After another decent breakfast at the café shown right Bela and I were off to the “Skivers” match at Viaduct.
I was expecting to draw peg 88 on Carey as I seem to be working my way clockwise around this Lake. However, I was delighted when I pulled peg 116 again. Matey Bela pulled opposite peg 126 (Bela pictured right plumbing up his full depth waggler).
I had the Dude to my left on peg 115 and Dave Wride to my right on peg 118. I set up three rigs; 1 x 4x14 blue Jolly to be fished at 7 metres with peppered Spam, a 4x10 Drennen Chop for margin meat and my usual paste rig for both margins.
I have this theory that right handed (the vast majority) anglers throw there left over bait in to the right hand margin and the scrammy handed angler e.g Tony Rixon would throw theirs to the left. So today I would favour the RH.
I started as usual on the 8mm meat fished over peppered 6mm. It wasn’t long before I realised that this wasn’t going to work today, because after I landed one small Carp and one Tench I was pestered by small Skimmers and Ronnie’s. I decided to convert the swim to corn over corn with the same rig. Similarly I was pestered by small fish. I decided to close the line down after feeding an enormous pot of corn and meat.
By now the Dude (pictured right landing one of his thirty small Carp) on peg 115 was bagging at 16 metres with 6mm pellet fished shallow – not seeing one bite!! He’s going to bugger is back up by time he’s my age.
I had been feeding both margins with hard 4’s since the start and by now had fed ¼ pint. Into the RH margin with the meat rig and I had one small Tench then nothing. I could see big Perch in the swim and thought at first that they might have been spawning, but Steve Long put me right saying they don’t spawn until February (the weather was appropriate though). I wondered if they were putting off the fish so I started to poke them with my top set. It didn’t make any difference, in fact they seemed to like it. I did foul hook six landing three to 3 lb. I decided that to avoid them (why oh why?) I switched to the other margin and guess what the Perch followed me round. I then realised what was going on, the Perch were swimming around the surface (very much like a snorkeler) and after loose feeding some 4;s the perch would dive down followed after by small fish jumping out the water. The Perch were hunting fish fry! In hind sight I should have tried the whole worm over the top as I lost six foul hiked Perch up to 4lb!!
In between the Perch saga I did land twenty Decent Tench and five Bream all on paste. My Silvers weighed a lot more than I estimated at 54lb. This added to my seven accidental Carp gave me 82lb 5oz.This put me second in the Silvers and fifth overall.
The match was won by Mash (pictured right) fishing peg 132 with 178lb. Mash after failing to catch on the pole with meat switched to the waggler fished to the end margin with meat hook bait fished over loose fed hard 8 pellet.
The Silvers was won by John Green (pictured bottom right with his bag) from peg 78 on Carey with 61lb 13oz of mainly small Skimmers. John fished his normal “to hand” method, fishing over Gimps Gold GB laced with corn and micro pellet with soft pellet hook bait.
I wished I lived closer to this venue as I would love to get fully to grips with it.
Full Result:
1. Mash 178-0-0 peg 132
2. Dan “Dude” Squires 160-10-0 peg 115
3. Terry Bruton 91-15-0 peg 96
4. Pierce Furlong 85-04-0 peg 98
5. Mike Nicholls 82-05-0 peg 116
6. Dave Wride 80-0-0 peg 118
Top Silvers:
1. John Green 61-13-0 peg 78
2. Mike Nicholls 54-0-0 peg 116
3. Terry Bruton 48-06-0 peg 96
I hadn’t been to Landsend for many months and suddenly find myself fishing three matches in last month at the venue. So early in to the draw queue where I found Ron Hardiman trying to push in. Ron said he reads my blog every week but never sees his name. I explained that the precursor was for him to catch some fish first, so there you go a mention in case you don’t.
In to the draw box and out comes peg 22 for the second time in a week. I fished the peg on Bank Holiday Monday and had a great day’s fishing for Silvers. However, my experience was telling me not to expect it to fish the same – I was right. This Lake has a real hammering over the past month. Arriving at the peg there appeared to be less fish activity, however, I decided to fish it similarly for the first four hours with the Wire stem Jolly leaving the last two hours to fish the margins.
Starting on the soft pellet is was immediately apparent it wasn’t going to be as good for the Silvers as the previous match even though the weather conditions were identical (to a human anyway), as I had four quick 3lb Carp. I did manage three Crucian’s and a Skimmer before I converted my swim from pellet to 6mm meat by feeding some wetted micro with a dozen pieces of meat. Whilst this was fizzing away I decided to try the margins with one of my “Special Occasion” floats. This is a float of which I have only one left and are now obsolete. In this case a 4x10 Drennen Wire stem chop. These floats are ideal for caster in shallow water. I had previously potted feed with some 6mm meat in with the caster and first put in had a 8oz Perch. For the next half hour I had a Perch a bung anywhere from 2oz to 8oz. I did enjoy this whilst it lasted as it had gone quite for most anglers I could see adding 5lb to the Silvers net. The swim went quite so I tried the meat over the pellet and had another two Carp. So after feeding the swim heavy I went back in to the margin and had a hefty Tench. This made up my mind to forget the Carp and focus the rest of the match on Silvers as I had heard from Leon Hubbard that the match was fishing hard for Silvers. I tried for the Ronnie’s on the usual rig but they were conspicuous by their absence. I decided to see if there was any Chub over on the island, so using my margin rig again with caster I squeaked (pole was in the drying out mode) out 14.5 metres of pole I immediately had a foul hooked a spawning Carp which nearly ended up in peg 1! Another hook was soon attached and out again and a Carp in the mouth – Umm. I fed some caster attracting the Ronnie’s which were welcome but not at 14.5 metres! I squeaked out again with meat on the hook and had an F1 looking type fish. As the Chub weren’t out plying I decided to go back in the margin and kept a few Perch and Ronnie’s coming until the last ten minutes when I hooked an 8lb Carp which I nearly got in the Lnet but it made a dash for the platform and broke me on the metal tubes. I was despondent not because I lost the Carp but because I had lost a “Special Occasion” floats. With only minutes left packed up early – not like me. However, Nick Collins cheered me up as he might have a source for these floats – hope so. My Seven Carp weighed in at 28lb 12oz and surprisingly the Silvers went 21lb 12oz for fifth in the Silvers and an overall weight of 50lb 8oz which was enough to put upstart Tom Thick out of the knockout. I was 3rd in section with 5 points.
I now understand why the country is in such financial difficulties. It’s because all the workers are skiving off on a Thursday and going to the Viaduct cost cutter. Another excellent turn out today, far more than most fisheries get on a Wednesday and some Sunday’s!
In to the draw bag and out comes peg 86. I wasn’t that happy with the draw as it was a bright day with the little amount of wind off my right shoulder blowing in the diagonal bank, so my swim was flat calm. I was undecided whether or not to fish the GB feeder from front to back. I did set it up and decided to fish the 6mm meat and mess around with paste long and short in the LH margin for the first hour and if it didn’t work out sit out the feeder for Skimmers. As it happened I messed around for the whole six hours and not once picking up the GB feeder.
The meat feed through the kinder pot produced one 8lb 10oz Carp first put in followed by two lost foul hookers. I then had a run of small Skimmers, but it wasn’t long before the Ronnie’s moved in. I tried the paste long again feeding hard 4’s through the kinder pot, this produced nothing. In to the margin and I did have a couple of Skimmers and a Perch on the paste, all the time being Ronnied out. As the Ronnie’s were having a peck on all the baits I tried I jumped up and set up a Ronnie rig with caster over caster at 4 metres and caught Ronnie’s steady throughout the last two hours. I knew I wasn’t going to pick up in the Silvers as the diagonal bank was catching Skimmers regularly with the ripple helping their cause. My Silvers weighed in at 26lb 2oz for eighth in the Silver. My total weight was 34-12-0 for nowhere overall. Nonetheless it was very enjoyable catching 26lb of Silvers.
Yesterday Bela talked me in to going again today, to Landsend. However, I can’t go to a match without a pint of casters in the handbag, so I chanced my arm and rang Tony Rixon. Although he informed me he wasn’t going to the match today (petticoat government and all that). However, Tony contacted Fabio who lives above the shop and has recently been promoted to head night watchman and kindly brought casters to the match for me. What excellent service you get from this shop. I sometimes think Tony isn’t appreciated enough by the anglers that get similar service week in and week out. Thanks “long time acquaintance”.
Including today there have been six matches in six days on this venue. So it wasn’t unreasonable to think that the fishing would be hard. Taking everything in to account I think it fished reasonably well. What an amazing venue in this respect.
With the leader missing Mike West stood in as organiser. I must say Mike did a good job, well done matey. In to the bottomless draw bucket and out comes peg 22 on Match Lake. Ken Rayner had read my blog from yesterday and said don’t waste a good Carp peg today! OK Ken. On arriving at the peg I had the latest self promoted top South West Silvers angler on peg 21. I was relived when Fabio chose to fish for Carp, giving me half a chance.
I set up three rigs a “Boy Blue” Wire stem Jolly (rather than my normal Pink Lady) for expander pellet to be fished out in front at 9.5 metres (about down the middle) a paste rig to fish over the same line later in the match and of course my Ronnie rig to fish along the RH margin.
I started on the 3mm expander pellet with the Boy Blue (the only rig I used all match) I had decided it best to keep the feed to very little but often, so I kinder potted in a few 1mm expander pellet after every bite. I had a 3lb Carp first put in quickly followed by another. Luckily the Skimmers moved in and over the next three hours I had a wonderful days fishing catching a couple of Tench, three Crucian’s and regular Skimmers to 4lb. However, the last two hours were difficult so I up the feed utilising wetted micro and landed two more Carp. My four carp weighed in at 15lb 12oz and my Silvers 43lb 10oz. This put me fourth overall and first in the Silvers (mission accomplished in this respect).
The match was won by Craig (Trig) Edmonds (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 75lb 9oz from peg 15. Trig caught over to the island and down his LH margin using hard 8mm pellet. Trig did try the “Mango Tree” to his right but couldn’t cope with the number of rigs he was losing.
Full Result:
1. Craig (Trigger) Edmonds 75-09-0 peg 15
2. Scott Puddy 69-10-0 peg 1
3. Dave Roper 68-15-0 peg 19
4. Mike Nicholls 59-06-0 peg 22
5. Phil (Fabio) Harding 59-01-0 peg 21
6. Andy France 52-14-0 peg 3
Top Silvers:
1. Mike Nicholls 43-10-0 peg 22
2. John (Gimp) Bradford 25-05-0 peg 13
3. Martin Pettifer 20-14-0 peg 28
Today was the first round of the Carps AC Summer League at the Viaduct Fishery. Last year I was limited to fishing the occasional match as a guest, as I enjoyed it so much I decided to join the league thisn year even though I will miss one match.
Bela had some how managed to be first in the queue, so I pushed in to third to draw (any arguments see Bela)! Bela had drawn his usual section – peg 100 on Carey. Luckily (perhaps) I pulled peg 131 an area that I seemed to be drawing a lot lately. Alan Oram had won from the peg yesterday and speaking to him he hadn’t had anything on the meat, more importantly very few Silvers. I had set my mind set on this species for the overall league, so I was a bit wary. I set up two paste rigs one for the margin and one to be fished at 11.5 metres, plus one 4x14 wired Jolly to fish with meat at 7 metres. Starting on the 8mm meat I found exactly the same as Alan the meat was soon being attacked by Ronnie’s and after twenty minutes or so all I had to show for it was two tiny Skimmers. As a few big Skimmers had been coming out on small pieces of paste I decide to give this a go using the kinder pot and a few hard 4’s at 11.5 metres I had six decent Carp to 10 lb in the first six put in’s. Not what I wanted. To Glenn Baileys dismay (two pegs up on 129) who at this stage had very little I decided to open up a CW&C line also at seven metres but at 2 o clock. This resulted in one dropped Ronnie, blimey I was in trouble. I was overcome with doubt as to whether I should go back out with the paste and try for a Carp weight. So I gave it another try and after losing a foul hooked Carp I landed another small one. At this stage it was obvious that the Skimmers south of the spit were not either feeding or on holiday and Carp slaying would be a deviation from the plan so I made the decision (right or wrong) to set up a Ronnie rig and got the caster out. With now only three hours of the match left the most I could expect was 15 lb (30lb per six hours), but it might be enough. So I stuck with this for the rest of the match. My seven Carp weighed in at 42lb 7oz and as predicted my Silvers went 15lb 5oz for a total of 57lb 12oz. This put me joint second in the section Silvers and third in the overall section. However, I did manage to pick up the Silvers section by default jointly with Mark Bird (why do they call him Budgie, I think of Adam Faith when I hear this nick name)! I think my decision to stick to “The Plan” was right.
What a wonderful venue, where else can you catch 25lb of Silvers off any peg. A word of warning though, the owners have changed the names of the Lakes. Horseshoe is now “The match Lake” and the Match Lake is? So I will be careful when booking the venue or booking in to a match.
The owners had close the entire Lake for us, however, I think they were expecting the Lake to be full as I overheard Colin Golding getting a scalding from the owner for taking up the entire Lake. As usual Colin talked her round.
Second in to the draw box and out pops peg 26. Chris Davis reminded me it’s the peg I broke my pole the last time I drew it. I was happy with this as there are plenty of Ronnie’s in this swim.
I set up a paste rig for the margin, I don’t know why now as it didn’t get wet. I set up a Skimmer rig for 11.5 metres and three Ronnie rigs. I started on the Skimmer line fishing 6mm meat over meat for a change. I did have a couple of decent Skimmers before the Carp showed up I caught two and decided to give this up and concentrate on the Ronnie’s. I caught on all three rigs but caught the lions share on the 2 metre whip at full depth using caster over loose fed caster. I fed about one pint.
My two Carp weighed in at 8lb 13oz and my Silvers weighed 36lb 5oz for a grand total of 45lb 2oz (pictured right). This put me fifth overall and first on the Silvers.
The match was won by Dave Baker (picture right with some of his catch) with 125lb 12oz from peg 29. Dave caught on the Method Feeder using hair rigged 8mm hard pellet using IM5 green GB in his mould.
Full Result:
1. Dave Baker 125-12-0 peg 19
2. Chris Davis 81-06-0 peg 38
3. John Thompson 72-09-0 peg 29
4. Mike Owens 59-11-0 peg 4
5. Mike Nicholls 45-02-0 peg 26
6. Steve Dawson 34-13-0 peg 12
Top Silvers:
1. Mike Nicholls 36-05-0 peg 26
2. Andy Gard 29-05-0 peg 8
3. Steve Dawson 28-02-0 peg 12
After a decent breakfast at Hill Tops it was off to the draw at Chiltern Trinity – Wild Marsh Lake and it certainly lived up to it’s name with the Wild gusting winds that welcomed us.
I was one of the last to draw – again, so I let Tony Rixon pull the peg for me (for the last time), I wish I hadn’t because out comes peg 59 on the road bank. In my experience it’s not been the best places to draw. Arriving at the peg I found that I had the high gusting wind off my back with the peg looking pretty manageable with any method. I also had a bank of Water Lily to my right pads (pictured right). For some unknown reason I have never caught anything near this plant, nor do I know anyone that has. However they still remain tantalising to us anglers if not the fish.
I had Charlie Barns two pegs to my right and Joe Thompson next peg to my left so lady luck had concocted pensioner’s corner. I think we are put there to be out of the main action.
As it was a practice match for the float only series I set up everything except a feeder, which may have been the right method on this peg. Two Ronnie rigs one for 2 metres and the other for 7 metres, two paste rigs, one for 9 metres and yes one for the Lily’s. The Waggler rod was untangled and it was soon apparent after a few setting up casts that the tow was far too great for it to work properly, it was like fishing the Bristol Avon in summer flow. I then set up a 4x14 rig for the CW&C which I decided from my limited previous experience would be my main method.
I started by cupping in the messy business at 11.5 metres, starting on the caster at 7 metres expecting to catch Ronnie’s from the off, but after fifteen minutes I had one small Rudd and one missed bite. So out on the Worm and I had the usual initial run of Ronnie’s until I hooked and landed a 2 ½ lb Skimmer. I then bumped two decent fish I then had an Eel. The swim died so I re-fed the messy business and hooked an enormous fish (which explained why the swim had gone dead) which went to the middle of the lake bottoming out the elastic and finally breaking the elastic so I lost the lot. All this in the first hour which marked the time my match was over. After setting up a new rig I struggled for another bite adding three more Eel’s. I tried everything and couldn’t get bite. I weighed 5lb 12oz for no where.
