Tuesday 03/10/2023 - Bitterwell Lake - Silvers Open

With Acorn - Paddocks closed for maintenance Glenn, Gary and me decided to try Bitterwell which has been fishing well for silvers, primarily due to the hard work of Paul Issac's. Paul was away this week Carp fishing in France, which left the running of the match in the capable hands of Martin McMahon.

Arrived in plenty time. The general feeling it wasn't going to fish quite as well as previous, with overnight heavy rain and bright sunlight possibly wouldn't help matters.

22 booked in which is a few more than usual.

Drew peg 29 - end peg near the corner peg and next to matey Glenn on peg 28. Must admit had concerns about being pestered by Carp.

Set up the Ronnie rig, a 4x14 Titan to fish long, 4 metre whip and a 7" Drake waggler. The upshot was the waggler, Whip and Ronne rig product little or nothing. Had to go out four barrels to catch and after a torrid time hooking Carp found the feeding pattern far to late. The last hour found feeding GB laced with maggot with single on the hook immediately hooking a Carp followed by a couple of silvers before having to repeat the pattern - bit frustrating, but interesting.

Lost a 4 lb Tench due to pulling it out of the reeds for the sharp reeds to cut through the elastic - bugger. Hooked 10 Carp and weighed 12 lb 10oz of mainly decent skimmers for just under halfway. Didn't come away disappointed as felt learnt a few things. Nearly picked up the guess the weight though - first column in the weigh sheet.

The match was won as expected by Des Shipp (pictured with the runner up) with 35 lb from peg 17. See how Des caught on his FB page. Well done matey.

Runner up from peg 25 with 34 lb 14 oz (2 oz behind Des) was Adam Palmer (pictured with his lovely net of skimmers). Ads caught mostly at 6 metres using caster hook bait over GB laced with a few casters and maggot. Well done - both these anglers class acts.

Weigh Sheet: