Silvers match, viaduct fishery, spring lake

A bit disappointing on the turnout today with only 13 of us , and if it hadn't been for ten of us from Bristol it would have been proper sad, I was a bit suprised as spring lake tends to be the best silvers lake at the venue,
Into the daw tin and out pops peg 10 which is the monk peg on the Cary bank, not to disappointing as I had plenty of room as the next peg was Aaron britnell on 6 and Tim pallant on 12, hot peg 19 was drawn by the fishery professional, Paul greenwood , so he Should be the man to beat, I wasn't going to do anything different to what I have been doing so far this year so it was mainly a groundbait attack at 11 and 14 mtrs and a caster line short, I wasn't to sure as it would be ok today as the water was like gin, and with no wind to ripple the surface it may be difficult,
After feeding 2 balls of caster laced groundbait at 11 mtrs and 4 at 14 I began on the 4 mtr line feeding a few casters and fishing one on a 4x12 rig , after 20 mins on that and no bites , it wasnt looking to good , especially as fabio on 3 and Paul on 19 catching some moderate skimmers and roach, so I went out to the 11 mtr line and had a small roach first put in, a switch to caster on the hook and the fish size improved with 4 oz roach really playing ball, I had been feeding the 4 mtr line with 4/5 casters at a time and dropped the rig back over it , and it went straight under ,the next two hours was enjoyable as I caught small roach fairly consistently, I also had 5 good perch up to a pound  but the swim died with about 2 hours to go so the rest of the match was spent on the two long pole lines, I stared catching roach with odd ones up to 12oz but in the last 90 mins I had 8 reasonable skimmers so by the end I thought I would have 30lb ish, but with fabio still catching but losing a few right up to the end it was to close to call, the decider was the 2 1/2 lb bream that I was playing on the all out , I beat fabio with that late bream as I weighed 32.15 for first on the day .
2nd spot went to fabio on peg 3 with 30.10
3rd Nigel Bartlett on peg 2 with 25.3
4th Paul greenwood on 19 with 23lb
5th Adrian Clark on 16 with 21.5
6th nick collier on 24 with 18.14

Shiplate main lake

With only 12 fishing there was plenty of room on this 15 peg lake as the pegs are miles apart, it has been re pegged with A numbers inbetween so thee are now 20 pegs available making it ideal for club bookings ,
Back to today and after a few frosts it was always going to be hard, I ended up on peg 11 which was the first peg over the bridge on the far side, I had Paul elmes on12 for company and trigger miles away on 9 was the next peg in. 11 can be a good peg for carp down the edge to a sunken bush, so I made a rig up for it and fed it with caster and corn but never had a bite there, also a wag towards the island can be ok , so I made that up aswell , but that was a waste of time too, it was a little to shallow on the wag and with the cold weather the water had lost some colour, so that only left me the long pole lines , one rig does all with this so I set up a 4x12 pencil with the usual 6313 on ,10 line, I fed an 11 mtr line with groundbait , a 14 mtr line with micros  to begin with, starting on single maggot at 11 mtrs I expected bites straight away, but after an hour and not a bite on any line I was beginning worry, Paul on 12 was catching thee to the pound skimmers and trig had two carp on the lead by the end of the first hour, into the second hour and I stared to catch small roach, and that was how it continued with me catching small roach and Paul catching skimmers , the writing was on the wall really, I didn't start to catch any skimmers till the last hour , and I pulled out of one of the lakes big bream 30 mins from the end , the lake seemed to be fishing really bad with kev molten on peg1 looking to have won with 4 carp,. And he did with his 4 fish going 27.10
2nd with his all small skimmer net was Paul elmes on 12 with 18.4
3rd Craig Edmunds with his two self hooked carp and a suicidal chublet on peg 9 had 14.8
4 th Dom Sullivan on 13 with 13lb
5th alan oram on 14 with 12.14
6th me with 10.13 , that bream cost me , but I did manage second in silvers by default so all wasnt lost lol

Weds open landsend fishery

Only 11 fishing today and I can't blame people for not coming as the forecast was crap with high winds and heavy showers with hail in the morning ,with the showers stopping later in the day but the wind staying strong . I let Mohamed Harding draw for me which is normally a mistake and today was no different as he handed me peg 3 and kept 17 for himself, selfish I call it lol.
For company I had mark Bartlett on one and Aaron britnell on 5 , so I was in a ginger sandwich.
Mark seems to be enjoying his match fishing for smaller species , rather than the carping match side of things , and he is good at both types ,so it was always going to be hard to beat him (making my excuses already), peg three has had a bit of form recently for silvers and carp, so I was a bit torn as what to fish to in the end I decided on a fairly heavy feed approach with caster, so I set up a .4g rig to fish at 4 and 10 mtrs as this was as far as I could go due to the strong right to left wind, the same rig would also do for down in the left hand margin as it was the same depth as the other 2 lines, I also made up a rig to fish down to empty pallet 2 with corn and caster,
At the start I began at 4 mtrs after feeding my other lines, it was a bit slow but I had a few perch up to 6oz but the sport on this line didn't last to long , probably due to the clarity of the water, most of the remainder of the match was stent on the 10 mtr line where I had lots of small perch and roach, I did get one carp over that line and a good skimmer towards the end, I also had two carp from two bites on corn down by peg 2, as far as the match went Ron hardiman on 7 looked to have done enough even though he lost several carp, and the silvers would probably go to mark on peg 1 as up until about ten mins to go I reckoned I was ahead in the small perch and roach stakes largely due to 3lb skimmer I had , then bugger me if mark don't go and land one he hooked right in the top of the dorsal fin, it's normally me that gets that sort of luck, also Aaron on 5 was going to beat me aswell, making it a double ginger whammy each side hmmmm.
1st went to Ron hardiman on 7 with 57lb
2nd fabio on peg 17 with 51lb, he should have done better but he lost 12 carp fishing hard pellets tight to the island
3rd Aaron britnell on 5 with 39lb
4th me with 28lb
5th Martin lenaghan on 19 with 27lb
6th john(turkey) Thompson on 11 with 25lb
Silvers
Mark Bartlett on 1 with 15lb
Me on 3 with 14 lb
Off to shiplate main lake on Sunday, still got a couple of spaces so ring me at the shop to book in

Silvers league , viaduct fishery

This is round four and another section win would be nice. After being picked up by chris fox and after another excellent brekkie at shipham it was off to the is here,
After winning the silvers match on weds I fancied drawing the same peg or somewhere close to, and after talking to several people and expressing my wish to be on 94 again I got called a few nasty names when I went into the draw tin and pulled it out, I think the devil now owns my whole soul.
For company I had Paul faires on 95 and steve tucker opposite on 90, getting to my peg it was similar  conditions to weds with no wind but it was cloudy which may help with the lack of ripple.
Only two rigs to put up today, both 4x12 pencils , one for the right hand margin as I had a couple of nice hybrids there on weds, but I did give it several goes during the match but never had so much as a twitch there, the other rig was going to do all three lines, as it was the same depth at 5, 11 and 14 mtrs  at the start I cupped in one small ball at 5 mtrs ,3 at 11 and 4 at 14 mtrs all with just a few casters in, starting at 5 mtrs loose feeding some casters there I want expecting to much as I gave it 30 mins on weds but never had a proper bite there, so I was quite happy as after 30 mins today a had a Ruffe a roach , a 12oz perch and lost a carp but it wasnt hectic, Paul to my left had a few smallish skimmers on a feeder fished at 20 mtrs and mash on 96 and dave roper on 97 had taken a couple of good skimmers eah on the long pole, so after 30 mins it was out to 11 mtrs , I had a couple of nice skimmers there but that line wasnt to good either, so I was forced out to 14 mtrs a bit earlier than I would have liked, but had a coupe of small skimmers and a bonus tench, I also potted in a few balls at this stage off to my right at 14 mtrs, for somewhere else to go, it was hard and I never rally caught till the middle two hours of the match , when I had the bulk of my fish , I only had a couple of proper skimmers, that is fish over 2 1/2 lb the rest where fish between 4oz and a pound , the skimmers stemmed to desert me for the last couple of hours, I think they moved out and across as steve tucker over on 90 had a real struggle for the fist half of the match , but was towards the end sneaking a few decent skimmers in, the end couldn't come soon enough , to was a 4 pm finish and most people couldn't see there floats by about 3.30, including me , Paul on my left was really finding it hard as the glasses chris fox had donated to him about ten years ago don't seem to work for him now,
At the end I thought I had between 25 and 30 pounds and was confident it would be enough to give me the section, making it 4 out of 4, to keep me in top spot, my catch of 26.11 was enough for first on the day
2nd went to Gary o Shea on 119 with 19.7
3rd Adrian jeffery on 124 with 18.4
4th steve tucker on 90 with 18.3
5th steve Jackson on 100 with 15.13
6th mark Brennan on 55 with 15.11
Off to landsend on Wednesday and shiplate next Sunday on the main lake, there are plenty of spaces for weds and a few left for next Sunday , so ring me at the shop on 01179517250 to book in for either

Silvers match, Cary lake , viaduct fishery

A disappointing turnout today with only ten booked in, I thought a few more would have showed as its a good practice for the silvers league on Sunday, perhaps it's just the cost as the cost cutter tomorrow will no doubt have 20 or so in attendance.
So into the draw tin and out comes 94 which is in the corner , I thought about having a bit of a moan, as you dothen thought better of it as it has been a consistent peg so far in the series, not necessarily a match winner but always good for a reasonable weight, for company I had nick collier on 96 and I had sit and look at Wales,s answer to anorexia in the ample shape of Firenzee,s andy Neale on 88,
Although we had the first proper frost of the year I wasn't going to do to much(if anything) differently today so I mixed up a kilo of sensas lake/gimps gold groundbait, then put three rigs up, a 4x12 and a .4g for using at 11 and 14 mtrs in front and a 4x12 for the margins as some big perch and good hybrids can show along here.
At the start I cupped in a small ball,of lightly caster laced groundbait at 5 mtrs, 3 balls at 11 mtrs and 4 balls at 14, I also cupped in a good pot of casters off to my left at 14 mtrs as a bit of a wasted line , but again the skimmers can be more inclined to settle over a bed of casters as opposed to crumb, but I never had so much as a dip on the float over that so no more on that line,
I started on the 5 mtr line and stayed with it for The first 30 mins but never had so much a wobble on the float so that was a waste of a ball of crumb and some casters, andy opposite was getting small fish as was nick next door but they were small .
I went out to 11 mtrs on caster and was soon getting small roach then a couple of decent skimmers, but that line soon dried so it was out to the 14 mtr line where I had a couple more skimmers and roach before that dried aswell so I refed the two lines and had a quick look down the edge where I lost a good fish and had a roach then nothing , most of the rest of the match was spent out at 14 mtrs where towards the end the skimmers fed a bit bit better and I had several reasonable ones in the last hour, I kept trying the 11 mtr line but apart from a few small roach and a bonus tench there was little doing there, I also kept trying the margins and I did get 2 good hybrids from there, by the end I thought I had 20 lb but Anton page over on 85 had a few fish aswell so it seemed to be between the two of us, in the end my late burst of fish was just a bit to much for Anton as I came out on top with 22.2
2nd Anton page on peg 85 with 20.01
3rd andy Neale on 88 with 16.14
4th was the fishery professional Paul greenwood on 77 with 14.8
5th nick collier on 96 with 14.6
6th dick bull on 78 with 13.8

Landsend individual W/L round one

Ken Rayner has taken over the running of this popular league ,so an easy day for me, just have to pay my money queue up with everyone else and draw, there were 36 booked in so 12 on the first three lakes , split into two 6 peg sections for points,
Only 35 turned up as a certain ginger city fan who shall remain anonymous(ok it was Aaron britnell) wasn't where he should have been when I went to pick him up, which does annoy me and its not fair on the league organiser as it affects the payouts and points, and he would have been on peg 7, and during the day as there was no one on it most of the fish seemed to end up there jumping and splashing around,
As for myself I ended up on 24 which is in the corner of the match lake , a peg that has been terrible lately as the fish seem happier up towards the other end of the lake , from 19 back to 13 , but fish have fins and they do move about, for company I had Tom thick on 22 and I had to look at ken Rayner over on 1.
Several rigs were assembled , a rig to fish caster at 7 mtrs up the right hand margin and towards empty pallet 23, but apart from a few small perch to the right and not a bite to my left it was a wasted rig, so no more about that. Wasted bait then. A rig for caster at 4 mtrs and the same rig would do for soft pellet at 14 mtrs towards the island, a meat rig for 14 mtrs on the end of the tree and a hard pellet rig for 14 mtrs towards a stump up the right hand bank,
At the start I fed all lines with the relevant baits and began on the 4 mtr caster line , to say it was slow was an understatement as it took me 20 mins to get a fish and that was a 6oz perch, and by the end of the first hour I had only added a few small roach and a carp of about three pounds and an f1. Our end of the lake seemed to be fishing to form as Tom and ken were having it hard aswell, up on 19 and beyond there were some fish being caught so it was looking like the fish were still at that end,
I went out onto the soft pellet over soaked micro line , and found I couldn't see my float , due to the horrible reflection from the trees and bushes on the far bank, so I don't think I had a bite there but I would never have seen it if I had.
I decided to give the meat line a go and first drop I had a nice roach of about 6oz which fell off as I swung it, oh well.
Out again and I had a bit of a purple patch and had 5 carp in 5 put ins which put me back into contention as far as I could see, but apart from one more towards the end that was it for the meat lines, I did manage 5 more on pellet against the end bank but felt I was always a couple of fish behind to do any good in my section, especially as my fish were a bit on the small side, as you seem to catch small resident fish on these pegs. As it turned out apart from the residents I caught our end fished hard with ken opposite only managing 5 pounds and Tom next door having ten,
The lake was won by Paul elmes on 19 ( that peg again ) with 67lb meaning Adrian Clark on 15 had 55lb and I had 54.2, a bit more time spent catching small roach and perch. Would have done it,
I don't have the full result as there was a bit of roast beef with my name on it waiting for me , but ken should have all the weigh sheets on his blog, top weight as far as I know was Tom mangnall up on 55 with 80odd pound , catching on banded pellet , dave (beany) Westcott on 31 had just over 70lb as did Craig Edmunds but I,m not sure which had the most, it was a hard day for most probably due to all the rain we have had , lowering the water temps,
Off to viaduct weds for a silvers match and back down there on Sunday for the 4th round of the silver fish league.

Weds, plantation main lake

17 booked in for this one , so quite popular for a Wednesday , after another tasty brekkie cooked at the venue by karen it was daw time, I nearly had the last ticket but Ron hardiman handed me one which when opened, revealed number 4 which I was happy with as andy hembrow won off  this one at the weekend with over 100lb so I expected a few bites, he had aught mainly at 14 mtrs on banded 6mm over loose fed 4,s, so an easy day then, one 4x12 rig for that line with  an 18 b960 on .16 line, and another rig to fish in my left hand margin against some boards with caster and corn, the ri wa again a 4x12 rig with an 18 middy 8313 hook on .16 line again.
For company I had the weekends winner andy hembrow on 3 and rod (two pegs ) wootten
On peg 7 3/4. At the start I fed wo pellet lines at 14 mtrs , lining up with each end of the island out in front  and threw a few casters down the edge, the start was a bit torrid as in the first 30 mins I hooked 4 , landed 1 and lost three, of which 2 were definitely fouled, by now Anton page was beginning to catch over on peg 38 fishing a pellet feeder occasionally close to the island, and sometimes on it, (that should get a response ). And by the end of the fist hour he was well ahead , but Tim Clark round on peg 8 was snaring some carp but as is normal with Tim he was losing plenty, plus it probably didn't help as he had to share his peg with rod !!!!!!!.
I did manage to put a few fish together but as the wind picked up presentation went out of the window and I had to switch to a .5g float to keep some stability in the rig , but with the wind now blowing really hard foulers were becoming more frequent as the rig was being blown along , rod was losing more than me , and Tim well tims Tim, and if he didn't lose more than he caught it wouldn't be a normal day for him.
About halfway through nick collier over on 31 began to gt some good carp down his left hand margin on caster so he was coming into contention , going into the last hour and I felt I was to far behind to do any good, so I put a big pot of casters down the edge , I had taken some nice perch during the match down there but they had dried up, I wish I had put the big pot of casters in earlier as I had 5 good carp down there in the last hour, on the all out it was to hard to call as rod ,Anton , nicky  and myself all seemed to have about the same , in the end it was nick collier over on 31 who won with 92.10 of mainly caster caught carp fishing into his left hand margin, taking fish into low doubles
2nd Anton page on 38 with 85.2
3rd tony Rixon 81.9 peg 4
4th rod wootten on peg 7&8 with 71.7
5th Tim Clark on 8(his shared peg) 67.9
6th chris fox on 26 with 40.1
Silvers
Steve kedge on 27 with 17.8 , a few skimmers and a lot of white bait

Viaduct silvers league, round three

Made a nice change today, I was picked up by chris fox in his new van , so no driving for me. After another good breakfast in shipham it was off to viaduct, this a very well supported league with angles from as far away as Dorset and Wales attending , and with 53 fishing it's a good affair.
I like to be early into the draw as all the good as well as the bad draws are there, with a strong westerly with heavy showers expected I fancied a peg with the wind at my back, with peg 77 or 78 my preferred numbers, so I was suprised when I opened my ticket and saw 119 looking back at me, a flying carp peg but so far in this series no good for silvers at all . And to make matters worse the wind was in and across me, for company I had bristols finest roofer , bela bakos on 118 and glen Calvert on 121 and opposite on the better silvers pegs in my section was Nigel Bartlett, John green and Paul elmes on 123/124 and 125 respectively , historically all better silvers pegs , but every day is different.
Three rigs today, a couple of .4g both the same in case of snarl ups and a .75 if the wind got to strong.
As normal my main attack revolved around groundbait and caster, so on the whistle I cupped in a small ball at 4 mtrs and three balls on two lines at 11 mtrs, 11 and 1 o,clock angles, and began feeding a few casters down to my right , I only had to shallow my rig up by ten inches to use it down the edge.
I started on the 4 mtr line loose feeding a few casters over that line , and I soon began getting small roach with two 4 oz skimmers for good measure , the anglers opposite started better with some better skimmers and a odd tench but it didn't seem to be fishing to well, 90 mins I had a tench and I was still
Catching small 1 to 2 oz roach so I didn't feel I was to far off the pace as far the section was going, I kept going out to the groundbait lines but all I could get we're odd tiny roach and none of the skimmers I was really hoping for, I did keep an odd ball going in on the long lines but most of my fishing was done on the short line , by the end I had managed 5 tench three good skimmers one of which came from the long line and lots of small roach, and I thought I had done enough to win the section as the anglers opposite on the better pegs had really struggled after a promising start, I reckoned on my catch going 20lb so I was more than happy to weigh 21.15 which topped the section giving me 3 sections wins from three matches, and with the one and only bob gullick on the same score it's still all to play for and with still three matches to go anything can happen, winter silvers fishing can be cruel.
1st on the day went to joe McMahon on peg 110 with twenty tench plus a few perch and bits for 40.11. Mainly taken on caster down to his left towards an old tree stump
2nd Phil cardwell on 77 with 33.10
3rd andy Neal on 127 with 23.14
4th gary(should have been on the river ) o,Shea with 22.9
5 th tony Rixon 21.15
6th mash 21.6
A bit harder today probably down to the cooling effects of the recent days , and the water getting clearer
Any way off  to plantations main lake on Wednesday so ring me at the shop to book in on 01179517250