Ivy house Sunday open

Hadn't been to ivy for what seems like an age, so Jason and me headed up the m4 to give it a go, on the two canals today.
The breakfast was very nice cooked as always by karen, 4.7.
19 fishing today so Andy gave everybody at least on empty peg to one side, got into the draw bucket just in front of that renowned bunghole angler des shipp, out comes 48 on kingfisher canal, three from the far end , Alan oram won off it the day before with 50+, so hopefully there should still be a few about, and I had Alan for company on end peg 50. It was a bit cold as the wind was blowing into us, so streaming eyes.For the duration it is then.
Most people favour the soft pellet over micro approach, but not for me, banded 6 over hard 4,s, as normal.
So a rig to fish pellet at 8 and 13mtrs, also another to fish hard pellet again at 14 mtrs which was part the way up the far shelf, I also set up a rig for maggot over the deeper lines also over a groundbait line topset and two off to the left at the bottom of the nearside shelf, the sun was out to give me a bit of warmth, but the wind was biting.

I began on the 8mtr line and had a couple of small stockies in the first hour, so it wasn't  fishing to well, as far as I could see no one was doing anything, it's not like there weren't any fish in front of us, as both Alan and me were getting odd liners and losing a  fouler or two, it was just a case of rotating around the various swims, catching odd fish, Alan and me had a bit of a peg to peg battle, and going into the last 15 minutes I probably just had the edge, then he went and caught a couple of better fish for 5lb, Alan was first to weigh and had just over 30lb to my 25, as I said it was hard to say the least, I probably had more fish than Alan but he had the quality I couldn't find, but it didn't matter as Alan was 4th and I think I was 5th, both out of the money, des drew end peg 35 on moorhen, and he was never going to make a mistake and won easily with 60 something pounds, I did take a picture of the weigh sheet, but I somehow managed to get the  names but no weights, doh.
The fishery under Andy and Karen's guidance will go from strength to strength as they are constantly striving to improve things, Andy has also had another lake  dug on the right hand side in what was the orchard, it's a 24 peg lake with an island for everyone, also he has a 16 mtr pole limit, the spoil from the new lake has gone into the main lake to form an island so everyone has something to fish to, the islands are.generally 20 mtrs or more out in front, so wag and lead fishing, should be good. I took a couple of pics of the new lake as the water isn't in it yet, it will be 5 foot deep all round with a near and far side shelf to all.

Thursday costcutter at huntstrete bridge pool

A nice close one today, and with Judith home we had a breakfast in a new venue today, poppy,s cafe in East dundry lane, and it was nice, a good 4.5 on the scale.
dropped Judith back home after, then took the 15 minute drive to the fishery. 20 fishing today so plenty of room, hopefully, paid my money and had a quick look at the pegging , only pegs I didn't fancy we're 17 and 18, mainly as they are opposite each other going into a bay effectively cutting each other off, I did have a bit of a moan but was met with the normal, it's a good swim I can remember when so and so had this and that off it, but not in recent years, those fish are probably dead by now , so into the draw bag, and yes peg 18 comes out, luckily the organiser was on 20, so I was able to give him a bit of stick for most of the match lol, but I know Mike Jones can take it, fortunately he is a bit deaf,

I had ray bazeley opposite on the other side of the bay, only about 19 mtrs away, so neither of us would be using more than 13 mtrs of pole out in front so as not to interfere with each other.

The margins can be ok on this peg, with a bush to my left and a long margin to my right going into the bay, you can't go to far into the bay on the right as there is a rope going across the lake to stop you going into the bay, also there is a large wooden obstruction just past the rope to act as a fish refuge, the idea being that as soon as a cormorant or any other predator gets on to the lake, the fish have learnt to go and hide in the refuge, hmmmm. Any way a picture of each side margin is below.

I set up one rig as it would do both sides in about 3 foot of, a rig to fish various baits over groundbait on the longer lines and a short caster rig. At the start I fed groundbait on three lines, 11 mtrs straight out, one off the end of the bush to my left and another at 5 mtrs in front, started feeding caster to my left about halfway up the inside shelf, and it was still over 3foot there , the lake is over 7 foot deep here. I started on the groundbait line out in front , which I had put some soaked micros in, with a soft pellet, no bite so I switched to a maggot, a small roach was the reward, followed by a couple more, back on the soft pellet and I fouled a 1lb skimmer in the wing, a long way off the bottom, not like me is it ha ha. I did lose another one shortly after, which WAS hooked correctly.
That was my lot on that line, except for odd plippy roach, so I came into the 4 mtr line and the other by the tree, I had another skimmer and a few roach in front, a some chunky little roach by the tree, but the bites wouldn't keep coming, it was the same on the short caster line, a few fish then nothing, towards the end of the first half I had a look down by the tree and had a couple of  f1,s on banded pellet, although I had been feeding 4,s I would normally have fished a 6 in the band, but today and 8 was definitely better, we had the usual short break and on the restart I just fished for carp, I did make another rig up during the break to fish pellet halfway across the rope in the deep water, and I did get few small proper carp there along with the a few more f1,s from the shallower water. Although I was unlikely to win from the peg I felt I did ok, I think I would have had a few more of I had not had Ray opposite, but then again I may have had less, you never know. Top on the day was Dave wride on peg 27 with over 60lb , that's his third win on the trot at this venue, well done, Alan oram and peg 21 was 2nd with 50+, too silvers weight to Paul barnfield on peg 14 with just shy of 32lb, weigh sheets below.

Silver,s league round 2, viaduct fishery

The rixon clan has had a good week with the arrival of out first grandchild, in the shape of a gorgeous little boy , Brody Rex Akira, massive thanks and well done to Georgia and simon, picture below of the super proud nanny with him.

Off to the fishery with Chris fox today, but not after a stop at.the Toby inn carvery in whitchurch, and it was ok ,4.5 . Got to the fishery with 20 minutes to spare as normal, as it's still a 9.30 till the clocks go back.
Didn't mind where I drew , but a swim on cary.would be favoured as it was fishing well for.silvers,  it it wasn't to be as I pulled out peg 116, which is a flier carp peg,  but not to much silvers form recently, the lake fished well for silvers on Saturday , so we were hopeful of a few today as long as the carp didn't show up in to much force.
I set. Up the normal silvers rigs, a couple to fish long over groundbait, 9 and 13 mtrs, and another for dump feeding caster at 16 mtrs, and a caster rig for topset and 2.

Also first outing with the new mosella white Eva tubs and cases, and it seems very good, and eyecatching, sure to be popular. I

For company I had paddy curry on 114 and Jess Jordan on 118, Ziggy slowinski should have been on 115 but he must have known something we never as he didn't turn up.
I had trig Edmunds behind me on 78 cary which is a lovely peg as it's at least a third deeper than any other peg on the lake.
At the start I cupped in a couple of balls of groundbait on each of the lines at 9 and 13 mtrs, cupped some caster at 16 , then began on the short caster rig, 20 minutes in and not.a bite, and I had only seen a couple of small roach caught, so out into the 9mtr line, not.a bite, so out to 13 and finally.a.perch, then a 8oz skimmer, and after.two hours, I hadn't added to it, so with 10 oz in the net and I had probably overfed the swim, but then again lots of others had fed a lot more negatively than me, and weren't catching either, so who knows, all I know it was a crap day, the carp turned up on all lines and the skimmers never fed on this lake, the lake was won with 13lb by joe McMahon on peg 126, paddy to my left had 6lb 6oz, I had 6.1 with a bit of help from a 2lb skimmer and some late roach and jess.to my right had 14 oz, the other lakes fished better with cary producing the top 6 weights with it being no surprise to see trig winning again from being me with 40.14, just beating John fuidge on 97 by 4oz.

Top 10 weights and pegs listed below, trig has now won the the first two rounds so looks on target.to retain his crown at the moment.

Viaduct Thursday costcutter

Originally I was booked into the Shiplate costcutter, but with the second round of the silvers.league this Sunday it was a chance for a bit of a sneaky practice. Stopped off at cannards well for breakfast, it was ok 4.25.
Got to viaduct with about 25 minutes to spare, 36 fishing today so a split on Campbell and cary, I fancied a non carp peg, so I let mat the t,draw for me, and he has actually  gone up in my estimations as he drew for me again today, and handed me 78 on cary, a good silvers peg and it can be ok for carp,  but today I was going to fish for silvers, and with this peg being twice the depth of the surrounding swims I fancied it, there seems to be a lot of smaller skimmers on this lake at the mo, and with the lakes oxygen levels being a bit low due to the algae dying these smaller fish would hopefully still feed.

I set up a caster rig to fish by the tree to my right, and straight out at 5mtrs, a couple of .4g drennan as7 floats ,one with a 16 hook for bigger baits and an 18 for smaller baits, both rigs would do to fish at 9 and 13 mtrs out in front, and I set up a rig to fish banded 6mm pellet over hard 4,s at 16 mtrs slightly to the right, well away from my groundbait lines. On the whistle I cupped in two balls of caster laced groundbait on each of the longer.lines, some pellets on the 16mtr spot, then picked up the caster.rig and started by the tree, hoping for some of the decent hybrids and perch that often inhabit the tree , but it never really happened today , I did get a couple of the intended species but they were small fish, and the bites soon stopped, so straight out at 5 mtrs and I had a couple of skimmers, including one of about 1 1/4, and I lost a fouled.carp, which was the only one I hooked all day.
So I was.soon out on the 9mtr line and the small skimmers seemed.to be obliging, with single caster seemingly being the best bait, bewitching between the 9 and 13 mtr line I kept small skimmers coming most of the match, I tried the long pellet lines several times , and did manage some skimmers but they were no bigger.than the ones I could catch on the closer lines, but it was a lot slower due to the distance,
 I did get.two fish for 5lb towards the end,  but most of the fish were up to 8oz, with a rare one between 8oz and a pound, lovely fishing to be honest, at the end I thought I had 35lb,
Steve.started.the weigh in on this lake from peg 74, where Stu white had 48.13 of silvers, again mainly small skimmers , catching mainly on caster over caster with an occasional small ball of groundbait, a brilliant weight of these small fish, from this peg. I came second in the silvers.with 41.1, and looking around there were.quite a Few small skimmers being caught, so with the temps staying fairly constant for the weekend, the same swim would do nicely ta, only a 51 to 1 chance of it happening, better odds than the lottery.

Top 6 overall and top 3 silvers below, the carp didn't want to play ball today , people fishing for silvers never really got bothered by carp, watch that change on Sunday lol.

2 days at viaduct

First of two days at viaduct, Saturday was the all winners final, so after a visit to the Toby inn carvery in whitchurch for breakfast, Judith joined me for breakfast, and to be honest it was the worst one I've had there, sausages not done enough, eggs overcooked, and the toaster was broken, so only a three on the rixster scale. Judith didn't come with me today, so we said goodbye in the carpark, then went in opposite directions. Got to the fishery with about ten minutes to spare, only 54 fishing with several being in other places, with some good locals down at whitacres for the parkdean final, and as most of you will now by now, our very own craig(trig) Edmunds walked away with the 25 grand top prize, so well done matey, Judith and me are really pleased for you, and also a big well done to Dan white who finished third, a brilliant result in a top class field.
Back to today and ideas near the back of the queue, I got to the tin of plenty and asked mat to draw for me, hoping for a peg on cambell, but no, what does mat the tw#@ pull out, 43 on the match lake, no real chance of winning, just  the section money to fish for, but with Nick ewers on corner peg 42 it was going to be hard, the forecast was for 40+ wind speeds and showers, not ideal for this lake, as it's only a small lake, but the longer you can fish on the pole the better it is, but realistically 13 mtrs was going to be the limit, I only had pellets with me as I didn't ruining his lake was going to be in, so hard 6,s over 4,s it is then. I also set up the wag to fish pellet to the island.

I won't dwell to much on this one as  it was difficult to say the least, there were bites and fish to be had, odd carp and decent f1,s with a smattering of skimmers thrown in, and I was doing ok for the section , that was until nasty Nick went and two fish for 25lb from his margin, these two fish helped him win the 70 quid section money with 70lb , but I was happy with my 62lb, if the weather hadn't bean bad, there was definitely over 100lb on the cards, but it still wouldn't have been enough, as Dan squire on 116 came.out on top with 229lb, pushing local silvers ace Nigel Easton into second with 211 from peg 131, and that was his first ever 200lb plus weight, and Mark poppleton on 110 was third with 209. Well done .

I was looking for a match for sunday, I had earmarked the open at chilton, but misha got in touch to say she had cancelled due to lack of numbers, so it was back to viaduct, I could have fished the open on cary, but instead I managed to get on with the  psv lads on cambell,  I travelled down with Jason so we stopped off at cannards well for breakfast, and it was good, 4.8. I fancied a day silver,s sport so wasn't at all disappointed to draw 126, a really good skimmer area,
I set up three rigs for caster.worm and maggot, one to fish caster to hand on the topkit, and two for worm maggot or caster over groundbait at 11 and 13 mtrs.

Starting short on caster, first fish hooked was a carp, lost that hook then !!!!!. Then I began getting 2-3oz roach, but they disappeared quite quickly, to be replaced by 2-4 oz perch , and there seems.to be a lot in the lake at the mo. I stuck it for about 45 minutes but there seemed no end to them, so I went out to the 11 mtr line, but they were there aswell, a big piece worm had the same fish swinging on the end,  double caster on and I had a tench, but it was a false dawn, so out to 13 mtrs , on worm and I had a couple of better skimmers, and no perch, result. The first half was ok , with odd skimmers.of various sizes gracing the net, and for.a short spell towards the end I thought I was going to be on for a really good weight, I did set a pellet rig which I fished off to the right at 13 mtrs, I had four carp on it along with a few decent skimmers, by the end as far as I could see I had done enough to win the silvers.so I was quite happy with that. When mat got to me big ry, (Ryan Jordan) was.winning with 138lb , and he was on the golden peg aswell, so he may be in for a bumper payday, time.would tell, my net of silvers.went. Just over 40lb, most enjoyable it has to be said. And as I thought it was  enough to win the silvers on the day.

Big  ry was still looking good until the soon to be water gypsy Alan healey weighed in on peg 110 and beat  ry by a pound, picture below me with the overall winner, if you can see a water.droplet on the picture it's probably from Ryan who was just out of shot, also the weigh sheet is there aswell.

Thursday costcutter at huntstrete bridge pool

Only 18 fishing today, a few missing due to other commitments, the normal decent breakfast at the Toby inn carvery in whitchurch started the day off nicely.
Got to the fishery with loads of time to spare, I found the two mikes, Jones and nicholls sorting the pegging out sat in the back of my jones,s skip, which he uses to transport his kit around  behind his Mondeo.

Mike j soon had it sorted and got the draw underway, I got in early and pulled out peg 4, a nice peg on the right hand bank at the end of the far island. Its a Shortish reach to the island to a nice reed bed , which was a nice depth, a shade over 2 foot, but with the water quite clear I wasn't to convinced the fish were going to respond.

Mike nicholls in the background trying to find his lucky paste hook as he must have dropped it.
So I set up a rig for the reed bed for banded pellet, a.silvers one for chopped worm and caster in a bit of groundbait on two lines at 13 mtrs left and right, also a rig to fish pellet right in against the island , but I thought it would be a tad to clear for that to be effective, and lastly a meat.rig for 5 mtrs.
at the start I cupped in two balls of g bait on each of the silvers.line, and began firing pellets.to the island.
starting with apiece of worm I soon had a  couple of small skimmers, but it was hard, I did manage.a.few.better ones, but I wasn't going anywhere with it, I probably tried for to long, as.we have to stop after.three hours to weigh the carp and return them, John Smith on peg 6 went across to the other end of the island and was catching a.few.carp, I waited till they was about 75 minutes remaining till.we had to stop, and it was was to late as i caught straight away on banded 6mm hard pellet, mainly.small stocky carp and f1,s, John was.catching slower than me but his fish were bigger, so by  the end of the 3 hours I new he had beaten me, but it was closer than I thought with John having 34lb to my 30,

The second three hours started slowly, with just odd small f1,s, and it never really picked up, I was catching a few with the odd small stockie carp ,  it at least I was catching , poor old John couldn't get a bite, in fact at the end of the match he only had a perch and a small carp, I had faired better so I new I had beaten him. And as far.As could see I had done ok, my second weigh went 27lb

 and with my few silvers I had 67lb, not.quite enough as Dave wride on peg 21 ended up first on the day with 71lb, well done, silvers.went to Paul barnfield on peg 27 with 24lb of skimmers on mainly worm., It wasn't an easy day , the water has cleared, and the water temp had fallen by a few degrees, but it was interesting fishing and I really enjoyed it. Weigh sheets below.

Viaduct silvers I've rnd 1

I was looking forward to this league, it makes a pleasant change from hauling carp, and it as popular as most other leagues at this well run fishery, I travelled down with Chris fox so it was breakfast at the Toby inn carvery in whitchurch, and it was ok , a 4.25, shame they have made the plates smaller, lol.
Still got to the fishery in plenty of time for the draw, and all the usual suspects were in attendace,
I got into the draw quite late by my standards, and was a bit disappointed to see peg 119 looking back at me, it's a corner peg on cary which isn't the best normally for silvers, unless the big perch show up down to the right into the corner underneath the willow tree, but today it looked unlikely as I could see carp slurping off the branches. And after a bit of a frost and bright sunshine and no wind I wasn't expecting miracles,  but it did look nice.

For company I had the irrepressible gabe skarba on 118 with Mrs gabe sat behind him, who is fast becoming his bite spotter, as she had to tell him on several occasions to strike. Kev Newman was on 121, and rich aherne opposite on 123, so no pushover there then.
I set up a perch rig for down the right hand margin, but I only tried it a couple of times, and only had a couple of small roach, but with lots of carp under the branches, so I didn't persevere to much with it, two rigs for  out in front over groundbait with a bit of worm and caster in it, one more positive than the other for worm or triple maggots and the other for smaller maggot baits or single caster, I also set up a rig to fish to hand with maggot.
gabe set a wag which may have been a good option, except he kept catching the tree above his head just plumbing up, after hooking it for the third time in as many goes he put it away, I tried to get a pic of him tree wrestling, but he was too quick for me lol.
at the start I cupped in two balls at 11 mtrs and three at 14mtrs, wasted.a.few.casters.down the edge but started on the topset to hand, caught small fish from the off, but two to the ounce wasn't going to cut it today, have was doing the same,
Gabe soon got bored with this and went out on his longer line , and had a skimmer quite quickly, so I did the same, I had a small one but that was it, gabe had a bit of a run on small skimmers, whereas I say there with a motionless float. Kev on 121 was getting fish on his topset line, but most of the lake was fishing hard, plenty of carp were being hooked all round though.
As the match went on skimmers began to feed but were constantly being disrupted by marauding carp, gabe was getting more skimmers.than me but they weren't the biggest, when I did get one they were of a better stamp, up to 2 1/2 pounds, also rich opposite had some better ones plus some perch down his edge, it was a waiting  game for me, sat with triple maggot over both groundbait lines,  I the time the match was over I was still convinced that gabe had battered me, but after I weighed in first and put 26lb on the scales I thought it would be close, and it was a he beat me with 26.8, still I thought second in section would be ok,rich opposite was admitting to 20lb,  it then when the scales finally reached him he had 26.3, bugger, at least he enjoyed it, and mrs Gabe was smiling when I handed my.pound over, at least ziggy,s pound covered that one.
And to add insult.to injury a wheel bracket weld broke on the way back to the carpark, three wheels on the wagon makes for a very difficult push, thanks to Dave white for giving me a hand back to my van,
Considering the conditions the silvers fed quite well, with that man trig winning again from peg 99 with just over 50lb of skimmers on soft pellet initially then maggot over the same, second was dick bull on 103 with 39lb, I think I was 11th with 26lb, so it fished ok, weigh sheets below.