Ron's Silvers League, Plantation, Sunday 30th January 2022

 Nice breakfast in the Wessex Flyer, might be the highlight of the day.

Consistently inconsistent would be an apt description for me lately, I drew peg 8, a peg you wouldn't complain about drawing, so happy enough.   I had brought a waggler and feeder, but left them in the bag, setting up 4 topsets, two different bulk rigs, a strung rig for skimmers and a roach rig.

Started by feeding two lines at 14.5m, one with a nugget of micros, one with a ball of GB without too much feed in, as I thought the cold might knock things back a bit, finally a line at 7 joints with caster. 

Started on the caster line, but that produced nothing, switched to the micro line with an expander, nothing again, so a look with maggot over the GB.  A small skimmer, but again, it wasn't the usual start at this venue.   Back to the caster line, whilst I changed the micro line to GB/caster.  Had a run of small roach, but they wouldn't keep coming, back out over the GB and had a couple more skimmers,

Peg 8 and peg 7 have to fish with crossed poles and it was made worse by Ryan on 7 being cack-handed.  We agreed a set up and his pole was over mine, I'd put  on of my rollers in place in case he dropped off his back roller and through my pole, so instead of my usual 3 rollers I was using 2 and they were too low.  I also dinked the end of my No7 section and started to lose my head.

The fish weren't feeding, nor did I think there were many there, as I was having no indications at all, I was going to get off my box and set up a waggler, but apathy won, I didn't.  Then the sun came round and with a slight ripple I couldn't see a flaot on either of my 14m lines, so started a new line I could see, never had a bite on that,

I doubt I had a pound and half in the last 3 hours of the match and wasn't sorry when it finished.  Maybe if I hadn't let the roller and sun situation get to me and I'd set up that waggler, I might have done better, but it may well have been one of those days.

Roll on the summer.

Silvers Open, Plantation Lakes, Thursday 30th December 2021

 Last match of 2021 for me, the forecast was mild, light winds and not too much chance of rain, so happy days.  Regular travelling partner Tony picked me up (thanks mate, I do appreciate the lift every weekend) and we headed to the Bridge Inn at Yatton for breakfast,  For the money, its an OK breakfast, but I really do recommend swapping the sausages for extra bacon, which they will do, as the sausages are particularly bland and have a strange, verging on unpleasant texture. 

Onto the lakes and a quick look reveals the lake has more colour than last week, significantly more, on closer inspection it was an algae bloom, several layers and colour shades, hopefully this would encourage the fish to feed a bit and not put them off.

Into the bucket for a draw and out comes peg 7, had this peg two matches ago and fell short, struggling to put together a decent run of fish, would this colour make it better today, I could only hope so.

I'd brought a waggler and a light feeder rod, they stayed in the holdall, I decided on a pole only approach, given the colour I dropped a section short of where I fished last time and plumbed up two lines at 13m, both the same depth, so the same rig for both, a 4x12 Preston Maggot float with spread 11's, 0.08 hooklength and a 22 F1 pellet hook.  I did set up a 'standard' bulk and dropper rig, same line and hook and I also set up a Guru slim float with spread 11's for a line at 7 joints - same float would do for a line at topkit +1.

Fed 2 lines at 13 on the all-in, one with two 'jaffa's' of GB with caster, magot and pinkie in and one with one ball with just a few casters in, started on the line at 7 joints, where I fed a tiny nugget of GB and casters.  It didn't take long to get into fish, roach to start with and then a couple of decent skimmers, the first hour was great, I put getting on for 10lb in the net.

As the line slowed down I went out to 13m, had a couple of fish off each line, and decided to top them up, not sure this was right as, it seemed to be the kiss of death, I ended up fishing the peg as I did the last time, switching between lines to keep bites coming, catching everything on single caster, feeding the short line by hand, the 7 joints line with a catapult ans the 13m lines with a big cup.  This time I did get a couple more decent skimmers and some nice roach, even having a spell catching them at topkit+1 loose feeding caster by hand

Honestly wasn't sure what weight I had at the end and was slightly surprised to put 29.08 on the scales, which was enough for second on the day, so a reasonable end to the year.

Happy New Year and lets hope for an uninterrupted year of fishing in 2022.

 

Silvers Open, Plantation Lakes, Thursday 23rd December 2021

 Rare Thursday off to fish a match, so looking forward to it. Wasn't overjoyed to draw peg 2 next to Des, who was also not happy about drawing peg 1.

Fed a line for skimmers and then came short(ish) fishing caster, after 20 minutes I had a roach, and it all went down hill from there, I let Des nick my fish, I tried to catch skimmers (and there aren't usually many in pegs 1 and 2), I didn't feed enough and fed a fishmeal based GB, all wrong and I was handed a lesson in roach fishing.

Rons Silvers League R2, Plantation Lakes, Sunday 12th December 2021

 Drew peg 7  not the worst peg on the lake, so needed to get a top two in section to make up for the last round.  It was tricky to get a run of fish totter, I fished 3 lines, two at 14.5m and one at 7 joints and had to rotate them to get one or two fish off a line before moving.  Didn't achieve the desired result, beat the anglers either side but fell 8lb short of the required weight for top  in section.

Plantation Open, Wednesday 30th December 2020

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

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

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

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

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

Silver Open, Plantation Lakes, Thursday 10th December 2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Plantation Open, Sunday 29th December 2019

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

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

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

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

Plantation Silvers Open, Thursday 14th February 2019

Third of these matches, unlikely I can make anymore due to work, so had to try and make the most of this opportunity.  Match limited to 16 today, as the lake is a bit of a bugger to peg out, as so many of the pegs interfere with each other.

My dip into the draw tub saw me on peg 3, which is permanent peg 4.  I wasn't disappointed, as it should be good for skimmers and roach.  Three top kits set up, a double bulk rig, a standard bulk and droppers - both these on 0.14 rig line, with 0.10 hooklengths and Guru F1 hooks.  The final rig was a HillBilly Frostie, again on 0.14, this time with a 0.09 hooklength and a 18 Gama Green hook, with strung out shotting.

I did set up a waggler, first time trying the Preston sinking feeder line (3lb) as a waggler line, just looking for a line that sinks quickly, no other reason for trying it.

I plumbed up and settled on 3 lines, two at 14m, 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock and a short line at about 7m.  The 7m line was loose fed with caster, the 10 o'clock 14m line with GB and caster, the 2 o'clock line with micros and a couple of 4mm pellets.  Apart from one tiny roach on 4mm soft pellet, the first half hour was devoid of bites, I finally started to get a couple of small skimmers on the light strung out rig.  The smaller fish had obviously come over the GB, but were sitting off bottom, I tried the double bulk rig and had 4 or 5 skimmers between 6 and 10ozs straight away, that sadly was the end of the easy fishing.

For the rest of the match, I had to keep working the bait and came off bottom to catch a few more, but sadly no quality, wasn't sure what I had in the end, but the scales gave me 19.01, which was not enough to trouble the framers, walking round the lake and looking at the weigh-in, I could see the lack of quality had cost me. It was a nice close match and one where half the field could have, with a couple of better fish or a another run of fish, won it, I enjoy matches like this.

Plantation Silvers Open, Thursday 30th January 2019

Another chance to fish this prolific silvers venue, the weather gods were not kind and the van temperature display was gleefully showing -4°C as I set off.  A good tip learnt today, if using the Bridge Inn for breakfast, ask them to swap the sausages for extra bacon, as the sausages aren't the best.

Had a walk round the lake before the draw and the lake was mainly frozen over, I was hoping to draw a peg that was completely frozen, as I am sure the fish prefer to sit under the 'lid' rather than in the unfrozen areas.  A few had cried off because of the weather, so 13 fishing today.

I had brought plenty of caster and waggler rods, the waggler rods weren't likely to be used looking at the thickness of the ice, into the draw bucket and I pulled out 8, which turned out to be permanent peg 19.  I was going to cut out two channels, but as the peg is on a point, I decided that one line straight out in front would be the way to go.  Nice and warm chucking these around...

As there was no point in getting the waggler rods out, I decided on a simple approach, 3 rigs, first one was a 0.1 NG Gimp, with strung out No11 stotz, this was finished off with a 0.09 hooklength and a 20 Gamma Green hook.  The other rigs were a 0.3 float set up with usual bulk and droppers and a double bulk rig - not too much to say about these, as I started on the strung out light rig and stayed on it all day.

On the all in I fed a tangerine sized ball of GB (50/50 Tom Thicks Intelligent and Sonubaits F1 Green) with caster and pinkie in.  Wanting to get a fish of any size to start off, I had a single flouro pinkie on the hook. It took 25 minutes to get a bite and a 8oz skimmer was a nice first fish in the conditions.

Another skimmer shortly after and then a 4lb carp, which wasn't so welcome, but it didn't mess the peg up too much.  I refed after this, as there was obviously fish feeding and I had a little run of 4 skimmers.  This was pretty much the way it panned out for the rest of the day, a couple of fish and then refeed, and a lull, then a couple more, I hooked a couple more carp, one landed and one broke the hook.  What was odd, was that I kept trying caster and fed a caster line a bit shorter, that I never had a bite on a caster, every fish fell to the single flouro pinkie, yet talking to Paul (Faiers) after the match he had caught all his fish on caster.  Given the low temperature and the ice, everyone was surprised that the fish were very responsive to feed, in fact, if you didn't feed regularly, you didn't get bites.

What I had thought would be a tough day, was very enjoyable, a lovely simple days fishing, one rig, one bait and some nice quality skimmers, I had hardly any roach, whereas the other end of the lake they showed.  I didn't have a clue what I had in the net come the all-out, but I was hopeful it would be there or thereabouts.

It wasn't enough to beat match organiser Tony Rixon, who put 32lb on the scales, but my 28lb was enough for second on the day, given the conditions, there were some great weights with 5 over 20lb and everyone except two DNW's in double figures.

Plantation Silvers Float Only, Thursday 17th January 2019

I was lucky enough to have a Thursday off, as Plantation is a venue with some great silvers in, not who it was who had to go in the room with the goose fat tub and various other instruments of pleasure to get these 5 matches on this lake, as its not often match fished now.....

A few met up for breakfast in the Bridge in, good bit of banter and the breakfast was OK, but let down by the sausages.  More banter at the draw, I drew peg, which wasn't peg 4 as it had been repegged for the day, it put me on permanent peg 8, not too bad.  Then it turns out there wasn't enough tickets in the tub as a latecomer arrived, so a hastily arranged redraw and I'm now looking at 14, which turns out to be permanent peg 28.

Looked ideal for a small cage feeder towards the gap in the island, but with it being float only, a waggler and pole were the only options.  So, a light rig with strung out No11's for roach, a couple of skimmer rigs, 0.3g and 0.5g - I was surprised at how much the venue has silted up and was using the same rig as I was at Viaduct last week.  I also set up a double bulk rig, just in case that was required.

The pegging to my right was fairly tight, so I couldn't really fish the standard 10 & 2 o'clock lines, more like just past 12 and just before 10.  The 12 o'clock line fed with Tom Thick's Intelligent/Sensas Lake mixed 50/50, that then mixed with about 30% leam.  The 10 o'clock line fed with micros.

Once they were fed I did try optimistically short for roach, but despite trying on and off through the match, a line fed with casters to my left, I didn't have a single indication there.

I had a fish and indications as soon as I went over the GB, I was getting liners and bumped a couple of fish, so put the light rig in the roost and tried the double bulk, less bites, but each on a fairly hooked fish - the initial flurry of bites didn't last long and I did try an expander over the micros, but that just saw roach pestering it.  I refed the micros line with a few more and included some caster and dead maggot.  This did see a couple of roach and a hybrid come to dead maggot on the hook, but the action was far from hectic.

I stared up a new line, loose fed caster as far as I could get them and tried the waggler over the top, a couple of roach, then nothing.  I swapped back to the lighter rig and spent the rest of the match rotating between the pole lines and the waggler, never taking more than 2 consecutive fish of a line before it went quiet again.

I could see pegs 1 & 2 catching and knew they had more than me, so I did push the peg trying to get some bigger skimmers in the last hour, it didn't work, but I'm not convinced it did too much harm, as the lake seemed to slow down for most in the last 90 minutes.

Quite an enjoyable day, I knew I hadn't done enough to win or frame, my 15.15 being enough to win the section and 6th place, so day paid for.

Clevedon Club Match, Plantation, 25th February 2018

Got the chance to fish this match as a guest of Paul Faiers, so as I was due fish another Coffin Dodgers match on the venue on Thursday, I took the opportunity to get some time on the water and with the added bonus its fairly close to home.

Only a knock-up really with 10 fishing, I drew 38, which is on a point, you have an island chuck and plenty of open water to fish, you used to be able to fish back down the RH side of the spit, but now there are brambles and minor arboreal growths that prevent this - used to catch big perch doing it.

Plenty of time to set up, the wind was pushing fairly hard left to right and I left the waggler rods in the bag, as I felt there was little chance of getting any sort of presentation with them.  Two lead rods, one for bomb and brad, one with a small pellet feeder on.

4 topkits, a double bulk rig for skimmers, a more conventional bulk and two droppers rig, a Chianti with strung out No11's for fishing through the water and another bulk and two droppers, a bit heavier in case any carp were about.

Started on the bomb and bread, without any indication of fish, tried tight to the island and off it, but nothing.  I then fed the pole line, with GB and caster/dead maggot, before trying the small pellet feeder with a plain 6mm pellet and a few variations of wafters, dumbells etc. this was also met with a motionless tip.

By now Kev Perry on 39 had a couple from under the tree down the edge and Mark Broomsgrove was catching well on the bomb on 27.  There is only so long I can sit watching a motionless tip and today I lasted a bit longer than usual before picking up the pole.

I started catching  straight away and had a couple of decent skimmers, but they weren't really on a feeding spree and they came and went, when they went I refed and looked for carp again on the bomb or feeder and that was pretty much the course for the rest of the match, apart from when I went for a walk and stood with Paul behind Mark Broomsgrove, watching him get a bite or an indication virtually every chuck.

No silvers payout today, which was a shame, as it would have given a few of us something to fish for, I kept up my recent record of not hooking, let alone landing a carp and even if I had targeted the silvers the whole match and with a couple of lines, as the roach didn't feed, I think 3rd would have been the best I could have done, as it was trying to catch both left me nowhere.

Coffin Dodgers Open, Plantation Lakes, Thursday 15th February 2018

Its been over 4 years since I last fished Plantation lakes, where does the time go......

I was lured to this one by the weights in recent matches, only last Sunday it took a ton + to frame and 46lb to win the silvers, also the promise of bites, lots of them from every peg......

Decided to try the Bridge Inn for breakfast, I thought it was OK, with the exception of the sausages, they weren't the best.  A few in there so the usual pre match chat and banter.

I had an early night the night before, strongest drink was cocoa, so that wasn't the cause of me getting to the car park, unloading the van only to find my rods not in the van.  I had my pole, but felt that rods would play a part, so had to arrange to get them brought to Cadbury Garden Centre.  I took my gear to my peg, set up 3 pole rigs and then went off to get my rods.

Getting back to the lakes and my second senior moment of the day, I obviously had my keys in the van when I drove back, I got the stuff out the van and then could not find them to lock the van, searched my pockets 3 times, took my bib and brace off, searched the muddy puddles near the van and was totally bemused where they'd gone.  I had got a new battery for my radio out of the glovebox, so went in there and that's where they were, right at the bottom.......

So back to my peg, which was permanent peg 27 and I had the Silverfox himself, Mike Nicholls on 28.  I set up a small pellet feeder and a waggler and was still sorting my bait when the all-in went round the lake.  Starting on the pellet feeder with micros and a 6mm pellet on the hook, I was expecting some indication, but nothing. 40 minutes later I had tried a chocolate orange wafter, dead maggots and switched to GB in the feeder, all with the same result.  Mike was faring no better not having had a bite.

I switched to a line at 11m where I had been pinging a few casters, great start here, 3 skimmers and a big roach, when the lakes resident Canade Geese decided to have a very vocal, wing flapping and peg disrupting domestic through several of the pegs on this side of the lake.  That put the mockers on any more bites, that and the lack of any ripple on the surface that myself and mike were suffering from.  We were nice and sheltered, but so were our pegs, no so good when the target is skimmers and the sun is out.

I fed some GB and went back out on the pellet feeder to let it settle, this time I did have two bites on dead maggot, but didn't connect with either of them.  A switch to the waggler was equally as barren, although I did mainly fish 6mm pellet on the hook, although I did try a couple of dead maggots in the band.

Back on the pole and a couple of roach and then another skimmer, but that was that again.  Time for plan C, off the box and set up another rod, this time to fish bread along the island, seemed like a good idea at the time, but it was as unproductive as every other cast to the island.  Back onto the pole and I added a section, this brought a couple more fish, but as every other time, they disappeared.  The pegging here is tight, so a line at 10 o'clock and another at 2 o'clock weren't really an option, so lines at different distances straight in front were the only option.   I fed a line at 14.5m with pellet and fished and expander over it, but that only brought one bite and one small skimmer.  I had a Chianti set up with strung No11's, but the best rig was a wire stemmed NG Gimp 0.4g with a bulk and two droppers.

There was a bit of ripple out towards the island, so I changed the bread rig for a small cage feeder, to try and catch some skimmers out a couple of metres short of the island.  Second cast, the tip went round and a decent skimmer was on, halfway back it got entwined in a branch and the branch was all that ended up on the bank.... This was like every other line, a bite or two, maybe a fish or two and then nothing.   I did manage another couple of roach and a skimmer on the pole and then one last skimmer on the feeder before the all-out, but I felt it would not be enough to bother the framers.

The scalesman called 16.08 which was far from the worst weight, but less than half that needed for some coin...... or so I thought, there is a equal split payout on these matches, overall and silvers, this meant that somehow, I picked up joint second in silvers money...... I'm still not sure how!!!

Well done to those who managed to put better weights on the scales, I'm sure we all expected better fishing today after the recent results.  Back there again in a couple of weeks, hopefully the conditions will see more fish caught.

Clevedon FWAC Xmas Match, Sunday 22nd December 2013

Back to part of my fishing roots today, Clevedon's Xmas match which was traditionally held on the River Kenn, now moved to Plantation Lakes, as it seems unlikely there would be much interest in getting covered in the Kenn's renowned grey mud, even though, by all accounts it's fishing well at the moment.  My previous best in this match is a second place, so a good draw today would be needed to try and get the elusive win.

The draw was delayed, it seemed as if there was pegging by general consensus going on, finally the tickets went into the bucket and a ungentlemanly rabble wrestled for the chance to draw one of the coveted flyers.  No need for me to get excited, the bay, peg 33 found it's way into my hand, I can't recall it ever winning a match and it used to be a good silvers peg, but even they don't seem to live there in the same numbers now.

The bread I bought on the way down to the match, along with the lead rod was unlikely to get used, although I did set it up, just to try out a rod I bought yesterday, a 10/11' Tournament.  Three rigs would suffice, two NG gimps a 0.3g to fish the open water at 11m and a 0.25g pencil for the short line, which used to be very productive on this peg.  Lastly, as the wind was forecast to be strong and gusty, I set up a 0.4g MW cane diamond.

I fed two pole lines with a cup, one at 11m of to my right, using Paul Faiers on 38 as my line up marker and one at 11m straight in front, the line in front fed with micro's, the RH line fed with maggot. Caster into the short line and close margins, then a couple of chucks with the lead, not so much as a liner on there, so up the bank with it.  It took half an hour or so to get my first bite, a perch about 8oz, this on maggot over the micros.  A switch to the RH line and a decent skimmer graced the net, before that went dead.  Straight back in front and a small carp gave me the run round as it was hooked just outside of the mouth.  That was it, no more bites from either of those lines, I didn't manage a bit from either of the short margins or short line and it was tough going.  Kev Perry came round for a walk from Horseshoe lake where he was blanking and he wasn't alone, he must have brought some luck, as I'd got off my box and made up a rig to fish 16m round the margin, just past peg 34, this brought another small carp.

Dobbing 3 white maggots saw me foul another, but it came off straight away, a try with bread was a total waste of time and switching back to maggot brought one more carp.  That was to be my last bite, as we then had a wind and hailstorm, tricky to hold the 16m whilst it was going on, a look round the other lines was biteless and the last 20 minutes when it calmed down again, was also devoid of any action.

I guessed that Paul Faiers had just beaten me, as he had 4 carp and two tiny roach, watching him play and land a tail hooked carp on 0.10 and six elastic was the highlight of the day, even though he just edged past me with it.

My perch and skimmer went 2.08 and the 3 carp 13.02, so 15.10 in total, for 6th in the match and on the lake.  Gawd knows what prize I'll get as Faierzy and Glenn were propping up the bar as I left, with them getting a a lift home, they'll no doubt have a pint or two........so perhaps asking them to get my prize was a mistake!!!  I had to go as the new puppy had been at home a few hours by herself.

Run away winner was John Wolvenscroft from peg 8 with 14 carp on bread/liccy in the feeder.  A special mention for Lance Tucker who blanked on the sought after peg 7 - although he was far from alone, I think there were 7 blanks from the 31 fishing and some pretty low weights.  There were 20 pegs on the Main lake and 11 on Horseshoe, top six all from main lake, best weight from Horseshoe was Rich Lovering, 15.05.

1. John Wolvenscroft  64.10 peg 8
2. Don Sutherland 25.08 peg 31
3. Paul Nicholls 19.12 peg 1
4. John Page 19.04 peg 18
5. Paul Faiers 16.09 peg 38
6. Chris Fox 15.10 peg 33

Silvers
1. Mike Owens 6.14 peg 12
2. Brian Slipper 5.03 peg 23

Avon Angling Open, Plantation Main Lake, Wednesday 6th November 2013

The weather forecasters were promising rain and even gales in coastal areas for today, so I decided to leave the waggler rods at home, just bringing the pole and a lead rod.  To go with the lead rod I had a rummage around at the back of the garage and found a couple of method feeders and decided to take them.

A reasonable breakfast in the café at Plantation was had, then into the landing net which was serving as todays swim card receptacle, where there were 17 eager hands trying to pick out one of the known flyers.  Once a again I failed to draw one of the ‘form’ pegs, but I had resolved to go and fish whatever I drew positively today, so off to 26, an island chuck, but I felt just too far up the lake.  There was some confusion over Tim Clark’s draw and Tony directed him to peg 25, which is about 3 yards from 26 and with 27 and 28 in, I did feel a little hemmed in.  It turns out that Tim read his swim card incorrectly and should have been on peg 8, so he moved round there before the start, luckily for him, peg 8 is a much better peg.  Let’s just hope his use of figures is a bit more accurate when applying Ohms law!!

Back to the fishing and it would appear that leaving the waggler rods in the garage was a big mistake, an island chuck, with the gentle breeze off my back - perfect waggler conditions, oh well, no choice but to stick to the plan.  I set up the lead rod and put a method feeder on, with a 3” hooklength (quite why I did this, I’m not sure, as I have never caught a fish on a method feeder and have no confidence in it), some micros with a bit of groundbait were prepared to go on it, along with assorted hookbaits, such as band um’s, pellets and maggots.  Little more to say about the method feeder set up, I started on it and had another go with an hour and a half to go, I am still waiting to catch my first fish on a method feeder………

3 pole rigs were assembled, a MW diamond to fish banded pellet at 14m, a Carpa Chimp to fish soft pellet over the 14m line and as it was the same depth, caster at 8m and a pencil float to fish short with caster or maggot.  On the all-in I cupped a few 4mm pellets and micro’s in a 14m, then 3 balls of groundbait with caster in at 8m and loose fed caster short.  I started on the aforementioned method feeder and gave it half an hour, before chronic boredom set in. 

I had a look over the 14m line with a 6mm hard pellet, but that was as devoid of action as the method feeder, so I topped it back up and dropped a maggot in on the 8m line. I had a skimmer straight away, which was encouraging, but then a couple of small roach before the line died, another top up brought the roach back and one more skimmer.  I had another look over the 14m line, this time with soft pellet and had a small carp and a skimmer on this line, then the wind got up, making presentation tricky and float visibility was very poor.

Switching to the short line brought a decent skimmer and a near double figure carp to the single maggot, but the roach were playing hard to get. For the rest of the match I switched between all 3 pole lines, the 14m line remained dead, the short line produced another big skimmer and a 12lb carp, along with the odd roach, the 8m line did produce odd roach, but was slow going, I think I probably overfed it.

The scales gave me 40.0, 29.04 carp and 10.13 silvers which was 6^th overall and in all honesty, I wasn’t too disappointed with that from the peg. Maybe if I’d have targeted the silvers more specifically I’d have lifted myself into a payout position as the top two silvers were paid.

1)   Nick Collier 92.10 peg 31 

2)   Anton Page 85.02 peg 3

3)   Tony Rixon 81.09 peg 4

4)   Rod Wotton 71.07 peg 7 

5)   Tim Clark 67.09 peg 8 

6)   Chris Fox 40.01 peg 26

Silvers:

1) Steve Kedge 17.08 peg 27
2) Tony Rixon 13.00 peg 4
3) Mike Nicholls 12.07 peg 19

Plantation Lake Two Dayer. Sat & Sun 28th and 29th September 2013

I had considered my options for this match and decided to just take meat, pellet and corn, so any sort of silvers coin was not going to be a factor. Arriving at the venue I notice that they have now banned keepnets, another one to tick off my list of venues I won't pleasure fish (not that I have been pleasure fishing for ages).  As it was my Birthday on the Friday, I went steady on the celebratory London pride and felt in fine fettle arriving in the car park in time for a walk round the lake before breakfast.

There was also a net dip, but I must admit, it didn't smell too strong, I do fully understand the owners trying to protect their fish stocks though, so complied with the request to dip nets.  Karen from Bullock Farm Cafe has taken over the catering and bar side of Plantation, so for the first time in a while I had a Breakfast there.

19 of us fishing the two days, so 2 sections of 10 and pot luck which peg wasn't drawn, we'd have a free draw the first day and fish the other section the next day. A decent bit of banter and piss taking before the draw and it was a delight to see Darren 'Nuddy' Vowles face light up when he heard there was a fresh tub of goose fat gently warming.............

In fact for me, the banter and catching up with a few old friends was the best bit of the weekend, into the draw tub and out comes peg 3, immediately I was deluged with commiserations - "how do you do it, it's the worst peg on the lake".... "you won't win F all from there".... etc etc.

Off the the peg a bit down hearted, but still determined to give it a good go, I set up 3 rigs, a pellet rig to fish banded pellet on the deck at 14m, a meat rig to fish at the bottom of the slope and a rig to fish, what really isn't a margin, it's too short and too deep, but you never know...... ( that's bullshit, I knew I wouldn't catch carp from it, but I was being positive and optimistic).  I also set up a straight lead and a waggler to fish at depth, both to be fished out as far as I dare without interfering with 'Nuddy' on point peg 38.

I cupped in a few pellets at 14m on the all in and some meat, starting on the pole, to no avail, all the positivity and new found confidence was still in place, but the lack of any sign of fish activity was chipping away at its thin veneer. Paul Nicholls on peg 1 and Rich Lovering on peg 4 were suffering the same fate.  I started fishing the waggler further out, and feeding 8mm pellet did see some signs of fish, it wasn't exactly effervescent bubbling, but was at least some sign of life. The final tally was margin nil bites, meat nil bites, pole a couple of dinks, no fish, waggler 3 carp, one of which was 10lb and straight lead 1 carp, all on 8mm pellet.

The usual pegs produced fish, but weights were down on what is usually expected, talking to Rod Wootten afterwards, he struggled to catch on pellet as well, Rod usually teases a decent weight from most pegs on pellet, so perhaps it wasn't me.  My 4 carp went 27.14, beating the two pegs either side of me, but as expected the 'flyers' trumped the less favoured pegs.

Paul Faiers and Steve Mayo had a good head to head on silvers, both catching over 40lb, it did make me wish I'd taken groundbait and caster, but I still think that would have been an impossible ask from peg 3.

Saturdays Results.

1) Simon Jones 83.02 peg 7
2) Kev Perry 74.08 peg 39
3) Lance Tucker 67.00 peg 31
4) M Warne 56.14 peg 26
5) Glenn Calvert 55.05 peg 8
6) Paul Faiers 54.02 peg 23

Silvers

1) Paul Faiers 48.00 peg 23
2) Steve Mayo 45.00 peg 25

So, onto Sunday, same MO today, except I didn't waste my time taking meat, today would be all about fishing pellet.  Into the tub and peg 29 reveals itself. It has an island chuck, probably the longest one on the lake and it is set back behind its neighbours, by virtue of the shape of the lake and bank erosion.  (I notice that the day tickets for Plantation are now £8, for that I do feel that the swims should by now have some nice solid platforms installed).

Two pole rigs today, a pellet rig for on the deck and a margin rig, although I had the length of margin, it was again, deeper than I'd like and I didn't get a bite there, so no more about it. I also set up a pellet feeder to fish to the island ( and Fairzy had given me some white chocolate band 'ums, which apparently is the bait to use - at least if it was crap they might taste nice...). As I had time, I set up two wagglers, one at depth and one to fish 18" deep.

Starting on the pole, it wasn't long before I had a bite and a foul hooker charged off into peg 28, which had Glenn Calvert in as my neighbour today, it swirled next to his float and led me a merry dance, before I landed it and found the hook snugly nestled in the RH pelvic fin, a welcome bonus that was touching double figures. It also started a day that became more and more frustrating, I could not get another bite on the pole, so tried the feeder to the island, this resulted in 3 small carp in an hour, my first fish on white chocolate bait!!

Back on the pole as Glenn was catching and also hooking, if not landing, fish steadily now. I had been feeding the pole line all the time I'd been on the feeder, but still could not get a bite. This carried on and as the frustration built, I walked up to Glenn to see what he was catching on - 8mm pellet was the answer.  Glen was a couple of metres further out, but surely that alone couldn't be the reason for him catching and me not even getting a bite??

I had tried both wagglers, but a left to right wind was skimming round the island making presentation so bad it wasn't worth persuing.  So with 2 hours to go, I was virtually ready to pack up, put the gear on ebay and search for the golf clubs, then the wind dropped and I could present a float to the island and I managed a few fish, but was too far behind to catch up, as the wind toyed with me for the 2 hour period, I did give the pole another go for 15 minutes, as I was in virtual disbelief that I couldn't get a bite, whilst Glenn was getting a fish or a fouler most put in's.

I had somewhat disinterestedly clicked 42lb and I thought I had missed a fish or two, but knew I was a long way behind Glenn. At the end I took my topkit up to his peg and laid it along side his, different float patterns but, virtually identical depths, shotting pattern and banded hook. he'd been feeding about 10 pellets regularly through the catty, so had I.  He did say, " did you see that float, it spent all day circling between Paul (Nicholls on peg 27) and out to the point of the island"  I hadn't seen the float, but it did suggest the main body of fish seemed to spend the day circling between the boundaries of pegs 27/28 and I managed to catch a few when conditions let me get to the point of the island, where they turned and headed back.

My fish went 52lb for a mediocre mid section finish, my positive and optimistic adventure ended in tatters, I am still at a total loss to explain why I couldn't draw any fish from Glenn's peg onto my pole line, which apart from the very early foul hooker, produced nothing for the second day running.

This has to be one of the peggiest venues in the South West, I think that at least 75% of matches I have fished on here have been won or the the peg has framed from 7. It won both days this weekend again, is there a more consistent peg (all year round) than peg 7 on this lake?

 The silvers again produced two 40lb+ weights for Paul Faiers and Steve Mayo, with Paul taking the crown again.

Sundays results.

1) Lewis Walker 107.6 peg 7
2) Paul Nicholls 107.00 peg 27
3) Glenn Calvert 96.12 peg 28
4) Simon Jones 71.00 peg 38
5) Darren 'Nuddy'( "is the goose fat up to temperature yet?") Vowles  69.00 peg 5
6) Kevin Perry 56.13 peg 1

Silvers

1) Paul Faiers 42.08 peg 19
2) Steve Mayo 41.12 peg 8


Overall Result:

1) Simon Jones 4 Points 154.02
2) Glen Calvert 4 Points 152.01
3) Kevin Perry

Silvers

1) Paul Faiers 2 points 90.08
2) Mark Broomsgrove  2 points 52.02

Clevedon Saturday Series, Plantation Horseshoe, Sat 13th July 2013

I didn't fish in the week, I decided to go to Landsend and sit behind Tony Rixon on Wednesday, to try and work out why I seem to fair so dismally there.  I couldn't see much difference in my rigs or feeding,  but confidence in the fish coming to the pellet was a big difference, Tony persevered, he just knew they would come and they did. I would have changed to caster/soft pellet/paste etc. and missed out on the fish Tony caught.  An important lesson leant, now I have to put it into practice.

Back to today, I wasn't too confident the lake would fish well due to the heat, plenty of carp moving round, but more interested in sunbathing than feeding by the look of them.  The fishing times might help,  13.45-19.45, 15 fishing today so plenty of room.  I drew peg 8 which today was the first over the bridge on the left, no island or bar in front of me, that might not help, but I did have a rush lined end bank to target.

I bought a new pole this week, just for carp fishing, a Garbolino G Max Power, so I had to try it out today, as I had only brought hard pellet, meat and paste, so carp were the target.  The first rig to be made up was a long line mugging rig, as there were plenty of cruisers. A paste rig, and 2 MW slims, one for meat and one for banded pellet.

On the all in I went straight out on the mugging rig and all the cruisers disappeared, put the rig away and they come back...... Repeat this several times throughout the match, I managed to get one fish on this rig, so no more about it.  The banded pellet and meat lines were worse, not so much as a bite between them.

This left the paste line to the end bank at 13m, which did produce a couple of small fish, which had  made every effort to get in amongst the reeds, so a good test of the new pole in dragging them out.  The float wasn't right for this, so I set up another rig with a blob to fish the paste tight to the rushes, which produced an immediate fish in the net.  Then a quiet spell, before another couple of fish, one of them a better size about 9lb.  I then foul hooked a big fish that took off towards the island to my right and tried to get round the back of it, I wondered what was going to break first, but the pole handled it fine and the 0.19 powerline was the weakest link.

This led to another quiet spell, so a look round the other lines and they produced as already said, nothing. Back on the paste and an odd fish fell to it, but it  was a long wait between fish, one took me into the reeds and slipped the hook into them.

It was with an hour to go that the cruisers looked more likely to feed and I did get one slapping the mugging rig, as previously mentioned, but they soon melted away again after that.  I had one more take me into the reeds before the end, another hook firmly fixed into the reeds, although with the elastic pulled to the point I couldn't believe something wasn't breaking, it all came flying back with the rig and hook intact.

I wasn't sure what had been caught round the lake, at the all out I had 33lb on my clicker and assumed that it wouldn't be enough to do any good, but it turned out that most found it hard and my hard won fish were enough for third and I wasn't too far out with the clicker as they went 34.12  So not too bad a day and I'm pleased with the new pole, it feels more powerful than the Tournament.

1. Mark Broomsgrove 59.08
2 Andy Hembrow 41.00
3. Chris Fox 34.12
4. Kev Perry 31.08
=5. Rod Wootton 28.08
=5. Rich Heatly 28.08

Clevedon Club Match, Plantation, Sunday 3rd February 2013

After getting a few bites on Wednesday, I decided to book into this match and it's not too far to go.  Karen ex of Bullock Farm has now taken over the breakfasts at Plantation.  20 on the lake today and I picked up two cards stuck together when I drew, Kev Perry grabbed the one that was stuck inside the one I held and watched as I opened a peg I really didn't fancy, 23. He then opened his, peg 3, he was not best pleased and swore never to take a peg from me again - not bad going, drawing two unfancied pegs.  As I saw Kev walking twice during the match, I guess it was as bad as he thought.

Using Wednesday as a guide I planned to fish groundbait and caster on one line, micro's with various hookbaits over on another line, a short line for roach/perch and a margin rig to go up the RH edge and top bank.  I also had time to set up a waggler rod, in case the roach and skimmers backed off too far and I set up a bomb rod to have a look round the peg for liners, just in case there was a few carp holed up - no liners or bites, so no more of the bomb rod.

On the all in I cupped in 4 tangerine size balls of groundbait and caster at 13m in front, a few micro's at 14, off left in line with the island and some caster at 5m.  I was expecting a fairly instant response from the groundbait line, but waited 15 mins whilst I had a look round with the bomb. Dropping in over the groundbait with caster and then maggot resulted in a motionless float, so after 20 mins a look over the micros with soft pellet - again, nothing.  Back over the groundbait and a single fluoro maggot produced a positve bite and a 6oz skimmer, the only one I caught all day.

The short line only gave up a few small roach, before becoming as lifeless as the two long pole lines, by now I started to feed the RH margin with caster, but a look up there became another groundhog day of motionless float.  As the lake seemed to be fishing hard, I tried another line, this time 20m towards the islands point with a 2½AAA waggler, this did start to produce fish, roach from ½oz-2oz, caster not picking out any bigger fish, but it was taking longer for a bite, so I mainly stuck to maggot.

To rest the waggler line, I went back up the edge and started getting some bites, these turned out to be small roach, apart from a 6oz perch and a 6oz chub. This soon died off and back on the waggler for the remainder of the match and the odd small roach. My meagre net of silvers went 7.10 and it turned out that it was 2oz short of taking last in silvers money by default. Glenn ( or Faitheey as he like to be known on the interweb :)  ) had 3 or 4 big perch up to 3lb and a few decent skimmers, the only one to find quality silvers on 38, catching on caster.

1) Andy Hembrow 77.15 peg 8
2) Rod Wootten 46.04 peg 19
3) Rich Lovering 42.15 peg 5
4) Glenn Calvert 28.02 peg 38
5) Paul Nicholls 25.10 peg 31
6) Rich Heatly 25.03 peg 25

Silvers

1) Glenn Calvert 23.00 peg 38
2) Paul Faiers 11.13 peg 11
3) Brian Slipper 7.12 peg 12
4) Mark Walsh 7.11 peg 29
5) Chris Fox 7.10 peg 23

Plantation Open. Wednesday 30th January 2013

When Tony mentioned this match and it was a pole only, it seemed a good idea, not when the morning of the match came and a gusting wind made the low number pegs tricky to fish.  Of course, I drew slap bang in the middle of the three windiest pegs (1, 3 and 4), with my old mate Ray Bazeley on 4 for company. The longest I felt that could be fished comforatable and to any effect was 11m, Ray opted for about 7m max, but that put his float about level with mine, as peg 3 is set further back.

I wasn't over chuffed with the draw, as I felt that it wasn't likely to hold many carp, but it can produce silvers, so that was the target, shame about the wind as I would have felt more confident at 14 or 16m.

I haven't caught anything from a margin for ages now, so didn't bother with a rig for that, 2 maggot/caster rigs and a soft pellet rig were all I set up. A 4x16 Jolly on 0.14 with a 20 on 0.10 for fishing short, a Nick Gilbert float, whose name elludes me, but its like a Carpa Chimp but stronger on 0.14 with a 18 on 0.12 and for a bit of stability in the wind, the most stable pole float I have ever used, a MW diamond (0.6g) on 0.16 to a 16 on 0.12.

It was going to be important to catch skimmers, I felt, to make a weight that would result in a pick up, so I fed three lines at the start, 11m straight in front with groundbait/caster/dead pinkie, 11m at 2 o'clock with micros and a couple of grains of corn. Finally a short line (3m) loose fed with caster, first drop in over the groundbait with a maggot saw the float bury and a skimmer the best part of a pound grace the net, good start.  It didn't continue though and the bites were from small roach, I am convinced that the wind was so affecting the presentation that the bigger roach were shying away from the hookbait.

Caster didn't improve the size of the fish, a quick look at the close and pellet lines brought nothing to the net, so back over the groundbait and when the wind didn't gust for 20 seconds or so (which wasn't very often) the improved presentation resulted in a better roach. I laid some extra line on the bottom, but still couldn't tempt another skimmer.

The next look on the short line brought a short flurry of better roach and 2 perch, before that died off and for the rest of the day it was a case of take 1 or 2 fish from it then 20 mins rest. The next look over the micro feed with a 4mm expander produced another pound skimmer, then a very small roach and that was it for bites on pellet, corn couldn't muster so much as a twitch of the bristle.

It was very frustrating, as there was obviously a good number of roach in the peg, they wouldn't feed consistently closer than 11m, but the wind was making the 11m line very difficult, a waggler would, I'm sure, have settled long enough to improve the catch rate, shame I couldn't use one!!

I persevered and managed one more decent skimmer on double caster, by now I'd swapped to using the MW diamond, as whilst its not really a sensitive roach float, it was giving better presentation, resulting in slightly bigger fish.

Andy France on peg 1 managed to fish 13 down the edge and get enough carp to take 2nd place and bizarrely given the weather lately, the match was won from 28 on paste!!! My silvers went 14.02 for no where and I didn't even hook a carp, so my hunch that there wouldn't be any there seemed right.



1) John Thompson 66.04 peg 28
2) Andy France  59.01 peg 1
3) Matt Tomes 58.7 peg 27
4) Aaron Britnell 53.10 peg 32
5) Anton Page 44.10 peg 38
6) Andy Curry on peg 18 35.7

Silvers

 Tony Rixon 26.12peg 19

Plantation Saturday Series 10th November 2012

An opportunity to fill in for an absentee today, so I took it. Plantation has a large head of carp, but also there can be some decent silver weights to be had and that was what I had in mind. with caster maggot and worm in the bait bag. I drew peg 7 which is a decent draw for carp, especially for the method chuckers. As it is a noted carp peg I set up a waggler to fish full depth with banded pellet out to the island, in case the silvers weren't playing.

The silvers rigs consisted of a caster rig to fish short and a rig that would suffice for caster/worm or soft pellet at 13m. I fed some caster and groundbait at 13m on the all in and caster short, leaving it to settle I started on the waggler, without so much as a liner for 20 minutes. A switch to the pole saw an occasional roach and not much else grace the net, but everyone was struggling, the skimmers did not show for me, I had none.

Another look out to the island and the gap in the islands on the waggler produced 2 carp, one foul hooked and another lost, before that went quiet again. The pole lines were very slow with only an occasional roach or minute perch. Back to the waggler and I had a run of fish, but the float and pellet had to land in the bramble fronds to get a bite, this included a chub getting on for 2lb. Two lost floats and a few hooklengths were the price of fishing tight to an untidy island, even clipped up. The last hour reverted to being quiet and that cost me, I suspect that setting up a lead may have resulted in a couple more fish as the wind was awkward.

1) Brian Slipper 57.08 peg 12
2) Andy Hembrow 57.02
3) Rich Lovering 55.04 peg 4
4) Rich Heatly 45.08 peg 26
5) Mark Broomsgrove 43.12 peg 24
6) Chris Fox 42.10 peg 7

Silvers
1) Mark Broomsgrove 28.12 peg 24
2) Paul Nicholls 19.04 peg 33

Pole Only Series, Final Round

Today saw the last of the pole only series, which for the first time was held on Plantation and Acorn lakes, todays sections were on Plantation Horseshoe Lake and the small lake at Acorn. Maybe the final venues had some input, as well as clashes with other matches, to the reduced numbers today.

Firstly, a get well soon message to Rod Wootten, Rod had a good position to win the series, but has suffered some ill health and missed the last two matches.

At the draw, Paul Faiers was presented with a card, which Mrs F sent via Glenn Calvert, it was his wedding anniversay - he'd forgotten, I bet he's not alone, I can never remember mine!!  Anyway, not to worry, Mrs F is camping in Exmouth, probably with Uncle Tony......  whilst Paul spends the Bank holiday weekend fishing.

As the sections were short on numbers today, the payout was just 1st in section and 1st in silvers, with the odd tenner left over going to the match winner.

It was B section for me today, the outside of Horseshoe lake, it looked good, fish moving and a colour that must have been caused by fish stirring up the mud. I had brought a couple of pints of maggots as the weather forecast had been for a cold, miserable day, looking at the lake and feeling the actual temperature, I had a hunch that they were destined for the freezer. I set up 4 rigs, a silvers rig to fish maggot or caster (but this was planned to be a last resort for once), a shallow rig with a B960 and a hair rigged band, a paste rig and a pencil float to fish Devils Spawn.

One lighter moment before the off, Darren 'Noddy' Vowles had set up, plumbed up and was virtually ready for the off, before he realised he was on the wrong peg...... Doh. Pay more attention next time please Noddy.....

The bait tray consisted maggot & caster, 4 and 6mm hard pellet, some Devils Spawn, micros and paste. On the all in I cupped in some micros and softened 4's at 9m left and groundbait/maggot at 8m right. there were some carp moving over the middle bar, so out with the shallow rig, which had a longish line, to avoid spooking the fish. This produced two fish in the first half an hour, they were cruising, but not really feeding. A look over the micros with paste saw a better fish in the net, followed by 3 more, although the size varied from 1/2lb to 3lb.

The groundbait/maggot line produced 1 fish all day, so no more about that, the micro/softened pellet line was now fizzing well, the first fizzing peg I have had in 2012!! A look in with 6mm Devils Spawn put the first silver in the net, a 1lb+ skimmer. A couple of carp followed, before things slowed up, there was no point in me fishing negatively, I couldn't pick up in the series money, so a section win was my aim.

The fish were still swirling over the shallow bar in the middle of the peg, so I went back on the shallow rig and upped the feed to 10 or 12 6mm pellets every 30 secs, this brought a run of fish, some of which ran the wrong side of the tin boards, so that livened things up!! With an hour to go the fish backed off the shallow line and it was back over the pellet and micros with paste, this produed a couple of fish, but also some frustrating liners and odd indications. Last 20 minutes on the Devils Spawn saw a couple more fish in the net, with 31 carp and 4 skimmers being the final total.

This was the first match for a while that I have enjoyed, it took a bit of work to keep the fish coming, but at least they did, I couldn't even muster the effort to write about last weeks match (4 roach). On the scales my 4 skimmers went 4.04, the 31 carp 82.04, the total of 86.08 being enough to win the section and the match (what a good idea to give the winner the odd tenner extra!!).

Section results on the day:

A: (Acorn)
1) Kev Perry 47.00
Silvers) Glenn Calvert 26.10

B: (Plantation)
1) Chris Fox 86.08
Silvers) Paul Faiers  27.00

C: (Plantation)
1) John Osbourne 72.10
Silvers) John Osbourne 3.14


Mr Soft Pellet - Dave Wride won the overall series and Paul Faiers took the silvers on weight from Mark Broomsgrove, both had a very creditable 5 section silvers wins.

Veals kindly provided some sponorship in the way of vouchers, these go to the Overall and Silvers anglers with the best weight, who didn't pick up money for the series. Overall that was Lance Tucker and in the Silvers, I managed to sneak in.

Final Overall table, with worst result dropped.

Name   Points   Weight 1 D Wride   44   385 4 2 S Carvello   43   256 12 3 B Slipper   41   248 8 4 G Calvert   41   165 6 5 M Bromsgrove   40   197 13 6 R Wootten   39   240 8 7 L Walker   37   220 15 8 L Tucker   35   282 1 9 K Perry   34   180 6 10 M Owens   33   160 5 11 A Hockin   33   138 2 12 C Fox   32   181 1 13 P Faiers   31   213 14 14 N Harvey   30   207 15 15 K Rayner   27   221 4 16 D Vowles   24   129 1 17 G Mewdell   23   117 11 18 R Lovering   22   186 11 19 P Lasson   22   152 4 20 R Heatley   22   134 15 21 J Osbourne   22   123 4 22 S Johnson   20   86 14 23 D Poole   20   61 13 24 D Baker   16   95 1 25 M Walsh   15   114 5 26 P Nicholls   14   35 0 27 A Maysom   11   75 10 28 M Tomes   6   40 5 29 S Parrtridge   5   12 0 30 M Michalski   3   29 2
Final Silvers table, with worst result dropped.
Name   Points   Weight 1 P Faiers   50   110 11 2 M Bromsgrove   50   85 4 3 G Calvert   44   100 4 4 D Wride   42   87 5 5 A Hockin   39   57 14 6 S Carvello   36   14 4 7 C Fox   35   62 7 8 K Rayner   34   46 15 9 J Osbourne   34   35 12 10 B Slipper   34   23 14 11 M Owens   33   58 14 12 D Poole   30   27 10 13 K Perry   30   27 6 14 R Wootten   27   54 15 15 L Tucker   27   46 2 16 R Lovering   20   28 3 17 M Walsh   20   15 8 18 P Lasson   20   12 4 19 S Johnson   18   46 5 20 R Heatley   14   27 12 21 G Mewdell   14   7 4 22 N Harvey   13   26 3 23 D Baker   12   6 2 24 M Michalski   11   19 0 25 M Tomes   9   21 2 26 D Vowles   8   2 8 27 S Parrtridge   6   3 7 28 A Maysom   5   11 10 29 L Walker   5   5 15 30 P Nicholls   3   1 0