Tony Rixon's Short Pole League, Trinity Waters, Sunday 24th July 2022

 Driving down I said to Tony I thought the pegs on the car park side would be the place to be today and so it proved.  I drew peg 2, its a snaggy corner, too overgrown to get close in and I think to catch in the open water shallow you need to be further up the lake,

Its a long 6 hours when you only get 8 or 9 bites and lose 3 of them complete with rigs, in the snags, anyone of the lost fish costing me second in section..  But, I fared better than some......

Tony Rixon's Short Pole League, Trinity Waters, Sunday 8th May 2022

 First round of the short pole league this year, felt it would be a tough day with so many on the lake, but the change to a 13m limit should help.

Peg 10 for me, wouldn't have chosen it, but I'll give it a go.  Started on paste and had an early double figure fish, the rest of the match was spent swapping and changing, with shallow meat being the best bait, giving me 86.11 for second in section.

Tony Rixon's Short Pole League, R3, Trinity Waters, Sunday 11th July 2021

 Some trepidation after the really tough round here a fortnight ago when I had only 4 bites all match.   To widen my options this round I brought casters, maggots and worms, to widen my options, rather than gambling all out on carp.  The next important thing was top draw one of the pegs with space or an empty peg next to it -  failed miserably on that account drawing 11, nicely surrounded.

Started on paste, as that is probably the best chance of picking up an early 'mug' fish, it paid off with a double figure mirror after about 20 minutes, next drop in hooked another good one and was only slightly frustrated when it came off at the net...... that could be costly.

I fed my catch all line and pretty much stayed there all day, catching an odd skimmer and 3 more carp on worms to end up with 44lb and a section win - happy with that as I really don't feel I could compete with the pegs that had space.

Tony Rixon's Short Pole League, R2, Trinity Waters, Sunday 27th June 2021

 I used to be quite a regular here, but what with other commitments and not so many opens on here, I don't get down too often. It's an old brick pit, so a bit deeper than most commercials, although some of the work done on the lake and the silting up that is impossible to avoid has reduced the depth from when I first started fishing it.

Its also not had a stocking for a while and has a head of big carp, but no smaller ones to stir them up and as we know, big carp can be moody and have days they don't really feed for the duration of the match.  With 24 on today and restricted to 3 sections + topkit, I suspected a tough day and thought 2 or 3 converted bites an hour would be enough.

Paste, pellets and dead maggots would be my mainstay baits, with some worms for the hook, you can use meat here, but I have never caught on it (although a few years back, Coshida was a decent margin bait, so catmeat was OK).

Paste rig and pellet rig for on the deck, rig for each margin, as they were different depths (small moan here - I was on peg 13, the only peg in the section without a spare peg one side..... but it's tricky to peg it any other way, so it is not a serious moan).

Well, 30 minutes in and a double figure fish in the net on past, nice, but usually on here when you feed you get the jacuzzi effect, not today. I gave it until the hour mark and switched to a line away from the paste, fishing 6mm banded pellet, another carp, so slow but steady progress.

Lets now jump several biteless hours, where I tried everything and could not get even a liner.  The Grand Prix was on in my headphones, so I at least had some entertainment, I potted a 3/4 of a big pot of dampened 4's in, shit or bust really and did get some activity in the peg, hooking a another double on worm over the pellet, hook pulled at the net, so that summed up the day, I hooked and lost a fouler and then nothing again.  Had one 5 minutes from the end on paste, so 4 bites in 6 hours, not my idea of fun really.  I couldn't even catch a skimmer on bits of worm.

The lake fished hard, back there for R3 in two weeks, so may have to rethink the approach, but in all fairness it fished hard for most.

Tony's 13M Limit Pole match, Trinity Waters, Sunday 26th July

This should have been one of Tony's short pole series, but as it was now an open, he decided to up the pole limit to 13m.  I was slightly sceptical about how it would fish with 26 on, but someone has to win...

I drew peg 9, I would have rather had one of the corners, but it wasn't to be, so best just get on with it.  I set up a rig to fish paste, as this can work well on this venue.  A hard pellet rig, one of the edge and a soft pellet rig, which could double up for worms, if I fished for skimmers.

Not much to say really, the skimmers weren't playing ball, we all seemed to be struggling along our bank, I stuck it out fishing for skimmers.

To be honest I wasn't overly disappointed when the match finished, 3 carp and a dozen skimmers in 6 hours isn't my idea of fun.

Trinty Waters Open, Sunday 24th November 2019

It was nice to get back to what is one of my favourite venues, don't get down here often enough.  Travelled down with Tony and stopped at new cafe for me, Wooden Spoon in Weston-Super-Mare, very nice too.

Match fishing can be a cruel sport and I fear it dealt me another blow today, I waited for the last peg in the box and was more than happy with peg 7, that would be an end peg and one I was confident of catching a few fish from and with Tony on 9, a nice little head to head.  The dreaded call went up.... redraw, I did the same and took the last in the tub again, this time 16, a peg (and bank) I don't like, its too deep in the edges and whilst I have had some decent results here, I have never troubled the frame from this end bank.  Tony somehow managed to pluck out 9 again.

Peg 16 has plenty of room and options, I am yet to be convinced that too much room is always a good thing, but we'd see.
Waggler set up, just in case they were moving around, 4 topkits, one with a banded B960 16, another rig the same HillBilly Chump with a 18 LWG on 0.14.  A rig for down the edge and another to fish in front of the pallet of peg 15.

It took 30 minutes to get a bite, that was a welcome 8lb common, on maggot, as I'd given hard pellet 20 minutes with no indications. The next couple of hours saw 4 more carp landed and 22lb on the clicker.  I did expect to catch down the edge and for them to have a feed towards the end, but that was before I then went from 13:15 until 15:30 without a bite on any line, at 15:30 I had one last carp, and a couple of skimmers and a decent roach, before the all out at 15:45.

Not much else to write about, as when you cannot get a bite, no matter what you try, it gets a bit wearing trying to consider something to say.

Well when the scales got to me, my 32lb was a about 3lb more than I thought, but it was nowhere near enough to trouble the top 3 who came from pegs 7, 9 & 11, I knew that redraw would cost me, surely my persistently shite drawing must come to an end soon!!

Nice little pick up for the winner, as the golden peg was No11.

Viaduct Open, Bank Holiday Monday 27th May 2019

So, back to Viaduct today and try to banish yesterdays embarrassment. I had sorted out my bait and had a selection of pellets, there was a bag of worms and a pint of dead maggots still in the bait bag, I left them in, just in case...

54 fishing today, so Campbell, Cary and Lodge all in, waited and joined the back of the draw queue, just to try and change my luck / routine.  Campbell was my reward, 125, the area had fished hard yesterday, so I had the option of fishing for silvers or carp.

When I got to the peg, it was evident that the guys either side were fishing for carp, mainly on the lead by what they had set up, this swayed me towards the silvers, but did set up the usual lead and waggler rods and a couple of top sets for carp, just in case they had a munch.  The other topkits were two identical Hillbilly floats, new models to me, with Tungsten wire stems, the type that doesn't bend, one with a banded hook and one with plain hook, both 18's on 0.12.

Started short, as this can often throw up a quick carp or decent skimmer, but with no signs in 6 or 7 minutes I binned this line and fed a line at seven joints with plain feed micros, feed No4's in a ball of GB, which was a 50/50 mix of Burt Baits Silvers Sensation and Expander.  I did feed 8mm feed pellets at 25m, to see if the fish would respond and start fizzing.

First put in over the micros/GB with a 4mm Burts soft hooker pellet (sweet F1 flavour) and I hook a carp, about 9lb, it was netted after tussle, the Stroft 0.12 and Guru 18 Kaisen hook doing the business.
After this I did settle into a routine, catching skimmers from 6oz up to 2lb, for the first couple of hours it was best to feed a ball of the GB/pellets and fish it out, gradually the fish backed off and trickling in some pellets without GB brought them back.

I did try worm on the hook, I had a couple on it, but it was nowhere near as effective as the Sweet F1 pellets, I feed some of the GB mix down the edge virtually next to my pallet, over this I had a run of perch, a small tench and a couple of skimmers.  Resting the 7m line seemed to help, as going back over it brought some more skimmers and I did this for the last 90 minutes, taking odd perch and skimmers, as the fishing slowed down.

The scales arrived, I'd tipped back my lonesome carp, couldn't believe I had fished all day with the same 0.12 hooklength, must be a record this time of year.  I thought I might have 40lb and was pleased to see the scales record 49.05 over two weighs, I knew Steve Tucker had a good run of skimmers down the edge on 123 and was relieved to see him weigh a respectable 45lb, so my 49lb won the silvers and qualified for the silvers all winners final.

Well done to Adrian on the win, a tough day for many, hopefully things will start to settle down soon.

Mark's Two Day Pairs, Trinity Waters, Saturday/Sunday 11th/12th May 2019

When Paul Faiers asked me to partner him for this two dayer, I jumped at the chance to get back to this friendly and well kept fishery.

I haven't had much opportunity to get back down here lately, so not 100% up to speed on what is working, but I really didn't expect it to be much different to previous visits, where pellets and paste normally are the bankers.

First day draw saw me on 27 (I could have predicted that, I always draw the middle of the lake this side...) and Paul on 7. I'd go into a long explanation of the day, but I really don't want to relive it, I had on fish about 10lb on paste after 20 minutes and another down the edge at 15:45 on Belachan paste, over Belachan pellets, that was it, I just could not buy a bite.  I set up a new line feeding micros and fishing soft pellet and had a couple of skimmers, then had to restart a new line to catch two more.  I was getting a battering off the next peg by Dave Romain - who was catching on meat - my meat cutter and tins of meat was 40 miles away in my garage.

I was resoundingly last on the lake, not a great experience and I was not in the best of moods, had I the option to not fish on Sunday, I would have taken it, time for a few beers and a doner kebab to try and wipe that from my memory.

Mindful it was a pairs match - albeit one that was now out of reach baring half the field blanking, I did manage to restrict myself to a couple of beers and was up and away on time, hoping for a draw on some fish.  The weather was slightly warmer and with the promise of sunshine, I did think it might be a day for mugging.

The draw put us on peg 12 for me, which Mark Broomsgrove had struggled on Saturday and Paul on 22, which Kev Perry had 3 late fish for 40lb on Saturday, but not much else.  Still, different day, different conditions.  I had brought meat today, given yesterdays lesson, but still had faith in pellets to kick the peg off.  I did set up a method feeder, along with a waggler rod, as Mark had two on the feeder yesterday, but I was pretty sure that the fish would be down on the deck given the sun.

Topkits to cover paste, pellet on the deck, shallow rig, mugging rig and a margin rig.  I left my phone in the van, so no pics, or I would have illustrated the short margin to my left and the closeness of peg 11 which was in.

11:00 all in and I was confident of getting an early fish, its rare not to on this water, but no matter what I did I could not get a bite, I could see Paul across on 22 catching well, using the same tactics as I was, I had explained to him the way I fish paste on here - it was working for him, but I wasn't even getting liners.

There were some catching, others struggling, I was pulling my hair out, I had been feeding some polony pellets into the margin and it was completely dead, I switched to meat and had a perch about a pound and half, but then the meat was getting ragged by tiny fish.  I had to do something as I was in danger of coming last again on a venue that I have a good record, I just couldn't explain it.

Two big pots of Tiger Nut Method/Margin groundbait and then a whole pot of dead maggot, I left it to settle for 10 minutes and first drop in had a beautiful golden Tench about 4lb.  I had a run of 2 more perch and 4 carp, I was starting to think I might catch up those who had a runaway lead, but as the farthest you can get along this margin is top kit + 1, I feel they fish spooked off, that may have been due to the short margin or I must admit after 10 hours of hardly seeing a bite, I probably overcooked it a bit trying to force the peg.  Between me and peg 11, there was a clump of rushes and the water was a bit shallower here, I had left it alone as the pegs were close and I had an empty peg to my left (even though it was no real advantage, due not being able to get to it).

I fed some meat my side of the rushes and saw a swirl, dropping in I had a fish straight away, what was noticeable, was the size of the fish I was getting were small, plenty of others were landing double figure fish , the biggest I had was 8lb.  Was the peg worth more - definitely, I could have fed and managed the margins better, it was just desperation and trying to force the peg that cost me, as for Saturday, I really have no idea what I could have done differently.  The mugging rig stayed in the roost, I was sure that some would come up on top, I saw a couple when tacking up, but none during the match.

Confirming the old adage fish have fins and swim, Paul won the match from 22, where Kev struggled yesterday, so well done mate, shame I couldn't have added to the pairs tally.  Well done to the pairs that framed.

I'm not sorry to have that weekend behind me to be honest, I love the venue, but I do wonder (as quite a few others speculated) if it could do with an injection of new fish to give it a boost as a match lake.  After a week at work, I do like to have a few bites and I reckon I had 10 bites in 6 hours on Saturday and not many more on Sunday, maybe once the weather settles and spawning is out of the way, the fish will settle down.

Next up, R3 Viaduct Spring League, need a decent draw and a good performance to keep in touch, so fingers crossed.

Tony Rixon's Short Pole Series, Trinity Waters, Sunday 9th September

Standing in for Ron Hardiman on this match, a venue I don't get to go to as much as I used to, the same friendly welcome  is still there from Misha & Tom, so just needed to draw a decent peg.

19 - that wasn't one I wanted, over the last few years I have won and framed in matches from 3 banks of this rectangular lake, sadly the bank which 19 resides on isn't one of the three.  Still, the wind was blowing into it and surely I'd get a few.

Sadly not, I am really not going to traumatise myself by recounting the match and I can't see anyone wanting to read about it, two bites in 6 hours, one carp and one perch, these went back, I wasn't the only DNW and thinking about the match, I have no idea what I could have done to catch another fish, the peg seemed devoid of fish, with no liners or indications.

Oh well upwards and onwards.

Tony Rixon's Short Pole Series, Final Round Sunday 3rd September 2017

The weather forecast was for it to piss down all day, they weren't wrong!!!   I left as much stuff as I could at home, took pole roller out of bag and left it at home etc. 

I went into this match in 5th place overall and confident of getting into a framing place, its a lake I have done OK on in the past and can usually catch some on here.  A bit deflated to draw 29, I definitely fancied a draw on the far bank, but with 28 not in, it was at least one positive.

Given the rain and conditions, I thought it might fish tough, but the water temp was still well up, so it wasn't as if the rain was cold and knocking the temp back.  Set up the usual 4x14 Middy Paste float, a pellet rig to fish over it, a lighter pellet rig and a wire stemmed Gimp in case I had to fish devil spawn or maggot.  Finally an edge rig, same depth both edges, so nice and easy.

Bait tray was simple, 4,6 & 8mm pellets, paste and dead maggots.  I did have some meat left over from Viaduct and worms, but I find meat just get trashed by shit fish on this lake.

Starting on paste I had a liner and after 20 minutes or so hooked and landed a 8lb common.  I switched to pellet after 40 minutes and had a skimmer.  I had been a bit more frugal with the bait than usual, given the miserable weather. Then I hooked a fouler, big fish, it leapt of like a skimmer, but was probably about 12lb, it came off...  I switched to feeding GB and dead maggot and had a few skimmers before it went dead. 

No matter what I did, I could not get a bite.  I did finally hook a fish down the RH margin, it knew where the exposed tree roots were and snagged me solid in them.  I hooked one more, down the LH margin, it charged off, but no problem, I was using my trusty Orange Vespe, 0.20 Stroft with a 0.18 hooklength.  Can't believe what happened next, fish gone, 0.20 snapped, lost my float and that just about summed up my day and rounded off an unsuccessful weekend.

I went 4 1/2 hours in this match without landing a fish, spent an hour fishing maggot without a bite, just trying to put something in the net.  I didn't stay to see the results, but I expect my 13lb odd was last in the match.  It's days like this, that I have no answer to why I couldn't catch, that knock confidence, I've never pretended to be a superstar, but I can usually find a way to catch something and it's frustrating to be in a position where I have no idea what I did wrong.

Well done to Tony on winning the series.

Tony Rixon's Short Pole Series, Round 3, Sunday 20th August 2017

Needed a good draw today after a slip up in the last round, wasn't wildly overjoyed with peg 7 but had to make the most of it.  First mistake of the day - looking for worm container whilst tackling up and no where in sight, left at home in the fridge - bugger, I have a fair bit of confidence in worms down the edge and I intended to try and catch some skimmers if the carp went quiet.

Topkits along the roost were: paste rig, which I use a middy paste float for with 5 x No8 18" from the hook. A shallow rig, a pellet rig, a rig with 0.14 and a 18 LWG to fish maggot over GB, in lieu of worms.  Two edge rigs, similar, one with a banded hook, one plain.

Usual start, feed a few pellets and drop the paste rig straight down the hole.  Float shot under and fish on, then off, probably a fouler. It's pretty normal to get a couple in the first 10 or 15 minutes, but not today, not even liners.  I had fed some GB, caster and maggots off to my left at the full length of topkit + 3 sections and tried double maggot, then caster both to no avail.

Back over the initial line, this time with the banded pellet rig and a 8mm pellet, in the next hour or so I landed one fish and lost 5, including one I reckon was 15lb.  I was at a loss to explain it, they weren't foulers, they all came off in roughly the same place.  I was using all my tried and tested gear, elastic, line, hook, really unusual to lose so many properly hooked fish.

Next fish and in the place the other s came off it came up higher in the water, I could then see line hooked over the top of the float, the fish dived down and when I got it back up enough to see the float, the line had come off.  Then this fish came off as well, I reckon that was the best part of 50lb lost in just over an hour.  The line had styed on the hook this time and I managed to get hold of it.  It was fixed solidly round the RH pallet leg and stretch right across the lake, I managed to wind the line in around my hand and snap it off near the pallet leg.

It seems that some carper had been chucking right across the lake with 15lb line, heavier than is allowed at  the venue, what had been happening, was the my rig had been sliding up this line and then was sliding into the hook and disgorging it.  Bloody frustrating.

The culprit, you can see how long it was before I coiled it up!!

The loss of so many fish obviously had a detrimental effect on the swim, especially given the constraints of it being a short pole match.  I had been feeding pellet into the margin and after much time wasted I had one carp.  The tiny fish wouldn't leave the 8mm pellet alone and I was wishing that I had some 11mm pellets.

I had been feeding a short line (topkit + 1) and this finally started to produce bites, I had a couple on pellet, before switching to paste and having 3 more including hooked seconds before the all-out.

I thought I had about 60lb and the scales gave me 63.12, including one skimmer and one perch, both taken on 8mm pellet - I think that's the first perch I have ever had on pellet.

It was frustrating as Tony won the match with 110lb and I feel that without the carper supplied auto-disgorger I could have beaten that.  One small consolation was the default section win.

Next up, Viaduct on Sunday for Tony' s Float Only last round.

Tony Rixon's Short Pole Series, R2, Trinity Waters, Sunday 23rd July 2017

Round two of Tony's topkit + 3 sections league, the draw is all important on this lake when you have some pegs with an empty peg and others with anglers either side.  I was chatting before the draw and missed my usual spot near the front, leaving me with a choice of 3 when I got there, I took the middle card in the bowl and wasn't wildly happy when I opened it and saw 23.  22 is an end peg and with 20 and 21 not pegged I'd have preferred that, I also had 24 in.  On this bank (22-33) the margins are hugely improved by having an empty peg.

On the plus side (or so I thought......), the wind was blowing down into this corner, so hopefully the fish would be there as well.  I had intended to stick with two baits, paste and pellet, but I did have a few dead maggots, hoping that this would draw some fish into the edge, if the angler either side didn't have them.

Far too much time to set up, so I set up more rigs than I needed, just in case..... A paste rig for straight in front, a paste rig for the edge, a shallow rig, a rig to fish banded pellet on the deck and a margin rig for maggot or worm.

On the all in I started as usual on paste over pellet, instant bite and after a very spirited tussle, I had a fish I thought was 15lb, but on seeing it at the weigh in, it was probably 13lb, a long lean common.  great start and I was expecting the usual 3 or 4 in the first hour.  What I expected and what I got was two different things!  The pegs on here usually fizz when pellet is fed, but not today and the wind was getting up, making things tricky.

With 45 minutes gone and not another bite, on paste or banded pellet, I found an old jar of JPZ pellets and tried one of them, a carp took a liking to this, but it was the only one I caught on JPZ, so back under the bench in the garage for them.  I got off my box and pumped some expanders, desperate times mean desperate measures.  This brought a couple of 4 oz skimmers and one more carp, but bites were very few and far between.  I then got off my box again and made up some GB, put dead maggots in it and fed this out in front, fishing double maggot on a 18 - like the bloody winter!!

I managed 3 or 4 more small skimmers on the maggot, but no carp.  I had been feeding both margins, but fishing either side brought the same result, banded pellet = stationary float;  maggot, worm, corn or paste = float doing a jig, shit fish in the edges.

By now the wind had increased and fishing at topkit + 3 was pointless, the tow was going with the wind and fishing paste saw the rig pulled out of the paste, I had a 0.8g float on for fishing pellet and this was led at a 30° angle, presentation was impossible.  I have some 2g rigs made up for this, but hadn't brought them as I haven't experienced conditions like this on this lake for years, I'm not even sure 2g would have been enough.

The wind dropped a little and I managed one more carp on paste straight in front and in the last 15 minutes the shit fish disappeared from the margin, a sure sign some carp had arrived, indeed they had and I had 2 in those last 15 minutes, too little too late.  Not an enjoyable day, not sure if I could have found some trip against the wind if I could have fished out further (although the wind would have made much more than 11m impossible).  It would have been a day for the feeder or lead had it been allowed!!

Only managed 3rd in section, disappointing on a venue I know and have a good record on, but the conditions and not having an empty peg were against me and if I could fish it again tomorrow, I haven't a clue what I could do differently to improve my result (apart from take some heavier rigs).  The fish seemed to be at the back of the wind, as the main weights came from calmer pegs.

Tony Rixon's Short Pole Series, Trinity Waters, Sunday 14th May 2017

Nice to get back to Trinity and the warm Welcome from Misha & Tom.  Round one of Tony's short pole series, topkit and 3 sections are allowed, nothing else, so nice and simple.

Peg 6 was to be my home for the day, its not a draw you can complain about, but it doesn't seem to throw up the big weights from the margin it used to.  The wind was rippling the other end of the lake and I would have liked a bit of that, but peg 6 was doing a good impression of the oft described millpond.

Setting up couldn't be simpler, 3 sections of pole and some topkits, one for down the edge, which is a little deeper than I'd like at about 3'-3 1/2' deep.   I also set up a paste rig to fish at full range of the 3 sections, a rig to fish banded pellet and another rig with a plain hook on, in case I resorted to corn or even a soft pellet.  There were a few fish moving about, so I did set up a shallow rig, as there was plenty of time. 

On the all in I cupped in some pellet and there was a swirl right by the pot, hmmm, straight out with the shallow rig and into a good fish immediately, after a bit of a tussle, a 14lber was netted and I was back out looking for another - well I'd love to write about a simple day catching shallow, but that was the only bite on that rig, even though I tried it several times during the day.

I had two more on the paste in the first hour, giving me about 33lb, a decent start, but I know that on this lake the middle of the match can be tough..... and so it was, I couldn't get a bite on paste or pellet and I felt it wasn't worth messing about pumping pellets or opening corn.

I didn't want to go down the edge too early, but felt I was left with little option, so decided to try and pick a few fish off by toss potting meat in, its not a bait I have had much success with on this lake, but it did bring a couple of fish, as well as a perch and a skimmer. I was getting a lot of bites on it, some of which were liners and some was just shit fish attacking the meat.

With 2 hours to go, I put some GB and maggots in down the edge, to try and revive it, slightly deeper than I'd really like for fishing maggots, but needs must.  This brought a couple more fish, but I had to drag the bait up the steep slope to get a bite that was actually a carp, rather than a liner.

At 15.00 I saw a few bubbles over the paste line and dropped in and had two fish in quick succession, I then hooked something large, no idea how big, it wouldn't come up off the bottom and eventually did me under the pallet.  I had about 80lb on my clicker and was expecting to break the ton as the fishing got stronger in the last hour - what do I know, I had one fish in the last hour and a quarter, a 6lb common with 5 minutes to go.

No idea why it switched off, I wasn't the only one who had a dire last hour, that said my 89.03 was enough for the important section win and second on the day overall.  Well done to Joe who managed 119lb for the win off peg 17.

Tony Rixon's Open, Trinity Waters, Sunday 25th September 2016

After a night out in town I was glad for the lift today from Tony Rixon, as I would have been over the limit for driving, Copper Kettle in WSM for breakfast and very nice it was.

The usual cheery welcome at Trinity from Misha and Tom, even Lily smiled at me, although I wasn't quite so chuffed when I drew peg 6, its not the worse draw on the lake, but I'd rather be further up that bank.  Tackling up I fancied the pellet waggler for a few fish, so set that up, I did consider a straight lead for the waggler line, but I settled on a method feeder.  4 toplkits, a paste rig, a margin rig and two pellet rigs, one for banded pellet and one for soft pellet/corn/worm.

The lake has seen an instant response to pellet feed with paste over the top and today the fizzing stared as usual, but instead of two fish in the first 20 minutes then nothing, it took me the best part of an hour to get the two fish. I had been pinging pellets at 25 yards or so and after an hour went over them with a small pellet waggler set about 4' deep,  after persevering with this for nearly an hour, I gave up and unusually I hadn't had a bite on the wag.

Back on the paste after trying pellet on the pole and I could get a fish if I was patient - never my strong point - but they weren't exactly coming fast and furiously, although they were a decent size.  I was hoping for some fish in the margin, but whilst I was biding my time before going in there, I tried the method down to the end bank, within a couple of minutes, another 10lber was hooked and landed, then a slightly smaller fish and 10 minutes after a third about 5lb.  Then the indication and liners stopped and that was the end of that 'mini' run of fish.

I'd love to describe how the margin kicked in and saved the day, but one lonely 2lber was the sole carp from there, no matter what bait I put on the hook, the float would not stay still, even an 8mm pellet as the roach whittled it down.

Back on the paste and the patient weight for a bite saw another couple of fish, but it was getting longer and longer between bites, the more the match wore on.  In the end I managed to put 79.15 on the scales and that was enough for fourth and one out of the money.  Match won by my Chauffeur Tony Rixon from the opposite corner, with 124lb, close on his heels was Tom Mangnel with 122lb.

Short Pole Series, Trinity Waters. Sunday 21st August 2016

I couldn't fish this series this year, which was a shame as I have had a 3rd and 2nd overall in the previous years, so was pleased to stand-in today for someone (no idea who).  It's a nice easy day tackle wise topkits and 3 sections of pole.

Bait wise I had pellet, paste hemp and maggots, with a smattering of corn and some worms. I drew peg 8, wasn't too chuffed, but then found out that 7 and 9 weren't drawn and that cheered me up a bit, although Misha had pulled Tony Rixon another decent peg and he would be on the ample platform of peg 6.  Enough room for Judith to put her sunbed out, although he sun didn't grace us with its presence for too long today.

I did expect to catch straight from the off on paste, either 1, 2 or 3 fish so that was the first rig out of the box, then two similar rgs to fish either soft pellet, corn, maggot, worm etc on the hook and a rig to fish pellet in a band.  I had to set up two edge rigs as the edges were 12" different in depths.

On the all-in I started as planned on paste and had a fish first put in, 5lb in the net, next drop in a chunky 10lb  common and that was, as predicted, the end of the fish on paste, quite why this has happened on this lake I don't know, but the lake has changed and evolved ever since the high bank was removed.

The next 5 hours were a real struggle, I found a bit of meat and set up a deep/shallow rig set about 2' off the bottom, this works a treat at Whiteacres on Match lake, but was totally unproductive today.  Tony had a couple on his shallow rig, so off the box again and a shallow rig set up. Much thrashing of the water later I had managed on solitary carp.

The only chance I had was for the edge to come good, the nice little undercut and shallow water to my left looked ideal, but one 6oz rudd was the sole fish from there, RH side was better and I had several good fish 9-12lb, frustratingly two double figure commons found a snag and both snagged up solid, this wasn't far from the baited area, so as well as seeing 20lb+ lost, it disturbed the peg and cost me time whilst I refed it and it settled.

The two lost fish definitely cost me third and maybe even second, as I weighed 69lb odd,  Tony was 3rd with 80.11  and Clayton was 2nd with 89.03, so I had to settle for a default section pickup and rue the lost fish.  Well done to Mike West who was the only one to break the ton.  Full results on Tony's website.

Final Round, Short Pole Series, Trinity Waters Sunday 9th August 2015

All to fish for in this match today, going into the league in 4th place, with a chance to climb a place or two if I could get a decent draw and get those above me in my section. Into the draw tin and out comes 28..... again FFS, not a happy bunny about that. it's been the worst section, some were commenting that it was the fairest section, but not when you look at the results on paper, as peg 24 won the section the first match (25 not drawn), peg 25 won the section the next two matches and 24 won the section this match, so maybe not so fair after all.  My draws for this series read 28, 17, 27 and 28, piss poor is one description and the fact that I was 100lbish behind on weight from those above and below me in the league made it virtually impossible to rely on weight to help me.

So going to my peg I wasn't very confident of gaining ground, although I had Paul Elmes who was in third place overall on the next peg, 29, which has been a shit draw as well.  I though the match might follow the pattern of the others which was a fish or two in the first hour, a tough middle and a fish or two in the last hour, no point in messing about with a multitude of baits, so pellets, paste and dead maggots on the side tray.  4 topkits, two to fish pellet at full pole length (topkit + 3) one with a band, one without. A paste rig and a margin rig, then as I was ready with 25 minutes to go, I set up a shallow rig, so all options covered.

My prediction of the pattern of the match was wrong, as I didn't hook or see any signs of a carp in the first hour (or second) just a couple of small skimmers on soft pellet, I wasn't alone, as Paul was in the same position, along with Clint to my right. I walked back to the van to get some GB to mix up and fish for skimmers, reminder to self, if you tidy the back of the van up, put the GB back in.....  So with that option out of the window, I fed one ball of GB that I had mixed up for the margin, and some dead maggot, this brought a couple of bigger skimmers to the net on dead maggot, but not at a rate to consider switching to fishing for the silvers money.

With half the match gone I fed some GB and maggots into the LH margin and had been feeding pellet into the RH margin, the RH margin didn't produce as much as a liner, so no more about that.  Clint on 27 had a fish after spending ages fishing shallow, so I did have a thrash around with the shallow rig and had a small parrot mouth fish, but that was to be it, apart from one decent roach.  I ended up switching between the margin and a paste rig in the last 2 hours, adding 5 more fish to the net, which I was confident had beaten Paul and Clint, but not so of the 'form pegs 24 and 25, so it proved, with bela on 25 beating me by a solitary lb as well, leaving me 4th in section.  My silvers went 7lb odd and 33lb of carp for 41lb and a bit.

Rod Wootten on peg 30 had not seen a carp all day, these middle pegs on this bank have not been the place to draw this series.

So my 4th was enough to consolidate 4th place in the league, my point better than Paul making us equal 3rd, with me knocked back to 4th on weight, as I knew it would.  Nice to go home with an payout, after not picking up once in the league, ending with 3 x 2nd in section and a 4th.  I was also in the knock out final and wasn't confident of getting a pick up in that and so it proved, the drawbag hasn't been kind this series.

Results.

Short Pole Series, Round Three, Trinity Waters. Sunday 12th July 2015

No cafe today, a nice healthy breakfast at home, before a steady drive to the venue, disappointing to see the rain clouds putting in a Sunday appearance again, some consistent weather would be nice.  With two seconds in section so far in this four round series, I really needed to pull a decent peg and get a section win, one of the corners would be favourite, or a peg with some space, so when 27 revealed itself, I can't say I was over the moon, as it was going to struggle to compete, having been the worst but one peg in the series so far.  I was still in the knockout, Adrian Jefferies was my opponent for today and he drew 6, that should end my knockout..........

The lake looked a good colour, there were signs of fish moving and blowing, so I was confident that there would be a few caught, hopefully a bit of venue knowledge would pay off.  I have found that by far the most consistent summer baits on this venue are pellet and paste, so that comprised my bait, apart from some dead maggots for the margin, which I knew would most likely be a waste of time, due to having pegs either side.

One line at the bottom of the shelf, which I could just reach with the allowed topkit +3 sections of pole, initial feed of a few 6mm pellets and a couple of expanders, which was my starting bait, as it usually catches both carp and skimmers here. I had a small carp on the expander but it was a long wait for a bite. As I had a little bit of fizzing, added some more pellet and dropped over it with paste.  A skimmer and another carp were netted, before a long wait for a couple more on paste.

I had set up a shallow rig and had a while slapping and lifting and dropping that, to no avail, what was surprising, given the fizzing was the lack of liners and foul hookers, so what was causing the fizz I'm not sure, certainly not lots of carp. By 3pm I had a skimmer, the 4 carp and a headache, a walk to the van to get some pills relieved the boredom and gave me fresh impetus to push on and get a decent finish to the match as it was fairly obvious that the whole lake was fishing hard, only those with some space were catching.

The margins had looked devoid of fish, but big carp can be deceptively stealthy, I had been feeding 8mm pellets and dropped in with a 8mm expander on the hook, only for it to get ragged off by shit fish. I now cupped some maggots in, one to keep the shit fish occupied and two, to hopefully attract a carp or two.  Back on the paste and I managed one more carp, before having another look down the edge with a hard 8mm banded straight on the hook.  it buried and the biggest fish of the day, about 9lb, put up a decent tussle before being gratefully netted.

A hard day, my 'reward' was another second in section with 34.06, a lack of skimmers or another decent carp costing me the section win.  Surprisingly Adrian struggled on peg 6, managing less than half my weight, so a pleasant surprise to get through the knockout.  For the last match in the series, I need a bloody good draw and to have the other framing contenders in my section, with my 'luck', I can't see that happening, but who knows.......

As regards luck, Tom Mangnall won my section and was second in the silvers, but due to the way the money was calculated, I even lost out on the section default, I did suggest to Tony last year that paying silvers wasn't a good idea, as it can affect the league, with anglers fishing for silvers instead of section money. 

1st 110- 2 - Mike Nicholls - p31
2nd 59- 8 - Craig Edmunds - p22
3rd 52-15 - Glenn Bailey - p4
4th 52-12 - Paul Elmes - p3
5th 52- 4 - Gordon Cannings - p7
6th 46-10 - Rod Wootten - p2

Silvers
1st 23- 9 - Vic Bush - p30
2nd 9- 1 - Dave Evans - p13
2nd 9- 1 - Tom Mangnall - p25

Short Pole Series, Round Two, Trinity Waters. Sunday 17th May 2015

I was expecting this to fish well after the warmer weather and wind oxygenating the water, but it proved to be a struggle for many!!

With a couple of the league anglers off watching some pointless non-league football match, we had some stand-in's, so the match was up to strength in numbers.  Bob Gullick did look a bit upset when he realised the bridge pegs on the venue weren't on the lake we were fishing.......

When I got to the draw tin, Tony said, "at least most of the pegs on the top bank are gone", as that is the one area I have never won or framed from on this lake, so what come out, 17 on the top bank, oh well, it has to produce for me one day surely and with the wind blowing towards it, why not today.  He couldn't smile too much at my misfortune, as he had been handed peg 18, so it was going to be an interesting battle between us, although on reflection, interesting may well be a misleading description.

We set up similar rigs to fish pellet, meat short and the margins, although I knew Tony would have a band on his pellet rig whereas I intended to start on soft pellet. I had some paste on the tray, 6 and 8mm pellets, 8mm meat and dead maggots, but on plumbing the margins and finding nearly 4' and a steep drop off with no shelf, I didn't think they'd see the hook.

Starting on the soft pellet over hard feed 6mm pellets I had a little wait for bites, before landing a small carp and a skimmer. It was painfully slow going, to get any sort of reaction from the peg, it needed feed going in, but bites were few and far between, with the odd skimmer gracing the net.  I then lost a 3ln tench, hmmm, I was trying a different elastic and maybe a match where I was looking for a section win at least, wasn't the ideal time to do it.

The short meat line produced one fish, a hybrid with huge eyes, but it was only 3 or 4 ounces, so not much more to say about that.

A switch to worm on the hook over the pellet line, saw a couple of carp and a couple more skimmers netted, before this died off again. The margin resulted in one fish, another small carp, thereafter, every put in ended up in a snag and another MW float bit the dust as if flew back into the keepnet.

I decided to concentrate on the long line and fed some dead maggot in with the pellet, this with 3 dead maggots on the hook produced two more carp and some more big skimmers, a 3lb+ fish coming off, that new elastic wasn't right for skimmers really, but they weren't the target. So a tough day, with some entertainment from Tony, as he had a torrid day, snapping a No6 section and a topkit, I thought I had him beaten, but was expecting to be 3rd or 4th in the section, so was pleasantly surprised to get second in section, still keeping the league alive, but I think only 2 section wins will do now.  Also my silvers got second, so an envelope for the 3rd day in a row.

Best bit of the day was the news that the non league team from oop north had scored, worst news was when the non league team from oop north Bristol  fluked a penalty shoot out win, even so boys "Mind The Gap........"

1: Rod Wotton  117.12 peg 6
2: Paul Elmes 87.12 peg 25
3: Mike Nichols 79.04 peg 22
4: Craig Edmunds 79.03 peg 9
5: Bob Gullick 61.14 peg 13
6: Adrian Jeffery 59.11 peg 33

Silvers
1: Paul Faiers 25.07 peg 31
2: Chris Fox 14.03 peg 17

Short Pole Series Round 1, Trinity Waters, Sunday 19th April 2015

First match of the year for me on this venue and one I was looking forward to until the weathermen started forecasting the easterly winds. Speaking to match organiser, Tony Rixon, he told me there were 29 fishing, I did wonder if that might be too many on this lake, as some of the pegs need a space for the margins to produce.

Looking at the lake lake before the draw, the easterly wind was coming into the car park bank (pegs 22-34) and that looked to be an unpleasant place to draw.  I definitely fancied a peg on the far bank (6-15). I followed Rod Wotten into the draw bucket, he drew 29, I drew 28 and Paul Faiers behind me drew 27, not sure of the odds on that sequence happening!!  We were all a bit disappointed to draw with that cold wind in our faces and I said to Paul that catching some skimmers could be important come the end.

Tackling up was cold, bloody cold, whilst the assembled line-up on the opposite bank sat in T shirts taking the piss - fair enough, if I ever draw a peg that allows me to be in that position, I'll do the same. 4 Rigs, a long stable float because of the wind to fish banded pellet, the same model set up without a band that would cover soft pellet and meat, a paste rig and an margin rig, although I wasn't too confident that the carp would venture into the margin, due to the close pegging and the cold wind into the bank.

Plumbing up showed that topkit +3 sections was a section too short on my peg, Paul found the same, we just couldn't get to the bottom of the slope, by a short distance, with the wind blowing at us, flicking it out with a longer line was pointless as it was blowing back.

I started feeding slightly short of full distance and fishing past it to allow for the slope, starting on 6mm banded pellet, I had a couple of indications and then a skimmer was netted, but that was it for the banded pellet, I just couldn't get it to work, so switched to a soft pellet fished overdepth and that brought a run of skimmers and a solitary tench, before the peg went quiet and I landed a 4lb carp.  A little wait for a bite after that and another skimmer netted, but the liners, dinks and knocks on the float had stopped, it was if the skimmers had vacated the peg, I guess they had moved out, but unable to follow them I was a bit stumped.

I tried worm, in various sizes, to no avail and then picked up the paste rig hoping a bigger target bait might attract some of the bigger carp than hang around these pegs. A 8lb fish straight away and i thought that was it sussed, but no, a long, long wait between bites for two more fish in the last couple of hours, I tried a 5m meat line, margins fed left and right, one with meat, one with maggot, not a sign of a carp or a bite on any of the three lines, so back to sitting it out on the paste, which did, as mentioned, produce another 8lb fish and a 10lber. I wasn't sure what my silvers went and at the end whilst waiting for the scales, Paul and I had a look at his net and mine, both concluding he'd beaten me.

The scales proved us both wrong, Paul's silvers going 15.13 and mine 16.05, which gave me second in the silvers and a pickup and my 4 carp for 30lb gave me second in section with 46.11, I wasn't too disappointed with that result from there, as I really didn't fancy the draw.  At least the series isn't blown on the first match, thankfully....

1: Mike Nicholls  117.09 peg 15
2: Tim Ford 96.05  peg 32
3: Paul Elmes 94.13 peg 10
4: Bela Bakos 88.00 peg 12
5: Trigger 84.03 peg 20
6: Tony Rixon 77.00 peg 30

Silvers

1: Dave Evans 18.04 peg 19
2: Chris Fox 16.05 peg 28
3: Paul Faiers 15.13 peg 27

Trinity waters Christmas Match, Sunday 14th December 2014

16 booked into this one, a decent breakfast at home for a change, before a nice steady drive down to the usual cheery welcome and cup of coffee, thanks to Misha and Tom for getting this match organised straight after their honeymoon.

The weather forecasters had been promising rain earlier in the week, but as the day drew nearer, the forecast changed to no rain and a 13-15mph wind, as we drew, it was perfectly still and the lake surface was calm and flat.  I had fancied a draw on the far bank, so wasn't disappointed to see peg 8 reveal itself after I drew.  I had brought two lead rods and a pole for this match, I'm not normally tempted to fish the lead or feeder on this venue, but the way I feed it in the winter, should see the method or banjo feeder work. By the all-in a chilly wind was blowing straight into my face and there it stayed all day!!!

I set up the two lead rods, one with a banjo feeder on and the other with straight lead, I had brought a couple of slices of bread for use with this, but with the water still well coloured for the time of year, I wasn't sure it would work.  next out the holdall were 3 topkits, one with a rig to fish the 4' deep margin, where I fully expected to catch some fish from, especially as peg 9 was empty and I could get under the platform, usually a banker in winter for extracting the resident fish.

Two other top kits, a MW Pinger 0.4g with a bulk of No8's and two No10 droppers, this was finished off with a 0.14 hooklength and a 16 6313 hook.  The other rig was a 0.3g NG Gimp, with a bulk of No9 shot, with 3 droppers, hopefully to pick up any fish sat off the bottom, this had a 0.12 hooklength and 16 6313 hook.  This was the most successful rig, although neither were frantically busy......

On the all in I fed two pole lines, one at 10m and one at 14.5m, the shorter line was fed with micros and a few dead maggots, the longer line with micros and 4mm pellets, again, just a small amount.  I then started by casting a banjo feeder to the halfway point, this was a fruitless exercise of 30 minutes, before I switched to the 10m pole line, this was also biteless.  Pushing the pole out to 14.5m saw a couple of fish come to the net, just a small roach and a skimmer, but it was a start.  Bites were hard to come by, but they bites I did have were all as a result of lowering the rig through bait toss potted in, a carp about 7lb then graced the net, as i had swapped to corn on the hook to avoid the small roach.

The pole line then died off, an early look in the margin with corn had a 2lb carp take it almost straight away, that would be a good sign usually, but today it was to be a lone bite and fish until another one with an hour to go. Back onto the 14.5m line and it was impossible to see the float at times due to the ripple, occasional bit of sun and constantly changing shades of cloud reflection, colour was irrelevant, the conditions weren't conducive to sensitive bite indication.  Surprisingly the 10m line did not produce a bite at any time during the day, even the odd tiny roach and rudd that took the double maggot preferred to stay well away from the bank.

I swapped back to the method, but this time with 3 dead maggots and dropped a lot shorter, on the pole line, this produced a positive pull round and I was surprised when a 21/2lb perch popped up and was netted, Apart from a 3oz roach which fell off, this was the last bite on the method.  Switching back to the pole saw another decent perch netted and a couple more small skimmers, but it was too slow and that was the case all along the bank that I had fancied......

My 3 carp went 11.07 and my silvers 8.01 for a 19.08 total which apart from the corner peg, was the top weight on the bank, but it was a long way behind Nick Harvey who had a very comfortable win from peg 20.

A big thanks to Misha and Tom, who kept the Trinty tradition going, bringing round hot soup, sausage rolls and mince pies during the match, it was disappointing to end my good record in this match (2 wins, a 2nd, a 3rd and a 4th), but the cold wind and the draw beat those of us on the far bank today.

Todber Manor next Sunday, last in the series and I think most are expecting a grueller, for my part the section I am due to be in has been dominated by peg 38, so if it stays the same, a draw there looks essential.

1: Nick Harvey  121.09 peg 20
2: Tom Mangnall 61.03 peg 25
3: Steve Evans 40.04 peg 5
4: John Davies 34.04 peg 7
5: Dave Evans 31.12 peg 17
6: Kev Perry 29.05 peg 28

Silvers
Mark Broomsgrove  16.04 peg 14