Thursday 29/04/2021 - Shiplate Cost Cutter - Main Lake

John squeezed twenty of us in today, about the maximum number without repegging the venue. Second to have my peg pulled which saw me on peg 6. Happy enough with this as it is a good Silvers peg. However, the main shoal of Skimmers still seem to be sitting in the thirteens.

Peg 6 is an ideal peg if you want to keep out of the sun, I didn't as the wind was bitter which was veering in to me on occasion so found it necessary to put on an extra coat. I could see Rod Wootton opposite sat in his tee shirt!!

Set up the usual 4x13 MR red top to fish top-set plus two barrels out in front with GB and DR's. Also a 4x14 Winter Titan - black top to fish top-set plus three barrels at 1 0'clock for  Skimmers over Chopped worm and Casters later as a fall back but wont feed it until necessity calls. I had some paste left from Tuesday so thought it prudent to set a 0.3 gram paste float to fish near full depth on my top-set - I wasn't holding my breath with this one as the fish still reluctant to come into the margins at the moment. First mistake of two today not setting up the Ronnie rig!

All set up so having heard Tony Rixon was on peg 2 which is one his favourite types of pegs - fishing to the mud banks. So took the camera down and did a short video - below - he's a natural. I recently fished peg 3 and Tony was more optimistic than I would have been that he would catch Carp. See his blog to see if it went to plan.

Copy paste the link below into Google/or other search engines (MicroSoft stopping me adding the video at moment)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni0WkqN88Ik

Back to my peg and started short with GB and DR's and had a good hour catching about 10 lb. However, none of the bites were positive. It slowed so thought I would loose feed some Pinkie - mistake two - the Carp came to it and were swirling just below the surface and were really scatty with any movement from my rig and they would bow wave away. I really struggled form there on. Tried the CW and C never had a bite on it. Came in on the paste rig - nothing, but by swapping to whole worm caught a couple of Perch to 12 oz. For the rest of the match I only added another 10 lb, but from what I could see only Kev Winstone was catching Silvers which stopped me thinking about scratching around with the Ronnie rig. Interestingly I only foul hooked one Carp.

My Silvers weighed 20lb 8oz just 4lb off second, which I could have caught with the Ronnie rig. This isn't quite hindsight as I haven't been setting it up recently because if the absence of numbers of Ronnie's - next time.

The match was won by Gary Flinders (pictured right with four Carp that weighed 45 lb) with 106lb 8oz from peg 5. Gary caught most of his lumps fishing shallow with a bit of slapping at 14.5 metres. Switching to the method more for a rest than anything else I think. Well done matey.

The Silvers was won my Kevin Winstone (pictured right with the match winner) from fancied peg 13A with 32lb. Kev caught on maggot fished over GB. Well done Fella.

Result:

1.Gary Flinders 106-08-0 peg 5

2. Tony Thick 76-06-0 peg 9A

3. Norman Huggett 59-10-0 peg Zero

Silvers:

1. Kevin Winstone 32-0-0 peg 13A

2. Paul Fiaers 24-08-0 peg 8

Weigh Sheet:

Tuesday 27/04/2021 - Acorn Cost Cutter - Paddocks

Another try at Acorn to avoid a Bridge peg. I had a walk around and there appeared to be plenty of fish showing from 36 round to 12, with the top end looking quiet.

I couldn't believe it when Mike Chapman pulled me another bridge peg. Four consecutive bridge pegs now since lockdown ended! This time peg 40 which I think is one of the better bridge pegs. For company I had Landsender Dave Wescott on peg 38 who had plenty of room with peg 36 not drawn due to no shows. Mike had two of them today, how easy is it to text that your not coming so Mike can adjust the pegging and not be hanging around at the draw.

I had plenty of time before the all in so set up far too many rigs and for the first time my roost was half full with four top-sets. However, I was to only to catch on one which was a my current favourite a 4x13 MR. This rig was fished up to the bridge halfway along to try for the resident Tench AGAIN! Luckily I have at last found some by regularly feeding two chopped worm with DR's also chopped with twenty or so casters on top. I kept a few decent Tench to 5 lb coming steady throughout the match catching on either triple DR's or worm heads. It is usual to foul hook Tench, but managed four today, landing two in the tail (eventually). I had no Carp issues landing one F1 and a Carrasio.

My one Carp weighed 1lb 13oz and my Tench 37lb 13 oz for a Silvers win - at last! A memorable day's fishing.

The match was won by Bob Smith (pictured with the Silvers winner) with 83lb 7oz from peg 12. Bob caught over to the mud bank in 20 inches of water with banded 6mm pellet over hard 4's. Bob later came down the shelf to 3 foot with 6 mm expander to keep some decent Carp coming. Still nothing from margins around the venue it wont be long - hopefully!

Result:

Weigh Sheets:

Sunday 25/04/2021 - Shiplate Open - Hawthorns and Westpool

Firstly, paid the pools to John Hawkins the Fishery Manager (pictured right), who I must say is doing a great job, but needs to keep his weigh scales glass cleaner. 

Went for my usual walk with Glenn Bailey along Hawthorne's the Canal we all wanted to draw due to Westpool still suffering from an influx of fresh water. The pegs 1 to 6 looked favourite as it was catching some wind off the Mendips.

I was delighted when John pulled me peg 9 Hawthorne's, however, Glenn was faced with peg 1 Westpool - will it fish? For company I found Chris Fox (brother Blogger) on peg 10 and Steve Seager on peg 7, both good company. But will take my swear box for Foxy next time.

Against common belief there are lots of Silvers in both Canals, however, they are hard to catch due to the head of disruptive Carp. My peg was flat calm with plenty of Carp visible on the surface. I decided to fish four hours for the Silvers and the last two for Carp in the margins. However, plumbing up the margins both sides were almost vertical from the bank edge to the bottom so couldn't find any shallow water except within my platform cut back area, so wasn't optimistic.

Tried setting up a 4x13 MR white top only to find I had half-hitched it when I made it up and broke the line trying to move the float - bugger. So had to settle for a 4x14 Winter Titan yellow top for top-set plus two barrels in front. The paste rig was a 0.3 gram.

Fed two balls of GB and with single DR on a 18 - 808 went out and was soon playing a fit Carp followed by another. It settled and I had a nice run of Skimmers from 4oz to 2 lb, really enjoying it. Refed which was followed by another two accidental Carp, they seem to like the GB falling through then a few more Skimmers would follow. As expected the Skimmers gradually petered out over the four hours. With nine accidental Carp in the sack I tried the margin as it's easy to add 100 lb an hour on this venue if they are having it. The weren't only adding one small Carp on the paste.

I weighed a total of 65lb 7 oz with my Silvers going for 17lb 2oz for first in the Silvers. Very enjoyable day.

Hawthorne's and the match was won by the affable Matt Culpin (pictured with his catch) with 191lb 1oz from peg 3. Matt caught down the track using banded caster over copious amounts of caster loose feed.

Tom Thick (pictured below with the Hawthorner's - me between to big boy's) won Westpool with 85lb 2oz from peg 13. looks like the Canal is improving - needs some warm rain me thinks.

And finally I saw these hand made floats in the Shiplate shop and marveled at the workmanship, with each floats having a bird feather varnished in. On close inspection they would unlikely be suitable for fishing with.

Result:

1st overall p3H

Matt Culpin

191lb 01oz

2nd overall p6H

Lewis Walker

131lb 04oz

3rd overall p4H Tony Rixon 121lb 08oz

4th overall p15

Mark Wenn

103lb 08oz

1st westpool p13

Thomas Thick

85lb 02oz

2nd westpool p3

Tich Williams

56lb 04oz

1st silvers hawthorns p9

Mike Nicholls

17lb 07oz

1st silvers westpool p9 Julian Pinkett 9lb 02oz

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 22/04/2021 - Bathampton AA - Over 55's and Short Walks - Bridge Pool

Arrived early and had my usual walk around the Pool. With no rain, high winds and plenty of sunshine for weeks I suspected low oxygen, so was surprised that the aerator wasn't running all night. Anyway it didn't look good with no fish showing anywhere. I felt pegs 18, 19 and 21 would be the best bet today.

Dave Gillard announced that we would have to weigh in both Silvers and Carp at 1 pm and return them to restart again at 1:30 pm. This was followed by a lot of groaning and grunting. No one was happy about this, with a lot of disquiet and talk of finding a new venue to host these matches.

Dave did the draw and put me on peg 16, happy enough with this, but can be a bit hit and miss for the Silvers also prepared for some pole fencing with Mike Taylor on peg 15 (pictured above with Cliff on peg 24).

I thought a plan was needed - Decided to fish for Silvers first half over two lines one at 10 metres down the track to my left with a 4x16 Winter Titan which would be switched to a virgin line PM same distance down to the right into the open water. And in front at top set plus one with a 4x14 MR which would be abandoned PM in favour of fishing long over to the island which was currently bathed it sunshine which PM would have some shade for a while hopefully for the F1's and a lump or two.

Fed the long left line with GB and DP's and the same short in front. Fed a pot micro over to the island. Started down the long line and soon had a bite which came off. For some unknown reason I lost another three, however, they were tiny fish. I had a feeling they were foul hooked? It wasn't happening on this line so switched to the short line where I had been loose feeding Pinkie and had a few Skimmers and F1's and the occasional snag.

The first half resulted in 5lb 8oz of Silvers and 4lb 8oz of F1's - 10lb. The section midway was tight with just a few pounds between us in the section.

Second half I think we all knew we could all but right off catching any more Skimmers/Silvers due to the tip back. I did feed the long right side and started to loose feed LR's over to the island. I tried for some more Silvers and lost a decent Skimmer landing one about 4oz. I noticed that both Chris Ollis and John Smith were also losing Silvers. All abandoned except the island where I fished out the rest of the match with double semi-conscious maggot hook bait. I had a run of eight F1's losing two, one in Bramblegate, another fouled. I then hooked a decent Carp which unfortunately I lost trying to avoid Mikes pole. As soon as the sun came back on the water the F1's dried up to be replaced by Rudd, I did add a couple of small Tench.

My total Silvers weighed 8 lb just10 oz from a pick up with my total weight 24lb again 3 lb from a pick up. Bit of bad luck. If I stuck on the RH long line I'm sure I could have got those Silver ounces, but I like all my options open.

The match was won by newbie Andy Gard (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 38lb 7oz of F1's from fancied peg18. Andy fish down to his right using either expander hook bait or hard pellet over micro. Andy found the hard banded best.

The Silvers was won by Paul Barnfield (pictured with the match winner) with a very poor weight of 13lb 2oz from peg 11. Paul caught mostly on maggot over maggot and GB adding a couple of bigger Skimmers on worm.

Result:

Section A

1. Steve Jefferies 15-04-0 peg 7

Silvers: Hughie Evans 6-14-0 peg 5

Section B

1. Paul Barnfield 27-13-0 peg 11

Silvers: Dave Wride 8-10-0 peg 14

Section C:

1. Andy Gard 38-07-0 peg 18

Silvers: John Smith 7-13-0 peg 24

Section D:

1. Kevin Winstone 31-12-0 Peg 33

Silvers: Dave Haines 11-0-0 peg 30

Weigh Sheets:

Tuesday 20/04/2021 - Acorn - Cost Cutter - Paddocks

Another light frost to be followed by a near windless, bright sunny day. Strange weather which is definitely affecting the fishing country wide.

Bob Feltham (aka MD) came round and presented with my membership to the RJS club with the team hat - nice long peak. Must say MD makes a good impression of a lubricated zip!

I had a walk around before the draw and reckoned pegs 1 to 5, 6 to 10 and pegs at the far end where there were plenty of Carp on show on pegs 27 to 30. With the conditions the fish are following the wind irrespective how light it is.

What can I say three matches since lockdown and three bridges with Mike today drawing me peg 33 and once again becalmed by the other side of the bridge (the above picture shows how flat the water was).

I set up all sorts and the upshot being, after 4 hours I had a couple of pound of Silvers and one Carp. I could see signs of Carp very shallow just up by the bridge and thought two or three times about shallowing up a rig to fish around - but didn't bother - could have been a mistake.

With two hours to go the sun was now such that the empty platform on peg 32 had gone in the shade at my side so went down there with a 4x12 Roob with 4 mm expander over micro and had a Carp first try. I then got pestered by small fish nicking the pellet. So went out with the 0.3 gram paste float and quickly added five more Carp. I had a look at the clock and with an hour to go I started to think I might get somewhere. The lad on peg 31 spotted this and decided to also come to the platform. I then hooked a small Carp with my rig catching in the Lads rig. This meant I had to go down to the the platform to unhitch my float. I also had to get down to free my elastic which had caught in the platform wood severely damaging it. I did free it and walked the fish back to my peg and landed it. I don't know it his upset the peg but my framing hopes were dashed only landing one more Carp.

My Silvers weighed 2lb 9oz and my few Carp 32lb 7oz for a no where total of 35 lb. I've had loads of lessons on "If you think of something - try it" . Should have tried shallow at the bridge to satisfy my inquisitiveness.

The match was won by Zac Williams (pictured right) with 113lb 13oz from Bridge peg 21! Zac setup his lines short then bottom of the slope at 11meters then a few dobbing rigs and a couple of mugging rigs. Started short without a bite. Zac could see the odd fish around his peg so decided to cut out the feed and get his head down mugging. Zac spent more or less the whole match on this. In the last 20 minutes he nicked three down the edge.

The Silvers was won by Alan Smith (RSJ) (pictured with the match winner) with 33lb  3oz from peg 13. Alan caught mostly down the track using worm over chopped worm and caster. Well done matey good weight on the day.

Finally but most important a really well done to Junior Freddie Clarke and his parents for supporting him (pictured right) catching 60lb 5oz from peg 1. He had Glenn Bailey worried until the last hour who went on to take third place with 99lb. Lol

Result:

Weigh Sheets:

Sunday 18/04/2021 - Westerleigh Winter League - Round Four - Taylors Pool and Shipps Canal

With the nasty NE wind which has been pestering us for an age has at last abated so we were in for a proper Spring day. However, it looks as all the fisheries are suffering with poor results, so expect the same here today. I must say Mark Taylor is doing a great job with the fishery, sporting some new platforms.

My turn on Taylors Pool and was looking forward to fishing the waggler for the Silvers and small Carp with maggot, which would have been the way to go with the conditions. However, I pulled peg 18, which is in the top corner and Cormorant roped off, so no chance of fishing my preference. The regulars told me the fish are mainly at the other end in peg 24/25. So decided to have a Silvers line with Pinkie and GB and a Carp line with expander over micro. So just the two rigs - a 4x14 to fishing top-set plus three barrels in 7 foot and a 4x13 MR to fish top-set plus 2 barrels set to 3 foot down to the left.

Fed the inside line with Micro and a few expanders and the Silvers line with one hard ball of GB laced with Pinkie. Started on single DR and had a Rudd on the drop first put in followed by a small Carp and some hand size Skimmers. After refeeding the line I tried the expander and had one small Carp. At this time it looked as if at least three anglers were doing well on Carp. So my thinking to coin was to focus on the Silvers. So made the decision to convert the inside line to GB and Pinkie anticipating catching some Ronnie's. This to prove to be a mistake - should have kept with the expander, etc... I kept swapping between the two lines adding only one small Carp from the inside line, not one Silver! The longer line was by far the most productive. I did experiment with the feed - loose GB, loose Pinkie, hard balls with Loose Pinkie etc... the Loose was best I think.

My Silver weighed 5lb 7oz for the Silvers win and my few Carp 6lb 6oz for a third on the Lake 11lb 13oz. I think if I had stuck with the expander line I might have nicked second from Simon. Nonetheless a great day out with great company of experienced anglers.

My lake was won by Lynol (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with a spectacular weight on the day of 33lb 6oz from peg 25. Lynol caught 33 Small on 4 mm hard pellet over tight to the opposite island. Feeding hard 6 mm. Well done matey, nice to watch

Shipps Canal was won by Steve with 46lb 1oz from peg 3. I didn't get to speak to him because he was busy launching the life boat to retrieve his top four, but I can safely assume it included copious amount of liquidised bread. The Shipps gang pictured right man handling HMS Bela.

Result:

Taylors Pool:

1. Lynol 33-06-0 peg 25

2. Simon 14-08-0 peg 24

3. Mike 11-13-0 peg 18

Silvers:

1. Mike 5-07-0 peg 18

Shipps Canal:

1. Steve 46-01p0 peg 3

2. Martin 33-13-0 peg 2

3. Mark 29-02-0 peg 1

Silvers:

1. Ricky 2-02-0 peg 4

Weigh Sheet:

Thursday 15/04/2021 - Shiplate Cost Cutter - Main Lake

Another beautiful morning, but still carrying that Northerly nip in the light breeze. Great to be out and feeling good today.

First time for newly born expected flyer peg 0 to be used in a match. The night before Two Pots said Junior would draw it, can you believe it he did!! In his defence it was drawn for him. I was given peg 3. Opposite was Tony Rixon 12A, Two Pots 13 and Kev Winstone 13A - so expected some piss taking - pictured.

Arrived at my peg and again found myself becalmed - indeed flat calm, but optimistically fancied I might catch some Silvers. So set up the Ronnie rig for the elusive Roach that haven't fed yet this year and a 4x13 MR for the Skimmers at various lengths a lines.

Started at top set plus two barrels with 4mm expander over micro. This is a bait that often gets an immediate response, so after 20 minutes without any signs I knew it was going to be a difficult day. So switched to GB laced with Pinkies and single DR on the hook and over the next 30 minutes had two small Skimmers - definitely rock hard. Added more barrels to 10 metres and tried another line again with GB and - nothing. So went down to my right where the depth was 1 foot shallower and

fed some chopped worm and caster and had another two small Skimmers, losing one. Decided I wasn't going to bother the frame in anyway today so went down and had a chat with Junior who was having a torrid time foul hooking Carp, but had 25 lb on the clicker. Got back to my peg and needed to do something that I liked to run the clock down, so set up the waggler to fish LR's over to the island. It's very shallow over so had to drag quite a bit of line, so anticipated foul hooking Carp. To my surprise I didn't. However, there was just significant number of bites from small Ronnie's and Rudd to keep me from boredom.

I weighed 4lb 7oz which, except for 2 DNW's was last in the match, but not last in the Silvers!

I wish I had taken my Skimmer feeder rod and fished a tiny feeder into the open water which might have been a better option.

Found put that they had been pumping water in all week, which probably account for 50% of the poor fishing today.

The match was won by Gary "Junior" Bowden (pictured right) with 119 lb rom peg Zero PT. Gary caught most of his 19 Carp on paste down the middle of the leg.

The Silvers was won by Tony Rixon (pictured with the match winner before he had a drink - 😄) with 40 lb from peg 12A. Tony initially caught on maggot and GB then switched to chopped worm - see his blog for further details.

Result:

1. Gary Bowden 119-12-0 peg 0

2. Tony Rixon 67-0-0 peg 12A

3. Norman H 48-0-0 peg 5

Silvers:

1. Tony Rixon 40-0-0 peg 12A

2. Ron Stark 17-10-0 peg 15

Weigh Sheet:

Tuesday - 13/04/2021 - Acorn Cost Cutter - Paddocks

What a beautiful day - bright, windless and light frost. Conducive to fishing doubtful. Mike Chapman pulled me peg 21. The other side of the bridge I had last match. Not previously drawn this bridge until now then draws it twice, was to prove "A Bridge too many"?

Had my post set up walk around and came first to the angler that owns these top-sets adorned with pots on peg 29. Onward to island peg 4 where I found the owner of a virgin pole, which

is without doubt currently the second best pole made (the best is the Exo). I was delighted that he caught on it today, otherwise I might have got a bargain!

As peg 22 was left out I decided to fish for the elusive Tench up to the bridge and this time stick with it. For this I had set up a 4x13 MR float. I also set up a paste float for the LH margin which was perfect for it, however, when I did get round to trying it the wind had blown lots of scum in to it so left it. I also set up a light 4x12 for down the peg to the right. Out of respect to Gary who gave me his wives last piece of breakfast bread I set up a Dobbing rig. I had a little go on Gary's specially prepared plastic bread for about 3 minutes!

The upshot was I caught some Tench on 6 mm expander over micro on and off for about 3 hours, however, the were small with the biggest 1 1/2 lb. Tried long down the right with the light rig and had one Carp, a Skimmer and some tiny Ronnie's. The last hour saw the Carp arrive losing as many as I landed through either foul hooking and or impatient angling.

My Tench weighed 13 lb 5 oz and my Carp 26lb for a nowhere total of 39lb 5oz. The peg was worth much more Carp had I targeted them.

The match was won by Mark Walsh (pictured with the Silvers winner) with 73lb 4 oz from peg 17. Mark caught on expander over micro and a few soaked 4's fishing top kit set in 3 foot of water.

The Silvers was won by Eddie Wynne (pictured with the match winner) with 27 lb 14 oz from Bridge peg 34. Eddie caught up to the bridge with maggot feed and hook bait. His catch was mainly big Tench but did include two big Perch.

At last the day Gary, Glenn and me were really looking forward to, a garden pint on the way home in our usual stop off. However, got to the pub and it was closed even though it had notice saying it would be open from 12 pm! Onward to Chew Magna for our second attempt at a pint, car park full so onward to the third attempt, The Lock Keeper in Keynesham. Needed to download App, register, sign in, find a table, order the drinks and pay and probably have to wait to bedtime for the drinks to arrive. The App was binned quicker than downloaded. Fourth attempt was to be the King Billy where we parked around the back in the garden to be told that it was American car night and couldn't park. So we all went home. Not the perfect end to the day that were hoping for to go with two pickups.

Result:

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 08/04/2021 - Bathampton AA - Over 55's and Short Walks - Bridge Pool

Even though the weather again was going to be cold it was one of the best turnouts for many years with 28 fishing. Because the fishing is very poor in certain areas - mainly the far end - we decided  to have 4 sections of 7 paying top overall and a Silvers in each. As it happened it was the right decision.

Nice to see Bob "MD" Feltham and his sidekick Turkey coming back to the coffin Dodgers.

I had my usual walk around - definitely going to be hard so my thinking was pegs near to car park would be best.

Dave Gillard got the draw underway and I was shouted peg 14 - happy with this as its a good waggler peg - pictured.

For company I had Mark Tanner on peg 15 and Tony Ponting peg 13.

I set up the waggler, but was disappointed to find the wind all wrong so would have to work hard at it. For the pole at two barrels where I found 7 foot was a 4x16 Winter Titan. I also set up a margin rig to fish LR's over micro and DR's.

I fed the long pole line with a large ball of GB laced with DR's. Fed the waggler line with loose LR's and the margin.

Started on the over the GB with single LR and had a few 2 - 4 oz Skimmers. This was soon disrupted by a 1 lb F1. Re-fed the laced GB and picked up the waggler and was annoyed to find lots of line under the water which I was catching (forget Bamblegate now Linegate), adding the wind made things difficult. I had a couple of F1's and then hooked a decent Carp which took an age to get in mainly due to it snagging me. Thought I had lost it so let the line slack and YES it came out - an important fish today. Tried the margin and had one tiny Perch and a Skimmer so that was abandoned in favour of the longer line I had a couple of better Skimmers which I must say were in very poor condition. As soon as the wind lapsed I would try the waggler then switch back to the pole after topping up. I had another six F1's - 3 from each line plus a 2 lb Carp on the waggler.

I weighed overall 29lb 9oz and my Silvers 9 lb. So double bubble section. My Silvers was 2nd overall and my overall weight 3rd, so good day.

The match was won by Paul Barnfield (pictured with the Silvers winner) with 51lb 8 oz from peg 24. Paul caught mostly F1's fishing long over to the island.

Bob Feltham (pictured right giving the winner a forearm smash) won the Silvers with 14lb 8oz from peg 25. His catch included a couple of the better Skimmers. Bob fished either single or double maggot hook bait.

Result:

A Section:

1. Pete Turner Peg 5 & Rod Dufferty Peg 3 both 4-14-0

Silvers: Wayne Storey 3-07-0 peg 8 peg 8

B Section:

1. Mike Nicholls 29-09-0 peg 14

Silvers: Paul Clayton 8-0-0 peg 16

C Section:

1. Paul Barnfield 51-08-0 peg 24

Silvers: Bob Feltham 14-08-0 peg 25

D Section:

1. Hughie Evans 12-12-0 peg 29

Silvers: Dave Wride 3-07-0 peg 34

Weigh Sheets:

And finally a short chat with Mr. Couscous.

Tuesday 06/04/2021 - Acorn Cost Cutter - Paddocks

Booked into Acorn with the weather at the moment wondered if I did the right thing. Decided to go making sure I had plenty of layers with me. Once the sun was "out" Spain and "in" Alaska. Can live with that but the wind is another thing - I hate it.

Mike drew me peg 22 a peg I've always wanted due to it's history of Tench up to the Bridge.

I have noticed recently on a few fishery pictures that the water looks bright blue and thought it might be the camera white balance - nope definitely Caribbean blue - pictured.

Found myself next to another Silver Dacer returnee - Richard Britton the other side of the bridge peg 21. The Bridge is just below water level so with the wind driving right to left Richard's side was quite rough with the wind battering the bridge. However, the opposite being true my side being flat calm, sheltering the next two pegs to my left. Out of preservation of life Mike had left all the pegs out to my left around to peg 30.

Tackled up and a walk around and found Tony Rixon grinning like a Cheshire Cat on flyer peg 5 - Suit you sir -pictured.

Two rigs - 4x13 MR for up to the bride mid-stanchion and a 4x12 Winter Titan for top set plus three at 10 0'clock for Silvers.

Naturally started up to the bridge with 6 mm expander over micro. For thirty minutes trying different baits not a bite, whilst Richard had a few fish including some decent Tench. Fed the Silvers line with some dryish GB with loose Pinkie. I caught a few Skimmers and Carassio's on single dead, but was foul hooking and bumping fish - I assumed it was because of the bright light and no wind cover making them shy to pick up the hook bait. I noticed that on empty pegs 25,26 and 27 Carp crashing around in the rough wind driven water - wish I was up two pegs. After a fully expired Silvers line I messed around to the bridge for an hour with one small Tench to show for it. For at least 3/4 of the match the thinking was to go long towards the wind cover - but didn't, instead more messing around. With an hour to go the wind picked up so was driven to turn my back to it and do what I should have done after the first hour and fish long. I started to catch decent Carp on double maggot over kindered maggot. However, I hooked one which I thought had gone under the platform even though I was fishing a metre out from it. I lost it! This happened again but this time realising it snagged well away from the platform - bugger. I did pull one through it the others came out ok. In the last hour I netted 30lb and was kicking myself because I knew it wasn't all due to Carp o'clock but me not doing what my brain had been telling me for most of the match - feel I cocked the peg up.

My Silvers weighed 11lb which was nowhere on a day when they really fed well all around. My few Carp weighed 29lb. The peg was definitely worth a higher placing if not a winning peg, folded a winning hand.  I must say all the fish I caught were in excellent condition.

The match was won by Tony Rixon (pictured right with the Silvers winner) on peg 5 with 69lb 14oz - see his blog for the grinning details.

The Silvers (Green's) was won by John Mills (pictured with the match winner) with 31lb 5oz from peg 6. John caught mostly over Pinkie - see his blog for further details.

Result:

Sunday 04/04/2021 - Westerleigh Winter League - Round Three - Taylors Pool and Shipp's Canal

Due to lockdown I expected this league to be cancelled so booked into Tony Rixon's Short Pole and Float Only Leagues, so was surprised when Bri Shanks texted that all eight matches would be completed. So a couple of clashes to manage.

My turn on Shipp's Canal. Woke to find a heavy frost, no wind and bright skies which would stay with us all day - not conducive for what is already a difficult venue.

Nice to catch up with the lads. Apparently it's no longer Bob "The Bread" Price but Bob "Pablo Picasso" Price - he's taken up artistic painting.

Drew myself peg 2. For most it's s frustrating peg because of the close proximity of the otter fence behind the peg, about 8 foot. Can't get a pole roller the other side either. To fish to the far bank would definitely put poles at risk of breakage with such a huge hangover. So set up the Mosella high roller (fishery rules don't allow to place poles or rollers on top of fence) and found it comfortable and safe with the Drennan margin pole with top-set and three barrels.

Set up to two rigs - 4x13 MR to fish the longer lengths in 6 foot of water and a 4x12 Roob to fish up to the bush on my left. Planned to keep it simple with GB and maggot. Started at two barrels with double DR's over neat GB out in front. I was soon to learn this was a mistake because of the shadows cast by the island trees it was difficult reading the bites. I was foul hooking and bumping small Crucians and F1's - nothing bigger than 8 oz though. I stayed on this line until it I killed it. What I have found with these small fish it that they "Ball" up and move around once unsettled. Changed line to 10 o'clock at three barrels. This time introducing some DR's in the GB. Should have started here as I could read the bites much better. A run of 8 oz fish and a couple of small Silvers - as expected it was fishing hard all over. The "ball" of fish moved off again so rested the line and tried down to the bush kinder potting loose DR's and caught some more small hybrid Carp. Went back out on the 10 o'clock line and hooked a decent Common which thankfully I landed. After a while of no indications decided to spend the last hour or so up to the bush, this time feeding some GB. I had a run of some Mirror Carp to 4 lb, losing two around the metal post snapping the hook length. The Carp petered out to be replaced by tiny Perch and one 3 oz Tench.

I thought I had high teens, hoping for 20 lb and with 24 lb winning the Canal I wasn't hopeful. However, I had totally underestimated the weight of the 7 lb Common Carp which was nearer 14 lb! My net of Widgers weight just under 10 lb. My total weight was 34 lb 11oz so miles out on my estimate which was enough to win the Canal and the match.

Result:

Canal:

1. Mike Nicholls 34-11-0 peg 2

2. Lee Waller 24-0-0 peg 12

Silvers - Bill Ferris 4-08-0 peg 11

Taylors Pool:

1. Steve Rogers 18-04-0 peg 17

2. Brian Shanks 17-14-0 peg 20

Silvers - Ryan Jordan 5-08-0 peg 21

Weigh Sheet: