Avalon Fishery Xmas Match.

With permission from the wife to return for the Xmas match leaving the outside lights on the house until later this week (Gotta keep up with the Jones") Lol,

I woke to find the hardest frost this year by far, Everything outside was white" The Ice Breaker was put in the van with the kit just Encase' I arrived early & it was Baltic" I walked the entire lake before hand just to try & get Warm, Ice wise it wasn't to bad, A couple of the early pegs were ruled out but apart from that their was just a bit of cat ice on one bank, Nineteen fishing today so the pegs would be spread out with plenty of room for everyone but I still expected things to be really hard as it looked likely to be a bright day which wouldn't help things.

I was already in the hut before draw time just trying to keep warm so wasn't far front the front of the draw, Out comes peg 28 which is near the far side top end of the lake, It didn't mean anything to me but at least it was mainly free of ice with just a thin layer to clear.

First up I assembled a bomb rod to fish over to the island with a small cage feeder, Made a 0.3g hand made glass stem pole float on 0.15-0.13 & a size 16 F1 Pellet hook to fish a couple of lines at 14 & 16mts in 6ft of water, A 0.2g same style float to fish down towards the next pallet over the other side of the bale which you can see in the picture which was still 5ft deep,

& finally Decided on one line for silvers at 14mts but didn't put to much faith in it.

For company I had Steve Fouracre on peg 30 & Ray Wickham the other side of me on peg 26 with fishery owner Vic Bush Opposite me on the other bank. On the all-in I fed a small amount of micros at 14mts slightly to the right, Fed four balls of G/Bait with a good helping of dead red maggot & a few Floro Pinkie's at 15mts Infront of me & cupped in a few cubes of meat at 16mts to the left. I wanted to set up a waggler but unfortunately an overhead branch would rule me out casting it anywhere near where I wanted to go. I started the day on the straight lead & bread as close to the island as I could get, I found if I went to close I was coming back with leafs Ect on the hook in the first couple of casts so started to drop it a foot off the bank,

Ray had a couple of small fish on the pole to start with but not much else was being caught from what I could see of it, I had a liner after 10mins but had to wait another 45mins before I had a proper bite, I had the fish on for a couple of seconds before it came off snapping my 6lb hook length" I had it on the rod last time I used it & forgot to check it before starting so my own fault. I gave it another 20mins but nothing followed, I switched to a bunch off maggots & hair rigged corn but it still didn't produce. I had a quick look on the long pole lines, Starting on the meat line which didn't show any signs, Tried maggot over the micros, Nothing, & took two small roach off the positive' silvers line, Back to fishing across this time with a small cage feeder with micros fed through it, Another 20mins passed still with no signs then just as I went to reel in I was attached to a decent fish which turned out to be foul hooked which I got all the way in before it shed the hook" Two Nil!".

Ho Hum" Try again then, I kept trying different baits but nothing happened so stuck to the bread as it already had given me a response, I'm not a lover of sitting it out  on the bomb but with not much happening from what I could see it was my best bet for any fish. It took a while but nearly half way through I had another proper bite which thankfully after a good scrap keeping it away from going under the pallet' I netted & it was a decent fish around 9lb so at least I had something in the net. ten minutes later I had a drop back, hooked the fish but again we parted company as it swam towards me" B***S". I gave it another 20minutes before trying the pole lines again but they just wouldn't produce & all I managed was a 3oz roach on three red maggots over the G/Bait line, I kept topping them up with small amounts through the day just encase they would produce late in the day but I never had a bite on them again, I even tried down the edge a few times in the last hour with corn over an area I had been feeding with small amounts of casters through the day but nothing showed. I managed another late fish on the straight lead & bread around 3lb but that was it, It had fished hard as expected, Steve struggled for a few bits but lost a carp on the long pole under his pallet, Ray had taken just a few silvers, And Vic had managed a carp on the bomb with some silvers fish on the waggler.

When the scales arrived the top weight was Pete Wild on the opposite bank peg 12 with 52lb odd, My total 6oz of silvers" And the two carp went 12lb 13oz. back at the results & Pete Wild easily won the day but the uncanny thing about it was he only fished for two hours as he received some bad new & had to shoot off but at least he has a nice hamper to look forward to & £40 back so well done to him. Apart from the top weight & top silvers taking home some monies Vic makes sure there's a good prize for everybody to take home there after depending on the position you finished, It turned out Rich Coles finished 2nd with 14lb & I ended up 3rd on the day, both had are choice of prize after the days silvers winner Rob? Dodd from end peg 40 with a level 9lb. It turned out I ended up choosing a Mosella 90cm Flat Pole Roller (As if I haven't got enough already") Lol. but a good prize never the less. Talking of Mosella Some good news, Owner Vic Bush approached me with an offer to join the other Guys who have recently took on His sponsorship, Which I'm really pleased about as I tried to sort a few things with Maver on the individual front which never came around due to the recent changes thier so looking forward to a new start under the Mosella Banner. (So the roller will come in handy!" Lol). A really hard day for most but everybody went home happy many with some tipple but a well held match with good prizes not to mention the hot soup & minced pies laid on for everyone after so well done to them. back to Viaduct next Sunday for the final round of the silvers league, All to play for so looking forward to it".

Full Results -

1st Pete Wild (Avalon) peg 12, 52lb 8oz.

2nd Rich Coles (The Sedges) peg 35, 14lb 8oz.

3rd Dom Sullivan (Mosella) peg 28, 12lb 13oz.

4th Vic Bush (Mosella) peg 20, 9lb 9oz.

5th Eric Fouracre (The Sedges) Peg 23, 9lb 2oz.

6th Rob Dodd (Avalon) peg 40, 9lb.

Top Silvers -

1st Rob Dodd 9lb.