Thursday 28/03/2024 - Shiplate Farm - Cost Cutter - Main Lake

Glenn and me booked into Shiplate. We've not been there for a year. Dom Sullivan is now match organiser. I was really looking forward it until we seen the weather forecast. Shiplate Farm is close to the coast (W-S-M) so the conditions were going to be far worse than inland.

The weather made it desperate to draw either pegs 9, 8, 7, or 6. In to the draw bag and peg 14b stuck to my hand. With the wind blasting into peg 15 corner found myself on the second worse peg weather wise. Normally would have been happy with it.

The plan was to fish expander over GB laced with micro with a few expanders. Set up a 4x14 to have a plumb around. Its very shallow close in but could get to a decent depth of 5 foot at top set plus two barrels. I was expecting the float to go against the wind, alas not it was sitting with the wind at 45 degrees! Further up the lake the more pronounce the tow got against the wind. The wind was too strong on my peg and was overcoming the tow. Set up a short rig to fish the top set in the shallow water 2 1/2 feet where it was still going with the wind but a lot less.

Tried the planned expander but got nibbled out by Ronnie's. Thought about setting up a GB feeder but had left the worms home. The thought of packing in crossed my mind as it was almost unfishable. Changed to caster and GB and did have plenty of bites in-between holding on to the brolly. I did hook a large Carp who's pectoral fin caught the line which helped me nearly net it early. Got a bit impatient and broke the rig line - well over 10 lb.

The upshot we were all glad to hear the all out. My Ronnie silver  weighed  15 lb 4 oz for nowhere. The silver weights were low today which frustrated me even further because couldn't use my planed attack.

Shaun Putney had a close shave with a medium size tree just to his left blowing over into the lake. Shaun lucky to get away with just brown underpants.

The match was won by Colin Fellows with 114 lb 2 oz from peg 5. Colin caught on the Method.

The Silvers was won by Roger Kimberley (pictured) with 24 lb 14 oz from peg 8. Roger caught Skimmers at 10 metres using either worm heads or double caster.

No double or a single bubble for the van today. We did have a double van spill though. Lol

Weigh Sheet:

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:

Sunday 20/06/2021 - Tony Rixon Float Only - Round Two - Shiplate Fishery - Main, Westpool and Hawthorns

I missed the first match of this series, luckily matey Tim Ford stood in for me. However, I will miss another due to the Special One booking a weekend away. So only fishing for match day rewards.

Met Ryan Jordan in the car park who asked if I would try out some of his floats. If they work as good as they look they should be the business. I've not used a green tip as of yet. 

I was hoping to draw on the Main Lake to fish for the Silvers, but wasn't to be instead I drew peg Westpool 4. So no chance of picking up in the Silvers pool. So Carp it would be.

Found myself between Landsend regular Rod Wotton on peg 6 and Venue expert Steve Howell peg 3 Very cosy pegs. Steve said we were at the right end which is correct for some of the time but not all of the time!! I wasn't so sure as I have come to recognise the moods of this Pool and all the signs were that we would struggle. Clint on peg 1 had lots of Carp sucking around the recirculating water pipe.

Set up the usual paste rigs, one for out in front top set plus one barrel and one for both margins. Third rig was a 4x10 Roob to fish corn in either margin. After feeding the LH margin with maggot and the other corn I started positive with a full pot of micro on the longer paste line. No signs of  my quarry only a couple of nibbles from tiny fish. My worries were confirmed. Steve and Rod had caught one Carp each fishing long over, but were foul hooking loads. I tried the corn - nothing, then the paste over maggot - nothing. Every one was struggling around me, but looked like they were catching a few at the other end. After 90 minutes I was blanking, so got both short and long Ronnie rigs out starting on the short I started to catch micro Ronnie's over the maggot line. On the long Ronnie rig over a bit of GB and LR's I had a couple of small Skimmers. I had a visit from matey Podge who was on peg 7 and who was still blanking, it wasn't long before he said cheerio and was off to watch the footy. I had about 50 fish which would weigh next to nothing. I started to loose feed the line with LR's and noticed a swirl followed by the line dying. The Carp appeared to be taking the maggot on the drop. So went top set plus one barrel down the LH edge using the corn rig with triple LR's, kindering in a few LR's and soon had my first of seven Carp. However, I upped the feed near the end and started to foul so didn't feeding for a while. The bank on this peg is set back off the water which makes it very  difficult to net fish and cost me one which I had in the net once - bugger.

My Silvers weighed 4 lb 12 oz and my Carp 35 lb 14oz for a total of 40 lb 10 oz a face saving weight. I wished I had set up the waggler as with maggot on a slow drop might have caught some early Carp.

The match was won by Dan White (pictured) with 148 lb 10oz from Main Lake peg 13 which included 41 lb of Skimmers. Dan caught everything short on meat, just being patient as was too windy to do anything else. He had 2 carp late down the edge on maggots.

The Main Lake Silvers went nuts and produced a close affair where Dave Lewis (pictured right with his Skimmer catch) on peg 7 came out on top with 51 lb 6 oz. Dave caught on meat at 13 metres feeding about two small tins throughout. He caught a few short on my now redundant casters I gave him. Well done matey.  Runner up Tom Thick caught similarly catching 48 lb 12 oz of Skimmer.

Result:

1. Dan White 148-10-0 peg M13

2. Tom Mangnell 128-0-0 peg W13

3. Russ Peck 108-10-0 peg M14B

Silvers:

1. Dave Lewis 51-06-0 peg M7

2. Tom Thick 48-12-0 peg M6

Weigh Sheets:

Sunday 30/05/2021 - Shiplate Farm - Tony Rixon's Continental Rip Off - Hawthorne's and Westpool

Travelled with Two Pots who at the moment is struggling to get his favoured paste to work, which isn't surprising considering the weather conditions we have suffered during this Spring. I was surprised when he said he might have to fish other baits!!

Both Canals in, so hoping for Hawthorne's, luckily I was shouted Hawthorne peg 4. Great company with Aron Britnell peg 3 and John Bradford 6, who I've not seen for  while. Both of us would be targeting Silvers.

With the weather vastly improving with a beautiful morning and plenty of shorts on display, which will bring the inevitable spawning fish which was instantly noticeable - Carp spawning with the Silvers following in behind eating it. So plenty of distracting splashing, mainly on the far bank.

I started on the usual 4x13 MR with DR's on the hook over GB laced with DP's at top set. I couldn't believe I couldn't get a bite. But did lose 4 foul hooked Carp. The upshot was after trying for an hour a verity of things to catch for a Silver my thinking was that only two species that might not be part of the mega spawn munch - Chub and Eels. As I have only caught Eels in this canal I decided to dump pot lots of DR's at two barrels and watch for a reaction - unfortunately it didn't come so never tried it. John paid me a visit and he was suffering the same as me. So I switched to fishing for Carp. Three lines top set for the meat out in front, paste rig for the LH side margin and corn rig for the RH side (pictured above - only lost one in the tree stump). Well I had two Carp on the paste, two on the meat and twelve on the corn. John came down again and had thrown in the towel and said the bloke next to him had 24 Carp fishing shallow with caster - I told him that would be Caster Culpin then.

My 14 Carp weighed 66lb 6oz for sixth overall.  I hate hindsight should have fished for Carp from the beginning.

The match was won by Matt Culpin (pictured with some of his catch) with nearly double the next weight with 195lb 12oz. Matt caught to his strength feeding hand fed caster fishing 6 to 18 inch deep. with banded caster. Well done matey. Matt also won the Canal silvers catching one 1lb Chub, the only silver weighed in. However, Chris Fox had a Chub but didn't weigh it separately so this mistake cost him £40!

Only two Silver weights came from Westpool with Ron Stark (pictured with the match winner) winning with 9lb 2oz. 

Result:

1. Matt Culpin 195-12-0 peg 7 H

2. Alex Murry 102-04-0 peg 12 W

3. Russ Peck 74-14-0 peg 13 H

4. Chris Fox 73-08-0 peg 9 H

5. S Brown 66-11-0 peg 4 W

6. Mike Nicholls 66-06-0 peg 4 H

Silvers:

1. Ron Stark 9-02-0 peg 3 W

2. Paul Faiers 4-0-0 peg 1 W

3. Matt Culpin 1-0-0 peg 7 H

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 13/05/2021 - Shiplate Cost Cutter - Main Lake

Shiplate shop sign - reasonably priced Maggots?

Thought I should introduce everyone to " Spit the dog", aka Tilly (pictured right). All I will say don't put your hand near her mouth! My Grandfather had one of the same breed.

I had a walk around the Lake the weather conditions were forecast to be horrendous with rain all day with a brisk Northerly wind which would be blowing directly into peg 9.

Third out of the hat and was given peg 9! It's a peg I would settled for any day, but was concerned about the conditions today. Walking to the peg with John Andres I told him that from my previous time I drew the peg felt it would be good for Carp especially along the LH margin, and I might give it a proper try today.

Set up the box etc... and tried putting up the umbrella, but the wind was a bit strong and with the rain currently light soon put it down in fear of a Mary Poppins.

I set up a 4x13 MR to fish top-set plus one barrel in front (same as the previous match on this peg when I won the Silvers) and a 0.3 gram paste rig to fish along the LH margin with two barrels. Fed the margin with micro and began lightly feeding hard fours over the top. Fed the Silvers line with GB laced with DR's and some DP's. Right away I noticed the fizzing over it, but knew it wasn't Carp. I was convinced it was the "Winstone Eel". With double LR on the hook I was soon playing whatever, but knew instantly it was a Tench which was about 1 1/2lb. I had another the size and a better one of about 21/2 lb. It went quiet so refed, however, it took a while to catch another fish which was a tiny Skimmer. I then had a run of small Skimmers and Ronnie's it was far from manic. The rain and wind picked up so was forced to chance putting the brolly up and thought it time to sit sideways so I wasn't facing the wind, so tried the margin with paste. First put in and I landed a beautiful, scale perfect 7 lb Ghost Carp. In again a straight away I playing a fouler which shed the hook. Some Carp about then. In again and another beautiful silver Common about 8lb. I lost two more foulers before it slowed. As I wasn't getting any nibblers I assumed there were more Carp about so stayed with it until my thumbs and index fingers got a form of cramp with them locking up and couldn't hold the pole properly. This lead me to thinking a DNW might be the most sensible thing to do. However, my never give up attitude kicked in. So I set up the Ronnie rig which I could rest on the keep net. Then I remembered a friend who is also on to same medication as I am at the moment said to run hot water over the hands. So with the green tea still in the flask used that and after a fashion it worked. I spent the last two hours on the Ronnie rig catch small fish adding about another 12 lb to the 10 lb I already estimated I had. I was bloody freezing and thank heavens John weighed us in quickly so I could warm up.

My two Carp weighed 15lb 2oz and my Silvers 22lb 14oz for and total of 38lb for about halfway in each. The Silvers had a right munch all round the lake today which did surprise me as I expected 20 lb to be good. It appears that there are more anglers fishing for Silvers than there are fishing for Carp at the venue at the mo.

The match was won once again by Gary Flinders (pictured with the Silvers winner) with 98lb from peg 11.

The Silvers was won by Tom Thick with 30lb 8oz next to the winner on peg 12. Tom was also second overall.

As I was in a rush to get the car heater on I'm not sure how they caught except they both fished 13 metres on the pole. Guessing Gary Pellet and Tom maggot and his intelligent GB.

Hands a bit stiff this morning. 

Result:

1. Gary Flinders 98-0-0 peg 11

2. Tom Thick 72-08-0 peg 12

3. Kevin Winstone 64-10-0 peg Zero

Silvers:

1. Tom Thick 30-08-0 peg 12

2. Dave S 28-13-0 peg 14

Weigh Sheet:

Thursday 29/04/2021 - Shiplate Cost Cutter - Main Lake

John squeezed twenty of us in today, about the maximum number without repegging the venue. Second to have my peg pulled which saw me on peg 6. Happy enough with this as it is a good Silvers peg. However, the main shoal of Skimmers still seem to be sitting in the thirteens.

Peg 6 is an ideal peg if you want to keep out of the sun, I didn't as the wind was bitter which was veering in to me on occasion so found it necessary to put on an extra coat. I could see Rod Wootton opposite sat in his tee shirt!!

Set up the usual 4x13 MR red top to fish top-set plus two barrels out in front with GB and DR's. Also a 4x14 Winter Titan - black top to fish top-set plus three barrels at 1 0'clock for  Skimmers over Chopped worm and Casters later as a fall back but wont feed it until necessity calls. I had some paste left from Tuesday so thought it prudent to set a 0.3 gram paste float to fish near full depth on my top-set - I wasn't holding my breath with this one as the fish still reluctant to come into the margins at the moment. First mistake of two today not setting up the Ronnie rig!

All set up so having heard Tony Rixon was on peg 2 which is one his favourite types of pegs - fishing to the mud banks. So took the camera down and did a short video - below - he's a natural. I recently fished peg 3 and Tony was more optimistic than I would have been that he would catch Carp. See his blog to see if it went to plan.

Copy paste the link below into Google/or other search engines (MicroSoft stopping me adding the video at moment)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni0WkqN88Ik

Back to my peg and started short with GB and DR's and had a good hour catching about 10 lb. However, none of the bites were positive. It slowed so thought I would loose feed some Pinkie - mistake two - the Carp came to it and were swirling just below the surface and were really scatty with any movement from my rig and they would bow wave away. I really struggled form there on. Tried the CW and C never had a bite on it. Came in on the paste rig - nothing, but by swapping to whole worm caught a couple of Perch to 12 oz. For the rest of the match I only added another 10 lb, but from what I could see only Kev Winstone was catching Silvers which stopped me thinking about scratching around with the Ronnie rig. Interestingly I only foul hooked one Carp.

My Silvers weighed 20lb 8oz just 4lb off second, which I could have caught with the Ronnie rig. This isn't quite hindsight as I haven't been setting it up recently because if the absence of numbers of Ronnie's - next time.

The match was won by Gary Flinders (pictured right with four Carp that weighed 45 lb) with 106lb 8oz from peg 5. Gary caught most of his lumps fishing shallow with a bit of slapping at 14.5 metres. Switching to the method more for a rest than anything else I think. Well done matey.

The Silvers was won my Kevin Winstone (pictured right with the match winner) from fancied peg 13A with 32lb. Kev caught on maggot fished over GB. Well done Fella.

Result:

1.Gary Flinders 106-08-0 peg 5

2. Tony Thick 76-06-0 peg 9A

3. Norman Huggett 59-10-0 peg Zero

Silvers:

1. Kevin Winstone 32-0-0 peg 13A

2. Paul Fiaers 24-08-0 peg 8

Weigh Sheet:

Sunday 25/04/2021 - Shiplate Open - Hawthorns and Westpool

Firstly, paid the pools to John Hawkins the Fishery Manager (pictured right), who I must say is doing a great job, but needs to keep his weigh scales glass cleaner. 

Went for my usual walk with Glenn Bailey along Hawthorne's the Canal we all wanted to draw due to Westpool still suffering from an influx of fresh water. The pegs 1 to 6 looked favourite as it was catching some wind off the Mendips.

I was delighted when John pulled me peg 9 Hawthorne's, however, Glenn was faced with peg 1 Westpool - will it fish? For company I found Chris Fox (brother Blogger) on peg 10 and Steve Seager on peg 7, both good company. But will take my swear box for Foxy next time.

Against common belief there are lots of Silvers in both Canals, however, they are hard to catch due to the head of disruptive Carp. My peg was flat calm with plenty of Carp visible on the surface. I decided to fish four hours for the Silvers and the last two for Carp in the margins. However, plumbing up the margins both sides were almost vertical from the bank edge to the bottom so couldn't find any shallow water except within my platform cut back area, so wasn't optimistic.

Tried setting up a 4x13 MR white top only to find I had half-hitched it when I made it up and broke the line trying to move the float - bugger. So had to settle for a 4x14 Winter Titan yellow top for top-set plus two barrels in front. The paste rig was a 0.3 gram.

Fed two balls of GB and with single DR on a 18 - 808 went out and was soon playing a fit Carp followed by another. It settled and I had a nice run of Skimmers from 4oz to 2 lb, really enjoying it. Refed which was followed by another two accidental Carp, they seem to like the GB falling through then a few more Skimmers would follow. As expected the Skimmers gradually petered out over the four hours. With nine accidental Carp in the sack I tried the margin as it's easy to add 100 lb an hour on this venue if they are having it. The weren't only adding one small Carp on the paste.

I weighed a total of 65lb 7 oz with my Silvers going for 17lb 2oz for first in the Silvers. Very enjoyable day.

Hawthorne's and the match was won by the affable Matt Culpin (pictured with his catch) with 191lb 1oz from peg 3. Matt caught down the track using banded caster over copious amounts of caster loose feed.

Tom Thick (pictured below with the Hawthorner's - me between to big boy's) won Westpool with 85lb 2oz from peg 13. looks like the Canal is improving - needs some warm rain me thinks.

And finally I saw these hand made floats in the Shiplate shop and marveled at the workmanship, with each floats having a bird feather varnished in. On close inspection they would unlikely be suitable for fishing with.

Result:

1st overall p3H

Matt Culpin

191lb 01oz

2nd overall p6H

Lewis Walker

131lb 04oz

3rd overall p4H Tony Rixon 121lb 08oz

4th overall p15

Mark Wenn

103lb 08oz

1st westpool p13

Thomas Thick

85lb 02oz

2nd westpool p3

Tich Williams

56lb 04oz

1st silvers hawthorns p9

Mike Nicholls

17lb 07oz

1st silvers westpool p9 Julian Pinkett 9lb 02oz

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 15/04/2021 - Shiplate Cost Cutter - Main Lake

Another beautiful morning, but still carrying that Northerly nip in the light breeze. Great to be out and feeling good today.

First time for newly born expected flyer peg 0 to be used in a match. The night before Two Pots said Junior would draw it, can you believe it he did!! In his defence it was drawn for him. I was given peg 3. Opposite was Tony Rixon 12A, Two Pots 13 and Kev Winstone 13A - so expected some piss taking - pictured.

Arrived at my peg and again found myself becalmed - indeed flat calm, but optimistically fancied I might catch some Silvers. So set up the Ronnie rig for the elusive Roach that haven't fed yet this year and a 4x13 MR for the Skimmers at various lengths a lines.

Started at top set plus two barrels with 4mm expander over micro. This is a bait that often gets an immediate response, so after 20 minutes without any signs I knew it was going to be a difficult day. So switched to GB laced with Pinkies and single DR on the hook and over the next 30 minutes had two small Skimmers - definitely rock hard. Added more barrels to 10 metres and tried another line again with GB and - nothing. So went down to my right where the depth was 1 foot shallower and

fed some chopped worm and caster and had another two small Skimmers, losing one. Decided I wasn't going to bother the frame in anyway today so went down and had a chat with Junior who was having a torrid time foul hooking Carp, but had 25 lb on the clicker. Got back to my peg and needed to do something that I liked to run the clock down, so set up the waggler to fish LR's over to the island. It's very shallow over so had to drag quite a bit of line, so anticipated foul hooking Carp. To my surprise I didn't. However, there was just significant number of bites from small Ronnie's and Rudd to keep me from boredom.

I weighed 4lb 7oz which, except for 2 DNW's was last in the match, but not last in the Silvers!

I wish I had taken my Skimmer feeder rod and fished a tiny feeder into the open water which might have been a better option.

Found put that they had been pumping water in all week, which probably account for 50% of the poor fishing today.

The match was won by Gary "Junior" Bowden (pictured right) with 119 lb rom peg Zero PT. Gary caught most of his 19 Carp on paste down the middle of the leg.

The Silvers was won by Tony Rixon (pictured with the match winner before he had a drink - 😄) with 40 lb from peg 12A. Tony initially caught on maggot and GB then switched to chopped worm - see his blog for further details.

Result:

1. Gary Bowden 119-12-0 peg 0

2. Tony Rixon 67-0-0 peg 12A

3. Norman H 48-0-0 peg 5

Silvers:

1. Tony Rixon 40-0-0 peg 12A

2. Ron Stark 17-10-0 peg 15

Weigh Sheet:

Thursday 01/04/2021 - Shiplate Cost Cutter - Main Lake

The South West angling fraternity lost a good friend recently with the sad passing of Roy Garland - Sports Journalist. When Roy started for the Bristol Evening Post the Angling column was half a column - more of a paragraph. Roy soon built this up to two full pages becoming popular not only with anglers but also non anglers/friends and family of anglers. Roy helped me a lot with taking adequate no fuss angling photos. I am 99% sure that this picture of him is the only one ever taken, it took a lot of persuasion to get it. RIP matey - you left a great legacy.

First match since 03/01/2021 and no finer fishery to start. Really keen to get out again and was expecting some nice weather - wrong. Glenn Bailey, Junior and me arrived early to a freezing bitterly NNE wind ripping down the lake to peg 9 and 10. A walk around confirmed these pegs would not be where you would want to be for any comfort.

Got back for the draw to find some anglers have coped with lock down better than others. Some have been preparing for acting roles - meet the new Uncle Albert - right.

John did the draw and to my relief called Gary peg 10. Short lived I was on peg 9! Glenn drew the current best Silvers peg 6 - paste it would be then. Entering the peg noticed this sign - hope it wasn't an omen? The wind was hammering into it. The wind is normally in the opposite direction rendering the peg flat calm and don't seem to produce very often. So the wind might be a positive. Spoke to Tony Rixon for recommendations for a hard pole case, he did say some Silvers were caught on the on the peg Monday. That's it then soon got tackled up with a 4x13 MR wire in 4 foot of water - heavier than the depth required but needed for the wind. I plumbed around and found it the same depth at top-set plus two barrels as one

barrel, so settled for the shorter distance. The float was moving towards me due to the wind and to the right with the tow/wind, but decided the main tow must be away from me so fed one ball of GB with loose wetted micro shorter and started on either 4 or 6 mm expander hook bait. I was surprised to get an immediate response and had a decent first hour catching Skimmers from 4 to 6 oz. It slowed and thought a Carp might had wondered in but couldn't tell because of the wind cover. So switched to maggot hook bait and after a short wait started to catch more Skimmers. Decided to switch to just GB and maggot and by topping up regularly didn't look back, only to be slowed by the occasional intrusion of Carp. I did foul hook three Carp landing one 7 lb all in 30 minutes during which time most anglers had started to catch the odd Carp - you can see most anglers from this peg. The arrival of these Carp also brought their groupies -  some better Skimmers to 2 1/2 lb. Few high gusts brought some expletive's which luckily were lost to the wind. Come the end I was shivering. 

My one Carp weighed 7 lb and my net of Skimmers weighed 34 lb for a Silvers win. Where are the Ronnie's at the moment no sign whatsoever?

The match was won by Paul Lasson (pictured below centre with the Silvers winner) from peg 14B with 83 lb 1 oz. Paul chose the long chuck with the method feeder to the island with wetted micro feed and 6 mm hard banded pellet - well done for beating Gary Flinders on always fancied peg 15!

Result:

1. Paul Lasson 83-01-0 peg 14B

2. Gary Flinders 74-07-0 peg 15

3. Glenn Bailey 68-12-0 peg 6 (Did well to fish paste in the conditions)

Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 34 lb peg 9

2. Ron Stark 22-06-0 peg 11

Weigh Sheet:

Sunday 11/10/2020 - Matt Culpin's Canal League - Round 3 - Shiplate Farm - Hawthornes - Squircle - Westpool

Travelled with Junior today who was stand in for Two Pots. He arrived early as he thought he would try being a parking attendant. He organised one van and gave it up for a walk around the fishery with me. Plenty of water in them since the rains. However, like a lot of venues it has seriously affected the fishing. The fishery has now been sold and the new owner was in the Game Keepers Lodge and was introduced as Adam, no sign's of Eve but hopefully a new beginning for the fishery.

Got in early with the pools payment and was third to be called his peg which was Westpool peg 5. The peg is the last in the narrows and felt I needed to be nearer to the middle of the Canal. Peg 4 was empty as its very close to  both pegs 5 and 3 which was occupied by Mark Broomsgrove, the other side was my name sake Paul Nicholls (must be related somewhere along the lineage) who was first in the wide's so was sat 3 metres or so behind me.

Usually on the canal there are plenty of signs of feeding fish, but not today which was worrying. I set up two margin rigs one paste and the other for maggot. My main line would be top-set plus one barrel with a 4 x12 which is where I started with 4 mm expander over micro and had a blow straight away which soon faded and my worries were confirmed when after 15 minutes hadn't had a bite or an indication - it was fishing harder than I thought possible. So with the Carp not feeding I was hoping the Silvers might be free to have a go so switch the line to maggot and GB. I did have a few tiny Ronnie's and Skimmer's but it was slow, but on this canal they can switch on in the second half, so stayed with it. I kept feeding both margins with the appropriate feed in hope some would arrive at some point. I started to get bored waiting for a bite from a tiny Silvers so started to set up all sorts including 11 metres to fish the far bank which only lasted a few minutes as I was getting indications from from very small Silvers. I decided to stay with the Silver line and with an hour to go I hooked and landed a 12 lb Carp. I was hoping this was the start of Carp o clock. so fed the margins a bit heavier and upped the maggot feed on the Silver line, which might have been a mistake as by the end of the match I had hooked six foulers loosing the lot. I did had a swirl in the margin but by time I loaded a rig it was gone, so amazing I caught nothing from the margins where I expected the fish to come and feed in the warmer water. Paul next door did well and was winner our Canal with 63 lb. Paul (pictured upper right) fished a tidy match catching over with pellet then down the track with meat but only managed one form his margin. He also had more than his share of foulers.

My few Silvers weighed 5 lb 4 oz and my one Carp 11 lb 15 oz for a total of 17 lb 3 oz, which unbelievably got me middle section, which shows how bad the canal fished. On hindsight I think I should have set up the waggler (about the only thing I didn't set up) as I think it might have given the presentation the Carp need, but won't know now!

The match was won by Mike Ducket (pictured right a sleep - haven't got a picture of him with his eyes open yet, with the Silvers winner) with 167 lb 12 oz from Hawthorne peg 3. Mike caught on meat over micro from his margin.

The Silvers for the third time was won by Jess Jordan with 16 lb 14 oz from Hawthorne peg 13. Jess caught on maggot over GB laced with finely chopped worm.

Well done to both.

Result:

1. Mike Ducket 167-12-0 peg 3 Haw

2. Tony Rixon 133-12-0 peg 7 Haw

3. Dave Romain 11-12-0 peg 9 Haw

Silvers:

1. Jess Jordan 16-14-0 peg 13 Haw

2. Dave Ings 12-04-0 peg 8 Squirc

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 03/09/2020 - Shiplate Fishery - Cost Cutter - Main Lake

The usual warm welcome from Carol and Steve, including Elvis today - pictured. The weather was warm but damp equaling muggy so should fish well?

Selected my peg from the table and found myself on peg 14 again, so happy with this. For company I had organiser Gary Flinders on peg 14 B and Lee Williams on peg 13 A - so good company.

I set up the same as last time on this peg - 0.5 gram paste float to fish top set plus one barrel, a 0.3 gram paste float for the LH margin which was the perfect depth. In the unlikely event that the Skimmers would go mad again I set up the short Ronnie rig.

I started by feeding a pot of micro on both paste lines starting on the 0.5 gram rig and was soon playing an angry Carp which broke me. Re-fed and again had a run of decent Skimmers and was hoping for another red letter day, until I hook another Carp which took an age to net totally disrupting my Skimmer line rendering it very slow with only a few smaller Skimmers finding the net. I tried feeding some GB over the line but just wasted time. So three hours into the match and with now two Carp in the net and 10 lb of Skimmers I switched to the short Ronnie rig with caster over caster and caught well - Ronnie's, small Skimmers and the odd Perch to 1 lb. I do enjoy this sort of fishing as it continues to add to the net tally and keeps me busy. I think the need to keep busy is a legacy from river fishing and the need to keep casting the float. With 45 minutes to go I heard some bank side chat that there was a couple of high twenty's of Silvers and thought I was off that pace. So had a go in the margin and first dob in had a near 20 lb Carp followed quickly by four more decent Carp. It left me thinking how it might be possible to get these fish in the margin early in the match, if this was possible a big weight would be on the cards.

My seven Carp weighed 69 lb 4 oz and my Slivers 29 lb for a second in the Silvers pick up which did surprise me, that said I was thinking the Ronnie's were of a better stamp than last match I fished here. The question remains as to whether I would have won the Silvers had I stayed with them to the end - who knows. Still a very enjoyable days fishing. It fished well today which meant a long wait until I got weighed in.

There was a lot of feathers around my peg but didn't hear any gun shots - not sure you can get silencers for shot guns.

The match was won by Tony Thick who is the Father of Tom Thick who currently holds the Lake match record (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 272 lb 13 oz from peg 1. Tony caught mostly down his RH edge using meat over kindered meat and hemp seed. What amused me was the number of phone calls Tony had from Tom - was Tom trying to slow dad's catch rate I wondered - lol!!

The Silvers was won by Lee Williams from peg 13 A with 33 lb 4 oz. Lee caught at 10 metres fishing single and double maggot over GB.

Well done to both.

Result:

1. Tony Thick 273-13-0 peg 1

2. Tony Rixon 211-10-0 peg 2

3. John Andres 182-09-0 peg 4

Silvers:

1. Lee Williams 33-04-0 peg 13 A

2. Mike Nicholls 29-0-0 peg 14

Weigh Sheet: