Tony Rixon's Float Only, Landsend, Sunday 3rd July 2022

 Tony's float only league today, round 3, I couldn't draw lake 3 again could I, yes I bloody could...  Peg 70.

Its not a peg I like, I had to spend 25 minutes gardening to make it fishable, its tucked away at the end of the lake and the fish in there tend to be a smaller stamp - and so it proved, I had the most carp, but my 69lb was only good enough for 3rd on lake and was beaten purely by stamp of fish.

Tony Rixon's Float Only League, Landsend, Sunday 12th June 2022

 Round Two of this popular league, this time on Landsend, which I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with.  The venue is in a lovely area of Somerset, miles from main roads, rail lines or airports, so really peaceful, everyone involved is always friendly and helpful, its just me, I don't get on with the venue, its shallow and can be a little overgrown.

Three lakes in and I didn't want to draw lake 3, so where did I draw!!  Can't say I enjoyed it at all, apart from the tranquillity, Landsend really is one of the most peaceful commercial fisheries.

Landsend Open, Sunday 26th September 2021

 I say open in the title, it was a knock up really, with 13 fishing on lake 3.  I wasn't overjoyed when I drew 46, one away from the last time I was here.  For those that don't know the lake this picture sums why I guessed I'd have a fleece on, whilst those on the opposite bank would be in T shirts and sun cream.... The bank the side that says little rhyne stays in the shade all day, I don't like and I'm sure this fish don't either.  peg 46 can fish to the RH end of the middle island.

I thought maybe the island might be the best place to catch, so set up a rig for banded pellet, where ever I plumbed in the peg I was struggling to find 2' of water, the level is down.  I set up a rig to fish for silvers at 6 joints and margin rigs, also a meat rig for later in the match.

Starting across to the island was awkward, shipping back over the otter fence was hurting my thumb and I only had one small crucian to show for it,  I decided to fish for silvers and had a run of crucians, skimmers roach and perch at 6 joints on maggot over GB.  No decent size fish but at least it was bites, it wasn't manic but something to work at whilst I could see it was fishing hard.

I fed live maggots shorter, hoping to get silvers in short, but all I had initially was micro perch, then a carp.  Thought he might be a one off, but then hooked another that broke me.  Switched to a heavier rig (heavier main line and hooklength, not heavier float), as by now the silvers had disappeared, I had 4 more carp but they weren't exactly abundant.

At least it didn't rain and my silvers weight of 12.09 was enough to win the silvers, so a pick up both days of the weekend, best I could do from there i felt, as the top three all came from the far bank.

And they even let me have a crayon to fill in the weigh sheet.....

Tony Rixon's Float Only League, Final Round, Landsend, Sunday 22nd August 2021

 5 rounds gone, last round today at Landsend, there were 5 of us sitting in second place with one to go, all reliant on Trigger dropping a couple of points to overtake him, once he drew peg 33, it was unlikely.... with 6 framing places, I felt a section win was going to be absolutely essential, given the standard of anglers at the top.  I knew my weight disadvantage could cost me, but drawing the lowest weight section is nothing new for me, its been happening since the 70's.....

Peg 45 for me, lake three after a decent breakfast in the fishery cafe, didn't mean too much, I just knew I had to go and fish for the section, so there was no point in spending time trying to catch the small stockies (F1's) or silvers.  It was going to be 6 and 8mm pellets, 8mm meat and possibly maggots down the edge.

That meant simple rigs, the lake is shallow, 2' all the way across, so I was distraught at cutting down full length rigs, as they won't do for anywhere else... A slim homemade slim float that takes 2 No8 to fish pellet across to the island, two 4x10 wire stemmed rigs to fish open water, both the same except one with a band, one without.  One rig for meat at 5m and a Hillbilly AK47 for down the RH edge.

For those that don't know Landsend, it has a fair amount of arboreal growth and my peg was a bit of a parrot cage, could have been tricky for the waggler, but I didn't have one, so no issue.  Started pretty negatively and tosspotted some 6mm pellets tight across and fished a banded 6mm over them.  A skimmer a roach and a small F1 was the outcome.  It took me 10 minutes to get a carp, I stuck at this for a while but could see Sean and Martin opposite (through the gap in the island) catching short.

My bank seemed to be fishing hard, we had the sun behind us and it was casting a chilly shadow over us and 3/4 of the water between us and the island, I felt the fish wanted to be the other side in the sun.  A switch to the catapult to make some noise did bring a couple of fish in, often you can see them feeding across to the island, but they didn't seem too interested, so it was a long wait between bites.

I even tried the RH edge after a couple of hours, as soon as I lowered 5 maggots into the water, it was snaffled by a micro perch, so I changed it to GB and corn, that just saw roach nibbling at the corn, so I started feeding 8mm pellets as well, trying to put them off.  I did have one carp on corn in the edge and thought that might be the margin coming to life, but he was a lonesome soul.

The meat line was a non-starter, it was just too cold this side of the lake, so I persevered across where there was some sun on the water, I just kept nicking an odd fish on 6mm pellet, going into the last 15 minutes, I'd trashed my across rig on a bramble, I felt I needed another fish, so I sat it out down the edge and was rewarded with one more carp, the biggest of the day at about 8lb.

I ended up weighing the lake, the far side certainly had fished better than my side, but that didn't matter, as I got the much needed section win (and I'm not bitter, but yet again the lowest weight section in the match..... can't see my luck at the draw bag ever changing).

So, back for the results and the final standing only slightly changed from the pre-match table, Rod missing out, but all the rest of us in second place taking max points, as did Trigger who not surprisingly won the match.  My low total weight knocked me down to 5th place, so a few quid and the section money to take home.  It's hard to be disappointed to come 2nd in a notoriously tricky league, so I might wait until the next time I draw the worst section to post all my kit for sale.....

 

Tony Rixon's Float Only R3, Landsend, Sunday 4th July 2021

 So, back to my bittersweet venue, I just love its location, its peace and tranquillity, I get frustrated with the bankside vegetation and I also seem to struggle on here, unless I fish for silvers - no point in fishing for them this match, as I have a section second and my disaster on the squircle, at least I can drop that one!!   A section win is a must.

Into the draw tin first and 18 on the match lake for me, next to venue regular Russ Peck and I could keep on eye on Tony, as he was diagonally opposite through the gap in the islands, on peg 5.  This lake has seen a stocking of small tench, F1's and crucians, but I felt to catch enough I'd have to focus on the carp.

Rigs set up for meat short, pellets down the track, margin and across to the island, where there was a nice depth of around 18".  Started short on meat, all that produced was some missed bites and some little bars of soap (tench), harder to handle than eels.....  I stuck with it switching sides and changing to pellet, whilst priming over to the island.  That produced a 3lb skimmer and a couple more tench, but was going nowhere fast, I switched to fishing at 16m to the point of the island.  I had a couple of carp, fishing a banded 6mm pellet over 6mm pellet.  I kept at it, then had 4 carp in four put ins, kiss of death then as Russ on 19, said "You've got them there now", that was it, they disappeared.

I came back on the short line and upped the feed, had a carp and indications that there were others in the peg, but I never felt they were really interested in feeding, just coming to the feed without eating.  By now I had my earbuds in listening to Max winning the GP.  The weather had turned, it was pissing down and it certainly didn't feel like July.

The rain did ease off and stop, I had kept a few pellets going in over to the island and had a good last hour across there and I thought I had about 85lb, turned out with my few 'accidentals' I had 95.11, which was 4th on the lake, but more importantly, the section win.  Got to miss the next round, but I can have a stand in for one match thankfully.

Open, Landsend Lake 3, Sunday 13th June 2021

Yesterday should have been the final round of the delayed Acorn winter league, but with the fishery closed for a couple of weeks it was decided to end the league after 5 rounds, leaving me in second place, can't grumble a nice pick up to come and you can't keep rearranging leagues and expecting everyone to be available,

 Back to my love / hate venue today, love the tranquillity of its location on the moors, but my record there isn't the best.... more of a knock up than a match, with 12 fishing.

Travelled down with Tony, had a great breakfast at the venue and wasn't surprised when Tony drew 58 for what seems like the third time running, whilst I had 70, which doesn't often seem feature in the frame.  There is a weedbed off to your right and a spit at 14m in front, bit hemmed in, when I got there and saw the carp spawning in the weedbed, I decided to fish for silvers, which also includes F1's on this venue.  Its had a stocking of F1's and some that look like crucians, so I expected to have a few bites.

Not too much to say, its fished pretty tough, I had to tosspot in groundbait and maggots to get bites, but they weren't exactly going mad, the cap stopped spawning, then they and the ducks were slurping in the weedbed eating it all.....

I tried pellets and other lines, I expected to catch shallow, but the water was very clear - unusually so for a commercial this time of year - I certainly couldn't catch short, never had a bite closer than 11m.

Wasn't sure what weight I had come the end, but knew it wasn't a lot, but it was enough to justify the decision to fish for silvers and pocket the one payout for silvers, Tony won the match so a contented van on the way home.

Open, Landsend, Easter Sunday 4th April 2021

 Landsend, polarizes my thoughts, love the tranquility of the place, hate my dismal record fishing it.  So with the new owner stamping his mark on it, I headed back, huge amount of work has been carried out, new paths, new platforms, restocking and much of the rampant foliage and arboreal incursions removed.

Was not thinking of any particular draw, so was fairly ambivalent when I saw 22 looking back at me on the swimcard, with my mate Paul on peg 24.  The venue is pole dominated, so that's all I took, a rig for across on the far shelf, two spots plumbed up at the same depth.  A rig for bottom of the shelf across, one for meat short, an edge rig and a silvers rig.

This is going to be another blog that is difficult to write anything meaningful, I started short on meat, the water was a bit clear, so it was without much conviction and I never had so much a liner there.  Had a look down the track on pellet and that was again, biteless.  Over onto the shelf, biteless and no indications, I got off my box and made up some GB and started a maggot GB/maggot line down the track, this saw a few small tench and crucians netted, but I was going nowhere fast.

The wind was horrendous, but it did drop for a short spell just before 14:00 and I had one carp across then, by now Paul on 24 was fishing for silvers, catching on pinkies, I didn't have any, so spent the last 90 minutes fishing 5 maggots down the edge for 4 more carp, 2 small F1's and 2 perch.  Didn't even bother the scales, not a great start back to match fishing.

Tony Rixon's Float Only, Landsend, Sunday 2nd August 2020

 Another float only match, in what should have been Tony's league, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Landsend, I love the peace and quiet of it, no roads nearby, no people walking round, its idyllic as I do like some peace and quiet whilst fishing.  The hate side (and hate isn't really the word, its more frustration) is that I don't feel its managed as well as it could be, the vegetation needs cutting back, so you can fish to islands and to enable getting in close enough in the margins and the fish stocks (particularly silvers) aren't what they once were.

Maybe the new owner, Darts player Gary Anderson will get the gardening done, I hear tales of fish coming in the autumn (and its certainly not the time of year to be stocking) and hopefully it will get back to the fishery it was. 

I drew 36 on Specimen lake I though it might be hard, especially with 35 and 37 in, although, on all the lakes here having too much space can be a hindrance as the fish back off into the gaps.  I was in danger of feeling a bit wobbly on my platform, as I 'don't do heights' and the picture shows that with the water levels low, I was a fair way off the water.

Didn't have more than a couple of water anywhere in the peg, so set up to fish pellet across, expanders and micros 2/3 across and meat short.

Started on meat, but nothing, it took me nigh on three hours to get a fish over, then on the next peg the anglers pole came apart and a fish was towing his top 5 around, managed to hook his elastic and get it out for him - well it was more exciting than the fishing...

I did have 3 carp in twenty minutes across, and then the guy on 37 went home (don't blame him, the pub was tempting me!!) the fish then did what they do and backed off into the vacant peg, I never had another over, I did get 2 F1's and a carp on meat, but by the end my heart and soul wasn't in it.....

Landsend Open, Sunday 12th July 2020

Tony Rixon had put this one on and its a while since I've been and the first time since its changed hands, with Gary Anderson of Darting fame now owning the fishery.

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the place, it's one of the most peaceful venues I go to and I really enjoy that side of it, personally I'd like to see some of the trees and bushes removed or at least seriously pruned and it could do wit a bit of a re-stock to freshen it up.  Apparently Gary is going to do this, so lets hope it gives a new lease of life.

I was unusually last to draw and was handed 22, it used to be a good skimmer peg, but the silvers fishing isn't what it was, so I'd come to fish for carp.  A rig for over in about 15" of water, one for down the far shelf, about 2' 6" deep.  Shallow rig, meat rig for a short line and a margin rig to fish down to the pallet of 23, where I could get close in in shallower water - the rest of the margins either side were too over grown to get in tight.

I started across, but nothing doing, so left it and hoped they come there later on, the short meat saw me hook one fish, but it came off well before I even saw it, didn't feel foul hooked, but who knows.... I went back a cross and had a carp, but the action was pretty slow, I ended up coming onto the rig that was a bit deeper and fishing down the shelf, I picked off odd fish for a couple of hours but it was slow going and that dried up and I went the best part of two hours without a fish, it never felt like there were many there.

I switched to the margin, where I'd been feeding 8mm pellets and had a double figure fish, 10 minutes later one nudging 8lb and with 40 minutes to go I thought I may have a chance of geting a decent weight, but that was it, no more fish, couldn't tempt one from anywhere and still didn't feel they were in the peg in any number.

So a nice day, in pleasant surroundings and good company, but an also ran place.

Matt Culpin's Snake Lake League, Landsend, Sunday 10th November 2019

Last round of Matt's league, the first one I had fished, I was standing in for someone (no idea who), it's been a popular league, but not for me, as I prefer 'proper' lakes, the odd trip to a snake, especially in winter is OK.  Whilst Landsend isn't in the truest sake, a snake lake, it does involve a lot of fishing to the islands.

I fancied a draw on the match lake, but as is the norm when I come to Landsend (such a shame the lakes aren't a bit bigger... as I love the tranquillity of the place) I ended up on lake 3, peg 70.  Peg 70 used to be a good peg for F1's but thy have either moved or gone to the big lake in the sky. 

It is an end peg, with a spit that is within easy reach at 14m, you expect to catch across to the spit, the end bank had eroded and has roots and trees exposed, always looks a little too treacherous for me and given that I could see the bottom a fair way out, I decided that I would leave that alone.   There is a weed bed to the right, its a fair size and at this time of year dies back and is under water, but with the water being very clear, it was easy to see where it started and ended, peg 68 can fish to the other side of it.

No rods (and that may well have been a mistake), so a simple tackle up, with a kit for across, another for off the end of the spit into the open water - would also do for a short line towards the weed bed.  Two rigs for off the end of the weed bed, similar, just one with 0.12 and the other with 0.14 hooklengths.

Started across, but with no sign, I then saw a small ghostie swim into the bay, turn and follow the bank along, towards my float before it buried and the light coloured common of about 3lb was safely netted.  That was the only fish from there all day, the sun didn't get in there and it looked cold and gloomy, I wouldn't have been in there if I was a fish....

The best line was off the end of the weedbed at 13m, feeding a few micros, caster and dead maggots, to try and catch all - it worked to some extent, I had 4 perch and a couple of roach, decent perch, best a touch over 2lb, smallest 1lb and 3 or 4 small carp.  The sun moved round and I could see fish up in the water and swimming over the sunken weedbed, so off the box and a shallow swinging rig set up, I was sure I'd tempt a carp or two, but they weren't having any of it.

I did try meat short to the weedbed and did have a couple of carp from there, the sun put paid to at least 2 hours fishing on the line where the fish were feeding on the maggots, I just could not see the float and in trying ended up with a headache from the sun reflecting off the water.  If I had brought a small lead rod, I could have carried on fishing the same line - missed a trick there, one to bank in the missed opportunity column.

I walked round the lake with the scales and two anglers in the middle of the lake (one on each bank) had 43/44lb, I knew I did't have that so I managed 3rd on lake,  2nd in section for whoever it was I was fishing for.  Some consolation as I had a nice little unexpected pick up for top silvers weight, would have expected more than 8lb as the match was spread over 3 lakes.

As expected the top weights came from the match lake, I didn't get the pictures of the other weigh sheets, so can't remember the exact finishing order, I think Steve Seager won from peg 19.

Next up the AT Silvers qualifier at Viaduct on Saturday, followed by the silvers league the next day.

Landsend Open, Sunday 30th December 2018

Last match of the year, I did fancy going to Ivy House, but they had a two day mini festival, which I couldn't enter, not being able to fish on Saturday, so Landsend it was.  I have a strange relationship with this venue, I love the tranquillity of it, I like the feel of the place, I just never do any good here.

I had hoped for a days silvers fishing, so a draw on the Match lake was required, I was still eating my breakfast (another plus point for Landsend, the tasty breakfast) when it was time to draw, so Tony drew for me, peg 55, I couldn't be further away from the Match lake or the silvers in lake 3.  My inability to draw on Match lake when there are two or more lakes in has now stretched for as long as I can remember.....

Still, with the next peg in being Dick Bull on 51 and Adrian Jefferies across the lake on 58, there was plenty of room, although, that's not always a good thing at Landsend, as the fish are wise old buggers and often back off into the gaps.  The island is a good 17.5m away and I wasn't going to risk my back by fishing that, so I set up a 9' Preston Carp lead rod and a tiny lead, to plop a 6mm pellet across there.

Pole for the rest of the peg, its 14m to the spit on the end bank, so a dobbing rig for there, the lake is very shallow, but I found a deeper area fishing across pointing the pole at Adrian on 58, so I set up a rig to fish soft pellet over micros here, a caster line at 7m and a hard pellet line at 14m towards the island.

Starting on the dobbing rig, I could get bites on maggot, but it was tiny roach, Adrian was suffering the same fate fishing to the island, I didn't stick with it too long as the roach were too small to be worth targeting.  Out to the soft pellet line and a couple of indications. then a positive bite and carp on, well, he knew where the snag in the peg was, a dark shape under the water that looked like a dead weed bed which had an autumn and winters worth of twigs and branches entwined in it, carp 1 me 0.

I had another bite from this area, but it was a roach and then the line was lifeless. A switch to hard pellet at 14m towards the island saw me hook and land a 1lb F1 first put in, then I hooked another that just came off.  Then a 3lb carp graced the net, before another was hooked and that came off - frustrating, pretty sure they weren't foul hooked, hooks and elastic were ones I have used without problem for a while now, so no idea why these fish were coming off.

The caster line at 7m never showed any sign of producing, not a single bite from it.  I ended the match fishing 6mm pellet to the spit, but had to wait a long time for a bite, adding 3 more carp and a decent roach all on 6mm pellet and a couple more managed to shed the hook.

I knew at the end, that Adrian had beaten me, having 7 to my 4, he had a little run of fish fishing long down top the weed bed which is the other side of the spit from me, others on the lake had beaten me and I was 100% confident the match lake would throw up some better weights, so the fish went back and I was off out the car park before most got back.  See Tony's blog for the weigh sheets, Bob Gullick won from Match lake with over a ton, well done Bob.

I felt I fished a tidy match, I wasn't convinced there were many fish in the peg, I am just hoping 2019 bring me a couple of good draws to get some confidence back, its been a poor few months for me and I just can't seem to get back on track.

Landsend Open, Sunday 29th April 2018

Tony Rixon was running this match and had 20 odd fishing, two lakes in Match (lake 2) and Lake 3, I always seem to draw lake 3 when both of these are in and today was no exception, I had waited until the end of the draw instead of getting in near the front as I usually do.  Three tickets left in and 62 was written on the middle one, which was the one I took.

Several people offered advice, unsolicited mainly, the peg has an area of rushes/stick ups down to the left and comments about losing fish were one of the main topics, I assured all those who said I would have to fish to the stick ups, that I wouldn't be doing it - I can take no pleasure in losing fish attached to rigs in stick-ups or other snags.

The peg has no RH margin and the LH margin is tricky to access, due to the bank being eroded (most likely by pleasure anglers banksticks), but the island is a nice easy 14.5m reach.

RH side - no margin due to tree in water.

LH edge, can't get too far down it.

Straight in front to the island

I was going to keep things simple, so a homemade float to fish across to the island, the shelf is only about 6" shallower than the main depth, so not ideal.  A 4x12 Malman Roob to fish meat at 5m, near the tree on the RH side of the peg, I did set up a rig to fish pellet at full depth, but it only got wet plumbing up, never used it again.  Finally a margin rig to fish topkit + 1 down the LH edge.

I started on the meat rig, looking for an instant fish, but no sign of one, so after 15 minutes it was across to the island where I had been pinging 4mm pellets, with a 6mm in the band I was soon into a fish, not the desired carp, but a smallish F1.  For the next two hours I kept the odd fish coming but it was never frantic sport and was slowing down.  I had another look on the meat line after 2 hours and it did give me a fish, but no other indications, so back across and another 40 minutes on the pellet saw another fish netted. I had another off the meat line 40 minutes later, but never felt there were many fish in the area.  Opposite Russ Peck had a couple of quick fish swinging a shallow rig on a long line into the gap in the islands, I got of my box and set one up, but had nothing on it, Russ never had another, so I guess two of us swinging a rig at them was just too much.

Just over halfway through the match things had slowed right up, I had jut shy of 50lb on my clicker,  I fed some GB and maggots down the edge and left it half an hour before topping up and going over it, I had a good hour or so, putting another 50lb in the net using 5 maggots on the hook, they wanted a top up of GB and maggots after every fish, dropping back in without feeding wasn't anywhere near as effective, With 50 minutes to go, I decided to put another net in, as I try and stop about 50-55lb in a net.  Probably a mistake, as the last 50 minutes only saw 15lb added, including one on the short meat line, which never looked like coming to life.

It was bloody cold today, looks like the summer has delayed again!!  But at least it was off my back, not into my face.

My fish went 124.13, a comfortable lake win, but that couldn't compete with the match lake, where there were 5 weights over a ton and I beat two of them to come 4th overall, but I think there was a lake payout, so hopefully some folding to come when I see Tony in the week.  Not exactly setting the world on fire, but a much better weekend than my results of late, I was beginning to wonder just how long the dire run would go on.

Next up the Guru festival at Viaduct this week, so here's hoping for 3 decent draws and getting it right on the day.

Landsend Winter League R4, Sunday 11th February 2018

Round 4 of this league means going back to a open draw and then rotate the other two lakes, so no preconceived ideas before arriving and drawing - except that it would be tough for some.

I cannot deny its getting harder to write these blogs, as my winter has been dire and the only matches I am enjoying are the Viaduct Winter League matches, I always did enjoy team fishing, as at least it gives you something to fish for, for the full match and even if in the worst section, coming back with points in the bag is satisfying. I have no great desire to go back to the rivers and canals - because of the boats and bank side activity, but that's about the only places to get regular team fishing, shame we don't have a commercial team league in the area.

I am usually as close to the front of the draw queue as possible, but today, was fairly apathetic about actually being here, so hung back and drew what has been a good draw, 13 on Match Lake, can't say I was overjoyed when I heard that the match on Saturday was on this lake and won from this peg with 20lb odd.  I think in the winter that these small commercials don't fish as well two days running, especially for silvers, but I also understand that its a commercial and not likely to be shut before league matches like many natural waters were years ago.  I can recall when many anglers fishing a league (rivers and canals) wouldn't fish it the day before even if it wasn't closed.  

So, at least there had been a couple of fish in the peg and as I was expecting a tough day, with a blustery wind forecast, I had taken a lead rod and a waggler, which I normally leave at home when fishing here.  With plenty of time to set up I put the waggler up and had a cast around, the peg is a fairly even depth apart from a deeper hole in front of the island and as that is nigh on 18m, I choose to use that as the reference point for full depth and marked that on the rod.  Lead rod was a simple 9' rod with a running bomb and a 0.16 hooklength.

4 topkikts out of the bag, one for fishing down to the pallet of 14 and it would also do to fish to the end bank, both sides of the tree that sticks out, just a simple HB margin float and a 16 LWG on 0.16.  A rig to fish through the water, a 4x12 Chianti, with a 18 Kaizen to 0.14 (hoping for an early mug decent fish) another to fish the deeper water this time a HB Chump and a 16 F1 maggot hook on 0.12 and finally a similar rig with a 18 F1 on 0.10 to target silvers.

After 40 minutes of dobbing round the peg with maggots (I wish Mike would allow bread in this league...), I hadn't had a bite, Martin Rayet on 11 was in a similar position and he commented on how tough it was.  Shortly after he was playing a fish from the end bank and then another, whilst I remained biteless. He then lost a fouler and I was getting concerned when the float dipped and I had a welcome carp of about 5lb.  Martin then had a decent double, whilst my float remained motionless.  Both doing the same thing, not feeding, fishing to the end bank.....

I switched to the silvers rig and hoped to put some roach and perch in the net, but nothing, could not get a bite on either line I'd fed, one caster, one micros.  A switch to the waggler over the deep hole and a bite on single maggot, expecting a micro perch or roach, I was surprised when a 4lb carp was attached to the hook.

By now it was fairly obvious the not feeding or very negative feeding wasn't working, Martin had managed one more carp giving him 5, but he was no longer getting indications or bites.  I started pinging a few maggots at the aerator, but to no avail, so a look round the other lines again, none of which gave even the faintest glimmer of hope that there was a fish in the vicinity.  Back to the aerator and I had a bite out of the blue, another 4lb carp, then a 6oz hybrid, I think it was nothing more than the time of day, as there was 40 minutes remaining, I had another carp, another 6oz hybrid and a 2lb skimmer, too little too late sadly.

Against most predictions the top weights both carp and silvers came from the opposite end of the lake, which was the most wind affected and they hadn't been pegged the day before, my carp being of a small stamp weren't enough to trouble the frame, likewise the silvers.  Fair play to Mike and Ade for top two weights on the lake, from pegs which at the start, the regulars weren't fancying and were the windiest pegs - good weights from all three lakes from the windiest ends.  

Still it could have been worse, Nick Duckett weighed 4oz from Match Lake and he's no mug on the venue, so more typical winter fishing and I will be glad to see the back of it......

Landsend Winter League R3, Sunday 28th January 2018

My turn on lake 3 and having drawn venue expert Tony Rixon in the knock out, I was going to have my work cut out, in fact as I was so far down the league, but with a glimmer of hope in the silvers, I was intending to fish for them.

The draw slightly changed my thinking, as I drew 41 and I would prefer a non corner peg for silvers - unless the F1's feed, but as there had been a match on the lake the day before, I wasn't confident, as whilst the carp at Landsend often respond to being fished for the day before, its usually the kiss of death for silvers.

The margins on 41 are considerably different in depth left and right, so two rigs made up, as I was hopeful of a fish or two from the edges, especially as we were fishing until 16:00. I set up a rig that I hoped would catch a few silvers, but also land any bonus carp, so 0.16 with a 0.10 hooklength and a 18 Guru FI maggot hook.

I thought that meat might work, so I set up a rig on 0.20 with a 0.14 hooklength and a 16 Kaizen, this would do for many areas of the peg, as except for the area where the aerator used to be, the peg was the same depth. I also set up a rig for across to the spit that sticks out, as this usually holds a few fish, this was on 0.16 with a 0.12 hooklength and a 18 F1 hook.  There is a shallower area tight across and the rig was plumbed to be just on the bottom on this shelf.

This peg does offer the option of going down to the end bank, but I refuse to do it, the bank is eroded and has trees and other snags in the water, I just won't put myself through what would end in frustration, Tourette's and tears......

Whilst the weather was mild, the water temperature was still very low, so reluctantly I put a pot on the end of my topkit (I'd rather be using a catty) and started across to the spit with a few pellets dripped out of the pot and a 4mm expander on the hook. I had an indication straight away, lifted and dropped it back in and a positive bite saw a 6-7lb fish netted, great start, the next 30 minutes saw 3 more between 3-4lb in the net and I was no thinking of abandoning the silvers and going for carp.

The first half hour was a bit of a golden patch, as the next half hour saw only one more fish in the net.  I fed a ball of GB into the open water on the hour mark and left it 20 minutes before dropping over it with double maggot, this brought another small carp and a couple of roach, a switch to 4mm expander saw a small skimmer come to the net and several more roach.  But the carp seemed to disappear.

Now with the beauty of hindsight, I should have got my head down and fished the rest of the match for silvers, but I was fairly convinced the last hour or so would see the carp come back, I did have a look down the RH margin - which is the deeper of the two and it was barren, I wanted to leave the LH margin to the last 30 minutes before going in there.

I did manage a very small F1 and a carp that would struggle to push the scales to the 1lb mark from across to the spit again, as well as a couple of roach. The margins only produced one carp, probably 2lb, so that was a disappointment and confirmed my poor decision in not fishing for silvers, as the lake silvers was won with 5.04 and I weighed 4.12, I think 7 or 8lb would have been easily obtainable.  My 8 carp went 38lb odd and Rob Watts on 43 had 4 for 39lb odd and his silvers just beat me, the top 3 weights on the lake all came from the opposite bank, so another mediocre day for me, I felt I fished a tidy match, but the size of the fish I caught cost me.

Dreadful winter, really not sure what I am doing wrong as I just can't seem to put any quality in the net, be glad to see the spring arrive and the water temps climb up above 10° or 12°C.

Landsend Winter League Round 2, Sunday 7th January 2018

My turn on match lake and after a pretty disastrous first round I needed a decent draw, the fish have been at one end the lake, so of course, I drew the opposite end.  Peg 22, it can be a good skimmer peg, but with the water so cold and clear, I was unconvinced that they would feed, but silvers had to be my only chance of picking up on the day, although with Tony Rixon on 5, which is home to the lakes F1's (silvers at Landsend) I knew it would be a tough ask.

Not going to try and spin this out, it was cold and tough, the lake fished very tough and Allan Oram was a runaway winner, my silvers quest was unravelled by Tony, although I am led to believe my 5lb of silvers was enough to win them by default, that just about sums it up.

Landsend Winter League, Sunday 3rd December 2017

Decided to fish this league as the dates fall OK with work and I planned to treat it as a silvers league, given that Ken pays silvers in the matches and overall (personally I disagree with this, as I believe it can affect the overall league and section points, but its not my league, so I'll go with the rules).

I did chuck some pellets in my bait bag just in case I drew an out and out carp peg and they were having it, although I wasn't convinced the sport would be manic after the cold weather all week.

I never seem to have that knack of mentioning a peg I fancy and then drawing it (how do some people do that so often.....), but I was thinking positive thoughts for 36, 5, 22 or 42, as I thought they'd be good pegs for an all out silvers attack.  Couldn't believe when 33, a favoured winter carp peg came out of the tin.  That meant setting up a pellet rig as well as maggot /caster rigs and as its an end peg, a rig to fish for perch along the end bank, which was only 6" shallower than the main part of the peg and with no island to fish to, I couldn't find any area of shallower water or a shelf, which even with the low water temp, its still nice to have the option, as the water is sometimes warmer over the shallower shelves.

On the 10:00 all-in, I started at 16m to the RH limits of my peg and fedd a few micros and fished an expander on the hook, 15 minutes and nothing.  I then switched to 13m slightly to my left toss potting a few maggots in and double maggot on the hook, I did manage a see through micro perch from here and that was the only bite.

I tried a line at 16m just in fron the aerator, this was equally as dead. Russ Peck on 32 opposite was foul hooking and fairly hooking carp, whilst for all intents, my peg was empty!  At 12:00 I had a look up the edge over some casters with a segment of prawn, I had a perch over 1lb, straight back in, another bite and lost one bigger, back in again and had one over 2lb, Iwas hopeful of a few, but that was it, no more bites from that line the rest of the day.

I managed one more micro perch, one small carp and a small hybrid for the rest of the day, whilst Russ caught carp opposite, I dropped the negative feeding and started pinging casters to see if they would come across, but to no avail.  I did pot some micros and corn in at 16m in fron the aerator and I did hook a fishfrom there on corn with 5 mins to go, but it came off.

My 5 perch (two of which didn't make an ounce combined) went 5lb and the one lonesome carp went 3.15, I think this was next to last in section and no better than halway in the silvers, Tony Rixon had a cracking net of roach from peg 28, I tried desperately to catch one but failed miserably.

I used to enjoy winter fishing, but I can now see the attraction of putting the tackle away from November to March......

Speci Lake
1st 69-12 - Russ Peck - p32
2nd 31- 9 - Steve Sewell - p36
3rd 22- 3 - Adrian Jeffery - p40
Silvers
1st 21- 0 - Tony Rixon - p28

Match Lake
1st 34-15 - Stuart Barnett - p22
2nd 25- 4 - Nickand Sarah Duckett - p14
3rd 22- 6 - Pete Nurse - p24
Silvers
1st 6- 8 - Ken Rayner - p1

Johns Lake
1st 53- 0 - Rod Wootten - p58
2nd 15-15 - Lee Williams - p51
3rd 9- 0 - Martin Rayet - p68
Silvers
1st 5-12 - Gary O'Shea - p70

Landsend Open, Saturday 24th June 2017

18 in for this one, so a decent turn out, I drew the same number - 18 on Match lake, there was half of the Specimen lake in as well.  Not going to write too much about this one, as there were feeding fish in the peg by the island and with 2 and a bit hours to gone I had about 28lb in the net, but had lost 5 rigs and 12 hooklengths in some weeds that were tumbling down into the water on the point of the island, the fish were running through them.  Even a change to a solid 14 elastic tightened down wouldn't stop them.

That was enough for me, I go fishing to try and win and compete, but also to enjoy it and I don't enjoy fishing like that, so it was a early bath for me.

Tony Rixon's Float Only, Landsend, Sunday 11th June 2017

"You have to write about the bad, as well as the good" is something you often hear levelled at you when you publish a blog.  I guess it's human nature to express when things have gone well and it's certainly easier to write and believe people will want to read it when things have gone well, not so easy to pen a meaningful blog after a disaster, whether that be of my own making, or by outside factors.

Landsend is a venue I like going to, its within an easy travelling distance, its peaceful and in a lovely setting.  Fishing wise, I prefer open water venues and it is pole dominated, which shouldn't be a problem but it has been, even given the reasons I like it, a personal bête noire and one venue I have fished a few times without ever winning, frame places yes, silvers wins, but match win no.  Have I got a mental block about the place, not sure, there are regular ton plus weights from the venue and I have only managed to break that a couple of times.

I think I have been slowly improving on the venue, but 'dangling pellets' by islands is still not my forte, although I have had some success with that at Acorn, not sure why.

Onto today and I draw peg 11, personally I think a better winter peg, but should still be good for a few fish, as you can get to the island and the end bank, as well as in front of the vacant peg 12.  One gripe is the vegetation, I cut back what I could, but the island needs a trim and the edges need more than a trim, as its impossible to get in tight.  The wind was pushing across from 13, but it was also blowing down the other side of the lake, causing a skim to come towards, the outcome of this was a eddy of willow fluff, leaves, twigs and other arboreal detritus.

The level is also down and my far shelf which I had been looking forward to plundering was just 2" deep and then dropped off to 2 1/2 feet, before dropping off to 4'.  I found a bit deeper water against the end bank, so that was likely to be better and Trigger on 9 said he had caught there in the past when the level was down.  I set up a rig to fish pellet 6" deep along the edge of the first drop off, another to fish at 2 1/2 feet (which would do for the shelf across and down to the end bank), a meat rig to fish at full depth 5m, a margin rig to fish in front of the first pallet.  Too much time to set up, so I did put up a paste rig as well and a caster rig.

Starting on meat short on the all in and had a roach and a near 3lb skimmer and that was it, no further signs.  Picked up the 2 1/2 foot rig and had a couple of F1's across, but there was little sign of fish, I did get a lonesome 8lb carp, but the fish weren't exactly queuing up, as I was getting no indications or liners.  The 6" deep rig was tried and it was altered depth wise a few times, all to no avail.  As I'd had the odd couple of F1's earlier, I tried a caster shallow line, this was equally fruitless.  I did see one fish right in tight by a bush to my left and tried the 6" rig in there, lifting it I caught it on one of the fronds of vegetation that stick out straight at you, making them difficult to see - that was the end of that rig and time for a banana walk...... Had it been an open, I would have most likely been heading for the pub.  The fluff and debris, which was still circling the peg, unable to break free and bother anyone else, was making presentation very difficult, getting through it was a pain and on several occasions my hook came back looking like a white nymph - more akin to trout fishing than carp.

Back from the walk somewhat calmer, I had a chat with Ken Rayner on 13, who was as equally fishless and frustrated as me, I decided to fish caster deep and catch all, this brought 2 more big skimmers and a lonesome big ide, that was going to get me nowhere though, so a look around all lines again, but still nothing doing.  I did manage a couple of carp from in front the pallet of 12, but that was frustratingly snaggy with sunken twigs.

At the end I'd have been happy to never return, last in section, putting 67lb on the scales and Ken had 69lb and was equally as frustrated (although the wind kept the surface debris of his peg)  the surface debris and circulating skim didn't help, Tony suspected that all the fish moved down to him as Ken didn't really feed and fish the island - but in fairness it is a good 17m reach to the island.  Trigger had done well on 9, he found 4" of water and fished bunches of maggots and worms in that 4" of water, not sure I would have done that with 4" of water, so fair play to him.  I hope Mike can give the place a trim before the next match and topping the water level up would be a bonus too. Results on Tony's blog, as I was off before they were announced.

Upwards on onwards, back to Acorn on Thursday night and Viaduct next Sunday, so hopefully get this one out of my system.

Landsend Costcutter, Tuesday 18th April 2017

Travelled down to this one with Tony, a stop off at Shipham for breakfast and it wasn't too bad.  Tony is trying to get this to be a monthly match, but support is a bit thin on the ground with only 8 fishing this one, be good if it took off and gave an alternative Tuesday venue.

Match lake was all ours, so the pegging was spread around to give everyone some space, I dipped into the tub and pulled out 13, not a peg I usually draw and first time on that side of the lake for a long time.  I had Tony next to me on 15 and Gordon Canning opposite on 11.

Four rigs set up, a margin rig which would cover just down to my left under the bushes, further along the end bank and RH edge.  A homemade float with 4x11 stotz to fish meat through the water at 5m, a Drennan crystal dibber to fish across to the island and a rig to fish pellet at full depth.

Bait tray was simple, pellet and meat, I did have a few dead maggots and the best part of a Kilo of worms, left over from the Frenzee festival.  Starting short on meat, I missed one bite, but that was the only indication and after 15 minutes It was over to the island, which is 16.5 metres away, so in for a back aching day...... There were fish visible across in 12" of water, but as expected I had a couple and they just melted away.  Tony had a good view of them and said they came back when I took the pole away and disappeared as soon as the pole went out again.

It was fishing fairly hard all round and I tried the line immediately to my left under the bushes and had a small carp from there, but that was a one off.  Back on the short meat line and all I could get from there were little knocks and a 8oz roach.

With a couple of hours gone and everyone struggling I decided to chop up a few worms and start a new line at 11m feeding just neat worm.  This gave me some bites, a perch, then a carp, a 8oz hybrid and then a run of small perch.  I tried going back over to the island, but my shoulder was complaining at holding 17m on an angle, even the painkillers weren't working, so gave that up.

I tried GB and maggots along the end bank and meat down the RH edge, never had a bite on the RH edge and one perch from the endbank.   I did manage a couple more carp from immediately to my LH side under the bushes, but there were no indications of many fish there, just a bite out of the blue.  I did get a decent skimmer over the worm, but he appeared to be a lonesome soul, as I never got another.

I just kept rotating round all the lines until the last half hour when I stuck it out on the 5m meat line for a couple of big roach, a hybrid and two carp, Tony had been catching across and I knew he'd caught me up and overtaken me in the last 90 minutes and the scales proved this to be the case, with Tony being the only angler breaking the ton today. 

1: Tony Rixon  102.04 peg 15

2: Chris Fox 74.00 peg 13

3: Dave Blakemore 73.07 peg 18

4: Rich Heatley  59.01 peg 6

5: Adam Palmer 55.03 peg 24

6: Gordon Canning  43.08 peg 11

Silvers

1: Gordon Canning 28.02 peg 11

Landsend Open Sunday 9th April 2017

27 fishing today, so match lake and No3 lake in, I wasn't thinking about pegs to draw or not draw, as that seems to have a detrimental effect and I never draw where I fancy.  So first into the tub and out comes 41 on lake, usually worth a few fish, but they can be small.

Simple bait tray for today, meat and hard pellets and a couple of bags of dead maggots, along with some groundbait for the margin.  The spit is an obvious place to target, but as mentioned, the fish are small, its also a horrible bottom to plumb up, as it goes up and down like a sine wave.  I set up a simple homemade float to fish pellet on the flattest bit of bottom I could find. 0.16 hooklength and a 16 LWG hook with a band, with the intention of fishing 6mm pellet and feeding 4mm.

I also set up a meat rig to fish short, a Malman Roob, again a 0.16 hooklength, this time with a 16 Kaizen hook.  A wire stemmed NG Gimp to fish pellet on the deck out to the aerator, another 16 LWG and a band.  Two edge rigs, as the LH margin and RH margin are very different depths, the RH being 18" - 2' deeper.  Finally a rig for mugging, as Tim Ford and Paul Faiers opposite could see lots of cruisers, although they weren't showing my side of the rope.

I started in the open water on the deck fishing 6mm pellet, feeding 4mm pellet by catapult, first drop in  I had an F1, then a roach, then a hybrid and several more roach. I hadn't come to catch roach, so swapped to the line against the spit, which I had been feeding since the off. This produced a run of F1's and a couple of small carp, but this was also going nowhere fast.  I saw a couple of bigger fish and they wouldn't go down and pick up a pellet, so a switch to the shallow rig was in order, but this only saw a couple of fish netted and the bigger ones were having none of it.

I started feeding the RH margin, as it was deeper I fed it with 8mm pellet and meat and had an early look, I did have 2 fish from it and hooked a third, which was a good fish, but it was plodding around and then caught me out by heading to my left and into the weed bed between 41 and 42, as soon as it touched the weedbed the 0.18 hooklength gave up - bugger!  I was surprised to find that this put an end to the bites down this edge, as the fish was lost so far from the fed area.

Back across to the spit and a couple more F1's and a small carp were netted, before I fed the LH margin with GB and maggots.  Virtually instantly there were signs of fish and whilst I left it settle for 15 or 20 minutes, I couldn't resist and went in there amongst the swirls.  I had three fish straight away, biggest just about a double, but then swirls stopped.  I had another fish, but rather than several in there at once I had to wait for a fish to come along.  I did refed it and leave it, going back in the RH margin and taking a couple more on meat, before going back over the GB in the last half hour and managing another double.

I thought I had about 125lb and it turned out I wasn't too far out, putting 133.02 on the scales for a lake win (and happy that Tony was paying it continental style, with the lake winners rather than overall winner picking up).  Enjoyable day, it was bloody cold sat in the shade all day, but at least I had a few bites and something to work at.  Beaten by two weights on Match lake, Tony Rixon and Gary O'Shea weighing 185 and 150 respectively.

1: Tony Rixon 185.15 peg 6
2: Gary O'Shea 150.02 peg 5
3: Chris Fox 133.02 peg 41
4: Ryan Radford 132.13 peg 16
5: Joe McMahon 1177.07 peg 1
6: Shawn Townsend 110.07 peg 46