Landsend Fishery winter league round one.

 Last years winter league was cancelled so it was nice to be back to a series again. 34 fishing this year which is a vast improvement on the last league in 2019. A good first match is always important so I really wanted a good draw where I could compete. Into the draw bag almost last and I pull out 61. Really disappointed as it’s too far up the lake. At least when we got there it’s was fuller than I’ve seen for a long time and had a tinge of colour. To my right on 58 was Nick Duckett. Opposite was Steve Seager and the Bean Machine. And Tony Rixon in the corner on 55. Dale Hobson to my left, and Russ Billy Liar Peck had drawn another silvers flyer in 68. So he was gonna tough to beat. There’s not a lot to say about the match for my end as I struggled all day. I could only catch silvers at 16m against the island, and when they were half an ounce it wasn’t worth pursuing. Dale was catching across doing exactly the same thing and was getting a few quality F1’s. Just goes to show how tight they shoal in winter. I did manage three small carp for my right and left edge and lost another puppy but that was it. Nick struggled all day and only had 1 carp and a few silvers. Tony caught at the end to put him half way up the section ladder. Verbal Seager managed one big lump and a few smaller carp and a pound of bits. Beany struggled with silvers only. Dale, after a good first half struggled later and didn’t manage to find any carp. Winner on the day on our lake and the match was Jason I Ate all The Pies Redford, with 55lb of carp caught mainly on bread and bomb between the island. Top silvers was Billy Liar with 13lb and a big lump for a 24lb total. I struggled all day my ass Billy. The bottom end of the lake was definitely a bit better but a lot struggle for the most part. Match lake was bit of a grueller but specie seamed better. That’s where I will be next time. Hopefully that’s my dropper out the way. Full results below.

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. 

Landsend Saturday Open 28/8/21

 Realy late with this one, Nearly forgot what I did on the day. Pegged over Match and lake three and I had peg 5 drawn out for me. Quite happy as there always lots of carp around and it a nice narrow peg. Had rigs set up for the far side up and down the shelf on pellet, one for down the track for meat, and one for between the lilly bed`s in my left margin. Long story short I spent most of the day across to the island which was solid with fish. Far too many as it turned out as foul hookers was a nightmare. Carp were just swimming through my line constantly and spooking when they touched the rig that was only a foot deep. Must have lost 150lb of fish. Landing around one in four hooked. I spent ages in the realy shallow stuff as they were lined up there, but did have a bit more success a meter farther out which was 6 inches deeper, but still a mass of foul hooked and lost fish. Even down the left edge I only managed to land one and loose everything else. Torrettes was in full flight and I even discovered words I didnt know before. Nothing came from the meat line, though I didnt realy give it a proper go. But I did enough to get the win on Match lake with a poultry 61lb. Pete Nurse over on 19 was second only 5lb behind. Silver went to The Bean Machine Dave westcott with 21-00. Lake three was won by Steve leaf |Blower Seager with 131-6. And silvers was won by Alvin Jones with a heafty 40-11. We did have bit of a scare on match lake when something came crashing through the undergrowth on the end bank. We thought a gorilla troup had come down for a drink but it was just the The Fluffy badger  Rod Silver Back Wootton recovering his rig that got caught in the bushes. Did make us chuckle cos I recon he was close to going for a swim. I wouldnt have laughed, well not for too long. Yes I would, I would have died laughing. Full results below.

Landsend saturday open 14/8/21

 Down to my favourite water hole today for the usual saturday bash. 22 fishing so 11 on each lake and fished as two matches. 62 pops out the bag for me on John Walter lake, the same as I had last time out where I got a win. To my right I had Russ Compo Peck on 62, and a quid bet was laid. Opposit I had Rod Fluffy Silver Back 5 Nets Wootton. Bloody hell its geting harder to fit all his name on one line. So the three biggest piss takers all together. Banter was gonna be special today. Bait try was simple today, 6 and 8mm pellets. And that was it. Started across after feeding all lines. Had a run of small f1`s in the first half hour before hooking my first carp. Didnt land it. Nor the next three. Infact after about an hour I`d hooked seven and landed one. Not a great start. Russ was getting decent f1`s and the very odd carp. Rod was sat wishing he had stayed home. I eventually got a few carp but the f1`s disapeared. It slowed up so it was a day of switching lines. Had a few at 2+2 and a few down to my left margin, and three slapping. but I managed to pick out the smallest carp in the lake doing that. After three hours I had a good 70lb but thing went tits up after that. The fish were very active but I couldnt catch anything anywhere. had a 40 minute spell with nothing. Russ carried on catching all this time taking plenty of small acrp and f1`s. Rod was still thinking he should have stayed home. He was realy struggling. loads of fish showing but none feeding. The last 30 minutes I got three more but I was never gonna challenge Compo. At the end I was banking on 90lb. And thats exactly what I had to the ounce. That got me second on the lake. Russ easily won the lake with 120lb and Rod fluffy Silverback blah blah blah had 31lb. Nigel Bartlett had a magnificent 45-2 of f1`s to win the silvers. Top weight on match lake was Leon hubbard with 116lb. Dave Ings was second with 67lb including 33-15 of silvers. So default silvers went to Ray White with 31-4. No fishing for me next week as we are off few a few days in Cornwall in the caravan. Cant wait to get away for a few days. Full results below.

Sedges Wednesday open 4/8/21

 Off down to the Sedges today for the midweek open. Drew peg 14, a good draw. Decided to go for carp as a main attack and silvers if the carp didnt wanna play. Well it turns out the carp didnt wanna play. The guy to my right was catching them shallow, long lining, slapping, mugging, feeding, not feeding. Didnt seam to matter how he fished it he was hooking carp. I tried several different ways for a good three hours and didnt get a touch. They just cruised through without stopping. Only carp I had was one on the bomb after 30 minutes first chuck. Never had anothet touch on that. And one on the deck at 16m. The skimmer line was hopless with very few and they were small. 2 or 3 ounces when I got one. Was never gonna bother the scales much, so packed up with half hour to go. Got no idea what won it as I was gone before the scale went round. Very dissapointing and frustrating day. 

Landsend saturday open 24/7/21

 First time out  for three weeks due to shifts and a holiday so was looking forward to it. After the scortching weather for the last two weeks it was forcast for much lower temperatures and a possibility of some rain. Perfect. The draw was done and Adrian pulled out minature snookerball 62 on the top lake for me. The usual quid bet was placed with Compo Peck and off for a long walk. Got to the peg and was surprised with what I saw. A boat tied up in the peg and a tree that was so overgrown that it was close to covering half the peg.

 A bit of gerdening was required and I dragged the boat out and put it up on the pathway. Its a very shallow area and I had just about the same depth all over. 18 inches was all that was needed to be on the bottom. Rigs were a slapper as there were plenty cruising. A rig for tight across on pellet. An edge rig for 8mm pellet, A rig for meat at 8m. A rig for silvers at 6m but was not used. For company I had dave Ings without an E to my left on 66, Smokin Joe Massey opposit on 51 and Dave Hodgeson on 58. I could only see joe but I could hear the others lol. I started across against the island but it was very slow. Only a couple of crusians. Came into the right edge as I did see a swirl, but again crusians. Tried the meat line but no bites. Not looking good so I just kept swapping lines. 90 minutes in and I had managed one carp across and a few more silvers. Then I got the slapper out and persivered for a bit, then they switched on and I got half a dozen chasing fish and slpping a 6mm pellet on their noses. They soon moved off so it was back to the left edge and it was hectic after that. Plenty of small carp to about 4lb. Not huge but the clicker was going up quickly. I went back to the island to give the edge a rest and managed to hook ten in as many drop ins landing 9. But I got snagged up a couple of times after and trashed rigs. The middle three hours were realy strong and I put about 125lb in the net switching lines. The last 90 minutes slowed right up and I only managed another 3. Around the middle of the match I managed to dislodge one of my nets and it fell in. And Im sure I lost a few as my other two nets were clicked spot on but that net was about 16lb under. At the end I was admiting to 150 to 160lb. |I did the weigh in with Dave and the best weight on the far side was Pete Nurse with 78-15. I put my silvers back as I only had about 2lb max and wanted to dry the net, but my carp went 145-3. That got me top weight on the day and a nice shinny gold coin from Compo. A nice days fishing and my best weight for a while. Match lake wasnt up to its usual standard and top weight was The Silverback Rod Wootton with 76lb. Top silvers today over the two lakes was Nigel Bartlet again with 23-7, so they didnt feed as well as they have lately. full results below.