a match of 2 halves

it was another slippery drive down to landsend fishery, so it was no surprise to find the venue solid with an inch of hard water on top. so the ten of us which turned out proceeded to attack the ice with all sorts of things ranging from purpose made breakers to scaffold tubes on ropes to a boat and sledge hammer, it took an hour in which time i lost both of my breakers when the chains snapped and then a piece of scaffold tude , but we cleared 10 swims out to about 10 mtrs so that would do.
gary wall drew for me and handed me peg 34 , which was the winning peg from sunday , but that was a carp weight but today was a silvers match so there was no point in clearing the ice to the bush on the island where they seemed to be holed up. it was another day for 1 rig a 4x12 to .10 with a 20 808 on the end, i was hoping for some roach , perch and perhaps skimmers, chub and f1,s(whats wrong with wishing at xmas).
at the start i cupped in 10 casters and 3 maggots expecting bites straight away, but i had to wait 35 mins for that and i missed it. in the mean time dave hodgson to my left in the corner was getting odd small roach as was jason radford opposite dave but fair play to him he was managing to shake most of them off on the way in, obviously he didnt want to get to far ahead of everybody else.
2 hours in all i had to show for my efforts were 7 small roach , as i could here mr duckett up in the carpark so i wandered up and got a bag of mosella all round g bait . mixing up a small ammount i cupped it in through a kinder with a few casters in and it was as though a light switch had been turned on , the fish werent big but i was now getting regular bites from 1/2 to 1 oz roach, so thats how the second half of the match went . the only other change was to come slightly off bottom and fish caster instead of maggot on the hook as the fish on caster were 1 to 3 oz and i did get a bonus 8 oz perch towards the end. the scales arrived , dave to my left had 3,15 i had 5 lb dead which turned out to be top weight on my half of the lake, but on the other side alan(austen)healey won with 5.11 on peg 26 he had some reasonable perch and skimmers (looks like he had my wishes)all taken on maggot.
2nd next to him was martin lenaghan with 5.5 with perch mainly peg 25
3 rd kev molten the other side of the winner with 5.4 peg 28
4th me 5 lb
5th jason(shake another roach off )radford 4.14 peg 32
6 dave hodgson 3.15 peg 33
at the end of the day we all had bites and caught a few we even had mince pies and hot coffee delivered to our pegs by mr duckett, oh yes and it rained for 2 hours (lovely).
xmas eve es i write this so i hope you all have a good time i wish you all all the best for the new year , but no doubt the goverment will bo its best to screw us all up next year , but as long as they are ok they wont worry to much about us will they? i wonder how many turkey,s will be on there expenses accounts lol
shit i hate xmas

arctic landsend

it was supposed to be the landsend individual league today , but mike had the good sense to cancel it due to it being frozen solid. even though, we still had 20 hardy(dumbasses)souls turn up to break ice, which was 12mm thick after 3 good frosts which have seen temps go down to minus 7 in recent nights. with peg 11 coming out of the draw bag i was happy .
getting to my peg i set about ice breaking and soon had it broken up to 12 mtrs which was just at the bottom of the island shelf. next i went round to peg 13 where mike west was struggling a bit as he had done his back in the day before clearing ice on peg 24. after that i went back to my swim and started to get ready , then jason radford turned up behind me as he couldnt clear the ice due to pullling a muscle in his chest a couple of weeks ago in a fight , and i think the hobbit won!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. i started to clear his peg but luckily tony page took over as he was ready allowing me to go to my peg and get ready.
one rig a 4x14 rig with an 18 808 to .10, i had broken the ice iether side in the margins but by the time i was ready it had frozen over again so that was a none starter, we started at 10.30 and it took me an hour and 20 mins to get a bite, which i missed(must have been i liner). an hour after that i had another bite which i connected with , it came straight to the top and i could see it was a skimmer of about a pound , the problem now was that ice had formed in the channel i had cleared but by keeping the tip below the ice i managed to get it back to the top set but as i lifted it up the elastic connector stuck in the ice and the fish came off (luckily no one laughed,yes right)
i did have 2 more bites and managed to land a 4 oz perch and apart from 2 perch gary wall had on peg 7 no one else on our side caught.
the match was won by martin lenaghan on peg 34 where he had 11 carp on maggot by a bush on the island for 94.10 and it was a golden peg aswell so well done to him so he had a pick up of 275 quid, nice.
2nd and not to far behind was kev molten with 17.10 on peg 19
3rd mat tomes 14.6 on peg 31
4th mark leader 13.12 peg 27
5th mike duckett 13.6 peg 16
6th andy france 12.10 peg 33
silvers were won by that well known silvers ace (i cant believe i just said that )timmy clarke with 9.13 of roach off peg 25 just edging out john bradford on 39 with 9.2 which was the silvers golden peg he was abit gutted as he lost a 2lb tench first put in and he also lost 5 or 6 good perch so he had his chance.
the speci lake fished quite well with people catching roach on most pegs where as on the match lake you couldnt get a bite full stop , very strange.
to be fair landsend didnt fish to bad when you consider viaduct ,where carps were having there xmas match and it was won with less than 4lb and not a single carp was hooked , and when you consider the ammount of fish that are in there it just goes to show how badly this sudden cold snap has upset the fish

winter at avalon

last winter we enjoyed somee good silvers and carp fishing at this venue , so i was expecting the same this year(oh dear). i drew peg 26 but was advised by vic bush that i wasnt very safe as the front of the platform had gone and was sloping towards the water at quite a severe angle, and he was right and as it was damp it was like ice ,so i moved onto 27 after the ok from the people each side, it meant i was next peg to martin lenaghan so at least i could keep an eye on the quid.
i left the rods at home as i wanted to target silvers again so it was 2 rigs again , both 4x16, one with an 18 to .12 and the other had a 20 to .10, 3 lines to day ,13 mtrs over g bait and 2 at 16mtrs over micros at 11 and 1 o,clock. on the whistle i cupped in 4 balls at 13 mtrs and sprinkled some micros over the 2 lines at 16 mtrs.
straight over the g bait and a roach first put in , then not another bite for 45 mins then another small roach then a perch then nothing again, so i put in a soft ball of g bait at 13 mtrs then went out to 16 mtrs with asoft 4mm on , a 4 oz skimmer straight away then nothing , so out with maggot ,and a couple more small skimmers were soon in the net , this was really hard with the fish really struggling to pull the float under. stangely the fish didnt seem to want to sit over the gbait but by swapping between the 2 16 mtr lines and by introducing a few maggots in with micros the swim did improve so by the end i was getting fairly regular bites from skimmers between 2 oz and a pound although the pounder was a one off. also the 20 hook to .10 seemed to get more bites, the only person i could see catching with any regularity was brian shanks on 32 , as he had had 2 carp and quite a few silvers , when the scales arrived it became apparent as to how hard it had fished, brian won with 20.5 which was 2 carp for 10.9 and the top silver weight aswell with 9.12 of roach and skimmers with all his fish being taken on maggot or caster at 16 mtrs over chopped worm and caster,
i was joint second with my skimmer net going 7.10 which was the same as ian dawe who had 1 carp and a couple of bits on peg 24 , although he did lose 7 carp under the tree in the corner
4 th was alan oram with 7.7 on peg 44
5th adrian bishop 4.15 peg 40
6th martin lenaghan whose 1 carp went 4.13 peg 28 and i had his quid he was gutted(but he is lead chucker so it was even sweeter. even though his leads and feeders spent more time in the tree,s than in the water , i dont remember there being a squirrel pool)
i think it should improve once the fish get used to the cold weather , cos last year we broke ice and 100 lb was needed to win and 20 lb to win the silvers and it cant get any harder can it !!!!!!!!
and i got to get me thermal boots out cos me feet was froze. off to landsend lake 4 this weekend and there were blanks on it last weekend , so perhaps it will!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

landsend sunday xmas

with 39 booked in mike decided to spread the match over 3 1/2 lakes giving us all plenty of room. i drew for myself and pulled 31 on the speci lake , for those of you that know it ,it can be one of the best pegs on the venue in colder months, and its a peg where it is possible to catch well off bottom whatever the weather , probably due to the rotting hay bale on the deck around the end of the island and the evergreen shrub growing around the end of the island , giving them a roof on there house.
2 rigs again today one up the shelf 4x10 on .14 with an 18 xedion hook(strong and reliable), and a 4x14 again same line and hook, on the whistle and i cupped in some soaked 3,s at about 15 mtrs at the base of the island slope and went in with corn on the hook , i had a few indications but had to wait 30 mins until the float buried properly and the first carp was on ,problem was it wasnt in the mouth, it shot round the island and broke me . i stuck with the same rig for another 1/2 hour , i was getting indications but no proper bites , but i did manage to hook a nasty snag which appeared to be all around the end of the island , i think its the mesh tube the hay bale used to be in, the thing seems to have broken up now , i think mike has tried to get it out but the roots from the plants have grown through it making it hard to budge ,it will need a tractor to remove it or better still if mike can get nick to get his hands out of his pockets for long enough to be thrown in with a pair of shears , and while he,s wet chuck him in the match lake to do the same with that one aswell.
back to my peg and about 1 1/4 hours in and it was out with the half depth rig, then the fun began, fishing treble maggot with 2x no11,s down the line and firing 10 x 3mm,s over the top i think i lost 8 carp before i managed to get one in the mouth and land it, evening shallowing up didnt help , then all of a sudden i began to hook fish properly, most of them taking the bait on the drop so the second half of the match went well and i ended up with 14 carp , which was slightly more than the ammount i lost. i think if i had carried on losing fish a the rate i was early on i may well have lost the plot , jumped up and bown on my pole , tied a brick to my neck and thrown myself into the lake as it was all getting a bit torrid,
as it happened i didnt need those lost fish as the 14 i had went 105.1 for a comfortable win and the big hamper
2nd was andy france with 46.8 on peg 41 using soft pellet(avon anglings finest softy,s)
3rd jason radford 41.14 peg 34 on caster. unfortunately jason cant go now till after xmas as he got to do his shift in santa,s grotto
4th dave hodgson 37.14 peg 58 again on soft pellet
5th dean(me bitch) malin 33.11 peg 32 (oh is that next to me)
6th john bradford 33.5 which also included the best silvers weight on the day,16.14 mainly crucians and f1,s on softy,s
now a couple o thankyou,s firstly to di and dawn the twins for putting on a good spread after the match and to mike for his normal brilliant organisational skills(i cant believe i said that , never mind believe it), and an extra special thanks to mr mike nicholls for not putting the peg under to much pressure on wednesdays match, cheers matey.

landsend wednesday xmas

mike duckett does 2 xmas matches one on wednesday and 1 on sunday but this will be the last year for 2 matches. its good prizes and good food after courtesy of di , she always does to much.
the draw wasnt particularly kind with peg 3 being mine for the day. not a very good carp peg at this time of year so i thought a day just fishing for bites off anything would be in order with the emphasis on silvers, two rigs was all i set up, one for caster at 12 mtrs straight across which was a 4x12 float with .10 to an 18 808 and it would do for iether side down the edge as it was the same depth, and a 4x14 rig with also an 18 808 to .12 for the soft pellet at 10 and 2 o,clock at 14.5 mtrs.
at the start i cupped in some casters with a few micro,s at 12 mtrs , and just micro,s on both 14.5 mtr lines , and started loose feeding some iether side at 4 mtrs. starting on the caster i started getting small roach straight away then i had a decent perch(12 oz) then i lost a series of good perch , i dont know why but they just seem to come off half way back for no reason, so after i scared them off it was back to mr nicholl,s ronnies , but i did get a 5lb carp about an hour in on the caster line .
after about an hour and a half i refed the pellet lines with a small ammount of micro,s on each , and do or die i put in about half a large pot of caster with a few micro,s in on the 12 mtr line in an attempt to feed off the small roach and attract some quality.
going to the right hand pellet line i sat there tweeking a 4mm soft pellet around but with no response,, so a look to the left, the float settled and went under and a 1 1/2 lb skimmer was duly netted, next drop and a 3lb carp found its way into the old onion sack, then as expected it went quiet so some more micro,s went into the left and a switch to the right , this time after a couple of missed bites and another skimmer was netted , then next put in and another one netted, then the same as the other side and it went quiet again so more feed and back to the left , with 2 good skimmers and a nice crucian were had , back to the right but no bites so i fed both lines with a reasonable ammount of pellet and then back to the caster line, and the big dump of caster seemed to have done the trick as i had a good spell on the single caster with several good skimmers a 3 lb perch and a nice ide all finding there way into the net, that good spell probably went on for about 50 minutes in which time i put about 10 lb in the net , i now thought i had made the right decision to go for silvers especially as i could see and hear vic bush on 11 and dean malin on 16 catching carp, both as it turned out were catching on caster. i couldnt see what was going on on the speci lake but judging by the banter it wasnt fishing that well, so i stuck to what i was doing picking off the odd fish from all lines . i even had small roach and perch down the edge but they were a bit to small to spend to much time on.
by the end i thought i might have 18 lb of silvers and 3 small carp for a total of 28 to 30 lb(wrong) i weighed in 29.2 of silvers and the three carp went 11.2 for a total of 40.10 , for first in the silvers and 4 th overall.
the match was won by vic bush on 11 with 87.4 taken on caster at 12 mtrs (he dont go for months and then draws the most consistent peg in somerset ha ha )
2 nd dean (i,ve only got 13 x 2 pounders)malin on peg 16 with 73.2 again mostly taken on caster by a bush to his left.
3 rd adrian clarke peg36 (how did he avoid the corners) with 64.15
4 th me 40.10 peg 3
5 th alan oram 32.2 on peg 25
6th andy bryant 29 on peg 13 and its rumoured he had them all in the mouth
back there again on sunday and theer are already over 30 booked in so it will be on 3 lakes with plenty of room.
i must mention fabio cos he is moaning i didnt say that he won a quid off me at the weekend its just a shame i got to offer him 10 to 1 on our weights in his favour just to get a bet.
also last weekend martin mcmahon was off to viaduct with the carpenters arms 2000 , he loves to be prepared does martin and artificial corn was going to play a part in his day so where do sort your rigs out , well its obvious innit , you do it whilst having your monthly bath , but i dont think it was quite what tracy had in mind when martin gave her a call to come and have a look at his pop up in the bath.

viaduct first tme for a while

there were 24 booked in today so cary and lodge were deing used, loads of room, only problem was that it had rained all night and it was still raining as we drove to the venue.
as we got there a bit early dean and me had a quick walk around spring lake which had been drained so it could be de-silted, it certainly looks a bit deeper, i think they have taken out something like 8000 tons of silt, also steve long is now the sole owner of the fishery and i think he will do really well, but i do think he will struggle with the physical side of the work around the complex without mr p pointing out as to what needs doing lol.
back to the draw and i ended up with 80 which is the carpark side of the spit, with the wind coming off my back on a slight angle at least it was comfy, those who know me will know my thoughts on lead chucking so i set up a wag to fish past the point which has worked for me in the past . pole rigs were two 4x14 rigs 1 to .10 with an 18 808 for the grondbait line and one to .12 to a 16 808 for caster against the spit for perch and possibly a tench.
on the all in i fired some corn out past the spit , cupped in 5 balls of g bait at 16 mtrs at 1 o,clock and cupped caster at the bottom of the shelf by the spit at 16 mtr, why 16 mtr , mainly cos it was flat calm due to the wind direction , and the silvers generally like a bit of ripple on there heads, also i started feeding a few casters at 5 mtr just in case. i would like to say i chucked out the wag and i buried with a carp on the end but no, i stuck with for over an hour with only 1 8oz skimmer to show for my efforts . on to the pole over the g b with maggot and a small roach followed by some missed bites which i put down to more small roach, on with a caster , i had to wait for a bite but when it came it was a 12 oz skimmer, but due to the flat water in front of me bites were a bit finicky, then the wind changed and started blowing up the lake putting ripple on my peg, and it changed almost straight away , with the float going under properly with skimmers between 3oz and 2lb and for the next 2 hours i got enough bites to make it interesting, every time the bites slowed i put in another ball and bites returned . i did have the odd look over the caster line by the spit but only had 2 small roach .
about an hour and a half from the end the wind died and so did the bites so i had to resort to the maggot hook bait again picking off the odd small roach up to the end, i did hook a carp about 35 mins from the end but it wasnt in the mouth and it came off after a few seconds.
at the end i thought i might be in with a chance of picking up some silvers money (it must come with hair colour mike), the only person i could see catching silvers was nigel bartlett on 94 who had been catching small fish all day and he ended up with 15.13 to win the silvers as mine went 14.15(that would be the 1lb skimmer i hit off with the landing net then).
the match was won by tim(64 turns)pallant on 85 with some carp on bread on the lead and a couple down the edge on worm with some perch and a tench
2nd was lewis moore on 88 with 38.7 on the lead
3rd barry fitchew 37.2 on the lead peg 78
4th dave roper 27.1 peg 102 on the lead
5th gary wall 24.15 peg 87 on the pole (yay)
6th phil cardwell 23.12 peg 70 on the wag and pole
i hind sight i should have chucked the lead but it is mind numbing and i have had a better days sport than those that have framed and to be honest we go to enjoy what we do , and for me that doesnt entail sitting there waiting for a carp to catch me but fair play for those who do you must have endless patience.

landsend weds

we should have been going to avalon, but as the lakes were being netted and electro fished on tuesday we re-arranged for landsend.
fabio drew for me so off to 21 it was , whilst he kept peg 1 for himself. it was a lazy day on rigs today , just 2 rigs, both 4x14 one with a 18 808 to .12 for soft pellet and caster over, and one with an 808 18 to .10 for caster at 4 mtr,s.
ot the start i cupped in some softened micro,s at 10 and 2 , some caster,s straight across. i started at 4 mtr,s loose feeding a few casters , but 45 minutes later i was still biteless, unusual as you normally get a few bits if nothing else, i couldnt even get a small perch on maggot.
on with a 4mm pellet and out to 10 o,clock and a good skimmer straight away, soon followed by a second and a f1 type thing, then it went quiet, so some more micro,s went in and a switch to 2 o,clock with pretty much the same result, so switching and feeding between the two lines it was possible to keep a few bites going .bites on the caster lines ,over and at 4 mtr,s were none existent until the last hour and a half , when i had a couple of reasonable perch and a chub but it was really hard going. i did get 2 carp on the soft pellet on the 2 o, clock line, so by the end i reckon i had 17 or 18 lb of silvers and 2 carp for 12 lb which i thought might just sneak me into 2nd spot , only the scales would tell.
the match was predictably won by nick duckett on peg 11 with 53.5 taken on corn and caster
2nd was dale(boy)howsen on 13 with 34.12 on caster
3rd was me with 34.5 which included 23.8 of silvers , mainly skimmers
4th martin alexander 32.12 peg 16
5th 23.8 mike duckett peg 19
6th mark lehay 21.9 peg 5
and what about fabio well he didnt weigh , i think he did probably have lots of bites but the poor fish must have trouble pulling his float under , its bad enough with just a big yellow bristle catching your eye , but when part of the body is in view as well its most off putting, i am going to put a collection box on the counter for him so he can buy some shot.