Monday 30/05/2011 - Landsend Open - Match and Specimen Lakes

Yesterday Bela talked me in to going again today, to Landsend. However, I can’t go to a match without a pint of casters in the handbag, so I chanced my arm and rang Tony Rixon. Although he informed me he wasn’t going to the match today (petticoat government and all that). However, Tony contacted Fabio who lives above the shop and has recently been promoted to head night watchman and kindly brought casters to the match for me. What excellent service you get from this shop. I sometimes think Tony isn’t appreciated enough by the anglers that get similar service week in and week out. Thanks “long time acquaintance”.

Including today there have been six matches in six days on this venue. So it wasn’t unreasonable to think that the fishing would be hard. Taking everything in to account I think it fished reasonably well. What an amazing venue in this respect.

With the leader missing Mike West stood in as organiser. I must say Mike did a good job, well done matey. In to the bottomless draw bucket and out comes peg 22 on Match Lake. Ken Rayner had read my blog from yesterday and said don’t waste a good Carp peg today! OK Ken. On arriving at the peg I had the latest self promoted top South West Silvers angler on peg 21. I was relived when Fabio chose to fish for Carp, giving me half a chance.

I set up three rigs a “Boy Blue” Wire stem Jolly (rather than my normal Pink Lady) for expander pellet to be fished out in front at 9.5 metres (about down the middle) a paste rig to fish over the same line later in the match and of course my Ronnie rig to fish along the RH margin.

I started on the 3mm expander pellet with the Boy Blue (the only rig I used all match) I had decided it best to keep the feed to very little but often, so I kinder potted in a few 1mm expander pellet after every bite. I had a 3lb Carp first put in quickly followed by another. Luckily the Skimmers moved in and over the next three hours I had a wonderful days fishing catching a couple of Tench, three Crucian’s and regular Skimmers to 4lb. However, the last two hours were difficult so I up the feed utilising wetted micro and landed two more Carp. My four carp weighed in at 15lb 12oz and my Silvers 43lb 10oz. This put me fourth overall and first in the Silvers (mission accomplished in this respect).

The match was won by Craig (Trig) Edmonds (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 75lb 9oz from peg 15. Trig caught over to the island and down his LH margin using hard 8mm pellet. Trig did try the “Mango Tree” to his right but couldn’t cope with the number of rigs he was losing.

Full Result:

1. Craig (Trigger) Edmonds 75-09-0 peg 15
2. Scott Puddy 69-10-0 peg 1
3. Dave Roper 68-15-0 peg 19
4. Mike Nicholls 59-06-0 peg 22
5. Phil (Fabio) Harding 59-01-0 peg 21
6. Andy France 52-14-0 peg 3

Top Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 43-10-0 peg 22
2. John (Gimp) Bradford 25-05-0 peg 13
3. Martin Pettifer 20-14-0 peg 28

Sunday 29/05/2011 - Carps AC - Summer League - Viaduct Fishery - Round One

Today was the first round of the Carps AC Summer League at the Viaduct Fishery. Last year I was limited to fishing the occasional match as a guest, as I enjoyed it so much I decided to join the league thisn year even though I will miss one match.

Bela had some how managed to be first in the queue, so I pushed in to third to draw (any arguments see Bela)! Bela had drawn his usual section – peg 100 on Carey. Luckily (perhaps) I pulled peg 131 an area that I seemed to be drawing a lot lately. Alan Oram had won from the peg yesterday and speaking to him he hadn’t had anything on the meat, more importantly very few Silvers. I had set my mind set on this species for the overall league, so I was a bit wary. I set up two paste rigs one for the margin and one to be fished at 11.5 metres, plus one 4x14 wired Jolly to fish with meat at 7 metres. Starting on the 8mm meat I found exactly the same as Alan the meat was soon being attacked by Ronnie’s and after twenty minutes or so all I had to show for it was two tiny Skimmers. As a few big Skimmers had been coming out on small pieces of paste I decide to give this a go using the kinder pot and a few hard 4’s at 11.5 metres I had six decent Carp to 10 lb in the first six put in’s. Not what I wanted. To Glenn Baileys dismay (two pegs up on 129) who at this stage had very little I decided to open up a CW&C line also at seven metres but at 2 o clock. This resulted in one dropped Ronnie, blimey I was in trouble. I was overcome with doubt as to whether I should go back out with the paste and try for a Carp weight. So I gave it another try and after losing a foul hooked Carp I landed another small one. At this stage it was obvious that the Skimmers south of the spit were not either feeding or on holiday and Carp slaying would be a deviation from the plan so I made the decision (right or wrong) to set up a Ronnie rig and got the caster out. With now only three hours of the match left the most I could expect was 15 lb (30lb per six hours), but it might be enough. So I stuck with this for the rest of the match. My seven Carp weighed in at 42lb 7oz and as predicted my Silvers went 15lb 5oz for a total of 57lb 12oz. This put me joint second in the section Silvers and third in the overall section. However, I did manage to pick up the Silvers section by default jointly with Mark Bird (why do they call him Budgie, I think of Adam Faith when I hear this nick name)! I think my decision to stick to “The Plan” was right.

The match was won by 13 year old Lewis Greenwood (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 137lb 14oz from peg 112. Lewis caught on the lead using double banded 8mm hard pellet fished over loose fed 8’s, Lewis fed about 1 ½ pints of 8's.

I suggest that Dude Squires learns to count as he initially under counted Lewis’s weight by 10lbs – “remember to carry over the ten’s”

The Silvers was won from peg 123 by Scott “Hung-over” Lovell with 58lb 14oz of Tench. Scott fished meat short to his left hand margin catching steady all match.

Full Result:

1. Lewis Greenwood 137-14-0 peg 112
2. Lee Werrett 136-04-0 peg 127
3. Dan Squires 127-15-0 peg 111
4. Ray Heyward 123-03-0 peg 128
5. Steve Jackson 97-04-0 peg 113
6. Dave Goodall 86-02-0 peg 114

Top Silvers:

1. Scott Lovell 58-14-0 peg 123
2. John Green 46-11-0 peg 118
3. Ray Hayward 33-02-0 peg 128

Wednesday 25/05/2011 - Carps AC - Plantation - Match Lake

What a wonderful venue, where else can you catch 25lb of Silvers off any peg. A word of warning though, the owners have changed the names of the Lakes. Horseshoe is now “The match Lake” and the Match Lake is? So I will be careful when booking the venue or booking in to a match.

The owners had close the entire Lake for us, however, I think they were expecting the Lake to be full as I overheard Colin Golding getting a scalding from the owner for taking up the entire Lake. As usual Colin talked her round.

Second in to the draw box and out pops peg 26. Chris Davis reminded me it’s the peg I broke my pole the last time I drew it. I was happy with this as there are plenty of Ronnie’s in this swim.

I set up a paste rig for the margin, I don’t know why now as it didn’t get wet. I set up a Skimmer rig for 11.5 metres and three Ronnie rigs. I started on the Skimmer line fishing 6mm meat over meat for a change. I did have a couple of decent Skimmers before the Carp showed up I caught two and decided to give this up and concentrate on the Ronnie’s. I caught on all three rigs but caught the lions share on the 2 metre whip at full depth using caster over loose fed caster. I fed about one pint.

My two Carp weighed in at 8lb 13oz and my Silvers weighed 36lb 5oz for a grand total of 45lb 2oz (pictured right). This put me fifth overall and first on the Silvers.

The match was won by Dave Baker (picture right with some of his catch) with 125lb 12oz from peg 29. Dave caught on the Method Feeder using hair rigged 8mm hard pellet using IM5 green GB in his mould.

Full Result:

1. Dave Baker 125-12-0 peg 19
2. Chris Davis 81-06-0 peg 38
3. John Thompson 72-09-0 peg 29
4. Mike Owens 59-11-0 peg 4
5. Mike Nicholls 45-02-0 peg 26
6. Steve Dawson 34-13-0 peg 12

Top Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 36-05-0 peg 26
2. Andy Gard 29-05-0 peg 8
3. Steve Dawson 28-02-0 peg 12

Sunday 22/05/2011 - Avon Angling Float Only Open - Chiltern Trinity - Wildmarsh

After a decent breakfast at Hill Tops it was off to the draw at Chiltern Trinity – Wild Marsh Lake and it certainly lived up to it’s name with the Wild gusting winds that welcomed us.

I was one of the last to draw – again, so I let Tony Rixon pull the peg for me (for the last time), I wish I hadn’t because out comes peg 59 on the road bank. In my experience it’s not been the best places to draw. Arriving at the peg I found that I had the high gusting wind off my back with the peg looking pretty manageable with any method. I also had a bank of Water Lily to my right pads (pictured right). For some unknown reason I have never caught anything near this plant, nor do I know anyone that has. However they still remain tantalising to us anglers if not the fish.

I had Charlie Barns two pegs to my right and Joe Thompson next peg to my left so lady luck had concocted pensioner’s corner. I think we are put there to be out of the main action.

As it was a practice match for the float only series I set up everything except a feeder, which may have been the right method on this peg. Two Ronnie rigs one for 2 metres and the other for 7 metres, two paste rigs, one for 9 metres and yes one for the Lily’s. The Waggler rod was untangled and it was soon apparent after a few setting up casts that the tow was far too great for it to work properly, it was like fishing the Bristol Avon in summer flow. I then set up a 4x14 rig for the CW&C which I decided from my limited previous experience would be my main method.

I started by cupping in the messy business at 11.5 metres, starting on the caster at 7 metres expecting to catch Ronnie’s from the off, but after fifteen minutes I had one small Rudd and one missed bite. So out on the Worm and I had the usual initial run of Ronnie’s until I hooked and landed a 2 ½ lb Skimmer. I then bumped two decent fish I then had an Eel. The swim died so I re-fed the messy business and hooked an enormous fish (which explained why the swim had gone dead) which went to the middle of the lake bottoming out the elastic and finally breaking the elastic so I lost the lot. All this in the first hour which marked the time my match was over. After setting up a new rig I struggled for another bite adding three more Eel’s. I tried everything and couldn’t get bite. I weighed 5lb 12oz for no where.

I don’t know anyone that got in the coin using CW&C on its own. The GB appeared to be the better feed on the day, fishing various baits over it. I had planned to fish the waggler over the GB but conditions would not permit this which might have been the method for the swim on the day – who knows.

Charlie Barns caught five Barbel on the CW&C for 14lb and Joe Thompson also had a Barbel weighing 3lb which really pleased him (pictured right). Apparently these fish were stocked when 3 inches long, so they have grown on really well.

Dave Roper (pictured right with the Silvers winner) won the match by a narrow margin from Island peg end peg 2 with 46lb 15oz. Dave had mainly Carp to 6lb fishing down to his left using meat.

The Silvers was won by Steve Kedge with 20lb of Roach from Island peg 3. Steve caught short using caster over caster.

To be fair the venue fished much better than my previous visits, needing near 20lb to win a section.

Full Result:

1. Dave Roper 46-15-0 peg 2 Island
2. Paul Elmes 45-13-0 peg 7
3. Glenn (Jinx) Bailey 43-09-0 peg 13
4. Steve Priest 30-11-0 peg 44
5. Bela Bakos 26-01-0 peg 21
6. Dean Mallin 25-05-0 peg 65

Top Silvers:

1. Steve Kedge 20-0-0 peg 3 Island
2. Nigel Bartlett 19-07-0 peg 12
3. Bela Bakos 18-05-0 peg 21

Wednesday 18/05/2011 - Avon Angling Top Four Open - Landsend Fishery - Match Lake

I have often discussed the merits of fishing just the top four on venues like Landsend Match and Specimen Lake with Tony Rixon. I feel anglers miss out on a lot of sport ignoring this line. In the Midlands they fish short on most of the venues these days and catch a lot of fish. So to surprise, Tony organised a top four only match for his next match at Landsend. I felt obliged to book in. I had a phone call from Tim Ford who had managed to get a day off so I was driving and Tim was buying the breakie at Abbies in Bishopsworth village.

This is the first time back to Landsend for some while and it was a nice surprised to see how much work Mike Duckett had put in. He's installed new toilets (Male and Female), rearranged the Cabin and most important of all cut the trees back on Match Lake. I must say I did find it a bit depressing sat under these trees in the dead of winter with the thawing frost dropping on your head. However it's nice and bright now and you can see most of the anglers on your bank. Well done Mike. I hope the Golden Delicious tree on Specimen is still there though.

Unfortunately it was another late draw at 11:00, fishing 12 to 18:00. I got Tony to draw for me and out comes peg 15. I was happy with this as I haven’t fished the peg before. For company I had Tom Thick on peg 16. Whilst Tom was shotting in up he foul hooked two Carp, so a few about then. I set up two paste rigs, one that would be utilised in both the Right and left hand margins, although the RH had a “pruned tree” sticking out of it which was about one metre from my platform, so I was thinking it would be suicidal to fish here. I set up a Ronnie rig for the caster and a 4x14 Jolly for out in front (I needn’t mention I was fishing the top four in all the swims)! I started on the Jolly with a 3mm expander over kinder potted micro and hard 4’s and had a 2lb flying Skimmer fish put in. I then lost a foul hooked Carp. So I re-fed and went over the Ronnie line which I had been feeding from the start with caster and had a quick run of Ronnie’s and Perch. However, it was fishing strange as I couldn’t keep them coming with is drying up. I think the swim was being disrupted by Carp because if I stopped feeding and go back in I would have another run of Perch, the Ronnies didn't return and weren't really feeding today. I decided to stay with the Jolly and 3mm expander and had caught the odd Bream and Ide interrupted by the occasional Carp. Just after midway the swim had died and I think that was because of ffocusing the feed too much using the kinder pot. So I decided to start loose feeding wetted micro by hand (you can do this at two metres) and do a bit of advertising. This worked well initially catching a few more Skimmers and Carp. However, I think I might have over done it as I started to foul hook Carp. I don’t think they were really feeding today, just disrupting things. I think I lost seven and landed seven. My Carp weighed in at 32lb and my Silvers 17lb for a total of 49lb which left me fifth overall.

I did try the paste a couple of times but it wasn't really working today.

Just before the whistle Tom Thick, whilst playing a Carp dropped his landing net in the water and had to get down on his knees to retrieve it. I caught him on camera just recovering his demeanour enough to land the fish (pictured right - I though you needed to fish in front of your seat box).

The match was won by Dan White (pictured bottom right with some of his catch) with 84lb 12oz from peg 21. Dan caught steady all match using meat hook bait over meat.

The Silvers went to Silvers venue expert John Bradford with 27lb 14ox from peg 5. John fed chopped worm and caster fishing either small pieces of worm or caster on the hook.

I thought it was a good match with seven Silvers weights over 20lb and I am sure there would have been more Carp caught had they not been playing silly beggers by keeping their mouths closed. Tony is planning another shortly so discuss it with him in his Shop.

Full Result:

1. Dan White 84-12-0 peg 21
2. Tony Rixon 60-06-0 peg 3
3. Tim Ford 55-03-0 peg 7
4. Tom Thick 54-0-0 peg 16
5. Mike Nicholls 49-0-0 peg 15
6. Alan Oram 48-12-0 peg 12

Top Silvers:

1. John Bradford 27-14-0 peg 5
2. Alan Oram 22-08-0 peg 12

Sunday 15/05/2011 - Carps AC - Pairs Open - Viaduct Fishery - Carey, Lodge And Match Lake

There were plenty of complaints about the cost of the match at £75 per pair. In fact the costs went completely under my financial radar and that is incredible as I am rated “Stealth”. I won’t be fishing the next pairs match if it costs this much.

With twenty two pairs booked in, it meant that Carey, Lodge and Match Lakes were in with the Lakes split into sections of eleven. My partner today was Terry Bruton and we were by far the oldest pair fishing, I suppose it had to come one day. As we could pick which partner fished where, Terry chose Carey and I would be on either Lodge or Match. Terry drew peg 100 (number of years experience between us) and I pulled another peg facing in to the wind, peg 52 on Match Lake. I was happy with this draw – I thought.

I set up a 4x14 and a 4x12 rig, one for the soft pellet and the other caster and maggot, both to be fished at 13 metres one at 11 o clock the other at 2 o clock. I also set a 4x12 for the LH margin to be fished at 6 metres. The upshot was I didn’t get a bite on the soft pellet but did manage three Hybrids, a Tench and one Ronnie on the caster. I did loose one Skimmer which might have been foul hooked. After this I couldn’t get a bite on anything. I think it was because of the cold SW wind once again making presentation almost impossible. I thought I would give the waggler a try and broke a ring doing so I cast it a few time but the wind was unmanageable in such shallow water. I decided to fish the last two hours in the margin hoping for Carp. After a fruitless 15 minutes trying the 6mm soft pellet in the where I had previously fed some wetted micro. I decided to set up a paste rig and had four Skimmers and a lost one which was the signal for the swim to die. I was about to try plan Z when I saw a little blow so stayed with It and I got my just deserts a 4lb 9oz Mirror Carp. Then thank heavens the whistle went for end of match. My Silvers weighed in at 11lb 7oz for 3 section points and overall 16lb for 5 section points.

Terry had a 6 points overall and 5 points for his Silvers the best we could muster was a total of 8 points in the Silvers and 11 points overall. I am not sure where we finished up but we weren’t last!

The match was won by Steve Jackson with 112lb 7oz from peg 98. Steve caught on the straight lead using double 8mm hard pellet.

The Silvers was won by S Lovell with 42lb 7oz from peg 60. He caught big Skimmers on meat.

Full Result Pairs:

1. Steve Jackson (1)/Paul Blake (3) 4 pts 172-11-0 (picture right)
2. Dick Bull (4)/Phil Cardwell (2) 6 pts 89-10-0
3. Steve Denmead (4)/Andy Lloyd (3) 7pts 105-08-0

Silvers Pairs:

1. Dan Squires (1)/John Green (2) 3pts 57-07-0 (pictured right)
2. Lewis Greenwood (4)/Paul Greenwood (1) 5pts 48-11-0
3. Tim Pallant (1)/Simon Jones (4) 5pts 40-05-0

Individuals:

1. Steve Jackson 112-07-0 peg 98
2. S Lovell 88-03-0 peg 60
3. Bala Bakos 71-0-0 peg 73
4. Darby 67-09-0 peg 86
5. Paul Hern 64-03-0 peg 80
6. Ray Hayward 63-08-0 peg 109

Top Silvers:

1. S Lovell 42-07-0 peg 60
2. Paul Greenwood 38-09-0 peg 50
3. Tim Pallant 29-06-0 peg 97

Thursday 12/05/2011 - Viaduct Cost Cutter - Campbell And Carey

I travelled with Glenn Bailey today and I am not sure whether it was the christening of a net keep net or Glenn is a bloody jinx. I never seem to do very well when travelling with Glenn so he gets the blame.

I drew peg 85 on Carey and the wind had come round 180 degrees since Sunday and I found a similar nasty wind waiting for me, straight in to my left shoulder. I wasn’t enamoured with the peg. So a decision had to be made Carp or Silvers. I decided on Silvers early doors with the option of Carp at 5 metres down the RH margin with paste. Starting on the meat at 7 meters with a 4x14 rig was all wrong the wind not helping matters. With just a few tiny Skimmers I switched to 6mm soft pellet feeding some hard 4’s and another couple of tiny Skimmers, things weren’t going right. It was obvious the venue Silvers weren’t generally responding, so I set up a Ronnie rig and started to fish the top set with caster and caught a few more small Skimmers and Perch. At least the presentation was better. After two hours I had about 5lb so decided to switch to Carp, However, first put in Steve long came along a thought 5lb of Silvers was a good weight as Campbell Silvers had totally switched off. So I decided to switch back to the Silvers and kept a few small fish coming up to the last half hour and decided to try the margin, in two put-ins I had two Carp for 26lb 5oz! Unfortunately no coin as my 12lb 14oz of Silvers fell short by 4oz. My total weight of 39lb 3oz was worth nothing either. I really can’t blame lady luck or Glenn, only myself, I really felt as if I didn’t fish the peg that well. I was left wondering what might had happened if I fished for Carp earlier.

The match was won by Tom Thick from peg 119 with 118lb 2oz. Tom fished the peg in the usual manner, up to the end bank. There is no picture of Tom today as he was left at the venue by travelling partner and next door neighbour Charlie Barns and Tom was wandering around for a lift home!

The Silvers was won by Paul Blake (pictured right) from peg 80 with 26lb of Skimmers. Paul fished chopped worm and caster.

Glenn drew Silver flyer peg 123 and weighed 45lb 10oz of mainly Carp.

Full Result:

1. Tom Thick 118-02-0 peg 119
2. Martin Lenaghan 117-04-0 peg 94
3. Nick Collier 103-07-0 peg 118
4. Bob Gullick 102-13-0 peg 90
5. Jim Baines 87-07-0 peg 128
6. Paul H 72-11-0 peg 115

Top Silvers:

1. Paul Blake 26-0-0 peg 80
2. Steve Crawford 17-14-0 peg 97
3. Bob Gullick 16-03-0 peg 90
4. Andy Shields 13-02-0 peg 76

Sunday 08/05/2011 - Avon Angling Float Only League - Round One - Viaduct Fishery

I remember now why I haven’t fished a complete Float Only series before, I get home too late. By the time I get the result, drive home, have a Pinky Ponk Juice in my garage with Bela for the post match post-mortem, put the tackle away and have my dinner it’s 21:00. Then there is authoritive question from the Special One “Why are you so late”?

I have a new Cardinal Rule: Never take the Michael out of a DNW’er as you may draw his peg next time out!!

As destiny would have it in to the draw bag and out comes peg 130. The same peg that Nick Collier DNW’ed on last Thursday’s match. However, I was reasonably happy just to be on Campbell Lake, but have this little nagging doubt as Nick is a good angler. I set up two identical 4x14 rigs one with 0.14 line the other 0.16 to help fish faster if bagging (I don’t think you do get them out much quicker though as you adjust the force to be less tahn the hook pull out factor), both to be fished over the same line at 7 metres with meat. Two paste rigs one to be fished out as far as the really nasty gusting wind would allow, which was 9 metres! The other paste rig was for plundering the LH margin. Umm.

Starting on the 8mm meat over kinder potted 6’s. I had a Carp as soon as it reached 1 inch off bottom. I then had 3 more in quick succession, then four Tench – happy days. If the final whistle had gone now after half hour I would have won the match putting a smile off the Special One’s face fro being home early. I then foul hooked two Tench consecutively (I could tell they were Tench because of their thick slime on the line), quickly followed by a lost flying Bream which seemed to by waving goodbye because from that point on I really struggled, picking the odd Tench and Carp off on the paste from the margin and 9 metres. Most of the anglers on my bank struggled (relatively speaking). There appeared to be total lack of undertow, which I think is important for the fish to feed properly. With 15 minutes to go I reckon I needed a couple more decent Carp for a section win and willed the paste float to go down and landed a 4 lb Carp. Out again and with 30 seconds to go the paste float went down again and a definite lump on. Great – not, it snagged my elastic in a very strange way. The Carp broke the line and my elastic was deeply chafed, so a sad good by to another Middy Blue which I have had for two years!

My Silvers weighed 17lb 4oz and the Carp 52lb 9oz fro a total of 69lb 13oz. This put me second in the section by 7lb which was won by good mate John Baker on peg 128. This left me 14th in the match and 11th in the Silvers.

The match was won by Tony Rixon (pictured right with some of his catch) from peg 112 …see his blog for details. But I bet he misses the part where after losing a pole rig Tony decides to recover it with his waggler, instead immediately hooked a Carp (there might have been a few fish in his swim then) . He also retrieved his rig, the float is no doubt back on the shelf at the shop for sale at £1.99.

The Silvers was won by Tom Thick (pictured lower right with the overall winner) from peg 94 with 33lb 3oz of Skimmers. Tom caught on 6mm expander pellet fished over the same fed through a kinder pot, some thing he’s copied form the legend Colin Golding.

Full Result:

1. Tony Rixon 192-10-0 (209-10-0 defaulted) peg 112
2. Clayton Hudson 121-07-0 peg 116
3. Kevin Moulton 118-04-0 peg 111
4. Matt Tomes 117-02-0 peg 121
5. Bob Gullick 110-15-0 peg 113
6. Ron Hardiman 97-04-0 peg 118
7. Craig Edmonds 97-03-0 peg 87

Top Silvers:

1. Tom Thick 33-13-0 peg 94
2. Craig Edmonds 30-13-0 peg 87
3. Chris Davis 30-14-0 peg 123

Saturday 07/05/2011 - Hillview Open

I had a phone call Friday afternoon from son Steve inviting me to Hillview. I must say I was feeling tired so initially declined. However, the Special One talked me into it. So as Steve was driving I decide to go.

After breakfast I was looking around the Café and spotted two poems by a Mr. W. Urm. Keith said that he was regular pleasure angler at the venue; however, Mr. Urm passed away aged 97 last week. I understand he was also an artist and like to paint from photographs. To celebrate his life I thought I would publish two of his angling poems – below left and right in his own hand (clich on then to expand).

Keith put both Moorhen and Heron Lakes in the draw and I was nearly last to draw as I was chatting again! Out comes peg 4 on Moorhen. I wasn’t disappointed even though it’s a corner peg because the last time I fished it I won the match with a ton plus. I couldn’t remember how I fished it, but do remember beating Darren Gillman off the next peg. Steve drew on the same Lake with peg 12, another decent peg.

I set up a 4x14 rig to fish 5 metres with 3mm expander pellet over hard 4’s with a dash of micro and a paste rig for the LH margin towards the end and Aerator. Trevor Chalk tried to convince me to fish at 13 metres over the Aerator ROPE! – Suicide I think. I started at five metres by kinder potting in some pellet and soon had a small 3lb Carp. I followed this up with a few F1’s (I like these fish but it’s a pity their dorsal fins catch in the nets). After a few Skimmers the swim dried up a tad. I really couldn’t work out the feeding and after 2 ½ hours had about 20lb. The Lake appeared to be fishing hard. After trying the close margin swim to no avail where I had been feeding hard 4’s since the start. I decided to not waste a pint of ageing casters I had in my bait bag, so set up a short light rig. First put in I had a 5lb Carp followed next cast by a 3 pounder – got it cracked then. I then had a 3lb Skimmer, then the Perch moved in and it was one a bung. I reckon they were at least five to the pound. I kept on this catching the odd Skimmer and big Ronnie in between the Perch. I was enjoying this and I reckon I had now increased my weight to 50lb. I really wanted to carry on with it but knew I needed some of the bigger species to ensure some pay back. So reluctantly I went to the long margin swim which I hadn’t so far fed. So down with the paste with hard 4’s in the kinder pot and in the last hour I had six biggish Carp to 10lb. In the last 15 minutes for unknown reasons I lost three more through the hook pulling out. I weighed 85lb 7oz for a Lake win and fourth overall.

The match was won by Martyn Howard (pictured right) with 129lb 6oz from peg 28. Martyn caught at 5 metres with meat feeding three tins and the straight lead with pellet.

Steve finished with 68lb just missing out on a section win having a day of foul hookers as did many others.

Full Result:

1. Martyn Howard 129-06-0 peg 28
2. Chris Phillips 102-12-0 peg 22
3. Steve Delbear 92-04-0 peg 24
4. Mike Nicholls 85-07-0 peg 4
5. Arthur Hicks 83-05-0 peg 10
6. Neville Groves 79-13-0 peg 32

Thursday 05/05/2011 - Viaduct Cost Cutter - Campbell and Carey

As we was unable to fish the Thursday Coffin Dodgers I decided to give the Viaduct Thursday cost cutter a go for the first time. It was good to see ten of the Dodgers at the draw. Plus I am fishing the Avon Angling float only on the venue Sunday so an opportunity to have a practice and put some of the refinements and lessons learn from Fridays match in to practice.

I decided on one tin of 6mm meat was needed, so I found C&P Meat Cutters ltd; (Collier and Page) – fast and accurate. In to the draw box and out comes peg 116. I was content with this. Arriving at the peg I found the wind was off my left hand shoulder but swirling a bit. I much prefer the wind either left to right or vice versa, so I can use the tow. I set up exactly the same as Fridays match but found my new 4x14 Jolly for some reason only took 7 no 11 shot, but the cost of the float was the same! Peg 116 is back a fair way from peg 115 so I was hoping this would work to my advantage for the Silvers. Feeding meat through the kinder pot at six metres with similar on the hook I had a Carp first put in – Umm. I kept a few pieces of meat going in and in return caught more Carp to Steve Long’s amusement who was on peg 118. I then started to catch a few big Skimmers with the odd Tench. As opposed to Fridays match the big Silvers stayed with me in between the Carp. I caught a mix of fish steady all through and was still catching with an hour to go but decided to give the paste a try in the margin where I had been lightly feeding hard 4’s since the start. The up shot of this I caught three big Carp to 14lb, plus a couple of smaller verity, three more Tench and three big Bream to 4lb, best stop as I am starting to sound like Ken Rayner. My Silvers went 49lb and my carp 123lb 6oz for a total of 172lb 6oz. This put me first overall and second in the Silvers (so not quite Carp Slayer yet).

The Silvers was won by Jim Baines (pictured right with the match winner, plus the DNW’er who occupied peg 130) with 58lb 9oz from peg 127. I am not sure how he caught, but he seemed to be fishing the margin for the majority of the day.

What a magnificent venue well done, Steve and Paul – thank you. What ever the peg fee is it is well worth it. I will be back.

Full Result:

1. Mike Nicholls 172-06-0 peg 116
2. Anton Page 170-13-0 peg 129
3. Terry Bruton 137-02-0 peg 128
4. Tim Pallant 119-04-0 peg 111
5. Rich Coles 98-12-0 peg 123
6. Jim Baines 98-03-0 peg 127

Top Silvers:

1. Jim Baines 58-09-0 peg 127
2. Mike Nicholls 49-0-0 peg 116
3. Rich Coles 45-10-0 peg 123
4. Steve long 44-14-0 peg 118

Wednesday 05/05/2011 - Carps AC - Tockenham Reservior

Carps AC decided that today would be a training day for the youth of the club and under the supervision of Bill Ferris Tom Thick was allowed to peg. Tom did a reasonable first time effort. However, one golden rule is always look up before you decide on the peg. Tom luckily drew peg 3 (unlucky for the rest of us) which had a huge branch precariously hanging over his head (see picture right).

I drew peg 7 which put me out of the leg for once. But was told I had a pleasure angler next to me. Arriving at the peg I found I was pegged next to Roger Warlock (pictured lower right) a SWWL and Commercial House stalwart. Roger hadn’t realised that there was a match on this bank and started to pack up. I tried to persuade him to stay, but being a match angler he moved down to the dam where he met up with his buddy. Before Roger left we had a good chat about the pros and cons of fishing the river - more cons that pros these days. Nice hat mate!

Colin drew next to me on peg 6 and moaned about his peg all day (Tom). Colin’s peg was similar to mine in that you needed at least 16 metres of pole to clear the Sedges each side of the narrow swim with cut down stick-ups down the middle. Luckily I had a feeder rod – Colin’s didn’t. For the first time for about five years I left the pole in the holdall, setting up the feeder rod and waggler, both to be fished over the same line at 25 metres where I had about 8 to 9 foot of water. I started on the traditional feeder methods of red maggot, caster and worm. However, I was getting bitted out so switched to the micro pellet in the Skimmer GB with 3mm expander on the hook. I caught small 6oz Skimmers steady all day but they really needed tackling with the pole as I struck far too many times on liners. I did hook a couple of Bream which kited off in to the Sedges and cost me a couple of hooks. I did have a go on the waggler but the wind didn’t help with the presentation, I did have a small Ronnie on it though! All in all it was quite a frustrating day with too many small Skimmers in the swim and not enough in the net. I ended up with 29lb 12oz for third overall.

The match was won by Tom Thick (pictured right nice pantaloons) with a massive 49lb 12oz of Skimmers to 2lb from peg 3. Tom fished the pole at 7 metres and 16 metres using 6mm expander pellet on the hook fished over the same feed. Tom fed about four pins of 6mm expander throughout.

No Carp were caught.

Full Result:

1. Tom Thick 49-12-0 peg 3
2. Mark Tanner 39-0-0 peg 10
3. Mike Nicholls 29-12-0 peg 7
4. Steve Dawson 24-05-0 peg 2
5. Bill Ferris 23-0-0 peg 1
6. Charlie Barns 17-0-0 peg 4