Pleasure fishing at Mathern mill

 I had a day off today as im working this weekend so bit the bullet and got my gear out and went to Mathern Mill hoping to find the skimmers. At plonked my gear down at peg 10 as this can hold a few skimmers. It was flat calm when I got there and the water was pretty clear and very cold. I got my whips out of retirement which is something I haven`t done since I lived in australia. I set up to fish short on the whip for bits while the skimmer lines at 11m settled. I started at about 5m feeding maggot. just passed the shelf but didnt get a bite. So shallowed up and went close to the weed on my left and it was pretty hectic for a while untill they vanished. I went out to 11m on double maggot but I had a terible problem as all the leaves that started on the other side of the lake had drifted over and it was a nightmare trying to get a rig in. The photo does do the problem justice as to how bad it was at times

And it stayed like that for the rest of the session. It washard work as the skimmer had shut up shop and all I got was perch all day. Everywhere I could get a rig through I got perch. They were inssecent.

I ended up with about 12lb of mainly perch with a few rudd and micro carp that were caught next to the weedbed. A pretty dissapointing day in the end, but a bad day fishing is still better than a good day in work.

Mathern Mill Silvers Open

 After a couple of days off work with a really sore back I wasn’t sure if going fishing as a good idea. I did it somehow packing up the caravan on Tuesday to come home after a weekend break. Moral of the story, don’t pack up to come home. Stay on holiday. No spasms since yesterday so off I went. All 23 pegs in today and a good draw was suppose to be on the bottom bank. Into the bag and I draw peg 11, right in the middle of the bottom bank. Trouble with that peg it’s on a point and it’s a carp haven. Started the match on the short line, top two used as a whip, and was getting regular perch on maggot and the odd Rudd. It kept going quiet so I think the odd carp was moving through, and I did hook one. After an hour I went to the two plus three line where I’d been feeding micros and maggot. Again the odd perch but nothing else. So it was out to 13m where I didn’t really want to be as I didn’t know if my back would last long but it was ok. Had bites on maggot over micros straight away but it was perch. But I stuck it out and after 10 minutes I had my first skimmer. I had a good half hour and put 7 skimmers in the net to about 3 pound. Then unfortunately the carp moved in and it was a struggle to get a bite from anything but big wobbly lumps. The second half of the match I hooked 14 of them and never saw one break the surface. They just tore off and either straightened my hook or snapped my hook length. The last hours I managed 4 more skimmers including a 3 1/2 pounder last drop in. I caught nothing all day on the shorter line and the perch disappeared completely after the first hours. Come the end I was guessing I had 25lb. Mark Hale was winning up to me with 31lb of skimmers and a few bits from peg 1. Rob Skellet on peg 8 had 27-3 again skimmers and mainly perch. I managed 25-3 and a section win. But winner on the day was Marc Savigar from peg 16 I think with a nice bag of skimmers going 42-1. He caught from the off  steadily all day. A pretty good match all round with plenty of skimmers showing. The bonus was my back held up, but getting pretty stiff now. A good curry might sort that out lol . Full results below.