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Wednesday 28 April 2010

pole only at viaduct

it was a good turn out again as 26 were booked in, i thought tim pallant might have turned up to this one , but perhaps the zip on the back head was stuck so he couldnt get his brain back in, lol.
i ended up with 110 today which is a corner peg on cambell, its not shown to much good form of late but its warmed up so i did quite fancy it , and i think gary bedford had 70 or 80 lb on it at the weekend so there were a few fish about, i must admit i really fancied a draw on cary to win , but time would tell.
five rigs today , a 4x12 j range float with the line going through the body, a couple of 4x12 impact 6,s ,one for by the stump to my left and one for 16 mtrs to my left by the brambles , a 4x10 impact 1 for corn down to my right (which i never used), and an impact 10 for up in the water.
all rigs had my favourite size 16 b960 to .16 with a hair rigged band on.
on the whistle i cupped in some 6mm,s at 16 mtr straight out and some at the same distance down the left towards the brambles, fed some by hand by the stump to my left at 6 mtrs and put 1/2 a pot of corn at the same distance to my right.
starting at 16 mtrs in front it wasnt long befor i was playing my first carp, with that safely in the net it was out with the same 8mm pellet in the band but i lost the next 3(not so good). i started feeding with a catty now and began to put a few in the net, by the end of the first hour i had 7 in the net but had probably lost the same, as foulers were a bit of a problem, looking around i could see most people were getting a few so it was going to be hard to call today.
2 hours in and i had a look down by the stump and i had a good run of tench and a couple of carp, this lasted for 45 mins then it went off there so back out to 16 mtrs and 3 or 4 more carp including 2 shallow but that line was getting harder now , i had been feeding by the brambles all this time and with 2 1/2 hours to go it was time to have a look and i caught steadily up to the end , mainly carp with a spattering of tench, each time i looked round i could see dean malin, mark harper and vince brown all catching well, vince was shallow on pellet, mark was catching well down the edge on corn and dean was also down the edge on pellet, over on the other bank alan healey on 127 had been catching mainly shallow on pellet. on cary tony witcomb on 94 was admitting to 20 carp while tom (rent boy )thick had 17 carp and a lot of skimmers on 103 , and with the fish on cary being a lot bigger it was going to be very hard to call, i ended up with 40 carp and a bout 25 lb of silvers for hopefully 160lb ish only the scales would tell.
in the end vince brown had 216.2 on peg 116 shallow on pellet at 16 mtrs
2nd tom thick with 200.6 on 103 all falling to paste fished down his left margin
3rd tony rixon 183.3
4th mark harper 176.14 peg 115
5th dean (idiot)malin 174.14 peg 114 he had about 15 lb to much in a net haha
6th tony witcomb 167.7 peg 94
sivers
tom thick 34.14
charlie barnes 29.2 peg 76
what a good match ,with 17 weights over 100lb including 2 people wiyh over 200 lb , perhaps with it being pole only it encouraged the fish to come closer , as no one was feeding them out in the middle they had to come to the pole line or it could just be that they wanted to be there , who knows!!!!!!!
i was next to adrian jeffrey today who has been having it abit hard of late and really struggling to catch, even today he was getting lots of bites but failing to connect with anything, mind you it doesnt help when you fish with a hair rigged banded pellet and you dont have a hook on!!!!!!!!
it must be an age thing.

Sunday 25 April 2010

cider farm

it was supposed to be a talk angling and bus company pairs match today ,but as the bus boys had an important meeting about closing a depot they couldnt make it , so i said i would take it over so as they didnt lose there deposit. we still managed to put 26 anglers on the bank so its another reasonable turnout.
steve lippett drew for me and handed me peg 40, as i havent been here to often i didnt ave any idea as to what the peg was like, but as i was next to venue regular rod wootten on 41 i thought it would probably be ok, to be fair it lokked good with an island opposite with 4 ft reeds growing off it, so i made up a 4x14 impact 4 with a 16 b960 to .16 for hair rigged pellet, the same rig would do for down the edge each side as it was the same depth . a 4x10 for over by the island to my right as i had bare bank to fish up to , and a dibber for shallow just in case , both rigs on .16 with the usual b960.
starting over against the reeds opposite it wasnt long before i was getting liners but no matter what i was really struggling to transfer anything into a bite , and the reeds were going potty, i did manage a couple of fish from the reeds but it was full of snags , no matter how i fed it i just couldnt make any sense out of it , even with odd fish showing and the reeds knocking i couldnt get a sensible resonse on the deck or shallow so dumped a big pot of 6,s in and went some where else!!!!!!!!!!.
a quick look down the margins each side rusulted in a couple off carp then it went quiet there so i turned my attentions to the right hand island,i took a few fish befor it went quiet , over to the reeds again but a snag had now appeared, 2 foot off the bottom where i had cupped in my pellet, it wasnt there just now so i decided to quit that line and concentrate on my margins and the right hand island . chris davis on 38 was now catching regular by fishing behind the weeds and dragging all his fish over the top, it seemed a bit brutal but it was effective, and funny cos those of you that know chris will bne aware of his tantrums , and ater pulling for a break again as he had snagged the reads again the float came back and hit his finger , he was off his box nurseing his finger and kicking his rod bag and swearing loudly(never a dull moment next to chris).
by rotating around my swim i kept odd fish going so by the end i had 26 carp and 1 skimmer and i thought i had upper 40 lb, i seemed that it would be out of chris and ryan summerhayes on 20 who had been catching steadily down his right hand margin on paste .
as itturned out chris davis,s skull dragging technique had paid off as his net went 77.11 peg 38
2nd was 15 year old ryan summerhayes with 69.12, some one to watch in the future me thinks
3rd phil (fabio)harding on 46 with51.8 and another 2 quid off me to boot
4th was cyril darks finest carpet fitter mitchell artus with48.6 off peg 58
5th tony rixon 46.10 peg 40
6th rod wootten 43.11 peg 41
silvers went to dean maln on 28 with 13.3 on maggot down the edge he had 4 good skimmers and lots of little roach and rudd.
its a nice venue that has matured well its just a shame the reeds have got such a good hold as the fish spend most of the day in them at the mo, hopefully they will be more inclined to come out and play as the weather and water warms up

Wednesday 21 April 2010

landsend, return of the paste master

another reasonable turn out today with 18 fishing so we used the match lake and the far bank of the speci. gary wall drew me 27 on the speci , which i wasnt to upset about, its always capable of throwing up a good carp weight and there have been some good skimmers showing over the last few weeks.
arriving at the peg i was suprised to see some spawning activity going on , the f1,s were having a go in the margins so i didnt think they would be to keen to feed.
4 rigs today , one shallow just in case, a 4x10 for up the shelf over by the island a 4x12 for just down the shelf and 4x14 with a 16 6313 to .12 for 11mtrs on soft pellet, all the other rigs were .16 with a 16 b960 for hair rigged banded pellet, the 4x10 rig would do for down my margin as it was the same depth(15 inches)as over by the island.
at the start i cupped in some soaked 3mm,s at 11 mtr and started firing 6mm over to the island , and feeding a few down the edge, starting at 11 mtr on soft pellet i had a couple of skimmers in the first 15 mins then the roach moved in and when these little buggers turn up you dont catch much else , i tried dumping a big pot in but that just made it worse with me missing every bite
its ok catching these little devils on your top set but you aint going to do any good catching them at 11 mtrs.
so the island and the carp , starting down the shelf with an 8mm pellet i had a 8lb carp in the net within 10 mins then a couple of liners and a lost fouler had me reaching for the on top of the shelf rig, as always on these pegs you can see carp activity all along the island so you know you are going to get bites , and sure enough it wasnt long befor i hooked and landed my first fish from the island, when fishing against the island it dosent pay to keep your bait still keep feeding and lift and drop your bait all the time and most of the bites came on the drop, i did keep trying the shallow rig but i never had a fish on that, i could see fabio on 31(that peg is like a second home to him), also tony witcomd was getting an odd fish on 32 using the old slime bait. halfway through i went down the edge and started getting chub, i also had a carp then it went quiet down there so it was back to the island, several carp later it was back down the edge for a couple more, by swapping between the two lines i caught odd fish right to the end, as far as our lake was going john smith and charlie barnes hadnt caught to much, fabio had about 100 lb but tony witcomb had had a flying last 2 hours so he had probably beaten me, as for the match lake i didnt have a clue, but dean wandered round and said there were possibly, three 100lb plus weights on that lake as well.
as it turned out tony witcomb won with 160.2 on peg 32 fishing paste up the edge at 14 mtr (where have these fair weather fairies been all winter)
2nd was adrian bishop on 22 with 138.10 caught properly on shallow pellet(and its not just me who puts to much in one net is it adrian)
3rd tony rixon 128.14 peg 27
4th phil (fabio) harding 108.9 peg 31
5th jamie dyte 98.15 peg 19
6th dean malin 98.10 peg 3
silvers went to the thatchers rent boy tom thick with 35.10 on peg 10 fishing caster and soft pellet between 6 and 13 mtrs taking ide, tench , skimmers and f1,s

Sunday 18 April 2010

acorn new lake

it was the first proper match on the venues new snake lake, it has 43 permanent pegs so with 30 of us on it today it would be interesting , there have been a few pleasure anglers on it during the week , and it seems all baits and methods were working so it would come down to fishing to your strengths, also we didnt know which pegs or areas would be best as there was nothing to go on.
paul faires drew for me and gave me peg 19 which gave me 2 empty pegs to my left as it was on a bend and i had my travelling partner dean malin on 18 next door. the plan was to fish caster at 3mtrs for perch and pellet over up and down the shelf with banded pellet, i set up two 4x14 impact 6 rigs one with an 18 6313 to .12 for the perch and one with a 18 b960 for pellet at the bottom of the far shelf and a 4x10 impact 1 with a 18 b960 to .14 for on top of the far shelf, with the lake only 12 mtrs wide it was going to be comfortable day . starting at 3 mtrs on caster it took about 5 mins to get a bite and a 8 oz perch was in the net then a small carp then a 4lb carp then some more perch but after an hour that line was all but dead, dean next door had faired slightly better taking a few more perch than me and several small carp but his line was dieing now so it was over at the bottom of the far shelf, i had been firing 4mm pellets over this line and up the far shelf from the start, first drop on an 8mm pellet and i fouled a 6 pounder up the ass i played it for several minutes even touching it with the net but it came off , next drop and i had a 4 lb carp then i couldnt get another bite there so it was out with the up the shelf rig. and it was bites straight away but the fish were small between 4 and 12 oz but there seemed to be plenty there. looking around most people seemed to be targetting the far side and it kept going till about an hour and a half from the end when the fish dissapeared .
i began feeding 13 mtrs to me left up the shelf and started to catch again . i was a bit slow really as steve hucthinson on 17 next to the bridge had been catching on caster from the start but his fish were slightly smaller than fish on the pellet but dean spotted whet he was ding came up and stole my casters and caught well till the end the smaller fish certainly responded to the caster at our end of the lake. the match was won by john dursley on peg 5 which is the end peg over the bridge on the island he weighed in 97.5 on corn at 13 mtrs
2nd was jim jenner with 74.9 on peg 8
3rd steve hutchinson 70.9 on peg 17
4th chris fox 66.15 peg 21
5th tony rixon 64.5 peg 19
6th timmy (wingnut) clarke 62 peg 2
silvers charlie barnes 15 lb peg 13 mainly perch on chopped worm
as long as they dont get any problems it will certainly be a good venue as the fish are in excellent condition and with a new aerater system going in befor the summer it should keep it nice, it could do with a bit more cover on the bank but that all takes time dont it.
so mr tomes you missed a good match but there are probably to many fish in there for you. i hope the sea fishing went well.

Wednesday 14 April 2010

nearly right at viaduct

we were nearly last to draw as i was running a bit late but i wasnt to dissapointed to pull 86 on cary , which has been a proper good lead peg for months , but i didnt want to do that so i decided that it would be a pole and wag job,no lead as i am still waiting for my operation date to put the zip in the back of my head so as i can take my brain out and sit looking at a tip fr 6 hours(but it probably cost me today).
the wag was to fish on the deck as i thought it was to cold to catch shallow ,the end bit was the usual sie 16 b960 to .16 set to fish 5 foot deep as that was the approx depth at 30 mtrs, and with the wind coming off my back it should be a doddle, the intention was to fish and feed 8mm hard pellets but it is the most difficult bank on the complex to see your float due to the backdrop of trees,houses up on the hill and the ripple , i couldnt see black ,orange or yellow, so i only had 2 casts on it the entire match so that was left up the bank for 6 hours.
the pole rig was a 4x12 impact 6 with a b960 to .16 for hair rigged pellet.
at the start i cupped in about 40 4mm pellets and slipped a 6mm in the band and shipped out , and within 2 mins i had a carp on, paul greenwood on 87 hadnt even finished cupping in, a few minutes later and an 8 lb carp was in the net, during the firsthour i had 6 carp and a couple of skimmers , i had been feeding with a catty but after a couple of foulers i tried potting 4mm pellets with a kinder after each fish and that certainly helped . also a switch to 8mm on the hook seemed to give more positive bites. john green on 85 had set his stall out to fish for carp all day and was switching between the wag and lead but it wasnt until the last hour that he began to string a few fish together, i could also see paul blake on 78 getting the odd fish on meat on the lead, the person i couldnt see was tim palant on 80 which is hidden from view by a spit which goes about 25 mtrs out into the lake, but i did hear the odd splash so i new he had caught, also i couldnt see how the rest of the match on cambell was fairing iether .
by the end i had 16 carp and some reasonable skimmers, when steve turned up with the scales my silvers went 15 lb ish my first carp net was shade under 65 lb(6 fish)and my other net went 82 1/2 lb (10 fish) which was over the fishery net limit as it is only 80 lb max in a net i hoped it wouldnt cost me.
tim palant on 80 won in the end with 164.3 on 11mm pellet on the lead(he has had the op and has been making full use of it all winter)
2nd was me with 160.4 so the extra didnt cost me
3rd alan oram 144.2 peg 128 on the lead and pellet
4th mash with 142.5 peg 112
5th paul blake 141.10 peg 78
6th lee wherret 139.4 peg 114
silvers
steve jackson with 92.7 on 123 mostly tench on caster at 13 mtrs
all in all a very good close match with no one running away with , thats just how a match should be

Sunday 11 April 2010

its all gone pear shaped at avalon

fabio drew for me and i drew for him today, he draws 23 for me which is the top left corner and i drew 24 for him top right corner , now that is wierd.with a north easterly blowing it meant we would be both sat in flat water, not good for silvers or carpas they both seem to be following the wind so a draw further back down the lake would have been favourable but at least i was in the sun.
3 rigs , a 4x16 impact 6 with a 16 6313 to .12 ror corn over micro,s at 16 mtrs.
a 4x14 impact 6 with a 16 b960 to .16 for just up the shelf with banded 8mm , and a 4x12 dibber for up in the water against the reeds with a 18 b960 to .16 for banded pellet.
at the start i cupped in some soaked micro,s at 16 mtrs and some 4,s up and down the shelf at 13 and 16 mtrs. starting at 16 mtrs over the micro,s with maggot on the hook, did that for 30 mins without a bite ,not a good sign, so i left that and went to 16 mtrs up the edge with pellet over pellet and didnt get a bite there either. i had set up a wag to fish out along the reeds so i tried that , i had 1 bite which came from a 8 oz rudd which dropped off as i tried to swing it (i still dont learn), and that was it on the wag, so now it was down the edge at 13 mtrs , and whooppee a carp of about 3lb was on and netted, 15 mins later and his twin was in the net, it was 2 hours in and fabio opposite and mike etheridge next door on 22 were still biteless.
2 1/2 hours in at 2 o,clock and fabio has his first bite and nets a 6 lb carp. then i went shallow in the reeds at 13 mtrs and get another small one, then i went long and got another , then fabs,y gets a 9 lb fish, the righting is on the wall again as his first 2 fish weigh more than my 4 , also mike next door has had 2 on paste by now for about 14 lb .
as usual there were plenty of fish in the reeds but they wont come out as its there house and they dont want to!!!!!. by the end both me and fabio had 8 fish but his were of a better stamp so that was going to be twice on the trot for the side bet(2 quid).
when the scales turned up my 8 fish went 33 lb while fabio,s went 61 lb.
the match was won by bridgwaters very own chippendale vince brown with 103.1 on peg 37 fishing the conker towards the island
2nd kevin molton with 91.8 on peg 10 with pellet on the lead
3rd tom (the big smile )magnol 73.11 on peg 29
4th russ peck 73.2 on peg 48
5th gary wall 65.13 peg 13
6th phil (fabio)harding 61 lb on peg 24
silvers
brian shanks 12.4 on peg 7 with corn over pellet at 13 mtrs
dean malin 12.3 peg 44 soft pellet
not a bad match really as we had a lot fishhing today we had 35 in the end and everyone caught a few fish so it bodes well for later on when the water warms up a bit more as it is still only 12 c.
next sunday i am running a match on the new lake at acorn ,any takers ring the shop to bok in
01179517250 it will be a ten draw

Wednesday 7 April 2010

weds landsend

remind me never to let fabio draw for me again, it was 13 at the weekend when all the fish wereat the other end of the lake , and today he drew me peg 3, which has had no current form at all, in fact it has been the peg of death for months, my best chance for any coin today was going to lie with silvers, so a 4x14 impact 6 with a 16 middy 6313 to .12 which would do for 4 mtrs ,11 mtrs and down by the bush to my left, all 3 areas were the same depth , a 4x10 impact 1 with an 18 b960 to .16 for pellet up the shelf , an a 4x12 impact 6 again with a b960 18 to .16 for down the shelf.
at the start i cupped in some soaked 3,s at 4 and 11 mtrs ,started firing 4,s to the far side and loosefed some casters down to my left.
the first hour was slow with only 2 good skimmers and the wind didnt help as it was blowing straight down the lake and it was a lot stronger than the forcast said, the whole of the met office needs the sack, i think its just another government boby, to create jobs for he boys at the expense of the tax payer cos i dont really think they know what they are doing.
by the end of the second hour i had had several more skimmers at 4 mtrs and a tench and a crucian a 11 mtrs but it was impossible the hold the rig still long enough on the longer line as the wind was to strong, even a change to a heavier rig(4x16)didnt help as the tow was going with the wind always a bad condition.
so the last two and a half hours were spent after carp up and down the far shelf as the 2 soft pellet lines were dead, i did have a carp and 3 tidy perch oncaster down the left margin but bites were virtually non existent on that aswell. i did manage 6 more carp off the far bank but it was never going to happen as i dont think there were many fish in front of me , especially as i could see the multi talented martin pettifer and and france on 22 and 21 both catching well and shallow.even though they had both caught well ,with martin admitting to 27 carp plus some silvers it wasnt enough as the ever consistent rod wootten on speci lake 31 ended up with 132.10 which included he top silver weight on the day with 40.05 of f1,s skimmers and chub all caught on banded 6 mm
2nd martin pettifer120.11 peg 22
3rd andy france 76.06 peg 21
4th gary wall 64.13 peg 19
5th martin lenaghan 65.07
6th jason goddard (farnborough) 61.03 peg 24
oh yes and i had 48 lb.
and to make matters worse i had to give fabio 2 quid as he had 58 lb
also i cant see the sense i going to a venue you intend to fish in a match the following day and batter out 52 carp and think it will have no effect on the peg and surrounding pegs the following day, its bound to effect the fish and unsettle them i,m just glad i didnt draw near the swim,
peg 11 ,13 and 15 were the worst pegs on the lake today , 3 weeks ago it was the area to draw now the fish have followed the windand all you can catch are a few of the smaller resident fish which live ther all year round, fairplay to pete on 13 who was going to do the opposite to what i did at the weekend on the same peg shame it had about the same result, there just aint nothing there, and the old silver ace aka the gimp(john bradford)sloped off without weighing, he couldnt even get a bite on a caster

Sunday 4 April 2010

landsend reserve date open

this was the reserve date for the teams of 4,s. as it was not needed we ran an open instead, with 31 booked in we used match,johns and half the speci so we all had a bit of room.
fabio drew for me and out come,s 13(flyer)then he draws 31 for himself, same numbers ,other way round(spooky). not only is it a good dtaw but it was out of the way of the gale that was blowing from the north west and it was cold.
4 rigs today, a 2x12 impact dibber for shallow pellet with a b960 18 to .16
a 4x14 impact 6 with the same line and hook for on the deck in the left hand margin
same float with a 6313 16 to .12 for soft pellet at 6 mtrs
and a 4x12 impact 1 with a b960 18 for the right hand margin and up the shelf on the left.
starting at 6 mtrs with soft pellet over softened 3mm and firing 4mm up the left and right margins and over to the island at 16 mtrs. it wasnt long till i had my first bite , which i missed and the second. then a decent roach on the third, i had a tench and some good skimmers in the first hour and a half befor that line died, then i went out to the aerater with a soft pellet over some 3,s i had cupped in earlier, first put in and a fouled carp which i lost under my feet, next drop and a 2 lb skimmer was in the net and that was the end of that line for the day. back for a quick look at 6 mtrs but nothing doing there either, so up the left on the deck and after a couple of funny liners a 3lb carp was in the net ,then no more bites there. out to 16 mtrs shallow and a couple of carp and chub soon found there way into the net , but they werent having it proper i dont think all the cold rain of the previous few days had helped the cause as the water temp had probably dropped again, i had one bite in the right hand margin which reulted in my biggest fish of about 6 lb , i had a couple more off the island and 4 more small ones up the left on top of the shelf, and that was it , the carp i had caught were on the small side as the ones being taken further down the lake were definately of a larger stamp, although i was sheltered from the gale it seems as though the proper fish had followed the wind down the lake even though it was cold. first on the day was nick duckett on peg 19 with 79.02 all taken at 13 mtrs with banded 6mm pellet over 4,s
2nd mitch artus 66.06 on peg 21 again 13mtrs on soft pellet over 4,s
3rd chris davis 65.14 peg 46
4th brian shanks 63.03 peg 60
5th sean townsend 60.05 peg 18
6th lee trivett 57.10 peg 68
7th t rixon 57.6 peg 13
silvers
martin pettiffer 37.10 peg 29 mainly big skimmers on soft pellet
pete (the pistol)notton 35.4 f1 thingy,s on peg 25 on soft pellet
mike duckett 24.14 peg 3 mixed bag on caster at 4 mtrs
all in all it was a good match with a nice close finish, just how matches should be. avalon next sunday if anyone wants to go give me a ring at the shop.

Friday 2 April 2010

pole only at viaduct

the prospect of a pole only at viaduct must have tickled a lot of fancies as 66 were fishing , and most were looking forward to a change from slinging a straight lead about.

into the draw bag and out comes 76 on cary, a good peg when the water wams up but probably a tad early in the year for now, and with the water being quite clear i wasnt to hopeful of getting in, i had mat parsons on 77 with the aerater to his left so i was expecting him to beat me as it is slightly deeper and the earater always holds some fish.
two 4x14 rigs , one for soft pellet with a 16 middy 6313 to .12 and one for banded pellet with a 18 b960 to .14 . a caster rig for 5 mtrs wit a 18 6313 to .10 and a down the edge rig to the empty pallet to the right with a 16 b960 for hair rigged pellet.
at the start i cupped in some soaked micro,s and 3mm at 16 mtrs , fired some 4mm down the edge , and started loosefeeding caster at 5 mtrs, i startedon the caster line but after 20 mins i hadnt had a bite, and a couple of attempts down the edge during the match didnt even probuce a sniff so i wont mention them again. all my fish came on the 16 mtr line wit a skimmer first and the second bite resulting in a 10 lb carp on soft pellet, a better start than i had expected, and a more bites than i had expected with bites nearly every put in from skimmers from 4 oz to 2 lb, but no more carp. it was all going well up till about 2 hours from the end when it all went pear shaped and i couldnt raise a bite even with maggot on the hook, up till now i was about even with mat next door on 77 with both of us having 1 carp and skimmers , both of us having caught on soft and banded pellet , i wish i hadnt given him some bands now as he went on to catch 4 more carp late on just to finish me off completely, all his fish coming on an angle at 16 mtrs towards the aerator on banded 6mm over 4mm fed with a catty. it was strange how the skimmers switched off towards the end , and speaking to others after it seems it was the same for everyone so i dont think it was anything i did ,it was just one of those things, or at least thats what i am telling myself. the match was won by clint wojtyla on peg 127 with 118.3 on pellet on the deck at 16 mtrs
2nd jamie smith on 126 with98.12 caught the same way as clint
3rd dan williams 86.5 peg 94
4th phil cardwell 83.00 peg 85
5th matt parsons 74.2 peg 77
6th dave campbell 64.6 peg 70
silvers
dave campbell 38.14 peg 70 skimmers on pellet
2nd nick collier 33.2 peg 96
3rd des shipp 31.2 peg 100
4th paul homewood 28.9 peg 119
in the end i had 24lb of skimmers and the carp went 11 lb for a 35lb total which was more han i was expecting so i wont complain. i think it was a better match for being pole only as there wasnt a runaway winner making it much fairer, although it was nice to have a decent size match there probably was a few to many fishing but you cant blame steve or paul as at the end of the day as they are running a business and its not as if they arent doing improvements all the time to make it better , it is one of the best kept and run fisheries about. its just a shame about the coffee, perhaps we will have to do another pole only when it warms up, i dont think that will be to long as there were plenty of swallows about today and they now more about the weather than the met office thats for sure