This week

Sunday and it was shiplate teams of 4, my turn on the far side of the main lake. Into the draw and 13 for me today, its been a good peg recently so not to upset, russ(the legend) peck to my right and roy ede on my left, i didnt bother with a sbort meat rig today as the water is really shallow out to 7/8 mtrs, so meat at 14mtrs and in the margin, and wag and pellet on the deck at 25mtrs, not to muxh to report, 16lb of skimmers, and 8 carp for 104lb, russ won the section with 124lb, largely helped by a late run on worm over groundbait, including a beast of a carp on the pole of over 23lb, i ended up 4th in the section, there was a 108 and. 104.12. Dan squire.was top weight on the day with 145lb from Hawthorn 15, as normal alan quantrill held the team up with a second in section, sheets etc below.

Monday and off to the canal lake at the sedges, generally you need to draw at the left hand end of the lake, my drawing arm never deserted me and 61 ball came out of the bucket of doom. Had an interesting day, had a few.crucians , skimmers and tench of various colours, had 15lb for second, ron stark won with 17lb from peg 58, well.done, 18 fished so not to bad.

Thursday and plantations main lake for a silvers match, always popular and it very rarely dissapoints, 18 of us which is just right on this lake, i let ryan jordan draw for and was not to happy to have him hand me peg 23, up in the top right hand corner of the lake, a hard peg made even more so when you have des shipp next door on 24. Well ive had a bit of a lesson today, ive caught ok on topset and one, and 7 and 11 mtrs, mainly.skimmers with several going up to 3lb, but i was always trying to catch up with des, he had a very good spell about 2 hiurs from the end on his short line, that was until the carp moved in, but everyone had carp problems today, des battered me and the rest today with over 72lb, a brilliant weight, dave wilmott was 2nd off peg 2 with 47lb, i was third with 44.15 with ryan jordan 6oz behind me, brilliant.weights all round.

Two silvers matches

Firstly condolences go to the bartlett family.at acorn fishery, adrian, mark and zoe at the sad loss of there wife , mum and gran, lovely lady who will be missed by not just her family but by all the anglers who knew her, RIP Bev. monday and the sedges silvers match, bit of a strange journey down, as regulars will know the usual lane down to the fisjery is shut , there is a short detour in place, which i managed to miss, so instead of getting to the fishery at about 8.20 for a leisurely breakfast , ended up driving round the moors aimlessly, had to put the sat nav on and managed.to get to the lakes at 8.50, for a not quite so leisurely breakfast, still very good though. last in the draw and 24 on tile for me, so happy enough, had jess jordan on my right and steve bracey on my left, set up three rigs, one short in a bout a mtr.of water off to the side, never had a bite there. Two skimmer rigs for 5 and 13 mtrs, a .8 lifter and a .55 slim, both with 18 acolyte silverfish hooks on .10, this latest range of hooks from drennan are excellent, never losing there points, and strong enough to deal with any rogue carp which turn up, it was a steady day catching skimmers on both lines with the shorter line being the most productive, especially towards the end, never hectic , just steady, had to wait for bites and be patient, but worth the wait as most of the fish were quality, single maggot and caster doing it today. ended with 32.01 fir second, behind martin tizard on peg 22 who had 32.10 from peg 22, well done martin, with jess jordan between us coming third with 22lb, so obviously the area to be in.

Thursday and back to todber for another silvers match on wadmill lake, normally a carp runs water, but it had a large head of skimmers and roach aswell, 28 fishing, so popular again. got into the draw early hoping for a draw towards the top end , but couldn't have got further away, peg 30, whuch was the middle peg of three on the near end bank, nearest the carpark, on my right was martin rogers, and on my left i had long time friend nick Collins, after.the last match we expected it to be a roach match for us, ut the last match this area produced plenty of 20lb plus nets , with a couple of thirties aswell, jack stamp had over 30lb of mainly roach from my peg last time, i set up two simple rigs, a skimmer rig for 11 mtrs just in case, and a 4x12 slim with a solid tip for topset and two, where i had just over 1 mtr of water, but i felt the only chance of a pickup for me and nick would be the friendly quid side bet, started by feeding some groundbait on the long line, then began on the short caster line, after ten minutes without a fish me and nick were fearing the worst, also martin was getting no bites, but things did improve but it was obvious early on the 30lb was going to be unattainable, but just kept plugging away, with virtually every bite coming as the bait just reached the bottom, not enough quality, probably used my net about 10 times, with most fish being 1 to 4oz, so busy enough. But not busy enough to be in contention, chris martin was top on the day from peg 19 with 32.10, with some qaulity skimmers/bream, well done, as expected it was the cheeky quid for me and nick, which i managed to win with 19.10, of roach,to. Nicks 13.6. i did have an 8oz perch, and a lone 6oz skimmer from the long line, in nicks defence he had to go to 8mtrs to get any depth, whereas topset and two was where i needed to go, always going to be quicker, the shorter you can fish, but as anyone who knows nick will know its always a pleasant day sitting next to him, always laughing, cant be doing miserable people.

Plantations silvers only

Looking forward to these matches, a proper quality silver,s venue, good roach and skimmers, plus a few decent perch, these matches are starting a bit earlier than normal thus year, hopefully the lakes plentiful carp stocks wouldn't be to muxh of a problem. 18 fishing which is a nice number on the lake, so I didnt mind where i drew, i let ryan jordan draw for me, he handed me peg 5, a nice peg on the left hand bank, paul faiers to my right and reborn match angler , hot from his triumph on the river kenn, jerry salisbury on my left, i like to start short on this lake, trying to catch roach, so a 4x12 slim to fish to hand on a topkit, then a couple of .3g slims for skimmers at 6 and 11mtrs. So at the start i cupped in two balls at 6 mtrs and 4 balls at 11 mtrs all with a few caster and and chopped worm in, Starting on the short line with caster, it was slow, 2 roach and a lonely 2oz skimmer in 20 minutes, and i was going out on the longer lines, i had plenty of fish on the longer lines judging by the bubbles, but getting them to take the bait was hard, the fished seemed to be above the feed, not showing to much interest in feeding properly on the deck, best tactic seemed to be was sit there with a big piece of worm and wait, when i did get a fish, they were of a good size, i couldnt really see to much of what was going on as the bankside vegetation was still to high, the only person i could see catching well was mark broomsgrove on peg 38, he was having a good day, but judging by the banter, dave willmot on 2 and ryan jordan on 1 were both catching, paul faiers was catching quite steadily, although he was moaning he had not a lot, but he always does , ive learnt over the years which people i can believe, and to be honest no one to my right would be capable of lying straight in bed. On the all out i reckoned i had 35lb+, but realistically i never had a clue, started on 1 and ryan had 42lb,dave on 2 had 55lb of mainly.roach, a lovely net of fish,

paul had a large 20lb , well 37lb to be precise 😂😂😂😂😂😂. I had 44.12, so i undersold my weigh aswell, i stayed 2nd all round till.we.got to mark broomsgrove on 38 who had 51lb, i think the fish seemed.to have followed the southerly wind to our end of the lake, but there were still good weights all round, i thunk these matches are going to be really popular this winter, the next one is already sold out with a waiting list, dead mans shoes it is then.

Bad and good

Sunday and it was the teams of four on shiplate fishery, stopped at the wessex flyer for breakfast and as normal , very good, nice and hot and help yourself, i also recommended to mark poppleton to go to the sidcot hotel, still a premier inn, so you would have expected it to be the same, but no, it took 40minutes for the food to arrive and it was rubbish, as was the service, shouod have been help yourself, but it came out plated , they weren't happy. Also at last all the new mosella eva is available , ive had a few.of the new pieces and it looks good , the 4+ net bag was big enough for 6 nets, and the trolley bags are slightly bigger, all have good zips and hard tops, ideal as an extra bait table if needed.and all very eye catching.

my turn on the main lake, low. Numbers, wanted to draw between 1 and 4, possibly 9, 5/6/7/8 not ideal, i drew peg 6, not to much to wax lyrical about, had one carp on the wag, 15lb of skimmers on hard pellet at 14 mtrs, and a big 17lb fish on meat at the bottom of the rocks to the left, limped home with 37lb, i needed one more carp probably for 2 more points, which would have made a difference on the day for the team, john hawkins won the matxh on peg 1 with 190lb, method to his right, well done. Sheets etc below, after.two matches we still have a chance as its commulative points, it will only take one good match, out team is being held togetger by alan quantrill, well done.

back to the sedges on Monday for the silvers match, yet again well supported with 24 fishing, normal lovely fishery breakfast cooked by Denise, meant to be on brick but with these numbers there was an overfolw onto tile lake, breakfast was the normal mix of good humoured banter , with some sensible conversation aswell, well it was after roy(bomber)worth left the table😆😆. on a bright note roy has decided to start a you tube channel, giving people the chance to see how he does it then as long as do the opposite, people should be fine. Anyway I was lucky to draw on tile, and a flyer aswell, peg 38, had bob(the masked singer) pascoe on 39, he was on here a couple of weeks ago and won with 40lb, so he was happy as conditions were nearly identical. Three rigs, a 1grm lifter, a .75 slim both to fish at 5 and 11mtrs, and a .3 slim to fish in about 1 mtr of water.to my left , at the start i cupped in one ball of groundbait at 5 mtrs and three at 11mtrs, strted short , gave it 20minutes not a bite, so out to 11mtrs, and had a couple of better skimmers quickly, but then really struggled, the match started at 10.15, and by 1.15 i reckoned I had about 15lb, which by the sounds of thing wasnt to bad, but i kept topping up and the second half got a lot better, with the peg getting stronger towards the end, i even managed 4 good skimmers on the shallow line to my left, i had 47lb on the clicker by the end but felt i may have over clicked a bit, but i was close as my fish went over 50lb, best hookbait today was single dead red, groundbait was the normal mix i use all year round, sensas black lake, thatchers original and brown crumb, equal amounts of each, its a nice mix you can adapt to any situation,

Todber manor silvers match

I think it was guy manton who thought it may be a good idea to run a silvers only match on wadmill lake, but john candy probably had a hand in it somewhere. 28 fishing so it was quite popular,some of the areas qaulity anglers attending, and kev winstone.😂😂😂😂😂😂 i think i fished it about 15 years ago in a trade match. I think i had about 70lb of small carp back then , mainly shallow, bit today skimmers and roach were the target species. Didnt want to hook to many carp as i thunk they go over 30lb, and lots of them. paid the pools which included the the normal donation to CAT(candy,s added tax) which i dont mind as its a well run well stocked fishery. Into the draw , peg11 today, whuch was about 4 pegs from the far end on the right hand bank, one peg short of where i drew the last time on here. Rich butler on my left and tim martin on my right, opposite was des shipp, so at least i could keep an eye on him, generally the man to beat on these matches, but a stiff breeze blowing in at the anglers on that bank, that may make.things a bit more difficult over there, wind off my back for me, lovely.

Three rigs today, a 4x12 topkit to hand for roach, but not to confident on that working as it was less.than 2 foot deep there, a .4 slim with an 18 drennan acolyte silverfish hook on .10, and a .55slim with the same.pattern drennan hook but in a 16, these hooks are brilliant, fine but strong and havnt had a blunt one yet. I fed groundbait on two lines, one ball at 9mtrs, and three balls at 13mtrs, all.with some worm Caster and corn in, some micros at 11 mtrs off.to the left for soft pellet, but that turned into a wasted.line as i couldn't get a bite there. Started.at 9 mtrs but couldnt a soft bait to the bottom, so put corn on, ive had a stedy couple of hours, catching some nice skimmers and bream to 3lb, i aslo had a.few.nice.roach on the short line on caster , but they didnt stay, once gone they never returned, so the last couple of hours was spent swithching between the 2 longer lines, mainly on a big bit of dendra, but it was a long wait between bites, i couod catch small.roach on maggot or caster , but i didnt feel i coukd catch them.quick enough as des was catching roaxh steadily plus he had caught a few skimmers and bream aswell, also mark bowden on 18, had some bream aswell, at the end i had 45lb on my clicker, but i had only counted.the bream and skimmers, i hadnt included the roach and perch, so i happy to weigh 50.10, just ahead of des who jad 45lb, third was jack stamp on peg 30 with 37.10 of roach, then mark bowden with 37.6, lots.of good roach weights ,.mainly in the early pegs, there will be some more silvers matches on here for sure, so keep an eye on the fisheries face book page for the date.

A late 4

Oh well better late than never 😕😕😆😆 Shiplate teams of four on sunday, hawthirn lake for me in thus first round, i like thus lake, its a bit like landsend with some sneaky fish in it, did my draw and ended up on 11, nice peg to be honest, a good margin, mud opposite, and a reed bed just off to the left, well its been a tough day, nothung in the margins, two on the short maggot line, three from the mud opposite, and 11 from the reed bed, ended up with 74lb for fourth in section, peg was worth more, i shoukd have gone round and cleared some of the dead reeds out as i was having trouble getting the bait to sit on some clean bottom, also i would have liked to have got in tighter as the match went on, ive had to stay about a mtr off, when i new fairwell i would have done better late on the tighter i got, russ peck won the section from peg5 with just iver 90lb and tom thick on unfancied(his words) peg 15 with a level 90lb, and Mark wynne on 7 with 84lb, the match was won by in form luke fothergill who made.no mistake on peg one main lake with 225lb, well done, as for the team we managed.to end up second in the team stakes.one point behind first, so no disaster, helped by alan quantrill coming second with 160lb.👍👍.

Monday and sedges silver,s peg 2 on brick, not ideal, with peg 1 not in it may be a carp fest, and it was , probably hooked 20 carp, whjch was annoying as there were some skimmers to be had for sure, but ended with 28lb which was good enough for third, Bob pascoe on 39 won with over 40lb, and that man martin tizard on 32 had 35lb, well done all, especially bob as he was the oldest there and had to contend with a howling gale blowing in at him,

Tuesday bitterwell silvers, peg 13 was home for the day, a hard day for all bites were definitely at a premium, finished with just short of 10lb for 4th, paul barnfield was top with just shy of 16lb, and ryan jordan next to me on 12 had 15lb for 2nd, and mat challenger had 13lb, good to see the tv cameras there to do a bit for the evening news on the triumph in the national junior champs which they won against some really good opposition, well done boys and paul for managing them along the way.

Thursday and back to shiplate for the nearly costcutter, drew 14, nice, started on corn at 14mtrs hoping to catch skimmers and carp, had a few skims, lost a few fouled carp, out on the wag a depth on pellet and haf a couple of carp, but that wasnt happening, converted the long corn line to pellets and had a couple of carp and a few skimmers, then in the last hour i had some more skimmers and three big carp on the short meat line, ended np with 87lb for 2nd , beaten by lee(bad back)hilton on 15 with 92.14, merv clark on peg one coming 3rd with 82lb, silvers went to pete zimniak on peg 10 21.8. So there you have it, 4 matches in brief.