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 Viaduct. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Viaduct. Show all posts
Thursday, 25 April 2019
Wednesday, 12 September 2018
PSV Match, Viaduct Cary 9-9-18
Before I get on to Sunday's match I will give a quick recap of the couple of matches I have fished but not blogged about since my last post.
I fished the penultimate match of the Float Only Series which was at Sedges, I drew p35. Umm so-so in a float only match. Well the match was hard all over but I started well with a handful of fish shallow on the pole, losing a couple which may have been foul hooked, but gradually the wind changed and I struggled for the remainder of the match to finish with 35lb which was last in the 5 peg section but not last on the day.
Then I fished a Thursday open at Viaduct across Campbell and Cary. I fancied fishing for silvers but drew peg 80 but I still set my stall out in the main for silvers.
I managed to land a few carp, of which one was fished for. But I had a decent 2.5 to 3hrs at the start of the match before things died for me. Thankfully I put 22lb on the scales which was top silvers weight off Cary but beaten by a couple of nets from Campbell for 3rd on the day.
Since those matches I had a lovely family holiday in Turkey, the sea was warmer than the hotel pools and the fish in the sea like to have a munch on your dry skin, scabs and any abrasions, so when I stayed sill in the water I would get nipped, they didn't hurt, more of a surprise. Myself and daughter mostly spent ages feeding the small fish bread which was cool. Also drank and ate too much but randomly had loads of early nights and plenty of sleep which is unlike me. But very nice to get away.
Right I digress, back to Sunday, I was going to go to Summerhayes as me and the missus had plans Saturday night and didn't know if I would be in decent shape to fish. But on Friday Steve Burgess asked if I wanted to guest with the PSV bunch on Cary. After a day thinking about it I agreed.
I got there in plenty of time for the 9am draw and had a chat with a few of the guys, I haven't seen a few of them for bloody ages so it was good to speak.
Into the draw and I wait for towards the end of the queue and I plucked 105, before Mr Burgess found himself on 102. Not the area I fancied as it has been patchy there and with the wind pushing up towards the top corner and pegs 88 to 90 would have been my preference. But none the less I would crack on and see what I could catch. Oh and John Bradford who only fished for silvers drew p80 and wasn't going to fish it but in the end he did.
I didn't have much in the way of bait for the silvers, only some micros and expanders plus perhaps 20 worms so I only set up one rig which remained untouched all day.
Other rigs for the day was the obligatory lead rod for 8mm pellet.
A shallow pellet rig and depth pellet rig to fish between 14 and 16m in front. I used a DT Pinger for the shallow set up and a DT RBS open in 0.4g for on the deck, hooks were B911 size 16 and 0.16 hooklength.
A rig to fish meat at 6m was put up along with a rig to fish to empty peg 106 using a DT Margin Diamond. this rig went untouched.
Baits were 6mm and 8mm pellets and 8mm meat, so nice and simple.
At the all in I fed some micros and expanders for the silvers, the only time I put bait out for them.
I fired some pellets out to about 25m for the lead and began on the short meat line hoping for an early mug fish, but other than losing 3 foul hookers (scales returned) I had 2 bites I missed that was my first 45 minutes done with. Matt Williams on p74 also lost a couple foul hooked carp early before switching to silvers bashing.
All the while I had been pinging 6mm pellets on the long pole line but oddly there had not been a sign of fish, usually there would be some fizzing and perhaps the odd swirl. But nothing.
So I chucked the lead out and gave that 10 minutes before I got bored.
Out with pellet on the deck and I missed a couple half hearted bites, maybe liners, but I thought I would try a little longer on the deck before trying shallow. I then managed two carp in as many drops on the deck and that was 18lb in the net after 90 minutes, I think only 1 carp had been had elsewhere at this point. But I began getting iffy indications again and tried the shallow rig at various depths before I caught another fish around 13lb fishing around 10 inches deep (shallow?).
Just before the 2hr mark arrived I chucked the lead out and managed one after 5 minutes to push me up to 40lb on the clicker...… and then it went dead so I wandered to see Steve on 102, he only had small silvers and Adam Caswell was just netting his 1st fish of the day in the form of a skimmer off peg 100. Steve said nobody had much.
Back to my peg and around 90 minutes passed before I landed anymore fish. I did lose one on the lead in that time but it had became entangled in another carp trailing line and inevitably my carp was lost. But 2 quick shallow fish helped me along and 3 skimmers on the meat line saw the 4th hour pass ok enough. My clicker said 55lb and I was onto my next net.
The 5th hour was ok with a couple more carp on the shallow rig, I had to feed heavy and leave a few minutes before swinging the rig in where the feed went to get any indications. The deep rig just sat still.
It looked like I was doing ok, only young Ross Sewell on peg 77 was getting the odd carp now, but I did expect the top bank to have had a few by now.
The last 60 minutes were upon us and I was starting to see a few fish up towards peg 109, out of sensible (or unreasonable?) casting range, I just hoped a few would venture up, which luckily one or two did and I mugged a couple as they swam by.
A look on the meat line gave me a couple indications but I only caught a decent set of branches which screwed all change of me catching here really.
Randomly I fired a pouch of 8mm pellets down by peg 106 and in the last 20 minutes I caught 3 fish on the lead just off the platform, the 3rd of which I netted on the whistle and went in the 3rd net.
My clickers showed 55lb, 60lb and that last one which was perhaps 7lb. Plus my 3 skimmers (3lb). I reckoned on 125lb.
I packed up most of my kit and waited for Steve Long to come and begin the weigh in.
When he arrived he said the water temps had dropped considerably in the last 5 days and the lakes had generally slowed, with just the odd 'big' weight.
Anyways my last fish was just over 8lb and my other 2 nets were actually well clicked boosting my carp catch to 125lb, coupled with my 3lb of silvers I had 128-07 in total. 12 carp and 3 skimmers.
Steve Burgess had 14lb of 'eyes' before the scales moved onwards. He said I could win with my weight as he hadn't seen anyone catch too much.
I loaded my kit in the car in 3 trips as it was a short-ish walk. Before catching up with the results, Alan Healey said Will Dearlove had done well and I believed him when he said he had 4 carp nets in. So I was likely to be second.
Actually Alan had wound me up and it turned out I had won on the day ahead of Will's 77-01 net.
John Bradford won the silvers from peg 80, the bigger skimmers/bream/tench hadn't really fed and he had 15lb 8.5oz, Steve Sewell had half an ounce less!!
Results:
I fished the penultimate match of the Float Only Series which was at Sedges, I drew p35. Umm so-so in a float only match. Well the match was hard all over but I started well with a handful of fish shallow on the pole, losing a couple which may have been foul hooked, but gradually the wind changed and I struggled for the remainder of the match to finish with 35lb which was last in the 5 peg section but not last on the day.
Then I fished a Thursday open at Viaduct across Campbell and Cary. I fancied fishing for silvers but drew peg 80 but I still set my stall out in the main for silvers.
I managed to land a few carp, of which one was fished for. But I had a decent 2.5 to 3hrs at the start of the match before things died for me. Thankfully I put 22lb on the scales which was top silvers weight off Cary but beaten by a couple of nets from Campbell for 3rd on the day.
Since those matches I had a lovely family holiday in Turkey, the sea was warmer than the hotel pools and the fish in the sea like to have a munch on your dry skin, scabs and any abrasions, so when I stayed sill in the water I would get nipped, they didn't hurt, more of a surprise. Myself and daughter mostly spent ages feeding the small fish bread which was cool. Also drank and ate too much but randomly had loads of early nights and plenty of sleep which is unlike me. But very nice to get away.
Right I digress, back to Sunday, I was going to go to Summerhayes as me and the missus had plans Saturday night and didn't know if I would be in decent shape to fish. But on Friday Steve Burgess asked if I wanted to guest with the PSV bunch on Cary. After a day thinking about it I agreed.
I got there in plenty of time for the 9am draw and had a chat with a few of the guys, I haven't seen a few of them for bloody ages so it was good to speak.
Into the draw and I wait for towards the end of the queue and I plucked 105, before Mr Burgess found himself on 102. Not the area I fancied as it has been patchy there and with the wind pushing up towards the top corner and pegs 88 to 90 would have been my preference. But none the less I would crack on and see what I could catch. Oh and John Bradford who only fished for silvers drew p80 and wasn't going to fish it but in the end he did.
 |
| Peg 105 Cary, Viaduct |
I didn't have much in the way of bait for the silvers, only some micros and expanders plus perhaps 20 worms so I only set up one rig which remained untouched all day.
Other rigs for the day was the obligatory lead rod for 8mm pellet.
A shallow pellet rig and depth pellet rig to fish between 14 and 16m in front. I used a DT Pinger for the shallow set up and a DT RBS open in 0.4g for on the deck, hooks were B911 size 16 and 0.16 hooklength.
A rig to fish meat at 6m was put up along with a rig to fish to empty peg 106 using a DT Margin Diamond. this rig went untouched.
Baits were 6mm and 8mm pellets and 8mm meat, so nice and simple.
At the all in I fed some micros and expanders for the silvers, the only time I put bait out for them.
I fired some pellets out to about 25m for the lead and began on the short meat line hoping for an early mug fish, but other than losing 3 foul hookers (scales returned) I had 2 bites I missed that was my first 45 minutes done with. Matt Williams on p74 also lost a couple foul hooked carp early before switching to silvers bashing.
All the while I had been pinging 6mm pellets on the long pole line but oddly there had not been a sign of fish, usually there would be some fizzing and perhaps the odd swirl. But nothing.
So I chucked the lead out and gave that 10 minutes before I got bored.
Out with pellet on the deck and I missed a couple half hearted bites, maybe liners, but I thought I would try a little longer on the deck before trying shallow. I then managed two carp in as many drops on the deck and that was 18lb in the net after 90 minutes, I think only 1 carp had been had elsewhere at this point. But I began getting iffy indications again and tried the shallow rig at various depths before I caught another fish around 13lb fishing around 10 inches deep (shallow?).
Just before the 2hr mark arrived I chucked the lead out and managed one after 5 minutes to push me up to 40lb on the clicker...… and then it went dead so I wandered to see Steve on 102, he only had small silvers and Adam Caswell was just netting his 1st fish of the day in the form of a skimmer off peg 100. Steve said nobody had much.
Back to my peg and around 90 minutes passed before I landed anymore fish. I did lose one on the lead in that time but it had became entangled in another carp trailing line and inevitably my carp was lost. But 2 quick shallow fish helped me along and 3 skimmers on the meat line saw the 4th hour pass ok enough. My clicker said 55lb and I was onto my next net.
The 5th hour was ok with a couple more carp on the shallow rig, I had to feed heavy and leave a few minutes before swinging the rig in where the feed went to get any indications. The deep rig just sat still.
It looked like I was doing ok, only young Ross Sewell on peg 77 was getting the odd carp now, but I did expect the top bank to have had a few by now.
The last 60 minutes were upon us and I was starting to see a few fish up towards peg 109, out of sensible (or unreasonable?) casting range, I just hoped a few would venture up, which luckily one or two did and I mugged a couple as they swam by.
A look on the meat line gave me a couple indications but I only caught a decent set of branches which screwed all change of me catching here really.
Randomly I fired a pouch of 8mm pellets down by peg 106 and in the last 20 minutes I caught 3 fish on the lead just off the platform, the 3rd of which I netted on the whistle and went in the 3rd net.
My clickers showed 55lb, 60lb and that last one which was perhaps 7lb. Plus my 3 skimmers (3lb). I reckoned on 125lb.
I packed up most of my kit and waited for Steve Long to come and begin the weigh in.
When he arrived he said the water temps had dropped considerably in the last 5 days and the lakes had generally slowed, with just the odd 'big' weight.
Anyways my last fish was just over 8lb and my other 2 nets were actually well clicked boosting my carp catch to 125lb, coupled with my 3lb of silvers I had 128-07 in total. 12 carp and 3 skimmers.
Steve Burgess had 14lb of 'eyes' before the scales moved onwards. He said I could win with my weight as he hadn't seen anyone catch too much.
I loaded my kit in the car in 3 trips as it was a short-ish walk. Before catching up with the results, Alan Healey said Will Dearlove had done well and I believed him when he said he had 4 carp nets in. So I was likely to be second.
Actually Alan had wound me up and it turned out I had won on the day ahead of Will's 77-01 net.
John Bradford won the silvers from peg 80, the bigger skimmers/bream/tench hadn't really fed and he had 15lb 8.5oz, Steve Sewell had half an ounce less!!
Results:
1. Lee Williams (105) 128-7
2. Will Dearlove (90) 77-1
3. Ryan Radford (87) 60-5
4. Ross Sewell (77) 54-5
5. Alan Healey (98) 50-9
6. Lee Waller (81) 43-5
7. Adam Caswell (100) 35-5
2. Will Dearlove (90) 77-1
3. Ryan Radford (87) 60-5
4. Ross Sewell (77) 54-5
5. Alan Healey (98) 50-9
6. Lee Waller (81) 43-5
7. Adam Caswell (100) 35-5
Silvers:
1. John Bradford (80) 15-8½
2. Steve Sewell (96) 15-8
3. Matt Williams (74) 15-1
4. Steve Burgess (102) 14-0
1. John Bradford (80) 15-8½
2. Steve Sewell (96) 15-8
3. Matt Williams (74) 15-1
4. Steve Burgess (102) 14-0
So a pretty decent day results wise, but 12 carp and 3 skimmers landed, 3 lost foul hooked carp and 1 carp lost to a fishing trailing line, it wasn't hectic with plenty of quiet times. But happy none the less.
Next up for me is Avalon on the 23rd with Pawlett, no fishing this weekend as me and the wife are off for a '48hr Party' with a 90's theme at Pontins for a laugh.
Plus I need to get a little prep done for the Maver Festival at White Acres in 3 weeks of so...
Until then, take care and have fun.
Lee
Lee
Wednesday, 15 August 2018
Pawlett Match, Viaduct Campbell and Cary. 5-8-18
A quick write up for this as struggling to find time to keep up with blogs this school hols.
Well a dry and sunny day was in store, possibly the warmest of the year thus far, 27 of us spread across the 2 lakes, so a bit of room for most. I was feeling the worst for wear due to a 'cold' and lack of sleep....etc
I would like to be on Campbell I thought to myself, or at worst the car park end of Cary where the better weights had been coming out from. Well into the draw and out pops peg 81, left hand side of the spit on Cary, it had been one of the quieter pegs in the previous couple of weeks, but 80 had been rather decent, they obviously didn't want to venture into the shadier side. I did hope this had changed.
The golden peg was 110 and would be a good bet to get taken, more so when Jamie Cook pulled it out, he knows how to catch a carp or 2. For company I had Derek Beards on peg 80 but couldn't see him, I had Tom Mangnall over on peg 85 and behind me I had Mark Hembery and Mark Bellringer both on Campbell.
I set up a lead rod for chucking around the peg.
A short meat rig for in front at 2+2.
A shallow mugging/slapping rig.
A rig for against the spit at 16m using banded pellets.
Lastly a depth pellet rig would be ok for 16m in front and down to the monk to my left.
The 1st hour gave me a grand total of 5 small palm sized skimmers on the meat.
There were loads of fish showing between me and Tom, but he also had not caught.
The next 2 hours gave me 3 carp, 2 on the meat and one shallow. But it did seem as this end of the lake was tricky, Tom was on 3 carp, Mike West over on 94 was on 3 also but rumour had it the other end was doing good and Derek on p80 too was doing well.
Not much happened in the 5th hour but a couple lost fish when trying the lead and pole down towards peg 82 were my reward along with a healthy helping of lost fish and snags possibly why they seemed happy down there, and in the sun....My clicker was on 30lb.
Into the last hour and I began to get action in my meat line, skimmers and carp and I managed to put about 15lb of silvers in the net and approx. 60lb of carp, they had come in a touch too late, well 4hrs too late.
The all out was called and I knew I had come nowhere, Mr West looked he had done well but me and Tom had struggled. My clickers showed 52lb and 37lb plus I guess I had maybe 15lb of skimmers, so I decided I was too tired to wait to be weighed in and tipped them back.
I had heard Jamie on 110 reckoned he had 300lb and a few guys reckoned on around 180lb.
I got my car loaded and chatted to a few guys before heading on home.
Results:
1st Jamie Cook, peg 110. 311lb
2nd Keith Clapp, peg 125. 205lb 14oz
3rd Phil Clapp, peg 105. 177lb 8oz
Then 4 weights circa 160lb
Silvers:
1st Phil Dodd, peg 78. 43lb 14oz (little feeder, micros and dead reds)
2nd Kev Locke, peg 123, 29lb 14oz
Next up for me was the Charity Pairs match at The Sedges with my partner Mark Leader.
Until then, take care.
Lee
Well a dry and sunny day was in store, possibly the warmest of the year thus far, 27 of us spread across the 2 lakes, so a bit of room for most. I was feeling the worst for wear due to a 'cold' and lack of sleep....etc
I would like to be on Campbell I thought to myself, or at worst the car park end of Cary where the better weights had been coming out from. Well into the draw and out pops peg 81, left hand side of the spit on Cary, it had been one of the quieter pegs in the previous couple of weeks, but 80 had been rather decent, they obviously didn't want to venture into the shadier side. I did hope this had changed.
The golden peg was 110 and would be a good bet to get taken, more so when Jamie Cook pulled it out, he knows how to catch a carp or 2. For company I had Derek Beards on peg 80 but couldn't see him, I had Tom Mangnall over on peg 85 and behind me I had Mark Hembery and Mark Bellringer both on Campbell.
I set up a lead rod for chucking around the peg.
A short meat rig for in front at 2+2.
A shallow mugging/slapping rig.
A rig for against the spit at 16m using banded pellets.
Lastly a depth pellet rig would be ok for 16m in front and down to the monk to my left.
The 1st hour gave me a grand total of 5 small palm sized skimmers on the meat.
There were loads of fish showing between me and Tom, but he also had not caught.
The next 2 hours gave me 3 carp, 2 on the meat and one shallow. But it did seem as this end of the lake was tricky, Tom was on 3 carp, Mike West over on 94 was on 3 also but rumour had it the other end was doing good and Derek on p80 too was doing well.
Not much happened in the 5th hour but a couple lost fish when trying the lead and pole down towards peg 82 were my reward along with a healthy helping of lost fish and snags possibly why they seemed happy down there, and in the sun....My clicker was on 30lb.
Into the last hour and I began to get action in my meat line, skimmers and carp and I managed to put about 15lb of silvers in the net and approx. 60lb of carp, they had come in a touch too late, well 4hrs too late.
The all out was called and I knew I had come nowhere, Mr West looked he had done well but me and Tom had struggled. My clickers showed 52lb and 37lb plus I guess I had maybe 15lb of skimmers, so I decided I was too tired to wait to be weighed in and tipped them back.
I had heard Jamie on 110 reckoned he had 300lb and a few guys reckoned on around 180lb.
I got my car loaded and chatted to a few guys before heading on home.
Results:
1st Jamie Cook, peg 110. 311lb
2nd Keith Clapp, peg 125. 205lb 14oz
3rd Phil Clapp, peg 105. 177lb 8oz
Then 4 weights circa 160lb
Silvers:
1st Phil Dodd, peg 78. 43lb 14oz (little feeder, micros and dead reds)
2nd Kev Locke, peg 123, 29lb 14oz
Next up for me was the Charity Pairs match at The Sedges with my partner Mark Leader.
Until then, take care.
Lee
Wednesday, 13 June 2018
Viaduct 13m Pole Match and Float Only rnd 2 at Landsend. 9th and 10th June
Not too much to write about today regarding the weekend just gone. Saturday saw Mike Nicholls running a 13m pole only match at Viaduct on Campbell lake, so I had booked into that.
So I arrived in loads of time, sorted the kit and it was soon the draw, 121 or 135 on the 2 end banks were my 'hope fors' but I managed to get 126, not so good, actually one of the pegs I would very rarely, if ever. pick out of choice. It can be ok for silvers at times though.
At my peg I set up a short meat line rig for under an overhanging tree to my right, a pellt rig for down my right edge. Plus shallow and deep pellet rigs for 13m in front. Lastly a token silvers rig which I didn't fancy using, but had John Fuidge over on 118 fishing for them as a guide to if the skimmers were having a munch.
Well I could waffle on about what I tried etc but where I was, and really for most on the lake, it was hard going and other than a few foul hooked fish which inevitably came off I only managed 4 carp during the day, 1 on the deck on the long pellet rig, 1 on meat and 2 shallow. I also had a few silvers, maybe 5lb or so. I didn't trouble the scales. 2 pegs to my left Fred Roberts only had 1 skimmer in just over 2 hours fishing so went home then. Martin McMahon on my right had 1 carp, 2 roach and a skimmer and the chap to my left got 3 foul hooked lumps in and managed another 4. There were quite a few catches of around 3 or 4 carp and I never saw John catching much silvers, similarly Mike Nicholls said he never had too many and lost some tench in the edge. Peg 123 had a few skimmers, but that can be a great silvers (and carp) peg.
Not sure on the results as I would have been half way home by then but Martin Rayet caught well in the 2nd half of the match on peg 116 after an almost fishless 2.5hrs at the start. Joe McMahon on 135 had a few I gathered after a slow start.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday saw me at Landsend for the 2nd round of Tony Rixon's Float Only Series.
I fancied being on the match lake and would have preferred to be along the far bank pegs 13 to 24. Or 68 on Lake 3 as I like that peg., as I never draw flyers pegs 32 and 33 on Speci were unlikely to end in my hand.
I did get the area I wanted though in peg 19 and was quite pleased with the draw to be fair. I did fancy fishing for silvers, but that went out of the window due to my stubbornness I guess.
A shallow rig for stalking and against the island where it was only around 10 inches deep at the most.
A meat rig for 6m in front and a little to the left.
A pellet rig for my topkit to my left by a fallen tree/snag.
An edge rig for along my right edge if needed.
Again not a lot to mention on the day, I landed one early then started to suffer a few lost foul hooked fish, one was decent but done me under my platform just as I thought I had it beaten. The next drop I foul hooked one that came to the top to be netted and turned an belted across to the far bank reeds and broke me.
I managed a skimmer of 2.5lbs on my silvers line and a couple margin roach and rudd on maggots. I also had a couple flying skimmers shed the hook, both looked a good 3lb each.
I did manage to see some fish caught during the day from the opposite bank in Shawn Townsend and Martin Rayet. Plus Neil Mercer on peg 18 to my left had a few on and off during the day including landing a couple decent sized foul hookers. He had Gary O'Shea on his left who also had a decent enough day on peg 16.
Well for me I had 2 carp in the first hour by fishing across, only small carp though, 4lbers.
Then a quiet spell of a couple hours before a couple more from across and a couple mugged fish.
One carp from my right edge another 4lber was the only carp from there, in hindsight I should have fished further along that margin.
The last 90 mins gave me 2 small carp on the meat line, which they were visiting all day but not feeding and defo not on the bottom. I think I ended with 7 carp and my clicker had 33lb on it.
I expected to be last in section, no shock in that.
At the weigh in I somehow didn't manage last in section as Neil had 80lb-ish and Bela had 70lb-ish from peg 21 then my 44lb was 3rd much to the amusement of Tony.
The last couple of pegs in the section were not so good as Gordon Canning and Vince Shipp struggled. Prior to our bank weighing it was Shaun Townsend on peg 6 who won the lake and second on the day with 187ln fishing long to some reedy type plants, the cover and shade would have helped and Neil on peg 18 caught well in the last hour when the shade had covered his part of the island.
I had tried all sorts to try and get a few extra fish, even big potting maggots across, and hoping that would help. It didn't make a difference. Maybe I could have fed heavier but I didn't fancy foul hooking too many more than what I had done. Maybe I should have fished for silvers as top silvers was 9lb on the lake, and Mike West won the silvers with 11lb from Speci lake. Would I have had that? I am not sure either way.
Winner on the day was that man Craig 'Trig' Edmunds with nearly 250lb caught mostly shallow I believe from peg 32 on Speci, a good peg and good angler combo was going to be hard to beat. So well done that man.
I would imagine Mike Nicholls will have the full results of both matches when he does his blogs later in the week as he is on his yearly week long fishing 'holiday' and has a bunch of matches this week.
So for me, not a great weekend, Campbell fished hard and there was lots of anglers not catching a lot.
Landsend I drew ok but fished like a tit, I guess that is a combination of low confidence thanks to my recent drawing and me losing interest early on in the day, even before the match begins and the lack of actually catching fish in the last few weeks has left me a little rusty perhaps. But I shall persevere as I am hopeful I will get among some fish at some point.
No idea where or what I have planned for the weekend, maybe a pleasure session somewhere one day. The rivers are open from Saturday.....so maybe I will get a ticket and try one? Maybe.
Until next time, have fun.
Lee
So I arrived in loads of time, sorted the kit and it was soon the draw, 121 or 135 on the 2 end banks were my 'hope fors' but I managed to get 126, not so good, actually one of the pegs I would very rarely, if ever. pick out of choice. It can be ok for silvers at times though.
At my peg I set up a short meat line rig for under an overhanging tree to my right, a pellt rig for down my right edge. Plus shallow and deep pellet rigs for 13m in front. Lastly a token silvers rig which I didn't fancy using, but had John Fuidge over on 118 fishing for them as a guide to if the skimmers were having a munch.
 |
| peg 126 Campbell |
Not sure on the results as I would have been half way home by then but Martin Rayet caught well in the 2nd half of the match on peg 116 after an almost fishless 2.5hrs at the start. Joe McMahon on 135 had a few I gathered after a slow start.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday saw me at Landsend for the 2nd round of Tony Rixon's Float Only Series.
I fancied being on the match lake and would have preferred to be along the far bank pegs 13 to 24. Or 68 on Lake 3 as I like that peg., as I never draw flyers pegs 32 and 33 on Speci were unlikely to end in my hand.
I did get the area I wanted though in peg 19 and was quite pleased with the draw to be fair. I did fancy fishing for silvers, but that went out of the window due to my stubbornness I guess.
A shallow rig for stalking and against the island where it was only around 10 inches deep at the most.
A meat rig for 6m in front and a little to the left.
A pellet rig for my topkit to my left by a fallen tree/snag.
An edge rig for along my right edge if needed.
 |
| peg 19 Lansend |
I managed a skimmer of 2.5lbs on my silvers line and a couple margin roach and rudd on maggots. I also had a couple flying skimmers shed the hook, both looked a good 3lb each.
I did manage to see some fish caught during the day from the opposite bank in Shawn Townsend and Martin Rayet. Plus Neil Mercer on peg 18 to my left had a few on and off during the day including landing a couple decent sized foul hookers. He had Gary O'Shea on his left who also had a decent enough day on peg 16.
Well for me I had 2 carp in the first hour by fishing across, only small carp though, 4lbers.
Then a quiet spell of a couple hours before a couple more from across and a couple mugged fish.
One carp from my right edge another 4lber was the only carp from there, in hindsight I should have fished further along that margin.
The last 90 mins gave me 2 small carp on the meat line, which they were visiting all day but not feeding and defo not on the bottom. I think I ended with 7 carp and my clicker had 33lb on it.
I expected to be last in section, no shock in that.
At the weigh in I somehow didn't manage last in section as Neil had 80lb-ish and Bela had 70lb-ish from peg 21 then my 44lb was 3rd much to the amusement of Tony.
The last couple of pegs in the section were not so good as Gordon Canning and Vince Shipp struggled. Prior to our bank weighing it was Shaun Townsend on peg 6 who won the lake and second on the day with 187ln fishing long to some reedy type plants, the cover and shade would have helped and Neil on peg 18 caught well in the last hour when the shade had covered his part of the island.
I had tried all sorts to try and get a few extra fish, even big potting maggots across, and hoping that would help. It didn't make a difference. Maybe I could have fed heavier but I didn't fancy foul hooking too many more than what I had done. Maybe I should have fished for silvers as top silvers was 9lb on the lake, and Mike West won the silvers with 11lb from Speci lake. Would I have had that? I am not sure either way.
Winner on the day was that man Craig 'Trig' Edmunds with nearly 250lb caught mostly shallow I believe from peg 32 on Speci, a good peg and good angler combo was going to be hard to beat. So well done that man.
I would imagine Mike Nicholls will have the full results of both matches when he does his blogs later in the week as he is on his yearly week long fishing 'holiday' and has a bunch of matches this week.
So for me, not a great weekend, Campbell fished hard and there was lots of anglers not catching a lot.
Landsend I drew ok but fished like a tit, I guess that is a combination of low confidence thanks to my recent drawing and me losing interest early on in the day, even before the match begins and the lack of actually catching fish in the last few weeks has left me a little rusty perhaps. But I shall persevere as I am hopeful I will get among some fish at some point.
No idea where or what I have planned for the weekend, maybe a pleasure session somewhere one day. The rivers are open from Saturday.....so maybe I will get a ticket and try one? Maybe.
Until next time, have fun.
Lee
Thursday, 31 May 2018
Float Only Series, Round 1, Viaduct. 27th May 2018
I managed to get on to this series as a late replacement, though I will miss the last round of the series due to a holiday, so Steve Tucker will be fishing that one for me (as it was his place I took, lol).
I arrived through a barrage of rain that had passed over the region, thankfully after this early morning spell it stayed dry throughout the day and quite warm
A bit of a chat and trolley loaded and into the tin, we have 40 on this series son would be on Cary and Campbell, I wanted Campbell, ideally around 112 to 115 or anywhere on the far side. I cant even remember the last match I fished on the lake other than their Xmas match,
My plans were to fish for silvers each round as I don't feel I can compete overall in the league given the quality of anglers fishing it.
I drew peg 119, I didn't really fancy it to be honest, it can be brilliant but it blows more cold than hot.
For company I had Clayton Hudson on peg 118, which is a better peg with a good edge (after some tree tidying) and is set slightly further out into the lake than those either side of him.
Behind me I had the most consistent angler, probably most successful too, Craig 'Trig' Edmunds, he was on Cary 81 and his peg was awash with fish, the two words 'writing' and 'wall' sprung to mind.
I also had Ryan Shipp in front of me on peg 121, I fancied that peg to do well and another good angler on it.
I assembled a waggler, this would be fished to the end bank, never gave a bite.
I assembled a token silvers rig as when I got to my peg I didn't expect them to play ball generally speaking, again no fish on this.(DT F1/Silvers in 0.3g)
A shallow rig for mugging and fishing properly shallow. (DT Pinger in 0.1)
An edge rig for along the end bank and down to my left. (DT RBS Margin 0.3g), 2 lost foulers and 1 hook pull.
A deck pellet rig for 14m in front slightly right in the reflection of a tree. (DT RBS in 0.4g). No fish, just a few liners/foulers lost.
Lastly a meat rig for 6m in front. (DT RBS in 0.3g)
Bait was groundbait, 8mm pellets, 6mm pellets and some hemp and 8mm meat. Some casters and dead maggots too.
I won't bore you with the details, simply because there is not much to tell, as generally it fished slow on Campbell with the odd exception.
I started short on meat and had a 12lber after 10 minutes or so, then I promptly lost 4, a mixture of foul hookers and dodgy hooklength I should have changed.
I managed another before the hour mark, a fish of 8lb or so on the meat. My third carp came after 90 minutes. Around 9lb I guessed.
A couple looks on the silvers line I had fed at 13, no bites despite fizzing. A couple looks along the end bank gave nothing and the pellet rig on the deck gave me a couple indications and a couple lost foul hookers. Looking around nobody on my lake was catching much, Ryan had maybe 5 or so nice skimmers and 1 carp, the 3 guys on the far bank all had maybe 2 or 3 fish each and Clayton on 118 only had 1.
Behind me on Cary it looked like Trig was doing well as was Chris Davis on peg 85.
Fast forward 2hrs and I managed a couple more carp, these came shallow over heavy feeding, but I think they were ones just passing by as I wasn't getting any fizzing or liners etc, the elastic would just tear out.
Meanwhile Clayton had a run of 3 fish down his edge and 4 shallow long, sort of fishing blind as he wasn't getting mush in the way of indications, it would be nothing then bingo, a couple fish, then repeat.
One more fish for the rest of the match, that was a skimmer on the meat line with 90 minutes left in the match. So I went the last 2.5hrs without landing a carp, I did lose a few foul hookers and I think a couple were hook pulls when hooked properly, but cannot be sure.
The all out was called and I was sure I would be last in section, 5 carp and a small skimmer. Clayton's 2 little spells he had mid match looked to be the difference there, perhaps 80lb for him and Ryan on 121 had been consistent all day, I had him down for 100lb. The 3 others in my section were Tony Rixon, he was admitting to 160lb from 116 (possibly best peg in the section), but had started slow-ish before finding fish down his edge.
The angler opposite me looked to have had more for sure, could not be to sure on weights, 60lb+ I was convinced.
I packed up and waited for the scales. Trig was admitting to 300lb and Chris Davis 170lb on Cary, not much else was being admitted to on there.
When the scales got to me it was Mark Wynne who had 197lb and was winning, Ryan had just topped the 100lb mark with 107lb including 18lb of silvers. Peg 123 had 46lb to my surprise.
My 5 carp and 6oz skimmer was good enough for 53lb 11oz.
Clayton had perhaps 12 carp for his total of 81lb 15oz so those 2 spells defo helped.
Next up was Tony, he amassed 171lb and ounces to win the 5 peg section and perhaps 4th on the day.
So I wasn't last in the section, yay. But those few lost fish may have cost me a point, but then Clayton had lost a couple so I am not even sure if I would have.
Trig won the match with 316lb and top silvers was 'only' 27lb to Paul Faires on Campbell. But generally the fishing was patchy, as it has been in most places recently, spawning, high temps, thundery weather and a bit more pressure from anglers wont have helped, so lets hope they settle down.
For full results sheets read Tony's Blog.....Here you go.
So as predicted a tough start to the series, but such is life, hopefully my dropper.
Next up for me is a the next round up at Acorn, again it hasn't been a good series for me, poor draws costing me at the moment for sure, but I shall go and try for sure.
Until then take care.
Lee
I arrived through a barrage of rain that had passed over the region, thankfully after this early morning spell it stayed dry throughout the day and quite warm
A bit of a chat and trolley loaded and into the tin, we have 40 on this series son would be on Cary and Campbell, I wanted Campbell, ideally around 112 to 115 or anywhere on the far side. I cant even remember the last match I fished on the lake other than their Xmas match,
My plans were to fish for silvers each round as I don't feel I can compete overall in the league given the quality of anglers fishing it.
I drew peg 119, I didn't really fancy it to be honest, it can be brilliant but it blows more cold than hot.
For company I had Clayton Hudson on peg 118, which is a better peg with a good edge (after some tree tidying) and is set slightly further out into the lake than those either side of him.
Behind me I had the most consistent angler, probably most successful too, Craig 'Trig' Edmunds, he was on Cary 81 and his peg was awash with fish, the two words 'writing' and 'wall' sprung to mind.
I also had Ryan Shipp in front of me on peg 121, I fancied that peg to do well and another good angler on it.
 |
| Peg 199, Viaduct Campbell. |
I assembled a token silvers rig as when I got to my peg I didn't expect them to play ball generally speaking, again no fish on this.(DT F1/Silvers in 0.3g)
A shallow rig for mugging and fishing properly shallow. (DT Pinger in 0.1)
An edge rig for along the end bank and down to my left. (DT RBS Margin 0.3g), 2 lost foulers and 1 hook pull.
A deck pellet rig for 14m in front slightly right in the reflection of a tree. (DT RBS in 0.4g). No fish, just a few liners/foulers lost.
Lastly a meat rig for 6m in front. (DT RBS in 0.3g)
Bait was groundbait, 8mm pellets, 6mm pellets and some hemp and 8mm meat. Some casters and dead maggots too.
I won't bore you with the details, simply because there is not much to tell, as generally it fished slow on Campbell with the odd exception.
I started short on meat and had a 12lber after 10 minutes or so, then I promptly lost 4, a mixture of foul hookers and dodgy hooklength I should have changed.
I managed another before the hour mark, a fish of 8lb or so on the meat. My third carp came after 90 minutes. Around 9lb I guessed.
A couple looks on the silvers line I had fed at 13, no bites despite fizzing. A couple looks along the end bank gave nothing and the pellet rig on the deck gave me a couple indications and a couple lost foul hookers. Looking around nobody on my lake was catching much, Ryan had maybe 5 or so nice skimmers and 1 carp, the 3 guys on the far bank all had maybe 2 or 3 fish each and Clayton on 118 only had 1.
Behind me on Cary it looked like Trig was doing well as was Chris Davis on peg 85.
Fast forward 2hrs and I managed a couple more carp, these came shallow over heavy feeding, but I think they were ones just passing by as I wasn't getting any fizzing or liners etc, the elastic would just tear out.
Meanwhile Clayton had a run of 3 fish down his edge and 4 shallow long, sort of fishing blind as he wasn't getting mush in the way of indications, it would be nothing then bingo, a couple fish, then repeat.
One more fish for the rest of the match, that was a skimmer on the meat line with 90 minutes left in the match. So I went the last 2.5hrs without landing a carp, I did lose a few foul hookers and I think a couple were hook pulls when hooked properly, but cannot be sure.
The all out was called and I was sure I would be last in section, 5 carp and a small skimmer. Clayton's 2 little spells he had mid match looked to be the difference there, perhaps 80lb for him and Ryan on 121 had been consistent all day, I had him down for 100lb. The 3 others in my section were Tony Rixon, he was admitting to 160lb from 116 (possibly best peg in the section), but had started slow-ish before finding fish down his edge.
The angler opposite me looked to have had more for sure, could not be to sure on weights, 60lb+ I was convinced.
I packed up and waited for the scales. Trig was admitting to 300lb and Chris Davis 170lb on Cary, not much else was being admitted to on there.
When the scales got to me it was Mark Wynne who had 197lb and was winning, Ryan had just topped the 100lb mark with 107lb including 18lb of silvers. Peg 123 had 46lb to my surprise.
My 5 carp and 6oz skimmer was good enough for 53lb 11oz.
Clayton had perhaps 12 carp for his total of 81lb 15oz so those 2 spells defo helped.
Next up was Tony, he amassed 171lb and ounces to win the 5 peg section and perhaps 4th on the day.
So I wasn't last in the section, yay. But those few lost fish may have cost me a point, but then Clayton had lost a couple so I am not even sure if I would have.
Trig won the match with 316lb and top silvers was 'only' 27lb to Paul Faires on Campbell. But generally the fishing was patchy, as it has been in most places recently, spawning, high temps, thundery weather and a bit more pressure from anglers wont have helped, so lets hope they settle down.
For full results sheets read Tony's Blog.....Here you go.
So as predicted a tough start to the series, but such is life, hopefully my dropper.
Next up for me is a the next round up at Acorn, again it hasn't been a good series for me, poor draws costing me at the moment for sure, but I shall go and try for sure.
Until then take care.
Lee
Tuesday, 26 December 2017
Viaduct Christmas Match, 23-12-17. All Lakes.
Thankfully a day of light winds and little if any rain was forecast for the 97 or 98 of us booked into this match, a very good turn out indeed.
We all had our ideas of where to draw and where not to, 132 and 110 are the hot pegs currently and most expected one of them to win and the other to frame the further up the lake you went the less carpy it became. Match Lake could be ok if things were hard and Middle/Spring had seen a couple hundred new carp stocked between 4 and 7lb, so should they feed then that could be interesting. Cary....maybe but should be at least the most consistent lake for the silvers at least. Nobody really fancied many pegs on Lodge with the exception of perhaps 73 and maybe 64, and 59 for skimmers.
Anyway the car parks were full and a few of us were boxed in up the top car park, but no worries as there was a prize for all and I couldn't see anyone leaving early.
Into the draw after a few natters with people and I found myself with 114 in my hand, I didn't fancy it on either the carp or silvers front as the payouts were top 6 overall and 3 silvers plus 10 sections. But unless I got lucky with the carp moving up the lake I would hope for a day's fishing.
As I walked to my peg it was clear the carp in Campbell were still along the end bank as several fish boshed out of the water....hmmmm
For company I had Mark Bromsgrove on my left on peg 113 and to my right was Phil Cardwell on 115.
I looked at the water, the colour was ok and although a little clear it wasn't too bad really.
A lead was assembled, a rig for silvers at 13m (DT F1.Silvers in 0.4g), a dobbing rig for my left edge (0.1g DT Pinger) and a meat/corn rig to cover 6 and 14m lines (DT RBS Open Water 0.3g)
Bait was dead maggots, pinkies, some groundbait and some meat and corn. Plus a couple slices of bread.
I began on the short pole, just in case of some daft fish playing ball, but nothing happened. Mark began on the lead and within 10 minutes had a carp. I followed suit, more in hope really and to have a cuppa. Across from me Jacko has landed a carp (or tench) and was exclusively fishing the waggler as he tends to do.
My 1st fish came after an hour and it was a skimmer caught on a bunch of twigs, on a rig, attached to my hooklength on the lead. Only a small 4oz fish, but blank saved.
Another 10 mins on the tip never saw a sniff so that was chucked up the bank for the rest of the day.
I could bore you all with the intricacies but the next 4hrs were spent picking off small skimmers on the 13m line feeding odd helpings of groundbait, but I couldn't really get them lined up properly.
Mark on my left was generally getting only small roach on the pole and wag and to my right it was a similar story to me, odd small skimmer and odd roach. Most people were struggling apart from Andy Cranston on peg 132, plus 131 and 130 had a few carp, no doubt 110 also had.
Towards the end of the match Dan White on peg 127 had a couple carp and a couple nice skimmers after a quiet day. Jacko had been catching silvers most of the day on the waggler from peg 128 and looked set for a decent net (he ended with 19lb of silvers).
The all in was called and I was all packed up for the weigh in and when Matt arrived with the scales and put my 2.5lb (actually 8lb 6oz) on the sheet that was 2nd best silvers net on the lake behind Jacko. Turns out it was also 2nd in section behind Geoff Francis on p110 who had 28lb to win the section money.
Presentations and prizes dished out to all after the match and mince pies, sausage rolls and drinks provided by the fishery was a great thing to do and much appreciated by all.
I also managed to be caked in mud and tipped my trolley and box contents all over the floor for the 2nd time in a week!! Thanks to the couple of guys who helped pick stuff up. I should strap my kit to the trolley frame not my side tray, lol.
Results:
Andy Cranston, p132, 95lb
Bob Gullick, p73, 85lb 8oz
Dan Squire, p7, 69lb 2oz
Mark Poppleton, p4, 57lb 8oz
then a few 50lb nets followed
As for the Silvers, Paul Greenwood caught 22lb from the Match Lake peg 46 and won that with Nicky Ewers having 20-03 from p66 and Stu White 20-02 from peg 19.
A nice day though which I enjoyed and I am sure most did even if it fished rather hard for a lot. But it was good to see spring and middle be consistent. The full weigh sheets are on Mike Nicholls' blog (Silverfox).
No plans set for this week ahead of going back to work next Tuesday the 2nd.
So I hope you all had a great Xmas period and enjoyed yourselves.
Take care and thanks for reading my blog in 2017.
Lee
We all had our ideas of where to draw and where not to, 132 and 110 are the hot pegs currently and most expected one of them to win and the other to frame the further up the lake you went the less carpy it became. Match Lake could be ok if things were hard and Middle/Spring had seen a couple hundred new carp stocked between 4 and 7lb, so should they feed then that could be interesting. Cary....maybe but should be at least the most consistent lake for the silvers at least. Nobody really fancied many pegs on Lodge with the exception of perhaps 73 and maybe 64, and 59 for skimmers.
Anyway the car parks were full and a few of us were boxed in up the top car park, but no worries as there was a prize for all and I couldn't see anyone leaving early.
Into the draw after a few natters with people and I found myself with 114 in my hand, I didn't fancy it on either the carp or silvers front as the payouts were top 6 overall and 3 silvers plus 10 sections. But unless I got lucky with the carp moving up the lake I would hope for a day's fishing.
As I walked to my peg it was clear the carp in Campbell were still along the end bank as several fish boshed out of the water....hmmmm
For company I had Mark Bromsgrove on my left on peg 113 and to my right was Phil Cardwell on 115.
I looked at the water, the colour was ok and although a little clear it wasn't too bad really.
A lead was assembled, a rig for silvers at 13m (DT F1.Silvers in 0.4g), a dobbing rig for my left edge (0.1g DT Pinger) and a meat/corn rig to cover 6 and 14m lines (DT RBS Open Water 0.3g)
Bait was dead maggots, pinkies, some groundbait and some meat and corn. Plus a couple slices of bread.
 |
| Peg 114 Campbell, Viaduct. |
My 1st fish came after an hour and it was a skimmer caught on a bunch of twigs, on a rig, attached to my hooklength on the lead. Only a small 4oz fish, but blank saved.
Another 10 mins on the tip never saw a sniff so that was chucked up the bank for the rest of the day.
I could bore you all with the intricacies but the next 4hrs were spent picking off small skimmers on the 13m line feeding odd helpings of groundbait, but I couldn't really get them lined up properly.
Mark on my left was generally getting only small roach on the pole and wag and to my right it was a similar story to me, odd small skimmer and odd roach. Most people were struggling apart from Andy Cranston on peg 132, plus 131 and 130 had a few carp, no doubt 110 also had.
Towards the end of the match Dan White on peg 127 had a couple carp and a couple nice skimmers after a quiet day. Jacko had been catching silvers most of the day on the waggler from peg 128 and looked set for a decent net (he ended with 19lb of silvers).
The all in was called and I was all packed up for the weigh in and when Matt arrived with the scales and put my 2.5lb (actually 8lb 6oz) on the sheet that was 2nd best silvers net on the lake behind Jacko. Turns out it was also 2nd in section behind Geoff Francis on p110 who had 28lb to win the section money.
Presentations and prizes dished out to all after the match and mince pies, sausage rolls and drinks provided by the fishery was a great thing to do and much appreciated by all.
I also managed to be caked in mud and tipped my trolley and box contents all over the floor for the 2nd time in a week!! Thanks to the couple of guys who helped pick stuff up. I should strap my kit to the trolley frame not my side tray, lol.
Results:
Andy Cranston, p132, 95lb
Bob Gullick, p73, 85lb 8oz
Dan Squire, p7, 69lb 2oz
Mark Poppleton, p4, 57lb 8oz
then a few 50lb nets followed
As for the Silvers, Paul Greenwood caught 22lb from the Match Lake peg 46 and won that with Nicky Ewers having 20-03 from p66 and Stu White 20-02 from peg 19.
A nice day though which I enjoyed and I am sure most did even if it fished rather hard for a lot. But it was good to see spring and middle be consistent. The full weigh sheets are on Mike Nicholls' blog (Silverfox).
No plans set for this week ahead of going back to work next Tuesday the 2nd.
So I hope you all had a great Xmas period and enjoyed yourselves.
Take care and thanks for reading my blog in 2017.
Lee
Thursday, 14 December 2017
Viaduct Silvers League, Final Round. 10-12-17
The 6th and last round of this series was on this Sunday past and the weather had stored all it's energy for the first couple hours of the contest. Bloody cold temps and winds that anyone with a bit of sense would keep them at home....plus some rather heavy rain.
Well I arrived in sensible time, avoiding branches and flooded parts of roads on my trip over to Somerton to find that there were less than the expected amount of vehicles, a few guys hadn't bothered fishing (the pools for the last round paid before rnd 1) plus there were a few of us that would not want to go to our pegs in the conditions we faced. I left my kit in the car and headed for the draw after a natter to a couple guys.
Midway down the line I was for the draw and in my mitt stuck peg 87, along the Cary bank of Cary Lake with the wind coming into my from the 2 o'clock direction, carrying various sized bits of wood and trees.....oh and Trig's EVA bag went sailing up from one corner of the lake to the opposite pre-match.
My pre-match was not great, I decided to set up a little feeder plus a couple topkits with just 3 sections, which in itself was tricky to hold in the wind. But the forecast was for the wind to almost stop. I don't trust weather forecasts enough to believe that.
I took the bungees off the trolley and stood the rod bags up, turned around to grab my side tray and noticed it had blown over the otter fence...so I had to climb over and get that.
The next things to blow away for me was a bait tub of casters and my tub of prawns. Then my topkits went for a wander, then the 3 sections tried to make the same trip along the bank.
Anyways I was soon settled and everything was bolted down so-to-speak.
I had Dave Chidzoy to my right and nobody around to my left until peg 94 which was off in the 11 o'clock direction from me. So a 3-peg section. I had my double or quits pound with Dave after he beat me in an earlier round. I could see Tony Rixon on peg 97 opposite me with loads of room.
My rigs were a DT F1/Silver for topkit, it was a 0.3g float and had 0.10 hooklength to a size 20 F1 hook. My 2nd rig was the same but in 0.4g.
The all-on sounded and I cupped 4 balls of groundbait to my right, 1 to the left and threw a few casters close. Starting on the feeder it took 20 minutes before I caught a roach of 1oz. No blank. Thankfully. A few more little roach followed and a 3oz skimmer, but it wasn't hectic. The only person catching seemed to be Tony over on 97.
After 45 minutes I went on the pole, started on the topkit, no bites, no surprise, so that was generally knocked on the head for the day. Switching between to two 'longer' lines I managed to pick up the odd roach to 3oz and after a couple hours I had about 25 roach and one 3oz skimmer.
It was about then that the winds dropped, but the rain was still cold and I could barely feel my hands, which is unlike me.
Dave had decided to get the rest of his pole out and set up a line around 13m out, so I decided to see how he fared as I didn't think the wind would stay light.
Well I continued to pick up roach on the 2 pole lines (and odd look on feeder), but over the space of 30 minutes or so Dave had 6 skimmers for around 2lb. So it was off my box and the sections to 13m came out. I used the topkit rig to plumb around in front and once happy I potted in 2 decent balls of groundbait with a few dead maggots and pinkies in.
I came back on the shorter 'long' lines and had a couple roach before trying the 13m line and I had indications immediately and I began to put the odd skimmer in the net, nothing bigger than 4oz, plus a few roach. But it was a positive sign,
The last couple of hours was pretty much spent long, but I wasn't getting as many fish as Dave I didn't think, but by topping up regularly, resting it for 5 minutes, then dropping back in I kept a few fish coming, but I just needed a decent fish of 2lb+ to help. I did bump a better fish and came back with a scale and slime, and the odd one fell off as they do, but it was a pleasant couple of hours catching a few small skimmers.
But at the all-out I figured Dave had double what I had. Tony had caught for most of the day, but wasn't in our section, peg 94 hadn't caught as much as us I didn't think.
I estimated Mr Chidzoy to have 11-12lb and me around 4.5-5lb perhaps.
It didn't take long to pack up and soon enough Matt was doing the weigh in. Gary O'Shea had 10lb of roach from peg 85. Trig had the same weight from p74 while Nicky Ewers (24lb) and Joe McMahon (15lb) were on pegs 77 and 78 respectively.
Dave weight 10lb something, while my guesstimate was well out when I put 9lb 9oz on the scales, so that 30 minutes I watched Dave fishing long before I got my sections out of the bag probably cost me a bit of weight perhaps, but you never know.
Back to the car-park, after giving Dave his £2, it seemed it hadn't fished too bad with Nicky Ewers and Vince Brown (lodge p59) both having the top weight on the day with Tony's 18lb 3rd best.
Vince fed a couple pints of caster to catch his, as Trig did in earlier rounds, and again the fish came on later in the day for him.
Results:
1st = Vince Brown, p59. 28-08
1st = Nicky Ewers, p77 28-08
3rd Tony Rixon, p97, 18-00
4th Joe McMahon, p78, 15-07
League Standings
1st, Craig 'Trig' Edmunds, 7pts (drop a 3)
2nd, John Fuidge, 8pts (drop a 7, better weight)
3rd, Steve Jackson, 8pts (drop a 7, less weight)
4th, Gary O'Shea, 9pts (one of five on 9pts, better dropper/weight combo)
Me well I finished down in 34th, which given at least a couple of my draws and it being my 1st attempt I am not too dissatisfied with to be honest and I shall most likely give it another bash in 2018.
A couple of pick-ups along the way did soften the blows from earlier rounds
Well done to the framers, especially the man-of-the-moment, Mr Edmunds. He cannot do much wrong and he has proven what a quality angler he is.
Next up I have a knock-up Xmas match on Trinity Wildmarsh on Saturday, it will be hard, very hard I would expect, but it is Christmas and should be a giggle.
Until then, take care and have fun.
Lee
Well I arrived in sensible time, avoiding branches and flooded parts of roads on my trip over to Somerton to find that there were less than the expected amount of vehicles, a few guys hadn't bothered fishing (the pools for the last round paid before rnd 1) plus there were a few of us that would not want to go to our pegs in the conditions we faced. I left my kit in the car and headed for the draw after a natter to a couple guys.
Midway down the line I was for the draw and in my mitt stuck peg 87, along the Cary bank of Cary Lake with the wind coming into my from the 2 o'clock direction, carrying various sized bits of wood and trees.....oh and Trig's EVA bag went sailing up from one corner of the lake to the opposite pre-match.
My pre-match was not great, I decided to set up a little feeder plus a couple topkits with just 3 sections, which in itself was tricky to hold in the wind. But the forecast was for the wind to almost stop. I don't trust weather forecasts enough to believe that.
I took the bungees off the trolley and stood the rod bags up, turned around to grab my side tray and noticed it had blown over the otter fence...so I had to climb over and get that.
The next things to blow away for me was a bait tub of casters and my tub of prawns. Then my topkits went for a wander, then the 3 sections tried to make the same trip along the bank.
 |
| Viaduct Cary peg 87 |
I had Dave Chidzoy to my right and nobody around to my left until peg 94 which was off in the 11 o'clock direction from me. So a 3-peg section. I had my double or quits pound with Dave after he beat me in an earlier round. I could see Tony Rixon on peg 97 opposite me with loads of room.
My rigs were a DT F1/Silver for topkit, it was a 0.3g float and had 0.10 hooklength to a size 20 F1 hook. My 2nd rig was the same but in 0.4g.
The all-on sounded and I cupped 4 balls of groundbait to my right, 1 to the left and threw a few casters close. Starting on the feeder it took 20 minutes before I caught a roach of 1oz. No blank. Thankfully. A few more little roach followed and a 3oz skimmer, but it wasn't hectic. The only person catching seemed to be Tony over on 97.
After 45 minutes I went on the pole, started on the topkit, no bites, no surprise, so that was generally knocked on the head for the day. Switching between to two 'longer' lines I managed to pick up the odd roach to 3oz and after a couple hours I had about 25 roach and one 3oz skimmer.
It was about then that the winds dropped, but the rain was still cold and I could barely feel my hands, which is unlike me.
Dave had decided to get the rest of his pole out and set up a line around 13m out, so I decided to see how he fared as I didn't think the wind would stay light.
Well I continued to pick up roach on the 2 pole lines (and odd look on feeder), but over the space of 30 minutes or so Dave had 6 skimmers for around 2lb. So it was off my box and the sections to 13m came out. I used the topkit rig to plumb around in front and once happy I potted in 2 decent balls of groundbait with a few dead maggots and pinkies in.
I came back on the shorter 'long' lines and had a couple roach before trying the 13m line and I had indications immediately and I began to put the odd skimmer in the net, nothing bigger than 4oz, plus a few roach. But it was a positive sign,
The last couple of hours was pretty much spent long, but I wasn't getting as many fish as Dave I didn't think, but by topping up regularly, resting it for 5 minutes, then dropping back in I kept a few fish coming, but I just needed a decent fish of 2lb+ to help. I did bump a better fish and came back with a scale and slime, and the odd one fell off as they do, but it was a pleasant couple of hours catching a few small skimmers.
But at the all-out I figured Dave had double what I had. Tony had caught for most of the day, but wasn't in our section, peg 94 hadn't caught as much as us I didn't think.
I estimated Mr Chidzoy to have 11-12lb and me around 4.5-5lb perhaps.
It didn't take long to pack up and soon enough Matt was doing the weigh in. Gary O'Shea had 10lb of roach from peg 85. Trig had the same weight from p74 while Nicky Ewers (24lb) and Joe McMahon (15lb) were on pegs 77 and 78 respectively.
Dave weight 10lb something, while my guesstimate was well out when I put 9lb 9oz on the scales, so that 30 minutes I watched Dave fishing long before I got my sections out of the bag probably cost me a bit of weight perhaps, but you never know.
Back to the car-park, after giving Dave his £2, it seemed it hadn't fished too bad with Nicky Ewers and Vince Brown (lodge p59) both having the top weight on the day with Tony's 18lb 3rd best.
Vince fed a couple pints of caster to catch his, as Trig did in earlier rounds, and again the fish came on later in the day for him.
Results:
1st = Vince Brown, p59. 28-08
1st = Nicky Ewers, p77 28-08
3rd Tony Rixon, p97, 18-00
4th Joe McMahon, p78, 15-07
League Standings
1st, Craig 'Trig' Edmunds, 7pts (drop a 3)
2nd, John Fuidge, 8pts (drop a 7, better weight)
3rd, Steve Jackson, 8pts (drop a 7, less weight)
4th, Gary O'Shea, 9pts (one of five on 9pts, better dropper/weight combo)
Me well I finished down in 34th, which given at least a couple of my draws and it being my 1st attempt I am not too dissatisfied with to be honest and I shall most likely give it another bash in 2018.
A couple of pick-ups along the way did soften the blows from earlier rounds
Well done to the framers, especially the man-of-the-moment, Mr Edmunds. He cannot do much wrong and he has proven what a quality angler he is.
Next up I have a knock-up Xmas match on Trinity Wildmarsh on Saturday, it will be hard, very hard I would expect, but it is Christmas and should be a giggle.
Until then, take care and have fun.
Lee
Monday, 27 November 2017
Viaduct Silvers League, 5th Round, 26-11-17
The penultimate round of this popular series has now been and gone, the last round is in a couple of weeks.
Anyways I didn't arrive too early, got a couple miles from home and the wife called to let me know I had left my waterproofs at home.....Numpty!!
Once at the venue I had a quick chat with a few guys, Matt Williams and Myself convinced we would again draw less than favourable and with the poxy wind blowing rather cool a draw with the wind off my back would be nice. The weather was due to be dry pretty much all day, but Mr Long said we would be fishing 10:30 til 15:45 due to the light fading and the rain was due at 4pm........
Into the draw and out comes peg 97 on the diagonal bank of Cary, reasonably happy with that area, at least I was on Cary as it does seem the most consistent of the 3 lakes, but individually Lodge seems to produce the winner at the moment, but that is the trickiest lake I think. I still haven't been on Campbell. Maybe next time?
For company I had Paddy Curry behind me on Lodge peg 66 (ouch!), Steve Kedge on peg 96 but not in my section, luckily as that peg seems to be in the top 2 in section each round.On peg 98 was Clive Barrow then Martin Rayet on p99.
Bait for the day was pinkies and maggots both live and dead. Some casters and some corn. I mixed up 1kg of BMG groundbait as I didn't want the temptation to be too positive given the colder few days we have had coupled with the rains we had overnight.
I actually set up a feeder, which I chucked out maybe for 20 minutes in total and went fishless.
A waggler for around 25m out, I would feed corn for that line as the wind was pushing in to me so casters were ruled out.
Lastly 2 pole rigs, a DT F1/silvers in 0.3g to fish at 2+2 in front using small amound of groundbait and loose fed casters. The 2nd rig was using a 0.4g DT Floats Jabba pattern, this would cover 2 lines, the 1st at 14m in front where groundbait and dead pinkies would form the bulk of the feed initially.
The same rig was also used at 11m off slightly right where I fed dead maggots and caster quite heavily via a cup as eels and perch could show.
The match began and 3 balls of groundbait went out long, a full pot of caster/dead maggot went on the 11m line and a gold ball sized helping of neat groundbait went in on the short line. I didn't feed the waggler line but chose to spend 20 minutes on the feeder where I planned to fish the waggler.
No bites for this 20 minute spell though Martin and Kedgey started to get a few small roach and odd small skimmer in this spell.
A quick look on the waggler, but the wind got up, so on the pole, starting short, no bites in 10 minutes so looking over the long groundbait line. A couple little roach and a 6oz skimmer were soon in the net and blank avoided. It then went quiet for a while but Martin on peg 99 was catching consistently, nothing big (he did hook a couple carp and land 1) but regular spells of catching well. Kedgey was also getting a few fish on his pole lines. Elsewhere everyone was struggling.
So fast forward a couple of hours and I had been picking the odd fish from both the long 14m line and the caster line, I had also started to feed a few pieces of corn out for the waggler as I expected that to be the area to produce a better stamp of skimmer. I suppose I had 2.5lb in the net at this point, Martin maybe 6 or 7lb and Kedge about 5lb. Clive, to my left was really struggling and only had a couple roach to show.
It was 1pm when I had my 1st skimmer, around 1.5lb from the long groundbait line, double caster the bait fished off bottom, as like I had last week I was getting indications and liners, so I stick on a better bait and it went under right away. Sadly no more followed. A few more small balls of groundbait went in on that spot again and I switched to the waggler as Kedgey was getting a few fish, 6oz skimmers mostly but had a couple 1lb fish from what I could make out.
15 minutes of thrashing the water with the wag and missing a few bites I connected with a nice fish and soon a 3lb skimmer was netted, Steve lost one of a couple pounds at the same time.
Again no decent fish followed so I stuck with the pole for the last hour or so. I knew I was a long way behind Martin on peg 99, I couldn't see anyone in the section past him so didn't have a clue how I was doing in the scheme of things, but Gabe had gone home and there was a fair amount of grumblings about how hard it was fishing.
20 minutes to go and the rain had already set in, it was not very nice, quite heavy and bloody cold, but I could see the odd bubble over the long line and I suspected an eel to be honest but a couple 8oz skimmers were netted and a couple roach before I bumped a couple better fish, possibly big skimmers as a nice amount of laccy came out. Luckily I had another opportunity in the last minutes as a 1.5lb skimmer was netted. I reckoned to myself I had around 10lb and Martin must have 17lb maybe. But I had more than Clive who tipped back, so at least I was not last in section. From what I could tell Mr Kedge had 15lb and looked to have won that section as it was only Nicky Ewers over on 87 had really caught any amount of fish, similarly Jacko on peg 78 had netted some nice skimmers.
I packed up, well started to, in the rain, when the scales arrived. Martin had weighed 16lb but the rest of my section had struggled to catch with Roly's 10lb next best. Thankfully my weigh tipped the scales to 12lb 3oz and put me 2nd in the section. Steve Kedge did win his section but I was a little surprised to see him total 12lb 15oz, I was sure he had more than that. Nicky Ewers had 12lb 3oz to come 2nd in that section. Jacko won the 3rd section on Cary with 13lb 8oz.
Results:
1. Gary O’Shea - 20lb - peg 70
2. Craig Edmunds - 18lb 12oz - peg 59
3. Gary Webber - 17lb 14oz - peg 129
4. Martin Rayet - 16lb - peg 99
5. Mike Nicholls - 15lb 2oz - peg 132
6. John Fuidge - 13lb 10oz - peg 110
Anyways I didn't arrive too early, got a couple miles from home and the wife called to let me know I had left my waterproofs at home.....Numpty!!
Once at the venue I had a quick chat with a few guys, Matt Williams and Myself convinced we would again draw less than favourable and with the poxy wind blowing rather cool a draw with the wind off my back would be nice. The weather was due to be dry pretty much all day, but Mr Long said we would be fishing 10:30 til 15:45 due to the light fading and the rain was due at 4pm........
Into the draw and out comes peg 97 on the diagonal bank of Cary, reasonably happy with that area, at least I was on Cary as it does seem the most consistent of the 3 lakes, but individually Lodge seems to produce the winner at the moment, but that is the trickiest lake I think. I still haven't been on Campbell. Maybe next time?
For company I had Paddy Curry behind me on Lodge peg 66 (ouch!), Steve Kedge on peg 96 but not in my section, luckily as that peg seems to be in the top 2 in section each round.On peg 98 was Clive Barrow then Martin Rayet on p99.
 |
| Peg 97, Cary Lake. |
I actually set up a feeder, which I chucked out maybe for 20 minutes in total and went fishless.
A waggler for around 25m out, I would feed corn for that line as the wind was pushing in to me so casters were ruled out.
Lastly 2 pole rigs, a DT F1/silvers in 0.3g to fish at 2+2 in front using small amound of groundbait and loose fed casters. The 2nd rig was using a 0.4g DT Floats Jabba pattern, this would cover 2 lines, the 1st at 14m in front where groundbait and dead pinkies would form the bulk of the feed initially.
The same rig was also used at 11m off slightly right where I fed dead maggots and caster quite heavily via a cup as eels and perch could show.
The match began and 3 balls of groundbait went out long, a full pot of caster/dead maggot went on the 11m line and a gold ball sized helping of neat groundbait went in on the short line. I didn't feed the waggler line but chose to spend 20 minutes on the feeder where I planned to fish the waggler.
No bites for this 20 minute spell though Martin and Kedgey started to get a few small roach and odd small skimmer in this spell.
A quick look on the waggler, but the wind got up, so on the pole, starting short, no bites in 10 minutes so looking over the long groundbait line. A couple little roach and a 6oz skimmer were soon in the net and blank avoided. It then went quiet for a while but Martin on peg 99 was catching consistently, nothing big (he did hook a couple carp and land 1) but regular spells of catching well. Kedgey was also getting a few fish on his pole lines. Elsewhere everyone was struggling.
So fast forward a couple of hours and I had been picking the odd fish from both the long 14m line and the caster line, I had also started to feed a few pieces of corn out for the waggler as I expected that to be the area to produce a better stamp of skimmer. I suppose I had 2.5lb in the net at this point, Martin maybe 6 or 7lb and Kedge about 5lb. Clive, to my left was really struggling and only had a couple roach to show.
It was 1pm when I had my 1st skimmer, around 1.5lb from the long groundbait line, double caster the bait fished off bottom, as like I had last week I was getting indications and liners, so I stick on a better bait and it went under right away. Sadly no more followed. A few more small balls of groundbait went in on that spot again and I switched to the waggler as Kedgey was getting a few fish, 6oz skimmers mostly but had a couple 1lb fish from what I could make out.
15 minutes of thrashing the water with the wag and missing a few bites I connected with a nice fish and soon a 3lb skimmer was netted, Steve lost one of a couple pounds at the same time.
Again no decent fish followed so I stuck with the pole for the last hour or so. I knew I was a long way behind Martin on peg 99, I couldn't see anyone in the section past him so didn't have a clue how I was doing in the scheme of things, but Gabe had gone home and there was a fair amount of grumblings about how hard it was fishing.
20 minutes to go and the rain had already set in, it was not very nice, quite heavy and bloody cold, but I could see the odd bubble over the long line and I suspected an eel to be honest but a couple 8oz skimmers were netted and a couple roach before I bumped a couple better fish, possibly big skimmers as a nice amount of laccy came out. Luckily I had another opportunity in the last minutes as a 1.5lb skimmer was netted. I reckoned to myself I had around 10lb and Martin must have 17lb maybe. But I had more than Clive who tipped back, so at least I was not last in section. From what I could tell Mr Kedge had 15lb and looked to have won that section as it was only Nicky Ewers over on 87 had really caught any amount of fish, similarly Jacko on peg 78 had netted some nice skimmers.
I packed up, well started to, in the rain, when the scales arrived. Martin had weighed 16lb but the rest of my section had struggled to catch with Roly's 10lb next best. Thankfully my weigh tipped the scales to 12lb 3oz and put me 2nd in the section. Steve Kedge did win his section but I was a little surprised to see him total 12lb 15oz, I was sure he had more than that. Nicky Ewers had 12lb 3oz to come 2nd in that section. Jacko won the 3rd section on Cary with 13lb 8oz.
Results:
1. Gary O’Shea - 20lb - peg 70
2. Craig Edmunds - 18lb 12oz - peg 59
3. Gary Webber - 17lb 14oz - peg 129
4. Martin Rayet - 16lb - peg 99
5. Mike Nicholls - 15lb 2oz - peg 132
6. John Fuidge - 13lb 10oz - peg 110
So although a tough day, I enjoyed it and am looking forward to the last round in 2 weeks. Well done to Mr Consistent Gary O'Shea on the win. He caught mostly on waggler and caster I believe.
Trig (Craig Edmunds) is leading the series with a maximum 4 points (dropper is a 3!!) after a section win and 2nd in the match. But a couple of others have an outside chance of overtaking him, although in-realistic at this stage.......but you never know.
For full sheets and standings etc take a look at the Viaduct Facebook page.
For full sheets and standings etc take a look at the Viaduct Facebook page.
Next week I have the first round of the Landsend Winter League, another 1st attempt at the series for me and it can get really hard there at times, so maybe I will draw a bit better than my draw hand has been, generally, in 2017.
Until then, have fun.
Lee
Wednesday, 15 November 2017
Viaduct Silvers League, 4th Round. 12-11-17
Another round of this series came and went on Sunday, between my pants drawing hand, my obvious lack of capability to catch a few decent skimmers at the venue in comparison to those who fish there regularly and the fact the quality of the angler is pretty high means I am languishing near the bottom of the league.
Anyways back to Sunday, after the usual chatter and putting the world to rights I was discussing where I fancied, well Cary will do for me, preferably on the Campbell bank as the wind would be off my back over there. Otherwise Campbell's pegs 123-127.
Lodge, well if you are on the decent skimmers which usually inhabit the rope pegs and back towards the car park. There also doesn't seem to be the numbers of 3-6oz skimmers that Cary is producing this season, but maybe the roach could show?
Well I did get on Lodge....surprise. Peg 68, the next peg along from where I drew in round 1. Not the best area going by weights over the last few rounds. But you never know.
For company I had Dave Chidzoy on 69, he used to avoid silvers, now he loves them and is a dab hand at catching them too. Another decent angler was down on corner 66, not a great peg, that was Sam Powell. Opposite me was another decent silvers angler and one who I could gauge myself against, Steve Kedge. I could also see Trig, who had won 2 of the previous rounds, he was down on peg 59 and that's not a bad peg for a formidable angler.
No pics of the peg, forgot to take some.
So to keep things short and sweet I will give a basic run down of the day.
I fed 2 13m lines, one with a couple balls of groundbait, one with a mix of caster and dead reds (no bites here all day).
A short 2+2 line was fed with a ball of groundbait holding dead reds and lastly I fed a margin line for roach...........that line never gave a bite all day.
A waggler was set up for corn or caster at around 18/20m.
It took 20 mins to get my 1st fish, a 2oz roach from the long groundbait line and then a 4oz skimmer followed soon after. But that first 20 minutes before I caught my first fish saw me lose 3 foul hooked decent skimmers, that probably didn't help my peg for the day.
Dave had a couple skimmers on a small feed cast along the rope, something he managed on and off during the day along with some on the pole caught fish to 2lb-ish.
The following 5hrs was very slow, I managed 5 or 6 small skimmers off the longer groundbait line, 1 on the waggler and a 8oz hybrid on the waggler also. I also had a few roach off the long pole line, mostly on the drop. And I did bump a couple better fish during the afternoon. But I never felt for one minute I was going anywhere.
Sam on peg 66 did manage a couple decent skimmers but had a fair few small skimmers and totalled 10lb 8oz come the all out.
Kedgey was struggling too and his bit of luck came when he had a decent skimmer foul hooked and never came off near the end of the match. He ended with 6lb, the 2 to his left had 6lb 11oz and 6lb 12oz respectively.
Talking of being a pain in the butt to land, Trig hooked a huge common or around 22lb and couldn't land it in his silvers net.....it didn't stop him winning the match after a slow-ish 3.5hrs. He ended up with 28lb on the long pole using caster over groundbait.
My bit of luck came with 30 minutes to go when I had a decent eel on my short line, probably 1.5lb, it was an arse to land though. My total at the weigh in was a not too weighty 5lb. Second last in section. I don't think I would have managed the 23lb needed to win the section. 22lb was second and 13lb (to Dave) was 3rd in the section and scooped the section money by double default.
Results:
1. Craig Edmunds - 28lb - peg 59
2. Stu White - 23lb 2oz - peg 70
3. Gary O’Shea - 22lb 6oz - peg 73
4. Matt Parsons - 18lb 11oz - peg 98
5. Nigel Easton - 18lb 3oz - peg 100
6. Paul Greenwood - 18lb 2oz - peg 129
7. Alvin Jones - 18lb 1oz - peg 123
So Lodge gave the top 3 overall but it was a struggle for most, the cold northerly/north-westerly didn't help matters and by 3pm it went noticeably colder. But I am learning each round which isn't always a bad thing.
Trig fed quite a decent amount towards the 2nd half of the match and maybe I was a little too negative, who knows, and again I never set a small feeder up, maybe I should?
Next round in a couple weeks, I must be due a go on Campbell (not pegs 130, 131, 132 please)...
This Sunday I am at Sedges, covering in Matt Culpin's series. On Brick, looking forward to that....I think. Some new rigs needed to be made.
Until then, have fun.
Lee
Anyways back to Sunday, after the usual chatter and putting the world to rights I was discussing where I fancied, well Cary will do for me, preferably on the Campbell bank as the wind would be off my back over there. Otherwise Campbell's pegs 123-127.
Lodge, well if you are on the decent skimmers which usually inhabit the rope pegs and back towards the car park. There also doesn't seem to be the numbers of 3-6oz skimmers that Cary is producing this season, but maybe the roach could show?
Well I did get on Lodge....surprise. Peg 68, the next peg along from where I drew in round 1. Not the best area going by weights over the last few rounds. But you never know.
For company I had Dave Chidzoy on 69, he used to avoid silvers, now he loves them and is a dab hand at catching them too. Another decent angler was down on corner 66, not a great peg, that was Sam Powell. Opposite me was another decent silvers angler and one who I could gauge myself against, Steve Kedge. I could also see Trig, who had won 2 of the previous rounds, he was down on peg 59 and that's not a bad peg for a formidable angler.
No pics of the peg, forgot to take some.
So to keep things short and sweet I will give a basic run down of the day.
I fed 2 13m lines, one with a couple balls of groundbait, one with a mix of caster and dead reds (no bites here all day).
A short 2+2 line was fed with a ball of groundbait holding dead reds and lastly I fed a margin line for roach...........that line never gave a bite all day.
A waggler was set up for corn or caster at around 18/20m.
It took 20 mins to get my 1st fish, a 2oz roach from the long groundbait line and then a 4oz skimmer followed soon after. But that first 20 minutes before I caught my first fish saw me lose 3 foul hooked decent skimmers, that probably didn't help my peg for the day.
Dave had a couple skimmers on a small feed cast along the rope, something he managed on and off during the day along with some on the pole caught fish to 2lb-ish.
The following 5hrs was very slow, I managed 5 or 6 small skimmers off the longer groundbait line, 1 on the waggler and a 8oz hybrid on the waggler also. I also had a few roach off the long pole line, mostly on the drop. And I did bump a couple better fish during the afternoon. But I never felt for one minute I was going anywhere.
Sam on peg 66 did manage a couple decent skimmers but had a fair few small skimmers and totalled 10lb 8oz come the all out.
Kedgey was struggling too and his bit of luck came when he had a decent skimmer foul hooked and never came off near the end of the match. He ended with 6lb, the 2 to his left had 6lb 11oz and 6lb 12oz respectively.
Talking of being a pain in the butt to land, Trig hooked a huge common or around 22lb and couldn't land it in his silvers net.....it didn't stop him winning the match after a slow-ish 3.5hrs. He ended up with 28lb on the long pole using caster over groundbait.
My bit of luck came with 30 minutes to go when I had a decent eel on my short line, probably 1.5lb, it was an arse to land though. My total at the weigh in was a not too weighty 5lb. Second last in section. I don't think I would have managed the 23lb needed to win the section. 22lb was second and 13lb (to Dave) was 3rd in the section and scooped the section money by double default.
Results:
1. Craig Edmunds - 28lb - peg 59
2. Stu White - 23lb 2oz - peg 70
3. Gary O’Shea - 22lb 6oz - peg 73
4. Matt Parsons - 18lb 11oz - peg 98
5. Nigel Easton - 18lb 3oz - peg 100
6. Paul Greenwood - 18lb 2oz - peg 129
7. Alvin Jones - 18lb 1oz - peg 123
So Lodge gave the top 3 overall but it was a struggle for most, the cold northerly/north-westerly didn't help matters and by 3pm it went noticeably colder. But I am learning each round which isn't always a bad thing.
Trig fed quite a decent amount towards the 2nd half of the match and maybe I was a little too negative, who knows, and again I never set a small feeder up, maybe I should?
Next round in a couple weeks, I must be due a go on Campbell (not pegs 130, 131, 132 please)...
This Sunday I am at Sedges, covering in Matt Culpin's series. On Brick, looking forward to that....I think. Some new rigs needed to be made.
Until then, have fun.
Lee
Thursday, 2 November 2017
Viaduct Silvers League, 3rd Round, 29-10-17
3rd round of this series was last Sunday. A dry and bright day forecast with westerly/north-westerly winds, no doubt making float spotting tricky at time.
I was hoping to get on Cary, maybe Campbell, but thankfully I got my wish. Peg 85 on Cary fell into my hand, nice enough peg, tricky section. Plenty of cover guys today across the board.
My section consisted of me on peg 85, Robin Guy on peg 81, peg 80 had Martin Rayet, 78 was Trig, 77 was occupied by Vince Brown. Lastly on peg 74 was Mr Gabe Skarba. No such thing as a weak section in this series.
For company I had a good young angler in Geraint Powell on 86, he had Mike Nicholls on peg 87 to his left.
Waggler was set up first to chuck corn to around 20m. 4 pole rigs, a topkit rig for down by the tree to my left using caster over caster. A rig for 13m slightly off to the right where I could actually see the float most of the time, not all of it, I would use maggots or caster over groundbait in that spot.
Lastly I made up a pellet rig (last pellet match before the 'ban' comes into play), this would be for 11m in front, but couldn't see the float at any point in the awkward light so knocked that on the head. So I used it for 2+2 slightly left just off the tree using 4mm hard pellet over micros and odd 4mm as feed. Lastly a rig for 2+2 down the edge to my right.
The match began with me feeding 4 balls of So Simple BMG at 13m, with a few dead reds and casters in. 1/2 a pot of micros at 2+2 and a half pot of caster under the tree, I also wanted to loose feed caster to my right at 2+2 down the edge so a few were lobbed in that direction.
I started on the wag, no bites in 10 mins, but Geraint was getting small skimmers right away.
Over the groundbait and after 5 minutes I had a couple 3-4oz skimmers and kept them coming for 15 minutes before they stopped. Another helping of groundbait went in before trying the other lines, only 1 small roach and a small skimmer fell to the caster under the tree, a 2oz skimmer on the short pellet line.
After an hour I had maybe a dozen fish for 1lb or so.
The following 4hrs went slowly for me, I could hear Geraint catching well but I was struggling as was 81 and most of the diagonal bank from what I could see.
I would get spurts of small skimmers, no quality, the largest maybe 10oz at a push. So going in to the last 60 minutes I hoped for a few lumpy skimmers, but this never happened either, though I did lose a foul hooked skimmer of about 2lb. I initially thought it was a carp and pulled too hard.
The right edge never gave me a bite and all I could hook at this point under the tree was carp, similarly the last 4 fish I hooked on the long pole were carp and another at 2+2 where I had swapped to fishing maggot on the hook.
At the all-out I reckoned I had 9lb or so and was miles behind peg 86, but he wasn't in my section. I would guess that 74 to 80 had done miles better and 81 probably had over taken me with a few late skimmers. So last in section was on the cards.
As we packed up I thought that I pretty much fished like a tit for 4hrs of the 6, over fed the peg and should have really opened a new line at around 8m, but I am too stubborn at times......one day I will get it right, but I am enjoying this learning curve. Roll on the next round in a couple weeks.
Matt came and weighed me in, 11lb 8oz was my dire tally.
Geraint had 29lb something, I thought he must have 30lb!! He confirmed my thoughts I had fed too much when he told me how he had not fed much and figured the fish would drift off but come back a few minutes later, so well done that man.
The rest of my section weighed, from 74-80, 21lb, 31lb, 32lb, 23lb, 14lb and then me. Trig and Vince were 1st and 2nd in the match from their pegs each side of the fallen tree.
Results:
Next up for me is this Sunday, covering in Matt Culpin's series at Landsend on either lake 1 or 2. Not fished there for a long while so will see how it goes, but it is unlikely I will over-feed this match!!
Until then, take care.
Lee
I was hoping to get on Cary, maybe Campbell, but thankfully I got my wish. Peg 85 on Cary fell into my hand, nice enough peg, tricky section. Plenty of cover guys today across the board.
My section consisted of me on peg 85, Robin Guy on peg 81, peg 80 had Martin Rayet, 78 was Trig, 77 was occupied by Vince Brown. Lastly on peg 74 was Mr Gabe Skarba. No such thing as a weak section in this series.
 |
| peg 85, Viaduct Cary |
Waggler was set up first to chuck corn to around 20m. 4 pole rigs, a topkit rig for down by the tree to my left using caster over caster. A rig for 13m slightly off to the right where I could actually see the float most of the time, not all of it, I would use maggots or caster over groundbait in that spot.
Lastly I made up a pellet rig (last pellet match before the 'ban' comes into play), this would be for 11m in front, but couldn't see the float at any point in the awkward light so knocked that on the head. So I used it for 2+2 slightly left just off the tree using 4mm hard pellet over micros and odd 4mm as feed. Lastly a rig for 2+2 down the edge to my right.
The match began with me feeding 4 balls of So Simple BMG at 13m, with a few dead reds and casters in. 1/2 a pot of micros at 2+2 and a half pot of caster under the tree, I also wanted to loose feed caster to my right at 2+2 down the edge so a few were lobbed in that direction.
I started on the wag, no bites in 10 mins, but Geraint was getting small skimmers right away.
Over the groundbait and after 5 minutes I had a couple 3-4oz skimmers and kept them coming for 15 minutes before they stopped. Another helping of groundbait went in before trying the other lines, only 1 small roach and a small skimmer fell to the caster under the tree, a 2oz skimmer on the short pellet line.
After an hour I had maybe a dozen fish for 1lb or so.
The following 4hrs went slowly for me, I could hear Geraint catching well but I was struggling as was 81 and most of the diagonal bank from what I could see.
I would get spurts of small skimmers, no quality, the largest maybe 10oz at a push. So going in to the last 60 minutes I hoped for a few lumpy skimmers, but this never happened either, though I did lose a foul hooked skimmer of about 2lb. I initially thought it was a carp and pulled too hard.
The right edge never gave me a bite and all I could hook at this point under the tree was carp, similarly the last 4 fish I hooked on the long pole were carp and another at 2+2 where I had swapped to fishing maggot on the hook.
At the all-out I reckoned I had 9lb or so and was miles behind peg 86, but he wasn't in my section. I would guess that 74 to 80 had done miles better and 81 probably had over taken me with a few late skimmers. So last in section was on the cards.
As we packed up I thought that I pretty much fished like a tit for 4hrs of the 6, over fed the peg and should have really opened a new line at around 8m, but I am too stubborn at times......one day I will get it right, but I am enjoying this learning curve. Roll on the next round in a couple weeks.
Matt came and weighed me in, 11lb 8oz was my dire tally.
Geraint had 29lb something, I thought he must have 30lb!! He confirmed my thoughts I had fed too much when he told me how he had not fed much and figured the fish would drift off but come back a few minutes later, so well done that man.
The rest of my section weighed, from 74-80, 21lb, 31lb, 32lb, 23lb, 14lb and then me. Trig and Vince were 1st and 2nd in the match from their pegs each side of the fallen tree.
Results:
- Craig Edmonds 32-14-0 peg 78
- Vince Brown 31-0-0 peg 77
- Stu White 30-09-0 peg 96
- Paul Faiers 30-06-0 peg 123
- Geraint Powell 29-02-0 peg 86
- Gary O’Shea 28-02-0 peg 56
Next up for me is this Sunday, covering in Matt Culpin's series at Landsend on either lake 1 or 2. Not fished there for a long while so will see how it goes, but it is unlikely I will over-feed this match!!
Until then, take care.
Lee
Sunday, 15 October 2017
Viaduct Silvers League, Round 2. 15-10-17
Second round of this popular series. I arrived early enough but somehow, after a chat with John Fuidge and then Matt Williams the draw was underway. I didn't want Lodge, simples. I wouldn't mind Campbell but would like Cary....please, pretty please!!
Into the tin, halfway along the queue and I pulled out Cary, yay....peg 80....not so yay. Matt drew a nice peg in 115 on Campbell. My peg, well it was in with 74 (good peg), 77 (in-form good peg), 78 (decent), 81 (better than 80) and 85 (worth a nice weight).
Well I had a job to do. Peg 80 is a shallow peg, probably a foot or 18" shallower than 78 to my right. It isn't the best silvers peg on the lake, maybe the worst, but fish have fins and it has produced occasional decent nets of skimmers and odd perch. Steve Long told me that it was deeper in a couple areas along the spit and could produce on the waggler (as Jason King had an upper 20lb net on a recent Pawlett match there). For company I had Jess Jordan on p78, he had Gabe on 77 to his right. Behind me, ish, was Chris Davis on 116 and Dan Squire on 118. But really it was only Jess I could speak to.
I set up a waggler, but never used it, simply because I had the wind, irregularly, blowing into my peg, so feeding would not work. Plus the light conditions were poor when the ripple was on the water.
4 pole rigs made up, all on 0.10 hooklengths and 18 hooks.
2 DT Floats pencils in 0.4g, the 1st for 2+2 for 6mm meat in front, the second was for expander or dead maggots over micro at 14m, off in the 2 o'clock direction. Also for over groundbait at the same distance directly in front.
2 DT Slims in 0.3g were also assembled, one for along the spit at 14m, where it was a few inches deeper than anywhere else in the peg, the second was for down to my left on the topkit, but this went out of the window after 15 minutes once the wind picked up and filled my left edges with leaves!! Both of these lines would be loose fed with caster and dead maggot.
At the all-in a full cup of micros went in on that line, 4 balls of groundbait and dead maggots went in on the long line in front. Some meat and loose groundbait went in short.
I started on the topkit, but after 10 minutes I had no bites. Meanwhile Jess already had a decent skimmer of a few pounds in the net.
So up along the spit and toss potting casters, this gave me a couple small roach and a 3oz skimmer, but leaves were a real problem, dragging the rig out and missed bites pretty much guaranteed me some float foliage. But I stuck with it for a while and put the odd fish in the net, only small roach and odd 3oz skimmer. Nothing of quality.
An hour in and I had maybe 1lb. A look over the micros never gave me a bite, in fact it never gave me a silver fish all match, just hooking 3 carp over the spot.
Over the short groundbait line and a few roach and small skimmers were put into the keepnet, but it wasn't quick enough and I was not getting any quality 6oz+ fish.
So out long and I was getting more skimmers than roach, but they were only 3oz versions of the 2lb ones I wanted. So I upped the feed but this made little difference. I did hook a carp out on this line, I hooked 3 from this spot during the match.
Back along the spit and it was still only small roach, odd 3oz skimmer and a solitary 4oz perch.
It was soon the halfway stage and I reckoned on 4lb in the net, it wasn't going great, but Jess wasn't getting much, he had landed a decent perch and odd decent roach, but he was mostly getting plippy roach and 3oz skimmers. Oh and he too had started hooking the odd carp.
It wasn't long after this point in the match where I hooked 6 carp, all on single dead maggot, along the spit, thankfully the hook would pull out easily enough. So I pretty much decided to abandon this spot, but cupped in a pot of caster and maggot just in case I chose to try there late on in match.
The following couple hours was mostly spent swapping between the groundbait line at 14m in front and the short meat/groundbait line. I managed mostly roach and 3oz skimmers but a couple 6-8oz skimmers over the meat line helped, but I was certain to be last in section, as expected really. The light caused by the sun and ripple was not great and seeing the float was tricky most of the time, unless it went calm
Into the last hour and with perhaps 7lb in the net, the light was awful and the leaves too were both a pain in the butt up until this point, but the last hour was relatively calm and the leaves less problematic. I had a couple looks along the spit but the roach were still there, but put any more feed in and the carp returned. I wish these roach wanted to come short as I would have been happy to catch them, but they wouldn't really move closer in numbers.
About 5 seconds before the all out I hooked a nice skimmer which was netted after the whistle and was my best fish of the day at around 1.5lb-2lb. I guessed I had around 8-9lb.
I had hooked 16 carp during the day, none on meat randomly, all of them hooked on single or double dead maggots.
The scales came and went, peg 85, Joe McMahon, had 21lb I think, peg 81, venue silvers ace Stu White had 15lb (not 9lb), I managed a level 14lb which I was pleased enough with. Jess had 11lb before Gabe had 25lb and Martin Rayet on peg 74 had around 30lb. So 5 points for me and series over realistically. But I shall try and do my best in the next 4 rounds.....especially at the draw.
Results:
1. John Fuidge - 34lb 8oz - peg 96
2. Ricky Mills - 31lb 13oz - peg 97
3. Martin Rayet - 30lb 3oz - peg 74
4. Bob Gullick - 28lb 1oz - peg 100
5. Gabe Skarba - 25lb 7oz - peg 77
The full results can be found here or on Tony Rixon's blog.
There were 17 weights over 20lb today, but a lot of carp problems, especially on Campbell where some hooked over 25 during the day.
Not sure where I am next weekend, maybe viaduct, maybe todber, maybe a pleasure day with a good mate.
Otherwise it is back to Viaduct for round 3 in a fortnight.
Until then, take care,
Lee
Into the tin, halfway along the queue and I pulled out Cary, yay....peg 80....not so yay. Matt drew a nice peg in 115 on Campbell. My peg, well it was in with 74 (good peg), 77 (in-form good peg), 78 (decent), 81 (better than 80) and 85 (worth a nice weight).
Well I had a job to do. Peg 80 is a shallow peg, probably a foot or 18" shallower than 78 to my right. It isn't the best silvers peg on the lake, maybe the worst, but fish have fins and it has produced occasional decent nets of skimmers and odd perch. Steve Long told me that it was deeper in a couple areas along the spit and could produce on the waggler (as Jason King had an upper 20lb net on a recent Pawlett match there). For company I had Jess Jordan on p78, he had Gabe on 77 to his right. Behind me, ish, was Chris Davis on 116 and Dan Squire on 118. But really it was only Jess I could speak to.
 |
Cary Peg 80, Viaduct
|
4 pole rigs made up, all on 0.10 hooklengths and 18 hooks.
2 DT Floats pencils in 0.4g, the 1st for 2+2 for 6mm meat in front, the second was for expander or dead maggots over micro at 14m, off in the 2 o'clock direction. Also for over groundbait at the same distance directly in front.
2 DT Slims in 0.3g were also assembled, one for along the spit at 14m, where it was a few inches deeper than anywhere else in the peg, the second was for down to my left on the topkit, but this went out of the window after 15 minutes once the wind picked up and filled my left edges with leaves!! Both of these lines would be loose fed with caster and dead maggot.
At the all-in a full cup of micros went in on that line, 4 balls of groundbait and dead maggots went in on the long line in front. Some meat and loose groundbait went in short.
I started on the topkit, but after 10 minutes I had no bites. Meanwhile Jess already had a decent skimmer of a few pounds in the net.
So up along the spit and toss potting casters, this gave me a couple small roach and a 3oz skimmer, but leaves were a real problem, dragging the rig out and missed bites pretty much guaranteed me some float foliage. But I stuck with it for a while and put the odd fish in the net, only small roach and odd 3oz skimmer. Nothing of quality.
An hour in and I had maybe 1lb. A look over the micros never gave me a bite, in fact it never gave me a silver fish all match, just hooking 3 carp over the spot.
Over the short groundbait line and a few roach and small skimmers were put into the keepnet, but it wasn't quick enough and I was not getting any quality 6oz+ fish.
So out long and I was getting more skimmers than roach, but they were only 3oz versions of the 2lb ones I wanted. So I upped the feed but this made little difference. I did hook a carp out on this line, I hooked 3 from this spot during the match.
Back along the spit and it was still only small roach, odd 3oz skimmer and a solitary 4oz perch.
It was soon the halfway stage and I reckoned on 4lb in the net, it wasn't going great, but Jess wasn't getting much, he had landed a decent perch and odd decent roach, but he was mostly getting plippy roach and 3oz skimmers. Oh and he too had started hooking the odd carp.
It wasn't long after this point in the match where I hooked 6 carp, all on single dead maggot, along the spit, thankfully the hook would pull out easily enough. So I pretty much decided to abandon this spot, but cupped in a pot of caster and maggot just in case I chose to try there late on in match.
The following couple hours was mostly spent swapping between the groundbait line at 14m in front and the short meat/groundbait line. I managed mostly roach and 3oz skimmers but a couple 6-8oz skimmers over the meat line helped, but I was certain to be last in section, as expected really. The light caused by the sun and ripple was not great and seeing the float was tricky most of the time, unless it went calm
Into the last hour and with perhaps 7lb in the net, the light was awful and the leaves too were both a pain in the butt up until this point, but the last hour was relatively calm and the leaves less problematic. I had a couple looks along the spit but the roach were still there, but put any more feed in and the carp returned. I wish these roach wanted to come short as I would have been happy to catch them, but they wouldn't really move closer in numbers.
About 5 seconds before the all out I hooked a nice skimmer which was netted after the whistle and was my best fish of the day at around 1.5lb-2lb. I guessed I had around 8-9lb.
I had hooked 16 carp during the day, none on meat randomly, all of them hooked on single or double dead maggots.
The scales came and went, peg 85, Joe McMahon, had 21lb I think, peg 81, venue silvers ace Stu White had 15lb (not 9lb), I managed a level 14lb which I was pleased enough with. Jess had 11lb before Gabe had 25lb and Martin Rayet on peg 74 had around 30lb. So 5 points for me and series over realistically. But I shall try and do my best in the next 4 rounds.....especially at the draw.
Results:
1. John Fuidge - 34lb 8oz - peg 96
2. Ricky Mills - 31lb 13oz - peg 97
3. Martin Rayet - 30lb 3oz - peg 74
4. Bob Gullick - 28lb 1oz - peg 100
5. Gabe Skarba - 25lb 7oz - peg 77
The full results can be found here or on Tony Rixon's blog.
There were 17 weights over 20lb today, but a lot of carp problems, especially on Campbell where some hooked over 25 during the day.
Not sure where I am next weekend, maybe viaduct, maybe todber, maybe a pleasure day with a good mate.
Otherwise it is back to Viaduct for round 3 in a fortnight.
Until then, take care,
Lee
Sunday, 1 October 2017
Viaduct Silvers League, Round 1. 01-10-17
My first attempt at this popular series at the very popular Viaduct complex, with around 50 quality anglers taking part I know it will be hard enough to come 2nd last let alone get in the top 30. So my aim is to beat one......haha
51 fish this year, spread over Campbell, Cary and Lodge lakes. With sections of 6 or 7 you need at least 3 or 4 section wins to get in the top ten I would say.
On to today, I was in the queue with fellow debutant Matt Williams chatting away and I commented I would like to be on Cary as it seems the most consistent at the moment and 10-15lb is capable from every peg I feel. I didn't want lodge I said, especially not peg 66 or 53, not the best 2 pegs at all.
So hand in tub, out comes peg 66 for me, Matt next, he pulled 53. So much for beginners luck!!
I got to my peg and the water was black with carp from 3lb up to 20lb, not just my peg but most of them, but it was worst up the end I was. Anyways I had Tom Thick across on 63 and he had Glen Calvert and Gary O'Shea to his left, but Tom was the 1st person in my 7 peg section, so really we had the rough draw. I had Dan Squire behind me and shipping back and landing net useage was a touch awkward, but we coped.
I decided against worms today after seeing all the carp, so my bait tray was casters, a few maggots and some 6mm meat along with a couple kilos of groundbait. I also had some micros with me and I was undecided on whether to use them.
3 rigs made, a topkit for left and right, a 0.2g DT Floats pencils. A rig, 0.3g F1/Silvers pattern for 6mm meat over groundbait at 6m in front. Lastly a 12xno11 float for 13m in front for caster/maggot over groundbait and this rig was also used off the tree to my left using maggot over micros.
All lines and laccy were 0.14>0.10 or 0.08 and middy solids in 4-6 for the edges with roach in mind and the other 2 were middy solid 5-8.
I could go into how excellent the day was for me, but it really was a hard slog for most on Lodge.
I caught the odd roach and very small skimmer on both groundbait lines, there was lots of 1/2oz roach up in the water with odd better fish but these were too small to target and the better fish swirled irregularly , but I was apprehensive on setting up a shallow rig simply die to the amount of carp in front of me.
I tried the micros line a couple of times, each time resulted in carp being hooked, so I soon knocked that on the head.
The margins never gave me a fish all day, something that I would have put down as a banker, but these days happen. So it was a matter of hoping for a decent 1lb-4lb skimmer every now and then from either of the 2 groundbait lines. This never occurred and it was mostly the odd 1-3oz roach with the very occasional 4oz skimmer.
Tom Thick opposite me was also struggling and until he managed a few decent skimmers in a 20 minute spell late on I was probably just ahead of him. The others on his bank looked like they were doing ok, but I couldn't see or hear much from my side of the lake.
I did get 3 net skimmers, maybe 8oz each in the last hour but it was not very good really and I expected me and Tom to be last 2 in our 7 peg section.
Anyways after 6hrs the all out was called and I reckoned on 4lb-ish or bits and bobs. I reckoned Tom had 9lb and the rest of that bank were into double figures to perhaps 17lb, but was hard to tell,
I packed up and waited for the scales. A quick check on a couple other guys in my section and the most anyone would admit to was 11lb, Matt Williams even packed up and didn't weigh in off 53.
Behind me on Cary, Dan and Sam Powell to his left had a great peg to peg battle and bith would hav close to 30lb each. Most people had a few bites on the lake and the weights at the end showed everyone had over 11lb, good fishing.
The scales arrived at me and Tom had weighed 9lb 2oz. My 4lb or so actually weighed 8lb 8oz so I was only a couple of my 'bumped' fish off his weight, but to be fair he bumped a couple and we both had baby roach fall off shipping back throughout the day.
I followed the scales a couple pegs and Rob Eagle had 6lb 4oz, then Nigel Easton 11lb. So I wasn't last in section, result!!
I loaded my car and had a quick update from other guys and rumour was Trig (Craig Edmunds) had won from peg 123 and Campbell with 39-something but it was close as Gary Webber (p115) also had 39lb+. Some of the guys were happy with their day and others less so, even with 17lb coming last in the 1st section on Campbell...
Results:
1. Craig Edmunds - 39lb 12oz - peg 123
2. Gary Webber - 39lb 2oz - peg 115
3. Ziggy Slowinski - 37lb 6oz - peg 126
4. Tony Rixon - 36lb 3oz - peg 94
5. Sam Powell - 35lb 8oz - peg 98
6. Chris Davis - 35lb 2oz - peg 77
In all there was 10 weights from Cary and 10 from Campbell over 20lb, good fishing. Top weight on Lodge was 17lb.
All scores and sheets can be seen on Here or probably on Mr Rixon's or Mr Nicholl's blogs at some point.
Me, well I was 4th in section, which from my draw I was pleased enough with. Maybe I could have got another point, but always 'maybe'.
Next round in a couple of weeks.
Until then, Take Care.
Lee
51 fish this year, spread over Campbell, Cary and Lodge lakes. With sections of 6 or 7 you need at least 3 or 4 section wins to get in the top ten I would say.
On to today, I was in the queue with fellow debutant Matt Williams chatting away and I commented I would like to be on Cary as it seems the most consistent at the moment and 10-15lb is capable from every peg I feel. I didn't want lodge I said, especially not peg 66 or 53, not the best 2 pegs at all.
So hand in tub, out comes peg 66 for me, Matt next, he pulled 53. So much for beginners luck!!
I got to my peg and the water was black with carp from 3lb up to 20lb, not just my peg but most of them, but it was worst up the end I was. Anyways I had Tom Thick across on 63 and he had Glen Calvert and Gary O'Shea to his left, but Tom was the 1st person in my 7 peg section, so really we had the rough draw. I had Dan Squire behind me and shipping back and landing net useage was a touch awkward, but we coped.
I decided against worms today after seeing all the carp, so my bait tray was casters, a few maggots and some 6mm meat along with a couple kilos of groundbait. I also had some micros with me and I was undecided on whether to use them.
 |
| P66 on Lodge Lake, Viaduct |
All lines and laccy were 0.14>0.10 or 0.08 and middy solids in 4-6 for the edges with roach in mind and the other 2 were middy solid 5-8.
I could go into how excellent the day was for me, but it really was a hard slog for most on Lodge.
I caught the odd roach and very small skimmer on both groundbait lines, there was lots of 1/2oz roach up in the water with odd better fish but these were too small to target and the better fish swirled irregularly , but I was apprehensive on setting up a shallow rig simply die to the amount of carp in front of me.
I tried the micros line a couple of times, each time resulted in carp being hooked, so I soon knocked that on the head.
The margins never gave me a fish all day, something that I would have put down as a banker, but these days happen. So it was a matter of hoping for a decent 1lb-4lb skimmer every now and then from either of the 2 groundbait lines. This never occurred and it was mostly the odd 1-3oz roach with the very occasional 4oz skimmer.
Tom Thick opposite me was also struggling and until he managed a few decent skimmers in a 20 minute spell late on I was probably just ahead of him. The others on his bank looked like they were doing ok, but I couldn't see or hear much from my side of the lake.
I did get 3 net skimmers, maybe 8oz each in the last hour but it was not very good really and I expected me and Tom to be last 2 in our 7 peg section.
Anyways after 6hrs the all out was called and I reckoned on 4lb-ish or bits and bobs. I reckoned Tom had 9lb and the rest of that bank were into double figures to perhaps 17lb, but was hard to tell,
I packed up and waited for the scales. A quick check on a couple other guys in my section and the most anyone would admit to was 11lb, Matt Williams even packed up and didn't weigh in off 53.
Behind me on Cary, Dan and Sam Powell to his left had a great peg to peg battle and bith would hav close to 30lb each. Most people had a few bites on the lake and the weights at the end showed everyone had over 11lb, good fishing.
The scales arrived at me and Tom had weighed 9lb 2oz. My 4lb or so actually weighed 8lb 8oz so I was only a couple of my 'bumped' fish off his weight, but to be fair he bumped a couple and we both had baby roach fall off shipping back throughout the day.
I followed the scales a couple pegs and Rob Eagle had 6lb 4oz, then Nigel Easton 11lb. So I wasn't last in section, result!!
I loaded my car and had a quick update from other guys and rumour was Trig (Craig Edmunds) had won from peg 123 and Campbell with 39-something but it was close as Gary Webber (p115) also had 39lb+. Some of the guys were happy with their day and others less so, even with 17lb coming last in the 1st section on Campbell...
Results:
1. Craig Edmunds - 39lb 12oz - peg 123
2. Gary Webber - 39lb 2oz - peg 115
3. Ziggy Slowinski - 37lb 6oz - peg 126
4. Tony Rixon - 36lb 3oz - peg 94
5. Sam Powell - 35lb 8oz - peg 98
6. Chris Davis - 35lb 2oz - peg 77
In all there was 10 weights from Cary and 10 from Campbell over 20lb, good fishing. Top weight on Lodge was 17lb.
All scores and sheets can be seen on Here or probably on Mr Rixon's or Mr Nicholl's blogs at some point.
Me, well I was 4th in section, which from my draw I was pleased enough with. Maybe I could have got another point, but always 'maybe'.
Next round in a couple of weeks.
Until then, Take Care.
Lee
Friday, 29 September 2017
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
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
Sunday, 12 March 2017
This week's blog...... 12-03-17
An update sort of blog today, I would have done 3 separate ones, but really they would not have amounted to much individually.
So firstly, on Wednesday it was the 1st Fisho qualifier of the year, at Viaduct, so along with 96 others, we all had fingers crossed that things would fall into place, a few bits of luck and some half sensible fishing could produce a result.
After the usual natterings I plucked peg 74 from the tin, a decent draw, one I felt had a chance should the fish stay down the near end of Cary Lake, but in reality we all knew Campbell was the likely lake to win the day.
I had Calum Craig opposite me and Darren Cox on 76.
The match started ok, a couple carp and some skimmers in the first hour from off the edge of the tree to my right.....but then that was it as the fish moved up the lake with Alex Murray on 102 doing ok for a while before 77 and 78 took the lake's honours. I chose not to weigh. Calum had 3 carp I think, 107 had 4 and 109 only 1.
I did get to see Steve Jackson, Gareth Lennox and Frank Domachie catching well most of the day, sharing 400lb between them, with Jacko wining through to the final. Oh and well done to Emma Drysdale for running Mick Bull close down in the narrows in Middle, just being pipped with both having 90lb+.
Saturday saw me head back to Viaduct for Don Sutherland's memorial match, a silvers only event across Spring/Middle, Lodge and Campbell Lakes. 49 fished and a draw on a good peg on Spring would be a first choice.
I managed another reasonable draw, I was told by Vince Brown, with peg 32 on Middle, but arriving on my peg, there were a few carp moving all over but only the odd plip roach and rudd showing on the silvers' front. Hmmm maybe the skimmers and bream had ventured through the gaps to Spring lake?
I set up a waggler for corn at 20m or so, a rig for maggots/caster over groundbait at 14m in front and caster over maggot by a tree at 14m to my left. Oh and lastly a 6m rig for caster over caster.
I managed 1 decent skimmer on the waggler but the majority of my fish came on the 14m groundbait line using caster as bait. I had 20lb 2oz, this was 3 skimmers between 1.5lb and 3lb. The rest was roach and rudd plus the odd 6oz skimmer. Luckily I won the section by default, but it was the top weight off Middle Lake and the winner, Mark Saunders was the overall winner with 49lb 8oz from peg 26. That area of the lake, pegs 24 round to peg 5, fished well, and generally Spring fished very well with loads of 20lb+ weights. Campbell and Lodge also produced 29lb+ nets.
Results (1-32 Spring/Middle, 53-73 Lodge, 110-132 Campbell)
1. Mark Saunders - 49lb 8oz - peg 26
2. Stu White - 42lb 9oz - peg 2
3. Gabe Skarba - 39lb 11oz - peg 124...
4. Shawn Kittridge - 39lb 9oz - peg 1
5. Jess Jordon - 33lb 12oz - peg 17
6. Ryan Shipp - 32lb 3oz - peg 19
7. Nigel Easton - 32lb 1oz - peg 115
7. Robin Guy - 32lb 1oz - peg 15
9. Steve Jackson - 30lb 7oz - peg 116
10. Nick Ewers - 30lb - peg 5
11. Roland Lucas - 29lb 6oz - peg 59
12. John Page - 29lb 2oz - peg 64
13. Alvin Jones - 27lb 7oz - peg 3
14. Chris Fox - 24lb 4oz - peg 24
15. Vince Brown - 24lb 2oz - peg 16
So firstly, on Wednesday it was the 1st Fisho qualifier of the year, at Viaduct, so along with 96 others, we all had fingers crossed that things would fall into place, a few bits of luck and some half sensible fishing could produce a result.
After the usual natterings I plucked peg 74 from the tin, a decent draw, one I felt had a chance should the fish stay down the near end of Cary Lake, but in reality we all knew Campbell was the likely lake to win the day.
 |
| Peg 74, Cary Lake. |
The match started ok, a couple carp and some skimmers in the first hour from off the edge of the tree to my right.....but then that was it as the fish moved up the lake with Alex Murray on 102 doing ok for a while before 77 and 78 took the lake's honours. I chose not to weigh. Calum had 3 carp I think, 107 had 4 and 109 only 1.
I did get to see Steve Jackson, Gareth Lennox and Frank Domachie catching well most of the day, sharing 400lb between them, with Jacko wining through to the final. Oh and well done to Emma Drysdale for running Mick Bull close down in the narrows in Middle, just being pipped with both having 90lb+.
Saturday saw me head back to Viaduct for Don Sutherland's memorial match, a silvers only event across Spring/Middle, Lodge and Campbell Lakes. 49 fished and a draw on a good peg on Spring would be a first choice.
I managed another reasonable draw, I was told by Vince Brown, with peg 32 on Middle, but arriving on my peg, there were a few carp moving all over but only the odd plip roach and rudd showing on the silvers' front. Hmmm maybe the skimmers and bream had ventured through the gaps to Spring lake?
 |
| Peg 32 Middle... |
I managed 1 decent skimmer on the waggler but the majority of my fish came on the 14m groundbait line using caster as bait. I had 20lb 2oz, this was 3 skimmers between 1.5lb and 3lb. The rest was roach and rudd plus the odd 6oz skimmer. Luckily I won the section by default, but it was the top weight off Middle Lake and the winner, Mark Saunders was the overall winner with 49lb 8oz from peg 26. That area of the lake, pegs 24 round to peg 5, fished well, and generally Spring fished very well with loads of 20lb+ weights. Campbell and Lodge also produced 29lb+ nets.
Results (1-32 Spring/Middle, 53-73 Lodge, 110-132 Campbell)
1. Mark Saunders - 49lb 8oz - peg 26
2. Stu White - 42lb 9oz - peg 2
3. Gabe Skarba - 39lb 11oz - peg 124...
4. Shawn Kittridge - 39lb 9oz - peg 1
5. Jess Jordon - 33lb 12oz - peg 17
6. Ryan Shipp - 32lb 3oz - peg 19
7. Nigel Easton - 32lb 1oz - peg 115
7. Robin Guy - 32lb 1oz - peg 15
9. Steve Jackson - 30lb 7oz - peg 116
10. Nick Ewers - 30lb - peg 5
11. Roland Lucas - 29lb 6oz - peg 59
12. John Page - 29lb 2oz - peg 64
13. Alvin Jones - 27lb 7oz - peg 3
14. Chris Fox - 24lb 4oz - peg 24
15. Vince Brown - 24lb 2oz - peg 16
Lastly was today's match on the Kings Sedgemoor Drain at Bradney with the Pawlett bunch.
Running late (for me) and arriving with my breakfast in hand, it was a matter of saying my hellos and stuff, some guys fishing whom I haven't seen for ages were present, like Baz Morgan and Dave Nash to name 2.
A look at the water from the bridge and I knew it wasn't going to be a great day in terms of weights as the water looked too coloured and coupled with the warmer weather we have had, I expected it to be a bit of a scratching day. I also said that whoever draws the end bay peg nearest the bridge should win or be chucked in as it looked full of fish including pike. I didn't want to draw in the pegs downstream of the bridge as it is too deep and hasn't been so good on the whole for the last 2 or 3 years.
The draw was made and I went in mid-rabble and pulled 24 (after a bit of faffing between myself and Keith Clapp, I fished peg 24, he had 23...). Jamie Cook and Neil Venning were in the fancied end pegs of the bay. The pegging was 1-10 perma pegs on the South Bank, 11 to 19 in the bay area opposite the EA building and 20 to 24 below the bridge.
 |
| My Bradney peg on the KSD. |
A waggler was set up, but only had a couple casts as the wind was a pain.
A couple pole rigs, one for 6m on a 0.7g float on 0.12>0.10>20 b511 hook, here I would feed caster and hemp by hand. The 2nd rig was a 2g Drennan Carbo on the same lines but would be fished at 13m over an initial balling of groundbait laced with hemp and caster, 6 big coconut sized balls to be precise.
With very few small fish topping, it was a struggle for the day, just picking up a few fish, mostly roach between 1 and 2oz, a 4oz fish was a bonus. It was just a matter of patience and luck.
The short line only gave me a couple fish as I had no flow here. Throughout the day I kept checking with Keith what he was getting and pretty much the reply was 'not much' or 'nothing more'. Though the 2 pegs nearest the bridge, I was told, were picking up small silvers.
The all-out came at 4:30pm and as the scales arrived below the bridge the top 2 nets were indeed Jamie and Neil from the 2 last pegs in the bay with circa 16lb each. A 9lb net and a few 5lb nets were recorded, none of us admitted to 5lb below the bridge. My 4lb 11oz was the best weight from that stretch. I had between 60 and 70 fish, so on the small size, my largest was maybe 4oz. But not good enough for a pick-up.
The perma pegged section fished a bit better with plenty of 6 to 9lb nets.
Results, top 3 came from the bay areas, top 2 nearest the bridge.
1st, Jamie Cook. 16lb 15oz.
2nd, Neil Venning. 15lb 8oz
3rd, Kev Lock. 9lb 6oz (inc a tench)
 |
| Weights.... |
So a mixed set of results, but I enjoyed them all and this weekend's fishing for silvers.
Not sure where I am fishing next weekend, no set plans. We shall see.
Until then, have fun.
Lee.
Tuesday, 21 February 2017
Pawlett Match, Viaduct Campbell and Cary. 19-02-17
After visiting on the Thursday costcutter at the venue, I knew that Cary would be unlikely to be the lake of the 2 that would provide the match winner, and although possible, I presumed Campbell would also give the silvers winner. Campbell would be a bit more fair and when Saturday saw Paddy Curry win from 132 and 130 was second, my inclination was confirmed.
Anyways, 32 fished after a couple of drop-outs in the previous day or 2. Spirits were high with the warming of the weather, it did look good for a few bites, too cold to be properly hauling, but slowly we shall get there, this winter seems to have been the coldest for an age.
A bit of banter, some chit chat and the usual 'hello' to all was done, PSV were on Lodge lake, so loads of familiar faces, and better chances of a good few laughs.
I waited until near the end of the queue, I wanted to be on Campbell, I was prepped for silvers mostly so 123-127 please!!, but wouldn't have been upset to land on the near end of that lake to catch some carp, indeed looking at Cary, there were carp around 105 to 109 and 74, just the odd show further up the lake.
I did not get my wish, instead I found myself on peg 100, I wasn't too despondent, it can be a good peg at times, but Thursday's match along that bank never gave up any carp and only peg 96 produced some decent silvers throughout the day,
I made my way to the peg, found I had an in-form Jamie Parkhouse on peg 99 and he had Keith Clapp on 97, Ziggy on 96 and Mike Davis 94. I didn't get any photos of the peg.
I began to sort my kit out, and was only setting up for carp as I hoped for 10 fish from the 6hrs ahead.
A lead rod for corn/meat/bread. A waggler for corn and reluctantly a couple of pole rigs for meat (one to empty 101 and one at 13m in front) but these pole rigs never gave a bite.
Behind me, on Lodge Lake, I had Ryan Radford, Matt Williams and Adam Caswell in the PSV match.
I began on the lead, tried that for 40 minutes without a bite, then I gave the pole lines a quick look and went on the waggler, which was towing through a touch fast at times, so back on the lead.
I managed a couple 4oz skimmers and a roach on double corn, but that was my opening couple of hours or so. Elsewhere Phil Clapp on peg 105 had 4 or 5 carp and a few small silvers. Big Nick Selway on peg 90 had a carp, so had the others on the top bank, only 1 each at that point.
Next to me, Jamie, he had a few pounds of silvers on the pole, maybe 3 or 4lb of mostly skimmers.
Keith had a tench and a nice skimmer and I could just make out Mike Davis getting small silvers.
So it was up and off my box to get a topkit out for silvers, if only to get some bites.
I cupped a couple balls of groundbait at 14.5m and one at 6m, both with minimal loose feed in. I let these rest for 20 minutes while fishing the waggler.
Soon enough I was on the pole and had a couple of 4oz skimmers and roach, but after 20 minutes it seemed a touch hard work, sort of going nowhere fast. Jamie was still getting a few in spells and Keith the odd better silver on the waggler.
I came in on my 6m line and started putting silvers in the net quick enough, and I was happy getting bites.
So after around an hour on the pole for silvers I had put maybe 3lb in the net, I needed to at least treble that rate to get 30lb, which may be close to winning the silvers, I needed bigger stamp skimmers/bream or a few tench. I couldn't see that happening. So back onto the waggler and lead for the rest of the match, hoping a massive ball of carp had arrived.....they didn't. Neither did the big silvers.
With around an hour to go I did manage a 3lb skimmer/bream on the waggler, it was a stray as I never had any more like that. Though a few bits on the pole and a 12oz skimmer on the lead while waiting for carp was all I managed before the all out.
Elsewhere, come the end of the match it was obvious that Eric Fouracre and Mark Leader were batting the silver pot over on Campbell, probably over 20lb each, according to Ziggy that is, and our Polish friend packed up early after a 20 minute wander.
Phil Clapp had won Cary, 6 carp and a few silver before 12:30, then nothing after was his effort. But he had around 60lb. Jamie Parkhouse, Keith, Mike and Jason King, whom was on 78 catching decent silvers, all had over 10lb of silvers. Carp-wise, a few guys had 1 and a few guys had 2, nobody except Phil had more.
I packed up and weighed in a shade under 9lb, which was fine given the others had a couple hours silvers fishing before I got off my arse to make a rig for them.
I feel that on Cary we were fishing for a section win, at a push one guy may be lucky and get top 3. It felt like a match in which we were going nowhere to get somewhere, sort of making all the right noises and efforts for an unlikely prize. Unlikely to win the silvers or overall, but not really struggling for silvers bites either.
Jamie had 12lb+, Keith 11lb+, Mike 12lb+ and Jason 14lb+ on the silver front on the lake, the carp weights were 57lb then a bunch of 8 to 25lb nets depending on if the guy had 1 or 2 carp.
Campbell produced the Winner from peg 130, Jamie Cook and indeed Eric Fouracre continues his little bit of form (coupled with being a bit good) winning the silvers from peg 125.
Lodge never fished great for the PSV guys with just under 30lb top weight.
So despite the relative mildness, the lakes never switched on as were considered, perhaps they are not warm enough as yet.
Results:
1st. Jamie Cook, 81lb 12oz, p130 (Cam)
2nd. Phil Clapp, 60lb 10oz, p105 (Cary)
3rd. Pete Manning, 57lb 6oz, p118 (Cam)
4th. Chris Higgs, 54lb 7oz, p123 (Cam)
Silvers:
1st. Eric Fouracre, 27lb 3oz, p125 (Cam)
2nd. Mark Leader, 23lb 3oz, p127 (Cam)
3rd. Robb Dodd, 15lb 8oz, p111 (Cam)
So another match gone, next up for the club is on the Kings Sedgemoor Drain in March, hopefully that will fish well like we know it can.
Not sure what my plans are this coming weekend, so until next time, take care.
Lee
Anyways, 32 fished after a couple of drop-outs in the previous day or 2. Spirits were high with the warming of the weather, it did look good for a few bites, too cold to be properly hauling, but slowly we shall get there, this winter seems to have been the coldest for an age.
A bit of banter, some chit chat and the usual 'hello' to all was done, PSV were on Lodge lake, so loads of familiar faces, and better chances of a good few laughs.
I waited until near the end of the queue, I wanted to be on Campbell, I was prepped for silvers mostly so 123-127 please!!, but wouldn't have been upset to land on the near end of that lake to catch some carp, indeed looking at Cary, there were carp around 105 to 109 and 74, just the odd show further up the lake.
I did not get my wish, instead I found myself on peg 100, I wasn't too despondent, it can be a good peg at times, but Thursday's match along that bank never gave up any carp and only peg 96 produced some decent silvers throughout the day,
I made my way to the peg, found I had an in-form Jamie Parkhouse on peg 99 and he had Keith Clapp on 97, Ziggy on 96 and Mike Davis 94. I didn't get any photos of the peg.
I began to sort my kit out, and was only setting up for carp as I hoped for 10 fish from the 6hrs ahead.
A lead rod for corn/meat/bread. A waggler for corn and reluctantly a couple of pole rigs for meat (one to empty 101 and one at 13m in front) but these pole rigs never gave a bite.
Behind me, on Lodge Lake, I had Ryan Radford, Matt Williams and Adam Caswell in the PSV match.
I began on the lead, tried that for 40 minutes without a bite, then I gave the pole lines a quick look and went on the waggler, which was towing through a touch fast at times, so back on the lead.
I managed a couple 4oz skimmers and a roach on double corn, but that was my opening couple of hours or so. Elsewhere Phil Clapp on peg 105 had 4 or 5 carp and a few small silvers. Big Nick Selway on peg 90 had a carp, so had the others on the top bank, only 1 each at that point.
Next to me, Jamie, he had a few pounds of silvers on the pole, maybe 3 or 4lb of mostly skimmers.
Keith had a tench and a nice skimmer and I could just make out Mike Davis getting small silvers.
So it was up and off my box to get a topkit out for silvers, if only to get some bites.
I cupped a couple balls of groundbait at 14.5m and one at 6m, both with minimal loose feed in. I let these rest for 20 minutes while fishing the waggler.
Soon enough I was on the pole and had a couple of 4oz skimmers and roach, but after 20 minutes it seemed a touch hard work, sort of going nowhere fast. Jamie was still getting a few in spells and Keith the odd better silver on the waggler.
I came in on my 6m line and started putting silvers in the net quick enough, and I was happy getting bites.
So after around an hour on the pole for silvers I had put maybe 3lb in the net, I needed to at least treble that rate to get 30lb, which may be close to winning the silvers, I needed bigger stamp skimmers/bream or a few tench. I couldn't see that happening. So back onto the waggler and lead for the rest of the match, hoping a massive ball of carp had arrived.....they didn't. Neither did the big silvers.
With around an hour to go I did manage a 3lb skimmer/bream on the waggler, it was a stray as I never had any more like that. Though a few bits on the pole and a 12oz skimmer on the lead while waiting for carp was all I managed before the all out.
Elsewhere, come the end of the match it was obvious that Eric Fouracre and Mark Leader were batting the silver pot over on Campbell, probably over 20lb each, according to Ziggy that is, and our Polish friend packed up early after a 20 minute wander.
Phil Clapp had won Cary, 6 carp and a few silver before 12:30, then nothing after was his effort. But he had around 60lb. Jamie Parkhouse, Keith, Mike and Jason King, whom was on 78 catching decent silvers, all had over 10lb of silvers. Carp-wise, a few guys had 1 and a few guys had 2, nobody except Phil had more.
I packed up and weighed in a shade under 9lb, which was fine given the others had a couple hours silvers fishing before I got off my arse to make a rig for them.
I feel that on Cary we were fishing for a section win, at a push one guy may be lucky and get top 3. It felt like a match in which we were going nowhere to get somewhere, sort of making all the right noises and efforts for an unlikely prize. Unlikely to win the silvers or overall, but not really struggling for silvers bites either.
Jamie had 12lb+, Keith 11lb+, Mike 12lb+ and Jason 14lb+ on the silver front on the lake, the carp weights were 57lb then a bunch of 8 to 25lb nets depending on if the guy had 1 or 2 carp.
Campbell produced the Winner from peg 130, Jamie Cook and indeed Eric Fouracre continues his little bit of form (coupled with being a bit good) winning the silvers from peg 125.
Lodge never fished great for the PSV guys with just under 30lb top weight.
So despite the relative mildness, the lakes never switched on as were considered, perhaps they are not warm enough as yet.
Results:
1st. Jamie Cook, 81lb 12oz, p130 (Cam)
2nd. Phil Clapp, 60lb 10oz, p105 (Cary)
3rd. Pete Manning, 57lb 6oz, p118 (Cam)
4th. Chris Higgs, 54lb 7oz, p123 (Cam)
Silvers:
1st. Eric Fouracre, 27lb 3oz, p125 (Cam)
2nd. Mark Leader, 23lb 3oz, p127 (Cam)
3rd. Robb Dodd, 15lb 8oz, p111 (Cam)
 |
| Weigh Sheets. |
Not sure what my plans are this coming weekend, so until next time, take care.
Lee
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)