Three to reprt

Started off on sunday for one of jon darby,s matches, which was a pairs match, headed up there with chris fox, arriving just in time for the last pair of pegs, chris on 48 old canal, and me on peg 2 for the second match running, decided on a different approach today, corn long and short on the pole, pellet down the margin and pellet on the wag and lead to just off the island. well it nearly paid off, ive had a few small carp at 13 mtrs , some on the wag (5) one carp and a huge f1 down the edge, and a decent run of better carp on the short corn line, ending up with 80lb, with just over 100lb winning the section, perhaps if i had gone on the shorter line a bit earlier i may have had a few more, or maybe not, a well run match by jon, so well done to him, weigh sheets below.

monday and it was back to the sedges for the monday silvers match, back on the canal lake, so a smaller turnout for this one, 13 i think. After a nice breakfast in the new fishery cafe, jamie got the draw underway, i pulled out 47 which was a peg i won off earlier in the year with about 14, and its where the lake starts to get a bit narrower, i was next to bob pascoe again, so it was never going to be quiet, this warm weather has got mother nature a bit confused i think, thi mallard has got a new brood of ten chicks, i cant help thinking they may not make it.

With it being a difficult lake i decided on a bit of a negative approach, feeding three lines , topset and one, topset and 4 straight out and the same number of sections to the right, nowhere near the far side as the reeds were moving about with the carp, i started short and had two small skimmers, and that was my only fish from that line, i did get a few fish off the tep longer lines , a mixture in sizes of skimmers from 2oz to about 1 3/4lb, i did set up a rig for caster under the tree to my left but one bite and one small perch, i thought i had about 6/7lb but was suprised they went 10lb exactly for topweight.

now onto thursday and the costcutter on shiplate main lake, another good breakfast on site, then draw time, into the bucket nd out comes peg 6 for me, im on this lake on Sunday, and will need to catch carp, so today that was all i was fishing for, so two meat lines, one in front on topset and two, and the same ammount of pole to my.left at the bottom of the margin rocks, a margin rig for amongst the rocks to the left, a wag for pellet on the deck, and a lead rod for the same spot.

Started on the wag but took about 35 minutes to get a carp, soon followed by another, then i lost one, and for some reason the bites stopped, so a look on the meat liners, produced nothing.back on the wag and had a couple more, but the tow was making presentation very difficult, so i had a quick look on the lead, only a couple of liners, mid match i did get three quick ones on the wag, but that was it, luckily for me the left short meat line showed signs of life, and i had a few from there in the last hour, along with a couple from the margin rock swim, including a fish which was close to 20lb , on the all out inwas playing a fish which was to prove essential as paul glasson oner on 12 had had a good last couple of hours in his margin, when the scales got to me paul was winning with 126lb, i thought i may just have 130, so it was going to be close, that final fishwhich was about 12lb was decisive as my fish went 136.8 for the win, so happy days. Pete zimniak won the silvers from peg 4 with 38lb, due to the torrential rain at the end there is noe weigh sheet, so the few top weights are listed below

This weeks roundup

To start i was at shiplate for round three of mat culpins teams of three rip off league. Mybturn to be on the main lake, mat on hawthorn and bob g on westpool, but before the draw it was breakfast in a box cooked by jess, and still a nice meal, no complaints, (4.8), perhaps tinned tomatoes may be good (jess). Bob did our draw and he pulled out peg 11 for me, its a nice peg with a island to fish off the end of, and a nice bush down to the left which can be a good fish holding area.

So a wag and a lead rod for the end of the island in 2 foot of water, a rig to fish meat down to the bush to the left, and a rig for the skimmers with corn hookbait for 13 mtrs.i began trying for skimmers with corn onthe 13 mtr line, had a few but nit quick enough, i had been fedding hard 8,s to the island, and it wasnt to long before i saw a tail pattern or two, so apart from a couple of sorties down by the bush which gave me a couple of good skimmers, and a very shirt spell on the lead out by the island , ive fished the wag mostly, catching fairly steadily , but not mad by any standards, but i ended upnwith 140lb which was good enough for second on the lake and second on the day, paul nicholls on peg 8 had a good day and put 209lb on the scales, well done, top silvers went to craig Edmunds on 3 main lake with 55lb of skimmers on meat.

Monday and back down tthe a38 to bridgwater and monday silvers match, which this week was on tile lake, brekkie in the fishery cafe was nice, still doing a social distancing draw here so i had ping pong 29 pulled out for me, wasnt to impressed as i drew it the last time the silvers match was on here and hooked more carp than skimmers, it was a wet day and breezy, so i fished two lines, 6 and 11 mtrs, both with maggot over caster in groundbait, it was a hard day with carp again making there presence felt, but i managed enough skimmers to end up with 29lb off peg 29 for the win , beating chris rolf into second with his 26lb, downside is i now need to sit down and tye more hooks 😕😕

Thursday now and back to shiplate and another nice jess brekfast, into the draw and todays peg was 12a, most of the swims have plenty of room but this one is a little bit tighter than most Again today i set up a corn rig for 13 mtrs but only a few 8oz skimmers on that, a margin rig, nothing on that, a short meat rig and a wag to fish on the deck with banded 8mm pellet over hard 8,s, most of the day was again spent on the wag, catching odd carp, whic as far as i coukd see was better than most, the meat line started to show signs of life about 45minutes from the end and i had three carp and a good skimmer on that. Ended up with 115lb for first on the day, top silvers went to nigel bartlett on my left with just over 30lb.

The weekly blog

Ivy house for the sunday open which was sold out over the two big lakes. Went with chris fox , we had breakfast at the fishery and as always was very nice. Andy got the draw done and i pulled out peg 2, can be ok as there is a island to fish to, so i set up a wag and a straight lead (yes), then a margin rig(fruitless), 5 mtr corn rig for skimmers and a 14 mtr one for pellet. Well.the wag was never.going to work as the wind was mainly blowing back at our bank, and it wasnt strong enough to get rid of the it of brown scum which was making sinking the line impossible, the lead was ok, i did get a couple of carp on that bit wasnt enjoying it, so i spent most of the time on the pole for very little reward to be fair, 42lb and no good, as the weigh sheet below shows , there were plenty of fish caught in several areas and all enjoyed a few fish with ovef 200lb winninng, up there again in a couple of weeks for a john darby match which is a pairs match, so chris and me in for that, on the old match lake and canal,

Back to one of my real favourite fishing days on monday, the self drives off beer beach, so an early start for judith and me , got the beach at about 8, just right to get into the anchor pub just above the beach for breakfast, very nice and good value for money, down on the beach to meet boat owner simon, load up the boat and we were off, flat calm it was, and very little chance of anything changing with a northerly breeze coming straight off the shore, we were soon just off beer head, a quick stop to catch some fresh mackerel for bait, and just for a change they were plentiful, with some good fish aswell with the biggest going just about 2lb.

With enough bait aswell as enough to take home for the freezer, we pushed out about another 1000mtrs and dropped the anchor. And to be honest we had a load of fish, i never thought i would say black bream were the nuisance fish, but today they definitely were, they were even getting to the baits before the doggies, but we had at least 40 bream but it may have been 50, we lost count, along with small gurnard , small.rays, strap conger, it was a bite every drop, a brilliant and enjoyable day in perfect conditions.

Looking at the long range forcast this was probably our last trip of the year doing this, shame really as it would have been good to get another one in, all the fish were on light 30g spinning outfits, so all nice and sporty. Thursday and backto Shiplate, with 20 fishing it meant peg zero was in, so after the good and sensibly priced breakfast done by jess in her hut ,(4.85), into the draw, in the bucket and 9a is my place of residence for today, a peg ive never drawn, but can be ok with decent margins both side , but the bush on the right always seems to be the best, so simple today, meat by the bush to my right and down the left hand side, then corn out at 14mtrs, but with an island at 30mtrs it would have been rude not to set up a wag and lead

i fed all lines, then begsn on the wag, by now john the manager had turned up for a look, so you can imagine the stick i gave him when i hooked a bramble on the island and lost a float, (bramblgate), so out in the lead but only a couple of liners, so the rest of the daywas spent on the pole, i had a few skimmers and small carp on the corn long line, but with acouple of hours to go the right hand margin came good with several good fish up to about 14lb on meat, and i did get one from the left, i didnt think I had 100lb, so when the scales arrived alan quantrill was winning with 114lb, so i handed my quid over to , oops, when i finished weighing my fish i ended up with 119lb , alan couldnt quite believe it and spent several minutes checking the adding up.

but i ended up 2 as ben haggs uncle colin on peg zero won with 127lb, well done , with titch williams winning the silvers with 28lb off peg 6. Oh yes and alan had to give me £2 quid back, i dont think he has forgiven me yet.😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

This weeks roundup

Shiplate on sunday for mat Culpin,s teams of three rip off, breakfast roll at the fishery which was very nice as always, my turn to be on hawthorn lake today, and the team draw put me on peg 3, which i wasnt to upset about , especially when peg 4 isnt in, company today was aaron britnell to my left on 2 and mark thorn on 5, ive had the peg before and caught well across to the far side, there is a nice shelf just over a foot deep which was ok, so a pellet rig for there, a maggot rig for on the deck down the middle, a meat rig for topset and two, then a rig to fish maggot over and micro and maggot feed down by pallet 4, on the all in i fed each lines and started.across , there were fish coming over the feed but as soon as the rig went in they backed off, obviously not happy in the shallow water, i did manage one, bit i lost a couple of foulers, one on the deep maggot line, it was definitely an off day for the lake as it was impossible to catch even a small fish on maggot anywhere in the peg, with about 90 minutes to go, aaron was on 9 carp with me on 4, but luckily fo me the margin in peg 4 had a few turn up in it, i ended with 9 carp so it was tight between me and aaron for the quid, it turned out there were a few of us with 9 carp, with steve brown having 10, so he won the section with 60lb, so the rest of us with 9 so it was quite close, all the weigh sheet below, as a team we did ok even with mat culpin trying to drag us down, well done bob gullick on winning on the day with 150lb, luckily in our team.

Monday and off down the A38 to the sedges in bridgwater, todays silver match was on the canal, im not going to waste to much time on this match, the best part of the day was definitely in the fisheries new cafe, nice food and very reasonably priced, (4.7).drew.peg 50 caught 1lb 4oz and left pretty sharpish, rob eagles on 58 won with 9lb and steve kedge on 59 was second with 8lb. It was a really hard day for most and my.meagre.weight actually beat a few LOL 😂 THE END now Thursday at shiplate for the weekly costcutter, good news is , jess now does a full breakfast, small/large or XL, i went for the large which was plenty , and i will give it a 4.8. First in the draw tin, out comes peg two, happy with that, but again it was a difficult day, the fish didnt seem to want to stay on the island in the shallower water, ive ended the day wit 8 carp and a few skimmers, ive had 4 at 16 mtrs close to the island, one from the right hand margin and 3 to my left at the bottom of the margin rocks, my 8 carp.went 87lb and my few.skimmers 7 for 94lb which was only good enough for third on the day, chris timms drew peg 4 again for the second match running and made.no mistake winning again with 110lb catching mainly to his left just off the left hand margin on meat over corn, well done , and alan quantrill on 11 was second with 104lb, si silvers went to nigel bartlett with 35lb. Got to mention the weed cutter made by lee murphy which screws onto the cupping kit, first time ive used it properly today, and it made short work of silvers a couple of nuisance brambles on the island, very good. also i have been using some Berkeley line for putting my rigs on, £6.99 for 300mtrs, whats not to like, available at premier angling in keynsham, huge range of sizes and breaking strains.

Weigh sheet below as normal, again a close match where one or two fish could have made.all the difference

A brief roundup of last weeks matches

With a lack of matches locally , i ran a small match on lake three at Landsend, as always a good breakfast at the fishery, (4.8), so set up and ready to go, got the draw underway and waited till the end when there was only two pegs left, i let Clayton Hudson draw mine and out comes peg 70, leaving my favourite peg on the lake ,58 for Rod wootten, last time I let hum draw for me. My peg does look nice with a big weedbed to my right, a snag pit margin to my left and a bank of mud straight out, but at least i was sat in the sun, unlike the pegs opposite who would be in the shade, so t shirts my bank and thermals opposite 😂😂.

Initially I set up rigs for the far side mud, a right hand margin, one to the weedbed and a mugger.as.there were some fish up sunbathing , and a rig to fish small pellet for silver,s. Company today was.rich major on 68, clayton opposite on 41 and beany on 42. All in called and i started at 9 mtrs for silvers, that was a waste if time, 30 minutes in and two roach and a small crucian, so mugging it was then, but with the water temps falling now even that was hard,i managed.a.few but for everyone that took the bait, probably about ten just turned away, fish were coming into the margin but were sketchy to say the least, then withnabout 2 hours to go i took the 14 mtr section off to try and catch a cruiser, swung the pellet round and my 13 mtr section snapped in half, for no apparent reason,( well thats what customers have always said over the years😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂).so ive got.a.spare which i thought i had with me, nope, home in the shed, doh. So last ootion was the left hand margin, i chose a spot at my now limit of 11 mtrs, and managed a few small resident fish, aswell as losimg a few which i expected. Ended up with awhat i thought would be about 65lb, started.the weigh in opposite, and it was apparent that it had been hard for all those on the far bank sat in the shade, the first peg in the sun, rod on peg 58(mine) had just over 90lb to win,catching mainly short on pellet, as he does,steve seager(yes steve seager) on 61 haf 79lb for second with me coming third with 68lb. Chris fox on 46 shivered 12lb of silvers to take that prize fishing maggot short.

Monday and off the sedges for the silvers match, today was the first day with the fishery cafe being open, i never knew so i stopped at the normal burger van at silverfish, which was still very nice, todays draw put me on 29, i dont generally mind where i draw in this lake as the skimmers can be well spread out,

But today as i was sat on the majorca bank again the carp were in residence in numbers, its cost me plenty if hooks today, ending up with 21lb, just ounced out of the section, well done jess jordan on flyer carp peg winning with 38lb, with steve kedge coming second on 32 with 31lb,

lastly and it was Thursday at shiplate for the weekly costcutter, 18 fishing so a good number on the big lake, as always jess in the bacon butty wagon did a very good roll, a good way to start the day, into the draw bucket and out comes peg 8, next to where i was last week(9), made an error last week by not setting up a tip rod as there were a lot of fish on the island, but with it being so shallow my.perseverance with the wag was not the way to go, so i left the wag in the bag , out with the rusty tio rod,

Other than that it was a margin rig for each side, a pellet rig for 14mtrs and a rig for under the tree to my right at the bottom of the margin shelf,i will make this short ive had 4 on the tip to the island, losing two to a snag by the aerator, and two came off, possibly fouled,, ive had three on the pole about halfway through, one from the right hand margin and another on the long line towards the end, so ending up with 9 carp and a skimmer for 82lb, and no good(just the quid off alan quantrill on peg 9), chris timms on peg 5 won with 115lb on peg 4 fishing the tea bag, second was paul faiers on peg zero with just over 100lb, on worm over micros, silver were won by ron stark on 15 with 48, beating nigel bartlett on 2 who had 41lb, off to shiplate again sunday for mat culpins teams of 3 , my turn on Hawthorn, looking forward to that