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

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

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

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

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

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.