What’s gone right with the weather – clear skies and daytime temperatures in the high twenties. Apparently the weather is confusing nature particularly plants. Let’s hope the fish aren’t as confused!
Looking at the Lake it appeared to be nicely coloured due to feeding fish. So I was anticipating a good days fishing. I had made my mind up to make it a Silvers only day to give the Carp arm a rest, except I wanted to try the new Sensas heavy top set a try, which I had borrowed from Dean Malin.
Lucky enough I drew a reasonable Silvers peg 31. Also I would be in the shade most of the day as the sun is already much lower in the sky, hence hidden behind the high bank behind me. Perfect.
Having checked that Terry Bruton was safely installed and tethered in his peg 15 it was off to my peg!!
I set up a Ronnie rig to be used at 4 metres with caster, a 4x16 Jolly to be fished down the nearvshelf at 6 metres and a paste rig for the LH margin – this rig was for test purposes only.
On the whistle I fed a small amount of hard 4’s on the Skimmer line and started to loose feed a few casters for the Ronnie’s. It was soon obvious the Ronnie’s weren’t going to play as I had two small samples and two small Perch on the caster. So I put on the 6mm expander on the Skimmer rig and I started to catch “Bottle Top” Skimmers 2 – 3oz. I did manage to keep these coming for the first hour after which things slowed, so I re-fed a mix of Caster, Micro and hard 4’s and tried the Ronnie’s again and caught another hard earned two more! Back out on the Skimmer line and I carried on catching the Swimmeret’s but it was a lot slower. It was apparent looking around the lake that the Silvers and to a certain extent the Carp weren’t feeding.
I thought I better do my Carp test whilst I rested the Skimmers. First put in with paste and I had a 15lb Common Carp this would test Dean’s top set. Now this top set has a 22 elastic on a side pulla slide. So I thought I needed to give it a pull to bring the Carp to attention – well the elastic was so tight I couldn’t pull it. After messing around with this the Carp broke me at the net. I then realised, although, it has a pulla set-up the elastic is meant to be fished in the traditional fixed style. I broke on the next put in on another big Carp followed by a lost foul hooked Carp, before I finally got a handle on the set up and landed a Common Carp weighing 9lb 9oz. I am glad I have ordered one of these top sets as they are spot on for the big Carp on this venue.
As I said today’s focus was Silvers so having completed the top set test it was back put on the expander and I caught a few more Swimmerets but as the match came to a close so did the fishing. My Silvers weighed in at 15lb 14oz for second in the Silvers, adding my Carp my total climbed to 25lb 8oz for seventh overall.
Overall the Lake fished poor, which I put down to the fish feeding overnight in the light skies, hence the coloured water this morning. I am sure they will feed again overnight tonight.
The match was won by Alan Jones (pictured right with his catch of Carp) with 57lb 1oz from peg 33. Alan caught at 10 metres fishing worm hook bait fished over CW&C in GB.
The Silvers was won by Batch tackle dealer Dave Bacon (pictured right) with a credible 17lb 2oz of decent size Skimmers. Again Dave caught at 10 metres using worm hook bait fished over CW&C.
It seemed to be a day of the worm – just a one off I hope!
Full Result:
1. Alan Jones 57-01-0 peg 33
2. Dave Gillard 49-06-0 peg 16
3. John Wild 47-05-0 peg 21
4. John Smith 41-14-0 peg 25
5. Terry Church 30-15-0 peg 17
6. Martin Alexander 27-06-0 peg 28
Top Silvers:
1. Dave Bacon 17-02-0 peg 27
2. Mike Nicholls 15-14-0 peg 31
3. Peter Greenslade 15-10-0 peg 32
This is yet another league I had to miss a match in, so it’s going to be very difficult to pick up overall, especially with the quality of Silver Anglers fishing the league. There is not going to be an easy run for anyone.
With two sections on Spring Lake (PSV had Campbell booked) which is where everyone wanted to draw, including me. In to “pass the coffee tin” and out pops peg 88. Not on Spring Lake but a half tidy Silvers peg on Carey.
Assessing the peg on arrival I thought the water looked a bit clear for GB. So decided on two rigs on Ronnie caster rig over caster and a 4x14 Jolly to be fished at 11.5 metres at 11-0 clock, again with caster over caster and out in front over GB with a variety of hook baits for the Skimmers. The GB feeder and waggler was a non starter because I was too close to the pegs in the low nineties – the diagonal bank.
On the whistle I put in six balls of GB laced with a few casters in on the Skimmer line and twenty or so caster on the other long line. I started on the Ronnie rig feeding five or so casters regularly with single caster on the hook. I had a very productive first two hours catching Ronnie’s, Hybrids and the odd Perch for about 10lb. A good section start then the swim went a bit iffy once the sun broke through. So out on the GB line with double dead red Maggot and a short run of 2 – 3oz Skimmeretts until the Carp started to play, losing the complete rig and elastic at one stage which was fairly new having in the pole for only 2 ½ years! Three trashed rigs later I went over the caster line and the same again – no quality - just more Carp. The light got really bad with the combination of ripple and the bright sunlight, I couldn’t see the float. So I went back on the Ronnie line where I finished the match. Everyone in the sections (except me) was owning up to 13lb. As I was last in the section to weigh, Bob Gullick’s 13lb went 22lb and was top in the section with the bottom weight being 17lb! My 20lb 8oz put me second in the section, so as anticipated it was a really tight and competitive section.
Back down to Viaduct for another Skivers match. It was a bit of a drag driving down as I got stuck behind a digger, and believe it or not I got stuck behind it on the way back. At least we were promised a dry warmish day, which is exactly what we got.
Second in the draw tin behind John Green who picked two pegs dropping one in to my hand – got to be a flyer you think – Not. Peg 80 on Carey. I knew this peg wouldn’t suit my style of fishing, but you have to take the rough with the smooth. Arriving at the peg it was like the Bay of Biscay – flat calm with the wind blowing in to the nineties. I set up a paste rig to be fished at 10 metres and found 30 inches of water. This is due to the wind blowing the silt in to the spit and sheltered from blowing back out again. I swung the rig around in to the margin and found 3 inches less there, so I didn’t bother setting any other pole rigs up as I decided to fish the light feeder for Skimmers from start to finish, even so it was really shallow at 25 metres. I mixed up some GB and laced it with caster and dead red maggot. I was advised by John Green that the GB will keep the Carp away. Nearly right as the first two casts ended up with me breaking on Carp! Luckily I wasn’t bother with this species again.
It took two hours to catch my first Skimmer and found the fishing hard catching two then having to wait an age for the next two. I just couldn’t hold them there for long enough.
Two hours in to the match I heard a loud crash followed by a sizeable splash then a loud gasp from Terry Bruton’s swim, peg 118. I had to wind in the feeder before jumping up to go and help. By the time I got there Martin Lenaghan was already in the water helping Terry up the bank. I dashed back to get the camera and managed to get the picture right. Terry broke his pole and landing net handle as well as hurting his knee. How did it happen – Terry had hooked a Carp that went under his platform, Terry decided to try and pass his top set under the leg of the platform and hey presto. Bet he won’t try that again. The upside was that I loaned him my very dirty fleece and Terry kindly offered to wash it for me. I wish I let him borrow all my Gortex kit!!
Back to the fishing and the upshot was that I caught Skimmers very steady until the last hour when I decided to start loose feeding caster over the feeder line, which resulted in a fishless hour!! I was surprised to find my Skimmers and one bloody nuisance Chub weighed in at 20lb 12oz for fourth in the Silvers. I quite enjoyed fishing the feeder today especially as I had a lot less fatigue driving home. I was also satisfied with my weight from the Bay of Biscay. It’s still a days fishing in my book.
The match was won just 20 feet behind my on peg 116 by Martin Lenaghan (pictured right with some of his catch) with 162lb 15oz. Martin caught at 16 metres using meat hook bait fished two foot deep.
The Silvers was won by John Bradford from peg 97 with 31lb 11oz. John caught short at 6 metres and in his RH margin. John caught on caster and chopped worm over caster with a smidgen of chopped worm.
Full Result:
1. Martin Lenaghan 162-15-0 peg 116
2. Glen Radford 141-03-0 peg 127
3. John Green 121-0-0 peg 123
4. Ryan Jordan 103-10-0 peg 86
5. Ray Hayward 100-11-0 peg 74
6. Jim Baines 99-11-0 peg 112
Top Silvers:
1. John Bradford 31-11-0 peg 97
2. Mike Owens 18-06-0 peg 125
3. Dave Wride 22-0-0 peg 88
4. Mike Nicholls 20-12-0 peg 80
After spending a week at Whiteacres and not wetting a line I was looking forward to today's second round of the Teams Four at Landsend Fishery with each team member fishing one of the four Lakes. However, team captain Charlie had a near draw so reducing the rest of the team’s chances of drawing Match and Specimen. Personally I would make him have a free draw and let him "wheeze" all the way up the hill to Sidney’s Lake!! We also had Chris Fox standing in for Rich Coles. We were second to draw and I think we drew the Lakes we wished for. I was to spend the day on peg 40 on Specimen Lake.
Arriving at the peg the only Angler I could see was Clint “Whatgimmycallit” Wojtyle on peg 25. I have fished this peg before and have won coin. That said, it is very much an all or nothing type peg. I set up four rigs (because I had time). Rig one a 4x14 for the soft expander at 11.5 metres, a 4x12 to be fished 2 foot off bottom (wasn’t used but now wish I tried it), A paste rig for the end margin and the LH margin down to the Blackberry bush, and finally a paste rig to fish over the 11.5 soft pellet line later in the match.
As per usual I started on the 3mm expander over a few micros which resulted in two small Ronnie’s. I increased the feed through the kinder pot and the swim began to fizz which resulted in nothing! I switched to the paste and had a big Skimmer and an F1. Meanwhile Clint must have had 20lb fishing into his end margin from the off – I thought he was going to empty it – so did he! I fed a big pot of micro over the fizzical line and switched to the end margin fishing paste over potted hard 4’s. This resulted in three small Carp and a 1lb Perch before it died. The 11.5 metre line was now more like a washing machine so back out with the soft pellet and – nothing! I tried the paste and again nought. This fizz got me thinking that the fish might be up in the water, but the fact that by now the fish had gouged out 3 inches of the bottom told me not – what was going on not even a fouler?
I had been feeding the LH margin since the beginning with hard 4’s and first put in resulted in a 2lb Chub followed by another two and then a personal best F1 of 4lb. I then hit and lost my first Carp which broke me because I was pulling too hard trying to keep it out of the Brambles. I then had another three before I once again hooked a Carp and ended up playing the Brambles until I broke yet another top set – bugger. I lost another two breaking the hook length each time – one was a monster and played it for ten minutes before I lost it. I ended the match with seven smallish Carp for 43lb 1oz and my big Silvers weighed in at 18lb 12oz for a total 61lb 13oz for third on the Lake and a £60 section pick up. I think this put me eighth overall, but had enough on the hook to get a top six placing – bloody Brambles.
Team wise we ended up with 22 points which was only good enough for joint eighth on the day even though we had two 9 pointers with Chris Fox also doing well on Sidneys Lake.
The match was won by Craig “Trigger” Edmonds (Pictured right sporting his sons new hat) with 155lb 13oz from peg 19. Craig caught over up the shelf as well as down the shelf with soft pellet. Craig add another nine quick Carp near the end fishing caster down to the peg 20 pallet bring his tally to thirty Carp.
The Silvers was won by Tom Thick (pictured right with his catch) with 45lb 4oz from peg 36. Tom caught on expander fished over micro fishing down the shelf at 13 metres. Tom fed about one pint all match.
I spotted Ray Cooper (pictured lower right with his Mushroom) walking back after the match with something in his landing net I thought might have been Nick Collins hernia. However, Ray explained it was a Mushroom – biggest I have seen and apparently heavier than his catch!
Full Result:
1. Craig Edmonds 155-13-0 peg 19
2. Ryan Shipp 101-09-0 peg 41
3. Tony Rixon 80-10-0 peg 68
4. Tom Thick 77-12-0 peg 36
5. Phil Harding 74-01-0m peg 51
6. Bela Bakos 66-07-0 peg 5
Top Silvers:
1. Tom Thick 45-04-0 peg 36
2. Anton Page 27-08-0 peg 24
Another good turn out for the Skivers match with 28 fishing and with Campbell and half of Carey being booked we were left with the other half of Carey and the whole of Lodge Lake. I like Lodge and was hoping to draw there. That was until John Green told me it was fishing really hard. John was first it the draw tin pulling peg 61 on Lodge, I was second in and out comes peg 62 on Lodge. Umm!
Walking to my peg I spied young Clayton Hudson on peg 53 another flyer. I must admit I was impressed with his pole roller (pictured right). It looks as if was designed by an Aerospace Company – come to think of it, it probably was!!
Looking around there was no signs of life in my peg; however, there were loads of Carp crashing around in pegs 66 and 64 all day. I set up an array of rigs as the day went on trying to catch a fish of any description on all the baits you can mention, but to no avail. John Green had landed one foul hooked Carp on the waggler. With two hours to go I decided to try the maggot in the margin to catch some of the millions of small Rudd and Ronnie’s that live there. Amazingly I could only catch the odd one with the maggot just sitting there. With 45 minutes left and 2lb 4oz of tiny fish in the net, I resigned my self to the margin with a big lump of paste whilst I fed the remainder of my maggots. This coincided with John Green who hadn’t caught another fish throwing in the towel. I was amazed to see my float fly under and an 8lb Common was in the net. This happened another three time before the whistle sounded, losing the last one due to my over eagerness to get back out for another. My three Carp weighed in at 25lb 6oz for a total of 27lb 10oz. This elevated me to third on Lodge and ninth in the match!
When I catch fish late in the matchas today, I am always left wondering if it was the fish turning on due to the time of day, or should I have tried feeding the maggot earlier with the paste over the top. It’s no good beating myself up over this as I will never know, and it will no doubt happen again.
The Silvers on Lodge was won with just 8lb by matey Terry Bruton on peg 59.
The match was won by Roger Winter with 103lb from peg 90 where the wind was blowing into. I am not sure how he caught as I didn’t see him after the match. I think he was fishing on.
The Silvers was won by Dave Wride with 32lb 15oz from peg 97. Dave fished 4mm expander over micros.
The reason it fished so bad today was most likely due to the photosynthetic organism (Algae) dying off absorbing a lot of the waters oxygen (time of year). So today we were fishing in H2 instead of H2O!!!!
Full Result:
1. Roger Winter 103-0-0 peg 90
2. Glen Radford 99-04-0 peg 102
3. Mash 92-10-0 peg 103
4. Andy Neal 60-09-0 peg 100
5. John Saving 58-03-0 peg 101
6. Steve Henderson 54-02-0 peg 66
Top Silvers:
1. Dave Wride 32-15-0 peg 97
2. Mash 12-02-0 peg 103
Today was Round One of the Avon Angling Teams of Four with eleven Teams fishing. My team “Charlie’s Angels” had a Judas leave for pastures new – well that what Tom Thick thinks. However, we found a good replacement in Steve Segar. Today’s match was on Chiltern Trinity’s Wildmarsh Lake, with the feeder allowed, which I thought would be a big help for some of the more difficult pegs – I was wrong.
Captain Charlie came back with a good team draw, with me on Island peg 3. This peg is good for both Silvers and Carp so pleased with it until I got there. To my dismay I found a fence across the peg with nowhere to place my seat box unless I got into the water. I tried to remove it but couldn’t. Fortunately I found Tony Rixon and he kindly came and helped me take it out - thanks long time acquaintance (see picture right of the offensive worlds biggest peg).
During the drive down Bela and I were discussing how we never seem to draw near each other, so it was scary when Bela arrived on peg Island 2.
I untangled the Normark feeder rod and set it to fish at 25 metres with a small Drennan feeder. I set up three rigs, the first a 4 x16 Jolly for the expander pellet for Silvers, next a 0.5 gram paste float both to be fished at 10 metres straight out in front where I had five foot of water. Lastly I set up a 0.3 gram paste float for the RH margin to be fished in three foot of water, although a bit of an undulating bottom. I started on the soft pellet over a full pot of micro and had my usual run of there small Skimmers and four Ronnie’s before the swim died. So after feeding the margin with a mixed pot of micros and 4’s I went back out at 10 metres with the paste and after half hour I had a 3lb Carp quickly followed by a 4lb Skimmer. The swim died after this. So I tied the margin only to find the paste being tampered with by small fish. Most of the anglers in my section had started on the feeder with little to nothing coming to it. So I decided to have a chuck myself whilst I drank a cup of coffee. It was no different for me – not one bite! After trying the pellet again to no avail it was back out on the long paste line, but this time feeding 4’s with the paste through the kinder pot. Subsequently I had a 7lb Common Carp. I went straight back out and had an immediate bite – but bugger it was foul hooked and bumped its self off. I didn’t have another bite over this line after this. So I spent the remaining hour in the margin and had a 8 lb Common which had the adrenaline pumping as you can’t afford to lose fish of this size on this venue, plus they fight really hard. I went straight back out and foul hooked another Carp, which also bumped its self off (a pattern forming here). This was the last bite I had. My three Carp weighed 20lb 1oz and my few Skimmers 4lb 15oz for a total of 25lb. This gave me an eleven peg section win and a sixth overall, beating Bela by 9lb!!
Team wise we made the most of our draw amassing 32 points which put us joint first overall on the day with two other teams.
The match was won by Tom “Judas” Thick with 48lb 10oz from peg 12. Tom fished the pole at 11.5 metres up to he edge of the line of Sedges using paste and pellet.
Runner up was Paul Elmes with 42lb 13oz from peg 21. Paul weight was boosted by double figure Common Carp (picture right with Paul).
The Silvers was won by Steve Kedge (pictured lower right with Judas) with 18lb 6oz from peg 47. Steve caught Chub and Roach using caster hook bait over caster, backed up with a couple of proper Skimmers on the worm fished long.
Full Result:
The 1st September and what a glorious morning, perfect weather, lets hope it’s also the start of an Indian summer.
For some reason I thought we were on Withy Pool today, so I was delighted to find that we were in fact on Bridge Pool.
After the usual reading of the riot act on the does and don’ts by Mike Jones and Chris Rolfe it was into the draw tub. Wonderful out comes peg 16, another of my favourite pegs for both Skimmers and Carp. As I was setting up Bob Price arrives on peg 17 and said that he would give me a “pasteing” today on Carp. So the gauntlet was down and a £1 bet in place. I set up three rigs – a 4x16 Jolly for down the track for the skimmers, a margin paste rig and finally a Ronnie rig, which, because of the stiffness in my hands was discarded after a couple of small fish. I pot fed the Skimmer line with a few hard 4’s and fished a 6 mm expander over the top and started to catch Skimmers up to 4oz regularly with the odd 1 ½ pounder. However, the Skimmers kept disappearing so I experimented with the feed and found that feeding five grains by hand rather toss potting was a bit more productive. I kept going on this line until mid match when I hooked a Carp in the chin. Bob Price had already caught four Carp so I made the decision to now go for them. I had been carefully and regularly feeding hard 4’s into the LH margin and was rewarded first put in with the paste with a 10lb Carp. I caught Carp steady up to the last twenty minutes when a Carp went under the margin tree I needed to pull hard but what I didn’t realise I had lost the Carp and was trying to pull the tree out by it’s roots! Even my power top set wasn’t up to this and there was an almighty bang and my top four became a top eight (see picture upper right)!! Everyone on the Lake heard it, so at least my favourite top set went out in grand stile, and to everyone’s amusement (I got all the 28 names including the ring leader – Mike Jones – I get you all back). So I set up again and added another two Carp to my sixteen before for the “all out”.
