Avalon Teams of 3, Final Round 16-4-17

No fishing for me on Friday or Saturday, so it was a Sunday and Monday combo for me this last long weekend.

Sunday, well it was the final round of the Teams of 3 at Avalon, Myself, Steve and Eric Fouracre had really nothing to play for just try and nick some of the money on the day. Sadly that never went to plan.
The weather was rather blustery and in general. windy, but at least it was set to stay dry.  Some teams were not present so there were a few anglers covering their spots including Dom Sullivan, Matt Culpin and Jonny Page.

Steve drew our pegs, I was on 44, usually a decent peg having won a couple rounds and has a gap with boards on the island. Eric was up on 26 which has been a consistent peg and Steve on 11 which can be good for silvers.

Peg 44 at Avalon

A lead rod and pellet wag were ready, then I made a silvers rig to fish over 2 lines (micros on one, groundbait on the other), a topkit rig for caster down to my right and a rig for down next to empty peg 45.
For company I had Keith Bilder on my right and Tom Thick on my left, I also had my good buddy Paul Wharton in my section on peg 48 in the corner and I had a quid with Mr Culpin on peg 37.

My shortened version of the day went like:
1st hour, nothing except a few rudd down the edge and one lost waggler.
2nd hour I had a single carp on the drop on my silvers rig, only a small 3lb fish. Plus a skimmer and 2 roach.
3rd hour gave me nothing as everyone except Paul down in the corner struggled at this end of the lake, Tom had 3 carp, but decent ones plus a couple big skimmers. Keith had 5 carp,
4th hour saw me land a  carp on the pellet wag, but it was nigh on impossible to feed and you couldn't keep the rig still in the wind, so it was a case of thrashing the water to a foam, both me and Tom were doing this.
5th hour saw another single carp, I didn't bother with the silvers as Vic across on peg 9 was getting a decent skimmer each drop and looked on for 30lb.
Last hour was fishless. Tom ended up on 3 also and 2 big skimmers, Keith had 6 or 7 carp and Paul had nearly 70lb and probably won the section. I had 3 small carp, 2 smallish skimmers and 1lb of bits.

I packed up, but collected a quid from Matt who didn't weigh, but my quid went to Tom, who promptly gave it to Shawn Kittridge......
I didn't watch most of the weigh in, but the sheet showed 23, Tom Mangnal have 90lb+ and 24, Luke Pester (who's drew some pegs this series) on 24 have 115lb. Jamie Cook had 57lb+ and there were a few 30lb-ish sort of weights.
I cant remember what I had, I thing my 3 carp went nearly 14lb and 3lb or so of silvers. Which was not last in section, but may have been 2nd or 3rd last, I don't know. Eric and Steve never faired much better in their sections.

Results:
1st Luke Pester Fu Fighters 116.07 peg 24
2nd Tom Mangnall Mosella UK 93.11 peg 23
3rd Paul Wharton Thyers 68.15 peg 48
4th Jamie Cooke Sedges 57.13 peg 19
5th Paul Lock Happy hookers 45.10 peg 30
6th Vic Bush Mosella UK 40.15 peg 7

Silvers
Vic Bush, Mosella UK, 32.10 - peg 7

Teams
1st - Mosella UK - 27pts
2nd - Thyers - 23pts
3rd  -Fu Fighters - 20pts -165.06
4th - Sedges - 20pts - 109.03
5th - Somerset Carpenters - 17pts
6th - Happy Hookers - 14pts

Final League:
1st: Fu Fighters 41pts
2nd: Sedges 36pts
3rd: Thyers 35pts - 410.10
4th: Mosella UK 35pts - 399.07
5th: Somerset Carpenters 33pts
6th: Mosella Gold 32pts
7th: Over 50`s 27pts
8th: Happy hookers 13pts
9th: Doddys 10pts  -147.01
10th: Wickham wanderers 10pts - 144.02

Overall champion was Luke Pester, Fu Fighters - 45pts

So a rather let-down series for us after going close last year, but some pants draws early on defo cost us and it can be hard to fight back. The top 3 spaces went to corner pegs, which can happen in windy conditions, like it had been for a few days.
Well done to all, especially the top 3 teams and Luke. Plus well done to my carp-disliking mate Paul on coming 3rd.

Until next time, take care.
Lee

Avalon Teams of 3, Round 4. 12-02-17

A friggin' freezing day, north/north-easterly winds blowing down the lake making it uncomfortable for all. Had the wife with me for the duration, daft cow, she could have stayed home and done the housework!!! haha.

As a team we, 'The Over 50's', were languishing down in 7th spot after a couple of dire rounds and any realistic chances of a top-3 finish at the end of the series looked, well, unlikely at best. But we had a job to do and there is always money to add to out collection.

Eric done the draw, a decent one too, I was on peg 5, which is one of the better pegs on the lake. Eric was on peg 20, a good pick and Steve was on peg 37 which is average for the venue. I was glad to be away from the top end, in theory anyways, though I expected that end to be a better area generally speaking.

At my peg I found I had Lewis Jones on peg 4, Phil Clapp on peg 3 and Luke Pester on peg 7.
I set up a lead/feeder to try all different baits from bread to meat, pellet and maggot etc. 1 pole rig for 13m was set up, for a single line slightly off to my left fishing maggoty type baits over a little groundbait for some silvers.

Avalon peg 5.

At the all-in I deposited a couple balls of groundbait on the pole line, the began on the lead across.
An hour into the match and my section looked to be, except Nigel Garrett way up on peg 11, blanking. As I reached for my flask the inevitable occurred and my tip whacked round and a carp was attached, it didn't last long as the hook pulled out when the fish hit the surface by the island, I am not sure it was hooked in the mouth to be honest, but it gave me hope.

After 30 or so minutes I had my 1st carp, on pellet, only a small 2-3lb fish, but it was a start. Another half hour passed and number 2 was in the net, similar sized. The guys to my right, at this point (12:30pm or so), hadn't had a bite. But Luke was gathering a few skimmers and roach on the pole and I presumed he had more in silvers than my couple baby carp.
Mike West wandered up from peg 1, questioning his decision to fish....we all were to be fair, but moments after he left I had number 3 carp, again a small 3lber.
In between fishing the tip I had odd looks on the pole line in hope of a decent skimmer or 2, but I only managed a couple roach and a 6oz skimmer, it was too long between bites to stick at it.

The remainder of the match was spent on the tip rod and I remained biteless. I lost 4 sets of tackle during the match, probably to underwater reed stems, which is annoying, so lead and feeder shopping for me this week.
Unluckily for me Luke managed 2 decent carp in the last half hour when he chucked his bread out, so he'd over taken me. Nigel I expected to have done ok as I saw him net odd fish during the match. Lewis blanked and Phil had a 1oz roach. Mike had 1 small carp and a perch of 10oz. So it looked like I was 3rd in section, not so bad. But I didn't know what Tom Mangnall had, but when he came down he said 8lb....but he hadn't underestimated too much.

I packed up rapidly, loaded the car and followed most of the weigh in, it had been tough for all.
Mike had 4lb or so, Phil had an ounce, Lewis blanked, I had 12lb, Luke 16lb, Nigel 17lb and Tom had around 10lb I think. There were a few low weights else where, but Eric managed 2nd on the day (and section win) with 19lb 15oz with Tony Thick taking the honours from the same peg that won the last round. 25lb 13oz from p44 opposite me.
Steve managed decent section points and the days' top silvers with 12lb 5oz of skimmery type fish.
But although it was a challenging day, it lead to a tight match. That lost carp could have seen me win the section, or it may have been a carp of my usual 3lb stamp and wouldn't have made any difference.

The results were soon underway and it turned out I managed a section pick-up, Eric finished 2nd in the match and Steve won the silvers, so some dollar went into our funds.
Mosella Gold won the day, we were 2nd ahead of league leaders The Fu Fighters. But although we remain in 7th overall we have shrunk the gap to the teams above. So a win or 2nd on the last round, in April, could see us in a top 5 finish, not expecting that, but defo hoping so.

Results:
1st - Tony Thick, Mosella Gold. 25-13 from peg 44
2nd - Eric Fouracres, Over 50s. 19-15 from peg 20
3rd - Nigel Garrett, Mosella Gold. 17-09 from peg 11
4th - Shaun Kitteridge, Thyers. 16-14 from peg 35
5th - Ziggy, Somerset Carpenters. 16-08 from peg 30
6th - Luke Pester, Fu Fighters. 16-06 from peg 7

Silvers:
Steve Fouracres, Over 50s. 12-05 from peg 37

Teams On The Day:
1st, Mosella Gold = 27pts
2nd, Over 50s = 25
3rd, Fu Fighters = 24
4th, Somerset Carpenters = 20
5th, Mosella UK = 16pts weight  25-03
6th, Sedges = 16pts weight 19-06
7th, Thyers = 12
8th, Happy Hookers = 3

Overall Standings:
1st - Fu Fighters 33pts
2nd - Mosella Gold 30pts
3rd - Sedges 29pts
4th - Somerset Carpenters 27pts
5th - Thyers 26pts
6th - Mosella UK 25pts
7th - Over 50s 24pts
8th - Wickham Wanderers 9pts
9th - Happy Hookers 8pts
10th - Doddys 6pts

So not a nice day to be out, and I am still waiting for a carp over 4lb in the series, which is annoying, especially when you see 2 caught for over 15lb or 6 caught for 26lb etc. But that's fishing and we shall carry on. Otherwise it was a fair day generally speaking and the next round,weather improving, should be a different ball game as it is in mid-april.
Viaduct for me on Sunday with Pawlett, the weather looks warmer and settled so hopefully we shall see the fish well spread out.
Otherwise I have been out and caught plenty enough over at Apex. Matches have been midweekers at Sedges, which have been tricky at times, but it is winter, but enjoyable. Also a match up at Plantations saw not many fish caught by me, but another enjoyable day.

Until next time, stay warm.Lee

Avalon Teams of 3. Round Three, 08-01-17

Warm and calm conditions met us down on the Somerset Levels for this round of the Teams of 3,  but hopes were not overly confident for a lot of us as the lake had only finished thawing 36hrs previous, and that can knock sport on the head.

Hellos, Seasonal Greetings and general chat ensued for a few minutes before Eric told me to do the draw after his attempts in the last couple of rounds. Well there were only 2 rotations left on the table, neither looked overly appealing to be honest, but the venue is fair and barring 2 or 3 pegs which give up some fish for good section points (ie 5 and 24), you cannot predict where the winners and framing weights will come from.
The pegs left were gonna be either 1, 13 and 30. Or 4, 19 and 35.  Similar draws met with shoulder shrugs. I plucked the 2nd set of pegs. Me on 19 (ok enough), 4 for Eric (5 and 6 better) and Steve had peg 35 (can be feast or famine). I would have rather been on either of the other 2 pegs as it seems like I cant get away from the far end of the lake, and that section generally does 3 weights, then the rest fight over the rest of the section placings, 24 and 26 seem to be most consistent at the moment with 20 and 21 next favourable

I got to my peg and surveyed the scene. I had Jamie Cook in peg 20 on my left then Vic Bush on 21 and to my right on 18 was Phil Dodd, he was going to have Mike West arrive on 17 but he'd be a bit late!! Tough company, even if you take in to account the other anglers in the section, Keith Builder, Paul Wharton, Derek Beards, Bobby Gullick and on 24 was Rob Birch.
Opposite, but in the next section was good old Ziggy Slowinski.

Peg 19 at Avalon

I went about sorting my kit, Jamie was ready in minutes as he has a tip rod and topkit only.
A lead rod for off the point of the island.
A waggler (unused), a margin rig for to my left, to my right against the bale of hay and further along by the empty pallet (all spots biteless).
A light rig for through the water and off bottom was made up but went untried.
Lastly a rig for 2 spots at the bottom of a gentle slope at 13 both in front (groundbait fed) and in the 10 o'clock direction (micros fed).
I had an array of bait on the tray, 8mm pellets, micros, groundbait, live and dead maggot, pinkies, casters, corn, punched meat, bread and expanders. Not a lot in quantity but options to try.

The 10am all in was called and I fed the long lines with 3 decent balls of groundbait in front and 1/4 of a cup if micros off to the left. The margins were fed too.
I chucked the tip out and hooked a fish right away, but it felt funny and fell off, I think it was a smaller carp or skimmer, ah well.
20 minutes later I lost another fish on the tip, again feeling really odd when playing it.
Sport then dies properly.

After an hour I was fishless, those 2 early 'bites' my only signs barring a single liner.
Jamie hadn't had any indication, but 24, 26 and 29 had caught a couple carp each and Bobby was getting silvers regular. Ziggy on peg 30 was on 5 or 6 carp already, mostly from his left edge by empty peg 31.

Another fishless hour passed, I had re-fed the 2 long lines but not looked over them. So I did and had a couple roach over the groundbait before no more indications.
So back on the tip and a flurry of activity. 1 cast saw the rod taken from my hand. A little 2lber was netted and with it 25 yards of line and a couple hooklengths, maybe this was the reason for my first two fish feeling funny and losing them, I think so.
Next chuck and 3rd chuck all saw little 2lbers netted. 3 of the smallest carp in the lake.
Mr West, by then, had set up, dropped in and landed a brute of a carp, a big skimmer and a couple smaller skimmers. Phil Dodd had a tench and a couple roach.

Jamie had his 1st carp 2.5hrs in, a second and 3rd followed, but his were bigger than mine.
Over the next couple hours I kept swapping between the lead and the long pole lines.
From the pole lines I managed to bump a decent skimmer, foul hook and lose a couple 6oz skimmers and a couple micro roach fell off. However I did land 3 or 4 nice skimmers around 1lb or 1.5lb each and some 4oz roach.

Elsewhere Ziggy had a couple more carp, but in my section peg 24 was doing really well, as was peg 26 and peg 30, Bobby was still among the silvers on peg 27. Vic was struggling as was Derek and Phil. Mike West was on a couple carp and a few decent skimmers. So maybe I was 6th or so in section, peg 24 was pretty much miles ahead of us.

Into the last hour and I managed another carp, actually it was another baby carp or 1lb or so, and another skimmer plus a couple roach. Jamie ended up with 6 carp. Mike landed another lump of nearly 8lb or so just before the whistle.
Derek and Vic only had some silvers and 1 small carp each. Bob had just silvers, but plenty of them. Phil had a tench and a handful of small skimmers and roach. So it looked like 6th in section for me.
I guessed I had 8 or 9lb of carp (4 total) and 5 or 6lb of silvers.

I packed up, loaded the car and went for a wander, following the weigh-in amongst chatting to a few guys. It looked like the 1st island pegs had done generally better and when there was weights of 42lb, 56 and 54lb and a few were saying peg 44 on the far side of the gap had done 100lb+, it was obvious that the fish liked being down that end.
The scales got to me and confirmed I had 20lb 1oz total, with my carp a few ounces over 10lb and my silvers a few ounces under 10lb, it did end up with me 6th in section, beaten by Jamie (24lb - 6 carp), Mike (27lb - 3 carp and 7lb silvers), Rob on p24 (52lb of carp), Keith (7 carp for 33lb+) and Paul (7 carp for 33lb).

The scales carried on and weights were consistent with a few better catches thrown in, but when we got to peg 44 it was Luke Pester who claimed 130lb 10oz to win on the day.
Eric had come 6th in section with 8 or 9lb and Steve never had a carp but was 8th in section. This has put us well out of the running for the series, so it is a matter of saving face in the next couple rounds.
The Fu Fighters did brilliant on the day in that they only dropped one point and claimed 4 envelopes on the day, so well done them.
Thyers were second with a couple 3rds and a second in section.

In hindsight....yawn...If only the carp I had were more average 4-5lb fish and the 1st two I had got in, then maybe we'd have been a little better off, but you never know as peeps lose fish etc.

Results:
1st -Luke Pester Fu Fighters 130.10 peg 44
2nd -John Fuidge Fu Fighters 56.04 peg 11
3rd -Shawn Kitteridge Thyers 54.03 peg 13
4th -Rob Birth Wickham Wanders 52.11 peg 24...
5th -Ziggy Slowinksi Somerset Carpenters 45.09 peg 30
6th -Phil Clapp Sedges 42.02 peg 5

Silvers
John Fuidge Fu Fighters 29.01 peg 11

Teams on the day:
1st = Fu Fighters - 29 points
2nd = Thyers - 25pts
3rd = Somerset Carpenters - 21pts
4th = Mosella Gold - 18pts
5th = Sedges - 16pts
6th = Mosella UK - 15pts
7th = Wickham Wanderers - 14pts
8th = Over 50s - 13pts
9th = Happy Hookers - 9pts
10th = Doddys - 5pts

Overall Standings:
1st, Fu Fighters, 25pts
2nd, Sedges, 24pts
3rd, Thyers, 22pts
4th, Mosella Gold, 20pts
5th, Somerset Carpenters, 20pts
6th, Mosella UK, 19pts
7th, Over 50s, 15pts
8th, Wickham Wanderers, 9pts
9th, Doddys, 6pts
10th, Happy Hookers, 5pts

So as you can see, we stand 7th and really are out of the running for a top 3 spot barring everyone else not turning up for 2 rounds....

Next up is Landsend next Sunday with Pawlett, I dnw'd in the corresponding match last year as a couple skimmers isn't enough to keep me there...lets hope for better this week. We have all 3 lakes, but a nice peg will do please....pretty please.

Take care and have fun.
Lee

Avalon Teams of 3, Round 2, 18-12-16

Been a while since I should have blogged this, but to be honest the match, as far as our team goes, was one to forget.

I arrived in due course and Eric went and done the draw, he drew us exactly the same pegs as in the previous round with Eric on peg 11, Steve on 48 and myself on peg 29.

I had Keith Clapp to my right on p27 and matey Paul Wharton to my left on peg 30.
Same rigs as the previous round. Same baits to go with them.

To cut a long story short I ended up catching a few silvers on shallow waggler fishing maggots across towards the island, a bit of a chuck, but with a few fish boshing along the island it had to be done.
Paul struggled throughout the day, finished last in his section,  Keith struggled until the last hour when he managed 3 carp on the pellet waggler to take 5th in section.
'B' section really is a tough one to call and do well in, Tom Thick fished really well to win on the day, including 21lb of silvers, well done him. But the section had the top 3 weights overall come from it. Then it was Lewis Jones who was 5th overall...I could see 3 of these guys catching all day, so it was a matter of hoping for a couple carp and picking up an extra point or 2.

Steve managed a section 3rd I think and Eric was 2nd last in his section, as a team we ended up 8th on the day and drop from 2nd to 6th in the overall standings. Still a way to go yet with 8th of January the next round.

Results:
1st -Tom Thick - Mosella Gold. 54.7 from peg 21
2nd -Martin Lenahan - Somerset Carpenters, 53.14 from peg 26
3rd -Tom Mangnall - Mosella UK, 37.15 from peg 24
4th -Pete Wild  -Mosella UK,  37.10 from peg 42
5th -Lewis Jones - Thyers, 37.3 from peg 16
6th -John Fuidge - Fu Fighters, 33.7 from peg 5

Silvers
1st, Tom Thick with 21.13

I have had a few nice days fishing since including Viaduct, Trinity, Sedges, the KSD and Brue, mostly fishing the waggler and picking up a few silvers and not many carp (well 1 I think) but it's been dry and mostly sunny so it's all been enjoyable. But that's winter fishing.

Not sure where I am next, maybe Sedges next week, if not then 8th of Jan is the next round of Avalon's Teams of 3.

Until then take care.
Lee

Shiplate Teams of Three, final round, 04-12-16

I couldn't see the point of writing this, but as I insist on doing it properly I decided that I should, however it may well be less-than-interesting. So Shiplate Teams of 3, last round.....

A frosty night on Saturday didn't give me hope of a decent day fishing the last round of the Teams of 3 series at the popular venue just outside of Weston-Super-Mare. On the team front we had a really slim chance of a top 3 place, so it was really about myself, Tom and Titch doing our best to put some face on our showings.

I arrived in loads of time, looked at the lakes and there were areas that had ice covering the swims, but on the Main Lake (where I would be) the aerator was on, now this is a concern for me as I have found that it tends to be that fish get pushed away from the area as the ice-melt gets mixed up with the rest of the water. Sometimes it can have the opposite effect, but more so in the summer.
There are loads of silvers in the lake that should see some bites, plenty of carp too, but they seemed to have shut up shop there. The pegs I fancied were 12 and 14 (well 1 and 15 would be nice) as the far bank gets the sun all day and can be somewhat warmer in the winter.
I wasn't mad on 6, 7, or 11 as these are likely to have been most affected by the aerator and with 7 unlikely to get any sun to warm the top layers during the match, that would be my last choice of peg. It is a good peg though and has been good for top 2 in section for each round, that was before nearly 2 weeks of coldness and a match that finished 30 minutes earlier.

Tom done the draw, drew Titch peg 5 on Hawthorn, but that looked hard with the water level up maybe 10 inches. Tom had peg 6 on Westpool, again not a great peg especially as it was just out of the iced up area. Pegs 11 to 15 would have been better. He told me I was on peg 7, with Mark Wynne on peg 1, the chances of section winning was slimmer than normal.
But I wasn't too displeased and had a job to do.

Arriving at my peg, pretty much everyone told me where to fish and how, but it was all the same and pretty much as the plan formed in my head would be.

Shiplate, Main Lake peg 7.

I set up a waggler for maggots/casters to search the peg with, should the wind allow.....it didn't.
A lead for bread/pellet/meat, again to search the peg.
A method feeder for across towards the island.
Also 2 pole rigs, the 1st was for 14.5m down to my left using Bait-Tech Polony over some maggots. The second rig was my silvers rig for 2 spots at 11m fishing expanders over micros in line with the right edge of the island. The 2nd spot was at the same distance for fishing maggot/pinkie/caster over a little groundbait. This rig was fished on a 0.3g float, 0.12>0.08>6313 size 20 (then 22).  My swim though was out of the sun's rays and was somewhat cooler than those opposite and later in the day the pegs to my right.

I wont go into the details on how I fished, but to be fair to myself, I feel I fished a tidy enough match. Started on the method, switched to the lead, tried the waggler. Looked occasionally down the left edge - caught a friggin big branch thing. But mostly spent the day on the pole with pinkies as hook bait.
I went for a wander around 1:30pm and only Mark Wynne on peg 1 had caught, a decent skimmer and few sprat roach, but he'd had them very early in the match. The rest of us were blanking.
The far bank were getting odd small silver and Julian Pinkett was doing the best on that front. Mark Radford on peg 14b had 2 carp. Simon Ryall on peg 11, he'd not had a bite either at this point.
I wandered to see Titch and he'd only had a roach and a small carp, which I think is how he ended.

As we went into the last hour or so the pegs to my right started to see some of the sun's rays and they began to pick up the very occasional roach or skimmer. I stayed in the shade doing my hardest to pick up a bite or 2....they never came and at the all-out I was still biteless. My 1st ever match fishing blank.
As I packed up the sun had started to hit the water in front of me I saw a couple of roach plip on the surface. Ah well.

On the day it wasn't good for us, Tom only had 2 roach from his peg, Titch didn't get anywhere in his section and I blanked, so it would not have been a shock to see us last on the day.
So in the series we haven't generally had the best of times at the draw bag, but Tom and Paul Tidball (my cover in round 3) won the match days from flyer pegs 1 and 15 respectively. Myself and Titch plucked a silvers win each and Tom another section. But when we blew-out, we did it in style!!

However the league's leaders in both the team and overall individual stakes had put 2 section wins and a section 4th on the board  in the round (Dave Romain had 57lb+ to win overall on the day, Mark Wynne had 2lb 6oz to take my section and Dave White had 15oz to beat 2 in his section). This meant they won the day on weight comfortably.
Their Up The Farmers team had won the series, had top individual and amassed over £1500 over the 6 rounds. Massive well done those 3.
Local and venue Silvers expert Ron Stark had unsurprisingly won the series Silvers prize.
Wormheads came 2nd in the series followed by the PSV team of Matt Taynton, Lionel Legge and Alan Healey.

So that was that, not sure if I will get a team together for 2017, the limit is 10 teams with 5 booked in already.

I would like to take the chance to thank Steve and Carol for running the series and being their genial selves throughout. Plus those others who assisted in the smooth running of the series. Thank you and see you soon, hopefully more in 2017.

Thanks to Bait-Tech for their support to the team I was in, great products and efforts very much appreciated.

Next Sunday sees me at The Sedges for the Pawlett Legion Club's Christmas Match, I won it last year and also had the golden peg so would really appreciate a repeat result.

Until then. Have fun.
Lee

Avalon Teams of 3, Round 1. 27-11-16

Called to duty to fish this series again by teamies, Steve and Eric Fouracre. After our closely fought 2nd spot last year when the usual winners The Sedges (Jamie Cook, Phil & Keith Clapp) just about pipped us to the top spot. I think we are going by the Over 50's name, I must look old....!!
Only 5 rounds, well spread this year, with the last round in April. There is also 10 teams taking part with some very good anglers in the mix. Mosella have 2 teams, Pete Wild, Vic Bush, Tom Mangnall and Vince Brown to name 4 of the anglers. Nigel Garrett, Tom Thick and his dad are another team. Plenty of other very good guys taking part as well.

Anyways, a bunch of chatter before the draw was undertaken. Our team was one of the last to go and we ended up with a less-than-good draw. Steve Fouracre was on end peg 48, but it isn't the greatest end peg. I was on 29, a less than favourable peg as peg 30 (in the next section) is better. But it isn't the worst draw and I had peg 28 empty. In my section there were at least 4 pegs I would have chosen ahead of mine, 19 (end of island) and 21 (snaggy gap, better side) and the two corners 23 and 24.
For company I had Tom Thick on peg 30 and Glynn Wickham on peg 27, Phil Clapp was on peg 26.
Eric had peg 15-ish, not too bad to be honest, but he was in a tricky section with the lower numbered pegs more fancied.

Peg 29 at Avalon

Looks fishy.....it wasn't!!

A lead/feeder rod was assembled, for casting towards the back of the snaggy gap, I would be using pellets and bread there, I could feed over the top due to the wind that was pushing from right to left.
3 pole rigs were put together, one for the nice looking edge to my right towards the empty peg. Here I would feed maggots and fish bunches over the top.
The 1st silvers rig,  (0.3g NG gimp, 0.14>0.10>16 B911f1.  A 8 solid laccy.) which incidentally went biteless was for fishing at topkit distance to my right around the bale of hay, I would fish casters over casters through the water. This line is usually my banker for some roach and maybe the odd surprise in the form of tench, crucians and bigger perch.
The second rig incorporated the same float and lines etc but was in 0.5g to allow for the wind which was due to increase in strength and a 6 elastic to suit.
This 2nd rig would cover 3 spots in the peg, 2 at 13m in two directions and 1 at 6m or so.
The longer lines consisted of groundbait on one spot, micros on the other with expanders, maggots and caster to fish over the top.
The short line was purely a line for expanders and micros.

At the all-in I began on the feeder, not much happened for me in the first hour, but Phil on peg 26 had a long fight with a carp on his number 4 elastic and Tom had bagged a carp and some skimmers on the pole. Glynn hadn't caught more than a couple roach.
My 1st fish was at 11 o'clock and was a small roach over the groundbait, but then it never gave me a bite. So back on feeder and I had my 1st carp, maybe 5lb, well hooked in the pec.
Another 20 minutes, fishless, on the feeder (switched to a lead) saw me spend the next 3hrs on the pole where I hoped for some of the venue's larger skimmers/bream.

My 1st skimmer came over the groundbait to pinkie and maggot combo and was around 6oz, a couple of roach followed before it died.
Over the micros at 13m and a 4mm expander gave me a couple 6oz skimmers, again it died.
This period of time saw me swap between the two long lines and picked off the odd skimmer and roach to 8oz, actually I had a perch of around 12oz over the groundbait. I also picked up 3 or 4 skimmers of the same sort of stamp from the 6m line, on expander.

At around 2pm I had a look on the lead and I immediately had my 2nd carp, similar sized to the first at 5lb or so. But that was my action there for the day.
Glynn at this point had his 1st carp, a 3lber on the feeder. Phil was still on his 1 carp but had some silvers.
Tom was doing well and looked to have at least 11lb of silvers and had 3 or 4 carp, but one of which was about 12 or 13lb. Thankfully he wasn't in my section.
Elsewhere in my section I could see Pete Wild up in p24 catching a few as were Lewis Jones on peg 19 and the guy in 21 had 3 or 4 carp. Jason King also had some big skimmers and a couple lumpy carp that tried to 'do him' under his platform. So my 5th in section looked about right, I also expected peg 23 to have had some carp, but couldn't see him well enough.

As we entered the last hour the wind got a lot stronger and noticeably colder, this killed sport for us up at this end and the 60 minutes saw me only put a couple 4oz skimmers and a roach in the net, no indications on the lead either saw me hoping the 2 guys to my right don't catch, thankfully they didn't and the all-out was called.
I reckoned on 8lb or so of silvers and 10lb-ish for my couple of carp. Anything higher than a section 5th would be a bonus to be honest.

I packed up, loaded the car and followed the weigh in, but didn't pay too much attention to the weights. When we got to me, Eric had 2nd in section from his peg. My section had 3 weights I wouldn't beat, so tipping my fish onto the scales saw 2 identical weights, 11lb 5oz to each my carp and silvers. 22lb 10oz my total. 4th in section, so a result of sorts.
I followed a bit further and saw Tom Thick have 13lb of silvers and 30lb+ of carp.
John Fuidge's usual under estimation of his silvers saw him have 16lb of skimmers and bream.
Steve Fouracre did well and I think he was 3rd in section, maybe 2nd.

The results were soon sorted and envelopes dished out. Turns out that Steve and Eric had both got default section money and we had finished 2nd behind The Sedges on the day. Jamie and Keith took 1st and 3rd spot on the day, both winning their sections.

Individual winner was Jamie Cook with mid-40lb's
Individual silvers winner was John Fuidge with 16lb+
Top 3 Teams were, The Sedges, Over 50's and then Thyers.

Next round is on the 18th of December I think, but next weekend I have the last round of the Teams of 3 at Shiplate on Sunday. But on Saturday I am covering for Dave Chidzoy in the final round of the Avalon Silvers Series.

Until then, stay warm and take care.
Lee

Shiplate Teams of 3, Round 5. 13-11-16

Penultimate round of the Teams of 3 at Shiplate and with The Farmers' team (Dave White, Dave Romain and Mark Wynne) 6 points clear we all knew that 3rd place is the only semi-realistic option for our Bait-Tech SW team. My match this round would be on Hawthorn, and in an ideal world I would have liked any from pegs 3, 7, 9 and 12. Not much for Captain Tom to try and pull is it?

Anyways a relatively mild day, dry too, was forecast so at least we will be comfortable, sadly we had received some cool rain in the previous 24hrs or so and we all knew it'd be tricky on all 3 lakes, 40lb would be there or thereabouts on the 2 canal style lakes and maybe 60lb could win the Main lake.

After a natter, loading the barrow and paying our dues it was down to Team Captains to venture to the drawbags....Tom came back with our homes for the day. Titch was on a nondescript peg on Westpool, I cant remember, maybe peg 13. I was on peg 8 on Hawthorn, an okay peg but only if 7 or 9 are not in, sadly, as seems to be the case on this series, I was hemmed in by those pegs and realistically I wasn't too likely to win my section, but you never know. I had to catch some fish and see.... Oh Tom, well he drew the low numbered section on the Main Lake, pegs 1 to 11 or something, with the top 3 pegs being 1, 7 and 3 in that order....he had peg 3...so had a good chance of a section 2nd, but 3rd in section would be the minimum from there.

Peg 8, Shiplate Hawthorn.

Only 4 top kits though, 1 for silvers down the middle at 7m in 2 areas, one fed with Bait-Tech Micros and the other maggots. The rig incorporated an NG Mini Gimp in 0.4g and line was 0.10 to a B911f1 size 16. Sadly these lines only gave me one roach all day.
The second rig was a heavy, hit and hold rig, for tight in to the snags to my left, I never picked that up all day.
The 3rd was a rig for 11.5m in front at the bottom of a shelf, well more like cliff face drop off, where I would be using a mixture of Bait-Tech Xpands in 2, 4 and 6mm over a mix of micros and 4mm feed pellets. This rig also suited being fished to my left and right short at the bottom of the shelf with meat, also for against the aerator which is on the right hand edge of my peg again using meat. All of these areas went fishless.
Lastly I had a shallower rig which would do for both dobbing bread all over the peg and if I had to then I could use the rig tight over in the shallow water.
So my bait was micros and 4mm feed pellets, Xpands, maggot, 6mm meat, a couple bread slices and some pinkies.

For company I had Jason Bird on peg 9, he kept saying that peg 8 isn't great with 9 in....and 9 isn't as good with 8 in, but then he had an empty peg to his right.
On my left was venue expert, regular winner at the venue and all round nice guy, Steve Howell, again he had an empty peg, to his left. He was not in my section so at least that was less of a burden for me, haha.

The match began and I didn't feed anything, just dobbed bread in a few likely spots for 10 minutes, this was biteless so I fed a small helping of meat by the aerator and a few maggots on each short line.
Both silvers lines were lightly fed.
I went out to the 11.5m line and just fed this all day via a tosspot. I had a 4mm soft pellet on the hook and I knew I would have to be patient. 10 or 15 minutes later and I hit a bite, an 8oz skimmer was duly netted. 15 minutes later, at 11 o'clock, I had another bite which saw me connected with a carp, but once down to the topkit, the rig came off the connector, oh balls.....!! Ah well carry on I thought to myself.
It took around 90 minutes to get another bite, another skimmer of similar size joined it's buddy in my net. Elsewhere it was proving tough, Jason had 1 carp and a roach, Steve just a few roach.
I was having an enjoyable day despite the lack of action and I felt I was fishing a tidy match and was hoping the carp would deal me a good hand.

My second carp was hooked at 2pm, this came after I had another skimmer of maybe 6oz and a 2oz roach. Again these fish came off the 11.5m line. But I was still doing okay from what I could gather.
A few fish had started moving across in the shallower water and Jason had hooked, foul hooked, a few carp across from various spots in his swim.
I shipped over with 2 maggots and a tosspot of the same and had indications right away, pretty sure they were mostly baby roach, but I did see a couple carpy signs and I managed a couple small chub over the next half hour.  Then a 3lb carp was duly hooked and landed.
By now I could see Steve on peg 7 catching a few carp down his left edge, he had suffered foul hooked fish when he was fishing across, so I think he binned that line and came in close. He had fish to low double figures. But he wasn't in my section but a good point of reference.
I couldn't get a bite down my edges, but there were fish in the really shallow water to my left, behind the snags in maybe 12 inches of depth, I could see their tails. Sadly they didn't want to venture away from there.

So with half an hour to go I was on 3 carp and maybe 3lb of silvers. Jason was on 5 or 6 carp and a couple of them were a decent size, he was getting fish from his right hand side. I also heard someone further along had been doing ok, so I just hoped for 4 fish in the last 30 minutes to give myself a chance of 1st or 2nd in section....it never transpired that way, though a skimmer and a carp from the 11.5m line added maybe 4lb to my total.

The all out was called, I packed up and went to help with the weigh-in.
We worked back from peg 15 and weights were low-ish as expected, but there was a 40lb 1oz weight from peg 11 and Jason put 39lb on the board, at this point I knew I had more than the 18lb that was 3rd in section and it proved that way with 4lb 8oz of silvers and my carp boosted me to 20-odd pounds and section 3rd. So decent points.
I also had won the lake silvers, which put which some pennies in the team pot. I felt I fished tidy.

Back at the car park it turned out that Tom was 3rd in section with 20lb (2 carp and silvers) and Titch may have been last or 2nd last in section with 6lb-ish. So not a great day for us and 3rd is now a very remote possibility with 1 round to go, I will be on the Main Lake.
Dave Romain won on the day with around 50lb, waggler fish pellet was his winning method from less-than-fancied peg 12 on the Main Lake.

Overall on the day BCFC won ahead of PSV and The Good, Bad and Ugly.
In the team standings it is The Farmers are 8 points clear, so for anyone to win we really need them not to turn up in 3 weeks time..... 2nd, 3rd and 4th spots are close enough to each other to have those placings not yet decided.

Not sure where I am fishing next weekend, not sure if I will, but the 1st round of the Avalon Teams of Three starts on the 27th.

Until then, take care.
Lee

Teams of 3, Round 4. Shiplate. 30-10-16

Quick blog today, A) because I caught naff all and B) because I caught naff all......

Got to the venue for the earlier draw now the clocks have gone back, Capt. Tom had to do the draw and I was positive with what I hoped he would be bringing back. My preference being to be on Main Lake or maybe Hawthorn. Westpool.....nah thanks. Tom told me to grab a catch shot of poss.....
No suck luck, he drew himself Hawthorn peg 9, not a bad peg at all with the boards across.
Titch had peg 6 on the Main Lake, not the best peg but should be worth a few fish but with peg 1 and 7 preferred, section 3rd would be a good result.
I had Westpool peg 7. Not good. Peg 8 is always a good peg as peg 9 isn't used, peg 6 is in so I had an angler each side, capable guys in the form of Mark Wynne on peg 8 and venue expert Julian Pinkett on peg 6. I also had Mark Radford (p4) and Steve Howell (p2) in my mini-section....mega tough to do well from the only peg in the section with no space.

Peg 7, Shiplate Westpool

Bait was simply Bait-Tech pellets in various forms, 2mm and 4mm feed (plus a few 6mm for the band) and Xpands in 4 and 6mm versions. Some 6mm chopped Bait-Tech Polony meat and some naturals in the form of maggots, worms and casters.
A few rigs, I wont go into detail about as of the half a dozen pole rigs and the small method feeder I only caught on 2 rigs....

The all in was called.....60 minutes later I had a small roach then a small 2lb carp from across in 12" of water on maggot.
An hour later I had my 2nd carp from the same line, oh I did lose a couple foul hookers in the preceding spell.
15 minutes later I had a couple little fish from my silvers line down the middle of the lake then a 12oz chub from across.....And that was my lot for the day.
I watched Mark Wynne catch pretty regular for the first 3hrs before slowing down, but he looked to at least won our mini-section with around mid-50lb.
Julian on peg 6 was struggling and ended with 3 small carp, but he did catch a good few chub and other assorted silvers in the 2nd half of the match and ended up with 12lb I think I heard. I tried to get them to feed but only seemed to bump baby 1/2oz roach.
Further down on the early pegs, Mark Radford and Peanut had done ok. So I expected to be last in the section, this was confirmed at the weigh in. I had 7lb and ounces for last on the lake.
I did try all sorts of things to catch, the fish were present at times, but were obviously tricky to hook.

The lake and section was indeed won by Mark. His team also won the day with Dave White getting a section second on the main lake and Dave Romain won his with over 100lb from peg 2 or 3 on Hawthorns.
Tom won his section and Titch did get 3rd in section from his peg, so team wise for us on the day we done average.

Next up for me, well I ain't got a clue to be honest, I think my next match may well be on Hawthorns in the next round of this series in a couple of weeks time.

Take care and have fun.
Lee

Shiplate Teams of Three, Round Two. 25-09-16

Well the 2nd round was fished last Sunday and our Bait-Tech SW team were hoping for a nice draw from Captain Tom's hand. I would be on Hawthorn, Titch on the Main Lake and Mr Downing would be on Westpool.
There was a good bit of banter flying around, some directed at me and my new 'skirt', which was a lovely +BaitTech waist towel in it's bright pink and black colouring, also have a new cap and a tee-shirt to match.....lovely. Thanks to Bait-Tech for them.

We sorted our bait, loaded our trolley, chatted about pegs and tactics before the draw was done.
It turned out our pegs were nothing to write home about but I was a touch jealous when I say that the team of Matt Taynton (end peg 15 on Hawthorn), Lionel Legge (peg 1 on the Main Lake where Tom won the last round) and Alan Healey (peg 4 with some space on Westpool).
Tom handed me peg 9 on Hawthorns, not the worst peg but towards the middle with some boards

across, which usually, not always, holds a few fish. I had Steve Burgess on my left. Whom I agreed not to have a quid with over Facebook the day or so earlier.
Titch was fishing from peg 13 on the main lake, a couple pegs away from the area which was fancied but always a good area for skimmers and odd carp.
Tom was on peg 8 on Westpool, again a couple pegs from the in-form and fancied area, but should catch a few.

Shiplate Hawthorn p9

I set up a few rigs, a tight in close edge rig for my right edge using meat over maggots, this rig would do for tight across over groundbait.
Another rig for down into the deep water in the edge again on the right (couldn't fish left), feeding hemp.
A shallow pellet rig, a light maggot rig which could be spread or shallowed up for down the middle.
A rig for 2+1 in front (hemp and meat/maggot) and lastly a silvers rig, as the last round, Ron Stark would be the man to beat on the silvers front and around 16lb or so would be a good weight of them.
Bait is pictured below.

Bait for the day.......

I would love to say it went all swimmingly, but it seem the lake had generally switched off. I started on maggots down the track and hoped for some silvers to put in the net but it was really slow going. Actually it took a couple hours for my 1st carp (though lost 2 foulers previous) as other than a couple roach on the maggot rig. The guys either side of me were not really fairing any better.
So I will drag this through to the 4hrs in stage, where I was up to a poxy 3 carp, all came on the meat at 2+1, but were all nice enough sizes and my clicker showed 16lb. I was last in section for sure, well I was convinced I would be.

Moving into the last hour and I felt I had fished well enough, tried a few things, altering the usual hooklength diameter, hook size, float sizes and shotting, bait choices and even tried fishing new areas. The fish were not playing ball......
But I was still hopeful of a late surge, I am a pretty positive angler most of the time, and as I have prove before, I tend to catch a few late on and larger fish. So at 3:20 I had another carp, maybe 10lb, and then half an hour later another from the same 2+1 line, this was a more modest fish.
A couple decent skimmers were netted, a couple jumped off the hook, but at least I was getting indications, not the late surge I hoped for.
Meanwhile Steve Burgess was getting plenty of action next door, he said mostly small carp of 1-2lb size, which more or less turned out to be the truth.

So as we were into the last hour my clicker was on 31lb, could I double that? I tried the Polony meat down the deeper edge, but there was a snag, turned out to be some line attached to something, so i reached a few inched further, this worked, well it gave me a carp of 1lb right away, then luckily another one was soon netted, a 4lb fish.
My last carp came on the 2+1 meat line and was around the 3lb mark and my clicker ended the match on 36lb mark. I was suffering with liners and foul hookers on and off during the day, like the fish were present but being little blighters and not eating the feast that was fed.

Anyways, I was sure to be last in my section. I packed my stuff away and loaded the car even before the weigh-in had started.
Chatting to the guys on the lake when I returned to the weigh-in, it seemed that the lake had not fished properly. Actually a couple guys said they had 30lb-ish, sadly they were in the other section as those in my half all said 40 to 50lb......gggrrr!!
Alas, we began to see what all had caught and it was a pretty fair match, some had not even had a fish after 3 hours. But we saw a few 40's and a 50lb net, plus a 701lb weight from my section.
I had amassed 44lb and ounces, which after Steve's 50lb guess actually weighed a few ounces less, saw me finish 2nd last in the section but only just behind those just above me.

The lake as a whole saw a 20lb net, 2x 30lb nets and two 70lb+ nets, the rest of us were stuck in the 40-50lb range. Ron did win the silvers on the lake for the 2nd round, a shade under 18lb if I remember correctly using mostly worms.

Once back at the car park, it turned out that Titch had 108lb and included the top silvers net of 20lb or so, so 2nd in section for him behind overall match winner Dave White with 150lb from peg 14b I believe.
Tom had come 2nd in section fishing with 4mm Bait-Tech Xpands and had around a dozen small carp for a 41lb weight.
Team-wise we had done average as the top 3 teams all had their anglers in the top 2 in the relevant sections.

Team Winners on the day, Dave Romain, Dave White (match winner) and Mark Wynne

I miss the next round when Paul Tidball is covering for me, I am down at White Acres, so I miss the 1st attempt on the Main Lake round of my series, I like that lake. But I am there on Sunday in a PSV match, so a nice draw and some fish will be appreciated......

Until next time, have fun.
Lee

Shiplate Teams of 3, Round One. 11-09-16

Off to one of my favourite fisheries for this series, Shiplate Farm, the lakes are spotless and the owners are great, all very friendly, so if you haven't been, then go.

Anyways, 11 teams fishing this series, 30 very capable anglers including a host of venue regulars like Steve Howell, Julian Pinkett and Ron Stark etc. The other 3 consisted of the side I am fishing with, Myself, Tom Downing and Titch Williams, Bait-Tech Southwest is our team name.

I got there early and semi-sorted the trolley and kit, but not completely as the draw had to be done to determine who was on what lake, so I nattered with plenty and discussed ideas with Titch and Tom, Titch generally catches a few at the venue and knows it better than myself and Tom.

The 11 captains went into the hut at 9am to sort the draw and the rotation for the first three rounds.
Out comes Tom with ours, peg 1 on the Main Lake for him......FLYER!!!
Peg 2, in the narrows, on Westpool for me.......hmmm.....very patchy area at least.
Titch was on Hawthorns, I cant remember what peg but it was around peg 7.
So an average overall draw, but Tom was pleased with his.

I made my way to the peg, and sorted my tackle out and my bait.
I had nobody on peg 1, nobody on peg 3.....so at least I had space. On peg 4 was Jason Bird, he had nobody on peg 5, that shows that the end of the lake I was on was the lesser end and space would be needed. I only had 9 or 10m to the far bank in front.

Looking down to empty peg 1 from Westpool peg 2

peg 2 on Westpool, only around 10m across.....not usually the best area!!

For company on peg 4 was Jason Bird, though we could both chat to Jonny Page on the main lake (see him in the above pic). We were in a section of 5, each of the 3 lakes has 2 sections on each.
I expected around 100lb to win the lake today and possibly the silvers to be 18 or 20lb, but with the venue's best silverfish guy, Ron Stark, on this lake, he would be the man to beat. That's a tough proposition.

I assembled a small method feeder so I could chuck down to peg 1, the haybale in the water looked an ideal feature, there was some reed further round, but they were overhanging and it looked more like a tackle-taking area than one I wanted to cast to. I fished this with a 50/50 mix of Bait-Tech Ntice Meaty Method Mix and micros, hookbait was either 8mm pellet or 8mm meat.

Next up were the pole rigs.
1 for silvers down the middle, an 0.4g NG Slim Gimp, 0.14>0.10>b911f1 size 16 and Middy solid 6/8 elastic, but I was told this area isn't a good area for silvers. Bait for this line would be micros as feed and Bait-Tech 4 and 6mm Xpands or maggots over the top. This was fished down the middle at 2+2 (around 6m).
My carp rigs consisted of:
One for my right side at topkit+1 at the bottom of the near slope in around 4.5ft of water. I used a 0.4g NG XT Margin HD float on 0.18>0.014>B911 size 16 and middy solid 14/16 elastics. As for bait it was a simple meat and hemp mix, using 8mm standard meat over the Bait-Tech Super Seed Hemp.
My second rig, which remained fishless (except 1 small perch) was on the same tackle as above though a 0.2g float was used. It was for my left margin up the shelf by a clump of grass and as I had 18" or so I fed the same Method Mix groundbait and coupled this with maggots, using 3 or 4 on the hook as bait.
Then I set up a rig to fish tight over in various spots where I could find around 20" of water, again same line and elastic, but I used an inline NG Inline Dibber in 0.3g to give me a bit of control against the vegetation, feed and hook baits consisted of 6 and 8mm pellets, but alas I never had a fish of this line.
Lastly I made up a rig for carp to fish at 2+2 in the 11 o'clock direction, banded pellets through the water on an NG XT Margin was the approach, again same tackle as the other carp rigs but with a band on this rig.

As we were setting up I noticed, well didn't notice, any fish in the area top or blowing, hmmmm, even the reedy area of peg 1, which looked like they must have fish in, were not moving.
We had the wind blowing up to the far end and fancied the pegs which had a ripple to do well, so that would be around pegs 7 and 8-ish.
With everything ready and the all-in called I began by potting a bit of bait down the middle on the silverfish line and a pot of meat and hemp went in to the right.
I began on the silvers rig and soon had 2 or 3 small skimmers on the 6mm xpands, a couple fell off as they have soft mouths and are young fish. Bites slowed pretty quickly and a switch to maggot saw me miss bites, but they were 1/2oz perch as I did have 2 or 3 of them.

40 minutes in and I went across to the far bank, toss potting 6mm pellets and a 6mm in the band, not a bite, not an indication, I tried 8mm pellet and even a bit of meat, nothing. 15 or so minutes of this was enough. Jason on peg 4 was catching silvers, small skimmers and odd roach but he wasn't going anywhere fast. It was definitely looking like one of them days, as most had suggested the low pegs 1-5 are feast/famine.
Back onto the silverfish line and just the odd plippy roach and two 3oz skimmers it wasn't happening.
So the first 60 minutes was non-exciting, but no panic as I found the canal style lakes at the venue better in the last 3rd of the match.

I soon loaded the method feeder (smallest drennan one) and made the awkward cast of 18m or so (I don't like short casts!!) to the corner of the straw bale, I was chuffed with my accuracy, didn't hit the trees and it landed spot on. I fired some Bait-Tech 8mm feed pellets over the top and waited.
In the meantime Jason had landed a carp from his right edge on paste.
Bang!! my rod wrapped round and I had a mad carp on the end, a bit of a lively battle in the narrow swims but a double figured fish was in the keepnet, bargain. 15 minutes later a 4lb mirror fell to the same tactic. They were my only 2 fish on the feeder all day, but I saw them as a bonus, especially the 1st one.
Shouting up to Jason, he confirmed that the pegs in the rippled area looked to be catching. But it was hard to tell if anyone else was picking up a few carp.

We were now at the half way stage and I only had the 2 carp in the net, Jason was on 3, all on paste down his right edge.
There were now a few carp moving around on the surface and my hopes of catching a few increased, so I began to feed the pellet line, in hope to see a few swirls and maybe a bit of fizzing just to convince me of fish being present. The swirls never happened in any amount, just the odd one. I had given up, for now, on the far line so that rig was converted to a shallow rig which I could lift and drop or slap I the attempts to extract some leviathans......attempts failed. That line only gave me a couple liners, so the fizzing could have been mostly the small silvers. I do expect to odd carp to be amongst the activity, but catching them isn't always straight forward.

Back on to the silvers line and I had a carp of 3lb straight away, gave me a scrap on the light gear, but all fun. No more bites were forthcoming, just a small skimmer over the next 20 minutes or so.
All the while I had been feeding across, but no signs of fish feeding occurred. I had been feeding a few pieces of meat and the odd helping of Bait-Tech hemp to my right and the odd bubble was showing. I hadn't fed my left edge spot as of yet, but soon put 4 cups of groundbait and maggots in, ready for later in the match.
The cruising fish looked an ideal target, so when I had 1 or 2 in the peg that looked catchable I would try and mug them, this worked as I had 4 carp doing this, I did spook a couple and some were not interested but that's the way it goes at this time of the year.

With an hour left in the match I was on 7 carp for maybe 30lb. I looked to be about level with Jason who was on 6 carp, but his looked a bigger average size, as is often the case with paste caught fish.
A look down on the meat and hemp line saw me miss a couple bites, so I shallowed up an inch so my bait was probably just touching bottom and bulked my shot lower down. I had a 2lb carp immediately and figured that I had to cut back my feeding to avoid line bites, so I only fed 4 piece of meat after each bite missed and a small helping of hemp after every fish landed.
A couple more 2 or 3lb fish were landed and it was getting on towards the end of the match, I had taken a look over the groundbait line to my left, but hadn't seen any signs of carp, so it looked like they didn't want to be in shallow water as the far lines proved.
5 minutes to go and the owners arrived with the scales for me and Jason to weigh in our lake, and they bought me luck as a 3lb fish was landed with a minute left, I managed to snap the hooklength so I went down my left edge for the last few seconds. I looked up at Mr Page on the Main Lake and promptly missed a bite as the fish bolted out of the edge....match over!!

I packed up the kit, loaded the trolley and began the weigh in.
We wanted to start at the far end and as we made our way up there we got the general idea that the lake hadn't fished with a couple admitting to under 20lb and some just over. Only 2 guys said they had around 50lb or more, so perhaps Jason and I hadn't done too bad weight wise, my clicker showed 37lb for carp.
Peg 15 only had 11lb, before Dave Romaine on peg 14 had 15lb of silvers and 40lb of carp, 55lb and that looked a good chance of winning the lake, we then had some nets between 16 and 22lb in that 6 peg section. My section began with a weight of 42lb, then a 57lb catch from Julian Pinkett was sure to have won the lake and section. Ron Stark, silvers star, had 38lb total, 18lb of which was his silvers weight.
Jason Bird, peg 4, was next to weigh, he was admitting to 25lb or so, but lifting his net out it was sure to be more than that, so it proved as he popped a level 36lb of carp on the board plus his few silvers gave him a total of 38lb 9oz. He was last in section at that point, so for the team's sake I hoped to try and beat that and Ron's weight to sneak maybe 3rd in section.
Jason did the honors with my nets and my 2lb 4oz of silvers couple with my carp, which looked 40lb+ when it was lifted out, gave me a grand effort of 48lb 1oz and more importantly 2nd in section.
I was told that my weight from that peg was very good and pretty much more than a few regulars expected of it on the day and in the weather (warm, sunny, no wind in my peg!!).

Weights.

So the trek back to the hut was made, stopping at peg 1 and Tom on the way. He said he'd won the lake with 137lb, so we had a 1st and 2nd thus far. We were not too sure how Titch had done, but he was up loading his car which indicated he'd not faired brilliantly.

Tom and some of his catch (pic courtesy of the man himself.

As it turned out Tom had won the match overall on the day, catching well down a margin after a few early fish shallow on the pole. The team finished joint 3rd, but it is early doors and a long way to go.
The next round for our Bait-Tech Southwest team sees me on Hawthorn, Tom on Westpool and Titch moves on to the Main Lake.

Next Sunday sees me at Viaduct with the Pawlett crew, hopefully it'll be a good one.
Until then, take care,
Lee

Avalon Teams of 3. Final Round, 20-03-16

This bloomin weather isn't conductive to good fishing is it? Cold northerlies, colder easterlies or a combination of both!! At least it has been reasonably dry the last couple of weeks and the mud-baths are slowly becoming less of a pain in the bum.

Anyways we (The Young Ones, consisting of myself, Eric and Steve Fouracre) were sat in second spot, 3 points and ample weight difference behind The Sedges team, we were also 4 points ahead of Team Mosella. So to drop a position we needed to finish last on the day and Avalon to win.
To win overall we needed to either finish 3 points higher than Sedges plus make up a sizeable weight. OR finish 4 places higher than them ie they finish last on the day and we come 2nd or 1st. Neither scenario was likely but we would give it a bash.

I arrived in plenty of time, but ahead of my team-mates, there was only 1 draw left for us, this was the trio of pegs, 9, 21 and 35. Not the best selection but we had a job to do. I had peg 9, Steve on 35 and Eric up on the last peg on our bank, peg 21.
In my section was Vic Bush (p3), silvers ace John Fuidge (p6), Mike West (p11) and Jamie Cook of The Sedges on peg 13, so I had good, strong competition not top get 1 point rather than the hoped for section winning 5 points.

Avalon peg 9.....

At my peg I began to sort my kit and bait out, 1 tip rod for various baits around the end of the island, this would hopefully snare a carp or three that would be needed for ok section points.
A silvers rig for 7 and 14m just off centre in front of me. Lastly a carp rig for down to some reeds to my left and right along the marginal shelf, hooking them and getting any hooked may well be easier said than done!!
Bait was 8mm pellets, a bit of paste to fish the conker, some dead maggots, pinkies, corn, 6mm meat, bread and wetted micros. No groundbait after nobody really caught over it last weekend.

On the whistle I cupped in some corn and micros at 14m and some dead maggots and pinkies at 7m. Some meat and dead maggots went to the reeds to my right, some corn and micros against the reeds to my left.

Starting on the lead and a boring 90 minutes ensued. No fish, no liners, nothing. In fact Mike had one bite and lost a fish, Jamie had landed a couple small carp and John was soon catching a few silvers.  I couldn't really see Vic, but I saw his landing net used a few times in this spell. At least it let the pole lines settle!!
Opposite I couldn't much happening except Mark Sweeting bagging a few from peg 37 and was way ahead of all those I could see. Steve (p35) and Phil Clapp (p39) were struggling.

I went out on the pole and after 5 or 10 minutes I had a smallish roach then a 2oz skimmer.
10 minutes more passed before I bumped a couple skimmers, I was using a number 6 elastic but felt I should change to a soft 4, so off the box and out with a new topkit and the rig transferred....I just hoped for no carp on this rig!!
It went quiet so I went back on the tip after re-feeding my pole lines.....Thirty minutes later I was back on the pole and I soon had a couple 1.5lb skimmers.
I spent the next 2 or 3 hours getting the odd skimmer and roach on the pole, swapping between the 7m and 14m lines. I could only get bites on single maggot or double pinkie.
Meanwhile John Fuidge was catching a few silvers and Mr West wasn't catching much. Jamie also wasn't catching anything either.

It was soon 2pm and I had a look down the left edge on a piece of corn. The float wobbled and I struck into a fish....but the carp was obviously intent on getting away and soon shed the hook somewhere behind the reeds. I pulled for the break and snapped the hook clean in half and shortened the pole float tip by 10mm, but it would still be fine. So on with another hooklength, tightened the elastic before going back out for skimmers. A 2lb fish was netted at about 2:30pm along with 2 or 3 fish of 4oz or so. But I did need a carp as I was sure Mike would get one, Jamie had 3 and John maybe was into double figures of silvers. Vic had the section tied up all bar a really late surge from one of us...!!
I spent until 3pm on the tip, fishless. This was around when Phil Clapp opposite me had a couple carp in quick succession....he had only 2 silvers to this point. Team-mate Steve had landed a good few skimmers from what I could gather, but couldn't judge how he was doing in his section, he was obviously behind Mark Sweeting but in front of Phil and the others in his section I am not sure.

At 3pm I went out on the long pole line and had 1 or 2 small fish, then picked up 1 or 2 small fish from the 7m line. A look down the right edge saw a couple of heart stopping moments when the float shot under, but alas all I bought back from that side was a couple 4oz rudd on double 6mm meat....greedy blighters.!!
As we got to 3:50 I looked down my left edge and another float shaking moment saw me hook a carp, thankfully I got it in and was around the 3lb mark, couple with my silvers I was certain to beat Mike, but unsure on Jamie (3 or 4 small carp) and John (13-15lb silvers?).

The all out was soon called and we all packed up.
I thought I had 8 or 9lb of silvers and the 3lb-ish carp.
I followed the scales, saw Vic put 36lb or so on the board the John's silvers weighed 11lb and ounces.
Then I weighed, my silvers went 12lb and ounces and my solitary carp was 4lb exactly, so 16lb+ for me. Mike had 1lb 3oz then Jamie had 10lb or so to complete our section. I managed 2nd in section, so my job done well enough.
I followed the scales but didn't pay too much attention, though Rich Coles had 14lb+ of silvers to overtake my silvers weight, Steve and Tom Magnall also had 11lb+ of silvers in their catches.

We were soon trying to figure out the results and The Sedges team were looking worried as they hadn't done too well on the day and looked to be last on a general tally of the points. What we couldn't figure out exactly was if The Young Ones had come 2nd or 3rd on the day, obviously 2nd would be better and could see un manage a minor miracle!!
Back at the hut Vic and Pete Wild sorted the points and payouts and the presentation was done.
It did turn out that Sedges were last on the day, but sadly my side came 3rd and equalled the points tally of the league leaders, obviously we never made up the weight difference.
As Vic called the results Keith, Phil and Jamie looked a touch nervous, but on the day it was a 6oz difference between 2 teams than saw The Sedges take the title for the 3rd year running. If Eric had 6oz more then he'd have had an extra point.....but he had a really good series anyways so we really cant pick straws as I am sure that we, and everyone who fished, could have gained an extra point here or there, and to find fault is not right, we did well to finish 2nd only by weight count back.

Results:  (from memory, to be amended once results published)
1st, Mark Sweeting peg 37, 46lb-ish
2nd, Vic Bush peg 3, 36lb-ish

Silvers:
1st, Rich Coles, p33, 14lb
2nd, Lee Williams, p9, 12lb

Teams on the day:
1st, Somerset Carpenters
2nd, Mosella Uk
3rd, The Young Ones
4th, Fu Fighters
5th, The Sedges

Overall Teams:
1st, Sedges
2nd, The Young Ones (on weight countback)
3rd, Mosella Uk
4th, Somerset Carpenters
5th, Fu Fighters

Individual Overall:
1st, Tom Mangnall

So we did well in the end and took home a little money, lets hope we have more fish next year.

Next match for me may well be easter Monday, though I am not sire yet.

Until then, take care.
Lee

Avalon Teams of 3, Round 5, 03-01-16

Happy New Year to you all, hope you had a great evening.

Back to semi-normality today, the weather to start the day was rather crap, windy, wet, wet and windy....it was a touch nippier than of late, we even had a frost a couple nights ago. Surely the fishing would be a touch tricky today?

Anyways I arrived as usual, and wrote our 3 names on the sheet, not much in the way of chatter as there was only our Young One's side and Sedges left to draw, Eric and Steve arrived later than everyone else, so we were left with the last set of pegs. They were the same set of pegs as last week, 13, 27 and 39. Not the best set to be honest, Somerset Carpenters looked like they had the best pick  in 11, 24 and 37.
The draw fell in the way that I was on the same peg as last week, peg 39 (see last week's blog for pics, saved getting my phone out....bonus). Eric was on snaggy peg 13 which Derek really struggled from and Steve was on the peg Eric won from last weekend, peg 27.

I arrived at my peg and set up the same rigs as last week, minus the pellet waggler and the open water meat line. So a skimmer rig, a carp to peg 40 rig, a topkit silvers rig and a mesh feeder to the island.
It was all rather wet and moods were not exactly high from most people given the conditions.
The lake also was 3 inches up and a lot more coloured thanks to the rains we have had in the last few days, so despite a few silver fish topping and odd sets of bubbles, I set my usual 15lb target for ok section points.
For company I had Jim Jenner on peg 37 and he had Tom Mangnall up on peg 35.

At the all in I started by feeding various spots and lobbed the feeder across......the next 2 hours never saw me get a bite on the feeder, but in my section only Jim had had a carp as had Keith Clapp up on peg 32. I actually more or less stayed on the feeder for over 2 hours because nobody was catching. Even Eric over on 13 was fishless, though in his section Phil Clapp, Mark Sweeting and Pete Wild had a few carp each. I did hear that Steve had a few fish though up on peg 27.

A switch to the pole at around 12:30 saw me put a couple rudd and roach in the net, so to have something to weigh in at least.....I did expect a few skimmers, and I did bump one and that really killed the swim. It was at this time that Tom had a carp on the pellet waggler, that was his only landed carp of the day, but he went on to land a few skimmers and bits on the pole, he lost a couple edge fish late on in the match. Jim was struggling, he was getting a odd silver on the pole but no quality.
At 1pm, just as the winds eased and rain subsided, I did have my 1st carp, 2lb mirror, much to my relief, this came on the feeder to a slightly different spot on the island as there looked like a tethered fish in the usual spot towards to the gap.

That fish was followed half an hour later by a second of similar size. I looked down the edge towards p40 but never had a bite there, so tried the topkit line but only had minnows so that was abandoned.
Back out on the tip with an just over an hour left and I was soon into carp number three, a baby 1.5lb common putting me, I thought, ahead of Jim and Tom. But with there being a few 8-11lb fish in the pegs, often in the margins, I needed and hoped for at least a couple more carp before the end.
At 2:45 I had my 4th carp, another 2lber, putting me to about 8lb.

As we approached the 3:30 all out I had a proper wrap round on the feeder and netted my 5th and largest carp of the day, a 4lb mirror was netted. That was my lot for the match. Not an eventful one to say the least, but it did look like it had fished tricky.

I packed my gear away rather quickly and loaded the car before heading to the car park and having a natter with Jamie, Keith, Phil and a couple others They reckoned that Steve Fouracre was likely to have won but 2nd spot could be anyones, oh and John Fuidge would win the silvers as he had a good few proper sized skimmers/bream. The weigh in soon started and I followed it right round the lake for a change.

We saw peg 1 weigh in 30lb or so, then Phil Clapp had mid-30lbs, Pete and Eric weighed in and around 20lb while Mark Sweeting had 27lb. As for John Fuidge, he duly dropped 22lb of silvers on the scales.
Further along was Jamie Cook, he had 31lb+ and then around to Mike West, he didn't weigh enough to threaten the section, but as is the norm he lost a few on the day.
Then came team-mate Steve Fouracre, he took the lead and the match with just under 50lb, bargain.
Rich Coles had 8lb-ish, then Tom had 7lb+ of silvers and a 4lb carp, Jim then had his solo carp and a few skimmers for under 10lb before it was me being last to weigh.
My 7oz of silvers was 1oz under my estimate....haha, but my 8 or 9lb of carp estimate was well out as the needle swung round to 19lb-ish, thankfully securing me the section win and at least some money in our kitty...phew!!

Team wise we won the day on weight from Sedges, Steve won and I got my section money, so not a bad day really. Phil Clapp was 2nd on the day.

Results:

1st: Steve Fouracres - Young Ones, 48lb 2oz
2nd: Phil Clapp - Sedges, 37lb 2oz
3rd: Jamie Cook - Sedges, 31lb 15oz
4th: Nigel Hopkins - Fu Fighters, 29lb 6oz
5th: Mark Sweating - Somerset Carpenters, 27lb 9oz
6th: John Fuidge - Fu Fighters, 22lb 4oz

Silvers
1st John Fuidge, Fu Fighters, 22lb 4oz

Teams on the day:
1st, Young Ones, 12pts: 88lb 2oz
2nd, Sedges, 12pts: 77lb 10oz
3rd, Fu Fighters, 9pts: 59lb 12oz
4th, Somerset Carpenters, 6pts: 54lb 4oz
5th, Mosella UK, 6pts: 42lb 10oz

League Standings (1 round left 20/3/16)
1st - Sedges: 22 points
2nd - Young Ones: 19pts
3rd - Mosella UK: 15pts
4th - Fu Fighters: 11pts
5th Somerset Carpenters: 8pts

So at last I did ok, put something back for the team and going into the last round....at the end of march, we still have a slim chance of winning overall, but realistically we want to secure 2nd spot ahead of Mosella, it is tight....very tight.

Next up for me is a match at Sedges, Tile Lake with the PSV guys, it has been a while since I fished that lake so my expectations are not to high.

Until then, take care.
Lee

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