Float Only Round 4, Shiplate (all lakes), 22/07/18

A cracking day weather wise was set for this round of Tony's Float Only League. It was going to be hot for some, especially those on Westpool and maybe those on the early pegs on the Main Lake.
Shiplate is a cracking fishery and definitely worth a visit if you have not ventured there.

40 people fishing, so 8 sections of 5, 2 each on Hawthorns and Westpool, 1 on Squircle and 3 on the Main Lake.
I loaded the trolley once I had arrived, which I did with 45 mins to draw time but with only the Main Lake requiring running line as a viable option I chose not to load those until after I had drawn.
Nothing in the league for me to fish for so it was a day just to try and have some fishing and perhaps pick up some coin.
As for where I fancied, I kind of wanted Squircle as there are loads of small carp and ornamental fish to catch with the odd 4lb bonus, so loads of bites and comes across as a lake for a bit of a fun day, not likely to frame unless the other fished rock hard, and never going to get the silvers from this little lake.
Other than that, Westpool around peg 7, Hawthorns somewhere from 10 to 13. The match record on the Main Lake was upped in Saturday by Tom Thick who had 320lb but a good few of his fish came to the method feeder and the rest down his edges, he was on 12a I believe. I would be happy on pretty much any peg on the Main Lake, but 1 and 15 are seen as flyers but 2 to 7 haven't been shabby either.

Into the draw and I was midway down the rabble, pegs 1 and 15 on Hawthorns were draw and Ron Hardiman drew peg 1 on Westpool before I plucked Main Lake peg 15, good peg that, and possibly the 6th time I have been sat on there, varying results for me from it over the time though from wins to silvers wins to real struggles when the wind has blown down the lake. But should be worth some fish.
Jack Billet drew peg 1 on his 1st visit to the venue, another flyer into his sticky paws.
Behind me I had Tony Rixon on Westpool p15, a good peg and would be hard to beat on that lake at least. I couldn't see anyone else enough to converse.

A long walk round to my peg, which is always made better by knowing the walk leads to decent peg.
A lot of foliage has grown since my last visit, it really does look nice there.
I set about sorting my kit and bait for the day, half of which were pretty irrelevant on the day.
A pellet wag, ideally to cast towards the end bank but trees sort of limited that, so 2 casts all day were made.
I had a line at 13 in front for pellets up and down in the water, the shallow had my trusty DT Pinger and the deck rig used a DT RBS Open, I never had a bit on the deck rig so no more on that.
Next line was 13m down to my left which can be good, a little shallower there so another rig made for there on the deck, no bites on that all day so no more on that. None shallow here either, so no more on that area.
A 'girly' meat line at 7m in front as I fancied some tench and skimmers to show here especially feeding small feed baits in hemp (groundbait or micros may have worked), so a light elastic and hooklength used. Lastly an edge rig for 2+1 to my left  where it was too deep for groundbait I think so it was a corn/meat combo there.

I had worms, maggots both live and dead and some casters in the bag, they stayed there. So it was a tin of corn, a couple large tins of hemp, some 8mm meat and 6 & 8mm pellets.
I was ready in plenty of time so I watched the water and to be fair there seemed a few fish in the area and well spread between me and Jack over on peg 1. But there did seem to be more down to my left around peg 13 and 12 I think.

Shiplate Main Lake peg 15

At the all in I began shallow in front before feeding any other lines and work from there.
I had a small 3lber after 10 mins but that was it so I cupped a big pot of meat and hemp on that line and a big pot of 6mm pellets on both 13m pellet lines before it was back out shallow.
It was slow going despite seeing fish all over my peg, some looked muggable but were not having it but I did pick a few up doing this, mostly close in for a change, I also had a few 'proper shallow' at 13m in front and found that feeding heavy was best.
Elsewhere I could see Glen Bailey over on p5 and Westy on 7 catching a few, on paste no doubt. And Tony behind me was getting regular action. Jack had started slow and then had a little spurt of fish to get back close to my weight.

At the 3.5hr stage my clickers said 54lb in my 1st net and my 2nd net was on 18lb, all shallow and mugged fish. I did have a handful of 10oz skimmers on the meat line when I gave it 15 minutes, but at the time it didn't seem right so had refed another pot of hemp and meat.
The fish on the surface and in the upper layers in general had gone and I could see more fish getting caught down the lake on the far side, nobody looked like they were shallow fishing, paste fishing I would guess.
So with about 2.5hrs left I came in on the meat line and pretty much stayed on that for the remainder of the match. I was getting plenty of skimmers around 8-10oz mark, I think I ended up with 50 plus 3 small tench and 4 roach, so 25lb or so I guestimated.
Thankfully I was getting regular carp action too on the meat, most around the 6 to 7lb mark, they don't half fight well there. With 30 mins left I put a 3rd carp net in as my 2nd clicker was on 56lb plus bites had slowed so I tried down my left edge but it never really happened, I lost a couple foul hookers, one well over 20lb and was only lightly hooked in the pec and the hook pulled. I did get a nice 4oz carp followed by a 4lber and a last gasp 10lber which I landed after the whistle.

I packed most of my kit up before owner Steve and accomplices arrived to do out weigh in, my clickers showed 54lb, 56lb and 14lb plus I had my 'accidently on purpose' silvers which was around 25lb by pure guesswork.
Well my silvers actually weighed 32-14 which was a good start, then 6 weighs later my carp upped that to a level 177lb total. I was well pleased....oh and my 1st two nets weighed 65lb each, so I was bit out but nor loads.
I didn't follow the scales initially as I went on the walk back to the car and loaded that up before a chat with a few guys, Jason Radford packed up after a couple hours having broke a number 6 section, should have fish on matey....a few guys were admitting to 130lb including Dave Romain on peg 3 and Glen Bailey on 7 said he had a bit more than that. Gabe on peg 2 had cracking day and admitted to 150lb but had lost at least that, but I wasn't having any of it, he had 4 carp nets in and he likes to put 60lb in each so even on the basis of the 4th net having not much in I reckoned he had at least 180lb as he said he had 15lb of silvers.
By the time I got to the scales to watch there was a couple 150lb+ weights including Glenn on p7.
Dave Romain was spot on with his weight as he had 130lb plus silvers to give him 134-01.
Gabe was next and it was obvious he had won and several weighs confirmed that with 216lb so well done him, he had lost just as many by all accounts too.
Jack on peg 1 had 100lb.
The fishery had fished it's tits off with plenty of 100lb+ weights including 4 over 150lb and 13+ over 100lb.
Result of the day could be pointed at Ryan Shipp who had over 100lb from Squircle, that is plenty of bites and a new lake match record.

So I had come second and topped the silvers to boot which I was most pleased with, a really enjoyable day all round. I only came 2nd in section though, lol.

Results:
1st, Gabe Skarba, 216-08. peg 2 main
2nd, Lee Williams, 177-00, p15 main
3rd, Shaun Townsend, 156-12, p13 hawthorn
4th, Glen Bailey, 155-04, p7 main
Silvers:
1st, Lee Williams, 32-14, p15m
2nd, Dave Lewis, 21-04, p13m
3rd, Paul Faires, 16-00, westpool peg?

For most of the weigh sheets and a run down from Tony Rixon take a peek at his blog

No matches planned for next weekend as it stands.
Until then stay safe and enjoy the sun.
Lee

SWS/Haines Angling, Sedges 8th July 2018

It was due to be Durleigh on Sunday for the match that runs alongside the Silvers' Final at the venue, but I thought it was full as space was limited so managed to book into the SWS/Haines league match at Sedges as a stand-in.

I got to a rather full car park in plenty of time for the draw and said a few hi's and hello's to some before loading the trolley and waiting to crack on with the draw.
I wanted to be on Tile rather than my favoured Brick, just, if anything, to see if I can amend my 'clicking' after the numptiness of my last visit.

I paid my pools and waited in the queue for my turn to nab a ball from the basket, I got in after Mark Leader and pulled my favourite peg on the complex, peg 8, I was happy enough as it is a consistent area. For company I had Chris Haines on peg 7. Peg 10 wasn't drawn so I fancied whoever was on 9 to do well for sure.
There were loads of fish all over the lakes before the match began, they sort of vanished as expected with the commotion but a few remained as all of us were expecting a good day's sport.

I set up method feeder (not used), a pellet wag, a shallow pellet rig using my standard DT 0.1g Pinger. A silvers rig for 11m, a meat rig for 2+2 and a paste rig for over my shallow line around 16m out. Also an edge rig which remained unused.
Bait sorted, mostly 6 and 8mm pellets and meat but I had casters, dead reds and some paste. Mixed up some groundbait too.

Brick peg 8

It was bloody hot and expected to be over 30 degrees, lovely.
At the all in I started by feeding the various areas of my peg and started in the wag for 10 mins, nothing forthcoming. So on to the silvers line, 2 bites, 2 foul hooked carp, enough of that, I did not expect the skimmers to play ball in the sun and heat so I threw my silvers bait away just to save myself from picking it up again.
Out on the shallow pellet rig, a few slaps and nothing so I tried paste (I don't do paste and I seriously need to practice it to be fair). A couple missed 'bites' before I managed my 1 and only fish on this rig, a 5lber to finish off the opening hour.

The next 4.5hrs was pretty much hard going with just the odd fish getting caught all round. Actually I was doing ok up to a couple hours from the all out when I began to lose interest and my efforts all but vanished, maybe it was the heat and sun along with Chris on peg 7 doing well for most of the day fishing a simple pellet wag match, he had defo had the most on Brick Lake. I just couldn't get anything to work consistently, it would be a single fish here and a single fish there either on the wag or shallow on the pole.
My final 2hrs gave me the square root of nothing. My clickers were on 60lb and 6lb which was 9 fish and 1 fish respectively.
I reckoned Chris had around 125lb, so a decent tally for him,

At the all out I packed up then had a chat with a few guys, Brick had been hard and Tile had not fished as expected and a few struggled.
I loaded the car and managed to catch up with the scales that were working their way along the causeway pegs.
It was soon my turn and I managed to keep my clicking close with a total of 68lb.
I saw Chris weigh and he had 124lb 8oz and probably won the lake.
Tile fished hard-ish and Mark Leader had 106lb which included the top silvers on the day of only 12lb (7lb was 2nd best), maybe I should have fished for silvers, lol.
Someone had 108lb in a net and therefore fell fate to losing that net and his weight ended up as 2lb or so, unlucky.
On Brick we got down to Dave White on peg one, he said he had 13 carp, I guessed around 80lb for that. Well he totalled 73lb, so 1 fish ahead of me. There was a 19lb and 17lb carp weighed in the match too which boosted a couple guy's weights on the day.
The pegs 21 to 30 had been hard and Steve Martin was best with 91lb from that bank.

I waited around for the giving of monies and was happy enough to get my money back with a default 2nd in section behind Chris and Dave. I was 6th-ish overall on the day. Not so bad.
I really should have chucked the feeder out a couple of times for sure, but that's hindsight, maybe I should have set a depth pellet rig up, but I didn't and to be fair I never saw many guys catch in the deck during the day. I should have, however, put more effort in during that last 2hrs, I would have picked up at least another place, but unlikely to have caught 125lb.

RESULTS:

1st, Chris Haines. 124lb Brick peg 7
2nd, Mark Leader. 106lb (top silvers also at 12lb) Tile peg 35 or 36 (I think)

Section 1 Brick pegs 1-10
David White. 73lb
Lee Williams. 68lb

Section 2 Tile pegs 31-40
Nigel Reeves. 77lb
Jamie Smith. 67lb

Section 3 Tile pegs 21-30
Steve Martin. 91lb
Steve Musitano.  68lb

No idea where I am this weekend.
So until next time take care
Lee

Todber Manor, Float Only League, 3rd round, 01-07-18

Down to this lovely venue in Dorset for Tony's Float Only league, the 3rd round and plenty of bites expected.
The weather was, apparently, expected to provide some storms, but as it turned out the temps never got to the levels expected, the breeze kept us cool and we only had a few minutes of heavy drizzle rather than rain.
A full 40 fishing, 15 on Homeground, which would be my preferred lake and Hillview for 25 anglers.  I arrived early with Shawn Kittridge in tow as he followed me on the drives to and from the fishery, but we made it in record time so plenty of time to browse the shop and have a natter before the draw was to be made.

On to the draw, I would be drawn against the Trig (aka Craig Edmunds) for the knockout, so that would be me out baring a miracle or some glaring misfortune by the in-form man himself....#clutchingstraws Anyways into the bucket and peg 79 on Homeground was my peg, a good feeder peg by reputation... but as is the case on this fishery bites should be had.
For company I had Adrian Jeffery on peg 80 (last peg in section) and he had Trig next to him on corner peg 81, he had Dan White in front/left of him on 82, so some fish would likely get caught from that end bank.
To my right I had Neil Mercer for the second match running, then Tony Rixon on peg 77, then up in the corner on peg 76 was Beaver (Paul Elmes), so a tough section, well actually there wont be an 'easy' section on this league such is the quality of angler fishing. But I am happy to always try and beat one in section each round.

At my peg I mixed some groundbait for the silvers, covered the meat and casters in water and cracked open a tin of hemp. Other than that I had a few maggots which went unused and the obligatory 8 and 6mm pellets.
On to rigs, well I guess most of you will have figured what floats I used for 99 percent of my fishing, all DT Floats patterns. A 0.1g Pinger float for shallow fishing at 14m for 6 and 8mm pellets.
A F1/Silvers for silvers at 2+1, which only got wet once.
A couple of RBS Open Waters for pellet on the deck and for my 2+2 meat line.
Lastly my edge float was a Margin Diamond, which I find spot on for shallow edges under 2ft deep and using smallish baits.
I set up a waggler, but the wind was wrong and I only had a couple casts on it for no reason really.

Peg 79, Todber Homeground

On to the match, well I would love to go into depth on things really but the venue is such that I cant see how you can fail to get bites on pretty much any bait and any tactic.
Simply it started slow for me and Adrian next door and after an hour it was obvious we would be battling to see who comes last in section.
I began by feeding my silvers line with a couple decent helpings of caster laced groundbait, I fed a pot of meat and hemp on that line and starting to ping a few pellets out at 14m.
Starting on the meat I had a couple skimmers and a tench then a small carp of 2lb. Then it went patchy, so a look on the silvers line and it was small perch and a roach, but just as slow there so I abandoned any idea of fishing for the silvers properly.
Out on the deck at 14m with a 6mm in the band and I foul hooked a couple which came off, so shallow it was, a nice ripple....yep that'll do....nope, it won't, I picked up a handful of small fish over an hour or so, but the guys to my right were catching more quickly than me.

So now it was maybe 3.5hrs in and a lowly 25lb plus a few silvers was what I had, which was a little more than Adrian. Not much more though.
I could see a few shapes in my left edge where I had been chucking a few bits of meat, some casters and pellets. With the exception of a massive common pushing on comfortably mid doubles, the shapes were breamy. So I lowered my rig in and missed a bite, next swing in an I could see the meat had landed in around 2 inches of water but then I saw a bream come in an take it, awesome. That was one scabby bream, one eye and covered in sores, not pretty. But at 5lb or so a welcome bonus, actually the odd bream would take the mis-fed offerings off the mudline, rather carpy!!
A small carp followed before it went quiet, so back into swim rotation mode and the odd carp would get caught. Alongside a couple of 3lb+ tench and a few skimmers etc I kept putting something in the nets. Just nowhere as quickly as everyone else it seemed.

Into the last 90 minutes and sport picked up for me and Adrian, we started to get a few bites on our short lines, I had actually converted my silvers line to a pellet line and this was giving a few fish, missing plenty of bites, but I was reluctant to go shallow, but I should have upped the feed, but I didn't and kept getting missed bites.
The edges started to see odd bonus fish visit and I did manage 3 decent carp, 2 of which were doubles and 1 maybe 6lb.
Then I managed to get my top 4 pulled off and shoot up to my left, but the fish came off and Adrian pulled it in close enough for me to grab it. Cheers mate.
Next drop I hooked a carp that went up to my left, and myself and Adrian became tangled, the fish came off and we both got our rigs back...lucky!!
A few fish in the last 15 mins, mostly little tench, were added to the net. Adrian had a good spurt of fish and I felt that maybe he would have just pipped my as 6oz tench don't cut it against 2 to 3lb carp at the same catch rate.

So the all out was called, I thought, well my magic clickers showed 25lb in one net and 35lb in the other. Plus my silvers of perhaps 15lb or so. I banked on 75lb.
I didn't wear my 're-sizing specs' for this match so I would be happy to see how close I was.
With the car loaded and the weigh-in under way I saw the 1st three in my section put 137-14 to Paul on 76, Tony had 136-13, Neil weighed 109-02. Then my turn, my 2 nets were 19lb and 40lb so not so bad on the clickers, my silvers weighed 20lb 10oz. So 80lb 4oz.
Adrian next, he lifted his silvers which were 15lb 3oz, then he lifted his carp out and it looked like he would be close but luckily, for me anyway, he added 55lb and a few ounces giving him a total of  70-07.
Trig went on to beat me, no shock, but from the peg he moaned about, he managed to put 179lb 11oz  on the board, Dan was next and to be fair we all expected him to beat Trig, but fell short, but a healthy 162lb 7oz caught mostly on paste (he was practicing using that). Around the opposite side there were 50-14, 80-00 (inc 24lb of silvers) and 78lb finishing that section. Then the final 5 weighed in 98-11, 52-02, Shawn had 121-02, then there was 48-12 to Pete Ashton before Steve Nadin on peg 90 (top peg) put the top silvers net on the day of 41-12 on the scales, couple with his carp gave him a total of 172lb 4oz and 2nd on the day.

I never followed the last few weights on the other lake but 3 weights over 150lb were had and the silvers never really fed with 18lb and ounces was top weight off there. Must say that Jack Billet did have the largest 'silver' of the day in the form of an 11lb catfish.

1st, Trig, peg 81, 179-11 (Homeground)
2nd, Steve Nadin, peg 90, 172-04 (HG)
3rd, Ryan Shipp, peg 53, 162-14 (Hillview)
4th, Dan White, peg 82, 162-07 (HG)
5th, Gary O'Shea, peg 54, 156-09 (HV)
6th, Mike Nicholls, peg 42, 150-12 (HV)

Silvers,
1st, Steve Nadin, p90, 41-12 (HG)
2nd, Nick Brown, p84, 24-08 (HG)
3rd, Lee Williams, p79, 20-10 (HG)

For full weigh sheets, take a browse of Tony Rixon's blog or that one of Mike Nicholls (Silverfox) as they have them on theirs.

So a 4th in section, series defo over, but I managed to pick up a few quid for (default) 2nd in the silvers pool which was welcome.
As for the fishing, again I learned some stuff, and have got a better understanding of maybe where I went wrong and what I did that worked but fishing can be odd at times. The top 4 guys all fished in the main, different tactics to each other. Trig fished mostly pellet with some on corn, Steve fished meat over meat/groundbait, Ryan fished caster down his edges and Dan fished paste....so I guess it is a matter of takes your choice and do your best to make it work....perhaps!!

Not sure where I will be this weekend, so until then, have fun and enjoy the sun.
Lee.