Acorn/Clevedon FWAC Blind Pairs and Summerhayes Longs Open, 30/12/17 and 31/12/17

A quick round up of the couple of matches I fished on the weekend.

Saturday was Clevedon FWAC's 'Boxing Day' blind pairs, this was opened up to all and after my car had it's MOT I had to decide what to do on Saturday and this came up, but I could not initially get on but then a text from Adie said I could as someone had dropped out. Bargain.

Only 10 of us fished it and the winds were rather strong, but dropped from 40+mph to 20-something during the day. I hadn't fished it for a long while but I do keep eyes on the results and it has generally been tricky going and the fish have seemed to moved around a bit, except the island pegs (1 to 5) where I was sure the winner would come from and where I fancied (we had pegs 2 and 4 in the match).

Anyways a bit of a natter to those I know and those I didn't before the draw was done. I pulled peg 40, bridge peg by the car...short walk. They have also cleared the hedge and filled the ditch that ran parallel with the car park so it is more exposed but looks a lot neater.
I fancied it for a few fish but got told that area was pants mid-week and a few dnw's in that area were made. My partner for the day was Andy Devereaux on peg 31.

Acorn peg 40

Bait was maggots, expanders, micros and corn, plus some bread for dobbing.
3 rigs, 1 for anywhere from topkit to 9 or 10m where I would feed and fish maggots (DT 0.3g F1/Silvers float, 0.10>20f1 hook). The 2nd rig for dobbing bread along the bridge which went biteless (DT RBS Open water 0.2g, 0.12>16b911), lastly a shallower rig which was for the far side and my margins both sides where corn over micros would be used (0.1 DT Pinger 0.14>16b911).

Well to summarise the day, it was bloody hard for all. I began slowly, like everyone but I started to get the odd decent roach on my topkit and after an hour or so I had 4 or 5 for maybe 1lb.
The second hour gave me a 1.5lb carp and odd baby roach from maggots halfway along the bridge.
3rd hour gave nothing except 1 small skimmer on the topkit.
4th hour gave me another 2lb carp from next to the bridge on maggots and a skimmer from here.
Last hour produced a couple nice roach and in the final moments a decent f1 on corn over micros at 13m in front. I reckoned on 6lb plus a few roach/skimmers and 1 perch of 1oz.
Elsewhere the 2 island pegs produced a few carp and Mark Walsh and Mike Owens had 23lb+ nets. The rest of us struggled more so and Adie on peg 37 had 1 roach from his 4 bites all day.
Mark Bromsgrove had a tench of 1oz in his 4lb catch, which was nice.
I totalled 10-14 for 3rd on the day.
Top pairs were:
1st- total 27-12 were Mark Bromsgrove (4-00) and Mike Owen (23-12)
2nd - total 25-15 were Mark Walsh (23-07) and Matt Roden (2-08)

There are photos and weigh sheets on Ivan's Blog
It was nice to get back there and I will be sure to try and get there more often.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday saw me head to Summerhayes for their open on Longs, which turned out to be a rover.
I only decided to go as Gabe said he would see me there....a little more sleep would have been more sensible.
Anyways only 8 of us and I would wait until there was 2 balls left in the tub before my go....Gabe, who was running late, would have the last one. 1st pick and last pick were those left, yep I chose last choice. Pete phoned Mr Skarba and he put himself on peg 37 when he arrived. I fancied peg 11 or 12 as there seemed to be some fish there to say the least. But that area went, I chose peg 7, which in hindsight was not too sensible as during the day the sun came out and the winds increased leaving me not being able to see my floats in most areas and the areas I could were those ii struggled to hold the pole....twat, think next time...!!

Peg 7, Longs, Summerhayes.

Anyway I enjoyed my 4.5hrs fishing in the most part as you can get a few bites at this venue and so it proved, obviously not enough as I chucked back half and hour early. Peg 11 went off like a train and had 16 carp in the first 45 minutes to an hour. As had Martin Addicott around in the 30's somewhere.
My 1st carp came after 20 minutes on dobbed bread, after 90 minutes I had 5 or 6 on this, plus 2 little skimmers.
That was that on the bread. Then the wind and sun came and I never had anything for a couple hours, peg 11 kept catching but I was enjoying myself. I then picked up a couple carp on maggots where I had dobbed bread earlier when the wind dropped for a couple minutes.
I then tried down to my left edge by some reeds and netted 4 carp from here on maggots and a few chunky roach. I had nothing on maggots short but had a run of fish down my right edge by the empty platform on corn over micros, well I say run of fish, it was 4 and lost 2.

When I packed up I had 16 carp (40lb maybe) and 3lb or so of silvers.
I loaded my car and spoke to Gabe, he had around 30 carp and some silvers but also chucked back as 138lb and 101lb were top weights I found out later on from him. Rob Birch on peg 1 or 2 had 4 carp and a few bits, a couple others struggled too. But everyone had some bites and a few fish.

My 3 rigs were all on DT RBS Opens in 0.3g and to 0.12 hooklengths and size 16 hooks.
Bait was simple maggots, micros, corn and bread, I did mix some groundbait and had some casters but the wildlife were fed them.

It was nice to get back there and have a few elastic pullers, but I must remember that to face the sun and wind in the winter is rather schoolboy, I should have learned that I wouldn't have seen anything in those conditions.

Next weekend is the next round of the Landsend So-Simple Winter League. The weather looks cooler and I am on the Speci Lake.

Until then, Take Care.

Lee

The year that was 2014........Part 1.

Well I wish all my readers a Happy New Year and hope you all stay healthy and enjoy the coming 12 months.

So I am just about to give you all a quick overview of the last 12 months on the bank, how my match fishing went and ending with what I am hoping to look forward to in 2015.

January, February and March
The year started off by mostly fishing the Avalon Teams of 3 series, my Woolavy Wanderers had began the series well enough and were towards the top of the pile. Myself, James Withers and Paul Wharton had all picked up some money in several rounds, but as the series went on things got tougher and my side drifted down the table to somewhere more 'realistic'. It was an enjoyable though and the winning side were The Sedges (Jamie Cook, Phil & Keith Clapp). My best individual result was a 3rd overall.
In the meantime I fished a match, my 1st and only match in fact, at Summerhayes. I dnw'd on a tough day on Sellicks.

My Sellicks peg at Summerhayes

Other notable matches came in the form of a 3rd placed finish at Lands End, mostly perch and F1's caught on prawns, plus the odd bonus carp in my 47lb net. This qualified me for the Silvers Winners Final with Pawlett Legion AC..
A February match on Shiplate's Main Lake with Clevedon AC was enjoyable and went to plan, catching 13lb+ of skimmers on soft pellet and added 3 margin caught carp to this, securing 2nd spot in the match. Shiplate Main Lake is one of my favourite venues.
Pawlett club also had a match on the Bridgwater/Taunton canal, where I didn't weigh but it was won with over 66lb of mostly tench.
March ended with a PSV match on Plantation's Main lake, where an enjoyable, but sort of frustrating day saw me string a run of edge caught lumps boost my pellet waggler caught bag to 66lb 8oz to secure 2nd spot but take the 1st money prize by default.
Here's my post of the match Plantation PSV Match, March 2014.

April, May and June
The month of April started off with a week at White Acres for the Dynamite Baits Festival, my 1st ever experience of such an event. Myself and Withers were in the caravan next to Keiron Rich, and plenty of 'names' were fishing as well as a good influx of Somerset based anglers including Dan White, Jamie Parkhouse and Ben Hagg to name a few.
I could go into loads of details of the week, but simply I found it a massive learning curve and learned loads throughout the week, especially with F1 fishing and the need to catch silvers in quiet spells.
I did manage a pick-up during the week, at what I thought may be my strong card, Porth Reservoir.
You can read the daily updates from the drop downs on the right hand side of this page.
I do hope to get onto a festival in 2015.
On returning from the festival I had a few matches over the following weeks, starting with a Clevedon match on Trinity Waters' Woodland lake, only half a dozen of us fished but we averaged over 82lb per man with myself taking the honours with 117lb+ and my 1st Clevedon match win.
I then picked up section money during the Pawlett Silver's match at Sedges before a few blow outs at the same venue.
A trip to Larford Lakes for a Fishomania qualifier was a new experience for me and I did ok from a not-so-great area, just missing out on a pick-up due to an angler bagging a last gasp munter from his margin. A similar story at Viaduct for the MMT and Fisho qualifiers, drawing non-competitive pegs hindered further progress in the competitions.
May began with a Clevedon match at Avalon, I drew peg 1 and true to form I didn't trouble the opposite end of the lake where the warm wind was heading.
I redeemed myself on Shiplate's Westpool during a blind pairs match with the same club, 2nd on the day and 1st on the lake was how it ended with myself and partner Adie Baker securing 3 points, though we lost out on weight!! Here's how.....
An MFS 2-day event followed, with me winning my section from peg 86 on Cary on the 1st day with 142lb 3oz. The 1st day was won with nearly 300lb by Dan White from peg 110 on Campbell.
The 2nd day gave me a nice 90lb bag from Campbell, but that would never compete with the top 5 catching over 180lb each on the 2nd day
The last 2 matches of the month were PSV matches at Trinity Woodlands and Landsend Match + Speci lakes. The 2 matches gave me good draws and I somehow managed to convert them into successive wins.
June was a busy month with plenty of matches including a MMT match at Viaduct, but I didn't draw any good at that match, but did get suntanned feet!!

Sun Tanned Feet.......

The rest of the month saw me not pick up at Sedges, Viaduct and Trinity (Pawlett all winners final) as well as on Hawthorns lake at Shiplate.  My draws were not the best, maybe my luck had run out in the previous couple weeks?
My last match of the month gave me an envelope at Avalon, with PSV, where the defaulted 3rd place money helped top up my holiday funds.


So that was the first 6 months of the year briefly covered.

Lee

That was the year 2014.......continued

Moving on to the second part of my round up,  what happened in the warmer months and through to the end of the year...??

July, August and September
The 1st weekend of June began with the Pawlett Club's Silvers' Winners final, this was held at a lake I have never seen before, Quantock Lakes at Nether Stowey. It was a busy match catching small fish and hoping for a bonus skimmer or tench, alas I never had any and the day was won by Dave Nash (who chose the venue himself). Some guys, especially Jamie Cook, had carp problems all day, thankfully I never hooked one.
Moving on, the following week's match was a PSV arranged one at Sedges, on the Brick lake. Chris Davis won on the day and had over 60lb of silvers in his net, me, well I had 40lb of them to take the Silvers money.....Brick Lake Silvers showed up!!.
Avalon gave me second spot with the Clevedon match, caught mostly on the pellet waggler, my 89lb was almost half of the winners' net and I'd doubled 3rd spot's weight. I lost a good few fish in the reeds on the day to.

Paul Nicholl's and part of his 175lb+ Avalon net

The month ended with yet another poor showing for me at Viaduct, Campbell lake, with a Tourettes induced Chris Davis sacking over 200lb despite getting through net handles and topkits during the 6hr contest.
As we moved into August the weather warmed up considerably and it began with another win for Chris Davis as PSV had a match on the Match Lake at Landsend, I managed a late run of fish to take 4th spot, first out of the money. But I really enjoyed the match but a length of very strong line caused me to lose a fish that cost me 3rd on the day.
I was really looking forward to the Pawlett match on the Huntspill River at Withy Grove, a venue I had spent a lot of my youth fishing but hadn't fished it must in the last decade or so. It was pretty well attended and 22 of us all caught fish. The highlight of my day was a 3.5lb hybrid, a stunning looking beast, sadly I never got a photo, but everyone commented on it at the weigh in.
My 7lb managed to pick up section money and 5th on the day. The match was won with over 20lb by Keith Clapp.
Before that match I fished a match that was a Clevedon vs Frys contest held on Durleigh Res, a venue I feel that doesn't get enough matches on it, I managed just over 20lb of mostly roach for nowhere on the day but the roach sport wasn't fully exploited by me as I tried to catch bream and carp on the feeder with no joy!!
Last match of July was at Sedges, Brick Lake, and I finished one out of the money again in 4th spot, but it was a good day fishing as is the usual scenario at one of the best fisheries around.
As the kids headed back to school, September looked to be a month of travelling with Pawlett's club day out being held at Ridgeway Fishery aka Walters Lake up on the Cotswold Water Park area, a snake style lake that has produced big nets in the past, but seems to have less hectic in the last 12-18 months. I did manage to scrape 4th or 5th and win my section money on the day. The top 2 were separated by an ounce, Jamie Cook taking the honours ahead of Eric Fouracre.
Another Campbell lake blow out for me was followed up with the annual PSV weekend away, this was held in gorgeous surrounds, but the fishing was very tricky over the 3 day/3 lake event.

Nice Views

Stunning Venue.....

Over the 3 days I got lucky enough to take a 2nd spot and 2 match wins to secure the overall event.
I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, read how it went.........Holgan Farm Weekend.
Lastly in September was another match at Viaduct, a not so great draw for me again, peg 130!! was made worse when the 2nd ticket I picked out at the draw I gave to Steve Fouracre. He went on to win from peg 80 with just over 200lb.
I managed to secure some money with a late run of fish giving me a net of 108lb or so and 6th over the Cary and Campbell lakes.

October, November and December
As we moved into the rear end of the year, as temps were due to drop, fishing was being patchy everywhere with the lack of rain and it seemed that no venues were truly fishing to how they should.
My October began well when I drew peg 7 at Sedges, on Brick Lake. I managed to catch 32lb+ of silvers, which was the best on the day, but my carp boosted my net to 83lb, finishing 3rd on the day, which was won from a true flyer of a peg...peg 10..!!
The following week was my 1st trip up to Harescombe, a venue I heard had lots of F1's and skimmers with carp being bonus fish.
The venue is set in a gorgeous valley, but we had murky , cold and fog all day, but I enjoyed it despite coming nowhere on the day.
Shiplate Main Lake peg 15 was my home a week later, a brilliant draw usually and so it proved with me putting a good few fish in the net in my winning 156lb+ was 100lb clear of the next best on the lake and around 90lb clear of the best Westpool weight. If you want, take a look at this blog...!!
I dnw'd at the last match of the month, as temps dropped and fish moved, I drew peg 130 on Campbell lake. I got home in time to watch some footy though!!
November began over at Landsend, peg 1, with the PSV guys, I struggled to 46lb or so and I wasn't the only one. Chris Gay won fishing maggots and worms over groundbait in the margins from peg 16.
Trinity Wildmarsh provided a 3 peg battle for the silvers and framing places, except 1st spot as that was sewn up by Brian Shanks. I came out 3rd in the battle with John 'the gimp' Bradford and Darren North, they had both caught bonus fish where as I hadn't, but I took home some money so it wasn't all bad. I really enjoyed that match and made a nice change away from carp.
A match on the Bridgwater/Taunton canal was fished with Pawlett Club, it was due to be on the Parrett, but rain put paid to that, but I had a nice day and finished 5th.
I followed this up with a DNW at Shiplate and the month of December was soon upon us.
The month of Christmas began with PSV's Christmas match on Bitterwell Lake in Coalpit Heath near Bristol.

Bitterwell Lake

If you want to read how the day panned out and see that I came 5th, read PSV Xmas Match blog.
Pawlett held their annual Christmas match at Sedges a week later, I plucked a peg I didn't fancy in the form of peg 30. But I fished ok to take the section money with 45lb, the best weight off that bank.
Acorn Paddock Lake was the venue for Clevedon's xmas match, it was bloomin hard and I managed a couple late carp to go with my silvers money winning 2lb 12oz skimmer. I drew peg 1 in that match, only to be told that it is very rarely put in the draw,!!
I did manage to squeeze two open matches in either side of the Clevedon match, 1 on Brick where I had peg 11 and on the other match I plucked peg 27, both times I managed to finish 4th and a couple of envelopes to add to my holiday funds.  So I had picked up in 5 consecutive matches after that result.
My year ended how it began with a match at Summerhayes, this was on Longs lake. It wasn't the busiest of days when it came to actual fish catching, my 8lb 15oz was 6th or 7th out of 15, but I really enjoyed it.


So that was a (sort of) brief summary of my 2014 match fishing, some decent results along the way, but best of all I had enjoyed it. I learned loads and found that I was pretty consistent.
I managed to pick up in 26 or 27 of the 61 matches (except White Acres week) so a 45% ratio isn't too bad.
For 2015 I hope to improve on my pick-up ratio and hopefully bag a few decent draws at the MMT's and Fisho qualifiers. A good result at Viaduct and Sedges Tile lakes wouldn't go amiss either. Also trying to squeeze in another festival at White Acres may be on the cards.

Here's to 2015, Have a Happy, Prosperous and Enjoyable year.

Take Care and Tight Lines.

Lee

Clevedon FWAC (& co) Xmas Match, Acorn Paddock Lake, 21-12-14

I was kind of looking forward to this match, as conditions being rather mild and overcast recently the fish could still be feeding well...........well so I thought!!

View across Acorn Paddock Lake (from around peg 11)

Arriving in plenty of time for the 9am draw I chatted to a few guys, some of whom were 'guesting' the match as Clevedon had opened it to non-members this year. It had not been fishing well and the draw would be all important, a bridge peg preferred or at least a peg between 6 and 13 maybe.
Nobody really wanted to be on pegs 1 to 6 on the island as it seems they are not the best, especially in the cooler months. Also the road bank (cyanide straight) was unlikely to give xmas cheer!!

With 32 fishing, and it being xmas, we had 13 payouts. These were top 5 overall, 2 silvers and 6 sections pots, so a 1 in 3-ish chance of a pick-up. It would be tough with good anglers fishing and/or those who know the place miles better than me, Mark Bartlett, Mark Walsh, Rich Heatley and the Thyers gang all in attendance, plus Rod Wootton alongside Andy Hembrow.
I was the last in the queue to draw, following Mike Wilson, Lee Waller, Darren North and Keith Ray, all of PSV fame!!
With 1 peg left in the bucket I took it with great anticipation...........peg 1....on the island.....with scales duty!! Still there was to be a presentation and raffle at the Bridge Inn, with a prize for everyone who took part.

I made my way to my peg and found I had Paul Faiers on peg 2 and Steve Bonwick on peg 3, both to my left. I had Mark Walsh on my right, well sort of, he was the other side of a part of the lake. Nick Harvey was behind me. I could see most of the guys along the straight bank, Lee Waller had drawn a bridge peg.



View down to peg 5, Acorn Paddock Lake.

View of peg 1

I began setting up and sorting my kit out, we were fishing 10:15am to 3:15pm.
3 rigs today, all on 0.14>0.12>18 B911f1 hooks. 2 on soft no.14 elastic and 1 on number 8 elastic.
The 1st rig, for 3 open water swims, was an NG Power Pencil in 0.5g.
The 2nd rig was for the bottom of the far shelf and was an NG Diamond float, 0.2g, which was pretty much unused.
The 3rd rig was another Diamond float of the same size, but would be for across against the far bank vegetation, this was around 13m in distance.

However with the wind likely to be brisk any decent presentation could be tricky.

It was also at this point when I noticed that I had left my coat at home,  thankfully the showers predicted never arrived. But I was cooler than I would have liked to have been.

Baits were micros, maggots and a few pinkies, I also mixed up a small helping of groundbait.
I also had some soft pellet, 4mm pellets and corn, all of which remained unused.
While we were setting up it seemed there were a few fish in the area, carp and plippy roach seemed to be present.
At the all in I cupped a small ball of groundbait at 2+2 in the 4am direction, at the bottom of the near shelf. Some micros and maggots went in at 2+2 in front. A helping of maggots and loose groundbait was cupped over in front of the vegetation.
I began in front at 2+2 and waited, waited a bit more, then after 20 minute of waiting I had a couple line bites, this coincided with Paul Faiers on peg 2 foul hooking a couple fish, though he did land one of them, hooked nicely in the tail...!!
He then lost another fouler.
To my right, Mark Walsh (p34) had landed a carp or 2 from by the bridge and others had maybe 1 or 2 carp maximum after the 1st hour.

The next 90 minutes was dull, I missed a bite to my right before I did land a skimmer of 2lb 4oz.
So after 3 hours I had 1 fish, missed 1 bite and had a few line bites.
Along the island the anglers had all caught one carp each, either on the pole or the method/pellet feeder. Paul was on 2 carp and 1 roach.
Behind me, Nick Harvey, had a run of 3 or 4 carp short on the pole before his area died.

The following 2 hours was pretty dire, I started to feed a topkit line with pinkies and small balls of groundbait in the hope that some fish (a fish) may turn up in the last hour.
Until then I rotated my swims for no reward. Saying that, at around 2pm I managed 2 bites in as many drops against the far side vegetation, both were foul hooked carp, both came adrift.
As we approached the last 45 minutes I came into the topkit line and stayed there almost exclusively for the remainder of the match. With half hour left I had a bite which I missed, then next put in saw me hook, and land, a carp of perhaps 4lb, I had hoped it was a decent skimmer as nobody seemed to have any amounts of silvers from what I could see.
5 minutes later saw me attached to another carp and a 3lb ghostie was duly netted. Both of these fish had been succumbed by my pinkie hookbait!! That was my match.....7 bites, 2 carp lost, 2 landed, 1 skimmer of 2lb 4oz netted, 2 missed bites and a few line bites had in the first hour.

As the all out was called, myself and Paul had noted Adie Baker over on peg 9(?) was doing well late on, plus Walshy had possibly 25lb+. Nick Harvey had 4 carp. On the far bank, along the straight, a few carp had been caught all the way along and it looked close among them.
Further round the lake, during the day, I saw Brian Slipper and Mark Bartlett land a few fish, plus peg 6 looked to have 3 or 4 carp and would probably win our section, but it is a decent peg.

I packed my kit up and set about weighing in pegs 1-13.
My skimmer weighed 2lb 4oz and my 2 carp took my weight to 9lb 5oz.
Paul's 2 carp and odd roach gave him just under 6lb, similar weights from pegs 3 and 5 with Rich Loverings on peg 4 not weighing. Peg 6 weighed around 15lb. The next 6 pegs gave weights from 4oz to 23lb, with 15-18lb being the average, with the 23lb+ going to match secretary Adie Baker.

I then went back and loaded my car and made my way down the road to the Bridge Inn for the presentation and raffle.
As it turned out my 2lb 4oz was enough to win me the silvers pool, with 2lb 2oz next best in the silvers.
Mark Walsh had 30lb or so to come ahead of Adie Baker, while PSV's Darren North took 3rd or 4th spot with 22lb+ alongside Andy Hembrow who also had 22lb+.
After a couple hours here, prizes given and chosen, raffle done and a 99th minute equaliser for Liverpool FC on the big screen, I made my way home.

Results:
1st, peg 34, Mark Walsh, 30lb 9oz
2nd, peg 9, Adie Baker, 23lb 5oz
3rd, peg 14(?), Andy Hembrow, 22lb 6oz
4th, peg(?) Darren North, 22lb 2oz

Silvers winner was me from peg 1, 2lb 4oz.

There was also money for 5th plus 2nd in silvers. 6 section winners took a little cash home to. All the fees went to the pools, no peg fees were taken from entry fee.

Clevedon v Frys, Durleigh Res, 10-08-14

Today was a match I booked into on Thursday afternoon as I wasn't sure if I wanted to fish this weekend, but I did but I wasn't too keen on it. But needs must etc.....

Durleigh Res, Looking across from the entrance.

I arrived today at around 8:15, plenty of time before the draw, which was delayed until 9am, fish 10:30 til 16:30. We had both banks booked, but were sadly low on numbers and ended up with 8 on the far bank and 7 on the lodge bank, so 120 quid for the venue meant payouts were lower than we'd hoped. It is a shame as the reservoir is a good fishery.
I dipped my nets and had a bit of a chin wag before the draw.
The draw came and I managed not to draw the expected hot pegs which were the 2 on the lawn straight after the dam wall, especially with the wind due to be pushing into that area.
I picked peg 20, the furthest walk on the day.....Mark Bromsgrove and Barry Fowler had the pegs by the dam.

After the long hike with too much kit.....why I took my pole I don't know!! I arrived at my peg, had a drink and started to set up.
I had 3 feeders set up, 1 with the method feeder using boilies or banded pellet, 1 with a pellet feeder with similar hook baits and lastly an open ended jobbie for worm, corn, caster or dead reds.
I also set up a 3m whip and a 3.5m whip for the roach.



View from my peg/

Bait was 6pts of hemp, 2 pints of caster, a large tin of corn, 3kg-ish of groundbait, wetted 4mm's for the method and a selection of hookbaits including worm and boilies.
I mixed up 2kg into balls to be fired out on the feeder line and the last kilo or so would be for fishing through the open ender and odd ball on the whip line. I mixed a pint of caster, some dead reds a large handful of corn and 1pt of pellet to the mix.

The all in sounded and I cattied the groundbait out and flicked some hemp/caster/corn on the whip line. I began on the open ender and had a couple roach on 5 dead reds before my 1st pike was hooked, it took the fish which looked like a nice skimmer....bugger.
I kept in the feeder line for a few hours, hooking at least 4 more pike, each one taking skimmers...not roach...typical. I did land a couple 12oz skimmers and a couple roach.
Down to my left a few bream and skimmers had been had, but the whip lines were quiet from what I could see.

After 3hrs or so I gave up on the feeder line, the pike were annoying, but the bream were noticeable in their absence!! I did lose a carp ( I think) that wrapped round the tip and broke the hooklength.

By this point, I had lost interest as the lad to my left was on his 5th or 6th bream and Andy Hembrow further down had a couple carp and some bream in his net. Word had it that the pegs by the dam, on the lawn area, had a good few fish with Barry Fowler sacking up.
The couple of guys, Merv Sivell being one, who were fishing the whip had caught a few, but looked like lots of  1/2oz blades were present.

So with around 2.5hrs left I decided to try the whip, and this is more or less how I spent the rest of the match.
I started off on single caster, but got plenty of baby 1/2oz skimmers, so I upped the feed and switched to corn or occasionally double caster on the hook, this bought me decent sized roach between 3 and 8oz, with odd rudd and perch chucked in too. I even hooked a carp, which didn't stay hooked for long!!

The all out was called and I guessed I had 15lb maybe which was 1.5lb of skimmers and bits on the tip and the rest whip fish.

After starting to pack up the scales made their way to me, my net went 20lb 14oz, slightly more than I thought, but a poor weight on the day, I only got to see the next weight which was 29lb of bream/skimmers caught on the method next to me. Andy Hembrow had a couple carp, one of which jumped out of his keepnet, reducing his weight by a decent margin!!

As I made the haul back to the lodge I found out that Barry had around 75lb and Mark B. 45lb or so.
The lodge bank gave a few weights between 35lb and 39lb, some roach, some bream weights.

I never stayed for the results, but I shall update them when I get them through. I wasn't last mind you, there were a couple less than mine....

In hindsight, I should have stuck to fishing the whip all day, I wouldn't have won but may have snuck into one of the other 3 paying spots. I am surprised I didn't get any amount of bream, I didn't fish badly or anything, I just think the fish had moved on the wind, especially late on, which was obvious given that the lad next to me, Andy Hembrow and Adie Baker had a dire last 2hrs when the wind was at it's strongest. The pike were a pain in the arse too....I think I hooked at least 6, maybe more, I lost track.

Next up for me is a match with Pawlett on the Huntspill at Withy Grove.

Until next time, take care.

Lee


EDIT:
Results:

1st...Barry Fowler 75lb 10oz
2nd...Mark Bromsgrove 47lb 2oz
3rd...Lance Tucker 39lb
4th...Paul Faires 38lb

Clevedon Club Match, Avalon Fishery, 20/07/14

Today's match for me was the Clevedon Club match on the match lake at Avalon fisheries down on the Somerset Levels. A venue that is pretty fair, but the end pegs often do slightly better, whichever permanent peg they fall on. With plenty of silvers in the lake and a very decent head of very hard fighting carp, weights were expected to be decent, but with bright sunshine and only an iffy, yet awkward,  breeze swirling around the lake we knew it may be tricky.

I arrived at the lake to see that John Wolstencroft, Scott Smallwood and Dave Stephenson already present and chatting about various things, especially how well the River Kenn has been fishing, plenty of roach and rudd, but the bream catches have caught the eye, check out the club's Facebook page Clevedon FWAC.
I had decided to fish for the silvers today and bought baits to suit, micro's, groundbait and expanders. Also some caster and maggot for the whip were in my bag.
However, as it turned out we only had 11 guys as there was a superleague match on the Huntspill, so the usual Thyers faces were not present.
This meant that we'd only have top 3 pay outs and no silvers pool......bugger!!

The draw was made, I wanted to have the last peg and hoped for pegs 5, 19 (end peg) or maybe peg 7, with 19 being the obvious choice as it was sure to show in the overall results.
Anyway, Vic let me have the last ticket (I think) and it was peg 16, not a peg I have fished before, but one I wasn't too unhappy with, though peg 17 looked better as it was the end of the island. Peg 16 is also probably the narrowest peg on the lake and the island was maybe 20m away, but the reeds meant I couldn't get as close as I would have liked.

Peg 16, Avalon Fishery.

For company I only had Darren 'Nuddy' Vowles who was on peg 17. Further along, on peg 19, was Paul Nichols and to my right on peg 13 was Steve Bonwick.

My main areas of attack would be the pellet waggler cast as close to the island as the wind and reeds dictated, I also set up a shallow pole rig for 14.5m in front. A depth rig too fish banded pellet over this line was made up, but only gave me a skimmer, so no more on that then.
A margin rig and a paste rig were assembled, but other than a stray tench on the paste I never gave them more that 10 minutes during the match.

Baits were 6 and 8mm pellets and a sort of paste I made from wet 6's and groundbait (it turned out ok!). I did have some maggots and casters, but they were bird food!

The all in sounded at 10am and I deposited a big pot of 6's at 6m for paste over the top, some 8mm baits went over to the reeds courtesy of a catty and lastly I began feeding 6mm pellets over the long pole line via the catapult.

My match began ok on the wag with 4 baby carp in half an hour, but like last time I was down here, bites were hard to hit and the fish were swirling at the feed and hard to nail. They still pulled as strong and used the reeds as much as possible as hooklength cutters!!
By the end of 90 minutes I had 6 small carp in my nets and a couple decent hybrids, further along on peg 19, Paul Nichols had been catching most casts on the pellet wag and had switched to the pole shallow and kept the fish coming, Nuddy on peg 17 hadn't had any carp as of that point, but had lost a waggler to a tree and was doing his best to catch something, but it was slow,

As we approached 12pm I took a look on the long pole line, where I had seen a few fish swirl at the feed, plus it was fizzing like mad, so I eased off the feed amounts as I find too much fizzing isn't great when shallow fishing.
Twenty minutes on this line gave me a few roach and hybrids, sadly only 1 carp of around 4lb. This line wasn't fished again as I pretty much chose to stick to the waggler for the rest of the match.
The halfway point of the event was soon upon us and I had upped my total of carp to 8, though a couple small 1lb stockies were also netted. So I had perhaps 25lb or so.
Nuddy had one carp and a few silvers. Paul on p19 was emptying it!! I couldn't really see anyone else and nobody had taken a walk up so I guess they were doing ok.

I continued to feed my long pole line, but things didn't seem right there, only the odd swirl, so I stayed on the waggler, but had switched to a 6mm pellet in the band and lengthened the hooklength in hoping for a slower bait fall, this seemed to work and I began getting a few more fish. Though I did have to keep busy, which I what I like, and I was re-casting every 10 seconds or so, feeding every 3rd cast. I stopped feeding each cast as the fish began to follow any feed that went too far and they were sucking up tight to the island where I couldn't get my bait due to over hanging reeds.
Nuddy had a few more silvers and a couple little carp from his margin and I kept an eye on how he was doing here.

With 90 minutes left in the match it seemed peg 19 had won as he must have had 100lb or more in his nets, I was on 12 carp, maybe 32lb in total. A couple looks on my pole lines gave me a big fat nothing so it was back on the wag!
A ghostie of 6lb was a welcome bonus, but the fish began coming more regularly, this also increased my lost fish, these were simply lost as the 0.20 hooklengths were being run through the green reeds and breaking it. It was hit and hold stuff and these fish do tend to tear off at a million miles an hour.
Nuddy had also given up and decided to go and sit and watch Paul on peg 19.

At the all-out Nuddy had told me that Paul had easily 40lb in the last hour while he was sat there, so guessed him to have 180lb, I thought maybe a bit more.
I ended up with 20 carp, 5 or 6 of them being 1lb stockies, so I guess I had 60lb or less.
I admitted to Vic as he walked by that I had my usual 40lb in my net....which was true!!
I packed my stuff away and was soon down watching Paul weigh in, he had some decent lumps in his nets, plus plenty of small stockie sized carp.

Paul Nichols, part of his 175lb+ catch (p19)

His nets gave him a great weight of 175lb 3oz, well done him.
Darren 'nuddy' Vowles weighed next on peg 17, his few carp and 5lb of silvers gave him a level 15lb.
Next up was me, my silvers weighed 7lb 6oz, half of which was that tench. My 1st carp net went 42lb 3oz, my 2nd net went 40lb 5oz. So my 40lb in a net was spot-on, I just didn't say 'nets'. So 89lb 14oz was a very decent total. Slightly more than expected.

I left the scales to continue along the bank, but Vic was sure my weight seemed ok for 2nd.
I loaded the barrow and soon caught back up with the weighing in, and my net was still second as we got down to peg 7, Simon Ryall put 40-09 on the scales to temporarily move into 3rd, top bagger Andy Hembrow on peg 6 DNW'd much to some amusement.....Adie Baker on peg 5 troubled the scales with 44lb exactly. Last up was Scott Smallwood, he scooped the 3rd place pay out with a 45lb 13oz catch from peg 3.

Weigh Sheet

Results:
1st, peg 19, Paul Nichols, 175lb 3oz
2nd, peg 16, Lee Williams, 89lb 14oz
3rd, peg 3, Scott Smallwood, 45lb 13oz

So all in all it was a fair match, with the winner being the exception. My late run of fish boosted my weight, but my faffing with hook baits, feeding and presentation definitely worked for me.
I fed around 4 pints of 6mm pellets and 3pts of 8's over the course of the match and lost around 7 fish to the reeds and 2 hook pulls. My holiday fund gets a bit more added to it, which is nice. But it was an enjoyable day.

Next up for me is a match on Viaduct's Campbell Lake, with the PSV guys.

Until next time, take care.
Lee

Clevedon FWAC match, Sedges Tile Lake, 22-06-14

Today was a late change of venue for me as PSV's match at Horsehorse lake at Plantation was cancelled last night. A late booking in with Adie saw me added to 13 other for the match.

Arriving early enough at the venue saw me having a cuppa thanks to the lovely Denise. The lakes looked sock on, but a lot of fish were mooching on the surface with the little wind we had pushing down to the car park end, slightly into peg 40. So pegs 40, 39 and 37 were fancied along with the usual fliers of 21 and 31.

Once everyone was present I wrote out the peg tickets and the draw was made, we were paying top 3 plus a silvers pot.
I was last to draw and with 2 tickets left in the hat, I let Jonny Page take his choice of left or right hand, his choice gave him peg 32 (not 34 as sheet shows) and me on 36.

A lot of the guys hadn't fished the venue before, so I pointed them in the direction of the pegs and offered what little I know about the pegs when asked. Before making my way to my peg.

Sedges Tile Peg 36



I had Andy Hembrow to my left on p37 and Simon Ryall on p35 to my right, Adie Baker was opposite me on p24.
The 2 main fliers were taken by Kev Perry(p21) and Lewis Walker(p40).

I set up loads today, sort of, 2 pellet wags set at 12" and 3ft depths(unused), a method feeder(unused), a rig for silvers at 6m(unused bar 2 quick looks), a margin rig (one baby skimmer only on 1 look), a depth pellet rig for 14m(unused) and 2 shallow rigs for 14m.
I had 8mm and 6mm pellets, some meat and corn for the edges/silvers and some micros for the method.

Plenty of time to set up though and the temperature was heating up nicely, my feet were gonna hurt as I wore my sandals again.....oooppps.!!

On the all-in I started on the pellet wag and had 3 small carp in the net in the first 5 minutes while peeps were still potting in bait. All 3 fish were only 1-2lb in size, but a start none the less.
Simon soon had a couple on the method before that died for him, Andy too had a couple fish on the wag.

An hour in to the match and I had around 30lb in the net and was doing well, but all my fish at this point were all in the 2lb class....which was frustrating as Andy had a couple better fish.
Into the 2nd hour and it quietened down somewhat and I came onto the shallow pole line where I had been feeding pellets and had seen the odd fish swirl or slurp on the surface.
The next couple of hours was spent on this method, netting the odd fish including a couple 5lbers, which turned out to be my largest 2 of the day.....gggrrr

By the time we got to 3pm I reckoned on having 45lb in the net, miles behind Andy who was putting plenty in his nets on 6mm pellets shallow. Word came along that Lewis and Kev had bagged up too, plus I could see Chris Fox and Paul Nichols landing a few decent fish on pegs 29 and 28 respectively.,

The last hour or so saw me land a few more fish on the pellet wag and shallow pole, but again they all were of the 2lb stamp, a few better fish would have been nice. I thought I had perhaps 65lbs.
The all out sounded and I knew I hadn't done enough, I guessed Andy had done 100lb+ while Lewis said he had 2 carp nets in. But everyone was convinced Kev had won with 180lb+.

I ended up with 23 carp to weigh in and 3 baby skimmers which I chucked back.
I packed my kit away and made my way round to start the weighing in...On my way round, Lewis commented how he didn't feed initially and caught a good few fish just by mugging and slapping, as I had told him, but once he started to feed bites came more frequent.

Anyways, first to weigh was Kev Perry, who'd fished the pellet wag to the end bank (again...I shouldn't have told him to try that.......lol). He underestimated his nets but still put 157lb 12oz.
John W. put a good 77lb+ on the board from p22. Adie then put 17lb 10oz of silvers on the board.
As we made our way round the lake, we saw mark Bromsgrove have 15lb of skimmers. Chris Fox and Paul Nichols put 77lb+ and 68lb+  respectively on the scales.
Corner peg 31 gave Darren 'Nuddy' Vowles 45lb 12oz after a late flurry of fish.
We were soon at my peg and my nets totalled 69lb 2oz (I chucked my silvers back...so prob had 70lb or so).

Andy Hembrow weighed next, he actually went over the 100lb limit, so this time we restricted that net to 100lb, but he also weighed a 12.5lb carp earlier, which I told him not to put in his keepnet, but he did (naughty), which would have meant his net would have been under the limit. He amassed 12lb of silvers, which boosted him to 118lb 8oz.
Nick Harvey didn't weigh in from p39, he had 7 carp but watched Lewis on peg 40 bag up for most of the day, Lewis's nets gave him a total of 82lb 13oz.

Results were:
1st Kev Perry, 157lb 12oz from p21
2nd Andy Hembrow, 118lb 8oz, p37
3rd Lewis Walker, 82lb 13oz, p40

Silvers, Adie Baker, 17lb 10oz, p24

So overall a nice match, really disappointing that I didn't connect with a few more 5lb+ fish, Kev Perry didn't have many 5lb+ fish either, but everyone else had a good few 5-10lber. Half a dozen of these may have scraped me 3rd, but none the less I enjoyed it.

Weigh Sheets...



Next up for me is a match down at Avalon with the PSV crew.

Until next time, take care.
Lee

Clevedon Club's Blind Pairs match, Shiplate Farm, Hawthorn & Westpools, 11-05-14

Today saw 16 of us fishing a blind pairs match at the popular Shiplate Farm fishery near Weston-Super-Mare. We had the 2 canal style ponds at out disposal, 8 anglers on each.

I arrived in plenty of time, but the weather was awful with heavy rains and strong winds from a sort of westerly direction, but the layout of the complex means the wind does swirl and rarely are anglers unaffected by the conditions. The weather was due to improve after lunch, which thankfully it did.

A bit of chit chat was had and the draw was done (for the 2nd time as Adie thought we had 15....and had pegged for such). I drew Westpool peg 11, a long walk around to the far side of the lakes. I also ended up with Adie Baker as my pairs partner.
I made my way over to the lake, luckily the rain had eased and I arrived at the peg. I had James Gunther on peg 9 to my right and Lance Tuncker on peg 13, Jon Page was up on end peg 15.
Now I have never fished these canal lakes at Shiplate, but I have framed on all my Main Lake outings, so I was hoping the complex would be kind again.

As it turned out, peg 11 on Westpool is the widest of the pegs, I had a full 16m to the far side and less in the way of vegetation than those either side of me. I have never noticed that my peg has produced any catches of note by the looks of the Fishery's Facebook page.
There were a few small fish topping and the odd carp too.

Shiplate, Westpool peg 11.



I set up 4 rigs for the match:
The 1st was a dibber style NG float on 0.16>0.14>B911 with a size 16 and a band, this was for up towards the opposite bank. 6mm pellet in the band over loose fed 4's and 6's.
The 2nd was an NG Power Pencil in 0.3g on 0.16>0.12>B911 with a band on a size 16, this would be fished at 9m in the 10 o'clock direction. Bait would be banded 6mm pellet over wet 4's.
The 3rd was to be fished at 9m in the 1 o'clock direction and was an NG Decker in 0.6g. Line was 0.16>0.14 and a B911f1 hook in a size 16. Bait would be 6mm meat over some hemp.
Lastly I assembled a rig for fishing to my left amongst the surface crap of twigs, blossom and loose grass. the was on the obligatory carp set-up I use. An 0.4g NG Margin float coupled with 0.20>0.18>B911 size 14 for meat over hemp.
The only other baits I had, but remained unused were 1/4pt of dead reds and some worms.

The all in was called at 10:15 and we would fish to 4pm.
I deposited 1/2 a big cup of meat and hemp on the 9m line, 1/4 of a cup of wet 4's went in at 9m on that particular line. A few pieces of meat were scattered over where my topkit line could come into play.
I started across on a banded 6mm pellet and toss-potted some 4's over the top, it was bloody hard work holding the pole in the blustery conditions, and half an hour passed before my 1st fish, a 2lb carp was landed from the long line. James had landed some silvers and a decent carp from his long line, Lance had landed a gudgeon.......

Another half an hour passed before my 2nd fish, though I did foul hook a couple which soon came off, Lance, Jonny and James were suffering from foulers too. I landed my 2nd fish in the form of a carp around 1.5lb.
A handful of chublets and a roach followed in the 2nd hour and it was definitely hard fishing, with only James catching a few silvers.

The 3rd hour came and I looked over the 9m pellet swim, this gave me another lost foul hooked fish, and a missed bite/liner. That was my total amount of activity on that line.
A look over the 9m meat/hemp line gave me a carp right away, this one went around 2.5lb, a roach followed before a run of lost fish, mostly foul hooked I believe saw me step up the hook and hooklength to 0.14>B911 size 16. I was getting indications but it was still hard going.
However, from what I could tell I was ahead of  Lance and Pagey, but probably just behind James.
Another look across on the 16m line saw me net a 3lb carp, they were over there, but the ducklings were a pain as each time I fed they'd dive on the pellet. So I pretty much gave that line up as I approached 2pm, it was too much hard work in the wind and I made the decision to stick to the 9m meat line and begin to bait the topkit line, initially I potted half a cup of hemp and meat mix, just to get some grub down. I would feed by hand after that, I do believe that throwing bait in on short lines is more successful than potting or toss-potting.

Another look on the 9m meat line, at 2pm, saw me net a 1lb skimmer and another 3lb carp.
At this point I had maybe 15 to 17lb in the net with Lance now on similar as was Jonny down on P15. James was maybe a carp or 2 behind, but had more silvers than anyone else, so was difficult to say how he was doing.

At 2:20 I decided to take a look on my topkit line, getting the bait through the surface crap wasn't easy as it was moving left to right, then right to left, the back to me and never stayed still.
However I had a bite right away and a 2lber was netted, a missed bite followed  before a 3lb carp was landed. A quiet 10 minutes saw me try the 9m lines and across again, but I only had a chub of 3oz.

With an hour and 15 minutes to go I had upped the feed rate on the topkit line, this worked as I was getting bites most drops and I fished the match out on this line, landing maybe another 10 carp in this time, most fish being 2.5lb or so.
Lance had also landed a couple from his short line and James had switched to a line halfway across and was picking up a few fish.

As the all out sounded I guessed I had around 45lb of fish and was sure I had more than those I could see, maybe Mark Walsh on peg 5 who had landed a few fish, probably on paste..!!!
Lance too had a late run of fish, but not as regularly as me. So it seemed I had kept my end of the pairs up, I just needed to see what Adie had over on Hawthorn.
I began packing away and James came down to see what I had, I told him about 19 carp, he replied that he'd only seen me land 3 from close in, lol.

The scales arrived at me after Pagey on peg 15 put 26lb 10oz on the board and Lance went and put 32lb 4oz on the scales.
My silvers went a measly 2lb 14oz and my carp amassed 56lb 6oz for 59lb 4oz total, which I was surprised with really.
James' weighed 33lb 14oz which included 8lb+ of silvers.
My weight was the best on the lake by over 15lb. 2nd was James Gunther on peg 9.

I finished packing up and made the long walk back to the car park to see how Adie done.
It turned out that he'd come 2nd in section, cool I though, but it turned out that James Gunther had Andy Hembrow as his partner and he'd won that lake with 80lb, so both Me & Adie along with the James/Andy duo had 3 points, but they beat us by around 8lb on weight. If only Lance or Walshy had landed one of the fish they lost.......haha.
Either way up I pocked some more holiday fund money and had a great days fishing

Weigh Sheets



So all in all it was a nice days fishing and my decent run a Shiplate continues.
It was a slow start for most but the back end of the match was by far the most productive.

Overall Results:
1st Andy Hembrow - Hawthorns peg 7 with 80lb exactly
2nd Lee Williams - Westpool peg 11 with 59lb 4oz
3rd Adie Baker - Hawthorns peg 9, 45lb 14oz
4th Paul Faires - Hawthorns peg 15, 43lb 12oz

Top Silvers was James Gunther with 8lb 6oz

PAIRS RESULT:
1st, 3 points, Andy Hembrow and James Gunther, 113lb 14oz.
2nd, 3 points, Lee Williams and Adie Baker, 105lb 2oz.


Next up for me is the usual evening match at Sedges, maybe I'll get my own back from coming 2md last week by a single ounce.
Then I am on Viaduct for Friday and Saturday, a day on each Campbell and Cary, which could be tricky as the UK Champs is on Thursday.
Next Sunday sees me on Trinity Woodlands with PSV and a knock-out against Lee Waller.

Until next time, have fun.

Lee

Clevedon Match, Avalon Fisheries, 04-05-14

Today saw me at Avalon fisheries for a Clevedon FWAC match on the match lake, it was the 1st time in ages that the club had booked a match there.

A warm and bright day was forecast with southerly/south easterly wind predicted, thus meaning that the ripple and wind would be pushing up the lake towards pegs 18-23.

I arrived in good time and managed a bit of a chat with a good few of the guys, we also had a new joiner in the shape of Mike West, no doubt fishing with the lake likely to give him a chance to hone his paste skills....
I must say I wanted a peg up the far end (we had the left bank pegs 1 to 23), so 18 to 23 would be great, with the latter being the one I said would win with 115lb....I was a little wrong on that.
But also the usual peg 5 would be a good draw and maybe the now tidied peg 7.

With 16 of us fishing the pegging was left to Vic Bush to sort. So after a bit more banter it was on with the draw, somehow I got to pick the first number......peg one!! A good peg unless the wind is pushing up the lake, especially a new wind like we had today. But I was optimistic of a few fish.

Next to me on peg 3 was Dave Stephenson and then John Wolstencroft was on the flyer that is peg 5.
Further along was Darren Vowles on p6, p7 was Simon Ryall. Ivan Currie had p9.
The far end pegs 19 to 23 consisted of  Chris Parr, Adie Baker, Scott Smallwood, Mike West and lastly Andy Hembrow on peg 23.

Peg 1, Avalon Match Lake

I had come armed with worm and caster for the skimmers and a decent amount of 8mm pellets in the likelihood that I would be using the pellet waggler.
Alas having a calm peg which didn't look inspiring, though there were a few carp jumping beyond casting range. My bait tray consisted of a few 6mm pellets to feed with the meat and a few 8mm pellets (for the band). A couple of tins of 6mm meat and a handful of worms as a change hookbait. Silvers were not even on my agenda now. Though a little groundbait was mixed for the left hand margin.

I set up a lead rod for banded 8mm pellet to be fished next to a straw bale at around 22m along the end bank.
2 rigs for meat were made up, the 1st was for 14m just off the end bank, this was a NG Margin float in 0.2g this was rigged on 0.22>0.20>14 B911 hook. The fish do fight well here.
The 2nd rig was for topkit plus 3 sections fished slightly left in front of me, a 0.4g NG Diamond was used with 0.20>0.18> 14 B911. This rig would also be used at 14m down in front of peg 2's platform.
I did set up a shallow pellet rig, but other than 10 minutes use, it never got used.

I was ready to fish well before the 10am start, so I went and had a chat with Dave on the next peg.
The all out was called and 1/2 a cup of meat/6mm mix was potted in on the edge line and the same went on the topkit+3 area.
I started on the bomb, but after 45 minutes of no fish and boredom I came in on the short line and had a carp immediately, a 6lb fish was a nice start. Sadly no more followed, just a palm sized skimmer.

Elsewhere Dave had landed a couple and lost 2. John W. had lost one and landed a couple and Darren had landed 4 or 5. I would guess that the far end pegs would have been productive.
Going into the 2nd hour and I was still struggling for bites from carp, there was plenty of small silvers kicking around, which in hindsight I should have fished for. But I carried on regardless.
By the 3rd hour I was up to 3 palm sized skimmers, a carp of 1lb and the 6lber.
The 3rd hour was just as bad as the second, though I did snare another 6lber, this came on the bomb rod while I ate a packet of crisps. A 2lb skimmer was also netted during this hour.

By now word had come down that Andy, Mike and Adie were catching well, especially Andy on peg 23. John and Darren had been doing ok as had Chris Parr on peg 19.
Into the 4th hour and I had seen John catch a fish shallow on the pole, so I began to feed a few pellets at 14m in front, but this was given up as a bad job, all I could see was the odd cruiser, none seemed interested in feeding.
As I approached the 5th hour I gave the swim by peg 2 a go, this bought me a result in the form of a 4lb carp, caught on double dendra. A small skimmer from this line soon after made me re-feed that spot.
A look on the short line gave me 3 small skimmers so a look along the end bank was in order. A bite 1st put was great, this turned out to be a hyper active 1lb stockie, a 2nd, 3rd and 4th soon followed before they disappeared.
Dave on peg 3 had lost a couple and landed a couple more and we looked like we had similar weights.
The last hour was soon upon us and I found it rather quiet, landing a single 4lb carp from the area in front of peg 2, I also lost one which snapped my hooklength on the staging of the peg. I also had a couple baby skimmers to finish the match off.
I think I ended with 4 decent sized carp and a handful of little 1lb stockies.

As I began to pack up Vic came past as he was going to start the weigh from peg 23, which I had been informed looked like had won, with Mike West and Adie Baker pushing him close.
A quick chat with the guys on the pegs just up from me confirmed that nobody had much in the way of silvers as they'd not been fished for down this end.
John said he had around 50lb, as had Ivan and Darren. Me and Dave guessed at 25lb each.

The scales were soon at me, though I had put everything in the car except my nets.
The weigh sheet told me the story that the far end pegs had produced best with Andy Henmbrow winning, followed by Mike West and Adie Baker. John Wolstencroft on peg 5 had taken 4th.
The silvers weights were 19lb and 16lb from Dave Wride and Paul Purchase on pegs 11 and 17 respectively.

My silvers weighed 5lb or so and my carp amassed 36lb. So I ended up with 41lb and a few ounces for mid-way. Though not too bad considering the seeming lack of feeding fish at the car-park end of the lake (my swim).

Results:
1st Andy Hembrow on peg 23, 134lb 4oz
2nd Mike West on peg 22, 102lb
3rd Adie Baker on peg 20, 84lb 13oz
4th John Wolstencroft on peg 5, 65lb 11oz

Silvers:
Dave Wride had 19lb 3oz from peg 11.

Weigh Sheet

 



So it was a decent match, even if I was at the wrong end of the lake, and I guess, in hindsight, I could have fished for the skimmers.

Tomorrow I am taking my kids (plus others') fishing, probably over Sedges on the Canal lake.
Next weekend I have Clevedon's blind pairs match on the 2 canal lakes at Shiplate, I have never fished these lakes so it could be interesting.

Until next time, Take Care.

Lee



Clevedon Club Match. Sedges Brick Lake, 20-04-14

Today saw me fishing the Clevedon match on Sedge's Brick lake, it is the 1st time the club has used the fishery for a match, but they will definitely be back there in 2015.
A lot of the guys hadn't seen the venue, some only fished it once or twice.

Anyways not much to write about for me today.
I drew peg 17, not my favourite, a couple pegs too high for decent silvers weights and a peg or 2 away from slightly better carp pegs, but the good thing about the lake is that it is generally fair overall, obviously the pegs 10 and 11 (far end corners) are usually in the mix come the results, as are pegs 15, 14, 6 and 7 for the silvers.

I set up a lead/feeder rod but never had a bite on that, I also set up a pellet waggler, but other than a lost foul hooked fish on my 2nd cast, I only had a couple indications on that.
My pole rigs were set up with the forecast stronger winds in mind:
A rig for 11.5m for meat over meat with carp the aim, but I wont mention this again as I never had a bite on that,
A rig for 11.5m slightly to my right for chopped worm and caster, this was ideally to target the decent head of skimmers, plus odd tench, eel and maybe bonus carp if I get them in on the lighter kit.
I set up a rig for banded 8mm pellets over wetted 6's, this would be fished at topkit plus 1 section.
Lastly I had a margin rig made up for along my right hand edge, to fish whole worm over groundbait with a few casters in. I hoped mostly for carp here, but the bonus decent skimmer can be expected.

The match began on the waggler, but lost a foul hooked fish. I then fed my pole lines before going back out on the feeder, but never had a knock in the next half hour.
Next to me on peg 18 was Kev Perry who had a few fish in  the first hour, and he kept catching throughout, and never looked on his pole lines.
On peg 15 was Chris Parr, he was bagging decent skimmers, and after 2hrs probably had 20lb in the net, next to him was Jonny Page, he too had landed some decent silvers.
I couldn't see much else, but gathered that Adie on peg 11 would be catching a few (it turned out he was), also Lance Tucker on peg 10 would bag a few.

After 2hrs I had 3 small skimmers and a bonus 3lb carp from my 11.5m worm line.
A look down the edge saw my only bite from there, and a 3lb carp was netted.
The 3rd hour was quiet, with only 1 skimmer from my 11.5m worm line.
A few guys had to weigh fish (15lb per individual fish being the net limit), but none on my bank went over, though Paul Purchase had 2 lumps of 14lb 2oz and 14lb 12oz.

For the last 2hrs I concentrated on the margins and topkit+1 lines, but the margin never gave a bite, I did however land a handful of both carp and decent skimmers (plus a baby tench) on banded 8's.
I also had to laugh when Kev Perry had a psycho carp come into my swim when I was playing a decent carp, unluckily for me I could feel the grating of line against line and I was broken as Kev's mainline had cut through my rig between bulk and dropper shot.....earlier on he managed to tangle a carp he was playing with my feeder line....but all was sorted on that occasion.

The whistle sounded and I knew I hadn't done great, none of my carp were in the usual brick lake stamp, well except one I had on at the whistle, which was maybe 8lb, the others were 3lbers, which is a little under the norm for the lake.
I figured the match would be contested between Adie on peg 11 and Kev Perry next to me on p18. However Ivan Currie, Lance Tucker and Simon Carvalho all looked to have around 100lb each, the silvers looked to be tied up by Gappy (Chris Parr) on peg 15, Pagey on 14 and Barrie Fowler on the far bank looked to be competing for 2nd silvers money.

The rain and hail arrived in earnest as we packed up, making the weighing in fun with wet sheets and sodden anglers....as I found out by doing the board on my bank!!
The far bank gave up 100lb plus weights to both Ivan Currie and Lance Tucker on pegs 9 and 10 respectively.  The other pegs from 1 to 8 gave odd decent weights but it was very much up and down.
Adie weighed in 120lb+ from the peg I expected to win (peg 11). The silvers went to Chris Parr, he recorded a very healthy 41lb 9oz.
My nets went 14lb 4oz worth of silvers and 40lb+ of carp. I didn't get exact ounces due to the rain etc.
Kev's fish went over 130lb, while Paul Purchase on peg 20 had those two 14lb+ fish and a few more and had 60lb+ I think.

Results:
Kev Perry, 130lb 3oz, peg 18, all on lead/8mm pellet]
Adie Baker, 121lb 3oz, peg 11, mostly pole along the end bank, plus a few on wag.
Lance Tucker, 111lb 14oz, peg 10, late run of fish towards the end bank boosted his weight.
Ivan Currie, 105lb 12oz, peg 9, pole long and lead caught fish I believe.

Silvers went to Chris Parr who caught long and short with chopped worm & caster, p15, 41lb 9oz of mostly skimmers with a few tench and eels chucked in.
2nd in silvers was Barry Fowler with 34lb, I am not sure what peg, maybe 3 or 4? again mostly skimmers.

I enjoyed the match and there are a few things I may have changed. I found it odd I couldn't get a bit on my lead set-up, despite my rig being the same as Kev's and probably only 20m apart. Fish are funny things.

Next week I am back at Sedges, Tile Lake I believe, with PSV.
But before that I have a Fishomania qualifier at Maver Larford Lakes, somewhere I have yet to see!!

Take care and tight lines.
Lee

Clevedon Match - Trinity Woodlands

Sunday saw half a dozen of us take up pegs 24 to 29, ideal as the weather was due to be a bit iffy come in mid afternoon
We fished from around 9:45 to 3:30.

The draw was done but really I don't think it would have made a difference to where we were.
I pulled out peg 25. Which was fine.

 

I had planned to fish chopped worm and caster but left my caster at home. Therefore I would simply fish, hopefully, with banded 8's over 6's at 13m (full depth) and again at 2+2 where it was more or less the same depth.
I also planned to try both margins in the last 30-40 minutes using meat.
A shallow rig was assembled but didn't give me a bite.
I set up a method feeder and a pellet wag, the wag never produced a fish so less of that.

 

The match began with half hour on the pellet wag while the pole lines settled, this was not great as it never produced.
A look over the waggler line on the method for half hour gave me a skimmer and a couple of 5lb carp.

 

Elsewhere Adie Baker had been into a few fish on the pole, John W. on peg 24 had a single carp fishing shallow as had Rich Heatley on my left,  he'd also had a carp fishing the lead. There were plenty of fish boshing and moving in the upper layers but I think they would not settle in our calmer water;  they may have if we had been on the other side.

 

A look on the long pole line gave me a carp first chuck followed up by an F1. A 3lb carp soon made its way to the keepnet.
A patchy next hour saw me try the shallow rig but it didn't seem right despite both guys next to me getting odd fish,  Rich getting a few decent roach on banded 8's to.
A look short only gave me a solitary skimmer, and banding 6's didn't change a thing.

 

At 3hrs in and I had around 30lb, which looked at being behind Adie and by the sounds of it Ivan Currie had caught a few. I was ahead of the guys each side of me.

A look on the method feeder produced a handful of carp and two skimmers which boosted my weight somewhat and I was happy enough with my catch rate.
Back on the pole and I found the fish had returned and four on the bounce was good,  but I could still see Adie's elastic being stretched regularly.

By now we were into the last hour and John was beginning to catch a few lumps and was pushing 80lb.

I had put my second net in for carp as I knew my net would be close to 65lb, and given my pants ability at weight guessing (I even used clickers again) I then decided to go down the edge to see if any lumpy carp were about.
First drop produced a missed bite but I connected on the next and an 8lb carp was landed. I quickly had a skimmer and a tench before another carp found its way to my net. A few fish were spooked out of the margin, the bow waves giving this away, but the colour was muddying up nice. I re-fed some more meat.

A quick look on the short pellet line gave me a 6lber. Then it was back down the margins, taking a fish from each side if possible, or at least giving each side a minute or 2 for a bite, I often find that it becomes that only 1 side really produces in decent quantities, never both.

 

The last half hour gave me five foul hooked fish, only landing a baby. I also put another 3 in the net.  John still had lumps and I heard that Ivan had done well.
I thought I had maybe 95lb plus five pounds of silvers. Which consisted of a tench, an F1, 2 roach and five skimmers. I had about 17 carp to 8lb or so.

 

The weigh in began with John Wolstencroft putting 78-04 on the board with carp to over 12lb.
I went next and my silvers weighed 7-12 plus carp gave me 117-05.
Rich H. had double his 25lb guess, putting 52-03 on the board.
Adie had 14-06 of silvers in his 90-05 bag.
Walshy had 14-03 of silvers and a 16lb+ carp (which apparently was 20lb thirty minutes previous..lol). He totalled 67lb and an ounce.
Last up was Ivan Currie. His total was 88-08.

 

Weigh Sheets from the day

 

 

This gave me the win and more pennies for the holiday fund.

It was a good match with the average weight being over 82lb per angler.
I am pleased by the fact I had most of my fish at depth on banded 8mm. Something I have to keep doing as I don't tend to use hard pellets at full depth.

 

Next up for me is a match at Sedges with Pawlett, it's a silver fish contest, so could be fun if the carp wake up..!!

 

Until next time Take Care

 

Lee

Clevedon Club Match, Trinity Woodlands, 02/03/14

Sunday's match at the popular Trinity Woodlands lake was one I was looking forward to fishing.
But as is the current trend, fish are tending to be feeding better in some areas than others and to do well a tidy match needs to be fish alongside a decent draw.

The weather for the day was forecast to be windy, though not at windy as it was predicted by the mid-week predictions. The wind, coupled with some light rain/drizzle was seen as the bulk of the conditions, but a weather front was due around 3pm, this was to bring heavy rain....

Anyways there were 16 of us on the sheet to fish and I guess most of us wanted a peg on the near side rather than the far side platforms which would have the weather pushing in and across them.
Into the hat went the pegs, I held out before my draw, but after around 8 or 9 guys had drawn I found peg 11 in my palm, a peg on the far bank (not great!) but not a bad peg really and I was confident of a few fish.

Peg 11, Trinity Woodlands

I made my way to my peg chatting with the odd guy as I went, I had to my left an older fellow whom I didn't get his name and another chap who I recognised but don't know his name (sorry!!). I passed Brian Slipper on about peg 7 and Phil Deacon in the peg to his left. Opposite me I had Rob Fogg and Titch Williams.....I could see pretty much most of the lake which would help me gauge how I was doing.
I set up the customary lead/feeder rod for banded pellet. I also set up a 3 rigs for the pole.
The 1st was for the hoped for skimmers, which can run to 'proper bream' size. This was a Nick Gilbert pattern, a 0.6g caner model on 0.14>0.10>size 20 B611x. This could be fished at 6m right the way out to 13m, but with the wind I was going to focus on the 6m line straight in front.
2 NG Decker XT's were also made up, one for a 6m line at the 10 o'clock direction, the second was for 6m to my left next to the empty pallet of peg 12.
Both were 0.6g models as depths were similar, 0.18>0.14>size 16 B911.

Bait for the day was 6mm meat, wetted micros and 4mm pellets and some pinkies and maggots, I also mixed up some groundbait. Some 8mm, 6mm and brightly coloured pellets were on the tray for the lead/feeder rod..

On the whistle I cupped in 4 Satsuma sized balls of groundbait on the 6m line and 2 on the 13m lines. Some wet micros, 4mm pellets and a few 6mm cubes of meat were deposited both near the empty pallet and also in the 10 o'clock direction.
I chucked a small feeder out with wetted micros in at just under halfway across the lake, I started on a banded 6mm pellet as hookbait.
After an hour of much changing I had noted that Adie Baker on the opposite bank had landed a few decent skimmers and the odd carp, Nick Harvey up on peg 16(?) had got off to a flying start. Rob Fogg, opposite me, had also landed a carp on what looked to be the method feeder.
Further down the lake, Phil Deacon had landed a couple fish, but I could not see if they were carp or skimmers. Brian Slipper was putting a nice bag together by fishing long.

At around 11pm I came onto the pole line at 6m for the skimmers over groundbait, but a biteless 20 minutes saw me try the 13m line, which was difficult as the wind was not helpful. This never gave me a bite, so I came back short and it was a good choice as I bumped a fish then landed a decent skimmer which hardly moved the float, but around 2.5lb it was a bonus. The angler to my right had a carp at this time to. Adie was bagging as was Brian Slipper. Everyone else was now scratching around with only the odd fish here and there.
At just before 12 I had a look down towards the empty pallet and the float immediately went under and I pulled into a carp, a 3lb fish was soon netted. This proved to be a false dawn as despite my trying and rotating my lines it wasn't until around 1pm that I had another bite, this saw a small roach netted from the 6m silvers line. A few minutes after that I hooked another carp from the pallet swim, another carp of maybe 2lb was put into the keepnet. This was followed by another bite and a better carp was hooked, and given the depth of the lake it took a while to surface. But after 10 minutes it came to the surface, I did wonder if I could get it in my net, it was easily a 15lb fish.

Now I had hoped that the 2 fish in quick succession would lead to a run of fish, it didn't.
The weather was not great either and the guy on peg 12 had lost his bait tubs in the wind several times and Mark Walsh on the opposite bank had his umbrella take off and mess up his peg....Everyone was rather wet to boot!!
Adie Baker and Brian Slipper had been catching for most of the match by this point, but Kev Perry (also with the wind off his back) had started to catch well, mostly skimmers with the odd carp thrown in.  Phil Deacon had been taking odd carp as had the angler on peg 4. Still I had more than those immediately around me and maybe more than Rob and Titch opposite me, but I couldn't be sure.

I had to wait until 2:30 for my next fish, my 4th carp was from the pallet swim and was around 4lb.
3:15 came and the rain began to get heavier, and by 4pm it was properly p*ssing down and the wind had got up. The all out sounded and I think everyone was pleased to be packing up.
The last 90 minutes was a struggle for most, I only had 1 bite which I missed, but Adie continued to catch and the angler on p12 had strung a few silvers together. Brian Slipper had kept catching and it looked between him and Adie for the win with Nick Harvey's flying start putting him in contention from what I could see throughout the day. Kev Perry's late surge of skimmers had given him chance in the silvers, but it was hard to tell really as with light elastics even skimmers can pull a bit.

I packed my gear away and took the rod bags back to the car. I was rather wet.
I caught up with the scales at Brian's peg and by now the sheet was properly trashed and we had to remember our weights, lol.
Brian's ample bag of fish went 61lb, of which the best part of 58lb was carp.
Phil Deacon weighed around 33lb and then it was my turn.
My 1 skimmer and baby roach went 3lb dead. My 4 carp were worth 26lb, over half of which was one fish!! So 29lb was my weight.
The next couple of guys weighed in, the angler on p12 had around 6lb of silvers, before we got to Nick Harvey, his catch was 40lb 10oz. Next up was Mark Bromsgrove (p19 or 20?), he had 7lb 12oz of silvers to take the silvers lead, he also had a couple carp.
The long bank was weighed and Mark Walsh DNW'd before we got to Adie, his mixed net of carp and skimmers went 85lb 4oz to take the lead.
At that point I decided to load my kit into the car and head home as the weather was atrocious.
My net was in amongst several catches between 23lb and 33lb. It was a tough day, but I did enjoy it up until the heavy rain arrived. But I don't think there was much more I could have done really, I bumped 3 fish, but they could have been roach or skimmers perhaps. I also missed 3 bites, but that happens.

Results:
1st Adie Baker, 85lb 4oz
2nd Brian Slipper, 61lb
3rd Nick Harvey, 40lb 10oz

Silvers:
1st Kev Perry, 22lb
2nd Mark Bromsgrove, 7lb 12oz.

Next up for me is a match on the Bridgwater/Taunton canal at Wide Waters, hoping for the tench to feed, although it would have been nice if it was clearer and we could fish the punch on the whip.....ah well.

Before that I will, hopefully, prepping my kit in the build up for my 1st White Acres festival at the end of the month.......... I will also be hoping for a run of sundays with decent weather conditions, my lounge resembles a tackle store at the minute with kit everywhere drying out!!

Until next time, take care
Lee