Sedges, Tile Lake, 23 Feb (12 pegs)

First of all my apologies for the lack of activity around here but unfortunately I've been busy with work and other stuff.
So here's a quick summary of what has been missed.
Back at the end of January we were up at Harescombe but due to the shitty weather forecast (strong winds and rain all day) only eight of us fished it, and to be honest, neither myself nor my travelling partner were very keen as the wind and rain started as we were loading the van.
Because of the forecast and my lack of enthusiasm I hadn't put any effort whatsoever into preparing for the match but it actually transformed into a decent afternoon and my lack of prep resulted in finishing 7th (1 place above the dnw).
The match was won by Matt Taynton with 59-13 with Chris Szakacs coming a close second with 56-12.
I don't have the peg numbers as whoever was writing down the results didn't bother with that bit but from memory Matt & Chris were next to each other on 15 & 13 respectively (or thereabouts) but I'm sure Chris will put me right as he is younger than me and has a better memory and is better looking!
I was a bit disappointed with the turnout for this match as it is a brilliant winter venue that guarantees a few fish even on the worst of days and is only 45 minutes away but never mind!
Next up was at Shiplate on the main lake. I wasn't at this match and I haven't seen the weigh-sheet but fortunately Carol is very organised and puts their results up on Facebook!
She wrote this (bless her cotton socks) .....

Two of Bristol's match groups Frys and PSV fished matches at Shiplate at the weekend.
Fry's fished the two canals, Hawthorns and Westpool whilst PSV fished the Main lake.
After the prolonged influx of cold rain water recently, the results were going to be unpredictable.
Fry's match group had the better weights of the day with Jason Bird on peg 9 of the Hawthorns fishing the pole down the margins using maggot for bait and lightly feeding maggot at the same time and ended with top weight of the day, 53lb 10oz.
PSV's match on the Main lake proved much harder. Matt Taynton on peg 13 caught 31lb 14oz of Silvers to win the match.

Fry's results
1st Jason Bird p9H, 53lb 10oz (pictured)
2nd Steve Howell p12W, 46lb
3rd Ray Cooper p15W, 33lb
3rd Andy Curry p5H, 33lb
4th Gordon Jones p10W, 19lb

PSV results
1st Matt Taynton p13, 31lb 14oz
2nd Alan Healey p14, 28lb
3rd Mark Radford p1, 14lb 4oz
Silvers went to Adam Caswell p3, 6lb 8oz


Following that was a match on Acorn's old canal but I was forced to cancel that one as, again, as the weather forecast was crap and the rumour-mill had been busy sending out negative vibes about the recent form resulting in hardly any interest.  It also clashed with the Westerleigh winter league which fished really well!!

16 Feb saw us back at Harescombe and this time round the weather forecast was better and as a result we managed 17 with the help of a few guests.
The top two was a repeat of our last visit with Matt Taynton winning from peg 2 with 63-2 and Chris Szakacs taking 2nd  from peg 11 with 51-4.
Section winners were:
Lee Waller, peg 4, 49-0
Steve O'Toole, peg 10, 34-0
Simon Belcham, peg 16, 48-10
Darren North, peg 20, 40-0

A good day with the average weight being around 30lbs (I weighed in below average)!

Anyway back to today, or should I say last Sunday, and there were 12 of us this time round so 6 on each bank and plenty of room for all.

Strangely I found myself on peg 40 again and even more strangely I had Lionel lead-slinger Legge for company on 38 again .... déjà-vu!

I hadn't had time last night to sort out rigs as I had spent the night searching through draws to find the log book for the car but anyway the waggler rod was left in the bag as the wind was too strong for that.

The lead rod came out still with the same pellet feeder on from last time but I changed the hook length to take a banded pellet.

2 pole rigs were dug out, 1 for down the edge which was getting on for 3 feet deep and the other for 6m which was as about as long as was comfortable in the wind.

At the start I fed the 6m line with chopped worm & caster in 3 balls of groundbait and the margins with a few casters before slinging the feeder stuffed with micros in the general direction of the island.

After 30 minutes, 3 cigs and 2 coffees the tip hadn't moved an inch and the popped-up expander remained untouched and even though Lionel had snagged 2 decent carp on the tip enough was enough and the feeder rod was abandoned in favour of the  6m line with a bit of worm on the hook.

This produced a similar result but I persevered and eventually the float went under and after a bit of unnecessary drama the culprit turned out to be a carp around 3lbs hooked neatly in the wing.

Topping up with a bit more feed then produced a small skimmer, this time hooked up the wrong-un which had me thinking there was something badly wrong with my presentation (I think the 0.4g float was a bit too light) and after a lean spell and a bit of playing around with the shotting a perch of about a pound gave itself up, this time hooked in the cheek (so getting closer).

More feed produced a 2lb skimmer (hooked properly) and some of his offspring which had me thinking I could stick with the silvers.

The next bite produced a carp which put paid to that idea as things tailed off after that prompting a look down the margins with double caster on the hook.

The right hand margin gave up a solitary roachlet and nothing else.

But first put in down the left side and the float buried as soon as it settled.

Unfortunately, after a bit of ploughing about in the deeper water, that one managed to unhook itself somehow (much to the amusement of my neighbour).

Back in again and the float went again and this one managed to stay on but made its way over the top of the keepnet where it got the hook stuck but managed to stay on. After a bit of poking and prodding I managed to get it into the landing bet but somehow the rig was still attached to the keepnet, I couldn't get my head round that!

Persevering with the left margin produced another good perch, a bit bigger than the last one and then, timed to perfection on the arrival of Keith Ray who had given up on peg 30, another carp which I reckoned was on the small side but miraculously turned into a net-stretcher.... Happy days.

The end result of that was 27-1 which was good enough for third (by default) as Matt Taynton took the Silvers money.

The match was won comfortably by new boy Steve O'Toole with 93-14 from 33 all caught on corn over corn at 6m or thereabouts.

Matt Challenger was 2nd with 74-9 from 26 (bread-slinging) and Matt Taynton won the silvers with 11-12

Full Result:

1. Steve O'Toole (33) ..... 93-14

2. Matt Challenger (26) .... 74-9

3. Matt Taynton (23) ...... 30-10

4. Steve Burgess (40) .... 27-1

5. Chris Szakacs (28)* ..... 26-10

6. Lionel Legge (38) ...... 20-14

7. Alan Healey (36) ....... 17-14

8. Mark Radford (25) ..... 17-1

9, Adam Caswell** (21) ... 6-13

And 3 dnw's

* golden peg

** only fished for 5 hrs due to having a diabetic hypo episode resulting in a visit from an ambulance crew

Silvers:

1. Matt Taynton ..... 11-12

2. Steve Burgess ..... 8-0

3. Alan Healey ....... 7-15

4. Steve O'Toole .... 4-8

As it happened I was chatting to Steve Wynne in the Hilltops Cafe at breakfast (he was fishing the Carpenters Arms match on Brick) and I predicted that Tile would produce the better weights today as it fishes better than Brick in winter and I was proved right but it was good news for Steve as he won his match with 71lbs from peg 20 fishing maggot at the bottom of the nearside shelf so good weights all round.

This weekend is at Shiplate on the main lake although it could turn into a knock up with Frys as they have the canals but I won't be there so Alan will be taking the reigns ,.. Hence anything could happen! 

And finally, don't forget that Tuesday is the AGM at the Horseshoe on Siston Common (memberships)!