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.
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| Shiplate Main Lake peg 15 |
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
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