Plantation Open, Wednesday 30th December 2020

Another chance at an open on this lake that isn't match fished too often, all prepped to fish for carp, but then was drawn peg 3, an open water peg with no margin to speak of.  I was pretty sure it would be an island or one of the corners with a long margin that would be taking the overall coin.  Silvers it would have to be.

Set up 3 rigs, one for caster short, hoping for some of the lakes big roach, two rigs for 16m (as the peg is set back from peg 4 and even 16m falls short), GB, caster and pinkie fed on one line, some micros on the other.

Slow start, took 30 minutes or so to get a fish, a small roach, kept plugging away, but I feared the still conditions and open water of my peg would prove tricky and the skimmers were very conspicuous by their absence, only small roach and hybrids showing and then in not enough numbers to do damage.

Not much to say about this one, I was going nowhere fast and no matter what I did - changed the initially micros fed line to caster fed, still keeping it negative, compared to the more positive GB line.  Still no sign of the skimmers, I did have an unusual sight, a big perch followed in a 3oz roach and flashed at it just as I brought it to the surface.

I switched back the the previously unproductive short line and had two decent perch and they helped me scrape over the double figure mark, but to no avail, as that was nowhere near enough. Match was absolutely smashed by Des, best peg and a very good angler, unbeatable.....

Viaduct Two Day Silvers, Day Two, Monday 28th December 2020

 Couldn't believe the draw, 111, next to Trigger again, who was on 112, both decent draws on paper.

Not going to say too much about this one, Trigger had a 90 minute sell catching decent skimmers short, I had one and a reasonable perch, that was it, then the cold wind got up and it really knocked our bank on the head, not that that matters when you have nigh on 30lb in 90 minutes to absolutely paralyse the section, as it didn't matter I tipped back 3-4lb and just had absolutely no idea what I could have done differently, never felt there were feeding fish in my peg.  I did spend the last 45 minutes fishing the waggler and corn, as I needed a run of the big skimmers, all I had was several carp.

Well done the winners and framers.

Viaduct Two Say Silvers, Day One, Sunday 27th December 2020

 Two days, two lakes, but an open draw each day so could be on the same lake both days.  Today saw me on Lodge 70, not a bad draw, Trigger on 69, so no easy pickings on the next peg, not that the standard of entrants gave any easy pickings.

Bit of wind forecast, so I did set up a 3 square cage feeder, as well as a waggler to fish corn. 3 pole rigs, one to fish short(ish) strung out 11's to get a slow fall through the water, a heavier rig with some strung out 8's and a rig with a bulk and single dropper.

The sun was out and the visibility was dreadful, shimmering light, flickering between silver and black, no matter what float colour it was all but impossible to see at times.  Before the start Trigger walked down and saw what I had seen, some bubbles and  rolling skimmer off to the right, I started here, just dripping a few casters in, but to no avail.

I had odd roach and small hybrids on the long line, but that visibility was proving a tad frustrating.  I switched to the feeder and had a couple of skimmers on it, the light improved and I switched back to the pole and had another decent skimmer.  The light improved a bit more and I picked up the waggler, had one on corn and then had a bit of a disaster, lost two decent skimmers in two casts, both in the same way, I strike across my body and hit a tree both times with the line getting caught in a branch, allowing the skimmers to make good their escape.

Maybe sticking with the feeder would have been a better idea, but I wasn't convinced ( or was it confident).  Anyway, those two skimmers cost me as I ended up second in section to Trig.

Viaduct Silvers League, Round 6, Sunday December 20th 2020

 Last round and surely I'd get a peg on Cary, but no, it was not to be 129 on Campbell, oh well, that it for this years league, never going to win the match or frame from there, so it was section pride to go for.  This league is like a temptress, she lures you in, makes you believe she is all for you and then wham, next match, there she is, in flagrante with another.....

Anyway, so much for that, it was a nice day, it wasn't raining and I was going to keep things simple, three top kits and a waggler, the waggler would do for corn, a rig for skimmers at 14m, this is a slim pattern float, spread bulk, 0.10 fluorocarbon hooklength and a 20 F1 pellet hook.  A similar rig but 4x10 rather that 4x12 for roach at 6 joints and a rig to fish up the spit that is a feature of this peg - hoping for tench or perch - so a 0.12 FC hooklength and a 16 F1 pellet hook.

Usual GB and caster/maggot on the 14m line on the all in and then drop back on the short line for roach, as seems typical on Campbell lately, a near instant response, a couple of roach, then nothing, they just won't settle at the moment.  I persevered until 30 mins in and then had a look over the GB line, a 2 oz skimmer and a couple of tiny roach was my reward, I left it and refed it.  Back to the short line, a roach and then nothing.

Time to have a look up the spit, where I'd been pinging casters, a small hybrid first put in, then a roach, then a welcome tench, another roach and that was it, how do you get 4 bites in 4 put ins and then nothing.... I guess that's winter for you.  

I had a go on the waggler - nothing, so back out on the long pole lines (fed two) 11 o'clock and 1 o'clock, nothing from the 1 o'clock line but I did have a small hybrid off the 11 o'clock line.  I have struggled to make the two lines work this year, maybe I haven't drawn on many fish for 5 of the rounds and it' splitting them.  I refed the 11 o'clock line, but not the other, then went straight over it, a 3lb skimmer was my reward, but little else, I did have a couple more roach and another hand sized hybrid from the spit, but I wasn't able to compete with Paddy on the end peg 131 who had a few better skimmers and opposite where Trigger and John Fuidge on 11 and 110 respectively caught skimmers whilst many of us went without.

My 8.14 was enough for a consolation second in section envelope, so not the worst finish to the league, but could do better.

We done to the winners, hope we can do it all again next year, as predicted all the framers camr from Cary.

Viaduct Silvers League Round 5, Sunday 13th December 2020

 Back to Viaduct for the re-arranged 5th round and with not too much to fish for league wise unless I could sneak two more section wins, a positive approach was needed to try and get in the frame, Cary has been the place to do that, but with Matt drawing me on Lodge, albeit 68, which can a be a decent draw, I was going there more in hope than expectation.

The weather was shit, rain in my face, I don't like the pegs layout, you are sat down on a platform that a good 2'6" below another platform, meaning when you are a short arse like me, you are shipping awkwardly and with the peg directly behind on Cary being in just making it worse.

I gambled on fishing the waggler and caster virtually all match, not much to say about it, had a couple of carp, some roach and a couple of skimmers, weighed 9.14, beat the pegs to my left in the section, Clint on 69 had 11lb, and the next two pegs had 12.00  and 12.04, not sure if the pole would have got me anymore fish, not really convinced it would as the weights improved at the car park end of the lake and were pretty low at the narrow end.

No weigh sheet, didn't get on with the social distancing and I just wanted to get my wet, sorry self home!

Acorn Winter League, Round 1, Saturday 12th December 2020

 Writing this after the event, I can't start without mentioning the shock and sadness I had when told on the Monday of the death of Lance Tucker, who I have know and fished under as a team Captain and against over many years.  Lance was a character, told it like it was, with a sense of humour, he fished this match and won the Clevedon FWAC Christmas match the next day, before suddenly passing away on the Monday.  RIP Lance and deepest condolences to Craig (his son) and family.

Onto the match, I drew (or should I say, had drawn for me) peg 15, usually a decent peg in the section, but given the results lately, I wasn't unconvinced that the peg the other end of the section wouldn't be better.

Quite a simple approach, rig to dob across - plumbed up at dead depth, so I could decide on the depth to fish the bread at the start, a rig to fish down to the pallet of peg 14 (same float) and two rigs for just up the far slope, one with 0.10 and a Guru F1 hook, one with 0.13 and a Kaizen hook, just in case it got good....

On the all in, I picked up the dobbing rig and took 4" off it, fish first put in and lost it - fouler, then one in the mouth, then a torrid run of foul hookers, 6 or 7 of them and only one more landed, I shallowed up a bit more during this time, before finally realising I'd picked up the edge rig, the edge was deeper than across, so I was probably in the deck with the bread all the time...... what a numpty - I blame not being able to go to the pub, staying home and rocking up to matches sober isn't all some crack it up to be!!!

That probably cost me the section, I struggled thereon in and finally had a tench a couple of silvers and a carp just up the far slope on maggot, but I wasn't confident I'd done enough and so it proved, with Paul taking the section from the peg I fancied and Kev on bridge peg 21 second.  So third place and it was down to my stupidity, lesson learnt, differentiate between rigs........

Silver Open, Plantation Lakes, Thursday 10th December 2020

 A rare chance to fish a silvers match on Plantation main lake, so I booked in and booked a days holiday.

It has some great silvers fishing, roach, perch and skimmers making up the target fish, it is possible to frame with roach or skimmers, if the roach feed short enough.

Peg 4 was drawn for me, the venue had been 'manually' pegged, so the peg numbers don't relate to the permanent pegs, I think my peg was peg 5 permanent.  Really simple approach, two rigs, one for roach short and one for skimmers long, I have been using the Preston Duraslip elastic, in No5 it's perfect for skimmer fishing with small hooks.

I wanted to feed two lines long for skimmers, but going long to my left put me too close to peg 5 (perm 7) so I had to feed this shorter.

I won't say too much about the short line, I had a carp 3rd put in and later I had a roach and a hybrid, it was hardly prolific.

The best line was the 14m off to the right, the position I fed was determined by the light and shadows on the water, it wasn't the best visibility.  I had roach on caster for an hour or so, but then switched to maggot tipped with pinkie and this brought a couple of decent skimmers, I was topping up with a toss pot of GB and pinkies, I had a short lull, hooked a carp that took the hooklength, I then had a decent run of roach and skimmers, alternating between caster, pinkie and double dead red maggot on the hook to keep bites coming.

The last 90 minutes saw things slow right down and I was ruing the lack of the second line, I was also wishing I'd set up a waggler, the conditions were perfect for it and I would have tried fishing a line at 20m or so and am sure that the would have seen some fish come to the catapulted feed - it would also attract carp, so may or may not have been successful.

So probably cost myself the win by not setting up the waggler as my 24.10 was enough for third, but I feel I should have won this one.

Viaduct Silvers League, Round 4, Sunday 6th December 2020

 With the majority of the field praying for a draw on Cary, it was no surprise when I drew Campbell...... I wasn't unhappy with the peg, 127, it should be OK for points in the section, although sometimes 130/131 chuck up weights.

I set up a 3 square cage feeder, that went back into the holdall at the end unused, a waggler to fish corn and two pole rigs, one for roach short and one for skimmers at 14m.  Nice and simple then, F1 pellet hooks size 20 on both and 0.10 fluorocarbon.

Pretty standard tactics at the start, two lines fed with GB, one with caster and one with dead maggot, just to see if there was a difference, then onto the short caster line, this was soon changed to a pinkie line at 7 joints and by toss potting pinkies and GB in I could catch roach, small roach, but at least it was bites.

After about 40 minutes I had a look over the GB lines, nothing doing, I refed the caster line after an hour and went back to the small roach, they weren't queuing up, but it was better than no bites. An hour and 40 minutes I saw a couple of pin prick indications over the GB/caster line, it looked like the GB fizzing, but it was pretty inert, made the day before and had been in 40 minutes.  I picked up the skimmer rig and went out over the GB and it wasn't long before a 3lber was in the net, he was a lonesome soul though, as I gave it another 15 minutes without anymore bites.

I refed and looked over it again, I had another 3lber and a couple of roach, then hooked what I thought was a carp as it ran off, I shipped back rapidly, not concerned if it came off, then as I got down to the topkit, realised it didn't feel like a carp, I was some what relieved that it hadn't come off when  2lb+ perch came into view in the clear water and was even more relieved when it was netted.

A couple of smaller skimmers and roach completed the day and I was happy enough that my 14lb odd was enough to take the section and I think 3rd on the lake.

No weigh sheets, but the top 6 were

1. Greg Welsby - 44lb 4oz - peg 81
2. Des Shipp - 25lb 5oz - peg 97
3. Sam Powell - 22lb 3oz - peg 59
4. Paul Elmes - 21lb 9oz - peg 112
5. Jason King - 19lb 9oz - peg 111
6. Andy Power - 16lb 12oz - peg 103

Open (Knock up) Acorn, Saturday 5th December 2020

 First chance for a match after the 2nd lockdown, I decided to run one at Acorn, only ended up with 8 fishing, so more of a knock up than a match, Bev let me have plenty of space, so going by the usual winter best pegs I pegged 1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15, all pegs you'd expect to catch a few from, even with the cold weather.

I ended up on 11, first time I'd seen it since the tree has been taken out, the tree definitely seemed to be a fish holding feature in the winter, so it may not be the flyer it was, we'll have to see.

Set up 3 rigs, one to fish across on the 'second shelf' one for down the track and one down the edge, where the tree used to be.  Started on 18 F1 hooks and 0.10 as I was sure it was going to be fishing for a few bites. 

Started across, toss potted half a dozen maggots in and lowered the rig into position, within 30 seconds the float buried and a decent fish was on, after a slightly nervous tussle, a 9lber was safely in the net, maybe it was going to be OK after all.  Peg 1 had a fish first put in as well.

Well, I'm not going to waste words on the rest of the match, I had a couple more bites, a roach and a perch, I could see everyone else struggling, so kept at it, but I wasn't even getting liners or any sort of indications.

I packed up after the all out and did the weigh in, my first put in fish was enough to win, peg 1 had his two fish in the first couple of put in's and that was the only carp caught.  Brian was a little disappointed to drop a skimmer back in and miss out on a payout because of that (paid top 2).

Chris Fox  9.12 Peg 11
Rich Grundy  7.08 Peg 1
Brian Slipper  7.07 Peg 15
Mark Broomsgrove  4.01 Peg 5