Thursday 04/07/2024 - Over 55's - Bitterwell Lake

We arrived to find PC Jaxon waiting and promptly arrested five of the Over 55's (pictured). Must say PC Jaxon certainly know's a villain when he see's one.

The poor weather continues into July, when is this cold blustering wind going to do one?

Bit depleted today due to holiday's, etc... In to the draw bag and peg 27 it was. Matt Challenger drew it Tuesday and struggle, hesaid the LH edge produced nothing but snags. The other side is Lily pads, which produced very little, which is my past experience of fishing to them. This didn't stop me setting up 2 x 0.3 RJ Slims to fish both. Caught only a few small Perch from both but did get one snag out (pictured) inspecting the shot it looked like it had been in the lake 50 years or more. So switched to the long Ronnie rig with single LR over GB catching five quick Skimmers and some Ronnie's but the presentation was awful due to the bloody wind which was effecting most of us in some way. Had to switch to the short Ronnie rig which worked a lot better adding Skimmers and Ronnie's to the end. Last few minutes hooked a big Skimmer which I didn't relised was foul hooked until it came up and escaped the hook - bugger.

Weighed 22 lb 9 oz for third in the silvers. Was pleased with the weight from this peg especially as pegs 23,24 and 25 have been the better pegs so far. Good anglers on them but they seem to have switched off.

The match was won by Martin McMahon (pictured - not sure why he wasn't the first to be arrested) with 100 lb 14 oz from peg 6. Martin initially caught on the PVA bag/feeder, later switching to the pole fishing hard pellet. Well done matey.

The silvers went to Shay Gillman (pictured) with 25 lb 9 oz from peg 21. Shay was forced to fish short due facing the brunt of the wind on maggot and caster. Shay learnt a lesson today walking his kit back to the car and leaving his nets unattended losing two Carp but managed to get his empty net back. Well done matey.

The next match at Bitterwell is Silvers only, which makes it simpler for us all especially me wasting time trying to catch Carp 😁. Bitterwell is the best Silvers venue locally.

Weigh Book:

Sunday 30/06/2024 - Alcove Club - Whitehouse Farm - Margret's

Looking forward to this match as it's a lovely quiet venue surrounded by wildlife and close to be a natural lake. In need of an haircut though.

In to the draw bag and to a gasp from all around when pulling peg 17. Well, someone got to have the flyer.

Walking to the peg and even though I've fished it before walked passed it due to be overgrown. So out came the trusty pen knife and did what I could. clearing enough of the Hawthorne's to cast a waggler or feeder. Found a brand new well made platform, was I the first to use it?

A good Chub peg and apparently good for Carp down the RH edge to the peg 18 empty platform, which was inaccessible due to the overhanging branches out of my reach for the penknife. Pondered the waggler, unfortunately the wind conditions would prevent feeding more than half way, so set up the maggot feeder which needed a fair bit of lead to reach the island. Set up the long Ronnie rig and a 0.3 gram RJ lifter with normal shotting to fish top set plus three barrels. Fed the short line with GB and DR's and the long line with some chopped worm and GB. Started on the Ronnie rig which was soon abandoned due to being ragged by tiny deepthroated Perch and Ronnie's.

Picked up the feeder knowing it was going to be a challenge to get it tight with the Willow's opposite combined with the small area behind to cast. After a few incidents with Mr Willow and Mr Hawthorne which broke my feeder tip and with a replacement tip managed to get some accuracy. Now here's a thing once putting it in tight regularly (nearly) and having had a couple of Chub to 4 lb the feed attracted the small Chublets which were getting to the feed quicker once finding the feed. It was ok but very difficult to read their bites especially the one's on the drop. So started new line to fish some tight and some shorter which produce a decent Chub or two and once the Chublets arrived start another line. This worked well. The bites from the big Chub were ferocious, also taking the bait well down so the combination of this caused the hook to pull on two decent fish. Having used all the lines went long with worm and had a 7 lb Carp and three decent Skimmers before the nuisance Perch arrived. Lost two more Carp - one slipped hook the other was a fouler. Seen the rest of the match out catching Chublets from various lines.

Silvers weighed 28 lb 12 oz - mostly Chub. the Carp weighed 7 lb 3 oz a very lively fish indeed, amounting to a double bubble beating Tony Welsby into second spot by 10 oz - unlucky.

The default silvers went to Bill Ferris (pictured with the match winner) with 15 lb 2 oz from peg 6. Bill fished maggot short catching small fish but did add a bonus Skimmer.

The Chub are healthy and thriving at this venue.

Weigh Sheet: