Viaduct Teams Of Five (Round 2) All Lakes.

Back again for the second round of this popular 95 peg league & although milder than of late it looked as if the rain would be an issue today with the forecast of the wind to pick up as the day went on, I met Gabo before we made are way to Burnham for breakfast again hoping it would be a bit warmer than off late? Nope".. Arriving at the fishery it was already filling up but was fortunate enough to park close to Cary lake which I would be on today, With the pools paid early we waited for Gabo's better half for us to do the team draw for us today. When she came back with the sheet it turned out Steve Segar was on the top end peg of Cambell 119 which could be ok, Gabo ended up on a corner peg on Lodge 57 but not the best, Mark leader who was filling in for Lewis Walker today drew the split section between Lodge/Middle & Spring & this is where he ended up on peg 26 of the spit which can be a bit hit & Miss, Captain Chris Drew 10 on Spring lake which at least gave him an Island Chuck & I would be on peg 86 Cary which I was quite happy with as I've had this peg before & was quite confident at hooking a carp here at some stage in the day?.

I did have a half-hearted think about feeding a silvers line but when I arrived at my swim & saw what appeared to be carp moving towards the middle of the lake so total ruled out fishing for them, Quite a simple set up today a bomb rod with a 6lb hook-length & a size 16 hook with a longish hair, I was going to try fishing the waggler but with the forecast of wind in are direction I thought presentation would be hampered so managed to borrow another feeder rod off Steve Segar which I set up slightly different with a longer 2ft hook-length.

Lately most of the Carp being caught on this lake seemed to have a liking for bread so this would be my starting point, For Company I had venue expert Mark Wynn on peg 85 & Nigel Easton on 87 who I had a quid with again as we drew next to each other on a resent open on here a couple of weeks back but had nearly swapped places".

On the all-in I decided to start the day on the bomb & bread around 20mts out to start with as I could always venture further out as the day progressed, I was quite surprized when I had a couple of early line bites even at this short distance, I wasn't in a hurry to recast & after 20mins I had a proper pull round which resulted in a 7lb carp so a good settler so to speak, Back out at the same distance & the line bites seemed to cease so I started to chuck just a little further. I had to wait another 40mins for my next bite which was a slightly smaller fish but still very welcome, Mark had also taken a couple of early fish on the bomb but Nigel to my left was still yet to catch, No more Liners so I was forced to try a little further again & just before we were 90mins into the match I hooked a proper fish" I had to warn Nigel when it kited in his direction but after a bit of a battle I safely netted a fish around 15lb", I was quite happy with the way things were going, If  I could manage a fish every 30mins I would be grateful'.

This is where the wheels fell off" No matter where I tried I just couldn't seem to find anymore fish, Any signs or liners had long gone & now I was sat looking at a motionless tip as was Nigel next door, I went through a right array of  baits from bread, corn, normal punched meat, Red meat, Yellow meat & even floating white maggots but still nothing would work. the pegs on the opposite bank began to catch the odd fish telling me they had moved further along the lake so I just had to hope they would return, Mark seemed to be in the same boat after taking a couple more fish in the early part of the match he to was struggling to get signs of fish.

I would like to say things kicked back into life but it didn't really happen, The rain came down more as the day went on & the wind did pick up enough to rule out fishing the waggler. In the closing stages Mark found a couple more fish on the bomb & 10mins from the all-out I finally had another bite which again turned out to be a better fish which unfortunately hooked up with Nigel's rig but he was sporting enough to slacken off his line allowing me to net it (Thanks Nigel") even though both rigs became trashed!" That was it four bites & four carp so a 100% record" When the scales arrived 51lb was winning the lake, My four fish went 41lb but Mark did well to take 78lb which was easily enough to win the lake so well done to him. Back at the results it was a bit mixed team wise, I ended up 4th on the lake picking up 16pts, Gabo finished up with 10pts, Chris had 2pts, Mark ended up with 5pts but Steve Faired best with winning his lake (19pts) with 130lb odd which was also enough to finish 2nd overall on the day so a good result & a nice pick up along the way. Winning on the day from peg 53 on long lake was welsh lad Richard A'herne catching most of his fish on the waggler with corn searching around his end peg bay area to finish with 143lb. Top silvers went to Dave Romian from peg 124 on Cambell with 24lb of skimmers on the long pole, On the team front we fished with 52pts to finish tenth on the day which was a bit of a disappointment but that's the way it goes, Top team on the day went to Colmic South West with 69pts to see them top the league after two rounds with 128pts ahead of Thatchers Vets with 124pts but a long way to go with three rounds remaining, I had the added bonus of picking up £40 for my mini section so that helped to pay for the day, back again in two weeks when I'm on Lodge lake, Peg 53 or 66 please".

Full Results -

1st Richard A'Herne (Frenzee) peg 53 Lodge, 143lb 2oz.

2nd Steve Segar (Maver) peg 119 Cambell, 131lb 14oz.

3rd Jason Radford (Viaduct Allstars) peg 113 Cambell) 119lb 12oz.

4th Andy Neal (Natural Talent) peg 66 Lodge, 119lb 11oz.

5th Steve Tucker (Thatchers Vets) peg 129 Cambell, 113lb 4oz.

6th Craig Edmunds (Mosella) peg 127 Cambell, 92lb 14oz.

Silvers -

1st Dave Romaine (Team Keyford) peg 124 Cambell, 24lb 8oz.

2nd Ken Rayner (Colmic) peg 24 Spring 17lb 1oz.

3rd Simon Hebditch (Garbolino BVMG) peg 125 Cambell, 15lb 4oz.

Overall Standings -

1st Colmic 128pts

2nd Thatchers Vets 124pts

3rd Natural Talent 121pts

4th Frenzee SW 114pts

5th Future Networks 112pts

6th Garbolino BVMG 111pts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                            

Shiplate Farm Open (Main Lake).

After missing a day on the bank yesterday due to being on a work course which I didn't make but that was a different story (Alcoholic poisoning') I was looking forward to returning to Shiplate for the latest open on the main lake, No stopping for a breakfast today with the venue two minutes from my home so the wife did us some nice bacon sarnies before hand, Not a bad turn-out with Fifteen booked in but although the venue was ice free this morning it was still very cold so I expected things to be quite hard for most, As the wife was dropping me off I decided to let her have a go at drawing for me as my hand is never the best", She jumped in halfway through hoping she would have the magic hand', I was quite happy to end up in peg 1, out of the wind with it off my left hand shoulder & a peg which can throw up a few fish so good on her', This peg has loads of options with an island chuck, As well as plenty of open water & a bay area off to my right which used to produce when the old jetty was their.

 

 

First up was the bomb rod to fish off the point of the island & down into the bay, Next up was a waggler to fish the open water around 25mts towards the pegs on the opposite bank, A silvers rig to fish two lines at 14mts fed differently, A rig to dob bread up my left hand bank as it had a bit of cover & finally a rig to fish off the point on my right in just over 3ft of water, I started the day feeding three balls of G/Bait with pinkies & a few dead reds on one 14mt line & a ball of micros & a few hard 4mm's on the 14mt line to my right, I fed a few 4mm's off the point down my right edge & started the day off the point of the island with bread on the bomb, I gave it twenty minutes before trying down in the bay to my right but after another twenty minutes I hadn't had so much as a liner, I decided to have a go up my left edge dobbing bread as I had some cover here, I started at 13mts working my way along the bank to 16mts but still nothing, I had been feeding hard 4mm's with the catty in the open water & decided to give this a try with banded 6mm pellet on the hook,

I missed a bite straight away but after another 20mins nothing followed despite missing another bite.

Matt Culpin had netted a carp on peg 14b on the opposite side on the bomb & Mark Thorne on peg 15 had a decent fish on his pole line, I had seen a couple of early fish caught on peg 4 but not much else, It was time to have a go on the silvers lines, I started over the G/bait with pinkie on the hook & bumped a small fish straight away the nothing, I tried the other ine with a 4mm expander on the hook but still no indications, Buy this time we were nearly two hours into the match & I still hadn't caught, back on the waggler in the open water saw me miss another bite the I foul hooked a carp which shed the hook as soon as it was close to me' but again nothing followed, I was really struggling to make anything work, back on the bomb for twenty minutes down to my right & off the point but still not as much as a liner, The Silvers line finally produced three small roach in the space of  ten minutes so basically these lines were scraped as I didn't feel they would produce enough to get anywhere near the silvers frame, Things weren't going to plan & we were already halfway through the five hours, I had to try something else so began to ping just the odd hard 6mm pellet into the bay to my right, I missed another bite in the open water on the waggler before shallowing the rig to around 3ft deep & switched to fishing into the bay with a bunch of dead red maggots on the hook,

I had only been in the water a minute or so when Jonny page walked around from peg three to see how I was getting on, I joked I had around 45lb' At his point the float shot under & a decent carp was attached, It was on until it tried to get right around the point to my right back around to the odd jetty area, I could feel the line cutting into the back & eventually my 0.13 hooklenght cut threw' I stepped up to 0.15 sticking to an 18 PR36 hook & a bunch of maggots, I soon hook another after pinging a few hard 6mm's but this time I ended up with a giant scale" Altering the depth slightly I finally had an 6lb fish in the mouth which was safely netted, Phew", I foul hooked another 10mins later but soon parted company then all signs of fish seemed to have disappeared.

I expected the fish had backed off around into the bay where I couldn't get to but by continuing to ping just the odd 6mm in hopefully I would draw the odd fish back out, It did work after a while when I netted a decent double figure fish before another one snapped me off the point again, I stepped up to an 0.17 bottom but couldn't get any indications so was soon back on 0.15. I managed another pup around 3lb, Their didn't appear to be much going on although Matt on 14b had netted a couple more, By now Steve Peanut Howell had joined me who had drawn peg 7 but was still fishless, I hooked & lost another, again foul hooked, So had to keep tweaking the depth, The last hour was really hard, the sun had now come out fully which seemed to make a difference, I did manage one more & lost two more round the point but once they were around it there wasn't much I could do about it as I was giving them all I could' I was a bit disappointed as I finished the day with four carp losing six' & I really thought I should of tried it earlier in the day as the peg was worth a few more in the net & it would make the difference come the weigh-in. Being on peg one I was the last to weigh, My four carp & a few blips went 31lb odd which I didn't now until after was thankfully enough to win the day just ahead of matt with 27lb odd so a good result come the end picking up £50 in the process along with the side bets of a quid off Jonny Page & resident Peanut Howell who still managed to blank" Lol,

It made a nice change today, Lots of options but eventually found a few fish to get a result. Back to Viaduct next Sunday for the second round of the teams of five with me being on Cary Lake, Might just have to take the lovely wife to do are team draw as she didn't do bad today".

Full results -

1st Dom Sullivan (Mosella UK) peg 1, 31lb 4oz.

2nd Matt Culpin (Shiplate Farm) peg 14b, 27lb 9oz.

3rd Golly Jones (Weston) peg 5, 16lb 6oz.

Silvers -

1st Julian Pinkett (Wormheads) peg 14, 11lb 9oz.

2nd Jonny Page (Drennan Thyers) peg 3, 11lb 1oz.

Just a few forth coming events to mention, Saturday March 11th is Donald Sutherand's memorial match at Viaduct Fishery (Silvers only) Lakes decided on attendance but I expect it to be a good turn-out & Shiplate Farm is holding a three day festival on the bank holiday at the end of August, The Saturday & Sunday being the qualifiers with the top anglers fishing the main lake on the Monday for a top prize of £1000. See poster attached & contact Viaduct fishery for Donald's match & further details, & John Hawkins Who is running the festival at Shiplate Farm who's number is found at the bottom of the poster.

                         

Viaduct Fishery (Thursday Costcutter).

With a hard overnight frost I was in two minds as to bother fishing today, Not wanting to waste the day I decided to make the trip to Viaduct stopping off in the Albion Truck Stop for breakfast on route which thankfully was very nice, And Warm'. Arriving at the fishery it was quite frosty" I was the first one their and already I was wondering if I had made the right choice? A low turn-out today which was a shame so the match was changed to Cary Lake with us all spread around the lake. Looking at the peg put in I wanted to avoid peg 88 at the top end of the lake as I know from experience this can be rock hard for any carp at this time of the year, With just the seven numbers in the tin at the time of the draw I dived straight in, Joking with Matt to stick me down on Sundays winning peg 102 before I had even opened the ticket didn't work as were did I end up? Peg 88!" I wasn't even going to bother but seeing I had plenty of room to chuck the bomb around I decided to give it a try, Simple fishing today the straight lead to chuck around the peg with various baits & I also assembled the waggler rod to fish corn at dead depth around 25mts but wouldn't be able to see very well as the day went on as the sun was going to straight in are eyes at some point. This is how my day panned out, Fished the bomb, bread/meat for the first hour without so much as a liner despite chucking everywhere I could reach including the end bank, I gave the waggler nearly 30mins again without any signs, Nigel Easton on 86 had a carp & a skimmer in the first hour but he was the only one to catch one at this point & Colin Dyer opposite me on 96 was also without as much as a liner, Back on the bomb with different baits & still nothing, The lake was flat calm & all the time I was looking for signs of fish but nothing appeared to be in the area, by midday I couldn't take it anymore, I went & had a look at match lake which was frozen in areas this morning but the peg at the top of the lake, 47, was clear to the island on one side so not feeing confident I would even get a bite on Cary fishing for carp I decided to call it a day & pitched up on Peg 47 for the remaining few hours, Thankfully I had a few fish, I had 3 or 4 F1's on the waggler, One on the bomb/bread, but caught best on the long pole to end up with thirteen F1's & four better size skimmers.

As far as the match went things didn't improve to much' Nigel managed another carp in the last hour, Which afterwards admitted was hooked under the chin,' To finish up with a total of 22lb odd which believe it or not won the match' & Paul Greenwood on peg 100 won the silvers with 7lb 10oz of small skimmers on the long pole so I didn't miss much. It was always going to be harder with the clear bright skies after a hard frost, Not very often I call it a day but I still believe I wouldn't of hooked any carp so glad I had a few hours with some fish to show for it off the match lake.

In a classroom all day Saturday this week with work commitments again so no fishing until Sunday when I'm off to Shiplate Farm (Main Lake) right on my doorstep, Which is dead handy as after spending the day listening to someone rabble on I will be looking forward to the pub straight after & the wife can drop me off on Sunday Morning if need be".

Full Result -

1st Nigel Easton Peg 86. 22lb 4oz.

Silvers -

1st Paul Greenwood Peg 100, 7lb 10oz.  

        

Summerhayes Fishery (Longs Lake).

A couple of days off whilst my truck go's for its Mot so I planned to make the most of it, I was a bit late to get in on the silvers only match on Viaduct so decided to try Summerhayes Wednesdays open match, I skipped breakfast today arriving in plenty of time, It looked to be a pleasant day ahead with no wind although quite cool to start with,

 

 

Chatting to Andy Hembrow before the draw he told me the lake had been fishing quite well of late with a lot of carp being caught dobbing bread across to the far bank where their is a bit of cover, Unfortunately it wasn't a good turn out with only seven fishing so the match would be run in a rover format, I had choice number four but didn't really know the best areas so opted to fish by the hut on peg 36 next to the aerator,

Andy had fifth choice & was beaming when he went on peg 32 further down the road bank in the wider water so I felt I was already missing something??.

My swim was just over 13mts to the far bank reeds & the depth against it was around 4ft deep so set up a 0.2g float on 0.13-0.11 & an 16 F1 Pellet hook to fish on the deck, next up was my dobbing" rig set around 3ft deep on 5ft of line again with a light float on the same line with a 16 808 hook & I had a rig to fish on the deck by the aerator in 5ft of water, 0.3g, 0.12-0.11 18 F1 maggot hook so this would do for starters.

I began the day feeding a few hard 4mm's at 13mts slightly left infront of the reeds & fed a nugget of damp micros by the aerator, I started the day dobbing along the bank infront of me starting around 6 inches off the deck with bread on the hook, I worked my way along the bank before shallowing up working back towards the aerator wires. Thirty minutes gone & things weren't looking good as Andy seemed to have made the right peg choice as he was into fish from the off, again fishing across on bread. I decided to try soft pellet on the deck rig where I fed 4mm's at the start, I had my first fish straight away around 3lb then nothing so started to feed a few 4mms with a cadpot attached, I managed a couple more but was having to wait ages for a bite & Andy was still catching well so I had to try something else.

I went on the deck rig next to the aerator & had an 10oz skimmer straight away then a smaller fish before it went dead, Back on the bread across I managed one fish around 3ft deep but just couldn't get it to work, After a couple more on the soft pellet line & a couple of hours gone I got up to go for a wee & popped to see Andy who was still putting fish in the net, He was fishing across at 16mts in a very similar style to me so new I couldn't be doing much wrong, Back at my swim I had another try for silvers after feeding a new line in the open water but that didn't happen'. I decided to add another section at fish over 14mt off to my right between myself & John baker on peg 34,

First drop in with the dobbing  rig set between 2-3ft I had a fish, then another, then another" I couldn't believe it, I had worked my way around 4mts either side the bank directly infront of me & it seemed the fish were sat just a metre or so further along".

I would catch a couple then have to change depth a few inches, Things were going well but the sun came out & I had a real job to see the rig in the reflection of the reeds, I managed to pinch the odd fish but with around 90mins remaining things slowed right down. I had been topping the pellet line up at odd intervals so it was time to give it another try as I sensed the fish had dropped down, I took three more carp 2-3lb in a ten minute spell before they backed off again, I gave the aerator swim another try & took another skimmer but that was it, The dobbing line had finished completely despite trying a few other areas so I had to put my faith in the pellet line across, I managed a couple more fish in the last hour but again had a hell of a job to see the float anywhere along the far bank with the refection, I had fed in the wrong place to begin with really not expecting the sun to affect it as much so lesson learnt there" I had an enjoyable days fishing but felt I hadn't really made the most of the swim today, I should have gone further along the bank to begin with as I'm sure I would have caught a lot earlier in the day, I was first to weight & was surprized to end up with 36lb of carp topped of with 2lb of silvers, John had 6lb of silvers before Andy put 72lb on the scales which would easily be enough to win the day & also took the top silvers weight with 8lb odd of skimmers later in the match with expander over 4mms & micro pellets so well done to him. Back at the results & as expected Andy went onto win but it turned out my weight was just enough for 2nd so at least I had my £20 back, Learnt a lot with the bread today & the fact how important it is to find the fish, when I was getting regular bites every fish came from the same small area, if I went 1ft either side I wouldn't get a sniff". It was a pleasant day though & enjoyed the change, We were greeted to a nice sunset whilst putting the gear away,

 

Full Results -

1st Andy Hembrow (Clevedon A.A) peg 32, 72lb 13oz.

2nd Dom Sullivan (Mosella UK) peg 36, 38lb 9oz.

3rd Bill Hopping (Summerhayes) peg 29, 37lb 1oz.

Silvers -

1st (Defalt) Ray Wickham, (Summerhayes) peg 13, 7lb 6oz. 

                  

Viaduct Fishery Teams Of 5 (Round 1) Al Lakes.

The time of year has come around again for this popular teams of 5, Gabo & myself were guesting for the Maver team which included Captain Chris hook, Steve Seager & young Lewis Walker, I met Gabo & we stopped off at the Burnham café again, Sadly despite being the only ones their it still wasn't very warm again but at least it was something to set up the day. We arrived at a very busy car park as most had already arrived, Chris got the pools money in early so we were third in line to draw, He came back not looking best pleased, it turned out Steve would be on Spring lake peg 20 which is an open water swim & not the best, Lewis was on the rope peg 70 of Lodge but we fancied the corners would be best here, Chris was on match lake peg 54, Gabo looked to have faired a bit better with peg 100 on Cary & I ended up on peg 131 Cambell which I would of sprinted to no less than a week ago but on yesterdays open they failed to catch a carp at this shallower end of the lake, Arriving at my peg the good news was the wind was off are backs but looking out onto the flat water their didn't appear to be the slightest sign of any carp moving so already things didn't look promising,

 James cooper was on peg 130 which had previous won seven matches in a row until yesterday so he was just as gutted as me although it was nice to have good company along with Dave Curry on my right end peg 132.

I cant get away from this peg in this league as I just so happened to draw it last year again at the wrong time & struggled for 5lb of bits on the waggler & I really wasn't expecting today to be much better with it being shallow & I could see the bottom in-front of me, As normal the first things out were the bomb rod to fish bread/meat ect towards the middle of the lake, A 0.3 loaded waggler to fish on the same line with an 0.13 botton & an 18 PR36 hook, I had a 0.2g float on 0.13-0.11 & an 18 F1 Pellet hook to fish at 16mts on less than 3ft of water hoping to catch on meat over meat & with loads of time left I also assembled a rig for silvers at 13mts which was the deepest water I could find, just over 3ft'.

On the all-in I fed a few cubes of meat at 16mts, fed a handful of loose casters & a few dead reds at 13mts. Everybody seemed to start the day on the bomb but with the wind in are favour I opted to start at dead depth on the waggler with a bunch of maggots on the hook but didn't feed anything to begin with. after 20mins & no early signs I began to feed a few casters over the top with the catty, After 40mins I had my first fish being a 4oz rudd' but at this point it was more than anybody else at are end, I stuck at it & managed a couple of blip roach but already it was looking like their were no carp present, I did predict we wouldn't hook a carp between the three of us before the day even started but fancied the peg by the spit to manage a couple of carp, After the first hour he was the only one at are end to hook one with both Jamie & Dave still blanking. I tried the pole lines & only managed a blip roach which came off at 13mts, I had nothing to lose so decided to put a good helping of chopped worm and casters on the 13mt line & leave it hoping to see some signs of fish on it later in the day.

I had a quick look on the bomb & bread/meat but after 20mins it was binned until I saw anybody around me catch on it, Being a team match I wasn't prepared to sit waiting for something to happen so decided to switch the hooklength on the waggler to 0.10 & an 20 F1 maggot hook to try & catch some silvers so at least I would be putting something in the net, I was feeding around 20 casters & a few red maggots every 10mins & switched to fishing single red maggot on the hook, I started to catch the odd roach but most were only very small, Every 40mins or so I tried the pole lines but I couldn't get a bite on them.

Around mid match I had just gone back on the wagg when I hooked something better, It turned out to be a decent perch over a 1lb & after a couple more small roach I had another slightly smaller one, 10minutes later I bumped which felt like another decent perch then it went dead, I gave the pole another try & the bomb again slightly further out but still nothing. I new it was a case of catching what I could on the waggler going into the last hour as it still didn't look like any of us were going to be fortunate enough to catch any carp'. James did finally manage to catch after targeting then all day but it wasn't the carp he was hoping for but a 1lb plus skimmer, Dave finally managed to catch two small roach on the pole to avoid the blank' & all I managed were a few more roach & rudd, When the scales arrived Dave was first to weigh & managed 2oz's , My net of silvers went 4lb 2oz & James managed 1lb 9oz with his lone skimmer, the guy on the spit managed a couple of carp but opposite us Gary Webber on peg 110 finished with 3lb 4oz & Dan Squires on peg 111 managed 2lb 7oz so we were in a shite area on the day".

Most of us had to watch Tim Clark fishing under the future network banner on peg 113 catch all day on the bomb to easily win the lake with 150lb". Back at the results & it seemed most of us had struggled, I ended the day with 7pts, Chris had 9, Steve 8, Gabo 8 & Lewis 6pts so are total of 38 would be lower down on the day, Not a good start but that's the way it is at this time of the year. It was really pleasing to see old stager Colin Dyer who can been found at the fishery most days win the match today as only on the weekend a chap I know who takes his boy down for a few hours sometimes mentioned to me how helpful he was & how much he helps his boy out so fair play to you mate, Colin fished the bomb & bread from peg 102 on Cary to finish the day with 154lb. Top silvers went to Sam Powell from peg 2 on spring lake with a level 18lb. On the team stakes Future Networks lead the way on 76pts just ahead of Garbolino BV on 75pts.

Another hard day but hopefully it will be my chance to land on a few in the next round when I'm on Cary Lake.

Full Results -

1st Colin Dyer (Balti Boys) peg 102 Cary, 154lb 11oz.

2nd Tim Clark (Future Networks) peg 113 Cambell, 150lb 6oz.

3rd Paul Greenwood (M5) peg 77 Cary, 111lb 9oz.

4th Nick Collins (Somerset Angling) peg 53 Lodge, 96lb.

5th Tony Rixon (Future Networks) peg 73 Lodge, 94lb 2oz.

6th Mark Wynne (Colmic S.W) peg 128 Cambell, 67lb 12oz.

Silvers -

1st Sam Powell (Preston Innovations) peg 2 Spring, 18lb.

2nd Des Shipp (Preston Innovations) peg 103 Cary, 17lb 10oz.

3rd Colin Sandford (Amigos) peg 24 Spring, 15lb 13oz.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

               

Avalon Fishery (Teams of Three).

Guesting again today, This time for the Mosella UK team including boss" Vic Bush, I managed a nice breakfast at the old occupant's of Hilltops new café in Burnham but have to say it wasn't the best, The food was nice but it could of be a degree or two warmer' Their was a bit of an influx of anglers going to various places so it was a bit of a flap for them so hopefully will improve next time. I arrived in plenty of time & it looked to be a nice day ahead with no wind' & very mild for the time of year again although the lake would still be cold so a carful approach would be on the cards. After paying my pools I was informed by Vic I would be on peg 6,

  Mosella Team mate Bobby Gullick had it last match & finished with 19lb so did expect a few bites".

I wasn't going to complicate things today so planned a simple approach on a couple of methods I thought best to catch a few fish. First up was a small cage feeder to fish across to the stick-up's on the island where I would mainly rely on bread to produce some carp, Next up was a 0.2g rig to fish in 6ft of water at 16mts on 0.15-0.10 & an 16 F1 Pellet hook, I had a swim slightly to the left where I planned to fish soft pellet over hard 4mm's & another line at the same distance to the right where I would feed just a few 4mms & small balls of micro pellet. I still had loads of time so got the waggler out the bag to fish across over to the island should I need it & had a rig to fish at 4mts tight to the inside bank but didn't really expect to use it.

I started the day feeding a handful of 4mm hard pellet on the left hand line & a ball of micros with a few 4mm's to the right. Most others seemed to go straight across to the island or gaps running down the middle of the lake on the feeder but I decided to have ten minutes with a 4mm expander on the hook over the fed 4mm's just Encase I had draw the attention of some early carp. It didn't happen  so after 10mins I followed suit fishing the feeder filled with micros & punched bread on the hook, I had a couple of trembles on the tip to start with which told me something was in the area so rather than recast I decided to leave it for as long as could. It worked because after leaving it just short of twenty minutes I had a carp around 6lb, Back out & nearly another 20minutes later I had another carp on which seemed a bit bigger but just as I picked up the landing net it came off".

At this stage Phil Clapp next to me had a carp around 5lb on the bomb & bread but when I chucked back out I couldn't get so much as a knock on the tip, I gave it another 40minutes or so in which Phil to my right had another two fish & Luke Pester opposite him also began to catch carp, for some reason the fish seemed quite happy to sit in the gap between the island with only a couple of pieces of wood separating where they were both casting, You can just make the gap out on my right with the wood over it in this grainy pic"

 Any fish which were present in-front of me at the start had seemed to move off so it was time to try the pole lines again.

Back on the soft pellet over the hard 4mms saw me miss a bite straight away then nothing, a switch to fishing over the micros saw me add 6oz skimmer but after 20minutes switching between the lines that was it. I re-fed with similar amounts & gave the feeder another try as apart from the two in the gap not much was being caught in my section from what I could see?

I couldn't buy a bite so spent the next 40minutes switching baits but it still wouldn't produce, by now the chap on my right had added two more & the guy on the opposite bank was really catching well yet either side the pegs were really struggling to put anything together, I gave the pole lines another go but just one more smallish skimmer showed so I decided to give the waggler a go, I started with a bunch of white maggots  before trying hard pellet & bread but nothing was happening, with around 90minutes to go I dropped back on the pole over the 4mms & took a 3lb bream straight away followed by a fish over 1lb then back to nothing' Another try on the feeder back on the bread & after 10minutes I decided to pour a cuppa' Yep it had to happen" the tip went round but by the time I reacted it was in the stick-ups & snapped my hook-length " B*****K'S...

I soon added a new one & ten minutes later had another pull round which this time I was ready for & soon added another fish of similar size to the last, I would like to say my last hour was hectic but it wasn't to be, I never had another touch on the tip & only managed another skimmer around 12oz off the pole lines, the chap to my right added a couple more but the guy opposite never stopped catching. All the kit was back in the van before the scales arrived which started on peg 1, He managed one carp & a small fish for 8lb odd, peg 3 had just a few silvers, Eric Fouracre on peg 4 managed a total of 9lb before Phil Gapp on peg 5 in the gap finished up with 42lb odd, I ended up with 19lb odd & the next couple of pegs above me just had a few silvers before John Fudige further up had another good day finishing with the top silvers weight of 29lb as well as a few carp for 56lb to win the section with a couple more pegs weighing carp around him meaning I finished up just over halfway in the section, not brilliant but I don't think I could of made the weights I needed to gain more points today so was quite pleased how thing went despite losing a couple along the way. Back at the results & Luke Pester who was opposite peg 5 on peg 44 did go on to romp the match with 130lb all taken on the bomb & bread, Obviously a ball of fish their today which happens at this time of the year but you still got to catch them so fair play to him, I did take his pick with some fish but my camera has just about had it & it didn't come out so a new ones in order. On the team front Fu Fighters put in a brilliant performance to finish the day with two section wins & a second to win the day & take top spot in the league with two rounds remaining. Its the start of the popular teams of 5 league at Viaduct next Sunday but with artic weather forecast at the end of the week we will all be hoping to land on a few fish come the day'.

Full Results -

1st Luke Pester (Fu Fighters) peg 44, 130lb 12oz.

2nd John Fudige (Fu Fighters) 56lb 4oz.

3rd Shaun Kitteridge (Drennan Thyers) 54lb 3oz.

4th Rob Birch (The Sedges) 52lb 11oz.

5th Ziggy Slowinski 45lb 9oz.

6th Phil Gapp 42lb 2oz.

Leading Teams -

1st Fu Fighters 25pts.

2nd Sedges 24pts.

3rd Thyers 22pts.              

     

Emerald Pool Fishery (Speci Lake).

Deciding to stay off the sauce' on new years eve this time around so I was able to fish this knock-up held on a lake neither good mate Darren Greenwood or myself had fished under match conditions so were both looking forward to it, No chance of breakfast today so the kind wife sent us on are way with a sandwich before hand, It was surprisingly mild when we arrived with little wind but the forecast was for that to change, Only ten of us fishing today so the pegs would spread around this quite large open lake & after we had a quick look before the draw we fancied anywhere from pegs 2-6 as it would be in the main part of the lake where I felt the best weights would come from, Not knowing really what to expect but new the lake held a good head of smaller skimmers & hybrids with the talk of some big bream present.

Into the draw & I found myself on peg 8 which was at the top end of the lake a peg which turned out to be the first peg going back into an arm, I would of took some pictures but by the time we arrived at are pegs it was already peeing down so left the camera in the dry", I knew the lake was around 6ft deep so set up a 4x12 & 4x14 wire wonder floats on 0.11-0.09 with 18 & 16 F1 maggot hooks, plumbing around I found 5ft of water off to my right at 13mts back in-front of me it was slightly shallower at the same distance but if I came any closer or went to my left it shallowed up by 18" inches" I didn't really want to fish this far if the fish were only going to be small but I didn't expect to catch in the shallower water as it was quite clear? I had Martin Heard next to me on peg 9 facing out into the main lake & Glynn Wickham opposite me on peg 7 but also further into the main lake.

On the all-in I fed three balls of fishmeal G/bait & dead red maggots 13mts to the right as far as I could go & just a small amount of micros & hard 4mms in-front of me. This is where I started the day with 4mm expander on the hook, Despite the rain their was no wind so with the float dotted right down after around 10minutes I started to catch the odd hybrid from 3-6oz. The fish didn't seem to keen to settle thought & I had to keep topping up with small amounts to keep some bites coming, In the first hour a reckoned on having around 3-4lb all being smaller size hybrids, I could only see what Glynn & martin were catching but at this point had me slightly ahead, After nearly an hour bite over the micro were dying off so switched to dead red maggot over the G/bait line, This saw my catch rate speed up a little but again they were on the small side so I switched back to expander on the hook, I had a better hybrid around 12oz & a few more to 6oz before things slowed so decided to top it up with another ball & switch lines again, I had been feeding a 11mt line in the shallower water & was really hoping to get bites here but I couldn't get a sniff on it, Back out to 13mts over the micro gave me another run of fish for 20mins or so & by now Glynn had started to catch quite well on his longer line Including a bonus 4lb bream".

Back over the G/bait & it was regretting topping it up with another ball as I now struggled to get a bite over it" The micro fed line seemed to be the best option so I added a cad pot & began to feed a few micros each put-in still fishing 4mm expanders on the hook. This seemed to work quite well for a while then approaching the halfway mark things took a turn for the worse" I had only mentioned on my end of year blog yesterday how much it had been a pleasure to fish with little or no wind for the last few months' Well he must of heard me as today Mark & Myself took the full brunt of it! The last couple of hours were a nightmare, I had to have the brolly up to try & keep the bait dry as well as myself but it managed to take off twice whilst I was holding the pole" & when it did stay attached it was bouncing around all over the place!, Just trying to hold the pole was a task let alone trying to feed it'.

It appeared we were the only two effected which was really frustrating as I new their were fish to be caught, We just had to put up with it for the last couple of hours, the G/bait fed line became impossible to fish as I couldn't see it, And I keep trying the 11mt line but didn't have a bite in the shallower water, I keep pugging away over the micros catching the odd hybrid but couldn't catch any skimmers, Glynn really caught well in the last few hours when he started to feed with the catty over the top of his G/bait line but we had no chance of following suit with the wind straight in are chops", Mark had caught better in the final few hours but it appeared most of his fish were better size skimmers rather than the smaller hybrids I was catching, In the last 20mins the wind dropped & I was able to present the rig properly again, It made a difference as I estimated I added another three & a half pound of fish including a 1lb hybrid' At the all-out I didn't have a clue what I had, Nor did Mark so we had a quid on it for the hell of it, No fun packing up today as everything was wet & cold' When the scales arrived Big Bird' (Darren) was the top weight from peg 3 with 27lb odd, Mark went on to weigh 19lb odd before I managed 25lb 12oz so at least I had the quid", Further around to Glynn on peg 9 & he ended up having a great day to finish with 40lb odd, A mix of decent size skimmers & one bream on either casters or corn over loose fed caster & Groundbait, & next to him his brother Nigel ended the day with 33lb to take second on the day, Glad to get the kit back in the van & heater on' Organiser Mark Leahay spread the monies around today so I did end up with £20 back for all the hard work, Shame the weather spoilt it for the two of us at this end of the lake as we would surely caught more but look forward to having another go on this lake as it appears to be full of silvers which makes for a good days fishing, Sometimes" Lol.

Full Result -

1st Glynn Wickham (Summerhayes) peg 9, 40lb 7oz.

2nd Nigel Wickham (Summerhayes) peg 10, 33lb.

3rd Darren Greenwood (Weston) peg 3, 27lb 9oz.

4th Dom Sullivan (Mosella) peg 8, 25lb 12oz.

5th Mark Lehay (Summerhayes) peg 4, 22lb.

6th Martin Heard (Tiverton) peg 7, 19lb 5oz.