Landsend league rnd 4

This match was back to a random draw today, so after a di breakfast ,which we were last to have, it was into the draw bucket, there were only 2 tickets left, I let Mike duckett decide which one and he handed me 34, same peg as last time on the speci lake, last time I really struggled as the fish didn't seem to be there as roach were a problem, even though I didn't catch to much last time I wasnt going to do it any different today, so it was hard pellet against the island on top of the shelf, a pellet rig on the deck off the Bush on the end of the island and a meat rig for down the track.
Peg 34 looking down from the cafe.

For company on in form peg 33 was Mark "I always draw bad" poppleton who was telling me his peg was never any good unless its really cold, yes right we would see.
Looking down on Mark .

I started badly even plumming up as I caught my rig round a branch on the island and the elastic snapped at the connector, I've had that plummet for ages, it was like losing a family pet.
It was a hard peg section with Alan oram on peg 25, Adrian Clark on 31, Andy hembrow on 32 Mark on 33 and me on 34, all good capable anglers so it was going to be tough to get the section money. The whistle went and I decided to go straight across against the island on banded 6mm over loose Fed 4,s, as the wind was meant to pick up I thought some early fish may be handy it the wind did increase making far bank fishing difficult.
It seemed to be the right decision as I was soon landing a carp after the loss of a fouler before that, but Mark and Andy both caught straight away aswell, it turned into a fairly straightforward match for the biggest part, and with 90 mins to go I was probably winning the section as I had 16 carp , Andy had stopped catching , Adrians peg after a very slow start was beginning to come to life, Mark was doing ok until he snagged the end bank and went round to free his rig, perhaps it was his last hook.

I think it may have done him a favour as he only had one more fish from the end bank, but he did start catching well out by the aerater about 18 inches deep, not really a normal occurrence in February, or perhaps we been doing wrong all these years, also Adrian was catching well now on the opposite side of the island from me , I never had another carp in those last 90 mins , and apart from a couple of liners no bites either, I think the carp moved around the island away from me, so I went from looking good to win the section to be more likely 3 rd as both mark and Adrian overtook me , the meat line was no good , I did get one carp on it but that was the only bite, I also hooked another branch on the island trying to get really tight against the island, but the wind did me proper and I lost another lot of elastic and a rig on one of those annoying hard to see twigs sticking out from the island, being next to mark today was a bit of an eye opener as he is the king of monsters, he even makes Chris Fox look like an apprentice, moans about the wind , the Sun making it hard to see, how hard the fish fight, you name it and he had a moan, so Mr Fox I think you will need to up your game.
1st on the day was Mark with 133.5
2nd Adrian on 31 with 128lb
3rd Nick merry on 16 with 116.15
4th me 107.14
5th Andy hembrow on 32 with 88.1
6th Paul elmes on 58 with 85.13
Silver's
Bob gullick on 42 with 21.8 of mainly handsize skimmers, (Bob's favourite fish)

Thursday coffin Dodgers, huntstrete withy pool

23 of the southwest finest oldies turned out for this one on withy pool, I don't  know much about this lake as its only the second time I have fished the lake, got into the draw towards the end and pulled peg 60 for myself, which was in the middle of the right hand bank, for company I had Steve Dawson on my left on 59 and Dave wride on my right, both good silver's anglers, and with some carp players being on the better carp pegs I thought silver's may be my best chance of a pickup

A nice view across the lake and no mud, what a bonus,
It turns out you need to fish fairly long in these pegs as the slope flattens out at a little over 12 mtrs , so I set up 2 rigs, one .6g drennan as5 to fish 2 angles at 13 mtrs, one for soft pellet over micros to the left, then a groundbait and caster line to the right, then a .4g pc slim float for corn at 16 mtrs straight out.
At the start I cupped in 2 balls of groundbait at 13 mtrs to the right and some soaked micros to the left, then deposited some corn and softened 4,s at 16 mtrs,
Starting over the right hand groundbait line on single maggot, I expected a bite fairly quickly, but nothing happened, 20 mins in and I swung the rig over the micro line, still nothing.
John fry on the point in front of the sheds, on peg 67, was getting odd skimmers on soft pellet, not much was going on, then Pete greenslade had a carp on peg 46. I began to catch a few small roach on caster over the groundbait, but next door Steve Dawson was catching small fish regularly on the wag and maggot, to say the match was hard would be a bit of an understatement, I did get a bream on maggot over the micros which overtook Steve in one go, but John fry was still getting odd skimmers, but he had a rig malfunction and he couldn't catch after that, then I had a bream on corn at 16 mtrs, a good perch on maggot over the micros was useful, then another bream over the groundbait, so that was three bream on three different baits on three different lines, so no chance of forming any kind of plan from that then, I did lose another bream towards the end as it came up over the inside shelf, and a carp broke me, which felt hooked properly but I will never know as it stole my hook, it was only, a,10 hooklenth to an 18 6313 hook, and as the fish go well over 20lb in this lake it was always going to be a big ask to land it, the eventual winner on the day managed it though so well done to Ray bazeley on 44 who got 16 pounder in the wing, plus his silver's to give him a 22.4 total
2 nd was Pete greenslade on 46 with a14.4 carp and 12 oz of silver's for 15lb
3rd and first in the silver's was me with 12.4
4th John fry with 11.10
5th Mike Nicholls on 66 with 10.7
A pic of Ray and Mike assisting organiser Mike Jones.

Weigh sheets

Thursday acorn costcutter

Just a quick reminder, the veals big sale starts Saturday and runs all week, pop in for a bargain, we will also be shut from 1pm on Friday for sale preparation.
Back to today and after one of the coldest night's of the winter I made sure to put the ball and chain in the van, no not Judith , the ice breaker, and up wasn't wrong as the whole lake had a thick cat ice layer on top, with only 7 fishing pegging was always going to be hard, so Mike pit in 21/22/33/34/40 , all bridge pegs the 37 and 11, peg 40 was the preferred draw but it wasn't to be as peg11 came out, nice wind and Sun straight in the face then all day, I soon broke the ice to the far bank then down the left to the tree and the right to the empty peg 10,
2 rigs made one for in the deep water and another that would do for the far side and each margin at about three and a bit feet of water,

At the start I cupped in a few maggots on 2 lines down the middle, 2 lines across, and each margin, then before in could do anything the wind began to blow down the lake at me , sending the entire ice sheet from up the lake into my swim, my only option initially was the down the middle swims and across, but the shifting ice pack even made that awkward, it took till midday for the ice to melt fully by which time I was still wireless, and I was considering going home (never have yet lol), I went down to my left at last towards the tree, and I had a bite , woohoo, and f1 safely in the net, I had a right purple patch then as by 1.30 I'd had another f1 and a pasty mirror, flying , Mike Chapman came round for a chat from peg 37 and he was biteless

Viaduct winter league, rnd 3

A slight detour for brekkie today, with lillypool off the radar it was a stop off at last Landsend for one of di,s  nice offerings, and nice it was too,
Then a 30 minute drive to viaduct, my turn on spring lake today, and I had expressed a wish for peg 10 as Its been hot for silver's of late and its always a chance of a few carp as you have a tree on the end of the island to fish at.bugger me if I didnt go and pull it for myself, lol .I had Steve Tucker on my left on 11 and Nigel Morris on my right on 9, with team not doing to well it was primarily going to be a silver's attack, so 2 rigs , a .4g double bulk rig and a .3g as5 for a bit more finesse, yes like I really do finesse,
Also set up was a wag r of to fish mainly corn about 3/4 of the way towards the tree.

At the start I cupped in 4 balls of groundbait at 14 mtrs and 1 at 11 mtrs , then I began on corn on the wag, I gave that 30 mins with only a couple of missed bites which I put down to roach. So it was out with the double bulk rig, it sat there for about 30 second before lifting and staying up, nice, soon  had a pound plus skimmer heading for the net, but it pinged of just beyond the pan, I went back in and started catching small handsize skimmers, but no quality, Steve was also on the pole by now but all he could get was small roach, Chris Fox on15 and Chris Davis on 17 seemed to be getting better skimmers, and Jason Radford on 16 had a couple of carp when he managed to get his bread into the water and fairly close to the island.
My match never really got any better, I did get one good bream of about 3lb but  small roach were a problem, I had tried the wag and corn several times but no bites, at about 1,15 I put triple maggot on the hook and threw it a bit closer to the tree, I looked round to watch Chris Davis net another skimmer and had the rod pulled round in my hand, woohoo, carp on , but it turned out to be a small one, in fact it was an f1, but it was a big one all 4.11 of it, I tried  for another but to no avail, only a 4oz Rudd was my only other fish from there. The rest of my match was spent on the pole trying to catch skimmers which never seemed to  be there, for some reason they seemed to be along the back bank, they obviously fancied an away day, Steve on my left had a few slightly better skimmers and he got caught by an 11lb carp towards the end, he was looking elsewhere and had the elastic pulled from his pole, a proper bonus on a hard day. At the end I had my 4.11 f1 and 15.3 of silver's for 19.14, Steve had 26.11 and Nigel the other side had 17lb, he had a few better skimmers on meat on the tip.
1st on the day was Ivan oakey on 113 with 152.2, catching on the tip with meat at about 20mtrs
2nd Chris Jones on 114 with 145.3
3rd Marc Jones on 85 with 112.9
4th Mark Harper on 102 with 105.11
5th mash on 53 with 100.2
6th Steve seager on 115 with 97.9
Silver's
Chris Davis on 17 with 38.1
2nd Chris Fox on 15 with 29.13.
Don't forget the veals big sale starts next Saturday, doors open at 9am

Windmill silver,s series round 3

Don't forget the veals big sale starts on Saturday 20 February, plenty of bargains but it will pay to be early if you are after something specific.
Back to today and my turn for a section, pegs 32/1/2/3 and 4, I fancied peg 32 as it was and end peg with plenty of room, but Lee Waller had wheeled his kit round the lake and left it by the peg then went back for the draw, then he went and drew it, bigger, I went into the draw and pulled out peg 3 , it doesn't mean a thing to me as I don't really know the venue. But after doing ok in the first two rounds using a groundbait approach I wasn't really going to change anything today.

As with most venues it was a bit muddy around the swims, not to bad to begin with as it was frozen, we have now had a frost before each round so far, and the water was a bit clearer than last time, I set up 2 rigs, one was a .8g  for 11 mtrs on a couple of lines and a .4g for caster short as I had a lot of fish on it last match, for company I had Mike laird on my left on 4 and Dave Poole to my right on 2.
At the start I cupped in 2 balls on the two long lines , one with caster and the other with some soaked micros .
I began on the short line expecting a couple of fish but never had a bite after 20 mins so that line was all but binned, I did try it again on a couple of occasions but to no avail,
Most of the match was spent on the 2 longer lines fishing single maggot in the main, I did have odd fish on caster but they were no bigger, as today quickly turned into a real struggle with no one as far as I could see doing well, I did get 2 better skimmers but most of the day was spent trying to get a micro roach impaled on my hook, I did lose another good skimmer when the maggot folded over the point of the hook, these things happen, I did think it would probably cost me as it was going to be tight, and it did as Lee won our section on 32 with 4.9 whilst I had 4.6.
The match was won by Steve Dawson on peg 8 with a level 6lb, the weigh sheet below shows how hard it fished.

Landsend league, round 3

I must admit its a good job they have opened the cafe at the fishery as I drove past lillypool at 7.45 and it was still shut, I think they are missing a trick there !!!!!!.
I must say Diane has got a nice breakfast sorted out, quick tasty and hot, job done.
My turn on match lake today , so into the relevant draw bucket and I pull out peg 24, another corner , but with some resident fish always on the end bank in was confident of a few, but on my recent form nothing was guaranteed.
For company I had organiser Ken ranger on 22 and Dave hodgson opposite on 1.

All a bit muddy and the Brolly was up solely to keep my stuff dry, but unbelievably it never rained , well not enough to threaten anything.
Rigs today were a meat rig to fish 13 and 14 mtrs out slightly to my left and on the end of the trees in front , also at 14 mtrs, a hard pellet rig for slightly up the end bank shelf at 13 mtrs in about 3 foot of water, a caster rig for 5 5mtrs, and I did make up another caster rig to fish to empty peg 23,
At the start I fed very carefully, meat on the three long lines, a few pellets along the end bank, fired a few casters to the empty pallet to my leg left, then picked up the 5 mtr caster rig,
That never went to plan, it took me 25 mins to get a bite, which was a small roach, soon followed by several more, Ken had a carp on pellet across by the island, but Dave was still fish less by now, I then lost a good skimmer at the net, it was one of those which comes off just out of range of the net, then just lays on the top for what seems like ages before swimming off, probably chuckling to itself.
That line went quiet , so I tried the meat lines, I had a go at 13 and 14 mtrs but never had a bite, so in tried the 14 mtrs line by the trees and lost a fouler, then nothing else, so I had a go on the pellet line against the end bank, that also was a none starter, here we go again then as Dave opposite was beginning to get a few, so the quid was looking dodgy. I went back out on the 13 mtr meat line and had a carp, but no more bites on that line, Ken was also struggling after his lone early carp, then he went down to the empty swim between us on PRAWN, and bigger me if he didn't get a 3lb bream, so I had a look down there and had a 8oz perch on caster, and a few sensible roach, Dave on 1 was still putting fish in his net and offering me lessons if I felt the need, but the last 2 hours came good for me, I had two more carp on meat one at 14 mtrs out to the left and one by the trees at 14 mtrs, I also had two big skimmers down by 23 pallet , and rounded off the match by having 7 more carp down along the end bank on banded 6mm over a few 4,s, and it was enough to win the section with 56lb, in front of Dale housen on peg 5 with 45lb which included top silver's weight on the day with 18lb of f1,s and skimmers, just beating Ken next to me who had a late run of skimmers  for 17lb , he did lose two late bream which cost him on the day. Top weight today went to inform Adrian Jeffery on peg 16 with 110.12 , catching on meat out in front to begin with then down his edge
2nd was trig Edmunds on 51 with 103.14 also on meat
3rd Andy hembrow on 13 with100.14 also on meat
4th Mark poppleton on 31 with 72.8
5th Nick merry on 33 with 68.9
6th me 56.8

Adrian with part of his catch, well done to him

Thursday knockup Landsend fishery and still torrid

Well not to much to write about really , only 7 fishing so very disappointing really, had a new by today in the shape of Stuart woods who is having a bit of time off from his sea fishing, it was good to see him. I must say the breakfast cooked by Diane and her accomplices is very nice to, lillypool is fast becoming a memory.
Nearly had the last ticket as Mike duckett drew for me and he handed me 13, nice corner peg out the way of the wind and a in form peg, Alan oram won off it last Saturday, and even Mike Jones nearly won off it, so what could go wrong, everything !!!!,
I ended with 6 carp for 30lb and 2lb of silver's, which was 2 perch and a hybrid, nuff said , I had to watch Adrian Jeffery opposite getting a couple more carp than me and some descent perch down his edge on PRAWNS, I ask you what's all that about lol.

Top  picture is Adrian unhooking a near double at the end of the match, and a view of my flyer before the start.
The following pics are Alan oram with a few fish from his winning net of 61lb and Andy Gard with the top silver's weight on the day,which was 25lb of skimmers and perch

Alan was on 18 and caught all on meat fished in various parts of his peg, Andy had his silver's on maggot down the edge on peg 6, Adrian was second with 51lb  and I was 3rd with 32, Vince Brown came in 4th with 31lb.
I did catch an old friend today in the shape of this orange carp, I reckon I have had it 10 times over the year's, not only is it orange but its got a split dorsal making it recognisable.