PSV Match, Shiplate Hawthorn. 30/08/15

Today a few of us had a match at Shiplate, on the Hawthorn canal lake.
It is a lake that I have done okay-ish on, I haven't come to terms with getting the most out of the middle couple of hours of any match I have fished on here, in fact I usually struggle and would be better off going for lunch up the road before returning for a few more carp!!

Anyways I arrived with loads of time left and sorted the trolley out, there were 2 other matches on the complex today, the open on the main lake saw a new match record of 203lb or so taken. I am not sure how the Westpool match went.
Back to the PSV match, the favoured pegs seem to be 1 and 15, though I fancied 11 to 13 to do well for no reason that pre-match saw a few fish up that area of the lake.
At the draw Brian Shanks drew favoured peg 1 and Adam Caswell on 15, most peeps agreed that Shanksy would win the match from there. I picked peg 3 and peg 6 wasn't picked but was left for the late arrival that was Steve Burgess.

I arrived at my peg to find I had Mark Radford for company on peg 4, he didn't like his pick, said he preferred my peg.

Shiplate Hawthorn peg 3

I went about sorting my kit out, a simple bait tray, 6 and 8mm pellets, hemp and 1/2kg of groundbait....oh plus my usual 8mm meat.
I set up a small method feeder as that's been doing well on the lake, but I struggle for such short casts and was hoping it wasn't to be the tactic to use,
4 topkits were put together, all on 0.18>0.14>b911 size 16.
The first was for down my left edge, tight in to the bank, where it was just over 2ft deep, meat over groundbait and hemp here.
The 2nd was for tight over at 13m, the contours across are crap, but I found around a foot of water here. Banded 8mm over cupped 6's as bait here.
The 3rd was for 2+2 distance in front fishing meat over hemp.
Lastly a shallow pellet rig for 2+2 line, where I expected some fish to come shallow late on in the match.

At the all in I deposited a cup of hemp and meat on the lines in front and down to my left before I went across with a tosspot full of 6mm pellets. After 5 minutes I found myself hooked, wrongly, to a carp, it came off after a couple minutes.
I did manage another, hooked correctly, across after 15 minutes, a nice 6lb fish.
After half an hour my meat and hemp line in front was fizzing so I went and dropped the rig in over the top, all I got was liners so I began to flick a few 6mm pellets over the top and the fizzing grew.
A look over the line with the shallow rig saw me into a lumpy carp 1st drop and after a couple minutes a fish pushing 11 or 12lb was residing in my keepnet. A smaller 3lber came a few minutes later before I spent 45 minutes without any more joy.
A couple fish down my left edge, including a 8lb mirror definitely were welcome additions.

So 2hrs in and I had around 30lb in the net plus a small skimmer. Brian on peg 1 seemed to be bagging a good few carp in this time and would be well ahead at this point I mused.
Mark Radford only had a couple small carp and a skimmer.
I then took another look on the deep rig and managed a 5lb fish, again before I sat fishless for another 30 minutes when a quick look across gave me a near 1lb chub.
It was now my 'blank period' as I went 2hrs from here on without a fish, only a lost foul hooker to show for my efforts.
A 15 minutes spent on the method feeder gave me a couple 3lb fish, but my casting was dire and I gave that up, especially as the bloody ducks were being a pain on my far line, so it was at this point I gave up on that area of my peg.
I also decided to feed solid balls of groundbait down my edge in a bid to add some active scent to the area.
All the while Shanksy was catching and Mark was beginning to catch a few on his short lines.

Into the last 90 minutes and as usually happens, my peg started to give me signs of life, though I couldn't seem to catch any shallow although they were present. It was my left edge that I concentrated on for the remainder of the match and luckily it gave up a few fish in spurts of 2's before a little wait, a few of these fish were nice 8lb fish, so going into the last 40 minutes my clickers showed 43lb and 23lb, so probably quite a way behind Brian and Mark still picking up a few fish I needed a few more in the last part of the match. No doubt a few others had been catching as we hadn't had any bank-walkers during the day!!
Indeed my last spell saw me put 3 more carp in the net making my clickers show around 82lb in total, the all out sounded and I really wasn't sure how I'd done, I reckoned Me and Mark had similar weights, but I had a couple lumpy fish which I hoped would help my cause. I reckoned Brian on peg 1, who'd been catching pretty much all day, was likely to win, but I had heard that Matt Challenger and Alan Healy both had a few carp each and it looked a tight contest.

I packed the gear up and took half back to the car before we found some scales and began the weigh in at peg 15 and worked back to peg 1.
Mr Caswell had a shade under 30lb, he reckoned no fish were there in numbers all day, yet he legged it to his hot peg!!
Ron Hardiman and Matt Taynton both had mid forty pound weights, though Matt had the best silvers net of the day (6lb 8oz).
Matt Challenger put 73lb on the board, then Ryan had 55lb and Alan 70lb. Mr Burgess had 30-something and then we saw Mark Radford had 71lb and a few ounces.
My turn to weigh and I was chuffed to plop a total of 90lb 2oz (inc 1lb 8oz silvers) on the scales.
Last up was Shanksy and his 22 carp, which I reckoned would go 110-120lb, but he said most were 2lbers, which to be fair are in bigger numbers on that peg. He said he had 80-something pound and he was not far wrong when his total was 80lb 7oz giving me a surprising win!!

Results:
1. Lee Williams (3) .... 90-2
2. Brian Shanks (1) .... 80-7
3. Matt Challenger (10) .. 73-4...
4. Mark Radford (4) .... 71-4
5. Alan Healey (7) .... 70-7
6. Ryan Radford (9) ... 55-12
7. Ron Hardiman (13) .. 45-6
8. Matt Taynton (12) ... 44-8
9. Steve Burgess (6) ... 32-13
10. Adam Caswell (15) .. 26-9

Silvers:
1st. Matthew Taynton with 6lb 8oz.



Weigh Sheet.



Oh and Steve took a pic of me with some of Brian's fish, lol, just for the PSV page/blog...

Me and some of Brian's fish.....!!! (pic pinched from PSV/Steve Burgess)

So again I had to endure my 2hr pointless, fishless spell again, but luckily the few early and late fish I had, which were of a better size than Brian's, definitely helped. I also nearly ran out of bait, after deciding to cut down on what I was taking, I ran out of hemp (1.5pts), I ran out of groundbait (1/2kg), I only had a handful of my pellets left of 6 pints. I only had a handful of meat left to from 2 tins. So next time I will resort back to my over-zealous self...!!

So next week I have, on Saturday, Pawlett's day out at Harescombe so plenty of bites expected and then on Sunday the PSV guys are (hopefully) at Trinity Waters on Woodland lake.
Until then, tight lines.

Lee

White Acres. August 2016.

A busy week passed this week, myself and the family had a 6 night stay down at White Acres, sadly the weather was awful pretty much for the first 4 days with only a few hours free each day, Saturday to Tuesday, to grab a few hours fishing. I fished Eery and had a good few carp, I had plenty of 4oz f1s and some barbel from Trelawny but struggled for more than a couple 'proper' carp.
An evening on Sycamore was met with another struggle on the carp side of things, I had 4 or 5 but it was the mental fighting barbel that I was pleased with, I had around a dozen to 7lb, they are the hardest fighting fish I have had on the pole, oh and I had loads of 8oz-1.5lb roach/bream hybrids on the pellet wag, it was a nice session.
On the Tuesday afternoon/evening I had a spell on Pollawyn where I had a 14lber hooked in the wrong end 1st cast, then some skimmers and more barbel, again I struggled for the carp despite others catching a good few. I think I had 4 carp, some f1s and a barbel on the method and around 50lb of mostly skimmers and barbel down the edge.

The Wednesday match was on Twin Oaks, where I got lucky in the draw bag and pulled peg 16, and with no 15 or 17 in the bag, signs were good.

Twin Oaks peg 16

I did fancy peg 5, but everyone commented how I should do well etc, but when I got to the peg I had fish right over and down the edge, tails waving (not always great).
To sum up my match, I had a few on the method, f1s and carp, a couple lumps down the edge along with some f1s and skimmers and the rest of my 124lb 8oz was caught in the pellet wag (until I snagged up and didn't re-tackle).
This was enough for the win and an invite to the Preston Festival in October and a free week at the All-Winners week, which I will be taking in 2016. So not a bad day there.

Thursday's rover wasn't great, I plucked 20 out of the bag and saw the hot pegs on Twin-Oaks taken and then Chris Davis chose Eery peg 13, which would have been my choice, I looked at the map and settled on peg 13 on Trelawny, more in hope than anything, at least a few bites would be had.
I arrived at my peg to find 2 guys after me chose pegs 14 and 12.....so I had no room, not good as that's what is needed for better weights.

Trelawny peg 13

The match started ok with a carp of 4lb right away on the method, but then it went dead, so I tried my lines with only a couple skimmers and a baby crucian.
In the end I went out to 14.5m (double-shipping due to the path) and caught plenty of 4oz f1s, only 1 decent one of 2lb. That's pretty much how I spent the last 2hrs of the match, I did lose a carp to a snag of carp-anglers line and I did bump a few off the hook, but I weighed a touch over 43lb for 20th.
Twin-Oaks won the match with 179lb from p17, Chris Davis was 4th, I think, with 120lb-ish from Eery p13.

Friday was home day, but I decided to spend the day, in the end, on Acorn.
It was a very productive day as I put myself on peg 13, 1st chuck on the method feeder saw the feeder snagged, I re-tackled and chucked it out again and it didn't even have time to settle before I had an f1, then a carp and another f1. I chucked the rod up the bank and decided to try an bag a few f1's at 13m shallow (I made an effort with these fish as I don't get to fish for them locally).
I clicked 150lb of mostly f1s to 3lb and a few small-ish carp. All the while I had carp under my feet and down my right margin, I didn't target these initially but after I got bored of slapping.
I went down the edge and under my feet to had another 350lb+ of mostly carp, including no less than 11 doubles to 18lb-ish, it was ridiculous, I even caught on a bare method feeder dangled under the rod tip by my feet. A hectic day. A rough vid that shows what it was like for around 3hrs, one after the other to 18lb.... (my facebook page has better quality video)

So a decent week down in Cornwall and although the weather was, in the main, appalling, I managed a few fish, a match win and learnt some stuff for future reference.

Next up is my write up on today's match down at Shiplate Hawthorn with the PSV guys.

Until then, take care.
Lee

Sedges Open, Tile Lake. 19-08-15

A couple weeks off for me at the moment, so I decided, along with 19 others, to fish The Sedges' mid-week open. Tile Lake this week rather than my favoured Brick, but after winning a small match on the same lake on Saturday I fancied it for a few fish wherever I end up.

I arrived in wet but calm conditions, only a slight breeze blowing from the car park end, but the slight breeze was due to be increasing throughout the day. I took a quick look up the lake and didn't really fancy the usual 'flyers' pegs 21 and 40, but 25 to 28 or 33 to 36 were my picks.
After a bit of a natter with some of the guys and a cuppa from Denise it was down to drawing, paying top 3 and top silvers today. I had bought bait for both.
I managed to sneak my hand in the bucket towards the back end of the queue, but only after Nigel Hull had waved peg 40 in my face and Mike Levy, who'd fish for silvers, drew peg 21. I did manage a decent peg in 39, but I felt the fish would have followed the wind and been up in the main ripple, which was slowly increasing along with the heaviness of the rain.

Peg 39 Tile Lake, Sedges

I arrived at my peg to find that I had Pierce Furlong on peg 38 and he had Mike West next to him on peg 37.
I went about sorting my kit out and decided against the silvers fishing and opted to set up a method feeder and a pellet waggler. A topkit to be fished at 6 sections was also in my armoury.
Bait was simply meat and hemp for the pole line and my usual method mix along with 6 and 8mm pellets.

I began on the waggler for 20 minutes without anything other than a lost foul hooked carp. A switch  to the feeder fished to the island gave me another 30 minutes without any action, but other than Westy on peg 37, I couldn't see anyone else catching anything. But just after 11am I had my first carp, a nice 8lb fish got me off the mark. A little spurt of fish on the feeder pushed my net up to around 50lb at the halfway stage, this was only 7 or 8 carp, which was nice as I seem to get pestered my the little 2lbers that inhabit the lake.
It was just before the halfway stage that I heard a massive splash and heard shouting from Pierce on peg 38, myself and Mike West were soon in his peg to see a rather wet Pierce bobbing around nearly in Mikes peg, his box and contents were floating everywhere. We managed to get him out and his box, but I would imagine that he lost most of the contents of it. Pierce's front legs gave way as he stood on his footplate and ended up in the drink. He packed up and went home, he aint no spring chicken so no doubt it put the wind up him. Hope he's fine.

Back to my match and it had slowed again for me, a few lost fish and a tackle robbing snag cost me a bit of time and weight, but a fish of 10lb or so broke my blank spell, caught on the waggler set 5ft deep.
As we approached 2:30pm my clicker showed 68lb, which wouldn't likely be enough as no doubt 1 or 2 guys, plus Mike's paste attack, would be plenty in front of me.
A couple more fish of around the 7lb mark were welcome, but I was losing a few fish due to hook pulls, most of these I believe were the squeakers with dodgy and small mouths, but a couple were around the 5lb range. A switch of hook pattern solved this and I had three 2lbers in quick succession.

The last hour was upon us and we were all wet as it hadn't stopped all day it seemed and the wind had meat that the waggler was patchy, though that line gave me a few fish throughout the day.
Chris Mawson, who'd been wandering around while the match was on told me that Westy had been sacking a few in the previous hour and I reckoned on him being well in front of me, Chris also said Steve Kedge had around 13 or 15 carp as had one or 2 others. Eric Searle was on his 3rd net by all accounts and had been consistent all match.
I came in to the pole line, which I had kept feeding all day with decent helpings every hour. My first couple of drops in gave me 6oz skimmers before I netted a 5lb carp, a lost foul hooker followed before I pulled out of another. 2 more skimmers and a 6lb carp, which went under my nets and caused me a few problems and it killed my pole swim.
With that the rain got heavier so I spent the last 15 minutes on the feeder, bringing me a 2lber at the whistle,
My clicker showed 83lb and I had 4 small fish in the second net (I chucked back my 2lb of skimmers).

I packed my sodden kit away and chatted to a few peeps before catching up with the scales, the board showed Eric with 174lb and a few mid/high 80lb nets, 17lb was leading the silvers.
The scales were weighing peg 36 and then it came to Mike West, I reckoned on him having a good few pounds more than me, especially when he said he had 60lb in 1 net and 20lb in another plus a near 14lb weigher.
He totted up a total of just over 115lb to jump to second spot, I knew I never had that, but guessed I had around 100lb. So it proved with my total going a shade over 104lb, placing me in third. Those hook pulls in the last 90 minutes cost me, but then Mike said he had lost half a dozen decent fish, so pretty much ifs and buts really.

Results,
1st, Eric Searle, 174lb 11oz (mostly on the method ??), peg 27.
2nd, Mike West, 115lb 15oz (mostly on paste), peg 37.
3rd, Lee Williams, 104lb 11oz (mostly on the method), peg 39.

Silvers was won by John Fuidge with 17lb-ish from peg 28 on meat at short range.

Viaduct Campbell and Cary. Pawlett Match. 16-08-15.

After blagging myself onto, and winning, a small match on Sedges Tile lake on Saturday (thanks to H.B.A.C for allowing me to fish) I was back to Viaduct with the Pawlett guys (and girls) with the intentions to fish for the silvers like I had done last week. We had 29 fishing today.
Obviously this would be peg dependant, so a peg on Campbell would be needed, and pegs 123, 125, 126 and maybe peg 111 would be the picks. I was really hoping to avoid Cary, especially for the silvers, but on the carp front only pegs 74, 80, 81 85, 86 and 102 would float my boat.

After giving Nigel Hull some nice pellets to try on the hair and discussing the pegs and options with a few of the guys it was down to the draw, we had 4 golden pegs with 123 and 115 being those with a very good chance of emptying a pot. So when Steve Fouracre drew 123 and Eric Fouracre on peg 115, the chances went up a touch. Though Steve was planning on fishing for silvers, peg 123 is THE draw to for non-carp catches but plenty of carp usually reside up there.
Back to the draw, I waited until there were only 3 or 4 pegs left to pluck and I soon found myself with Campbell peg 128, a spit peg, a peg I haven't ever fished before, but I wasn't displeased to be honest.

I arrived at my peg, after being prodded for peg info by various peeps. I had Kev Crouch to my right on the other side of the spit on p129. To my left, and simply fishing for silvers, was Mike Levy on peg 126. I would have my work cut out to pinch the single silvers pot today.

Viaduct Campbell peg 128.

I began to sort my kit out and mixed up some groundbait before getting the pole (with telescoped no.6 as I broke it yesterday).
I set up a lead rod so I could waste a few minutes here and there.
3 topkits were assembled, 1 for the silvers at 13m in the 11 o'clock direction. The other 2 were were with carp in mind, one for 2+2 in front for meat over hemp. The 2nd rig would be for 3 spots in the peg, against the spit at 13m, over the silvers line and just off some marginal grass, all 3 spots were the same depth.

Bait wise I had 8mm pellets, 8mm meat, hemp and some worm and casters for silvers.
Hookbait for the carp was 8mm meat on the pole. 8mm pellet on the lead.
The groundbait would be for the silvers and down the edge to my left.

After I had set up I went and had a chat to Mike on p126, he was using micros and expander and cw&c. I did mention that the better skimmers seem to like meat and occasionally come right into the edge where its only 3 inches shallower.
The all in was soon called and a little bit of feed was fed before starting on the lead........that lasted 25 minutes before it went up the bank, only a lost foul hooked lump was my only action in this stage of the match. A few carp had been caught by Mike Davis on peg 112, on the lead, maybe 30lb already.
Eric on peg 115 and Chris Higgs on 125 all had landed carp on the lead.

I went onto the long silvers line as there was plenty of blowing and the bottom being turned over, but all I managed over the next half hour was a couple 6oz skimmers and a 8oz tench.
Up against the spit gave me a 3lb carp but small roach and blade skimmers were holding the bait up.
So a look on the short meat line was made at around 90 minutes into the match and a 3lb skimmer was landed before a lost foul hooked carp ruined the skimmers fishing here.

At the 2hr stage I probably had 6lb of silvers and a couple squeaker carp from by the spit. Mike Davis hadn't stopped catching on the lead and was probably nearing 80lb. Mike was doing well on the skimmers and tench. Everyone else who I could see were not doing great, but I could hear that Chris Higgs on p125 was landing a few carp.,

It was at the halfway stage that I had a flurry of activity, netting a couple 2lb skimmers, a small tench and a carp all from the longer silvers line, all on double dendra.
Back to the spit and action was very slow, I plucked another 3lb carp, but generally it was just 2-4oz roach trying to take the bait, frustrating.
I chucked the lead out again while I opened a new tin of hemp and chopped up some more meat and low and behold I wangled a 5lber, that was my only fish of the day on the lead.

The next couple hours was poor though with only a few small skimmers and a couple baby tench netted. I wasn't the only one mind, Eric, Colin Haggett, Crouchy and the lad on pegs 118 and 119 too were struggling for consistency.
Just as we approached 3:30pm I had around 15lb of silvers and maybe 20lb of carp, but I was hoping that the meat line should kick into life.
And with that thought I had a bite on the meat and a 8lber was landed after a spirited battle.
The next look in gave me a 5lber and a couple nice skimmers came over the next 15 minutes or so.

Into the last 45 mins to an hour and I rotated the lines to find another couple of 3lb carp from the spit and the left edge. Mike Davis was still bagging and had put his 4th carp net in..!! I reckoned on him having around 180-200lb. He'd stuck on the lead all day.
By now my meat line was definitely showing signs of carp as a few swirls and plenty of fizzing was kind of obvious to their presence.
I had a run of 7 or 8 more carp to around 12lb and was hoping to get once each drop for this last period of the match. It didn't prove out that way but I did manage a few more, the last 3 all coning 12" shallow/deep. My clickers showed 44lb on each, but the second net hadn't added my last 2 carp as I knew I was well off the limits. I supposed I had 15 or 18lb of silvers.

The all out was called and it seemed Mike had won from p112 and from what I could see Chris Higgs had done well. But I had no idea about the guys I couldn't see, pegs 129 down and around and back to peg 111, plus Steve Fouracre up on peg 123.
I packed my kit away and waited for the scales to arrive.

Once Steve had arrived the best net was from John Dursley with 130lb, Pierce and Crouchy both had mid 40lb nets.
My turn to weigh and my silvers looked around 20lb and so they proved with 22lb 3oz, which I knew would be well behind Mike Levy and possibly Steve on peg 123.
My 3 weighs of carp was slightly higher than the clickers showed in total, with a combined value of 105lb 9oz (1 clicker showed 44lb and that net had 43lb). It wouldn't be enough to win a bean today unless Higgsy had lost all his fish and Cary hadn't produced any weights of note.
I watched Mike tip 46lb+ of silvers on the scales, nice. Before I went and loaded the car.

I managed to catch up with the scales at peg 116, where I got to do Mark Sweeting's tally, his was a shade over 103lb.
Next to weigh was Mike's catch, so some maths was needed by me, but all went well as his tally grew into 261lb 11oz, and he was  6 or 7lb over in one net. Great weight. He also never had any lumps, most of his fish were around the 6lb mark and like peas in a pod.
Kev Lock weighed in his carp, 42lb+ was his total from p111.
Big Nick Selway on peg 110 had a productive end to the match and recorded a weigh of 121lb+.

Back at the lodge and the results were sorted, with Cary being won by Jamie Cook with 165lb or so, he only had 15 fish I think he said, from peg 102 all on the lead.

Results:
1st, Mike Davis, p115 Camp. 261lb 11oz
2nd, Jamie Cook, p102 Cary. 165lb 8oz
3rd, Chris Higgs, p125 Camp. 152lb 5oz
4th, John Dursley, p132 Camp. 130lb 12oz
5th, Lee Williams, p128 Camp. 127lb 12oz
6th, Nick Selway, p110 Camp. 121lb 2oz

Silvers: all Campbell.
1st, Mike Levy, p126. 46lb 14oz
2nd, Steve Fouracre, p123. 37lb 6oz
3rd, Eric Fouracre, p115. 24lb 6oz
4th, Lee Williams, p128. 22lb 3oz

Campbell sheet

Cary sheet

So it was an okay, saved in the last 45 minutes, yet again, but the meat munchers.
It was a shame I couldn't fish for the silvers properly, but I honestly don't think I would have competed with 123 and 126. As for the carp, Mike Davis pretty much had it in the bag after 3hrs or so, he kept the fish coming to his lead and meat tactics.
I was pleased to get a new peg and avoided p130, and maybe I should have tried banded pellet by the spit, something to keep in mind for next time I get there,

Next up is Wednesday's match at Sedges, on Tile lake. I may try the Viaduct saver on Thursday.
Next week I am at White Acres from Saturday to Friday so I may sneak a bit of angling in there.
My next Sunday match is with PSV at Shiplate in a couple of weeks.

Until then, Take care and have fun
Lee

Viaduct Campbell, PSV match. 09-08-15

Only a short blog today as not much occurred throughout the duration of the match.

I arrived in plenty of time for the draw, thankfully the usual route to the venue is open again, saves using the A39. Only 13 fishing today, would have been nice for another 4 or 5 guys to fish, but either way we all hoped the bit of room would help boost weights......yeah okay, it's a PSV match!!

Mr Dearlove was on duty today and the pay-outs would be top 2 overall, top silvers and 2 sections (1 each bank). So on with the draw, I held back until the last 3 tickets were left, thankfully my usual peg 130 wasn't in the draw as a whole. The 3 pegs left in the tin were 110, 115 (golden peg) and 126, one for Will, one for me and one for Steve Burgess, I commented I was fishing for silvers so 126 would be my preference. I drew 115, a peg that is apparently a good peg, a peg I haven't fished before.
Will had 126 and Steve was down in the corner on 110.

I made my way to my peg to find I had Lee Waller on 114 and Pete Uzzell on peg 116. 2 guys who do ok at the venue.
I began to sort my kit out and mixed up my groundbait before 3 top kits were assembled.
A silvers rig for 11m in front, 0.14>0.10>16 F1 hook with solid 6/8 elastic.
A short meat rig for 2+2 in front to the left and to the right, this was on 0.18>0.14>16 B911 with silvers in mind I used solid 10/12 elastic,
Lastly a rig to use at topkit plus one section down each edge on my usual 0.20>0.16>16 B911x and 14/16 solid laccy....this gave me a 3lber, but I never tried it in anger.

Campbell peg 115

My choice of baits were worm and caster for the longer pole line (in between the tree reflections), hemp and 8mm meat fished for the skimmers and hopefully a tench or three, this would be at 2+2 distance, the left hand side would see hemp fed and the right just meat.
Oh, down the edges I fed 6mm pellets for meat over the top.

At the all-in (ish as I wasn't ready, along with a few others), I deposited 3 balls of groundbait and worm mix at 11m, a whole cup of meat and hemp went in to my left.
I began on the right, short meat line, in the first 20 minutes I had only 1 bite here so I went out over the groundbait with half a worm. Straight away I lost a foul hooked carp before a small skimmer of 3oz saved the blank..
Next drop in saw me connected to a carp, this took a while to get in on the light kit, but a 4lber was netted. A couple lost/bumped carp followed over the remainder of the first hour.

The 2nd and 3rd hours were a little better with around 6lb of skimmers and a 2lb tench duly landed, plus a couple carp both around 4-6lb. But bites were funny and I had resorted to fishing a whole worm, this had bought me a better bite when I had one. Smaller bits were getting pestered by roach and rudd.
Into the 4th hour and my short meat line gave me a couple 3lb skimmers/bream and I went for a walk as bites had began to tally off and I decided to chop another tin of meat up and top up my hemp.
I wandered down to peg 110 where Steve Burgess had apparently been bagging a good few fish by not fishing to the brambles, he reckoned on 80lb at that point.
Back to my peg and surveying the scene, only Mike Wilson was catching silvers, as he also intended and was likely to be ahead of me as it seemed like he'd been catching consistently and had a couple nice tench.
Lee on peg 114 was fishing down to the empty peg that is 113 and was beginning to catch a few after a very quiet 3hrs. On 116, Uzz was struggling and had only 2 or 3 carp and a couple skimmers.
Other peeps rumoured to be doing well were Mark Radford, despite him putting a float through one of his digits on his right hand. Chris Szakacs on peg 131 was catching a few, Adam Caswell was doing okay in fits and starts on my side of the spit (p128).
Further to my right it seemed Steve O'Toole was flying along too and I noted plenty of fish being netted from that area.

As we moved into the final hour my silvers had dried up and the carp had began to show, I had pulled out of 3 or 4 over the groundbait, but I was miles behind most people to warrant trying to catch up.
I came in on the shorter line hoping the skimmers had moved in and I was hopeful when I netted a 3lber from the right hand side, this was a false dawn as the carp turned up and that was my silvers action over for the day as I landed a few carp in the final 45 minutes despite trying to avoid them!!

As the all out was called I hoped I had enough silvers, I guessed maybe 25lb when Lee Waller asked what I had. But I knew Mike had been bagging a few throughout the day and chances are my quiet patches would be the telling factor.
I also reckoned I had 40lb of carp in the last 45 mins, all by accident, boosting my carp net to around 50lb, I'd have rather had 2 nice skimmers really.

I packed up my kit and had a chat with a few guys before the scales arrived at my peg.
When they did I had a look at the board and it showed a few 113/114lb totals, but Mike had put a shade over 30lb of silvers in his net, I knew I didn't had near that thanks to poor 1st and last hours.
My silvers did weigh 28lb 2oz, a nice net, but a sensible skimmer or tench away from winning the silvers purse. My accidental carp weighed 57lb 13oz, so around 45lb came in the last 45 mins or less. My total was 85lb 15oz, so at least it was a days fishing.

I went and loaded my kit before Steve weighed in from p110, Steve O'Toole was winning at this point with 121lb 8oz (knocked back 4lb). Steve's weighs totted up gave him 2nd spot with 119lb 4oz (he'd also chucked back 3 small skimmers...!!)

Results:
1st, p118, Steve O'Toole. 121lb 8oz
2nd, p110, Steve Burgess. 119lb 4oz
3rd, p131, Chris Szakacs. 114lb 1oz (section)
4th, p112, Mark Radford. 113lb 8oz (section)
5th, p126, Will Dearlove. 113lb 7oz

Silvers:
1st, p125, Mike Wilson. 30lb 3oz
2nd, p115, Lee Williams. 28lb 2oz
3rd, p119, Keith Ray. 13lb 9oz

Weigh Sheet

So it fished kind of fair, and in hindsight, given the peg, I should have fished for carp, but I wanted to try a few things out before next week when I am back on here (or Cary...want to avoid Cary) and want to fish for silvers again, I hope. In fact I didn't take enough of the right baits for a carp catching match, purposely, with next week in mind.
By the end of the match my peg was solid with carp, my long silvers line had plenty of them over the area, so I came away from it as I was feeling them as the bulk dropped through the water, the short lines were a bite a chuck....from carp!!

Until next time, take care.
Lee

A. Giles Memorial Match, Apex Lake. 02/08/15

Today was the Albert Giles Memorial Match at Apex Lake in Burnham-on-Sea / Highbridge, its a public park with plenty of the usual stuff that goes on being at such a venue, dog walkers, kids, bikes, joggers!!, inquisitive people plus a decent head of silver fish and a few carp.

With 25 down to fish the £15 entry was broken into £2 peg fee which Highbridge AA kindly donated back to the chosen charity: British Heart Foundation and a fiver from our entry went into the donation, overall £185 was raised, brilliant.

I arrived at the car park in plenty of time, only to be told that several day ticket anglers were fishing mostly from pegs 1 to 5, good pegs, so the numbers and pegs were altered a touch.
The banter flowed and I noted that the end few pegs on the long bank would be the area to draw, these pegs were 32 to 35 inclusive.
If you drew the island pegs then carp were a viable target, especially as the skimmers don't tend to haunt this area in large numbers. Lastly the area I didn't fancy were 6, 7 and 8 as the pegs opposite on this narrow channel were in the match, pretty much ruling out the chances of a decent net of skimmers.

After the rabble had drawn the tickets I was last in the bucket, I pulled peg 7, not impressed, not surprised though. So I made my way around to the other car park and set about getting to my peg and sorting my gear out. My peg and Brian Gatiss' (p8) and Phil Clapp's peg (p9) were all through the reeds. I had Chris Higgs opposite me (p28) and he had Colin Haggett to his left and Steve Giles to his right.



Front. P7 Apex



looking left, P7 Apex

Looking right, P7 Apex

Once at my peg I set up 3 rigs for the pole and a small method feeder (unused).
The pole rigs consisted of a 4x12 carpa chimp for my topkit line to my right, here I would feed hemp and caster hoping for a few decent roach and maybe a rogue skimmer or 2, or a decent eel (lots of eels in here to over 6lb). This rig was also used at 7m where I planned on chopped worm and caster.
A 4x18 float of the same pattern was for fishing various baits over a nice helping of groundbait at 13, the last rig, which remained biteless, was for my left edge and was for corn over hemp and 4mm pellets.

Hemp, corn, micros,  4mm, worms, caster and maggot were all on my bait trays, plus I wasted 1.5kg of groundbait.
After my initial feeding of the 7m and 13m lines I began on the topkit to my right, I caught a few roach and rudd in the initial half hour. Opposite me, during this spell, Chris Higgs had a few decent skimmers, he kept plugging away for the duration of the match.
Further along the end pegs from 32 to 35 all looked like they had netted a few skimmers.

After 40 minutes or so I went out over the 5 balls of groundbait I had fed at 13m, the float remained stationary over the next 25 minutes or so. On the hour I looked on the worm line and had a 6oz skimmer and a bootlace eel before bites stopped.

The next couple of hours remained quiet for me, picking up the odd fish close in and a couple over the 7m worm line. My 13m line was quiet of activity and I kept it in my mind to try nearer the end of the match.
A couple looks down the edge for carp were fruitless, but I felt you'd need at least a couple to stand a chance of getting in the money places (top 3 only), what more was I saw Paul Berry over on peg 24 lose a carp to his margin. Big Nick Selway (p33) was also having some action, in a 10 minute spell he played and landed a friggin big eel of 6 to 7lb (I had one way back in to 90's just under 7lb from the lake), un-be-known to me he went to put it in the keep net but the top ring collapsed an the snake found the safety of the lake again............!!! His next drop in on the pole saw him connected to a carp (they average 6-7lb), but he lost it at the net. He was catching a few decent skimmers though and along with Mike Davis on end peg 35, looked to have been building a nice net of fish.

As we approached the last hour I reckoned I had near 3lb and Chris Higgs opposite must have near to 10lb, also his neighbour Colin was beginning to net a few on the pole after a random attempt to catch on the pellet wag (okay!!). A nice eel of 1lb off the long pole line gave me hope that it may have come to life, especially when I foul hooked a rudd of around 1.5lb, this came off though which cheesed me off.
Another fruitless look for carp down the left edge was followed by me coming in shallow on my topkit, this is how is spent 45 minutes of the last hour, putting about 5lb in the net, quality roach and odd 3oz skimmer plus the usual 1oz fish. I still thought I was miles behind and the last 15 was spent long and down the edge looking for a bonus bream or (preferably) a carp.

The all out was called and I figured I was miles behind as I hadn't heard any news of the island pegs, plus I generally thought the pegs 32 to 35 would be the place to be. Chris would have more than me, but I didn't think Colin would be ahead of me despite his late flurry of skimmers.
I wished that I had gone and fished to plan and fished for the roach up in the water, I didn't, I hoped for some skimmers and a few decent eels.

Soon enough Phil Hembery was at my peg with the scales and board, only Dick Hurford on peg 6 had weighed, I couldn't see him all day and he's a quiet chap. 2lb 7oz was Dick's net.
I popped my 'over 3lb' net on the scales and settled at 10lb 4oz, slightly more than I thought, I was cursing in my head that I should have stayed, or started earlier, fishing for roach, especially when Phil said nobody had a carp from the island pegs and peeps had struggled. I also managed to get a slightly wet foot as I stepped back to see the scales and promptly missed the pallet....luckily my leg remained dry!

I stayed on scales duty and Brian tipped back maybe 5lb, before Phil Clapp looked like he'd go close to my net but fell just short with 9lb 11oz, consisting of around 9 nice eels plus a few roach/silver bream. Not much occurred around the island until we got to the 1st peg on the long bank, Paul Berry on carp-peg 24 put his bunch of skimmers on the scales with 8lb 9oz. (the same as Pete Manning who weighed before him).
A couple 5lb+ nets and a dnw preceded Chris Higgs, he moved ahead of me by 9oz, he'd plugeed away picking up 6-10oz skimmers throughout the match but had a quiet spell in the last hour.
We weighed a few more before Nick pulled his net out, remember he'd tipped back a 6lb+ eel and lost a carp in a funny 10 minute spell. His net looked rather bulky with skimmers (for the match) and he took the lead with 11lb 6oz. Mark Sweeting weighed 9lb 8oz from p34 but had suffered 'chip shop syndrome' and was battered both sides as peg 35, Mike Davis took the match with a fine net of 12lb 3oz, mostly small skimmers to 1lb.
This pushed me to 4th, one out of the money, but we were there to raise a few quid for charity, which we did, so it wasn't too bad.

Results:
1st, Mike Davis, peg 35. 12lb 3oz
2nd, Nick Selway, peg 33. 11lb 6oz
3rd, Chris Higgs, peg 28. 10lb 13oz
4th, Lee Williams, peg 7. 10lb 4oz
5th, Phil Clapp, peg 9. 9lb 11oz

Weigh Sheet.

A pretty fair match even if weights were less than expected and to be honest the lack of carp definitely helped with that.
In hindsight, I should have ignored the skimmers and fish shallower for the roach, as I had been advised, but knew or rather thought that they'd be needed plus a couple carp at least. But the skimmers never showed like they can and only 3 or 4 carp were hooked and lost all day (the couple of carp anglers fishing did have a few over spombed pellets).
The pegs I figured would do well and they did. Plus I suffered from bumped fish and fish that fell off while swinging them in, a lost foul hooked rudd never helped. But then everyone loses fish so cant make excuses, I will try harder next time though.

Next up is Campbell lake on Sunday with PSV, but I may make a trip up to Durleigh on Saturday if I don't fish a match at Landsend or Acorn.

Take Care.
Lee

P.S.....A big thank you to those who took part and to Highbridge AA who donated the peg fees to the charity, plus Chris Higgs who put £40 of his own money in the donation. Plus thank-you to Pawlett Legion for the food laid on after the match and to Phil Hembury etc who organised the event. Thank-you.