Shiplate Farm Open (Hawthorns Lake).

I didn't get a chance to write up yesterdays match as we arranged to go out for the evening so here's how the day went. No breakfast stop off to day with the fishery on my doorstep & I was looking forward to the day as I haven't had a chance to fish this lake for a while. Into the draw & I found myself on peg 3 but was hoping for a peg further up the lake to be honest but you never know, For company I had Titch Williams on fancied peg 1 & John Hawkins again on peg 5 but couldn't see either of them so a quite day ahead. I planned to fish a rig tight to the bank at 14mts in 2ft of water so set up an  0.2g AS1 on 0.17-0.15,

Set a 0.3g AS1 on 0.15-0.13 to fish off the far bank in 4ft of water, Set a 4x12 Chanti again on 0.17-0.15 to fish down the edge which was 5ft deep, A rig to fish across & down the edge shallow on a longer line & finally a 4x14 Chanti on 0.13-0.11 to fish down the track at 5mts for silvers in 6ft of water.

I began the day feeding some chopped worm & casters on the 5mt line, Feed some hard 4mm's in the deeper water off the far bank & a handful of micro's tight over against the far bank, This is where I started the match with a banded hard 8mm pellet on the hook, Two minutes in & I had netted a 4lb carp. I foul hooked another soon after but then added a 6lb fish, I switched to a 6mm pellet on the hook but it didn't make much difference as the fish which had show early interest had became very cagey, I gave it nearly an hour but it wasn't happening, I had heard John land a few fish so it was time to try another line. I had been feeding hard 4mm's down the edge tight to the reeds so decided to give it a try with a 6mm expander on the hook. I managed two 1lb plus crucian's which it turned out would count as silvers before it needed resting so things weren't going to well at this stage. I tried the deeper line over but didn't have a sniff so it was back to fishing tight across again. I managed two more in the next 40mins but lost a couple of foul hookers along the way, At this point I was beginning to think it would be a better option to try for the silvers pool so it was time to try down the track starting with a segment of worm on the hook, I had a 2lb chub first dob in followed by a 1lb plus hybrid before it died a bit with just a few small perch to follow so re-fed some more worm & casters whilst trying the other lines.

Back down the edge & I had a 6lb carp straight off the nothing, Back across so me add one more carp & foul hook another' At this point Owner Steve started to walk down from the other end of the lake, Now I don't know why but he just seems to be a jinx when I see him & just as I did I hooked a decent perch' Just as I went to net it at around 2lb the inevitable happened & it shed the hook!" Terrific". At this point the female geese turned up with her chicks who were hunting for free grub but she was very protective hissing like mad at me"

He informed me soon after that they were catching carp at the other end of the lake & I could still here john netting a few so my mind was made up to target silvers for the remainder of the day as we were just over half way through. I managed another decent perch which looked very similar size wise as the one I last ten minutes later' followed by another good chub. I had been loose feeding casters by hand over the top from the off & after a quite spell decided to have a go shallow. I started with a small piece of worm on the hook but only had a couple of Rudd so put a 6mm cube of meat on the hook which got me another 1lb plus chub but that was it so it was back to fishing on the deck. I had another good skimmer & Another perch but after a couple of bite the swim was telling me it needed topping up again with a mix of worm & casters. The rest of the day was really enjoyable, It wasn't hectic but when I did catch it was a mix of chub, skimmers & a couple more perch before the end of the day most of which were taken on worn on the deck. When the scales arrived at john on peg 5 their was already a weight of 120 & 90lb but he showed us how it was done today ending up with 139lb odd mainly taken across on meat & Later in the day corn on the hook so well done to him.

  Winner John Hawkins.

My turn to weigh & I managed 40lb of carp but more importantly 22lb of silvers which was easily enough to pick the silvers pool up so I made the right decision in the end picking up £35 along the way. As a whole the lake fished well considering some cold nights we've had this week & it was nice to make a swim work in my favour for a change.

Full results -

1st John Hawkins (Wormheads) peg 5, 139lb 5oz.

2nd Russ Pecker (Thatchers Tackle) peg 11, 120lb 12oz.

3rd Andy France (Cadbury Angling) peg 7, 104b 14oz.

4th Julian Pinkett (Wormhaeds) peg 9, 92lb 9oz.

5th Dom Sullvan (Maver) peg 3, 62lb 2oz.

6th Rich Hawkins (Wormheads) peg 15, 54lb 10oz.

Silvers - Dom Sullivan 22lb 2oz.