Sedges Fishery (Top-Kit) League. Round 1, Tile Lake. (Sunday)

Well back for another crack at this top-kit league with three rounds of twenty anglers & the top ten from two sets of qualifiers making the final to be held on the same lake on the August bank holiday, The day started with a lovely breakfast at the wooden spoon in Weston which now opens at 7am on a Sunday with fellow competitor's John page & his Travelling partner Simon Ryall who haven't fished it before, Last year I did make the final coming 2nd on the day so a nice pick-up & was keen to try & make it again, The wind was in the same direction as the day before but not quite as strong but again I fancied the far bank with the wind off their backs. I was quite late in the draw queue so had one of the last numbers & I could of cried, I Only went & picked the same peg as yesterday, 32!" FFS..... No I didn't fancy it, Again..

Fish have fins as they say so lets just hope they were still munching on my left overs from yesterday!" Owe well not a lot to set up then', I say this is a top kit only match but you can use a short number 4 section as long as the length of the pole you using does not exceed 3mts". I had two rigs, 4x14 & 4x14 Rubes set up on 0.17-0.15 & a 16 & 14 PR438 hooks, & a 0.3g rig on the same line to fish down the edge 2ft deep towards the tree overhanging the water,

between myself & are foreign counterpart Ziggy Slowiski on end peg 31 which I fancied to win the section with the wind blowing right in, & on my left I Had team mate Bobby Gullick on peg 33, Now its not my rules but he was guesting today as he's fishing the other set of qualifier's, His points wouldn't count but personally I don't agree with it as you still get a picture of what to do when it comes to his rounds'?? Not that he needs it as he's won it the last two years! Yesterday I put all my faith in meat & although this would be my main attack I also had some pellets on the tray including some 6mm expanders.

I started the match down towards the tree in the shallower water which was probably a mistake as after 10mins Bobby was already playing a decent fish caught straight in-front of him on the deck which turned out to be over 13lb & added one slightly bigger in the next hour' I couldn't get any indications on the meat so after an hour fed a few hard 6mms off to my left, I gave it a try after 15mins before trying a 6mm expander over the top, I had a bite straight away but the 4oz skimmer was a bit much for my elastic' & came straight off, Ziggy had a decent tench & had started to hook a few carp but judging by the foreign language it wasn't all going well". After nearly 3hrs of sitting like a gnome & just one 8oz skimmer on the meat I was losing the will to live so time to stretch my little legs , I walked down to Pagey' on peg 35 who was also struggling having just two small roach & a tiny skimmer, Back at my peg I continued on the meat, I had just looked at the time, & my float shot under which I promptly missed but at least it was a sign, at 1.30pm I had my first carp around 5lb soon followed by another slightly smaller, 10mins later I hooked a beast but not in the mouth & we parted company before I landed a 7lb fish in the fin' I had to wait for bites but at least I was getting signs of fish, At one point the heavens opened & I had only gone & left my coat in the van but because I was getting indications I had to stick it out with just my sweater which proved worth while as I netted two more but again they weren't decent fish but at least I was catching. Not for long, The rain stopped & so did bites" the last part of the match again was a struggle, I was hoping for some late fish down the edge but never had an indication here all day, I managed one more fish around 7lb but lost two more foul hookers, One just moments before the whistle around 15lb" Ziggy had finally sorted his swim out & went on to finish 3rd on the day with 80lb odd, And Bobby's good start added to the fish he had through the day saw him finish with 70lb odd, My fish went 44lb which was just over halfway so not a bad result after my dire start, Winner on the day was Weston's Matt Culpin from end peg 40 with 110lb catching on 6mm expander over hard pellets in the open water & a few fish down the edge on meat so well done to him, You can see his report on his blog, Culpins Calamities.

 Winner Matt.

I can't say I'm really enjoying my fishing at the moment, I took last weekend off hoping for a change of fortune but it wasn't to be, This match fishing lark doesn't come cheap with entry fee's ect ect, It gets a bit much sometimes so planning to take another weekend away from it next week so sorry for shortage of blogs at the moment. On a more positive note after a chat with a few people I'm thinking of running a six match series next season on Saturdays, Six different venues with a maximum pole length of 5 sections?, This will probably take some arranging so please mention to me if you may be interested as it will probably be limited to around 20ish anglers. Owe' & how spooky is this' I decided on the way home the wife & myself would have an Hungry Horse meal at are local, I couldn't believe it when they asked for are table number & it turned out to be 32..!" At least this one had a horseshoe under it..'

 

Full Results -

1st Matt Culpin (Culpins Calamites) peg 40, 110lb 1oz.

2nd Neil Fuidge (The Sedges) peg 28,  89lb 14oz.

3rd Ziggy Slowinski (The Sedges) peg 31, 81lb 13oz.

4th Bob Gullick (Mosella UK), peg 33, 79lb 7oz.

5th Jess Jordan (Summerhayes) peg 25, 72lb 14oz.

6th Rich Coles (The Sedges) peg 37, 64lb 10oz. 

                     

Sedges Fishery (Guru Series Tile Lake). Round 4.

Back again for this fourth round of this five round league, Not in contention for an overall frame place despite finishing in the top 6 in the first three rounds but have so far enjoyed the matches so was looking forward to the day. I had a wander around before the match & their seemed to be a few carp chasing the silvers spawn in the margins of the far bank swims which would have the wind off their backs today which was due to increase as the day progressed so was hoping for a draw on this bank for a change. Into the draw & I found myself on peg 32 on the split bank between brick lake,

The higher number pegs further along tend to dominate & with the peg only producing 20lb in the last round I wasn't to hopeful, I set up the waggler to try & fish towards the island but if the wind got any worse I would have a job presenting it so set up a small cage feeder to fish the same distance. Tomorrow is the start of the topkit only league so I decided this would be my only pole swim today to hopefully give me a hindsight as what to expect so set up a 4x14 float on 0.17-0.15 & a 16 B911 hook.

I started the day fishing the pellet wagg towards the island feeding shorter feeding a few 8mm's & began to feed a few 6mm's just over halfway across, I did have an early 4lb carp after ten minutes but only when I got the float tight to the island,

Already the wind had picked up as was making things difficult, King of the swingers' Mark Leader who was guesting today on my left had a better size fish on the method early but things were already not looking good with fish being caught further down on are side. I would like to say things got better but they didn't for me" . I switched to the small cage feeder to the island & did hook two more, both which snagged me within seconds snapping my hooklength like cotton". I managed one more on the wagg & Finally got a couple of bites on the topkit on meat, The first turned out to be a 16lb 8oz carp which seemed to take forever to net as it was hooked just outside the mouth so couldn't get its gob up which wasn't helped with this topkit not having a puller kit! but at least I landed it' The only other bite was from a 1lb skimmer & that was the end of my day. Mark had a couple more on the method & did get a monster eel & a few late carp on his longer meat line & was admitting to 40lb & peg 31 in the corner was admitting to 50lb so I didn't trouble the scales again today"  Tiverton's Martin Heard took the top weight on the day with 146lb from peg 39 Followed by two weights of 114lb, Fishery owner Jamie Rich finisher 2nd by 1oz' which now see's him on four section wins & as the day panned out it now means he cant be caught for the overall title, Back again in a couple of weeks for the final round so hopefully I can have a better day as this is getting hard to take at the moment'.

      

Summerhayes Fishery (Weds Rover).

I booked in not knowing how many were in but a bit disappointing with only 5 of us present including team mate Gabo who booked in at the last minute, Perhaps with everyone favouring costcutter' matches perhaps the £21 entry puts them off? Still here now so plenty of choice where to fish" I ended up with third choice & after Mark Hannon went for one I was hoping for on longs  I ended up going on Lily Pool all on my tod" with the wind off my back I planned a simple day fishing short as I new with some resent weights over 150lb on the other ponds I would have to catch from the off, Gabo opted for a peg with the wind blowing in to the small island on peg 13 Sellicks & the other two went on longs. I simple rig to fish meat at 6mts & off to my left at the same distance & a rig to fish at 5mts to the point on my left down the inside edge & back towards the pallet on my right.

I wont bore you with hooks line Ect as at the moment I seem to be ill fated or have I just became crap overnight"? No funny comments please because I could get my Mo-Jo back & batter you off the next peg! wishful thinking? My day went a bit like this, Started on the meat at 6mts, 20mins, Not a sniff, Off to my left the same distance where I had fed a decent amount of 6mms at the start, One foul hooker which came off, down to the right hand inside point on the hour mark, Nothing, Down to the pallet on corn, Still nothing...

I rotated lines for two hours before I finally caught, A 1/2oz rudd! finally I caught a 2lb carp by feeding 6mm hard pellet & using 8mm on the hook to avoid the blips playing pin-ball with my banded 6mm" , Before the halfway point Gabo was off for more nets as he was already close to his limits on the first two" Chose the right peg today then didn't I.. I did start to get the odd carp between 2-4lb but had to wait to long for bites, So with a couple of hours to go dumped nearly the entire contents of my bait tray down the edge" & took a wander over to see how Gabo was catching for a while. I gave it another go on my return & had a couple more but called it a day with just under an hour to go tipping back a mere 40lb. I went to see Gabo again who was still catching the odd carp & admitting to 60 odd carp & a few small tench so I guessed he had over 200lb & their were two weights over 100lb on longs, I didn't stay for the weigh-in but it turned out Gabo did win the day but had the added bonus of beating the lakes & venue record with 240lb odd so well done Mate. He fished well for it being positive as he does" Lol , Bill Hopping ended up with 160lb odd with Mark having 120lb plus.

Good weights for the few of us fishing but I certainly chose the wrong lake today to try & compete, I know some fish from this lake have been moved, A few more than they thought I'm hoping as I managed to skilfully avoid the lakes entire contents for most of the day despite being here on my own! I would of probably been best to pick a swim with the wind blowing in on the opposite bank but who knows hey" Its only fishin!.          

Shiplate Farm (Squical pool) Sunday.

Only a little knock-up again but with loads of small carp & goldfish' in this lake we were all hoping for plenty of bites, I let Carol draw for me again today & wasn't to disappointed when she handed me peg 14 which I've drawn twice in the three times I've been on here winning all previous knock-ups so was hopeful of catching well again. The only difference today is I had John Hawkins opposite me on peg 11 so we would be sharing the island so to speak. I had a dire day, I started cad-potting a few 4mms fishing hard 6mms or 4mm expander on the hook off the island in the deeper water & caught a couple of small fish but already I was having to wait for bites which wasn't a good sign as the pegs in the lower numbers were already catching one a chuck' I spend the day scratching around for between 12-14lb which was probably last on the pond, Kurt Pinkett won the day with 54lb odd from peg 1 & Julian Pinkett next to me on the other side of the small island finished 2nd with 30lb odd but he didn't have a peg in opposite him which would of helped. John Hawkins ended up catching a few when he put some G/Bait in which I didn't take today but to be honest I don't think you can get it to wrong if your on a few but today wasn't to be for me Lol.

Shiplate Farm (Main Lake) Monday.

Back Again for another go on the main lake, Myself & John Page decided we would have the last two tickets in the bag & swap with each other, Big Mistake" Peg 9a in the bottom end of the lake which is very shallow & not produced lately & Kurt only managed 4lb here last Sunday so I wasn't to hopeful, I drew John peg 4 which can be ok & I would have much preferred it to mine but hey ho",

I chose to ignore the rods today as I new John didn't catch here on them last week & the waters very shallow over to the island so set up two rigs to fish for carp off the tree to my left at 13mts one in the shallow water tight in & one for the deeper water just over 2ft off the end of the tree. Apart from this I would fish for silvers in the open water & settled for a couple of lines at 9mts in 4ft of water because if I went any further out it got even shallower". I started the day off the tree hoping for an early carp but nothing, so started dump-potting hemp & Small amounts of corn off the end of the tree. I went over the G/bait & Chopped worm line to my right at 9mts & caught a 1lb skimmer but bumped one the next put-in which cocked this line right up as I only caught small skimmers over it for the rest of the day & some chunky roach, I fed micros at 9mts infront of me but never had a bite over it" I managed one carp off the end of the tree, All 12oz of it & managed another skimmer over a 1lb but that was it, With just under an hour to go the skies started to blacken right over & rumbles of thunder made the decision for me to call it a day, It hadn't been an enjoyable weekend as I was hoping but that's the way it goes so I tipped back around 6lb of silvers & just managed to get the kit in the van before we had a downpour, I finished the day off with a quick pint where john met me afterwards, He struggled for a few bits & a couple of carp so not much better but the day was won be Pete Sivell from the famous peg 1" with over 100lb & the silvers was won by Julian Pinkett on peg 6 with 20lb odd.

Weekends like this make you want to pack it all in but I'm sure by next week I'le        be just as keen to go again".