ft of water on both lines so I also set up a small 4x8 chanti if the fish were to come right up shallow.

Bait wise caster was going to be my main feed and I had some red maggot and worms as a change of bait for the hook and mixed some wetted Thatchers groundbait and ran it back through the riddle to fine it down before the start, At the all in I cupped some minced worm and caster on the line in front of me and a small ball of groundbait with worm and caster in on the swim further down the peg, starting on over the groundbait with single caster was slow to start but with there being a frost and bright skies I wasn't expecting a fish a chuck to start with, I kept trickling caster over the close line by hand and didn't feed the longer line again as I wanted to gauge the reaction to how much bait I should be feeding to keep bites coming, After about 30mins and around 4lb in the net bites were slowing so a re-feed with another small ball containing the same as I kicked the peg off with saw me switch to single caster on the closer line but after a couple of quick fish they didn't seem happy to settle over the loose feed so by adding another section and fishing beyond my feed I caught a slightly better stamp of fish including a bonus tench of around 3lb until they began to shy off so I kept feeding it and by taking a couple of fish over the loose feed before going out futher and nicking a few I kept fish coming for the next hour, swapping the bait around on the hook also seemed to make a difference and double maggot gave me a couple of smaller tench and crucians, the longer line was producing a couple of better skimmers again on the maggot so I added a small ball onto my shorter swim to try and fool some bigger fish.

Looking around the lake the two swims on the island were catching well though the pegs opposite seemed to be slower, Ray was doing ok below me catching over nuggets of groundbait although Darren next door was struggling to put anything together , I know he put more chopped worm in at the start than me and I had a feeling they weren't that keen on it as I didn't catch well with it on the hook.

After 3hrs I estimated I had close to 25lb but it was a case of having to rotate after a couple of fish to keep them coming and although some were on the small side at least I was putting something in the net regularly and the ones who were catching seemed to be having them in spells so I kept at it without trying to force them to have it as it was clear they didn't want to settle over the loose feed at all as it was surprizing how far off the feed I was catching, I mainly put this down to the bright skies causing a shadow from the pole but I was fishing a longer line to lay the rig beyond it and a lot of the bites came as the rig settled in the last few inches of the swim, I did try the shallow rig a couple of times without any luck. At the all out I thought I would have around 50lb and from what I could see some others had caught up until the all out so it was going to be close on the outcome.

Starting the weigh-in on the car park bank it had fished harder as expected with Kev Jeffries winning the section 35lb 4oz though still a great days fishing, Onto the island swims and Martin Heard took the lead with 61lb                        

 Martin Catch.

over to are bank and first to weigh was Peanut totalling 51lb 12oz

Part of  Peanuts catch.

Harry Muir had a great net of mainly hybrids all caught short on the maggot to take the lead with 64lb Though he was camera shy so I let Charlie Barns show of his 48lb of mainly tench on maggot.

  Darren had a hard day but caught a few fish later in the match after he came and saw me having a few to total 18lb odd so it was down to me but my 58lb fell just short though good enough to take the section win and a £30 return, And a nugget off of Birdy And peanut to boot"

Part of my catch.

Full results

  1st Harry Muir (Over 50s) Peg 5, 64lb 2oz.
  2nd Martin Heard (Tiverton) peg 1, 61lb 15oz.
  3rd Dom Sullivan (Maver/Cadbury Angling) 58lb 5oz.
  4th Steve Howell (Shiplate Farm) 51lb 12oz.
  5th Charlie Barns (Over 50s) 48lb 1oz.