Sunday 31/10/10 - Carps AC Autumn Silvers League - Viaduct Fishery - Round Four

I travelled alone again this week as Bela got “Boy Flu” and no Pinky Ponk Juice in my garage after the match either. Let’s hope he's better next week. Driving down today the trees and hedge rows were in full autumn colours - reds, greens, browns and gold’s this is because we haven’t had any real winds to take them away – let’s hope they stay as long as possible, it will be sad to see them go. Gordon Cannings had a scare this morning at 04:30 – John Bennett on his mobile outside Gordon’s house enquiring whether he had over slept – I wish they wouldn’t mess about with the clocks (it buggers me up for a few days) – so does Gordon!!

With a few anglers unable to fish John Bennett did his usual phoning around and managed to get the attendance up to thirty five – well done matey. I was hoping to be on Campbell (as did everyone else). It wasn’t to be, I drew peg 103 which was last in the section on the last league match. I was hoping that it would be an end peg, but it wasn’t Chris Davis had that, peg 105. With Tom Mangnel on the other end peg 98 in the section I knew it would be a difficult match to pick up in. The North wind was blowing down towards our end, which gave me some heart. I set up two Ronnie rigs which produced absolutely nothing. I set up 1 x Jolly which was somewhere between a 4x12 and 4x14 – that will be 4x13 then Mr Rixon. This was to be fished at 5 metres over GB and a 4x14 PB 14 (modified) to be fished long at 11.5 metres over caster. The Jolly also severed for under the LH tree where I planned to put in some CW&C as a tester. On the whistle I put in balls of GB laced with casters at 5 metres and a half pot of casters at 11.5 metres, I followed this up with half a pot of CW&C under the tree – I can finish this one off now - I caught one 2oz perch over this line on double dead red. I started at 5 metres with single caster and was getting some tentative touches followed by a very shy bite from small Skimmers – 4oz to 8oz. I had a run of them for about an hour – but it was slow. During this period Chris Davis snares a 4lb Tench which easily exceeded my net's worth. I re-fed with another ball of laced GB and tried the caster line at 11.5 metres with one 4 oz Skimmer to show for it after 15 minutes. This wasn’t good as this was my banker line. As I had done reasonably well over the laced GB I decided right or wrong to put two big balls in over this line before coming back in to 5 metres where I caught a few more small Skimmers. I make note of how angler’s fish and I could see that some of the Choppy men were struggling whilst others were having a few better Skimmers, but it was generally fishing hard. By swapping between the two lines I kept a few small Skimmers coming on single caster which kept me occupied until the end when I weighed in 13lb 9oz which was more that I expected. Not enough for any coin though, putting me fourth in the section and joint 14th overall with the Dude (Dan Squires) on peg 96. I really needed three or four good stamp Skimmers or Tench to put me up in the coin, but in didn’t happen.

Overall it was a very enjoyable close match.

The match was won by Stu Foale’s (pictured right sporting his new hair do) with 39lb 11oz from Campbell peg 131. Stu caught most of his fish in the second half of the match (as did most anglers find on Campbell). Stu caught the majority of his fish on worm over CW at 13 metres down his peg at 2 o clock. Stu’s catch included Bream, Tench and sizeable Perch. Well done matey that’s a well deserved win.

Full Result:
1. Stu Foale 39-11-0 peg 131
2. Rich Coles 20-09-0 peg 127
3. Steve Jackson 20-04-0 peg 119
4. Tom Mangnel 19-06-0 peg 98
5. Chris Davis 18-13-0 peg 105
6. Anton Page 16-14-0 peg 111
7. Mark Broomsgrove 16-02-0 peg 88 (again)

Thursday 28/10/2010 - Bathampton Over 55's - Bridge Pool

It official, Colin Golding is retiring from running the “Coffin Dodgers” and Mike Jones is taking over. However, Colin will still be fishing the matches as usual. Mike is taking over on the day of our Christmas match. Mike is also running the BAA Silvers league starting in January 2011 – only a few places left, so give Mike a call on 07776 196040 to book in. Looking through the archives I found a very interesting article about a certain Mike Jones and a Malcolm Murfet. Both of them were organising angling some 50 years ago, and still at it, as the Evening Post article printed in 1960 explains (shown right – you will need to magnify it to read all the detail – but well worth while). The GS stands for Grammar School and not Girl School as I first thought!

Walking round Bridge Pool before the draw with Rich Coles we discussed the merits of peg 18. Rich explained that he won a match from it last year (I didn’t tell him I had won four from it). Rich had caught Carp down to the RH tree (about 11.5 metres away). I have always caught to the Left. So I thought if I drew it today (again) I would give it a try. Guess what out comes peg 18 (to a few groans). I have also done well with the Silvers from this peg so these would be my first priority. I had some GB left over from the weekend (been frozen since then – waste not want not) so on the whistle I cupped in five (have I over done the feed?) Satsuma size balls laced with 2mm expander pellet at 7 metres which is the bottom of the inside shelf giving 9 foot. I was expecting to catch skimmers over this with my usual 4x16 Jolly and 4mm expander pellet. I also cupped in a few grains of corn down to the recommended tree with a hand full of casters. Starting on the 4mm expander pellet and then, nothing ensued – so I switched to single live red maggot and caught Skimmers up to 1lb steady for about 45 minutes. Just when I was thinking of a good Silvers weight I foul hooked a Carp and the swim died to I cupped in the remainder of the GB - 2 two Satsuma’s. The fish returned but it was a lot slower after an hour and half another foul hooked Carp and a completely dead swim – yes, I had over done the feed but not for feeding the Silvers off, but for pulling in the Carp! I then made the decision to fish the remainder of the match for Carp and set about fishing down to the tree and second put in I had a 9lb Carp in the net, which was one of six landed and one breaking me – damaged line. The problem was that after every fish a long wait preceded it as the fish would scare off in to the far neck of the arm taking and some coaxing back. My Silvers weighed in at 10lb 14oz and my six Carp 50lb 2oz for a grand total of 60lb. This put me fourth in the Silvers and first overall. I must say I had a very enjoyable day especially with the weather being so mild and dry.

The Silvers was won by Mike Jones from peg 29 with 16lb 15oz. Mike fished his usual top and bottom float fished to hand on a 5 metre whip. Switching later to his beloved waggler fished at depth towards the island. Mike caught on maggot over GB and maggot.

It was good to see Chris Rolfe (pictured right with his Silvers catch) out fishing again and still doing well coming third in the Silvers and sixth overall. It’s all about presentation and feeding and you still got it matey – see I didn’t mention about your float!

Full Result:

1. Mike Nicholls 61-0-0 peg 18
2. Ian Sheppard 45-02-0 peg 17
3. Rich Coles 44-07-0 peg 28
4. Bob Price 40-07-0 peg 33
5. Terry Bruton 37-04-0 peg 23
6. Chris Rolfe 28-01-0 peg 16

Top Silvers:

1. Mike Jones 16-15-0 peg 29
2. Chris Snow 12-10-0 peg 31
3. Chris Rolfe 11-07-0 peg 16
4. Mike Nicholls 10-14-0 peg 18

Wednesday 27/10/2010 - Carps AC - Bitterwell Lake

This was my first visit to Bitterwell Lake since last winter. After the usual wait for Clive to open the gates it was first in to the draw bucket for me and out comes peg 11 – again. It can be a good Skimmer peg as it is one of the deepest swims with 6 foot. Because of the high turn out the pegs were really tight, having only 5 metres between me a Nick Davidson. I set up the usual Ronnie whip to use with caster and a 4x14 Jolly with 0.1 hook length and a 18 - 808 to use with the usual Skimmer baits I elected to fish at 10 metres with swims at 11 o clock and 2 o clock, well away from Nick. It was a good job, as on the whistle Nick started to bombard the 10 metres line with caster and maggot. I fed the 11 o clock line with Cats and Dog’s crushed green micro to fish 3 mm expander over and kinder potted in dead red maggot with caster at 2 o clock. I tried the pellet line, but as I said it was far too close to Nick’s bomb site, hence resulted in no bites. I went over the 2 o clock line with double dead red and had a run of Skimmers, about five to 1lb. On the hour mark the swim died even through I kept topping up with caster and maggot. The answer - the Carp had moved in, and I was soon playing a 2 pounder. At this juncture I should have changed over and fished for them, by upping the line and feed but as I was winning the Silvers I decided to stick with them, switching to the maggot and caster on the 4 metre whip I did add about 2lb on this method but it was hard going. So back out at 10 metres where I had I dire middle two hours feeding lightly catching the odd decent Ronnie, whist watching Colin and Leyton Palmer catch Carp. I did have a few more Skimmers towards the end, but with half hour to go the Carp moved in again so I fished for them landing three small ones and loosing five!! My last fish was a 2lb Skimmer landed on the whistle which was my saviour, sneaking me in the coin. My four Carp weighed a meagre 13lb 2oz and my Silvers 10lb 8oz for a not so grand total of 23lb 10oz. This put me sixth overall and second in the Silvers.

The match was won by Leyton Palmer (see video of his weigh in bootom left – keep the volume low if you don’t want to listen to some swearing) with 51lb 5oz from peg 9. Leyton caught 15ish Carp on corn over potted (big pot) casters fished at 13 metres.

The Silvers was won by Andy Gard (pictured right with his superb catch) from peg 4 with 14lb of quality Roach. Andy fished at 5 metres shallow with maggot hook bait fished over loose fed caster.

Full Result:

1. Leyton Palmer 51-05-0 peg 9
2. Colin Golding 48-04-0 peg 8
3. Steve Jefferies 38-07-0 peg 7
4. Nick Davidson 37-06-0 peg 10
5. Mike Snudden 34-08-0 peg 12
6. Mike Nicholls 23-10-0 peg 11

Top Silvers:

1. Andy Gard 14-0-0 peg 4
2. Mike Nicholls 10-08-0 peg 11

Sunday 24/10/2010 - Carps AC - Wednesday's Qualifiers Final - Sedges Fishery

There was a clash of matches between the Carps AC Wednesday Qualifiers final at Sedges and the SW Teams of Four at Landsend. My first priority was not to let the team down, but knowing John Bradford would jump at the chance of fishing for Charlie’s Angels at Landsend, I asked him to stand in and he did. So the Sedges it was then with Mark Tanner. We had breakfast in the Hill Top café and to be fair it wasn’t too bad, at least they now have brown and tomato sauce back on draft.

Another great welcome from Denise and Jamie awaited us at the fishery, with a lovely cup of tea. With thirty fishing all of Brick Lake was pegged plus all of the near side bank of Tile Lake, pegs 40 to 35. My priority for peg choice for Silvers was pegs 4 to 8 and 19 to 13 on Brick and 40 to 36 on Tile. Bound to get one of those you would think. No it wasn’t to be. First into the draw bucket and out comes peg 32. This was one from the far end on Tile Lake – not been here before. With the wind blowing from the North in to peg 40ish I wasn’t that hopeful especially against the pegs behind me. However, if the Skimmers on Brick don’t feed then I might have a chance of framing in the Silvers. I do try to keep positive! First of all I set up the maggot feeder to fish live red maggot against the far tit for the small Carp. I managed to set it up and fold it away without a tangle – and that’s as much as it was handled all day. I set up a 4x14 – PB14 to fish CW&C on the top set, where I had 3 ½ foot of water. I was really only using this at a test bed for the CW&C as this bait can kill the swim very quickly this time of year. I then set up the main attack which was a 4x16 yellow topped Jolly to be fished at 10 metres with caster and maggot and at 11.5 metres with soft pellet. The same rig sufficed for both as it was similar depth at 9 footish. The swim was dead calm so dotting down was easy enough. I started by putting in 50ml of CW&C at 1 metre, followed up with one small ball of GB (Gimps and Magic) laced with dead reds at 10 metres. Lastly I fed 25ml of wetted micro and 2mm expander at 11.5 metres. The plan was to start fishing over the CW&C and if I caught positively I would started feeding it through a kinder pot over the 10 metre line. However, I had nothing, so decided this bait would be far too risky. So out on the 10 metre line with double dead red and I had a run of Skimmers to 2lb. After every fish I would kinder in a few dead reds with twice as many casters. This kept the fish coming albeit very slowly. I did catch two small Carp on this line to 2lb. I kept trying the 3mm expander at 11.5 metre but could only get line indications. Back on the 10 metre line and I had a run of five Eels to 1lb which was enjoyable – I love catching these fish. My thinking was that the 2 mm expander pellet was falling through the water too slowly, bring the fish up. So I had a brilliant idea I put the feed expander in the GB. This appeared to do the trick (but you never really know what’s going on down in the depths) as I had another two small carp and five Skimmers. I kept alternating between these two lines until the end. I did have a problem once the sun came round which made it necessary to tip the float with a bit of black as sometime I could see the yellow, other times the black. I did miss two bites because of visibility near the end. My four Carp weighed in at 6lb 4oz and I was surprised when my Silvers weighed in at 20lb 7oz, giving a grand total of 26lb 11oz for fifth overall and first in the Silvers – Brick Lake Skimmers failed to make a presences – yippee. It wasn't only a very pleasant memorable days fishing but, also a good pay day - the best of the year - so far.

The match was won by John “Turkey” Thompson (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 68lb 15oz from peg 19 on Brick Lake. John started on the usual GB and then pellet. It wasn’t until John switched to corn at 14.5 metres did he start to catch Carp. John initially fed one (opened) tin of corn (very brave I thought) and fed another three tins through the remainder of the match.

I must mention runner up Terry Bruton (pictured right with his best fish of the match) who weighed 44lb 1oz from peg 34 on Tile Lake. I thought Terry fished a very tidy match using 6mm expander over kinder potted hard 4’s. Well done matey.

Full Result:

1. John Thompson 68-15-0 peg 19
2. Terry Bruton 44-01-0 peg 34
3. Vince Brown 35-09-0 peg 40
4. Dave Bacon 32-03-0 peg 20
5. Mike Nicholls 26-11-0 peg 32
6. Mike Owens 26-10-0 peg 18

Top Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 20-07-0 peg 34
2. Mike Snudden 19-0-0 peg 39
3. Terry Bruton 15-08-0 peg 36

Wednesday 20/10/2010 - Avon Angling Open - Landsend Fishery

The forecasters promised it to be a cold bright day. Again driving down the temperature touched zero.

As the Carps AC had cancelled their match at Withy I decided to fish Rip Off’s match at Landsend. It’s much better for the Special One and me now his draw times are earlier, at 09-30 fishing to 16-45. This gets me home at 18:30 for dinner which was Beef stew tonight – scrummy – never enough, even though it’s running over the edge of the plate.

I was hoping to draw in the sun and luckily I did, drawing peg 5 on Match Lake, as opposite me they all looked froze as I sat in just three layers. I was told by Leyton Palmer that Martyn Rayett struggled on the peg Saturday weighing in 16lb. However, as I said the peg was in the sun and I still fancied it for a few Silvers and Carp. The water looked fairly clear and was about 18 inches down on the normal level. So I decided to take it steady and keep everything tight. This meant one 4x12 yellow top Jolly to fished at 12 metres which was just down the bottom of the far shelf to be fished with 3mm expander pellet. And the same again with a black top to be fished at 10 metres to peg 6 pallet with caster for the Perch etc… I started by being positive on the caster line putting in a big pot of caster with a dash of dead reds. I started on the soft pellet kinder potting in a tiny amount of expander 2’s (all Sensas pellet which can be purchased from Avon Angling - if there is any left). I didn’t have to wait long for my first foul hooked Carp which didn’t end up in the net. After every bite I planned to top up with the kinder cup by counting out 12 pellets. I was worried I would over do the feed today. The next bite resulted in a 4 lb Carp which fought well, diving a couple of times for the pallet. I then had a couple of Skimmers and F1’s. It seemed that every time you hooked a fish its mates would do a runner, taking a while to be coax back. I think this was due to the clarity of the water. So after an hour I went down to the pallet with double caster in anticipation of catching one of the 4lb Perch that I hear are caught in Match Lake. The bait had just settled and the float disappeared. Well what a surprise to find an 8 to 10lb Carp tail walking with my hook in its mouth, but not for long as the fish crashed down on my line and away it swam. I think the Carp was as surprised as I was! Next put in resulted in a lost foul hooker, where are all the Perch, as next put in I landed a Carp of about 3lb. The swim then died. I re-fed and went back on my pellet line. I did try the caster line from time to time catching a couple of Ronnie’s and yes one 4oz Perch. It appeared to be fishing hard all round so I decided to concentrate on the pellet line. This resulted in another four Skimmers and three more F1’s and six more Carp. I was wondering whether it would have been more productive to have had two swims going so that I could rotate – on the other hand it might have made things worse – who knows. I did notice that the Carp appeared to have backed off, down to between pegs 7 & 8. My eight Carp weighed in at 31lb 12oz (too small) and my Silvers went 13lb 8oz giving me a total of 45lb 4oz for fourth overall and highest weight on Match Lake.

"We always know when we over feed but never know when we under feed" (Mike Nicholls 2010)!

The match was won by Nick Duckett (pictured right with the Silvers winner on the left of picture) with 59lb 14oz from peg 31. Nick caught al his fish on hard 6mm pellet at 16 metres over the the corner bush.

Kevin Moulton won the Silvers with 34lb 5oz from peg 35. Kevin fished CW&C down the far shelf with caster hook bait, switching later to up the shelf using worm over caster. Kev caught quality Silvers including F1's, Bream, Perch and Chub.

Full Result:

1. Nick Duckett 59-14-0 peg 31
2. Jamie Brown 55-03-0 peg 28
3. Kevin Moulton 52-09-0 peg 35
4. Mike Nicholls 45-04-0 peg 5
5. Tony Rixon 42-0-0 peg 40
6. Craig "Trigger" Edmonds 37-10-0 peg 16

Top Silvers:

1. Kev Moulton 34-05-0 peg 35
2. John Bradford 26-04-0 peg 13
3. Tony Rixon 25-11-0 peg 13

Sunday 17/10/2010 - Carps AC Autumn Silvers League - Viaduct Fishery - Round Three

With Bela away down at Stafford Moor it was breakfast at home and a lonely drive down to Viaduct. It was also the first real frost of the season with the temperature falling to zero in the dips on the way down. It also promised to be a cloud free day, with no wind. This added to the fishery having its £1,000 Silvers final fish off the day before all promised a difficult day. This led my thinking to fishing the waggler at 25 metres with double dead red over loose fed caster.

I drew peg 99, which is a reasonable Skimmer peg. I discovered that Rip Off was on the peg the day before and fished 16 metres. I was guessing, but I assumed he put plenty of feed in. So the waggler was definitely on the cards. So this was the thing I first set up. With little to no wind it was just on the threshold to feed 25 metres. I also set up two Ronnie rigs as I knew Rip Off wouldn’t have pestered this species. I then set the usual 4x14 Jolly to be fish at the full Monty, so out came 13 meters of pole – still looks new! I started by feeding half a cup of casters with a small ball of GB at 13 metres. I commenced feeding the Ronnie and waggler lines with casters. I decided to go for the Ronnie and soon discovered that they weren’t coming out to play today. So before picking up the waggler I had a quick look over the GB at 13 metres and had a 3oz Skimmer on dead red - then nothing. I was itching to have a go on the wag so out it went and I must say the presentation wasn’t half bad. The problem was the feeding, I couldn’t group the loose feed tight enough for my liking, and in fact I felt I was spraying the casters all over. I did have a couple of small Skimmers on double dead red in addition to loosing a couple. Steve Jackson on next peg 100 was also fishing the waggler and wasn’t really catching on it either at this stage. So with a good hour on it I gave it up. I came back over the GB line and because the sun had moved behind the LH Willow the swim was now shaded and I couldn’t see any float colour I tried. So Looking around I could see Simon Jones and Mark Boomsgrove catching and they were surely using CW&C. So I opened up another 13 metres swim in a light channel where I could see a black topped float by kinder potting in some dead reds, caster and a bit of CW. I soon had a 2lb Skimmers followed by a couple of small ones 12oz to 1lb. After each fish I would kinder top up with the same mix. I then had a Tench and a 3lb Skimmer. I then decided to up the feed which resulted in three foul hook Carp which luckily didn’t hang around long, the last one breaking me, so I took this opportunity to scale down to a 0.12 hook length. I then foul hooked a 3lb Skimmer which came off at the net – Oh bother. At this stage I think I was winning the section then Jacko hooked a big Perch which probably put us level, he quickly followed this up by landing a foul hooked 3lb Skimmer. With 5 minutes to go I hook a Tench which came off at the net. I knew this would cost me the section and it did Jacko beating me in to second by 1lb 11oz!! I weighed 9lb 7oz for section second and 2 points.

The match was won by Mr Pin-up - Vince Brown (pictured right with runner up Mark Broomsgrove) with 26lb 14oz from Campbell peg 129. Vince caught most of his fish on either a small piece of worm or single caster fished over CW&C fished at 16 metres. Vince fed 1 kilo of worm and 2 pints of caster as I have said before rich he must be rich.


Full Result:

1. Vince Brown 26-11-0 peg 129
2. Mark Broomsgrove 26-04-0 peg 88
3. Steve Long 26-0-0 peg 115
4. Simon Jones 22-02-0 peg 96
5. Nick Collins 17-0-0 peg 112
6. Ian Coyd 16-03-0 peg 94 (not sure about his name)

Thursday 14/10/2010 - Bathampton Over 55's - Withy Pool

With most fisheries slowing down due to the change of season I was expecting Withy Pool to fish rock hard. However, I think it fished much better than anticipated under the circumstances. Whatever, I was looking forward to the match as I like fishing this time of year. The weather could only be described as dry, dank and coldish.

It was yet another good turn out with 27 fishing. I was hoping for either pegs 43, 44, 45 and 47. I decided to leave the draw bag to a little later to get away from any of the disabled pegs. I pull out peg 63. Umm, I hadn’t been here before. But I did know it’s a very good winter peg for Carp. After plumbing around it was clear that fishing short wasn’t an option. The margin was 6 inches deep and at 5 metres just a couple of feet. I needed to go out to 11.5 metres to get over the stony bottom and reach the shelf. So the one all round rig it was to be – 4x14 Jolly with 0.14 bottom to a 16 Tubertini 808. This rig would suffice from single maggot, caster, expander pellet (3’s and 6’s) to corn. On the whistle (two minutes early according to the Dodgers) I fed four tangerine sized Gimps Gold and Sensas Magic. I started on double maggot and soon switched to single as the fish I was catching were tiny Ronnie’s and Skimmers (again - why me, why here). It was fishing hard but I could see at least four anglers catching Silvers quicker that me, my speed being hampered by fishing at 11.5 metres. After four hours I held my own but the swim gradually died a death with the fish getting even smaller. The upshot was that the Silvers were no longer an option to coin. So I decided to swap to corn hook bait, kinder cupping in four grains topped up with caster every 3 minutes. With an hour to go I started to get some indications.

At this point Tom Coulson who was diagonally opposite me decided to go for a walk. But what we didn’t know was, Tom had left his pole in his pole roost baited up. The first I saw of it was 11 metres of pole shooting across the lake towards me with a fish on the hook. The call went out for Tom, but by his return the fish and pole was in my swim. The fish then headed for the centre of the Lake and then did a U turn. Steve Jefferies who was on the next peg to Tom decided he would claim savage rights and caught the line and pole on his lead rod (pictured right). Steve’s lead pulled free, by which time Tom had caught it from an empty peg on his lead rod, but it took Colin Golding to pull the pole to the bank with his walking stick (which I had a photo of that one), at this juncture the fish came free. I have heard on anglers leaving baited up feeders before, but this is the first time in my knowledge for it to happen with a pole. Tom you are a twit.

Back to my fishing. The reason I didn’t get a photo of Colin and walking stick was because I had my first bite on the corn and was playing a teenage Common Carp. With that in the net I had another two smaller Carp straight away. So with three in the net I reckoned I needed another three to take the match and with 30 minutes left it was possible. However, I did hook another two Carp straight away but both were foul hooked – bugger - not good. I did hook another with two minutes to go to bring the tally to four. My Silvers weighed in at 4lb 12oz and my four Carp went 36lb 13 for a total of 41lb 9oz. This put me second overall, but only just as Dave Bacon was just 5oz behind in third place.

The match was won by Bob Price (pictured right with his catch) from peg 60 with 58lb 6oz – an all carp catch. Bob amazingly caught his fish on the waggler with the “Conker” hook bait (hard 10 mm pellet wrapped to paste). Bob caught six Carp to 13lb. It was interesting to see Bob cast his float as the hook bait was much heavier that his float – Conker on the swirly whirly!!

The Silvers was won by Terry Bruton from peg 53 behind the Island with a credible 13lb 4oz. Terry caught mostly Roach on maggot fished short.

Full Result:
1. Bob Price 58-06-0 peg 60
2. Mike Nicholls 41-09-0 peg 62
3. Dave Bacon 41-04-0 peg 63
4. Ray Bazeley 22-06-0 peg 50
5. Bob Tilley 20-01-0 peg 69
6. Alan Jones 19-01-0 peg 48

Top Silvers:

1. Terry Bruton 13-04-0 peg 53
2. Bill Ferris 10-06-0 peg 59
2. Mike Jones 10-06-0 peg 47

Wednesday 13/10/2010 - Carps AC - Cider Farm - Yarlington Mill

I stopped in Budgens at Churchill for a breakfast baguette and a quick read of the Daily Mail – its great news that they have got some of the Chilean Miners out and it’s all go for all 33 being out by time I wake up tomorrow.

I hear from Mark Gibson that John Dursley was disqualified Sunday for having two nets over the 70lb limit. Apparently John has taken umbrage. Come on John, Mark (bless him) explains the rules before every draw. Why didn’t you use the two nets beside you on the bank? In any case I expect to see you back their next season.

It was a good turn out with 18 fishing, so the match was moved from Dabinett to Yarlington Mill. I drew peg 41 – another bloody Carp peg. However, I decided to keep my options open this time. I set up all the usual Silvers rigs plus a paste rig (not used – Darve Vader will be pleased) and a Drennan wire stem 4x10 chop for corn in the margin. I started at 7 metres with a 4x16 jolly with double dead red maggot fished over a 125ml pot of the same and had a 12oz Skimmer first put in. It then deteriorated from here to 2oz Skimmers with the odd Ronnie and was very slow. I decide to put in a bit of micro and switch to 3mm expander – nothing - but impatients. I switched to corn and had four Carp to 3lb. Not what I was after. I decided to go for an early banana walk; I was bloody cold – coldest since last winter. The most Carp was Nick Collier with twelve; however, it was apparent that the Silvers were not responding. Because the fishing was slow I decided that if I switched to a Carp attack I wouldn’t catch up. So the best option for coin was to stick with the Silvers. So I switched to the margin with single maggot sparingly loose feeding the same. All I could catch was 1oz fish and if I over done the feed (by feeding twice) I would snare another Carp. With my bed now made I stuck with these tiny fish to the end. I did muster 16 carp in the process which weighed in at 32lb and my Silvers went 6lb 4oz for a total of 36lb 4oz. This got me in the Silvers coin, but only by 1oz!

The match was won by Nick Collier (pictured right with some of his catch) with 91lb 10oz from peg 40. Nick caught the majority of his fish down the far shelf using corn hook bait over kinder potted 4’s. Nick fed about three pints throughout the match.

The Silvers was won by Steve Dawson from peg 54 with 11lb 11oz. Steve caught mostly Skimmers fishing 3 mm expander fished over the same feed at 7 metres. It was good to see Nick back out fishing again after a short rest - we can't afford to lose good anglers like Nick from the circuit - especially as he gives me his left over casters!!

Full Result:

1. Nick Collier 91-10-0 peg 40
2. Matt Tomes 75-01-0 peg 25
3. Anton Page 67-09-0 peg 32
4. Andy Gard 57-06-0 peg 14
5. Paul Lock 50-14-0 peg 36
6. John Bennett 45-0-0 peg 19

It was 1,2 and 3 for the Landsend brigade.

Top Silvers:

1. Steve Dawson 11-11-0 peg 54
2. Mike Nicholls 6-04-0 peg 41
3. Steve Jefferies 6-03-0 peg 28

Sunday 10/10/2010 - Carps AC Autumn Silvers League - Viaduct Fishery - Round Two

Bela and I both agreed after today's breakfasts at Shipham that they are on the decline. So we had a scout around Street and found a Wetherspoons (open at 07:00) and The Bear Hotel (open at 07:30), so next trip we are planning on trying both. Turn right at the mini roundabout taking you into the town centre both venues are on the left.

A number of anglers were moaning about Lodge being in today (including the organiser). Personally I like Lodge and was hoping to draw one of it's pegs. And I did peg 68. I was told I wouldn’t beat pegs 69 and 70, we will see! Arriving at the peg the water looked fairly clear - that is compared with Carey. It also promised to be a bright day and with the water levels down it was a case of easy as you go. I set up three Ronnie rigs – for the margin, for 5 metres and the last for 6 metres. I then set up 2 – 4x12 Jolly’s to be fished at 11.5 metres one at 2 o clock and the other at 10 o clock where I could only find 3 foot of water. I decided to leave the middle for CW&C – if required. On the whistle I commenced by feeding a very small amount of micro at 2 o clock followed up with a small ball of Gimps Gold at 10 o clock. Starting on the 3 mm expander pellet over the micro and first cast I had a bite which was missed, out again and another missed bite – small fish me thinks so I put on double micro pellet and had a ½ oz Ronnie. Out again and another ½ oz in the net. I went over the same line with corn which was footballed about by these tiny fish. Over the GB line with double dead red maggot and the same again more ½ oz fish. Time to try the caster on the Ronnie rigs and nothing – not a bite – these tiny fish would not come any closer than 6 metres, which surprised me. So it was decision time – which was to feed walnut sized GB over the 6 metre Ronnie line with single dead red on the hook. It was a struggle all round no one was catching in my section. I stayed with this until the last hour when I decide to feed two 125ml pots of CW&C over the 11.5 metre GB line as an investment should the Skimmers show up late. With half hour to go, by my reckoning I was winning the section and was hoping no one caught any late Skimmers – bugger it wasn’t to be. Rich Coles on peg 69 had three Skimmers and a near Bream in the last 30 minutes and Steve Denmead had an Eel and a decent Bream on peg 71. It was far too late for me to switch to my CW&C line. They both weighed 7lb with Rich Coles beating Steve by 12oz with 7lb 13oz. I weighed circa 150 fish for 4lb 5oz for a section 3rd. What a grueler it was on Lodge today and why didn't it fish that well - simple becasue it was the 10/10/10 - not that I am superstitious. It hasn’t changed my mind about this lake though!! The Dude won Lodge Lake from peg 60 with 15lb.


The match was won by Phil Cardwell (pictured right) from peg 87 on Carey with 34lb 7oz. Phil fished at 14.5 metres alternating between CW and caster fish over CW&C. Phil caught mostly Skimmers plus three bonus Tench. Phil fed ½ kilo of worm and 1 ½ pints of caster all over the same line.

Full Result:

1. Phil Cardwell 34-07-0 peg 87
2. Dick Bull 26-13-0 peg 88
3. Tom Magnell 21-15-0 peg 97
4. Stu Foale 21-09-0 peg 94
5. Steve Long 21-03-0 peg 101 (waggler)
6. Bella Bakos 20-11-0 peg 103 (waggler)

Wednesday 06/10/2010 - Avon Angling Open - Landsend Fishery

It was a sad day yesterday when Norman Wisdom passed away at the grand old age of 95. He was one of the greatest slap stick comedians. I will always remember how Norman did his accidental trip in front the queen on his investiture to “Sir” Norman. It is the only time I have seen HRM laugh on such a formal royal occasion. RIP Sir you made me laugh and brought me to tears on many occasions over many years – irreplaceable don’t you think Mr. GRIMSDALE.

Chatting in the Car Park before the draw at the last SW teams of Four the subject of Nick Collins hair arose and the longevity of same. I said I had a photo of Nick fishing a match on the Bristol Avon circa 1980 which clearly shows Nick with hair – albeit in its twilight. The photo shows Nick landing a Skimmer from the peg two above the Carp Hole on the Chequers section (opposite Fry’s). No he wasn’t shorter then he’s crouching down!! The Skimmer has by now been either, eaten by a Pike or is now 6lb. I fear the latter is the truth.

I was told that the main Lake at Plantation was closed which was today’s planned destination. Not being able to confirm or otherwise with anyone I decided to fish one of Rip Off’s Wednesday matches at Landsend. Chatting with John Bradford before the draw about the situation with the Silvers, John told me he’s had a bad spell on the venue drawing Carps pegs 31 and 32 on Specimen Lake. Umm, don’t want to draw there then. In to the bucket and feeling around it felt like there was only one ticket in there. This one ticket just stuck to my hand even though I tried to shake it off for a different one – it must be a good’un! Out comes peg 31. I’m told it’s the best Carp peg in Somerset. Even so I was resolute that I would fish for Silvers hoping the Crucians, F1’s and Skimmers would feed. I set up a 4x14 Top Series, the mandatory paste rig to fish small pieces of paste and two Ronnie rigs – one at depth and the other shallow. I decided to fish the caster short for Ronnie’s and long at 11.5 metres for the Skimmers etc; I started by potting in a full 125ml of wetted micro at 11.5 metres and commenced to loose feed the LH margin. Out with soft pellet and I missed what appeared to be Ronnie bites. So I switched to the corn and soon had a Carp foul hooked in the tail. After a boring frustrating fight I landed an 8lb Mirror with unusual scale pattern. Next put in I had a 12oz Skimmer – good. Next I hooked a Tench which shed the hook near the bank. I then had another 9lb Carp this time in the mouth. The swim then died so I tried small pieces of paste which resulted in a few line bites. I switched to the short Ronnie rig and single caster at full depth and had a run of small Perch and Ronnie’s until I hooked and landed a 11lb Carp on the drop. The swim again died, so I tried the shallow rig and had a few Ronnie’s but I could not keep them there. It appeared that after catching a couple they would scare off. The lake was fishing generally pretty bad, so I opened up a new line with CW&C at 11.5 metres and this resulted in small Ronnie’s tugging at the worm end. I kept switching around the Ronnie rigs with caster catching the odd Silver until the last 40 minutes when in despair I put on a big piece of paste over the micro line and had a 10 lb Carp first put in followed by a lost foul hooker, then another which went round the island trashing my rig. That was the end of the Carp for the day. Back on to the shallow rig until the end, adding a few more ounces to the Silvers. My Silvers weighed in at 12lb 2oz and the four Carp weighed in at 36lb 15oz for a total 49lb 1oz for 6th overall and fourth in the Silvers (near getting in by default as believe it or not Rip off beat me in the silvers by a few ounces). However I didn’t come away empty handed as I noticed a Golden Delicious apple tree in Mike Duckett peg 25. Mike let me have a few fallers – excellent apple – one of my favourites.

The match was won by Jamie Dyte (pictured right) from peg 19 with 94lb 9oz. Jamie catching the majority of his Carp on meat.

The Silvers was won by John Bradford from peg 24 with caster caught fish – mainly Perch to 12oz.

Full Result:

1. Jamie Dyte 94-09-0 peg 19
2. Tony Rixon 90-01-0 peg 17
3. Dean Mallin 76-07-0 peg 1
4. Pete Sivell 59-0-0 peg 21
5. Leyton Palmer 49-02-0 peg 29
6. Mike Nicholls 49-01-0 peg 31

Top Silvers:

1. John Bradford 23-12-0 peg 24
2. Nick Duckett 13-08-0 peg 11

Sunday 03/10/2010 - South West Teams of Four - Avalon Fishery - Round 3

Heavy rain slowed us packing the gear in to Bela’s van, which was forecast to stay with us for most of the day. Luckily by the time we got to our pegs the rain had eased but the wind had picked up. Walking around the venue the water looked a strange grey colour. I put this down to the heavy rain and wind, plus the fact that the lake is in a peat area. However, there were signs of plenty of Carp feeding.

Captain Charlie handed me peg 19 on Match Lake. I was delighted as it had won the last two Silvers pools. I was also glad it wasn’t wasted on an out and out Carp Slayer! That said I also fancied it for Carp off the end of the opposite island, because of this I untangled my pre-made up feeder rod and got a feel of the bottom with straight lead attached. I decided not to clip it up, to give me some flexibility. In to the rod roost it went, where it stayed for the rest of the day, where up on, I tangled it again putting it away! Because of the strong gusting wind blowing diagonally in to corner peg 23 I set up two Skimmer rigs, both to be fished at 7 metres – one 1g Jolly and the other a 4x14 series top (a Jolly with a wire stem) for if the win dropped. As the wind was blowing my float R to L and into the bank I set my kinder pot down my top set in line with the floats “settled” position to ensure accurate feeding. I set up the obligatory margin paste rig to be fished in the LH side. To my right was an Elder Tree, which was giving some cover, but for some reason you never catch much from under these trees. The margin was very deep at about 4 foot. So my dilemma was whether to feed GB of wetted micro on the Skimmer line. I chose initially to go with the micro as I have done well with it here in the past. So, on the whistle I cupped in 125ml of it. I started on the 1g Jolly with double red on the hook. The bait didn’t hit the bottom and I had a 10oz Skimmer followed in the same manner by two Ronnie’s. Then nothing - how peculiar – Predators? I switched to 4 mm expander on the hook – nothing. I had nicked a few grains of corn off Rip Off and tried that and had a run of Skimmers and Hybrids to 2lb, but it did mean waiting a fair time for each bite. After each fish I kinder potted in some micro with a few grains of corn (which meant opening one of my tins). After three hours the swim appeared to be dead, so, as I was itching to try my GB I potted in four big balls at 7 metres. And because the wind had died down I potted in some wetted micro at 13 metres as “back off policy”. I decided to have a walk up to Rip Off who was on corner peg 23 with Deano on peg 22. As I expected the fishing was slow with hardly any Silvers showing. I went back and decide to try the LH margin where I had been feeding hard 4’s. Straight away I was getting small fish attacking the loose fed up in the water – Umm. In to rod bag and I soon had my Ronnie rig set up and for the next hour or so I was adding small Perch to 4oz and the occasional Ronnie up to 6oz to the net on single red. This swim died so with the lake now flat calm I tried the 13 metre line with corn – nothing. Back over the 7 metre line but with the 4x14 Jolly with double maggot and the float sank as did my heart when I landed a 2lb Carp as I was thinking Tench. I had another 1lb Carp on maggot – then nothing. I switched back to corn and started to get preoccupied by bites I didn’t contact with, all very interesting but I wasn’t putting anything in the net, so I decided to stay with the Ronnie’s for the remainder of the match. With Vince Shipp having weighed 15lb 12oz I wasn’t sure I could beat this but might run it close. I weighed 17lb 2oz which surprised me putting me first in the Silvers. My two tiny Carp weighed in at 3lb giving me 20lb 2oz and 4 team points.

The match was won by Fishery Co-owner Vic Bush (pictured right with the Silvers winner - yes this is Vic smiling) from peg 5 on Specimen Lake with 128lb 5oz. Vic caught all his fish on the feeder crammed with softened pellet with various hook baits.

I must say that the fishery probably fished as well any any other in the SW under the same weather conditions.

I have said this before, it amazes me how Tony and Deano not only organises the matches and results, but does most of the weighing in as well, which is unlike other organisers who sit back moaning about the delay in the weigh sheets - well done matey's - impressed.

Full Result:

1. Vic Bush 128-05-0 peg 5 Speci
2. Ron Hardiman 104-0-0 peg 11 Speci
3. Steve Mayo 85-14-0 peg 30 Match
4. Craig Edmonds 81-11-0 peg 9 Match
5. Jamie Brown 76-09-0 peg 12 Speci
6. Dean Mallin 73-05-0 peg 22 Match

Top Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 17-02-0 peg 19 Match
2. Vince Shipp 15-12-0 peg 13 Match