Foxy's Two Dayer, Viaduct, Fri & Sat 21st/22nd September 2018

Any match organiser will tell you of the amount of chasing and alteration to the list of booked on anglers, I appreciate that peoples circumstances can change and people pull out or book in late, but it's frustrating when people just don't turn up on the day and don't let anyone know.  An exception to this was Tom Mangnall, Tom couldn't make it at late notice on the morning, he sent his pools money down and donated his place to Colin Dyer, a nice touch and it was much appreciated, not just by me, but the rest of those who fished.

The format was fairly widely publicised, that same as last year, except as we had more anglers, it was both lakes on the same day, swapping to the other lake the next day.  Cary is any method and Campbell pole only, there was some consternation on FB the day before, as the more extreme of the forecasters were predicting winds on the scale of a biblical holocaust, I reserved the right to alter the match back to any method on the morning, if the wind reached tempest conditions.

The numbers ended up at a round 30, so 15 on each lake, with a section of 7 and one of 8, the morning was calm and the Met Office website had winds to about 25mph forecast, the BBC had them much higher, but whilst it wasn't ideal pole conditions, the rules remained as advertised.  A free draw the first day and I got Steve Nadin to pick one out for me, 105, not probably my first choice, but it can be a decent peg,

I had Adrian Jeffery opposite on 74, so I was bound to be treated to a display of lead chucking and some mild banter, I also had a good view of how Dan White was approaching peg 77 and the feature that is the fallen willow.  I did set up a lead rod, in case the wind got too much, a waggler as well and with a sore back, I decided that I'd just fish a margin pole, so that was about an 8m limit.  I had a meat rig, a margin rig, full depth pellet rig and a paste rig set up on topkits for this.

It was a slow start, before I had one on the pellet rig at 8m, the waggler was pushing through, so that was not likely to tempt any of Cary's wily old beasts, I did hook one on the lead, but it charged off like a lunatic and came off, foul hooked was my guess, the band was missing from the hook so I guess that was pulled off in the melee.

Adrian was having a few on the lead and Dan was patiently swapping between long shallow and fishing off the end of the tree and he was picking occasional fish off of both lines.  I should have thrown the lead down towards 109, at least to see if the fish were there, but I didn't, I did have two in reasonably quick succession on the lead, but I definitely got it wrong in this peg today.  I should have just had 6/8mm pellets om the side tray, I should have searched round the peg more, I'm sure that I could have come back with 9 points instead of 7 an that would have left me in the mix for Saturday.  Disappointing to come away and feel that the peg wasn't done justice, even limiting myself to the shorter pole, I could have utilised the lead better, something I might have to practice as the prognosis for my back isn't conducive to long pole fishing.

On the day, Martin Rogers ran out as winner, with 172.00 from 127 on Campbell, the wind did get up during the day, not to quite the hurricane like predictions of the doom mongers, but it did affect some pegs worse than others, so that probably knocked back weights on the day, although, there were still 8 weights over the ton.

Day two and we all knew that the Goretex and brollies would get a severe testing, as every single forecast was for 100% precipitation, from around 11:00 right through the rest of the day - they weren't wrong!!!

I had my peg handed to me - next year I think I will be drawing my own!! and it was 121, where defending Champion Steve Hutter had struggled the day before, strange as I had fancied it for a weight, he would have had no protection from the wind there though.  3 or 4 of those from Campbell had ended up in a 'section of death' on Cary, so they would be taking points off each other, this kept a bit of interest in it, as it opened up the framing positions.

Simple set up today as it was pole only, for the first time in about 10 years I took my brolly to the peg and used it to put my stuff under, it was quite nice having some dry kit at the end.  5 topkits, strung rig for pellet at depth, a bulk and dropper rig for the same - both with homemade floats, a Malman Roob for meat at topkit +3, a margin rig, same depth within a couple of inches both sides, so one rig for both and a paste rig, Martin had caught on it yesterday, as had Clayton.

Starting at 2+3 on meat was fairly unproductive, a couple of 10oz skimmers, with no sign of a carp, I had fed a short line off to the right with pellets, to fish paste over, but next went out to 14m and potted a few pellets in, this brought a couple of carp, but the action was far from wild and it also didn't last long before the bites dried up.  The short pellet line, despite having some bubbles (skimmers I'm sure) didn't respond to paste or hard pellets, the margins appeared devoid of any fish at all, not even a  bite on worm or maggot.

I persevered with the short meat line for the last couple of hours and caught mainly skimmers, a couple that could just sneak into the bream category and for the last 40 minutes, the skimmer bites stopped and I had several more carp, I was a a lot more satisfied with my performance than yesterday, not sure how I could have got much else from the peg, 119 DNW and 123 just shy of 50lb, just think the carp had moved up the lake.  This was much to the liking of Gary O'Shea, who won on the day with 312.02 from 130, well done to Gary, great weight on the day.  The weights were better today, although the temperature is dropping and I was cold for the first time his side of the summer.

Overall Dan White won the two days with a perfect score, 20 points, well done mate, some great consistency there, Gary O'Shea pipping Martin Rogers for second place on weight.
Apart from the weather, which did it's best to spoil things, it was a good weekend, nice to see some faces we don't see too often, thanks to Steve, Matt and Helen at Viaduct, its booked again next year, same format, 20th/21st September 2019, already one third filled up, so if you fancy it (I really will try and organise some better weather., promise....), see me or contact me to book in.

Winner Dan White

Top Twenty Overall

Viaduct Cost Cutter, Thursday 13th September 2018

Fishing the Avalon festival the previous 3 days left me wanting more, so I made a late decision to head down to Viaduct, booking in on the way down.

I had bait and tackle to fish for silvers or carp, so wasn't overly fussed where I drew, the dip into the bag decided it for me, 74, not a renowned silvers peg, so the casters left over from the festival would go down one edge.

Whilst tackling up I could see plenty of black shapes cruising through the peg, most of them were headed towards 109, with not too many coming back the other way, some were even hanging around in pole range. Simple match, full depth waggler and lead rod set up, shallow rig, full depth pellet rig, with a light float and  strung out shotting, a meat rig and an edge rig.

Bait tray was casters, pellets and meat, with a few worms as hookers.  As expected, 10 minutes before the all-in the visible black shapes started melting away, have they got watches, is it the keepnets going in?

A quick look short on meat, but nothing doing, so out with the shallow rig and I hooked one nearly straight away, a mirror about 7/8lb netted shortly after, nice start, but that was it, another 35 minutes of persistence shallow and nothing to show for it.  Dropped in with the depth rig and it took another 20 minutes or so to get another fish.  A look just a bit further past the feed with a waggler was a waste of time, not so much as a liner.  I had another on the depth rig and had another carp, but it was another 8lber, so going nowhere fast, if the fish are going to slow coming on Cary, you at least want to catching the big teens that soon add up to a decent weight.

Halfway through I fed the edges, pellets to the pallet of 75 and casters down to the right, rather than drag out an elongated story, I will just say apart from 2 small (3oz) hybrids down the RH edge I had nothing, surprising that, as it always used to be a banker.

The last half of the match I kept rotating the lines, gave the 5m meat line a good go, but only managed 3 more carp, one shallow, two on the deck over 6mm pellet feed, again small ones for Cary as my 6 fish went 49lb odd with 5lb odd of accidental silvers, 55.04 was only enough for 6th on the lake and nowhere in the match.

Next up my two dayer at Viaduct.

Avalon 3 Day Festival. Day Three, Wednesday 12th September 2018

Had a walk round the lake before the match today, the top end of the lake (opposite end to car park) had a brown streaky appearance, an algae bloom that had been blown up that end by the wind that had been blowing that way for a few days.

I was keen to avoid that as I felt there wouldn't be too many skimmers willing to feed well in that, so when I plucked 23 out of the bag ( second time this festival, I drew it for Vic on Monday) I was far from confident I could hang onto second spot, let alone claw back the ground on the leader, which was around a 4lb deficit.  Not only was it right in the brown algae zone, its a corner peg, much more renowned for carp than skimmers.

So, nice and simple to tackle up, as I had left my carp bait, pellet waggler rods etc at home, so it was pretty much the same set up as yesterday, two whips, three topkits and a feeder.  The feeder wasn't used, so no more about that.

Decided to try the two line approach again today, but at 14m rather than 12m, the micro fed line was virtually straight in front and the GB line was off to the right.  I also fed a line at 5m, with micros and corn.

Started on the whip and rather concerningly the float remained stationary, I had two tiny roach in the first 15 minutes before having a look on the long lines, I had a couple of indications on the float over the GB, before the float buried, hopeful of a big skimmer, I was disappointed when the fish took off at a speed only a carp can, netted shortly after, a small and unwanted carp.  The aerator came on and that did see me get a couple of indications and then a skimmer about a pound and a half, but it was a lonesome soul.

I kept feeding the whip line and had noticed a few bubbles over the micros on the 5m line, I went in there with a soft pellet on and had 5 or 6 hand sized skimmers, the bites stopped, so I refed, I had one more from this line and that was it.  By now the sun had started to come out, so back on the whip and a few fish had turned up, but not at the rate I felt was required, this kept me looking back over the longer lines, I had one more decent skimmer on worm over the GB and the only fish I had over the long line micros was a hand sized skimmer and a small roach.

Back to the whip and by feeding twice (30 or so casters each time) and then fishing at the back of the feed, I could catch a few bigger rudd and roach, this was better than the long lines which were very slow and only giving up a very occasional small fish

I thought I might have 11 or 12lb at the end and was pleasantly surprised to see the scales go round to 16.08, I wasn't sure how the lake had fished for silvers, Vic already had weighed 17.00 and Dan on 30 was saying he had 7 big skimmers and a few bits, but that went 14.12 and Conrad who was leading weighed 10.01, that allowed me to overtake him and win the silvers overall, a nice pick up ten quid shy of £500.

Thanks to Vic for running the festival and putting a lot of effort in to get the island strimmed and trimmed back, there was nothing to stop casting tight to them, some nice new platforms as well.  its a shame the fishery didn't fish as well as it can, but never the less an enjoyable 3 days.

I will say, if I had known there were silvers payouts before I paid on and started fishing ( I didn't realise until the end of day 1) I probably wouldn't have fished, as my personal opinion is that on series and festivals there shouldn't be a silvers payout, as it can have a detrimental effect on the result.  So I will deduct the entry fee and my expenses and be donating the rest of the winnings to one or more of the dog charities I support.

Festival Results

1) Tom Mangnall 36 points

2) Jon Newton 34 points  186.08

3) Chris Hill 34 points 150.04

4) Bob Gullick 31 points

5) Scott Smith 29 points

Silvers

1) Chris Fox 47.03

2) Conrad 45.06

Avalon 3 Day Festival, Day Two, Tuesday 11th September

After yesterday, when I didn't realise that silvers had a payout on the day and overall and my lost fish costing me a few section places, I brought gear and bait to fish for both carp and silvers again and drawing peg 11 had me thinking which to go for, I plumped for silvers, given that it a peg with good form for both skimmers and carp.

I had brought my whips today, as it is possible to catch 30lb+ of roach and rudd on a whip, but warm sunny days seem to be best for that, so maybe today wasn't the day, I still set them up, one at 3m and another at 4m, as the bigger fish seem to sit off the back of the feed and the occasional look with the longer whip can add some bonus weight to a net of whitebait.

I also set a up a feeder, a small cage, with a 2 1/2' hooklength of 0.12 and a 16 Guru F1 hook, this was a plan C if all else failed.  Three topkits completed the roost, same rigs as yesterday, a NG wire stemmed Gimp and a homemade carbon stemmed diamond, both on 0.16 with 0.12 hooklengths and 16 Guru F1 hooks.  Finally a rig to fish for any bonus roach, perch or hopefully tench that would come into the margin where I intended to feed some caster.

I fed two lines at 12m, one with GB, casters, dead maggots and a few grains of corn, the other a lot more negatively with micro pellets.  I had ten minutes on the whip and it wasn't hectic by any means, I then had a look over the long pole lines, as in my experience, the big skimmers come straight to the feed and not fishing for the soon after feeding can see them missed out on.

Well there isn't too much to say about the long pole lines, they were barren, bereft of feeding fish, I couldn't get a bite, not even on single maggot.  This was despite trying them at times throughout the day.  The casters fed into the margin only achieved carp coming in and slurping them up, I did set up another topkit, to fish paste and got two carp out, but that still didn't encourage any bonus silvers into the margins.

To try and stay in the hunt for silvers overall payout, I had to concentrate on the whip, catching small roach and rudd, it was hard work, difficult to catch more than 2 fish with put having to change depth to find them - to do the big weights of silvers on this method, ideally you need them competing shallow (top 12") or at least at a consistent depth.

I use a 14 Drennan Carp maggot hook for this sort of fishing, the size helps with hooking and swinging in fish up to 6oz.  I did drop down to a 16 fine wire hook to see o=if that made a difference, but there was no increase in bite ratio.

I had to go to the full length of the 4m whip to catch in the last hour, feeding caster with caster on the hook was best, maggot was bring very small fish and worm head resulted in far too many missed bites.

I wasn't too confident of doing well when the scales came round and my whitebait went 12.07, which was joint third in the silvers on the day and kept me in the hunt.  Match winner on the day with just over 90lb was John Newton on peg 24.

Avalon 3 Day Festival, Day One, Monday 10th September 2018

Day one of a 3 day festival at Avalon, not 100% sure what to expect so van loaded with  plenty of kit and bait variations, called into Lillypool for breakfast on the way down, not too bad, but a decent sausage would improve it.

Haven't been here for a while, so not sure on the latest information on the place, Vic assured me we'd have a good days fishing - but what fishery owner doesn't say that!!  :)

I hadn't brought gear to specifically target silvers, but there is a good head of decent skimmers and I did have some micros and a few worms, just in case I needed to target them in the middle of the match during the carp's naptime.

33 was to be my home for the day, no real knowledge of it, but Bob Gullick who was a couple of pegs away told me he'd won the section from it last year catching down the LH margin, so fingers crossed.

Pellet waggler set up to fish to the island, along with a full depth waggler, also a bomb rod as the wind was pushing the surface of the lake L to R at a rate of knots.  Onto the topkits and as more than one person had said that paste had been working, a paste rig, then a full depth pellet rig, a margin rig and as the margins were 4'+ deep a paste rig for them as well.  The RH margin is very short as there is a tree jutting out into the lake, the LH margin is accessible all the way to the empty pallet of 34.

Finally, a wire stemmed NG Gimp to fish soft pellet or worms if it was necessary to catch some skimmers during any lulls in the carp action.....

I decided that I wasn't going to fish any longer than the length of my Multi Margin pole, the side wind and my ongoing back problem helping me decide.  So a few pellets in at topkit + 3 on the all-in, leaving me with another section should I need to follow fish out.

The straight onto the pellet waggler, I gave it 20 minutes, without so much as a liner, the wind was pulling it along within seconds, so onto the pole line with some paste, as Mike West a couple of pegs along had got off to a great start, catching carp straight away.  I had some bubbles (a bit too half hearted to be called fizzing....) I thought it was probably skimmers not carp, so out with a bit of devils spawn on the hook and I had two decent skimmers in two chucks.

I had  couple more smaller ones after switching to worm on the hook, but it wasn't hectic, I did hook one that I initially thought was a small carp as it charged off, but it was a 3lb skimmer hooked in the dorsal fin, I made a right pigs ear of netting it and managed to end up with the hook in the net and the fish winning its freedom - doh!

I then hooked a carp, I reckon it was about double figures and just as I thought I was going to net it, the hook pulled, bloody hell (or similar) I cursed.

The lake was fishing hard and 4 hours in I had added a couple more skimmers, but no carp.  I had been lightly feeding the LH margin with meat and the RH with corn and pellet.  Dropping a bit of meat in down the LH edge, it took seconds before I was into a decent fish, another fish that was probably a double, this one came to the surface and it was a wallowing around, as usual with these 'wallowers' the hook came out - great!!

I did manage 5 carp in the end, but three of them were the dark stockies, one from the LH edge and 4 from the RH edge.  Even the skimmers shut up shop and it was a tough day, the lost fish costing me second in section, instead I was down to about 8th in section and that was probably festival over.  I went back to check out the results and found out there was a daily silvers pool and and overall silvers payout.  My skimmers had gone 18lb odd and that was enough for second silvers on the day and the realisation that there is now £400 to fish for in the silvers.

Bob Gullick wandered down at the end a was trying to point out to me where he'd found a shallower shelf in the margin, but using a pole but section, he couldn't find the shelf that s there last year, looks like its gone, eroded away I suppose.

Time to go and dig out my whips now, as it looks like a silvers day for the next two days.

Tom Mangnall won on the day, with 80lb +, not sure of the other results.

Tony Rixon's Short Pole Series, Trinity Waters, Sunday 9th September

Standing in for Ron Hardiman on this match, a venue I don't get to go to as much as I used to, the same friendly welcome  is still there from Misha & Tom, so just needed to draw a decent peg.

19 - that wasn't one I wanted, over the last few years I have won and framed in matches from 3 banks of this rectangular lake, sadly the bank which 19 resides on isn't one of the three.  Still, the wind was blowing into it and surely I'd get a few.

Sadly not, I am really not going to traumatise myself by recounting the match and I can't see anyone wanting to read about it, two bites in 6 hours, one carp and one perch, these went back, I wasn't the only DNW and thinking about the match, I have no idea what I could have done to catch another fish, the peg seemed devoid of fish, with no liners or indications.

Oh well upwards and onwards.