Shiplate Farm (Hawthorns Lake) Sunday.

Staying local again today, I arrived in plenty of time as had to drop the wife to work so both skipped breakfast as she gets hers there, It looked like being a pleasant day with the sun already showing & no wind to contend with, I decided to let Carol draw for me again today as she's been a demon hand for me of late but wrote a peg I fancied drawing on my palm but didn't let anyone see, Into the draw & Peanut' Howell got her to grab one at the last minute she had two stuck together so handed him one an me the other, I opened mine to find my usual home here peg 3" & Peanut had peg 9, What did I have wrote on my hand? Yep peg 9..... Unreal!.

I'm not a lover off this draw as I just don't seem to catch much from it unless the water has warmed right up & the last couple of times have resorted to silvers to pick up some coin, I was actually close by on peg 4 last time & managed 2nd with 56lb odd fishing hard pellet or maggot on the hook over hard 6mm's fed with the catty to the far bank so opted for the same approach, Two rigs to fish on the deck & shallow tight over & a rig for the deeper water but I couldn't seem to find a flat spot anywhere as it sloped off quite quick so opted to find something close to 3ft or so. I knew the edges were deep so had a couple of rigs set to fish between a 1ft-3ft as with it being warm expected the fish to be up in the warmer layers.

Russ Pecker had drawn end peg 1 & their looked to be a few present when I walked a few swims before the draw so fancied he would do well, & peanut of course after getting my chosen haunt.."

I started the day tight over with maggot on the hook feeding around twenty 6mms with the catty, I hooked a fish after five minutes but it was in the ass & we parted company' I switched to hard pellet after a couple of roach but already things didn't seem right, I started a new line further along the bank cutting down on the feed, I had one fish before hooking another fouler so nothing to it fish shallower' Nope no joy their, I had noticed Russ had started to get a few slapping a shallow rig so gave this a go but if anything it made things worse, I had been feeding the odd bit of meat down my edges & notice a fish swirl, Straight in with the rig set a 1ft deep I had a 6lb fish straight away but nothing followed, I was sharing my other inside & didn't see fish here so back across where I had continued to feed, One fish then nothing again, I didn't really have the room to try slapping different parts of the swim which by now Russ was doing really well on & it appeared myself & a few above me were struggling, I kept trying different baits ect across but nothing was happening, The deeper rig did produce a couple of 6oz skimmers but I was going nowhere, In four hours of trying it decided to give up with the carp as Russ was bagging so decided to chance trying to catch some silvers although I knew a couple of guys had been fishing for them from the off, I fed ball of micros on the 3ft deep line & A ball of fishmeal groundbait I made up in my large cup quite damp before cupping it in another line at the same distance to the right of me, & dumped a large pot of micros at 6mts in 6ft of water before getting a rig out to fish over it, I went straight in & had a 1lb skimmer then couldn't but a bite, I managed a few more 6-8oz skimmers on the longer lines & a couple of carp" all on 4mm expanders, I lost a fish just over a 1lb right at the depth but expected their to be better weights on the day estimating I had around 6lb come the end, I did have a couple of dobs down the edge with the shallow rig as I continued to feed it & couldn't resist the swirls now & again but landed two & lost two but wasn't going to catch up with Russ who had kept them coming all day. When the scales arrived Peanut was winning the carp with 69lb' & the best silvers weigh was 9lb I wasn't going to match that but did end up with 6lb odd but their was an 8lb weight so missed the coin again today, My fault really as I tried to tempt carp for two long which didn't seem to be here in numbers to begin with, Choosing to give myself just two hours on the silvers wasn't enough as I'm sure I would of caught more, A big well done to Russ, Their was a few fish their but you still have to catch them & I watched him fish a tidy match to finish with 143lb odd to cap a good weekend with a second yesterday,

Winner Russ Peck.

 

The silvers was won by Roy Ede with 9lb.

It turned out to be a warm day & I made a big mistake by only having a flask all day & skipping food so wont be doing that again as felt really de-hydrated come the end so was soon home for some grub"

Full Results -

1st Russ Pecker (Thatchers Tackle) peg 1, 143lb 10oz.

2nd Steve (Peanut) Howell (Shiplate Farm) Peg 9!", 69lb.

3rd Andy France (Cadbury Angling) peg 52lb.

4th Julian Pinkett (Wormheads) peg 5, 46lb 10oz.

5th Roy Ede (Shiplate Farm) peg 6 29lb.

6th Dom Sullivan (Mosella UK) peg 3, 28lb 14oz.

Silvers -

1st Roy Ede, 9lb 4oz.

2nd John Bradford, peg 10.