Rood Ashton, 26 May (23 pegs)

Our biggest turnout of the year today (23) meant that every decent peg was in which included the two pegs in the jungle which are accessed through a swamp (aided by some wooden planks and the recent addition of a metal bridge).  The only peg left out was the "corner of death" on the end of the car park bank which for some strange reason never seems to produce even though it looks inviting.
With this many fishing I was paying out top 4 plus 3 sections and no silvers pool as, although there are some good roach in the lake, they don't seem to show up in our matches and for some strange reason, there are no skimmers in the lake (at least I've not seen one as yet).
There was a slight ripple of discontent that there was no silvers pool but seeing as Pete Sivell had brought half a pint of scrounged maggots with him it was all the more reason not to have one!
As usual, Allan (the owner's son) had offered a bonus of £50 if anyone should break the match record which stands at around 220lbs but that was safe for another day and even though I had an agreement with my neighbour to put our fish together at the end it was still safe for another day!
Winner on the day was Stewart Riddle on peg 20 which was the last but one peg around the back bank.  Stewart started off on the pole at 7m with pellet but was having problems with foulhookers probably due to the calm, bright conditions which meant the fish were spooking from the pole and after the first couple of hours only had three fish in the net.  A change to the method feeder with pellet however produced a steady run of fish and he finished off the match fishing under the trees in the margins with pellet for a final total of 91lbs 2oz.
Chris Szakacs was a close second on peg 18 with 84-4.  Chris had a couple of early fish on the method but caught mainly at 5m and down the margins with meat.
Third place went to Brian "mugger" Shanks on peg 15 with 79-6.  Before the start he wasn't a happy bunny as his peg was, apparently, too shallow (anything over 18 inches at Rood Ashton is considered deep) but he soon cheered up as his elastic was out within 30 seconds of the all-in and carried on coming out for the first hour or so but then it went a bit quiet for him but he kept a few coming out, slapping his rig around and some from down the edge.
In fourth spot and last in the framing places was myself with 71-9.  I had a couple on the pellet wag early but then changed to the pole at 14m with pellet but like Stewart, was having problems foulhooking and losing fish.  But in the last hour the wind picked up putting a ripple on the lake and the fish switched on to the pellet wag (which wasn't a conventional pellet waggler but a special prototype design known only to a select few).  In fact they were that switched on I lost three while trying to eat a packet of plain crisps so next time I will be taking cheese & onion.
Sections went to Pete Sivell (1 - 7) with 68-14,  Chris Gay (8 - 15) with 65-14 by default and Mark Radford (15 - 23) with 61-3 by triple default.
Although there wasnt a silvers pool, top sprat basher was Richard Jones with 4lbs 5oz which was aided by the fact that nobody else weighed in any.
Strangely, peg 1, which is normally a flier only produced 36-4 for Adam Caswell.
But he did manage to lose 26 fish which must be a new record!

Full Result:

1. Stewart Riddle (peg 20) .... 91-2
2. Chris Szakacs (18) ........ 84-4
3. Brian Shanks (15) ......... 79-6
4. Steve Burgess (16) ........ 71-9
5. Pete Sivell (4) ............ 68-14 (must try harder)
6. Chris Packet Gay (12) .... 65-14
7. Richard Jones (2) .......... 61-12
8. Mark Radford (21) ........ 61-3
9. Richard Britton (19) ...... 61-1
10. Andy Curry** (14) ........ 59-7
11. Darren North (17) ........ 53-9
12. Pete Uzzell (3) ............. 48-15
13. Will Dearlove (22) ........ 40-10
14. Adam Caswell (1) ........ 36-4 (wasted flier)
15. Alan Healy (23) .......... 36-0 (another wasted flier)
16. Rocket Ron Hardiman (6) .... 35-9
17. Ryan Radford (8) ......... 33-9
18. Jason Bird (11) ............ 25-8 (also must try harder)
19. Keith Ray (5) ....... 16-0 (got lost ... all day)
20. Bob (did I win my section) Warren (9) .... 13-1
21. 1 dnw and 2 early baths

**silver peg (golden peg had an early bath)

Silvers:

1. Richard Jones (2) ..... 4-5

Shiplate, Hawthorn & Westpool, 19 May (15 pegs)

Not a great deal to say this time round other than that Hawthorns fished a lot better than Westpool and Brian Shanks fished a lot better than everyone else.

In fact the Westerleigh mugger more than doubled Alan Healy's second place weight with an all carp net of 109lbs 2oz from peg 10.

My day, as you may have guessed, wasn't one of my most memorable.  Drawn on the wrong end of the wrong lake (westpool 3) I struggled for five small carp and some skimmers for an unimpressive 19-2 but that was a fair bit more impressive than Pete Sivell's two carp and no silvers next door on 5 and I do believe I may have mentioned that to him once or twice during and after the match.

Next week (this week) we are at Rood Ashton which should be interesting as, according to "those in the know", a load of fish have been netted /  sold off / eaten by foreigners etc etc . Anyway, to make things interesting I thought I'd make it tip only and maybe a pairs match.  If there is an odd number Adam Caswell can make up a "pair" of 3 just to make it a bit fairer!

Full Result:

1. Brian Shanks (peg H10) ... 109-2
2. Alan Healy (H1) ......... 52-13
3. Andy Curry (H4) ........ 45-1
4. Mike Smith (H12) ....... 41-2
5. Matt Taynton (W11) ... 39-12
6. Jason Bird (H14) ....... 35-12
7. Rocket Ron Hardiman (W9) ... 35-11
8. Ryan Radford* (H6) ..... 28-11
9. Mark Radford (H2) ....... 19-12
10. Steve Burgess (W3) ..... 19-2
11. Chris Szakacs (W13) .... 16-9
12. Pete Sivell (W5) .......... 11-7
13. Colin Ellaway (W7) ....... 11-5
14. Adam Caswell (W15) .... 5-9
15. Derek Lucas** (H8) .... dnw

Landsend, Match Lake, 5 May (13 pegs)

Apologies for the slight delay with this update but I've been a bit busy this week what with moving house and fitting in a bit of work abroad etc but I finally managed a spare five minutes to think of something to write!

At long last, after what seems like months of crappy weather, we were blessed with a glorious day (the warmest of the year so far) with wall to wall sunshine and hardly any wind.
We were also blessed with the Match lake plus the back bank of Specimen lake if we needed it but the numbers which at one point in the week had hit 17 ended up at only 13 which fits comfortably on the one lake.
The match on the Saturday had been won by Landsend superstar Trigger with (I think) 198lbs from peg 19 caught on meat at 5m and there were plenty of weights over the ton so we weren't too sure if the lake would fish too well.
The good news for Darren North was that he had the dubious pleasure of following in Trigger's footsteps on 19.  The bad news however, was that he had the Westerleigh Mugger opposite him on peg 6 and his accomplice, Rocket Ron Hardiman next door on 21.
I might add at this point that the Landsend superstar had also recently won off peg 11 which was where I had drawn (again) but there's not a lot else to say about that!
Brian spent most of the day fishing banded pellet to the island shelf at 14m to win convincingly with 181lbs 15oz which also included the best silvers weight of the day with 21-12 of accidentals.  And making it a clean sweep for the Westerleigh fishing bus, Rocket Ron took second spot with 124lbs exactly caught on pellet and meat rotating around the peg, which means I'm not entirely sure how and what he caught on but "rotating around his peg" should cover most things in the same way that "sunshine and occasional showers" covers the weather forecast.
In the meantime, Mark Radford had drawn peg 1 and spent a fair while crying about how this peg used to be the best peg on the lake but wasn't any good now since the bankside cover had been cleared took third place an ounce shy of Rocket Ron's weight with 123-15 (and his brother-in-law was on the scales).
Mark caught "Trigger style", mugging cruisers and later down the edge (yes, where the bankside cover has been cleared) and needless to say has now changed his opinion of peg 1.
Fourth place went to the Knowle West pikey / pheasant beater, Alan Healy on his favourite peg (15) with 101-5.
Silvers, as already mentioned, went to Mugger Shanks with 21-12 of accidentals followed by Richard Jones with 16-0 caught on meat short.
As for myself on peg 11, I spent a great deal of the match hooking and playing fish but unfortunately most of them were hooked up the wrong-un so a lesson was learned and in future I won't be spending six hours trying to catch mud-suckers in six inches of water!
Next week is at Shiplate on the canal(s) so that will probably mean no lead-chucking and therefore a bit of a wait for the next update (if the rumours are true).


Full Result:

1. Mugger Shanks (peg 6) ...... 181-15
2. Rocket Ron Hardiman (21) .. 124-0
3. Mark Radford (1) .......... 123-15
4. Alan Healy (15) ............ 101-5
5. Simon Belcham (24) ...... 64-7
6. Darren North (19) ......... 58-8
7. Chris Szakacs (5) .......... 57-13
8. Richard Jones (8) .......... 57-0
9. Paul Reed (17) ............. 46-8
10. Ryan Radford (22) ........ 43-9
11. Steve Burgess (11) ....... 39-0
12. Adam Caswell (3) ......... 31-0
13. Steve Wynne (13) ........ 29-9

Silvers:

1. Mugger Shanks ...... 21-12
2. Rich Jones .......... 16-0
3. Simon Belcham ... 14-0
4. Ryan Radford ...... 11-9
5. Alan Healy .......... 11-5
6. Adam Caswell ...... 8-8
7. Steve Burgess ..... 8-7