Sunday Landsend fishery open

Had 26 booked in for today and 25 showed up, so not to bad these days, and looking around some of the other matches in the area, they all seemed fairly well attended.
Judith came along today with the promise of a good breakfast, and a nice dry day, well the breakfast was nice as always, 4.85, it was dry, but as for nice, it certainly wasnt, it was bloody freezing with a brisk North easterly wind, but 2 out of three ain't bad.
Got the draw underway and I let Judith draw for me, and she handed me peg 42 on lake three, only one good weight of here for a long time, and that was Anton page a couple of weeks ago who caught slapping on the end of the island, but that was back when we had our summer, and today that cold wind was blowing in and across from the far side straight in at us, much to Judith disgust, company wise I had Paul faiers to my right on end peg 41, Jason Radford to my left, opposite on 70 was the ample form of calum Craig who had made the journey up from Dorset to have a go, John white was directly opposite so I could keep a close eye on the pound side bet, also through the trees a bit further up was Terry "niblet"green, who I havnt seen for a while, also he had made the drive up from dorset, on the other lake kev molten was in attendance, good to see him back as he hasn't fished for 14 months.
Several rigs today, a silvers rig for caster at top set and  one , a pellet rig up the edge, a meat rig for 5 mtrs on front of a small  weedbed slightly to my right, and a couple of pellet rigs for up and down the island shelf.
At the start I fed all lines and started on the short caster line, and to be fair I caught small roach from the off, and I was going to be targeting the silvers more so as this end of the lake seems to be the place where the silvers seem happiest, but it is about 18 inches deeper than the rest of the lake, due to the aerater pushing the silt out.

Calum opposite started well with smallish carp against the weedbed to his right, and he caught small carp steadily for the first few hours, but he was getting the small resident fish, the bigger fish seemed to be further up the lake, and as the match went on russ peck on 50, Gerry Welch on 51 and Chris fox on 62 seemed to be doing the best, also the old groaner Mark poppleton on 65 was having a torrid , as the peg has a lot of issues with a weedbed, but it is stuffed with fish, but I think he ran out of floats and  hooks , so packed up before the end, tipping 60lb back and leaving , but to be fair he was very philosophical about , admitting there are plenty of fish in the peg, but it's a brutal one .
I couldn't get a carp from my island , margin or meat lines till the last hour, when some fish turned up, I had one from the meat line, and four from the left hand margin, good fish aswell , as these margin fish seem to be.

Before that I had caught some silvers, certainly double figures which I thought would be enough to take  the silvers pool on the lake, I did have two go out to 11 mtrs to continue getting bites, but I did have a few better skimmers out there, along with two f1,s form the island and another on the caster line.
I was second to weigh, Paul had 46lb in the corner, my silvers went 15lb

and my 5 carp pulled the needle round to 37lb, for 52lb, I won the silvers, but as expected the fish seemed to be up the lake a bit, apart from Calum who had just over 60lb, which got him third on the lake, Mark you should have weighed. Chris fox won the lake from 62  with 124lb with russ peck opposite him on 50 coming second with 70lb plus.
Weigh sheets below, which show the match lake was the place to be with 5 weights over 100lb with Martin rayet on peg 24 with over 180lb, well done matey, even now  joe McMahon seems to have turned the corner and returned over 100lb.

Over 55,s huntstrete lakes

Normal nice breakfast at the Toby inn in whitchurch, always tasty and plenty of it , but not always as hot as it could be.
So got to the lake in plenty of time, we were in withy pool today, and with 21 fishing we would have a bit of room, got into the draw early as I was doing some recording of draws, out comes 61, I can't seem to get away from this right hand bank, but it's been kind to me in previous matches, so I thought today would be no different, with silvers playing a big part in the plan.
Rigs today, only three, a .6g for various baits over groundbait at, 13mtrs, a.4g for caster at 5mtrs and a margin rig for meat ,
For company I had Pete greenslade to my left and hughie Evans to my right.
On the all in I fed three balls of groundbait at 13 mtrs with some worm and caster in, then started on the short caster line, which in the last couple of matches had been quite productive, but not today, I had a few fish off it at various times during the match, but not the quality roach I have had in the previous  matches, I went out on the 13  mtr line and had a few skimmers up to a pound, but the bright sunshine wasn't helping, also the first strong wind was making presentation hard.
The first half was ok, but the second half went really hard for everyone, with no one getting a bite very strange, apart from Chris Rolf on the point peg who was getting caught by the occasional carp on meat fished into the middle of the lake, also g Walsh behind the island began to catch on the pellet waggler, I needed to get a few more skimmers of possible, as hughie had three big ones plus some small fish, also Jimmy norris on 59 had a big bream to go with his bits,
I decided to put some chopped worm and caster in at 14mtrs, and that seemed to do the job as I had a couple more skimmers plus a big one (3lb), which I thought would put me in the driving seat as far as the silvers went.
I also had a ten pound carp on the same line, I also had a visit in the left hand margin by a couple of carp, but they never stayed long, disappearing before I could drop a rig into them, Mr Walsh won from behind the island with 64lb , pushing m mr Rolf into second spot with 62lb.
My silvers went 19.2 , with hughie second with 14.8, so I did need those late fish.

It's not often you get three legends from the southwest match scene from a few years ago doing the weigh in, they were part of the very successful bathampton squad from the eighties, from left to right , hughie Evans, rich coles, and Jimmy norris.

Weigh sheets below as normal, it shows how difficult this lake is at the moment, whereas bridge pool is really fishing well, the influx of f1,s certainly seems to have helped, perhaps a bit of the same for withy may be good.

Viaduct spring league rnd 1

Travelled with Chris fox today for this league, and after a nice breakfast at the Toby inn in whitchurch ,we still got to the fishery with 15 minutes to draw time, a popular league to be sure , and there were 55 fishing , and it always attracts the who,s who of commercial match fishing in the southwest, and South wales, got into the draw tin about halfway through, and can't say I was to disappointed to see 102 which is on cary lake, about halfway up the diagonal bank, I don't mind cary in these matches as it is easier to do ok as it's not such a fish race as Campbell can be, for company I had Terry leney on 103 to my left, and Ben hagg to my right on 100, and immediately behind was me old mate Ron hardiman and one of des shipps protoges Ricky mills , so no chance of a quiet day.

Set about making some rigs up, a shallow slapper rig just in case, but it was not used today so no more on that then. A meat rig for the short line, but apart from a few skimmers during the day, no good either, no silvers prize today as it's an overall weight thing only, so really it  is carp or bust, but a few silvers can help at times, and a pellet on the deck rig to fish at 14 mtrs.
Also a wag for was put together, primarily to fish pellet on the deck, so it was a 4g middy fatboy straight, I like these floats as they cast straight , and it's possible to change to a smaller one if needs be without having to change the shotting as all the floats in the range take the same ammount of shot.
On the all in I fed all lines but began on the 14 mtr line with banded 8mm pellet over 6,s, it started slowly , but I did lose a fouler quite early on, but that was it for a while, Ben to my right began in the tip but soon changed to the shallow wag and had a fish quite quickly, so I went out on the wag on the deck, but Ben had another and missed a couple of bites, so I changed the 4g wag for a 2g and  shallowed up to about 18inches, I had a couple of 10lb plus fish quickly, then I had to wait for another, which was booked in the wing in a tough part so that was added to net, it was my last fish shallow, even though I tried it several times during the match, I kept switching between the depth wag and long pole line, I lost a few incorrectly booked fish , but also landed a few more, along with some decent skimmers, ending with 9 carp and those accidental skimmers for what I hoped would be about 85lb, I was convinced Ben had beaten me , also Gary o,Shea on peg 99 was admitting to 100lb , so a possible third in section to begin the league was not a total disappointment, but in the end I was second as Gary had 101.6 to my 101.1, and poor old Ben in the middle was the chip shop sausage, battered all round with 88lb.
No real prizes for guessing as to who won, once crag(trig) Edmunds drew 115 there only likely to be one outcome, and there was as he won with 312lb,

pushing fellow mosella angler Tom mangnal into second with his 267lb from peg 90.

As normal the weigh sheets are below, the lakes have fished really well, with probably well  over a ton of fish coming out of Campbell alone, no wonder it takes so long to weigh in.
Next weekend it's off to Landsend fishery for an open on lakes 2&3, 9.30 draw and breakfast available at  the fishery, either contact me or ring Mike at the fishery on 07977545882 to book in.

Shiplate Thursday costcutter

Went with Jason Radford today to this popular fishery, the breakfast wagon was open today and very nice to especially as they have invested in a toaster ,(4.69)
Quality products and very hot.
Got into the draw tin about halfway through and pulled out peg 10 again, twice on the trot now, and not where ideally wanted to be, I fancied an open water peg as I felt the carp would be mooching about in the sunshine,
I got to my peg and the options were pretty much the same as last time, meat down each side margin , a caster rig for 4 mtrs , a rig for worm or maggot over groundbait at 13mtrs, and lastly a pellet rig to fish banded 8mm pellet over hard 6,s.

On the all in I fed three balls of worm and caster laces groundbait at 13mtrs, some casters at 4 mtrs, a bit of meat down each side and began firing some 6,s to the island,
Starting On the short caster line I expected a bite form a small fish quite quickly, but it was nearly 15 minutes for my first bite, but it was a bear two pound skimmer, and a few more smaller samples followed, just as I was thinking I was in for a good silvers day, the bites stopped, so I went out over the groundbait line , only to find small roach had settled over it, I did get a few handsize skimmers but it was hard, probably due to the lack of wind and ripple and bright sunshine , but I'm it moaning as it's been a long cold wet winter.
I came back on the short line and had a few more skimmers before the bites stopped again,
I had a quick look against the island, but never had a sign, and it's hard work holding 18 mtrs when nothing is happening, tried the margins but again nothing there. So most of the time for now was spent on the 13 mtr line, catching roach , perch and odd skimmers, then about two hours from the end , the island line sprang into life, for 90 minutes it was enjoyable and I began to think I may sneak into the frame, but as quick as they came they then disappeared , but during that spell I landed 9 but had a problem with foulers, which I think contributed to them backing off.

Still using the mosella micro mesh rubber landing net, a good strong net ideal when using hair rigs As the banded pellets don't get pinged off like they do with the bigger meshed nets
As far as I could see gary (ned)flinders looked to have won as he thought he had 160lb, but the word was that titch on peg 1 had 28 carp which should be more.
But Gary didn't need to worry as he had 164lb and titch only had 140lb, mainly due to the fact he had put 82 lb in one  net, oops, so that net was disqualified, never mind, he took it well, no choice really, it's not like I've never done it, LOL.
My fish went 76 lb for no good today, my silvers went 16.12 and my carp a shade under 60.
Silver,s went to inform Mike laird on  peg 15 with 43lb. All in all it fished well, the yellow ball in the sky certainly seems to be waking them up, I hope it continues.
Weigh sheets below.

Landsend open

Back to a favourite venue of mine today for this match, Landsend fishery on lakes 2 & 3, so got to the fishery in plenty of time for one of di,s lovely breakfasts, 4.8 as normal, only me and Jason today as Judith was laid up with man flu, which is far worse than your everyday lady flu, but also she wanted to watch the f1 grand prix, which is ok as long as the German don't win, luckily he was taken out and only finished 8th.
24 fishing today so 12 on each lake , so plenty of room really, I didn't mind where I drew to be honest, and I wasn't to upset to find myself on peg 15, company wise I had ron hardiman on 13 and Roger crago on 16.
Good to see the lakes full up , in fact they are at the highest levels I have seen them for years, also Mike has been doing a bit of bankside clearance which can only be good allowing more wind and oxygen into the water.
Several rigs for today, a margin for the right, another for the left which looked very sexy, but I felt it was a bit deep as I couldn't get in right enough, but it did look good.

A meat rig for 2+2 in front and a rig for pellet to the island, so all rigs assembled in plenty of time, still a bit untidy but I do try LOL.

Just a word about elastic lube, I can't understand why some people don't use it, I speak to a few people either in the shop and on the bank who swear by lake water, but it doesn't do the same , I like the mosella topkit glide competition lube, it certainly outlasts the other water based  ones  during the day.

At the start I fed the far side and margins with with pellets , then began on the short meat line, as it normally possible to get a couple of mug fish early on, I  decided to give it an hour, whilst still feeding the pellet lines, and by the end of the hour I had two carp and a big skimmer to show for my efforts,
So after an hour it was time to go across with a banded 8mm pellet, and I had a good couple of hours , adding several more carp to the tally, I thought I was going to be on for a really good weight, but the far side faded , which thinking about shouldn't have been a suprise, although the water looked to have a nice colour, but it was deceptively clear, I tried the  margins , the right hand side was a snag pit, so nothing from there, the left hand side produced one carp and two lost, as I thought it was a bit to deep for my liking, so I spent the rest of the match swapping between the island and the meat line picking off odd fish, with the biggest hooked just before the all out , and at about 13lb a welcome late fish.
It was difficult to see how the lake had fished as being left  handed I had my back to the majority of the lake, I could hear plenty of splashing , though, so I thought I had been beaten by a few, but as it turned out of was only russ peck on peg 5 who had beaten me on this lake and with him having 120lb plus he was the winner on the day then it was Martin rayet who was second on 41 then it was me with 104, not to bad really as I admitted to 80lb ish . I seem to be able to estimate other people's weights better than my own.
Anyone interested I will be running another one here on Sunday 29th april, book in with me or give Mike a ring to book in, 9.30 draw, fish 11 to 5.
Today's weigh sheets below.

Thursday over 55,s, huntstrete bridge poool

After a nice breakfast at the Toby inn carvery in whitchurch I was on my way to the fishery, only 19 fishing today, which meant a bit of room so no complaints.
The same as last time I did the recording which meant I had the option to get into the draw bag before the rest, out comes 28, nice peg , a reasonable area for skimmers , with the option of an island to go at aswell, even if it was nearly 17 mtrs away.
Only two rigs to begin with today, a .6g for the skimmers and a .25 Corby slim for a little way off the island in about 3 foot of water to fish hard pellet.

We were all hoping for a good day as the club has stocked a reasonable number of f1,s, which has been feeding well for the anglers recently, today we had to stop after three hours to weigh in any carp caught , then start again for another three hours. For company I the affable Jeff Francis on peg 29 and southwest match fishing legend Mike Jones on 26.
At the start I cupped in some groundbait on two lines, one with caster and the other with some chopped worm, both lines were at 13 mtrs, the caster line at 11 o'clock angle and the worm one at 1. And started firing 4 mm hard pellets towards the island , one just off the end of the island and the other to the right down the side of the island,
I started off with maggot for skimmers over the groundbait lines , it was a bit slow for me but Jeff was getting some sensible skimmers, a switch to a piece of work worked and I was soon having some skimmers aswell, along with one of the lakes new f1,s.
An hour in and a few skimmers in the net I decided to go over to the island, and I was soon catching the f1,s along with occasional small carp, towards the end of the three hours Mike hooked a lump on the whip, which eventually turned out to be nearly 18lb .

The three hours of the first half were soon up and when the scales for to me I put 31lb of mainly f1,s in the pan to go into an early lead.

We started the second half, and as expected it was a bit slow, I could get odd skimmers over the groundbait lines, but it was to slow, so most of the rest of the match was spent over towards  the island, using banded 6mm over catapulted 4,s, during the break I made up another rig, this one was to fish a bit tighter to the island as I felt the fish wanted to be in the shallower water, even if it was a bit clear, I had  less fish in the second half, but I had more proper small carp along with a couple of late better fish up to 8lb, although I had less fish the carp went 36lb and along with 13lb of skimmers I ended up with a bit over 80lb for first on the day, Mike nicholls was 2nd with 57lb which included a carp of over 18lb, although some of the weights looked good, there were still some difficult areas , but as the water temp improves I thing it will get better, and I think the rain the day before knocked some of the colour out, which never helps, weigh sheet below.

Viaduct open, Campbell lake

With a 9.30 draw we had time for a Toby inn breakfast I whitchurch before we drove down, so me Judith and Jason enjoyed a tasty start, Judith scored it a 4.6 as the eggs , sausages and coffee were very nice. And the rest was very tasty aswell.
Got to the fishery with 15 minutes to spare, so time for a coffee and a chat with some of the regulars, it was good to see Paul Blake back on the scene, he's been missing in action for a couple of year's LOL.
Judith Got into the draw tin second behind Jason Radford and handed me 113, a good peg but probably 4 to 5 mtrs behind the pegs either side, so in the absence of a lead rod in the bag , it was a waggler attack in the main today, so I set up a 4g middy clear wag to fish at depth, and two pole rigs, one for the left hand margin , which usually holds a fish or two, and another for hard pellet at 14 mtrs on front, normally it pays to set up a short meat line any where on this lake but it hasn't worked so far this year so I never bothered, and later on I started to regret it !!!.

For company I had Adrian bishop on 112 and Chris Davis on 114, most wanted 112 today as Dan squire won the fisho qualifier off it yesterday with 190+ , and we were expecting it to be ok today as it sometimes switches  them on when a bit of bait has gone in before.
At the start I fed some 8,s out on the wag line, and some 6,s on the 14 mtr line and down the edge.
I went straight out on the wag and soon had my first fish, a nice common approaching double figures, and a short while later another smaller sample followed.

But this time it was a nice colourful mirror.
This early success was a bit of a false dawn, the match became a struggle , not just for me , but everyone was finding it hard to get a proper bite, there were plenty of fish moving about , but they certainly weren't interested in getting there heads down, I did try the pole at 14 mtrs but only lost a couple of small skimmers, also the margin may have been ok, I had a carp down there with about 2 hours to go, then next put in I lost one around a drainage pipe, I had to pull for a break , but my elastic snapped where I was pulling it around my keepnet, so the rest of the match was spent on the wag, I did keep shallowing up to try and tempt some cruisers, and I did get one at range, I also had one close, about ten minutes after Judith asked me if I had ever hooked one when I dropped the float in the edge while I fed with the catty, damn  near lost the rod, it never happened again though.
It was a case of plugging away , feeding casting twitching feeding, wind in , repeat the process, busy fishing , lots of the bites coming after the twitch, something that can't be done in the tip.
I must say I have been using the drennan acolyte 12 ft carp waggler rods now for over a year, and it one of the nicest rods I have ever used, plenty of power when needed , but enough action to stop hook pulls when you have a fish under the tip.

I did lose a few foulers today but with the fish swimming round as they were I half expected that, but I was putting enough fish into the net to keep me in contention, going into the last 90minutes Chris to my right began catching short on meat, kicking myself now, I should have done it, and with Gary o,Shea on peg 110 catching as well as anyone I may be slipping back, towards the end I began getting  more indications and landed a couple of late ones, then 7 minutes from the end I lost a fouled under my feet and the wag shot up the tree above me, so the end was spent on the pole for nothing added,
The scales arrived on gary,s peg and he ended up with 138lb, I thought I had 130 so it may be close, and it was as I just beat him with 140lb, which was also enough to win on the day, so that was good , meaning I have qualified for the all winners final in october.

Paul faiers won the silvers on peg 110 with 49lb of mainly skimmers which is a good days fishing by any standards, so well done matey.

So it was a much harder day than most expected, but for was ok as everyone had a day's action, and the carp seem to be spreading out a bit now, with fish moving about in front of all of us, weigh sheet below.

Shiplate Thursday costcutter

I drive straight to the fishery today as Mark Jones had his breakfast wagon on site doing rolls, sarnies or even a plated breakfast so I thought it would be rude not to give it a go, and I'm glad I did as it was very nice, all done with quality ingredients, only thing missing was toast, but you got a buttered roll, 3 sausages, 2 bacon, 2 eggs, 2 hash Brown's aswell as beans, mushrooms and black pudding, and a coffee, all for 6 quid, a 4.64 on the rixon scale, so well done Mark and his able assistant, Donna kebab.
Got into the draw about halfway through and peg 10 stuck to my mit, it's at the top end of the lake on the far side behind the island, more of a carp peg than silvers, but as it's quite shallow compared to the majority of the lake I wasn't really feeling it, but it looks nice.

So I set up rigs today for carp and silvers, a margin rig for meat each side , but no bites on that, a bit to shallow with the cold water temp,
A rig for pellet at 16 mtrs at the bottom of the island shelf, another for pellet  at 17.5mtrs on top of the island shelf, oooo that could be painful. And a couple of silver,s rigs, a.4g double bulked rig and a more conventionally shotted .3g aswell.
For company I had Masterchef mark on 9a, and venue expert ticth Williams on 11.
To begin with I cupped in some groundbait at 13mtrs with a smidge of chopped worm and caster in it, loose fed some casters at 2+2 and fired some 6,s to the island , oh yes and I began wasting some meat down the edge.
I started with a caster on the short line and had a 1lb skimmers first out in, then had to wait 10 minutes for another bite , and that was a 4oz skimmer, followed by a couple more before it died, all that was in the lighter rig, so I went out to 13mtrs with the double bulked rig, and had a couple more skimmers there including a 1 1\2 fish, it never really got going for the silvers, maybe it was to shallow , or it may have been the wind and trip going together, which always makes presentation more difficult, but by switching between the two lines I kept odd bites and fish coming, as I said the margins were no good, as was the island lines, that was until about an hour from the end I saw a couple of splashes out by the island, so it was out  to 17.5 mtrs and I had a bite, and duly netted a nine pound mirror, and that was the only bite a had from a carp, titch  to my left had 4 carp and a tench down his edge by a busy in the water, and Mark got caught by a couple on the lead out by the island, luckily my silvers went 16.9 which was enough for r to get second in the silvers by double default lol, you got to love a default enve!ope,well done to save wride for a good silvers weight of 34.12 from peg 5, and well done to Roy  ede on peg one with the top weight on the day with39.12. weigh sheet below, and to be honest it fished hard today, we desperately need some warm weather.

Todber manor silver,s final

Travelled on my own today, stopped off at cannards for breakfast, it was ok, a nice 4 on the rixon scale.
Had a quick drive around the lakes when I got there, gary(elf on the shelf)o,Shea was up on hillview mixing his groundbait, a quick chat with him and he reckoned that homeground would be the place to be today, with its good population of bream and skimmers along with plenty of good roach. There were some good silvers anglers in attendance, and some missing aswell, including Steve kedge who is always a threat in these sort of venues, I asked Mr Collins as to why he hadn't turned up and he reliably informed me that on Easter Sunday his wife makes him dress up as an Easter bunny and go and hide in the garden, then she has to go and find him, I found it hard to believe but Nick was adamant this was how it pans out ever easter, and Dave roper seemed to agree LOL.
Any way John candy soon had the draw underway, in I go and out comes 61 hillview, not a peg of choice and in the match yesterday the anglers here including locals such as Ben dukes and Mark Harper struggled to catch carp and silvers were almost non existent, but they do move and change daily , so you never know, I was in good company with an old friend in the shape of Steve Hutchinson, we've know each other for nearly 35 years but our paths don't cross to often these days, but I get the impression the dark side of commercials is calling to him.

I only set up three rigs today, a .6g pc bodied double bulked to fish worn and groundbait at 11 mtrs,  a .4g drennan as5 for caster over groundbait at 7mtrs, and a .4g as5 to fish on my topkit to hand with caster .

On the whistle I cupped in some worm infested groundbait at 11mtrs, some of the same but caster infused  at 7mtrs, and began feeding some caster on the topkit line.
I started at 7mtrs and had a couple of small fish but nothing to right home about, so I tried a worm head on the long line, but again just small fish and an f1, so an hour in nearly and I got the topkit rig out, and I had an enjoyable near 2 hours fishing catching quality roach , all in single caster, lovely fishing, and looking round it appeared this lake at least was not fishing well at all, but after a couple of hours this line died, I then had about 90 minutes when I could hardly get a bite any where , even on single maggot, then towards the end of the match I had a few skimmers on the worm line, then 15 minutes from the end I had a 6lb plus bream, a proper bonus fish, I began thinking I may sneak in, but the scales would tell the tale, I was last to weigh in in the whole match, and Mike nicholls was winning with 33.14 from homeground  lake with a mixture of skimmers and quality roach on wagglered caster.

 I thought I may have  about 25lb and was surprised when the scalesman called out 33.2, so second on the day and 12oz has cost me 650 quid as it's basically a winner take all match, so well done mike, probably the only person on the match to fish the waggler nearly all through.

The weigh sheets below will show that the fishery had a bit of an off day for silvers, this crappy weather isn't really helping to be sure, but it's going to warm up a bit this week, hopefully the weather men will be right about this.