Shiplate Farm (Squical pool) Sunday.

Only a little knock-up again but with loads of small carp & goldfish' in this lake we were all hoping for plenty of bites, I let Carol draw for me again today & wasn't to disappointed when she handed me peg 14 which I've drawn twice in the three times I've been on here winning all previous knock-ups so was hopeful of catching well again. The only difference today is I had John Hawkins opposite me on peg 11 so we would be sharing the island so to speak. I had a dire day, I started cad-potting a few 4mms fishing hard 6mms or 4mm expander on the hook off the island in the deeper water & caught a couple of small fish but already I was having to wait for bites which wasn't a good sign as the pegs in the lower numbers were already catching one a chuck' I spend the day scratching around for between 12-14lb which was probably last on the pond, Kurt Pinkett won the day with 54lb odd from peg 1 & Julian Pinkett next to me on the other side of the small island finished 2nd with 30lb odd but he didn't have a peg in opposite him which would of helped. John Hawkins ended up catching a few when he put some G/Bait in which I didn't take today but to be honest I don't think you can get it to wrong if your on a few but today wasn't to be for me Lol.

Shiplate Farm (Main Lake) Monday.

Back Again for another go on the main lake, Myself & John Page decided we would have the last two tickets in the bag & swap with each other, Big Mistake" Peg 9a in the bottom end of the lake which is very shallow & not produced lately & Kurt only managed 4lb here last Sunday so I wasn't to hopeful, I drew John peg 4 which can be ok & I would have much preferred it to mine but hey ho",

I chose to ignore the rods today as I new John didn't catch here on them last week & the waters very shallow over to the island so set up two rigs to fish for carp off the tree to my left at 13mts one in the shallow water tight in & one for the deeper water just over 2ft off the end of the tree. Apart from this I would fish for silvers in the open water & settled for a couple of lines at 9mts in 4ft of water because if I went any further out it got even shallower". I started the day off the tree hoping for an early carp but nothing, so started dump-potting hemp & Small amounts of corn off the end of the tree. I went over the G/bait & Chopped worm line to my right at 9mts & caught a 1lb skimmer but bumped one the next put-in which cocked this line right up as I only caught small skimmers over it for the rest of the day & some chunky roach, I fed micros at 9mts infront of me but never had a bite over it" I managed one carp off the end of the tree, All 12oz of it & managed another skimmer over a 1lb but that was it, With just under an hour to go the skies started to blacken right over & rumbles of thunder made the decision for me to call it a day, It hadn't been an enjoyable weekend as I was hoping but that's the way it goes so I tipped back around 6lb of silvers & just managed to get the kit in the van before we had a downpour, I finished the day off with a quick pint where john met me afterwards, He struggled for a few bits & a couple of carp so not much better but the day was won be Pete Sivell from the famous peg 1" with over 100lb & the silvers was won by Julian Pinkett on peg 6 with 20lb odd.

Weekends like this make you want to pack it all in but I'm sure by next week I'le        be just as keen to go again".