Sunday/monday

Ron hardimans silvers league today, at plantation on the main lake, after breaking the ice on Thursday, and it fished reasonably well i tbought it may be a bit better today, ron got the draw started on time, into the draw, pulled out two pegs, one for me and one for ron, opened mine up, nooooo, peg 31 again, and i gifted ron a flyer in the shape of peg 7. Oh well he deserves it😒😒. bit of dejavue today as i had bela bakos to my left on 32, so we were both on the same pegs as last time, so a short rig for caster , didnt expect to much there as its been a while since ive had much from that line, an 11 mtr line and a 14 mtr line for groundbait caster and maggot, and a soft pellet line at 14 mtrs to the right as last match there had been a few fish on that. Had joe McMahon on 28 and ryan jordan on pier peg 27, so definitely the ones to beat in the section. Well the match started slow, and never really improved, to make matters worse joe and ryan started catchung from the start, on soft pellet, and they had odd fish for the duration of the match, i only had two fish on the soft pellet, ive had a few small skimmers oncaster and maggot, mainly from the 14 mtr line, but lucki luckily i caught a few roach from the short line, was never going to beat joe who won the match with 21lb with ryan coming second with 18lb, and form angler martin rayet on peg 4 coming tbird with 16lb, so i managed to get the double default section money with a level 10lb.

Momday and down to the sedges for the monday silvers match, which today was on the canal lake, so that may be hard, as normal a lovely fishery breakfast, finished just in time for the draw, into the ball bucket and out comes 44, still drawing the right end. Cant say to much about it today, caught small skimmers from the start, but the peg started to fade quite quickly, and it never returned, constantly moving around the swim got me odd small fish, and i had a bonus crucian, ended up with 3.8, which was the same as rob parker so we had to split the section money, joint second were travelling partners alex Kerr and tom rattenbury, both had 4.2, 1st went to in form roy worth on peg 64, who took us all out with 4.12, well done roy. After the match roy held court in the cafe, and explained how he did it today, i felt for some of the sedges faithful, roy had locked the door, just look at their nervous smiles.

Plantation silvers on a thursday

Baxk down to kingston Seymour for the fortnightly silvers match on the main lake, good to see james and few helpers sorting out ther banks and swims around the lake, a big job but ive no doubt it will be sorted. the lale still had a lid on it between pegs 8 and 24, so basically the hole top end was covered, i let bob teakle draw for me and opened up the ticket to see 24 on it, so ice breaking again, 4th match on the trot, although i dont mind doing it, its getting a bit tedious now, it wasnt to bad only about 4/5mm thick, i felt for kev winstone on 11 and gary bowden on 16 as theres was nearly an inch thick, i did go and help gary break his, but left kev to his own devices, after all a quids a quid, i broke mine out and managed to push a 15 ft square of ice into jerry salisbury,s and dave willmott,s pegs to my left, well i didnt want it 😂😂. Set up to fish 3 lines, topset and 2( not a bite there) and 11 and 14 mtrs in front. i expected it to be difficult, but had a small roach first drop at 11 mtrs, ive had bites all match on the two longer lines, had to keep swapping between the lines as the fish seemed to back off after a few fish, virtually every fish was a small skimmer, fish between 4 and 6oz, with a couple of 12oz fish thrown in, jihn fuidge over on 19 was doing the best as far as i could tell, catching a vetter stamp of fish on his beloved soft pellet approach, i could hear steve kedge over on 4 was doing well aswell, and niel mercer sat on 32 was doing well after a slow start. And dave.willmott on 27(best peg in the lake) was doing what he does and catching fish of all sizes on lots of lines. By the end i wasnt to sure what i had so i admitted to 10lb but i actually had a few ounces short of 16lb, steve.kedge won with 25lb,

Niel.was second with over 20lb, and john third again with over 20lb, interestingly the top 3 caught a lot if not all on soft pellet, so on there again on sunday so i will be taking some with me, the two pegs with the thickest ice 11 and 16 both never had a bite, so both did the FOE walk of shame,😁😁, but in there defence the water there must have been really cold, and the fish probably moved away to warmer climes.

Sunday monday

Firstly condolences to bob warrens family, another one gone, tragic.😢😢. sunday and avalon for rons silvers league, frozen over so ice breaking again, 3 rd match on the trot, getting a bit tedious now, drew.peg 28, more than happy as it was the end to be lasy match, lee jan to my right on the end peg and mat williams on my left, not to much to talk about really, 5 , 4 roach, 14oz and thanks for coming, hopefully this will be my dropper, lee had a few late fish on my right to end up with just over 4lb, well done, mat on my left blanked, ut it was all done in high spirits, we had a laugh, nothung else to do really, well done super sub lee macey on the win with over 10lb on 33 , and his travelling partner martin rayet on 29 with over 9lb. I cant think of to much to say really, i was that bad i even lost another quid to kev winstone,

Monday and back to the sedges for the silvers match, tile lake today. Another lovely Denise breakfast, then into the draw bucket, ping pong ball 27 , the lake had some ice on it, jamie had been out in the boat and the aeraters were going, so lots of fragmented ice about, i like to break my own swim normally, but there a some anglers fishing that would have struggled so jamie did the right thing, company today was tom ratenbury on my right and somerset anglings finest steve kedge to my left, who i have a quid with each match, even though he beat me last time down here , i think he will agree that its been a bit one sided .

i had to clear ice , managed to clear to nearly 14mtrs, kedgy had open water in front, so he had the option of fishing the feeder, i set up one rig, it would do all , 11mtrs, 14 mtrs,in front and to the left, and 16mtrs to the left as the ice melted, just before the start i managed to push a big ice sheet to my left in front of steve, but hes he's seen it all before and just pushed in on again into walley,s and alex,s peg, they started a bit late as they had to deal with the sheet before thwy could wet a line, i fed all lines with groundbait with a few pinkies and maggots. Steve began on the tip, steve had 4 skimmers before i had a bite, all on the tip. I had my first bite after 40minutes, bumped it, aaaargh, could be crucial. But as the match went on, i started getting odd bites, and it was nip and tuck between myself and steve, i ended with 9 skimmers, and a big hybrid, steve had pretty much the same, but luckily, mine were of a slightly better stamp as mine went 16lb to steves 13lb, so the win and kedgy,s pound was mine, haha, thurd was jess jordan on peg 35 with 10lb, which was opposite me , so the middle of the lale was the place to be, no picture of the weigh sheet cos i forgot to take one, 😕😕

Roundup

Sunday and it was Rons silvers league match, round 3, plantation main lake, breakfast with chris in the wessex flyer in whitchurch, all very nice aswell, all you can eat and drink for 9.99, cant go wrong. got to the fishery to be met with rain and a strong breeze, lovely, any draw.from 16 round to 39, just so i would have the wind from behind, into the draw and out comes a peg i seem to draw more than any other, 31, can be ok, bit apart from one match win a few weeks ago when john fuidge had over 30lb from it , its done nothing, but you just dont know, had league organiser ron hardiman on my right on 28, and his travelling partner bela bakos on my left on 32, not a lot to report, its been a tough day for all but a very fair match, ryan jordan continued fro where he left off on Thursday with a win again from peg 19, with 14lb, ron had a big 13lb, joe McMahon had a smaller 13lb and i was next with a level 12lb, weigh sheet below.

Monday.and back to the sedges for the silvers match, this time on brick lake, as normal a lovely breakfast in the fishery cafe, well cooked by Denise. hoped for a draw on the causeway bank, mainly as the cold wind would be mainly from behind, but no peg 12 for me, steve(jacko)jackson on 11 and ade bishop on 13, nasty breeze blowing in, so set up the pole to fish 6 and 13 mtrs, shoukd have bought my tip rod, was never in the hunt from the start, steve fished the feeder from the start , took a while to catch but ended up with 5lb+of smallish skimmers, ade started.on the tip and had a couple the big skimmers plus a few top ups for just short of 6lb, me i limped home with 3.12, no good, jim kerr blitzed it from peg 15 with 19lb, catching at 5mtrs on maggot over maggot, feeding about 4 pints, well done, mr sedges himself martin tizard was second with 9lb, he's normally the man to beat. I was that bad i even lost a quid to steve kedge, but he only got one of his back.

finally it was back to huntstrete on withy pool for dave gillards silver,s match, bacon and egg sarnie from my local greasy spoon, got to the lake to find there was a lid on it, i was hoping we had finished with breaking, but no, and it looks as though we will still be doing it on sunday at avalon for another round of rons silver,s league. anyway back to today and i go and draw peg 70, straight in front of the carpark, good pegs for pleasure fishing, but ones to avoid in match situations, its the narrow end of the lake and i think the fish move away on match day, managed.to break a channel to 14mtrs, just the job i thought.

A lazy day, just one rig, its the same.depth from 6 mtrs to 14, another hard day, andto make matters worse the ice kept forming all day, it was freezing over in the channel, after an hour my 14mtr line was now solid, and i had to keep breaking the cat ice with my pole tip to get the rig in the water, started on my 9mtr line but never had a bite there, glen bailey on 38 on the far bank was catching small roach from the start, after 30minutes i went to 13 mtrs and caught plippy roach straight away, i got to be honest i was getting indications very put in, but the roach were mainly half to 1oz, so it was at thus stage a micro roach race with glen, i thing he probably had 15 to 20 micros before i had 1, we were both catching at the same rate , but i had a 6oz perch and a couple of 4oz roach , so by the end myself. And glen tied for the section with 4lb exactly, we just managed.to hold off a late charge by dave poole on 69 who ended with 3.14. The lake fished better in certain areas , andy greenham won off peg 59 with 11.13 of roach, tony ponting on 42 was second with a lesser 11lb, pic below and weigh sheets, everyone caught, so considering hiw cold it was shows this is a good lake, lets hope it stays that way.i had a bottle of water on the bank behind me today and that was frozen by the end.

Sunday, monday, thursday in brief

Sunday and it was the start of the Landsend winter league, it should have started a few weeks back, but was cancelled due to the lakes having a lid on them. after a good fishery breakfast i got the draw sorted, i let beany draw for me , and i wasnt disappointed, peg 32, far bank of the speci in the corner, ideal left handers peg, i had the pleasure of the fishery night watchman on ny left , dave ings, james (spooner) mathews opposite and mike duckett next to him, started ok on dobbed bread along the end bank, 3 smallish carp in the first hour, then it went crap, no more bread bites, so onto banded pellet along the bank, and meat a couple of mtrs off. 5 more carp and few silvers by the end , 50lb , secind in the natch and second in section, dave nailed it next to me with a few ounces shirt of 100lb, mainly on corn in the shallow water by the island, well done dave. Weigh sheets below.

Monday and sedges.for the Monday over 50,s silvers match, the canal was being used today, 16 fishing so 8 on each bank, into the draw early and ping pong ball 42 stuck to my hand, ideal. I keep it simple on this lake, basically one short line, and two lines on different angles at 11 mtrs, groundbait with some caster and pinkies on all lines, started short with a couoke of small skimmers , and one if about a pound and a quarter, that was the end of the close fishing, by swapping between the two longer lines i added some more small skimmers, a small barbel, a smaller tench and a goldfish, last two hours were terrible, only three small fish, but it fished really hard and managed to win with just over 6lb,

Before the next result, i got to say the new mosella trolley bags are brilliant, even after all thus rain we are enduring , everything stayed nice and dry inside, no need to even do the zip up, the lid has a lip on it which comes down over the top, no water getting in there.

Baxk to plantation main lake for the fortnightly silvers match, 17 fishing, whuxh was a surprise i hqd to negotiate plenty of big puddles and rivers running down roads, i thunk the underside and wheel arches must be clean, i let ryan jordan draw for me, 32 then, ok but there are better ones, at least on thus side of the lake was going to have some shelter from the gales force winds, the anglers opposite were in for a bad day with the weather, its been a bit harder than i expected for me, had keep swapping around the swim to keep fish going into the net, couldnt get a run of fish from anywhere, no big skimmers but good to see lots of 8 to 12 oz skimmers showing all round the lake, ryan jordan won off peg 39 with 28lb, some good quality roach, skimmers and hybrids, plus a some nice perch, an excellent weight from there, and i cant remember the last time a match was won from there, for silvers. Mr consistent Dave willmott was second with 27lb from peg 28, sheet below shows that the lake has fished quite well.

The new year

First match of 23 and it was off down to acorn for a match run by chris fox, 23 fishing and the talk was to try and avoid the swims closest to where its been shuttered off with all the silt which was removed from the lake recently, and left to harden when it can be removed and the top end of the lake reopened, so where do and i go and draw for myself, yep 22, the wrong side of the bridge and closest to the shuttering, was never going to win from there was the general opinion, and they weren't wrong, i did have two good carp in the first 20 minutes against the tins, but that was it till another one late in the match, i really shoukd have fished for silvers as only 8lb picked up the silvers money, and i had nearly 6 1/2lb in between trying to catch carp, mark poppleton on 38 won with 90+ and john mills on 36 was second from 36, me.well i didnt do to well ut was happy.with 27lb considering the current form of the peg, i nearly won the section, ut dan squire on 15 had that with 38lb, with me being second, must say.the lale.looks good after all the work the family.have.done on it. Today and it was the first.of dave.gillards.silver,s series at huntstrete on withy pool. 24 fishing, a nice.turn out, also its a pairs thing run over the 6 matches, pairs are drawn and i ended up with the affable andy gard. Into the draw and disc 51 comes.out, more.than happy, its down at the far end behind the island, plenty of room and out if the wind, had dave.gillard.to my.right and jeff grant on my left,

I think the club were concerned kev winstone may.draw.thus peg as they have put some fresh stone down just in case. Kev is serious about thus weight loss, he has joined a gym and is hoping to lose 20 pounds a month, i would have thought gym fees were more Than that😏😏. Only two rigs, a .4g slim for topset and two, and a .5 for 9 and 11 mtrs , both floats having fibre bristles, so really sensitive,opened up.with one ball of groundbait with casters on the short line, and 2 balls on the two longer lines, starting short i had a small roach first put in, then not another touch, and i on!y had one more plippy roach from there towards the end. Most of the match was spent at 9mtrs, and ti be honest it was a bite every put in from roach of all sizes from halfway an ounce to 8 oz, i did have one skimmer of about 1 1/2lb and a couple of small skimmers,finished with over 17lb of which probably 15lb was roach, so a nice. Busy day, cliff smith was second from 44 with 11lb, everyone seems to have had plenty of bites with the section weights being very close, sheets below.