Shiplate Farm V Clevedon A.A (Shiplate Main Lake).

This match is just a friendly head to head based on overall weight between ten Anglers from each side after six hours, With the venue on my doorstep it was a bacon butty at home before making my way to the fishery. I was guessing for the Shiplate team along with the regulars so we were hoping to make it two from two after beating them at Acorn last year, Draw wise I fancied a draw on the far bank as it was more sheltered than the near bank from the chilly northerly wind blowing down the lake.

View of lake from peg 1.

I wasn't disappointed when I found myself on the far bank peg 11 which had the end of the island to fish against as well as an inviting tree in the water at 11mts down my left hand side. First up I assembled a bomb & small loaded waggler to fish over toward the end of the island, Set a 4x12 float to fish on the deck at 12mts which was around 5ft on 0.15-0.13 & an 16 wide gape pellet hook, A tougher 4x12 float to fish in just over 3ft of water down to the tree on 0.17-0.15 & again a 16 wide gape pellet hook & finally a inline rig to fish up in the water over the long pole line.

For company I had Simon Ryall on peg 12 & John Hawkins on peg 10 but couldn't see either of them just the anglers on the opposite bank. I started the day by feeding a large pot of casters & a few grains of corn down towards the tree in the water, fed a good handful of hard 4mms on the long pole line & started with bomb & meat over towards the end of the island, Despite switching between hook baits I gave it an hour of casting around, even trying the waggler before it was time to try my other lines as I was still to catch anything. 

I had been feeding a few hard 4mms onto the long pole line so decided to try the shallow rig first, After 5mins I was soon on the deck rig with a 6mm hard banded pellet, I missed a bite straight away before netting a 1 & 2lb skimmer in the next 5mins before it died, Back on the bomb with an 8mm hair rigged pellet where I had been pinging a few I had a nice 8lb plus fish, Before losing another 5mins later which seemed to spook them so back to the long pole. I gave it a try on the deck & shallow again but nothing followed so time to give the inside a try. I had been topping it up from the off with good amounts of casters every 30mins but started with a whole worm over the top.

 

 

 

 

I had a fish straight away which turned out to be a 1b plus Tench' five minutes later & I had a slightly larger one but then nothing. Back on the bomb & I hooked another which turned out to be about 5lb then soon after lost a foul hooked fish on the wagg' but it was so shallow tight to the island the fish spooked really easily & wouldn't stay in the swim.

Back on the long pole on the deck I hooked a right munter on the drop which spat the bait out then hooked another as the rig settled but again it shed the hook" I was convinced I would catch on the shallow rig but I couldn't manage a bite at any depth.

Even though I had been feeding this line with the catty from the off I decided to feed a ball of wetted micros & another good helping of hard 4mm to try & pin some fish to the deck should a few appear. Back down the edge & I managed two more 1lb plus tench but time was running out, Again I gave it another pot of casters & some corn & switched to corn on the hook, I hooked a right beast which tore off but then swam at me until I was back to my top kit but just as I took it apart it bolted off & that was that' I had the whole rig back but was sure it was foul hooked. I had another look on the bomb but didn't get a sign of fish, they seemed to have moved around with the sun which was out in the early part of the match. Another look on the long pole shallow & Deep didn't produce but I managed two more tench & a 2lb carp down to the tree before the end of the match.

Simon Had failed to catch a carp but had a few pound of silvers & john had finished with Four carp & some bits, When the scales arrived Rich Hawkins had done well to finish with 82lb odd which was easily enough to be the top weight on the day catching most of his fish on the pole & paste. Simon weighed 6lb odd of silvers, I finished with 9lb odd of silvers added to my three carp for 26lb odd & john ended up with 34lb odd. It was very tight on the team front with Shiplate taking the win with 224lb of fish to Clevedon's 212lb so two from two it was then. The lake as a whole didn't fish to well but it made for a close frame overall.

Full results - 

1st Rich Hawkins (Shiplate) peg 14b, 82lb 11oz.

2nd Matt Roden (Clevedon) peg 5a, 46lb 6oz.

3rd Rod Fogg (Clevedon) peg 4a, 37lb 6oz.

4th John Hawkins (Shiplate) peg 10, 34lb 14oz. 

5th Mike Owens (Clevedon) peg 13a, 34lb 6oz.

6th Dom Sullivan (Shiplate) peg 11, 26lb 12oz.

Silvers - 1st  Mike Owens, Peg 13a,  20lb 12oz.

2nd Steve Howell, peg 4, 16lb.

Just a quick report on a pleasure session on the Taunton & Bridgwater Canal at the Boat & Anchor  section with good friends Darren (Bigbird) Greenwood, We decided on a couple of swims on the way towards wide waters, me opting for a swim on the last bit of the bend where as Darren choice a swim with a bit more cover to fish to. It proved worth while as he ended up having a nice day finishing with 5 tench aswell as a few decent perch, We had both fed similarly with casters & chopped worm but the cover of the far bank reeds Ect seemed to make a difference as I only ended up with one tench which was a nice size over 6lb & a few bits but it made a change again. 

 Darren's catch