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