I couldn’t help noticing Doug Sutton’s Catapult he has been using at Huntstrete, so I had a word with him about it today. Doug explained that he made it in 1963 from Hazel wood cut from a tree at Limpley Stoke. Doug also said he had left it behind a couple of times over the years and had always gone back to find it. For those of us that can remember we had no option to make our own catapult’s back then as you couldn’t buy them – especially like this one, pictured right with Doug on the end – what a monster, and still in use today after 47 years service. By the way Doug is still favouring the straight lead which won him a few quid back then on the river – Gentleman Doug.
Walking around the Lake prior to the draw I told Mike Jones and Bob Warren that I fancied peg 18. I probably like this peg for the solitude if offers! Another excellent turn out with the Lake by and large full. In to the draw box and opening the ticket I see a number 8 so I have either pegs 8, 18 or peg 28 either of them would have been very acceptable. Opening the remainder of the draw ticket – you guessed it peg 18 – that’s how it’s done!
I had decided on the way to the match to fish for Silvers and leave the Carp alone - provide they left me alone. I set two Ronnie rigs – one deep and the other shallow and a Skimmer rig to be fished at 6 metres 2 inches up the inside shelf. I wasn’t going t, but I set up a paste rig just in case for the LH margin. I started by cupping in the remainder of the GB I used yesterday (I can expect a comment from Rip Off on this one), six tangerine size balls. I also started to feed a short Ronnie line with caster. Starting on the caster I had a little run if Ronnie’s, Perch and small Hybrids. I suddenly switched off, so out on the maggot for Skimmer, where I had a fairly long run of very small Skimmers and Ronnie’s. Looking around and the only person I saw catching fish was Rich Coles, most others were blanking. So T persevered with the maggot at 7 metres until I foul hooked a Carp – good riddance. With two hours to go and still some anglers in view blanking I decide to give the paste a try in the margin – nothing. So I decided to feed all of the expendable bait – 1 pint of micro, casters and a bit of GB in to the margin. Back out on the 7 metre line after loose feeding a few maggots and casters and another run of very small fish which necessitated me changing to my lightest elastic. And as God’s will have it I hooked a Carp on single red maggot. It took me an age to land it with about 20 foot of elastic hanging around my feet! I fancied this would have completely buggered this line so switched to back to the margin loosing 2 foul hooked Carp in as many minutes. Back out at 7 metres and yes it was completely buggered. So I spent the last 15 minutes in the margin with paste and had one more 10 lb Carp just before the whistle. My Silvers weighed in at 10lb 2oz and my two Carp 20lb 8oz for a total of 30lb 10oz. This put me first in the Silvers and 6th overall.
The match was won by Mike Jones (pictured right with the Silvers winner) from peg 30 with 56lb 13oz. Mike caught all his fish on the waggler fishing banded pellet both at full depth and shallow.
Full Result:
1. Mike Jones 56-13-0 peg 30
2. Dave Bacon 48-14-0 peg 8
3. David Daly 35-04-0 peg 16
4. John Smith 34-0-0 peg 15
5. Tom Coulson 33-07-0 peg 10
6. Mike Nicholls 30-10-0 peg 18
Top Silvers:
1. Mike Nicholls 10-02-0 peg 18
2. Bill Ferris 9-14-0 peg 4
3. Mike Jones 8-03-0 peg 30
It’s been one year and four days since I last fished Sedges, hard to believe as it is one of my favourite Silvers venues. We had the usual warm welcome from Denise followed up with a hot cup of tea. I must say Jamie and Denise have put in a lot of hard work since I was here last, adding a site for touring Caravans.
The BBC did their usual overstatement wrt weather. We did have a bit of light rain but overall it wasn’t that bad a day – lightish wind and overcast for most of it. I was hoping to draw pegs 7 or 15 and not to draw any of the early pegs. In to the hat and out comes peg 4. Umm, no mans land. As always I had a plan. I set up a 4x16 Jolly to be fished at 7 metres and assembled my Normark 11ft no1 Feeder rod as back up. That was it. I mixed up some GB comprising ½ Kilo of Gimps Gold with a big dash of Sensas Magic. On the whistle I feed 4 big balls at 7 meters and put double red maggot on the hook. The wind was blowing hard for the first hour and I was finding it difficult to pick up any tow, in fact the float was being blown through with the wind a bit too quick so I had to put some lead and line on the deck. After half hour I had no signs of any fish at all. I could see Leyton Palmer catching really well on peg 7 as was John Dursley on peg 12. Either side of me hadn’t had a bite either. So I decided to fish the maggot feeder at 25 metres or so, with again double red on the hook. Another 15 minutes passed with no indications. Rich Coles having started on the feeder on next peg 5 had come in on the pole and landed a decent Eel. So I decided to see if I could catch one, plus the wind had lightened and change direction. So I started to kinder pot in some old casters left from the weekend again with double red on the hook. The upshot was I didn’t catch an Eel, but started to catch Skimmers from 1lb to 2 ½ lb steady and I didn’t look back. I weighed 41lb 8oz for second in the match and second in the Silvers. I think that none productive first hour cost me first in the Silvers.
I must say how I have missed fishing this venue, I had a very memorable day, I just hope I can remember how I fished it for the next time I down here – have to get 
one of those Blackberry thingy’s to use on the bank!
Both the Silvers and overall was won by Leyton Palmer (pictured right with his net of Skimmers - who doesn't understand what NO RIGHT TURN MEANS) from peg 7 with 55lb consisting of one Carp and 47lb 7oz of Skimmers. Leyton caught a few Skimmers on the feeder, with the majority coming to the pole at 13 metres using pellet hook bait over pellet – well done matey.
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
According to the Carps AC website there were 60 Anglers booked in to fish plus reserves. The reality was 26 anglers fished. Steve and Paul used both Campbell and Cary and had one section of five and two sections of four on each Lake, with each section paying £10 per Angler. The league started us off with the first frost of the autumn, albeit a very light one, which hopefully would put the Carp off a bit. However, it also promised to be a bright day – not good for the Silvers I was thinking.
I was third in to the draw bag and pulled out peg 76 on Cary. This put me in a five peg section from my peg to peg 85. I didn’t really know what to think of it. Looking for positives it was an end peg plus a Willow to my right giving some cover. I had already put a plan in place which was to have four rigs:
Ronnie rig number one for the margin – 4x14 PB14 – 0.14 hook length because of the possibility of Tench
Ronnie Rig number two for fishing 3.5 metre whip out in front with a home made waggler and 0.1 hook length
Skimmer rig to be fished at 11.5 metres at 11 o clock using 4x14 Jolly with 0.12 hook length
A CW&C rig fished off the edge of the willow at 5 metres using a 4x12 Jolly with a 0.14 hook length.
I started by cupping in for large balls of Gimps Gold over the Skimmer line, followed by one cup of CW&C at 5 metres. I started in the margin with Ronnie rig number one with caster over loose fed caster and had some Ronnie’s with a couple of 8oz Hybrids – however it was much slower than anticipated, so over to the CW&C with a small piece of worm and after counting 60 I had a small Ronnie. As I was eager to get on the Skimmer line out went the rig with a 3mm expander pellet on the hook and – nothing, not even any indications. Umm. At this point Steve Jackson walk by to fetch a coat from his van as he was freezing cold, explaining that the section was mega hard with himself having only four small Roach. This decided me to pick up Ronnie rig two and go full out for them with caster. So head down it was – nearly. I kept being diverted by Mark Broomsgrove who was catching decent sized Skimmers opposite me on peg 102 using CW&C. So I switched the 11.5 metre line to CW&C putting in a full pot. I tried the worm over this line but once again not having a bite – was I giving it long enough as I was soon back on the Ronnie rig and watching the Carp blow over the CW&C. Paul Greenwood came by and said that peg 78 had a few Skimmers to 3lb. So I decided, once more to go flat out for Ronnie’s until the end. I was last to weigh in the section and had to beat 13lb odds I thought I might just do this, but it is so hard to estimate small Ronnie’s. I weighed 17lb 13oz for a section first – mission accomplished. Surprisingly this also put me 11th overall.
The match was won by Vince Brown (pictured right) with 54lb 6oz from peg 126. Vince caught twenty one Tench and a lesser number of Skimmers fishing CW&C with worm on the hook. Vince fished at 14.5 metres feeding four pints of caster and one Kilo of worms (rich boy). Vince fed all his feed through an oversized kinder pot! Vince caught two Tench in the last three minutes giving the edge over the runner up.
Runner up from peg 111 was Simon Jones (pictured right) with 50lb 8oz of mainly Tench. Simon fished similar to Vince, also catching on CW&C at 13 metres, choosing to loose feed two pints of caster and potting in ½ Kilo of worm.
Full Result:
1. Vince Brown 54-06-0 peg 126
2. Simon Jones 50-08-0 peg 111
3. Phil Cardwell 31-03-0 peg 98
4. Mark Broomsgrove 28-13-0 peg 102
5. Steve Long 25-04-0 peg 116
6. John Green 22-07-0 peg 123
The match was panned to be on Sheppard’s Lake; however, Mark wanted to rest the Lake after a busy summer. So the match was switched to Dabinett. I was hoping for a different peg to that which I had on Sunday. It wasn’t to be, out came peg 21 again. I could hear the groans from the Carp Slayers. So was it to be a repeat of Sunday’s match? The pegging was exactly the same except peg 28 was left out. This promoted peg 1 to an absolute flyer for Chris Davis. So first in the Carp pool was settled. Both Chris and I expected the Carp winning weight to be lower than Sunday. However, I expected the Silvers to be better. Even though I had pulled a chest muscle I still decided to fish the same match as Sunday - for Silvers- rather than a steady day on Carp. I think I got it right on Sunday, but today I got it all wrong, particularly my assumption with regard to Carp not feeding as well. After a good first three hours on the Silvers everything was going exactly to plan – plus the bonus of no Carp in the net, although there were plenty coming out all around. Then I hit the Carp wall with the swim coming alive with them. I decided to try the paste at 5 metre and in 6 put in’s I had 6 Carp. Then I heard that Colin Golding had 40 Carp and Chris Davis was also bagging. Having decided that I would not now catch these two I spent the rest of the match trying to avoid Carp, mustering the odd Silver. I noticed that Steve Dawson had started to catch Silvers having had a slow start, catching Carp early. I now wish I had fished for Carp I think I could have done a respectable weight – hind sight is a wonderful thing! My Silvers weighed in at 15lb and my Carp 29lb 7oz for 44lb 7oz. This put me second in the Silvers and 7th Overall.
The match was won by Chris Davis (pictured with the Silvers winner and runner up - what a motley crew) with 174lb 14oz from peg 1. Chris fished corn in to the gully between pegs 1 and 29. Chris started cautiously then increased the feed to keep the Carp coming regularly all through the match.
Runner up was Colin Golding from peg 12 with 128lb 15oz. Colin caught at 5 metres using meat, feeding just half tin of meat. I think Colin ate the remainder!
The Silvers was won by Steve Dawson from peg 23 with 21lb 12oz. Steve caught most of his fish in the last 2 hours once the Carp disappeared (as they did for Steve Denmead on Sunday).
Full Result:
1. Chris Davis 174-14-0 peg 1
2. Colin Golding 128-15-0 peg 12
3. Mike Owens 112-09-0 peg 7
4. Bob Feltham 95-03-0 peg 18
5. Andy Gard 75-03-0 peg 20
6. Steve Jefferies 67-03-0 peg 10
Top Silvers:
1. Steve Dawson 21-12-0 peg 23
2. Mike Nicholls 15-0-0 peg 21
3. Bill Ferris 10-0-0 peg 6
I have just returned from holiday in Sorrento – Italy with the Special One. I must say it was a good choice of hers. I have visited many wonderful places in my time but the Amalfi Coast is without doubt the most beautiful. And there is also the food – Bottlelinos and Pizza Hut will never be the same again!! The nearest I got to fishing was watching the locals boat fishing in the Bay of Naples from small rowing boats, jerking hand lines whilst rowing with the other hand. I am not sure what they were catching, but it definitely wasn't Ronnie's. The picture right shows the Bay of Naples with Vesuvius (an active Volcano) in the background.
Having just returned home I wasn’t as mentally prepared for this match as I usually am. However, the plan was simple – fish for Silvers for the first three hours with the anticipation of securing some coin and the second half fish for team points!
This plan was good in respect that I didn’t have to worry about which lake I fished, but was secretly hoping for Sheppard’s. Charlie Barns came back from the draw with peg 21 on Dabinett. Great Carp peg, but also with plenty of open water which will invariably holds Silvers too. Having settled in the peg and looking around the section I found myself in Carp Slayer paradise – Rip Off on next peg 20, Steve Denmead on peg 19, Rod Wotton on peg 1, Chris Davis on peg 12, Dean Mallin on peg 7, Mark Broomsgrove on peg 6 and so on. So my plan was looking even more promising - for this Lake anyway.
I decided on two paste rigs, one for the RH margin at full depth, one at 10 metre on top the bar. Then the important rigs – a 4x14 Jolly for Skimmers to be fished at 5 metres with Soft pellet or Maggot and my Ronnie rig, also for use with Maggot. I fed the 10 metre line with 4’s and micro in equal proportions, quickly followed up with a 125 ml pot of 50/50 maggot and wetted micro at 5 metres. I started with the Ronnie rig, loose feeding with maggot (basically over the 5 metre line). I had a run off Ronnie’s and Rudd with the occasional Hybrid. I then had a 3lb Carp which aren’t that easy to land on the Ronnie rig as it causes a lot of disturbance. With that landed I tried over the 5 metre line and had a few 4oz Skimmers before I latched in to another 3lb Carp. Playing these fish totally unsettles the silvers. Back on the Ronnie rig and another run of Silvers, however, if I fed too much the Carp would disrupt the swim. It was very difficult sorting the feed pattern, but the best I could work out was feed heavy and fish it out. I had been feeding the RH margin from the start with 4’s and noticed a blow so had a dob in with paste and after counting to 120 and without any indication (if there is any indication I start the count again) wrapped it in. So that was the end on the paste for the day (and probably for the rest of the season). I decided to concentrate on the 5 metre line adding a Kinder pot to keep a mix of micro and maggot going in. With two hours to go I had a period on foul hooking Carp – five in a row in fact. It then settled and I had a run to the end of Carp to 3lb and Skimmers to 12oz. My 10 Carp weighed in at 37lb 13oz and my Silvers 21lb for a total of 58lb 13oz. This put me tenth overall and second in the Silvers by a miserable 6oz. However, this only gave my 4 ½ section points – drawing with next peg Steve Denmead. On the whole it was mission accomplished. I purposely didn't mention the team performance as I noticed we had two 1 pointers!!
The match was won by Des Shipp (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 103lb 15oz from peg 41 on Yarlington. Des started at 5 metres on soft pellet, swapping later to hard pellet shallow in to both margins. In the last half hour Des decided to switch to caster over to the far bank weeds with double caster on the hook, landing a quick 10 more fish, which made the difference on the day. Today proves once again that match fishing it’s not about luck as Des won the County Championship on this venue the day before (which I predicted on one of my earlier blogs). However, what is lucky is Des selling his roof tiles for more that the cost of new one’s (that’s what Bela told me – jammy beggar)!! It is only a matter on time before Des is the crowned World Champion.
The Silvers was won by Steve Seagar with 21lb 6oz from peg 15 on Sheppard’s Lake. Steve caught mostly 1oz Rudd and Ronnie’s on single maggot fishing short.
I must say Rip Off (who seems to have a fatal attraction to Blackberry bushes) and Dean Mallin do a great job running the league and also taking on the weighing in (picture right proves this – can you name the anglers hiding in the Sedges - you might miss Jason Radford though)?
Full Result:
1. Des Shipp 103-15-0 peg 41 Yar
2. Rod Wotton 98-01-0 peg 1 Dab
3. Dean Mallin 89-04-0 peg 7 Dab
4. Paul Elmes 77-13-0 peg 16 Dab
5. Tony Rixon 70-14-0 peg 20 Dab
6. Mark Broomsgrove 69-0-0 peg 6 Dab
Top Silvers:
1. Steve Seagar 21-06-0 peg 15 Shep
2. Mike Nicholls 21-0-0 peg 21 Dab
3. Kev Perry 19-0-0 peg 3 Shep
This league was previously known as the Veal’s Teams of Four – now called South West Teams of Four and now being run by Tony Rixon (Rip Off). So Charlie Barns mustered his old Angels – Tom Thick, Rich Coles and me. The first match was at Chiltern Trinity – Woodlands and Wild Marsh. I didn’t relay mind which lake I fished as I had the bait for both. Charlie and I drew Woodlands – Charlie, peg 24 and me peg 7. I have drawn this peg before this year and had 89lb for second to peg 16. So I was happy with the draw. However, there was a match on Woodlands the day before ran by Leyton Palmer, I know because he asked me if I wanted to fish. On arriving at my peg I immediately knew my peg had been fished the day before and by someone that fishes Bowd Valley Lake. How did I know this, simply because of the unmistakable red mud that was left on the platform – I wonder who it was? I was a bit disappointed to find that peg 6 was in, last time it wasn’t. In fact there were too many of us crammed in the end corner with pegs 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 being fished. Thus seriously affected the fishing with Anton Page on peg 3 only weighing in 5oz!
I set up two paste rigs one for 5 metes and the other for both margins and a 4x16 Jolly to fish with either expander pellet and paste (plus any other bait I might use). I started by feeding 125ml of 50/50 hard 4’s and wetted micros at 5 metres and commencing to feed both margins. First put in at 5 metres with paste I had a 3lb Carp with four more of similar size following in the next 30 minutes. Looking around I reckon I was well in the lead, but not for very long as the swim died. I think I was being a bit impatient deciding to re-feed, I feel now I should have given it a bit longer before doing so. It was far too early to go in to the margin so tried the 6mm expander pellet at 5 metres and had one bite and a few indications for nothing – not even a Silver fish which was highly unusual. So early in to the margin it was to be then. Because the wind was fairly strong, blowing left to right I favoured the down wind RH side and first put in had a small Carp. Paul Elmes on peg 6 was struggling and also went in to the same margin swim - his LH side. I knew this wasn’t going to help my case so I tried the LH margin but the wind was a bit too strong for the soft paste so got out the stiffer paste. I had another small Carp but our end of the lake was fishing very poor. I kept trying the three swims to the end of the match and ended up with a total of 10 Carp for a weight of 35lb 8oz - with unusually dry Silvers net – unbelievable. This gave me 6 points, with 38lb 5oz taking nine points - so close. This helped the Charlie’s angels to 6th overall with 21 points.
The match was won by Leon Hubbard (pictured right) with 82lb 11oz from peg 26 on Woodlands (W). Leon started fishing the pole at 13 metres shallow then dropped short to 5 metres on the bottom with either paste and pellet, where he caught the lion’s share of his weight.
The Silvers was won by Gary Etheridge (pictured above right) from peg 61 on Wild Marsh (WM) with 19lb 15oz. Gary caught all sorts on maggot - deep and shallow.
Close runner up was Nicky Collins (pictured right with his net of Silvers) from peg 16 on Woodlands with 19lb 8oz. All Nicks fish fell to chopped worm and caster.
Full Result:
1. Leon Hubbard 82-11-0 peg 26 W
2. Chris Davis 70-05-0 peg 41 WM
3. Pete Sivell 67-06-0 peg 14 W
4. Steve Mayo 65-03-0 peg 29 W
5. Tin Clark 65-01-0 peg 18 W
6. Alan Oram 62-12-0 peg 21
Top Silvers:
1. Gary Etheridge 19-15-0 peg 61 WM
2. Nicky Collins 19-08-0 peg 16 W
3. Craig Edmonds 16-02-0 peg 30 WM
It was great to see Mike Chapman attending his first match, by the looks of him he must have qualified many years ago! The last time I saw Mike was thrashing away on Barrows number two. With Steve Jefferies showing his face for the first time this year added to a good turn out of 28 anglers. However, it was nearly a redraw because someone took two pegs – time for recorded draw perhaps? Anyway Colin sorted it in his usual fashion sending anglers to peg 1 and 34!
It looks like that the BAA Thursday Silvers Winter League is going to be a sell out – glad I got my name down – contact Mike Jones if you want one of the few remaining places.
What a beautiful start to the day, with the crisp smell of autumn in the air and an ASDA “Full Monty” inside me. I drew peg 33 today which is two up from the far end bank. I wasn’t too displeased with this. However, I was undecided whether to fish for Carp, Ronnie’s, Skimmers, or a bit of all, so kept my options open. It would be the Ronnie’s rig and caster to start, followed up with a Skimmer line at 7 metres, and then if all failed a paste rig in the margin. I felt that the fishing might be harder this end of the Lake so I thought I would knock up some Gimps Gold with some wetted micro to be fed on the 7 metre Skimmer line. However, I started on the caster and had a couple of Ronnie’s and a couple of small Perch – the writing was on the wall – no Ronnie’s again today – umm. So out on the Skimmer line it was to be, whilst feeding 4mm hard pellet in to the LH margin. I had a run of tiny Skimmers to 3oz, this was OK as no one I could see had caught a fish! After two hours when I had about 5lb of Silvers I foul hooked a Carp – one of five on this line – the fish were not feeding, which I put down to the changing of seasons and the bright sun light. I didn’t know whether to re-feed or not. I can confirm that once you have put bait in you can’t take it out – unfortunately! The swim all but died, not a disaster as Harry Muir and Steve Jefferies each side of me hadn’t had a bite!! At half time and to plan into the margin to give paste a try. In four hours fishing it I had three decent Carp. The swim had completely died after this, so decide for the remaining half hour to fish for Skimmers and added about 2lb. My Skimmers weighed 7lb 8oz and my three Carp went 35lb 7oz making a not so grand total of 42lb 15oz. This put me 5th in the Silvers and 6th overall. I have stopped recording pickups on this blog; however, this was an exception as I picked up £19!!!
The anglers both sides of me DNW’d which for Steve Jefferies on peg 34 was probably foreseen as he arrived without his nets. Martin Alexander came to the rescue loaning Steve both landing and keep nets on the condition that if Martin had more than 80 lb he would want it back – that would have been interesting.
The match was won by Terry Bruton (pictured right with the Silvers winner) on peg 30 with 94lb 10oz consisting of nine Carp. Terry caught on the pellet waggler with 10mm pellet feeding the same over the top, Terry also caught at 12 metres with 8 mm expander on the hook, fished over potted hard 8’s.
The Silvers was won by Rich Coles with 24lb 12oz from peg 8. Rich caught a mixed bag consisting of mostly Skimmers fishing worm over CW&C – Rich by name rich was nature!!
Full Result:
1. Terry Bruton 94-10-0 peg 30
2. Paul Haines 59-14-0 peg 19
3. Rich Coles 56-15-0 peg 8
4. John Smith 52-0-0 peg 52-0-0 peg 26
5. Ian Sheppard 46-0-0 peg 4
6. Mike Nicholls 42-15-0 peg 33
Top Silvers:
1. Rich Coles 24-12-0 peg 8
2. Bob Warren 12-09-0 peg 10
3. Mike Jones 11-08-0 peg 5
4. Bill Ferris 10-0-0 peg 31
5. Mike Nicholls 7-08-0 peg 33
I couldn’t help noticing Doug Sutton’s Catapult he has been using at Huntstrete, so I had a word with him about it today. Doug explained that he made it in 1963 from Hazel wood cut from a tree at Limpley Stoke. Doug also said he had left it behind a couple of times over the years and had always gone back to find it. For those of us that can remember we had no option to make our own catapult’s back then as you couldn’t buy them – especially like this one, pictured right with Doug on the end – what a monster, and still in use today after 47 years service. By the way Doug is still favouring the straight lead which won him a few quid back then on the river – Gentleman Doug.
The match was won by Mike Jones (pictured right with the Silvers winner) from peg 30 with 56lb 13oz. Mike caught all his fish on the waggler fishing banded pellet both at full depth and shallow.
