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.😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂