Landsend loyalty match

Only 14 of us fished this one so mike put 7 on speci and the same on match, so into the draw and out comes two tickets stuck together, I should take a leaf out of mike nicholls book and chuck them back in and find a loner ticket without a parasite stuck to it, but no I offer one to mike duckett which turns out to 33, possibly the best all year round peg on the lake , and I open 39, not a god peg any more at any time of the year, so off to the peg but not feeling to confident, there were a few fish at this end the day before , but I had my doubts as to whether the would still be in attendance today. I drew the same peg last time I was on here a few weeks before in the landsend league and dipped out , I did catch some silvers so I half made my mind up to fish solely for them today, but due to the fact the carp fed the day before I kind of talked myself out of it. I haven't got to much to say about the match really, I did get one carp of about 7lb on soft pellet , a couple of f1,s and a skimmer on hard pellet by the island and some roach, who were proving to be a nuisance, I did lose a couple of foulers on the island but it was generally hard, so not to much to report as I weighed 15.12 for no good at all , as expected the fish were caught as normal on 31/32/33/34. Apart from ken Rayner opposite who did well to win the silvers with 13lb, he caught most of his perch if not all on prawn over caster, he also managed a carp on it aswell, I went round to have a look and he seemed to be feeding a few chopped prawns on a bed of finely chopped iceberg lettuce with a bit of thousand island dressing drizzled over the top, even it fancied it, I was duly beaten by a surf and turf angler, top on the day was steve Seager on 32 with 98lb and second went to trigger on 24 with 89lb, 3rd was mr duckett on the peg he stole from me 33, with 50 something pounds , followed by his son nick on 11. With a slightly smaller 50lb, so well done to all of them, I,m off. The emerald on Thursday for a mike jones match, but looking at the weather forecast I,m not sure if that's going to be a good idea, ye right I,ll be there I,m looking forward to it already, and next Sunday it's the first of the viaduct winter league matches.

Tuesday costcutter acorn fishery

Well it was a costcutter for me then , even though I don't really like them, as I have to work Wednesdays now they seem to be my best option, these acorn affairs are well run by mike chapman and ray bazeley , well they don't seem to get to many problems.
No brekkie at the fishery today as the chef is off sick, get well soon bev.
So into the draw tin and I was being a bridge troll today as I pulled 34 , for company I had the ever laughing Barry fitchew on 33 and the next angler to my left was andy gard on 37.
I set up a couple of rigs to fish along the bridge in various places, but the normally reliable shoal of fish which inhabit this bridge seemed to have gone as I never had so much as a dip on the float so I won't mention them again.
A rig for 7 mtrs which was just over halfway to the island and another to use to my left at the bottom
Of the slope, maggot was my main bait today , so at the start I cupped in some caster at 7 mtrs and to my left, some maggot and micro along the bridge (wasted),
I started at 7 mtrs with single maggot and it took 10 mins to get a bite, that was from a skimmer, and by the end of the first hour I had 2 f1,s one carp and another skimmer, and that was my last bite for a couple more hours, no one seemed to be getting much and even the silver ace mr fitchew on33 never had a fish till about 15 mins from the end, I did get a couple more skimmers down to my left and missed a couple of sail aways aswell down there, and I can only put them down to liners as all I hit was fresh air, in the last hour I shallowed up a bit and went up the ledge towards the far side, and I. Had 1 more f1 and two carp , one of which I was playing on the whistle , which turned out to be the biggest one of about 6lb, at the end I thought I had 7lb of silvers and I thought my three carp would go 10lb and I wasn't to far out as my silvers went 7.6 and the carp went 11.10 for a 19lb total and first on the day
2nd went to venue expert and match organiser mike chapman on 6 with 17.11
3rd andy gard on 37 with 17lb
4th lee Waller on 11 with 16.14
5th j Gunter on 40 with 11.4
6th mike Owens on 27 with 9.6
Silvers by default went to dave wride on peg three with 5.8

Avalon open match

Well it's been three years to the day all Barr one since I last fished this venue, and I was looking forward to it as it's been fishing ok and as always it's a place where it's hard to predict which peg is going to throw up the winner.
We had 20 fishing which ain't to bad for a Sunday open around here, I think we would have had more but some of the venue regulars were committed to other things,
Into the draw bag and out comes 29 which is the first peg on the top island on the right hand bank, for company I was next to Leon Hubbard on 27 and venue expert Tom mangnall on 32, so plenty of room for all. With a light wind blowing off my back I decided to not set a lead rod up(like it was going to happen anyway), so wag for full depth for 8mm pellet, and two pole rigs, both .4 pencils, one with an 18 6313 on ,10 to fish maggot and caster at 13 mtrs over g bait and the other with an 18 8313 on ,12 for 16 mtrs for various baits over micros.
At the start I cupped in three balls of caster laced g bait at 13 mtrs and some soaked micros at 16 mtrs, and fed some 6,s towards the island, the anglers each side started on the lead whereas I started on the pole at 13 mtrs on single maggot, to see if there was a mug skimmer about early on, there was but it was all of 2oz, so I put that down and picked up the wag, chucked it out and sat there not expecting to much, so I was well suprised when it buried and I was winding a 3 lb skimmer in,  false dawn again, I sat on it for a further 45mins for not another bite, I did miss a bite on it towards the end but I don't think it was going to happen, Tom to my left had a couple on the lead chucking to his island and trig opposite on 20 was getting some squeaker carp on the lead and 8 mm pellet. I went back on the pole and stayed on it till the end fishing between the two lines, but that was very slow with only small roach to show for my efforts, Tom was on the pole now and had popped a couple of skimmers into the net, but both me and Leon were struggling, Nigel Bartlett on 24 was catching small fish down by a sunken tree but no one else seemed to be setting it on fire, only fishery owner vic bush on peg 6 was getting much and according to the bush telegraph he was getting odd carp on the feeder cast tight to the island with maggot on the hook,
It was only in the last couple of hours that my swim started to Yield a few, I had some good skimmers/ bream off both lines with fish to over 3lb, Leon had a few aswell as did Tom who also had some small carp aswell, I had 1 carp at 16 mtrs and lost one too, At the end I thought I had 16lb of silvers and one carp for hopefully 20lb, I got round to help vic with the weigh in vic on peg 6 was top on the day with 66.12 , catching mainly on the feeder but he also had a few on the pole ,
2nd was Tom on 32 with 32.7
3rd trigger on 20 with 27.8
4th me with 24.13 which included the top silvers weight on the day with 20.01
5th Nigel Bartlett on 24 with 21.13
6th steve Seager on 12 with 19.2
Fishing again on Tuesday but not to sure where to go yet, probably acorn as I don't think there are to many options on a tuesday

Weds landsend open

Only 8 fishing today so not a match as such, more a New Year's Eve gathering. Getting to the fishery and it seemed mr frost had done his job and put a hard lid on the lakes, so out with the ball and chain for the second match in a row, I was last but one to draw and out came 13, a nice corner peg and it's possible to get along the end bank making ice. Breaking easier. It wasn't to thick in my peg so it didn't take me to long to clear 16 mtrs along the end bank and 9 mtrs on an angle to my right, so after doing mine I went along to the gimp whose sache weight breaker was well and truly stuck in the ice, so I broke his out to 12 mtrs then went round to help Martin lenaghan on 11 who was in danger f pushing his ice flows into my swim, so we managed to shift away under the ice to hs left, job done, the ice wasn't particularly thick but it was that very clear stuff which is normally very hard and it was !!!!
I set up two rigs of identical weights .3g both with 6313 hooks to .12 line. The two lines were a bit different in depths hence the two rigs . I was going to fish two spots up the left one at 9 mtrs and the other at 14 mtrs, and the other was to the right in that cleared channel. At the start I cupped in some maggots and casters on the three lines and started on the 9mtr right hand channel, I gave it thirty mins  with only a couple of dips so with a quid on the first fish with Martin I went to the left hand bank, by now Martin had missed three bites and lost a fish , so he was gutted when I hooked a perch first drop but he cheered up massively when it came off approaching the net, but his cheery mood soon changed  when I went straight back in and landed a 8oz perch . During the match the right hand channel wasn't to productive giving me 2 f1,s , a lost fouled carp and a skimmer which came adrift when my elastic caught on the edge of the ice, by far and away most of the action came from the left hand margin I had quite a few perch and roach, nothing big but plenty of bites, on the 9 and 14 mtr lines as the ice thawed a bit I fed some micros with a few maggots straight in front on the edge of the ice at 14 mtrs as Martin had had three carp opposite me, I did get one carp from here and two more f1,s , but I was always behind Martin as he had three carp and some silvers including three good skimmers in the last hour, and looking down the lake it was going to be an easy win for him.
1st Martin lenaghan on 11 with 27.2
2nd me with 17.13 my silvers went 12.4 and the golden ghostie carp was the rest
3rd nick Ewers on 2 with 12.10 of silvers to take that then
4th trigger on 19 with 11lb
5th Adrian jeffery on 24 with 9.2

Silvers two dayer at viaduct

I partnered Anton page for this pairs two day fixture, only 13 pairs so a bit disappointing really , I was on Cary for the first day and drew peg 86. Not really a peg I would have chosen as the diagonal bank was still the draw most wanted, and with steve tucker on 85 it was going to be hard to win his pound. I set up two pole rigs , both pencils , one .4 and the other .25 both with an 18 6313 on ,10. I also set up the wag to fish at about 25 mtrs, I can't right to much about today , I. Put a ball of g bait on a couple of lines and fed some caster on the wag line, it was really slow for everyone and it took me 20 mins to get my first bite and that was a small roach, my day never got any better really , I did manage two better skimmers on the wag line , both about 1lb , but carp were a problem, I Hooked landing one , if I had taken my time I would have landed all of them , but there was no point, I ended up with 3.10 oz for third from bottom of the section, steve to my left won the section with 7lb , which was a couple of skimmers and perch and some plippy roach, top on the lake was mat tomes who managed it with only a slight bit of rule bending lol. My partner drew 115 on cambell and managed a lowly 2.7, so that was our push for the top over then
Day two and after a really good breakfast in the brewers Fayre in Glastonbury , it was into the draw at the fishery and out come 110 on cambell, not to bad and. It had 5 lb on it the day before, and that end of the lake fished ok with the wag being the best option with lots of small roach and occasional bonuses in the shape of skimmers and tench, trouble was today is that it was frozen over , so the ice breakers were out and a nice channel was cut out to 14 mtrs, I also did a line down to the left as some good perch are known to hang around a stump , I won't mention the left hand swim again as I was in the shade all day and it froze back over with cat ice before I could fish it, I set up the same two rigs as yesterday, at the start I fed two g bait lines on the right hand side of my channel, at 8 and 14 mtrs, and a caster line to my left against the ice at 14 mtrs, it turned out to be another grueller, with no bites for an hour and a quarter then bite from small roach from then on , but that wasn't even to active, to my right nick Collins on 112 started catching small roach straight away and he had a good tench towards the end, glad I never had a quid with him then, I already. Lost one to mr tucker the day before , which I paid up straight away. On the bank, (take note mr russell) lol.
I ended with 2.14 of plippers, for no good again, our lake today was won Dom Sullivan on 118 with 7lb which turned out to be top on the day, mat tomes struggled today when he had to abide by the rules ha ha ha ha , having just one roach from 123, but. That was one more than my partner who was on 74 and never had a bite, but there was no shame in that as des shipp only had 12 oz off it the day before, and that was with no ice so he could fish the peg properly, for the full results check out dom Sullivan's blog, me and Anton were well and truly on the way home well before the results were done, after sitting in the shade all day I was pretty much chilled to the bone.
Off to landsend on weds , ring me on 07974807941 to book in and on Sunday I an running one at Avalon(yes you read it right) , so ring me on the same number to book in , or ring vic on 07977210078

Viaduct silvers open, spring lake

Still only 12 fishing this one, I thought a few more would have shown as it's really the last chance to have a practice before the silvers pairs on the weekend on spring and Cary, still 12 is better than 11 but not as good as 13 lol.
As usual we all wanted to draw on the far side , preferably between 16 and 19, so into the coffee tin and out comes peg 1, about as far as you can get from the form pegs, but at least I could see them, a quick chat with Paul and he reckoned it would be ok as the pleasure anglers had been doing well on these early pegs, as the skimmers seemed to be moving back into spring from middle and there is always the option f some good perch down the right hand margin towards the gap into middle by a bush, as long as the carp didn't turn up, which seemed unlikely as they could be seen swimming under the bridge in the channel between the two lakes.
For company I had Scott russell on 2 and round the corner was Kieran guppy on 25, so the pound was  sorted with Scott and I set about setting up the rigs, .4g pencil for over the g bait lines at 11 and 14 mtrs, a .3 for 4 mtrs and a 4x12 for the hoped for perch down the edge,
At the start and after feeding all ones , 3balls at 11 and 4 at 14, some casters down the edge and then started at 4 mtrs, but it. Was slow with only 1 small roach n the first 15 mins , I did think about going out to 11 mtrs for an early look, but then I started to get a few decent roach in the 2 to 4 oz size, then I had a decent hybrid, with no one catching much , and Scott who started n the feeder only having one skimmer I stuck with it , and was glad I did as I the roach kept coming , not frantic just comfortable , especially as the really small ones didn't seem to want to feed , I also had a few more decent skimmers from that line, also feeding an odd small ball of soft g bait on that line seemed to Help, I've tried before on earlier matches but it never seemed to work as it did today,
Two hours in and with the short line slowing right up I went out to 11 mtrs and really expected a skimmer but all I could get was the same size roach, and not one skimmer, so 30 mins later it was out to 14 mtrs, again there seemed to be lots of roach out there aswell but with a couple of 12 oz fish I wasn't complaining,
I had a look for some perch down the edge and had a couple to 8oz and again some sensible roach, but most of the remainder of the match was spent at 14 mtrs and I did get 7 or 8 more skimmers amongst the roach so I ended up with maybe 30lb, the only person I could see catching odd skimmers was Gary oshea over on 18, and andy powers had been catching all day but he had been plagued with lots of small fish and only a few skimmers, also Scott on 2 started getting some skimmers on the pole towards the end but it was to late to catch up, so the pound at least was mine, I did wait in the carpark for it but he seemed to taking a long time pack up ha ha.
I was one of the last to weigh and with Gary on 18 winning with 21lb things were looking good as I new I had that , my net went 28.10 and I new andy powers on 24 never had that, so I at least I can buy judith a Xmas pressy now and I wouldn't have to go to the social for a crisis loan I'll leave that to all the , no I better not say any more had I,
2nd went to Gary oshea on 18 with his 21.11
3rd andy powers on 24 with 18lb
4th r eagle on 15 with 17.7
5th Scott russell n 2 with 16.5
6th Nigel Bartlett on 17 with 15.6
Definately my last post before Xmas so I hope everyone has a good one

Todber league, final round

Off on my own today as my travelling partner set his alarm for the wrong time ,doh.
Into canards for breakfast , it was ok , not the best I,ve had here but it filled a gap, then onto the fishery for the 8.30 draw, only 20 fishing today as there had been several dropouts, mark had done a good a job of finding a few reserves today, why is it people book in for a series only fish a couple then don't bother seeing it out, there are occasions and good reasons for some people needing to drop out or miss a match but to not turn up as they have no chance is wholley unacceptable .
Back to the draw and out comes 28 for me , although Ashley won the section off it last round I wasn't really feeling the love on the peg today, plus I was next to the joint league organiser in the the shape of  a bad tempered nick merry, ooh he can be angry, even launching a top set up the bank during the day with another rig tied in a granny knot around the end,
The pegs I fancied in the section today were 25 which is a big corner peg with lots of room with dan white round the corner on 22 being the next angler, not a flier but with loads of room it may be ok today,
I set up rigs for 13 mtrs on two angles, a rig for a couple of areas against the far bank and a margin rig , I started at 13 mtrs on a piece of corn over micros, not a bite there for the first 30 mins , the anglers around me had started over, and they had a few fish , so I went across and had some bites, firstly on corn then a switch to maggots was ok even if it did attract some small roach, the next couple of hours weren't to bad as I had three proper, if not smallish carp and about 12 or 13 f1,s then the last couple of hours went to rat shit and all I could catch were odd roach, so that was it for me then, dave hodgson on 25 caught some carp down his edge and although I couldn't see dan on 22 as the island was hiding him, I did occasionally see his topkit in the air with elastic out so he was getting a few, the end couldn't come quick enough for most at this end of the lake, dan won our section with 47lb and dave was second with 30lb, I was third with 24lb then it was 13 and 8 after that.
Top on the day was Alan oram on peg 5 with 111lb catching on maggot at 7 mtrs and league winner Ashley Tompkins on 37 was second with 99lb, sealing the league in style so well done to him, the full results will probably be on ken rayners (fishingken) blog, but it may be a few days in appearing as he really had a bad day only weighing about 6lb for last in his section,
May go to acorn on Tuesday for a pre Xmas fix but looking at the weather forecast which is showing wet and windy I may not go at all or I may have a bit of a pleasure session, out of the wind some where.
If I don't do another blog this week , I hope you all have a good Christmas and stay safe