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.