Shiplate Farm Thursday Costcutter.

With my truck in for service today I had the chance to have another go on what's turning out to be quite popular in attendance with 15 of us fishing, I grabbed a breakfast roll at a local burger van along with Steve peanut Howell & the Manchester boys who were down but are conversation was cut short as a beast of a tranny" turned up! Well' not quite what you expect to see first thing in the morning.." A good day was forecast weather wise so I fancied a few fish would be caught, As normal pegs 1 & 15 Would be my first choice but was happy to end up on peg 14B so close to 15 then" It turned out Mike Owens had draw it but planned to fish for silvers so that suited me, There were already signs of a few fish shallow so that would be my main line off attack at just over 14mts so set up two of the new drennan clear floats on 0.19-0.17 & an 16 power hook with a band in the hair to fish 6 or 8mm pellets shallow, A hand made 0.3g float to fish to fish the same line but on the deck on 0.17-0.15 & an 18 PR36 hook, A smaller 0.2g float to fish down both edges on 0.19-0.17 & a 16 power hook, & finally set an in-line 15g pellet feeder to fish over towards the island which was a long chuck but with little wind I could reach it easily, I managed to slice my finger 5mins before the all-in on a corn tin I was wiping out to have my coffee in as I had forgot my cup" but thankfully Manchester George had a tissue I stuck on it till it stopped" I started the match feeding two pots of pellets on the 14mt lines, a pot of mixed pellets down to the right at 8mts & some corn & 8mm pellets down to my left at 4mts. I started the day on the in-line feeder with pellet on the hook close to the island but after 5mins & signs of fish shallow on the long pole line it didn't take me long to switch to the shallow rigs, Starting on the longer line rig with hair rigged 6mm I hooked a fish in seconds which turned out to be about 5lb, It wasn't hectic but be slapping & feeding on a regular basis I was getting the odd fish & things seemed to be going ok for the first 90mins as by then I was up to nine fish some pushing double figures but then the fish seemed to stop playing ball, I only added one more fish in the next 40mins about 4lb so it was time to try the deck rig. Starting on Banded 8mm just touching the deck I had a 2lb common after 5mins but that was it as they didn't seem to want to be on the deck' A quick look on the margin lines only produced a small tench again on 8mm pellet so it was back to the long pole shallow rigs.

It took a while to hook another but just as I was about to get it near netting range my top kit obliterated into 3 pieces leaving my playing the fish on just over a couple of feet of carbon! Thankfully I managed somehow to net it but the tip kit was now unusable" Switching to the over shallow line rig I hooked another after 10mins but just as I went to net it the elastic snapped at the connecter which resulted in me loosing the fish & the complete rig". After a change of tops I had to use a slightly heavier elastic than I would of liked but after losing one here last match & smashing one today was getting low choice wise".

The fish had became really cagey & just getting any indications was getting harder, Out of the blue I had another decent carp which I weighed & returned at just over 13lb' I tried again on the deck but nothing was happing & it was the same result down on my margin swims, I had a couple more shallow & thought they would feed better going into the last hour but it wasn't to be I managed to hook another beast but it made short work of my hooklength & added another two fish in the last hour to finish up with 15 Carp a roach, skimmer & A small tench, Mike was First to weigh & did well on the silvers finishing up with 34lb of mainly skimmers, My weight ended up being 127lb odd in total & back at the results it was enough to take the win, I wasn't going to get rich with it being a cost cutter but the £18 goes back in the wallet, Their were a couple of other ton weights & Mike went on to win the silvers so it fished quite well & apart from a few mishaps it was an enjoyable day again feeding around 5pints of pellets in the process, After the results I decided it would be a good opportunity to take a dip in the lake in the slim hope of retrieving the top4 I lost here last match" Being egged on by Tony Rixon to start with before just about everyone else arrived' I spent ten minutes routing around without any signs, I decided to go around the tree which had fallen in as I wanted to find out if there is a bar running down the middle of the lake when my leg brushed against something promising, Yep" I found it" & even better it was still fully intact!" Result..", The chances of finding it let alone it still being ok were very slim but I'm glad I took the dip to find out' Lol, & Tony was happy as I managed to retrieve one of his pellet wagglers".

Full results -

1st Dom Sullivan (Maver) peg 14b 127lb 14oz.

2nd Stan B, (Unknown) peg 13a, 118lb 2oz.

3rd Mark Thomas (Un-attached) peg 1, 111lb 12oz.

4th Tony Rixon (Mosella/Veals) peg 7, 69lb12oz.

5th Steve Weston (Manchester) peg 10, 49lb 4oz.

6th Mike Owens (Thyers) peg 15, 44lb 7oz.

Silvers - 1st Mike Owens, peg 15,  34lb 6oz.

              2nd Steve Howell, peg 5, 14lb 14oz.