Chiltern Trinity Open (woodlands lake).

Traveling With team mate Don again today we had are usual Hilltops Breakfast on route and had a good bit of banter with a few others which always makes to a good day in my eyes as gone are the days you we all used to have a pint and a chat what went right or wrong" Don & Myself are involved with leagues which means you get to chat with other anglers and take in what has worked on the day, unfortunately there are a lot of people who just don't want to ask for a bit of advice and disappear at the first opportunity, We all think we have styles or methods that are sure fire winners but its the anglers who ring the changes when things aren't going to plan that always seem to be the most consistent, if you get the opportunity to have a chat with those who have done well after a match you'll be surprised just how detailed their information can be as we all like to brag sometimes'.

Back to the fishing  and the forecast today was not pleasant with rain and strong winds and when we arrived at the fishery it was obvious you wanted to avoid the far bank as it would be straight in your chops". Talking of the morning banter Jonny (Slaphead) Page' I was trying to convince him he was going to draw there but you guessed it as it backfired and I saw myself at the lower end of the far bank peg 13! and as it happened Mr Page drew the bank we wanted right opposite me on peg 27.."

Fortunately it was still dry and there was little breeze as we set up but I new it was coming' A pole rig for silvers at a massive 9mts" in 7ft of water being a 0.08g PB2 on 0.13-0.10 and an 18 808 hook. The normal bomb rod to fish towards the middle of the lake with various baits and finally a 4x12 chanti to fish towards the pallet of the empty peg on 0.15-0.13 and a 16 PR434 hook were I had about 5ft of water. Their were 16 fishing today & For company I had Dave Stevens again on peg 11 and Jim Jenner on peg 14 but neither of us was really looking forward to it to be honest.

Starting on the bomb and bread all I had was a couple of liners in the first hour even after casting around with different baits and I had already resorted to putting the last of my clothing on with the weather setting in' I decided to try my pole line with a 4mm expander to start with were I had fed 4 large balls of ground-bait containing some micro pellets and pinkees. but after 10mins and just a skimmer and a rudd' on pinkee I had no feeling left in my hands and had to stop.

After getting my circulation back I had a look down towards the pallet with two 4mm expanders on the hook  where I had been feeding a few loose 6mmpellets by hand but after 10mins I had to get back on the bomb just to stop shaking" it had really set in now and the wind was getting worse as the day went on but looking around I hadn't seen much caught, I finally connected connected with a carp on hair rigged double corn but it was brief as it shed the hook! Again nothing in the next for what seemed like an eternity" I decided to give the pallet swim another try with corn on the hook feeding a few grains of corn over the top via a cadpot, after a bit of lifting and dropping I was attached to a big fish but it was obvious it was foul hooked, after 10mins I thought I was winning but all I ended up with was a scale'. next put-in and again I had a foul hooker which also came off! it would of been easy to say try fishing off the deck but with the wind howling towards us it was creating waves so decided to feed a slightly larger amount to try and pin them to the deck, it worked' as soon after I netted a double figure common carp! With no more signs I had the chance to feed another inside line as with two hours to go both Jim & Dave had done which I was about to before I hooked a carp and that was pack up and get home in the warm". I fed a handful of corn and 6mm hard pellet about a metre short of the platform and tried the bomb again without so much as a liner so I had to rely on the pole swims where I thought I had the chance of some more carp, It was short lived though as after a liner on my new swim the match was called to a halt with an hour to go as it was that bad tackle was getting broke and umbrella's being folded inside out! I was thankful really as some days it just doesn't seem worth it battling against the elements but that's why we go we must be a rare breed..?

I didn't get to see Miska for the full results sheet as she was back in the warm soon after the weigh-in, or take any photo's for that matter, but the match was won by, YEP' it had to be with 30lb that man JONNY PAGE" catching on hard pellet at 14mts" I Ask Ya..." I did manage to get a snap of him after the match...

 (Winner John Page)

Next up was Mike West next door to him on peg 29 with 24lb, Silvers went the way of Rich Coles with 7lb odd but to be honest we just all wanted to get in the warm after a day like today, Might even slip into that Onesie I had for Xmas???. 

Full Reasults - 

1st John page (Weston) peg 27, 30lb 7oz.

2nd Mike West (Landsend Fishery) peg 29, 24lb 9oz.

3rd Lewis Jones (Drennan Thyers) peg 7, 16lb 4oz.

4th Dom Sullivan (Maver/Cadbury Ang) peg 13, 13lb.

Silvers - Rich Coles (Sedges Fishery) peg 19, 7lb 3oz.                                

Pleasure Session Shiplate Farm.

With the forecast not being to bad good friend Steve Howell & myself decided to make a short trip to have a go for some silvers on the main lake, We opted for two swims on the far bank pegs 13 & 14 with the wind off are backs making it nice for fishing the waggler as well as the pole. Nice and simple today a drake waggler on 4lb main line and an 0.13 bottom with an 18 PR474 hook to fish just over depth in around 6ft of water towards the middle of the lake & 0.6g PB2 pole float to fish a comfy 13mts on 0.13-0.10 and again an 18 PR434 hook where the depth was much the same as I had further out.

Being as we are both into are match fishing there was always going to be the element of a battle between us so we decided on a fiver' side bet between us and agreed on a 6hr session. Starting at 10 o'clock I began by feeding 3balls of fishmeal ground-bait onto the pole line with some micro pellet added and began the day on the waggler feeding 6mm hard pellet with banded 6mm on the hook. It was a slow start and in the first hour I only had two small skimmer on red maggot but was having problems with the float dragging back towards me due to the tow along the inside of my peg, I did notice Steve's swim was shallower on his waggler line and for some reason wasn't having problems with it pulling through? despite laying some line on the deck I was only getting the odd indication and Steve had already netted around 10 skimmers from what I could see so it was time to try and speed things up on the pole line?.

 (Peanut)

Starting With a 4mm expander on the hook it didnt take my long to get my first skimmer of 8oz followed by a couple up to a 1lb but you would get a few bites before things slowed up so I kept topping it up with the odd ball and trying the waggler again.

I did pick off a few bigger skimmers by leaving the line on the surface after casting as not to pick up the tow but it was taking me a lot longer for bites compared to Steve so was soon back on the pole. by laying the rig in different directions I was catching skimmers from 6-12oz at regular intervals and although they seemed to be of smaller stamp than Steve's could I claw my way back? With a couple of hours to go signs of bubbles appeared where I was fishing and my instinct told me a larger fish was in the swim and I wasn't wrong after netting a nice 5lb bream soon after" things went a bit quite so topped it up again and took a few more skimmers on the waggler and 6mm pellet.

Going into the last hour more signs of bigger fish appeared on my pole swim but after getting some false bites on expanders I began to feed the odd grain of corn and fish a single grain on the hook. it worked as 5mins later I had another  bream around 6lb followed by a lone 1lb Tench before a hail storm put a dampener on things'

 

The last hour was slow but I added a few more skimmers on pellet, there were still odd signs of better fish present but I thing the hail prevented catching more of the bigger bream. Steve had managed to draw the attention of a few carp to 9lb on his waggler line which hopefully had given me chance to catch up?

 

Steve was first to weigh and had a nice days fishing catching nearly all of his skimmer net on the waggler and pellet for a total of 24lb,

 

I felt the two bream may have swung things in my favour and the scales don't lie' so was really pleased to end up with a cracking days fishing for a total of 37lb taking the fiver off peanut to boot"

 

A big thanks to owner Steve Oliver today for allowing Steve & Myself the use of keepnets for the blog and to show the potential of this lake and what's in store for the anglers out there who don't always want to target carp, Steve & Carol run regular open matches on this and two canal lakes and if you were lucky enough to land on a few of these big bream a big weight could be on the cards, Steve goes to a great effort to maintain this fishery in its very picturesque surroundings and cant wait to have a crack at some more matches here in the near future. For further details to any matches contact the fishery on 07895852162.      

 

        

Viaduct Teams Of 5 (Round Three).

Back to Viaduct for this popular league and my turn to fish lodge lake with an overspill of 5 swims on Cary Lake and after another help yourself breakfast at the globe pub I'm pleased to add we had are pools money in early today meaning at least I had a chance of drawing us some good swims rather than the repeat of last time ending up last to draw' out of the nineteen teams fishing we were second up and on paper are draw didn't look to bad for a change, For me it was peg 66 lodge lake which happened to be a corner peg and had form for a few carp towards the tree along my inside bank so with this in mind these would be my main target for today as on the last round the lake fished hard with the cold weather and a few carp would be good team points if it was the same scenario this time around? It just so happened Traveling partner and team mate Don Sutherland drew directly behind me on peg 97 Cary so at least we didn't have to use the mobile" I set up 2 new rigs to fish along the bank towards the tree being 0.2g drennan AS2 floats, one on 0.17-0.15 & the other on 0.15-0.13 both with a size 16 PR434 hook, the tackle might seem on the heavy side for this time of the year but with the tree being a real bolt hole" for the fish I couldn't afford to give them much leeway!

 Not putting all my eggs in one basket I decided to have a silvers line at 13mts being a 4x12 wire wonder on 0.11-0.09 and an 18 63-13 hook in around 4ft of water were I planned to fish maggot over ground-bait as my main line but was hoping to bag so many carp down the edge I wouldn't even need to use it...?

I started the match by feeding 2 balls and two loose cups of ground-bait with a few dead red maggots and casters added onto the open 13mt swim and started the match fishing a biggish piece of punched bread fished a few inches off the deck close to me by the bull-rushes just to see if there may be a mug fish to catch early but after 5mins I  tried a bit further along towards the first leg of the pallet. Bingo" After a short battle carp number one was in the net at around 7lb which was a great start but it did cause a bit of disturbance so didn't expect another straight away, I kept in the same area for the first hour as I didn't want to push any carp further under the branches but despite trying at different depths and baits all I had were a couple of blip roach hanging on the end of 3 maggots' so it was time to have a quick look on the Silvers line. Starting on a single dead red maggot I bumped a nice fish first put-in but had a 1lb plus hybrid soon after before bumping two more decent fish straight after! I've had this happen a lot on this venue and just cant fathom out why it happens but took no risks and changed my hook-length anyway. 15mins later and just a couple of small skimmers so I added another ball of bait and tried back towards the tree. I still couldn't get any indications were I first caught so it was time to add a section and go further into the den!". After 10mins of lifting the rig around I was connected   into another carp except this time it was already under the tree" I tried my best to ship straight back but could feel it was already through the sunken branches. I got the pole nearly right back then realised it had came out" result' but it soon appeared why I had such a job as it was hooked in the tail!' it didn't matter and after a few nervy minutes I had it in the net at around 6lb".

I was hoping I now had it sorted and was looking forward to adding a few more but it wasn't to be as any signs of fish seemed to be right under the tree were I had no chance of getting too. Richard Adhere over on the opposite corner peg was also struggling for a carp just taking one on the waggler towards the back of the tree. It proved worth while having the silvers swim after all as I added a couple of better skimmers on the caster to 2lb and some smaller samples on dead maggot to add just under 9lb to my carp weight of 13lb finishing up with 10/19pts so not a disaster, In hindsight it may of paid to have another silver swim at 14mts but I put my faith in adding a few more carp which didn't happen, I chose not to feed anything down the edge and just rely on dobbing different baits about until the last hour when I decided to put-in a few grains of corn against the far leg of the platform but shipping back and not looking I forgot about the branches and got my cupping kit wedged in the groves pulling the top 8mts of my pole off..! I adverted disaster though and quick thinking saw me coax it to the bank with the rest of the pole I had in my hands" it can only happen to me!" Don Had a much better day winning his section with 38lb and finishing 4th in the silvers overall with 14lb odd picking up £100 in total. My section was won by Mark Wynne with 33lb odd but also taking the top silver weight on the day with 24lb.

Silvers winner Mark Wynne.

 

Top angler on the day was Stu woods with 115lb from corner peg 132 Cambell. team wise we didn't do much better but were not last' So with two round to go we can only get better lol, Burt baits took a great win on the day with 78pts to increase there lead at the top of the table. Match lake next time with a couple of pegs on Spring and middle so who knows were Ile end up.?

Overall results -

1st Stu Woods (Viaduct Allstars) peg 132 Cambell, 115lb 11oz.

2nd Andy Crocker (Frenzee  S/w) peg 123 Cambell, 101lb 8oz.

3rd Fred Roberts (MFS) peg 119 Cambell, 73lb 4oz.

4th Steve Denmead ( Burt Baits) peg 78 Cary, 63lb 12oz.

5th Gordon Cannings (Silverfox) peg 74 Cary, 60lb 2oz.

Silvers -

 1st Mark Wynne ( Viaduct Select) peg 69 Lodge, 24lb 15oz.

2nd Nick Chedzoy (Thathers Vets) peg 37 Spring, 21lb 10oz.

3rd Kevin East (S/W Nomads) peg 98 Cary, 16lb 1oz. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

                         

Chiltern Trinity Open (Woodlands Lake).

With the weather being on the verge of most venues at risk of being frozen over traveling Partner Don Sutherland & Myself decided to give the venue another try today. After the normal hilltops breakfast we made are way to the fishery to find the lower end of the lake froze over but with only 11 booked in today there were enough pegs available without having to use Don's new ice breaker' After a nice warming free cuppa it was time for the draw and I found myself on the near bank peg 27 in the middle of the lake which I thought was as good as anywhere with the conditions being the way they were. I planned to keep things pretty simple today as I didn't expect big weights to be on the agenda more of a case of catching what you could in the hope of a few bonus fish hopefully along with a few silvers.

The first thing out the bag was the already made up bomb rod which I happy to say I still own after having it dragged in on my last visit here! (Not a mistake I was keen to repeat today") which I felt would give me a few fish on popped up bread?. Next up was an 1g pole rig on 0.11-0.09 and an 18 PR434 hook to fish in around 8ft of water at 13mts were I plumbed two lines at 10 & 2'oclock one to fish maggot over ground-bait and one to fish expander pellet over micro's. With plenty of time left before the start I decided to set up a loaded waggler to an 0.11 hook-length and an 16 808 hook I case I saw signs of fish up in the water layer.

For company I had Simon Ryall on peg 29 & and Dave (didnt get 2nd name sorry) on end peg 26 with Kev Perry just up from me on the end peg of the opposite bank. At the all-in I cupped 3 balls of ground-bait with some dead red maggots added onto the left hand 13mt swim and a ball of dampened micro on the right hand swim along with a few 4mm expanders. I started the match towards the middle of the lake on the bomb and 3 disc's of punched bread on a hair rig,

 After an Hour the only signs I had were two small liners despite casting around the peg but with other people switching methods I kept my faith and after 90mins I was rewarded with a carp around 5lb after adding some scopex spray to my hook-bait' (Fluke?) who knows but at least I had caught this week". I gave it another half hour before deciding to have a look for some silvers on my pole lines as Kev opposite had already started to put a few together,

 Kev Perry in action.

 

I was surprized after trying both lines for about 15mins each not to have a bite on either a 4mm expander or dead red maggot so decided to try the waggler starting about 6ft deep with a single grain of corn the breeze was playing havoc with the float so it wasn't long before I was back on the bomb and sprayed' bread as it looked like a couple of carp would make all the difference today and felt it was my best chance of catching a few more? Another bite-less 30mins and the flask diminishing at a rate of knots saw me try the pole again with a single dead red over the ground-bait line. First dob-in I had a lift bite which resulted in a 2lb skimmer' followed by two 8oz fish but then I bumped a better fish and couldn't get a bite so topped it up with another ball again with some dead reds added and tried the bomb again. with around two hours to go out of the blue I added another carp of similar size again on the bread and word on the bank was Dave next to me was the only other person to have caught a carp on the pole so there was all to play for. I did try the pole lines a few times before the end of the match but all I added were a few small roach and I was having to wait to long for bites so put my faith in the bomb which proved worth while as 4lb carp was added in the last hour. As a whole the lake fished hard today but had to be expected and it turned out my 3 carp added with my silvers was enough for top weight on the day with a total of 17lb odd picking up £45 which more than paid for the day,

 My Carp.

 

It turned out Kev's weight of silvers was enough to take 2nd place on the day with 13lb odd meaning the silvers pool of £35 went the way of Donald by default giving us bubble in the van" A hard but enjoyable day as this venue has a good depth it gives you plenty of options and my patience proved worth while today, Just".
Back to Viaduct Next Sunday for the teams of 5 and my turn to fish Lodge lake with an overspill of 5 pegs on Cary but no bomb rod needed as this is a float only section so we will see what happens?.

   
          

Viaduct Teams Of 5 Rd 2.

After a nice weekend off away with the wife last week I was keen to get back on the bank for this popular league, Traveling as normal with team mate Don Sutherland it was breakfast at the globe again for us for the eat as much as you like for £5 which is good value except we were near the back of the queue and we had to wait some time for are bacon and eggs meaning we were later to get are pools money in for the team draw. It was down to me again today although I didn't have much choice as we had the last pegs in the hat as a result of the late pools but at least I couldn't get the blame for poor draws". It was my turn to fish Cary Lake today and all week I had visions of drawing peg 86 which I really fancied for a few of the lakes munter's' and I couldn't of been much closer ending up on 87, This sounds good but at this time of year the fish seem to hang between pegs 86 & 85 at the end of a spit as theirs a variation in depth that the carp seem to love'.

Arriving at my peg we were lucky enough to have the cold wind blowing slightly off are backs for a start as the pegs on the opposite bank had it straight in the chops' I new you would have to try and catch a carp on this lake for good points as they grow so big one bite could be 20lb+" so first up a 11ft maver multi system bomb rod was assembled with 5lb main line to a 12inch 0.16 hair stop hook-length, I set up a waggler to fish dead depth to start with in about 4ft of water with an 0.11 hook-length and an 18 PR434 hook, with the wind assisting us and the skies overcast it would be easy to feed casters at around 25mts to fish different baits over the top.

 

Last up was a pole rig being a 0.4g PB2 to fish at 13mts , 0.11-0.09 and an 18  63-13 hook. I was in good company as I had Thatchers star Nick Ewers on peg 86 and Thyers silvers ace Paul Faires on peg 88 but wasn't daft enough to challenge Nick to a quid" . At the all-in before feeding any other lines I would cast straight towards the middle of the lake on the bomb and a piece of punched meat in the hope of snaring a early carp' 15mins later I had a liner but nothing followed so decided to rest it and fed my pole line with 4 balls of ground-bait with a fair bit of caster added and some floro pinkees as I hoped to catch some big skimmers and wanted to hold them in the swim longer with-out topping it up if my other lines didn't produce??. Back on the bomb swapping between baits on the hour mark the 3 of us were all fishless although Nicky Collins on the opposite bank was already playing his second big fish"

 Nicky Collins.

 

I had been feeding the waggler line from the off with casters and the odd grain of corn so after 90mins I decided to give it a try starting on a single grain I was already having problems seeing the float as the skies had cleared and the sun was right at us and after trying caster on the hook I was still biteless'.

At the half way point things were looking grim as I couldn't get any indications of any line and to make thing worse Nick next to me had started to catch on the bomb and they weren't small fish" No matter what I put on the hook or where I cast didn't seem to make a difference as I couldn't get as much as a liner, I would like to say my day got better but sadly I ended up with severe neck ache as Nick did a great job of plundering 12 carp which would be enough to win are lake with ease and he was admitting to 90lb, Paul went on to catch some nice perch and a big skimmer on his pole line, and me' NOWT! ZERO, BITELESS'BATTERD"BLANKED!!!!".

 

Whoop's. Owe well' that hasn't happened for a while but I suppose it had to happen sooner or later??? lol. The closest I came to catching was foul hooking a big carp reeling-in which I managed to steer close to the bank before the hook pulled". Back at the results and it turned out Nick's Fish next to me were bigger than he thought as he went on to win the match with a great 141lb 2oz, Its amazing how these fish ball-up" as Simon Jones on fancied 85 only ending with 1 carp but you still have to catch them and he fished a tidy match so well done mate.

 Winner Nick Ewers.

Runner up was that man again Gary O'Shea adding to his ever increasing wallet from peg 119 on Cambell ending the day with 127lb 3oz and I managed to get a pic of him with a few of his fish due to Nicks under estimate"

 Gary O'Shea.

Just to make my day even worse Paul managed to pick-up £60 from the overall silvers pool to rub salt into my wounds" with the top silvers weight on the day going to Clint Wojtyle from peg 37 on middle lake with 17lb 15oz. 

Team wise after two matches Team Flip Flop hold a 6pt lead over Burt Baits but its still early doors, Even with my disaster we managed to lift are self's off the bottom of the table so all is not lost' lol.