Clevedon Club, Trinity Woodlands, December 1st 2013

Todays match, with Clevedon FWAC, was at the popular Trinity Waters complex near Bridgwater. We were to fish the main match lake that is Woodlands.
The lake had loads of carp, skimmers, plenty of roach and a few tench and perch for good measure.

Anyways, todays draw was 8:30 and fishing was 10:00 to 15:50, there was 15 of us spread on the 2 long banks.
I woke at 7am, had a cuppa and some cereal, loaded the carp and set off at 8am....I had driven about half a mile and decided to grab a breakfast roll from Munchkins food van. So the 5 minute drive took 20 minutes, lol.

I arrived to a car park with plenty of vehicles in, but I wasn't last to arrive, Nick Harvey, Kev Perry and a couple others arrived after me.
I unloaded the car, loaded the barrow, paid my £20 and waited for the draw. After a couple of 'hellos' and chit chat, the pegs were in the bag. Top 3 and 2 silvers were the payouts.
I drew towards the end of the rabble, plucking peg 27. Not too bad, but I would rather have been further up the lake on either side, as the little wind we had seen recently was pushing that way.
For company I had Adie Baker on p26 and Kev Perry on 29. Opposite I had Simon Ryall and Nicky Harvey.

Peg 27, Trinity Woodlands.





 



I had fished peg 28 earlier in the week, making a couple rigs up and attempting to catch silvers, which was my ideal plan for today. Now I did have between 20 and 25lb on Wednesday in 4hrs fishing, but I never managed a skimmer over 4oz or so, but had a great big roach near to 2lb and a nice sized perch. I only hooked 2 carp on Wednesday which was a surprise given it's relative mildness.
So I had ideas, and rigs, that'd sort my fishing out, so I thought!!

For bait today I had a pint or so of caster, some maggots, a kilo of Sensas matchblend and magic mix, some micros, corn and 4mm pellets. I had some expanders in 4 and 6mm, plus bread for hookbaits.
I set up a waggler with 2 no.8's down the line, this was for various baits at around 20m.
A bomb rod for the waggler line, plus searching, this had a 18" tail, on which a size 16 hook with a band was tied for bread and pellet as bait.
4 pole rigs were assembled:
The first was 0.4g margin float for tight in to my left, 0.20>0.16>size 16 B911 with corn or 6mm expander. Solid 18/20 was my choice of elastic.
The 2nd was a 0.4g NG Silverfish Caner, set up on 0.12>0.08>22 B511, no.4-6 laccy for a topkit line.
3rd was a 0.6g NG Decker, bulked 18" and a no.10 dropper. 0.12>0.10>B911f1 size 18, no. 4-6 solid laccy. This was for 14m out, slightly right in deeper water (it sloped Left to right). Aiming for skimmers mostly.
Lastly was a 0.5g NG Power Pencil on 0.20>0.16>size 16 B911, to be fished at 9m at 10 o'clock sort of line and 14.5m at the 11 o'clock position as it was the same depth. Baits would be 6mm expander pellet or corn. Laccy was a 10/12 middy solid.

The all in was called at 10am and I spent a little while cupping in several balls of groundbait on the skimmer line. A cup of mixed 4mm pellet and corn was deposited on my 14.5m carp line, the same went in on the shorter line. A few casters were flicked to the topkit line, as this line was the one I expected to make the bulk of my catch, like I found it had earlier in the week.
I didn't bait the margin swim, leaving that until 90 minutes from the end.

I started on the wag with maggot and waited 5 minutes for my 1st fish, a little 1/2oz roach, followed a couple minutes later by a 3oz roach. Switching to corn never bought a bite, so I lobbed the lead and bread out for 20 minutes, this didn't bring much, just a single liner.
By the end of the 1st hour a few carp had been caught, but nobody I could see had landed more than 2. I had a few small roach in the net.

The following 90 minutes went ok though, well I say ok, but I would rather not have hooked carp on the lighter lines, but I did, and by half past 12 I had 3 carp in the net. 1 on the topkit line and 2 from over where I wanted skimmers. They were a while to land, but I succeeded.
Adie, next door on 26, had landed a good few silvers, and possibly had 5lb of them. The guys directly opposite were struggling as was Kev Perry on p29. Word had it that the end peg on my bank, Mark Walsh had landed a few carp as had the end peg opposite him.
I was stuck on whether to try and bag a bunch of slivers, which didn't seem like playing ball for me, I was even struggling to get bites on maggot....only soft 4mm bought me the old silver fish. Or fish for carp, which seemed most plausible for a pick up. Although even that would be a struggle as I would be playing catch up to at least 3 people. To be fair I was going nowhere, sort of in limbo so to speak, not close enough for a silvers pick up, but as the carp go to upper doubles, 3 fish could be 40lb...so carp it was then...........so I thought.

Between 12:30 and the all out was a struggle for me, I did land 2 carp in quick succession. 1 each from the 14.5m and 9m lines, but bites seemed to come when I cattied 4mm's over the float. The fish may have been up a bit in the water, but the shallow edge rig was dropped in with no response.
I even struggled for silvers.
Other anglers had started to catch, Jonny Page even bagged one on a pub chuck while he packed up the pole etc. Adie was getting good amounts of silvers and Rich Heatley on peg 30 was catching well, as he had been all day. Much to the amusement of Kev Perry, or should I say to the amusement of those watching from the other side.....good banter....lol.

The all out sounded and I had come nowhere, but I packed up and duly helped out with the weigh in.
First up was end peg 23, Mark Walsh, he weighed in a possible winning weight of 66lb 5oz.
Lewis on peg 24  targeted silvers all day, bagging himself a 12lb 14oz  mixed bag.
Adie Baker weighed in a total of 27lb 5oz, of which 14lb 2oz was his silvers.
I weighed a poxy 3lb 5oz of silvers and my 5 carp went 26lb 2oz. 29lb 7oz total.
Kev Perry (p29) weighed 14lb+
Then came Rich Heatley, his carp weighed 74lb 6oz, his silvers 3lb 4oz. He now looked the winner with 77lb 10oz total, a good weight.
Peg 32 had 7lb+ of silvers then there were a few 20lb-ish weights before Simon Ryall put 1oz less than me on the scales. Nicky Harvey DNW'd.
The last 2 to weigh were Jonny Page and Phil Nash. Jonny picked up the odd fish during the match, including his late lead caught carp. His total went 37lb 11oz from peg 14.
Phil, on end peg 15. He had been catching a few lumps, some looked doubles from what I could see. So in the almost dark conditions I called his weights, they totalled 48lb 11oz (2lb 3oz silvers in that). That was 3rd overall, so well done him.

So overall it was a fair, tricky match, which is how I like it. Maybe I could have had a few more of both silvers and carp, but despite trying various things, the fish never responded. I do think a pellet wag attack could have given a few fish. There were a few mooching in the upper layers. All if's and but's.

Weigh sheet...





Results:
1st- R. Heatley, 77lb 10z
2nd- M. Walsh, 66lb 5oz
3rd- P. Nash, 48lb 11oz
Silvers:
1st- A. Baker, 14lb 2oz
2nd- L. Walker, 12lb 14oz

So next up for me is the Pawlett Xmas match on Sedges next sunday, which should be enjoyable.

Until next time, take care and enjoy yourselves

Lee.

Apex Lake, Clevedon Club, November 24th 2013

Sunday's match was a club affair at Apex Lake in Burnham/Highbridge.
Now I like the venue, it has loads of silvers, eels and a decent head of carp. It is a venue that gives rewards to those who think about their angling. The only slight is that it is a public park and occasionally dogs (and their walkers) can enter your swim in certain areas.  But generally there isn't any problems. The swims are decent, platforms or solid bank and the water is of a nice depth (3-6ft as a rule).

Anyways onto the match. I arrived at the car park around 8:10 in time for the half past draw. It was a nippy morning with a bit of a frost. Slowly the others arrived, and we were soon handing our money over to Mark Bartlett and Rob Fogg who were sorting us out while Adie was not present.
I had been down to have a look on Saturday, where a mate had been fishing, and it was hard, in fact he waited a long while before his bites began, but sport was slow. The frosts had knocked the fishing a bit, so we need a settled period for it to pick up again. Apex can be an excellent winter water, I have had weights to over 40lb of skimmers and bream.
The most popular pegs would be 1-6 and those from 43 back to around 32. I fancied the mid 30's really, along the footpath, or maybe peg 2 or 3. Peg 4 is seen as a/the top peg, but I have never really done well there,
There was 13 or 14 of us down to fish, only 1 no show.

Into the bucket goes all the hands, out comes a piece of paper, peg 4....decent enough, and I expected a few fish. So a quick jump in the car and I drove round to the other car park. Once in my swim I set about getting my kit sorted and any luggage placed back on the barrow as rats can be a pest on this lake, some of them are super friendly and are not shy...

Peg 4, Apex Lake.



Once I had mixed my groundbait (50/50 mix of sensas matchblend and magic), pumped some expanders and organised my box etc I set up 4 rigs, which I actually made on Saturday.....now I am getting good at a little prep...lol.
These were all Nick Gilberts Silverfish Caners. A 0.6g float on 0.14>0.12>B511 size 18 for soft pellet or if I was to be catching steadily, this had a bulk and a single no.10 dropper.
The 2nd rig was the same float, with a 0.10 hooklength to a size 20 B511, for maggot/caster, maybe soft pellet.
The 3rd was a 0.4g, spread shot, 0.08 hooklength and a size 22 B511, this was for the roach on the drop or up in the water, should they show.
Lastly I had another 0.4g float, but this was on 0.12 and a size 16 B611, for chopped worm next to the tree to my left (you can make out the edges of the tree in the pic). Maybe a decent perch or a rogue carp being the target here.
I also set up a small guru feeder with a 2ft tail of 0.12 to a size 18 b611. This was my banker tactic.

In the hour or so before the whistle I never saw one fish top, not one bubble, nothing, so I was expecting a struggle.
The all in sounded at 10am, and I cupped a decent pot of worm and caster by the tree, but I never had a bite there, so no more on that.
I cupped a Satsuma sized ball of groundbait at 13m in the 1pm position, a pot of wetted micros and a few soft pellet went in at 13m on the 10am position. I was feeling positive. Sadly I never had a bite on these 2 lines either, despite varying my rigs, mostly using the lightest rig and feeding softly softly.

Anyways, there is not much to tell you about the next 5 hours except I had my 1st bite at around 11:15 when a suicidal skimmer took my bait on the feeder. Others had caught a few, some were still biteless and the remainder were on 1 fish...it was tough.
I did bump a baby skimmer off when the poor thing took my single red maggot on the feeder, that was around 13:30, so at this point it was 2 bites, 1 in the net, 1 bumped....Lance Tucker on peg 32? was in the process of packing up after only having 1 bite, others had packed their poles away as I don't think anyone except Mark Bromsgrove on peg 8 (apparently he was getting plenty) had a fish on that line...

Around 2:30 I started packing up, an hour before the whistle, I left 1 pole rig and the feeder set up, but I had switched to a larger feeder and a 5ft tail, 0.08>size 22 b611, a scratching feeder rig...lol
At 3pm something happened....another bite, a minute tap on the tip, which I missed, I chucked back out and low and behold 5 mins later I was into another fish, a 4oz skimmer was netted. Sadly I only had 20 minutes left!!....at 15:15 I bumped a fish which never registered on the tip, it fell off when I was pussy-footing in bringing it in, it felt a decent skimmer...a couple mins later I landed a small 4oz skimmer, then I missed a couple bites in quick succession and then bumped another baby skimmer. The fish were only lightly hooked and these smaller skimmers have really soft mouths. The bites were taps on the tip, not positive knocks.
So bites were coming and as the all out sounded I missed a bite.....But I was glad it was over!!

I was soon packed up, a few of the others had packed up with plenty of time left!!
Rob Fogg came and weighed my 4 or 5 fish, they went 3lb 8oz, which he said looked ok for the section....if he could remember what pegs were in what sections....lol
The other pegs on my right didn't weigh in as they were fishless, Rob himself was on peg 6 and had packed up early, but informed me that Mark Bromsgrove on peg 8 was bagging...maybe over 20lb in his net.
During the match I could see Nick Harvey, Paul Faires and Phil Deacon catching the odd skimmer from the pathway pegs opposite me and were looking like contesting the placings, but Mark Bartlett on peg 42 only had 1 small skimmer and dnw'd. Also the far peg opposite me (peg 35?) had Simon Carvallo catching a few all day, especially at around 1-2pm where it seemed like he was getting a bite a chuck on the feeder.

Anyways, I loaded the car and scooted back to the main car park for the results.
As expected Mark Bromsgrove won with 28lb+ from peg 8, I guess it makes sense as that peg gets the sun all day and was out of the cold winds we had for the last couple days. Maybe the water was warmer? But well done him....
Alas I never got my section as Phil Deacon and Kev Perry both had better weights, but I think it was Phil who won my section.

Results:
1st, Peg 8, Mark Bromsgrove, 28lb 8oz
2nd, Peg 40?,  Paul Faires, 16lb 4oz
3rd, Peg 35?, Simon Carvallo, 11lb 10oz
Sections: Phil Deacon, Peg 41, 9lb 4oz. Kev Perry, Peg 33, 6lb 13oz.

Weigh Sheet.....

 

So all in all a tough day, not un-expected as we'd had a few frosts and a cold northerly. Other fisheries were slow by all accounts on Saturday, lets hope it improves.

I was a little surprised that everyone, except the winner, didn't catch on the pole, and feeder weights were the outcome. But I am not surprised that I had bites late on, a little too late, because that is how Paul Wharton had found out on Saturday.

Maybe I should have switched to a lighter hooklength earlier? Maybe a bigger feeder should have been put on earlier? Maybe I did everything ok (except land a couple fish), that's fishing...that's why we keep going.....

 

Next up for me looks to be a match on Trinity Woodlands on Sunday, I know PSV had a match there on Sunday, but the blog has yet to be done, I think......but 5lb separated their top 4 with around 30lb winning.

 

Until next time...stay safe and have fun...

 

Lee