Pawlett Match, Sedges Fishery. 19-07-15

31 fished today, so another decent turn out. We would have had a few more if it wasn't for other commitments. But The Sedges is a great fishery and usually provides decent sport for those who work at their fishing.
It was also Blind-Pairs day, with no money for the top pair, just a trophy they'll get at club presentation. 1 peg on Brick would be paired with 1 peg from Tile.

I arrived, after my bacon butty, with half an hour until the draw. A fair bit of banter and chat occurred and Denise made plenty of cuppas (thanks again from us all). When it got to the fishing, we all knew that Tile would be almost certain to win the match overall but if silvers were the target Brick lake would be preferred as a 40-60lb net of skimmers (mostly) would surely be caught.
I wanted Brick, based purely on the fact that I don't seem to get on that well with Tile.
I wouldn't mind any peg from 6 up and around to 15 on Brick. 38, 39, 40, 21, 22 and 26 on Tile would be very nice draws I thought to myself.

The 9am draw was done and I picked my ball around halfway along the rabble and wasn't best impressed with peg 23 (I haven't ever been lower than 25), especially as Withers had suggested I draw for him and vice versa, we didn't and he plucked peg 39 (jammy wan#er..). With Paul 'squidgy' Squires getting yet another corner peg (p10) and Eric Fouracre getting peg 9 for the second time in a few days, that lake looked good for a result up on those pegs, but Phil Clapp had drawn cock on for the silvers with peg 15, that would surely sort out that 'pot'.
On Tile, pre-match favourite, fishery-owner Jamie Cook had drawn well with peg 38, Mark Sweeting had drawn 40 and Steve Fouracre looked well set on peg 26.
For company I had big Nick Selway on peg 22, he had Rob Dodd on flyer 21 to his left.
From my vantage point I could see pegs 32, 35, 38 and 39 on the bank I expected to be better than our due to the wind likely to be switching and blowing over and down the lake just off centrally (left to right as I looked).

Sedges Tile peg 23

 

I set my kit up, a method feeder, a pellet waggler, a margin rig for the pole, a shallow pellet rig, a rig for 2+1 in front with the same rig ok anywhere in front. Lastly a rig for off bottom using meat.
Bait was 8mm meat, 6 and 8mm meat, hemp and some groundbait and pellets for on the method feeder.
My silvers baits stayed in the bag as Brick would provide better silvers nets.

At the all in I cupped a big pot of meat and hemp short and down my left edge, a big pot of 6mm pellets went in at 13m and I fired some 8mm pellets out for the waggler.
I began on the method feeder and waited......in fact it was nearly 2 hours before my 1st carp (I had a baby skimmer on the feeder after 20 mins), this carp looked rather close to the 15lb net limit so I went along and weighed it, it went 13lb 12oz but looked larger if a little empty. I had already decided against the waggler as the wind was all wrong and presentation was dire.

So after a couple hours I knew Jamie (p38), Kev Crouch (p35) and Kev Lock (p32) all had plenty of fish. Nick on peg 22 hadn't had anything, Rob on peg 21 was struggling too. It was only Steve Fouracre on peg 26 that was catching along my bank.
A short spell fishing meat at 3ft deep and at 13m in front gave me only roach, so that too was a non goer, the wind wasn't great for this either.

Into the 3rd and 4th hours and I had a few skimmers on the 2+1 line but there didn't seem like many carp were feeding. They were for Jamie though and he was thoroughly bagging up and was probably over 100lb already. Crouchy too was, it looked, not miles off the pace. James Withers wasn't doing great on peg 39 but did have a few carp from various methods.
Nick was struggling still, but Doddy was starting to amass a few carp from along the end bank.
I did manage a couple lumps between 8 and 10lb on the feeder, but the pole was only giving indications from small silvers, the long lines were forgot about and I would only try on the left edge and 2+1 in front for the last 2 hours, plus the method feeder.

Between 3 and 4pm I had a nice spell, catching a nice fish of around 7lb from my margin, but this was the only carp caught there. I had another decent fish on the method, a ghostie about 6lb, plus a couple 2lbers. James  (p39) had a run of fish down to his left on the topkit, 4 carp I think......Jamie was boring me as he didn't seem to stop catching...!!
The last 30 mins saw me try to pack up my pole and rigs and stay on the feeder, which I did manage with 3 interruptions by small carp including a 4lber hooked just before the whistle.

The all out was called and my clickers showed 63lb including the 13lber I had put back after weighing. I knew that'd be not great.
A few guys from further down passed and said they had struggled with only Steve Fouracre doing well and admitting to 100lb.

I put my kit by the car, ate a banana and followed the scales for the first 3 pegs.
Peg 21, Rob Dodd put a net of 52lb 5oz on the board, mostly on corn in the last 2.5hrs.
Nick on 22 only had 13lb 2oz before my turn to weigh showed 4lb 9oz of silvers, plus my carp total of 74lb 4oz gave me 78lb 13oz, so my clicker was only 10lb out!!

I then went and loaded the car and wandered down to Denise who made me a cup of tea. I drank this before looking at the sheet of weights for Brick lake, it'd fished hard with 79lb top weight from peg 7 which was Chris Higgs. Other than that it was Phil Clapp's net of silvers, 51lb+ that stood out, he had 19lb of carp to go with them to give him a second on lake net of 70lb 6oz.

I did catch up again with the scales in time to see James weigh in 59lb and a few ounces and the Mark Sweeting on peg 40 confirm his 2nd place (by 3oz) with 115lb 6oz. Elsewhere Jamie had 187lb+, Kev Crouch had 99lb and Steve Fouracre had 115lb 3oz from peg 126.

Tile Weigh Sheet.



Brick Weigh Sheet.

 

Results:

1st: 187lb 10oz, Jamie Cook. Peg 38

2nd: 115lb 6oz, Mark Sweeting. Peg 40

3rd: 115lb 3oz. Steve Fouracre. Peg 26

 

Silvers:

51lb 6oz, Phil Clapp. Peg 15.

 

The blind pairs (co-pegs written by drawn pegs on sheet) was won by Jamie and Phil Hembury with an aggregate of 200lb 3oz.

 

I managed to pick up my section money so I didn't leave empty handed, I finished 6th on the day I think, but it was a tough day for the most part with the method feeder proving the most consistent catcher in the windy conditions.

 

Next up is a PSV match at Landsend next Sunday, though I may get out and fish a match on Saturday depending on weather and how much sleep I get on Friday as it looks like date-night with Mrs W.

 

Until then, tight lines.

Lee



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

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

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

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

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

Shiplate, Westpool peg 11.



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Weigh Sheets



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

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

Top Silvers was James Gunther with 8lb 6oz

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


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

Until next time, have fun.

Lee