wes open , landsend fishery

We made this match a bit of a costcutter and only charged 16 quid, hopimg to attract a few more, it didnt happen as only 10 turned up, I will do it again in a fortnight's time , we will have to wait and see,
I vied with ron hardiman for the last ticket , and ended up on 11, which is a good peg, then again with only 10 here there wasnt a bad peg in the mix.
I set up a rig to fish bunches of maggots over groundbait down the edge, a meat rig fo 5 mtrs , a stalker rig and two pellet rigs , one for on top of the island shelf and another for over against the end bank.
at the start I fed all areas but began on the 5 mtr meat line.
It wasnt to good and the first hour only produced 2 small carp, and a perch, not what you want on the meat line really, so after an hour it was over to the island,  there were lots of fish over there but with only about 12 inches of water the fish were a bit spooky,  but by feeding 2 areas it was possible to keep the fish coming, but they were on the slightly small side. I never fished the meat line again,  the groundbait line down the edge only produced an ide and afew perch, I did see a nice ghostie over the groundbait but it never stopped long enough to catch, I did see it 3 or 4 times and I, m convinced it was the same fish, the end bank swim gave 4 quick fish then I snagged the bottom , so that was the end of that, I finished the match with 35 carp, bit with most on the small side I thought 130lb ish, the only other person I could see catching was tom thick on 5 , but in the end I had eniugh as my net went 149.11
2nd was tom with 109.10
3rd ed wynne on 15 with 102.2
4th ron hardiman on 24 with 84.8
5th dave Blakemore on 13 with
6th john Bradford on 17 with 53lb,  which included the top silver weight of 19.11
I am running a match here on bank holiday monday , its a 10 draw so ring me at the shop to book in

viaduct spring lge round 1

This is a popular league with 55 fishing , spread over cambell, carey and lodge lake. I wasnt to fussed where I drew , but was more than happy to see 85 written on my ticket , a good peg with plenty of fish in it normally, lots of advice,  with most people telling me to fish the tip with 11mm pellet or meat, not for me though, I set up a wag to fish pellet at 30mtrs, and a couple of pole rigs , one for meat at 5 and 14 mtrs, and a pellet rig for my right hand margin, for company I had andy neale on 81 and glyn Reynolds on 86, with dan white on 87 and lee wherret on 88 it was going to be interesting,  at the start most people around me started on the lead, I started on the 14 mtr meat line, 10 minutes in and I hooked a carp which obviously wasnt hooked in the right place , so the hook pulled somewhere in glyns peg, after another 10 mins and lee was on his 3rd carp, so I went out on the wag with a banded 11mm pellet over loose fed 8,s.  By the end of the first hour I had 3 carp on the wag , but lee was on 6 by now, luckily he wasnt in my section, both glyn and andy were struggling, so I stuck with the wag for most of the first 4 hours putting 11 carp in the net , with fish up to 18lb ish, these cary fish are proper pigs, with 20lb fish not uncommon, the meat line at 5 mtrs never gave me a bite , so most of the last 90 mins were spent at 14 mtrs down the right hand margin, where I added another 6 carp on banded 11mm pellet again over catty fed 8,s. So with 17 fish in the nets I reckoned I had 170lb as these water pigs tend to average out at 10lb plus, lee ended up with 21 with a common carp of probably 20lb in his catch so he had over 200lb, but it looked as though I was going to win my section so a good start to the series was in the bag ,
1st on the day was lee wherret on 88 with his 21 beasties going 236.14
2nd andy crocker with 192.5 on peg 96
3rd was me with 186.1 on peg 85
4th adrian jeffery on peg 90 with 139.1
5th nick ewers on 110 with 136lb
6th mat tomes on 119 with 134.15
no silvers prize today , just overall weight.
off to landsend wednesday, 10 am draw and 16 pounds pools,
luckily I beat glyn by 122lb so I never had to have my picture taken with his daffodil hat on , but I did make him wear it to hand his pound over to me, also shaun townsend came scuffing around the lake to give me anothe quid, thats only 12 on the trot from him, a quadruple hat trick ha ha ,
good to hear tim ford is out of hospital, and we all wish him a speedy recovery, but as long as he isnt fishing, there will be a flyer for someone else to draw

no fish Wednesday

St georges day, 31 years today I never slayed the dragon I married her, the best decision I have made, lol, hardly ever moans about me going fishing, never really gives me grief about no DIY, feeds me and generally looks after me , couldnt be without her, so no fishing today, just a day spent with the best woman in the world, (sorry kylie)

monday open , landsend fishery

This was the usual bank holiday open , and with 17 booked in mike let us use the match lake and the left hand bank of number 3 lake, with the pegs spread out I didnt really mind where I drew, but I wasnt best pleased when I pulled peg 51 on the top lake, not the best of draws , but with fish having fins and being able to move about, you never know.
walking past the match lake , some things never change , paul elmes on 21 , tom mangnal on 1 , trig on 24, adrian clark on 19, so after giving them all a bot of abuse on the way, I wandered up to my peg,, and lo and behold I could see plenty of fish on the top mooching about, so I set about making some rigs up,  meat fig for 5 mtrs(never used). 2 pellete rigs for up and down the island shelf(never used), and a meat rig for the margins(never used), and a stalker/slapping rig  (used all day), at the start I fed all lines and began on the stalker, rig with a banded 8mm pellet, the first hiur was good with 10 fish falling ti this method, I kept feeding 6mm pellet to the island , and was more than happy to keep some fish slurping up against the grass, I kept catching odd fish for the first 4 hours , then the sun went in , and fish spotting became difficult,  so I used the same rig and kept slapping and feeding by the island,  so I caught right to the end, ending up wit approximately 45 fish with lots of them in the 6 to 9lb bracket,  I thought I may be over the net limit in one net but it turned out I was over in 2 of my net , I weighed 252.1 for first on the day(just lol), but would have had closer to 300 if I had got another net out of the bag
2nd was tom mangnall on peg 1 with 86lb
3rd clint wojtyla on peg 13 with 85lb
4th dave Westcott on 55 with 77.2
5th rod Wootten on 42 with 69.7
6th ed wynne on 11 with 65.8
silvers
martin pettiffer on peg 5 with 42lb of msinly f1, s

chilton top 6 and silvers

My phome decided to kick back into life at 11pm last night after a few hours sat on top of a warm radiator,  so I have the top 6 now
1st paul(drawdag) elmes on peg 6 with 111.15
2nd craig(the guns) edmunds on 13 with 107.14
3rd chris(tourettes) fox on 7 with 85.15
4th steve seager on 8 with 78.15
5th mike(you should have put 18 in instead of 19) with 77.12
6th tony(first the turners buwt my ass, now I been seagered off the next peg, ) rixon with 72.5
silvers
tom ''the stye'' mangnall on 11 with 26..8 of skimmers on soft pellet

short pole series, rnd 1 chilton trinity

On woodland lake for this series of 4 matches, only pole lengths up to your number 6 allowed with no long lining allowed, 24 fishing and 6 peg sections for points, with the weather forecast I , along with everyone wanted to draw on the far bank, as that meant the wind would be off our backs and with heavy rain due later in the day, a far bank swim would be nice,  I ended up on peg 9, on the far bank, nice.
I had steve seager on 8 and jerry pocock on 10.
I kept it simple today , a .6g rig for banded pellet at 7 mtrs (the max allowed) ,also it would do for the close meat line at 4 mtrs, and a .3g rig for meat each side in the margins. At tje start I began on the pellet lime feeding 6, s, I didnt have to wait long for a bite and was soon playimg my first carp, which I was sure was hooked in the right place, but it fell off, the fish seemed to have a bit of a mumch today, but hooking them properly was the problem,  being the lake is 6 foot deep, nailing them down at a constant depth can be hard, unless they come shallow, but not today, so it was a case of losing a few and  catching a few, paul(the drawbag) elmes was doing the best as far as I could see, catching down his right hand margin, most people on our bank were catching a few, whereas the anglers opposite were really struggling,  mainly due to the gale blowing into there faces , steve on 8 was getting some nice fish on paste, he started catching so well at one stage chris fox on 7 set up a paste rig snd had a few, by the end it looked to be a 2 horse race between paul elmes and trig up on 13,
I ended up with about 13 carp and a few skimmers which went 72lb, steve seager had 80lb nearly, chris had 85 and paul had 111lb I thenk for first
 Trigger was second one fish behind with 107 and chris was 3rd, I, m not sur as to the top 6 as I took a pic of  the weigh sheet on my phone m tgen the phone decided to stop working, mike nicholls or chris fox will have the full results on there blogs,
off to landsend tomorrow I hope it doesnt rain again

weds landsend open

Another disappointing turnout today for a wednesday, only 8 turned up, the next eeds open is going to be a costcutter with only 16 quid pools, we will see if that bomt attract a few more, but I, m not convinced,
I had the last ticket today and ended up with peg 24 , the corner peg, although we had 16c temps forecast for today I never had the benefit of it as I was in the shade all day with the wind coming from behind, I had to sit with my fleece on all day whereas the anglers opposite were in short sleeves,
I set up meat rigs for doen the edge,  and one for 5 and 13 mtrs as it was the same depth, a pellet rig for 14 mtrs up the edge tight in against the bank in 2 feet of water, a stalker rig as there were a few about sunbathing plus they seemed to have a bit of a taste for cherry blossom, which was blowing onto the surface,
also the stalker would double up as a shallow rig against the edge,
at the start I began on meat at 13 mtrs and hooked a 10lb fish which I played for a while as it was my first fish, probably gave it to much respect as I t fell off as I was going to net it, I stayed on the 13 mtr line and had 3 carp and 2 perch in the first hour but it wasnt hectic, the surface fish were staying out of range mainly,  but occasionally ome came into range and I did get a few during the match,  but I had more fishing along the end bank, , looking around no one apart from tom thick on peg 6 was catching well , on whatever he chose to do, pellet dapping, meat at 5 mtrs and pellet over to the island, at the end tom had 34 carp and double figures of silvers so he was going to be a clear winner,  I had 21 carp and a few skimmers which normally goes 100lb so hopefully it would be enough for second.
tom came out an easy winner with 195.6
I was second with 109.8
3rd gordon Cannings on 16 with 84.4
4th ron hardiman on 11 with 72.8
5th mike west on 19 had 64.1
silvers went to the gimp on peg 21 with 24.4 which was 5 skimmers and lots of small perch
I am running an open here on monday , so if you want to fish ring me at the shop to book in or ring mike at the fishery on 07977545882

sunday open landsend fishery

The trusty blue van has had a bit of a wobbler,  I hope its something trivial, its a bit noisy, sounds like a bearing or somethimg similar,  so its off to tha van doctors for it,
luckily judith never had a dog show today so I had the use of her van, so after loading mine and pete nottons gear into the back and it was off to lillypool cafe fo another nice brekkie, then off to the fishery, 25 had booked in for this one so moke let us use match and  number 3 lake (johns). Pete pulled 2 tickets out of the hat so I took one and opened it to reveal 46, not the best but fish got fins and do move about, but it never stopped me moaning to myself on the walk to the lake. With joe mcmahon on 41, trigger on 42 , tom mangnal on 70 and old draw bag himself paul elmes on 68, historically these 4 pegs are the best on the lake, but I wasnt to bitter, 4 good anglers on the best pegs, but every day is different.
I set up 4 rigs, 2 meat rigs , one for the margin and one for 5 mtrs and 2 pellet rigs, one for stalking as there were a few fish about cruising , and a depth rig for over against the island, at the start I began on the 5 mtr meat line and gave it 30 mins but never had a bite on it , so I went stalking and managed 10 fish doing that in the next couple of hours,  then they seemed to dissappear,  so apart from one fish on meat from the margin I had 10 more from off the island some on the deck and some on the shallow rig pushed against the island on banded 8mm pellet over loose fed 6, s, I ended the match with 21 carp and 3 f1, s for over 100lb,  trig seemed to have won the lake as he probably had 24 carp and several f1, s with a lot of his fish falling to meat fished short in the last couple of hour's,  trig ended uo weighing 137.14 , but it wasnt enough to win as the inform dan white on peg 1 had 147.1 on mainly meat fished in several parts of his peg
2nd was trig on 42
3rd was me with 117.12 on peg 46
4th gary o, shea on 15 with 113.14
5th martin mcmahon on 13 with 112.12
6th dabe roper on 19 with 90.4
silvers went to the reborn silver ace , rod Wootten on peg 22 with 34.6, of skimmers and f1.s on soft pellet

ivy house Wednesday open

Got to the fishery with pete notton to find only 9 people fishing, the costcutter tje day before had 17 booked in, viaduct is suffering the same quiet Wednesdays,  whereas the Thursday coscutter has got at least 25 fishing, I am going to have to think about opening Wednesdays and going fishing thursdays just to get a decent size match lol, but at least the breakfast up at ivy cooked by the more than capable karen was more than sufficient and very tasty using local produce, even the sausages seemed to have real meat in them, lol, it was good to mr shipp in attendance, bringing his son dan along and young cody who is a bitterwell lake regular for a bit of a pleasure session on the small lake, nice to see a couple of younsters showing an interest in match fishing , as the sport is really struggling for new blood, and hats off to the lads at bitterwell who are doing there best for the kids by running regular junior matches.
back to the draw and out comes peg 46, a very consistent peg which frames regularly,  I am not goimg to spend to much time talking about the match as its only a knockup,  only 2 rigs put up a hard pellet rig to fish at 5,9 and 14 mtrs with banded 6mm over loosefed 4, s and a I was goimg to put groindbait bown each side in the margins and fish corn over it, at the start I cupped in some 4, s on tje 3 pellet lines and pit a few pots of groindbait down each side, I gave the 5 mtr line 40 mins , but only had one bite and one stockie carp, so it was out to the 9mtr line where I had 12 more before that line dried up, so the rest of the match was spent at 14 mtrs and down the margins,  I had an interestimg match ending up with 30 plus stockie carp, ome 3 1/2 old common and 4 skimmers, I did lose 2 probable double figure carp, ome on tje 14 mtr line , it fell off as I was thinking about netting it, then another one which I hooked doen the edge, which felt and looked bigger, but it all came in to easily as again I came down to the topset easily , then after having a quick look at me , decided to head out into the middle of the lake and broke me, bugger again, but it never cost me as des won with 90lb off peg 33, he couldnt catch any stockies but he mabe up for it with some good fish down the edge, including a couple of the biggest f1, s I have ever seen, with one of them going nearly 8lb, not nad for a strain of fish that wasnt meant to go over 4lb, oh yes and he also won the silveds with 20lb of skimmers, I was second and a lomg way behind with 46lb, but it was enjoyable and I will probably back in a couple of weeks time , hopefully there , may be a few more in attendance,
off to landsend on sunday for an open, so give me a ring at the shop to book in on 01179517250 , or phone mike at the fishery on 07977545882

emerald pool fishery

This was always going to be a popular match,  in fact I had to refuse a few people, so in the end I had 26 fishing,  split between ruby and sapphire pools, I didnt really mind where I drew as this is a well stocked venue so a days sport was guaranteed from any peg, I waited till last but one to draw and pulled out peg 8 which was a corner peg on sapphire (ithink) , well its the right hand lake at the back.
I had the gimp to my right and bob the bread price round the corner to my left, I only set up 3 rigs today, a depth pellet rig to fish over to the island, and the same rig would do for 5 mtrs in fromt , a shallow rig and a down the edge meat rig to my left, I mixed uo some groundbait to dump down the margin as it was nice and shallow,  aboit 18 inches deep. With the gimp only using his topset for roach,  I had the end of the island all to myself,  as did paul elmes the other side of john, I would like to say tje match was a bit of a struggle,  really having to work for bites, but as far as I could see, nearly everyone had bites all the way through, it became a bit of a fish race, in my peg the carp liked the groundbait down the edge as I soon had tail patterns showing on the surface, there were also lots of fish on the island, but there are lots of dead reeds, so it was a bit hard to get in tight enough, I did hook the main snag , intentionally,  but couldnt get it out, I just lost my hook,  I did get a few fish from the island but not being able to get close enough was really hampering my attempts to catch, even shallow fishing wss snaggy, the margin finally got the better of me , I couldnt resist it any longer, so the rest of my mstch was spent between meat in the margin, and pellet at 5 mtrs, I did have a run 8f fish shallow at 5 mtrs, but they didnt stay shallow for to long,  I did have some on the deck on 8mm pellet but most of my weight  came from the left hand margin on 8mm meat, I always felt I was several fish behind paul elmes on 6, and tom mangnal on 3 was catch8ng well,  behind us on ruby leon huddard was catching well as was tim ford and trigger edmunds,  it was impossible to say who had won by the end as the fish are on tje small side with a 4lb fish being a good one. In the end it was paul elmes on 6 who won with 153.14,  catching mainly shallow in various places around the end of the island on banded pellet
2nd tom mangnal on peg 3 with 133.9
3rd me , on peg 8 with 126.5
4th leon hubbard on 26 with 111.5
5th tim ford on 19 with 106.9
6th craig edmunds on 15 with 95.14
silvers
clint wojtyla on peg 24 with 29.6 of roach and rudd on caster fished short
off to landsend next sunday so if you are interested,  ring me at the shop on 0117 9517250 to book in
today's match saw 1,753lb of fish brought to the scales,  giving an average weight of over 67lb an angler,  good by any standards.

landsend weds open

A better turnout today with 15 booked , so we were on the match lake only, which is a good amount fo a midweeker on this lake, martin lenaghan pulled out 2 tickets and handed me one, which turned out to be peg 7, its a good peg , where the far bank pellet line tends to get better and better as the match goes on, as you seem to draw fish around from the gap in the island on 6.
only 3 rigs today , a .3g for meat down the middle,  a .2 again for meat over against a newly emerging reed bed opposite on the island , and a .1g for banded pellet against the island, I had dave Blakemore on 6 and mike west on 9, at the start I cupped in some meat and some by the weedbed, then began firing a few 6, s to the island,  the first hour was very slow with one ide , one skimmer and a lost carp, opposite on 19 gordon Cannings had begun well catching at 5 mtrs on meat, and I could just see shane turner on 15 getting a few against the island, and tom mangnal up on 11 seemed to be snaring a few, my match never got going with the carp not venturing past peg 6 and up to me, I did fet a few against the island plus one in meat over by the reeds and 2 at 5 mtrs, I ended the match with 8 smallish carp for 41lb and 2 skimmers,  2 f1, s, 2 skimmers and an ide for another 10lb for a 51lb total, which was no good today, gordon over on 19 caught odd fish right through the match ending up with 19 carp for 101.12
2nd tom mangnal on 11 had 76.15
3rd kieth turner on 13 had 60.13
4th shane(son of kieth)turner on 16 with 55.6
5th me with 51.4
6th ron hardiman on peg 1 with 45.9
silvers went to andy hembrow on peg 3 with 22.5 of mainly skimmers on soft pellet