Kings Sedgemoor Drain (Commercial House League).

Helping the team out again today on a venue I haven't fished for as long as I can remember' but was looking forward to a change of scenery & a spot of natural" fishing again today. Traveling on my own again today I had no problem with the hilltops breakfast this morning, Strangely enough It never accrued to me until I had left it would be my last one their after closing down at the end of this coming week, Another end of an era". The draw was at puritan in the BAE site which I new how to get to but as far as finding the venues sections went that would be a different matter'. Captain Chris Hook did the draw & it turned out I would be on the second peg below Parchy' Where ever that was? & it happened to be a peg team mate Shaun Partridge drew last Sunday he managed 2kg odd but though he had made the mistake by feeding ground bait & though my best plan was to catch just over the weed a few metres off the bank with loose fed hemp & casters, I was going to follow team mate Shaun to the river as I hadn't a clue how to get there but he had to drop Sam off, I decided to follow someone else who was going my way but they drove out the entry only road & before I new it there were only a couple of cars left" Luckily Chris Parr was in my section so I managed to follow him, more by luck the judgement".

When I arrived at my swim I noticed the water was very clear & after putting my keepnet in I could see the bottom ring with ease and beyond" so wasn't so sure that catching close was going to be so productive, I did make my first rig up to fish here being a 4x14 Chanti on 0.11-0.09 & an 18 B511 hook in 6ft of water,

then I decided to have two long lines at 13mts left & right, one for fishing different hook baits over Ground-bait with worm & casters with a 0.75g rig on 0.13-0.11 & a 18 B611 hook the other with a lighter 0.5g float on 0.11-0.10 & again an 18 B511 hook with both lines around 7ft deep, For company I had Thatchers welsh oldie Nigel Evens on my left, We don't get chance to meet on the banks much these days but when ever we do we seem to draw next to each other".

Things had not quite gone to plan from the minute I arrived as after making my lovely looking light strung out rig up as I tested it to perfection I hooked a small reed shipping back which caused the rig to spring up around the top set ending up in a right birds nest resulting in me having to do it all again!.

I wasn't even really ready before the start & was hastily chopping some worms to add to the groundbait mix where I fed just two balls with casters added off to my left then fed a good helping of hemp & just a pinch of casters off to my right. I started just past the weed at 6mts but already Nigel's balling-in" approach was showing signs of small fish as his pole was flying in & out, After 15mins I was getting worried as I had no early signs off the short line, I didn't waste to much time as I had to start playing catch up so started with singe caster over the long hemp line. I had a couple of small blade skimmers & a couple of small roach before swinging in a 5oz fish which hooked my jumper & fell straight back in" followed by a 8oz fish 5mins later which slipped out my hand, hit the keepnet & again fell back in" & just to top it off 20mins later a pike snatched a another better roach which did me in the weed further down the swim snapping the hooklength!" Surely these things happen to other anglers or is it really just me??. It was a case of getting a couple of bites before you had to change depth to find more fish, Most were only a couple of ounces but from what I could see that was all that was being caught. Nigel was still ahead in the number stakes but by feeding hemp with the catty I was hoping I could draw some better stamp fish later in the day? I left my ground-bait line as long as possible but as thing began to slow after 90mins it was time to have a look.

I started with a small segment of worm on the heavier rig & after a minute or so had a proper bite which saw my hook something decent, Well for 2 seconds anyway". nothing followed so I switched to singe maggot but this just produced tiny blades so it wasn't long before I was back on caster over the hemp line, I had been feeding it with the catty & straight away I had a few more 2-3oz fish, It was hard work but I new the guy above me on the end peg hadn't had to much & Nigel was now working hard to catch more small fish but I didn't know what was being caught below him, I kept plugging away changing depth & chasing the fish, Every now & again I would re feed with a larger amount & switch to the other long line, With around 90mins to go I took a 6oz skimmer on it which had my thinking I might get a few more but it wasn't to be, I had nothing to lose & in the last hour upped the feed on the hemp line which saw me catching small chunky roach quite regular around 6inches off the deck, Well it was going well until I snapped the rig at the bulk with just under 20mins remaining", I switched to using the rig I had to fish over the weed on the long line but it just wasn't the same which resulted in just one more fish! It was only a five hour match today so at least I was kept busy for most of the day even if some of it was for the wrong reasons! I kept feeding the short line through the day & tried it a few times but all I mustered was some tiny perch" & all I caught over the long G/B line was some blade skimmers on single red maggot, The caster over the hemp/caster fed line did prove best at the end of the day, Nigel was kind enough to give me what looked like hookable hemp but unfortunately I wouldn't stay on the hook but if I fished here again would be sure to take some as it might just of caught me a couple more of the chunky roach, The chap on the end weighed 4lb odd before I put just over 6lb on the scales, Nigel finished with 7lb odd but further along their were two 9lb weights one being the section winner on the other end peg but with the league being split in two divisions I just lost out to Chris (Gappy) Parr on picking up the £50 section money. Not a bad result as I haven't fished it for so long so had to make choices along the way which was enjoyable fishing even if it wasn't that prolific".

Back at the results Thatcher's tightened their grip on leading the A division & Nomads are leading the B divison, One section was really hard with just 6oz winning it! but another section fished really well producing the top four, Leading the way was Paul (P**I) Purchase with 27lb which included skimmers & tench followed by a couple of 16lb weights. Back to Viaduct for the start of the silvers only league next Sunday, Hoping to avoid Cambell if I can help it as with the weather staying mild I think there will be an awful lot of carp taking interest on this lake in particular"

                        

Viaduct Fishery (Cambell , Cary & Lodge Lakes)

Norman Sterry had organised this match via facebook & it was well attended with 48 of as fishing, Travelling on my own I stopped off for a breakfast at the albion truckstop which was ok but my eyes were bigger than my belly so the dog would be happy when I got home'. It turned out I was quite close to the front of the draw so I had a bit of a mix around before picking out peg 115 on Cambell.

The popular silvers league starts next Sunday & having not been on cambell for quite a while I was keen to get some idea of what to expect next weekend & try & muster up some idea as to how to best approach it so it was silvers all the way for me today, I had good company with Keyford's Steve Denmead on peg 114 & Middy's backed & last year's silvers league winner Sam Powell on peg 116 who was also going to go along the line of silvers. I was going to be a bit different & start the day on the waggler & corn towards the middle of the lake as the wind off are backs on are bank so set up a 3AAA waggler to an 0.11 bottom & a size 18 PR434 hook. Next up was a 4x12 Wire Wonder on 0.11-0.10 & a 16 808 hook to fish a line at 14mts with soft pellet over groundbait & hard 4mm's slightly to my left & I would use the same rig off to my right at 13mts feeding this line with corn & casters, Finally I set another 4x12 Wire wonder on the same line with an 18 PR434 hook to fish at 6mts with worm over chopped worm & casters. I started the match by feeding 4 balls of groundbait on the long left hand line & a mix of corn & casters on the long right hand line & fed the short line with a good mix of worm & casters at 6mts.

I started on the waggler at around 20mts just touching the deck with a single grain of corn, Sam had started on his short line & by the time I had fed my pole lines he was already playing an un-wanted carp" I only fed around 4 grains of corn on the waggler line with the catty & after 5mins I had a 1lb skimmer soon followed by another slightly smaller fish, Sam was already regretting starting short on pellet as the only thing he was attracting were more carp some of which were close to double figures" Steve had started to catch a few carp on the deck also on his short line with pellet but he was targeting them" I stuck to the waggler for just over an hour but only had a couple more 10oz skimmers, I had been topping the other long lines up every 20mins or so, so it was time to try them in the hope of catching some decent skimmers? Starting with a 4mm expander over the groundbait line I fully expected it to under straight away but it didn't! I gave it 15mins or so but all I managed was an 8oz skimmer foul hooked" I went onto the other long line with corn on the hook & thought I had it sorted when I had two 1lb plus fish in two put-in's but that was it'. Onto the short line with a segment of worm where I had been feeding casters by hand from the off but all it produced was a few small roach, I switched to a bit of corn over the top but the inevitable happened & soon found myself landing a 4lb carp" Sam had already given up targeting the silvers & had switched to a heavier elastic to cope with the carp which seemed very willing to feed even though he was feeding very little.

Back on the waggler & I had another skimmer, But I had made a big mistake by feeding more corn over the top as the carp were soon showing interest landing two in the process, The long groundbait line was fizzing like mad & the only bit I had on the long corn line was another carp", It just wasn't happening as far as catching silvers went & I was regretting not having set some rigs up for the carp as looking around they were very wiling to have a proper munch today, Steve had started to catch shallow at 6mts"

& Sam had now started to catch some carp down his inside edge as well as 6mts & was really starting to catch well, My day was spent switching lines just in the hope I could get through the carp to latch into some silvers but it just didn't happen today, With 90mins of the match remaining I had had enough & succumbed to defeat" Sam was thankful as he thought he was getting close to his net limits so I lent him one of mine as he was really bagging down his inside edge catching a fish every put-in,

Once I was packed away I went & watched same fishing down his edge at 4mts & I can say I haven't seen so many fish willing to feed In one small area for a long time' No sooner had he dropped his rig in he was playing a fish & as he was playing it their were already fish straight back on his bait with fish swirling close to the bank, it was fun to watch & with 15mins to go he had to use another net of mine" The lake had fished really well for those who targeted the carp with a few admitting to over 200lb, When the scales arrived John Mills opposite Sam had fished the long pole shallow all day & by the end of the match had seven keepnets in the water" his final total went a cracking level 300lb" There were a couple of other 200lb weights before it was Sam's turn, he was doing well until unfortunately one of his first nets went over the limit of 80lb max by 4lb so that net wouldn't count, It was bad news as had it been allowed he would of won the day with just over 300lb! he finished with 217lb odd to just miss out on the main frame, Managing a section win but a costly loss on the day. Overall their were some great weights proving how good & popular this venue is, Top silvers went to Steve Jackson over on Lodge Lake catching the bulk of his fish on worm over casters to finish with 65lb with a couple of back-up weights in the forty's, Perhaps it was a big mistake not to target carp today but at least it gave me an incite on perhaps what to do next week, Or should I say what NOT to do!" Lol. Off to fish the commercial house league tomorrow on the Kings Sedgemoor Drain, It will be the first time I've fished it for as long as I can remember so should be interesting"

Full Results -

1st John Mills (Ridgeway) peg 125 Cambell, 300lb.

2nd Craig Edmunds (Mosella) peg 129 Cambell, 241lb 12oz.

3rd Mark Wynne (Colmic) peg 80 Cary, 236lb 7oz.

4th Roy Worth (Bait-Tech Viaduct) peg 71 Lodge, 218lb 4oz.

5th Sam Powell (Middy) peg 116 Cambell, 217lb.

Silvers -

1st Steve Jackson (Garbolino) peg 70 Lodge, 65lb.

2nd Paddy (Viaduct) peg 123 Cambell, 45lb 3oz.  

                  

Shiplate Farm Sunday Knock-up (Squire Pool)

After missing the match at viaduct yesterday as I was in no fit state to drive after spending the night out on the sauce for the wife's birthday on Friday but at least I wasn't in the state she was spending most of the night with frequent trips to the pan", I did have the decency to let Steve know early enough.

Back to today their were other matches taking place on the other lakes so it would my first visit to this smaller pond teeming with lots of small carp & goldfish" with a couple of better fish over the 3lb mark, With only four of us it was run as a rover format so I let the Wife Yvonne do the honours, She gave me choice number two but to be honest having not fished it I didn't know the best area's?

Resident Steve (Peanut) Howell had told me pegs 7 & 10 seemed to be the best island pegs & the straight section was also fancied, I opted for peg 10, but the other three went on peg 1, 3, & 5 on the opposite bank so did they know  something I didn't"??.

I planned a simple day having a 0.3g pencil float to fish 3 & 8mts at the bottom of the shelf off the small island on 0.13-0.11 & a 16 808 hook, The depth on both lines only varied by a few inches at just over 4ft or so, I had a 4x10 Chanti to fish hard & soft pellet closer to the island but it was much shallower, & finally a 0.2g rig to fish down the edge against the shelf in 3ft of water, My whole day would centre around soft pellet Or worm on the hook, Micro & 4mm's or chopped worm. I new it was going to be a bit of a fish race so didn't plan to fish any longer unless I had too. I started the day feeding the 8mt line with a ball of micros & some hard 4mms & fed a small amount of 4mms on the 3mt line & fed some chopped worm down the inside shelf. starting with 4mm expander at 8mts it didn't take long to start catching some of the small 4-6oz carp along with the odd similar size goldfish or fantail but I couldn't seem to get & better size fish, I did seem to be catching a few more than Peanut who was opposite me on peg 5 so stuck to this line for the first couple of hours whilst feeding the shorter lines, I did have a quick look on the 3mt line but I had to wait longer for bites & the fish were only small, On the longer line I had began to get the odd fish 10-12oz but still no signs of any bigger fish, By the halfway stage things began to tail off slightly & bites began to be really iffy, I had only topped this line up once since the start with another ball but decided to add a cad-pot feeding a small amount of micros each put-in, I was really starting to struggle & to make things worse Steve had started to catch further across to his far bank & had found some better fish over 3lb" I tried shallow for a while with hard pellet but only added two more goldfish & I kept trying short lines but just couldn't get anything to settle here, I had to try & catch a better stamp off fish if I was going to keep up with Peanut who was now catching well, I decided to switch to fishing a small segment of worm on the hook on the 8mt line setting the rig to fish around 6inches over depth, I had to wait a bit longer for bites I was getting regular fish from 8-12oz & did manage one around 2lb. Going into the last hour I had Steve down as winner as he was catching regular & had managed a few more bonus carp, I set the rig even more over depth as I was still getting false bites which seemed to improve things netting another 2lb plus fish & a fair few around the 1lb mark, Golly Jones had had a good couple of hours on peg 3 but things slowed down later on for him & I couldn't see Nigel on peg 1, Come the all-out I still had Steve down as the winner with his better fish making the difference, Nigel was first to weigh & put 37lb on the scales, Golly finished the day with 45lb odd before peanut went on to weight 58lb odd, I was last to trouble the scales & my first net of fish which I had in the first three hours weighed 29lb odd before my second net totalled 37lb,

  giving me a total of 66lb to snatch the £35 winnings in this small knock-up, I was quite surprised at my total & funnily I enjoyed my days fishing, It was quite hectic but I had to keep tweaking things to keep the bites coming, I would have another visit perhaps when their are a few more fishing but it was a good bit of fun between us with plenty of laughs & banter along the way.  

      

Summerhayes Fishery Sunday Open.

It was a very last minute decision as to where I went today, I could off took the last place at Viaducts open on Lodge lake but to be honest I didn't want to buy any fresh bait as the freezer needed a good clear out". I rang Owner Pete whilst savouring a welcome breakfast at Hilltops which closes on Sept 30th for those who don't already Know. I didn't anticipate a large turn out As Shiplate Farm had there first round of their teams of three as well as the local Sedges Fishery starting their individual league taking up another 20 anglers, Among other matches.

It was worse than I expected, When I arrived their were only three of us booked-in!" Great, Now I did wish I had took the place at Viaduct". We were fortunate enough to add another three' before draw time, But more of fishing for your money back than winning anything, Pete decided to run it as a rover on Longs lake which would see us well spread out, Drawing first to see who had the first choice of peg ect saw me do my usual trick of drawing the last choice! Three rover matches on the trot here" Lol, At least I would know where the others would be, But with Venue Experts Bill Hopping & Martin Addicott both fishing, Both of whom have been winning everything between them of late here on the paste I was going to be against it but chose a swim away from then being peg 11.

It gave me the option of targeting both the silvers & carp should I see either of them bagging, I wont make it a long blog with are small knock-up so to speak, I started the day across to the far bank with banded 6mm feeding 4mm's on the deck in just over 2ft of water,

I had a 2lb fish after a couple of minutes but realised the landing net was still up the bank, I had to get up whilst playing it & clipped my number four section on the way past, luckily no damage, Shame the same couldn't be said as I got back on my box as I managed to catch it again snapping it clean in half..!" Start as you mean to go on as they say!. I got the fish in but 5minutes later I lost a foul hooker at the net causing the float to snap  the tip off" All this & I'd only been fishing 15mins".

I decided to switch to fishing just inches deep across tight to the bank still with a banded 6mm which produced a few 2-4lb fish but they were easily spooked & with the wind picking up it just wasn't quick enough for the time being but I would keep pinging a few over to keep some interested, After an hour I switched to fishing either 6 or 8mm meat down towards the next pallet in 3ft of water which I had been dump potting bait in from the start,

I had some better fish over 5lb but it wasn't hectic, I could see Martin was Catching well on fancied peg 37 next to the hut but couldn't see how bill was doing down on peg 23 & the other seemed to all be fishing for silvers, I had been feeding some 6mms by hand in a small area on my right which was just my top-kit away & began to see some signs of fish after three hours, At which point I reckoned on having about 35lb. It was only a couple of inches tight to the bank but I set the depth about 10inches & fished about 1ft of the bank with a 6mm expander over the top,

 

Yes The Water Is Blue".

 

I had a 6lb plus fish in seconds followed by a 4lb fish soon after before they backed off , This is how I spent the rest of the match, Fishing down to the pallet with meat taking a few couple of fish before, dump potting more feed & fishing the top-kit line when I saw signs of fish coming in the shallow water, I had an enjoyable second half of the match chasing fish off both lines, I was cursing not having the best of starts & spent to long trying to catch across but it turned out to be a good day, At one point I was thinking I would have to fetch another fishery net but come the end I new I would be close to the net limits? I was in the first as it went 79lb 5oz with the limit being 80lb" The next net weighed 63lb odd before a few small tench gave me a total of 147lb odd, I knew it wouldn't be enough as martin was admitting to 200lb plus, & Bill was admitting to over 200lb as well. It turned out Bill came out on top with 213lb to Martin's 205lb so fair play to them both as they have the paste fishing sussed here at the moment, I'm not keen on fishing it but used to all the time at places like Emerald Pool years ago but judging by the amount of fishery's responding to it this year I might just have to give it another go next season. Back down to Viaduct again next Saturday for their open on Cambell & Cary & with the silvers final on the horizon it may be a practice session for them depending on the draw. 

         

Viaduct Fishery Saturday Open,

After taking last weekend off due to spending the previous week on holiday with the wife I was looking forward to returning to the bank, Running a bit late this morning after making up some paste before I left I stopped off for a bacon butty at the Albion Truck-stop on route, Arriving at the fishery it was a good turnout with 30 booked-in & the match would be held over Cambell & Cary Lakes, After a brew before the draw & a chin wag with Nicky Ewers we found Are self's at the front of the queue, Nick went First ending up on Cambell before I picked out peg 98 on Cary.

I was quite happy with this to be honest as last time I drew this lake I did well catching on the Conker" later in the day so the straight lead rod was first out the bag, followed by the shallow waggler as conditions looked good for it should the bomb not produce, I spoke to new Mosella sponsored Gabo Skarba who fished this lake on the Thursday costcutter & he won the lake on the bomb & pellet from peg 80 so Apart from this all I set up was a 4x10 Chanti on 0.19-0.15 & a size 14 PR478 hook to fish around 6mts on meat & with the level's being down it was under 4ft deep. I hoped by casting around the lake with either Pellet or pellet masked with paste I would soon find some fish?

I started on banded 8mm but after 20mins added some paste to it as I had no early signs, Five minutes later I hooked my first fish but it swam straight at me & shed the hook infront my nets" another 30mins on the conker didn't produce a bite so it was back to chucking around the peg on the pellet but despite trying just about everywhere I couldn't get it to work. Gareth Lennox was next to me on peg 96 who despite feeding the bomb line had decided to concentrate on silvers with the pole & I felt the fish were sitting more towards him, I had been pinging 8mms out but had been feeding a line off to my left at around 20mts with 6mm's but still couldn't get indications over it, I switched to punched dyed or normal meat on the hook but still nothing'.

Nearly three hours gone & I still hadn't caught, I had nothing to lose so switched to pinging in more 8mm's in one area before trying over the top on the shaow waggler, Five minutes later & I had my first fish over 12lb, Next cast I had one around 8lb, & straight after this hooked another which came off close to the bank before I had drawn the attention of the hungry ducks" That put pay to that! I couldn't get then out of the peg & I had to keep feeding to get the fish in the swim so it was proving hard work with them competing with the feed, I did miss a couple of bite & lose a few fish but a couple were fouler's" I managed two more on the shallow wagg & one more on the conker" but still didn't get a bite with pellet on the deck, Interestingly the guy next to me the other side of the tree on peg 100 had fed a long pole line & in the last two hours started to sack up with paste on the hook over pellet so fair play to him, With Lodge lake right behind me I wasn't prepared to fish the long pole but it worked for him as he finished up with 150lb odd which was enough for second on the day, Winner on the day went to Aidon Bordick from peg 128 on Cambell with 164lb catching the bulk of his fish on the long pole & meat, Top silvers also came from Cambell peg 125 with Freenze's Dan Squires taking 50lb odd of mainly skimmers on corn.

I certainly couldn't get the bomb to work today & maybe if I had followed suit on the long pole it would of produced a better result but that's the way it go's, Still not sure of my plans for tomorrow yet but will end up somewhere no doubt.

Full Result -

 1st Aidon Bordick (Shaw Rd Disaster Squad) peg 128 Cambell, 164lb 5oz.

2nd Jamie Bowden (Unknown) peg 100 Cary, 156lb 8oz.

3rd Greg Harding (Unknown) peg 80 Cary, 146lb 4oz.

4th Phil Hardwick (Viaduct) peg 81 Cary, 140lb 2oz.

5th Rob Walters (Un-Attached) peg 94 Cary, 137lb 6oz.

Silvers -

1st Dan Squires (Freenze) peg 128 Cambell, 50lb 8oz.

2nd Nigel Bartlett (Viaduct) peg 78 Cary, 45lb 12oz.