avon angling open , chilton trinity, woodland lake

21 booked in for today so not to much spare room , unless you were on an end bank or near it , its always a good start to the day with the ever smiling misha in the hut making cups of tea and coffee for all , this continues to be one of the best maintaned fisheries about with misha and her dad john constantly working to improve things,
i let misha draw for me and she handed me peg 15, nice peg with a long margin to my left as peg 16 wasnt in as its a sort of corner peg and we would be pole fencing if both pegs were used, i had fabio on 17 and trigger on 14 so with good andlers around me it was going to be an interesting day, even though we had a frost i still expected it to fish ok as its 8 ft deep and i didnt think the cold would have penetrated to any extent(wrong), i set up a margin rig for my right to fish meat , it was a 4x14 impact 6 with a xedion 18 on .14, also set up were 2 rigs for out in front at 13 and 16 mtrs , one was a j range , forgot the number bit it was a 4x18 with a wire stem with a 18 9313 on .14 the other was a 4x16 j21 with a 18 6313 on .12, at the start i cupped in some meat at 13 mtrs and some soaked micros at 16 mtrs, i also put some meat at 8 mtrs down the margin,
by the time i had finished feeding fabio was playing an 8lb fish he had snared on the shallow rig , which was something i thought would be a non starter, and he had another before i had a bite, . i had begun on meat at 13 mtrs and it took me over an hour to put a smallish carp in the net and a small skimmer, trig by now had also had a carp on meat shallow but that was all they had up in the water, i went out to 16 mtrs with double maggot over the micros but never had a bite which is very strange on this venue as small roach tend to be a real problem , but not today.
with no bites occurring i had plenty of time to look around but no one was catching , silvers or carp, except for nigel bartlett opposite who was blip bashing and tom mangnal down on peg 2 all on his own who was getting odd carp, but with the sun out it was a lovely warm day , and with the banter flying around it was an enjoyable day,
a look down the edge gave me a bite on meat but the carp came off so i refed ,had a quick look on the long pole lines but with no bites it was back down the edge , no mistakes with the next bite and a 4lb carp was safely netted shortly followed by a 1 1/4 lb tench an d that was thew end of my bites in that spot so i refed at 14 mtrs up the edge towards the empty pallet with corn and went back out in front but apart from a few skimmers nothing was happening, trig had taken a few more carp but was struggling as was fabio, he peaked to early.
it had turned into a proper grueller with bites and hooked fish at a premium, i did manage 2 carp on corn up the edge at 14 mtrs but going into the last 15 mins i was still behind fabio and trig, out of desperation i went out on the light rig with double maggot at 16 mtrs over the micro and couldnt believe it when the float buried and i had a 7lb fish, that was the only bite i had on maggot all day , and it helped me to beat both fabio and trig, both of which seemed a bit gutted, in fact it helped me into 3rd spot and last in the overall money.
1st was tom mangnal 66.1 peg 2 , he had 10 carp and 8lb of silvers all his fish falling to maggot and caster
2nd mike(what idiot pegged it like this)nicholls with 44.4
3rd tony rixon 32.6 peg 15
4th craig(trigger) edmunds 29.3 peg 14
5th phil(fabio) harding 28.5 peg 17
6th bela bakos , 27.9 peg 25
silver
the top blippy basher who is nigel bartlett 9.9 , mainly whitebait on single caster or maggot on his topset

avon angling weds open shiplate farm

20 fishing today so steve and carol let us have the use of west pool and hawthorns so most had an empty peg on one side at least, even tom mangnal was here due to the fact he was asked by a couple of the regulars at summerhayes to stop going there LMARO,
i let mrs brown impersonater (bob gullick) draw for me and he gave me peg 4 on hawthorns, not a peg thats been doing to well lately but you never know, i had ziggy slowinski on my left who is taking great pleasure in having a bottle of beer side bet with fabio and to be honest if he wins many more fabsy could be the main stockist of the bridgwater polish offy. on my right was jason bird who was glad the gimp couldnt make it at least his pole was still in one piece.
bait choice was easy today as the maggot has been doing the business so 3 rigs to make up two 4x14,s one for down the middle ,one for the margins left and right as its 4 ft deep there and a 4x12 for about 1 mtr off the far bank in about 2 1/2 foot of water all had size 18 6313 hooks on .12 line.
after cupping some soaked micro,s and maggot at 9 mtrs in the deep water and some at 11mtrs up on the shelf and some on the angle to my right in the same depth of water and fed some caster each side in the margins, i started on a single maggot on the 9 mtr line but it was very slow and it took me about 10 mins to get a bite which i of course missed, but a small skimmer was soon in the net followed by a small perch then a couple of ruffe, not a good sign. i had a carp after about 45 mins, but that was the only carp action i had in the deep water, over on the shelf gave me one small chub, so i pushed the rig up to the right and i had another carp first drop, so i refed and went back in front but again no bites so back up to the right and another carp was on the end but no more bites ,so back to the deep water and a few more skimmers and a few roach graced the net but as far as silvers were going it was a none starter as trig up on 8 had taken a big bream so i was never going to catch enough smalls to compete with that and then he had another so that was todays silvers taken care of. a look to my right hand margin produced another carp then i bumped one so i went back across to the far side,and by moving between the far side and my right hand margin i kept a few fish going , ending up with 16 carp and a few silvers for 45.5 for no brown envelope today
the west pool was the place to draw with dean malin making a welcome return to fishing ang winning with 87.8 off peg 2 fishing maggot over maqggot along his far bank
2nd was his team mate pete sivell on peg 12 west pool with 84 , catching carp the same way
3rd adrian jeffery 67.6 on west pool 11
4th tom mangnal 63.14 on west pool 13
5th rod wootten 63.10 peg 8 west pool
6th craig edmunds 59lb on 8 hawthorn pool which also gave him the top silvers weight of 16.1

viaduct silvers league , round 4

i needed a good draw to keep me in contention, but out of the draw tin comes peg 66 which has been a draw of death with it recording 2 lasts and a last but one so far in the league, trouble is this is a flier carp peg where you catch down to the tree,s to the left and being the narrow part of the lake the skimmers rarely stray to this swim, i still didnt see any reason to change my attack so i was still going to base my attack around g bait , caster and dead maggots, so i set up two j range 21 floats ,one was a 4x14 and the other a 4x16 both with an 18 middy 6313 hook on .10, a quich plumb around revealed about 4 1/2 foot of water all over the swim so i could use the rigs any where i wanted to, at the start i cupped in 1 ball at 13 mtrs and 2 balls at 16 mtrs straight out and 2 at 2 o,clock towards 67 which is left out, i also put a ball on the edge of the tree,s but that was wasted as nothing came over it,
i then started on the edge of the bush to my right a i had a small hybrid straight away then no more bites , so it was out to 13 mtrs and i was getting a small roach bite every chuck but they were on the small side, after a bit of this i felt i could catch them a lot closer so i dropped a ball of g bait at 5 mtrs and then i had a good run of 1 to 2oz roach for about an hour before that line died, then both joe mcmahon on 64 and lee wherret both had a good skimmer so i went back out to 13 mtrs and had a few roach before i had a skimmer of just over a pound , then only small roach again so i refed that line with another ball and went out to 16 mtrs in front and after a few small roach i had 3 x 1 1/2 skims in 3 drops which got me back into the section hunt as both lee and joe had had some quality fish but i felt i wasnt to far behind , then i bumped one which you dont want to do on a hard day on a difficult peg and suprise suprise the swim went quiet apart from the small roach, over to the 2 o,clock line but that was quiet then i bumped another when the maggot folded over the point of the hook so that was 2 lost , back to 13 mtrs and i had another one so i was still in the running section wise but lee and joe both had some more fish including some 3lb fish so i was now behind with lee definately winning our section going into the last hour i had 2 more in 2 put ins at 2 o,clock then tragedy i struck to earl on a lifter and bumped another , by the end i new lee had beaten me but i thought i just had the measure of young joe but it wasnt to be as i had 15lb, joe 17 and lee 20 so a third in section for me, i now need 2 section wins to stand any chance of getting in the overalls at league end, those 3 lost fish cost me second but they felt the same size as the 7 i had so first place would have probably been safe,
1st on the day went to steve mayo on 69 with 45.6 of skimmers over g bait
2nd dave roper 24.14 on 96
3rd paul elmes on 71 with 22.13
4th tom thick 21.15 on 130
5th lee werret 20.14 peg 62
6th phil cardwell 18.13 peg 72

weds open landsend match lake

poor turnout today with only 10 fishing, it may have been the forecast which was promising heavy rain which kept people away but luckily they got it wrong as we had no proper rain till the drive home.
aaron britnell pulled 2 tickets out and offered me one, i,m glad i took the right one as it was 19, the last time i drew this i had 350lb stalking them off the top, no chance at this time of year for that to happen again.
after the weekend when the first 2 caught on meat that was going to be my first choice of baits, so i set up a 4x14 with a middy 9313 on .14 line for 4 and 7 mtrs and the same rig was ok to use in front of peg 20 for soft pellet over micro,s,at 14 mtrs, i set up a 4x12 rig with a xedion size 18 on .16 line for meat down the edge, i aso set up a 4x12 for caster over by the island on .12 line with a 6313 size 16 hook on
starting on the 7mtr line i missed a bite first put in, which was a good sign, i,m not going to waste to much time about the match as apart from a carp at 14 mtrs and a small carp by the island the match was spent on the 4 and 7 mtr line apart from a few forays down the edge which yielded 6 carp ending up with 24 carp for what i estimated would go about 130lb, the scales went 144.14 for first on the day with all the fish falling to 8mm meat fished over the same
2nd adrian jefferey on 22 with 69.6
3rd ziggy slowinski on 15 with 52.10
4th fabio 51.11 on 13
5th aaron britnell 46 .14 which included top silvers with 24.8 off peg 3
6th adam caswell 46.5 peg 11

sunday open landsend fishery

what a difference 24 hours makes to the weather, yesterday at viaduct we had clear skies and a frost with a biting northerly wind and this morning it was mild with a westerly breeze and lots of rain. we had 24 booked in for the match so we were spread over match and speci lake, mike duckett pulled two tickets out stuck together so i had the one sticking out, it turned out to be 31 which is a peg which you could nearly guarantee winning off 18 months ago but i cant remember a winner coming off it since anton page broke the lake record off it, he must have really upset them !!!!
for company i had rowan atkinson body double to my left in the shape of dave westcott and bathampton reject niel mercer to to my right, normally i like to fish this peg tight in to the far bank but with the plants on the island collapsed over a bit plus there was a piece of line going across the gap between the bushes stopping access.
so i set up a pellet rig to fish at the front of the bushes with a 16 b960 on .16 for banded 6 and 8,s over loosefed 4,s, a 4x12 for corn the my right by the empty pallet beany and me had to share but i wont talk about that any more as beany and me never had so much as a roach there. also put together was a 4x14 rig for 13 mtrs for corn over micro,s with a 16 6313 0n .14.
starting on the corn line i managed 1 f.1 and lost 2 in the first hour so that was a bit of a waste of time , so i went across to the bushes with pellet but apart from a couple of liners i couldnt get a bite there , by now beany and fabio on 29 and 28 respectivley were catching odd carp on maggot and caster fished tight over to the far bank, also niel on 32 had a couple of carp and some good perch down the end bank margin
so with half the match gone and with 1 f1 in the net drastic action was called for, i normally carry one of those frangle gadgetts which is a very sharp angled blade which screws onto your cupping kit allowing you to cut any offending pieces of line away but needless to say it was no where to be found in my kit, its my own fault for not having one as vic bush markets them under his mosella/ avalon brand and its a piece of kit any one who fishes snakey type lakes shouldnt be without. so i went out with my cupping kit and after a bit of tugging and pulling i managed to get the line out of the way, so i cupped in some casters with a bit of corn then made up a 4x10 rig on .16 with an 18 exedion hook on the end, i had to fish it on a very short line with about 6 inches of line between the pole tip and float as i needed to fish tight to the bank under a bush to get bites, first drop on double caster cave me a small rudd so the rest of the match was spent on corn, my first carp was probably 11 to 12lb shortly followed by a 16lb common which as i netted i went blind as my brollie decided to shut by its own accord again, thats the second time this year perhaps its time to go for a new one, but it gave alan oram opposite on 33 a giggle.
i ended up with 6 carp 2 chub and 1 f1(i wont mention the small rudd as small one are a waste of time i hate them) which weighed 53lb ish.
1st martin pettiffer 108.5 peg 5 mainly catching on meat in the gap between the 2 islands
2nd was the wincanton pensioner dave roper o 16 with 104.2. its nice to see dave has got a new full time carer in the shape of nick collins who is obviously taking his new job seriously.
3rd philip(only his mum calls him that)fabio harding with 81.4 peg 28
4th dave "beany"westcott 77.15 peg 29
5th mike west 65.14 peg 1
6th paul elmes 62.2 peg 15
top silvers went to paul elmes with 20.8

silvers final at viaduct fishery

with 43 of us spread over cambell, cary and lodge there was going to be plenty of room, after a good breakfast in woody,s cafe at the fishery it was into the draw tin and out comes peg 70 for two weekends on the trot , needles to say i had a bit of stick off most in the queue, as i had won off it with 46lb of skimmers the week before and it has been the most consistent silvers peg for weeks, so i wasnt complaining , but as we know different days bring different results, and with the colour dropping out due to an overnight frost and a chilling northerly wind, nothing was going to be cut and dried. i didnt see any reason to do anything different so i set up 2 rigs both with an 18 6313 on .10 , one being .5g and the other 4x12 just in case a lighter approach was needed, another plus with this peg today was that the cold wind was at my back, the people behind me on cary had it smack in there faces and it was cold, for company i had steve jackson on 71 and dave white on 69 , on the whistle i fed 3 balls at 11 and 14 mtrs just like last week and half expected a similar but slightly cooler response from the skimmers but it never happened it was just a case of trying to get a bait to the bottom before a small roach nailed it the best bait to avoid the small roach seemed to be pieces of worm but the roach even nailed that, i did get bites all match but mainly from small fish , i had 3 better skimmers and quite a few handsize jobs but i was never going to win today i thought i had about 10lb and i was convinced dave had beaten me but he lost several good skimmers which cost him dear today, dave weighed 13.14 but i beat him by 4oz to win the section he was gutted lol.
1st on the day went to the ginger one , Andy power on 114 with 7 tench plkus bits for 23.13
2nd anton page 21.2 peg 125
3rd paul greenwood 17.12 peg 96
4th gay o,shea 14.4 peg 112
5th tony rixon 14.2 peg 70
6th dave white 13.14 peg 69

practice silvers match for the silvers final on sat

back down to viaduct again and with only 12 fishing we would have plenty of room as we were spread over cary lake. weds matches have been poorly attended all summer whereas the thursday cost cutters have been really popular ,says it all really, people aint got the money.
back to the draw tin and aaron britnell insisted on drawing for me and he handed me peg 77 which was an end peg today and on the way down i said i really fancied 78 so one peg away would have to do. still keeping it simple on this lake (well all lakes really) just 2 rigs , a .3g for caster down the edge with an 18 6313 on .10 and that would do for a lighter rig on the long pole as it was only 6 inches deeper out at 13 mtrs,
the other rig was a .5 affair with the same hook and line for 13 mtrs straight out and at 11 o,clock angle at 9 mtrs, i only chose these 2 areas as it was the same depth so i could get away with the same rig for both.
at the start i cupped in 3 balls on the 9 and 13 mtr line and started feeding some casters down the right hand margin at 5 mtrs.
starting at 9 mtrs i started with a carp on first drop in as did several other anglers, then i bumped off a good skimmer and the small raoch arrived next. a switch to double caster did get me some small skimmers but it was a bit slow, no noe seemed to be catching to much, as far as i could see aaron on 80 and trigger on 101 were catching but it was mainly small skimmers, most of my match was spent at 9 mtrs with skimmers drifting in and out of the feed, there were fish on the 13 mtr line aswell but the 9mtr line was just as productive so i reckon 75% of my weight came from there, the margin gave me a couple of perch with one of about 1 1/2lb and some roach but the carp arrived so i binned that line, i was still catching fish at the end of the match and i nearly put in my qouta of 2kg of g bait with the fish responding to it really well , as to whether it will be the same on saturday ,i dont know as we are possibly going to have 2 frosts and the days are going to be bright so it will be harder me thinks.
i had a look in my net at the end and it felt like i had 40lb plus in it so i new that would be there or there abouts as far as i could see, scott russell on 97 had been catching well at 5mtrs in the last half of the match on caster but a slow first half would be the difference. i was first to weigh and my net went 42.5 for first on the day
2nd scott russell 35.1 on peg 97, the slow start did cost him
3rd craig edmunds 31.3 peg 101
4th nick ewers 28.11 peg 85
5th aaron britnell 28.6 peg 80
6th tim pallant 27.11 peg 88
today i was next to mike west who was on 78 , normally being next to mike means that you have to put up with his endless phone calls about work . but not today ,he as discovered that the samsung galaxy111 my be an all singing all dancing piece of wonderfull technology but he forgot to download the app that makes it float as it fell out of his pocket and went straight in, but at least he had a quiet day.
there is an open at landsend on sunday 9am draw book in with me at the shop or with mike at the fishery on 07977545882