Shiplate Farm (Hawthorns Lake) Sunday.

Back on Hawthorns today with 13 of us fishing & what a weekend of weather we were forecast in are favour for a change with bright skies & plenty of sunshine, Steve put all the pegs in the tub today meaning someone would draw an empty peg but on this lake you cant really tell what peg will win which is a good thing'. Into the draw I ended up on peg 13, & guess what, 12 & 14 weren't drawn so had an empty peg either side", I planned a simple day, two rigs to fish across around 14mts, one tight to the far bank in 2ft or so of water & a shallower rig to fish over the top, A paste rig to fish down the edge which was deep around 5ft, & finally a swinging dibber rig for mugging if I saw fish milling around which I expected once the sun had fully come out, I thought I had some tins of meat at home but didn't so had to make do with pellets & paste down the edge instead & I planned to fish pellet across.

Just before the start I saw a fish surface down the edge so before feeding any lines I started on the swinger rig on my topkit plus two sections down the edge with banded 8mm pellet set around a 1ft deep, Bingo' Two carp for 10lb in the first 5mins! That was it though, I tried the left hand edge at the same distance but no signs so switched to fishing across. Again banded 8mm with the rig set a couple of inches off the deck, I didn't feed to start with which got me a 3lb fish but they easily spooked so started to feed a few 6mms with the catty, Straight away the fish were coming up in the water so switched to the shallower rig across, This worked for a while adding a couple more 4-5lb fish, I had another shallow down the edge where I had been dripping in 6mms, but still no signs to the left. after a while the fish were now chewing up the far bank" this sounds ideal but it was causing me a mare' I had managed a fish nearly 10lb on the swinger rig near the rope between myself & peg 14 & another around 6lb 20mins later but across to the bank where I had been feeding I just couldn't get to work properly, I would get the fish in the peg but as soon as the pole went out the were gone & I ended up waiting for indications but most no mater what depth I was fishing were foulers".

I wasted far to much time here through the day fishing it totally wrong in hindsight, I may of been better of cad-potting just a few pellets at a time to keep them down long enough to feed properly, I persisted fishing down the edge shallow which got me a few more fish later in the day but after a good start & around 40lb in the net after 90mins the middle few hours I put hardly anything in the net, I could here peg 15 catching well in the closing stages & I knew Rich Hawkins had done well again down on peg 11 as I could here him catching. When the scales arrived peg 15 finished up with 99lb, 46lb of which he had in the last hour down the edge, I knew I didn't have that much as I had 78lb on the clicker, A bit out as I finished with 87lb of carp & a 1lb Tench' But rich looked to have done the business again today finishing with 146lb mainly down the edge on meat", Felt I fished it wrong today there seemed to be plenty of fish around but getting them to feed was a different story, I should of tried the paste rig again in the later stages after having a go mid match without signs, & meat would have got me a few more fish I'm sure? That's fishing though & sometimes its better to admit you did it wrong rather than make up excuses' Lol. Back at the results & it was a day for the wormheads, Rich won the day again so well done to him, & the silvers went to Ray Wickham with 13lb odd But I don't think anybody else fished for them Lol'. I'm writing this blog just before making my way back to the fishery for the later start match on the main lake today so fingers crossed'.

Full Results -

1st Rich Hawkins (Wormheads) peg 11, 146lb 6oz.

2nd Julian Pinkett (Wormheads) peg 8, 120lb 4oz.

3rd John Hawkins (Wormheads) peg 2, 106lb 6oz.

4th Andy Bishop (Matrix) peg 15, 99lb 14oz.

5th Steve Howell (Tinder Love Match) peg 5, 93lb 6oz.

6th Dom Sullivan (Mosella UK) peg 13, 85lb.

Silvers -

1st Ray Wickham (Tom Thick Baits) peg 7, 13lb 12oz.