Here We Go Again".

Well I am beginning to believe I may well be one of the most unluckiest people on the planet on and off the bank' After Saturdays memorial match on summerhayes Fishery I was going to return to fish the open on Sunday but when I woke it was chucking it down so decided against it, Feeling fresh and ready for my day ahead I headed off to work Monday morning at 6am, 20minutes later and I found myself sat in A&E" awaiting an X-ray after catching my foot in a hydraulic pipe between my truck & trailer causing me to go head first off the side! The result? Well' I tried to put my hands out to break my fall and I've only gone and fractured my right hand again..!"

No fishing for me for a few weeks by the look of it & I'm seriously beginning to feel like I'm jinxed, I could right a book on the amount of things that have gone wrong over the years" lol. Talking of things to happen over the years one thing that you see more often than anything in nearly every tackle shop in the country is the vast range of ground-baits & additive's', I've always said theirs more out there to catch the angler out rather than the fish although I have used a few on occasions with various results!.

Going back around 20years ago I remember joining a new team who had just secured a sponsorship with "Whizzo Ground-baits and are first team match would be on the River Huntspill, No trip needed to go and purchase any ground-bait before the day of the match as we would all be supplied before the draw. After picking up a few bags of the brand new 'Purple Haze' I trotted off to my swim which just so happened to be the first peg below the famous motorway bridge which at the time was bag on for a few bream and with my new mix what could possibly go wrong? Everything" After 5 hours of trying to convince myself I was using the new magic" ground-bait that would draw fish from miles but sweet F.A in the net I mixed up some brown crumb I found in my bag, In the last 45mins I caught around 10 good skimmers which put me know were but a part from having purple hands for the next few weeks I new wouldn't be putting my faith in it again in a hurry!

Back in the late 90's there was the popular Kev Perry series held yearly at Bullocks Farm fishery, At the time it was 6 matches held over the match & carp lakes each fishing 3 on each, I had been doing well in the open matches and decided to take things a little further by being a bookie' for the series. I had myself & Jeff Reasons down as 10/1 favourites with odds for other anglers going as much as 33/1. After two rounds Jerry Sailsbury who owned Veal's of Bristol was winning the league with two section wins and after staking £50 on himself at 16/1 I was getting worried' things did work in my favour though as I had a lot of faith in the curried flavoured meat that sensas supplied at the time, It was very oily but seemed to pull fish as I remember winning 3 rounds and the series outright which was a healthy pick-up along with the bookies money I had taken.

Not to many years ago matches were held on Cider Farm Fishery just outside Weston super mare and when the lakes first opened it was new venue to try and come to terms with? I new the fish had been reared on pellets so put most of my faith in fishing soft pellets over micro's. I kept a tab on my results and after framing in the first few matches I went on to win 6 on the trot' this was all well and good but when I tried to get into a midweek match one day being ran by somebody else I was told with my resent form I wasn't welcome & if the guy let me fish others would go home, I ask you". Not once did somebody ask me what I was doing different to everybody else but truth be told I wasn't, the only thing I could put it down to was using monster crab pellets which were purchased in my local tackle shop to which I would of told anyone who had took time to ask! Its funny how sometimes these little things can make a difference or do they? A lot of it is about having confidence in what you are using, I'm sure we've all had days were one bait outshines another but then we tend to stick to it without experimenting when we could be missing out, My verdict is that certain baits and additives have their day and my best advice is not to be afraid to give some ago but don't be afraid to try them at different times of the year even if they didn't produce in the first instance.

I will be out with my camera over the next few weeks at different venues & covering different matches but cant see myself fishing for a while, The missis isn't best pleased as we have a week off together after the bank holiday but she's cheered up after I suggested it may be time for her to enter her first comp"                        

(Clive Cunningham Memorial Match) Summerhayes Fishery.

Back to Summerhayes for this memorial match for Clive who was a regular to the fishery most weekends, Gabriel Skarba offered to pick me up and with the later draw of 9.45 we had plenty of time for breakfast on-route, When I booked in last week there were already 41 names on the list so fully expected a large turn out, I wasn't the case though as there were quite a few drop outs so it meant we were down to 23 fishing. Owner Pete Decided to peg it over Longs & Sellick's but would just pay top overall weight & top silvers on each lake. I fancied longs lake again today but when I heard there was to be 9 pegs on Sellicks \& 14 on Longs, Sellicks  sounded better for the chance of picking up money' It was Longs Lake for me though and I didn't have far to walk as I drew right by the car-park looking down the lake on peg 37, Not an area I had ever drawn before but was in for a comfy days fishing as it was only around 11mts to the far bank and I couldn't fish much further along my inside bank to my right as the cable for the aerator cuts you off,

I fancied a day back on the worm and caster and found a nice spot in-front of me tight over around 2ft or so deep so made up an 0.2g AS1 on 0.13-0.11 and an 18 Wide gape pellet hook.

A 4x12 Chanti to fish on the deck just short of the aerator in 4ft of water on 0.13-0.11 and the same pattern hook, I had a chat with a few regulars after drawing the peg and was told my right hand inside line was very un-even and snaggy so with this in mind I planned to try and catch here up in the water.

Gab hadn't draw far away on peg 4 of the same lake but I couldn't see him as such.             

I started the match feeding a swim at 13mts off to my left with some micros & Hemp fed a few chopped worms and casters near the aerator in the open water and began to feed a few hard 4mm pellets down my inside right hand bank. starting across in front of me with a section of worm on the hook feeding small nuggets of micros the first 45mins were quite slow as I had one carp of 2lb a perch and a couple of small skimmers,  I tried the other far line and the open water swim but both failed to produce & I didn't want to try my inside swim to early so had to try something else. I stuck to worm on the hook but fed a full cad pot of casters each put-in and began feeding casters over the top via the catty, it did seem to work as I soon added a couple of tench and a couple more small carp but I had lost just as much when the fish managed find the underwater cable" it seamed as the fish were happy to sit between the two cables which went bank to bank and I could only get bites within a couple of feet from them,

 It was beginning  to get very frustrating as I went through a period of trashing rigs losing fish & not putting very much in the net! I kept trying my other line across but only had a foul hooker which I lost but the open water swim still failed to produce. I could only see a couple of anglers but they seemed to be struggling, I had a look along the inside bank but still know signs of fish soon saw me back across on my far line playing knit one pearl one" with a couple of hours to go I had to try and make something happen as I felt I wasn't getting the most out of the peg, it seemed the fish wanted to stay a close to the cables so after trying my inside line close to the bank at around 8mts without anything it was time to try further along the bank on a longer swinging rig with a clear inline dibber and hair rigged 6mm pellet.

As soon as the rig landed within a few feet of the cables the elastic ripped out and I soon netted a 4lb fish, a smaller fish followed before yet again I found myself attached to the wire and another rig was trashed"

I kept trying to temp them away from the danger area but they new were they were safest' going into the last hour I had lost count of the amount or fish I had come off or the amount of rigs I had parted company with" but at least it seemed I was putting more in the net than others around me so I kept plugging away. I did manage a couple of fish on the shorter line very late in the day and also took a few shallow down the edge on the opposite side all on 6mm banded pellet but the bulk of my catch came nearer the cables but not without its cost as I must have lost close to twenty fish and trashed around 8 rigs" Another frustrating day for me but the fish new they were safer between the cables making them harder to catch and it proved difficult to temp anything off my other lines further away. I was first to weigh and although owner Pete forgot to add my two carp weights together'' which I didn't notice until back at the results, it didn't make a difference as I had heard The Paste man' Bill hopping had around 60lb with two hours to go so didn't think I would have enough to catch him up. I finished the day with 65b odd but as expected bill on peg 10 took the lake win with 77lb odd all on his favourite paste fished over to the island at 14mts.           

 Longs Winner Bill Hopping.

 

Top silvers on are lake went to owner Pete with just under 15lb.

 Pete's skimmers catch.

 

Over to Sellicks lake and the top weight went to Martin Addicott on peg 5 with 99lb again taken on paste down the track.

 Sellick's winner Martin.

 

 This lake had recently suffered from a loss of silvers but had been re-stocked with a load of small carp of few ounce's which would also count as silvers for today? as it proved a net of  mainly small carp" won the silvers? as Aide Bishop took 15b odd of them.

Aide's (Mixed?) silvers net.

 

Apart from a heavy downpour in the last hour coupled with some thunder and lightning' it was a pleasant day and fortunately it had cleared away in time for us all to enjoy a burger and some cake after the results nicely laid on by the fishery in Clive's memory bless him.

Full Results -

Longs lake -

 1st Bill Hopping (Summerhayes) peg 10, 77lb 3oz.

 2nd Dom Sullivan (Maver) peg 37, 63lb 8oz.

Silvers - Pete (Summerhayes) 14lb 15oz.

Sellick's Lake.

1st Martin Addicott (Summerhayes) peg 5. 95lb 14oz.

2nd Steve C (Summerhayes) peg 17, 71lb 10oz.

Silvers - Aide Bishop (Summerhayes) peg 21, 15lb 6oz.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

Summerhayes Fishery Sunday Open.

After another no fish Saturday, The Help For The Hero's match at this fishery was cancelled, So I managed to book-in at Viaduct through the week only to get a phone call from work early Saturday morning to go into work briefly which didn't leave me enough time to get their' Don't like to drop out at the last minute but did make a call to let them know so onto today.

Last weeks Shiplate farm winner young Lewis Jones also fancied fishing the match and not living far from me offered to pick me up, With a 9.45 draw we had plenty of time for the hilltops breakfast on-route which I enjoyed after missing out the last couple of weeks before arriving at the fishery, Owner Pete & and his Tea Boy" Aide were their usual witty self as the banter was flowing and the weather looked like being a pleasant day with hardly a breeze so all started well' The match was to be held just on Longs Lake this week and on the way down I said I fancied drawing below the motorway but on the narrower end of the straight not an area which would be the first choice for many of the locals but its only 13mts to the far bank which makes for comfy fishing if nothing else, Into the draw early today and I found myself on peg 19 bang on were I fancied" that makes a change!" lol.  And for company I ended up drawing next to Lewis who was on peg 17". 

I had this swim around this time last year and won the match with 90lb odd of mainly carp on worm over caster but seeing I couldn't get to Viaduct yesterday I couldn't get the casters so that wasn't an option today' I decided to plumb up before deciding what to fish on the hook? I set up two 0.3g AS1 floats on 0.15-0.13 and an 16 wide gape pellet hook, One was in 18 inches of water tight over to my left and the other also across to my right in just over 2ft of water but I planned to feed them differently.

A small in-line clear dibber on to fish shallow on a longer line to mug a few fish if I had too as there seemed to be the odd fish swirling up in the water towards the far bank, A finally a 4x12 Chanti to fish down my inside bank on the same line in 5ft of water.

I started the match by feeding a pot of hemp and some 6mm cubed meat down my inside, fed a small ball & some loose dampened micros across to my right, And began the match with meat on the hook on my other far line tight to the far bank feeding some mushed meat via a cadpot. After 20mins I had my first fish of 3lb plus and after an hour I was up to 4 fish all taken on the far meat line. I had been topping the other far line with the odd small amount of micros & Hemp and as things were slow I switched to this line with a segment of worm on the hook. It did appear to be a better option as I soon added another four fish just cad potting a few micros and hemp after each fish. I started to foul hook a few so decided to pot in a ball of micros and rest it to try the other far line again.

I managed a couple more fish but it didn't seem to be as active as where I had been feeding micros but I thought it best to keep topping it up as it could come alive if they switch to it later in the day, I was still feeding my inside with bigger amounts every 30mins or so but didn't feel it was worth trying as I could see a few others had switched to trying without much success, At the halfway point Lewis & Me were pretty much fish for fish from what I could guess and we were both picking fish off the far bank at regular intervals although it seemed his were of slightly larger stamp? It seemed I would catch a fish or two then had to top it up and switch swims, from what I could see around the lake there wasn't that much being caught so kept plugging away as did Lewis, With about 2hours remaining I had noticed Lewis's dad had turned up and had positioned himself on the end bank looking down the lake to us, Now I don't know why it is but the moment someone seems to be watching me something always go's wrong' Over the next 30mins I managed to lose 4 fish near the net as well as some how hooking a fish on each rig across only to end up in some underwater snag which I had managed to avoid all day resulting in two trashed rigs!' Marvellous"..

At this point, probably much to Lewis's humour he had safely added a few more to his nets! With time spent adding new rigs and trying to get them to work as well as the others saw me now playing catch-up to him but time was running out. I began to loose feed some hemp over the top with the catty hoping the noise would pull a few more fish into the swim? I did add a few more before the all-out but knew I would struggle to catch Lewis who had fished a good match on a much wider swim than mine. When I caught up with the scales on peg seven 39lb was the top weight but Alvin Jones Had started like a train putting his second net in after the first hour but it was the kiss of death finishing the day with 73b odd, After a couple of lower weights it was Lewis to weigh and he did well to put 87lb on the scales to take the lead, My turn and it proved my disaster was costly as I finished up with 68lb which turned out to be enough for 3rd on the day at least picking up £28 for my troubles but the lost fish cost me at least 2nd but that's the way it go's. Lewis fished a pretty similar match to myself and got the result so well done to him again,

 Winner Lewis Jones.

 

 Were both planning to travel around a bit next season to the Maver Match This qualifiers together so have that to look forward too. Back here next Saturday for Clive Cunningham's Memorial Match who sadly passed away here a few months ago and with 40 odd already booked in it looks like being popular which is good news.

Full Results -

1st Lewis Jones (Drennan Thyers) peg 17 longs, 87lb 10oz.

2nd Alvin Jones (Country gardens) peg 7 longs, 73lb 7oz.

3rd Dom Sullivan (Maver) peg 19 longs, 68lb 12oz.

4th Gareth Lenoy (Summerhayes) peg 32 longs, 56lb 10oz.

5th Jess Jordan (Summerhayes) peg 26 ons, 56lb 4oz.

Silvers - 1st Glynn Wickham (Summerhayes) peg 12 longs, 15lb 15oz.

2nd Rodger Russell (Tackle UK) peg 2 longs, 12lb 13oz.

              

       

             

Shiplate farm (Hawthorns lake).

After getting my dates wrong it turned out the charity match for Help for the Hero's on Summerhayes fishery is next Saturday not yesterday as I expected' so just a Sunday match for me this week, With 14 booked in there would be one empty peg but with all 15 pegs in it would be random were it would end up? Well I let the wife draw for me today ending up on peg 11 but no empty peg either side as I had Roy Heed next to me on peg 10 and Russ Peck on peg 12 so good company even though we couldn't see each other.

Simple fishing for me today a 0.3g AS4 to fish across over to the far bank in 2ft of water close to the reeds,

 Where I planned to fish meat or worm over ground-bait, a 4x12 Chanti to fish on my top set plus one in 5ft of water and another rig to fish up in the water down the edge over loose fed 4mm hard pellets. at the all in I cupped a pot of ground-bait with a little hemp over to the far bank, fed a few 4mm pellets down the edge by hand and started the day short with a cube of meat on the hook cad potting a few cubes of meat with hemp. it was a slow start as the first 30mins failed to produce, A switch to the far line saw me foul hook and loose 2 carp in the next 20mins on meat, I tried a worm on the hook feeding just small amounts of bait with the cad pot and finally netted a good fish of 6lb plus, It was hard work though and after nearly 90mins I only managed another fouler and from what I could here not much was being caught at are end with Russ & Roy yet to have a carp, I re-fed the long line with a pot of ground-bait and decided to try shallow down the edge around 2ft deep with a single cube of meat on the hook as I could see a few bubbles coming up. Straight away I had a 4lb fish followed by one of similar size soon after before they wised up and backed off. I tried on the deck short again with a whole worm were I had been feeding large pots of hemp and a few cubes of meat but again it failed to produce. The far line was still slow and only a 3lb fish was added after trying it for another 30mins, so it looked like the shallow inside swim was going to end up my best bet. I would like to say it switched on but it seemed are end of the lake was fishing harder than the early numbers and most were struggling, I spent the whole match switching between mainly my inside swims, Despite what appeared to be a lot of activity on my short line I just could not catch off it at any depth? Most of my fish came shallow on single or double meat on the hook along the inside bank but the fish were few and far between.

Come the end of the match I added a couple of late fish to end up with 9-10 carp but felt it wouldn't be enough to pick up some coin? It proved right as when the scales arrived their were two 80lb weights and 91lb was winning, my fish went 47lb odd which turned out to be nearly 20lb up from the swims around me but that was it.

 My Net.

 

Back at the results it turned out young Lewis Jones showed everyone the way yet again from peg 2 with 91b odd to take the spoils catching mainly on worm over ground-bait from the far bank, I did joke with him after that he had to expect to catch a few as he drew next to live in local Steve (Peanut) Howell who never draws the wrong areas!

 Winner Lewis Jones.

 

I did enjoy it but it was just a shame that are end of the lake the fish just didn't seem to interested in feeding properly for some reason, I did manage to collar Russ in the car park for my £1 side bet as he chose not to weigh-in but as far as some coin that's as far as it went'

So next Saturday I am off to the charity match, sure to be a good turn out so looking forward to it.

Full results -

1st Lewis Jones (Drennan Thyers) peg 2, 91lb 15oz.

 2nd Julian Pinkett (Wormheads) peg 7, 83lb 12oz

3rd Steve Howell, (Shiplate) peg 3, 81b 6oz.

4th Andy France (Cadbury Angling) peg 1, 55lb 8oz.

5th Dom Sullivan (Maver) peg 11, 47lb 4oz.

6th Ray Bass (Cheddar) peg 4, 31lb 4oz.

Silvers -

1st Ron Stark (Weston Angling) peg 6, 9lb 4oz.

2nd Golly Jones (Shiplate) peg 13, 7lb 6oz.

 

     

                
    

Jeff Wye Memorial Match Shiplate Farm (Main Lake & Westpool.

At last it was time for me to get back on the bank and back into a match in memory of good friend Jeff Wye who sadly pasted away after a battle with cancer, with Jeff having more of a love for silvers than carp the match was based on silvers only although their was going to be a prise to the most amount of carp caught on both lake just in-case you were plagued by them' with 26 angler booked in there would be 12 pegs on the main lake with the remaining 8 on westpool, No breakfast trip for me today as we now live even closer to the venue which I can only describe as the posh part of Weston, Only having moved in a week ago we have already found areself's concealing the proper job carrier bags when returning to the house by hiding the in Waitrose or Mark's n Sparks bags just to try and look the part! Rather posh ere you know lol".

All the talk was to hopefully draw the main lake as this was expected to throw up the winner? into the draw and I found myself on the main lake but only the same area as I normal frequent peg nine right at the bottom of the lake, arriving at my swim I not only found myself in the shade again for the day the wind was blowing towards the top end of the lake meaning my end resembled more of a mirror surface,

 Knowing this end would be shallower than some areas of the lake  with the forecast for a sunny day ahead I felt my chances of catching the lakes bigger bream or skimmers were going to be somewhat limited so I planned to keep it simple and just use a catch what I can plan to start with.

With this in mind I planned just to fish the pole all day, two lines out in the open water off to my left & right at 14.5mts and a short line in-front of me at 5mts where the depth was pretty uniform at around 4ft, for the longer lines I set up a 0.3g PB2 float on 0.14 - 0.10 and an 18 808 hook and for the short line my favourite 4x10 Chanti on 0.13 - 0.09 and an 18 PR434 hook. At the all-in I fed 6 balls of fishmeal ground-bait with some micro pellets and 4mm expanders added on the long line off to my left and just a ball of micros on the long right hand long line, I started the day on the short line cupping in a handful of chopped worms and casters starting with a small piece of worm on the hook whilst loose feeding caster by hand over the top, With the rig set at dead depth to start with I began catching the odd small roach which were to small to do any good but after 20mins and switching to caster on the hook I had a 1lb skimmer, Some more small roach followed before I connected to a decent eel which I managed to land at around 1lb + bonus!.

After some more blips it was time to try the longer lines as things had dried up short so I re-fed another mix of chopped worm and casters before trying the left hand long line with a 4mm expander on the hook, I had a 4oz skimmer right away but then I couldn't get the bait to bottom without getting ragged out by small fish, I moved the bulk closer to the hook and put 2 dropper shot 4inches from the hook and added a couple of inches to the depth. I tried the right hand swim where I had fed just a ball of micros saw me add a 1lb skimmer but then I found myself attached to a carp which thankfully came off without damaging the rig" I kept feeding the short line with casters by hand and after only catching a 4oz skimmer on the long lines it was time for a rethink as tiny fish were being a big problem.

I decided to feed a ball of ground-bait and a half pot of micro pellets at 10mts and see if produce later in the day whist concentrating on the short line catching what I could, I had increased the feed in the second hour and began to catch the odd chunky' roach to 6oz and a bonus 2lb tench" but after just over 2hours I realised I wouldn't have enough casters to last as I only had a pint! I had a large tin of hemp and believing there were better roach to be had amongst the tiny fish I began feeding more hemp than casters. It seemed you would get a run of fish before things slowed down and I had to add a bit more worm & casters and give it a rest. The first time I tried the 10mt line I had two 6oz skimmers and 8oz hybrid but again it seemed to dry up, I keep adding a small balls of micros on this line every 20mins to try and keep them interested without drawing the attention of the blips". Time seemed to whizz buy and before I new it we only had just over 2 hours left, I thought I might have around 12b in the net but buy switching between the two lines I was able to nick the odd fish mainly being roach on the shorter line to 8oz. I did add another 1lb tench and a couple of bonus crucian carp of similar size all taken on the shorter line on double or single caster, With 45mins to go I hooked a rather large carp which tore off across the lake and disaster struck and not only did it take my rig it managed to strip the whole lot of my yellow hydro elastic!" Owe well' I new I couldn't go through a day without some mishap could I..."

I decided to make do with the heavier rig on both lines which turned out to be my downfall as the bites were a lot harder to hit as I felt they were ejecting the bait when feeling the rig, I did add a few more chunky roach but it wasn't as quick as the lighter rig for sure and by the end of the match I thought I might have around 18lb, When the scales arrived 12b odd was winning my section before I went top with 22lb odd so the roach were chunky enough to be good weight builders', It turned out live in resident Steve (Peanut) Howell managed his usual Lucky" charm by hooking and landing a 5lb bream with 3mins of the match remaining only to finish up with 23lb odd to pip me for the £50 section monies!" Could only happen to him"...

 My mixed bag.

Back at the results and top on the day was Ron Stark from peg 2 with a mix of roach skimmers & chub for a total of 34lb odd with worm and caster hook-baits, It was nice to be back on the bank and I had an enjoyable day just putting anything I could in the net, In hindsight I didn't have anywhere near enough casters on the day and not getting a lighter rig on at the end of the match cost me a few more fish I'm sure but never the less I had a nice days fishing. A trip back down to Summerhayes next Saturday for a charity match so a good turnout expected.

Full results -

1st Ron Stark (Weston Angling) peg 2 Mainlake, 34lb 4oz.

2nd Mark Thorn (Weston) peg 15 Mainlake, 24lb 4oz.

3rd Steve Howell (Shiplate) peg 11 Mainlake, 23lb 12oz.

4th Steve Foracre (Sedges) peg 6 Mainlake, 23lb 4oz.

5th Dom Sullivan (Maver) peg 9 Mainlake, 22lb 2oz

6th Titch Williams (Drennan Thyers) peg 13 Mainlake, 20lb 11oz.