Avalon teams of three, Round 4. 27/12/15

First off I just wish to say I hope you all had a great Xmas and over indulged.
I also want to thank all those who have helped me out in 2015 and I appreciate all those who read my blogs this year.

Right back to today's match and it was round 4 of the Teams of three event.
I arrived in loads of time to find that Team Mosella had done their draw and had plucked a nice set of pegs. 37 for Pete Wild.  24 for Tom Magnall and Vic was on peg 11.
The weather was due to start drizzly and dry out but winds would be strengthening until 3pm or thereabouts.

My team had a substitute for the day in the form of Derek Beard as Steve was ill.
We had the last pic of pegs, well it wasn't a choice but the order in which we put in sections. We had pegs 13, 27 and 39. Not the best as generally the right hand bank has been patchier than the pegs 1 to 23.
Eric had 27. I had 39 and Derek on 13. On paper my peg was ok but the trend with the pegs near the boards/gaps is that one end of them fishes while the other end struggles.

I got to my peg to find I had Pete Wild on p37. Mark Sweeting on 35. Jamie Cook on peg 32, Rich Coles on p30 all in my section. Rather tough methinks.

Avalon p39 rhs

Avalon peg 39

Avalon p39 lhs

I sorted the usual rigs and bait.
A feeder. A pellet wag. 2 silvers rigs (topkit & 13m skimmers).
2 rigs for carp (just off empty P40 and 9m at 11o'c direction ).

There were plenty of fish moving until 9:45 when they vanished......but most expected some ok fishing.
At the all in I potted in some gb at 13m and some maggots and meat in my 2 carpy spots.
Starting on the feeder and I had a carp of 3lb within 5 minutes and it got me off the mark......and that was it for 3hrs.
Not a bite. Nothing.

At around 1pm I did snare a pike, which I thought may have been a ghostie as it was pale and fought well. But I got all 11lb or so of it in, unhooked it and let it go. That's 3 pike I have caught this series.  I now have a reputation.....haha.

Elsewhere Pete was flying along as was Keith Clapp on peg 6. I also could see Jamie doing ok.
Rumour also came along that Tom was doing well but Eric was bagging.
Mark Sweeting was struggling as were Vic,  Derek, Mike West and one or 2 others.
I just wanted a couple more carp or while bunch of skimmers to come along as my wag, feeder and topkit lines were dire and only 2 roach and 2 minnows were had.
At least I wasn't suffering the same fate as Vic who'd lost a good few items if tackle.  Pete broke a rod but got the fish in, he also lost a couple items of tackle. Me I just lost one was to the only bit of overhang I could reach.

I managed to bump a skimmer on the pole before a 3lber was netted. That was the last action on the long pole line.

With half an hour to go I had 3lb of silvers and 1 carp.
So I put some bait down by peg 40 before putting the feeder back out and snared a 6lb fish.
A look down to the left and I missed a bite before I hooked a carp....well I presume a carp as it bolted under the empty platform shedding the hook in the process. That was my match done.  I reckoned I was 4th from 5 in my section as Jamie and Pete would be top 2. I had more than Mark, he has been having a pants series like me and Vic, I was sure Rich would have had more than me. And so it proved.

I didn't follow the weigh in as I was chatting to Eric and Rich. But by the time the scales had got to Tom in corner 24 it was Keith winning and Westy leading the silvers. Tom weighed in just under 50lb before Eric took the lead with a good mid 70lb net. Rich had 16lb+ then Jamie upper 30's.
Mark had 1lb something then Pete just over 50lb.
My attempts went 13lb+ to confirm 4th in section.

So it proved that one end of the boards produce and the other doesn't.  I felt like I fished a pretty tidy match but the fish were not playing or maybe not present.

Eric won on the day ahead of Keith and Pete so another bit of money into our pot again thanks to Eric. We were 3rd on the day as Derek was last in his section.
Overall we stay 2nd on weight fro Mosella with sedges almost uncatchable. I think they only need 7 points from 2 rounds....pretty unlikely really but you can't be 100% sure.

Results:

1st Eric Fouracre - Young ones 79.07
2nd Keith Clapp - Sedges 57.04...
3rd Pete Wild - Mosella UK 50.13
4th Tom Mangnall - Mosella UK 44.11
5th Jamie Cook - Sedges 37.15
6th Mike West - Somerset Carpenters 20.08

Silvers - Silver peg winner
1st Mike West - Somerset Carpenters 8.04

Teams on the Day:
1st Sedges - 11pts - 103.09
2nd Mosella UK - 11pts - 100.01
3rd Young Ones - 8pts - 95.14
4th Somerset Carpenters - 8pts - 35.15
5th Fu Fighters - 7pts - 36.08

League as it Stands:
1st Sedges, 18pts
2nd Young Ones, 14pts
3rd Mosella UK, 14pts
4th Fu Fighters, 8pts
5th Somerset Carpenters, 6pts

So another tough day at Avalon, but it keeps things tight, if not a little dull for some, I am back there again next Sunday for the next round of the same Teams of Three.
Oh today myself and Paul Berry took a trip up to Plantation Lakes near Clevedon, to fish the main match lake, we had a very nice day catching skimmers up to 3 or 4lb, some roach, odd perch along with various carp. Enjoyable.

Until next time, enjoy your entrance into 2016.

Lee

Avalon Christmas Match. 20-12-15

The season of good will and cheer is upon us, brilliant...............But no one has told the fish it is a time for giving, match results from all over the country has seen a trend of venues not fishing 'how they should'.........temperatures to over 15 degrees within a week of Christmas Day. Bloody daft if you ask me. These slimy critters we set out to catch don't know what to do, light levels are low, temps are high, confusedfish.com.

Anyways, Sunday, I made my way over to the lakes and arrived in a well filled car park, plenty of nets hung over the fence after being dipped....optimism on the inside, moaning on the outside, a funny bunch are anglers.
With 23 fishing it was a nice turn out, loads of faces I know or recognised, a few of whom can catch a fish or 2. I stood around chatting to Matt Challenger, Derek Beard and a good few others. Tom Mangnall, Tim Ford, Eric and Steve Fouracre and John Fuidge were in attendance along with Ziggy and a late arrival (with his 80's music) Steve Jackson, I am sure his load music scared the fish away from the car park end of the lake.....personally I wanted to be on the 1st island or one of the top corner pegs (23 and 24).

As the draw took place I waited until near the end of the rabble and with 3 pegs left in the bag, Vic, Eric and Myself would have pegs 26 (hmmmm nah thanks), 7 (will be worth a bite or 2) and 5 (Flyer...Flyer..that'll do). I picked first and left 7 to Vic and 5 to the ever consistent Eric. Ballbags.
But onwards and upwards, there seemed to be plenty of fish activity all over the lake......that was until the 10am all-in.
I made my way to my peg, I seem to be edging back up to the far end with each match I fish here, and went about mixing up less than usual groundbait and sorting my tackle.

Avalon  peg 26

Again a feeder was set-up, and the usual 4 pole rigs:
Edge rig for carp, Topkit rig for anything, long pole silvers and a long pole carp rig (unused). I fancied a few carp from the margins and possibly tight over on the feeder. As for the silvers, this area can be really good, but in the main I have found it patchy at this time of yeat with only the odd skimmer and bonus perch or tench, the car park end being more consistent.
Baits were the usual caster, dead maggots, meat and a few micros and 8mm pellets.
For company I had Derek Beards up on peg 24, he'd do well for sure, as would Steve Fouracre from peg 23. Tom Mangnall was on a decent peg (38) and obviously Eric looked favourite sat on peg 5.

At the all in I deposited a nice helping of maggot and meat near the empty pallet of peg 27, a couple balls of groundbait went in at 13m, I didn't fancy any longer as the wind was due to increase in strength. I fed both topkit lines by hand with mostly caster.
I spent the 1st hour on the feeder swapping with hookbaits from maggots to pellet to meat, it was literally on the hour that I had a fish, a 3oz perch on maggots, all fish activity had stopped and everyone was struggling, peg 28 had landed a carp as had Derek and Steve.
The 2nd and 3rd hours were a struggle, I only added a couple roach on the long pole, but I wasn't the only struggler. Despite everyone trying, what it seemed, everything, nobody was putting much in the net, Mike West over on peg 19 losing a few carp to the reeds. I was sure the other end would be doing a whole load better.....hmmm. I did see Phil Dodd and Tim Ford (just about see him), net a carp each during this spell. I kept plugging away and it was around 1:30 that I managed a perch of 1lb from down to my left on the topkit, my only successful bite there all day, I bumped an okay fish, possibly a bony mouth perch soon after. The right edge, despite it looking fishy never gave me a bite, similarly the empty peg of 27 never gave me a sniff all match.

Avalon p26 lhs

Avalon p26 rhs

As we arrived at the last hour stage I was on 2 perch and about 3 roach, probably 1lb. Steve was on 4 carp and Derek had a handful also. Out on the long line I had a bite and a nice amount of elastic came out and a 2lb skimmer was netter, a 6oz sample followed before another 1lb skimmer was netted.
With 10 minutes to go I wanted a carp, but knew I was unlikely to get one so stayed out long and had another knock, it felt like a decent skimmer, it was but just as I reached for the landing net the hook pulled out, upon inspection it showed a maggot had folded over the hook point...ballbags. It was a good 3lb+ fish comfortably. I only added one roach after this as was cursing the luck I had.

The all out sounded and I soon had my gear packed away before Vic arrived with the scales, he'd started at peg 48 and there were some low weights, including a DNW was James Cooper and 1lb 3oz to Jacko. Matt Challenger was leading the silvers with 8lb 4oz, that was 2 skimmers (bream) and Tom Mangnall was top weight overall at this point with 24lb exactly.
I tipped my carpless net onto the scales and registered the 3rd best net of silvers, 5lb 7oz. That bumped skimmer looked to have cost me the silvers pool (paying only 1 overall and 1 silvers), but then everyone loses fish but annoying none-the-less.

I made my way back the car park and was offered soup and mince pies, all of which went down very well so thanks to Vic and his lovely wife. But everyone was moaning how slow the fishing had been and that Eric had caught a few and looked odds on to win.
So it proved, with him winning ahead of Derek Beards and Tom Mangnall. Matt Challenger won the silvers ahead of Jim Jenner.
The presentation was made with some brilliant prizes from rods to large hampers, alcohol in various forms and a good few items of tackle. There was none of those typical poor prizes, all were quality especially the huge hampers.
I came 15th and chose a bundle of expanders, tackle/catty pouches, mince pies and a pellet pump which I gave to Steve Fouracre as he'd broke his.

I had the last chatters with peeps before setting off home.

Results:
1st, Eric Fouracres, peg 5. 28lb 13oz
2nd, Derek Beard, peg 24. 26lb 15oz
3rd, Tom Mangnall, peg 38, 24lb

Silvers:
1st, Matt Challenger, peg 40, 8lb 4oz

Weights on the day.

Next up is a Boxing Day match on Sedges' Brick Lake then back to Avalon for the next Teams of 3 match.

Until then, have a fabulous Christmas.
Take care, stay safe.
Lee