Thursday 29/07/2021 - Bathampton AA - Over 55's and Short Walks - Bridge Pool

Had my usual walk around the Pool which had coloured up somewhat, probably from the recent wind and rain. Not much signs of feeding fish though, except, around pegs 18, 19, 20 and 21 - as per usual. Fancied any of these pegs plus peg 1 which was occupied by Kev Winstone - pictured - where was he after the match?.

Dave Gillard called me peg 27. Happy with this as it's a great waggler peg. Arrived at the peg to find myself next to Paul Haines on peg 28. Dave Haines was on peg 29 one of my favourite Silvers pegs. Not to worry as I would be targeting the F1's on the waggler and the odd stock Carp.

Firstly, I set up the Drennan 12 foot Carp waggler rod - I love this rod, wish Dad could have used it. Two Paste rigs a 0.4 gram for out in front on the top set and a 0.3 gram for the RH margin. Simple, well not quite as it would prove!

I started on the waggler with double DR hook bait over loose fed DR's, however the wind had picked up making it impossible to fish it properly. Very disappointed when I had to abandon it. So out in front with paste over potted micro and had a run of five Skimmers and a small Tench but only one F1 - my real quarry. Meantime Paul was getting an F1 every chuck on the method feeder, but was having issues with the brambles loosing a few in the process as well as feeders. Nonetheless I was well behind with Carp and decided to try and build on the Silvers I had by setting up a short Ronnie rig for the LH bay where there was some shelter form the wind and a 4x14 Titan to fish over the paste line with GB and DR's. The upshot was neither was producing any quality - mainly small Perch. So these were abandoned in favour a monk for the rest of the match in the RH margin with the paste. Things got emotional as I was foul hooking decent Carp and couldn't work out why. As time progressed I started to land a few including some F1's. With Paul now financially out of pocket by seven Method Feeders was also monking in his margins. I started to catch him up and the Carp I had just before all out did it for me - just.

My Silvers weighed 10 b 15 oz and my Carp 47 lb 5 oz for a section win and second overall.

The match was won by Tony Ponting (pictured with the match winner) with 66 lb 6 oz from peg 20. Tony caught mostly from both margins using corn over corn - well done matey.

The overall Silvers was won by Dave Haines with 19-08-0 from peg 29. Dave caught in his usual manner - Short to hand using either maggot or caster hook bait over some GB and loose feed. Well done matey.

I think I might know why I was foul hooking so many, but need to do an experiment in the garage to confirm or otherwise.

A few suspects missing from the pub today - just the eight.

Result:

A Section:

1. Hughie Evans 45-07-0 peg 7

Silvers: John Fry 14-02-0 peg 4

B Section:

1. Ray Bazeley 49-01-0 peg 14

Silvers: Pete Greenslade 13-02-0 peg 16

C Section:

1. Tony Ponting 66-06-0 peg 20

Silvers: Paul Barnfield 18-04-0 peg 21

D Section:

1. Mike Nicholls 58-04-0 peg 27

Silvers: Dave Haines 19-08-0 peg 29

Weigh Sheets:

Sunday 25-07-2021 - Ivy House Open - Heron Lake

Wasn't too much on this weekend so Glenn and me decided to try Ivy House - Heron Lake, although Glenn would have preferred the Match Lake. Paste seem to be the way to win even though they are small Carp averaging 1 lb. No Silvers except a few Chub (however I did see a Ronnie top). A good turn out from the Bristol boys on both Lakes.

I was pulled peg 14 and Glenn 7. I found myself next to regular Martin Rayet on peg 13 where the last two matches has been won. I was told the best area were pegs 6 to 13.

My main attack would be paste on the top set but also felt maggot might work, so set up two paste floats an RJ paste bullet for the both margins and a shotted 0.3 for out in front. The maggot rig was a 4x12 Speedy for the RH margin where I would feed maggot and GB.

I fed the GB/maggot in the RH side and a pot of micro in the LH, but left the in front line until later. Started on the paste and had 1 lb Carp first put in and and had a reasonable hour potting micro and loose feeding hard 4's. It slowed a bit so tried double LR in the RH side where I had been loose feeding LR's. I was amazed I couldn't get a bite on it. In fact wasted some time on this when time is against you in a fish race. Back on the paste opening up the out in front line and kept adding small Carp from both lines. The last quarter slowed and was pestered by small black 3 oz Carp nibbling the paste. Reducing the size of paste didn't make any difference. I was now off the pace with Martin who had also slowed but was adding better Carp on the shallow caster.

With about 50 Carp in the first two nets I stopped counting on the third as I unlikely to get to the 50. I reckon I had about 125 Carp for 121 lb 4 oz fir 6th overall. Certainly a fish race where you cannot afford to experiment as I did with maggot and it certainly doesn't help if you have an enlarged prostrate! One piss equals two fish, I had four! Certainly something different. Match Lake next time me thinks, leave this for the younger anglers.

The match was won by Stitch (pictured with some of his small Carp) with 169 lb 6 oz from peg 11. Stitch caught on Paste over loose fed 6's and 4's from his margins and out in front where he caught most of his Carp.

Glenn was beaten off the next peg by Willy Willmott by just 2 oz!!

Back to the pub with the usual suspects to round off another memorable day. next Sunday another fish race at Todber - note to self - don't drink too many black teas before hand.

Result:

1. Stitch 169-06-0 peg 11

2. Joe McMahon 138-10-0 peg 8

3. Shaun Townsend 135-10-0 peg 22

Weigh Sheet:

Thursday 22/07/2021 - Ray Bazeley's Rip Off - Windmill - Match Lake

Another beautiful hot summers day. Had a walk around the Lake with Kev Winstone, both noticing how coloured the Lake was - hopefully feeding fish. I thought the Silvers fishing might be harder this match because it being flat calm and bright. They like the wind on this venue with plenty of tow against.

Ray did his usual pre-match chat. Hasn't had a complaint in 50 years! Following this the swim cards were thrown in the air, I picked up the one nearest to me - peg 10. Happy with this albeit it being predominantly a Carp peg.

Umbrella first to be put up, would provide shelter from the sun for most of the match (where was Jane?)

Whilst setting up noticed that the right hand margin had coloured up. Carp looking for food?

Had a plan - fish for Silvers with the Ronnie rig with LR's and GB until I hooked Carp then switch an RJ paste Bullet. So just the two rigs - simple.

It was nearly on the hour that I hooked an enormous Carp scale! By then I had 14 lb 9 oz of Silvers mainly hand size Skimmers, so switched to paste and didn't look back having a steady days fishing. I landed 25 Carp averaging 5 lb 10 oz. Only one issue today having a spade end slip - also known as a "curly whirly" I think the spade cut the line.

Silvers weighed 14 lb 9 oz and adding my Carp took me to 155 lb 9 oz for a match win. I think I could have also won the Silvers but not both.

As expected the Silver weights were down with the Silvers being won accidentally by Dave Willmott (pictured with the match winner) with 19 lb 13 oz from peg 17. Dave caught some decent Skimmers on meat whilst trying to catch Carp!

Back to the "Ringer" with the usual suspects - table service gone and the pub back to normal - nice to see - fingers crossed.

Result:

1. Mike Nicholls 155-09-0 peg 10

2. Paul Haines 137-0-0 peg 5

3. Dave Willmott 123-06-0 peg 17

4. Andy Gard 95-12-0 peg 18

5. Glenn Bailey 93-13-0 peg 21

6. Larry Laing 81-01-0 peg 8

Silvers:

1. Dave Willmott 19-13-0 peg 17

2. Dave Haines 14-14-0 peg 20

3. Mike Chapman 14-12-0 peg 19

Weigh Sheet:

 

Sunday 18/07/2021 - Tony Rixon's Float Only - Round Four - Sedges - Brick and Tile Lakes

I had planned to be in Brighton this weekend with my Son Mark and family, so got Martin McMahon to stand in. However, my Granddaughter got sent home from school and had to self isolate, so we cancelled. Luckily there was a spare space so I was able to fish one of my favourite venues which I haven't done for a long while.

Travelled with Glenn Bailey and arrived to the usual warm welcome from Denise. We had a walk around to find lots of fish up in the water. Not a good sign for me but good news for the 16 and 17 metre Slappers.

Having lost most of my margin Bullet paste floats at Landsend Ryan Jordan (RJ) made me some more. I must say they fit the bill perfectly - pictured. Wire stem self cocking them to the eye with the paste taking it to half the tip. Perfect for margins up to 2 foot deep.

Joined the nearly orderly queue for the draw and pulled peg 29 on Tile. Right Lake and right side for me. That said, it seems peg 38 has recently been the most productive for Silvers. For company I had the affable Steve Seager on end peg 30 and match organiser extraordinaire Tony Rixon on peg 28. Steve's peg was black with Carp on the surface as was most pegs on our side of the lake, the other side was to fish really hard. It was clear I wouldn't be able to compete with the long pole merchants for Carp mugging, especially the mugging/"stalking" master Tony Rixon. So I decided to target the Silvers until the Carp came down into the margins.

Umbrella up as it was to be a right swelter which helped me feel comfortable for most of the day.

The set up was a margin 0.3 gram paste rig which suited both right and left hand sides, 4 x 16 Titan to fish top set plus one barrel just up the inside shelf out in front. The short and long Ronnie rig with caster over caster.

Started on the Titan rig with expander over micro, whilst shipping out noticed Steve, Tony and Arron next to Tony were all playing Carp! To my surprise I had no indications on this! Switched to the short Ronnie rig with single caster over loose fed caster in both margins and that's where I stayed catching some decent Ronnie's, Rudd and some proper Skimmers. I did get a bit frustrated when I had three fly off the hook. All OK until the last 90 minutes when both margins completely died. I could fathom out what had happened. Thought Carp had moved in, so tried the paste both sides and nothing not even a nibbler. With 10 minutes to go I dumped a pot of LR's on the long line in the hope of one of the big Eels in this Lake with triple LR's on the hook. It did work as I has an Eel of 6 oz and a small Skimmer. Hindsight tells me I should have switched to this as soon as it died, but wont beat myself up over it. I fed about 3/4 pint of caster.

My silvers weighed 43 lb  8 oz for a Silvers win, my one accidental Carp weighed 3 lb 12 oz - smallest in the Lake me thinks. Just a tad disappointed I didn't get the 50 lb. I think with none of the anglers around me not feeding helped me.

The match was won by Joe McMahon (pictured with some of his catch) with 232 lb 13 oz from Tile peg 22. Joe caught mugging with 8 mm banded pellet. Well done matey a worthy winner. Other than Joe's weight the match was a close affair with most framers catching shallow.

From the talk along my bank apparently you can mug fish with either both eyes open, one eye open or with both closed!!

Glenn Bailey won is section opposite me with on peg 33 with 61 lb, so double bubble van catching five decent Carp very quickly late on. Once again the M5 motorway was rammed, so had to get off again and use the A roads. Very refreshing to get that first cold one in hand.

I think I will give Acorn a miss Tuesday as it will be another hot one.

Result:

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 15/07/2021 - Bathampton AA - Over 55's and Short Walks - Bridge Pool

Another newbie today, Andy Greenham (pictured right) Bathampton Team member back in the day. Well known for his river waggler fishing - always managed to sort out the Bristol Avon Chub. Will he win on his debut? He didn't, but did very well from peg 20 catching 39 lb and indeed some on the waggler. Most importantly he enjoyed himself. Nice to see him, hope work allows him back soon, hopefully with brother Rob.

Promised a hot day and that's what we got - no moaning from me.

As the draw progressed by time it was my turn my usual pegs in the 30's had all gone  - I felt at a little bit of a loss, but chirped up when I was called peg 24. This peg a few years ago was a "Silvers" run to peg but this has changed probably to do with the F1's that now live around this area. So walking to the peg decided to fish for the F1's and forget the Silvers. For company on peg 25 was Paul Barnfield and peg 21 Ray Bazeley.

Two paste rigs - 0.2 gram and 0.3 gram to fish three areas. The light rig for down the left hand margin and over to the island. The other to fish to the right. Simple. I plumbed up the three lines and on the last one had a fish take the plummet. So this decided me to start on this line with no feed just the paste. First put in had a F1 before Ray Bazeley had picked his potting kit up and a second F1 before he fed!! I kept the f1's coming from all the lines with the odd small Carp. The island reach was just over 10 metres and was stuffed with F1's, however, the bottom is very stoney and I think the paste was going in between them as I was getting loads of liners. Can't fish paste off bottom! Although I was catching well it was frustrating having to keep baiting up, plus I was running out of paste so for the last hour gave the island up in favour for a slower not so productive left hand margin and just made the paste last until last put in.

My accidental Skimmers weighed 4lb 12oz and my F1's 85lb 15oz for a match win total of 90lb 11oz. Very enjoyable match with plenty of f1's caught today.

The Silvers was won by Paul Barnfield (pictured right with the match winner) with 23lb from peg 25. Paul fished 14 metres into open water fishing mainly worm over micro. Cripes, this man loves his feeding, put more in today than I put in a month! Well done matey.

It was back to the pub with the usual suspects - pint went down really well.

Result:

A  Section:

1. Tony Ponting 62-02-0 peg 1

Silvers: Harry Muir 6-08-0 peg 4

B Section:

1. Dave Wride 66-0-0 peg 16

Silvers: Dave Poole 10-0-0 peg 15

C Section:

1. Mike Nicholls 90-11-0 peg 24

Silvers: Paul Barnfield 23-0-0 peg 25

D Section:

1. Paul Haines 73-0-0 peg 27

Silvers: Kevon Winstone 14-06-0 peg 31

Weigh Sheets:

 

Sunday 11/07/2021 - Tony Rixon's Short Pole - Round Three - Chiltern Trinity - Woodlands

The media, the BBC and Gradian in particular regularly report about the areas in the world that are having high temperatures so they can peddle their religion of climate change and ignore the areas that are having lower than average temperatures. Example North America where they point to the West coast where its unseasonably hot, totally ignoring the East coast which is having an abnormal cold spell. They specifically ignore the fact that the global temperature have fallen whilst CO2 has risen. I mention this because today once the rain came down hard combined with a North Easterly wind I was bloody freezing. However, we MUST phase out the diesel and petrol cars due to the harmful gases they exhaust, and not because of CO2 which as far as I am concerned - more the better for Mother Earth. Changing our natural gas boilers is an absolute nonsense.

Travelled with Glenn Bailey and arrived nice and early. Into the draw box and out came peg 6. Happy enough with this as I have won from here a couple of times albeit many moons ago when there was actually a platform to sit on! The peg is now such that you sit on the bank behind a plank setting you back from the Lake, so I moved to the RH end onto the grass and which was still difficult to get the seat box level. I really thought I would catch some decent Carp down the edge. For company on peg 7 was Mark Cook whom I travelled to Denmark with - now in the distant past, good angler.

So set up a paste/worm rig, short Ronnie rig and a 4x18 Jolly to fish top set plus two barrels at the full depth of 7 foot. Fed the Skimmer line with GB mix of caster and micro, the margin down as far as I could see close in with a big pot of micro and started to loose feed caster for the Ronnie rig.

Started on the Skimmer line with worm on the hook and had four decent Skimmers straight away, before it faded. Topped up with the GB mix and after a short wait had four more albeit smaller hand size Skimmers and a couple of small Hybrids. Topped up again and tried the Ronnie rig and had a run of decent Ronnie's and a Hybrid on single caster. I then hooked a 5lb Carp which I was lucky to land on the light rig. Back out on the Skimmer line and few more hand size specimens. It was obvious there was an Eel on the feed so tried four DR's but didn't get a bite on them. So time to try for some Carp down the edge with Paste to only find nibblers, so switched to whole large worm and had a 2 lb Perch - nice fish. Kept topping the line up with micro but could only get tugs from small fish. I was disappointed that I couldn't get any Carp from this line. Switch back to the Ronnie rig and had a 2 lb F1 and a few more Ronnie's, but it had slowed so went back on the Carp line with double worm for the remainder on the match to no avail. Glenn was still in the knockout and was pleased to see he was catching the occasional Carp on his paste at three barrels, which was enough to beat Ryan Shipp. It was now pouring with rain and glad when Tony called the all out.

My Silvers weighed 16lb 9oz for well off the pace and my Carp 7lb for a total of 23lb 9oz. Each side of me faired even less which shows how bad this area of the Lake is fishing.

The match was won by Vince Shipp (pictured right with his catch of quality Carp) with 101lb 7oz from peg 13. Vince caught at all three barrels on pellet fishing shallow/slapping. His catch consisted of just ten Carp. Well done matey.

The Silvers was won by Ricky Mills (pictured with a spectacular net of Skimmers) with 40lb 14oz from peg 25. Ricky also caught at the the full three barrels using chopped worm/caster with worm hook bait. Well done  net of fish to envy.

This Lake as Tony put it the Lake is "challenging". The consensus it that it could do with stocking of 2 to 3lb Carp to get it back to how it was.

Travelling back and Glenn and discussed peg 6 and concluded that over the last couple of years the peg has definitely stopped producing like it once did. Today most of the fish came from the middle to bottom end.

Well done to Tim Cark for keeping the weigh sheet dry.

Result:

1. Vince Shipp 101-07-0 peg 13

2. Lee Masey 76-06-0 peg 27

3. Martin Rayet 65-08-0 peg 17

Silvers:

1. Ricky Mills 40-14-0 peg 25

2. Martin Mc Mahon 28-08-0 peg 16

Weigh Sheet:

Thursday 08/07/2021 - Ray Bazeley's Rip Off - Windmill - Match Lake

A few of the lads had been out swim clearing including John "Cliff" Smith pictured right with one of his top sets he broke retrieving from the Lake. I must say they done a great job. It was good to see Ken Morgan back out fishing with us. We had a walk around the Lake all the signs were it would fish OK today with a few Carp showing. The weather looked conducive too.

Ray did his usual draw system; throwing the swim cards in the air. I picked the closest to me and found myself on peg 8, thinking more of a Carp peg than Silvers.

After all the nervous energy expended last night watching the football I felt a bit lethargic and even though I had plenty of room with pegs 7 and 9 not in the draw decided to fish for Carp. So set up two paste rigs one for the margin and one for just up the inside shelf out in front. I also set up the short Ronnie rig incase the Carp plan bored me.

Fed both paste lines with micro and started on the deeper line and fouled hooked a Carp first put in. I then had a run of six accidental decent Skimmers!! Started to think I should changed to Silvers when I hooked a Carp followed by another. The nibblers arrived in the shape of small Skimmers. So had an early look in the margin to find more nibblers.

Suddenly there was a mini tsunami. I was glad I had my wellies on. The cause; Kev Winstone falling in complete with box. No one laughed - much. No fags for him for the rest of the match.

I had to stretch the legs so had a walk around the Lake, most were catching a few. So went back and couldn't help myself and picked up the Ronnie rig and had a Rudd and Ronnie one a bung albeit averaging 2 oz on LR's over loose fed LR's. With 45 minutes left I hooked a Carp which took the complete Ronnie rig. I couldn't be assed to set up another so went in the Margin with the paste over micro and had a run of big Carp adding about 40 lb with one fish of about 18 lb.

My Silvers weighed 24 lb for second in the Silvers by 5 oz, with my total weight of 78 lb 10 oz for second overall by one decent Carp, so mission near enough completed.

The match was won by Paul Haines (pictured right  with the Silvers winner) with 87 lb from peg 4. Paul caught initially on the method, later switching to the pole gradually working back to his margins for the final throws.

The Silvers was won by Dave Haines from peg 12 with 24 lb 5 oz. Dave caught on maggot down his LH margin. His catch included a couple of Bream.

As I suspected it fished well today with eight double figure silver weights and plenty of Carp caught. Just need to sort out the platforms and it will be a great local venue.

It was back to the Ringer with the usual suspects. There's no doubt a pint goes down well after a match.

Result:

1. Paul Haines 87-0-0 peg 4

2. Mike Nicholls 78-10-0 peg 8

Silvers:

1. Dave Haines 24-05-0 peg 12

2. Mike Nicholls 24-0-0 peg 8

Sections:

A  George Sumsion 55-02-0 peg 6

B John Smith 77-09-0 peg 18

Weigh Sheets:

Sunday 05/07/2021 - Tony Rixon's Float Only League - Round Three - Landsend - Match, Specimen and John Walters Lakes

I travelled to Landsend via Wells and found it much quicker than the A38 route. Arrived early and got a cup of black tea bought for me by Arran Britnell - thanks mate. I took the tea for a walk around Match Lake and could see a lot of hard work has be done, a great improvement, however, the platforms are still too high for me as I usually fish short which means looking down on the float.

Second into the draw box and found myself on JW peg 62. I arrived at the peg to find I would spend the day in a jungle. There were tree branches right in front the peg, which I set about with my pen knife. Also the edge was overgrown with a

bush to my left blocking the view down to empty peg 63. Again set about this with my pen knife and nearly slipped in. Should I be doing this at my age? I felt my best chance of a pick up was the Silvers but that was soon poo pooed by Rod Wotton on peg 64 (very knowledgeable about this venue - the go to man) when he said the Silvers were the other end where it's twice as deep. I plumbed around and understood why, as I could only find just less than 2 foot of water. Nothing bode well.

Martin Rayet arrived on next peg 61 and found it necessary to set up in the water to clear the trees. However, he either over clicked his boot length or had holes. Martin right emptying back 10% of the Lake water.

Oh well, it is what it is, lets make the best of it. Set up two rigs, a short Ronnie rig and a paste rig which was suitable for anywhere I wanted to fish. I fed DR's and micro down to the tree on my left, starting on the Ronnie rig with single LR on the hook over neat loose GB and loose

fed LR's. Plenty of peas in a pod 1 oz Ronnie's coming to the loose feed so switched to loose feeding micro, which produced some 4 oz Carp, small Crucians and small Skimmers. I had a reasonable 90 minutes with about 15 lb of "Silvers" before it got difficult because of the loose fed micro brought disruptive Carp over, which would just swim in and out again but not feed. Switched back to GB and loose feeding LR's and more 1 oz Ronnie's. Martin had a couple of Carp so went down to the left with paste and some kindered hard 4's and soon hooked a Carp which within micro seconds had snagged me in the tree roots losing the rig. Change to the Drennan 25 elastic and a 0.22 paste rig. This time fished the top set down to the right where I had been feeding hard 4's and did land three 3 lb Carp and thought I had it sorted. I hadn't, the carnage was just about to start, losing more Carp and rigs. It became a challenge which I shouldn't have taken on. I tried various other lines but the Carp would not come out from the tree cover.

The upshot was I could have saved myself some money by staying with the Silvers instead of obsessively chasing Carp as I landed seven and lost eight paste rigs in tree roots. My silvers weighed 15 lb 9 oz and Carp 28 lb 10 oz for last but one in the section with 44 lb 3 oz.

The match was won by Trig (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 137 lb 8 oz from M3. Trig caught a handful of Carp long over to the island, subsequently switching to his LH margin at 5 metres Down to the bank slip using maggot hook bait over GB and maggot feed. Trig fed about 1 pint of maggot and 2 kg of GB. Well done matey.

The Silvers was won by Alvin Jones with 38 lb 5 oz from peg JW68 with mostly small Carp with some F1's and better Skimmers. Alvin caught on three lines - to the weed bed, middle and over on either maggot or meat. Well done matey.

Well done Rod knowledge and experience is King.

Result:

1. Craig Edmonds 137-08-0 peg M3

2. Vince Shipp 126-12-0 peg S27

3. Tom Mangnell 125-12-0 peg M13

4. Rod Wotton 109-07-0 peg JW65

5. Clayton Hudson 107-10-0 peg M9

6. Shaun Townsend 101-10-0 peg JW50

Silvers:

1. Alvin Jones 38-05-0 peg JW68

2. Pau Faiers 29-09-0 peg JW41

3. Ryan Shipp 26-15-0 peg S21

Weigh Sheet:

Thursday 01/07/2021 - Bathampton AA - Over 55's and Short Walks - Bridge Pool

Last minute decision to fish today as I had planned to watch the local cricket 20/20 derby match, Somerset v Gloucestershire, which we cancelled due to some mates having to self isolate. My team won!

Arrived in plenty of time for my usual wander round. The Pool looked in good nick with plenty of fish showing. I fancied peg 1 near the aerator. Good turn out of 25.

Dave Gillard pulled me peg 31, an area I just can't get away from. For company I had Dave Poole on 32 and Dave Haines peg 30. This use to be a good area for a few better Carp, but not nowadays due to them being removed, just a handful left.

I set up the waggler for over to the opposite island incase of a struggle, not for F1's as they don't seem to hold up here, but Silvers. Then a short and long Ronnie rigs. The pole stayed in the case.

I fed the waggler line with LR's and both short and long Ronnie lines with neat GB. Started on the short line with single LR and caught Ronnie's straight away and had a really good couple of hours catching mainly Ronnie's to 3 oz with a smattering of Perch which seem to have grown on some this year. Went out on the long rig and had two Skimmers one good one, I was soon back on the short line as the wait for a bite was far too long to catch similar size fish. I kept the GB going in on both lines and had a cast on the waggler and again was catching the same size fish and with the wind picking up it was soon retired. Back on the short line and found it quiet and was soon to find some F1's had moved in over the GB and had three very quickly, still the Silvers were being canny so set up a paste rig and have two more F1's then back on the Ronnie rig and started to catch again. As the match progressed the harder it became so by switching around I kept a few more coming including another decent Skimmer. Had there still been any number of Carp left in the Pool I would have one, very few caught today. I think it needs restocking with a mix of 2-3lb Carp.

My Silvers weighed 20 lb 12 oz for a section Silvers win and top Silvers on the day. The five F1's weighed 8 lb 7 oz definitely growing.

The match was won by Dave Wride (pictured with the Silvers winner) with 53 lb 10 oz from peg 27. Dave caught "on the pole in the water".

Back to the pub with the usual suspects. Getting use to this table service one positive to come out of the epidemic.

Result:

A Section:

1. Bob Feltham 48-0-0 peg 1

Silvers: Paul Clayton 12-09-0 peg 6

B Section:

1. Rob Baker 38-0-0 peg 19

Silvers: Phil Morgan 9-04-0 peg 17

C Section:

1. Dave Wride 53-10-0 peg 27

Silvers: Paul Barnfield 13-06-0 peg 24

D Section:

1. Paul Haines 36-12-0 peg 29

Silvers: Mike Nicholls 20-12-0 peg 31

Weigh Sheets: