Viaduct Teams Of 5 , Rd 1.

It seems to have come around quickly from last year for the eagerly awaited teams of 5 again but with it being very popular with 19 teams entered I was looking forward to it, After Team mate Don Sutherland picked me up we decided to try the breakfast laid on at the globe pub in Somerton for a change and for £5 eating as much as you like I'm happy to say it was good value for money, We had to Start the league with two Ringer's' so to speak as other team members had commitments and couldn't make it which isn't ideal but at least Simon Ryall & Jonny Page filled in for us, It was decided I would do the team draw so I was hoping to give us all a nice home for the day??.

It turned out I found myself on Cambell Lake peg 125 and this time last year I would have skipped to my peg but the lakes vast head of carp seem to be at the opposite end of the lake of late so wasn't to enthusiastic which didn't help when I arrived at my peg for Mark Poppleton next door on peg 124 to tell me that he drew this area on the Wednesday open and told me there were no carp caught off are pegs except for the opposite corner peg of the lake" Not what I really wanted to here but you never know. I Planned to keep it quite simple today so first up was a bomb rod with 4lb main line and a 12inch 0.14 hook length to an 16 hair stop. I set up a 3AAA waggler to fish at dead depth to begin with an 0.13 hook length an a 18 PR434 hook. last of all I didn't want to put all my eggs in one basket so had a rig to fish at 14mts for silvers over ground-bait being a 4x12 wire wonder on 0.11-0.09 and a 18 63-13 hook.

At the all in I fed 4 balls with just one containing a few casters & pinkies onto the 14mt pole line and cupped a large pot of casters off to my right at the same distance were it was the same depth at around 4ft. To start the match I began on the bomb and popped up bread towards the middle of the lake as did most others with different baits, Approaching the half hour mark things at are end off the lake were rather slow to say the least and the only fish I had seen caught were from the opposite bank peg 119 in the corner, I decided it was time to try something else on the hook and just began to punch a piece of meat out when my tip flew around and not forgetting to set the Bait-Runner this week! I was soon landing a carp of around 4lb, Great Start'. It was short lived though as the next hour failed to produce so much as a liner but as yet nobody else around me or opposite had caught a carp and were soon trying their pole lines or switching to the waggler but having 1 in the net and although I was finding it very boring" I kept to the bread in the hope of pinching another by casting to different areas every 20mins or so. Coming up to the 2hr mark Don rang me and yep' you guessed it" the tip went around and sprang back before the line started to pick up again and after nearly dropping the phone I bloody missed it!"

After another 30mins I couldn't take it any more so switched to the waggler with maggot on the hook but again nothing happened and the only fish being caught on it were small roach that I could see so it was time to try the pole. Starting on single red maggot over the ground-bait line I soon had a skimmer of 6oz followed by another shortly after on pinkie but then couldn't get a sign, I tried over the loose fed caster line but this failed to produce a bite so fed the ground-bait line and went back on the bomb hoping to snare another carp.

Another 30mins passed without a sign and after Mark had a 2lb plus Skimmer on his pole line I gave it another try, as soon as the rig settled it shot under and I bumped a better fish" B*****KS.. it took me 10mins to get another bite but again it was a smaller skimmer of around 6oz but I was having to wait ages for a bite so spent the last couple of hours trying the waggler, Bomb and pole but all I could add were a few more skimmers on the pole towards the end of the match but again they were only of smaller size, The only other carp along my bank came from Ron Hardiman on the end peg 123 but was of a good size the rest of us seemed to have all struggled, I couldn't see what was being caught below the spit on my bank but it turned out that's were the carp were hiding as Nicky Collins won the lake with a good 116lb from end peg 132 with the opposite peg 110 taking 2nd with 113lb, My total weight of 7lb odd was enough to beat the pegs around me but was only good enough for 7pts from a possible 19 but apart from sitting on my hands all day watching the tip for carp that just didn't seem to be in the area or targeting the small fish I don't think there was much more I could of done but that's fishing. Top weight on the day went to Craig (Trigger) Edmonds from corner peg 73 on lodge lake with 150lb odd taken on bread fished along the edge on the pole, Team wise Viaduct Select won the day but overall we had a disaster finishing in last place but the pegs we had today turned out to be in the poorer areas so perhaps its down to someone else to draw for the next round". Taking a weekend away with the wife this coming weekend so no fishing for me' but it will be a nice change before heading back here for the next round in 2wks and my turn to fish Cary lake for the resident munters"?  

Full Results -

1st Craig Edmonds (Team Flip Flop) Peg 73 Lodge, 154lb 1oz.

2nd Adam Mitchell (Frenzee S/W Orange) peg 66 Lodge, 123lb 7oz.

3rd Nicky Collins (Somerset Angling) peg 132 Cambell, 116lb.

4th John Howell (Burts Baits) peg 110 Cambell, 113lb 13oz.

5th Leon Hubbard (Silver Fox) peg 96 Cary, 108lb 8oz.

6th Richard Aherne (Frenzee S/W Black) peg 119 Cambell, 90lb 9oz.

7th Nicky Ewers (P.I.Thatchers) peg 131 Cambell, 79lb 15oz.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

               

  

Chiltern Trinity Open (Woodlands Lake)

Another change of scenery for a me today as its been over a year since I last visited the venue and after picking up some fresh bait on Friday but not get around to fishing yesterday due to the weather I was keen to use it up, After a good bit of banter with a few others in hilltops at breakfast we were keen to give it a try, Only 12 of us fishing today the match was spread over both sides of the lake with 6 on each side, Not to familiar with the pegging I found myself on peg 8 which turned out to be near the top end of the far side being the second peg down on the match, For company I had Simon Ryall on end peg 6 of my bank in the sheltered corner who informed me it was a good area for carp as was Mark Walsh's peg on the opposite bank being the other end peg, With this in mind it suited me as if I didn't get any early carp I could switch to the lakes good head of silvers.

First up I set up a straight lead to fish popped up bread to start the match on, 5lb main line to an 0.17/12inch hook-length, This venue has a fair depth being around 8ft so I used an 0.8g Skimmer float on 0.13-0.10 and an 18 PR478 hook. that was it rig wise so plumbed up two swims one at 13mts to my left and one at 12mts off to my right where the depth was the same.

At the start I cupped in 4 balls on the 13mt swim with casters and dead maggots added and one ball on the 12mt line with dead pinkie's in. I began the match on the bomb and bread hoping for a quick couple of fish but after 40mins and my flask diminishing fast" I had only had one liner but I could see Walshy' had already taken 4 carp along with a few skimmers on the pole fishing up towards his end bank so it was time to look on the pole. Starting on the positive swim with double dead red maggot on the hook I was surprized not to get a bite quite quick and it wasn't until I gave the 12mt swim a try I had my first fish being a skimmer of about 10oz. by swapping between both swims trying different baits I did have the odd skimmer but wasn't getting anywhere fast but opposite me Jonny (Slaphead) page was catching skimmers twice as fast so I decided I had to try starting another swim at 8mts where I fed half a pot of dead maggots and pinkies. I left it to settle for 30mins but all I could manage was a few small skimmers and blade roach, I wont drag on how the rest of my match went but my long pole lines got worse not better despite topping them up in different ways and john was still catching regularly, So I decided to have another go on the bomb and bread whilst at the same time sort my net-bag out, all was going ok and after 30mins I just got up to pack away my pole roller when the rod flew around! Like a prat the reel I was using was my near £200 bait-runner but I had forgot to flick it on" I managed to grab the butt of rod but disaster struck and I slipped on the pallet causing me to momentarily let go of the rod .." I couldn't believe it as I watched it go straight in the lake only to disappear out of site!!.

Well' After a bit of quick thinking Ray Bass on the next peg lent me his rod and I began in vain to chuck his bomb rig around the lake hoping to hook the rod??? after 30mins I was about to give up when I was hooked up to something so began to reel back slowly only to find I had hooked the line but the fish was still attached"  The Rod surfaced about 20mts from the bank as the fish swam towards me and with Rays help managed to grab the line but the fish bolted and snapped me in a snag and I had no idea where the rod was!? so it was back to chucking his bomb around again but I didn't have much hope and after another 20mins and losing Rays bomb in the same snag I lost the fish I began to pack all my kit up before it got dark and the match finished.

After a few minutes I found the bomb on the platform along with the line and as I began to wrap it up to throw in my bucket the line began to head back towards the edge of the pallet slowly tightening and I could not believe my eyes when the tip of my rod surfaced about a 1ft from the edge giving me enough time to get hold of it!" I couldn't believe my luck  somebody was looking down on me today I'd say'.  At the start of the match there was a heron stalking fish from the end bank for fish in the margins but he was a bit disappointed and took off not long after' 

Well that was a eventful end to the day to say the least but lessons learnt hey"? as expected the first two places went the way of Walshy with 77lb including 10lb of silvers taken on the paste" followed by Simon with 52lb also catching down his inside edge on pellet. Silvers went to Jonny Page With a good 29lb of skimmers taken on expanders over micro pellet so my choice of maggot and casters over ground-bait was certainly the wrong choice today but I was just thankful of retrieving my prized rod and reel back!" Off to Viaduct next Sunday for the start of the popular teams of 5 so hoping for a nice start.

Full results -

 1st Mark Walsh (Acorn) peg 32, 77lb 4oz.

2nd Simon Ryall (Weston) peg 6, 52lb 2oz.

3rd John Page (Weston) peg 30, 35lb 5oz.

Silvers - John Page 29lb 12oz.                                      

Summerhayes Open Sellicks & Lily Pool.

I decided to give Summerhayes another bash today having not been at the fishery for a few months, I booked in along with good friend Nick Harvey who picked me up in plenty of time for the usual hilltops breakfast before arriving at the fishery, A good turn out again today with 24 booked in but it meant that lily pool would have an overspill of 8 anglers on it which I hoped to avoid at all cost despite the hype I have yet to see this lake produce as well as Sellicks can?.

Into the draw and I was happy to end up with peg 21 Sellicks but Nick wasn't so fortunate ending up in the middle of lily pool peg 11, There was no wind to contend with today so reaching the far bank at 14mts was easy enough where a few carp can be caught by dobbing bread around so my first rig was a 4x14 Chanti to fish at various depths towards the far bank on 0.11-0.10 and a 16 63-13 hook, a lighter 4x10 Chanti  to fish right tight into the far bank off to my left for maggot over micro and finally a 4x12 Wire Wonder to fish at 13mts in the open water were I had about 6ft on 0.10-0.08 and an 18 63-13 hook where I would plan to fish with maggot/pinkie over ground-bait.

For company I Had Tackle UK's Scott Russell on end peg 23 who would be hard to beat so would switch to targeting silvers if as expected he took some early carp? on peg 20 I had local Alan Jenkins? who said he planned to target silvers so would make for an interesting day?.

At the all-in I fed one large ball of Ground-bait with a few pinkies & casters Added on the open 13mt swim, a few micros and dead maggots tight into the far bank off to my left. Starting on a decent size punched piece of bread just short of the far bank around 6inches off the deck, I was soon searching around without any success but as I expected Scott had 2 carp in the net from along his inside bank in the first 15mins also on bread, After another 30mins of changing depth and searching around I still hadn't had a bite even trying maggot on the swim tight to the island and when Scott netted two more carp from his longer line near the aerator my mind was soon made up it was to be a switch to targeting silvers with the hope of adding a few carp along the way?

Starting with a red maggot on the hook on the deeper 13mt line I soon had a small roach so blank avoided' followed by another before I had a better fish on which turned out to be a Crucian of a 1lb and soon after a Goldfish of the same size both what counted as silvers today' so a good start! In the next 30mins I had 2 skimmers before I added a 2lb carp which seemed to disturb things so topped the line up with another ball before trying the carp? swims again. Still Nothing on either so after 20mins I went back on the silvers line expecting some bites straight away, Nope" I had myself wishing I hadn't been so keen topping the swim up so soon but after trying around the fed area I started to catch the odd fish being mainly net size skimmers, I had to work the rig and wait for bites but from what I could see nobody else was catching silvers, Scott's flying start had come to an end adding just a couple more carp and Alan was yet to catch so with a couple of hours left and bites becoming hard to come by I decided to start another open water swim off to my left at 14mt the same way I started the day and spent the rest of the match pinching the odd fish off each, It worked for the carp as well adding 3 more by the end of the match with most of my fish falling to single maggot or pinkie, The last hour was hard but I did manage a couple of better skimmers late in the match (Not just Viaduct this happens then!) and estimated I had around 11lb of silvers to go with my 4 carp. I caught up with the scales on Lily pool, And the top silvers weight was 10lb odd of small roach taken by Sam Powell, Back to Sellick's and no weights of silvers as most had caught carp from the fancied 'Lily Pegs" After a couple of none weigh's it was my turn and was pleased to finish with 13lb odd of silvers which was enough for top place to add to my 13lb of carp.

 (My Silvers)

 

There were a few fish caught on the expected pegs on Sellicks but overall the weights were very close, the going was hard but I had a really enjoyable day again which suits my style of fishing adding £43 to the jar. Overall winner on the day went to Tackle UK's Ashley (Sorry didn't get your second name) from peg 14 on Sellicks with 31lb of carp caught on bread from across and down the edge. Cant go without saying that Rodger Russell found out that he lost out for a 3rd place pick-up in the silvers by a pike over 6lb caught by Tony Pointing from Lily pool which count as silvers! It was removed and although missed out he took in good stead, Eventually" lol. 

Overall Results -

1st Ashley (Tackle UK) peg 14 Sellicks, 31lb 10oz.

2nd Bill Hopping (Summerhayes) peg 15 Sellicks,  30lb 13oz.

3rd Rob Birch (Summerhayes) peg 16 Sellicks,  30lb 3oz.

4th Scott Russell (Tackle UK) peg 23 Sellicks,  29lb 8oz.

5th Dom Sullivan (Maver/Cadbury Angling) peg 21 Sellicks. 26lb 9oz. 

6th Gary Webber (P.I.Thatchers) peg 13 Sellicks,  24lb.

Silvers - 1st  Dom Sullivan (Maver/Cadbury) peg 21 Sellicks, 13lb 9oz.

                2nd Sam Powell (Exeter) peg 4 Lily Pool, 10lb 9oz.

                3rd Tony Ponting (Shiplate Farm) peg 13 Lily Pool, 7lb 1oz. 

        

               

Shiplate Farm (New Year Hangover).

I was fully expecting to be one of many suffering from a bad head but after picking up a stinking cold (Probably due to being frozen on Monday") so was in no mood to celebrate and was in bed before midnight getting woke by the fireworks at 12' . After a bad nights sleep I didn't really think I should be fishing but don't like to let people down so wrapped up to the hilt and made my way to the fishery. The match was all on Hawthorns Lake today and with 15 of us there wouldn't be many pegs you would have enough room to catch down the edge so either end peg today could be useful?

Into the draw and I find myself on peg 3 were Des Shipp happened to draw in the Xmas match catching a few across at the bottom of the shelf and some fish down the edge but nobody was on peg 2 that day so that could be iffy to try and catch there. I set up a 4x12 Maver Invincible on 0.11-0.10 and a size 20 808 to fish the bottom of the first far shelf were I had about 4ft of water, A lighter 4x10 on the same line/hook to fish tight to the far bank in just over 2ft of water finally a 4x12 Chanti to fish down the edge towards peg 4 on my top kit plus 1 section as that's as far as I could go.

At the all-in I cupped a small ball of fishmeal Ground-bait in at the bottom of the shelf with a few maggots in it and fed some casters onto my short line, Starting the match right over I fed just a pinch of dead red maggot and micros via the cad pot starting with double maggot on the hook. It didn't take long to get indications but the problem was it was from half ounce roach and daddy ruff" and after 20mins of this I soon switched to the deeper rig at the bottom of the shelf. I was a bit surprised when I didn't have any signs no matter what I tried on the hook so was soon starting a new line elsewhere across.

This time I just fed small amounts of ground-bait but again it didn't take long for the small fish to find my bait and the area seemed devoid of any carp" I did try looking around on a piece of corn for a while without success. Looking around the few pegs that I could see nobody had caught a carp and Ron Stark On peg 4 seemed happy to plunder the small fish across but this wasn't for me so put my faith in my deeper swims. Back  on the bottom of the shelf I did manage a couple of skimmers to 8oz and an 6lb carp before the wind picked up as forecast and holding the rig still enough to induce bites impossible. This was turning out to be a frustrating day as I had to get another rig out to fish down the track in the deeper water but again all I could catch was small fish, The close in caster swim produced one roach all day and in the last hour when the wind dropped I had a 12oz skimmer over some loose fed micros further along the shelf on maggot but no more carp.

It didn't take long for the weigh-in with the chap on peg 2 weighing 3lb of silvers before I had 5lb 8oz not bothering to weigh my single carp, It proved worth while on the day for Ron to Stick to the blips' as his weight of 7lb was enough to take the silvers pool but it reminded me of fishing on the Kennet & Avon canal! I didn't hang around after weighing as I was keen just to get in the warm but It turned out Resident Steve Howell took the win from peg 6 in the middle of the lake finding a few carp on the maggot to finish with 32lb odd, followed by the swims I thought would produce pegs 15 & 1 taking the next two places with 23lb & 22lb. Not the best start match wise for me but that's fishing at this time of the year, I think I could have winkled a few more skimmers from the longer line by switching to a heavier rig ect but its hard to get motivated when your not up to your best so hoping to shrug it off before my next trip".