Acorn Fishery (Thursday Evening) Paddock Lake,

Bit late with this one sorry but would love to say I bagged up, Only ten of us but plenty of room & I ended up on peg 38, well had to move up one so peg 39 as 38 was in need of some repair" I didn't really fancy it to be fair but gave it nearly the full three hours before calling it a day with around 15lb" My lowest summer weight ever on this venue but I just couldn't suss it today, I ended up with signs of fish on every line I fed but as soon as I went near them they were gone! Maybe the wrong choice of baits today but that's the way it goes & enjoy the pleasant evening we had. Well done to Mark Walsh on winning the evening with 136lb odd from peg 12 ahead of Matt Culpin on peg 19 with 111lb, before two other 110lb weighs so it fished well really, Must of done something wrong! Lol.

Shiplate Farm Pairs Match (Canal Lakes) Sunday.

I ended up fishing this pairs event on Hawthorn & Westpool Lakes with team mate Gado Skarba, Ten pairs fishing & the format was you could choice what lake you each wanted to fish with the winners picking up a decent £200, Even The Gabo hadn't fished Westpool before he was happy to try it so it meant I would be on Hawthorns. I did the draw for us picking peg 12 which I was happy with & it meant Gabo had what I would say was a decent draw on Westpool.

I planned to keep it simple, A pellet line across to the far bank in 18inches of water, & a groundbait line to my left slightly again tight to the bank both 0.2g Stu Bartlett floats which are ideal & strong! both on 0.17-0.15 & size 16 hooks, one with a hair to fish hard pellet. I had a rig to fish on the deck down the edge in nearly 5ft of water on my topkit plus one section, I had a theory I wanted to try as I know you can catch shallow but it can be hit & miss & frustrating" & finally a small clear dibber for dobbing around or shallow down the edge if need be. My day involved around hard pellets across to the right, worm over G/bait to the left, & meat/hemp down the edges & down the track.

I started the day potting a full cup of G/bait over & a handful of hard 4mms on the pellet line, Fed a decent pot of hemp down my left edge with around a dozen cubes of meat. There were a few shadows lurking around so I started the day trying to dob a bit of meat of their noses before the disappeared, I did miss one bite but Resident peanut Howell below me on peg 10 was already catching on his favoured worm over Groundbait across so I soon followed suit', It wasn't long before I had a fish which was around 5lb, I had a 3lb fish hooked in the face ten minutes later but it wasn't happening, peanut was catching well but despite adding more G/bait across I couldn't get it to work? Onto the far pellet line & I foul hooked one fish after 10mins after cad potting a few hard 4mm over the top but again it wasn't happening, Jonny Page above me also appeared to be struggling so it wasn't just me but he said he would be winning the silvers race' I began to ping a few hard 4mms further left off the end of the grass which eventully show some signs of fish so went shallow on the dibber rig with meat & hook one straight away but after a couple more missed bites they were gone again, It wasn't happening at this stage & after nearly three hours I had around 15lb in the net! I had continued to feed decent amounts down the left edge of hemp & a few bits of meat & noticed it was bubbling away' Time to try it again after having a failed attempt earlier & this time I had a fish on 8mm meat within seconds around 6lb" I hooked another decent fish shortly after which I stupidly let get back in the edge & it took me behind the tree stump further along the bank! I did lose the hooklenght & fish but got the rig back, no more here so fed another decent amount & had another go over the G/bait line across as Peanut was still doing well with it, I couldn't get it to happen, All I could muster was the odd skimmer" with just over a couple of hours to go I started to put the odd fish in the net most of which were between 5-7lb, It seemed best to have a couple of fish then re-feed another decent amount, Just as I thought I would soon put a decent weight together with an hour to go & added another net just Encase the wheels came off slightly, I targeted around ten fish in the last year but fell a bit short as I only managed four but they were a decent size, I had two down the left edge on the heavy fed line & two down the right where I had fed lightly with the odd cube of meet by hand in the last couple of hours, Steve's peg had slowed up across in the last hour but Pagey above me was really motoring in the last hour & it turned out he was catching really shallow down his right edge on maggots but he fed a bit" Ten Pints! Lol, I hadn't a clue what weight I had but guessed around 70-80lb? I hadn't used the clicker as I was well behind peanut & was more concerned about trying to catch" John Hawkins was first to weigh on peg 15 of are lake ending up with 61lb odd, Pagey was next & finished with 109lb odd & I didn't think I had anything near that, My fish were bigger than I thought, My last four went 28lb odd to see me pip pagey with 112lb odd' Peanut was next & did well on his worn method again to finish with 121lb odd but Top weight on are lake was Rich Hawkins from peg 3 catching down his edge to finish with 129lb odd, I had heard Gabo had done well On westpool & with the overall winners being decided on weight it looked to be a close affair, So it proved as are total weight of 196lb 8oz was just enough to beat John Page & Titch Williams on 185lb odd winning us the nice pick-up of £100 each' A good day all round & the weathers still holding up, I'm back on The River Huntspill for the next couple of weeks Guesting for the Sensas 88 Team for the next couple of rounds of the super league which I'm looking forward too.

Full Results -

1st Rich Hawkins (Wormheads) peg 3 Hawthorns, 129lb 10oz.

2nd Steve Howell (Shiplate) peg 10 Hawthorns, 121lb. 

3rd Dom Sullivan (Mosella UK) peg 12 Hawthorns, 112lb 4oz.

4th John Page (Thyers Tackle) peg 13, 109lb 12oz.

5th Tom Thick (Tom Thick Baits) peg 1 Hawthorns, 98lb 2oz.

Pairs -

1st Dom Sullivan & Gado Skarba 196lb 8oz. £200

2nd John Page & Titch Wiliams  185lb 11oz. £100

3rd Julian Pinkett & John Hawkins 175lb 14oz. £80