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.