Avalon Teams of 3, Round 2, 18-12-16

Been a while since I should have blogged this, but to be honest the match, as far as our team goes, was one to forget.

I arrived in due course and Eric went and done the draw, he drew us exactly the same pegs as in the previous round with Eric on peg 11, Steve on 48 and myself on peg 29.

I had Keith Clapp to my right on p27 and matey Paul Wharton to my left on peg 30.
Same rigs as the previous round. Same baits to go with them.

To cut a long story short I ended up catching a few silvers on shallow waggler fishing maggots across towards the island, a bit of a chuck, but with a few fish boshing along the island it had to be done.
Paul struggled throughout the day, finished last in his section,  Keith struggled until the last hour when he managed 3 carp on the pellet waggler to take 5th in section.
'B' section really is a tough one to call and do well in, Tom Thick fished really well to win on the day, including 21lb of silvers, well done him. But the section had the top 3 weights overall come from it. Then it was Lewis Jones who was 5th overall...I could see 3 of these guys catching all day, so it was a matter of hoping for a couple carp and picking up an extra point or 2.

Steve managed a section 3rd I think and Eric was 2nd last in his section, as a team we ended up 8th on the day and drop from 2nd to 6th in the overall standings. Still a way to go yet with 8th of January the next round.

Results:
1st -Tom Thick - Mosella Gold. 54.7 from peg 21
2nd -Martin Lenahan - Somerset Carpenters, 53.14 from peg 26
3rd -Tom Mangnall - Mosella UK, 37.15 from peg 24
4th -Pete Wild  -Mosella UK,  37.10 from peg 42
5th -Lewis Jones - Thyers, 37.3 from peg 16
6th -John Fuidge - Fu Fighters, 33.7 from peg 5

Silvers
1st, Tom Thick with 21.13

I have had a few nice days fishing since including Viaduct, Trinity, Sedges, the KSD and Brue, mostly fishing the waggler and picking up a few silvers and not many carp (well 1 I think) but it's been dry and mostly sunny so it's all been enjoyable. But that's winter fishing.

Not sure where I am next, maybe Sedges next week, if not then 8th of Jan is the next round of Avalon's Teams of 3.

Until then take care.
Lee

Pawlett Club Xmas Match, The Sedges, 11-12-16

This weekend was that of PSV and Pawlett's Xmas Matches, so as is generally the way it goes for me, it was Pawlett's at The Sedges for me (and 33 others). A mild week preceded the day, but Saturday night saw a drop in temps and when we arrived there was almost a frost and the temperature gauge was showing a balmy 2 degrees as I made my way to the fishery. I arrived to a very full car park for the 8am draw.

Trolley loaded, nets collected, tea served (with thanks) by Denise and the draw would soon be made, but 10 minutes or more of chit chat with a few guys and the usual ideas on where each of us wanted or didn't want to be drawn for the day. Me, well I wanted Brick Lake, firstly it is because I prefer it but expected Tile to be more consistent, secondly I won the corresponding match last year from the lake, and lastly I cannot ever seem to catch silvers from the Tile Lake. Pegs 8 around the top end and down to peg 13 was where I wanted to be, peg 12 being may favourite. Golden pegs were 32, 22 and 40.

Nearly last in the basket, after pegs 8 around to 13 had gone......I drew peg 15, not too bad but I was still inclined to think I was maybe 2 or 3 pegs away from the bulk of fish, especially as a warmer south/south-westerly wind was due to pick up as the day wore on. Getting at my peg I found I had Mark Leader on p14 and Paul Lock on peg 16. Rich Coles was up in the corner on peg 11, which was definitely showing signs of carp.....well to be fair the lake was showing a few all over as we assembled our arrays of tackle.

Peg 15, Sedges Brick Lake

So I sorted my bait and tackle for the day:
Wag and mag, feeding groundbait around two thirds of the way to the rope.
Lead and bread or meat, fished from the waggler line and beyond.
A short meat pole rig, fished over groundbait at 6m.
A silvers rig for maggot or expanders over 2 lines at 14, one with micros in line with Jason King on peg 5, the 2nd with groundbait in line with Jamie Parkhouse over on peg 7.

The 9:30am all-in was called and I fed the 3 pole lines before starting on the waggler, some 20 minutes passed before I had a couple small skimmers and a roach before it went quiet. Rich Coles already had a carp and a few skimmers had been snared too.
Out on the lead and bread, so I could have a cuppa, and a 6oz skimmer was bundled into the keepnet 15 minutes later.
On returning to the waggler I was getting a few bites but they were not resulting in fish, probably small roach as Paul on p16 was suffering the same on the pole. It was fishing tricky though all over.

12pm came and I chucked the waggler back out and had the rod pulled out from between my legs as I grabbed my catty, a spirited battle saw me win and a carp of around 9lb landed.
I hoped for more, well hope is all I managed.....
Meanwhile up on peg 11 it was Rich Coles landing a few lumpy beasts on whatever tactic he dare try and really it looked like he'd sail into the distance in regards to winning, at least, the lake. The rest of us were hoping for a run of skimmers and carp to compete.
Mark on peg 14, who was contemplating going home, was getting a few 2lb skimmers and a few palm sized specimens of the same species and was doing well. Everyone else was on 2 or less carp.

We were now at around 1:15pm and I managed to get a foul hooked carp on the feeder (I had switched to that from a lead hoping for skimmers), a prolonged battle saw me land a common of about 11lb which was a bonus. It was a bonus as the rest of the match saw both running lines not produce another fish between them.
So the last 2 hours and 15 minutes was mostly spent on the pole lines, hoping to get some proper skimmers and maybe a carp or 2.
I didn't manage any more carp but just the odd small roach succumbed to my maggot hookbait, I couldn't get a bite on expander yet Locky on my left and Mark to my right were getting a few skimmers and they'd both had a carp each, on 4mm expanders. But I was doing ok really with only Rich on peg 11 and Mark Sweeting on peg 12 doing better from what I could see, but then a couple of quick lumps would change things around.

3 o'clock soon came and I had managed a nice 2.5lb tench which gave a nice little battle on the skimmer kit. Mark had at least 10lb of silvers and 1 carp. He hooked and landed another lumpy carp on his skimmers kit around this time. I suppose he must have 20lb of carp, similar to me, but had 10-12lb of silvers or more at the all-out.
I spied a few bubbles over my short meat line and the last half hour was spent hoping to connect with a fish or 2 from this short line, especially as the long lines were not doing anything worthwhile.
I did get 3 bites in the last ten minutes, liners methinks, but I never did  hook any, but that's the way it goes. Oh Paul Lock on peg 16 hooked a carp a minute before the finish and landed it after the hooter. He probably had the same-ish as myself as he'd had some skimmers.

I packed my gear away, loaded the car and waited for the scales, they had to weigh Tile and we heard of a couple upper 40lb nets and John 'plug' Fuidge had again underestimated his silvers haul, admitting to mid-teens only to have 24lb of them.....Rich Coles looked to have won overall as I reckoned on him having 50-55lb.
Scales arrived and the sheet showed Rich winning on 53lb-ish and peg 12 had 26lb. Mark Leader then put his fish on the scales to have 33lb+ before I managed 27lb 6oz with my 2 carp combined totalling 21lb. This gave me 3rd on the lake and 7th on the day.
Locky was 2oz shy of my total, that last gasp carp almost overhauled me....haha.
We left them to continue the weigh in and I made my way home before Mr Paul Berry gave me a lift to the Legion where the presentation was done and sausage and chips consumed.

Thanks to the Club for the prizes we all got and the food.

Results:
1st - Rich Coles, peg 11, 53lb 10oz
2nd - Mark Hembury, peg 36, 48lb 7oz
3rd - Kev Lock, peg 37, 44lb 3oz

Silvers:
1st - John Fuidge, peg 24, 24lb 14oz
2nd - Jamie Cook, peg 26, 18lb 2oz

Brick. Weigh Sheet.

Tile. Weigh Sheet.

So I needed one more decent carp for 2nd on the lake, but that wouldn't have got me into the top 3 but maybe had won me the section ahead of Mr Leader. Actually the 3 of us in a row all had 2 carp and each of us weighed 21lb of them. A tidy average size is that.

Next weekend is the next round of the Avalon Teams of 3, a nice day catching 45lb of skimmers would be cool.

Until then.....have fun
Lee

Shiplate Teams of Three, final round, 04-12-16

I couldn't see the point of writing this, but as I insist on doing it properly I decided that I should, however it may well be less-than-interesting. So Shiplate Teams of 3, last round.....

A frosty night on Saturday didn't give me hope of a decent day fishing the last round of the Teams of 3 series at the popular venue just outside of Weston-Super-Mare. On the team front we had a really slim chance of a top 3 place, so it was really about myself, Tom and Titch doing our best to put some face on our showings.

I arrived in loads of time, looked at the lakes and there were areas that had ice covering the swims, but on the Main Lake (where I would be) the aerator was on, now this is a concern for me as I have found that it tends to be that fish get pushed away from the area as the ice-melt gets mixed up with the rest of the water. Sometimes it can have the opposite effect, but more so in the summer.
There are loads of silvers in the lake that should see some bites, plenty of carp too, but they seemed to have shut up shop there. The pegs I fancied were 12 and 14 (well 1 and 15 would be nice) as the far bank gets the sun all day and can be somewhat warmer in the winter.
I wasn't mad on 6, 7, or 11 as these are likely to have been most affected by the aerator and with 7 unlikely to get any sun to warm the top layers during the match, that would be my last choice of peg. It is a good peg though and has been good for top 2 in section for each round, that was before nearly 2 weeks of coldness and a match that finished 30 minutes earlier.

Tom done the draw, drew Titch peg 5 on Hawthorn, but that looked hard with the water level up maybe 10 inches. Tom had peg 6 on Westpool, again not a great peg especially as it was just out of the iced up area. Pegs 11 to 15 would have been better. He told me I was on peg 7, with Mark Wynne on peg 1, the chances of section winning was slimmer than normal.
But I wasn't too displeased and had a job to do.

Arriving at my peg, pretty much everyone told me where to fish and how, but it was all the same and pretty much as the plan formed in my head would be.

Shiplate, Main Lake peg 7.

I set up a waggler for maggots/casters to search the peg with, should the wind allow.....it didn't.
A lead for bread/pellet/meat, again to search the peg.
A method feeder for across towards the island.
Also 2 pole rigs, the 1st was for 14.5m down to my left using Bait-Tech Polony over some maggots. The second rig was my silvers rig for 2 spots at 11m fishing expanders over micros in line with the right edge of the island. The 2nd spot was at the same distance for fishing maggot/pinkie/caster over a little groundbait. This rig was fished on a 0.3g float, 0.12>0.08>6313 size 20 (then 22).  My swim though was out of the sun's rays and was somewhat cooler than those opposite and later in the day the pegs to my right.

I wont go into the details on how I fished, but to be fair to myself, I feel I fished a tidy enough match. Started on the method, switched to the lead, tried the waggler. Looked occasionally down the left edge - caught a friggin big branch thing. But mostly spent the day on the pole with pinkies as hook bait.
I went for a wander around 1:30pm and only Mark Wynne on peg 1 had caught, a decent skimmer and few sprat roach, but he'd had them very early in the match. The rest of us were blanking.
The far bank were getting odd small silver and Julian Pinkett was doing the best on that front. Mark Radford on peg 14b had 2 carp. Simon Ryall on peg 11, he'd not had a bite either at this point.
I wandered to see Titch and he'd only had a roach and a small carp, which I think is how he ended.

As we went into the last hour or so the pegs to my right started to see some of the sun's rays and they began to pick up the very occasional roach or skimmer. I stayed in the shade doing my hardest to pick up a bite or 2....they never came and at the all-out I was still biteless. My 1st ever match fishing blank.
As I packed up the sun had started to hit the water in front of me I saw a couple of roach plip on the surface. Ah well.

On the day it wasn't good for us, Tom only had 2 roach from his peg, Titch didn't get anywhere in his section and I blanked, so it would not have been a shock to see us last on the day.
So in the series we haven't generally had the best of times at the draw bag, but Tom and Paul Tidball (my cover in round 3) won the match days from flyer pegs 1 and 15 respectively. Myself and Titch plucked a silvers win each and Tom another section. But when we blew-out, we did it in style!!

However the league's leaders in both the team and overall individual stakes had put 2 section wins and a section 4th on the board  in the round (Dave Romain had 57lb+ to win overall on the day, Mark Wynne had 2lb 6oz to take my section and Dave White had 15oz to beat 2 in his section). This meant they won the day on weight comfortably.
Their Up The Farmers team had won the series, had top individual and amassed over £1500 over the 6 rounds. Massive well done those 3.
Local and venue Silvers expert Ron Stark had unsurprisingly won the series Silvers prize.
Wormheads came 2nd in the series followed by the PSV team of Matt Taynton, Lionel Legge and Alan Healey.

So that was that, not sure if I will get a team together for 2017, the limit is 10 teams with 5 booked in already.

I would like to take the chance to thank Steve and Carol for running the series and being their genial selves throughout. Plus those others who assisted in the smooth running of the series. Thank you and see you soon, hopefully more in 2017.

Thanks to Bait-Tech for their support to the team I was in, great products and efforts very much appreciated.

Next Sunday sees me at The Sedges for the Pawlett Legion Club's Christmas Match, I won it last year and also had the golden peg so would really appreciate a repeat result.

Until then. Have fun.
Lee

Avalon Silvers League. Final Round. 3-12-16

Covered for Dave Chidzoy today in the Avalon Silvers League that Vic Bush has run over the last couple of months or so. No chance of a league pick-up on behalf of Dave, well unless I caught 70lb of skimmers etc, not likely really!!

I got there in loads of time, plenty of chat happened, but it wasn't difficult to notice the cold north/north-easterly wind that was prevalent. So I was hoping for a draw on the right hand/road bank as the wind would be mostly off the anglers' backs and perhaps feeling a little warmer, plus it seems to be the most consistent area of late for the non-carp varieties that inhabit the lake.

Monies paid and draw done, I had the last peg in the bag and found myself up on peg 17, I don't think I have ever been on that peg, but it was in the area that Jason King had around 12lb last Sunday from. But the winning pegs can come from anywhere, just angler hunches that need proving good or bad, but I knew 12lb would likely be a top 4 weight given the weather we have encountered this last week or 2.....well unless the fish went on a monster feed-up anyway.
On arrival at my peg I found I had Paul Berry on peg 15 and the next angler was Pete Neate on peg 19, who didn't get to his peg way after the draw, I was thinking that I was going to get an end peg advantage....they are most welcome in the silvers matches on this venue.

My peg didn't look too appealing, other than the odd carp off a fallen tree at the end of an island, I only saw the odd plip roach and a couple skimmers, but they were all over the other side in and around peg 28-30 (not pegged).

Peg 17, Avalon.

I went about sorting my equipment for the day, pretty simple really in terms of bait and rigs.
Bait was 4mm expanders, micros, maggots and some casters. I also mixed up a little groundbait and had a few pinkies for the hook.
3 rigs were put together, an 0.6g NG decker with bulk and 2 droppers (0.10>18 b911f1) and two 0.3g of the same floats, one was for down each edge (Left = maggots. Right = casters on 0.10>16 b911f1) and one for fishing through the water on my lines in front (0.08>20 b511).
I fed 4 lines in front of me, two at 13m and two at 6m. The left hand directional lines would be for fishing mostly expanders over micros, the 13m right hand line was fed with groundbait and maggot.
The right hand 6m line was just loose fed casters and maggots.

At the all in I fed 2 smallish balls of groundbait and half a cup of micros on the appropriate 13m lines. The edges would be fed by hand, as would the 6m line for maggots/casters. The shorter micros line would be toss-pot fed only.
I wont mention the 4 shorter lines as I never had a bite from any of them, well never had any bite that resulted in fish.
So to cut the rest of the day short, I hooked and lost a carp 3rd drop in over the groundbaite but it was a matter of hoping a handful of 2lb+ skimmers (or crucians/tench/perch) would make an appearance to build a weight. It actually wasn't a bad day, I found by toss-potting feed over each line and fishing the opposite I could get a couple roach, or odd 3oz skimmer before swapping lines. Nothing hectic but occasional fish being put in the net was all that was needed. I did manage 3 skimmers of about 1lb-1.5lb, they came at 11am, 12pm and my final one was at 2:20pm, all 3 came over the micros line and fell to expander tipped with pinkie.

Elsewhere I spent most of the day watching Pete on peg 19 put a fish in the net pretty much every drop, he had big skimmers, a crucian of 2lb and a big perch in his net and by the end of the match I thought he had around 13lb, I did wind a few up by reckoning on him having 20lb+.
Paul Berry was struggling, as was a lot of people, only the odd skimmer, perch and a few roach were getting caught, but I heard that Rich Coles on peg 34 was looking though he would win the match, John Fuidge on peg 39 had a pike (also he reminded me that he had 17lb+ on Sunday, not the 16lb+ I blogged!!) but he was getting a few fish, as was Vic Bush who was getting fish regularly on the waggler.

At the all-out I thought I probably had 5 to 6lb and had done just about ok.
I packed up my gear, quickly, and followed the weigh-in. First to weigh was Tony Rixon, end peg 5, he had a couple decent skimmers in his 10lb 1oz total, then we saw several anglers put between 2 and 6lb until we got to me. My 3 skimmers and other assortments pulled the needle on the scales to 8lb 3oz which was 2nd at that point. Pete on peg 19 had 13lb 11oz.
The road bank weighed, Rich Coles weighed first with 16lb 5oz of nice skimmers, then we saw a few weights up to 5lb, but Vic had 9lb 1oz and then the other notable was end peg, John Fuidge whom had 8lb 15oz. So I had come 6th and by default collected my section monies.

Results:
1st Rich Coles - 16-05, peg 34
2nd Pete Neate - 13-11, peg 19...
3rd Tony Rixon - 10-01, peg 5
4th Vic Bush - 9-01, peg 37
5th John Fuidge - 8-15, peg 39
6th Lee Williams - 8-03, peg 17

In the series overall Vic won ahead of John Fuidge, Chris Fox and Ken Rayner.

So a tricky, but fair day and I quite enjoyed it and glad to put some money back in my wallet for a change. I figured a few things out and it was nice to fish again with light laccy and light lines
Tomorrow is the last round of the Shiplate Teams of 3, realistically we don't have an overall placing to fish for, but section, lake and silvers monies are on the agenda for myself, Tom and Titch. Main Lake for me. Fingers crossed.

Until then, have fun.
Lee

Avalon Teams of 3, Round 1. 27-11-16

Called to duty to fish this series again by teamies, Steve and Eric Fouracre. After our closely fought 2nd spot last year when the usual winners The Sedges (Jamie Cook, Phil & Keith Clapp) just about pipped us to the top spot. I think we are going by the Over 50's name, I must look old....!!
Only 5 rounds, well spread this year, with the last round in April. There is also 10 teams taking part with some very good anglers in the mix. Mosella have 2 teams, Pete Wild, Vic Bush, Tom Mangnall and Vince Brown to name 4 of the anglers. Nigel Garrett, Tom Thick and his dad are another team. Plenty of other very good guys taking part as well.

Anyways, a bunch of chatter before the draw was undertaken. Our team was one of the last to go and we ended up with a less-than-good draw. Steve Fouracre was on end peg 48, but it isn't the greatest end peg. I was on 29, a less than favourable peg as peg 30 (in the next section) is better. But it isn't the worst draw and I had peg 28 empty. In my section there were at least 4 pegs I would have chosen ahead of mine, 19 (end of island) and 21 (snaggy gap, better side) and the two corners 23 and 24.
For company I had Tom Thick on peg 30 and Glynn Wickham on peg 27, Phil Clapp was on peg 26.
Eric had peg 15-ish, not too bad to be honest, but he was in a tricky section with the lower numbered pegs more fancied.

Peg 29 at Avalon

Looks fishy.....it wasn't!!

A lead/feeder rod was assembled, for casting towards the back of the snaggy gap, I would be using pellets and bread there, I could feed over the top due to the wind that was pushing from right to left.
3 pole rigs were put together, one for the nice looking edge to my right towards the empty peg. Here I would feed maggots and fish bunches over the top.
The 1st silvers rig,  (0.3g NG gimp, 0.14>0.10>16 B911f1.  A 8 solid laccy.) which incidentally went biteless was for fishing at topkit distance to my right around the bale of hay, I would fish casters over casters through the water. This line is usually my banker for some roach and maybe the odd surprise in the form of tench, crucians and bigger perch.
The second rig incorporated the same float and lines etc but was in 0.5g to allow for the wind which was due to increase in strength and a 6 elastic to suit.
This 2nd rig would cover 3 spots in the peg, 2 at 13m in two directions and 1 at 6m or so.
The longer lines consisted of groundbait on one spot, micros on the other with expanders, maggots and caster to fish over the top.
The short line was purely a line for expanders and micros.

At the all-in I began on the feeder, not much happened for me in the first hour, but Phil on peg 26 had a long fight with a carp on his number 4 elastic and Tom had bagged a carp and some skimmers on the pole. Glynn hadn't caught more than a couple roach.
My 1st fish was at 11 o'clock and was a small roach over the groundbait, but then it never gave me a bite. So back on feeder and I had my 1st carp, maybe 5lb, well hooked in the pec.
Another 20 minutes, fishless, on the feeder (switched to a lead) saw me spend the next 3hrs on the pole where I hoped for some of the venue's larger skimmers/bream.

My 1st skimmer came over the groundbait to pinkie and maggot combo and was around 6oz, a couple of roach followed before it died.
Over the micros at 13m and a 4mm expander gave me a couple 6oz skimmers, again it died.
This period of time saw me swap between the two long lines and picked off the odd skimmer and roach to 8oz, actually I had a perch of around 12oz over the groundbait. I also picked up 3 or 4 skimmers of the same sort of stamp from the 6m line, on expander.

At around 2pm I had a look on the lead and I immediately had my 2nd carp, similar sized to the first at 5lb or so. But that was my action there for the day.
Glynn at this point had his 1st carp, a 3lber on the feeder. Phil was still on his 1 carp but had some silvers.
Tom was doing well and looked to have at least 11lb of silvers and had 3 or 4 carp, but one of which was about 12 or 13lb. Thankfully he wasn't in my section.
Elsewhere in my section I could see Pete Wild up in p24 catching a few as were Lewis Jones on peg 19 and the guy in 21 had 3 or 4 carp. Jason King also had some big skimmers and a couple lumpy carp that tried to 'do him' under his platform. So my 5th in section looked about right, I also expected peg 23 to have had some carp, but couldn't see him well enough.

As we entered the last hour the wind got a lot stronger and noticeably colder, this killed sport for us up at this end and the 60 minutes saw me only put a couple 4oz skimmers and a roach in the net, no indications on the lead either saw me hoping the 2 guys to my right don't catch, thankfully they didn't and the all-out was called.
I reckoned on 8lb or so of silvers and 10lb-ish for my couple of carp. Anything higher than a section 5th would be a bonus to be honest.

I packed up, loaded the car and followed the weigh in, but didn't pay too much attention to the weights. When we got to me, Eric had 2nd in section from his peg. My section had 3 weights I wouldn't beat, so tipping my fish onto the scales saw 2 identical weights, 11lb 5oz to each my carp and silvers. 22lb 10oz my total. 4th in section, so a result of sorts.
I followed a bit further and saw Tom Thick have 13lb of silvers and 30lb+ of carp.
John Fuidge's usual under estimation of his silvers saw him have 16lb of skimmers and bream.
Steve Fouracre did well and I think he was 3rd in section, maybe 2nd.

The results were soon sorted and envelopes dished out. Turns out that Steve and Eric had both got default section money and we had finished 2nd behind The Sedges on the day. Jamie and Keith took 1st and 3rd spot on the day, both winning their sections.

Individual winner was Jamie Cook with mid-40lb's
Individual silvers winner was John Fuidge with 16lb+
Top 3 Teams were, The Sedges, Over 50's and then Thyers.

Next round is on the 18th of December I think, but next weekend I have the last round of the Teams of 3 at Shiplate on Sunday. But on Saturday I am covering for Dave Chidzoy in the final round of the Avalon Silvers Series.

Until then, stay warm and take care.
Lee

Shiplate Teams of 3, Round 5. 13-11-16

Penultimate round of the Teams of 3 at Shiplate and with The Farmers' team (Dave White, Dave Romain and Mark Wynne) 6 points clear we all knew that 3rd place is the only semi-realistic option for our Bait-Tech SW team. My match this round would be on Hawthorn, and in an ideal world I would have liked any from pegs 3, 7, 9 and 12. Not much for Captain Tom to try and pull is it?

Anyways a relatively mild day, dry too, was forecast so at least we will be comfortable, sadly we had received some cool rain in the previous 24hrs or so and we all knew it'd be tricky on all 3 lakes, 40lb would be there or thereabouts on the 2 canal style lakes and maybe 60lb could win the Main lake.

After a natter, loading the barrow and paying our dues it was down to Team Captains to venture to the drawbags....Tom came back with our homes for the day. Titch was on a nondescript peg on Westpool, I cant remember, maybe peg 13. I was on peg 8 on Hawthorn, an okay peg but only if 7 or 9 are not in, sadly, as seems to be the case on this series, I was hemmed in by those pegs and realistically I wasn't too likely to win my section, but you never know. I had to catch some fish and see.... Oh Tom, well he drew the low numbered section on the Main Lake, pegs 1 to 11 or something, with the top 3 pegs being 1, 7 and 3 in that order....he had peg 3...so had a good chance of a section 2nd, but 3rd in section would be the minimum from there.

Peg 8, Shiplate Hawthorn.

Only 4 top kits though, 1 for silvers down the middle at 7m in 2 areas, one fed with Bait-Tech Micros and the other maggots. The rig incorporated an NG Mini Gimp in 0.4g and line was 0.10 to a B911f1 size 16. Sadly these lines only gave me one roach all day.
The second rig was a heavy, hit and hold rig, for tight in to the snags to my left, I never picked that up all day.
The 3rd was a rig for 11.5m in front at the bottom of a shelf, well more like cliff face drop off, where I would be using a mixture of Bait-Tech Xpands in 2, 4 and 6mm over a mix of micros and 4mm feed pellets. This rig also suited being fished to my left and right short at the bottom of the shelf with meat, also for against the aerator which is on the right hand edge of my peg again using meat. All of these areas went fishless.
Lastly I had a shallower rig which would do for both dobbing bread all over the peg and if I had to then I could use the rig tight over in the shallow water.
So my bait was micros and 4mm feed pellets, Xpands, maggot, 6mm meat, a couple bread slices and some pinkies.

For company I had Jason Bird on peg 9, he kept saying that peg 8 isn't great with 9 in....and 9 isn't as good with 8 in, but then he had an empty peg to his right.
On my left was venue expert, regular winner at the venue and all round nice guy, Steve Howell, again he had an empty peg, to his left. He was not in my section so at least that was less of a burden for me, haha.

The match began and I didn't feed anything, just dobbed bread in a few likely spots for 10 minutes, this was biteless so I fed a small helping of meat by the aerator and a few maggots on each short line.
Both silvers lines were lightly fed.
I went out to the 11.5m line and just fed this all day via a tosspot. I had a 4mm soft pellet on the hook and I knew I would have to be patient. 10 or 15 minutes later and I hit a bite, an 8oz skimmer was duly netted. 15 minutes later, at 11 o'clock, I had another bite which saw me connected with a carp, but once down to the topkit, the rig came off the connector, oh balls.....!! Ah well carry on I thought to myself.
It took around 90 minutes to get another bite, another skimmer of similar size joined it's buddy in my net. Elsewhere it was proving tough, Jason had 1 carp and a roach, Steve just a few roach.
I was having an enjoyable day despite the lack of action and I felt I was fishing a tidy match and was hoping the carp would deal me a good hand.

My second carp was hooked at 2pm, this came after I had another skimmer of maybe 6oz and a 2oz roach. Again these fish came off the 11.5m line. But I was still doing okay from what I could gather.
A few fish had started moving across in the shallower water and Jason had hooked, foul hooked, a few carp across from various spots in his swim.
I shipped over with 2 maggots and a tosspot of the same and had indications right away, pretty sure they were mostly baby roach, but I did see a couple carpy signs and I managed a couple small chub over the next half hour.  Then a 3lb carp was duly hooked and landed.
By now I could see Steve on peg 7 catching a few carp down his left edge, he had suffered foul hooked fish when he was fishing across, so I think he binned that line and came in close. He had fish to low double figures. But he wasn't in my section but a good point of reference.
I couldn't get a bite down my edges, but there were fish in the really shallow water to my left, behind the snags in maybe 12 inches of depth, I could see their tails. Sadly they didn't want to venture away from there.

So with half an hour to go I was on 3 carp and maybe 3lb of silvers. Jason was on 5 or 6 carp and a couple of them were a decent size, he was getting fish from his right hand side. I also heard someone further along had been doing ok, so I just hoped for 4 fish in the last 30 minutes to give myself a chance of 1st or 2nd in section....it never transpired that way, though a skimmer and a carp from the 11.5m line added maybe 4lb to my total.

The all out was called, I packed up and went to help with the weigh-in.
We worked back from peg 15 and weights were low-ish as expected, but there was a 40lb 1oz weight from peg 11 and Jason put 39lb on the board, at this point I knew I had more than the 18lb that was 3rd in section and it proved that way with 4lb 8oz of silvers and my carp boosted me to 20-odd pounds and section 3rd. So decent points.
I also had won the lake silvers, which put which some pennies in the team pot. I felt I fished tidy.

Back at the car park it turned out that Tom was 3rd in section with 20lb (2 carp and silvers) and Titch may have been last or 2nd last in section with 6lb-ish. So not a great day for us and 3rd is now a very remote possibility with 1 round to go, I will be on the Main Lake.
Dave Romain won on the day with around 50lb, waggler fish pellet was his winning method from less-than-fancied peg 12 on the Main Lake.

Overall on the day BCFC won ahead of PSV and The Good, Bad and Ugly.
In the team standings it is The Farmers are 8 points clear, so for anyone to win we really need them not to turn up in 3 weeks time..... 2nd, 3rd and 4th spots are close enough to each other to have those placings not yet decided.

Not sure where I am fishing next weekend, not sure if I will, but the 1st round of the Avalon Teams of Three starts on the 27th.

Until then, take care.
Lee

Teams of 3, Round 4. Shiplate. 30-10-16

Quick blog today, A) because I caught naff all and B) because I caught naff all......

Got to the venue for the earlier draw now the clocks have gone back, Capt. Tom had to do the draw and I was positive with what I hoped he would be bringing back. My preference being to be on Main Lake or maybe Hawthorn. Westpool.....nah thanks. Tom told me to grab a catch shot of poss.....
No suck luck, he drew himself Hawthorn peg 9, not a bad peg at all with the boards across.
Titch had peg 6 on the Main Lake, not the best peg but should be worth a few fish but with peg 1 and 7 preferred, section 3rd would be a good result.
I had Westpool peg 7. Not good. Peg 8 is always a good peg as peg 9 isn't used, peg 6 is in so I had an angler each side, capable guys in the form of Mark Wynne on peg 8 and venue expert Julian Pinkett on peg 6. I also had Mark Radford (p4) and Steve Howell (p2) in my mini-section....mega tough to do well from the only peg in the section with no space.

Peg 7, Shiplate Westpool

Bait was simply Bait-Tech pellets in various forms, 2mm and 4mm feed (plus a few 6mm for the band) and Xpands in 4 and 6mm versions. Some 6mm chopped Bait-Tech Polony meat and some naturals in the form of maggots, worms and casters.
A few rigs, I wont go into detail about as of the half a dozen pole rigs and the small method feeder I only caught on 2 rigs....

The all in was called.....60 minutes later I had a small roach then a small 2lb carp from across in 12" of water on maggot.
An hour later I had my 2nd carp from the same line, oh I did lose a couple foul hookers in the preceding spell.
15 minutes later I had a couple little fish from my silvers line down the middle of the lake then a 12oz chub from across.....And that was my lot for the day.
I watched Mark Wynne catch pretty regular for the first 3hrs before slowing down, but he looked to at least won our mini-section with around mid-50lb.
Julian on peg 6 was struggling and ended with 3 small carp, but he did catch a good few chub and other assorted silvers in the 2nd half of the match and ended up with 12lb I think I heard. I tried to get them to feed but only seemed to bump baby 1/2oz roach.
Further down on the early pegs, Mark Radford and Peanut had done ok. So I expected to be last in the section, this was confirmed at the weigh in. I had 7lb and ounces for last on the lake.
I did try all sorts of things to catch, the fish were present at times, but were obviously tricky to hook.

The lake and section was indeed won by Mark. His team also won the day with Dave White getting a section second on the main lake and Dave Romain won his with over 100lb from peg 2 or 3 on Hawthorns.
Tom won his section and Titch did get 3rd in section from his peg, so team wise for us on the day we done average.

Next up for me, well I ain't got a clue to be honest, I think my next match may well be on Hawthorns in the next round of this series in a couple of weeks time.

Take care and have fun.
Lee

Pawlett Match, Shiplate Hawthorn and Westpool. 16-10-16

Hoping not to continue my now current habit of drawing pegs which I really don't fancy, so it was off to Shiplate today, only finding out last night that we didn't have the Main Lake, I was hoping for a nice day fishing for the non-carp species on the big lake......ah well. Onwards.

24 or so of us fishing today, 14 on Hawthorn and the rest over on Westpool. I wanted to be on any peg on Hawthorn from 3 to 10, these pegs have had a new breeze on them and I definitely fancied those pegs to be the most consistent. I didn't want Westpool as it had been patchy and didn't want to walk around there.

A chatter and natter with a few, and it was onto the draw. I hung back, like I usually do, and plucked peg 15 on Hawthorn. Nice enough peg, but not convinced it'd produce the good, especially with me sat at the helm....
I made my way to the peg and found I had Mr Paul Berry for company on peg 14, not that I could see him, he had Steve Fouracre next to him, so no doubt a little bit of cursing will be heard!!

Looking left from P15 Shiplate Hawthorn......bait fed ducks!!

Peg 15, Hawthorn.......looks fishy.....wasn't fishy!!

I went about sorting my kit and bait.
A shallow rig for pellets (unused in anger)
A depth banded pellet rig (unused in anger)
A banded pellet rig for a few areas across (fishless)
A rig for the left margin using meat over hemp
A silvers rig for 9m using casters and worms
A meat rig for topkit+1 slightly left

I should end my blog now as not much happened for me and I couldn't see what was occurring on the lake.
Anyways, the all-in was called and I began on the short meat line hoping for an early fish. 15 minutes later nothing had happened, 20 minutes on the pellet across line and still nothing happened. All I knew was Paul had a carp and 4 skimmers in that period and Steve had lost a couple carp and had a few skimmers.

I went out to 9m with my silvers rig and waited a while before I had a chub of 6oz, this was quickly followed by a couple crucians and another skimmer.....then nothing for a long while. I did foul hook a couple carp and missed a couple bites on meat, but my swim didn't look too active in terms of fish being present.
At the halfway stage I had yet to catch a carp, Paul hadn't had any more fish after his little burst at the start of the match.

A look down my left edge saw me hook a 1lb carp in the tail, it was landed....yay. But it was a false dawn as nothing more happened so it was back on the silvers rig, which again not much happened, it was another 20 minutes before I had a 4oz eel and a 1lb skimmer.
I was hoping the carp turn up in the last 90 minutes or hour as they often do, but hope was all that was likely.
A couple more foul hooked carp, but with no particular area standing out, at least to find an area to target. So I plodded along and not much was happening by all accounts, but rumour had it the pegs below peg 10 had been catching a few pretty regular, like I expected.

Into the last 60 minutes and I began to see a little more life in the peg and I managed a couple 6oz roach off the silvers line, plus another lost carp from here on the light kit.
I did manage 2 carp, one from the left margin, one from the short meat line and as the all out was called I was getting few liners and bubbled on the edge and short lines.

So not a great day, but I enjoyed it oddly, scratching around for bites may well help me out in the Teams-of-3 in a couple weeks
Paul Berry hadn't put any more fish in his nets, Steve had a good last 40 minutes and had added around 18lb to his tally fishing expanders across.
The scales arrived and Jamie Parkhouse had won Westpool from peg 15, which was the Golden Peg, so a nice win was on the cards.
I put 8lb 5oz on the scales for my 3 carp, my silvers weighed 7lb 12oz, giving me 16lb 1oz.
Mr Berry's solo carp was an ounce less than my 3 and he had 1lb 12oz of silvers for a 10lb total.

I didn't follow the scales and went and loaded the car, the other end of my lake were doing ok with 30 and 40lb nets reasonably common, though a few dnw's and a couple low weights were recorded.
The top silvers weight was a really nice 21lb for Derek Beards from Westpool peg 11.
Overall winner was Jamie from p15 on Westpool with 77lb 12oz, Eric Fouracre (H2) had 49lb 4oz and Brian Gatiss was 3rd with 44lb 11oz (H7)

Weights....

Not sure where I will be fishing over the coming week and next weekend.
So have a good week and stay safe,
Lee

Bolingey, White Acres' Residents Match, 14-10-16

A match on Bolingey finished my week off nicely, not a venue I have really been, so in reality another new venue. Around 40 or so fishing, maybe a few more, so the pegging would be tight for sure.

I woke to a pretty hard frost and the tops of the caravans were white and I had to scrape the ice off the windscreens, a bright sunny day with a slight easterly breeze was the prediction. I reckoned that it'd be tricky to get a big week and that 120lb would win.
I drove the 20 minutes to the lakes and there was a whole bunch of anglers there, the keepnets (x2 each) and landing nets were all nice set out for us, bonus.
I had a natter with a couple guys, some of whom fish venues local to me, some had good week, most had not so good weeks.

Trolley loaded and queued for my peg of dreams, going from what I know about the lakes, pegs 7, 10, 11, 27, 29 and 38 appealed.
Into the hat about halfway along and I drew peg 13, I was not too happy, summed up my week, it is set in a corner with no island chuck, very tight to the fence behind to make shipping the pole kind of tricky to say the least. Peg 11 and peg 14 were in so not massive amounts of room but you never know maybe the fishies would be sat in the corner waiting to be caught.

I went about sorting the kit and bait for the day, a small method feeder for an awkward cast to the end bank, this went unused.
A topkit rig for corn over corn, it was 7ft deep there.
A rig for 5m and 13m down to my right where it was a couple feet deep, I did hope the munters would move in later on.......but they remained fishless.
A depth pellet rig (9ft or so deep) was coupled by a shallow/slapping rig both at 13m in front.
Lastly a worm and caster rig for 13m off in the 2 o'clock direction.

Peg 13 at Bolingey

Starting at 12pm, I went straight in on the topkit and around 10 minutes passed and 3 or 4 fish had been caught down to my left when I had a bite and found me playing a decent fish. Safely netted, the 8lb mirror had managed to tangle me in someone's lost topkit, sadly it didn't fit my pole. Someone will be pleased.
I stayed on this line for another 10 minutes before I fed the two long pole lines.

Out on the worm line and I soon had some roach averaging around 6oz each, nice fish to catch, but not getting enough to help me along.
Half an hour without a sign of a carp in my peg and switched to the pellet line as I had seen the odd bit of fizzing.
15 minutes here and only a few liners saw me switch to the shallow rig, 1st slap and it was fish on. A spirited scrap saw another 8lb fish join it's buddy in the net.
An hour or so blanking came and the lad on peg 14 had a nice 15lb fish from his edge, but the wasn't catching much. Further along to my left I could see fish getting caught pretty regular as were pegs 8 and 11.

Looking left from p13, Bolingey

My left edge, Bolingey peg 13

So we were now at the halfway stage and it wasn't exactly busy fishing, but I was soon into another fish on the shallow rig, another fish around the 8lb mark, it certainly gave me a battle as it was a ghostie, I would have thought it was double the size it was.
20 minutes later I was connected to a lump that took an age to get in but was worth it at about 14lb, my clicker was showing 42lb.
An hour an a half to go and I had 2 quick fish from the deep pellet rig, only 4lb carp but they were welcomed. I also lost a couple foul hookers so it was back shallow and I was playing a fish after a couple minutes.
When I was playing this fish I could see a few boils and colouring up down to my left and decided that would be my next drop in. It was also at this point that a guy from down to my left decided to wander up to get another keepnet. The margin fish left my swim and other than 1 foul hooked carp I never had a bite for the last hour. So my clicker showed 52lb, plus the few roach. So guessed on 54lb total.
Peg 11 had been catching well in the last 90 minutes and the lad to my left had 3 or 4 late fish on his short line using worm over pellet. Generally though it hadn't been a prolific day for most.

I packed up my gear and waited for the scales, when they arrived there was a 80lb weight and 93lb from peg 11, other than that I could see some 20lb and 30lb nets plus a couple low 50's.
I tipped my fish into the bucket, then took one out as it went over 55lb, but my 2 weighs together gave me 55lb 2oz. My clicking was accurate enough.
Peg 14's late 3 or 4 fished boosted him to 56lb.

I didn't follow the scales as I went and loaded my car, I knew I hadn't picked up any money as they were paying top 4 and 4 sections. So I headed back to the caravan having enjoyed the day.
The match was won by young James Allen with 129lb from end peg 50, mostly on pellet and corn at 15m or so.

So to sum up my week, of the 3 matches on the mini-fest I managed the best weight off my pegs in 7 out of the 9 weights, with Jenny's peg 14 only pipping me with the guy having 2 real lumps on day 2 but the peg was nowhere on day 3 either with 3lb the final days' net.
Peg 33 on Twin Oaks saw a 37lb net on the 2nd day also for nowhere and 7lb on the 1st day for last in section.
My Pollawyn weight was decent with 8oz and 10lb the two other weights from peg 45.
So to me it shows I didn't have the draws needed on the whole. But I feel I fished quite well all week and have learned loads and am looking forward to getting down there a few more times.

Next up for me is Shiplate tomorrow.
Take care peeps.
Lee

White Acres Winners' Week. 13-10-16. Day Three of 3 --- Twin Oaks

A day to look forward to was my dream leading into the final match of this mini festival, a couple poor/average draws in the last 2 matches had seen me languishing nearer the bottom of the pile as opposed to the top, but with a good few venue regulars fishing the event I know I mustn't be downbeat.

Today saw my rotation falling to fish Twin Oaks, but the weights have been patchy in the previous matches, but peg 35 won the open there yesterday and the wind has been blowing in to that end of both lakes for a couple of days, so a draw in the first couple pegs on either lake would be ok as would the usual 15 and 17 on the lower lake and 21 or 23 on the top lake. The middle areas of both have been patchy but the peg to avoid looked to be peg 27, it had finished plum last in the previous matches.

In to the bag, after peg 27 had gone, I plucked peg 31, neither here nor there were my thoughts, but when I mentioned to Tony Oatley on Facebook I wanted peg 5, he showed me that's what he had. I mention also that I would catch a carp, to which he replied just one?...........
Anyways by the time our section had drawn we had around an hour to get to the lakes and set up before the all-in.

Once at my peg I could see fish in the pegs 35 and 33, F1s mostly but the odd carp were putting on a display. My peg and peg 29 didn't look at all inviting but we continued.

Peg 31, Twin Oaks.

I set up a waggler, which went unused in anger due to the wind.
A small method feeder was rigged up for fishing tight across.
A few rigs remained fishless on the pole, namely the deep and shallow pellet rigs (except losing 1 fouler on the depth rig). A meat rig for 8m went biteless also.
I set up 2 rigs, one for each edge, the right side feeding groundbait and the left just loose fed meat.

Now is the interesting bit.........It was 3.5hrs before my 1st fish, a 2lb F1 from my left edge, shortly followed by a bite and a number 4 section broken....got the fish in though, a similar sized F1 to the 1st.
A barren spell, missing the odd quick bite down the left edge, lost a foul hooked carp before a small F1 fell to the method feeder.

Elsewhere peg 29 was getting the odd F1 but had taken nearly 2hrs before his 1st fish, he said the couple of guys to his right weren't catching either. Pegs 33 and 35 had been getting plenty of action since the start and looked well set.

With maybe an hour to go I began to put a few more small F1s in the net, none of the 3lb fish that are quite common, but most between 1 and 2lb.
I fed the right edge, which was shallower than my left, with a few cups of groundbait and hoped that some of the lumpier carp move in for the remainder of the match.....
I stayed left and picked up a few F1s and with 20 minutes to go I was doing okay, too late, but I was busy. Noticing the odd swirl and colouring up of the right edge saw me drop my rig in and connect with a few more F1s.....no carp!!! Could I go the 3 matches without a proper carp? All I have had this week in the matches is 4 scales from carp....none in the net.

Into the last 5 minutes and I was on around a dozen F1s, maybe 13lb I thought. I was getting loads of indications and all so late....I did have one last fish.......a carp....yay!! I was pleased with that, sadly it was one of the smallest in the lake and probably wasn't even 2lb.
The all-out was called. Peg 27 had chucked 3 small fish back and left and one of his neighbours had struggled.
The scales had soon done the lower lake and by the time they had got to peg 29 it was Chris Kitchen winning our section with 114lb or so I think. The was a dnw (p27) and a 12lb weight, a 50lb net and then peg 29 popped 34lb 8oz on the scales.
My turn, well as I lifted my net and I had more than I thought as my guess of 15lb or so was well short of the 33lb 8oz that I actually had.
Peg 33 had mid-50lb mostly caught on a method across I believe and then peg 35 had 85lb+ of shallow caster fish, lots of nice sized F1s. I ended up 6th in section, never mind, it was the 2 end pegs at each end of the lake that took the top 4 spots in the section, the middle 4 pegs were less productive.

So I enjoyed the last 2hrs or so of the match, and I suppose in hindsight I may have had more by fishing casters or worms perhaps, I was missing loads of bites and maybe natural baits would have been better for connecting with bites, but as we don't get much in the way of F1 fishing in Somerset I have learnt a few things.
God knows where I finished, probably 40th or lower, but everyone gets a place, haha.
Not sure who won either, but will try and update that tomorrow or Saturday if I get the chance, will put the results in my next blog.

Tomorrow I venture to Bolingey, that venue can be peggy and I haven't fished more than twice (drew shite again) but I hope to get amongst some carp.....pretty please!! Oh and no meat or groundbait.....Help!!

Until then, have fun.
Lee

White Acres Winners' Week. Day Two of Three. 11-10-16. --- Pollawyn

Right, with a non-existent chance of framing in this mini festival I was hoping for a really good draw on Pollawyn, a peg on the high bank (22 to 29) or perhaps 13 which had won the lake yesterday with 36lb.
The lakes have switched off and looking at the weights for the lake from yesterday we had a 8oz from peg 45, there was a 7oz total from peg 14 along with another 5 weights under 10lb.

Pollawyn Peg Layout

At the draw we gathered, Clint dished out the winnings from yesterday and all the relevant draws were made. I managed to squeeze into my queue around halfway along and my had entered the bag.....bugger peg 45. Not impressed to be fair, it can be a nice peg though but knew it wouldn't compete against the rest of the section. None the less I loaded the barrow and set off on my way. A quick chat with Jason Fay who fished peg 28 yesterday informed me he had 2 carp including one of 12lb or so, and a couple small silvers for 18lb. The wind was gusty and could prove awkward at times as it was blowing sort of down the arm peg 45 is set in. The reeds opposite were being buffeted all over the place.

Arriving at my peg and found I had Chris Kitchen next to me on peg 19. I surveyed the peg and went about sorting my bait and rigs.
A pellet feeder for across at 18m or so, but the reeds are tall and some are hanging over, it also resembled a tackle graveyard with several floats and feeders visible.
A few pole rigs were made up, all on pretty light set-ups with the mindset taking into account yesterday's weights.
A topkit rig for casters as per the norm.
An edge rig for down to my left, carp were the target there, but this rig remained fishless.
A rig for 9m just off centre in front of me using meat over a pinch of micros.
A rig for 9m off to my left to fish chopped worm and caster, no groundbait today as I didn't think it'd be much good.
Lastly a pellet rig for 16m in front, but the wind put paid to fishing this.  
Bait was simple worms and caster, damp micros, some 6mm pellets and some meat.

Pollawyn p45 lhs, worm line was in the middle tree reflection

Peg 45, Pollawyn. White Acres.

The all-in was called and I actually made a nice cast, missing a stray reed and landed around 12 inches off the main reed structure. I turned to grab my flask and pour me a cuppa when I felt my rod wrench round.....then I saw the reeds shake, then the line went slack.....I reeled in the feeder minus a hook....bugger. A few more casts saw me not avoid the stray reed and I gave that up as a bad job, the reed left a gap of around 12" and with the gusty wind the feeder was lobbed up the bank.

Onto the topkit rig and a few roach and a couple perch came to my nets over the next half hour or so, but it was very very slow.
After an hour I decided to pot in a small helping of meat on the relevant spot and a half pot of well chopped worm and caster on that spot.
I spent 10 minutes on the topkit but no fish were forthcoming.
Onto the worm and as the rig was lowered in the elastic was pulled from my pole, sadly the carp didn't hang around but left me with a souvenir scale, but it was a positive sign.......... I thought.

Chris on peg 19 had landed a carp and some skimmers from his 16m line and along with peg 27 and 28 (I think) had landed some fish.
Over the next hour or so I managed to put some roach and small skimmers in the net, nothing big but it was bits and bobs each drop in, though a 6oz perch was my largest fish. So at the halfway stage I had perhaps 2.5lb of bits, so at least I had managed more than the day previous' weight.
A look on the meat line, which I had kept topping up with 4 or 5 pieces of meat every 10 minutes, saw me connect with something that pulled back, after a short scrap a 1lb barbel was landed, this was followed up by a nice 6oz roach and a skimmer of 12oz. But I was getting loads of missed bites, shallowing up didn't see any improvement, well not even a bite, it was like the fish were mulling around about a foot off bottom.
Another look on the worm saw me net a 2lb F1 and then the micro perch arrived knocking back my heightened hopes!!
At this point I looked like being last in section as the chap on peg 20 had landed a couple nice skimmers and a 12lb+ carp on the lead while he was faffing around on the internet. Chris was doing well and putting a few carp and F1s in the net. Along with the pegs on the high bank catching carp it was looking pants for me, other than the foul hooked one earlier, I hadn't seen a carp in my area.

So on to the last hour and I was getting more bites, but my connection ratio wasn't great and various attempts to remedy this never worked, but a few more barbel and 3 more F1s around 2lb graced my keepnet. With 20 minutes to go the lad on peg 20 had another carp, this time while he was packing up his kit, he was behind his box when I saw the rod bouncing and being pulled round.

The all out was signalled and I slowly began to pack away, I even managed to lose a keepnet arm into the lake.....bugger!!
Chris asked what I had, maybe 12lb or just over, he reckoned on 25lb and the lad on peg 20 had 20lb or so was his guess. Elsewhere I could see Tony Oatley on peg 13 catching a few in the second half of the match plus most of the pegs on the high bank had at least 25lb each and they were in my section.
The scales arrived and I saw that my section had a 3lb weight, I wouldn't be last in section, yay!! But the rest of the section over there all had 22lb+.
I tipped my assorted fish onto the scales and it settled at 22lb 1oz. I didn't see exactly what Chris had, but I think it was around 30lb and a section 3rd. Peg 20 had 18lb and ounces, so I had managed a lowly 6th in section. But it was a close contest.

In hindsight I think I should have maybe converted my meat line to a pellet line and set up a shallow pellet rig, but I am not completely convinced that the bites I was missing were the F1s or just roach. I should have moved or at least set up a couple of pellet rigs for the same distance in a new spot. But I could see the reeds opposite moving around and was hoping the wind would drop.
But it was another match that I was pretty happy with how I fished and that fishing for anything was enjoyable, not sure if I could have had carp but I figure I should have had a few more F1s.

Next up for me is Twin Oaks on Thursday. Not sure which area I fancy, I will look at their scores.

Until then, have fun.
Lee.

White Acres Winners' Week. 10-10-16. Day One of Three --- Jennys

So a 3 day festival thingy for those who have won at the venue in the year preceding the event.
The fishing is set across 3 of the venue's lakes, Jennys, Pollawyn and Twin Oaks and you have 1 day on each, sections of 8 (I think we have 48 fishing) and you really need 2 section wins and a 2nd in section to stand a chance of a top 3 finish, no droppers and a grand to fish for.

I arrived on Saturday just as the Parkdean Masters had finished in which Jon Whincup took away 25 grand from peg 11, an unfancied peg. He has won £100,000 in the last few weeks.....who needs work?
Anyways I had a practice/pleasure session on Jennys on Sunday, peg 6, and managed to struggle to around 30lb of fish, this was more than others on the lake, this weight would be a good weight for the section points if the temps drop and the fishing remains hard like the lakes at the complex have been for the last few weeks.

On to today and I wanted the rotation of Pollawyn, Twin Oaks then Jennys, but an open 1st day draw and with the weather to turn windier from Tuesday afternoon I figured that I could handle scratching on Jennys as opposed to doing the same on the other lakes.
I managed to squeeze my way into the queue around 12th and plucked Jennys peg 14, 1st peg in my 8 peg section, sadly I looked at the peg's result from Saturday's match and Bradley Gibbons had 6lb or so, hmmmm. With favoured pegs 15 to 19 in the section I hoped that last nights really cold night had pushed the fish into the narrower pegs where I would be fishing.

Jenny's Lake, Peg 14. White Acres. (island point is peg 15's)

At the peg I sorted my kit out, 8 pints of bait is the limit plus 2kg of groundbait and 1kg of worms allowed. I had 2 pints of micros, 6mm pellets, 6mm meat and 2 pints of caster. I mixed my groundbait and wetted my micros.
A pellet feeder was assembled for the 22m chuck to the island. A few pole rigs made up to cover all eventualities.
A margin rig for worm or meat over groundbait, in hope of a few late carp.....I did say Hope.!!
A topkit rig for casters with mostly roach in mind, but you never know what you may hook here.
A couple of pellet rigs, one deep and one shallow for at 14m in front.
A worm/caster/groundbait rig for at 11m in front.
A meat rig for 7m slightly to my right.

Peg 14 Jenny's, White Acres, looking left towards peg 11 and the other half of the lake.

At the all-in I started on the pellet feeder, but 25 minutes of nothing occurred while I fed the casters on the topkit line.
Before I tried the topkit I fed a small helping of meat on that particular line, a small ball of groundbait with a bit of cw&c added went in at 11m. I refrained from feeding the long pellet line for now.
On the topkit I started to get some roach and odd small perch, not manic but it kept me happy for now, then after 20 minutes I had a 6oz skimmer which was welcome. A few more roach came and before I knew it we were 80 minutes into the match, I probably had 4lb.
The guy on peg 15 had lost a foul hooked carp and had 1 small skimmer. Hot peg 16 had landed a couple carp but they were the only people I could see.
Out on the meat line and a couple skimmers came before they vanished.
On to the worm line and again a couple small skimmers along with a couple roach were put into the keepnet.

So we were now at the halfway stage and I had started to ping pellets on to the 14m line but I had a couple friendly ducks and a couple of more friendly moorhens, they wouldn't flinch even with the pole tip under their beaks.
Peg 15 managed to land a lumpy mid-double carp, which he got lucky with, it jumped from his landing net, rolled along his feeder arm then fell into his keepnet....oh so lucky, we had a giggle.
I needed carp for sure, but hadn't even seen one in my peg or to my left. Somebody walking by said a couple guys were doing well and had maybe 35lb each at this stage and were well ahead in the section.....then peg 16 had a couple more carp. Things were looking pants for me.

A few fish come to the worm line, but although it was fizzing like mad I didn't feel that many fish were present. A few bumped fish and it was back to the meat line, but only 1 skimmer and a nice 6oz roach happened to join their mates in my net.
So out to the pellets, which I had been pinging for around an hour, this had worked, well nearly worked as I managed a run of 4 carassio on the depth rig and one shallow, all in the space of 40 minutes maybe.

It was now around 2pm so 90 minutes left, I had maybe 10lb of skimmers/roach/crucians/perch and my 5 carassio, so perhaps 16lb and probably not very high up in the section. Defo behind the two guys I could see and further behind those 2 mentioned earlier.
I fed my left edge at 9m where I found a slightly deeper spot by a tree stump. 4 cups of groundbait went in.
A few more skimmers from the meat and pellet lines went into the keepnet, but no better stamp fish, no carp, carassio or F1s. No tench either, yet on Sunday I had maybe 5 of them.
The chap on 15 had a couple skimmers but was definitely struggling. Peg 16 was doing ok and another chap said the 2 guys further down were admitting to 45lb with half an hour to go.

The final 30 minutes was mostly spent down the edge, hoping for a couple carp, only trying the meat line when I re-fed the edge. I managed zero on the carp front but a couple nice roach and a couple skimmers found the keepnet in the last minutes. I reckoned I had around 19 or 20lb.
The all-out was called and as quick as lightening the scales were up to peg 16. So I moved my kit and went to see what peg 15 weighed. 18lb and a few ounces was his total. A look at the sheet saw a couple 50lb+ nets and a 37lb. 24lb 4oz was 4th in section. 6lb was last.
I tipped my fish into the sling and watched as the needle settle at a couple ounces under 24lb. So a section 5th and festival over......

I packed up and made my way to the car, Tony Oatley had come 3rd in the other section on the lake with 32lb and he'd lost a decent carp late on at the landing net, costing him second, maybe 1st in section. He also informed me that Pollawyn had been won with 39lb......Great!! A few 5lb or less nets were recorded.... I am so looking forward to that tomorrow...!!
No match on Wednesday, I don't fancy the open match, but I am fishing Bolingey on Friday, no meat or groundbait allowed so I best buy some corn and/or maggots.

Until tomorrow.
Have Fun.
Lee

PSV Match, Shiplate Main Lake, 2/10/16

A lovely sunny, reasonably mild day was the forecast as a bunch of the PSV guys fished on the Main Lake at the lovely Shiplate complex near Weston-Super-Mare, The air was nippy and it shows autumn has arrived. Lovely time of the year.
There was another match on Hawthorns which saw the car park reasonably full, plenty of chat, abuse and piss-taking was done and spirits were high.

We all paid, the draw was made, it was obvious which pegs would be wanted, 1 and 15 are flyers and should be thereabouts come the weigh-in, but peg 14 has been the hottest peg of recent times and would be a very good draw. The rest of the pegs are fair and can produce winning weights for sure.
I had the 3rd last ticket and drew peg 11, so I though I would have a day fishing for silvers.....hmmm!!
Peg 1 went to Adam Caswell, 15 to Alan Healey and 14 to Mr Steve Burgess.
With the way it is pegged the only peeps I could see were those on the opposite pegs, Pete Uzzell and Mark Radford on 3 and 5 respectively.

Shiplate p11 Main Lake

Shiplate Main Lake p11 lhs

I made my way to the peg and went about sorting my stuff. Groundbait mixed, micros wetted and expanders pumped. 3 tins of corn and some 6mm pellets finished off my bait tray. The lake was flat calm and there were a few silvers and the carp were mooching around in the upper layers, but they were not my target.
2 silvers rigs, one banded, one not. The banded would be for 11m in front (corn and 6mm pellets) and the other at 2+1 in front at the bottom of the near drop-off using expanders/micros/corn.
A rig for carp down the edge, but hoped not to use that, and a rig for off the end of the tree with carp the intended target, this wasn't used in vain.

At the all in I started on the short line, toss potting balls of micros and odd grain of corn, it was a while before I had a bite and inevitably it was a skimmer, one or 2 more followed, only fish up to 4oz. After an hour I hooked 2 carp on this line, both foul hooked and both lost.
A tench and a nice looking crucian were netted but things had slowed with the odd roach only coming to my short line.

So after 90 minutes I went long and starting getting the odd skimmer and roach, but nothing of the quality I expected and felt that I would need a few lumpier skimmers and a few tincas to win the silvers money. I kept pinging the odd pellet and potting in the odd pinch of micros and a few grains of corn.

Between 12:00 and 3pm I had really struggled and only probably put in a few roach and 1 little tench, I also lost a carp that vanished around 20yrds away to my right.
Elsewhere I expected John Bradford down on peg 9 to be winning the silvers, Steve Burgess looked to be winning the match overall. Opposite Pete only had a couple carp and a few silvers. Mark Radford was starting to put some skimmers and a few carp in his net as had Chris Szakacs on peg 7.
So at 3pm I potted in 5 cups of groundbait down my left edge and left it for 15 minutes before going in over the top with double corn. It worked and I had a carp in the net after a spirited battle had a 5lber in the net.

Over the following 40 minutes I had another 4 carp from the edge and lost another to the tree.
The last 15 minutes were fishless and the all out was called. I expected to have maybe 10lb of silvers and maybe 30lb of carp.
I packed up, loaded the trolley and went and watched the first few weigh ins, Alan had 42lb off peg 15, Steve Burges s had 70lb+ from peg 14 including a 12lb grass carp, Lee Waller had 16lb of silvers of which 13lb came in the last hour, I then had 12lb of silvers and 33lb of carp for 45lb and ounces.
I let the scales do their job before getting to see the results back at the car park.

Results:
1. Steve Burgess (14) 71-9
2. Adam Caswell (1) 57-7
3. Mark Radford (5) 49-0
4. Chris Szakacs (7) 47-15
5. Lee Williams (11) 45-8
6. Alan Healey (15) 42-6
7. Pete Uzzell (3) 22-9
8. Lee Waller (13) 15-12
9. John Bradford (9) 11-15

Silvers:
Lee Waller 15-12

So it fished a bit tricky with the sunshine and flat conditions, but in hindsight if I had taken some form of live bait like maggots or worms I am sure I would have had enough to win the silvers and I think that the pellets and corn approach wasn't really right.
Also if I had come in on the edge lines, or even fished shallow in some form then 2nd overall's weigh looks like it would have been gettable.

Not sure where or if I am fishing this week as on Saturday I am down at White Acres for the Winners Week Festival which will make a change and maybe get some F1s and different scenery.

Until next time....
Lee 

Shiplate Teams of Three, Round Two. 25-09-16

Well the 2nd round was fished last Sunday and our Bait-Tech SW team were hoping for a nice draw from Captain Tom's hand. I would be on Hawthorn, Titch on the Main Lake and Mr Downing would be on Westpool.
There was a good bit of banter flying around, some directed at me and my new 'skirt', which was a lovely +BaitTech waist towel in it's bright pink and black colouring, also have a new cap and a tee-shirt to match.....lovely. Thanks to Bait-Tech for them.

We sorted our bait, loaded our trolley, chatted about pegs and tactics before the draw was done.
It turned out our pegs were nothing to write home about but I was a touch jealous when I say that the team of Matt Taynton (end peg 15 on Hawthorn), Lionel Legge (peg 1 on the Main Lake where Tom won the last round) and Alan Healey (peg 4 with some space on Westpool).
Tom handed me peg 9 on Hawthorns, not the worst peg but towards the middle with some boards

across, which usually, not always, holds a few fish. I had Steve Burgess on my left. Whom I agreed not to have a quid with over Facebook the day or so earlier.
Titch was fishing from peg 13 on the main lake, a couple pegs away from the area which was fancied but always a good area for skimmers and odd carp.
Tom was on peg 8 on Westpool, again a couple pegs from the in-form and fancied area, but should catch a few.

Shiplate Hawthorn p9

I set up a few rigs, a tight in close edge rig for my right edge using meat over maggots, this rig would do for tight across over groundbait.
Another rig for down into the deep water in the edge again on the right (couldn't fish left), feeding hemp.
A shallow pellet rig, a light maggot rig which could be spread or shallowed up for down the middle.
A rig for 2+1 in front (hemp and meat/maggot) and lastly a silvers rig, as the last round, Ron Stark would be the man to beat on the silvers front and around 16lb or so would be a good weight of them.
Bait is pictured below.

Bait for the day.......

I would love to say it went all swimmingly, but it seem the lake had generally switched off. I started on maggots down the track and hoped for some silvers to put in the net but it was really slow going. Actually it took a couple hours for my 1st carp (though lost 2 foulers previous) as other than a couple roach on the maggot rig. The guys either side of me were not really fairing any better.
So I will drag this through to the 4hrs in stage, where I was up to a poxy 3 carp, all came on the meat at 2+1, but were all nice enough sizes and my clicker showed 16lb. I was last in section for sure, well I was convinced I would be.

Moving into the last hour and I felt I had fished well enough, tried a few things, altering the usual hooklength diameter, hook size, float sizes and shotting, bait choices and even tried fishing new areas. The fish were not playing ball......
But I was still hopeful of a late surge, I am a pretty positive angler most of the time, and as I have prove before, I tend to catch a few late on and larger fish. So at 3:20 I had another carp, maybe 10lb, and then half an hour later another from the same 2+1 line, this was a more modest fish.
A couple decent skimmers were netted, a couple jumped off the hook, but at least I was getting indications, not the late surge I hoped for.
Meanwhile Steve Burgess was getting plenty of action next door, he said mostly small carp of 1-2lb size, which more or less turned out to be the truth.

So as we were into the last hour my clicker was on 31lb, could I double that? I tried the Polony meat down the deeper edge, but there was a snag, turned out to be some line attached to something, so i reached a few inched further, this worked, well it gave me a carp of 1lb right away, then luckily another one was soon netted, a 4lb fish.
My last carp came on the 2+1 meat line and was around the 3lb mark and my clicker ended the match on 36lb mark. I was suffering with liners and foul hookers on and off during the day, like the fish were present but being little blighters and not eating the feast that was fed.

Anyways, I was sure to be last in my section. I packed my stuff away and loaded the car even before the weigh-in had started.
Chatting to the guys on the lake when I returned to the weigh-in, it seemed that the lake had not fished properly. Actually a couple guys said they had 30lb-ish, sadly they were in the other section as those in my half all said 40 to 50lb......gggrrr!!
Alas, we began to see what all had caught and it was a pretty fair match, some had not even had a fish after 3 hours. But we saw a few 40's and a 50lb net, plus a 701lb weight from my section.
I had amassed 44lb and ounces, which after Steve's 50lb guess actually weighed a few ounces less, saw me finish 2nd last in the section but only just behind those just above me.

The lake as a whole saw a 20lb net, 2x 30lb nets and two 70lb+ nets, the rest of us were stuck in the 40-50lb range. Ron did win the silvers on the lake for the 2nd round, a shade under 18lb if I remember correctly using mostly worms.

Once back at the car park, it turned out that Titch had 108lb and included the top silvers net of 20lb or so, so 2nd in section for him behind overall match winner Dave White with 150lb from peg 14b I believe.
Tom had come 2nd in section fishing with 4mm Bait-Tech Xpands and had around a dozen small carp for a 41lb weight.
Team-wise we had done average as the top 3 teams all had their anglers in the top 2 in the relevant sections.

Team Winners on the day, Dave Romain, Dave White (match winner) and Mark Wynne

I miss the next round when Paul Tidball is covering for me, I am down at White Acres, so I miss the 1st attempt on the Main Lake round of my series, I like that lake. But I am there on Sunday in a PSV match, so a nice draw and some fish will be appreciated......

Until next time, have fun.
Lee