Wednesday 30/06/2010 - Carps AC - Boyd Valley Lake

The Ronnie’s are a nuisance for the Carp Slayer at the moment on this venue. There are absolutely millions of them around the 1oz mark. Even I think they need thinning out! So I had a cunning plan to sort out the bigger Ronnie’s, so down to AA and I negotiated the purchased of a pint of Hemp and Tares.

I drew peg 8 which is a “Gap” peg and sought after by the feeder flingers. There was plenty of activity in the gap so I set up a 3AAA pellet waggler set to one foot deep for use with 8mm hard banded pellet. I also set up the usual Ronnie rig to use with either Tares or Caster. I couldn’t leave the paste out as it can be lethal on this venue (or use to be), so I set one up for the LH margin and one at 4 metres. Because of the Ronnie’s I also set up a 4x14 Jolly for the banded hard pellet. I started on the pellet waggler and soon realised that the water level of the Gap was down to about 6 inches! The level is down about one foot indicating that the leak is still there. So shallowed up as far a practical as the waggler was 4 inches long! Next cast I hooked and landed a 2lb Carp. Then they moved to the other side of the Gap so I fed it with 8mm pellet and went in after the Ronnie’s and didn't go back there. It was a difficult decision to make as whether to go back after the Carp or head down for the tiny Ronnie’s. I messed around with paste and hard pellet for half hour or so with only two small Tench to show for it. It’s becoming almost impossible to fish paste now on this venue. So with four hours to go I decided head down for the Ronnie’s and had one a bung for the rest of the match interrupted by seven accidental Carp. My accidentals weighed in at 18lb 8oz and my Ronnie’s 23lb 1oz for a combined weight of 41lb 9oz. This put me first in the Silvers and fourth overall. As for the cunning plan - the Tares were a bit too small, hence I caught the same size fish as with the caster, because of missed bires the caster was a tad quicker. I also was expecting the hemp to attract the Carp. If they did it was in small numbers!!

The match was won by John Thomson (picture right with half his catch) on peg 1 with 81lb 10oz all Carp catch. John caught half his fish on the method feeder and the other half in the RH margin. John used 10mm banded pellet on both methods.

Full Result:

1. John Thompson 81-10-0 peg 1
2. Bob Price 57.04-0 peg 3
3. Chris Davis 49-06-0 peg 5
4. Mike Nicholls 41-09-0 peg 8
5. Kevin Dicks 31-09-0 peg 12
6. Martin Alexander 29-08-0 peg 11

Top Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 23-01-0 peg 8
2. Chris Davis 17-12-0 peg 5
3. There were two more weights on 17lb!

Sunday 27/06/2010 - Carps AC - Summer League - Viaduct Fishery

I have said this before. The future of Angling is dependant on us bringing the youth of today into the sport. Bathampton AA does their fair share, organising all sorts of events on their waters. They even provide tackle for Children whose parents aren’t financial able to afford it. That was until last weekend when some low life broke in to one of their lock-ups at Huntstrete and stole the lot. So if anyone reading this gets offered any tackle such as Shimano Rods and Reels (a full list of items is available at your local tackle shop) contact the Police on 08454567000 referencing crime report 73845/10 or if you prefer anonymity call 0800555111. There is a £1,000 REWARD for catching these cretins.

I noticed that Viaduct Fishery are running a Pro/New starter event soon - good to see they also know where the furure lay.

Guesting again in the Carps AC Summer League as there were a few that stayed away to watch England get beat by Germany 4 -1 in the World Cup. Those that fished were glad that they did after this result. I think everyone had a radio to listen to it, but we needn’t have bothered as Bela brought his enormous “Wog Box” (pictured right tuning in). This was a bit disappointing but England won the two most important matches this weekend. We have now won the Cricket one day series against the Aussies AND won the World Angling Championship in Spain. No individual Gold, that went to one of the Welsh team. Well done lads.

With Carey and Lodge in the draw bag I was hoping for a peg on Lodge as there are some big Skimmers in this Lake. In to the hat and out came peg 66. Not only got my wish for Lodge but one of my favourite pegs to-boot. I set up three rigs – one 0.2 gram paste rig for the LH margin down to the empty pallet. Another paste 0.4 gram rig for out up to the tree line at 10 o clock and a 4x12 Jolly for the soft pellet over the same line. I fed the long line with a 125ml of wetted micro and 4mm. I decided to try the LH margin kinder potting in a small amount of 4mm in with the paste and I had a Carp first put in followed by a 4lb Tench. As anticipated the Ronnie’s moved in, so I decide to but two big pots of 4mm into this swim and allow it to cook for an hour whilst I went out on the long line (11.5metres) with paste and had a 2lb frisky Carp first put in followed by a couple of small Skimmers. This line was slow so tried the 4 mm expander which was soon snaffled by a 1oz Ronnie. With 2 hours now gone I decide to open up another line directly out in front by potting in half and half micro and 4mm pellet. I marked the rig line against the float with waterproof black marker and increase the depth by four inches to be just touching bottom. First put in another Carp (is there a pattern forming) followed by a Bream and another Tench. There was a lot of fizzing, which I read as Carp feeding above the Skimmers. So I made up an “up in the water paste rig” with a long line and after re-feeding went out on it. I then had five Carp in seven put in’s. I must say I didn't enjoy this much as you don't really get a proper bite. When the fizzing subsided I went down on the bottom with paste and had another two Carp. I then repeated the exercise adding another two Carp. With an hour left and England out of the World Cup I went down the edge and had four more Carp before the whistle – losing one foul hooker last but one put in. My accidental Silvers weighed in at 15lb 6oz and my 15 Carp weighed in at 79lb for a total of 94lb 6oz. This gave me a section win and a 2nd Overall.

The match was won by Alan Oram (pictured upper right with three of his better fish) on peg 94 with 99lb 10oz. Alan fished the “Conker” (11mm pellet rapped in paste) on the straight lead over to the end bank weed bed. Through out the match Alan loose fed two pints of 10 mm hard pellet.

The Silvers was won by Colin Dyer (pictured right sat by his infamous “Plastic Pig") with 31lb 9oz of quality Skimmers. Colin fished at 10 metres fishing hard pellet over micro. I must also mention that Colin won the Silvers yesterday on peg 81 with 80lb of quality Bream, well done matey. Charlie Barn’s drew it today and didn’t do quite as well!!

Full Result:

1. Alan Oram 99-10-0 peg 94
2. Mike Nicholls 94-06-0 peg 66
3. Anthony Page 82-04-0 peg 88
4. Gordon Cannings 71-11-0 peg 90
5. Dan Squires 69-06-0 peg 60
6. Glen Bailey 65-03-0 peg 97 (three times now)

Top Silvers:

1. Colin Dyer 31-09-0 peg 96
2. Steve Long 25-14-0 peg 103
3. Stu Foale 23-06-0 peg 62

Sunday 20/06/2010 - Tony Rixon Float Only League - Landsend

There was a space in Rip Off’s League at Landsend so I booked in. With the League paying four in the Silvers, the plan which was to target them using soft pellet and Paste if drawn on either Match or Specimen Lakes and caster and soft pellet if drawn on the top two Lakes. I drew peg 29 on Specimen, which does have some Skimmers history so I wasn’t disappointed, not yet anyway! Dean Mallin suggested it would be good for some Carp at 16 metres.

During my time in Project Management I had a Cardinal rule “never change the PLAN”. Unfortunately I broke my rule today at my cost. On arriving at my peg I could see six or so carp sun bathing close to the island. As there was no sign of Silver fish feeding on the bottom (or anything else). In addition to a 4x12 Jolly for the soft pellet and the usual paste float I also set up a 4x10 Drennan wire stem Chop with banded 8mm pellet (I wish I hadn’t done this). I fed my Silvers line at 13 metres with a dose of wetted micro with a few 4 mm pellet. I went over it with soft pellet and was pestered by Ronnie’s. So I picked up the Banded pellet and went over to the island. Because the Ronnie’s were active I decided not to feed this line. For the next two hours I landed five Carp and lost six foul hookers. Then the Aerator went off and so did the fish – moving back to peg 31. I kept trying the Silvers line only to be pestered by Ronnie’s, so I re-fed the line again and set up a Ronnie rig with caster. I spent ¾ of an hour catching one a bung but they were really small. I decided to loose feed the Carp line with 6mm hard pellet to see what reaction would get. So back on the Carp line and as I was half expecting the Ronnie’s were there waiting for the 8mm hard pellet! So with 20 minutes to go I decided to fish paste over the Silver line to the end. This is where I am kicking myself for not adhering to the PLAN. I had two Bream for 9lb and lost another foul hooked Carp on the all out (up in the water). My Silvers weighed 15lb and was one out of the Silvers pool (defaulted). My five Carp took my overall weight to 37lb 12oz. I thought I was too old to re-learn these lessons but obviously not.

During the match Joss Garrett caught an 11lb 2oz Grass Carp which had to be weighed and returned – Joss and this magnificent fish is pictured right.

The match was won by Craig “Trigger” Edmonds (pictured lower right with runner up Neil Mercer who was on the next peg (empty peg between them)) with 100lb 12oz from peg 36. Craig fished for Silvers for the first two hours as this wasn’t producing he switched to 16 metres with banded 8mm pellet. As he had been feeding the line from the start he had an instant start and caught Carp to 10lb steady to the end. Craig fed about 2 points of 6mm pellet.

And finally I must mention my travelling partner Bela Bakos who picked up his section pool from peg 40 by coming last in his section!!!


Full Result:

1. Craig Edmonds 100-12-0 peg 36
2. Neil Mercer 94-0-0 peg 38
3. Joss Garrett 79-07-0 peg 26
4. Leon Hubbard 66-04-0 peg 33
5. Tim Clarke 65-01-0 peg 41
6. Tom Magnol 64-08-0 peg 16

Top Silvers:

1. Vince Brown 31-03-0 peg 4
2. Shaun Townsend 21-0-0 peg 37
3. Martin Pettifore 19-01-0 peg 27

Friday 18/06/2010 - Gwinear Open

We were booked in to Morgan Porth; however, there was some discussion on changing the venue to Gwinear because it was offering a wider choice of fishing. So with a unanimous vote we booked in to Gwinear and tendered our apologies to Janet who was a tad disappointed.


On arrival it was good to see Chris Hancock’s dog locked in his van, he is a bloody nuisance ask Marl tanner (the dog I mean). We Steve already on his way home the remaining three of us drew on Phase 2 (see picture of the Lake map). Mark on peg 51, Glenn on 50 and me on peg 46. With the wind blowing in to my end albeit it to the opposite corner I was please with the peg. Paste had been working well on the venue so this was my first choice to be fished at 11 metres at 11 o clock which happened to be the shallowest part on the swim (remains of Simon’s bars). I also set up a jolly for the same swim for soft pellet or hard pellet with a hook length change. I didn’t fancy the end margin as it was flat calm, but always simple to set up a rig if need be. I had a good start catching the 2lb Carp “Stamp” fish for the first two hours, but it was fishing strange. I would catch a couple and then lose them for a while, Chris Davis said after he had experienced a similar problem. I think it’s because the fish are very strong fighters and zoom of taking spooking the shoal. As the match progressed the fish appeared to move up in the water and then completely disappeared. Unlike Phase 1 there are few Skimmers in this Lake and I only caught three which was a bit disappointing. I weighed in a par 57lb 6oz for 7th overall. With 15 minutes left Chris's dog sneaked up behind me and jumped on my back - nearly had an heart attack - a doggy paddle followed!!


The winner was Glenn Bailey (pictured right with half his catch – plus video of his weigh-in at the bottom of the page - glenn needed 40lb frim this last weigh(turn up the volume)) with 93lb 8oz (57 Carp). Glenn’s match was the reverse of mine, struggling for the first two hours fishing paste etc.. at depth. Glenn had been loose feeding at 16 metres and with two hours to go notice fish had arrived on the surface (probably mine). So a quick change to a shallow rig and Glenn caught 40 fish in the time remaining (on hindsight I should have tried up in the water after the first two hours). I could see Glenn from my swim and I must say he fished it very well and was without doubt the worthy winner. Well done matey.

Full Result:

1. Glenn Bailey 93-08-0 peg 50
2. John Thorley 90-04-0 peg 27
3. Dave Fantom 70-08-0 peg 40
4. Mick Powell 69-02-0 peg 22
5. Chris Davis 59-12-0 peg 18
6. Andy Fantom 58-12-0 peg 21
7. Mike Nicholls 57-06-0 peg 46

… Mark Tanner 38-08-0 peg 51

This was our last day’s holiday, so off home in the morning. Glenn had a phone call from his special one and discovered than she would still be in bed ay 09:30 the following day. Come 5 o clock in the morning I heard the wheels spinning on his car waking up most of the camp site!!

We have all decided to give Whiteacres a miss next year and try Stafford Moor, so the planning starts.

Thursday - 17/06/2010 - Whiteacres Residents Rover

I hate Rovers as I never know where to go and as usual there is much discussion on this topic. Whatever, I do like to make sure I get a day’s fishing as it is very easy to go for the win on noted pegs and end up catching nowt. The draw is at 08:45 and you first draw your place in the peg selection queue. Clint then blanks out the peg chosen on his new “Whip Board” (Clint pictured right doing just that). There were 71booked in to fish (I have fished this match when there were up to 200 fishing so the numbers are down). So in to the hat and out comes peg 09, great – no it was 60 upside down – bugger. The highest number in the, as usual Mark Tanner had the lowest draw pulling 7 and with two missing was fifth to select his peg. Mark went for peg 7 on Jenny’s Lake. Next was Glenn and went for the Pollawyn flyer peg 20. Steve was next and went for peg 16 on Jenny’s apparently Steve likes the sound of Aerators. Last year I selected peg 15 on Python and had a days fishing. So with 14 gone I went for peg 16 to have a bit of space. I was first to arrive at my peg and was pleased to see a Lady arrive on peg 14 (a bit sexist I suppose). I went and introduced myself to Margery. The way in was Margery presented herself and was going about setting up I felt she might be a threat. My attack was based on the F1’s and the Bream that can boost your weight. So two paste rigs, one for 10 metres which took me to just down the shelf and found a depth of 7 foot. Plumbing around I found a hole directly out in front, so I fished at 11 o clock in the shallowest part. The other rig was set up to fish at 1 metre in 4 foot of water. The plan was to put two big pots of 4 mm and Micros in at 10 metres and feed the 1 metre line with diced meat, still though to fish paste over. I started on this line with paste whilst I watched my 10 metre swim erupt with fiss – amazing sight. It wasn‘t long before I was plopping the paste over it as the inside line didn’t return anything and even though I tried once more before it was dumped. First plop-in at 10 metres I had a F1 on the drop, then a period of twenty minutes of frustration. During this time the fish had dug another hole 3 inches deep, which meant I had to keep moving the float and or increasing the depth. I then had a good two hours catching F1’s and the Skimmers which weren’t showing in the numbers I had expected. Margery had been fish meat at depth and also had been catching F1’s, but had slowed, so she went on pellet fished shallow and really started to bag the F’1’s again. I started to get worried I have to report that I got Marged, especially as it was a start of a bag hour for me. This dilemma was whether to feed or not as I was concerned that I would have another period of chaos. Well I left feeding too late and found that feeding a small amount on 4 mm I was able to increase my catch rate. By now I only had six Skimmers and was pleased when the next one was a four pounder. Would the bad decision on feeding effect my placing? I was first to weigh and put 65lb 5oz on the scales. This put me 5th overall with my mistake not really costing me.


Margery weighed 55lb for first overall in the Lady’s. Margery from Leeds is (pictured right with her trophy). I must say Margery fished a really tidy match and would take plenty of £1 coins on the South West circuit.

The match was won by Dave Heaton who chose peg 21 on Sycamore. Dave weighed in 115lb 14 oz of decent size Carp all caught on the pole with polly ball and 8lb line straight through over to the far bank. It was a surprise result from this peg, with Clint double checking with Dave that he knew which peg he was on. I think Dave knew something we didn’t.

Full Result:

1. Dave Heaton 115-14-0 peg 21 Sycamore
2. Alec Hulme 96-02-0 peg 17 T/O
3. Matt Grant 82-03-0 peg 30 T/O
4. Paul Haines 78-10-0 peg 6 Sycamore
5. Mike Nicholls 65-05-0 peg 16 Python
6. Dave Holland Snr 60-11-0 peg 1 Trelawney
.....
8. Glenn Bailey 55-0-0 peg 20 Polawyn
.....
Mark Tanner 45-04-0 peg 7 Jenny's
.....
Steve Nicholls DNW

Wednesday 16/06/2010 - Whiteacres

Wednesday is out match free day so pleasure sessions were planned. However, when I got up I found the team Carp Slayers had got up at 06:30 and went slaying down to Twin Oaks on pegs 14 and 16. After breakfast I decided to find them and sure enough Mark was on the method feeder and Glenn on the pellet waggler. Both are pictured right plus a picture of Glenn’s waggler, which is much larger than the 3/8 inch maximum allowed in the general rules!! Well they both struggled and were back by midday. Mark did have a 1lb 8oz Perch on the method!!

Steve and I went down to the Canal after the F1’s and Skimmers. After trying three different rigs I settled for paste at 1 metre and caught F1’s one a bung plus 1 Skimmer until I ran out of paste. The lake is absolutely rammed with Ronnie’s and they will saturate any small bait
including hard pellet. Although the Ronnie’s attack the paste they tend to feed off the particles and leave the paste for the bigger fish – well most of the time. I find pleasure fishing pointless and boring so I went and sat with Steve and soon had him on the paste short and soon he was on one a bung.

Watching the silver Match weigh in we stumbled across the guy pictured right looks like Geoff Stones has joined the floppy hat brigade. Geoff weighed 27lb dead for second in his section.

Curry night tonight so we are all off to Newquay.

Tuesday 15/06/2010 - Mawgan Porth Open

Glenn joined us today and started moaning straight away about his match on Lodge Lake at Viaduct. Weighing in two late Carp for 13lb!

Our first visit this year to Mawgan Porth, and what a lovely setting it is too. I took the opportunity to purchase a pair of Biker Sun glasses from Geoff, Janet’s Partner. They grip the back of your head so don’t fall off and are very strong - they better be.

Having had the usual riot act read to us by Janet, into the draw bag and peg 43 stuck to my hand, which meant my first trip over the bridge to the island and not a bad draw for once!! Island pegs 42 and 46 have better form. Opposite me were Glenn and Steve (both pictured right - setting up). I had decided to fish paste as I framed in the two matches I fish here last year with it. I set up two rigs both identical 0.2 gram Corn and Paste – just in case. One rig was set up on a special adapted number two and the other on a normal top set with 22 hollow elastic. On my bait table was 1 pint of 4mm wetted pellet and 2 pints of paste – simple. I started out in front on the long top set over loose fed pellet and had a small Carp straight away – then I was pestered by small Skimmers to 3oz. Even though Janet has removed 10,000 there are still millions left. In to the LH margin with the short top set and another Carp then again pestered by Skimmers. I am now thinking it was going to be one of those days. I also thanked my luck that I hadn’t fed anything in the LH margin. I decided to leave it that way and found I had made the right decision as I didn’t look back, having a good 2 hours bagging Carp to 2lb. I did keep feeding the LH margin in the hope that I would keep the Skimmers here. However, I did have the occasional dob-in only to confirm that it was still full if !Blades”. I find it difficult not to feed a swim and I kept thinking what if I fed the RH margin would my catch rate increase. Anyway come an hour to go I couldn’t help myself and started feeding. The Skimmers soon homed in, leaving me struggling for the last hour. I envisaged 20 or more Skimmers attacking the paste hiding the bait form the Carp. I soon stopped feeding and did manage a few more before the all out. I was last to weigh and needed to beat 87lb I thought I would fall short. My first net weighed exactly 40lb and knowing that the other net had the bigger fish that I would win - totalling 95lb 7oz.

Runner up was Colin Dumphy (pictured right with the winner and Lake Owner Janet) from St Helens. Colin initially drew peg 38 and put his foot through the platform wooden boards, not quite falling in. Some other of the platforms are also in need of repair. Janet moved him to peg 40.

Full Result:

1. Mike Nicholls 95-07-0 peg 43
2. Colin Dumphy 87-09-0 peg 40
3. Dave (Default Dave) Chinn 70-08-0 peg 36
4. Glenn Bailey 58-04-0 peg 36
5. Mark Tanner 56-09-0 peg 41
6. Steve Nicholls 56-0-0 peg 37

Monday 14/06/2010 - Whiteacres Gold Match

Chatting before the draw we were told that if you are occupying a non Parkdean owned Caravan then you don’t qualify for a free holiday or the pint for life. However, you do get a tankard! It’s a good job none of us won the match today.


I was hoping that Twin Oaks (TO) wasn’t in today as it tends to be out and out method fishing which I don’t do (can’t). However, I drew peg 27 on TO (Lake pictured right –the angler in the far distance in red is Mark Tanner on peg 21 TO). Not that happy as the wind was blowing too hard for the pellet waggler leaving only the straight lead or method – I decided on none of these and settled for the short pole and pellet which lead to me being battered both sides. Like most of the Lakes TO has also and an influx of F1’s, so these were targeted with corn initially then soft 3mm pellet, over loose fed 4mm pellet . The margins are renowned for turning up sizable Carp in the last hour so I also set up a paste rig for the LH margin, which although was fed all match no Carp resulted – just Ronnie’s playing football. I did enjoy my match catching 70 fish with the lions share being F1’s from 4oz to 10oz for an overall weight of 30lb 5oz. As I said earlier the pegs either side of me came second and third both catching Carp to 4lb on the method feeder and some late Carp on the meat in the margins.


The match was won by Chris Davis (pictured right) with 94lb 15oz from peg 17 TO (end peg). Chris caught on the meat feeder with meat on the hook and later caught in his margin with meat. Well done matey.

Steve drew peg 11 on Acorn and everyone was pestered by quality Roach, which can be frustrating if you ain’t got casters. Steve had one Carp and a DNW. Acorn was won on the method with 35lb of small Carp.

Mark weighed 18lb 10oz. Someone I beat in my section!

I was standing by Jimmy Garside when his mate came up enquiring where the scales were. Jimmy told him Clint had just driven (Buggey) down to Acorn where he had drawn. Only problem was that Jimmy’s mate had fish the Canal instead!! How on earth didn’t he get suspicious to discover he was fishing all on his own? Apparently this is a regular occurrence up North!

Full Result:

1. Chris Davis 94-15-0 peg17 TO
2. Jimmy Garside 62-12-0 peg 29 TO
3. Dwane Seed 55-08-0 peg 25 TO
4. Matt Grant 51-02-0 peg 3 TO
5. Paul Haines 50-05-0 peg 11 TO
6. Dave Heaton 45-12-0 peg 31 TO

Sunday 13/06/2010 - Gwinear Open

It was nice to be back to Gwinear. I do like this venue and I was hoping to be on phase one or two – particularly phase one due to the large head of decent Skimmers. Yippee I drew phase one – peg 3 (see the Lake Map right).

The grape vine was saying either 8mm pellet or paste. So I set up a 4x16 Jolly for expander pellet and a paste rig, both to be fished at 6 metres. Plus a small paste float for the shallow 30 inch RH margin. First mistake was feeding micro pellet on the 6 metre line. The pellet was being ripped off by small Tench to 4oz attracted by my small fed. I did have a 2lb Skimmer, but I was putting back more Tench than I was catching it’s like trying to unhook a bar of soap that wriggles! I had been feeding 4 mm wetted pellet in to the margin so have re-fed the 6 metre line with 4 mm pellet I had a dabble with paste and had a run of Skimmers to 3lb. Time to try the paste at 6 metres. Another run of decent Skimmers followed with the occasional Carp to 3lb. I found that by topping up after every fish with 4mm pellet through the Kinder pot kept them going. I wish I had started this way as it cost me a higher framing position. My Skimmers and tiny Tench weighed in at 29lb 6oz and my Carp 32lb 8oz for a total of 61lb 14oz as it only took 45lb to win last Friday so I was hopeful, however, it wasn’t to be as this put 4th overall.

The match was won by Chris Hancock (pictured right (centre) with runner ups Mark Lazzel and Bob Dac) with 72lb 12oz. Chris fished similarly to me but had the advantage of being able to fish in to the end peg margin. Chris used both paste and hard 8 mm pellet on the hook.

Full Result:

1. Chris Hancock 72-12-0 peg 1
2. Mark Lazzel 66-04-0 peg 36
3. Bob Dac 64-14-0 peg 46
4. Mike Nicholls 61-14-0 peg 3
5. Skip McCabe 48-12-0 peg 50
6. Mark Tanner 46-04-0 peg 5

Steve Nicholls 36lb peg 51.

Saturday 12/06/2010 - Whiteacres

It’s the first holiday of the year and back to Whiteacres. As Bob Gullick’s Van was booked for the week we wanted I went in search of another by contacting local match anglers, as I wanted to support them rather than booking direct with the big business Parkdean. However, as I am writing this tonight I am thinking it might be the last visit to Whiteacres for a while. I must say it’s nothing to do with fishing as far as I am concerned the fishery has been improved with a large stocking of F1’s and catchable Skimmers, I just hope Clint considers including a Silvers pool in his matches – same old, same old from the Silverfox. No, it’s to do with the obvious conflict between the Site owners – Parkdean and the independent Caravan Owners. There is noticeably plenty of disagreement between the two parties leaving their customers thinking that they are being short changed. The current issues are:


1. Linen only provided for Parkdean customers
2. The weekly cost of fishing permits are £7 more for owner booked Caravans
3. Parkdean are now charging £7 per week for owner booked caravans to eat and enter the restaurant and bar – understandable if it’s the club with the added cost of entertainment
4. After I had booked I had a special offer from Parkdean offering a Caravan for £55 cheaper

This smells of very bad management all round and needs addressing sooner rather than later.

Back to the fishing. I travelled down with Mark Tanner as Glenn wanted to fish the Carps individual league at Viaduct, plus he had some personal business on Monday so we won’t see Glenn until Tuesday morning. We left later than usual arriving at 10:30. As the England and USA World Cup match was on at 19:30 I decided to kick my heels whilst Mark (pictured right) was eager to thrash around with the waggler on Jenny’s Lake. I decided to stroll around the lakes. I found matey Bill Ferris fishing outside his Shed on Jenny’s Lake with brother Mike – both pictured top right – It’ the first time I have got a picture of Bill smiling! They bring their Mum every year to run the tea to the bank.

Mark caught around 35lb of Carp to 8lb on the pellet waggler using a Middy splashing Waggler rod – a beast of a rod.

Thursday 10/06/2010 - Bathampton Over 55's - Main Lake

I was in two minds whether to go today as I am off to Whiteacres next week and I needed to prepare. As I am always prepared I decided to go. As it happened it was a good turn out especially considering the match today was on the Main Lake with 20 fishing. You really need to draw the top quarter of the Lake to catch the Bream, which are required to frame. I drew peg 6 which can be OK for Ronnie’s but I didn’t expect to catch any Bream, perhaps a few small skimmers though.

Well what a luxurious peg, you could pitch a tent on it! I set up the usual for the Skimmers and Ronnie’s. I spent the whole day switching between the two lines catching 1 to 2oz Skimmers and Ronnie’s. The highlight was when I hook and landed a big Eel (circa 2lb), quickly followed by a much larger one that I pulled out of at the net – bugger. These fish are very hard to net. I wish I had some Lob worms. I weighed 10lb 8oz for 9th overall.

We have a general rule that we let the newcomers win their first match so that they come back again. Today was no exception. It was nice to see matey John Smith fishing today and we gave him end peg 15. Even John (pictured upper right with his winning net of Bream to 5lb) can’t mess this peg up and he didn’t winning the match with 32lb 9oz. John caught most of his fish in the first two hours fishing soft pellet over pellet feed. John also landed a 9lb Pike also caught on pellet. No wonder you can only catch either 2oz fish or a 3lb fish the Pike have eat all those between! Well done matey see you next time out.


However, this wasn’t my highlight of the day. It was to see that Mike Jones had fallen in. I don’t usually put two pictures of the same angler in one blog, but today was an exception. What a mess!!! It amazed me how his hair didn't get wet, could it be synthetic? Shake dry perhaps!


Full Result: (All Silver fish except Dave Bacon 8lb Carp)

1. John Smith 32-09-0 peg 15
2. Bob Feltham 24-06-0 peg 41
3. Mike Jones 20-10-0 peg 11
4. Bryan Sheppard 16-10-0 peg 30
5. Dave Bacon 14-04-0 peg 8
6. Colin Golding 12-07-0 peg 40

Wednesday 09/06/2010 - Carps AC - Bullocks Farm

By the time I got to Bullocks Farm I was really feeling sorry for myself. It was nothing to do with the fishing - I was driving up Queen Charlton Road in Keynsham I had a small white van right up close behind me. Then at the mini roundabout it drop right back and reduced it’s speed to I guess 25 mph. I started to wonder why. Then I saw it, a Mobil Police camera parked up in the left hand lay-by. Quick look at my speed and I reckon I was travelling at 36 mph. Although I quickly reduced my speed to 33 mph my feeling was that it was far too late. These cameras are accurate up to 2,000 metres! I reckon it’s 50/50 whether or not I get a ticket, lets hope they caught lots more going faster. I will know by the 24 th as they have 14 days to contact you. What on earth is a mobile camera doing out at 07-15 on a Wednesday morning, obviously after the average working man.

Back to the fishing. Phil is apparently is a big follower of my blog and asked me to write something nice about him for a change – so here goes - BRSITOL ROVERS (apparently Phil’s dyslectic)!!

I never worry about which peg I draw on Match Lake as they are all good on their day. I pulled out peg 10 and wasn’t disappointed. I set up two rigs, 1 - 4x12 Jolly for the Silvers and Crucians to fish at 1 o clock with pellet at 9 metres and to fish maggot/caster at 10 o clock at the same distance. The depth was about the same so only a slight adjustment required when switching. The other was a 0.3 gram paste float which suited both margins – Left and Right. I fed both Silvers swims and started on the 3 mm expander pellet whilst lightly hand feeding both margins with 4 mm wetted pellet. I was anticipating a bite immediately, but it didn’t happen. Not a sign of a fish – no fiss – nothing. So on to the caster and nothing, back on the pellet and I had a 2lb Carp. I could see Paul Faiers on peg 15 also struggling but getting a few Crucians. I switched to maggot over the caster line, in conjunction with kindering some maggot. I had a run of Crucians and a couple of tiny Skimmers. Likewise on the pellet line I had another few Crucians, but it was too slow. With a hour gone I decide to it was to be a Carp day for any coin, albeit it being a too early to plunder Margins. But that's what I did. I had already decided that the RH margin would produce the most Carp and all though I had indications that fish were there, I only had one Carp in the net, losing two – one broke my the other snagged me in tree roots to show for two hours of fishing. I switched to the LH margin with the paste and it was much more prodictive, landing 10 Carp up to the whistle. My Silvers weighed in at 10lb 2oz and the Carp 32lb for a total of 42lb 2oz. and third overall. Paul Faiers ouncing me out of second, which he reminded me of at least 5 times!! I think that if I had fished the margins differently I might have won the match. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I blame the Speed Camera for the lapse in my focus.

The match and the Silvers was won by Shaun Kitteridge (pictured right) with 50lb 9oz which included 45lb 2oz of quality Crucians. Shaun caught at 11 metres on 3mm expander pellet over loose fed micro. Shaun caught 17 Crucians in the last 2 hours.

It appeared that the Crucians were all at this end of the lake with the top three Silvers weight coming from pegs 17, 19 and 21

Full Result:

1. Shaun Kitteridge 50-09-0 peg 17
2. Paul Faiers 42-12-0 peg 15
3. Mike Nicholls 42-02-0 peg 10
4. Dave Wride 41-12-0 peg 25
5. Mike Owens 37-10-0 peg 26
6. Colin Golding 36-11-0 peg 19

Top Silvers:

1. Shaun Kitteridge 45-02-0 peg 17
2. Colin Golding 30-10-0 peg 19
3. Steve Dawson 30-03-0 peg 22

Saturday 05/06/2010 - South West Super League Round Two - Viaduct Fishery

I had this video e-mailed to me and having watched it left me thinking, how right Mr Nugent is on this subject. Apparently Darren Gillman has a number of his Heavy Rock albums. I must say the interviewer looked a bit uncomfortable – Copy paste shortcut into the Address bar and watch it all through.

http://cpw.webmail.aol.com/31888-111/talktalk-5/en-gb/mail/get-attachment.aspx?uid=1263218834.233&folder=Sent&partId=5&saveAs=Nugent.wmv

As there wasn’t a local match I fancied fishing on Sunday I planned to have the weekend off and take the Special One out for Sunday Lunch. So when I had a phone call from Chris Hook to fish the Super League for Maver Veals on Saturday at Viaduct Fishery I jumped at it. I don’t get down to Viaduct as often as I would like, mainly due to the late started times of their opens; I don’t get home until 20:00 so don’t get to sit down with the Special One for Dinner.

The draw was at 09:00 in the Globe Hotel with a buffet style Breakfast – all you can eat for £5 (not bad when a cup of tea cost £1.50). I must say it was quality food with the added value of quantity.

Met up with Darren Gillman at Breakfast and we discussed the chances of us drawing the adjacent pegs. Unbelievably we did and by my calculations that was 2,380.5 to 1

Captain Hook did the draw and as far as I was concerned there was only one decent draw Tim (Zipper) Pallant on peg 123. Team wise I suggest they find some else to draw for them – Zipper might be good choice for starters. I was on peg 95 (Darren was on 94). Both pegs a good draw for Skimmers and luckily a pole peg as I didn't have any running line gear with me, not that Silver fish would be targeted as Carp would be the species to get maximum points. I had decided to fish two lines one at 5 metres with meat and a paste rig at 11.5 metres (you would need to breakdown the pole to fish much further). I started by feeding a few 4mm cubes of meat with a sprinkling of wetted micros at 5 metres. I then went out on the paste with a kinder pot of 6mm pellet and first put I was anticipating foul hooking a Carp. However, I fairly hooked and landed a quality 10lb Carp. I thought I was in for a good day, but other than one foul hooker I didn’t see another. I kept trying the meat line was only pestered by small fish and by half time dumped the swim. Back on the paste and a run of Skimmers to 3lb, for some reason I had a spell on loosing five Skimmers and one Tench. A majority of them were foul hooked. I think I can put this down to my feeding pattern – feeding 4 mm pellet every put in with the paste targeting the Carp. Up to this point I think Darren and I were neck and neck, both with one Carp and a few Skimmers. But Darren landed six or seven big Skimmers more than me and had another 10lb carp 10 minutes to go. I weighed in 20lb 1oz for 2 points (only beating Dave Wride) and Darren weighed 48lb (I think) for 5 points. Our section was won by Lee Edwards with 90lb from peg 97 fishing pellet waggler in to the open water. Section runner up was James Knight with 78lb (pictured right with some of his catch) from peg 90. James caught on both the pole and straight lead into the end margin – similar to Phil Cardwell last Sunday.

The match was won by Andy Power (pictured right - cool dude) with 145lb 10oz from peg 131. Andy caught shallow on both the pole and pellet waggler – feeding about 4 pints of pellet.

Team wise Maver Veals were seventh and last with me contributing to this result as much as anyone else!

Full Result:

1. Andy Power 145-10-0 peg 131
2. Gary Etheridge 109-5-0 peg 129
3. Chris Fox 104-12-0 peg 110
4. Alan Oram 94-04-0 peg 113
5. Steve Kedge 90-04-0 peg 53
6. Lee Edwards 90-0-0 peg 97

Thursday 03/06/2010 - Carps AC Thursday Evening Series - Boyd Valley Lake - Round One

This was the first round of the Carps AC Thursday Individual Series PM matches at Bowd Valley Lake (Redmire). Bill Ferris and Bob Price are running the series and I was wondering what bob Price was going to contribute to the organisation, as I suspected – NOTHING – all down to Bill Ferris. I have offered to work the league results to help Bill out.

At the start there was some (no lots) of confusions as to the draw and fishing times. It has now been confirmed as 13-30 draw fish from 15-00 to 20-30. That’s 5 ½ hours Bob!

The conditions weren’t favourable for fishing, with very bright sun light and a strange wind appearing to be blowing in from the South East (however, hot air balloons were coming in from the South West, it must be to do with the Lake being in a valley) into pegs 7, 8, 9, 10, &11 (bags me one of these), this meant peg 1 was absolutely flat calm. Before the draw I walked the bank with Mike Jones and between pegs 7 and 8 I counted at least twenty cruising Carp. I drew peg 1. The shortest walk but with no wind cover I was doubtful.

On the walkabout I had decided that Silvers would play an important part towards gaining section points even though there was no Silvers pool. So it would be Silvers to start, dabbling for Carp through out with paste, then full focus in the last hour, or sooner if the sun disappeared over the hill. I decided on pellet for Skimmers at 6 metres with expander on the hook – fished only once with one Ronnie on the drop), a Ronnie caster line to my left with the anticipation that Carp would home in on the activity and an out and out paste line long to my right in various locations. I started by feeding the paste line by spreading 4 mm wetted pellet around the various locations I was planning on fishing. I started on the Ronnie’s and there were plenty of 1 to 2oz fish to be caught, but no sign of quality fish, that was until I hooked a 2 ½ lb Barbel. These fish were put in at 6oz and the last one I caught was 10oz so they have really put on some weight and the fish was in perfect condition. I kept trying the paste only to be met with the Renaldo’s. However, I did catch a few Skimmers to 1lb on the paste was it was slow. Back on the caster and Ronnie until the last hour when I decided to experiment by feeding 1 ½ pints of maggot, ½ pint of casters, 1 pint of micro and a big handful of 4 mm pellet 0 all in one go. On went a 4 mm expander and another 2oz Ronnie took the bait on the drop. Back on the paste which resulted in four small Carp. Four were lost, three of them foul hooked. My Silvers were weighed in at 16lb 12oz and my carp 9lb 10oz. This put me third in the section beaten by “Gap pegs” 2 and 4. I believe my Silver’s approach was about right.


The match was won by Kevin Dicks (pictured right with Tom Coulson’s net of Carp (as we all thought Tom had won the match and Kevin had returned his fish)) from peg 4 with 54lb 12oz. Kevin caught on the method feeder to the Gap and added a few more fishing pellet shallow at 13 metres.

Tom Coulson was runner up with 43lb 14oz. However, there was something fishy about his catch – all his Carp were all caught on Iceland’s finest Prawns.

All though there isn’t any Silvers pool or league I thought it would be of interesting and value to publish the Silvers result. After all it is a great all the year round Silvers venue.

Full Result:

1. Kevin Dicks 54-12-0 peg 3
2. Tom Coulson 43-14-0 peg 2
3. Colin Golding 27-06-0 peg 11
4. Mike Nicholls 26-06-0 peg 1
5. Mark Tanner 23-13-0 peg 5
6. John Baker 20-12-0 peg 7

Top Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 16-12-0 peg 1
2. Kevin Dicks 15-12-0 peg 3
3. Colin Golding 15-08-0 peg 11

Wednesday 02/06/2010 - Carps AC - Cider Farm - Dabinett Lake

We were booked to fish Yarlington Mill (Match Lake). However Mark moved it Dabinett. Not a problem as I have heard that there are plenty Skimmers to be had, plus Mark has stocked quite a few 3 ounce Skimmers. I had a walk around the Lake before the draw and there were plenty of signs of feeding fish particularly in peg 1 even though the wind had been blowing in the opposite direction. Mark informed me that pegs 1 and 28 were the shallowest pegs on the entire venue with about 4 foot.

I drew peg 28. I wasn’t disappointed as I would have been happy with any of the pegs. With Colin only paying one overall and one in the Silvers a decision had to be made. Mike Owens was on peg 20 and I thought this might be a hard peg to beat for Carp from peg 28. So I decided initially to keep my options open by starting on the Silvers and fish them out before going for Carp, keeping an eye on Mike and Dave Bacon who was on peg 21. I set up a 0.4 gram paste rig, a 4x12 Jolly for maggot and pellet at 7 metres in to open water and my usual Ronnie 4x14 PB14. I started by potting in about 70ml of maggot with a dash of wetted micro pellet at 7 metres, but started on the Ronnie rig over loose fed maggot with single red maggot on the hook. I also started to feed the RH margin with 4 mm pellet to keep the Carp at arms length from my Silvers peg. I started well catching 3 oz Skimmers, Ronnie’s to 4oz and Hybrids to 8oz. However, I was having difficulty with the fry that has recently hatched attacking my float. After 90 minutes I decided to have a go over the micro with double red maggot. This resulted in a couple of bigger Skimmers to 2lb. At least the maggot appeared to be keeping the Carp away. I re-fed this line with a big pot of micros and went back on the Ronnie rig until two hour to go. At this stage Mike Owens had been catching Carp regularly as had Steve Dawson on peg 1. There was no way I thought I could catch either of them on the Carp. As for the Silvers Colin had been catching Skimmers well on peg 7, but the Carp had moved in. So I thought I would have a dabble on the paste over my Ronnie maggot line, in the anticipation that I might catch some bigger Skimmers. In fourteen put in I had thirteen Carp to 4lb and one 2lb Skimmer. Not a good ratio. I dropped the paste in to the RH margin and a Carp on the drop, then a 1lb Hybrid, followed by another Carp. So back out on the Jolly with soft pellet and the ratio of 3oz Skimmers to Carp was two to one so I decide to stick with this to the end. I had 23 carp which weighed in at 58lb 15oz (not one was lost in reeds) and 25lb 12oz of Silvers for a combined total of 84lb 11oz for first in the Silvers and third overall. On reflection I think this peg could be an overall winning peg, albeit it a bit risky especially if only paying the one overall. You really need to keep options open taking the best rout for you to coin.

My Silvers weight today is a record match weight for Dabinett (pictured right – thanks Mark you take a photo on a decent camera), so I now hold both Silvers records with my 44lb on Yarlington Mill. Come on Mark start having a Silvers pool on your Sunday Opens. I am sure the regulars would welcome it.

The match was won by Mike Owens (pictured right with some on his catch) with a personal best weight of 137lb from peg 20. Mike caught all his fish at 5 metres in to open water using either paste or pellet. Mike caught steady all day. Mike also didn’t lose any fish in the reeds.

I really don’t understand why anglers feel the erg to feed the Carp in the weeds, and then moan when they get beaten up. I think the fish that show themselves through reed knocking are fish that are not prepared to feed properly with many Carp being foul hooked.

Full Result:

1. Mike Owens 137-0-0 peg20
2. Steve Dawson 112-14-0 peg 1
3. Mike Nicholls 84-11-0 peg 28
4. Dave Bacon 77-02-0 peg 21
5. Colin Golding 67-08-0 peg 7
6. Andy Gard 17-0-0 peg 6

Top Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 25-12-0 peg 28 (Lake Record)
2. Colin Golding 17-15-0 peg 7