Plantation lake silvers match

Back to this lovely silver fish lake this Thursday again, a stop in the bridge in yatton for breakfast, again very nice so 4.65, then down to the lake to sort pegs, only 16 fishing today so we all had a bit of room, last match is in a fortnight and I will have a couple of spaces so message me or ring me in premier angling in keynsham to book a space.
I got the draw sorted and had the last one in the hat and ended up on permanent peg 5, a good area and peg so no complaints,

Still a bit of a mudbath, but where isnt, for company I had Paul faiers on my right, (£1 bet struck with him, and he suggested it ), and Chris ollis on my left. Keeping it simple today, 5 and 11 mtrs, a double bulk 4x14 rig and 4x12 spread shot rig, at the start I cupped in one ball of groundbait at 5 mtrs, and three at 11 mtrs, all with a fair few casters in, starting short I soon had a nice hybrid in the net, followed by a few roach, but the swim bird fairly quickly there, so I kept feeding caster there but went into the long line, it took a while to start catching, Paul to my right was catching some better skimmers, as was Dave wride to his right, I was getting some skimmers, but 6 to 12 oz in the main,  but plenty of bites with roach also, going into the second half of the match I was behind the two anglers to my right,  it as there swims died mine got a bit stronger, with a couple of better skimmers and some nice roach, I regularly topped up the two lines and began feeding some caster via a catty on the longer line, as well as throwing some into the shorter line, the only angler I could see doing really well was dave.willmott over on 28 , who was doing his normal and feeding a couple of longer lines with caster only, I new I had done ok at the end , but I never a clue as to what I had, but the lake fished really well again, Paul had an ounce under 25lb, so a good day,

Then it was my turn, and I was.surprised when the scales needle went doing to just over 35lb, my steady last couple of hours swung it for me on this side of the lake,

and I stayed in front until we got round to save willmott who had over 38lb, well done matey.

Yet again this prolific lake didn't dissapoint, with several more 20lb plus weights as the weigh sheet below shows, and the sun shine all day, makes a change.

Back to viaduct this weekend for the last of the winter league,s, my turn on Cary hope for a nice carp peg.

Todber teams of five

Rnd three and my turn on homeground, not to far to travel as me and Judith stayed just outside of Gillingham in a lodge from Friday to monday, so only a ten minute drive to the fishery. My turn to draw and I put myself on 77, was told it can be ok but chances are I would be a spectator looking at peg 90 catching all day,

Most people set up a pole but it wasn't used as the gale never abated for the duration of the match, so it was a day in the lead then, maggot had been doing the business recently so I based my attack around that then, (wrong) most people around me started on the bread, and caught on it, me I threw out a feeder with micros and maggot in, (wrong again), I was behind from the start and never really looked to be catching up, so bread it was then, shame I never had any , Callum dicks on my left caught fairly quickly and well , John Moody on 90 again was catching well and more quickly than most, and the anglers on the opposite side of the island were also getting regular fish, oh well.another one to chalk up to experienced, ended up with just over 50lb, last bit one in the section, John won our section with 96lb and Callum dicks and mat skymes were joint second with 92lb, so miles.off the pace to be fair, bad angling and poss poor preparation methinks, can't blame the wind like some did , all my fault, but the wind was bad 😂😅😂😆. Top on the day was Craig edmunds on peg 7 whitepost with 185lb, well done matey, and there were five more weights over 100lb with loads of really good back up weights, it fished really well, and some fished really badly , there's always next week I suppose.

All change tomorrow, start a new career at premier angling down by the marina in keynsham, really looking forward to it, so pop along for a chat , I will be working with Nick and Kieran, nice guys who know how to look after the customers, and no fighting my way through bristols crappy travel problems, only 10 to 15 minutes from home , can't wait.

Fond farewells and last two on the trot

Well for those who don't already know, myself and veals have parted company, it was a difficult decision as my 5 years with them have been really enjoyable, I've walked away leaving some good friends behind, and fortunately the split was amicable with no bad feeling which I appreciated, but when a job cropped up only a ten minute drive from home I felt I had to take it, so as from next Tuesday you will find me at Premier angling down by the marina in Keynsham, only 4 days a week, but that will do me, so pop in for a chat or to stock up on all your fishing requirements, I will be there in Tuesday/Wednesday/Friday and Saturday, with Nick and Kieran aswell there will be loads of good advice on any aspect of the sport you choose to do.
On Wednesday it was the costcutter at Landsend fishery, only 9 turned up, I did the pegs and managed to leave out flyer peg 11 (idiot) so when I drew peg 8 I wasn't to happy, (ha ha my fault), not to much chance of carp here at the mo, but as it's a leap year it may happen,  but it never, I ended up fishing for silvers, and that was difficult, I did get one small carp on meat over by the weedbed but that was the only bite I had there, all the carp seemed to have moved to the close end of the lake, Dale housen on 5 won with 60lb, and Mike duckett on peg one was second with 55, and I won the silvers with 8lb, so money back with a slight profit, it was my last Wednesday costcutter, but Mike is going to carry them on for now, so to book in give him a ring on 07977545882

Thursday and I was off to huntstrete on bridge pool for the silvers match, again into the draw bag and out comes a peg along the road bank, no6, these roadside swims have been in fairness ones to avoid this season, but last year they were very consistent for silvers, I had Chris rolfe to my left on 7, but the next angler to my right was Harry Muir on 3.

The weather today was forecast at best to be shit, and it didn't disappoint as we had gales rain and hail during the match, nice.
With that in mind I only set up one rig, a drennan as7 in a .8g with a guru f1 maggot hook in a size 18, a good hook for skimmers and roach. I plumbed up at topset and two, and at topset and 4 where it was the same depth, also to the right at the same distance(topset and four) where it was 8 inches shallower. I began with one ball on the short line, and two on each of the longer lines. Starting on the short line my first bite was a 12oz skimmer, on double maggot, but after that micro perch became a problem, so for the remainder of the match I fished single caster on all lines, and towards the end of the match the wind dropped enough for me to be able to fish 13 mtrs at the bottom of the island slope, and that have me a couple more skimmers, so even though the weather made it uncomfortable I had a nice day, ending up with 24lb which was too weight on the day for silvers, there is a lesser payment for the best carp weight and that went to kev winstone who drew 19 again and had over 30lb again it be had a few more silvers this time to go with his f1,s.

And as is normal the weigh sheets are below.

Todber manor for me on sunday, so Judith and me are having a few days away down near Gillingham, whistley farm in a nice log cabin with its own small fishing lake on the doorstep, be rude not to for a couple of hours tomorrow.

Viaduct winter league penultimate round

At least the wind wimps didn't get this one cancelled , even though may told me he had several calls during the week as to weather, (play on words not a mistake) the match would be going ahead. It's a winter league with winter weather, suck it up and get on with it, well that will upset a few then LOL 😂.
After the nice breakfast in the cross keys at lydford we went to the fishery, I think everyone must have travelled on there own today as the parking was rammed, Clayton did our draw ,looked ok on paper apart from his own peg, me on 128, Ron on 80, Clayton on 105 Clint 43 and Leon on 7,all reasonable apart from Clayton who was up against it as it's in with lodge lake and unless he had a carp or two he was realistically looking at bottomish on the section,
My peg is on the far side of the spit on the left hand side, so a bit of shelter from the first wind, which although uncomfortable for those with it in there faces wasn't punishable by any means. I stopped off to chat with Adrian Jeffery on 129 and he was having carp top in his margins to his left at the base of the spit, strange. I went to my swim but no movement there, and this winter it seems the pegs past the spit , although my swim is going to get a few the rest seem to be carp devoid areas at the mo.

Four pieces assembled today, two pole rigs, one dobbing rig in the right hand margin against the spit, a meat rig for the end of the spit, a waggler for meat and a lead rod for meat or bread, no silvers rigs as I needed to catch carp as I'm doing ok in the individual stakes, there had been a few carp moving , mainly slightly to my right, so I did try bread on the wag at half depth just in case, but the wind was blowing it through to much to be effective, so I binned that and threw the tip out with bread, the usual moans about casting to far soon started from both banks, well mainly me to be honest but you just need to get on with it. After all its just how it is at this venue, on cary next and if you are lucky enough to draw 96/97 you will probably have as many as 7 leads plopping into the swim, but then again it's probably true to say you are casting to far aswell lol, I had Ian Dunlop opposite me and looking across it always looks as though the person opposite is casting to far, but they probably arent, sorry for the moaning, after all I did try and throw into Nick chedzoy,s swim a  bit later on ,LOL 😂😂. It's just the viaduct way.
Any way Adrian started well down his edge and was soon catching fish against the spit, I tried it but was getting severely nibbled by roach, I had a couple before sharing a small carp of about 4lb, but that was my only carp from there, I haven't got to much to write about as it was hard on this side of the spit as we expected, certainly there a few fish at this end  it only a few, I ended up with six carp, two on the pole, one on meat at the end of the spit, two on the wag and two on the lead, and three skimmers, for a grand total of 50lb 4oz, which have me 12 points out of 17, not a total disater, four beat me to the right of the spit and one on 123 ,and peg on  my bank, Adrian won the day with quite a low weight for this fishery, 85lb, so well done matey.

And the silvers went to Adam Palmer on peg 11 with 25lb, he just loves his silvers fishing.

Weigh sheets below

Plantation lake silvers match

Back to this prolific lake this week again, and looking forward to it as it without a doubt the best silvers lake we have in the area, but a stop in the bridge in yatton for breakfast, nice aswell, 4.7.
Got to the lake and sorted the pegs out and with everyone on time the draw was done, I had the last peg and was rewarded with peg 25, without a doubt it's a peg you would not choose in a silvers match, 24 to my right is even worse, and Chris rolfe was the unlucky angler on that, there was an empty peg to my left them Glen Bailey and next to him was match fishing returnee kev(kerry)winstone.
Three rigs today one for the short line (5mtrs), and a couple for the longer lines, 11mtrs for caster and groundbait and 13mtrs slightly to the left for soft pellet over micros. So on the whistle I cupped in two balls of groundbait on the 11mtr line and some micros at 13mtrs, and started feeding caster on the short line. I began over the groundbait line and expected to catch small roach straight away, but the float just say there, as did chris,s to my right, Glen to my left started well on his longer line with skimmers, and the anglers on the far bank were also doing ok at the start. I think it took me about 45 minutes to get the first fish, but it was a skimmer over the groundbait line, but if a false dawn nothing more for what seemed like an age, I tried the pellet line but nothing there, not even on a single maggot, so I wasn't thinking there were many silvers in these pegs, myself, Chris and Mike nicholls on his right on the point peg were having it hard, but to be fair Mike was getting some good sport but from carp which are definitely not to required species, but it was giving me a bit of a laugh. The first half of the match was really slow, I never had one bite over the micro line, in any bait, so with a couple of hours to go I fed a couple of balls of groundbait at 16mtrs in desperation, and started loosefeeding caster quite heavily on the 11 mtr line, and it did transform the peg I started getting some quality roach and a few decent skimmers aswell, kicking myself really as I should have done it a lot earlier, I also had some roach on the short line, but they didn't really want to settle there for any length of time, as for the 16 mtr line, I did get three 12oz skimmers , but carp were a nuisance, so most of the run in to the end of the match was spent on the 11mtr line fishing caster, I new I hadn't done any good by the end but it had been really enjoyable towards the end and I didn't want it to end ,  it it did and I thought I may have 15 the 16lb, which I was happy with, but I actually ended with 20.10, kicking myself a bit cos I feel as though if I had started loosefeeding an hour earlier I may have got in the money, Mark broomsgrove came out top on the day from peg 5 with 28lb with Paul faiers coming second with 26lb, there were 8 weights over 20lb aplenty if good back up weights as the weigh sheet below shows, back in a fortnight, and with a waiting list already, not surprising to be honest, as it's hard to get consistent sport like this anywhere else at the moment.

Huntstrete silvers match

But late doing this blog, should have been at Todber for the winter league, but enough captains voted to cancel, so that's that then, in over 45 years of match fishing this is only the second match to be cancelled due to the wind, the last one was a winter league on the k and a canal,  it I still managed to get to viaduct that day for the open, I got a speeding ticket in Salford for my troubles,  it had a days fishing , drew 112 ,  it back then the fishery were spread all over the lake , with the other end being more consistent.
Back to Thursday and with 19 fishing it should be ok, into the draw bag and peg 31 comes out, it's an island swim,  it I can't draw it in the summer when the carp and f1,s are really active,  it it can be ok for silvers aswell at any time of year.

I had organiser Dave Gillard to my left and John(cliff) Smith to my right, I set up a .6g drennan as7 , had a plumb around and found three spots of the same depth so I could use the same rig in all, then a drennan as4 for 14 mtrs towards the island in three foot of water to use caster in the hope of some perch and roach.
At the start I cupped in one ball of groundbait at 5mtrs, and two balls on the two 13 mtr lines, 11 & 1 o'clock angles, and cupped some caster.towards.the island, starting in the short line I had a small roach straight away on maggot, so switched to caster on the hook,  it no bites, so back on the maggot for a few more.small roach before a 12oz skimmer out in an appearance, but that was it in the short !one for a while , so out into the 13 mtr lines, and a similar response, a few.small roach and then askimmer, and that was the way the day went, topping up each line with some groundbait and caster  and switching between the three of for the occasional skimmer and small roach, I did get a nice near two pound perch from the short line, John Smith to my right had a few.carp along with some skimmers, but the section looked to be being won by Dave to my left who was getting bites on soft pellet, mainly from sensible skimmers, I just couldn't get enough skimmers, but it ended up closer than I thought it would with me having 14 lb to Dave's 16, John had 10lb of silvers to my right , but he did have 24lb of carp to go with them, as for top weight on the day Mike nicholls on peg 16 made.no mistake weighing in 20lb of skimmers.for.Top on the day, well done.

Weigh sheets below.

Wednesday costcutter, Landsend fishery

Stopped off at lillypool cafe for breakfast on the way, very nice 4.70.
Drive to the fishery to find ten booked in, so lots of room for all. Draw sorted and me and Ron hardiman were last to draw, he had 15 and I had 18, not a peg I would have chosen , any of the pegs at the top end would be preferable ,or the other end towards the carpark, 18 is in the middle of the lake on the left hand side of the gap between the islands, not been good recently as the fish want to be towards the end, I had Rob mills to my right on 19 and the next angler to left was Ron hardiman on 15.

A few rigs assembled, bread dobbing , pellet for into the gap, meat for short and a silvers rig for a few areas around the swim. I can't say to much as to how my day went as very little happened to be honest, started on the bread rig in various parts of the swim, along the island , into the gap and up by empty peg 17, not a sniff of a bite, into the pellet swim and I had a couple of indications before something positive and a carp safely netted, but apart from a small ide that was all I had on pellet, I had fed a couple of balls of groundbait on a couple of lines with caster in, one at 5 mtrs and another at 9mtrs, starting at 5mtrs I had a small roach then fouled a carp which came off, but no more bites, so a look into the longer line, and a 6oz skimmer then a tiny perch, then nothing, I had fed some meat into 4 different lines but never had a bite on any of them, I had to just keep rotating around my silvers lines sneaking small roach , I did manage a 1lb skimmer and an 8oz perch at 14 mtrs,  it was impossible to line any fish up, even the tiny roach were playing hard to get, Ron on 15 ended the match with 8 carp mainly on meat, and Mike duckett on 22 had 7 so they were going to be first or second, and it looked to be between me and Rob for the silvers, Rons extra carp swung it for him with 44lb to Mike's 7 went 38lb, I managed to scrape the silvers with 4 1/4lb , so it was a hard day for all, weigh sheet below. That's the second time in a week Ron has beaten me off the next peg, well nearly the next peg,  I'm having a tough time lately even having to give mat culpin two quids on the bounce.😮

Viaduct winter league rnd 3

After the normal tasty breakfast at the cross keys at lydford, (4.65) it was off to the fishery, my turn to be on spring lake, which had been very hard so far, captain Clint did the draw, and it looked good on paper, Ron on 132, Clayton on 85, Clint on 56, Leon on 47 and me on 3, if the carp are on the munch it can be ok, with a 50 yard chuck to the island,

so I set up my normark 11foot multi tip, threaded the line through, bent the tip as I normally do and snapped the carrier section, chances of finding a spare is remote as it's the original and probably 25+ years old, and not being the owner of to many lead rods I was a bit stuck, luckily Dan white had a spare 10 foot daiwa thingy which he lent me, thanks matey.
A couple of pole rigs, one short for caster and roach the intended species, and possibly a perch, the other a double bulked rig for skimmers over groundbait at 14 mtrs, and I did set up a waggler to fish meat at 25 mtrs, but apart from a wobble on the float I didn't get a bite on it so no more on that.
After feeding the pole lines I threw the tip out to the island, nothing first throw which was short of the island, so out again but a lot closer this time, ten minutes later the tip pulls round and after a short fight a 4lb carp as safely netted, a bit gutted really as there aren't many that small in this lake, another 45minutes and no more indications, so out on the pole, only small fish over the groundbait at 14 mtrs, Mark  broomsgrove on my left was catching lots of small roach on the whip, so I came short over the caster line and began to land a few roach in the two to four ounce bracket, but with a carp in the net I really needed another, so out with the tip and got a bit to close to the island, so pulling hard it came free and the rod crashed into the plants behind me snapping the tip ring off, oh well I will have to replace that, out with the scissors and a quick trim back to the next eye and I was back in action, but no bites so back on the pole for a couple of small skimmers and roach, I pinged out of a roach trying to swing it, rig now tied around the pole , so I threw out the bread again , managed to make the rig again and just as I put the topset down the tip dropped back and another carp was netted , a double figure fish this time, there were now a few carp being caught, but I was still in the hunt as far as the lake was fishing, but I had no more carp on the tip, although the pole now was showing signs of life on the 14 mtr line, a couple of 1lb skimmers with some smaller ones, then in the last 30minutes a couple of 3lb bream, so by the end I had doubles of silvers and two carp, Russ peck had caught a few carp on peg 8 for 47lb then the next was close with two 29lb then me with 28, so not a disaster,
Top on the day was Callum dicks on 119 who dobbed bread to the end bank for 111lb.

Top silver weight was taken by Adam Palmer on peg 25lb with 21lb of mainly skimmers.

All the weigh sheets below as normal, on the team front we had a red letter day with coming third, (it won't last lol).