A catch up blog.....

So although it has been a couple weeks since my last blog, well simply because I haven't had too much to write about.

Last Sunday (13th July) I fished with the PSV crew over at Landsend Fishery, we were on lake 3 and I managed to pluck peg 42 from the bag, not a bag peg with a nice margin, a weed/lily bed and the point of the island.
I set up a shallow rig for both up in the water and 'mugging' as a few fish were cruising but not looking right to mug. A short meat rig, a margin rig for down to my left and under my feet. Plus a depth pellet rig for against the island.

For company I had Steve Burgess on peg 44, Mark Radford on 41, Ryan Radford and Lionel Legge were on the far bank on pegs 70 and 68 respectively.



peg 42 Landsend Lake 3

The match produced only a handful of bites for me (and others), I mugged my 4 carp tight to the island, lost a carp by my feet and had 2 perch and missed a bite.....that's my 6hrs summed up.
Lionel had 4 fish in the first 40 minutes or so, then never had another all day.
Steve Burgess had 4 bites, I think, landing 2 carp.
Mark and Ryan did ok, with Ryan being more consistent in that he was getting bites, losing a few and landing a few. His old man did well in the last hour fishing down his right margin.

The winner on the day was Chris Szacaks with 55lb 8oz from p66. Steve O'Toole had 49lb+ from p58. Will Dearlove had 46lb+ from peg 50. Steve Sewell won the silvers with 12lb or so.

Weigh Sheets..

On the match lake on the same day, Tony Rixon's match was won by Craig 'Trigger' Edmunds with over 300lb....!!
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This weekend has seen me fish Viaduct for the Celtic Baits match, with 55 or so fishing we were spread over Lodge, Cary and Campbell.
I fancied a day fishing for the silvers so a peg on Campbell or Lodge would be best, actually with only 2 silvers places on offer via a 'super-pool' option fishing for them on Cary wouldn't be worth it.
There were plenty of venue regulars fishing, the likes of Dan White, Roland Lucas and Roy Worth just to name three, things would be hard to pick up an envelope. A decent draw was required.

I had decided to wait until my dreaded peg 130 had come out of the tin, and thankfully it wasn't the last peg left as Ian Graham picked it with 4 tickets left..!! Phew....
I did manage a decent peg in 81, the left side of the spit on Cary, one I thought would be worth a few fish. Dan White was on 80, the other side of the spit. We both commented on the fact there seemed to be a few carp mooching around the end of the spit and we may catch a few.....yeah we shall see.!!
I also had for company Steve Tucker, behind me, on peg 119....nice peg!!

I set up a lead rod for just off the spit, a meat rig for down to the monk to my right and a (biteless) pellet rig for against the spit at 13m. I did set up a silvers rig and mixed up some groundbait for absolutely no reason!!

Cary p81 Right Side

Cary p81 Left Side (and the Monk)

At the beginning, when then sun was on the water I had plenty of fish moving around the peg, not feeding, but I was happy enough to see some present.
On the whistle I fired a few 6 and 8mm pellets towards where I would fish the lead, I cupped in some meat and hemp down to the monk and some pellets tight in by the spit.
I began on the lead but after 15 minutes I had no indications, but I noted some colouring up down by the monk, and my 1st drop in with 8mm meat saw me connect to a carp, which was around 6lb and successfully landed. That was my only carp from that spot all day, the only fish I had from there were a couple of 4oz roach and a 3oz skimmer.

So other that the odd fruitless look against the spit on the pole, I stuck to the lead.
The first hour  or so did give me a few fish, only small ones by Cary sizes, averaging 7lb each. My clicker showed 52lb after the 1st hour, that was 7 carp.
The 3rd hour gave me a skimmer on the lead, nothing else.
The 4th hour gave me 2 small carp, both around 3lb each...proper Cary babies!!
Elsewhere I could see peg 66 on lodge was doing well (he was standing up to net each fish!), Mark Wynne on peg 99 was catching a few as was Steve Ayres over on peg 96(?). Campbell was quiet by it's usual standard and Tucks said he had around 50lb at this point but nobody, even Trig on peg 124, was catching regularly.

Into the 5th hour and it had really died for me, a couple roach and a lost skimmer was my tally here...oh I did land a 7lber towards the back end of that hour, and it was at this point that I could see Norm Sterry on peg 86 beginning to hook a few lumps and I counted 8 landed by the all out.
Roy Worth was now up and running and looked to be doing well from peg 100. Over on Campbell I could see Trig starting to catch a few on his short line, and Tucks was picking up a few with better regularity.
The last hour arrived and I had clicked 60lb on my 1st net and I had 1 fish in the second net at this point. By this last period was better for me as I got another 5 carp in the net (one was 3lb) but again I didn't have any of the Cary lumps, I don't think I had a double all day, which is odd for Cary (standard for me). I only lost one fish all day, that was last chuck, when the carp found a floating branch from the willows, the fish transferred the hook.
I ended on 15 carp (three 3lbers included) and a handful of accidental silvers.

I packed my kit up and waited for the scale. My section was being led by Nick Chedzoy with 125lb, he only had a handful of fish but they came late on and were generally mid-doubles!!
Dan's fish from peg 81 weighed a touch over 93lb before my fish (inc 5lb of silvers) weighed a total of 103lb 2oz for 2nd in section.
I let the scales carry on their way before loading my car and catching up with the scales at peg 97. A look at the board showed Norm's 8 fish weighed 94lb..!! Steve Ayres had 103lb 7oz, again big fish.
Roy Worth had 97lb or so before Mark Wynne had 128lb 14oz.

Back at the hut and the weights showed that Lodge had dominated with 3 of the top 5 nets and the 2 best silvers weights. It had fished ok generally with plenty of weights upwards of 90lb.

Results:
1st, Lodge peg 66, Paul Clayton. 184lb
2nd, Lodge peg 62, Paul Elmes. 163lb 12oz
3rd, Campbell peg 124, Craig 'Trigger' Edmunds. 147lb 5oz
4th, Cary peg 99, Mark Wynne. 128lb 14oz
5th, Lodge peg 57, Rob Wiltshire. 126lb 10oz

Silvers
1st, Lodge peg 69, Nick Ewers. 47lb 10oz
2nd, Lodge peg 70, Nigel Bartlett. 46lb 6oz.

So I had a day where the fish moved out with the sun and after the first hour it was a struggle, but I was happy with my efforts!!

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Today I had a Pawlett match on the River Huntspill, a bit different to Saturday.
We had 27 or 28 fishing, so a really good turnout.
A bit of chatter and piss taking ensued before the draw, a peg towards the far end heading to Woolavington (pegs 128 to 132 please!!). I picked the 4th last ticket and found peg 146 in my hand, not the best but you never know.
So after we 'team-worked' people's kit over the gate we made our way to our pegs.
I arrived to a nice looking peg, but then most look decent on the 'Spill.

Huntspill, With Grove, peg 146

I had some marginal weed plus plenty of floating weed and duckweed in my peg pretty much all day.
For company I had Sandra on peg 147 and a newcomer on peg 145 in the form of Nigel(?)Venning.
I set about mixing up a good deal of groundbait before I began on my tackle.
I set up 2 pole rigs, the 1st for just past the weed at 11m, a 4x12 Carpa Chimp on 0.12>0.08>B511 size 20. The second was on the same line/hooks but for 14.5m in slightly deeper water using a 4x16 float.
A feeder rod was put up for 3/4 of the way over and a waggler rod were also put together.
Bait was 2 pints of each hemp, maggot and caster, plus I had 1/2kg of worm and nearly 5kg of groundbait.

The day started off sunny with no wind, but it was soon to cloud over and a small awkward breeze picked up and it looked rather 'breamy'.
At the all-in I cupped 6 balls of groundbait containing chopped worm and caster on my long line, while a small helping of maggot and hemp went in just past the weed.
I began on the feeder and soon had a 1oz roach followed by it's twin.
That was it for a while before a look on the waggler only gave me another roach, but it didn't seem right so I chucked that rod back up the bank for a while.
Back on the feeder and things were slow, I did manage a couple baby perch over the rest of the first hour before a tangle to the feeder saw me try the waggler again, but I suffered a tangle on this !!! Gggrr I was annoyed, so I fixed the feeder and lobbed it out while I sorted the float out.
It was after 10 minutes that I had a proper wrap round on double worm, bonus I thought immediately......it wasn't, it was infact a perch that probably weighed the same as the bait it was caught on!!

I spent the next  hour mostly fishing the feeder and at 11:30 I bagged a 6oz perch followed by a 12oz skimmer, which was handy.
It was soon 12 o'clock and I took a walk down to peg 145 to find he'd only had 6 or 7 small fish, heading back up to Sandra, Phil 'fester' Hembury and Eric Fouracre it seemed very slow, Sandra only had half a dozen small fish, Fester had a bream and a couple perch. Eric had a couple small perch or roach.
Bag to my swim and I gave the pole line a go, a look on the shorter line by the weed never gave a bite, it never gave me a bite all day. Out to 14.5m and I happened upon 3 perch of 3oz each before 5 or 6 roach of a similar size were soon in my keepnet.
It was now 1:00 and I guess I had about 2lb. Back onto the feeder and a couple roach of 1oz each were succumbed by my half worm hookbait.
Onto the pole again and another flurry of roach and a 4oz skimmer were a welcome addition.
Then it died on all lines, the last couple of hours were spent faffing on different methods and hookbaits. I only managed a solitary rudd on the waggler and a roach on the pole in the last minute were had in the last 120 minutes.

The all-out was called and I began to pack up, several peeps had not weighed in, but noises had filtered down that the pegs towards Woolavington had given nice weights of skimmers and bream, but the closer to the bridge you were the less you caught.
On my side of the bridge I was told that Phil Clapp and Rob Dodd had around 7lb each (their words), Eric had snared a bream with 15 minutes left. Other than that the first couple of pegs by the bridge both reckoned on 3.5lb each.

I loaded the car and  waited for the scales, when they arrived I saw a couple 20lb+ nets, a couple of 14lb+ and a couple between 7 and 10lb, all before a few dnw's!!
The first couple pegs on my side of the bridge had ounces over 4lb each, then a couple dnw's before my silvers I guessed at 2 to 3lb actually weighed 5lb 1oz, which was pretty good considering,
Sandra never weighed before Fester, Eric Fouracre and Dave Nash had 3lb 2oz, 4lb 7oz and 4lb 1oz respectively.
Mark Hembury dnw'd then came Phil Clapp and he put 9lb 4oz on the sheet, Rob Dodd never had that much and he had to settle for 2nd in section with 8lb 3oz, relegating me to 3rd in section.
Oh and Nigel Hull wanted to put his 2 perch on the scales and in doing so had 3oz.

So a day of effort, but I enjoyed it better than some recent days, but my decent skimmer or bream never arrived. But it was good to be back on a natural venue.

Results:
1st, Derek Beard on peg 128 with 24lb 4oz
2nd, Brian Gatis on peg 133 with 20lb 10oz
3rd, Keith Clapp on peg 129 with 14lb 6oz

Sections went to John Dursley on p131 with 14lb 1oz and Phil Clapp's 9lb 4oz from peg 152.

Weigh Sheet.
 



So that was my last week or so, varied, some enjoyable bits, some less so.
Not sure where I am next weekend yet as my diary is empty.

Until then, take care.
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

River Huntspill, Withygrove, Pawlett Club. 17-08-14

Today was the club's match on the famous River Huntspill, with the Withygrove section being the area used, with 22 of us fishing we had 11 on each side of the bridge.
I grew up fishing the 'Spill and part of the reason I stopped match fishing previously was the decline in numbers fishing matches on this river (plus the KSD and Bridgwater/Taunton Canal).
Also the fact the banks had been totally changed since yesteryear with plenty of reeds and weed in the venue, plus it is clearer and fishing is tough at times.........predation too hasn't helped.

I arrived in plenty of time despite not getting to sleep until gone 4am..!! A short while was spent chatting before everyone was ready to do the draw. I fancied a pug upstream towards the motorway, so permanent pegs 155 and 154 would be good, otherwise maybe pegs 147, 148 or 149. All these pegs are a touch wider than others and often hold a few more skimmers and bream.
We paid our dues and the golden pegs were picked. I waited 'til 3rd from last before plucking my peg, that turned out to be number 151. Not too happy, not too dis-pleased.

River Huntspill, Withygrove, p151

After getting my kit over the gates and back onto my trolley, I made the long-ish walk to my peg...........we have it so much easier on commies, especially given we carry tonnes of kit!!

At my peg I surveyed the scene, the wind was rather strong so I didn't bother with the pole (that's twice in 2 weeks!!). I had some weed that was patchy right up to about 11m out, which could be a pain when playing fish.
So I set about mixing my groundbait with bream in mind, 21/2kgs of Sensas Red Lake, 1/2kg Sensas Bream and 1/4kg of Sensas squid/octopus just to add some fishmeal type scent to the mix, plus it does help binding.
I had on the side tray some hemp, caster, worms and maggots.
I then set up my tackle, this was a 3.5m whip and 2 feeder rods and 2 waggler rods, but I wont mention the wagglers again as surprisingly I never had a fish on it all day, I though they'd be bankers.
My feeder set-ups were one on braid with a 2oz open end cage feeder, the 2nd was on 4lb mono and a standard 25g open end drennan jobbie. Both rods had 0.10 hooklengths of 2ft and size 18 B611 hooks. I also had some method feeders with me as I know peeps have been catching on that once the skimmers arrive, mostly using a couple maggots as hookbait.

The all in sounded at 10:30 and I fired around 10 tennis ball sized balls of groundbait over my feeder line, some maggots were chucked on the whip line and some hemp/caster went out to around 18m for my waggler. I had hoped to fish the wag further out but wind decided that I shouldn't.
I began on the larger feeder for half hour before swapping to the smaller one.
Not much happened for a while with myself, Vic Bush(p152) and Eric Fourace (p153). My 1st fish came in the form of a 6oz skimmers, the time was 12:15,
The angler to my right on p150 had been catching a few bits on the waggler. That's all I could see, though word filtered down that Giffy and Keith Clapp on 148 and 146 respectively, had caught a few fish each.

My next fish arrived thanks to the whip, a single 3oz perch. Back on the tip I waited a while before another skimmer was netted at around 2pm. This was soon followed by a little roach on the feeder and another roach on the whip.
Not a lot was happening, but Vic had landed a couple fish on the feeder, but he wasn't catching the world on fire either.
At around 2:30pm a solid pull round on the tip saw me connect with something substantial, I gingerly played it in and was pleased to see a bream of about 6lb surface out in front, only a couple turns from netting...........then bam!! A big swirl on the surface saw a pike (not a big one either) attack my bonus, sadly the poxy pike was pulled off my hook......bollocks!!
Next cast saw a smaller bream of about 2lb engulfed by said pike, then a decent perch was made lunch by my new resident fish........poxy friggin pike!! Nearly 10lb of fish stolen off the hook in a mad 15 minutes.

Soon after I had a stroke of luck, I landed a perch of 5oz and a 4oz eel. I also managed to snare a big bream/roach hybrid of around 3lb, it took my maggot hookbait on the retrieve......I actually thought I was attached to a pike so I bullied it a bit before realising it was a 'countable' fish.
So with and hour to go until the 4:30 finish I had around 5lb I thought.
Vic had landed a decent proper bream and a few other fish.

The last hour flew by without a fish, but I had switched to worm and maggot cocktail hoping for a proper bream or a couple skimmers.

I was soon packed away and took two trips to the car before catching up with the weigh-in.
A glance at the board saw 2 weights of 8lb+ on the pegs below the bridge. No other weights of note.
I managed to get to see Keith Clapp on peg 146 put just over 20lb of fish on the scales before Giffy on peg 148 amass 16lb exactly.
Peg 150 weighed in 6lb 8oz, I honestly thought he'd had close to 10lb as he'd been catching small fish most of the match, plus a couple skimmers. But his last hour was poor.
Next to weigh was me, and when I pulled my net out I could see I had around 7lb, but everyone was keen to see my hybrid, I reckoned on 2nd look, that it was pushing 3.5lb, It was a gorgeous fish, in hindsight I should have taken a photo.
My weight was infact 7lb.

Next to weigh was Vic Bush, I thought he'd be on around 10lb or more, but the scales gave him 8lb 14oz,
I didn't follow the scales any further but made my way back to the car park.
I chucked my nets in the car and waited for the board to arrive back, which wasn't too long. The last few weights had been less than mine and no proper bream were caught from the end couple of pegs.

Mark soon called the results and dished out the winnings, surprisingly I had picked up the section money by default x3, with the top 3 overall coming from my section.

Results:
1st Keith Clapp, 20lb 1oz from p146
2nd Giffy (Chris Ware), 16lb, p148
3rd Vic Bush, 8lb 14oz, p 152

Sections went to myself and Vince Brown.

Weigh sheet

So all in all it was a tough match and that poxy pike cost me at least 3rd, probably 2nd. But cant be sure as fishing isn't that simple.
I do enjoy non-commie type venues where silvers are the target, sadly we don't see many matches on these venues.

Next up for me is a match on Brick Lake at Sedges, with the PSV mafia.

Until next time, tight lines.

Lee