Wednesday 20/06/2012 - Mike Nicholls and Tony Rixon Pole Only Open - Viaduct - Campbell and Carey

It was nice to be able to walk to the draw complete with tackle for the Mike Nicholls and Tony Rixon Pole Only Open on Campbell and Carey. Our contributions were for Tony collect names and moaned a bit, whilst I did the advertising, with the Viaduct Management doing the rest of the organisation!!

I was well back in the draw queue rewarded me with peg 100 on Carey – yippee - a peg which can throw up big weights of Bream. Tony drew peg 90 (hence the grumbling).

Glenn drew peg 112, Martin peg 80 and Mark peg 86.

With the Gimp one side of me on peg 102 I was hoping for a quite days fishing until Master Flip-Flop, came along and sat on peg 99 – peace shattered for the day.

I set up just the two rigs, Paste and a Skimmer rig both to be fished at 10 metres. As I had some worms and casters both on their last legs I decided to fish this on the Skimmer rig in to white water (always my preference to watch a black top float). On the whistle I put in a big pot of CW&C, starting on the paste kindering micro and a few 4’s I had a Bream first cast – happy days – not - as other than a speared 4oz Skimmer this line produced nothing else although I spent of lot of time trying it, which I was encouraged to by Howard on peg 97 who was catching Bream regularly on paste. On to the Worm line and another Bream and a quick Tench before this swim died and once again I spent far too long on this line trying to make it work, the reward being one 10lb Common Carp in pristine condition. With an hour to go both my swim was completely devoid. So in my need for bites I set up my Ronnie rig and fishing down the margin with single caster doubled my weight of Silvers. Had I switched to this at the same time Tom Thick had abandoned his Silver lines and went Carp thrashing at 14.5 metres I think I would have sneaked in third in the Silvers.

My one Carp weighed 10lb 8oz and the Silvers 22lb 3oz (beating the Gimp by a pound – however Joe Thompson beating both of us with his 23lb 10oz) for a not so grand total of 33lb 10oz.

The match was won by Andy Power (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 223lb 4oz from peg 119. Andy caught at 16 metres up to the end bank catching shallow on 8mm banded pellet over loose fed 8’s. Andy fed about three pints.

The Silvers was won by Tim Pallant with 39lb 9oz from peg 81. Tim caught quality fish up to the spit using CW&C. Tim “said” he fed I kg of Worm and 4 pints of caster. I don’t know how he fed this much bait in six hours through a kinder pot!

Full Result:

1.      Andy Power 223-04-0 peg 119

2.      Tony Wittcomb 167-02-0 peg 76

3.      Tom Thick 155-12-0 peg 99

4.      Phil Harding 130-09-0 peg 116

5.      Glenn Bailey 119-01-0 peg 112

6.      Matt Tomes 116-14-0 peg 111

Top Silvers:

1.      Tim Pallant 39-09-0 peg 81

2.      Howard Webb 32-05-0 peg 97

Tuesday 19/06/2012 - Acorn Open - Paddocks

It was necessary to get up early as it was off to Acorn Fishery for their Tuesday open Match. Glad we were, as it was a perfect British start, sitting drinking my first cuppa of day looking at the scene pictured right, with all the promise of a beautiful summer’s day – at last.

After a breakfast at the fishery it was in to the ping pong ball bag (Ray Bazeley was draw master and has a thing about balls). As I was on holiday and it was going to be wall to wall sunshine I didn’t mind where I drew. As it happen this was a good tactic as out come peg 3. Happy with this as there are only three pegs in on the Island. Then Glenn Bailey arrived on peg 1 and started to spoil the day by moaning about his peg being crap. He wasn’t kidding me as I thought it was spot on (this might be a tactic of his). On peg 5 as company I had that nice man again Andy Shields, who is looking for a part time job to pay for his broken butt section! Both Martin and Mark both drew well next to Bridges’ pegs 22 and 34.

Still in the holiday mood it was out with the top four only to fish down the inside shelf and the LH margin. I set up for rigs a 4x14 Stainey (because it was flat calm) for the Skimmers and soft pellet, a paste float to fish over the Skimmer line later for Carp, a paste rig for the margin and a 4x12 jolly margin caster rig.

Acting on duff info I went all out for the Skimmers feeding two lines, 1 o clock and 2 o clock with wetted micro through the Kinder pot. After an hour I had six 6oz Skimmers. It wasn’t happening, whilst Glenn was catching 3lb Carp over to the far bank. I had been feeding casters in the margin so in I went with a single on the hook and had a run of Ronnie’s, Rudd, tiny Tench, three F1’s and a couple of 2lb Skimmers. I was enjoying myself when small 1 ½ lb Carp arrived. I caught about nine and tried the Skimmers again having been feeding micros over the RH swim and 4’s over the LH swims. The result was just two tiny skimmers from each line. So it was back in to the margin, this time with paste but still feeding the caster (all fish love this bait). First put in I had a 4lb Tench in perfect condition. Then a run of those small Carp again. Glenn was still catching 3lb Carp, so I decided to forget the Silvers and with two hours to go switched to the paste over the micro line. I landed nine quick Carp to six pounds, when the fizz started and a couple of Foul hookers escaped the net. I was strange (perhaps not) I could only catch once the fizzing  stopped, so it was feed (by hand – bigger spread) and into the margin until the fizzing stopped catch some more squeakers, then out on the paste until the swim went quite. With an hour to go a small carp jump out of my keep net – I nearly gave me a heart attack!!

This mornings breakfast suddenly met up with last nights curry and an uncomfortable half followed. I couldn’t get to the toilet because of disturbing peg 40 – Harry Muir - it was touch and go for a while!

Glenn (pictured right with his catch) was first to weigh and put 74lb on the scales – I thought he had beaten me hands down from his crap peg!!

I was next to weigh and put 15lb 8oz of Silvers (pictured right with the Tench) on the scales followed by 61lb 8oz of Carp for a total of 77lb. This left me fourth in the Silvers and second overall.

The match and the Silvers was won by Dave Wride (pictured lower right with the runner up) with 34lb 2oz of Silvers and 44lb 10oz of Carp from peg 24. Dave caught his fish on 4 and 6 soft pellet fished over micro and 4’s fished down the far shelf (where he suggested I fished and took no notice!)

Mark peg 34 – 28lb

Martin peg  22 - 52lb (7^th)

Full Result:

1.      Dave Wride 78-12-0 peg 24

2.      Mike Nicholls 77-0-0 peg 3

3.      Glenn bailey 74-0-0 peg 1

4.      Mike Owens 60-0-0 peg 14

5.      Andy France 59-04-0 peg 21

6.      Clive Richards 56-04-0 peg 6

Top Silvers:

1.      Dave Wride 34-02-0 peg 22

2.      Andy Gard 22-05-0 peg 30

3.      Mike Owens 17-06-0 peg 14

Sunday 17/06/2012 - Avon Angling Float Only - Sedges - Brick and Tile Lakes

It was up at 07:30 to be welcomed to the new morn by view out of my bedroom window, wonderful, all the ingredients to get you itching to get fishing. After breakfast in Woody’s café it was off to Sedges for Tony’s float only. I would have preferred to fish Match Lake with Woody, but because I have already missed one match I couldn’t afford to miss another.

Woody drew peg 44 on Match Lake and had a good day coming fourth overall with 53lb and second in the Silvers with 12lb. Glenn and Mark Tanner (who arrived today) went pleasure fishing outside the Lodge with Glenn landing a twenty pounder. Mark caught 3 ½ lb Chub then disappeared until the early hours of the morning!

In to the draw tin and out comes peg 40 on Tile Lake – excellent draw for Silvers and Carp, this would be the third time I have drawn this peg and have so far always come away with coin.

Dave Roper was behind me on peg 4 and trundled pass me with his tackle trolley (pictured right). How did he get it his car? Dave had fished my peg the week before and said he could only catch at 8 metres with meat over meat coming second on the Lake. Dave tried the paste down the LH margin and caught nought. Tony came along and said paste worked last week, but not until the last hour.

I had already decided to fish for Ronnie’s and the paste down the margin for carp. So my Ronnie rig for caster over caster (the casters Anton Page was throwing away) and a paste rig was set up in 15 minuets. I didn’t bother with a full depth rig as I haven’t found it productive on this peg. The plan was all out for Ronnie’s, trying the paste from time to time. The wind was blowing in at me at 1 o clock but for once was helpful, giving me some cover. Starting out in front I had a fish straight off. However, it was slower than normal so having fed the margin with hard 4’s for the paste I switched to fishing and feeding the caster in the same vicinity. The fishing improved catching ½ oz to 3oz hybrids (nice to see these new arrivals) and Ronnie’s to 3oz. I kept trying the paste at 11.5 metres but was soon aware that the Carp weren’t there by the incessant nibbling by the tiny silvers. The Silvers had started to slow down just before the last hour and another try on the paste and no nibbling – perfectly still float and with the pole tightly gripped a Carp was soon hooked and netted. Unfortunately the next Carp broke the 0.18 so out came the 0.22 and another five Carp were soon in the net. With twenty minutes left some horrible slimy scum appeared and I couldn’t get my paste through it, which wasted, potentially catching another two fish, me thinks.

My six carp weighed in at 36lb 9oz and my net of whitebait went 16lb 8oz for a total of 53lb 1oz. This gave me a section win – as would be expected from this peg as a minimum, but a disappointing 8^th overall and 5^th in the Silvers, not as disappointing as I was expecting Brick Lake to produce the winners of this category.

The match was won by Fabsy (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 76lb 7oz from peg 20 on brick Lake. Fabsey caught shallow out in front on the pole using banded pellet over loose fed pellet. Matey Bela was on the next peg 19 and fishing the same finished runner up.

The Silvers was won by guest angler Shane Casswell with 39lb of Skimmers from peg 18. Shane started by feeding ten balls of GB laced with micro and casters at 13 metres fishing worm hook bait over the top, feeding chopped worm over the top through the kinder cup.

Full Result:

1.      Phil Harding 76-07-0 peg 20

2.      Bela Bakos 69-09-0 peg 19

3.      Chris Fox 64-14-0 peg 6

4.      John Thompson 63-15-0 peg 23

5.      Anton Page 61-15-0 peg 8

6.      Tony Rixon 60-09-0 peg 32

7.      Joe McMahan 60-03-0 peg 24

8.      Mike Nicholls 53-01-0 peg 40

Top Silvers:

1.      Shane Caswell 39-0-0 peg 18

2.      Nick Collins 27-06-0 peg 17

3.      John Thompson 18-03-0 peg 23

Saturday 16/06/21012 - Viaduct Open

Today is the “Glorious 16^th June”, the start of the coarse fishing season, which is the date we have historically chosen for our annual fishing holiday. However, because of the advent of Commercial Fisheries and no close season on Canals it’s not so “Glorious” these days, but we do have our holiday to look forward to instead.

This year we elected to visit Viaduct Fishery, choosing one of the two new Lodges’ (pictured right – with Glenn Bailey stocking the Pinky Ponk - more on the Lodges later). The line up is Mark Tanner, Bela Bakos, Glenn Bailey, Martin “Woody” Woodington and me, with Tim Ford planning to come down midweek for a couple of days to bank run for us and a good drink in the evening. Unfortunately, Bela had to cancel because of the pressure of work; he can only work when it’s not raining, so well behind!

Luckily Woody’s café open in time for this holiday, giving our resident gourmet Chef a break.

I was hoping for any peg so long as the first two numbers were 11. Not quite out came peg 130. Not one of my favourite pegs as it tends to be a bit of a Carp Slayers peg with the lead and waggler the order of the day. I must admit there were plenty of Carp showing out by the aerator. I elected to ignore this and fish the usual short pole. The wind was again blowing in to me at 1 o clock and was gusting in all directions. I set the usual Skimmer rig and Paste rig to be fished at 7 metres and a paste rig for the RH margin. Starting on the meat for the Skimmers I hooked and landed two decent Carp, before I landing a couple of Tench and some hand size Skimmers. The wind was a nightmare. I then had a blank period with no signs of fish. So I switched to paste over micro, which only produced a small Carp. I was struggling to say the least. I pumped up some expanders and tried them and did have a few more hand size Skimmers. But I was getting pestered by the Ronnie’s taking the pellet on the drop. I decided to walk the section to see what was happening and from what I could gather everyone was struggling, so in with a chance of coin, back to the peg and head down with meat which accounted for three more Tench, two more Carp and more hand size Skimmers. The margin produced nothing of mention – just some speared motherless.

My Silvers weighed in at 25lb 14oz and adding my five Carp weighing 30lb 13oz for a total of 56lb 11oz. This left me third in the Silvers and third in the bank section.

The match was won by Martin Lenaghan (pictured right) with 188lb 6oz from peg 119. martin caught long down to the end margin using 8mm hard banded pellet fished over loose fed 8’s.

The Silvers was won by Silver guru Charlie Barnes (pictured right) with 30lb 5oz from peg 80. Charlie caught on 4mm expander fished over wetted hard 4’s fished at 10 metres up to the spit.

Glenn drew peg 85 on Carey and netted 10 Carp for 83lb 6oz for section second and Woody on his first visit drew peg 123 on Campbell – a peg I am still waiting to draw!! Woody netted 59lb 12oz.

Full Result:

1.      Martin Lenaghan 188-06-0 peg 119

2.      Dan “The Dude” Squires 167-05-0 peg 78

3.      Jim Cooper 161-10-0 peg 110

4.      Phil Caudwell 139-15-0 peg 115

5.      Jon Gray 125-12-0 peg 116

6.      Nick Ewers  111-01-0 peg 111

Top Silvers:

1.      Charlie Barnes 30-05-0 peg 80

2.      John Green 29-10-0 peg 126 (He’s Back)

3.      Steve Jackson 28-03-0 peg 129

4.      Mike Nicholls 25-14-0 peg 130

Sunday 10/06/2012 - Viaduct Open - Campbell Lake

Bela and I were back down to Viaduct for the Fishery Open on Campbell. However, it was touch and go whether Bela would go as his Dad was rushed to hospital on Saturday morning plus I left him in the pup chatting up a young pretty thing. Luckily Dad has improved and waiting for the results of tests and Bela only got a coffee out of the pretty thing – that’s what he told me!! After a breakfast in Woody’s it was in to the coffee tin – unusually last – and out comes a peg I seem to draw a lot 119. Happy with this although I had my doubts about the Silvers which was the species I was planning to target today. For company I had venue regular and expert Mash on peg 118 – up against it then.

Three lines chosen. RH margin at 5.5 metres (worm over caster), out in front also at 5.5 metres (meat over meat), 11.5 metres down towards the clump of grass at 11.5 metres (paste over hard 4’s).

On the whistle I loose fed some meat in to the in front line. A big pot of caster in to the margin and a few 4's at 11.5 metres. Starting on the meat I had a few small Skimmers and a flying Bream – happy days. I then pulled out of a Tench – bugger. The Carp then mooched in and I had six good-uns fishing on the drop, feeding through the kinder pot. The Ronnie’s then moved in adding just a few before I tried the margin. Throughout the match I fed 4 to 5 pints of borrowed old casters which produced one Tench, one Carp and one Ronnie, even though I kept trying it no more of this line. Out to the 11.5 metre paste rig and I had another run of Silvers before the Carp arrived landing another six of the blighters’. Out on the 6mm meat (more feed per tin) again and another few Skimmers and a couple of Tench, before the Carp again – a pattern forming me thinks. Having tries around the various lines again I decided to convert the meat line to paste by feeding a big pot of the lastest rubbery micro. This did result in a run of big Skimmers and another Tench – yes I spent the remainder of the match catch Carp.

My Silvers weighed in at 38lb and my 22 Carp 139lb 10oz for a total of 177lb 10oz. This unfortunately left me second in the Silvers and third overall. I did win the bank which was rewarding. On reflection if I had open yet another line I might have got the extra Silvers I needed and if I had focussed on the Carp I might have won the match – it’s all about making decisions. Nonetheless a great match.

The match was won by Phil Cardwell (pictured right with the Silvers winner) from spit peg 129 with 186lb 13oz. Phil initially caught “Bob the Bread” Style – popped up bread on the lead. Phil then switched to waggler and pole using hard pellet over loose fed pellet to keep the Carp coming.

The Silvers was won by Dave White from peg 112 with 46lb. Dave caught Bream using 8mm meat over loose fed 8mm meat in to his RH margin on his top set.

In recognition of the lads tons I listed all those that exceed this weight – today the list is long. I can’t prise this fishery enough.

Tony Rixon and I are running a Pole Only on Wednesday 20th June. Best book in early with Tony (01179517250) or at Viaduct on (01458274022) as I suspect it will be a sale out.

Full Result:

1.      Paul  Caudwell 186-13-0 peg 129

2.      Mark Wynne 185-13-0 peg 123

3.      Mike Nicholls 177-10-0 peg 119

4.      Dave White 162-0-0 peg 112

5.      Paul Blake 154-14-0 peg 114

6.      Gary O’Shea 149-0-0 peg 126

7.      Mash 143-02-0 peg 118

8.      Bela Bakos 120-06-0 peg 128

9.      Nicky Ewers 120-04-0 peg 116

10. Liam (clockspring) Bartlett 107-04-0 peg 130

Top Silvers:

1.      Mark Wynne 46-0-0 peg 112

2.      Mike Nicholls 38-0-0 peg 119

3.      Mash 31-08-0 peg 118

Thursday 07/06/2012 - Bathampton AA - Over 55's and Disabled - Bridge Pool

With gale force winds and torrential rain all day it was more fitting for late October. The twenty three anglers who turned up today deserved a medal and another for staying the distance. It seems as if the UK has moved from May to October in just three days.

Yet another change to the draw system, we are now using 10mm diameter washers with waterproof (hopefully) numbers written on them, again supplied by Ray Bazeley - sorry Rolls Royce. As they are the same size as a 5p coin it won’t belong before they find thier way into the Dodgers purses – what on earth was wrong with the card draw tickets we have been using for 40 years?

In to the £500 bank bag (Mike Joneses) and out comes peg 26. Very happy with this, that was until I arrived at the peg I found the wind and rain was coming into the peg at 1 o clock into my face – bugger. That said it’s a great Skimmer peg, with the odd Carp expected. Peg 26 has a really strange margin topography, however, I still set up a margin rig for meat as paste was a no-no due to the weather conditions – this rig had one outing resulting in one 4oz Hybrid. So the 4x18 Jolly was to do all the work today and because of the conditions it would be fished at 12 o clock and 9 o clock (down wind) both lines at 5 metres. The 9 o clock swim was fed for 3mm expander over micro and the 12 o clock swim CW&C. Having fed both is was out on the worm which after a ten minute wait resulted in a run of 1-1 ½ Skimmers, After re-feeding I tried the expander line and after missing three bites I hooked and landed a ½ oz Ronnie, persistence only produced another of the same so the line was abandoned. Back out on the Caster line and I managed to keep a few Skimmers going in the net despite the wind buggering the presentation. With two hours to go I hooked and landed a 12lb Common which straightened the hook a tad, so as one does I bent it back (Dad would have bollocked me for doing this). Next put in another Carp and another need to reform the hook. There were three reasons why the Carp had arrived - either the time of day or I had been over doing the caster feed, or a combo of both. I think I answered the question after re-feeding I foul hooked a Carp which luckily came free without breaking the hook. Next cast I lost a Carp due to the hook breaking – you were right again Dad – sorry. I did land another Carp before the end making it three – I think!!

I must admit I was glad to hear the whistle as the wind got up too much for any sort of presentation. My three Carp weighed 28lb and my all Skimmer net weighed 28lb – ditto - for a grand total of 56lb. This left me third overall and first in the Silvers.

The match was won by Terry Bruton from peg 33 landing nine Carp for a total of 69lb 2oz. Terry fished all match in both his margins using punched meat hook bait, fished over cubes of kinder potted meat. It took Terry two hours before catching his first Carp – fair play I say.

For the first time the photographer was beaten by the weather conditions.

Full Result:

1.      Terry Bruton 69-02-0 peg 33

2.      Martin Alexander 67-13-0 peg 18

3.      Mike Nicholls 56-0-0 peg 26

4.      Pete Phillips 46-06-0 peg 11

5.      Bob Tilley 42-0-0 peg 10

6.      Bob Price 35-07-0 peg 15

Top Silvers:

1.      Mike Nicholls 28-0-0 peg 26

2.      Dave bacon 18-02-0 peg 19

3.      Chris Rolfe 14-08-0 peg 14

Tuesday 05/06/2012 - Diamond Jubilee Seven Metre Limit Open - Viaduct - Campbell, Carey and Lodge

After spending four days in Brighton staying in “The only thing that’s not Premier is the price” Hotel – Umm – no Lenny Henry. Most of yesterday was spent trying to contact a phone lying on the bottom of Landsend Match Lake. I finally managed to arrange the pick up time with Bela. With both of us having different draw start times, we settled on a breakfast at the fishery.

I put an interesting email around showing a strange hybrid fish – Goldfish/Bream/Roach. I had a reply from one recipient, identifying a much stranger species, I agree (pictured right). Apparently a stunted one of the species!!

With the choice of watching an 86 year old being towed around London in a horse and cart or fishing – fishing it was, which most angler’s chose, with 51 booked in it was all three Lakes in the draw.  Second into the coffee tin and out comes peg 114 – happy with that, but not happy about the weather it was rain for most of the feeling more like October than “blazing June”.

It was a top set plus 3 section (7 metres in my reckoning) match, which suited me. However, peg 114 is well set back from both adjacent pegs, but I had plenty of room to my Left as 113 isn’t usually pegged (it’s even further back).

My plan was to use just the two baits – Paste and 6mm Meat. Tow paste rigs one for 7 metres and the other 5 metres down the LH margin where I found three foot of water. The meat rig was also to be fished at 7 metres which was the usual Jolly with a number 14 - 808. As we were setting up the rail started which isn’t conducive with paste fishing. So I started on the meat and caught three good Carp and a Tench straight off. I managed another six Carp and a couple of Tench and Skimmers before the carp backed off and Barry Fitchew on peg 115 started to bag also on meat. From my perspective it looked as if he was fishing 13 metres! The rain had turned to a drizzle so out went the paste over the meat dripping hard 4’s instead.  Had to wait but landed a 10lb Carp a Tench and a Skimmer before the waiting for a bite became too long. In to the margin with paste which was productive for hooking fish but not landing them. I did put four more Tench, two Skimmers, one Perch and ten Carp in between losing five foul hookers and five breaking me in the dense margin. I did find a more reliable place to fish, but if I presented the paste just a small distance away I would end up fight undergrowth.

I was surprised with my weight (again) with my 10lb of Silvers weighing 20lb 10oz and my twenty Carp 126lb 7oz for a total of 147lb 1oz. This left me 7^th overall rueing the lost Carp. Worse than that if Mr (Clicker) Rixon had clicked his fish correctly, he wouldn’t had gone over the 70lb limit by 3lb pushing him one out of the overall coin, this would left me with the section by triple default  twat!

The match was won by Des Shipp (pictured right) with 225lb 11oz from peg 135. Des fished out in front and down his left hand margin using 6 and 8mm meat. Des fed three tins throughout the match.

The Silvers was won from Lodge peg 70 by Anton Page with 39lb 5oz. Again Anton fished meat over meat catching quality skimmers at 7 metres.

Overall ii was a very successful match with the overall weights improving due to 7 metre limit, with everyone going home without a bad back – except that is Steve Long who had to weigh in Campbell - what a venue.

Full Result:

1.      Des Shipp 225-11-0 peg 135

2.      Craig Edmonds 184-08-0 peg 110

3.      Barry Fitchew 179-03-0 peg 115

4.      Chris Davis 160-12-0 peg 59

5.      Alex Murray 157-10-0 peg 119

6.      Tony Rixon 155-08-0 peg 118

7.      Mike Nicholls 147-01-0 peg 114

8.      Steve Evans 145-03-0 peg 112

9.      Leyton Palmer 122-13-0 peg 73

10. Alan Oram 118-04-0 peg 116

11. Vince Shipp 108-04-0 peg 128

Top Silvers:

1.      Anton page 39-05-0 peg 70

2.      John Bradford 36-05-0 peg 68

3.      Martin Preston 29-04-0 peg 62

Top weight on Carey Lake was 88lb from peg 94