Christmas Match, Westerleigh, 11 December (22 pegs)

Apparently the coffin-dodgers had fished a match on both lakes the day before and also on the Thursday and with the water being cold and clear a tough day's fishing was anticipated. And with the new lake having been fishing poorly this year the bottom lake was the place to be and sure enough this was where all of the top five weights came from.
Leading the charge (and entertaining everyone within earshot) was Craig Trigger Edmunds on peg 9 who took full advantage of the fact that his peg was stuffed with feeding fish.  Craig alternated white maggot and soft pellet on the hook and only fed 15 micros and 3 maggots to get them interested at the start.  He landed a carp on his first put in and followed this with a steady run of small roach, carp, f1's and crucians plus a mutant goldfish for a total of 33lbs 7oz which won him £55 in pools plus a free membership and a Mosella Kompact4 rod holdall!
   Just missing out on the rod holdall was match organiser, Steve Burgess on peg 6 who landed five carp and a few silvers for 21lbs 10oz.  Steve fished at 9 metres with maggot and caster hookbaits over micro pellet feed and later with double red maggot over caster four feet off the platform of peg 5.  In an ironic twist to last week's result at Boyd Valley, and much to the amusement of Trigger,  Steve managed to loose seven foul-hookers which cost him the match (and the rod holdall) but he remained chirpy and not bitter in any way, shape or form and was more than happy with a stink bag, keepnet and fifty notes!
    Third on the day went to Rich Britton on peg 8 (you may have noticed a pattern developing here) with 16lbs.  Rich caught 12lbs of that in the first ten minutes with one fish that took his white pinkie hookbait.  He spent the rest of the match catching tiny roach on pinkie and watching Trigger catching quality fish 8 feet away from his float. Rich took home a power net handle and £45 for his efforts.
    Paul Elmes couldn't stop smiling when he drew peg 1 and was witnessed running to his van from the pub carpark to get to his peg. Normally you would expect Paul to be heard across the entire lake, especially with Trigger in "abuse range" but today he was very quiet indeed, no doubt wondering why he hadn't easily won the match from the best peg on the lake.  Despite at one point going off to buy more fags and a length of rope from B&Q (to hang himself), he eventually weighed in 13lbs 12oz for fourth place which earned him a Preston pole support and £40.

Overall Result:
(Results in red are on the top lake)

1. Trigger ........ peg 9 ... 33-7
2. Steve Burgess ... 6 ... 21-10
3. Rich Britton ...... 8 ... 16-0
4. Paul Elmes ....... 1 ... 13-12
5. Kev Jefferies ..... 2 ... 11-3
6. Jamie Brown .... 21 .. 10-7
7. Andy Bush ....... 4 .... 9-3
8. Rich Jones ....... 14 ... 8-3
9. Chris Gay ........ 19 ... 6-15
10. Stuart Riddle ... 26 ... 5-9
11. Alan Healy ....... 31 ... 5-4
12. Dave Tippet ..... 23 ... 3-13
13. Mark Radford ... 24 ... 3-4
14. Stuart Ashton ... 12 ... 3-3
15. Mike Welling ..... 32 ... 2-10
16. Eddie Wynne .... 28 ... 2-0
17. Paul Reed ........ 33 ... 0-13
18. Darren North ... 35 ... 0-5
19. Steve Wynne ... 11 ... 0-1
20. Neil Mercer ...... 15 ... 0-2
21. Derek Lucas ..... 21 ... 0-1
22. Simon Belcham .. 17 .. dnw

Many thanks to all who turned out and made it a thoroughly enjoyable day and to all who have supported the club throughout the year.
Thanks also to Tony Rixon for his help with the tackle prizes which were much appreciated and also to Dean Malin.
Thanks also to Mugger Shanks for doing the pegging and organising the breakfast.
And thanks to Chris Gay (and wife) for organising the food which was excellent and also to Sam and Sonny Burgess for heating it up!
Finally, hope everyone has a great Christmas and see you all in the New Year at the next meeting on Tuesday 3 January (which may possibly be a curry night if anyone's interested)!

Boyd Valley, 04 December (9 pegs)

It was a shame that only nine fished this one as it was originally fully booked with a waiting list so it does help a great deal if I get plenty of warning if someone can't make it to give others a chance to fish (it can be difficult to get hold of bait at times on a Saturday night)!
Anyway, fortunately there were no major disasters at the draw although strangely, having decided to leave out peg 5 (too muddy) and peg 11 (restricted by pegs 10 and 12) and to put the other 10 pegs in the bag I managed to find myself drawn on peg 11!  I wasn't too disheartened though as I hadn't brought any rods so had no intention of throwing things in the direction of the island even though the most recent match there had apparently been won with carp caught on the method with 10mm pellet.
At the off it soon became clear that the carp weren't going to respond to depth charges in the shallow water around the island and most turned their attentions to the roach, which were very obliging,in close and in the margins and odd skimmers. The occasional carp did make an appearance to boost the top weights although former male model-turned-ambulance chaser Paul Reed on peg 4 was having problems avoiding them. Despite losing 7 foul hookers he did manage to extract four which, along with some good skimmers and roach, gave him a comfortable win, well ahead of Alan Healy on peg 2 and Darren North on peg 1.
For the record, Paul (pictured below) caught by alternating worm and single or double caster on the hook over chopped worm and caster feed and a bit of micro down his left margin in 10 inches of water towards the reeds.  He found it was easier to wait for a gap to appear between the backs and tails of the feeding fish in his peg to lower his bait into the water!
If you're wondering why I know quite so much information about Paul's impressive win it's because I was fortunate enough to give him a lift home so if you draw next to Paul at the Christmas match make sure you ask him how he caught, in fact, don't bother because he will tell you anyway!

Full Result:

1. Paul Reed ... peg 4 .... 28-10
2. Alan Healy .......... 2 .... 18-10
3. Darren North ...... 1 ..... 18-6
4. Steve Burgess .... 11 ... 17-15
5. Bob Warren ........ 10 ... 16-8
6. Chris Gay ........... 6 ..... 15-8
7. Simon Belcham ... 7 ..... 10-8
8. Derek Lucas ........ 8 ..... 9-15
9. Mike Welling ........ 12 ... 7-0

Please note that eveyone is welcome to come along to the Midland Spinner on Sunday evening for the PSV Christmas festivities

Psv Christmas Extravaganza 11 December 2011

 

As you are probably aware, this years hotly anticipated Christmas Match is booked for Sunday 11 December at Westerleigh on both lakes.

The match format will generally be the same as last year with payouts for the top three overall and three section payouts (by default) on each of the lakes.

The winner will also have free membership* for next season *(not transferable).

There won't be a silvers pool unfortunately as I have enough to sort out already!

As before the match will cost £40 in total with £20 up front which covers the generous tackle prizes and £20 on the day to cover peg fees and pools.

By now I should have had all the money in for the tackle prizes however I am still waiting for a few which I need as soon as possible in order to get the prizes organised, so please bring your £20 along to Boyd this Sunday (if you are fishing) or to the meeting on the following Tuesday at the absolute latest thanks!

Likewise, anybody who is booked in but can't make it please let me know as early as possible so that I know exactly how many bait boxes and disgorgers to get!

And it wouldn't be a bad idea for everyone to confirm their place either by text or by using the comments box below (include your name)! as you probably already know that I can be a bit flaky when it comes to writing things down.

If the numbers booked-in remains unchanged the payout will be as follows or thereabouts:

First Overall: £55

Second Overall: £50

Third Overall: £45

Section 1: £40 x 2

Section 2: £30 x 2

Section 3: £20 x 2

The important bit!

In a change to previous years Mugger Shanks has kindly arranged for breakfast for everybody in the New Inn at Westerleigh which will be open from 8 and cost a fiver (I think). Also the draw will be at the pub and unlike our normal Sunday morning free-for-alls which so often in the past have resulted in general chaos,  redraws, and a suicidal match organiser, this will be a far more civilised affair run with military precision as follows:

• Order your breakfast
• Pay your £20
• Draw your peg and record it
• Eat your breakfast
• Fuck off to your peg 

This way, those of you who like to set up ten topkits and do your hair / nails / make-up before the all-in can get there nice and early and have all the time in the world to get themselves sorted! Special thanks to Derek Lucas for that bit of inspiration no doubt born from the frustration of watching me make a hash of things first thing on a Sunday morning as a result of Saturday night fever (alcohol abuse)!
Fishing time will be from 10 till 3, all the pegging will have been done in advance and there will be a set of scales and a board on each lake (maybe even two pens as well). Moaning about the pegging, or anything else for that matter, is strictly forbidden.
Naturally, the festive fun and frolics will follow at the Midland Spinner where we will be having the results, payouts and tackle prizes followed by a generous buffet (thanks to Chris Gay), raffle and maybe one or two alcoholic drinks.
Feel free to bring plenty of money for the raffle as no expense has been spared on prizes (I've had to forego my spray-tans for the last month to pay for it)!

If anyone is interested, last year's winner was Paul Elmes with 18-8 from peg 19 on the old lake followed by Adam Caswell with 17-2 from peg 1 (also on the old lake)
Sections were:
Old lake 1. Ryan Jordan ... peg 2 ... 15-0
Old lake 2. Trigger ......... peg 10 ... 14-10
Old lake 3. Stevie Wynne ... peg 15 ... 13-12
New lake 1. Neil Mercer ... peg 26 ... 15-6
New lake 2. Simon Belcham ... peg 33 ... 13-13
New lake 3. Eddie Wynne ... peg 21 ... 13-6
The lakes had been frozen for a fortnight previously hence the low weights!


The previous year Neil Mercer won with 43-5 from peg 2,  2nd was venue expert Darren North with 38-3 from peg 15  and 3rd was Ryan Jordan with 31-0 from peg 1
Sections were:
1. Tony Rixon (who)? ... peg 23 ... 17-0
2. Mark Radford ....... peg 31 ... 16-12
1. Paul Elmes ....... peg 9 ..... 15-6
2. Bob Warren ...... peg 5 ..... 13-12


In our most recent matches Alan Healy won by a whisker on the old lake (9 October) with 64-6 from peg 1  followed by Mike Wilson on peg 17 with 33-4.
And on the new lake (30 October) Paul Elmes won with 15-11 from peg 22  followed by Alan Healy with 13-6 from peg 25

Landsend, Match Lake, 14 August (14 pegs)

Overall Result:

1. Craig Edmunds ... peg17 .... 106-8
2. Simon Belcham ...... 11 .... 69-11
3. Paul Elmes ............. 5 ..... 69-8
4. Darren North** ..... 13 .... 64-0
5. Eddie Wynne ......... 19 .... 43-8
6. Mike Welling .......... 7 ...... 38-12
7. Steve hutchinson ... 21 .... 36-6
8. Bob Warren* ......... 24 .... 32-14
9. Alan Healy ............ 1 ...... 27-10
10. Keith Ray .............. 20 .... 17-2
11. Will Dearlove ......... 3 ..... 15-15
12. Steve Burgess ....... 15 .... dnw
13. Derek Lucas .......... 18 .... dnw
14. Chris Szakacs ........ 9 ..... dnw

Silvers:

1. Craig Edmunds ...... 20-12
2. Bob Warren ........... 19-6
3. Paul Elmes ............ 15-1
4. Alan Healy ............ 10-8
5. Keith Ray .............. 4-10
6. Simon belcham ...... 4-9
7. Eddie Wynne .......... 2-6
8. Steve Hutchinson .... 2-2
9. Will Dearlove .......... 1-9

Viaduct, Cary, 07 August (17 pegs)

I really should follow the examples set by Mr Nicholls and Mr Rixon and post these updates the same day (or very soon after) as at my age the brain loses more information than it stores however ....
By Psv standards with seventeen fishing it was a healthy turnout and at the draw, as per usual, it was Alan Healy that looked to be hot favourite in peg 90 which is in the far corner of Cary and has a long reedbed into the corner. With the wind blowing into that corner it was looking to be a repeat of the previous match at Ivy House that Alan won with ease having drawn the best peg on the entire complex!
Unfortunately for Alan though, match fishing is never as cut and dried as it seems and it soon became apparent that the carp in that corner weren't having it or (more likely)  he had fished it completely wrong and he was forced to abandon any plans of another win and instead concentrated his efforts on choking roach fry with maggots!
In the meantime, on peg 17, match secretary Steve Burgess was finding the carp in a more obliging mood and was catching odd decent fish on the straight lead with banded 8mm pellet while Rich Britton and Simon Belcham on pegs 88 and 86 repectively were also doing well with Rich catching on both the tip and the waggler and Simon opting for a "feeder" approach.
New member Will Dearlove looked to be having a good day although it later became apparent that he spent most of the match playing the same fish as was "will-he-won't-he" Mike Wilson (pictured below).
Top silvers went to Alan with 22-14 although this would have been more but a lot of his fish were so small they were able to swim back out of his keepnet through the mesh.  Bob Warren, who on his fourth match of the week finally managed some coin, took second with 16-2.  Just out of the silvers money (but worth a mention anyway) was Dave the worminator Tippet who found that £20's worth of worm and caster and a handful of river rigs were no match for Cary's larger inhabitants!

Undecided Chairman Mike Wilson plays one of Cary's "babies" whilst wondering how it will fit into his landing net!










Full Result:

1. Steve Burgess .. peg 97 ... 105-9
2. Rich Britton ......... 88 ... 94-14
3. Simon Belcham* .. 86 ... 79-5
4. Will Dearlove ....... 78 ... 75-11
5. Mark Radford ..... 100 ... 71-15
6. Mike Smith ........ 102 ... 67-5
7. Derek Lucas ........ 80 ... 64-11
8. Bob Warren ......... 81 ... 61-5
9. keith Ray ............ 96 ... 54-9
10. Paul Reed ........... 85 ... 50-10
11. Mike Wilson ........ 99 ... 46-13
12. Chris Gay ........... 74 ... 32-1
13. Alan Healy .......... 90 ... 30-6
14. Darren North ....... 76 ... 27-15
15. Dave Tippet ........ 94 ... 24-2
16. Mike Welling ...... 105 ... 10-11
17. Adam Caswell .... 109 ... dnw

Silvers:

1. Alan Healy .... 90 ... 22-14
2. Bob Warren ... 81 ... 16-2
3. Dave Tippet ... 94 ... 15-4
4. Mike Wilson ... 99 ... 14-3
5. Paul Reed ...... 85 ... 10-4
6. Darren North .. 76 ... 9-12
7. Chris Gay ...... 74 ... 4-9
8. Keith Ray ...... 96 ... 4-3
9. Simon Belcham .. 86 .. 2-13
10. Mike Smith .... 102 .. 2-0

*golden peg

Ivy House, 31 July (12 pegs)

Any regular readers of this blog could be forgiven for thinking that Alan  Austin Healy is some sort of match fishing legend however, the truth is that Alan has an uncanny knack of drawing fliers.
This week was no exception as the Knowle West pheasant beater drew peg 24 which, as any Ivy House regular will know, is without any shadow of doubt the best peg on the lake bar none!  Fortunately for the rest of us, he didn't manage to draw the £94 golden peg (that honour was bestowed upon Chris Szackacs on peg 15).
So with the winner already sorted before anyone had put their keepnets in (a good idea to do this before the match starts Chris Gay) it was effectively reduced to an eleven peg match.
Best of the rest was the ever consistent Darren North on peg 10 whose six carp totalled 40lbs 10oz. Darren chose to target the cruising carp with a shallow pellet approach and later switched to the margins with corn (nothing new there then)!
Third place was a tie between Steve Burgess and Rich Britton on pegs 14 and 22 respectively, both weighing in 23-3.  Steve caught two carp on the pellet wag and one good fish at 4m in his left margin where, due to boredom, he was fishing for "ronnies" with corn (didn't have any maggots).
Rich had a couple of smaller carp along with a thirteen pounder and a proper bream.  Unfortunately he found a roach in his keepnet after the weigh-in which would have secured him another £15 pools money but we won't dwell on that as the scalesman (eager to get home to his new wife no doubt) was a bit generous with his weight in the first place!
 The famous Ivy House bream failed to show, probably due to Steve Burgess' heavy duty groundbait attack, but the best  silvers weight on the day went to    Chris Gay who, despite trying at least ten different methods and bait combinations, still managed to avoid the shedload of carp that were swirling in his peg.
For anyone interested Alan Healy (below) won the match convincingly with 97-7 of carp on lobworm fished over chopped worm and caster in the margins with a little bit of pellet fired over the top.  He lost another 100lbs+ to the infamous gully in his peg that connects the match lake with the lake behind.

Full result: 

1. Alan Healy  ... peg 24 ...... 97-7
2. Darren North ...... 10 ..... 40-10
3. Steve Burgess ..... 14 ..... 23-3
4. Rich Britton ........ 22 ...... 23-3
5. Chris Szackacs* ... 15 ..... 23-0
6. Mark Britton ........ 8 ....... 22-11
7. Bob Warren ......... 17 ..... 17-14
8. Ryan Radford ....... 23 ..... 16-2
9. Paul Reed ............ 21 ..... 14-5
10. Chris Gay ............ 13 ..... 13-14
11. Adam Caswell ...... 12 ..... dnw
12. Mark Radford ....... 19 ..... dnw

Silvers:

1. Chris Gay ...... 11-2
2. Bob Warren ... 9-10
3. Chris Szackaks .. 6-8
4. Rich Britton .... 5-13
5. Paul Reed ....... 3-2

 * golden peg

Plantations Psv v Frys Inter-Club, 24 July (16 pegs)

Some of the South West's best anglers were in evidence at this Inter-club event between Psv and Frys although the Frys team could probably be better described as a bunch of ringers that Alan Healy dragged out from the midweek Docks matches to make up the numbers!
Anyway, on what proved to be a difficult day, one of Psv's newest members Will Dearlove hit the ground running on his first match with the club and weighed in 57-14  beating Pete Sivell by over 6lbs for the top spot.
Third place went to another of Alan's ringers, Andy Curry, with 32-15 and Alan was fourth with 31-8.
Top silvers went to Psv's Rich Britton with 22-6.
Psv won the match with their top 3 weighing in a total of 118lbs 12oz against the ringers' 103-3 although it was probably a foregone conclusion seeing as Psv fielded eleven anglers whilst "Frys" had five and two of those didn't weigh in!

Overall Result:

1. Will Dearlove ..... 57-14
2. Pete Sivell ...... 51-3 (Frys)
3. Andy Curry ..... 32-15 (Frys)
4. Alan Healy  ..... 31-8
5. Rich Britton .... 29-6
6. Paul Elmes ..... 21-10
7. Chris Gay ....... 20-3
8. Jason Bird ...... 19-1 (Frys)
9. Darren North ... 19-0
10. Trigger ........... 16-6
11. Andy Bush ...... 12-2
12. Simon Belcham ... dnw
13. Keith Ray ........ dnw
14. Lewis ........ dnw (Frys)
15. Hawaii 5-0 ? ... dnw (Frys)

Year Totals & Summer League (to 17 July)

After seven matches of the Summer League Darren North and Simon Belcham both have 47 points with Darren just in front by 26lbs.  The Knowle West Pheasant Beater is lurking behind in 3rd with 42 points and Steve Burgess & Bob Warren both have 40 points with Steve edging it on weight by 26lbs.
In the year totals Alan remains in front with 177 pts, ahead of Darren North (152)  and Simon Belcham (151).

Summer League:

1. Darren North ..... 47pts ... 265-13
2. Simon Belcham .. 47 ... 239-3
3. Alan Healy ......... 42 ... 225-6
4. Steve Burgess .... 40 ... 250-6
5. Bob Warren ....... 40 ... 224-4
6. Chris Gay .......... 37 ... 263-1
7. Ron Hardiman .... 30 ... 131-4
8. Paul Reed .......... 26 ... 164-11
9. Mark Radford ..... 21 ... 176-10
10. Adam Caswell .... 21 ... 135-3
11. Rich Jones ......... 20 ... 116-1
12. Brian Shanks ..... 20 ... 104-5
13. Mike Smith ........ 19 ... 159-7
14. Chris Szakacs .... 18 ... 142-0
15. Rich Britton ....... 18 ... 72-2
16. Derek Lucas ....... 17 ... 92-7
17. Mike Wilson ....... 14 ... 124-4
18. Mark Britton ...... 14 ... 62-2
19. Steve Wynne ..... 13 ... 73-4
20. Dave Tippet ....... 11 ... 92-10

Year Totals:

1.  Alan Healy ....... 177pts ... 685-3 
2. Darren North ..... 152 ..... 611-15
3. Simon Belcham .. 151 .... 564-6
4. Steve Burgess .... 110 .... 450-12
5. Chris Gay .......... 106 ..... 537-10
6. Chris Szakacs .... 95 ....... 507-4
7. Bob Warren ....... 94 ....... 368-12
8. Rich Britton ....... 88 ....... 382-13
9. Mark Radford ..... 81 ....... 457-3
10. Brian Shanks ..... 80 ....... 370-15
11. Ron Hardiman .... 80 ....... 313-1
12. Ade Crawley ...... 75 ....... 263-5
13. Rich Jones ......... 69 ...... 247-15
14. Mike Smith ........ 62 ...... 325-0
15. Adam Caswell .... 60 ...... 273-1
16. Derek Lucas ....... 59 ..... 200-11
17. Paul Reed .......... 54 ...... 270-8
18. Mark Britton ...... 38 ....... 153-5
19. Stuart Riddle ..... 38 ....... 70-4
20. Ryan Radford ..... 37 ....... 195-13

Sedges, Brick Lake, 17 July (11 pegs)

Fortunately, the torrential rain we had on the way down to Bridgwater eased off by 10ish and pretty much stayed off for the rest of the day but it was replaced by a strong wind that blew straight at the right-hand bank and meant that everyone on pegs 11 to 19 struggled to present a bait anywhere other than in the margins.
Quickest off the mark, on peg 13, was Psv's newest member Big Mike (who is so new I don't know his surname so for now he will be referred to as "Big Mike"). Mike had 2 good sized carp early on but Match Secretary  Steve Burgess in peg 8 (pictured above), after a brief spell on the pole fishing for skimmers that only produced two of them, took advantage of the favourable wind and switched over to the pellet waggler line.
Fishing 2 feet deep with 8mm pellet produced a carp first chuck and was followed by another nine fish which together with three slimy things made a total of 86lbs 8oz for top spot with almost 34lbs to spare!
Second on the day (and second in the silvers) was Paul Reed (yes , you read that correctly) on peg 15.  Paul fished 8mm cubes of meat mainly against the margin reeds for a near 50:50 split of skimmers and carp to over 12lbs for a total weight of 52lbs 4oz.
Mugger Shanks made up the frame with 40lbs 4oz from peg 3  edging Big Mike out of the money on his first Psv match by just one ounce!
With Dave Tippet unsurprisingly unable to drag himself out of bed, Alan Healy managed to make the most of a very poor performance at his jinx venue by taking the silvers pool from peg 6 with 33lbs 8oz of slimy things.
Interestingly (or not) Steve Burgess has a unique way of fishing the pellet waggler which involves feeding to one point and casting his rig to various points well away from the area being fed.
The thinking behind it is that the carp are attracted to the feed but are wised up to the usual method which produces only very cagey bites and foulhookers. However, the fish remain in the area and will confidently take a pellet ten or fifteen feet away from the fed area as they are tricked into thinking it's a stray pellet  that's safe to eat.  This method produces much more confident sailaway bites and properly hooked fish.
To the untrained eye this may appear to be wayward casting but is in fact a special technique that has been finely tuned over several seasons and which, on the right day (like today) can prove to be devastating.
As a match venue Sedges is one of the best around, Jamie and Denise are always very welcoming with tea and coffee provided before and after, the lakes are well looked after and comfortable to fish, all nets are supplied and Jamie (usually) does the weigh-in himself. In addition Brick and Tile lakes are due to receive stocks of tench in the near future which will add to the already excellent  silvers fishing.

Overall:

1. Steve Burgess ... peg 8 ... 86-8
2. Paul Reed ........ 15 ... 52-4
3. Mugger Shanks .. 3 ... 40-4
4. Big Mike ........... 13 ... 40-3
5. Ron Hardiman ... 11 ... 34-5
6. Alan Healy ......... 6 ... 33-8
7. Simon Belcham .. 5 ... 33-0
8. Mark Britton ..... 17 ... 26-11
9. Bob Warren ....... 2 ... 22-10
10. Darren North .... 19 ... 21-11
11. Mike Wilson* ..... 2 .... 19-1

*golden peg (worth £82)

Silvers:

1. Alan Healy .... 33-8
2. Paul Reed ..... 25-5
3. Mugger Shanks .. 24-0
4. Bob Warren ... 22-10
5. Mark Britton ... 21-11
6. Darren North ... 17-7
7. Simon Belcham .. 16-8
8. Mike Wilson ..... 14-1
9. Big Mike ......... 12-1
10. Ron Hardiman .. 10-7
11. Steve Burgess .. 4-0

Viaduct, Campbell, 10 July (13 pegs)

It's a little-known fact that due to the sheer number of matches he fishes at Viaduct, if you zoom in on Campbell using Google Earth and look closely you can actually see Rich Jones!  And as a result he knows every fish in every peg by name so when he drew peg 125 he spent ten minutes setting up (doesn't take long as he only has Campbell rigs and his conker rod is permanently set up) and an hour walking round the lake telling anyone who was polite enough to listen just how crap peg 125 is.

The video at the bottom shows how a "crap" peg can produce over 85lbs which, for some Psv members, is equivalent to winning the lottery! (Rich is the miserable looking bloke)

Peg 132 seems to be the peg to draw on Campbell at the moment and Mike Smith was fortunate enough to pull it out out of the bag and true to form, took the top weight of 122lbs 7oz.  Mike caught shallow on the long pole fishing and feeding with 8mm pellet and later in the margins with meat.

Chris Gay took second from peg 123 with 96lbs 6oz. It would have been a lot more but he decided to fish half the match with his t-shirt off which frightened all the tench away!

Third place went to Darren North with 93lbs 12oz from peg 115 and there were no surprises in the Silvers with Dave the worminator Tippet clocking up 51lbs 5oz on peg 128.  Dave caught mainly on the cage feeder fishing worm in conjunction with chopped worm and micros and never had a single carp.

Second in the Silvers (by default) was Bob the skimmer Warren who's "just a few silvers" took the scales round to 21lbs 4oz.

Entertainment in this match was provided (as usual) by Stevie Wynne who not only managed to lose 7 pellet wagglers but also managed to break 2 rings off his float rod when he chucked it in a tree after the match. Despite the fact that Steve has somewhere along the line upset the fishing Gods, he fortunately always manages to smile in the face of adversity!

Talking of which, Chris Szakacs managed to avoid making the frame when one of his nets went over the 70lb limit by 4lbs (like he did the last time he fished Campbell)

 

Overall:

1. Mike Smith .... peg 132 ... 122-7
2. Chris Gay ........... 123 ... 96-6
3. Darren North* ..... 115 ... 93-12
4. Bob Warren ......... 110 ... 90-12
5. Chris Szakacs ...... 129 ... 90-8
6. Rich Moans .......... 125 ... 85-9
7. Mike Wilson ......... 114 ... 68-7
8. Simon Belcham .... 119 ... 61-8
9. Paul Reed ............ 126 ... 61-1
10. Dave Tippet ......... 128 ... 51-5
11. Derek Lucas ........ 118 ... 44-14
12. Steve Burgess .......... 116 ... 43-15
13. Steve Wynne ....... 112 ... 30-8

*golden peg 

Silvers: 

1. Dave Tippet .... 51-5
2. Darren North ... 22-4
3. Bob Warren ..... 21-4
4. Chris Gay ........ 19-4
5. Simon Belcham .. 16-5
6. Chris Szakacs ... 13-0
7. Mike Wilson ..... 12-3 
8. Paul Reed ........ 12-2
9. Rich Moans ...... 8-13
10. Mike Smith ...... 8-8
11. Steve Wynne ... 5-0
12. Derek Lucas .... 4-14
13. Steve Burgess ...... 4-5

Trinity, 03 July 2011 (12 pegs)

A perfect summer day was good news for most for two reasons ... it meant that plenty of fish would be caught and also that fishery manager Misha would be dressed to impress and she didn't disappoint in her finest "Daisy Duke" shorts and skimpy top.  She certainly seemed to get a lot of orders for tea, coffee and bacon rolls!
Darren North managed to avoid the distractions and instead concentrated on catching carp.  Drawn on peg 15 the Oldland Common womaniser fished 8mm pellet (soaked in sweetcorn juice), shallow at 10m for an 82lb 12oz total.
Alan Healy took second place from peg 9, also fishing 8mm pellet shallow at 13m and later with paste down the edge for 76-8 just ahead of Steve Burgess on peg 32 who fished meat shallow at 14m for 72-11.
Dave the worminator Tippet on peg 24  took the top silvers predictably using chopped worm and river rigs with 31lbs 7oz of skimmers and bits!

Overall:

1. Darren North ..... peg 15 ... 82-12
2. Alan Healy ............. 9 ..... 76-8
3. Steve Burgess ........ 32 ... 72-11
4. Brian Shanks .......... 27 ... 64-1
5. Ron Hardiman ......... 30 ... 58-13
6. Chris Szakacs .......... 5 .... 51-8
7. Bob Warren ............ 22 ... 47-4
8. Dave Tippet ............ 24 ... 41-5
9. Simon Belcham ........ 2 .... 37-6
10. Mike Smith ............. 11 ... 37-0
11. Paul Reed ................ 7 .... 25-8
12. Derek Lucas* ........... 13 ... 22-7

*golden peg (was very safe)

Silvers

1. Dave Tippet .... 24 .... 31-7
2. Bob Warren ..... 22 ... 21-5
3. Simon Belcham . 2 .... 16-15
4. Brian Shanks ... 27 .... 15-4
5. Chris Szakacs ... 5 ..... 11-12
6. Mike Smith ...... 11 .... 11-12
7. Alan Healy ....... 9 ...... 10-14

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Mark and Sacha Britton who, after living in sin for too many years, finally tied the knot on Saturday.
And also congratulations to Darren North who despite his "challenging" looks still managed to charm the pants off of a dozen different women at the evening do almost including the wife of the match secretary (one more large pinot grigio would have sealed the deal)!

Staunton Court, 26 June (new club record)

Another poor turnout, this time better than last week but still only seven turned up!  But for Craig Trigger Edmunds it was worth the journey as he broke his previous Psv club match record of 270lbs 12oz by over 40lbs increasing it to a massive 314lbs 11oz!
Craig had the far grass bank to himself and with the wind blowing into his peg caught fish all day in both his margins.

1. Trigger ......... peg 3 ..... 314-11
2. Paul Elmes .......... 6 ..... 121-4
3. Chris Gay ........... 5 ...... 102-12
4. Mark Radford ...... 4 ...... 85-6
5. Ryan Radford ...... 2 ..... 46-4
6. Adam Caswell ..... 7 ...... 40-8
7. Mike Wilson ........ 1 ...... 36-12

Avalon, 19 June (4 pegs)

Possibly the poorest turnout for a summer match in the history of the club!

1. Mark Radford ....... 62-4
2. Alan Healy ........... 48-12
3. Adam Caswell ...... 43-1
4. Ryan Radford ....... 25-10

Landsend, Match Lake, 12 June (16 pegs)

Two wins and a second place in his last three matches for one of the club's newest members, Rich Britton has just about made amends for his atrocious performance at Campbell back in May where he could only manage a pathetic 5lbs 7oz and second from bottom!  Pegged on the right side of a very wet but unusually wind-free Match lake (peg 17) Rich coasted to a clear win, weighing in 72lbs 2oz in total.
Simon Belcham, on the next peg and assisted by the ghost of Eddie Perkins (and Ed's goretex coat) took second with 54lbs 8oz followed by Adam Caswell in corner peg 24 with 51-10 and Darren North on peg 5 with 43-2.
Mark Radford, having "unfortunately" broke his pole, could only fish his top 4 but still managed to win the silvers with 29-0 from peg 19.

Overall:

1. Rich Britton ....... 17 ...... 72-2
2. Simon Belcham .. 18 ...... 54-8
3. Adam Caswell .... 24 ...... 51-10
4. Darren North ...... 5 ....... 43-2
5. Ron Hardiman .... 21 ...... 38-2
6. Alan Healy ......... 15 ...... 35-8
7. Rich Jones .......... 3 ....... 30-8
8. Mark Radford ..... 19 ...... 29-0
9. Derek Lucas ....... 22 ...... 25-2
10. Chris Gay .......... 12 ...... 24-13
11. Bob Warren ....... 7 ........ 21-10
12. Steve Wynne* ..... 6 ........ 17-9
13. Steve Burgess .... 9 ........ 12-8
14. Ryan Radford ..... 1 ......... 9-2
15. Paul Reed .......... 11 ....... 4-0
16. Mike Wilson ....... 13 ....... dnw

 *golden peg (safe again)

Silvers:

1. Mark Radford ..... 19 ..... 29-0
2. Simon Belcham .. 18 ..... 20-0
3. Bob Warren ........ 7 ...... 15-0
4. Darren North ...... 5 ...... 11-2
5. Adam Caswell .... 24 ...... 9-2
6. Ryan Radford ...... 1 ....... 9-2

Eddie Perkins

The following has been kindly contributed by Ed's old mate Si Belcham:

Following a long period of illness Albert Edward Perkins (Eddie also affectionately known as the gherkin) sadly passed away aged 71 on Saturday evening 11th June. For anyone wishing to attend his funeral it is on Monday 27th June at Haycombe Bath at 10:30am.

Ed started fishing when he was a lad joining GVFC as a junior. This was a membership he cherished and was so proud when he was elected to be the Club President for several years. Throughout his life he also graced many other angling establishments in the Bristol area fishing the Winter League for Golden Carps and for Frys, Bristol Commercial House League for Frys, PSV and he also qualified for the Embassy finals. Although he enjoyed fishing matches and entering into a friendly banter with fellow anglers his main passion was fishing the flow - to see him trotting a stick float for roach and chub was an absolute delight.

I met Ed over 25 years ago when I was a novice starting to fish GVFC matches - here was a bloke who was so helpful and whatsmore brilliant to be with. He was one in a million a good all round egg and I have so many good memories of being in Eds company. This is getting too painful for me now so just remember its better than winning the lottery being on the bank fishing with your mates......

Dear old pals

Family and friends will miss you Ed

Belch



I would just add that I will always remember Ed as the only person I have ever known that could and would talk non-stop throughout an entire match without stopping and was always great company on the next peg. He will be sadly missed.

Acorn, Paddock Lake, 05 June (11 pegs)

1. Simon Belcham .. peg 10 ... 52-13 most sheltered peg on the lake
2. Bob Warren ............ 21 ... 42-0 venue expert
3. Chris Gay ............... 17 ... 39-2 tip rod???
4. Mark Britton ........... 24 .... 35-7 2 empty pegs to his right
5. Steve Burgess ........ 26 ... 34-12 should have won it (apparently)
6. Alan Healy ............. 14 .... 31-2 lost a few pound coins for once
7. Ade Crawley ........... 30 ... 29-2 had a nasty cough
8. Steve Wynne* ......... 33 ... 25-3 golden peg was safe on a flier
9. Darren North .......... 12 ... 24-8 sore loser
10. Paul Reed ............... 22 ... 21-14 another wasted flier
11. Derek Lucas ............ 28 ... dnw had a bad leg

*golden peg

Rood Ashton, 29 May (17 pegs)

1. Rich Britton .... peg 6 ..... 69-1
2. Craig Edmunds .... 11 .... 54-7
3. Brian Shanks ....... 2 ..... 49-8
4. Alan Healy .......... 10 .... 45-14
5. Darren North ....... 17 .... 45-6
6. Ron Hardiman ...... 3 ..... 40-7
7. Chris Szakacs ...... 15 .... 40-3
8. Mark Radford ....... 14 .... 35-12
9. Simon Belcham ..... 7 .... 31-8
10. Mike Wilson .......... 4 ..... 27-13
11. Chris Gay ............ 12 .... 27-3
12. Ade Crawley ........ 16 .... 26-6
13. Rich Jones ........... 1 ..... 17-6
14. Bob Warren* ........ 8 ..... 12-15
15. Adam Caswell ....... 5 ..... dnw
16. Mark Britton ......... 9 ..... dnw
17. Steve Wynne ........ 13 ... dnw

*golden peg

Avalon, 22 May (12 pegs)

Unusually for Avalon today the wind was blowing up the lake which was bad news for Ade Crawley in peg 1 as this peg, under normal conditions, can be productive later in the day when the wind pushes the carp into it.
It was better news however for Mark Radford up on peg 22.  Mark, who was for a long time virtually unbeatable, has for a while now been suffering a dip in form but today he was back to his old self.
Fishing (unsurprisingly) paste at 11.5m he caught steadily all day for a total of 100lbs 9oz and also posted the top silvers weight with 18lbs of decent skimmers and a couple of "proper 'uns".
It wasn't all plain sailing though as he managed to break his landing net on one of Avalon's zoo creatures and had to go scrounging for another net.
(Which is why I always carry a spare)!!!
Second place went to Rich Britton on peg 14 who, despite the strong gusts of wind blowing up the lake, was able to fish the pellet waggler along the sheltered left-hand edge of the island to weigh in 79lbs 2oz.
Mike Smith on peg 3 completed the frame with another paste-caught weight of 63lbs 4oz and ,with Bob Warren not in attendance, Derek Lucas took the top silvers (by default) with 14lbs 7oz which paid for my Chinese (nice one partner)!
Unfortunately, the Knowle West pheasant beater could only manage a dismal 19lbs and was even spotted at one point scratching about with maggots for the "razor blades" and "pairs of eyes".  As a result of this shameful performance he was forced to make a big dent in his pound coin collection which won't help pay for the no4 section he broke bullying fish out of peg 1 at Landsend in the week or any more of his gypsy bling.  Hopefully this is a sign of things to come as his winning ways are becoming a bit tedious of late.

Full Result:

1. Mark Radford ... peg 22 .. 100-9
2. Rich Britton ......... 14 ... 79-2
3. Mike Smith ........... 3 .... 63-4
4. Adam Caswell ...... 23 ... 59-11
5. Derek Lucas ........ 19 .... 40-9
6. Steve Burgess ..... 16 .... 35-14
7. Ryan Radford ...... 20 ..... 30-0
8. Stuart Riddle ....... 7...... 23-10
9. Alan Healy ........... 5 ..... 19-3
10. Paul Reed* .......... 11 .... 18-7
11. Ade Crawley ........ 1 ...... 15-3
12. Chris Szakacs ..... DNW

Silvers:

1. Mark Radford .... 18-0
2. Derek Lucas ...... 14-7
3. Ryan Radford ..... 9-10
4. Alan Healy ......... 7-12
5. Stuart Riddle ...... 2-9
6. Steve Burgess .... 2-8½
7. Mike Smith ......... 2-8
8. Paul Reed ........... 2-7
9. Ade Crawley ....... 1-2
10. Rich Britton ........ 0-6

*golden peg

Plantations, Horseshoe Lake, 08 May (10 pegs)

With the recent renovation and restocking of the lake only having been completed a few days before this match the rumour mill was in full swing so I had heard everything from there being no fish in the lake to the lake having no water in it and I had also been reliably informed that the owner had removed the sunken bars that can be seen in the photo above.
However, having spoken to the owner in the week it was clear that most / all of the above was a load of crap and that all the work was complete, the fish were back in their home and they even had some water to swim in.
In addition to that, one of the locals had "test fished" it during the week and had over 100lbs out on two different occasions (don't they always say that?) so things were looking good for our match.
In actual fact the owners have now put in corrugated tin sheeting supported by wooden posts on top of the bars, either that or the bars are no longer there and the tin sheets continue for about 8 feet below the surface!
And on arrival at the lake it seemed that the occupants were so pleased with their new surroundings that most of them were celebrating by getting laid in the margins! (not a good sign) And to make matters worse there was a hefty wind blowing down the lake which was going to make things difficult.
As it turned out, the wind got worse as the day progressed which meant that Bob Warren and Mike Smith in pegs 1 & 2 (nearest the car park) were unable to fish out at any length and could only fish down the edge.
In hindsight I would have left these pegs out and just put in the sheltered pegs as there's no point in having a "good" peg if it's unfishable and Bob probably wouldn't have broken his no6 section when his pole blew off the roller but shit happens!
Man of the moment, Alan Healy's luck with the drawbag continued when he pulled out the £72 golden peg, peg 5 which was reasonably sheltered at the back of the "shoe" and an end peg that appeared to be solid with fish. In fact there were so many in his peg that he found it difficult to plumb up!
Sure enough the pheasant beater caught all day long alternating between 13m to the opposite bank reeds and short into open water to weigh in 48lbs 4oz which netted him £132, his second golden peg win of the year.

 

Derek Lucas (above) was close behind on peg 6 which was on the central spit and completely unaffected by the wind.  Derek fished double red maggot on his top4 straight out in front catching mostly small carp around 8 to 12oz with the odd good fish to finish up with 42-13.
Third place went to Chris Szakacs on peg 8 with 41-13 of carp caught on corn.

Full Result:

1. Alan Healy* ..... peg5 .... 48-4
2. Derek Lucas ........ 6 .... 42-13
3. Chris Szakacs ...... 8 .... 41-3
4. Simon Belcham ... 10 ... 35-4
5. Ade Crawley ........ 9 .... 21-0
6. Paul Reed ............ 7 .... 19-8
7. Mike Smith .......... 2 .... 12-8
8. Steve Burgess ...... 3 .... 10-0
9. Bob Warren ......... 1 .... DNW
10. Darren North ....... 4 .... DNW

*golden peg

Westerleigh, Top Lake, 17 April (10 pegs)

This Sunday last year we were on Campbell and the match was won by Trigger in his flip-flops with 133lbs 4oz and, if I remember rightly, the weather conditions on the day were identical .. warm, bright sunshine and little or no wind.
The fishing, however, couldn't have been more different as many of Westerleigh's resident carp were cruising around just below the surface with no intention of feeding whatsoever and to make matters worse, even the roach and skimmers were playing hard to get.
Stuart Riddle, on peg 31, made the best of it with 23lbs 4oz caught across and down his left margin, although his weight was boosted half an hour before the "all out" by a near double-figure grass carp that had it's afternoon sunbathing spoilt when it was coaxed into breathing in Stuart's hookbait! 
Rich Britton took second place (the best genuinely caught weight on the day) with 15-1 from peg 35 and Stuart Ashton claimed 3rd and the best silvers weight with 11-11 from peg 21.
Mark Britton unfortunately only got as far as the car park and never even managed to draw as he was suffering from "dodgy guts" ..... it was mentioned that he may be pregnant but I won't say where that rumour came from otherwise Bob's wedding invite could be going in the bin!

 

After coaxing out a 10lb grass carp Stuart unfortunately suffered a minor mental breakdown 

Full Result: 

1. Stuart Riddle ..... peg 31 .... 23-4
2. Rich Britton ........ 35 ........ 15-1
3. Stuart Ashton ..... 21 ........ 11-11
4. Chris Gay ........... 23 ........ 10-8
5. Simon Belcham ... 27 ........ 8-14
6. Bob Warren ......... 29 ....... 6-11
7. Darren North ....... 28 ....... 6-5
8. Yan .................... 26 ....... 6-4
9. Derek Lucas ........ 33 ....... dnw
10. Steve Burgess* ............. 32 ........... dnw

Silvers:

1. Stuart Ashton ..... 11-11
2. Rich Britton ........ 9-14
3. Simon Belcham ... 8-14
4. Chris Gay ........... 7-15
5. Bob Warren ........ 6-11
6. Darren North ...... 6-5
7. Yan .................... 5-0
8. Stuart Riddle ....... 4-12

*golden peg

Trinity, 03 April 2011 (11 pegs)

Chris Szakacs was back in winning mode after a poor (by his standards) start to the year and also posted the biggest weight of the year so far of 103lbs 7oz.
I've no idea who is stood behind him in the picture below but it appears that he's a big fan of his!
Mugger Shanks had an off day and could only manage second place with 96-2 and, despite breaking his pole and having to fish at 5m for most of the day, the pheasant beater still managed to claw his way into the payout with 90-9 for third place.



Full Result:

1. Chris Szakacs ........... 103-7
2. Mugger Shanks .......... 96-2
3. The Pheasant Beater ... 90-9
4. Ron Hardiman ........... 64-13
5. Mike the paste Smith .... 63-11
6. Ade creepy Crawley ...... 61-6
7. Eddie Wynne .............. 57-2
8. Darren North .............. 46-6
9. Simon Belcham .......... 39-3
10. Steve Hutchinson ....... 22-10
11. Paul Reed ................... 13-9

Silvers:

1. Steve Hutchinson ... 22-10
2. Simon Belcham ...... 16-5
3. Brian Shanks .......... 11-4
4. Mike Smith ............. 11-1
5. Ade Crawley ............ 11-0
6. Alan Healy ............... 10-4
7. Eddie Wynne ........... 6-1
8. Paul Reed ................. 4-3
9. Ron Hardiman ......... 3-0

no peg numbers (I wasn't there)!

Westerleigh, Top Lake, 26 March (12 pegs)

Despite the decent weather on the day it was unfortunately one of those days where the lake's inhabitants weren't playing ball and, for most, a bite from anything was a premium.
Not so however for that legend of the coffin dodger circuit Bob Warren.
Armed with a fountain of knowledge and a bag full of leftover bait (nothing new there) from Thursday's Kingswod over-55's match, plus an healthy suntan from his recent Caribean cruise, Bob started the match on a roll catching skimmers and good sized silvers on soft pellet at close range from peg 23.
Simon Belcham, tucked around the corner on peg 21 was also catching on maggot while at the opposite end of the match Alan Healy on peg 29 was getting the odd good fish in between catching roach fry as was Mike Smith on peg 27.
Steve Burgess did manage to boost a fairly dismal net with a near 5lb carp that was hooked in the tail but despite trying every area in his swim and everyone else's, he also struggled.

Full Result:

1. Bob Warren ...... peg 23 ... 13-3
2. Simon Belcham ...... 21 ... 12-4
3. Alan Healy .............. 29 ... 11-4
4. Mike Smith ............. 27 ... 9-0
5. Steve Burgess .......... 32 ... 6-10
6. Eddie Wynne .......... 28 .... 6-0

Silvers:

1. Bob Warren ....... 10-5
2. Simon Belcham .. 8-2
3. Mike Smith ......... 7-3
4. Alan Healy .......... 6-8
5. Eddie Wynne ...... 3-9
6. Steve Burgess ..... 1-14

Updated 2011 Match Calender

Click on the calender below for a large version which can be saved / printed.

Landsend, Match & Speci Lakes, 20 Mar (18 pegs)

With a decent turnout of 18 for once, Landsend's multi-millionaire fishery owner and thoroughly nice bloke, Mike Duckett was kind enough to give us five pegs on the back of the speci lake to ease the pressure on Match lake.
The downside of this was that Brian mugger Shanks was drawn on 25 which is the corner of speci and wins most matches on that lake.
Mind you, if Brian had drawn the puddle behind the toilet he would most likely still have won the match!
The match itself fished reasonably well despite the fact that it was a bright, clear day with none of Landsend's normal gale force winds. And that a lot of fish were cruising around just below the surface enjoying the warm spring sunshine.
Alan Healy, keen to add to his growing pile of pound coins, got off to a flying start on peg 15, fishing his top2 just off the edge of his platform and next to a part submerged bush. While Darren North who apparently could draw a corner peg on a round lake in corner peg 13 was matching his catch rate.
Steve Burgess, on peg 19, was also catching well but was losing them all probably due to the fact that he was using 18 hooks and 0.10 line as he hadn't been arsed to make up any "proper" rigs!
Entertainment was being provided by Adam Caswell (pictured right) who after hooking up the island, broke his number 5 section and then fell off his box and broke his number 7 section.
Adam managed to redeem himself later on by catching well in the last hour on pellet shallow including one fish of over 10lbs that he had estimated at 7 (in that endearing way of his)!
Somehow, Adam had managed to draw next to his hero, mentor and brother-in-law Mark Radford, but following his winter lay-off Mark struggled to recreate the magic from previous seasons and could only manage 13th, avoiding being beaten by Paul Reed by just 6 ounces!
Brian Shanks was the winner on the day by a considerable margin, weighing in 90lbs 12oz consisting of 46lbs of carp and a hefty 44lbs of silvers!

Full Result:

1. Brian Shanks .... peg 25 ..... 90-12
2. Darren North ........ 13 ...... 47-11
3. Chris Gay .............. 30 ...... 47-4
4. Alan Healy ............ 15 ....... 37-12
5. Steve Burgess ....... 19 ....... 33-7
6. Chris Szakacs ....... 24 ....... 26-8
7. Adam Caswell ...... 21 ........ 25-11
8. Derek Lucas ......... 7 ......... 19-5
9. Ade Crawley ......... 32 ....... 6-11
10. Eddie Wynne ....... 29 ....... 17-5
11. Simon Belcham ... 3 ......... 16-14
12. Steve Hutchinson 6 ........ 15-4
13. Mark Radford ...... 22 ...... 13-7
14. Paul Reed ............. 27 ...... 13-1
15. Stuart Ashton* ..... 1 ........ 7-9
16. Bob warren ........... 11 ..... dnw
17. Rich Britton .......... 18 .... dnw
18. Ron Hardiman ...... 16 .... dnw

Silvers:

1. Brian Shanks ..... 44-8
2. Eddie Wynne ..... 17-5
3. Chris Gay ........... 13-12
4. Paul Reed .......... 13-1
5. Simon Belcham . 12-4
6. Alan Healy ......... 11-9
7. Steve Hutchinson .. 10-15
8. Ade Crawley ........ 7-10
9. Stuart Ashton ..... 7-9
10. Steve Burgess ..... 7-5
11. Chris Szakacs ..... 6-0
12. Darren North ..... 5-13
13. Mark Radford .... 3-6
14. Derek Lucas ....... 3-5

* golden peg

Acorn, Old match lake, 13 March (8 pegs)

It's often been said that some people can fall in a pile of shit and come out smelling of roses. And that is a very fitting description for Alan 'the pheasant beater' Healy.
Anyway, as I'm not a bitter person or a sore loser or anything like that then that's enough bitching for today's post.
So not being happy enough with winning Matchman of the year, the winter league, the last two club matches and a pile of pound coins mugged from other club members, Alan (who was responsible for pegging out the match) managed to pull the golden peg, worth £46, out of the drawbag (peg 6) and, as you have probably already guessed, went on to win that as well!
Alan fished and fed maggot at 14m and in both margins and with the help of an hectic last hour put 35-8 onto the scales (not including the fish caught 10 minutes after the all out), consisting of carp between 8oz and 4lbs along with a bonus tench and a solitary skimmer.
Second on the day was the ever consistent Darren North on the end peg 17. Darren fished corn over micro pellet feed into open water at 8m and into the corner margin for a total of 25-12.
Match Sec (and possibly new Chairman), Steve Burgess completed the frame with 25-4 from peg 9 caught on red maggot over micro pellet and maggot feed at 12m to the corner of a clump of reeds on the far bank. Steve was fish for fish with Alan for the duration of the match but with an hour to go, a good fish smashed his rig in the reeds and killed the swim for the rest of the match leaving the pheasant beater to cruise to an easy victory.

Alan looks pleased with his catch which netted him £97

















Darren North looks overjoyed with coming second.












Ade Crawley looks for inspiration.














Simon Belcham looks scruffy!













Overall Result:

1. Alan Healy* ..... peg 6 ........ 35-8
2. Darren North ........ 17 ....... 25-12
3. Steve Burgess ........ 9 ........ 25-4
4. Simon Belcham .... 12 ....... 19-8
5. Ade Crawley ......... 15 ....... 10-13
6. Stuart Riddle ........ 16 ....... 8-12
7. Chris Szakacs ........ 4 ........ Dnw
8. Mark Britton ......... 2 ........ Dnw

*Golden peg

Bullocks Farm, Rushcombe, 6 March (12 pegs)

This match, the first of the Psv 2011 /12 season, was switched at the last minute from the Match Lake to the more productive Rushcombe Lake but a return to winter temperatures during the previous week put paid to any bumper weights. However, everyone had a few bites and nobody blanked!
And, exactly as at last year's Rushcombe match, pegs 50 and 52 (respectively) produced first and second places.
Alan Healy was fortunate enough to find himself on the lake's best peg (which incidentally had that many goldfish in it that the water had turned orange) and made no mistakes to put 16-14 onto the scales for first.
Stuart Riddle drew the bridge peg (52) and managed second place with 14-10 caught on a variety of baits fishing mainly to the outfall pipe on the opposite side and close to the bridge itself.
Only 2oz behind, Darren North took third spot from peg 39 with 14-8 of better quality carp (proper ones) caught on corn. And new member Rich Britton, on golden peg 35, completed the frame with 10-12 of goldfish and odd small carp caught on punched bread and later, pinkie from the cover of an overhanging bush on the opposite bank.

Overall Result:

1. Alan Healy ......... 50 ..... 16-14
2. Stuart Riddle ..... 52 ...... 14-10
3. Darren North .... 39 ....... 14-8
4. Rich Britton* ..... 35 ....... 8-12
5. Simon Belcham .. 37 ...... 8-10
6. Rich Jones ......... 48 ...... 8-5
7. Derek Lucas ....... 46 ...... 5-9
8. Chris Gay ........... 42 ...... 4-11
9. Steve Wynne ...... 41 ...... 2-12
10. Steve Burgess ..... 34 ..... 2-8
11. Ade Crawley ....... 33 ..... 1-14
12. Mark Britton ...... 44 ..... Dnw

* golden peg

And the winners are .......

2010 /11 Matchman of the Year

1. Alan Healy ...... 419 pts .. 1,320-2
2. Chris Szakacs .... 338 .... 1,446-6
3. Mike Smith ....... 322 .... 1,193-11
4. Steve Burgess ... 314 ....... 799-3
5. Bob Warren ...... 300 ..... 932-6
6. Paul Reed ......... 280 ...... 767-0
7. Darren North ... 278 ...... 1,025-1
8. Simon Belcham .. 259 ..... 894-0
9. Adam Caswell .... 249 ...... 955-5
10. Mark Radford .... 241 .... 1,181-14

2010 Committee Cup

1. Adam Caswell .... 145 .... 460-12
2. Chris Szakacs ..... 142 .... 441-0
3. Alan Healy .......... 123 ... 322-8
4. Mark Radford ..... 108 ... 467-2
5. Steve Burgess ...... 102 ... 284-8

2010 Summer League

1. Mike Smith ......... 205 .... 925-1
2. Alan Healy .......... 203 .... 879-11
3. Darren North ...... 168 .... 716-9
4. Chris Szakacs ...... 166 .... 941-14
5. Rich Jones ........... 158 .... 813-11

2010 /11 Winter League

1. Alan Healy ........... 93 .... 117-15
2. Steve Burgess ...... 70 .... 49-14
3. Paul Reed ............ 68 ..... 63-5
4. Mike Smith .......... 65 ..... 94-10
5. Bob Warren ......... 62 ..... 75-5
   

Boyd Valley, 27 Feb (11 pegs)

Not much to say about this one, as unfortunately I was on "family duties" and wasn't there (hence the sketchy details), other than that Alan I've got Boyd sussed Healy won it and Chris Szakac's golden drawing hand had an "off day" resulting in an early finish and a big fat DNW!
The sad fact is though that in our last three matches at Boyd, the pheasant-beater has won twice and come second once so there is a lot to be said for spending hours rooting about at night looking for worms in the garden. Still, now that he has been forced into early retirement from professional football it seems that every pound counts regardless of where it comes from!

Overall Result!

1. Alan Healy ...... peg 3 ..... 42-6
2. Simon Belcham ..... 5 ..... 36-12
3. Darren North ........ 2 ...... 33-3
4. Mike Smith .................... 20-2
5. Bob Warren .................... 19-4
6. Paul Reed ....................... 18-4

Silvers

1. Simon Belcham ...... 5 ...... 14-4
2. Mark Britton ........... 1 ..... 12-6
3. Ade Crawley ........... 8 ...... 7-12

2011 Match Calender

I have finally managed to complete the 2011 Match Calender.
Just need to start on next year's!

March Meeting

Please be aware that the meeting due for Tuesday 1 March has been cancelled as Chelsea are playing Man Utd and it's my Mother-in-Law's birthday so I will be in Bottelino's!
The match this weekend that was scheduled on Match Lake at Bullocks has been switched to Rushcombe and breakfast has been arranged at the cafe.
Matches to book into this month are as follows:

• March 6 .... Rushcombe
• March 13 .. Acorn (old match lake)
• March 20 .. Landsend (match)
• March 27 .. Westerleigh (don't know which lake yet)
• April 3 ...... Trinity

If you never received a message from me, text me on 07583295430 and let me know which matches you want to fish.
The next meeting will be the AGM on Tuesday 5 April and membership money will be due then.
If anyone is interested in joining and would like to fish any of the above matches prior to the April meeting then ring or text me on the above number or email me using the link at the top right of the page.
Below is the current match calender for 2011 which you should be able to click on and print out (if you are that way inclined)!
I am currently doing my best to re-arrange the matches at Cider Farm and will update that as soon as I have any details and I am still waiting for confirmation on the Westerleigh matches!
(just realised the phone number is incorrect and have fixed it)

Sedges, Tile Lake, Feb 20 (9 pegs)

This match was fished on the central bank meaning that the chilly South Easterly breeze was blowing from behind which is unusual as usually at Sedges the wind would be in your face on this bank.
As nine were fishing, corner peg 31 was left out giving most a reasonable option to cast to one of the islands where the carp tend to hang out, although at Sedges there are plenty of quality skimmers to target to boost the weights (unfortunately though, no silvers pool as the unannounced arrival of a certain person meant my original calculations were scrapped in favour of a straight top three payout).
The top end of the bank proved to be the area to be in with all of the top three places bunched between pegs 32 and 35.
Top honours on the day fell comfortably to Chris Szakacs on peg 35, with 53lbs 15oz made up mostly of quality carp caught on popped-up bread fished tight to the island. It has been said that Chris can draw better than Rolf Harris!
Ade Crawley abandoned his usual carp avoidance tactics on neighbouring peg 34, managing to land 16-5 of them in addition to  an impressive 23-10 net of skimmers for a total of 39-15. Ade caught on 4mm soft pellet over 2mm pellet and caster feed fished at 6m.
Third place went to Stuart Riddle on the end peg 32 with 28-1
Pictured below, Bob Warren nets a last-ditch carp but sadly just misses out on the frame. (fortunately though, Bob still has his midweek oap matches to fund his next trip to Tenerife!)

Full Result:

1. Chris Szakacs .... peg 35 .... 53-15 
2. Ade Crawley ........ 34 ...... 39-15
3. Stuart Riddle ....... 32 ...... 28-1
4. Bob Warren ......... 40 ...... 19-2
5. Alan Healy ........... 33 ..... 13-14
6. Derek Lucas ......... 37 ..... 11-10
7. Steve Burgess ...... 39 ..... 10-12
8. Mike Smith* ......... 38 ..... 10-2
9. Paul Reed ............ 36 ...... 9-0

*golden peg

Burley Fields, Feb 13 (14 pegs)

Following last week's dismal turnout at Landsend lake 4, where only four hardy souls ventured out, and incidentally had an excellent day's fishing, the lure of Burley Fields' top notch silvers fishing produced the biggest attendance of the year so far.
Unfortunately, the weather decided not to play ball with strong winds and driving rain which became more persistent as the day wore on which, in conjunction with the awkward banks that make shipping a pole back a nightmare, made things "uncomfortable" to say the least.
But just imagine what a boring experience match fishing would be if it was all about suntans and 3-figure nets week in and week out!!!
Top of the leader-board today, and £55 better off, was Oldland Common guinea pig breeder Mark Britton on peg 10 which was one of the roadside pegs where you have to ship back over the fence and across the road avoiding tractors and various other forms of transport in "Krypton Factor" style.
Mark fished at 13m all day with caster, double caster and soft pellet over micro pellet feed to weigh in 17lbs 12oz of quality roach and skimmers.
Next up on peg 1 (behind the farmshop), and apparently oblivious to the rain (due to drowning his sorrows all day yesterday after another dire performance from the City) was Stevie Wynne who's estimated 5lbs of bits managed, in typical Southmead style, to stretch the dial round to 16lbs 6oz and £40 to treat wife number 3 to a trip to the Wayfarer to celebrate Valentines day!
Steve fished at 11m with caster over micro pellet feed at 11m on the deck.
Bob Warren filled third place from the relative shelter of peg 3 with 12lbs 12oz also caught on caster over micros but at a shorter length.
Making a welcome (albeit extremely rare) appearance in the frame, in fourth spot, was Derek (not last) Lucas with 12lbs 9oz from peg 11 and silvers legend Eddie Wynne took fifth place with 10lbs 12oz from peg 2 caught on chopped worm.
It was interesting to note that the only two competitors to fish under umbrellas (Bob and Derek) both framed so there is a lot to be said for fishing in comfort,
although a good draw can also go a long way!

Full result:

1. Mark Britton .... peg 10 ... 17-12 .... still winning matches
2. Steve Wynne ....... 1 ..... 16-6  ....  still pissed
3. Bob Warren ......... 3 ..... 12-12 .... still mugging pensioners
4. Derek Lucas* .... 11 ... 12-9   ....  still got it
5. Eddie Wynne ....... 2 ..... 10-12...  still only won 1 psv match
6. Alan Healy .......... 13 .... 9-11 .... still limping
7. Mike Smith ......... 9 ...... 9-10 ... still catching on paste
8. Chris Szakacs ..... 12 .... 9-9 .... still 2nd in the year totals
9. Steve Burgess ..... 8 ..... 7-8 .... still awesome
10. Staurt Ashton ... 14 .... 7-0 .... still broken down at Burley Fields
11. Paul Reed ......... 6 ...... 5-3 .... still turns up
12. Ryan Jordan ...... 5 ...... 5-0 ... still skint
13. Adam Caswell .... 7 .. DNW ... still sticking stickers on caravans
14. Mark Radford ..... 4 .... DNW ... still very cold and very wet

Burley Fields

Travel directions:
Leave M5 at junction 11a and join A417 (East), after approximately 1 mile turn off the dual carriageway and join A46 heading towards Cheltenham.
Keep going for 2 miles, through Shurdington village until you come to a right turn just before the car sales.  The fishery entrance is about half a mile up this lane on the right hand side.  If you find yourself in Cheltenham, enjoy the splendid Georgian architecture then turn round as you've gone too far!
For those of you who are privileged enough to have satnav the address is:  Leckhampton Lane, Leckhampton,
Cheltenham, Glos. GL51 4XT

As carp are not to be retained in keepnets we have
two options for this match ...
a. All carp are weighed, recorded and returned, or ....
b. (my personal preference) We treat the match as a "silvers" match and any carp caught are returned and counted as 1lb only.  Bearing in mind that in the last two winter matches we have fished here only 1 carp was landed (courtesy of Dave, the worminator, Tippet).

I have asked the owner nicely to put up a sign on our behalf so hopefully this time round we won't have any pleasure anglers on the lake and, as Dean won't be attending this year, nobody will be threatened with drowning!
Please be aware that groundbaiting is not allowed. What that means exactly I'm not too sure but if memory serves me correctly, you are allowed to cup bait in or use a feeder and the "no groundbaiting" rule is there to prevent carpers from spodding in kilos of bait.

Year Totals and Winter League to date

With only three matches remaining in the Psv calender for 2010 / 11 Chris Szakacs is still sitting on second place in the year totals despite not having fished a match since mid-September and Alan Healy can safely pack his kit away for a month knowing his name will be gracing the trophy whatever happens .... what trophy??? .... Hot on Chris's heels in the battle for runner-up spot though are match secretary Steve Burgess and newcomer, Mike Smith. And with only 21 points separating 2nd, 3rd and 4th places anything could happen over the next three weeks.
In the Winter League, spurred on by a recent return to form, Match Secretary Steve Burgess has blazed his way to the top of the table, just ahead of the Pheasant Beater by 2 points so the next three matches could see some tense moments ..... there may be blood!

Year Totals:

1. Alan Healy ........ 374pts ... 1,254lbs 3oz
2. Chris Szakacs ...... 308 ...... 1,382-14
3. Steve Burgess ...... 294 ...... 774-2
4. Mike Smith .......... 287 ...... 1,153-13
5. Darren North ....... 263 ...... 991-14
6. Bob Warren ......... 258 ...... 881-4
7. Paul Reed ............ 252 ...... 733-13
8. Adam Caswell ...... 249 ....... 955-5
9. Simon Belcham .... 242 ....... 857-4
10. Mark Radford ....... 241 ....... 1,181-14
11. Rich Jones ........... 221 ....... 1,015-6
12. Ryan Jordan ......... 167 ....... 746-7
13. Derek Lucas ......... 157 ....... 554-1
14. Stuart Riddle ........ 157 ....... 542-2
15. Steve Wynne ........ 155 ....... 598-15

Winter League:

1. Steve Burgess ... 50 ....... 24-13
2. Alan Healy .......... 48 ....... 52-0
3. Simon Belcham ... 40 ........ 52-6
4. Paul Reed ........... 40 ........ 30-2
5. Steve Wynne ...... 30 ........ 58-7
6. Mike Smith ......... 30 ........ 54-12
7. Ade Crawley ....... 29 ......... 20-5
8. Mark Britton ....... 24 ......... 14-9
9. Ryan Jordan ........ 21 ........ 38-14
10. Darren North ....... 21 ........ 28-15

Boyd Valley, 23 Jan (12 pegs)

With Boyd's resident carp reluctant to feed only four anglers managed to hit double figures and keen to make up for a dismal performance from a gift of a peg last week at Westerleigh, the Knowle West pheasant beater was making no mistakes this week.
Having drawn yet another flier, peg 8, Alan caught steadily all day at 14m and up against the reed margins to weigh in 19lbs 8oz of quality silvers for a comfortable win with over five pounds to spare.
Winner of the same match this time last year, (view here) Neil Mercer arrived at the venue "Trigger-style" looking very much worse for wear and a strange greyish-yellow colour but he managed to get his act together tucked away in the relative shelter of peg 11 with his lucky stupid hat on! 
Fishing short in the margins and a bit longer as the day progressed (and the fuzziness cleared) Neil managed to put together 14lbs exactly to take second place.
At one stage it was necessary for Neil's mum to bring him some hot food and stroke the back of his neck for a while but I guess that's what mummy's are for!
Third spot went to born-again angler Paul Reed who was pegged next to the winner on peg 9.  If you are interested (and have the time) Paul will give you a blow by blow account of how he caught each of his fish for his well earned 11lbs 3oz.
Making up the frame was our in-form match secretary, Steve Burgess who skillfully (some would say luckily) managed to boost an unimpressive net of small roach and skimmers with the only sizeable carp to be landed on the day to give him a thoroughly impressive 10lbs 12oz from a mediocre peg 6.


Full Result:

1. Alan Healy ........ peg 8 ..... 19-8
2. Mugger Mercer ...... 11 ..... 14-0
3. Paul Reed ............. 9 ....... 11-3
4. Steve Burgess ....... 6 ....... 10-12
5. Mark Britton .......... 1 ....... 9-15
6. Bob Warren .......... 10 ...... 7-7
7. Simon Belcham ..... 2 ....... 6-0
8. Stevie Wynne ........ 7 ....... 5-0
9. Mike Wilson* ........ 12 ...... 3-13-1
10. Darren North ........ 5 ........ 3-13
11. Ryan Jordan ......... 3 ......... 2-11
12. Derek Lucas ......... 4 ......... 2-4

*golden peg