Rons silvers league

Match 6 and off down to plantation main lake today, but not before myself and chris stopped off at the wessex flyer for breakfast, as always very nice, even took a couple of blue berry muffins for after the match, just the job. Steady drive to the fishery, everyone turned up so ron got the draw started on time, into the net and out comes peg 39 for me, never a peg of choice in a silvers match, can be a bit carpy. For company i had Ryan Jordan on my right on 38, and oppsite was kev winstone on 1 , he had my peg on Thursday and struggled, if he keeps leaching pound coins to everyone he wont need to diet as he wont be able to afford any food.

I only set up two rigs, both .25 slims, one would do for 5, 11 and 13mtrs on my left, and the other to my left where it was slightly shallower, to begin with i fed some groundbait and caster at 11 mtrs in front and 13 mtrs to the left, some soaked micros at 13 mtrs to the right, but started short at 5mtrs feeding caster bit started on a maggot on the hook, 30 minutes in and one small roach, feared the worst, especially as ryan already had a few skimmers on soft pellet, so i went to the right at 13 mtrs with asoft pellet, i never haf a bite on a soft pellet, so put a maggot on and had a few.small skimmers and one decent one of about a pound. But bites just stopped, very strange, fed that line again and went to the 11mtr in front line, had a few skimmers there before that stopped aswell, the 13 mtr line on the left was biteles, even though i tried it several times. So most of my fish came from three lines, 5mtrs, 11mtrs and 13mtrs on the right, not loads of bites , but when i did get one the fish were of a decent size. I did go to 14 mtrs with about an hour to go and did have three better skimmers, perhaps i should have done it earlier, but you never know, new i had at least 15lb, so felt i had done ok for the peg. first on the day went to paul elmes on peg 7 with 28.12,

just beating joe into second with his 27lb from peg 4, my.net was more than i thought and went 21lb which was good enough for third, so happy with that, a few carp were caught today, someone did say that the one they had didnt want to identify as a carp, but felt it wanted to identify as a bream , especially as the fisherthem who caught it was a themchester united fan 😕😕😆😆 weigh sheet below.

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Sunday and it was the Landsend winter league, my turn on lake 3, but not until i had eaten breakfast cooked by sharon at the fishery, very nice. Into the draw and out comes 55, far end in the corner, wouldnt have chosen it but you got to gonwith the hand you are dealt. Well its been probably worse than i expected, had 3 small carp, one tench and 4 small f1,s for nust over 11lb, i was winning the section on this side of the lake till about 30 minutes from the end, when dave tagart on my right had been catching small silvers all day then latched into a near 7lb carp on his pinkie rig, and landed. It, well done dave his 10lb of silvers and carp giving him the section, i ended up second in the section so still in the hunt , lying in second place behind fishery expert russ peck, halfway through the league so all the play for, russ had top weight on the day with over 90 from peg 36 on the speci lake.

Next match was on Thursday at plantation on the main lake, silvers only. I cant remember who drew for me but i was handed peg 2, nice comfy swim with a bit of shelter from the cold easterly wind, had dave willy Wilmot on 1 and lee waller on 4, and opposite was kev(neo)winstone, not sure if the diets working mate.

It felt as though it was difficult day, and the lake is still struggling to come out of winter mode, but it is still only mid feb. It was necessary to keep feeding and rotating around several lines to keep getting bites ive caught on averything, but it was impossible to get a run going on any bait on any line, ended with just over 14lb, dave on my right had 16lb, and lee had ten, the far end and the far bank were the place to be, with inform john fuidge winning easily with over 30lb from favoured peg 27, all on his soft pellet approach, he certainly seems to have that sorted. The lake has fished ok with all but one having double figures, baxk down here again on sunday for rons silvers league, should be ok, also james. Has really been working hard to get the lake and swims looking good well done to him and his small band of helpers.

Thursday silver pairs, huntstrete.

Breakfast at home cooked by me, so a straight 5 then 😆😆. 10 minute drive to the fishery, lovely, 2 no shows, one bad back and another with the sickness bug, cant be helped. As normal dave.gillard was in control(just)and got the draw underway on time, i ended up on 46, which is round the far side of withy pool, over the little bridge, two pegs on this island and the other one was occupied by dave wride (45). Always a hard man to beat on a silvers match. Only downside with my peg is that i couldnt see the rest of my section ,but its a good peg so never mind. Decided on 3 lines, topset and 2 slightly to my left in 5 foot of water(caster), 11 mtrs caster and groundbait, and 13mtrs slightly to the right for soft pellet over micros. Fed all lines at the start but began on the short caster line, had a 6oz roach first put in, ut after 20minutes and only one other missed bite there, i decided to go to the 11mtr line, especially as i could hear dave plopping fish into his net, began catching some small skimmers, and occasional roach, so stuck with that while still feeding caster short. As is normal on thus lake, you seem to catch in bursts, having to rotate around all lines, resting, feeding etc, the pellet line was a bit of a waste, only a couple of hand size skimmers and roach on soft pellet, the 13 mtr line was ok for mainly roach, though i did have a 1lb skimmer and some hand size ones again, by far the short caster line was best, lovely roach nearing a.pound , and a few perch to the same.size, i lost 4 good perch aswell, they do have a nasty tendency to drop off, not. A.clue as to what i had, but i new i woukd be well into double figures, it turned out to be close between me and dave on 45, he had 18.12, and i had a smidge over 20lb, a nice day, plenty of fish caught all round, mainly.roach with a few people having odd better skimmers.

Three to forget(nearly)

Plantation lake a silvers match on thursday, 16 fishing so i left out a couple of pegs that have been a bit iffy this winter, draw underway and i think mat tomes drew for me and handed me peg 26, good area so more than happy, always up against peg 27 as its 2 mtrs further out than the pegs either side, nele mercer had the pleasure of that one, i cant believe someone who fishes as little as him seems to draw spot on every time😳😜😳😂😂. And i had ryan jordan on my right. Not to much to report on how my match went except that my day has been very relaxed, not bothered by to many fishy interruptions, limped home with 11.4, beaten on my right by ryan who had a near 3lb perch on a soft pellet, so thats a quid gone then as he had 11.8, and nele ended with 25lb for third, top on the day was mat tomes on not really fancied oeg 16 with 31lb, beating john fuidge on peg 7 who had 27lb, well all.

Sunday and down to shiplate for a rpund of Ron hardiman,s silvers league, had a breakfast at the fishery, cooked by mark and as always very nice, not had a bad ine there yet. Ron got the draw underway and i did say i wouldnt mind peg 10, bit of a feast or famine peg as its an 18mtr wide channel between the far island on the right hand side, blow me only.go and pull it out, most fancied peg 3 as its been a really good area for silvers recently, but it was no real suprise when mr shipp pulled that one out. I had Joe mcmahon on my left on 11 and paul elmes on my right on 9a but he was in the section to my right. I set up rigs for the bush to my right for perch or hybrids hopefully, a shrt caster line, 14mtrs in front caster and groundbait, and soft pellet lines at 16 mtrs left and right, another difficult day for me, only a few small roach on the short caster line, same down by the bush, 14 mtrs on the groundbait line was much the same apart from a bream out of the blue towards the end, nothing on the 16mtr pellet line to the right, but i did get a few 16mtrs to the left, ending up with 4 good skimmers and a few smaller ones all on sort pellet, the skimmers didnt seem to want to be in the channel today, joe to my left had bites most of the day, winning the section and coming second on the day, i managed to come second in the section with 15lb, so keeps my league alive, as expected des won with 24lb and ryan jordan on 9 did well coming third with 18lb,

Monday and off to the sedges for the monday silvers match, again a lovely breakfast cooked by Denise, 24 fishing, it must be warming up, second into the draw bucket and peg 38, good peg normally. expected so much, realised to little, as i said its a go to peg for consistency, but not today, all i can put it down to is that the wind was blowing up the lake and the fish wanted to follow it as the sport improved as you got further up, or ive done it wrong, to aggresive in my approach, ill never know, top on the day on peg 33 was.Roy worth(less) with brilliant 49lb, staight lead and corn, feeding about 3 tins , well done, second was martin tizard opposite roy with 22lb, adrian bishop to roys right was third, well.done all.

Landsend and sedges

Sunday was rnd 2 of the Landsend winter league, my turn on lake two today, hopefully a draw at the topend on 11 or 13 would be my pegs of choice as its definitely the fishes favoured overwintering area, but breakfast first, well cooked by Rachael, and very nice. Got the draw started, lake 3 first as they had further to walk. Then lake 2, i let dave (beany)Westcott draw for me as he does have a legendary arm, let him(me) down today, peg 21 for me, mike duckett had 11 and steve.seagar on 11, i had james(spooner)mathews on my right and rod wootten on my left who was in the other section. before going to my peg i had to tske a picture of mr duckett,s trolly, no he hasnt started a plumbing business, all topkits were ready made with rigs on, if he ever starts going to other venues im not sure he will have enough room for the extra kits, B and Q will love him.

Back to 21, a bread dobbing rig for the island, another for hard pellet for 13 mtrs in front and 16 mtrs to the right, and a meat rig for the empty pallets each side. Fed.the two pellet lines with hard 4,s, meat by the pallets, then started across on bread, it was only a foot deep so iwasnt to confident, but i had one after 10 minutes, and after an hour and ten i had three in the net, but that was it from the island, apart from a couple of small rudd. onto the pellet lines, no bites in front but fairly regular bites to the right on the 16mtr line, small tench, f1,s and a lonesome crucian, also a couple of carp, all falling to banded 6mm hard pellet the trusty b960 hook in a size 18 on .16 line, i didnt have any indications on the meat lines untill the last 30 minutes, when i had two f1,s and a 9lb carp to my right, which i needed as pete nurse on peg 5 had done well with some better size fish, i thought he had beaten me for the section he had 34lb, but i my fish went 41lb, that big last fish was crucial, so section win , which was needed, as expected top weight came from 11 with mike ducket making no mistake, putting 75lb on the scales, all on dobbed bread, and never fed a thing. Top on lake three was dan pither on 66 with 70lb.

Monday back to the sedges for the weekly over 55,s silvers match, brick lake today, usual suspects in attendance, but today chris(hainsey)haines was here, havnt seen or fished together for quite a few years, a bit more wrinkly, and grey but pretty much the same, breakfast as always very nicely cooked by Denise, late into the draw bucket and out come ping pong ball 18, roy worth(less) on my left on the end peg, and walley to my right, only set up one rig today, a .55g wire stem bodied float. Same depth at 11 mtrs and 14mtr, at the start i fed one ball of groundbait at 11 mtrs, and a ball on two lines at 14 mtrs, had two bottle top skimmers on the shorter line, then nothing, but there was a very good reason for that, the carp decided to have a munch, i kept rotating around my three lines, but everytime the float went under ,i was attached to a carp, much to roys delight, and steve kedge even shouted across to remind me it was a silvers only match, but i kept pugging away , wasnt feeding to much but im convinced you need to keep the bait going in as one or two carp will polish off the meagre ammount of bait in no time at all, ive hooked 17 carp in totsl, landing several up to double figures, good sport but not what was required, but the last teo hours i think they had had enough of being upset, and i began catching odd skimmers not many but reasonable sized fish, by the end i had 7, up to just over 2lb, do hopefully 9/10lb, kedgy was first to weigh on end peg 3 and had 7lb, so i new i had at least won a quid, im running out of jar space what with steve and kev winstone contributing. LOL, i know it will change though. hainsey fish wag and maggot on peg 15 to win with 16, narrowly beating alex Kerr on 13 who had 15lb, also on the wag and mag, my seven skimmers went 11.12 for the section win, so all ok in the end, to be fair i think i had skimmers in my peg all day but the carp were getting there first, i dont think the skimmers get scared off by the carp, its just the carp dont leave them anything to eat, watching some of the underwater footage of carp feeding, the smaller fish always seem to be in the mix picking up anything the hoovers miss.

Huntstrete silver pairs

24 meant to be fishing but one no show, so peg 71 left out again, dave gillard got the draw underway on time, assisted by kev winstone, who was possibly waiting for the night boat to cairo, or hoping to magic up a few more pound coins to hand out.

Ha ha ha just like that ! When jt got to me to draw ,into the hat and out pops disc 60, near end peg on the pathway bank, not been to good recently, in fact i think its been last or nearly last in the two first rounds. But i dont tend to listen to much, preferring to see for myself, and different approaches quite often bring different results, so i went with a positive approach, a .5g bodied float for.11 mtrs, and a .4 slim for topset and 2, At.the start i began feeding caster on the short line, and fed a ball of caster laced groundbait on two 11 and 1 o'clock angles at 11mtrs, started.short and had two bites and 1 small roach in the first 20 minutes, so went on the right hand linger line, again abit slow, but after an hour or so, i was getting regular bites, maggots initially, but i soon swithched to caster on the hook and never changed, the wind and light conditions were horrendous, so i had to have plenty of bristle showing, and had to wait for a positive bite before striking, most of my fish came from the right side, i did manage a proper bonus from the left swim in the shape of a 3 1/2lb bream, dead handy. I did have three more skimmers between 4 and 12 oz, but the rest of my fish were roach between 1 and 10 oz, regular top ups with groundbait, normal mix, sensas lake. Thatchers original and brown crumb, all equal ammounts, use the same mix all year long, occasionally swapping the lale for sensas magic , or sonubaits lake if i cant sensas, the fish dont seem to care to much, but i will say the magic seems to have less binding qualities compared to the others, ive had a nice day, and weighed in 15lb for top weight on the day, paul barnfield on 45 was second with 12lb, and glen bailey 3rd on 42with 11lb, again there were.plenty of bites to be had on most pegs, mostly roach but with a good smattering of skimmers and a few nice perch, weigh sheets below.