January: 4 matches, 2 pick ups.
My 1st 'match' didn't go to plan, I thought I was booked into a match on Sedges' Tile lake, which at the time I was slowly getting to grips with......Turns out I wasn't booked on so I had a knock up with a few others on Brick Lake. I managed to catch a bunch of skimmers and a few carp to stick £40 in the pocket.
A week later I managed 3rd and another pick up with a PSV match on Sedges Tile lake, a nice day mostly fishing the waggler.
A match down at Landsend the following weekend saw me draw peg 39 on the speci lake, I chucked back 4lb of bits for nowhere.
My 1st match ever at Emerald Pools (sapphire lake) followed on the last Sunday of the month, I grasped 4th on the day which was won by Alan Healey with almost 100lb.
February: 4 matches, 2 pick ups
1st match was up at Harescombe, my 2nd ever visit, and I fished an ok match fishing 3/4 of the way across and some fish short, mostly on maggots. I managed 4th and the last payout on the day.
Then the following week it was back to Sedges' Tile lake and a DNW for me as I only had 2 baby roach on the maggot feeder.
Plantations Main Lake was the venue for PSV's next match and it is a nice venue but rather snaggy!!
I had a few silvers and 8 carp coming to the pellet waggler (in feb!!) and method feeder, enough to secure 2nd spot on the day behind top-rod Chris Szacaks.
Lastly I was over at Viaduct on Cary + Campbell......I drew my 'beloved' peg 130 and struggled my way to 4lb of silvers and not a sniff of a carp, they were up the other end of the lake where 116 and 125 filled 2 of the top 3 spots on the day.
March: 5 matches, 2 pick ups
PSV fished Landsend for the 1st match of the month, I drew peg 20 and struggled my way to 13lb+, sadly, or luckily, this was enough for another pick up and 3rd on the day....it was hard going as 37lb and 22lb were the top two weights.
The following weekend of the month saw me have a match on the Kings Sedgemoor Drain, a venue I love, and a day mostly catching on the whip saw me surprising most with 26lb 12oz of mostly roach shallow. Possibly one of the most enjoyable days I had last year. Jamie Cook finished ahead of me from a favoured peg with 36lb+, including some proper nice rudd.
Avalon the following week proved hard for nearly everyone and I came in 6th with 10lb 12oz, Adam Caswell won with 61lb, well clear of the 24lb weight that took second on the day.
Sedges' Tile lake was the venue the following week, but I was not enthusiastic about fishing and it showed in my efforts, 12lb for way down. Must try harder.....
Viaduct Campbell, peg 119, on a very windy day saw me go over in my nets, but not as badly as Will Dearlove who's errors cost him at least 2nd place, but my fits & starts day saw me put an under-estimated (really!!!) and knocked back by 8lb.....108lb 10oz was enough for 5th on the day.
April: 6 matches (inc 2 fisho's), 1 pick up
1st up was a match on the canal lakes at Shiplate, sadly my late surge of fish wasn't enough for a pick up as Matt Challenger won with some paste caught fish. I finished 6th in a tight contest.
The Gary Bull/England Disabled fund raising match at Summerhayes followed on the following Saturday and went really well raising over £500 for the cause. My match was ok, I managed 4th on the lake (sellicks) and picked up over £40 in section money as Des Shipp won overall with a knocked back 81lb from Longs lake.
Sedges was the next venue for me and a nice draw on Brick wasn't enough in the Silvers only contest, I was plagued by carp and my 15lb+ was 6th on the day, but I must have had 100lb of carp!
A trip to Gold Valley, which for most was rather crap as a lot went biteless, the day saw me on peg 92 on Middle Lake, 2 carp and 2 silver fish saw me around 3rd in section and weighed 20lb 2oz (17lb was 1 fish).
Avalon the following Sunday saw me draw peg 42 but it proved a tricky day for me as I struggled to catch either the silvers or carp consistently and had 17lb and 26lb+ respectively and my 44lb+ was around 10th on the day. Martin Heard dominated the match with 166lb of pellet wag caught fish, 77lb was 2nd to Tom Mangnall. Eric Fouracre had 30lb of silvers to win that pot.
Last match of the month was a Fishomania qualifier up at Makins where I drew well enough, but the day was a funny one, people walking along my catching zone, a broke pole section, smaller than average fish and the guy opposite making the most of someone who left early by catching over his leftover bait.
These set-backs may have cost me as I finished in the top 10 on the day with 65lb+, my fish were at least 1.5lb each less than the usual stamp of carp.
May: 7 matches, 2 pick ups
This month began in a less than good way for me, I fished Landsend and Viaduct a few times along with a match at Sedges in the first 3 weekends of the month, I struggled to trouble the scales with enough fish to win any money, but the 2nd last weekend saw me visit Staunton Court for the 1st time, I drew ok and managed to scrape enough carp that were not spawning to take 2nd spot on the day, weighing in a few ounces over 100lb.
The last match of the month saw me down at Avalon, on peg 13, where I began with a swim to rescue my silvers net. I went on to catch around 19 carp on the pellet waggler, but I lost loads to the snags, luckily they didn't cost me as my 106lb+ was 4lb ahead of Matty Taynton and gave me 1st on the day.
The evening matches at Sedges began in May and continued to September, providing me with the odd pick up, plus I was having the odd day over Trinity Wildmarsh lake with some cracking silvers nets to over 60lb.
June: 5 matches (inc 2 MMTs), 2 pick ups
The month began with Pawletts' All-Winners final on Lake 3 at Landsend, the 1st time fishing the lake for me, but hot conditions made it tricky but my mostly mugged fish from peg 70 saw me 2nd place behind top angler Eric Fouracre.
2 MMT qualifiers, 1 at Viaduct and 1 at Larford, didn't give me any money as the fishing was hard at both venues, however I should have weighed in at Viaduct as I may have had enough to win the section money from peg 121.....numpty.
Pawlett fished Shiplate's Main and Hawthorn Lakes on the 3rd weekend of the month, a draw of peg 15 on the main lake would be great as I won from there in 2014 with 100lb+ ahead of 2nd place.
Eric Fouracre drew that peg and had 175lb to win, I drew peg 3 on Hawthorn and managed to get 3rd on the day and 2nd on the lake with 68lb, Keith Clapp had 71lb from peg 1 which is a top draw, a couple late lost fish may have cost me 2nd.
Last match of the month saw me on Peg 3 down at Avalon, I never managed a carp all match but did manage a nice 26lb+ of silvers, sadly Matt Challenger had over 61lb of skimmers and bream to take the silvers' spoils, a great catch and venue match record. 122lb won the match to Lionel Legge.
July: 6 matches, 2 pick ups
The 1st match of the month though was the Pawlett Silvers' Winners final on Trinity Woodlands (changed from Wildmarsh......gggrr), I drew peg 14 on the far bank and was top weight on my bank with just under 22lb, the top 3 nets came from the 'solid' bank with Eric doing the club-double winning with 32lb 8oz, ahead of Vic and Jamie Cook. My 4th spot was enough for 4th on the day and a pick up.
A quiet 2nd week of the month with only a couple small matches at Sedges Canal lake (weds) and Landsend on a Saturday saw me not pick up, but did ok.
The 19th saw me at Sedges for a blind pairs match and ended up on peg 23 on Tile, I caught late on and managed a section win with 78lb 13oz (6th overall). I did spend all day watching fishery owner Jamie romp the win with 187lb+ from peg 38, Phil Clapp had 51lb of silvers from Brick lake. Jamie won the pairs with his partner, but he caught enough to win it himself, lol.
A small Saturday knock-up at Acorn saw Giles Cochrane win easily while myself and Kev Jefferies struggled.
Last match of the month was down at Landsend and saw Chris Davis win from peg 11, Alan Healey was 2nd from peg 13, it wasn't the best day weather wise but 3rd to 8th was separated by less than 10lb, I was the 8th rather than 3rd and could have done with the fish turning up half an hour earlier.
August: 8 matches, 4 pick ups
First up was a memorial match over at Apex Lake in Burnham/Highbridge, a venue I don't fish as often as I should and it should be match fished a lot more really. Anyways it was a tricky day and I was ounces out of the money in 4th place of mostly shallow caught rudd and roach.
Then came a match on Campbell lake, where I went to fish for silvers, I drew a carpy peg in 115 but stuck to my guns and caught 28lb+ of skimmers before the carp ruined my peg in the last hour and this cost me the silvers win as Mike Wilson had 32lb.
Pawlett fished Cary and Campbell the following week and I was on peg 128. It was very tricky going but the fish turned up late for me. I had hoped for silvers but was convinced pegs 123 to 126 would be better, I was stuck in between what to do and popped 22lb of silvers (4th on the day) and 105lb of mostly last hour carp gave me 127lb 12oz for 5th on the day. So no pick up. Mike Davis won with 261lb from in-form peg 112.
The following weekend saw me fish a small match on Tile lake at Sedges, peg 40 was my home and I managed to take the spoils with method feeder caught carp (127lb+). I then fished the mid-week open on the same lake and managed 3rd (104lb) to the same tactics but this time from peg 39 despite my neighbour falling in.
The next week I was down at White Acres with the family and had some decent fishing despite some of the worst weather I have encountered. I fished the Wednesday match and drew the flyer of all flyers, peg 16 on Twin Oaks, I fished rubbish but caught 124lb 8oz and won on the day, I qualified for the Winners Festival in October (but allowed to fish it in 2016).
I then fished the rover, hoping to get an early draw and the chance of Eery peg 13 or Twin Oaks 14-18, I didn't and chose 13 on Trelawny. I fished tidy for 40 odd pound and nowhere, having 2 anglers fish each peg either side of me possibly cost me a few pounds. The match was won on Twin Oaks but Chris Davis had Eery p13 and was 4th on the day.
Last match in August was a PSV match on Hawthorn down at Shiplate, I managed to draw peg 3, which I had earlier in the year, I hoped I had learned something then, and obviously I had as I just about managed to beat Brian Shanks on peg 1, my last hour or so boosted my net to 90lb 2oz to Brian's 80lb 7oz.
September: 6 matches, 1 pick up
A busy month for me, starting off with Pawlett's day out at Harescombe, I didn't manage to pick up as I was 6th on the day. Jamie Cook won with 75lb+ of worm caught fish (I think).
I was 7th the following week on a PSV match at Trinity Woodlands, it fished very hard in the main and some peeps really struggled.
Another match where the lake wasn't great followed, Lake 3 at Landsend saw me nearer the bottom of the pile as opposed to the top.
A 55 pegger at Viaduct saw me come second in section and 4th on the lake with 103lb 2oz from Cary peg 81, the shade covering the peg pushed fish out. Lodge lake gave 3 of the top 5 weights inc the top 2.
The River Huntspill was the venue for Pawlett on the 2nd last weekend of the month, and it fished fair, with the end pegs upstream producing best, but I had 5lb 1oz for third in my section.
Last match of the month saw me guest with HLS at Landsend fishery and I drew peg 6, thankfully a late run of carp pushed my weight to 44lb 6oz and 3rd on the day.
October: 4 matches, 2 pick ups
Not a busy month for me, only 4 matches, the 1st was at Sedges, on Tile lake where I pulled peg 32 from the basket and wasn't happy with the peg, but somehow I put 54lb 5oz on the scales to take 3rd spot on the day.
Then came a small match at Wellington Basins, a new venue for me, a small fish match that was awkward at times but a couple of nice perch along with lots of small roach gave me 11lb 7oz and a comfortable win.
Pawlett had a match at Avalon but the fish were not present for me in any numbers and my 24lb+ net was mid-field on the day, Mike West winning from peg 5 with 74lb+.
Lastly was Viaducts Lodge lake with the PSV lads, and again it fished hard and for all my efforts and labours, I was 5th on the day with 29lb 1oz. The winner, Chris Szacaks, had 37lb+ before there were 3 nets of 33lb and ounces. Very close.
November: 2 matches, 0 pick ups (3 team pick ups)
Avalon Teams of 3 (me, Eric and Steve Fouracre, aka The Young Ones) gave me my only 2 matches of November and I never had the best of times in either, though the team did ok as Eric won the 1st round from peg 3 to put some funds in the kitty as we came 2nd on weight in the 1st match. I was 3rd in section with 36lb+. Steve was 4th in section.
The 2nd match saw us pick up a bit of money as a team, well Steve won his section money and Eric had top silvers weight on the day but was 5th in section, me, well I was again 3rd in section behind Jamie Cook and Rich Coles.
December: 5 matches, 1 pick up (2 team pick ups)
Round 3 of the Teams event was the 1st match of the month and again it looked as though I had a duff draw, and I did struggle my way to 10lb thanks to a mixed bag of fish, sadly this was 3rd in section again, Steve was 4th in section and luckily Eric won his and was 2nd in the match, so again he put some coin in the kitty.
The 2nd weekend of the month saw the Pawlett Club's Xmas match at Sedges, I drew alright in peg 9 but not as happy as I would have been if I drew a corner peg. Intending to fish for silvers to qualify for 2016's Silvers' final I struggled for around 5 hours of the match but the last 60 minutes saw me catch a few skimmers and odd carp to surprisingly win on the day ahead of Steve Fouracre and Mike Davis, the bonus was that I was on a golden peg which gave me an extra £100. I had top silvers weight on the day so I qualified for the final too, bargain.
It was Avalon's Christmas match the following weekend and I had the worst draw of the final 3 pegs, with Eric Fouracre getting the best of them in peg 5 (he won on the day). I struggled to 15th and 5lb 7oz of silvers, losing a couple of decent skimmers that possibly cost me the silvers pool, I never had a sniff of a carp all match. Matt Challenger won the silvers with 2 skimmers/bream for a trickle over 8lb.
The last week of the month saw me fish a boxing day match on Sedges Brick lake, peg 17, I had 2 carp late on to boost my 8lb of silvers to around 32lb and 4th on the day behind pegs 11, 12 and 14, Jamie won from peg 14, 10 bites, 10 fish, 70-odd pound.
I then fished the next round of the Teams of 3 at Avalon on the 27th, I had what I thought could be a great draw, or it could be pants, peg 39. I thought Eric was on a pant peg in peg 27, but he won from there to put some more money in the pot. I had 2 carp (and a pike that didn't count, three in this series now) and some silvers for 13lb and section 4th, the fish being the other end of the gap/boards as Pete Wild had 50lb from p37....Derek Beards who was covering for Steve was last in his section.
Sedges won again on the day and look unbeatable in the league.
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So 2015 wasn't as busy as 2014, I cant see 2016 being as busy either as I am un-decided on my fishing focuses for the coming 12 months. I only managed to pick up in a 3rd of my full-length matches, take out the fisho/mmt matches and it becomes just over 40%, which isn't too bad considering how poor my draws have been a lot of the time (ie this winter...) and a duff September.
I did draw a few flyers though, peg 40 at Sedges and 16 on Twin Oaks at White Acres spring to mind.
My 1st match going into 2016 is another Teams of 3 match at Avalon, where the law of averages must give me a chance at the draw..........surely?
Until next time, take care.
Lee
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