Rolfy,s rip off

Back on withy pool at huntstrete again this week, but not before a stop in the Toby inn in whitchurch village for the help yourself brekkie, 4.25 and very nice too, ten minutes from pub to lake, so nicely timed for the 8.45 draw. Twenty fishing again today, so a good turnout for a none to easy venue at the moment. Early into the draw bag , hoping for a draw at the car park end of the lake as there are a lot of small fish at this end, but no such luck, peg 54 again, one bite last time, but there was a slight bit of colour in the lake so maybe it might be better This time I had no one to my right, and match organised , rolfy, to my left on 56, why he put that in I will never know, oh yes I do, Mike Jones talked him into it, serves him right then, I probably wouldn't have even walked to it lol.

My peg looks lovely with two islands to fish to, and it certainly has a reputation of being a good carp swim, so I set up a lead rod to fish along the rope that stretches between the island at 20 odd mtrs, to be honest the rope this end of the channel could be done away with, but leave the one at the other end in place, a silvers rig for 13 mtrs just in case, then a couple of pole rigs to fish at 16 mtrs to the right hand island, one to dob bread off the deck , then another to fish various baits on the deck in the same area, and it was a nice depth with about 4 ft of water, then a .6g as5 to fish slightly to the left and to the right where it was about 8inches shallower, after feeding some groundbait on the 13 mtr pole lines I began on the dobbing rig at 16mtrs, but 30 minutes later with only a small roach showing a bit of interest, which I shook off, I tried the groundbait lines, but nothing to show there either, starting to look like a bit of de ja vue, Rolfy was yet to catch, but Jeff Francis on 57 was getting some silvers, so at least that peg was fishing to form. I then spent the next hour ,(I think cos I lose all track of time on this brain numbing method), for nowt, so after a try on the deep rig by the island for nothing, it was back on the silvers line, and bugger me if I didn't miss a bite, it must have been the shock, then I had a run of small roach, and I began to enjoy myself, then out of the blue I had two skimmers in two drops, one about a pound, and another over 2lb, then it went quiet, with only very occasional bites , all this action came from the right hand side, I only had one missed bite from the left, very strange, I don't think the fish want to be that side, and poor old rolfy only had one lonely small perch.
So back out on the lead, and the top actually went round and I had a carp safely in the net, but at 5lb it is probably the smallest carp in the lake, no more bites , so back on the pole, I had a couple more plippy,s then I hook a decent carp, which I play for a while before the hooklenth breaks, it felt like a good fish too, so back on the tip for the last 45 minutes, and with 15 minutes to go I hook another carp which again feels like a good fish as it took a lot of pressure to keep it out of the snags in the channel, it's all good with everything under control , when the hook pulls as I'm thinking of looking for the landing net, I thought that may cost me , certainly not winning as Mike Jones had three big carp, but definitely a placing fish, I thought I may get another, but apart from a liner just before the end that was my match over and done with , my carp as I thought was 5lb on the nose and my silvers went 5.4.
As it turned out Mike Jones won with 27lb , Glyn sage was second with 15lb ish and Ray bazeley third with 13lb odd, and Mike nicholls won the silvers with 12lb of waggler caught roach and small skimmers, weigh sheets below, but before that just to let people know, Charlie Barnes,s funeral is to be held at the mendip crematorium on Thursday 8th March at midday.

Round 4 viaduct winter league

Before saying anything about the fishing , I got to say a big about Charlie Barnes, who sadly passed away early on Saturday morning,
I first met him back in the mid 80,s, when he was trying to get Avon Angling to have some of its bait from Avon Bait company, and to be honest we hit it off quite quickly, he loved the wind ups and could also dish them out, I also found him to be generous and thoughtful, although he didn't suffer fools and I have seen him have some massive blow ups with various people over the years, but it was normally resolved and normality was resumed shortly later.
All I know is that we have lost a legend and a good person,
RIP Charlie and mine and Judiths,s thoughts are with Sue , Natalie and the rest of the family.

Back to the fishing today and it was my turn on spring lake , the two mane pegs to miss are 6 & 9, with 7/8/13/15 being the preferred swims as they are holding the carp at the mo, but with only 3or 4 fish needed it was boring but normally doable, anyway Clint comes back and hands me peg 9, cheers matey !!!!!!.

I'm not q to bore anyone with the details , but I had 2 decent hybrids on the corn and wag, and some roach short on the caster, then some small skimmers on the long pole on maggot over groundbait, as expected the corners were the place to be with each of them having 3 or 4 fish each to take the top spots in the section, I ended up with 10.8 which was only good enough for 4 points, I needed some better skims to boost me up the section, but even those didn't travel far from there normal haunts ,ie opposite the island either side of the lake, at least I beat Tom downing on peg 6, that was the only quid I won, again it was a case of standing in the carp park and throwing pound coins at everyone who walked by.
We had a bit of trauma at the end , as Steve"jacko"Jackson got off his box and collapsed, he was out of it for a while, but recovered enough after about 45 minutes to walk to the ambulance, which was a good sign,
So that was my day, not the best of weekends to be sure, weigh sheets below.
And pics of the top two and silvers winner, Ben broxon, Ron hardiman and luke sorokin, well done.

Silverfox rip orf

Back to plantation main lake again for this one, 20 fishing again with a waiting list, it's certainly popular, and after the clevedon  match on it on Sunday when there were two weights of carp over 100lb and plenty of silver,s being caught, with over 40lb needed to win that pool, so it looked promising.
Bridge inn for breakfast, only a 3.75 for that one.
Got to the fishery and went round and sorted the pegs to be used, a draw with the wind off my back would be nice again, into the hat of doom and I only go and draw the same peg as last time, permanent peg 31. For company I had Jeff Francis to my left and Mike nicholls to my right.

Three pole rigs today, a couple of .4g as4,s for 5mtrs on caster and another for 13mtrs for caster or maggot over groundbait, and a .3g as4 for caster down the edge where I had a couple of big perch last time , with 10 minutes to go I decided to set up a wag to fish pellet towards the island, as there were some bubbles about ,
On the all in I fed all lines , but started on the 5mtr line, but not a bite after 15 minutes so I decided to try the wag, well I had a bit of activity, I lost a decent skimmer first chuck, then missed a bite, then I had a small carp, and I was beginning to think I was going to have a good day, but that was it , apart from a lost fouler that was my lot on the wag. So the rest of the match was spent on the pole, I had some good skimmers on the 13 mtr line, but the short caster lines seem devoid of raoch, the down the edge rig never produced a bite all match. Single and double maggot seemed the best bait for the skimmers, especially as the roach for now were extremely noticeable by there absence, all match I could see John fuidge over on permanent peg 8 catching steadily, but about 90 from from the end I started catching roach on the 5 mtr line, and caught fairly steadily till the end on caster over caster, really nice fishing, and again the peg got stronger towards the end, but I always felt I was behind John in the silvers, I followed the scales round at the end, thanks Lee waller  for doing the weigh in. John fuidge had 33.4 of silvers and two carp for 11.7,

 I thought I had about 25lb of silver,s and one 3lb carp, but to was a bit out as my silvers went 33.8 and my carp was 2.12, so first in the silvers and second on the day, happy with that, pic below with some of my fish.

The carp definitely had a bit of an off day today, possibly something to do with the heavy rain during the night, who  knows. Weigh sheets below, off to viaduct this week for the winter league, and my turn on spring lake section, one of the corners will do please.

Landsend league rnd 4

Back to a random draw again for this round, which is good as you end up with different anglers in you section (hopefully) for the last half of the league, Judith came with us today so at least I had my little draw bag to pull me a good peg. We had the ever consistent di breakkie, always nice and hot. And Judith would like it known that the puddle of water on the floor had nothing to do with her, even if it was behind her chair.
We were quite near the front of the draw, and Judith picked up a ticket someone else dropped  we opened it and had 41 looking back at us, so the first peg on lake three it was then, probably one of the most exposed pegs on the fishery today with a nasty WNW  blowing into it, looking up the lake at Steve seager on 55 and Dave Lewis opposite him in 58 it looked lovely and calm.
For company I had the affable Tom mangnal on 42 and opposite on 70 was Alan oram and travelling partner lofty Radford on 68.
Several rigs today, a .4 drennan as4 for caster at 6mtrs, a couple of .2 binny,s, one for pellet across to the island and one for meat down the edge, and another 4x14 float for pellet off the point of the island.

On the all in I fed all lines and began with pellet over to the island, 20 mins in and nothing doing, so a switch of rigs and pellet again to the point of the island, another 20minutes and still nothing, not even a liner, back to the face of the island for a brief spell with no indications I decided to give the caster line a go, just to put a fish in the net, 10 minutes on that, also nothing, Alan opposite had begun to catch an odd small carp, and with a few carp being caught further up the lake I was beginning to wonder what was going on, also Tom was yet to his first bite. By now the wind was really kicking in, with hail and snow thrown in for good measure, at least the missus was comfy and out of the worst of the weather in the Judith base camp, picture just for you Jimmy norris !!

So I decided to bin all pellet lines , and feed caster out at 13mtrs slightly to the left , and also fed some to the point where I had fed a few pellets. I started on a single maggot at the point swim, and after a few minutes dropped my first small roach into the net, I soon had a few more but they were only small, so I switched to the other 13 mtr line, with caster on the hook, and was soon getting a steady stream of 2oz roach, and with the chances of a decent silvers weight coming from this lake fairly unlike, unless the f1,s fed , I stuck with it. Alan opposite was still dropping a few small carp into his net I was beginning to think, silvers may be the way to go, especially as I was doing ok in the overall silvers, but I was also lying third in the overall league.
It was about 2 1\2 hours in and I noticed a ghostie swimming amongst the trees on the end bank, so I cupped in a few maggots towards the aerator in the corner and changed the hook on my island rig and shallowed it up aswell so I would be fishing off the deck against the trees.
Before I tried that line I decided to have a look down the margin to my right where I had been feeding a bit of meat, and lo and behold it went under, and an 8lb common was soon In the net, just the job, hmm what to do, silvers or carp. So with very little doing as far as I could see, I would attempt to do both, and with Gary o,Shea on 62 it was very unlikely that he wouldn't be catching. So instead of going straight back in down the edge I decided to have a look against the end bank with treble maggot, first drop and straight under, carp on and in, I had 4 on the bounce, so apart from Alan I had pulled up with the people I could see, who had caught carp.
So my Match Was spent Swapping between the Caster lines and the end bank maggot line, catching lots of small roach i did have one 8oz skimmer, but every other fish was a small roach, but it was busy fishing, also regular looks on the maggot line, gave me regular small carp, i also had another small carp down the edge on meat, so at the end i would like to think i had approaching 50lb, and as i was the first to weigh i was closer than normal with a few ounces over that mark, which included 7lb of silver,s which was top silvers weight on the lake, and my weight was second on the lake, so I am still in contention in both silvers and the overalls, happy days then.
Weigh sheets below.
Also I told joe McMahon that I wouldn't mention the fact I won 4 quid off him today on a double or quite bet, so I'm joe, I wont.

Rolfy,s rip off, withy pool, huntstrete

Off to Huntstrete again today , on withy pool for this one instead of bridge, looking forward to it as I havnt fished it for a while,
Stopped off at the Toby inn in whitchurch for all you can eat breakfast, very nice to, an easy 4.25.

Got to the fishery in plenty of time as it's only 10 minutes from the pub, 21 fishing today, so a good show, a bit concerned with the clarity of the water, added to the fact the lake gets very little match pressure. Into the draw bag and out comes 54, it's the run to carp peg at the bottom end looking back up the lake through a channel between an island and the bank.

So a wag wad chucked out to fish towards rope which cuts off the channel, and a pole rig to fish maggot in a few places over bits of maggot , groundbait and caster,
All in at 10 and by 12.30 I still hadn't had a bite,on any of the pole lines and waggler , hmmm, Chris ollis to my right had one small roach, and the next angler to my left, John fuidge on 57 was catching a few sensible roach, mainly to his left in the narrow channel between the island, I persevered with the wag but it was doing nothing, and I eventually lost it on the rope, trying to get to tight, so I went for a walk, nobody was getting much, only odd skimmers and small roach, so after a quick chat with Mike nicholls I decided to get the lead for out of the van and spend the rest of the match on that, with popped up bread, but for a while that was no better, with me sat looking at a motionless tip.

I had to wait until 2.20 before I had a sign, when I had three liners in ten minutes so at least there was one fish about. The tip didn't move again till 3, then it went round, woohoo, carp on, and safely landed, about 9lb, and that was my one and only bite of the day, Christ that was a long 5 1/2 hours, Chris never added to his one fish, whereas John had the best day out of everyone, ending up with over 11lb of mainly roach, and from a peg he never fancied as it was only 8mtrs wide, and winner in the day was Paul barnfield with 2 carp for 21lb, and John won the silvers meaning my lone carp was good enough for second in the overalls.

Probably one of the ugliest carp I have ever caught, but very welcome today.
Below are pics of Paul's two carp and John's net of silvers, also the two weigh sheets, and as you can see it was hard for everyone.

Off to Landsend on Sunday then it's back to plantation main lake on thursday, so looking forward to those.

Viaduct winter league rnd 3

To be honest this is turning into a bit of a mare of a series as far as I'm concerned, and the team to be fare. So this is going to be a short blog as I just can't find the enthusiasm to write to much, so here goes, the breakfast was nice in somerton, but a bit more support for the landlord would be good.
Ron hardiman drew for the team today, and it was a bit indifferent, with 2 flyers a mediocre and two rubbish. Clayton, 132 flyer, clint, 102 flyer, Leon 71 not good, me 52,/a bit of a history peg but struggles now, and Ron on 20, least said about that the better, but he did draw it lol.
For company I had Paul Hardwick on 40 and Steve Jackson on 51,
Three pole rigs, one for meat at 14 mtrs and 16 mtrs down the left hand margin at 16 mtrs, and a couple of rigs for the small skimmers out in front at 13mtrs, one spread shot and one bulked, and lastly a lead rod to fish bread to the island initially for f1,s and carp, but with anime to switch it to a small feeder later in the match.

And that was about as exciting as it got, out on the bread, one small 2oz skimmer and not a sign of anything else, so out on the pole for the small skimmers, again only one or two, the meat line down the edge , I did have one bite on it but missed it, could have been a small fish or a liner, nothing on the meat at 14 mtrs out in front, and the feeder never saw any action until about 35 minutes from the end when I had two f1,s in two chucks, and I thought I may get a few more as it was fishing hard and if I could get a few more sensible points were possible, but that was my lot on that, Steve Jackson did it right by just fishing the waggler around his peg picking off off better fish and a lot of tiny roach and small skimmers, Paul to my left had his first fish at 2.24, a small skimmer, followed by two more, before he latched onto a 9lb carp on his silvers rig, he did well to get it out as it wasn't hooked on the right place, my two f1,s and few skimmers went 7.2 for a crappy 6 points , with the anglers either side having 9lb plus, our section was won by Scott puddy on 37 which is on middle, 8carp on dobbed bread for 70lb , job done for him, clint won the match with 125lb off 102 so well done to him, a captain's performance by our not so slim leader, well done.

Section sheets below.

I just waited around long enough in the car park to pay out the pound side bets, it was like water dropping through a sieve, but there only borrowed lads, I hope LOL, I only won one quid and that was from Shawn Townsend , who was opposite me on the match lake, but he was taking longer than normal to pack up,
Off To Huntstrete On Thursday For Another Rolfy Rip Off, may Have a Lid On It By then Looking At The Forcast, Breakers At The Ready It Is Then.

Plantation main lake

Just for a change we managed to get a chance to fish the main lake at plantation lakes in Kingston seymour, and it turned out to be a popular choice as the 20 limit was soon reached, it does have 38 pegs on it but there are bags and corners which you need to leave out to avoid any conflict, stopped at the bridge in yatton for breakfast, it was ok but only really a 3, got to the lake and walked round with Mike nicholls to peg it out, a draw on the car bank of the two pegs on the point would be nice as there would be some shelter from the co!d wind.
Into the draw bag early and out comes peg 17, on the car bank so a comfy day as far as the wind goes. I can't go any further without mentioning Chris ollis and his net bag for life.

Perhaps he should approach Lidl for some sponsorship,
I got round to my peg and found I had Paul faiers to my right and Paul barnfield to my left,  I did have an island to fish to if I fancied it but the lake has been fishing well for silvers, so it was a pole job today to target them.
A .3 as4 to fish caster at 3 mtrs to my left at the bottom of the margin shelf, a .5g as4 to fish at 13 mtrs on two lines , over micros to the left at 11 o,clock and over caster and groundbait at 1 o,clock angle, then a rig for banded pellet at 14 mtrs straight out, after feeding all lines with the relevant baits ,I started on the short line, but 30 minutes in and only one roach I was soon out on the 13 mtr lines, I had a couple of small roach on the caster and groundbait line, then a 2lb skimmer, but I couldn't get another, the micro line proved a bit of a none started apart from small roach, the longer pellet line where I had been feeding hard 4,s was no good with a hard 6 fished over it, so a switch to sort pellet over it was called for, another 2lb skimmer was my reward , but again that was my only one from there, but the better roach seemed to like the soft pellet, but I did it in by feeding to much, trying to get a carp, or some better skimmers, didn't happen though, I could catch roach at 13 mtrs, but I was going no where, as in the far bank Mike Jones was doing ok on the silvers , as was Dave wilmott and Mike nicholls, I had a couple of big perch to my right at 3 mtrs along with some roach, but it still wasn't going to be enough, so I started fishing and feeding caster at 6mtrs with about an hour and a half to go, I wish I had done it earlier as the swim got stronger and stronger with nice roach between 2 and 6oz, by the end I couldn't get in there quick enough, so on the all out I admitted to at least 15lb but hoped I had more,  I this lakes standards it had fish a bit hard for many, the carp didn't feed and I think that probably affected the silver sport as there wasn't the competition for food, but it was island everyone had bites , so I'm for the time of year,
Top weight on the day went to travelling partner Jason Radford on permanent peg 38, he had 6 carp down his edge on corn over groundbait for just over 40lb, too silvers weight went to Dave Wilmot on the next peg to Jason on 37 with over 32lb of silvers,

Above are the first and silvers first and the weigh sheet, not to bad on the weight front to be honest, so we have enjoyed it again for two weeks time again, I ended up with 23lb so third in the silvers and 4th overall, back to viaduct this weekend for the winter league, match lake for me so a few bites to be had at worst.