Sunday 30/07/2011 - Carps AC Summer League - Round Six and Final Round - Viaduct Fishery - Campbell and Carey

The last round of the Carps Summer league with left with no hope of framing in either overall carp or Silvers I was left looking to pick up in today’s match. In to the draw bucket and out comes peg 132. I think this was lady luck compensation for spending the whole league between pegs 129 and now peg 132, fishing pegs 129 once, 130 twice, 131 twice and 132 once. I wasn’t disappointed. It could have been far worse such as peg 138 on the river Avon at Saltford (I knew it would all end in tears), but well done to matey Phil (Fabio) Harding for winning the match.

Because of my aches and pains I limited my self to 10 metres with 11.5 metres set up as counter balance. The plan was to fish the dark water area at 12:30 and down the RH margin at the same length which gave the same depth for the 0.3 gram paste float. Although this is an out and out Carp peg I still set up one Silvers rig (4x12 Jolly with a size 14 Tubertini) to fish meat at the same out in front position. Starting on the meat rig I had a few small Skimmers by light feeding 5 no 6 mm piece of Spam with similar on the hook. I then hooked a big Tench which I lost because of manufacturer error, I came back with a curly wurly end line – bugger the hook wasn’t tied correctly. For some reason I dwelled on this loss for half the match. However, as anticipated the Silver fishing wasn’t now an option, so on to the paste rig. By feeding hard 4’s carefully through the kinder pot in both swims I managed to keep a three Carp coming from each swim before the feed was over done to bring in the Carp with “For Stalking Only” written down their sides (foul hooker). It was a case on then switching to the other swim. Although I caught more fish down the RH side I reckon I had equal weight as the bigger fish were out in front (unusual). In the last hour I stopped feeding altogether and did have a run of 10 pounders. In between the Carp slaying I did have a proper Bream and three Tench which weighed in at 11lb 12oz. My 27 Carp weighed in 142lb 11oz fro a total of 154lb 7oz, which was enough to win the match overall – just. There was five tons in my section and ten tons overall - plus near tons backing weights. This fishery never ceases to amaze me as the conditions were total alien for such a result.

PS: Thanks to Paul Greenwood for offering to loan me a rod - however, I didn't need it!!

The Silvers was won once again by John Green (pictured with the Silvers winner) with 43lb 13 oz of Skimmers all caught on “The John Green” method from peg 110.

The overall league was won by Lewis Greenwood with 6 points.

The overall Silvers was won by Bob Gullick (pictured lower right with the overall league winner – must start wearing my glasses) with 5 points but with a better overall weight of 179lb 13oz. I know Bob worked rally hard to win this league spending a lot of effort catching small fish when needed from a difficult peg – well done to Lewis and Bob.

Full Result:

1. Mike Nicholls 154-07-0 peg 132
2. Chris Davis 147-07-0 peg 129
3. Steve Denmead 146-15-0 peg 98
4. Phil Cardwell 144-13-0 peg 78
5. Roland 129-02-0 peg 111
6. Dave Roper 128-13-0 peg 126
Top Silvers:

1. John Green 43-13-0 peg 110
2. Tim Pallant 38-11-0 peg 90
3. Bob Gullick 25-09-0 peg 96
Final League (Overall):

1. Lewis Greenwood 6 pts 651-15-0
2. Andy Neal 8 pts 689-13-0
3. Ray Hayward 8 pts 623-10-0
4. Lee Werrett 8 pts 524-08-0

Final League (Silvers):

1. Bob Gullick 5 pts 179-13-0
2. Tim Pallant 5 pts 158-06-0
3. John Green 6 pts 183-01-0
4. Paul Faiers 7 pts 172-13-0

Betting:

Bob Gullick £10 e/w @ 6/1
Paul Faiers £10 e/w top six @ 15/1

Thursday 28/07/2011 - Viaduct Cost Cutter - Carey and Lodge

Bela managed a day off (Skiver), so a breakfast feast was on. We decided on Wetherspoons in Street and after over paying in the pay and display (don’t give change do they Bela). We discovered that they didn’t open until 09:00: well we were out in the sticks with the in breeds. So no choice other than go Michelin Star (sorry Michelin Star priced) in the Bear Inn Hotel (pictured right). That said I thought it was good value for money, it certainly had Bela sweating – excellent quality. I will go again.

At the draw my mind was on trying to make a payment for some work I have commissioned which left me at the back of the queue. With Carey and Lodge in I was hoping to be on Lodge. However, I ended up my favourite peg – well lady luck thinks it is peg 86, because I have been on it three times this year, without caster in the bait bag and my refusal to fish the straight lead it was going to be difficult.

Well I have to confess to walking more yards than I had ounces in Silvers weight. I really struggled as they did each side, both DNW’ing. I even borrowed a waggler rod from Bela and fished a pellet waggler for an hour to no avail. I made up for it by being the tea boy for the cay (I now know how Tony Rixon feels). After finishing another cup of tea I spent the last 30 minutes in the LH margin with Paste which resulted in a 13 pound Mirror and two lost Carp pulling out of one and breaking on another. My small Silvers weighed 4lb 2oz and the one Carp 13lb 9oz for a total of 17lb 11oz. – not quite last. Shane Caswell who was on peg 87 said he had beaten me in the Silvers; I had to explain that was impossible as he blanked – in other words DNW’ed.

 
The match was won by Dan White (pictured right with the Silvers winner) from peg 73 with 96lb 9oz. Dan caught half his fish on the straight lead and the remainder down his RH margin.

The Silvers was won by John Green (pictured lower right fishing his method) with 47lb 1oz from peg 100. John fished “The John Green Method”.

Full Result:

1. Dan White 94-06-0 peg 73
2. Bela Bakos 73-03-0 peg 81
3. Craig (Trig) Edmondson 72-09-0 peg 90
4. Matt Fisher 61-07-0 peg 88
5. Lewis Greenwood 57-01-0 peg 80
6. Steve Seager 56-07-0 peg 98

Top Silvers:

1. John Green 47-01-0 peg 100
2. Rich Coles 38-0-0 peg 97
3. Terry Bruton 27-07-0 peg 105
3. Bob Gullick 27-07-0 peg 64

All the frame weights included straight lead with the exception of Trigger.

Sunday 24/07/2011 - Kings Head Open - Rood Ashton

Bela and I had originally booked in to the Avon Angling Open at Shiplate Fishery - Bream Lake. However, we changed our minds and instead booked in with Layton Palmer at Rood. Tony was usual his usual affable self on receiving the news – he had a waiting list.
After a great breakfast at Timmy’s (wetherspoons) place in Kingswood it was off to Rood Ashton, which for me is a trip down memory lane, passing through Bathford, Staverton and the Kings Arms (Wadden).

It was good to meet up with Alan Pike (pictured right) the Fishery owner’s son again. He explained that he is having problems with fish theft; hence we all had to walk from the car park and good precaution I think.

You really have to be careful when pegging this venue as it’s easy to get it wrong. I managed for once not to stick my nose in and was surprised to find that the pegging was spot on – well done Leyton - sorry Martin R and Ray B pegged it under the strict supervision of Leyton.

In to the draw pot and out comes peg 9 which was on the top bank and a peg I have fished before. I was told it was the shortest island chuck, which left me wondering what I was going to chuck at it – my pole or seat box perhaps! I was hoping that Alan had excavated the peg out to the depth I had last Wednesday, alas not I had a full 18 inches, at least I couldn’t drown! The wind was off my back which was a negative as it was blowing down to pegs 1 and 2. The positive was that I had plenty of water to pull fish from. With no Silvers pool is was Carp or Carp. So I set up a paste rig and a soft pellet rig to be fished at 6 metres, with the paste rig also OK for the RH margin. Before the off I decided that a bit of gardening was required in the margin removing a lot of the branches of the Alder Tree, plus as many of the submerged Brambles as I could – which wasn’t enough!

From the learning from the Wednesday match I decided to feed dead red maggot in the kinder pot with either 6mm expander or paste rig. Starting on the expander resulted in one missed bite – was it a Ronnie – tempting - not. Out on the paste and I had a run of three Carp before it went quite. I decided because of the depth that every Carp caught scared off another two, so I started to loose feed the dead maggot by hand, moreover, I fed them all over the swim hoping that I could hold some fish in the wings. This worked much better even so it was slow with the strong tow from the wind often pulling the paste off before a fish had a look. It was a case of ship out and quickly pull back the pole to hold it in the tow (it was pulling with the wind as you would expect in shallow water). I kept fish coming on an off whilst drip feeding the margin with hard 4’s. It wasn’t until the last half hour before the fish arrived in the margin which resulted in an 8lb fish and on the whistle I lost one of a similar size plus my rig in the bank side brambles – at least I didn’t have to put the rig back on the winder!! I finished the match with 21 fish. As I couldn’t see anyone from my swim I had no idea how it fished. Martin Rayett walked up and said he had 28 Carp and those on the lawn had not caught that well. So I was hoping for second. My Carp weighed 97lb 2oz which, because they were of a bigger size than Martins it was enough to win overall.

However, Martin (pictured right with the winner) came second overall with a close 85lb 6oz – also caught on the pole. It was satisfying to see the Method Men taking up the lower order with much smaller fish than is captured by the pole.

Full Result:

1. Mike Nicholls 97-02-0 peg 9
2. Martin Rayett 85-06-0 peg 10
3. Jamie Dyte 72-07-0 peg 5
4. Leyton Palmer 52-14-0 peg 7 (section)
5. Ray Bazeley 51-09-0 peg 2 (section)
6. Paul Haines 50-07-0 peg 4

Thursday 21/07/2011 - Bathampton AA Over 55's And Disabled - Bridge Pool

The weather forecast was for dry warm morning with heavy showers later and that’s exactly what happened.

Before the match Bob Warren and me took the scales down to peg 11 and had a look around. We found on pegs 14, 13 and 11 a load of rubbish which we collected and binned. Sometimes match anglers get criticised for leaving rubbish, however, the rules are that if you have litter in your peg at the time of weighing in you are disqualified, even if it isn't yours!! Litter is one of my pet hates.

In to the draw box and out comes peg 25 again! I was hoping for somewhere different as it was likely to be a case of same again.

Last visit I lost the Skimmers and was left wondering whether I had brought them up in the water after re-feeding after the initial feed which I am sure does get to the bottom before the fish realise. So I decided to feed ten balls of hard GB laced with micro pellet and 6mm meat (Spam) on the 7 metres line which is just down the shelf in 9 foot of water (one of the deepest pegs on the Lake me thinks). Well I had two Skimmers on meat and lost one ½ oz Ronnie. Umm, that didn’t work then. The Skimmers appeared to be having a day off. So out comes the Ronnie rig for use with caster over caster. Whilst sorting the rig out I knock over the caster and pellet – as the Dodgers are not allowed expletives it was loud “balderdash”. I started well on this rig catching small Skimmers and Ronnie’s to 8oz. That was until the Carp moved in and I hooked and landed a 6lb Mirror. I decided to abandon the Silvers and out with the paste fished over loose fed hard 4’s – as I predicted exactly as last time. This resulted in 14 carp to 15lb (a Common Carp). My small amount of Silvers weighed in at 7lb 12oz and my Carp 141lb 2oz for a winning total of 148lb 14oz.

The Silvers was won by Ray Bazeley (pictured right with the overall winner) from peg 16 with a good net of Skimmers. Ray worked two swims both at 6 metres, one with CW&C fishing worm or caster over the top and the other swim Ray fed soft pellet and fished expander pellet over the top.

It was good to see the BAA Secretary walking around today, however, it would be much better if we could get him out match fishing again, I am sure it wouldn't be long before he's competing with the best.

Full Result:

1. Mike Nicholls 148-14-0 peg 25
2. Ian Shepherd 81-08-0 peg 9
3. Chris Snow 67-0-0 peg 28
4. Bob Warren 53-08-0 peg 24
5. Terry “Master Class” Bruton 51-12-0 peg 21
6. Andy Shields 46-08-0 peg 13

Top Silvers:

1. Ray Bazeley 26-08-0 peg 16
2. Bill Ferris 16-10-0 peg 14
3. Mike Jones 15-05-0 peg 15

Wednesday - 20/07/2011 - Carps AC - Rood Ashton

I had a new travelling partner with me going to Rood Ashton today – Mr Big Foot – see picture right - my size sevens next to Big Foots size fifteens!! Big foot came fourth for the second time in consecutive visits.

It’s seems a long time since I fished this venue. It was nice to be back though because it’s a wonderful setting – that’s if you can find it!! Plus it’s a sensible draw 9-o clock so home by 6 o clock.

In to the draw bucket and comes peg 4. I was happy with this peg even though the guy who fished it Sunday DNW’ed. I decided to fish for the Ronnie’s and set up my usual two Ronnie rigs to be fished at 6 metres with maggot over maggot. This was to be the first big mistake of the day; the second was persevering with them for far too long. I started by fishing maggot over loose feed maggot and started to catch 3oz Ronnie’s with the odd better one. However, it wasn’t long before my 3 hollow elastic was bottoming out on a Carp which required a lot of persuasions to return back in to the top set plus a new hook was required. A pattern was forming two Ronnie’s and a lost Carp. So I up the elastic and did land two Carp on it. Unfortunately, the heavier elastic lead to bumping the Ronnie’s in addition, once over terra firma they would fall off in to a muddy puddle caused by a prolonged down pour adding to my frustration. After switching back to the lighter elastic and loosing more Carp (one was enormous) and with pegs 1 and 2 catching Silvers regularly, I looked at the time and I had 1 hour 55 minutes left. So I decided to abandon the Ronnie’s and go for Carp even though I was well behind Ray Bazeley and Turkey who both had around 18 Carp. I decided to keep feeding the maggot through the kinder pot with paste hook bait and had a steady last part of the match catching 13 decent carp to 8lb-ish. On the whisle I was expecting to be well down the order as some anglers had 25 to 30 Carp. My Silvers weighed in at 7lb 5oz and my Carp 81lb 4oz for a total 88lb 9oz. I was amazed to find that this put me second overall, but not amazed to find both pegs 1 and 2 beat me in the Silvers. Neither of them had more than 2 Carp each! I was going to do an “If only I fished for Carp …”, but I won’t.

The match was won by Leyton (moan, moan, moan) Palmer (pictured right with some of his catch) from peg 8 with 97lb 12oz. Leyton caught initially on the method feeder and later on the pole.

There are signs that the fish are keeping well out in the Lake probably drive there by the method boys.

The Silvers was won by Steve Dawson (pictured lower right with someone else’s catch!) from peg 2 with 18lb 8oz of quality Ronnie’s. Steve fished short up to the brambles on his LH side.

Full Result:

1. Leyton Palmer 97-12-0 peg 8
2. Mike Nicholls 88-09-0 peg 4
3. John Thompson 79-0-0 peg 6
4. Ray Bazeley 78-04-0 peg 5
5. Scott Lovell 49-08-0 peg 7
6. Colin Golding 31-13-0 peg 3

Top Silvers:

1. Steve Dawson 18-08-0 peg 2
2. Andy Gard 13-06-0 peg 1
3. Mike Nicholls 7-05-0 peg 4

Sunday 17/07/2011 - Carps AC Summer League - Round Five - Viaduct Fishery - Campbell and Carey

I watched the second half of Fish o Mania yesterday and it was clear that the fish weren’t feeding. It’s not surprising as one day it’s a glorious July summers day with high air pressure and the next we are thrown back to March winds and April showers with attendant low pressure, as it was today.

In to the draw box and out comes peg 129. I have drawn this peg once before which was so long ago I can’t remember what happen – not a lot I’m guessing. Because of the conditions I wasn’t expecting it to fish well at all especially the Silvers which was my only target as it’s the only category left to me in the league to pick up in. I have been itching to try a small Skimmer feeder and I thought this might be the order of the day – nice and tight. So having untangled the made up Normark 11 footer I set up two paste rigs one for the corner of the spit and the other to fish 10 metres up the edge of the spit. On the horn I fed the two paste rigs, the corner with pellet and corn and the 10 metre with just hard 4’s. Out went the Drennan feeder with Gimps Gold and Magic combination GB with triple maggot hook bait. Five casts later I had three 2lb Skimmers and a 1 pounder. During the next cast a Pigeon flew into the feeder breaking it off, so I had to reset up as quickly as I could, because I was getting quite excited. Next cast I had a small Carp and that was the end of it, I didn’t have another bite even though I tried various other baits. Unknown to me at this stage I had caught half my Silvers weight! So I went from thinking I had it sorted, to thinking I got it wrong, and I had. It was clear that the bait for the day was to be meat, which I didn’t have cut up. So instead of going back to Bela’s van and sorting it out I persevered with the paste along the spit and had three Tench, a Perch and a Gold Fish in between catching 7 small Carp. My Silvers weighed in at 15lb 9oz for third in the Silvers section (I was 3lb 6oz from picking up my ten peg section by default that was left to Scott Lovell. My total weight was a meagre 43lb 10oz for no where. So that’s me out of the reckoning in the overall league. The Silver lining is that I can now fish for Carp or Silvers on the last match.

I must mention Glenn Bailey who managed (sorry moaned) to win my ten peg section overall with 81lb by treble default! Well done matey, about time.

The match was won by Ray Hayward (pictured right with some of his catch) from peg 126 with 177lb 6oz. Ray caught at 14.5 metres fishing hard 8mm banded pellet shallow. Ray fed about 2 pints of pellet throughout the match.

The Silvers was won by Dave Roper (pictured lower right - it dosn't look like summer) with 41lb 4oz from peg 125. Dave fished meat at five metres catch good Skimmers until the Carp moved in pushing his total weight to 104lb 8oz.

Full Result:

1. Ray Hayward 176-0-0 peg 126
2. Tom Magnall 157-02-0 peg 123
3. Barry Fitchew 126-10-0 peg 116
4. Steve Denmead 105-03-0 peg 85
5. Dave Roper 104-08-0 peg 125
6. Paul Hurn 90-05-0 peg 114

Top Silvers:

1. Dave Roper 41-04-0 peg 125
2. Stu Foale 35-03-0 peg 115
3. John Green 34-06-0 peg 112

Thursday 14/07/2011 - Viaduct Cost Cutter - Campbell and Carey

After a great days fishing yesterday I was off to another great South West venue - Viaduct Fishery for the Thursday Skivers match. What a beautiful morning with wall to wall sunshine promised. Another good turn out with 27 Skivers fishing. This was twice as many as the previous days open. So it’s not all about how much you win but more about what you pay out with the anticipation of covering the cost of an excellents days fishing with your mates.

Steve Long decided that the payout would be changed for today, splitting Campbell in to two sections and Carey one section with a Silvers and overall winner in each section. Worth a try I thought, but there was a chance that you could come second overall and win nowt.

In to the draw bucket and out comes peg 119. Both a good Carp and Silvers peg on the day. Arriving at the peg it was soon obvious that there was plenty of Carp mooching around. I am thinking that it’s an Ideal swim for the shallow Carp Slayers. Because of this I decided to keep my options open and fish out at 10 metres with paste and a rig for paste in the margin. Plumbing around the margin I found a good bottom and depth at 7 metres. I decided on a bit of gardening to have a clear view of the float and to enable me to get close into the bank.

On the whistle I piled in a load of corn and pellet in to the margin, the margins on this venue can take a huge amount of feed because of all the small fish that seek shelter from the huge Perch. Out at 10 metres with paste with ten hard 4’s sharing the kinder pot. Blimey the carp homed in on the loose feed with the float not staying still until it was dragged off by a foul hooked Carp. So that was the last I fed this swim except for any free offerings from any struck off paste. The swim settled and I started to put a few carp together. In between I kept topping up the margin swim. I Kept the Carp coming steady picking up the odd Tench and rare Skimmer from the margin, again on paste. Come the final whistle I had 23 Carp which weighed 105lb 11oz and my Silvers 27lb 1oz for a total of 132lb 12oz. This put me first in the section for Silvers and second overall. Plus this was enough for third Silvers and third overall in the match.

The match was won by Lee Johnson (from Leicester pictured right) with 208lb 8oz from peg 78. Lee caught on the straight lead using double hair rigged hard 8’s. Lee fed about two bags of hard 8’s throughout the match.

The Silvers was a close affair with John Green (pictured lower right with the overall winner) coming out on top from reliable Silvers peg 123. John caught 7 metres down his LH margin using 8mm meat hook bait, feeding three tins.

Full Result:

1. Lee Johnson 208-08-0 peg 78
2. Ian Mac 148-04-0 peg 111
3. Mike Nicholls 132-12-0 peg 119
4. Mike Owens 129-01-0 peg 118
5. Terry Bruton 115-08-0 peg 128
6. Craig (Trigger) Edmonds 115-05-0 peg 114

Top Silvers:

1. John Green 30-04-0 peg 123
2. Colin Dyer 28-04-0 peg 132
3. Mike Nicholls 27-01-0 peg 119
4. John Bradford 26-08-0 peg 76
5. Rich Coles 26-06-0 peg 85

Wednesday 13/07/2011 - Avon Angling Open - Landsend Fishery - Match Lake

With the Special One away with her Friend Gill I was home alone so decided to fish Landsend Wednesday Open even though it was a late start, fishing from midday to 18:00. However, I was highly influenced by the excellent days fishing I had last Sunday at this venue.

I arrived at the venue 2 hours early so I had a walk around all four lakes. We were down to fish Match Lake which looked a bit quiet.

In to the draw and out comes peg 11. At last I draw this peg after years of trying. It’s a good Silvers peg so I was delighted. I set up my usual 4x14 Jolly but was surprised how deep the peg was. I considered changing up to a 4x16 but didn’t. I also set up a 4x12 Drennan chop to be fished at the same depth over at 13 metres to the island (apparently there are plenty of Chub over) and in my LH margin with caster for Tench, Perch and Ronnie’s. I also set up a paste rig for the Margin in case the Carp moved in (they didn’t).

Looking around there were plenty of Carp mooching around on the surface ready for mugging by the Carp Slayers – see picture right.

Due to the bottom being variable to say the least (probably due to the silt being moved around by the aerator) I plumbed around for an age I was undecided where to fish but in the end plumbed for 6.5 metres at 1 o clock. Fishing the river for Chub you generally catch them "early doors" so I toyed with this but decided Commercial Chub might be different, so

I started on the 3mm expander hook bait over a few wetted 4’s and caught Skimmers, F1’s and Ide from the off. I had a wonderful two hours before things got difficult at 6.5 metres. As I had been feeding caster over and in the margin I switched to the Chop and single caster and caught a few decent Perch and Ronnie’s. I switched to the far line again with single caster and caught Ronnie’s and small Perch. This wasn’t good for fishing this long as I could catch these on my top set. So I invested in opening a tin of corn and tried that over and had four Chub. Unfortunately the smallest managed to jump out of my keep net!! After being beaten up by Carp (probably foul hooked) I finished the match in the margin catching Perch and Ronnie’s. There was a tail of a Tench showing now and again in the swim but I couldn’t get it to take any bait I tried. So yippee no Carp with my Silvers weighed in at 41lb 8oz (see pictured top right of my catch) I was delighted to win the Silvers. This also put me sixth overall.

The match was won by Tony Rixon (pictured right with the Silvers winner) from peg 7 with 90lb 3oz. Tony caught … see his Blog ...for the officail record he trashed four rigs ... should have gone to specsavers!!

Full Result:

1. Tony Rixon 90-03-0 peg 7
2. Tom Thick 70-01-0 peg 1
3. Clint Wojtyla 66-09-0 peg 17
4. Leyton Palmer 61-04-0 peg 3
5. Pete Sivell 60-08-0 peg 21
6. Mike Nicholls 41-08-0 peg 11

Top Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 41-08-0 peg 11
2. Leyton palmer 27-0-0 peg 3

Sunday 10/07/2011 - Avon Angling Float Only Open - Landsend - Round Four

With Bela having to miss today's match because he was packing his worldly goods to move home, I was on my own, I must say I missed travelling with him – a great bloke. Still went for a breakfast at the Fountain cafe though.

I was drawn against Dave Roper in the knockout and he had drawn peg 74 (I think) on the fourth Lake – not a great draw I was thinking. I pulled one of my favourite Silvers pegs, peg 36 on Specimen Lake. I decided that Silvers would be my number one priority and the knockout second.

Arriving at my peg I found I had drawn in Blogger city with Chris Fox on peg 34, another great Silvers peg and Tim “Clucker” Ford on peg 33, a great Carp peg – serves his right).

With my Arthritis in the neck now limiting my fishing to 10 metres that was where I would target the Skimmers using the usual rig – 4x14 Jolly with 4mm expander pellet hook bait fished over wetted hard 4’s I set up a margin paste rig and a 10 metre Paste rig. Finally I set up my Ronnie rig to be used with caster over caster at 4 metres.

On the whistle I potted in a few soft 4’s and started with a 4 expander on the hook. It all started well, catching Skimmers from 4oz to 1lb, topping up the swim after every pounder. After an hour the swim went iffy, I think I over fed it. Thinking that I might have attracted Carp I went out with the paste, and that wasn’t the answer. So I rested the swim coming in on the Ronnie rig and caster. I had a run of Ronnie’s; it was nice to see that they were a decent stamp from 4oz to 1lb. However, it didn’t last long as I was soon pulling out of a foul hook Carp. Back out on the expander pellet and the Skimmers had returned (where had they gone – up in the water I suspected). In the mix I also caught the odd decent Ronnie and one Crucian. With ninety minutes left I decided to increase the feed to see if I could catch a few of the bigger Bream. However, I attracted the Carp and had an 18 lb fish on the Skimmer rig. I decided to keep the feed rate up switching to small pieces of paste hook bait. I had a run of another five doubles before in the last 20 minutes I had four big Skimmers to 4lb – my original quarry. I am now thinking I might have a chance of framing in the Silvers and get through the knockout. I was right as my six Carp weighed in 62lb 14oz and my Silvers weighed 32lb for a total of 94lb 14oz. This luckily put me first in the Silvers (The Silvers winner is pictured right with the overall winner) and fourth overall. As I expected Dave Roper had made the best of an average draw weighing 45lb. So I was through to the final of the knockout. Very enjoyable day.

The match was won by Clucker (pictured right with part of his catch) from peg 33 with 126lb 12oz. Tim started on ….see his blog.

Full Result:

1. Tim Ford 126-12-0 peg 33
2. Tony Rixon 111-03-0 peg 24
3. Dean Malin 99-15-0 peg 19
4. Mike Nicholls 94-14-0 peg 36
5. Paul Elmes 86-04-0 peg 31
6. Chris Davis 85-08-0 peg 32

Top Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 32-0-0 peg 36
2. John Bradford 28-15-0 peg 11
3. John Green 27-10-0 peg 13

Thursday 07/07/2011 - Bathampton AA Over 55's And Disabled - Bridge Pool

There was plenty of discussion before the match on how Bridge Pool would fish especially after recent issues. For me the test would be today’s match with 25 Dodgers fishing, the whole Lake would get a good trial.

In to the draw box and out comes peg 25. As I have said before I don’t mind where I draw on this Lake but would prefer a non-disabled peg, purely for comfort, which luckily peg 25 is. With one no-show resulting in next peg 24 not being drawn, which I thought might help my cause as this can be a Silvers flyer.

I set up one Skimmer rig, a 4x16 Jolly fished at 7 metres in 8 foot of water. A Ronnie rig for caster and my usual margin paste rig. I started slowly with the feed putting in one kinder pot of hard 4’s on the Skimmer line. On went a soft 6mm and I started to catch Skimmers from 4oz to 1lb regularly. I kept topping up with 4’s after every 1lb Skimmer. This lasted for about an hour when the swim went iffy; I struck at a bite and foul hooked a Carp high up in the water. Next put in the same thing (I had obvious brought the fish up in the water by using the kinder pot regularly), so with more of less 18lb of Skimmers in the net I switched to the Ronnie line with caster with the intentions of letting the Skimmer peg settle. I had a few small Ronnie’s before I kept missing bites which are usually an indication that the Carp are about, which they proved to be, as I was soon pulling free from a foul hooker. The Carp had found me once again - bugger. So into the margin with the paste rig, lightly feeding hard 4’s regularly by hand and I was soon netting my first 10lb fish. I kept the Carp coming for the rest of the four hours netting seventeen up to 18lb. My Silvers weighed in at 18lb 4oz for sixth in the Silvers and my Carp weighed 157lb 12oz for a total of 176lb 4oz and first overall.

Mike Jones announced at the start to try and keep a maximum of five Carp per keep net so I ended up with five nets in!! See picture right. The reduction in Carp numbers/weight by fisheries is making it a bit silly now.

The Silvers was won by Terry Bruton (pictured lower right with his enviable catch) with 29lb 4oz from peg 32. Terry caught two Tench in the margin on meat and the rest were skimmers to 1lb fished at 7 metres. Terry MIGHT have caught on meat hook bait or MIGHT have caught on soft pellet (can’t get a consistent answer from him at present – being a secret squirrel me thinks) fished over hard 4’s fed through his toss pot.

Well I can confirm that this Lake is now fishing for Silvers better than any time I can remember with approximately 300lb of Skimmers caught today (my quick tally). That works out at 12lb per angler a good a day’s Silvers fishing by any fishery standard.

At about half term I have now caught 1,251lb of Carp and 1,246lb of Silvers, all most equal tally - interesting.

Full Result:

1. Mike Nicholls 176-04-0 peg 25
2. Bob Price 103-02-0 peg 17
3. Terry Bruton 55-15-0 peg 32
4. Mike Jones 46-12-0 peg 15
5. Dave bacon 39-10-0 peg 14
6. Ray Bazeley 36-08-0 peg 9

Top Silvers:

1. Terry Bruton 29-04-0 peg 32
2. Bob Warren 22-04-0 peg 28
3. Pete Phillips 19-14-0 peg 7
4. Dave Daly 19-12-0 peg 26
5. Ray Bazeley 19-1-0 peg 9
6. Mike Nicholls 18-08-0 peg 25

Sunday 03/07/2011 - Carps AC Summer League - Round Four - Viaduct Fishery - Campbell and Carey

What a glorious day and a busy one for me as it was up at 05:30 for Bela pickup at 06:30 then off to the Hill Top café, fishing all day then a rush back for a BBQ.

Bela arrived on time as usual, however, for a moment I thought we were off to Glastonbury as Bela was sporting his new flower power shorts (see picture right)! They must have brought him some luck as he picked up his £50 section money, so we will no doubt see more of them!

In to the draw bucket and out comes 131 – THAT’S three time this summer that I have pulled this peg and it’s an hate, hate relationship – unlike peg 116 which I have also drawn three time, so rough with the smooth. It looked for a while that peg 130 wasn’t drawn until Chris “Steptoe” Davis (that’s the name on the back of his tackle box) arrived on it having travelled up from Whiteacres.

The only way I was going to stay in the running in the overall league was to fish for Silvers it was the same for Chris Davis. I am finding it difficult to fish further than 11.5 metres at present due to pains in my neck and shoulders, so I limited my self to top set and out to 6 metres.I set up two Ronnie rigs two paste rigs, a margin corn rig and a 4x14 jolly for a multitude of baits – the kitchen sink to be precise and they all got a reasonable outing, which is never a good sign. The upshot was I caught two early margin Tench and then struggled to catch five Skimmers and a few Ronnie’s for the rest of the day. I did manage four accidental Carp in the last ¾ hour, which was time wasted as I should have switched back to the Ronnie’s (BSc in hindsight) which might have given me a silvers section win as my Silvers weighed in at 17lb 2oz - 3lb short of Lee Werrett’s accidental Skimmers from peg 129. Add my 17lb 10oz of Carp and I came last but one in the overall section. However, I did beat Steptoe.

The match was won by Andy Neal (pictured right) on peg 123 with another double ton of 232lb 9oz. Andy also picked up for second overall in the Silvers with 34lb 7oz accidental Tench, so a double header for him then. Andy started catch before most anglers had fed their swims, by mugging Carp on meat. Andy kept the Carp (and Silvers coming by fishing 14.5 metres and 7 metres along to the end bank fishing about one metre out fro the margins. Andy caught on meat over meat feeding about three tins throughout the day. I certainly wouldn’t bet against him winning the Fisho Final – best of luck matey.

The Silvers was won by Nige Milkins (pictured right - Yep thats him smiling) from peg 125 with 45lb 8oz. Nige caught all his fish at 5 metres using paste or 8mm hard pellet. His net consisted of a mix of both Tench and Skimmers to 3lb.

So off to my good friends, Lynne and Steve’s BBQ, Bela got an invite but he was too embarrassed to arrive in his Glasto's. It was a good evening with plenty of food and drink. I feel a bit jaded this morning. Picture right shows my long time friends with a rare picture of the Special One.

Full Result:

1. Andy Neal 232-09-0 peg 123
2. Barry Fitchew 158-05-0 peg 112
3. Steve Denmead 149-12-0 peg 132
4. Lee Werrett 120-01-0 peg 129
5. Mr Bad Handwriter 111-14-0 peg 119
6. Dave Bad Handwriter 89-07-0 peg 110

Top Silvers:

1. Nige Milkins 45-08-0 peg 125
2. Andy Neal 34-07-0 peg 123
3. Paul Faiers 33-10-0 peg 115