Only a bit late

Last sunday it was off to ivy house with chris fox for the winter league as stand ins, oml and willow for me and and the canals for him, fishery breakfast was ok. Into the draw tin and peg 33 for me, last peg on the island on the far side of willow. I had the option of the end of the island to fish to, but with it being very cold i felt that would be to shallow, so i decided to fish the wag and pellet about 10 mtrs off the island in about three foot of water, i could have gone further to the left where there is nearly 6 feet of water, but it was a good 40 mtrs and with a nasty cross wind i decided not go that far, should have set up a lead rod.

i also set up to fish a skimmer line at 13 mtrs over groundbait, and to be fair i could have had quite a few, but only small ones, so with it being a weight match i didnt spend to much time on it,.endwd the match with 4 carp and 6lb of skimmers for 39lb and third in the section, stu (tin) foale to my left had 5 carp and a few.skimmers for over 40lb and the angler over on peg 23 winning the lake with 68lb. Monday and off down the a38 to bridgwater and the sedges for the silvers match on brick lake, had peg 18 drawn for me, would have preferred to be a couple of pegs to my right, only set up one rig, a .8g with an 18 guru f1 maggot hook on, fed two lines, one at 6mtrs and another at 13mtrs, fed both with groundbait with some caster in, had a sort of steady day, never catching well but enough to keep me interested, steve kedge opposite on 3 seemed to be doing the best, with adie bishop on 8 also catching some aswell, i did get a bonus in the shape of a crucian of about 1 1/2lb, i ended up with 11.12 which was good enough for third with kedgy having 14lb and adie coming second with 12lb, weigh sheet below.

with the cold weather now set in i was glad we were at plantation main lake for a silvers match, undoubtedly this is the best silvers lake we have in the area, the secret to its success is probably the fact its left alone so sort itself out, not try and make something the lake is not capable of withstanding. Kev Winstone drew for me and peg 24 was my home for the day, not an area you generally want to draw, i was next to me old mate shaun putley who was on 25, good to see him in a match as we haven't fished the same match for at least 15 years.

I had an overhanging bush to my right so a rig to fish by the branches in case there may be some perch in residence, with it being the same depth from tooset and one out to 13 mtrs i set up a conventional rig and a double bulk rig, i fed four lines at the start, a small ball of groundbait on the topset and one line, the same another section further out, then two balls on the 11 and 13 mtr lines in front, starting on the top and two line feeding caster i was soon catching roach steadily, i took probably about two hours to catch a skimmer, only 8oz, but welcome, i dropped back to top and one and had atwo pound fish staight away, i upped the groundbait on the two short lines which had the desired effect as more skimmers turned up, on both lies, the linger lines gave me a few but the short lines were much better. Ever fish i caught today was on single caster, just hooked lightly like a maggot, (jim norris). Again ive haf a lively days fishing, and i thought i had 35lb by the end, started weighing round on peg 1 , dave wilmot on peg 2 had 40lb, i wasnt to sure i had that.

i got to my peg and he was still winning, as soon as i pulled my net out i new it was tight, my fish went 44lb which was enough to be top today, with kev winstone on 15 coming third with 32lb.

The weigh sheet below shows how well it fished, considering there was a cold northerly wind its been really good,