Shiplate this Sunday and other stuff

Please be aware that the draw on Sunday at Shiplate will be at 8:30 (fishing 10 > 4). We will be on both canal lakes plus a section on the main lake.
This months' meeting is on Tuesday 12th June (due to the Queen's jubilee celebrations) which will be after Rood Ashton on the 10th so if you want to fish this match ring me or (preferably) drop me a text on 0758 3295430
If I don't answer during working hours please don't be too dissapointed (I will get back to you )!

Viaduct, Campbell, 13 May (21 pegs)

Having heard good reports from Tony's midweek match regarding Viaduct's latest addition, Woodys Cafe, we were looking forward to the on-site breakfast.  Unfortunately it seems that someone may have forgotten to inform Woody that there were going to be two matches on the venue and therefore quite a few hungry mouths to feed.  Adding to his problems Mrs Woody had a bit of a problem at home to clear up thanks to a worse-for-wear teenage son which cocked up the supply chain a tad so as a result both matches had to be delayed a bit and poor Woody was looking a bit worn out by 10 o clock.
I've no doubt however that from now on everything will be fine and Woodys will prove to be a great success (once he's got an electrician in to move the smoke alarm away from the grill a couple of feet)!
Anyway, back to the fishing and for most it was an unusually slow start with not much happening for anyone early on,  apart from Will Dearlove and Lionel Legge in 110 and 135 respectively.
As peg 110 had been producing huge weights recently, Paul Greenwood had suggested putting in 135 (which isn't often used) to even things out a bit  and sure enough these two pegs produced right from the start but a change in the wind midway through the match pushed the fish across the lake towards the top left corner allowing Rich Britton on peg 124 to put his pellet waggler skills to good use and take a steady procession of carp for a total of 131-4 and a convincing win ahead of Mike Welling on the next peg (123) who similarly fished the waggler up into the corner for 99-3 and second.
Mike had a bit of a double disaster though as his no4 & 5 sections went for a swim and while he was hunting around for them he knocked in one of his keepnets losing most of it's carpy contents in the process.  Fortunately for Mike nobody was brave enough to take the piss and Paul did eventually find the missing pole sections for him with the help of the Viaduct chest waders ... what a nice chap!
Alan Healy on peg 112 made amends for his Avalon nightmare last weekend by taking third place with 95-8.  He had a shaky first couple of hours but after lashing in six pints of pellet on the 14m pole line the fish eventually moved in so by the last hour they were queuing up for him.
Brian Shanks was just 3oz behind on peg 117 for fourth place with 95-5.
The silvers were noticeable in their absence (spawning) so much so that Psv's resident silvers maestro, Dave Tippet  (who wasn't looking too clever anyways)  packed up early and went home to the nearest pub leaving Steve Burgess on 114 to take top silvers with a lowly 11-12 of baby tench and skimmers accidentally caught on banded 8mm pellet in the margins.


Overall Result:

1. Rich Britton (124) ...... 131-4
2. Mike Welling (123) .............. 99-3
3.  Alan Healy (114) ................. 95-8
4. Brian Shanks (117) ............... 95-5
5. Darren North (127) ............... 85-15
6. Adam Caswell (128) ............. 61-8
7. Pete Uzzell (132) .................. 59-15
8. Ryan Radford (119) .............. 59-9
9. Will Dearlove (110) .............. 57-5
10. Colin Ellaway (131) ............. 54-0
11. Keith Ray (125) .................... 50-7
12. Steve Burgess (114) .............. 50-4
13. Chris Gay (115) .................... 49-10
14. Mark Radford (126) ............. 47-12
15. Lionel Legge (135) .............. 47-8
16. Derek Lucas (129) ............... 27-0
17. Kev Jefferies, Ron Hardiman, Colin Butler & Chris Szakacs .... dnw
18. Dave Tippet ..... went home to the pub 

Silvers:

1. Steve Burgess .......... 11-12
2. Lionel Legge ........... 5-8
3. Mike Welling ........... 5-4
4. Pete Uzzell ............... 4-12

Latest Club News

Unfortunately a couple of weeks ago our most senior member Bob Warren suffered a stroke which for anyone who hasn't had the experience isn't very pleasant.  Apparently it was brought on when he went to buy his morning paper and was told that they no longer accept £1 notes. The good news is that he will be expected to make a reasonable recovery and the insurance should cover his cancelled Tenerife holiday although his doctor has told him he won't be able to drive except maybe to Acorn on Thursdays (no change there) and that when he does get back fishing he will be limited to pegs with a decent chance of picking up the silvers money (no change there either).
Seriously though, get well soon Bob!
Meanwhile there are a few places left for this Sunday at Trinity, the week after at Shiplate is fully booked but there are places left for Scary Cary on 3rd June.
Anyone wanting to book in (or out) give me a ring on the usual number(s) or better still, leave me a text as I'm less likely to forget something in writing!
If you can't make a match and want to book out please let me know as soon as you can as I'm not too good with paperwork on Saturday nights but I do try my best.
Next club meeting should be 5th June* which is also a bank holiday for the Queen's diamond jubilee so we may have to rethink that one and perhaps put it back to the following Tuesday.
*Meeting will be Tuesday 12th June

Avalon, 6 May (14 pegs)

Back from my holidays and the weather couldn't have been more different than the previous week at Sedges, light winds and plenty of warm sunshine which suited the pellet waggler experts down to the ground.
Chris Szakacs took top honours from peg 5 with 95-13 followed by Rich Britton on peg 16 with 84-9 and Chris Gay with 63-6 from peg 6.
All the top three weights were taken on the shallow waggler.
According to Vic Bush there are 20lbs of skimmers on every peg, Paul Reed managed to snare 16-10 of them on meat at 8 metres from peg 11 to take the silvers pool and pound coins from Alan Healy and myself. (it won't last)!
Kev Jefferies  suffered a bit of a nightmare on peg 19 losing 18 carp to underwater branches
(not good)!

Overall Result:

1. Chris Szakacs (5) .......... 95-13
2. Rich Britton (16) .......... 84-9
3. Chris Gay (6) ............... 63-6
4. Adam Caswell (14) ...... 46-3
5. Kev Jefferies (19) ........ 41-9
6. Keith Ray (1) .............. 34-4
7. Mike Smith (21) ......... 29-1
8. Paul Reed (11) ........... 26-3
9. Darren North (3) ........ 24-7
10. Steve Burgess (23) ....... 17-10
11. Alan Healy (7) ........... 17-3
12. Derek Lucas (17) ....... 13-5
13. Colin Butler & Simon Belcham ... dnw

Silvers:

1. Paul Reed .................. 16-10
2. Steve Burgess ............ 11-2
3. Keith Ray .................. 8-10

Sedges, Brick Lake, 29 April (13 pegs)

It seems as though whenever I miss a match the weather takes a turn for the worse.  So, with the Independence of the Seas floating around in the sunshine somewhere between Tenerife and Spain, thirteen (three had the sense to stay in bed and one was still in hospital) brave souls were attempting to fish in torrential horizontal rain and storm force winds.
Of those that managed to stick it out long enough to weigh in Keith Ray made the most of it with 77-14 from peg 2 closely followed by Brian Shanks on 15 with 75-14 and Lionel Legge who weighed 67-7 from peg 11.
Alan Healy took top spot in the silvers with an impressive skimmer weight of 33-10 from peg 9

Overall Result:

1. Keith Ray (2) ............ 77-14
2. Brian Shanks (15) ...... 75-14
3. Lionel Legge (11) ....... 67-7
4. Simon Belcham (?) ..... 57-6
5. Will Dearlove (?) ........ 53-8
6. Dean Malin (10) ......... 42-10
7. Alan Healy (9) ............ 39-10
8. Mark Radford (4) ........ 29-2
9. Ron Hardiman (12) ..... 20-1
10. Ryan Radford (16) ....... 6-6
11. Adam Caswell (8) ........ dnw
12. Darren North / Mike Welling .... early baths!

Silvers:

1. Alan Healy ............ 33-10
2. Ron Hardiman ....... 20-1
3. Will Dearlove ......... 20-0
4. Brian Shanks .......... 14-8

Landsend, Match Lake, 22 April (15 pegs)

Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend this one as I was heading down the Solent at the time on board the Independence of the Seas en route for the Canary Islands (bummer).  However, having had a look through the results, it seems that Paul Elmes had a few fish in front of him and God only knows what Trigger was up to ... must have been up all Saturday night breast-feeding the Triglet!

Full Result:

1. Paul Elmes (peg 18) ... 166-10
2. Brian Shanks (21) ....... 125-7
3. Kev Jefferies (24) ........ 58-4
4. Simon Belcham (20) .... 48-13
5. Keith Ray (16) ............. 35-13
6. Rich Britton (15) ......... 30-9
7. Neil Mercer (5) ............ 29-13
8. Trigger (13) .................. 27-4 ??
9. Bob Warren (7) ............ 24-4
10. Darren North (1) .......... 22-7
11. Mike Welling (19) ........ 21-13
12. Ron Hardiman (9) ........ 19-5
13. Will Dearlove (3) ......... 18-0
14. Derel Lucas / Steve Wynne ... dnw

Silvers:

1. Trigger ............ 27-4 (oh right, get it now)!
2. Bob Warren .... 20-4
3. Neil Mercer .... 17-5
4. Rich Britton .... 16-2
5. Ron Hardiman ... 11-12
6. Paul Elmes ....... 10-6
7. Simon Belcham ... 8-9

Trinity Waters, Woodlands, 15 April (24 pegs)

As I've mentioned before, Woodlands at Trinity is one of my favourite venues for a number of reasons.
For fear of being labelled an old perv I won't mention the obvious reason(s) but there are plenty of carp and silvers to be caught and the fishery is well run, tidy and provides a waitress service for hot snacks and drinks ordered from and delivered to your peg as well as providing free pre-draw tea and coffee.
To make things easier, the pegging was sorted beforehand and the draw tickets and bucket were ready and waiting and on top of all that, the fishery manager, Misha, is a right little cracker which is always a bonus (I wasn't going to mention that was I)!
Anyway,  back to the important stuff and due to the combination of an overnight frost and bright calm conditions along with a near full house of 24, the fishing was decidedly patchy.  
Not so however for the club's favourite mugger, Brian Shanks who, having drawn the £100 golden peg, set about peg 31 with a steely determination and obliterated the rest of the field with a fine display of his favourite method, fishing pellet shallow on the pole at 12m which resulted in 86lbs 14oz.
Over 40lbs behind Brian on peg 10,  Alan Healy made up for his dismal performance on Campbell the previous week (16th out of 20) by catching firstly on paste at 13m and later on caster/ maggot / meat in the margins for a total of 45lbs 11oz to secure second place.
Chris Szakacs meanwhile, having spent 5 hours doing very little in peg 19, kept himself busy for the last hour when the change in the wind brought a change in his fortunes and 44lbs for third.  Chris caught on meat over pellet alternating between his left and right margins.
Next to Chris in peg 20, newcomer Colin Ellaway had a similar match to Chris catching down the edge late with maggot for a total of 40lbs 15oz and fourth place.
Top silvers went to Mark Britton on peg 6 with 12lbs of sprats caught on caster at 4m down his right margin followed by Colin Ellaway's 9lbs 2oz which were boosted by a bonus tench and an eel.
A special thanks to Kev Jefferies who found himself in charge of the scales, well done that man.  Kev has since discovered that the little marks on the dial between the "lb" markings are ounces (you may notice quite a few of the following weights rounded to the nearest pound)!


Full Result:

1. Mugger Shanks* ... peg 31 ... 86-14
2. Alan Healy ............ 10 ...... 45-11
3. Chris Szakacs ........ 19 ...... 44-0
4. Colin Ellaway ......... 20 ...... 40-15
5. Mike Welling .......... 32 ...... 37-15
6. Mike Smith ............ 3 ........ 28-10
7. Mark Radford** ..... 9 ........ 25-9
8. Stewart Riddle ....... 11 ...... 21-13
9. Chris Gay .............. 24 ...... 19-8
10. Matt Williams ......... 7 ........ 16-8
11. Mark Britton .......... 6 ......... 15-0
12. Ron Hardiman ........ 30 ...... 14-14
13. Will Dearlove ......... 8 ......... 12-5
14. Derek Lucas .......... 25 ....... 10-8
15. Bob Warren ........... 23 ....... 8-4
16. Steve Burgess ....... 16 ....... 8-0
17. Simon Belcham ...... 27 ...... 6-13
18. 7 dnw's 

Silvers:

1.  Mark Britton (4) ... 12-0
2. Colin Ellaway (20) ... 9-2
3. Simon Belcham (27) ... 6-13
4. Alan Healy (10) ... 5-8
5. Bob Warren (23) ... 4-5