Acorn and Avalon.... 5th and 6th May 2018

So this last weekend......not much to write home about really, the Saturday saw me back up at Acorn for the 3rd round of the Saturday Series, which I have no chance of framing after two second last in sections. The weather was baking, which was nice.

I arrived in loads of time, dipped nets etc and then got into the draw, I pulled out peg 40, which I have had a few times, but I was neither happy or sad with this draw, I thought I would get a few but with the weather now rather hot the fishies may have other plans. Well the silvers were spawning.

Peg 40, Paddock Lake, Acorn

I set up the usual array of rigs and set about trying to catch a few, I did hope for a few shallow on casters, but other than a single roach I never had a bite on that, I also had nothing down either edge I did have about 10lb of silvers down the middle on caster on the deck. I had to wait nearly 4 hours for my 1st carp, on 6mm pellets right across, I had 3 in quick time and fouled a couple, but it died a death (not that it actually been alive), and with Matt Roden on p38 and Tom Thick (covering for Bobby G) on peg 33 (?) by the bridge doing really well (Tom won the day with just shy of 195lb) I packed up with at least 90 minutes to spare and decided that the sofa would be a better place to be.

I don't know the full results but Tom Thick won and Gabe Skarba was on peg 3 had a run of margin fish and I think he was 2nd on the day.
Back again in a couple weeks for round 4, hoping to at least draw on some fish then.....

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Sunday saw 33 of us on the banks of Avalon, I haven't fished there for probably 16 months at least.
A bit of banter, pools paid, another baking hot day and a re-draw....1st time I had p29, 2nd time I was on 19. Another vanilla peg and I wasn't really happy with it as I was wanting to fish for silvers and would have liked somewhere between 6 and 13 perhaps or from 27 to 36. But you can never be sure of where the framers will come from on this lake which is great.

Avalon peg 19

Off to my peg and I had on flyer peg 20, Steve Fouracre, he should be good for a few fish to the 'semi-gap' in the island (top left of my photo), he had his brother Eric next to him on 21. I had Lewis Hembury and Rob Dodd to my right.
I set up a few bits and bobs, a shallow waggler and a small feeder which I couldn't get onto the shelf due to island foliage, but worth having set up.
A depth pellet rig using a 0.8g DT RBS float this was for 16m in front, also a DT Pinger for shallow pellets over the same spot.
A silvers rig for 13, slightly left using various baits over groundbait, but had nowt here so nothing more on that.
I also set up a meat rig for just off empty peg 18, but never had a bite there either.

On the all in I fed the spots and started on the waggler, no bites for 20 minutes then I snagged up and lost the lot......chucked the feeder out while I re-set up the float. 10 minutes later I had a small pull on the feeder and a 2.5lb carp was soon in my keepnet, that was my only bite on the feeder all day, but then I did lose the whole lot and couldn't be arsed to re-tackle that. I also lost another waggler set up to the squirrels....but I did assemble that again.

So fast forward a couple hours and my keepnet consisted of 1 carp and a single roach which took a 6mm pellet shallow. Steve had maybe 60lb but from what I could see it wasn't prolific.
I soon managed to mug a nice 5lb ghostie on the waggler and then a 8lb common was mugged on the pole.
I lost a couple more fish, one hooked while fishing shallow with feed, the 2nd was a proper decent fish that acted like a dolphin as it made it's bid for freedom, which I gained along with a float etc.....

I could go on with how I managed to bang out a dozen more 8lb fish, but it would be a lie. I did manage to mug a few more, ended with 7 in total I think, on both the pole and waggler and I actually wished the match finished 20 minutes later than it did as I could see the carp better and they were actually coming in close enough to target them. I actually shallowed up my 0.8g depth rig to give me an extra 4.5ft of line so I could reach further out, this defo helped me once or twice.
At the end of the match Steve had around 86lb (I was clicking his fish to occupy me), Eric had around 50lb I guessed while Lewis had 5 carp including a lump that took him an age to get in and weighed over 16lb, Rob had 10lb of silvers and a couple carp.
Across the other side Mark Sweeting on peg 30 had done really well and Steve said he had more that him, I couldn't see Mark, but could hear the splashing of fish being netted. A few others said they had caught ok but Ziggy had 100lb+.
The silvers hadn't fed at my end, Eric had 1 tench on the tip and bumped a couple small skimmers on the pole, I had 1 skimmer shallow foul hooked and 1 roach.

The weigh in was well under way and I was rather warm, there was a fair few reddened bodies.
I had all packed up when I caught up with the scales, my clicker showed 34lb but I did not click at least my last fish, maybe my last 2. Both were pushing 10lb each.
A look at the sheet saw Ziggy on 100lb+ and Mark had 98lb and there was a couple 30s and Vic had 59lb.
I saw Mark Bellringer put 60lb on the scales from p22, Eric then had 49lb. Steve's total was 88lb 5oz, so I clicked well....haha. Next was me and it actually took 2 weighs and my 1-11 of silvers plus carp gave me a surprising 57lb 3oz.
Lewis had 46lb and then we had Shawn Kittridge have mid 40's, Keith Clapp a 71lb+ net from peg 7.  Jamie Cook was his accurate self with his guess and was less than 2lb out with his total and he had 79lb
Pierce had 17lb of silvers to take that money. Chris Higgs had 60-something.

So despite it not being a great day the chance to mug a few fish was ok, but the fish were defo easier to spot further out and closer to the other bank for sure. They didn't seem intent on heading to our side. But Sunday was a good day locally for mugging fish....look at Viaduct's weights...200lb was 6th and nearly 400lb needed to win both Sunday and Monday's matches, the best weights were mostly mugged fish. Some good mugging was had at Todber as well.

Results:
1st, Ziggy Slowinski, 104-08 from end peg 44 on pellet waggler
2nd, Mark Sweeting, pellet waggler from peg 30
3rd, Steve Fouracre, mostly feeder caught from peg 20
Silvers
1st, Pierce Furlong, short pole skimmer and decent bream, peg 5.

Weigh Sheets

Next up for me is Sunday at Todber as cover for Emma Drysdale in the Short Pole Series of Tony Rixon's. Fingers crossed for a few bites. As for Saturday....we shall see, but prob family day.

Until then, enjoy the rest of the week.
Lee

Avalon Teams of 3, Final Round 16-4-17

No fishing for me on Friday or Saturday, so it was a Sunday and Monday combo for me this last long weekend.

Sunday, well it was the final round of the Teams of 3 at Avalon, Myself, Steve and Eric Fouracre had really nothing to play for just try and nick some of the money on the day. Sadly that never went to plan.
The weather was rather blustery and in general. windy, but at least it was set to stay dry.  Some teams were not present so there were a few anglers covering their spots including Dom Sullivan, Matt Culpin and Jonny Page.

Steve drew our pegs, I was on 44, usually a decent peg having won a couple rounds and has a gap with boards on the island. Eric was up on 26 which has been a consistent peg and Steve on 11 which can be good for silvers.

Peg 44 at Avalon

A lead rod and pellet wag were ready, then I made a silvers rig to fish over 2 lines (micros on one, groundbait on the other), a topkit rig for caster down to my right and a rig for down next to empty peg 45.
For company I had Keith Bilder on my right and Tom Thick on my left, I also had my good buddy Paul Wharton in my section on peg 48 in the corner and I had a quid with Mr Culpin on peg 37.

My shortened version of the day went like:
1st hour, nothing except a few rudd down the edge and one lost waggler.
2nd hour I had a single carp on the drop on my silvers rig, only a small 3lb fish. Plus a skimmer and 2 roach.
3rd hour gave me nothing as everyone except Paul down in the corner struggled at this end of the lake, Tom had 3 carp, but decent ones plus a couple big skimmers. Keith had 5 carp,
4th hour saw me land a  carp on the pellet wag, but it was nigh on impossible to feed and you couldn't keep the rig still in the wind, so it was a case of thrashing the water to a foam, both me and Tom were doing this.
5th hour saw another single carp, I didn't bother with the silvers as Vic across on peg 9 was getting a decent skimmer each drop and looked on for 30lb.
Last hour was fishless. Tom ended up on 3 also and 2 big skimmers, Keith had 6 or 7 carp and Paul had nearly 70lb and probably won the section. I had 3 small carp, 2 smallish skimmers and 1lb of bits.

I packed up, but collected a quid from Matt who didn't weigh, but my quid went to Tom, who promptly gave it to Shawn Kittridge......
I didn't watch most of the weigh in, but the sheet showed 23, Tom Mangnal have 90lb+ and 24, Luke Pester (who's drew some pegs this series) on 24 have 115lb. Jamie Cook had 57lb+ and there were a few 30lb-ish sort of weights.
I cant remember what I had, I thing my 3 carp went nearly 14lb and 3lb or so of silvers. Which was not last in section, but may have been 2nd or 3rd last, I don't know. Eric and Steve never faired much better in their sections.

Results:
1st Luke Pester Fu Fighters 116.07 peg 24
2nd Tom Mangnall Mosella UK 93.11 peg 23
3rd Paul Wharton Thyers 68.15 peg 48
4th Jamie Cooke Sedges 57.13 peg 19
5th Paul Lock Happy hookers 45.10 peg 30
6th Vic Bush Mosella UK 40.15 peg 7

Silvers
Vic Bush, Mosella UK, 32.10 - peg 7

Teams
1st - Mosella UK - 27pts
2nd - Thyers - 23pts
3rd  -Fu Fighters - 20pts -165.06
4th - Sedges - 20pts - 109.03
5th - Somerset Carpenters - 17pts
6th - Happy Hookers - 14pts

Final League:
1st: Fu Fighters 41pts
2nd: Sedges 36pts
3rd: Thyers 35pts - 410.10
4th: Mosella UK 35pts - 399.07
5th: Somerset Carpenters 33pts
6th: Mosella Gold 32pts
7th: Over 50`s 27pts
8th: Happy hookers 13pts
9th: Doddys 10pts  -147.01
10th: Wickham wanderers 10pts - 144.02

Overall champion was Luke Pester, Fu Fighters - 45pts

So a rather let-down series for us after going close last year, but some pants draws early on defo cost us and it can be hard to fight back. The top 3 spaces went to corner pegs, which can happen in windy conditions, like it had been for a few days.
Well done to all, especially the top 3 teams and Luke. Plus well done to my carp-disliking mate Paul on coming 3rd.

Until next time, take care.
Lee

Avalon Teams of 3, Round 4. 12-02-17

A friggin' freezing day, north/north-easterly winds blowing down the lake making it uncomfortable for all. Had the wife with me for the duration, daft cow, she could have stayed home and done the housework!!! haha.

As a team we, 'The Over 50's', were languishing down in 7th spot after a couple of dire rounds and any realistic chances of a top-3 finish at the end of the series looked, well, unlikely at best. But we had a job to do and there is always money to add to out collection.

Eric done the draw, a decent one too, I was on peg 5, which is one of the better pegs on the lake. Eric was on peg 20, a good pick and Steve was on peg 37 which is average for the venue. I was glad to be away from the top end, in theory anyways, though I expected that end to be a better area generally speaking.

At my peg I found I had Lewis Jones on peg 4, Phil Clapp on peg 3 and Luke Pester on peg 7.
I set up a lead/feeder to try all different baits from bread to meat, pellet and maggot etc. 1 pole rig for 13m was set up, for a single line slightly off to my left fishing maggoty type baits over a little groundbait for some silvers.

Avalon peg 5.

At the all-in I deposited a couple balls of groundbait on the pole line, the began on the lead across.
An hour into the match and my section looked to be, except Nigel Garrett way up on peg 11, blanking. As I reached for my flask the inevitable occurred and my tip whacked round and a carp was attached, it didn't last long as the hook pulled out when the fish hit the surface by the island, I am not sure it was hooked in the mouth to be honest, but it gave me hope.

After 30 or so minutes I had my 1st carp, on pellet, only a small 2-3lb fish, but it was a start. Another half hour passed and number 2 was in the net, similar sized. The guys to my right, at this point (12:30pm or so), hadn't had a bite. But Luke was gathering a few skimmers and roach on the pole and I presumed he had more in silvers than my couple baby carp.
Mike West wandered up from peg 1, questioning his decision to fish....we all were to be fair, but moments after he left I had number 3 carp, again a small 3lber.
In between fishing the tip I had odd looks on the pole line in hope of a decent skimmer or 2, but I only managed a couple roach and a 6oz skimmer, it was too long between bites to stick at it.

The remainder of the match was spent on the tip rod and I remained biteless. I lost 4 sets of tackle during the match, probably to underwater reed stems, which is annoying, so lead and feeder shopping for me this week.
Unluckily for me Luke managed 2 decent carp in the last half hour when he chucked his bread out, so he'd over taken me. Nigel I expected to have done ok as I saw him net odd fish during the match. Lewis blanked and Phil had a 1oz roach. Mike had 1 small carp and a perch of 10oz. So it looked like I was 3rd in section, not so bad. But I didn't know what Tom Mangnall had, but when he came down he said 8lb....but he hadn't underestimated too much.

I packed up rapidly, loaded the car and followed most of the weigh in, it had been tough for all.
Mike had 4lb or so, Phil had an ounce, Lewis blanked, I had 12lb, Luke 16lb, Nigel 17lb and Tom had around 10lb I think. There were a few low weights else where, but Eric managed 2nd on the day (and section win) with 19lb 15oz with Tony Thick taking the honours from the same peg that won the last round. 25lb 13oz from p44 opposite me.
Steve managed decent section points and the days' top silvers with 12lb 5oz of skimmery type fish.
But although it was a challenging day, it lead to a tight match. That lost carp could have seen me win the section, or it may have been a carp of my usual 3lb stamp and wouldn't have made any difference.

The results were soon underway and it turned out I managed a section pick-up, Eric finished 2nd in the match and Steve won the silvers, so some dollar went into our funds.
Mosella Gold won the day, we were 2nd ahead of league leaders The Fu Fighters. But although we remain in 7th overall we have shrunk the gap to the teams above. So a win or 2nd on the last round, in April, could see us in a top 5 finish, not expecting that, but defo hoping so.

Results:
1st - Tony Thick, Mosella Gold. 25-13 from peg 44
2nd - Eric Fouracres, Over 50s. 19-15 from peg 20
3rd - Nigel Garrett, Mosella Gold. 17-09 from peg 11
4th - Shaun Kitteridge, Thyers. 16-14 from peg 35
5th - Ziggy, Somerset Carpenters. 16-08 from peg 30
6th - Luke Pester, Fu Fighters. 16-06 from peg 7

Silvers:
Steve Fouracres, Over 50s. 12-05 from peg 37

Teams On The Day:
1st, Mosella Gold = 27pts
2nd, Over 50s = 25
3rd, Fu Fighters = 24
4th, Somerset Carpenters = 20
5th, Mosella UK = 16pts weight  25-03
6th, Sedges = 16pts weight 19-06
7th, Thyers = 12
8th, Happy Hookers = 3

Overall Standings:
1st - Fu Fighters 33pts
2nd - Mosella Gold 30pts
3rd - Sedges 29pts
4th - Somerset Carpenters 27pts
5th - Thyers 26pts
6th - Mosella UK 25pts
7th - Over 50s 24pts
8th - Wickham Wanderers 9pts
9th - Happy Hookers 8pts
10th - Doddys 6pts

So not a nice day to be out, and I am still waiting for a carp over 4lb in the series, which is annoying, especially when you see 2 caught for over 15lb or 6 caught for 26lb etc. But that's fishing and we shall carry on. Otherwise it was a fair day generally speaking and the next round,weather improving, should be a different ball game as it is in mid-april.
Viaduct for me on Sunday with Pawlett, the weather looks warmer and settled so hopefully we shall see the fish well spread out.
Otherwise I have been out and caught plenty enough over at Apex. Matches have been midweekers at Sedges, which have been tricky at times, but it is winter, but enjoyable. Also a match up at Plantations saw not many fish caught by me, but another enjoyable day.

Until next time, stay warm.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

Avalon Teams of 3, Round 2, 18-12-16

Been a while since I should have blogged this, but to be honest the match, as far as our team goes, was one to forget.

I arrived in due course and Eric went and done the draw, he drew us exactly the same pegs as in the previous round with Eric on peg 11, Steve on 48 and myself on peg 29.

I had Keith Clapp to my right on p27 and matey Paul Wharton to my left on peg 30.
Same rigs as the previous round. Same baits to go with them.

To cut a long story short I ended up catching a few silvers on shallow waggler fishing maggots across towards the island, a bit of a chuck, but with a few fish boshing along the island it had to be done.
Paul struggled throughout the day, finished last in his section,  Keith struggled until the last hour when he managed 3 carp on the pellet waggler to take 5th in section.
'B' section really is a tough one to call and do well in, Tom Thick fished really well to win on the day, including 21lb of silvers, well done him. But the section had the top 3 weights overall come from it. Then it was Lewis Jones who was 5th overall...I could see 3 of these guys catching all day, so it was a matter of hoping for a couple carp and picking up an extra point or 2.

Steve managed a section 3rd I think and Eric was 2nd last in his section, as a team we ended up 8th on the day and drop from 2nd to 6th in the overall standings. Still a way to go yet with 8th of January the next round.

Results:
1st -Tom Thick - Mosella Gold. 54.7 from peg 21
2nd -Martin Lenahan - Somerset Carpenters, 53.14 from peg 26
3rd -Tom Mangnall - Mosella UK, 37.15 from peg 24
4th -Pete Wild  -Mosella UK,  37.10 from peg 42
5th -Lewis Jones - Thyers, 37.3 from peg 16
6th -John Fuidge - Fu Fighters, 33.7 from peg 5

Silvers
1st, Tom Thick with 21.13

I have had a few nice days fishing since including Viaduct, Trinity, Sedges, the KSD and Brue, mostly fishing the waggler and picking up a few silvers and not many carp (well 1 I think) but it's been dry and mostly sunny so it's all been enjoyable. But that's winter fishing.

Not sure where I am next, maybe Sedges next week, if not then 8th of Jan is the next round of Avalon's Teams of 3.

Until then take care.
Lee

Avalon Silvers League. Final Round. 3-12-16

Covered for Dave Chidzoy today in the Avalon Silvers League that Vic Bush has run over the last couple of months or so. No chance of a league pick-up on behalf of Dave, well unless I caught 70lb of skimmers etc, not likely really!!

I got there in loads of time, plenty of chat happened, but it wasn't difficult to notice the cold north/north-easterly wind that was prevalent. So I was hoping for a draw on the right hand/road bank as the wind would be mostly off the anglers' backs and perhaps feeling a little warmer, plus it seems to be the most consistent area of late for the non-carp varieties that inhabit the lake.

Monies paid and draw done, I had the last peg in the bag and found myself up on peg 17, I don't think I have ever been on that peg, but it was in the area that Jason King had around 12lb last Sunday from. But the winning pegs can come from anywhere, just angler hunches that need proving good or bad, but I knew 12lb would likely be a top 4 weight given the weather we have encountered this last week or 2.....well unless the fish went on a monster feed-up anyway.
On arrival at my peg I found I had Paul Berry on peg 15 and the next angler was Pete Neate on peg 19, who didn't get to his peg way after the draw, I was thinking that I was going to get an end peg advantage....they are most welcome in the silvers matches on this venue.

My peg didn't look too appealing, other than the odd carp off a fallen tree at the end of an island, I only saw the odd plip roach and a couple skimmers, but they were all over the other side in and around peg 28-30 (not pegged).

Peg 17, Avalon.

I went about sorting my equipment for the day, pretty simple really in terms of bait and rigs.
Bait was 4mm expanders, micros, maggots and some casters. I also mixed up a little groundbait and had a few pinkies for the hook.
3 rigs were put together, an 0.6g NG decker with bulk and 2 droppers (0.10>18 b911f1) and two 0.3g of the same floats, one was for down each edge (Left = maggots. Right = casters on 0.10>16 b911f1) and one for fishing through the water on my lines in front (0.08>20 b511).
I fed 4 lines in front of me, two at 13m and two at 6m. The left hand directional lines would be for fishing mostly expanders over micros, the 13m right hand line was fed with groundbait and maggot.
The right hand 6m line was just loose fed casters and maggots.

At the all in I fed 2 smallish balls of groundbait and half a cup of micros on the appropriate 13m lines. The edges would be fed by hand, as would the 6m line for maggots/casters. The shorter micros line would be toss-pot fed only.
I wont mention the 4 shorter lines as I never had a bite from any of them, well never had any bite that resulted in fish.
So to cut the rest of the day short, I hooked and lost a carp 3rd drop in over the groundbaite but it was a matter of hoping a handful of 2lb+ skimmers (or crucians/tench/perch) would make an appearance to build a weight. It actually wasn't a bad day, I found by toss-potting feed over each line and fishing the opposite I could get a couple roach, or odd 3oz skimmer before swapping lines. Nothing hectic but occasional fish being put in the net was all that was needed. I did manage 3 skimmers of about 1lb-1.5lb, they came at 11am, 12pm and my final one was at 2:20pm, all 3 came over the micros line and fell to expander tipped with pinkie.

Elsewhere I spent most of the day watching Pete on peg 19 put a fish in the net pretty much every drop, he had big skimmers, a crucian of 2lb and a big perch in his net and by the end of the match I thought he had around 13lb, I did wind a few up by reckoning on him having 20lb+.
Paul Berry was struggling, as was a lot of people, only the odd skimmer, perch and a few roach were getting caught, but I heard that Rich Coles on peg 34 was looking though he would win the match, John Fuidge on peg 39 had a pike (also he reminded me that he had 17lb+ on Sunday, not the 16lb+ I blogged!!) but he was getting a few fish, as was Vic Bush who was getting fish regularly on the waggler.

At the all-out I thought I probably had 5 to 6lb and had done just about ok.
I packed up my gear, quickly, and followed the weigh-in. First to weigh was Tony Rixon, end peg 5, he had a couple decent skimmers in his 10lb 1oz total, then we saw several anglers put between 2 and 6lb until we got to me. My 3 skimmers and other assortments pulled the needle on the scales to 8lb 3oz which was 2nd at that point. Pete on peg 19 had 13lb 11oz.
The road bank weighed, Rich Coles weighed first with 16lb 5oz of nice skimmers, then we saw a few weights up to 5lb, but Vic had 9lb 1oz and then the other notable was end peg, John Fuidge whom had 8lb 15oz. So I had come 6th and by default collected my section monies.

Results:
1st Rich Coles - 16-05, peg 34
2nd Pete Neate - 13-11, peg 19...
3rd Tony Rixon - 10-01, peg 5
4th Vic Bush - 9-01, peg 37
5th John Fuidge - 8-15, peg 39
6th Lee Williams - 8-03, peg 17

In the series overall Vic won ahead of John Fuidge, Chris Fox and Ken Rayner.

So a tricky, but fair day and I quite enjoyed it and glad to put some money back in my wallet for a change. I figured a few things out and it was nice to fish again with light laccy and light lines
Tomorrow is the last round of the Shiplate Teams of 3, realistically we don't have an overall placing to fish for, but section, lake and silvers monies are on the agenda for myself, Tom and Titch. Main Lake for me. Fingers crossed.

Until then, have fun.
Lee

Avalon Teams of 3, Round 1. 27-11-16

Called to duty to fish this series again by teamies, Steve and Eric Fouracre. After our closely fought 2nd spot last year when the usual winners The Sedges (Jamie Cook, Phil & Keith Clapp) just about pipped us to the top spot. I think we are going by the Over 50's name, I must look old....!!
Only 5 rounds, well spread this year, with the last round in April. There is also 10 teams taking part with some very good anglers in the mix. Mosella have 2 teams, Pete Wild, Vic Bush, Tom Mangnall and Vince Brown to name 4 of the anglers. Nigel Garrett, Tom Thick and his dad are another team. Plenty of other very good guys taking part as well.

Anyways, a bunch of chatter before the draw was undertaken. Our team was one of the last to go and we ended up with a less-than-good draw. Steve Fouracre was on end peg 48, but it isn't the greatest end peg. I was on 29, a less than favourable peg as peg 30 (in the next section) is better. But it isn't the worst draw and I had peg 28 empty. In my section there were at least 4 pegs I would have chosen ahead of mine, 19 (end of island) and 21 (snaggy gap, better side) and the two corners 23 and 24.
For company I had Tom Thick on peg 30 and Glynn Wickham on peg 27, Phil Clapp was on peg 26.
Eric had peg 15-ish, not too bad to be honest, but he was in a tricky section with the lower numbered pegs more fancied.

Peg 29 at Avalon

Looks fishy.....it wasn't!!

A lead/feeder rod was assembled, for casting towards the back of the snaggy gap, I would be using pellets and bread there, I could feed over the top due to the wind that was pushing from right to left.
3 pole rigs were put together, one for the nice looking edge to my right towards the empty peg. Here I would feed maggots and fish bunches over the top.
The 1st silvers rig,  (0.3g NG gimp, 0.14>0.10>16 B911f1.  A 8 solid laccy.) which incidentally went biteless was for fishing at topkit distance to my right around the bale of hay, I would fish casters over casters through the water. This line is usually my banker for some roach and maybe the odd surprise in the form of tench, crucians and bigger perch.
The second rig incorporated the same float and lines etc but was in 0.5g to allow for the wind which was due to increase in strength and a 6 elastic to suit.
This 2nd rig would cover 3 spots in the peg, 2 at 13m in two directions and 1 at 6m or so.
The longer lines consisted of groundbait on one spot, micros on the other with expanders, maggots and caster to fish over the top.
The short line was purely a line for expanders and micros.

At the all-in I began on the feeder, not much happened for me in the first hour, but Phil on peg 26 had a long fight with a carp on his number 4 elastic and Tom had bagged a carp and some skimmers on the pole. Glynn hadn't caught more than a couple roach.
My 1st fish was at 11 o'clock and was a small roach over the groundbait, but then it never gave me a bite. So back on feeder and I had my 1st carp, maybe 5lb, well hooked in the pec.
Another 20 minutes, fishless, on the feeder (switched to a lead) saw me spend the next 3hrs on the pole where I hoped for some of the venue's larger skimmers/bream.

My 1st skimmer came over the groundbait to pinkie and maggot combo and was around 6oz, a couple of roach followed before it died.
Over the micros at 13m and a 4mm expander gave me a couple 6oz skimmers, again it died.
This period of time saw me swap between the two long lines and picked off the odd skimmer and roach to 8oz, actually I had a perch of around 12oz over the groundbait. I also picked up 3 or 4 skimmers of the same sort of stamp from the 6m line, on expander.

At around 2pm I had a look on the lead and I immediately had my 2nd carp, similar sized to the first at 5lb or so. But that was my action there for the day.
Glynn at this point had his 1st carp, a 3lber on the feeder. Phil was still on his 1 carp but had some silvers.
Tom was doing well and looked to have at least 11lb of silvers and had 3 or 4 carp, but one of which was about 12 or 13lb. Thankfully he wasn't in my section.
Elsewhere in my section I could see Pete Wild up in p24 catching a few as were Lewis Jones on peg 19 and the guy in 21 had 3 or 4 carp. Jason King also had some big skimmers and a couple lumpy carp that tried to 'do him' under his platform. So my 5th in section looked about right, I also expected peg 23 to have had some carp, but couldn't see him well enough.

As we entered the last hour the wind got a lot stronger and noticeably colder, this killed sport for us up at this end and the 60 minutes saw me only put a couple 4oz skimmers and a roach in the net, no indications on the lead either saw me hoping the 2 guys to my right don't catch, thankfully they didn't and the all-out was called.
I reckoned on 8lb or so of silvers and 10lb-ish for my couple of carp. Anything higher than a section 5th would be a bonus to be honest.

I packed up, loaded the car and followed the weigh in, but didn't pay too much attention to the weights. When we got to me, Eric had 2nd in section from his peg. My section had 3 weights I wouldn't beat, so tipping my fish onto the scales saw 2 identical weights, 11lb 5oz to each my carp and silvers. 22lb 10oz my total. 4th in section, so a result of sorts.
I followed a bit further and saw Tom Thick have 13lb of silvers and 30lb+ of carp.
John Fuidge's usual under estimation of his silvers saw him have 16lb of skimmers and bream.
Steve Fouracre did well and I think he was 3rd in section, maybe 2nd.

The results were soon sorted and envelopes dished out. Turns out that Steve and Eric had both got default section money and we had finished 2nd behind The Sedges on the day. Jamie and Keith took 1st and 3rd spot on the day, both winning their sections.

Individual winner was Jamie Cook with mid-40lb's
Individual silvers winner was John Fuidge with 16lb+
Top 3 Teams were, The Sedges, Over 50's and then Thyers.

Next round is on the 18th of December I think, but next weekend I have the last round of the Teams of 3 at Shiplate on Sunday. But on Saturday I am covering for Dave Chidzoy in the final round of the Avalon Silvers Series.

Until then, stay warm and take care.
Lee

Avalon Silvers Series, 03-09-16 (plus other days)

Bit of a write up of my week since coming 2nd at Harescombe last Sunday.
I fished the Tuesday match at Acorn nr Clevedon, it had been fishing well with some good weights to over 200lb, but foul hooked fish are a problem, you need to get the feeding spot on the minimise them. Think there was 20-something fishing.
I drew peg 7, not too bad with a nice left hand margin and the right had side wasn't too bad either.

Acorn peg 7 lhs

Acorn Peg 7

Basically I fished my left edge most of the match, which produced in the last hour, during the rest of the day I picked up the odd carp from across and at 2+2 all on corn or maggot.  Loads of long quiet spells and I could see Gabe on p12 catching as was Tony Rixon on around peg 2 and Steve Shaw on peg 38. Though Paul Faires just along from me had some fish on the method and some on the pole down his edge and looked ahead of the 2 Mosella backed anglers.
I had 77lb and some ounces for 8th on the day. Learnt a few things going forward.
Gabe Skarba won with 237lb from in-form peg 12.

Results:
1. Gabriel Skarba. 237-07 p12
2. Paul Fairers. 142-11 p9
3. Tony Rixon. . 132-00 p2
4. Steve Shaw. 123-07 p38
5. S Holmes. 97-14 p11
6. Mark Walsh. 93-12 p16

Wednesday I fished the Sedges open on Tile, 15 fished and I had the last ball in the basket and it turned out to be a flyer in the form of peg 40. Though I was a little concerned as the wind was pushing up towards the other end of the lake and there wasn't a great deal of activity in my peg.
I fed the left edge only for the wind to change and fill it with floating crap in the form of leaves and branches/twigs, so that never happened.
After a 90 minute blank spell at the start of the match I ended up getting a few fish on the method and also a run of fish later on mostly on banded 8mm at 2+1 on the pole. I knew that blank start to the match would cost me and I ended up 2nd (thankfully my 2.5lb of silvers I chucked back didn't cost me) with 112lb.
Results:
1st Stuart Holmes, 140lb 6oz, peg 37
2nd Lee Williams, 112lb 4oz, peg 40
3rd Mick Shaw, 109lb, peg 28

Friday I spent a few hours down at Apex Park hoping for some skimmers, I had actually intended on fishing the Huntspill, but it didn't look right so over at Apex it was. I fished peg 3 and had 67lb of skimmers, bream and a load of roach, nice light kit fishing.

Around half of my Apex Park Lake catch.

So on to Saturday, I had seen the weather forecast and had decided a day of rest and homey stuff was in order......well that was put paid to when Mike West called me at 8am and asked could I cover him in the 1st round of Avalon's Silvers Series, so I agreed, I rushed to sort my gear, grabbed some casters from the end of the road and shot over for the 9am draw. 22 fishing so a nice number and a whole raft of very very capable silver fish anglers were present.

I drew peg 39, not too bad and 1 off the end peg which had a guy who has the venue's skimmers population sorted John Fuidge on peg 40. Ray Wickham to my right on peg 38, then Ken Rayner and Steve Fouracre next again.

Avalon peg 39....

A topkit rig for my right edge just using maggots and casters, a rig for maggot/corn for anywhere in front as I had the same depth all over, so a groundbait line was fed in front at 11m given the wind predictions, then a micro/corn line for 2+2 slightly left.
Lastly a banded pellet rig was made up for 11m and 2+2 on the left hand areas of my peg, but that went fishless, as was the 1 cast I had on a small groundbait feeder.

Simply put, the weather was dire, very wet, a touch windy and I messed my feeding up.

I watched John catch skimmers steadily during the day in amongst his attachment to 21 carp (I only had 9 on). I caught nearly all my fish down my right edge and never had a fish over 6oz in my 5lb+.
I had roach, perch ,skimmers and rudd to make up my weight, which wasn't at all near last by all accounts with a dnw or 2 and a few weights under mine. I only hooked, and bumped, 1 'proper' skimmer all day.

The winner was covering for Chris Fox, Paul Faires, he had 28lb+  to beat John Fuidge's 24lb and Vic Bush's 23lb.

Results:

1st Paul Faires (Chris Fox), 28-08, peg 33
2nd John Fuidge, 24-03, peg 40
3rd Vic Bush, 23-00, peg 17
4th Ken Rayner, 19-03, peg 37
5th Lee Woodhouse, 18-09, peg 12
6th Ziggy, 18-00, peg 9

Saturday evening was spent mostly drying fishing gear in various areas of the house!!

Next up is my blog from today's match at Acorn, PSV vs Over 55's...

Until then.....
Lee

Saturday Combi Series, Round 4, Avalon Fisheries. 06-08-16

A quickish update on this round of my Combi Series, this round was held on the Avalon Fisheries complex. This fishery is great for the type of Series I am running, every peg has a few carp in, every peg has a decent head of silvers to catch, from rudd to perch, crucians, tench and the mainstay that are skimmers. Any bait will catch them so being a predictable venue isn't what it is.

Anyways on to the match, we ended up with 16 fishing, 2 couldn't make it but their pools were paid so as not to make a difference to the monies. So 3 sections of 6 as normal, but Section A would have 6 full pegs while the other 2 would have 5 present anglers.

The lake looked fishy, the weather was set to hot/roasting and an array of tan-lines would be present come 5pm!!

I drew peg 7, a decent peg that is on the end of the 1st island, but the trees meant that the sun wouldn't be shining on the water, which is what I fancied for the carp, though maybe the silvers wouldn't care for the bright conditions and we all expected lower than normal weights, especially on the silvers front.
For company I had, on peg 9 (good silvers peg) Paul Berry, an angler whom would be trying to catch some silvers, and to be fair he usually does ok for them at the fishery.  On my right I had all round good angler and the fishery owner, Vic Bush, he was on peg 5 and it resembled an aquarium with all the carp sat off the gap in the island. Vic was/is leading the league's silvers tally and going into the round he was close to being top overall. Lance Tucker was on peg 3. Father and Son duo Alex and Steve Nadin completed my section.

Peg 7, Avalon Fisheries.

I assembled a small feeder for towards the island for banded pellet, a pellet waggler rod.
3 pole rigs were also ready for action, one for silvers, but never had a bite on that, one for paste at 6m and lastly one for meat/corn down to my left and empty peg 10.
Bait, 6 and 8mm pellets, 8mm meat, past and some corn.

The all-in was called at 11am and after depositing various baits in various spots I began on the feeder.
25 fishless minutes passed before I tried the waggler, netting a couple of 3lb fish in the following 30 minutes. That was the 1st hour gone, 2 carp.
The second hour was hard, the sun was baking, the fish tricky, I could see loads in front of  Vic, but he was more interested in keeping his silvers points tally rolling and would only target carp every now and then.....which during the day he did with relative ease!! I do tend to draw near match winners....on going tale that doesn't go away!!
I squeaked a couple small skimmers and a couple roach during the 2nd hour, and going into hour 3 I could hear that Lance, Paul and the Nadin duo were not hauling so it was tight (except Vic).
I did manage 2 or 3 carp on the waggler and a couple silvers from the margin during the 3rd hour. I was suffering with a few foul hooked fish on all my lines and during the match I had around 14 foul hooked fish lost and 6 or so where I had the hook pull...never good.

Moving into the 2nd half of the match and I was on 4 or 5 carp and a handful of silvers.
The 4th hour was busy for me, mostly foul hooked fish, I got one in but lost a few. I also managed a couple 12oz chub on the feeder, nice little bonus fish.
The 5th hour saw me look down to the pallet and again a skimmer or 2 came my way and I also hooked and lost a nice common, defo foul hooked as I had a scale on the hook. I could see some fish under the platform but couldn't or rather, wouldn't, come out and feed.
I mugged a slurper from the edge between me and the pallet, lowering the bait into it's mouth in the edge. I also mugged a 3lber on the waggler, my millionth attempt during the match to mug a carp on the waggler, when I did it was the smallest I had seen all day....typical.

By now Vic was plenty ahead of everyone around me, I reckoned on him having 50lb+ of carp and 20lb+ of silvers, but my 7 carp was clicked to 30lb wouldn't be too bad in the section for points scoring. But Paul and Steve only had 1 carp each while Alex had maybe 4 or 5, but with this lake they can be 2 to 4lb smaller fish or if they were caught on the pole, 8lbers, the pole fish are often bigger here. So he may have 30lb+ of carp. Steve and Paul did have relatively nice nets of big skimmers.
My last hour didn't give me a carp, only a single small skimmer came my way along with a few foul hooked fish on paste, they didn't want to get their heads down and feed. I also pulled out of a couple fish on the waggler.

The all out was called and the gear packed up. No scales duty for me either, the Fishery helpers did this, nice touch.
Buy the time the scales had got to me I had seen Mike West (covering for Ziggy) had moaned around 70lb on to his hook, he wasn't even going to go to his peg, me and Vic commented we would have been happy with peg 32, end peg and room!!
There was a couple 50 to 60lb nets and Mark Bromsgrove put 18lb+ of silvers on the scales.
Alex and Steve had weighed in and I was confident that I had slightly more than Alex on the carp weight, but was hoping Vic had top section silvers and carp weights, and that Lance had less than me.
So a default section carp pick-up would be handy.

I weighed my Silvers,  and that was 12lb+, slightly unexpected, I thought I had 5lb or so. My carp weighed 33lb so my clicker was accurate. I ended with 45lb and a few ounces.
Vic comfortably had the most of both silvers and carp in the section and had 90 something pound to win the match overall, and take the second perfect 12 point score of the series, but as I only pay top carp and top silvers in section on the day I waited to see Lance weigh. I manged to just pip his 20-something pound of carp, so I did get a default payment.

Results:
1st, Vic Bush. 97-05, from peg 5
2nd, Lewis Jones, 74-00 from peg 26
3rd, Mike West (covering Ziggy), from peg 32

1st Silvers, Vic Bush, 25-03
2nd Silvers, Steve Nadin, 19-05 (p12)
3rd Silvers, Mark Bromsgrove, 18-12 (p16)

Section envelopes/payouts:
A) Carp, Lee Williams, 32lb 8oz (default)
A) Silvers, Vic Bush, 25lb 3oz
B) Carp, Dave Chidzoy, 34lb 10oz (p19)
B) Silvers, Mark Bromsgrove, 18lb 12oz
C) Carp, Lewis Jones, 74lb
C) Silvers, Rich Lovering, 11lb 8oz (p27)

So I collected my 1st envelope of the series and my first in a while.....
I had enough carp on the hook in some form or another to have 50 or 60lb at least, but that is fishing.
Conditions were tricky and we may have done better with some cloud cover, but it was fair as is the norm for the lake.

In the standings, all 3 categories are close and as many as 9 guys have a chance of a top 3 or 4 finish in the Combi Points Overall and half a dozen are in with a chance of a top-2 finish in the Carp and Silvers categories!! Some guys dropped upto 6 places, one angler jumped 7 spots overall, so plenty to go for in a couple weeks at Viaduct Cary, how will people play their cards?
Interestingly Vic, the silvers and overall leader has a stand-in for that round....Oh the pressure Mr G...!!
Paul Nichols, who has a chance of a top 2 finish in the carp payouts also has a stand-in.....Good luck Emma. x

The above all show current standings after round 4....Close!!!

With 6 points on offer in the sub-categories and 1 point for the combined section win, it is close!

Next up for me was Viaduct Campbell with the PSV crew.

Until next time,
Take Care.
Lee

Pawlett Match. Avalon Fishery. 24/7/16

Last Sunday was my 1st match for a couple of weeks, down at Avalon, it has been a little while since I last visited there so up until Thursday or Friday I was keen and looking forward to it, but by Saturday all my enthusiasm had waned, the kids are off school and the wife had a rare weekend off and really I would have rather spent time with those, but I had committed so I fished as I wont go against my commitments unless I am at deaths door or an emergency....

So Sunday morning came and I wasn't remotely ready to leave with only 45 minutes until the draw, but I rushed my kit into the car and made my way across the Poldens. We had 30 fishing, another good turn out. Everyone was having a laugh and giggle, Jamie Cook had done his back in working at his fishery and looked rather uncomfortable, sadly (in a nice way) he was still able to fish a running line!!
A quick natter and a look up the lake saw high hopes as the weather had changed from a warm sunny Saturday (myself, the wife and 2 kids did a 30 mile bike ride on Saturday.....two of them burnt, 2 had arse ache and I was fine haha) to an overcast day with rain due later on, in fact later on happened 20 minutes later and continued on and off all day.... ho hum, but the fish were active with swirls and blowing galore.........I still wasn't too keen to be fair.

The draw was made, golden pegs, 38, 40 and 26...but 40 was the end peg. I waited, like normal, to do my draw when most pegs had gone, but with myself, Vic, Jamie and Mark Hembury left to pick our pegs (1, 40, 9 and 32 left). I plucked peg 9, a decent peg with silvers history, but I fancied the opposite bank to fair better as the wind was a south-westerly so was blowing up and across the lake.
Jamie drew 40 and given his very decent history at the lake he would be hard to beat.
Vic drew 32, a good area for silvers, Mark was in hit or miss peg 1.

An old winter pic of peg 9 at Avalon

I got to my peg, assembled a lead/feeder rod for off the corner of the island, a pellet waggler for a similar area. A margin pole rig to fish corn over 6mm pellets to my right and a silvers rig for 13m just off to the right in front, that rig would do for 6m where I had the same depth. For the silvers I had micros/corn long and caster/worm for 6m. I didn't mix any groundbait or open any meat....I am faffing too much it seems. I should go back to meat/groundbait really, haha.

For company I had Phil Hembury on my right and Mark Watts on the left. I could only see Jamie opposite me and Phil Clapp over on peg 36.
At the all in I potted a small amount of bait on each of the 3 pole lines, within 30 seconds both the swims in front looked like Jacuzzis....hmmm
I began on the pole but nothing happened just odd liner, so out with the waggler as the odd carp was swirling to the feed. But again I couldn't buy a bite. Jamie though had a great 40 minutes and was getting a carp every few minutes on the feeder by the end of the island.
A switch back to the pole at the end of the 1st hour saw me put 2 nice skimmers in the net from the longer line then a 3lb carp gave me a run around on the same rig. It then died so back out with the wag, this gave me a couple fish plus a couple re-rigs as the fish made it to the snags. I only lost 1 float all day though and only half a dozen hook lengths.
It was around half 12 that I was beginning to pack up as I was bored, but the rain got up and I couldn't be bothered to faff around in the rain either so I reluctantly continued.

Anyways into the 3rd hour and I put a couple more silvers in the net, and the idea of 30lb of skimmers had faded, but then the idea of competing on the carp had dwindled too as Jamie was on his 2nd keepnet. Plus all the guys to my right had been doing well. I did manage a couple myself in the 3rd hour moving me up to 5 carp, maybe 18lb.
The 2 guys to my left hadn't had much, Mark hadn't seen a carp all match. Chris Higgs also struggled but caught off the gap late in the day.

The last 3 hours for me was spent watching Jamie amass a decent tally, I had been clicking his catch on my clicker such was my boredom, by the end of the match I had clicked him to 132lb, haha.
Phil was on 6 carp next door, 5 of which came in a 30 minute or so spell after 4hrs.

My last 3hrs saw me put 1 carp in the net on the waggler and another 4 on the lead/feeder, I lost a couple and pulled out of a couple too. My clicker showed 41lb....as it had all match as I had forgot to use it!!

The match ended and I reckoned Jamie had won, plus banked £100 top up for a golden peg win, but Jason King up on peg 20 was rumoured to have caught all day also. Loads of silvers had been had from the pegs in the 30's.
I packed the gear up in the rain, loaded the car and watched the weigh in, well the anglers up to me.
Peg 1 had 60-odd pound, then Mark Sweeting had 80lb from peg 3. Brian Gatis had 22lb of silvers in his catch from peg 5. Mike Davis, whom I thought had done well, put 48lb on the scales, Phil had mid 30lb and then I mustered 4lb of silvers and my 10 carp weighed 41lb....so my clicker was correct, I must set it to 70lb and not use it next time.!!

I went back to the car and then on round to watch Paul Berry on peg 39 weigh in, he had done his usual trick and fished for silvers. The to 2 silvers were Vic and Eric Fouracre with 31lb and 33lb respectively. Paul managed 32lb, so that was close. Looking at the sheet saw Jason had 118lb from peg 20, but there was lots of dnw's from the far end of the lake.
Jamie weighed in, well Eric did the net duties as Jamie's bad back was probably hurting a little more hauling in 147lb of carp and 5lb+ to give him the win with 152lb, so well done that man.
As it turned out my 45lb wasn't too bad, never threatening but okay. Considering I fished like a Tw*t, I reckon 80lb+ would have been had on a normal day in a normal mindset.

Results:
1st. Peg 40. Jamie Cook, 152lb 4oz
2nd. Peg 20. Jason King, 118lb 12oz
3rd. Peg 3. Mark Sweeting, 80lb 10oz
4th. Peg 1. Mark Hembury, 65lb 12oz

Silvers:
1st, Vic Bush, 33lb 14oz, peg 32
2nd, Paul Berry, 32lb 4oz, peg 39
3rd, Eric Fouracre, 31lb 14oz, peg 30

Weigh Sheets

So not too bad a day really, loads I did wrong, full well knowing at the time I was doing them wrong, but my stubbornness and lack of enthusiasm defo cost me at least double what I caught I think.

No planned matches for me this weekend, so no idea when my next blog will be.

Until whenever, take care.
Lee

Avalon Teams of 3. Final Round, 20-03-16

This bloomin weather isn't conductive to good fishing is it? Cold northerlies, colder easterlies or a combination of both!! At least it has been reasonably dry the last couple of weeks and the mud-baths are slowly becoming less of a pain in the bum.

Anyways we (The Young Ones, consisting of myself, Eric and Steve Fouracre) were sat in second spot, 3 points and ample weight difference behind The Sedges team, we were also 4 points ahead of Team Mosella. So to drop a position we needed to finish last on the day and Avalon to win.
To win overall we needed to either finish 3 points higher than Sedges plus make up a sizeable weight. OR finish 4 places higher than them ie they finish last on the day and we come 2nd or 1st. Neither scenario was likely but we would give it a bash.

I arrived in plenty of time, but ahead of my team-mates, there was only 1 draw left for us, this was the trio of pegs, 9, 21 and 35. Not the best selection but we had a job to do. I had peg 9, Steve on 35 and Eric up on the last peg on our bank, peg 21.
In my section was Vic Bush (p3), silvers ace John Fuidge (p6), Mike West (p11) and Jamie Cook of The Sedges on peg 13, so I had good, strong competition not top get 1 point rather than the hoped for section winning 5 points.

Avalon peg 9.....

At my peg I began to sort my kit and bait out, 1 tip rod for various baits around the end of the island, this would hopefully snare a carp or three that would be needed for ok section points.
A silvers rig for 7 and 14m just off centre in front of me. Lastly a carp rig for down to some reeds to my left and right along the marginal shelf, hooking them and getting any hooked may well be easier said than done!!
Bait was 8mm pellets, a bit of paste to fish the conker, some dead maggots, pinkies, corn, 6mm meat, bread and wetted micros. No groundbait after nobody really caught over it last weekend.

On the whistle I cupped in some corn and micros at 14m and some dead maggots and pinkies at 7m. Some meat and dead maggots went to the reeds to my right, some corn and micros against the reeds to my left.

Starting on the lead and a boring 90 minutes ensued. No fish, no liners, nothing. In fact Mike had one bite and lost a fish, Jamie had landed a couple small carp and John was soon catching a few silvers.  I couldn't really see Vic, but I saw his landing net used a few times in this spell. At least it let the pole lines settle!!
Opposite I couldn't much happening except Mark Sweeting bagging a few from peg 37 and was way ahead of all those I could see. Steve (p35) and Phil Clapp (p39) were struggling.

I went out on the pole and after 5 or 10 minutes I had a smallish roach then a 2oz skimmer.
10 minutes more passed before I bumped a couple skimmers, I was using a number 6 elastic but felt I should change to a soft 4, so off the box and out with a new topkit and the rig transferred....I just hoped for no carp on this rig!!
It went quiet so I went back on the tip after re-feeding my pole lines.....Thirty minutes later I was back on the pole and I soon had a couple 1.5lb skimmers.
I spent the next 2 or 3 hours getting the odd skimmer and roach on the pole, swapping between the 7m and 14m lines. I could only get bites on single maggot or double pinkie.
Meanwhile John Fuidge was catching a few silvers and Mr West wasn't catching much. Jamie also wasn't catching anything either.

It was soon 2pm and I had a look down the left edge on a piece of corn. The float wobbled and I struck into a fish....but the carp was obviously intent on getting away and soon shed the hook somewhere behind the reeds. I pulled for the break and snapped the hook clean in half and shortened the pole float tip by 10mm, but it would still be fine. So on with another hooklength, tightened the elastic before going back out for skimmers. A 2lb fish was netted at about 2:30pm along with 2 or 3 fish of 4oz or so. But I did need a carp as I was sure Mike would get one, Jamie had 3 and John maybe was into double figures of silvers. Vic had the section tied up all bar a really late surge from one of us...!!
I spent until 3pm on the tip, fishless. This was around when Phil Clapp opposite me had a couple carp in quick succession....he had only 2 silvers to this point. Team-mate Steve had landed a good few skimmers from what I could gather, but couldn't judge how he was doing in his section, he was obviously behind Mark Sweeting but in front of Phil and the others in his section I am not sure.

At 3pm I went out on the long pole line and had 1 or 2 small fish, then picked up 1 or 2 small fish from the 7m line. A look down the right edge saw a couple of heart stopping moments when the float shot under, but alas all I bought back from that side was a couple 4oz rudd on double 6mm meat....greedy blighters.!!
As we got to 3:50 I looked down my left edge and another float shaking moment saw me hook a carp, thankfully I got it in and was around the 3lb mark, couple with my silvers I was certain to beat Mike, but unsure on Jamie (3 or 4 small carp) and John (13-15lb silvers?).

The all out was soon called and we all packed up.
I thought I had 8 or 9lb of silvers and the 3lb-ish carp.
I followed the scales, saw Vic put 36lb or so on the board the John's silvers weighed 11lb and ounces.
Then I weighed, my silvers went 12lb and ounces and my solitary carp was 4lb exactly, so 16lb+ for me. Mike had 1lb 3oz then Jamie had 10lb or so to complete our section. I managed 2nd in section, so my job done well enough.
I followed the scales but didn't pay too much attention, though Rich Coles had 14lb+ of silvers to overtake my silvers weight, Steve and Tom Magnall also had 11lb+ of silvers in their catches.

We were soon trying to figure out the results and The Sedges team were looking worried as they hadn't done too well on the day and looked to be last on a general tally of the points. What we couldn't figure out exactly was if The Young Ones had come 2nd or 3rd on the day, obviously 2nd would be better and could see un manage a minor miracle!!
Back at the hut Vic and Pete Wild sorted the points and payouts and the presentation was done.
It did turn out that Sedges were last on the day, but sadly my side came 3rd and equalled the points tally of the league leaders, obviously we never made up the weight difference.
As Vic called the results Keith, Phil and Jamie looked a touch nervous, but on the day it was a 6oz difference between 2 teams than saw The Sedges take the title for the 3rd year running. If Eric had 6oz more then he'd have had an extra point.....but he had a really good series anyways so we really cant pick straws as I am sure that we, and everyone who fished, could have gained an extra point here or there, and to find fault is not right, we did well to finish 2nd only by weight count back.

Results:  (from memory, to be amended once results published)
1st, Mark Sweeting peg 37, 46lb-ish
2nd, Vic Bush peg 3, 36lb-ish

Silvers:
1st, Rich Coles, p33, 14lb
2nd, Lee Williams, p9, 12lb

Teams on the day:
1st, Somerset Carpenters
2nd, Mosella Uk
3rd, The Young Ones
4th, Fu Fighters
5th, The Sedges

Overall Teams:
1st, Sedges
2nd, The Young Ones (on weight countback)
3rd, Mosella Uk
4th, Somerset Carpenters
5th, Fu Fighters

Individual Overall:
1st, Tom Mangnall

So we did well in the end and took home a little money, lets hope we have more fish next year.

Next match for me may well be easter Monday, though I am not sire yet.

Until then, take care.
Lee

Pawlett Match, Avalon, 13-3-16

A nice sunny day, kind of warm and expectations were high as 20-odd of us sorted our kit out prior to the draw. Hardly a breeze in the air, though that would change on and off during the day, a cold east/northeasterly would pick up on the whistle.
My work collegue and friend, Paul 'the corn' Berry was fishing his 1st match with us and would be targeting the silvers, as was my original intention, peg dependant.

After the usual chit chat, the usual banter and the drawing of the short walk pegs for 1 or 2 guys was done it was down to the draw, I fancied an early number peg  upto peg 6 or 23, 24, 25 and 35 to 39.
I waited until towards the back end of the queue and with 4 pegs left I pulled out peg 32, on the road side of the small island, not too bad, but defo not a peg I expected to win either the silvers or carp.
But off I went and was soon sorting my kit out. I had Mike West to my left on peg 33 and Nigeln Hull.

Right edge....

Front View

Left edge...

I wont bore you too much, but a waggler was set up and was fishless, a silvers rig for topkit  in front, the same rig would be for 11m off slightly left and again at 14,5m to the right in the direction of the gap between the islands. The long lines would be for maggots and casters over a little groundbait, the short line was for caster feed only.
A margin rig was set-up for 11m down to my right and would also suit for top-kit length right next to my platform.
Lastly the used feeder/lead was assembled for close against the island, which can be snaggy but should hold a few carp.

I began on the feeder and it was 3/4 of an hor before I had any indication, a foul hooked carp was momentarily hooked and I came back with a scale, so I tried the waggler, but the wind got up and rendered that pointless. Back on the feeder and a few more hooklengths were lost. I lost a total of 14 during the day, even casting around 6ft off the island, hey ho.
After 2hrs I had a look on the pole long, both lines never gave me a fish, in fact both long lines gave me a total of 3 roach throughout the day.
In on the topkit with caster and a few little perch, rudd and roach were netted, I even managed to miss the keepnet with a couple roach!! numpty.
Back on the feeder and a skimmer was soon in the landing net, a nice 1.5lb fish, this was a false dawn as nothing was forth coming.

2pm soon came around and Mike had a couple skimmers, Nigel hadn't had a bite and generally most were struggling except Mike Davis and Jamie Cook, only odd carp were getting caught.
I could also see Paul Berry catching a few nice skimmers and looked like sewing that pot up already.
At 2:30pm I looked down the edge with meat over some dead maggots, and by surprise my float went under and a 4lb carp was landed, next drop another 4lber was netted and low and behold another similar stamp fish was landed, so 3 carp in 3 drops in 10 minutes, bargain. That wasn't to last.

The next 1hr 45 minutes were dire and I managed just two roach on my short line before I decided the last 20 minutes would be spent down the right edge. I did hook another, but it broke my hooklength on a piece of wood just off the empty peg 31. That was my action for the day.
So not really productive, and again we had some wind, a cool north/north-easterly didn't help sport for sure, but it was very nice to actually fish in shirt sleeves for most of the day.

Results:
1st - Jamie Cook, 64-13, peg 26
2nd - Mike Davies, 44-14, peg 37
3rd - Vic Bush, 42-03, peg 6
4th - Steve Fouracre, 33-12, peg 1 (section)
5th - Eric Fouracre. 25-11, peg 39 (section)

Silvers
1st - Paul Berry, 17-08, peg 13
2nd - Jim Jenner, 9-02, peg 38

Weights.....

Next week I have the final round of the Avalon Teams of 3. our Young Ones side sit 2nd behind the Sedges trio, they have the league sewn up barring a miracle, and we are sitting ok in second spot, so something to play for, and I am hoping to draw on some fish.......really hoping!!

Until then, take care.
Lee


P.S. Still taking names and deposit for my Summer Series, weights look like they will be cock on and it should be a good craic, will allow peeps to have as many 'sub anglers' as needed....why not pair up?

Avalon Teams of 3, Round 5, 03-01-16

Happy New Year to you all, hope you had a great evening.

Back to semi-normality today, the weather to start the day was rather crap, windy, wet, wet and windy....it was a touch nippier than of late, we even had a frost a couple nights ago. Surely the fishing would be a touch tricky today?

Anyways I arrived as usual, and wrote our 3 names on the sheet, not much in the way of chatter as there was only our Young One's side and Sedges left to draw, Eric and Steve arrived later than everyone else, so we were left with the last set of pegs. They were the same set of pegs as last week, 13, 27 and 39. Not the best set to be honest, Somerset Carpenters looked like they had the best pick  in 11, 24 and 37.
The draw fell in the way that I was on the same peg as last week, peg 39 (see last week's blog for pics, saved getting my phone out....bonus). Eric was on snaggy peg 13 which Derek really struggled from and Steve was on the peg Eric won from last weekend, peg 27.

I arrived at my peg and set up the same rigs as last week, minus the pellet waggler and the open water meat line. So a skimmer rig, a carp to peg 40 rig, a topkit silvers rig and a mesh feeder to the island.
It was all rather wet and moods were not exactly high from most people given the conditions.
The lake also was 3 inches up and a lot more coloured thanks to the rains we have had in the last few days, so despite a few silver fish topping and odd sets of bubbles, I set my usual 15lb target for ok section points.
For company I had Jim Jenner on peg 37 and he had Tom Mangnall up on peg 35.

At the all in I started by feeding various spots and lobbed the feeder across......the next 2 hours never saw me get a bite on the feeder, but in my section only Jim had had a carp as had Keith Clapp up on peg 32. I actually more or less stayed on the feeder for over 2 hours because nobody was catching. Even Eric over on 13 was fishless, though in his section Phil Clapp, Mark Sweeting and Pete Wild had a few carp each. I did hear that Steve had a few fish though up on peg 27.

A switch to the pole at around 12:30 saw me put a couple rudd and roach in the net, so to have something to weigh in at least.....I did expect a few skimmers, and I did bump one and that really killed the swim. It was at this time that Tom had a carp on the pellet waggler, that was his only landed carp of the day, but he went on to land a few skimmers and bits on the pole, he lost a couple edge fish late on in the match. Jim was struggling, he was getting a odd silver on the pole but no quality.
At 1pm, just as the winds eased and rain subsided, I did have my 1st carp, 2lb mirror, much to my relief, this came on the feeder to a slightly different spot on the island as there looked like a tethered fish in the usual spot towards to the gap.

That fish was followed half an hour later by a second of similar size. I looked down the edge towards p40 but never had a bite there, so tried the topkit line but only had minnows so that was abandoned.
Back out on the tip with an just over an hour left and I was soon into carp number three, a baby 1.5lb common putting me, I thought, ahead of Jim and Tom. But with there being a few 8-11lb fish in the pegs, often in the margins, I needed and hoped for at least a couple more carp before the end.
At 2:45 I had my 4th carp, another 2lber, putting me to about 8lb.

As we approached the 3:30 all out I had a proper wrap round on the feeder and netted my 5th and largest carp of the day, a 4lb mirror was netted. That was my lot for the match. Not an eventful one to say the least, but it did look like it had fished tricky.

I packed my gear away rather quickly and loaded the car before heading to the car park and having a natter with Jamie, Keith, Phil and a couple others They reckoned that Steve Fouracre was likely to have won but 2nd spot could be anyones, oh and John Fuidge would win the silvers as he had a good few proper sized skimmers/bream. The weigh in soon started and I followed it right round the lake for a change.

We saw peg 1 weigh in 30lb or so, then Phil Clapp had mid-30lbs, Pete and Eric weighed in and around 20lb while Mark Sweeting had 27lb. As for John Fuidge, he duly dropped 22lb of silvers on the scales.
Further along was Jamie Cook, he had 31lb+ and then around to Mike West, he didn't weigh enough to threaten the section, but as is the norm he lost a few on the day.
Then came team-mate Steve Fouracre, he took the lead and the match with just under 50lb, bargain.
Rich Coles had 8lb-ish, then Tom had 7lb+ of silvers and a 4lb carp, Jim then had his solo carp and a few skimmers for under 10lb before it was me being last to weigh.
My 7oz of silvers was 1oz under my estimate....haha, but my 8 or 9lb of carp estimate was well out as the needle swung round to 19lb-ish, thankfully securing me the section win and at least some money in our kitty...phew!!

Team wise we won the day on weight from Sedges, Steve won and I got my section money, so not a bad day really. Phil Clapp was 2nd on the day.

Results:

1st: Steve Fouracres - Young Ones, 48lb 2oz
2nd: Phil Clapp - Sedges, 37lb 2oz
3rd: Jamie Cook - Sedges, 31lb 15oz
4th: Nigel Hopkins - Fu Fighters, 29lb 6oz
5th: Mark Sweating - Somerset Carpenters, 27lb 9oz
6th: John Fuidge - Fu Fighters, 22lb 4oz

Silvers
1st John Fuidge, Fu Fighters, 22lb 4oz

Teams on the day:
1st, Young Ones, 12pts: 88lb 2oz
2nd, Sedges, 12pts: 77lb 10oz
3rd, Fu Fighters, 9pts: 59lb 12oz
4th, Somerset Carpenters, 6pts: 54lb 4oz
5th, Mosella UK, 6pts: 42lb 10oz

League Standings (1 round left 20/3/16)
1st - Sedges: 22 points
2nd - Young Ones: 19pts
3rd - Mosella UK: 15pts
4th - Fu Fighters: 11pts
5th Somerset Carpenters: 8pts

So at last I did ok, put something back for the team and going into the last round....at the end of march, we still have a slim chance of winning overall, but realistically we want to secure 2nd spot ahead of Mosella, it is tight....very tight.

Next up for me is a match at Sedges, Tile Lake with the PSV guys, it has been a while since I fished that lake so my expectations are not to high.

Until then, take care.
Lee