Thursday 29/01/2026 - Over 55's Silvers Pairs League - Round Three - Acorn - Paddocks

"Don’t wish for health and wealth — wish for luck. On the Titanic, everyone was healthy and wealthy. Only a few were lucky". Winston Churchill.

With Kev Winston in hospital (now recovering at home) Martin Rayet stood in for him and luckily gave me a lift.

The Bridge Hotel for breakfast, enough said.

Arrived at the fishery to be greeted by a very cold SE wind. They say "Wind from the East fish feed least". I've always found the wind from the SE is worse.

As I was doing the recorded draw Tony Rixon pull peg 16 for me. Feed back was it wasn't the best but shouldn't get Carp trouble. However, I was happy with it for self preservation with the wind off my left shoulder. Plenty of room too. I really fancied the waggler and caster as the wind look perfect for fishing the far bank. So a 7" bodied Drake was erected. Shotting it up a Carp took the bare hook, another hook added! The only other rig was a 4x14 Winter to fish top set plus three barrels with one ballast barrel (just short on middle) and top set plus one which required another 3 inches adding to the depth.

Bait wise - casters, Pinkies and GB.

Fed both pole lines with GB laced with Pinkies and tried feeding casters over but  due to the wind was feeding Goats until got the pull back on the catty right - sometimes. Out with single caster and happy with the presentation three casts later had an indication next cast had a decent Skimmer. Way to go then. Next cast foul hooked a Carp. Reloaded a hook and a few casts later had to abandon the waggler due to the wind picking up. So out long with double Pinkie. Initially the float was slightly going with wind, but later with, this due to the increase wind. So had to determine where my GB and Pinkie feed was going - both ways I suspected. It wasn't long before had a Ide. Then on the drop hooked a decent fish and was sure it was a Carp, so pulled hard until I felt the "Mick Jagger" of a Tinca so slowed and carefully got a 3 pounder in the net - bonus today I think. Had a few more Ide cripes can't missed their bites - savage. Wind picked up so opened up the one barrel line which was towing very hard against the wind making easier to determine where the GB/Pinkie feed was going. Had a Ronnie followed by a big Skimmer, after a couple more Ronnie's went back out long for more Ide. So last two hours kept switch between the two lines adding Ide long and three more Skimmers short.

Weighed 15 lb 15 oz for section win and second overall. Learnt a bit for next match here.

The match was won by Tony Rixon (pictured) with 17 lb 9 oz from peg 31. Tony had  few down the middle but caught mostly Ide over tight to the far bank at 14 .5 metres loose feeding maggot and Pinkie with a maggot and Pinkie on the hook. Well done matey

Weigh Sheets:

Pairs Results after three matches:

Sunday 25/01/2026 - Bela Bakos Open - Westerleigh - Shipp's and Taylor's

Graduation to Bela for running his first match 😁. "A wise person doesn’t make all the mistakes alone — they let others have some". Winston Churchill

Full house at 20 - Pegging same as the Winter League. With an open draw. Didn't mind where I drew as you can never tell where the fish are going to be. The wind direction sometimes gives a clue, but with light winds coming from the SE I was unsure. May be worth collecting data on wind direction and catches.

Bread was allowed today. I don't use it as it usually means fishing long. I often hear the words "Dobbing Bread", but not sure they actually do this in the manner first intended.

Peg 6 again for me, which won the last match. For company on 5 was Vince Shipp which came second. So what to do? Decided to to keep both options of Carp and Silvers - start for Carp and see what fish salutes the flag.

So three rigs with the 4x12 Winter doing most of the work as the two lines I chose were almost the same depth - marked the deep line with a marked pen above the float and the shallower below the float adjusting accordingly. Long Ronnie rig for silvers and a 0.3 gram for the RH margin.

Bait wise - DR's, LR's, Pinkies and GB.

Fed the two barrel line with GB and Pinkie and four barrel line with DR's. Started at two barrel and as previous match on peg 4 was catching F1's regularly and again in the first hour was winning the Lake, and again it petered off. So on to the four barrel line and few more F1's, plus some Ronnie's. Mike Etheridge on 8 was catching well, Vince was struggling. Matty opposite on 10 and Bela on 4 were doing OK, couldn't see anyone else. Decided to switch to the Ronnie and silvers. Caught a 12 oz Perch and 12 oz Skimmer, so stayed with this for the rest of the matching adding the odd Crucian and F1 and the occasional better Ronnie. Sport was interrupted when I hooked a double Common which was played for a very long time before the hook length let me down - I had caught a lot a fish on it though!!

Weighed 3 lb 10 oz of Silvers and 17 lb 12 oz of F1's and Crucians for a total of 21 lb 6 oz for a silvers win. Enjoyed the day especially when Vince's umbrella collapsed over his head - twice! Plus was able to pack up in the dry - at last.

Shipp's was won by Mike Etheridge (pictured with Taylor's pool winner) with 64 lb 8 oz from peg 8, Mike caught on 8 mm punched bread just off bottom fishing over and down the right side of the island and later long down his left margin where he caught the Lion's share of decent Carp - feeding nothing. Well done matey.

Taylor's was won by Taylor with 38 lb 4 oz from peg 22. Mark caught at 16 metres with punched bread on bottom, again no feed. Well done matey.

Andy Gard took the silvers on Taylor's with a lowly 1 lb 7 oz waggler caught small Roach from peg 17.

Feeding is in my DNA, so would find it unsettling to fish without feeding? I would at least take some liquidised bread.

Back to the New Inn for a pint. Always a good part of the day.

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 22/01/2026 - Over 55's Silvers Pairs - Round Two - Landsend - Specimen and Match Lakes

Match fishing easily summed up as - "Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm". Winston Churchill

We had planned for stand-ins points not to count. However, senior management has intervened and we are now allowing one stand-in points to count.

Very bad accident on the A38 which delayed a few of us.

Here's a thing. Don't judge a driver by the dents and scratches on his van, they can be very good drivers - just unlucky 😕

Now 15 hours sitting in pouring rain. But lucky in one respect, very little wind, so umbrella's can be set high.

I always judge a breakfast on how well the eggs are cooked. Excellent again today.

Delayed draw by 15 minutes - not too bad. My turn on Specimen Lake. Happy with this as more consistent for the silvers. The lake is two halves far end Skimmers near end small fish.    Peg 27 for me which put me on small fish. Happy with this as I don't need to worry about my inpatient's buggering up things, small fish will keep me busy.

As it happened set up far too much 4x10 winter (not used), 4x12 Winter both to fish 4 barrels - (hopefully for a lone Skimmer), 4 metre whip with waggler and the long Ronnie rig.

GB and Pinkie on the tray. Fed the Ronnie line with potted loose GB and Pinkie, the same for the long line. Started on the long Ronnie rig with a number 24 Green Gamakatsu Gamma hook to 0.8 with single Pinkie. Wasn't long before put a small Perch in the net. Changed to loose feeding Pinkie to initially target the Perch, their not keen on GB, also they usually slow after an hour when I would start the loose GB again. After a steady two hours catching either Ronnie's or Perch the rain came down hard which put the fish off. So fed some GB on the 4 metre whip line and first two casts had a Ronnie. Third cast missed a bite and as I was under the brolly couldn't see the tree branch to my left and that was the end of the rig. Tried the long line where I had been  topping up with GB and Pinkie only for the float not to settled due to very small Ronnie's intercepting the hook bait - far too slow, so that was quickly binned. The upshot spent the rest of the match on the long Ronnie rig catching steady until the last hour when the Carp arrived hooking three big Carp which after each slowed the line. - bloody creatures.

My just shy of 100 fish weighed 7 lb 1 oz for section win. It was also a good day for the pairs with Tony also winning his section - well done matey. Very enjoyable day all round.

The match was won by Kev Winstone (pictured supping his pint in the PoW) with 14 lb 2 oz from fancied Skimmer peg 31. Kev caught on GB and Pinkie at either 14.5 metres or 10. Well done matey.

Weigh Sheets:

Pairs after Round 2:

Sunday 18/01/2026 - Westerleigh Winter League - Round Four - Taylor's and Shipp's

Promised rain and got it again for most of the match. Last two matches soaked through. Looks like rain again for our Thursday match.

My turn on Shipp's. Wanted to avoid pegs 3 and 4, otherwise didn't mind. Draw bag gave me peg 4, oh well, get on with it.

I only set up enough pole that's just short of the fence, peg 4 is top set plus two barrels, otherwise it's shipping over the fence and invariably into tree branches. Nothing worse than shipping a fish back and the pole butt catches a branch.

So two Ronnie rigs - short and long for up and down and a 4x12 Winter in 5 foot of water. Bait wise it was Pinkies, LR's, expanders, Micro and GB. Two lines for the Winter both at two barrels left and right into light areas with the black float tip. The left side (4 inches shallower) was fed with some micro and the right with GB and Pinkie.

It didn't take long to get indication's over the right side with single LR on the hook. Over the next hour landed six F1's. Looking around everyone was struggling and was probably well ahead. Rested the GB line in favour of the left side with 4 mm expander on the hook. My inpatients showed through again not really giving it enough time - confidence thing I guess. Thought I would look to see it the Ronnie's were feeding, trying both rigs catching a couple on both rigs but it was slow. Back out on the GB/Pinkie with double LR's and had two better F1's. Meanwhile, Bri Shanks on peg 5 was catching some big Carp as was Matty on 6. So guessed that the section money was accounted for so thought I would concentrate on the Silvers. It wasn't long before Dave opposite on peg 10 was holding up a 3 lb Perch just to rub it in. Had a few better Ronnie's on the Pinkie on the long rig. Last look over the GB line produced a big F1. Never had a sign of a Carp all day.

Silvers weighed 2 lb 15 oz and with the F1's took my weight 18 lb 14 oz for fourth in section and 4 points. Just needed some bigger Carp which may had come form the pellet line had I given it enough time.

Thought my Lake was won by Bri Shanks and he would have if he hadn't lost 12 Carp! He managed second though 😂. Matty Tainton won the lake from next peg 6 with 62 lb 8 oz. Matty caught some better Carp at 14.5 towards the island and later F1's down his edge fishing Maggot on both lines. Well done Matey

Taylor's was won by Vince Shipp from unfancied peg 23 with 34 lb 8 oz. Vince fished is usual expander and micro, firstly over to the island catching F1's and small Carp and late on dropping back into the deeper water catching a couple of bigger Carp. Well done Matey.

Everything and everyone soaked through again. Still everyone do enjoy this venue.

Back to the New Inn for a pint with the usual suspects. 

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 08/01/2026 - Over 55's Silvers Pairs League - Lands End - Match and Specimen Lakes

Travelled with Kev Winstone today, and found it very interesting talking about his business. Brand new office in Kingswood high street opening soon.

Round one of the over 55's Silvers Pairs League was in doubt with lots of fisheries cancelling matches due to lake being iced over. The day before the match we were told the match was on apparently  the ice was only 2 mm thick! We all knew this was highly likely understated, but we all went along with it. As I've had my ice breaker confiscated due to health and safety reasons was promised I wouldn't need to break ice. I didn't but done a lot of ice berg poking.

After breakfast had the pairs draw. Tony "Turbo" Ponting for me. Happy with this as he's been doing well fishing a fair few silvers matches recently. The favoured pairing was Kev Winstone and Tony Rixon.

Match split into A and B sections, one of the pair in each section paying the top two in five peg sections.

As I was first out of the pairing put me in A section - Match Lake, drawing peg 3. Told very few Ronnie's having to target a Skimmer or two! Got to the peg and tapped around with the cupping kit to find the ice about 10 mm but was deceptive as there was rain water on top as Kev was to realise. Sat on his box having a fag thinking no ice until Tony Rixon started to clear my ice with one of  Wellingtons cannon balls. Thanks Tony. Tony Whitcombe was on peg 1 and the ice berg to my left was suddenly moved down to his peg by a gust of wind. He spent half hour clearing it.

Due to the trees on the opposite bank the light is awful leaving only two dark areas to fish - one at top set plus three barrels and on at four barrels. So two yellow top Winters one a 4x12 for Skimmers and a 4x10 to fish for Ronnie's late on.

All in at 10:30 the the rain started right on time, so umbrella's going up everywhere - well not quite - John Smith's collapsed on him leaving him in sat in heavy rain all match.

Started on the shorter line as it was 4 inch deeper than the longer line with loose GB and a few Pinkies fed on both lines. After ten minutes foul hooked a Carp luckily the hook pulled. Started to catch F1's which don't count. The wind had started pushing the ice bergs from peg 1 up to me so spent the next half hour push ice bergs under the ice to my right. Two hours in blanking but still catching F1's until I hooked a 4 oz Skimmers only to come off on some ice! Soon after had a very small Perch so blank averted. Hooked another Carp again that came off with the rig intact. Straight after had a dumpy Skimmer. Now hoping for a few more alas not, so went on the longer line and more F1's. The light was fading forcing me back short switching to the lighter rig in the hope of some Ronnie's. However, the light was so bad started to get IBS (Imaginary Bite Syndrome). Last put in had a Ronnie which fell off striking too hard due to the excitement of having a visible bite.

During the match there was a few anglers, including me walking around looking for assistance in releasing water stuck sections.

Weighed 1 lb 2 oz for third section. Landed 8 F1's, lost 3 foul hooked F1's and two Carp. I have always believed if you have F1's in your peg they bully the silvers out. Apparently restocking next week with Skimmers. A week too late, but might improve our next match there. Weather wise it was very very wet, rain didn't stop all day.

The match was won by Paul Barnfield (pictured) with 14 lb 3 oz from ice free peg 31. Paul caught at both 13 and 14.5 metres with single or double Pinkie over GB. Well done matey.

Back to the Prince of Waterloo with the usual suspects for a pint or two and dry off a bit.

Weigh Sheets:

Pairs: