Float only.round 3

Back to Todber manor for this one, hillview and homeground lakes, but not after a stop at cannards well for breakfast, it was ok. 4.25.
Down to the fishery in plenty of time so the got the k/o draw.done , I had.to fish against Clint wojtyla and beat him to progress to the next.round, I got john white to draw for me again as he pulls out some proper pegs, and he didn't disappoint as he handed me 48, which is a very good peg, it's an end peg on the spit on the left hand side, giving the peg a good right hand margin,

I'm not going to write to much as it's fished it proverbials off, basically I have caught at topset and one in front to begin with, then shallow at 13mtrs, and the last couple of hours down my right hand margin in a couple of spots, at the end I had a quick look at my fish and it looked as though I would be over the net limits in two of the nets,  it luckily I was 2oz under in one net and 2lb over in another , so not.to bad,

 and it hasn't cost me anything as my 182 lb came.second in the section behind Ryan shipp on peg peg 50 with 230lb which included the top silver weight of 69.12.

Top weight on the day.went to niel Mercer on 89 in the corner of homeground with 294lb, the weights were ridiculous and it took an hour and a half to weigh in hillview, in all out of the 40 anglers fishing there were 32 weights over 100lb including 8 who had over 200lb, hats off.to John candy who has got a ridiculously good fishery on his hands, all the fish are in exceptional condition and fight really well, well.done matey. The weigh sheets below show how good it was.

The week so far

Judith and me are down in westbay this week, staying in an apartment in the building which was the police station in broadchurch, nice sea view, shame there is a building site on the sea front where they are doing a lot of storm damage prevention work, a bit noisy but bearable, then again we don't spend much time in anyway.
Saturday was a rest day apart from a walk round the bridport market stalls along the roads in the town, plenty of tat and curios, all we bought were four black marbles to replace the missing ones from the solitaire game at home , 20p well spent LOL.
Sunday and into Weymouth for a mini bash on the pleasure pier, I was told we should try maggot, so picked up a pint from Weymouth angling and off we went, lucky for me it was a numbers match today, not different species, we got totally mini pout swamped ,one every drop.

That was until Judith caught a small wrasse, but it was numbers and we had stopped counting a long time before that, phew.
Monday and it was off fossil hunting with an old friend from bristol, Adrian Davies who has a group called the Weymouth fossil hunters, and he know lives down here following his passion and doing a bit of guiding , anyone interested in going out with him should contact him via face book, I would say it's well worth it as it's not just his ability to discover these stone animals, his knowledge of how old they are and the reasons for them being there was suprising, and he could actually name them, we didn't find anything large, except for the giant ammonites on portland, but they are set in 500lb rocks, the other chap who came along, another Tony but from London way did spot a rock with a bit of ammonite showing so ended up with a good find of a 4 to 5 inch fossil when he chipped it out of its 160,000,000 year old home, a long testing walk but worth it.

Same day we got a bit of rag and went into the stone pier, this time it was a species count, we both had plenty of fish, only small , we both had pollack,wrasse and some better pouting, a good end to a good day.
Tuesday and it's down to beer for a day in the self drives, and with a forecast for basically no wind we expected a good day. Motored out past beer head took the normal head selfie, this is without doubt one of Judith and mine favourite days.
Dragged a set of feathers and caught three mackerel , which was enough for bait, then went about 500mtrs beyond the head and anchored up. Couldn't asked for better weather, the sea was like glass.

And we had a plenty of fish, starting off with the normal dogfish, then we had some congers up to about 15lb. All unhooked in the sea, don't want them thrashing around in the boat.

Needless to say Judith had the biggest, also a couple of smoothounds  turned up which put a very satisfying bend in the 40g outfits we use.

The biggest may have just scraped 10lb, but they are excellent fun, and really pretty fish.

We also had one lonely bream (I had that), this was a species hunt again today, which I was winning 5 to 4, that was until Judith caught a pin whiting on the bream rig, so at 5 all we decided to motor back to about 50mtrs off beer head and bounce some rag baits for some wrasse, Judith have me right seeing to doing this with more than me and the biggest, with a couple of good ballans over 3lb, it's got to be said they really do pull hard.

So it was a tie on species but she did give me right spanking on numbers, oh well back to the drawing board, I may have to start cutting the points off her hooks LOL it's Wednesday now and with a North easterly wind we may spend a few hours on chesil.

Huntstrete coffin dodgers

Back to huntstrete on bridge pool again, after an enforced closure due to fish lovemaking, it's a bit late but I'm sat down in West bay overlooking the sea so I thought I would do it now, been out for a beer and fish and chips with Judith so life is good at the mo.

Back to huntstrete and into the draw early as I was doing the recording, peg 10 hmmm, never had that one before, it has got an island to fish to, but it's well beyond pole length,

company wise I had steve tanner to my left on 11 and Dave Gillard to my right on 8, normally it can be a good productive margin, I set up a rig for several spots to my right, but that was a total waste line and hook as I never had a bite down there, and of that, I also set up a silvers line straight out at 13 mtrs, but again apart from a couple of small,(and I mean small) skimmers, that also was a waste of time , line and hook, not to mention the groundbait etc.
I set up pellet rig to fish on the deck to my right towards the island, and to be fair I had a few small carp towards the end in that, but I had my best action on the wag cast towards the island, which was very hard as the wind was backing down the lake down the side of the island and into me making casting and control nigh on impossible, if I never had a bite within seconds of the float landing, I had to wind in and cast again, needless to say I hooked the island several times as the closer you got the quicker the bite, also there are quite a few underwater snags.which also were causing problems as the rig was blowing through, I may have caught more fishing the lead over there , but I just really enjoy float fishing,  u the end I new I had over 50lb, which I new was going to be top on me his side of the lake, but I new the old sky dog in the shape of Mike nicholls on the other side of the island had done ok with 7 or 8 better carp, I fact his fish went over 80 lb whereas my smaller fish and f1,s went 58, so that was first and second overall, top silvers.went to dave(diddlybonk) haines with 15.12, that's him pictured behind me with my fish shot.

Although there were a few fish caught, I thinks it's still suffering a bit, as is a lot of venues with the late, or not finished spawning, so weigh sheets below.

We had a newbe today , Gary Bowden who has now reached the ripe old age of 55, so he is now eligible for these matches, hopefully he will be a regular now, he has been here practicing aswell, but the f o e on the sheet tells me he didn't quite get it right, but there was a lot of jealousy in the car park when he wheeled his kit out of the back of his can on his bespoke ramp, very nice too.

Viaduct spring league final rnd

Stopped at Cannards for breakfast on the way again, and very nice to, tasty hot and quick, 4.79.
Still got to the fishery in plenty of time, so more than enough time for the normal banter, always enjoyable.
Going into this match I think I was in about 5th place, but with quite a few on the same points realistically I needed a section win with a reasonable weight to keep me in a money position, I may just creep in with a second in section as long as the people in the same position had a bit of a dipper.
I was third into the cruel tin of nightmares and opened my ticket to see 60 looking back at me, well potentially that was me done, especially when Gary o,Shea draws to my left in corner peg 59, then Nick ewers was the angler to my right on 62, Gary had the peg to be honest but it hasn't been to good in this league, a bit inconsistent, and nicks peg was on a par with mine although his right hand margin can be good, also the wind was blowing up towards that end, and these fish do enjoy following the wind, the corner pegs beyond Nick have been the best pegs in the league so far, with Steve chant on 64 and Ron hardiman was opposite him on 66, luckily not in our section.
I thought I would give it some today and try and force the peg to try and make something happen, so I set up a wag for pellet on the deck at about 20 mtrs,  it I thought that would be a bit of a non started as I could already tell there would be some horrendous tow coming from the right close in due to the wind, making the wag pull back towards me, and it did so although I tried it I was never going to get it to work, also I set up a margin rig to fish towards the right, but apart from a skimmer and a small roach that was it down there,
A meat rig for 5mtrs, again nothing really to report from there, apart from a couple of better skimmers late in the match,
All my fish came from the 14 mtr line on banded 6 or 8mm hard pellet over loose fed 6,s, I caught odd carp and skimmers but both me and gary were fighting for second place in the section as Nick on 62 was catching into his right hand margin , most of the fish seemed to be up that end of the lake, as Steve and Ron who were sharing the corner were both doing well.
I did foul a few as I probably tried to force it a bit to much, and up until the last hour when Gary , who had had a few to his left under the trees and then had a few fish from his short line, so by the end it was obvious Nick had won the section with 124lb, Gary was second with 83 and me third with 74, not good enough for me, but it was close, I ended up 6th overall, first out of the money.
Well done to jeb Atwood who had 4 section firsts to win the league, not an easy one as the standard in this league is very good, well done matey.

Jeb had 201lb off peg 129 on the day, which was also second , only a pound behind Clayton Hudson who had 202lb from cary 81, and also secured him second spot in the league.

That's that league over for another year, well done to the Long family for running a good league, back to huntstrete this Thursday for the coffin dodgers, nothing this Sunday as me and Judith are off to West bay for a week , so a bit of sea fishing for a change , really looking forward to it, it makes a refreshing change, we were hoping to have a day in the beer self drives but the wind doesn't look as though it's going to be playing ball, but it sometimes changes.overall sheets below, weigh sheets now below.

Shiplate Thursday costcutter

First of all I'm going to start by wishing Steve Tucker all the best as he had had a bit of ticker trouble , and is presently languishing in an by a bed in Yeovil hospital, hope all goes well on Friday matey and hope to see you back on the bank soon.
Stopped in lillypool for breakfast, it was ok,  it they certainly don't like to let you in before the 8am opening time.
Got to the fishery to find 16 fishing which is a nice number on the big lake, dived into the draw bucket quite early and 12a stuck to my hand, at least it was in the far bank so the wind wouldn't be to troublesome, for company I had Alan quantrill to my right and ash Sanders to my left, it's an open water peg but does have a bit of form as a carp peg.

Opposite I had to contend with John Roberts looking back at me who has been on silvers fire of late, but the wind on that bank was going to make it hard today.

I set home silvers rig for skimmers to fish corn over groundbait at 9mtrs, a margin rig for pellet, a long line pellet rig(14mtrs) and a waggler for 25/30mtrs on the deck,
at the start I cupped in some groundbait and corn at 9 mtrs , some hard 6,s at 14 mtrs, a big handful into each side margin and some.8,s out on the wag line.
I began fishing for skimmers, but after nearly an hour I only had one. As for the margins, well I was completely ducklinged out, so that was a waste of bait and a hooklength. And it started to rain, the forecast was for showers, no one mentioned the rain in between though did they, I left my jacket and Brolly in the van, so I was soaked right through.
Most of my match was spent on the 14 mtr line, but it was a bit frustrating, if I never fed or fed very little I wouldn't get a bite, if I upped the feed I could get indications and bites , sometimes liners so foulers were a pain. I did get some on the wag aswell, but beverage size was quite small, with several of the small stockies making an appearance, I just kept at it and y the end I had lost as much as I had caught, slanting right had struggled for most of the match, but towards the end he was catching well to his rightly a sunken bush, so by the end I new it was close between us, but I also new a couple of anglers , namely Gary flinders and titch williams, and when the scales for to me titch had 119 and Gary 109, I thought I had 70lb of carp plus my few silvers and tiny  carp , wasn't First out as I had 82.14, just beating Alan to my right who had 80 lb on the nail. So I was third so I got my money back with a bit more, too silvers weight was taken by Dave wride with 37lb. Weigh sheets below.

Float only league rnd 2

Back to Landsend fishery today for this second match in the series,  but not after a stop in the very busy lillypool cafe in shipham for breakfast, very nice ,4.6.
With 40 fishing Mike let us put 10 on speci, and 15 on each lakes 2 and 3, so most had at least an empty peg on one side, got the draw underway and I waited for John white to get to the front and let him draw for me, no complaints when he pulled out 15  on the match lake, always a good peg. I had Dave Evans to my right on 16 and Glen Calvert to my left on 13.

It all looks very nice and green , these trees and plants certainly don't take a lot of encouragement at this time of year to grow at 100mph.
Lots of options with this peg, good margins each side, a meat line at 5 mtrs , and there is always the shallow water over by the island, and by shallow I mean it's only about 8inches, so I set up pellet rigs for each side margin, a meat rig for 5 mtrs and the shallow rig for against the island.
At the start I cupped in some pellets over by the island in a couple of spots, left and right, fed.pellets by hand into each side margin at topset and one, which is about as far as you need to go this time of year, then started on the short meat line to try and see if I could Nick a couple of early fish on it, I did lose two foulers quite quickly, then had no other indications, so I went over to the island on banded 8mm over hard 4,s, there were plenty of fish showing and waving there tails at me, but getting one on the hook was a different proposition, these carp in the lakes here can be some of the most difficult to catch, they can be a bit sneaky as they have been in the lakes for twenty years.now and have seen everything in that time, but they do make mistakes. Glen to my left started well in his margin, catching 5 fish before I had my first one, I've found with the venue it pays.to keep the feed going in As the fish need to be whipped up a bit to make them feed properly, foulers are always a problem,  but you just need to keep going, and normally they settle down and you can begin to catch properly, and that's basically what happened, my peg got better in the second half of the match. And it coincided with some extremely heavy rain with some thunder and lightening thrown into the mix aswell, I must say there are some nice looking fish in this lake.

I tried the margins about halfway through, the left hand side was hard with only one small fish, I had a few from the right burning had issues with the vegetation, so I left it alone it was all a bit traumatic. I did get a couple of fish late on on meat, but most of my fish came from the island , I had a family of ducks feeding on the pellet over there aswell, but I like them as they stir the bottom up colouring the water, which I think helps, the carp don't mind as they were in amongst the ducks fighting for there share. The rain stopped just before the end so at least we could pack up and weigh in in the dry. By the time the scales got to me , Martin McMahon was top with 107lb , I new I had that so I wasn't to surprised when my nets went 140lb, which have me the all important section win and was enough to give me second spot on the day behind Neil(drawbag)Mercer on peg 34 with 159lb, well done, Paul elmes on 31 was 3rd with 123lb and Mike nicholls 4th on 21 with 119lb, top silvers.weight on the day with 16.12 was Clayton Hudson just beating Shaun kitteridge who had 16.4. Weigh sheets below.

Viaduct spring league, penultimate round

Stopped at. Cannards well for breakfast again, and it's very nice , so 4.55.
Got to the fishery with time to spare, so plenty of opportunities for a bit of banter, I got early into the draw behind Adrian Jeffery and Roy the bomb, into the tin of room and out pops 131,  a good area, but you can be up against it a bit withy he pegs either side of the spit and the lone peg on the end bank, peg of choice was undoubtedly the end bank peg 135, which today was.occupied by lee(peanut)pettisio, in my.left was another welshman, Lee werrett, to my right was Paul bell in the corner, either side of the spit was dick bulk and paddy curry , and the last peg in my section was occupied by Dan hook, so quite a hard section, but the lakes have been a bit iffy of late, much the same as a lot.of venues.

The dreaded white willow fluff may be a bit of a problem today,  it we had a bit of rain forecast, which tends to sort it out and make it sink. I set up three pole rigs today, all to fish pellet, one for on the deck at 6 and 14 mtrs, and.a.margin rig, never used and lastly a shallow rig, the shallow rig was a drennan crystal margin .2g and the depth pellet rig was a .3 sensas ccx power, which I have been using for a while now, I've never broken one, but have lost a few LOL.

The line goes through the foam body, making for a virtually unbreakable float.
Hook wise all rigs had a size 16 b960 kamasan hook with a band for pellets, all tied with a knotless knot, I've been using these books for over 15 years, with no issues, I use them for all my fishing where hair rigging and banded rigs are called for.

I also set up a wag to fish pellet on the deck at about 25mtrs, at the start I cupped in some pellets at 14 mtrs, threw some.to 6mtrs, and into the margins , and fired some to 25 mtrs, I started on the short 6mtr line hoping for an early mug fish, and it didn't dissapoint, and after.a.good.scrap I had a nice double in the net, but that was the only fish from that line, the lake was.fishing about as hard as I expected, with most people struggling, Lee to my left started.well, with 4 carp in the first thirty minutes, but he only ended up with 5, and he's no mug , Paul to my right was fairing a bit better catching fish on the straight lead, but they were quite small , Lee on the end was doing the best, fishing all around the peg, but his best area was down to his left, I was doing ok as the match progressed,  it foulers were being a right pain, not just for me but most anglers.were.having issues. It was hard.to sort out, if you never fed, it was no bites, start feeding and you may get one in the mouth but more likely a fouler, I decided to just go with it, feeding quite heavily, just hoping the fish would settle, and they did but till about an hour from the end, when virtually all the fish were hooked in the mouth, by the end I had 95lb on the clicker, but when mat arrived.With the scales, it soon transpired I had slightly  underestimated the size.of the fish as I had 107lb, only good enough for second in the section as lee on the end bank had caught over 160lb, well.done.
Top.weight on the day was.Gary o,Shea on 66 with 204lb

All.The weighs sheets are below as normal,