Acorn Saturday Open,

With a nice day forecast  I was looking forward to the day ahead and decided to arrive early enough to have a breky onsite and a chat with a few of the others, With pegs 1-11 reserved for pleasure anglers we were going to be spread around the reminder of the lake so I wasn't to bothered as to were I would end up so into the draw and peg 22 next to one of the 3 bridges on the lake was todays pick.

For rigs today I set up two 4x10 chantis on 0.13-0.11, one with an 18 PR36 for worm the other with a 18 808 for soft pallet both to be fished as tight to the bank as possible on two different lines with a depth of around 2ft, Another rig of the same size to fish shallow along the bridge with hard pellet and a line down towards the pallet next door which I used the same rig for across with the depth being similar, I did set up a heavier 4x12 rig to fish on the bottom of the first shelf should I need it but chose not to feed anything there to start with. for company I had Barry Council a peg below the other side of the bridge and team mate Gary Cross on peg 24 who I managed to persuade to have a £1 side bet after telling him I wouldn't fish near the bridge (As If") lol.

Also having the usual £1 with Nick (Horrid) Harvey on peg 16 I began the match cupping two large cups of groundbait to the pallet which was going to contain dead maggot but I realised I had left them in the freezer' so I added some casters and hemp, I began flicking some hard 4mm towards the middle of the bridge by hand before going across with a whole worm into the bare bank towards my left and cupped some micro over the top via a cadpot, I missed a bite straight away tho I think it may have been a liner as nothing happened for the next 5mins so I switched to the swim by the bulrushes nearer the bridge with a 4mm expander on the hook again feeding micro over the top but this resulted in two small skimmers with no signs of carp so far.

I changed to the shallow rig next to the bridge where I had be feeding pellet by hand set about two feet deep and a run of carp to 2lb followed before bites slowed again but I felt they were backing under the bridge as the peg the other side was empty, adding another section saw me pinch a couple more before they stopped altogether so I continued to feed it by hand and try my deeper rig across with know joy before going back tight against the far bank with a larger 6mm but the fish didn't want to be in the shallow water over for some reason so I switched to shoving the rig into the bulrushes straight in-front of me as you can see in the picture.

 This made a big difference as I soon began to get signs of fish before adding a couple of better size fish for the bridges to 4lb,

After taking a couple of fish they seemed to become unsettled so I cupped in some more micro and rested the swim changing back next to the bridge to pinch a few more fish before what seemed to be a pattern on both lines of them backing off. Several attempts towards the inside pallet only resulted in a skimmer and from what I could see nobody seemed to be getting much off there inside lines so I concentrated on the two lines that were giving me odd fish and by swapping between them with various baits I caught right up until the all out but in not always keeping I eye on what's going in the net as I'd rather be thinking where my next fish is coming from so had no idea what I would weigh-in.  I had seen fish coming out for a few people for most of the day thought I would be a close call. My 3lb odd of silvers added to my carp gave me a total 60lb which I was pleased with at the end of the day and enough to take a quid of Gary with him just making a total of 20lb, Nick Did manage a rare nugget off me today with a total of 66lb catching short on pellet most of the day. Top weight today went to Brian Hadley with a good 85lb off peg 40 next to the bridge on the other side of the lake catching mainly on hard 6mm pellet right across near the bridge followed by Mike Owens on peg 34 also a bridge with 70lb including the top silvers weight of 14lb.

 Brian,

Mikes Silvers.

Full results                                                                                                                       

1st Brian Hadley (Weston) Peg 40, 85lb 10oz.

2nd Mike Owens (Sensas Thyers) peg 34, 70lb 4oz.

3rd Nick Harvey (Sensas Thyers) peg 16, 66lb.

4th Mark Walsh (Clevedon A.A) peg 36, 65lb 8oz.

5th Dom Sullivan (Maver/Cadbury Angling) peg 22, 60lb.

Silvers 

Mike Owens 14lb 15oz.

 

    

 

     

Summerhayes Friday Open.

A return to summerhayes today as I haven't fished the venue since late last year so after a breky at hilltops it was off to the fishery for a welcome cuppa and a chance to get some lowdown on how it had been fishing, Longs lake was are port of call and with 14 fishing we were all going to have plenty of room, at the draw and I find myself on the road bank peg 28 which seemed to be quite a fair area the last time I fished here, for company I had Scott Russell on peg 26 and Martin Addicott on peg 30 who took me up on the quid side bet' I planned to fish worm and caster across to the island, meat at the bottom of the near side shelf and groundbait  down to the vacant pallet on my left in the shallower water, pluming up I had around 4ft across to the island as I couldn't get close to the bank with the reeds growing right out which wasn't ideal but it was the same all around the lake for all of us, down to the pallet I found around 2ft or so close towards the bank and the meat line I planned to fish against the shelf in 4ft of water.

At the all in I fed two pots of wetted groundbait and red maggot to the pallet and a palm full of meat against the shelf to my left, Starting across at 14mts my attack over was going to be a worm and caster job for me today as I had some good results on it when I was here last year so with a small cadpot I cupped in my chopped worm and caster mix and started with a whole worm on the hook, 20mins in and my first fish was a small tench followed by some tiny perch so I started to catapult caster over the top which seemed to work for while giving me two small carp before I foul hooked one which bolted along the bank pulling a hidden branch right across my baited area and after 15mins faffing around trying to steer my rig in the gap and ending up snagged to the branch twice after missed bites I had to give up and try a new line and I new the worm was a bad choice in the depth of water I had so move over 2mts along the reeds and began to feed some micro and tried a 6mm hard banded pellet on the hook.

After a few liners I swapped to a rig about 18inches deep as by now Scott was putting a run of fish together fishing around the same depth without feeding anything and it wasn't long before I hooked a carp only for it to find another snag and attach me to the bank! Another swim over with".

By now Scott had about 10 carp and was doing best on the lake from what I could see as Martin was having as much luck as me at this time, With the carp being around the same stamp I new I had to start catching if I was to have any chance of catching up with Scott, I was hoping when I went onto my meat line they would be queuing up but how wrong I was as it failed to produce at all through the day and I was wishing I hadn't been topping up with palmfuls at regular intervals  A try on the groundbait line with a worm didn't show any signs and another attempt across shallow saw me waiting to long to catch small carp and I was getting nowhere and with 90mins to go I fed a pot full of my worm and caster mix I still had for fishing across onto a 5mt line in front of me and got a rig out to try for a run of silvers as I hadn't seen many being caught even by the anglers who had targeted them from the off.

Whilst I let it settle for 10mins I tried again with a worm over the groundbait tight in and had a bite straight away but not a carp as I had expected but a 1lb plus perch'! No more bites saw me switch to the new line with the head of a worm and straight away I had some nice chunky roach and a couple of 1lb skimmers before it died off and small perch followed but by swapping between this and the pallet swim for the remainder of the match I added some more skimmers and a couple more 2lb carp, Scott Had got stronger as the day wore on and ended the day winning the match with ease with a great 76lb and he did really well to keep them coming so fair play to him, I ended the day with 16lb odd of carp and 12lb odd of silvers for 28lb and 5th on the day but more annoying I was only 3oz off second place pay-out for the silvers pool and 1lb off winning it outright so a switch to the silvers was a bit late for me but I learnt a lot today which is always a good  thing and after a chat with owner Pete after the match he informed me he and some off the locals were going to clear a couple of swims back to the bare bank in-front of each peg which will be nice hopefully in time for my next visit.

Full results - 1st Scott Russell (Tackle UK) 76lb

                       2nd Aide Bishop (Summerhayes) 43lb 6oz

                       3rd James Cooper (Guru) 40lb 4oz

Silvers -         1st Roger Russell (Tackle Uk) 13lb 8oz

                       2nd Dan Bull (Summerhayes) 12lb 6oz .                          

Acorn Individual League Rd 2.

Back to Acorn today and after last weeks gale force winds it was pleasant to see the lake calm for a change, I felt quite positive about the day ahead and had resorted to wearing my old joggers I've had for years and are wearing a bit thin' but since wearing jeans I haven't had a pick up and the weather has hindered my fishing most weeks so at least they had worked for a change in the conditions for a start".

with 29 in the league we all get to rotate the three sections twice and I wasn't to bothered where I would end up so into the draw and out comes peg 10 which I was happy with although Nick (Trolley Thief) Harvey only managed 16lb off it last week but he said it was towing hard due to the wind, I didn't have that problem so was hoping to have a few as it wasn't a long distance to the island being about 12mts.

I plumed up with a 4x10 chanti on 0.13-0.11 an a size 18 Pr478 and found just over 2ft tight into the bank against the grass which was ideal and had a slightly heavier 4x12 rig to fish in-front of the bull rushes 2mts to my left on the bottom of the first shelf in 3ft or so of water. Keeping it simple I had a rig to fish to my left at 6mts in the open water just in-case I couldn't catch on my main lines and last of all a 4x10 chanti on 0.11-0.10 and again an 18 PR478 to fish against the shelf towards the empty pallet peg 11 again 3ft being the chosen depth.

(Notice I placed my pole roller bag on the bull rushes to give me a better view)

for company today I had Charlie Barns on peg 9 who was happily going to leave the carp to me in search of the lakes silvers, And fellow blogger Ken Rayner on peg 12 which looked nice down the edge aswell.

 Charlie.

I had Drawn Tom Thick in this first round of the knock-out who was also in my section on bridge peg 34 so we had a quid on the battle that lay ahead for the fun of it, At the all in I cupped a sprinkling of hard 4mm's and some damped micro over to the deeper swim in-front the bull rushes, a large 250mm cupful of micro onto the open water 6mt swim and cupful of damped down groundbait with a palm full of dead red maggots added, A lot of people don't feed this line until  they plan to fish it but I like to add a pot full of the same every 45mins to build the swim up and draw the attention of and bigger fish. I had mixed up a bag and

 a half of the Thatchers natural just in case they did turn up later in the day as I hoped they would.

Starting across in the shallower swim tight into the bank I shipped out with a whole worm and had a cadpot attached with some micro pellets and groundbait in once the rig had settled I pulled the rig up tight to the bank and cupped the feed in on top float after a few liners I re-fed the same again 15mins in and carp number one was in the net followed by three more in the next twenty minutes was a good start and from what I could see a few fish were being hooked, things started to slow up and a could see the fish were keen to come up in the water so I cupped in a larger amount with the bigger pot and re-fed my margin swim with more groundbait  before trying the swim in-front the rushes with a 6mm expander, first put in and a fish of 4lb was good then just one missed bite in 20mins saw me back tight to the island feeding regular with the cadpot, no more bites on worm saw a change to corn and two small carp followed before it slowed again. topping up and leaving it seemed to let them settle before going back in and nicking the odd fish so a quick try on the open water swim with a worm didn't produce and a look down to the pallet with a bunch of dead reds on the hook was yet to produce but we were only half-way through so was sure it would give me fish in the last couple of hours.

Back to the island and I switched to a 6mm expander on the hook and by shallowing up an inch I would lift the rig as tight to the bank as possible so the pellet sat right in and the tip of the float would just be showing and by emptying the cadpot in once the rig had settled and waiting saw me have some cracking bites and some larger fish to 6lb.

 Going into the last couple of hours the wind had picked up making hard to keep the rig tight to the bank so it was time to switch to my margin with a whole worm, as soon as it settled I missed a bite but as the rig settled again I was in with my first fish from in-front the pallet around 3lb, going straight back in with a full pot of groundbait soon had me a bigger fish of 5lb,

   After A couple more liners down to the pallet I re-fed with another pot-full and went back over to the shallow swim, two good fish then nothing seemed to be the pattern so by topping the swim and leaving it then going back down the edge feeding it before I went on it saw me add to my catch including a foul hooker which leapt out the other side of the pallet' though I somehow managed to steer it back through tail first and into my landing net at around 4lb"

Another fish across saw me stay down the edge just into the side of the pallet,

   The last 20mins saw me add 3 more to 5lb all on the worm to give me a total of 19-20 carp in total, at the weigh-in top weight on peg 5 in are section was Brian (Anteater) Slipper with 43lb before my turn to weigh and my catch of 85lb odd was good enough to take the lead.

Myself. 

Tom was last to weigh in and his 51lb was enough to take second spot in the section behind my-self meaning not only had I won the quid he was out of the knock-out as well which was good news for me' although tom has since informed me he is back in the knock-out as the fastest loser on weight so I could draw him again next time".

 Tom Thick.

Back to the results and I was happy to be top weight on the day, Picking up £60 for the section was a bonus as there's not a pay-out for top on the day with the monies going to the overall placing's at the end of 6 matches, Paul Faires managed top silvers weigh on the day though it was a close affair with Charlie picking the section up by de-fault with 9lb odd, Overall I was pleased how my day went and by nicking a couple of fish and letting them settle seemed to work best as-well as not being afraid to swap around hook baits when it went slow. Back in two weeks for round 3 so looking forward to the next time, and a big thanks to the wife today for taking some nice pics.

 Paul & Myself.

Overall Results -

1st Dominic Sullivan (Maver/Cadbury Angling) peg 10, 85lb 6oz

 2nd Russ Peck (Thatchers Tackle) peg 36, 69lb 8oz

3rd Tom Thick (Thatchers Tackle) peg 34, 51lb 13oz

4th Bob Gullit (BVMG) peg 22, 51lb 12oz

Silvers

 1st Paul Faires (Sensas Thyers) peg 15, 10lb 7oz

2nd Tom Thick (Thatchers Tackle) peg 34, 10ld 4oz. 

   

 

  

          

 

         

Acorn Individual League Rd 1.

The start of this popular league which is well attended with 29 fishing with the format of 3 sections which we were all going to fish twice rotating around the lake, with the forecast of rain and strong winds we were all hoping for a draw with a bit of shelter but for me it wasn't to be as I ended up on peg 16 on the straight bank and being further across to the island than the pegs around me I new I was going to have my work cut out just to present anything properly.

For company I had Lance (ten more minutes') Tucker on 15 who had two more meters less to reach were we expected the fish to be although I could see as we were tackling up Lance had a job to plum up in the already gusting wind, I planned to fish a line at the bottom of the far shelf in around 5ft of water at 13mts which was plenty far enough to fight with' A rig to fish big expanders over hard 4mm's at 6mts to my right and a rig to fish against the inside shelf with dead maggot or worm on the hook over caster, for across I assembled a 4x12 chanti on 0.13-0.11 and an 18 808 to fish across, a 4x14 chanti to fish the 6mt line again on 0.13-0.11 to an 16 808 and a 4x10 chanti for my inside swim to an 18 PR36.

After Drawing Tom Thick in the Knockout for the first round starting next week we had a quid on today only for him to draw below me on peg 13 meaning we will in the same section next week for start of it and who knows we could draw next to each other which would keep it interesting."

At the all in I cupped in half a pot of casters down my inside, and palm full of hard 4mm's and a nugget of micro onto the 6mt line, starting at the bottom of the far shelf with a 4mm expander on the hook I fed over the top of the float with a tiny freeze cad pot attached containing a couple of hard 4mm and about 15 micros, 20 minutes later and not a sign despite re-feeding a couple of times with the same amount had me thinking the carp wanted to be up in the shallower water tight to the island as tom had 3 carp in his first 3 put-ins! as well as Mark Bartlett having a couple on peg 18, The problem I had was by now the wind was blowing so much I new it would be nearly impossible to hold the pole let alone put the rig in amongst the stick ups so I opted to plum a new rig tighter in front of them in two and half of water but I felt I had missed the boat a little as by now those I could see having early fish were now struggling for bites.

I gave the 6mt line a quick try but without success so went onto the new line across and had a bite first dob in but a 3oz skimmers wasn't what I hoped for, 5 minutes later and a slightly bigger skimmer saw a swap to a 6mm expander but after small skimmer number 3, I new it wasn't right and I was being blown around on my box by the wind so a rest and re-think was in order,

I popped up to see how Mark was fishing as he was hooking a few and noticed he was fishing tight into the bank with worm or maggot on the hook about 10 inches deep, now this seemed to be doing the trick but the problem I had was it meant adding an extension to 16mts was needed for me to get this far! Back to my peg and after trying all the lines I had running I had no choice but to dig my rig box out and find a suitable rig to get tight to the bank for my sins".

Starting on triple dead maggot two mins later I had my first carp of 3lb but ten more minutes bite less and struggling to stay on my box I hooked a bull rush and saw my pole bend at an angle I had never seen before" so not fancying dropping numerous sections for repair I had to give up on this line as a bad job as sometimes its just not worth breaking expensive tackle. The inside lines never worked for me today with a change of baits producing nothing so I spent the rest of the match swapping between 4mm soft pellet and maggot on the hook when the wind allowed in front of the far bank rushes and it wasn't until the last hour I had some bites adding four more carp to the one I had earlier for a total of 15lb odd, Tucks finished with 17lb odd and the guy to my left also had 15lb so after breaking my back for most of the day we ended close, Mark did well to fishing in the rat hole all day winning the section with 38lb, Top weight on the day went to Andy France with 43lb also catching across in the shallow water on expanders over a sprinkling of micros and 4mm's, The weather ruined it for most today and numerous breakages were heard so back for round two next week praying for light winds".

Full results -

1st Andy France (Cadbury Angling) peg 25 , 43lb 8oz.

2nd Bob Gullitt (BVMG) peg 40 41lb 15oz.

3rd Kev Perry (Thyers) peg 20 39lb 2oz.

4th Lewis Jones (Thyers) peg 23 38lb 7oz.

5th Mark Bartlett (Matrix) peg 17 38lb

Top Silvers - Andy Gard 14lb 8oz.                         

Shiplate Farm Pairs Match, Monday 5th May 2014.

I'm Running an open match with a slight difference on Monday 5th may at Shiplate Farm, The difference being that it will be a Blind' Pairs match meaning you wont know who your paired up with until your name has been drawn out of a hat on the day, ( A good bonding method lol. )

planning to spread the match over both the canal lakes (Hawthorn & Westpool) as well as the main lake so as your name has been called out you know will which lake you will be fishing, The way this works for example - The first name draw out will fish the main lake and the second name out will fish one of the canal lakes as well as them being the first pair". so the next to names out will repeat the process until the last pairing and remaining two lakes are selected.

After the pairings and the lakes you will be on decided you will then draw your own peg for the lakes you are on.

Entry fee on the day will be £20 per person with an optional £5 individual super pool on the day so should your partner not do well on the day and you miss out on the pairs results you could still be taking some money home.

Depending on total numbers fishing on the day will decided the amount of pairs paid out and there will also be a Silvers pairs pay-out.

The way the winning pairs will be decided will be on a points basis, for example-

With an entry of 32 Anglers this would result in two sections of 16 meaning a section spread over the main lake and a section spread over both canal lakes (8 pegs on each canal).

If you win your section you will receive 1pt down to last in the section receiving 16pts and the pair scoring the least points on the day will come out on top, and the same will apply to the top silvers result.

To book in contact Steve or Carol at the fishery on- 07895852162 or through their facebook  website or contact me via my blog.          

Fishing times will be from 11am-5pm with the draw at the fishery at 9.30 all Fishery rules apply.  

  

Viaduct Open (Cary & Lodge lakes).

Traveling With Don again today which is nice as there plenty of room in his van for all of the kit we seem to take these days' with the draw time being later at 9.30 we had plenty of time for breakfast at hilltops first, first thing to notice today was how pleasant the weather was with the sun out and hardly any wind" 23 fishing today meaning most anglers would be on Cary and a section on Lodge with a three peg overspill onto Cary, Yesterdays open was won from peg 81 with a total of  270lb so a draw on this lake would be nice'.

Near the front of the draw today hoping for a favoured draw saw me on 73 Lodge which is not the lake I was hoping for as I felt the best weights would be off Cary but I did have a corner peg with a tree in the water at 17mts which I was told held fish although I didn't plan to fish this far as I would be asking for trouble' so after pluming along from 11-14mts a found around 4ft of water just out from the bank which seemed snag free so a 4x12 rig on 0.15-0.13 to a 18 PR478 was made up to fish this line as well as to my inside left towards the next pallet in the same depth of water , I had another rig set up to fish a slightly heavier 4x14 made up on 0.13-0.11 for the open water at 6mts were I would feed meat by hand, last of all a bomb was set up to fish punched meat out into the open water.

At the all in I fed around half a pot of 6mm meat onto the inside left and the same towards the tree on my right at 11mts as I wanted to gauge my swim first rather than push fish further back towards the tree, after adding a palm full of meat onto the 6mt line I began on the bomb and punched 10mm meat and after 30 mins of casting around the peg I hadn't had so much as a liner so I swapped to meat on the 6mt line where I had been flicking some in by hand. A couple of missed bites saw me swap to a single cube and as a result started to catch roach so was soon topping the swim up with half a pot of meat and switch to my 11mt swim towards the tree with two 6mm cubes on the hook, another 15mins past and still no carp and after trying down to the right without success I new I had to fish further towards the tree so I fed another half pot at 14mts and went back on the 6mt line. I managed a couple of skimmers before hooking a flyer' which came off and killed it stone dead! back on the pole towards the tree I foul hooked a fish first put in which did its best to climb the branches before sheading the hook but at least it was a sign they were there and the rig came back intact so back in and ten mins later my first carp after 2hrs' of around 8lb was a start, I fe-fed the swim with a cadpot attached full of meat after every bite but was getting pestered by small fish so cut out the feed until I had a carp, the problem I had was the carp seemed more interested in basking in the sun under the tree than having a feed so the roach and rudd were having a field day'.

I found by not moving the rig if I managed to get the bait to the bottom to wait, I could get a carp and of good size I had three in a row then fishery manager Paul Greenwood came by and asked how things were going and no sooner had I told him I had started to catch it went dead as far as the carp went! (There all Jinxed"). I cupped in another half a pot and tried my left hand swim, first put in and a foul hooked big fish came off after 5mins and despite trying this swim a few more times until the end of the match I never had a sign of a carp and nor did the lad to my left fishing back towards the pallet towards me, on the 6mt line all I had were some smaller skimmers and roach so I concentrated towards the tree on double 6mm meat ending the match with 8 carp and 18lb of silvers for a total of 79lb odd and second on are lake with the other end peg 66 winning the lake with 128lb, first on the day went to Lewis Greenwood king on Cary peg 98 with 182lb catching on the waggler and pellet and bomb with meat.

Full Results-

1st Lewis Greenwood-King peg 98 Cary, 182lb 5oz.

2nd Steve Tucker (Garbolino) peg 80 Cary, 173lb 14oz.

3rd Steve Denmead (Viaduct) peg 86 Cary, 151lb 3oz.

4th Dan Squires (Viaduct) peg 66 Lodge, 128lb 1oz.

Silvers-

1st  Roland Lucas (Viaduct) peg 100 Cary, 42lb 6oz.

2nd T.Davis (Unattached) peg 103 Cary, 36lb 2oz.                      

Acorn Fishery Sat Open.

Back to acorn fishery today as I haven't been for a few weeks and with a few more fishing as a practice match for the series starting next Sunday helped to increase the attendance, Not to worried were I was draw today as after winning the last match on expanders I would be fishing along the same lines, into the draw and I ended up on peg 5 which I was happy enough with as I had the option to fish across to the island at 13mts as well as a line to my left at 8mts on the bottom of the inside shelf, being quite positive I plumed two swims across at the same depth in around 3ft of water to fish 4mm expanders over micro pellet on a 4x12 chanti to 0.13-0.10 and an 18 808, and a 4x12 chanti for my short 8mt swim in 5ft of water where I planed to fish a bigger 6mm expander over hard 4mm and 6mm pellet.

At the start  I cupped in half a pot of mixed hard pellet on the short swim and fed one line across with a small nugget of micro and a few dampend 4mm before starting across on my other line with a tiny cad pot containing a tiny amount of micro and 3-4 hard 4mm pellet, 15mins in and my first bite resulted in a carp of 4lb on the expander things were looking good as after a few liners I swapped to the more positive line across and took 3 more carp of the same size in the next twenty mins before disaster struck and the wind picked up from no were meaning it was nearly impossible to fish across and present the rig properly which was really annoying as from what I could see not much had been caught so far, Not having a choice I had to make a switch to the shorter line in the hope of catching here earlier than I had anticipated but after 20 bite less minutes I decided to make a new rig up to fish closer to the bank in just over 2ft of water but despite a skimmer of a pound I was going nowhere fast.

I tried in vain to attempt to hold the rig still enough across to induce a bite but after twice being span around on my seat box I had to give up hope until the last hour and managed to snare one more of the same size added to three late fish from the short line late on the big expanders gave me a total of 28lb 13oz, the lake had fished hard though and Bob gullit took the honours over on peg 21 with a total of 29lb 14oz and Lee Waller weighed 29lb 9oz  off peg 11 so missed out of a pick up or the second win on the bounce at the venue but I didn't lose any fish other than two foul hookers but that's fishing its just a shame the wind got up as I'm sure I would of had more off the long lines.

High light of the day had to be when Gabrial Skabba misses turned up and made her way to who she though was hubby only to realise she was just about to plant a welcome smacker on the chops of Phil (Fabio) Harding by mistake" I don't know who was more shocked!

Full Results -

1st Bob Gullit (BVMG) peg 21, 29lb 14oz.

2nd Lee Waller (Acorn) peg 11, 29lb 9oz.

3rd Dom Sullivan ( Maver/Cadbury Angling) peg 5, 28lb 13oz.

4th Nick Coles (Clevedon A.A) peg 22, 24lb 9oz

Silvers - Phil Harding , Peg 39, 18lb 8oz.                    

Emerald Pool, (Ruby & Sapphire lakes)

Tony Rixon's match today over both lakes and after another nice breakfast at hilltops I was off to the fishery in plenty off time for the draw and to get my kit on the trolley ready for the off and I did remember my wheels today which help', I haven't fished the lakes in question for years so was only going off the information from the match Tony had on Wednesday although I did make up some paste as they used to love it on sapphire so was willing to give it a try should I be lucky enough to draw there? With 30 fishing today it meant I had a 50/50 chance in the draw and when it came to my turn I ended up on Ruby peg 20 on the back of Emerald pool itself so I wasn't sure of the paste attack? so planned to fish hard pellet and meat on a couple of different lines, for company I had Craig (Trigger) Edmund to my right on 19 with his traveling partner Paul Elms on 18 so new they would be giving each other some stick' I forgot the camera after putting new batteries in again so couldn't take a view of my swim but had an island in front of me at 10mts and had a 4x12 chanti on 0.13-0.11 and an 18 808 to fish at the bottom of the shelf in 4ft of water, A rig the same was used to fish at the bottom of the shelf on the inside at 5mts to my left and right, one to be fed with 6mm meat and the other with 6mm hard pellet.

On the all in I cupped a palm full of meat to my inside left and the same of pellet to my right and started towards the island with a hard 6mm on the hook, the first twenty mins saw me hook two carp of a 1lb each which both shed the hook at the net' and by now Trigg and Paul were both catching short on the pellet and I felt I was falling behind and with the stamp of fish averaging up to 2lb I had to try short to catch up, starting with a 6mm cube of meat it didn't take long for me to get a better fish of 3lb but then I started to get iffy dinks on the float with small fish attacking the meat so cupped another palm full of meat in and tried a 6mm pellet to my left but getting ragged out I soon gave up and had to make a change so a banned 8mm was shipped out to the island swim and straight away I had a couple of carp to 2lb without feeding but then got a few foul hookers so decided to re-plum a swim closer to the island, with a 4x10 Chanti rig I found a flat spot in around 2ft of water so starting with an 8mm on the hook I decided to add a cad pot and cup in around five 8mm's  over the float once it had settled which seemed to work as the foul hookers stopped and with the average fish being 2lb I was making an inroads on Trig & Paul as there short lines had dried up along with Tim Fords swim opposite who started really well.

Every time the swim went quite I switched to the short meat swim and although they were of better stamp to 3lbs I would only catch one or two as they didn't seem to settle so by having most of my indications across in the shallower water I had to concentrate on this line, I caught as much as I could before resting it for ten mins and slowed to cad potting 4-5 8mm's after every fish, it wasn't fast but I did seem to be putting fish in the net as some anglers swims had totally died and had them starting new lines to follow the fish, I did try meat and 6mm pellet across but nuisance fish were a problem so I stuck to the hard 8mm for the rest of the match across and a couple more fish on the meat short pushed my weight up but I wasn't sure what weight I had thought I was sure Trig and Paul still had more than me. at the weigh in Paul was first to weigh and put 67lb on the scales followed by Trig's 76lb and was more than surprized when I took my first net out as it weighed 73lb but with the limit being 70lb I had 3lb deducted which was only me to blame, added with a few fish in the other net my total went 78ld odd which was ok until Matt Tomes weighed in 80lb on the far bank to win the lake  meaning I was to end up second due to my miss counting" It wasn't all bad as Tony paid the top Two on each lake and two sections so I ended up with £45 which paid for my weekend, the days top weight was off sapphire with Gordon Canning's taking 87lb so it turned into a very close match and a couple of fish either way could of swung things which is nice to see.

Full Results-

1st Gordon Cannings 87lb

2nd Bela Bakos 86lb

3rd Tom Thick 85lb

4th Matt tomes 80lb

5th Dom Sullivan 78lb

6th Craig Edmunds 76lb.      

                   

Paul Garrett Memorial Match Viaduct Fishery.

Traveling with Team mate Don Sutherland & Johnny Page for Company and after a nice breaky at hilltops we made are way to the fishery in plenty of time to load are kit up in time for the draw, or so I thought until I realised I had left my trolley wheels in are car so a draw with a short walk would be helpful as I had brought everything but the kitchen sink! A good turn out today with 45 fishing and the match being spread over Cambell, Cary & lodge lakes, We were chatting out side so were near the back of the draw today and when I pulled two tickets out John pinched the top one and ended up on 81 Cary which he wasn't happy with lol and I ended up on 111 Cambell which left me a short walk at least but I would have preferred to be further up the lake as these have been the form pegs.

Having not fished the venue as much as these local lads I new to compete I had to try and keep it simple so opted to fish the bomb and hair rigged meat or 8mm pellet toward the aerator in the middle of the lake, The pole at 14mts with banded 6mm or 8mm pellet over 6mm feed pellets and a 6mm meat line at 6mts which I would feed lightly by hand through out the match looking to catch big skimmers over it and hope some big carp turn up later in the day. My pole rigs consisted of a 4x14 chanti on 0.15-0.13 and a 18 PR474 for the long line and a 4x12 chanti on the same line for the shorter swim with an 16 PR 474 on the business end, After a Chat with John and a quid side bet struck before the start on the all in I cupped half a good pot of 6mm pellet with a few 8mm's in on the 14mt swim and a palm full of 6mm meat on the short line, I did feed half a pot of 6mm pellet on a short line to my left but didn't have a bite over it through the day.

Starting on the bomb with punched 10mm meat I was bite less for 20mins which saw me swap to 8mm hair rigged pellet as the guy on the peg opposite had already had two carp to which I believe he had on pellet but apart from a couple of liners I hadn't had a proper bite, The first hour flew by and I still hadn't had a fish and looking further up the lake I could see Dave Roper on 116 and Alex Murray on 118 were catching and I new I had to get some fish in the net soon".

I went out onto the long pole swim with a banded 8mm but 10mins later without a sign I swapped to a 6mm and had a 2lb skimmer first put in followed by a small skimmer and a few missed bites so I topped it up and tried a 6mm piece of meat on the short line, Another skimmer of the same size followed by a 3lb tench had me wondering should I spend the rest of the match fishing for the silvers but being as I had them on the meat line and expecting some carp later in the match I topped the line up with another palm full of meat after no more bites and went back on the bomb with meat again.

first cast and at last a carp of 5lb followed by one of 4lb the next chuck then nothing saw me casting to other areas of the swim and I did get my total up to 6 carp all on the meat but I was having to wait to long for bites and with others still catching I new my best chance to catch up would be the short meat swim and with 90mins left I was praying they had turned as fishing the long pole and pellet had now been ruled out with the wind, first drop in with a single 6mm cube saw a missed bite but with the tow coming towards me I felt the rig was to light so I swapped to the 4x14 rig about two inches over depth with two 6mm cubes on the hook.

Bingo" This worked a treat and a 6lb common followed by a 12lb mirror was a good sign to me they had turned up! after every fish or every couple of mins without a bite I fed 6-8 pieces by hand over the float and by lifting the rig and dropping it when I felt the bait had nearly reached the deck saw some un-miss able bites' I stayed on this line for the remainder of the match even adding another net in the last twenty mins and was catching some nice size carp with a few good size tench in between. At the all out I hadn't a clue what I had but new I would struggle to match the guys on the more fancied pegs but was happy to weight 18lb of silvers and 109lb of carp for a total of 127lb missing out by winning the section by 2lb to Dave Roper, and 3rd in the silvers by 3lb' but I felt I did it right on the day just a shame I couldn't catch um earlier. Don did well  despite drawing a good carp peg he went against the grain and fished for silvers ending the day with 51lb of big skimmers at 9mts on banded 6mm pellet over loose fed pellet which was easily enough to take the top silvers prize of £65 so fair play to him, Top Man on the day went to in form Gary O'Shea (P.I.Thatchers) from 102 on Cary catching on the bomb and cone with meat on the hook taking 16 carp for a total of 185lb so some big fish then" Back up weights of a couple of 160-150lb followed so I was happy with the way my day went seeing I'm adjusting to the fishery and taking on the regulars who are all hard to beat and look forward to my next trip.                                  

Shiplate Farm Open (Main Lake).

After grabbing a breakfast roll for fishery owner Steve we made a way up to share a sandwich with a cuppa and a chat, the wind today had made no let up and was straight in the face of the swims on the near bank in the low numbers so I was praying for fancied pegs 1 or 15 or any swim on the far bank with the wind off are backs, I had no maggots or casters today and was going to take a pellet and meat approach along with some corn, into the draw and out comes peg 11 on the far side so the hassle of the wind was avoided This swim suited what I wanted to fish today being the bomb with meat or 8mm pellet to fish tight to the island if need be and a waggler at depth just off the end of the island in 4ft of water both set up with hair rig stops size 14 and 16 hooks. Down to my left at 12mts there is a bush in the water so I made one rig to fish at depth just off the end of it in 5ft of water on 0.13-0.11 and an 18 PR474. I didn't make a rig up for silvers today as I felt I had to concentrate on the big boys'. (pic of island chuck & Inside swim)

  At the start I cupped in a pot full of hemp corn and some 6mm meat on the inside swim and started on the bomb and 10mm punched meat about a foot off the end of the island, Having caught a few fish like this on my recent pleasure session I new it was a case of waiting and after a motionless 15mins the tip flew round and carp number one was soon in the net of approx. 5lb, another 10mins and carp two was added of around 4lb's.

 Fish on'.

Another 30mins with no further signs saw me switch to the waggler slightly further off the island but the fish were having none of it and a change to hard 6's and 8mm pellet made no difference so I was back on the lead playing the waiting game, there was a strong breeze blowing into the pegs on the near bank and I couldn't help but laugh as I took my jacket off to look up and see Dave Coco adding more thermals"

Another carp out of the blue on the two hour mark then nothing made me give the pole a try down to the bush with double 6mm meat on the hook, and after a few minutes of careful lifting and dropping gave me a positive bite and a much bigger fish hooked only for it to come straight to the surface and shed the hook' another try and nothing had me top the swim up and try meat where I had been flicking a few pieces by hand around 2mts from the bank although this was short lived as the ducks appeared and found the exact spot diving down to wipe my peg clear even though it was 5ft deep and they didn't even see me feed!

   The rest of the match saw me trying down the edge a few times with know further signs and all I could do was fish the bomb and meat until the end, by leaving it as long as possible as I couldn't feed due to the wildlife saw me add 3 more carp of around the same size to finish with 5 fish for 23lb with a lone 8oz chub, Young Lewis Jones had a great day further up the lake on peg 13 catching 95lb of carp on the long pole and pellet to win the day and Andy France did well over on peg 3 to battle with the wind on the pole for the days top silvers weight of 28lb, All I picked up today was another quid off peanut but at least me and the wife were out off the wind which kept her happy'.

   Full Results-
1st Lewis Jones (Sensas Thyers) Peg 13, 95lb 8oz
2nd Paul Chapman (Shiplate) Peg 1, 70lb 3oz
3rd Tom light (Shiplate) Peg 14, 51lb 14oz
4th Tim Lewis (Shiplate) Peg 12, 31lb 4oz
Silvers-
1st Andy France (Cadbury Angling) Peg 3,  28lb 11oz
2nd Tim Lewis (Shiplate) Peg 12, 23lb 2oz.
 

Manor Farm Leisure Nr Evesham. (Saturday)

A first time visit to this venue for myself so I was looking forward to something different after an invite to travel up with Sensas Thyers Young un' Lewis jones and Steve (Peanut) Howell, Lewis thought he had more knowledge than the Tom Tom taking us on a scenic route of Evesham ending up back at the roundabout we past 30minutes earlier". Still making it in plenty of time for a breakfast on site before a wander around the lakes to see where we were going to be fishing with Windmill and Boundary being used for are open match, A quick chat before with the tackle shop owner told us willow had a depth running from 5ft to 12ft' and Boundary had a depth of 5-6ft although Lewis said he had 8ft but I don't think he has any idea how much a foot is..? Into the draw and I and up on windmill 13 only to have Peanut for company on 15 so I thought with the way he draws we must be in a good area", Lewis drew on 38 boundary which is an open water lake in the nice sun as me and Steve had the wind in are chops shaded under the conifers 6ft behind us' Pluming up at 13mts I had 12ft of water so a touch of line was added to make the rig long enough being a 0.4g PB3 on 0.13-0.10 and an 18 808 for fishing expanders over hard 4's at dead depth and a rig to fish the same down my inside in 5ft of water, all I had time left to set up was a pellet waggler to fish hard 6's & 8's but I didn't expect it to work as the wind was blowing into are faces from the left so feeding 6's as advised was going to be out of the question.

At the all in and after having a quid with Steve I cupped in half a pot of 4mm hard pellet and some 4 and 6mm expanders on both lines and started at 13mts, 2omins and my first fish being a 8oz skimmer followed by to smaller samples and two tiny roach on 6mm expanders had me thinking something wasn't right and I new I had to change, It was time to try the waggler and after 30mins I had an F1 of around 3lb but I was struggling to keep the float still in the harsh breeze and could only feed 8mm pellets which I felt were to big for the size of the fish in this lake and the lad a couple of pegs down on the opposite bank had taken a few fish on the waggler feeding 6mm, despite trying the long pole again and taking a carp of 3lb down the edge on a 6mm expander and losing another bigger fish in the last 5mins I spent most of the match tying to make the shallow waggler work but it wasn't until the wind let up going into the last hour that I managed to feed some 6mms and with the same on the hook I added a few more F1s and some smaller carp but with a top weight of 60lb odd on Boundary we new are lake had fished harder and was happy to weigh 23lb to Steve's 21lb so I had a quid and was winning the section but we think it would have been beat?? and Lewis ended up catching some big f1s to finish with 29lb, shame the wind spoilt the day as I'm sure I could of had a few fish from the open water to have had a result but that's fishing and we had a good laugh which was the main thing.                      

Time For A Rant"

For those that know me new I took a few years away from fishing for a while and returned to fishing matches three years ago now, In that time things have changed some what with most of the fishing being on commercials which all seem to of average attendance except for some well run leagues through the year.

Being involved with Maver/Cadbury Angling has given me the chance to fish a variety of venues as well as the natural venues especially in the last 18mts, now I fully appreciate the help from Toby at Cadbury Angling but on my return to fishing I new I wanted to take it seriously and always new if wanted to progress any further I would have to give it 100% if I was going to be lucky enough to get noticed and progress to a private sponsorship. To date, My return saw me start at Shiplate Farm Fishery and I wasn't long before I got back into the swing of things racking up 8 match wins on the trot, last year I had change of scenery and fished some matches at Summerhayes Fishery in Bridgewater were I notched up 5 wins on the trot and felt confident in the 6th visit to win only to snap my pole meaning I couldn't fish where I wanted and had to start a line for silvers which I went on to win and the next time I won the match again' All this was in between fishing Acorn fishery most Saturdays and some Tuesdays which I had many wins and was in the frame every week, Now I don't claim to be the best angler in the world by any means but you don't get these results without putting the effort in and being able to read your swim on the day is something that's always going to make a difference to doing well, To date I haven't been approached which I understand because as far as I'm concerned I building a good C.V should the opportunity arise.

Now this is where my Rant begins, As you can see from this blog lately I have been running Open matches on Saturdays At Emerald Pool Fishery in West Huntspill, Now these matches have been very popular as its silver fish matches with plenty of bites' so to the extent I was running them every fortnight, Now in not going to name and shame, Though I find it a bit annoying that somebody has chosen to do an article on the Fishery for their Sponsorship' to keep them happy" When I'm the person who approached Owner Alan & Anita to start the matches up and currently hold the match record so am I missing the boat somewhere or perhaps this person should have took a few seconds to think how it would affect others as I'm sure if it were the other way around they wouldn't be best pleased...? I understand the pressure to perform for your Sponsor's and having to do the articles when need be but with a Varity of venues to chose from which give good silvers sport so why when I'm trying to build on a sponsor does someone see it as their right to jump in on a good opportunity for me to get somewhere? Perhaps something like a head to head may have been appropriate or is it the thought of maybe (God For Bid) getting beat in front of the cameras is the worry? all I do know is this certain individual thought no further than Himself..   I will be interested in your thoughts next time you see me on the bank because as for those who run matches all know its not just a case of turning up and it all falling into place there's a lot of arranging to do as well as the moaning when someone has draw were they don't want to be'                                    

Viaduct Teams of Five Final Rd.

Traveling with Don Sutherland again today for the final round of the viaduct league and with 95 anglers involved there's a lot to fish for, We planned to grab a breakfast roll at the wooden spoon in Weston although as norm they had over slept or to many beers the night before? so we made are was to the globe for the draw and managed to get there in time for a full breakfast to help us through the day, We had team mate Sam Johnson draw for us today as Chris Hook hadn't been to clever for us to date, Back with the team draw card and Bingo' I had managed to draw on the overspill to spring lake peg 3 not that I didn't fancy match lake I just felt I had a few more options, Happy with my draw which gave me an island chuck for the carp on the straight lead and plenty of room for fishing the pole for the resident lakes skimmers as well as a tree in the water to my left which I planned to feed casters for the perch, for company today I Had Chris Davis for company on peg two and Andy Crooker from the welsh mob on peg 4 .

After setting up the bomb with hair rigged size 16 Drennan hook I had two rigs of the same set up for fishing the pole at fourteen and a half meters with 0.4g mick Wilkinson skimmer floats on 0.10-0.09 and an 18 Drennan silver fish hook coupled to Middy 6-8 Hi-Vis elastic. I have to make a point to mention this elastic as I've been using this for silvers now for the last few months and I rate I highly and to date I haven't lost hardly anything I've hooked' and being a solid elastic its only around £2.50 for 5mts".

At the all in a cupped in 5 balls of darkened ground bait with casters and a few floro pinkees in on the long pole swim and some loose casters at 2 o'clock at 13mts being the same depth, Last week there were some big skimmers caught in the area although today was very bright and warm unlike the rain from the previous week so I was unsure they would settle but wanted to put a good carpet down if they did.

Starting on the straight lead with punched 10mm meat with a motion less 20mins on the tip, To be honest I was struggling to reach the distance as I don't carry the leads some of these guys do" but with a bit more welly' I got the distance sorted and a switch to 3 discs of punched bread and had a skimmer first chuck of 2lb, nothing followed so I was itching to get on the pole with double caster, First put in and 3mins later and another 2lb skimmer was added before a smaller 10oz sample then nothing , this is were I had to make a decision as to re-feed the long pole line which I chose not to as im sure I still had enough feed in the area to graze over. Back on the lead and reaching the half way point I was having to make the choice for best as my rod was nearly wrenched in on popped up bread resulting in a nearly 9lb carp but another 30mins with nothing and two hours left I topped up the long pole with a small ball containing more casters and ten mins later went out over it with double caster and the results were instant with 3 nice size skimmers before things slowed down again, I felt they were happy to have a bit of feed so fed another ball'' of casters , a try down by the tree saw me have two small perch were I had been flicking casters by hand and a quick try back on the lead and bread leading to nothing made my mind up to concentrate on the long pole for the last hour.

I was soon finding a pattern of having a couple of fish before having to add another small ball and repeat the process leaving it to settle for 5mins and trying over the loose fed long line which only produced two small roach, I managed to catch steady for the last 30mins including two fish on my last two put ins I was gutted the all out sounded, match lake had fished really well and 90lb was top weight with good back ups so point wise I wasn't going to score well but would be interested  to see what my silvers would weigh and when they went just short of 27lb I thought I might get in the silvers frame and back at the results I was happy to find out I had second overall in the silvers picking up a nice £100 making a great finish to this popular league. owe and just to note I never lost a fish so the elastic must be a good choice".

Freeze Southwest Orange took the league title with an impressive 318pt and Fishery owner Steve Long was top individual, although as a team this year didn't get the best of results although I fully enjoyed the series and look forward to next year.

Full Results -

1st Martin Preston (Viaduct) peg 115 Cambell, 110lb 10oz

2nd Steve Nadlin (BVMG) peg 119 Cambell, 104lb 2oz

3rd John Moody (BVMG) peg 42 Match. 90lb 15oz

4th Clint Wojtyle (Avon Angling) peg 116 Cambell, 88lb 9oz

5th Andy Pritchard (Amigos) peg 123 Cambell, 72lb 1oz

Silvers -

1st Dan Squires (Viaduct Select) peg 16 Spring, 30lb 3oz

2nd Dominic Sullivan (Maver Cadbury Angling)  peg 3 Spring, 26lb 15oz

3rd Bela Bakos (Silverfox) peg 37 Middle, 26lb 4oz.               

Acorn Saturday Open (Paddock)

Off to Acorn today for the weekly Clevedon A.A match and with the forecast of a nice day a few were expected to dust of there kit off and return to the bank for a spot of fresh air if nothing else, 16 fishing today and a friendly pools of £12 gave me time to chat with team mate young James over a cuppa and a bacon sarnie had us hoping for a bridge peg as the resent form shows these to be more consistent of late and after seeing Steve Howell this morning he advised me to pick my peg with my left hand so into the draw out comes 38 which was the last place I wanted to be if truth be told as nobody had caught from it in the last few matches as they tend to be by bridge peg 40 at this time of the year and Darren Vowles was certainly smiling having draw it and it being todays bonus peg" to boot. obvious for me then, just beat Darren and i'le be alright, Simples'?

Sometimes when you don't draw the more fancied pegs you hope for it some what makes it easier to go about your day I believe as you don't have the pressure on to produce the goods the 'hot' pegs do, I planned two fish two swims to left and right around two metres out from the bank 9mts to either side and a the same rig to fish the bottom of the far shelf, all lines being the same depth at around 5ft deep so a 4x12 chanti on 0.11-0.10 and an 18 808 was assembled, another rig with a 4x10 chanti on 0.10-0.09 and a 20 808 was set up to fish on top of the shelf at 13mts in 3ft of water which I expected to have most indications on very late in the match.

My main feed today was going to be 4mm expanders fished over damped micro and hard 4mm's for across whilst I would feed caster and corn on my left on the shorter line and hard 4's with a few expanders to my right short line . Both lines were fed with a good handful of each before I cupped a nugget of micro with a sprinkle of loose offerings and hard 4's at the bottom of the far shelf, Starting with a tiny freeze cad pot attached containing two expanders and around 10 micro's up onto the top of the shelf I was looking for the odd fish quickly whilst my other lines settled and after an hour and a couple of dinks I had a carp of around 4lb but with no other signs except a brief tussle with a foul hooker I topped it up with a tiny amount of micro and switched to the bottom of the far shelf with 4mm expander and had a 3oz skimmer before I missed a quick bite but then nothing despite trying maggot and corn on the hook.

Another small nugget and a few expander re-fed the line before I tried up on the shelf again and another carp on pellet of 2lb was added but by now the wind had picked right up making it nearly impossible to hold the pole still so I had to change plan , I decided to cup in a palm full of bait on top of the shelf hoping to hold any passing carp to stay in the swim and have a look back over when the wind allowed, starting with double caster on the left short swim saw no indications and a try with corn didn't produce so a switch to the right hand swim with an expander saw a positive bite and another 4lb fish, followed by 2lb & 5lb fish so by looking around I was already making an impression as I hadn't seen much caught and Darren on the flier' only having one fish.

By now 2hrs had passed but I was now confident I would catch some more fish over if the wind was to drop into the last hour so now I new I had two lines to pinch fish off when ever possible, No more bites short made me top it up with another palm full of micro's and hard 4's before trying my best to hold the pole still long enough to induce a bite across but they didn't seem to want be in the shallower water so after trying the bottom of the shelf  for 10 mins without success I was back on the short pellet swim and another fish first put in was landed and after 10 more mins I attached a cad pot and began dripping in some micro and 4mms over the float and shortly after I had a nice 6lb common before it went quite again, by now I had an hour to go so I new if I was going to catch some more over it was going to be now so another top up short had me reach for the shelf rig, By now Lewis Jones had come down to see how we were getting on and was behind me as explained how I felt I was going to catch over and no sooner had I layed the rig in and emptied a micro amount of feed I was connected to a bigger fish and a minute later a 7lb common was netted' (I love it when it goes to plan) the same happed next put in and a 4lb fish was added then it went quite again so I swapped between both the long and short line ending the match with 11 carp which I thought was going to be their about from the pegs I could see not having that much,

As I thought the fishing had been hard and my 45lb was enough to take top weight and a win on the day with £40 added to the wallet to help which goes to prove you don't always have to be on the good pegs to get a result its how you approach it on the day and by fishing lighter lines and rigs can help as you have to make it look as natural as the feed to the fish, many of my bite came today just after the rig had settled or after I had lifted and dropped the rig a little. what was nice to see today we had a female angler in the name of Maria Green fishing who made my day by beating Darren Vowles & Dave Smart Either side of her so they wont get much stick next time will they" Go Girl!'

 Maria's Catch 10lb.

 My catch.

 

 Overall results                           

1st Dominic Sullivan (Maver Cadbury Angling) peg 38, 45lb 10oz

2nd  Paul Nicholls (Clevedon A.A) peg 11, 27lb 8oz

3rd Gabrial skarba (Acorn) peg 22, 23lb 8oz

3rd Lee Waller (Acorn) peg 34, 23lb 8oz. 

Top silvers

Paul Faires (Clevedon A.A) 11lb 2oz

                                   

Emerald Pool (Tony Rixons) Re-Arranged Silvers Match.

You know some days when things go wrong from the minute you start the day I had a sinking feeling it wasn't going to be mine as I realised I had forgot the camera half way to hilltops for breakfast and when I put my hot cuppa on the passengers seat it tipped over soaking my cap" still I made it to breky in one piece and had a good chat with fellow blogger Mike Nicholls and Harry Muir & Charlie Barns among others before getting to the fishery to arrange the pegging for Tony, 16 fishing today so there were going to be some dodgy areas to draw with the way the recent form on the lake had been going.

At the draw I was hoping for any peg with a single number so what do I end up with? Peg 11 which is along the bottom end of the lake tucked in the corner next to where Nigel Wickham drew on the Saturday match and failed to trouble the scales so it wasn't promising although I did have Tony on the next peg 12 on the same bank and we agreed to a quid side bet to keep us entertained, the lake at this end is a lot shallower the other  and I could only find around two and a half feet where ever I plumed up so I chose to fish at 10mts to my left and right at ten and two o'clock angles, one swim to fish over loose fed caster by hand and the other over groundbait and maggot, Rigs today were 0.02g on 0.10-0.09 and 18 63-13 and a 4x10 chanti on the same lines to an 18 PR490 to catch off the deck if they came off the bottom but I didn't really expect it to work with It being shallow.

At the all in I cupped one small ball containing a few red maggots and casters and a cup full of loose groundbait over the top on my right hand swim and cupped some casters on the other swim were I planned to feed by hand, starting over the groundbait it was very slow and in the first hour I had only managed around 5lb including a 3lb tench on the head of a worm  but I couldn't seem to catch more than a couple of fish before having to keep swapping swims, already Tom Thick on peg 9 along the fancied bank was catching quite well and Tony was putting a few fish in the net but was already catching carp on the same line at which point I had to mention to Tom the last time the sun was out it was like someone flicked a switch at 1pm and all the lakes carp had a munch as he was playing his 5th and it was only 12.40' 

I re-plumed a swim at twelve mts and cupped in some chopped worm and caster and left it to settle for 30mins before trying it but never had a bite' by now I was finding it hard to string anything together and approaching the half way stage I had to do something different as I was falling behind mainly due to the depth I think as they were spooking, I had had most of my fish over the groundbait line were I had been topping up with the odd nugget so I went for it and cupped in two bigger balls with a palm full of red maggots and floro pinkees in as well as 3 large pots of loose groundbait over the top, This might seem harsh but I had to try and draw some fish into my swim to hold them there for a longer period as although Tony was doing a fine display of carp fishing he was still adding the silvers to his net, I went straight on it as I was finding the fish weren't coming to the loose fed caster line and maybe they didn't like it over there heads.

A couple of lift bites saw a run of skimmers from 3oz-12oz right over the feed so I new they came to the groundbait' but I didn't milk it and fed a ball over the loose fed line and fished the rest of the match rotating between the two swapping the hook bait around, by the end of the match I had put more in the net in the last 3 hours than I did in the first but didn't have time to catch up with Tony and lost my pound as he had 35lb to my 27lb so a quid lost but still a good day and a few laughs along the way mainly for Tom doing a good impression of trying to catch birds with the rig ending up in the tree as a fish came off swinging it in' for him start a trend as Barry Fitz on 13 did it next followed by Tony, and yep you guessed it' Me..!

It was nice to have a day in the sun for a change and everybody caught fish so a good day had by all with Tom winning the match with 67lb of mainly skimmers on soft pellet over micro pellet at 8mts a method he likes and he's good at so fair play to him and its nice to see someone try a different method although I tried it last time the sun was out and got carped to pieces so though twice about it and I'm sure if I had tried it I would of nicked the carp from Tony so left him to it". 

Full results -

1st Tom Thick (Thatchers Tackle) peg 9, 67lb 4oz

2nd Steve Tucker (Garbolino) peg 7, 53lb

3rd Tim Clark (Avon Angling) peg 1, 45lb

4th Barry Fitchew (Pole Repairs) peg 13, 38lb 6oz.    

             

 

Viaduct teams of five round 4.

With Don picking me up this morning it was a trip to the wooden spoon for a breakfast sandwich to have on the way to the globe in Somerton for the draw, a quick chat to the rest of the team saw captain Chris Hook to do the team draw for us again, I got a feeling after today it will be down to someone else having a go as Chris hasn't had the dab hand this series so far, I was to be on lodge today with an overspill onto Cary Lake for 5 of the pegs so were do I end up? yep" 103 Cary!

Not what I fancied at all and the Thursday open had produced no carp at this end of the lake so that didn't bow well to beating many pegs on lodge with the fancied corner pegs expected to produce the best, The plus side was the wind was of are backs so my main attack would be the pole long at 16mts with maggot and caster over groundbait for silvers and the waggler to fish punched meat to start beyond the pole line in the hope of snaring a carp that might be lost" the pole line was three and a half feet deep so a so two rigs were assembled on 0.10-0.09 with a Mick Wilkinson 0.4g skimmer float and an 18 63-13, the waggler was a loaded 0.3g drake to an 0.15 hair stop hook length and two no.10 down the line to fish at dead depth.

For company today I had Thatchers Nicky Ewers on peg 104 although he was the start of the other section on Cary so after a quick chat it was down to the all in and I had planned to feed 6 balls containing a few casters,dead reds, and some pinkees on the long pole 16mt line although being as I had to break the pole down with the narrow bank behind me and the fear of dipping into Nick Chedzoys peg I got to five balls and felt I had been arm wrestling Mike Tyson' so knocked it on the head!, though I did have enough strength to fed my left hand swim at 14mts with some minced worm and pinkee cupped in loose, I did feed a half big pot of caster down to the next pallet in 3ft of water in case I had a chance of a late margin munter?.

Starting on the waggler with meat 20mins in and no signs for me of anyone chucking within the same area saw me switch to hair rigged corn and 5mins later a nice bite saw me connect with nothing' Another 20 bite less mins and only Tom Thick having a carp first put in (14lb") down the edge on the opposite bank we were all struggling and I was soon on the pole and first put in I had a 10oz skimmer on dead maggot, ten more mins and a switch to a single caster tipped with a floro pinkee saw me connect to another bigger skimmer of around two pounds, not a bad start as I fully expected the peg to get better as it went on, a couple of small roach saw me top the swim up with a small ball with caster and dead reds in before trying the 14mt line with a single red maggot but this only gave me two small roach so a change was in order.

Removing the hook length on the waggler I swapped it to 0.09 and an 18 490 to fish single caster beyond the pole line, by feeding small amounts of caster and waiting I caught and 8oz skimmer and a couple or roach but I new the bigger skimmers were around so went back to double caster on the pole at 16mts and another two pound skimmer was added 10 mins later but you didn't seem to catch anything but small fish after so I found it best to top up with another small ball and try something else, despite trying over the worm line at 14mts and a couple of roach on the waggler I found it best just to sit and wait for a bite at 16mts swapping between baits on the hook and top ups with small balls saw me add another good skimmer and some smaller samples including an 8oz fish on the whistle for a final total of 10lb of silvers, but it wasn't going to be good team points despite beating the pegs to my left in my section, all but two people had caught carp out of the 14 pegs on Lodge with Dave Romain was top weight with 113lb odd,  teams standings show the freeze outfit are winning overall with the last match next week my final match with me on match lake and five on the overspill on spring which next time I wouldn't mind being on"

individual results -

1st Chris Sandford (Amigos) 166lb 8oz ,Cambell 115

2nd Mark Williams (Thatchers Anglio Welsh) 160lb , Cambell 116

3rd Dave Romain (Viaduct Select) 113lb 2oz , Lodge 64

4th tony Rixon (Avon Angling) 101lb 11oz Lodge 56

Silvers -

1st Clint Wojtyle (Avon Angling) 25lb 6oz , Spring 12

2nd John Harvey (Thatchers Anglio Welsh) 24lb 9oz.                     

    

Emerald Pool Silvers Match.

Traveling with Steve(Peanut)Howell and a trip to the wooden spoon for a spot of breky before heading to the fishery to peg the match out and with 13 fishing I managed to space them so we could see each other, We did have the legend Des Shipp fishing though he had to cancel due to a Dorking Match which was a shame as it would of been interesting to see how he went about it, Paying the top two and two sections to make it fair I let Kev Jeffries do the honours for me today and he handed my peg 7 on the far bank of the lake which has been producing the top weights of late so I was happy enough for starters, For company to day I had Ray Wickham on peg 8 and my good friend Darren (Bigbird) Greenwood on peg 6 so a quid was struck with him and peanut before the start. I caught at around 6mts last time I was in this area so chose two lines to target my attack around one just off to my left and the other 10mts down the swim, rigs were 0.13-0.09 and 18 63-13, one being a 0.3g PB2 for catching on the deck and the other a 4x12 chanti strung out rig for catching through the water. Depth wise I had around 3ft of water on both lines so I also set up a small 4x8 chanti if the fish were to come right up shallow.

Bait wise caster was going to be my main feed and I had some red maggot and worms as a change of bait for the hook and mixed some wetted Thatchers groundbait and ran it back through the riddle to fine it down before the start, At the all in I cupped some minced worm and caster on the line in front of me and a small ball of groundbait with worm and caster in on the swim further down the peg, starting on over the groundbait with single caster was slow to start but with there being a frost and bright skies I wasn't expecting a fish a chuck to start with, I kept trickling caster over the close line by hand and didn't feed the longer line again as I wanted to gauge the reaction to how much bait I should be feeding to keep bites coming, After about 30mins and around 4lb in the net bites were slowing so a re-feed with another small ball containing the same as I kicked the peg off with saw me switch to single caster on the closer line but after a couple of quick fish they didn't seem happy to settle over the loose feed so by adding another section and fishing beyond my feed I caught a slightly better stamp of fish including a bonus tench of around 3lb until they began to shy off so I kept feeding it and by taking a couple of fish over the loose feed before going out futher and nicking a few I kept fish coming for the next hour, swapping the bait around on the hook also seemed to make a difference and double maggot gave me a couple of smaller tench and crucians, the longer line was producing a couple of better skimmers again on the maggot so I added a small ball onto my shorter swim to try and fool some bigger fish.

Looking around the lake the two swims on the island were catching well though the pegs opposite seemed to be slower, Ray was doing ok below me catching over nuggets of groundbait although Darren next door was struggling to put anything together , I know he put more chopped worm in at the start than me and I had a feeling they weren't that keen on it as I didn't catch well with it on the hook.

After 3hrs I estimated I had close to 25lb but it was a case of having to rotate after a couple of fish to keep them coming and although some were on the small side at least I was putting something in the net regularly and the ones who were catching seemed to be having them in spells so I kept at it without trying to force them to have it as it was clear they didn't want to settle over the loose feed at all as it was surprizing how far off the feed I was catching, I mainly put this down to the bright skies causing a shadow from the pole but I was fishing a longer line to lay the rig beyond it and a lot of the bites came as the rig settled in the last few inches of the swim, I did try the shallow rig a couple of times without any luck. At the all out I thought I would have around 50lb and from what I could see some others had caught up until the all out so it was going to be close on the outcome.

Starting the weigh-in on the car park bank it had fished harder as expected with Kev Jeffries winning the section 35lb 4oz though still a great days fishing, Onto the island swims and Martin Heard took the lead with 61lb                        

 Martin Catch.

over to are bank and first to weigh was Peanut totalling 51lb 12oz

Part of  Peanuts catch.

Harry Muir had a great net of mainly hybrids all caught short on the maggot to take the lead with 64lb Though he was camera shy so I let Charlie Barns show of his 48lb of mainly tench on maggot.

  Darren had a hard day but caught a few fish later in the match after he came and saw me having a few to total 18lb odd so it was down to me but my 58lb fell just short though good enough to take the section win and a £30 return, And a nugget off of Birdy And peanut to boot"

Part of my catch.

Full results

  1st Harry Muir (Over 50s) Peg 5, 64lb 2oz.
  2nd Martin Heard (Tiverton) peg 1, 61lb 15oz.
  3rd Dom Sullivan (Maver/Cadbury Angling) 58lb 5oz.
  4th Steve Howell (Shiplate Farm) 51lb 12oz.
  5th Charlie Barns (Over 50s) 48lb 1oz.