Avalon teams of three, Round 4. 27/12/15

First off I just wish to say I hope you all had a great Xmas and over indulged.
I also want to thank all those who have helped me out in 2015 and I appreciate all those who read my blogs this year.

Right back to today's match and it was round 4 of the Teams of three event.
I arrived in loads of time to find that Team Mosella had done their draw and had plucked a nice set of pegs. 37 for Pete Wild.  24 for Tom Magnall and Vic was on peg 11.
The weather was due to start drizzly and dry out but winds would be strengthening until 3pm or thereabouts.

My team had a substitute for the day in the form of Derek Beard as Steve was ill.
We had the last pic of pegs, well it wasn't a choice but the order in which we put in sections. We had pegs 13, 27 and 39. Not the best as generally the right hand bank has been patchier than the pegs 1 to 23.
Eric had 27. I had 39 and Derek on 13. On paper my peg was ok but the trend with the pegs near the boards/gaps is that one end of them fishes while the other end struggles.

I got to my peg to find I had Pete Wild on p37. Mark Sweeting on 35. Jamie Cook on peg 32, Rich Coles on p30 all in my section. Rather tough methinks.

Avalon p39 rhs

Avalon peg 39

Avalon p39 lhs

I sorted the usual rigs and bait.
A feeder. A pellet wag. 2 silvers rigs (topkit & 13m skimmers).
2 rigs for carp (just off empty P40 and 9m at 11o'c direction ).

There were plenty of fish moving until 9:45 when they vanished......but most expected some ok fishing.
At the all in I potted in some gb at 13m and some maggots and meat in my 2 carpy spots.
Starting on the feeder and I had a carp of 3lb within 5 minutes and it got me off the mark......and that was it for 3hrs.
Not a bite. Nothing.

At around 1pm I did snare a pike, which I thought may have been a ghostie as it was pale and fought well. But I got all 11lb or so of it in, unhooked it and let it go. That's 3 pike I have caught this series.  I now have a reputation.....haha.

Elsewhere Pete was flying along as was Keith Clapp on peg 6. I also could see Jamie doing ok.
Rumour also came along that Tom was doing well but Eric was bagging.
Mark Sweeting was struggling as were Vic,  Derek, Mike West and one or 2 others.
I just wanted a couple more carp or while bunch of skimmers to come along as my wag, feeder and topkit lines were dire and only 2 roach and 2 minnows were had.
At least I wasn't suffering the same fate as Vic who'd lost a good few items if tackle.  Pete broke a rod but got the fish in, he also lost a couple items of tackle. Me I just lost one was to the only bit of overhang I could reach.

I managed to bump a skimmer on the pole before a 3lber was netted. That was the last action on the long pole line.

With half an hour to go I had 3lb of silvers and 1 carp.
So I put some bait down by peg 40 before putting the feeder back out and snared a 6lb fish.
A look down to the left and I missed a bite before I hooked a carp....well I presume a carp as it bolted under the empty platform shedding the hook in the process. That was my match done.  I reckoned I was 4th from 5 in my section as Jamie and Pete would be top 2. I had more than Mark, he has been having a pants series like me and Vic, I was sure Rich would have had more than me. And so it proved.

I didn't follow the weigh in as I was chatting to Eric and Rich. But by the time the scales had got to Tom in corner 24 it was Keith winning and Westy leading the silvers. Tom weighed in just under 50lb before Eric took the lead with a good mid 70lb net. Rich had 16lb+ then Jamie upper 30's.
Mark had 1lb something then Pete just over 50lb.
My attempts went 13lb+ to confirm 4th in section.

So it proved that one end of the boards produce and the other doesn't.  I felt like I fished a pretty tidy match but the fish were not playing or maybe not present.

Eric won on the day ahead of Keith and Pete so another bit of money into our pot again thanks to Eric. We were 3rd on the day as Derek was last in his section.
Overall we stay 2nd on weight fro Mosella with sedges almost uncatchable. I think they only need 7 points from 2 rounds....pretty unlikely really but you can't be 100% sure.

Results:

1st Eric Fouracre - Young ones 79.07
2nd Keith Clapp - Sedges 57.04...
3rd Pete Wild - Mosella UK 50.13
4th Tom Mangnall - Mosella UK 44.11
5th Jamie Cook - Sedges 37.15
6th Mike West - Somerset Carpenters 20.08

Silvers - Silver peg winner
1st Mike West - Somerset Carpenters 8.04

Teams on the Day:
1st Sedges - 11pts - 103.09
2nd Mosella UK - 11pts - 100.01
3rd Young Ones - 8pts - 95.14
4th Somerset Carpenters - 8pts - 35.15
5th Fu Fighters - 7pts - 36.08

League as it Stands:
1st Sedges, 18pts
2nd Young Ones, 14pts
3rd Mosella UK, 14pts
4th Fu Fighters, 8pts
5th Somerset Carpenters, 6pts

So another tough day at Avalon, but it keeps things tight, if not a little dull for some, I am back there again next Sunday for the next round of the same Teams of Three.
Oh today myself and Paul Berry took a trip up to Plantation Lakes near Clevedon, to fish the main match lake, we had a very nice day catching skimmers up to 3 or 4lb, some roach, odd perch along with various carp. Enjoyable.

Until next time, enjoy your entrance into 2016.

Lee

Avalon Christmas Match. 20-12-15

The season of good will and cheer is upon us, brilliant...............But no one has told the fish it is a time for giving, match results from all over the country has seen a trend of venues not fishing 'how they should'.........temperatures to over 15 degrees within a week of Christmas Day. Bloody daft if you ask me. These slimy critters we set out to catch don't know what to do, light levels are low, temps are high, confusedfish.com.

Anyways, Sunday, I made my way over to the lakes and arrived in a well filled car park, plenty of nets hung over the fence after being dipped....optimism on the inside, moaning on the outside, a funny bunch are anglers.
With 23 fishing it was a nice turn out, loads of faces I know or recognised, a few of whom can catch a fish or 2. I stood around chatting to Matt Challenger, Derek Beard and a good few others. Tom Mangnall, Tim Ford, Eric and Steve Fouracre and John Fuidge were in attendance along with Ziggy and a late arrival (with his 80's music) Steve Jackson, I am sure his load music scared the fish away from the car park end of the lake.....personally I wanted to be on the 1st island or one of the top corner pegs (23 and 24).

As the draw took place I waited until near the end of the rabble and with 3 pegs left in the bag, Vic, Eric and Myself would have pegs 26 (hmmmm nah thanks), 7 (will be worth a bite or 2) and 5 (Flyer...Flyer..that'll do). I picked first and left 7 to Vic and 5 to the ever consistent Eric. Ballbags.
But onwards and upwards, there seemed to be plenty of fish activity all over the lake......that was until the 10am all-in.
I made my way to my peg, I seem to be edging back up to the far end with each match I fish here, and went about mixing up less than usual groundbait and sorting my tackle.

Avalon  peg 26

Again a feeder was set-up, and the usual 4 pole rigs:
Edge rig for carp, Topkit rig for anything, long pole silvers and a long pole carp rig (unused). I fancied a few carp from the margins and possibly tight over on the feeder. As for the silvers, this area can be really good, but in the main I have found it patchy at this time of yeat with only the odd skimmer and bonus perch or tench, the car park end being more consistent.
Baits were the usual caster, dead maggots, meat and a few micros and 8mm pellets.
For company I had Derek Beards up on peg 24, he'd do well for sure, as would Steve Fouracre from peg 23. Tom Mangnall was on a decent peg (38) and obviously Eric looked favourite sat on peg 5.

At the all in I deposited a nice helping of maggot and meat near the empty pallet of peg 27, a couple balls of groundbait went in at 13m, I didn't fancy any longer as the wind was due to increase in strength. I fed both topkit lines by hand with mostly caster.
I spent the 1st hour on the feeder swapping with hookbaits from maggots to pellet to meat, it was literally on the hour that I had a fish, a 3oz perch on maggots, all fish activity had stopped and everyone was struggling, peg 28 had landed a carp as had Derek and Steve.
The 2nd and 3rd hours were a struggle, I only added a couple roach on the long pole, but I wasn't the only struggler. Despite everyone trying, what it seemed, everything, nobody was putting much in the net, Mike West over on peg 19 losing a few carp to the reeds. I was sure the other end would be doing a whole load better.....hmmm. I did see Phil Dodd and Tim Ford (just about see him), net a carp each during this spell. I kept plugging away and it was around 1:30 that I managed a perch of 1lb from down to my left on the topkit, my only successful bite there all day, I bumped an okay fish, possibly a bony mouth perch soon after. The right edge, despite it looking fishy never gave me a bite, similarly the empty peg of 27 never gave me a sniff all match.

Avalon p26 lhs

Avalon p26 rhs

As we arrived at the last hour stage I was on 2 perch and about 3 roach, probably 1lb. Steve was on 4 carp and Derek had a handful also. Out on the long line I had a bite and a nice amount of elastic came out and a 2lb skimmer was netter, a 6oz sample followed before another 1lb skimmer was netted.
With 10 minutes to go I wanted a carp, but knew I was unlikely to get one so stayed out long and had another knock, it felt like a decent skimmer, it was but just as I reached for the landing net the hook pulled out, upon inspection it showed a maggot had folded over the hook point...ballbags. It was a good 3lb+ fish comfortably. I only added one roach after this as was cursing the luck I had.

The all out sounded and I soon had my gear packed away before Vic arrived with the scales, he'd started at peg 48 and there were some low weights, including a DNW was James Cooper and 1lb 3oz to Jacko. Matt Challenger was leading the silvers with 8lb 4oz, that was 2 skimmers (bream) and Tom Mangnall was top weight overall at this point with 24lb exactly.
I tipped my carpless net onto the scales and registered the 3rd best net of silvers, 5lb 7oz. That bumped skimmer looked to have cost me the silvers pool (paying only 1 overall and 1 silvers), but then everyone loses fish but annoying none-the-less.

I made my way back the car park and was offered soup and mince pies, all of which went down very well so thanks to Vic and his lovely wife. But everyone was moaning how slow the fishing had been and that Eric had caught a few and looked odds on to win.
So it proved, with him winning ahead of Derek Beards and Tom Mangnall. Matt Challenger won the silvers ahead of Jim Jenner.
The presentation was made with some brilliant prizes from rods to large hampers, alcohol in various forms and a good few items of tackle. There was none of those typical poor prizes, all were quality especially the huge hampers.
I came 15th and chose a bundle of expanders, tackle/catty pouches, mince pies and a pellet pump which I gave to Steve Fouracre as he'd broke his.

I had the last chatters with peeps before setting off home.

Results:
1st, Eric Fouracres, peg 5. 28lb 13oz
2nd, Derek Beard, peg 24. 26lb 15oz
3rd, Tom Mangnall, peg 38, 24lb

Silvers:
1st, Matt Challenger, peg 40, 8lb 4oz

Weights on the day.

Next up is a Boxing Day match on Sedges' Brick Lake then back to Avalon for the next Teams of 3 match.

Until then, have a fabulous Christmas.
Take care, stay safe.
Lee

Pawlett Club Christmas Match, The Sedges. 13-12-15

Another year has almost passed, it has been patchy for me this year with some crappy results, these, I think, out weighed the positives.
However I still have 2 or 3 matches left in 2015, today's, next Sunday's Avalon Xmas match and another round of the Teams of 3 at Avalon, oh plus I am fishing The Sedges on Boxing Day and possibly this coming Wednesday at the same venue.

Back to today, the weather looked the best it has been for a few weeks, wind was very light and temps were up to around 14 degrees, so rather mild. 28 fishing so a tidy number.

I arrived at the lakes in plenty of time to load the trolley, have a cuppa and then a natter with a few of the other anglers.
There seemed to be a few fish topping around the pegs 4 to 7 on Brick, plus 10 and 11, the far corner pegs on the same lake. I didn't take a look at Tile as I didn't fancy it today (as usual), so I put a metal block on that lake, hoping it would also avoid me at the draw.
Pegs 14, 15 and around 4 to 6 were the numbers I wanted as I intended to fish for the skimmers, hoping to qualify for the club's Silvers Final in 2016, I am unsure if I had qualified so thought it best to make certain. Obviously a corner peg would dictate carp would be my quarry.
Half way along the rabble and I stuck my hand in the bucket and pulled out peg 9, second to last peg along the left bank of Brick Lake, not too bad, maybe a touch far along for the silvers, but you can never be sure. It was also one of the golden pegs for the day.

Sedges Brick Lake peg 9

Arriving at my peg I thought it looked okay, if not lacking the fish activity seen in pegs 10 and 11 or around peg 6. For company I had Kev Crouch on peg 10, Nick Selway on peg 7 and opposite was Martin Heard on peg 11, he looked a good bet to win today, he had Jason King next to him on peg 12.
I went about setting up a few bits of tackle.
A waggler at depth rod, a tip rod with a small feeder on plus 4 top kits for the pole:
First was a 0.8g rig for silvers at 14m, second was for silvers again but a strung out shotted 0.4g float.
Third rig was  0.2g margin rig for down the edge to my right and finally a 0.6g rig for meat at 7m in the 2 o'clock direction.

Sedges Brick Lake peg 9, right hand side,

At the all-in I deposited some groundbait at 14m, this was lacced with dead maggots and caster.
Some maggots and meat went on the 7m line and some 6mm pellets and meat went down the right hand edge at 7m.
I began on the feeder with a popped up pellet as hook bait, but it was ages before I had a bite, actually I had swapped between both the waggler and feeder for the first hour without success.
Kev on peg 10 had landed a couple carp on the method feeder, Steve Fouracre on peg 20 had a carp or 2 and so had Mike Davis further along my bank.
It was around 1hr and 10 minutes into the match before I had a positive take on the feeder and a 1lb skimmer was netted on popped up pellet, another soon followed on popped up bread then came a 10lb carp to popped up pellet, that was a short 20 minute burst. Then it died again.

A look on the long pole line saw small 2-3oz skimmers taking the maggot hookbaits, their bigger relations absent for most. I persevered and to be honest it was frustrating, Kev on peg 10 was catching regularly on the method and pellet waggler. Martin Heard had one or 2 fish also.
Nick was in the same boat as me, struggling for action of any kind!!
Soon enough we were at the halfway stage and I had in my keepnets, 2 nice skimmers of 1lb each, 3 little skimmers and one carp for maybe 14lb total.
I was getting line bites and odd knocks and pulls, but despite trying the waggler at varying depths it was not productive. The waggler never gave me a fish all match
It was at this point I changed the hooklength to 0.10 and a size 18 hook for double dead maggot, hoping for a few skimmers.......I was rewarded with a double figured carp, why do they do that? Anyways another carp of about 8lb followed before bites dried up again.

It was now 2pm and I was up to 3 carp (28lb) and maybe 6lb of bits off the long pole line.
All the while I had been feeding my 7m line by hand and the right edge via the odd cup of meat and pellets, this edge never gave me a bite all day.
I tried the 7m line and missed a couple knocks before a 2lb skimmer was netted, then another before a near 10lb carp was landed. A 15 minute spell without a bite, swapping lines etc, before coming back in to 7m and repeating the process of 2 skimmers and a carp, rest and return.....
So my last 90 minutes was spent doing this and I kind of felt i was clawing myself into the section monies contest as both Kev on peg 10 and Mike Davis looked to have in the region of 90lb and were likely to be in the top 3 (I hoped), but it was the silvers I had come to catch and was now catching a few of decent stamp plus odd rogue carp.

The all out soon arrived, just after I had bumped off a couple nice skimmers, I hoped that they would not make a difference to my net of silvers, with only 1 silvers pot to go at I was confident of having enough for the best weight off Brick, but wasn't sure how Tile lake had fished.
As I packed my kit away I reckoned on Kev, Mike and Steve Fouracre being top 3 on the lake, maybe with Martin Heard there or thereabouts as he had landed a few fish late on from along the end bank.
Jamie asked me to weigh in Brick Lake while he did Tile, so I started with peg 1 and Nigel Hull.
He had 24lb, before Mike Davis on peg 3 had 81lb+. Then we weighed the next three who had between 17 and 29lb before it was my turn.
I had 2 weighs of carp, only 7 carp, but they amounted to 68lb 9oz and topped up with the silvers (24lb exactly) gave me the lead with 92lb 9oz.
Kev Crouch weighed next and I expected him to move slightly ahead of me, but alas he hadn't, he had 78lb 2oz of carp and a 4oz skimmer. I was a touch surprised by that.
Around to peg 11 and Martin Heard, he asked what the winning net was and people stated it was me with 92lb, he was a touch surprised as he had not seen me catch much. Anyways he weighed in and totalled 77lb exactly. Jason King was next with 54lb+. Then came a few 20lb+ nets before we got to the last person on the lake, one of my Teams of Three team-mates, Steve Fouracre, again I thought it would pip me and it nearly proved so with his 12lb 8oz of silvers and 74lb 8oz of carp combined pushed him to 2nd spot with 87lb.

I went and looked at the weigh sheet from Tile Lake and saw that the top silvers was 14lb and ounces and top overall on that lake was 74lb 10oz to Chris Higgs, he'd got off to a flyer but slowed up during the day, plus he had a couple double figured lumps in his total.
So I had won overall, had top silvers weight and was sat on one of the golden pegs.....bargain!! So i qualified properly for both the All-Winners final and as hoped, the Silvers Winners final.

It was back to the Legion in Pawlett for the presentation and some grub.

Weigh Sheets

Results:
1st, Lee Williams, peg 9. 92lb 9oz
2nd, Steve Fouracre, peg 20. 87lb
3rd, Mike Davis, peg 3. 81lb 8oz
4th, Kev Crouch, peg 10. 78lb 6oz
5th, Martin Heard, peg 11. 77lb
6th, Chris Higgs, peg 36. 74lb 10oz (top Tile Lake Weight)

Silvers:
1st, Lee Williams, 24lb. Peg 9.
2nd= Phil Clapp, 14lb 4oz. Peg 34.
2nd= Jason King, 14lb 4oz. Peg 12.

So a hard going 4.5hrs, it was quiet for most during this time, except 3 of the corners on Brick, but I was chuffed that the skimmers turned up as they can be a great weight builder, as it proved today.

Next up is Avalon's Xmas match next Sunday, but I may fish Sedges' open on Wednesday as it is my last day's holiday of 2015.

Until then, Take Care.
Lee

Avalon Teams of 3, Round 3. December 6th 2015

The day started ok, a nice drive over, weather due to be dry in the main but we had strong winds which were due to ease off around 2:30 or soon after. Oh it was quite mild too with temps likely to be 14 degrees or more.

A the teams were getting correct and present they'd draw as it is a rolling draw.

Steve Fouracre was to do our team draw and we didn't have the best selections left. But the way it fell was Eric on peg 6, flyer. Steve on peg 19, ok enough.  I was in the duff section on the road bank and would be fishing peg 32. I like it in the summer.....it is less good in the winter.

The Sedges, league leaders and the annual team to beat, had an ok draw with Jamie looking good for my section and maybe overall. He was on the end peg and could cast to the end of the boards.
Keith was on a nice peg and Phil had the least favourable pick on peg 26 or 27.

My next door neighbour to my right was Mosella's Vic Bush on peg 29 and to my left was Jim Jenner on peg 35. Second or 3rd in my section is a target as the two pegs with the boards should do well.

I began to sort my kit out and mixed up some groundbait. I also had some live and dead maggots.  Pinkies. Corn. Caster and a few micros and 8mm pellets.

I sorted my feeder rod and assembled 3 pole rigs.
The 1st for topkit to my right....loose fed maggots and caster.
The 2nd for 8m in front, groundbait and maggots.
Lastly a rig for down to empty peg 31 plus the same rig would do for under the branches to my left. I would feed dead maggots and corn.

Peg 32, Avalon Fisheries.

The all in saw me pot some groundbait in front and some bait down to the peg 31.
I started on the feeder and the first 30 minutes was biteless but I recovered loads of line and lost 3 feeders to snags.
I wasn't keen to try the feeder for the rest of the day......but I did and remained fish less on this tactic.

I would love to say I had a great day bagging a few carp and plenty of skimmers, but it never happened. In fact I could not see anyone catching much all day, though I did see Jamie using his landing net a good few times and my team0mate Steve had a few fish along with a few more snags and lost rigs.

I again ended up fishing down both edges, the long line to peg 31 never gave me a bite, this was surprising as I thought I would get a carp or 2 from there, maybe a decent skimmer. It never happened.

The groundbait line in front gave me a whole roach and a couple of missed bites.

I did catch a few fish from my topkit line to the right, a skimmer of 1lb, a crucian near the end of the match that must have been 1.5lb and a perch of perhaps 2lb, plus the odd ounce roach and perch, oh I did have a chub of 2oz. I bumped what I believe was a skimmer or a decent perch around the midway stage of the match.

Avalon Fisheries, p32, looking right...!!

My left edge gave me a near 4lb carp at 3:20pm, plus a small perch and a couple of missed bites. I did foul hook a carp here too, I was left with a scale.

Left Margin, p32 Avalon Fisheries

Towards the end of the match it looked like I was going to be last in the section as I was sure Vic had plenty more than me and I was certain those further along must have had a few more carp than my solitary sample. I guessed I had perhaps 8lb including my carp.

The whistle blew and I packed up and went about loading my car.

I went and saw Jim, he reckoned on 10lb, Vic had more than that and I was surprised to see the guy on the peg Jamie had last week tip back less than 6oz of fish, I was less surprised to hear Jamie reckoned on having 60lb plus a couple nice skimmers.

I was soon following the weigh-in and the usual banter and stuff carried on right the way around the lake. We saw John Fuidge win the silvers, yet again, with 18lb. Eric won section A with 44lb-ish and eventually this was enough for 2nd on the day. He pipped Tom Mangnall who had 35lb.

We carried on and weighed in Steve and he managed mid-20lbs and looked set for section 3rd.

Around to my bank and Rich Coles on corner peg 24 had high 20lbs to take the section lead, then came Phil Clapp, he topped that with ounces under 30lb. So Steve was 3rd in section.

My section began with Vic Bush having around 12lb, I cant remember if he was just over or under, but he pipped me as I weighed in 10lb and ounces.

Jim had 5 or 6lb which was 1lb+ of silvers and a single carp. Then the DNW before I lifted Jamie's nets up to weigh him in. His 3 weighs gave him 68lb+, including the 2 skimmers that over 5.5lb between them.

So it was a harder day this week, the snags getting the better of a good few of us, but there were no blanks, but the expected pegs produced the goods on the day.

Top team on the day went to Sedges with our team second on weight ahead of Mosella UK.

The result means that Sedges top the league with our Young One's team in second ahead of Mosella, Someset Carpenters and The Foo Fighters. But it could go anyway over the next 3 rounds.

Results:
1st Jamie Cook ,  The Sedges, 68lb 8oz
2nd Eric Fouracres,  The Young Ones, 44lb 7oz
3rd Tom Mangnall, Mosella UK,  35lb 3oz
4th Phil Clapp , The Sedges,  29lb 6oz
5th Mike West, Somerset Carpenters, 26lb 10oz
6th Rich Coles, Fu Fighters, 26lb 5oz
 
Silvers - Silver peg winner
1st John Fuidge,  Fu Fighters, 18lb 9oz

Teams on the Day:
1st, The Sedges 11pts
2nd, The Young Ones, 10pts  (78lb 2oz)
3rd, Mosella UK, 7pts (62lb 1oz)
4th, Somerset Carpenters, 7pts
5th, Fu Fighters, 6pts

League Standings:
1st-  Sedges - 13pts
2nd- The Young Ones - 11pts
3rd- Mosella UK - 10pts
4th- Fu Fighters - 7pts
5th- Somerset Carpenters - 4pts

Next weekend is the Pawlett Legion Angling Club's Christmas Match at Sedges, the following week is Avalon's Xmas match on the 20th in which I believe there is spaces free so give Vic a call to book in.

Until then, take care.
Lee

Avalon Teams of 3, Round 2, 29-11-15

The day got off to not the best of starts, had to get my car jump started, suppose it is the fact I only ever use my car on Sundays and occasionally a food shop mid-week. Not ideal for battery maintenance. I have ordered me a solar trickle charger...........hope that works.

Anyways, I got the car started and ventured across the A39 and down the bouncy road to the fishery.
I arrived not long after 8:30 and a couple of teams had drawn, myself and Steve Fouracre waited for the 3rd member to arrive before we did the draw. Soon enough Eric arrived and I did the draw this week. With pegs 3 and 6 already gone we hoped for a draw with an island gap, so putting one of us on peg 37 and the other on about peg 11. I drew peg 9 for Eric, not bad. Peg 21 for Steve, not bad as won section in the last round, and I was left with peg 35 which is a nice summer peg but hasn't produced much this autumn or winter when I have been down there, but it has options.

Team Sedges had a nice draw with Jamie having a 'boards peg' on peg 37, Phil was up on peg 24 with the wind blowing up that way and Keith was on around peg 11 and had the edge of the 'boards' opposite-ish Jamie's peg.
For company I had Jamie to my left and he had Rich Coles to his left, to my right and barely visible was Mosella's Pete Wild on peg 32 and he had the last man in our section to his right in the form of Jim Jenner (Somerset Carpenters).

Peg 35 Avalon, front view

Peg 35 right hand edge, Avalon

The weather was windy and due to get windier with 50-60mph gusts amid the 25/30mph winds we were having. Rain was forecast for later in the day, thankfully it didn't appear.
The wind was up the lake, pretty much straight down, so I had it left to right.

I went about setting my kit up, using my Matrix bait hood to protect the maggots (lives and deads, plus pinkies) and pellets (micro, 6mm and 8mm).
I had mixed my groundbait already on Saturday. I opened a small tin of corn and had some caster.
I assembled a small guru feeder and 3 pole rigs. Jamie and Pete only set up a feeder rod each, as did a few others.
One pole rig was for silvers at topkit length to my right, another was a cover-all rig for 7m in front as this was the max I could manage in the wind. Lastly I set up a heavier rig for 13m downwind towards, but not too close, to empty peg 34.

At the all-in I cupped 3 balls of bait out in front, mostly groundbait but with a few freebies.
I fed a cup of dead maggots with a few corn grains and odd pellet down towards p34
I flicked a few maggots at the topkit length by my right hand reeds.
I started on the feeder. I stayed with the feeder for an hour and never had a bite, tried maggots, caster, corn and various pellets all without a touch.
Meanwhile Jamie had landed several carp, and lost a few, and was well clear of the other 4 of us in the section.
So an hour in I tried my pole line in front, no joy. My topkit line also stayed biteless.
I re-fed the long edge rig but decided to leave it a touch longer before trying it, so it was out on the feeder by the island for another 30 minutes.

It was soon approaching 12 o'clock and it seemed that pretty much everyone on the opposite bank had a few fish, I could see team-mate Steve up on p21 catching a few, but so was Keith Clapp and Tom Mangnall (p6).
In my section it looked Pete had 1 little carp as had Jim, Rich Coles had a couple silvers. Jamie was miles ahead.
It was 12:10 that I had my 1st fish, a small perch on the topkit. This was followed up by a rudd and then a roach was snaffled by a pike.....hmmm, I don't see any all summer here and gets myself pestered in two rounds of this series.

Over the next 45 minutes I popped a few roach and rudd in the net from the topkit line.
A look downwind towards p34 saw a couple small fish before the elastic was taken from the pole as a carp headed for the wooden structure a few yards from where it was hooked.......I won the battle though and a small carp of maybe 1.5lb was netted. I did crush my number 6 section though, luckily I had a spare.
I then had a fruitless hour or so as Jamie put more fish in to his net, but the rest of us struggled on.

It was now nearly 2pm and the match was due to finish at 3pm. I had a nice perch around 1lb was caught from the topkit line and lost another decent fish, possibly a perch, maybe a skimmer. That annoyed me a touch, but it happened again, so I changed the hook and rested that line. Still nothing on my feeder rig.
It was at this point that Rich had 3 carp in three chucks to move maybe into 2nd in section, Jim also had a couple more carp and a couple ok skimmers in the last hour.
Pete also had another couple carp, but he said that they were small ones.
As the 30 minutes left point passed I hooked into another little carp down my long edge line and a slightly smaller mirror was popped into the keepnet. Another perch of 8oz was landed just before the all out. I guess I had maybe 3lb of silvers and similar of carp. But it'd be close between me and Pete for section last....

I packed up and loaded the car before following the scales, enjoying the banter as we went.
I didn't pay too much attention to the weights, but there were nice weights along the whole opposite side to me. Eric did have 17lb+ of silvers and that looked to top that category on the day, but he was probably 4th in section.
Steve had 50lb from peg 21 and looked to have won that section ahead of Phil Clapp on peg 24 who lost plenty of fish during the day.
In my section Jim Jenner had 7lb+, then Pete had around 5lb, I managed to pip Pete with around 7lb.
Jamie had 55lb+ and then Rich Coles' effort gave him the default section win with 11lb I think.

Results:
1st Nigel Hopkins, Fu Fighters, 64lb 7oz
2nd Jamie Cook, Sedges, 55lb 2oz.
3rd Tom Mangnall, Mosella UK, 54lb 14oz
4th Steve Fouracres, Young Ones, 50lb 9oz
5th Keith Clapp, Sedges, 42lb 15oz
6th Phil Clapp, Sedges, 36lb 2oz

Silvers - Silver peg winner
1st Eric Fouracres, Young Ones, 17lb 2oz

Teams on the day:
1st Sedges - 12pts
2nd Fu Fighters - 10pts
3rd Young Ones - 9pts
4th Mosella UK - 7pts -- 73lb
5th Somerset Carpenters - 7pts --  42lb 11oz

So a hard day for a few of us, but some decent weights were had. It was a little testing though, what with the wind and lack of attention to my feeder fished baits,

Next weekend see's the Viaduct Xmas match and the 3rd round of the Avalon Teams of 3.

Until then take care.
Lee

Avalon Teams of 3, Round 1. November 1st 2015.

First round of the Teams of 3 event down at Avalon Fishery, there was due to be 7 teams taking part, but 2 dropped out this week......not so great. None the less, we had to try and catch some fish.

The weather was rather murky, foggy, but warm, though the easterly wind was a touch chilly and was coming at me, rather infrequently, from the 2 o'clock direction.
The team I am involved with this time around was named The Young Ones. My partners were Steve and Eric Fouracre. Team Sedges have won the last two years' competitions and along with Team Mosella Uk, are the favourites to win round by round and overall. Somerset Carpenters and The Fu Fighters were the other teams.

I arrived in plenty of time and had a chatter with Vic Bush before wandering around the lake with him. It looked ok, but the patches of the grey murkiness that inherits the venue were rather sporadic in their location. But the pegs at the near end (3 to 11 and those opposite) would be my choices, though 22 and 24 would be good team draws.
Once everyone arrived and the monies had all been handed in, the draw was made.
Vic pre-determines the pegs that dictate the team draw. So the captain draws a section for him then a number that dictates all 3 pegs for the day.
Eric drew and found himself on peg 3, not best pleased with his draw.
I was on peg 16, the small island, and that is usually a fair draw and I wasn't too unhappy.
Steve was over on peg 28 (I think) and had the gap in the island in front of him, albeit with a dodgy bit of overhead foliage that would be a pain to him all match.

I arrived at my peg to find I had Phil Clapp on peg 19, he'd be casting to peg 20's gap in the island.
I had Mark Sweeting to my left on peg 13, so plenty of space all round.

Peg 16, Avalon Fishery

I went about sorting my kit and bait out for the day. I wanted to have plenty of options as a single section place on the day can add a position in the overall ranking throughout the series, more so with only 5 teams.
A pellet waggler was assembled as was a small feeder, both using 8mm banded pellet as hookbait.
4 pole rigs were knocked up, 2 for silvers and a couple for carp.
The 2 silvers rigs were a) topkit length to hand for bits and bobs using just caster over caster and b) a skimmer rig for 14.5m in line with the end of the island at the 11 o'clock direction.
The couple of rigs for the carp were a) a meat/pellet rig for 13m in the direction of the other end of the island. b) a margin rig for 13m down to my left towards the empty peg 17, again using meat over pellet.

I mixed up some groundbait and pumped some pellets (unused all day). I had 8mm and 6mm pellets for feed, a small helping of meat along with some micros to use more in the way of attracting a few smaller fish plus some maggots and casters.
At the all in I potted 4 balls of groundbait in for the skimmers at 14.5m and pulted some pellets across to the island. I also began feeding the top-kit with a few casters,

Starting on the feeder and it was 10 minutes before my first carp, a nice 4lb mirror was netted, my hopes rose somewhat.
10 minutes later and I was playing a nice fish, only to land a pike of 7 or 8lb......don't count....tipped back.
10 minutes later and a 6lb carp was landed on the feeder then another pike came the following cast!!

So a nice 30-45 minutes, despite 2 pike for around 15lb that wouldn't count.
Then I came on the top-kit and picked off a few rudd and roach, before losing a pike and finding bundles of snags, I managed to recover 3 pole rigs, 3 feeders, 1 lead and countless amounts of line throughout the day (all coupled with branches and twigs).

The next 2.5hrs was dull......I fed the pallet down to my left and let that settle, I had a skimmer from the long line, that was a false dawn. The pellet waggler didn't give me a bite all day, and when I did see fish, the wind picked up and screwed any sort of presentation. So I swapped between the feeder and picking up the odd silverfish on the top-kit line.
I watched Pete Wild bagging up, I could see Tom Magnall's landing net being used pretty regularly down on around peg 11, plus I knew Rich Coles on end peg (of our side of the lake, not the corner peg) was getting a few carp.

Back to my match, it was now around 1:30pm and I had 2 carp and possibly 4lb of silvers in my nets, probably last in section as I could hear that Mike West had obviously started catching as he had began to 'sing'.....one of my teammates was doing okay so the rumor mill was saying, the other was doing less well.
Suddenly my tip wrapped round and I was attached to a lively carp, it was obviously a stockie and it's spirited battle saw it in my keepnet, another 3lb added to my tally. Again no more were coming, so I topped up my feed down by empty peg 17.

Looking down to empty peg 17 from peg 16, Avalon Fishery.

The next hour and a bit was spent trying to bag a carp or two, but did not find any. I topped up a few more bits and bobs on the top-kit.
I took a look down to my left and had a bite 1st drop in and found a 2lb skimmer then it's 6oz cousin.
That took my silvers to maybe 8 or 9lb.
It was now 3pm and I hooked a carp that went through the empty pallet, but it waddled back out (thankfully), before it went mad, it felt foul hooked, and this was confirmed when, after a 5 minute fight the hook pulled, leaving a bit of a scale.
I had another bite at 3:30pm from down by p17 and it felt a decent fish, a decent scrap pursued before I managed to get the landing net under a short, lumpy mirror that looked 12lb but probably weighed around 14lb.

No more fish were forthcoming in the last 15 minutes and at the all out I began to pack away, thinking to myself that I was possibly 4th in section, just ahead of Phil Clapp.
In reckoned on 8 to 9lb of silvers and maybe 25lb of carp.

I followed the weigh in and saw teammate Eric weigh in with 97lb 4oz from peg 3, then we saw plenty of decent weights with Keith Clapp (Sedges)and Tom Mangnall (Mosella Uk) getting 93lb and 83lb respectively. John Fuidge (The Fu Fighters) used his top notch silvers fishing skills to have over 23lb of his prey from his favoured peg 9, taking the silvers pool on the day, he also drew the sillver peg after the match to take that pot as well.
Mark Sweeting weighed in a couple carp and 12lb of silvers before it was my turn.
My silvers weighed in at 9lb and the 4 carp weighed 27lb, so 36lb was ok, but probably not enough.
Phil Clapp weighed in his 4 carp before we got to Rich Coles, he took the section money with 74lb+ of mostly carp caught down both margins.
Around to Vic Bush on peg 24, he caught a few in the 2nd half of the match but fell 1lb 2oz less than me.
Mike West had 46lb 2oz, but said he lost loads to the legs of his peg....he should play them further out then...haha.
The 3rd member of our team weighed in, Steve had a couple carp and around 12lb of silvers.
Further along we saw Jamie Cook have 40lb+ before Pete Wild took the section with 80lb 12oz.
Jim Jenner was last to weigh in and had around 4 small carp and some silvers.

I didn't get the weigh sheets but it turned out that as expected the results on the team front was very tight, see below:

Results:
1st, Eric Fouracres: Young Ones --97.4
2nd, Keith Clapp: Sedges --93.15
3rd, Tom Mangnall: Mosella UK --83.11
4th, Pete Wild: Mosella UK --80.12
5th, Rich Coles: Fu Fighters --74.4
6th, Mike West: Somerset Carpenters --46.2

Silvers -  And silver peg winner
1st John Fuidge: Fu Fighters 23.5

Teams on the day:
1st -Mosella UK: 10 points - 209.05
2nd -Young Ones: 10 points - 155.10
3rd -Sedges: 9 points - 154.12
4th -Fu Fighters: 8 points - 126.12
5th -Somerset Carpenters: 8 points - 99.00

So a tough day for over half of us, with a lot of fish caught around the 1st island (even some pleasure guys had a good few from pegs in the mid 40's).

No match for me next weekend (I don't think), The River Parrett is on the following week with the Pawlett guys, hoping for some rain to give the river a nice flush through.

Until then. take care.
Lee

PSV Match, Viaduct Lodge Lake, 25-10-15

I was looking forward all week for todays match on Lodge lake at Viaduct, a lake I have not fished since they first opened in way back in the 90's.
Having not overslept  or got up early due to the clocks falling back an hour, I loaded the car and had brekkie before the 20 minute drive was underway.

I arrived and paid Mike Wilson the entry money and had a chat with a few guys, including Jonny Page who was on the Cary lake open match.
We chatted about the frost overnight was likely to have put a dampener on the sport and that it could be a tricky day. I know I fancied the pegs around the rope of Lodge, on the Cary Bank (pegs 68 to 71) and maybe the opposite pegs, I was hopefully going to fish for the silvers and the middle/far end is the likely spots for these.
Peg 53 and 73 are nice pegs for mostly carp with the big fallen tree an obvious feature to attract the carp and anglers alike. To be fair the only pegs not wanted were 55, 56, 57 all in front of the Shop/Café. These pegs can be hard at the best of times, but you never know how things pan out.

The draw was soon underway and I plucked the 4th from last ticket and was despondent to see peg 55 staring back at me.....well at least the weather looked fair and little wind and dry.
For company I had Steve Sewell down in the corner on p53, Mark Radford on peg 56 and further along was Adam Caswell.
The rope pegs on the Cary bank were taken by Matt 'The Waggler' Taynton and Chris 'I don't draw duff' Szakacs, so they looked good for a few fish.

Viaduct Lodge Lake peg 55

I went about sorting my gear, mixing up some groundbait, prepped some expanders and chopped a tin of meat into 6mm pieces. I also had some casters, micros, dead maggots and some 6mm pellets.
Tackle was then assembled, a small groundbait feeder was put up, but this was fishless all day.
3 pole rigs were knocked up. One for carp at 13m down my left edge, slightly off the grasses, this was 0.18>0.14>16 b911x hook.
2 identical silvers rigs were put together, one with a long line to fish at top kit distance, ideally for some roach. The other on a shorter line for 14.5m in two spots, hoping for a few skimmers. One line would be for groundbait, the other micros. The rigs were 0.2g floats to 0.14>0.10>b911F1 size 18s.

At the all in I cupped 4 balls of groundbait on that line and some micros/expanders on the other line.
Some 6mm pellets and meat along with caster went along my left margin.
I began on the feeder and could see that Steve O'Toole was into a carp right away, he was on peg 68, he had it on the bomb.

After half an hour it was obvious it was going to be tough as nobody had really caught much as all, the odd small roach and skimmer were had and that was it.
I came in on the top kit line where i had been trickling mostly casters and a few a couple minutes I had a 1oz perch....great sign....Not!!
A small roach followed before I was out on the long pole lines, and it was these two lines that I spent the next couple of hours. Although the line fed with micros never gave a bite.
During this spell I had a handful of 3 to 4oz skimmers and odd baby roach. Mark Radford was also struggling, but had picked up a couple better skimmers and foul hooked an eel of perhaps 2lb.
Elsewhere Ryan Radford was fishless, Matty Taynton had landed a decent skimmer but had pulled out of a couple carp, landed a couple too, but was not having a great time.
Steve Sewell also had at least a couple carp in his nets from a line under the big tree. Everyone was finding it hard though.

It was soon 1pm and I took a look down my left edge using the meat, and promptly missed a bite before the next drop saw a nice bit of elastic pulled from the pole and after a spirited scrap a 5 or 6lb carp was landed. No more indications came so i fed a little more and tried my top kit line again.
But it was still hard to get regular bites, I fed a small nugget of groundbait here and hoped this could work. So back out on the long groundbait line and a couple small skimmers were netted, probably putting my silvers to about 2.5lb.
Chris Szakacs had chucked a lead out and was soon into a carp, with number 2 or 3 following a short while later.
I plodded on and on. Oh...I did bank a skimmer from my top kit line, this was maybe 2lb.

It was soon 3pm and another look down my left edge saw me miss a bite as I drank my cuppa, but a few minutes after this missed bite and a line bite, as a lowered my rig in again I had an indication and struck into something lumpy.
A 10 minute battle saw me just about squeeze a lump of a carp into my landing net, this fish looked a good 16 to 18lb......bargain. I hoped for another but it wasn't to be as the last 40 minutes only gave me a small roach.
Ryan Radford landed a couple silvers and a 15lb edge caught carp in the last hour to save him from blanking.

The all out was called and I began packing up, I did reckon to Mark Radford that he could win the silvers, but we were sort of thinking Steve Burgess had caught well all day on his latest efforts in catching some silvers.
Adam had next to nothing, but the top 3 spots looked to be going to one of Steve O'Toole, Chris Szakacs, Matt Taynton and Steve Sewell, all of them having 4 carp each plus odd skimmers.

Steve Sewell weighed first putting 33lb 10oz on the sheet (4 carp, 2 skimmers), I was next and 5lb was my silvers reward while my 2 carp together weighed 24lb 1oz giving me a shade over 29lb.
Mark Radford had 8lb of silvers and Adam amassed a paltry 2lb.
I finished packing up and loaded the car before I managed to see the weigh sheet, Chris had 37lb but there were 3 guys with 33lb+ and then my 29lb.
Mark won the silvers with Lionel Legge 2nd in this category,

Results:
1st, Chris Szakacs, peg 69. 37lb 4oz
2nd, Matt Taynton, peg 70. 33lb 11oz
3rd, Steve Sewell, peg 53, 33lb 10oz
4th, Steve O'Toole, peg 68, 33lb 7oz
5th, Lee Williams, peg 55, 29lb 1oz

Silvers:
1st, Mark Radford, peg 56, 8lb 11oz
2nd, Lionel Legge, peg 62, 7lb 7oz

So a tricky day and not one to remember really, but I am glad I had those 2 carp. 1 more and you could have framed, but always if's and but's.......I don't think I would have 9lb of silvers from my peg.

Next weekend sees me fishing the 1st round of Avalon's Teams of Three, with Steve and Eric Fouracres being my partners.

Until then, tight lines.
Lee

Weigh Sheet

Pawlett match. Avalon fishery. 18-10-15

32 of us gathered at Avalon fishery yesterday hoping for some decent fishing  and a nice match.
Having arrived in plenty of time and dipped my nets I had a chat, as usual,  with a few of the guys. Some of it was about the upcoming Teams of 3 that Vic holds at the venue each year. If you are interested then contact him through Facebook or the fishery website.

Back to the day. The usual rabble around the draw was happening and I pushed in around halfway down the 'line'. Hoping for a peg in the 30's or 40's.
I pulled 21. Not a great peg for either carp or silvers. My intention was to target the skimmers rather than the puddle pigs. With 20 and 23 being the obvious better pegs (for carp)  and 19 always capable of having a few fish of either carp or silvers, my confidence wasn't great.

Anyway the lake is pretty fair and the winners can come from anywhere.  So onwards and upwards.

I got to my home for the day and found I had Colin Haggett on my left and Chris Higgs on my right.

And with the vegetation having been trimmed on the islands it looked fishy, though I never saw a bubble or a sign of fish in my peg before the all-in.......actually that is a lie, there were plenty of smaller carp in behind the rushes to my right, they rarely venture out from here.

Avalon peg 21

With silvers being my target for the day, in theory, I set up 2 rigs for them, a light float (0.2g) for topkit with caster down to my right next to the reeds and a slightly heavier 0.4g float for 2 areas at 14m.
Now having done reasonable with silvers using groundbait with caster and dead maggots, I based these 2 lines on those baits, one fed with more loose feed and the other more groundbait,
My other baits on my tray was a small helping of meat and some 8mm pellets, purely for the chances the carp were playing ball and the silvers were not.
I did set up a pellet waggler to fish tight over and a margin rig for down to my left in the cut back area.

On the whistle I potted just 3 balls of well laced groundbait at 14m in the 1o'clock direction and less groundbait but more maggot/caster in the 10 o'clock direction.
Some meat went down to my left, but i never had a bit here all day, I fed some caster by hand to my right, but I never had a bite here all day, which came as a surprise as usually the rudd will be present.
It was just after the all-in that I had to go back to the car as the alarm was going off every 2 minutes, which seemed to annoy everyone except me, haha.

I began on the waggler and never had anything more than a slight bob on the float in the first 30 minutes. In this time Kev Crouch on peg 23 had around 4 carp and Higgsy on peg 20 was on 3. The pegs on the other bank were in the same boat as me and Colin, we were struggling.
After an hour I was on the long pole lines and 1st drop I had the number 6 laccy pulled from the pole and a spirited battle saw a 2lb carp netted.......that was the action over for 20 minutes, then I had a couple roach and a small perch. Things looked hard up this end of the lake, only Higgsy and Crouchy getting a few carp.

Another look on the waggler gave me a 2lb carp but this was a false dawn as another bite never came on that all day.
Back over the groundbait swim and I managed a 1.5lb skimmer before something more substantial took my double maggot hookbait. A 10 minute fight on the light elastic saw a near 6lb common netted.
By now we were midway through the match, I was on 3 carp (10lb-ish) and a couple pounds of silvers. Kev on peg 23 was on 7 or 8 carp and Chris Higgs on peg 20 was on 5 or 6 small carp. Nobody else had much more that a couple carp each up at this end of the lake, plus the silvers were not really upto much either. But from the grapevine it was fishing hard.

It was around this time that I set up a small groundbait feeder to fish across with maggots on the hook, hoping for a decent skimmer or 3.
1st chuck on this and a small tapping on the tip saw me connect with a fish, not a skimmer but a carp, probably 7lb, but a nice common none-the-less, though not the 3lb bream I hoped for.
A perch and small blade skimmer followed before that rod was chucked up the bank.

The last 2.5hrs of the match were mostly spent swapping between the 2 long pole lines and picking up odd roach and blade skimmer, but it was hard work.
I did manage 3 nice skimmers of perhaps 1lb each and bumped a couple better ones off the hook also.
This period of the match was quiet for most, but peg 19 had a couple decent carp from his margin and Mark Sweeting had a couple carp on his waggler before the wind picked up.
Higgsy ended up on around 10 carp, but were the smaller stamp. Kev Crouch had 11 or 12 and that was it, everyone else I could see had between 1 and 4 carp and a couple pound of silvers.
I did hear that Mike West, Steve Fouracre and Keith Clapp had decent nets of fish, as had Jamie Cook. Tom Mangnall had some decent skimmers by accident, but I suspected that Mike Bendell would have had some decent skimmers in his catch, but to be fair he does fish for silvers (I did tell him that I'd write that he fishes for carp and he'd have accidental silvers).

The  all out sounded and I finished on 4 carp for perhaps 16 or 17lb and maybe 5lb of silvers, it was bloddy hard work all day.
I packed up and loaded the car. Made my way to the scales and watched Mike West put 74lb or so on the scales, Jamie had around 65lb and Steve Fouracre had 50lb-ish. But Tom M. weighed 11lb of silvers and looked likely to that envelope. The rest weighed between 19 and 36lb, plus a couple DNW's.
Down to peg 19 and Kev Locke's couple of late lumps gave him 28lb, Higgsy had 25lb and just pipped me as my silvers (7lb 4oz) and carp (17lb 10oz) gave me 24lb 14oz.Colin had 14lb and then Crouchy plopped 38lb  on the scales.
The far bank weighed in, but I never watched until we got down to Keith Clapp, up until him there wasnt much caught with lots of DNW's. Keuth weighed 53lb+. Moving along the bank we came to Mike Bendell and his nets, With Tom Mangnall looking on someone called 11lb something as the weight, just to wind him up, Tom waddled off and Mike's net of silvers went 10lb 8oz. So he was 2nd in the silvers (we pay 1 only silvers).

Back to the hut and Jamie dished out the envelopes, Mike West won on the day, Tom won the silvers and I came nowhere, but had the 3rd best silvers net.

Results:
1st, peg 5. Mike West. 74lb 10oz
2nd. peg 9. Jamie Cook. 65lb 11oz
3rd. peg 39. Keith Clapp. 53lb 10oz

Silvers:
Tom Mangnall, peg 13. 11lb 5oz
Mike Bendell. peg 43. 10lb 8oz

Sections went to Steve Fouracre, Kev Crouch and Mike Bendell.

Weigh sheet 1

Weigh sheet 2

So all in all a very tricky day and it seems like the fish are starting to move to their winter haunts.
Mike caught mostly on meat down his margin in the last couple hours.
But I am looking forward to the Teams of 3 this winter,

Next week, I think, is Viaduct Lodge lake with the PSV crew........Silvers again?....maybe.

Stay Warm
Lee

PSV Match, Sedges Tile Lake, 04-10-15

Back to Sedges today, with the PSV guys. They had 3 days down at Stafford Moor last week and had a great time, even if the fishing was patchy.
You can read about it Here...

I got to the lakes, had a cuppa and had a chat with Jamie and paid my monies to Will. 19 fishing today (although Will had to put me on the list, but I am sure I booked in at the last meeting!?) we had to leave 1 peg out, that was peg 34 as it doesn't have any island/end bank chuck.
The lads were in jovial mood even if the weather wasn't, being foggy and dour, but apparently it was die to fizzle away as the day progressed.
I fancied any peg from 21 to 26 and 36 to 40. I didn't want 30..!!
The draw was made and with only 2 balls left in the bucket, I was left with 32 (Will had 29, opposite me). I wasn't best impressed, but at the same token I hoped that the lack of wind all week had helped the fish spread a bit.

The 2 main flyers, well the 2 pegs everyone would be happy with, went to Ryan Radford (in the pools this week) on peg 21. Peg 40 went to decent all round guy, Keith Ray. Both of these would surely catch a good few fish.
I waddled up to my peg to find I had Matt Taynton on peg 31, we agreed we didn't fancy this end of the lake, but there were a few fish moving in front of him, plus maybe that silvers would be a good target. On my left was Matt Williams on peg 33.

Sedges Tile Lake, peg 32

I went about sorting my kit out, this comprised of a method feeder, a full depth waggler (20m in front fed heavy) and 3 pole rigs. The 1st rig was for down my left edge (remained fishless), the 2nd rig was for under the tree to my right (fishless again) and the last rig was for 13m in front and gave me a solitary skimmer....so thats the last of my pole rigs for this blog..!!!
Baits were 6 and 8mm pellets, micros for the feeder and some meat for the short pole lines.

I began on the feeder and it took a while for me to catch a fish, in fact the 1st hour was fishless for me, though Matt on peg 31 was getting a good few small skimmers and was also getting an odd carp chucked in, mostly on the pole using soft pellets.
The 2nd hour saw me try the pole rigs, I had a skimmer out long on banded 6mm over wetted 4's but that was the last of the action here. I did manage my 1st carp, a 6lb fish landed on the method feeder.
Into the 3rd hour and Matt on peg 33 was blanking, but soon had a resident goldfish on his feeder.
Elsewhere it seemed Matt was doing the best, but could see a few fish getting caught further along my bank and my end (except Matt on p31, now on the pellet wag...he had calm waters) were struggling.
Into the 4th hour and I had my most productive spell, landing 3 more carp and losing 2 to hook pulls, again all on the feeder despite my efforts on the other lines.

The penultimate hour was soon upon us and I stuck with the feeder, it was hard work with bites not coming in any sort of regularity or to any pattern, but a couple more carp found the confines of my keepnet, one was a couple pounds the other around 8lb. I also pulled out of a squeaker carp under my rod tip. Matt was still catching on the pellet waggler, mostly in spurts of 3 or 4 fish, but that was more than anyone I could see,
The last hour proved better for most as it seem the fish began to feed, Keith Ray down on peg 40 was getting regular action, and that peg can throw up a good few better sized fish. Rich Jones on peg 35 was now getting regular carp action on meat short, this is after he'd had plenty of skimmers.
I did only manage 2 carp in this last hour, but Will Dearlove had a couple and Steve Sewell on peg 30 had a very productive spell, away from the eels, on peg 30....he had some lumpy carp which had probably pushed him up the field.

The all out sounded and I finished on 1 skimmer coupled with 8 or 9 carp. So about 30 to 35lb perhaps? As you may well know, my fish sizing on smaller 3 to 6lb carp is dire to say the least.
I packed my kit up and chatted with Matt, he said he had 70lb, I thought he had more as I'd heard splashing pretty much all day.

The scales were soon at Matt and it turned out that his 70lb, well judged, guess was spot on as he weighed a touch over that. But prior to him, the board showed Ryan was top weight from peg 21, he had 51lb+, then came a few 40lb+ nets to Will and Steve, their fish were of a decent stamp.
My turn to weigh, I had stopped using my clicker at 22lb but had 3 fish after this point. My weights including the 7oz skimmer pushed my to 54lb 5oz.
Matt Williams didnt weigh, but Rich Jones had done well with 16lb+ of skimmers, coupled with 41lb of late carp pushed him to 2nd spot, but I also knew Keith Ray's late run was going to be closed.
I went and loaded the car while the others weighed and I returned just as they were to weigh Keith. When he lifted his nets it looked very close to getting that second spot. His 2 weighs (+10oz silvers) gave him a total of 52lb 3oz and 4th spot.

Results:
1st, Matt Taynton, peg 31. 70lb 9oz
2nd, Rich Jones, peg 35. 57lb 13oz
3rd, Lee Williams, peg 32. 54lb 5oz
4th, Keith Ray, peg 40. 52lb 3oz

Rich Jones had 16lb of silvers in his net to take the best silvers net on the day but the payout was defaulted down to Pete Uzzell who had 8lb 15oz from peg 39.

Weigh Sheet.

So a spasmodic sort of day where bites were hard to come by, maybe i should have set up a soft pellet rig for the pole in the hope of a few extra silvers, but then I also pulled out of 4 carp (I think) during the match, but this often happens on the method feeder.

I have a few days off work this week, so maybe I will give Wednesday's open at Sedges a go, Tile Lake again I think. Not sure on the other days though.
Next Sunday, as it stands is a PSV match at Trinity Woodlands.

Until then, take care.
Lee

Landsend Match and Speci Lakes, HLS match, 27-09-15

Sunday was a blinding day in terms of weather, a typical 'Indian Summer's' day, overnight temps were a cool 4 or 5 degrees with the usual mist patches and plenty of dew on the grass when I awoke.
Temperature rose to around 20 degrees during the day, with sunshine throughout..........ideal for topping up the tan, less conductive to good catches of fish.

However, I had booked onto this match with the club thanks to work colleague, Paul Berry, on Thursday evening. At that point I was the 16th and last person fishing, but some late booking-ins boosted the attendance by 5 or 6.
We'd been due to fish the match lake (lake 2), but secured the north bank of the speci lake (lake 1).
I arrived in loads of time and said the usual hellos to plenty of the guys I know.
I dipped the nets and loaded my trolley before waiting for the draw.
I fancied peg 13, a really good and inform peg. Other than that 11 or any along the south bank of the match lake will suffice (I had only fished peg 1 on the north bank on previous visits). I fancied the speci lake to produce better skimmers as there was less pressure on the water on Saturday.

Bob had put 24 pegs in the bucket, 8 on each of the 3 banks we were using on the day.
I waited until nearer the end of the queue and saw that Phil Beards had plucked peg 13, Mike Davis was in a nice peg (peg 24) and that Shaun Larkham and Ross Baker were in less favourable pegs (37 and 38).
I plucked peg 6, not sure if it was decent, but I had the point of the island in front of me at 14.5m and a couple of nice edges.
Company wise, I had Mike Bendell on peg 5 and nobody until peg 10 (Kev Hayes), so 3 empty spaces for the fish to hide in..!! Opposite me was Northern George, on peg 18. Both him and Mike would be targeting the silvers, generally speaking.

Landsend peg 6.

I surveyed the scene in front of me and decided on a few lines of attack.
The 1st would be at 2+1 slightly off to my right for meat over hemp.
The second would be for banded pellet towards the point of the island, using 6 and 8mm pellets.
A rig for down to my left under the branches would be my 3rd line, but this remained fishless, so no more on that (I was gonna use corn over pellets here).
Oh and a depth pellet rig for 14m in front between the islands, this remained fishless....!!
I couldn't fish down to peg 7 as the foliage to my right hindered my view and blocked my off a touch.
I never set a silvers rig up at this point as I thought I may well catch a few carp, although there were not many in the area that inspired confidence to back up my theory.

At the all in I went gently and put a small helping of pellets across and started on the meat....I waited....and waited....and waited.
It was a good 90 minutes before my 1st carp arrived, that was hooked by the island and was definitely welcome, only a 4lb pup, but at least I hadn't blanked!!
Elsewhere at this point, peg 19 had landed, and lost, a couple of carp, so had George. The silvers weren't feeding either as Mike Bendell plucked away at small roach.
It was soon halfway through the match and I was debating if I should bog off home, but the fact I knew a run of 5 or 6 carp would be brilliant in the scheme of how things were doing, with only Beardsy on peg 13 catching, though peg 19 was on 4 or 5 carp at this point.
I then decided to mix some groundbait and get out the maggots in an attempt to blag a few skimmers, so a silvers rig was made for 2+1 off to my left.
I fished this for around an hour, while my carp lines were re-fed and rested, in this period I had a rudd, a roach, a 6oz skimmer, a perch and a hybrid before bites stopped. Thinking there was a carp present, I went over this spot with my meat and pellet rigs.....No bites!!

Across by the island I could see a few tails and the odd ghost carp moving, so I went over with the shallowed edge rig with meat on the hook....2 minutes later I had a fish on, a nice ide over over 2lb was netted, much to Mike's 'tongue-in-cheek' disgust. He also knocked a number 3 section in at this point...he never got that back!
Back out to the island and I soon had carp number 2, a 4lber. Then things went dead again.

With an hour to go it seemed that peg 13, 19 and maybe peg 2 had a few carp, oh and George was on 4 or 5 accidentals....though he had 1 carp go under his pallet, around the leg and out the other side....he landed it after a tussle....so obviously he was fishing heavy silvers gear....haha.
My meat line was giving a few bubbles, so I went back over this and had 2 carp in 2 drops. One was about 6lb and the other was a ghostie pushing 10lb.
I netted a 2lb carp soon after, foul hooked, but welcome. Another 3lber came from across before I lost a couple, possible foul hooked, from my meat line.
I wanted a couple more carp in the last 15 minutes, but they never came. Peg 19 managed 3 or 4 in the last hour to stay clear of me and I heard peg 2 was on 8 carp....Phil Beards on flyer peg 13 had around 10 or 12, so I heard through the grapevine.
I commented at this point that he'd got more silvers than anyone else on the lake, only just. But probably not enough to beat the speci lake, providing it had fished as expected.

The all out sounded and I had 6 carp in total, losing 2. Plus maybe 3lb of silvers. So maybe 35lb or just over.

I packed my kit away and went and loaded the car, most peeps had commented it had fished poor and my 6 carp was pretty good, with only Phil and John Barker on pegs 13 and 19 respectively catching upwards of 10 carp. Peg 2, Stan, had 8 carp.
I caught up with the scales and had some banter with a few guys, especially George Fletcher, he reckoned on 3 carp and 3lb of silvers....ball-cocks I said...telling him that 5 or 6 carp and 6lb+ of silvers was what he had!!
Anyways the Shaun and Ross proved that my prediction that their pegs weren't great was proved with a dnw and 7lb between them. Though Bob Pascoe had 19lb of silvers from peg 39, Rob Eagles had 16lb+ from peg 40 and Paul Berry's 12lb+ came from peg 34...those 3 weights would surely take the top 3 silvers coin.
Peg 1 dnw'd and peg 2's eight carp totted up to 30lb plus a couple pounds of silvers.
Peg 3 had 7lb 1oz of silvers, Mike Bendell had 8lb 4oz of silvers before my 6 carp weighed in at 40lb 6oz and my 4lb of silvers took me into the temporary lead.
Peg 10 dnw'd and peg 11 had 17lb (most of which was 1 carp). Next to weigh was Phil Beards on peg 13, he weighed in at 56lb 10oz.
George was next to weigh and I ribbed him on his 'Lies' (other's words, not mine)...he had a very strange 3 carp, strange in the fact most peeps don't have 3 fingers....those 5 carp weighed over 24lb.
His 3lb of silvers had surpassed his admittance and weighed 8lb 3oz....not the best silvers net on the lake.
Peg 19, John Barker, lifted his nets out, 6lb 6oz of silvers first, before he pulled his carp net up....I said it looked a few pounds different to Phil's catch but he'd had 4lb more of silvers, and it did, he tipped in 48lb 14oz, giving his a total of 55lb 4oz, putting him in 2nd spot.
He was the last to weigh, confirming my 3rd place.

Weights Sheet

So a very slow and frustrating day with the well-stocked venue switching off. But I got my money back and was again thankful of my late meat-caught carp. Here is Ross Baker's account of things:
HLS Blog...........

Results:
1st - Peg 13 : Phil Beards, 56lb 10oz
2nd - Peg 19 : John Barker, 55lb 4oz
3rd - Peg 6 : Lee Williams, 44lb 6oz

Silvers:
1st - Peg 39 : Bob Pascoe, 19lb
2nd - Peg 40 : Rob Eagles, 16lb 1oz
3rd - Peg 34 : Paul Berry, 12lb 1oz

Next up for me is likely to be Sunday, with the PSV gang, on Sedges Tile Lake.
This weather, should it stay nice and warm and settled could lead to some very decent weights (lets hope I draw well....please).

Until then, take care.
Lee

A catch up blog.....

So although it has been a couple weeks since my last blog, well simply because I haven't had too much to write about.

Last Sunday (13th July) I fished with the PSV crew over at Landsend Fishery, we were on lake 3 and I managed to pluck peg 42 from the bag, not a bag peg with a nice margin, a weed/lily bed and the point of the island.
I set up a shallow rig for both up in the water and 'mugging' as a few fish were cruising but not looking right to mug. A short meat rig, a margin rig for down to my left and under my feet. Plus a depth pellet rig for against the island.

For company I had Steve Burgess on peg 44, Mark Radford on 41, Ryan Radford and Lionel Legge were on the far bank on pegs 70 and 68 respectively.



peg 42 Landsend Lake 3

The match produced only a handful of bites for me (and others), I mugged my 4 carp tight to the island, lost a carp by my feet and had 2 perch and missed a bite.....that's my 6hrs summed up.
Lionel had 4 fish in the first 40 minutes or so, then never had another all day.
Steve Burgess had 4 bites, I think, landing 2 carp.
Mark and Ryan did ok, with Ryan being more consistent in that he was getting bites, losing a few and landing a few. His old man did well in the last hour fishing down his right margin.

The winner on the day was Chris Szacaks with 55lb 8oz from p66. Steve O'Toole had 49lb+ from p58. Will Dearlove had 46lb+ from peg 50. Steve Sewell won the silvers with 12lb or so.

Weigh Sheets..

On the match lake on the same day, Tony Rixon's match was won by Craig 'Trigger' Edmunds with over 300lb....!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This weekend has seen me fish Viaduct for the Celtic Baits match, with 55 or so fishing we were spread over Lodge, Cary and Campbell.
I fancied a day fishing for the silvers so a peg on Campbell or Lodge would be best, actually with only 2 silvers places on offer via a 'super-pool' option fishing for them on Cary wouldn't be worth it.
There were plenty of venue regulars fishing, the likes of Dan White, Roland Lucas and Roy Worth just to name three, things would be hard to pick up an envelope. A decent draw was required.

I had decided to wait until my dreaded peg 130 had come out of the tin, and thankfully it wasn't the last peg left as Ian Graham picked it with 4 tickets left..!! Phew....
I did manage a decent peg in 81, the left side of the spit on Cary, one I thought would be worth a few fish. Dan White was on 80, the other side of the spit. We both commented on the fact there seemed to be a few carp mooching around the end of the spit and we may catch a few.....yeah we shall see.!!
I also had for company Steve Tucker, behind me, on peg 119....nice peg!!

I set up a lead rod for just off the spit, a meat rig for down to the monk to my right and a (biteless) pellet rig for against the spit at 13m. I did set up a silvers rig and mixed up some groundbait for absolutely no reason!!

Cary p81 Right Side

Cary p81 Left Side (and the Monk)

At the beginning, when then sun was on the water I had plenty of fish moving around the peg, not feeding, but I was happy enough to see some present.
On the whistle I fired a few 6 and 8mm pellets towards where I would fish the lead, I cupped in some meat and hemp down to the monk and some pellets tight in by the spit.
I began on the lead but after 15 minutes I had no indications, but I noted some colouring up down by the monk, and my 1st drop in with 8mm meat saw me connect to a carp, which was around 6lb and successfully landed. That was my only carp from that spot all day, the only fish I had from there were a couple of 4oz roach and a 3oz skimmer.

So other that the odd fruitless look against the spit on the pole, I stuck to the lead.
The first hour  or so did give me a few fish, only small ones by Cary sizes, averaging 7lb each. My clicker showed 52lb after the 1st hour, that was 7 carp.
The 3rd hour gave me a skimmer on the lead, nothing else.
The 4th hour gave me 2 small carp, both around 3lb each...proper Cary babies!!
Elsewhere I could see peg 66 on lodge was doing well (he was standing up to net each fish!), Mark Wynne on peg 99 was catching a few as was Steve Ayres over on peg 96(?). Campbell was quiet by it's usual standard and Tucks said he had around 50lb at this point but nobody, even Trig on peg 124, was catching regularly.

Into the 5th hour and it had really died for me, a couple roach and a lost skimmer was my tally here...oh I did land a 7lber towards the back end of that hour, and it was at this point that I could see Norm Sterry on peg 86 beginning to hook a few lumps and I counted 8 landed by the all out.
Roy Worth was now up and running and looked to be doing well from peg 100. Over on Campbell I could see Trig starting to catch a few on his short line, and Tucks was picking up a few with better regularity.
The last hour arrived and I had clicked 60lb on my 1st net and I had 1 fish in the second net at this point. By this last period was better for me as I got another 5 carp in the net (one was 3lb) but again I didn't have any of the Cary lumps, I don't think I had a double all day, which is odd for Cary (standard for me). I only lost one fish all day, that was last chuck, when the carp found a floating branch from the willows, the fish transferred the hook.
I ended on 15 carp (three 3lbers included) and a handful of accidental silvers.

I packed my kit up and waited for the scale. My section was being led by Nick Chedzoy with 125lb, he only had a handful of fish but they came late on and were generally mid-doubles!!
Dan's fish from peg 81 weighed a touch over 93lb before my fish (inc 5lb of silvers) weighed a total of 103lb 2oz for 2nd in section.
I let the scales carry on their way before loading my car and catching up with the scales at peg 97. A look at the board showed Norm's 8 fish weighed 94lb..!! Steve Ayres had 103lb 7oz, again big fish.
Roy Worth had 97lb or so before Mark Wynne had 128lb 14oz.

Back at the hut and the weights showed that Lodge had dominated with 3 of the top 5 nets and the 2 best silvers weights. It had fished ok generally with plenty of weights upwards of 90lb.

Results:
1st, Lodge peg 66, Paul Clayton. 184lb
2nd, Lodge peg 62, Paul Elmes. 163lb 12oz
3rd, Campbell peg 124, Craig 'Trigger' Edmunds. 147lb 5oz
4th, Cary peg 99, Mark Wynne. 128lb 14oz
5th, Lodge peg 57, Rob Wiltshire. 126lb 10oz

Silvers
1st, Lodge peg 69, Nick Ewers. 47lb 10oz
2nd, Lodge peg 70, Nigel Bartlett. 46lb 6oz.

So I had a day where the fish moved out with the sun and after the first hour it was a struggle, but I was happy with my efforts!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today I had a Pawlett match on the River Huntspill, a bit different to Saturday.
We had 27 or 28 fishing, so a really good turnout.
A bit of chatter and piss taking ensued before the draw, a peg towards the far end heading to Woolavington (pegs 128 to 132 please!!). I picked the 4th last ticket and found peg 146 in my hand, not the best but you never know.
So after we 'team-worked' people's kit over the gate we made our way to our pegs.
I arrived to a nice looking peg, but then most look decent on the 'Spill.

Huntspill, With Grove, peg 146

I had some marginal weed plus plenty of floating weed and duckweed in my peg pretty much all day.
For company I had Sandra on peg 147 and a newcomer on peg 145 in the form of Nigel(?)Venning.
I set about mixing up a good deal of groundbait before I began on my tackle.
I set up 2 pole rigs, the 1st for just past the weed at 11m, a 4x12 Carpa Chimp on 0.12>0.08>B511 size 20. The second was on the same line/hooks but for 14.5m in slightly deeper water using a 4x16 float.
A feeder rod was put up for 3/4 of the way over and a waggler rod were also put together.
Bait was 2 pints of each hemp, maggot and caster, plus I had 1/2kg of worm and nearly 5kg of groundbait.

The day started off sunny with no wind, but it was soon to cloud over and a small awkward breeze picked up and it looked rather 'breamy'.
At the all-in I cupped 6 balls of groundbait containing chopped worm and caster on my long line, while a small helping of maggot and hemp went in just past the weed.
I began on the feeder and soon had a 1oz roach followed by it's twin.
That was it for a while before a look on the waggler only gave me another roach, but it didn't seem right so I chucked that rod back up the bank for a while.
Back on the feeder and things were slow, I did manage a couple baby perch over the rest of the first hour before a tangle to the feeder saw me try the waggler again, but I suffered a tangle on this !!! Gggrr I was annoyed, so I fixed the feeder and lobbed it out while I sorted the float out.
It was after 10 minutes that I had a proper wrap round on double worm, bonus I thought immediately......it wasn't, it was infact a perch that probably weighed the same as the bait it was caught on!!

I spent the next  hour mostly fishing the feeder and at 11:30 I bagged a 6oz perch followed by a 12oz skimmer, which was handy.
It was soon 12 o'clock and I took a walk down to peg 145 to find he'd only had 6 or 7 small fish, heading back up to Sandra, Phil 'fester' Hembury and Eric Fouracre it seemed very slow, Sandra only had half a dozen small fish, Fester had a bream and a couple perch. Eric had a couple small perch or roach.
Bag to my swim and I gave the pole line a go, a look on the shorter line by the weed never gave a bite, it never gave me a bite all day. Out to 14.5m and I happened upon 3 perch of 3oz each before 5 or 6 roach of a similar size were soon in my keepnet.
It was now 1:00 and I guess I had about 2lb. Back onto the feeder and a couple roach of 1oz each were succumbed by my half worm hookbait.
Onto the pole again and another flurry of roach and a 4oz skimmer were a welcome addition.
Then it died on all lines, the last couple of hours were spent faffing on different methods and hookbaits. I only managed a solitary rudd on the waggler and a roach on the pole in the last minute were had in the last 120 minutes.

The all-out was called and I began to pack up, several peeps had not weighed in, but noises had filtered down that the pegs towards Woolavington had given nice weights of skimmers and bream, but the closer to the bridge you were the less you caught.
On my side of the bridge I was told that Phil Clapp and Rob Dodd had around 7lb each (their words), Eric had snared a bream with 15 minutes left. Other than that the first couple of pegs by the bridge both reckoned on 3.5lb each.

I loaded the car and  waited for the scales, when they arrived I saw a couple 20lb+ nets, a couple of 14lb+ and a couple between 7 and 10lb, all before a few dnw's!!
The first couple pegs on my side of the bridge had ounces over 4lb each, then a couple dnw's before my silvers I guessed at 2 to 3lb actually weighed 5lb 1oz, which was pretty good considering,
Sandra never weighed before Fester, Eric Fouracre and Dave Nash had 3lb 2oz, 4lb 7oz and 4lb 1oz respectively.
Mark Hembury dnw'd then came Phil Clapp and he put 9lb 4oz on the sheet, Rob Dodd never had that much and he had to settle for 2nd in section with 8lb 3oz, relegating me to 3rd in section.
Oh and Nigel Hull wanted to put his 2 perch on the scales and in doing so had 3oz.

So a day of effort, but I enjoyed it better than some recent days, but my decent skimmer or bream never arrived. But it was good to be back on a natural venue.

Results:
1st, Derek Beard on peg 128 with 24lb 4oz
2nd, Brian Gatis on peg 133 with 20lb 10oz
3rd, Keith Clapp on peg 129 with 14lb 6oz

Sections went to John Dursley on p131 with 14lb 1oz and Phil Clapp's 9lb 4oz from peg 152.

Weigh Sheet.
 



So that was my last week or so, varied, some enjoyable bits, some less so.
Not sure where I am next weekend yet as my diary is empty.

Until then, take care.
Lee