Shiplate farm main lake

With 21 fishing today And a scene which would resemble any nice Christmas card with a harsh ground frost it was always going to be a struggle for some tho we were all as keen as ever as we should all know what to expect at this time of the year, A nice free" cuppa in the hut and a bit of banter I was hoping for a draw on the end of an island or some more fancied pegs on the far bank so into the draw and peg 5A is stuck to my mitt so not where I wanted to be but fish have fins so you never know, for company I had Alan Healey on peg 5 so we had a quid between us to keep it entertaining.

Even tho it had been cold I felt quite a positive approach was in order today and decided with the water being clearer than of late I was going to fish for skimmers and hopefully some of the resident big Bream so with this is mind a groundbait and soft pellet on the long pole at 14mts was to be my main gambit so 0.04g and made skimmer float was attached to 0.13 main line and 20 808 to 0.11 hook length set to fish around 3 inches over depth with a 4mm expander on the business end" Steve (The Owner) made his way round the far bank with the spare scales should any beasts be caught through the match they can be weighed and returned. Now Steve does tend to have a jinx effect on me and today was no exception as on his arrival I was just checking how my rig should sit in the water and after skilfully shipping back whilst continuing the conversation I turned to see my rig had ended up looking like something that's usually on top of my netbag at the end of a match!! Needless to say he made a hasty retreat leaving me to calmly untangle my prized rig"    

My starting gambit tho was to be a 2gram loaded wager fished at dead depth a comfy 25mts and with the wind being light and slightly of my left shoulder it should be easy enough to fish as long as poss as I planned to leave the pole line to settle as long as possible and with this line being flat calm I could easily see and signs of fish sending pimples to the surface, After riddling my groundbait before the start and getting everything to hand I was just ready for the All in and started the day feeding 3 big balls of grounbait with a good handful of damped micro  added and a pinch of expanders onto the 14mt line.

Starting on the waggler with double dead red I began pinging in around 6-8 4mm pellet over the top with the catty rather than risk spreading maggots over a vast area should the wind pick up at anytime, 30mins in and my fish bite of the day resulted in 2oz roach and looking around the lake it was a slow start for everyone from what I could see although Steve (peanut) howell on peg11 having a couple of early carp on the waggler off the end of the island on red maggot from what I could see, A switch to a banded 6mm produce no bites and a try with corn still gave me know response so I was soon back on the maggot searching for bites and for the next 45mins I was reward with 2 small roach and a change was on the cards"

I picked up the pole and shipped out a 4mm expander to which I fully expected to go under after a few seconds but after 10minutes of lifting and dragging around my Baited area I had no response and with Alan next to me already having been on the pole 15mins before me and still biteless things were looking bleak to say the least" A swith to double red maggot and 5mis later saw a slight lift on float before sliding away and a firm lift saw 6ft of elastic from the end of the pole to which I presumed to be a Big Bream to start with tho as I gingerly shipped back I realised it to be a carp"

I kept the pole low and slowly worked my way back to the kit only then find not only was it of good size it was foul hooked! after around 3minutes I did have a slight hope of me netting it tho that soon faded as it get propelled off into the distance tho I did save my rig, I did try the line again for another ten mins hoping the skimmers may well have settled on the feed now the carp had gone but it wasent to be so I re-fed with a small amount of dry groundbait along with a few red maggots and reverted to the waggler.

Starting back on the pellet I though bein as I was flicking a few pellets out whilst on the pole I would have a few indications but I struggled to get a bite and with maggot on the hook it was a long wait for a few small roach but there just didn't seem to be any bigger fish in the area willing to feed and return to the pole line a couple more times into the last hour resulted in just one small roach, And with both guys around me struggling for bites on the pole we were all in the same boat along are bank and except the one carp caught by Alan next to me on the straight lead and maggot we all had a hard winter days fishing the the day remained pleasant and it made a nice change to fish the rod and reel again rather than waving long lengths of carbon around.

My 12 roach wasn't goin to get me a pick up today so a hasty pack up and back to the hut for a nice warm cuppa and to thaw out a little it was down to the results and 1st on the day went to Matt Tayton with a nice 80lb 12oz off end peg 15 with some nice double figure carp on the maggot feeder cast close to the lawns and later on the waggler .

full results -

1st Matt Tayton 80lb 12oz peg15 (unknown)

2nd Steve Howell 30lb 12oz peg 11 (shiplate)

3rd Julian Pinkett 9lb 1oz  (Bristol post office)

Top silvers-

1st Julian Pinkett with waggler and maggot caught roach and skimmers peg 13a

2nd Rich Hawkins 8lb 9oz (Bristol post office)