Plantation Open, Sunday 29th December 2019

Last match of 2019 and a rare trip to Plantation, a venue that doesn't have many matches on and does offer some great fishing.
I dipped into the bowl of pegs and pulled out 12 - not over impressed to be fair, its not got a lot of form, it's in a bay and if the fish aren't in there then it can be lean times.  I had plenty of caster left over from the silvers pairs, so had the option of fishing for carp or silvers.  I decided that a day on the hard pellet would be the way forward, so mainly set out a stall to fish that a t 14.5m.

The peg does have a margin down to the left hand side, limited by a overhanging tree.  So a rig to fish at about 10m down to the left.

Started on 6mm banded pellet and fed two lines, one straight out in front and one off about 11 o'clock, fed the one straight in front with micros and 4mm's, the 11 o'clock line with just hard 4's and a few 6's.  The line in front had a few skimmers show, the 11 o'clock line produced 2 carp and a few skimmers - this was all in the first couple of hours, it died off then and I had two small carp down the edge in the last hour.  I think the fish moved out of the bay and that was it, still I managed 5th and it was more than I thought I'd get from the peg.

Happy New Year to all and next up is Acorn Winter League and the Todber Winter League.

Viaduct Silvers Pairs, Day Two, Saturday 28th December 2019

Looking for a couple of decent draws for myself and Paul today, his didn't seem to bad, peg 4, mine I wasn't enamoured with, 128 on Campbell, but I still expected to put a few fish together.

Conditions were pretty flat and a little brighter than yesterday so I didn't set up the feeder I'd brought, I did set up two wagglers, one for corn and one for caster, as well as the usual skimmer rigs and a rig to fish to the spit that separates 128 and 129, finally one for caster through the water.

All those plans were pretty much dashed, I did have a couple of 3-4oz hybrids against the spit, but unfortunately they were the biggest fish I hooked all day, roach of less than 1oz being about the only fish I could catch.  Frustratingly, the longer lines didn't give up one single skimmer of any size.

I had to swap about between the waggler and long pole lines to keep those tiny roach coming, there was no bigger fish amongst them, no matter what I tried.

What a huge difference between the two days, from 2nd on the lake to last on the lake, Paul had a bit of a grueller to and we weren't far off last....

Viaduct Silvers Pairs, Day One, Friday 27th December 2019

Work had meant I hadn't had a chance to fish this the last few years, so was looking forward to this year, fishing with Paul Faiers, against some tough opposition.

I drew peg 38, not a bad draw if the skimmers were still sat there, I had Matt Parsons on 37, just the two of us on Middle, the rest of our section on Spring and Paul on the Campbell section, where I'd be tomorrow.  126 for Paul, probably not the the best draw on current form, but if it fishes hard, Paul can usually wheedle out a few roach.

My last visit to this peg ended in what I think is my only ever blank at Viaduct, a frozen lake in a winter league, gin clear water under the broken ice and I joined about half the field that DNW that day.  Surely it would be better than that!

I set up a waggler to fish corn, a couple of skimmer rigs, one 0.3g and one 0.5g - just to see which was best, I also fancied catching short, as the depth is good and it was very overcast.  So a Chianti with strung 11's for caster at 2+2.

Fed the two skimmer lines at 14m with GB/caster/dead maggot and started short, I caught straight away, roach and a couple of small hybrids, whilst keeping an eye on Matt who started on the waggler and corn.  I kept catching roach, so stuck with it for 30 minutes, I did then switch to the skimmer line and it was pretty slow going, I did have the odd fish, getting fish around the 1lb mark.  Matt was getting an odd decent skimmer on the waggler, but my efforts on it were only rewarded with roach and one small hybrid.

I had a decision to make, sit it out and wait and see if the skimmers rocked up, as they can go 2-3lb or carry on putting fish in the net short - by now I could catch on a topkit just over the dead reeds down to my right - decent roach, the odd hybrid and a perch.  I did lose two decent fish in the reeds - elastic was too soft, suspect it was a hybrid and a perch, but could have been two perch.

It was the right decision I think, the skimmers didn't really show up in any numbers and it was a lovely days caster fishing for 24.04, second on the lake, second in section and 5th overall.  Un fortunately, Paul's draw hadn't fished and we were midway after the first day.

Viaduct Christmas Match, Saturday 21st December 2019

With just under 70 anglers fishing this one, a draw was important and the top end of Campbell was on virtually everyone's Xmas list....

Nice and early into the tin, Colin Dyer in front of me pulled 131 - nice, me 15 on Spring, a peg I have yet to catch a carp from this peg and I was informed the tree that overhung the margin down to the right has been taken out. 

Got to the peg and there was some branches in the water, looked more like a fallen branch (and huge snag) than a feature, but I felt it was the only option for carp, as 15 is somewhat hemmed in, as peg 12 stops you fishing more than 16m in front, whilst 16 next door has an island chuck.  I must admit, I was a bit fed up that the peg had been put in when there was only one peg on the other end bank, drawn by Trigger - 24.

The peg decided my options, a rig to dob bread down to the sunken branch, the rest of the gear was just aimed at silvers - my best bet at a pick up, three topkits, one with a HB Frostie and some spread 11's to fish caster at 5/6m and two rigs, a 0.3g and a 0.5g,  Frostie and Gimp, respectively, for 14m.  I did set up a waggler, but it could only be fished on the pole line, so no more about that.

With a couple of good anglers on 11 and 12 (Nick Chedzoy and Dave Brittain) also looking like they were targeting silvers, I was grateful when peg 16 set up two lead rods and nothing else.  I started down the edge dobbing bread, after feeding the 14m line with GB and dead maggot/caster, not a sign of a bite and I switched to the short caster line, that was not much better, one roach in 15 minutes.

30 minutes gone and out to 14m, this saw a few roach, hybrids and small skimmers come to the net, but I was behind Dave on 12, 16 had a carp early on the lead, but I ignored that, as I was 100% concentrated on silvers. By topping the line with a tangerine sized ball of GB I kept the odd fish coming, including a couple of better skimmers approaching a pound. This line did slow up, as did Dave's, I tried fishing past the GB, and either side, but it was if the fish had vanished.

Luckily, the 5m line came to life and I had a run of dumpy roach, including one about 12oz and a skimmer just over a lb as well a s some 4oz hybrids, this pulled me ahead of Dave and I ended with 18.02, more than I thought.  That was enough for 3rd in the silvers overall (and 3rd on the lake)  and a brown envelope.  Enjoyable days fishing, some good banter with Dave and Chedz.

Thanks to Steve, Helen & Matt at Viaduct for a good match, great prizes, mince pies and beer and all they have done through the year.

As expected the winners came from the top of Campbell and Trigger used all that space to take the silvers hamper.

Looking forward to the two day silvers pairs at Viaduct on 27th/28th now.  Happy Xmas to anyone who has been stalwart enough to read this far.....

Overall
1. Stu White - 93lb 10oz - peg 132
2. Dick Bull - 70lb 4oz - peg 110
3. Roland Lucas - 60lb 10oz - peg 70
4. Mark Hayman - 59lb 5oz - peg 129
5. Colin Dyer - 51lb 8oz - peg 131

Silvers
1. Craig Edmunds - 20lb 7oz - peg 24
2. Rob Eagle - 19lb 2oz - peg 102
3. Chris Fox - 18lb 2oz - peg 15
4. Robert Parker - 17lb 8oz - peg 61
5. Pete Ziemniak - 16lb 3oz - peg 85

Vidauct Silvers League, Final Round, Sunday 15th December 2019

I did wonder if I could resurrect a bit of pride from this league, I have had some draws that certainly don't stand out as silvers pegs.  Nice breakfast in the Cross Keys at Lydford-on-the Fosse and we were at Viaduct in plenty of time for Tony to choose a parking space near the shop.

Not sure if that parking was an omen, as we both drew Lodge, Tony 64 ( I did feel for him, I had it and it certainly isn't a good section peg) myself 59, which should be good for a few fish.

I set up two wagglers, one for caster, one for corn, the caster rod had a Drennan glowtip and the corn rig, a Preston peacock insert with a hi vis tip, both 0.10 hooklengths with a 20 and 18 hook respectively.

3 topkits, one with a HB float with strung out No11's, this for caster on a short line and the same float in 0.3g for a line at 14.5m.  Also a 0.5g chimp style float in case the wind got up, as the peg is quite deep, the aerator obviously scours the bottom out.

Fed some GB, caster and dead maggot on one line at 14.5m at the start and had a look on the caster line at 2+3.  nothing doing there, so after 20 minutes, onto the GB line, that was pretty slow as well, just a couple of small roach.  Switched to fishing the waggler over the GB with a single caster, but that was slow as well.

Next couple of hours were spent on the heavier waggler fishing corn to where there were branches caught round the aerator rope that stretches across the lake, there were fish moving there, a couple of carp, but also skimmers.  I had some indications, some bites and 5 skimmers on the corn, before the wind and tow made it difficult, putting an S in the line and pulling the float away from the area where the fish had been sat.  I think the moved anyway, as to my left they had a couple of skimmers on the wag after I stopped catching.

I did have one skimmer over the GB line after that, but it was a lonesome soul and I finished up having a couple of hybrids and some stocky little roach from the caster line.  My 13.11 being enough to win the section (and lake), also 5th on the day, my weight bettered by 4 on Campbell.

Overall, I was joint 10th on points, dropping to 11th with a worst dropper, I can't really complain about that from the draws  I had and I was happy with the way I fished all the pegs, which really were some you don;t want in a silvers league.

Well done on Viaduct Winter League team mate Richard Aherne taking out the league and unlucky to Tony, drawing one of 'my pegs' (64) which saw him come second.

Todber Manor Xmas Match, Saturday 14th December 2019

A rare Saturday off for Tony, so travelled down with him, paid up the optional pool and after a bit of social chat and some banter it was down to the serious business of drawing, with 86 fishing, it was going to important to draw well.

Tony had 58 on Hill View, whilst I plucked 8 on Whitepost Top Lake for myself, so had to take Tony's van up there after he got his kit out, a new one for me, I have never fished White post before, so wasn't quite sure what to expect.Once everyone was in off the road, I made my (short walk) way to peg 8. 

The wind was blowing straight down the lake right to left, so it was likely to be a short chuck with a lead/feeder to the far side, I set up two lead rods, one with a bomb on, for bread and the other was a maggot feeder.  A 0.18 hooklength with a 14 QM1 on the bread rod and a 0.16 with a 16 LWG on the maggot feeder rig.

I did consider not setting up a pole because of the wind, but did settle on just getting a margin pole out and setting that up at its full length, one rig would do, a 4x14 on 0.16 with a 0.14 hooklength and a 20 Kaizen hook.  Just before the start the sky went very grey and we were subjected to a tempest, I had Steve Denmead on peg 7 next door and the wind blew his flat roller over and smashed his No6 section, this led him to look up the price of a new one and gave myself and Dave Bruton on peg 9 some fodder to wind Steve up, all in good fun and we had some good banter during the match.

I started on bread and had an almost instant bite, which I then lost, so probably a fouler. Landed 3 and lost a couple more in the first hour, it looked pretty slow for most.  I switched to the maggot feeder after an look on the pole, this brought fish at intervals through the match, including 4/5 F1's that I clicked at 2lb, but they were probably over 3lb with hindsight.

I tried the pole line a couple more times during that spell, but nothing doing, until I saw Steve hook a carp on the pole with about 40 minutes to go, the wind was dropping and I soon hooked one after looking in over the micro/maggot feed, a decent fish just over double figures and then another around 4lb, the wind had died off and I could see the odd bubble and indication that there were fish feeding.  A few others also had fish on the pole in the last 30 minutes - time of day or that wind dropping, not sure but it was a welcome change from struggling for bites.

Jack Stamp had been catching steadily on the end peg and the end but one peg had also had a few and thats how the lake panned out, Jack winning the lake from 12, with 95.00, peg 11 had 82 somthing and my clicked 55lb was somewhat more, how much more than 55lb I'll never know as the scales bottom out at 66lb and that's the net limit.  That was enough for 3rd on the lake, a decnt prize and some pools money.

A enjoyable match, not quite sure how I got the net weight so wrong, just underestimated the fish I guess, still it didn't cost me, as it wasn't 95lb and certainly not enough to trouble winner Gary O'Shea from the bottom lake at Whitepost, which threw up 3 ton+ weights.

Awesome weights for that many anglers fishing in December, looking forward to the winter league on there now.

Tony's Open, Todber Manor, Sunday 8th December 2019

Well, this will be short and sweet.  Tony booked Todber to run an open and given the results from the venue lately, I was looking forward to it.  Travelled down with Tony, via the Riverside Cafe, not too bad a breakfast, the day did go downhill from there...

Into the draw bag and 19 came out, it then turns out it was 61.  Didn't mean much to me, on arrival at the peg, it looked OK, a bit of room to the right and a island chuck.

I started on a method to the island, that was slow, a couple of fish in the first half hour, a switch to the pole feeding maggots was not much better and I had two fish on that.  I could see Bela two pegs to my left, chucking a bomb and bred into open water and getting a fish a chuck, Trigger between us was catching and those to the left of Bela were also catching.

The pole line was so dire, I decided to have the rest of the match fishing the method, to try and make it work, try a few tweaks and learn something.  Then a freak storm, with torrential rain and high winds swept through the fishery, I got off my box and put my pole away, seeing some others losing net bags and various other gear into the lake.

I stuck out the method until 30 minutes from the end and then packed up tipping back about 30lb, Tony fared no better, also packing up before the end and not weighing - I can't recall him doing that before!

Well done to Bela, fished the bomb and bread start to finish and won with 160lb+

Xmas match at Todber up next - just hope the draw bag is kind.

Acorn Winter League, Round 3, Saturday 7th December 2019

Got there a bit early and ended up playing with the fishery dog - still they are better company than many people...

After two decidedly average rounds, I was looking forward to being in the best section for this one, I did want to avoid pegs 1 and 3, so wasn't disappointed to draw 11, for a change, a decent draw.

A simple approach for this one, I'd forgotten to stop at the shop and get some bread, so pellets and maggots were the order of the day, plumbing round the peg I found plenty of places that had the same depth, so plenty of option with one rig.  Next was to plumb up on the second shelf across, found enough areas to give some options and finally a rig for the margin down towards the tree.

I did have a method rod set up in the van, so I put that on the roost, it went back in the van unused at the end, not sure why I waste the fuel transporting it...

Started across and I did have a skimmer after about 10 minutes, but it looked like a slow start all round, I switched to a two+2 line just off to my left and had a couple of carp from there on maggots over nuggets of GB with maggots in.  A 20 Kaizen hook to 0.12 was the favoured end tackle and a home made diamond bodied float, with a carbon stem, I find these very stable in windy conditions.

A couple of skimmers from that line and then it died off, I did try across again, but I wasn't getting any indications.  I ventured down to the tree at 13m, fishing just off the outside of it, started feeding a few micros and an expander on the hook, I had one carp on this, but a switch to maggot was more successful and a succession of carp followed.

The last 3/4 of an hour slowed up, the fish had backed off a little, I persevered thinking they'd come back, but I had to give in and put another section on the get another one.

My 82.15 was enough to win by a reasonable margin, so some slim chance of salvaging something from this league, a random draw next match, before rotating again.

Viaduct Silvers League R5, Sunday 1st December 2019

Travelled down to this one with Tony, layered up with more clothing than yesterday, but it turned out there was no need, as the wind was much less cold today.

Having bemoaned my draws so far on this league, it was a shock to see 130 on the card when I opened it,  peg that has produced some decent silvers weights recently.

With loads of time, I set up a 3 square feeder, a waggler and 3 topkits, one for roach/anything at 6m where I'd do a caster line and two rigs for 14m, one a double bulk and one with a bulk and one dropper, all with 0.10 and a 18 F1 hook.

Two lines at 14m, one at 11 o'clock and one at two o'clock, because that's where the light was decent to see the float and the depth was within a couple of inches.  Started by feeding the RH line fairly negatively, with one small ball of GB, without much feed in and the LH line with 2 balls, bit more feed in them.

20 minutes on the caster line and mo bite, that got binned and I went over the negative line and had a couple of small skimmers, then a couple off the positive line, topped up and had a couple of slightly bigger fish, but Ricky on 131 was getting bigger fish, fishing up to his right towards the unoccupied 132.  Topped up again as the bites tailed off, had one more small skimmer and that was it for over an hour, not even a liner.

I did give the feeder and the waggler a go, but only hooked carp on both, there were plenty moving around past the pole line, so it wasn't much of a surprise.

Decided the way to compete (as it was fishing hard from what I could see) was to stick it out on the pole lines, I had another little spell in the middle of catching a few small skimmers and then an hour with none, at 15:10 (twenty minutes from the end) I had a 10 minute spell of getting one a chuck, again small skimmers, nowhere near the size that Ricky was getting, the at 15:20 that was it and no more bites for the rest of the match.

Didn't have a bite on caster all match, dead maggot or dead pinkie being the best bait, I'm sure they just backed off, but following them out was impossible, due to the carp taking the bait first.  Thankfully the carp didn't come in on the pole line, I think I only hooked two all day.  My 12lb odd was enough for I believe 7th overall, 2nd in section, but with Ricky's 20lb winning I did sneak the section money by default, so thanks Ricky....