Shiplate Farm (Main Lake Open).

Back on my doorstep today for this latest open as I haven't been on here for a while, It made a change to wake up to a pleasant morning weather wise & the forecast of rain to hold off until late in the day & little wind condition were in are favour' As normal pegs 1 & 15 would be my first choice but seeing as I always seem to draw the bottom end I was going to leave it to Owner Carol to do the honours for me in the draw, Mark Poppleton was having his first visit to the venue today so I had a feeling that one of the flyers would end up in his mitt the way he draws". I wasn't wrong" he went & drew peg 1..! Unbelievable" Carol handed my ticket which turned out to be peg 7 so no change of scenery for me again' I had Rich Hawkins next to me on peg 6 & Mark Wynne the other side of the bush down the edge on peg 8. If it had been a bit later in the year I would of expected a few fish down the edge but didn't really fancy it to be honest, I had an island chuck but having been in the lake I know its all very uneven close to it so opted to fish the waggler a couple of metres off the island in the deeper water around 5ft, I set up a pole rig to fish soft pellets over G/bait, pellets in the open water being a 4x12 malman on 0.15-0.11 & a 16 F1 pellet hook where I chose to lines at 13mts & one at 8mts to my left, Finally a 0.2g rig to fish down the edge at 13mts in nearly 4ft of water a metre or so off the bank as any closer I would be plumbing up on top of the rocks along the inside bank.

I started the day by potting some micros & hard 4mm pellets slightly left at 13mts & two balls of G/bait & dead red maggot the same distance to my right & a few 4mms on the shorter line, I began the day fishing the wagg at dead depth with banded 6mm pellet feeding hard 4mms, 20mins in & I hadn't had a sniff, I whipped back to get my cap from the van before coming back & dropping in on my long pole line with expander on the hook on the right hand swim, still no signs so switched to the right with maggot on the hook but this was the same result' Things were looking bleak, mark had managed a skimmer & a pastie carp down the edge & rich was also yet to catch, I had a look down the edge but no early signs.

Another try on the wagg still didn't produce so back on the long pole, I missed a bite over the micro fed line after a few mins but had another shortly after which was a decent 1lb plus skimmer, Soon after I lost another decent size one shipping back so soon switched to a lighter elastic, I managed a smaller sample before deciding to top it up, I had another look down the edge on corn & had a dip on the float so left it a while before having a proper bite which was a carp but only small around 3lb, No more signs so back to the long pole on expander again, I had another decent skimmer then pulled out of another shortly after then couldn't get a bite again, I tried maggot on the other G/bait fed line which produced a small roach & a small perch but that was it from this line, Un-be known to me it was mating season for the geese & when two outsiders arrived" There was a right commotion on my waggler line which ruled out trying this again for a while" I did manage another better skimmer on the long pole but was having to sit & wait for bites, pinging a few hard 4mms in with the catty over the top, I missed another bite before all hell broke loose" One of the geese caught up with another in my swim & it went ballistic" It was attempting to climb on top the other which resulted in the pair of them completely submerging each other right at the end of my pole line! They weren't the only thing going ballistic by the time they had finished" FFS..

Owner Steve assured me not to worry & my bites would return' Did They F**K!" That was the end of my day as far as the pole went! I did manage a Tench over a 1lb on dead maggot when I went to 14mts late in the day but any skimmers had long gone, I never had an indication short & no more signs of fish down the edge. Was really P****D off with all the commotion putting pay to any hope of catch more, It turned out the lake had fished hard, As expected pegs 1 & 15 dominated again being first & second again but just 11lb 15oz was third on the day, I finished with 8lb odd of silver & my carp for a total of 11lb 2oz so one more skimmer would have done!! Really felt I could of had a few more skimmers in the last couple of hours but couldn't do anything about it. Mark finished with the two fish & Rich had 7lb. Mark Poppleton won the day with 45lb odd ahead of Mark Lehay on peg 15 with 32lb. Silvers went to Nigel Wickham with 11lb 4oz.

Cancelled my trip back here for the match on Hawthorns Tomorrow deciding to make another trip to Viaduct to end the extended weekends fishing. It must of been April Fools Day For Me Today..!

Full Results -

1st Mark Poppleton (Colmic S.W) peg 1, 45lb 4oz.

2nd Mark Lehay (Summerhayes) peg 15, 32lb 14oz.

3rd Rob Birch (Summerhayes) peg13a, 11lb 15oz.

4th Nigel Wickham (Tom Thick Baits) peg 14b, 11lb 4oz.

5th Dom Sullivan (Mosella) peg 7, 11lb 2oz.

Silvers -

1st Nigel Wickham (Summerhayes) peg 14b, 11lb 4oz.

2nd Julian Pinkett (Wormheads) peg 3, 9lb 2oz.