Float Only Round Five, Sedges, Sunday 4th August 2013

Not knowing this venue very well, I didn't have any preconceived  idea of where I wanted to draw, so I was neither disappointed or elated when peg 31 revealed itself.  I had tried to keep things simple and had brought 6 and 8mm pellet, 8mm meat and some paste ( I did weaken as I was loading the car and put 2 pints of dead maggots in as well, but fed them to some grateful ducks).

I set up two wagglers, but in reality, for the second match running, a strong left to right wind was going to affect my fishing, so they saw little use and not a bite was had on them.  4 topkits set up, a MW diamond to fish pellet on a shelf which is just under 12" shallower than the lake bed, it's in front of a willow tree that comes out into the peg off the end bank at about 11m. A MW cookie for shallow, but that didn't get used, a Daiwa paste float, with a .75g olivette about 18" from the hook, as the wind was causing a considerable tow in the opposite direction and a rig to fish meat in the margins and right in under the willow tree, all of which were about 3' deep.

Meat proved useless, all I had to show from trying it was two tiny skimmers, I tried it regularly throughout the match, to no avail, likewise the margins, they produced nothing except the previously mentioned two tiny skimmers.  I started on the shallow waggler out towards the aerator, but the wind rendered it a pointless exercise. I dropped in over the shelf in front of the willow with the pellet rig and a 8mm banded pellet and managed several small carp, before landing an eel which was well over 1lb, a first for me catching an eel on pellet. As the fish were up this shelf, I assumed they'd be in the shallower margins under the tree, but this was a lesson in not assuming, as I only had two fish from here, on a hastily assembled shallower paste rig, as meat was so unproductive.

I had a run of better fish up to 10lb on the bulk down paste rig, but the wind was making it difficult, I tried a couple of lines closer in, drawing a blank on all of them.  With an hour and a half to go, I had 82lb on my clicker, so made the swim killing decision to put another net in......  For the next 35 minutes the wind increased and made presentation on the only line I was catching over, virtually impossible, I went back on the 8mm pellet and had another small carp, a wait and then another one touching 10lb, the wind dropped in the last 25 minutes and I managed one more small carp on paste, before hooking and losing one (which trashed the rig) right on the death.

I had clicked 95lb, which proved to be unusually accurate, as with 4lb odd of silvers, most of which was the eel and another first, a lb+ Perch on paste, my total was 100.11, which I think was 7th on the day, not managing a pick up, due to the quiet last hour and a half - a total contrast to the last couple of matches I've fished.

I didn't get the results, so it's Tony Rixons blog for the full details, but Craig 'Trigger' Edmunds won with 160ish, Des Shipp was second with a high 140 and Scott Puddy was third with a lower 140.

Most bites and fish of the day went to Dave Haines, who weighed in 23lb odd of tiny silver things, smaller than the lumps of paste I was using, he must have been busy!!!

Avon Angling Open, Trinity waters, Woodland. Sunday 28th July 2013

I was disappointed when I drew peg 17, its a peg that I have failed miserably from every time I have drawn it, I have won and framed from all the other three banks, but the 'top bank' 16-20 hold some voodoo over me. Still, attack the peg and maybe all that could change, I was convinced there would be a few fish caught up in the water. I hadn't reckoned on the wind, which was left to right across my peg, making it impossible  to control a pole at 13m, let alone the 16m where I felt would be the place to catch. I had three fish shallow, before even 13m became too difficult, 7m being about the best I could manage.  True to form, I struggled on this peg, only catching late, a few fish at 5m on meat for 55lb.  It was frustrating watching guys on the car park bank fishing 16m and having the wind off their backs, but why should it come as any surprise that I draw the most wind affected peg on the lake.  another day where it was too little to late.





1) Shaun Townsend 163.11 Peg 11
2) Tony Rixon 115.1 Peg 20
3) Adrian Jeffery 113.01 Peg 15 15
4) Alan Oram  107.06 Peg 31
5) Glenn Bailey  106.00 Peg 6
6 Gordon Cannings  101.15 Peg 13

MFS Match, Viaduct Campbell, Sat 27th July 2013

My first time fishing a MFS match and they seem a friendly bunch of guys.  I wasn't too concerned where I drew, I had 8mm pellet and meat, with some paste as a stand by, but for me it hasn't worked on Campbell this year, I had also picked up a loaf of bread, just in case......  Peg 116 came out of the dustbin lid (used in lieu of a cap, as non of them looked too hygienic).  I'd rather have had 115 as it sits further out in the lake, but it should still produce some fish.  Ken Rayner was on 119 and I had Mark Poppleton on 115 for company.

I set up a lead rod, two wagglers one full depth, one shallow, although it is difficult to catch on the shallow wag now, unless you have an end bank to cast to.  A  margin rig, a shallow and full depth pellet rig and a meat rig for a line about 6m.  Starting on the waggler at depth, I managed 4 fish in the first 30 minutes and then the wheels came off, the bites on the waggler stopped, I tried the pole shallow and depth with pellet, to no avail. The 6m meat line was full of roach and rudd, pecking away at 8 or 10mm meat, as was the margin, I had one small carp on meat from the margin and was now falling behind Mark Poppleton who was taking odd fish shallow on the pole, but out beyond where I could reach.

I switched to feeding 8mm pellet in the margin and a new 5m line with pellet to the left of the meat line, it took a while, but I had a run of fish from the margin before it went quiet and then had a bite every put in on the 5m line for the last 40 minutes. My fish went 107lb odd, should have been a little more, but was slightly over in my first net, I seriously misjudged the weight of those fish, as I had clicked 55lb!!!

With hindsight, I should have left the meat at home and just fished pellet all day, but even given that, the virtually barren 41/2 hours cost me any chance of a pick up, this now seems a regular occurrence, I struggle until the last hour or so, when my catch rate seems to be bang on, shame about the rest of the match.

Float Only, Round 4, Shiplate Farm, Sunday 21st July 2013

All three lakes in for this match, with 20 pegs on the main lake and 10 each on Hawthorn and Westpool. I fancied a draw on the main lake, Tony Rixon offered to draw for me, but I took my own ticket and ended up on Hawthorn peg 1. I have only drawn this lake once before and that was peg 2 in winter, I won the lake that day with 50ish lb. I wasn’t so confident today, even though the peg has a pipe with water running into the lake, providing some aeration, as the wind was blowing down the lake away from my peg. Also whilst its an end peg, you cannot get to the end bank and with no real margin to speak of (due to rushes) it at least concentrates your mind on the option available.


I set up 5 rigs, a paste rig which would do for anywhere except tight over, as the depth only varied about 6”. A MW slim to fish banded pellet across, a MW pea just in case there were any cruisers , a rig to fish meat at 4m off to my right and a rig for maggot down the track.

Bait tray was simple, 6mm pellets, 8mm pellets, meat and maggots. The paste was left in the bag for now. The peg had shown some signs of life when I arrived, with a few bubbles coming up, these had completely gone 15 minutes before the all in and the signs of fish were few and far between. Shortly before the all-in was called, that most frugal of anglers, Mike Nicholls came over with an enquiry, “did I have any groundbait he could have – oh and a bowl to mix it in” I had brought a bag of mixed gimps gold/Sensas lake, but didn’t intend to use it on this lake, so off he went with it and the bowl – before the end, he brought the remnants of it back, proclaiming it jinxed…….

I fed some 6mm pellet over at the start and meat at 4m, before starting on maggot down the track, this was painfully slow and after 20 minutes without a bite, I switched to the pellet across, this was equally as non-productive. A bad start!! Back down the track with maggot saw a skimmer and a roach, which made up my sum total of silvers, weighed as a very generous 8oz. The rest of the match saw me rotating between the meat line, a paste line just up the far slope, a close paste line ( not even a bite) and the pellet tight to the far bank grasses.

This produced an occasional fish, but it was hard going. The far bank has a lot of overhanging grass, this makes it impossible to get tight to the bank. I saw Leon Hubbard on peg 3 take a short run of fish from the far bank and as peg 2 was empty I got the 16m section out of my rod bag and went to the bare bank on the far side of peg 2 This produced four fish in four put ins and then that died as well (same as Leon’s peg). The remainder of the match saw me take two more on meat and wasn’t disappointed when the final whistle went. 11 carp for 25.04 and my ‘bonus’ silvers saw me weigh 25.12, 6lb of silvers would have seen me take second in section, but as it was I was a resounding last in section. It was a pretty even section, apart from Paul Elmes who nearly quadrupled everyone else’s weight.  His 108lb being section winner with the other 4 weighing between 25.12 and 32.09.  See Mike Nicholls blog for actual  section weigh sheets.

This hot weather seems to have the fish either cruising round not feeding, or shoaled up like winter fish and not moving from where they are happy.

1) Tom Mangnall, 140.08 peg 6 on West Pool

2) Paul Elmes, 108.4 on peg 6 Hawthorn

3) Adrian Jeffery 103.04on 9 Hawthorn

4) Craig Edmunds 94.4 peg 11 Main Lake

5) Dean Malin 77.14 peg 4 Main Lake

6th Bela Bakos 69.5 peg 15 Main Lake

Silvers

Joe McMahon, with 19.7 on peg 8 Main Lake

Avon Angling Open, Sedges, Sunday 14th July 2013

Another hot day with carp cruising and not looking interested in feeding.  I would have preferred a draw where there was some ripple, but it wasn't to be, peg 9 which was flat calm with cruising fish out of pole range.

I set up two waggler rods, one to fish shallow and one at full depth with no shot down the line. Neither of these produced a bite, the fish doing their disappearing act as soon as the float hit the water. I tried every trick I know, 4" deep and firing pellet at the float, 4' deep with all but the last 6" of line greased, to give a very slow sink to the pellet, and every depth in between.

The pole rigs were a shallow/stalking rig -  this produced nothing.  A paste rig for the margin, this again didn't see anything resembling a bite and a full depth paste rig to fish over the pellet line at 13m.  This saw me hook a lump that shed the hook after 5 mins, I think it was hooked under the chin, that was its only action. A rig to fish pellet on the deck, this produced two fish, a solitary skimmer in the first half an hour and then a carp about 6lb at 13.45. Finally a meat rig for 6m, this was as actionless as all the other lines, until the last hour, which saw two carp and a run of skimmers netted to take my final tally to 38.11, a resounding nowhere (or 8th if that sounds better) on the day, but the best weight from peg 5 - peg 10, if only the other 5 hours had produced 30lb an hour!!!! 

No surprise for me to be in the worst area, not sure why this seems to be a running theme on matches run by Tony Rixon.  That's not any sort of slur on someone who has helped me out and works hard organising the matches, but it does seem to be a recurring nightmare, quite how to shake it off, apart from not fish his matches, I'm not sure.

By the magic of the internet, save and copy, paste etc. I've nicked the results from Mike Nicholl's blog 

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

Tony Rixon's Float Only, Landsend, Sunday 7th July 2013

If this match wasn't part of a series that I'd committed to, I wouldn't have fished it.  For whatever reason, I seem to draw on lake three everytime its in, I hung back at the draw hoping to get a peg on Match or Specimen lake, so I could fish caster foe silvers.

I couldn't believe it when peg 66 (lake 3) was the peg I pulled, not only no chance of silvers, but also a poor peg on the lake.  I was very tempted to no bother going to the peg, but decided to go and give it my best shot.  I set up a NG Gimp, 0.2g that would suffice for caster, although I didn't expect to catch much on it. A Preston pencil float that would do for Devils Spawn and meat, a paste rig and a MW slim on a long line to fish banded pellet, although the lack of cruisers in the peg meant that it saw little action.

I fed some micros and 4's at 11m, caster down the track and short, meat at 5m. Starting on the devils spawn at 11m saw a couple of tiny skimmers netted, but that soon died off. The caster short line produced a couple of perch, which were stuffed with caster, not a good sign, before that died off.

I did get a couple of rudd down the track, so in desperation set up a greased loop rig, to try and pick up a few silvers, this produced two rudd before becoming as barren as every other line. Just before 3 o'clock I walked to Fabio on the next peg and he said he'd be packing up and going if he had his van, so I wasn't the only one suffering.

I went back to my peg and had 4 bites in 20 minutes on paste, 2 foul hookers that shed the hook quickly, a common that was low doubles was netted after a tough fight and to cap off my day, I played a double figure ghostie for nearly 10 minutes, before the hook pulled just as I was going to net it.  That summed up my day.

I didn't bother to weigh in as I had the one common about 12lb and 2lb of silvers.  Fabio had a couple late on meat giving him 26lb, and Dick Bull the other side weighed 22lb making the section of 5 the worst of all 8 sections, quite how to change my luck at the drawbag, I don't know.

See Tony's or Silverfox blog for the results, as I didn't hang around at the end........

Viaduct Short Pole Match, Sunday 30th June

If you had asked me to bet on which day this weekend I'd have the biggest weight, I would have placed a decent wedge on todays match on Campbell being the one.  I'd have been wrong, today was a real struggle for some, me included.

I drew 132 - typical, can't draw it in a 'normal' match - and thought it should be good for a few fish.  I set up a rig to fish banded pellet, a meat rig, a paste rig and a margin rig.  First put in I had a skimmer, then a carp, that was it then until 13.40, when I had 3 small carp on the pellet at 6m, before another long spell without a bite. The last hour I had a couple of fish on meat, but by now I knew I was a long way behind those catching.  I wasn't alone, Steve Seager, and Roland Lucas on 130 and 131 also struggled, worse than I did, making 3 of us in a row DNW.  I put back about 45lb of carp and 5lb of skimmers.

See Tony's blog for results.

Clevedon Club Match, Acorn Top Lake, Saturday 29th June 2013

A 12.30 draw for this match, so a lie in this morning, I'd be happy to fish a few more summer matches with a later start, as we often seem to pack up just as the fish start feeding.   11 fishing so the whole length of the lake used, including the newly dug area.

I wasn't too concerned where I drew, but with a gusting wind blowing down the lake, towards Paddock lake, peg one had the wind blowing into the end bank, so looked favourable. Remarkably, peg one found its way into my usually unreliable drawing hand.  We could drive round, so no walk and that meant that I was actually ready at the start. I set up a Malman winter wire on 0.14, with a 18 Drennan Carp Maggot hook to fish maggot short. A MW slim to fish hard pellet, that had a 18 B960 with a band to 0.14, a NG Gimp to fish soft pellet, tthat had a 16 63-13 to 0.14 and finally a Big H paste float on 0.16 straight through to a 14 Mustad paste hook.

The wind was going to make presentation tricky so I fed 4mm pellet at topkit+4 along the end bank, the same into open water with groundbait and caster and a short line with maggot.  I dropped into the short line to let the others settle and had a couple of 6oz roach, before getting a couple of skimmers. I had a look over the pellet line with a 6mm banded pellet and had a small carp, before catching skimmers on the pellet, but not as quickly as the short line. The groundbait line in open water only peoduced a couple of rudd, so I binned that and concentrated on the two lines. I had a few more skimmers off the short line, but as there was no silvers payout in this match, I needed some carp to go with the skimmers.

I had a decent run of fish on paste from the pellet fed line, fishing tight to the end bank, which is the same depth as the open water, no margin shelf here. When this went quiet, I had some more skimmers short, on maggot, before taking a few more carp in the last half an hour from the paste line.  The carp are small and its not easy to estimate, I had clicked 42lb and thought I had low double figures of silvers.

The scales started at the opposite end and Mark Broomsgrove had struggled in the new area, weighing 15lb,  the ever consistent Rod Wootten weighed 64.12 which looked good for the win, as the wind had made things tricky for everyone. Rod stayed top weight until the scales got to me, my clicked 42lb went 47.10 and the skimmers were a better stamp than they looked, as they (and some nice roach up to 12oz) went 19.04 to pinch the win from Rod.  Some consolation for the fact that the wind took my pole off the roller and blew it into my car, snappingthe No7 section with a clean break, Nissan X Trail 1 Tourny Pro 0. It had to be an expensive section as well.....

1) Chris Fox 66.14 peg 1
2) Rod Wootten 64.12 peg 10
3) Brian Slipper 55.06 peg 3
4) Kev Perry 52.04 peg 4
5) Paul Faiers 43.04 peg 8
6) Phil Deacon 34.13 peg 2

Silvers

1) Adie Baker. 30.00 peg 6
2) Chris Fox 19.04 peg 1

Short Pole Match, Landsend, Sunday 23rd June 2013

After a week away from work and fishing in Cornwall, which was as relaxed as always, why is the pace of life slower down there? Reminds me of Ireland, it was back to try and vanquish my demons with Landsend. I wanted a draw on the match lake and to fish for silvers, but as usual, when its in, lake 3 was to be my home for the duration of what turned into another struggle.  I drew peg 70, which had it been a normal match, i.e. not restricted to topkit + 3 sections, I might have fancied, so I decided to fish positively, a rig for caster short and 'long' (as long as the restrictions allowed), a rig for meat, another the same as the caster rig, but heavier and with a hair rigged band on, finally a paste rig to fish towards the weedbed which is to the right of this peg.

I fed some meat towards the end bank, but not too close as it looks like a potential tackle graveyard, as the prevailing wind had undercut the end bank exposing tree stumps and a gothic looking maze of gnarled root stumps. I also fed caster short and at full length, with a big pot of micros and softened 4's going in towards the weed bed.  Nothing apart from a lonesome roach on the short caster line - not a good sign, but the line out to the weed bed was producing some fizz.  I dropped the paste rig into this and had 3 carp in 4 or 5 put in's, but that was, as seems all to familiar of my matches lately, all the carp action from that swim.

The long caster line produced nothing and it seemed as if the silvers weren't in residence today, preferring to be out in the main body of the lake, rather than the 3 sided pool that is peg 70.  I had a couple of F1's on soft pellet, a couple of decent skimmers short and another 3 or 4 small carp down the edge on paste, meat was a waste of time, not one bite coming to it. I could see Joe McMahon opposite struggling and he joined a few DNW's on the lake, it seems looking at the weigh sheet, the fish were more concentrated in the middle of the lake, rather than either end, with none of the favoured pegs on the lake producing. My meagre efforts went just over 30lb for a resounding nowhere.

See one of the other bloggers for the results, as I couldn't get near the weigh sheets for David 'silverfox' Bailey and his camera.

Viaduct Thursday Cost Cutter 13th June 2013

Down to Viaduct today, hoping that it bucked the recent trend that seems to be affecting all fisheries, of the fish seemingly not interested in feeding.

31 fishing, Campbell and Cary both in, so I wanted a draw on Campbell, perhaps I should be careful what I wish for, as I picked out 131, after Matt Tomes handed Paul Greenwood 132. I tried to cover all bases, with a straight lead set up, full depth and shallow waggler, a margin rig, a 5m meat rig and two pellet rigs, one full depth, one shallow.

I started on the waggler, with meat, but Paul had landed three fish before I had my first bite and fish (and the ratio didn't change much during the match). A switch to the lead brought a couple of fish, but in what was to become a pattern for the day, that was that for the bites on the lead. A switch to the pole saw the pellets being whittled down and eventually eaten by 3oz skimmers, the 5m meat line, although being primed for later, gave up nothing on an early look in.  By now Paul was catching tight to the rushes between 133/134 on the shallow waggler. The margin gave me a small tench and a bream, repeating the now familiar 2 fish then nothing of all the other lines/methods, except the 5m line which remained biteless.

Coming into the last couple of hours another look on the 5m line produced the one and only fish caught from it (unless a 3oz roach on 10mm meat counts!!). The margin gave up a bream and small carp, but then bucked the trend, a 3rd bite and a carp was foul hooked, this took 10 mins to get to the net and finally snapped the 0.18 hooklength when I had the elastic fully stretched via the pulla bung. What I hoped would be a decent last hour, was dire, Paul's peg was getting stronger and stronger, whilst mine gave up one tench in the whole of the last hour.

I even managed to drop the last carp I caught into the wrong net, so I had an empty net and one over by 7lb or so, giving me 70lb carp and 15.11 silvers for 10th on the day, only 6 weights over a ton, including Pauls double ton, which gave him the win by a wide margin.  With hindsight, the meat was a waste of time in open water, it might have paid off to fish a pellet line and stick to it, hoping that the carp moved in over it.

1) Paul Greenwood 229.14 peg 132
2) Glenn Bailey 111.14 peg 115
3) Phil Harding 109.01 peg 112
4) S Russell 104.05 peg 129
5) Matt Tomes 101.03 peg 114
6) Peter Thompson 100.00 peg 88

Silvers

1) Roland Lucas 34.00 peg 123
2) Howard Webb 26.11 peg 105

Landsend Wednesday Open 12th June 2013

I had booked into Viaduct, but a phonecall at 5pm on Tuesday night with news that the Viaduct match was cancelled, due to low numbers, saw me with the option of pleasure fishing or having another bash at Landsend. A quick call to Tony Rixon and he kindly brought round a couple of pints of caster Tuesday evening.

So the plan was to fish for silvers, caster and meat being the two main lines of attack, with some pellet in reserve. I drew 15 and listened to the rest of the field bemoaning the fact that Trigger had drawn peg 19 and the match was won before we left Mike's cabin.

I set up a NG Gimp to fish caster and it would do for short and at 10m just before the lake bed started shelving up to the island. A rig to fish meat at 5m, a margin rig and a rig to fish banded 6mm pellet up the shelf -  which didn't produce a bite!!

Loose feeding caster and meat at the start and I dropped in on the short caster line and had two F1's and a small perch, before the bites dried up. Out to the 10m line and there was little action here either, just one skimmer after an hour. I decided to mix up some groundbait and fed it on the 10m line in quite tightly compacted balls, to get it and its caster content to the bottom. This brought an immediate response and several decent skimmers fell to double caster over it.

A look on the 5m meat line produced a lift bite and the one and only fish on it, a 1½lb skimmer. The short caster line produced a run of small perch, the hoped for Tench, conspicuous by their absence. I had feed a meat line into the LH margin and this produced 3 small carp, before a much bigger specimen took the rig right up to the elastic into the tree by peg 14 - one of my favourite, no longer made, MW margin floats.... As sport was quiet, I set up another one and added a 1lb+ chub to the silvers net.

Back on the 10m line and it was a long wait between bites for decent skimmers, I didn't catch a single roach, so nothing to keep weight going in the net. The last half hour saw me land a carp on the caster rig and lose a couple more, as they started to have a munch after 4pm.

My carp went 14lb or so and the silvers 24.04 which was joint second in the silvers, so I may as well have saved the caster money and fished pellet.  As was the common prediction at the start, Trigger won and Tom Thick was second, only 3 pegs in on the car park side, 1 - 5 - 11, whilst every other peg was in on the opposite side.

1) Trigger 106.08 peg 19
2) Tom Thick 96.01 peg 11
3) Clint W 79.00 peg 5
4) Martin Lenaghan 48.12 peg 1
5) Matt Tomes 41.05 peg 21
6) Nick Brown 40.01 peg 23

Silvers

1) Phil 'Fabio' Harding 25.00 peg 17
=2) Chris Fox (peg 15) and Trigger (peg 19) 24.04

Shiplate Farm, Sunday 9th June 2013

A Clevedon club match today, 18 fishing and we were on the main lake.  I had taken the advice and gone into this match with a positive mental attitude and once I'd drawn and seen the peg, I was fairly positive that I didn't fancy it.  Peg 10, it is a narrow peg, about 18-20yds to the island.  The way the wind was whipping through, I decided to leave the waggler rods in the hardcase and walked back to the car to get the lead rod, which was there as a last resort.

I set up the lead rod, with 0.19 hooklength and a 16 QM1 to fish to the island, 4 topkits, one for meat at 5m, a margin rig and two pellet rigs, vitually identical, but one with a banded hook and one for soft pellet.  I fed the margin, 5m line and some micros and 6's at 11m (too windy to realistically fish further)  and finally some 8mm pellets fed tightto the island. I managed 22 minutes on the lead, before the motionless tip had me chucking it up the bank.

Out to the 11m line and 6mm Devils Spawn saw a couple of small skimmers in the net, a switch to hard pellet was a fruitless one, as I didn't have a bite on a banded pellet all match (pole or lead).  After two hours of persistently trying the pellet and meat to no avail, I gave in and got the maggots out, this saw me net a few more skimmers, but the 0.16 and green Vespe was too harsh for them and a few were lost.

By now, it was apparent that the lake was fishing hard, I had tried the island again amd it remained biteless and no sign of fish, not even any liners.  I could see Rod Wotton bank walking and the comments about how hard it was were coming thick and fast.

With half an hour to go, my float buried and I was attached to what felt like a big bream, but the it woke up and a dogged battle was fought, before a 14.06 carp was landed.  Back out and I hooked another, mistakenly I tried to bully the fish and it came off, just as it was coming to the surface - a costly mistake.  With 15 minutes ro go, what had been a barren island, was now home to rolling carp, I decided to stick it out on the pole, which was now producing bites, I managed ro lose another carp and a big skimmer, both possibly foul hooked amd all too soon came the all out.

My few accidental skimmers went 4lb dead, the late  single carp went 14.06 for a total of 18.06, which was enough for 7th, the lost fish most likely costing me third place.  I think, not taking caster and setting my stall out for silvers cost me any sort of pick up today, as I think a full six hours targeting them would have seen me catch enough to frame.

1) Andy Hembrow 54.12 peg 14
2) Brian Slipper 35.06 peg 6A
3) Lee Williams 23.12 peg 5A
4) Paul Faiers 22.06 peg 14B
5) Dave Smart 21.08 peg 13
6) Mike Owens 21.01 peg 15

Silvers

1) Andy Hembrow 14.04 peg 14
2) Paul Faiers 7.06 peg 14B

Acorn Tuesday Open, 4th June 2013

It promised to be a warm and sunny day, the one thing I wasn't expecting was the wind whipping across the lake when I arrived. Into the cafe to pay and it now turns out the Tuesday Tenner match is actually £13 if you want to go in the golden peg.  As there was £360 in the golden peg kitty, there was 6 golden pegs, each worth £60.

I think my peg was one of them, but I wasn't at all convinced that it would give up enough to pocket the cash, peg 14 on cyanide straight was to be my place of penance today, I have no idea who or what to sacrifice to the draw gods to change my luck.  I had intended to fish for silvers, but setting up, with the wind off my back, I did go round and clear an area to fish banded pellet tight across. Four rigs set up today, a rig for banded pellet right across, a rig for the far shelf, a skimmer rig for down the track and a meat rig, that would do for across and at 3m to my left.

The meat did not produce a bite, so no more of that, the banded pellet saw a 3lb fish in the net first put in, then a 20 minute wait for the next one and that was just a lb. The wind changed round and blew straight down the lake from L to R, that saw me reverting back to plan A, I had fed a groundbait line down the track, but this produced nothing, on either caster or maggot for most of the second hour, I then had a few skimmers and some decent roach, best one 14oz, but they wouldn't keep coming.

The usually productive short maggot line gave up half a dozen decent skimmers and then a carp snaffled the maggot and killed that off.  it was hard work, swapping and changing between the short line, the track and the far shelf. This put a few carp in the net that weigh heavier than they look, as I thought I had 28lb ish of carp and they went 46.10, the reluctant skimmers went 12.09, making me 7th overall and 4th in the silvers, one out of the silvers money by default. The only consolation I had was being the top weight by about 12lb from peg 10 to peg 21, cyanide straight living up to its name.

Peg 8 was a golden peg and with Dave Wride on it, as expected he trousered the golden peg cash and the match win. Interesting to see the top two silvers weights come from bridge pegs.

1) Dave Wride 142.11 (and he was over in one net, but only by 12oz) peg 8
2) Mike Owens 82.10 peg 2
3) Kevin Jefferies 74.10 peg 34
4) Gabriel Skarba 66.12 peg 22
5) N Coles 66.04 peg 6
6) Mike Chapman 59.04 peg 30
7) Chris Fox 59.03 peg 14

Silvers

1) Kevin Jefferies 20.14 peg 34
2) Gabriel Skarba 19.04 peg 22
3) Andy Gard 16.06 peg 4
4) Chris Fox 12.09 peg 14

Tony Rixon's Float Only, Landsend, Sunday 2nd June 2013

After the last match, where but for my stubborness in not wanting to venture in the bramble ridden margin, I felt I should have done better, on to the venue where I have never won or framed, except in silvers.

I never seem to catch much from lake 3, so where do I draw,  58 on lake 3 and for good measure it was the longest walk.  Several people were glad to bend my ear and tell me what a good peg it is, but as this seems to happen no matter where I draw, I tend to ignore the obvious windups.  But, I do recall drawing thos once before and not doing too badly inthe section with it.  Before the all in Tony Rixon came down and expressed his belief it was a decent draw, saying I'd need to go downthe RH margin to the brambles.

I set up 4 rigs, one for banded pellet over, one for meat at 5 m, but with the peg pretty much the same depth (not a lot over 3') it would do for a look round if necessary. A paste rig, as this has worked on this peg before and a margin rig to fish meat down to the brambles.

Starting on the pellet rig over, with a banded 6mm over cupped in 4's, first put in saw the float dip and a near 2lb cruciany/F1thing was in the net, this was quickly followed by one of the small (14oz)  carp that came out of lake 4, this was followed by a 3 oz roach. A flash in the pan, as that was to be the last of the fish acrossmon pellet.  The meat and paste lines proved to be fruitless, so an early look down the RH margin to brambles. This gave two, fish in 3 put ins, both small (2lbish)  and a lost foul hooker, so, perhaps it wouldn't be too bad a day....... Nope, that was the only fish taken from the margin, despite regular drop ins and feeding.

I hadn't taken the caster out the bag at the start, but a couple of hours in,  out they come along with another rig, this time a malman winter wire with an 18 on 0.12. The caster produced an instant response, but a couple of fish were lost due to the 0.12 hooklength, with a couple landed, including two 1lb or so Perch.  It really was pergatory, hours 4 and 5 being fishless, despite sitting for half an hour on maggot over the two caster lines and trying single, double and triple down the margin.

The last hour saw another fish on caster and a couple on meat, but they were small, whereas Tim Clark was catching at an equally slow rate, but his fish were  4 or 5 times the size.

My meagre efforts went 39lb odd of carp and just over 5lb for the two perch, 2 F1's and solitary roach, so just over 45lb total, which was enough for 3rd in section and the end of my series.

I can see little point in returning to Landsend, whilst I have no problem with Mike Duckett and I like the location and solitude, it seems to have plenty of fish, but at least as a summer venue, thats me finished with it, as its a total waste of pools and petrol money, from a personal perspective.

For the results see Tony's blog.

Viaduct Cost Cutter, Thursday 30th May 2013

In the car park I realised I'd parked next to a couple of coffin dodger escapee's from Huntstete, Chris Rolfe and Mike Jones, it was like a cross from one of those old vaudeville comedy duo's and an old married couple.  Mike brings along a nice line in hessian handbags, decorated with ladybirds, is this what we have to look forward to as old age creeps up?

After reading one of my old blog entries, they had taken the trip up to Matchbox and spent a few hours there and Mike was proudly showing off his new S Class, complete with wheel/trolley kit. It will look out of place on the new bivvy pegs at Huntstrete........  How ridiculous is that idea, the carp fishermen are the reason I haven't renewed my Bathampton tab for the last couple of years.

Anyway, back to todays match, I had gone with the intention of fishing for carp, so 8mm pellets and 10mm meat were the mainstays of the bait bag, along with some betaine groundbait to make paste.  I wasn't too chuffed when peg 90 revealed itself and less so when I saw the wind was blowing off my back and into the opposite corner, making 94 a much more attractive prospect.

I set up a shallow wag, a full depth wag, a lead rod, and four topkits one for banded pellet, one for meat at 5m, a paste rig and a margin rig. The margin and paste rigs remained motionless when tried, so thats all about them. I had, at the last minute, nicked the last few slices of white bread from home  - not that I eat the horrible stuff -  and stuck it in the bait bag, I started with this on the lead and had two 9lbers in the first 25 minutes, but with no liners or other bites after an hour, that went up the bank where it belongs.

Out on the full depth waggler and a couple of missed bites before connecting with a rocket powered entity, that took off and must have been 30 yards away when I tried to turn it and the 6lb sensor reel line parted with a sickening crack, right on the bail arm roller - its a pretty new reel and an examination of the roller showed no sharp or damaged areas.  So re-tackled up,  another bite and a good fish fairly hooked, I played it for ages and it managed to pick up a sunken branch from the margin, which promptly slid down the line and disgorged the hook.

Shortly after a 2lb skimmer fell to the waggler before all indications on that line stopped, so a switch to the meat line saw the float twitching like an epileptic with St Vitus dance and the meat being taken off the hook.  Finally a couple of skimmers fell to this, but it was a lot of effort for little return.

There seemed to be more skimmers than carp in the peg, so I rummaged through my gear and found a pint and a half of 6mm pellets, putting these on and loose feeding them saw a decent run of simmers and bream come to the net, I was now cursing not bringing groundbait, worms etc.  At 15.25 I hooked and landed another carp, this slowed down the skimmer action, with only a couple more before hooking another carp on the last put in.  The scales gave me 36.07 for the four carp and 28.11 of bream/skimmers.  This was enough to take 2nd silvers on the lake and a pick up, welcome, but totally unintended.  Top silvers on the day was a creditable 60.01 from Craig 'Trigger' Edmunds, taken on 6mm hard pellet.

1) Dick Bull 159.13 peg 114
2) Lewis Greenwood- King 137.12 peg 126
3) Chris Rolfe 131.04 peg 118
4) Tony Whittcomb 124.05 peg 129
5) Mr Unreadable 104.09 peg 94
6) K Guppy 103.15 peg 98

Silvers

1) Craig Edmunds 66.01 peg 77
2) John Bradford 29.12 peg 135
3) Chris Fox 28.11 peg 90

As Promised, the full and final tables. The columns to the right in red are the worst result, which is dropped.

Pole Only 2013 Overall Table
Final Table								Worst Result
Name			P		Weight			P	Weight
1	Pete Bartlett		40		370	4		3	23.04
2	Tom Thick		37		357	12		4	12.04
3	Mike Nicholls		37		246	0		4	73.02
4	Lance Tucker		35		225	13		5	19.07
5	Tim Ford		34		275	4		5	14.11
6	Lewis Jones		33		365	2		3	33.15
7	Bob Gullick		32		195	12		5	37.13
8	Tony Rixon		31		300	3		5	6.08
9	Brian Slipper		31		285	9		0	0.00
10	Joe McMahon		30		243	3		0	0.00
11	Mark Broomsgrove		28		235	3		3	15.02
12	Chris Fox		28		196	5		2	18.09
13	Andy France		27		262	14		2	20.10
14	John Osborne		26		199	2		1	11.07
15	Matt Tomes		26		184	11		2	15.06
16	Dave Wride		26		177	4		1	8.00
17	Paul Faiers		26		175	13		1	22.03
18	Mike Owens		24		259	14		1	2.15
19	Bela Bakos		23		199	15		3	23.11
20	Nigel Vigus		23		114	14		1	23.02
21	Russ Peck		21		153	3		1	12.14
22	Glenn Bailey		19		200	4		2	1.08
23	John Bradford		19		115	4		0	0.00
24	Eddie Wynne		18		154	15		1	15.09
25	Nick Harvey		18		118	12		0	0.00
26	Glenn Calvert		17		136	6		1	3.14
27	Kev Perry		17		119	10		1	13.00
28	Ken Rayner		16		137	3		1	5.00
29	Gordon Canning		16		106	9		1	7.14
30	Dave Poole		15		79	10		0	0.00
31	Jason Radford		13		131	1		0	0.00
32	Paul Lasson		12		100	12		1	20.04

Pole Only 2013
Silvers Final Table 2013								Worst Result
Name			P		Weight			P	Weight
1	Mark Broomsgrove		40		87	0		0	0.00
2	John Bradford		39		59	2		0	0.00
3	Paul Faiers		36		80	8		1	1.06
4	Glenn Calvert		36		71	12		5	1.14
5	Chris Fox		35		50	13		3	1.00
6	Kev Perry		34		35	3		5	12.00
7	Russ Peck		31		60	4		3	1.03
8	Mike Owens		31		33	5		2	0.07
9	Nigel Vigus		30		34	14		3	7.10
10	Pete Bartlett		30		20	7		4	17.01
11	Lance Tucker		28		46	2		0	0.00
12	Dave Wride		27		49	5		5	3.02
13	Dave Poole		27		40	1		0	0.00
14	Eddie Wynne		27		18	12		0	0.00
15	Brian Slipper		26		32	13		0	0.00
16	Paul Lasson		23		40	8		0	0.00
17	Matt Tomes		22		38	3		1	0.09
18	Ken Rayner		22		34	6		2	0.12
19	Tim Ford		21		25	11		0	0.00
20	Tony Rixon		21		25	5		0	0.00
21	Glenn Bailey		20		49	3		0	0.00
22	Andy France		19		26	13		0	0.00
23	Tom Thick		18		52	12		0	0.00
24	Bob Gullick		18		27	12		2	0.08
25	Joe McMahon		17		18	0		0	0.00
26	Jason Radford		16		21	13		0	0.00
27	Mike Nicholls		15		17	2		0	0.00
28	Gordon Canning		13		13	10		1	0.04
29	Bela Bakos		13		9	4		0	0.00
30	John Osborne		12		21	12		1	0.15
31	Lewis Jones		8		3	2		0	0.00
32	Nick Harvey		2		2	4		0	0.00