Shiplate Farm Main Lake (Shiplate v Clevedon A.A).

Back on the main lake today guesting for the Shiplate v Clevedon A.A friendly they have been holding home & away for the last couple of years & with the score standing at Four - Nil in Shiplates Favour so keen to keep the winning going in the teams run." Ten of us from each side would be spread around the lake on alternant pegs, After a wander around & a brew before hand it was nice to see a few old faces, Dave Smart of the old Thyer's Team & Steve Warren who has recently returned to fishing, I even snapped this bunch of fish following the pollen from peg 2'.

 It looked like being a nice day again with little breeze & I was going to ask Carol to do my draw again but being busy with the board I had a dip myself, I shouldn't of done as peg 8 was stuck in my mit' Not the best of pegs but the day was on total team weights so I didn't even bother to try for silvers as I didn't think I would compete for a weight from here so carp all the way for me today, hopefully!.

Having drawn here before I new the peg held a nice margin to my left & a bush in the water on my top-kit to my left which I hoped would produce a few fish,

 

 

 As well as an island chuck but it was really shallow tight over as the geese were stood up in some parts".

As soon as I was setting my box up I noticed a decent fish swirl down my left margin so spend the next hour assembling my kit as quiet as possible, Simple again today a shallow swinging rig for mugging any swimming around further out on the long pole two rigs to fish a shallow & on the deck down the edge but didn't plum this as I didn't want to disturd any fish' & a rig to fish on the deck at 9mts over micro's in 4ft of water as a get out of jail line'.

I cupped a decent amount on this line & went straight down the left margin with a rig set 18inches deep to start with with meat on the hook but didn't feed anything, I gave it 5mins & nothing happened so set the rig around 2ft & switched to banded hard 8mm pellet cad potting just a couple of the same over the top, a few minutes later & I hooked a lump only for the hook to pull as it swam out! B*****K's, I fed the same again & gave it ten minutes but nothing happened, Before the start Steve (Peanut) Howell had wandered around & pointed out a bunch of carp feeding on the surface in Mike Owens peg 7 around half-way across, They were feeding on some sort of pollen & by now they were heading my way & within reach at 16mts' I couldn't resist it so out went the swinging rig with banded 8mm, Wallop' He's on & 8lb soon in the net". I probably shouldn't have dobbed straight on them as they had disappeared but at least I had one in the net.

back down the edge & after a bit of lifting & dropping I was in again, It was a decent fish which soon came in around 12lb so 20lb in the first 45mins was a good start, The problem was all signs of fish down the edge had long gone, I gave it another 20mins but all I added was a skimmer & a crucian around a 1lb each, I had been pinging the odd pellet towards the aerator to my left at 16mts so had another go on the long line rig, I hooked one straight away but again it came off but I checked the hook & it was blunt so my fault' I couldn't get another bite here after as the fish what were present seemed very cagey, I had been feeding the odd 8mm pellet on the top-kit line to the bush & gave it a go after a couple of hours, I did have a fish around 4lb quite quickly but never had another sign here all day, The next few hours were a real struggle, The sun was out but I was totally in the shade as were my margin lines & I'm sure this made a difference to catching more from them as the water still isn't at it warmest yet, I managed a couple more skimmers down the left margin & managed 1 carp on the shallow wagg around 4lb to the island but did miss two bites, The shallow rig near the aerator didn't produce & I even assembled a paste rig to fish on the deck over the top which didn't produce a bite & nor did the 9mt line. A bit disappointing after the good start but I don't know what else I could of done to catch more carp today, At one point I looked at the flat calm swim for any signs of fish but they had all disappeared by the look of it!" It turned out I didn't do to bad finishing with 33lb as peg 9 didn't catch & Kurt Pinkett only managed 4lb odd from 9a so not a lot in are bit then'. Back at the results & Rich Hawkins on 14a had a great day finishing with 141lb on the paste ahead of Golly Jones who took 62lb from peg 1. As far as the winning team went well its now 5 - 0 as we nearly doubled Clevedon's weight with 400lb odd thanks mainly to Rich being on the Shiplate side' but a good bit of fun & banter before & after makes for a good day.

Full Results -

1st Rich Hawkins (Shiplate) peg 14a, 141lb 8oz.

2nd Gordon Jones (Shiplate) peg 1, 62lb 6oz.

3rd Dave Smart (Clevedon) peg 15, 50lb.

4th Andy France (Shiplate) peg 3, 45lb 12oz.

5th John Page (Clevedon) peg 5, 42lb 12oz.

6th Mike Owens (Clevedon) peg 7, 36lb 10oz.

Silvers - 1st Andy Deverant (Clevedon) peg 14, 12lb 6oz.