Mr Rixons Sunday Landsend open

Back to doing a blog this week after last weeks cock up. Had two Matches last weekend and did a double blog. Got about 95% through doing it and after about half hour of typing I managed to delete the lot when I got distracted and closed the thing down by mistake. So I chucked the dummy out the pram and didn`t re-do it. Anyway back to this week and it was back to Landsend for another of Tony`s well attended Opens. As usual with around 24 fishing it was on Match lake and lake three. With the overall match winner and top three on each lake and silvers the payout is well spread. After a very nice breakfast it was into the draw and I manage to grab peg 19 on Match. very nice me thinks. It been a good area lately. Since Mike gave the venue an aggressive trim the fish have moved out of 11 and 13 and spread out around the lake, And they have set up home, it seems, around pegs 18 to 21. 4 rigs were assembled. A .3 SS Margin rig for the snaggy looking tree stump to my left for meat or pellet. Though I was a bit anxious about fishing close to it as I could see a lot  of submerged branches under the stump. A .4 Slim to fish meat at 2+3 range. A Shalla Slim to fish pellet across to the island, And a .3 Slim to fish caster or maggot for silvers to my right , though I didn`t think id do much silver bashing in this area.Fed all lines at the start and went across to the island with 6mm banded pellet, without feeding any.after a couple of missed bites I was into one. It was a big beast and wasnt helped by being foul hooked and after about ten minutes it managed to find the snaggy crap to me left. back out and soon into another, and bugger me it shot straight back towards my and into the snaggy crap again. Next drop, same thing again. The stump was proving a nightmare. 30 minute in and I finally managed to put one in the net. Gordon Canning to my left had three by now, And |Paul Elmes and Martin Rayet on 22 and 24 were also catching. I stayed on the shallow rig for an hour and had three smallish carp in the net. I tried the meat line next and after a short while I did manage a couple but again nothing of any size.So it was back to the island and i had a frustrating time missing bitesthat I thought was F1`s having a go. I tried an 8mm pellet and had an F1 and  big skimmer but no more carp at this time. so it was back on the meatand I had four pretty quickly. but they dried up. I noticed a few cruising around at the 16 meter line off the end of the island so I shallowed my pellet rig right up and started slapping and got my first decent fish around 9lb followed by two more decent ones.By with about 2 1/2 hours to go I tried the edge rig again as Gordon had started to catch a few down his edge but I was getting a few bites but no fish on meat. I guessed it was roach messing with itso a quick change to 8mm pellet and first drop in a lump that must have been close to 15lb was landed. next drop in and another double, Happy days. Two fish for 28lb put on the clicker. That`ll do nicely.  I stayed mainly on that line for the remainder of the match taking another 6 decent carp, with a quick look on the meat line but the last half hour died for me. Martin Rayet had caught consistently and was looking to have beaten the rest of us, but I thought it was going to be close between Gordon and myself as we had taken turns to get a few fish. at the weigh in Joe "Mr Angry" Mcmahon was in front from peg 15 with 119-15 when the scales got to Gordon. He had an all carp catch that went 131-14 (slight mistake on weigh sheet), and I was banking on close to 140. Luckily the few silvers I had helped me to just pip him at the post, as my silvers went 8-03 and my carp went 124-04 for a total of 132-07 which got me second on the lake and second overall on the day. As I thought Martin blitzed it with 181-01 so well done to him. A fab net of carp from peg 24, taking 60lb in the last hour down his left margin. |Chris Fox won Lake three with 124-13 from peg 62. Overall it fished realy well, I nice day for most apart from the weather being a bit on the chilly side. When will this crap weather come to an end. weigh sheets bellow.

Landsend saturday open 24/3/2018

This place has to be my favourite venue, so as usual my weekly trip out dangling was at this picturesque fishery. I had promised to post Russ Peck some floats but didnt get around to it so it was a good excuse to deliver by hand. After a very nice breakfast, as usual, it was into the draw bucket and blow me if I didn`t get a peg past the gap in the island. peg 17. First time that end of the lake since some hippy was nailed to the cross. Well that`s how it feels lol. I was happy with that so off I trot with a little skip in my step. Slight exaggeration there. for company I had Richard (damned if I can remember his last name) on 19. And Mike Ducket on 21. Opposite was Beanie on 5 and I could see Russ through the trees on 11. But he wasn`t a happy bunny as he had it last week and struggled. $ rigs today/ A .15 shalla slim for against the island on 6mm pellet. A .4 slim carp rig for the bottom of the island shelf. It would also do as a meat rig at 7 meters. a .3 slim for silvers at 11 meters left and right of centre. And a .3 SS Margin for the pallets both sides. at the start I went across as it was fairly warm so I thought I might get something early shallow. It didn`t happen and after 30 minutes I switched to the bottom of the shelf. By now Mike had got off to a flyer and was getting decent carp on meat at 7 meters. The top end of the lake was struggling like me, so a rethink was in order. I started feeding 3 pieces of meat every ten minutes in the 7 meter line but left it for quite a while. Richard next to me swapped to the shorter line after struggling for 90 minutes tight over and that was his day sorted. it was solid in front of him and he caught constantly after that. I had a couple across at the bottom of the shelf but it was slow. My day was spent searching for fish. I did take carp on all lines but it was one at a time and just couldn`t get a steady rhythm going. Mike who had got off to a flyer slowed right up in the last two hours, but Rich just kept a good steady flow going. I tried my best to catch him but he was always 6 or 8 fish ahead. at the end the three of us were clearly going to take the spoils and i knew Richard has won by a good margin, but it was going to be close between Mike and myself. the scales came around to us and I was first to wiegh putting 11lb of silver and 73lb of carp for 84-13. Rich had a few silver but his carp took him to 114lb. Mike was last to weigh and had an all carp bag of 91lb. so its clear were the carp have moved to. They aint in 13 and 11 at the mo. Makes a change for them to be in different pegs. Steve Seager took top silvers with 19lb so he had a nice day too. Unfortunately I didn`t get the weigh sheet photo so my weight might not be spot on but ya get the drift.
P.S. thanks Russ Peck for the quid side bet. It was a pleasure relieving you of it.

So Simple , landsend winter league, final round.

It was the last match in this very well run series today, but after a terrible nights sleep, thanks to chronic reflux, I got up to be greeted by a blanket of snow outside. It was looking pretty bad so I thought id make a couple of calls to see if it was still on. After a reassuring message from Ken and Tony saying the roads were good around the venue, I packed the car and set off. My street was the worse part of the journey with a bit of a slide but once id driven carefully to the motorway at Magor it was ok the rest of the way.Got to Landsend and there was only 5 other cars there. Quite a few soft cock no shows today, but as the Match was prepaid it wouldn`t effect the payouts. I had already sewn up the series last round but today I was in the final of the knockout against Tony Rixon. And to be honest, with him on Match lake and me on Lake 3 I didn`t think I had a chance, but with the severe weather change it was impossible to say how things would turn out. A very nice hot breakfast was consumed. And it was draw time. Only 5 on my lake out of the usual 9, so plenty of room. I pulled out peg 51. Not a bad peg so I was told, but not one I`ve fished before.

 its 3/4`s the way up the left bank just passed the island gap. The other 4 anglers in my section all drew the first 4 pegs on opposite banks. So it was a lonely day for me apart from the odd call out to Rod Wootton who was my closest angler on 43. It was still snowing hard so first thing I set up was the trusty bomb rod. At least that gives you a chance to have a bait in and your hands warming at the same time. Three pole rigs.  .2 Shalla Slim to fish tight over to the island in about three feet. A welcome depth on such a cold day. A .3 Slim to fish the track in several places. And a .3 SS Margin to fish both both side margins against overhanging branches. Bait wise it was easy today. All I had in my sights was beating Tony so it was all out for carp were ever I drew and I only had meat and pellets to fish on my side tray. No need to go for silvers. It was still snowing and It didnt take long for everything to be covered in a sprinkling of the frosty stuff

At the start Fed all line sparingly and started on the bomb, as my hands had got wet and were freezing so they needed to be wrapped around a hot cup and stuck in my pockets for a while. Nothing happened for 30 minutes so it was time to push the pole out to the island. I slipped a 6mm banded pellet on and dropped it in. It  took a while but i finally got my first bite, that I duly missed. I dropped it straight back in the same spot and after about two minutes it went again. this time I connected to a nice skimmer. Blank saved. The next 15 minutes I hooked and lost two carp. And one destroyed my elastic by bottoming me out and letting the cold freeze it in the stretched position. The only thing I can describe it as was a pile of silly string down by my feet lol. A short while after and carp number one was netted. At this time a very nice surprise happened as two deer walk along the bank and stopped and starred at me. Not something I`ve seen before.As it turned out that was the start of a very nice, If cold day. I stuck on that line for the rest of the day on 6mm banded taking 19 carp in short spurts between quiet patches. The guys at the end of the lake all struggled. I was first to weigh in and I was pretty sure I had just topped the ton mark. And I was spot on with my guess as I weighed  106-03. the rest of the lake was tough with Lee Williams taking a couple of lumps and silvers for 27-10. As for the knock out, Tony had a hard day on peg 22 and lost every carp he hooked, but did get top silvers with 27-00 which gave him the silvers titled for the series. So that gave me the knock out win as well as the series overall, only dropping two points. Nick Ducket won Specie Lake section with 59-00. So to say I was happy is an understatement. My first win in a series for many years and against very good quality opposition. But saying that, I did have a golden arm and drew good pegs every round, but ya still gotta catch whats there. Full match results below. Ken Raynor will post the series results on his page and blog.

Landsend “So Simple” Winter league round 5

It was the last but one round in this years So Simple winter league at landsend. And as as I was in front coming into this round I was desperate for a good draw. I am in a long run of drawing at the car park end of Match lake, my section for the day, going back probably fifteen matches and just wanted to be past the island gap. The top two pegs, 13 and 11 are continually winning matches and I just wanted to draw one of them. After a breakfast I went into the draw bucket. Peg 1 comes out and my head dropped. It’s a peg I’ve drawn many times and never had a good weight from it. I’ve never seen it do any good in any match, so to say I was disappointed  was an understatement . Off of go to the peg and I see that the venue has had a severe trim with the end bank trees lopped off rally short. I set up four rigs. A .1.5 shalla slim to fish tigh to the end bank at various depths and the end of the island. A .4 slim to fish four silver with caste or red maggot at 13 meters straight out. Another .4 slim set for carp to fish the same line in case the silvers line attracted carp. And a .3 SS margin to fish under the bush to my right. I also set up the bomb rod incase I had a problem with a rig. It’s always good to have something in the water when your sorting rigs out. At the start I fed the long line with micros and casters and the edge rig to my right with meat, as I’d forgotten my favoured edge bait, corn. I started fishing the end bank at half depth with maggot and not feeding. After 15 minutes without even a sniff from a roach I swung across to the island for a bit. Nothing there either. So I went to full depth along the end bank, and put a banded 6mm pellet on. Again nothing happened. So I went back to the island. Still not a bite. Steve Sewell on 24 was in the same boat as me with nothing but Mark Leader on 22 had three by this time and was moaning he was catching carp and not silvers lol. I switched to the silver line with a single red on and after about 15 minutes the float finally went under. The number six elastic pulled out and kept going. Bugger, carp on the silvers rig. It was foul hooked but I did manage to get it in after a lengthy fight. Not big but hooked in the belly it scrapped like a demond. Back out for another 15 minutes but nothing else happed. I was hopping for skimmers but they just didnt wanna play. It as now close to two hours in and just one bite. So it was into the margin. After about five minutes I actually looked up and realised the it was possible, if I put a longer lined rig on I could get past the trimmed bush and swing a rig in close to the empty pallet next door on peg two. Being left handed would help but I’m a righty. So I put a few 6mm cubes of meat and a few 6mm pellets in a toss pot and dropped it in by the pallet. Five mintes later and carp number two in the net. Again not big but it was a start. Next drop another about 5lb this time. The next 15 minutes I lost two munters that both bottomed out my number 16 elastic. Over the next couple of hours I had 6 more but lost a few, with a couple taking me under the platform so it killed the peg for a while. I was hoping at this time I could maybe get 30 pound in the net with the last two golden hours to go, but I was ahead of this target. So with two to go I was ready for the catch rate to improve, but the opposite happened. I only had three Moreno in the last two hours and lost three.Mark had caught a few all on his silvers line and it was close between us. Steve had four carp and some good skimmers but he tipped his back without test in the scales. The rest of the lake I had no idea on. I was first to weigh in as I was the scales man. I hate that job. My solitary roach and my 11 carp went 57-05. And as I was really dissointed with the draw I ended up pleasantly pleased. The bush trim (no sniggering) helped, as the next peg pallet was the only place I could get bites. And before it was even seeable let alone fishable. Rod Wootton  was on peg 11 but really struggled for 29-8. Pete Nurse on 13 had mainly carp for 43-12. Mark Leader had a decent net of silvers to go with his carp and did me by a few pound with 63-00. So in the end my fobia about peg one was smashed. And the good result I wanted was achieved. I even managed to get through to the knockout final. So a good day. And if my maths is correct I think I’ve won the series with a match to go but that has to be finalised.so back here next week for the final round and knockout final against my old mate Tony Rixon. But with him on match lake and me on lake three I’m not too confident I can beat him. But a who knows. Full result sheets on Tony Rixon’s or Ken Raynor’s blogs.

Landsend winter league round 4

Back to landsend for round 4 of this years very well run winter league. Just before I got to the venue I was driving through a blizzard of that, not quite snow, not quite hail stuff and it was freezing outside the car. Glad I was well rugged up. Got there with half hour to spare so first stop was to munch down a nice cooked breakfast and sell a few floats. It was back to a random draw for this round and all I wanted was to avoid Match lake as it been pretty bad for a while. I’m doing OK in the league so a good draw was needed to keep me at the top. But I was one of the last to draw so not much to choose from. Into the bucket and out pops 31. Gotta admit I’m being bit of a draw bag at the mo. That’s my fourth decent draw. It’s on the end of the island on Specie lake. Match organiser Ken Raynor drew it last match and got second on the lake from it, and I could see what he was doing cos I was pegged opposite. So I had an idea on what I would try today. But after setting up 16m to fish a longish line to reach the island 🌴at 17 meters, I put a plummet on and shipped out. The wind was so bad I couldn’t hold the pole after about 12 meters and with the forecast for it to get worse I pulled it back in took off 3 sections and never touched them again. With the strong wind and the snow that was coming down conditions were looking pretty rough. The guys around me went out long but they were finding it almost impossible, so bait presentation was gonna be near impossible. So I got a bomb rod out to get to the island, which in the end was a good move. Won’t go into to much detail as it was very hard. Fishing 11m was a real struggle and I only had a few silvers when the wind did drop long enough to present a still bait. Martin Pettifer next to me persevered for long periods and got a few more silvers than me and a couple of carp on his silver rig. Steve Sewell on 28 fished as long as the wind would allow and caught small roach consistently. Poor Rod Wooten was on 34 and was up the end bank more than in the water a lot of the day. He had his one and only fish, a decent carp, with just 25 minutes left. I’m surprised a pole or two weren’t broken today. I fished half pole and half bomb today, and managed to pick up 5 decent carp from the bottom of the shelf at the end of the island on banded 6mm pellet on an 18. All other lines I tried were void of any life. My phone battery was dead so I didn’t get any photos of the sheets, but I think my 5 carp went 37-9, and my silvers went 1-9, and that total gave me a lake and section win. But to say it was an uncomfortable days fishing was an understatement. And I, for one, was glad when it finished. Many struggled for bites today. You will have to see Tony Rixon’s, or Ken Raynor’s blogs for the weigh sheets  Appologese to the guys for not having all the facts but technology let me down today.

Landsend winter league Round 3

After a week off because myself and Helena took a few days off in Malta, and a lovely time we had too, it was back to Landsend for round three of the Winter league. I was doing well so far so a good draw was needed today to keep things going. Today I was on Specie lake and realy wanted to be at the top end of the lake as thats usualy the good area. I was a bit late into the draw as Di had missed me on the breakfast list and there was only two pegs left in the bucket for my section. So in I go and I pull out peg 33. My prayers had been answered. This peg won the last match with around 90lb so I was well happy as its usualy a tough peg to beat right up in the top left corner. For company today I had Dave Lewis next to me on 34, whom I had drawn in the knockout. Jason radford opposite on corner peg 32, and series organiser Ken Raynor on 31. 4 rigs today. A .15 shalla slim to fish mid depth along the end bank. A .3 slim to fish on the deck on the same line. A good depth of about 5 feet along that bank. A .4 slim to fish for silvers if the need arose on maggot or caster. And a .3 SS margin to fish corn both side at top three length, but didnt realy thing this would be a goer. At the all in I fired a few caters at 14 meters along the end bank and cupped in some micros and casters at 11 meters into open water slightly to my right where it was about 4 inches deeper than the rest of the peg. I put double white maggot on the shallow rig and as I was shipping out I saw a good ghosty on the top in open water so I dropped it in front of it and it obliged but it came off after a bout 5 seconds. So it was back to plan 'A' lifting and dropping the bait at mid depth and pinging a few casters over the top. I had a problem as I was finding it hard to get the bait in the water without blippy roach dragging it about but I did get a decent carp after about 15 minutes. A nice ghosty of about 8lb. I stayed on that line, shallow and full depth for around 90 minutes but only had one more plus a few rouch that managed to hang on to the maggot long enough to get them in. they were a real pain. There were carp there as I was foul hooking a few and loosing them. So I tried on the silvers line with single maggot. I got a couple of tiny roach out then it went quiet for 10 minutes. Then I hooked a good carp in the tail on a size 20 to .01 hooklength. Sqeaky bum time but I managed to get this one in. By now Ken had two carp and was also getting better silvers. Dave was struggling to keep the silvers going. As was Jason. But he had lost a couple of carp by this time. I went back to the end bank but it was the same story, either blippy roach picking at the bait or the odd fouled carp. They just didnt want maggot or caster properly. So I decided to change up to pellet and try to keep the roach away. Like that worked!! They just sucked at it and made the float dance around. Plus no carp at all in the half hour I tried it.By the third hour I`d had three and lost seven. So plan `C` was called for. I upped the feed and changed to corn and started to get the odd carp. I gotta say Jason kept myself and Ken in stitches with his antics today. In a ten minute spell , after watching Ken get a couple of carp slapping close to the island he had a go but was oblivious to the over hanging branches from the trees along the end bank, loosing three rigs.  I think he was using nuts fishing for squirrels. A frase came to mind. The deffinision of madnes is repeating the same actions over and over and expecting a different result lol. Cheers Jason, you made it a fun day. The last two hours was a waiting game. All the carp I got came on corn on the deck at 16 meters after long waits, if the roach let it get to the bottom. At the end I had put 48lb on the clicker and was guessing at 4lb of silvers. Ken had 5 carp and a decent net of silvers to put 49-6 total on the scales and Jason had 18lb. I was surprised to see my silvers go 7-2 and my 8 carp go 55-1 for a total of 62-3 for a section win. Dave had struggled with keeping the silvers going and had no real bonus fish except a 2lb chub. He managed 11-10. My weight was top on the day so I was well pleased. That keeps me top at the moment, but with three matches still to go anything could happen and its all down to keeping drawing well and making the most out of every peg. Full results below.

Landsend saturday open.

This will be my last match for a couple of weeks as I`m off to malta next week for a few days R and R. It was nice to see Di back behind the counter after her Xmas lurgy, but no Olive , so Di was a bit pushed today. But as usual the food was excellent. It was a bit warmer today but the lakes had been frozen over during the week so the water was pretty cold. Into the draw bucket and out comes my least favourite peg on the lake, peg 1. Ah well at least the breakfast was good. Wasnt expecting much as all the fish are sholed up at the other end of the lake and this peg is all about trying not to come last in the match. Well thats how it turned out. I wont bore you with details but I only had 2 carp , one perch and a solitary roach. And the roach was all I had in the last three hours. But I wasnt last. Last but one, so it was bonus lol. As in most matches on this lake, the top three weights came from 13, 11, and 15. Nothing new there. Russ `Drawbag` Peck picked up top weight from peg 13. Followed by Steve Seager on 11. results below