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

Rood Ashton, 28 March 2010 (16 pegs)

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As there was a "no show" after the lake had been pegged out it was decided that rather than endure the hassle of choosing a peg to take out it would be easier to carry on with the draw and leave the spare peg in the bag. Unfortunately however, sod's law intervened and the spare peg turned out to be peg 17, the last peg on the back bank and the best peg on the lake!
In hindsight it would probably have been better to have taken peg 8 (blanker's corner) out of the draw but we live and learn. Without resorting to naming and shaming, let's say that "The Worminator" owes his mate, Yan a big drink as the flying Dutchman never had a bite for six hours and I hope the offending article blanked at Golden Valley!
In future it would be nice if members that have booked in would let me know if they can't make a match, preferably sometime before the draw. [rant over]

Top spot on the day went to the highly talented Neil Mercer on peg 4.
Neil (fishing without his silly hat) fished at 12m into open water with pellet and weighed in an impressive 97-14. On the other side of the lake at peg 15, and sporting a healthy tan from his recent holday in Tenerife, Bob Warren fished paste at 11m to take second place with 74-7 while around the corner on peg 12, Stu Riddle made his mark fishing hair-rigged corn on the method feeder to take third position with 66-14.
Close behind, pheasant beater Alan Healy on flier peg 6 boosted his collection of pound coins by weighing in 64-15 on soft pellet just "ouncing out" Craig "trigger" Edmunds' pellet-caught 64-9 from peg 9.

Just out of the money was everyone's favourite carpet fitter and Psv's number 1 scalesman, Adam Woodland who could only manage 58-8 from the awesome peg 1!
In the league standings, match secretary Steve Burgess could only manage to scrape a meagre 15-8 from an absolutely dire craphole of a peg resulting in his nemesis, Alan Healy edging him out of the top spot by 3 points.
No doubt that will change next week as Alan is crap at Staunton Court apart from the one time last year when every fish in the lake was queued up in front of him and he managed to flook out 224lbs
Meanwhile, Adam Woodland climbs up to third spot ahead of Stevie Wynne and Chris Zaks while Paul "The Reedinator" Reed (somehow) sneaks into fifth place.

Overall Result:

1. Neil Mercer ...... peg 4 ..... 97-14
2. Bob Warren ............ 15 ........ 74-7
3. Stuart Riddle .......... 12 ........ 66-14
4. Alan Healy .............. 6 ......... 64-15
5. Craig Edmunds ....... 9 ......... 64-9
6. Adam Woodland ..... 1 .......... 58-8
7. Rich Jones .............. 13 ........ 52-3
8. Mike Wilson ........... 3 .......... 43-14
9. Adam Caswell ......... 16 ........ 43-0
10. Mark Radford ......... 14 ........ 32-3
11. Paul Reed ............... 5 .......... 23-2
12. Steve Wynne .......... 7 ........... 21-4
13. Mike Smith ............ 2 ........... 19-4
14. Derek Lucas* ......... 11 .......... 19-3
15. Steve Burgess ............ 10 ......... 15-8
16. Yan / Jan / Colin ...... DNW

*golden peg

Cider Farm, 14 March 2010 (11 pegs)

Courtesy of Wikipedia:

Dabinett is a variety of apple, customarily used in Somerset for making cider. It bears green-yellow fruit with a distinctive bittersweet flavour, and is probably related to the Chisel Jersey apple. A number of cider manufacturers produce ciders made solely or primarily with Dabinett apples, including Thatchers and Sheppy's.

(Not a lot of people know that!!!)

PSV Match Secretary, Steve Burgess, was determined to improve upon his last visit to Dabinett back in July of last year when after taking a break from his holiday in Devon to fish the match, he drew peg 8 only to receive a complete battering from Craig Edmunds off the next peg and finish last with a dismal 6lbs 8oz (Trigger won the match with 65-10)! So, when the last peg in the bag was peg 21 and the golden peg, the pressure was on. Fortunately though, for Steve "pressure" is just a word beginning with "p".

Steve fished two lines, both kicked off with a small pot of damp micros and a few red maggots. One line at 14.5m straight out in open water and the other in the shallow water at 13m on the point of the reeds. On the "all-in" Steve was into a carp first put-in on the 14.5m line with double red maggot. Also quick off the mark was Alan Healy across on peg 6, again using maggot and micro pellet as well as Paul (The Reedinator) Reed on peg 7, who had chosen (oddly) to fish luncheon meat on the hook. Adam Caswell on peg 6 also started well but things soon returned to normal for him and a walk round the bank to skyline a few pegs was soon in order!

Meanwhile Steve Burgess was steadily catching carp to 4lbs alternating between maggot and 4.5mm soft pellet until a run of skimmers prompted a switch to the shallow swim. After taking a few small carp from the reeds on maggot, one particularly hyper fish chose to launch itself through the air and into the middle of the reeds, smashing his rig in the process. Swapping back to the open water line produced a couple more carp then more of the dreaded skimmers so a new shallow rig was made up and Steve managed to continue catching from the shallow line up to the end of the match.

Alan Healy had been matching Steve's catch rate for most of the match but had lost a lot of foul-hooked fish, Paul Reed reckoned Alan had hooked 150lbs of fish but, as they say, the only ones that count are the ones in the net! The bank-walking rumour mill (Adam Caswell and Mark Radford) were saying that Chris Zak on peg 16 had at least 30 carp, caught on paste and Ryan Jordan on peg 29 had also done well along with new member and CFL regular Mike Smith. However, Steve sealed a comfortable win and also secured the £22 golden peg putting over 77lbs onto the scales followed by Alan with 53-5 and Chris with 43-4.

Overall Result:

1. Steve Burgess* .. peg 21 ... 77-6
2. Alan Healy .......... 6 .......... 53-5
3. Chris Szakacs ...... 16 ........ 43-4
4. Paul Reed ............ 7 .......... 38-15
5. Ryan Jordan ........ 29 ....... 37-8
6. Mike Smith .......... 19 ....... 32-9
7. Adam Woodland .. 25 ...... 16-10
8. Steve Wynne ......... 12 ...... 15-6
   
9. Stuart Ashton ........ 20 ..... 9-0
10. Adam Caswell ....... 8 ...... DNW
11. Mark Radford ....... 17 ..... DNW

* golden peg


Year Totals (after 2 matches):

1. Steve Burgess ... 37pts ... 96-14
2. Alan Healy ............ 29 ........ 64-8
3. Chris Szakacs ........ 29 ....... 60-14
4. Steve Wynne ......... 25 ....... 33-15
5. Adam Woodland ... 24 ....... 30-9
6. Paul Reed .............. 21 ........ 44-9
7. Derek Lucas .......... 20 ........ 21-9
8. Ryan Jordan ......... 13 ......... 37-8
9. Mike Smith ........... 12 ......... 32-9
10. Rich Jones ............ 11 ......... 11-1
11. Adam Caswell ....... 10 ........ 10-9
12. Stuart Ashton ....... 9 .......... 9-0
13. Stuart Riddle ........ 9 .......... 8-15
14. Mark Radford ....... 8 ......... 8-0
    

Staunton Court, Pole only, 7 March (11 pegs)

Despite a hard overnight frost and temperatures down to -5, fortunately the lake was free of ice but it was unlikely that the Staunton carp would be on the feed so the main target for the day was the lake's neglected population of skimmers.
The carp still had an influence on the final outcome though, as four out of the top six weights included a bonus fish.
Fair-weather angler Rich Jones, pegged on the concrete at the start of the metal pilings, had a good start with a bonus carp early into the match but his neighbour in the corner peg, former Spitfire pilot and serial fish-avoider, Derek Lucas was the man to beat.
After snaring a good sized carp in the tail early on Derek went on to capitalize with a run of good sized skimmers on soft pellet over micros at 14m.
Derek said after the match: "I started on maggot (donated by Rich Jones) but was getting only small stuff until changing to soft pellet (donated by Steve Burgess) which sorted out the decent skimmers"
Steve Burgess, pegged on the bottom bank with the icy wind in his face fished two lines at 13m, one fed with groundbait and the other with 3mm pellet. Fishing double red maggot and alternating between the two lines, Steve caught at a steady pace from start to finish and included a near 8lb foul-hooked carp in his 19lbs 8oz total.
Most of his fish which included some good skimmers up to the 2lb mark were caught over the pellet feed.
This meant that Steve was able to claw back a pound coin off the Knowle West pheasant beater bringing the 2010 score back to a more bearable 3-2 to Alan.
With Steve and Derek van sharing it was rumoured that Curry Kings would be getting a good seeing-to later on!
Third spot went to Southmead veteran Stevie Wynne with an impressive all-skimmer net of 18lbs 9oz caught on maggot over micro pellet feed. Steve could easily have won the match had he landed the "proper" bream that managed to snap his power kit before making it's getaway.
It is rumoured that Stevie Wynne's pole now contains more gaffer tape than carbon!
The final frame place went to silvers specialist Chris Zak pegged next to the wooden pontoon with a total of 17lbs 10oz. Chris started on the chopped worm but struggled until switching to his long line where he fished soft pellet over micro and was able to put together a good run of skimmers until, unfortunately, a lost carp unsettled his peg and left him virtually biteless for over an hour.
And on a final note, matchwinner Derek Lucas never managed to turn up for work on Monday so it seems his new found success got the better of him (or the Natch did)!


Overall Results:

1. Derek Lucas ..... peg 5 ..... 21-9
2. Steve Burgess ........ 11 ..... 19-8
3. Steve Wynne .......... 8 ...... 18-9
4. Chris Zak ............... 1 ....... 17-10
5. Adam Woodland* . 10 ..... 13-15
6. Alan Healy ............. 6 ...... 11-3
7. Rich Jones ............. 4 ...... 11-1
8. Adam Caswell ........ 9 ...... 10-9
9. Stuart Riddle ......... 3 ....... 8-15
10. Mark Radford ........ 7 ....... 8-0
11. Paul Reed ............... 2 ....... 5-10

*golden peg