Thursday shiplate / sunday ivy house

Again this will be fairly brief, Thursday started badly when lillypool cafe wasnt open, to hot for the chef methinks, so a sandwich meal deal from the cafe, ots not the same. John got the draw underway, and i picked up ticket 6, good skimmer area at the mo, so that was going to ne it today then, that was until i got the peg and saw plenty if carp on the top, some feeding off some scum floating around, others moving a bit to fast to mug. So a mugger.set up, a margin meat rig, but never had a touch on that, and a silver,s rig for skimmers on worm over groundbait, on the whistle i fed two lines at 11 mtrs with groundbait with worm and caster in, a pellet line at 14 mtrs, started.trying to mug but they were having non of it , actually turning away from the pellet, there were skimmers on the groundbait lines, and i should have stuck to my guns and fished for them all match, but i couldnt resist the shadows, i only actually spent about 50% of the match fishing for skimmers, i ended up with 32lb of silvers, and 3 mugged carp for 30lb, so 62 and just snuck into 3rd so money back then, gary flinders won on the day on peg 5 with 107lb, mugged.or shallow in the feed, nigel Bartlett won the silvers with 39lb, picks and weigh sheet below.

today(sunday) and it was off to ivy house with chris fox for a match on the old match lake, had a breakfast at the fishery and it was very nice, no complaints from me. Into the draw and pull out peg 12, chris to my right on 13 and stu foale to my right on peg 10, the venue has a 16 mtr limit, and as i use a daiwa tournament pole i now i was going to be a bit short of the island, as its a proper 16mtr reach to a rush bed, so 2 pellet rigs for across each side of the rushes, same rigs would do for the margins, i set up a silvers rig but didnt give that to much time. I spent most of my time axross to the island, and ive had some bigger fish from the margin in the last hour, ive had a bit of a weight meltdown today with my nets, considering i have been really good lately, LOL 😂, first net want 42lb , second net went over 80, doh, so lost the net, what a twat, its cost me winning as 125 has been top today, i wont say what judith called me, but it was the same as when you stick a needle in you finger, weigh sheet below, shows me having 113lb, but it should read 42lb, oh well.

Beer self drives

Off down to devon on Monday, with little or no wind forecast it would be a nice day for small boat fishing, its run by simon bartlett who is always helpful, and his boats are old style clinker built with in board diesel engines, very seaworthy and stable, if anyone fancies a go he can be reached on 07773923120, but it pays to book in advance as it is popular. Back to the fishing but not before we had a nice breakfast in the anchor pub overlooking the beach (4.5). There had been a few plaice being caught in the bay so we started off drifting with ragworm baits, but they had iether gone or the weather wasnt to there liking, even though it was quite a small tide the drift was good but all we managed were some small gurnards, pretty fish if not a bit spiky, and nice tasting if big enough to take, but todays samples certainly weren't.

We had a few drifts but not good so went further out and anchored up, and even though we moved around a bit we caught more than enough fish of varying sizes and species to keep us interested, small hounds, thornback ray and conger, oh yes and the ever present doggies, but only fishung with 30g spinning outfits, always good fun, surprisingly no bream, and no mackerel, the water was incredibly clear, baits were visible nearly 30 feet down.

I did mange a rock though with some sort of weird anemone on it.

but the biggest highlight of the day was spotting a pod of common dolphins a few hundred metres

So we upped anchor and went in pursuit, it took a while to catch up, but we did and the dolphins duly obliged, they actually turned and came to meet us, then stayed with the boat, swimming along right next to us, there were even baby ones swimming with there mothers, a few stills form the video judith took as i struggle to put vidoes on here, but a lively experience

Float only rnd 3, sedges bridgwater

Travelled on my own today as chris fox was away for the weekend, i had to find 7 reserves for this match as some were away or had covid, which is still being a big problem, even if you have had the 2 jabs. So much conflicting information out there , so who really knows, not me thats for sure. as normal the fishery looked lovely, and with the ammount of fish on the surface it looked as though today was shaping up to be a mugfest, with temps set to peak at about 30c, a bit of shade would be nice. All nets are supplied by the fishery which is good, and the weigh in is normally done by jamie, but he was away at a match at Landsend fishery, so we woukd be in charge of our own weigh in today. I got the draw underway on time, and had alvins partner debbie draw for me and she pulled 28 for me, which is on the far bank of tile lake three short of the corner,

a good silvers.area, but i left all my silver,s bait at hime as i needed a section win and a good weight aswell as i was in the last 8 of the k/o and today i had dave lewis in that, hopefully he would target the silvers again as thats what he enjoys, but he is more than capable of snaring a few carp and he was opposite me so i could keep an eye on him. I got to my peg to be greeted by dozens of fish (carp) mooching about, but then again, everyone had the same on our side of the lake, especially on peg 30 whuch was occupied by steve seager, iether side i had mike(Silverfox) nicholls to my left and Aaron britnell on my right, so silvers to my left and carp to my right. there is an island at about 50mtrs so i set up with a matrix 8g waggler, hopefully may snare a few on that, pole rigs, a short meat one, a deep pellet rig for on the deck at 14/16 mtrs, and the shallow/mugging rig, Called the all in on time, and most people went out shallow, and it only took a few seconds for carp to get hooked, but not me, i kost a couple quickly but was two or three fish behind before i new it, aaron was two up in no time, and steve seager was having trouble getting his rig in the water without a carp taking it, but i soon got my act together and started.to land fish, as with most anglers today who did a decent weight, shallow and mugging was the only way today, meat line short never had a bite or a bubble , the long pole line was like a Jacuzzi, and i did manage a couple on the deck towards the end of the match, also the pellet wag was a non starter, i had one proper bite with resulted in a grass carp of 14.3, a nice fish, aaron managed to mug a nice grassie of 20lb exactly, there a few weighers today as the fishery rules state that any carp over 15lb must be weighed and returned immediately, the scales were behind lee Williams on peg 25 and hus better half laura did a good job of noting down the weights of the fish , thanks for that. Steve seager after his flying first half of the match slowed towards the end whereas i kept putting odd fish in the nets, at the end it seemed it may be a close call between me and steve for the section, and his quiet end cost him as i had 184lb to his 170lb, the lakes threw up some good weights with my weight only being good enough for 5th, tip on the day was joe McMahon on 22 who had over 230lb of muggers, well done.

Top silvers went to mike on my left with 42lb, with a net of fish from white bait to skimmers.

The weights were good today considering how hot it was, weigh sheets below.

Short pole and sedges silvers

First off sunday we were at chilton trinity on woodland lake again for this the third round, kev winstone drew.for me and handed me the fabled peg 2, i was already counting the money!!!. Its the first peg on the left hand end bank, looking back uo the lake with with a stellar right hand margin which is guaranteed to produce carp.

Well im not going to dwell on this, iether the carp which normally inhabit this peg were having an off day, or i did something massively wrong, i willl never know , nust that i caught very little, 7 small carp and a few skimmers for 34lb, no good at all, it was that bad i even had to give Kev Winstone a quid as he beat me by a few ounces, the match was won by des,s big brother vince shipp on peg 13 with just over 100lb, catching mainly in his left hand margin, and silvers went to Ricky Mills on peg 25 with 40lb.those anglers and the weigh sheet below.

Monday and i decided to go back to the sedges for the over 50,s silver,s match, thus week it was on the canal, not everyone's favourite, but its nice to have a bit of a struggle from time to time, and with 10lb being a realistic target weight, there are plenty of swims where this is attainable, denise did the draw and pulled my second flyer in two days, peg 42, second peg in on the far bank with a ig overhanging willow to the left,

I had jess jordan to my right on end peg 41 which can be good, as long as the carp dont come out of the reeds on the end bank, but they did ha ha. I opted for three lines to fish worm over groundbait, two at 7mtrs 11 and 1o'clock, and the other to my left just in front of the tree, same depth on all lines so one rig did all, i did set up a margin rig for the left against the bank as john andres drew this last time and a couple of decent silvers from there, but not today just a couple of roach and a perch, and some carp towards the end, i purposely only fished down the middle, as i felt if i went to far across carp would come away from the far bank and be a problem. The first couple of hours wet well catching odd skimmers from each line along with a small tench and some proper crucians, i took a picture of one so as people can see the difference between an f1, a carasio and an original proper crucian, with all its pink fins and golden scales.

After that the carp discovered the bait and became a problem, landing 8 and losing another 4 or 5, but i did get a few.more skimmers towards the end, ending with over 16lb which was enough to win on the day, and i managed to dry all my kit out from the day before at chilton, catch shot and weigh sheet below as normal, back to the sedges again on sunday for rnd 3 of the float only league, pegs 10/11 or 40 would be nice 😁😁😁😂.

Shiplate thursday costcutter

Accompanied by judith again today, which is always good. The broken arm is mending but its going to be another three weeks for her at least with the arm strappy thing on, we stopped at lillypool cafe again today, still very good, 4.85, its creeping up. Got there just before draw time, 18 fishing which is a nice number. John got the draw sorted, its pick your own off the table , i picked the one closest to me, opened it up to see zero on the paper, to coin a callum dicks quote, "it can be a good area sometimes", LOL 😂. To be fair its the peg everybody want as its the finest peg in Somerset, unfortunately to the detriment of peg 1. I wasnt moanimg thats for sure. The main area to catch in the peg is a small bay in the reeds opposite by a small feed pipe.

Also the right hand margin looks lovely, and has been a banker of late with meat being the killer bait.

So rigs today were a meat rig for the edge, a pellet rig for across in the little bay, and a deep rig and a mugger.for the open water in front. On the whistle I cupped in some pellets on the open water swim and some in the bay, i started on the deck infront, and had an 8lb common after a few minutes, just the job.

That was my only carp on the deck, i did have a skimmer, also bumped a couple of skimmers aswell. At least i wont have to clean my box, the geese, large and small took care of that.

There were some fish cruising about but they proved difficult to snare, i had a few , but not enough to do the peg justice, so two hours in and a switch to the little bay proved the right thing to do, i started catching regularly enough, and as far.as.i could see down the lake, it was hard today, so most of the match was spwnt in the bag, i fed meat down the margin all match, but nothing showed up there, i never had a bite on the occasions (3 times) i tried it. I caught on and off right up to the end, foulers were a problem at times, bit everyone who has been in the peg has suffered , so i wasnt to upset. I certainly misjudged.the size of the fish today, i thought i had about 160/70, but they went 204.11, but i went over the 70lb limit in two nets, losing about 15lb, but with aaron coming second with 75lb, it never mattered.

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Monday silver,s , sedges fishery

Back down to bridgwater for this popular monday fixture, meant to be on tile lake but with 26 booked in we had an overflow onto brick. Jamie and denise got the draw on time, and i was more than happy to see ping pong ball 38 come out for me, right lake and right area. As always the lake looked really good, not much in the way of ripple, not to worried about that.

Only two rigs , both .6g wire stem patterns , one with a 16 guru maggot hook on .12 for worm, and the other with the same pattern but an 18 for maggot. I intended to fish at 5 and 11 mtrs, it was the same depth within a few inches, with it being slightly deeper at 11 mtrs, but i mark my line with a marker and switch between the line depending on which line i was going to target. At the start I cupped in two balls of groundbait at 5 mtrs and three at 11 mtrs, starting short i didnt have to wait too long for my.first skimmer on triple red, followed by two more quite quickly, then it went quiet there so i went to 11 mtrs and had a skimmer, then hooked a carp. I had put a ball in short before going long, so dropped back short, this time with half a dendra on the 16 hook, and another skimmer, and that set the pattern for the rest of the match, nipping odd skimmers from each line, and losing plenty of carp, i think i lost over 20 but did land a couple of small ones, but there were some proper units mooching about. With just over an hour to go i had a bit of a purple patchnat 11 mtrs, when i had about 8 good skimmers on the trot, then the carp muscled there way back in, but i still managed a couple more Skimmers.towards.the end, the whistle went and i reckoned on having about 45lb which is a nice days fishing, when the scales got to me steve.kedge.was.winning with just over 45lb, i thiught it would be close, but my fish went 52lb to win, and more importantly the quid off mr kedge.

i took the picture of the tile weigh sheet, but the drick sheet seems have dissapeared from my phone, but top weight on brick was taken by ade bishop on peg 8 with 18lb.

As for kedgey, i was a bit concerned about his car, i dont think it was a good idea parking there , just in case they came to collect the skip, i would of hoped they didnt make a mistake 😂

Float only, landsend fishery.

Full house today, so 40 anglers over three lakes, most people had a bit of room. first though it was breakfast at the fishery cafe, very nice too, 4.8. I had to get 7 reserves in today, which i managed , so thanks to all those who turned up. I got the draw underway on time, i cant remember wgo drew for me but i was handed peg 5 on lake two, happy with that, not to far to the island, but it was a bit overgrown, so no chance of getting in tight, margins not to good, as thwre are lots of lillys, so again no chance of getting to mud and shallow water.

To my right was lee macey, and my right i had the pleasure of craig(trig)edmunds, who is now always difficult to beat.

The lake has been stocked with a fair number of small f1,s and equal sized tench, about 4 to the pound, all catchable on banded hard pellet, so i made up a rig for topset and two, two rigs for hard pellet across, one to fish in a foot of water as tight as i could get in , and the other about 2 foot off in about 20 inches of water, and of course a mugging rig as some fish were mooching about. on the all in i fed some 6mm hard pellet over to the island, but then started short on banded 6mm pellet over hard 4,s, it took a while to get a bite, which was a surprise, then after.a couple of small tench i hooked a carp, only for my elastic to break, so that topkit went up the bank, and i picked up the island rigs, and i stayed on these for the for the remainder of the match, there were plenty of fish against the island, but they were liking the cover of the island weeds a bit to much, but enough were coming out to make it interesting, and to be fair trig and me were fairly even weight wise, then he went down his left hand margin and enjoyed a good run of carp on maggot over groundbait, fairplay to him, oh yes and i nearly forgot to mention i had my no4 break on a good fouled ghostie, so topset gone then. Dont tell judith. I thought i had over 80lb at the end, but new trig had beaten me, as he did as he had 137lb, which was top on the day, and i had 94lb.

2nd was vince shipp on 27 with 127lb, and third was tom mangnal on 13 with 125lb, top silvers went to alvin jones on 68 with 38lb, i only have pictures of lake two and three sheets, somehow never took one of the speci lake, oh well.

Sunday short pole and thursday shiplate

Im just putting the weigh sheets uo as it seems i have violated blogger guidlines, but i cant see where, unless joe McMahon complained about his two skimmers or alan quantrill didnt like the picture of him handing his quid back