Landsend Saturday open.

Off to Landsend today for the Saturday open. As usual a very good breakfast was consumed before the draw. The girls are doing a great job and the breakfast was fab as usual. I had last but one ticket from the bucket today and found myself on peg 18. Even though it's the first time I've drawn it I fancied it for a few today. For company I had Adrian Jeffrey to my right on 19, so banter was always gonna be good. Andy Hembrow on 16 and Mark Walsh opposite on 5. 4 rigs were set up. A .1 shalla slim to fish pellet in 12 inches of water against the island. A shallow dibber to long line for cruisers between the island. A .4 slim to fish meat at 2+2. And a margin diamond to fish pellet to the margins both sides of my platform. At the start I fed all lines and fired 6mm pellets to the island and started on the meat line. 10 minutes in and no bites so I fed that line again and went out on the island pellet rig. Even though there were carp everywhere over to the island I just couldn't get them. They were coming in for every pouch of pellets I fired across, but getting them to take my book bait was almost impossible. I did get one after about 15 minutes but all I could get apart from that was liners and foulers. I lost five that were hooked everywhere but in the mouth over the next hour and I was a bit confused why they were fighting over the loose feed but never looked at the banded 6 mm pellet. Mark was also getting  plagued by foul hooked fish and had lost a boatload in the first hour. Andy was doing ok, and by the time I managed to reverse my second fish into the net, he was on about 12 fish but they were on the small side. Adrian was also hooking them and putting them back, so it wasn't going to plan for most of us. Two hours in I was still only on 2 carp. I think the sight of Mark Walsh fishing topless was putting me off. Mark had given up on the carp and was now fishing for silvers. Adrian had a couple by now and a lonesome skimmer on meat. Andy was still catching fairly regularly. Time to try the meat rig again but that again produced nothing but one missed bite. So I had a look in the margin. Nothing there yet but I wasn't surprised. Back to the island and I did get a few indications but still no hook ups. I thought maybe the pole over their heads was spooking them so I put the long line rig in and I had one first drop. Sorted it then.... not!!!!. Apart from a couple of missed bites, nothing else. Then I spotted the carp had stopped cruising and could see their tails sticking up. I put my pellet rig in and they started having it. For the next couple of hours I had a good spell taking around 16 carp to near doubles. The last hour I came in to the margin and took 5 quickly then lost a couple which killed it so another try on the meat line for the last 10 minutes produced one more. At the end I was thinking I had around 120lb. Adrian had a good finish on the meat line taking 5 in the last half hour and Andy had caught most of the day. I reckoned he was a dozen fish up on me but mine seemed bigger so I thought I might be responsible close. The scales came round and up to Andy, Jim Jenner was winning with 88-2 from peg 15. Andy pulled his net out and he did have quite a few more than me but there were alot of seekers in there. And his nets went to 135-9. My 25 fish went 115-3 which put me second on the day. Adrian ended with 62-5. Overall it ended ok, but the slow start was very frustrating.

1st Andy Hembrow,  135-0
2nd Me 115-3
3rd Jim Jenner 88-2

First in silvers was Mark Walsh with 16-8

Chilton Trinity open.

Off to Chilton Trinity today for an open organised by Mr Rixon. After arriving just in time for the draw thanks to the huge que for food at the motorway services ( bloody school holidays) I had the last ticket left and was handed peg 6. A flyer I was told. We will see. Got to the peg to find plenty of fish cruising as they were all over the lake. Rigs for today were a shallow and deep rig to fish pellet at 13 metres. A meat rig for 2+2. Two margin rigs, as my left margin was two feet deeper than the right, to fish meat or pellet. And a pellet waggler to fish for the cruisers at distance. Feed all lines at the start and started on the shallow rig, slapping an 8mm and feeding 6's. First fish came after 15 minutes. By this time Martin Flanagan opposite had two in the net fishing shallow. I persevered for another 20 minutes but there was no more interest on that line, so I switched to the depth rigs because it was fizzing like a jacuzzi. Five minutes later my first bite and I hooked what I thought was a good skimmer as it came in like a wet sack just flicking it's head. When it came to the surface it turned out to be a munter carp of about 14lb. Then it went nuts. After a nervous fight avoiding  it going under the platform it was safely netted. But that was it for that line. Two hours later all I had added was a small skimmer to the net. I tried the margins but was getting blasted by whitebait on meat and pellet. At one stage I thought my meat was starting to rise in the water, as three pieces came to the surface, but it was tiny roach chasing each other around  with it in their mouths. Even 8mm pellet was getting hammered and the float just wouldn't settle if it got to the bottom. So I tried the pellet wag at about 35 metres and did manage to get one, but that was the only bite on that. At the four hour mark it was looking like a struggler all round this end of the lake, then Martin MacMahon started to catch in his margin on pellet on peg 2. The rest of the match didn't change much but I did get two small carp from the left margin. At the weigh I put a miserable 32-2 on the scales and yet again went home not too happy. First on the day ,yet again,  was Tony Rixon. Continuing his good run of wins, on peg 15 with 108-15, fishing shallow then catching down his edge.  Second was Clayton Hudson on peg 24 with 88-4 of shallow caught carp. Third was Martin MacMahon with 74-6. First in the silver's was Ken Rayner with 7-13. Not sure when it's gonna happen but I will have a good day at this venue. Maybe next time in a couple of weeks.

Acorn saturday open.

Off to Acorn fishery for the fortnightly Saturday open . With the weather looking good and recent results I was hoping a few would turn up, but no. Just three of us. I just don't understand it. The place is fishing it's nuts off and being so close to Bristol you'd think this would be popular with the locals. A good cooked breakfast and a good comp, what more do people want. I surprised Bev continues to bother with the Saturday comps with this sort of support. I was tempted to head off to Landsend but decided it wouldn't be fair to leave the other two that turned up so we decided to have a winner take all knock up. Fair play to Bev, she didn't charge us any peg fee so the pot was worth winning. Barty was on the long island clearing  all the margin grasses that had got out of control and boy!!! did he give it a crew cut. Back to the mud banks. And while he was doing it the carp were trying to climb up the digger bucket. They were going nuts in the dirty water feeding. We decided to fish pegs 6, 9 and 11. Mark Walsh drew 11, venue newbie Ross Stewart was on 6 and I had peg 9. To keep it short I fished most of the day tight across feeding and fishing pellet. First half of the match was frustrating as I was loosing two and landing one. Mark was doing the same fishing paste short. Half way through I had about 50lb in the net and had lost a lot more. Didn't seem as if they were having it properly. So I changed from feeding by catapult and fishing 8mm banded, to potting it in and fishing 6mm banded and this improved things dramatically. Apart from a short stint on the 2+1 line fishing pellet were i took 4 decent carp I stuck to the far side and ended up with around 42 carp. At the end I wanted to feed heavier as they were waiting for it to be potted in so I used 2 pole pots. Looked a bit strange but it doubled my feeding. And it just got stronger as the match ended. At the weigh in, Mark was talking his usual dribble saying he had a bit over 90lb. But I knew he had a lot more as he had quite a few more than me even though they were smaller. His 90lb turned out to be 172lb. Then it was my turn. The first net I weighed was the one I put in with 40 minutes to go and that went 41lb. I totaled 192lb, but!!!! and please dont tell Tony Rixon, I'd gone over the limit in one net by 2lb and it was disqualified so I was  knocked back to 111lb. Bugger!!!!!!. Ross struggled on peg 6 and only managed 32lb. it was a very nice days fishing even if I was a total Wally with my nets but the banter was good. Hope you enjoy the bottle of wine your gonna buy with the winnings Mark. Don't choke on it lol.the next open is in two weeks. If ya want a good day get your asses down there and support the fishery.

Avalon open

Not been to this picturesque venue for a while so I was looking forward to the comp today. Went to Landsend fishery to have a breakfast before the match and found It was a little overrun as the ladies hadn't banked on so many turning up. Off to Avalon after filling my belly and found there was 34 fishing today so a good turn out. Last time I was here I drew peg 48 in the far corner of the carpark bank and managed a win, and blow me down I drew it again. Happy chappy. For company I had Leon Hubbard opposite on peg 1 and Joe MacMahon on peg46. and that was all I could see. Got to the peg and after a bit of gardening on the end bank I set up 4 rigs. A .1 shall slim to fish 8mm over 6's at 16 metres along to the end bank. A .4 slim to fish meat at 2+2. A paste rig to fish paste over micros at 8 metres, and a .3 diamond to fish corn to my right hand margin. I also set up a pellet waggler to fish under the trees along the end bank behind the moored boat. At the all in I fed all lines then went straight out on the wag with 11mm pellet and firing out 8's. Second chuck and I'm into my first carp. If about 4lb. But that was it for a while 30 minutes later I cast out, picked up my catty and as I was firing some pellets to the end bank the rod tip rips round but it came off a few seconds later. Ten minutes later I hook another but it shot under the boat and snagged me up, so I pulled for a break. Set another float up, wanged it out and put it straight up the tree. Bugger. Rig lost before it got wet. So I put that down and went for the end bank rig. Dropped an 8mm pellet in and within seconds the float buries and carp number Two is safely netted. I stuck with this line for a while, but even though it wasn't hectic I was getting the odd fish, even though they were a bit on the small side. Leon and Joe weren't doing g so well so I thought I'd just take what I could for now. But after about an hour that line went very quiet so I tried all the other line over the next half hour but had nothing. So back to the end bank and I had a decent hour putting another 6 fish in the net. I was now on a dozen for about 50lb when the sun came out and it totally killed the peg off. I couldn't get a bite anywhere and in the last 2 1/2 hours I only had two more carp, one from the end bank and one squeaker from the right margin. At the whistle I was glad it was over. Joe had a few at the end but I was sure I had him beat and Leon had struggled for most of the day. My clicker was on 62lb but I thought I'd overdone that by just a few pounds and was banking on 60lb. I was first to weigh and put 58-10 on the scales. Joe had 44-12 but as I was right next to the car park I didn't follow the scales. As it turned out the ever consistent Tony Rixon had top weight from peg 28 catching mainly shallow on pellet with 125-2. Second was Tom Magnal with 86-15 from peg 11 caught on pellet waggle and later expanders fished short. I managed to steel the section money by default so my day was paid for. It fished hard for quite a few with several anglers calling it a day early.

1st Tony Rixon 125-2, peg 24
2nd Tom Magnal 86-15, peg 11
3rd Dave Domain 69-12, peg 44

Silvers first, Paul Fairs 21-8, peg 21