Sunday 27 November 2016

Sunday 27/11/206 - Viaduct Silvers League - Round Five - Lodge, Carey and Campbell Lakes

First stop Shipham cafĂ©, where Bela goes I go. However, I’m not that enthusiastic about the breakfast. That said Mr and Mrs were there as were plenty of other anglers fishing various matches around the area.

Des Shipp pushed in the queue and ended up one behind me and said I would draw peg 68 (I wish), into the coffee tin and out comes peg 132 a bloody corner peg in shallow water, noooo, second worse peg on the venue (the worse peg I think is next peg 131) and although I was in the top ten overall, this draw herald the end of me of any chance of picking up any overall monies. And guess what Des went in to the coffee tin and pulls peg 68. Can you believe this, I was sure it would be wasted on him!

For the third consequative match I found myself next to Bela who was on dreaded peg 131, the man’s a bloody jinx.

Just a few things worth a mention today, at the start of the match and mainly due to the shallow water I was bumping tiny Ronnie’s which broke the surface on the strike, so I switched to the softest lacy I had, and though this worked for the Ronnie’s it caused me to lose three better Perch due to the lacy not stiff enough to set the hook. I think this cost me two places in the section. I fished the pole all day switching between two dinner plates – one at 7 metres and the other at 9 metres. Both lines I fished with single Pinkie over small balls of GB with loose Pinkie. Surprisingly I only snared four Carp as this end of the Lake was black with them. I was playing a small Ronnie and lost it when the elastic sudden shot out which I assumed was a predator. Matey Adrian Jeffery gave me some much talked about prawns which out of courtesy I tried over some casters I had fed, apparently five minutes wasn’t long enough, but that’s all I could muster.

The upshot was I finished on 3lb exactly which only beat peg 131 – Trev. That said I think I was satisfied with the performance and who knows what I would have had if I landed all my fish.

The match was won by Sam Powell (pictured right) with 19lb 4oz from Lodge peg 59. Sam caught at 14.5 metres using Squatt hook bait fished over GB laced with Squatt.

Full Result:

  1. Sam Powell 19-04-0 peg 59
  2. Glenn Calvert 16-12-0 peg 115
  3. Desmond Shipp 15-13-0 peg 68
  4. R Eagle 15-09-0 peg 124
  5. Stu White 15-03-0 peg 86
  6. Dick Bull 14-14-0 peg 100
Weigh Sheets:








































Thursday 24 November 2016

Thursday 24/11/2016 - Harescombe Open - Cost Cutter - Match Lake

Plenty of rain to re-establish the water table, and although my keep-nets had been out since Sunday they were still damp this morning. It as promised to be 10 degrees today but windy, but what wasn’t said was the wind would be bitterly cold blowing in from the NNW. Arriving at the fishery I had to become a Herder to move some cows from the entry gate. The usual suspects having breakfast, but the morning was brightened up when Nicky Collins came in delivering for Sensas M5. Nick is one of my Silvers Hero’s, hard to beat on any venue.

The venue has been fishing really hard and to be fair so has many other fisheries, probably accepts Hillview. The water had definitely coloured up, but not as much as I thought, the water running in and out was just still a dribble. But did expect it to fish much better than recent matches – WRONG.

In to the draw bag and out comes peg 19. Normally would be very happy with this one, but not today as the wind was blowing in at me at 11-o-clock, which was strong enough for me not to bother with the far bank. So it was just the one rig a 4x12 - F1 which was plumbed to fish at top-set plus one and three.

I started on 4mm expander over micro on the short line and within the first half hour had four small Skimmers and two small F1’s. I then got pestered by really small fish that couldn’t quite pull the float completely under. I decided to take off a number 12 shot to aid me not striking at these nibbles. Had some more small Skimmers, bit topping up caused a lull in the bites. Opened up the longer swim again with 4mm expander over micro and had a quick F1 and a couple more Skimmers. Again I was bothered by uncatchable small fish. So I made the brave decision to switch to 6mm meat. I think this was right as although I had to wait longer I didn’t get bothered by small fish. I fed meat on both lines and kept the odd Skimmer coming.

I was glad to hear Terry blow for the all out as I was bloody freezing. I weighed 13lb 2oz with the Skimmers making up the Lions share. It proved to be a very tight match and I was lucky to squeeze in to third and last in the money.

The match was jointly won by Terry Chivers and Tony Price (pictured below) with 13lb 10oz. Both caught on maggot with a late run in their margins.

Full Result:

  1. Terry Chivers 13-10-0 peg 8
1.       Tony Price 13-10-0 peg 4
3.    Mike Nicholls 13-02-0 peg 19
4.   Terry Girdlestone 12-0-0 peg 11
5.   Rob Pass 11-04-0 peg 14
6.   Roy Liddell10-04-0 peg 21


Weigh Sheet:


Sunday 20 November 2016

Sunday 20/11/2016 - Hillview Open - Moorhen and the Four Canals

With Bela fishing the Westerleigh league I teamed up with Martin Rayett and choosing to go back to my commercial roots – Hillview Fishery. First time back for 1 ½ years how time fly’s. Keith Hill hasn’t changed a bit, still doing the cooking and Martin and I had our large breakfast in front of us in double quick time. I slipped two of my sausages on “One Chews” plate, not sure he noticed.

Considering the weather is was a good turn out with 35 fishing. With a club match on Heron that left us spread over Moorhen and the four Canals. I didn’t mind where I drew as long as it was a Canal. Second in to the Woolley hat (yes Keith is still using it). I had my wish drawing 77 middlish of Canal 3.

Arriving at my peg there was plenty of Carp swimming around up in the water. I decided to set up two rigs a 4x12 F1 Titan for down the track at top-set plus two in 5 foot of water and a 4x10 F1 Winter Titan for the LH margin where I had 3 foot of water up to the hay bale and over to the far bank if need be.

The margin was feed with an equal mix of micro and dead reds. I started down the track with 4mm expander over a smidgen of kindered micro. I didn’t have to wait long to net my first F1. Over the next hour I caught F1’s and small Carp to 3lb steady, topping up with minimal micro. The swim subsequently started to die. Carp had surrounded my float and were encircling it. I think this had the effect of switching the feeding fish off. There were signs of fish blowing over the pellet and fancied there might be some better Carp to be caught. I spent far too long nearly an hour trying to catch these phantom Carp. So I tried the margin with a bunch of dead reds only to be rewarded with two Gudgeon. The margin swim was subsequently abandoned. I opened another swim at top-set plus three again with 4mm pellet over micro and had another good hour before it again went iffy. Nearing the end I upped the feed only to have a frustrating period foul hooking.

Come the end I thought that Huggy on next peg 55 had just beaten me as he had caught bigger fish on maggot over loose fed maggot. And that’s what happened I weighed 55lb 8oz to Huggy’s 64lb. Martin had drawn on Canal 4 and won the Canal from peg 91 with 61lb dobbing 10 mm bread.

The match was won by Francis Porter (pictured right pointing to his winning peg on Moorhen Lake) landing 28 Carp to 10lb for 135lb 8oz. Francis fished the waggler 2/3 out with the depth set at 6 foot, he wasn’t sure where this was in relation to the bottom as he didn’t plumb up. All his Carp fell to triple red maggot hook bait. Francis had a cheap day out because he didn’t feed anything all day! Well done matey.

I forgot how good this fishery is in the winter. I will soon be back again.

Full Result:

  1. Francis Porter 135-08-0 peg 16
  2. Craig Edmonds 102-12-0 peg 8
  3. Adrian 99-12-0 peg 18
  4. Billy Hill 75-0-0 peg 42
  5. Andy Bruton 66-0-0 peg 19
  6. Huggy 64-0-0 peg 75
Weigh Sheets:





















Tuesday 15 November 2016

Sunday 13 November 2016

Sunday 13/11/2016 - Viaduct Silvers League - Round Four - Lodge, Carey and Campbell Lakes

First stop Shipham for Breakfast Bela was a bit under the weather so restrained to just the large breakfast plus my sausage because they were like cardboard. Mr and Mrs came in later.

Lovely mild morning with a ghost like mist over the moors pictured right – a great to be living sort of day.

I’m sure all the anglers has a certain place in the draw queue, me I was first in to the coffee tin one ahead of Trigger and out comes peg 87 on the top bank of Carey. Happy with this as last match a few decent Skimmers were caught on this bank with peg 88 winning the section with 17lb.

Today it was a question of – “Jokers to the right of me, Jokers to the left of me and I'm stuck on the middle with Ronnie”. Bela was on next peg 86 (third time in a row we’ve been neighbours) and on the other side Chris Davis.

Last match I came to the conclusion that if there are a multitude of tiny Skimmers (2-3oz) in the peg you need to feed the minimum amount of GB otherwise they get pre-occupied with it and feed off bottom causing a lot of enticing fizz and thus become difficult to catch, I decided to feed the merest amount.

The first thing I set up was the waggler to fish caster over caster as far as I could feed - 25 metres. The conditions were ideal for it with the line pulling up to the float laying the line perfectly straight. Next was two 4x10 F1 floats, one to be fished over GB at 7 metres and the other at 11.5 metres with caster over caster/worm. Finally the 4 metre Drennan whip with my home made reversed crow quill waggler.

It was a very bright day with the sun reflection on the water to be a nuisance all day.

I started by be feeding the 7 metre line with a small knub of GB laced with pinkie and the 11 metre line positive with potted caster. I left the waggler line for now. I started at 7 metre with pinkie hook bait and caught tiny Skimmers and Ronnie’s with the emphasis on Ronnie’s. However, even fishing at 7 metres it was slow shipping in and out. So I switched to the whip and caught Ronnie’s on Pinkie over loose fed Pinkie. I did try the longer line a couple of times in anticipation of catching a decent Skimmer, however, I didn’t stay on it long instead using Bela and Chris as my litmus because if these two can’t catch Skimmers then neither can I.

The upshot was the waggler stayed dry with the whip doing the business catching about 130 Ronnie’s for 13lb 5oz for a section second and a pick up.

The match was won by the Dude (pictured right) with 32lb 9oz from Carey peg 99. Dan caught at 14.5 metres fishing bunches of Pinkies on a size 16 hook over GB laced with dead Pinkie. Be fed about 1 kg of GB and ½ pint of Pinkie through out the match.

Full Result:

  1. Dan Squires 32-09-0peg 99
  2. Gary O Shea 27-06-0 peg 68
  3. Clint Wojtyle 25-11-0 peg 128
  4. Chris Fox 20-01-0 peg 126
  5. Clayton Hudson 17-14-0 peg 111
  6. Jess Jordan 17-02-0 peg 96
Weigh Sheets:
































Thursday 10 November 2016

Thursday 10/11/2016 - Rays Rip Off - Windmill Fishery - Match Lake

First stop Hungry Horace’s then on to the fishery in plenty of time to find the gates locked and Terry looking worried. Apparently a group of 40 Animal Rights activist had arrived at his neighbours slaughter house (Toot if you think Pigs should not be killed) and was worried they might perpetrate the fishery. Terry rang the Police who did arrive at the fishery for a while. However, no problems for us, I did have a bit of indigestion from the sausage and bacon from my breakfast!

Terry informed us that he is retiring after Christmas, so a job up for grabs. Proper anglers need only to apply!!

I lost my lucky style pincers in peg 24 the other week and got wet trying to recover them. So went this week fully armed to retrieve them with my new “not on box” magnet – pictured right. It didn’t take long to get the tell-tell click to fish them out. I didn’t realise that this would be the highlight of my day. Full salvage rights reserved.

Ten souls fishing today in to the draw box and out comes peg 20 – Nooooo. “Some say that in the winter you should spread the pegs out using the whole Lake and some say you should peg where the fish are. All I know is that peg 20 had plenty of room. The nearest Angler was matey Arkwright on peg 18.

I won’t say I how I fished because nothing I tried caught fish, except one 2oz Skimmer and one micro Ronnie on the drop with double Pinkie. All the fish appeared to be up in the water that is if you had any in your peg. The upshot I spent more time walking around than fishing and threw in the towel after three hours. The first DNW for five years but beat Arkwright to the car park – just.

Dave Willmott (pictured right) won the match with peg 26 with 73ln 2oz from peg 25. Dave made good use of having five empty pegs to his left and one to his right. Dave caught short using dead reds over the same feed. His catch included a near 3lb Perch.

Full Result:

1. Dave Willmott 73-02-0 peg 26
2. Steve Jefferies. 29-07-0 peg 8
3. Paul Haines. 19-12-0 peg 10
4. Dave Wild. 12-04-0 peg 24


Top Silvers:


1. Steve Jefferies. 5-10-0 p8

2. John Barker 0-13-0 p22

Wednesday 9 November 2016

Colin Golding's Scrap Book - 1950 to the Present Day - Page Eighteen

To make viewing easier I have removed my copy right.

We all remember Ron Cousins.


Tuesday 8 November 2016

Windmill Fishery - Just After Construction and Ready for the Water Delivery

The following pictures were kindly provided by Brian Shanks and show the topography of the Match Lake at the Windmill Fishery. Thanks Brian.

Due to natural erosion mainly due to the wind effect it isn't like this now!









Colin Golding's Scrap Book - 1950 to the Present Day - Page Seventeen


Monday 7 November 2016

Sunday 6 November 2016

Sunday 06/11/2016 - Windmill Open - Match Lake

Nice breakfast in the Beefeater you can’t beat dining around a circular table. I attendance today was Joe, Geoff, Bela and me. Joe’s still looking for a pole I suggested he cash in his £6000 honeymoon in two weeks time and buy a decent pole – she will understand.

Looking at my rig as I packed it away it looked fine and to be fair it worked well against the odds today. However, under the microscope it looked worse for wear. The 0.14 hook length is tied direct to the 0.16 main line with a Surgeons knot and the shot are all number 11’s. Surprising how the line builds up with slime and water borne solids (pictured upper right). Some mistake this for the float taking on water.

Thirteen fishing today including newbie Brian Shanks. Into the draw box and out comes peg 3. Umm, at least it might be a bit sheltered from the elements. On next peg 6 was Trev and on the other next peg 2 was newbie.

I set up two rigs but only used one all day a 4x16 Jolly fished at top-set plus two down the inside shelf where I found six foot of water. Bait tray held pellet, 4mm expander and dead reds.

Started by feeding a smidgen of pellet and with expander on the hook I had a decent first hour catching four small Carp (less than a pound) and two decent Carp, everyone appeared to be struggling. I re-fed and was left wondering for a long time whether I should have done this. Meanwhile Brian who had also been fishing short had now switched to 16 metres over to the island with 8mm meat hook bait and started to catch Carp regularly. I decided to try triple dead reds on the hook and had another decent Carp, so I switched to feeding dead reds which helped put a few more Carp in the net. However, The wind had increased and I started to tow into fish which resulted in losing five foul hookers three pulled out one broke me and one straightened hook, the latter two I should have got nearer the net! The Silvers just weren’t feeding having just one Crucian and a few tiny Skimmers, but luckily I had a 2lb plus Perch (pictured right) which would be significant today. The last hour was diabolical due to the wind and rain causing the air temperature to plummet. With fifteen minutes to go I threw the towel in as I lost the feeling in my hands.

I finished the match with 6lb 2oz of Silvers for Silvers first and 45lb 9oz of Carp for a second overall weight of 51lb 11oz. Happy with this.

The match was won by newbie Brian Shanks (pictured below with a 14lb Mirror Carp) with 77lb 14oz from peg 2. Brian caught most of his fish at 16 metres to the far island using 8mm meat fished over 8mm loose fed meat in 24 inches of water. Well done matey.


Full Result:

  1. Brian Shanks 77-14-0 peg 2
  2. Mike Nicholls 51-11-0 peg 3
  3. Mark Summer 44-11-0 peg 8
  4. Bela Bakos 44-07-0 peg 6
  5. Dave Willmott 43-03-0 peg 18
  6. Paul Elmes 34-15-0 peg 24
Top Silvers:

  1. Mike Nicholls 6-02-0 peg 3
  2. Stuart Barnett 4-12-0 peg 28
Weigh Sheet:


Thursday 3 November 2016

Thursday 03/11/2016 - Harescombe Cost Cutter - Match Lake

First proper frost of this term, some warm water over the car glass sorted it. Driving up to the access road to the cafĂ© there was no sign of frost, but there was a chilling wind blowing. Expected the weights will be down from previous matches. Andy Price missing today so we had Mr and Mrs Taylor in the Kitchen – well more Mrs that Mr. Lovely breakfast. However, with the body mass significantly down it took a while for the cafĂ© to warm up!

Fourteen fishing today and with Andy’s absence the pegging was commandeered by Martin Hook.

In to the draw bag and out comes peg 13 – lucky for some? Hoping this would be end peg, but not, as on end peg 15 was Bristol’s mumbler Paul Haines, and on next peg 11 was tackle tart Ade Stokes. With 50lbish framing in recent matches I thought we could half that today so target 25lbish.

Two rigs today a 4x12 and a 4x10 Malman F1’s. Three lines one at 12-o- clock at top-set plus one, another at top-set plus three at 2-o-clock and similarly at 10-o-clock, but what to feed where? The 4x10 rig stayed on the grass.

Decisions made, pellet on the centre short line for pellet over 4mm expander, dead reds on the right hand long line for triple maggot and meat on the left hand line for meat.

Started on the expander and my weight estimate plummeted as it took 15 minutes to catch a small Skimmer. Expecting that I had over fed it! I then had four small F1‘s and a couple more Skimmers. The swim died so it was with great expectation that I switched to the maggot line with triple on the hook. Hum, tiny indications from tiny Skimmers, slipped on a piece of meat and had a 1lb Skimmer and a proper Carp. Switched the line to pellet/meat combo and tried the long right hand line and had another proper Carp – only the same size as the F1’s which were beginning to be conspicuous by their absence. I then hooked a bottom hugger which I played for a few minutes only for the hook to pull – bugger didn’t want that today. The upshot was I ended up abandoning all the lines except the left hand one which I focussed on with meat and yet couldn’t work out any acceptable feeding pattern, but kept the odd Skimmer and proper Carp coming, however, the hook bait was getting messed about with by tiny 1-2oz Skimmers.

I finished the match with 23lb 15oz for second overall just a 9oz Skimmer behind the winner.

The match was won by Mike Goodlock (pictured upper right) with 24lb 8oz from end peg 17.  Mike caught at top-set plus two using meat hook bait over various feed. Mike had mainly proper Carp to 4lb with only a hand full of F1’s making up his tally. Well done Mike you deserved this result being a regular angler on the venue.

Full Result:

  1. Mike Goodlock 24-08-0 peg 17
  2. Mike Nicholls 23-15-0 peg 13
  3. Chris Fanning 20-03-0 peg 9
  4. Terry Girdlestone 17-14-0 peg 20
Weigh Sheet: