Shiplate Farm (Westpool Lake) John O'Mania"

Once a year we have a small get together for a knock-up between a group of friends which is usually more of a p**s take than anything else, We named it John O'mania as its organised by Lewis's Dad John Jones who will be the first to admit he's more of a deck chair angler than anything" but we always have a right laugh regardless of the fishing.

We met for breakfast at the Copper Kettle in Weston beforehand but I struggled to get it down as I was very worse for wear after a works night out for a game of skittles' which turned out to be a free bar" I didn't go mad mixing drinks but drank my quote of lager!" before deciding to walk home. It wasn't such a great idea as took me around ninety minutes, most of which wasn't in a straight line".

Back to the fishing & John gave me the honours to sort the pegging so we could all be a close as possible I decided to peg it from peg 15 back to peg 5 as their were eleven of us fishing so we would all be in the wider part of canal style lake, Paying the top three & the top silver's weight it spread the money out a bit giving us all something to fish for, I ended up on peg 11 which happened to be one of the widest at 16mts but with little wind it would be easy enough to target some fish tight to the far bank so set up a 0.2g home made slim float on 0.15-0.13 & an 18 PR478 hook to fish in just over a couple of feet of water, Next I set up a 0.2g pencil float on 0.15-0.11 & a 16 808 hook to fish down the track at around 6mts in nearly 4ft of water with a line to the left for pellet & off to my right with caster & Worms.

For company I had resident Steve (Peanut) Howell on peg 10 & once a year specialist Paul (Chimney) Hawkins on peg 12 with Lewis below him on peg 13 so a good laugh was in order'. I started the day feeding a mix of worm n caster on the short right hand swim & fed a small ball of micros off to my left with a few hard 4mm's , I started the day right across with banded 6mm hard pellet feeding hard 4mms with the catty tight to the far bank, In the first 20mins I foul hooked two carp which both came off before getting a 3lb fish in the mouth" it wasn't right though so switched to fishing around 4inches of the deck which produced another fish before I drew the attention of the duck which on this lake do not disappear easily" After 45mins I decided to have a quick look on what I had planed to be my silvers lines starting over the micros with two dead red maggots, I had a 4oz skimmer but the next three fish were two daddy Ruff & a small roach, trying the W/C line with a small piece of worm on the hook only produced a small roach so I was back fishing right across again with banded 6mm, I took a couple more fish before the ducks spoilt it again as you had to feed to get the bites but the noise of the pellets was loved as much by the ducks" Paul had already had us in stiches as it appeared he was happy to feed another bunch down his inside & was cursing like F**k" I switched back to fishing on the deck across this time with a large piece of worm on the hook which got me another smaller carp but it wasn't really working, I tried a couple of areas along the bank where I hadn't fed but that didn't work so after  I noticed some bubbles on the shorter pellet line where I had been feeding a few 4mms by hand it was time to give it another try, I had a near 5lb carp first put-it again on dead red maggot before catching a couple of tiny fish again so decided to try a segment of worm over the top, This got me another 3lb fish before things went a bit quiet, The short caster line still only got me blip fish so I had another try across.

I foul hooked two more carp in the next ten minutes so decided with just over 90mins remaining I would be a bit more positive so fed half a large pot of casters tight across & left it to settle, From what I could see nobody was catching much, Apart from Lewis that is, Who after starting the day on the pellet feeder was now fishing across on the long pole & catching really well, Peanut was now targeting silvers down the track but wasn't catching that much & Paul was still cursing the ducks as well as losing some fish down his deeper margin" It was turning into a comedy show & he had us all in fits.

I spent the last hour switching between the long & short line sticking to worm on the hook, Feeding the casters across seamed to work as I had three chub & the same amount of carp in a 15min period before feeding another decent amount I took a couple more of the short line pushing 5lb which was good fun as I was only using my favourite silvers elastic, Middy 4-6 solid, it was taking a bit longer to net them but I never lost a fish on the set up all day.

Lewis was catching right up to the all-out & we all had him down as the winner & I reckoned on having between 50-60lb which I thought would be pretty good on the day, We started the weigh-in from peg 15 but not much was had before it was Lewis's turn, He finished up with 110lb out which would easily see him win the day taking most of his fish on hard 6mm's tight across on the deck feeding the same so well done again to him,

 Lew with part of his winning catch.

 Paul was still on one" before weighing in & finished the day with 21lb odd before my total weight with 3lb odd of silvers went 60lb odd, Peanut finished up catching a few carp down the track to go with his silvers for a total of 38lb, But it turned out his mere 5lb odd was enough to pick up the silvers pool with Manchester George picking up last in the main pool by default with 22lb odd, I had an enjoyable day really, It wasn't hectic but by having a bit of a play around day I ended up 2nd picking up £40 which more than paid for the day, Lewis managed to snap a top kit & Johns friend mick managed to break his pole losing the top two on a carp in the process but all round we had a right good banter with all of us getting ribbed at some stage' A good bit of fun & a laugh.

Off to viaduct tomorrow for the first round of this years silvers league which I'm looking forward to & hopefully I wont get plagued by carp".

Full result -

1st Lewis Jones (Drennan Thyers) peg 13, 110lb 2oz, £50.

2nd Dom Sullivan (Maver) peg 11, 60lb 8oz, £40.

3rd Steve Howell (Shiplate Farm) peg 10, 38lb 12oz.

4th  Manchester George (Moss Side Hard Nuts) peg 5, 24lb 1oz, £30.

5th Paul Hawkins (British Duck Breeders) peg 12, 21lb

Silvers - Steve Howell , peg 10, 5lb 10oz, £45.