Viaduct, Lodge, 06 November (13 pegs)

After the previous Sunday's disaster in the Shiplate teams of 3 where I drew peg 1 on Hawthorns (end peg flyer and shortest walk on the venue) and had a day I'd like to erase from the memory bank I was very much looking forward to this one and a bit of open water fishing, well away from any reeds or snag-pits.
For the record, I had an extremely torrid day losing countless fish in tug-of-war battles and ended up with a very disappointing 20-odd pounds, a broken top kit, a tray full of empty winders and a badly bruised ego.
Back to today then and I wasn't expecting big weights as we'd had a hard frost overnight and the sky was clear with little breeze.
As ever I waited at the back of the draw queue for the last peg but it was going to be a long wait as Mr Dearlove was also intent on having it so I gave in and drew 2nd last which gave me peg 73 leaving Will opposite on 53 (I think he called me some names).
So much for my plans of an easy day fishing in open water then as this peg is a corner which houses a great big overhanging tree, bugger, more fun and games then!
I had made up a few new rigs with lighter lines and small hooks, a "double bulk" and a standard version, so these were set up to fish in open water at 14m where it was still only about 3 foot deep, and I made up a beefier rig to fish at the same length under the tree.
No lead rod or waggler, much to my disappointment, as I was a bit hemmed in at this end of the lake.
Bait for the day were 2 pints of stunned red maggots (a bit ambitious), 2 tins of meat (also a bit ambitious) and a tin of hemp. I would have mixed up some groundbait but I was still setting up ten minutes after the all-in so that idea was shelved.
For company I had a very confident Mr Dearlove opposite me (after a hushed tactical discussion with Steve Long) and Matt Taynton next door who has a habit of making my life a misery every time I draw next to him due to his superior angling skills.
Starting off then and I fed some maggots and hemp on the 14m line and some meat and hemp under the tree of doom.
During this time the only person to have caught was Keith Ray who had dropped his first lead chuck on a carp's nose but unfortunately that was his last bite for 5½ hours so you could say that was a bit of a "false dawn".
I went out on the open water rig with 2 stunned maggots and within 5 minutes the float shot under followed by quite a lot of pink elastic.  Unfortunately the fish went left and I had to go right to get to my roller which was set up to ship back along the bank resulting in the hook pulling out and a source of amusement for my fellow competitors.
Never mind, I re-fed and stuck with it but the next hour only produced two very small roach.
On the plus side, nobody else was catching much and even the silvers slayers were struggling.
Meanwhile Will was chucking a lead down the bank to the other side of my tree and getting a few bites but missing them all so I had a look down there with a piece of meat on the hook and the float never moved .... it wasn't looking good!
So I fed some maggot and hemp down there and went back out in the open water but it was lifeless.
I had been feeding a few maggots close in on both sides but no bites there either.
Elsewhere Matt Taynton had snared a carp on the waggler with maggot and Will had landed one but lost a couple of big fish at the net (I did offer some kind words of sympathy to make him feel better as he looked a bit despondent).
Back under the tree but with a couple of stunned maggots on the hook and the float went under but that battle was short-lived as I got in a bit of trauma trying to break my pole down and everything went "tits up" and the fish was lost.
To rectify this problem I moved my roller further along the bank so that I could ship back without breaking down and this proved to be a good move as I managed to get the next four fish out of the jungle without drama although one of them beat me up under the platform.
Another try out in open water resulted in a repeat performance from earlier and another lost carp.
So back under the tree for the rest of the match, which wasn't long as Will shouted the "all out" at 3 which was a bit odd as we were fishing til 4 but he hadn't altered the clock on his phone.
I managed another carp from under the tree in the last hour and my 4 carp and 2oz of silvers were enough to win on a very difficult day.
It turned out that the whole of the venue had fished hard, the match on Campbell was won with 17lb and Cary was won with 33lbs (I think)

Full Result:

1. Steve Burgess (73) ...... 30-5
2. Matt Taynton (71) ....... 26-3
3. Keith Ray (57) ........... 21-14
4. Mark Radford (66) ..... 19-11
5. Steve o'Toole (56) ...... 11-7
6. Derek Lucas (59) ........ 9-1
7. Will / Lee Waller (53/70) .... 8-8
8. Ron Hardiman (69) ..... 7-11
9. John Bradford (62) ..... 7-8
10. and 2 dnw's

Silvers:

1. Lee Waller (70) .... 8-8
2. John Bradford (62) .... 7-8

Ironically, while we were fishing  Liverpool managed to beat Watford 6-1 which was a similar score to the Carp v Will match in peg 53 but I won't go on about it as it can happen to the best of us!
This Sunday I am back at Shiplate for Team Radford in the Shiplate teams of 3, the Psv B-team (Alan Healey, Left-hook Lionel & Matt Taynton) are up near the top and comfortably ahead of us but I will be on the main lake so a £ from Matt Culpin should be a certainty and one from Alan will see me happy!
And finally, Psv are fishing with the regulars at Acorn tomorrow so if anyone needs advice on robbing pensioners give Tony Rixon a ring x

Club News Update

Thanks to all who attended yesterday's meeting,
Please note that all Christmas Match money needs to be paid at (or before) the December meeting (Tues 6th). After that date the list will be closed so that we can organise the correct number of prizes (no exceptions)
Also, as there won't be a January meeting Will will be taking bookings for January's matches starting with Sedges on 15th Jan
Additionally, our wonderful Chairman & Treasurer Mike Wilson (after many years of sterling work behind the scenes managing the club) has decided after much thought to retire from duties as of next year's Agm (again) so in the meantime if anyone fancies giving it a go feel free to volunteer.
And I would like to add on behalf of all the Psv membership a big thanks to Mike for all his hard work

Shiplate Main Lake, 02 October 2016

Once the early morning mist had cleared we were treated to a last taste of summer, not the best of conditions for fishing but I wasn't complaining as I doubt there will be many more t-shirt days for a few months so I was happy to make the most of it and give the "lucky legs" (thanks Bela) a final airing.

This was my second consecutive trip to Shiplate as I have been roped into their Teams of 3 series supporting Ryan and Mark Radford.  Last Sunday I was on Hawthorns (8) and did ok with 50lbs or so which put me around mid-section but Mark let the side down and we didn't do too well.
The "B-team" consisting of Alan Healey, Matt Taynton and Lionel Legge did a little better coming joint first on the day but beaten on weight.  Saying that though it was hardly surprising having drawn 3 end pegs!

Anyway back to today then and, as ever, the day started with breakfast at Lilypool which came with a healthy tirade of abuse from just about everyone in there but mostly from a certain local celebrity who used to win a lot before Trigger came good so now earns a meagre living from robbing pensioners at the Acorn cost cutters???
Down at the fishery (more abuse) but only nine of us fishing today as Matt Williams had shyed off to go see Bridget Jones at the cinema .... apparently the cinema round his way only shows "chick flicks" on Sundays and it's a big thing for him,  Brian Shanks couldn't afford to go as Ron wasn't booked in and somebody else had a pretty lame excuse but I've forgotten!
Draw done and lo-and-behold, Alan Healey draws peg 15 and Adam Caswell draws 1, so that was the two fliers gone and I grabbed the last ticket which put me on 14.
Not the worst, actually not bad at all, but it meant I would have to listen to Alan "I've only brought a tip rod" and Adam all day!

I had, for once, done a bit of preparation on Saturday night which was good so I set up 4 top kits:
A margin rig for the bush on the left, a shallow pellet rig and two rigs for on the deck at 13m
One for skimmers and the other to take a banded pellet.
Also a pellet wag which I wasn't putting much faith in as it was a bit bright and calm, and a straight lead as I had bought a new 10' lead rod and wanted to christen it.
Bait ... 6's and 8's, micros and a pint of dead reds for the skimmers and down the edge.
(And some for Alan as they don't sell maggots round his way)
For company, but all out of sight, I had former "Silvers Slayer" Lee Waller on 13, Lee Williams on 11 (also slaying silvers) and the Gimp on 9 (no doubt slaying silvers)

I shouted the all-in at 10:15 and potted a small ball of micros / mags at 13m and fired out a few 8's as far as they'd go whilst listening to Alan and Adam "debating" where the boundaries of their respective pegs were and to be fair to Adam he's pretty good at casting round corners.
[Please note that at this point self-confessed venue expert Alan "only brought a tip rod" Healey was still pretty smug after drawing the best peg on the lake]

Out on the skimmer rig with 2 dead reds on the hook and I started catching small 3/4oz skimmers straight away but I stuck with it in the hope that their bigger relatives would move in.  They didn't though and they weren't liking my 10/12 elastic very much so I swapped over to a lighter elastic and that change brought about my first carp which wasn't very big thankfully and came in without too much drama.

Meanwhile the "Silvers Slayer" next door wasn't doing much slaying, Adam had landed a couple of carp from around the corner of his peg and Alan was entertaining the ducks and muttering something about "they're not always there"!
To add to his cheer I hooked and landed a double on the maggot rig but it churned the peg up so I re-fed it and had a go with the lead rod.
That only produced a few liners and knocks from small fish so I gave the pellet wag a go and as expected that never produced either despite the fact that I could see fish coming to the feed.
It seemed as though they were attracted to the noise of the pellets but weren't interested in feeding.
But just as I was about to knock it on the head I hooked a fish that came in like a wet sack and turned out to be a 12lb grass carp (weighed and returned after showing Alan what a 12lb fish looks like)

I gave the wag rod a miss and had a go with slapping a  shallow rig around as there were a few fish cruising around on the pole line and that produced one small-ish carp but it knackered the rig in the landing net so I spent another hour playing around with the mini-skimmers in the hope of ... catching a decent weight of skimmers but it wasn't going to happen with fish of that size so I dumped a pot of pellet on the skimmer line and it started fizzing straight away.

By now we were into the last hour and the Silvers Slayer had stopped whining and started slaying, Pete Uzzell had finally lost the lump he'd snared on a silvers rig and been playing since 11 o'clock, Chris Szakacs had lost a 20lb fish at the net, Lee Williams had started his blog and was writing about how he'd have won the match twice over if he had have fished for carp and Alan had eventually managed to get a few in his net.
I had managed a couple more carp on the ex-skimmer line and then with 30 minutes to go I "hooked" a proper one that took me the rest of the match to land.

Alan was first to weigh and his tip-rod only approach had let him down badly .... 42lbs 6oz
My 8lbs of mini-skimmers pushed my total to 71-9 which secures my place in next years' winners final.
Adam took 2nd position with 57-7 and Mark Radford claimed 3rd place with 49-0
Lee Waller's late run of decent skimmers paid off securing the silvers pool with 15-12 mostly caught on worm in the last hour.

Full Result:

1. Steve Burgess (14) 71-9

2. Adam Caswell (1) 57-7
3. Mark Radford (5) 49-0
4. Chris Szakacs (7) 47-15
5. Lee Williams (11) 45-8
6. Alan Healey (15) 42-6
7. Pete Uzzell (3) 22-9
8. Lee Waller (13) 15-12
9. John Bradford (9) 11-15

Silvers: 

1. Lee Waller 15-12

So, not a bad result for me and also a few lessons learned in advance of next Sunday when I'll be back on the same lake ....

Wear shorts, draw some good pegs and take more than just a tip rod!!

Stafford Moor Bank Holiday Weekender

This was the second year of this little outing arranged by "silvers slayer" Lee Waller and Frodo Dearlove. I missed out last year due to being in Mallorca so I was well up for it this year.

Frodo had come up with a clever system of points / payouts which paid out a section winner and a silvers section winner on a daily basis and overall top 3 and silvers for the series.

A little bit complicated but nowhere near as complicated as Lee Williams' "carp / silvers combination series" (sorry Lee)!

Oak Lake, Friday 26 August 

Oak lake is the newest match lake at Stafford and was formerly a stock pond.

The main quarry are small carp up to 2lbs with odd bigger fish and plenty of skimmers, crucians and small tench etc

We were told to expect around 100lbs to win it and 70 would be a good weight so plenty of bites to be expected.

I drew peg 5 which looked nice as it was stuck out into the lake on a small spit and I was told it was a consistent peg ... Ok, a flyer! (That's my inconspicuous net in the picture)

For company today I had match organiser, Frodo Dearlove to my left and one half of Psv's new dynamic duo, Luke Pester to my right.

Neither though were in my section as my peg was in a separate section along with the corner and end pegs.

Due mainly to lack of preparation and suitable rigs I opted for a simple approach, pellet shallow out in front and corn down the edges.

Plumbing up the margins were around a foot to 18 inches deep but I found a deeper area to my left which seemed inviting even if it meant setting up an extra rig.  Frodo liked it too and set up about a foot away despite having an empty peg to his left but I'm all for sharing and watching 2 floats is double the excitement.

Most others had elected to fish on the deck further out which was a bit of a concern but never mind.

I won't go into too much detail, I had a few shallow, I never bothered with a deep rig and I caught reasonably well from my margins in the last few hours. 

Frodo enjoyed himself catching from most areas including the empty peg to his left and my peg.

Luke had a very barren 4 hours before he dumped a. Load of pellet out long and fished paste over it.

For the last 2 hours he had one a chuck, it was a pleasure to behold (honest).

I ended up being Teriyaki'd which for the uneducated means lightly battered both sides. 

I weighed 65-7, Luke had 66-9 and Frodo won his section with 67-15

The match was won by Luke's other half, Keith Bilder with 97-11 from corner peg 12 followed by Mike Wilson (below) with 93-6 from peg 9 (also a corner), which put me third in that section so not a great start points-wise but an enjoyable days fishing nonetheless.

And I had a clean sweep of pound coins from Pete and Steve sledgehammer Sewell helped by the fact they were both fishing for silvers!

The silvers was won by Pete Uzzell (and didn't we know it) with 16-4 from the other side of Frodo's empty peg.

(Did I mention that Will had an empty peg next to him)!

Tanners, Saturday 27 August

At this point it might be worth mentioning that most of us were staying at the Duke of York in some remote outpost about 10 minutes drive from the fishery.

And that they were hosting a beer festival over the bank holiday weekend along with live music, Barbeque etc

And that some of us decided to make the most of the facilities on offer.

I went to bed early  (A few didn't)!

 

Anyways, I drew peg 35 which is another good peg (long walk).

34,35 and 36 are very close together and the pegs are offset to the right, presumably to make it easier to ship poles back as the speci carp lake is directly behind.

No pole for me today as I would be fishing the pellet wag / lead with the assistance of a bit of breeze that was coming from behind and slightly left.

I was to be sharing this bit of water with Keith Bilder on 34 and Pete Uzzell was on 36 which is generally considered the best peg on the lake but Pete was "suffering" slightly (see note above).

The sections were a bit wierd again today, I was in with Pete, Frodo on 3, Lionel left-hook Legge on 9 and Keith Ray on 13 (so yes, Frodo had plenty of space)

The match started frustratingly for both myself and Keith, lots of missed bites and lost foulers with the odd fish landed on both lead and wag.

It never started at all for Pete!

Keith's other half, Luke had a decent start over in the far corner (peg 1) but it wasn't to last.

Keith had a midway change of tactics and switched to paste which produced some big fish and he was by now well clear of me. I was having a bit of trouble with the wag so I took it off and employed the services of "super-wag",  an 8gr, foot-long bodied effort which Pete found highly amusing despite the fact that it went under about 95% more often than his tip moved!

I ended the day with a fairly poor 53-13 but that wasn't quite as poor as Pete's 18-5

The match was won by Keith next door with 104-15 but luckily no chance of being chip-shopped today!

Silvers went to a very happy Matt Williams with 23-10 from peg 30

who was probably still laughing at his mate Pete's dismal effort

 

Second place went to Chris too smooth Szakacs with 103-2 from peg 18

Unfortunately Chris was "too smooth" to get off his box and get another net out so the 10lb of skimmers he chucked back proved costly!

Woodpecker,  Sunday 28 August

Everybody got together at the Duke of York to celebrate Lee Waller's birthday, the celebrations weren't quite as intense as Friday night's but at least I stayed up until nearly 11 and I even dressed up for the occasion.

This time round I drew peg 8, a very long chuck to the island but the margins looked inviting, and after being battered 2 days running by Luke and Keith's "big potting" tactics I even set up a banded pellet rig for 13m.

In my section today I had Ross Sewell on 6 (peg 7 nonexistent), Keith Bilder on 12 with an easy wag chuck to the island and Ricket Ron (venue expert) on 14 so no expectations of going out in a blaze of glory today

I started on the pole after filling it in with pellet and first drop-in hooked and landed a double (happy days), second drop I bumped one so refed and went out on the wag.

Despite the conditions being perfect for it with a light breeze from directly behind it was slow, I was getting odd fish but missing most bites.

Keith was having the same problems judging by the thrashing noises coming from down there.

Around the corner it seemed Luke Pester was getting a few on the wag and Lee Waller was catching down his edge on 36.

I could see fish in my margins so I spent a torrid few hours down there, they like to take you under the tree roots and round the corner in this peg!

Many rigs and a number 6 section later I managed a total of 79-4 which was good enough for second in the section.

Keith had a "good" last hour (his words) on the wag and ended up with 148-0 which easily won the section and the overall series. 

The match was won by birthday boy Lee Waller with 148-7 from peg 36

3rd place went to Luke Pester with 130-5 from peg 34.

Series Overall:

1. Keith Bilder

2. Keith Ray

3. Frodo Dearlove 

4. Luke Pester

The overall silvers was a close run affair with Pete Uzzell, Matt Williams and Steve Sewell all level on points going into the final match. Matt took the honours weighing in 16-0 from peg 32.

Well done to all on making it an enjoyable weekend and thanks Lee and Will for organising 

Todber Manor, Homeground Lake

Another new venue for the club this week. Todber Manor fishery in Dorset which is famed for some quality big carp and catfish fishing and is also home to several decent match lakes, the club were originally booked into Hillview lake but after a few drop outs the match was moved to the smaller Homeground lake which has only been open a few months, no one knew any information about the lake and all we were told was that it was stuffed with silvers along with a huge head of small stockie carp in the 12oz to 1lb bracket along with a decent amount of fish in the 3-6lb bracket.

After all the drop outs we ended up 11 and will decided to pay top two with two sections, and being a brand new lake i  dont think anyone was to fussed where they drew.

unfortunately the match itself was slightly overshadowed by a serious incident that happened to Adam Caswell half way through the match. Adam who has type one diabetes suffered a serious diabetic hypo, lucky for Adam Brian Shanks on the next peg was quick to see what was happening and just about got to him in time before he collapsed into the lake and with the help of Ryan Radford managed to get him off his box and into the recovery position, Mike Wilson and Will Dearlove quickly sorted an ambulance and many thanks must go to the fishery team who had a member of staff who was a first aider come sit with Adam until the medical team arrived. Pretty soon he was in an ambulance and on his way to Yeovil general hospital where he is now and in a stable condition, i'm sure everyone in the club would like to wish Adam a speedy recovery and hopefully he will be back on the bank soon.

Back to the fishing and with mostly flat calm bright conditions it was credit that most people seemed to be getting a few bites, Mike Wilson and Ron Hardiman were straight into the small stockies on the carpark bank along with Alan Healy, Adam and Brian shanks on the far bank.

My match started very slowly as i really struggled to suss the venue out, drawing 83 which is a corner peg on the far bank id planned on a pellet attack at 13 metres, a short meat line and with a long margin to my right a groundbait attack later in the match, after two hours i had about 5lb in the net wich consisted of about ten micro tench and the same amount of bottletop skimmers, dropping in on the short meat line brought the same result and stamp of fish that was until a bait change made all the difference, slipping a piece of corn on the float buried and stockie number one was soon in the net out again and the same result.

After feeding groundbait down the edge for most of the match the last two hours the fish turned up in force stirring up the bottom and clouding up my whole margin and i took a stockie on most put ins along with the odd better one right to the end, Lee williams on the opposite corner also had a great last few hours taking fish regular on his margins and short lines,

One angler who seemed to be getting through the stockies and taking the bigger samples was Brian Shanks on 85 and come the end was catching some proper carp on his long shallow line, those bigger fish were more than enough to give him the win weighing a decent 101lb 9oz

My late flurry enabled me to take second place with 87lb 4oz and the two sections were taken by Alan Healy and Ron Hardiman respectively who just edged out Lee by a few ounces,

FULL RESULT

1. BRIAN SHANKS   101LB  9oz      PEG 85
2. CHRIS SZAKACS   87LB  4oz               83
3. RON HARDIMAN   81LB 11oz              78
4. LEE WILLIAMS      81LB  2oz               81
5. ALAN HEALY         61LB  2oz               88
6. WILL DEARLOVE  51LB                      79
7. MIKE WILSON        50LB  8oz              76
8. MARK RADFORD   43LB 10oz             90
9. RYAN RADFORD    29LB                      89
10. MAT WILLIAMS     27LB  8oz               82
11. ADAM CASWELL  16LB  12oz             86

 A very nice venue with plenty of bites and hopefully we will get a few more matches down there in the future,

viaduct fishery campbell lake

18 Fishing today and with alot of fish in close proximity to the areator Will Dearlove kept his good run of form going making no mistake from peg 130 catching all his fish on straight lead and pellet tactics weighing 141lb 13oz, second and fishing the same way from 115 was Wills father inlaw Keith Ray weighing 132lb 13oz and in third was myself catching a few on the pole and a few on lead weighing 108lb 14oz

FULL RESULT

1. WILL DEARLOVE   141LB 13OZ    PEG 130
2. KEITH RAY               132LB 13OZ            115
3. CHRIS SZAKACS     108LB 14OZ            124
4. DEGSY WILLIAMS   89LB   2OZ             125
5. RYAN RADFORD      87LB  11OZ             118
6. LEE WILLIAMS         86LB  12OZ            129
7. MARK RADFORD     86LB  12OZ            110
8. PAUL PRESTON         83LB   4OZ             119
9. RON HARDIMAN      70LB   15OZ           116
10. MATT WILLIAMS      67LB   7OZ             114
11. MIKE WILSON           66LB   1OZ             123
12. STEVE SEWELL        60LB                        132
13. PETE UZZEL              52LB   12OZ            112
14. ROSS SEWELL           45LB   14OZ            128
15. JOHN BRADFORD     28LB                        126
16. MAT POWELL            24LB   13OZ            127
17. AND TWO DNWS

SILVERS

1. JOHN BRADFORD     28LB
2. PETE UZZEL               24LB  7OZ

Boddingtons reservoir

Something a bit unusual for the club this week as it was the clubs very first visit to the midlands bagging mecca that is Boddingtons reservoir, most people had done they're research and it was always gonna be a rod only match fishing a variety of method,straight lead and pellet wag tactics. A few of the guys had made the trip up before staying in local b&bs and there was talk at the draw of a semi naked Pete Uzell wandering into Wills room during the night but what goes on tour obviously stays on tour!

The club were fishing on the dam wall pegs 1-16 and with the wind blowing down into the early numbers this seemed like the more favourable draw

The match itself followed the same pattern for nearly everybody to varying levels of success as in most had a few pulls in the first hour followed by a barren dire spell for the hours middle match as the carp backed off into the expanse of the reservoir and then the fish returning en mass in the last hour and a half to binge on the pellet mountain that everyone had been feeding all day. The guys that done the best were those that managed to keep the odd fish coming mid match.

I drew peg 12 and had self confessed pellet wag expert Steve Burgess next to me on 11 and on 13 was Mike Wilson who dosnt know what a wag is! or a lead or a method feeder and im not sure he was totally sure what a rod and reel are ether as he started the match 15mins later than everyone else still trying to set up!

Duhh!

My plan was start on the method whilst feeding 8mms as far as i could fire them hopefully catching on the lead and wag later in the day, i did have dreams of a mega bagging session as my first three chucks resulted in three wrap rounds and 30lb in the net followed by err.....nothing for the next three hours.

Now most of the club are used to fishing viaduct and doing battle with scary cary monsters but the fish in Boddingtons are on another level, averaging 8-16lb they are proper tackle testers with probably the most aggressive takes that i have ever encountered. Someone who can testify to this was Keith Ray on peg 10 who after a very quiet match had his expensive Daiwa rod and reel combo ripped off his lap into the reservoir, the butt of the rod luckily stayed afloat doing its best jaws impression, also lucky was that as it got to about 30metres out the fish changed direction and started running parallel to the bank and as it passed myself i managed to drop a lead just in front and hook the butt and much to keiths relief retrieved the rod with fish still attached, keith then clambered back to his peg and promptly lost the fish at the net!

The last hour was frantic for everyone even Steve Burgess started catching on the wag! looking along the bank rods were bent double everywhere.

One angler who seemed to be doing better than most was Will Dearlove on peg 7 who fished a really tidy match fishing a small method and boilie at long range taking fish at regular intervals to win the match with a creditable 147lb 13oz

In second spot was Paul Preston on end peg 2 and Paul had and interesting and frustrating match as he easily hooked enough fish to win twice over but in an extremely snaggy and weedy peg he lost alot more than he landed ending with 124lb

Third was Alan Healy on yet another flyer peg 5 who fished similar tactics to will ending up with a decent 122lb 11oz

FULL RESULT

1. WILL DEARLOVE    147LB  13OZ        PEG 7
2. PAUL PRESTON        124LB                           2
3. ALAN HEALY           122LB   11OZ               5
4. MATT WILLIAMS     111LB    6OZ               4
5. CHRIS SZAKACS        92LB   12OZ             12
6. RYAN RADFORD        80LB                          14
7. MARK RADFORD       75LB    8OZ               3
8. STEVE BURGESS        75LB    8OZ              11
9. PETE UZZEL                74LB    7OZ               8
10. ADAM CASWELL       73LB    15OZ             9
11. STEVE SEWELL          68LB    12OZ            6
12. KEITH RAY                  62LB    10OZ            10
13. MIKE WILSON            36LB    10OZ            13
14. AND ONE DNW

Most people really enjoyed the match as it was a different sort of fishing than most of us are used too and hopefully another trip will be booked in the near future.

Sedges, Brick Lake, 10 July (20 pegs)

I was a bit worse for wear when the alarm went off this morning following a late night sampling the delights of Staple Hill but I just about made it to Hilltops cafe for breakfast.
It was quite busy in there probably as there was a delay while they cooked up a special for Bela although it has to be said he is now a picture of physical perfection and the envy of many.
A full house today with 20 fishing which was good to see, payouts were for the top 3, 1 silvers and 2 sections plus a Pairs match just to spice things up a bit.
Will had split the sections across the lake as opposed to a section on each bank which was a good move giving those down the sheltered end a chance of picking up, he has been trained well!
There was a bit of conflicting information during the pre-draw discussions over the results of Lee Wiliams's Saturday match on the lake. (see here)
Apparently some were saying there were had been  seven weights over 100lbs but  I had heard peg 10  had walked it with 150-odd but the next best weight was half that and quite a few had struggled.
I suspect they were getting mixed up with a match on Tile or another match that had involved some decent anglers!
Anyway, the Gimp drew peg 10 so it was unlikely to be producing a three-figure weight today.
Somehow I managed to avoid drawing a corner and ended up in the middle of nowhere on 15.
My pairs partner Matt Williams drew peg 2 which was going to be tough as the wind was pushing up the opposite end towards 11 which was occupied by Degsy Williams.
I made sure though before the draw I had £1's with Alan Healey, Steve Sewell and Pete Uzzell just to cover my losses and make sure I went home with something.
Alan drew next door to me on 14 so I could keep a close eye on that pound.
On my left side was the "Silvers Slayer" Lee Waller who was not very well hidden behind the reeds ... a few more months of growing would be required before he would be completely obscured.
Today I had a cunning plan, well it wasn't much of a plan as it was the same thing I always do at Sedges and involved a 6g pellet wag, a brand new catapult (I've lost 2 at recent Viaduct matches) and lots of 8mm pellets but I also had a back-up plan which involved lots of corn and a tin of hemp to fish on the deck at 13m and down the edge.
The left hand edge was a no-go as I couldn't get the rig anywhere close to the edge due to collapsed reeds under the surface so I set up 2 rigs at top kit plus 2 down the right margin.
One tight against the vegetation at 3 foot deep and the other a meter off where it was a foot or so deeper.

At the start I gave all the pole lines a generous helping of corn and hemp then went out on the wag after firing out a healthy dose of pellets towards the rope.

Most were doing the same, including Chris Gay on 7 who had a carp on within minutes.

And it didn't take long for my first one either which I suspected was fouled but it turned out to be a fairly hooked common of 14lbs ... not a bad start by any means.
The match started slowly for most and in the first hour I had a smaller carp plus another double that put me well into the running.
Both Alan and Lee had started off on the pole and neither were getting any bites, it seemed the only carp being caught were coming on the wag or shallow on the pole.
I had a quick look round my pole lines and never had a touch on the deep rig while the edge rig was being pestered by small fish.
Back out on the wag and it was still hard work and was made harder as the wind had increased and was pushing back towards our bank.
By halfway bites were still hard to come by and those that I was getting I was missing due to slack forming in the line, a few were walking the bank and the news was that some hadn't caught anything but Degsy Williams was, predictably, doing well on 11 and so too was Luke Pester on 8.
There was a lot of fizzing going on out on my wag line so reluctantly I set up a lead rod and chucked that out.
It did produce one fish and another when I struck at an "iffy" bite that came off almost straight away.
I was getting loads of liners so I swapped back to the wag but with a 10g pike float on instead.
That was an improvement and I managed a couple more fish on this before the end.
My pole lines never produced anything.
Alan did eventually catch a carp but it was the smallest carp in the lake at about 2lbs (he got a bit of stick today bless him)

As expected the match was won by Degsy Williams with 95-12 followed by Luke with 83-4
and Ryan Radford was 3rd with 57-7
My seven fish total went 56-5 which got me the section and (more importantly) all 3 pound coins.
The silvers was won by the gimp with 13-7 and the pairs was won by Ryan and the gimp who had mugged a 14½lb fish on his silvers gear just to enter into the spirit of things.

Full Result:

1. Degsy Williams (11) 95-12
2. Luke Pester (8) 83-4
3. Ryan Radford (19) 57-7
4. Steve Burgess (15) 56-5
5. Chris Gay (7) 53-15
6. Steve Sewell (13) 41-3
7. Rich Jones (12) 39-1
8. John Bradford (10) 27-13
9. Adam Caswell (3) 25-14
10. Lee Tourettes Waller (16) 21-13
11. Mark Radford (6) 19-11
12. Rocket Ron Hardiman (20) 18-0
13. Steve o'Toole (17) 16-3
14. Matt Williams (2) 15-5
15. Will Dearlove (18) 11-9
16. Pete Uzzell (5) 11-3
17. Keith Ray (4) 10-11
18. Ross Sewell (9) 9-15
19. Alan chip shop Healey (14) 9-10 
20. Keith Bilder (1) 6-11

Silvers:1. John Bradford (10) 13-7
2. Luke Pester (8) 12-14

Pairs:Ryan Radford / John Bradford

Viaduct, Campbell, 03 July (17 pegs)

Seems like ages since I last did a blog post or fished a psv match for that matter so I was very much looking forward to this one.

Will had booked us in for an 11-5 match with a 9:30 draw which everyone I spoke to seemed more than happy with, and it meant I had time to enjoy my breakfast at Canards (served by a very pleasant young lady) and had plenty of time to set up all required kit with time to spare which makes a change.

In fact the drive down was that leisurely I got overtaken by some Coffin-Dodgers in a Honda Jazz but I am on 9 points at the moment which is my excuse!

For my sins I drew 119 which I was happy with as there were a lot of fish showing all around the peg as there were next door in Ryan Radford's peg.

Ryan has been doing really well lately so I had a feeling it wasn't going to be an easy ride today. 

I set up a shallow rig for 14m where there were a fair few fish swirling around, a pellet rig for on the deck, an identical rig without a band for meat and a rig to fish as far into the corner as was sensible as it's a bit of a tackle graveyard tight into the corner so I opted for 13m, about 2m off the bank and probably 3m out from the corner.

I also untangled two float rods, 1 shallow and 1 on the deck to fish between the overhanging trees in front of 120 but other than one bite on the deep rod that I missed they were a waste of time.

For some reason I've never done much good with the pellet wag on Campbell, no idea why.
The lead rod stayed in the bag as it was quite calm so there would be no problems for float presentation,

Only trouble with this peg is that you can't see much of what's going on around you which isn't good when you've got 3 pound coins at stake but fortunately Adam was across the other side on 125 so I would have a good idea of who was "emptying it"!

As it turned out most of the "emptying" would be coming from next door but anyways ...

At the all-in I went straight out on the shallow rig and hooked a fish straight away which unfortunately snapped the hooklength .... bugger!
After that slight hiccup a few fish followed, not all of them coming in the right way round but never mind.
After the first hour I was doing ok and ahead of Ryan who had started on the lead without success before switching to a shallow pole rig.
During the second hour he quickly caught me up as I was struggling to keep the bites coming.
I had a go on the deep pellet rig as there was a lot of fizzing but that only produced one fish amongst the liners.
The meat rig got me bites but I never connected with anything?

While I was fishing on the deck there would be fish moving shallow but when I went back on the shallow rig they backed off ... Frustrating!

With a couple of hours to go Ryan's shallow line had also slowed but he was well ahead of me and he was now catching down his left margin.

Rumour has it that Chris Szakacs and Mark Radford on the next 2 pegs down were doing well too.

I had a first look down towards the corner with meat and hooked a fish straight away which trashed the rig.

The rest of the match went well once I got the hang of how much pressure I could put on my pole to haul the fish away from the snags. 

The old Aspire might be a bit on the heavy side but it can take a lot of stick.

The same couldn't be said though for Stevie Wynne's pole.

He was fishing the Capenters Arms match on Cary and his top 3 exploded while playing one of Cary's bigger inhabitants so he decided to put 4 sections across his knee in a fit of rage (as you do)!

By the end I estimated I had near the 100lb mark with Ryan on 150 

The far bank was weighed first and the top weight came from guest Scott Russell on 132 with 106-4 followed by Alan Healey with 105-9, he chucked a 2lb skimmer back to save getting another net which cost him the section but nobody took the piss (honest)!

Matt Williams weighed in 20-7 of silvers from 123 which looked unlikely to be beaten.

My nets went 103-2 and Ryan had 144-5 so my guessing wasn't far off.

Chris Szakacs was painfully close with 142-2 and third place went to Ade Crawley who suprised everybody nearly as much as he suprised himself with 114-12 from peg 112

The unlikely lads ....

Full Result:

1. Ryan Radford (118) 144-5
2. Chris Szakacs (116) 142-2
3. Ade Crawley (112) 114-12
4. Mark Radford (115) 111-3
5. Scott Russell (132) 106-4
6. Alan Healey (130) 105-9
7. Steve Burgess (119) 103-2
8. Lee Williams (110) 100-12
9. Adam Caswell (125) 88-10
10. Steve Sewell (128) 88-2
11. Pete Uzzell (114) 86-6
12. Will Dearlove (111) 65-6
13. Ross Sewell (126) 63-11
14. Matt Powell (129) 55-0
15. Paul Preston (124) 46-0
16. Matt Williams (123) 45-8
17. Lee Waller (127) 39-14

Silvers:

1. Matt Williams (123) 20-7
2. Lee Waller (127) 15-8
3. Chris Szakacs (116) 13-13

Landsend match & lake 3

Today match at the popular landsend had 22 people fish so we decided as opposed to all be cuddling each other on match lake a few would take the walk up to Lake 3, a few groans
But I think we are all happy families again.
16 on match lake and 6 on Lake 3 plus a few day ticket guys who had about 500 rods and more pegs than a clothes line.
Fancied pegs on match went to Matt Taynton on 12, Steve sewell on 13 with rich Jones,  Steve Wynne,  Chris szakacs and new member Keith bilder on 18 to 22. As for me I draw peg 42 again no sign off fish moving but I was hopefully of getting some as was Ryan opposite on 68.
as it turned out both lakes were a bit of a struggle with just odd fishing being caught, I had 23 fish however a lot smaller than usually especially as they were taken shallow fishing across to the island with only 3 fish coming from the inside margin.
Top on Lake 3 was the man on form matt Williams who edged out mark Radford fishing paste in the margins
, surprisingly he only had 15 fish but all of a good stamp for 77lb.
Match lake was a close match between Chris szakacs and Keith bilder on 21 and 22 who both caught across on pellet and then short on meat to finish with 93lb and 106lb with Keith taking the overall winner.
Even the silvers did not play ball today much to the disappointment of Mr Bradford with similar belcham taking the win with 12lb and Matt Taynton 2nd with 11lb.

Winners was Keith bilder off peg 22 with 106lb
2nd peg 21 Chris szakacs 93lb
3rd and Lake 3 winner off peg 58 matt Williams 77lb
Silvers winner site Belcham off peg 3 with 12lb

Sections lake 3 mark Radford 68lb
Lionel leggings peg 16 70lb
Darren north peg 10 with 52lb

Thanks to Adam for doing the weight in, in his all winter bib n brace, fleece and jacket always brings the laughs considering most were wearing tshirts and shorts.

Viaduct Scary Cary June 12th

Today's blog brought to you by your local daiwa fan I'll leave the humour to fellow bloggers.
Only 11 booked in today which was a surprise as this is probably the best fishery in the uk but maybe it's the size of these carp that puts people off, defiantly not an issue for me.
We had Ryan,  Keith and one of our silvers experts on the top bank with Lee waller and Chris szakacs taking the fancied pegs backing onto lodge. As for me peg 80 again, the same as the open the week before when the fish were to far past the end of the spit however today with aerator on there was no sign of fish moving.
The match was slow for us on the Campbell bank with no one getting a take until a few hours in, the fish were coming into heavy feed but not really giving you any positive indications, feeding less or drip feeding didn't work as they just didn't want to settle with the water movement , over on pegs 94 and 96 Lee and Chris were having a fish battle, Chris down into the corner however his fish did look smaller resident fish whilst Lee was catch well fishing shallow.
As it turned out the top bank was the place to draw with a lot of fish showing and bubbling up, the guys caught on the waggle or pole fished at depth with pellet over loose fed pellets.
Winner was Ryan on peg 88 with 134lb courtesy of Keith sharing his platform with the ducks and deciding on a late catch and release programme costing him the win and a place in the winners final later in the year.

Results
Ryan Rafford 134lb
Keith ray 122lb
Matt Williams 114lb
Lee waller 111lb
Chris szakacs 108lb
Will dearlove 83lb
Alan heavy 79lb
Mark Rafford 68lb
Mike Wilson 62lb
Ron hardie an 60lb
Adam caswell 36lb

Silvers winner was Alan heavy just pipping Ron with 16lb.

Boddington accomodation

Accommodation options for Boddington.
Glebe farm, the mill house, little paddock farm, old Manor Farm bnb, there is a travellodge at Silverstone which is a 20 minute drive. All places circa £80  for twin rooms.  I would advise to car share as the car park is limited.

Rood Ashton 23 pegs 5/6/16

Off to deepest Wiltshire today for our once a year visit to the lovely old mature lake that is Rood Ashston, 22 in attendance today which was about the max for this lake and with alittle help Adam Caswell sorted the pegging, monies and payouts were sorted by captain 'birdseye' Burgess and Steve decided on paying the top two and then splitting the lake into three sections paying the top two in each section, also at the draw was the owner who done his usual gesture of offering 50quid out of his own pocket if anyone beat the match record, he did have a wry smile on his face when he announced it and the news was met with a few chuckles including Alan Healy who asked if all our combined weights together would count towards it which was met with stony stare! also apologies for a lack of pictures in this blog as i never expected to be writing it but as Captain 'birdseye' Burgess is in the process of sorting his new trawler home out on the kennet and avon and with a lack of internet i sorta got handed the baton.

Rood is quite an unusual venue as unlike most lakes the main body of water is actually more shallow than the margins! an average depth of a foot and a half with an extra foot of depth in most margins this makes things interesting when you hook an angry carp up the arse end as not being able go down they can only bolt to the side or away which can result in some ass twitching moments holding onto expensive bits of carbon! The owner also informed us the carp had been in full spawning mode the week before that coupled with the bright hot conditions the omens didnt look good for the usual decent returns the club achieve at the venue.

As it happens theres not much to write about really as the match itself turned into a grueller for everyone, odd fish were caught around the lake but no one could string any number together with most people waiting long times between bites.

For my sins i drew peg 16 which is round the back of the second island and is probably one of the narrowest pegs on the lake, a method rod was set up plus two pole rigs one for under the trees ether side and along meat rig for out in front. the first four hours were very slow like most only taking nine small carp on the method chucked as close to the jungle of an island i could get away with, the last two hours were slightly better taking another ten with five of them being of good stamp 4-7lb in my right margin on meat. to my total surprise my weight of 63lb 9oz was enough to win on the day.

Second spot and not far behind was Brian Shanks round on 22 on the back of the lake, Brian caught in fits and starts during the day all on poled pellet rotating several swims weighing 62lb 15oz.

Third spot and section winner was Lee Waller on 17 who after having a blank first four hours and walking the bank several times came good in the last two hours catching on most put ins fishing pellet at 13 metres in front of him.

The other two sections were won by Matt Williams and Adam Caswell respectivly, Adam in particular had his usual total nightmare in peg one losing twice as many as he landed and probably should of won the match easy but at least he kept Alan in the next peg amused during the day!

So a proper hard match for all which is very unusul for the venue but at least everyone enjoyed the sunshine in lovely surrondings.

FULL RESULT

1. Chris Szakacs (16) 63-9...
2. Brian Shanks (21) 62-15
3. Lee Waller (17) 62-4
4. Darren North (19) 42-13
5. Ryan Radford (22) 36-14
6. Matt Williams (13) 36-11
7. Adam Caswell (1) 35-0
8. Rich Britton (11) 31-8
9. Derek Lucas (20) 29-2
10. Rich Jones (14) 26-1
11. Chris Gay (12) 25-8
12. Ron Hardiman (15) 23-10
13. Degsy Williams (4) 21-12
14. Colin Ellaway (6) 21-8
15. Steve Burgess (9) 20-11
16. Steve Sewell (5) 20-0
17. Pete Uzzell (8) 17-12
18. Alan Healey (3) 17-5
19. Mark Radford (10) 7-2
20. Ross Sewell (7) 5-11
and 2 dnw's

Silvers:
Rich Jones 1½ oz

Sedges, Brick Lake, 29 May 2016

We started the day with 20 booked in so a full house however my trusty assistant failed to pass on the update that 2 of our regulars were off sunning themselves, so we ended up with 18. Most people commenting we should leave out the early pegs as those who took a walked around said the fish were doing their business in the reeds.

Most people still wanted the fancied high numbers and with the fishery owner taking pegs 2 and 19 out, the rumours sounded true.

Keith Ray and Lee Waller were the lucky anglers running to their end pegs 10 and 11, myself and Rich Jones drew peg 1 and 20.

Simple tactics today with the sun out, the fish would be up in the water, so a pellet wag, slapper rig and a rig for 3ft deep about a metre from the end bank just pass the reeds to fish double corn.

Starting on the wag I never had a touch  despite fishing moving in the fed area, Rich opposite had a few on the slapper rig, I followed suit but again I could not get a take despite the fish moving around, after 2 hours and no bites it was time to try the corn rig which I had been feeding heavily with corn and groundbait hoping to stop a few fish before they ventured into the reeds.  This change worked well, bites were forthcoming by lifting a dropping the corn I would temp the odd large carp onto the hook and by fishing far enough away from the inside shelf, those fish looking for something other than food didn’t cause too many problem. Regularly feeding large pots of bait kept the fish interested, switching to pellet only brought the float moving all ways but under so the heavy rig and bait was the key with a little bit of movement. (Those interested in the rig, elastics, feeding patterns and my flower shorts will just have to catch me on the bank)

I ended the day with 17 carp in the net, 2 weighted in plus a few that I opted for the catch and release policy on for a total of 184lb, which I was hoping would be enough for 2^nd as Rich Jones on peg 20 was catching on a regular basis.

As it finished it appeared the lake had fished hard due to the spawning fish with most anglers struggling, Lee Waller on 11 throw in the towel early to watch Mr Jones, whilst Keith on 10 lost more than he caught.  Most anglers had around 25 – 35lb with only myself and Rich Jones weighing over 50lb, thankfully my 19 fish were enough to topple Rich's 23 for 1^st place on the day.

Top silvers went to my neighbour Mike Wilson who stuck with it and managed to find a few of the lakes skimmers for a total of 10lb with Chris Gay 2^nd.

We were also running a pairs event today with a member of each pair on each side of the lake, the result would be the team with the lowest points score, thankfully with a match win that was 1 point and my partner Chris Gay managing 3^rd in his section for a total of 4pts, which was enough to take the win from  2^nd place Rich Jones and Keith Ray who managed 6pts

Results:

1^st Will Dearlove Peg 1 = 184lb

2^nd Rich Jones Peg 20 = 146lb

3^rd Mat Taynton Peg 13 = 48lb

Silvers Winner Mike Wilson Peg 3 = 10lb

Full results can be found on our facebook page, this month’s meeting will be on the 7^th June, usual place and time.

Thanks

Will.

Leech pool 8/05/16

Couple of firsts today, first time the club had visited Leech pool and the first time that newly appointed assistant match secretary Adam Caswell was in charge of proceedings....what could possibly go wrong!!

Leech pool is basically a farm pond near melksham backing onto the owners farm house and out buildings, it is also stuffed solid with lots of carp of all sizes but mainly in the 12oz to 2lb range with the odd lump amongst them, you are usually guaranteed plenty of bites and it can turn into abit of a fish race. With that in mind it was abit strange why we could only muster eight anglers turning it into abit of a knock up although with the lake only taking twelve it did give the guys abit of room.

To be fair to Adam he did run everything fine even letting venue expert Chris Gay take care of the pegging and sorted monies and payouts with no fuss, we will see how he gets on with bigger venues with over twenty fishing but hes got off to a good start so all credit to him. Draw wise i dont think anyone was to fussed where they ended up but with the wind blowing strongly into the carpark bank that end did seem very favourable.

Into the drawbag and out popped peg 8 for me which was the bottom corner in alittle bay and end peg next to the farm house.

I had mixed reservations about the peg, having fished the lake before i knew it could throw up a weight but today it was a mill pond with the wind howling up the top end of the lake and what was more alarming was the clarity of the water being able to see the bottom up to four metres out! Pegs one to four had a strong wind blowing into them and were occupied by Alan Healy, Mark Radford, Ryan Radford and Chris Gay repectively and i fully expected these guys to be the ones to beat.

Simple plan of attack today start shallow at 11metres on hard 6mm pellet and just see what happens, after 45mins and only one 6oz carp in the net i was beginning to think id got it badly wrong again. Then the wind strength increased and adding a couple of sections and fishing on the edge of the ripple i started to string a few together although they were the smaller stamp fish 

Elsewhere people were having varying levels of success, Rich Britton next door on peg seven started really well catching three or four on as many put ins but it was short lived as his swim just died a death and never recovered till the last hour, over on six Matt Challenger was catching in fits and starts on the paste and down on four Chris Gay seemed to be getting a few long down to the corner on corn. Alot of the action seemed to be taking place on pegs one and two next to the farm house with Alan and Mark going fish for fish for most of the match, unfortunatly for Alan his peg died in the last hour letting Mark forge ahead.

Over half way through and i decided on a change of tactics to try and increase my catch rate dumping in a big pot of 6mms on my thirteen metre line and fishing on the deck with a banded 8mm on the hook, this had an immediate effect as instead of the 6-12oz fish i was catching shallow i was now catching 2-4lbers it was never fast and furious but nice and steady even managing to snare a lovely ghostie of 7-8lbs and come the end no one was sure who'd won.

lucky for me the bigger stamp fish seem to make a difference enabling me to take first place on the day with 91lb 10oz

second place with his mainly shallow caught fish was Mark Radford with 82lb

followed closely by Alan Healy with 62lb 12oz 

just behind was Matt Challenger with 61lb 14oz, i didnt get a pic of matt as he tipped back before i got the chance but did get one of fifth place and venue expert Chris Gay with his 52lb 4oz

FULL RESULT

1. CHRIS SZAKACS        91LB 10OZ     PEG 8
2. MARK RADFORD       82LB                        2
3. ALAN HEALY              62LB 12OZ             1
4. MATT CHALLENGER 61LB 14OZ             6
5. CHRIS GAY                   52LB 4OZ              4
6. RYAN RADFORD         51LB 12OZ            2
7. RICH BRITTON            32LB 4OZ              7
8. ADAM CASWELL        24LB                      5

Next week the club are back at Harescombe fishery which should be a similar contest lots of bites and a close contest.

Viaduct, Campbell, 01 May (19 pegs)

I have no idea what the results were from the Psv / Frys inter club match at Shiplate last week as I was pissed somewhere in Berlin but the Radfords cleaned up with Ryan winning overall from 15 on Hawthorns and Mark winning Westpool also from 15.

And apparently Frys got their backsides properly kicked so I'm told!

Nineteen of us fishing today, one no-show but it was his birthday and he was probably up to no good on Saturday night so not wholly unexpected.

I won't mention names as that would be unfair ....

Anyway, the Saturday match had been won with 200lbs up in 123 and every peg from 128 down had weighed over 100lbs.

The wind was still blowing up that way so that was the desired area (but it was a Psv match)!

I hung back towards the end of the draw queue, Lee Williams was hanging back also (waiting for 130 to go) and orgsniser Will had the last one which was 132.

Lee got 125 and I got 128 which was the same peg I had last time and I did ok off it then so I was happy.

I think Lee was happy too even if he was hoping for a days silvers fishing.

Talking of silvers, the "Silvers Slayer" (Lee Waller) was not so happy having drawn 123 which is traditionally a "run to" silvers peg but maybe not today.

Payouts today were top 3 overall, 2 silvers and 3 sections. The silvers was mostly likely to be a battle between John Bradford next door on 127, 1-rig Belcham on 112, Mike Wilson on 114 and the 2 Lee's on 123 & 125

Plenty of time to set up today as we had a 10-30 start, much to the disgust of "1-rig" and it was quite ironic really as I had actually done some prep on Saturday night putting new line on reels, setting rods up properly and changing catty elastics so even I was ready in plenty of time.

Adam Caswell  even had time to go for a bath (bless him) ....

I set up the obligatory tip rod, a full depth waggler and 2 pole rigs, one for meat straight out at 14m and a similar rig for off the end of the spit which didn't produce for me last time but it should have and would hopefully be my banker today.

Bait was nothing fancy, 8mn pellet and/or meat for the lead and waggler, meat with wetted 4mm's for the pole lines.

Starting off I dumped hefty pots of pellet / meat on the pole lines and started on the waggler. The presentation wasn't great with the wind blowing right to left and towards me but it mattered little as I wasn't getting any indications anyway.
Unlike Steve Sewell over on 116 who was catching on the tip from the off, as were Ross Sewell and Matt Williams either side of the aerator on 111 & 130 respectively.

After about an hour of thrashing the waggler around and feeding the ducks I finally had a proper bite and landed a carp of about 5lbs. And this was followed by another four that all seemed to be hooked properly but all came off.

I tried altering the depth and stepping up the feed but it wasn't really happening.

Feeding more pellet created a bit more interest but not much in the way of proper bites.

I had a few chucks with a pellet waggler but that was a waste of time as well.

The only consolation was that everyone else down our end were in the same boat  and most of the action was taking place on the opposite side. 

Steve and Ross Sewell were still reeling them in on a regular basis as was Alan Healey on 119 and even the now dried out Adam was catching on 118.

2 hours in and with only 3 or 4 carp to show for it I gave up and chucked the lead out ..... and it went round more or less straight away (bugger)!

But it turned into a similar scenario with lost fish and a few foul-hookers detaching themselves.

With 2 hours to go I reckoned I had about 8 or 9 fish for 50lbs which was way behind Alan and the Sewells (£2 down the drain then) so the rods were abandoned in favour of the pole off the end of the spit.

First put in resulted in a near ten pound fish which was a bit of a trauma to get in with trying to thread the pole through a suitable hole in the otter fence while trying to control mr angry on the other end.

The rest of the match went much better as a few fish had moved in and they were quite a bit bigger than the fish I'd been catching earlier.

I did have one hiccup losing a proper lump when the B911 snapped in half

(that was a first) 

Unfortunately I think I might have overdone it on the feed as the last half hour was a bit frustrating missing loads of bites and having to ship back constantly to put another piece of meat on.

Probably should have fished hard pellet over there but never mind.

I ended up with 92lbs which was the 2nd best weight on our bank after Matt Williams who weighed in 99-2 although Degsy Williams ran me close with 91-9 from 124.

As expected Steve Sewell was well ahead of everyone else with 139-1 all reeled in on the lead with meat.

Alan was second with 106-14  and Ross was third with 104-6 (mostly caught by bouncing a lead off the aerator)

Silvers went to John Bradford with 33-9 of good skimmers and a stray tench caught on worm over caster at 9m

1-rig Belcham (below) was 2nd with 19-3

(well it is Star Wars day)!

Full Result:

1. Steve Sewell (116) .... 139-1

2. Alan Healey (119) ..... 106-14

3. Ross Sewell (111) ..... 104-6

4. Matt Williams (130) .... 99-2

5. Ron Hardiman (114) ... 94-14

6. Steve Burgess (128) .. 92-0

7. Degsy Williams (124) .. 91-9

8. Adam Caswell (118) ... 87-2

9. Mark Radford (136) .... 68-11

10. Will Dearlove (132) ... 68-8

11. Keith Ray (129) ....... 62-15

12. Mike Wilson (113) .... 58-1

13. Brian Shanks (126) ... 51-11

14. Lee Williams (125) .... 48-10

15. John Bradford (127) ... 33-9

16. Simon Belcham (112) .. 19-3

and 2 dnw's including the "Silvers Slayer" (again)

Silvers:

1. John Bradford .... 33-9

2. Simon Belcham .... 19-3

3. Brian Shanks ....... 16-9

4. Lee Williams ....... 10-8

5. Ross Sewell ..... 8-0

    Ron Hardiman ... 8-0

    Mike Wilson ...... 8-0

(the scales were stuck)