Pole only viaduct, match lake

Only ten fishing today in a pole only on the match lake, so Paul pegged it 4 up each side and one on each end, no other way to do it really.
Before I carry on , for those fishing the silvers league here on Sunday, be aware it's a 9 o,clock draw, not 9.30 as it was in the first two matches .
I fancied a draw in a corner or on the ends today as I thought the extra bit of room may be an advantage, and the bigger carp seem to inhabit the corners, but no, into the draw tin and out comes 44 which s in the middle of the left hand bank, I had travelling pertner for the day in the shape of Chris fox on 43 and Colin dyer on 45.
I had bought a couple of pints of casters with me but I never used them, the two pints of dead mags were going to used down the edge, so a small rig was put together for that with a 16 middy 8313 hook on .16.
I set up two pellet rigs , one for soft pellet at 13 mtrs over soaked 4,s and micros and a hard pellet rig for 16 mtrs, AT&T he start I began at 13 mtrs with soft pellet and I had bites from the off, starting with a couple of small skimmers then some f1,s. I stayed on this for the first 90 mins then I switched to the hard pellet rig over the same line with a banded 6mm, but still kindering 4,s and micros over the top, all the time I was firing some 4,s out to 16 mtrs , I had also been potting some dead mags each side in the margins.
Looking round most people were catching well , with peanut on 40 , Giles on 42 both doing well, but dan white over on 51 was doing well slapping a hard pellet at 16 mtrs, with 2 1/2 hours to go and the 13 mtr line slowing right up , I went out to 16 mtrs on hard pellet and had an f1 straight away then a small real carp, but I was getting liners so I set up a shallow rig , which was a good move as I started to get f1,s and a couple of carp, the margins didn't really get going for me, probably because I had anglers each side, I had 1 f1 from the right and two proper carp from the left , and one of those was probably 9lb so a good bonus there then, by the end I wasn't to sure as to what I had , I only new I had over 100lb. As expected dan white won with 177.8 , which comprised of about 125lb of f1,s with the balance being proper carp, all caught slapping at 16 mtrs for most of the match then 17.5 towards the end
2nd was Tom thick on 49 with 134.6
3rd Giles cochrane on 42 with 132.2
4th p nut on 40 with 127.7
5th me with 123.11
6th ziggy on 47 with 72.2
Chris fox won the silvers with 17.14 of mainly skimmers of various sizes n maggot fishing just his topkit








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Todber series , park lake

This was the first of a four match series run by nick merry and mark poppleton, 24 fishing split into 6 peg sections  for points, I was first into the draw and ended up on the peg everyone wants 38 !!!. It's the end peg round the far side, anyone who knows the place will know how good it can be, a nice long margin to the right and an island at 15 mtrs, also meat down the middle has been scoring at the venue, for company I had bristols finest roofer in the shape of bela bakos on 37, before I continue with the fishing I must say the breakfast in canards well pub was very nice with friendly staff, so back there again in a fortnight.
Several rigs today , two for pellet across to the island , one on the deck and one shallow, a meat rig for 5 mtrs and a rig for dead maggot down the edge at 5 mtrs ,
At the start I cupped in some maggots down the margin, some meat at 6 mtrs and some 6mm pellet across to the island, I started on the meat line and had two carp in the first 15 mins , but that was it for that ,And after 40 mins I was reaching for the far bank pellet rig, there were lots of fish over there but foulers were a big problem, but as far as I could see most people were suffering the same problem, I tried  the shallow rig but that wasn't any good even thought here were odd slurpers against the island, I had a few but bela was ahead by the halfway stage and I was busy trying to think of some plausible excuses as to why I had done so badly on the flyer of all flyers, but with two hours to go I went down the edge and never looked back, catching steadily on 6 dead maggots on a 14 hook, ending up with well over 100lb and managing to turn the tables on bela (phew). I actually weighed 156lb I think, I never took a copy of the weights , but mike nicholls will have the full result on his blog
2nd was bela with 123lb
Silverfox was 3rd with 94lb and fabio was 4th with 91lb,
Off to viaduct on weds for a pole only on the match lake, so anyone who fancies it book in at the fishery or ring me at the shop while you still can lol

End of an era and a match at emerald pool

Well it's been there for 35 years and I,ve been behind the counter for 32 of those , but Avon angling will be closing the door for the last time at some stage in November , to say it's been an interesting time is a bit of an understatement, I,ve met a lot of really good people and only a few strange ones luckily. I could right a book on it, but but it could never be published lol.
I started there in 82 when dave Morgan owned it, he sold it in 85 to Rodney and Freda Warwick and I took over in 89, that lasted till 94 when I went bankrupt(always keep on top of the paperwork). That's when John. The gimp, took over and he has controlled me very well till now,
It's not due to financial reasons we are closing , it's being unable to come to an agreement with the landlord over lease , so there it is , I would like to say a big thanks to all our customers who have kept me employed and entertained for the last 32 years, but the biggest thanks must go to judith who has put up with and supported me for this period, there aren't to many who would have I know. and if anyone knows of a job which gives me Wednesdays and Sundays off with plenty of coffee breaks please let me know as I may be your man .
Back to the fishing , we were at emerald pool today for a knock up, only 12 fishing, I was up to 16 at one stage but had some late cancellations. I did something today which I haven't done for a long time , I cocked the draw up and had to have a redraw, 2nd time round I ended up on peg 2 , which fabio had on the first draw, he wasn't to pleased as it's a flyer, first peg over the main bridge  , to the left of the bridge, I had mr kedge to my left the other side of the bridge and I was next to mr cochrane again, this was ans anything goes match with an even split for silvers and overall, and you could win both. My main attack was 6 mm hard pellet over loose fed 4,s at 13 mtrs in front and 14 mtrs towards the empty peg on the other side of. The bridge. I did have a few ropey casters left from the weekend so I set up 4 mtr to hand. Rig for that, the other three rigs were for pellet, one for on the deck, one for shallow and one for the long left hand margin.
I started on the caster rig and after 40 mins all I had to show were three hybrids (roach bream), Giles to my right had started longer and was getting some nice silvers and odd carp on a shallow rig, kedgy was struggling , in hindsight I should have left his peg out as it's very shallow and a lot of colour has dropped out of the water. I went out on the deep rig and started getting bites on banded 6 mm , and liners had me reaching for the shallow rig, several carp and hybrids later the bites went a bit iffy, Giles was ahead by this stage and I was looking at getting some verbal payback from him, with 2 hours to go I went to the long left hand margin and began hatching well, again on banded 6mm, and with an hour to go I had 22 carp in my net and with a 70lb net limit I put a second carp net in, and in the last hour I had 13 more, I think I left it a bit to long to go along the edge, so I ended the match with 35 carp and quite a few accidental silvers in the shape of hybrids and small tench, mostly taken shallow at 13 mtrs,
P-nut lee came first with 132.9 of the bridge peg at the far end of the carpark, catching well on maggot over groundbait against the far bank,
2nd me with 116.7
3rd Giles cochrane 111.8
4th Craig Edmunds 104.8
5th kevin (kieth) jefferies, 64.1
6th Tim Clark, 51.1
Silvers
Ron hardiman, 35.8
Giles cochrane 25.7
Tim Clark, 25.6
All in all a very enjoyable match,
As for the shop all good things must come to an end, one door closes, hopefully another one will open, I will still be running matches next year as my calendar is already full ,the float only league is booked as is the short pole match at trinity, I will put a complete list of dates on here in the next couple of weeks.

Two days of silvers at viaduct

I had Saturday off to fish the silvers all winners final at viaduct, and with a cloudy day and a bit of a breeze , expectations were quite high . Early into the draw tin and out comes 97 which s on the diagonal bank on Cary , a good skimmer area, for company I had Harold steptoes son in the shape of Giles cochrane on 96 who had lee peanut coaching him as he hadn't qualified, and don Sutherland the other side on 98, so the stage was set for a friendly bit of banter, and we weren't disappointed we had a good laugh all day, rigs today were just two , a .25 and a .4g , both pencil type floats with the normal middy 6313 hook on ,10 line. With rigs done and the g bait mixed I was ready for the 11am start, on the whistle I cupped in a small ball at 3 mtrs and 5 each at 11 and 14 mtrs, starting at 3 mtrs I quickly had a few small roach but it never lasted , and after  about 10 minutes the bites stopped, Giles and don never had a bite on the short line, I did give it 30 mins on this short line but it was a no hoper, Giles had chucked the feeder by now and had caught a couple of  good skimmers and don had caught one on the pole, so I went out to 11 mtrs and fished here for the next 2 1/2 hours catching odd good skimmers, I kept feeding an odd ball on both long pole lines and with 3 hours left I went out to 14 mtrs and stayed here till the end , not really bagging but catching odd skimmers right to the end , as was Giles and don but by the end I reckoned I had beaten them both but it could be tight , looking around it was clear that andy power on 77 was going to to win with dan squire on 88 pushing him closest, and that was how it ended with andy winning with 56.10 catching really well towards the end, on maggot over caster with groundbait, he reckoned he fed about 6 pints of caster and a kilo of crumb
2nd dan squire with 48.10
3rd me with 42.9
4th lee Edwards on 77 with 38.13
5th Paul homewood on 110 with 35.14
6th Giles cochrane with 35.7
Sunday silvers league round 2
Today's match saw me draw 69 on lodge lake which again is a very good skimmer peg, again for company I had Giles cochrane  on 70 and nick Ewers on 68, today's match was a mirror image of the day before with the same rigs and baits, but I did slightly better today ending up with 43.3 of skimmers at 11 and 14 mtrs, as with the day before single dead red maggot fished over the groundbait being the most effective hook bait, it was not quite enough to win today as Gary Shea on 78 won with 47.1, but I was happy with second but mor importantly a second section win was in the bag.
3rd went to Anton page on 81 with 42.11
4th Paul greenwood on 18 with 40.10
5th Dominic Sullivan on 19 with 39.1
6th nick Ewers on 68 with 34lb
Off to emerald again on weds so that should be good for a few bites.

Emerald fishery , weds open

I couldn't stop for to long , so I was back running a match on ruby and sapphire on this popular day ticket fishery, only ended up wt 15 fishing but Alan let us use both lakes so plenty of room for all, draw done and I had the last ticket which was peg 10 , which really was peg 2 on sapphire, two out of wiggets corner, for company I had the Somerset power lifter, steve kedge to my right and Phil coolam to my left, I planned for an out and out pellet attack today , feeding 6mm and fishing banded 8,s, I set up a rig for the right hand margin, a 5 mtr rig where as it turned out I should have fished meat, and a couple of rigs for the corner of the island , one shallow and one deep,
I started at 5 mtrs and had a couple of carp quickly and some nice roach, all on 8mm, but I saw a couple of swirl so I went out on the shallow rig, but the swirls turned out to be roach, but they were nice fish up to about 10oz, not really what a wanted, I saw a swirl down in my right hand margin over  my pellet feed and went in and had a carp straight away, but I only took the one as it was a bit early to go in there, back out at 5 mtrs and the roach were still being a pest, so I went out to the island on the deck and started catching, feeding with the catty soon had some fish swirling , problem was most of them were roach again, but there were odd carp amongst them so I went in with shallow rig and had some roach and carp, by swapping between the island shallow and deep and the margin I kept putting carp plus some silvers in the nets, I had bites right up till the end , and finished with 55 carp and some silvers which was mainly roach with a few bar of soap tench, I thought I had about 110lb as the carp are of a small average size , which is good as they are easier to land , rumour was that peanut on ruby had won easily as he had been catching well on maggot over groundbait down his margin, but kedgy had a flying last hour on meat at 5 mtrs so it was going to be tight, in the end the honours went to peanut on peg 7 on ruby with134.5
2nd steve kedge, 131.10
3rd me 124.4
4th mat tomes , 114.2
5th bob price 105.15
6th fabio 98.5 and he had top silvers weight with 18.3 of roach and Rudd on 6 mm banded pellet fished shallow
2nd in silvers was peanut,s step dad in the shape of Giles cochrane with 17.4
No fishing for me for over a week for me as I,m off to west Wales with judith and the dogs for a bit of a break, then it's back next Saturday for the silvers all winners final at viaduct , the back down there on the Sunday for round 2 of the silvers league

Viaduct silvers league, rnd 1

49 are booked in for this popular series which is run over 6 matches, with section points needed to do well , I like to draw early and went in to the tin behind five others, out comes 110 , lovely job , steve kedge had it on Wednesday and won the silvers with 66lb of mainly tench close in, so off to the peg then, for company I had nick Collins on 111, so the banter was always going to be good.
After kedgy doing well with the tench, I set up a rig to fish to hand on a topkit with caster, another on the same line but short lined with a number 4 on if conditions made fishing to hand difficult, a rig for in the margins but with a lot of carp mooching around I wasn't to hopefull of any decent silvers getting a look in, and a rig for caster over groundbait at 13 mtrs, at the start I began feeding caster on the short lines and put 6 balls in at 13 mtrs, I then began on the short to hand rig on single caster, I had a good start with a big hybrid and a tench plus some roach in the first ten minutes, and that in all honesty was my match sorted, I did have a tench and a few smaller skimmers on the 13 mtr line and some perch and sensible roach from the left hand margin until the carp showed up which spelt the end as far as margins went , so by swapping between the to hand rig and the short line rig close in I ended up with 14 tench , some nice skimmers and small roach, it was a bit of a waiting game for a bite but with the night before being the coldest for ages it wasn't really surprising, and also this is the shallowest end of the lake with just over 2 foot on the pole line , so every fish hook made a bit of a mess of the peg, but by the end I reckoned I had over 40lb which looked good enough to get the all important section win, the scales went 43.12 which not only gave me the section but was just enough for first on the day, but it was close with tony page only a good skimmer behind off peg 103 with 42.11
3rd and not to far either was bob gullick on 94 with 41.5
4th andy botterill on 99 with 39.4
5th dan squires on 90 with 34.3
6th Gabriel skarba on 78 with 33.6
Off to emerald on Wednesday for a match on ruby and sapphire, so if anyone fancies a go ring me at the shop to book in on 01179517250. £15 quid all in, draw at 9.30

Weds open viaduct fishery, Campbell lake

This was a fifty fifty match with equal a payouts for overall and silvers, but you can win both, I expected a decent turnout so was disappointed to find only eleven fishing, it seemed like a good opportunity to fish for silvers as the silvers league starts this Sunday , I waited till the end to draw and ended up on 116, nt what I would really deem a good silvers peg, but it is a good carp peg, so the silvers parafanalia was left in the van, and with more people silver fishing than carping it seemed to be a good decision , I had travelling partner Ron hardiman on 115 and mat tomes on 118, I did ok on this peg last time I drew it on meat fished at 13&5 mtrs , so that was the main plan for today, the only difference was the meat size as I changed from 8mm to 10mm size chunks, so rigs done for that I set up a margin rig to use down by the overhanging tree to my right using and feeding 8mm pellet.
I started off at 13 mtrs kindering meat over the top whilst feeding some at 5 mtrs and throwing pellets to the tree to my right, first put in on the meat and the float settled and kept going , that resulted in a flying 2lb skimmer ending up in the net. By the end of the first hour I had only managed one carp and a smaller skimmer, so I switched long lines, going out to 14mtrs and feeding pellet, it certainly seemed better with more activity in the swim but foulers were a problem, so it was off the box and a shallow rig assembled, Ron by now was a couple of fish ahead but was also suffering foulers, it didn't take to long to get a shallow fish, but it was proving to be difficult, you had to feed to get the fish fizzing but they didn't seem to keen to stay near the pole, a switch to the deep rig produced odd fish but foulers kept being a problem, if you stopped feeding the fizzing would stop and so would any indications, I did try down by the tree and had two fish but lost three or four trying to bully them out from the tree, and when my float came back minus a tip and a snapped stem I gave that up as a bad job. With two hours to go I decided to concentrate on the 5 mtr meat line as there were bubbles coming up, with two thirds of the anglers silver bashing it didn't look as though it was going to be hard to get some overall money, it was only Roy the bomb worth who had been plying his trade over on 123, that had the most carp, it was probably pretty much neck and neck between Ron and me at this stage but he had lost a couple of malmanfloats and was crying into his rig box, the last two hours were good and I ended up with 25 carp into double figures for what I reckoned to go at least 140lb, but I was a bit out as they actually went 181.13, the fish at this venue doesn't seem to know how to stop growing, and that was enough for first place.
2nd Roy worth on 123 with 155.14
3rd Ron hardiman , 114lb
4th Nigel Bartlett on 131 with 86.12 which included 56lb of silvers, but that wasn't enough to take the silvers top spot , that went to steve kedge on 110 with 66.8 who finished the match not being able to get his caster hook bait into the water fast enough to catch a tench just on his topkit,