Wednesday 30/06/2010 - Carps AC - Boyd Valley Lake

The Ronnie’s are a nuisance for the Carp Slayer at the moment on this venue. There are absolutely millions of them around the 1oz mark. Even I think they need thinning out! So I had a cunning plan to sort out the bigger Ronnie’s, so down to AA and I negotiated the purchased of a pint of Hemp and Tares.

I drew peg 8 which is a “Gap” peg and sought after by the feeder flingers. There was plenty of activity in the gap so I set up a 3AAA pellet waggler set to one foot deep for use with 8mm hard banded pellet. I also set up the usual Ronnie rig to use with either Tares or Caster. I couldn’t leave the paste out as it can be lethal on this venue (or use to be), so I set one up for the LH margin and one at 4 metres. Because of the Ronnie’s I also set up a 4x14 Jolly for the banded hard pellet. I started on the pellet waggler and soon realised that the water level of the Gap was down to about 6 inches! The level is down about one foot indicating that the leak is still there. So shallowed up as far a practical as the waggler was 4 inches long! Next cast I hooked and landed a 2lb Carp. Then they moved to the other side of the Gap so I fed it with 8mm pellet and went in after the Ronnie’s and didn't go back there. It was a difficult decision to make as whether to go back after the Carp or head down for the tiny Ronnie’s. I messed around with paste and hard pellet for half hour or so with only two small Tench to show for it. It’s becoming almost impossible to fish paste now on this venue. So with four hours to go I decided head down for the Ronnie’s and had one a bung for the rest of the match interrupted by seven accidental Carp. My accidentals weighed in at 18lb 8oz and my Ronnie’s 23lb 1oz for a combined weight of 41lb 9oz. This put me first in the Silvers and fourth overall. As for the cunning plan - the Tares were a bit too small, hence I caught the same size fish as with the caster, because of missed bires the caster was a tad quicker. I also was expecting the hemp to attract the Carp. If they did it was in small numbers!!

The match was won by John Thomson (picture right with half his catch) on peg 1 with 81lb 10oz all Carp catch. John caught half his fish on the method feeder and the other half in the RH margin. John used 10mm banded pellet on both methods.

Full Result:

1. John Thompson 81-10-0 peg 1
2. Bob Price 57.04-0 peg 3
3. Chris Davis 49-06-0 peg 5
4. Mike Nicholls 41-09-0 peg 8
5. Kevin Dicks 31-09-0 peg 12
6. Martin Alexander 29-08-0 peg 11

Top Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 23-01-0 peg 8
2. Chris Davis 17-12-0 peg 5
3. There were two more weights on 17lb!

Sunday 27/06/2010 - Carps AC - Summer League - Viaduct Fishery

I have said this before. The future of Angling is dependant on us bringing the youth of today into the sport. Bathampton AA does their fair share, organising all sorts of events on their waters. They even provide tackle for Children whose parents aren’t financial able to afford it. That was until last weekend when some low life broke in to one of their lock-ups at Huntstrete and stole the lot. So if anyone reading this gets offered any tackle such as Shimano Rods and Reels (a full list of items is available at your local tackle shop) contact the Police on 08454567000 referencing crime report 73845/10 or if you prefer anonymity call 0800555111. There is a £1,000 REWARD for catching these cretins.

I noticed that Viaduct Fishery are running a Pro/New starter event soon - good to see they also know where the furure lay.

Guesting again in the Carps AC Summer League as there were a few that stayed away to watch England get beat by Germany 4 -1 in the World Cup. Those that fished were glad that they did after this result. I think everyone had a radio to listen to it, but we needn’t have bothered as Bela brought his enormous “Wog Box” (pictured right tuning in). This was a bit disappointing but England won the two most important matches this weekend. We have now won the Cricket one day series against the Aussies AND won the World Angling Championship in Spain. No individual Gold, that went to one of the Welsh team. Well done lads.

With Carey and Lodge in the draw bag I was hoping for a peg on Lodge as there are some big Skimmers in this Lake. In to the hat and out came peg 66. Not only got my wish for Lodge but one of my favourite pegs to-boot. I set up three rigs – one 0.2 gram paste rig for the LH margin down to the empty pallet. Another paste 0.4 gram rig for out up to the tree line at 10 o clock and a 4x12 Jolly for the soft pellet over the same line. I fed the long line with a 125ml of wetted micro and 4mm. I decided to try the LH margin kinder potting in a small amount of 4mm in with the paste and I had a Carp first put in followed by a 4lb Tench. As anticipated the Ronnie’s moved in, so I decide to but two big pots of 4mm into this swim and allow it to cook for an hour whilst I went out on the long line (11.5metres) with paste and had a 2lb frisky Carp first put in followed by a couple of small Skimmers. This line was slow so tried the 4 mm expander which was soon snaffled by a 1oz Ronnie. With 2 hours now gone I decide to open up another line directly out in front by potting in half and half micro and 4mm pellet. I marked the rig line against the float with waterproof black marker and increase the depth by four inches to be just touching bottom. First put in another Carp (is there a pattern forming) followed by a Bream and another Tench. There was a lot of fizzing, which I read as Carp feeding above the Skimmers. So I made up an “up in the water paste rig” with a long line and after re-feeding went out on it. I then had five Carp in seven put in’s. I must say I didn't enjoy this much as you don't really get a proper bite. When the fizzing subsided I went down on the bottom with paste and had another two Carp. I then repeated the exercise adding another two Carp. With an hour left and England out of the World Cup I went down the edge and had four more Carp before the whistle – losing one foul hooker last but one put in. My accidental Silvers weighed in at 15lb 6oz and my 15 Carp weighed in at 79lb for a total of 94lb 6oz. This gave me a section win and a 2nd Overall.

The match was won by Alan Oram (pictured upper right with three of his better fish) on peg 94 with 99lb 10oz. Alan fished the “Conker” (11mm pellet rapped in paste) on the straight lead over to the end bank weed bed. Through out the match Alan loose fed two pints of 10 mm hard pellet.

The Silvers was won by Colin Dyer (pictured right sat by his infamous “Plastic Pig") with 31lb 9oz of quality Skimmers. Colin fished at 10 metres fishing hard pellet over micro. I must also mention that Colin won the Silvers yesterday on peg 81 with 80lb of quality Bream, well done matey. Charlie Barn’s drew it today and didn’t do quite as well!!

Full Result:

1. Alan Oram 99-10-0 peg 94
2. Mike Nicholls 94-06-0 peg 66
3. Anthony Page 82-04-0 peg 88
4. Gordon Cannings 71-11-0 peg 90
5. Dan Squires 69-06-0 peg 60
6. Glen Bailey 65-03-0 peg 97 (three times now)

Top Silvers:

1. Colin Dyer 31-09-0 peg 96
2. Steve Long 25-14-0 peg 103
3. Stu Foale 23-06-0 peg 62

Sunday 20/06/2010 - Tony Rixon Float Only League - Landsend

There was a space in Rip Off’s League at Landsend so I booked in. With the League paying four in the Silvers, the plan which was to target them using soft pellet and Paste if drawn on either Match or Specimen Lakes and caster and soft pellet if drawn on the top two Lakes. I drew peg 29 on Specimen, which does have some Skimmers history so I wasn’t disappointed, not yet anyway! Dean Mallin suggested it would be good for some Carp at 16 metres.

During my time in Project Management I had a Cardinal rule “never change the PLAN”. Unfortunately I broke my rule today at my cost. On arriving at my peg I could see six or so carp sun bathing close to the island. As there was no sign of Silver fish feeding on the bottom (or anything else). In addition to a 4x12 Jolly for the soft pellet and the usual paste float I also set up a 4x10 Drennan wire stem Chop with banded 8mm pellet (I wish I hadn’t done this). I fed my Silvers line at 13 metres with a dose of wetted micro with a few 4 mm pellet. I went over it with soft pellet and was pestered by Ronnie’s. So I picked up the Banded pellet and went over to the island. Because the Ronnie’s were active I decided not to feed this line. For the next two hours I landed five Carp and lost six foul hookers. Then the Aerator went off and so did the fish – moving back to peg 31. I kept trying the Silvers line only to be pestered by Ronnie’s, so I re-fed the line again and set up a Ronnie rig with caster. I spent ¾ of an hour catching one a bung but they were really small. I decided to loose feed the Carp line with 6mm hard pellet to see what reaction would get. So back on the Carp line and as I was half expecting the Ronnie’s were there waiting for the 8mm hard pellet! So with 20 minutes to go I decided to fish paste over the Silver line to the end. This is where I am kicking myself for not adhering to the PLAN. I had two Bream for 9lb and lost another foul hooked Carp on the all out (up in the water). My Silvers weighed 15lb and was one out of the Silvers pool (defaulted). My five Carp took my overall weight to 37lb 12oz. I thought I was too old to re-learn these lessons but obviously not.

During the match Joss Garrett caught an 11lb 2oz Grass Carp which had to be weighed and returned – Joss and this magnificent fish is pictured right.

The match was won by Craig “Trigger” Edmonds (pictured lower right with runner up Neil Mercer who was on the next peg (empty peg between them)) with 100lb 12oz from peg 36. Craig fished for Silvers for the first two hours as this wasn’t producing he switched to 16 metres with banded 8mm pellet. As he had been feeding the line from the start he had an instant start and caught Carp to 10lb steady to the end. Craig fed about 2 points of 6mm pellet.

And finally I must mention my travelling partner Bela Bakos who picked up his section pool from peg 40 by coming last in his section!!!


Full Result:

1. Craig Edmonds 100-12-0 peg 36
2. Neil Mercer 94-0-0 peg 38
3. Joss Garrett 79-07-0 peg 26
4. Leon Hubbard 66-04-0 peg 33
5. Tim Clarke 65-01-0 peg 41
6. Tom Magnol 64-08-0 peg 16

Top Silvers:

1. Vince Brown 31-03-0 peg 4
2. Shaun Townsend 21-0-0 peg 37
3. Martin Pettifore 19-01-0 peg 27

Friday 18/06/2010 - Gwinear Open

We were booked in to Morgan Porth; however, there was some discussion on changing the venue to Gwinear because it was offering a wider choice of fishing. So with a unanimous vote we booked in to Gwinear and tendered our apologies to Janet who was a tad disappointed.


On arrival it was good to see Chris Hancock’s dog locked in his van, he is a bloody nuisance ask Marl tanner (the dog I mean). We Steve already on his way home the remaining three of us drew on Phase 2 (see picture of the Lake map). Mark on peg 51, Glenn on 50 and me on peg 46. With the wind blowing in to my end albeit it to the opposite corner I was please with the peg. Paste had been working well on the venue so this was my first choice to be fished at 11 metres at 11 o clock which happened to be the shallowest part on the swim (remains of Simon’s bars). I also set up a jolly for the same swim for soft pellet or hard pellet with a hook length change. I didn’t fancy the end margin as it was flat calm, but always simple to set up a rig if need be. I had a good start catching the 2lb Carp “Stamp” fish for the first two hours, but it was fishing strange. I would catch a couple and then lose them for a while, Chris Davis said after he had experienced a similar problem. I think it’s because the fish are very strong fighters and zoom of taking spooking the shoal. As the match progressed the fish appeared to move up in the water and then completely disappeared. Unlike Phase 1 there are few Skimmers in this Lake and I only caught three which was a bit disappointing. I weighed in a par 57lb 6oz for 7th overall. With 15 minutes left Chris's dog sneaked up behind me and jumped on my back - nearly had an heart attack - a doggy paddle followed!!


The winner was Glenn Bailey (pictured right with half his catch – plus video of his weigh-in at the bottom of the page - glenn needed 40lb frim this last weigh(turn up the volume)) with 93lb 8oz (57 Carp). Glenn’s match was the reverse of mine, struggling for the first two hours fishing paste etc.. at depth. Glenn had been loose feeding at 16 metres and with two hours to go notice fish had arrived on the surface (probably mine). So a quick change to a shallow rig and Glenn caught 40 fish in the time remaining (on hindsight I should have tried up in the water after the first two hours). I could see Glenn from my swim and I must say he fished it very well and was without doubt the worthy winner. Well done matey.

Full Result:

1. Glenn Bailey 93-08-0 peg 50
2. John Thorley 90-04-0 peg 27
3. Dave Fantom 70-08-0 peg 40
4. Mick Powell 69-02-0 peg 22
5. Chris Davis 59-12-0 peg 18
6. Andy Fantom 58-12-0 peg 21
7. Mike Nicholls 57-06-0 peg 46

… Mark Tanner 38-08-0 peg 51

This was our last day’s holiday, so off home in the morning. Glenn had a phone call from his special one and discovered than she would still be in bed ay 09:30 the following day. Come 5 o clock in the morning I heard the wheels spinning on his car waking up most of the camp site!!

We have all decided to give Whiteacres a miss next year and try Stafford Moor, so the planning starts.

Thursday - 17/06/2010 - Whiteacres Residents Rover

I hate Rovers as I never know where to go and as usual there is much discussion on this topic. Whatever, I do like to make sure I get a day’s fishing as it is very easy to go for the win on noted pegs and end up catching nowt. The draw is at 08:45 and you first draw your place in the peg selection queue. Clint then blanks out the peg chosen on his new “Whip Board” (Clint pictured right doing just that). There were 71booked in to fish (I have fished this match when there were up to 200 fishing so the numbers are down). So in to the hat and out comes peg 09, great – no it was 60 upside down – bugger. The highest number in the, as usual Mark Tanner had the lowest draw pulling 7 and with two missing was fifth to select his peg. Mark went for peg 7 on Jenny’s Lake. Next was Glenn and went for the Pollawyn flyer peg 20. Steve was next and went for peg 16 on Jenny’s apparently Steve likes the sound of Aerators. Last year I selected peg 15 on Python and had a days fishing. So with 14 gone I went for peg 16 to have a bit of space. I was first to arrive at my peg and was pleased to see a Lady arrive on peg 14 (a bit sexist I suppose). I went and introduced myself to Margery. The way in was Margery presented herself and was going about setting up I felt she might be a threat. My attack was based on the F1’s and the Bream that can boost your weight. So two paste rigs, one for 10 metres which took me to just down the shelf and found a depth of 7 foot. Plumbing around I found a hole directly out in front, so I fished at 11 o clock in the shallowest part. The other rig was set up to fish at 1 metre in 4 foot of water. The plan was to put two big pots of 4 mm and Micros in at 10 metres and feed the 1 metre line with diced meat, still though to fish paste over. I started on this line with paste whilst I watched my 10 metre swim erupt with fiss – amazing sight. It wasn‘t long before I was plopping the paste over it as the inside line didn’t return anything and even though I tried once more before it was dumped. First plop-in at 10 metres I had a F1 on the drop, then a period of twenty minutes of frustration. During this time the fish had dug another hole 3 inches deep, which meant I had to keep moving the float and or increasing the depth. I then had a good two hours catching F1’s and the Skimmers which weren’t showing in the numbers I had expected. Margery had been fish meat at depth and also had been catching F1’s, but had slowed, so she went on pellet fished shallow and really started to bag the F’1’s again. I started to get worried I have to report that I got Marged, especially as it was a start of a bag hour for me. This dilemma was whether to feed or not as I was concerned that I would have another period of chaos. Well I left feeding too late and found that feeding a small amount on 4 mm I was able to increase my catch rate. By now I only had six Skimmers and was pleased when the next one was a four pounder. Would the bad decision on feeding effect my placing? I was first to weigh and put 65lb 5oz on the scales. This put me 5th overall with my mistake not really costing me.


Margery weighed 55lb for first overall in the Lady’s. Margery from Leeds is (pictured right with her trophy). I must say Margery fished a really tidy match and would take plenty of £1 coins on the South West circuit.

The match was won by Dave Heaton who chose peg 21 on Sycamore. Dave weighed in 115lb 14 oz of decent size Carp all caught on the pole with polly ball and 8lb line straight through over to the far bank. It was a surprise result from this peg, with Clint double checking with Dave that he knew which peg he was on. I think Dave knew something we didn’t.

Full Result:

1. Dave Heaton 115-14-0 peg 21 Sycamore
2. Alec Hulme 96-02-0 peg 17 T/O
3. Matt Grant 82-03-0 peg 30 T/O
4. Paul Haines 78-10-0 peg 6 Sycamore
5. Mike Nicholls 65-05-0 peg 16 Python
6. Dave Holland Snr 60-11-0 peg 1 Trelawney
.....
8. Glenn Bailey 55-0-0 peg 20 Polawyn
.....
Mark Tanner 45-04-0 peg 7 Jenny's
.....
Steve Nicholls DNW

Wednesday 16/06/2010 - Whiteacres

Wednesday is out match free day so pleasure sessions were planned. However, when I got up I found the team Carp Slayers had got up at 06:30 and went slaying down to Twin Oaks on pegs 14 and 16. After breakfast I decided to find them and sure enough Mark was on the method feeder and Glenn on the pellet waggler. Both are pictured right plus a picture of Glenn’s waggler, which is much larger than the 3/8 inch maximum allowed in the general rules!! Well they both struggled and were back by midday. Mark did have a 1lb 8oz Perch on the method!!

Steve and I went down to the Canal after the F1’s and Skimmers. After trying three different rigs I settled for paste at 1 metre and caught F1’s one a bung plus 1 Skimmer until I ran out of paste. The lake is absolutely rammed with Ronnie’s and they will saturate any small bait
including hard pellet. Although the Ronnie’s attack the paste they tend to feed off the particles and leave the paste for the bigger fish – well most of the time. I find pleasure fishing pointless and boring so I went and sat with Steve and soon had him on the paste short and soon he was on one a bung.

Watching the silver Match weigh in we stumbled across the guy pictured right looks like Geoff Stones has joined the floppy hat brigade. Geoff weighed 27lb dead for second in his section.

Curry night tonight so we are all off to Newquay.

Tuesday 15/06/2010 - Mawgan Porth Open

Glenn joined us today and started moaning straight away about his match on Lodge Lake at Viaduct. Weighing in two late Carp for 13lb!

Our first visit this year to Mawgan Porth, and what a lovely setting it is too. I took the opportunity to purchase a pair of Biker Sun glasses from Geoff, Janet’s Partner. They grip the back of your head so don’t fall off and are very strong - they better be.

Having had the usual riot act read to us by Janet, into the draw bag and peg 43 stuck to my hand, which meant my first trip over the bridge to the island and not a bad draw for once!! Island pegs 42 and 46 have better form. Opposite me were Glenn and Steve (both pictured right - setting up). I had decided to fish paste as I framed in the two matches I fish here last year with it. I set up two rigs both identical 0.2 gram Corn and Paste – just in case. One rig was set up on a special adapted number two and the other on a normal top set with 22 hollow elastic. On my bait table was 1 pint of 4mm wetted pellet and 2 pints of paste – simple. I started out in front on the long top set over loose fed pellet and had a small Carp straight away – then I was pestered by small Skimmers to 3oz. Even though Janet has removed 10,000 there are still millions left. In to the LH margin with the short top set and another Carp then again pestered by Skimmers. I am now thinking it was going to be one of those days. I also thanked my luck that I hadn’t fed anything in the LH margin. I decided to leave it that way and found I had made the right decision as I didn’t look back, having a good 2 hours bagging Carp to 2lb. I did keep feeding the LH margin in the hope that I would keep the Skimmers here. However, I did have the occasional dob-in only to confirm that it was still full if !Blades”. I find it difficult not to feed a swim and I kept thinking what if I fed the RH margin would my catch rate increase. Anyway come an hour to go I couldn’t help myself and started feeding. The Skimmers soon homed in, leaving me struggling for the last hour. I envisaged 20 or more Skimmers attacking the paste hiding the bait form the Carp. I soon stopped feeding and did manage a few more before the all out. I was last to weigh and needed to beat 87lb I thought I would fall short. My first net weighed exactly 40lb and knowing that the other net had the bigger fish that I would win - totalling 95lb 7oz.

Runner up was Colin Dumphy (pictured right with the winner and Lake Owner Janet) from St Helens. Colin initially drew peg 38 and put his foot through the platform wooden boards, not quite falling in. Some other of the platforms are also in need of repair. Janet moved him to peg 40.

Full Result:

1. Mike Nicholls 95-07-0 peg 43
2. Colin Dumphy 87-09-0 peg 40
3. Dave (Default Dave) Chinn 70-08-0 peg 36
4. Glenn Bailey 58-04-0 peg 36
5. Mark Tanner 56-09-0 peg 41
6. Steve Nicholls 56-0-0 peg 37