Kev Perry Series, Round Five, 16th May 2010

I am in a fortunate position to reveal that a dynamic new tackle designer is ready to launch his first product. Local Bream and Cider expert, Kev Perry has been working tirelessly to produce a new pole mounted pot, one that can really deliver when the fish need plenty of feed to keep them in the swim.



Kev has personally committed to emptying and recycling the contents of the Natch bottles, although he has approached me to help him, should the volume of orders become too much. I look forward to joining Kev in this new venture, items in the pipe line are the 'Thatchers' five gallon polypin pellet container and the Blackthorn 9 or 11 gallon aluminium barrel seat box, all of which will be lovingly emptied before being crafted into quality tackle products.

Yesterdays fifth round of the Kev Perry series was met with the weather still cold for the time of year, although the water temp was up 2°C from last weeks 10°C, at the start and a positively tropical 15°C at the end of the match. It was my turn to fish the Match Lake, thankfully, after last weeks poor showing on Rushcombe. I arrived around 07.30 and for once didn't have to chuck any pleasure anglers off, in fact they were fairly conspicuous by their absence. I pegged out Rushcombe and headed into the cafe for breakfast.

As my results this series have been pretty dire, I decided that I'd have to get get Dave 'Golden Arm' Wride to draw for me, he handed me A1 (ML8), the back bank isn't my favourite area, but the wind was blowing in there and it had more colour than the main part of the lake. Fellow organiser Paul Faiers was on peg 10 and fairly convinced that he'd have a good day on the silvers, Kev Perry on 12 and Glen opposite on 27, at least if the fishing was poor we had a good 'social' crowd.

I know that those who tend to be consistent at Bullock Farm, catching good weights of Crucians, feed very little, I must admit I find this difficult, restraint is obviously not in my nature. I yearn for the days on the river when a gallon of maggots would barely last five hours, so feeding a teacup full of micropellet in 6 hours hardly fills me with excitement. Given that I had no chance of any pick up in the overall league or silvers, I had a plan of fishing caster for the silvers and paste for carp, with a back up of hard 6mm pellet.

I set up a 4x10 rig to fish caster, 0.13 to a 0.11 hooklength and a 18 6313, this matched with doubled up No8 elastic. A similar rig, to fish 6mm banded pellet, this on 0.15/0.13 and a 18PR36 and two paste rigs, one a Big H float on 0.15 with a mustad paste hook 16 and a blob on 0.17 with a mustad paste hook 12.

At the all in I fed a line about 5m at 11 o'clock with caster and another line over on the tip of the island with dampened 4mm, the RH margin looked inviting, but I was determind to leave it well alone for at least three hours. First drop in on the caster and the float buried and a couple of minutes later a 3lb mirror was the first keepnet resident. I took a few Crucians and fantails from this line, but it wasn't fast and furious sport, a look over to the island with a 4mm expander saw a couple more Crucians landed, but the enevitable missed bite syndrome started. A switch to banded 6mm pellet saw 5 goldfish landed in 5 put ins. I switched back to the caster line and tried maggot over it, another couple of Crucians, some decent skimmers and then it went quiet.

I carried on feeding caster, but tried a 4mm expander over it and had a decent spell of crucians, skimmer and an eel which was over 1lb, although I didn't get to weigh it, todays shallow pan landing nets aren't designed for containing eels and I must be out of practise in dealing with them, as he managed to squirm out of the net, off my leg and the pallet and back into the lake...... Shortly after I had a carp around 7 or 8lb over the caster on 4mm pellet and with 1¾ hours to go, I had a look at the inviting margin, I had either a bite or a liner most put ins and caught carp in the 3-5lb bracket until the all out.

Thankfully it had been enough to win both the match and keeping on the caster line for that length of time, also saw met take the silvers money. A decent pick up at last in this series. Sadly I had to work Sunday night, so the money stayed in my pocket, the local pub and Indian restaurant will have to wait for their share!!

Rushcombe had fished somewhat better, with 3 of the top six coming from there.

1) Chris Fox 35.150KG ML8
2) Sean Kitteridge 25.300KG Rush C2
3) Dave Roper 24.300KG ML22
4) Mark Walsh 23.850KG ML18
5) Nick Harvey 22.700KG Rush C3
6) Mark Bromsgrove 21.800KG Rush C1

Silvers

1) Chris Fox 10.950KG ML8
2) Andy Hembrow 10.500KG ML21
3) Paul Faiers 9.150KG ML10
3) Dave Wride 8.500KG Rush D1

Overall Table
1) Dave Wride 28P 87.060KG
2) Lewis Jones 28P 74.180KG
3) Sean Kitteridge 27P 70.620KG
4) Andy Hockin 25P 79.170KG
5) Bob Gullick 25P 69.670KG
6) Mike Owens 25P 64.880KG

Silvers Table
1) Dave Wride 34P 53.870KG
2) Tom Thick 33P 39.200KG
3) Bob Gullick 29P 29.250
4) Nick Collins 28P 36.050KG
5) Andy Hembrow 27P 24.280KG
6) Lweis Jones 26P 25.980KG

Kev Perry Series, Round Four, 9th May 2010

I'd been feeling pretty uninspired by this years series, today did nothing to regain any enthusiasim for the rest of the matches. As I was on the Match Lake last week, I knew it was Rushcombe for me today. I had already decided to fish positively, but the decline in the temperature had me doubting that it would be possible to frame from this lake today. I was intending to fish banded pellet and a line or two for paste, I had to re-evaluate as the temperature kept low, with a North Easterly wind. The thermometer showed the water temp to be 10°C, dropping back to winter levels again, whatever happened to that global warming they promised...... just another ruse to levy more tax out of us... cynical me, well yes actually, I think its a big con job.

I took two bags of liquidised bread out of the freezer and picked up a white loaf from CO-OP on the way to the match. I thought pegging out would be easier, as both Paul and myself had not ventured to the pub last night, the cricket being the reason I didn't venture from my sofa. We were doing OK until we had some of the competitors come up offering advice, we ended up re-doing it, as we wanted in the end.

Plenty of banter at breakfast and I decided that after 3 pretty average to poor draws, I'd draw my own peg, C2 on Rushcombe, I wasn't too disappointed, but I didn't think it would be as good as last match, with the wind in the opposite direction.

As the aforementioned lack of enthusiasim had engulfed me, I had nothing prepared so was glad to have until 10.30 to set up, especially as it took me twenty minutes to do the gardening necessary for me to have a margin (and I wasn't the only one). I more in hope than expectation set up a dibber to fish banded pellet up the far shelf, a Malman Volte to fish 4mm expander or maggot up on the shelf and a paste rig to fish the LH (newly pruned) margin.

I started by feeding a couple of 4mm pellets by catty, across on the shelf, as well as potting some softend pellet and a few casters on the paste line. I had tried various pellets, maggots and caster in the first hour and a quarter, with only 4 goldfish to show for it. I grabbed a topkit from the rod bag (with purple middy elastic), set up a Malamn float whose name eludes me and plumbed up at the bottom of the shelf. Set just off bottom, in it went with a piece of punch and a pole mounted pot full of liquidised bread. Bites came immediately and for an hour or so I caught steadily, goldfish and carp to 1lb or so.

I had an occasional look in the paste line, at 15.00 I had a carp and then a goldfish from it, but these proved to be the only fish from this line all day. I continued picking up odd fish on the bread punch until the final whistle. One minute before the whistle I lost a carp,for some reason the hooklength (ultima silk 0.010) broke at the loop knot. This cost me the section, as I lost out to Andy Hembrow on C1, by only 140grams.

Rushcombe fished hard, my 6.420KG was third on the lake, behind Lewis Jones 0n D6, who weighed 8.160KG and Andy Hembrow on C1 who weighed 6.560KG.

Different story on the Match Lake - only two weights under 10KG and four over 20KG.

1) Dave Wride 37.400KG peg 24
2) Andy Hockin 29.450KG peg 12
3) Bob Gullick 24.550KG peg 17
4) Tony Goodland 21.750KG peg 22
5) Tom Thick 19.800KG peg 21
6) Sean Kitteridge 18.350KG peg 27

Silvers

1) Dave Wride 20.400KG peg 24
2) Sean Kitteride 14.30KG peg 27
3) Tom Thick 13.600KG peg 21
4) Nick Collins 12.350KG peg 15


Overall Table

1) Lewis Jones 24 points 57.930KG
2) Dave Wride 23 points 72.760KG
3) Bob Gullick 22 points 58.520KG
4) Andy Hockin 21 points 65.970KG
5) Tom Thick 21 points 58.820KG
6) Sean Kitteridge 20 points 45.320KG

Silvers Table

1) Dave Wride 27 points 45.370KG
2) Tom Thick 27 points 32.750KG
3) Nick Collins 23 points 30.000KG
4) Lewis Jones 23 points 23.080KG
5) Bob Gullick 22 points 26.420KG

At last...... a better day at Landsend 5/5/10

The forecast rain never came, the wind gusted and swirled, but not so much that it affected presentation and the sun shone, it was good to be out on the bank.

The Match Lake & the far side of the Specimen Lake were in the draw bag and after Fabio drew Tony Rixon peg 31, most thought they were fishing for second place - and so it came to pass!! Peg 5 greeted me when I opened the draw card, should be good for a few silvers was the consensus. I'd pretty much decided my tactics before setting off, having mainly hard pellet and caster in my bait bag, trying not to over complicate things. I did also have a tin of corn and a few soft pellets.

I set up three rigs, the shallow rig for tight to the island was a MW slim power on 0.17, to 0.15 and a 18PR36 with a hair rig band. The rig for soft pellet or banded hard pellet at the bottom of the shelf was a MW power diamond, which took 6 No8 stotz as a bulk, this was on 0.15, with a 0.13 hooklength and a 16 6313 hook. A rig for caster was also assembled, this being a Malman winter wire that took 4 no8 & 3 No 10 stotz, this was initially coupled with 0.11 and a 20 6313.

I wanted to try two lines at full depth, one feeding just micro pellet and wetted 4mm and another line with groundbait, that had just a few 3mm pellets in. The line up the shelf would be fed with 6mm pellet and the caster line was loose fed by hand (about 4m).

At the all in I fed the micro and 4mm straight across at the bottom of the shelf, the ground bait at 12m which was in open water, in front of the gap in the islands, some 6mm by catty up the shelf and caster at 4/5m, as well as few down the LH side at topkit range. In the first half an hour I had more bites than for the whole match on Monday. I had a couple of skimmers, a couple of F1's and 2 very small carp. The F1's seemed to prefer the ground bait line, rather than the pellet fed at the bottom of the shelf.

These fish were taken on soft pellet, but as usually happens (to me, if no one else) the bites got lightening quick and impossible to hit, how frustrating does keeping on shipping back 13m of pole to rebait, only for it to get taken again in 30 seconds... A change to banded pellet saw a big reduction in bites, but at least I hit them or could drop the banded pellet back in.

First drop in on the caster line and the float slid under, a lift of the pole saw the elastic come out and one of those skimmers crossed with a salmonoid leapt out of the water. Why do they do that on commercials? I've never seen it on a natural venue.
The water wasn't yet at summer colour and the fish hadn't settled over the caster line properly yet., A look up the shelf saw a 6lb fish in the net first put in, another about 4lb the next put in and then nothing. It seemed as if the fish were mooching round in pairs. Alternating between the two pellet lines saw a couple more fish in the net, Ide now replacing F1's as the fish sat over the groundbait.

Next look in on the caster line saw a steady run of fish, perch, skimmers and ide, until it went quiet, the float buried and the doubled No8 elastic flew out and a lumpy 7lb carp was powering to the island. Another carp next put in and in trying to stop it getting to the lilly pads by peg4, it snapped the 0.11. Stepping up to 0.14 and a 18 6313 saw another carp netted on the next put in - quite bizarre that they were queuing up at 4.5m, on the caster line, but not over the pellet.

With an hour and a quarter to go, the silvers line went quiet after I landed a small tench, so I went back out to the island shelf and managed another 3 carp - frustratingly losing 3, all of them under my own pallet. I've been experimenting with some different elastics and have found the Garbolino Bazookarp to be very forgiving and not lost many fish at all. BUT, my big mistake was thinking that the orange (for bagging or big fish!!) would be OK without a pull bung, no, it needs one, hence the lost fish. Rest assured that tomorrow a pull bung will be fitted to that topkit.

My 84.04 was good enough for second on the lake (to Tony 'the paste' Whitcombe), so was quite pleased, then down to earth with a bump when the Speci lake weights were revealed, Tony Rixon winning as predicted, with over 200lb. Although him and Dean both actually landed more, but both exceeded the net weight limit of 80lb per net. (Dean with two nets!!)

It was a nice days fishing, a mixture of carp & silvers and a pick up as well, thats helped my malaise which was growing about the venue.

1) Tony (I know its a flyer, but I didn't draw it) Rixon 206.05 peg 31
2) Dean (they didn't look that big) Malin 178.03 peg 25
3) Tony (I had to open a tin of corn, but paste worked in the end) Whitcombe 98.04 peg 19
4) Chris (not battered off the next peg today) Fox 84.04 peg 5
5) Adrian Bishop 60.00 peg 17
6) John Smith 57.04 peg 22

Silvers

1) John Bradford 53.02 peg 3
2) Mike West 28.12 peg 12
3) Chris Fox 24.00 peg 5

Battered (AGAIN!!) at Landsend 3/5/10

May day looked like being a bit warmer than yesterday and I'd booked into Landsend, it was a decent turnout with 30 fishing. I drew peg 34, fairly meaningless to me, but a peg that can hold fish I was told. I was flanked by Matt Tomes on my left on 33 and Andy France on 34.

I'd decided to come with a plan (or two), it was to be hard pellet across, soft pellet at the bottom of the shelf, paste for where ever they wanted it and as a last minute back up, I cubed some meat just as I was leaving.

Simplicity its self for rigs, a MW slim power for up the shelf, a MW pellet for bottom of the shelf, a blob for paste up the shelf and a Big H float for paste at full depth.

Plumbing up at the start, I disturbed a big fish on the ledge at 16m, so I was hopeful that there were some fish in the peg. At the all in, I cupped some micros and softend 4mm at the bottom of the shelf and fed the top of the shelf with 4mm using the catapult. Second drop in, saw a carp around 6lb hooked in the tail, I managed to land this (quite unusual for me to land a foul hooker) and dropped back in, 5 mins later another fouler which came off. I decided to try a punch of meat, the float settled and kept going under, the fish obviously knew where the snag was and managed to deposit the hook in it. That for all my efforts was the total of fish caught from the 16m line, not even a liner, until another fouler that came off, 5 mins from the end.

The soft pellet line produced the usual seemingly unmissable bites, that I missed!! I did take another 6lb carp on soft pellet from this line and a 1½lb skimmer, but it was pretty slow going. By this time I was 50 or 60lb behind peg 33, who was catching well, at 16m down the margin and out to the aerator.

I started another line at 12m, with chopped worm and caster, this was little better, but did produce a couple of perch and a hybrid, then surprisingly a 10lb carp took the worm hookbait, this line also died off. I half heartedly started a caster line at 6m, but to no avail, that didn't produce a bite and for the second match running at Landsend, I was well and truly pissed off by the nagler on the next peg catching over a ton, whilst I struggled to get a bite. At least on the last match, I managed to get a few fish in the last hour or so and weighed a reasonable near 80lb. Today I just couldn't buy a bite and chucked back my three carp, which probably went 20lb and around 6lb of silvers. Some consolation was that the majority on the lake suffered the same slow sport as I did, so perhaps I didn't do anything too drastically wrong.

I'm booked into Landsend Wednesday, I'm having serious second thoughts, but it couldn't happen a third time, could it?

I didn't stay to collect the results, so I'll lift them from Tony's blog later!

Wintery Conditions at Acorn Paddock 2/5/10

I was looking forward to this return visit, its a venue thats makes for an easy day out, easy walks (or drive!!), no snags and plenty of room to unship. The usual pre draw banter took place, although it was still lacking the usual talk of which pegs were flyers or not, as venue knowledge has yet to become apparent.

The drawbag gave me peg 17, Steve Hutchinson had 70lb off this peg last time, but that was without a freezing cold wind. I set up a 2 rigs to fish maggot or banded pellet tight across, that was a MW slim power on 01.5 to a 0.13 hooklength and a 18PR36 for the pellet and the same but a 18 6313 hook for maggot. A 0.4g slim power to fish the near line for perch was on 0.13 to a 0.11 hooklength and again a 18 6313. A MW power diamond with on 0.15 to 0.13 and a B911 18 was the set up for down the track and with wild optimisim a Big H paste float on 0.15.

I started on the near line and took a couple of perch on caster, then a couple of the pasty carp, this line went quiet, so a switch to the line down the track which had been fed with micros and caster, again a couple of fish, before the line switchd off. Over to the island and two fish on pellet, then nothing. A switch back to the near line where I'd introduced some chopped worm, saw a couple more pasties in the net. I could see Martin Rich on 16, he was catching down the track, in the rough water close to the bridge, but because the bridge sits in the water, the ripple didn't get through to me, I had flat calm for a lot of the day, even with the wind.

By alternating between worm, caster and maggot, I kept the odd fish coming from the near line (topkit to hand), but it was slow going. In the last hour I managed to get a run of fish from the island, but the biggest fish I could muster on the day, was approx 1lb.

As the scales came round at the end, I was confident of beating those to my left, who had struggled for bites, even more than I had, but knew Martin Rich had done me. All that didn't matter as Sean Kitteridge had put over a ton on the scales and my 37lb 12oz wasn't enough for a frame or any section money.

The cold wind had obviously affected the fishing, I was bloody freezing at the end, more like February than May, lets hope its warmer next time.

1) Sean Kitteridge 135.13 peg 9
2) Rod Wootten 64.4 peg 11
3) Gary Wall 60.00 peg 30
4) Martin Rich 51.8 peg 16
5) Tim Ford 49.14 peg 5
6) Paul Faiers 49.6 peg 4

Silvers

1) Paul Faiers 25.14

Match Three, Kev Perry Series 2010

I arrived at the venue early, as we had to peg out Rushcombe Lake, as usual, I had to chuck anglers off the Match Lake. I know Phil has the board saying which lakes are open/closed as you drive in, but notices at the lake entrances would make more sense.

Once I'd done this, Paul arrived, looking like he went to the pub yeterday dinner hour to watch the football and stayed all day and night and so it turned out, thats what happened. There are many tales of the drinking exploits of the now defunct Clevedon Veals team, which also included members of other teams, Mark Harper and Kev Dicks being two who readily spring to mind. One of the younger generation of anglers once asked me if these tales of folklore were true, I asured him they were and many were more wild and illegal than was commonly known - how everyone got away with all their limbs and driving licences, I'll never know.

As I just cannot physically cope with the massive drinking sessions and then fish anymore, I walked round Rushcombe with Paul and was glad I wasn't feeling too bad. After a full english, I felt ready to do battle with a decent draw, Charlie Barnes drew me peg 15 on Match Lake and if I never draw it again, it will be too soon.

I started full of optimisim, but soon had that knocked out of me!! I had set up a MW slim power on 0.15 with a 0.13 hooklength and a 20 808, the same float on 0.15 straight through to a 18 PR36, a margin rig which comprised a MW power on 0.17 straight through to a PR28 size 18 and a paste rig.

The crucians weren't in evidence in the open water, I could see Charlie Barnes on 12 and Louis Jones on 10 catching crucians and skimmers, whilst I struggled for bites. I did swap to a 6mm banded pellet and had three crucians, in three put ins - sorted - no, that was the end of that. The LH margin, close and under the pallet of 16 was seemingly devoid of fish, I had nothing from there, not so much as a liner.

I tried paste, maggot produced bites from quality roach, at least 1" long and in desperation I unwrapped the 'emergency, last resort' cat meat - nothing, no indication on the float at all.

The breeze got up slightly with a couple of hours to go and I noticed some fish movement tight to the island (behind peg 27), I fished tight across, in 12" of water with banded pellet and caught small carp in bursts until the all out. I'm sure I've done my pole some life threatening damage, at least 5 or 6 times whilst shipping back I whacked it into the chicken shed, as I had to try and bring the fish round before shipping back. I did try shipping back down the lake and a decent fish came towards me OK, then just kept running and cut through the line on the leg of peg 14's pallet. What with the people walkinground the lake, the chicken shed and the untamed vegetation growth making fishing so much more difficult than it should be, I finished the day pretty pissed off. I managed 3.900KG of silvers and 9.550KG of carp for a total of 13.450KG and hard bloody work it was.

Although not as pissed off as Paul, he'd drawn 19 on the Match Lake, the winning peg last time, there were fish in his peg, but I think it was carp 4 (in the keepnet) rigs in the boards and rushes double figures......

The rushbed between 25 & 26 looks to be spreading with the prowess of a triffid, these pegs may end up unfishable by June or July, Clive Petitt on 26 fished some old Maver pole that resembled a scaffold tube, saw edged braid (OK slight exaggeration) and still lost fish in the reeds, the others he managed to bully and lift out. It can't be good for poles or fish and removing the reeds and boarded areas would be like a big restocking programme.

Special mention to Glen Calvert, winning his second match in the series, especially as I heard from a reliable source that "Glen was out of it yesterday, he went to the Rugby and his kids were round my house as he was too pissed to be responsible for them" Glad to see Glen's keeping up tradition!!

Kev Perry was late, the cashpoint in Clevedon swallowed his cards, you'll be OK Kev, I bet your credit at the Blue Flame is good. Two series regulars couldn't make it today, so Darren 'Noddy' Vowles came along to make up the numbers and lived up to his awesome reputation, managing a creditable last but one in the section.

Disturbing murmerings from Thatchers rent boy and Charlie about the Yatton special and swallowing.........

The pegs on Rushcombe were all on the island with C1 being the second peg on the RH side over the bridge and round to D7 anticlockwise.

1) Glen Calvert 31.950KG peg 22ML
2) Louis Jones 27.500KG peg 10ML
3) Clive Petitt 25.100 peg 25 ML
4) Dave Roper 19.650 peg 8ML
5) Sean Kitteridge 18.070 peg D6 Rushcombe
6) Dave Wride 17.980 peg C1 Rushcombe

Silvers

1) Dave Wride 12.320KG
2) Louis Jones 11.00KG
3) Dave Roper 10.950KG
4) Bob Gullick 7.320KG Peg C2 Rushcombe.

Overal Table.
1) Louis Jones 17 points 49.770KG
2) Tom Thick 17 points 37.020
3) Glen Calvert 16 points 59.280KG
4) Mark Bromsgrove 16 points 38.400KG
5) Dave Roper 16 points 35.850 KG
6) Dave Wride 16 points 35.360KG
7) Bob Gullick 16 points 33.970KG
8) Mike Owens 16 points 33.930KG

Silvers Table.
1) Tom Thick 21 points 19.150KG
2) Dave Wride 20 points 24.970KG
3) Dave Roper 18 points 22.050KG
4) Bob Gullick 18 points 16.770KG
5) Nick Collins 17 points 17.650KG

Some trivia:

Match 1, total weight caught 224.500KG of which, 87.610KG were silvers. Giving averages of 8.314KG /3.244KG per angler.

Match 2, total weight caught 272.620KG, of which, 103.760KG were silvers. Giving an average of 10.097KG / 3.842KG per angler.

Match 3, total weight caught 354.910KG, of which, 125.020 were silvers. Giving an average of 13.144KG / 4.630KG per angler.

Landsend 21/04/10

The title should read "Battered (again) at Landsend"

Its a venue that I have mixed feelings about, its mature enough to house a variety of species in pleasant surroundings, but it does resemble fishing in an outdoor swimming pool. I think my transition to commercials isn't complete, its just a shame roach don't live to 50 and aren't as tough as carp.....

I think my difficulties at Landsend are twofold, feeding and finding where on the steep island slope (apart from peg 19 I've yet to find a real shelf) to fish.

I set up a rig to fish hard pellet up to the island, two to fish at the bottom of the shelf, one for soft pellet, one for paste and a caster rig.

First put in, Adrian Bishop on peg 21 to my left had a fish, it took me a few minuites longer, but I did have two F1/Cruciany things from the island swim.
I then had a carp, which was 8lb or so and a couple more a bit smaler, all on the hard pellet. The next three hours were pretty unproductive and saw only one other fish come to the net. Each time I looked at Adrian I could see yellow elastic streaming from his pole. He was catching up into the vacant peg 20, shallow 3m away from the island. During those barren three hours I had two carp, one on soft pellet, one on maggot and two decent skimmers on soft pellet.

With two hours to go, I started seeing some fish activity against the island and in the last hour and a half, had 6 more carp to round the day off.

I'm not even sure what weight I had, either 76lb something or 76lb something + 6lb 4oz of silvers. I didn't bother to check, Adrian had virtually doubled my weight from the next peg, by catching in open water, shallow - I never had so much as a bite trying it.

1) Tony Whitcombe 160-02 peg32
2) Adrian Bishop 138.10 peg 21
3) Tony Rixon 128-14 peg 27
4) Phil Harding 108.09 peg 31
5) Jamie Dyte 98.15 peg 19
6) Dean Malin 98-10 peg 3

The fish are still shoaled up, a couple went home early, including venue expert Gary Wall, who couldn't buy a bite. That aside, this a venue that seems to resond to experience and I've a lot to learn.

Acorn, New Lake, Sunday 18th April 2010

Plenty of matches to choose from today, I was intending to fish Trinity, Carps had a match on Woodland. The later draw, the likelihood of a better turn out and a new venue saw me heading to Acorn's new match lake.

Rather than go completely blind, I had a sneaky practise on Friday, just to get an idea of the depth and 'feel' of the place. I fished half an hour short of 6 hours and swapped lines/baits as soon as I managed to get fish coming regularly so was pleased to end with about 70lb, a 30lb/40lb split, silvers and carp. The silvers were perch, 10-12oz mainly and I had planned for them to figure in todays match...

Arriving at the draw (so glad it was 10am, as I ended up in town on a stag night last night and the powers of recovery aren't what they once were) there were plenty of good anglers in the car park, but the fact that no one knew what was a flyer and conversely no one was disappointed, as we were all equally in th dark about where the fish would come from.

I drew 21, if there was any downside, its the longest walk and when I got there there was a little surface scum and duckweed, but it was very little and the surface drift took it away before the start.

I intended to fish three lines, the bottom of the near shelf for perch, about 3' short of the bottom of the far shelf at full dpth down the track and up on the far shelf. Plumbing up I immediately discovered that the far shelf wasn't as defined and flat as the peg I'd fished Friday, the same rig for down the track, indicated that this peg was a float bristle length shallower than Fridays.

At the all in, I cupped three balls of groundbait, with micro and 4mm pellet in, down the track, fed 4mm pellet by catapult to the far shelf and caster on the near line. A look at the line down the track wasn't too productive, nor was the far shelf, whilst Louis Jones on my left was getting a small carp every put in from the off. I dropped into the near line, earlier than I'd have liked and had a brief run of the decent perch, but they didn't last long. A couple of small carp and a tench were the only other fish from this line.

The far shelf seemed to be devoid of fish, no bites, liners or indications were forthcoming. I'd set up a paste rig, as I'd not had any of the better fish on Friday, but was assured that they were in there. First drop in with the paste saw liners and the second produced a carp around 5lb, that was the last fish on paste, I hooked another later in the match, probably foul hooked and it came off. I had another decent carp down the track on hard pellet, but by this time was getting a battering on my RH side, as he was getting a fish a chuck across. The wind had got up slightly and was putting a ripple on the surface.

I was at least an hour behind peg 20 when I started catching across, I could see Tony Rixon on peg 19 also catching regularly now. Louis had stopped catching on peg 22 and thankfully, I was now getting a bite most put ins. I had a couple more bonus fish, as well as two more tench, all within 12" of the island. The rig for across was a MW slim power, on 0.15 powerline with a size 20 B911 on a 0.13 hooklength. Similar hook and line for down the track, although the float was a MW diamond that took 8 No8 stotz. Another rig the same for down the track, but with a PR36 and a lasso for hard pellet.

When the wind blew and the surface rippled, the bites came quickly and confidently, when the wind dropped, the bright conditions and flat calm, meant bites were hard to come by. At the all-out I was pretty convinced that Tony on 19 and peg 20 had me beaten, although I didn't have quite so many fish, mine were of a better stamp. A big crowd followed the scales, as it was difficult to estimate your own weight, let alone that of anyone else.

My better stamp of fish saw me manage to pip the two to my right, pegs 20 & 19,who both had good spells of catching, though not the three higher weights. I can't complain, a quality field of anglers and a fourth place. The weights were very close (apart from the winner!!) All I have to decide now, is whether to fish or work on Wednesday,if the weather holds, I think fishing will win.

A special mention to Charlies travelling partner Tom Thick, he drew the peg I fished on Friday, not sure why he didn't frame, it was solid, although hearing the worrying conversation that he and Charlie were having about incestuous relations with Tom's family - no wonder thay all have 6 toes down that neck of the woods - perhaps his mind wasn't on the fishing!! And I always though that the Yatton special was a food item in the chip shop, now it's been revealed as something of a sexual nature.....

1) John Dursley 97-05lb peg 5
2) Jim Jenner 74-09lb peg 8
3) Steve Hutchinson 70-09lb peg 17
4) Chris Fox 66-15lb peg 21
5) Tony Rixon 64-05lb peg 19
6) Tim Clark 62-00lb peg 2

Silvers

1) Charlie Barnes 15-00lb peg 13
2) Ed Wynne 13-07lb peg 25

Match Two, Kev Perry Series 2010

The title of Tony Rixon's blog from yesterday, is pretty apt for mine as well.

I went to Bullock Farm on Friday and fished peg 26, it wasn't an easy days fishing, but I managed about 20lb of silvers (mainly big crucians and fantails up to 2lb) and 40lb of carp. Most of the fish taken from the edge of the reed bed on paste. I stuggled to catch in open water, although it seems at the moment when feeding micro pellet or groundbait that there is plenty of fizzing, resulting in foul hookers, but they are not feeding on the hookbait.

So onto Sundays match, Thatchers very own special needs employee, Tom drew me 27 on Match Lake, my heart sank, I have never caught anything worth troubling the scalesmen with from this peg, indeed the last time I drew it I blanked.

The peg had thrown up a decent weight of silvers on the last match (trust Tom to draw it out two matches running) as did peg 30. I set up a caster rig, a Malman winter wire float, 0.11 mainline and a 63.13 size 20 to 0.10. Another rig with 0.13/0.11 and a 18 808 with a MW slim power float for pellet and a similar set up with 0.15/0.13 and a 18 B911 in case the carp showed up.

I also set up a paste rig for the open water and a margin rig that would do for the LH and RH margins, although I've never had a bite from the LH margin, its more barren than a convent full of nuns. The RH margin is very short, before the island ends and you are fishing inro open water, but it does produce a few fish.

At the start I fed a caster line at 1 o'clock 10m, another caster line at 11 o'clock 5m, a pellet line at 30'clock 11m and a throw away line as an experiment at 13m about 10 o'clock with 4mm cubed meat and hemp.

First put in I had a crucian around 6oz on the caster, I had to wait an hour before I had another fish, another crucian from the pellet line. I just wasn't getting bites, not even on single pinkie. By rotating the lines, I managed to stay awake, that and watching Nicky Collins and Mike Nicholls bagging. Lance Tucker was in between them, they doubled his weight, but I think his dripping about the pegging must have washed most of his bait away.

About three hours in I had two better roach from the caster line, but the fish that followed shrunk in size, to just bigger than the caster hookbait. A couple of fish on 4mm cubes of meat over the micro line just about rounded off my silver fishing, which was a piss poor effort - did I do anything drastically wrong, I don't think so, the fish had moved, as pegs that struggled in the first match, sacked up this time round.

Trying to regain some level of respectability, I had spent some time and the last hour persuing carp in the margins, as predicted the LH margin remained fish free. I had gone as far as under the pallet of peg 28, which produced one bite on catmeat. The RH margin gave up a small carp on my first put in, second put in the float went under and the fish snagged in the roots and brambles that cascade into the water on the end of the island. I spent 10 minutes or so with a decent stainless steel weed cutter, removing them and plenty of the sunken roots (which are pretty rotten, but too much of a match for 0.15 or 0.17 powerline). This meant leaving the swim to settle for a while, but I had to set up a new margin rig anyway.

With half an hour to go, I was pretty certain I was last in the section, if not the whole match, if it hadn't been a series I would have had a leisurely pack up, the float went under and a good fish rushed to the brambles and roots to snag me - thankfully they were now led on the bank and after a 10 minute battle a 10lb fish was in the net, hoping to repeat the feat, I dropped back into the margin, but it wasn't to be.

I hadn't had a bite on paste, nor over the meat & hemp line or from my 5m line, a pretty poor day and I am struggling to think what I could have done differently, a change in feeding - more or less? I tried upping the feed towards the end, to no avail, obviously I couldn't try less.

My meagre net of silvers went 2.150KG, the 10lb carp and his little cousin turned the dial round to 5.680KG for a total of 7.830, saving me from last in the section by 70 grams.

Unless I can get a section win every match now, it looks like the series is well gone, so I'll be attacking the last four matches intending to win them.

1) Glen Calvert 24.580KG peg 19 ML
2) Mike Nicholls 22.400KG peg 8 ML
3) Nick Collins 22.070KG peg 10 ML
4) Mike Owens 18.410KG peg 24 ML
5) Paul Faiers 17.550KG peg 14 NP
6) Mark Bromsgrove 15.050KG peg 22 ML

Silvers

1) Mark Bromsgrove 14.350KG peg 22 ML
2) Nick Collins 9.650KG peg 10 ML
3) Mike Owens 8.560KG peg 24 ML
4) Dave Roper 7.840KG peg 18 ML
5) Glen Calvert 7.500KG peg 19 ML
6) Lance (dripping) Tucker 6.950KG peg 9 ML

Overall Table.

1) Mike Owens / 13 / 26.410
2) Tom Thick / 12 / 21.970
3) Mark Bromsgrove / 11 / 11.650
4) Paul Faiers / 10 / 24.910
5) Lewis Jones / 10 / 22.270
6) Kev Perry / 10 / 21.230
7) Bob Gullick / 10 / 18.350
8) Dave Roper / 10 / 16.200


Silvers Table

1) Tom Thick / 14 / 12.850
2) Dave Wride / 13 / 12.650
3) Nick Collins / 12 / 12.650
4) Dave Roper / 12 / 11.100
5) Bob Gullick / 12 / 9.450
6) Andy Hockin / 11 / 8.660
7) Lance Tucker / 11 / 8.290

Acorn Wednesday 31st March

It seemed such a good idea to book into this match, after last Wednesday's match Tony said " Next weeks match is on Acorn, do you want to come", well it didn't take too much persauding, especially as when I said I was on nights the night before, Tony suggested a 11am draw.

The reality was somewhat different, a freezing cold wind blowing down the lake, as I'd been at work all night I knew we'd had sleet and a very cold night, so perhaps the 100lb+ weights that have won lately wouldn't be on the cards. Metcheck were predicting a wind chill of between -2°C & -5°C, I usually take their forecasts with a pinch of salt, they are more pessimistic than I am!! Not today, it was bloody freezing, at one stage my hands stopped working and when we had the sleet, frozen rain/hail Charlie Barnes was seen scurrying to his van for cover.

The draw saw me on peg 4, its a something and nothing peg, no real margins and a reasonable amount of open water, the RH side has something of a margin but you have to reach over a jutting out spit of bank and over a clump of grass. Plumbing up showed me that the bottom wasn't even, with a slightly deeper area at 10m - too far to struggle in the wind - so I set up a MW slim power, 0.15/0.13 and a 18 808 for maggot or 4mm soft pellet. I also set up a paste rig, which didn't get touched and two margin rigs, one for caster/maggot and one just in case they had a hard pellet.

At the all in, I started at 7m with maggot and fed some nicro on another line to my right, as well as feeding the close margins by hand with caster. I had a few perch, up to 1lb by switching from the 7m line to the LH margin at 4m. The fish weren't exactly climbing up the line, but from my vantage point, I couldn't see anyone emptying it. I had Charlies tackle caddy, Tom Thick virtually opposite, if he had rotated his lines any quicker, he'd have looked like a washing machine on spin speed.

I had an occasional look down what margin there is on the RH side and it wasn't until 15.40 that I had any indication that there were any fish in the vicinity, 3 carp from the line in 40 mins and 2 lost foulers were the sum of that line. By this time I was having trouble hooking casters on, my fingers had virtually siezed up with the cold (give me those clear frosty days anytime, instead of a freezing wind),

2 more carp in the last hour from the 7m line as well as a couple of perch (and an absolutely pristine, never caught before roach about 6oz) saw me through to the eagerly awaited final whistle. I had no idea how it had fished, apart from Tom opposite, Martin Lenaghan to my right on 3 and Jason Radford to my left on peg 6. I thought that Tom might have me beat.

My 26-10 wasn't enough to put any beer tokens in the pot, frustratingly one out of the money and just out of the sivers coin as well, perhaps I should have persisted with the perch.

1) Dean Malin 47.00 peg 15
2) Pete Sivell 45.01 peg 12
3) Ed Wynne 41.10 peg 16
4) P Notton 28.14 peg 10
5) Chris Fox 26.10 peg 4
6) Martin Lenagahn 22.11 peg 3

Silvers

1)Ed Wynne 23.04 (perch and tench)
2) Charlie Barnes 8.04

I'm just thawing out, having watched Arsenal come back from what was seemingly down and out against Bareclona and with the aid of a rather nice Claret!!

Match One, Kev Perry Series 2010

As per Thursdays blog entry, Paul(Faiers) and myself went to Bullock Farm to have a practice and finalise the pegging for this years series. All done and dusted, I sorted out the spreadsheets etc on Friday and was all ready to have an easy Sunday morning's draw and enjoy the fishing.

A phone call from Paul Saturday night, a change in the numbers, so we re-organised the sections and pegging over the phone, then I stayed in and revamped the weigh sheets etc, missing out on Saturday night in the pub.

All was going well on Sunday morning, we'd arrived early to re-jig the pegging on North Pool after Saturday night's phone conversation and we adjourned to the cafe for a breakfast before the draw. Then at 08.30, 15 minutes before draw time we were informed that the extra one, who we had re-jigged the pegging and sections for, wasn't fishing the series after all. Another rethink and re-jig saw us decide on four sections of 7, with 14 pegs on the Match Lake and 14 pegs on North Pool.

Next year, if anyone hasn't paid by the closing date, they won't fish, as simple as that!!

After hastily drawing up some weigh in sheets by hand, the draw was made, Lance drew me peg 8 on North Pool, I would have preferred the Match Lake, but having previously won a match from peg 8, I wasn't devastated, although I feel it's still a couple of weeks early, I'm sure it will win at least one match this series. Paul had peg 22 on the Match Lake pulled out for , one peg away from where he practised on Thursday. Little did I know that the mornings frustrations were going to carry on for the rest of the day!!

Given that I wasn't convinced the carp would really go for it on North Pool, I set up a caster rig - a Malman Winter wire 4x10 on 0.11 with a .10 hooklength and a size 20 6313 hook. A rig to fish expander for crucians, a MW slim power on 0.13 to 0.11 and a 18 808, a heavier version of the same (0.15 / 0.13 and a 16 808). I more in hope than expectation set up a paste rig and a marging rig to fish corn/maggot, which was a MW HC margin to 0.15 straight through to a 18 B911.

At the all-in, I fed a line at 1 o'clock with caster, an open water line with micro's and wetted 4mm and a couple of lines on the far bank, to the right and left of the tree. I'd felt some fish whilst plumbing up, so was confident that there were fish in the peg, I intended to leave the far lines for a while to settle, whilst bagging on the caster..... After 30 minutes, I'd had a small fantail and a couple of roach on the caster line, switching to maggot and even pinkie hookbait couldn't tempt anymore from this line. I switched to the open water soft pellet line and first put in missed a bite, second put in saw a small crucian landed, third put in another missed bite and next drop in saw a carp around 3lb in the net. Then that line died.

I switched to the far bank lines as I'd seen evidence of fish moving tight to the far bank and this was where the days frustrations grew, switching between three lines, fishing maggot or corn saw me hook around 18 fish, of which, at least 8 were obviously foul hookers, I managed to land 3 more fish, losing two double figure fish, having 0.15 powerline snapped twice, fish diving ito the mass of branches and crap in the peg twice transferred the hook from their mouths to the debris. With 40 minutes to go, I got up and went for a short walk, as my frustration was just about to boil over, one of my four carp was landed after this walk, so it probably helped me regain some sanity.

I knew that I'd had enough fish on to win the match - why were they coming off?? I lost one that I estimate at 15lb, I saw it before it bolted round the end of the peninsula and off towards Mike Owens on peg 25.Another was at least 10lb and one of the fish I landed was around the 10lb mark, there are some big fish in North Pool now.

I was using familiar elastic, hooks that I have used for ages, with no problem, I can only assume that the were very lightly hooked, some of the bites were finicky and there were a lot of fish in the peg, they wouldn't get there heads down (or up, I tried fishing shallow, although shallow on Bullock virtually means surface fishing!!)and feed properly. I think it would have been better if there weren't so many fish in the peg, as this would help eliminate the foul hookers, as after each fish hooked and lost, the line it was hooked on went quiet for 15 minutes. I weighed 10.120KG which should have been nearer 25KG.

The silvers (crucians and fantails) failed to show on North Pool, top weight being 3.260KG Dave Roper and Dave Poole sharing the same weight. Top weight on the lake was a 14.100KG of catmeat caught carp, which was worth 2nd place overall, with a 12.400KG, again catmeat and two 10+KG weights.

The Match Lake produced some more consistency and the individual winner, as well as a 10KG, two 8KG and a couple of 7KG silvers weights,.

1)L Jones 19.750KG peg 25 ML
2)J Osbourne 14.100KG peg 10 NP
3)I Currie 13.100KG peg 26 ML
4)D Wride 12.730KG peg 17 ML
5)A Hockin 12.400KG peg 4 NP
6)T Thick 12.140KG peg 27 ML

Silvers

1)D Wride 10.700KG peg 17 ML
2)T Thick 8.800KG peg 27 ML
3)B Gullick 8.080KG peg 30 ML
4)M Walsh 7.800KG peg 24 ML
5)L Jones 7.750KG oeg 25 ML
6)C Barnes 5.280KG peg 8 ML


Section Winners (By default)

A (ML) T Thick
B (ML) D Wride
C (NP) A Hockin
D (NP) S Kitteridge 8.900KG peg 13

The best bit of the day was getting home, chucking the tackle in the garage and walking round the pub, then over to the local Indian for a very nice curry and several Kingfishers.

Roll on Wednesday, although the weather forecast is for it to get colder and rain, deep joy!!

Bullock Farm, Thursday 25th March 2010

I had arranged to meet Paul (Faiers) at Bullocks today, just to finalise details for the Kev Perry series which starts on Sunday, as well as to have a sneaky practice. As I drove into Bullocks, the man himself, Kev Perry was driving out, off to Plantation for a days fishing, he'd just been to pay Paul his series entry money.

I pulled into the car park, Paul and his Father-in-law were setting up on 21 & 22(proper lazy pegs, right next to the car....). There were three pleasure anglers on the lake, pegs 17,19 & 26 being occupied. I setteled for a short walk and a good peg, No 24 - well, is there any point in practising on a crap peg?

It looks like there are 28 signed up for the series, so we planned the pegging (no doubt someone will moan, its enevitable)and spent a few hours fishing. The guy on peg 17 was catching on the feeder, although by the time I'd tackled up and started fishing he seemed to stop catching, I always did wonder if chucking a 30g feeder into 2'6" of water and 1'6" of silt was a top method!!

I ended the day with between 25 & 30lb of silvers, (Fantails, crucians, tench and some lovely roach up to 14oz) and 1 carp that went about 1½lb. Paul had slightly less, but he had more carp than silvers.

Here's hoping the fish feed for the series, the lakes are now showing some colour, rather than the translucent black/green colour they have been recently.

If your coming to the series, see you Sunday.

Landsend 24/03/10

Any common sense would say stay away from Landsend, not that I have anything against the venue or its owner, it's just that fishing it is a contribution to Tony Rixon's pension fund. That said, I've never been one to shirk a challenge, so Tuesday saw me in Tony's shop, trying to pick his brains about Landsend.

It took booking into todays match and £50+ worth of spend, to loosen Tony's tongue, even that wasn't enough to get the secrets of Landsend laid bare, but he did give me enough pointers to get me thinking.

The cafe at Shipham did some brisk business, as all the normally health concious anglers abandoned fruit and porridge, plates overflowing with sausages, bacon and fried potato being a common sight. With appetites sated, we set off for the match (After being outraged at some of the stories told by Tony Whitcombe, of the stupidity, of many of the public he deals with in his job as a Fireman).

The match was 4 pegs on the specimen lake, the rest on match lake, in many ways I like not knowing a venue too well, as when the card is opened, whatever peg number is staring back at you, it means nothing. Todays number was 19, Tony did give me some advice, although he was keen to run to his own peg, ( as Pete Sivell said - "another flyer, you won't mention that in your blog", I assured Pete that I would indeed highlight the fact in mine!!)

Determined to keep things simple, I set up three rigs, one for right across, an Impact 4x12 on 0.15 powerline to a 18 PR36 and a hair rig for hard pellet. A 4x14 Impact float on 0.15 powerline, 0.13 hooklength and a 18 808 to fish two lines, at 10 & 2 oclock with soft pellet. And, a Jean Francios Desque 0.4g to fish a line topkit to hand and a section or 2 added if the fish pushed out. This was 0.11 straight through to a 18 6313 hook.

At the all in, I fed two lines with micro pellet and some very soft 4mm pellet, caster on the near line and hard pellet to the island. Before I'd finished doing this, there was the sound of a fish being landed away to my left - behind already!! I started on the near caster line and caught roach that were about 10-12 to the pound, I persevered on this line hoping for the Perch to show up, they didn't, l but was pleased to slip the net under an Ide over 2lb.

Water temp was 9.5°C throughout the day. So, at last an increase on the 4-5° thats been the norm since before Xmas.

To cut the 6 hours short, the sound of Tony continually playing and landing fish became a little repetitive, I worked the far bank at 14m to the island & 16m into the gap, more than once the fish moved into the space between me and Mike West (peg 20), I didn't chase them down there, as I didn't want him to catch them!!

Fishing straight in front and to the left, I managed 12 carp, unfortunately they were around the 3lb mark, until the penultimate fish, this was nearer 8lb - no problem - well it shouldn't have been, it was determind to get into the roots on the RH side of my platform. I was equally determind to stop it - obviously (now) when you pull black hydro taught, it takes on properties way above its normal rating - it did today at least, as 6" of match kit No2 section snapped off as an angry carp bottomed out, said taught hydro. Ended the day with 12 carp most around the 3lb mark, with one nearer 8lb.

In the last hour I had increased my feed from 4mm to 6mm pelllet, this was enough to add 4 fish and steal last place in the money. I've a lot to learn about Landsend, I'll carry on trying to pick Tony's brain - but I'll never be able to draw like him!!!

I wasn't too disappointed with my fourth placed finish, there were some of the Landsend regulars there today - you know the guys, they have rigs ready for every peg, don't need to plumb up as they have a mental picture of every peg and fish it 2 or 3 times a week - OK slight exaggeration, but not much!!

Tackle dealers delight to day, (Except Tony's own 'accident' a broken No7), I heard a landing net handle snap and die, a No4 pole section and my own No2 section, it wasn't even windy!!

The day was rounded off by Tony wandering around with some electricians screwdivers and another parcel - like some bizarre prize and Dean Malin & Jason Radford trying to out do each other in the "who can hold onto the electric otter fence the longest" - I do worry about the gene pool!! (Although did Jason suss that one of the strands wasn't electrified, hence his 12 seconds and Dean leaping around like a wallaby on speed after 0.1 sec.)

1) Tony Rixon 157-11 peg 15
2) Tony Whitcombe 87-07 peg 31 ("and not a blob of paste in sight")
3) Mike West 53-10 peg 21
4) Chris Fox 48-13 peg 19
5) Dean Malin 43-06 peg 13
6) Andy France 42.02 peg 17

Silvers

1) Ed Wynne 25-14 peg 25
2) Jason Radford 22-00

Withypool - Carps AC 17th March 2010

After the last match here that turned into a rover, I was pleased to have the backing of Mike Nicholls against that, if the suggestion was made. Fortunately the 'norm' applied and the pegs were selected and put into the hat, I found 50 on the card I pulled out.

I've never fished the peg before, but it usually produces a few fish, so I wasn't too disappointed, Tom Thick was having a moan, but Charlie (Barnes) and I just renminded him how he usually draws a flyer on here - and with that Tom pulled peg 43, one of the most consistent pegs on the lake!!

On peg 50, there isan inviting LH margin, an island at 14m and open water, although the depth is very uneven, the peg deepens from left to right and shallows up once you get past 10m (it seems as if the 'tail' of the island slowly tapers down to full depth over about 15m.

Whilst the air temperature has risen, the water was still cold, so I set up a MW 0.5g pellet float on 0.15 to a 18B911 to fish pellet at the bottom of the shelf, a Galman winter wire on 0.11, 0.10 hooklength and a gamma black 20 completed the maggot/caster rig which was for a line at 7m at the 10 oclock position. I set up a waggler to fish corn or pellet to the point of the island and a margin rig, which would cover the LH margin and the 14mm reach to the island.

At the whistle, I fed corn into the LH margin and pellet (micro) onto the 10m line, both by pot, I fed the 7m line by hand with caster and the 14m line with corn by catapult, starting on the 10m line with soft pellet, saw me waiting 20 minutes before the first bite, a carp around the 4-5lb mark gladly netted. Shortly afterwards, I had another bite andthis carp shed the hook, possibly a foul hooker? After an hour and a half, 1 carp was all I had to show for the pellet line, a couple of drop in's with maggot didn't improve things, nor could I get a bite on the 7m line.

Earlier than I'd like I had a drop into the LH margin, not so much as a liner in 20 minutes, I then dropped the rig into the 14m island swim and within seconds the float buried and carp N02 was on its way to the net. Back out with a fresh grain of corn and within a couple of minutes the float buried again, the fish ran away to my left, tight to the island, then the hook pulled - foul hooker No2 I feel. Another fish followed shortly after from this line, then another which ran off to the right and again shed the hook - not sure if this was a fouler or not. After that, the line died completely, so I decided to rest it and back on the 10m pellet line.

First put in on soft pellet and the float dipped twice, a lift of th pole saw a 6oz skimmer come to the surface and come off, something I wasn't surprised at, the carp are a decent size in withy now, so I had black hydro in the topkit, lands the carp OK, but that sacrifices small skimmers.
No further bites from this line so I tried the 7m line, a few small roach fell to maggot, but not nearly big enough or frequent enough to be worth persevering with.

On the next peg (49) was Andy Gard, fishing the waggler and catching roach steadily, as he gives himself a match long commentary on what he is doing (never heard anyone vocalise there thoughts for so long!!) I knew he'd snapped off a couple of carp. The bankside whispers that it was fishing hard, so I had to get the carp to feed. I decided to abandon the corn and feed maggot to the island, some to the far side of the point to fish the waggler and some fed over the corn.

I set up a new rig to fish shallow at 14m, first put in tight to the island resulted in another carp on double red maggot, then a run of bites from roach developed, trying the waggler wasn't fruitful, it was impossible to keep the float in the right place because of the wind, so I gave that up. With 10 minutes to go I was dropping the 14m rig in a metre or so to the left of the feed area, thankfully I hooked another carp, a better fish this time after a decent tussle a fish around the 8lb mark was in the net.

5 carp for 26lb 11oz and 1lb of roach saw my 27lb 11oz good enough for second place, Tom wasn't moaning at the end, as he won comfortably with carp and 20lb+ of skimmers.

I know everyone has there own thoughts on payouts, but I can't convince myself that equally splitting the main pool and silvers pool is the way to go, coming second, I picked up less than the 5th place man (silvers winner).I don't fish for the money, but it does seem that at many matches now spread the money so widely that you just about get the entry back for a frame place. I have had several conversations with Rich Coles about this (Grumpy Old Men) and we both recall that winning a match (or framing) put a weeks or more wages in your pocket. Obviously the size of the field affects this, its a shame there can't be some rotation system between organisers and fisheries, to see one big match every wednesday, instead of several smaller ones.


1) Tom Thick 55.13 peg 43
2) Chris Fox 27.11 peg 50
3) Mike Nicholls 24.10 53
4) John Bennet 8.15 peg 73
5) Bob Price 7.02 peg 47
6) Andy Gard 7.01 peg 49

Silvers:
1) Tom Thick 20.08
2) Bob Price 7.02
3) Andy Gard 7.01

Pleasure session at Plantation

Bit pissed off today, having no match to fish!! Avon Angling match sold out, Carps AC match sold out (and 3 reserves) and the silvers match at Viaduct cancelled.

I headed down towards Kingston Seymour and rang Tony on the off chance he had a no show - no such luck. I had a walk round Bullock Farm and a chat to Phil, there was work in progress, a new footbridge to the island was under construction and a couple of the ropey old platforms had been renewed on the match lake. The lakes at Bullock Farm are still very clear, I'm really hoping the water temperature rises a couple of degrees by the time the Kev Perry series starts.

As it was freezing in the easterly wind and I didn't fancy any of the pegs that had the wind from behind, I bade Bullock Farm farewell and headed round to Plantation. Only acouple of anglers on the lake when I got there, so could choose where I fished, several pegs were closed off, as James and his Dad were repairing them and reclaiming some bank - fishery maintenance, its obviously catching.

I settled for peg 38, the point, I've never drawn this peg, so it was as good as any to practice. I had made up my mind to have a session on the feeder / straight lead, to brush up on my technique when casting tight to islands. I set up a mini cage feeder, with maggot and crushed up feed pellet as the filling, maggot on the hook. Third cast the tip went round and an odd shaped carp (huge head, very wide) that weighed about 2½lb was in the net after a very valiant struggle. Next cast a 10oz skimmer, then a couple of casts later, a roach - obviously not rammed full of hungry carp over there then..... I struggled for bites after that, switching to straight lead and trying away from where I'd chucked the feeder.

As this was supposed to be a pleasure session, I decided to abandon the lead rod and set up a pole to fish caster at 10m, I also fed a line that let me fish top three to hand, although I wasn't too hopeful for that line. The 10m line produced a couple of small roach, but was pretty slow, the 3m line started to produce fish , the roach were coming up in the water, I set up another rig to fish half depth and caught roach, rudd and perch to around the 14oz mark, I dropped the full depth rig in occasionally and picked up two carp on this, gave me a run round on middy hi viz purple elastic.

30 seconds before 4.30 (my all out), I hooked a large carp, this was on No6 solid latex and when the hook pulled 20 minutes later, I hadn't managed top get its head up off the bottom.

If I had done the sensible thing and fished for silvers all day, I would probably have had 20lb of silvers (I reckon I had just over 10lb) and maybe a couple more carp, caster was certainly the bait of the day.

I've now sussed how to use my phones camera, so for novelty value.....


The best roach always hide when a camera comes out.....

And the carp, the photo doesn't do justice to the huge head on the one in the middle.




And finally, James revealed that Darren 'Noddy' Vowles fished the peg the day before and "struggled a bit to catch, he also dropped his phone in, I went in for him but couldn't find it"

I can't even ring or text him to take the piss............

Wildmarsh, Clevedon FWAC match, 7th March 2010

I had booked into the open on Woodland at Trinity for Sundays match, but as there were a few at Viaduct, the match was cancelled. I thought long and hard about fishing this match, Woodland has been kind to me, more often than not I've left with some coin. Not so Wildmarsh, I've really struggled on this lake, not a single pick up!!

I decided that I should fish it, to try and exorcise whatever demon it holds, so I booked in with Darren 'Nuddy' Vowles, who was running the match in the ansence of his master, Paul Nicholls. Paul, your bitch did OK - at organising, not so with his fishing, I now realise that the sticker maker who made the - Darren 'Nudd' Vowles - sticker for his box was suffering from dyslexia, it should read Darren 'Noddy' Vowles.

Given the weather forecast, I decided that a caster, maggot and pinkie approach would be best, to try and catch a few roach, I also took a few worms for the skimmers. There was also a tin of corn knocking around the bottom of my carryall. I put the ice breaker in the van, as the frost was thick on the windows, but on arrival was pleasantly surprised to see the lake ice free.

The pegging had been delegated to Paul Faiers and Glen Calvert, when they got back they said they had included peg 41, behind the island - my initial thoughts were that if the skimmers showed in the main body of the lake, the peg could struggle, but it should be good for a few roach and the odd chub. The easterly wind was blowing straight into the faces of those in the 60's, I didn't fancy that bank!!

I drew 41 and was quietly pleased, as it offered open water fishing towards the footbridge and some cover to fish against the island at 15m. I decided to feed four lines, a 3m caster and pinkie line to my right, a waggler line with caster in open water towards the footbridge, caster and maggot to the island and a few grains of corn to the 'tree of death' (a tree overhanging the water on the island to my right).

Starting on the waggler, I had a chub on my third cast and for an hour and a half had odd chub and a 2½lb skimmer. When the sun came round, the waggler line died, I couldn't get a bite on the 3m line and not so much as a liner, chucking corn on a straight lead to the tree.

I went over to the island and had two bites in two put ins, losing both fish, one shed the hook, one took the hook. I then had a couple of chub and small carp, before hooking a better fish, I managed to get it into open water and thought that I may get it in on the 0.08 / 22 Gamma black and purple middy hi viz elastic - I then tried to be too clever - don't answer your phone whilst playing a fish!! It took me round the corner and shed the hook in the rushes.

Up until now I hadn't had a roach, so decided to fish for carp and set up a heavier float, 0.15 hooklength and a 20 B911 - first two fish on this rig were roach...why? I carried on getting bites, all fish falling to single maggot, with carp from just over a 1lb up to 7 or 8lb. A really good days fishing and the demon exorcised. The rest of the lake fished hard as you'll see by the results below:

1) Chris Fox 44lb 7oz peg 41 (Carp, chub a couple of roach and 1 skimmer)

2) Ivan Currie 5lb 6oz peg 49 (1 Carp, 1 Skimmer)

3) Simon Carvello 4lb 7oz peg 46 (2 skimmers)

4) Glen Calvert 3lb 11oz peg 64 ( 1 bream caught 2 mins before the all out!!)

5) Darren 'Noddy' Vowles 3lb 3oz (1 suicidal bream)

All the rest DNW.

Silvers

1) Chris Fox 10lb 15oz


Silvers Winner




Match Winner

Photography by Misha, using my phone after it was dropped into the net of carp!!

Watch out Whiteacres, as a posse of Clevedon misfits make their way down the M5 for next weeks festival, I'm sure the tales of woe, lost pole sections and lager induced memory loss will abound when they get back!! Good luck lads, I bet Des Shipp, Coxy and co are quaking in their boots.

Plantation, Winter Saturday Series 27/2/10

I've been working on a project at work and that has meant being there more often and less fishing - not good!! So this weekend it was a choice, fish Saturday or Sunday, as the teams of five at Viaduct was this Sunday, there were not too many matches locally.

Last weeks Saturday match at Plantation was won with 148lb, so when I got a phone call from organiser Paul Nicholls asking me if I wanted to fish this week, I decided that given the dreadful weather forecast for Sunday, that it would the best choice.

The weather had warmed up slightly, the water temperature was 6.5°C - the highest I've recoreded since before Xmas - and all seemed set fair to catch a few fish..... if only someone had told them!!

The drawbag wasn't too kind, peg 28, although Kev Perry drew peg 12 again (4th time in 7 or 8 matches). After last weeks woes that he'd drawn peg 4 at Trinity 4 times, a certain Mr Faiers was quiet, he drew 26, the peg that produced the 148lb weight last week. Peg 28 is an open water peg, in the gap between the two islands, it doesn't really have a fishable margin on either side, so options are limited.

A small feeder, a waggler a full depth and two pole rigs were set up, whilst setting up the feeder, I thought that I had a reprieve, no one on peg 29, 30,31,32 giving me the option to chuck to the small island on the left. I had a few casts and got clipped up for the island, feeling a little happier. The happier feeling didn't last more than 20 minutes or so, a familiar figure appeared coming round the lake with his tackle, Rod "I'm always late" Wootten. He got closer and closer and the realisation that he was stopping on peg 29 meant that was my island chuck gone.

I intended to fish soft pellet & micros at 12m, there is a slight hump in peg 28 which drops off either side, with a couple of inches more depth towards 29, the bottom of this drop was my fed area for the pole line. Two rigs set up, a 0.6g Jean Francois Desque with a 0.08 hooklength and a 18 gamma black, and a 0.5g MW pellet float with a 0.15 hooklength and a 18 B911 for when the carp moved in and I started bagging.......

The waggler was a 2 swan peacok quill with a 0.12 ultima silk hooklength and a 20 B911 / 18 PR36 hair rig as required. The feeder set up was a small cage feeder on a simple running rig, stopped by a quick change hooklength bead. A variety of hooklengths for maggot, corn and pellet.

At the all in, I fed the pole line and went straight out on the waggler, to see if there were any fish in the gap in the islands. Nothing for 15 minutes, so out with the feeder, filled with micros and corn on the hook. From 10.20 to 10.50 I had 3 carp and a skimmer and a few liners, then nothing, if I put a maggot on the waggler or pole I could get a microscopic roach, but it was a waste of time. I could see Lance catching a few opposite on peg 7, Mike Owens on peg 27 to my right had a couple, but it generally wasn't fishing well. Rod was also struggling on peg 29, although he didn't give the feeder too long.

At about 1.30 I had another carp and 3 skimmers on the feeder, then it went dead again, no joy on the straight lead, the waggler remained motionless and the pole line, to all intents and purposes, was devoid of fish. Rod had started catching a few lumps down his LH margin, so it looked like the end peg was an advantage.

I had seen some fish blowing in the gap between the islands, I hooked and lost two bream around the 3lb mark, so I guess it was skimmers and bream blowing, if I could fish the match again, I'd have varied my tactics and fished for skimmers instead of carp. Isn't hindsight great. My four carp, four skimmers and three 1/3oz roach weren't likely to trouble the scalesman, so they went straight back.


At the weigh in, whilst there were some decent weights, the fish remain shoaled up and don't seem to be actively moving around the lake looking for food, lest hope with the arrival of March tomorrow, the waters start to warm up a bit.

1) Paul Faiers 76.06 peg 26
2) Rod Wootten 59.03 peg 29
3) Lance Tucker 57.04 peg 7
4) Ivan Currie 54.00 peg 4
5) John Page 50.06 peg 38

Silvers

1) A Baker 8.08 peg 17

Here is a link to an aerial shot of the main lake at Plantation, showing the peg Numbers, perhaps Darren 'Nudd' Vowles (who DNW again today - getting a habit now Darren?) would like to study it. Paul Nicholls said "don't blame me for the pegging, it was my assistant bitch, Darren wot done it."

http://www.plantationlakes.co.uk/pegs_coarse.htm

Trinity Open. Woodland 21/02/10

So, whether to go fishing, or to football, seeing as City's game was moved to Sunday. After the last few games, I decided that the season ticket could go to waste and booked in for my first open of the year at Trinity Waters.

I arrived 3/4 of an hour early, so I could have a look round at the work John has done, in levelling the bank between Woodland and Lodge, it looks like a lot of effort has gone into it!! Obviously looking a little barren until the spring starts to cover the mud with new growth, but I like it, the sun now gets onto the water all over the lake. John has tried to create a 3' deep shelf along the margins of each peg on that bank, I had a plumb round and it looks like he has managed it - maybe nature will undo his work, but at least he's tried.

Sue was explaining about the payout to be made at the Xmas match, to the winner of the most opens and the winner of the most silverfish, another reason to get along to the opens this year and try and boost the Xmas coffers. She did tell me the amount, but it has slipped my mind. John was also explaining that in October he intends to divide Wildmarsh into two lakes, one with the big carp in and one with all the silverfish in, so that will make a 37 peg silvers match lake - I'm looking forward to it.

The overnight freeze had melted away in the wee small hours and there was very little breeze, so whilst the van thermometer read 3°C on the way down, it didn't feel too cold. Roach were topping and most thought that we'd catch a few fish, plenty had been coming out in the week. Peg 20 was the golden peg and Kev Perry drew it, although he didn't get off to the best of starts when his cupping kit snapped, lucky Misha had a new one and let him borrow it.

I drew peg 30, on the 'new' bank, I was pretty convinced that the fish wouldn't have settled into the margins just yet, so only set up rigs for 8 & 13M. I also set up a waggler to fish full depth, but with very little shot on the line, just in case there were some fish sitting off bottom.

The rig for 8M was a 1g Jolly on .10 line with a 0.08 hooklength and a 22 hook. The 13M line was a Sensas Jean-Francios Desque 1g, but with a 1.7mm hollow tip in place of the standard tip, on 0.11 line and a 0.10 hooklength and a 18 808. Just in case they went mad, I had a Preston 'Green' set up, again 1g to 0.13 and a 16 808. In the box were similar set ups but in 1.5g, in case the wind and tow got up.

I cupped some feed into the 13M line at the all in and fed the 8M and waggler line by catapult (maggot on the 8M line and corn/4mm pellet on the waggler line).

Starting on the 13M line saw a F1 about 1lb in the net second put in and for the first hour I had a few bites, missed some, but landed 2 carp and 3 or 4 skimmers. For the rest of the match, it was a struggle to keep fish coming, I'd get one or two, some bites and then they'd back off, putting another section on would see a bite or fish, then nothing. Eventually they'd come back over the 13M line and the situation would repeat its self. The 8M and waggler lines proved to be totally unproductive, so I just sat it out on the 13M line, exploing a metre or so past and to the sides of the feed area. This kept the odd carp and decent skimmer coming on pellet or dead red maggot.

I could see Glenn on peg 2 catching, Eric on 13 was getting skimmers, Vince Brown and Steve Fouracres wre getting the odd carp, apart from that, it was fishing pretty hard, so I just kept plugging away. I thought it would be tight at the end, although Glenn had a good run of fish from the RH margin and I would have needed a good final hour to beat him, perhaps if I had, had a mature margin I might, but thats not complaining, as I'm sure Johns work will improve the lake once the warmer weather gets here.

A quick word for Paul Faiers, drawn on peg 4, at least the third, if not fourth time he's drawn it, with the same result - way down the field, John's promised not to put it in next time Paul fishes. Kev couldn't tempt a winning weight from the golden peg, so it stays in Johns money box for another week.......

It fished fairly hard, but the results were pretty close, as far as I'm concerned thats how a match should be.

1) Glenn Calvert 52-06 peg 2
2) Chris Fox 32-15 peg 30
3) Steve Fouracres 30-12 peg 24
4) Vince Brown 27-06 peg 26
5) Terry Orr 20-00 peg 28

Silvers

1) Eric Fouracres 12-10 peg 13

Clevedon FWAC 14/02/10

Last week I wandered around the Clevedon match which was held on Plantation lake, in a conversation with Paul Nicholls, one of the match organisers, I did suggest that the match planned for the Kenn today might not be the best, or too well attended. The low clear conditions and the sightings of many cormorants, which seem to be feasting on the roach, didn't give any support to the argument to keep the match on the clubs home water.

I received a text in the week from Darren 'Nudd' Vowles, Pauls Nicholls assitant match organiser (or bitch), match now on Acorn, did I want to book in and also book a breakfast, standard or fat bastard. I didn't take much persauding, the Viaduct teams of five meant that there wasn't too much else on, so I booked... and yes, the FB brekkie!!


It wasn't until the Wednesday before last, that I'd ever driven through the gates of Acorn Fishery, myself, Paul Faiers and Chips (Pauls Father-in-Law)decided to have a few hours pleasure fishing. We had a reasonable day given the cold conditions.

So,onto today, met up with Paul and Glen(Calvert)at the venue, we had breakfast and then walked round to peg out. With that done, the draw was made, I pulled peg 3 (perm peg 5), Faiersy actually pulled the peg he had a few fish from the Wednesday before. There were some small silvers topping in my peg, about the only fish movement we'd seen whilst pegging out and walking to the pegs, I assumed that at least I'd get a few of them today, after Wednesdays dearth of silvers.

I had a good plumb around the peg and found a deeper hole to my left at 12.5m, this was only 3 or 4" deeper than the rest of the peg, but it was a feature in an other wise flat bottomed swim. As Paul and I had both caught carp the previous Wednesday, at the all in,I fed some micros, caster and maggot into the 'hole', caster and pinkie into the open water for my silvers line. After 15 minutes this had produced not the slightest indication on the float (a Malamn winter wires, 0.11 - 0.10 hooklength and a 20 808).

A lot earlier than I wanted, I dropped into the 'margin' swim at 12.5m, the float wouldn't stay still and I hooked and lost 4 carp - foul hookers. Coming up in the water saw me land a couple of fish that were obviously taking the maggot (on a MW slim power rig, 0.13 straight through to a 18 B911). I switched to a rod and reel, set up with a waggler, no shot down the line and stepped up my catch rate, the fish were hugging the bank and rushes, as long as I dropped the waggler in close I got a bite. I went from 6 carp to high teens resonably quickly, then the wind got up, blowing the waggler out of positon, no more bites.

I'd fed an open water line at 10m, the occasional look in at this saw me nick an odd fish, but there was no consistency or pattern to it, so I had to switch to the 16m pole. Another 7 fish fell to this method, again maggot fished with no shot down the line and then I bumped the pole off the back roller at 15.30 (half an hour to go), trashing the rig. I had a rig set up which was identical, except it was 0.15 line with a 0.13 hooklength tied on with a four turn water knot - how could it differ, same float pattern, same shotting pattern, but no more bites in the last half hour.

So at the all out, not a single silver landed, but 25 carp from 12oz to 5 or 6lb. I knew from Mike Lilly, who was not fishing, but bank walking, that Paul Faiers had caught well, but it was likely I'd be second.

The Scales came round and Paul did indeed win, with a creditable 104lb 15oz, on a day when the water temp was 4°C, in a lake 2'6" - 3'.0" deep. I did manage second, although had the wind not blown up, I feel confident thet I'd have pushed Paul closer.


1)Paul Faiers 104.15 peg 14 (pole, maggot)
2)Chris Fox 61.08 peg 5 (Pole, waggler, maggot)
3)Dave Baker 45.09 peg 17 (straight lead)
4)Lewis Walker 36.04 peg 13

Silvers

1) Simon Carvello 5.14 peg 1
2) Rich Headley 4.14 peg 3

Two special mentions, Simon Carvello will have to spend his silver winnings on a new car battery, his tired old Astra needed a jump start after the match (this after several failed push starts and some knackered anglers) and Darren 'Nudd' Vowles pleaded with me not publish on the interweb, his DNW and beaten off either side - although he forgot to buy me a beer, so I couldn't help but mention it !!

Withypool - Carps AC 10th Feb 2010

Ever have one of those days when the best laid plans go completely tits up.......

Two reasons to book into the Carps match on Withypool today:
1) I thought that a few silvers would be on the cards, even with the forecast overnight freeze.
2) Its nice and close to home so a lie in is possible.

On arrival most of the lake was frozen, apart from the pegs in the 40's behind the island, this caused discussion on whether to peg those pegs, or pegs that had the northerly wind off our backs etc etc. The end result of this was a rover, I think I was the lone dissenting voice, I really do not like rover matches. I then drew 2 from last walk off, although it didn't seem to matter, the walk off order was loosely, if at all adhered to.

My knowledge of the lake is pretty limited, so I was unsure which peg to choose, in the end I sat on 42, a peg i have had some good pleasure sessions on, but admittedly not at this time of year. My bait selection wasn't too varied, maggots, caster and pinkie were the main plan, with a handful of 4mm expanders and a few wetted micros for a line away from the maggot line. I also had some corn, don't know why, I've yet to catch a fish on it this winter!!

I started at the bottom of the island shelf, cupping in a few casters and pinkies, with pinkie on the hook - all to no avail, maggot and caster meeting with the same response. Andy Gard on peg 45 hooked and lost a carp first put in, then had a 12lb fish second put in, all the while my float remained motionless.

I had set up a waggler rod, as this tactic has caught me decent roach in the past on Withy and Bridge, switching to this brought my first bite, the microlight looped over as a big vermin made off with the single red maggot, I played the roach spoiling monster for a few minutes before the 22 90340 pulled out. Half an hour later, another bite, another vermin, this time it led me a merry dance around the peg, going up to peg 43 to see Bob Feltham and down to peg 40 to have a look at Coiln Golding. After 10 minutes it tried to get towards some vegetation and the 0.07 powerline hooklength parted.

I had a Maver Reactorlite II waggler rod made up in the hardcase, 4lb sensor and a 0.13 hooklength finished off with a B911 size 18. This saw the next two carp landed and next cast after landing No2, I hooked another, this came in like a bream, as I drew it over the landing net it suddenly woke up, dived for the bottom and I was left with an airbourne waggler rig, that had a curly pigs tail where the hook once was.

That proved to be the end of the action (1pm), I couldn't get another bite, I fed two other lines, tried corn, switched back to the pole, even fed a squatt line as I had half a pint with me. At 3.45, 15 minutes before the all out, I had a roach, the only silver fish I had all day - hardly a successful day when they were my intended species. Even less succesful were the lost carp, costing me second place and some coin.

Where, oh where, is the global warming.... bring it on I say, today was bloody freezing! Iced over lake, chill north wind, snow flurries and water that was 4.5°C.

1) Bob Price 54.00 (Vermin on the straight lead and hair rigged triple corn)
2) Andy Gard 18.12 (2 vermin and some silvers)
3) Bob Feltham 12.08 (All silvers, skimmer & bream to 3lb, roach & hybrids on pinkie)
4) Chris Fox 11.08 (2 vermin & 1 roach, red maggot)

Silvers
1) Bob Feltham 12.08
2) John Bennet 9.08