Shiplate Farm (Main Lake) Sunday.

After spending the day with the wife again yesterday it was back to Shiplate Farms main lake, It was going to be a warm day with the sun already out but little wind, I had felling unless you drew the fancied pegs 1 & 15 it would be hard fishing for most with the bright conditions, A good turn out with nineteen fishing again, I let a few go before me but Titch drew one of the flyers peg 15 when he had the first peg out" I wasn't surprized to find myself on peg 6 as I haven't drawn it for at least four matches & was over due being back on it! I didn't really fancy it for winning the carp, Most times I have fished it I've struggled for a few carp but its got me nowhere, Most times I see others on here the same thing has happened so would be more inclined to target some silvers if early signs of carp didn't happen.

I set up a 4x12 rube on 0.17-0.13 & a 16 B911 to fish on the deck at 14mts in 5ft of water, Set up two shallow rigs, Long & short lines, & a 0.4g rig to fish down the edge in 3ft of water just off the rocks to my left at 9mts, Finally I set up a small method feeder to chuck to the island in the hope of some early fish. I had Gary Finders next to me again on peg 7 & Jonny page on peg 6 & had a feeing they would go all out for carp? On the all-in I fed some meat/hemp & corn down the short edge line, & cupped a decent amount of hard 4mm pellets at 14mts, I started on the method with Micros & 8mm pellet on the hook chucking to the island, I gave it 30mins but not a sniff, I had seen peanut Howell catcha couple of smaller carp on the method from peg 13 on the opposite bank & Mark jones had mugged two early fish down on peg 9. Onto the pole shallow to start with but still nothing in twenty minutes of trying, Gary was yet to catch as was john, Onto the deck rig with 6mm expander on the hook I still couldn't get bites, I began to feed 4mms with the catty over the top & finally I had a bite & a skimmer around 1lb, In the next 45mins I added another four around the same size before I felt it was time to feed a bit more with a large cup & rest it, I had been feeding corn on a new line at 13mts to my left so gave that a try but no signs here so fed another new line at 10mts this time with some micros & 4mm expanders.

Back out at 14mts I managed a few more bigger skimmers one pushing 2lb, Things seemed to be going well as I had over 10lb of skimmers by 1pm & still had 4hrs remaining' I think I had one more decent skimmer & a couple of had sized fish then nothing, & I mean Nothing! I had one more bite on the long pole which was a carp but we parted company' I had one bite on the new micro line but missed it' Never had a bite down the edge & never had a sign over the corn line, I just cant suss why this happens on here, It wasn't just me as those who were catching silvers on the far bank had seemed to have there lines shut up shop" I tried shallow for them, mid depth & just of the deck but it made no difference I just couldn't get another skimmer for the rest of the match, John had a couple of decent carp shallow one pushing 20lb late in the day, And Gary had netted a few but most seemed to be anywhere but in the gob". maybe if I had took some maggots or casters I could of gave that a go but don't think it would of gave me any more skimmers just roach ect? Frustrating really if it had of kept going I thought I was going to be in for a cracking day but it wasn't to be.

When the scales arrived Glyn Wickham was leading the silvers from peg 13A with 23lb odd, I knew I didn't have that but the next best weight was 12lb odd so thought it would be close, The scales went 14lb odd which saw me pick up 2nd overall in the silvers worth £45 so a good out come after all. As I expected peg 15 produced the goods with Titch Williams winning with 142lb odd catching on the method & the pole at 10mts with Meat/Corn, A great peg but you still got to catch them so well done, Surprize, Surprize peg 1 finished 2nd with Rich Hawkins catching down the edge to finish with 71lb odd, looks like I made the right choice to target silvers today.

Right" I have Negotiated With Owners Steve & Carol to run some Friday Evening matches on Hawthorns starting this week coming the 8th of June, the draw time is 4pm, Fishing 5pm til 9pm, The rules are a maximum pole length of top-kit plus two sections With the rig length no longer than the top kit only". It looks as though it will be popular as only put the word out today & I'm up to ten names already for this week with the maximum being 15 so anybody who may be interested in this week or coming weeks please contact me on 07967243456 or Steve & carol at the fishery, I really expect the lake to fish well for these matches so looking forward to it along with the rest, The payouts will still be Carp & Silvers depending on numbers entry £20.

Full Results -

1st Titch Williams (Drennan Thyers) peg 15, 142lb 6oz.

2nd Rich Hawkins (Wormheads) peg 1, 71lb 4oz.

3rd John Page (Drennan Thyers) peg 5, 61lb 6oz.

4th Gary Finders (Shiplate) peg 7, 53lb 8oz.

Silvers -

1st Glyn Wickham (Tom Thick Baits) peg 13A, 23lb 4oz.

2nd Dom Sullivan (Mosella UK) peg 6, 14lb 12oz.