Landsend Saturday open

Off down the M5 again with all the Midlanders towing their caravans again. Be glad when the holiday season is over. Got to the fishery early and had a very nice breakfast as usual before the draw was made. 10 fishing today so plenty of room. I was in second and drew peg 5. Not fished it for a while so didnt really know how it would go with the water level so low. There were plenty of fish cruising around, but we all know they dont necessarily play ball. 4 rigs were set up today. A .15 Shalla Slim to fish across to the island on pellet, but after plumbing up I found I only had 4 inches of water so I had to come a fair way out from the island bank. But when I did fish it later I found it was snaggy as hell and it was hard to find a decent spot to fish. A .3 Slim to fish 14.5 metres into the gap with pellet. It would also do to fish 2+2 to the right of straight out. A .4 slim to fish meat at 2+2 to the left of straight out. And a .3 SS Margin to fish pellet between the two lily beds to my left. For company today I had Russ Peck to my left on peg 2...AGAIN!!!... he lives on that peg lately. And it was handy to keep an eye on him as we had a quid side bet as usual. At the start I went straight across and while shipping out I spotted a carp getting his head down on the pellets I`d pinged out and dropped my rig in front of it and had it hooked within seconds. So a 4 pounder was in the net in the first minute. But it went pear shaped across as it was so shallow the pole was spooking them, plus I was regularly hooking the tree roots that stick out from the mud. I spent about 45 minutes over there but didnt get anything else, so I went out to to the gap and took three in about 30 minutes. But the wind was blasting through the gap in the two islands and presentation was crap. Several times I had to let the pole go round as I couldnt hold it. So that didnt last to long. I tried the meat line next and in 20 minutes I hadn`t had an indication, Next line tried was the left margin by the lilies. That was fizzing like mad by now but I was getting bites I couldn`t hit. Must be those pesky silvers that hammer the pellets for a while. I noticed that the short pellet line was now fizzing so I dropped my pellet rig on it and I was straight into fish with 3 coming pretty quick. It was now 3 hours in and I had about 40lb in the net. The meat line was dead. No signs of feeding fish but I did try it again with the same result as earlier. So it was back to the pellet line and I got a few more, before I tried the margin line again. Withing seconds of dropping in I was into a lump but it slipped the hook at the net. Back out and I lost two more in the lilies. Back out on the pellet line and apart from 10 minutes near the end, when I lost 2 more and landed one from the margin, I stuck to the 2+2 line and took fish fairly regularly to the end. I did loose a lot of foulers, but thats par for me lately. What did bug me was I lost or trashed 6 rigs. They were going hard today.  At the end I was admitting to 120lb, but after being so far out with my guess last week I was over estimating most of the fish so I wasnt sure what I had. Russ was first to weigh and with him struggling with a dodgy back I had to lift his nets out. Luckily he didn`t have a good day so It was easy. Cheers mate and thanks for the quid 😂. Next was me and my nets went to 100-10,  so I was out by 20lb. Ken Rayner had 60-12 from peg 11. Mark Walsh on peg 13 had forgotten his nets so he risked putting all the carp he caught in one net instead of asking to borrow another one, and he went over by about 7lb so got knocked back to the fishery limit of 80lb all taken on paste. He did borrow a net for his silvers at the start so he totalled 87-7. Last to weigh was Rod Wooton who had no idea what he had as he`s crap at guestimating weights, But he had alot more than he thought and got top spot on the day with 110-11 from peg 24 pushing myself back into second spot. It was a strange day with the fish behaving in odd ways out in the deeper water. Wont go into details but they were doing things I hadnt seen before. anyway full results below.

Acorn Tuesday cost cutter.

Off to Acorn today for a day out with the oldies. Shouldn`t shout to load, I`m just about one of them now lol. Had a breakfast at the bridge Inn that was OK, but could be warmer sometimes. Into the draw and again my drawing arm was good to me. Peg 5 peg  on the island. Always a decent peg if you get it right.

The end road bank has been on fire lately so I was hoping I could get a few.a Tesco store. Only for about 5 months at the mo but its a way in for permanent work. And to make a good start to the day better , i got a call to say i`d got a job as in facilities at  Three rigs were set up. A .15 shalla slim to fish pellet tight to the island. A .4 Slim to fish at a 10 o`clock angle to my left at 2+2 range. And a .3 SS margin to fish by the overhanging grasses to my left margin. Peg 4 was in so I didnt bother with that side. All lines were to fished with pellet. Easy choice today.

Silvers fishing is pretty good there at the mo but this is a known carp peg so couldnt see the point of going for the small stuff. At the start I went over on the long line and had 9 carp in the first hour, but they were all small wit the biggest being 4lb. then It all went pear shaped for two hours and I lost just about everything I hooked. In that time I hooked 25 and landed two, one of which was 8 ozs. this problem was on all lines. the fish were at all levels crashing around and I could hit them in mid water, but when i fished shallow I didn`t get anything. I did manage eventually to get a few fishing with a 10 inch long rig fishing in the grass across, but I didn`t bother striking at bites, I just waited for the elastic to fly out. But that didn`t last long. So I concentrated on the margin for the last couple of hours and started to get a few but still loosing a boat load.

At the end I was disappointed with what I thought I had in the net. I had lost far more than I landed and it cost me today. Mike hill, on peg 9 had a good day catching most of his fish chucking a bomb under peg 8 platform and I was sure he had hit the 200lb mark, which he did with 202-13, which got him first place on the day. I recon peg 8 should be in the matches as peg 9 is just about unbeatable with a decent angler on it and everybody is just fishing for second place. Glen Bailey was second from peg 26 with his usual paste attack. Catching early then heavily in the closing stages to put 159 pound on the scales. The 2 bite less hours in the middle cost him first I recon. I put 131-07 on the scales for third. Should have been more, but then ya cant get it right every time. Need to figure out a way to avoid so many foul hookers. Full results below.

Landsend Saturday open 18/08/2018

As I`ve been relieved of my duties at my latest job I had the weekend off so I went down to Somerset for the usual Saturday knock up at Landsend. The obligatory breakfast was downed and then into the draw bucket.  I managed to pull out peg 11. ( fishing today so plenty of room so I wasnt to displeased with it though it hasn`t shown a lot of form for a while, but then Russ Peck usually draws it ( hahaha, sorry mate). there were fish showing in just about every peg on the walk to the far end of the lake so it was looking like it might be a decent day. 4 rigs today (overkill). The usual .3 SS Margin to fish either side in about 2 1/2 feet of water in pellet or meat. It would also do for the end bank if I decided to go that way. A .3 Slim to fish 2+2 on pellet. A .15 Shalla slim to fish a nice flat spot I found about 2 metres off the island at 14 1/2 meters. Any closer and it was so shallow the ducks were stading in the water and not getting their asses wet. And a .5 slim to fish the deep hole at the same length, but that rig never got touched all day. Opposite for company I had martin Lanaghan on 13 and Mark Walsh to my left on peg 7, so banter would be good today. I started on the shalla rig as there were a few fish showing by the island. It took about 10 minutes to get them responding and the first decent fish was netted. It wasnt hectic in the first hour but I did get a few going. Martin was getting nursery size fish out by the island but he was suffering with fish taking him through a snag. Looking down the lake and it wasn`t fishing as well as I though it would. I stuck with the long pole for the first couple of hours picking off fish and had about 40lb before I changed and tried a different line after loosing a few where they were feeding, as the other lines were fizzing like a jacuzzi everywhere I was feeding. I thought the rest might do it good. First I tried the 2+2 line and had a 6 pounder first drop in on 8mm pellet. But that was it. There was obviously something feeding down there but I couldnt get them going at all. Next was into the margins. The left side was lifeless but the right was fizzing so much I couldn`t see my float properly. I had a 2lb skimmer for about 15 minutes of frustration but again no other bites from there. I must have been a shoal of skimmers but they weren`t interested in 8mm pellets. So it was back out long and I started catching regularly putting a decent weight together. It was Nice to see a long time friend from my childhood days when Mark Little wandered a long for a watch. He brought me some luck as I caught a load when he was watching. He left with about 80 minutes to go and then my luck changed. If it could go wrong it did, and in the last part of the match I struggled to put much more in the net. My lucky charm had gone and taken the fish with him lol. The middle part of the match had gone very well though and It was looking like I had done enough today. Mark Walsh had a good finish, after struggling the first 3/4 of the match, and managed to close the gap but I though I had just edged him out. I was guessing on around 150lb. First to weigh was Russ Peck, with whom I had a gold coin side bet with as usual, and he put 128-12 on the scales. I thought I`d done him so told him to start polishing the quid 😁. Walshy was  next and his good finish got him 126-13. Next was me, and my first net was a bit of a struggle to lift as the water is so low, I couldnt get hold of the net low enough to drag it out so I had to get Steve Seager to help. It was looking a bit iffy with a net limit of 80lb, and yes I was over it with the first net by a couple of pound so it was rounded back to 80. My other nets were all legal and with my few silvers I managed 172-07 and first on the day. Martin, like me had a nightmare finish and caught next to nothing in the last hour but had 107-03 in the end.  Steve Seager on peg 24 was best weight on the far bank with 154-14 that got him second on the day. I cant go wrong at the mo with the draws so I`m making the most of it, as I know it wont last. Full results below.

Acorn Tuesday cost cutter.

Off to Acorn  today for the usual Tuesday bash with the oldies. Plenty of time for breakfast at the Bridge Inn, as I had collected my gear last night and came across the second Severn crossing which is much quicker cutting out all the Bristol bound traffic at the Almondsbury interchange, and a very nice breakfast it was too. Best I`ve had from there. Onto the fishery and my usual sale of floats was done and it was time for the draw. In early and out pops number 9. I was more than happy with that as that area has been chucking up some good weights for a while now. Got to the peg and there were fish everywhere. They were even rolling under my platform when I was setting my gear up. Happy days. I went mad and set up 5 rigs today. One for against the island, but apart from plumbing up that rig never got touched again. A paste rig for 2+2 to fish over micros. A .5 slim for top kit straight out off the end of my nets. A .3 slim to fish to platform 8. Again that never got touched after plumbing up. And a .3 SS Margin to fish both sides down the edge. At the start I went out on the paste rig. As soon as the micros I potted in hit the bottom it was like a jacuzzi fizzing away. The float was ripping under but I wasn`t hooking anything. Then after 15 minutes I had a good tench. Not what I was hoping for but it was a start. Stuart on peg 11 had three carp pretty quick at the start but they were not very big, so I thought I had better try something else. I had been feeding both margins and after 30 minutes I saw a couple of fish moving to my left.so the edge rig went into action , and that`s were I stayed for the rest of the day apart from a ten minute try off the end of my nets. There were carp climbing over each other both sides, but I stayed to my left for a while. I was hooking lots but landing few. The first 14 hooked I lost 12. Then I did manage to put a few in the net, but the left side was a bit hit and miss. Loads of fish but struggling to really get the bites I expected form that many fish. So I went to the right side after about an hour and that was it. It was manic. hooking fish every put in but I was loosing loads. After three and a half hours I has 150lb on my clicker but the lost fish were doing my head in. At that time I had lost 50. Like I said it was manic. At one stage I was basically slapping in the edge and I hooked and lost three in less than 20 seconds. But I was hooking and landing enough to put a big weight together. I did sort out the foul hookers with an hour to go. I had been hooking and playing fish and feeding before landing and that was lining the next fish up. But I was also feeding after I dropped my rig in and it was holding too many fish in the peg, hence the massive amount of foul hooker. So I completely stopped feeding after I dropped my rig in. That was allowing the frenzy of feeding to die back after I fed while playing fish and just kept a few lined up to hook. This resulted in a lot less fish lost and more hooked in the right area. In the last hour I must have put close to 100lb in the net. At the end I was guessing in the region of 260 to 280lb. I`d hate to think of how much Id lost as I recon it was around 80 carp lost, a lot more than I landed, and a lot of them were big fish. I recon that has to be a very unwanted world record lol. I weighed in 267-3 which was enough for the win today. Today was a personal best for me as I`d never weighed over 200lb before last week, now thats twice in two matches.Full match results below.

1. Stuart Barnett 267-03 p9
2. Roy Hughes 135-11 p40
3. John Thompson 128-09 p26
4. Lee Waller 123-06 p17
5. Dave Smart 121-01 p3
6. Mark Barden 110-12 p33
Silvers
1. Mike Chapman 21-09 p30
2. Keith Fisher 13-06 p19