Thursday 09/08/2018 - Shiplate Fishery Cost Cutter - Main Lake

After a decent breakfast in Lilliput Cafe Geoff and I arrived at the fishery in plenty of time. I was looking forward to catching some Skimmers today as I had my appetite wetted with Alan Jones catching 57 lb of them from peg 15 on Sunday using corn.

So into the draw tub and out comes peg 1. One of the top two sought after pegs on the Lake - for Carp! Umm, my plans scuppered? I wasn't going to give up the Silvers that easy, so set a plan of the first two hours on the Silvers and then decided the plan for the next four.

For the Silvers - this end of the Lake is shallow a 4x12 Winter was more than enough for the four foot of water, the deepest I could find at top-set plus three, and the Ronnie Roach rig. For the Carp a 3x11 shotted PC paste float for the RH margin at top-set plus a bit of the three. As corn appears to be the in bait for Silvers at the moment I thought I would give it a try to start with. So fed a line at two o'clock with some micro and corn. This brought plenty of interest from small Skimmers to about one pound. I was foul hooking some on the drop, so was expecting a decent day. I then hooked a small carp about 3 lb which slowed the swim somewhat subsequently getting pestered by Ronnies. So refed and tried the Ronnie rig with caster over caster out in front. Found plenty willing to feed, but they were on the small side but thought I could do a high twenty of them. This slowed so put the paste over the caster and had two quick Carp before the Ronnies reappeared. I decided to switch to the 4 mm Sonubait expander over micro replacing the corn. I had three quick Tench and a decent Skimmer again thinking of a good Silvers day lay ahead. I then foul hooked a Carp which put an end of the swim.

Two hours up and with 13 lb in the Silvers net  I could have carried on catching the willing Ronnies or go into the margin for the Carp. To aid the decision I would try the margin and see how willing the Carp were. I got out a Malteser and placed it on the bit tray. With a piece of paste in the kinder pot with some hard fours in it went into "Catastrophe corner" - pictured right. The float sailed away and was soon running down the bank chasing the Carp along the bank as they disappeared around the corner. I like this sort of fishing with my Drennan margin pole and their 25 hollow elastic. I finally retrieve this fish but it was a lucky one off!. This decided me to reluctantly give up on the Silvers and concentrate on the margin Carp. The trick was to make sure the line from the float is ALL behind the float which prevented the Carp dashing for the corner. However, easier said than done it only took a bit of wind and bang off I was on my run. The problem is you can't see where the fish have gone as it's a blind corner. I lost a few here but in my defence some were foul hooked!! All good fun if a bit of a bum squeaker!! I hooked a very long Common Carp which after a lengthy battle and four attempts to net it I was glad to see the hook pull  - fair play to it. I managed to land 18 decent Carp with one a near twenty before the all out.

My Silvers weighed in at 13 lb 6 oz and my Carp 143 lb 6 oz for a second overall of 156 lb 12 oz. This peg is definitelt a double bubble as I could have added another 8 lb of Ronnie's and still would have had time for Catastrophe corner. The best part was beating Tony Rixon by 1 lb AGAIN!! It's not about the money.

The match was won by Tich Williams (pictured right with the also rans) with 195 lb 8 oz from peg 3. Tich caught mostly on a short chuck method feeder fished to the end of the opposite island.

The Silvers was won my Ron Stark from peg 14B with 29 lb 12 oz of decent Skimmers. Ron had to get away quickly so not sure what baits he used but all caught on the pole at 11.5 metres. Well done to him.

Geoff Francis drew peg 9 which isn't the best. Geoff just can't draw on this Lake, but what goes round comes round. However, on the way home we stopped in our local curry house to round off another day of living.

Result:

1. Tich Williams 195-8-0 peg 3
2. Mike Nicholls 156-12-0 peg 1
3. Tony Rixon 155-10-0 peg 11

Silvers:

1. Ron Stark 29-12-0 peg 14B
2. Dave Wride 22-08-0 peg 6
3. Lee Waller 21-06-0 peg 12

Weigh Sheet: