Landsend 3 day festival.

This was the first time Ive fished a three dayer for many years and I gotta admit it was hard work.  I drove down on Thursday evening with my caravan and stayed on a small camping park about 90 seconds from the venue which was very handy. But the weather was atrocious. Gale force winds and torrential rain. and it was to continue into the weekend. the first night I thought the caravan was gonna take off and the rain kept me awake most of the night. first day of fishing and i was at the venue cafe early for a big breakfast. The rain had stopped mostly but the wind was howling and blowing in all directions. Into the draw bucket and out pops 42 on lake three. I was pretty happy with it but this lake can be temperamental and the weights could come from anywhere. The series was run on an open draw first day then rotate around the other lakes for the next two days. But you were with the same anglers each day. I had Tom Thick next to me on 41 so plenty of chatting would be going on, and Ken Rayner opposite on 70. To keep the blog short it will be a quick run down on each day. I caught early at 13 meters to the island taking 8 in the first hour but with the wind switching around it blew a load of surface crap down the lake and it became almost impossible to drop a rig in, plus the tow was terrible. I was thinking of putting a crow quill avon on. So it forced me to come into the left hand edge fishing pellet or maggot over ground bait and it proved to be a good move. I caught well in the middle two hours and put a big enough lead on to make sure Toms strong finish didn`t peg me back. So I had a section win first day with 146lb. Second day I went from hero to zero in one quick move. I drew peg 25 on Speci lake, which is a killer of a peg that is just about impossible to do any good from. It is barren of any aquatic life. Well it proved to be that way. I had 2 carp and an F1 for 10lb and the end of my chance of winning anything. and with it pouring with rain for the whole day without a break it made it a miserable day. Tony Rixon opposite did better taking just over 50lb from the hay basket along the end bank but did loose alot to the basket. Tom again had a good day and won the section so he was well in contension. Day three and with the weather vastly better today I was on match lake which is my favourite lake at the venue and I drew peg 1. I fancied the other bank as thats the most consistent on the lake but peg 1 was a good peg so I wasnt to displeased. I started against the end of the island and caught well for a while and had about 40lb in the net in the first 90 minutes. but I lost a couple in a snag that I managed to drag out of the reed and it became a real pain to avoid it. so I came in on the top 5 meat line I had been feeding and stayed on that line for most of the remaining time. It wasnt hectic as I had to play the waiting game for bites but at least I kept going all day. I did try the margin line several times but it didnt fire up like I hoped it would so most of my fish came on the short meat line. I finished with 138lb for another section win. but with the dissasterous second day it wasnt enough to win anything.lake winner was Bob gullick on 21 with just over 200lb. Tom again had a good day with over 190lb and it was enough to take the individual honours for the festival. sorry I haven`t got all the results but ill try and tag them to this when ken put hem up. A good few days was had by all and it was thanks to Mike Ducket and Ken Rayner for running it.

Windmill Sunday open.

Not been to windmill for a while as its been bit of a balls up match scene there for a while. The regular anglers have been messed around with which lake they are to use. But today was on match lake. 13 fishing today so plenty of room and I manage to pull out peg 6. I was pretty happy with it as its a decent peg. Opposite in the Island gap I had Tim Ford, so plenty of chatting would be going on, and to my right was Ryan Brushneen on peg 4. 4 rigs today all for carp as all I had on me bait wise was Pellets and corn. I thought I had a tin of meat in my bag, but nope, not there. So I set up a .15 Shalla Slim to fish the far side at 14.5 metres. But when I plumbed up I had about two inches of water right across. So I ended up coming back out by 2 metres and still only had 8 inches. I also set up a dibber for long lining across in the shallow water. A .5 slim to fish 8 metres on corn down the deepest part of the peg. And a .3 SS margin for both sides down the edge. Tho it was a lot shallower to my left I couldn`t be bothered to set up two rigs for that so id just slide the float up and down. I also set up the usual bomb rod for this place. Its always good for a few. At the start I went out on the bomb at the point of the island.

There were loads of carp there and half their bodies were out of the water and they were going nuts for the loose fed 8mm pellets but they were skilfully avoiding my hook bait. Tim started well and was straight into fish doing the same as me. as was Ryan casting to the shallow shelf across to the island. But me, I couldn`t get a sniff. every time I fed a few pellets carp were crawling up the shelf to grab them. Still not a touch. Tim was on three when I decided to change to the long pole and feed the shallow line. It worked and i had a couple in the next 15 minutes, but they were very spooky and bolting when they saw the pole. Tim was storming ahead of me but his fish were a bit small. The first half of the match was slow for me and after three hours I only had 6 all on the long pole. The margin had started showing a bit of life but they were so spooked all the time. They were scared of their own shadows.

The corn rig had only produced a skimmer first drop in then no other bites. Another try on the bomb and finally the tip pulls round and I managed to get one to the net. followed by another 10 minutes later. But then it was back to loads of fish showing and no pull rounds. Tim was catching pretty regular by now after an hour where he had nothing and Ryan was netting a few. At that point they were both well ahead of me. I did keep Tim informed about the mighty Bristol City demolishing Blackburn, I just couldn`t help it after he said how bad the Gas were yesterday. So with just over two hours to go I started to get the odd fish in the margins and they were good fish. I was nowhere near Tim numbers wise but my fish were a lot bigger so I started to peg Tim and Ryan back. A couple more followed when I tried the bomb again but the last two hours were spent mostly in the margins. At the end I admited to Tim to having just over the ton mark, but that was to bite me in the arse when I weighed in. First to weigh in was Matt Collins on peg 2 who put a mighty 218lb on the scales, and that was top weight on the day. Ryan was next and weighed 74.15. I was next and my bad guess was way out and I weighed 87-15. Which amused Tim as I was nearly 20lb out on my guess. I must have clicked one of the double figure fish twice. NUMPTY lol. I didnt follow the scales round so didnt see much of what was weighed, But Tim did let me know that he had whooped my arse by 5lb with 92-15, dave Wilmot had a good day too with 135-13v for second place. dave haynes won the silvers with a nice net for 17-9. Full results below.The sheet is a bit messy but you can see most of it