Acorn Series, 5th Round, 2nd June 2018

Another attempt to get something out of this series came and went on Saturday, I had the wife in tow for this, well she could try and catch the sun, but like my fishing at the moment she catches a little but not enough to feel satisfied with the attempt.

Arriving early, nets dipped and a bit of a chat, more so a few were asking me what dross I was going to pull out today? I mentioned I have never been on a peg from 12 to 21. The replies were along the lines of 'well 19 is the worst peg on the venue', '17 isn't great but 19....well' or 'just go home'. Indeed once the draw got under way Matt Williams drew peg 40, which has been pants for a while now, paid his pools and set off homewards.
I drew and there were sighs of relief as peg 19 sat in my mitt. Lovely....Not.!! Anyways I stayed and made my way round to the peg, I had Rich Lovering on peg 17 and Lance Tucker on bridge peg 21 as my neighbours.
The water looked ok really, a few fish kicking around but there was some surface scum which was slowly drifting towards the bridge to my left. Pegs 24 round to 28 had plenty of the crap and the carp seemed to be plentiful down there.

3 rigs only as I couldn't be arsed to set up more. A shallow rig for banded pellet, this would do also for a foot off the far bank and for tight in to my near bank in around 12 inches of water at the most.
A rig for topkit left and right in the 10 and 1 o'clock directions (maggot, micro/expander areas) and lastly a rig for at the bottom of the near shelf just off the empty pallet of peg 20 where corn would be fed with a few pellets.
Bait was 6mm, 4mm and a few micros, a couple pints of live maggots and some corn. I also had a handful of expanders and some groundbait.

Peg 19 at Acorn

The all in was called and I had a 6oz carp right away on banded 6mm across, then a couple foul hookers lost then a 2.5lb fish was netted. A nice first 30 minutes. Nobody except Brian Slipper on peg 22 was getting much in my section.
The next hour only gave me a couple little f1s and roach. But we were all struggling, so I started to feed a few 4mm pellets at 2+2 in front in the remote hope that the carp may come there and shallow.
A couple more fish from across in 4 inches of water where I had seen plenty moving but were really uncatchable as most of them tended to be more out of the water than in. Not helped by the fact I went against my plan to feed via toss pot only and fed with a catty spreading bait and having too many fish all over the area. Numpty.

It was now the half way stage and to be fair I was doing well in my section, possibly only behind Brian on peg 22. Rich had a couple little carp, Gabe on the consistent peg 15 was struggling and it seemed the same down to my left.
I had started to get some fizzing shallow and some fish had started to come down my edges, so things were looking up. I dropped in the left edge and had a 3lber right away, then another from the right. I then went out in front shallow and missed a couple bites but picked up half a dozen fish to 8lb+ over the next hour and it was going well and I was happy. I even mugged 2 or 3 as they cruised out of the left margin.

Suddenly the wind changed and the scum on my side of the bridge (in peg 21, Lance's peg) started to drift to my right. My fizzing stopped and I never saw a fish down my edges, this all happened in 10 minutes, it was bizarre. Meanwhile Rich had one or 2 shallow but then got them taking paste and were a decent stamp. Gabe was flying along and was pushing on to 80lb. Lance also was getting one a bung on worms about a meter off the near bank.

The last 2hrs was pure boredom, while the guys around me were regularly getting fish, Gabe pushed on to my estimate of 100lb, Rich and Lance clawing my lead back and even those down on 24 and 26 were getting some fish. So from 1st or 2nd in section at the 4hr stage I was getting wound in and overtaken. I spent most of the last couple hours chasing shallow fish and fish in the super shallow water across, I managed 1 carp in this period and lost a couple foul hookers.
At the all out I felt like I had cocked thing up by not setting up a rig for banded pellet on the deck (I never had any paste) over the shallow line.
I said to Rich he was around 4lb ahead of me thanks to his last 90 minute spell of lumpier fish. Gabe would have 100lb and Lance not far off 70lb (he only had 10lb or so with 90 mins to go).
Further down I was sure they had all beaten me. Ho Hum.

I packed up and waited for the weigh in, had a chat with a few guys before the scales got to Gabe. He had 100lb 6oz, Rich had 61lb+, I had 57lb and Lance 67lb. Brian 80lb, Ken Rayner had loads of small carp for 40lb before Mark Thorne put 61lb+ on the scales (*weights may be slightly wrong as going by memory). This gave me 2nd last in section in a very tight section. But a few said my weight was good from the peg, so not a bad day I suppose.
The match was won with 150lb+ from peg 3, Barry Richards I think.

I know my lack of effort maybe cost me a few fish, would I have had 100lb to win the section if I had changed or tried something else? I don't think I would have, but perhaps 75/80lb may have been possibly. But that is hindsight, maybe I got lucky with that spell of edge/shallow fish?
Only 1 round to go, in July, can I draw a cracker? peg 1 hasn't been great....!!

Next up I am Viaduct for Mike Nicholl's 13m pole match on Campbell and then Sunday Landsend for round 2 of the Float only series.

Until then, take care and stay safe.
Lee

Acorn and Avalon.... 5th and 6th May 2018

So this last weekend......not much to write home about really, the Saturday saw me back up at Acorn for the 3rd round of the Saturday Series, which I have no chance of framing after two second last in sections. The weather was baking, which was nice.

I arrived in loads of time, dipped nets etc and then got into the draw, I pulled out peg 40, which I have had a few times, but I was neither happy or sad with this draw, I thought I would get a few but with the weather now rather hot the fishies may have other plans. Well the silvers were spawning.

Peg 40, Paddock Lake, Acorn

I set up the usual array of rigs and set about trying to catch a few, I did hope for a few shallow on casters, but other than a single roach I never had a bite on that, I also had nothing down either edge I did have about 10lb of silvers down the middle on caster on the deck. I had to wait nearly 4 hours for my 1st carp, on 6mm pellets right across, I had 3 in quick time and fouled a couple, but it died a death (not that it actually been alive), and with Matt Roden on p38 and Tom Thick (covering for Bobby G) on peg 33 (?) by the bridge doing really well (Tom won the day with just shy of 195lb) I packed up with at least 90 minutes to spare and decided that the sofa would be a better place to be.

I don't know the full results but Tom Thick won and Gabe Skarba was on peg 3 had a run of margin fish and I think he was 2nd on the day.
Back again in a couple weeks for round 4, hoping to at least draw on some fish then.....

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Sunday saw 33 of us on the banks of Avalon, I haven't fished there for probably 16 months at least.
A bit of banter, pools paid, another baking hot day and a re-draw....1st time I had p29, 2nd time I was on 19. Another vanilla peg and I wasn't really happy with it as I was wanting to fish for silvers and would have liked somewhere between 6 and 13 perhaps or from 27 to 36. But you can never be sure of where the framers will come from on this lake which is great.

Avalon peg 19

Off to my peg and I had on flyer peg 20, Steve Fouracre, he should be good for a few fish to the 'semi-gap' in the island (top left of my photo), he had his brother Eric next to him on 21. I had Lewis Hembury and Rob Dodd to my right.
I set up a few bits and bobs, a shallow waggler and a small feeder which I couldn't get onto the shelf due to island foliage, but worth having set up.
A depth pellet rig using a 0.8g DT RBS float this was for 16m in front, also a DT Pinger for shallow pellets over the same spot.
A silvers rig for 13, slightly left using various baits over groundbait, but had nowt here so nothing more on that.
I also set up a meat rig for just off empty peg 18, but never had a bite there either.

On the all in I fed the spots and started on the waggler, no bites for 20 minutes then I snagged up and lost the lot......chucked the feeder out while I re-set up the float. 10 minutes later I had a small pull on the feeder and a 2.5lb carp was soon in my keepnet, that was my only bite on the feeder all day, but then I did lose the whole lot and couldn't be arsed to re-tackle that. I also lost another waggler set up to the squirrels....but I did assemble that again.

So fast forward a couple hours and my keepnet consisted of 1 carp and a single roach which took a 6mm pellet shallow. Steve had maybe 60lb but from what I could see it wasn't prolific.
I soon managed to mug a nice 5lb ghostie on the waggler and then a 8lb common was mugged on the pole.
I lost a couple more fish, one hooked while fishing shallow with feed, the 2nd was a proper decent fish that acted like a dolphin as it made it's bid for freedom, which I gained along with a float etc.....

I could go on with how I managed to bang out a dozen more 8lb fish, but it would be a lie. I did manage to mug a few more, ended with 7 in total I think, on both the pole and waggler and I actually wished the match finished 20 minutes later than it did as I could see the carp better and they were actually coming in close enough to target them. I actually shallowed up my 0.8g depth rig to give me an extra 4.5ft of line so I could reach further out, this defo helped me once or twice.
At the end of the match Steve had around 86lb (I was clicking his fish to occupy me), Eric had around 50lb I guessed while Lewis had 5 carp including a lump that took him an age to get in and weighed over 16lb, Rob had 10lb of silvers and a couple carp.
Across the other side Mark Sweeting on peg 30 had done really well and Steve said he had more that him, I couldn't see Mark, but could hear the splashing of fish being netted. A few others said they had caught ok but Ziggy had 100lb+.
The silvers hadn't fed at my end, Eric had 1 tench on the tip and bumped a couple small skimmers on the pole, I had 1 skimmer shallow foul hooked and 1 roach.

The weigh in was well under way and I was rather warm, there was a fair few reddened bodies.
I had all packed up when I caught up with the scales, my clicker showed 34lb but I did not click at least my last fish, maybe my last 2. Both were pushing 10lb each.
A look at the sheet saw Ziggy on 100lb+ and Mark had 98lb and there was a couple 30s and Vic had 59lb.
I saw Mark Bellringer put 60lb on the scales from p22, Eric then had 49lb. Steve's total was 88lb 5oz, so I clicked well....haha. Next was me and it actually took 2 weighs and my 1-11 of silvers plus carp gave me a surprising 57lb 3oz.
Lewis had 46lb and then we had Shawn Kittridge have mid 40's, Keith Clapp a 71lb+ net from peg 7.  Jamie Cook was his accurate self with his guess and was less than 2lb out with his total and he had 79lb
Pierce had 17lb of silvers to take that money. Chris Higgs had 60-something.

So despite it not being a great day the chance to mug a few fish was ok, but the fish were defo easier to spot further out and closer to the other bank for sure. They didn't seem intent on heading to our side. But Sunday was a good day locally for mugging fish....look at Viaduct's weights...200lb was 6th and nearly 400lb needed to win both Sunday and Monday's matches, the best weights were mostly mugged fish. Some good mugging was had at Todber as well.

Results:
1st, Ziggy Slowinski, 104-08 from end peg 44 on pellet waggler
2nd, Mark Sweeting, pellet waggler from peg 30
3rd, Steve Fouracre, mostly feeder caught from peg 20
Silvers
1st, Pierce Furlong, short pole skimmer and decent bream, peg 5.

Weigh Sheets

Next up for me is Sunday at Todber as cover for Emma Drysdale in the Short Pole Series of Tony Rixon's. Fingers crossed for a few bites. As for Saturday....we shall see, but prob family day.

Until then, enjoy the rest of the week.
Lee

A catch-up from my last post until last weekend.

The 25th of June saw the penultimate round of the Acorn Saturday Series, again I fancied a draw up towards the near end, that of the building work and entrance, but alas I picked peg 26. Paul Nichols won the section from this peg in the last round, but this match returned to the norm.
Pegs 28 and 31 were not in and I am convinced that this played a part in my match.
5 fish in the first 30-45 minutes had a nice beginning, there were plenty of fish in the area at the start and during this spell I could see them back off to the ample space, where they remained for the rest of the day.
Brian on peg 24 picked off a few more than me, well plenty more, especially later on in the match.
I ended up with 38lb something and 5th in section.

The following week I took a last minute decision to fish Norm Sterry's open at Landsend. I only decided to as I didn't fancy being bored at home, but despite an ok draw in peg 16 I wasn't feeling enthusiastic, I had decent company on a better peg in Ken Rayner on peg 15.

Landsend peg 16

I started off ok catching a few across early on, but the day proved frustrating for most, myself included. Ken caught naff all for around 4hrs and then he caught well late on to finish 4th I think.
I caught a couple skimmers and a couple late carp on my short meat line, but the middle 5hrs wasn't great and I think I ended up better than a few, but not as good as a few with about 40-something pounds if I remember rightly. My 6lb of silvers was just out of the silvers money.
The lack of effort in not getting the 16m section of the pole out definitely cost me some fish.
Norm won the match with around 97lb from peg 7.

On the 8th of July I had an afternoon over Apex, trying to catch some silvers, mostly skimmers and odd bream. I started ok with a couple, then it went quiet before I started to catch some quality roach shallow on pellet at 13m. The sun made seeing the float tricky so I came short and caught a good few bream to 7lb (which went off jumping like a dolphin), but good sport on 4-6 elastics. I think I ended up with perhaps 14 3lb+ bream, a comfortable 15lb+ of roach/rudd and lost a few carp. Enjoyable.

The following day I was on the Canal Lake at Sedges, 23 fishing, so it was going to be hard fishing. So it proved. I pulled peg 61, not the worst but away from where I fancied, 64 and 41-46.
I had 2 carp hooked in the first minute, mugged, one came off after a couple moments, the 2nd fell off at the net.
I ended the day with a few silvers (2lb-ish) and only 4 small carp for a total of just under 15lb, which was ok on the day with lots of DNW's and low weights.
Peg 64, Rob Dodd, won, as expected, with 58lb. He caught to the point of the island and down to the end bank. The pegs in the 40's did well, relatively speaking. Kev Crouch and Nick Selway coming 2nd and 3rd with 32lb and 25lb respectively. 6lb was top silvers net. So not brilliant, but it is a challenging water at times. Plenty of fish in the lake.

Peg 61, Sedges Canal

Weights....

Now that brings me up to last weekend, 15th and 16th of July.
Saturday saw the final round of the Acorn series and I had nothing to play for overall, so it was the £80 section winning prize I had to fish for. Again I hoped for a draw at the entrance end of the lake. I went in to the bucket 2nd last, well Steve Sewell and I had the last 2 balls, the pegs left were peg 5(yes please...) and 31 (ok peg but in with the 6 bridge pegs and hasn't been great for section points).
Well I didn't get what I hoped and big Steve sat on peg 5.

I had the wife with me for company, but the weather was dire, constant heavy drizzle all day, we never bought a brolly for her (ah well....) but she had my water proofs and a little brolly. I just sat in my shorts and sandals, haha. My maggots did Houdini acts all day and my the end of the day my pellets were mush.
Still, before the match started Gabe decided he didn't want to fish his peg 26 and left, but in the process scratched his new van on some metal while reversing to let me through.

A few rigs set up, tight over pellet which would couple up as a shallow rig for down the middle, a banded pellet rig for full depth around 1m off the far bank (unused), a rig for maggot/caster at 2+2 in the 10 o'clock direction. This rig would do for corn over micros at the same distance in the 1 o'clock direction. A shallow maggot/caster rig and lastly a rig for maggots or corn down the edges both left and right.

Peg 31 Acorn Paddock

There was plenty of fish mooching around all over the lake, including between me and Ricky Mills on peg 28. But as expected it was a tricky day. I caught a couple f1's early, lost 3 foul hooked fish when fishing across, so abandoned that. Nobody, except Barry Richards on peg 24, seemed to be catching much including Nick Harvey and Glen Calvert on the bridge pegs to my left.
As the day went on I struggled a little more, caught a few small, well baby, carp and some silvers down the middle on maggot.

4pm came and I had my 1st 'proper' carp and signalled the start of a few bites, well that's what I hoped. At this point I was last in the section. There were fish in the peg, even shallow on the caster and maggot line, but I never bought enough caster to make it work properly. I managed one shallow, but didn't persevere with it as I would have ran out of bait. I then had one on the corn over the micros, but that was the only fish from there all day. So I was left with the edges, I had a topkit line each side and another line at 8m each side, luckily I managed to figure something out that avoided the foul hookers a little more and caught steadily for the last 90 minutes, but at the all out was sure I would be near last in section. My clicker said 48lb (which I thought was 35lb) plus I had maybe 5lb in my other net (silvers, baby carp and f1s) but I try to over click at Acorn due to the 70lb limit which if you go over you lose the lot, no leeway.
I guessed Barry had won as he'd caught all day, I thought Nick and Glen must have 60lb each and even Ade Crawley on peg 22 had caught some fish.

I packed up with the help of the chicken-whisperer behind me, and followed the scales.
There were some 30-50lb nets and a couple 70's and a couple 80lb nets from the straight bank before Barry put 150lb on the sheet to confirm his series win in style, 4 section wins (including 3 match wins I think) and a section 2nd, which was his dropper.
Ricky didn't weigh before I plopped 58lb on the scales, plenty more than I thought, but presumed Nick and Glen had more, but they both weighed around the 50lb mark which, if Keith Ray on peg 40 had what he said was 35lb then I would win the section. Which was confirmed a few minutes later.
So at least I picked up another £80.

So a decent 1st round, an ok second round, 3 crap rounds and draws, last round was decent. I think I ended up with 19.5 points and probably in the top half of the field.
Barry won the series, I believe Paul Nichols was 2nd in the series. But I have not seen the results in full yet. They'll appear somewhere asap.
It was a well run series, thanks to Paul and Brian.

This Sunday sees me at Landsend on lakes 2 and 3, with the Pawlett group, I think I want Lake 2 as Lake 3 fished hard in Tony Rixon's Float only match on Sunday last.
I may go somewhere Saturday, Landsend or Todber? I defo want to get down to the Dorset fishery soon. Cracking venue.

Until next time, take care and have fun.
Lee

Acorn Saturday Series, 10-6-17

Not much to write home about for today's match, I had hoped for a nice draw at the near end of the lake, so anywhere from 38 around to 12 and the 3 pegs on the island. Anyways, peg 24 stuck to my mitt....not so great as it has pretty much been the worst peg in the series along with peg 28 with 9lb and 16lb the weights previously.
Had a but of banter with a few of the guys, mostly at the expense of Steve Sewell, but he's got broad shoulders and is a nice guy so no doubt like water off a duck's back so-to-speak.

It was bloomin windy, as is the norm at Acorn, it would be hard to fish the 13m across to the far bank where I figured the bulk of any fish I should catch come from. For company I had Lance Tucker on my left on peg 22 and Paul Nichols on slightly better peg 26, around from him was John Fuidge.

A few rigs, a shallow pellet rig for mid-way across and tight over. A topkit rig for maggots downwind and a topkit margin rig for my right edge as it was at this distance that it plumbed up ok. Lastly a pellet rig for just shy of empty peg 25.

On the whistle I started across, struggling against the wind. It was 15 minutes before I hooked and lost a foul hooker. Paul and Lance had a couple in this time, Paul's of a better stamp.
Then at the end of the 1st hour I had two 4lbers in two drops.......and that was it until the last hour (except a few baby carp and odd roach) when I had 2 more 4lb carp.
During the match I watched Paul catch pretty well from his margins, mostly to his left. Lance had a few smaller stamp fish and I guessed they had 65lb and 35lb respectively. John had struggled and had 5 smallish carp in the last hour slapping against the island.

At the all out I contemplated chucking my catch back as I was sure I would be last or 2nd last in section, so would be my dropper. I went and saw those in my section (19, 24, 26, 28, 36, 38 and 3), other than John and Myself the rest had over 30lb, so I walked back to my peg and chucked my catch back (maybe 15 to 17lb I suppose). John did the same.

I never got to see the results overall but I did see them on Facebook. Barry Richards won with 97lb ahead of Neil Morgan's 82lb. Paul Nichols won my section with 75lb.

The next round is in a couple weeks so a section 1st or 2nd in each of the last two rounds should remotely keep me in with a slim chance of a top 6....wait and see.!!

Not sure when I am fishing next, maybe tomorrow, but defo next Sunday, see how I feel.

Take Care.
Lee

Acorn Saturday Series, 27-5-17...........plus White Acres for a few days.

An update of the last week's fishing for me.
It started last Saturday at Acorn for the 2nd round of the Saturday Series, I managed a 2nd in section in the 1st round and suffice to say will need at least a 2nd in section for each round to have a chance of an overall framing chance come the end of it.

The usual suspects were there and a full house of 21 fishing, including a couple welshies who'd be running late due to bank holiday weekend traffic.
Trolley loaded, on with the draw, Nick Harvey drew the 2 missing welsh guy's pegs, 9 for Barry Richards and 34 for Neil Morgan, good pegs.
Well I managed a bridge peg in the form of peg 33, which I thought would be okay, but fancied the pegs along the entry road, pegs 6 round to 12ish, peg 9 looked great with plenty of fish in that area.

Peg 33 Acorn

Same rigs as last time, edges, tight over and a rig for down the middle. Baits were casters, 6 and 8mm pellets and some expanders.
The match began and it was slow for myself, Neil and Paul Preston on peg 31, in fact the only person catching was Barry on peg 9.
I slowly, very slowly, picked up the odd fish from across and Neil was getting plenty of those baby carp and some silvers (goldfish included).
I lost a few throughout the day to the concrete leg on the bridge, I believe they were foul hooked fish which made me less irritated. Oh Keith Ray on peg 3 saw his peg collapse into the lake along with him and all his kit, but Mark Bartlett helped in the fact he got in the lake and rescued all his kit and pulled out the structure of the platform. Keith went on to win his section and come 2nd on the day with 90lb, so no massive harm done.

The match went by quite quickly, even quicker for Nick Harvey whom left early, come the end of the match I think I ended up with a crucian, a roach and 8 carp. Probably 30lb. I reckoned Neil had similar of those little fish, Paul struggled and so had all the peeps going anti-clockwise around the lake from me to Mark Bromsgrove on peg 21. The only bridge peg I knew had done ok was Steve Sewell on peg 6 who was admitting to 60lb.

The weigh in done and Barry on peg 9 had walked the match, mostly catching shallow, he had 155lb. Keith was 2nd with 90lb from peg 3 and Steve Sewell 3rd with 67lb.
As for my section, it was tight for the places 2nd and lower with Steve winning it. I managed 32lb on the button along with Brian Slipper on peg 40. But Mark Bromsgrove on peg 21 had an 8lb carp last knockings to knock equal 3rd in section. So 4.5 points for me on the day.

Results sheet:

The overall standings sees Keith Ray in 1st place with 14 points ahead of Brian Slipper on 11.5 points, I have 10.5 points and am in 5th, but you drop one result so the standings don't mean too much at this point.

The next round is next week on the 10th June.

So after that match it was half term and we had a Monday to Friday booked down at White Acres, so it was up and leave the house at 7am so at least I could have a day fishing.
Trelawny peg 4 was my session for the afternoon. I managed a few fish, maybe 70 or 80lb of assorted species and had a nice few hours.

Next day was spent in the morning playing football golf with the family, which was actually quite fun, so it was then lunch and a few hours fishing.
I fancied fishing Eery, but it was full so looked at Pollawyn, I found a few fish in the area down the first leg, the leg had loads of surface crap so I went on peg 2, which apparently isn't great, Nathan Watson called me a 'saddist'. But I had a great few hours with 8 or 9 lumpy carp to 15lb-ish, over 30 f1's that probably went 3lb each and maybe 25lb of skimmers/roach and a solitary barbel. Most were caught on meat at 5m with a few caught shallow at 14m.

Wednesday I fished on Eery, peg 8, and had a nice 4hrs catching a few shallow and deep on pellets, nothing big, maybe 4lb the largest, but I did catch plenty of roach down the edge on meat. These roach were 4 to 8oz each and came one a chuck, I couldn't feed them off.... I had over 80lb I would think easily.

Thursday was the Rover match, 61 fished,  and at the draw I bumped into Jim Jenner. Word was Twin Oaks had been hard for 2 weeks and it was expected to be a low-ish weight match with 80lb needed to frame (top 6 paid).
I pulled 11th pick out and after my earlier look around, Eery had a few on there pleasure fishing, one or 2 pegs on Twin Oaks were taken by pleasure guys. Pegs 28 to 31 looked nice on Pollawyn as did 20, but that had the aerator in and on and I wasn't too sure if I wanted to be there.
I looked at the map when it was my turn and saw the pegs I liked the look of had gone so plumped for peg 13 on Acorn, the lake had been patchy but can do 80lb+ if you get things right and the lumps turn up early enough,

They didn't until 5 mins before the end, when I had tails waving at me down to my left.....I managed an eel in amongst them.....but no carp!! Up until that point I had managed a few f1's and small carp on pellets at 14m, lifting and dropping mostly, none on caster or meat lines, which surprised me, oh and a few late on the pellet feeder. I had 62lb and a few ounces which put me 10th on the day. 149lb won from Twin Oaks (peg 1 with the wind pushing in and loads of space) with 94lb 2nd off there also. A couple weights from Pollawyn high bank and peg 20. But an enjoyable day with lots of bites.

Friday was home day, but I had booked in to the Bolingey match, I have only ever drawn on the back lake and with 36 or 38 fishing most pegs were in. But the left hand leg wasn't used due to spawning.
I drew 31, I was told it was reasonable but with only 4 empty pegs free it would be pressured and the fish had other things on their minds......

Well I didn't catch on corn short (no meat or gb allowed) I managed 2 late carp down my right edge and the rest of my 75lb came at 14m up and down in the water on pellets. Oh I did get 5 small grass carp and 1 carp on the lead chucked on the pole line. I also took way too long to land a 13lb common, it just wouldn't give up. My weight was 6th or 7th on the day I think.
Only 3 nets topped 100lb with 130lb winning from peg 38. But I enjoyed it.

So a nice few days away and it has defo convinced me to get onto a few more festivals on the complex, whether they will be one of the 'big 5' or one of the couple 4 day ones they have depends on holiday allowances!!

Tomorrow is Pawlett's All-Winners match over at Trinity Woodlands, a nice peg full of fish waiting to be caught would go down nice, thank-you please.

Until next time, have fun and tight lines.
Lee

Acorn Saturday Series, Round 1, 13th May 2017

First blog for a little while after 3 weeks or so away from my fishing kit.
My last match was back in April with Pawlett, at Apex, it fished hard as predicted, I dnw'd chucking back a few pound of hard earned silvers.

Anyway, today at Acorn. I had booked-out of this but re-joined the list yesterday.
Arriving early enough (12pm draw, fish 13:15-18:15 ish....). Pleased to see a few guys I hadn't for a while, some decent anglers in attendance including a fair few regulars at the venue. 21 fishing so 3 sections of 7 split across the venue rather than in a line.
I looked at the lake, plenty of semi-spawning fish, mixture of silvers and carp, but not in great numbers, pegs 40, 6 and off the point of the island from pegs 9 to 13 had loads of fish moving.
The pegs that I didn't want were 3, 24 and 26 as I don't like 24 or 26 and although 3 can occasionally be ok, pegs 1 and 5 often slow the fish in moving through to peg 3.

Acorn Peg 3....

The draw came, I plucked my ball around halfway along the queue and had peg 3.... fer-cough I thought, still you never know how things will go. Discussions said 200lb would win and 100lb needed to be top in each of the other 2 sections. We hoped it would be a good day.
At my peg I saw it was a real area of PSV guys, Steve Sewell on peg 1, Matt Williams on peg 3, Paul Preston and Ade Crawley on 34 and 33 and Keith Ray on peg 36. But you can see a good amount of the lake from my vantage point so I could see how I seemed to be doing.

4 rigs assembled, 1 for my margins (mostly left, downwind). 1 for 2+2 off to my left in line with the point of the island, this rig also suited topkit distance in from.
A banded pellet rig for across in 12 inches of water. Lastly, but unused, was a rig for around 2m off the far bank in 3ft of water.
Bait was a few pints of maggots, some 4 and 6mm hard pellets, expanders and groundbait. I did have some alternative 8mm pellets for the band, just in case I fancied a change.

At the all-in I began across hoping for a few early mug fish, but that never happened, actually this spell was the calmest of the day and after an hour spent, mostly across, I had 2 small carp, 2 skimmers and couple roach and a baby carp. Elsewhere it was peg 40 and 36 who set the early pace, but Mark Bromsgrove who on p38 and in my section was doing ok, nobody else looked to be doing much.
The second hour saw the wind increase in strength and was going directly right to left and holding a pole at 8m was hard enough at times let alone fishing across, but there was signs of fish in the area across. I spent this hour fishing maggots both off to my left  at 2+2 and on the topkit in front, this gave me a few nice stamp roach, some perch and a couple 3oz carp, but it was bites at a time when most were not getting much action.

As the day progressed the fishing got tougher for pretty much everyone except Keith Ray whom had caught consistently all day, peg 40 got off to a flyer but he slowed in the second half of the match.
I had to keep switching between the left edge and the 2 maggot lines (2+2 left and topset in front) to pick up fish of various species, when the wind dropped enough to venture across I would get a bite, but this was only an option on and off throughout the second half of the 5hr match.
One of my blond moments came when I had an 7 or 8lber just sat on the surface waiting to be netted, but my mind switched off and I just sat looking at it not even touching the landing net handle, when I went to grab it the hook pulled.....numpty. I also dropped a perch late on, maybe 12oz, it ended back in the lake.

My 3rd and 4th hour saw me put 4 or 5 carp in the net and some silvers including a couple nice skimmers and a few perch. Steve and Matt on pegs 1 and 5 were struggling. There is not really too much to talk about, trying to snare a few extra fish was hard going. With just a little over an hour left Matt Williams began to catch a few lumpier carp down his left edge and put maybe 7 or 8 decent fish in the net which boosted his net, but he wasn't in my section.
The final 60 minutes was a little better, well that is retrospective of the day when using the word better, I put 4 more carp in the net, 3 from the left edge and 1 across. My clicker showed 41lb at the all out, plus I reckoned on 8lb of silvers.

I packed up and waited for the weigh in, pretty much everyone had struggled and there was a dnw in Rich Lovering.
The scalesmen arrived and weighed Steve on peg 1, he managed 20lb. Then my silvers weight 8lb and a few ounces, my carp boosted me to 50lb 1oz. Matt then had 67lb 8oz, 40lb of which came late on.
I left the scales to do their job and caught up with them when they got to Gabe, the venue expert managed 40lb before Ade and Paul Preston had 47lb+ and 25lb+ from each side of the bridge.
Then came Keith, he almost did 100lb but alas he totalled 95lb 12.5oz for what looked to be top weight on the day. He was in my section. Next was Mark Bromsgrove, he was also in my section, he was admitting to 40-something pounds, I reckoned he had more but he said he had silvers. He managed 49lb 9oz.
Last to weigh was peg 40, he had flown out of the blocks at the start and slowed down late on but still managed a nice net of 90lb and a few ounces.

So an okay day, the wind being the main preventative in me catching a few more, in hindsight I could have got a little method feeder rod set up to chuck across, but that isn't my idea of fun. 2nd in section and £60 in the pocket means I have got a decent start and my entry fee returned.
Back in 2 weeks for round 2.

Next up is Sunday's match, covering for Emma Drysdale, at Trinity Woodlands for a short pole match (topkit plus 3 sections)

Until then, have fun and take care.
Lee

Saturday Combi Series, Round 5. Viaduct Cary, 20/08/16

The final round of my Combi Series took place at Viaduct on the Cary Lake, home of some large carp than can be cagey at times. The silvers sport is less prolific than previous years but still bags to over 20lb are not uncommon.
I would like to say thank you to those who have fished the series and helped with the sorting cover and entrants (Paul NIchols springs to mind) and I would say it has been a success, with very little whinging (though we all like a moan), a tight affair with lots of the anglers deliberating their route to possible success right through the series.

I arrived early, took everyone's money and sorted the pegs out (thanks Steve). The weather was due to be windy, then windier and a few rain showers to boot!!
Looking across the lake, the wind was blowing up towards peg 88/90/96, so I fancied anywhere from 85 around to 99 as I was certain the wind would have the fish on the move, especially as it wasn't too cold. But to be fair the fish can get caught from most pegs on the lake with plenty of features in the lake in the form or spits, trees and end banks etc.

Heading into the last round Vic Bush was top of the overall standings by 2 points, plus top of the Silvers table, but he had to arrange a stand-in, which he did in the form of Vince Brown, a very tidy angler himself, so no pressure there then!!
There was probably 8 or so guys in with a chance of a top 4 finish in the overall stakes (Lewis Jones, Mark Saunders, Dave Chidzoy, Brian Slipper, Alex Nadin, Steve Nadin and Rich Lovering with Ryan Shipp covering, all close behind).
5 or 6 guys also in with a shot at the top 2 in either the Silvers or Carp rankings, with Lewis Jones leading the carp standings with a 3 point gap, Paul Nichols was 2nd but had Emma Drysdale covering his spot while he was sunning himself on the continent. Dave Chidzoy was close behind, Nich Harvey and Brian Slipper could finish top 2 if things went wonky for the top 3.
The Silvers standings had Vic clear by 2 points from Mark Bromsgrove, he was 1 point clear of Mark Saunders and then 3 guys another point behind!!

Anyway, the draw was done, I had the last peg, peg 88, a good draw really, one I fancied for a few fish to be honest.

Peg 88 Viaduct Cary

I had Lewis Jones on peg 86, which won Thursday's match with 300lb+, that lad can draw well.... I had Mark Saunders on peg 90, he wasn't pleased, but I expected him to do well, he is primarily a silvers angler but needed to score well on carp to try and sneak a top 2 finish.
My section was however, a Section-of-Death with all 4 of the overall leaders in the same section (Lewis, Mark Saunders, Vic/Vince, Steve Nadin) plus there was Paul Berry who would be targeting silvers as he had nothing to fish for except section money, similarly to me really, but I hoped for carp.
Points would be dropped, places possibly re-arranged by the draw falling as such.
Dave Chidzoy may or may not have realised that, but it'd defo help his cause though he had Emma Drysdale in his section who had to catch carp to help Paul Nichols retain his 2nd spot in the carp stakes.
Mark Bromsgrove drew 74 and would only be silvers fishing to try and win an envelope or 2 in that area, he had to win his section of silvers and hope Vince would drop a few places for an outright silvers series win.

I made my way to my peg, set up a lead rod and 3 rigs for carp, an edge rig (fishless), a slapping/shallow rig (2 lost foulers) and a depth rig to fish meat short and banded pellet at 14m as it was the same depth. Lastly a silvers rig for topkit fishing.
Bait was 8mm meat, 8mm and 6mm pellets, some caster and some paste for the conker, oh and I wasted some groundbait down both edges.

The match began and I fed the pole lines and began on the lead.....2 hrs later I was still fishless on the carp front, losing a couple foul-hookers on the long pellet line, though a few small silvers came to the topkit with caster and I managed to miss the keepnet a couple times in the very windy conditions. I also had 2 eels fall off and back into the lake, I wasn't too fussed as I could see both Paul and Vince catching a good few skimmers, plus Mark and Steve were doing well on the roach/hybrids....oh and I managed to lose 2 catties into the lake due to the wind.
At the halfway stage I managed a couple of carp, one on the lead, one off the long pole and pellet line. But the carp front up my end of the lake was quiet despite a few being in the area. Vince was getting plenty though on his silvers rig.

I plundered along and had given up on the silvers and meat as I wasn't getting any action, so for the last 2 and a bit hours I persevered with pellets up and down long and the lead chucked over the same line due to the wind.
Out of the blue I managed a couple more carp on the lead including a double figured fish, I also pulled out of a couple at the net as the hooks were only lightly hooked in the mouths, which were rather small..!!
Mark on peg 90 was now fishing for carp and had a couple, Lewis had some arrive after starting in the same vein as me, he also had some proper skimmers. I was last in the carp in the section as Paul had no intentions of catching any...I was also last in the silvers, oh well.
The last hour was quiet for putting fish in the net, the carp were fizzing on the pole line, but the wind prevented me fishing shallow for them properly and the lead wasn't efficient enough, but I did put 1 more in the net to finish with 6 carp and maybe 40lb. An hour more and I think I would have had a great spell as the wind typically dropped!!
The all out was called. I packed up.

The weigh in was shared by owner Steve and his son Lewis, so we were done in quick time. I had 41lb of carp and 6lb of silvers and was last in section in sivers and 2nd last in the carp. Ho hum.
Lewis had landed 70-odd pound of carp and 9lb silvers, Mark had 44lb carp, 16lb 4oz silvers. Steve had a 52lb/16lb 9oz split, Vince (Vic's cover) had a 92lb/16lb 9oz split before Mr Berry had 20lb of silvers. The silvers weights between Mark, Steve and Vince were tight with Steve and Vince splitting a point in the section. Vince did his job and won the section carp, Lewis was 2nd which meant he won the Carp series overall.

On the day Dave Chidzoy  on peg 105 won overall with 215lb and Ryan Shipp was 2nd with 203lb from peg 109..!! Paul Berry's 20lb 11oz was top silvers weight, from peg 97.

I made my way to the car. Grabbed the weigh sheets before sitting down and working out the standing at the top of the tables....Phew!!

Results:
On The Day:
1st, Dave Chidzoy, p105, 215-14
2nd, Ryan Shipp, p109, 203-08
3rd, Dom Sullivan, p77, 119-08
Silvers
1st, Paul Berry, p97, 20-11
2nd, Mark Bromsgrove, p74, 18-05
3rd= Vince Brown, p96 and Steve Nadin, p94 both 16-09.

On the day results. (circled = section winners)

Overall Combi Standings
1st - Vic Bush, 9pts (£300)
2nd - Dave Chidzoy. 12 pts (£175)
3rd - Steve Nadin, 13pts (37.5pts totals) (£80)
4th - Lewis Jones, 13pts (36pts total) (£50)
5th to 8th all had 15pts..!!...Close..close..close!!

Final Results: Carp Standings
1st - Lewis Jones, 26pts (£90)
2nd - Dave Chidzoy, 23pts (£50)
3rd - Paul Nichols, 21pts

Final Results: Silvers Standings
1st - Vic Bush, 26.5pts (£90)
2nd - Mark Bromsgrove, 26pts (£50)
3rd - Steve Nadin, 22.5pts

As you can see the points were close, that half point shared between Vince(Vic) and Steve, which was only 6oz ahead of Mark Saunders, was critical, if Mark had pipped them both and Steve pipped Vince then Mark B would have won the silvers, Steve Nadin may have been 2nd and Mark Saunders 4th......but the whole series has been based on closeness and there are always plenty of 'What if' or 'I should have' moments, Dave Chidzoy and Mark Saunders failure to catch Silvers and Carp respectively at The Sedges spring to mind.

But on the day everyone did what they had to do and for some things went their way, others less so, but it could have all been different......!!

Silvers Standings, finishing position in red on the right

Carp Standings, Final position in red on the right.

Final OVERALL Combi Standings, final position in red on the right.

So for me personally, I am a little disappointed in how I fished, looking back I know I could and should have done a little better at a couple venues.

The standings also prove that there are various ways to skin a cat, but in Vic (and Vince), to consistently get good 'bonus' points gave him the big prize, he done as I thought would be the best way to attack, catch anything that swims, target one section win of the 2 sub-categories but score well in the other, averaging 8 or 9 points per match would be an achievable target and would have been good to win.

Vic picked up 4 section monies during the series to show the consistency of him in the series, but Dave and Lewis were consistent on the Carp side of things and went close with their semi-blinkered approach.

Will I run a similar thing in 2017? maybe, maybe before, I may alter a few things, but these are to be decided......I need a day or 2 to think!!! So if anyone wants to take part then feel free to let me know, maybe it'll be a 30 to 40 pegger.?

Until next time, take care.

Lee

Saturday Combi Series, Round 4, Avalon Fisheries. 06-08-16

A quickish update on this round of my Combi Series, this round was held on the Avalon Fisheries complex. This fishery is great for the type of Series I am running, every peg has a few carp in, every peg has a decent head of silvers to catch, from rudd to perch, crucians, tench and the mainstay that are skimmers. Any bait will catch them so being a predictable venue isn't what it is.

Anyways on to the match, we ended up with 16 fishing, 2 couldn't make it but their pools were paid so as not to make a difference to the monies. So 3 sections of 6 as normal, but Section A would have 6 full pegs while the other 2 would have 5 present anglers.

The lake looked fishy, the weather was set to hot/roasting and an array of tan-lines would be present come 5pm!!

I drew peg 7, a decent peg that is on the end of the 1st island, but the trees meant that the sun wouldn't be shining on the water, which is what I fancied for the carp, though maybe the silvers wouldn't care for the bright conditions and we all expected lower than normal weights, especially on the silvers front.
For company I had, on peg 9 (good silvers peg) Paul Berry, an angler whom would be trying to catch some silvers, and to be fair he usually does ok for them at the fishery.  On my right I had all round good angler and the fishery owner, Vic Bush, he was on peg 5 and it resembled an aquarium with all the carp sat off the gap in the island. Vic was/is leading the league's silvers tally and going into the round he was close to being top overall. Lance Tucker was on peg 3. Father and Son duo Alex and Steve Nadin completed my section.

Peg 7, Avalon Fisheries.

I assembled a small feeder for towards the island for banded pellet, a pellet waggler rod.
3 pole rigs were also ready for action, one for silvers, but never had a bite on that, one for paste at 6m and lastly one for meat/corn down to my left and empty peg 10.
Bait, 6 and 8mm pellets, 8mm meat, past and some corn.

The all-in was called at 11am and after depositing various baits in various spots I began on the feeder.
25 fishless minutes passed before I tried the waggler, netting a couple of 3lb fish in the following 30 minutes. That was the 1st hour gone, 2 carp.
The second hour was hard, the sun was baking, the fish tricky, I could see loads in front of  Vic, but he was more interested in keeping his silvers points tally rolling and would only target carp every now and then.....which during the day he did with relative ease!! I do tend to draw near match winners....on going tale that doesn't go away!!
I squeaked a couple small skimmers and a couple roach during the 2nd hour, and going into hour 3 I could hear that Lance, Paul and the Nadin duo were not hauling so it was tight (except Vic).
I did manage 2 or 3 carp on the waggler and a couple silvers from the margin during the 3rd hour. I was suffering with a few foul hooked fish on all my lines and during the match I had around 14 foul hooked fish lost and 6 or so where I had the hook pull...never good.

Moving into the 2nd half of the match and I was on 4 or 5 carp and a handful of silvers.
The 4th hour was busy for me, mostly foul hooked fish, I got one in but lost a few. I also managed a couple 12oz chub on the feeder, nice little bonus fish.
The 5th hour saw me look down to the pallet and again a skimmer or 2 came my way and I also hooked and lost a nice common, defo foul hooked as I had a scale on the hook. I could see some fish under the platform but couldn't or rather, wouldn't, come out and feed.
I mugged a slurper from the edge between me and the pallet, lowering the bait into it's mouth in the edge. I also mugged a 3lber on the waggler, my millionth attempt during the match to mug a carp on the waggler, when I did it was the smallest I had seen all day....typical.

By now Vic was plenty ahead of everyone around me, I reckoned on him having 50lb+ of carp and 20lb+ of silvers, but my 7 carp was clicked to 30lb wouldn't be too bad in the section for points scoring. But Paul and Steve only had 1 carp each while Alex had maybe 4 or 5, but with this lake they can be 2 to 4lb smaller fish or if they were caught on the pole, 8lbers, the pole fish are often bigger here. So he may have 30lb+ of carp. Steve and Paul did have relatively nice nets of big skimmers.
My last hour didn't give me a carp, only a single small skimmer came my way along with a few foul hooked fish on paste, they didn't want to get their heads down and feed. I also pulled out of a couple fish on the waggler.

The all out was called and the gear packed up. No scales duty for me either, the Fishery helpers did this, nice touch.
Buy the time the scales had got to me I had seen Mike West (covering for Ziggy) had moaned around 70lb on to his hook, he wasn't even going to go to his peg, me and Vic commented we would have been happy with peg 32, end peg and room!!
There was a couple 50 to 60lb nets and Mark Bromsgrove put 18lb+ of silvers on the scales.
Alex and Steve had weighed in and I was confident that I had slightly more than Alex on the carp weight, but was hoping Vic had top section silvers and carp weights, and that Lance had less than me.
So a default section carp pick-up would be handy.

I weighed my Silvers,  and that was 12lb+, slightly unexpected, I thought I had 5lb or so. My carp weighed 33lb so my clicker was accurate. I ended with 45lb and a few ounces.
Vic comfortably had the most of both silvers and carp in the section and had 90 something pound to win the match overall, and take the second perfect 12 point score of the series, but as I only pay top carp and top silvers in section on the day I waited to see Lance weigh. I manged to just pip his 20-something pound of carp, so I did get a default payment.

Results:
1st, Vic Bush. 97-05, from peg 5
2nd, Lewis Jones, 74-00 from peg 26
3rd, Mike West (covering Ziggy), from peg 32

1st Silvers, Vic Bush, 25-03
2nd Silvers, Steve Nadin, 19-05 (p12)
3rd Silvers, Mark Bromsgrove, 18-12 (p16)

Section envelopes/payouts:
A) Carp, Lee Williams, 32lb 8oz (default)
A) Silvers, Vic Bush, 25lb 3oz
B) Carp, Dave Chidzoy, 34lb 10oz (p19)
B) Silvers, Mark Bromsgrove, 18lb 12oz
C) Carp, Lewis Jones, 74lb
C) Silvers, Rich Lovering, 11lb 8oz (p27)

So I collected my 1st envelope of the series and my first in a while.....
I had enough carp on the hook in some form or another to have 50 or 60lb at least, but that is fishing.
Conditions were tricky and we may have done better with some cloud cover, but it was fair as is the norm for the lake.

In the standings, all 3 categories are close and as many as 9 guys have a chance of a top 3 or 4 finish in the Combi Points Overall and half a dozen are in with a chance of a top-2 finish in the Carp and Silvers categories!! Some guys dropped upto 6 places, one angler jumped 7 spots overall, so plenty to go for in a couple weeks at Viaduct Cary, how will people play their cards?
Interestingly Vic, the silvers and overall leader has a stand-in for that round....Oh the pressure Mr G...!!
Paul Nichols, who has a chance of a top 2 finish in the carp payouts also has a stand-in.....Good luck Emma. x

The above all show current standings after round 4....Close!!!

With 6 points on offer in the sub-categories and 1 point for the combined section win, it is close!

Next up for me was Viaduct Campbell with the PSV crew.

Until next time,
Take Care.
Lee

Saturday Combi Series, Sedges Brick Lake. 10-07-16

The 3rd round of my Saturday Combi Series, Sedges Brick Lake was the venue in question for the 18 of us who were to attempt to extract some of the jewels that lay within a.k.a. Fish.

Anyways, with the wind pushing up towards the far end, pegs 10 and 11 being favoured, but 8, 9, 12 and 13 would be very nice draws, the near end could be hit or miss. It all looked very fishy with the wind being a new southern direction. I mentioned, in jest,  I would ban Dave Chidzoy from fishing ever again should he draw peg 10......he drew peg 10 (3 matches at the venue, peg 10 twice, peg 40 once....3 wins now).

I took the monies, informed the rules and the draw was made, I was left with 2 balls in the basket, one for me, one for Gareth Lennox (stand-in for the day). they were peg 1 or my preferred peg, peg 14.....yep, as is my luck in the last month or so, peg 1 was mine for the day, a definite feast or famine peg, but there are always fish in the area, but don't always want to get a munch on in that area.
I had flat calm water, so skimmers wouldn't be a big part of any catch I should make, but I did hold a little hope for a few carp, I expected peg 10 to win comfortably but 11 should be good and 7, 8 and 9, 12 and 13 to be the best silvers pegs (and should throw up some carp).

I had Mark Bromsgrove on peg 3, but couldn't see him, Paul Nichols over on 20 was opposite.
A pellet wag, a lead, a couple of edge rigs and a silvers rig for 11m were assembled.
That was the most exciting part of my match, as for the next 6 hours I managed a measley 1lb of silvers and a couple of carp, I had a 14lber, mugged by my keepnet, that broke a partially 'ill' number 4 section, one of the carp came on the silvers rig and was foul hooked....

I wont bore you all with anything else of my match, but of the 18 of us, 14 of us were in the same boat....it had generally switched off, in fact quite a few places have done similar, probably to do with oxygen levels, post spawning and maybe the busy fishing months.

Anyways the match ended, and all that I could see, pegs 11 down to 20 had not done great, well 11 to 13 looked like they had some silvers.
And when I went for a walk at 4pn the pegs on my bank were hard going up to peg 7, then the fish were found.

The weigh in was done with the help of Paul Berry, he was greatful of a low weight day, his poor back was aching though!!
But the winner on the day was Dave 'drawbag' Chidzoy with 154lb from peg 10.
The top silvers went to Steve Nadin with 25lb from peg 9.
If you could draw a line from peg 7 across to peg 13, the weights were somewhat lower than the top end's 6 or so pegs.

Weigh Sheet (highlighted = envelope collectors)

View up the lake from peg 1....

The top 5 weights were from 12, 11, 8, 9 and 10.

Standings after 3 rounds:
Overall top 5:
Alex Nadin 6pts
Brian Slipper 7pts (25 combi)
Vic Bush 7pts (21 combi)...
Steve Nadin 8pts

Top 5 carp:
Lewis Jones 15pts (143-00)
Paul Nichols 15pts (115-00)
Nick Harvey 14pts (57-04)
Brian Slipper 12pts (95-14)
Dave Chidzoy 11pts (218-12)

Top 5 silvers:
Vic Bush 16pts (54-09)
Alex Nadin 16pts (32-04)
Mark Saunders 15pts
Mark Bromsgrove 14pts
Steve Nadin 13pts (best weight of 3 anglers)

So plenty of scope for moving up or down the standings with Avalon and Cary lakes to follow.

Next match for me was Durleigh and the Pawlett Silvers' Winners final.

Until next time, have fun.
Lee

Saturday Series. Round 2. Trinity Wildmarsh. 11-06-16

The 2nd round of my series on a venue that is not match fished much these days as it can be patchy and rarely does the high weights that people seem to crave these days.
That said, there is an abundance of species and in decent numbers too, they aren't easy to tempt though!!

With 18 fishing, including 3 sub anglers, most agreed the lake looked lovely and there was plenty of blowing and bubbles all over the lake. It was dull, warm and overcast, but no wind or sunshine for the day. We all expected it to be hard, though not as hard as it panned out!!

Wildmarsh p45 lhs

Trinity Wildmarsh peg 45

I took the money, I done the draw, leaving me on peg 45 and Vic had peg 55, both pegs I wouldn't have turned down for either carp or silver to be honest. Louis Jones had the near end peg 67, which I fancied for a few carp. Mark Bromsgrove was the other end peg on peg 44.

The rest of the day went smoothly, in fact most anglers had a quiet day with regards to being plagued by fish.
I decided to set up 3 lines on the pole, a long groundbait with worm and caster, hoping for skimmers/bream followed by some carp and eels.
The 2nd line was for carp down my left edge at 8m or so, this was fishless.
My last line was my usual topkit and caster line.
I also set up a method feeder, but this was only cast once.
Bait was groundbait, caster, worm, corn, 6mm pellets and a few maggots.

I wont go into much detail at all:
1st hour, 12 little rudd and roach on the topkit, Paul Nichols on peg 47 had 1 carp first drop.
2nd hour, 16 small rudd on the topkit, one 8oz eel on the long pole.
3rd hour, 10 little rudd on the topkit.
4th hour, 5 or 6 little roach and rudd, lost one big eel on the topkit, biting me off.
5th hour, bumped a decent fish on the long pole, then lost another big eel after it bit me off.
Last hour I had 1 rudd.

Not much happened for many people, Mark Bromsgrove was picking up better sized silvers and had a couple decent skimmers, Paul ended with a couple carp, one down the edge and the 2nd on the pellet waggler. Steve Nadin had a nice mixed bag from peg 50. Ziggy on 51 was getting a few silvers.
Vic Bush and Rich Lovering were having a silver fish battle opposite me.
Everyone else was struggling with the odd skimmer and odd carp.

The all out was called, the weigh-in complete and monies handed out. Most moaned how hard it was, it was very hard, sadly most never enjoyed it, but on to the next round at Sedges Brick Lake.

Results:
1st, Nick Harvey, 24lb, peg 61. (also perfect 12 points)
2nd, Steve Nadin, 19lb 7oz, peg 49.
3rd and top silvers net, Ziggy Slowinski, 18lb 9oz, peg 51
4th, Louis Jones, 18lb 4oz, peg 67

Weights, Highlighted = Envelope Snatchers

So the current standings at the top:
1st carp, Paul Nichols, 12pts
2nd carp, Louis Jones, 11pts
3rd carp, Brian Slipper, 10 pts

1st silvers, Vic Bush, 11pts (30lb total)
2nd silvers, Alex Nadin, 11 pts (20lb total)
3rd silvers, Nick Harvey, 11pts (15lb 11oz total)

1st overall, Brian Slipper, 3pts
2nd overall, Paul Nichols, 4pts (18 sub-points)
3rd overall, Vic Bush, 4pts (14 sub-points)
4th overall, Rich Lovering, 4pts (14 sub-points)

Scores on the doors....(silvers, carp & overall

Tomorrow I have the Pawlett Club's All-Winners final on Trinity Woodlands.

Until then, take care.
Lee

Saturday Combi Series. Round One. Landsend Match Lake - 28/5/16

Today was the 1st round of my 1st attempt at running a series, originally it was going to be a silvers series, but after several discussions with fisheries it was dropped as a silvers series, but runs as one where the silvers are just as important as the carp, and vice versa!!
We have 5 matches, Landsend today, Trinity Wildmarsh (the 'dodgy one' as some call it, I prefer the one where it's not all carp) on 11th June, Sedges Brick on July 9th then Avalon and Cary in August.

Up until Wednesday we had 14 or 15 booked in so the half of the speci lake was dropped with Mike, we had the Match Lake only as 15 was ok for that, but by 6am this morning (thanks Nick Harvey), we were up to 18. A nice figure, but a squeeze on the match lake at Landsend, but that's the way the cookie crumbled.
The way the series is worked out is 3 sections of 6, 6 points down to zero for catching the best net of carp, the same goes for the best silvers net in section (0 points for no weight of either), so a maximum of 12 points on offer.
The points are arranged in order and the section's top point scorer gets 1 point for the series, 2 for second and so on down to 6. So it should be tight for the series and points could be clawed back.
You just need a bit of thought into what to catch in relevance to your 6 peg section (simply a 6 peg match)
I am paying top Carp and top Silvers net in each section, not overall payments on the day, as its about the series not individual matches. Anyways the weigh/score sheets will explain.

On to today, after getting there in plenty of time I walked around the lake, there seemed to be a few fish mooching, mostly along the middle half of the lake. The speci fish were spawning.
I got the paperwork done, took the remaining entry fees. Had a sarnie and put my gear on the trolley.
I explained a few things, some miss-heard, but the draw was made just after 9am.
The 3 sections were 3 pegs each side at the near end would make 1 section, the 3 each side in the middle made another and 3 pegs each side at the far end made the last section of 6.
I had the last or 2nd last ticket and found peg 22 in my hand, didn't mean much to me but Rich Lovering said its a nice silvers peg!!
For company I had Ziggy Slowinski on my right and Paul Nichols on my left, whom I had to later on give a quid, I could see Lance Tucker (p1) and just about make out Alex Nadin and Ricky Mills on pegs 3 and 2 respectively (that's my 6 peg section).

Looking left and where a quid was heading (Paul Nichols)

Looking left to the man who prefers to hook csrp on silvers kit (Ziggy)

My view in front....can you make out Lance over on peg 1?

I made up a silvers rig for mostly expander over micro, with the odd try with caster or maggot, this would be for 2+2 in front.
A second rig was for meat and hemp at 2+2 off in the 2 o'clock direction.
An edge rig for down to my right and a long line shallow rig for stalking/mugging.
Bait I had was 6 and 8mm pellets, wet micros,  meat and hemp plus some expanders, caster and maggots for the hook.

At the all in I fed the edge and meat line, plus a small helping of wet micros for the silvers. I started by trying to mug a few cruisers, but they were not really having it, more inclined to roam around in 2s and 3s pre-spawning I guess.
So after 30 wasted minutes I went out to catch a silver fish, I managed that with a 4oz skimmer.
Paul on peg 21 had a better skimmer before putting a couple carp in the net.

It too me an age to catch my 1st carp, which came shallow in open water, more by luck than planned as I was having a drink when I felt the laccy come out. But a 6lber was welcomed.
Ziggy was struggling and had 2 carp, but after 2hrs he was targeting silvers, and hooking, mostly losing, carp!!
I had a couple roach and 1 nice skimmer on the silvers line, 1 roach from the edge and foul hooked a couple of carp.....as it approached 3pm!! During this time Paul had 9 or 10 carp to around 15lb from down his left edge, he also lost a couple to the legs of his platform!!

I just couldn't seem to catch any carp, or silvers for that matter but at 4pm I had a flying skimmer, this was followed by a roach, which fell off from down the edge, but I soon managed another carp on my silvers rig. Then a nice 2.5lb ide from my margin helped add to my silvers.
With 45 minutes to go I was surely last in section for the carp, not sure on the silvers as Ziggy had a couple skimmers and Paul also had a few decent skimmers, a crucian and a few roach.
I tried my short meat line and had 2 and foul hooked 2 in the last period.

The all out was called and I wasn't too expectant of my results and expected last in section in both categories!!
I had counted Paul's 14 landed carp so maybe 85lb or so, Lance had a nice run of fish late and Ziggy was losing more than landing on his silvers gear, which wasn't really catching much silvers either!!
Alex and Ricky sounded like they had done well from the splashings.

I packed up and Paul Berry came to help do the weigh in.....
I wont write too much in this but there were a good few 30-60lb nets of carp but only 2 or 3 nets of silvers over 10lb. Lewis Jones (p13) took top carp honours and Vic Bush (p5) took the best silvers net with 100lb+ and 19lb+ respectively.

I managed 8lb 12oz of silvers and that was enough for section 2nd in silvers, sadly my 24lb of carp was 5th in section for carp weights!! So no pick up today.

I wont post the full results, but the highlighted names won the relevant section prizes on the day and if you study the sheet then you will see how catching a decent amount of each category to score good points.

After the 1st round the top 6 (with weights determining when points level)

1st - Brian Slipper with 1pt

2nd - Alex Nadin with 1pt

3rd - Mark Saunders with 1pt

4th - Paul Nichols with 2pts

5th - Mark Hanham with 2pts (thanks to Andy Hembrow)

6th - Vic Bush with 2pts

Weights....

Individual Category scores, carp on the left, silvers on the right.

Top 3 on the day were:
Lewis Jones peg 13, 101-14 (inc best carp net of 100-12)
Paul Nichols peg 21, 90-12 (82-08)
Brian Slipper peg 17, 81-14 (72-06)

Best silvers was Vic Bush on peg 5 who had an assortment of silvers for 19lb 4oz.

Top points scorer was Alex Nadin who managed a great 11 points from a possible 12 from peg 3.

So a tough day, but on the whole it went as well as I could have expected, I would have personally expected a few more carp, and definitely more silvers.
The next match for the series is in a couple of weeks on the Wildmarsh Lake at Trinity, it'll be a tough one for sure, so it could be interesting....or a dull day!!

Tomorrow I am at Sedges, Brick lake with the PSV lads. Not sure if/where on Monday.

Until then,
Lee