Pawlett Match, Sedges Brick & Tile, 18-06-17

The hottest day of the year (at that point) coincided with the latest match with the Pawlett posse, all 28 of us wanted was a decent day's sport and a mighty chunk of luck. Not too much to ask really?
A lot of the regular faces were fishing, from Jamie Parkhouse to John Fuidge through to the Clapps and match secretary Mark Hembery. It was also the mystery pairs, so no packing up early and heading for a cooling shower or a pint in a beer garden....

After the usual natter and general piss-taking, it was down to the draws, 4 golden pegs, 22, 27 and 33 on Tile along with peg 2 on Brick were drawn, only peg 27 was fancied to be honest. I really didn't fancy being on Tile, but should I draw on there then pegs 21, 25-27, 31 and 40 would be preferred. Pegs 7 to 10 on Brick please!! Though peg 1 did 220lb in the mid-week match.
I went into the basket halfway down, commenting to Phil Clapp I would like peg 10, never had it in a anything goes match, he didn't want it but promptly pulled it out.....oh cheers, I had the next ball....meh...peg 22!! not the best peg on the lake as it struggles to compete with 21 and those around peg 25ish on that bank.

I made my way to the peg with Steve Fouracre who was on peg 21, and the water looked full of fish near the surface, a muggers paradise, but the whole lake looked as such, but these fish know the time and we knew that come 10:30 they would be out towards the middle of gone altogether.
I had Chris Higgs to my left on peg 23.

It was baking already and most were moaning about the heat and I feared I never had enough drinks with me....ho hum. But I enjoy the sunny and warm times, we don't see much of it so a little discomfort is better than drowned kit which is an arse to dry.
An array of kit made up:
A lead rod with a long tail for slow sinking pellets, a method feeder rod, a pellet waggler.
A shallow silvers rig and full depth silvers rig with an intention of using casters, but I struggle to get the silvers on Tile and I didn't fancy it against Brick's head of skimmers. Both were a bit 'last resort' really.
A mugging/slapping rig using a DT Pellet Pinger on 0.18>0.12>18 B911 (later 0.14).
An edge rig using a DT Edger for meat over meat and caster to my right and meat over 4mm pellets on my left.
A DT RBS was set up for fishing topkit+1 with meat hookbait.
Simple on the bait front, 1.5pt of caster, some 8mm meat, some wetted micros for the method and some 4mm, 6mm and 8mm pellets. Oh and some Bait-Tech wafter pellets for a change of hookbait on the lead rods mostly.

At the all-in I went out to try and mug a fish or 2, most had already drifted away and even more looked like they had other things on their minds as they were swimming around quickly in bunches of 2 or 3.
Steve spooked one in trying to mug it right away and I followed suit by doing the same....no fish to be seen now!! But I had been flicking 6mm's at 14m and after less than 50 pellets I had a 6ft square Jacuzzi in front of me.
30 mins in and Steve had one on the lead fishing along the end bank, then a couple more.
I began to lift and drop at 14m in amongst the bubbles and I was soon into a fish, a nice 6lb mirror was soon netted, That was things done for me for the 1st hour.

Peg 22 at Sedges on Tile Lake

The second hour was ok, Steve moved plenty ahead of me by fishing the lead (and the method later on), he was getting mostly smaller 3 to 4lb fish but regular.
A few more fish drifted in to the area and I managed to mug my 2nd fish of the day, an 8lb common I hooked at 5m in front. A 3rd soon ended up in the keepnet, but was a 3lb fish.
Chris was struggling and only had 1 carp and a couple skimmers on the feeder.
But Kev Crouch was getting a few on various running line tactics and was on around 10 after 2.5hrs.

Things slowed considerably, not that it was hectic, but things didn't look too fishy, it was a roasting day and I couldn't just gulp my drink down. I was catching the rays and my feet and knees had sort of began to burn. Holding the pole wasn't too pleasurable either, but if I kept it moving then it was fine.
The 3rd hour passed with only a few roach to show after a futile spell fishing casters shallow at 14m.
I did hook a fish mugging, but it tore off up the lake never to be stopped taking the best part of the rig in the process (the float....). It looked a good upper double. I laughed, Steve also laughed.

A quick look on the wag gave me nothing, but 3 fish on the method just off the island gave me a short-lived bit of hope, but looking around, it was only peg 31 (Mark Sweeting), Steve on 21 and Crouchy on peg 25 that were consistent in catching, but I couldn't see many others so I didn't really have a clue on how I was doing.
I changed from the long hooklength on the lead to a short one and lobbed it on the pole line, which was still getting bits of fizz. There were fish there, I would spook them lobbing the lead in, but I couldn't get a fish on the pole. It did work as 3 more fish followed in a short spell before that line died.

Into the remaining couple of hours and it began ok with another mugged fish, around 11lb so a nice addition. I was up to 50lb on the clicker, 10 carp. Steve was on around 80lb and Chris had began to hook the odd carp on pellet short and at depth.
A look on the meat line gave me a couple mad 3lbers and one foul hooker that I played for ages, a lump of a fish, but my impatience got the better of me and I snapped the hooklength pulling too hard. Schoolboy.
I had been feeding the 2 edges, my right edge gave me a skimmer, that's all, but my left side showed signs of fish with the odd tail pattern and I put a couple decent fish in the keepnet at around 8lb each from there. So at the all out my clicker showed 70lb (but I may have missed a fish I thought to myself) and that was 15 carp. 1 shallow, 4 mugged, 3 each on the lead and method, 2 on short meat and 2 from the left edge. But a couple of them were decent sized.
Steve was admitting to 105lb before his final fish. Chris had 4 or 5 I think. On the other bank I could see Mark Sweeting on peg 31 catching really well in the last hour and definitely looked good for a decent 130lb+.

I packed up my kit and loaded the car before the weigh-in. I was 2nd to weigh and after Steve's 110lb+ I managed a respectable 83lb or so. I was quite pleased with that despite my "what if's" or "if only.." thoughts. Kev Crouch had 120-something before I headed back to the car and then over to Brick Lake. It was said that Mr Clapp on Peg 10 had won that lake, that was true as he managed over 100lb ahead of Jamie Parkhouse on peg 9 who had 83lb+.
There were 2 other 100lb nets on Tile, Mark Sweeting with 140lb+ and Mark Hembery with 124lb. So I was 5th on the lake and 8th overall.
The top silvers was 40lb+ to Derek Beards on Brick, where there were generally better silvers nets.

Results:
1st, Mark Sweeting, peg 31. 143lb 5oz
2nd, Mark Hembery, peg 35. 124-10
3rd, Kev Crouch, peg 25. 117-12

Silvers went to Derek Beards, peg 4. 42lb 9oz
Sections went to Steve Fouracre (p21, 110lb 8oz) and Phil Clapp (p10, 109lb 13oz)

Brick's Weights

Tile's Weights

Once the pay-outs were done it was down to Denise to grab two balls and see what happens, with regards to the secret pairs that is. The idea is that the top 2 weights combined would be the winners,
well she must have the desired effect as the first couple of balls she grabbed were pegs 31 and 10......and therefore no other spherical objects needed touching as those weights (Mark Sweeting and Phil Clapp's) combined were unbeatable. So a sort of anti-climax really....haha.

So next weekend is the next round of the Acorn Saturday Series and as for Sunday, no plans as of yet, but the weather looks a whole lot better for catching a few and not sweating your behind off....

Until then, happy Summer Solstice and enjoy Glasto to those heading there,
Lee

Acorn Saturday Series, 10-6-17

Not much to write home about for today's match, I had hoped for a nice draw at the near end of the lake, so anywhere from 38 around to 12 and the 3 pegs on the island. Anyways, peg 24 stuck to my mitt....not so great as it has pretty much been the worst peg in the series along with peg 28 with 9lb and 16lb the weights previously.
Had a but of banter with a few of the guys, mostly at the expense of Steve Sewell, but he's got broad shoulders and is a nice guy so no doubt like water off a duck's back so-to-speak.

It was bloomin windy, as is the norm at Acorn, it would be hard to fish the 13m across to the far bank where I figured the bulk of any fish I should catch come from. For company I had Lance Tucker on my left on peg 22 and Paul Nichols on slightly better peg 26, around from him was John Fuidge.

A few rigs, a shallow pellet rig for mid-way across and tight over. A topkit rig for maggots downwind and a topkit margin rig for my right edge as it was at this distance that it plumbed up ok. Lastly a pellet rig for just shy of empty peg 25.

On the whistle I started across, struggling against the wind. It was 15 minutes before I hooked and lost a foul hooker. Paul and Lance had a couple in this time, Paul's of a better stamp.
Then at the end of the 1st hour I had two 4lbers in two drops.......and that was it until the last hour (except a few baby carp and odd roach) when I had 2 more 4lb carp.
During the match I watched Paul catch pretty well from his margins, mostly to his left. Lance had a few smaller stamp fish and I guessed they had 65lb and 35lb respectively. John had struggled and had 5 smallish carp in the last hour slapping against the island.

At the all out I contemplated chucking my catch back as I was sure I would be last or 2nd last in section, so would be my dropper. I went and saw those in my section (19, 24, 26, 28, 36, 38 and 3), other than John and Myself the rest had over 30lb, so I walked back to my peg and chucked my catch back (maybe 15 to 17lb I suppose). John did the same.

I never got to see the results overall but I did see them on Facebook. Barry Richards won with 97lb ahead of Neil Morgan's 82lb. Paul Nichols won my section with 75lb.

The next round is in a couple weeks so a section 1st or 2nd in each of the last two rounds should remotely keep me in with a slim chance of a top 6....wait and see.!!

Not sure when I am fishing next, maybe tomorrow, but defo next Sunday, see how I feel.

Take Care.
Lee

Summerhayes Open, 11-6-17. Willow and Lily Ponds.

I decided at 9am on Sunday morning to go and fish this match, the sprogs didn't want to do anything so I quickly loaded the car, chopped some meat and made sure my pellet tubs were topped up. Thankfully the rigs from Acorn the day previous would suffice.

Arrived at the fishery by 9:30 and said a few hellos to a few guys including some of the PSV chaps on Sellicks. Paid my dues and waited for the draw. I didn't want to be on Willow as although there are more silvers in there I fancied catching a few carp from Lily, I had never been on Willow before and Lily has been ok for me. But 18 or so fishing and top 4 and 2 silvers payouts, common sense told me that Willow would be a more viable option for a pick-up.

Onto the draw and the Golden Peg was drawn and was peg 5 on Lily, I managed to pick 3 from the end and had Willow peg 11, no idea what it looked like at that point. But I got to my peg and recognised it from Jamie Rich's blog. I had that man opposite me on peg 7, he offered a side bet on silvers, like a numpty who wanted to fish for carp I agreed...!!

Peg 11 Willow, Summerhayes (Jamie Rich opposite)

For bait I had a few pints of maggots, some 6mm pellets, a few 8mm pellets, 8mm meat and a couple pints of micros. I also stuck some expanders in water as I hadn't prepared any and I had yet another ringers pellet pump die on me last week..!!
Rigs were simply, 1 edge rig, a DT RBS in 0.3g on 0.18>0.14>16 B911, for 8m to my left around 1m out from the bank, I intended to fish here using banded pellets, this same rig done for the same distance off to my left a little and near a small island. The 2nd rig was a meat rig for 2+2 in front and 2+1 to my left on a point of the near bank, using the same DT RBS but with a size 14 B911.  The water levels are down and on plumbing up this meat line and the pellet line off the island I felt plenty of roots and rocks etc, this meant I couldn't fish as close as I fancied.
Lastly I set up a lighter maggot rig using a DT Pencil in 0.4g on 0.14>0.13>Guru LWG size 18, but on strongish elastic, for silvers at 8m in front and off in the 2 o'clock direction, but these spots would be fed with various amounts of micros and a few maggots. Any further in front and me and Jamie would have almost been touching pole tips.
That maggot rig also would double up as a topkit rig to feed heavy-ish with maggots, hoping for some eels as they can be of a decent size. I also hoped for maybe a tench or a few stamp roach/rudd from here.

At the all-in I fed my left edge and 2 spots with micros for silvers, I decided not to initially feed my meat lines or the island, instead I chose to begin on the short meat line just using a toss-pot.
Not much happened for 10 mins, Jamie had a couple skimmers and one or 2 carp had been caught.
So out over my silvers line in front and I kept bumping plippy roach and rudd, so a quick elastic change to a 4-6 maybe would alter this, but I didn't fancy catching 1/2oz bits all day.
Jamie soon had his 1st accidental carp, this made me come off my silvers and try near the island, again feeding via a tosspot, 1st drop I missed a bite but as I re-lowered the rig back in I was into my 1st carp, a nice 6lb fish to boot.....back out and nothing...!! That was the opening hour, 1 carp and a few small silvers.  I began to feed my topkit line heavy and irregularly with maggots.

The second hour was another quiet one, peg 9 was catching a few fish as was Nigel on peg 13.
Jamie at this point had a dozen small skimmers and a few roach. I was still unsure about which route to go down, try for the silvers or fish for the carp. Nobody was really flying along on the carpy side of things but I knew the silvers would need a proper effort to catch enough should they be feeding well for someone. But after Jamie's slowish start I wasn't too sure how much would be needed to get a quid off Mr Rich, 8lb perhaps?
Anyways I managed a few plippy silvers and 2 carp I actually attempted to catch on the meat line to my left. But as time went on I could see pegs 13, 9 and peg 1 catching a few, I couldn't see peg 3. Lily lake looked slow and not many fish had been caught and a few guys had walked the banks, Steve Jackson and Ray Wickham both packed up early, they were not to only ones on that lake to do so.

The 3rd and 4th hours were a bit better as I had been feeding my topkit line and I tried there and low and behold after a few plips I began to get a few better 3oz fish, just odd ones and they would be interrupted by carp, as were Jamie's silvers, his silvers were smaller fish not skimmers also.
My carp clicker was on 24lb at this point and I knew at least pegs 13 and 9 had double that, so really other than for resting my silver's lines, the carp fishing exploits had stopped.
I was occasionally trying the longer lines and I would only get a few more plippy fish and odd carp.
I had also upped the feed on one of my silvers lines hoping the tench and better skimmers would move in, preferably not the carp.

The 5th hour was decent enough on the silvers front,  mostly on the topkit where I was getting a fish a bung and a couple may have been 6 to 8oz, most were 2-3oz, I also had a few fall off and back into the water!! But every now and then I would be attached to a carp which would take a bit of time to land, but I never lost one, just minutes I could be fishing for silvers. I did have a nice looking 4lb ghostie.
The odd occasion I would try either of my meat lines, more hoping for a bigger fish of the non carp type, I would miss a bite or land a carp. Jamie was also getting the run around from carp on his silvers rigs. But had started to catch a little better on the silvers front and as far as I was concerned I would be giving him a shiny pound coin.

The last hour was really quiet for me on the silvers side of things, perhaps 7 or 8 small roach/rudd but I did have a couple or so carp taking my carp tally to around 30lb as my clicker said. (some carp were 1.5lb fish) and I had 8 or 9 carp come the end of the match to go with perhaps 2.5lb of silvers, maybe 50 silvers, no skimmers at all, just rudd and roach.

I packed my gear away, half of Lily already had ages ago. It didn't take long and I caught up with the weigh-in as we got to Jamie, he had 27lb of carp but 5lb 2oz of silvers, definitely more than what I had, but he said he thought I had more and it could be closer than my guesstimate. But I gave him the quid as promised.
Peg 9 put a good 50-odd pounds on the scales before they got to me. Silvers first and surprisingly 4lb 3oz of bits and bobs was my total. Ady asked did I want to weigh my carp and I insisted I may as well as I'd been there 6hrs. 33lb 11oz worth, plus my 4lb 3oz, which at that point put me 2nd but I knew Nigel on peg 13 had a good 60lb+ at least and I presumed somebody on Lily would have been better off than that.
Nigel weighed in 61lb 14oz total. Onto the few left on Lily and Glynn Wickham said he'd had a big eel and been bitten off by a couple big eels, plus he had 3 or 4 actual silvers. He totalled 3lb 9oz of silvers. So I had 2nd in silvers. Nobody had more than 25lb of carp either on Lily.

I went off and loaded my car before the results were given.

1st, Nigel Wickham, 13W, 61lb 14oz
2nd, Chris Whitham, 9W, 57-07
3rd, Lee Williams, 11W, 37-14
4th, Geoff Francis, 3W, 35-01

1st Silvers, Jamie Rich, 7W, 5-02
2nd Silvers, Lee Williams, 11W, 4-03
3rd Silvers, Glyn Wickham, 12L, 3-09

So I actually picked up 3rd overall in the monies as it was worth more than 2nd in the silvers, so Glynn got something back for his decent, near 3lb, eel.
Myself and Jamie both agreed that perhaps we could have fished for the carp and possibly threatened the top 2, as there seemed to be plenty around come the 2nd half of the match, actually every time I tried my 2 meat lines I would get indications and often a fish or 2. But none the less it was a nice day in decent weather with good company as usual.
It was a low weight (for the lake) affair in the PSV match with 70lb-ish winning by Alan Healey on peg 23 Sellicks.

Next up for me at the moment is Pawlett's next match at Sedges on Sunday, just got to decide, silvers or carp, haha. I may do the MMT at Viaduct on Sunday, just have to see how I feel.

Take Care and Have Fun,
Lee

Pawlett All-Winners Final, Trinity Woodlands. 4-6-17

The clubs' annual All-Winners' match is usually held on Trinity's Woodland Lake with the 'others' on Ash Pool. No different this year.

Anyways a short blog as it wasn't a great day personally, but that's fishing.
Arrived early enough, but still one of the last there and I actually went to the draw 2nd in line....that was the 1st mistake. I drew peg 23, I have won off it during the winter but in the summer I feel that it is the wrong end on the wrong bank I thought. I had Derek Beards to my left and Jamie Cook to my right on peg 25, not the best peg for him but ideal for his method/lead approach as peg 19 is not used.

Plenty of wind, all different directions and strengths during the day, oh and plenty of rain....!!
A small pellet feeder was set up along with 5 pole rigs. (right edge meat, 14m pellet shallow, 14m deep pellet, 5m meat and a silvers rig for 14m off to my right).
A quick run down of the match, 1st hour gave me 2 roach and I lost 4 foul hooked carp on the long deep pellet rig. Derek had nothing.
2nd hour, I had a couple small skimmers and a 3lb tench. Derek had 1 skimmer and a roach.
3rd hour, gave up on the carp and hoped for silvers, had a couple 12oz skimmers long on single dead maggots over micros. Derek had put a lead rod out halfway through the hour as those opposite (mostly Jamie Parkhouse and Phil Clapp) had a few fish on theirs, I couldn't be arsed..... Derek had a carp right away which signalled a nice run of carp until the all out.
4th hour, landed a 7lb carp on the silvers rig, gave me a run around. A couple small silvers netted. Derek still getting odd carp and even odd one down the edge.
5th hour, another carp, only a 3lber, but I did manage a couple 12oz skimmers. It was dull.
Last hour, another carp, again on single maggot on my silvers rig, about 5 or 6lb. Another couple skimmers to 1lb. Derek was on around 8 carp now. He hadn't had anything for 2.5hrs at the start and ended with 46lb or so.

At the all out I chuck my 3 carp back, maybe 15 or 16lb they would have weighed.
I guessed at 6lb of silvers, maybe 7lb. I knew John Fuidge and Mark Leader had plenty more, at least 10lb each.
Out of the rest of the guys it would be close, a few peeps looked like having between 35 and 50lb maybe. But rumour was Paul Squire had plenty from down on peg 34, mostly on the lead.

I weighed 9lb 8oz of silvers, behind John and Mark's 13lb+ nets. I may have qualified, by double default, for the Silvers Final in 2018, but cannot be sure.
Overall it was Mr Squire that won with 95lb-ish. Then came Phil Clapp with 55lb and then Paul Lock with 51lb. They were on pegs 34, 12 and 15 respectively.

Results:
1st, Paul Squire, 95-15. p34
2nd, Phil Clapp, 55-15. p12
3rd, Paul Lock, 51-13. p15
4th, Mark Leader, 48-06. p10

Silvers:
1st, Mark Leader, 13-09. p10
2nd, John Fuidge, 13-06. p9
3rd, Lee Williams, 9-08. p23

So a non-productive day for me, I was actually packing up around 2pm, but the heavy rains arrived and put me off doing that.
The 'others' match was won by Dick Hurford with 43lb 8oz.

In hindsight I should have got my lead rod out, but to be fair I didn't expect to catch enough from that end or bank to compete unless they were shallow. I don't think anyone caught shallow properly, most had lead fish and a few down their edges later on.

Next up for me is the next round of the Acorn Saturday Series this Saturday, not sure on Sunday yet, may go Summerhayes, but again another not-so-calm day predicted, but warm.

Take Care,
Lee

Acorn Saturday Series, 27-5-17...........plus White Acres for a few days.

An update of the last week's fishing for me.
It started last Saturday at Acorn for the 2nd round of the Saturday Series, I managed a 2nd in section in the 1st round and suffice to say will need at least a 2nd in section for each round to have a chance of an overall framing chance come the end of it.

The usual suspects were there and a full house of 21 fishing, including a couple welshies who'd be running late due to bank holiday weekend traffic.
Trolley loaded, on with the draw, Nick Harvey drew the 2 missing welsh guy's pegs, 9 for Barry Richards and 34 for Neil Morgan, good pegs.
Well I managed a bridge peg in the form of peg 33, which I thought would be okay, but fancied the pegs along the entry road, pegs 6 round to 12ish, peg 9 looked great with plenty of fish in that area.

Peg 33 Acorn

Same rigs as last time, edges, tight over and a rig for down the middle. Baits were casters, 6 and 8mm pellets and some expanders.
The match began and it was slow for myself, Neil and Paul Preston on peg 31, in fact the only person catching was Barry on peg 9.
I slowly, very slowly, picked up the odd fish from across and Neil was getting plenty of those baby carp and some silvers (goldfish included).
I lost a few throughout the day to the concrete leg on the bridge, I believe they were foul hooked fish which made me less irritated. Oh Keith Ray on peg 3 saw his peg collapse into the lake along with him and all his kit, but Mark Bartlett helped in the fact he got in the lake and rescued all his kit and pulled out the structure of the platform. Keith went on to win his section and come 2nd on the day with 90lb, so no massive harm done.

The match went by quite quickly, even quicker for Nick Harvey whom left early, come the end of the match I think I ended up with a crucian, a roach and 8 carp. Probably 30lb. I reckoned Neil had similar of those little fish, Paul struggled and so had all the peeps going anti-clockwise around the lake from me to Mark Bromsgrove on peg 21. The only bridge peg I knew had done ok was Steve Sewell on peg 6 who was admitting to 60lb.

The weigh in done and Barry on peg 9 had walked the match, mostly catching shallow, he had 155lb. Keith was 2nd with 90lb from peg 3 and Steve Sewell 3rd with 67lb.
As for my section, it was tight for the places 2nd and lower with Steve winning it. I managed 32lb on the button along with Brian Slipper on peg 40. But Mark Bromsgrove on peg 21 had an 8lb carp last knockings to knock equal 3rd in section. So 4.5 points for me on the day.

Results sheet:

The overall standings sees Keith Ray in 1st place with 14 points ahead of Brian Slipper on 11.5 points, I have 10.5 points and am in 5th, but you drop one result so the standings don't mean too much at this point.

The next round is next week on the 10th June.

So after that match it was half term and we had a Monday to Friday booked down at White Acres, so it was up and leave the house at 7am so at least I could have a day fishing.
Trelawny peg 4 was my session for the afternoon. I managed a few fish, maybe 70 or 80lb of assorted species and had a nice few hours.

Next day was spent in the morning playing football golf with the family, which was actually quite fun, so it was then lunch and a few hours fishing.
I fancied fishing Eery, but it was full so looked at Pollawyn, I found a few fish in the area down the first leg, the leg had loads of surface crap so I went on peg 2, which apparently isn't great, Nathan Watson called me a 'saddist'. But I had a great few hours with 8 or 9 lumpy carp to 15lb-ish, over 30 f1's that probably went 3lb each and maybe 25lb of skimmers/roach and a solitary barbel. Most were caught on meat at 5m with a few caught shallow at 14m.

Wednesday I fished on Eery, peg 8, and had a nice 4hrs catching a few shallow and deep on pellets, nothing big, maybe 4lb the largest, but I did catch plenty of roach down the edge on meat. These roach were 4 to 8oz each and came one a chuck, I couldn't feed them off.... I had over 80lb I would think easily.

Thursday was the Rover match, 61 fished,  and at the draw I bumped into Jim Jenner. Word was Twin Oaks had been hard for 2 weeks and it was expected to be a low-ish weight match with 80lb needed to frame (top 6 paid).
I pulled 11th pick out and after my earlier look around, Eery had a few on there pleasure fishing, one or 2 pegs on Twin Oaks were taken by pleasure guys. Pegs 28 to 31 looked nice on Pollawyn as did 20, but that had the aerator in and on and I wasn't too sure if I wanted to be there.
I looked at the map when it was my turn and saw the pegs I liked the look of had gone so plumped for peg 13 on Acorn, the lake had been patchy but can do 80lb+ if you get things right and the lumps turn up early enough,

They didn't until 5 mins before the end, when I had tails waving at me down to my left.....I managed an eel in amongst them.....but no carp!! Up until that point I had managed a few f1's and small carp on pellets at 14m, lifting and dropping mostly, none on caster or meat lines, which surprised me, oh and a few late on the pellet feeder. I had 62lb and a few ounces which put me 10th on the day. 149lb won from Twin Oaks (peg 1 with the wind pushing in and loads of space) with 94lb 2nd off there also. A couple weights from Pollawyn high bank and peg 20. But an enjoyable day with lots of bites.

Friday was home day, but I had booked in to the Bolingey match, I have only ever drawn on the back lake and with 36 or 38 fishing most pegs were in. But the left hand leg wasn't used due to spawning.
I drew 31, I was told it was reasonable but with only 4 empty pegs free it would be pressured and the fish had other things on their minds......

Well I didn't catch on corn short (no meat or gb allowed) I managed 2 late carp down my right edge and the rest of my 75lb came at 14m up and down in the water on pellets. Oh I did get 5 small grass carp and 1 carp on the lead chucked on the pole line. I also took way too long to land a 13lb common, it just wouldn't give up. My weight was 6th or 7th on the day I think.
Only 3 nets topped 100lb with 130lb winning from peg 38. But I enjoyed it.

So a nice few days away and it has defo convinced me to get onto a few more festivals on the complex, whether they will be one of the 'big 5' or one of the couple 4 day ones they have depends on holiday allowances!!

Tomorrow is Pawlett's All-Winners match over at Trinity Woodlands, a nice peg full of fish waiting to be caught would go down nice, thank-you please.

Until next time, have fun and tight lines.
Lee