Sunday 22/03/2026 - Westerleigh Winter League - Final Round 8 - Taylor's and Shipp's

Weather set fair again 😊. It's the best health wise I felt for some time - joyous.

My turn on Shipp's. Into the draw box and "Scull Corner" - peg 8 for me. Umm, can be a very good Carp peg, wind dependant, with very few silvers coming from it. Arrived at the peg and could see pairs a big Carp on the surface. So thinking it might be a Carp day. But first need to test it for silvers.

No chance of pick up in either the pairs with matey Johnny Wintle or the league.

Holstered the Long Ronnie rig, 4x12 Winter to fish two barrels and a 0.3 gram RJ to fish four barrels down to the LH side margin to the tree. The island was 13 metres so out of my physical reach.

Felt if the Carp were to have a go I would catch one very early. Started on the two barrel line feeding some GB with Pinkies and a single LR on the hook and had a Ronnie first put in and started to miss bites so went on the Ronnie rig with single Pinkie. Had a nice couple of hours catching small Skimmers and Ronnie's - no sign of Carp. It started to slow and had two F1's before the peg completely died so thinking oxygen crash. Struggled for the odd small silver. Had a go down the margin with a bunch of LR's on the hook over kindered DR's expecting Carp, just two more Ronnie's. Went on the two barrel line with double Pinkie over GB and had a 8 lb Carp spending the rest of the match on this line had one more decent Carp getting beat up three times.

Silvers weighed 5 lb for the silvers win and the two accidental Carp and two F1's took me to 26 lb 3 oz for 6 points. Really enjoyed the day. Picked up the highest weight silver prize, so mission accomplished.

Our pool was won by Dave Monks (pictured with the silvers winner) from peg 10 with 56 lb 7 oz. Dave initially caught tight over at 14.5 metres fish maggot over loose fed maggot mainly catching small Carp and F1's. Later Dave switch to down his margin catching a better stamp of Carp again on maggot. This also elevated Dave to second overall in the league and a decent pay day. Well done matey well deserved.

Taylor's was won once again by Vince Shipp (pictured). Drawing peg 20 Vince initially fished long, switching later in the match to his RH margin. His all Carp catch came on meat fished over meat. Well done Matey.

Silvers went to Marcus with a lowly 2 lb 3 oz from peg 25. Well deserved.

The individual league was won by inform Vince Shipp with 10 points, also the pairs with Ricky Mills with 604 lb

Thanks to Mark Taylor for the use of his lovely well kept fishery and Brian Shanks for running a well manged league. Already looking forward to the 2026/27 league. Lots of fish caught in some very difficult conditions.

Back to the pub for the presentation and a pint.

Weigh Sheets:

Final League:

Vince 10.   326-12

Dave. 14    309-14

Paul    15.   284-8

Ron.     15.   238-12

Bela.    16.    294-4

Ricky.    16.   278-4

Mike E.  19.   187-4

Brian.     20.   245-10

Mark.      23.   197-8

Steve R.  30.   129-9

Lee.         32.    162-4

Mike N.    32.    156-8

Geoff.       32.    154-5

John W.    33.    106-1

Tony.        33.     104-12

John C.    36.    139-5

Glen.         38.    120-5

Marcus.     45.    78-1

Steve S.      46.   62-8

Andy.          50.    58-2 

Pairs

Rick & Vince 604-0

Dave & Ron.  548-9

Mark & Bela  491- 12

Thursday 19/03/2026 - Over 55's Trial Match at Player's Golf Course - Wide Water

Over 55's have been thinking of giving Player's Widewater a trial match which has 18 pegs. With 17 fishing we left out peg 6 which was unfishable, but being on the point would give peg 5 more space. Lots of talk about the Lake before hand, reality was most of us didn't know what to expect. I love fishing new venues which adds extra excitement.

Into the draw bag and peg 16 for me which put me in B section pegs 11 to 18 which was on the right hand bank - picture looking from my peg looking across to A section pegs 1 to 10 on the left hand side. As can be seen it is a large lake in comparison to some of the ponds we fish these days, looks a bit "natural".

Peg 16 was under a bloody tree which wasn't too much of a nuisance, only caught it twice. It was nice and level with the water though. Pegs 11, 12 and 13 are at least 3 foot above the water - not good - Tom Daley's. For company on peg 17 was Tony Welsby - wish he'd get his hearing sorted! Mick Gale was on end peg 18. The wind was blowing hard straight into our pegs. You wouldn't want to fish this venue in wind and rain.

Three rigs - 4 metre whip with small home made waggler, long Ronnie rig and a 4 x12 Winter to fish top set plus two. 

I plumbed about for ages on two of the lines and got fed up adjusting the depth, could not find a flat spot anywhere. Branches and stones everywhere. With the match about to start settled on fisdhing 6 inches off bottom on the Ronnie rig and would take my chances with the Winter rig.

Fed some GB laced with Pinkie on the Ronnie rig line, starting with it with a single LR. Getting bites straight away, catching a few but also missing bites, so switched to single Pinkie and had a good 2 hours catching a small Ronnie every put in. However, if the wind blew the rig in too close I would loose a hook - in fact lost 4 hooks, plus caught a few branches. It slowed remarkably as the wind dropped and changed direction slightly causing heavy tow. So went out on the Winter over the same feed and had a couple of decent Ronnie's. It didn't last though. But caught a Gudgeon, a Perch, a Hybrid, a Ruffe, and a Rudd!! Brought the 4 metre whip into action which improved the catch rate but loose feeding was impossible do to the wind, so had to loose feed in GB. Most of the fish were anything from micro to 4 oz, but mainly 1-2 oz.

Weighed 11 lb 13 oz for 5th overall and a second in silvers pick up. The weather was really kind to us nice and warm and dry. Spring is here, plus some Global warming hopefully.

The match and the silvers was won by Gary Etheridge (pictured with his catch) with 31 lb 4 oz from point peg 5, Gary initially caught on his top set, later switching to top two to keep the fish coming. Gary caught on either Pinkie of maggot over loose feed - no GB involved. Well done matey nice to see you out with us.

The silvers was picked up by Hughie Evans (pictured with the match winner) with 23 lb 12 oz from peg 3. Well done matey some nice Roach I hear.

Big shout out to Geoff Francis for weighing most of us in on his own. His mastery over the scales certainly impressed me. Plus he had two near misses with golf balls.

I'm not sure it's a going to be a regular venue as the match fishing is a bit patchy with some DNW's (caught but didn't weigh). Only 4 small Carp caught.

Back to the Holly Bush with Geoff for pie, veg and chips - nice pie loads of beef. Couldn't quite eat all mine but luckily had dusty bin with me.

Wife - "hello matchstick head" - bloody wind burn again.

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 05/03/2026 - Over 55's Silvers Pairs League - Round 6 - Bitterwell

A minutes silence for Leyton  Palmer aka "Any peg Palmer" who passed away Wednesday after a massive heart attack. I travelled with Leyton for sometime fishing the Carps midweek matches. Leyton was an excellent angler and good fun to be with back then. He was to become the worlds renowned conspiracist. Leyton pictured right with his catch of silvers at Sedges Brick Lake. A double bubble match for him and the van. RIP Bright blue eyes, you will be missed for many reasons.

Full Result:

1. Leyton Palmer 55-06-0 peg 7
2. Mike Nicholls 41-08-0 peg 4
3. Rich Coles 28-0-0 peg 5
4. John Dursley 24-08-0 peg 12
5. Ray Wickham 20-12-0 peg 15
6. Colin Golding 15-02-0 peg 13

Top Silvers:

1. Leyton Palmer 47-07-0 peg 7
2. Mike Nicholls 41-08-0 peg 4

Last match today and all to still play for. 

It was fitting that it would be warm and dry today, we have all sat through some horrendous weather. A contrast today to our first match at Landsend - lakes iced over with non stop heavy rain.

Into the draw bag and peg 23 for me and peg 3 for my partner Tony Ponting. Good draws. 

It was bright and flat calm so set up a 7 " Drake straight waggler, a 0.3 gram RJ for down the edge reeds with caster over caster for Tench, finally a 4x12 Winter to fish three barrels and five barrels. The depth was 4 inch different between the two lines so marked the two depths on the same rig.

Soft pellet over micro has been the most successful bait recently, so would be my starting attack. Started short kindering micro with a 4mm Mainline expander on the hook and had two Ronnie's and two skimmers quickly and thought I was on for a good day alas no more bites/indications. So switched to the long line where I had dumped a handful of micro earlier. One more skimmer before that appeared to die. So kept switching between the two lines for the odd Ronnie on expanders. Our section was fishing really hard, so switched to GB and Pinkie on both lines and had a skimmer from both. After which it was just the odd Ronnie. The edge rig produced one small Perch on caster. The waggler had up to the half last hour produced nothing until I decided to start blasting LR's to see if the skimmers would follow some Carp into the peg. Hooked three Carp and near the all out had another Skimmer and was definitely getting indications from them.

Weighed 6 lb 8 oz for a section win. Mission completed. Turbo Tony also did well coming second in his section. However, we would have needed to beat Tony Rixon and Kev Winstone by two points to win the league, but that didn't happen as they had the same section points as us. Well done to them even they tried very hard not to win..

The match was won by Tony Rixon with 26 lb 8 oz from peg 8. Tony caught at both 14.5 and 13 metres fishing micro and soft pellet. Well done Matey.

Pictured above is some of the lads that endured some horrendous fishing conditions, that said I think we were all winners in one way or another.

Back to the Ringer for some of Lucy's Juicy baps. 

Weigh Sheet:

Final Result:

Sunday 01/03/2026 - Westerleigh Winter League - Round 7 - Taylor's and Shipp's

If you have not watched "Dirty Business" on Channel 4 - it's a must watch for anglers, and follow up by contacting your MP. That said the sewage system is intended for pee, poo and toilet paper only. So stop flushing other crap, this is down to us.

Only light rain today and signs of warming up. Wind still with us though.

My turn on Taylors and peg 20 for me. Happy with this one for a number of reasons, primarily because the wind would be off my back.

Good company with Nick on 19. With the Carp bunched up on the far left hand corner pegs 25, 23 and 22 decided to fish for silvers for any chance of coin. With the wind off the back set up a 8" Drake to fish the bar with maggot over loose fed maggot. A 4x16 Winter in full depth in 7 foot of water at top set plus one barrel, finally the short Ronnie rig.

Fed the deep line with with GB laced with some pinkies. No good loose feeding in this depth. First put in on a single LR had a decent Carp about 6 lb. Initially thought it was fouled but it was just fighting hard in the deep water. Umm, might have to switch to carp fishing - nope it was the only one caught on this line, later was to catch two F1's shallow. Had a nice run of small Skimmers and Ronnie's before picking up the Ronnie rig to rest the line. The Ronnie's were at last feeding catching some decent ones on single LR over the LR's. Switched between the two rigs adding some very small Tench on the deep line plus a 12 oz Perch. The last hour switch to fishing shallow - 3 foot - and was wishing I started it earlier as the catch rate and quality of Ronnie's increased. Even though I fed LR's onto the bar the waggler didn't get used as it was patiently waiting for Nick and Ricky opposite to catch there - it didn't happen.

My silvers weighed 14 lb 10 oz  and the Carp 9 lb 2 oz for 23 lb 12 oz and the silvers win, mission accomplished. Very rare to beat Nick, so had to give him the poke in the chest. Very enjoyable day.

Taylor's was won as expected from peg 22 by Paul Elm's (pictured with his catch) with 79 lb 10 oz. Paul caught over to the island at 16 metres with pellet and 14.5 metres with maggot. Well done matey.

Shipp's was won again as expected from peg 2 by Vince Shipp (pictured) with 77 lb 1 oz. Vince caught on his usual soft pellet and micro. He does have a knack of drawing this peg regularly. Well done matey.

The silvers was won on Shipp's from the dreaded peg 13 by matey Geoff Francis (pictured) with a lowly 3 lb all caught short until the Carp arrived taking him to third weight on the canal with 43 lb. Nice one.

Felt for Lee Waller fishing peg 17 where the wind was hacking into, he was fishing 13 metres down the edge, during gusts Lee could be seen walking round to the tree to recover his rig.

Back to the New Inn for a well earned pint with the usual suspects.

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 26/02/2026 - Over 55's - Silvers Pairs League - Round 5 - Acorn - Paddocks

Nice to have Kev Winstone back out after his hospitalisation. Needs to put on a couple of  pounds. Kev was like a kid with a new toy being so excited to be back out fishing.

Driving down with Kev there was something nagging at me. The penny dropped had my Carp pole instead of the silvers pole. Which meant the lightest elastic was the Drennan 9 to 11. My concern soon evaporated realising there are not many small Ronnie's so this elastic would probably do.

Bought my bait at the fishery. Have to say it was high quality 

Into the black bag and and peg 23 for me. It's a strange peg as it's in between to bridges and the middle of three pegs which were not occupied. It's like a small pond all to yourself.

Got to the peg and the SW wind was blowing in to the peg at 11 o clock. and landing in my peg with peg 24 being sheltered by the wind. I would liked to have fished the waggler over to the far bank to the corner but would have been passed peg 24 which was close to be fair. So thought about setting it up but finally decide not. Just two identical rigs 4x14 Winters one to fish caster at top set plus on barrel with a 18 hook and the other to fish two and a bit barrels with a 22 hook for double/single pinkie. Running both rigs through was disappointed to find both were going with the wind - towards me - hate that.

Fed half a pot of casters short and would loose feed a few throughout. Fed the long line with pinkie crammed in GB only enough to get the pinkie near bottom - thinking loose feeding them for full depth would bring up the fish especially the Ide.

Took a while to get my first Ide, after which I had a good half of the match catching decent skimmers, Ide and three Tench, just one coming from the short caster line - a 5 lb Tench on double maggot 😊. The last  2 hours was a struggle. only adding a couple of Ronnie's and Ide. Thought it might have been due to the arrival of Carp but didn't hook any.

I weighed 20 lb 12 oz for second section. Very enjoyable day slightly spoil by more rain late on.

The fishery fished exceptionally well with only one angler under 10 lb, plus one angler on peg 3 would have weighed 73 lb catching short with maggot over maggot had he not gone over in one net - twat.

My pairs partner Tony "Turbo" Ponting (pictured) won the match from peg 5 with 38 lb 5 oz. Tony caught on maggot over loose maggot at 10 metres down wind at 11 o clock initially catching Ide then small Tench. Both the Ide and Tench moving in and out moved in and out. Well done matey.

Back to the Prince of Waterloo for a pint with the usual suspects. Bloody diversion at Chew Magna though.

Weigh Sheet: Bit messy

Pairs Results : One match Left: Pays top 5

Sunday 22/02/2026 - Bela Attila Bakos Open - Westerleigh - Shipp's and Taylor's

Bela has lined out the floor of his van with artificial grass which included parts of a goal line! Just wondering how well the next football match went! Glenn would love this (pictured).

Bela has gone solo running the match today. Must say in nearly all went superbly well. A nice touch was his environment friendly peg cards made of corrugated cardboard ideal for recycling (pictured).  Well done looking forward to the next one.

As the bread is allowed in Bela's matches, decided to do some liquidised bread. Very long time since I done this, didn't know we had a new liquidiser. However, as it turned out won't be doing it again any time soon.

Into the draw bobble hat (another nice touch) and peg 12 for me - Oh, that's not normally in! However, peg 13 was left out. Happy with the peg for for the potential fishing, however, it's a right quagmire. All my gear now a bright red. Good company with Geoff opposite on 2 and Tim "Calamity" Ford next door on 11.

Peg 12 is a good small silvers peg, but can throw up some big Carp, that's what the bread was supposed to be for, that is, if they were at our end of the Pool - they weren't so no more about bread and bread rigs Ronnie nibbling. Just the two rigs fished in earnest - 4x12 Winter with a black sleeve on the tip and a long Ronnie rig.

Fed top set plus three barrels with GB laced with Pinkies and bread down the right in 3 foot of water - last mention of bread. The wind was hacking into my peg so the Ronnie rig was left in abeyance until better conditions. Had a few decent

Ronnie's and a 12 oz Skimmer, all on double Pinkie. It went a bit iffy, stayed a while on the line thinking it might be a Carp - alas not. The wind had eased a bit so tried the Ronnie rig with single Pinkie over loose fed Pinkie. Started well catching much smaller Ronnie's but the wind was hindering feeding - most of it going in the keep net!! Now here's a thing when the wind permitted sensible feeding the catch rate fell missing lots of bites, however, when increasing resulted in much more positive bites and higher catch rate. Stayed on the Ronnie rig for the remainder of the match.

The only match that I can remember at Westerleigh that I didn't hook a Carp of any description. My 50ish Ronnie's weighed 7 lb dead, for the silvers win. Love this type of fishing.

Shipp's was won by Martin Rayet (pictured with the silvers winner) with a decent weight of 76 lb 13 oz. Martin started slow, it wasn't until he started loose feeding caster that he started to catch on double maggot. He most probably pulled fish from peg 6 probably drawn by the sound of caters being fed. Well done matey.

Taylor's was won by tackle dealer Matt Challenger (pictured - yes that him smiling) from peg 22 with 59 lb 10 oz. Matt fished 16 metres using 6 mm hard pellet feed and banded. Well done Matey a good weight on the day. 

Matey Dave "Rodney" Monks won Taylor's silvers with 6 lb 3 oz from peg 21.

Back to the New In for a pint with the usual suspects and a few stragglers form the Bitterwell match.

Weigh Sheets:

Sunday 15/02/2026 - Westerleigh Winter League - Round 6 - Taylor's and Shipp's

Although we had rain once again today (rained all of my eight matches this year), think I must be getting use to it as it didn't seem too bad.

My turn on Shipp's and with the wind blowing down to peg 13 would have settled for pegs 2,1,13 (yes) and 11. Preferably avoiding 3 and 4.

Must stop thinking about pegs. Peg 3 for me and next to Andy on 4 and Dave on flyer 2, so good company.

Fished this peg recently and was surprised nothing came from either margin which is nice and flat but 3 foot deep. Nonetheless, set up a 0.3 gram RJ set to suit both sides. Next was a 4x14 Winter to fish just up the inside slope at top set and just short on middle at 5 1/2 feet. I set up the Ronnie rig which due to the wind wasn't used.

Really expected the top set line to produce well with double Pinkie over GB laced with plenty of Pinkie. Soon relised it was a poor choice catching a few quick Ronnie's before it died. Having tried the margin and realising my prediction, catching just one tiny Perch. Spent the rest of the match at top set plus three barrels fishing GB and Pinkie expecting to initially catch some F1's. Alas not, they haven't fed on the pool. Instead, and unusually the bigger Carp fed. In between catching the odd Ronnie had a 8 lb Carp so decided to up the hook length and soon playing a foul hooked munter which after careful playing it the hook pulled. I knew there was another Carp about as a few bubbles were apparent. Hooked it and played not as careful as the first being over confident with the hook length which bust on me - bugger. Potentially two big Carp not in the net. Had a couple of Skimmers before another few bubbles and a 4 lb Carp in the net. Had three decent F1's and another Skimmer late on just before the all out.

The Carp weighed in at 16 lb 3 oz and the silvers 3 lb 15 oz for a silvers win, with the total of 20 lb 2 oz getting me 5 points. Thinking now I might have under feed today. Really enjoyed it today, especially packing up in the dry for once.

Taylors was won by Ron Hardiman (pictured) with 21 lb 4 oz from peg 15. Ron fished long all match on the bar fishing pellet over pellet. Well done mate especially holding the pole at that distance for so long in gusting wind.

Taylor's was won by Lee Waller (pictured with his catch of decent Carp) with 47 lb 4 oz from peg 11. Lee caught on maggot over Kindered maggot from various lines - mainly long to the corner of each island. Well done matey.

Back to the New Inn with the usual suspects and yes they had some beer this week!

Weigh Sheets: