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Sunday 31 January 2010

viaduct teams of 5

christ when will it end frozen again, draw done and it was my turn for match lake with 6 pegs on spring lake and as our team had the same team draw as last time i ended up with peg 3 on spring. potentially a good silvers peg with an island chuck for a carp BUT NOT TODAY. the only good thing about ice is that it stops those with the island pegs casting to them so it all becomes a lot fairer. back to the peg and after clearing the ice to about 14 mtrs i set about making two rigs , one being .5 grm with a 20 808 to .10 with the 2x 10,s just above the hooklength(5 inches)for lift bites from the skimmers i was hoping were there, and the other was a 4x14 with a 22 808 to .10 for bits with a bulk and three droppers, next mix up a bit of dark g bait and i was ready to go. we were meant to start at 10.30 but due to the ice breaking the start was put back to 11, or by the viaduct clock 11.03, i keep meaning to put there clock right but that might confuse yul sorry i meant steve.
2 balls were deposited with a few casters at 14 mtrs and 1 ball at 6 mtrs just in case and after about 15 mins i was getting a few bites and indications and some small fish were finding there way into the net, i was using the heavier rig with the 2 no 10,s by the hook and 30 mins in and the float lifted and held , lift into it and bump it (bugger). 10 mins later same bite different result , i managed to drop it off halfway in. i did manage a few hand size skimmers and small roach but the rig wasnt right as i was getting funny little indications that werent materialising into bites. a switch to the lighter rig which was better , and by laying the rig on the water and holding it tight it would either settle and go under or settle and come back up with a skimmer being the culprit they werent big skimmers, only 2 to 8 oz but it was enjoyable. i did get a few roach over the 6 mtr line but they wouldnt settle, you could get a couple then they would back off, with match lake behind me i wasnt to sure as to what was being caught but the six pegs on spring looked fairly even with all of us getting bites from small fish.
what was a surprise was the total lack of bites on caster i only had 1 roach on it, single red maggot was by far the best, also talking to people after a lot of people were getting indications that didnt turn into bites , i can only assume that it was fish off bottom giving small liners, even coming off bottom didnt help as you would get no bites at all.
the sickener came about 10 mins from the end when the float slid under and the strike met solid resistence , and what looked like a 3 lb bream came up under the ice , guess what halfway back with it comeing across the top it fell off aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh, and its one of those sittuations when you know its going to cost you.
it cost me 3 rd in the section and 2nd in the silvers but shit happens and its only a game isnt it NOT.
1st dick bull 45.13 peg 73 . 5 carp down the edge on maggot
2nd john howell 32.10 peg 7 3 carp down the edge on maggot
3rd gary wall 20.7 peg 13
4th phil caudwell 19.14 peg 42 all silvers(first)
5th tim(64 turns)pallant 18.8 peg 48
6th lionel legge 16.9 peg 59
silvers
phil caudwell 19.14
2nd alex murray 13.7
3rd stu foale 12.10
4th ME 10.01
anyone seen mat tomes lately christ he,s put some weight on , due mainly to the fact that he aint working, still if he gets short of money he can rent his extra chins out for advertising
top 4 teams on the day
westerliegh blue 72
somerset angling 70
viaduct allstars 66
team viaduct 61
lge to date top 4
keyford and somerset angling 138
maver veals red and viaduct allstars 129

Wednesday 27 January 2010

boggy boyd

with the promise of plenty of bites from roach and skimmers if the carp never fed , boyd lake was to be the venue for the weds match this week , much to the delight of boyd regular and expert mr nicholls. i think the reason he likes the place is mainly due to the fact he only uses
5 pence worth of fuel to get there. shame they are only allowed 12 pegs on there when there is room for 20, i think some of the locals who live along golden valley lane thought the increased traffic might be to much so pete was only allowed 12 pegs, after spending a day there the lane is a proper rat run so i dont think a few extra anglers cars would have been a problem.
back to the fishing and i drew peg 6 which i was told is about the deepest on the lake, and bob the bread had snared 17 lb of skimmers just recently, so three rigs were assembled , a 4x12 with strung out shot with a 20 808 to .10 for roach up in the water, a .50 rig same hook and line to fish on the deck at 4 mtrs under the up in the water rig and a 1 grm rig to fish at 9 mtrwith an 18 to .10.
at the start i cupped in 5 balls of g bait with some soaked micros at 9 mtrs for skimmers(hopefully). then started on the up in the water rig feeding 4 or 5 casters regularly over the top. 15 mins later and without a bite i went out with the .5 rig and missed a bite then 5 mins later a 3 oz roach was my first fish. by now mike nicholls and chris davis who were on 3 and 2 had begun to get small roach, so back on the shallow rig to find some small roach had arrived, by the halfway stage i was going nowhere fast with about 3 lb in the net it was time to look over the g bait line, and i soon started getting skimmers from about 2 to 10 oz and by dotting the float down and having 2 no 10 shot just off bottom most of the bites were proper lifters with the bristle coming right up , virtually unmissable i had a good one and a half hours before the swim started to die and even the odd ball of g bait wouldnt restart it so by the end i was back on the inside roaching. both mike and chris had caught well but i thought mike had just edged it as he had snared 3 late carp on mags over micros giving him 4 carp to chris,s 2 , although the carp werent large , only up to about 3 lb it was enough to give mike the edge with 26.1 peg 3 see his blog for tactics
2nd chris davis 23.1 peg 2 on worm and caster at 10 and 14 mtrs
3rd john smith 14.10 peg 10
4th tony rixon 13.8 peg 6
5th pete sivell 10.12 peg 9
6th dean malin 8.14 peg 7
and apart from the kenn in the winter when its run off it is probably the muddiest place around with red silty mud clinging to everything. but to be fair the sport is very good , the only real drawback is the bankwalkers you have to endure. cos as you are trying to catch close and up it does tend to unsettle your quarry , even though the water does look heavily coloured it is clearer than you think . next time i go there i think i will pray for frost so the mud is nice and hard

Sunday 24 January 2010

landsend individual league

with no chance of doing any good in the league as i,m fishing the viaduct teams of 5 and some of the matches clash i just fish these matches as opens, next year mike is going to change the format to only 6 matches with 5 to count and none clashing with viaduct which should suit most people.
lake 4 was my draw for today and i drew 81 for myself which is on the end of the last island on the left hand bank i,ve had the peg befor in the summere and had lots of fish on it , usually tight to the island in a foot of water on pellet but i couldnt see that happening today after the weeks of ice we have just endured or could it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
two rigs today a 4x12 with an 18 808 to 0.12 to fish at 4 mtrs and another identical rig for 13 mtrs towards the island which would double up for the margins either side as it was the same depth.
at the start i cupped some micros at 13 mtrs , loose fed some mags at 4 mtrs and fed mags into each side margins at 4 mtrs down the edge. starting on maggot at 4 mtrs in front , i must admit i did expect bites from small roach , skimmers and the odd small carp, but 40 minutes later and i was, still biteless wheras martin lenaghan on 83 the corner peg had had 3 carp , a switch to the 13 mtr line and it was soon 6 all with martin but my peg started to to die and he began to pull away , he could move up and down the margins of the lake end and into the open water to keep the fish coming . i was still getting the odd fish but not really quick enough to do any damage. i could also see john (the gimp)bradford on 72 catching regularly. i did look down the margins several times but only had 1 fish so that was a none starter. with about 2 hours to go bela bakos on 79 had a couple of carp off the island , so off the box another top set with a 4x10 rig . a quick plumb up revealed about 15 inches of water towards the island at a 1 o,clock angle, i decided to fish there as there are the remnants of an old weed bed there , and from experience fish seem to like these rotting weed beds in the winter , so i cupped in some micros and maggots by the island in a couple of places and lowered the rig in , it was gone in seconds and a small carp was on its way to the net. by now martins swim had gone a bit quiet so he was soon off his box and putting a shallow rig up, i think if he hadnt i might have clawed it back as i think i was out catching him by this stage but it wasnt to be as the fish he was getting were slightly bigger than the ones i was getting so the big mistake today was not setting the shallow rig up, live and learn as the saying goes
first on the day was vince shipp(brother of des)on peg 62 lake 3 with 12 carp for 78.3 all taken at 13 mtrs on 6mm pellet
2nd alan oram 56.15 peg 33
3rd nick collier 55.15 peg 94
4th martin lenaghan 53.13 peg 83
5th tony rixon 44.4 peg 81
6th john bradford 42.1
top silvers went to dale howsen on 18 with 10.13 of f1,s
well done to timmy clarke who won his section with 2 foulhooked carp for 15 lb so every dog does have its day lol
commiserations to anton page who drew 33 on speci lake (flyer)only to be told there had to be a re draw on that lake as mike had put the wrong pegs in . he ended up on 28 (not so good ha ha) and he had to watch alan coming second off 33(every cloud anton )

Wednesday 20 January 2010

weds landsend

with the ice finally gone i could leave the breakers at home(good). the water was still going to cold as there was still some ice on the lake the day before. the draw was kind to me and gary wall handed me 15, which is a peg with a lot of options. four rigs, two 4x12 with a 20 808 to .12 one for down the edge to my right by a bush and 1 for 13 mtrs straight out. a 4X14 WITH AN 18 808 iether side 10 and 2 o,clock for pellet and a 4x14 to a 16 for down the edge to 14(empty).
at the start i cupped in caster at 13 mtr and down by 14 aswell as loosefeeding a few by the bush to my right.even though i tried the pellet lines several times during the day, i never had a bite on pellet so thats the last i,ll say about it.
starting at 13 mtr i was suprised when the float went under first put in , but i struck in to thin air, liners me thinks, as it happened several times in the first 30 mins, then i landed a 4 pounder shame it was hooked in the tail though, so i slipped it straight back(yea right any port in a storm)
i lost a couple more foulers shortly after so i started shallowing up, when igot to about 2 feet off the bottom i caught a tench!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, then lost another fouler ,then no bites so back to the bottom and got one in the mouth. a look by the bush and 1 perch later and no more bites again. a look to peg 14 and no indications so back on the 13 mtr line . i landed 4 more on this line 2 in the mouth and two in the fin, so i ended up with 5 carp and afew silvers for about 30 lb. all in all i lost 9 carp , 8 of which were definately fouled so at least the fish are having a bit of a mooch and with temps getting better this weekend i think the fish might have a bit of a pop, apart from tim clarks peg that is.
my 5 carp and silvers went 31.14 for first
2nd was john (the gimp)bradford 26.6 peg 11 and his catch included top silver weight with 17.12 which included 4 tench , 1 bream, 2 ide and some perch
3rd pete(norten)notton 9.12 peg 3
4th alan healy 8.2 peg 19
5th alan oram 7.6 peg 1
6th gary wall 7.0 peg 17

Monday 18 January 2010

HAPPY 5oTH BIRTHDAY DEAR xxxxx

Sunday 17 January 2010

fish at last

today was the first round of the viaduct teams of 5. fairplay to steve and paul who did a brilliant job breaking and clearing ice so the event could happen. if they had left it the match would have been cancelled, and as most people hadnt been for 3 or 4 weeks most were keen to drown some bait. with the team draw done i ended up on peg 61 on lodge, not the best but there is always a chance of a carp and some skimmers .
2 pole rigs today , a 4x14 to a 20 808 and .10 to fish maggot at 16 mtrs over g bait, and single caster over caster at 16 mtr on an angle to my right, i also set up a waggler rod to fish on the deck at 25 mtrs, the last rig was a 4x12 rig on .14 to an 18 xedion hook for the right hand margin as odd big fish do show in the margins. on the whistle 2 balls of g bait with a few casters and pinkies were cupped in at 16 mtrs staight out, some casters on the angle and some down the edge. then i went straight out on the wag with a piece of corn on an 18 hook, the slight breeze was coming ocross and in at me so presentation wasnt the best ,as the float was getting pushed back towards me, so next chuck i deepened up by about 6 inches to try and slow the drag down, and it seemed to work as the float buried anb i hooked what i thought was small carp but it turned out to be a 2lb tench, a good start but after the early excitment i couldnt get another bite on anything or any where, but on our lake both paul blake on 73 and andy lloyd on 53 both into carp straight away, so the rest of the section was going to fighting for 3 place in the section.
looking across on cary i could see george perkins on 85(again) getting carp on maggot on the tip, and clayton hudson on 86 catching on hair rigged corn also on the tip. back to my peg but still no bites and by now tim pallant on 69 had begun to get odd skimmers on the wag so he was looking good for 3rd providing no one else had carp but that was looking unlikely. at half one rob randall on 63 had 2 skimmers on the trot so i decided to come off the wag and try the pole again as there may be a few skimmers over the groundbait i had put in at the start , i hadnt fed again as there had been no indications over it . lowering in a single dead red the float settled and went straight under, and a 2lb hydrid joined the lonely tench , it was now 1.45 and by 2.45 i had 10 skimmers then they were gone, i did put a couple more balls in during that hour and when i did i caught over it straight away, but the last 45 mins were very quite with only a few small roach to show for my efforts.
at the end i thought i had about 14 lb which i reckoned was good enough for 3 rd or at worse 4th in the section(lake). andy lloyd won our lake with 75.2 which was 9 carp on the wag cast into the corner 2nd on our lake was paul blake with 4 carp for 39 lb on the pole down the edge. my skimmer and tench catch went 15.5 for 3rd on the lake but it was also the top silvers catch on the day which means i qualify for the silvers final later in the year.
on the day george perkins won with 144.13 on 85 which was 18 fish
2nd martin preston on131(cambell) with117.2 fishing maggot on the wag
3rd clayton hudson 107.6 peg 86 corn on the lead
4th andy lloyd 75.2
5th steve denmead 74.7 peg 130
6th m wright 43.4 peg 128
teams on the day
keyford 90 pts(new record)
maver veals red 71
viaduct select 70
somerset angling 68

Wednesday 13 January 2010

ouch


we all know how much it hurts when we get a 14 or 16 barbless hook in the finger it certainly makes you wince, spare a thought for tony harding, he,s slipped and put a 10/0 straight into his pinkie, so it was pack up time and off to the hospital to let the local witch doctor dig it out. i dont think barbara(the sane and sensible side of the marriage), minded paying the 60 quid hospital fee as she said it was good that he knows what a small prick feels like lol

not again

even though everything was frozen solid a few of us decided to go to boyd valley lake to break the ice and have a knockup. as you only seem to have to clear to about 5mtrs to get some roach action it sounded like a good bet, the only thing that might stop us was the weather.
the forecast was for heavy overnight snow giving us several inches by the morning, the met office couldnt get it right again could they, quick answer yes, it started snowing at 5 pm tues and it was still coming down at 6 am weds morning, so a few txt,s and calls were made to let people know it was off, then back to sleep. to be honest if my van had been a front wheel drive and not rear i would probably have gone somewhere.
i phoned viaduct this afternoon to see if the league will be on this sunday and steve told me that the ice and snow was melting very quickly so he wouldnt be making a decision till thurs morning and he was sure there would be enough free water for a match on sunday or possibly the league. we will have to wait and see, but it looks as though the temps are rising so the weekend is looking good to wet a line with the chance of a few fish, i dont think my brain will stand another day without a fish.

Sunday 10 January 2010

not one to remember

with most lakes being covered in ice to a thickness of 3 inches or more most people had had enough of ice breaking so martin mcmahon came up with the bright idea of going to the feeder canal, and what started off with as half a dozen sweep turned in to a 17 peg sweep. as there is no peg fee on this venue i just made it a tenner all in paying the top 3 and 2 sections. i drew peg 16 which was one off the downstream end peg. one rig again today , a 2grm jolly to a 22 and .10 hooklength, and even with the nasty downstream skim it went through just lovely. at the start i cuppedin 1 ball of dark g bait with a few pinkies in and fired about 6 mags to the far bank at 18 mtrs, i had thought we would get a few bites as up until the previous weekend it had been fishing quite well with lots of small roach and dace being caught but not today , i cant bore you any more but everyone blanked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2 people did claim to have had bites, but i think they were suffering from ibs ,no not irritable bowel syndrome it was more like imaginary bite syndrome, good news was the weigh in didnt take long which is just as well as i forgot the scales. so any clubs out there looking for a for a fair match venue , look no further and its very cheap to fish as you dont need to buy any bait. the payout took longer than anything else as i had to walk along and give them all there pools money back. it was strange as everyone fished right to the end as 1 fish would have taken all the money. i cant understand why i couldnt get any interest for another go next week

Saturday 9 January 2010

they are mad in sa







firstly i would like to thank the person who commented on my last entry with some foul and unnecessary language , it wasnt needed, but if people do feel the need to use language like it perhaps they should have the courage to put there name to the comment, comments are all part of the fun as i enjoy the p taking as much as the next person , but i do think certain words shouldnt be posted for all to read, so from now on i will need to review all comments before posting. thanks whoever you were.



back to some fishy business i had an e mail from tony harding in south africa to let me know that his fishing bud had caught a good ragged tooth shark from a mark i fished when i was over with him. it ONLY weighed about 130 kg which is about 280 lb in english money . thats a right monster off the shore, he ended up landing the fish approx 1 km from where he hooked it , which is a feat in itself as the rocks tony and him were scrabbling over were dangerous enough then you have to grab it by the tail and try to man handle it onto the rocks, then once its unhooked and piccy,s taken you have to get it back into the water get in with it to support it whilst it regains its strenth or it may just sink to the bottom and drown, fair play to brandon ,i said they are all mad but at this rate he aint going to see his 19 birthday is he , see pics above.

Sunday 3 January 2010

acrtic viaduct

just a quick mention on blood and joker, we all know the majority of of it comes from russia and poland so how can it be bought into the country without a health check, every other animal that arrives on our shores has to undergo stringent health checks, obviously polish and russian sewer systems dont have any diseases in them. clubs that allow it on there enclosed waters cant think that there are any problems with it.
thats the moaning over with , now back to viaduct, and more moaning lol, yep frozen over again so out with the new breakers with more rope and stronger chain, and i drew 125 again, even though it had been broken out to 13 mtr the day befor , it had frozen again with the ice about 10 mm thick , but 10 mins with the breaker and the peg was clear again. same rig as last time cos i actually put it on a winder , all i had to do was put a fresh hook on, so the 4x16 impact 6 float was ready , and the mark for the depth was still on the pole.
at the start i cupped in a ball of g bait with a few casters in ,and waited for the skimmers to turn up. first bite after 30 mins resulted in a half ounce roach , at least it was a start, shame tim (64 turns)pallant on 123 had had about 20 blips by now so i was already behind if it turned into a blippy fight , and it did. i kept trying to catch some quality but apart from 2x 3 oz skimmer the peg seemed only to have small roach in it, i was getting plenty of bites and indications but i was missing bites and the fish kept dropping off, i dont think the fish could get the 20 808 hook in there mouths, i think i am going to have to put some proper size 20,s and 22,s in the box and i might even have to go so far as putting some faggot elastic in a top set. any way tim kept catching the bits right to the end so he was looking good for the section at least, the scales arrived and i had 2lb 5oz then tim weighed 5lb 5oz which turned out to enough for first on the day, 2nd spot went to dean malin on 116 wit 3 kimmers for4lb 14oz
3rd mark broomsgrove on94 with 4lb 5oz
4th brian slipper on 112 with 3lb 10 oz , he was admitting to 7lb after the match but he lost several good skimmers from ahole in his net as he lifted it out , and it was agolden peg lol
5tht rixon 2lb 5oz
6th dick bull 2lb 4oz
i,ve had enough of ice breaking now ,so if the big man upstairs is listening can we have 12c with a 10 mph south westerly for the next few weeks ta very much

Saturday 2 January 2010

apology

just a quick apology to the bathampton match secretary ,as it wasnt him who cancelled the canal match at the weekend . it seems the match was left in the capable hands(lol)of mr gilman and britt. i think the final decision must have been left to mr g , as the thought of spending extra money on shop bought blood and joker must have been to much to bear, so cancelling was a way of not spending to much money. darren is the only person i know who,s wallet is fitted with a combination lock, he,s even got the edge on mike nicholls for the part of scrooge in next years panto at the hippodrome, but then again mike may get it if it goes to age.
but i still dont agree with members of the public allegedly selling bait on the bank, perhaps if they were to register there home adress,s as a business adress it would be ok