Thursday costcutter shiplate farm

A nice turn out today , 20 booked in, not to fussed as to where i drew , so when john pulled out peg two for me , i was happy, it can be a good carp peg as the island is easily reached ,

Main lines of attack today would revolve around pellets, so a couple of rigs to fish to the island , one in 12 inches of water slightly to the left, another in front and axross to the right in nearly two foot of water, one for the right hand margin, and a meat rig for 5 mtrs. i had john page to my left and titch williams on my right at the start i cupped in some pellets on all lines then began on the meat line, 40 minutes in and one skimmer, so across to the island for the carp i hoped would be in attendance, hhhmmmm, wrong, two hour's in and and i had only added a 4oz skimmer to the total, oh well, to alleviate the boredom i got off the box, sorted some groundbait and made.a silvers rig up, only a .3g drennan as5 as it is only 3 foot deep down the middle, so i cupped in a couple of ball's of groundbait with some worm and caster in it, then tried the far side again just incase some carp had rocked up, but nope, not a glimmer.so back to the silvers, and i kicked myself.for the rest of the match as there seemed to be a few skimmers about, ranging fro 4 oz to 2lb, i did catch one carp fishing 16 mtrs to the right , not a big one but at 6.5 lb, it was welcome,and pretty.

and needed, as i will explain shortly, i also had a couple of 2lb skimmer,s down the right hand margin, and a tench from the island. I caught well for i whule but feel i overdid the feeding as bites stopped about 45 minutes from the end, again it was a tough one today, with people struggling a bit, top on the day was gary(ned)flinders on peg 5 with 10 carp for 106lb, some shallow and a few.on the deck.

Silvers went to kev winstone on peg 13a(about time) with over 30 of skimmers and an eel, so well done to those two, 24lb was second the silvers(paul faiers) that was well attainable today, as my.fish went 22lb and i only did it for about 2 1\2 hours, bugger. So all i won today was £2 from Alan quantrill, as he had just short of 25lb and my fish went 28.5 lb, so the shiny carp helped with two nice shiny alan coins, luckily i had change of a weston super mare fiver.

And as is normal the weigh sheet is below.

Shiplate,

Baxk to this popular venue on sunday , with the match being fished over the two canals again, Hawthorn and West pool, as is normal at the mo Hawthorn would be the preferred lake for a good days fishing, plenty of fish in west pool but its being difficult at the moment, perhaps lack if angling pressure isnt helping. So when john hawkins pulled out peg 4 for me i was happy, and a bit of banter was assured as i had mot calpin on three, to my right on 6 was lewis walker. Inwas happy with the peg as it was not quite 14 mtrs wide, with a nice clear patxh against the far bank.

a couple of rigs for across, one in about 12 inches of water, and the other just off in about 3foot, a meat rig for 5mtrs, a mugger as i could see some fish, and a margin rig for down to the right, but it was three foot deep down there , a tad to deep for my liking, but the intention was to feed and fish maggot down there off the deck, bit to cut a long story short for that line, i only had two skimmers from there. At the start i had a fish from the deeper water across, but that was my only fish on that rig, i had to try and catch in the shallow water, but they were cagey to say the least, three or 4 maggots on a 16 was best today, as for mugging i only had two fish doing that, mot to my left started slowly but his peg got stronger as the match went on, he was fishing his favoured banded caster fished shallow at 6 mtrs, after a slow start he easily went past me, i had a short run on meat but again that didnt last, lewis saw me.catxh a couple on meat , and when he tried it he reckons he had 60lb very quickly. So today i got beaten each side, lewis had 131lb, i had 121lb, then mot ended up with 190lb, but he did admit to feeding between 5 and 6 pints of casters, well done.

I aslo had to hand over the obligatory quid to him, which always hurts, wheres alan quantrill when you need him LOL.

weigh sheets below

Monday and as judith had taken a day off in the hope the weather was ok for the self drives at beer, which it wasnt we decided to have a go on chesil beach. Not the best area to choose to be honest, just past the skate park in the masonic Carpark, but with a fresh north easterly, it afforded us a nice bit of shelter, with the lovely backdrop of portland, nice scenery to say the least.

Trap set , not really expecting to much to be fair, but you never know, got to be in it to win it as they say

As i thought it was tough, judith had a couple of tentative indications, dan fowler who was with us had a hook nipped off by the dreaded spider crab, and i managed two wrasse, pretty fish but not really what we were after.

Shiplate thursday costcutter

I had a couple of choices today, stay local and go to huntstrete, but i didnt fancy stopping after three hours for a weigh in, then doing another three hours, so off to shiplate it was then.got there in plenty of time , well, ten minutes to draw time is ok. John got the draw underway and pulled out peg 13 for me, happy enough, always a good silvers area plus a sensible carp peg on its day, but after striking up the quid side bet with alan quantrill, i decided to concentrate on skimmers, i was on 12a last match and had 40lb so i was confident of a few.

so i set up a .6g double bulked rig for 11 mtrs, i was goimg to fish meat short but the shallow water goes out to 7 mtrs on the peg so i binned that, but i set up a margin rig for pellet and a 14 mtr line again for pellet, and a mugging rig just in case as there were a few milling around the top, but they were moving a bit fast for my liking. For company i had apprentice two pots on my left, as hes an apprentice still he is only allowed one pot, on my right was merv clark who would no doubt be fishing for silvers. At the start I cupped in three balls of groundbait at 11 mtrs with some chopped worm and caster in, then cupped some hard 4,s at 14 mtrs, gary had gone back to the van to get some more pellets telling me there was no hurry as he didnt expect to catch till the last two hours, as he got back to bis peg i was landing a ten pound carp from the long pellet line, but that was my only fish from there apart from a late skimmer, the 11 mtr line was om for skimmers for a couple of hours, then the lake as far as i could see switched off With everyone struggling for bites from anything, i did hook a couple on the mugging rig, but both came off, no reason just one of those things, probably litely hooked as they weren't really interested, gary,s predictions came true as with a couple of hours to go he began catching carp and skimmers, losing a few but landing enough to be in a comfortable place by the end, in fact he was an easy winner with over 100lb, beating titch williams on peg 11 by over 30lb.

Top silvers.went to ron stark on peg 15(again lol) with 36lb of small skimmers and a few tench, so well done to both gary and him.

I ended upnwith 23.8 of silvers which was good enough for second in silvers, so money back, weigh sheet below.

And another quid off alan, well nearly, he only had a fiver with no change , i did sugest he give me the said note just to save him handing over anymore coins in the next 4 matches, ge was having none of that hence an older picture (last weeks)) of him handing one over, lol see you Thursday matey, buff em up.😂.

Two matches and a brief roundup

Firstly it was down to shiplate for a match split over the two canals, went with chris fox and no complaints about the breakfast roll the fox household produced. Got to the fishery in plenty of time, john hawkins got the draw underway, i fancied a day on hawthorn, as i usually end up on westpool, so more than happy with that, on my left was alan quantrill, £1 bet secured , but at his request it has to be said. On my right was tim, no surname on the sheet sorry. John was paying top two on each canal and one silver. The peg looked good with a nice farbank, bare bank next to a dead reed bed which seemed to have plenty of fish in it, also my right hand margin looked very tempting.

as i said these will be brief, starting on the far bank about a mtr off, it started well catching carp on banded 8mm pellet over hard 4,s, after that slowed a bit i went tight in and had a run of fish there, i couldnt get as tight to the reeds as i would have liked as there were a lot of underwater snags, i did try to catxh shallow close to the reeds , only one doing that , the margin was only.good for three fish, and i had some short on meat in the last hour, i new i had over 100lb, so was happy to put 125lb on the scales, which was good enough for second on the lake and second overall as jofn hawkins on peg 6 had 197lb fishing maggot across and down the edge,

also chris on wastpool came second on his lake so we had a happy van. Weigh sheets below.

Oops nearly forgot, smiling alan handing over his quid, thanks matey, going large on the way home then lol

Monday and i ran a match at acorn, was happy to have 18 turn up, i put in the island and 34 round to 20, plus 31 just for paul faiers(lol). I didnt go right to the bridge as there was a pleasure angler on 22 so left him a bit of room, 20 is not used to often, so no surprise to me when the last peg in the bucket for me was 20, empty peg each side may help though,

short line with maggot was set up as it has been a good ploy recently, also the obligatory mud line rig for the far side, same rig would do for the margins, and a rig to fish in front of 21. To say it was a slow start would be an understatement, i had 1 carp in the first 2 hours, eventually some fish were found but i had to go 14 mtrs to the far bank in front of 21 in a foot of water.

Aswell as some fish by empty peg 21 and a few in the left hand margin.

I would have loved to have gone to the bridge, but with the angler the other side of the bridge it would have meant going beyond the pegs limits,(as i see it). So an enjoyable end , ending up with 21 CARP but as they were bridge dwellers which tend to be a bit smaller i thought i would have 75lb ish but went 87lb, not enough as steve hutter on 5 had 115 and aaron on 1 had 112, so thirdwhich was ok from that peg, there were a lot of fish tight to the bridge today, and just to prove it zak williams drew 21 next day and won with 112lb i think, mugging in the scum by the sounds of it, weigh sheet below.

Shiplate costcutter

Back on the main lake for this match, popular as ever with it being sold out. Fishery boss john hawkins did the draw and pulled out 12a for me. A good silvers area, plus carp will always be present aswell, but with new peg zero in, which is to the right of peg one going into the channel, it was felt we woukd all be fishing for second today, gary bowden had the pleasure of that today, he was odds on favourite to be fair, for company i had glen(lots of pots) bailey on my left on 13, and rod wootten on my right on peg 12. I decided to taget.the skimmers.today, so i set up a .6g float for worm at 11mtrs, a pellet rig for 5 mtrs at the bottom of the shelf, and another pellet rig for 14 mtrs. Laatly i set up a lead rod for pellet at 25 mtrs, i would have fshed the wag but the wind and trip was going innthe same direction, rendering sensible presentation all but impossible. At the start i cupped in three good size balls of groundbait at 11 mtrs with some worm and caster in it, some 4 mm pellets at 5 mtrs, and some more at 14mtrs, i fired some 8,s out on the lead line, then picked up the lead rod, deciding to five it 15 minutes to let the pole lines settle. Lobbed the tip out with a banded 8, the lead hit the water, i put the rod down, and the tip stayed round, i thought i had thrown it over a stick or something, went to wind in only.to find i had a carp on the end, hooked fairly in the leading edge of its dorsal, it was never going to come off, so a nice way to start 8lb common in the net first chuck, although i gave the tip a short while more, and a few times during the match, i have no further action to report on it. Also the 5 mtr line never showed any sign of action. The 11mtr line was a different thing altogether, i had a good three hours here catching skimmers and bream up to 4lb, iether on a dendra, or triple red maggot, regular top ups with balls of groundbait was required to keep them coming, but as expected it went off in the 4&5 hour, but i did manage two more carp on the hard pellet at 14mtrs, then towards the end of the last hour some skimmers returned which were gratefully received, it looked as though the lake had had a bit of an off day, with all but gary on zero really struggling, although he was operating a proper catch and release policy today. I have had a nice day, my three carp went 27lb, and my silver were a level 40lb,

so first in the silvers and second overall, with gary.winning off zero with 119lb, well.done. Weigh sheets below,

Salt and fresh

Firstly with no match on.sunday that got my interest, the decision was taken to have a days sea fishing with judith, well to be honest more of an evening session as it was an 8pm hight tide at blue anchor, so a leisurely day then off down to the north somerset coast, got there just about right with the water about 30 foot from the sea wall, 5.15, so a good 2 1/2 hours before high tide, easy fishing witht the van parked.twenty foot behind us, it was a lovely evening, a few bites was all we needed to make it more enjoyable. Rods out just the normal waiting game.

I had decided to experiment with circle hooks, but i dont think they were right for these hooks today, we missed a few bites , so a change.to the more traditional aberdeens soon resulted in a doggy for judith.

It went very quiet after.that and i was in danger.of another beating, i had to wait till after the turn of the tide before i got one aswell, what a relief or it would have been a long drive home.

I did get another just before we packed up but judith never let me count it as it dropped off at the base of the wall, even if i did have walk upto the end of the wall and back along the beach to put it back in the sea. next day and i went to the sedges to fish the silvers match on tile lake with an overflow onto brick lake, got there and found 23 fishing which is an excellent turnout, also good to see the cafe /shop is well underway, should be good as anglers fishing other venues in the area will be able to drop in for breakfast, as long as denise knows of numbers expected, jamie and denise got the draw underway, and pulled out 34 for me, happy with that as vic bush had won the silvers match the previous day off peg 35 with 40lb, on his beloved worm. For company i had ade bishop on my right and robert parker on my left, john dursley was behind me on brick peg, and was only moaning a tiny bit.

Vic had caught mainly at 13 mtrs on worm the day before, so inset up a 1grm positive rig with a 16 hook bouble bulked, and a drennan as5 in .8g with an 18 for maggot. At the start i cupped in three balls of groundbait at 13 mtrs with some worm and caster in it, then one ball at 5mtrs with just some soaked micros onboard, starting short on double maggot i had a 1lb skimmer first put in, nice, so i went in with a soft pellet on the hook, another bite but this one was 2lb, and thast was the only bite i had on sort pellet, back on the maggot but nothing else, so out to 13 mtrs on worm, but the float just sat there, jess jordan up on 32 was getting a.few on worm, then ade also began to get odd fish on worm, but i couldnt get a bite on it, and i can honestly say that i never had one bite on it, but by awapping between the long and short line with maggot on the hook i kept adding fish fairly regularly to the net, topping up fairly often with caster and worm in the groundbait on the long line and just micros on the short line, the short line was by far the most productive, i wasnt to sure as to what i had , but ade was confident that i had over 30lb, and he was right as i weighed 35.12,

which was good enough for second, beaten off peg 9 on brick by rob eagle with a level 36lb, rob had all his fish on caster on the waggler, so well done to him, steve kedge was third with 33lb from peg 26 with 33lb, so that was another quid for me, its been a couple of years due to c19 but worth the wait. Weigh sheet below, im running a match at acorn next monday, anyone fancying it get in touch to book in 9am draw and £20.

A bit of pleasure

I had a few hours to kill on friday, i had something to do first thing so match fishing was out of the window, i decided on a visit to bullock farm, i hadn't been here for a couple of years and i know phil has had a bit of work done and restocked the lakes this year, so an ideal time to check it out, didnt take more than 35 minutes to get there, deciding on rushcombe lake i pulled onto the lake and the first person i bumped into was owner phil, we had a good natter, paid my dues and went and found a swim, last time here was on a match and as we all half expected with 30 anglers sat around it it was never going to be that good, it was probably a right fright for the residents, i parked up went across the bridge and fished two to the left, always good area, last time here there were some nice roach, so i set up a caster rig for down the middle, and a hard pellet rig for across in 18inches of water. As for the casters and roach, not a touch, but the far side was a different story, plenty of bites from some really pretty carp between 2&4lb,

I was sat opposite the tables where people sit after getting an onsite cafe snack, there was a never ending procession of, cyclists, pensioners ,walkers and housewifes, all moaning about relations friends and work collegues, nearly forgot covid and brexit LOL, all very entertaining.i fished for carp for a few hours ending up with over 40lb, enjoyable to say the least,

so with a couple of hours till i had to leave i dropped onto the arm behind me, giving my nets chance to dry out, pretty much the same result plenty of carp with a couple of the originals with the biggest maybe 5lb, still no roach though. The other lakes have had more fish introduced, with lots of tench up to 2 1/2 lb,into the old match lake with some extra fish going into north pool and the carp lake, definitely worth a visit, phil has no interest in restarting matches again so a pleasure anglers delight, i must say anglers living not to far from Kingston Seymour are a bit spoilt, acorn fishery has a specimen lake with lots of fish up to and over 30lb, paddock lake which is the match lake, holds plenty of carp to low doubles aswell as plenty of skimmers roach and tench up to 5lb. Also in the village is plantation lakes, which has a speci lake with fish to 30lb, the main lake boasts probably the best skimmer and roach fishing in the area especially in the colder months, but it also boasts carp to mid doubles, also the horsehoe lake is nice with good bream and some nice carp, so with three good fisheries in abiut a square mile, there are lots of options.

Part 2&3

Shiplate for the Monday open, 41 fishing so a decent size open these days, picked chr Chris fox up and caroline had been good enough to do me a couple of nice breakfast baps, very good too so a 4.85 on the rixter scale. The draw was between 7.30 and 9 (?), Fishing 10.30 till 4.30, we never got there till about 8.30 so still plenty of time to set up, fishery manager john was doing the draw, the wind was going to be a pain today, northerly blows straight down each lake from the Carpark end so a nice sheltered peg would be nice, but most of the sheltered swims had already gone, i ended up on west pool peg 6, ive had it before and i wasnt moaning to much, it can be ok as it is the first peg in the wider part of the lake after the narrows where it is 12 mtrs , wheras my peg was a good 14mtrs,

also there were only two pegs on this lake without an empty swim to one side, on my right was the fouler maestro steve(peanut) howell, and on my left was the bristol ex pat john dursley, i didn't feel wa had much chance of getting in the mane frame today, especially as the farbank is the place to catch normally, or sometimes in the margins, just two rigs today , a far bank pellet rig and a down the middle meat rig. At the start i cupped in some meat down the middle and some hard 4mm across in. Started on the meat line, gave it 25 minutes for not a touch, by this time john had had two carp and a tench on a small method, but his bites soon stopped on that, i could see carp in the shallow water opposite, so that was my mane line of attack, but the strong left to right wind made it really difficult, i could only get the rig to half still by fishing a banded 8mm pellet over depth, obviosly liners and occasional foulers were a problem, the wind was strong enough at times to spin me round on the box, but it was catching better than most i could see, apart from mat Sheppard on peg 2, and as he was in my section it looked as though there would be no envelope for me today, i did get three carp on meat down the middle towards the end , but i know if the wind had only been half as strong i think i would have done ok as the fish seemed to be happy in the shallow water, as i feared mat was top weight on the lake, so he won the section with over 80lb, so well done.

I managed 57lb, the other section on the lake was won with less than 40lb, overall mat culpin won the day with 130lb off hawthorn lake, fishing caster shallow feeding about 6 pints, Chris fox won the silver with 27lb of skimmers from peg 6 on the main lake, sheets below.

Got to say my shoulders and arms.were.a bit sore that evening, but onwards and upwards as they say and it was down to acorn for the Tuesday costcutter, only 17 fishing, but still at least we get plenty of room, mime chapman as normal was.doing the draw and handed me peg 5, after i pulled out peg 18 for him, he wasnt best pleased lol, the lale has been dyed now in a very fetching blue colour , to inhibit weed and algae growth i think, it all looked very Mediterranean.

my peg looked good, as it normally does, it wins more than its fair share of matches here.

Again the weather was making it as hard as it could, a nasty left to right wind and we had all seasons in the one day, rain, hail, snow, and sunshine, the carp seemed happy again in the shallow water on the far bank, but i did get a few about a mtr off the far side on banded pellet, again i fished an 8 in the band, just to hopefully give the hookbait some stability, plus ive fed a maggot line at topset and two, and ive had a few tench up to about 3 1/2lb, plus some skimmers perch and roach, i kept.swapping between the three lines nicking fish from all lines, i did also get a 2lb skimmer and a carp from the left hand margin, i weighed 69lb for a close win, just beating paul (Albert) faiers into second spot by 2lb. Silvers went to john mills on peg 6 with 31lb, which included several nice tench,beating ed wynne into silvers second by 2lb.so considering this was the forth match on the trot on the lake, and the crappy weather, most people had a days fishing, sheet below.😁

First of three

Landsend today on lake two and three, 29 fishing so everyone would have a bit if room, except for steve seager who drew peg 6 with 5 and 7 in, ut i dont think he moaned to much😂😣. travelled with chris fox, we managed.to social distance in the van so no problems there, we had breakfast baguettes ordered, bacon , sausage, egg and black pudding, must say it was excellent, so a 4.8 definitely. I got the draw underway on time, so i waited for a real drawbag merchant to pull my peg, so when joe McMahon arrived at the bucket, i just new he would be the one, he pulled out two tickets, one each, opened mine to see 58 , my favourite peg on lake three, a proper left handers swim, with a weedbed at 16 mtrs to the right, a corner of the island, a bit of collapsed bank on the island, which is always good, especially with the water levels right up, oh yes i nearly forgot joe drew peg 13 on the match lake for himself, like i said he is a proper drawbag, well done matey.got to my peg with 45 minutes to get ready, so a meat rig for the corner of the island, a pellet rig for just off the weedbed to the right, a pellet rig for the collapsed island bit, and lastly the mugger.rig, as there were some fish cruising in the sunshine, and leon hubbard won off it the day before, and he had managed to mug a lot of his fish, it is a lovely looking peg thats for sure.

I called the all in and picked up the mugger after.feedimg the the three main areas i was going to target, i had a fish quite quickly, but not as quick as i was expecting, in fact the fish proved quite difficult to fool, they were not really interested and i had to keep plopping the pellet on the nose of any fish i saw. There were enough fish mooching about to keep me mugging for the first 4 1/2 hours, then the last 90 minutes were spent on the collapsed piece of island and down by the weedbed . I only had one f1 on meat and lost another. An interesting day, but quite difficult, by the end i knew all about it, chasing fish with up to 16 mtrs of pole constantly twisting , turning and shipping in and out, its gettimg harder thats for sure, but i would still do it all again tomorrow, its a favourite way of fishing for me, catching a fish you are actually targetting visually. By the end I new I had over 100lb, i was hoping for 130 ish, but was more than happy when my nets went 160lb, joe McMahon was second off his flyer.with 102lb

Top silvers.was taken by ray white on peg 41 with 21lb of mainly small crucians, weigh sheets below, off to shiplate tomorrow for number 2, 42 fishing over three lakes, looking at the forecast a nice sheltered peg out of the wind will do me, unfortunately joe mcmahon wont be there so i will have to draw my own flyer.