Float only league rnd 4 avalon

After stopping off at Landsend fishery for breakfast, it was off across the moor to estuary and Avalon , I had a couple short today so only 39 fishing, Its always a problem when people don't show, I try and make sure the daily payouts stay the same, I adjust the end of league payments , but it normally only makes a difference of a fiver here and there, not to drastic.
Trig drew for me today and handed me peg 11, a nice swim on the second island, just on the gap, for company I had Steve Tucker on 10 and Nick ewers on peg 12.
I set up a shallow wag as it can be a good swim for that, although the fish seem to be wiseing up to this method on most water's now. For the pole I set a margin rig for meat but at over 4 feet deep I didn't fancy it , and so it proved as I only had one roach off it , so no more on that waste of time then.
I set two pellet rigs to fish at 16 mtrs, one shallow and another one deep, the last rig was a double bulk one to fish worm over groundbait at 13 mtrs, all ready with just a few minutes to go.

To begin with I cupped in 6 balls of groundbait in at 13 mtrs with some caster and chopped worm in, fed some pellet to the island , then began shallow at 16 mtrs, although there had been a few fish about , it didn't start to well, in fact it was very tough, at the end of the first hour, I had had one carp and lost one which I was convinced it was foulhooked. The only person that seemed to be catching with any regulatory was Paul elmes on peg 9, fishing his much loved paste , also bela bakos on 14 was sneaking a few out, also on the paste, as the match progressed it never really got any better , I did get some more skimmers over the groundbait, and a couple of bigger.carp also took a liking to the worm bait, by the end I had 9 carp and double figures of silver's for 55lb plus, I hoped Paul elmes had won the match, meaning I was hoping for the section money by default, I will take it any way !!!!
Luckily Paul elmes had won with 115.7. Catching on the long pole and down his right hand margin, mainly on paste
2nd was Glen Bailey on peg 36 with 82.5, again on paste
3nd was fishery owner Vic Bush on end peg 23 with 17 carp for 81.13
4th Beal bakos on 14 with 72.10
5th Tom.mangnal on peg 24 with 72.6
6th was me with 64.10
Silver's
Paul faiers with 26.8 of mainly.whitebait
In the main it fished quite fairly, but considering how many were on it it was ok.
Off to Chilton trinity for round three or the short pole series next Sunday, I will have a couple of spaces I should think for that one, so ring or txt me on 07974807941 to book in.

Fundraiser match, Barston lake

This match had been organised to raise funds for the women's international team, main organiser for the day was Julie Abbott, and she did a good job, especially as it was meant to be at the glebe fishery but Roy Marlow decided to shut as its suffering an outbreak of kHz, so he did the right thing, I can remember when we had it bad in this area about 12 years ago and it wasn't good, but all the fisheries that suffered it seem to bounce back as good if not better than before, so the glebe will be fine,
So myself , Chris Fox and Ken rayner were in the old Toyota blue bus on our way to Barston main lake, a new one for me, we had a brekkie stop in the premier inn just down the road , and it was very good, all you can eat for 8.95, good value for money.
It was a good turnout with 60 fishing with some very good anglers fishing , and Mark poppleton !!!!.
As is my norm I was quite early into the draw and out comes peg 22, means nothing to me but a quick chat with a couple of people and it turns out to be one of the favoured areas, with the long range method feeder being the thing to do, not ideal as I never had a method rod or feeders with me, luckily Chris managed to sort me out with the right kit, even boilies, bandits and bits .
It was only a short walk to the peg on a nice gravel path, for company I had Joe Roberts to my left and my right hand side was occupied by the legendary dick clegg , he did hope I wasn't one of those people who sit there and don't talk all day, I assured him I wasn't, and needles to say I didn't disappoint.

Although I was told it was a lead area in the main I couldn't resist setting the pole up to try and catch some skimmers, so I set up a groundbait worm and caster rig for 11 mtrs and a pellet rig for 14 mtrs, also a meat rig for the margin each side, and lastly the method rod with 45g lump on the end to try and get some distance. On the all in I cupped 10 balls of feed onto the shorter line with a copious amount of chopped worm and caster, some 4mm hard pellets at 14 mtrs, then I picked up the rod which was a very nice daiwa tournament 12/13 rod which felt nice I must say, filled the method with some groundbait with a few pellets on with a white thingy in the band and I was ready to go.

I launched it out to about 60 mtrs and began to count , aiming to get to 100 before another Chuck, I didn't get to the number, as the tip went round and I had a 2lb bream in the net, easy this then NOT, after 30 mins with not even I liner , I took another 10 mtrs of line off and launched it a bit further, I must say this rods limit seemed to have been reached, whereas Joe to my right was probably going 25 mtrs beyond me, it turns out he was using the 13 tournament distance rod , which is a proper piece of kit for this type of fishing, and if I was doing it on a regular basis I would be looking to get one, but after another 15 mins of looking at a motionless tip, I was on the pole shipping a piece of worm out to the 11 mtr line, I had been told before I went that the bream and skimmers preferred corn or pellet, but I decided to give the w and c a go, I can understand why the locals don't use it , the resident shoals of small perch must have thought it was Xmas, I was getting odd skimmers on it but in the main small perch were winning the race to the worm, or caster .

So it was out to the 14 mtr line with pellet, less bites but at least it was all skimmers, but I wasn't going anywhere fast so I upped the feed trying to force it or encourage some carp into the feed

Well that never worked either,  by the end I had added a couple more f1,s plus a 5lb fish from the margin, I also lost a couple of big fish in the margins, both breaking me as the ran through a snag. Joe to my left had 45lb I had 33 and dick never weighed , so I thanked him for making me look good on the day, the other side of dick had 125lb and from him on the weights seemed to get more consistent, so it seemed , right area wrong day, plus a bad bait choice for the pole and inadequate tackle on my part, but I enjoyed it as its a nice venue with seemingly a big head of fish , so I think I may be back as soon as I can, I also had a nice view of the clubhouse, how many places do you know with a place like this for the draw.

Float only league this weekend at Avalon, so looking forward to that one then as it will be ok, with lots of decent silver's hopefully feeding , and the large head of carp also deciding to have a munch, time will tell.

Open match, Chilton trinity woodlands lake

After a slight detour to the copper kettle cafe in Weston (well worth the extra few miles) it was off to the fishery, as is normal misha was on duty with the kettle boiling for tea and coffee, nice touch and much appreciated.
21 fishing which is a nice number, I got the draw underway on time , and as is normal got misha to draw mine, and what does she go and do, yep , drew me the same peg as last time, 15 up in the top corner on the far side, nice peg with a good margin up to the empty pallet to my left, for company I had Joe McMahon on peg 18, and on my right was Leon Hubbard on 14 and his travelling partner, Clint wojtyla next along on peg 13, so a good bit of  jovial banter was guaranteed, and Clint didn't disappoint, he was pretty much on it most of the day , with Steve seager opposite and Ken rayner to his right taking a lot of the stick, I also had a bit but I enjoy it really, as there is no malice with it, as it was an anything goes match , the long pole was going to be my main weapon of choice, I've been using a tournament pro pope now for a few months and I must say its a proper piece of kit, I can't believe I didn't get my hands on one ages ago, its certainly strong well balanced and responsive, its all you need in a pole .
4 rigs today , a shallow pellet rig and a deep one for on the deck, both to be used at 14 mtrs, a meat rig for 6 mtrs just off to my left, and a pellet rig for on the deck up towards empty pallet 16.

At the start I began on the shallow rig , it took me about 15 mins to hook my first carp, by which time Clayton Hudson on peg 24 already had 2, so catch up again, I had few more.in the next 90 mins, and I expected a few more, especially as some ripple started, but it seemed to have  the opposite effect as bites became non existent, a switch to the deeper rig only bought me a lost fouler, so 2 hours in I went onto the meat line, a little earlier than I would have liked, first drop produced a pound plus eel, and the next three put ins gave me two carp and a missed bite, I stuck with and after a short wait I had a couple more carp, but that was all the fish I had off the meat line, I tried the shallow rig again, but never had a bite, Clayton was still adding odd fish to his tally, but not setting it alight , Joe to my left was still getting odd fish shallow, but not enough to threaten much, with a couple of hours to go I began fishing down to the empty pallet, and pretty much stayed there for the rest of the match , again catching a few but also losing some foulers, mainly due to the depth and not being able to get in tight enough into the shallower water.

By the end it seemed as though it was going to be between myself and Clayton opposite, luckily for me, my late run of fish down the edge did it for me as I weighed in 108.15 for first.
2nd was Clayton Hudson on 24 with 88.4
3rd Martin McMahon on peg 2 with 74.6
4th Jason Radford on peg.26 with 70.10
5th Joe McMahon on 18 with 68.5
6th Dave Evans on 20 with.64.2
Silver's
A bit hard today with Ken rayner just edging it with 7.13
A few.ounces behind was Steve seager with.7.5
Next Sunday its round 4 of the float only league at Avalon, so anyone reading this who can't make it, please let me.know so I can get reserves.

Thursday costcutter viaduct fishery

Travelled down with Joe McMahon today, and after a nice breakfast at the junction cafe it was off to the fishery, a good turnout with 34 in attendance, split between Campbell and lodge , not on Cary as its a bit o it of sorts at the mo, but it is nearly back to as it was.
As normal quite early into the draw tin, and out comes 66 on lodge , another corner , I'm thinking of changing my name to little Jack, its a nice peg with lots of form and history, there are lots of overhanging tree's to the left which always hold fish, but it can be a bit torrid getting them out as there is also an old peg under the tree's that can be a bit expensive on end tackle if your not quick.

So I set up a rig to fish pellet under the tree's, a margin meat rig for my left as you can't fish to the right as there is a big bush tight to the peg, a deep and shallow rig for pellet at 14 mtrs , the same two rigs would do to fish to the end of the tree's at 13 mtrs, job done then.
On the all in I began on the deck at 14 mtrs , but a couple of liners had me reaching for the shallow rig, but 20 minutes later and no bites , I switched to shallow out on the end of the tree's, I soon had a carp swiftly followed by another, then it went a bit wrong with the next couple doing me right in under the tree's, so the next port of call was to go into the tunnel of branches under the tree's, I had a couple of quick fish then liners and foulers became a problem, , I was landing odd fish but wasn't catching quick enough, also the fish were on the small side, 3 to 5lb , not the big single or low doubles you normally get on this lake,

I stuck with it but it was nth going to plan, I did get one carp and a tench down the edge, but the whole lake as far as I could see was proving difficult, I did have a good last two hours fishing out on the end of the tree's, first on the deck , then shallow, I finished the match well, but the fish in the peg today were definitely on the small side so I reckoned on having at least 120 lb, only a bit o it as I had 137.12.
1st on the day was Roy worth on 114 with 255.9 of lead caught fish
2nd on 128 was Dan white with 163.3
3rd j mills on 73 with 150.6
4th me
5th Scott Russell on peg 115 with 117.9
6th mal Fowler on peg 118 with 103.15
7th Jack billet on 121 with 103.2
8th longshanks ??? On 73 with 101.12
Silver's
L johnson on 69 with 43.5 of skimmers on pellet

Tuesday costcutter acorn fishery

Not a bad turnout considering the hottest day of the year being forecast, so 18 of got in the draw queue, I was about 3rd in and pulled out peg 31, I fancied it as the far bank had been cleared so I could fish across with no grass issues, I did go round and pull a few more roots and grass out but it did look better.

After the last match where Steve Shaw gave me a right battering on maggot over groundbait down his edge last match, I didn't make the same mistake today as I had some groundbait and maggots today, so I set up a rig for down my margin, a slapper rig just in case and a pellet rig for over to the far bank and another pellet rig for down to empty peg 30, I fed it but never used it, so nothing more about that the.
For company I had Lee peanut on bridge peg 33 and the other side on 27 was ed wynne who was only fishing for silver's, so that was good for me then.
At the start I began on the far bank swim, and caught straight away on 8mm pellet over loose Fed 6,s, so that was good then, as us normal with this style of fishing you do have to endure the odd fouler, but I was getting more in the mouth though, Lee was struggling and gabe the other side of the bridge was not having it to good with lots of lost fish. I new my match was going to well as all of a sudden it went pear shaped, my own fault as it was poor tackle maintenance on my part , after three lost rigs down to elastic breakage, I was back in the van trying to 're elasticate a topkit, but I did so was back in the game, from what I could here and see Steve Shaw round on 38 was catching well, as was Glen Bailey on peg 1. I went back across , but kept about a foot off the bank to avoid the snags, and did catch some fish that were a slightly better stamp, so all good then, I had been potting groundbait down each side margin, and about 2 hours from the end I began to see some movement in my right hand margin, but nothing to my left, so the last two hours were spent fishing 3 or 4 maggots on a 16 , over the groundbait while feeding maggot over the top, my peg got stronger towards the end and by the end I couldn't get in quick enough, it was a nice margin with about 20 inches of water tight to the grass.

Lee next door was also catching down his edge  , but I had built up a good early lead over him so he wasn't a threat, gabe was catching well as was Steve Shaw, I saw something I never expected today, Lee next door was finding it hard to catch, so he fished the method on the pole hoping that the fish would start to catch him, it worked for a few but it was to slow, he also fished it behind a snag which I told him about after the match, and I bit off his feeder after the match and accidentally threw it into the lake , ooops.
I ended up with 42 carp so hopefully that would be enough, when the scales got to me Steve Shaw was winning with 157.4. I wasn't sure I had that , but my fish went 173.10 for first on the day, pushing Steve into 2nd.
3rd was Glen Bailey on peg 1 with 137.13
4th gabe skarba on 34 with 134.8
5th Lee peanut on 33 with 127.5, (chip shop sausage LOL)
6th Mike Chapman on 15 with 127.3
Silver's went to Mike Chapman also with 21.8 of mainly skimmers on caster.down the middle.
It was good to see Charlie Barnes turn up for a watch, he was bought along by John barker, but I think it was a bit to hot for him today, as he had to leave a bit early, hope you are ok Charlie if you read this 😁

Avalon fishery float only practice

After the normal good breakfast at Landsend, where di was under a bit of pressure as it was very busy, but credit where credit is due , her and olive did good, though olive did look a bit flustered.
Off to the fishery and with 34 booked in Vic let me use the whole lake, finally got the draw underway, so I waited for the right person to come along to draw my peg, who gambles up, no other than self proclaimed drawer of flyers, Nick chedzoy, so after drawing 32 for himself, he only goes and draws 24 for me, anyone who knows the venue will know that it is a very good peg in a corner with lots of history, I had to walk to my peg as Vic wanted the top Carpark left for the 24 hour divvy boys on the top lake , shame really as I would have only had a 10 ft walk to my peg, but its a hard road all the way to the top, so no drama really.
Soon got the box positioned, and I must say it looked good , with a nice end bank to fish to, although its normally a bit of a snag pit.

The tree's are about 20 mtrs along and as I had left the float rod in the van the weren't going to be used today, so inset up a couple of pellet rigs for the end bank at 15 mtrs, one shallow and one on the deck, which was about 3 foot deep, a deep and shallow rig for straight out at 14 mtrs, and a meat rig for 6 mtrs.
At the start I fed the end bank with a catty, threw some meat to 6 mtrs, but began at 14 mtrs on the deck, it started well with 2 carp in the first two put ins, then I fouled one ,  ten mins later and after another lost fouler, I was reaching for the shallow rig, and that's where in spent most of the match, feeding and swinging the rig around , feeding 6mm hard pellet and using a banded 8mm pellet on the hook, it was never hectic , but in was getting odd fish, and I wasn't seeing to many fish being caught, to be honest, apart from Martin lenaghan opposite on 23 and Steve seager on 20, I couldn't see anyone else as the tree's and bushes obscured my view, although I did spend most of the match out and shallow, I did fish into the end bank, but it left me a bit traumatized, I was getting beaten up by those edge dwellers, and to make matters worse I new the fish weren't particularly big, but those small commons are dambed quick, tying me around reeds and roots , I was losing more.hooks than landed fish, so not to much time was spent down there, even the long shallow line had its problems, I had two plastics break, but they have been in all year so that's down to me really.
The fish were a lot bigger on the long shallow line, with fish to just about double figures, including this nice ghostie.

By the end of the match in thought I had about 120lb, which according to the bankside banter , it should be enough for today, when the scales got to me , Tom mangnal was top with 86.15, I was confident of beating that , and for once I wasn't to far out on my guess as I my fish went 125.2 for first today
2nd was Tom with 86.15
3rd Steve Skelton on 28 with 70.14
4th Dave romain on 44 with 69.12
 5th Steve seager on 20 with 65lb
6th Nick chedzoy on 32 with 63.5
Silver's went to Paul faiers on 35 with 21.8.
Quite a close match really, I don't think we had enough cloud cover and ripple really for it to fish better, the quality silver's didn't seem to want to know it.
Emma Drysdale is running a short pole match on Saturday's starting soon , so for more info contact her via face book , she only needs a couple more to fill it.

Thursday costcutter, shiplate farm

Went into Weston today for breakfast at the copper kettle cafe, run by Wendy who used to run lillypool cafe at shipham, and I must say it was good to see she has lost none of her cooking skills as the food was as good as ever, and her cafe is spotless and looking good, so with Landsend cafe and the copper kettle, I don't see the need to go any where else, which one will depend on where I am going as the both are superb,

Back to the fishery and with 16 fishing today it goes to show the venue is becoming more popular, I got early into the draw bag and opened up peg 7, I won off peg 6 last visit so I fancied it for a few , I had an island Chuck so the pellet wag would get an airing today.

Also I had another really sexy looking margin down to my left under some branches with a Bush at the end, so I set up a pellet rig for down there .

Also I set up an up and down pellet rig for 14 mtrs in front, on the all in I fed in front, down the edge and out on the island, I started on the wag and fully believed to catch on it but after 35 mins and not a bite I was reaching for the shallow rig, but apart from a couple of roach twitches on that in the next 30 mins, that was a waste, so out on the deep rig, it took me a about 30 mins more to get my first carp, plus a couple of skimmers, about halfway through I went down the edge  and had two carp straight away, Jim Thomas was watching me and said the chances were that I would probably empty it . But no it went quiet, so out on the wag and I actually had a bite, but missed it, a couple of chuckles later.and I had one , then about 15 mins later another one graced the net, but I was on my third float by now as my waggler attachments seem to have perished and the floats kept coming off, so I binned the rod, out on the long pole shallow and one ripped the elastic out when I was looking down the lake watching Dom Sullivan netting another over on 14b. Also Stan b on 13 was catching on the lead, also "our" Mark Thomas on peg 1 was catching, firstly on a method feeder fished 10 foot down his margin then later on the wag, but that was a bit further out.
The latter bit of the match I spent down under the tree's getting odd fish but they were on the small side, so I was never going to be threat today, and it was to little to late, oh well there is always sunday, results sheet below , with Dom Sullivan first , Stan b second and our Mark third with me fourth.

After the match Dom Sullivan gave us a swimming demonstration as he lost a top 4 the week before and the last place it was seen was out in front of peg 6 so fairplay to him he got in for a feel about .

Notice the solar panel for a sex machine, I can remember Dom when he had hair and it wasn't grey lol. But good for him as he found it tethered to a tree on the island, but the fish had gone , at least it was  a good bit of post match entertainment.

Still got a couple of spaces for this Sunday at Avalon so ring or txt me on 07974807941 to book in.

Tuesday costcutter acorn fishery

Well not to much to report on this one , into the draw bag and o it comes ping pong ball number 21, same peg as last time a fortnight ago, I don't like drawing the same pegs as they never seem to fish the same, and with more anglers here today than last time (20) it meant there was an angler the other side of the bridge, and today it was acorn regular Dave Stevenson, my closest angler to my right was Steve Shaw, from over the bridge . Always a difficult one to beat,
Last time I caught well at the start on pellet down to my left against the bridge so a rig for that, also late in the match I caught on pellet over groundbait to my right , so another rig for that, then my final rig was for pellet over to the far side, and that was the best part of the day for me as I couldn't get any part of my swim to get going, or caught odd fish from all parts, but I wasn't able to string any fish together, Steve to my right seemed to be doing the best with him having a good second half of the match fishing maggot over groundbait down his margins, up thought he had won easily, but I hadn't seen Darren vowels sneaking fish out on the method feeder on peg 1, he ended with 140.5 for first on the day, I didn't get a picture of him and his fish so I will apologise for having to put a pic of Steve Shaw with some of his fish which helped him into second spot with 132.15

3rd spot went to the fishery expert Bob Smith on peg 9 with 107.15
4th Glen Bailey with 90.2 on peg 36, after those weights it turned into a bit of a struggle for most , so here are the weigh sheets.

Avalon Sunday, still got a few spaces left so give me a ring to book in 07974807941

Short pole series 2nd round

Before this weeks report, just a note to say I am running a float only open at Avalon next Sunday, 17th, 9.30 draw fish 11 to 5. Ring or txt me on 07974807941 to book in, or ring veals and speak to me or leave a mage for me , tel 01179260790 .
Back to today and a full house of 24 fishing, not to sure as to where I wanted to be , misha drew for me again today, and I wasn't complaining when I saw number 15 on the ticket, its a bit of an end peg on the far bank, and John had been in with his digger and sorted a bit of collapsed bank to the left of the swim, so it looked as though I would have a nice bit of scraped back clay bank to fish to, so first thing when I got to the peg was to have a scrape around with the weed cutter to check for snags, it soon became apparent it was a no go area as it was full of roots and snags. For company I had Tom mangnal on 17 and Pete nurse on 14, rigs today were a deep and shallow rig for 6mtrs, (the pole limit) a meat rig for off to the left at the same distance, and  a pellet rig for on the deck about about a mtr off the bank where as far as I could tell the snags had finished.
In started on the deep pellet rig and lost a fouler quite quickly, Tom caught one early on shallow meat, and with no more signs on the deep rig , despite the fact my peg was fizzing massively, as was everyone else's as far as I could see !!!!!.
So it was out with the shallow pellet rig, it took me a while to get a bite , but I did , landing a carp which was soon followed by another, but apart from a roach that was my last shallow fish from that line, in fact I only had one more shallow and that was when I slapped a pellet against the new clay bank, to was by now catching a few on shallow meat, it seemed the way to go today, possibly due to it being slower sinking, whatever it was pellets didn't seem to be so effective today, the rest of the match was spent trying not to fall to far behind Tom, my peg was hard to say the least for most of the match but towards the end in the last couple of hours I began to put a few fish together, switching between the meat line and my nearly down the edge rig, by the end I thought I had 65 lb but Tom reckoned on 100lb and Clayton over on 25 thought he wasn't to far behind, and he wasn't as Tom weighed in 101.8 for a narrow victory.

2nd Clayton Hudson on 25 with 96.1
3rd Joe McMahon on 13 with 77lb
4th Glen Bailey on 3 with 76.6
5th Martin rayet on 10 with 75.7
6th was me with 75.3
Silver's went to Martin McMahon on 24 with 15.12 of mainly roach fry.
2nd Paul Blake on 32 with 10.5

Thursday costcutter viaduct fishery

After a nice breakfast at the junction with bela(trev) bakos and Glen two pots Bailey it was off to the fishery to find there was going to be 25 of us split between lodge and match lake, good to see Mike (ginger) hall in attendance, our paths havnt crossed for quite a while so it was good to catch up and the banter was as good as ever.

Into the draw and out comes 59 on lodge lake, not my favourite swim as it hasn't been to good here for quite a while to be honest, but it is always a bit of a banker as far the margin goes , especially late in the match.

Rigs today consisted of two pellet rigs for 14 mtrs one deep and one shallow, a couple of meat rigs , one for the sexy looking margin to my left and another for 6 mtrs, and a wag rod for 25 mtrs, on the deck to begin with.
On the all in I fed all lines but began on the deck with 8mm hard pellet over loose Fed 6,s, it all started so well, with 2 carp in the bag after 15 minutes I was beginning to think the peg may be ok for a days action, but apart from a small shallow carp a couple of hours in, and a few skimmers, that was all I could muster from that line. I did get one on the shallow was of about 13lb, but it was fairly hooked right in the base of the tail, so no chance there of getting bitten off then 😁. I lost a couple of fish on the shallow wag, one fouled again and another when my main line snapped by the locking shot, doh.
As expected I had a bit of a flourish in the margin and ended the match with 11 carp plus my few silver's for about 100lb, as far as I could see only isle of Wight immigrant Lee Davison on 73 had more , and he did , weighing in 126.2 for first on the day, so well done to him on his first visit to the fishery, since sneaking in from the island,
2nd was me with 102.14
3rd Glen 2 pots Bailey on 44 with 101.2
4th Jamie Bowden on 55 with 89.7
5th Paul bowler on 60 with 79.5
6th Beal bakos on 64 with 76lb
Silvers
Rob eagle on 70 with 30.14 of skimmers

Float only league rnd 3. Landsend fishery

Still had a full house today with 41 fishing, so we were using the three main lakes, after di,s normal spot on breakfast it was time to get the draw underway, I had Neil Mercer in the k/o so I let him draw for me after he pulled peg 1 for himself, he handed me peg 24 , so opposite Neil, so at least we keep an eye on each other, several rigs today, a margin rig , not used today, a meat rig for 5 mtrs, and three rigs for along the end bank by a tree growing out of the bank on water level.

And at only 14 mtrs along the bank , no to painful a day then.
So two pellet rigs for along the bank, one just off in 3 feet of water and another tightish in in 2 foot, about a foot deeper than I would have liked, but there is no shelf along this bank, and the last rig was a shallow rig just in case fish started slurping against the bank. Soon ready to begin, with a bit of time to spare.

The start of the match began well for me , as I had two carp straight away from the meat line in the first 10 minutes, but apart from a lost fouler that was the end of the days sport from that line.
I was soon going along the end bank, where I had a couple of quick carp but not a lot after, at the 4 hour mark I was on 8 carp, two skimmers and a golden tench, whereas Neil opposite had been catching well, fishing across to the shallow water on the island, it wasn't an option for me as the island is over 20 mtrs away. Going into the last couple of hours and going nowhere fast i decided to really up the feed to try and make something happen, and it did get better as I couldn't get the rig in fast enough towards the end, with the peg getting stronger and stronger, but it was to little to late as Neil had me well beaten, and when you've got Craig Edmunds on 19 and Paul elmes on 18, both in my section, third was my only realistic position, especially as both of them had caught well, with trig seemingly doing the best, and he did as he won again today with a good weight , well 206.6 to be precise, catching mainly in the shallow water against the island.
2nd went to Nigel Mercer opposite me with 144.4
3rd was Paul elmes on 18 with 127.11,
4th Joe McMahon on 11 with 126.3
5th me with 113.5
6th Steve Tucker on 16 with 108.13
Silver's
Alan oram on peg 6 with 35.10 of mainly skimmers with a few f1,s thrown in for good measure
2nd was Ken rayner on peg 21 with 28.10

Trig with a few of his fish, there is just no stopping him at the moment.
My next open is a float only match on 17th July at Avalon fishery, so to book in ring or txt me on 07974807941 .