Float Only Open, Avalon, Sunday 21st June 2020

This should have been one of the rounds of Tony's popular float only league, so it was run as a float only open.  When I got there and found there were 46 booked on (48 peg lake), I thought it would be a hard day, that's a lot of pressure for a lake that isn't match fished at that intensity often, but hard or not, someone still has to win.

I'd brought my waggler rods, fancying a day's waggler fishing, the shallow waggler to the island being a successful method on this lake.  That went out of the window when lake owner and Mosella UK boss Vic Bush drew me peg 48, the last peg on the far bank, a corner and a short walk from the car park - but no island....

The consensus was fish down into the corner and hang on, some of the lakes bigger fish reside there, so I duly had a plumb around - Vic told me there would be a shallow ledge, it shallows up nicely into the corner and the bottom turns from soft and slightly silty to gravel - perfect.  I couldn't plumb up properly to start with, so many twigs, brambles and branches had obviously blown in there over the spring and sunk....  A good clear out and I settled on two rigs, one set at 18" and another at 2'6".

I st a rig to fish expanders for skimmers at 14m - a rig to go over that with banded pellet if they got big or the carp showed up and a paste rig to fish paste short.

Well, I am not going to try and spin this out, there is very little to say, I started on paste, wasn't convinced I'd catch when there was absolutely no blows or signs over the feed.  Had a look down into the corner - where I'd been strict with myself and had potted just a few pellets in.  Nothing to show for that.  The skimmer line next, I'd fed a nugget of GB with micros in, really negative, nothing....

It took two hours to get a bite, a 4lber on 8mm pellet on the 2'6" rig against the far bank. Ten minutes later, a 9lber graced the net, I thought the corner was going to produce, but no, that was it, another hour without so much as a liner.

Back on the skimmer rig, I did have one bite on it, a small skimmer and that was it, no more.  At 15:15 I had a 7lber on the deeper edge rig, again on pellet and that was it, 3 carp and a skimmer for 20lb in 6 hours, I won't deny at times I was bored, as nothing I tried worked.  Two bouts of rain as well, so all in all it could have been a better day.  I even put a big pot of GB in the edge and tried worms over it, I had one little unidentified fish on it that fell off.

Bit of a shit run really, but upwards and onwards, next weekend could be better - Sunday at Todber, a short pole match, so not much to focus on.

Just to round off the expensive weekend, after the pole section ended up in Barston yesterday, got home and found the boiler leaking into my float making material.... the float making materials survived, but the boiler cost a few quid to repair.....

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.

Avalon Silvers League, Saturday 11th November 2017

I couldn't make all the matches in this league, which is a shame, so I took this chance to stand in for an absentee.  Just as well I left in plenty of time as Tony had assured me the draw was at 09.00, so luckily I was driving into the lane to the fishery when he rang me at 08.25, sheepishly asking where I was, as it was actually a 08.30 draw.

Into the draw bag and I pulled out 36, pretty meaningless to me, as I haven't fished the venue for a while and I had a rough idea of what I was going to do whatever peg I drew.  Walked up from the car park and stepped onto the pallet which couldn't have been slipperier if it had been booby-trapped.  Luckily there was a enough dead rushes around the peg that had been cut down, for me to gather hen up and spread them on the pallet, nice safe walking area now.....

I set too much gear up - its too easy now taking ready made up rods - a waggler, that was cast out to plumb up, it then sat in the roost until it was put away at the end. A feeder rod, as the weather was forecast to be somewhat unpleasant, so I might want to huddle up and watch a tip.  A whip, as Tony had mentioned there were roach of 2-3oz to be caught and three pole rigs, two similar rigs, Drennan floats one 0.6g and the other 1.0g, these with a classic bulk and two droppers set up, 0.10 hooklength and a 18 Guru F1 maggot hook.  The other rig was a double bulk rig, with 5" of line on the bottom, this had a 0.12 hooklength and a 16 Guru F1 maggot hook.

Bait was simply caster, maggot, pinkie and worm, along with a GB mix of Tom Thick's Intelligent, Sensas lake and brown crumb.  Two balls of this went in at the start, I only ventured out 11m as the wind was gusty and threatening to worsen, I then had a look on the whip and caster, this brought a couple of small roach, but that weren't lined up, it was a case of taking a fish or two and then having to change depth constantly to find them, they wouldn't sit at one depth feeding and that makes them unviable as a way to win or frame.

A look over the GB saw a few bites, but it was from small roach, I switched to the double bulk rig and had a near pound hybrid.  The roach weren't such a nuisance on the double bulk, unless it was laid in, rather than lowered fast,  I hadn't put any worm in the first feed, so topped up after an hour or so and put a little bit of worm in, this seemed to kill off the roach bites and shortly after I had appositive bite and lifted into what I initially thought was a carp, but as I got down to the topkit and the fish jagged and tried to get under the net and pallet, I was hopeful it would be a tench, a lovely sight when a nigh on 3lb golden tench was netted.  Shortly after I was struggling for bites again and came back on the whip, I had a few roach from tiny  to 4oz, again by varying from 18" to touching the bottom.  I did try chucking the feeder out, but in all honesty, never gave it long enough, so up the bank with that and out on the double bulk rig.

This brought a couple more decent skimmers, but it was slow going and I was starting to curse my reticence to fish expander pellets, as those catching were catching on them, I did start up a new line with 30 minutes to go and had one decent skimmer and 2 carp from that.  I knew I hadn't beat the end peg 38, Mark Leader, who won with 28.14.  I was pleasantly surprised to be  with my 16.08 and a section pick-up by default.  I caught all the skimmers and the tench on the double bulk rig, it was much more effective than the others,

Avalon Silvers, Final Round, Saturday 3rd December 2016

Last round of this enjoyable league, still possible with a decent draw to win it, or take second place from my third place going into this match, as the weights weren't more than about 6 or 7lb difference. Also had to defend the attack from Ken Rayner in 4th place and last in the money.

I couldn't believe my bad luck when I drew peg 12 again, for the second match in a row, no island gap and a peg either side, I would have my work cut out to hang onto 3rd place here, let alone make in roads into the top two, unless the big skimmers had moved into the area since the last round.

 

The wind was making a waggler pointless, but I did set one up just in case it dropped, I also set up a small cage feeder, but felt it wouldn't have a part to play,  3 topkits, a 1g AS3 with a 1.3 fluorocarbon hooklength and a 18 gamma green hook, a 0.6g version of the same float with a 0.08 hooklength and a 18 6313  and finally a homemade diamond float with a carbon stem, 0.5g this with a 1.3 fluorocarbon hooklength and a 20 gamma green - i was expecting a tough day!!

Two lines fed at 14m, one with two large balls of GB with a few dead maggots casters and squatt in, the LH line fed with one small ball of GB with just casters in.  I also fed a line at 11m with micros and a little GB.  10 minutes on the feeder at about 3/4 the way across without an indication was enough and I switched to the pole.  The rest of the day was spent rotating round the 3 lines, taking 3 or 4 fish over the micros and  it looked like that was going to be a decent line, but that was it, nothing else from there.  The RH positive fed line produced a couple of small skimmers and a few roach, the LH negative line just a few skimmers. I didn't have a fish over 4oz and the squats seemed to pull in the roach. The 1.0g rig was by far the most productive, the trip that was there was with the wind, so far from ideal skimmer fishing conditions.

At the all out I knew I hadn't been able to make up any ground on the top two when the scales got to me, Ken had weighed 3lb odd and my 4.13 ensured I kept 3rd place overall and a welcome pick up.

Thanks to Mosella boss Vic Bush for running the league and work permitting I'll fish next years, but one plea, can everyone have an empty peg to one side, as the weigh sheet shows, having a bit of space was essential today and last match in the colder conditions.

Congratulations to Vic and John for holding onto their respective 1st and 2nd places and to Ken for pushing me right to the end.

Avalon Silvers League, Penultimate Round, Saturday 19th November 2016

Penultimate round and with it being fairly tight at the top, I needed to end the day within a couple of pounds of the others who were in and around the frame placings.  Into the bag and out comes disc 12, not so good, no gap and an angler either side, one of whom on peg 11 was league leader Vic Bush.

Mixing up the groundbait, the water didn't feel anywhere near as cold as the air temperature, that night have lulled me into a false sense of security...........

No whip today, the colder weather seems to have pushed the smaller fish out from the bank, not sure why, its certainly not because the of the depth or the clarity, as the water still retained some colour.  I set up a small cage feeder, but didn't really expect much from it, as it seems to be better in the gaps. 3 topkits, a 0.6g AS float with a 0.10 and a 18 6313, a bulk rig same hooklength and a 16 6313 and a 0.3g AS float with a 0.08 hooklength and a 20 gamma green.

Usual GB mix, two lines at 14m, one to the left with a few micros in the mix, no micros in the RH line. Also a line shorter at 10mish which I just fed micros'.

The rest of the blog will be short and sweet, rotating round the lines, got me an odd fish from the two long lines, nothing from the 10m line, I set up a waggler rod half way through just to try and get a few bites, I did but they were tiny roach and rudd, most fell off winding back in.

No matter what I did I couldn't get more than a very odd bite and roach or small skimmer, ending up with 6lb, Vic only fared slightly better on the next peg, beating me by 12oz, there really didn't seem to be many fish in the area.

Avalon Silvers League R4, Saturday 5th November 2016

Nice lazy breakfast at home before setting off, only to find the draw had been put back to 08.30, so ended up being 10 minutes late.  A couple of pegs left in the bag and I plucked out 18, 19 was the end peg and not drawn - yet.

I thought I might have an end peg advantage, but another latecomer turned up on 19, at least I had some open water, so started by setting up a cage feeder, then a waggler rod, before setting up 3 pole rigs, a double bulk rig that remained unused and two rigs with AS floats, one 0.6g and one 0.4g.  As the weather had taken a turn towards winter, I had 0.10 and a 18 6313 on the 0.6g rig and 1.3lb fluorocarbon with a 18 Gamma Green on the light rig.

Bait tray comprised a few micros, caster maggots and pinkies, also a very small amount of worms, I pumped a few devils spawn and mixed some groundbait.  Two lines at 14m, one with a pinch of worms, one without.  A line at 8m and a short caster line, starting on the short caster line I had one roach, but that was to it from there. The 8m pellet line produced one roach all day, so no more about that.  The two 14m lines produced the fish, albeit slowly, but I did have 5 decent skimmers, one on devils spawn, one on worm and 3 on caster, as well as a few smaller skimmers and the odd roach.

With hindsight (as usual) I would have fed one line differently, instead if topping with small jaffas and fishing it out, I should have tried feeding less more often, which isn't usually the way to fish for winter skimmers, but I felt at the end it might have been better. The heavier rig produced more fish and after losing a carp I had converted that to a fluorocarbon hooklength and a 16 Gamma Green, although I don't think it was a major influence on the catch rate.

My fish went 18.04 which was only good enough for 4th in section, but that was 4th in the match and keeps me in touch with Vic who is leading the series with myself in second place.

Avalon Silver League R3, Saturday 22nd October 2016

A chilly, foggy morning greeted us for this one, Vic did the usual and asked for  someone to draw him a peg, he wasn't disappointed when he was handed 34 for the second match running, whereas I wasn't overjoyed with my peg, 39,  as I feel an end peg or a gap in the islands is an advantage.

No need to change what usually works - or so I thought - two lines at 14m on which I decided to feed GB and caster and the other line I put worm in.  I didn't bother with the shorter line I had last time with micros and soft pellet - I really haven't got much confidence in it.  I set up two whips, expecting the whip lines to be slower, but to produce fish at some stage during the match.

With no wind and no tow to contend with, I set up two rigs to fish at 14m, both on 0.14, a 0.6g rig with 0.10 and a 16, and a 0.4g rig with 0.08 and a 18 (6313 which is a small 18).  I also had time to set up a margin rig and a double bulk rig which never got picked up.  I didn't bother with a waggler or a cage feeder, given the lack of a gap in the island.

The worm/GB went in on the LH line, the caster /GB on the RH line and casters on the whip line, I spent 20 minutes searching from 12" to full depth on the whip, for one roach and decided that it was going to be a day to sit out on the longer lines for better fish.  It took 20 minutes before the float disappeared and a 3lb bream was safely netted  this was on worm from the LH line. Another 20 minutes, before his mate joined him in the net, this time from the RH line, again on a piece of worm. With an hour gone I topped up the lines and has a decent skimmer and a roach on caster over the RH line.

That was to be it, not another bite from 13.15 until 15.30, I started a new line just toss potting maggot, went to a 22 gamma green and single maggot, still nothing, the peg was seemingly devoid of fish - it obviously wasn't - but I could not work out how to get even the tiniest roach and rudd to feed.

At 15.30 on double caster another bream gave me relief from the concern that I was going to be losing a lot of ground in the league, the another bite next put in and a strange fight,  thought it was a foul hooked big skimmer, the a piece of tail surfaced and and it was black edged - definitely a skimmer - until I carefully eased into netting range and it turned into a 2lb carp, one of the dark ones with a black tail , no orange at all.  I did curse it and call it a name or two......  One more decent skimmer at 16.25 rounded off the match and I knew that spell of 3 hours 20 minutes without a bite had cost me, so it proved, as I think I have slipped to second in the league now, with the 5 bream and a fistful of roach going 10.08.

Avalon Silvers League Round 2, Saturday 8th October 2016

I missed the first round, but luckily my old traveling and drinking partner Paul Faiers fished for me and won the match, so going into this round leading the league.

Going into the draw tub I wasn't too fussed where I drew, but end peg 34 would have been nice, that went to fishery owner Vic Bush, as someone drew him first peg.  9 stuck to my hand, it was just in one of the island gaps and I couldn't see any reason why I shouldn't have a few of the venues skimmers and bream.

Trying to cover all bases, I set up a cage feeder and a waggler, they were both put away at the end unused.  3 Topkits, I got 4 out of the bag and was going to set up a rig for down the edge, but decided not to. A 0.6g rig to fish worm at 14m, a 0.4g rig to fish pellet/corn at 7m and a double bulk rig, which only saw the water plumbing up.  Finally, two whips, one at 3m and one at 4m both with little wire stemmed Preston floats on (PB4??)

On the all in I fed 2 balls at 14m to my left and 3 to my right, the RH side having a richer worm/caster mix than the LH side to see what happened.  A small ball of micros at 7m and then onto the whip whilst the lines settled.  I was catching straight away on the whip, but was up and down with the depth trying to find the fish. After half an hour the guy to my right on peg 7 was getting a couple of decent skimmers, so I had an early look over the worm lines, two carp later, I switched to the pellet line, this produced 3 tiny skimmers, no bigger than the whip fish.

I had a couple more looks over the worm lines during the match and kept them topped up, but had no sign of a skimmer. I kept plugging away with the whip line at 3m until about 15.0 when the bites dropped off, by now I was catching 6" deep.  A switch to the 4m whip and increasing the depth to 15" made a difference and the fish started coming again.

The time spent looking for skimmers proved to be costly, as my net of whip caught roach, rudd and perch went 19.01 for second on the day, behind Vic.   Just enough to stay in the lead, but its tight.

Avalon Open Sunday 11th September 2016

After the week at Landsend I fancied a day targeting the skimmers at Avalon, so worms and casters were obtained and some rigs made up to fish for skimmers. I did chuck a few pellets in the bag in case I drew a corner peg, but I left home pellet wagglers etc.

 Peg 42 out of the bag, it looked OK, but there was the bright sun and lack of ripple which had me wondering if I had made the right decision.  A 0.6g rig with a 6313 16 for worm and a 0.4g rig with a 18 hook, also a double bulk rig, also with a 16 hook.

I also set up two whips, one to fish through the water and one with a rig bulk shotted to fish really shallow, as I though the roach and rudd would feed.

I fed two lines at the start, 14m and 8m, both with GB laced with worm, caster and dead maggot and picked up a whip.  this as expected produced a few small fish, once I fiddled around with the depth to find them.  After 1/2 an hour I had a look over the 14m line - I can't wax lyrical or expand on it any other way than to say, I never had a bite over it all match, not on worm, caster, dead maggot or corn.  Apart from a couple of big carp blows, there was absolutely no sign of fish over the bait, same with the 8m line except I did have two skimmers over it, one on worm, one on double caster, abot 3 hours apart.

In between attempting to catch elusive skimmers, I flogged away with the whip and had a selection of roach, rudd, perch and motherless minnows from a couple of drams up to 6oz.  Ended up with 21.07 which was only enough for 3rd in the silvers, it would seem that further up the lake to the windward end, there was a ripple and that was enough to see the skimmers feed.

Float Only Series, Round , Avavlon, Sunday 31st July 2016

For the second day running, I pulled out peg 22, different venue today though, a visit to the peace and tranquility of Avalon, I had fishery owner Vic Bush on end peg23 and Rich Lacey on 21.  Two wagglers set up, one for full depth and one shallow, a rig for skimmers, but as yesterday, the conditions weren't conducive to skimmers feeding. a full depth banded pellet rig, a paste rig and a margin rig, although 22 has no margin to speak of and its 4-5' deep, little confidence in it as I have never caught a carp from the margins here.

I was expecting to catch straight away on the waggler, even if it was only one or two fish, this didn't happen. A look over the pole line I'd fed at 14m with a soft pellet produced a skimmer, this joined a 4oz roach in the net that took a 6mm pellet on the shallow waggler. There was a bit of fizzing, so a look with paste brought my first carp and after a long wait, my second.  A look round all the other lines, deep and shallow waggler were all in vain, Vic was catching, but the pegs to my right were struggling as much, if not more than me.

I decided to give the waggler a prolonged spell and upped the feed, this seemed to draw a few fish in and I had a couple, before hooking a snag - no idea how, I was clipped up and had cast dozens of times to the same spot.  That was the first lost float, next was a better fish that dived into a snag off the end of the island, float two gone. That was the start of 3 more floats biting the dust in snags, two visits and 10 floats light.........

I had a couple more fish on the waggler before ending with one on the paste, 10 carp for 37lb and a couple of pound for my skimmer and roach. Frustratingly Tony said, when he weighed me in,  he had 9 carp for 60lb - no idea if its possible to pick out the better fish or if its pot luck.

I beat a couple of pegs to my right, but not Vic who had 17 carp and the small size of the fish dumped me down the section.  Frustrating day, not sure what I would do differently next time, apart to hope for 6-8lb fish instead of ones less than 3 1/2lb.

Avalon Float Only Open, Sunday 17th July 2016

Really struggling lately to get my head round the way lakes are fishing and I must admit I was sat at Avalon today wondering if I would be enjoying the Huntspill more......

Whilst on many venues the winning weights are respectable, the back up weights are down for this time of year, with fish seemingly reluctant to get their heads down and feed, even late in the match, I know I'm not alone in thinking this.

I guess I have been a bit negative in feeding recently because of the lack of bites, but today I decided to go more positive and see what that would bring, as it couldn't be any worse than the dreadful run I've been on since May.

The draw saw me heading to peg 19, I don't know the venue that well, but its not the worst draw on the lake.  Two waggler rods set up, one at full depth with a couple of No8 droppers and a pellet wag to fish tight to the island, trying to cover options I had two full depth rigs set up, one to fish hard pellet and one for soft pellet/corn.  A shallow rig and a paste rig covered the open water options and I did set up, although not too confidently, a margin rig, as the shallowest water I could find close in was nearly 5'.

Bait tray was simple, 4,6 and 8mm pellets, soft pellets, paste and corn, on the all in I cupped 3 balls of GB at 13m with pellets and a few grains of corn in, just pellets in at 5m and then onto the pellet wag.  a great start, two fish in two chucks, before it started to go wrong big style, as always (in my experience) happens at thei venue, the fish move tight against the island, even with the feed deliberately dropped short. The next two chucks saw the float lost in underwater roots, I then hooked a decent fish which kited left and went solid in a snag, another float lost.  In my haste in setting back up and casting back out, I snagged again on the island and lost another float, today was getting expensive.....

I dropped back onto the 13 line with pellet and that was devoid of action, I swapped the pellet for corn and had three decent skimmers in 4 put ins, great, sussed it I thought, but that was to it, I never had another skimmer all match.  I tried the 5m line, but that was completely dead, I never saw as much as a bubble from that all match and never had a bite on it.  I reset up the waggler and switched to fishing the open water at the end of the island, this brought a decent fish to the net, but the activity that was there soon stopped after half a dozen casts.

Back to 13m and a fish on paste, then onto the deep waggler and a hard fighting ghostie fell to an 8mm pellet, I kept the odd fish coming by swapping between paste at 13m and pellet waggler.  I think chasing the crusiers that were off the end of the island has cost me, I should have just persevered with the 13m line and kept the feed going in, as feeding was essentiual to get a bite, even though they were few and far between.

I put 60.14 on the scales, I think that was 7th or 8th, it was one out of the money in the section and whilst that is better that my recent run, another 2 or 3 fish would have put me in second place - decision making has cost me, must stop chasing cruisers that aren't feeding!!!

Costcutter Open, Avalon, Thursday 28th May 2015

As much as I enjoy fishing Viaduct, it’s nice to have some variety, so I booked into this week’s costcutter at Avalon.  I was quite intent on just taking 6 & 8mm pellets and a bag of paste, but a conversation with owner Vic Bush saw me putting so GB and a kilo of worms (that have been in the fridge since March, surely they won’t last much longer) into the bait bag.

Travelling down with Tony Rixon,  we had the usual Shipham brekkie and then drew next to each other, me on peg 5 and Tony on 3.  He badgered me into a £1 side bet, which I don’t usually indulge in, it was because he knew I had the worms and would be tempted to use them……….

A short walk and plenty of time, so I set up a pellet waggler, a depth waggler and a lead rod.  Three topkits as well, a rig to fish banded pellet, one for paste and one for down the edge.  Bait tray just had 6 & 8mm pellets initially and I started on the pellet waggler.  This was producing bites and fish, not big fish, several carp to 3lb and a couple of hybrids which were just over 1lb.  The fish were tight to the rushes and backing off into the gap under a tree, after the first hour which saw 20lb in the net, the wind made the waggler fishing fairly pointless, it kept switching directiom fron R-L and then back to L-R.  It wasn’t even a consistent breeze up the lake, just a wind lane which was less than 2m wide and this was catching the line and pulling the float along within seconds of it landing.

I did try the lead, but 10 minutes of watching a motionless tip was enough, so I had a look over the feed I’d put in on the pole line, nothing,  not that I was surprised, as I hadn’t seen any blowing or other signs of fish.  Time to mix the GB and try the worms, this was fairly uneventful, then Vic turned up and encouraged me to up the feed, this brought a 6oz rudd to the worm bait, this remained the only fish caught on this bait.

Dropping paste over the worm/GB feed, saw a carp netted, a carp lost then three skimmers of a decent size landed, before the line quietened down again. I refed and had another look on the waggler, this brought another odd fish or two, but the wind remained a constant frustration to presenting a bait that wasn’t trotting along and away from the rushes.

Back on the paste and another fish netted, but it was slow going and at the all-out, I knew my messing about with worms had cost me £1 to Mr Rixon.  Vic jumped on my box and had a go with the paste, landing a 13lb fish shortly afterwards…….  How do they know the match has finished??

So, with hindsight, 6 hours thrashing the reeds with a waggler would probably have been the best thing to do, also a lesson learnt about feeding at Avalon – they want some, no place for gentle drip feeding here!!  Frustrating but enjoyable day, hopefully I can get back here before too long, my fish went 64.15 and that 13lb carp that Vic had after the whistle on my gear would have seen my £1 safe if it had found the paste 10 minutes earlier……..

1: Glenn Bailey 108lb peg 16

2: Mike West 99.13 peg 1

3: Tony Rixon 72.07 peg 3

4: Paul Lock 67.02

5: Chris Fox 64.15 peg 5

Silvers

1: Mike Nicholls 37.10 peg 23

2: Paul Lock 35.01

Avalon Open, Sunday 4th January 2015

A bittersweet day today, it’s been just over 3 years since I last fished Avalon, which was the Xmas match 2011 and I managed a framing place, also its bee a couple of weeks since I fished last, due to working over the Xmas and New Year period, so I was keen to get out on the bank.  I had spent quite a while at home sorting through my gear as I emptied my faithful old Matchbox and transferred my kit into my new Octbox.  One bright idea I had was to cut up all my rigs and retie them afresh……  I now don’t have so many rigs tied, it’s a daunting task when you pick up the first float and look into the 3 empty winder drawers in the box!!  I have simplified my rigs, reduced the numbers of line dia’s they are tied to and the same with hooklengths.

Last year saw my results pick up from the summer onwards, I had decided that I needed to finally rid myself of my old ingrained ideas and attitudes, so spent the from the spring on exclusively fishing for carp, not taking silvers gear or bait, thus not having the temptation to switch to them.  Another part of last year was spent trying to learn a bit about method feeder fishing, something I had avoided up until now, but when traveling away from the usual haunts down here in Somerset, it’s a skill that is required.

This year will be the same, I may fish silvers matches, for the winter period, I will take something to catch them, as I seem to draw in all the pegs that the carp don’t want to be in now the thermometer is nudging freezing.  With that in mind, I took a pint of casters today, a few wriggling maggots, a few pinkies, some dead maggots, corn and bread.  I had expected it to be a typical winter match, where feeding nothing or minute amounts would be the order of the day, more of this later……

I loaded up the Octbox in trolley mode and found it really easy to push to the peg, albeit a short walk, to peg 4, but it was much better balanced than my shuttle with the Matchbox and everything loaded on it.  The trolley mode is quickly dismantled and the box nice and easy to set up, I would have liked to get out for a few hours to try it, but there was no problems, a comfy, stable box that puts everything to hand, well-engineered and thought out.

I had brought a lead rod to fish popped up bread, a waggler rod to fish corn and the pole to fish a line at about 13m, I also set up a margin rig, as there was a good 4’ of water in front of the next platform on peg 5.  The island has been well cut back, but there were a couple of branches sticking out, which made casting tight to it not risk free, but I clipped up as tight as I dare.

On the all-in I fed some groundbait in on the 13m line, I had far too much time to think about this match over the last couple of weeks and I brought some Bait Tech Pro Natural, thinking that the fish wouldn’t want fishmeal.  Leaving that to settle I started on the bread, which, I should have left in the bag, the water was really too coloured for it.  Nothing on the bread, I gave it half an hour and searched along the island with it, taking the clip off to allow me to do so.   A switch to the pole line brought a small skimmer and a couple of micro roach to maggot, swapping to soft pellet saw another skimmer about 4oz landed, but it was slow going.

I had been feeding two grains of corn every now and again on the waggler line and switching to that brought some false hope, as first cast I had a skimmer 1 1/2lb. I missed a bite on the next cast and bumped a fish on the third cast, that was the end of bites on the waggler.  I could see John Bradford opposite catching big skimmers, so I decided that persevering for carp would be the way to go, especially as fishery owner, Vic Bush was catching fairly regularly by switching between the feeder and the pole.  I took off the straight lead and clipped a feeder on, but I did not have a bite on this and in desperation, walked up to have a chat with Vic who was battering me.

Vic had kept it simple, he was using a groundbait that I normally use, plenty of fishmeal….  and  dead maggots, he was feeding the peg with a decent sized pot and using a medium feeder, much more bait than I thought would be the way to go, how wrong can you be?  I went back and persevered until the end, but I did not hook a carp all day and my meagre 4 skimmers and a few roach went back before the scales arrived.

I was frustrated by the way I got it so wrong, although I would have expected to hook a carp had there been on there feeding, I wasn’t alone in struggling which is to be expected in winter, but pleased with the new box and it was good to be fishing, rather than working.

Next up is somewhere Saturday, I haven’t made my mind up yet, as the weather forecast is for severe storms and 100mph winds, so let’s see if that looks like coming true or not before booking in anywhere and Sunday is the Landsend Loyalty match.

1: Vic Bush 66.12 Peg 6

2: Tom Mangnall 32.07 Peg 32

3: Craig Edmunds 27.08 Peg 20

4: Tony Rixon 24.13 Peg 29

5: Nigel Bartlett 21.13 Peg 24

6: Steve Seager 19.02 Peg 11

Silvers

1: Tony Rixon 20.01

2: John Bradford 18.10 Peg 44