Sunday Landsend and a bit of a late catch up

We had a week off off earlier in July and I must admit I was a bit lazy and never reported on my days fishing, for which I got chastised by a Mr John merchant, so here's a short round-up of the three days I went.
On Tuesday I was fishing a small invitation team match on Campbell organised by Clint wojtyla and his future networks company, a few of them stayed down in street the night before and it seemed to be quite an eventful evening , especially when going now McMahon decided to take on Anton page in a cider drinking competition, only one winner there, and they were asked to leave Wetherspoons after Joe installed a new floor covering 😷😂.
Into the match and basically it was two teams of seven on alternate pegs around the lake, I ended up on peg 118, a bit to far up possibly, especially with some good anglers on better pegs possibly, Paul elmes on 112 , Anton 129, mat(2pellet)tomes on 110 and Clint himself on 135, but it turned out ok as I managed to win with over 168lb catching mainly shallow at 13mtrs (that was today's limit) and my team won asell, worked out on an average as one team had 8 in, although it wasn't mine, 99 to 93lb, happy days, a really nice day with plenty of banter.

Onto Wednesday and Judith me and James went to beer in the self drives, it was harder than normal with no mackerel about so we thought it may be hard, but we had a bit of a mix , smoothounds , bream, plaice wrasse small thornback and the normal doggies, with Judith again showing both names and myself how to do it.

Thursday over 55,s at huntstrete and a draw was needed nowhere past the second island, into the tin and peg 30 comes out, I've had it before and done ok , but the fish have all moved with the wind towards the car park end, it's an island swim but at 18mtrs with a side wind it was always going to be a big ask.

It turned out to be a real struggle, and I ended up with 30 off pound, which I was quite happy with as there were several dnw,s at this end of the lake, Mike nicholls won off peg 18 which was good to see as it's a peg with plenty of potential so well done matey, and with over 90lb it was a good weight on the day, nothing for me , mugged by the pensioners LOL.

Now into Sunday at Landsend, lots of things on this weekend, so only managed to attract a dozen, but with several of the Landsend regulars a good draw was needed, with strong westerly blowing I fancied pegs 11/13 or 15, well I got 11, for company I had tony thick opposite on 13 and russ(gregory)peck to my left on form peg 8, rodders wootten on peg 17 , Tom thick on 5 and Stu Barnett on 21, but that end of the lake was going to be wind affected as the day progressed, 

I got to peg and there were a few fish cruising about, so a mugger was assembled, a rig for against the island in the really shallow water (6inches). A meat rig, never used and a margin one. 

At the start I began feeding the island with 6,s , some Tom thick edge mix to my left, but the margin wasn't to my liking as there was no flat spot, just a slope going down quite quickly down to full depth, then began on the mugger, I had one straight away, and I stuck with this for the first 2 1/2 hours picking off odd fish, I probably have it to much time as although I was covering plenty of fish they were not really on it, and with plenty of fish over by the island I should have gone over earlier, I did see one fish in the margin, an 8lb common, which I caught but that was my only fish in there.

I caught in and off in spells across right up to the end of the match, but it turned into a peg to peg battle with russ, so by the end it was a close call as to who had done who.

Russ weighed first and had 157lb, and as he was admitting to 156lb that was well guessed, I had 165lb clicked and ended with 168lb which was good enough to win ,with russ second and rodders third off 17 with 130lb, nice average size of fish in this lake, the four fish in the picture went 25lb, and in the main are in good nick.

Not saying it was very shallow where I caught but I have had a duck stood up where I have caught fish today, at times I have had fish impersonating a flounder coming into the peg on there side to get some pellets.

As I thought the other end of the lake was extremely hard due to the strong wind, with better conditions I think there would have been a lot of fish caught today, the wind was so strong a couple of anglers had nets blown in while waiting for the scales, Steve seager was one of those, he got his net out ok with two fish in it, he was asking after  who had put one in there. Weigh sheets below as normal.

Off to Chilton trinity next Sunday for a short pole match, looking forward to that, but before that it's back to huntstrete with the olduns on Thursday LOL.

Barston fundraiser

I had to change my day off this week , which was ok as I could now fish the fundraiser at barston, so I picked Chris fox up at 6, and we found ourselves pulling into the premier inn car park just before 8 for breakfast, an eat what you like affair, and it was nice , 4.75.
Got to the good club in plenty of time for the draw, and it was.good to see anglers from all over the place supporting this cause , as the ladies are self funding, and it's not cheap fishing these international events.
We got into what we thought was the draw queue earlyish, only for Julie Abbott to have the draw somewhere else, so now we were towards the back, 😂.
watching the pegs coming out I was happy to see to section on the 50,a still in the bucket when we got to the , so I pull out 109 and Chris in the 20,s, I had a quick chat with Mark poppleton and Mark wynne who both confirmed I had very little chance of winning, it's shallower on that bank, so they suggested a day skimmer fishing with the chance of picking up a few of the big f1,s aswell, I had a couple of locals around me one of which was one away from where he drew at the weekend and the section was won with 30lb, my peg looked good with an island at 100mtrs plus , I don't want to it have the equipment to cast that far, I left the beach gear at home.

So with skimmers in mind I set up a .25g fibre stemmed float with an 18 b960 for banded 6mm hard pellet over loose fed 4,s, most people fish corn for skimmers here but I decided to go down the pellet approach.
I set up a shallow rig aswell , and two waggler rods one for depth and a pellet wag, to fish at 25 mtrs, on the all in I cupped in some 4,s at 14 mtrs and some at 6mtrs as it was the same depth, also started feeding 8,s on the wag line,
Beginning on the pole line I soon had a a few skimmers lining up, it was shallow , only 3 foot deep, enjoyable fishing. After a while the side wind increased pushing the rig through to quickly, so I  decided to change to a wire stem 4x14 , so I through the wag out while changing rigs, chucked past my feed, tried to sink my line and couldn't move the float , mainly due to the fact there was a 10lb common attached to the end which had taken the pellet as soon as the rig hit the water, so after landing that I decided to give it a bit longer, but that was my only bite on it, so I was soon back in the pole, and the wire stem float was much better, I caught skimmers on and off right to the end, along with 2 big f1,s and a 4lb ghostie, the only other anglers I thought we're catching was Jason dunworth to my left and Connor Beresford next to him again, listening to them during the match I thought they had both beaten me, I weighed in before then and thought my 4 carp would go about 18lb and I hoped for 50lb of skimmers, I wasn't to far out as the carp weighed 20lb and the skimmers went 55.8, for a total 75.8, Jason had 64.8 and I just edged out Connor who had 74.8. So a section win which would have to do, as most of the carp had moved down into the 50,s with Pete Bailey having a massive weight on the day with 240lb+, and that section gave up the top three weights on the day, I was fourth on the day but all the money was paid out in the sections.

Well done to Julie for organising these matches I think she managed to raise over £1500 over the two days as there was a match at the glebe the day before, so well done to all who took part and contributed, I bought some raffle tickets but as is normal a few won most of the prizes, I did get one of my numbers called right at the end and won a run of frenzied hemp with snails in it, probably the same as winning the Christmas pudding at an Xmas match raffle lol.
So no fishing now till Sunday  I'm running a match at Landsend fishery, still got spaces so get in touch of you fancy it, also with temps to possibly hitting 39c on Thursday I'm glad I changed this week.

Float only league penultimate round

Shiplate farm for this round, always a pleasure to fish this venue as it's well tended with a lot of quality fish, Steve and Carol have a  gem of a fishery on there hands for sure.
Judith came along for the first time in a while, so we dropped off at lillypool for breakfast and it was nice, 4.5, Judith eggs.were.a bit hard lol.
Got to the fishery and it wasn't to long before everyone was there, so we got the draw underway on time, Dave Lewis was early in the queue and offered to draw for me, he can draw mind, he pulls out peg 15 on West pool for me (flyer), then he only goes and pulls out peg one on the main lake, possibly the best peg in somerset, 😁
Wandered.around to my peg , Judith was lagging a bit, lots of.pain in her side, and she got worse during the day, but she managed to see the day out, and after the match we ended up in the walk in centre , and it transpires she only.gone and gone down with shingles, hope I don't get it as it all looks very unpleasant, and with my low pain threshold I wouldn't be a good patient.
My peg looked good as it's an end peg, and the wind was blowing into the end bank, so all was.good, in fact I drew.The same.peg last year in the same match, and won the section and was too weight on the lake with over 100lb, so I was happy.

I set up pellet rigs, a shallow one for over against the mud, and one for on the deck over there aswell, a shallow mugger rig, one for into empty peg 14 and a meat rig for topset and one to my left down the slope, Paul faiers was to my right on 13, and Mark wynne was next up again, he was.standing in for trig.
At the start I fed all lines but began on the depth rig across to the far side.

I didn't take.to long to get my first carp, although not the biggest it was a start.

After.that I never had another carp on the deck on pellet across, the only way.to catch was feed.The far bank in a couple of spots and drop the 6 inch deep.rig against the far bank, I was catching but the average.size.was small. The only other person who was catching was Mark , two swim up, he was catching shallow on maggot, and it was never to much between us for most of the match. I did get a couple of better fish on the short meat line, and a couple down the edge, and that probably swung it for me over mark, as his fish deserted him a bit, the lake as a whole fished the hardest, most people were getting fish in there pegs but they were being extremely cagey, by the end I thought I had edged over mark with the help of those few late fish, and that's how it went as I had 83lb to Mark's 71, so I had the much needed section win to keep me in the hunt.
Overall on the day mr.consistent Vince shipp won of peg 1 on Hawthorn with 196lb, and top silvers went to Chris Davis on peg 5 on the main lake with 72lb of skimmers on corn, feeding 5 tins.
today was the k/o final, Neil Mercer won that so got 125 quid, followed by Joe mcmahon who got 75 then me who picked up a handy nifty, the weigh sheets are listed below, and to be honest the lakes fished well, as always there were some difficult areas, and West pool was uncharacteristically hard, but that fishing.

Shiplate Thursday costcutter

Back to Shiplate farm today, but not after a stop off at breakfast at timothy,s , a roadside breakfast wagon, very nice to, met up with a couple of mardons ac anglers in the shape of John Roberts and Mike hills dad, Fairplay to John he is doing really well eating with his charity shop dentures.
Got to the fishery and 18 fishing so all good then, looks paid and got into the draw bucket early and was more than happy to see peg 1 looking back at me , possibly the best peg in Somerset after peg 10, (Mike hill). I soon had my kit at the peg as it's the shortest walk at the fishery, it's a lovely peg with an island to cast out to but it never seems to live up to its potential on that front.

But it does have a lovely right hand margin which normally comes good towards the end of the match, although it can be a bit torrid as the lake goes around into a bag at about 7mtrs, which most of the fish try and escape into after hooking, so the drennan margin pole would be coming out of the bag today.

Tackleing up there were plenty of fish on the surface, but moving to quickly, not mugging material at all, I set up two rigs for on the deck at 14 mtrs, one straight out and the other to my right in the entrance to the bay, suicide fishing. A shallow rig for both lines, a margin rig on the margin pole at topset and two, and lastly a pellet wag for the island.
On the all in I cupped in some pellets on the long pole lines, fed the island and started.sprinkling a.few.4,s down the edge.
I started.straight out on the long line and lost a.fouler first drop, and by the end of the first hour I was in three carp, all a bit small as I had 12lb on the clicker, I stayed in the deck for a while longer but all I could get was liners, so it was shallow fishing then, I had to keep swapping between the two long lines as the fish kept drifting away if you spent to much time on one line. The pellet wag was not really out into action, especially when the first cast ended up wrapped around one of those poxy brambles which seem to be adorning most fisheries at the moment, I did set it up again but never had a bite, so no more to be said about that.
I was getting odd fish from both long lines, and as far as I could see was ok , all the fish to the right did there best to get into the bay, but it for to say my now aging tourney pro stood the rest admirably, I've had it seriously bent, I couldn't see to many of the new poker stiff poles standing the sort of treatment I gave it today.
Towards the end some fish arrived in the margin and I fished the remainder of the match in the edge, I thought I had at least 120lb by the end , with the only.other person to have caught a few was venue expert gary(ned)flinders up on peg 6, but I was fairly confident he never had as much as me, I was last to weigh and my fish went just over 131lb, so I did the best peg in Somerset a bit of justice.

Top silvers weight was taken by Merc over on peg 14b with 24 1/2 of skimmers, weigh sheet below.

Float only league rnd 4

Sedges for this match, a well kept lovely fishery on the outskirts of bridgwater, but not before a stop in lillypool cafe for breakfast, and very nice to 4.6.
Had a quick walk round with Phil Hardwick as he had never been here before, and plenty of fish were mooching about on the surface, so with another nice day forecast it may be a shallow day.
We.soon had the 40 anglers in attendance so I got the draw underway, most of the banter was aimed at niel Mercer who has drawn really well in the league so far so most people were telling him that peg 40 would have his name on it, possibly the most consistent peg on the venue, and lo and behold he only goes and draws it, you couldn't right it, and as he had already won the two previous matches it looked more than probable he was on for a hat trick, Ricky Mills drew.for me and handed me peg 37 on tile, not to disappointed, it with Niel on 40 the best I could hope for was second in section, unless something nasty happened to him in the first hour. Either side of me was John white to my right , and Chris fox to my.left who was mainly going to target the silvers, for me it was all out carp fishing, I set up a pellet wag to fish out towards the island, a margin rig for pellet , a short rig for meat, and a deep and shallow rig again for pellet at 14 mtrs.
At.The start I began on the pellet wag, but with the wind blowing in and from the right it soon became apparent this was going to be a non starter, so I binned that, next I went out beep on the pellet and started fouling, so a quick change to the  shallow rig bought no response, so back on the deck rig, and an hour and ten minutes in I had my first carp, then a couple of foulers fish again had me reaching for the shallow rig, this time I started catching a few also managed.to mug a couple , the remainder of the match was spent on the 14  mtr line, the last.couple of hours went iffy shallow, so I went back out deep, foulers again, I had been feeding quite heavily, and I had lots of fizzing, so I just spread three number 10,s down the line, instead of a bulk and a dropper which in 8 foot of water didnt.look right,  but it seemed to do the trick as I only fouled one more  in that period, and I had a good run in towards the end, not on the drop as I expected but hard on the deck, it was obvious by the end that niel had not made any mistakes and was admitting to 250lb, and my clicker was telling me I had about 184lb, so I like to think I over estimate the size of the fish to be safe, even though they have a 100lb net limit and was claiming 160lb ish, I had a really good day on the estimating as I actually had exactly 184lb,

 I cant see that happening again in a hurry, as expected niel won with 258lb, so well done to him, a hatrick of wins can't be bad,  he definitely has a touch of the Picasso's about him at the moment, but you still got to catch them, which he can do.

 Top silvers weight was taken by Chris fox to my left with a nice net of meat caught skimmers at 6 mtrs mainly , with it going 44.2,

As a whole it didn't fish to bad with tile lake fishing better than brick, luckily for me Gary o,Shea drew on brick , and I had him in the k/o , he was top weight on that lake with 106lb, the weigh sheet are below as normal.

Over 55,s

Back to huntstrete on bridge pool again, as I've said before I love the short drive to the fishery from my house, the usual egg and bacon butty from the local greasy spoon, and arrived at the fishery in plenty of time for the 8.45 draw. Ken Morgan was doing the draw again today , got into the draw bag early and pulled out 14, a good skimmer aswell as a carp peg, there is an island but it's a 18mtr reach, and today it was going to be got and sunny with no wind, so I really discounted the silvers and decided on a hard day fishing to the island.

To my left was a couple of old boys in the shape of Jeff Grant on 15 and Mike nicholls on 16 who it appears dropped had dropped his lucky hook into the platform and was feverishly working with an old fridge magnet to get it back.

On my left was two even older boys, Paul Haines on 11 and Ray (red) bazeley on 10, both having a reputation as being Methodists.

I set up two rigs only, one for about a mtr off the island and the other as close as I dare due to the vegetation growing off the island, both sensas ccx power,

 I can't break one to be honest, also the deeper one would do to fish down to empty pellet 13,
I didn't do to much today as there were plenty of fish against the island, lots of f1,s which are hard to catch on pellet , especially at 18mtrs, also I lost a lot under the island brambles, I don't understand why some fisheries don't do more to eradicate nuisance plants, they not only make you lose fish, but I have also seen fish tied to these things on lost rigs.
Moan Over I had more.than enough fish on to win today but losses were at a max, Paul Haines to my right was dropping his method close to the island,(occasionally LOL) and was.catching f1,s and small carp, but was also losing fish to the bramlbes, Christ it was not , no wind day in the sun and fishing really long, it certainly is a drain on the body, but I stick it out as I couldn't really see anyone catching apart from paul, and he had odd good spells of catching small carp, so by the end I was confident he had beaten me by at least 10lb, especially as I had 36lb on the clicker, so I was shocked when the scales.read 52lb, I must have missed a few ,oops.
Palmas next to weigh and had 54lb, so it was closer than I thought, third went to John fry on peg 4 with 43lb, too silvers.weight went again to Paul barnfield on peg 19 who moaned on 28lb of skimmers, weigh sheets below.

Stone pier challenge, Thursday 27/6/19

This was the last day of out week away in West bay, so we dropped round to Weymouth to fish on the stone pier, we did go to chesil on Wednesday but all we had in two different spots, but all we managed were a set of lost feathers and a spider card all tied up in someone's lost braid rig, which we cut all all the braid away and gave it it's freedom, even though we were getting lots of spider action, ripped off baits and snipped hooks, but at least the weather was good.

Back to the pier , and we normally fish on the outside as there are lots of rocks and weed which hold loads of small fish with the occasional bonus, but the outside was far to rough as there was a very strong easterly battering the pier.

So we had to fish on the inside as it was a lot more favourable for the 1 to 7g dropshot rods.

As expected we started getting bites straight away from small pout with occasional small wrasse, I did get a new species for me as a small scorpion fish found my small piece of rag to his liking.

So plenty of bites but no really quality, Judith did get a schoolie towards the end on a whole rag cast further out and bounced back along the bottom,

 we didn't do numbers this week it was more about different species everyday, which luckily for me we tied every day, although Judith did have the biggest fish each day, dam you pheromones, and I'm still behind on the species list , with Judith having 20 different species to my 18, but I am slowly clawing my way back, LOL.