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.

Peg 199, Viaduct Campbell.

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

Acorn and Summerhayes, 19th and 20th May 2018

I will start with Saturday's blog, well, little write up. Started like normal with an early arrival and a walk around the lakes plus a natter with a few guys before the draw. Well I picked peg 22, the left hand side of the back bank bridge. Reasonably happy I guess. But it hasn't been great in this series.

Got to my peg and plenty of scum on the water and a few fish present so things looked optimistic.
3 rigs, 2 for shallow (band and no band) using DT pingers and one for on the deck in a couple areas of my peg in the deeper water.
It didn't take long to set up as my shallow rigs were already on the topkits. I had micros, expanders and 6mm pellets on the side tray plus some corn, casters and groundbait.
I had Mark Bromsgrove down to my left and Lewis Walker to my right on the other side of the bridge.

Peg 22 Acorn

Before the all in the wind picked up and my scum started to drift away to my left and the fish that were present seemed to follow, bugger. I hardly saw a fish in my peg for the most of the day and despite my efforts I never had a fish shallow and not a fish landed (did foul hook a couple) from the far side.
It was actually almost 4hrs into the match that I had my 1st carp over 6oz, that came down the edge to my left where the carp had only just started to come in but were spooky.
I had 2 from the deep water on expander and a couple more from the edge in the last half hour.
It was a dull day and it would have been a DNW could I have got my car out sensibly without causing hassle. During the match, Lewis had struggled to his last 2hrs and his neighbour, Bob Gullick similarly. Mark on peg 24 had caught most of the day from his peg with just the odd quiet spell.

Really it was only Paul Nichols on peg 5 who caught all day and won with 160lb+.
My weight was last in section but not last in weight on the day, 21lb something was my total, there was also 4 dnw's including Gabe on peg 40 where I never bothered to weigh in the last round.

2 more rounds to go, so again fingers crossed that I have a few fish to catch in at least one of those matches.

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Sunday saw me head to Summerhayes, Pawlett did have a match on the 2 canals at Shiplate but expected almost every peg to be in and a struggle for most given the pressure and the warm conditions so I never booked in. Alas peg 1 on Westpool won the match, Mike Davis with 135lb, Nick Selway was 2nd with 85lb from peg 6 on the same, then it dropped off I believe.

Anyways back to Summerhayes, 13 or so fishing so after a cuppa and a chat the draw was made, only 2 balls left in the basket, one for me and one for Jamie Rich who was fresh from his 3 weeks in Thailand....but he wasn't tanned....hmmmm!! I told him to give a ball to me, I had peg 20, he had peg 17 so both reasonably happy. For company I had Roy Hughes on the flyer of an end peg (p23) with the wind pushing in there and on my left I had a guy called Steve on peg 18. Chris Boulton had turned up to fish and drew peg 2, I really fancied that peg to win and told him so, it looked full of fish and is a pretty decent peg at any time.

Peg 20 Sellicks, Summerhayes

No rigs for silvers in this match, so my casters stayed in the bag and I didn't even bring any groundbait, I needed to catch a few carp just to convince myself I can occasionally do that.
My rigs were a couple shallow rigs, well the same 2 shallow rigs as Saturday, the banded one would do for tight over to the island at 13m and the un-banded one for down my left margin.
Lastly I had a meat rig for 2+2 off to my left, this rig was also used at the same distance feeding and using 6mm expander pellets, sort of a half hearted attempt incase the skimmers arrived.
My usual floats of DT Pingers for the shallow rigs and an RBS Margin for the meat rig.
My baits were meat, expander and 6mm pellets and some hemp. I also had some dead maggots to get rid of.

At the all in I started short for 15 minutes after depositing a full cup of hemp and meat off to my left and half a pot of expanders in front.
I only a liner to show over the meat line so I went across and was pleased to have a spurt of 8 or 9 carp in the next hour, but the problem was they were only little 1lb fish, or that is what I clicked. Roy was getting better fish on his paste rig and Jamie Rich was targeting silvers as usual and was getting one or 2 small fish.
Steve had started slowly and had a skimmer and 1 or 2 carp.
Things then began to get funny as the day got warmer the fish began to be a pain and whatever I tried to do I couldn't get them to settle and was suffering foul hookers and line bites. I did mug a couple, but even that was hard work.
I gave the far side a rest and tried the expander and never had a bite, I tried the meat line, I never had a bite, then the edge to my left, no bites....hmmm. I spent the next 90 minutes to 2 hrs trying to get a few fish in the net, but failed.
Steve was now down his left edge and was getting reasonable action from the carp and had also had a 2lb+ eel. Roy was still catching a few but missing lots of bites. He also been broken on a fish and last the elastic and rig.

With 2.5hrs to go I had just about double figures showing on my clicker and was beginning to think about spending a couple hours fishing caster, but I couldn't be arsed to get off my box.
Luckily I managed a run of fish shallow across, I had 8 or 9 more between 1 and 3lb which moved me up to around 30lb. Then I had a fish down my left edge which went under the empty pallet and out between the from legs of it, half expected the rig to snap I held my pole still and the fish waddled back and I duly netted it, lucky there.
I then tried back across but things were quiet so I gambled on my meat line, upping the feed a bit. This seemed to work as another spurt of fish, which were a little bigger on average made their way to the keepnets. I had been clicking then as 2 and 3lb but was unsure as it seemed a few felt heavier than their size, spawn methinks. So when my 1st net reached 40lb I started to use my 2nd net which coincided with the last hour or so.
Staying on the meat I began to foul hook a few in amongst the ones landed so I picked the margin rig and tried it over that line and the elastic was ripped out, ah shallow fish, but then I had ripple which obviously had helped as when it went flat calm I could only catch on the deck, once the ripple returned I caught shallow.
I also managed a couple fish from the edge but that was only as a rest from the 'catching' line..
I had also tried the expander line, one carp from there only. But I also tried expander shallow when I was missing bites on meat, this proved ok.

So the last hour was spent over the meat line up and down in the water and swapping between meat and expander on the hook and feeding a little every few seconds. I managed, I think, 10 carp in this time and my clicker showed 26lb, I had been clicking mostly 2lb for these fish. I was actually enjoying myself as the all out was called. My clickers showed 66lb though I did expect it to be a touch more.
Roy and Steve had beaten me I though and Adie said Chris on peg 2 had done really well.

I packed up and waited for the scales to arrive. I caught up with them at Jim Jenner who had been catching well down his edges and he put 91lb on the board which was the 3rd best weight to this point. Chris Boulton had 141lb from peg 2 and Mark Lehay 95lb from peg 4.
Wayne Michael had 26lb from peg 15 before Jamie Rich had 11lb 2oz of silvers, he guessed he had 7lb. You can read his blog here....
Steve was next on peg 18 and he totalled out at 89lb 14oz, I was sure I never had that. Certain. Well my 1st net (the 5hr 40lb one) weighed 66lb and ounces, while my last hour net (26lb clicked) topped 52lb. My total gave me 111lb 4oz. I was slightly embarrassed and felt like a tit to be fair. Those fish must have weighed 1lb or so heavier each than I thought.
Next up was Roy, now I was sure he had more than me as at times he was getting 3 to my 1. But he totalled 103lb 5oz which surprised me. That put me 2nd on the day and a bit of money for my efforts.
Next time I visit I may well fish for the carp....just for a change methinks.

Results:
1st - peg 2, Chris Boulton. 141lb 14oz
2nd - peg 20, Lee Williams. 111lb 4oz
3rd - peg 23, Roy Hughes. 103lb 5oz

1st Silvers - peg 17, Jamie Rich. 11lb 2oz
2nd Silvers - peg 7, Rob Birch. 6lb 11oz

Weights....

So it was nice to get a few on the meat and I learnt a couple things going forward, which is what I try to take each time I go.
Next up is Sunday at Viaduct I believe for the 1st round of Tony's Float Only Series which I got on thanks to Steve Tucker.

Until then, take care.
Lee