Saturday 30 August 2014

Shiplate Farm Pleasure Session.

After not being able to decide what I fancied doing this Saturday and having a weeks holiday to look forward to I decided to have a day on the Main lake of Shiplate Farm for a change, I left my pole at home as I planned to try out my new Shimano reels (Baitrunner X-Aero 4000FA & the Aero feeder 4000FA, I chose a peg on the far bank with the wind off my back setting up a bomb to fish meat over towards the island which was a fair chuck' And a pellet waggler to fish at about 25mts out into the open water. I did go with all the good intentions of setting up the bomb rod when I arrived at my peg but after taking my hard case with the pellet waggler rod already assembled I couldn't resist to have a few chucks to see if there were any shallow although the rod had an older reel of mine attached but if it did get any signs I would switch to a new reel,


I fed a few 6mm hard pellet at regular intervals onto the 25mt line to start with and had a few chucks as far to the island as I could get without feeding, After 10mins I did miss a bite but could see a few blows were I had been feeding so came in over the top, feeding around a dozen 6mm pellet and casting onto it I didn't take long to get my first fish of around 5lb, Rather than get carried away I swapped the reel over to the Aero feeder model loaded with 5lb line and a smaller lighter float to cause less splash when it hit the water this being a balsa model it also sat straight up on impact. This worked a treat and soon I had fish competing and thanks to the lovely wife she managed to take some well timed shots".
 
 

 
Needless to say I didn't get to try the bait runner reel out with the bomb rod but it was a pleasure to use the feeder model with the wider spool aiding to the casting and the ultra smooth silent drag was easy to set, I had some big fish though out the day the best being around 17lb which un-fortunate for me the wife was yet to arrive with the camera' Once I got into a pattern of feeding, casting re-fed then reel in and repeat the process my bites came as the rig hit the water of after I twitched the rig if you left it still they wouldn't take it, It was also important to feed the peg whilst playing fish which sounds tricky but after a bit of practice is easier than it sounds, With the clutch set low I drape the catty over my leg, fill it with my left hand and trap the rod between my knees freeing both hands to feed accurately. After trying 8mm hair rig pellet on the hook and missing a few bite I soon switched to 6mm which seemed to work a lot better.

 

 
I ended the day with 37 carp with the smallest being 3lb but averaged around 6lb I had a cracking days fishing and it was nice to blow away a few cobwebs at the same time, Forgot to mention I use the Middy Carp Bandits Pre-tied Hooklengh's either size 16 on 0.15 or 14 on 0.16 if there really having it, These have a double knotted hair of the hook which keeps the pellet stiff and away from the hook resulting in more hit bites" You get 10 in a pack all of the same size 12inch length for £2.25 which would cost as much as that to make your own so a good buy
Off to Summerhayes again tomorrow for open match and after last week I'm looking forward to having another crack on longs lake.      
 

 
         

Tuesday 26 August 2014

Acorn Fishery Tuesday Tenner.

With an extra day off after the bank holiday I decided to take a trip to Acorn but halfway there I was already having second thoughts as it was lashing down with rain and was still the same come draw time meaning I would get wet". There were 15 fishing today including a few welsh lads who have been making it there favourite haunt for a Tuesday, I let everyone else draw before me and there were only two pegs left when it came to my turn one of which was for Aide baker as he was running late and I just can believe how often at fisheries I draw the same peg time after time ending up on peg 14 for the 3rd time in 4 matches and the only other time it wasn't pegged! For those that know the fishery its on the long straight and 9/10 times the best weights here come off end peg 12 which was occupied by Simon Price.

Gabriel came to the draw today to pass on his broken 13mt section from yesterday' Still beside himself for letting his net slip in on are pairs match! but I told him not to let it bother him after all its only fishing". Back to my peg and I had know choice to set up in the driving rain as my well used brolley was at home but as I said before I rather wouldn't use one as they get in the way, I was tempted just to fish for silvers as the wind was off are backs and the welsh lads had draw well with the wind blowing into there inside swims where a lot of the fish had been caught lately and these guys have it sorted from what I've heard of late, And with are bank being sheltered in the margins and a bit shallower I didn't fancy it for many fish with the lower temp and the colour clearer than my last visit. Never the less I assembled a 0.4g rig on 0.17-0.15 with a 16 PR478 to fish in 18inches of water for this line,
 And a 0.3g AS3 Drennan float to fish tight over against the trimmed far bank which happened to be the same depth.
My last rig was a 4x14 Chanti to fish the bottom of the far shelf in 5ft of water, 0.13-0.11 and a 16 808 which would target the lakes silvers if my far line failed to produce.

At the start I fed a ball of damp micro at the bottom of the far shelf and began to feed tight to the inside bank with hard 4mm pellet which was how I ended up catching last time I was present here'.. Starting over in my usual style feeding a few micros and trying a 4mm expander on the hook tight to the far bank I had a 2lb carp straight away, I re-baited and shipped my pole out a few sections before pausing to feed my inside swim only to have a 4lb carp snatch my bait" Result!.

On the hour mark I was up to 8 fish mostly around 3lb but started to get problems with foul hookers and was taking longer to get the fish to settle again even trying other baits on the hook such as dead maggot or corn failed to produce  so I switched to the rig with maggot at the bottom of the shelf, First put-in I foul hooked and lost a carp and with ten minutes bite less I had to try something else as there were no signs of fish in my margin. I got a new rig out to fish the bottom of the near shelf to my left in 4ft of water where I fed 4 balls of groundbait I had left over from yesterday with some 4mm pellet added and left it to settle pinching a couple more fish tight over.

When I went on it I had a 5lb fish first put in before 3 foul hookers followed" I was getting know were fast and it seemed the only place I could catch was tight to the far bank but it was slow and I could see a few people catching on the opposite bank every time I looked over' I was cursing myself for not solely targeting the silvers as I new realistically I couldn't have competed with the carp today and I've draw this peg enough to know what its capable of.! At least the rain had stopped by the end of the match giving me time to dry everything off before the scales arrived, My total weight went 62lb odd and although it was a long way off the pace it was still the top weight along my bank up to the bridge. As expected the welsh lads took the top spots today from the pegs in the 30's again catching with their favoured method of catching tight to the near bank with maggot on the hook, Giles Cochrane coming out on top with a cracking 288lb" All caught down his inside margins with maggot over 4kg of groundbait. I never had a sign tight to my inside edge probably because with the colour dropping out slightly and it was to close to me but I couldn't get into the bank anywhere else, I don't think on are side anybody caught here so it probably wouldn't have made a difference if I could have. Might re-turn Saturday for another try depending on the weather but will be heading for Viaduct soon to get some time in ahead of the silvers league starting in October.

                                                   Full Results - 

1st Giles Cochrane (Newport) peg 34, 288lb 4oz. 

2nd Lee Pesticcio (Mosella) peg 38, 141lb 10oz.

3rd Rod Jones (Newport) peg 22, 126lb 13oz.

4th Aide Baker (Clevedon A.A) peg 36, 108lb 14oz.

Silvers - Mike Wilson (Over 50's) peg 33 10lb.


               

Monday 25 August 2014

Summerhayes Pairs Day 2.

Back to Summerhayes for day 2 of the pairs and after meeting Gabriel for breakfast we made are way to the fishery, With the forecast not being promising with rain for most of the day we were already getting a soaking just getting the kit out' It was my turn for Longs lake today and I was hoping to avoid the low numbers judging by the weights from yesterday, Sellicks was first to be drawn so Gab was first ending up on peg 8 which is not the best of draws in his section with a couple of corner pegs as well as peg 1 to contend with.  My turn for longs and we were hoping for a more fancied draw as Gabs was up against it, Nope' (No Surprize there then) as I ended up on peg 5 which was last on the lake the previous day! Well nothing I could do and I new there were better draws in my section on the opposite bank but we all had some room so felt I could temp a few'

I wanted to keep it simple and with no wind to contend with my first approach was going to be as tight over to the far bank as possible so I plummed around until I found 2ft of water which happened to be directly in front of me and the same depth at 14mts a few yards to my left but I didn't plan to feed here to start with. both identical rigs were AS1 0.1g on 0.15-0.13 and an 18 PR478 hook. A rig to fish the bottom of the far shelf around 4ft deep with the same line and hook but an 4x12 chanti, This rig would double up for meat at 5mts and down to the pallets both sides of me where I also was going to try meat on one and feed 6mm pellet on the other. I had young Reech  on peg to who wasn't in my section and although I rate as a good carp peg he was targeting silvers this weekend, At the all in I just cupped a small amount of micro tight to the far bank, fed a small ball of micro and groundbait at the bottom of the far shelf and finished off by cupping some 6mm meat and pellets down my insides by the pallets.

Starting across with a 4mm expander on the hook and cad potting some more micro over the top it took all of a minute to hook my first fish which turned out to be a 6lb common' Great start" and to top it off it was nearly more than the peg had in total yesterday! (So I was right when I said before it can catch the resident mug fish') it wasn't fast but added two smaller samples before I started getting small fish attacking the pellet so switched to a worm on the hook knowing it would stay on there, After 2hrs I estimated to have around 20lb and was doing well from the pegs I could see but things were slowing up, I had been potting in some chopped worm and caster on the 14mt line but after 10mins and two small roach I cupped some more micro to the swim infront of me and left it to settle.

Onto the 13mt line at the bottom of the shelf where I had been topping it up with some maggots and groundbait I had two 1lb skimmers and a small carp in 3 put-ins with dead red maggot on the hook before I had some small fish and felt that I had to sit and wait for my bites tight over as the fish were bigger on average, I did try both my inside swims throughout the day but both were none productive so the rest of the match I kept switching between the top and bottom of the shelf pinching fish off each and going into the last hour some large samples with 3 fish in the last ten mins' , I hadn't a clue how the more fancied pegs in the section had done but was pleased I had ended for what I thought would be 50lb odd and some silvers. Being the first to weigh in my section I had 7lb odd of silvers and 61lb of carp so felt I had made the right choices, My combined weight turned out to be enough to win the section by over 20lb so 1pt for me and the rest was down to Gabs'. As I put the kit in the car he was yet to weigh but felt he hadn't done to well as the pegs we predicted had caught but it was all to play for, Or so we thought! We only arrived at his peg to find one of his carp nets had slipped back in and after hastily grabbing the rake from the shed retrieved the net only to find it empty!" DISASTER!, Well it just wasn't to be and although he still managed to put 40lb odd on the scales we didn't make the main frame missing out by one point, As to whether the lost fish cost us getting in we will never know but I did feel for Gab as he was gutted but its just a silly thing which I'm sure he will be conches off in the future that's for sure. It was a well run friendly weekend and in the end the results were close with good weights recorded, Pairs wise Bill Hopping & Aide Bishop came out on top with a total of 7pts finishing join 1st with Mark Lehey & his partner Rob but taking the win on weight count back picking up £150 between them. Top silvers Pairing went the way of Nigel & Glynn Wickham with a perfect 4pt score also winning the same amount. Overall I did enjoy the weekend and to fish without fighting in the wind was a godsend" My highlight of the weekend had to be on the first day when I was fishing down towards the empty pallet and as I took my eyes of the float for 2 seconds I hooked a carp which shot right around the pallet leg and back towards me! I held the pole In the water praying it wouldn't snap and after a while it swam back the way it came and with keeping the pressure off I eased it slowly back to me and safely in the net as I looked up to see Jamie rich on the next peg shaking his head!.

                                                           Pairs results -

1st Bill hopping & Aide bishop (Summerhayes) 8pts (weight).


2nd Mark Lehay & Rob B 8pts (Summerhayes) 8pts.

3rd Matt & Charlie (Summerhayes) 9pts (weight).

4th Martin & Dave (Summerhayes) 9pts.

                                                             Silvers Result -

1st Nigel & Glynn Wickham (Summerhayes) 4 

2nd Reece & Rob (Summerhayes) 8pts.

3rd Charlie & John (Over 50's) 10pts.  

                    

        

Sunday 24 August 2014

Summerhayes Two day Pairs.

After meeting partner Gabrail this morning on route to hilltops for a welcome breakfast we arrived in plenty of time to wander around both lakes before it was time for the draw and your allotted lake? With 14 pairs fishing it would make for a good weekend so draw time was soon around. This is where it got the better of us as firstly we had to draw to decide which lake we were on, Then we had to draw are own number (Or so we thought?) Which believe it or not I managed to draw peg 4 on Sellicks yet again" Wrong! the first draw was to see who was in which section??. So back again for another draw to see which peg I would eventually end up on and it happened to be on the opposite side of the lake peg 21. now we all thought the first 7 peg section would be together followed by the next allocated section of seven,. Nope". My section was myself on 21, Fellow Blogger  Jamie rich on peg 19 a lad on 15 then the rest of are section was spread around the opposite side of the lake!...

To say we were all confused was an understatement but at least we were paired up on different lakes. Gab had drawn one of the longest pegs on long lake being peg 33 but was confident of catching a few fish so all was well. I planned to keep it simple again and had two lines over against the island at different depths of 2 and 3ft where I was to fish soft pellet over micro and one line with meat, Another line was plummed up to fish towards the pallet between Jamie and myself with meat over the same feed in just over 2ft of water. I wont make it a long blog as its based on the two days with each angler fishing both lakes but my plan off attack did work to a certain extent ending the day 4th on the lake and 3rd in my section with 65lb which I was a bit disappointed about as I only needed another 1lb for second. Never the less gabs did well to win his lake with 79lb odd and also having the second best weight on the day along with the top silvers bag with 11lb odd in his total, It just so happened I was also 3rd in the section on the silvers

. So after day one we stand 2nd overall  and 3rd overall In the silvers so all to play for on day two so will give the full result tomoz.


              

Sunday 17 August 2014

Summerhayes Open Match.

After A change of plan this weekend from taking a trip to Hillview and after booking myself and Gabriel Skarba into the bank holiday two day pairs together next weekend we thought it would be a better idea to have a look in advance. I travelled down with Nick Harvey and after a nice breakfast in hilltops café we arrived in plenty of time for the 10am draw. There were 25 fishing today which is a good turnout and the match was to be spread over Sellicks And 8 pegs on Lily Pool but with this lake not in for next weeks pairs we were all hoping for a peg on Sellicks .

I was fortunate enough to draw the first peg on Sellicks being peg 2 although Gab & Nick weren't so lucky both ending up on Lily Pool. My draw was a nice reach to the far bank at 12mts straight in front of me and slightly further off to my left and right. Owner Pete and a few others had done a great job trimming the far bank right back a couple of meters and taking the rushes out meaning you can get right over now on all the pegs which suited me as the pegs slightly further along are 16mts and more. I planned to keep it simple so found 3 different areas across to use all at the same depth at around 2ft or so using a 4x10 Drennan AS1 float on 0.15-0.13 and an 18 wide gape pellet hook.

  A swim to my left close to the near bank where I had 3ft quite tight in under the tree you can see in the pic.
So I set up a 4x12 rig of the same on 0.15-0.15' Sounds mad but if you get snagged up I've always had the hook length break first so you don't wreck the whole rig". I planed to fish meat here over meat and a bit of corn as it makes a good change bait, I did have a swim as tight to the pallet on peg one as I could see where I planned to big pot cups of 4mm pellet and meat, And some groundbait Gab Had mixed up and wasn't going to use so it was worth a try. for company I had a new lad called Mark on peg 4.

At the all in I cupped a palm full of meat and some corn to the tree and a big pot of 4mm and meat to the pallet which I planned to top up every 30mins with another half pot of the same and try it late in the match, I would feed the odd cubes of meat by hand to the tree whilst trying other lines every couple of minutes. Starting across I expected if there were fish present I would get indications straight away so fed a small amount of micro tight over to the point to my left at 13mts and began by feeding a small amount of micro and some dry ground bait via a tosspot and fishing an 4mm expander on the hook straight in front of me to the far bank,
 Look for the float"
 
I wasn't wrong and after 5mins I had a 3lb carp followed by one of the same size the next put in which caused a bit of disturbance so I fed another tosspot full and switched to my further 13mt swim. This can sound a bit negative but I don't want to draw to many fish into the peg at anyone time by loose feeding over the top and usually you catch a few mug early before things slow up a little, Besides you can only catch one at a time so for the next couple of hours although things were slowing up as the shadow came on the water I was up to 14 carp mostly around 2-3lb by regularly switching between both far bank lines.
 On the edge of the rat hole"
 And In It!
  
I decided to feed both far swims with a larger amount of bait after 30mins without a bite and switch to the 3rd far line I had been cupping in the odd small amount of meat. Fully expecting it to fly under with a 6mm cube on the hook had me sadly mistaken and 5mins without a sign I went back to my to my pellet lines but the wind was making it hard to present the rig and although it was nice to present it over the pole was being whipped around by the wind coming through the gap from peg 23 so I was gripping the pole for dear life trying to hold it still and I foul hooked a few fish causing a big disturbance each time so left it to settle and decided to try down the inside tree.
After a while I missed a bite with meat on the hook first put-in followed be a foul hooked fish which snapped my hooklengh" (Told You So)!..
With a new one attached I thought they were there in numbers but 20 fishless mins later I decided to feed a larger amount via a cup and leave it again, I did try down by the pallet without success which was strange as the wind was blowing directly into the swim all day.
I spent the rest of the match switching between the two far bank pellet lines with hard and soft pellet on the hook where I added a few more of similar size and the swim by the tree with meat on the hook as (I did try corn but didn't have a sniff on it) which didn't produce until late and the last twenty mins saw me have two fish over 6lb one of which was on the whistle.
I thought I about 60lb and ended the day with 20 odd fish, I could see Bill Hopping down on peg ten had a few but hadn't a clue how the far bank had fished but word was the Lily pool hadn't fished to well.
When I had caught up with the scales Venue Regular Steve Kedge had taken the lead off peg 14 with a good 86lb odd catching mainly on the meat to the far bank and some fish closer in near the lily's, Bill Hopping on peg 11 put 63lb odd on the scales catching down the edge on his favoured paste, I new it would be close between myself and Bill and was pleased to end the day with 70lb to take 2nd place picking up £55 for my efforts.
 Winner Steve Kedge.
 Part Of My Catch.
 Silvers wise the Wickhams cleaned up taking the top 3 places with Nigel coming out on top with 19lb odd, Gab did well winning Lily pool with 47lb odd just getting in the frame by default.  High light of the day had to be at the start of the match when a large cluster of big branches blew into the lake but was resting on the far bank between me and the lad next door, Owner Pete wasn't happy so decided to try and retrieve it whilst we were tackling up, After hooking the tree on island" on his first attempt, followed by two large splashes either side of the target from what a can only describe as an anchor attached to a rope! He thankfully decided to leave it till the end of the match". Looking forward to the pairs next weekend, just another day in the classroom to cope with on Saturday after a weeks work' Come on Lotto'.. 
 
Full Results -
1st Steve kedge (Somerset Angling) peg 14, 86lb 9oz.
2nd Dom Sullivan (Maver/Cadbury Angling) peg 2, 70lb 3oz.
3rd Bill Hopping (Summerhayes) peg 11, 63lb 8oz.
4th Glynn Wickham (Summerhayes) Peg 15) 57lb.
Silvers -
1st Nigel Wickham (Summerhayes) peg 8, 19lb 7oz. 
2nd Glynn Wickham (Summerhayes) peg 15, 16lb 12oz.
 
  
 
      

 

     

Sunday 10 August 2014

Jeff Wye Memorial Match, Sedges fishery.

off to the sedge's fishery today which is a venue I haven't been to for a number of years so was looking forward to the change, Darren (Big Bird) Greenwood picked my up this morning and after trying to match him with the monster breakfast (eyes bigger than belly') We made are way to the fishery for a wander around.

This was to be a silvers only match as it was much the preferred style of fishing by Jeff, Spread over Brick and Tile lakes although there was a payout for the top  angler off each lake who caught the most carp number wise, With 39 fishing as one angler was taken ill I was hoping for a draw on brick lake with the wind off my back as it was forcast to get stronger as the day progressed, It wasn't to be and I ended up on tile lake which I had never fished before on peg 31 which also happened to be a corner peg so I didn't think it was ideal for a silvers swim as it looked rather carpy" Depth wise it was around 10ft at 13mts so I had a 0.8g rig on 0.13-0.10 and a size 18 434 hook.
A few people advised me to forget the silvers though this was what the match was all about so I would at least give it a go and change tack later in the match if need be. I also plumed up at 7mts to my left slightly which was only a few inches shallower so I planned to fish 4mm expanders on the hook over wetted micro here and worm or maggot over fishmeal groundbait on the longer 13mt line, I did get a rig out to fish down my inside edge which was around 3ft deep which was just for carp if I was struggling silvers wise.

At the start I cupped in 3 large cups of loose wetted groundbait onto the long line containing some dead red maggot and finely chopped worms and cupped two small balls of micro and some expanders onto the short line. Starting here I didn't have a bite on anything for the first 45mins so switched to double dead red maggot onto the 13mt swim, A small skimmer followed by a 3lb carp the next put-in wasn't what I expected but in the next 30mins I had a 3lb & 2lb skimmer on the same line on small pieces of worm so stuck at it hoping to add some more but it didn't happen and the carp had muscled in  taking 6 after the 2hr mark. Already I was beginning to think it would of been wise to ignore the silvers after all and aim to catch as many carp as possible, The next hour was pretty fruitless with one more small carp and despite trying my short inside line with pellet I didn't have a bite.

With two hours to go and no more silvers to show for my efforts I chose to make a new rig to fish further along the inside bank at 14mts in 4ft of water where I felt I had the best chance of catching some more carp.
I was limited bait wise to target them so cupped in a palmful of 6mm and 4mm pellet and left it to settle for 15mins, First try with an expander so a small roach attached so I changed to two whole worms on the hook as a big target bait" It did work and although I had to wait a wile I had carp right up to the whistle by topping up after each fish with a few more pellets. I new if I had targeted them from start to finish I would have more but I felt I had to at least try for the silvers as every 5 pegs was worth £50. It turned out I had just under 7lb of silvers and ended the day with a total of 17 carp which turned out to be my down fall as the most caught on are lake was 21 by Eric Foracre on the opposite bank mainly on the method feeder which also was worth £50" One thing that didn't amaze me was the fact I managed to draw a good carp peg on a silvers match and the chances are if I go here again I'd never be lucky enough to draw it! I did enjoy the day though and it was nice to see a great turnout in Jeff's Memory. Ron Stark won are 5 peg section with 12lb of silvers and Tony Goodland won are lake on the opposite side with 25lb of small fish on the whip, The overall winner was fishery owner Jamie from Brick lake with 40ld odd of big skimmers on the pole and worm. Well no matches for the next two Saturdays as I have to spend two days in a classroom for work commitments so will be keen to get on the bank next Sunday where ever that may be".  

            

Acorn Clevedon A.A Saturday Open.

Back to the normal Saturday match times today fishing 10 - 4 so other options apart from down the edge would come into play until they ventured in closer later in the day, The bonus peg was in and when it turned out to be peg 12 and the pegs below left for pleasure anglers there was a good chance it would go with the right angler on it, Into the draw and I picked out end peg 38 which I was happy with as this tends to hold some of the bigger residents, Only to find out for some reason it was a re-draw to some un-know cock-up" back in the hat still with the chance of the bonus peg up for grabs but it wasn't to be as my next pick turned out to be bridge peg 33, Ok for a few fish although the bridges tend to hold a smaller stamp but I wasn't best pleased to find out everyone except for me and Nick Green on peg 34 the opposite side of the bridge had at least 2 empty pegs each' So Gabrial who was fortunate enough to draw peg 12 was laughing really as the next angler to him was on peg 16! He Does well on this venue with his positive approach and I fully expected him to come out on top at the end of the day.

With the payout being the top 2 and top silvers I kept a positive mind and would make the most of the day, I decided just to spend the day fishing hard and soft pellet as I didn't have chance to get to buy some bait so took with me what I had hanging around, For a start I had a rig to fish tight over to the bank in 18inches of water with an AS1 Drennan 4x10 float on 0.13-0.11 and an 18 wide gape pellet hook, A rig to fish shallow up against the bridge on a longer line where I would feed 4mm hard pellet by hand and use the same rig to fish tight in against the bank close in on both sides with the depth around 2ft. As well as Nick on peg 34 I had Lee Waller to my right on peg 30 so I thought my best inside line would be towards him where I had more room to draw fish from.
 Lee Waller.
 
 At least the hen liked the micros"

At the all in I began feeding the inside lines by hand with 4mm hard pellet and the same to the middle of the bridge before starting tight over with a 4mm expander on the hook feeding some dampend micro and hemp over the top via a small cad pot. The first 40mins went as expected and I was into small carp from the off and was estimating on 16lb in the net as well as a few F1's before they started to come up in the water and I had a couple of foul hookers so cut back on the feed until I had caught two fish before topping it up, This did settle them down and although I had a couple of fish to 4lb things were slowing and I new I had to rest it and try something else.

Switching to the shallow  rig with a hard banded 6mm pellet on the hook next to the bridge saw me miss a few fast bites but it wasn't until I shallowed to around 10inches I found the culprits to be small skimmers so this line was soon left alone' Trying down to my insides failed to produce but I fully expected for fish to turn up with regular feeding so went back across to the far bank and caught what I could cutting out the micro pellet replacing them with hard 4mm pellet via the cad pot, At the half way point I had tried the bridge again a few times without success but though I had around 50lb in the net all caught tight over on soft or hard 4mm's, Around me I was guessing that Lee Had Around 30lb as did Nick next to me so felt i was doing ok but couldn't see how Gab was getting on (Probably a good thing!) down on 12.  Brain Hadley who I had a quid with today was having a few bigger fish down on peg 38!" (I new I wanted to draw it") so I had to make things happen if I was going to get anywhere.

I decided to start concentrating on my inside swims and by fishing various depths I started to pinch the odd better fish all on hard 6mm banded pellet, going into the last 90mins the fish turned up in numbers where I had been feeding 4mm's by hand twice each put-in on my top kit tight to the bank between me and the bridge, I found it best to have the bait a few inches off the bottom and after lowering the rig straight down feed 10 pellets or so twice and lift and drop the rig when I thought they had nearly reached the deck and 9 out of 10 times the elastic would be ripped out".

By swapping sides after each fish I caught I took a few bigger samples to 7lb right up until the whistle but hadn't a clue what I had weight wise although I did add another net before the end, Lee had decided to call it a day with 40mins to go and I felt I had enough to see off Nick next to me on peg 34 but new pegs 38 and 36 around the corner had caught well to. Brian was first to weigh and put 128lb on the scales which was a great start and I was convinced he had my quid today', Next up was Barry Cousell on peg 36 who had 121lb, Nick ended the day with 66lb before it was my turn, I had added a couple of nice tench down the edge in the last twenty min's which boosted my silver weight to 17lb odd and added to my carp total of 115lb gave me a total of 132lb to go into the lead and take Brian's pound after all!' It was short lived though as Mark Walsh (ON his own next to the opposite bridge!!!) took the lead again with 141lb odd before last to weigh and he didn't disappoint my outcome by having a terrific total of 210lb which was easily enough to win the match and add another £100 to his winnings from being on the golden draw, Well done mate. All was not lost though as I managed to pick up the silver by de-fault so picked up £20 to pay for the day.
 Winner Gabrial Skarba.
Overall Results -
1st Gabrial Skarba, (Un-attached)  peg 12 (Bonus peg) 210lb 6oz.
2nd Mark Walsh, (Clevedon.A.A) peg 20, 141lb 1oz.
3rd Dom Sullivan (Maver/Cadbury) peg 33, 132lb 10oz.
4th Brian Hadley (Weston-S-Mare) peg 38, 128lb 4oz.
Silvers - 
Dom Sullivan 17lb 10oz. 
                       

Sunday 3 August 2014

Shiplate Farm Open Match, Hawthorns Lake.


After a nice breakfast at the wooden spoon café and a good chat with a few of todays anglers I made my way to the fishery with the wife who I had for company today, After a nice free cuppa and a full lake with 15 fishing I decided to chance the misses pick my peg today as I couldn't be worse than my draw hand at the moment? I fancied a draw in the lower numbers and she didn't disappoint by handing me peg 5 which for a start isn't as wide as the further pegs being just over 13mts and after plumbing up I had just over 12inches of water as tight as I could get,
 
I assembled the same rig as I had used for a similar swim I had yesterday being 0.1g on 0.13-0.12 and an 18 pellet hook, in previous matches at this time of the year I have had some good weights shallow down the track at 8mts but there weren't many fish showing on the top so I wasn't sure it would work after all the rain we had yesterday, I had a nice bit of reed cover down my inside but with the depth being around 6ft off the reeds I chose to fish shallow down the edge with meet on the hook feeding the same by hand. Company wise I had Andy France on peg 4 and young John Hawkins on peg 6. At the all in I began to flick a few 6mm cubes of meat down the edge and began tight over with a cube of meat on the hook feeding 6 cubes and some hemp via a cad pot over the top, I had a 3lb carp after 15mins followed by another 5mins later of 6lb but then things got iffy with liners ect so I tried shallowing up half depth but it didn't produce anything. after a couple of hours I had 6 fish and although John was catching well across from peg 6 Andy was struggling on peg 4 so we seemed to be in the same boat, I felt the carp weren't happy to sit over any bigger feed bait so I switched to a hard 6mm pellet at dead depth and began to feed dampened micro pellets over the top.
 
I had to waits for bites but added some bigger fish to 8lb and word of warning the fish in this lake take steroids because they never give up" I added another 6 fish to my total but it seemed that John couldn't go wrong and was taking a fish on nearly each put-in fishing pretty much the same? I kept on having a look on my inside lines but wasn't getting any signs they were in the area so kept at it across but when the sun moved around halfway through the match it seemed to put the fish right off as things slowed down to nothing for the 3 of us. I didn't think that fishing further away from the far bank was worth it as Andy was fishing in the slightly deeper water and only getting the odd silver fish or foul hooked carp so stuck it out just sitting and waiting for bites across until the last hour when I managed to snare a few carp shallow down the edge on meat.
 Andy had called it a day with an hour to go and although John had struggled in the last couple of hours I felt he had done enough to win. When the scales arrived at John the top weight from peg 10 was Steve Howell 97lb odd before John put 134lb on the scales to take the win so well done mate,
 Winner John Hawkins.
 A Few Of My Fish.
 
 
I felt I chose the wrong bait from the start today and although meat is usually a banker for a few fish it wasn't the case today, The slight change in weather showed the fish really wanted minimum feed to draw them into the swim and I also noticed when you shipped the pole away from the far bank they would return to the spot you were feeding".
 Full Results -
1st John Hawkins, (Bristol Post office) peg 6, 134lb 12oz.
2nd Steve Howell (Shiplate) peg 10, 97lb 6oz .
3rd Russ Pecker, (Thatchers Tackle) peg 14, 93lb 12oz.
4th John Page (Weston A.A) peg 1, 84lb.
 
 
        
  

Acorn Evening Series Final Round.

Last in this series of three matches on paddock lake and with 13 fishing I was hoping for a change of area today from being on 15 on the first match and 14 on the last match' with the draw at 1 fishing from 2 till 7 so as expected the margins were going to play a big part later in the day. At the draw and my true run of form continued as yet again I was on peg 14! With end peg 12 being in again as well as some more noted areas I was going to be up against it although as far as the league goes I had to beat Nick Harvey & Mark Walsh to have any chance of winning it so that was my main concern as far as results were going to go.

I felt that I over complicated the swim last week buy trying to much so planed to fish a line tight over to the far bank in 18inches of water where I had trimmed a gap from last week,
 Rig wise I set up a 0.1g Drennan AS1 float on 0.15-0.13 and a size 18 wide gape pellet hook, my other line was going to be tight to the nearside bank where I would plan to fish dead maggot over groundbait which again was about 18inches deep after I had trimmed the over hanging grass of the bank,
 
I had a slightly heavier line being 0.17-0.15 and an 18 PR478, for company I had Steve Bohane on peg 12 and Paul Nichols on peg 16. at the all in I cupped two balls of groundbait down the edge and half a big pot of dead maggots, We were delayed for the start by 30mins due to the monsoon downpour we had whilst taking up" Starting across to the far bank with a 4mm expander on the hook feeding some hard 4mms over the top with some micro pellet  via a cad pot it didn't take long for my first carp of 3lb, The next 45mins went well and I estimated on putting 20lb in the net so a good start, Paul was pinging pellet and trying to catch shallow but was fishless as was Steve on peg 12 so I keep at it although as normal something has to spoil it and the wind had got up making it hard work to hold the rig in place.
After another 90mins I had to give it a rest as it was killing my arms so had a go down my inside with a bunch of maggots on the hook but was getting pestered by small fish so switched to feeding hard 4mm and fished a hard 6mm on the hook, This worked much better and I started to put a few in the net but it wasn't hectic and I was wishing I could of had another swim to my left to drop into but  I couldn't get tight to the bank due to the bulrushes next to me. By now Paul had switched to his two inside swims and began picking fish off each but I had my back to him most off the day so couldn't tell how well he was doing, I spent the rest of the match picking fish of from tight to the nearside bank feeding regularly with had 4mms over the top using around 3 pints in total, At the all out Paul was admitting to 100lb which was around which I expected to have, Steve was first to weigh and started the ball rolling with 56lb, Next up was me ending the day with 119lb odd before Paul was well under on his guessing with his total ending up 154lb which was enough for first place on the day and further around the lake on peg 35 Aide Baker ended up second with 140lb odd, The good news was I had managed to beat Walshy & Nick and with my 3rd place on the day saw it enough to take the 3 match league outright so went home £50 better off.
 Winner Paul Nicholls.
 Some of my fish.
have to give a mention to young Miles Tilly who managed to finish with 66lb beating half the field so he did really good, Well done young man.
 Miles Tilly.
Full results -
1st Paul Nicholls, Maver/Cadbury Angling, peg 16, 154lb 14oz.
2nd Aide Baker, Clevedon A.A, peg 36, 140lb 12oz.
3rd Dom Sullivan, Maver/Cadbury Angling, peg 14, 119lb 10oz.
4th Rich Healey, Clevedon A.A, peg 40, 108lb.
 Series Winner -
Dom Sullivan 2pts.