PSV match, Plantation Main Lake 23-03-14

Sunday's match saw me fishing a PSV match on the Main Lake at Plantation Fishery. 

I was looking forward to this as I like the lake, it can be challenging but the rewards are there.

18 of us fishing saw the pegs well spaced,  they can be awkward at times with people facing each other etc.

Anyways at the draw I stuck my hand in towards the end of the queue and out popped peg 32,  an okay peg with an island chuck if I can avoid the trees above and a bay to my left and set behind me.

Arriving at my swim the odd rudd were topping but it didn't look great as the wind was pushing from behind me across to the low number pegs.

 

In front of peg 32, Plantations Main Lake

The margin to the left p32, Plantation Main Lake

Baits were simply 6mm meat,  a few maggots and pinkies left over from last weekend,  some micros,  6mm and 8mm pellets and some expanders. I never had more than a half pint of each pellet and only 1/4pt of the maggots. Some groundbait was mixed for the method feeder.

 

I set up a method rod for close to the island and 3 pole rigs.
The first rig was for the silvers and was an NG Caner float,  0.4g> 0.10 hooklength> b611 size 18. Solid 6/8 elastic completed the set up.
Next I had a margin rig consisting of an NG Margin HD, 0.2g on 0.20> 0.16>b911x size 14. Solid 18/20 was my laccy choice.

Lastly i set a rig up to fish at 13m towards the island.  It was an NG Power Pencil in 0.5g. Line and elastic was the same as the margin rig, I never had a bit on this rig so no more on that!!

 

On the whistle I cupped in some micros and a few maggots at 13m at the 11th clock line.  Some meat went in at the same distance toward the island,  I never had a bite here other than some trailing line,  so no more on that.
Lastly I cupped some wet 6's and meat down the edge to my left.

I started on the method feeder to the island but an hour of boredom set in and the rod was laid to rest for 5hrs.
Around me I could see the angler next door in peg 31 landing a few roach and odd better skimmer.  Also peg 28 had caught one or two carp and Mark Radford on peg 19 at the top end of the lake had began ok. But that is about it from what I could see.

 

The next hour or so saw me trying the pole lines,  I even tried a short line for some roach,  but all I could muster was 4 rudd and a roach.
By 1pm I decided to get the waggler rod out as a few good people were getting odd fish on pellet shallow, this was set up with a loaded Preston dura wag and I attached a size 18 b911 to a 0.14 hooklength and a banded 6mm or 8mm pellet would be the hook bait. 
I had a problem in that I had plenty of ducks in the swim and they were mopping up the loose fed pellet and generally being a nuisance.
Anyways I could Brian Shanks down on p28 doing ok on the pellet wag so i gave it a go.  Casting was awkward with the trees above and side wind but I soon got the hang of it and caught a couple carp.

 

By now it was around 2:20 and I was happy the edge swim which I had been feeding would give a fish or two, in a previous match I had two mid doubles in the last 30 minutes by fishing the same edge but from p33.
I checked with Si on peg 31 as to what time we finish, 4pm was the reply.

I only wanted to give the edge 30-40 minutes so I kept on the wag for another hour. It was still difficult to get regular bites as there was a duck sitting where I could get bites, only when it left an I could get into the gap was I expecting an immediate response.
I had also switched to feeding and fishing with an 8mm pellet, all i had dampened to get them to sink quicker. This helped as i had another 3 or 4 carp to 4lb, though I had to cast into a little spot in some reeds to get bites. I was pulling out of a few as the combination of dodgy mouths, iffy bites and the fact I couldn't let them have line didn't help.

 

Meanwhile over on peg 1, Steve Burgess had landed a few carp in the tip from what I could see and the lad in about peg 4 was also picking up odd carp on the pellet wag. Peg 38 (Darren North) was also getting bites from his margin. Brian Shanks had slowed down on p28.

By now it was 3:30 and I decided to look down the edge as the wag had died.  At this point i had maybe 20lb in the net.

My first look down the edge with meat saw me miss a bite but the second saw me connect with a carp and the 6lb fish was soon netted.  Next drop saw a similar result.  Third drop gave me a slightly bigger fish of maybe 8lb. A forth fish soon followed before my last one was around 10lb. I only fed 2 cubes of meat with each drop, nothing else.

So five carp in the last half hour more than doubled my previous 5 and a half hour's efforts.

 

The all out was called but I was sure I had around 40 to 50lb, from those around me I suspected that peg 28 had done well but other than that I knew I had done ok.

I loaded the trolley and put the kit in the car.
Catching up with the scales saw Steve on peg one have 30lb+ then we saw Ryan Radford put 73lb on the board from peg 11 but he doesn't do the pools, he caught well down the margin using corn/meat combo. Following on there was a 57lb weight from Mark Radford(p19) and a 15lb silvers net from peg 24. We soon got to Brian on p28 and he weighed in 62lb+. He had plenty of carp but no real brutes.
Si on p31 saw his silvers weigh 13lb.

Next up was me. My few silvers weighed ounces before my two weighs took my total to just over 66lb. It looked like I had come second on the lake but won the pools as Ryan doesn't enter them. 

 

A chat with a few of the guys showed that meat was the best bait for the carp and I am surprised I never had any on it on the long pole line. But with the weather all over the place it's hard to find any rhythm.

Results.(PSV's blog page may have the full results)

1st- Ryan Radford, 73lb - p11

2nd- Lee Williams, 66lb 8oz - p32

3rd- Brian Shanks, 62lb 2oz - p28

 

Sections.

Steve Burgess (p1), Mark Radford (p19), Darren North (p38)

 

Silvers.

Chris Davis, 15lb 10oz - p24

 

Overall I enjoyed the match and the confidence I had for my late run of fish in the edge definitely helped me, I had at least 35 to 40lb from those half dozen carp. There was a couple things I do regarding my feeding down the edges, but I think I will keep it under my hat for the time being.

 

What I will mention is the amount of snags/debris in the water, some guys were pulling branches out even on the 5m pole line. Also I hooked at least 5 lots of line being trailed by fish, which I found frustrating at the least.

However I am definitely looking forward to fishing more matches with PSV.

 

Next up for me is a week at White Acres for the first time as myself and James Withers take on the Dynamite Baits Festival. Then the Saturday we head home, we have an early departure from White Acres as I have a Fishomania qualifier at Viaduct......

 

Until next time,  take care.
Lee

Avalon Teams of 3 , final round, 16-03-14

Last Sunday was the last round of the Avalon Teams of 3 and with the top 2 teams pretty much securing their winnings, it was the match-day prizes that were up for grabs.
With the weather looking to be less windy, and any wind coming from the opposite direction to what it has been all winter, results and favoured pegs may be different, but again it'd depend on who drew where.

I had commented to my team mate, Paul, that I would like peg 23 or 24, he replied James could have peg 10 and he'd be stuck on peg 40 again...!! I really thought that one of the far end corners would be the peg to be.
Alas on the morning of the match I had let Paul do the draw, he drew 24, 40 and 10....bonus. But he'd put James on the top of the name sheet meaning that I would be on the same peg as the previous round, peg 10. Paul would be on p40 and James up in the corner that is peg 24.

After heading to the series' worst peg (or nearly worst), I waddled off to my home for the next 5 hours or so. I wasn't in the mood to fish the 'tip, surprisingly, lol, so I never bothered setting one up.
I did set up a waggler with banded pellet in mind, but nothing happened on that, 1 bit and a lost set-up which became entangled in an unseen reed.
I also set up 3 pole rigs, 1 for carp for down to my left and right in the margins, 1 rig for skimmers/roach at 14.5m slightly left and another rig to be fished in the direction of the point of the island with meat the chosen bait.

Peg 10, Avalon Fishery

This will be a short write up, my match basically consisted on trying everything I could (except the 'tip). I had a couple of early roach as Dave Allen to my left landed a carp on the feeder.
The 3rd to 4th hour gave me a couple skimmers, one over the groundbait at 14.5m line, this one was around 1.5lb, the second gave me a proper bit over the long meat line, I had hoped it'd be that carp that everyone needed, but it wasn't!!
The last hour gave me a couple more roach and a look down to my right hand margin actually saw me hook and land a carp of around 4lb. I also managed to hook, but lose, another carp down to my right and that was it for me.
All the while in peg 11, Dave Allen had bagged around 8 proper skimmers and he'd done well, he did lose a couple too, but looked to have a decent net of silvers, around 10lb maybe. The angler on my left had maybe 4 skimmers and his weight would be similar to mine.

As I packed up rather quickly, I had heard James had bagged a good few fish from his peg and looked like a contender for the match. Paul on the other hand, had done his usual peg 40 job, 1 carp and a few little silvers.
At the scales, my carp weighed around 4lb and my silvers topped my total to 8lb 4oz. Mid-way in section I guessed.
Dave had weighed over 11lb of silvers and looked to have won that pot.
I loaded the car and took a walk to the far side, rumour was James had nearly 50lb and unless somebody had hid a couple carp, he'd won the match.

The presentation and results saw Dave Allen win the silvers, James won overall with 47lb+ from the peg I thought I'd have, lol, but fair play to him he had to catch them.
Weston won the match on the day, Jon Page coming 2nd, I think, from peg 13, a peg I had warned him was full of snags, and that I'd had a couple sets of elastic break there earlier in the season, alas he did hook the snag (strong line, leads, feeders etc, attached to the fallen tree on the island) a couple times, breaking at least one set of elastic.

In the series, Sedges won overall, pretty much dominating from the 1st round, Fish and Field were a good second. My team came 6th and I am pleased enough with that given the lack of recent match fishing practice by James and Paul. But we all had a pick up or 2 in the series so we were quite happy.
Keith Clapp won the knock out and the individual prizes to boost the Sedges prize fund.
So well done to all that fished and congrats to Sedges and Keith Clapp.

Vic is taking bookings for next years Teams of 3, limited to 12 sides, to book in contact him on 07977 210078.

It was an enjoyable series, if not a little peggy, but that's cool water fishing and it was good to meet a few guys I've not met before along with some familiar faces.

Next up for me is a match on Plantations Main Lake tomorrow, 23rd March. This is a PSV match and should be good......but again it looks windy, I wish it'd do one!!

After that I have my 1st ever White Acres festival from the 31st March, I am travelling with James Withers, it is his 1st fest as well, so it'll be interesting. I also have the Viaduct Fishomania qualifier on the day we leave Newquay, so an early start there and a very good draw will do me!!

Until next time, take care.

Lee

Pawlett match - Bridgwater/Taunton canal 9-3-14

Sunday saw 22 of us fishing on the Bridgwater and Taunton canal. The section used was the Wide Waters section back towards the Boat and Anchor pub. The weather was due to be a little better than recently wuth lots of sunshine and rather mild if not breezy.

 

It has been years since I have fished the canal in a match,  maybe 15+ yrs. But having seen recent catches and some very decent bags of tench, with weights to over 60lb. Thw odd big bream an plenty of roach and rudd to over 1lb have been caught to.

 

Leading up to the match I had been prepping for the white acres dynamite baits festival. I had to knock up 3 rigs. I almost nearly went with none made that'd be suitable.

 

Anyways, at the draw the hands attacked the tub with my mitt pulling golden peg 6.
This was 2/3rds of the way along the houses in the wides. A nice area worth some fish.
As I wandered along to my peg I commented that peg 21 or  22 would win as it looked fishy and has always given up tench. Chris Ware (giffy) and Colin Haggett were on those pegs.

Once at my peg a couple of the house owners came out to tell us that we are not to fish there.  But after a bit of conversation the 7 of us in front of the houses stayed put but kept our kit away from the track which vehicles use. Well 6 of us did....The seventh had a section of his pole run over.....should have put his kit tidy!

 

My peg looking up Wide Waters

My peg in front.

 

I set up 3 pole rigs, one was a 0.3g silverfish rig with 0.08 hooklength and a B511 size 20 hook. This would be for the roach/rudd short and just off bottom.

The 2nd rig was a rig for tench/bream to be fished at 13m, I would have gone longer but the towpath was busy and I had a wall/hedge/garden about 3m behind me, it's also near impossible to sideways ship due to foliage in the water and on the bank. Hooklength was 0.14 and attached was a size 16 B611 hook.

Lastly I set up a 0.2g rig for close in to my right, more in hope than anything, this was for perch and tench in mind, hooklength and hook was 0.14>b611 size 16.

I also set up a waggler with a couple no.10 shot down the  line.

For bait I had 1pt hemp, 1pt caster, 1/2 pinkie and 1/2 maggot. I also mixed some groundbait.

 

On the whistle I fed positively as the water was a decent colour, it had been really coloured after the floods, but it had cleared to a nice colour. 6 Satsuma size balls of gb were cupped at 13m in front and slightly left. I also cupped some hemp/caster down the edge to my right at topkit+2.

Lastly I catapulted a few maggots and caster across towards the far side.

 

I started on the waggler and had to wait 20 mins for my 1st fish, a 2oz rudd, then followed a roach of similar size. That was it for me for an hour or so.......Kev crouch to my left had a couple tench on the feeder (I didn't/wouldn't set one up...I never even had a rod with me). The angler to my right had a handful of small silvers and that's all I could see.

However news came down that Giffy had landed 11 or so tench in the first 90 mins and fed 1.2kg worm and 1pt of caster. So the match looked over already, lol.

There were also a few guys with 1 tench, but they were around 10 pegs up and beyond. The lowere pegs in the wides were struggling, but Vic Bush on peg 10(?) had cupped in some worm/caster and went for a walk. He came back and had a tinca right away!! Good angling.

 

The 3rd to 4th hour saw me get 2 bites on the pole, both were from 2oz roach, but I really was struggling, a couple guys had packed up some kit and were likely to be gone by 2:30 (fishing was 10:30-16:30). Another few casts on the waggler saw a run of roach and rudd to 8oz and I guess that I had 3lb+ in the net. But Kev Crouch was on 4 tench and a big bream by 3pm, Vic was upto 6 or so tench and Giffy was on 18 or so green fish.

 

At 3pm, with the sun being an arse and other anglers leaving, I decided to slowly pack up, I couldn't see my float whatever colour tip I used and the roach hadn't shown. So by 3:30 my barrow was loaded and I wandered up to Giffy to see how he was doing. He was on 20 tench with the best part of an hour to go and was aching from fishing 16m in the strongish breeze we had, but fair play he caught the fish early. On walking and talking to the other guys it seemed like the results were sorted, but sections could be anyones as a lot of them had a single tench and the odd rudd or roach.

So my estimate 3.5lb net of small fish was actually a decent catch.

 

I don't know the full result but have since found out that Giffy's tench and rudd went around 66lb, a very good canal weight, I would guess Vic Bush came second and possibly Kev Crouch 3rd, but cant be sure.

 

Overall it was a tricky day for the first 7 pegs (only 2 weighed in I believe) and from p8 to 22 the tench had showed with most catching 1 and a couple guys netting a decent bag.

I will be back on the canal as I like the place, it's a shame the winter leagues are not run on there and it is underfished and can give good fishing (you only need read Russell Hilton's blog to see that).

 

Next up for me is the last round of the Avalon teams of 3, this coming sunday......oh it looks dry, but again windy!!

 

Take care

 

Lee

 

Clevedon Club Match, Trinity Woodlands, 02/03/14

Sunday's match at the popular Trinity Woodlands lake was one I was looking forward to fishing.
But as is the current trend, fish are tending to be feeding better in some areas than others and to do well a tidy match needs to be fish alongside a decent draw.

The weather for the day was forecast to be windy, though not at windy as it was predicted by the mid-week predictions. The wind, coupled with some light rain/drizzle was seen as the bulk of the conditions, but a weather front was due around 3pm, this was to bring heavy rain....

Anyways there were 16 of us on the sheet to fish and I guess most of us wanted a peg on the near side rather than the far side platforms which would have the weather pushing in and across them.
Into the hat went the pegs, I held out before my draw, but after around 8 or 9 guys had drawn I found peg 11 in my palm, a peg on the far bank (not great!) but not a bad peg really and I was confident of a few fish.

Peg 11, Trinity Woodlands

I made my way to my peg chatting with the odd guy as I went, I had to my left an older fellow whom I didn't get his name and another chap who I recognised but don't know his name (sorry!!). I passed Brian Slipper on about peg 7 and Phil Deacon in the peg to his left. Opposite me I had Rob Fogg and Titch Williams.....I could see pretty much most of the lake which would help me gauge how I was doing.
I set up the customary lead/feeder rod for banded pellet. I also set up a 3 rigs for the pole.
The 1st was for the hoped for skimmers, which can run to 'proper bream' size. This was a Nick Gilbert pattern, a 0.6g caner model on 0.14>0.10>size 20 B611x. This could be fished at 6m right the way out to 13m, but with the wind I was going to focus on the 6m line straight in front.
2 NG Decker XT's were also made up, one for a 6m line at the 10 o'clock direction, the second was for 6m to my left next to the empty pallet of peg 12.
Both were 0.6g models as depths were similar, 0.18>0.14>size 16 B911.

Bait for the day was 6mm meat, wetted micros and 4mm pellets and some pinkies and maggots, I also mixed up some groundbait. Some 8mm, 6mm and brightly coloured pellets were on the tray for the lead/feeder rod..

On the whistle I cupped in 4 Satsuma sized balls of groundbait on the 6m line and 2 on the 13m lines. Some wet micros, 4mm pellets and a few 6mm cubes of meat were deposited both near the empty pallet and also in the 10 o'clock direction.
I chucked a small feeder out with wetted micros in at just under halfway across the lake, I started on a banded 6mm pellet as hookbait.
After an hour of much changing I had noted that Adie Baker on the opposite bank had landed a few decent skimmers and the odd carp, Nick Harvey up on peg 16(?) had got off to a flying start. Rob Fogg, opposite me, had also landed a carp on what looked to be the method feeder.
Further down the lake, Phil Deacon had landed a couple fish, but I could not see if they were carp or skimmers. Brian Slipper was putting a nice bag together by fishing long.

At around 11pm I came onto the pole line at 6m for the skimmers over groundbait, but a biteless 20 minutes saw me try the 13m line, which was difficult as the wind was not helpful. This never gave me a bite, so I came back short and it was a good choice as I bumped a fish then landed a decent skimmer which hardly moved the float, but around 2.5lb it was a bonus. The angler to my right had a carp at this time to. Adie was bagging as was Brian Slipper. Everyone else was now scratching around with only the odd fish here and there.
At just before 12 I had a look down towards the empty pallet and the float immediately went under and I pulled into a carp, a 3lb fish was soon netted. This proved to be a false dawn as despite my trying and rotating my lines it wasn't until around 1pm that I had another bite, this saw a small roach netted from the 6m silvers line. A few minutes after that I hooked another carp from the pallet swim, another carp of maybe 2lb was put into the keepnet. This was followed by another bite and a better carp was hooked, and given the depth of the lake it took a while to surface. But after 10 minutes it came to the surface, I did wonder if I could get it in my net, it was easily a 15lb fish.

Now I had hoped that the 2 fish in quick succession would lead to a run of fish, it didn't.
The weather was not great either and the guy on peg 12 had lost his bait tubs in the wind several times and Mark Walsh on the opposite bank had his umbrella take off and mess up his peg....Everyone was rather wet to boot!!
Adie Baker and Brian Slipper had been catching for most of the match by this point, but Kev Perry (also with the wind off his back) had started to catch well, mostly skimmers with the odd carp thrown in.  Phil Deacon had been taking odd carp as had the angler on peg 4. Still I had more than those immediately around me and maybe more than Rob and Titch opposite me, but I couldn't be sure.

I had to wait until 2:30 for my next fish, my 4th carp was from the pallet swim and was around 4lb.
3:15 came and the rain began to get heavier, and by 4pm it was properly p*ssing down and the wind had got up. The all out sounded and I think everyone was pleased to be packing up.
The last 90 minutes was a struggle for most, I only had 1 bite which I missed, but Adie continued to catch and the angler on p12 had strung a few silvers together. Brian Slipper had kept catching and it looked between him and Adie for the win with Nick Harvey's flying start putting him in contention from what I could see throughout the day. Kev Perry's late surge of skimmers had given him chance in the silvers, but it was hard to tell really as with light elastics even skimmers can pull a bit.

I packed my gear away and took the rod bags back to the car. I was rather wet.
I caught up with the scales at Brian's peg and by now the sheet was properly trashed and we had to remember our weights, lol.
Brian's ample bag of fish went 61lb, of which the best part of 58lb was carp.
Phil Deacon weighed around 33lb and then it was my turn.
My 1 skimmer and baby roach went 3lb dead. My 4 carp were worth 26lb, over half of which was one fish!! So 29lb was my weight.
The next couple of guys weighed in, the angler on p12 had around 6lb of silvers, before we got to Nick Harvey, his catch was 40lb 10oz. Next up was Mark Bromsgrove (p19 or 20?), he had 7lb 12oz of silvers to take the silvers lead, he also had a couple carp.
The long bank was weighed and Mark Walsh DNW'd before we got to Adie, his mixed net of carp and skimmers went 85lb 4oz to take the lead.
At that point I decided to load my kit into the car and head home as the weather was atrocious.
My net was in amongst several catches between 23lb and 33lb. It was a tough day, but I did enjoy it up until the heavy rain arrived. But I don't think there was much more I could have done really, I bumped 3 fish, but they could have been roach or skimmers perhaps. I also missed 3 bites, but that happens.

Results:
1st Adie Baker, 85lb 4oz
2nd Brian Slipper, 61lb
3rd Nick Harvey, 40lb 10oz

Silvers:
1st Kev Perry, 22lb
2nd Mark Bromsgrove, 7lb 12oz.

Next up for me is a match on the Bridgwater/Taunton canal at Wide Waters, hoping for the tench to feed, although it would have been nice if it was clearer and we could fish the punch on the whip.....ah well.

Before that I will, hopefully, prepping my kit in the build up for my 1st White Acres festival at the end of the month.......... I will also be hoping for a run of sundays with decent weather conditions, my lounge resembles a tackle store at the minute with kit everywhere drying out!!

Until next time, take care
Lee