Landsend Saturdy open 30/11/2019

I tried in vain to get into a local match this week and just found out I missed the last of the silvers league at Mathern. Ooops. I even tried to get a fill in at Acorn but no spaces left. So I trundled off to landsend. And with the bridge closure and M49 closed it took me well over an hour to get there, not the usual 45 minutes, "Not happy Jan". Got to say one thing first. Im trying that new Nufish Zipp hybrid eleastic as its now winter and I still wanted the stretch of the hollow but none of the crap that goes with it in winter,  hanging out the pole like silly string. Well its brilliant stuff and would recoment it. I was late to the venue because of the road problems and that ended up with me starting 10 minutes after the other 5 that turned up on a nasty day. I had drawn peg 16 and thought I was a bit far from where he consistant pegs were at the other end. I was detetmined to go for silvers today so started with double dead red over groundbait down the middle. After 45 minutes id not had a bite, which was dissapointing as pegs 13 and 14 were like a trout farm with fish rolling everywhere. So went across when the wind finally stopped blowing a hooligan for a minute, but it was very hard to hold the pole with the wind blasting down the lake non stop. So it was back to the silvers line. After 90 minutes I finally got a bite and a blippy roach. It was a case of switching and swapping when the wind dropped for a minute, and when I could hold the float still I was getting indications. A 9lb carp was the first from the far side and on the new elestic, 8-10, it took a while to land but it did give me confidence on the lighter elestics I had decided to use. Nothing came from the edges that were now, with alot more water in the lake, was 2 1/2 foot deep. I took another across and two carp on my silvers rig down the middle, squeeky bum time on a 20 to .10 hook length. I did have a few skimmers as well on that line, and about 10 blippy roach on my topkit by my nets were I had drip fed a few maggots. At the end I was hoping for around 25lb and with Steve Seager telling everybody that Beanie was emptying peg 1 I didnt think I had a chance. Beanie, with 7 carp, weighed 23-04. Mike Duckett on 5 had 5 carp and a few bits for 27-12. Then it was me next, and my 4 carp went 24-8 and my silvers took it to 27-14, just pipping Mike for the win. Ray White did his usual thing and won the silvers with 4-04 from peg 21. Steve  Seager realy struggled on peg 24 and only had one bite all day. I fancied that peg today. So weights were very low with bites hard to find for everybody. A bit of luck with the draw today helped as the fish were deffinately my end of the lake. That elastic worked realy well. In fact I hooked one carp across, maybe not quite in the right end, and it took me into peg 13. I had 14 1/2 m of pole pointing along the bank and when I lifted it the elastic was past  the platform for peg 14. Stretchy old stuff that.  Full results below.

Mathern \Mill Saturday open.

A nice short 7 minute drive to Marthern Mill for one of Norm Sterry`s knock ups. Only 9 fishing today, but I guess the amount of rain we`ve had and the fact it could kill the fishin I off put a few off today. Into the draw bag and out pops peg 16. A good peg over the years with a nice bomb chuck to the end of the island and open water options. I decided today to go for silvers as long as possible and take the carp if they came along. Getting to the bank I could see the water was gin clear and I could see down at least 2 foot. Not good!!. I started by drip feeding a few micros and casters at 11m hoping the skimmers would have a go but nothing happened. Rich Heatley, Chepstows newest overseas resident, had a carp first drop in before he had even emptied his toss pot on peg 21 and Rich Candy on 22 had one pretty early. But the lake was very quiet. in fact it took me over two hours to register my first bite that I missed. The sun had just dissapeared and the light levels dropped quite a bit and that kicked everybody into catching. Except me. I had a few quick bites that I couldnt make contact with on three different rigs and baits. So I wasnt sure why I was missing them. Norm to my right had a few at half way catching mainly 16m down his right side on bomb and pole. I did hook and loose 2 lumps on my silvers rig but lost them both. It was 4 hours before I put a fish in the net. I had it chucking a bomb close to the island with a wafter popped up about one inch off the bottom. That started a run of 4 big fish in 40 minutes and one on the pole in an area I was catapulting 1 piece of corn every 5 minutes. I alo lost one next drop in so that did sort of work, but it didnt last long. it went quiet again untill 5 minutes from the end when I took another on the bomb. At the end I thought my 6 carp would go 45lb but they had obviously fattened up for winter and I put 56-02 on the scales. They are big boys in this place. First on the day was Darren Witton on peg 11 who had a good second half of the match catching on the feeder cast  to his righ close in, with 102-15. Second was Norm Sterry on 14 with 79-07. Third on peg 3 and out of my sight was Byron ? with 91-05.

Acorn cost cutter 12/11/19

As I worked all weekend again I got tuesday as a day off so I tootled off to Acorn fishery for the regular tuesday bash. The weather was looking nasty with strongwinds forcast and with the fishery prone to being a windy spot a good draw was vital, Had the ususal breakfast at the Bridge Inn before going to the fishery. A few floats were sold and then the draw was on.  Only 10 fishing today so plenty of room. With a North wind blowing a hooligan across the venue a draw with the wind at your back was prefered, but I pull out peg 21 which meant it was smack in the kisser all day. I got to the peg which is right next to one of the bridges and it was obvious fishing long was going to be a struggle. Even though the wind was blowing straight along the pole it was being slammed both ways and with the bridge so close I didnt try it for long as I was worried it would hit the bridge and do some damage. I did get one small carp at the bottom of the far shelf on soft pellet but I realy couldnt hold the pole still long enough to make it worh while. And fishing tight across was just about impossible. So the match was spent fishing 2+3 fairly close to the bridge where I could just about control it. It was two hours to my first fish and I was actually very close at that time to packing up as I couldnt feel my hands but I dug out my neoprene gloves and that made a difference, even though its not easy to fish wearing them. I ended up the day struggling to get bites but managed to get 15 puppy carp on soft and hard pellet over micros for a weight of 28-04 for nowhere on the day. The two anglers to my right finished up early and didnt weigh. The pegs on the end road bank were top as usual with Steve Collins coming out ontop with 65-07. Though it was at the expense of two broken pole sections because of the wind. Silvers was won by Callum Dicks from sheltered peg 31 with 21-09 in a total of 30-15. Got to admit I was very glad it was only a 5 hour match as I felt I had been in a proper scrap with the wind all day and was glad to hear the wistle at the end. Full results below

Acorn tuesday Costcutter 5/11/19

As I worked the weekend I used my lieu day to go to Acorn for the Tuesday bash. Had a breakfast in the Bridge Inn first as usual that was ok. Only 11 fishing today so a bit low on numbers from the usual turn out. Into the drawbag and out pops peg 2 on the island. Got to the peg and found a stiff westerly wind blowing straight down the lake. It was going to make fishing across a bit difficult. Realy fancied a go at the silver today so I actualy bought some reds to go for it. But with some very good silvers anglers there I wasnt hoping for too much. Started the match on the 2+2 line with maggot over soaked micros but it was a bit slow. took a while to get the first bite that was a little Nemo. 10 minutes after that for the next bite and another small Nemo. Then it was dead. My old snooker playing buddy from many moons ago Bob Smith was to my left  on peg 4, and he was struggling. After 30 minutes he was fishless and Id only had the two. I`d set up a rig to fish at 11m at the bottom of the far shelf as tight across in the shallow water was just too hard to fish. I had a fish first drop in that was a small carp. But like the short line that was it for a while. Back short for a corasio and a couple of small roach. I was a bit slow today. After 2 hours I had 9lb on my clicker with a couple more small carp. Bob was catching a few silvers across on soft pellet. Mainly corasio and roach. The edges were void of life and stayed that way all day. Nor myself  or Bob had a touch down the edges. Half way through and it was a real struggle. One decent carp and some puppies had my clicker at 18lb and about 3lb of silvers. As I was miles behind with the silvers I ditched trying to catch them nd sterted feeding 6mm pellets on the 2+2 line. Switching around the lines trying to find fish, I was going nowhere fast. Then with 1hour 20 left I tried the 2+2 line again and the carp had turned up. I had 4 in as many drops then lost a couple. But I stayed on that line for the rest ofthe match and put some big fish in the net. At the end I though I had about 75lb with 50 plus pound coming in the last 80 minutes. Bob had a busy day and put a decent net of  silvers that he caught on soft pellet over micros across at the bottom of the far shelf. I was first to wiegh and I was happy to see the scale go round to a total of  81-11 which got me second place on the day. Bobs silvers went 26-06 for fist in the silvers. His total was 41- 10. Dave Wride was next to weigh and his total with a decent silvers net went 87-03 and top weight on the day. Third on the day on peg 7 was Eddie Wynne with 66-07. It was a tough day and scratching around was the way for most people with the fish not wanting to settle untill late. Back there again next tuesday as Ive got to work the weekend again so hopefully Ive learnt a bit. Like make up some soft pellet next time. full results below