Wednesday 16/07/2008 Carps AC - Burley Fields

Time once again for my favourite Roach venue - Burley Fields. Darren Gillman and I walked the pegging and was surprised how the pegs were crammed in at the bottom right corner. We explained this to Colin Golding and as usual he was not in listening mode. I felt sorry for Bob Feltham who draw tight in the corner peg 4. When you pay £18 to fish a match you expect a bit of space, especially when it is available!

I drew peg 3 , which is the same peg as last match but without peg 4 being in. I started on the caster rig and caught steady. Tried now and again for the Skimmers at 10 metres but they weren't having it today - the water was a little clearer than last time. I stayed most on the match on the caster - trying 6mm and 3 mm GOT expander now and again. I did land two Carp and Lost two on the pellet. Darren, who was on peg 4, was convinced (again) that I had won the match - I wasn't sure. I weighed 38lb 8oz of Silver for second in the Silvers by 1lb 10oz and weighed 51lb overall for second in the match by 1lb 9oz! Second and second - no pick up this time! Hindsight is not "wonderful" as some say, another 1lb 11oz would have given me the double win - could have done it easy now!
I was pleased to see Andy Gard (pictured top right with his 17lb 8oz Leather Carp) win the match with 52lb 9oz. Andy caught all his fish on red maggot - including the Carp! Good running commentary Andy - enjoyed it!

My mate Darren Gillman won the Silvers with 40lb 20z, consisting of mainly quality Rudd - What a venue.

Full Result:

1. Andy Gard 52-09-0 peg 5
2. Mike Nicholls 51-0-0 peg 3
3. Darren Gillman 40-02-0 peg 2
4. Colin Golding 39-12-0 peg 7
5. Bob Feltham 35-11-0 peg 4
6. Steve Jefferies 24-04-0 peg 8

Top Silvers:

1. Darren Gillman 40-02-0 peg 3
2. Mike Nicholls 38-08 peg 3
3. Andy Gard 35-03-0 peg 5 (Andy qualifies for the Carps AC Wednesday Silversmaina - Well done)

Weekend 12th and 13th July 08

Took the weekend off from fishing for some essential maintenance on my top sets. The elastics were, to say the least, in poor condition. To cut a very long story short I spent five hours trying to get bungs stuck in top sets out. The bung on one top set was so badly struck I had to cut one top set and carry out a repair. The bungs are all Vespe and I observed that they had all deformed inside the top set - bellowing out. I discussed the problem with Tony Rixon, he had also, experienced similar problems. So, on Tony's advice I will now start changing to the Drennan winder bungs. After every match I will not only give the used top set down a wipe down, but also pull the bung out and give it a clean.

Darren Gillman was off this weekend to the Angling Times Final on the river Nene with his Bathampton Team - led by Kev Dicks. Darren drew peg 99 on the North Bank (not the place to draw - others only seem to remember his good draws). Darren did well weighing 14oz 12 drams. His catch consisted of one Perch and a number of Roach juveniles, caught on the whip feeding slop with bloodworm hook bait. I previously fished this final with Avon Angling and said after the last match I would never fish the venue again (I was forced to fish on top of submerged dense Lilly pads catching Bleak blades on joker - this is not fishing as I understand it - what river venue should need B&J to avoid blanking in July?). This venue is an absolute disgrace for such a spectacle. There's no doubt this venue is chosen for convenience of the organisers rather than the participating Anglers. If Angling Times are serious about this League then they must change the venue next year, otherwise the League will continue on it's demise! Bathampton finished 7th overall, beating Thatcher's off the next peg - not a bad result - well done lads.

It was nice to get an e-mail from my good friend and fellow ex Avon Angling team mate Andrew Floyd. I knew he had been resting from match angling and going woolly hooking (his "Pink Floyd" lure is devastating - should you be lucky enough to get one from him - I did, but had to hand it back after the session!). What I didn't know is that he had joined the Camo and Bivvey brigade. Andy sent me the attached picture (top right - Andy is the one with glasses) with a 21lb 7oz Mirror carp, caught at Hunstrete Lake. Not as good as his 22lb Ghost Carp caught on his Diawa Pro pole in a match at The Sedges Peg 11 (Glenn Bailey must have been on holiday). I remember the catch well with Andy needing to stand of his seat box to land it! My biggest regret that day was not having my camera with me. Andy is one of the great all round anglers. Get back to Match fishing mate, it's missing you.

Whilst we are on the subject of ex Avon Angling team members - Tim Ford (now Preston Thatcher's) on Saturday fished the Bristol Avon at Newbridge. Tim elected to fish peg 10 in the small field. This is his report:

"I went to Newbridge and after I had managed to run across the road bridge and avoid an oncoming bus I then had to fight my way through 8ft tall weeds and plants. If I had taken a trolley I wouldn't have got through! Got settled into peg 10 and as the river was chocolate and pacey just set a feeder up (plus I had no river pole rigs made up). In all I had 5 bream from 2.5lb to 5lb, roach and perch to 10oz, small hybrids, 1 eel and a chublet!
Had bites virtually every cast, but started in close and this died after 3 hours so went further out and had a bite first chuck.
It was nice and relaxing, very peaceful except for when unbeknown to me a dog had got right behind me and then barked in my left ear, I nearly fell in and told the owner that I nearly had a heart attack!
Just goes to prove there are stacks of fish in the river, as long as there is colour they'll feed."

Thursdays 10/07/08 Bathampton AA Over 55's and Disabled - Bridge Pool

I mentioned in yesterday posting that Pete Hodge had passed on. Pete up to the end wrote articles for his local paper the Bridgwater Mercury, they have subsequently published an article on him. If you want to read it double click on the attached shortcut.
http://www.bridgwatermercury.co.uk/search/display.var.2381410.0.pete_hodge_passes_away.php
A good turn out once again. I drew the same peg 28 as the previous match with the same result albeit a lower weight as the fish were not responding as well. I started on the caster and had a few pound Skimmers and a bonus 4lb Bream. The Ronnies were not feeding, but I managed to put about 4lb of them in the net. I went on the paste over potted micro pellet and landed a couple of eight pounders. I found by loose feeding caster over the paste was much better than feeding pellet. I ended the day with 14lb 14oz Silvers and 58lb 8oz of Carp for a total weight of 73lb 6oz. This gave me first in the match and first in the Silvers and a pick up of £25.
Runner up with 55lb 1oz was Martin Alexander (pictured bottom left) from peg 30. Martin pole fished 10mm hair rigged hard pellet. Runner up in the Silvers was Colin Golding with 13lb 8oz of small Skimmers from peg 29.

Full Result:
1. Mike Nicholls 73-06-0 peg 28
2. Martin Alexander 55-01-0 peg 30
3. Dave Bacon 51-10-0 peg 4
4. Bob Warren 39-0-0 peg 26
5. Harry Muir 27-14-0 peg 7
6. Chris Snow 24-10-0 peg 9
Top Silvers:
1. Mike Nicholls 14-14-0 peg 28
2. Colin Golding 13-08-0 peg 29
3. Bill Ferris 12-04-0 peg 10

Wednesday 09/07/2008 Carps AC - Sedges - Brick Lake

I heard today that Pete Hodge passed away last week. I for one will miss him - one of the great characters in Angling and a superb Bream angler - rest in peace matey.

Why do Skimmers and Bream fly when hooked? I have found this an interesting phenomenon. I have never experienced this on rivers, canals or non commercial lakes over 40 years of catching Bream. Flying only seems to occur on commercial waters with a good head of Carp to double figures.

It was whilst fishing the Thursday rover match at Whiteacres that I believe I found the answer. I drew my usual peg 135 rover position to draw and decided on the last peg left of Sycamore Lake peg 12. Having thrashed about with the pellet waggler for a while I decided to fish paste at 10 metres, over micro pellet. This resulted in a string of Bream to 3lb. None of these fish flew, and then one did. The next fish was a 6lb Carp! The next few Bream again didn’t fly, then one did. Guess what a 4lb Carp followed.

I was fishing about nine foot deep and it took from having an indication on the float to the Bream breaking the surface of the water less than a second! For a Bream to swim to the surface in this time means it must surely already be swimming quite fast prior to taking the bait.

I have concluded the answer to the question is that the Bream are driven a short distance and most probably up in the water away from the feed by intruding Carp. The Bream sees the hook bait and takes the opportunity to swoop at speed for it and take it on the move in the attempt to avoid the Carp. The Bream then swims on towards the surface until it leaves the water. This also appears to happen more (and fly higher) the deeper the water.

I don’t often loose Bream due to them flying. This is mainly due to the pole elastic keeping the line tight to the fish. I am sure it would be a different story using running line.
Any Floyd and I tried to catch a flying Bream on video without any luck. However, two flying Skimmers cost me the magic 50 lb today.

Back to the Sedges already. It was nice to most of the anglers back again, shows how good the fishing is. I travelled with Darren Gillman (pictured bottom left) and ended up next to him. Darren on peg 4 and me on peg 5. It's not very often you can use groung bait and maggot on theis venue without gettin Ronnied out. However, The Ronnies had not been feeding so started on this combination. Darren followed and we borth fished similar matches. Cutting out my sob stories Darren won the Silvers with 48lb and I came second with 47lb 5oz for a pick up of £30.

The match winner was Mark Hanham from peg 9 with 133lb 2oz. Mark started on the feeder which produced four Carp then at the two hour mark started to catch Carp to double figures on the pellet waggler. I predicted Mark to win, others were favouring Steve Jackson on end peg 15.


Full Result:

1. Mark Hanham 133-02-0 peg 9
2. Adrian Bishop 61-10-0 peg 6 (to avoid a Duck Adrian put two in his keep net!)
3. Darren Gillman 49-14-0 peg 4
4. Colin Goldin 47-14-0 peg 14
5. Mike Nicholls 47-05-9 peg 5
6. Roy Short 41-06-0 peg 13

Top Silvers:

1. Darren Gillman 48-0-0 peg 4
2. Mike Nicholls 47-05-0 peg 5
3. Richard Cole 34-0-0 peg 8 (Richard qualifies for the Carps Wednesday Silvermania)

Carps AC Three Day Festival - 4th, 5th and 6th July 2008 - Sedges Tile and Brick

My original plan was to share accommodation with Glenn Bailey and Mark Jefferies, but for various reasons both cancelled. However, Colin Golding and Bill Ferris had booked a caravan on the Sedges site and had a spare bed. Very comfortable too. The cost each was £33 for the two nights - so cheaper than driving. We arranged to have evening meal and breakfast at the Sedgemoor Inn, five minutes down the road. Food was good, particularly the breakfast.

Day One: Brick Lake pegs 1 to 10:

With the wind in the South West the higher pegs were favoured. I drew peg 8, which is currently the form Skimmer peg, so I was happy with this. I started on the pole at 9 metres and caught Skimmers straight away on 6mm GOT pellet. The Skimmers backed off at half time, so a change to the feeder kept them coming steady for the rest of the match. I weighed 48lb 8oz of Skimmers, which included three Eels to 2lb. I also landed two Carp for 12lb 5oz for a total weight of 60lb 13oz. This gave me first in the Silvers and third overall and a pick up of £50.

Match Winner was Mark Hanham (pictured top right) from peg 6. Mark weighed a total of 121lb 13oz of quality Carp. Mark caught 50% on pellet waggler and 50% on the pole and paste over 4mm coarse pellet. Runner up was Gordon Cannings from corner peg 10 with 80lb 13oz of Carp. Gordon also caught on paste.

Day one full result:

1. Mark Hanham 121-13-0 peg 6
2. Gordon Cannings 80-13-0 peg 10
3. Mike Nicholls 60-13-0 peg 8
4. John Bennett 54-03-0 peg 9
5. Adrian Bishop 44-14-0 peg 5
6. Paul Blake 39-6-0 peg 3 (Paul's weight was an all Skimmer catch!)
Top Silvers:
1. Mike Nicholls 48-8-0 peg 8
2. Paul Blake 39-06-0 peg 3 (Excellent result from this peg)

Day Two Tile Lake pegs 31 to 40:

Gale force South Westerly wind greeted us for day two. Everyone was hoping for the most sheltered peg 40. Guess what I drew it! However, I was a little concerned as an earlier walk round the lake indicated that most of the fish were at the end the wind was blowing in to. I had drawn this peg before, from which, I won the Silvers and with a few small Carp gave me second overall. I had a plan in place - wind permitting. I started after the Ronnies with a wire stem float to help combat the wind. It was a bit slow, with the fish wanting to feed close to the surface, which made them very difficult to catch in the gales. I fed some ground bait and casters at 6 metres where I had 8 foot of water, again a wire stemmed float with casters saw a steady stream of Skimmers and Eels (including a personal best Eel). I heard that Tench were being caught, so decided to try the margins with paste for the last 90 minutes. I had a run of small Carp, one Tench and another PB Eel (on paste!!). I weighed 14lb of small Carp and 31lb 2oz of Silvers. This gave me second in the Silvers and once again third in the match and a pick up of £50 by default.

Colin Golding (pictured left with his rig tray - Quote made to Colin by Bob Nudd "Colin you do remarkably well considering the tackle you use") won both the overall match and Silvers from peg 37. Colin had a total weight of 48lb 14 oz. Colin used his usual 6mm expander pellet fished over loose fed 6mm expander pellet fished at 6 metres. His weight included 33lb 6oz of Silvers including 4 Tench. Considering the gales force conditions this was a remarkable performance.

Day two full result:

1. Colin Golding 48-14-0 peg 37
2. Gordon (corner peg) Cannings 40-02-0 peg 31
3. Mike Nicholls 45-02-0 peg 40
4. Adrian Bishop 38-14-0 peg 33
5. Mark Hanham 35-14-0 peg 39
6. Ian Dawe 28-0-0 peg 32

Top Silvers:

1. Colin Golding 33-06-0 peg 37
2. Mike Nicholls 31-02-0 peg 40

Day Three Brick Lake pegs 1 to 10
I was hoping for a peg between 5 and 9 and got peg 6. A good Silvers peg again! The wind had dropped which made fishing easier. I adopted the same plan as with peg 8 and had a good days fishing (the thunder storm excepted). I Had one Carp (which I have now caught three times - I think it has an identity crisis) for 4lb 12 and a Silvers weight of 49lb. This gave me first in the Silvers and a pick up of £50.

Mark Hanham won the match for the second time from peg 8 with 73lb 14oz, most fell to the pellet waggler. Mark said after the match that he had lost eleven Carp, all due to his Maver hook lengths letting him down.

Day three full Result:

1. Mark Hanham 73-14-0 peg 8
2. Gordan Cannings 70-01-0 peg 3
3. Mike Nicholls 53-12-0 peg 6
4. Colin Golding 47-12-0 peg 9
5. Ian Dawe 27-06-0 peg 5
6. Adrian Bishop 13-08-0 peg 10

Top Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 49-0-0 peg 6
2. Colin Golding 20-04-0 peg 9

Results and points over the three days:
Overall Festival weights:

1. Gordon Cannings 6 penalty points total weight 199-0-0 (pictured bottom left)
2. Mark Hanham 7 penalty points total weight 230-14-0
3. Mike Nicholls 9 penalty points total weight 159-11-0

Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 4 penalty points total silvers weight 128-10-0
2. Colin Golding 6 penalty points total silvers weight 72-10-0
3. Bill Ferris 11 penalty points total silvers weight 42-09-0

Biggest Carp:

Bill Ferris (pictured bottom right) with a Common Carp of 16-04-0 from first day peg 7. Bill caught it on his Roach rig and top set to single caster and landed it just in time after the whistle.

Biggest Silver Fish:

Gordon Cannings Tench 4-12-0 from second day peg 31.



I must say that Jamie and Denise have put a lot of hard work in to this fishery and it shows. Tile Lake is as good as Brick in terms of the quality of fishing. They now have 40 quality match pegs. The Caravan accommodation is also very good. Where else are you offered a hot drink after the weigh in! Well done to both.

Sedges are holding a weekend Festival in 27/28 September 2008 with £1,000 first prize up for grabs, contact Denise on 01278 445221 if interested.

Thursday 03/07/2008 Carps AC - Summer Evening Series - Shangri La - Round Three

This was the warmest I have been at this venue, but still needed a fleece! I was dreading the next peg 8, as it has the worse weights so far. However, I did have a cunning plan, which was to fish for the small Crucians. The Crucians are anything from 1oz to 8oz. I started on the corn and landed four Carp to 4lb - then nothing. Tried the paste in the margin and caught a small Crucian. Put on a 6mm GOT pellet on my paste rig, complete with a 12 hook and caught fifty small Crucians. Out on the corn for the last half hour and anther two small Carp. I was surprised to weigh 22lb 12oz for third place and a pick up of £20.

The match was won by Steve Jefferies (the shady character - pictured top right). Steve fished soft pellet over loose fed hard pellet for a weight of 35lb 1oz.

Runner up Phil Coulam with 28lb 4oz retaining the lead on 24 points.

Full Result plus points to date:

1. Steve Jefferies 35-01-0 peg 2 - 20 points
2. Phil Coulam 28-04-0 peg 3 - 24 points
3. Mike Nicholls 22-04-0 peg 8 - 18 points
4. Bob Feltham 18-0-0 peg 4 - 15 points
4. Bill Ferris 18-0-0 peg 5 - 11 points
6. Mark Tanner 11-15-0 peg 9 - 9 points
7. John Bennett 11-12-0 peg 7 - (Reserve for Bob Price)
8. Tom Coulston 8-04-0 peg 6 - 16 points
9. Colin Golding 8-01-0 peg 1 - 10 points (but watch this space)

Bob Price has 8 points

Wednesday 02/07/2008 Carps AC - Huntstrete - Withy Pool

Carps AC enlisted the experience of Bob Warren and Terry Bruton to decide on the pegging. What a difference! Well done to both. The close results reflect this with only one fish separating the frame. I drew peg 69 (again). I started after the Ronnies on caster, only to get bitted out by Perch! The Perch were anything from eyes to 4oz - really not worth catching. Decide to switch to pellet and started to catch 1 to 4oz Ronnies and small Skimmers from bottle tops to 4oz. No better than the Perch. As the Carp were apparently not feeding I stayed on this for all of the match. I lost two Carp then landed two for 13lb 12oz (the second was a double). I weighed 24lb 8oz of Silvers for a total of 38lb 4oz. This gave me first in the Silvers and 2nd overall. For some reason I picked up £33 for second overall rather than first in silvers. However, this did give Colin Golding second in the Silvers (third pacing) by default and for the second time left Steve Jefferies without a pick up coming third overall. Why does a third in Silvers pick up and third overall does not?
The match was one by Dave Bacon (pictured top right - ready for fishing on after the match - is that Cat meat I see) from peg 68 (having originally set up in my peg!). Dave fished both the pellet waggler and straight lead for seven Carp and a couple of decent Bream for a total weight of 40lb 4oz. Dave caught on pellet loose feeding 11 mm hard pellet.

John Bradford qualified for the Wednesday Silversmainia by triple default with 18lb 12oz of Silvers up to 4oz - again a lot of Perch evident in John's catch.

Full Result:

1. Dave Bacon 40-04-0 peg 68
2. Mike Nicholls 38-04-0 peg 69
3. Steve Jefferies 36-06-0 peg 50
4. Bob Warren 34-13-0 peg 43
5. Chris Fox 30-04-0 peg 58
6. John Bennett 30-03-0 peg 47

Top Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 24-08-0 peg 69
2. Bill Ferris 22-12-0 peg 72
3. Colin Golding 21-08-0 peg 41
4. John Bradford 18-12-0 peg 42 (Qualifies for the Carps AC Wednesday Silversmainia)