Mathern Mill winter league.

Only a short post today as there's not much to say about this match. I drew peg 15, which use to be a flyer but now if you draw it your just fishing  to be out of the bottom one on the lake. Yes its that bad. To my left I had Alan Davis on the last peg at the end of the island then Steve ' The Bomb Master' Shaw. My peg was in the deep bowl around the corner from the island. It may as well be the washing up bowl in my sink for the amount of fish in it now. Anyway. I tried all sorts of lines and baits for just 3 carp and a few skimmers for 26lb 5oz. I did beat two anglers so that was OK. The bad part of the day was watching Alan next to me bag up all day fishing the same way as my and win the match with 148lb 15ozs. Ah we that's angling for you.

Landsend saturday open

Got up this morning to a heavy frost. Stuck my nose out the door and it was bloody freezing. Glad I put a cover over the car windows overnight. A bad start to the day. Left home and drove a few miles only to realise I had left my glasses at home. Damn!!!!. Back home then off again in a hurry to make the draw. Got there just in time to take the last peg, which was 15. Got to my peg a happily found the ice that covered alot of our side of the lake stopped about 5 meters to my right. 3 rigs today. A  .2 mugger with a size 18 to .13 for banded pellet over to the island. Another  .2 of the same, a foot deeper for left and right margins and a .4 pencil with a size 18 to .11 to fish several lines at 2+2, 11 meters straight out and at a 10 o'clock angle to my left. All these line were the same depth and to be fished with caster or maggot over caster. At the wistle I fired 5 pellets to the island and cupped in 4 or 5 casters on each of the other lines. A gentle approach was needed today. I started on the 2+2 line on caster and soon had a bite but missed it. This happened 7 times before I made any contact after 30 minutes and a decent perch was netted. The bites were very tentative . Even waiting a few seconds I was still missing them. After about 45 minutes the bites stopped. But I stuck on this line for another half hour with nothing. It was out to the 11 meter line on caster for a while for no bites in half an hour.. Hmmm it was certainly hard today. Over to the island for a bit where I tried banded 6's and corn but again nothing. What next???. A look in the margins for 20 minutes produced just one small ghosty. Back out to 11 meters and a couple of missed bites so a change to double dead red maggot got me another perch, then a carp about 7lb quickly followed by a 5 pounder. Then I lost one right over my bait and it killed it. Across to the left and a bite first drop in. A good fish came to the net then spit the hook. Bugger. Next drop in and another hooked. It bottomed out my grey hidro and straightened the hook. Yep, one of those days. 3 in a row lost. Refed my lines with a cad pot then back on the 2+2. Nothing happened. Think it was too clear to fish short. Out to 11 meters for the remainder of the match taking 3 more carp and loosing to more. The last one landed was a miracle. It was fouled in the belly and going nuts. It got it down to my top two and it decided to go under the platform. It bottomed out the elastic and had jammed my top set against the wood so I jump off my box squatted down an had to follow it with the top kit under the platform. I was stuck. Holding my box with one hand and my other hand under the platform. I couldn't pull it back as I only hand one hand on the top kit lol. So I waited for it to ease back and pulled the top kit back jumping my hand along it. Then I had to pull up both nets to get my elastic under them. Bloody hell, talk about hard work. But I got the bugger in. Too many lost fish cost today as it was close. At the wiegh in  my two perch went 1lb 4oz, and my 5 carp went 27lb12oz for dead on 29lb which put me 4th. Sorry but I don't know the names of some of the guys but the results were

1st, Bob, peg 1,  35lb.
2nd, Andy,  peg 24, 33lb 8oz.
3rd, Bean, peg 18,  29lb 10oz.
4th, Me, peg 15, 29.

First in the silvers Rod Written, peg 5, 21lb 8oz.

Mather Mill winter league round 1

A nice short 5 minute drive today to Mathern on what was a horrible day. After last night's monsoonal rain,  which was some of the heaviest I've witnessed I had no idea what to expect today. I got to the draw and could see the level was up above some of the concrete platforms so hell of a lot of cold water had gone in. Into the bag and out comes peg 5. Not one I realy fancied today as a draw at the deeper end of the lake was the favoured area. For company I had Mark Holden to my left on 6 and Gafyn Jones on 4. Seeing Steve Shaw on 2 with empty pegs either side didn't fill me with confidence. Three rigs today. A  .5 slim with a 16 to .13 to fish 6mm hard pellet over softened 4's at 11 meters. A  .3 slim for maggot or caster on an 18 to .11 for 5 meters at the bottom of the shelf. And a margin rig that never got used. Two bomb rods were set up for pellet to the island. At the start I chucked the bomb out, as you do here, to see what was over by the island. Straight away I was getting liners so there were carp there but none wanted to take the bait. Gafyn snagged one first chuck on bread on the bomb but then when quiet. Steve struggled for a while but did manage a couple. I had one after about an hour but with so many liners I was reluctant to come away from that line. Plus my hands were so cold all I wanted to do was keep them in my pockets. The weather got worse with a monster hail storm after 2 hours and the ice was still laying around after the all out. I stuck with the bomb for 2 1/2 hours taking 3 carp. Then my hands came back to life so I dropped in on the 11 meter line and had one after about a minute which I succeeded in loosing at the net. Gafyn had a few by this time and Steve was starting to catch on the bomb. Mark was being pestered buy small skimmers. Back in a into another carp which went the same way as the first. Bugger!!! Third drop in and out comes the elastic again. I managed to land that one. The I trashed my rig, so I dropped the bomb in on the pole line while I re rigged. The tip ripped around and before I could do anything it smashed my .15 hooklength off. After I put a new rig on I stuck on that line putting another 4 in the net before the all out. Steve wieghed in first and put 93lb 12oz on the scales. Gafyn put 7 carp and some silvers in the net for 64lb13oz. I had 8 carp that went 65lb 5oz. I new it was close but not that close lol. Neil Dibble was the winner on peg 10 with 134lb 12oz followed by Ron Gibbs on peg 11 for the 5th match in a row with 99lb 3oz. It fished rely well in the conditions. Round two in two weeks.

1st Neil Dibble 134lb 12oz
2nd Ron "I only fish peg 11" Gibbs 99lb 3oz.
3rd Steve Shaw 93lb 12oz
4th Me with 65lb 5oz

Landsend Saturday open

I was heading for Acorn today but turned up to find there was no match on this week so I set off down to Landsend for another crack at this place. Not done so good here in the past but I've not fished it much.
Into the draw and out pops peg 13 down at the far right hand corner. For company I had Rod  Wootten on 15 and Mark Walsh opposite on 11. Three rigs today. A .4 pencil to fish 2+1 and 9 meters on caster hoping for some perch and skimmers. A .4 slim to fish pellet at 14 meters by the airiator and a .2 mugger to fish several margin swims on pellet of corn.  All the float i used are from my own hand made range. At the start I fed all lines and dropped a caster on a 20 on the 2+1 line and was soon catching small perch and roach. After about 20 minutes some better perch arrived and a couple of 1lb plus fish hit the net. A look to my right and the water had coloured up so I dropped a piece of corn in but had no indications so I switched to the left and straight into a small carp. I re fed that line and back to the right and a 5 pounder was netted. That was it for those lines even though I tried sever more times. A look at the 14m margin line produced 1 small carp and a couple of perch but it was a long wait for bites. Back on the 2+1 line and another good perch followed by a 2lb beasty and a decent skimmer.  I stuck on that line for a while but it slowed right down. Mark was realy struggling after 2 hours and hadn't had a bite and Rod wasn't much better. From the friendly banter going on I could tell it was fishing hard. The middle of the match it died a death and swapping all lines produced nothing for a hour and a half. I decided of just fish for silvers for the rest of the day and take what I could. Rod hot a sweet spell and took about eight carp pretty quickly then his fish dried up. Mark only had 1 skimmer with about 90 minutes left. I had started feeding the 9m caster line a bit heavier trying to force a response and it did the trick. More perch arrived along with a couple of off season tench and a nice Ide before the carp moved in
I was going g to step the rig up for the carp but I did that yesterday at Cefn Mably and it cost me so as I hadn't been snapped off at all I decided to stick with the silvers rig and just take my time. Five good carp including a 12 ghosty were landed by the all out. At the end I thought I might have 45lb and be close to some coin. My silvers went 19lb 10oz, and my carp went 37lb 2oz for a 56lb 12oz total and a first on the day. Rod was second with 41lb 11oz. A nice day and not too much rain for a change. But the highlight of the day was watching Trigger slip onto his arse and end up sitting in a pile of mud. Me and Allan Oram didn't laugh....much!!

1st me 56lb 12oz
2nd Rod Wootten 41lb11oz
3rd Ken Rayner 41lb
4th Craig Trigger Edmonds 38lb 7oz

Cefn Mabley new years day open

I turned up this morning for a breakie hoping to see a load of sore heads and red eyes but everybody was bright eyed and smilling. Bugger, there's goes any advantage I was hoping for.
The draw was a bit of a farce as more than expected turned up so they had to figure out a way to make the match fair across two lakes. With Willow (I think it's called) expecting to take all the top weights it was split 9 on Willow and 30 on Match lake with some weird pay out planned.  Drawing 30 minutes late I pulled out 19 on Match. Meant nothing to me.
Three pole rigs today. A margin rig that never got used. A .4 Stuie special for 2+2 on the top of the shelf for meat. I know that sounds strange but the water was warm so I thought I'd gamble. And a .4 home made pencil for maggot at 11 meters hoping for skimmers and F1's. Also a bomb rod for a big chuck to the island on pellet. At the start I fed all lines then went across on the bomb. The tip went straight round and I fouled a carp for a few seconds before the hook pulled. Next chuck a big drop back and a miss . After that it was just liners. Everybody was getting them. I stuck with it for 40 minutes for no fish. Dropped in on the 11m line on double red and was into blippy roach. Stuck with that for a while but it was hard work. Back across on the bomb but it only produced one carp then more  liners. Very frustrating.
Tried the meat line for 20 minutes but not a touch. Back out to 11m and a got a skimmer and a decent F1. Nobody was catching so it was all still to play for. A switch to a size 20 and .10 brought immediate results. Better skimmers and two more F1's then the carp  moved in and I stayed on that until the end putting five in the net and loosing 7. A few foulers and a break off didn't help. The weights were low and I put 30lb dead on the scales for top wieght on our bank and a section with. Those lost carp cost me dear as the top wieght was only 47lb and guaranteed second in the wierd pay out. Oh well there's always next time.