Met up with Geoff and others at the Staple Hill Wetherspoons, and another hotish breakfast. Arrived at the fishery to find the carp park unusually full. match limited to 23 so only those that booked in got to fish. One angler turned away! Is the sudden turnout due to the £300 double peg Golden Peg - not sure, that wasn't why I was here.
I had the honour of drawing the two golden pegs - 5 and 9 came out so no hope from these pegs at the moment. I was last but one into the draw bag and out comes peg 24. Happy with this as the fish appear to be at this end at the moment. The colour of the water and a few dyeing Silvers told the tale of the Silvers having spawned. For company I had Geoff Francis on peg 23 and Dave Willmott on peg 25 so must be loads of fish around.
The formula at this fishery is the a few Carp feed early with plenty feeding late with plenty of thinking time in between. So the plan was to initially fish for Silvers to try and secure some coin and to quickly switch to Carp if and when the showed up.
I set up a paste rig which was a waste of time. A 4x16 to fish top-set plus two in 9 foot of water for the Skimmers, a waggler again was a waste of time and a 4x12 Roob to fish in the RH margin at top-set plus one my Carp banker.
I fed a small ball of GB laced with maggot on the Skimmer line and fed some wetted micro into the margin. I did feed maggot on the waggler line, no more on this. I started with a single LR on the hook and started to catch Skimmers from 2 oz to 2 lb regularly which necessitated topping up just as regularly whilst the rest of the anglers were sat motionless. After two hours I reckon I had enough for the Silvers coin and with three carp winning the match I switched to Carp after the bigger coin. Into the margin on double LR's and the float buried and I was playing a right hard fighting Carp which broke a 0.16 hook length!! Fair play, it deserved to escape imprisonment. I then had a decent Skimmer and a Rudd! Then nothing for an hour. For the sake of boredom I went back fishing for Skimmers and had a couple more before I hooked another Carp which this time was landed. I felt I was still in the running with a 20 lb of Skimmers and the one Carp so sat the rest of the match in the margin catching one more Carp. It had fished hard as every fishery in the country has.
My two Carp weighed 10 lb 8 oz and my Silvers 19 lb 8 oz for a Silvers win and a fifth overall weight of 30 lb. I must say I did enjoy the Silver fishing today, however, a lot a anglers struggled for a bite, the Lake still hasn't recovered from all the netting the Lake has undergone.
The match was won by matey Geoff Francis (pictured right with his catch of Carp) with 49 lb 10 oz from peg 23. Geoff struggled for most of the match and with two hours left of the match and only one small Skimmer in the net Geoff switched to the straight lead with banded pellet over loose feed and caught two Carp. However, it wasn't until he switched to the waggler again with banded pellet that he caught some doubles which significantly boosted his weight. Geoff along with others struggled during the last 30 minutes. Well done matey pity it wasn't the golden peg.
It was back to the pub with the usual suspects. Great end to another day in paradise.
Thursday I'm off to Shiplate Cost cutter, spending Friday preparing for the Todber 3 dayer staying locally with Martin Rayet and the McMahon's.
Result:
Weigh Sheet:
Usual breakfast at Hungry Horace for Geoff and me. Arrived at the fishery in plenty of time for our usual walk around the Lake. It was evident that the Silvers had spawned, the usual casualties in the margins and plenty of weed debris. The water had also coloured up which was welcome. I was thinking Silvers wouldn't feed so fancied pegs 18, 21 preferably 24 for a Carp day.
It was good to see newbe Jeff Grant fishing today, which help boost the attendance to 21. So to give Jeff some enthusiasm to return we let him draw peg 18 sneaking into 4th place and last pick-up. He'll be back!
Today I suffered from peg theft. There's one thing choosing a preferred peg and drawing it and it's another asking me what peg I would prefer and drawing mine! Into the draw bag with two pegs left a preferred 21 and 30. Out comes peg 30 to find myself next to Ray Bazeley again who was on peg 29. Firstly I netted out a dead 2 lb Hybrid that had perished during spawning.
The wind was gusting all over the place nevertheless I set up the waggler to fish towards the opposite island for F1's and Carp. For the Silvers I set up the usual 4x16 Winter Titan to fish top-set plus two with 4mm Baitec expander over hard 4's. I started on this and was surprised to catch a 2 lb flying Skimmer first put-in. The upshot was I had an hour catching Skimmers from 1 lb to 1 1/2 lb whilst topping up with 4mm hard pellet through the kinder pot. The swim died which usually happens when fishing pellet. So I tried for a couple of hours trying to make the waggler work with single maggot over loose feed. When I did get some presentation I caught an F1 but only managed three small ones and another Skimmer. I did hook a 8 lb Carp which fought really hard managing to break my 0.14 hook length, however, there may have been some signs of the hooks spade end helping! After trying to revive the pellet line I set up 13 metres and cupped in a large amount of maggot, then packed the pole away and fished single maggot over it whilst loose feeding. I caught about another 4 lb of Skimmers mostly on the drop. Except for the bloody wind I really enjoyed the day.
My three F1's weighed 2 lb 8 oz and my Silvers 19 lb 4 oz for first in the Silvers.
The match was won by Tony Rixon (pictured right) from my fancied peg 24 with 76 lb of Carp. Tony caught on his favoured 8 mm pellet from many of the options from this peg. See his blog for the details.
it was more than the usual suspects back to the pub. Infact 10 of us. Jeff Grant kept us all longer than usual with his outrageous Irish fishing stories. A right laugh. Someone should write all this down.
Result:
1. Tony Rixon 76-0-0 peg 24
2. Paul Haines 27-13-0 peg 4
3. Bill Story 25-08-0 peg 10
4. Jeff Grant 24-14-0 peg 18
Silvers:
1. Mike Nicholls 19-04-0 peg 30
2. Steve Dawson 17-15-0 peg 16
3. Paul Barnfield 14-02-0 peg 6
Weigh Sheets:
Due to family commitments over the Easter weekend I couldn't defend my Todber Manor King of the Manor Silvers. Well done to consistent Jack Stamp who won it this year coming third last. I also missed the first of Tony Rixon's short pole match at Woodlands but I was lucky enough to get Tim Ford to fish who did well off a poor draw. I have finally succumbed to buying a fishing trolley - the Preston Shuttle seemed to be the most popular - right heavy piece of iron work! I need it more for carrying the rod holdall because carrying it has been affecting my shoulder.
So after some pining I was really looking forward to fishing Shiplate with Glenn Bailey.The weather over the weekend was really hot and bright so it was good to hear that although we would still be warm there would be some haze - always good for the fishing. I was last into the draw tin so had the choice of one - peg 10 on Hawthornes. Happy with this and had good company with Lewis Jones on peg 9 and Glynn Wickham on 12. I had a walk along the pegs and could see plenty of Carp at each end but not so many where I was drawn. Glenn had drawn peg 14 and with peg 15 not drawn I thought he stood a good chance of winning the Canal and overall. So I decided to fish for Silvers.
I setup a 4x14 Winter Titan to fish top-set plus one out in front with single LR's over GB laced with Pinkie and LR's. I also setup the Ronnie rig and a 0.3 gram shotted paste float just in case.
I started by feeding a reasonable ball of GB and had Skimmers fizzing straight away and had four in four put-ins. Happy days - until the Ronnies showed up who were getting to the hook bait quicker than the Skimmers so switched to the Ronnie rig and could catch a 1-2 oz fish every cast plus the occasional Skimmer. I found myself in a Silvers battle with Glynn. Then I found that on topping up the GB the Carp would come over it which resulted in some unwanted foul hooking. With 2 1/2 Hours left I think Glynn and me were neck and neck on the Silvers. However, I had enough of the foulers so thought I would drop the paste in over the GB line and caught a Carp first try! I stayed on this to the end, first trying loose feeding hard 4's which brought the Carp up in the 5 foot of water - more fouling, by Switching back to the hard balls of neat GB found that they came straight down on it. I'm not sure how many I had but caught 107 lb 4 oz during this time losing a few in the tree stumps. Blimey they fight hard, due to the water quality methinks.
My Silvers weighed in at 22 lb 2 oz adding my Carp took me to sixth overall total of 129 lb 6 oz. Should I have fished for Carp from the start - probably, but how boring would this have been. I have taken paste for the last four matches and haven't had a bite on it until today so that was really pleasing - warm weather?
The venue fished really well with some great Carp and Silvers weights from both Canals. Can't wait to get down here again.
The match was won by Bob Gullick (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 180 lb 6 oz from Hawthorns peg 4. Bob caught initially ob pellet over to the far bank in 18 inches of water and laster fished Meat short.
The Silvers really feed well all round with Nigel Wickham amassing 41 lb 12 oz of Skimmers from Hawthorns peg 6 - surprised me but not the Gamekeeper. Nigel caught on Chopped worm and corn - feeding both with GB.
The paste and now slapping master Glenn Bailey came second overall with 169 lb 6 oz.
Result:
1. Bob Gullick 180-06-0 peg 4 (H)
2. Glenn Bailey 169-06-0 peg 14 (H)
3. Tom Thick 153-10-0 peg 15 (W)
Silvers:
1. Nigel Wickham 41-12-0 peg 6 (H)
2. Tony Thick 34-0-0 peg 3 (H)
Weigh Sheets:
We organised a knock-up at the Westerleigh top Canal. Bela being the local expert took a day off work to fish. So first stop Hungry Horaces where we met up with Geoff Francis who was off to the Thursday Windmill open. It was another decent breakfast.
Disappointed that we had only nine fishing making it a knock-up. Nonetheless, plenty of stiff competition. Tony chucked the pegs on the floor so with an extra push in the back from Tony I just managed to reach the nearest peg which was number 6. As per usual I was told it was a good Silvers peg, but to expect some lumps!! For company I had Martyn McMahon to my right on peg 5 and the Knowle West Shrimp on peg 7.
I set up a 4x12 Roob to fish the margin one metre from the bank for any "Lumps" at top-set plus one. A 4x14 Winter Titan to fish topset plus two in the deepest part on the peg which was about 7 foot. Finally the Ronnie rig.
I started on the Titan with expander over micro and all I got was tiny indications and chewed pellet, as it transpired from tiny Crucians. Abandoned this line in favour of the Ronnie rig over GB and maggot and started to catch tiny Crucians to 3 oz!! At least it was bites - well sort off. For some unknown reason you have to net these fish which puts far more stress on them compared to if they were swung. I tried to feed off the Crucians, which didn't happen as they seem to love the GB. So I switched to loose feeding maggot and started to add some Skimmers to 2 lb. However, it was never long before the Crucians arrived so fed more GB to keep them occupied. I kept on the Roonies rig until the end trying allsorts of feeding to get at the Skimmers who must be pissed at the Crucians getting to the hook bait first.
Prior to the weigh in Ricky Mills - Scaffolder (no job to big or too small) got the boat out to rescue Martyn McMahon's top-set which was hanging in one of the island trees (pictured upper right).
The biggest Carp was about 4 oz (don't think this qualifies as a lump) which got put back at the weigh in. My Silvers/Crucians weighed in at 24 lb 4 oz for first in the Silvers.
The match was won by Tony Rixon with 63 lb 2 oz from peg 11 - see his blog for the details...
Bela (pictured upper right) was runner up with 51-14-0 from peg 3. Bela caught on hard pellet down the track and over to the far bank. However, it was a tight
affair between Bela and Ron Hardiman (pictured right) who was next peg 2 - losing out by a mere 7 oz!
Result:
1.Tony Rixon 63-02-0 peg 11
2. Bela Bakos 51-14-0 peg 3
3. Ron Hardiman 50-07-0 peg 2
Silvers:
1. Mike Nicholls 24-04-0 peg 6
2. Mike Jones 18-08-0 peg 9
Weigh Sheet:
Usual stop for breakfast at Hungry Horaces - very good. Arrive in plenty of time for Geoff and me to have a walk around. No sign of any fish except feeding Carp down the far end near the aerator. I thought it was going to be hard for the Silvers - I was right, they seem to have shoaled up either for spawning or areas clear of the recent Siltexing.
Not last into the draw bag, this was reserved for Chris Ollis who was still in bed nursing a hangover. Last but one then peg 11. Happy with this because I have been patiently waiting to draw pegs 11 to 8 to fish the wag and mag over to the island. So this was set up first, settling for a Drake yellow top waggler -3 lb Maxima - 0.14 GLine h/l - and a Tubertini 808 size 18. I also set up a 4x16 Winter Titan to fish top-set plus four out in front.
I started by feeding some maggots over to the island to make sure I could get them where I wanted. That sorted I fed a small ball of GB and loose micro and with 4 mm expander on the hook I was expecting a bite straight away - it didn't happen it took 10 minute before I started to get indications which was either small fish or liners. After five strikes I at last caught a blade Skimmer. Looking around it was fishing hard. So put a decent pot of micro in on this line to watch for any signs of feeding fish. I Picked up the waggler and with single LR on the hook caught a F1 first cast, so stayed with this for the rest of the match. Nothing showed over the micro. The F1's aren't very big 8 oz to 1 1/2 lb but do fight very hard especially on the strike running deep under the island and along it. I also got to understand some of the stranger bites. In between the F1's I caught the odd 2 lb Skimmer. I ended up with 4 decent Skimmers and 30 F1's and a very enjoyable day on the waggler, plus I only hooked the overhanging vegetation once. I fed about 3/4 pints of LR's.
My Silvers weighed 10 lb 8 oz for third in the Silvers and my F1's 27 lb 8 oz for a second overall 38 lb. So both categories covered.
The match was won by Tony Rixon (pictured right with some of his catch) with 115 lb 9 oz from peg 1. I was surprised to be told by Tony that he started on expander and micro, however, it didn't last long before he soon switched to his favourite banded 8mm pellet fished over hard 4's to catch some decent Carp. See his blog for me details.
The Silvers was easily won by Enigma (pictured right with the match winner - by the look on Tony's face I wondered what part of his anatomy Enigma had grasped) with 34 lb 2 oz from peg 27. Steve had a slow start on expander. Things vastly improved once he switched to maggot over loose fed maggot. Steve fed about one pint of maggots.
Geoff did well from peg 5 landing three Carp but got mangled around the island four times!
It was back to the pub with the usual suspects - plus three! Most of us had been in the sun all day which continued in the pub garden.
Finally, Mike Jones got called away before the end and tipped back 10 lb of Silvers and Greens even though he had the scales. I think the penny dropped sometime later. Old age doesn't come alone.
Result:
1. Tony Rixon 115-09-0 peg 1
2. Mike Nicholls 38 -0-0 peg 11
3. Steve Dawson 35-04-0 peg 27
Silvers:
1. Steve Dawson 34-02-0 peg 27
2. Paul Haines 15-08-0 peg 29
3. Mike Nicholls 10-08-0 peg 11
Weigh Sheets:
Back to Shiplate Fishery for their very popular costcutter, I can't keep away. Nineteen fishing today. This fishery is such that you can choose whether to fish for Silvers or Carp as each peg has them in numbers. I arrived in plenty of time for a cuppa and a chat.
Into the draw box where there was three pegs left - 1, 3 and 15. All good pegs. In I go and found myself on peg 15 again. Of course I would be excused for thinking it would fish the same, but I knew better. I had a great view of the Gamekeepers Gaff from my peg - not bad methinks - pictured upper right.
I'm going to cut to the chase. After three hours I had set up allsorts of rigs including the waggler, some during the match to try and catch a fish. This resulted in one 4 oz Carp and seven Ronnies!! So I went for the proverbial banana walk and discovered it was fishing hard - no surprises there. However, both pegs 1 and 11 had high double figure catches of Carp on the method with Gary Flinders having 76 lb. Back to my peg and I decided to pack all my rigs away except for the paste rig which I switched to the Drennan margin pole with the orange 25 elastic to 0.2 GLine and a 12 - 911 hook. I sat there just up the inside margin at top-set plus three for the remaining three hours kindering hard 4's with each blob of paste. During this time I had one Tench and seven Carp to 20 lb. I only caught when the wind blew into my peg which wasn't often enough. It wasn't until the last 5 minutes the Carp arrived in numbers foul hooking and losing two in this short time!
