Shiplate Farm Open (Hawthorns Lake).

After missing the latest round of Lee William's series on Avalon Fishery Yesterday still suffering with groin pain more than anything I was keen to get out on the bank, I had already made my mind up I would spend the day fishing for the silvers pool as I had no intention of fishing across or to far out to make myself any worse, With this in mind I didn't really mind where I would draw & with a full lake of fifteen fishing today nobody would have a real advantage, I found myself on peg 12 one away from my last visit & won the silvers with a lowly 12lb odd If I remember rightly so didn't Know if it would be much better, for company I had Andy France on peg 11 & the chuckler" Simon Ryall on peg 13 & although we couldn't see each other there was sure to be some banter'. The lake was flat calm considering it was breezy but it was blowing off are backs so presentation wouldn't be an issue, I panned to keep it quite simple just feeding a couple of lines to start with adding new lines if need be depending which feed I found best.

I set a 4x14 wire wonder on 0.11-0.10 & an 18 PR434 hook to fish short on my top-kit plus two sections down the track in just over 5ft of water, A 0.3g AS1 on the same line/hook to fish at 10mts off to my left which was just a few inches shallower  & I could also use this rig to fish down the edge as it was still a similar depth, The only other rig I had was a 3x8 Chanti to fish shallow on either of the shorter lines.

I started the day feeding a good ball of dampened micros & a few 4mm expanders at 10mts, Fed a ball of chopped worms/casters & a little ground-bait on the short lines & some loose worm/casters over the top & fed some casters & hemp by hand down the edge at 4mts. I started the day straight on the short line with a small segment of worm fished just over depth, I couldn't of had a better start as after 45mins I had netted 3 good skimmers & an 3oz Eel up the bum" It was overcast when we started but all of a sudden the sun had appeared & with it being calm it seemed to make a big difference as now I was struggling for a bite" After 90mins I had added another 1lb skimmer & had resorted to feeding small balls of worm/casters over the top with a cad-pot but it wasn't making much difference, I was feeding casters by hand over the top but it seemed to be drawing the attention of a few carp as some shadow's' were appearing in the peg.

I decided it was time to try the longer 10mts line this time with a 4mm expander on the hook, I missed a nice slow bite straight away & expected another soon after but it just didn't happen, I tried maggot & worm over the top but it didn't produce so it was back to the shorter lines after topping it up with another ball of micros , I managed another 12oz skimmer & a couple of chunky roach to 8oz but again bites were few & far between, I had been feeding down the edge from the off & did start to get the odd swirl so it was time to give it ago, starting with single caster set about a 1ft deep I had a 6oz roach but it appeared the swirls were from much smaller fish it decided to try the short deep rig over the top, I managed two small chublets of 5oz but again it died. Back to the 10mts line & first drop in I had another bite this time netting another 2lb skimmer which got me excited but it was short lived as again I couldn't get another bite over it, I decided now that I had managed a skimmer on it I would start another line this time on the shorter line away from where I was feeding the worm ect off to my right. Back on the worm line with the same on the hook I had another 1lb plus fish but just couldn't string two fish together, I had stopped feeding by hand & was dump potting mainly caster now to try & avoid the carp taking interest, Another go down the edge on the deck got me nothing but I did have another 3oz Eel shallow on double caster" I was hoping things might improve later in the day but it didn't happen, I tried off the deck, laying more line on the deck, Ect Ect but I just had to rotate all my lines trying to get the odd bite, The 10mt line didn't produce another silver but I took a 5lb carp over it, Did manage another 2lb fish over the new short micro line with a small bit of worm but again the carp seemed more interested as had a similar size fish on it, I had a couple more chunky roach & a few ruff" back over the worm & casters in the last 30mins but struggled to find any better fish before the all-out, I estimated to have around 12lb or silvers but wouldn't bother to weigh the two carp as I new a few had been caught, I managed a little morn than my estimation to finish the day with 14lb odd but didn't know what had been caught further down.

Back at the results venue resident Steve (Peanut) Howell had done the business again today from peg 7, fishing across to the far bank with worm over ground-bait to win the day with 107lb odd ahead of Julian Pinkett who weighed 78lb from peg 9, I did manage to win the silvers with the next best weight being 7lb odd so got the result I went for without busting a gut picking up £40 along the way. Back here next to fill in on Tony Rixon's Float Only League which will be held over all the lakes so who knows were I will end up.

Full results -

1st Steve Howell (Shiplate) peg 7, 107lb 6oz.

2nd Julian Pinkett (Wornheads) peg 9, 78lb 2oz.

3rd Russ Peck (Thatchers Tackle) peg 14, 64lb 4oz.

4th Pete Sivell (PSV) peg 4, 63lb 6oz.

5th Jason Bird (PSV) peg 3, 60lb

Silvers - 1st Dom Sullivan (Maver) peg 12, 14lb 8oz.

               2nd Golly Jones (Shiplate) peg 10, 7lb 4oz.