Thursday 27/04/2023 - Over 55's - Westerleigh Fishery - Taylor's Pool and Shipp's Canal

Firstly - Bloody weather - cold wind and rain once again. Weather forecasters couldn't predict day and night.

Back to this lovely fishery, which is becoming very popular with the over 55's, so have booked every two weeks. Down to 16 due to holidays etc... split 8/8 on each Pool with separate payouts top 2 and 1 silver.

Paul Clayton drew for me handing over peg 1. Right Pool for me but perhaps wrong end. Had Martin McMahon next to me peg 2 - moaning a tad about it though. The night before our match pegs 2 and 3 were plundered which wouldn't help his peg and as it happened moved the fish across the other side of the lake where Tony Rixon was waiting to plunder on peg 11.

Set up a 4x14 Winter to fish top set plus three barrels. A 0.3 gram RJ Slim to fish either down to the bush or the down wind LH margin and optimistically a paste rig for the LH margin both margins were a bit too deep for my liking.The plan was to secure the silvers placing and carp later.

Started on the long line with triple Pinkie over GB and as can be expected the F1's are first to the feed and had three decent one's, three pesky small Crucians, a Ronnie and a small Skimmer before the wind got a bit harsh for me. Went down to the bush with double DR's over kindered micro and DR's and had a Ronnie before catching some line snagged in the bush so off the box to retrieve the rig. due to the wind dragging the rig away from the bush switched  over to the LH side with double LR's over potted micro and LR's it was a small Perch every put in plus the odd Ronnie which were coming off, so set up the short Ronnie rig with single LR over loose fed LR's had a run of Ronnie's and better Perch and an F1 before it went quiet. Definite sign of carp about so chanced the paste and surprised to land three carp for 30 lbish. Kept switching between maggot and paste to keep some silvers and decent carp coming including a strange Mirror carp with a fan tail. Was about to go down to the bush with the paste when people started packing up - time shot by today.

Silvers weighed 5 lb 6 oz for pool silvers win and a total of 71 lb 15 oz for second so nice double bubble.

Tony Rixon pictured above stormed the match with 173 lb 8 oz from peg 11. See his blog for the details, but it looked to me as he caught everywhere on anything including an F1 on a bare hook! Well done matey certainly landed on them today.

Bit too wet for more photo'. Kit now drying - out again!

Result:

Taylor's Pool:

1. Paul Barnfield 48-11-0 peg 22

2. Shay Gillman 46-04-0 peg 16

Silvers: Shay Gillman 12-0-0 peg 16

Shipp's Canal:

1. Tony Rixon 173-08-0 peg 11

2. Mike Nicholls 71-15-0 peg 1

Silvers: Mike Nicholls 5-06-0 peg 1

Weigh Sheets:

Sunday 23/04/2023 - PSV Club at Shiplate Fishery - Main Lake

After many years rejoined PSV as did Glenn Bailey, last time I attended a Club meeting it was held at the Tramway club in Easton!

Ours first match was Shiplate Farm on the main lake which has been fishing hard, most probably due to the bloody weather. Arrived and had a lovely egg and bacon roll from Marks's mobile cafe - proper job. Nice to catch up with the regulars and anglers I've know for years including the Sivell brothers.

Good turn out of 17. I was hoping for any peg between 1 and 9. Into the draw bucket and out came peg 12. Umm too shallow for my liking. Johnny Page fishing the Fry's match on Westpool (pictured behind my peg) said it wasn't much good for carp but ok for silvers. Glenn drew peg 13.

Got to the peg firstly set up the short and long Ronnie rigs, plumbed up and couldn't find more then 2 foot of water on either. So packed them away and got a 4x13 MR black out and at top set plus thee barrels found 4 foot which would be enough for me. A large carp rolled on the top set line in 2 foot. So re-rigged the short Ronnie rig - might be some skimmers around in this case? This also encouraged me to set up a paste rig again at three barrels. 

Undecided whether to fish expanders over micro on the long line or not, casters won out as it's a catch all bait. Whistle went and fed 6 casters on the short line and bugger me a large carp took straight away. Played it and nearly netted it early but not all of it would fit the landing net! Estimated it at 20 lb Mirror. Second attempt and the hook length broke. Subsequently caught some small Ronnie's on single caster. Fed a pot of micro on the long line and thought I would test it for by trying a small piece of paste and see what if anything nibbles it. Nothing did, which decided me to feed the line with laced up GB - mainly caster. So spent the match switching between these two lines. Losing the Ronnie's on too large elastic got a bit frustrating so got the 4 metre whip out and found this effective for both Skimmers and Ronnie's. The short rig accounted for a couple of big Skimmers, a Tench and two big Perch, whilst the longer line smaller Skimmers and Ronnie's. With an hour to go only went and hooked the same carp again (99% sure) on single caster - again I lost it. That said I wouldn't have been happy to keep a carp of that size it 2 foot of water.

The silvers weighed 26 lb 12 oz for second silvers, so happy with that from this peg on a difficult day.

The match was won by Shaun Putney (pictured with the silvers winner) with 68 lb 8 oz from peg 14. Shaun caught a few on the method and straight lead with the Lion's share coming from his LH margin with meat over meat. Well done matey.

The silvers was won by Keith Ray with 29 lb 6 oz from peg 9. Keith caught decent Skimmers and three Tench on soft pellet short. Well done matey.

Glenn sat it out all match on the paste to catch 5 decent carp late on for fourth.

Lots of foulers today, Bela losing 5!

We managed to miss the heavy rain so tackle dry. Oh yes, due to my stupidity broke a number 4.

Thanks to Ryan Jordan (RJ Floats - check him out) for running the match.

 Result:

1. Shaun Putney 68-08-0 peg 14

2. Lynol Legg 66-13-0 peg 15

3. Ron Hardiman 59-03-0 peg 1

4. Glenn Bailey 56-08-0 peg 13

Silvers:

1. Keith Ray 29-06-0 peg 9

2. Mike Nicholls 26-12-0 peg 12

Weigh Sheet:

Thursday 20/04/2023 - Ray's Rip Off - Windmill Fishery - Match Lake

My left knee has been playing up, think is hasn't helped going up and down some of the slopes to pegs with the kit at Windmill. So Rip Off agreed I could have a flat/short walk pegs - 1,25,24,22, 21 none of which are form pegs except peg 1. We have to dip in the draw bag until we pull one of these pegs. First try out comes peg 12 - current form peg and would have the wind off the back. Next dip peg 24 not unhappy with this - normally - but the North cold wind once again was blasting into the face - more wind burn - bugger. However, fishing is not predictive, will the wind change effect the fishing?

For company on peg 25 was mobile tackle shop Phil Morgan.

Set up all sorts having tried them all and with just a few silvers in the net tried the 0.3 gram RJ Slim down the LH edge with single maggot over a few kindered maggots and had a few Rudd, small Perch and Ronnie's. Found this the best option with the wind and thought I would run down the match on this rig. The peg went quiet and getting liners so lifting and dropping produced a 7 lb Common carp. Remaining with the single LR on the hook had another three carp before losing a fouler and a clever Common that went into the reeds to my left which did come out only to fool me again and go back in shedding the hook into a reed - fair play. It went quiet after this and with 30 minutes to go eventually landed two 10 lb carp. That was it another half hour would have been good!

My silver weighed 3 lb 12 oz and my six carp 49 lb 15 oz for a second overall weight of 53 lb 11 oz.

The match was won by Paul Haines (pictured with his catch) with 70 lb 15 oz from peg 1. Paul caught most on either the straight lead or method with pellet. Well done matey, the second best Methodist I've seen.

The silvers went to John "Cliff" Smith with 15 lb 4 oz from peg 14, John caught on corn over corn and micro to the island at about 13 metres. Well done matey.

When is the wind going to do one!!

Thanks to Ray for running these matches especially through difficult times.

Result:

1. Paul Haines 70-15-0 peg 1

2. Mike Nicholls 53-11-0 peg 24

3. John Smith 44-02-0 peg 14

4. Jeff Grant 38-0-0 peg 11

5. Pete Greenslade 29-15-0 peg 2

6. Kev Winstone 25-04-0 peg 16

Silvers:

1. John Smith 15-04-0 peg 14

2. John Osbourne 12-09-0 peg 22 

Weigh Sheets:

Tuesday 18/04/2023 - Acorn Cost Cutter - Paddocks

It's 1 year and 4 moths to the day that I last fished Acorn - Paddocks. Since then the venue has been drained down, desilted and refurbished - very pretty too. Some work still to do at the top end which won't be long knowing the Bartlett's - well done to you all. The tackle shop is very well stocked with everything you would need.

Took some advice from a carp slayer and two silver anglers that have been doing well down here since the changes. So today was more of a toe dipping trip. Spoke to Mark Bartlett who thought it would fish hard today but should all have a day's fishing - certainly knows his stuff.

Glenn and me were welcomed by a nasty NE wind, overcast and bloody freezing - can't wait for this global warming thing to come back. Because of no trolley put my self down for a non island draw and pulled peg 16. Spoke to a few anglers about my draw and got what I expected turned up noses. Glenn pulled peg 13 so it was a case of two old gits helping each other unload the kit to the pegs - my knee and his back.

The wind was again going to plague me driving up the leg at 4 o clock. So the toe dipping started by setting up the full armory. No past or feeders.

Spent a while plumbing around and set up a 4 x 14 Titan to fish just down the furthest shelf at one barrel. A 4x13 MR to fish the middle shelf at top set and a 4x14 Roob for the top shelf up to the boards which was about 2 foot deep. Plus short and long Ronnie rig and a 7" red waggler, had doubts about this due to the wind but foul hooked and landed a carp on a practice cast!!

Running the rigs through and the tow against was horrendous, presentation would be poor.

Fed the Titan and MR lines with GB laced with caster and Pinkie fired some LR's over to the far side hoping they would land on the middle tier. Started on the short Ronnie rig with single caster over loose fed caster. Getting indications straight away loads of interest but the rig was going against too fast, only really hungry fish were going to be fooled into taking the hook bait especially as the Ronnie's are of a good stamp. Had an indication every put in netting two decent dumb Ronnie's. Rig roosted picked up the long Ronnie rig and had only one indication. Tried the Titan over the same line trying triple Punkie, single caster and single and double LR's and had one decent Tench and Perch on the latter. Came in on the MR and couldn't believe the number of indications I was getting and occasionally bringing back tiny silver fish scales, think were from small Skimmers. Fouled hooked a few skimmers. Kept topping up with laced GB, adding a few skimmers in the mouth. Decided to have a look down the margin up to the boards with triple maggot and had a carp first try, but no more slipped on a worm and had a another decent Perch - that was it. Due to the wind and the boards the float was rocking, very strange sight. Time to try the waggler but didn't expect much, double LR's on the hook and a few more fed. The waggler was going through with the wind but would hold due to a lot of line on the bottom. Float disappeared from view thinking it was lost in the poor light struck and had another decent Perch. The next six cast produced four skimmers, one Ronnie and a 4 lb Carp. The visibility/wind was so bad abandoned it after 15 minutes without a bite. Spent the remainder of the match being tormented by silver liners adding three small Tench and some decent Skimmers. Three minutes to go hooked a big carp which broke the hook length due to my extreme bullying.

For most of the match Glenn was having an off day breaking his number six section £££ and only catching late on but had some decent size carp on his favored paste.

My silvers weighed 26 lb 4 oz which was joint 4th on the day and my two small carp weighed 9 lb 8 oz. Really enjoyed it today, toe now dipped and please the silvers was only a pound or so off a pick up and more importantly close to Faieresy and Perry the local silver slayers. I'm sure under the right conditions the waggler is going to prove a very usual tool. The silvers are certainly of high quality, no white bait here.

The match was won by Chris Harrison (pictured with the silvers winner) with 109 lb 4 oz from bridge peg 33. Chris caught late on down his right margin on the upper tier on paste. Well done matey.

The silvers was won by John "Turkey" Thompson from peg 1 with 47 lb 7 oz. Turkey caught short fishing worm over caster/chopped worm feeding 2 pints and 1/4 kilo of chopped worm. His catch included 4 tench for 20 lb. Well done matey.

Result:

1. Chris Harrison 109-04-0 peg 33

2. Neil Robins 106-04-0 peg 7

3. Andy Gard 93-09-0 peg 21

Silvers:

1. John Thompson 47-07-0 peg 1

2. Kev Perry 27-14-0 peg 38

3. Paul Faiers 27-05-0 peg 12

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 13/04/2023 - Over 55's - Westerleigh Fishery - Taylor's Pool and Shipp's Canal

Good turn out of twenty with three on the reserve list. I hate turning people away. Paying top two and one silver on each pool/canal.

We borrowed the silk draw bag and counters provided for Windmill by Kev Winstone. A story of the draw bag is emerging. The bag was given to Kev by Leyton Palmer and couldn't help noticing yesterday that the bag has a monogram on it - Umm - a converted item of silk under clothing?

As custodian of the draw I couldn't draw my own flyer so wanted either Tony Rixon or Paul Barnfield to draw for me, both refused, worried John Smith was going to step forward but was beaten to it by Pete Greenslade, giving me peg 10 on Shipp's. Truthfully not really worried where I drew. There was too much foraging in the bag for my liking.

Got to the peg and found Aiolos (the God of wind) was favouring me again directing it at 2 o clock as he has done for sometime - obviously not a fan of waggler fishing.

For company on peg 11 Marks "three counters" Tanner. After the match asked him what he had on his counters - "didn't use them today" was the reply!! Opposite on peg 4 would be the Canal winner - the side to be on today. 

Because of poor visibility set up a 4x14 wire Roob for top set plus two and a 0.3 gram RJ slim for the downwind margin and a waggler in case the wind dropped - it didn't. After plumbing relised that these rigs were wrong and couldn't be assed to changed them to a 4x13 MR and a Speedy for the margin - theses floats are 60% better in the wind. With the canal winner already identified and some other better pegs to contend with decide to initially focus on the silvers.

Fed the margin with some LR's and micro and the other line with a nugget of GB and Pinkie. Started on this line with triple Pinkie and had 5 F1's, three Crucians and three skimmers before the less eager fish for food to be fooled by my presentation the rig going with the wind and difficult to hold back - thought about changing the rig, instead picked up the waggler. Very difficult to feed had a dozen or so casts - one Ronnie and two foul hooked carp due to dragging too much line along the bottom to stay on station longer. Tried the long line again and it was hopeless with the wind - thought about changing the rig, instead went in the margin with single maggot over loose fed same. Caught micro Perch one a bung with the odd decent Ronnie. As the wind was mostly on my back decided to see the match out here. After catching two big F1's the carnage started with the carp moving in and some foul hooking following. The issue was the carp wanted the feed falling through the water but could not get them to munch on the bottom. So came up 6 inches to 3 foot and once the float settled cast again. Had a run of decent carp to 8 lb loosing a 15 lb fish which came straight the to surface and hung there, started the "walking the dog" and really thought it was a banker but it was just shy of the landing net when it woke up - hook pulled - bugger. Too many lost carp today but apparently so did most anglers so can't really claim a higher position than third on the canal.

Silvers weighed 5 lb 11 oz for canal silvers win, total weight 37-01-0. So a decent days fishing but back to the fine fibre tips in future - why oh why did I not change.

The canal was was won as expected by Tony Rixon (pictured with a lovey quality net of carp) with 70 lb 3 oz from peg 4. Tony caught on banded pellet long on various lines - see his blog for the finer details. 

Tony "smiler" Ponting (pictured) won Taylor's with 42 lb from peg 23.

Thanks to Mark Taylor for the use of his beautiful fishery.

Result:

Taylor's Pool:

1. Tony Ponting 42-00 peg 23

2. Glenn Bailey 37-07-0 peg 26

Silver: Shay Gillman 6-02-0 peg 16

Shipp's Canal:

1. Tony Rixon 70-03-0 peg 4

2. Kev Winstone 42-03-0 peg 8

Silvers: Mike Nicholls 5-11-0 peg 10

Weigh Sheets:

Sunday 09/04/2023 - Windmill Open - Match Lake

Back to Windmill and was hoping not to draw pegs 4 and 5. Had peg 5 Thursday and struggled. However, the chances of drawing it again are exactly the same = number of pegs ratio to one. If you draw peg five 20 times on the trot it's exactly the same odds as drawing it again the 21st time. 

So nearly last into the silk (worth having a good feel around) draw bag  and out comes peg 5. Not happy, thought about pleasure fishing Billy's Pool, but ended up fishing the match. Had great company between Tim Ford and Leyton Palmer. Expected Leyton to catch being near the gap on the end of the island peg 6, but not Tim on 4.

Thought about different ways of fishing the peg so set up a traditional link maggot feeder, same rig for long but went further out at 11.5 metres giving 6 inches up the far shelf and the Ronnie rig. The wind was totally different with the float going with the wind which would make things even more difficult.

Fed the long line heavy with chopped worm, casters and micro and the short line with GB laced Pinkie. Had a few chucks on the feeder to get some maggots on the shelf.

The upshot was caught a few small silvers short never had a proper bite long even though it was continually fed heavy - just pulls from micro Perch. Decided to start packing up with 20 minutes to go so chucked the maggot feeder hoping for some decent skimmers instead had two pulls from carp and some liners. Leyton struggled on 6 until the last 40 minutes when he put 10 lb of skimmers in the net - suspect that these had moved out of the gap. Tim struggled also. My predictions were unfortunately nearly right.

The match was won by Jason Pitman (pictured with the silvers winner) with 153 lb 13 oz from peg 12. Jason caught mostly on corn down his left hand margin at 6 metres. Well done matey.

The silvers was won by Matt Tainton with 17 lb 3 oz from peg 20. Matt caught fishing 16 metres over to the island fishing worm over worm and caster. Well done matey.

Bob the Bread (aka medium sliced Price) with a typical net of skimmers from gap peg 7 on - well bread what else.

Result:

1. Jason Pitman 153-13-0 peg 12

2. Jerry Walsh (Paste short)

3. Bill Knight 92-05-0 peg 14

Silvers:

1. Matt Tainton 17-03-0 peg 20

2. Leyton Palmer 12-02-0 peg 6

3. Kev Winstone 12-15-0 peg 3

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 06/04/2023 - Ray's Rip Off - Windmill Fishery - Match Lake

First stop Hungry Horace's followed by a bumpy ride down rocky road. Geoff and me had a quick look at the lake to see a few Ronnie's topping.

Kev Winstone was standing in for Ray today as his wife was coming home from hospital - good news. Kev had got some bingo balls for the draw. Unfortunately the balls were from a kids game and with most of us having to look at our wives at arms length we had a job to see our peg numbers.

Into a new silk draw bag with bigger disc's and found myself on peg 5. No that enthused. For company of peg 6 was Hubert (aka Handle bars).

Decided to fish for silvers and claim the £100 bounty on the 50 lb of silvers - Umm. I also have made up new design of Ronnie rig and wanted to try it out. Waggler set up with a 7" Drake. A 4x14 Winter to fish top set plus thee barrels and would be my skimmer line fishing worm over chopped worm/caster/DP's in GB. Finally my new Ronnie rig.

Fed a large ball of the skimmer mix and a small ball of GB laced with Pinkie on the short Ronnie line. Didn't bother feeding the waggler once again because of the bloody wind. It took a few put-ins to get use to the new rig due to the sensitivity could see indications before they actually took the single LR and striking too early. Had a good run and must say I was impressed with the rig and will be tying some more. The line slowed so topped up and tried the long line where initially the worm was being pestered by small Perch. Had a decent skimmer before it died, thought there might be carp about - alas not. Back on the Ronnie rig and kept a few coming and a bonus skimmer. The wind dropped so tried the wag and mag and did expect to catch some carp and skimmers, alas again not just a few Rudd. Very surprised not to even foul hook a carp on this peg. The skimmers are following the carp at the moment and knew that the chances of catching any numbers of skimmers was unlikely today. Stayed on the Ronnie rig to see the match out. Had managed to stay dry until the all out called and the havens opened - bugger - soaking again.

My silvers weighed 11 lb 8 oz 5th in the silvers and 38 lb 8 oz short of the bounty.

The match was won by Paul Barnfield (pictured with the silvers runner up) with 52 lb 8 oz from peg 11. Paul also won the silvers with 21 lb 1 oz. Paul no doubt used his favored micro, GB  and Micro approach. Well done matey - double bubbler.

Result:

1. Paul Barnfield 52-08-0 peg 11

2. Glenn Bailey 44-11-0 peg 1 (paste is back!!!)

3. John Smith 44-07-0 peg 10

4. Hayden Withers 42-03-0 peg 9

5. John Osborne 35-02-0 peg 3

6. Pete Greenslade 33-08-0 peg 23 (3 carp)

Silvers:

1. Paul Barnfield 21-01-0 peg 11

2. Hughie Evans 17-06-0 peg 6

3, Kev Winstone 13-02-0 peg 18

Weigh Sheets:

Sunday 02/04/2023 - Westerleigh Winter League - Round Seven - Final Round - Taylor's Pool and Shipp's Canal

My turn on Shipp's Canal. No silvers focus for me as Lee Waller and me were only 1 lb behind Bela and Steve from winning the pairs which is done on weight count only.

Had a walk around the canal and noticed that the dreaded peg 13 was alive with carp.

Lee drew well with peg 17 Taylor's and so did I with Shipp's peg 6. That said both Bela and Steve also drew well.

Arrived at the peg and it seems a long time since I've been down this end. Plenty of room as peg 7 not in this year. For company peg 5 was occupied by Steve Shears, we have drawn next to each other a few times this league. - he's no longer on my Jinx list.

In case it was hard got the waggler rod out for a 7" Drake, but noticed the peg was a bit of a bird cage so with Mark's permission cut a couple of branches down with Bela's saw. Had a small area for a clear cast but due to the wind went up the tree with practice casts so packed it away. Just two rigs - 4x13 MR to fish top set plus one barrel and a 0.3 gram RJ (love these floats) to fish top set down the RH margin. Absolutely lovely sloping margin and perfect for paste, but didn't have any!

Both lines to be potted with micro and fish either double LR's or 4/6 mm expander on the hook. Started on the long line (LOL) the very cold wind was blowing in at 11 o clock and was giving perfect presentation blowing the rig up the slight slope towards me. A great start in the first hour put 10 F1's and a small carp in the net. The wind dropped and change direction slightly. The line died. Went down the margin with expander, no bites. Tried double maggot and got pestered by micro Perch and the odd Ronnie - no carp around then  - yet. Started to loose feed micro whilst going back out long with maggot and had a run of skimmers and a couple of Crucians, no carp though. Back on the margin with double maggot and no bites - good sign, changed to expander and had three good size carp to 8lb. Made the mistake of too regularly kindering micro and had another carp losing four on the bounce. One snagged me (might have also been fouled), one tail walked landing on the line and two foul hooked due to the deep margin and the kindering. Balled up the micro and potted, things improved landing two more decent carp.

My accidental silvers weighed 5 lb 7 oz (second overall silvers) and the carp 45 lb 8 oz for second lake and overall 50 lb 15 oz. Two more would have got me first and more importantly the heaviest weight of the series. This went to Ricky Mills on peg 13 who had a good day on the carp including two Grass carp with one going 12 lb (pictured above - it's not a Chub), the only two in the venue!! Well done matey a beautiful fish. Lee did well and too and got us this years pairs. I also took the heaviest silvers weight over the league. My 18 points was off the pave this year, could have drawn better and buggered up peg 2 which I should have won from - see below for the league result.

Back to the Inn for the results all today's and overall framers pictured. Thanks to Mark Taylor for the use of his fishery and his excellent fishery management, the best mixed small fishery around - perhaps a few more silver though!!. Thanks to Bri Shanks for running the league once again excellent. Me and others are always sorry when this league ends. Cant wait for next year.

Result:

Shipp's Canal:

1. Ricky Mills 64-06-0 peg 13

2. Mike Nicholls 50-15-0 peg 6

Silvers: John Clark  8-01-0 peg 8

Taylor's Pool:

1. Matt Challenger 37-15-0 peg 25

2. Lee Waller 34-02-0 peg 17

Silvers: Mark Taylor 2-12-0 peg 20

Weigh Sheets:

Final League Results: