Acorn Open, 25/7/15.

Well the weather was certainly different this last weekend, with Friday being absolutely awful with rain for pretty much 24hrs, or so it seemed. At least the lakes would get a welcome bit of freshness, how that'd affect the fishing I don't know.
Saturday was nice and warm and sunny, not great for fishing, before Sunday was mostly wet early on and getting more showery and windy as the day wore on.

So on Saturday I decided to fish a match on either Landsend or Acorn, plumping for Acorn as I hadn't fished it for months and months, plus I had the PSV match at Landsend on Sunday.
I arrived (with the wife in tow) in plenty of time for the draw, there was only 8 fishing though so a little disappointed by that, but onwards and upwards.
Mark Walsh was running the match in the absence of both Rob Fogg and Adie Baker, but he likes and does ok at the venue, plus he is a sound, kinda funny guy.
We had a couple regulars there including top guy and exceptional angler Giles Cochrane and Kev Jefferies, who also fishes with the PSV bunch every so often.

Mark pegged pegs 6, 8, 10, 13, 15, 21, 24 and 28. Now I have only ever drawn up around peg 24 other than in the Clevedon Xmas match where I won the silvers with a solitary skimmer, I was on peg 1 that day. I really didn't want peg 24, or 28 really.
Lucky the draw was done and 24 had come out, I let the missus pick my peg and out came 13, not too bothered really and hoped for a nice day fishing.
For company I had Kev Jefferies on peg 15 to my left, Walshy around to my right on p10 and he had Giles further along on peg 8.

Acorn Paddock peg 13.

I had heard that caster was doing well and that weights could be from 50lb to 170lb winning, so pretty varied really. But with loads of space to hide I was sure that it'd be a trickier day.
I did bring some caster, maggots, a few micros, corn (meat is banned), 6mm pellets, expanders and some groundbait.

3 rigs were assembled. The first was a shallow pellet (then changed to maggot) rig for over between clumps of grass in around 2ft of water. The next rig was used tight in against my bank either side in around 12" of water and lastly I had a rig that would do for anywhere else in the swim, so I fed at topkit line, 11m and just off each empty peg either side, all were the same depth within an inch. I would feed each spot differently. All were on 0.18>0.14 hooklength and size 16 hooks.

Before the whistle Giles told me that he had been fishing, and doing ok, using caster and toss-potting the feed, re-feeding the same way every few minutes. He also said he rarely bothers going across these days.
Walshy would most likely be using paste!!

At the all-in I fed a small amount of corn and caster down to my left. Some micros and odd 6mm went in at 11m. I began feeding 4 or 5 casters and maggots on the topkit line and started down by empty peg 12.
After a while, probably 20 minutes I had a bite and lost a small foul hooked carp, but I soon had number 1 in the net, only a baby of 2lb but it saved me from a blank.
After the hour had passed myself and Kev hadn't had much more than 2 carp each, while Giles and Mark had done around 7 or so each, Giles even resorted to fishing across, lol.
The second and 3rd hour saw me put another 3 carp in the net, plus I had lost 3 or 4 foul hooked fish, maybe I had fed too much, maybe they were mooching around too much. But there was a lot of fish moving through, in fact further along past Kev we could see plenty of carp in and about pegs 17 to 19. The space was obviously attractive to our fish.

Into the last couple of hours of the match, myself and Kev were struggling and we couldn't even get many silvers. I started to feed tight to my own bank, on my right at topkit distance, plus I had fed 3/4 of the way to peg 14 tight in along the bank also. These are the areas I focused on for the remainder of the match and I had a run of F1's from the right and 3 or 4 carp from the left, plus a few foul hookers.
The match ended and I knew me and Kev hadn't done great with peg 6, the Giles (winner?), Walshy and peg 21 by the bridge doing better.

I packed my kit away and looked at my fish, probably 20lb of carp and 12/15lb of F1's. I looked at Kev's fish and he had maybe 30lb of carp and a 3 or 4lb of silvers, so similar to me.
We both tipped back once a glance at the weigh sheet showed 40lb, 135lb and Walshy's nr 70lb net, plus the guy on 28 reckoned on at least 80lb.
I didn't stay for the results, but I think Giles won.

It is a venue I should try and make more visits to and I do plan on doing so when I get a Saturday off every now and then, but only 8 fishing is a touch sad, but the previous few weigh sheets show more like 15 fishing at least so, hopefully it stays that way.

Until next time.
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.

Acorn Paddock, CFWAC Saturday Knock-Up, 28/6/14

At 8am on Saturday I had to make a choice, shopping with the family or fish a match somewhere.
Now I wasn't super keen on either to be honest, but the fishing won. I decided to pick Clevedon's Saturday open on Acorn Fishery's Paddock lake.

I arrived for the 8:45 draw with 15 mins to spare and paid Rob my money, we had 9 fishing, which does seem around the norm for these matches, maybe they'll pick up with the weights going un the right direction. But Saturdays are a work day for most, so we shall have to see.
We had a couple guys who hadn't fished here before fishing along with Gabrial Skarba, fellow blogger Dom Sullivan, Lee Waller and a couple others.

Well the draw was made and I picked 26, wrong end of the lake, I had Dom on peg 24 and Lee Waller over on p28. No silvers payout, so it'd be carp required, which would be a tall test against the bridge pegs and the higher numbers. Now I have fished this lake 4 times now, drawn 26 three times and 27 once....perhaps one day I will land on fish!!

Acorn Paddock peg 26

I set up 4 rigs, one for my left hand margin, one for 7m in front where I had 4 or 5ft of water, a rig for tight up against the far bank in the 1pm direction. Lastly I had a shallow rig set around 12" deep for anywhere I fancied.
The all in sounded and I cupped some went 4's at 7m with the intention of fishing 6mm expander over the top, some corn and pellet went in at a couple spots along my left hand margin, then some 6's and 4's went tight over.

I began over and it took me 20 minutes to get a small carp of 1lb, I spent the next hour trying to pick up the odd fish, which I did, but it was slow. After 90 mins I had 4 small carp in the net.
Dom on p24 had a few fish and Brian Hadley on bridge peg 22 had done well up to this point.

The next hour for me was spent picking the odd small carp up from tight over, but by now my 7m line had a decent level of fizz. I was way behind Dom, Brian and the guy I could see on p32. He'd been bagging all match at this point.
A look over the 7m line with 6mm expander on the hook, the float went under right away and a skimmer was netted, another soon followed before a carp turned up. It then died, so a look down the edge at 7m gave me a 4lb carp immediately. Annoyingly the ducks figured out where my bait was and they kept turning up to trash that peg, but despite me trying a few times my edge never gave me another fish.

It was soon the last hour and I reckoned on 20lb being in my nets plus a couple pounds of silvers. Dom must have been approaching the 100lb mark and Brian looked like he'd passed it comfortably.
I spent the last hour fishing at 7m, picking up the odd skimmer and carp, plus I managed 2 mugged fish of 3lb each.

The all out sounded and I began to pack away. Lee Waller had left an hour previous having not had much, except a bad day, worse than mine!!
I reckoned that the guy over on p32 and Brian by the bridge p22 would win, but I couldn't see the upper 30's pegs. Dom was going to be close too.

I followed the scales that saw venue regular, Gabrial Skarba, put a net restricted 110lb 14oz on the scales, a 30lb net followed and then we came to one of the 'newbies' on peg 36, Chris Cameron, put 130lb 6oz on the board to take the lead. We then had a 50lb weight followed by a 131lb 12oz weight from Lee Pesticcio.
The scales then made their way to me, obviously missing out Lee Waller's now empty peg 28.
I was next to weigh, my silvers went 10lb (poss best on the day?) and carp 33lb or so, my total was just over 43lb.

Dominic's nets went 96lb 6oz, a good weight from that peg for sure. Last up was Brian Hadley who pushed himself into 3rd, one off the money, with a decent weight of 128lb 8oz. He was cock on with his clickers(if he used them) as his 1st net was 68lb and his 2nd was bang on the 70lb limit. Plus he had 8oz of silvers.

Results
1st, Lee Pesticciom, p32, 131lb 12oz
2nd, Chris Cameron, p36, 130lb 6oz
3rd, Brian Hadley, p22, 128lb 8oz

So it was an ok match, but if I go again, I do plan on not drawing anything between 24 and 30.....
But it is a venue that I reckon I could do ok on if I get the chance to fish it more.

Until next time, Take Care.

Lee

Acorn - Paddock Lake, Clevedon Open match 11-01-14

Today saw me attend the open match, run by Clevedon FWAC, at Acorn fishery, Paddock lake.
These weekly matches are now £12 + £1 optional golden peg. Everyone is welcome, just be there before the 8:45 draw.

Alas, I arrived at around 8:40 due to the worlds slowest tractor leading a long procession of grumpy drivers.
I paid my dues, there were 11 anglers today, and Nick Harvey drew the golden peg, which the money carries over until won. He pulled out peg 26. He then drew himself peg 28 and Adie peg 11..!!
I picked my ping pong ball about 5th, pulled out peg 26. Nice.

Now I have never fished the lake, but have read a few blogs on the place, so I had no idea if it was good or not. A few of the lads told me it was ok, but maybe not so much at this time of the year if the wind isn't blowing. Peg 11 was the peg most seemed to want, that or a bridge peg.
My peg had the point of the island/far bank at 13m in the 11 o'clock direction, so that was 1 line sorted. I had a long margin to my left, so 1 line was fished at 13m along this, towards some grasses.
I also had a line, fed with a few maggots/pinkies at topkit length, plus a line on the 7th section around 1.5m from the far side, at the base of the far shelf.
Rigs were the same ones I used at Summerhayes last week, so 2 rigs were used.
Baits were simple, bread and corn for the margin/far side. Micro, maggot and expander for down the middle.

Peg 26, Acorn Paddock Lake



We were fishing 10 to 3:30 and really expected 5lb to do well in the silvers and maybe 30lb-40lb for overall top 2 places.
On the whistle I went straight over and began lifting and dropping my bread hookbait, I missed a bite after 20 seconds, then another knock a minute later. No fish though.
I then dropped the same rig down the margin and missed a bite. Back out down the margin with corn and the float went under, I missed again, probably small fish. But alas a couple minutes later I landed a chunky carp of around 1lb and then bumped another.

Not much happened over the next 90 minutes, landing just one roach on the longer silvers line and a 10oz skimmer on the topkit. But everyone else was struggling. The guys next to the bridge pegs had a handful of carp between them, plus I had seen Adie have 1 or 2 fish, but he was the other end of the lake, so I couldn't keep tabs.
Nick over on 28 hadn't had a fish, and the angler on p24 also was fishless I think.
Things wee hard.
Between 12 and 2 I never had a bite on the two carp lines, infact from around 12:20 I could not fish the left margin as the sun had risen above the trees and the reflection on the water was blinding, so I never even bothered again, even sunnies never really helped.
At 2-ish I made a conscious decision to fish for the silvers, I didn't have a clue what others had landed in the way of silvers, but by that point Nick was on 3 carp, the guys on the bridge pegs all had 3 or 4 each at least and Adie was getting plenty and from what I could see had won by a mile unless someone went like a windmill for the last 90 minutes.

My last 90 minutes produced 2 skimmers and a few little roach, I also bumped a 6oz skimmer at the net and hooked a fish on the topkit line which took elastic a good few foot before letting go.....I was pouring me a cuppa at the time....typical. I guess I had a couple pounds of silvers to go with my early carp. So probably no pick-up for me as Rich Heatley and Dom Sutherland had a couple better skimmers each from the pegs either side of the far bridge pegs (33 and 34).

The all out sounded and a few anglers tipped back without weighing. But I hung around to see my silvers total 2lb 13oz and my baby carp was 1lb 8oz, so 4lb 5oz for me. Not last of the weighing anglers. And more than some of those who didn't.

As it turned out Adie won from peg 11, almost catching more silvers than everyone else put together
Then his carp weighed more than everyone elses. So a good net for him.

Results:
1st - Adie Baker - 54lb 8oz, of which 14lb 4oz was silvers from peg 11.
2nd - Dom Sutherland - 19lb 8oz, of which was 3lb 8oz was silvers. Peg 34.

Silvers winner was Andy Guard from peg 7. He had 5lb 14oz.

Weigh Sheet (poor pic!!)

 



Anyways, I enjoyed it really, and I will be fishing a few more of these Saturday matches over the year. I learned a little, which I feel is important.

Next up for me is tomorrow's match at Avalon for the 3rd round in the Teams of 3 series.

Have Fun
Lee