Pawlett Match, Landsend - Lakes 1,2 and 3, 15-01-17

A mild enough day was the prediction for the club's 1st match of the year, usually a decent turnout and even though we had 4 or 5 regulars unable to fish due to hols and the Viaduct league etc, we ended up with 30 souls looking for a nice day and a few fish. A decent bunch of guys including Ziggy, John Fuidge fishing and Giffy (Chris Ware) was back. Jamie Parkhouse and Paul Homewood also arrived, plus the usual chaps.

With most of the peeps having a breakfast on site I arrived to a full car park, but squeezed in and sorted my kit. I ended up chatting to a few guys, which went on a touch longer and the 8am draw was shuffled back a bit due to breakfasts and the fishing times would be 10am until 3:30pm.
Whilst yabbering I mentioned that as there looked like a decent few footy matches on tele later on, and if I should draw 'a-less-than-preferred' peg then I would get to see at least 1 of them.

I wanted to be on the match lake, not that I expected it to win, I said one of the end 4 pegs on speci to take the honours, but it can be more selective on where the fish are playing ball. While lake 3 would be consistent, with only 10 guys on there it would be the gaps between them that could hamper catches, my theories anyway. So one from pegs 15, 19 and 21 were hoped for.
I was called in to do the golden peg draw, 21 and 40 were duly chosen. Both had a chance.
The draw was called and me and Eric Fouracre, plus match secretary Mark Hembery were left for the last 3 tickets, These were, looking at the spaces on the sheet, 15, 19 and 33, all very good pegs, so at this point I was pleased. I picked 1st and had p15, Eric had 19 and Mark was in the near corner of the speci lake, all fancied pegs.

I got to my peg in quick time and sorted the bait, micros, groundbait, 4mm pellets, 6mm pellet plus a few maggots, casters, expanders and a handful of prawns, only small amounts of each, but a selection that gave me options.
4 rigs, 1 for banded pellet at 14m off in the 10 o'clock direction, 1 for expanders over micro at 13m in the 11 o'clock direction and one of maggots in front at 11m. Lastly a rig to fish close to the empty pegs 14 and 16.  I fished to my left mostly as the peg sloped up from left to right and I didn't fancy the shallower areas, in hindsight maybe I should have had an area to my right.
I had John Fuidge on peg 13 as my nearest neighbour and Phil Hembery was down on 18, I had some room, but I did feel a little too much.

Peg 15, Landsend (slightly left, in the areas I fished)

The all-in was called and it was out to the longest line and a banded 6mm pellet went in over half a dozen 4mm and sprinkle of groundbait. I watched John and his cupping of bait to different areas. I missed a bite after 20 seconds, but a few seconds later I had another and after a spirited tussle a 4lb mirror was safely in the keepnet, so I hadn't blanked, priority one succeeded.
10 minutes later I was playing my 2nd carp from the same spot, a little bigger at around 7lb.
So with 30 minutes gone I had around 10lb in the net, I fancied 50lb to do well on this lake.

Things died for a while for me, I could see odd carp getting caught, only Eric catching better than the rest down on peg 19. We moved into the 2nd hour and I was soon playing another fish on the banded pellet line, this time a golden tench, well it was more like a koi-tench given it's colourations. But at 3lb or so it was a welcome bonus. There was a lot of ghosties mulling around the island and I altered a rig to try and mug a few, but this was fruitless, they were just mooching around for not any particular reason it seemed. At one point John had half a dozen around his pole tip, he couldn't see them but when I shouted to tell him, his float dipped and he promptly foul hooked, and lost, one of them.

So the 3rd hour was well underway when I managed my 3rd and 4th carp, both in quick succession and both about 4lb each, one from the banded pellet line, one from the micros on 4mm expander.
I also managed a big skimmer, but also lost one which would no doubt unsettle things. A couple or 3 foul hooked carp were quickly hooked and lost. So with 2 hours to go I was on 4 carp for maybe 20lb and my skimmer and tench for 5lb. Eric was doing well and other than him it was John on peg 13 who'd had a couple carp and a few silvers, who looked to be doing alright. I called to Eric to see if anyone else had much and he said not. But Ziggy had been on a wander and said Jamie Parkhouse on peg 32 was on 70lb and had a near 20lber and a massive F1, plus a few other had 30lb maybe on the speci lake. We were nor sure how lake 3 was fishing.

With 90 minutes to go I had another big skimmer on my soft pellet line, then another carp. My 6th and final carp was hooked not long after, on the hard pellet, before it totally switched off for me in the last period of the match. Actually from 2:15pm until the 3:30pm all-out I had a nice perch from under peg 14 and a few roach on maggots. All the while Eric was getting a few carp, plus silvers from across and I guess down the edge to his right, he even mugged 3 in the last 15 minutes from the point of the island, swinging maggots to the bunch of fish cruising that area. He'd defo won the lake.
John on peg 13 managed a big skimmer and 2 carp, finishing on 4 decent sized carp and 5lb or so of silvers he said.

So with the match over I packed up and went up to chat to John, discussing the pegs and how we fished. He thought he had 24lb of carp and his silvers. I thought I had similar in carp, maybe just over 26lb and 8lb or so of silvers.
The scales arrived after a while and the sheet showed Jamie Parkhouse had 82lb off p32, Jason King 60-odd off peg 31 and 20lb was best off this lake at this point. Jamie's silvers included a 6lb 6oz F1...!! and he'd had 10-02 and was sitting top of that tree. He also had an 18lb carp, very nice.
John weighed, 5lb 8oz of silvers and 26lb 8oz carp gave him 32lb. Next was me to weigh and my silvers went on the scales first and I managed a level 10lb before my 6 carp topped my net to 43lb 6oz. Eric weighed next and had 10-15 of silvers which added to his carp pushed him into 2nd spot with a total of 75lb 8oz.

I went on my way to load the car and had a natter with Brian Gatis, Jason King and Mark Watkins.
Soon enough Lake 3 was weighed and the results done. I had managed top silvers by default and 4th on the day, with Nick Selway winning Lake 3 from peg 41 with 37lb.

Results:
1st, Jamie Parkhouse, peg 32. 82lb 2oz
2nd, Eric Fouracre, peg 19. 75lb 8oz
3rd, Jason King, peg 31. 62lb 6oz
4th, Lee Williams, peg 15. 43lb 6oz
5th, Nick Selway, peg 41. 37lb 4oz

Silvers:
1st, Eric Fouracre, 10lb 15oz
2nd, Jamie Parkhouse, 10lb 2oz
3rd, Lee Williams, 10lb

Weights (ignore section/silvers notes)

So the venue had fished reasonable, and the pegs expected to do well did produce. In hindsight I should have got my head down and fished for silvers on maggots for the last hour or so, and that lost skimmer cost me at least 2lb on my silvers tally, but I believe Eric lost a couple, everyone loses fish and it is all about those landed that matters.
But I am pleased with how I fished, not sure if I could have had any more by trying other stuff, but you can end up faffing too much and everything goes awry, and the bonus of a double-default silvers pick-up was handy. An enjoyable day really.

Not sure if I am fishing next weekend, no plans as it stands.
Take Care.
Lee

Avalon Teams of 3. Round Three, 08-01-17

Warm and calm conditions met us down on the Somerset Levels for this round of the Teams of 3,  but hopes were not overly confident for a lot of us as the lake had only finished thawing 36hrs previous, and that can knock sport on the head.

Hellos, Seasonal Greetings and general chat ensued for a few minutes before Eric told me to do the draw after his attempts in the last couple of rounds. Well there were only 2 rotations left on the table, neither looked overly appealing to be honest, but the venue is fair and barring 2 or 3 pegs which give up some fish for good section points (ie 5 and 24), you cannot predict where the winners and framing weights will come from.
The pegs left were gonna be either 1, 13 and 30. Or 4, 19 and 35.  Similar draws met with shoulder shrugs. I plucked the 2nd set of pegs. Me on 19 (ok enough), 4 for Eric (5 and 6 better) and Steve had peg 35 (can be feast or famine). I would have rather been on either of the other 2 pegs as it seems like I cant get away from the far end of the lake, and that section generally does 3 weights, then the rest fight over the rest of the section placings, 24 and 26 seem to be most consistent at the moment with 20 and 21 next favourable

I got to my peg and surveyed the scene. I had Jamie Cook in peg 20 on my left then Vic Bush on 21 and to my right on 18 was Phil Dodd, he was going to have Mike West arrive on 17 but he'd be a bit late!! Tough company, even if you take in to account the other anglers in the section, Keith Builder, Paul Wharton, Derek Beards, Bobby Gullick and on 24 was Rob Birch.
Opposite, but in the next section was good old Ziggy Slowinski.

Peg 19 at Avalon

I went about sorting my kit, Jamie was ready in minutes as he has a tip rod and topkit only.
A lead rod for off the point of the island.
A waggler (unused), a margin rig for to my left, to my right against the bale of hay and further along by the empty pallet (all spots biteless).
A light rig for through the water and off bottom was made up but went untried.
Lastly a rig for 2 spots at the bottom of a gentle slope at 13 both in front (groundbait fed) and in the 10 o'clock direction (micros fed).
I had an array of bait on the tray, 8mm pellets, micros, groundbait, live and dead maggot, pinkies, casters, corn, punched meat, bread and expanders. Not a lot in quantity but options to try.

The 10am all in was called and I fed the long lines with 3 decent balls of groundbait in front and 1/4 of a cup if micros off to the left. The margins were fed too.
I chucked the tip out and hooked a fish right away, but it felt funny and fell off, I think it was a smaller carp or skimmer, ah well.
20 minutes later I lost another fish on the tip, again feeling really odd when playing it.
Sport then dies properly.

After an hour I was fishless, those 2 early 'bites' my only signs barring a single liner.
Jamie hadn't had any indication, but 24, 26 and 29 had caught a couple carp each and Bobby was getting silvers regular. Ziggy on peg 30 was on 5 or 6 carp already, mostly from his left edge by empty peg 31.

Another fishless hour passed, I had re-fed the 2 long lines but not looked over them. So I did and had a couple roach over the groundbait before no more indications.
So back on the tip and a flurry of activity. 1 cast saw the rod taken from my hand. A little 2lber was netted and with it 25 yards of line and a couple hooklengths, maybe this was the reason for my first two fish feeling funny and losing them, I think so.
Next chuck and 3rd chuck all saw little 2lbers netted. 3 of the smallest carp in the lake.
Mr West, by then, had set up, dropped in and landed a brute of a carp, a big skimmer and a couple smaller skimmers. Phil Dodd had a tench and a couple roach.

Jamie had his 1st carp 2.5hrs in, a second and 3rd followed, but his were bigger than mine.
Over the next couple hours I kept swapping between the lead and the long pole lines.
From the pole lines I managed to bump a decent skimmer, foul hook and lose a couple 6oz skimmers and a couple micro roach fell off. However I did land 3 or 4 nice skimmers around 1lb or 1.5lb each and some 4oz roach.

Elsewhere Ziggy had a couple more carp, but in my section peg 24 was doing really well, as was peg 26 and peg 30, Bobby was still among the silvers on peg 27. Vic was struggling as was Derek and Phil. Mike West was on a couple carp and a few decent skimmers. So maybe I was 6th or so in section, peg 24 was pretty much miles ahead of us.

Into the last hour and I managed another carp, actually it was another baby carp or 1lb or so, and another skimmer plus a couple roach. Jamie ended up with 6 carp. Mike landed another lump of nearly 8lb or so just before the whistle.
Derek and Vic only had some silvers and 1 small carp each. Bob had just silvers, but plenty of them. Phil had a tench and a handful of small skimmers and roach. So it looked like 6th in section for me.
I guessed I had 8 or 9lb of carp (4 total) and 5 or 6lb of silvers.

I packed up, loaded the car and went for a wander, following the weigh-in amongst chatting to a few guys. It looked like the 1st island pegs had done generally better and when there was weights of 42lb, 56 and 54lb and a few were saying peg 44 on the far side of the gap had done 100lb+, it was obvious that the fish liked being down that end.
The scales got to me and confirmed I had 20lb 1oz total, with my carp a few ounces over 10lb and my silvers a few ounces under 10lb, it did end up with me 6th in section, beaten by Jamie (24lb - 6 carp), Mike (27lb - 3 carp and 7lb silvers), Rob on p24 (52lb of carp), Keith (7 carp for 33lb+) and Paul (7 carp for 33lb).

The scales carried on and weights were consistent with a few better catches thrown in, but when we got to peg 44 it was Luke Pester who claimed 130lb 10oz to win on the day.
Eric had come 6th in section with 8 or 9lb and Steve never had a carp but was 8th in section. This has put us well out of the running for the series, so it is a matter of saving face in the next couple rounds.
The Fu Fighters did brilliant on the day in that they only dropped one point and claimed 4 envelopes on the day, so well done them.
Thyers were second with a couple 3rds and a second in section.

In hindsight....yawn...If only the carp I had were more average 4-5lb fish and the 1st two I had got in, then maybe we'd have been a little better off, but you never know as peeps lose fish etc.

Results:
1st -Luke Pester Fu Fighters 130.10 peg 44
2nd -John Fuidge Fu Fighters 56.04 peg 11
3rd -Shawn Kitteridge Thyers 54.03 peg 13
4th -Rob Birth Wickham Wanders 52.11 peg 24...
5th -Ziggy Slowinksi Somerset Carpenters 45.09 peg 30
6th -Phil Clapp Sedges 42.02 peg 5

Silvers
John Fuidge Fu Fighters 29.01 peg 11

Teams on the day:
1st = Fu Fighters - 29 points
2nd = Thyers - 25pts
3rd = Somerset Carpenters - 21pts
4th = Mosella Gold - 18pts
5th = Sedges - 16pts
6th = Mosella UK - 15pts
7th = Wickham Wanderers - 14pts
8th = Over 50s - 13pts
9th = Happy Hookers - 9pts
10th = Doddys - 5pts

Overall Standings:
1st, Fu Fighters, 25pts
2nd, Sedges, 24pts
3rd, Thyers, 22pts
4th, Mosella Gold, 20pts
5th, Somerset Carpenters, 20pts
6th, Mosella UK, 19pts
7th, Over 50s, 15pts
8th, Wickham Wanderers, 9pts
9th, Doddys, 6pts
10th, Happy Hookers, 5pts

So as you can see, we stand 7th and really are out of the running for a top 3 spot barring everyone else not turning up for 2 rounds....

Next up is Landsend next Sunday with Pawlett, I dnw'd in the corresponding match last year as a couple skimmers isn't enough to keep me there...lets hope for better this week. We have all 3 lakes, but a nice peg will do please....pretty please.

Take care and have fun.
Lee