Todber Manor, Float Only League, 3rd round, 01-07-18

Down to this lovely venue in Dorset for Tony's Float Only league, the 3rd round and plenty of bites expected.
The weather was, apparently, expected to provide some storms, but as it turned out the temps never got to the levels expected, the breeze kept us cool and we only had a few minutes of heavy drizzle rather than rain.
A full 40 fishing, 15 on Homeground, which would be my preferred lake and Hillview for 25 anglers.  I arrived early with Shawn Kittridge in tow as he followed me on the drives to and from the fishery, but we made it in record time so plenty of time to browse the shop and have a natter before the draw was to be made.

On to the draw, I would be drawn against the Trig (aka Craig Edmunds) for the knockout, so that would be me out baring a miracle or some glaring misfortune by the in-form man himself....#clutchingstraws Anyways into the bucket and peg 79 on Homeground was my peg, a good feeder peg by reputation... but as is the case on this fishery bites should be had.
For company I had Adrian Jeffery on peg 80 (last peg in section) and he had Trig next to him on corner peg 81, he had Dan White in front/left of him on 82, so some fish would likely get caught from that end bank.
To my right I had Neil Mercer for the second match running, then Tony Rixon on peg 77, then up in the corner on peg 76 was Beaver (Paul Elmes), so a tough section, well actually there wont be an 'easy' section on this league such is the quality of angler fishing. But I am happy to always try and beat one in section each round.

At my peg I mixed some groundbait for the silvers, covered the meat and casters in water and cracked open a tin of hemp. Other than that I had a few maggots which went unused and the obligatory 8 and 6mm pellets.
On to rigs, well I guess most of you will have figured what floats I used for 99 percent of my fishing, all DT Floats patterns. A 0.1g Pinger float for shallow fishing at 14m for 6 and 8mm pellets.
A F1/Silvers for silvers at 2+1, which only got wet once.
A couple of RBS Open Waters for pellet on the deck and for my 2+2 meat line.
Lastly my edge float was a Margin Diamond, which I find spot on for shallow edges under 2ft deep and using smallish baits.
I set up a waggler, but the wind was wrong and I only had a couple casts on it for no reason really.

Peg 79, Todber Homeground

On to the match, well I would love to go into depth on things really but the venue is such that I cant see how you can fail to get bites on pretty much any bait and any tactic.
Simply it started slow for me and Adrian next door and after an hour it was obvious we would be battling to see who comes last in section.
I began by feeding my silvers line with a couple decent helpings of caster laced groundbait, I fed a pot of meat and hemp on that line and starting to ping a few pellets out at 14m.
Starting on the meat I had a couple skimmers and a tench then a small carp of 2lb. Then it went patchy, so a look on the silvers line and it was small perch and a roach, but just as slow there so I abandoned any idea of fishing for the silvers properly.
Out on the deck at 14m with a 6mm in the band and I foul hooked a couple which came off, so shallow it was, a nice ripple....yep that'll do....nope, it won't, I picked up a handful of small fish over an hour or so, but the guys to my right were catching more quickly than me.

So now it was maybe 3.5hrs in and a lowly 25lb plus a few silvers was what I had, which was a little more than Adrian. Not much more though.
I could see a few shapes in my left edge where I had been chucking a few bits of meat, some casters and pellets. With the exception of a massive common pushing on comfortably mid doubles, the shapes were breamy. So I lowered my rig in and missed a bite, next swing in an I could see the meat had landed in around 2 inches of water but then I saw a bream come in an take it, awesome. That was one scabby bream, one eye and covered in sores, not pretty. But at 5lb or so a welcome bonus, actually the odd bream would take the mis-fed offerings off the mudline, rather carpy!!
A small carp followed before it went quiet, so back into swim rotation mode and the odd carp would get caught. Alongside a couple of 3lb+ tench and a few skimmers etc I kept putting something in the nets. Just nowhere as quickly as everyone else it seemed.

Into the last 90 minutes and sport picked up for me and Adrian, we started to get a few bites on our short lines, I had actually converted my silvers line to a pellet line and this was giving a few fish, missing plenty of bites, but I was reluctant to go shallow, but I should have upped the feed, but I didn't and kept getting missed bites.
The edges started to see odd bonus fish visit and I did manage 3 decent carp, 2 of which were doubles and 1 maybe 6lb.
Then I managed to get my top 4 pulled off and shoot up to my left, but the fish came off and Adrian pulled it in close enough for me to grab it. Cheers mate.
Next drop I hooked a carp that went up to my left, and myself and Adrian became tangled, the fish came off and we both got our rigs back...lucky!!
A few fish in the last 15 mins, mostly little tench, were added to the net. Adrian had a good spurt of fish and I felt that maybe he would have just pipped my as 6oz tench don't cut it against 2 to 3lb carp at the same catch rate.

So the all out was called, I thought, well my magic clickers showed 25lb in one net and 35lb in the other. Plus my silvers of perhaps 15lb or so. I banked on 75lb.
I didn't wear my 're-sizing specs' for this match so I would be happy to see how close I was.
With the car loaded and the weigh-in under way I saw the 1st three in my section put 137-14 to Paul on 76, Tony had 136-13, Neil weighed 109-02. Then my turn, my 2 nets were 19lb and 40lb so not so bad on the clickers, my silvers weighed 20lb 10oz. So 80lb 4oz.
Adrian next, he lifted his silvers which were 15lb 3oz, then he lifted his carp out and it looked like he would be close but luckily, for me anyway, he added 55lb and a few ounces giving him a total of  70-07.
Trig went on to beat me, no shock, but from the peg he moaned about, he managed to put 179lb 11oz  on the board, Dan was next and to be fair we all expected him to beat Trig, but fell short, but a healthy 162lb 7oz caught mostly on paste (he was practicing using that). Around the opposite side there were 50-14, 80-00 (inc 24lb of silvers) and 78lb finishing that section. Then the final 5 weighed in 98-11, 52-02, Shawn had 121-02, then there was 48-12 to Pete Ashton before Steve Nadin on peg 90 (top peg) put the top silvers net on the day of 41-12 on the scales, couple with his carp gave him a total of 172lb 4oz and 2nd on the day.

I never followed the last few weights on the other lake but 3 weights over 150lb were had and the silvers never really fed with 18lb and ounces was top weight off there. Must say that Jack Billet did have the largest 'silver' of the day in the form of an 11lb catfish.

1st, Trig, peg 81, 179-11 (Homeground)
2nd, Steve Nadin, peg 90, 172-04 (HG)
3rd, Ryan Shipp, peg 53, 162-14 (Hillview)
4th, Dan White, peg 82, 162-07 (HG)
5th, Gary O'Shea, peg 54, 156-09 (HV)
6th, Mike Nicholls, peg 42, 150-12 (HV)

Silvers,
1st, Steve Nadin, p90, 41-12 (HG)
2nd, Nick Brown, p84, 24-08 (HG)
3rd, Lee Williams, p79, 20-10 (HG)

For full weigh sheets, take a browse of Tony Rixon's blog or that one of Mike Nicholls (Silverfox) as they have them on theirs.

So a 4th in section, series defo over, but I managed to pick up a few quid for (default) 2nd in the silvers pool which was welcome.
As for the fishing, again I learned some stuff, and have got a better understanding of maybe where I went wrong and what I did that worked but fishing can be odd at times. The top 4 guys all fished in the main, different tactics to each other. Trig fished mostly pellet with some on corn, Steve fished meat over meat/groundbait, Ryan fished caster down his edges and Dan fished paste....so I guess it is a matter of takes your choice and do your best to make it work....perhaps!!

Not sure where I will be this weekend, so until then, have fun and enjoy the sun.
Lee.

Tony's Short Pole Series, Todber Manor Hillview Lake, 13-5-18

I managed to get onto this match, but only as cover for this round, covering for Emma Drysdale again. 27 fishing so pretty much every peg was in, a few are close-ish together but to be fair the fishery has decently spaced comfy pegs.
Shawn Kittridge followed me down from Bridgwater and we arrived in plenty of time for the 9:30 draw. A few familiar face and a couple of ones I have not met before, but a bit of a chat and the draw was underway.
Defo a few pegs I didn't fancy, 50, 51 and 52 plus 34 round to 37 didn't tickle my fancy, those I liked the look of given conditions were 53, 43 and 44 as they had the wind pushing into them and no doubt these small carp would have followed that and the 'grub' it pushes along too. 52 looked nice and the corners of the spit, 48 and 49 are pretty good and consistent pegs.
Anyways, I drew peg 51, yes it had a little ripple but being down a leg I didn't really fancy it, I had Tony Rixon on my left and another chap on my right (sorry, forgot the name). I didn't fancy any of us to get in the top 3 of the 9 peg section. Drawbag Bobby Gullick drew peg 53 and I expected him to do well from a peg which blows cold more than it does hot after the winter. But there were plenty of signs and sound of fish in his peg and he can catch fish.

A short walk from the car and kit sorted, bait prepped.
I had a few pints of casters for the silvers, some groundbait for these too and the edges.
Some 6mm and 8mm pellets, some corn and some 8mm meat.
As we only fish topkit plus 3 sections for this match I decided on a pellet line at the max distance in front both up and down in the water (DT Pinger and DT RBS floats respectively).
A silvers rig for topkit plus 1 section downwind where I would feed small helpings of groundbait and caster initially, float was a DT F1/Silvers in 0.3g. A meat line for the same distance to my left slightly upwind using an RBS Margin float.
Lastly I set up an edge rig, but other than one look, I didn't really try it as no signs of fish came and the edges on this bank are pretty short.

Peg 51 Todber Manor Hillview Lake

On the whistle I fed the long pellet line with 1/2 a cup of 6mm pellets and the meat line with the same of mostly meat and odd piece of corn. A decent couple of balls of groundbait went in on the silvers line.
I began on the meat and in the initial half hour or so I had an F1 and a little carp, but behind me and Bob down on 53 had began a whole lot better. The 3 of us in a row, well were not doing much.
A switch to the silvers rig for a while saw the odd roach and perch plus the occasional 4oz skimmer and micro tench netted but even that was not busy enough so I began to throw casters over that line coupled with the odd ball of groundbait.

Moving on and I knew that unless the big fish rocked up, which they never have for me here, it was going to be an up hill struggle, given I was trying to get points for the series for Emma I knew I needed to get a few carp caught so found my time split at least 60/40 in favour of the carp, which I felt may cost me in the silvers pool.
I had a look out on the pellet line where I had been pinging 6mm pellets and I missed a couple bites both on the deck and shallow, only losing a foul hooker.
Back on the meat and a few small tench and 1 small carp indicated that there were not enough fish in front of me.
The chap to my rightt was struggling and only had a couple of carp, Tony was fairing a but better but was also struggling along in comparison to everyone else we could see. Tony was fishing 8mm pellets over 6mm feed but was suffering with liners and foulers, he even switched to a toss pot to feed, which seemed to help.

As we approached the last 2 hours I had spent more time fishing for the carp than silvers, but when I had fished for the silver I would have a few roach and small skimmers but they would drift off quickly and need resting for 20 minutes or so before repeating but there wasn't much in the form of quality. I think I had 10lb of these fish before I had a 3lb skimmer from the meat line, but I figured that at least one or two guys would have caught the proper skimmers and bream well somewhere on the lake, so pretty much the last 120 minutes was spent fishing for carp, which really wasn't eventful. I had stopped fishing with pellet on the long line and had switched to toss pot feeding a mix of 6mm pellets and meat, this worked to some extent as I did catch 3 or 4 fish, better fish of maybe 2.5lb each rather than the 1lbers I was catching previous.
The short meat line was giving me more small tench than carp.

The chap to my right had landed a few carp doing a similar thing while Tony had started to catch reasonably well during this spell. Further along each side, Bob on 53 was doing great and I reckoned he would be close to 100lb if he carried on while Jason Radford on hot peg 49 was getting some fish including a big double figured carp, a decent bream and a nice tench. So really in our section I was expecting Tony, me and the chap on 52 to fill the last 3 spots in the section which thankfully didn't include Bob as it ran from peg 44 to 52, but behind me those pegs had done a lot better than us it seemed.

At the all out I guessed Tony had 50lb, Jason on 49 maybe 60lb, my carp had clicked 22lb and I thought I had 17lb or so of silvers and the chap to my right possibly 25lb. Tony did say he thought he had less than me, no chance of that really.
I packed up and got my kit in the car before mingling during the later stages of the weigh in. Most had found it hard going (for the fishery and it's usual standards).
When the scales got to me there was a 99-15 net and Bob had 100lb+. Peg 52 had 22lb+.
My carp went slightly over my 22lb at 23-01, which Mr Rixon believed I had more than... My silvers weighed 22-10 which was more than my guesstimate. My total was 45-11.
Tony had 52lb 9oz before Jason had 56lb+ before the weights from those pegs behind us had 70lb, 80lb, 88lb weights in them, as expected. I ended up beating 2 in the section, sorry Emma.
Further around the lake Mike Nicholls took top silvers with 24lb 10oz, so I missed out on taking those spoils by trying to catch carp for too long, or was it I spent too long fishing for silvers?
I did pick up the 2nd in silvers envelope so something in my back pocket is always welcome.
The results and weigh sheets can be found here...Silverfox or here...Mr Rixon's Blog.

I really like the fishery, as I have said on other occasions, just wish it was 40 minutes closer.
Next weekend I have the next round of the Acorn Saturday Series but I am not fishing Shiplate with Pawlett on the 2 canal lakes as when all 15 pegs on each are taken it generally doesn't fish as well, so I may have a day off or try and get on somewhere else.

Until then, have fun and enjoy the sun.
Lee

Todber Manor Open, Hillview Lake, 14-4-18

A long awaited visit to this super fishery yesterday, somewhere I should try and venture to more than I do, actually it was possibly last September-ish that I went. You are usually guaranteed of a few bites even if you have drawn away from the 'hot area' on the day. I just wish it was at least 40 minutes closer.
Anyways the weather on the way over was rather foggy and at times visibility was bad, luckily the roads were clear with the exception of numpty people towing trailers whom all hogged the whole road. I made it in plenty of time and had a look around the well stocked tackle shop.

Nearly 30 I think were fishing and we were all on Hillview Lake. Pre-draw chatter with Mark Poppleton and Allan Oram plus a few others was good, nice to see a few faces like Dave Chidzoy who I hadn't seen in a while.
On to the draw and you really don't know where the fish could be and where the winner and framers could come from, obviously apart from a few of the slightly more consistent pegs. I drew halfway down the rabble and pulled out peg 53, didn't mean much to me initially and had to double check where it was. It is the end peg in the far leg of the lake.

Peg 53 Hillview, Todber Manor

I made my way to the peg, one of the few pegs you cannot drive right up to, but gravel paths and a short walk is no issue. Bit muddy off the paths, to be expected with the work they have done and the recent weather issues.
Not much in the way of company, I had a guy called Bob (I think...sorry) next to me on 52 and Mr Chidzoy on peg 51. Other than that it was a nice view of the countryside. And thankfully the fog cleared to leave a lovely sunny day. Spring had sprung.

My peg looked ok, but the water seemed clearer than most others and along with peg 52 we had nothing in the way of wind or ripple, which was pushing over my head and away from me. I was certain that my are would not be ideal, but fish have fins and you never know what will occur.
Setting up a large bream rolled in front of peg 52, but that was it apart from odd roach.
I assembled a method feeder for across to the far bank, and a bunch of rigs for the pole, simply because I had entered the silverfish pool and I had not been in so long I hadn't a clue what to do.
So A shallow pellet rig using a DT Pinger, this went unused.
A depth pellet rig for 11m in front, slightly right as this seemed a nice area off the shelf but not in the deepest part of the peg. A 0.4g RBS Open Water float with 0.14>b911 size 16.
A depth meat rig on the same set up as the pellet, but even further round to the right at 11m, but this was only tried a couple times and remained fishless as did the rig I put up for around 2ft off the bank even further around to my right at 11m.
Only 1 silvers rig though, a DT Pencil float 0.2g for topset plus one section in front, just before the deepest water. I would feed groundbait and casters there and fish caster on the hook.

It was soon the all in, I fed the peg and I began on the method feeder, 25 minutes and no indications.
A look on the 11m lines, again no signs, not looking good after around an hour.
Elsewhere people were getting action, especially behind me in 43 and 45. Dave on peg 51 was getting a few stockies on his feeder. Bob was struggling but had put a couple roach and skimmers in the net and a couple small carp.
On the hour I had a look on my silvers line and began to get a few roach, very odd skimmer and even less tench......all interrupted occasionally by the odd stockie carp which were manageable on the silvers rig. You need a few of the 5lb+ carp to win the matches there, I really don't think there were enough of them down our leg to do that.

I could write on about the rest of the day, but other than 2 small carp on the 11m pellet rig I never really looked for the carp for more than another 40 minutes throughout the match. I just carried on putting silvers in the net in little spurts. I did get interrupted by a decent bream of perhaps 3.5lb which I hoped would see me add a few more like that, especially as Bob had a couple, buy I only added a couple 1lbers throughout the day plus odd 12oz tench, but it was mostly roach from 1oz to 5oz. Elsewhere Lee Woodhouse had netted a couple really clonking slabs, 2 possibly would have weighed 13lb between them.
I kept bites coming though and carried on doing what seemed to be ok, but I was not sure I had got it right, feeding half a dozen casters every minute and odd top up of groundbait.

Just before the all out Dave Chidzoy had a 1st, his 1st ever catfish, only a kitten at perhaps 5lb and fairly hooked in the tail, this gave him a shock when it surfaced, but it was good to see, I do like catfish and a trip to catch one or 2 this summer may well be in my plans. He had fish all day but only small ones in the main and was admitting to 70lb of carp.

Anyways the all out was called and I tipped back my carp, maybe 25lb of them, from 8oz to 2.5lb and wanted to just weigh my silver to gauge how I had faired for future reference.
So kit packed up and waited for the guys and the scales, I got to see Dave's cat and his guess was as close as I have known with just over 70lb of carp and catfish boosted silvers of 8lb gave him 80lb-sh.
My neighbour on 51 had 19lb of silvers and 22lb of carp. Elsewhere peg 43 had 125lb, Pete Neate had 105lb from 45 and best silvers was 33lb and a 23lb.
My turn to weigh and I had more than I thought by a long way, no surprise to some perhaps, but my total was 29lb 12oz. Lots of roach especially. This put me 2nd in the silvers on the day and a pick up, sadly not enough to put me into the King of the Manor Silvers final. But I will try again a few times this year I hope.

Results:

1st: Lee Janczyszyn 125lb 4oz (Peg 43)
2nd: Pete Neate 105lb 12oz (Peg 45)
3rd: Nigel Alford 95lb 4oz (Peg 49)
4th: Dave Chidzoy 80lb 1oz (Peg 51)

Silver's 1st: Lee Woodhouse 33lb 0oz (Peg 50)
Silver's 2nd: Lee Williams 29lb 12oz (Peg 53)
Silver's 3rd: Matt Skyme 23lb 0oz (Peg 41)

Section A: Ian Graham 53lb 7oz (Peg 34)
Section B: Terry Death 74lb 12oz (Peg 54)

Looking at what I could have done, maybe got off my backside and set up a 2nd silvers rig for further out may have been a better option for the quiet spells rather than trying for carp, but that is hindsight but I will take it with me going forward.

Next week I am back at Acorn for the series on Saturday and Sunday I have a match on one of the best silvers waters around with the Pawlett guys in Apex.

Until then, take care and enjoy the warmer climes this week....

Lee

Catch-Up....Mid August til End of Sept

Following on from my last blog, Tony's Float match at Sedges. I have not had the time, or inclination to get back to writing a blog each week, life issues and a much needed rest from it has suited me.
But a quick round up of the last 6 weeks or more is a pointer, I hope, for me, to get back into the swing of things.

Anyways. We had a weeks family holiday down at White Acres on Bank Holiday week, I fished the 3 matches there during the week. The Monday gold match on Twin Oaks saw me pick a less-than-good peg, peg 1. I managed a few late on and just missed out on a pick-up.
The rover saw me sit on Acorn and it never really got going, I couldn't find any carp at all. I ended up 21st. But I think that only 3 or 4 half decent carp from a top 4 finish, around 15lb.
Friday's Bolingey match put me on peg 16, an ok peg, but although I had a few carp, 14 or 15 of the smallest carp the lake holds and chucked back around 60lb.

Into Sept and I fished Todber for Pawlett's Day-Out, the whole complex switched off and I drew ok in 44, no island chuck, but had a reasonably enjoyable day and 40-something pounds. Lots of bites there, nice fishing even on the less-than-good days.
The following day I guested on PSV's match at Viaduct on Campbell, I drew 132. Didn't want to fish for carp, but it is not a great silvers peg. Had 4 carp in 4 drops on 4 different rig/lines. But tried to get some decent skimmers and tench. Didn't have any tench and strung a few skimmers and roach together for 4th in the silvers. 19lb 6oz I weighed and lost a few late 'jumpers' in the last 15 minutes. Mark Radford won overall and Matt Williams won the silvers with 25lb.

A Thursday Viaduct Cost-Cutter, after a week not fishing,  saw me fish peg 99 on Cary, I went for silvers but found no quality skimmers or tench. 15lb or so of palm sized skimmers and roach was nowhere overall, but was 3rd on the lake in the silvers and missed a pick-up by 1 place.
The following day I went to Summerhayes, the wife tagged along to keep me company, but she slept...It was a silvers match, but I managed about 40 carp on the light kit. I did scrape 9lb something for again 1 out of the money (a few roach that fell off cost me).

Saturday the 23rd saw me (and Mrs) head to Todber, a slow start for carp, for most people really, saw me spend too long fishing for them throughout the day from my peg, peg 61 on Hillview. Fished for the silvers on and off, more so later on in the match. I put 16lb+ in the net and yet again 1 place off an envelope. 2nd on Hillview in the silvers. I did manage 35lb of carp as well, my 61lb was not too bad in the scheme of things.

The 24th, last Sunday, I had a Pawlett match at Viaduct. Cary and Campbell.....wanted the latter, got the former. Didn't fancy my peg, peg 85 for either a silvers or carp placing. So a day of faffing around saw me land 2 carp in the last hour, 18lb. But I put some silvers in the net on and off, between the times I tried for a carp as only 2 guys I could see were getting them. I had 23lb of roach and skimmers short and 3rd in the silvers with Cary giving the top-3 in the silvers (paid one only). Shawn Kittridge won the silvers with 31lb mostly on 6mm pellet over 4's from peg 78. The top-2 overall came from Campbell, which never gave much in the way of silvers.

So that leaves me to this point in time. After a frustrating few weeks where I haven't had my mind in the game properly, I do hope to get back into a clearer head situation and get back to my simple basics.

This Sunday sees me fishing the 1st round of Viaduct's Silvers League. I have never fished this series and it has 54 of the area's best anglers taking part and me.........My aim is to finish 54th or better!!

Until next time, take care.
Lee

PSV Match, Todber Manor, Homeground Lake. 14-08-16

A club 1st today, a visit down to Dorset and a match on recently opened Homeground Lake (we had Hillview but got switched due to numbers).
A nice easy enough journey of around an hour or so down some little lanes and as the weather was clear, warm and sunny it was rather enjoyable.

Anyways back to the venue and the fishing, I arrived in plenty of time and Matt Williams and Mike Wilson were both present, I had a look around the tackle shop, which I must say is very well stocked and prices competitive. They have kit for carp fishing, coarse fishing, match fishing and catfish fishing.
The lake we were to fish was only recently opened and was rather bare and barren, but very nice platforms that were not too close together, there is 15 pegs in total on the lake that is just over an acre in size. Two islands are present in the lake. There isn't any marginal growth as such and it is rather barren. There was plenty of fish moving and jumping, we got told there was loads of silvers, tench, skimmers, roach and perch.

Todber Manor, Homeground Lake.(peg 81)

Once all 11 of us were present we did the draw, nobody was massively bothered about where they drew as we'd all have an island chuck plus there wasn't anything else that stood out, a bit of wind on the water would be nice, but the predictions were for a light breeze, on and off, but from varying directions throughout the day, as we looked across the lake from the nearside, the wind was generally right to left.
The draw was done, peg 81, the end peg on the near bank, and with peg 80 not in, I had the corner of the island to fish to with the method feeder. To my left on the end bank was Matt Williams, I fancied him to do well from there. Opposite me was Chris Szakacs, to my right on 79 and 78 were Will Dearlove and Ron Hardiman respectively.

I had read that the method feeder and shallow pellets are the 2 ways to go, so both of these were set up, a meat rig for topkit distance in front of me and a sort of margin rig for 2+2 down to my left where I could find 2ft depth, which was 6ft off the bank, though I knew the fish would come into the shallower water close in, I felt they'd spook easily.
Lastly a full depth pellet rig for 13m which is also where I planned on the shallow fishing.
Bait was groundbait for down to my left, 6mm pellets for up and down at 13m, 8mm meat for the short lines, I also had a few 4mm pellets for feed, plus wetted micros for the feeder.

On the whistle I fed a few pellets long, meat short and groundbait to my left. I started on the feeder and nothing occurred for about 20 minutes, so that was abandoned for a while. During that opening period Ron Hardiman and Brian Shanks were getting plenty of fish, small tench, small skimmers and one or 2 carp. Will had 1 carp on the feeder, but he wasn't getting any joy. In fact a few of us were struggling.
So a quick 5 minutes on the topkit with meat saw a couple missed bites, this gave me a 1oz perch the missed bites were from small silver methinks, so out to 13m with a 6mm in a band, a few 1 to 3oz tench came my way then a carp of around 1lb.
The next 2 hours went along similar vein, odd carp among the small tench and odd skimmer. Will, Brian, Mike Wilson and Will were catching the most consistently from where I was perched.

It was a few hours into the match when we saw Adam Caswell had a diabetic fit and ambulances were called and after some treatment he was carted off to Yeovil. Brian Shanks spotted his condition and between him, Ryan and a few others helped out. We all wish him well.

Back to the fishing and I managed a carp of 3lb or so on the method and mugged one of similar size on a piece of meat. But although I was getting fish regular down to my left and on the topkits, the time between fish was lengthy and I could see Chris on the peg opposite from me getting plenty of fish down his right edge, as was his neighbour Brian Shanks. Also the 3 to my right were getting fish more regularly on various tactics. Will even managed a good fish of perhaps 8lb+.

With 2hrs to go I fed a bit more aggressively to my left and on the topkit lines, abandoning the other lines. This proved to work a bit better as I then managed to increase the regularity of fish getting put into the keepnets, the fish were right in the edges too, maybe 8 inches of water, but some surface scum prevented me getting my rig into them and a 0.5g rig and 8mm pellet wouldn't get through the crap, so it was the slightly further out/deeper spot that I had to concentrate on, coupled with the topkit line.
I was soon enough picking up carp averaging 1lb or so, plus one or two nice skimmers. I suppose my biggest fish was 4lb. So the remaining period of the match was fished this way.
At the all out I was certain to be struggling at the back end of the field as it seemed all except Matt, Ryan and Mark Radford had struggled as much as me during the day.
I packed up my kit, loaded the car and began the weigh-in with Mike and Chris.
I was 1st up to weigh, putting nearly 9lb of skimmers on the scales, then my 2 well split carp nets made the total up to 81lb 2oz....miles more than expected and more than most thought I had. Surprised really.

We weighed in the rest, seeing Chris Szakacs putting 87lb on the scales thanks to the 2nd half of the match, Brian Shanks topped 100lb as he caught well all day, then a few more weighed in before Mike Wilson put less than what I thought on the scales, Ron Hardiman pipped my weight by 9oz, I was sure he'd done 100lb, but he had lots of baby tench. Will had 51lb...well short of my guess!!

Results:
1st, Brian Shanks, Peg 85, 101-09
2nd, Chris Szakacs, Peg 83, 87-04
3rd, Ron Hardiman, Peg 78, 81-11 (section)
4th, Lee Williams, Peg 81, 81-02
5th, Alan Healey, Peg 88, 61-02 (section)

So for the 2nd week in a row I was pipped for the section money, but for a change I wasn't next to or opposite the winner!! Interestingly the top 3 caught on corn I believe, soft pellet also accounted for a few fish.
But it was a nice venue and definitely one I will return to as it's not too far really and the place is clean and tidy and will no doubt give lots of bites to all.

Weights

Next up is Viaduct's Costcutter match on Thursday, then the final round of my series on Saturday at Viaduct Cary, then Landsend on Sunday, lakes 2 and 3 with the Pawlett rabble.

Until then, take care.
Lee