Got to take the good with the bad

Firstly it was a match at huntstrete on Thursday with the coffin dodgers, dave gillard did the social distancing draw, and he pulled out peg 14 for me , no moaning, good silvers peg aswell as an island to fish to, even if it was 17.5mtrs away, i had match organiser Dave Gillard to my left and cliff smith on my right. So one silvers rig to fish worm or maggot over groundbait at 5 and 11 mtrs, a depth rig for 16 mtrs for pellet which would also do for down to empty peg 13, and a swinging rig for the island as i couodnt be arsed to wrestle with that much with the high bank behind me, at the start I cupped in one ball of groundbait 5mtrs, and 2 balls at 11 mtrs. The short line was barren apart from micro perch, the 11 mtr line was more productive, with a few skimmers and one big bream, which once weighed over 6lb, but was now less than 5, the silvers stopped feeding for everyone it seemed, so over to the island it was then, i had a couple.of f1,s and a small carp , then jt was odd liners, a look down to peg 13 pallet gave me.one carp of about 8lb, and apart from a liner a bit later i never had any more action down there, the swinging rig to the island gave me afew.more.small carp and f1,s, also a bonus 10lb common, dead handy, at the end i new i had over 40lb, and when the scales arrived i had just short of 14lb of silvers and 32lb of carp, which was enough to win overall and the silvers, it fished really hard probably due to the drop in temperature, weigh sheets below as normal.

That was the good, now onto the bad, Summerhayes for the next round of mat Culpin,s snake lake series, mat did the draw and pulled out 23 on longs for me, what ive seen of the lake in the past it was definitely a bad peg, which brian slipper on 22 confirmed, i cant write to much as nothing really happened, i had one carp and 4 skimmers, which weighed a little over 5lb, i did manage to beat two, brian slipper had 2lb, and dan squire had a head melt.down and threw his fish back and went home, myself and brian just couldnt get a bite, and unfortunately due to the position of the peg i had a grandstand view up the lake, watching people catch all day, i think the bait i fed is probably still on the bottom i dont often feel as.though there was nothing i could do , i needed anothe 30lb to get another point, but it was never going to happen, i had the carp about 90minutes in, and i shouod have gone to sleep in the van, i would have had the same points without wasting any more bait, but thats fishing, rough and smooth as they say, weigh sheets below.

Monday acorn

Ive started running an occasional match on paddocks lake , and today i ended up with 18 fishing which is better than last time, next time i may have a few more as several people were away this week, mainly a jolly boys week away at viaduct. I used pegs 6 to 34, so most would have at least an empty peg to one side, i did a social distancing draw for everyone, except for myself, and shane turner duly obliged and pulled out peg 6 for me, by the bridge in the corner of the lake, i did fancy it especially as lots of tench seem to like it under the bridges, i had mike wilson to my left on peg 7, he had already asked me for a quid side bet earlier in the week.

So rigs today, a margin for each side which would also do for the left of the bridge amongst the grass, a shallow rig for out by the bridge and aone for the deck out by the bridge, and a.rig for maggot at topset and two. To be fair i dont mind drawing bridge pegs here, but with 5 pleasure anglers on the island i was expecting a certain amount of traffic , im not convinced the fish are unduly worried about people crossing, i probably upsets the anglers more, and today it probably did get to me more than it shoukd of, one in particular crossed the bridge ten times, so thats 20 times as its across and back, mostly for no apparent reason most of the time.😂.any way ive stuggled to keep any lines going, and with mike to my left catching better than me i new the quid was well in jeopardy, i onky had one fish from the margins, although it was nearly 10lb, i had some shallow by the bridge, even with the bridge walkers looking at my float as.they crossed 😣😯😂.also a.few.from the weeds and late on in the match the maggot line started.to give me some tench, skimmers and odd carp. But with mike still catchimg down his edge on maggot i new it was a lost cause for the pound, i weighed first and had 69lb, mike was.next with 84lb,i was a bit closer than i thought i was, so the pound was his.

Luckily I had covered myself.with that nugget as venue expert darren north had messaged.me after hearing that i was up for a side bet, but his 44lb seemed like a waste of a peg,😂L. top weight on the day was taken by mark lodge with his first ever attempt at matxh fishing with 120lb, well done matey, he was on peg 15 and caught well in eaxh margin, he would have had a bit more but went over in both his nets, he's off clicker shopping this week lol.

Although he went over it was only in the 60,s so he got knocked baxk to 60lb in each net, unlike Aaron britnell who went well over 70lb in his net, losing the net altogether, which was good news for me as i snuck in fourth, last in the money, top silvers weight was taken by john dursley on peg 21 with 25lb of mainly tench on worm and caster, next match im running here is on 12 October, so get in touch to book in.

Landsend mini festival

Baxk to Landsend fishery again for there three dayer, a nice few days fishing in some good company, and russ peck, (all will become apparent), gary Anderson and rachel seem to be enjoying it, and i know they have a few.plans for the fishery which sound very good, so heres to a bright future for the fishery. Judith and me spent the weekend in a nice little self catering converted barn, just on the outskirts of wedmore, so a five minute drive to the fishery in the mornings, plus its always nice to have a few days away with wifey. 31 fishing over the three days, so a nice number. Mike and ade did the social distancing draw, and i wasnt to disappointed to see mike pull me out peg 9, shallow narrow, with a shallow island shelf to fish on, and some deeds.to fish against aswell, and a nice margin to my right. Ive had a nice day, started.short on the meat for one bite and a skimmer, that was.the only bite i had on meat, nothing at all in the margin, all my fish came from across on the isalnd shelf in 8 inches of water, or slightly to my right in front of the reeds in 2 foot of water, all on pellet, i ended up.winning the lake with 110lb, weigh sheets below.

Day two and lake three , again mike did the draw and pulled me out 51, again a nice peg with some nice features, i set up a rig for against the island where it was the same.depth as down the middle, a short meat rig, a margin rig for the left hand side, a short meat rig, another against the island to the left where a bank collapsed a few years.ago leacing a nice 12 inch shelf to fish on, and as i had plenty of room to my left i set up a waggler to fish meat up through the middle. I began short on meat again, but it was no good, not even a tremble, so ver to the island for one fouler, duly landed of course.with fish showing drown the margin i decided to have a go, it was a bit earlier than i like for going down the edge, but waving tails are hard to ignore.

I haf a couple but they were really sketchy, backing off really quickly, so i came.off that and had a chuck on the wag, bugger me i had one first chuck, but apart from a couple of liners that was my only one, over to the collapsed bank and i had a few, but the last couple of hours i spent down the edge, it was difficult as the water was quite clear, and i think these fish could see or sense something wasnt quite right, the best way to get a bite was to fish over depth and pull the rig in against the bank so hopefully the fish woulnt touch the line, i ended up with 128lb to win the lake for the second day, so me and bob gullick were on two lake wins going into day three, weigh sheets below for day two.

Into day three and i really need to be on 31/32/33 or 34, Mike did me well by pulling me out peg 33, russ peck on 34

, craig challingsworth on 32 and stu barnett on 31, three of us carp fishing ad stu going after silvers to cut a long story it has been a real struggle, it was a nip and tuck affair between myself and russ, it went right down to the last couoke of minutes, russ landing a carp a coupke of minutes before the end and me losing one in the end bank roots system, i also lost one of the big commons which go about 18lb about an hour from the end, after playing it carefully, had it to the net twice , but the hook pulled as i got it to the net at the third atempt, i must admit that i haf a bit of the chris davis Tourette s moment and called it a very rude name a couple of times as i new then it would probably be costly, and it was as russ beat me by just iver 3lb, which meant as bob gullick won his section from peg 13 , so russ,s late carp and my.two losses i ended up second on the lake and second overall, still not complaining, well done bob , and thanks a bunch russ, LOL 😂. Weigh sheets below , and as soon as i can get a copy of the overalls i will put it on .

Well done to everyone at the fishery for a nice smoothly run affair, even gary has found his true vocation, he has been taught how to work a toaster and he did a good job on that, rachael,s breakfast was a 4.8 and the food that was laid on after was top notch, and lastly well done to all who attended, a nice bunch of people, even russ peck had his moments. And a spexial thanks to judith who has had to put up with me over the weekend, especially my occasional bad language, X

Mut calpin,s canal snake lake league, rnd 1

Landsend fishery was.the venue for this match, all three lakes being used, luckily lillypool cafe opened up a bit early for us ,a nice breakfast 4.85, hot qiuck tasty and served with a smile, got to the fishery and paid my pools, 36 booked in , one no show so only 35 fishing, mut and gary got the social distancing draw underway, and when my name was called ,peg 13 was called oit as my home for the day,it had won the match the day before. And it has had some good form lately, the peg not drawn today was on my right , dead handy , and alvin jones and debbie were next along on 16, and opposite I had allan oram on 11, other than that I couldn't see anyone else.

The peg has lots of options, a left hand end bank to fish along, ut there is a large lump of foliage which stops you being able to fish along there properly, an island which is 17mtrs away, but has a nice shallow shelf which these fish like when the weather is warm.

And lastly a nice right hand margin towards empty peg 14, russ caught a few short in the margin the day before, so i would try that but also had a mind to go a bit further down if they never showed there.

So rigs made.for all those areas, plus a mugging rig, just in case , and a meat rig for topset and two. I started.on the meat line, gave it 45 minutes, but nothing to show for my efforts, so swung a rig into the right hand margin and had a small carp, but that was my only fish from that line, there were plenty of fish along that end bank but due to the bushy tree it was impossible to get at them, i did try feeding my side of the tree, but never saw any life at all, across to the island , and another small carp was netted, so nearly two hours in and i had two carp for 5lb. So at thjs stage.i was probably last in the section, but i kept feeding all lines and more fish began to appear against the island, so i started to put a few fish together, the short margin line never produced, ut u did get some down towards the pallet on 14, to say it got torrid is an understatement, i was catching some but losing more as they were making a bolt for freedom inder the pallet and around the legs, iv always known it but this just confirmed it , carp are a dam sight quicker than me😂😂😂😂. giing into the last hour and i felt i was now well back in contention for the section, judging by the bankside banter i coud hear, now the meat line started bubbling a bit so the last hour was spent on that , and i did get some better carp, so by the end i thkught i had 95lb, till i moved my nets the i knew i had over 100lb, in fact i ended up with 115.8, which won the lake and was good enough for second in the match, which was won by dave romain up on 58 lake three with 130lb, sona good start.to the league, its Summerhayes in a fortnight, should be ok, off to Landsend fishery this weekend for the three dayer, judiths coming with me and we are staying in.wedmore, will be nice the accommodation looks good. weigh sheets below.

Over 55,s , huntstrete bridge pool

22 in attendance today so not to bad, had breakfast with judith this mkrning as she had a late.start, very nice to,4.5. I cooked it. 15 minutes drive to the lale today as woollard hill was closed so a detoir through compton dando Dave Gillard did the social.distancing draw , and i ended up on peg 11, a definite peg of choice, can be good for both silvers and carp, although it hasnt framed much recently in iether. so i set up a silvers rig to try and catch silvers at the bottom of the shelf on a topset and two distance, and three rigs to fish pellet towards the island, one about a mtr off in three foot of water, another to fish tight to the island, which is 17 mtrs away, and shallow rig , i never used the tight up to the isalnd rig as although it plumbed up nicely , due to the roots and brambles it was impossible to get the rig in tight.

At the start i cupped in a couple of balls of caster infused groundbait on the short line, and began firing some 6mm hard pellet over to the island, also down to empty peg 12, as i could use the same.rig as the 3 foot island one, i started off quite well , a few decent skimmers in the first hour,but i just stopped getting any bites, even though it was fizzing a bit. So i spent the rest of the match on the long pole towards the island, it did look nice but the brambles looked to be calling me.

I started out using the depth rig, but after a couple of foulers, i was reaching for the shallow rig, which i spent most of the remainder of the match on, normally you woukd get lkts of f1,s on these island pegs, but not today, for some reason they were having an off day. I did get three f1,s, but most bites resulted in a proper carp, anything from 2lb to double figures, and judging by the bankside banter no one was getting a lot, at the end i thought i had well ive 80lb, which was going to be more than enough to win as far as i could tell, when kev winstone finally arrived with the scales my nets went just over 106lb, with paul barnfield on 24 coming second with just short of 40lb, and kev winstone won the silvers with 24lb, and he had a quid off of me as we had a bet on silvers only, i did try and get away with it as he forgot his nets , so i lent him a couple, ut he refused to pay me pound hire charge 😂. Weigh sheets below as normal (hopefully)

Acorn knockup,

With it being hard to find a match on mondays, i decided to try and run one at acorn, only 13 fishing so i pegged 12 round to 33, fairly even pegs to be honest, i got john andres to draw mine and he handed peg 21, on the bridge where the tench have been i residence, pellet against the bridge seems to be the way to go, so a rig for that, a maggot rig for topset and two, a margin rig for down the right,and a pellet rig for across on the mud.

Anton page was the other side of the bridge, i didnt think it would do either of us any favours with and angler both sides going at it. On the all in started.agaimst the dridge with banded pellet, i had a tench fairly quickly, but it went hard after that, and when i lost a good fouled carp, which made a mess of mine and antons bridge swims, that was the lot for me against the bridge, the maggot line was dlowing so i tried there and had several more tench, that slowed so i went across to the mudline, had a few carp but they wouldnt stay , the margin produced a few better fish, so by switching between all the lines i had on the go i kept odd fish going into the net, at the end i thought i had about 95lb including the tench, i ended up with 101lb which included 30lb of tench, i ended up being fifth on the day but won the silvers, top weight went to lee masey with over 140lb, well done.

quite a consistent match really, im running another match here in two weeks time so message me to book in,

Ned flanders rip off, shiplate farm

Hadn't been here for a month so was looking forward to today, its a nice venue where you csn fish for carp or silvers on most pegs, and it wa sold out again with 19 fishing, and in charge again was gary flinders, the venue professional 😁.not to fussed as to where i drew but was more than happy to see peg 2 staring back at me from the swim card, a swim behind the first island, only 14 mtrs to the island so nice and easy,

biggest problem is that the island is well undercut, so foulers are always a problem, but luckily there is a collapsed piece of bank slightly to the left, so that would be my area of choice, plumbing up i found about 10 to 12 inches of water, just about right.

I set up a pellet rig for across there on a .1g rig with the ever trusty 16 b960 on .16 with a .22 mainline, i also set up meat rig for topset and two, and a margin rig for down the right as it was a nice muddy bottom and not rocks. On peg one was tony thick(toms !ong suffering dad). And on my left was kev winstone, before the start i wandered down to give kev a few words of encouragement, as he has been having a bit torrid of late, i noticed he had invested in some spotted fin pellets, he did admit the only reason he boight them was the free t shirt they were giving away with orders of a certain size, shame the t shirt was to small, only a xxl, big kev seems to be in denial.after a bit of banter i wandered back to my peg and got ready, at the start i began on the short meat line, while feeding pellet to the island, and also cupped in some feed down the edge, onl only topset and one. the meat line was slow, i had two nice skimmers and apart from a missed bite that was lot from that line approaching the hour mark i could see fish on the island swim, so the meat line was ditched , i was by this time behind tony as he had been catching carp from the start , so as far as i could see he was going to win, i started to catxh quite well across but was always struggling to catch up with tony, i did have a few.down the edge aswell in the last hour, but never enough to claw back the lead tony had built up, on the all out i new i had a few pounds over 200, but felt tony had closer to 300, i wasnt to far out as tony had over 270, i had 211 which was second , thurd place went to john andres the other side of kevin with 180, silvers.went to lee williams over on the far side with 30+lb, so well done all, weigh sheet below,well it would be if i could find where my tablet has hidden it, also i still have a couple of spaces for Monday at acorn, so get in touch if you fancy it.

ha ha , found it

Gary wall memorial match , landsend fishery

Ended up with 20 fishing so we were allowed to put it over two and three. I waited to draw right till the end, only me and rod wootten left to go, i went first and opened up peg 22, not had much form lately, but i sort of fancied it for a few, rod ended up with the peg i wanted in the shape of 11, oh well. But my peg did look nice.

For company i had mike duckett to my left on 20 and Aaron britnell on my right on 24, as im a bit late doing this blog i will keep it short, i had a few fish in the first 90minutes on meat, while i was priming the island with 6 mm pellets, i was also cupping some groundbait down each side margin, when i did go over to the island it wa sok, i was getting a.few, but not enough to worry nick duckett up on 13, who seemed to be doing really well swinging a shallow rig around his peg, mike to my left stuck mainly with his short meat line for most of the match, and to be fair he was doing ok, and as we had a quid on it ,it was hard to call at the end, aaron to my right came up after the match and handed his quid over, and i took it, the margins showed a few fish towards the end, and i did get a couple, but i lost a good fish under my.pallet which cost me, i thought i had 110lb and mike to my left admitted to 94lb, as expected nick won on 13 with over 170lb, alex russell on 5 had 116lb and i was third with 114lb with mike coming forth with 100lb, weigh sheets below. Well i would if i could find where ive stored them LOL 😂😂😂

Ha ha , found them, any one interested i am runnimg a match on acorn on monday, 9am draw.£20 pools, message or whatever to book in.