Shiplate Farm Fishery (Main Lake).

The short trip back to Shiplate for their latest open match which was a sell out capped at eighteen, The lovely wife Yvonne made as some breakfast today before accompanying me to the Fishery for the draw, She has been a dab hand of late so put her forward to do the honours again today, She was close to the front & I don't know who was more shocked when I opened peg 1' Four matches on the trot now I've been fortunate enough to end up here & after winning the last three from it so no reason why I wouldn't have a few today?,

 

 

Quite simple as far as setting up went, A rig to fish shallow on the pole, A rig to fish just over the edge of the bank in 3ft of water where I caught a few last match

& a pellet waggler & bomb rod to fish into the bay area, Whilst we were setting up I noticed a load of fish further across towards John Dursley on peg 15 the top of the lake which were following the breeze but to far across for me to cast to without approaching John's swim.

I began the day cupping in some corn & 6mm pellet down the edge & started on the waggler down into the bay set at dead depth which wasn't much more than 3ft, I missed a bite on hard 8mm pellet then had a small skimmer & a small Tench but no Carp, I had been feeding 6mm's at 14mts in the open water so after 45mins gave this a try, I did miss a couple of bites which I put down to small fish then foul hooked & lost a carp but that was it. over an hour gone I decided to have a chuck on the bomb with a wafter on the hook on the same line I was trying the wagg, I had a drop back which I missed but next chuck finally I had a carp around 5lb, Nothing followed so after another 15min went back shallow on the long pole.

I had a fish around 6lb but just as it seemed I would begin to catch shallow the wind did a complete U-turn & now the wind was straight at me making it nearly impossible to keep slapping the rig without the line going around the end of the pole" Arrrr! After a couple of hours  I decided to have a look down the edge starting with banded 8mm pellet, After a minute or so I spooked a decent fish when lifting the rig slightly, & it seemed they were off the deck here as well, I tried shallow but couldn't get that to work, So decided to start dump potting some 6 & 8mm pellets in to try & get some fish to feed on the deck, I had another on the bomb further out & missed a bite on the shallow wagg but as soon as you fed near some fish they would disappear' I struggled for the next couple of hours, Shallow on the long pole was now a No No' I did take a couple of fish by reeling the bomb back onto my edge line which nearly ripped the rod in being only around 15ft away" I could see Steve Peanut Howell catching shallow on the opposite bank & Andy |France appeared to be having a few next to him but I hadn't seen john have many ooposite me on end peg 15, The last couple of hours were a bit better as I managed a few more on the bomb including a lovely white & orange mirror around 3lb & finally got a few fish to get their heads down on the inside pole line catching on hard 8mm pellet, By the all-out I though I might have 50-60lb but things had been harder than I expected, When the wind turned are way it went a lot colder which I think pushed a few fish down but it was a bit of a strange day trying to get them to have a go.

Back at the results & Russ Pecker kept up his resent good form winning the day with 101lb off peg 4 catching the bulk of his weight shallow on the long pole so well done again, Resident Peanut Howelly came second from peg 13 with 92lb & Andy France finished with 71lb to pinch 3rd place in the money just edging me out with 68lb, On the silvers front Alvin Jones paying his first visit to the venue took 27lb of small skimmers from peg 2, Quite & enjoyable weekends fishing In the tropical weather we've had over the weekend & I made sure my knee's were well & truly covered today as their still glowing"

Full results -

1st Russ Pecker (Thatchers Tackle) peg 4, 101lb 13oz.

2nd Steve Howell (Shiplate Farm) peg 14, 92lb 1oz.

3rd Andy France (Cadbury Angling) peg 13A, 71lb 13oz.

4th Dom Sullivan (Mosella UK) peg 1, 68lb 6oz.

5th Lee Philips (Un-known) peg 11, 46lb 2oz.

6th Kurtis Pinkett (Wormheads) peg 12,45lb 6oz.

Silvers -

1st Alvin Jones (County Gardens) peg 2, 27lb 12oz.

2nd Ron Stark (Weston) peg 13, 17lb 8oz.