Thursday 29 December 2016

Viaduct Thursday cost cutter

Not been here for a long time so after a chat with Mr Rixon last night I decided to give it a go. He said during the silvers match Wednesday, alot of anglers were pestered by carp. Well today was totally different. I drew peg 88. Apparently a decent silvers peg and good one for carp on wag or the bomb. Not today. In fact that end of the lake was devoid of any fish life. From 80 to 97 the top weight was around 3lb. I had About 10 roach and a tiny skimmer for less than a pound. The guy on 86 fished the wag all day for two skimmers and other anglers struggled for ounces. The fish seemed to be sholed up around 98 to 101 as they did catch a few. I didn't stay to the end as flogging  that dead horse got boring, so I dont know the results. But when I got to the car park I had walked past many anglers packing up early and there were already several empty parking spots. John Bradford said the angler on 130, don't know who, had 18 carp and the anglers either side of him had nothing. Just shows the sever frost had really sholed the fish up. Ah well there always next time. But with only three months of match angling left before I leave these shores I was hoping g to go out with a few bangs. Looks like a few whimpers more like lol

Tuesday 27 December 2016

Acorn Tuesday open.

Off to Clevedon today looking forward to making up for the last few disasterous matches. Fished it last Tuesday and drew peg 27. A peg I've always hoped I would avoid drawing. It's either last, last but one, DNW, or the angler goes home early in all the matches I've fished there this year. And it was no different for me with one bite after 4 hours. So I was hoping to avoid that area today. Into the draw bag and I pull out 27 again. And as I was not prepared to sit and struggle all day again it was back in the car and off home to watch football. Have to wait for the weekend for my fix now

Saturday 24 December 2016

Windmill Open 25/12/16

Nothing else to do today and didn't fancy driving to somerset so went to Windmill for an open run by Dave Haines. Only 5 turned up so we all sat at the top end of the lake in the deeper pegs. To say it was hard is an understatement. Won't go into too much detail as we all struggled just to get bites. I had about 25 anchovies for 1-8 on my top kit in peg 1. Only place I had a bite. Jerry Welsh won it with 2 carp for 13lb odd from peg 26. Taking the £50 winner take all. Nice one!!. Dave Willmott got Second with one big perch and a few silvers for 5-13, I think, from peg 28. Dave Haines had a last gasp small carp and few silvers for 3-1 from peg 3. Paul Elmes did the sensible thing and went with 30 minutes to go. He struggled for a few bites but I recon he had done me. Well done those that bothered to turn up on a horribly windy day. It was Terry's last day as fishery manager. Good luck with whatever comes next Terry. Not sure what is happening now as there is no news on anybody to run the place.

Sunday 18 December 2016

Windmill Xmas match 18/12/16

Well, there not much to say about today as most of the lake fished rock hard. I drew peg 24, which was the golden peg. And Mike Nichols reminded that it was a kiss of death to draw it lol. And he was right. Had a few silvers early on maggot at 2+2 line, then went on meat at 11 metres. In half an hour I landed one carp and lost three foulers, and only brought back a scale each time. And untill the last 45 minutes that was it, then I had two more carp and a skimmer on the meat line. Pellet to the island was biteless as was the near margin. I ended up with 13-14 of which 1-11 was silver's​, which got me 4th in the silver's. And as they paid out 4, it paid for the day. Winner on the day was Sean Townsend 50-09, caught mainly on wag to the island. Well done to Sean on a tough day.

1st Sean Townsend, 50-09,  peg 8.
2nd John Osbourne, 40-01, peg 1.
3rd Mark Summerhayes, 23-06, peg 26.
4th Mike Nichols, 19-05, peg 13

Silvers
1st Mike Nichols, 3-08
2nd John Barker, 2-08, peg 30
3rd Sean Townsend, 2-05
4th Stuart Barnett, 1-11, peg 24.

Sunday 11 December 2016

Windmill sunday open 11/12/16

With the Xmas match on next Sunday it was the last chance to get a bit of practice in. But with a heavy frost, first one for a week, it could be hard. Into the mini tea chest and number 20 sticks in my fingers, and it's the first time I've ever drawn a golden peg. Pressure on. Four rigs were set up. A margin rig to fish meat down the shelf a bit. A .75 slim to fish meat at 11 metres at 11 and 1 o'clock angles. The left side being a bit deeper. A .5 slim to fish maggot or caster over ground bait at 2+2. And a .1 Shalla slim to fish across to the island at 16 metres. Plus a light bomb set up to chuck just past the corner of the island. Fed all lines and chucked out the bomb rod, which was set up with a 6 gram Olivette and size 18 on .013 with 6mm pellet. After 15 minutes I'd had no indications so I went on the 2+2 line. That was also dead so after another 20 bite less minutes I chucked the bomb out again. Still nothing. Not looking good. It was about an hour before the first bite on the short line and several blippy roach came to hand. About 90 minutes in and I saw a bit of movement over by the island so I dropped the pellet rig in and managed to get a 3 pounder. But that was it. Kept switching around and around half time I had two quick carp to 6 lb on the bomb. Then another quiet period so it was back on the meat line. Straight into a couple of small carp and a skimmer. I stayed on the meat line for most of the last two hours except for 5 minutes across to the island where I spotted another fish moving and caught it. Three more carp on meat and that was it. Unusually I landed every fish I hooked today, including silvers, and only missed half a dozen bites so I think I did all I could today. I was guessing on 1lb of silvers and 35 of carp and was almost spot on. 35-8 in total for second on the day. Had to be happy with that as it didn't fish great. Martin Rayet won today with 40-11 from 27, which included a fish of 12lb which made the difference today. I did enjoy it, having to think about it and swap about. Kept it interesting.

1st Martin Rayet 44-11
2nd Stu Barnett 35-8
4th John Osbourne, 32-2, Peg 9

Top silvers, Dave Britain, 3-00, peg 24

Thursday 8 December 2016

Windmill Bazeley open

I managed to take a day off work so headed off to Windmill for a match organised by Ray Bazeley. Left home with 30 minutes to make the 10 minute drive but the road were gridlocked. A quick message to Ray to say I'd be late and when I got there 45 minute's later I found myself on peg 24. At the start I was nowhere near ready and started about 15 minutes after everyone else. I started on the bomb to the island as I was still setting stuff up but after 20 and only one liner I came short, 2+1, and fished maggot over ground bait, Plenty of tiny roach were obliging but with 2 to the once it was hard work. I kept pinging a few pellets to the island on a 16 metre line for later. After about 90 minutes the roach disappeared, not for the first time, and after a few minutes a carp took my single dead red. That was a bonus because as far as I could tell that was the first carp on the lake. Unfortunately it was the only one on that line. I tried the margin with no luck, and then went across on 16 metres. It took a while but the carp moved in, and apart from a couple of tries on the other lines I stayed across for the last 2 1/2 hours putting another 14 carp in the net. I was guessing on 70lb at the end and when Terry weighed me in I was close with 72-4, which took top honer's today. Second was Paul Haines on peg 8 with 64-6 caught on various methods. An enjoyable day with the weather holding out. Back there again Sunday for another go.

1st Stu Barnett 72-4
2nd Paul Haines 64-6
3rd Ray Bazeley 23lb peg 10

Silvers winner J Fudge 11-10 peg 2

Sunday 4 December 2016

Landsend winter league round one

Not much to say on this one. Drew peg 16 on match. Set up to fish light and catch anything that swims feeding very lightly. First 40 minutes I could only fish the far side at 16 metres cos the ice I cleared had filled back in. Well to keep it short I had one bite all day for one tiny perch that I threw back without weighing as I was last in my section anyway. Do t know the results as I didn't stay. That's my series over after the first match.

Sunday 20 November 2016

Windmill sunday open 20/11/16

After yesterday disaster I was hoping  for a few silvers today to keep it interesting. Only 6 today so all decent pegs, or so we thought, were put in.  I drew 32 in the deeper water. So a bomb rod was set up to chuck 30 metres to the island. A margin rig to fish both sides. Only tried  once with no result so last mention of that. A .5 slim to fish 2+1 up the shelf with caster and maggot over ground bait. And a .75 slim to fish two lines at 13 metres for meat and maggot or expanders over micros. I had Bob "bread head" Price to my left on golden peg 2 and Gerry Welch over on 28. I started on the bomb but after 30 minutes and just a couple of delicate liners I switched to the 2+1 line. A further 15 minutes went by before the first skimmer was landed. But it was along time before the next fish. The bites when they came were tiny dips of the float and most resulted in missed strikes. To cut along story short it was a case of continuously switching around just to get the odd bite. The whole lake was rock hard. Gerry had his first bite and fish after 3 hours. I did manage one carp on a new maggot line at top five length. But that was the only one. Plus a bonus 1lb perch on 2+1 on single dead red. At the end I was sure I'd be nowhere but my silvers, what few I had, went 2-10, which was top today. And my carp took it to 9-5 which ended up second. Winner was Norman Ferris on 22 with 13-4 that I think was three carp. He didn't go in the super pool so I took that. Thanks Norm 😁.

1st Norm Ferris 13-4
2nd Stu Barnett 9-5
3rd Bob Price 4-10

Silvers
1st Stu Barnett 2-10
2nd Bob Price 2-2

Saturday 19 November 2016

Landsend open 19/11/16

Left the house this morning and had to crack  open the doors on the car. Nasty bit of frost. Had a good brekkie at the fishery and went in to draw my peg. Out pops number 9. For company I had Rod Wooten on 11. Same peg he struggled on last week. Russ peck on 5. Opposit was Steve Seager on 15, same as last week. 19 was Rob Watts, same as last week. Peg 3, Mike Ducket, same as last week. Hmmm, there's a pattern emerging here. Three rigs today. A Shalla slim to fish under the bush on the island. And in a gap in the reeds to the right. A .4 slim to fish meat at the bottom of the far shelf. And a .4 pencil float to fish just about everywhere else in the peg as the depth was the same all over. At the start I fed the long lines and dropped in a few casters to my left on the 2+1 line and meat to the right. And some soaked micros on the top 5 line. Starting on the caster line I went 15 minutes with no indications. So it was over to the long meat line. It took a while but I had my first bite. Bit never connected. This happened 4 times over the next 40 minutes so I'm guessing it was just liners. After about 75 minutes I saw a carp on the shallow line so I dropped a six mm pellet on it and the float burried in seconds. But it was foul hooked and after a mad 5 minutes it was netted. Another followed 15 minutes later, but that was the last of the carp action for the day. In fact it was just about the last of all action for the day. Apart from a good skimmer and blippy roach on expander and one quickly lost carp on the long meat line, I hardly had anymore bites. Rod suffered the same fate. With bites a premium and only two Carp for his efforts. Steve opposite won on the day with 42-8, and Mike Ducket second with 36-5. The practice they had on those pegs last week must have helped. My poultry few went 11-6 which was the lowest recorded weight on the day. All in all a day to forget.

1st Steve Seager 42-8.
2nd Mike Ducket 36-5.
3rd Russ Peck 35-7

Silvers
1st Russ Peck 8-10
2nd Beanie 3-8

Sunday 13 November 2016

Windmill sunday open 13/11/16

Another Sunday morning at my closest fishery. To lazy to drive to far twice a weekend. I think there was 12 today so even spread down both sides of the lake. I pulled out peg 8 which is at the near end of the second island on the far side. Haha that was a mouthful. Fished this peg once before and caught well in the shallow water against the island at about 30 meters. But with the water gin clear I  thought I'd chuck the bomb a bit short in a couple of feet of water. I set up three rigs. A .4 pencil to fish dead reds or caster over caster laced groundbait. A .5 slim to fish meat at 13 metres. And a .3 slim to fish meat down the shelf about 2+2 distance out 10 meters to my left. That rig was tried but had no bites so I'll forget that one. At the start I fed all lines then slung the bomb out to the island. After about two minutes I hooked a carp around 4lb. So I was off the mark. But after another 20 minutes and no more indications I came in on the short line. Wasn't long before a few small skimmers were coming in plus a decent one of 2lb +. Then the carp moved in. In the next 40 minutes I hooked 4 but only landed two. One was close to 10lb though. And on 4-6 elastic and .010 hook link I thought I did well. But that action soon stopped. And it was back to small skimmers. But they dried up too. So it was out on the meat line. But it was slow. I had two, but bites were a very long time coming. The second half of the match was a real struggle and with only one more small carp on the meat most of the time was spent winkling out small skimmers. A couple of the better stamp did come my way. But the carp certainly dried up. The island chuck was a waste of time as there were so many fecking ducks I couldn't feed. At one stage I had 16 of them diving down for anything I fired in. I think a shot gun is required to thin the numbers out. at the end I was guessing  on 24lb of carp and 6lb of silvers. I was spot on with the carp,  with 24-8, but was surprised my silvers went 9lb dead. That put me 4th on the day with top silvers. Winner was Mike Travel with 72lb of bomb and pellet caught carp off peg 2. He also took the golden peg. Second was Norm Ferris with 38-14. Double bubble for me today as I took the silvers and  the super pool as three above me never went in it. Happy days.

1st Mike Travel 72lb
2nd Norm Ferris 38-14
3rd Paul Has es 35-03
4th Stu Barnett 33-08

Silvers
1st Stu Barnett 9-00
2nd John Baker 6-00
3rd Geoff Francis 4-12

Saturday 12 November 2016

Landsend Saturday open 12/11/16

I had a choice today of Acorn or Landsend. And with Acorn being so badly attended and with a bit of wind and rain forecast I opted to head down to landsend. Got there in plenty of time for a change for a nice brekkie then I pulled 21 out of the bucket. I was told that 30lb of skimmers came off it yesterday so I set up to fish a groundbait and caster line at 11 metres. Also a 2+2 rig to fish a maggot over caster line and meat line at different angles. A rig to fish pellet across to the island and a margin rig to fish meat or pellet along to empty pallet 20. Fed all lines at the start and started on the short maggot line but after 20 minutes and no bites I then tried the meat line but again no bites. So it was then a try on the 11 line but things never improved. After an hour and still fishless I went over to the island. But as the water was very clear, I opted to fish a metre off the island just down the shelf, lifting and dropping the rig until the float settled at dead depth. This sort of worked as I got a couple of good carp fairly quickly. But they disappeared a bit quick. The resident big ghosty was bugging me as it just kept swimming past not stopping to feed. I'm sure it's always the same bloody fish that does this. Over the next couple of hours I kept swapping around but bites were a premium. Martin Lanaghan on 22 was hooking  a few but was just as quickly releasing them which cost him dear in the end. Russ Peck on 19 was struggling to keep them on as by half way he'd lost three and landed thee. I did manage a 2lb perch and big F1 from the short maggot line but the meat line was dead. Tried the margin too but again biteless. I had a bit of luck when I dropped my rig between my nets to put some caster in the cad pot and while I was filling it the elastic which was only a couple of inches from my hand shot out and another big perch took the maggot. Gotta be lucky sometimes. I then had a quick trio of carp from the island in twenty minutes. But then a fishless two hours. So with 40 minutes to go I thought shit or bust and fed the island line heavily with about six pouches of pellets. And it worked cos after about 20 minutes a couple of tails popped up. So it was back out and a carp hooked straight away. But it wasn't in the mouth and the hook pulled. Bugger!!. Ten minutes later I netted a 6 pounder. Then with about 30 seconds left that damn ghosty drifted in, I thought to take the piss one more time, but his head went down and sucked up my pellet with just seconds left. My nemesis was on and I got the bugger in the net five minutes after the all out. Phew!!. I thought I had around 50lb and a few were admitting to around the same. Joe McMahon was on 13 and had 53-01. Steve Seager put 47-02 on the scales from 15. Robbie Watts put about 12 carp in the net and had 71-02 for the expected win. Russ chucked back. Then it was my turn knowing it would be close for second. I had 7-04 of silvers and 46-04 of carp to take second with 53-08. For a change I only lost one fish all day and that made a huge difference. Gotta say it fished better than last week but the silvers are still not playing ball.

1st Robbie Watts 71-02.
2nd Stu Barnett 53-08
3rd Joe McMahon 53-01

Silvers
1st Rod Wooten 11-09 peg 11
2nd Stu Barnett 7-04
3rd Mike Ducket 5-06 peg 3

Sunday 6 November 2016

Windmill open.

After sitting in the shade all day yesterday  and feeling very cold it was nice to see the sun out today and everybody would be sat in full sun. Into the draw box and out comes 28. Same peg I came second from last week so was pleased to be in the deep water again. Got to the peg and there was a stiff breeze straight into my face, and it was pretty nippy. A bomb rod was set up and three rigs. One to fish maggot in the right margin at 4 feet deep. A .75 slim to fish maggot over caster at 2+1 about half a metre up the shelf  away from the silt in about 9 feet of water. And another .75 slim to fish at 13 meters over groundbait and caster for anything that swims. Had a couple of carp from that line last week so was hoping for the same plus maybe silvers. Started on the short line dropping  in caster and fishing dead red and pinging 8mm to the island. After 15 minutes and no bites  I picked up the bomb rod and slung it out to the island. Pretty quickly I had. Couple of liners and drop backs. One drop back I hooked a carp for about five seconds before the hook pulled. Eventually a good pull round then drop back and the strike was met with a lunging run for about five minutes before a good foul hooked mirror found its way to the net. Next chuck and a 3 pounder. Then nothing. So out on the long pole line and I had a few small skimmers, but I bumped about 6. The 8-10 elastic was to harsh for the size of fish so a top kit change cured that. Had a few then it died so a re freed and started switching around my rigs trying to get bites. The wind was a problem with presentation and I even had to use a rod rest on the short line to hold it still. The bomb line only produced one more and the only place I could get bites was at 13 meters when I could keep the rig still. I then put groundbait on the short line and caught a couple of bonus skimmers. But it was hard going. Just kept switching looking for bites. I eventually had a carp on the short line but playing it killed that line. Then the rain started and I thought I felt cold before. I basically lost all feeling in my fingers, and after loosing a large carp from the margin line that snapped me off I tried to put another hook length on and couldn't cos I couldn't feel my hands. So I packed up with 20 minutes to go as I couldn't stop shivering. I recon it's the coldest I've ever felt fishing. At the weigh in I put  4-12 of mainly skimmers and 21-12 of carp for a 26-8 total. That got me top silvers by default. Happy days. First was Brian Shanks who caught mainly on long pole on meat for 77-14 on peg 2. Second was the ever consistent Mike Nicholls on peg 3 with a total of 51-11. Cheers for the silvers pool Mike.

1st, Brian Shanks 77-14
2nd Mike Nicholls 51-11
3rd Mark Summer 44-11, peg 22

Silvers
1st Mike Nicholls 6-02
2nd Stuart Barnett 4-12

Landsend Saturday open.

Got to the venue with just 15 minutes to scoff down a breakfast, who h I managed to do easily and then grabbed the last time let in the bucket. Out comes 19, happy days. It's had form lately so was fairly confident for a change. Not had the best of luck for a bit but that changed last summer day at Windmill and this made it two on the trot. Usually a good peg to fish lo g to the island and grab  carp shallow as they come.e around the corner. But today that didn't happen. It fished realy hard with several anglers struggling to get more than a couple of fish. The water was gin clear and I never saw any life by the island all day. Not a single fish came around. All I could catch on was single dead red fished at the bottom of the far shelf. As I said it was gin clear and. Upping in casters I could see them fall through the water for about five seconds at 11 meters. So it was a day of winkling out small skimmers with two bonus fish. I'd hoped a carp or two might find the lose feed but never hooked one all day. At he end I'd caught what I thought was 7lb and I was close with 7-15 which was enough to take the silvers pool. The match was won by Nick Ducket with 72-4 from peg 23. He had a thick blanket of leaves and caught shallow dropping between them right across. I think the leaves gave some cover and helped them be more confident. Second was Russ Peck from peg 13 with a similar leaf cover. He managed just 27-10. Strangely, I enjoyed the struggle today. Working hard for bites that at times were along time between. Not set my stall out for silvers for ages. Maybe it's the new me.

1st, Nick Ducket 72-4. Peg 23
2nd. Russ Peck 27-10. Peg 13
3rd, Mike Ducket 26-2. Peg 1

Silvers
1st Stuart Barnett 7-15. Peg 19
2nd Beany 4-12. Peg 5.

Sunday 30 October 2016

Windmill sunday open

After yesterday at Mather, that was very poor, I was realy hoping I might actually get a decent draw. Not something I've done for a while. Now the weather has cooled down alot deeper water is always favoured. Yesterday I was as far from that as I could have got. 17 fishing  today I think it was. Into the draw box and 28 sticks to my fingers. Finally a peg I could compete from. A good looking margin both sides, although the right side was 4 feet deep. So two separate rigs for that. Maggot to the right and meat to the left. A .75 slim to fish caster for silvers at 2+2 slightly up the shelf and another .75 slim to fish 13 meters in front on meat, and at an angle to my left on pellet. Also a bomb rod to fish to the island. I had John Clarke to my right, a venue regular
And everybody else I could see I didn't realy know. Fed all lines at the start and chucked the bomb to the island pinging out some 8s. Nothing showing  but after 20 minutes the tip went round and a 6 pounder found itself in my net. That was it for a while so out on the long pellet line. Had one fairly quick, but not very big. At that time no other carp had been caught, although John was doing g his best to hook every fish in the lake and loose it. He lost his first 3 before finally netting one. Chris ? On 32 then started catching in his margin. I tried the short and margin lines, but although John was hooking and releasing plenty I only had one bite all day that was a near 2lb skimmer. Later the bomb line woke up and I took about ten fish there and one more on the long meat line. Strange why the short lines were dead. At the end I was guessing at around 46lb. I was close with 44-3. I never had my phone so no photo of the weight sheet. Chris on 32 won it with some big carp for 72lb. I was second with 44-3 and John got third with 36lb. He also had top silvers with 6-13 I think. It didn't fish well at the other end so the deeper water was the edge I needed

Sunday 23 October 2016

Landsend open

Off to Landsend today for one of Mr Rixon's opens. I was late leaving then getting stuck behind slow traffic around the never ending diversion made me get to the venue as the draw was about to take place, so no time for a breakfast. I was still putting my gear on my trolley at the end of the draw so had last ticket. At least there was little chance of getting crap hole number 24 with the last ticket. The only peg I wouldn't want to draw....WRONG!!!!!!!. Open it up and 24 was staring at me. Was realy tempted to get back in the car and go home. It's been consistently in the bottom weights of matches all year. Ah well may as well give it a go. Got to the peg and that's when I realised it was gonna be harder than usual. A blanket of leaves everywhere in the peg. Oh joy!!!. I set up 4 rigs. A .4 slim to fish 2+2 with 6mm meat, and 2+3 to fish expanders over micros incase I had to chase silvers. Another .4 slim to fish pellet at 16m and the bottom of the end bank shelf. A .1 shalla slim to fish pellet along the end bank. And a .2  margin mugger to fish meat or pellet by the next platform. But although I tried 4 times there, I never had a touch. Started off on the meat line but after 15 minutes and no bites I saw a fish move along the end bank so I shipped out to 13m and had a fish on first drop that came off after a couple of seconds. Five minutes later I had another that went in the net. Then one took me under the tree stump and broke me off. Then nothing, so it was back on the meat line. After a couple of minutes I foul hooked a good fish that tore off towards Joe McMahon on peg 1 before it came of. Then not long after another fish was netted. Then a good fish of around 12lb was netted. So after an hour I had 20lb on my clicker. Not a bad start. But then normal service resumed for that peg and the next fish was landed four and a half hours later with only one missed bite in between. All lines were dead. And with the leaf problem getting worse it made for a miserable day. At the end my 4 carp went 23-15. I did have a little smile as I managed to beat Joe who also had 4 for 23-13. The match was won by Craig Edmonds on peg 11, which seams to be the peg to draw lately with 4 of the last 5 matches being won there. He had a good day catching all over his peg for 188-11. He's on a hot run at the mo. Next week has got to get better. It can't be worse than I've been doing lately.

1st Trig, peg 11, 188-11
2nd Matt Toms, peg 42, 94lb.
3rd Yom Magnal 88-9.

1st in silvers, Matt Toms, 10-12

Sunday 16 October 2016

Acorn saturday open.

A bit late doing the blog, but I've not felt to good since yesterday lunchtime. Severe headache. I guess staring at a float all day didn't help. Only five fished, which yet again, is a piss poor turn out for a venue that's still fishing well. I drew peg 36 which I was quite happy with as that area has been pretty good of late. Mark Walsh drew 12 and the other guys I can't say I knew. Got to the peg and dipped my hand in the water and felt that it was damn cold. That and it being pretty clear, and bright sunshine meant it might be a bit tougher today than it has been. I set up three rigs. A .1 shallow slim for against the island, but although I fed the line all day there were no signs of anything over there, so that was tried once and then left alone. A paste rig for the 2+2 line over micros. And a .15 slim to fish maggot over ground bait in the margins. I started on the paste line but it took 20 minutes for the first bite, but it was foul hooked so can't realy say it was a bite. But it did go into the net. Happy days!. Then it was a case of missed bites that I think we're liners. So after 40 minutes and one more lost fouler I switched to the right margin. I took a couple in the next 30 minutes but even though there were a few coming in on the feed they were spooking very easy. Think they could see the line. There was nothing showing in the left margin so all my fish for the first three hours came from the right. I tried the paste line again as it was fizzing but again only liners. So I changed to a pellet rig and tried that but that produced the same result. So it was back into the margin. By half way I had 6 carp for around 25lb, so it wasn't going too well. Then the sun vanished and the light dropped considerably. That completely changed things and the fish got more confident. Even though it wasn't hectic it picked up alot and I took fish from both sides. I did loose alot, about 15 I recon, included one good fish that went past the next platform and was going around the corner towards the bridge before it doubled back and went around an old drainage pipe, about 6 meters past the next platform, that has been lifted up from the bottom and is stuck two feet out the water. They seemed to want a bigger bait today and 8 maggots on the hook was what produced alot more and faster bites. In the end I had around 20 carp and 4 good F1's for 90-02. Mark was being his usual self saying he'd struggled, but weighed 102-11. He seems to have an aversion to telling the truth about his catch, so I never believe a word he says.  My catch was second on the day. I guess it's gonna start to get harder now as the weather gets colder.

1st, Mark Walsh 102-11 peg 12
2nd Stu Barnett 90-02 peg 36
3rd Luke ? 84-13 peg 9

Monday 10 October 2016

Windmill sunday open

Back at Windmill today. Still can't say it's a venue I enjoy that much but I couldn't be arsed to look around for another match. The draw was it's usual fascicle standard. Every body paid and names taken for the 9 oclock draw yet at 10 past Terry was still farting around messing with his dog looking for a rat under the porta cabin, while we were all stood around like spare ones at a wedding. By the time he got his act together and called the school register it was 20 past before the draw got underway. It realy does get tedious when it's late every time. I pulled out number 17. Well!!! As the Pegging was organised by  Dave Haines, somebody that fished the place every week, and knows every peg, why was a peg that was completely overgrown, unfishable without an hour of clearing, and not fished for god knows how long, put in the draw. Especially when pegs that framed last week at the other end of the lake had been left out. So I was told to fish 16. As I'm not too familiar with the place I just headed off. When I got to my peg I was basically told. It shouldn't be in and I'd be very lucky to catch at all. Well that's how it turned out. After 5 bite less hours and trying various lines and every bait I had I gave up and headed home. Total waste of a day. Thanks Windmill fishery. Another day of nothing. At least I got to wet a line, unlike two previous times when the matches advertised on the website were cancelled days before and not advertised as so. This place needs running properly as it is a joke sometimes. No idea of results to put up. Though the highlight of the day was 2 pensioners squaring up for a fight. it was like hand bags at bi-focal length lol

Sunday 2 October 2016

Windmill open

Second week in a row for me at this venue as it's only ten minutes from home. Very handy and it has been fishing well. Got to the carpark and started to get my gear out only to find I'd left my trolley wheels at home, Bugger!!!!. So a draw on the far side would be nice as I could park behind and drag my gear up the slope to the peg. Nope, peg 21 comes out for me. Two thirds down the near bank between the islands. So it was a three times walk with my gear. Still got ready in plenty of time. For company I had Dave "Noddy" Wilmot on my left on 22, and Adie Crawley past him. opposite was last week's winner , Martin Rayet, and Bradley Sowden to my right. with 22 fishing there weren't many empty pegs. I had the end of the right island just in my peg so a bomb rod was set up as when I tried a shallow rig at 16 1/2 metres I was still 3 metres short. But that rig never got used so no more on that. I also set up a .5 slim to fish meat at 2+2 in 6 foot. A .4 to fish caster for any silvers at 2+1. Plus a margin rig for my right side at the bottom of the first slope a metre out. At the start I fed my lines and went out on the bomb. The lake was strange, like glass with barely a ripple all day. Nice change for this place. And it wasn't long before a few fish were showing at the island. Though it took about 20 minutes for my first pull round. And it was a ripper. It dropped back before I got my hands on the rod and it had snapped me off. Next chuck I had my first fish in the net. Martin had one early but after 45 minutes that's all that had been caught. It was very slow. Then I had another break me off on the pull round. Savage bites. Then another in the net. By this time an hour had gone and still only three carp were caught. Most people blanking at this stage. Anyway as it was very hard I stayed in the bomb. I took the odd fish, and as nobody was realy catching I was reluctant to change. After about two hours I had 4. Adie caught a couple around then but Dave was struggling with just a couple of squeakers. Still nobody realy catching. I tried my other lines a few times through the match, but only a couple of bits from the silvers line. Nothing on the meat or margin. So I predominantly used the bomb with a couple of purple patches and pulled out a comfortable lead. Dave started catching a few short on meat in the last 90 minutes and Adie had been steady for the second half but his fish were small. The last half hour my meat line come to life and I put 5 in the net. At the end I had about 25 carp for what I thought was just over a ton. The scales went 95-8 for first on the day. Dave finished well with several lumps to get 60-10 for second. Third was Dave Haines on 26 with 55-0. With the silvers conspicuous by their absence it was a tough match for most as the carp were also a bit touchy. Still, a bit of coin for me.

1st Me, 95-8, peg 21
2nd Dave Wilmot, 60-10, peg 22
3rd Dave Haines, 55-0, peg 24th
4th Chris Gay, 49-14, peg 9

First in silver, John  Clarke, 5-6 ,peg 25

Saturday 1 October 2016

Acorn open

Hadn't planned to go this weekend but a planned trip away was cancelled. So it was off to Cleavedon with the weather forecast looking pretty iffy. Only 6 turned up and with a club match booked on paddock lake we were put on pegs 22-40. I fancied 36 as it's sheltered from the usual wind but that went to Sean Wilson today. I was left with the last peg in the bag and that was 34. Everybody says it's a flyer but I realy don't like it. If the edge fish don't turn up then it's hard work to make any impression as the fish here tend to be small. And that's how it turned out. No fish at all in the margins and most of the day was spent trying to catch across to the island, but even though there were plenty there liners and foulers were a nightmare. Plus they were spooked very easily. Just missing a bite and I had to wait 10 minutes for the bolting fish to return. A. The last 45 minutes I caught a few on the 2+1 line on paste, or I should say I fouled alot using paste. Had 8 there but 6 were foul hooked in various parts of the body. At the end I managed to put 91lb on the scales. Sean weighed 150-08 of mainly shallow island caught carp with a few down the edge. Third was Mark Walsh who had 130-07, all taken on his usual paste down the edges. Third was Sean's traveling partner Martin Thomas with 95-07 from peg 27.

Sunday 25 September 2016

Windmill fishery sunday open

Short drive to Westerly today. Only went realy to deliver some floats to the ever green Mike Nicholls. After the the usual bumbling around, which is normal here, even after everybody had paid there money on time the draw was done nearly 15 minutes late. It's like a comedy show at this place. As I know very little about the venue, the draw wasn't too important as I was only gonna fish for carp with pellets. Out pops peg 3. Next door on 2 was Mr Evergreen, so good company today. He had the golden peg and a peg known for big carp down the edge but he stuck to his tried and trusted way of doing things and it paid off. Set up a paste rig for 8 metres. That's as far as I was going in the usual hurricane blowing down the lake. A silvers rig for 2+2, plus a carp rig to fish the same line incase they turned up. They never. Plus a margin rig. But nothing showed up there all day. And Mike only had two there. Plus a bomb rod as there were fish moving against the island. Well, that's were I stayed most of the day as the close lines and margins were void of carp today. I did try close and the paste lines but never had anything at all on the pole. Mike stuck to his silvers line and had top weight on the day. I didn't get the results as they were sorted while I was packing the car and as it was peeing down I couldn't be bothered to go and find the weight sheet. I will edit this when Mike publishes his blog later. Don't even know what my final weight was but it was in the low 60's.

Landsend saturday open

Down the M5 to landsend today and it's a nice change not to have all the horrid school holiday traffic. After one of ID's lush breakfasts it was time for the draw. Only two pegs I didn't fancy as always and that's 1 and 24. With 14 fishing there was little chance I'd draw one of those. WRONG!!!!. Peg 1 was in my hand. Not a peg I fancy at all. Ah well, I guess bad draws are part of match fishing. Got to the peg and it was blowing a gale into my face. To keep it short. The island line at 16 1/2 metres was bloody hard work as bait presentation was crap. Only had one fish there. The end bank took several hours to get going and I only had 5 squeakers there. Under the tree to the right produced just two good skimmers. Only place that produced any half decent fish was the 2+1 line straight in front. But when you go 4 hours with only 1 carp and 1 skimmer it was a case of trying to enjoy catching a few late. At the end I weighed 45-10 for less than nowhere. The match was won by Derrick Beard on 15 with 95-02. It was hard all over with most struggling for the first 3 or 4 hours.

1st Derrick Beard, peg 15, 95-02
2nd Rich Wheatley, peg 13, 85-06
3rd L Jones, peg 22, 72-12

Monday 19 September 2016

Acorn saturday open.

Bit late posting this one but I've been a bit busy since Saturday. With the weather looking pretty good and last week's weights I was hoping the form shown by this fishery would continue. Only 8 turned up today which was a bit of a disappointment. Into the draw bag and peg 7 comes out. Not drawn this for ages after a run of drawing it 6 times in eight matches at the start of the year. Three rigs and a bomb rod were set up. A .1 shallow slim to fish the far side. A .4 slim to fish 2+1 in about 5 feet. And a .15 slim to fish the margins either side. I like my home made Slim's. Pellet was to be fished everywhere today as it was all I had on me. My left margin would be fished over GB and the right just loose fed to see which worked best. As I wasn't quite ready at the start I chucked the bomb out with 8mm pellet, to the corner of the island towards the bridge while I fed my other lines. Before I'd finished pinging pellets across the tip pulled round and a 3 pounder found itself in my net. I then fed my margin lunes with the pole cup then chucked the bomb out again. The tip flew round again but I missed it. By the time I reeled in there were carp in the margin. So I dropped an 8mm in the right margin. 15 minutes later and 4 carp landed I thought the peg was on fire. Then the fire brigade turned up and put it out. The next two hours produced 1 fish. Even though the carp were feeding on the loose feed they totally ignored the hook bait. Only the odd liner moving the float. A try across only produced one fish. The bomb line had dried up too. Then at the midway point I started to get the odd fish. After 4 hours I had around 60lb in the net so I thought bugger it and upped the feed. That had the desired effect and the last two hours I put around 100lb in the net from both margin lines. It seemed the more GB I put in the more fish turned up. Lesson learnt for next time. Over on peg 5 Mace Graham had a very similar day as me with a long dead stretch after a flying start. At the end I guessed at around 160lb and ended up putting 163-2 on the scales for second on the day. Mace weighed 128-6 for 4th. The match was won by Lydney bagging machine Norm Sterry on peg 15 with 225-4. A good day again. The place is just getting better.

1st Norn Sterry  225-4, peg 15
2nd Me with 163-2, peg 7
3rd Mark Walsh 129-14, peg 21
4th Mace Graham 128-6, peg 5

Sunday 11 September 2016

Avalon open

Off to Avalon fishery today for another open organised by Tony Rixon. A stop off at Landsend first to fill my belly with one of Di' s fab cooked breakfast set me up for the day. 14 fishing to day all pegged on the right hand bank as you look down the lake from the carpark. Peg 37 comes out for me which is about halfway down. A nice looking peg as most are at this fishery with a gap between two islands opposite me. Two rods and three rigs were set up. A bomb rod and waggler to fish pellet as tight as possible to the island at about 35 meters. A paste rig to fish 12 meters. A .5 pencil to fish soft or hard pellet at 2+2. As it's the same depth right out this would do to fish the paste line if I wanted a change. Plus a margin rig, but that never got used apart from plumbing up. Started on the paste rig and did ok for the first 40 minutes with three carp netted and one lost, but loads of missed bites was a bit frustrating. I tried hard pellet and expanders over that line but the float was motionless so it was back on the paste for another round of missed bites. I then tried the 2+2 line but got no indications there, even though it was fizzing. After a couple of hours I tried the bomb. I had a couple of savage pull rounds but the .017 hook link was smashed before I got my hand on the rod. I chucked the waggler out but just missed a couple of bites. So it was another go on the paste but all I got was one more carp and a lost fouler. The short line was tried again but still nothing. So it was back on the waggler and I started to catch as long as I could get it tight to the island. The rest of the match was spent over to the island putting a dozen or more carp in the net. At the end I had clicked 65 pound and was very close as the scales went to 64 dead for third on the day. The match was won by Craig Trigger Edmonds, as many are these days, with 124-12. He's unstoppable at the moment. Second was Martin Lanaghan with 77-5. Top silvers went to Tony Rixon who managed  33-12 of quality skimmers. Gotta admit I thoroughly enjoyed catching on the wag today. Should have gone on it a bit earlier. Ah well, Ce'st la vie.

1st. Trigger 124-12, peg 30
2nd Martin Lanaghan 77-5, peg 26
3rd Me 64lb, peg 37

Top silvers Tony Rixon 33-12, peg 32.
Second Ziggy 26-8, peg 27

Sunday 4 September 2016

Acorn saturday open.

With the weather forecast looking very dodgy a good draw was important today. Peg 36 would be nice tucked in behind the sheds. Strong winds and rain forecast all day, so not a nice thought. Into the bag and ping pong  ball 18 comes out. Not fished the road bank for ages but the lake has been chucking up weights a over so wasn't too bothered. Got to the peg and it was already blowing hard from left to right, but I could see fish on the far side. Three rigs today, all Slim's. A .1 to fish 6 or 8mm banded tight over in 15 inches. A .4 to fish pellet at 2+2 .  And a .15 to fish worm or caster down the margin. And on that note, I don't think I'll bother taking that bait with me again as all it attracts is whitebait. The first couple of hours was spent fighting the wind at 14 metres. I stuck with it as it was solid over there but because of the wind it was making bait presentation almost impossible. But on the odd occasion it dropped I caught. I could have sacked up over there on another day. But then It got just too strong and after I had the pole blown round at 90 degrees several times and wanting my pole packed away in one piece I decided to put that away. I came in on the usually reliable 2+2 line and got nothing after 20 minutes. So it was the margin line next. And after an hour of nothing I had dropped behind most people by a long way. The young lad on 15 was getting a few on the method flicked to the island and had about 10 fish during my dead period. I got a bomb rod out and tried that and even though there were fish right on it I never got a pull round. So that was 90 fishless minutes. So it was back to the margin were I saw the first tail after swapping to pellet from caster feed and started catching. The last hour and half I put 14 fish in the net and finished with what I thought was 120lb. I was close with 116-14 going on the scales for nowhere today. You will have to look at the weigh sheet photo for the result as I didn't stay due to being a tad wet and it's hard to make out the writing. All in all, it could have been a superb day even though weights were still good but the wind made life realy hard and definitely stopped me catching alot more. But that's fishing for you.

Tuesday 30 August 2016

Gary Wall memorial match Landsend fishery

Bank holiday Monday and I guess there's only one thing to do, so it was off down the M5 to Landsend for this anual comp. Started off with a cooked brekkie which went down a treat as usual. Into the draw bucket late and out pops 21. A good peg, that I'm not sure I've fished  before, but it would be the same attack as usual at this venue. A pellet rig for 16m tight to the island in 10 inches of water. A meat rig for 2+2 and a shallow rig to fish meat over the top. Plus a margin rig to fish 8mm pellet at 8m along my left margin next to a very inviting patch of Lillie's. After feeding all lines I started on the shallow meat line but nothing happened after 15 minutes and the tail wagging on the far side was just too tempting. So the next couple of hours was spent over there. But it was hard, as it's so shallow the fish were very spooky. Even though they were feeding on the loose fed pellets they are very clued up to hook baits and ignored the banded pellets, so bites were a premium. But as it sounded as though it was slow for everybody I stuck with it. After three hours and only eight fish. I gave the deep meat line a try. Only one carp resulted in 15 minutes so a look in the margin. First drop in produced a 2lb tench, then a pesky roach. Then a good carp of around 10lb. But that was it for then. Back on the island line and I upped the loose feed and managed a decent run of 6 fish but then one decided to take my elastic. So it was back to the margin for the last hour as Joe McMahon was doing  well next to me, and I took 5 more including a couple of proper margin lumps. I thought it would be close around the lake and it was with 6 anglers within 7lb of each other. My net went 111-7 for nowhere. Joe managed 118-2 for second on the lake. Lake winner was Ken Rainer with just over 160lb. Sorry not 100% sure of weight as my phone battery went so no weigh sheet. Second, on lake three, was Alan Oram with 149lb. Think I managed 6th. Highlight was Trigger coming 7th with 111lb, and threatening to give up fishing. We retrieved his dummy in the car park later. Can I have your pole for spares Trig.

Sunday 14 August 2016

Landsend saturday open.

Early start today as i was expecting the motorway to be busy again, and i wasn't disappointed. All the weekenders had jumped on the motorway to join the gridlock heading south for the weekend. Still got to the fishery with plenty of time to enjoy a fab cooked breakfast. 10 fishing today so lots of room and I was hoping for a draw between 13  and 19 as this seemed to be the best area of late, and was happy when 13 got stuck in my hand. A corner peg at the far end that I had drawn a couple of times this year already and framed both times with good weights. Got to the peg and was surprised how much the overhanging tree has grown. It now goes from the end bank to the left out to 5 metres to my right and is reachable easily with 5 section. Combined with it being only a few feet off the water it's becoming a nuisance to fish long. It realy needs to come out before it falls in as the trunk seams to  be leaning more and more over the water. For company today I had Rod Wooten to my right, and it was good to see he was walking upright again. He has looked pretty rough with a bad back lately. Beyond him was Dave Wescott. Opposite was Roy ?. Sorry but don't know his last name. Four rigs today. A .1 shalla slim to fish tight against the afore mentioned tree stump at 6 metres and also to the point of the island at 16 1/2 metres. I was still a metre short but this side of the island has a decent shallow shelf that I could reach. A .2 margin  diamond to fish pellet in 2 feet to my right towards the next platform. It was snaggy after 6 metres along that bank to that as far as I went. A .4 slim to fish pellet at 16 metres s towards the airiator. And another .4 slim for a meat line at 2+2 just short of the overhanging tree. At the start all  lines were fed and it was out to the island. Fish were straight onto the loose feed but we're shying away from the banded pellet and it was ten minute before I got my first carp. Back out and a pouch of pellets and it erupted again but again it took a while for the next fish. This went on for 90 minutes were I managed about 6 fish. Not the start I wanted. These fish can be very cagey sometimes. Rod was realy struggling with one carp and one roach. Roy opposite was fishing for silvers and was putting the odd fish in the net, but from what I could tell it wasn't on fire around the lake. A look along the end bank only produced one bite and lost fish and that was it for that line for the day. The meat line was dead so that was 20 minutes wasted. As was the right margin. Even the long line toward the airiator was void of action. Back out on the island line and I just plugged away getting the odd fish but it was a waiting game. Rod had taken a couple by now but like my fish they were on the small fish. Roy had now started to get the odd carp and from the silence I guessed Mark Walsh was catching. I managed a couple from the margin but after 3 lost fish I thought I'd rest it and with 90 to go I tried the airiator line again, planing on doing that for 30 minutes as it was fizzing and trying the margin for the last hour, and had a small carp first drop. Five minute's later the best carp of the day was landed. But all I could get then was fast missed bites. So instead of putting that rig down and trying the margin again I stubbornly tried to get more out there. Big mistake. When I did come into the margin it was solid, even though they weren't big. In the last 40 minute's I put 8 in the net and lost 4. I had about 25 carp by the end for what I thought was around 80lb. At the weigh in Mark was leading when I weighed with 92-10. My nets went 88-2. Bugger!!! Wasting time fishing for phantom bites cost me as I managed second with that weight. Rod put 51-12 on the scales but had a torrid time loosing loads in the last hour from awkward for striking  and not setting the hook properly. Russ Peck had a decent second half on peg 19 with 63-0 of shallow caught fish. I guess they say you learn by your mistakes and I did today. Dont waste too much time chasing fish that ain't having it properly. Not fishing the margin early enough was an expensive lesson.

1st mark Walsh 92-10 peg 5
2nd me 88-2 peg 13
3rd Russ Peck 63-0 peg 19
4th Roy ? 60-12 peg11

1st in silvers Mark Walsh 14-8

Sunday 7 August 2016

Mrs Rixon's short pole series, Chilton Trinity, round 3

Round three today and I know I'm already out of contention after two disastrous rounds. But I was determined to get a result. At the draw I just wanted to be away from the bottom corner, as so far it has been the worst place on the lake, and I had drawn it both previous matches. Into the draw box, cardboard, very classy, and out comes 23, yep bottom corner again ffs. So off I trudge head down to peg. On my arrival it was clear it could be difficult as the wind was blowing a hoolie into that corner. So confidence was smashed out the ground especially as I had the legend Tony Rixon to my right with two empty pegs past him into the corner. Four rigs today. A paste rig to fish at max permitted length of top kit plus three sections. A .75 slim to fish the same line with banded 8mm pellet. A .2 margin diamond in 2 1/2 foot tight in to my right side and a slapper. Company was made up of the aforementioned Mr Rixon on 22, Steve Seager to my left, and opposite an array of reprobates in the shape of Father and son duo Martin and Joe MacMahon, and Jason Radford on 15. As usual the banter started early with Tony in the area and everybody was getting a bit. At the start I cupped in a big pot of 6mm on the longer line and a few down the edge then went out on the slapper. After a minute the elastic pulled out but the hook didn't set. And that was all the action I had on that, part from the annoying whitebait messing around with it. I stuck that out for 30 minute's then changed to the paste rig as I had some fizzing going on. It did produce a couple of bites but I recon it was small skimmers, so after a while I put the pellet rig out and had a small skimmer second drop in. It must have been lonely down there as that was all for a while, then I managed to hook and land my first carp. After Two hours Steve had two, Tony had knocked out a couple of carp and two skimmers, and the guys opposite had a couple each.  Martin hadn't had any carp as he was hunting whitebait and eels. Things were looking tough all around and the wind didn't help. It was really hard holding the pole even at the short length. It got to a stage where I changed my pellet rig to have 6 inches on the bottom and two feet between the pole tip and float and it was still getting knocked around. Good bait presentation was almost impossible. So it was time for the margin. Even that wasn't easy as there was waves coming in making it hard to tell if it was a bite or just wave auction burrying the float. But it turned out to just be whitebait messing with the 8mm pellet. Stuck that for 30 minutes with nothing, then switched back to the longer pellet line. First drop and carp number two was landed and it was one of the larger specimens of around 15lb. After 3 hours it was looking grim. Tony was catching a few from his right side margin. Steve hadn't added any more and Joe and Martin hadn't put much more in the net. Jason had a few but they were only small. The second half improved. I had a couple more on the longer line and bumped a couple, also two  good fish from the margin. Tony finished strongly and I knew he had given me a whooping. Steve struggled for bites most of the day and ended with three carp and a couple of skimmers but didn't bother weighing. I guessed my 6 carp would go around 55lb but was a bit disappointed when I totaled 49-1 with the skimmer, which gave me the section win, so it was a minor result compared to the first two rounds. Tony ended up with 93-13 for the match win. Well done matey from what had been a poor peg. Just to rub it in, the wind disappeared with 15 minutes to go. Mother nature taking the piss I recon.

1st, Tony Rixon, peg 22, 93-13.
2nd, Does Shipping, peg 10, 80-6.
3rd Tom Magnal, peg 30, 71-1.

Top silvers, Martin MacMahon, peg 18, 12-3

Saturday 30 July 2016

Landsend Saturday open.

Off to Landsend today for the Saturday open. As usual a very good breakfast was consumed before the draw. The girls are doing a great job and the breakfast was fab as usual. I had last but one ticket from the bucket today and found myself on peg 18. Even though it's the first time I've drawn it I fancied it for a few today. For company I had Adrian Jeffrey to my right on 19, so banter was always gonna be good. Andy Hembrow on 16 and Mark Walsh opposite on 5. 4 rigs were set up. A .1 shalla slim to fish pellet in 12 inches of water against the island. A shallow dibber to long line for cruisers between the island. A .4 slim to fish meat at 2+2. And a margin diamond to fish pellet to the margins both sides of my platform. At the start I fed all lines and fired 6mm pellets to the island and started on the meat line. 10 minutes in and no bites so I fed that line again and went out on the island pellet rig. Even though there were carp everywhere over to the island I just couldn't get them. They were coming in for every pouch of pellets I fired across, but getting them to take my book bait was almost impossible. I did get one after about 15 minutes but all I could get apart from that was liners and foulers. I lost five that were hooked everywhere but in the mouth over the next hour and I was a bit confused why they were fighting over the loose feed but never looked at the banded 6 mm pellet. Mark was also getting  plagued by foul hooked fish and had lost a boatload in the first hour. Andy was doing ok, and by the time I managed to reverse my second fish into the net, he was on about 12 fish but they were on the small side. Adrian was also hooking them and putting them back, so it wasn't going to plan for most of us. Two hours in I was still only on 2 carp. I think the sight of Mark Walsh fishing topless was putting me off. Mark had given up on the carp and was now fishing for silvers. Adrian had a couple by now and a lonesome skimmer on meat. Andy was still catching fairly regularly. Time to try the meat rig again but that again produced nothing but one missed bite. So I had a look in the margin. Nothing there yet but I wasn't surprised. Back to the island and I did get a few indications but still no hook ups. I thought maybe the pole over their heads was spooking them so I put the long line rig in and I had one first drop. Sorted it then.... not!!!!. Apart from a couple of missed bites, nothing else. Then I spotted the carp had stopped cruising and could see their tails sticking up. I put my pellet rig in and they started having it. For the next couple of hours I had a good spell taking around 16 carp to near doubles. The last hour I came in to the margin and took 5 quickly then lost a couple which killed it so another try on the meat line for the last 10 minutes produced one more. At the end I was thinking I had around 120lb. Adrian had a good finish on the meat line taking 5 in the last half hour and Andy had caught most of the day. I reckoned he was a dozen fish up on me but mine seemed bigger so I thought I might be responsible close. The scales came round and up to Andy, Jim Jenner was winning with 88-2 from peg 15. Andy pulled his net out and he did have quite a few more than me but there were alot of seekers in there. And his nets went to 135-9. My 25 fish went 115-3 which put me second on the day. Adrian ended with 62-5. Overall it ended ok, but the slow start was very frustrating.

1st Andy Hembrow,  135-0
2nd Me 115-3
3rd Jim Jenner 88-2

First in silvers was Mark Walsh with 16-8

Monday 25 July 2016

Chilton Trinity open.

Off to Chilton Trinity today for an open organised by Mr Rixon. After arriving just in time for the draw thanks to the huge que for food at the motorway services ( bloody school holidays) I had the last ticket left and was handed peg 6. A flyer I was told. We will see. Got to the peg to find plenty of fish cruising as they were all over the lake. Rigs for today were a shallow and deep rig to fish pellet at 13 metres. A meat rig for 2+2. Two margin rigs, as my left margin was two feet deeper than the right, to fish meat or pellet. And a pellet waggler to fish for the cruisers at distance. Feed all lines at the start and started on the shallow rig, slapping an 8mm and feeding 6's. First fish came after 15 minutes. By this time Martin Flanagan opposite had two in the net fishing shallow. I persevered for another 20 minutes but there was no more interest on that line, so I switched to the depth rigs because it was fizzing like a jacuzzi. Five minutes later my first bite and I hooked what I thought was a good skimmer as it came in like a wet sack just flicking it's head. When it came to the surface it turned out to be a munter carp of about 14lb. Then it went nuts. After a nervous fight avoiding  it going under the platform it was safely netted. But that was it for that line. Two hours later all I had added was a small skimmer to the net. I tried the margins but was getting blasted by whitebait on meat and pellet. At one stage I thought my meat was starting to rise in the water, as three pieces came to the surface, but it was tiny roach chasing each other around  with it in their mouths. Even 8mm pellet was getting hammered and the float just wouldn't settle if it got to the bottom. So I tried the pellet wag at about 35 metres and did manage to get one, but that was the only bite on that. At the four hour mark it was looking like a struggler all round this end of the lake, then Martin MacMahon started to catch in his margin on pellet on peg 2. The rest of the match didn't change much but I did get two small carp from the left margin. At the weigh I put a miserable 32-2 on the scales and yet again went home not too happy. First on the day ,yet again,  was Tony Rixon. Continuing his good run of wins, on peg 15 with 108-15, fishing shallow then catching down his edge.  Second was Clayton Hudson on peg 24 with 88-4 of shallow caught carp. Third was Martin MacMahon with 74-6. First in the silver's was Ken Rayner with 7-13. Not sure when it's gonna happen but I will have a good day at this venue. Maybe next time in a couple of weeks.

Saturday 23 July 2016

Acorn saturday open.

Off to Acorn fishery for the fortnightly Saturday open . With the weather looking good and recent results I was hoping a few would turn up, but no. Just three of us. I just don't understand it. The place is fishing it's nuts off and being so close to Bristol you'd think this would be popular with the locals. A good cooked breakfast and a good comp, what more do people want. I surprised Bev continues to bother with the Saturday comps with this sort of support. I was tempted to head off to Landsend but decided it wouldn't be fair to leave the other two that turned up so we decided to have a winner take all knock up. Fair play to Bev, she didn't charge us any peg fee so the pot was worth winning. Barty was on the long island clearing  all the margin grasses that had got out of control and boy!!! did he give it a crew cut. Back to the mud banks. And while he was doing it the carp were trying to climb up the digger bucket. They were going nuts in the dirty water feeding. We decided to fish pegs 6, 9 and 11. Mark Walsh drew 11, venue newbie Ross Stewart was on 6 and I had peg 9. To keep it short I fished most of the day tight across feeding and fishing pellet. First half of the match was frustrating as I was loosing two and landing one. Mark was doing the same fishing paste short. Half way through I had about 50lb in the net and had lost a lot more. Didn't seem as if they were having it properly. So I changed from feeding by catapult and fishing 8mm banded, to potting it in and fishing 6mm banded and this improved things dramatically. Apart from a short stint on the 2+1 line fishing pellet were i took 4 decent carp I stuck to the far side and ended up with around 42 carp. At the end I wanted to feed heavier as they were waiting for it to be potted in so I used 2 pole pots. Looked a bit strange but it doubled my feeding. And it just got stronger as the match ended. At the weigh in, Mark was talking his usual dribble saying he had a bit over 90lb. But I knew he had a lot more as he had quite a few more than me even though they were smaller. His 90lb turned out to be 172lb. Then it was my turn. The first net I weighed was the one I put in with 40 minutes to go and that went 41lb. I totaled 192lb, but!!!! and please dont tell Tony Rixon, I'd gone over the limit in one net by 2lb and it was disqualified so I was  knocked back to 111lb. Bugger!!!!!!. Ross struggled on peg 6 and only managed 32lb. it was a very nice days fishing even if I was a total Wally with my nets but the banter was good. Hope you enjoy the bottle of wine your gonna buy with the winnings Mark. Don't choke on it lol.the next open is in two weeks. If ya want a good day get your asses down there and support the fishery.

Sunday 17 July 2016

Avalon open

Not been to this picturesque venue for a while so I was looking forward to the comp today. Went to Landsend fishery to have a breakfast before the match and found It was a little overrun as the ladies hadn't banked on so many turning up. Off to Avalon after filling my belly and found there was 34 fishing today so a good turn out. Last time I was here I drew peg 48 in the far corner of the carpark bank and managed a win, and blow me down I drew it again. Happy chappy. For company I had Leon Hubbard opposite on peg 1 and Joe MacMahon on peg46. and that was all I could see. Got to the peg and after a bit of gardening on the end bank I set up 4 rigs. A .1 shall slim to fish 8mm over 6's at 16 metres along to the end bank. A .4 slim to fish meat at 2+2. A paste rig to fish paste over micros at 8 metres, and a .3 diamond to fish corn to my right hand margin. I also set up a pellet waggler to fish under the trees along the end bank behind the moored boat. At the all in I fed all lines then went straight out on the wag with 11mm pellet and firing out 8's. Second chuck and I'm into my first carp. If about 4lb. But that was it for a while 30 minutes later I cast out, picked up my catty and as I was firing some pellets to the end bank the rod tip rips round but it came off a few seconds later. Ten minutes later I hook another but it shot under the boat and snagged me up, so I pulled for a break. Set another float up, wanged it out and put it straight up the tree. Bugger. Rig lost before it got wet. So I put that down and went for the end bank rig. Dropped an 8mm pellet in and within seconds the float buries and carp number Two is safely netted. I stuck with this line for a while, but even though it wasn't hectic I was getting the odd fish, even though they were a bit on the small side. Leon and Joe weren't doing g so well so I thought I'd just take what I could for now. But after about an hour that line went very quiet so I tried all the other line over the next half hour but had nothing. So back to the end bank and I had a decent hour putting another 6 fish in the net. I was now on a dozen for about 50lb when the sun came out and it totally killed the peg off. I couldn't get a bite anywhere and in the last 2 1/2 hours I only had two more carp, one from the end bank and one squeaker from the right margin. At the whistle I was glad it was over. Joe had a few at the end but I was sure I had him beat and Leon had struggled for most of the day. My clicker was on 62lb but I thought I'd overdone that by just a few pounds and was banking on 60lb. I was first to weigh and put 58-10 on the scales. Joe had 44-12 but as I was right next to the car park I didn't follow the scales. As it turned out the ever consistent Tony Rixon had top weight from peg 28 catching mainly shallow on pellet with 125-2. Second was Tom Magnal with 86-15 from peg 11 caught on pellet waggle and later expanders fished short. I managed to steel the section money by default so my day was paid for. It fished hard for quite a few with several anglers calling it a day early.

1st Tony Rixon 125-2, peg 24
2nd Tom Magnal 86-15, peg 11
3rd Dave Domain 69-12, peg 44

Silvers first, Paul Fairs 21-8, peg 21

Sunday 26 June 2016

Landsend open

Tony Rixon was running another of his well run opens today and with 25 expected it was to be spread over Match and Speci lakes. I was there in plenty of time for the obligatory cooked breakfast, and very nice it was too as usual. I was first in line at the draw and peg 13 stuck to my fingers. I've had a couple of wins from this peg in the past to was quite pleased. For company I had Jason 'Mini Me' Radford on 15, Adrian Jeffry on 16 and Pete nurse (I think) on 11, and with me and Adrian either side of Jason he was in for some verbal abuse lol.
Three rigs today.
A .1 shalla slim to fish the end bank tight to the tree stump with m pellet. It would also do for my right hand margin but I never ended up trying that.
A .4 slip to fish 16m out by the airiator with8mm over 6's on the deck.
And a .3 slim to fish meat at 2+2.
Fed all lines and by the time I had cupped in some pellets on the long line fish were fizzing over the meat line.
Popped a piece of meat on and lowered it in and the float never settled. Carp number one in the net. Happy days. Back in and a clue of minutes later a beautiful bright orange, golden tench was in the net. I fished this line for the first hour and put 4 carp, an f1, a good skimmer and the tench in the net but it then went quiet. By this time the Jason Radford comedy road show had us all laughing. He managed to put his slapper rig 10 feet up a tree on the island so of course we had to give him a serve of abuse lol. The squirrel jokes were flying. But as usual he takes it with a smile. He had a couple of decent carp but was struggling to get them going. Adrian was catching rarely steady but Pete was having a mare loosing just about everything he hooked. I switch to the end back a was rewarded with a run of fish. But foulers was a problem and was loosing quite a few. Then that went quiet. So back on the meat line. Stuck at that for a while but that line had just about dried up. So it was out to 16m where I had been feeding quite heavily with 6mm pellet and was soon onto fish. Again I was loosing a few but they were coming quick enough to keep at it. The rest of the match was spent swapping from the long line and the end bank and by the end I was guessing at around 150lb. I went around to follow the scales, and by the time they got to me Sean Townsend was top with 121lb. My fish took the scales around to 160-3 which was enough to put me top on the lake and see one overall. Just for a change Tony Rixon had top weight with 190-9 on peg 39 on Speci. Again a very nice days fishing amongst good company. What could be better. My second,  second place of the weekend. Im slowly getting better on these commercial fisheries. Its taken its bloody time.

1st Tony Rixon 190-9
2nd Me 160-3
3rd Russ Peck peg 18, 129-14
4th Glenn Bailey peg 36 126-14

Acorn fishery Saturday open

Off to Acorn fishery today for the fortnightly open. After tucking into a very tasty breakfast it was a quick wonder around a few of the pegs before the draw. 9 fishing today and after a redraw because Mark Walsh forget one of the ping pong balls in the bag I pulled out peg 36 on the end of the sheds. Not one I fancied but as decent weights were showing all over the lake anything could happen. A fare bit of gardening was needed as the far bank hadn't been cut for ages so I spent 15 minutes over on the island. For company today I had Andy France to my right on 34 and Darren Vowles on 38.
Three rigs today.
A .1 shalla slim to fish the two spots I had cleared tight over with 8mm over 6's. This rig would also do to fish my left hand margin.
A .4 slim to fish 2+2 with 8mm over 6's.
And a .3 diamond d to fish in front the two pellets left and right but that rig never got touched.
Fed all lines and went straight over to the island. Second drop of the bait and the first carp was on and netted. Fish were obviously in a feeding mood as Darren and Andy were straight into fish. Darren catching on the bomb and Andy on long pole across to the island. To keep it short I stayed on the long pole fof the first 5 hours taking fish steadily. The right hand side was the most productive. I did try the 2+2 line but that produced nothing. The last hour I went to my left margin were I took 12 carp on 8mm. For a change I used my clicker today and was guessing I had put around 150lb in the net.i was very close as I managed 154-3 for second on the day being Gabe Scarba who had 184-14 on peg 16 on soft pellet over groundbait. Overall it fished realy well with 6 weights over the ton mark.

1st, Gabe Scarba peg 16, 184-14
2nd me peg 36, 154-3
3rd Mark Walsh peg 9, 122-3
4th Chris Cottrell peg11, 118-4

Saturday 18 June 2016

Landsend Saturday open

As I'm working tomorrow I was determined to make the most of today so it was off down the M5 to Landsend. As there was a club match on the match lake the 12 of us in attendance would be on lake 3. After a very nice breakfast it was into the bucket and peg 50 comes my way. Only fished this lake once so not much idea on what pegs are what. It did look nice at the end of an island but the single stalks of overhanging grass made it a nightmare. Just couldn't see them. Four rigs today. A .3 margin diamond to fish meat two metres off the right hand bank on a nice flat spot. A .4 slim to fish meat at 2+2 just to my left.  A .3 slim set up to fish for silvers if I was struggling for carp. This didn't get used so no more about that one. And a .1 shalla slim. To fish pellet tight across. This is a new float I've started making and gotta say I realy like it. The problems started when I was plumbing up. Dragged the rig into some invisible grass over to the island and trashed it before it ever got used. Glad I'd tied four of them up last night. It turned out I had to fish a metre short of the island or it was just non stop snagging up. At the start I fed all line and went straight over cattying 6's and fishing an 8mm on the band. Well to say it was a slow start is an understatement. After 30 minutes I'd only had 1 F1 And a small carp of around a pound. But as there was no sound of splashing fish anywhere I wasn't the only one struggling. But I kept at it feeding 20 pellets every couple of minutes and I did manage to put a couple more in the net. But foul hookers was a problem and I had pulled out of a few. There were fish slurping at the bank and every time I tried to get in tight I caught the grass stalks. Tourettes was starting to take hold. Rod Wooton opposit was struggling and was not enjoying the day especially as it was a bit chilly and wet. Though I recon he had found his flux capacitor as by the songs he was singing I recon he had travelled back 50 years in time. Though when he started whistling Whispering Grass i recon he was taking the piss lol. And I could hear Allen Oram saying he was struggling for bites. As nothing was coming my way I had a look on the meat lines. The close line to my right was devoid of any fish at this time. But the 2+2 meat line produced a couple of small F1's and a big perch of about 2lb and a couple of small skimmers. But the action didn't last long so it was back across to the island. The fish had turned up now and over the next couple of hours I put a dozen or so carp in the net but lost alot more. Plus two more grass trashed rigs. Tourettes now ramping up. With ninety minutes to go I came back to the meat lines as the far line went silly. Can only guess lots of whitebait had turned up as I'd missed about 20 bites in a row with not hook ups at all. Not even foulers. Another big perch came to the 2+2 line but that just wasn't working so I dropped in on the right hand side and the float buried and I was connected to something a bit bigger. But as my number 16 elastic bottomed out the hook pulled. Back in and ten minutes later another lump hooked and same result. Very frustrating. Then a good skimmer, a crusian and a small carp hit my net. Then yet another lump hooked that tore off and broke me. Tourettes now in full swing and I was tempted to bite my top kit in two lol. That was it for the day. Thought I had about 70lb but should have been way over the ton as I recon I lost alot more than I landed. The scales came around and I put 10-13 of silver and 46-12 of carp for a total of 57-09, which managed to get me second on the day. The match was won by Gary Flinders with 96-08 from peg 66. Rod Wooton was third from peg 62 with 47-06. Didn't fish that well today with most struggling. Very frustrating day as I'm sure if I could have got tighter to the island I would have had alot more. The island needs a hair cut.

1st Gary Flinders 96- 08 peg 66
2nd Stuart Barnett 57-09 peg 50
3rd Rod Wooton 47-06 peg 62

Silvers Eric Fouracres 12lb peg 68

Saturday 11 June 2016

Acorn Saturday open

After last week where the match was run with no peg fees to try and up the interest in the opens I was hoping a few would turn up today. But no. Just 4 turned up. Shame on people who just turn up cos they think there will be loads of pools money to be paid out. But again this week  we weren't charged peg fees. Fair play on the fishery owners. Wouldn't happen anywhere else. Whinge over.
After a very nice brekkie we decided to just stick in the pegs that have been fishing well lately. So 6, 9, 22 and 34 were put in. Ping pong ball 6 came out in my hand and I was pretty happy cos there were plenty of fish showing at the end of the islands. The water had been topped up and it was up by at least 6 inches on last week. Four rigs, as usual for me. A slapper, as there were a few slurping at the scummy surface. A .15 shalla slim for tight across in two foot of water. A.4 slim to fish 2+one and a half to fish pellet to a feature in this peg that not many know about,  but is a food holding spot. Always caught on this line on peg 6. And a .3 margin diamond to fish the margins were there was now plenty of depth. Started the match fishing 6mm banded over 6's across. Took me about ten minutes to get my first fish on. But not for long as it pulled out somewhere past peg 8 lol. Then two more were on and off quickly, GRRRR!!!. 4th try and one finds the net. Then 3 more lost. So after 45 minutes I was suffering from severe tourettes. Then I finally got my act together and started putting a few in the net. After 2 hours I had 10 in the net no idea what Mark Walsh had on 22 or Steve Cottrell on 34. Tim Whitchurch on 9 had only had a couple. I started feeding the margins with pellet and corn and continued to feed 6mm pellet on my short line preparing for the second half. At the half way stage I had 18 in the net and decided to look at the short line. Well it was a good move. I stayed there for the rest of the match apart from a couple of looks down the margin that were very slow and a couple more fish across. I ended up with 41 carp for 159-02 and a win. Nice days fishing with plenty of bites. This venue is getting better and better. Mark was second with an all top two caught 135-04. Tim got third with 53lb and Steve had 51-02. The next open is in two weeks. Let's hope for a few more anglers.

1st, me, peg 6, 159-02
2nd, Mark Walsh, peg 22, 135-04
3rd, Tim Whitchurch, peg 9, 53lb
4th, Steve Cottrell, peg 34, 51-02

Tuesday 7 June 2016

Acorn Tuesday cost cutter

Back to Acorn today for another go. Been doing Ok at this place lately so happy to be going there again. No breakfast on site today so it was a quick drive into Clevedon to find some nosh, and I got a very nice egg and bacon sarny at a roadside van. Lovely jubbly. Of to the venue and a dip into the bag and ping pong ball 1 sticks to my hand. Happy with that as Bob Gullick got a second place on saturday. For company I had the improving Tony Rixon on peg three, with whom I had a quid side bet, and Keith Turner at the other end of the island on 5. Four rigs today. A .15 shallow version of the slims I make to fish 6 or 8mm pellet across to the far side in 18 inches of water. A slapping rig incase they started cruising. A .3 slim to fish pellet at 2+1. And a .2 mugger to fish the margins with 8mm pellet over 6's the right side margin was around the end of the island so my pole was cross the grass. Camouflage lol. At the all in I dropped a few pellets on the 2+1 line and then went straight across at 13 metres with 6mm banded pellet. Only took about 3 minutes to get my first fish which was a decent stamp around 6lb. In the first half hour I had four and had opened up a bit of a lead over Tony, not that I thought that would last long. Stayed on this line for about and hour and a half keeping my lead then Tony did what he does best and started to slowly empty his peg. My fish slowed up, as Tony told me after I just didn't feed heavy enough. Though I did put in three pints of pellets by the end. Lesson learnt for Saturday. By mid way Tony was probably 5 fish up on me and I had to try something to pull it back. A look on my other lines produced nothing at this time, so I grabbed my slapper and shortened it to fish 6 inches deep tight against the bank cover to the island. This did produce a couple of decent fish but it wasn't producing enough. So it was back to the deck rig swapping from 6 to 8mm pellet. Stayed on it for another hour taking the odd fish but I was falling farther behind. With 90 minutes to go I spotted the first fish in the margin so it was on with an 8 mm pellet that's were I spent the rest of the match taking around 8 more fish mainly from the right margin. I was first to weigh and I put 25 carp on the scales for 95-12. Tony was next and I knew he'd done me like a dogs dinner, and he took top honours today with 138-04. A master class at fishing shallow. The island was the place to be as Keith weighed 73-8 of paste caught fish. The rest of the lake was bit of a struggle. To round the day off I thought I'd lost my phone so it was a march around the lake with no luck. But!!! I found it when I got home. I'd managed to drop it in my rod holdall and zip it up. What a plonker lol

1st, peg 3 Tony Rixon 138-04
2nd, peg 2 me 95-12
3rd, peg 5 Keith Turner 73-08
4th, peg 6 Mike Laird 53-09
5th, peg 25 Glen Bailey 51-10

Sunday 5 June 2016

Hillview Craphole sunday open

Another lovely day weather wise was on the cards so I decided to give Hillview yet another try. Every time I go there it fishes crap and today was no different. In fact it's the worst I've seen there. Yet again almost every peg on the venue was in use with 2 comps and about 15 pleasure anglers already fishing when I got to my peg. Drew peg64 on canal 2. Never fished that canal before so all I could do was follow my instinct. Won't bother boring you with rig details as I caught next to nothing on all rigs, all baits and every possible spot I could pick in my peg. Tipped about 12lb back with 45 minutes left after having less than 3lb in the last 2 hours I fished. Don't know any results as I was gone before the wiegh in. Fair to say I won't be wasting any more fuel going to that craphole again as long as I got a hole in my ass. Probably the worst venue I've had the displeasure of fishing.

Saturday 4 June 2016

Acorn saturday open

A short drive to Acorn fishery today. Was hoping  for a good turnout as they are pushing the Saturday opens and were tempting people with a match free of peg fee so all the coin went into the pot. After a nice brekkie it was into the Drawbag and ping pong ball 22 sticks to my puddy. Nice bridge peg and it turned out to be end peg on the road bank .... Cushty!!!!!. Got to the peg and looking along to the top end of the lake there were carp topping everywhere. I hoped I could pull some down to me. Four rigs today. A slapper to try to get the cruisers on banded 8mm pellet. A .15 margin mugger to fish my left margin on pellet or corn. A .2 slim to fish the far side tight to the grass. And a .4 slim to fish 2+1 on 6mm pellet. I was hoping this would be my main banker line. At the start I threw a few pellets onto my short line then went across to the far side. First drop in and a fish straight away, then it snagged me and pulling it I trashed the rig. Good start... not. Rig sorted and out again. Float slides away and the first carp safely landed. Followed quickly by another. Then a couple of foulers before the next fish but foulers spooked them a bit. Sean Clayton on 22 was just getting tiny stockies on corn at this point. I had alot of trouble with floating grass, from a recent bankside trim, getting in the way and at times was struggling to get the float to settle so I switched along to another gap about 7 metres to the left and started catching a few there. The little stockies were being a nuisance messing with the 6 mm pellet so I went to an 8mm. After about 2 hours I had ten or so carp in the net. All the time I was drip feeding pellets ever few minutes on the short line. Then I decided to cup in a some pellets and corn in the margin and there were fish on it instantly. Had a couple of good fish there in 30 minutes but they were a bit spooked as it was only 10 inches deep. So it was time to try the short line as it was now fizzing. And caught first drop. Had three there then saw some cruisers to the left over the far side. So it was another section added and over at 14 metres. Had two but they were being fussy. Nudging the pellet then turning away. Didn't stick with that for too long as I thought the short line was the way to go. So I stuck to that for most of the time we had left taking about another 15 fish. Had a couple late down the edge too. Even thought it seemed to be solid on the 2+1 line I don't think they were having it properly as I was getting loads of indications but missing loads of bites. And half of what I landed was foul hooked. But they all count. From what I could hear it wasn't fishing too well across the other side and was told I had it won. But I never count my chickens too early. I thought I might have somewhere around 150lb. I was first to wiegh and put 134-6 on the scales which did turn out to be top on the day. Happy with that and that's two on the trot at Acorn for me. Happy day's especially as it was a very good pay out today. More new tackle coming my way lol. Top silvers today was Bob Gullick with 11lb which was fun as Des Shipp missed out by ounces and moaned like hell as Bob's silver were F1's. Might go to Hillview tomorrow. See how I feel in the morning.

1st Me 134-6
2nd Dom Sullivan 116-4
3rd Steve Howell 83-4

Silvers Bob Gullick 11lb

Monday 30 May 2016

Bank holiday Landsend open

Landsend fishery was today's location for another of Tony Rixon's well run knock ups. Arrived nice and early so had plenty of time for one of the scrummy breakfasts. A good turnout with 19 fishing, spread across match and top lakes and I pulled peg 3 from the bucket. A decent peg with the island easily reachable at 13 metres. Got to the peg and was greeted with the sound of carp crashing around everywhere, spawning like crazy. But strangely it was very quite in my peg. Wasn't too displeased with that. Personally I've not seen them like this before. Quite a sight. Set up four rigs today. A shallow rig for slapping and mugging. A .15 slim to fish banded pellet across in 18 inches of water. A .2 margin mugger to fish meat or corn both sides, and a .3 slim to fish meat down the middle. For company I had Alan Oram on peg 1, Russ Peck on 5. And through the trees on the island I could just make out where Rod Wooton and Craig Trigger Edmonds were opposit on 19 and 21. I could also just see Tony Rixon's pole sticking out to the island on peg 11. A nice draw with 3 empty pegs to his left, draw bag!!!. At the start I put in a big pot of 8mm meat at 9 metres and some corn and meat down the margins, and pinged some pellets to the island. Out to 9 metres to start on meat and had my first carp after 5 minutes. Then I lost two in two drops and that line went quite. Stuck with it for another half an hour but never had another bite. Tony was catching a fish a bung shallow to the island from what I could tell, and Trigger and Anton Page on 7 were also catching shallow. I went out to the island and had one first drop. Followed quickly by another decent fish. Russ was flicking a long line shallow and was hooking and loosing a few. Alan seemed to be struggling for anything. I tried shallow tight over but the reeds had been flattened my the amorous goings on by the carp and I couldn't get close enough. I did get a carp, F1 and a tench but it wasn't realy working. So it was back on the depth rig were I picked up the odd fish. This is were I made a big mistake. I was watching people catching shallow or at depth across to the island and I kept on it too long when it wasn't realy working for me. It slowed up and I spent too long waiting for something to happen. After a quite middle two hours a swiche'd back to the meat line and caught straight away. Should have done this earlier. Hindsight is a great thing. I stuck to this line for most of the last two hours with the odd look across where I did get a couple more and one lump from my margin and also mugged a couple. I ended up with about 18 carp and guessed about 100lb. Alan wieghed first and after a good last couple of hours fishing shallowon pellet and meat close in he put 104-12 on the scales. Mine went 110-13 and Russ wieghed 90-08. Anton was next with 190-08, and then it was the turn of the Bristol bagger Tony Rixon who had 5 nets in and put 294lb on the scales for a win by over 100lb. Well done mate!!. It fished it's nuts off with more than half the anglers hitting the ton mark.

1st Tony Rixon 294lb
2nd Craig Edmonds 196-14
3rd Anton Page 190-08

Sunday 29 May 2016

Hillview sunday open.

After a chat with Gabe Scarba yesterday it was off to Hillview for another crack at getting a decent wieght. It seams every time I go there it fishes poorly with low weights, and today turned out no different. With almost every peg on the venue being used, as there were pleasure anglers, 28 in the open, and a hastily arranged club match because of yet another double booking stuff up at Windmill fishery, it looked like it could be hard. The Windmill fishery organisation is little short of farcical at times as he had booked a club match on the same day as 6000 scouts would be using all the facilities. Even stranger as I thought there were opens there every Sunday. They realy need to get their act together. Anyway, I drew peg 45 on the first canal and apart from Gabe opposite me on the second canal I didn't know anybody else there. And by the accents of most they all seemed to be from the Islamic principality of Birmingham. 4 rigs today. A dibber for slapping or mugging. A .2 slim for 6mm banded hard pellet over 4s at 12 metres against the far side reeds. A .3 slim for maggot at 2+1. And a margin rig to fish maggot or corn in the margin. But after 5 goes in the second half of the match that line was biteless so no more on that. Started across on pellet and fouled a small carp in the wrong end that i just netted before the hook pulled out. Back in and two lost fish in a row spooked them for a while. 15 minutes before my next fish, a decent carp, then an F1. But bites were very sporadic . A couple of bites or a fish hooked or lost and they would disappear for a while. The guy to my left had stuck on the top 2 line on maggot from the start and started to get a few smaller samples so I followed suit. I took a while before I caught but after a few tiny skimmers and one decent carp that went dead and stayed dead for the remainder of the match. But looking around everybody was struggling for bites. I'd only seen Gabe get the odd fish. So most of the rest of the match was spent across on the pellet line. I did get three on the dibber rig shoved right against the plastic bank eight inches deep after I saw them slurping. But with the fish doing a Benny Hill impersonation, chasing each other around endlessly and crashing through the reeds it turned out to be a very difficult day. But it was hard all over. At the end I guessed I'd had 40lb and was close as the scales went to 37 dead, for a section win. Just shows how bad it fished. Gabe managed to win his section too with 41lb, so a bit of coin going down the M5. Didn't get the full results as I just wanted to get away worried about what the holiday traffic would be like, but as far as I k ow it was won on the lake with 70 odd pound and a mid 50 was second. Overall it fished bad. Off to Landsend tomorrow for one of Mr Rixons knock ups. Let's hope for a better day.

Sunday 22 May 2016

Windmill Sunday open.

After not bothering to go yesterday, and I recon I made the right choice as it was horid outside, I thought I'd give Windmill another go. 20 fishing today so a decent turn out. Into the box and peg 23 finds itself stuck in hand. It's a peg where you can reach the island at 16 metres and seeing I was giving my new  Map 901 pole a run out for the first time I was quite happy with the draw. Had a few comments about how it would explode on a decent fish but after a play with it, it feels pretty strong. For company I had my old work colleague John Clark to my right on 22 and Kevin Jeffries on 24. Bob bread Price was on 25 and I could just make out Welshie Neil Morgan on 27. A few fish were showing tight over so a .15 slim was set up to fish pellet in 15 inches of water. A .2 slim was set up to fish meat or corn down the margins and a .75 slim to fish pellet or corn over pellet in 8 feet at 2+2. Glad I went for a heavier float as it was towing hard. I also set up a bomb rod incase the wind got up, which was surprisingly missing. Happy days. At the start I feed my closer lines then went straight over at 16 metres with a cad pot of 4mm's and a banded 6mm. A whole five seconds went by and the float disappeared. Time to see what the pole could do. Always nervous trying a pole for the first time so I didn't give it to much, and seeing as I was a fouler I just slowly played it in. First fish in the net at around 4lb. Happy boy now lol. Next drop in same result but this time it came off. Ten minute's later a better fish found its way to the net, but then it went quiet. John had one by now but Kevin, who couldn't get close enough to the island was fishless. I stuck with this line as there was the odd fish showing but they just weren't having it. But the lake was very quite. Two hours in and I'd only had four and bites were a premium. John had a couple more fishing corn over to the island. Kevin had a couple fishing short of the island and a few silvers. Then I went Two hours with nothing but two missed bites. I'd tried the closer lines but there was just nothing happening, and it seemed the same for everyone. With two hours to go I dropped back in on the 2+2 line and had two in quick succession on banded corn. The margins were tried but even though there were fish knocking the stick ups they wouldn't look at the bait. I chucked the bomb over to the island with an 11mm pellet on as the wind had got up and managed one after about 15 minutes, but that was the only bite. So it was back on the 2+2 were I stayed for most of the last hour taking just one more. At the end I had my only silver of the day, a decent skimmer last drop in. I guessed I had 35lb and was very close as I put 34-12 on the scales for fourth on the day. John had a tough day and managed 26-5. All in all it fished hard with top weight only in the mid 60's, with a few dnw. As they say ....must try harder.

Luke Pester 65-07-0 peg 11
Martin Rayett 50-12-0 peg 20
Neil Morgan 44-07-0 peg 27
Stuart Barnett 34-12-0 peg 23
Jon Clark 26-05-0 peg 22
Geoff Francis 22-02 0 peg 10

Top Silvers:

Dave Willmott 14-10-0 peg 8
Mike Nicholls 14-08-0 peg 1
.

Sunday 15 May 2016

Chilton Trinity short pole series round one

This was the first of four matches where top kits plus three sections was the limit. To say I've not done well at this venue is an understatement as I've bombed out every visit here, and today was no different. So this blog will be short. Drew peg 23 and found the hard wind blowing into me from a 10 o'clock angle. it was hard enough to make holding the short pole very difficult and presentation was crap. Only 8 bites and three carp to show for my efferts today. Two on paste and one on shallow pellet for 18lb 14ozs. I sat all day watching the guys on the opposit bank catch all day. Top wieght on the day should have been organiser Tony Rixon but after going g over the 70lb limit in one net by 25lb that net was disqualified and that cut his total back to 58lb 1oz. Oooops...I got a spare clicker if ya need one lol. Over 90lb down the plug hole. So first on the day was Joe McMahon with 145-11. Top silvers went to Joe's dad Martin  McMahon with 16-8. All the top weights were taken from the sheltered parts of the lake mainly shallow on pellet.

1st  Joe McMahon 145-11
2nd Bob Gullick 137-9
3rd Tom Mangnal 120-4
4th Emma Drysdale 100-1

Silvers 1st Martin McMahon 16-8
2nd Mike Nicholls 13-12

Sunday 8 May 2016

Windmill fishery Sunday Open

Got talked into going here today By Craig Challingsworth. Said I'd never come here again as I had been let down on two matches that were advertised yet cancelled. Two weeks in a row. But what the hell, it's a match. 21 fishing today so a pretty good turn out. And the added bonus was the weather was gonna be very good. When I left it was still 25C. Into the draw bag and out comes number eight. Not been here for at least 12 months so I had no idea where it was or what to expect. It was down the far bank in front the second island, so fishing tight over was a no goer as its about 25/30 metres wide. The wind was its usual pain in the ass blowing left to right but at the start it was manageable. Craig was on 6 and my old mate Darren Ninxy North was on 11 to my left. Mike Nicholls was on 4 I think but I guess he would be ronny bashing I guess. Three rigs were set up. A .5 slim to fish banded pellet at 9 metres. A .3 slim to fish maggot at 2+1 range in case nothing was happening and I went for bits. But this rig wasn't used so no more on that. And a .15 slim to fish the margins either side on corn or pellet. A bomb rod was set up for the chuck to the island which I thought would be my best attack. Fed my lines at the start and by the time I pick my bomb rod up to chuck it out Craig was already landing one taken in 6 inches of water tight to the island at 16 metres. Well to say it went badly to start with is an understatement. Craig continued to catch and the guy Between us also had a couple but me and the three anglers to my left were struggling. Only a couple of liners got me twitching but it was about 90 minutes in before my tip went round and the first carp was netted. But that was it for now so I came in on the 9 metre line and straight away the float buried but I missed it. Dropped it back in and it went again but this time I put a nice  6 lb  fish in the net. False dawn as the wind suddenly changed around and blew a hooly between the islands at a rate of knots. Made it almost impossible to hold the pole still and that line never produced another bite. Craig,  meanwhile, was sheltered by the island and carried on fishing 16 metres shallow no problem and kept catching. A try in the margins for a while never produced a bite so it was back to the island on the bomb, but I changed up to an 11mm pellet and that seamed to do the trick. I stayed on that line mostly, trying the other lines occasionally, for most of the second half. At the all out I thought I might be around 60lb. Bella Bakos was top wieght on the far bank with 75lb. Didn't get a photo of the wiegh sheet so I'm a bit vague of the exact weights. Darren had 45lb that was mostly caught in the last 90 minutes down the edge. My net went 68-10 which was good enough for third on the day, one out the money. The guy next to me had 68-3, so that was very close. Craig put 95lb on the scales and claimed top spot on the day. Well done mucker. All in all it was ok today and the weather was fab so no complaints about that.

1st Craig Challingsworth 95lb
2nd Bella Bakos 75lb
3rd me with 68-10

Top silvers went to the old gladiator Mike Nicholls with 17lb.