Summerhayes Fishery Weds Open.

Off to summerhayes for the second time this year and after a quick call to owner Pete this morning I was informed the match was to be on Sellicks Lake today for a change which is a lake I like as it takes a fair bit if working out through the day, A free welcome cuppa with the other guys before the draw saw former fisho mania champ Steve Jackson put on his bright orange suit to take the micky out of Dave Bull who apparently has been turning up to watch people on the matches although it could be somewhat off putting and a few regulars have said he has killed there swims when he turns up"

 Jacko'

Back to the draw and I end up on peg 23 which was the peg I had draw last year when I was here which I ended up winning the match off of with over 100lb on the worm and caster but that was September time and I new that wouldn't work today as it was a lot cooler and the water wouldn't be anywhere near the temperature it was then, There are a lot of options on this peg but I didn't plan to fish to many lines causing me to complicate things so a rig to fish tight into the far bank being a 4x10 Chanti on 0.13-0.11 and a 18 PR478 at the business end which I had a small flat spot to fish on around 2ft deep.

    

   (This rig was used to fish to the bare bank in centre of pic) my next rig was to fish amongst the stick-ups to my right towards the next pallet where I planed to feed it heavier later in the day with groundbait and dead red maggot cupped in loose, and finally a rig to fish at 5mt in the open water on the deck with meat in 5ft of water  with a 4x12 chanti again on 0.13-0.11 and an 16 PR478. For company today I had venue regular and Bridgwater tackle shop manager Steve Kedge on peg 21 so I new it would be wise to keep an eye on him as he fishes here a bit although on tackling up I noticed he had the same plans as me as where to fish, (great minds think alike so they say").

At the all in I cupped in a palmful of hemp and around 10 cubes of 6mm meat onto the 5mt open water swim, and a cupful of wetted groundbait with dead red maggot in amongst the stick-ups, I didn't want to feed here right from the off but Kedgey had also plumed up near the pallet and I didn't want him to have it all to himself and felt I had nothing to loose. Starting right over with a whole worm and a cadpot with some wetted micro and hemp in I could push the rig up against the bank the tosspot the bait over the float, with less than 5mins gone I had a 3lb fish in the net for a good start but two more fish foul hooked and lost then some small perch pulling on the worm saw a switch to a 6mm expander on the hook which seemed to avoid the attention of the small fish and get me two more carp before things went a bit quite, Another change of bait to a 6mm cube of meat saw the same result so I gave the swim a rest and tried amongst the reeds with a whole worm which didn't take me long to hook a better fish which I managed to steer out ok but as I went to net it at around 8lb I caught me off guard and bolted under the pallet snapping the hook length! by now I had 6 in the net but had lost 5 so after a small bout of turrets I topped the inside up with another potful and went back across.

It wasn't fast but I was getting the odd bite and adding fish to 4lb at intervals so I stuck at it until I couldn't get any signs only feeding after every fish with some micros and hemp with the cadpot, Steve had managed a couple of smaller carp from the 5mt line on meat but was having to wait a long time and although he was a couple of fish in front at this stage I had managed a few larger fish over in the shallow water  so felt I was doing the right thing by waiting for bites and putting the odd fish in the net, I did try in the stick-ups and after getting another out I managed to lose it again" I felt they weren't having it well on this line maybe because the swim was quite close to me so stuck it out over for the rest of the match tight to the far bank and I was right in thinking some bigger fish would show late as I had a couple to 8lb by switching baits between worm, meat and expander.

The weigh-in started on the opposite bank with Jess Jordon on peg 3 totalling 75lb also having a good day catching across on meat, Next to push Jess of top spot was Alvin Jones down on fancied peg 13 in the lily swims with a great weight of 100lb mainly catching on his inside towards the next peg amongst the lilies, I was last to weigh and with the help of 3 skimmers for 4lb added to my 73lb of carp was enough to take second place on the day so £30 quid back as Pete does spread the payouts well, Top silvers went the way of Steve Jackson on peg 19 just sneaking it and because he was on the golden peg you win half the pot if you top silvers weight on the day so lucky Steve was to have an added payout' All £5 of it as it was won on the last match! lol.

 Alvin Jones.

 My Catch.

 Jacko"

 

 

Full Results -

1st Alvin Jones (Alvin's Car Care) peg 13, 100lb 15oz.

2nd Dom Sullivan (Maver/Cadbury Angling) peg 23, 77lb 9oz.

3rd Jess Jordan (Summerhayes) peg 3, 75lb 8oz.

4th Steve Kedge (Somerset Angling) peg 21, 57lb 9oz.

Silvers -

1st Steve Jackson (Garbolino) peg 19, 11lb 7oz.

2nd Aide Bishop (Summerhayes) peg 11, 11lb4oz.   

     

                 

Acorn Individual Series Rd 3.

Back to acorn today for round three of six hoping for a nice draw after winning the lake last time around, with 30 fishing the match is spread over three, 10peg sections, I was in what is meant to be one of the harder sections on paper although I fancied a draw on 36 or 38 or a peg next to the bridge being 21 or 22 and after a good chat at the café before the draw there was a bit of a banter toward Bob Gullick today as seeing he had drawn a bridge on the first two rounds we all agreed he'd been at home making one up for this round"

Into the draw and peg 32 was my reward although not where I wanted to be this section can be close as far as the weights go so there was all to play for, Company wise I had Brian (Anteater) Slipper on peg 30 and Lewis Jones next to the bridge on 31 although he wasn't in my section so I needn't worry to much how he got on.

There was a breeze picking up at the start but with the peg being no more than 13mts to the far bank I shouldn't have to many issues with presenting the rig so set up a 4x10 Chanti on 0.11-0.10 and an 18 808 to fish the gap in the bulrushes where it was about 18inches deep.

My next line of attack was down towards the pallet on my right with a depth of around 3ft just off the bank where I had a 4x12 rig on 0.13-0.11 and an 18 PR478 to fish against the inside shelf,

And finally a rig to fish in the open water at 6mt in 5ft of water with a 4x14 diamond bodied float again on 0.13-0.11 and a 18PR478, I planned to feed my open water swim by hand with hard 4mm and 6mm hard pellet and fish either a 6mm expander over the top or a whole worm. the fish in this area tend to be off a smaller size so was hoping to pick some bigger fish of this line later in the match.

The next rd of the knock-out was draw before the match and this time around I had Pete Bartlett who won the series last year so I new I had a hard battle on my hands though we agreed to have a quid on it along with my usual nugget with tom thick. At the start I cupped in half a pot of hemp and some hard 4mm pellet down towards the pallet and a few grains of corn, half a 250ml pot of 4 and 6mm hard dampened pellet and a few 6mm expanders onto the open water 6mt swim, I started the day fishing tight into the rushes on the far bank with half a worm on the hook just touching the bottom (The small dark shadowed bit in the centre of first picture) feeding a small amount of micro and hemp via a cadpot attached right on the end of the pole. It didn't take long for my first fish of the day being 3lb and a good start so I repeated the process and hooked another after 2mins only for the line to catch around the end of the pole and no elastic to come out with the result snapping my hook length within seconds" A new one added and back over with worm again resulted in a foul hooker which came off and another the next put in saw me add some hard 4mm pellet long with some hemp and switch to a 4mm expander on the hook carp no2 was soon added before I lost another at the net around 5lb' followed by another even bigger dispite taking my time not to bully them knowing every fish would count today, A cupper and a re-feed of my other lines before going back over on the 4mm expander saw me up to 5 fish in the first 90mins before things slowed and I couldn't get a bite so I started a new swim further to my left and had one straight away before this was void.

I had a try on the open water swim where I had been flicking some pellet in by hand and after one lightning bite which I missed?? on a 6mm expander in ten mins saw me top in up with more pellet via the larger pot, A try to the pallet didn't produce so back over to where I had started with a worm saw another added but I couldn't get two bites in a row on it for some reason so switched back to 4mm expander on the hook.

From what I could see Tom Thick was doing the best from the opposite bank in are section catching on a few lines although Brian next to me was struggling, I found by filling the tosspot with hemp and micro and cupping it in right over the float and waiting was the best way forward which added a few more fish to 4lb in the next hour, With over half the match gone and despite trying the other far bank swim without success it was time to try the shorter line again, Two more fast missed bites on the 6mm expander saw a change to a whole worm on the hook and first put in and a 5lb fish was added before losing a foul hooker then nothing so another top up later and I decided to work the two lines for the rest of the match as my inside pallet line didn't produce a bite so far and a couple of people had also tried without success.

The fish seemed to come back on the far line and I managed to string a few together all over 2lb with another 4lb fish off the short line on worm ending the day with 12 carp and a rouge chub, I new Tom had done well and from what I could see a few others in the section had caught later in the day so I didn't know have I would do in the section? I caught up with the scales and 29lb was winning the section before Tom weighed a good 56lb, Brian managed to catch a few fish shallow in the last hour down the edge for a late run weighing 34lb, And when my weight went 47lb it was enough to take second in the section ahead of Lance (Two More Minutes) Tucker off more fancied peg 38 with 43lb, A great points result and knocking out Pete in the process was a result' Picking up £40 on the day was a bonus so back next week for round Four meaning a complete re-draw for the sections and the anglers you will fish against so I could be on any peg next week but looking forward to it. Russ Peck took the top weight on the day with a good 82lb catching mainly across on expanders over micro and a few fish down the track.

my section.

 

Full Results -

1st Russ Peck (Thatchers Tackle) peg4, 82lb 2oz

2nd Glen Calvert (Maver/Cadbury Angling) 68lb 12oz

3rd Lewis Jones (Sensas Thyers) peg 33, 61lb

4th Tom Thick (Thatchers Tackle) peg 25, 56lb

5th Dom Sullivan (Maver/Cadbury Angling) 47lb 9oz.

Silvers -

Eddy Wynne (Over 50's) 12lb 4oz.  

                        

   

Acorn Tuesday Tenner.

After  Four days fishing on the trot I just couldn't muster the energy to come home and right the blog last night for day five so I will get on with it whilst fresh in my mind, With the Wife having the day off she joined me along with Steve (Peanut) Howell who fancied a trip although we did have a box of tissues just incase he was to have a nose bleed by going elsewhere other than Shiplate Farm" lol, Only joking as my view is if you chose a venue that suits then why have the need to leave' My only fear of this as anglers can become complacent and tend to stick to certain methods and baits and as we all know just because matey sacked up on it last week last week doesn't mean it will work the next time and by visiting other venues and fishing with other anglers you can only improve what you all ready know and use it to affect next time at you local'

Onto the Day and after a breakfast treat from Steve we arrived to find 14 fishing which is nice for a Tuesday as its about the average at most commercials at the moment, Not knowing what pegs were in today as we were having a good chat with others at the start Steve drew and ended up on peg 31 at the top end of the lake and I ended up on peg 16 which I wasn't best pleased with as I had it in the first rd of the Acorn League and as well as being further across than the pegs around it I Struggled in a gale for 15lb odd, Today was different as it was now a lot milder and I had no wind to contend with, The plan was to fish across infront of the bulrushes with Expanders on the hook over micro as tight in as I could get which was about 2ft deep being my normal float a 4x10 chanti on 0.13-0.11 and an 18 808, A rig to fish down the track at dead depth over 4 and 6mm hard pellet on the same line but a slightly heavier 4x14 float and an 18 PR478, and a 4x12 rig to fish the bottom of the inside shelf towards the empty pallet on my left. for Company today I had Bob Smith on peg 14 and Barry Fitchew on peg 18 who was going to fish for silvers all day and leave the carp alone and I helped him along the way with a pint of casters as I didn't plan to fish for them today.

At the start I cupped in half a pot of hard 4mm down to the pallet, A slightly smaller amount along with a few large 6mm expanders added and started tight over to the bulrushes with the light rig with a 4mm expander on the hook, I fed a sprinkle of micro pellet via a cadpot and had a fish straight away of 2lb thinking it was going to plan sailing I shipped out and fed the same but ended up with a foul hooker a switch to the worm gave me a fish that came off then another foul hooker although they looked like proper bites' I had noticed there were fish in the reeds as when I would lift the rig I would spook fish even though I was feeding next to nothing" I soon shallow up a foot and the float just sat there despite bobbing the rig around the far bank with various baits and fishing from an inch off the deck to 10inches deep so I started a new line infront of another clump of rushes and had a 3lb fish before another up the wrong un" By now Bob who had been catching skimmers at the bottom of the shelf whilst targeting the carp had switched to fishing shallow tight to the bank and had a few carp straight away I had a gap to my left at 16mts so switched to a shallower rig tight to the bank the fish would spook as soon as I went near it and the two gaps infront of me had hidden bulrushes in which I only remembered after the match started meaning I couldn't get the rig in properly" Two hours of fathing around I new I had to target the lakes larger fish as I could see Match organiser Mike Chapman over on bridge peg 40 catching well as well as Dave Wride over on 36 and Mike owens on 38, I switched to the short open water swim with a 6mm Expander on the hook, A missed bite and 1lb skimmer saw me change to a whole worm on the hook but after a few dinks which I expected to be skimmers tugging at the worm, I decided to feed another half pot of hard 4mms and change to loose feeding 6mms by hand to my right as my swim was off to my left and because the breeze had picked up the float was towing towards me to much to get the presentation, I did try between the swim down towards the pallet without any signs and across where I began feeding just hard 4mm pellet and fish 6mm on the hook which I thought worked with a 3lb fish before more foul hookers'.

By now I had noticed Mike Owens and Mike Chapman get up for another net and with a couple of hours to go I decided to concentrate on my short lines, Starting back to my left hand swim where I had been cupping the bait in with a whole worm I missed a good bite but it was towing to much towards me so I swapped to my right where I had fed 6mm by hand again on the worm and within a minute I had a 5lb fish followed by one of 7lb which I lost at the net" then I had a few liners and noticed bubbles not long after I feed so got a new rig to fish shallow with an 8mm pellet, 3 nice fish on the trot the it slowed so I switched back to the deck with a banded 8mm, Two fish in the next 10mins followed but they seemed to have backed off so a switch to the pallet swim was tried but again no luck so I threw a hand full of dead red tight to the bank in the shallow water to see if they turn up there late.

For the last hour I swapped between fishing shallow and on the deck on the short line pinching the odd fish of better stamp but was never going to do the damage today as it turned out Mike had got up to lend Mr Chapman on peg 40 his spare Keepnet as he had been bagging all day' It so proved as he won the day with a cracking 154lb catch mainly on hard 6mm pellet feeding the same shallow against the bridge and it turned out to be his best match weight ever which helped for a better day so Well done Mate.

This part of the lake proved the place to be as venue regular Dave Wride  over on 36 ended the day with another great weight of 132lb to take second place followed by Mike Owens stuck in the middle of them ending the day with neck ache and 81lb to take third, I remember the top silvers weight being 16lb from peg 33 next to the bridge but didn't get the guys name sorry, A good day to try a few different things and I ended the day with around 45lb of carp and a 5lb of silvers so a few things learnt, Peanut ended the day with 50lb odd catching the lakes smaller stamp and after dropping him home we made a detour to invest in a new camera ready for my next trip as I forgot to mention after the match on Shiplate Monday I had a fish of 17lb and couldn't take a pick so Ile be a bit more careful with this one!

Full Result-  1st Mike Chapman (Over 50's) peg 40 154lb 12oz

                      2nd Dave Wride (Sensas Thyers) peg 36 132lb 4oz

                      3rd Mike Owens (Sensas Thyers) peg 38 81lb.

  

       

                      

Shiplate Farm Open (Main Lake)

Back to Shiplate today for a crack at the main lake which I haven't fished for a few weeks and hoping to have one of the consistent pegs 1 or 15 for the day after yesterdays frys match had been won by Pete Sivell off peg 1 with 90lb, The weather was a transformation from yesterday with little breeze and pleasant sunshine so regardless off where I would be I didn't have to fight with the elements. Into the draw and end up on a choice of 9 or 9a as the pegs are in the same area opting for 9a as I had drawn this peg before last year and had some nice fish fishing in the channel towards the bridge, pluming through this channel I couldn't fish tight over as it was to shallow and shelved of quickly so opted to fish the bottom of the slope in 4ft of water, another rig for 2ft deep off the end of the island in front of the tree, I did take a few pics but for reasons I will explain later I cant add then to this blog at the moment.

Another rig was made up to fish worm or dead maggot over groundbait down my inside left which was 18inches deep, as well as a pellet waggler to fish towards the far island. Only a short blog tonight as my day was fruitless until the last 90mins when I did manage to catch 3 carp added to 3 small skimmers on hard pellet through the day, catching towards the point of the island in the 2ft swim at 14mts with meat on the hook feeding some damp hard 4mms and a few grains of 6mm meat at regular intervals, I lost my first fish and then landed the next three only missing one more bite right on the whistle' with my total weight going 23lb but not enough to make the frame today, Tim Lewis had a nice catch on peg 15 ending the day with 90lb to take first place catching on the method feeder towards the lawns. As far as the pic's go I was trying to take a shot of my rig near were I expected to catch when I had my first bite' after hooking the fish I dropped the camera on my side tray only to realise after the fish came off I had dropped it right into my tub of meat covered in water" so needless to say it don't work anymore!

Shattered after  4 days fishing on the trot and a couple of nights out in between but one more day before a return to work at Acorn tomorrow to go at.

Full results- !st Tim lewis (Shiplate) peg 15, 90lb

                      2nd Gordon Jones (Shiplate) peg 1, 45lb 11oz

                      3rd Russ Pecker (Thatchers Tackle) peg 12, 32lb 1oz

                      4th Lewis Jones (Sensas Thyers) peg 14b, 29lb 3oz

                      5th Dom Sullivan (Maver/Cadbury Angling) peg 9a, 23lb 3oz.

Silvers - Julian Pinkett (Bristol P.O) peg 14, 12lb 1oz.          

Shiplate Farm (Hawthorns Lake)

A return to Shiplate today after a few weeks away with other matches although fishery owner Carol did read me my rights for being away so long even jokingly calling me team mate Don Sutherland as she made out I was a newbie" Skipping Breakfast to keep the pristine figure in shape I was allowed a free cuppa lol and after a chat with a few I hadn't thought of where on the lake I would like to be come draw time but with the forecast for the wind to pick up and the rain to arrive so a draw in the lower numbers as the far end of the lake slopes upwards meaning the high pegs would be further off the water with the level being down slightly, Into the draw and I end up with peg 14 and when I arrived at the peg the wind was quite light so I felt I could manage to fish 14mts to the shallow shelf where I expected most of the fish to be to start with.

Pluming up across I found a foot of water right over so had a small 4x10 rig with all the shot under the float to search along the far bank, Another rig being a 4x12 Chanti to fish away from the far bank if need be in 4ft of water and a 4x14 Chanti  to fish meat or pellet at about 6mts, The same rig was to be used down both of my inside swims being the same depth at 5ft where I was going to feed meat to my left and casters to my right, For Company I had young John Hawkins on end peg 15 and Roy Heade on 13, By the time the Hooter went for the all in monsoon winds had arrived and there was no way I had a chance of reaching the far bank and at the most I would struggle to fish my 6mt swim! Undeterred I cupped in a palmful of 4mm hard pellet 6mts to my left and started on a single 6mm cube of meat 6mts to my right feeding the swim with just half a dozen cubes of meat via a cadpot, ten minutes pasted and I missed a good bite which gave me hope as the fish in this lake can be hard to catch on the deck close in but with a strong wind blowing I felt the fish were more confident with a big ripple on the water, Back out and feeding the same way on the half hour mark I had my first carp after a lengthy battle as I was using a softer elastic to compensate being higher off the lake and not wanting to risk pulling out trying to net fish. A nice fish of 6lb had me settled as I hadn't seen the guys around me catch.

By now I was struggling to battle with the wind even at this distance with my rig being blown around I was thinking already I would have to change rigs to improve my presentation, a try on the pellet line with a hard banded 6mm on the hook did see me miss a bite but this was even worse as I was now fishing into the wind and a look down both edges was yet to show any signs so I rested the pole over the reeds just in case something was going to snatch at it, I made a whole new rig of the same size although I changed to a diamond patterned body float. A quick look back on the meat line with the lighter rig saw me hook one and after 10mins of playing a big fish it bolted for the inside roots and although my mind was saying take the pressure of I didn't and it resulted in my elastic snapping! Having just made the new rig I was soon back out and 20mins pasted before fish number two was landed of around 3lb in the tail" By now Don had come up for a wander and told me Steve (Peanut) Howell on peg 1 had 11 carp already in the calmer water" I decided to up the feed to around 15 cubes after each fish which seemed to work for a while netting me another four in the next hour but things dried up so after topping the swim up and trying both my insides and pellet swim without success I decided to stick at the meat line as I new there were fish in the area.

With 90mins remaining the wind had dropped slightly and with just one more small carp added I risked shipping over with a single cube of meat and two mins later a 2lb was added, a small chub was added but the wind was back so stuck on the 6mt swim ending the day with 12 carp including to 4lb fish over when the wind allowed me to sneak a look, I estimated I had about 45lb Not being able to see the rest of the field I had no idea who had what and when Steve came around with the scales word was I had done well on the day managing 51lb in total,

That was top weight until we got to peanut on peg 1 and his went 56lb for first on the day which left me cursing myself at losing a 7lb fish at the net but that's fishing and I felt with limited options today I made the most of it as the guys either side managed 20lb a piece, Picking up £50 added to my effort and I felt the peg wasn't worth much more than I could muster so pleased with the result, Back to the fishery tomorrow for an open on the main lake so hoping again for an improvement to the weather.

 Steve Howell.

 Julian Pinkett (Silvers)

Overall Results -

1st Steve Howell (Shiplate) peg 1, 56lb 12oz

2nd Dom Sullivan (Maver/Cadbury Angling) peg 14, 51lb 1oz

3rd Don Sutherland (Maver/Cadbury Angling) peg 3, 34lb 1oz

Silvers -

Julian Pinkett (Bristol P.O) 13lb 1oz.    

 

                            

Acorn Saturday Open,

With a nice day forecast  I was looking forward to the day ahead and decided to arrive early enough to have a breky onsite and a chat with a few of the others, With pegs 1-11 reserved for pleasure anglers we were going to be spread around the reminder of the lake so I wasn't to bothered as to were I would end up so into the draw and peg 22 next to one of the 3 bridges on the lake was todays pick.

For rigs today I set up two 4x10 chantis on 0.13-0.11, one with an 18 PR36 for worm the other with a 18 808 for soft pallet both to be fished as tight to the bank as possible on two different lines with a depth of around 2ft, Another rig of the same size to fish shallow along the bridge with hard pellet and a line down towards the pallet next door which I used the same rig for across with the depth being similar, I did set up a heavier 4x12 rig to fish on the bottom of the first shelf should I need it but chose not to feed anything there to start with. for company I had Barry Council a peg below the other side of the bridge and team mate Gary Cross on peg 24 who I managed to persuade to have a £1 side bet after telling him I wouldn't fish near the bridge (As If") lol.

Also having the usual £1 with Nick (Horrid) Harvey on peg 16 I began the match cupping two large cups of groundbait to the pallet which was going to contain dead maggot but I realised I had left them in the freezer' so I added some casters and hemp, I began flicking some hard 4mm towards the middle of the bridge by hand before going across with a whole worm into the bare bank towards my left and cupped some micro over the top via a cadpot, I missed a bite straight away tho I think it may have been a liner as nothing happened for the next 5mins so I switched to the swim by the bulrushes nearer the bridge with a 4mm expander on the hook again feeding micro over the top but this resulted in two small skimmers with no signs of carp so far.

I changed to the shallow rig next to the bridge where I had be feeding pellet by hand set about two feet deep and a run of carp to 2lb followed before bites slowed again but I felt they were backing under the bridge as the peg the other side was empty, adding another section saw me pinch a couple more before they stopped altogether so I continued to feed it by hand and try my deeper rig across with know joy before going back tight against the far bank with a larger 6mm but the fish didn't want to be in the shallow water over for some reason so I switched to shoving the rig into the bulrushes straight in-front of me as you can see in the picture.

 This made a big difference as I soon began to get signs of fish before adding a couple of better size fish for the bridges to 4lb,

After taking a couple of fish they seemed to become unsettled so I cupped in some more micro and rested the swim changing back next to the bridge to pinch a few more fish before what seemed to be a pattern on both lines of them backing off. Several attempts towards the inside pallet only resulted in a skimmer and from what I could see nobody seemed to be getting much off there inside lines so I concentrated on the two lines that were giving me odd fish and by swapping between them with various baits I caught right up until the all out but in not always keeping I eye on what's going in the net as I'd rather be thinking where my next fish is coming from so had no idea what I would weigh-in.  I had seen fish coming out for a few people for most of the day thought I would be a close call. My 3lb odd of silvers added to my carp gave me a total 60lb which I was pleased with at the end of the day and enough to take a quid of Gary with him just making a total of 20lb, Nick Did manage a rare nugget off me today with a total of 66lb catching short on pellet most of the day. Top weight today went to Brian Hadley with a good 85lb off peg 40 next to the bridge on the other side of the lake catching mainly on hard 6mm pellet right across near the bridge followed by Mike Owens on peg 34 also a bridge with 70lb including the top silvers weight of 14lb.

 Brian,

Mikes Silvers.

Full results                                                                                                                       

1st Brian Hadley (Weston) Peg 40, 85lb 10oz.

2nd Mike Owens (Sensas Thyers) peg 34, 70lb 4oz.

3rd Nick Harvey (Sensas Thyers) peg 16, 66lb.

4th Mark Walsh (Clevedon A.A) peg 36, 65lb 8oz.

5th Dom Sullivan (Maver/Cadbury Angling) peg 22, 60lb.

Silvers 

Mike Owens 14lb 15oz.

 

    

 

     

Summerhayes Friday Open.

A return to summerhayes today as I haven't fished the venue since late last year so after a breky at hilltops it was off to the fishery for a welcome cuppa and a chance to get some lowdown on how it had been fishing, Longs lake was are port of call and with 14 fishing we were all going to have plenty of room, at the draw and I find myself on the road bank peg 28 which seemed to be quite a fair area the last time I fished here, for company I had Scott Russell on peg 26 and Martin Addicott on peg 30 who took me up on the quid side bet' I planned to fish worm and caster across to the island, meat at the bottom of the near side shelf and groundbait  down to the vacant pallet on my left in the shallower water, pluming up I had around 4ft across to the island as I couldn't get close to the bank with the reeds growing right out which wasn't ideal but it was the same all around the lake for all of us, down to the pallet I found around 2ft or so close towards the bank and the meat line I planned to fish against the shelf in 4ft of water.

At the all in I fed two pots of wetted groundbait and red maggot to the pallet and a palm full of meat against the shelf to my left, Starting across at 14mts my attack over was going to be a worm and caster job for me today as I had some good results on it when I was here last year so with a small cadpot I cupped in my chopped worm and caster mix and started with a whole worm on the hook, 20mins in and my first fish was a small tench followed by some tiny perch so I started to catapult caster over the top which seemed to work for while giving me two small carp before I foul hooked one which bolted along the bank pulling a hidden branch right across my baited area and after 15mins faffing around trying to steer my rig in the gap and ending up snagged to the branch twice after missed bites I had to give up and try a new line and I new the worm was a bad choice in the depth of water I had so move over 2mts along the reeds and began to feed some micro and tried a 6mm hard banded pellet on the hook.

After a few liners I swapped to a rig about 18inches deep as by now Scott was putting a run of fish together fishing around the same depth without feeding anything and it wasn't long before I hooked a carp only for it to find another snag and attach me to the bank! Another swim over with".

By now Scott had about 10 carp and was doing best on the lake from what I could see as Martin was having as much luck as me at this time, With the carp being around the same stamp I new I had to start catching if I was to have any chance of catching up with Scott, I was hoping when I went onto my meat line they would be queuing up but how wrong I was as it failed to produce at all through the day and I was wishing I hadn't been topping up with palmfuls at regular intervals  A try on the groundbait line with a worm didn't show any signs and another attempt across shallow saw me waiting to long to catch small carp and I was getting nowhere and with 90mins to go I fed a pot full of my worm and caster mix I still had for fishing across onto a 5mt line in front of me and got a rig out to try for a run of silvers as I hadn't seen many being caught even by the anglers who had targeted them from the off.

Whilst I let it settle for 10mins I tried again with a worm over the groundbait tight in and had a bite straight away but not a carp as I had expected but a 1lb plus perch'! No more bites saw me switch to the new line with the head of a worm and straight away I had some nice chunky roach and a couple of 1lb skimmers before it died off and small perch followed but by swapping between this and the pallet swim for the remainder of the match I added some more skimmers and a couple more 2lb carp, Scott Had got stronger as the day wore on and ended the day winning the match with ease with a great 76lb and he did really well to keep them coming so fair play to him, I ended the day with 16lb odd of carp and 12lb odd of silvers for 28lb and 5th on the day but more annoying I was only 3oz off second place pay-out for the silvers pool and 1lb off winning it outright so a switch to the silvers was a bit late for me but I learnt a lot today which is always a good  thing and after a chat with owner Pete after the match he informed me he and some off the locals were going to clear a couple of swims back to the bare bank in-front of each peg which will be nice hopefully in time for my next visit.

Full results - 1st Scott Russell (Tackle UK) 76lb

                       2nd Aide Bishop (Summerhayes) 43lb 6oz

                       3rd James Cooper (Guru) 40lb 4oz

Silvers -         1st Roger Russell (Tackle Uk) 13lb 8oz

                       2nd Dan Bull (Summerhayes) 12lb 6oz .                          

Acorn Individual League Rd 2.

Back to Acorn today and after last weeks gale force winds it was pleasant to see the lake calm for a change, I felt quite positive about the day ahead and had resorted to wearing my old joggers I've had for years and are wearing a bit thin' but since wearing jeans I haven't had a pick up and the weather has hindered my fishing most weeks so at least they had worked for a change in the conditions for a start".

with 29 in the league we all get to rotate the three sections twice and I wasn't to bothered where I would end up so into the draw and out comes peg 10 which I was happy with although Nick (Trolley Thief) Harvey only managed 16lb off it last week but he said it was towing hard due to the wind, I didn't have that problem so was hoping to have a few as it wasn't a long distance to the island being about 12mts.

I plumed up with a 4x10 chanti on 0.13-0.11 an a size 18 Pr478 and found just over 2ft tight into the bank against the grass which was ideal and had a slightly heavier 4x12 rig to fish in-front of the bull rushes 2mts to my left on the bottom of the first shelf in 3ft or so of water. Keeping it simple I had a rig to fish to my left at 6mts in the open water just in-case I couldn't catch on my main lines and last of all a 4x10 chanti on 0.11-0.10 and again an 18 PR478 to fish against the shelf towards the empty pallet peg 11 again 3ft being the chosen depth.

(Notice I placed my pole roller bag on the bull rushes to give me a better view)

for company today I had Charlie Barns on peg 9 who was happily going to leave the carp to me in search of the lakes silvers, And fellow blogger Ken Rayner on peg 12 which looked nice down the edge aswell.

 Charlie.

I had Drawn Tom Thick in this first round of the knock-out who was also in my section on bridge peg 34 so we had a quid on the battle that lay ahead for the fun of it, At the all in I cupped a sprinkling of hard 4mm's and some damped micro over to the deeper swim in-front the bull rushes, a large 250mm cupful of micro onto the open water 6mt swim and cupful of damped down groundbait with a palm full of dead red maggots added, A lot of people don't feed this line until  they plan to fish it but I like to add a pot full of the same every 45mins to build the swim up and draw the attention of and bigger fish. I had mixed up a bag and

 a half of the Thatchers natural just in case they did turn up later in the day as I hoped they would.

Starting across in the shallower swim tight into the bank I shipped out with a whole worm and had a cadpot attached with some micro pellets and groundbait in once the rig had settled I pulled the rig up tight to the bank and cupped the feed in on top float after a few liners I re-fed the same again 15mins in and carp number one was in the net followed by three more in the next twenty minutes was a good start and from what I could see a few fish were being hooked, things started to slow up and a could see the fish were keen to come up in the water so I cupped in a larger amount with the bigger pot and re-fed my margin swim with more groundbait  before trying the swim in-front the rushes with a 6mm expander, first put in and a fish of 4lb was good then just one missed bite in 20mins saw me back tight to the island feeding regular with the cadpot, no more bites on worm saw a change to corn and two small carp followed before it slowed again. topping up and leaving it seemed to let them settle before going back in and nicking the odd fish so a quick try on the open water swim with a worm didn't produce and a look down to the pallet with a bunch of dead reds on the hook was yet to produce but we were only half-way through so was sure it would give me fish in the last couple of hours.

Back to the island and I switched to a 6mm expander on the hook and by shallowing up an inch I would lift the rig as tight to the bank as possible so the pellet sat right in and the tip of the float would just be showing and by emptying the cadpot in once the rig had settled and waiting saw me have some cracking bites and some larger fish to 6lb.

 Going into the last couple of hours the wind had picked up making hard to keep the rig tight to the bank so it was time to switch to my margin with a whole worm, as soon as it settled I missed a bite but as the rig settled again I was in with my first fish from in-front the pallet around 3lb, going straight back in with a full pot of groundbait soon had me a bigger fish of 5lb,

   After A couple more liners down to the pallet I re-fed with another pot-full and went back over to the shallow swim, two good fish then nothing seemed to be the pattern so by topping the swim and leaving it then going back down the edge feeding it before I went on it saw me add to my catch including a foul hooker which leapt out the other side of the pallet' though I somehow managed to steer it back through tail first and into my landing net at around 4lb"

Another fish across saw me stay down the edge just into the side of the pallet,

   The last 20mins saw me add 3 more to 5lb all on the worm to give me a total of 19-20 carp in total, at the weigh-in top weight on peg 5 in are section was Brian (Anteater) Slipper with 43lb before my turn to weigh and my catch of 85lb odd was good enough to take the lead.

Myself. 

Tom was last to weigh in and his 51lb was enough to take second spot in the section behind my-self meaning not only had I won the quid he was out of the knock-out as well which was good news for me' although tom has since informed me he is back in the knock-out as the fastest loser on weight so I could draw him again next time".

 Tom Thick.

Back to the results and I was happy to be top weight on the day, Picking up £60 for the section was a bonus as there's not a pay-out for top on the day with the monies going to the overall placing's at the end of 6 matches, Paul Faires managed top silvers weigh on the day though it was a close affair with Charlie picking the section up by de-fault with 9lb odd, Overall I was pleased how my day went and by nicking a couple of fish and letting them settle seemed to work best as-well as not being afraid to swap around hook baits when it went slow. Back in two weeks for round 3 so looking forward to the next time, and a big thanks to the wife today for taking some nice pics.

 Paul & Myself.

Overall Results -

1st Dominic Sullivan (Maver/Cadbury Angling) peg 10, 85lb 6oz

 2nd Russ Peck (Thatchers Tackle) peg 36, 69lb 8oz

3rd Tom Thick (Thatchers Tackle) peg 34, 51lb 13oz

4th Bob Gullit (BVMG) peg 22, 51lb 12oz

Silvers

 1st Paul Faires (Sensas Thyers) peg 15, 10lb 7oz

2nd Tom Thick (Thatchers Tackle) peg 34, 10ld 4oz. 

   

 

  

          

 

         

Acorn Individual League Rd 1.

The start of this popular league which is well attended with 29 fishing with the format of 3 sections which we were all going to fish twice rotating around the lake, with the forecast of rain and strong winds we were all hoping for a draw with a bit of shelter but for me it wasn't to be as I ended up on peg 16 on the straight bank and being further across to the island than the pegs around me I new I was going to have my work cut out just to present anything properly.

For company I had Lance (ten more minutes') Tucker on 15 who had two more meters less to reach were we expected the fish to be although I could see as we were tackling up Lance had a job to plum up in the already gusting wind, I planned to fish a line at the bottom of the far shelf in around 5ft of water at 13mts which was plenty far enough to fight with' A rig to fish big expanders over hard 4mm's at 6mts to my right and a rig to fish against the inside shelf with dead maggot or worm on the hook over caster, for across I assembled a 4x12 chanti on 0.13-0.11 and an 18 808 to fish across, a 4x14 chanti to fish the 6mt line again on 0.13-0.11 to an 16 808 and a 4x10 chanti for my inside swim to an 18 PR36.

After Drawing Tom Thick in the Knockout for the first round starting next week we had a quid on today only for him to draw below me on peg 13 meaning we will in the same section next week for start of it and who knows we could draw next to each other which would keep it interesting."

At the all in I cupped in half a pot of casters down my inside, and palm full of hard 4mm's and a nugget of micro onto the 6mt line, starting at the bottom of the far shelf with a 4mm expander on the hook I fed over the top of the float with a tiny freeze cad pot attached containing a couple of hard 4mm and about 15 micros, 20 minutes later and not a sign despite re-feeding a couple of times with the same amount had me thinking the carp wanted to be up in the shallower water tight to the island as tom had 3 carp in his first 3 put-ins! as well as Mark Bartlett having a couple on peg 18, The problem I had was by now the wind was blowing so much I new it would be nearly impossible to hold the pole let alone put the rig in amongst the stick ups so I opted to plum a new rig tighter in front of them in two and half of water but I felt I had missed the boat a little as by now those I could see having early fish were now struggling for bites.

I gave the 6mt line a quick try but without success so went onto the new line across and had a bite first dob in but a 3oz skimmers wasn't what I hoped for, 5 minutes later and a slightly bigger skimmer saw a swap to a 6mm expander but after small skimmer number 3, I new it wasn't right and I was being blown around on my box by the wind so a rest and re-think was in order,

I popped up to see how Mark was fishing as he was hooking a few and noticed he was fishing tight into the bank with worm or maggot on the hook about 10 inches deep, now this seemed to be doing the trick but the problem I had was it meant adding an extension to 16mts was needed for me to get this far! Back to my peg and after trying all the lines I had running I had no choice but to dig my rig box out and find a suitable rig to get tight to the bank for my sins".

Starting on triple dead maggot two mins later I had my first carp of 3lb but ten more minutes bite less and struggling to stay on my box I hooked a bull rush and saw my pole bend at an angle I had never seen before" so not fancying dropping numerous sections for repair I had to give up on this line as a bad job as sometimes its just not worth breaking expensive tackle. The inside lines never worked for me today with a change of baits producing nothing so I spent the rest of the match swapping between 4mm soft pellet and maggot on the hook when the wind allowed in front of the far bank rushes and it wasn't until the last hour I had some bites adding four more carp to the one I had earlier for a total of 15lb odd, Tucks finished with 17lb odd and the guy to my left also had 15lb so after breaking my back for most of the day we ended close, Mark did well to fishing in the rat hole all day winning the section with 38lb, Top weight on the day went to Andy France with 43lb also catching across in the shallow water on expanders over a sprinkling of micros and 4mm's, The weather ruined it for most today and numerous breakages were heard so back for round two next week praying for light winds".

Full results -

1st Andy France (Cadbury Angling) peg 25 , 43lb 8oz.

2nd Bob Gullitt (BVMG) peg 40 41lb 15oz.

3rd Kev Perry (Thyers) peg 20 39lb 2oz.

4th Lewis Jones (Thyers) peg 23 38lb 7oz.

5th Mark Bartlett (Matrix) peg 17 38lb

Top Silvers - Andy Gard 14lb 8oz.                         

Shiplate Farm Pairs Match, Monday 5th May 2014.

I'm Running an open match with a slight difference on Monday 5th may at Shiplate Farm, The difference being that it will be a Blind' Pairs match meaning you wont know who your paired up with until your name has been drawn out of a hat on the day, ( A good bonding method lol. )

planning to spread the match over both the canal lakes (Hawthorn & Westpool) as well as the main lake so as your name has been called out you know will which lake you will be fishing, The way this works for example - The first name draw out will fish the main lake and the second name out will fish one of the canal lakes as well as them being the first pair". so the next to names out will repeat the process until the last pairing and remaining two lakes are selected.

After the pairings and the lakes you will be on decided you will then draw your own peg for the lakes you are on.

Entry fee on the day will be £20 per person with an optional £5 individual super pool on the day so should your partner not do well on the day and you miss out on the pairs results you could still be taking some money home.

Depending on total numbers fishing on the day will decided the amount of pairs paid out and there will also be a Silvers pairs pay-out.

The way the winning pairs will be decided will be on a points basis, for example-

With an entry of 32 Anglers this would result in two sections of 16 meaning a section spread over the main lake and a section spread over both canal lakes (8 pegs on each canal).

If you win your section you will receive 1pt down to last in the section receiving 16pts and the pair scoring the least points on the day will come out on top, and the same will apply to the top silvers result.

To book in contact Steve or Carol at the fishery on- 07895852162 or through their facebook  website or contact me via my blog.          

Fishing times will be from 11am-5pm with the draw at the fishery at 9.30 all Fishery rules apply.