Sedges, Brick Lake, 25 April (17 pegs)

Fishing the tip ..... a method enjoyed by numpties and employed in times of desperation in order to avoid a "blank" when all other normal fishing methods have failed to produce.
(see also "fishing the paste")




As always at the much improved Sedges fishery we received a warm welcome from owners Denise and Jamie. With all nets provided and collected from the bank, the weigh-in taken care of and free refreshments before and after matches there's little left to amuse the moaners.
Unfortunately though, the fishing didn't quite match the quality of the reception as the lake appeared to be having an "off" day for some!
The best of the action was to be found at the top of the left hand bank, away from the worst effects of the wind and tow where Simon (disabled when it suits) Belcham on peg 10 fished paste and 4mm pellet at 11m to weigh in 60lbs 13oz and take top spot and a £65 payout.
Next to Simon, in peg 9, and only 4 ounces behind with 60-9 was the ever-consistent Caig Trigger Edmunds.
Trigger fished hard pellet on the deck at between 14 and 16m and also managed one of his better fish on the pellet waggler out towards the centre rope.
Third place went to self-confessed Sedges expert, Darren North on peg 6 with 46-14 followed by Paul Elmes on peg 4 with 36-15.
Paul Reed continued his decent run of form by taking 5th place and the best weight on the right-hand bank with 31-10 from peg 12.The Silvers honours went to Bob Warren with 17-13 of skimmers taken on soft pellet at 12m on peg 2.

Overall Result:

1. Simon Belcham ....... peg 10 ... 60-13
2. Craig Edmunds ......... 9 ......... 60-9
3. Darren North ............ 6 ......... 46-14
4. Paul Elmes ................ 4 ......... 36-15
5. Paul Reed .................. 12 ....... 31-10
6. Adam Caswell ........... 11 ........ 25-6
7. Adam Woodland ....... 8 ........ 24-11
8. Bob Warren ............... 2 ........ 22-13
9. Brian Shanks ............ 15 ........ 19-11
10. Chris Szakacs ........... 16 ........ 17-1
11. Yan* .......................... 18 ........ 8-0
12. Derek Lucas .............. 11 ........ 3-2
13. Alan Healy ................ 5 ......... 2-15
14. Steve Burgess ............ 14 ......... 1-2
15. Ady Crawley .............. 3 ......... dnw
16. Mike Smith ............... 19 ....... dnw
17. Ron Hardiman ......... 17 ........ dnw

Silvers:

1. Bob Warren ........ 17-13
2. Chris Szakacs ...... 13-3
3. Craig Edmunds ... 13-0
4. Brian Shanks ....... 12-8
5. Simon Belcham ... 10-3
6. Adam Woodland .. 4-6
7. Yan ....................... 3-7
8. Alan Healy ........... 2-15
9. Adam Caswell ...... 1-15
10. Paul Elmes ........... 1-14
11. Steve Burgess ....... 1-2
12. Derek Lucas ......... 0-8
    

Sedges & Curry Night

We currently have 18 down to fish at Sedges this Sunday so I won't be taking any more bookings.
If this remains unchanged I will be leaving out the two end pegs nearest the carp park, pegs 1 and 20 (I think!). Payouts will be top 3 overall of £65, £55 and £40 with the top 2 silvers weights at £45 and £30. The golden peg now stands at £80. Draw at 9am and fishing from 10 till 4.
Keepnets and landing net are supplied at Sedges but fish over 10lb must be weighed, recorded and put back.
I have booked up the Curry Night for the next meeting on Tuesday May 4 at Bollywood Spice (as before). The table is booked for 8:30 for 16 people (to be confirmed) so if you're not booked in for the curry and want to stay on please let me know as soon as possible.
Please note that priority for match places will be for members who book in at the monthly meeting.
See you on Sunday!

Viaduct, Campbell, 18 April (20 pegs)

Bright sunshine and still conditions plus a big weight open on Saturday meant the odds were against us for Campbell Match Lake to show it's true potential.
Not so however for folically challenged Avon Angling superstar and part-time porn actor Craig Edmunds. Drawn on peg 116 and sporting the latest psv trend of a dodgy limp (as perfected by Simon Belcham and imitated by Ryan Jordan), Craig fished hard pellet on the deck and shallow at 14 and 16m catching steadily throughout the day to easily win the match with 133lbs 4oz of carp and skimmers. (5lbs fell foul to Viaduct's 80lb per net rule)! Over 30lbs off the pace in second place was new dad Paul Elmes. Paul pegged opposite the winner on peg 125 fished similar methods to Craig to weigh in an all carp total of 99-1 although between the two of them there was another 50lbs of bullshit flying backwards and forwards across the lake in the form of "The Trigger and Beaver show".
At one point Craig was admitting to six carp and when questioned why yards of his elastic had been stretched out for most of the day he put it down to foul-hooked skimmers!

Third place with 96-7 went to Viaduct specialist, Chris Szakacks. Pegged near the top of the Campbell / Cary causeway on 116 and sandwiched between Steve Burgess and Mike Smith, Chris took carp early on the bomb before switching to the waggler but caught most of his fish on the deck at 14m.

Over in the opposite corner, in "silvers heaven" peg 123, Derek Lucas fished between 13 and 16m up the margins with luncheon meat and later with paste to easily win the silvers pool with 40-5 of quality tench and skimmers while topping up his tan at the same time.
Today's entertainment was provided this time by Mark Radford when his tip rod was dragged into the lake, the rod and reel were a Christmas present from his wife but luckily for Mark it was later hooked by Mike Wilson saving him a proper kicking when he got home!
Also by a very red Alan Healy (was that Sunburn, embarrassment or a combination of both) who had to hand over pound coins to Steve Burgess and Paul Reed after his dismal dnw from aereator flier peg 131!
Pictures from www.toppegplus.co.uk
Overall Result:

1. Craig Edmunds .... peg 116 .... 133-4
2. Paul Elmes ................ 125 ..... 99-1
3. Chris Szakacks .......... 118 ..... 96-7
4. Neil Mercer ............... 113 ..... 85-9
5. Stuart Riddle ............ 115 ...... 84-8
6. Adam Caswell ........... 129 ..... 81-15
7. Steve Burgess ........... 119 ...... 80-8
8. Ryan Jordan ............. 128 ..... 77-6
9. Derek Lucas .............. 123 ..... 77-2
10. Simon Belcham ........ 130 ..... 68-12
11. Steve Wynne ............. 126 ..... 64-1
12. Paul Reed .................. 132 ..... 63-6
13. Mark Radford ............ 111 ..... 53-13
14. Mike Wilson .............. 110 ..... 53-3
15. Rich Jones* ............... 124 ..... 43-10
16. Bob Warren ............... 114 ...... 31-4
17. Adam Woodland ....... 127 ..... 28-3
18. Alan Healy .............. 131 ..... dnw
19. Mike Smith ................ 117 ..... dnw
20. Yan ............................. 112 .... dnw

*golden peg

Silvers:

1. Derek Lucas .......... 40-5
2. Craig Edmunds ..... 27-7
3. Bob Warren ........... 23-6
4. Steve Burgess ........ 13-4
5. Ryan Jordan .......... 11-2
6. Adam Caswell ........ 7-5
7. Paul Reed ............... 7-4
8. Stuart Riddle .......... 6-6
9. Mike Wilson ........... 3-8
10. Mark Radford ........ 2-9
11. Chris Szakacks ...... 2-6
    

Hillview, 11 April (12 pegs)

Not a big weight match by any stretch of the imagination but a close result all the same!
It seemed that the carp were not going to settle in any particular area but were happy to cruise just below the surface up and down the matchlength instead. Using this to his advantage Alan Healy fished meat at half depth to the far bank of peg 91 picking off enough fish to take the top spot with 22lbs 4oz.
Second place with 20-9 went to Stuart Riddle on end peg 95. Stuart caught to begin with tight to the far bank reeds on pellet but was suffering from foul-hookers and lost fish before switching to his right hand margin where he managed a late run of carp on paste.
At the other end of lake 4, Bob Warren managed 3rd and the lake 4 section (by default) with 18-7.
Top weight on lake 3 and 4th place went to Derek Lucas with 16-4.

Overall Result:

1. Alan Healy ..... peg 91 ........ 22-4
2. Stuart Riddle .... 95 ........... 20-9
3. Bob Warren ...... 86 .......... 18-7
4. Derek Lucas ...... 79 .......... 16-4
5. Chris Zaks ......... 84 .......... 14-11
6. Stuart Ashton* .. 74 .......... 11-13
7. Yan (Colin) ........ 72 .......... 9-8
8. Steve Burgess .... 70 .......... 9-7
9. Simon Belcham . 88 .......... 9-6
10. Adam Caswell .... 93 .......... 9-5
11. Mark Radford .... 81 .......... 6-15
12. Adam Woodland . 77 ......... 5-9

*golden peg

League Totals (after 5 matches):

1. Alan Healy ....... 72pts .... 176-12
2. Steve Burgess ... 54 ....... 127-13
3. Stuart Riddle .... 53 ....... 133-11
4. Chris Szakacs .... 53 ....... 109-15
5. Bob Warren ....... 46 ...... 146-5
6. Adam Woodland . 42 .... 94-10
7. Adam Caswell .... 40 ...... 103-9
8. Mark Radford .... 38 ...... 163-4
9. Derek Lucas ....... 38 ...... 57-0
10. Neil Mercer ........ 37 ...... 275-3
11. Paul Reed ........... 35 ...... 77-15
12. Steve Wynne ...... 31 ....... 55-3
13. Mike Smith ......... 25 ...... 71-5
14. Rich Jones .......... 22 ...... 63-4
15. Stuart Ashton ..... 21 ...... 20-13
16. Paul Elmes ......... 20 ..... 186-11
17. Simon Belcham .. 19 ..... 43-10
18. Yan (Colin) ......... 17 ...... 20-1
19. Mike Wilson ....... 15 ...... 53-7
20. Craig Edmunds .. 13 ...... 64-9
21. Ryan Jordan ....... 13 ...... 37-8
    

Staunton Court, Pole only, 4 April (14 pegs)

It was suggested by Psv's chairman, Mike Wilson, that I book up for breakfast at Watersmeet Hotel, which turned out to be an excellent start to the day with a top notch full English for £5.50 and just 5 minutes away from Staunton Court. I'm sure it will become a regular feature of future Staunton matches.
A month ago at the last match, the carp had been reluctant to feed and quality skimmers had been the target but this time round was a completely different affair (for some) with most of the carp action coming from the bottom end of the lake and, in particlar, the early pegs on the concrete bank.
Drawn on peg 3, new Dad Paul Elmes fished 6mm pellet shallow, varying his depth, at 13m to weigh in an awesome 186-11 to take the top spot just ahead of his travelling companion, in-form Neil Mercer on peg 2 who fished exactly the same method as Paul to weigh in 25 carp for 177-5.
Just around the corner on peg 14 Mark Radford made good use of a decent draw (for once) and fished paste up to the corner reed bed for 3rd place with 116-2 of quality carp.
Last in the frame was old stalwart Bob Warren on peg 11 who caught skimmers and carp on soft pellet at 12m before switching to his inside line to take some decent sized carp on maggot for a total of 53-7.
Bob has forgotten more about fishing than most of us will ever learn!
This match also saw a welcome return for Simon "limpy" Belcham, who after his oscar winning fall at the Westerleigh Christmas match, has had to endure the last four months off work and a lengthy spell in a knee brace. Still in a lot of pain, the 38 year old (he's had a hard life) computer programmer had to fish the match in his new Korum disabled chair but despite this he still managed 8th place and a creditable 34-4.

Overall Result:

1. Paul Elmes ...... peg 3 ..... 186-11
2. Neil Mercer ....... 2 .......... 177-5
3. Mark Radford ... 14 ......... 116-2
4. Bob Warren ....... 11 ......... 53-7
5. Adam Caswell .... 1 .......... 40-11
6. Stuart Riddle ..... 9 .......... 37-5
7. Chris Zak ........... 13 ......... 34-6
8. Simon Belcham .. 4 ......... 34-4
9. Alan Healy* ........ 5 ......... 25-1
10. Mike Smith ........ 10 ........ 19-8
11. Yan (Colin) ......... 6 ......... 10-9
12. Paul Reed ........... 12 ........ 10-4
13. Mike Wilson ....... 8 ......... 9-9
14. Steve Burgess ..... 7 ......... 6-0

* golden peg