Tuesday 12/02/2019 - Bitterwell Silvers Only

I had heard that the fishery had been fishing OK for Silvers, plus I have been wondering what the stop for lunch thingy was all about. So a call to Ken Morgan to be advised to just turn up, draw 08:30.

The weather is forecast to becoming mild over this week, however, there was a hard frost to clear from the car before setting off this morning on the five miles or so to the fishery. I arrived in plenty of time finding a good few already there. In fact Ken ended up having to accommodate 19 anglers. Booking in might be necessary in future me thinks.

After paying my £10 pools which also includes the lunch time snack ablely prepared by Danielle. The rules are you have to leave your peg but can feed before you set off.

I knew I was up against it with Enigma fishing as its his home ground. However, he did up date me which was very useful as I haven't been here for a few years. Apparently you can no longer win with Roach alone, instead needing some of the better Skimmers/Bream now in residence. 

In to the draw bag and out comes red milk bottle top 30. This put me halfway along the car park bank. My thinking was I would rather be on the opposite side because I would either have the sun in my eyes or wind or as in this case both initially. Th peg had a high bank behind me so without a high roller I would need to unship, which isn't a real problem. I worked out it adds 3 to 4 seconds to the shipping out time.

I set up the waggler with a straight light waggler, which didn't get used. I fished all day using  4 x12 Winter Titan which I fished at 10 metres at 1  o'clock. On the all in I fed a small ball of GB with some Pinkies and with a single on my 20 hook it wasn't long before I was catching tiny Ronnies. I kept topping up with loose GB and Pinkie and found the Ronnies got a bit bigger. It went quiet and soon was losing my first Skimmer. Out again and I had one weighing about 1 1/2 lb followed by one of 3 oz. The Ronnies moved back in so ending my very short run of Skimmers. Lunch time, so I opened another line with a large ball of GB  before going to the cafeteria. Danielle had prepared pasta and Bolognese with some garlic bread and a welcomed cup of tea. Very nice too, I heard she was a good cook. Back in the saddle and found it very difficult to get the Ronnies back, so spent some time sitting over the other line with bigger baits in hope of another Skimmer, it didn't happen, all I could add was another 2 lb of Ronnie Roach before the end.

I was surprised my fished weighed in at 7 lb, which put me second overall. The Lake didn't fish that well due to the weather conditions being against us, plenty of DNW's on our bank

As I expected Enigma won the match (pictured upper right with his catch) from peg 20 with 10 lb 8 oz. Steve caught at 11.5 metres initially with pellet over micro catching some Skimmers to 3 lb and after lunch due to the Carp moving in switched to maggot over GB.

Result:

1. Steve Dawson 10-08-0 peg 20
2. Mike Nicholls 7-0-0 peg 30
3. Steve Tanner 3-09-08 peg 17

Weigh Sheet: