did i forget

sorry i forgot to mention that tim clark had a twenty one pound carp last wednesday at viaduct. if you do happen to see him i have no doubt that he will only to pleased to relive the conquest as i have captured the beast about 20 times in the shop since that day. also i would like to congratulate phil(fabian)harding on his new addition to his family, bob the bread price has given him a budgie, but i am a bit concerned for the dirds safety as i saw him going up to the flat with a basting tray and a packet of sage and onion

match 5 float only avalon

as martin rich always moans that i get flyers and he gets shit i let him draw for me and he pulled peg 3 on the speci lake. not to bad as its in the middle of the island and quite a good peg section wise. for company i had aton page who insists on singing along to his i pod which wouldnt be to bad if he had a better choice in music and not michael bubbley and take that and the other side was steve evans who helps run the league and makes my job a lot easier cos he is proper organised. back to the match and i set up the usual 4x14 rig for hard pellet on the deck , up in the dibber 4x12 and two wags one shallow and one deep. on the whistle and a quarter pot of 6,s at 16 mtr and a few 8,s to the island. i decided to start on the pole which in hindsight may have been i mistake as anton went straight on the wag and had one almost straight away. i persevered for a while longer on the pole but never had a bite while anton had another so i think i probably missed the boat for those early sucker fish,which may of cost me come the end.
unfortunately the venue isnt fishin as well as it can probably due to the heavy colour that seems to kick up from the bottom giving the water a very grey colour.judging by the shouting and moaning it was fishing really hard. i went on the wag shallow after 45 minutes but it still took me half an hour to get a fish but it was a decent fish over 10 lb, 30 minutes later i had another but anton had 3 by now . i tried the deep wag but i couldnt even get a liner on that. back on the pole and i missed a bite , a couple of minutes later and another bite which resulted in a 2lb skimmer in the tail then a liner and a fouled carp which didnt stick then nothing so back on the wag.its a good 40 mtr chuck here and it was one of those days when you had to throw it into the reeds to stand any chance of a bite, but you just got to keep going hoping for the odd bite . by the end i had had 4 carp and a skimmer unfortunately anton had had 6 so i gave him the quid before the weigh in. it had fished really hard and the match was won by paul(beaver)elmes on peg 23 with 61.2 on pellet shallow on the pole and paste in the margin. fromes finest andy lloyd was 2nd off peg 22 speci lake 52.01 on the pellet wag.
paul garrett 38.9 peg 38 pellet wag
l eigh nutland 38.2 peg 42 paste on the wag
anton page 36,10 peg 4 speci
vince brown 32.7
silvers were won by martin pettifer with 14 lb on peg 16 speci lake small fish shallow
apolgies must go to leon,s wife she didnt take to kindly to me referring to her old mans love handles so it will be known as middle aged spread then
one match to go and i am leading still by 1 point from anton, the last round is at viaduct on the 30 th. having a right change next week i am off to watchet to go boat fishing with dean and the rest of the park furnisher,s boys. it will be a refreshing change oh and did i mention i had another quid off fabio and 3 quid off tim clerke

viaduct weds open

with 45 booked in ,cambell, cary and lodge were to be used and luckily i drew on cambell peg 121 which is on the cary bank with an empty peg iether side. just goes to show i draw good pegs for myself aswell. rigs today were a solvite rig at 5 mtrs , pellet rigs for 14 mtrs 1 x up(dibber) and 1 for on the deck 4 x 12 bristle 16 hooks on each for hair rigged pellet and a 4 x 10 rig for the empty pallets iether side. at the start i potted in about a quarter of a large drennan cup at 5 mtrs and to the empty pallets each side and half a pot at 14 mtrs. starting at 5 mtrs on the paste i had 3 carp for about 16 lb in the first hour then nothing even the fizzing stopped even though i kept feeding, i think they just bugger off cos you got to play them on top of where you are cathing and i dont think they like it.but as the 14 mtr line had plenty of bubbles i thought it wpould be solid. it was but you couldnt nail them down as to where they were feeding. i was getting what i thought were liners so iwent shallow. no bites, went deep and sread the shot, had a couple and lost some foulers. all this time and the only people i could see catch were lee wheret on 123 catching on paste ,terry bruton on 119 on the wag paul hurn on 126 lead and pellet and steve jackson on 126 pellet deep on the wag.i did have the occasional look to the empty swims each side but apart from 2 tench and 3 lost carp which took me round the legs of the platforms small roach kept dinking the pellets which annoys me tremendously. with about an hour and a half to go i decided to concentrate on the 14 mtr line, going out on the deck i had a couple then had a swirl when i fed so out on the shallow rig and started to get the odd fish so i stuck with it, it was a bit strange though as the fish didnt seem that happy as you would get one then you would have to feed for what seemed like ages to get another bite. looking around the only people that seemed to be catching were jacko and tom thick on 115 who was also getting a few shallow which didnt bode well for the quid i had with him. on the whistle it turned out that cart and lodge had fished pooh and the top 6 all were on cambell, and they are as follows

steve jackson 113.3 peg127 wag and pellet

roger(purple man)young 97.3 peg131 wag and paste on the pole

tom (jacko,s number 1 fan)thick 94.9 peg 115 rapala magnum cranked fast

lee (the short fat one)werret peg 123 paste 93.13

tony rixon 91,13 peg 123 mainly pellet shallow

tony gilbert peg 130 78.6 paste

silvers gary wall 23.2 peg 129 tench and skimmers on paste

actually someone else won the silvers with 35.8 of feeder caught skimmers but as he also charged me 1.50for an out of date sausage roll with no trade discount bollocks to you mr greenwood lol

after my slip up at the weekend i did get my quid back off fat fabio phil not to mention the 3 quid off timmy clarke i really must get a direct debit set up for him

the morning after thoughts

even though i had a bad day at least it was a short walk with comfy pegs and safe car parking with some creature comforts ie toilet, flushing and someone else doing the scales, sweet.
i wonder how the "proper" anglers did at the weekend, long walks through long grass.wading out amongst reeds all for 6lb if they were lucky . strange thing is they seem to enjoy it, i know i used to and who nows with better access or with someone to carry me kit i may just try it again.

avalon in a bad mood

today i was shit the end !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
just kiddin. i was going to viaduct to fish the psv match on cambell but iwas talked out of it in favour of running a match at avalon, wish i hadnt bothered.
we had 22 turn up from a far a field as oxford and wales and horfield so there was a multi national feel about it. mike west had his 9 year old nephew with him so he drew for me and pulled out 17 which is about half way up on the left on the small island. i had fat phil for company on 16, which i thought was like an empty peg(i wish i would keep my mouth shut sometimes), but joking aside he is a very very very (lol)compitent wag angler as he learnt his skills on the avon chub fishing as a junior with the silver dace club.i aint biggin you up any more.
it aint worth saying to much about how my match went ,just to say i had 1 skimmer on maggot over micros at the start and that was it as far as the silvers go, i did try for another hour to catch another but i think i had exhausted the shoal . its the only venue i know where 1 skimmer constitutes a shoal(sorry leigh). i foul hooked a good ghostie in the tail which i lost near the net and apart from a few liners that was my pole line done. on the wag i did eventually get 1 but that was hooked under the chin, at least it must have looked at the bait, and apart from losing 3 more on the wag 2 of which were fouled and the other 1 the bale arm wasnt shut properly and it got to the island and came off.oh yes and i had a duck nuff said .glen bailey seems to have days like this all the time i am surprised he still goes ! and the impish adonis that is leon hubbard was parading around with his shirt off. good to see he has caught us all up in the love handles stakes
the match was won by joff rogers(real name jonathon but he tells me only his mum calls him that) with 59.10 on peg 7, 12 carp 8 on the straight lead and 4 on the wag
leon luv handles had 53.8 on peg 3 mainly on paste at 16 mtr,s
andy neale had 47.3 peg 12 on pellet feeder
tom cruise , sorry magnol 45.12 peg5
vince brown 36.3 peg33
gary wall 32.14 peg23
silvers went to gary wall with 2.14
oh well off to do it all again on wednesday anyone interested give me a ring and i forgot to mention that i had to give 2 quid to phil ,vince and i even had to give a quid to mike duckett that shows how shit i was

landsend match and speci

i let trigger draw for me today and after rubbing his lucky bald spot out came 22. giving me the end of the island and a empty peg to my right. i made up a rat hole rig for tight in against the bank, (dibber) on the deck on top of the shelf,(4x10 bristle top).9 mtrs hard pellet rig(4x12) and a 4x10 rig for the right hand margin. starting at 9 mtrs on hard pellet and feeding there by catty i was soon getting indications and a bit of fizzing. forgot to say i did manage to mug a 8 pounder straight away but that dont last long at landsend and they soon dissapeared , so onto the 9mtr line. i had 3 carp and a few decent skimmers and 1 tench , then all i could get was liners, i tried shallow but never had a sensible bite ,so it was off to the far bank where i had been firing 6,s in since the start. although there were fish slurping and climbing the bank ,those of you that know landsend know they can be very difficult to get in the mouth, i find it pays to come about 1 to 1 and a half feet off fish with 1x no11 stotz down the line and keep feeding and lifting and dropping and you tend to get most in the mouth. by doing this i kept a steady stream of carp going into the net. i did have a bit of a torrid, as a couple of years ago mr duckett put some hay bales in netting around the end of the island now the hay has long gone but the bastarding netting aint, and i,m sure it keeps moving as i started hooking it all over the place end you dont get much of your rig back thats for sure,but as that seemed to be where the fish seemed happiest i put up with it. apart from 2 fish down the edge on corn the bulk of my weight came from the far side on hair rigged 6mm and feeding 6,s. on the whistle it became apparent that nick duckett would probadly win as he had caught 36 carp on peg 11 it seems the fish liked the aerater today
he weighed in 182.14 for an easy win all his fish falling to banded 6mm over 6,s against the island
i came 2nd by a good margin with 112.6
tony(slimy paste)witcomb was next off peg 18 fishing paste to the island and later to empty pallet 17
craig(trigger)edmunds was next and top scorer off the speci lake with 85.12 peg25
alan oram 62.14 pag29
gary wall 58 pag 28
top silvers was mike west with 22.2 mainly skimmers on soft pellet
just to finish off i hope you will all join with me in wishing trigger all the best for next week when he blows 1500 quid on laser treatment to try and kickstart his hair growth good luck mate but i cant help thinking the money would be better spent on a new pole

johns and sydney,s

a hastily arranged knockup turned into a 22 peg sweep using john,s water and sydney,s at landsend fishery. i let the tango man and bruno look a like draw for me , and out came 70.a corner peg and as the wind had been blowing in i quite fancied it.i set up a paste rig for the right hand margin, up and down rigs at 14mtr towards the arat ,aer,air ,spray thing which was to be left off as an experiment, and an up and down rig for the island. started off with a full pot of 6mm pellets spread between the 14mtr line the island and the weed bed in front of 69 which was the same depth as the 14 mtr line and started loose feeding 6mm down the right for paste. starting at 14 mtr and firing a few 6,s over the top i started to get some liners so a quick change to the shallow rig and nothing,1 missed bite and that was it, there were some fish showing on the island so i went in on the 6 inch rig and a 12oz carp was soon in the net quickly followed by another one of a similar size (great). to be honest i really struggled for bites all day and i didnt even have a bite down the edge on the paste. all i could get a bite on in the end was the shallow rig against the island and only then when i could some fish activity,ending up with 34 lb and no coin except for the usual quid off phil harding which i had to give to andy bryant plus one to anton.the match was won by
dave(beany)westcott 87.01 peg 71 sydney,s
gary wall 62.04 peg 72
bela bakos 58.04 peg 81 (with his personel cheerleader)
andy bryant 43.07 peg79
tony page 37 peg 51
silvers
phil harding 4,15
top 4 all caught on paste
highlight of my day was when stu foale opposite me hooked a good carp which he played like a faggot letting it get into my peg and tangeling up with me when i was fishing 14 mtr .needless to say the fish came off and we were tied together under the spray thing rope .we had to pull for a break ,i lost a hook stu lost a rig he really must buy some proper lin and he can do his own elastics lol
stuart foale 35.14 peg 41