Summerhayes Open, 25-03-18. Longs.

After deciding not to travel up to the Big One Show on Sunday, I was deliberating as to whether to go fishing or not, but with the weather looking like we may see a decent day weather wise, at least no frosts and some sunshine. So late Saturday night it was a choice of trying to get on to a match, I had 3 choices, Trinity Woodlands, Shiplate Westpool or Summerhayes. Summerhayes it was as even if you are not in contention of a pick up you usually get a few bites and fish.

Me and the wife loaded the car and made our way over to the lakes, pretty certain it was a 9am draw and fish 10-4pm. A few guys present and we ended up with half a dozen or so, not great but that seems to often be the case on a lot of matches that, unless they are leagues, then numbers can be varied to say the least. Anyways we had a nice cuppa thanks to Pete and a bit of a chat before the draw was done, a rover match today on Longs. I drew the golden peg, pick 3, then drew my pick, pick 3, so I would have the golden peg pot which can be won if the overall or silvers is won from the peg. The others all chose pegs in the 30's alongside the road, I fancied the far side as it is more comfy to ship and I would have a bit of room, not always good at times. I picked peg 12, this gave me 18m to the far side so that option was ruled out as I didn't quite fancy a day of fishing up to an island which is what I seemed to have done all over winter, plus the breeze was tricky.

Peg 12 Longs, Summerhayes

Once at the peg it looked ok, no signs of fish except the odd plippy roach.
Box and attachments sorted, some groundbait mixed and expanders pumped I went about setting up my rigs for the day, a DT F1/Silvers in 0.3g for the silvers was assembled using a 0.10 hooklength and a b911f1 hook in size 18. I would fish this in 2 spots in front, 5m using micros as feed and 9m using groundbait, but enough on them as the wind got up and I couldn't see the float in the reflections on the water.
My 2nd rig was for the topkit down each edge, meat left, dead maggots right, my usual DT Big D in 0.2g was made up but went untroubled during the day, so no more on that then.
Lastly I set up a DT RBS Open float to fish a few spots, 10 o'clock direction at 9m, right margin-ish at 6m and by empty peg 13 at 6m. There were other spots I could have tried, but didn't as the depth was standard to within an inch or so. Hooklength was 0.12 to a 16 B911 hook.

On the whistle I potted in my silver's baits and a 1/4 cup of hard 4's plus a pinch of micros and a couple 4mm expanders off in the 10 o'clock direction. I fed my 2 edges for the fish to find another day....
I began in front for the silvers, that lasted not long when the ripple arrived.
So out to my left at 9m and I soon had a few indications and a 1lb skimmer and then a 2lb carp.
A couple more carp of similar stamp and another 1.5lb skimmer followed in the initial hour. Not too bad. But I could see Martin Addicot opposite hooking carp regularly, but it turned out he lost most.
The second hour was quiet with only 2 small silvers netted and lost 1 foul hooked carp. There were still indications so there were fish around.
Hour 3 was a little better and gave me 3 carp, the largest perhaps 5lb and another nice skimmer and a blade skimmer. My carp clicker was on 21lb at this point. So far all of my fish had come at 9m off in the 10 o'clock direction. It seemed that I could only catch on 4mm expander over toss potted micros and hard 4s, meat and maggots gave me less bites.

At this point bites began to slow again so I tried putting a small helping in the deeper water away from my right margin at 6m. Ten minutes passed and I had a bite, a skimmer of 2lb was duly netted, that was my only bite there for the rest of the day, so a passer by methinks.
Back out to my 'catching zone' and  I had another spurt of carp and put perhaps 15lb in the net. But again the bites would fade, another re-feed and another look on each of the edges with no joy, so I deposited 2 hard balls of groundbait off the leg of peg 13, I laced these with hard 4s and a few bits of meat.

The 5th hour was productive from both the 9m line and down by the empty peg 13, I did bump a couple from the empty peg area, perhaps me being too quick off the mark in trying to stop them snagging me, but I put another 8 or 9 carp and a single small skimmer in the net during this spell, my clicker showing 57lb. Plus perhaps 10lb of silvers in the other net.
The final hour came and I started it off with a 3lb fish from my 9m line, so I sent the wife off to get another net as I forgot if the limit was 70 or 80lb. Bad choice as 3rd net syndrome kicked in and I only managed to lose 2 carp once the net went in, only in the last 5 minutes was it that I put 2 carp in the 2nd carp net before the all out was called.

I packed away, rather quickly my missus said, and got the kit back to the car before helping with the scales. Bill Hopping asked what I had and I told him just over 60lb of carp and 10lb of silvers, he replied I would win easily with that. I wasn't sure as Martin Addicot had been playing fish all day, but as it turned out he had lost around 20 fish including some at the net.
We weighed everyone in and I was last, my clicker was close with my carp totalling 62lb and 14oz while my 10lb 1oz was my silvers. So that meant I had won, topped the silvers and I was on the golden peg. Nice.

Back at the hut and the pay outs done plus a bit of a chit chat and a cuppa.
Bill was happy to sneak 2nd as the silvers went to Martin with 3-15. He was more glad that he managed a fish on his beloved paste, when that works properly he becomes the man to beat at the venue.

A happy Bill Hopping.

The top 3 were:
1st -Lee Williams 72-15 (10-01 silvers) peg 12 (qualified for both overall and silvers Champion matches in October)
2nd - Martin Addicot 37-09 (3-12 silvers) peg 31
3rd - Bill Hopping 19-02 (2-11 silvers) peg 37

In hindsight I could have set up a shallow rig and perhaps a depth rig for banded pellet as my bites at times were less than positive. I never had a bite on 6mm expander, maggot and pinkie and only 1 caro and 1 skimmer on meat. So it was for sure a pellet day.

Not sure where I am next (long) weekend. Friday at Acorn there is a silvers match in memory of Charlie Barnes, Landsend Saturday, Summerhayes or Landsend on Sunday. Viaduct has matches everyday from Thurs until Monday.

Until next time, take care.
Lee

Landsend 'So-Simple Baits' Winter League, Final Round. 18/03/18

Firstly I would like to thank Ken Rayner for running this series, Mike Duckett for accommodating us all and to Andy Seery of So Simple Baits for sponsoring the league with goodies midway and at the end. We all appreciate your efforts and support.

So with the scene set on a rather wintery note, cold temps and bundles of snow across the region a few no-shows was always going to be the case and as it was there were a few from each of the 3 sections. But the roads in the main were ok in getting the fishery (and home after) as they were clear, I certainly never encountered anything out of the ordinary except down the street where I live.
The draw, unbeknown to me, was moved back to 9am to allow people time to get to the venue.

My turn on lake 3, no real preference in peg to be honest as I wasn't sure how it would fish, the air temps were chilly but we had seen a few warm days previous to around 14 degrees and that would have warmed the lake a little and would take more than 24hrs of cooler weather to drop them down too much. I had the 1st ticket for my section and pulled out peg 68, not too bad, a deeper peg and having the point of an island at 14m in front, a weed bed to my left and open water options.

Peg 68, Landsend Fishery.

For company I had Pete Nurse to my left on peg 70 and across the opposite side were Martin Pettifer and Rod Wootton (not in a corner for a change).
The snow, as you can see, had returned and pretty much snowed for a few hours of the match coupled with a poxy cold wind, which I am thankful that it was not blowing directly at me.

I set up 4 rigs:
A shallow pellet rig (0.2g DT Pinger) as the fish can come up in the water here, even in winter. This went unused.
A rig for the edges, dead maggot over the same, at topkit range next to some tree stumps, but my DT Big D never saw more than 5 minutes use.
2 identical rigs were also made up to target pretty much anything, heavy-ish silvers (or light carp I guess) rigs using 0.3g DT RBS Open Waters with 0.10 hooklengths and size 18 911F1 hooks. The only difference being was the depth. 1 was for long and in open water and the 2nd for 7m in front, next to the island in front and to my left by the weed bed, simple really. Strung out shot on both.

Bait selection was live and dead maggots, some casters (no bites), some expanders (froze unused) and some micros and a little groundbait for feed.
The match began and I fed a line at 7m in front with a decent sized ball of groundbait with a few dead maggots and micros added. A helping of casters by the weed bed.
Out in open water at 13.5m I fed a couple spots, one with micros and one with casters, neither gave me a bite all day so no more on those.
I started out by the island toss-potting maggots and micros with double maggot on the hook.
10 minutes passed and I had a roach, then another, nice sized ones maybe 3-4oz each.
I then hooked a carp which done it's best to escape but after a protracted battle I slipped the landing net under a 8lb+ common, well hooked in the pec.

A few more roach from the same spot then an F1 of 2lb  found my welcoming keepnet, but we were all finding it hard going, even series winner Stu Barnett on peg 51 was not catching, just losing the odd carp.
I persevered, trying different lines with no success so it was back out towards the island. But things had really slowed, I would get the odd roach and even a blade skimmer now and then but that was it.

We were soon passed the halfway stage and Stu was catching regularly and probably had 8 carp or more, the rest of us, not a lot. Pete had a burst of 3 small carp down in peg 70, but that was it, he only had 1 more during the contest. Martin was getting a few roach on caster, I couldn't get a bite with that in the hook. Road was landing the odd silver, he already had a few skimmers in the first hour.
I then had a flurry of fish, a couple crucians from my 7m groundbait line and a micro perch (also bumped 2 decent fish, maybe foul hooked) 2 f1's from by the island and another f1 of 1lb by the weedbed, my only fish from there.

The next couple of hours dragged, I added the odd small silver from by the island and lost a carp that tied my rig to a rope (for the aerator) off the point of the island, I had to pull for a break. Stu was doing fine and would easily win the lake.
In to the final 60 minutes and another carp was hooked and landed, that would be 2 in the net, maybe 14lb total as the second was around 6lb. A few silvers including a nice 12oz skimmer were had on the 7m line as the island area seemed slow.
Martin had a small carp and Rod actually landed one late on, a 5lber, he also managed to lose a couple more skimmers and an f1, he wasn't having a good day. The all out sounded and I think I had 10lb of silvers and my 2 carp for another 14lb.

I packed up and went and started the weigh in, well not a lot to report there except Stu had 106lb from peg 51 to re-affirm his league winnings, but this match also bought him the knock-out winning as his opponent, Tony Rixon had 20-something pound of silvers from Match Lake (lake 2) peg 22.
I managed 2nd on the lake and best silvers on the lake with 12lb of those any 14lb of carp. So a pick up for me. Bonus.

So back at the cabin, car all loaded and I stayed to see how people had done overall in the series. Stu Barnett won overall and the knock-out. Tony won overall in the silvers while Nick Duckett, Martin Rayet and Gary O'Shea took 2nd, 3rd and 4th overall. Well done to all of them.
I managed 7th overall in the league and in the silvers I ended up finishing 4th. I am pleased with those results as it was my 1st time in the league and I am not a venue regular by any means (not sure I am anywhere to be honest). A couple poor choices and my usual inability to draw well regularly cost me some points for sure, enough points to alter things? I don't know.

Not sure where I am this weekend, maybe I will get a ticket for the Golden Rod match at Viaduct, maybe I will have a weekend off, I don't know, but it is my daughter's birthday so perhaps I will just eat cake.....

Until then, take care.
Lee

Landsend Winter League, Rounds 4 (11-2-18) and 5 (11-3-18)

For various reasons I never got around to writing up my blog for the 4th round of this league, luckily enough you guys never missed much.....until now.

The 11th of Feb, day after my birthday and Steve Sewell's actual birthday, was the date for the 4th round, an open draw and them rotation for these last 3 matches. I was hoping for Lake 3 really and the same sequence as the 1st three matches. I was still in the knock-out but I never knew whom I was faced with, but it turned out to be Tony Rixon, thankfully I never knew until Ken posted the results on Facebook after the event.

Being in the K/O would sort of dictate the fact that I would ideally be fishing for carp, as my league position deemed that I was unlikely to finish in the overall standings in a position to pick up. I was doing ok in the Silvers, but only 1 overall payout for this and Tony doing really well, plus Ken Rayner, Gary O'Shea and venue owner Mike Duckett in and around the upper regions of the standings put me in a misty-mind-set of deciding which way to go....

Anyway peg 34 on the Speci Lake (lake 1) would be my peg for the match, a decent peg at times but hasn't really kick-started in this series with 32 and 33 (corners) being more likely to throw up the winning weight. Peg 28 also was dominating the silvers fishing on this lake recently. Steve Sewell was on that.

The same rigs as last time out on this lake were assembled. But the wind was bloody awful and even at times during the day 7m was hard enough to hold and fishing across to the island nigh on impossible. I had Rod Wootton on peg 33 to my left and Rob Watts a couple pegs to my right on 36.

Landsend Peg 34, Speci Lake.

I started on a 7m line for some silvers, I had fed 2 lines at 7m, in front a couple small balls of groundbait and a few maggot type baits.  To my right I fed micros and a few expanders. I began in front, well after trying to ship across to the island, but the wind put paid to that.
I had a couple little perch and a roach in the initial 45 minutes but nobody had caught much at all.
I then hooked a carp and after a good tussle I luckily got it in on the no.4-6 laccy. It was around 7lb.

Not much happened for the next few hours, I lost a couple foul hooked fish, one at the net, the other somewhere towards the point of the island, both on the silvers line in front, I didn't have a bite all day over micros.
I did try fishing across at times, but really was pointless in the wind, so much so I followed Rod's lead and went and got a tip rod, especially as Stu Barnett on peg 31 had a few on his. Actually I don't think Rod had a bite for 5hrs and 30mins when he had a 5lb carp up in the water along his end bank, after the wind dropped.
Anyway my little groundbait feeder took a liking to the trees on the island a couple times but a couple little fish were bullied out by my 2nd and last carp of the day with an hour to go, that one also was around 7lb.
Rob on peg 36 had landed 2, but one was a proper lump of double figures he said. Further along they struggled. Steve Sewell on p28 had been busy catching roach on and off all day. Stu on peg 31 had done decent on the tip and Martin Pettifer on peg 32 had struggled until the last 30 minutes when I think he had 3 decent carp on the pole. I was looking at 4th or 5th on the lake and naff-all in the silvers stakes.

As it turned out I was 4th on the lake, not the worst result. Pegs 31, 32 and 36 were the top 3 and indeed Steve picked up the silvers envelope from peg 28.

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The match this past weekend was the 5th round and I was due to be on the Match Lake (lake 2).

Now I fancied peg 22, that peg has been great for silvers in recent weeks with bags to over 20lb, that'd be a great day. Next on my list would be peg 15, yes 13 and 11 have been and probably are better pegs at the moment (1st and 2nd on the Saturday match), but I like peg 15.

Well I drew near the end of the queue and found peg 15 in my hand, realistically that meant silvers were out of the window, especially with decent silvers angler Mark Leader (covering for Jack Billett) on peg 22. So carp it was then.

Landsend p15, Match Lake

For company I had Martin Pettifer on peg 18 and Pete Nurse on peg 13. Rod Wootton had drawn his 5th corner in 5 matches in this league over on peg 11. Hmmmm....

I set up a silvers rig for around 9m in front, but this only gave me a single roach and a single 1oz perch all day, but then I never gave it a whole load of effort.

I had a meat rig for 7m to my left around 2m off the margin and this same rig would also suffice for the same distance in front and slightly to the right. The left side I fed dead maggots and meat, the line in front-ish was fed with meat and micros.

A rig for dobbing maggots off bottom between 12" and 3ft deep was on the roost, used all over the peg. Lastly a rig to fish on the deck at 14m off in the 11 o'clock direction. I would feed mostly via a toss-pot unless the fish told me otherwise.

I had a few expanders but my main choices of bait were meat and maggots (live and dead).

Well I started off all quiet and it seemed the fish were not interested in feeding for myself, Rod and Pete. It was maybe 45 minutes before I had my 1st fish, a small roach, a couple more followed all on the 14m line and on the drop. I had foul hooked a couple,, trashing 2 rigs, before one snagged me about 5m out into the lake in front of peg 14. I lost the whole rig (retrieved after the match with offending snag). Then I landed my 1st carp after around 90 minutes, a 3lb fish caught at 14m. Then a few more foul hooked fish came and went, It was bloomin hard going, but the other end of the lake was more productive by a long way as fish seemed to be getting caught with more regularity.

Pete on peg 13 took 3hrs to get his 1st fish, on the lead, before the following 45 mins gave him perhaps another 6 or 7 on the pole, some foul hooked (and landed) and some in the mouth. Then he didn't have anything after that spurt of fish, so in 6hrs he had 45 minutes of fishing. Similarly Rod on peg 11 had a similar thing, only his fish came after Pete's bites stopped.

Back to my match, I managed my 2nd carp (and a few 1oz roach) on my dobbing rig set 12" deep, but the carp didn't want to really feed. I probably could have caught a roach every drop in if I set up a shallow maggot rig for the roach, but the were, or seemed, to be 1oz sort of stamp and at 14m it didn't make sense.

I did manage a couple F1's on the 14m line and a couple 3oz-5oz roach from there, these better stamp fish came after toss-potting full pots of maggots and lowering through the feed. But I felt the carp were not responding to this.

With about an hour to go I had a look down to my left on the meat, missed a couple bites, but did land one carp of 3lb or so. A 2nd carp (and my 4th) came from the same spot and was a decent 7lb ghostie, my clicker was on 19lb, miles behind those off to my right and also behind Pete. I was unsure of pegs 7 and 11. 

A look on the meat line in front gave me a bright golden carp of 3lb. That was my last carp landed, though I had a couple foul hookers come off. 

On the all-out I was in the process of playing a fish from the meat line in front and a welcome 2lb ide went into the keepnet. My silvers clicker showed 9lb (ide, 2x F1 and some roach and perch). My 5 carp had 22lb on the clicker.

I packed up and waited for the scales and my clickers were close with my 2 nets combined giving me 32lb 15oz (carp were 23lb 9oz, silvers 9lb 6oz).

I followed the scales to see that Mark Leader won the match with 63lb from peg 22 and somehow I had won the lake's silvers. So an envelope, which was a bonus. Section wise I was 6th, so a poor result. But as happened in the last round on that lake, the fish showed in better numbers at the opposite end of the lake to where I was pegged.

The result see my position of 12th in the league overall and in the silvers I stand in 5th.

The last round is next Sunday.

Until then, take care.
Lee