Shiplate Farm Open (Hawthorns Lake). Sunday.

Back on my doorstep again just for a small open on Hawthorns as were on this lake next week & being its got much colder with the colour dropping out since my last visit I could use the day as a bit of practice, I fancied peg 1 as it always seems to produce a few at this time of the year down to the inside cover but I couldn't of been further away if I tried after drawing early & ending up at the other end peg 15' Again! I had this peg a few weeks ago & struggled for 20lb odd of what I would call smaller resident fish which was a good weight that day at this end & I didn't expect to be much better? Still you never know & conditions seemed ideal as their was no wind & it was relatively mild whilst setting up.

I set up a rig to fish a couple of lines tight across in around 3ft of water being an Drennan AS3 float on 0.15-0.12 floro Carbon & an 16 f1 pellet hook, This is the first time I've really tried these floats & with the tip being plastic they didn't take on water which can happen on some floats & I do like to dot um down". Set up a 4x12 Chanti on 0.15-0.13 to fish away from me down the track at 13mts with corn or 6mm expanders in nearly 6ft of water & the rig would double up to fish down the left hand edge at 5mts which was around the same depth, & finally a rig to fish up to the reeds on the end bank which was around 4ft deep at 10mts, Owe I did set another rig to dob bread across but more of that later.

I started the day feeding some corn down the track & a small amount of pellets & corn to the end bank reeds, I went straight across with 4mm expander feeding a tiny amount of the same with a few micros, I had a bite straight away being a 1lb carp & another 2lb fish soon after, I was a bit reluctant to feed again but after 10mins with no more signs fed another tiny amount, I had a couple of small roach then had an 8oz skimmer so decided to start the other far line with a small amount of corn & hard 4mm's as I had caught well on corn last time I was on this lake, I let it settle & went back on the other line still on expanders & had a couple more skimmers to 12oz but that was it after the first hour, I did contemplate trying the dobbing bread rig but Tom Light next to me had been working his far bank & was yet to catch which told me there didn't appear to be many carp in the area' I had a look down the end bank & across on the corn' line but not a sniff.

I hadn't a cue what was happening further down but owner Steve was paying out the top two & top silvers today so decided my better option seemed to be the silvers, I decided to start another line with a few hard 4mms & a ball of micros down the track at 11mts & started to feed slightly more across to try & draw a few more skimmers . This seemed to work as I would get a couple then the would back off, It was quite enjoyable really & I always had the chance of catching the carp at some point? It wasn't hectic but I was still putting the odd skimmer in the net mostly between 6-12oz I kept trying the other lines & down the edge but nothing on these, I did manage two small carp down the track on corn on the 13mt line later in the day & did manage a few skimmers at 12mts on 6mm expander" but mostly caught across to my left with 4mm expander over 4mm's & Micros, Only a 5 hour match today with the nights drawing in & with only one more small carp across for the rest of the match I hoped I had chose the right target of fish in the end.

I was first to weight & my carp went 13lb 2oz (had 13lb on the clicker" Lol) but more importantly my net of skimmers went 18lb odd for an enjoyable day, Tom had a hard day targeting the carp but only ending with 8lb odd so they weren't at are end then". Back at the hut it turned out the middle of the lake faired best as John Hawkins on peg 7 had 75lb of carp dobbing bread to the far bank so fair play to him ahead of Julian Pinkett next to him who finished with 52lb on the same method, I Made the right choice then as I won the silvers pool getting £32 back so at least a pick-up', pleased with the catch of silvers as not really noted area for skimmers but goes to prove sometimes bites are their to be had.

Full Results -

1st John Hawkins (Wormheads) Peg 7, 75lb 4oz.

2nd Julian Pinkett (Wormheads) peg 9, 52lb 10oz.

3rd Mark Jones (Shiplate Farm) peg 5, 42lb 4oz.

Silvers -

 1st Dom Sullivan (Mosella) peg 15, 18lb 5oz. 

2nd Glyn Wickham (Summerhayes) peg 12, 12lb 4oz.