avon angling open, chilton trinity

we had 27 fishing today so we were on widmarsh which is the biggest of their day ticket lakes with 67 pegs on it , i didnt peg the carpy pegs around the back of the island which hopefully make for a fairer match.
i let dean malin draw for me and i ended up on 30 which is out on a point with a lot of open water to fish to , and a nice looking margin under a bush to my left which never seems to produce but it looks to nice to ignore, so i set up a 4x12 on .16 with a xedion 16 hook for double corn over caster and corn, a .75g for caster over g bait at 11mtrs , a .5g rig for soft pellet over micro,s at 14 mtrs at 11 and 2 o,clock angles and a caster rig for 3 mtrs straight in front, i cupped in 6 balls of gbait at 11mtrs, some micro,s at 14 mtrs on both lines, and threw some casters down the margin and onto the roach lines. starting at 11 mtrs i was soon getting bites from small roach, and it took me 45 mins to get a skimmer of about 12oz, but there seemed to be some skimmers over the g bait as there were some tell tale bubbles coming up, as there was over the pellet lines, i did get a few more skimmers over the g bait line and one off each of the 14 mtr lines on soft pellet, but after 2 hours the promised strong wind had sprung up making any presentation on longer pole lines a no no , not only was it impossible to hold the pole but the wind and trip was going the same way, so all i could now catch were small roach, being on the end of a spit i would normally of had the option of fishing off to the left with the wind off my back, but there were two carp anglers on the island effectively cutting off that line for me, so all could do now was fish for roach at 3mtrs which did give me some roach but that was hard going as it was still 7 ft deep there and the fish were moving up and down in the water, as for the margin, i did manage 2 carp and 1 tench from there .
on the all out i thought i had about 13lb of silvers and the two small carp would go about 10lb. i couldnt see to much around the lake, steve tucker on 58 seemed to have the most silvers and dean malin had managed to strum out 5 carp on the banjo feeder, the only threat to dean winning two on the trot at this venue was adrian jeffery on 25 who had 6 carp on the method. as it turned out adrian jeffery,s extra fish made the difference as he was first with 32.14 fishing the method at about 30mtrs with maggot on the hook peg 25
2nd dean malin 27.8 peg 44
3rd tony rixon 26.9 peg 30
4th steve kedge 26.6 peg 9
5th steve tucker 24.7 peg 58
6th glen calvert 23.01 peg 6
silvers
steve tucker 16.10 peg 58
paul faires 16.5 peg 20
tony rixon 15lb peg 30
not a big weight affair but still a good fair match, which most seemed to enjoy, although the wind stopped a lot of people catching, but full marks to john and misha as they are always at the weigh in and will always listen to any suggestions as to how to improve things, but any improvements take time and money so it aint going to happen overnight

chilton trinity woodland lake

21 booked in today so we turned it into a pole only as it stops any arguing cos the end banks were in and there would have been discord with people chucking across others no one seemed to mind. martin lenaghan drew for me and i ended up on 24 again ,thats twice on the trot in less than 5 days , i hoped it would be better than wednesday as i really struggled, i decided to put some g bait in today for skimmers so i made up a .8g gig with a 16 6313 on .10 . a 4x16 for 16 mtrs on the deck for banded pellet, a shallow rig for 16 mtrs and a 4x12 for corn down the edge each side at 6 mtrs, at the start i cupped some 6mm pellets at 16 mtrs , 6 balls of g bait at 11 mtrs with some soaked micro,s and cupped some corn and 4mm down each margin.
i lost a fish about 20 mins in and fouled a carp which came off about 10 mins later and that was my lot for the first hour by now the wind had begun to pick up blowing in and across at our bank, so presentation was impossible to get right , but the anglers opposite with the wind off thgere backs were starting to catch shallow on the pellet, with martin lenaghan on 10 and brian shanks on 15 leading the way, so i tried to follow suit and went out on the shallow rig and managed to snare a couple of carp quickly bvut the wind was blowing the rig back under the pole and the wind was strong enough to prevent you feeding with any consistency, 2 hours in and after a fruitless look down the edge i went back out and struggled on the shallow rig ,i did get 2 more carp but we were 4 hours in and it was looking as though it was going to be another blow out day , the g bait line only gave me 1 small skimmer so that was a waste then, the last 90 mins i spent down the edge on corn , and luckily a few fish decided to feed as i had 7 more carp and lost one so i ended up with 11 carp which i thought may just be enough for third as martin lenaghan and brian shanks were favourite for 1st and 2nd.
it turned out brian shanks was 1st with 97lb which was 16 carp ,mainly at 14 mtrs shallow on pellet with a few from his left hand margin on peg 15
2nd was martin lenaghan on 10 with 75.14
3rd tony rixon 56lb peg 24
4th tom mangnal 36.4 peg 29
5th mike west 32.11 peg 7
6th ron hardiman 31.8 peg 14
silvers went to shane caswell on 26 with 14lb of mainly skimmers plus one tench on chopped worm at 11 mtrs

chilton trinity woodland lake weds open

a good turnout today with 16 booked in but there was three polish anglers wanting to fish, as they had been there the day before and one of them had caught 40 kilo on the shallow wag they fancied a go, so after shaking them down for disposable barbecues i let them pay there pools money so now we had 19 fishing , and to be honest they seemed like really nice people and they were certainly keen. it was good to see leyton palmer back out again after his winter hibernation so i let him draw for me and i ended up on 24 with adrian jeffery on 23 and one of our european mateys on 26.
after catching on hard pellet at the weekend at landsend i had decided on that approach for today , feeding 4,s and fishing a banded 6 at 14 mtrs on the deck and shallow so i set up a 4x16 and a 4x12 for that , both with a 18 b960 on .14, i set up aswell a 4x16 for meat at 6 mtrs with a 16 middy 8313 on .14 , and i could use it on the 13 mtr line aswell as its the same depth , and a 4x12 for meat and corn down the edge, at the start i cupped some feed on all lines and went out to 14 mtrs with a banded pellet on , it was a slow start with my polish mate on 26 catching a small carp on the wag straight away ,and steve preece getting one on his favoured catmeat on 17. also tom mangnal began to catch on the method on peg 11, sorry i should have said 27/28 , he nearly knocked leyton,s pot off the end of his pole(sour grapes lol), after the first hour my match was all but over as i had 2 carp a couple of skimmers and to many pellets missing from the bait box and there,s is no chance of taking them out from 9 foot of water is there, i did manage a tench from the margin on corn and a few more skimmers on corn at 14 mtrs over the pellet line, but i think i proper skrewed my peg by getting catty happy, a more tentative pole approach may have paid off, also i should have taken a rod and fished the pellet wag as tom was now catching on that and it was even in his own peg (still sour grapes), by the end it was clear tom had won easily as he was even catching shallow on the pole by the end, i did try shallow myself but all i had was roach
tom weighed in 100.10 for an easy win peg 11
2nd dean malin 58.9 peg 2
3rd leyton palmer 37.8 peg 29
4th steve preece 37.2 peg 17
5th tony rixon 20.2 peg 24
6th john thompson 20lb peg 14
silvers
leyton palmer 14.10 mainly skimmers on soft pellet
and tom was fishing in his own peg JUST HA HA HA

chilton trinity ash lake

for a change we were using ash lake which is a small canal type lake so everyone is fishing to an island. only 13 of us today as a couple were to scared to come out of there comfort zone and try something new,(no doubt mr anon will comment), i cant remember who drew for me but i ended up on peg 15 which is on the middle of an island, with jason radford on 14 and tom mangnal on 17 which is on a gap between two islands and he has got the only tree in the water in his margin(but i,m not bitter).
i decided to put some g bait at 14 mtrs to my left and the same .3 rig would do for soft pellet at 11 mtrs in front so it had an 18 6313 on .10 on the business end. my second rig was for fishing soft pellet and corn to the island so that was a 4x12 on .12 with an 18 8313 on, down the middle was about 4 foot deep but over there was no shelf just a slope so i fished as close to the island in several places on the slope in about 2 foot of water, at the start i cupped in two balls of g bait at 14 mtrs to my left, some micro,s at 11 mtrs in front and some micro,s to the island,
starting at 11 mtrs on soft pellet i never had a bite in the first 30 mins so i swithced to the g bait line and had bites off small roach but it was to far away and the fish were to small to be of any use, so i took the descision to put some g bait at 11 mtrs over the micro line ,as no one was getting anything of note in the deep water i didnt think it would do any harm, by now tom thick on 11 had put a couple of small carp in the net on soft pellet over by the island, so i followed suite but the slope was covered in dead norfolk reed making presentation had as i was never sure as to whether the pellet was sat up on a piece of crap so i swithed to corn on the hook as it gives a positive indication as it settles, i got a couple of small carp quickly but then it got hard with me having to move around the far bank swims getting odd bites, by the end i had 9 small carp and a few silvers(and i mean a few), tom mangnal had 4 carp, one of which was probably 7 pounds and his other three were of a better size and tom thick had 12 small carp, and with all three of us admitting to 12lb tops only the scales would tell who were the biggest liars, as it turned out tom mangnal was the biggest liar as his 4 carp and silvers went 21.5 for first on the day
2nd and only a slightly smaller liar was tom thick with 20.12 peg 11
3rd and the smallest liar was me with 15.15 peg 15
4th ed wynne 8.5 peg 6
5th kev molten 7.10 peg 18 which was also the top silvers weight
6th dave blakemore 7.2 peg 4

chilton trinity woodland lake weds open

we were supposed to be fishing ash lake today but being a small lake 13 is a good number , but we had 18 booked in so we switched to woodland lake, due to popular demand it was made pole only so the pegs on the end banks can be used with no problems of people allegedly casting into others swims. it was no suprise when tom mangnell cancelled blaming work but i think it has more to do with his sponsor telling him he has to fish the feeder on wednesdays, i cant remember who drew for me but i ended up on peg 6 , and yes it is another corner with the wind off my back(just for you dci), it has got good form for carp in the margins but with shane caswell on 4 i thought it might not be the case, i didnt realise we were so close in this corner cos if we both fished 16 mtrs straight out we would be fishing the same spot , tackleing up i thought i was having a bit of a turn that was until i noticed the leg of my pole roller which i was setting up and my foot were touching the otter fence which wasnt off, so i was getting a double whammy, quick call and a bollocking to misha and the fence was turned off.
back to the swim and i set up 2 margin rigs , a 4x12 for up the shelf and a 4x14 for down the shelf , both with size 18 middy 8313 hooks on .14.
the beauty with this lake is that one rig does all as its the same depth from 5 to 16 mtrs well within a couple of inches , so that was a .75g rig with an 18 6313 on .10 to fish maggot,corn and soft pellet over soaked micro,s. at the start i cupped in some micro,s at 13mtrs, 16mtrs off to the left away from shane ,some micro,s with some corn down the margins and started feeding casters at 6 mtrs.
now as far as the margin attack is concerned it didnt happen , all i could muster were a few small roach when i put maggot on so that was my banker done for, the 16 mtr line gave me 1 small skimmer, and the 13 mtr line yielded 2 better skimmers for about 2 1/2lb plus some small roach, most of my weight was made up of roach from 5 to 6 mtrs on caster. it seemed the whole lake was fishing hard as the wind had started to blow really hard making presentation for most all but impossible, by the end it looked as though tom thick on peg 2 was going to win as he had 4 carp from under the marginal tree,s, and no one else had more than 1 carp plus a smattering of silvers,
so first as expected was tom thick on peg 2 with 21.8
2nd alan oram on 26 with one carp and silvers for 12.13
3rd was me with 11lb and first in the silvers on the day
4th john bradford 8.12 on peg 14 and second in the silvers
5th kevin molten 8.7 on peg 7
6th john thompson 8lb
5th

avalon oops no it isnt chilton instead

we were supposed to be having a pole only today at avalon which i booked with one half of the partnership before he jetted off to cuba for his hols, the only thing he said was that i should ring the other half of the partnership at the start of the week to advise him of numbers etc which i duly did on monday morning , only to be told he new nothing about it and that he wasnt to happy about us having a match without one of the owners in attendance and with one away and the other working there was no chance of that happening, also there top bailiff only works this time of year on a tuesday and thurseday so there would be no one there to sort the money out , obviously i cant be trusted to pay ,also a new one on me was the fact he was worried about bio-contanimation from wet nets as people might not dry there nets before putting them in the lake, obviously any pleasure anglers there dont need to adhere to the same rules as the match anglers as there nets would never be a bio-contanimation risk would they.plus i,m not to sure that net problems and disease,s are relevant in lower water temps, no doubt someone will let me know.
i had 19 booked in to fish today so obviously they dont need the money, but a quick phone call to the herring family and the match was re scheduled for trinity waters on woodland lake, and we were made to feel very welcome as always even had a small
birthday cup cake delivered to my peg complete with candle, mint,we lost a couple of anglers due to the venue change but we still had 17 and the lake only costs 80 quid representing good value for money.
tom thick drew for me and handed me peg 29 which is just across the bridge and 1 peg to the right historiccally not the best area as the pegs opposite and the corners are always favoured but i had an empty peg each side so you never know , as it was suppesed to get a bit breezy i made up a 1grm rig with an 18 6313 hook on .10 to fish maggot over micro,s, normally a good bet in the winter, at the start i cupped in some micro,s at 13 and 16 mtrs and fed some casters at 6 mtrs, all lines were the same depth so one rig does all, i fished the dead maggot for the first hour and had a couple of small roach and one carp fairly hooked in the tail, bites were very hard to come by although trig edmunds up on 22 had had a 9lb fish first put in and a couple more after the first hour so he was the early leader, adrian clark on 31 had caught one carp ,lost one and missed some bites on corn so i went down to him and scabbed a tin of the yellew stuff and put a piece on and it wasnt long before i hooked a carp at 13 mtrs , so that was my match sorted , i fed some micro,s an the 2 long lines and just swapped between the 2 , i ended the match with 8 carp, 5 at 13mtrs and 3 and a tench at 16 mtrs , i also had some small roach at 5 to 6 mtrs on caster,
my total weight was 44.5 for first on the day just edging out craig edmunds whose 7 carp went 42.9 off peg 22
3rd phil harding 31.4 peg 2
4th martin lenaghan 28.12 peg 6
5th john thompson 21.1 peg 9
6th ed wynne 20.13 peg 10
silvers went to nigel bartlett with 14lb off peg 27 using soft pellet over micro,s

chilton trinity woodland lake

20 of us fishing today so we had a bit of room , only a few of us didnt have an empty peg on one side at least and with trigger drawing for me i thought he might draw one for me ,but no i end up with 26 but lickily i had chris(blippy basher)fox on 27 and paul elmes who may be a threat if the paste goes, this venue like others in the area has been responding to the meat approach and with it being a deep lake (7 foot) even with the level down by at least a foot it has been working fished at about 6 mtrs, so i set up a 1grm rig on .16 with a 16 xedion hook, a 4x12 on the same hook and line for each side margin about 1 mtr out from the bank in 2 foot of water , a shallow rig as there were odd fish moving and a 1.5 grm rig for 13 to 14 mtrs , bigger rigs than normal but with the tail end of a hurricane meant to hit us the extra stability may be needed
starting on thge meat at 6 mtrs it was very slow with only 1 small skimmer to show after 30 mins ,so i went out to 14 mtrs and that wasnt much better , it was that hard all i had after 4 hours was a 2lb carp and 3 small skimmers , although i had been feeding the meat lines all match i decided to give it some so i put in half a big pot at 6mtrs and a whole big pot each side in the margins, out on the 6 mtr line and i sat there biteless for 10 mins gazing around the lake odd peopll were catching a few with rod (van winkle)wootten catching in his margin each side of him and with the gimp on his right fishing caster for eels and shane caswell to his left who i,m starting to think he buys bait only for show and never actually puts any on the hook.
craig(trig)edmunds was catching on 7 , rich coles was also catching on 19 and tim ford on 17 was hooking plenty but after several outings to the river i dont think he is up to much more than roach bashing(lol)but he did keep the thatchers tradition up by fishing the method for a spell, but ti think he got bust on that.
any way 1hour 50 to go and i had 3 carp in 3 put ins but that was all i had there apart from 3 better skimmers then the rest of the time was spent in the margins where i had another 7 carp up to 9lb ish, it was hard to call this as it was several anglers had between 8 and 12 carp so it would come down to odd bigger fish making the difference, in the end craig edmunds won with 72.8 on peg 7 fishing meat in the margins each side
2nd was me (back from the dead)66lb
3rd chris davis 59.7 peg 32
4th dean malin 57.5 peg 29
5th rich coles 57.3 peg 19
6th rod wootten 54.3 peg 14
silvers went to chris fox on 27 with 11.15
it was a good tight match with one or two fish or a bigger one making all the difference, not an easy match mainly i think down to the conditions with the strong wind putting a strong undertow on the lake but no moans from anyone which is always a good sign, plus you always get a warm welcome from the owners , plus the now boast one of the cleanest new toilets i have seen on a commercial

float only round 3 chilton trinity

all 49 of us on wildmarsh today which can be a cruel lake as you need to catch quality silvers or carp to do well and as i had drawn craig edmunds in the knock out we drew for each other , he gave me 22 which is the same peg as i had a couple of weeks ago, when i had some decent skimmers and a small carp whilst trig emded up on 49 which hasnt been the best of areas lately but the wind had turned a bit so it might change, when i got to my peg i decided on the wag being a bit of a non starter as the wind was quite strong and blowing in and across, so much the same rigs as last time , a .75 with an 18 6313 0n .10 for 11 mtrs over groundbait, a 1grm rig with a 16 6313 to .12 for 14mtrs to fish soft pellet and corn over micro,s and a 4x14 for caster down the edge , for company i had bob gullick on 24 and dick bull on 21 .
after last weeks terrible attempt at balling it was out with the cup this week and it didnt take to long to put 10 balls in and at least they went into the right place all i put in mine were some casters and soaked micro,s , think bob did much the same whereas dick opted for chopped worm in his, i also cupped some micro.s with a few pieces of corn at 14 mtrs and then some casters down the edge.
dick started well with a couple of good skimmers on the worm but all me and bob could get were small roach, there were fish in my peg as i had some bubbles coming up and i di miss a couple of good bites which i suspected of being liners , so i put double caster on and swung the rig out past the feed and that began to produce with a few good skimmers ending up in the net after a couple of hours the 11mtr line never really produced mucc else for the rest of the match apart from small roach and as there were no bubbles coming up now i think the skimmers had moved off, i had an eel and some roach on the inside but the roach didnt seem to want to settle so i just kept swapping around the three swims and a did get 2 small carp and a few more skimmers on corn over the micro,s so by the end i thought i had the measure of bob but it would be close between dick and me with us both admitting to just over 20lb ,
in the end the match was won by chris davis on peg 40 which is a noted carp peg at the back of the island with 53.9 of meat caught carp from the margins
2nd was steve seager on peg 9 with 51.5 on his warm paste
3rd gary atheridge on island peg 10 with 28.1
4th mat (the new breed of mermaid) 27.14 peg 11
5th t rixon 25.14 peg 22
6th dick bull 23lb peg 21
silvers went to dick with his 23lb pushing me into 2nd in silvers by 8oz with 22.8, but the 2 small carp gave me the edge over him for the all important section win, giving me max points so far.
there were a few moans today but its a proper lake and not a heavily stocked commercial with some pegs seeming to be devoid of fish but thats the nature of the beast and the owners are constantly working very hard to turn it into venue to keep eveyone happy from the bivvy brigade to us moaning matchmen and i think they are getting there but it doesnt happen overnight
oh yes and as far as trig goes and the knockout he is history i think he had about 10lb off peg 49 ish even after his girlfriend ms jo shepherd txt me to let me know trig was going to cut my ass really bad, ye right.

chilton trinity wildmarsh lake

got up feeling a bit subdued but after a good brekkie at the fountain cafe in st george and the normal world according to dean malin conversation i was soon feeling better.
i had 30 booked in today but with the rain and gale forecast for today i would be surprised if they all showed , but only one no show so that wasnt to bad, i let fishery boss misha herring draw for me and she handed me peg 16 which is a cornerish peg with a reed bed to my right going along the end bank.
3 rigs today a .75 with a 18 6313 to fish over grounbait at 7 and 13 mtrs , a 4x12 for caster at 3mtrs with the same hook and both on .10 and a 4x12 j2 on .16 with a 16 xedion hook for meat and corn down the edge.
i had decided to ball it as g bait seems to be the key to the silvers so i threw in 10 balls at 13 mtrs oh and 11 mtrs and 14 mtrs , i havent done that for a while and it showed , cupped some meat and corn down the edge and fed some casters at 3mtrs , starting over the g bait at 13 mtrs i ha bites straight away from 1 to 4 oz roach and apart from one 12oz skimmer thats all there seemed to be in front of me. so the bulk of the match was spent down the edge where i caught 6 carp , 5 on double corn and 1 on meat , my silvers went 5.1 and the 6 smallish carp went 24.5 for a total of 29.6 which was enough to win on the day
2nd was paul elmes on 57 with 26lb
3rd nick collins on peg 25 with 25lb which also included the top silver weight with 22.3 of skimmers and roach on bits of worm and caster over grounbait at 11mtrts
4th dave roper 24.10 peg 43
5th craig(trig)edmunds 22.12 peg 9
6th steve seager 19.6 peg 11

chilton trinity widmarsh

with 2 rounds of the float only and a teams of 4,s on this lake i thought it would be a good idea to run a couple of opens on here , it must havce been a good call as i ended up with 34 booked in. this a lake which you need to approach carefully as it is more like a traditional venue where you need to target the skimmers ,roach and tench but saying that it is nearly always won with a carp weight but the carp tend to inhabit only a handful of pegs and these are well known, today i tried to leave the carp fliers out , but as normally happens the peg closest tend to get a few.
i let fishery manager misha herring draw for me and i ended up on 22 which is on the spit to the left of the shallow bar which runs across the lake from the far side, with this in mind i set up a wag to fish hard pellet at depth on the slope butn it was a none starter as the wind was so strong it was impossible to keep still, and as this was a float only event the lead rods were left at home.
so it was three pole rigs , a .75g for 9 mtrs with an 18 6313 on .10 to fish caster and mag over g bait , a 1.5g for 13mtrs(impossible to fish any further as the wind was to strong) with a 16 6313 on .12 to fish various baits over micro,s and a 4x14 rig for 3 mtrs each side on caster.
at the start i cupped in 2 balls of g bait at 9 mtrs some micro,s at 13 mtrs , began feeding caster each side and fired some 6mm pellets on the wag line just in case (but it never). the match started quite well with plent of small roach falling to caster over the g bait plus a couple of skimmers before it went quiet so i cupped in another ball of g bait and that kick started the peg again with more roach and another skimmer , i had only bought a bit of g bait with me and i think i paid the price as bela bakos at the next peg had put several balls more than me in at the start and had a good run of skimmers up to 3lb whereas i only had the odd one or it may have been that i was on the edge of the shoal as tom mangnall the other side of me only had one skimmer out in front but did manage a 4 pounder down the edge, thye 13 mtr line was a struggle as the wind was making presentation all but impossible , but i did get one small carp and 2 more skimmers , my end weight was 18lb for no good on the day.
first on the day went to dave roper on island peg 2 whose carp went 46.15 all taken on meat down his left hand margin
2nd was paul elmes with 45.15 on peg 9
3rd glen bailey on 13 with 43.9
4th steve preece 30.11 peg 44
5th bela bakos 26.1 peg 21
6th dean malin 25.8 peg 65
silvers went to steve kedge with his usual net of white bait which went exactly 20lb off island peg 3

chilton trinity weds

17 of us today, and we were met with a strong south easterly blowing in and across towards the far bank, a draw in the flat water at the top end would be nice, but i wasnt to upset when misha drew peg 11 for me, even though it meant i had to contend with the cold wind. 2 rigs today, a 1grm rig to try and fish at 14 and 5mtrs and a .4 rig to use in the margins to my left towards empty pallet 12 , empty due to the fact its in need of repair and not safe to use, the margin rig had an 18 xedion hook to .14 ,while the 1grm had the usual 18 6313 to .10, both rigs on xedion rig line.
for some reason the peg to draw of late has been 24 as it has won the last 3 matches we have had on here and with andy france on it who is more than capable of catching a few he should have been the man to watch but he really bucked the trend on this peg and was gone before the end.
at the start i cupped in some caster at 5 mtrs and in the margin and some soaked 3,s and 4,s at 14mtrs, starting at 5mtrs i never had a bite so it was out to 14 after 15 mins and i had 2 small carp for about 3lb but then no more bites, so i refed and had a better one about 10 mins later, after 2 hours i had only had one more carp and a few small roach, also the wind had picked up so i put a 2 grm rig on, which behaved a lot better in the 8 ft of water, it was just getting to hard to hold the pole still.into the margins and i must say i was suprised a bit when the float buried straight away and i had to have a bit of tug of war to get it out into open water, i l;anded that one and had 3 more in the next 3 drops, these are nice pegs for margin fishing as its a good 3ft deep tight in and as i was only fishing at about 4 mtrs it was easy fishing. i refed and went back out to 14 mtrs and had another carp, but it was to windy to get good presentation, i did try in the right hasnd margin but never had a bite that side, i did get a carp and a good skimmer at 5mtrs towards the end but most of the sport came out of the margin with the fish coming even closer towards the end as i took 3 carp on my topset next to my platform in the last 15 mins.
i think i ended up with 15 carp to about 6lb, and i thought that i had enough as i hadnt seen to many people catching.
the scales went 67.2 for first place, with all the fish falling to double maggot, always a good bait when small roach arent being a problem
2nd went to jason radford with 34.14 on peg 18 which was only 6 fish taken on corn
3rd tom thick 24.10 ped 2
4th andy curry 24.6 peg 16
5th adrian clark 23.14
6th andy hembrow 23.13 peg 7
silvers went to steve kedge on peg 27 with 19.14 which was 3 tench plus some roach and skimmers on chopped worm and caster at 4 and 13 mtrs
2nd in silver was chris fox with 6.8 on peg 31
there is a match at landsend sunday on speci and number 3 (johns)ring the shop to book in, but dont go to shipham for brekkie on sunday as they have been shut down by the bank

chilton weds

with dean not going today as he has been playing silly buggers with the younger fitter blokes at park furnishers and he has put his back and neck out and is unable to hold a rod let alone play a fish and jason(lofty)radford not fishing iether as he has met some dodgy bird on facebook so he is in love with a cyber bint, so i had phil(fabio)harding for company.
there was 15 booked in so misha let us use the whole lake, so we had plenty of room .
fabio drew for me and handed me peg 30, on recent form not a good area and fabsy drew peg 2 for himself(selfish), well at least i had a short walk as its the first peg across the bridge from the carpark. 2 rigs today ,a 1grm for 13 aND 16 mtrs and a .4grm for the margins in 4 ft of water. the long pole line had an 18 to .10 while the margin rig also had an 18 on but to .12. at the start i cupped in some micros and maggots at 13 and 16 mtrs and some casters and mags in the margins, starting at 13 i was soon getting bites from small roach and nothing else , and by now with only 30 mins gone fabio was already getting carp down the edge, tom thick on 6 had 1 carp as did 5 anglers at the other end, out at 16 mtrs after an hour and it was pretty much the same with only small roach to show for my efforts, the only person getting a few silvers was charlie barnes on 11 who was by now targetting the plippy roach, after 2 hours i had a 8lb carp at 16 mtrs on double maggot but that was the only carp i hooked on the long pole, i did hook 1 to my right in the margin but all i landed was a scale, i hooked 3 to my left landing one 2 pounder ,losing a fouler and one did me in a snag ,i did keep catching small roach and in hindsight(again) i would have been better targetting the small roach as no one was running away with the silvers.
with 2 hours to go phil had 20 small carp on maggot down his margins, andy curry on 24 had 11 better ones and andy france on 13 had 6 or 7, so what do i do, carry on trying to catch carp bit all i could get was roach.
in the end it was andy(ruby)murry who won through with 14 carp for 92.2 with all his fish falling to maggot or expander over micros at 14 and 16 mtrs on pegh 24
2nd with his 20 smaller carp was phil harding with 50.12
3ed andy france 42.6 peg 13
4th tom thick 28.6 peg 6
5th john bradford 25.14 peg 6
6th nigel bartlett 25.9 peg 16
silvers went to charlie barnes with 7lb on peg 1and i scraped 2nd in silvers with 5.12

chilton trinity xmas match

this must be the earliest xmas match i have ever fished lol, i think misha must be hoping to beat next years freeze up.
24 booked in so we were all on woodlands, as i wasnt organising i drew for myself and i ended up on 24 which was the end to be on the previous weds, but fish have fins and they do move, for company i had les (the chub)williams on my left and paul haines on my right.
just one rig today a 1grm affair with an 18 6313 on .10 to fish at 13 and 16 mtrs, i didnt make up a margin rig today as i had pegs each side and it had got a lot colder since midweek, at the start i cupped in some micro,s and dead mags at 13 and 16mtrs and started at 13 with a single red, the first hour for me was quiet with just a lost fouler to show , while brian chivers on 26 had a few on the method and timmy lewis on 2 was getting a ferw down the edge towards 1.
switching to 16 mtrs it was like fishing a different lake as i had bites almost straight away, first was a 8oz skimmer then a carp, so that was the rest of my match sorted, it was very enjoyable. every time i hooked a fish i would feed about 10 mags and the same number of micros, and not feed again till i hooked something, by the end i had 16 carp ,2 roach, and the skimmer for about 55lb i thought, brian on the method and tim on peg 2 had both dried up so it was looking good, paul elmes opposite on 14 had 9 better fish but i thought i was safe
the scales turned up and my catch went 61.10 which was good for first
2nd paul elmes with 45lb peg 14
3rd brian chivers 32.14 peg 26
4th martin lenaghan 29.10 on peg 32 33 and 34 he fished mainly down the edge
5th mike nicholls 29.8 peg 6
6th timmy lewis 29.7
silvers went to dean(stiff neck)malin with 7.3 on peg 7 easily seeing off the silver fox silver ace next door(the ronnies never fed)
well done misha for a well run affair and thanks to sue for the varios snacks delivered to the anglers on the bank foc

chilton weds

another reasonable turn out for a weds with 17 fishing so we used all the lake meaning everyone had an empty peg at least on one side.
martin lenaghan drew for me so i ended up on 19, i drew for martin and he ended up on 17 and we had an empty peg between us.peg 19 is at the top of the lake meaning you can look down the lake and see who,s catching.
with no real wind to speak of i set up a 4x18 rig with an 18 on .10 to fish maggot or soft pellet in 8ft of water at 13 and 16 mtrs and a 4x16 rig to fish each side by some reeds in 3ft of water with maggot, if the small roach arent being a problem i think mags make the best winter carp hook bait, plus you will also get a few silvers as it isnt to selective, but thats only my opinion.
on the whistle i cupped in some soaked micros at 13 and 16 mtrs(same depth)and some maggot and micros each side by the reeds, starting at 13 with mag on i had a small roach first drop, but looking down the lake chris fox on 27 was playing a carp ,as was martin nextdoor, i could get small roach on maggot but that wasnt going to be any good today as they were to small, and after a frost with a full moon and bright sunshine i wasnt really expecting the silvers to feed properly, 30 mins in and i put on a soft pellet, i missed a bite then connected with a carp which came in dead easy till it got to the bottom of the near shelf then it did me in a snag, and that was the last bite i had on soft pellet, back on with double maggot and 2 lost foulers , i refed and went down the edge, and was rewarded with a 3 pounder, back out to 13 mtrs and i had another carp and a 2lb skimmer then that line died, by now and we were halfway through, and it appeared our end of the lake was fishing best as jason(gollum)radford on 15 had a few fish from the margin as had martin on 17 and andy(ruby)murry on 23, also peter sivell on 6 was getting some on corn down the edge, and bristols newest silver ace(move aside shrimphead this boy is c(r)lass)leyton palmer on 10 was getting some skimmers on soft pellet, by the end i had managed 4 carp from the margins and 4 from the long pole 3 from 16 mtrs and 1 at 13 plus 3 reasonable skimmers and a few roaches, it was pete sivell,s day in the end as he had 12 carp plus a few bits for 59.7 all taken on corn over micro,s down his right hand margin on peg 6
jason radford on 15 had 42.13 on peg 15 using maggot in his left hand margin
3rd martin lenaghan 37.15 peg 17
4th tony rixon 37.7 peg 19
5th andy curry 36.14 peg 23
6th chris(i want an empty peg each side)fox 22.14 peg 27
silvers leyton palmer 15.14 peg 10
steve kedge 11.2 peg 13
the water must have warmed up as the fish were bubbling a bit today, not fizzing , just enough bubbles to let you know something was there,aaaaaah roll on spring.

chilton weds

only 11 booked in today so we used peg 10 round the top end of woodlands lake to peg 27 giving everyone a bit of room . i let the wannabe fishery manager (misha)draw for me and she handed me peg 10 , which was the end peg today, so no compl;aints from me, i had alan oram for company on 11 and venue ace and still self proclaimed silvers ace mat tomes on his favourite peg 13.
with the fresh southerly wind blowing and across us i decided to set up a 1.5 grm rig as the tow would be going with the wind on ouir side of the lake plus it was nearly 8 ft deep. at the business end i had an 18 6313 to .10. i also set up a 4x14 rig to fish down the margin.
at the start i cupped in some soaked micro,s at 11 mtrs and began feeding some dead maggots down the margin, i did feed the margin and fished it several time but never had a sign of a bite so that was a waste of time.
beginning at 11 mtrs with double maggot, i had my first bite after 15 mins which resulted in a 4lb carp which led me a merry dance on 4 elastic, i had 2 more carp in the first hour , then i changed to an 8 elastic and only had one more carp and the rest of the match was spent catching small roach. opposite me adrian clark and jason radford both had 3 carp at the same stage but they also had a few good skimmers so it was to close to call. alan oram at the next peg took 2 carp in the last 30 mins from his margin, but the whole lake seemed to have switched off for the 2nd half, so i just kept catching odd small roach up to the end and i thought i would just about have enough and thats how it ended up with my 4 carp going 16.5 and my silvers went 6lb for a 22.5 total and first
2nd went to adrian clark with 17.10 which included the top silvers weight of 8.13 off peg 27
3rd alan oram 14.14 peg 11
4th jason(lofty)radford 13.3 peg 26
5th martin lenaghan 9.15 peg 15
6th nigel bartlett 8.6 peg 24
chilton have got there xmas open on 23 jan draw at 8.30 ring sue or misha on 07720542141 to book in

still chilly chilton

i had 17 booked in today but with rich coles not showing as he is to old and his side kick paul locke out with man flu there were only 15 of us huddled in the car park by woodlands lake, and by the time 6 of those decided that they werent up to some serious ice breaking we were left with 9, so on with the draw and we only used the far bank as the ice was only 3 1/2 inches thick, luckily andy hembrow had taken the 5 ton digger round the day before and broke all the pegs to about 3 mtrs so fairplay to him, also brian shanks knocked us up some more ice breakers that weigh 10lb but they still took 2 or 3 chucks to make a hole but once through they sawed well, but it still took 40 mins to clear to 6 mtrs. i was drawn on peg 11 which is a good draw, that good that even mat(lightweight)tomes managed to win off it last time we were here, he weighed 24lb but i think it will need less today,
by the time we started most people had managed to clear to 6 mtrs which should be enough as this is a deep venue with most people having 7 to 8 foot at 6 mtrs. the rig today was the same as last time ,a 1 grm affair with a 20 6313 on .10 .
at the start i cupped in 6 mags and 20 soaked micro,s, it took me 10 mins to get my first bite and that was a small roach, a ferw minutes later and i had a 5oz skimmer and for the next 90 mins i had a few more small roach and to be honest i was doing ok as by this time the only other person with fish was andy hembrow on 14, and that was only a small roach. on the 2 hour mark i had a bit of a scare as mike west on 9 hooked a carp down his margin luckily after a short tussle it came off, but i didnt laugh(like fxxx), and that was really the end of my match as i only had 3 more small roach during the last half, so i had to wait it out and watch everone else get some small roach towards the end with alan oram on 15 seemingly doing the best towards the end catching over a ball of g bait he fed towards the end. my plan of feeding a couple of maggots and micro,s after each fish worked to a fashion but with such limited space to fish in you dont get many options when things stop happening. mike west gave me another scare 5 mins from the end when he hooked another fish down the edge which turned out to be a good roach of well over a pound so he still might beat me with one fish as i thought i only had about 1lb 6oz but in the end i just scraped it with a hard won 1lb 12oz
2nd went to alan oram with his late burst which went 1lb 8oz
3rd mike(1 roach)west 1lb 5oz
4th phil(fabsy)harding 13oz
5th mark(bunt)broomsgrove 8oz
6th mike chapman 6oz
a couple of thanks, one to andy hembrow for breaking some pegs even though he nearly ended up in the lake when peg 30 collapsed and he nearly went in with the digger (clean pants please). misha for the coffee,s and warm sausage rolls and mike west for doing an absolutely brilliant job of cleaning my peg of ice, cheers mate.
so there ended a really difficult day, but there is a thaw now for a few days at least so hopefully the lakes will lose there hard hats

chilly chilton

a quick call to sue on tuesday to see how thick the top coat was, she told me it was about an inch thick tops , so it was game on for weds. as expected it wasnt going to be busy as there was only 11 booked and with leyton(sicknote)palmer not showing(i hope he aint ill. we decided to stop at hilltop cafe for a liver brekkie. i know now why i dont go there any more, the breakfast was dear and crap and the staff hadnt cheered up so it will be a while again till i visit it . a quick walk round with the breakers(of which we lost a couple)broke out 10 swims to 4 or 5 mtrs with the far bank ice only being half an inch i would have liked a draw on that side, but no i let plip plop draw for me and he handed me 31 which is just over the bridge and to the left. i had alan(stalker)oram on my left and bridgwater,s very own 2012 powerlifting hope none other than the mighty steve kedge on my right. at the start i cupped in 1 ball of dark g bait on the right hand side of my ice channel and a few casters and maggots on the left. i had a 1grm rig with an 18 6313 on .10. i put on a single red and went over the g bait but never had a bite , and to be honest i only had a few small roach over it all day, so i think the g bait was like the kiss of death today, i pulled the rig over the caster line and on the 30 minute mark i had my first bite which resulted in a 3lb common being safely netted, by now the gimp and the shrimp had both had a carp each plus some small silvers. it was turning into a lake of 2 halves as i had pete sivell opposite me and all we could catch were small roach and rudd with the occasional small skimmer , while the anglers to my right and pete,s left were getting some better silvers and odd carp with both the gimp and the shrimp ending up with 4 carp each but the shrimp was always going to win as he was getting some skimmers and a bonus 3lb bream, mat tomes did spend a lot of time on the phone today so i can only assume he was on a pole fishing helpline and that the expert on the other end was telling him what to do and it must have been good advice as he managed a comfortable win on a hard day with 24.13 which also included the top silvers weight on the day of 9.10 all taken on maggot over micro,s on peg 11
2nd went the way of john (the gimp)bradford on 14 with 17.3
3rd steve kedge 12.14 peg 29
4th tony rixon 10.8 peg 31
5th nick(plip plop)davidson 6.3 peg 17
6th pete sivell 5.14 peg 9

trinity(and it aint the lighthouse)

it was a hastily arranged affair as there wasnt anything on really ,so we ended up with 21 fishing, paul elmes drew for me and handed me 11 which is abouit halfway up the far bank, not to bad a draw , for company i had dean on my right and garry wall on my left. three rigs today , a 1grm j3 with a 16 b960 to fish the deck at 13 mtrs(it was to windy to go any further)in 9 foot of water, an impact 10 4x12 with a 18 b960 for up in the water and a 4x12 j3 for down the edge on .18 with a xedion 16 for meat.
at the start i cupped in some 6,s at 13 mtrs and threw some meat down to the empty pallet to my left. i fished at 13 mtrs on the deck and was rewarded with 2 bites and lost fouler in the first 45 mins, by now dean was fishing shallow but getting plagued with roach so i thought i would let him carry on with that unless he had a carp or two then i would have a go, by now the wind was making it ny on impassible the get any presentation, and apart from tom magnol on peg 2 , out of the wind catching smallish carp no one was doing any good,
2 hours in and i had taken 2 small carp on the deck and dean had 3 shallow, i went out with the shallow rig with a banded 8 on but got roached out and i couldnt hit the bites and it wasnt helping that i couldnt hold my pole still.
i decided to go down the edge but again it was only roach bites, this wasnt going to plan at all, i re plumbed close to the bank to my left which was about 18 inches shallower than by the pallet , threw in some meat and went back out to 13 mtrs, starting on the deck i took a couple more small carp and lost 3 foulers, by now dean had caught s few more small carp shallow and also some quality f1,s and gary on my other side had now had some carp on paste at 7 mtrs and was beginning to get somebites down the edge as well, with no bites deep now and only roach bites shallow i was falling behind and the 13 mtr lines showed no signs of coming to life, it was back down the edge on meat , i will be honest and say i missed loads of bites and lost 6 or 7 carp cos they were going through snags and dissapearing around the legs of the platform faster than i could get the pole back but i did manage to land 5 carp 1 tench and a good f1 by the end .but i had been proper battered each side, gary wall on peg 13 won with 70.13 on paste thats 2 wins in 2 days, he,s going for the hat trick at landsend tommorrow and i wont be betting against him
2nd tom magnol on peg 2 with69.13 of mainly shallow caught fish
3rd chris fox 50.7 peg 23
4th dean malin 44.2 peg 10 and he had top silvers with 18.10
5th paul elmes 41.3 peg 30
6th ryan summerhayes 39./10 peg 5
poor old shrimp head is back in hospital again with his belly bother, so get well soon matey .
so i,ve suffered the dreaded chip shop sausage syndrome today(battered all round)but tomorrow is another day so roll on landsend.
oh yes and i weighed 28 lb

chilton trinity with fry,s

as always you are going to get a good laugh with the fry,s club and today was no exception with pete sivell taking the p out of most people but i wont mention that he was last today , dean malin rolling around on the floor with mr chub, who came off worst with a suspected broken rib and a bruised kidney , all self diagnosed i hasten to add. and not forgetting the one and only steve preece aka" the beast".who if ever there was to be a stage show of punch and judy , he would get the lead role cos he has the laugh and he certainly has the nose for it.
back to the draw and i got 11 (frys own pegging)on the new bank. new cos the bank has been levelled and all the trees cut down to let the wind get to the water. setting up 2 rigs , the first was a 1grm rig with an 18 t6313 to .10 to fish over g bait at 13 mtrs and a 1.5 grm rig for 16mtrs with an 18 808 to .12 to fish pellet corn and maggot over micro,s.
merv sivell was busy chatting so the match was started 5 mins late , 3 balls of g bait were cupped in with a few casters at 13 mtrs and a ball of softened micros at 16. starting at 13 with a single maggot and the first bite after about 5 mins was a carp which i plyed for a couple of mins before the hook pulled under the pole tip, i dont think it was fouled so as i was trying a different hook for silvers i decided to blame the hook, in the next hour i took several small roach and a 12oz skimmer on maggot or caster but was going nowhere as paul(the fat brother)ratcliffe had taken a couple of carp and skimmers on soft pellet over micro,s at the next peg , so out to 16 mtr with soft pellet, first bite a fouler , then 2 missed bites , then as i dropped the rig back in it went sideways as i must have dropped the rig on the back of a passing carp and that soon came off. i switched to corn on the hook which resulted in a carp and a few skimmers before it went quiet and i had to re feed back to the 13 mtr line and several small roach soon found there way into the net, problem was they were to small to do any good, so i was soon back out on the 16 mtr line wit corn, i was getting indications but i didnt like the way the rig was behaving as the bite were slow small pulls which just didnt look right , so i took the rig off and made up a lighter one , 4x16 impact 6 still wth a 18 808 to .12 it may seem to light as it was 9 foot deep but it just seemed to work better , the bites certainly looked better as it was dotted down to dimple so bites were a case of now you see me now you dont, lovely. bites on the corn stopped so a switch to double maggot put another carp and a few more skimmers in the net.
all this time paul at the next peg had been getting the odd carp and skimmer on pellet , also the fish were fizzing over the micro,s he was putting in whereas i couldnt raise a bubble till the last hour when i began to get some bubbles appearing and i think i had 2 more carp and a couple of good skimmers plus i lost a couple of fowlers.
by the end i thought i had about 10 lb of silvers and 5 small carp for 12 lb, time would tell.
i thought i might be in with a chance of winnig the silvers as no one seemed to have had to much, even got baits finest clive petit with the wonder cloud additive atomic kitten could hardly raise a bite but as he spent most of the day on the tip i aint really suprised but he did have 3 carp. first on the day was john (gimp)bradford , the silver ace had to catch carp in the magins on peg 2 on maggot over caster for 49 .10 14 carp
2nd paul ratcliffe 45.13 12 carp and skimmers on pellet over micro,s peg 12
3rd gary bedford 36.3 peg 9
4th les(broken rib)williams 27.14 peg 10
5th tony rixon 24.11 peg 11 (beat both sides then)
6th the beast 19.8 peg 1
silvers
tony rixon 10.8
dave (the mouse)acherley 9.12
just seen the weather forcast i dont think i will be putting the ice breakers away just yet then

chilton trinity

when i had the chance to go to chilton with the psv boys i jumped at it as i hadnt fished woodlands for a couple of years and it is a nice lake with quality fish in it and you are always assured of a warm welcome from sue and her family.
i drew peg 18 which is at the top of the lake looking straight into the gale which was blowing, if there is a draw back with the lake , it is the depth which was 10 foot at 13 mtrs and 5 foot in the margins. so i set up a 4x18 rig for the long pole and two 4x16 for the margins one for caster iether side at 3mtr for silvers !!!!!!!!!! and one for corn to empty peg 17.
at the start i cupped in some 4mm at 13 mtrs , some corn and pellet by 17 pallet and loose feb caster either side at 3 mtrs,
starting at 13 mtrs on corn i missed a couple of bites on corn so i switched to a 4mm soft pellet and it soon bacame apparent that 6 oz skimmers were the culprits, so i upped the feed by cupping in half a cup of 4mm , i had tried catapulting but the wind was making it nearly impossible to feed properly so i decided that cupping was going to be best.
i thought i would try and get a few silvers down the edge while i waited for the 13 mtr line to settle ,first put in and a missed bite next drop on single caster and carp on , so much for silvers , next put in and another carp was on its way to the net, i fed it again and looked to the right at 3 mtrs and another carp , then nothing, so down to peg 17 which was hard as the wind kept trying to blow the pole up the bank, i missed 3 bites (liners)then connected with another carp , i fed it again and went out to 13 mtrs, where i had a couple of skimmers and carp.
by now darren north on 24 had started to catch shallow on pellet as did paul elmes on 26 , so i set up a shallow rig to give it a go but with the rig blowing back under the pole it just wasnt right so i chucked that up the bank , where darren and paul were they had the wind off there backs slightly making for better presentation and darren told me after that he definately had more bites when there was little or no ripple so i dont think i had much chance of catching shallow, so ijust kept catching odd fish from my 3 margin swim and the 13 mtr line,
at the end i quickly packed up as i had to do the weigh in cos i had sold the club a set of digi scales which some club members didnt like so i wanted to try them to see for myself if there was a problem.
first place went to darren north on peg 24 with 77.12 pellet shallow
2nd paul elmes 69.4 peg 26 again pellet shallow he also had top silver weight with 9.1 which was a few small tench also caught shallow on pellet !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3rd alan healey 63.10 peg 16
4th tony rixon 55.7 peg 18
5 th simon belcham 43.10 peg 3
6 th chris zakis(i hope thats right) 35
as for the scales they were fine , it seems the people who moan the most are the ones that do the least no change there then.