Just thought I would do a quick catch up of my matches since my last blog which was 6 months or so ago.
I stopped doing the blog as I found it quite a chore to be honest, the wife started her new job in October and we now have weekends off together so I have been a bit lax when deciding if to go fishing at all, my enthusiasm waned, it still isn't heading in the right direction and to be fair I am not missing my weekly outings. Maybe the colder/winter months didn't help. Only time will tell....
October, Summerhayes Silvers' Winners Final, finished 4th and one out of the money. A little over 9lb and the best weight from the road bank, Eric Fouracres won from peg 13 or 14 if I remember rightly.
November, I didn't go fishing at all this month.
December, I fished the Pawlett Xmas match at Sedges, managed a few carp but not as much as good friend Paul Berry on the peg next to me who won, I think I was 7th on the day. It was bloody windy and I lost my cupping kit connector and the tosspot/catty approach was not how I wanted to go. Still some ciders as a prize and a nice bit of grub at the Legion after was appreciated.
I drew peg 43 on the Viaduct Xmas match and got it all wrong and only had 8lb or so, not last in the match by a few pounds and collected more cider. Mark Wynne won the match.
Boxing day at Sedges, drew peg 23, wasted an hour fishing for silvers, then went for carp but was never gonna get in the frame but did catch just under 60lb which may have been 4th or 5th. If I remember rightly Jamie won from peg 25 or 26 (I could be wrong though).
30th of the month I went to Landsend, drew peg 21, struggled and DNW's after catching just 1 carp and some silvers.
January, just the one match, a Saturday open at Todber, it fished bloody hard for all and I only squeaked a few little carp together from peg 62 on Ash. Beaten by Big Nick Selway off the next peg and 46lb was top weight on Ash, 78lb won overall off Hillview.
February, the solitary match I fished that month was down at Landsend, I drew peg 24, a peg that hadn't been great in the recent form so I was not best pleased, but the weather was ok and I actually had a good day picking up carp from the open water towards the island to finish with 15 carp and 7lb of silvers for a match winning 67lb (little carp....hmmm).
March, I covered for the Fishing Tackle Warehouse team in the last round of the Viaduct, team draw gave me peg 40 on the Match Lake, I wasn't too unhappy, but I struggled and only returned 7 point from 18 in the section, no disaster but I feel I could have done a few more fish and a few extra points.
The 17th gave me a 'free' match on the Landsend Winter League, I would be on Lake 3 and joked I would be on peg 68, as usual, and hey ho I drew that peg. Anyways I put 23lb of assorted silvers on the scales with some carp for a total of 42lb+ and 4th on the lake and the lake's top silvers net, so a nice pick up there. (4 times I have had that peg, 4 times I have had the best silvers net on the lake, haha).
A week later I was at Sedges, peg 26 and was happy with that, but the joy never lasted as I had 60lb and finished maybe 6th on the day as James Withers won with 172lb from peg 40, he nearly got knocked back by 100lb as he was close to the limit.
30th, Todber, peg 52 on Hillview, I draw this area regularly and it is not an area of choice most of the time. But 60lb and a days fishing as the match was over for me at the draw. Homeground gave the best weights overall and the best silvers was 89lb of maggot feeder caught skimmers on Hillview.
April, well this month I have been a 3 times thus far.
Pawlett's annual Silvers match at The Sedges (7th April), had a tough section with some very good anglers who know the venue well. I drew peg 15. I wasn't feeling up to fishing but saw the day out and surprisingly finished 2nd overall on the day and best weight off Brick Lake with 35lb 4oz of skimmer and a nice little envelope. Keith Clapp won from Tile Lake with 14oz more than me....
The following weekend it was Summerhayes Longs. I have draw down on peg 19, never been that far down before and I had silvers specialist Roy Hughes on peg 20. I wanted to fish for silvers with worms and caster but that never happened. I had a good 2nd hour catching carp on pellets across and picked the odd carp for the last 4 hours, not many, but luckily enough that was good enough as my lowly 52lb was surprisingly enough to win the match and put some money in the wallet, but it was an enjoyable day trying to figure out how to get the most from the fish that were playing games on the day in that they would come to feed up in the water but couldn't get a bite shallow.
Lastly this weekend saw me on Viaduct's Easter Monday open match, peg 74, which was miles away from where the fish/weights have been coming from. It's a peg I really don't like but I gave it a go.
I landed a couple carp, lost 2 foul hookers and lost one when I shouldn't have (I should have added sections to follow it out on a run but I didn't and the hooklength broke). 6 decent skimmers and a small perch were my other fish. I tipped back my 2 carp (15lb) and silvers (10lb) for a DNW.
Other than at Sedges where it is deeper I have more or less been using DT Floats F1/Silvers in 0.3g for the silvers and Slim P's in 0.2 and 0.4g for my carp-type fishing and I cannot recommend them enough, great floats.
Now the spring has arrived I do hope to get out on the bank a bit more and am looking forward to a few matches I have booked in for the rest of 2019. But I am more looking forward to a couple weekends away with the wife, especially BST Hyde Park and Madness in Taunton in July.
Maybe, just maybe, will I begin to start blogging regular.
Lets just see.
Take care to you all and tight lines.
Lee
Showing posts with label Sedges. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sedges. Show all posts
Thursday, 25 April 2019
Wednesday, 15 August 2018
Pops Charity Pairs Match, The Sedges. 12-8-18
I managed to get a partner in the shape of Mark Leader a few days before the match, luckily we bagged the last of the 20 places (40 anglers, 20 pairs).
In the few days leading up to the day we had seen a drop in temperatures and even some of the wet stuff had fallen, and with the wife due to come along on the day it was expected to be damp most of the day.
I arrived in plenty of time, well that's a lie, I would have arrived in plenty of time but the staff in McDonalds managed to take 15 minutes in getting a couple Sausage and Egg McMuffins together.
But I arrived, paid my dues and said hello to most of those fishing.
I got Mark to draw as he had won the midweek open on Brick Lake with 167lb. he came back towards the end of the queue with pegs 14 and 22, not the best draw but okay enough. Mark chose to go on Brick so I trotted back to my car and drove it 20 yards to my peg to unload the kit, bonus.
No silvers rigs were assembled even though there was a prize for top silvers on each lake.
My tackle assortment was as such:
A method feeder to fish towards the island and over my pole line.
A shallow slapping/mugging rig using a 0.2g DT Pinger.
A DT float's Big D for my 2 edges but I never really got to give that a proper try.
Lastly a couple DT RBS opens, one for meat at 6m and the other for banded pellets under the shallow line at 14.5/16m.
Bait was micros for the feeder, 6mm and 8mm pellets plus some meat and groundbait.
For company I had Ziggy Slowinski on peg 23 and probably the person most likely to win on peg 21, fishery owner Jamie Cook.
It was still raining at the all in and within a few seconds of Jamie chucking his feeder out he had fishes back out of the water in numbers where he was casting, hmmmm.
Me, I started shallow after feeding my peg and it was a good 20 minutes before I had my 1st carp which actually came on my 1st drop on the depth rig, at 8lb it was an ok start. I then had a skimmer before all indications stopped.
A quick look on the meat line gave nothing, a few more looks shallow gave me no response, the fish were there but seemed more interested in swimming around quickly.
So after 90 minutes I was still on one carp well behind Jamie and from what I could see Eric on 38 was getting a few.
I lobbed the method over the pole line and within minutes I had carp number 2 in the net, but it was a false dawn even the liners had stopped. So I reluctantly chucked the feeder to the island where I pretty much spent the rest of the match baring a few looks on each of the pole lines.
I would get a couple fish in quick succession before it went quiet, I actually went over an hour at one point without a carp. But I persevered and managed to catch 4 carp on the shallow rig, there was no consistency in that though, I had no more on the depth pellet rig and only a skimmer on the meat with 10 minutes to go.
I had one fish I weighed that was 13lb and a few ounces but at the all out I had clicked 69lb on one clicker and 44lb on the second plus 3 skimmers.
I reckoned Jamie had around 200lb as I had told the wife, he had 3 nets in and he usually puts 60lb in each and is very rarely out on his estimates. Eric Fouracres on peg 38 had a good last couple hours and had more than me, maybe 150lb. But everyone else, except Ziggy who had struggled on peg 23, I could not see.
I packed up my kit and followed the weigh in on Tile, helping out with the sums should Nigel Hull need it. Starting with Jamie, who said he clicked 199lb, after a few weighs and he had 200lb 1oz. Not likely to be beaten.
Me next and my estimates were not far out with 13lb 4oz weigher, 3lb 11oz for my 3 skimmers and then 110lb 15oz across my 2 carp nets totalled me up to 127lb 14oz. Not too shabby, and a day where my smallest fish was around the 6lb mark.
Ziggy had a hard day and weighed 26lb, then other than Keith Bilder who had 152lb 8oz, the rest weighed in the 40lb to 60lb region.(
The pegs down the causeway fared a bit better with 5 of the 10 anglers having 100lb+ (plus a 97lb net) culminating in Eric on peg 38 weighing 154lb 2oz.
Overall I finished up 5th in the match and on the lake as Brick was hard going with Mark struggling on peg 14 with 15lb and the lake was won with 73lb 14oz from peg 11 ahead of a level 73lb and then a 57lb. Top silvers on each lake was 25/26lb. As a pair Mark and I were equal 6th.
Results:
Brick Lake,
1st Jack Arpino 73lb 14oz peg 11
2nd Phil Wilkins 73lb peg 6
3rd John Fuidge 57lb 2oz peg 13
3rd Phil Wilkins and Nick Baggot 6 points 215lb 7oz
£220 was raised for St. Margarets Hospice, which was great.
Next week it is the next round of Tony's Float Only series, back at Sedges, so not an early start.
Until then, take care.
Lee
In the few days leading up to the day we had seen a drop in temperatures and even some of the wet stuff had fallen, and with the wife due to come along on the day it was expected to be damp most of the day.
I arrived in plenty of time, well that's a lie, I would have arrived in plenty of time but the staff in McDonalds managed to take 15 minutes in getting a couple Sausage and Egg McMuffins together.
But I arrived, paid my dues and said hello to most of those fishing.
I got Mark to draw as he had won the midweek open on Brick Lake with 167lb. he came back towards the end of the queue with pegs 14 and 22, not the best draw but okay enough. Mark chose to go on Brick so I trotted back to my car and drove it 20 yards to my peg to unload the kit, bonus.
No silvers rigs were assembled even though there was a prize for top silvers on each lake.
My tackle assortment was as such:
A method feeder to fish towards the island and over my pole line.
A shallow slapping/mugging rig using a 0.2g DT Pinger.
A DT float's Big D for my 2 edges but I never really got to give that a proper try.
Lastly a couple DT RBS opens, one for meat at 6m and the other for banded pellets under the shallow line at 14.5/16m.
Bait was micros for the feeder, 6mm and 8mm pellets plus some meat and groundbait.
For company I had Ziggy Slowinski on peg 23 and probably the person most likely to win on peg 21, fishery owner Jamie Cook.
It was still raining at the all in and within a few seconds of Jamie chucking his feeder out he had fishes back out of the water in numbers where he was casting, hmmmm.
Me, I started shallow after feeding my peg and it was a good 20 minutes before I had my 1st carp which actually came on my 1st drop on the depth rig, at 8lb it was an ok start. I then had a skimmer before all indications stopped.
A quick look on the meat line gave nothing, a few more looks shallow gave me no response, the fish were there but seemed more interested in swimming around quickly.
So after 90 minutes I was still on one carp well behind Jamie and from what I could see Eric on 38 was getting a few.
I lobbed the method over the pole line and within minutes I had carp number 2 in the net, but it was a false dawn even the liners had stopped. So I reluctantly chucked the feeder to the island where I pretty much spent the rest of the match baring a few looks on each of the pole lines.
I would get a couple fish in quick succession before it went quiet, I actually went over an hour at one point without a carp. But I persevered and managed to catch 4 carp on the shallow rig, there was no consistency in that though, I had no more on the depth pellet rig and only a skimmer on the meat with 10 minutes to go.
I had one fish I weighed that was 13lb and a few ounces but at the all out I had clicked 69lb on one clicker and 44lb on the second plus 3 skimmers.
I reckoned Jamie had around 200lb as I had told the wife, he had 3 nets in and he usually puts 60lb in each and is very rarely out on his estimates. Eric Fouracres on peg 38 had a good last couple hours and had more than me, maybe 150lb. But everyone else, except Ziggy who had struggled on peg 23, I could not see.
I packed up my kit and followed the weigh in on Tile, helping out with the sums should Nigel Hull need it. Starting with Jamie, who said he clicked 199lb, after a few weighs and he had 200lb 1oz. Not likely to be beaten.
Me next and my estimates were not far out with 13lb 4oz weigher, 3lb 11oz for my 3 skimmers and then 110lb 15oz across my 2 carp nets totalled me up to 127lb 14oz. Not too shabby, and a day where my smallest fish was around the 6lb mark.
Ziggy had a hard day and weighed 26lb, then other than Keith Bilder who had 152lb 8oz, the rest weighed in the 40lb to 60lb region.(
The pegs down the causeway fared a bit better with 5 of the 10 anglers having 100lb+ (plus a 97lb net) culminating in Eric on peg 38 weighing 154lb 2oz.
Overall I finished up 5th in the match and on the lake as Brick was hard going with Mark struggling on peg 14 with 15lb and the lake was won with 73lb 14oz from peg 11 ahead of a level 73lb and then a 57lb. Top silvers on each lake was 25/26lb. As a pair Mark and I were equal 6th.
Results:
Brick Lake,
1st Jack Arpino 73lb 14oz peg 11
2nd Phil Wilkins 73lb peg 6
3rd John Fuidge 57lb 2oz peg 13
Tile Lake,
1st Jamie Cook 200lb 1oz peg 21
2nd Eric Fouracres 154lb 2oz peg 38
3rd Keith Bilder 152lb 8oz peg 25
Pairs Overall
1st Jack Arpino and Keith Bilder 4 points 226lb 2oz
2nd Jamie Cook and Phil Clapp 6 points 244lb 1oz 3rd Phil Wilkins and Nick Baggot 6 points 215lb 7oz
£220 was raised for St. Margarets Hospice, which was great.
Next week it is the next round of Tony's Float Only series, back at Sedges, so not an early start.
Until then, take care.
Lee
Wednesday, 11 July 2018
SWS/Haines Angling, Sedges 8th July 2018
It was due to be Durleigh on Sunday for the match that runs alongside the Silvers' Final at the venue, but I thought it was full as space was limited so managed to book into the SWS/Haines league match at Sedges as a stand-in.
I got to a rather full car park in plenty of time for the draw and said a few hi's and hello's to some before loading the trolley and waiting to crack on with the draw.
I wanted to be on Tile rather than my favoured Brick, just, if anything, to see if I can amend my 'clicking' after the numptiness of my last visit.
I paid my pools and waited in the queue for my turn to nab a ball from the basket, I got in after Mark Leader and pulled my favourite peg on the complex, peg 8, I was happy enough as it is a consistent area. For company I had Chris Haines on peg 7. Peg 10 wasn't drawn so I fancied whoever was on 9 to do well for sure.
There were loads of fish all over the lakes before the match began, they sort of vanished as expected with the commotion but a few remained as all of us were expecting a good day's sport.
I set up method feeder (not used), a pellet wag, a shallow pellet rig using my standard DT 0.1g Pinger. A silvers rig for 11m, a meat rig for 2+2 and a paste rig for over my shallow line around 16m out. Also an edge rig which remained unused.
Bait sorted, mostly 6 and 8mm pellets and meat but I had casters, dead reds and some paste. Mixed up some groundbait too.
It was bloody hot and expected to be over 30 degrees, lovely.
At the all in I started by feeding the various areas of my peg and started in the wag for 10 mins, nothing forthcoming. So on to the silvers line, 2 bites, 2 foul hooked carp, enough of that, I did not expect the skimmers to play ball in the sun and heat so I threw my silvers bait away just to save myself from picking it up again.
Out on the shallow pellet rig, a few slaps and nothing so I tried paste (I don't do paste and I seriously need to practice it to be fair). A couple missed 'bites' before I managed my 1 and only fish on this rig, a 5lber to finish off the opening hour.
The next 4.5hrs was pretty much hard going with just the odd fish getting caught all round. Actually I was doing ok up to a couple hours from the all out when I began to lose interest and my efforts all but vanished, maybe it was the heat and sun along with Chris on peg 7 doing well for most of the day fishing a simple pellet wag match, he had defo had the most on Brick Lake. I just couldn't get anything to work consistently, it would be a single fish here and a single fish there either on the wag or shallow on the pole.
My final 2hrs gave me the square root of nothing. My clickers were on 60lb and 6lb which was 9 fish and 1 fish respectively.
I reckoned Chris had around 125lb, so a decent tally for him,
At the all out I packed up then had a chat with a few guys, Brick had been hard and Tile had not fished as expected and a few struggled.
I loaded the car and managed to catch up with the scales that were working their way along the causeway pegs.
It was soon my turn and I managed to keep my clicking close with a total of 68lb.
I saw Chris weigh and he had 124lb 8oz and probably won the lake.
Tile fished hard-ish and Mark Leader had 106lb which included the top silvers on the day of only 12lb (7lb was 2nd best), maybe I should have fished for silvers, lol.
Someone had 108lb in a net and therefore fell fate to losing that net and his weight ended up as 2lb or so, unlucky.
On Brick we got down to Dave White on peg one, he said he had 13 carp, I guessed around 80lb for that. Well he totalled 73lb, so 1 fish ahead of me. There was a 19lb and 17lb carp weighed in the match too which boosted a couple guy's weights on the day.
The pegs 21 to 30 had been hard and Steve Martin was best with 91lb from that bank.
I waited around for the giving of monies and was happy enough to get my money back with a default 2nd in section behind Chris and Dave. I was 6th-ish overall on the day. Not so bad.
I really should have chucked the feeder out a couple of times for sure, but that's hindsight, maybe I should have set a depth pellet rig up, but I didn't and to be fair I never saw many guys catch in the deck during the day. I should have, however, put more effort in during that last 2hrs, I would have picked up at least another place, but unlikely to have caught 125lb.
RESULTS:
No idea where I am this weekend.
So until next time take care
Lee
I got to a rather full car park in plenty of time for the draw and said a few hi's and hello's to some before loading the trolley and waiting to crack on with the draw.
I wanted to be on Tile rather than my favoured Brick, just, if anything, to see if I can amend my 'clicking' after the numptiness of my last visit.
I paid my pools and waited in the queue for my turn to nab a ball from the basket, I got in after Mark Leader and pulled my favourite peg on the complex, peg 8, I was happy enough as it is a consistent area. For company I had Chris Haines on peg 7. Peg 10 wasn't drawn so I fancied whoever was on 9 to do well for sure.
There were loads of fish all over the lakes before the match began, they sort of vanished as expected with the commotion but a few remained as all of us were expecting a good day's sport.
I set up method feeder (not used), a pellet wag, a shallow pellet rig using my standard DT 0.1g Pinger. A silvers rig for 11m, a meat rig for 2+2 and a paste rig for over my shallow line around 16m out. Also an edge rig which remained unused.
Bait sorted, mostly 6 and 8mm pellets and meat but I had casters, dead reds and some paste. Mixed up some groundbait too.
 |
| Brick peg 8 |
At the all in I started by feeding the various areas of my peg and started in the wag for 10 mins, nothing forthcoming. So on to the silvers line, 2 bites, 2 foul hooked carp, enough of that, I did not expect the skimmers to play ball in the sun and heat so I threw my silvers bait away just to save myself from picking it up again.
Out on the shallow pellet rig, a few slaps and nothing so I tried paste (I don't do paste and I seriously need to practice it to be fair). A couple missed 'bites' before I managed my 1 and only fish on this rig, a 5lber to finish off the opening hour.
The next 4.5hrs was pretty much hard going with just the odd fish getting caught all round. Actually I was doing ok up to a couple hours from the all out when I began to lose interest and my efforts all but vanished, maybe it was the heat and sun along with Chris on peg 7 doing well for most of the day fishing a simple pellet wag match, he had defo had the most on Brick Lake. I just couldn't get anything to work consistently, it would be a single fish here and a single fish there either on the wag or shallow on the pole.
My final 2hrs gave me the square root of nothing. My clickers were on 60lb and 6lb which was 9 fish and 1 fish respectively.
I reckoned Chris had around 125lb, so a decent tally for him,
At the all out I packed up then had a chat with a few guys, Brick had been hard and Tile had not fished as expected and a few struggled.
I loaded the car and managed to catch up with the scales that were working their way along the causeway pegs.
It was soon my turn and I managed to keep my clicking close with a total of 68lb.
I saw Chris weigh and he had 124lb 8oz and probably won the lake.
Tile fished hard-ish and Mark Leader had 106lb which included the top silvers on the day of only 12lb (7lb was 2nd best), maybe I should have fished for silvers, lol.
Someone had 108lb in a net and therefore fell fate to losing that net and his weight ended up as 2lb or so, unlucky.
On Brick we got down to Dave White on peg one, he said he had 13 carp, I guessed around 80lb for that. Well he totalled 73lb, so 1 fish ahead of me. There was a 19lb and 17lb carp weighed in the match too which boosted a couple guy's weights on the day.
The pegs 21 to 30 had been hard and Steve Martin was best with 91lb from that bank.
I waited around for the giving of monies and was happy enough to get my money back with a default 2nd in section behind Chris and Dave. I was 6th-ish overall on the day. Not so bad.
I really should have chucked the feeder out a couple of times for sure, but that's hindsight, maybe I should have set a depth pellet rig up, but I didn't and to be fair I never saw many guys catch in the deck during the day. I should have, however, put more effort in during that last 2hrs, I would have picked up at least another place, but unlikely to have caught 125lb.
RESULTS:
1st, Chris Haines. 124lb Brick peg 7
2nd, Mark Leader. 106lb (top silvers also at 12lb) Tile peg 35 or 36 (I think)
2nd, Mark Leader. 106lb (top silvers also at 12lb) Tile peg 35 or 36 (I think)
Section 1 Brick pegs 1-10
David White. 73lb
Lee Williams. 68lb
David White. 73lb
Lee Williams. 68lb
Section 2 Tile pegs 31-40
Nigel Reeves. 77lb
Jamie Smith. 67lb
Nigel Reeves. 77lb
Jamie Smith. 67lb
Section 3 Tile pegs 21-30
Steve Martin. 91lb
Steve Musitano. 68lb
Steve Martin. 91lb
Steve Musitano. 68lb
No idea where I am this weekend.
So until next time take care
Lee
Sunday, 24 June 2018
Pawlett Match, Sedges Brick and Tile, 24-06-18
An early write up this week as I have stuff on during the week.
So there were 34 of us for this match, which is our blind pairs match, so another decent turnout, which is what we get. 17 on each lake.
Had my daughter with me today, she wanted to catch a few rays and do some revision. I am not sure how much she did as she slept on and off for a good proportion of the day.
After a natter with a few guys it was down to the draw, my preference was to draw on Brick, which has been patchy in comparison to Tile. But to be fair I wasn't massively fussed where I would end up.
I managed to get in to the basket about halfway down the rabble after Jamie Parkhouse and Paul Homewood had plucked their pegs. I pulled out peg 40 on Tile, I did double check as I don't often get flyers, but it is usually a good peg, but when it is not so good it tends to be utter pants. But no doubt it will be my last 'flyer' for the next year or so....
A few choice words from more than 1 (read 20) of the guys about my drawing ability, well they must of all had sunstroke and poor memories, but I was happy.
My 2 fave pegs on the complex, pegs 8 and 12 were taken by Mark Watts and Shawn Kittridge respectively, I would have still swapped my peg for theirs.
I got to my home for the day and it looked nice, but a fair bit of scum which was sort of drifting around the peg and could be a pain as it was quite thick, there were some fish in the upper layers and some fizzing in places so I figured I may get a few bites. A couple guys told me where to fish, which is basically a method feeder to a couple spots in the peg. I didn't want to do that thank you very much, I find the island in this peg a touch snaggy.
I went about setting up my kit, a pellet wag (unused). A method feeder for off to the island (one cast there, one lost hooklength).
A DT Pinger for shallow fishing on the pole at 16m initially in front.
A DT Big D for 16m off towards the end bank in a shallower area, meat would be used here.
A couple DT RBS floats were set up for the deeper water, 1st one off in the 10 o'clock direction just up a shelf at 16 but a good 7 or 8m away from the end bank, banded 8mm was the plan but I never baited this rig all day. The 2nd RBS was for meat off the near shelf to my left at 5m, but this rig never got used either.
For bait I had 8mm and 6mm pellets, some micros for the method. Some 8mm meat and some groundbait mixed (not fed, now frozen).
My company for the day, except Miss Williams, was Mike West on peg 1 and Kev Lock on peg 39.
The all horn sounded and I decided not to feed anywhere in the peg to start, just start at 16m pinging a few pellets. I managed to hook 8 fish, landing 3, in the first half hour. But they were, well I thought they were, small 3lb fish, the 5 lost were due to hook pulls, these small fish on the lake have small mouths and can come off easily.
Then the ripple went and it went quieter and bites harder to come by, but I would get the odd one and after the 1st hour I was on 20lb, a nice start. I decided to feed the meat line towards the end bank with a near full pot of meat. I carried on shallow, catching better when the ripple appeared. The peg was fizzing like mad, which I don't mind on this lake. So I did my usual of lobbing the method over the pole line, this is something I have done here for a few years now, it started off with only me doing it in the evening matches, but now more try it as a viable option rather than a 'what if' tactic.
Anyways a few quick fish on that before I went back on the pole shallow.
It was over 2.5hrs in and I had started to fire a few 6mm and 8mm pellets off in the 10 o'clock direction just to try and draw some extra fish in to the area and as an option should my main line in front slow.
By now I had a few quiet spells and had suffered over an hour without a fish, so a look on the long meat line bought me a small carp and my hopes rose, until the next few fish were small hybrids and skimmers, I decided to give up that line and just stick to my two 16m lines shallow fishing plus the odd look on the method. My clicker was on 60lb (100lb net limt) so I thought I would get a new net at 75lb should I miss calculate my weights.
A few more fish shallow and I sent the daughter get the 2nd carp net, maybe a couple hours of the match left, but then I had another quiet spell when I had no ripple. But when it did return I was getting a fish most chucks shallow, off both lines and the odd couple here or there on the method when in needed a drink.
The final 30 minutes was great as was at times lowering my rig in and the elastic was getting pulled out before the float settled, I bumped my clicker up to 59lb before 2 more fish, perhaps 5lb apiece were added, not clicked. So 70lb in that net, 150lb I thought I could have at a push.
The all out sounded and I packed up and loaded the car before we caught up with the scales up on peg 31 where Nick Selway had been. The best weight so far from the lake at this point was 92lb and there was a 90lb. As the scales carried on their duties I was watching the size of the fish and thought I may be struggling with the net limits as a couple of 2 fish weighs were 8 or 9lb, I would have clicked 6lb....!!
Keith had 107lb, Paul Squire had 101lb and the best silvers was 33lb to Pete Manning, plus a few others weighed before my turn. 2lb+ of accidental meat silvers. My smaller net weighed first, as I lifted it I did think I had gone over 100lb, 3 weighs later and I was 2oz shy of losing the net...phew.
My 2nd net, I knew it was going to be disqualified even before I lifted it as I had clicked 75lb which was 25 fish. Those 3lbers, going by the weights, were likely to have been 4lbs+ and so it proved as the 1st weigh was 50lb 5oz and it was obvious that the 2nd would be over that and when the went on the scales the needle hovered around 58 or 59lb before Jamie chucked them back and the net was lost, bugger. So I weighed in 102lb 2oz rather than the 211lb+ I actually had. Again I had a few choice words thrown at me, I didn't feel bad about not getting the weight more for the fact I know it pisses Jamie off somewhat and that's not me to intentionally to do that. I felt guilty on that side of things.
On with the weigh in and I caught back up with it after a chat with Mike West and saw Jamie take the lead from peg 9 with 140-something, pegs 10 and 11 struggled/dnw's before Shawn Kittridge moved into 2nd place with around 130lb from lovely peg 12. I then left them to it and made my way to the hut to wait for the results.
As it turned out I won my section and Mark Hembery and I won the blind pairs with 192lb+ so a little bit of a silver lining.
Those misjudgements prevented me taking the win, the money and a place in the All Winners Final next year, but such is life, thankfully I am a laid back guy who takes it (reasonably) well enough. It would have also been my 1st net of 200lb+ from Sedges in a match and my best match weight for a long long time. I actually think my new glasses make the fish look smaller than they weigh as a few weeks back at Summerhayes I clicked 66lb and had 112lb, again mostly '3lb fish'......hmmmm something to work on methinks.
I did enjoy it though and gave the new pole a tidy work out and I actually didn't mind fishing at 16m, it was nice to catch a few 1st time out on it.
Results:
1st, peg 9, Jamie Cook. 143lb 5oz
2nd, peg 12, Shawn Kittridge, 130lb 2oz
3rd, peg 37, Keith Clapp, 107lb
4th, peg 40, Lee Williams, 102lb 2oz (knocked back from circa 211lb)
5th, peg 36, Paul Squire, 101lb 9oz
Silvers:
1st, peg 33, Pete Manning, 33lb
2nd, peg 39, Kev Lock, 23lb 12oz
Next week it is the next round of the Float Only Series, at Todber for that next Sunday.
Enjoy the weather this week guys and girls, it is looking hot.
Until next time...
Lee
So there were 34 of us for this match, which is our blind pairs match, so another decent turnout, which is what we get. 17 on each lake.
Had my daughter with me today, she wanted to catch a few rays and do some revision. I am not sure how much she did as she slept on and off for a good proportion of the day.
After a natter with a few guys it was down to the draw, my preference was to draw on Brick, which has been patchy in comparison to Tile. But to be fair I wasn't massively fussed where I would end up.
I managed to get in to the basket about halfway down the rabble after Jamie Parkhouse and Paul Homewood had plucked their pegs. I pulled out peg 40 on Tile, I did double check as I don't often get flyers, but it is usually a good peg, but when it is not so good it tends to be utter pants. But no doubt it will be my last 'flyer' for the next year or so....
A few choice words from more than 1 (read 20) of the guys about my drawing ability, well they must of all had sunstroke and poor memories, but I was happy.
My 2 fave pegs on the complex, pegs 8 and 12 were taken by Mark Watts and Shawn Kittridge respectively, I would have still swapped my peg for theirs.
I got to my home for the day and it looked nice, but a fair bit of scum which was sort of drifting around the peg and could be a pain as it was quite thick, there were some fish in the upper layers and some fizzing in places so I figured I may get a few bites. A couple guys told me where to fish, which is basically a method feeder to a couple spots in the peg. I didn't want to do that thank you very much, I find the island in this peg a touch snaggy.
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| Peg $0, Tile Lake, Sedges. |
A DT Pinger for shallow fishing on the pole at 16m initially in front.
A DT Big D for 16m off towards the end bank in a shallower area, meat would be used here.
A couple DT RBS floats were set up for the deeper water, 1st one off in the 10 o'clock direction just up a shelf at 16 but a good 7 or 8m away from the end bank, banded 8mm was the plan but I never baited this rig all day. The 2nd RBS was for meat off the near shelf to my left at 5m, but this rig never got used either.
For bait I had 8mm and 6mm pellets, some micros for the method. Some 8mm meat and some groundbait mixed (not fed, now frozen).
My company for the day, except Miss Williams, was Mike West on peg 1 and Kev Lock on peg 39.
The all horn sounded and I decided not to feed anywhere in the peg to start, just start at 16m pinging a few pellets. I managed to hook 8 fish, landing 3, in the first half hour. But they were, well I thought they were, small 3lb fish, the 5 lost were due to hook pulls, these small fish on the lake have small mouths and can come off easily.
Then the ripple went and it went quieter and bites harder to come by, but I would get the odd one and after the 1st hour I was on 20lb, a nice start. I decided to feed the meat line towards the end bank with a near full pot of meat. I carried on shallow, catching better when the ripple appeared. The peg was fizzing like mad, which I don't mind on this lake. So I did my usual of lobbing the method over the pole line, this is something I have done here for a few years now, it started off with only me doing it in the evening matches, but now more try it as a viable option rather than a 'what if' tactic.
Anyways a few quick fish on that before I went back on the pole shallow.
It was over 2.5hrs in and I had started to fire a few 6mm and 8mm pellets off in the 10 o'clock direction just to try and draw some extra fish in to the area and as an option should my main line in front slow.
By now I had a few quiet spells and had suffered over an hour without a fish, so a look on the long meat line bought me a small carp and my hopes rose, until the next few fish were small hybrids and skimmers, I decided to give up that line and just stick to my two 16m lines shallow fishing plus the odd look on the method. My clicker was on 60lb (100lb net limt) so I thought I would get a new net at 75lb should I miss calculate my weights.
A few more fish shallow and I sent the daughter get the 2nd carp net, maybe a couple hours of the match left, but then I had another quiet spell when I had no ripple. But when it did return I was getting a fish most chucks shallow, off both lines and the odd couple here or there on the method when in needed a drink.
The final 30 minutes was great as was at times lowering my rig in and the elastic was getting pulled out before the float settled, I bumped my clicker up to 59lb before 2 more fish, perhaps 5lb apiece were added, not clicked. So 70lb in that net, 150lb I thought I could have at a push.
The all out sounded and I packed up and loaded the car before we caught up with the scales up on peg 31 where Nick Selway had been. The best weight so far from the lake at this point was 92lb and there was a 90lb. As the scales carried on their duties I was watching the size of the fish and thought I may be struggling with the net limits as a couple of 2 fish weighs were 8 or 9lb, I would have clicked 6lb....!!
Keith had 107lb, Paul Squire had 101lb and the best silvers was 33lb to Pete Manning, plus a few others weighed before my turn. 2lb+ of accidental meat silvers. My smaller net weighed first, as I lifted it I did think I had gone over 100lb, 3 weighs later and I was 2oz shy of losing the net...phew.
My 2nd net, I knew it was going to be disqualified even before I lifted it as I had clicked 75lb which was 25 fish. Those 3lbers, going by the weights, were likely to have been 4lbs+ and so it proved as the 1st weigh was 50lb 5oz and it was obvious that the 2nd would be over that and when the went on the scales the needle hovered around 58 or 59lb before Jamie chucked them back and the net was lost, bugger. So I weighed in 102lb 2oz rather than the 211lb+ I actually had. Again I had a few choice words thrown at me, I didn't feel bad about not getting the weight more for the fact I know it pisses Jamie off somewhat and that's not me to intentionally to do that. I felt guilty on that side of things.
On with the weigh in and I caught back up with it after a chat with Mike West and saw Jamie take the lead from peg 9 with 140-something, pegs 10 and 11 struggled/dnw's before Shawn Kittridge moved into 2nd place with around 130lb from lovely peg 12. I then left them to it and made my way to the hut to wait for the results.
As it turned out I won my section and Mark Hembery and I won the blind pairs with 192lb+ so a little bit of a silver lining.
Those misjudgements prevented me taking the win, the money and a place in the All Winners Final next year, but such is life, thankfully I am a laid back guy who takes it (reasonably) well enough. It would have also been my 1st net of 200lb+ from Sedges in a match and my best match weight for a long long time. I actually think my new glasses make the fish look smaller than they weigh as a few weeks back at Summerhayes I clicked 66lb and had 112lb, again mostly '3lb fish'......hmmmm something to work on methinks.
I did enjoy it though and gave the new pole a tidy work out and I actually didn't mind fishing at 16m, it was nice to catch a few 1st time out on it.
 |
| Weigh Sheets... |
1st, peg 9, Jamie Cook. 143lb 5oz
2nd, peg 12, Shawn Kittridge, 130lb 2oz
3rd, peg 37, Keith Clapp, 107lb
4th, peg 40, Lee Williams, 102lb 2oz (knocked back from circa 211lb)
5th, peg 36, Paul Squire, 101lb 9oz
Silvers:
1st, peg 33, Pete Manning, 33lb
2nd, peg 39, Kev Lock, 23lb 12oz
Next week it is the next round of the Float Only Series, at Todber for that next Sunday.
Enjoy the weather this week guys and girls, it is looking hot.
Until next time...
Lee
Thursday, 12 April 2018
Pawlett Match, Sedges Brick and Tile, Silvers only. 8-4-18
The yearly Silvers only match at Sedges usually gets a decent crowd and this year was no different as nearly all of the 40 pegs were taken. Some decent anglers fishing, including the in-form John Fuidge, who has been picking up the wins in the silvers matches and payouts here (plus elsewhere) for the last few months.
The weather was set dry, yay, but mild, which would no doubt attract the carp into feeding. The last couple of years I have probably had over 80lb of them during the corresponding match. I doubted that it would be any different.
I arrived for the draw in reasonable time and didn't get to chat as much as usual, it was the 'hello and how are you?' only chatter before the basket was attacked by a flurry of hands.
I waited til near the end, behind Mr Fuidge, whom I commented 'which peg are you ganna win from?', he smiled and drew peg 17.....nice silvers peg. Me, well I pulled peg 28 on Tile, not where I fancied as Brick would be hard to beat now the temps are a little better. Plus I am less confident on Tile, I actually think my last time on here was around a year ago.
Off to my peg and setting up I thought I was the last angler on that bank as peg 29 was empty.
A small feeder rod was set up for around 30m in front.
3 pole rigs, a DT Floats' Pencil for my left edge and over my longer lines shallow, I did set up an F1/Silvers float for the same line but it fell off the connector with the plummet attached so there is a nice float, 4ft of line and a plummet in front of peg 28 somewhere at 2+2 distance.
The next rig was for 2+3 in front where I would feed micros and 4mm pellets, the float was an RBS open water in 0.6g. I had a band on this rig, but I never picked it up all match.
The next rig was the same as the above but with a normal hook, Guru F1 pellet in size 18 my choice. This was for an area at 14m where I would be feeding groundbait and caster.
My side tray had micros, 4s, maggots, caster and some expanders. Plus a handful of (unused) 6mm pellets for the band.
I did plumb an area off to my left in peg 29, but 15 or 20 minutes after the draw Rob Dodd turned up for the end peg advantage, he doesn't need any help, he is a tidy silvers angler.
On my right I had Mark Watts on peg 27. I could just about make out Paul Homewood opposite me but I could see Shawn Kittridge over on peg 39.
On the all-in I cupped 4 decent balls of groundbait on the long line and a pot of micros short, plus I threw some casters down to my left.
I began on the feeder for half an hour, only a couple knocks in that time, but Rob had maybe 5lb on the pole. Shawn too had began well.
It was around an hour for my 1st fish, a skimmer on the long pole line, this was around 6oz, but it was very slow going and it seemed that only Rob and Shawn were catching.
Oh I did have a carp on single maggot, I got it in, perhaps 16lb. It is great how much you can pull with light kit and not get busted.
A couple more carp for me, and Mark and even Rob got in on the act....the difference being that Rib would be getting silvers between the carp.
Mark struggled all match and ended up at the end of the match with 3 small silvers, so unlucky him.
I kept trying shallowing my rig as I was getting liners and bumped a couple foul hookers but to no avail. At the halfway stage I managed a proper skimmer of 2.5lb or so from my short line on expander, that was a one off, except for the odd rogue carp.
A switch to the feeder so I could have a cuppa surprised me when a couple of skimmers of 1lb each came within minutes of each other.
I would love to say that the last few hours were super productive but they were not, pretty much the whole lake switched off and except the odd eel and solitary skimmer it was the occasional roach occupying us all, well except Rob on peg 29 who despite losing a couple lumpy foul hooked skiimers was still putting the odd smaller one in the net.
The last hour did see me put another 1lb skimmer to my tally, caught down my left edge. Then a couple roach and a couple 6oz skimmers ended my match.
I reckoned that I had around 11lb and Doddy perhaps 19 to 20lb after his spurt in the opening hour.
I packed my kit up and waited for the scales. By the time pegs 21 to 67 had weighed there were several 8lb nets. My hard earned catch weighed in at 13lb 4oz. Quite happy with that really but I knew Rob had more and my 19lb 12oz guess was closer than his 15lb guess....he had 19lb 4oz.
I went and loaded my car before following the remainder of Brick's weigh in.
A quick look at the weight on my lake and Pete Cooke had 17lb 9oz from peg 38 that put me 3rd on the lake, happy with that.
A glance at the weights on Brick showed several double figure weights including 23lb 15oz to Kev Crouch on peg 7 and Rich Coles had 19lb 4oz from peg 5.
We were round on peg 13 to see Giffy have a nice net of fish which weighed 19lb exactly before Derek Beards had 20lb and that man John Fuidge was last to trouble the scales with a net of fish including a couple tench and a crucian, his winning net was 27lb 1oz. He did say he lost and foul hooked well over a dozen decent skimmers and that he could not figure the fish out and how to get them feeding better. But he had done enough.
Results:
1st, John Fuidge, 27-01. P17
2nd, Kev Crouch, 23-15. P7
3rd, Derek Beards, 20-09. P14
So a tricky day and I never got the lake I wanted in Brick but I was personally pleased with my weight and considering I didn't expect Tile to beat Brick.
Next up at the moment is the next Acorn Series round next weekend, no plans as yet for this weekend. But I bought me a ZT Pro so perhaps hook tying is the agenda.....that or Todber on Saturday.
Until then take care.
Lee
The weather was set dry, yay, but mild, which would no doubt attract the carp into feeding. The last couple of years I have probably had over 80lb of them during the corresponding match. I doubted that it would be any different.
I arrived for the draw in reasonable time and didn't get to chat as much as usual, it was the 'hello and how are you?' only chatter before the basket was attacked by a flurry of hands.
I waited til near the end, behind Mr Fuidge, whom I commented 'which peg are you ganna win from?', he smiled and drew peg 17.....nice silvers peg. Me, well I pulled peg 28 on Tile, not where I fancied as Brick would be hard to beat now the temps are a little better. Plus I am less confident on Tile, I actually think my last time on here was around a year ago.
Off to my peg and setting up I thought I was the last angler on that bank as peg 29 was empty.
A small feeder rod was set up for around 30m in front.
3 pole rigs, a DT Floats' Pencil for my left edge and over my longer lines shallow, I did set up an F1/Silvers float for the same line but it fell off the connector with the plummet attached so there is a nice float, 4ft of line and a plummet in front of peg 28 somewhere at 2+2 distance.
The next rig was for 2+3 in front where I would feed micros and 4mm pellets, the float was an RBS open water in 0.6g. I had a band on this rig, but I never picked it up all match.
The next rig was the same as the above but with a normal hook, Guru F1 pellet in size 18 my choice. This was for an area at 14m where I would be feeding groundbait and caster.
My side tray had micros, 4s, maggots, caster and some expanders. Plus a handful of (unused) 6mm pellets for the band.
I did plumb an area off to my left in peg 29, but 15 or 20 minutes after the draw Rob Dodd turned up for the end peg advantage, he doesn't need any help, he is a tidy silvers angler.
On my right I had Mark Watts on peg 27. I could just about make out Paul Homewood opposite me but I could see Shawn Kittridge over on peg 39.
On the all-in I cupped 4 decent balls of groundbait on the long line and a pot of micros short, plus I threw some casters down to my left.
I began on the feeder for half an hour, only a couple knocks in that time, but Rob had maybe 5lb on the pole. Shawn too had began well.
It was around an hour for my 1st fish, a skimmer on the long pole line, this was around 6oz, but it was very slow going and it seemed that only Rob and Shawn were catching.
Oh I did have a carp on single maggot, I got it in, perhaps 16lb. It is great how much you can pull with light kit and not get busted.
A couple more carp for me, and Mark and even Rob got in on the act....the difference being that Rib would be getting silvers between the carp.
Mark struggled all match and ended up at the end of the match with 3 small silvers, so unlucky him.
I kept trying shallowing my rig as I was getting liners and bumped a couple foul hookers but to no avail. At the halfway stage I managed a proper skimmer of 2.5lb or so from my short line on expander, that was a one off, except for the odd rogue carp.
A switch to the feeder so I could have a cuppa surprised me when a couple of skimmers of 1lb each came within minutes of each other.
I would love to say that the last few hours were super productive but they were not, pretty much the whole lake switched off and except the odd eel and solitary skimmer it was the occasional roach occupying us all, well except Rob on peg 29 who despite losing a couple lumpy foul hooked skiimers was still putting the odd smaller one in the net.
The last hour did see me put another 1lb skimmer to my tally, caught down my left edge. Then a couple roach and a couple 6oz skimmers ended my match.
I reckoned that I had around 11lb and Doddy perhaps 19 to 20lb after his spurt in the opening hour.
I packed my kit up and waited for the scales. By the time pegs 21 to 67 had weighed there were several 8lb nets. My hard earned catch weighed in at 13lb 4oz. Quite happy with that really but I knew Rob had more and my 19lb 12oz guess was closer than his 15lb guess....he had 19lb 4oz.
I went and loaded my car before following the remainder of Brick's weigh in.
A quick look at the weight on my lake and Pete Cooke had 17lb 9oz from peg 38 that put me 3rd on the lake, happy with that.
A glance at the weights on Brick showed several double figure weights including 23lb 15oz to Kev Crouch on peg 7 and Rich Coles had 19lb 4oz from peg 5.
We were round on peg 13 to see Giffy have a nice net of fish which weighed 19lb exactly before Derek Beards had 20lb and that man John Fuidge was last to trouble the scales with a net of fish including a couple tench and a crucian, his winning net was 27lb 1oz. He did say he lost and foul hooked well over a dozen decent skimmers and that he could not figure the fish out and how to get them feeding better. But he had done enough.
Results:
1st, John Fuidge, 27-01. P17
2nd, Kev Crouch, 23-15. P7
3rd, Derek Beards, 20-09. P14
So a tricky day and I never got the lake I wanted in Brick but I was personally pleased with my weight and considering I didn't expect Tile to beat Brick.
Next up at the moment is the next Acorn Series round next weekend, no plans as yet for this weekend. But I bought me a ZT Pro so perhaps hook tying is the agenda.....that or Todber on Saturday.
Until then take care.
Lee
Wednesday, 4 April 2018
Easter 4 Day Weekend, Landsend, Sedges, Shiplate. 30/03/18 - 02/04/18
So the 4 day weekend has been and gone for another year, sadly we never saw the weather we wanted (well at least I wanted it kind of hot and sunny). But it was not as bad as the doom sayers predicted not a few weeks earlier, we didn't have a 3rd episode of the 'Beast from the East' nor was it a wash out.
Any way the Friday was spent in the company of my family at Tyntesfield House near Clevedon, that was nice, better in the summer no doubt. Being National Trust members is great and gets us out of the house when boredom sets in. After that it was burgers at the Bridge Inn then I went and had a quick look at the Charlie Barnes memorial match at Acorn, a silvers match, plenty of carp caught....the top 3 were taken by the Shipp's on the top lake.
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On to Saturday and I had booked into the Landsend match and the weather looked okay with very little in the way of rain predicted but the wind may have been pain, but generally it was ok.
We had 17 I think, so Lakes 2 and 3 were used, I didn't mind where I would be but I haven't been on a peg in the 20's for a long time, alas I drew the same peg as the last round of the winter series in peg 68. No pics sorry (actually no pics all weekend....) I remarked to Mark Walsh that he would catch a boat load of F1s from his peg 5 draw, he insisted he would catch skimmers....
I set up a shallow pellet rig for against the island, a depth pellet rig for the same spot and this rig also did down to the weed bed to my right.
A meat rig for 6m off to my left and a light carp rig (heavy silvers?) for 5m in front.
For company I had Jim Jenner across on peg 41, he had Russ Peck further along from him on 46 (I think).
Anyway as the match goes, I wont go into much detail, I lost 4 foul hooked on the depth rig in the first 10 minutes or so but couldn't get any fish on the shallow rig, they seemed to just be mulling around all day.
I did start getting a few on the depth rig by the island, 8 or 9 carp and 3 small F1s by the half way stage. But the carp were small compared to Russ and Jim.
It slowed so I tried the meat line, this gave me 3 carp including my largest at 4lb.
Then for the last 90 minutes I focused on trying to catch some silvers as I was unsure how Mike Duckett was paying the pools, so at least I could try to cover my options as it seemed unlikely I would catch Jim and definitely I would not catch Russ.
I managed plenty of roach, a crucian and a few skimmers on the silvers (I fished caster or maggot over groundbait) but I did pick up a few carp there and also some carp by the weed bed where I hoped to get F1s (count here as silvers).
At the all out I had 18 or 19 carp and my clicker showed 53lb, plus perhaps 10 or 12lb of silvers.
As it turned out Lake 2 was tricky as Steve Seager was top weight from peg 14, 54lb+. But Walshy had 23lb of F1s to win the Silvers from peg 5, Martin Pettifer had 18-09 of silvers from peg 11.
Jim weighed in first on lake 3 with 79lb, Russ then had 123lb (I told him he had 120lb as I had been watching...lol). The rest of the guys' were topped by 49lb then I was last to weigh and I had 18-02 of silvers and my carp, all 56-12 of them, pushed me up to 74-14 to give me 3rd overall and 3rd in the silvers and a nice pick-up.
Results:
1st peg 46 Russ Peck 123-13
2nd peg 41 Jim Jenner 79-02
3rd peg 68 Lee Williams 74-14
4th peg 14 Steve Seager 54-01
5th peg 62 Richard Lovering 49-02
6th peg 5 Mark Walsh 45-12
Silvers
1st peg 5 Mark Walsh 23-08
2nd peg 11 Martin Pettifer 18-09
3rd peg 68 Lee Williams 18-02
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Sunday saw me covering at Sedges in the last round of the Silver League and I pulled out peg 7 on Brick Lake, not too bad really but thought I had my work cut out when I realised I had venue silvers expert Phil Clapp on peg 6 and my White Acres roomy, Jamie Parkhouse on my fave peg 8.
The wife was with me for this match, it was muddy, but she was happy enough and can take the banter.
On to the match, a small feeder was made up, a rig for banded 6mm pellet over 4s at 11m (fishless during the day), my usual meat rig for 6m (fishless for once), and a rig to fish at 13m in a couple spots (one groundbait, the other micros and caster). Oh and another rig that went fishless, that was nan edge rig and would double as a shallow rig at 13m.
Well the match was hard to say the least, the far side started well but slowed (except Jess Jordan) and other than 1 skimmer of 1lb at the halfway stage, the feeder was motionless, I did manage a handful of skimmers to 2lb on my groundbait line, including a couple foul hooked. I also had a tench on the micro/caster line after I potted the best part of a pint of caster in such was how slow it was going.
The odd roach was also added to my net but not many.
Jamie tipped back 2 decent skimmers/bream and a couple roach, maybe 7.5lb, before the all out.
Peg 9 had don't ok but said he was only getting smaller skimmers.
Phil on peg 6 had a couple tench and some decent skimmers and lost a proper skimmer late on, but I had one come off, we all lose fish. I banked on him beating me and also peg 9, so I figured no envelope.
During the course of the day all 4 of us (pegs 6, 7, 8 and 9) all had plenty of carp action, especially late on and especially Phil. Annoying but kind of fun at times.
Come the all out Phil said I was 3lb ahead of him, I laughed.
The weigh in was done and Eric Fouracre had 19lb from peg 1 then there were some nets to 12lb before Phil had 15lb-ish only for me to put 17lb on the scales and peg 9 had around 13lb I think.
So I had won my section and another pick-up.
Actually Jess Jordan had 24lb from peg 13 to win the lake and match.
Tile Lake saw John Fuidge have top weight with 21lb or so and then weights tailed off a bit with 13lb maybe 2nd on the lake.
I think, not certain, that I was 5th on the day, but I was 3rd on the lake.
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Monday, well the weather forecasters are tits, they said it would be windy and rainy most of the day when I went to bed Sunday night, so a day at home was on the cards.
I woke to see the weather had changed and it looked predominantly dry for the day, but a breezy afternoon.
I was undecided what to do and eventually was persuaded to go to Shiplate, well I was going to be late arriving after only deciding to go 30 mins before the draw, so I rushed around sorting my kit and bait, loaded the car and me and the wife were on our way, 30 mins after the draw I had a pick of 2 pegs in the bucket, peg 6 and peg 12 were left, I ended up on the latter.
I rushed to set up but was almost done by the all in.
I wont bore you with the details as it was hard from peg 7 onwards with the top 3 spots from pegs 5 (empty peg 6 next to him), peg 1 and then peg 3. Ray Wickham won the silvers form peg 10.
I did manage to land 1 carp after 90 minutes, a 4lber on banded 6mm pellet over 4s, I did lose, probably foul hooked, during the day, well in the last 30 minutes.
I managed a few silvers on maggot over groundbait but I also had some come off, they may have cost me 2nd in the silvers, they may not have, I will never know but they felt decent. But I did beat few, so at least it proved it wasn't completely or only me that had a slow day.
But it is a great fishery that I don't get to fish too often, well maintained and very welcoming owners, I will try and get there a few times this year.
Results:
John Hawkins p5. 101-14
Julian Pinkett p1. 57-14
Mark Jones p3. 42-0
Silvers
Ray Wickham p10. 10-6
Ritchie Hawkins p8. 7-2.
Any way the Friday was spent in the company of my family at Tyntesfield House near Clevedon, that was nice, better in the summer no doubt. Being National Trust members is great and gets us out of the house when boredom sets in. After that it was burgers at the Bridge Inn then I went and had a quick look at the Charlie Barnes memorial match at Acorn, a silvers match, plenty of carp caught....the top 3 were taken by the Shipp's on the top lake.
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On to Saturday and I had booked into the Landsend match and the weather looked okay with very little in the way of rain predicted but the wind may have been pain, but generally it was ok.
We had 17 I think, so Lakes 2 and 3 were used, I didn't mind where I would be but I haven't been on a peg in the 20's for a long time, alas I drew the same peg as the last round of the winter series in peg 68. No pics sorry (actually no pics all weekend....) I remarked to Mark Walsh that he would catch a boat load of F1s from his peg 5 draw, he insisted he would catch skimmers....
I set up a shallow pellet rig for against the island, a depth pellet rig for the same spot and this rig also did down to the weed bed to my right.
A meat rig for 6m off to my left and a light carp rig (heavy silvers?) for 5m in front.
For company I had Jim Jenner across on peg 41, he had Russ Peck further along from him on 46 (I think).
Anyway as the match goes, I wont go into much detail, I lost 4 foul hooked on the depth rig in the first 10 minutes or so but couldn't get any fish on the shallow rig, they seemed to just be mulling around all day.
I did start getting a few on the depth rig by the island, 8 or 9 carp and 3 small F1s by the half way stage. But the carp were small compared to Russ and Jim.
It slowed so I tried the meat line, this gave me 3 carp including my largest at 4lb.
Then for the last 90 minutes I focused on trying to catch some silvers as I was unsure how Mike Duckett was paying the pools, so at least I could try to cover my options as it seemed unlikely I would catch Jim and definitely I would not catch Russ.
I managed plenty of roach, a crucian and a few skimmers on the silvers (I fished caster or maggot over groundbait) but I did pick up a few carp there and also some carp by the weed bed where I hoped to get F1s (count here as silvers).
At the all out I had 18 or 19 carp and my clicker showed 53lb, plus perhaps 10 or 12lb of silvers.
As it turned out Lake 2 was tricky as Steve Seager was top weight from peg 14, 54lb+. But Walshy had 23lb of F1s to win the Silvers from peg 5, Martin Pettifer had 18-09 of silvers from peg 11.
Jim weighed in first on lake 3 with 79lb, Russ then had 123lb (I told him he had 120lb as I had been watching...lol). The rest of the guys' were topped by 49lb then I was last to weigh and I had 18-02 of silvers and my carp, all 56-12 of them, pushed me up to 74-14 to give me 3rd overall and 3rd in the silvers and a nice pick-up.
Results:
1st peg 46 Russ Peck 123-13
2nd peg 41 Jim Jenner 79-02
3rd peg 68 Lee Williams 74-14
4th peg 14 Steve Seager 54-01
5th peg 62 Richard Lovering 49-02
6th peg 5 Mark Walsh 45-12
Silvers
1st peg 5 Mark Walsh 23-08
2nd peg 11 Martin Pettifer 18-09
3rd peg 68 Lee Williams 18-02
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Sunday saw me covering at Sedges in the last round of the Silver League and I pulled out peg 7 on Brick Lake, not too bad really but thought I had my work cut out when I realised I had venue silvers expert Phil Clapp on peg 6 and my White Acres roomy, Jamie Parkhouse on my fave peg 8.
The wife was with me for this match, it was muddy, but she was happy enough and can take the banter.
On to the match, a small feeder was made up, a rig for banded 6mm pellet over 4s at 11m (fishless during the day), my usual meat rig for 6m (fishless for once), and a rig to fish at 13m in a couple spots (one groundbait, the other micros and caster). Oh and another rig that went fishless, that was nan edge rig and would double as a shallow rig at 13m.
Well the match was hard to say the least, the far side started well but slowed (except Jess Jordan) and other than 1 skimmer of 1lb at the halfway stage, the feeder was motionless, I did manage a handful of skimmers to 2lb on my groundbait line, including a couple foul hooked. I also had a tench on the micro/caster line after I potted the best part of a pint of caster in such was how slow it was going.
The odd roach was also added to my net but not many.
Jamie tipped back 2 decent skimmers/bream and a couple roach, maybe 7.5lb, before the all out.
Peg 9 had don't ok but said he was only getting smaller skimmers.
Phil on peg 6 had a couple tench and some decent skimmers and lost a proper skimmer late on, but I had one come off, we all lose fish. I banked on him beating me and also peg 9, so I figured no envelope.
During the course of the day all 4 of us (pegs 6, 7, 8 and 9) all had plenty of carp action, especially late on and especially Phil. Annoying but kind of fun at times.
Come the all out Phil said I was 3lb ahead of him, I laughed.
The weigh in was done and Eric Fouracre had 19lb from peg 1 then there were some nets to 12lb before Phil had 15lb-ish only for me to put 17lb on the scales and peg 9 had around 13lb I think.
So I had won my section and another pick-up.
Actually Jess Jordan had 24lb from peg 13 to win the lake and match.
Tile Lake saw John Fuidge have top weight with 21lb or so and then weights tailed off a bit with 13lb maybe 2nd on the lake.
I think, not certain, that I was 5th on the day, but I was 3rd on the lake.
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Monday, well the weather forecasters are tits, they said it would be windy and rainy most of the day when I went to bed Sunday night, so a day at home was on the cards.
I woke to see the weather had changed and it looked predominantly dry for the day, but a breezy afternoon.
I was undecided what to do and eventually was persuaded to go to Shiplate, well I was going to be late arriving after only deciding to go 30 mins before the draw, so I rushed around sorting my kit and bait, loaded the car and me and the wife were on our way, 30 mins after the draw I had a pick of 2 pegs in the bucket, peg 6 and peg 12 were left, I ended up on the latter.
I rushed to set up but was almost done by the all in.
I wont bore you with the details as it was hard from peg 7 onwards with the top 3 spots from pegs 5 (empty peg 6 next to him), peg 1 and then peg 3. Ray Wickham won the silvers form peg 10.
I did manage to land 1 carp after 90 minutes, a 4lber on banded 6mm pellet over 4s, I did lose, probably foul hooked, during the day, well in the last 30 minutes.
I managed a few silvers on maggot over groundbait but I also had some come off, they may have cost me 2nd in the silvers, they may not have, I will never know but they felt decent. But I did beat few, so at least it proved it wasn't completely or only me that had a slow day.
But it is a great fishery that I don't get to fish too often, well maintained and very welcoming owners, I will try and get there a few times this year.
Results:
John Hawkins p5. 101-14
Julian Pinkett p1. 57-14
Mark Jones p3. 42-0
Silvers
Ray Wickham p10. 10-6
Ritchie Hawkins p8. 7-2.
So a nice 3 days fishing with a couple pick ups and a few bites if not some tricky fishing at times.
Next weekend I am at Acorn for the 1st round of the Spring/Summer Series on Saturday, there are some very good anglers fishing, but it is a nice fishery and am looking forward to it.
Sunday I am back at Sedges for Pawlett's Silvers match.
Until then, take care and have fun.
Lee
Monday, 20 November 2017
Sedges Brick Lake, Matt Culpin's Series. 19-11-17
Another opportunity to cover in the series, the last round of which was on Sunday at Sedges, on Brick Lake. I could have been fishing the Parrett with Pawlett, but I had done zero prep so didn't commit.
An early 8:30am draw was on the cards, thankfully it is 5 mins from my house so a nice lay-in way past 7am. No wind and not too cold, but we had seen an awful lot of cold rain overnight and Saturday was cool with a nippy northerly breeze. I wasn't expecting most of us to do great, maybe 8 round to 13 would be the best area to draw, but that was one section, the other 2 were the rest of the pegs on either bank (1-7 and 14-20) if I am correct. I would be happy with any peg from 5 up and around to 15 to be fair. So after a natter and a cuppa from Denise we drew our pegs.
No surprise to see drawbags Mark Thorne and Steve 'Peanut' Howell draw the favoured pegs 11 and 10 respectively. But my favourite peg on the lake, peg 12, went to Russ Peck. Me, well my rather dire attempt at drawing a 'flyer' failed again when peg 17 was my pluck from the basket. I pushed my barrow round and proceeded to set my kit up...........on peg 18. Only pointed out by John Dursley who was meant to be on there. So I shuffled along, as did Wayne on peg 17 (moved to 16).
I set up a few bits and bobs in the 60 minutes we had to get ready, fishing 9:30-15:30.
A waggler for maggot at 25m, a small cage feeder for the same area.
A topkit aimed for roach down my right edge didn't give a bite, just a snag that ate hooks!!
A line at 14m for banded 4mm over wet 4's and micros. DT RBS Open Water in 0.8g.
A line at 11m for maggots over my So Simple Bait's BMG/Bog combo using a light 0.3g DT F1/Silvers float. Lastly a meat rig for just past the shelf at around 6m off at a slight angle to the right. I used a DT RBS Margin for this rig.
I had, by the obvious fish activity, decided that it was only the section money to fish for, maybe the silvers if I got lucky as silvers ace Ron Stark was on peg 8 and I fancied that to produce. The overall silvers winner and match winners get the same prize and 3 section winners are paid.
At the all-in I was not ready, but I was not the only one. But I got a smallish helping of feed onto the various lines before trying the waggler, hoping for an early carp or 2 should they be in the vicinity.
Within half an hour I had bumped a decent fish, probably a liner, and I had a smallish skimmer fall off just out of netting range. But it was slow. Simon Ryall on peg 20 had lost a carp and landed one. While I could see pegs 10, 11 and 12 all had caught a few carp as expected.
I carried on fishing the waggler as was John on peg 18, he had a couple small skimmers but it wasn't fast and furious. Then he had a moment....He went to sink his line and the top half of the top section of his waggler rod snapped, putting paid to his running line float fishing for the day.
It was about an hour into the match when I had my first few fish, all 2-3oz roach on the waggler, I had 4 of these. A few other peeps I could see had yet to catch, or even have a bite.
In on the pole line and I tried the long pellet line and expected a fish or 2 from here, but it never happened, actually I never caught a fish off that area all day, similarly my banker meat line never saw the float move in all the times I tried it throughout the day.
A couple of hours passed and only the odd roach was entering the keepnet, while the 3 up the far end never seemed to stop catching, Russ Peck and Mark Thorne were even catching on the pellet wag.
For the rest of it, well it was tricky going. Just the odd carp here of there coming out to Emma Drysdale and Matt Culpin on the pegs opposite. Simon on peg 20 was on 2 carp but not seen a fish for a while. Jon Page on p1 was blanking, waiting for his 1st bite, he was not the only one either.
At the halfway stage I managed to catch an eel over the groundbait and then a 12oz skimmer on the feeder, my only bite on that even though I only chucked it out while having a cuppa. Bites on the waggler had stopped.
John had a couple decent skimmers on the pole but was getting missed bites but went on to catch an eel and lose a foul hooked one.
Paul Berry came around and chatted for a while and he said Saturday was tricky going and only had a couple decent skimmers.
A few rig adjustments thanks to missed bites and liners saw another skimmer find it's way to my keepnet with 2hrs to go, this was followed by 3 more, the largest around 3lb. Then it died again.
Though Jonny on peg 1 did hook a carp, probably foul hooked, his 1st bite of the day.....and he lost it after playing it a while!!
A couple roach on the waggler and another over the groundbait pushed me into the last hour probably just ahead of John on peg 18, but then he had another skimmer of 2lb or so and lost a foul hooked one. Then I managed another 2 skimmers around 1lb each. But with 30 minutes to go John again had an eel and a small skimmer. I never had another bite.
Elsewhere it looked close for the outright win between pegs 11 and 12, Mark Thorne and Russ Peck going fish for fish all day. Adrian Jeffery had 3 and lost 1 carp I think, all in the last 45 minutes from peg 15, Wayne Staples added 2 or 3 skimmers in the remaining 20 minutes to add to his few roach.
The all-out was called, my kit was packed away and put in the car. I reckoned on 8lb of silvers, John said I had a couple pounds more than him, he said he had 8lb.....
I caught up with the scales at peg 11 and 6lb 5oz was top silvers and 70lb was top overall to Peanut on p10. Mark Thorne had 115lb and just edged Russ into 2nd, Russ had 113lb so well done those 2. Adrian had 12lb for his carp.
Not much followed as Wayne went into the silvers lead with 6lb 6oz.
I then chucked my 8lb of fish in the sling and onto the scales and they had grown to 16lb.....oooppss!!
Slightly out there then. John's 8lb was 12lb, so he was slightly out also.
Simon on peg 20 ended with 3 carp and they amassed 24lb and he won the section with that.
Results-rounded to the nearest lb:
1st, Mark Thorne, p11, 115lb
2nd, Russ Peck, p12, 113lb
3rd, Steve Howell, p10, 70lb
Silvers:
1st, Lee Williams, p17, 16lb
2nd, John Dursley, p18, 12lb
So sixty-odd quid in the pocket on a tricky day was a decent result, but as expected it fished hard for the majority, and I made the right choice targeting the silvers, though I didn't expect to top the pegs I did. I learned a few things during the day which will defo come in handy.
I fed nearly 2kg of groundbait, 1/2pt of caster and 1pt of maggots through this.
Next up for me is Viaduct Silvers League round 5......though I may go somewhere Saturday.
Until then, enjoy yourselves.
Lee
An early 8:30am draw was on the cards, thankfully it is 5 mins from my house so a nice lay-in way past 7am. No wind and not too cold, but we had seen an awful lot of cold rain overnight and Saturday was cool with a nippy northerly breeze. I wasn't expecting most of us to do great, maybe 8 round to 13 would be the best area to draw, but that was one section, the other 2 were the rest of the pegs on either bank (1-7 and 14-20) if I am correct. I would be happy with any peg from 5 up and around to 15 to be fair. So after a natter and a cuppa from Denise we drew our pegs.
No surprise to see drawbags Mark Thorne and Steve 'Peanut' Howell draw the favoured pegs 11 and 10 respectively. But my favourite peg on the lake, peg 12, went to Russ Peck. Me, well my rather dire attempt at drawing a 'flyer' failed again when peg 17 was my pluck from the basket. I pushed my barrow round and proceeded to set my kit up...........on peg 18. Only pointed out by John Dursley who was meant to be on there. So I shuffled along, as did Wayne on peg 17 (moved to 16).
 |
| Brick Lake peg 17 at dusk.... |
A waggler for maggot at 25m, a small cage feeder for the same area.
A topkit aimed for roach down my right edge didn't give a bite, just a snag that ate hooks!!
A line at 14m for banded 4mm over wet 4's and micros. DT RBS Open Water in 0.8g.
A line at 11m for maggots over my So Simple Bait's BMG/Bog combo using a light 0.3g DT F1/Silvers float. Lastly a meat rig for just past the shelf at around 6m off at a slight angle to the right. I used a DT RBS Margin for this rig.
I had, by the obvious fish activity, decided that it was only the section money to fish for, maybe the silvers if I got lucky as silvers ace Ron Stark was on peg 8 and I fancied that to produce. The overall silvers winner and match winners get the same prize and 3 section winners are paid.
At the all-in I was not ready, but I was not the only one. But I got a smallish helping of feed onto the various lines before trying the waggler, hoping for an early carp or 2 should they be in the vicinity.
Within half an hour I had bumped a decent fish, probably a liner, and I had a smallish skimmer fall off just out of netting range. But it was slow. Simon Ryall on peg 20 had lost a carp and landed one. While I could see pegs 10, 11 and 12 all had caught a few carp as expected.
I carried on fishing the waggler as was John on peg 18, he had a couple small skimmers but it wasn't fast and furious. Then he had a moment....He went to sink his line and the top half of the top section of his waggler rod snapped, putting paid to his running line float fishing for the day.
It was about an hour into the match when I had my first few fish, all 2-3oz roach on the waggler, I had 4 of these. A few other peeps I could see had yet to catch, or even have a bite.
In on the pole line and I tried the long pellet line and expected a fish or 2 from here, but it never happened, actually I never caught a fish off that area all day, similarly my banker meat line never saw the float move in all the times I tried it throughout the day.
A couple of hours passed and only the odd roach was entering the keepnet, while the 3 up the far end never seemed to stop catching, Russ Peck and Mark Thorne were even catching on the pellet wag.
For the rest of it, well it was tricky going. Just the odd carp here of there coming out to Emma Drysdale and Matt Culpin on the pegs opposite. Simon on peg 20 was on 2 carp but not seen a fish for a while. Jon Page on p1 was blanking, waiting for his 1st bite, he was not the only one either.
At the halfway stage I managed to catch an eel over the groundbait and then a 12oz skimmer on the feeder, my only bite on that even though I only chucked it out while having a cuppa. Bites on the waggler had stopped.
John had a couple decent skimmers on the pole but was getting missed bites but went on to catch an eel and lose a foul hooked one.
Paul Berry came around and chatted for a while and he said Saturday was tricky going and only had a couple decent skimmers.
A few rig adjustments thanks to missed bites and liners saw another skimmer find it's way to my keepnet with 2hrs to go, this was followed by 3 more, the largest around 3lb. Then it died again.
Though Jonny on peg 1 did hook a carp, probably foul hooked, his 1st bite of the day.....and he lost it after playing it a while!!
A couple roach on the waggler and another over the groundbait pushed me into the last hour probably just ahead of John on peg 18, but then he had another skimmer of 2lb or so and lost a foul hooked one. Then I managed another 2 skimmers around 1lb each. But with 30 minutes to go John again had an eel and a small skimmer. I never had another bite.
Elsewhere it looked close for the outright win between pegs 11 and 12, Mark Thorne and Russ Peck going fish for fish all day. Adrian Jeffery had 3 and lost 1 carp I think, all in the last 45 minutes from peg 15, Wayne Staples added 2 or 3 skimmers in the remaining 20 minutes to add to his few roach.
The all-out was called, my kit was packed away and put in the car. I reckoned on 8lb of silvers, John said I had a couple pounds more than him, he said he had 8lb.....
I caught up with the scales at peg 11 and 6lb 5oz was top silvers and 70lb was top overall to Peanut on p10. Mark Thorne had 115lb and just edged Russ into 2nd, Russ had 113lb so well done those 2. Adrian had 12lb for his carp.
Not much followed as Wayne went into the silvers lead with 6lb 6oz.
I then chucked my 8lb of fish in the sling and onto the scales and they had grown to 16lb.....oooppss!!
Slightly out there then. John's 8lb was 12lb, so he was slightly out also.
Simon on peg 20 ended with 3 carp and they amassed 24lb and he won the section with that.
Results-rounded to the nearest lb:
1st, Mark Thorne, p11, 115lb
2nd, Russ Peck, p12, 113lb
3rd, Steve Howell, p10, 70lb
Silvers:
1st, Lee Williams, p17, 16lb
2nd, John Dursley, p18, 12lb
So sixty-odd quid in the pocket on a tricky day was a decent result, but as expected it fished hard for the majority, and I made the right choice targeting the silvers, though I didn't expect to top the pegs I did. I learned a few things during the day which will defo come in handy.
I fed nearly 2kg of groundbait, 1/2pt of caster and 1pt of maggots through this.
Next up for me is Viaduct Silvers League round 5......though I may go somewhere Saturday.
Until then, enjoy yourselves.
Lee
Wednesday, 16 August 2017
Tony Rixon's Sedges Brick Lake Open, 13-8-17
A last minute decision to go fishing on Sunday as we, as a family, couldn't decide what to do, so I messaged Mr Rixon to get a spot on the match.
I enjoy Brick Lake, usually doing okay on there, not brilliant, but it is one of my favoured lakes in the region.
A natter with a few peeps, I stated I fancied 8 or 9, 12 or 13, well they are my favourite pegs on there. Pools paid and draw commenced, John Fuidge drew 8 and I expected him to go close on the silvers pot, but it can be a good area for the carp also. Tony had peg 13 and defo expected him to go close overall. But as can be the way it goes, the corners 10, 11 and 1 would have a more than decent chance of winning.
Me I drew peg 4, it won the previous day (with 60lb) and peg 3 was 2nd and had the consistent Gary O'Shea on there. Ray Bass on peg 5.
But rarely does this lake provide the winner from the same peg 2 days in a row. I must say that I didn't fancy it, although when setting up there were fish in the area but were slowly moving up the lake with the breeze.
I intended on basing my attack on a 2+2 line slightly to my left using groundbait and meat. Float was a DT RBS in 0.4g, awesome short meat/corn floats.
I also had a long 14, line using banded pellets shallow (DT Pellet Pinger) and on the deck (DT Tear in 0.6g), but only suffered a host of lost foul hooked fish on the deck rig, not a bite shallow.
An unused margin rig was put up. A couple specific silvers rigs, 1 for topkit, 1 for around 11m using worm over caster. I had a few roach on the topkit, not a bite on the longer line. A pellet wag and method rod were set up, remained fishless.
The match started and I lost a foul hooker on the long line but that was it, actually not a lot was happening from peg 3 up to peg 6, though Joe McMahon on 7 started well on the long pole, shallow I think. Opposite, things were just as hard as they never seemed to be getting much from peg 14 down to 19, only Matt Tomes on peg 15 catching some silvers.
Peg one and 2 had a few fish, especially peg 1 who was getting regular action up the end bank.
The day passed, for me, not just me, without too much action, just a whole bunch of lost foul hooked fish in the first 5 hours and the odd baby skimmer and roach to the meat.
Gary had a few skimmers and a handful of carp and Ray had a couple carp on paste, but was also getting foulers.
It was only the last hour when the skimmers turned up and I had 6 in 20 minutes before the carp arrived and I was getting plenty of action, mostly foul hooked but I was trying to avoid them at this point and was hoping to pull out of them should I hook them, purely as I wanted some more skimmers, but I never had any more and it was all carp in the peg I believe.
The all out sounded and I reckoned that peg 1 (Leon Hubbard), 11 (Martin Rayet) and Tony on 13 would be close to winning with the latter having a good late run on the pole and it looked close.
I packed away and went and spoke to Mr Fuidge, he had tipped back 15lb or so of silvers as his neighbour on peg 9, Jason Radford, had 20-odd pounds of silvers on small pieces of paste. I decided to weigh my silvers, which I guessed at 12-13lb. Matt Tomes had well over 20lb by all accounts from peg 15.
Anyways Leon on peg 1 had 116lb, some early and a good few late when he fed heavy, with a quieter spell in the middle. Tom Mangnall had 63-something on peg 2. I didn't catch Gary's net, but I had 16lb something. There was quite a few dnw's and I headed home to catch the last minutes of Man Utd's 4-0 victory over West Ham.
Results:
1st - Martin Rayet from peg 11 with 135lb
2nd - Leon Hubbard, p1, 116lb
3rd - Tony Rixon, p13, 112lb
4th - Clint Wojtyla, p10, 83lb
Silvers went to Matt Tomes on peg 15 with 28lb of skimmers
I just wish the fish had turned up, well generally to be honest, only foul hooked occupying me for most of the day, but never mind, always next time out, which I don't know when or where it will be. It should have been Avalon on Sunday with Pawlett, but I haven't booked in as family plans are not set in stone.
Until then, take care and have fun.
Lee
I enjoy Brick Lake, usually doing okay on there, not brilliant, but it is one of my favoured lakes in the region.
A natter with a few peeps, I stated I fancied 8 or 9, 12 or 13, well they are my favourite pegs on there. Pools paid and draw commenced, John Fuidge drew 8 and I expected him to go close on the silvers pot, but it can be a good area for the carp also. Tony had peg 13 and defo expected him to go close overall. But as can be the way it goes, the corners 10, 11 and 1 would have a more than decent chance of winning.
Me I drew peg 4, it won the previous day (with 60lb) and peg 3 was 2nd and had the consistent Gary O'Shea on there. Ray Bass on peg 5.
But rarely does this lake provide the winner from the same peg 2 days in a row. I must say that I didn't fancy it, although when setting up there were fish in the area but were slowly moving up the lake with the breeze.
 |
| Peg 4 Sedges Brick Lake |
I intended on basing my attack on a 2+2 line slightly to my left using groundbait and meat. Float was a DT RBS in 0.4g, awesome short meat/corn floats.
I also had a long 14, line using banded pellets shallow (DT Pellet Pinger) and on the deck (DT Tear in 0.6g), but only suffered a host of lost foul hooked fish on the deck rig, not a bite shallow.
An unused margin rig was put up. A couple specific silvers rigs, 1 for topkit, 1 for around 11m using worm over caster. I had a few roach on the topkit, not a bite on the longer line. A pellet wag and method rod were set up, remained fishless.
The match started and I lost a foul hooker on the long line but that was it, actually not a lot was happening from peg 3 up to peg 6, though Joe McMahon on 7 started well on the long pole, shallow I think. Opposite, things were just as hard as they never seemed to be getting much from peg 14 down to 19, only Matt Tomes on peg 15 catching some silvers.
Peg one and 2 had a few fish, especially peg 1 who was getting regular action up the end bank.
The day passed, for me, not just me, without too much action, just a whole bunch of lost foul hooked fish in the first 5 hours and the odd baby skimmer and roach to the meat.
Gary had a few skimmers and a handful of carp and Ray had a couple carp on paste, but was also getting foulers.
It was only the last hour when the skimmers turned up and I had 6 in 20 minutes before the carp arrived and I was getting plenty of action, mostly foul hooked but I was trying to avoid them at this point and was hoping to pull out of them should I hook them, purely as I wanted some more skimmers, but I never had any more and it was all carp in the peg I believe.
The all out sounded and I reckoned that peg 1 (Leon Hubbard), 11 (Martin Rayet) and Tony on 13 would be close to winning with the latter having a good late run on the pole and it looked close.
I packed away and went and spoke to Mr Fuidge, he had tipped back 15lb or so of silvers as his neighbour on peg 9, Jason Radford, had 20-odd pounds of silvers on small pieces of paste. I decided to weigh my silvers, which I guessed at 12-13lb. Matt Tomes had well over 20lb by all accounts from peg 15.
Anyways Leon on peg 1 had 116lb, some early and a good few late when he fed heavy, with a quieter spell in the middle. Tom Mangnall had 63-something on peg 2. I didn't catch Gary's net, but I had 16lb something. There was quite a few dnw's and I headed home to catch the last minutes of Man Utd's 4-0 victory over West Ham.
Results:
1st - Martin Rayet from peg 11 with 135lb
2nd - Leon Hubbard, p1, 116lb
3rd - Tony Rixon, p13, 112lb
4th - Clint Wojtyla, p10, 83lb
Silvers went to Matt Tomes on peg 15 with 28lb of skimmers
I just wish the fish had turned up, well generally to be honest, only foul hooked occupying me for most of the day, but never mind, always next time out, which I don't know when or where it will be. It should have been Avalon on Sunday with Pawlett, but I haven't booked in as family plans are not set in stone.
Until then, take care and have fun.
Lee
Tuesday, 18 July 2017
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.
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.
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.
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
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 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 |
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
Wednesday, 21 June 2017
Pawlett Match, Sedges Brick & Tile, 18-06-17
The hottest day of the year (at that point) coincided with the latest match with the Pawlett posse, all 28 of us wanted was a decent day's sport and a mighty chunk of luck. Not too much to ask really?
A lot of the regular faces were fishing, from Jamie Parkhouse to John Fuidge through to the Clapps and match secretary Mark Hembery. It was also the mystery pairs, so no packing up early and heading for a cooling shower or a pint in a beer garden....
After the usual natter and general piss-taking, it was down to the draws, 4 golden pegs, 22, 27 and 33 on Tile along with peg 2 on Brick were drawn, only peg 27 was fancied to be honest. I really didn't fancy being on Tile, but should I draw on there then pegs 21, 25-27, 31 and 40 would be preferred. Pegs 7 to 10 on Brick please!! Though peg 1 did 220lb in the mid-week match.
I went into the basket halfway down, commenting to Phil Clapp I would like peg 10, never had it in a anything goes match, he didn't want it but promptly pulled it out.....oh cheers, I had the next ball....meh...peg 22!! not the best peg on the lake as it struggles to compete with 21 and those around peg 25ish on that bank.
I made my way to the peg with Steve Fouracre who was on peg 21, and the water looked full of fish near the surface, a muggers paradise, but the whole lake looked as such, but these fish know the time and we knew that come 10:30 they would be out towards the middle of gone altogether.
I had Chris Higgs to my left on peg 23.
It was baking already and most were moaning about the heat and I feared I never had enough drinks with me....ho hum. But I enjoy the sunny and warm times, we don't see much of it so a little discomfort is better than drowned kit which is an arse to dry.
An array of kit made up:
A lead rod with a long tail for slow sinking pellets, a method feeder rod, a pellet waggler.
A shallow silvers rig and full depth silvers rig with an intention of using casters, but I struggle to get the silvers on Tile and I didn't fancy it against Brick's head of skimmers. Both were a bit 'last resort' really.
A mugging/slapping rig using a DT Pellet Pinger on 0.18>0.12>18 B911 (later 0.14).
An edge rig using a DT Edger for meat over meat and caster to my right and meat over 4mm pellets on my left.
A DT RBS was set up for fishing topkit+1 with meat hookbait.
Simple on the bait front, 1.5pt of caster, some 8mm meat, some wetted micros for the method and some 4mm, 6mm and 8mm pellets. Oh and some Bait-Tech wafter pellets for a change of hookbait on the lead rods mostly.
At the all-in I went out to try and mug a fish or 2, most had already drifted away and even more looked like they had other things on their minds as they were swimming around quickly in bunches of 2 or 3.
Steve spooked one in trying to mug it right away and I followed suit by doing the same....no fish to be seen now!! But I had been flicking 6mm's at 14m and after less than 50 pellets I had a 6ft square Jacuzzi in front of me.
30 mins in and Steve had one on the lead fishing along the end bank, then a couple more.
I began to lift and drop at 14m in amongst the bubbles and I was soon into a fish, a nice 6lb mirror was soon netted, That was things done for me for the 1st hour.
The second hour was ok, Steve moved plenty ahead of me by fishing the lead (and the method later on), he was getting mostly smaller 3 to 4lb fish but regular.
A few more fish drifted in to the area and I managed to mug my 2nd fish of the day, an 8lb common I hooked at 5m in front. A 3rd soon ended up in the keepnet, but was a 3lb fish.
Chris was struggling and only had 1 carp and a couple skimmers on the feeder.
But Kev Crouch was getting a few on various running line tactics and was on around 10 after 2.5hrs.
Things slowed considerably, not that it was hectic, but things didn't look too fishy, it was a roasting day and I couldn't just gulp my drink down. I was catching the rays and my feet and knees had sort of began to burn. Holding the pole wasn't too pleasurable either, but if I kept it moving then it was fine.
The 3rd hour passed with only a few roach to show after a futile spell fishing casters shallow at 14m.
I did hook a fish mugging, but it tore off up the lake never to be stopped taking the best part of the rig in the process (the float....). It looked a good upper double. I laughed, Steve also laughed.
A quick look on the wag gave me nothing, but 3 fish on the method just off the island gave me a short-lived bit of hope, but looking around, it was only peg 31 (Mark Sweeting), Steve on 21 and Crouchy on peg 25 that were consistent in catching, but I couldn't see many others so I didn't really have a clue on how I was doing.
I changed from the long hooklength on the lead to a short one and lobbed it on the pole line, which was still getting bits of fizz. There were fish there, I would spook them lobbing the lead in, but I couldn't get a fish on the pole. It did work as 3 more fish followed in a short spell before that line died.
Into the remaining couple of hours and it began ok with another mugged fish, around 11lb so a nice addition. I was up to 50lb on the clicker, 10 carp. Steve was on around 80lb and Chris had began to hook the odd carp on pellet short and at depth.
A look on the meat line gave me a couple mad 3lbers and one foul hooker that I played for ages, a lump of a fish, but my impatience got the better of me and I snapped the hooklength pulling too hard. Schoolboy.
I had been feeding the 2 edges, my right edge gave me a skimmer, that's all, but my left side showed signs of fish with the odd tail pattern and I put a couple decent fish in the keepnet at around 8lb each from there. So at the all out my clicker showed 70lb (but I may have missed a fish I thought to myself) and that was 15 carp. 1 shallow, 4 mugged, 3 each on the lead and method, 2 on short meat and 2 from the left edge. But a couple of them were decent sized.
Steve was admitting to 105lb before his final fish. Chris had 4 or 5 I think. On the other bank I could see Mark Sweeting on peg 31 catching really well in the last hour and definitely looked good for a decent 130lb+.
I packed up my kit and loaded the car before the weigh-in. I was 2nd to weigh and after Steve's 110lb+ I managed a respectable 83lb or so. I was quite pleased with that despite my "what if's" or "if only.." thoughts. Kev Crouch had 120-something before I headed back to the car and then over to Brick Lake. It was said that Mr Clapp on Peg 10 had won that lake, that was true as he managed over 100lb ahead of Jamie Parkhouse on peg 9 who had 83lb+.
There were 2 other 100lb nets on Tile, Mark Sweeting with 140lb+ and Mark Hembery with 124lb. So I was 5th on the lake and 8th overall.
The top silvers was 40lb+ to Derek Beards on Brick, where there were generally better silvers nets.
Results:
1st, Mark Sweeting, peg 31. 143lb 5oz
2nd, Mark Hembery, peg 35. 124-10
3rd, Kev Crouch, peg 25. 117-12
Silvers went to Derek Beards, peg 4. 42lb 9oz
Sections went to Steve Fouracre (p21, 110lb 8oz) and Phil Clapp (p10, 109lb 13oz)
Once the pay-outs were done it was down to Denise to grab two balls and see what happens, with regards to the secret pairs that is. The idea is that the top 2 weights combined would be the winners,
well she must have the desired effect as the first couple of balls she grabbed were pegs 31 and 10......and therefore no other spherical objects needed touching as those weights (Mark Sweeting and Phil Clapp's) combined were unbeatable. So a sort of anti-climax really....haha.
So next weekend is the next round of the Acorn Saturday Series and as for Sunday, no plans as of yet, but the weather looks a whole lot better for catching a few and not sweating your behind off....
Until then, happy Summer Solstice and enjoy Glasto to those heading there,
Lee
A lot of the regular faces were fishing, from Jamie Parkhouse to John Fuidge through to the Clapps and match secretary Mark Hembery. It was also the mystery pairs, so no packing up early and heading for a cooling shower or a pint in a beer garden....
After the usual natter and general piss-taking, it was down to the draws, 4 golden pegs, 22, 27 and 33 on Tile along with peg 2 on Brick were drawn, only peg 27 was fancied to be honest. I really didn't fancy being on Tile, but should I draw on there then pegs 21, 25-27, 31 and 40 would be preferred. Pegs 7 to 10 on Brick please!! Though peg 1 did 220lb in the mid-week match.
I went into the basket halfway down, commenting to Phil Clapp I would like peg 10, never had it in a anything goes match, he didn't want it but promptly pulled it out.....oh cheers, I had the next ball....meh...peg 22!! not the best peg on the lake as it struggles to compete with 21 and those around peg 25ish on that bank.
I made my way to the peg with Steve Fouracre who was on peg 21, and the water looked full of fish near the surface, a muggers paradise, but the whole lake looked as such, but these fish know the time and we knew that come 10:30 they would be out towards the middle of gone altogether.
I had Chris Higgs to my left on peg 23.
It was baking already and most were moaning about the heat and I feared I never had enough drinks with me....ho hum. But I enjoy the sunny and warm times, we don't see much of it so a little discomfort is better than drowned kit which is an arse to dry.
An array of kit made up:
A lead rod with a long tail for slow sinking pellets, a method feeder rod, a pellet waggler.
A shallow silvers rig and full depth silvers rig with an intention of using casters, but I struggle to get the silvers on Tile and I didn't fancy it against Brick's head of skimmers. Both were a bit 'last resort' really.
A mugging/slapping rig using a DT Pellet Pinger on 0.18>0.12>18 B911 (later 0.14).
An edge rig using a DT Edger for meat over meat and caster to my right and meat over 4mm pellets on my left.
A DT RBS was set up for fishing topkit+1 with meat hookbait.
Simple on the bait front, 1.5pt of caster, some 8mm meat, some wetted micros for the method and some 4mm, 6mm and 8mm pellets. Oh and some Bait-Tech wafter pellets for a change of hookbait on the lead rods mostly.
At the all-in I went out to try and mug a fish or 2, most had already drifted away and even more looked like they had other things on their minds as they were swimming around quickly in bunches of 2 or 3.
Steve spooked one in trying to mug it right away and I followed suit by doing the same....no fish to be seen now!! But I had been flicking 6mm's at 14m and after less than 50 pellets I had a 6ft square Jacuzzi in front of me.
30 mins in and Steve had one on the lead fishing along the end bank, then a couple more.
I began to lift and drop at 14m in amongst the bubbles and I was soon into a fish, a nice 6lb mirror was soon netted, That was things done for me for the 1st hour.
 |
| Peg 22 at Sedges on Tile Lake |
A few more fish drifted in to the area and I managed to mug my 2nd fish of the day, an 8lb common I hooked at 5m in front. A 3rd soon ended up in the keepnet, but was a 3lb fish.
Chris was struggling and only had 1 carp and a couple skimmers on the feeder.
But Kev Crouch was getting a few on various running line tactics and was on around 10 after 2.5hrs.
Things slowed considerably, not that it was hectic, but things didn't look too fishy, it was a roasting day and I couldn't just gulp my drink down. I was catching the rays and my feet and knees had sort of began to burn. Holding the pole wasn't too pleasurable either, but if I kept it moving then it was fine.
The 3rd hour passed with only a few roach to show after a futile spell fishing casters shallow at 14m.
I did hook a fish mugging, but it tore off up the lake never to be stopped taking the best part of the rig in the process (the float....). It looked a good upper double. I laughed, Steve also laughed.
A quick look on the wag gave me nothing, but 3 fish on the method just off the island gave me a short-lived bit of hope, but looking around, it was only peg 31 (Mark Sweeting), Steve on 21 and Crouchy on peg 25 that were consistent in catching, but I couldn't see many others so I didn't really have a clue on how I was doing.
I changed from the long hooklength on the lead to a short one and lobbed it on the pole line, which was still getting bits of fizz. There were fish there, I would spook them lobbing the lead in, but I couldn't get a fish on the pole. It did work as 3 more fish followed in a short spell before that line died.
Into the remaining couple of hours and it began ok with another mugged fish, around 11lb so a nice addition. I was up to 50lb on the clicker, 10 carp. Steve was on around 80lb and Chris had began to hook the odd carp on pellet short and at depth.
A look on the meat line gave me a couple mad 3lbers and one foul hooker that I played for ages, a lump of a fish, but my impatience got the better of me and I snapped the hooklength pulling too hard. Schoolboy.
I had been feeding the 2 edges, my right edge gave me a skimmer, that's all, but my left side showed signs of fish with the odd tail pattern and I put a couple decent fish in the keepnet at around 8lb each from there. So at the all out my clicker showed 70lb (but I may have missed a fish I thought to myself) and that was 15 carp. 1 shallow, 4 mugged, 3 each on the lead and method, 2 on short meat and 2 from the left edge. But a couple of them were decent sized.
Steve was admitting to 105lb before his final fish. Chris had 4 or 5 I think. On the other bank I could see Mark Sweeting on peg 31 catching really well in the last hour and definitely looked good for a decent 130lb+.
I packed up my kit and loaded the car before the weigh-in. I was 2nd to weigh and after Steve's 110lb+ I managed a respectable 83lb or so. I was quite pleased with that despite my "what if's" or "if only.." thoughts. Kev Crouch had 120-something before I headed back to the car and then over to Brick Lake. It was said that Mr Clapp on Peg 10 had won that lake, that was true as he managed over 100lb ahead of Jamie Parkhouse on peg 9 who had 83lb+.
There were 2 other 100lb nets on Tile, Mark Sweeting with 140lb+ and Mark Hembery with 124lb. So I was 5th on the lake and 8th overall.
The top silvers was 40lb+ to Derek Beards on Brick, where there were generally better silvers nets.
Results:
1st, Mark Sweeting, peg 31. 143lb 5oz
2nd, Mark Hembery, peg 35. 124-10
3rd, Kev Crouch, peg 25. 117-12
Silvers went to Derek Beards, peg 4. 42lb 9oz
Sections went to Steve Fouracre (p21, 110lb 8oz) and Phil Clapp (p10, 109lb 13oz)
 |
| Brick's Weights |
 |
| Tile's Weights |
well she must have the desired effect as the first couple of balls she grabbed were pegs 31 and 10......and therefore no other spherical objects needed touching as those weights (Mark Sweeting and Phil Clapp's) combined were unbeatable. So a sort of anti-climax really....haha.
So next weekend is the next round of the Acorn Saturday Series and as for Sunday, no plans as of yet, but the weather looks a whole lot better for catching a few and not sweating your behind off....
Until then, happy Summer Solstice and enjoy Glasto to those heading there,
Lee
Wednesday, 12 April 2017
Pawlett Match, Sedges, Silvers only. 10-04-17
The annual Silvers match at The Sedges began in warm and sunny conditions, the warmest day of the year and the carp looked very active.....It didn't end very warm though, but the carp were definitely active!!
32 of us lined the 40 pegs of Brick and Tile Lakes, leaving only the corners out on each lake, I had a natter with a few peeps before the draw. I wanted, needed, to be on Brick Lake, as I cannot seen to catch well enough on the silvers front on Tile, but I enjoy Brick and I am more comfortable and confident on that lake. A whole bunch of very tidy anglers fishing the match including some decent silverfish anglers, John Fuidge, Ziggy, Mark Leader and the usual suspects such as Vic, Eric, Mr Parkhouse and the Clapps to name but a few.
Into the draw basket, fingers crossed, out pops peg 28.....On Tile. Bummer. I actually, again, deliberated not fishing. I didn't fancy Tile to compete with Brick Lake when it comes to the overall placings so a double negative for me. Still it was dry and the sun was shining.
Arriving at my peg I could see plenty of carp, a number that seemed to increase during the day.
I had Nick Selway on peg 29 and Kev Crouch on 28.
4 top kits were assembled, giving a few of Dean Townshend's (DT Floats) a whirl. Pencils in 0.2g on a couple of rigs and the new-ish F1/silvers Titan (bendy titanium wire) in 0.6g and 10x no 11's.
The 1st Pencil was for down my left edge where I would feed caster by hand, hopefully snare a few roach and maybe a decent perch or a rogue tench.
The 2nd Pencil was for fishing up in the water at 13m using caster and maggot as hookbait. I would fish this over my initial groundbait deposit where the 0.6g rig would be used on the deck. Loose fed casters would be lightly fed over the top via the catty. This spot was off slightly to my left.
Lastly the lighter 10x no11 rig was set up using a banded hook for hard pellet, 6mm, over an initial feed of micros and I would ping a few 4mm pellets over the top. It was the same depth over each line, opening my options a little.
Also I had the same depth (give or take an inch or so) at 2+2 where I fed corn, but it stayed fishless.
My pencil rigs were made up on 0.16>0.11>Guru F1 pellet hooks in size 18.
My deep rigs were on 0.16>0.11>18 LWG or B911 for the hair rig.
All-in, 4 balls of groundbait cupped out long, 1/2 a cup of micros out long slightly right and a few casters and maggots dropped down my left edge.
Out with the shallow rig and I soon had a small roach in the net saving a blank. The lake in my area was calmer and loads of carp could be seen all over the place. It was a slow 1st hour, I think I only put 3 or 4 small roach in the net on the shallow rig and a solitary 4oz skimmer that came to caster on the deck. But it looked like more than the guys each side of me.
It took a whole 90 minutes before I hooked my 1st carp of the day, I think by the end of the day I had landed 15 and lost a few to hook pulls, at times they were taking casters as soon as they hit the surface and take my hookbait before my rig had been lowered in.
So after my carp flurry I managed 3 or 4 more skimmers shallow, one was around 12oz-1lb but the usual size was 4oz or so. A perch of 4oz and a couple roach also took a liking to my caster shallow tactic.
All the while I was feeding a few casters down the edge and pinging pellets long over that line, but I only ventured over the pellets once and hooked a carp, so that line was pretty much left along and u hoped the carp stayed there, or headed elsewhere!!
At the halfway stage it seemed the lake wasn't fishing great for silvers but the odd decent skimmer and very odd tench had been caught. I think I had around 3lb in the net and Kev had overtaken me with some nice skimmers on his short line. Nick was struggling properly.
I persevered fishing my caster and maggots up and down in the water but never managed a non-carp species on the deep rig. A few roach sand odd skimmer from 6oz to 1lb found my keepnet in between the carp.
So with an hour to go I was behind Kev and Nick had begun to get a few skimmers and was possibly level or just ahead of me. I decided to look down the edge, nothing happened so I potted in 3 cups of groundbait as a last resort. 10 minutes later a couple roach topped down the edge so in I went with a single caster, the float went under and a carp was hooked...! Duly netted and released I had another look and had a roach, next look I had a decent fish on and luckily it was a bream of perhaps 3lb, then I had a second of similar stamp. Another roach and another pot of groundbait.
A quick on the long shallow rig saw 3 carp hooked even without feeding...the last netted after the all-out. I reckoned I had around 8lb, as did Nick and Kev, but I hoped the last couple of bream took me ahead of them, Keith Clapp was said to have had 14lb+ from further back to my right. Brick Lake, as expected had seen a few guys catching well enough. The best we on Tile could hope for was a section win.
I packed the kit away and waited for the scales. I found them weighing in Mark Watts a couple pegs to my right, the scoresheet had Keith Clapp putting 14lb 15oz on the scales.
Mark never weighed then Kev had 11lb+ before I tipped my silvers into the sling and registered 14lb 6oz.
Nick had 9lb+, most of which came in a 20 minute spell late on.
I didn't follow the scales but caught up with them towards the end of Brick Lake and I could see a good few nets of 15lb, 17lb, 19lb, 20lb, 28lb and then Ziggy put 29lb+ on the scales to take the honours on the day.
I was 4th on Tile behind Keith 14-15, Paul Homewood 14-07 and Jamie Parkhouse 17-03. Nowhere overall.
Results:
1st, Ziggy Slowinski, 29-12. Peg 17
2nd, Pierce Furlong, 28-02. Peg 12
3rd, Vic Bush, 21-09. Peg 5
So a nice day really, kind of enjoyed it despite my own initial despondencies. The fishery is a quality fishery and the weights were pretty fair throughout.
I was really impressed by the new floats and I also tried some Nick Gilbert micro bore laccy, both the 4-8 and 6-10 and they handled the carp pretty well considering and it was very nice on the silvers, I will be getting some of his lightest micro-bore at some point and some more of the 4-8 for sure.
Not sure where I am on Friday/Saturday/Monday, but Sunday is the last round of the Avalon Teams of 3, nothing on the overall front for us to fish for so it is down to on the day winnings for us.
Until then, have a great long weekend.
Lee
32 of us lined the 40 pegs of Brick and Tile Lakes, leaving only the corners out on each lake, I had a natter with a few peeps before the draw. I wanted, needed, to be on Brick Lake, as I cannot seen to catch well enough on the silvers front on Tile, but I enjoy Brick and I am more comfortable and confident on that lake. A whole bunch of very tidy anglers fishing the match including some decent silverfish anglers, John Fuidge, Ziggy, Mark Leader and the usual suspects such as Vic, Eric, Mr Parkhouse and the Clapps to name but a few.
Into the draw basket, fingers crossed, out pops peg 28.....On Tile. Bummer. I actually, again, deliberated not fishing. I didn't fancy Tile to compete with Brick Lake when it comes to the overall placings so a double negative for me. Still it was dry and the sun was shining.
Arriving at my peg I could see plenty of carp, a number that seemed to increase during the day.
I had Nick Selway on peg 29 and Kev Crouch on 28.
 |
| Peg 28 on Tile Lake |
4 top kits were assembled, giving a few of Dean Townshend's (DT Floats) a whirl. Pencils in 0.2g on a couple of rigs and the new-ish F1/silvers Titan (bendy titanium wire) in 0.6g and 10x no 11's.
The 1st Pencil was for down my left edge where I would feed caster by hand, hopefully snare a few roach and maybe a decent perch or a rogue tench.
The 2nd Pencil was for fishing up in the water at 13m using caster and maggot as hookbait. I would fish this over my initial groundbait deposit where the 0.6g rig would be used on the deck. Loose fed casters would be lightly fed over the top via the catty. This spot was off slightly to my left.
Lastly the lighter 10x no11 rig was set up using a banded hook for hard pellet, 6mm, over an initial feed of micros and I would ping a few 4mm pellets over the top. It was the same depth over each line, opening my options a little.
Also I had the same depth (give or take an inch or so) at 2+2 where I fed corn, but it stayed fishless.
My pencil rigs were made up on 0.16>0.11>Guru F1 pellet hooks in size 18.
My deep rigs were on 0.16>0.11>18 LWG or B911 for the hair rig.
All-in, 4 balls of groundbait cupped out long, 1/2 a cup of micros out long slightly right and a few casters and maggots dropped down my left edge.
Out with the shallow rig and I soon had a small roach in the net saving a blank. The lake in my area was calmer and loads of carp could be seen all over the place. It was a slow 1st hour, I think I only put 3 or 4 small roach in the net on the shallow rig and a solitary 4oz skimmer that came to caster on the deck. But it looked like more than the guys each side of me.
It took a whole 90 minutes before I hooked my 1st carp of the day, I think by the end of the day I had landed 15 and lost a few to hook pulls, at times they were taking casters as soon as they hit the surface and take my hookbait before my rig had been lowered in.
So after my carp flurry I managed 3 or 4 more skimmers shallow, one was around 12oz-1lb but the usual size was 4oz or so. A perch of 4oz and a couple roach also took a liking to my caster shallow tactic.
All the while I was feeding a few casters down the edge and pinging pellets long over that line, but I only ventured over the pellets once and hooked a carp, so that line was pretty much left along and u hoped the carp stayed there, or headed elsewhere!!
At the halfway stage it seemed the lake wasn't fishing great for silvers but the odd decent skimmer and very odd tench had been caught. I think I had around 3lb in the net and Kev had overtaken me with some nice skimmers on his short line. Nick was struggling properly.
I persevered fishing my caster and maggots up and down in the water but never managed a non-carp species on the deep rig. A few roach sand odd skimmer from 6oz to 1lb found my keepnet in between the carp.
So with an hour to go I was behind Kev and Nick had begun to get a few skimmers and was possibly level or just ahead of me. I decided to look down the edge, nothing happened so I potted in 3 cups of groundbait as a last resort. 10 minutes later a couple roach topped down the edge so in I went with a single caster, the float went under and a carp was hooked...! Duly netted and released I had another look and had a roach, next look I had a decent fish on and luckily it was a bream of perhaps 3lb, then I had a second of similar stamp. Another roach and another pot of groundbait.
A quick on the long shallow rig saw 3 carp hooked even without feeding...the last netted after the all-out. I reckoned I had around 8lb, as did Nick and Kev, but I hoped the last couple of bream took me ahead of them, Keith Clapp was said to have had 14lb+ from further back to my right. Brick Lake, as expected had seen a few guys catching well enough. The best we on Tile could hope for was a section win.
I packed the kit away and waited for the scales. I found them weighing in Mark Watts a couple pegs to my right, the scoresheet had Keith Clapp putting 14lb 15oz on the scales.
Mark never weighed then Kev had 11lb+ before I tipped my silvers into the sling and registered 14lb 6oz.
Nick had 9lb+, most of which came in a 20 minute spell late on.
I didn't follow the scales but caught up with them towards the end of Brick Lake and I could see a good few nets of 15lb, 17lb, 19lb, 20lb, 28lb and then Ziggy put 29lb+ on the scales to take the honours on the day.
I was 4th on Tile behind Keith 14-15, Paul Homewood 14-07 and Jamie Parkhouse 17-03. Nowhere overall.
Results:
1st, Ziggy Slowinski, 29-12. Peg 17
2nd, Pierce Furlong, 28-02. Peg 12
3rd, Vic Bush, 21-09. Peg 5
 |
| Weigh Sheets |
I was really impressed by the new floats and I also tried some Nick Gilbert micro bore laccy, both the 4-8 and 6-10 and they handled the carp pretty well considering and it was very nice on the silvers, I will be getting some of his lightest micro-bore at some point and some more of the 4-8 for sure.
Not sure where I am on Friday/Saturday/Monday, but Sunday is the last round of the Avalon Teams of 3, nothing on the overall front for us to fish for so it is down to on the day winnings for us.
Until then, have a great long weekend.
Lee
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