It was nice to be back to Gwinear. I do like this venue and I was hoping to be on phase one or two – particularly phase one due to the large head of decent Skimmers. Yippee I drew phase one – peg 3 (see the Lake Map right).
The grape vine was saying either 8mm pellet or paste. So I set up a 4x16 Jolly for expander pellet and a paste rig, both to be fished at 6 metres. Plus a small paste float for the shallow 30 inch RH margin. First mistake was feeding micro pellet on the 6 metre line. The pellet was being ripped off by small Tench to 4oz attracted by my small fed. I did have a 2lb Skimmer, but I was putting back more Tench than I was catching it’s like trying to unhook a bar of soap that wriggles! I had been feeding 4 mm wetted pellet in to the margin so have re-fed the 6 metre line with 4 mm pellet I had a dabble with paste and had a run of Skimmers to 3lb. Time to try the paste at 6 metres. Another run of decent Skimmers followed with the occasional Carp to 3lb. I found that by topping up after every fish with 4mm pellet through the Kinder pot kept them going. I wish I had started this way as it cost me a higher framing position. My Skimmers and tiny Tench weighed in at 29lb 6oz and my Carp 32lb 8oz for a total of 61lb 14oz as it only took 45lb to win last Friday so I was hopeful, however, it wasn’t to be as this put 4th overall.
The match was won by Chris Hancock (pictured right (centre) with runner ups Mark Lazzel and Bob Dac) with 72lb 12oz. Chris fished similarly to me but had the advantage of being able to fish in to the end peg margin. Chris used both paste and hard 8 mm pellet on the hook.
Full Result:
1. Chris Hancock 72-12-0 peg 1
2. Mark Lazzel 66-04-0 peg 36
3. Bob Dac 64-14-0 peg 46
4. Mike Nicholls 61-14-0 peg 3
5. Skip McCabe 48-12-0 peg 50
6. Mark Tanner 46-04-0 peg 5
Steve Nicholls 36lb peg 51.
By the time I got to Bullocks Farm I was really feeling sorry for myself. It was nothing to do with the fishing - I was driving up Queen Charlton Road in Keynsham I had a small white van right up close behind me. Then at the mini roundabout it drop right back and reduced it’s speed to I guess 25 mph. I started to wonder why. Then I saw it, a Mobil Police camera parked up in the left hand lay-by. Quick look at my speed and I reckon I was travelling at 36 mph. Although I quickly reduced my speed to 33 mph my feeling was that it was far too late. These cameras are accurate up to 2,000 metres! I reckon it’s 50/50 whether or not I get a ticket, lets hope they caught lots more going faster. I will know by the 24 th as they have 14 days to contact you. What on earth is a mobile camera doing out at 07-15 on a Wednesday morning, obviously after the average working man.
Back to the fishing. Phil is apparently is a big follower of my blog and asked me to write something nice about him for a change – so here goes - BRSITOL ROVERS (apparently Phil’s dyslectic)!!
I never worry about which peg I draw on Match Lake as they are all good on their day. I pulled out peg 10 and wasn’t disappointed. I set up two rigs, 1 - 4x12 Jolly for the Silvers and Crucians to fish at 1 o clock with pellet at 9 metres and to fish maggot/caster at 10 o clock at the same distance. The depth was about the same so only a slight adjustment required when switching. The other was a 0.3 gram paste float which suited both margins – Left and Right. I fed both Silvers swims and started on the 3 mm expander pellet whilst lightly hand feeding both margins with 4 mm wetted pellet. I was anticipating a bite immediately, but it didn’t happen. Not a sign of a fish – no fiss – nothing. So on to the caster and nothing, back on the pellet and I had a 2lb Carp. I could see Paul Faiers on peg 15 also struggling but getting a few Crucians. I switched to maggot over the caster line, in conjunction with kindering some maggot. I had a run of Crucians and a couple of tiny Skimmers. Likewise on the pellet line I had another few Crucians, but it was too slow. With a hour gone I decide to it was to be a Carp day for any coin, albeit it being a too early to plunder Margins. But that's what I did. I had already decided that the RH margin would produce the most Carp and all though I had indications that fish were there, I only had one Carp in the net, losing two – one broke my the other snagged me in tree roots to show for two hours of fishing. I switched to the LH margin with the paste and it was much more prodictive, landing 10 Carp up to the whistle. My Silvers weighed in at 10lb 2oz and the Carp 32lb for a total of 42lb 2oz. and third overall. Paul Faiers ouncing me out of second, which he reminded me of at least 5 times!! I think that if I had fished the margins differently I might have won the match. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I blame the Speed Camera for the lapse in my focus.
The match and the Silvers was won by Shaun Kitteridge (pictured right) with 50lb 9oz which included 45lb 2oz of quality Crucians. Shaun caught at 11 metres on 3mm expander pellet over loose fed micro. Shaun caught 17 Crucians in the last 2 hours.
It appeared that the Crucians were all at this end of the lake with the top three Silvers weight coming from pegs 17, 19 and 21
Full Result:
1. Shaun Kitteridge 50-09-0 peg 17
2. Paul Faiers 42-12-0 peg 15
3. Mike Nicholls 42-02-0 peg 10
4. Dave Wride 41-12-0 peg 25
5. Mike Owens 37-10-0 peg 26
6. Colin Golding 36-11-0 peg 19
Top Silvers:
1. Shaun Kitteridge 45-02-0 peg 17
2. Colin Golding 30-10-0 peg 19
3. Steve Dawson 30-03-0 peg 22
I had this video e-mailed to me and having watched it left me thinking, how right Mr Nugent is on this subject. Apparently Darren Gillman has a number of his Heavy Rock albums. I must say the interviewer looked a bit uncomfortable – Copy paste shortcut into the Address bar and watch it all through.
http://cpw.webmail.aol.com/31888-111/talktalk-5/en-gb/mail/get-attachment.aspx?uid=1263218834.233&folder=Sent&partId=5&saveAs=Nugent.wmv
As there wasn’t a local match I fancied fishing on Sunday I planned to have the weekend off and take the Special One out for Sunday Lunch. So when I had a phone call from Chris Hook to fish the Super League for Maver Veals on Saturday at Viaduct Fishery I jumped at it. I don’t get down to Viaduct as often as I would like, mainly due to the late started times of their opens; I don’t get home until 20:00 so don’t get to sit down with the Special One for Dinner.
The draw was at 09:00 in the Globe Hotel with a buffet style Breakfast – all you can eat for £5 (not bad when a cup of tea cost £1.50). I must say it was quality food with the added value of quantity.
Met up with Darren Gillman at Breakfast and we discussed the chances of us drawing the adjacent pegs. Unbelievably we did and by my calculations that was 2,380.5 to 1
Captain Hook did the draw and as far as I was concerned there was only one decent draw Tim (Zipper) Pallant on peg 123. Team wise I suggest they find some else to draw for them – Zipper might be good choice for starters. I was on peg 95 (Darren was on 94). Both pegs a good draw for Skimmers and luckily a pole peg as I didn't have any running line gear with me, not that Silver fish would be targeted as Carp would be the species to get maximum points. I had decided to fish two lines one at 5 metres with meat and a paste rig at 11.5 metres (you would need to breakdown the pole to fish much further). I started by feeding a few 4mm cubes of meat with a sprinkling of wetted micros at 5 metres. I then went out on the paste with a kinder pot of 6mm pellet and first put I was anticipating foul hooking a Carp. However, I fairly hooked and landed a quality 10lb Carp. I thought I was in for a good day, but other than one foul hooker 
I didn’t see another. I kept trying the meat line was only pestered by small fish and by half time dumped the swim. Back on the paste and a run of Skimmers to 3lb, for some reason I had a spell on loosing five Skimmers and one Tench. A majority of them were foul hooked. I think I can put this down to my feeding pattern – feeding 4 mm pellet every put in with the paste targeting the Carp. Up to this point I think Darren and I were neck and neck, both with one Carp and a few Skimmers. But Darren landed six or seven big Skimmers more than me and had another 10lb carp 10 minutes to go. I weighed in 20lb 1oz for 2 points (only beating Dave Wride) and Darren weighed 48lb (I think) for 5 points. Our section was won by Lee Edwards with 90lb from peg 97 fishing pellet waggler in to the open water. Section runner up was James Knight with 78lb (pictured right with some of his catch) from peg 90. James caught on both the pole and straight lead into the end margin – similar to Phil Cardwell last Sunday. 
The match was won by Andy Power (pictured right - cool dude) with 145lb 10oz from peg 131. Andy caught shallow on both the pole and pellet waggler – feeding about 4 pints of pellet.
Team wise Maver Veals were seventh and last with me contributing to this result as much as anyone else!
Full Result:
1. Andy Power 145-10-0 peg 131
2. Gary Etheridge 109-5-0 peg 129
3. Chris Fox 104-12-0 peg 110
4. Alan Oram 94-04-0 peg 113
5. Steve Kedge 90-04-0 peg 53
6. Lee Edwards 90-0-0 peg 97
This was the first round of the Carps AC Thursday Individual Series PM matches at Bowd Valley Lake (Redmire). Bill Ferris and Bob Price are running the series and I was wondering what bob Price was going to contribute to the organisation, as I suspected – NOTHING – all down to Bill Ferris. I have offered to work the league results to help Bill out.
At the start there was some (no lots) of confusions as to the draw and fishing times. It has now been confirmed as 13-30 draw fish from 15-00 to 20-30. That’s 5 ½ hours Bob!
The conditions weren’t favourable for fishing, with very bright sun light and a strange wind appearing to be blowing in from the South East (however, hot air balloons were coming in from the South West, it must be to do with the Lake being in a valley) into pegs 7, 8, 9, 10, &11 (bags me one of these), this meant peg 1 was absolutely flat calm. Before the draw I walked the bank with Mike Jones and between pegs 7 and 8 I counted at least twenty cruising Carp. I drew peg 1. The shortest walk but with no wind cover I was doubtful.
On the walkabout I had decided that Silvers would play an important part towards gaining section points even though there was no Silvers pool. So it would be Silvers to start, dabbling for Carp through out with paste, then full focus in the last hour, or sooner if the sun disappeared over the hill. I decided on pellet for Skimmers at 6 metres with expander on the hook – fished only once with one Ronnie on the drop), a Ronnie caster line to my left with the anticipation that Carp would home in on the activity and an out and out paste line long to my right in various locations. I started by feeding the paste line by spreading 4 mm wetted pellet around the various locations I was planning on fishing. I started on the Ronnie’s and there were plenty of 1 to 2oz fish to be caught, but no sign of quality fish, that was until I hooked a 2 ½ lb Barbel. These fish were put in at 6oz and the last one I caught was 10oz so they have really put on some weight and the fish was in perfect condition. I kept trying the paste only to be met with the Renaldo’s. However, I did catch a few Skimmers to 1lb on the paste was it was slow. Back on the caster and Ronnie until the last hour when I decided to experiment by feeding 1 ½ pints of maggot, ½ pint of casters, 1 pint of micro and a big handful of 4 mm pellet 0 all in one go. On went a 4 mm expander and another 2oz Ronnie took the bait on the drop. Back on the paste which resulted in four small Carp. Four were lost, three of them foul hooked. My Silvers were weighed in at 16lb 12oz and my carp 9lb 10oz. This put me third in the section beaten by “Gap pegs” 2 and 4. I believe my Silver’s approach was about right.
The match was won by Kevin Dicks (pictured right with Tom Coulson’s net of Carp (as we all thought Tom had won the match and Kevin had returned his fish)) from peg 4 with 54lb 12oz. Kevin caught on the method feeder to the Gap and added a few more fishing pellet shallow at 13 metres.
Tom Coulson was runner up with 43lb 14oz. However, there was something fishy about his catch – all his Carp were all caught on Iceland’s finest Prawns.
All though there isn’t any Silvers pool or league I thought it would be of interesting and value to publish the Silvers result. After all it is a great all the year round Silvers venue.
Full Result:
1. Kevin Dicks 54-12-0 peg 3
2. Tom Coulson 43-14-0 peg 2
3. Colin Golding 27-06-0 peg 11
4. Mike Nicholls 26-06-0 peg 1
5. Mark Tanner 23-13-0 peg 5
6. John Baker 20-12-0 peg 7
Top Silvers:
1. Mike Nicholls 16-12-0 peg 1
2. Kevin Dicks 15-12-0 peg 3
3. Colin Golding 15-08-0 peg 11
We were booked to fish Yarlington Mill (Match Lake). However Mark moved it Dabinett. Not a problem as I have heard that there are plenty Skimmers to be had, plus Mark has stocked quite a few 3 ounce Skimmers. I had a walk around the Lake before the draw and there were plenty of signs of feeding fish particularly in peg 1 even though the wind had been blowing in the opposite direction. Mark informed me that pegs 1 and 28 were the shallowest pegs on the entire venue with about 4 foot.
I drew peg 28. I wasn’t disappointed as I would have been happy with any of the pegs. With Colin only paying one overall and one in the Silvers a decision had to be made. Mike Owens was on peg 20 and I thought this might be a hard peg to beat for Carp from peg 28. So I decided initially to keep my options open by starting on the Silvers and fish them out before going for Carp, keeping an eye on Mike and Dave Bacon who was on peg 21. I set up a 0.4 gram paste rig, a 4x12 Jolly for maggot and pellet at 7 metres in to open water and my usual Ronnie 4x14 PB14. I started by potting in about 70ml of maggot with a dash of wetted micro pellet at 7 metres, but started on the Ronnie rig over loose fed maggot with single red maggot on the hook. I also started to feed the RH margin with 4 mm pellet to keep the Carp at arms length from my Silvers peg. I started well catching 3 oz Skimmers, Ronnie’s to 4oz and Hybrids to 8oz. However, I was having difficulty with the fry that has recently hatched attacking my float. After 90 minutes I decided to have a go over the micro with double red maggot. This resulted in a couple of bigger Skimmers to 2lb. At least the maggot appeared to be keeping the Carp away. I re-fed this line with a big pot of micros and went back on the Ronnie rig until two hour to go. At this stage Mike Owens had been catching Carp regularly as had Steve Dawson on peg 1. There was no way I thought I could catch either of them on the Carp. As for the Silvers Colin had been catching Skimmers well on peg 7, but the Carp had moved in. So I thought I would have a dabble on the paste over my Ronnie maggot line, in the anticipation that I might catch some bigger Skimmers. In fourteen put in I had thirteen Carp to 4lb and one 2lb Skimmer. Not a good ratio. I dropped the paste in to the RH margin and a Carp on the drop, then a 1lb Hybrid, followed by another 
Carp. So back out on the Jolly with soft pellet and the ratio of 3oz Skimmers to Carp was two to one so I decide to stick with this to the end. I had 23 carp which weighed in at 58lb 15oz (not one was lost in reeds) and 25lb 12oz of Silvers for a combined total of 84lb 11oz for first in the Silvers and third overall. On reflection I think this peg could be an overall winning peg, albeit it a bit risky especially if only paying the one overall. You really need to keep options open taking the best rout for you to coin.
My Silvers weight today is a record match weight for Dabinett (pictured right – thanks Mark you take a photo on a decent camera), so I now hold both Silvers records with my 44lb on Yarlington Mill. Come on Mark start having a Silvers pool on your Sunday Opens. I am sure the regulars would welcome it.
The match was won by Mike Owens (pictured right with some on his catch) with a personal best weight of 137lb from peg 20. Mike caught all his fish at 5 metres in to open water using either paste or pellet. Mike caught steady all day. Mike also didn’t lose any fish in the reeds.
I really don’t understand why anglers feel the erg to feed the Carp in the weeds, and then moan when they get beaten up. I think the fish that show themselves through reed knocking are fish that are not prepared to feed properly with many Carp being foul hooked.
Full Result:
1. Mike Owens 137-0-0 peg20
2. Steve Dawson 112-14-0 peg 1
3. Mike Nicholls 84-11-0 peg 28
4. Dave Bacon 77-02-0 peg 21
5. Colin Golding 67-08-0 peg 7
6. Andy Gard 17-0-0 peg 6
Top Silvers:
1. Mike Nicholls 25-12-0 peg 28 (Lake Record)
2. Colin Golding 17-15-0 peg 7
