Summerhayes Rover, 2-4-17 (plus Viaduct Fisho...)

I will start off with my very brief summary of the April Fool's Fisho qualifier.
I drew peg 62, not a great draw by all accounts but maybe a chance of some late meat fish, but with 61 and 63 in it wasn't a convincing outlook. I spent 10 minutes debating whether to bother fishing, but I decided to spend 300 minutes in pursuit of a pipe dream.

Lodge lake peg 62

300 minutes later, no carp, plenty of silvers and some wet gear, I was soon heading home.
Will done to Bob Giles who won, only just, ahead of Lee Farmer and the man-in-form Craig 'trig' Edmunds.

Onto today, I decided, well as a family we decided, that I should go fishing, so I ventured back to Summerhayes for their open, a rover format match this week, draw the order you choose your peg in.
I arrived to be greeted by Gareth Lennox and Glynn Wickham. I said hellos to the rest of the guys, paid my pools and collected 3 nets not just 2.
A quickish wander around the complex with Gareth and I quizzed him on a few of the pegs etc as he has fished here a lot more than my half a dozen or so times.

Onto the draw, I pulled 12 which meant I was second last in choosing my peg. I fancied peg 11 on Sellicks, maybe peg 9. Peg 6 and peg 12 on Longs were my 2 choices on that lake, but as it turned out Martin Addicot and Bill Hopping chose 12 and 14 on Sellicks, which to me meant I would go elsewhere. So when it came to my turn I said Lily peg 4. Chris Boulton won the midweek match from peg 9 on the lake, but they are moving fish out of here into Sellicks and Longs as they are joining Perch Pit and Lily together to form a bigger Speci carp lake.
I was the only one in the match on the lake, but had 2 guys set up to my right on peg one and peg 14 (?) and then a couple of the carpers on Perch Pit behind me would fish on and off in peg 6.

Lily Peg 4 left hand edge

Lily Peg 4 right hand edge

Lily peg 4 at Summerhayes

For bait I had 6mm and 4mm pellets, 8mm meat plus some corn. I had some paste, groundbait and 8mm pellets with me, but they remained in the carryall.
4 rigs assembled all on 0.18>0.14>B911 hooks in 18 and 16's.
The 1st rig was full depth pellet rig for 14m. 2nd was a shallow/slapping/mugging rig for 6mm pellet over the same line at 14m.
The next rig was one for tight to my bank 6m down the right hand side where it was a good 3.5ft deep or more, this same rig doubled up for down to the left around 1mtr off the bank in line with the outside of peg 5. Both meat and corn used on these lines.
Lastly my usual meat rig for 2+2.

The all-in was called and I fed a big pot of 4mm pellets long and 1/2 a cup of corn and meat down the right edge and similarly down to the left before I began on the short meat line.
15 minutes passed and the 1st carp was hooked and landed, the fish in here average around 2lb so that's what I clicked.
No bites were forthcoming so half an hour in I went out long and on the depth rig, but other than baby rudd and minnows it was all quiet, a few liners and a couple foul hooked fish lost saw me on the shallow rig and soon after the 2nd carp of the day was netted, again a false dawn and other than a few foulers and missed bites it was slow going. Yet Bill Hopping up on Sellicks had been netting fish regularly.
A 3rd carp came, to the short meat line but we were nearly 2hrs in.
A look down the right edge saw a couple fish, 3lbers netted, but it was a wait for bites and it was a similar story down the left, but I kept plugging away and binned the long pellet lines.

Hoping to force the issue a bit more I started to feed the short meat line a bit heavier and started pinging pellets tight to the near bank to the left where I had spotted a fish or 2 slurping in the weeds.
30 minutes passed and a few more fish on the short meat line and a couple from the deeper left hand swim.
We were into the last couple of hours and my clicker showed 36lb, which was around 18 fish. But little did I know that things would at least pick up for me as I swung my shallow pellet rig 6m down to my left in the shallower water and it buried right away, then my 2nd, 3rd and 4th fish came in quick time, I fed another decent helping of pellets and went on the short meat line and another flurry of carp were added to my nets and as my 1st clicker got to 63lb I began my 2nd net and I kept popping fish in there by switching between the 2 lines.
Of the last couple of hours I couldn't get a bait in quick enough at times, especially on the short meat, I missed a few bites and foul hooked a couple. But the last 20 minutes or so saw me struggling again, only a rudd and 2 carp came in this period.

The all-out was called and from what I could see, well it was only Bill I could see properly, I was plenty behind him, though he did admit he saw me catching well late on, so perhaps his first couple hours could make a difference. My clickers showed 63lb and 62lb, though the 2nd one I was sure I had had a double click and I said to Ady I reckoned it should read 52lb not 62lb.

My gear at the car and I followed the scales from Mr Lennox on peg 23 Sellicks, he also had a quiet 2hrs at the start but then found a few willing fish and ended with 80-odd pounds, then Bill had 142lb from peg 14 on the same lake. Martin Addicott had 80-something from p12.
The scales made their way to me and my clickers were again working as my 1st net totalled 62lb 13oz and my 2nd was 53lb 5oz for a total of 116lb 2oz. I let the scales go on their way and I went and loaded the car etc.
Longs hadn't fished great for the carp with 73lb the top net off there from peg 12, but the silvers was won with 16lb+ by Mark Lehay off golden peg/draw peg 20, so he got half of the golden peg pot which gave him £55. So I managed 2nd place and a few more pennies for my sins.

Results:
1st, Bill Hopping, 142lb 15oz. p14 Sellicks
2nd, Lee Williams, 116lb 2oz. p 4 Lily
3rd, Gareth Lennox, 88lb 15oz. p23 Sellicks
4th, Martin Addicot, 82lb 14oz. p12 Sellicks

Silvers,
1st, Mark Lehay, 16lb 8oz. p20 Longs
2nd, Ady, 9lb 3oz. p36 Longs

So another enjoyable day, generally plenty of bites and no need for hauling lumps all day, which makes for a nice day in my book. If only the first couple of hours were a little more busy and I had a few more fish. Hindsight eh!!

Next weekend I am venturing to the Big One show on the Saturday before Pawlett's silvers match at Sedges, which by all accounts had switched on for carp.....the joys.

Until then, have fun,
Lee

This week's blog...... 12-03-17

An update sort of blog today, I would have done 3 separate ones, but really they would not have amounted to much individually.

So firstly, on Wednesday it was the 1st Fisho qualifier of the year, at Viaduct, so along with 96 others, we all had fingers crossed that things would fall into place, a few bits of luck and some half sensible fishing could produce a result.
After the usual natterings I plucked peg 74 from the tin, a decent draw, one I felt had a chance should the fish stay down the near end of Cary Lake, but in reality we all knew Campbell was the likely lake to win the day.

Peg 74, Cary Lake.

I had Calum Craig opposite me and Darren Cox on 76.
The match started ok, a couple carp and some skimmers in the first hour from off the edge of the tree to my right.....but then that was it as the fish moved up the lake with Alex Murray on 102 doing ok for a while before 77 and 78 took the lake's honours. I chose not to weigh. Calum had 3 carp I think, 107 had 4 and 109 only 1.
I did get to see Steve Jackson, Gareth Lennox and Frank Domachie catching well most of the day, sharing 400lb between them, with Jacko wining through to the final. Oh and well done to Emma Drysdale for running Mick Bull close down in the narrows in Middle, just being pipped with both having 90lb+.

Saturday saw me head back to Viaduct for Don Sutherland's memorial match, a silvers only event across Spring/Middle, Lodge and Campbell Lakes. 49 fished and a draw on a good peg on Spring would be a first choice.
I managed another reasonable draw, I was told by Vince Brown, with peg 32 on Middle, but arriving on my peg, there were a few carp moving all over but only the odd plip roach and rudd showing on the silvers' front. Hmmm maybe the skimmers and bream had ventured through the gaps to Spring lake?

Peg 32 Middle...

I set up a waggler for corn at 20m or so, a rig for maggots/caster over groundbait at 14m in front and caster over maggot by a tree at 14m to my left. Oh and lastly a 6m rig for caster over caster.
I managed 1 decent skimmer on the waggler but the majority of my fish came on the 14m groundbait line using caster as bait. I had 20lb 2oz, this was 3 skimmers between 1.5lb and 3lb. The rest was roach and rudd plus the odd 6oz skimmer. Luckily I won the section by default, but it was the top weight off Middle Lake and the winner, Mark Saunders was the overall winner with 49lb 8oz from peg 26. That area of the lake, pegs 24 round to peg 5, fished well, and generally Spring fished very well with loads of 20lb+ weights. Campbell and Lodge also produced 29lb+ nets.

Results (1-32 Spring/Middle, 53-73 Lodge, 110-132 Campbell)
1. Mark Saunders - 49lb 8oz - peg 26
2. Stu White - 42lb 9oz - peg 2
3. Gabe Skarba - 39lb 11oz - peg 124...
4. Shawn Kittridge - 39lb 9oz - peg 1
5. Jess Jordon - 33lb 12oz - peg 17
6. Ryan Shipp - 32lb 3oz - peg 19
7. Nigel Easton - 32lb 1oz - peg 115
7. Robin Guy - 32lb 1oz - peg 15
9. Steve Jackson - 30lb 7oz - peg 116
10. Nick Ewers - 30lb - peg 5
11. Roland Lucas - 29lb 6oz - peg 59
12. John Page - 29lb 2oz - peg 64
13. Alvin Jones - 27lb 7oz - peg 3
14. Chris Fox - 24lb 4oz - peg 24
15. Vince Brown - 24lb 2oz - peg 16

Lastly was today's match on the Kings Sedgemoor Drain at Bradney with the Pawlett bunch.

Running late (for me) and arriving with my breakfast in hand, it was a matter of saying my hellos and stuff, some guys fishing whom I haven't seen for ages were present, like Baz Morgan and Dave Nash to name 2.

A look at the water from the bridge and I knew it wasn't going to be a great day in terms of weights as the water looked too coloured and coupled with the warmer weather we have had, I expected it to be a bit of a scratching day. I also said that whoever draws the end bay peg nearest the bridge should win or be chucked in as it looked full of fish including pike. I didn't want to draw in the pegs downstream of the bridge as it is too deep and hasn't been so good on the whole for the last 2 or 3 years.

The draw was made and I went in mid-rabble and pulled 24 (after a bit of faffing between myself and Keith Clapp, I fished peg 24, he had 23...). Jamie Cook and Neil Venning were in the fancied end pegs of the bay. The pegging was 1-10 perma pegs on the South Bank, 11 to 19 in the bay area opposite the EA building and 20 to 24 below the bridge.

My Bradney peg on the KSD.

A waggler was set up, but only had a couple casts as the wind was a pain.

A couple pole rigs, one for 6m on a 0.7g float on 0.12>0.10>20 b511 hook, here I would feed caster and hemp by hand. The 2nd rig was a 2g Drennan Carbo on the same lines but would be fished at 13m over an initial balling of groundbait laced with hemp and caster, 6 big coconut sized balls to be precise.

With very few small fish topping, it was a struggle for the day, just picking up a few fish, mostly roach between 1 and 2oz, a 4oz fish was a bonus. It was just a matter of patience and luck.

The short line only gave me a couple fish as I had no flow here. Throughout the day I kept checking with Keith what he was getting and pretty much the reply was 'not much' or 'nothing more'. Though the 2 pegs nearest the bridge, I was told, were picking up small silvers.

The all-out came at 4:30pm and as the scales arrived below the bridge the top 2 nets were indeed Jamie and Neil from the 2 last pegs in the bay with circa 16lb each. A 9lb net and a few 5lb nets were recorded, none of us admitted to 5lb below the bridge. My 4lb 11oz was the best weight from that stretch. I had between 60 and 70 fish, so on the small size, my largest was maybe 4oz. But not good enough for a pick-up.

The perma pegged section fished a bit better with plenty of 6 to 9lb nets.

Results, top 3 came from the bay areas, top 2 nearest the bridge.

1st, Jamie Cook. 16lb 15oz.

2nd, Neil Venning. 15lb 8oz

3rd, Kev Lock. 9lb 6oz (inc a tench)

Weights....

So a mixed set of results, but I enjoyed them all and this weekend's fishing for silvers.

Not sure where I am fishing next weekend, no set plans. We shall see.

Until then, have fun.

Lee.

Larford Lakes, Fisho Qualifier, 05-06-16

Short and sweet today.

Larford Match Lake...

Me and the missus ventured up to Larford for my last feeble attempt at qualifying for the Fisho Semis this year (I doubt i'll take the Gold Valley ressie tiacket option), we arrived in good time and went to get a cuppa and some pellets from the café.
We bumped into Dom Sullivan who'd made the trip up and we discussed various things and surveyed the match lake, plenty of fish showing themselves, but they would wouldn't they?
We both fancied one of the 12 pegs that were put on Arena lake but Phil and his team had pegged the venue as he deemed fit..........but with 40 (yes forty) no shows, some people would get a bit more room.
I managed to get into the draw reasonably early and pulled speci 64, mid way along the far bank.
Dom drew 23 I think on the same lake and Jacko was up on peg 32.
I made my way round there and went about sorting my kit.

Tasty left edge, Larford Speci p64

Nice looking right edge, p64 Larford Speci Lake

Peg 64 Speci Lake at Larford

I had for company on peg 65, Simon Fry, but I also had 2 free pegs to my left, where myself and peg 61 couldn't reach....safe water zone methinks.
But there was loads of fish present all over the lake from around 20yrd out to the middle, the odd one ventured in closer. But these fish were shoaled up, some due to spawn, a few just have we were told.

A pellet waggler rod, a method feeder and 3 pole rigs (left and right edges on 1, a mugging rig and a short meat rig.) I had simple hemp, 8mm meat, 8mm pellets and some groundbait/dead maggots for the edges, plus an array of hookbaits from standard pellets through to 10mm boilies.

I was quietly confident of a few fish...........that didn't last as it was almost 2pm when I managed my 1st bite, a little 4 to 6oz carp on the short meat line.
I had my second fish, mugged on the pellet waggler, at around half past 2 and lost a foul hooker soon after.
I persisted with the pole lines and the waggler, but it was a struggle for most. Simon on peg 65 was on 3 proper carp but was getting some of the small stockies and a couple bream. The rest of my bank was struggling we were told, though Matt Marshall was getting more than most and rumour had it that Neil McKinnon was on about 40lb.
The opposite side of the lake, plus the end bank to my right, all looked to be struggling and quite a few were fishless.

My 3rd carp came at 3pm on the waggler, and my 4th and final proper carp came from my right margin with half an hour to go, my hopes of a late surge were unfounded!!
The all out was called, I packed up and went for a wander.
On my bank it looked like Simon's smaller stock carp and skimmers would be the difference between us, Matt Marshall, a nice lad, went through a few things he had done and he ended up with 10 carp for around 85lb
Neil Mckinnon had around 49lb and there may have been a 60lb from the end peg to my left.
To my right it was James Dent who may have done ok as he had some room.

Anyways, Phil Briscoe weighed me in, 34lb 2oz I think it went for 2nd or 3rd in section behind Matt and Simon (his small fish weighed 15lb!!) and he had 44lb 3oz.

We took the kit back to the car and made our way home

It turned out that Ian Giddins won from the same peg I had last year (I think), unfancied peg 54 on the Match Lake.
He had some late margin lumps and ended with around 120lb..........He also had 8 free pegs around him, so this proves the luck needed (plus be a decent angler usually). So well done him. Ritchie Hull was 3rd, but I am unaware of the rest, but a good few dnw's/blanks and low weights were recorded.
I was reasonably happy with my match, maybe I could have mugged a few on the pole, but really they weren't coming in to range properly until 3:40 or so, by then it was too late!!

Next up for me is the 2nd round of the Saturday Series, we have pegs 42 round to 67 at Trinity Wildmarsh, so at least we should all be able to see most of each other. It'll be tricky, but I hope it's a close match.
Then Sunday it's our club's (Pawlett) All-Winners final at Trinity Woodlands.

Until then, take care.
Lee

27/4/16 to 02/5/16, Various Wanderings......

A busy last few days for me, after my win over at Apex last weekend I was keen to get out and catch some more fish, I had the Makins Fishomania qualifier on the Wednesday, then I had right the way through to today (Bank Holiday Monday) off and fancied doing something different for my fishing on a few of these days.

So first up was the Makins match, I would love to say how I sacked up and qualified, or at least was in with a chance......it didn't happen.
A 2hr 15min drive took 4hrs thanks to M42 and M6 accidents......luckily I had the ultra keen wife with me, otherwise I would have turned around and fished elsewhere, but she insisted I carry on!! Around 20 peeps never bothered and a few reserves got on.
I got to the fishery 15 minutes after the draw had began and I waited in line to draw, there wasn't any sort of pegs I wanted, the weather was awful and we were predicted to get cold rain, snow, winds....nice!! Geoff Ringer was in front of me in the queue and was generally asked about various pegs by anglers as they passed.
I got to the draw, the missus had gotten herself a bacon and hashbrown sarnie and I plucked Thames peg 15........means nothing but got told 4lb-10lb fish is the norm and that it was not a good draw.
I toddled up the road to phase 3 and found my peg. I had Somerton and newly sponsored Dan Squire just behind me and along on Outer Avon.....he done worse than me and left before me, it was dire.

Thames peg 15, front and left (note Dan Squire in the bottom pic)

I set up half a dozen rigs, edges, middle and across and shallow.
All I caught, apart from a chill, was a handful of gudgeon, so had an early bath. The snow and rain was freezing....

The next day, Thursday, I had a late start for a pleasure session on a club water, a bit of long range feeder fishing and deep water pole fishing at Combwich.
After 2 hrs I had 2 roach on the feeder at 65 turns. Nothing on the pole in top 5 depth of water.

Combwich Pond

So I then made my way to another club lake, Dunwear, where I managed to get drenched in the heavy rain, and struggled at times to hold a pole.
I did manage around 15lb of rudd, roach and skimmers, plus I hooked a couple carp. I really enjoyed that couple or so hours on light gear.

Dunwear South Pond

Friday was a day spent with the wife, so Saturday I went back to Dunwear armed with just a feeder rod, some caster, maggot and corn plus groundbait.
I fished the Senior Lake, the largest on the complex, it holds plenty of bream and roach that don't get fished for much and can be patchy at times, though there has been some really big 100lb+ nets of bream over the last few years.
I fished for 4 hours at 48 turns and managed one solitary 6lb bream and around 15lb of roach, but I was totally roached out as my maggots came back ragged more than I care to mention. An enjoyable day though and I will have another bash soon.

Dunwear Senior Pit

So, onto Sunday, a PSV match at Viaduct on Campbell Lake, we had 19 fishing and I waited until peg 130 had been drawn before plucking peg 125 for myself.

Peg 125 Campbell, Viaduct

The match the day before showed peg 123 had 200lb to win and the pegs 124 to 129 were ok with 119, 118, 116 not brilliant.
To cut a short story shorter, I set up a meat short rig for carp and went trying to catch silvers, so had a 13m groundbait line and an edge caster rig. I also had a lead rod assembled for a carp or two.
The day went slowly for myself, Lee Waller on peg 123 who dnw'd and Brian Shanks on peg 126 who caught 3 of hos 4 lumpy carp in the last 45 mins or so, he also had 16lb of accidental silvers. Though Degsy Williams on peg 124 did well to catch 90lb or so.
I managed 6 carp (5 on the lead) and 10lb of silvers, mostly nice perch. And was again sat opposite the framers...!!

Results:
1. Steve Sewell (116) .... 139-1
2. Alan Healey (119) ..... 106-14
3. Ross Sewell (111) ..... 104-6...
4. Matt Williams (130) .... 99-2
5. Ron Hardiman (114) ... 94-14
6. Steve Burgess (128) .. 92-0
7. Degsy Williams (124) .. 91-9
8. Adam Caswell (118) ... 87-2
9. Mark Radford (136) .... 68-11
10. Will Dearlove (132) ... 68-8
11. Keith Ray (129) ....... 62-15
12. Mike Wilson (113) .... 58-1
13. Brian Shanks (126) ... 51-11
14. Lee Williams (125) .... 48-10
15. John Bradford (127) ... 33-9
16. Simon Belcham (112) .. 19-3
and 2 dnw's.

Silvers:
1. John Bradford .... 33-9
2. Simon Belcham .... 19-3
3. Brian Shanks ....... 16-9
4. Lee Williams ....... 10-8
5. Ross Sewell ..... 8-0
Ron Hardiman ... 8-0
Mike Wilson ...... 8-0

So last up is todays match on Trinity Woodlands, with 8 or 9 of us pegged along the far bank, the weather was due to get a bit pants later in the day with a good helping of rain to go with the already brisk wind.
Misha had 2 golden pegs, they were 17 and 6, with 17 the current in form peg and peg 6 always worth a good few fish. The Golden Peg was worth 100 quid and venue regular Mark Hanham drew it and would be the odds on favourite to win.
I picked peg 15, so again it looked like I could watch the winner all day....ho hum. For company on my right, well I could not see him, was Polish angler Ziggy Slowinski. He said Him, Me and Mark should fill the top 3 spaces, with Mark winning....!!

Trinity Woodlands p15 lhs

Trinity Woodlands p15

I set up a method feeder, only cast 3 times, so no more on that.
A rig for 11m down to my left, not too close to the margin as it was snaggy as hell....1 carp and a few skimmers from here along with a 2lb perch. This rig was also used by the bush to my right and here I had a small carp and 2 small silvers.
A silvers rig for 11m in front, 3 skimmers from here and a roach, plus 3 foul hooked carp lost.
A rig for shallow pellet, no fish on this, though if i could have fished it long then I reckon that I may well have caught on it.
Lastly a rig for 2+2 for meat over pellet, this gave me 1 tench and a couple skimmers (one I tried to swing in and it fell off....costly).
It wasn't an eventful match for me, in hindsight, once Mark started catching, after 1hr he was on around 8 carp, I should have just fished for the silvers.
It was a struggle for most as the wind was tricky.
I finished with 3 carp and 10lb 14oz of silvers, I was pipped to the silvers payout by Ziggy who weighed in 11lb 8oz, so that skimmer I should have netted cost me, ho hum
Mark won the match and the extra £100, he had 104lb, second was Phil on peg 6, he bagged up in the last hour or so once the wind had changed direction a little.

So a few nice days pleasure fishing away from the commercial type venues was really enjoyable.
The bream look to be spawning soon as everywhere I have caught them this week they have been all spotted up and rough skinned. But with the weather warming, swallows and swifts in the skies, things may well be picking up.....lets bloody hope so....oh and less wind would be awesome.

No idea where I am fishing next weekend, the following week I am at Shiplate with Pawlett.

Until then, take care.
Lee


P.S. I still have one or 2 spaces left on my Saturday series and I have started taking the £60 entry/pegs/payout fees, a good few have paid and I expect it to be a good series and laugh.

Fishomania Qualifier, Viaduct. 09-04-16

My first qualifier of this season was a local affair, Viaduct Fishery. The list of competitors and reserves was a mix of top local talent and some 'magazine names' from the world of match fishing.

I arrived in loads of time so had a chat with a few guys after I had taken a walk around the lakes, there was a nippy chill on the wind that was blowing up the lakes. I fancied 3 or 4 on the Spring Lake, 38 on Middle, any corner peg on Match or Lodge. 80, 81, 83, 97, 77 and 102 on Cary. While on Campbell I wouldn't have minded any from 111 to 115, other than that 128 or 129 on the spit would be ok I would have thought.

With the weather cooler and odd breezy spells along with showers I expected lower than recent weights have been, 150lb would be in with a chance I would have thought, but this would maybe even out the weight and make it a close contest?
Anyways back to the draw and I hung on towards the end of the queue, I was in the line with Tom Mangnall, and we had hoped for a good peg, especially as a few of the 'less-wanted' pegs had been plucked from the tin. I drew, 2 pegs stuck together, dropped one back in and left me with 129, Not too shabby.

I got to my peg, surveyed the scene and noted I had very little in the way of ripple, not what is needed. The winds were pushing over into 112 to 115, these hot pegs also had a few fish boshing in that area. I hadn't seen more than a few roach in my peg.....hmmm!!
I set up a lead, a waggler to fish up and down in the water. 4 pole rigs were put together, a meat rig for 9m as the water was clear-ish, a banded pellet rig for full depth at 14.5m (my poor back....), a slapping/shallow pellet rig and a banded pellet rig for a couple spots along the spit.

Peg 129, Campbell

I would love lo say things went well, but it was 30 minutes before I had my 1st carp, a 5lb fish on the lead. In that half an hour quite a few carp had been had from pegs 110 up to 116, Steve Tucker probably the pick of them with 5 or 6 on the lead.
My next fish came an hour later and another of the same size as my 1st. Not much was happening in the pegs to my right and along the bottom bank, odd fish here or there.
Meanwhile new Frenzee recruit Dan White, on as a reserve again, was opposite on peg 112 was properly into the fish, he was a long way ahead at this point, he was mostly catching on the pole shallow and a few fish on the lead when he rested the pole lines I guess.

Into the 3rd hour and I had a carp on the long pellet line then another on the lead, both fish around the 4lb mark, smaller stamp fish. A couple lost foul hookers and one landed came over the next half an hour, the landed one fell to the waggler fished 12 inches deep.
A look on the meat line gave me a 4oz skimmer but that was that line done for the day.

The last 90 minutes was spent swapping between the lead and the waggler at mostly full depth, I lost a 10lber at the net but did land a couple on the waggler and a couple on the lead in that final period.
Dan White was still catching well and Tucks to his left was catching a few again and looked close to 100lb, I reckoned on Dan having near to 180lb.....me, my clickers showed 50lb and 10lb.
I had 12 or 13 carp in total during the day, only one over 6lb and a couple 2lb fish.

The all out was called and I packed up. The guy on peg 130, a foreign chap, had landed a decent mid-double in the last hour and had a couple 8lbers during the day so I reckoned on him having maybe 85lb. He actually had a few ounces under 90lb. I weighed in just under 64lb.
The scales carried on along the lake and I finished packing up and put the kit in the car before going to see how Dan had done, rumour had it that the best weight was 145lb or so and there was a couple low 100lb nets including Perry Stone on the match lake.
After multiple weighs the winner was confirmed as Dan weighed in 210lb 11oz. Well done him.
Steve Tucker then snuck 3rd overall with 110lb 5oz, 1 ounce ahead of 4th.

The Winner, Dan White (Frenzee SW)

I don't feel I could have had too much more from my peg, I couldn't get a bit along the spit on pellet or meat, bites on the pole were scarce and spasmodic at best on running line, the fish had obviously done what they do in April and got on the wind.

Overall Results: Ta to Viaduct's Facebook page...

1. Dan White - 210lb 11oz - peg 112
2. J Kirk - 145lb 9oz - peg 127
3. Steve Tucker - 110lb 5oz - peg 111
4. Simon Kiefer - 110lb 4oz - peg 95
5. Perry Stone - 104lb 4oz - peg 45
6. Jason Hale - 98lb 1oz - peg 62
7. Steve Trevett - 97lb 12oz - peg 81
8. Mark Harrinton - 97lb 11oz - peg 3
9. Zac Newton - 94lb 6oz - peg 18
10. R Taylor - 91lb 14oz - peg 67
11. Steve Jackson - 91lb 4oz - peg 25
12. M Petrov - 89lb 5oz - peg 130
13. Ben Emery - 88lb 3oz - peg 115
14. Dean Stacey - 87lb 5oz - peg 80
15. C Cameron - 86lb 6oz - peg 48
16. Andrew Mann - 85lb 9oz - peg 78
17. C Shephard - 84lb 8oz - peg 19
18. Tony Gilbert - 84lb 6oz - peg 87
19. Tommy Hillier - 83lb 10oz - peg 86
20. Scott Puddy - 83lb 2oz - peg 96
21. Chris Perry - 82lb 13oz - peg 66
22. J Hannam - 81lb 10oz - peg 83


Next up for me is tomorrow's match at Sedges, a silvers only contest, in last year's corresponding match I had well over 100lb of carp on the silvers kit.....lets not hope for the same. It is gonna be windy and I don't want Tile.....onwards and upwards.

Lee.

Makins Fishery, Fishomania Qualifier. 29-04-15

My last attempt at fisho for 2015 was today, up at the multi-laked, multi-phased Makins fishery in Wolvey (nr Coventry/Nuneaton). It would be a 2.5hr drive so an early start again for me, but the journey wasn't too bad for the first 90 minutes, but once on the M42 it rained, and rained, and rained a bit more. Visibility was shocking, coupled with the 7:30 traffic around the area, it was a bit tricky in the conditions. But I got there in plenty of time for the 9am draw.
It was my 1st visit to the lakes and finding info wasn't easy, although they have opens several times a week, they tend to rotate the lakes used.

What I first noticed about the lakes in phase 1, was that they looked extremely well kept and pegging wasn't as tight as a lot of other place. With only Lake 5 in on the 1st phase and all the lakes on phases 2 and 3 in the draw we expected plenty of space and this proved true. I figured a weight near 100lb would be pushing a spot at Cudmore in July.

After a chat with a couple of guys, one from Yeovil, it was down to the draw. I managed to squeeze in around 40th in the line of 130, just pushing in front of Warren Martin I plucked peg 14 on Crater......I was told it was ok, I didn't have a clue.!!
A quick look at where it was and I headed off to phase 2, which is only a few hundred yards up the road.
I parked the car and had a quick look for my peg, I found it easy enough, it was literally 40yrds from the car park and there seemed to be a good few carp roaming up in the water in the vicinity of my peg. I didn't expect them to stay there as 40 or so guys were expected to pass the area on their way to the lakes further along, true to form, the fish vanished 10 minutes after I plonked myself on my peg.

Crater, Makins Phase 2 (my peg top right)

My left hand area

P14 Crater, in front.

We only had 6 on this 15 peg lake and coupled with Little Reptile my section was spread over the 2 lakes.

I set up a small method feeder, just incase of emergencies, plus 4 topkits:
A rig for 4m in front using meat over dead maggots.
A rig for banded pellet along to my left hand edge in several spots right along to the tree, this rig was suitable for tight over to the left hand island at 15m, but I never fished there as the wind would make presentation tricky,
A rig was made to fish meat tight to the right hand island at 15m, again this didn't produce a fish and I only tried it a couple times.
Lastly a rig for 13m in front, again for banded pellet. I never picked up this rig,

I had my 2 bags of green swimstim pellets, a bag of 6mm and a bag of 3mm, I didn't use any 3mm!!
Some 6mm meat and a pint of dead maggots finished my bait tray, except 1/2kg of groundbait for the feeder and maybe down the edge.

I began at 11am by potting a few small amounts of bait into various spots and began on the short maggot/meat line.  After a while I remained biteless, though the guy off at the other end of the pool had landed a couple small carp.
A look across to the islands and then down my edge gave me nothing in the 1st 90minutes. It didn't look great!!
After just under 2hrs the fish started to venture down to me and I managed to hook and lose a fish from near the tree down to my left, a scale returned from my culprit. I landed my next couple of carp, both 2lb or so. A fish soon broke my hooklength on the legs of the empty peg to my left, that peg lost me 2 or 3 other fish over the day.
I missed a couple of bites and I thought they were liners so I shallowed up to around 2ft deep, this worked as a couple more fish came before 2pm. I found that feeding 4 or 5 pellets randomly in the area worked best at keeping the fish away from the margin, I would struggle to get too close to the edge over at that distance in the wind and these little carp were mental fighters.

It was now 2:30 and I had landed 8 or 9 carp up to 3lb, the guy on peg 1 was ahead of me as he seemed to be getting fish regularly from the end bank and his side of the island.
Then I had a mishap, my number 5 section broke and I had no spare. I telescoped the section and chucked a method feeder down to the same area and this gave me 3 or 4 carp of 2lb max!!
I gingerly shipped out the pole to the same area and managed several more fish over the next hour, it wasn't fast and furious though.
The lad on 1 was doing well and the man to my right on 12 was getting a good stamp of fish compared to mine, he also had a 4lb barbel and some nice skimmers. The other 3 were struggling.

As we approached the last hour my clicker showed 43lb as I had 16 carp and 1 roach at this point.
A look down my margin never gave me a fish, just crap and snags, the fish were there but catching them was tricky,
I tried my short meat line as the chap on 12 was doing all his fish on meat short, but I only had 2 small carp from here in the last 60 mins.
20 minutes from the end came and the guy on peg 1 landed 3 lumpier carp for around 16lb+ in the last period, which I was sure pushed him ahead of me. I couldn't get any stamp fish from any of my lines.
A couple more fish shallow from my left hand side were netted before the all out. My clicker stoped at 53lb. 20 carp and 1 roach was my tally for the day, losing 4 or 5 for various reasons.

I packed my gear away happy enough, bar the broke section, and I knew that I'd probably done ok really. The scales took a while to arrive, but when they did the board showed the section was being won with 39lb. The chap on 12 landed 42lb or so before I plonked 65lb 12oz on the scales.
Peg 1 weighed next and those last 3 fish proved decisive as he weighed 70lb 4oz to take the section money, unless he finished in the top 6 I wouldn't win a penny.
It proved that way with him just falling short of the overall frame.

I think I finished 10th (or higher) on the day, a decent result overall, I could have done some things different and I made some mistakes, but I am happy enough with how I did.

Results:
1st, Simon Colclough, 93lb 8oz. Lizard peg 16.
2nd, Wayne Ibbotson, 93lb 40z. Lagoon peg 2.
3rd=, Rob Wootten, 91lb, Lagoon peg 3.
3rd=, Andrew David, 91lb, Lizard peg 10.
5th, Andy Geldart, 89lb 4oz, Lizard peg 32.

So a few things I learned a few things today and enjoyed the day, it pretty much stayed dry too, which was a bonus.

Next up for me is Cary on Sunday, whether I have a pole or not remains to be seen.

Until then, Take Care.

Lee

Fishomania Qualifier, Gold Valley Lakes. 22-04-15

A brief-ish blog today as not much happened, in fact not much happened for the majority of anglers.

A 2.5hr drive up the A303/M3 after a 5:30am departure saw me arrive at the complex at just before 8am. A few people were present and my 1st task was for a cuppa and bacon sarnie, both were rather nice actually.
I spent the next hour chatting to a few guys and then took a brief walk around Middle and part of Gold Lakes, I must say for those who haven't been there, the pegging can be tight and all of them are fully concrete, with solid concrete paths and roads around the venue.
As I took a walk round there were plenty of carp cruising the surface of Middle lake, especially on the pegs at the far end (83 to 89 or so) and I remained hopeful that this would be a good sign, however with almost every peg in on 3 lakes (all bar 1 on Middle) and the wind due to increase, the fish could go and hide and decide that doing bugger all would be their best option.

Looking up Middle Lake, Gold Valley

Anyways on to the draw, I was around 30th to pick a peg and other than the end pegs and those with islands on Gold Lake.
My peg was 92, nothing special, halfway along the left hand bank of Middle, but you never know.
I left the other local guys to draw their pegs and none of them drew a flyer and most were on Syndicate Lake.

I moved my car to the correct car park and then got my kit to my peg.
Tackle wise I set up a pellet waggler, a method feeder and a bomb rod, all to be fished towards the central rope. The wind had now become rather brisk and was blowing down the lake from my left to right and slightly from behind me, it was a nippy wind too. I kept in tee shirt, the other bank were rather wrapped up!!
I also set up 4 pole rigs, 1 margin, 1 banded pellet at depth, a shallow pellet rig and 1 for meat at 6 sections. I had a nice 18" tight in to my edges but the rest of the peg was around 2ft 6in deep from topkit out to 16m!! Others had less, including Nathan Watson down on around peg 97 or 98, 10 inches all over was the depth he had he said!!
Bait was a few kilos of groundbait, a couple tins worth of 8mm meat, some 6mm and 8mm pellets/ Plus some (all unused) dead maggots, corn and hemp.

Middle peg 92, Gold Valley Lakes

On to the match, at the all in I didn't go over the top and fired a dozen pellets over the running line spots before some pellets were deposited at 14m, some meat at 6m plus a little gb/meat in each margin.
I started on the waggler and after 10 mins I hooked and lost a carp that was hooked not in the mouth as a small scale was attached. Another 20 minutes passed and then I had a small bite on the waggler, after a spirited scrap I netted a 2lb carp brilliantly hooked in the belly, so I shallowed up.
Nobody else from what I could see had caught a fish.
Another 10 minutes passed when next door on peg 93 hooked a fish on the method feeder, as he was playing that I had a bit on the waggler, it started off as what felt like a skimmer, but then soon felt it's lungs and fought like mad.
A ten minute scrap with this skimmer (obviously a carp),  saw a mirror of the size you'd expect at Viaduct. A scoop and shuffle with the net, at the 2nd attempt, and it was mine.....well nearly it wasn't as I managed to break my landing net at the connection, on doing this the fish flipped and almost came out of the net, which really wasn't large enough for that scenario. But I got it into my keepnet.
The guy on 93 lost his fish.
Peg 91 hadn't had a bite, neither had most of the guys on this lake.

We were now 90 minutes into the match and it was hard work, I had been flicking bits of meat don my right edge, which I could see better, and the was a tail waving up at me so I lowered that rig in and waited. Soon enough the inevitable happened and the fish did the off and that was my margins done for the day despite my trying.
A look on the meat line saw a skimmer and roach netted.

The last 3hrs of the match was dire, 1 briefly foul-hooked carp and 1 missed bite on the meat line.
The last hour had seen a few others on the lake pick up the odd carp, some had already packed up (a good few actually) and others were just seeing out the time as you cant move your vehicle from any car park except the 1st one by the lodge.

The all out was called and a mass of anglers were departing, some hadn't had a bite, others just 1 carp or a couple skimmers.
I weighed in though and my 2 carp and 2 silvers went 20lb 2oz, that bigger carp was around 16 or 17lb. I was 3rd or 4th in my 10 peg section with that!!

The winner on the day was Bait-Tech's Dave Roberts with 103lb from 114(?) on Syndicate Lake, and Perry Stone 2nd with 90lb or so from Gold Lake peg 43.

A nice, busier, drive home followed.
I do feel that looking back maybe a fish for all using maggots or soft pellets could have been the way to go, but then you ain't gonna win doing that and the main prize is why we fish!!

Next up is a Pawlett match at Avalon on Sunday, the weather is likely to be less good and we have wetter and cooler weather due, just to disrupt the fish!!

Until then, Take Care.
Lee

P.S. Don't forget guys and gals, on August the 8th there is a match at Summerhayes to raise money for The Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund. Check out the Facebook page for details and to contact myself, Mark Cox or Norm Sterry to book in. It's all for a good cause. We have around 45 booked in now and ideally 64 would be amazing and would raise over £1200 for the charity.

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

Fishomania qualifier at Larford Lakes 26-04-14

The weekend just gone was a busy one for me with a couple of matches to fish.
Firstly I had the Fishomania qualifier at Maver Larford Lakes near Stourport, this would be the 1st time I saw the venue.
I left the house about 5:45 for the almost 2hr trip, I was shattered as a car alarm was going off regularly through the night, meaning less than 4hrs sleep was achieved.
An uneventful trip saw me rock up at the lakes at 7:30, I wasn't the 1st there so a cuppa was grabbed from the café before chopping some meat etc.

Shortly after 8am everyone started to arrive including a few locals in the form of Jacko (Steve Jackson), Andy Power and Steve Tucker. There was a buzz in the air as the 9am draw got closer.
I had a chat with a nice chap from Bath who gave me a few tips on the Speci lake. Plus I got chatting with Richard Wyatt who organises the MFS matches at Viaduct.
The draw arrived and myself and Rich were unsure of where to queue, fortunately a table was put in front of us and we ended up drawing about 4th and 5th in the line, behind Jacko and Andy Power.
We were told the Burr bank between Speci and Match lakes was boggy after loads of overnight rain, plus the Match lake pegs on the far side were under a few inches of water.

Into the tub goes my hand and pulls out peg 59 on Match, Rich had pulled possibly the best peg on the lake with Peg 42. I was told that it wasn't a great are by a couple anglers, but with the wind pushing down the lake you never know, Andy Kinder reckoned the 2 end pegs of the match lake should do ok.

I arrived, sweaty, at my peg, and there were plenty of skimmers and F1's topping, plus odd carp. I did hope for a few fish. Here a couple pics of my peg, note the pallet under water, there were others that had floated further out, including peg 58!!

I set about sorting my kit, I put my micros into soak, mixed some groundbait, put the box on the platform and assembled the bait brolly as the weather was due to be dire with heavy rain, thunder, hail and freshening winds predicted.
While setting up I was chatting to a nice guy on peg 58 and we had a great bit of banter through the day. The angler who had drawn peg 60 had also turned up, minus his kit, and proceeded to say that pegs 55 onwards were poor pegs and he wasn't going to fish...great!! But I did have an empty peg.

I set up a method rod for 30yrds out, a bomb rod and 3 pole rigs. Two pole rigs were for 7m out, one for meat and one for banded pellets. The 3rd rig was for a cut back in the margins almost into peg 60.
I shall not mention the pole rigs again despite trying all day, I only had a 3lb carp on the banded pellet line and that was hooked in the belly. The rig was pushing through with the tow at a rate of knots. The margins never gave a bite for me or peg 58.

The whistle sounded and the method feeder was lobbed out, 5 seconds in and I had a fish on, a 3lb carp was duly netted. A skimmer of 12oz followed soon after. Then it went quiet.
The next three hours saw me put a few F1's and small carp in the net and I had around 25lb.
A few guys opposite had packed up, but I was leading my section from what I could tell.
The angler on 58 had slightly less than me and lost a decent-ish carp. The angler on peg 61 only had a solitary F1 and a small carp. Over on peg 3 was Warren Martin who was catching reasonably consistently by now and doing well by the sounds of it.
Word came down that Rich was probably winning from flyer peg 42, fair play to him.

As we approached the last hour I had landed a couple more skimmers and another carp, but it was very slow for us at this end on my bank. Me and the guy on p58 seemed close on weight, peg 57 had struggled but had landed a couple decent fish, not much else. Peg 56 had given a few carp to the angler earlier on, but he wasn't in my section.
Peg 60 had landed 3 carp from his close in line, all decent carp, but was possibly a few pounds behind me. The rest of the pegs in my section had struggled, but the guy who was fishing the method on the second to last peg had began to catch.

The last hour was spent between the margins and the method, but I only had another 2lb F1.
It was a similar story for peg 58, peg 57 had a couple more carp. However peg 60 had a few lumps, the last 20 minutes saw him put 2 decent doubles in the net having lost a couple foul hookers. I shouted down to him that he'd won the section, he never believed me, but I reckoned on him having 50lb to my 30lb or so.

The hooter sounded and the all-out called. I began packing up, enjoying the banter with a few of the other guys. Jacko had landed 6 carp from his speci lake peg and Tucks, who was sort of behind me, had done well from his peg, he was defo top 10, maybe as high as 6th.
Rumour came down that Richard had lost out by 2lb or so, he did lose a fish at the net, but anglers always lose fish.
The scales arrived at my peg and I tipped 14kg 480g on the scales (32lb), peg 58 had 12kg (25lb-ish), then came peg 60, his 2 late fish put him to 20kg (44lb) before there were weights less than mine before the 2nd to last angler pipped my weight by 600g (2lb) thanks to a late carp of decent size.

I headed back to the car, loaded off and set off home after an enjoyable day.
I never stayed for the results, but it turned out Richard Wyatt had come 2nd, losing out to Andy Geldart by a couple pound. Unlucky mate.

Results:
1st Andy Geldart, Match peg 22, 50kg 620g
2nd Rich Wyatt, Match peg 42, 49kg 612g
3rd Warren Martin, Match peg 3, 36kg 720g
4th Ritchie Hull, Match peg 19, 35kg 160g
5th Craig O' Brien, Speci peg 14, 33kg.

So overall I enjoyed the day though I am a little gutted that I never had a margin fish or 2 which would have won me the section, especially given the empty peg next to me, but that's life, maybe I should have set up a line at topkit plus 1 section.......all hindsight...!!
I shall defo go back to Larford, maybe next Saturday for the Maver Match This qualifier. If not later in the year, it's not too far really and a nice drive.
I am a little gutted for Rich, but he did bloomin well to finish second and well done him for that.

That is it for my Fisho qualifiers this season, but will have another bash next year for sure.

Until next time, have fun.

Lee

White Acres - Day 5, Pollawyn Match Lake

The final round saw me down to fish Pollawyn, the original match lake, it has loads of fish in it with carp being the main weight builders in the results, they run to over 20lb so sensible kit is needed. There are also plenty of skimmers, roach, perch and F1's, plus a few barbel to spice things up.

The half past nine draw saw me pull peg 45, a good peg if the wind wasn't awkward, it had won the section on Thursday with 90lb-ish.

Once I found my peg (the pegging is kind of random!!), I set about sorting my kit.

Peg 45, Pollawyn Lake

 



I didn't want to fish the method, or any tip fishing for this match, so I set up a small pellt waggler to fish over at 17m, 4 pole rigs were made too.
The 1st pole rig was to swing a bait across to the reeds, should the wind allow, this was for banded pellet (6 and 8mm). The second rig would do two lines at 11m, one for meat and the other for chopped worm and caster. The 3rd rig would be for tight against the bank in 2.5ft of water, but this only gave me a 1oz perch so no more on that. The 4th rig was for topkit length in the 10 o'clock direction for fishing worm and caster mush over bits of groundbait.

The whistle blew and I potted bits and bobs into their swims, I started in the topkit and put a pound of bits in the net. I  then shipped to 16m and swung my bait (as best I can) at the far bank, this resulted in a 4lb carp straight away, I followed this up with a F1 of 2lb and then roach of 6oz.
Half an hour into the match and I hooked a carp which tore through a reed bed to my left on the far bank, but despite it's attempts to get rid of me, I somehow managed to free it from a snag (tree roots full of pole floats...drifted off in the wind) and the carp managed to find it's way to my keepnet.

A few F1's and skimmers followed and by the 90 minute stage I was doing ok against the few pegs in my section that I could see.
Elsewhere, Keiron Rich and the other anglers with open water in front of them were catching well on the pellet wag and lead/method. Some lumpy fish were netted by them.
The angler to my left on peg 47 had landed a few carp by long lining to the island.

By the 3rd hour the wind had got up and the fish were well in the reeds and I was only picking up the odd one, the angler next door had been fishing for silvers and was putting a nice net together, I managed to put a few pound of these in the net but I wasn't getting the quality he was.
A look on the meat line gave me 2 nice skimmers of a pound each, but the 11m worm line never gave me a bite .

The last 2 hour were generally spent struggling with 16m of pole and a brisk side wind. I managed the odd F1, but didn't do great.
The all out was called and I began to pack up, soon the scales were at my peg and I had clicked 36lb, so probably had 40lb, but it grew into 46lb+.
The lad on peg 47 had put plenty of silvers in his net, I told him he'd got 42lb, he actually weighed 48lb+. There was a 55lb weight, but that was it  in my section pegs, so 3rd in section wasn't a bad end to the week.
Elsewhere on the lake there were plenty of 100lb weights and I was inpressed by the lake.

I headed back to the caravan and loaded the car before heading home.

I did learn loads from my week there and will definitely help my angling, the F1 fishing, the method feeder fishing and the fact that knowledge of the lakes/pegs is really important, but the draw is crucial.

I managed my top 100 target, I finished 99th and had over 185lb of fish over the week, I am looking forward to the next one for sure.

Until next time, take care.
Lee

P.S, today (saturday) saw me fish the Viaduct Fishomania qualifier, I drew peg one on Spring lake, not a bad draw, but I was hemmed in somewhat, and all I could muster was 2 carp around 8lb each and around 15lb of mostly skimmers (which look to be getting ready to spawn). I have another qualifier in  a few weeks at Larford Lakes (I haven't seen it, so could be fun).