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)!