Landsend Saturday open 28/07/2018

Left home a bit earlier as I knew the motorway would be a bit busy because of the school holidays, but I wasn`t expecting that many Brummies to be heading south. Bloody caravans everywhere. Plus a couple of accidents added about 20 minutes to the journey. But there was still time for a very nice breakfast 😊. 11 fishing today and we were on Match lake again. I was first into the draw and pulled out peg 21. Pretty happy with that as its been a good area for a while now, holding a decent number of good carp. But when I got to the bank I was surprised to see how low the lake was. Its the lowest i`ve seen it in my 6 years of fishing this place. In many pegs the far top shelf was out of the water so the only place for the fish to feed was in the deeper water. Four rigs today A .15 Shalla Slim to fish the 6 inches of water I was lucky enough to have. A .3 Slim to fish  at an angle at the bottom of the far shelf. Another .3 for meat at 7m in the deepest part of my peg. And  a .3 SS Margin to fish to my left margin at 8m close to an inviting lily bed. I tried to plum up at top kit length to my left but was struggling to get a plummet through the snags. The match started and I fed my lines and started at the bottom of the far shelf. I was probably last to get anything at only 5 minutes but I managed to loose the first 2 then got one out about 5lb. Over the next hour I managed to put 4 in the net but had lost 12.  A few foul hookers, but some were in the mouth and just pulling out. Tourettes time. Dave Ings was catching a few next to me on 22, as was Martin Pettifer on 24. I could see Russ peck on 7 through the island gap, and it wasn`t long before he shouted that we should have a quid on it. I didn`t realise he had close to 50lb in the net by then, and agreed. Sneaky bugger, but that was his last laugh as his fish slowed up and I was later to overtake him by a bit. After about  90 minutes I saw the first swirl so I ditched the long line and dropped in by the lilies with 8mm pellet. It wasn`t long before a good fish was netted followed by another good un. I also noticed a swirl where the snag was to my left so I chucked a few 6mm`s just off the end of the overhanging branches . Straight away fish were on it. So i adjusted my rig to fish just over the ledge on the slope and got into a steady run of good fish. Just after half time I lost a couple of  fish right in the feed area and it went quite for ten minutes, so I thought I`d give the far shelf a go as when I fired pellet over it was like fish soup with up to ten fins as fish struggled to get to the pellets in the shallow water. So I switched to a long line rig so as not to spook them as some of the carp had their  eyes out the water looking at my pole tip, lol. This, In hindsight, was a bad move, as I spent 45 minute and only had 5 fish that were not that big. But there were so many there I couldn`t resist spending time there. So I decided to come back to my short margin line and it was non stop with carp lined up until the end and they were bigger fish. During this time I dropped my number three section off the right side of my platform so had to go in for it. But after I got my boots off and slipped in off the platform I found it was only about 10 inches deep that side and picked it up straight away. There was an advantage of the low water level after all. I was guessing at around 180-190lb at the end, but wasn`t sure as I think I missed a few on the clicker. First to weigh was Mark Walsh on peg 2 who put 190-08, all caught on paste, on the scales, including 12-14 of skimmers. Russ was a bit disappointed as he had slowed up, but still made it to 127-00. But I knew the gold was coming my way. Rod Wooton on 13 just topped the ton with 100-08, but was fishless for the first 2 hours. Then Derick Beard was next to weigh, and I heard he possibly had over the 200lb mark. He did and put 217-06 on the scales, again all caught on paste. My turn and I didn`t think i`d beat him, but was surprised to see my nets go  212-08 for second on the day. That messing about long lining  probably cost me as I recon the same amount of time down the edge would have got me a lot more if i`d been patient. Ah well we live and learn. But to say it fished well is an understatement with the lowest weight at 70lb. And Russ Peck, don`t leave the country, I didn`t get my quid. Full results below.

Acorn Tuesday cost cutter

 First day on the bank for a couple of weeks thanks to my new shite job. Don`t like this stupid shift pattern but I gotta earn a crust. Got to the Bridge Hotel in time for a half decent breakfast. Off to the lake and was surprised to see how many were there. 26 fishing today. And with the likes of Callum Dicks, Tony Rixon and Steve Shaw there, I was in very good company. |Into the draw bag early and out comes peg 34. A decent peg next to the bridge on the right side looking up the lake.

A good weight came off of it Sunday from the right margin on the corner so a rig was set to fish tight in and another to fish the bottom of the shelf , both on top kit range. Also a separate edge rig was set up for the right side by the bridge as its six inches deeper. Both side would be attacked with pellet. A rig to fish half way along the bridge, again on pellet. And a shallow rig to fish the far side in 15 inches of water on, you guessed it, pellet. In fact my bait tray was pretty sparse of choice, though I did open a tin of corn just for something to do.

At the all in I did the usual feeding routine then dropped a pellet in on the far Side. Fish were straight onto the toss potted pellet but they were a bit wary, and it took a while before any indications, but that was a decent fish I managed to slip the net under. Nikki Miller to my right was on the same line but was struggling to get a bait tight over because of the overhanging grasses. Mike Hill on the island peg 1 was into fish early on his top kit fishing the corner of the island. But he did have tails sticking out the water while he was plumbing up. I was struggling to hook anything . The far side was solid with big carp but trying to get one to take a pellet was proving a bit tricky. I could let the float sit there without feeding and not get a touch. As soon as I fed a few pellets it erupted and the float would keep disappearing but I wasn`t hooking anything. And good sized fish were bolting every time. I wasn`t even  even foul hooking anything. Very strange. It was a case of feed, miss ten bites and hook nothing. Then the fish would move off. they just never stayed around without feeding, but as soon as I fed again they were on it. This routine continued for hours. I did get a few out but it took about four hours on and off, of frustration before I finally got a decent run going. The rest of the peg was pretty quiet, and the margin to my left was just a roach fest. It seems I get this problem all the time lately. 8mm pellet getting hammered by tiny roach. I did manage five in total from the margins but it was little reward for constant feeding and the time I spent there. So most of my fish came shallow across, but it was driving me nuts missing so many bites and not contacting with anything.With the amount of bites I missed I should have hit a lot of foul hookers but I only did that twice and I only lost a couple over there. At the end I knew Mike had given me a right spanking as he caught consistently throughout the match. Nikki hadn`t had a great day as he could only catch midway along the bridge but he lost a boat load. Mike weighed in first on the island and put 166-08 of good sized carp on the scales which was enough for second on the day. I was guessing at 85lb at best, but was surprised as it went 97-01, but Ray Bazzly said it should have been a couple of pound less as the scales were zeroed incorrectly. It`s strange to say I had a bad day and weigh 97lb. Nikki didnt bother weighing as he though he only had around 60lb and wanted to dry his nets out. Top dog today was Tony Rixon on peg 7 taking carp from just about anywhere in his peg to finish with 179-12.  Second was Mike. Third was D Turberville from peg 37 with 160-04. Top Silvers went to Mike Chapman on peg 15 with 22-11. Full results below.