Tony Rixon's Float Only, Shiplate, Sunday 29th June 2014

I'm beginning to wonder if it's worth carrying on with this blog, it was helping me analyse my matches, but when there is so little of consequence to write about, there is little to be gained from the effort.

The chance of doing well in the league had already gone, so it's just the individual matches to fish for and today, the knockout, where I was up against tough opposition, the man behind the counter in Avon Angling, Tony Rixon.

I got in early and drew peg 10 on the main lake (20 pegs on the main lake and 10 on each canal lake), immediately I was told that the last two matches had been won of it with 200lb - funny how the lake record is 172lb and that didn't come in the last two matches............  Then that Des had done over 200lb on it for a feature, so Des catches a lot of fish pleasure fishing, is that really news??

I have drawn the peg once before and really struggled, its about 18-20m to the island, with a short RH margin.  I set up two wagglers, one 12" deep and one at full depth, with two No8's down the line. They were clipped up so that the pellet just kissed the mud on the island when it landed.

Five topkits today, two paste rigs, one for the margin and one for the 6m line. Two pellet rigs, one shallow and one at full depth, finally a margin rig to fish pellet/corn/worm etc.

I started at 17m towards the island and had a skimmer on 8mm banded pellet, that was the extent of the action for over an hour, I could see my knockout opponent, Tony, on peg 8, he was similarly struggling, as were the others pegged at this end of the lake.  Tony had a carp, then not too long after I managed one on the full depth waggler, but it was a lone bite.

The short line at 6m only produced two roach all day, both fell to corn, the RH margin had a fish swirling and small fish kept jumping out of the water, but paste was ignored, as was pellet.  I tried double dendra and the float buried, a 10oz perch was the culprit and just before the net he spat out a dead roach, so the swirls weren't carp, they were perch chasing fry.

I desperation I got another section from my holdall and was fishing 19m to get tight to the island, which produced two fish and a lost foul hooker, no surprise that Tony landed a foul hooker!!  I was totally reliant on the margin coming good, as there was no liners, no fizzing and very few bites.  Paste was again a non starter, so back to double dendra and the float buried, this time a bootlace eel.  Finally I hooked a carp, this was obviously fouled and it took off like a rocket and snapped 0.20 as it bottomed the elastic out as it rounded the end of the island.

In the last few minutes I landed a carp from the margin on double dendra, this put the total to 4, one behind Tony and three ahead of Paul Elmes and Steve Seager on pegs 8 and 9a respectively.  This end of the lake fished extremely hard, compared to the ton weights at the opposite corner, I had about 23lb, which was 8lb short of Tony's weight, so that's the knock out over as well.  Shiplate is a lovely looking fishery, the owners are friendly, but it does seem to be very peggy when 40 pegs are put on it.

1. Tom Mangnall 101-09-0 peg 1 (Maini)
2. Glenn Bailey 100-05-0 peg 2 (Main)
3. Shaun Townsend 87-09-0 peg 13 (Main)
4. Eddy Wynne 74-08-0 peg 15 (Main)
5. Tim Ford 71-07-0 peg 6 (Hawthorne)
6. Gordon Cannings 63-10-0 peg 15 (Hawthorne)

Clevedon Club Match, Sedges Tile lake, Sunday 22nd June 2014

I had put my name down as a reserve for the Viaduct Summer League, but withdrew after the short pole match, as I seem to be struggling on there lately and I can't put my finger on the reason why, so off for a match with less pressure and a quest to get some of the enjoyment back.

14 fishing this one and the corner pegs were the ones everyone was after, although having only fished the lake once before, I wasn't too bothered where I drew, the conditions were hot, sunny and flat calm, with fish showing themselves all over the lake.

I drew 29 and was then surprised to see 30 not in, when the other 3 corners were, not sure on the thinking behind that one!!  I had an island to chuck to, I had open water and the opportunity to fish with rod and line down to the end bank, the tall plants that give the venue its name, were stopping me fishing a margin, as they protrude just too far to fish parallel to the bank, but with so much water to fish, I didn't think it was a problem.

Again today, the meat stayed in the tin and I had pellet and paste on the bait table, along with a few band um's, as I set up a method feeder to fish to the island. 3 rigs were all I set up for the pole, a paste rig on 0.18 with a 12 B911XS, a shallow rig and a full depth rig, both with 16 B960 on 0.16 and a hair rigged bait band.  I thought I threw away a dodgy batch of bait bands I had, but some must have snuck into the stock I have at home, as I replaced several hooks, as I did yesterday, with the bands breaking.  I also set up a pellet waggler and a straight lead, starting on the pellet wag, as the cruisers were too far out of range for the pole, I 'mugged' three fish in the first hour, by casting at them, two double figure fish and a 3lb fish.

The longer the match went on, the less visible the fish made themselves and the blows all but stopped, so i switched to the method, tight to the island. First put in I hooked a decent fish, but under the rod tip it shed the hook, this happened 6 more times, I only landed one fish on the method, a 'squeaker' which was 1lb if I was lucky. Being a novice method chucker, I have no idea why they came off, but I was using an inline feeder for the first time, my other experiences have been with elasticated feeders and no such issues.

A switch back to the waggler brought one more fish, as did a foray onto the straight lead, but it was hard work for little reward, the full depth pole rig produced one fish, the shallow rig, nothing.  My initial look on the paste resulted in tiny roach and skimmers pecking at the bait, with a couple of them being speared. I refed the line with half a pot of pellet and went back on it for the last hour or so, the shit fish had disappeared and I added a couple more double figure fish and a couple of smaller ones to the net. An eel took a liking to the paste, it was around the pound and a half mark, as I put my hand in the net to unhook it, it sprang like a snake and bit me, holding on tight - made me bloody jump - it broke the skin and drew blood, a first for me bitten by an eel. I'm consulting injury lawyers4U, as there were no warning signs, with regard to the dangerous nature of the stock.......

The six fish lost on the method were costly, as I weighed 81.00 for 4th place, the higher weights coming from the car park corner pegs (wind,what little there was, blowing into this bank) and a peg on the opposite bank that had the advantage of some ripple on the surface.

1: Kev Perry 157.12 peg 21
2: Andy Hembrow 118.08 peg 37
3: Lewis walker 82.13 peg 40
4: Chris Fox 81.00 peg 29
5: John Wolstencroft  78.01 peg 22
6: Paul Nicholls 70.06 peg 28

Silvers

1: Ade Baker 17.10 peg 24
2: Mark Broomsgrove 15.12 peg 27

Maver Match This Qualifier, Viaduct, Saturday 21st June 2014

With 120 fishing this and my recent dismal performances on this venue, I knew I would need an exceptional draw and get everything right to win this one.  I had been trying a bit of reverse psychology, trying to convince myself and anyone who would listen, that I would be sat on Match lake 39.  Well this worked, as I drew a corner and I had predicted the winner would come from a corner, sadly it wasn't a corner I fancied.  123, that's the first time I have ever drawn the peg with a prestige silvers pedigree and there was no point in targeting them, as I tended to agree with pre match discussion, that 150lb would be a good weight and might win it.

The way recent matches had gone, I left the meat in the tins and had 8 and 11mm pellet on my side tray, along with a bag of paste, made the way Mike Nicholls  kindly told me about on Wednesday.  A fairly single minded approach would be needed to qualify, so I set up 4 pole rigs, one for down the margin on 0.20 with a 16 hook on 0.18 line. A paste rig, a depth pellet rig and a shallow pellet rig, both pellet rigs with 0.16 hooklengths and B960 hooks with bait bands. The paste rig was 0.18 straight through to a 12 B911XS and a waggler rod with a short pellet waggler along with a lead rod completed the set up.

The waggler rod didn't produce a bite, I had one fish on the margin rig and the paste rig didn't produce a bite either, so nothing much to say about them.  The guy next door on 124 was fishing meat and being pestered by shit fish, they weren't pestering the 8mm pellet, but then neither were the carp.

I spent some time trying to mug the cruisers, but even those that stayed put to have two or three goes at, were totally uninterested in feeding, not even a reaction snap at something dropping right on their nose. I managed to catch a couple on the lead, but it was such a long wait for a bite, I got bored, even though I could see Roy Worth on 121catching on the lead. He seems to have a loose set clutch and when the fish grab the pellet they run off and he picks the rod up, fish on. fair play to him, he weighed 120lb for 3rd.

I managed a dismal 7 fish, one of which looked spawn bound and very poorly, I put it in a separate net, as I didn't think it fair to have the others (even though there weren't many) on top of it when lifting them out.

I didn't weigh in, I guess including my hospital case, I had 35lb and I knew that wouldn't trouble the top couple of weights in he section and so it proved, with 78lb winning the section. 124 DNW'd as well, there didn't seem to be many fish at all in our pegs, as I wasn't getting liners or indications at any point in the match.

Result can be found here:

http://www.mavermatchthis.co.uk/match-results.php

Short Pole Match, Viaduct, Campbell. Wednesday 18th June 2014

21 on the lake for this match, so a taster of whats to come on Saturday's Maver Match This, which is a 120 peg sell out.  I can't say I was enamoured with the peg that came out of the draw tin, 134.  I have seen this peg struggle before when 135 is in, but I was still determined to give it a go and maybe the fish were pushed up into that bank with the wind.

It was nice to see fellow blogger Tim Ford back on the bank, hopefully he is well on the road to recovery now.

A very simple bait tray today, pellets. Meat has not been good for me the last few matches here, so I opted to only have a few cubes for hookers in the margin. I set up 4 rigs, two margin rigs, as I couldn't get tight in down down the LH side due to a large swathe of floating scum, so I plumbed up against this, the RH margin had some scum, but let me get much tighter to the bank.  The exception to the pellet bait was for down the margin, I had dead maggot and corn to feed one side and just pellet the other, along with some big dendras for hookbait.  As the match progressed the LH margin scum started to grow and was soon 6' or 7' out from the bank. I went along and cleared it out with the landing net, but within 10 minutes, the cleared area was once again covered with the impenetrable layer of scum.

Not that this made any difference, as I managed one 6oz perch from the LH margin and one about an ounce smaller from the RH margin, that was the sum of my bites from the margins, apart from the continual knocking and dinking of the float from shit fish.

I fed one line straight in front, with 6mm pellet and started on a 6mm expander, this produced a missed bite, then next drop in, a 9lb carp.  After that the expander was soon abandoned, as the shit fish were ragging it off the hook. A 6mm hard pellet was also being ragged, but persistence with it saw it go under and a 4oz skimmer was the result, this was the story for the next 3 hours, even with 8mm pellet, I tried 11mm pellet and this was being ragged, but the skimmers couldn't get it in their mouths.

After 3 hours I got off my box, had a walk to the shop, bought a drink and contemplated what to do next, as I was getting no liners, no foulers, no indication of any fish in the peg, I could see Glenn Bailey on 131 and Mike Nicholls on 132 getting odd fish on paste, so made some paste up and set up a paste rig, this remained motionless for over an hour, a last look down the margin and with an hour to go, I threw the towel in and packed up neatly and tidily, putting back my one carp and about 5lb of skimmers, before wandering round to sit behind Mike for the last 15 minutes.

I can only hope my bad run a Viaduct comes to an abrupt end on Saturday, it would be nice to draw a peg thats solid in the MMT.  I didn't get the result's, they'll be on Tony's blog.

Tony Rixon's Float Only, Landsend, Sunday 15th June

A match on the 15th June evoked memories of the close season, it was a magic time, waiting for the 16th, although with Devon and Cornwall not having a close season, I guess many of us made the trek down to the Exeter canal matches, which were tough going, unless you drew the Lime Kilns, of which I only ever got to see by bank walking.....

Back to today and I fancied a draw on Match or Specimen lakes, so obviously I drew lake 3, peg 54, it seems the only time I don't draw this lake is when it's not in, or when there is rotation in a series.  So not aided by feeling shite - hayfever, not over indulgence - I trudged up to the peg disappointed yet again by my inability to pull a peg on a lake, let alone an area, I fancy.

I had a bit of space to my right but couldn't utilise it to fish the margin, as the bankside vegetation has grown so much, that even stood up and leaning as far forward as I dare, I could not get down the edge and the bush was far too substantial to cut back with a weed cutter.  The LH margin was also over grown and has a tree drooping down into the water, I managed to clear some of the lower branches and bankside grass, but the water wasn't too coloured and I thought that the LH margin would be just too close to me to produce, as I could only go as far as the tree trunk, which was top 2 + 1 1/2 sections.

I made up a margin rig, more in hope than expectation and as predicted it was a non starter, producing just one perch to 6 dead maggots.

I had (for me) a simple side tray of bait, 6mm pellet and 6mm meat, 8mm pellet and a few cubes of 8mm meat for hookers, also a few soft pellets, so I set up three rigs, one to fish soft pellet in the open water at 14m, one to fish meat at 6m and a rig to fish across to the island.  A similar depth all over the peg, so no need to mess about with rigs if I needed to start a new line elsewhere in the peg, even tight to the island was only 6" shallower than the open water, no shelf to fish on.

The match started very slowly for me, I began on the soft pellet at 14m and this produced a couple of missed bites, two silver fish that fell off on the way back in and a foul hooker that broke the 0.14 hooklength.  With 45 minutes gone I was fishless and Dave Evans on 55 had two or three, so I went out to the island, I soon had my first fish in the net, a perfect fish, looked like it hadn't been caught before, but it was only about 1lb.  Some consolation for my constantly running nose, itchy eyes and the itching at the back of my throat, which wasn't aiding my concentration.

Dick Bull opposite had started to catch a few shallow, so I shallowed up the island rig and this didn't produce any fish in the open water, but I did have a bit of a eureka moment with fishing tight to the island, as I had a run of fish that saw me over take Dave on 55 and get back on terms with Dick, as these were the only two anglers I could see. I had no idea how the rest of the lake was fishing.  There were some fish still spawning, so the splashing noises weren't necessarily fish being landed.

The island line died off, so I had a look on the meat line, this didn't produce a bite, not so much as a tremor of the float and this was the same each occasion I tried it.  I also started a pellet line at 7m off to my right, this produced one small skimmer and one small carp, so it was back to the island for the rest of the match, I had another spell where I had several fish and at 16.10, I thought I had 60lb in the net, so expecting the peg to get stronger in the last hour or so (17.30 finish) I started another net, this ended up with three fish in, the fish had gone from the island and I just picked up the three as they mooched along the island.

It was frustrating to watch Dick Bull go down his margin and get at least 4 decent fish, when I couldn't, he weighed 90lb to my 81.12, so the lack of late fish cost me, as the section was won from the peg next to dick, with 92lb, so third in the section for me and series over - a really frustrating way to be beaten, especially as I had the potential for a long margin if it weren't for the triffid like foliage.  That said, it was satisfying to at last catch some fish at Landsend across to the island, something I have regularly failed to do before, even though all the framing weights came from the other two lakes.

 Next up, a short pole match at Viaduct on Wednesday and then the Viaduct round of MMT next Saturday........ I may as well leave my gear on match lake in readiness!!!

I didn't get todays results, as I had to get away, but I'm sure they can be found on Tony's blog and probably pictures of the weigh sheets on Mike's (Silverfox).

Callum's Open, Viaduct Campbell. Saturday 7th June

I booked into this match thinking it would be good to get on Campbell and catch a few fish, how wrong could I be!!
Since my decision to be a bit more single minded and fish for carp, my weights and enjoyment have both seemed to plummet,  not much good when you are sat on a peg, thinking, "why am I here, I'd rather be doing something else".

I drew peg 118, I wasn't disappointed with the draw, I felt I'd catch a few from it, the LH margin being a banker for a few fish during the day and often produces fish for longer than just the last hour. I set up a waggler and a lead rod, the waggler didn't get used, the wind was all wrong.  The lead rod was used, but only produced 2 liners, so bugger all to say about that either.

4 pole rigs were the mainstay of my plan, shallow and full depth rigs to fish banded pellet, a meat rig to fish short and a rig to fish down the LH margin, which was very similar depths at 7m and 13m along the bank.

Starting on the full depth rig with 6mm pellet it took me 45 minutes to hook a fish, which then managed to deposit the hook in my silvers net...... not a great start.   I had Roy Worth for company on 119 and Roy was catching on the lead and the pole down to the end bank, just to rub it in and make me feel even more bloody useless..

As an experiment, with the MMT match coming up, I tried feeding meat short to my left and pellet short to the right, the meat line was barren, I didn't have a single bite on it, the pellet line was fizzing, but no sign of carp. I tried a soft pellet on the meat rig, over the pellet feed and managed a couple of skimmers and two bream, but it was tough going.  I saw the swirl of a carp and decided to make some paste and set up a paste rig, this I duly did and it produced one foul hooked skimmer and one carp in over an hours fishing.

By now Roy was handing me a right hiding and my banker margin produced one carp, one tench and two fish that took the rigs into the underwater jungle.  So with 3/4 of an hour to go, I had 4 carp, a tench and the previously mentioned bream and skimmers, Roy had gone to his margin and was catching there as well, that was the final straw, I packed up and chucked my meagre catch back.

I am going to honour the leagues and commitments to matches I have made, but apart from that I can't say I have any inclination to go fishing, I'm not enjoying it, spending ages on preparation and then being unable to get a bite, whilst the next peg sacks up.

I didn't get the results, but I'm sure Ken Rayner will have them on his blog when he puts it up.

Ivy House Knock Up. Wednesday 5th June 2014

I was looking forward to my first visit to the New Canal at Ivy House, having been promised "bites all day" by Tony Rixon.  It looks like Andy Lloyd and Karen are still working hard and improving the fishery, which I'm sure will get even better.   The only downside to this fishery for weekday matches is the time it takes to get there, its about 4 miles further than Viaduct, but takes 80 minutes instead of 50 minutes, due to getting out of (and back into) Bristol in the mornings / evenings, the rush hour seems to last for about 4 hours twice a day now.

Only eight today, shame as I think some of these commercial lakes don't benefit from big gaps between anglers, giving fish space to back off into if they feel pressured. I would have fancied one of the end pegs, but as usual  I didn't manage to draw one of them, nearer the middle being my home for the day and it was one of the narrowest pegs on the lake, with a three peg gap between me and Tony, who had managed to get one of the widest pegs on the lake, probably 3-4m difference between the two pegs.

I had been told that the lake held skimmers, small tench, F1's and stockie carp, with bigger specimens up to 10lb.  I had brought 4 and 6mm pellet, both hard and soft and a couple of pints of maggots.  My mine approach was going to be pellet and I started on 6mm hard pellet at 6m, first 5 drop ins saw 5 bites, with a roach, tench, carp and f1 landed, the line then went dead, not another indication.  A switch to a line at 9m feeding micro's and fishing 4mm soft pellet saw me have a nice run of small carp and f1's with the odd tench and two skimmers, before this line also died.

I am sure, as I have already mentioned, this fish moved out of the narrow part of the peg and I only managed the odd fish from the end of the second hour, until the end of the match, these I am sure were fish moving through the peg, as I lost all indication of feeding fish in the peg.

I had kept a very short line fed with maggot, all this was producing was tiny roach, so for the last half an hour I upped the feed and did manage a 12lb carp from here on double maggot, it took 20 minutes to get in on 0.10 and an 18 6313 and that saw the match out.

A disappointing 4th place with 63.10 of which at least 40lb was caught in the first two hours, disappointing as I felt I had fished and fed a tidy match, I have no idea how I could have stopped those fish backing off into the gaps.

1: Tony Rixon 111.10 peg 11
2: Ron Hardiman 73.02 peg 2
3: Phil Harding 70.12 peg 13
4: Chris Fox 63.10 peg 7
5: Shane Turner 47.07 peg 17
6: Keith Turner 31.11 peg 15

Pole Only 2014 Final Round Up.

I have been totally frustrated by my series, for whatever reason I have failed dismally to come to grips with the venue this year and the last round was over as soon as I saw the peg which was left in the tub, 25.  I had brought maggot and plenty of it, as a main line of attack, but when you sit with a single maggot on a 20, on 0.10 and don't get a bite for 45 minutes, it signifies to me that there aren't many fish of any species in the peg.
So enough of my woes, time to put this firmly behind me.

Before I post up the final results, I'd like to say thanks to Paul for dealing with all the phone calls, cash and general chasing people that goes on when running a series, also I think that in difficult circumstances (having to put 30 on the lake) he did a good job of pegging it, with the sections being as fair as could be expected.  Thanks to Ken Rayner for the use of his scales and his assistance in weighing in, along with Tom Thick and Glenn Calvert.

Thanks to Veals for their continued sponsorship of the series, in the form of vouchers and finally, thanks to everyone who turned up and didn't moan too much.....

That's the Oscar- esque speech over and done with, onto those who managed to work the venue out and catch some fish.

Winner on the day and taking the heaviest weight prize, was Lewis Jones with 100.09 from unfancied peg 16.  Heaviest Silvers weight prize went to Paul Faiers with 24.02 from peg 5 (match five).

The knockout final was contested between Tom Thick (who came back in after the first round as the heaviest weight knocked out) and Brian Slipper, Tom made the most of his second chance and weighed 77.10 from peg 2, whilst Brian weighed 49.12 from peg 4.

Overall and Silvers final tables below.

Pole Only 2014 Overall Table With Worst Dropped
After Six Matches								Worst Result
Name			Points		Weight			Points	Weight
1	Mark Broomsgrove		46		228	14		7	35.05
2	Tom Thick		44		298	8		7	36.08
3	Dom Sullivan		44		259	15		5	15.01
4	Lewis Jones		43		268	8		2	17.05
5	Glenn Calvert		43		165	4		6	48.00
6	Pete Bartlett		42		257	12		1	15.14
7	Andy France		41		269	8		4	18.12
8	Bob Gullick		41		232	13		4	33.13
9	Russ Peck		37		257	15		2	20.14
10	Brian Slipper		37		247	14		3	9.12
11	Mike Nicholls		37		225	14		2	16.06
12	Tony Thick		33		144	12		4	22.04
13	Nick Harvey		31		210	0		2	16.09
14	Kev Perry		30		195	9		3	18.01
15	Ken Rayner		30		172	1		3	19.02
16	Lance Tucker		30		167	13		2	11.07
17	Mike Owens		30		158	7		2	10.13
18	Kevin Lloyd		29		262	5		0	0.00
19	Chris Fox		27		180	3		2	15.04
20	Paul Faiers		25		151	8		2	12.09
21	Glenn Bailey		24		170	5		1	3.07
22	Gordon Canning		24		141	11		1	28.02
23	Rob Fogg		23		151	3		0	0.00
24	Eddie Wynne		23		121	15		2	44.14
25	Nigel Vigus		22		118	7		0	0.00
26	Paul Lasson		19		95	14		1	16.11
27	Charlie Barnes		18		72	4		1	4.13
28	John Osborne		17		172	5		0	0.00
29	Norman Hugget		16		133	0		0	0.00
30	Harry Muir		15		126	15		0	0.00

Pole Only 2014 Silvers Table With Worst Dropped
After Six Matches								Worst Result
Name			Points		Weight			Points	Weight
1	Paul Faiers		49		68	14		7	5.02
2	Charlie Barnes		48		46	0		8	5.06
3	Tom Thick		45		50	6		2	0.14
4	Eddie Wynne		43		52	12		3	0.02
5	Mike Nicholls		42		54	6		4	0.04
6	Chris Fox		39		44	1		3	0.01
7	Bob Gullick		39		27	12		4	1.00
8	Glenn Calvert		37		24	8		2	0.04
9	Ken Rayner		36		26	5		2	0.11
10	Paul Lasson		35		18	4		4	0.03
11	Lance Tucker		34		26	3		0	0.00
12	Harry Muir		34		25	5		0	0.00
13	Brian Slipper		33		15	13		1	0.12
14	Pete Bartlett		32		23	12		2	0.10
15	Glenn Bailey		32		9	15		3	1.04
16	Russ Peck		27		16	10		0	0.00
17	Gordon Canning		27		13	3		0	0.00
18	Mike Owens		27		10	7		1	1.15
19	John Osborne		25		18	9		0	0.00
20	Mark Broomsgrove		25		16	11		0	0.00
21	Tony Thick		25		14	0		3	1.04
22	Rob Fogg		25		11	15		0	0.00
23	Nick Harvey		23		12	10		0	0.00
24	Norman Hugget		23		9	10		0	0.00
25	Dom Sullivan		22		16	9		0	0.00
26	Kevin Lloyd		21		9	0		0	0.00
27	Andy France		19		7	10		0	0.00
28	Kev Perry		18		5	15		0	0.00
29	Nigel Vigus		10		5	5		0	0.00
30	Lewis Jones		9		8	14		0	0.00