Pole Only Series, Acorn Fishery, 2014

Pole Only Series 2014

Acorn Fishery, Kingston Seymour, Somerset

Dates:

Sunday 6th April

Sunday 13^th April

Sunday 27th April

Sunday 4^th May

Sunday 25^th May

Sunday 1^st June

Draw:  09.15, Fish 10.30 – 16.30

Proposed Payouts, based on 32 fishing, four sections of eight.

On the day:  Section 1^st £60,   Section 2^nd £50,   Section Silvers £40 (by default)

Overall:    1^st - £300.  2^nd - £200.  3^rd - £150.  4^th - £100.  5^th - £50

Silvers:     1^st - £120.  2^nd - £80

You can win in both categories.

Knockout:  Winner £100

Heaviest Weight of Series £50

Heaviest Silvers Weight of Series £50

(Payouts will vary if numbers fishing differ, all monies except peg fees paid out)

If 32 or less fish, all sections will be on Paddock Lake, if 36 – 40 fish, there will be a section on the top lake. This is due to an increase in peg fees this year.

£36 Entry fee payable in advance, pools will be £25 per match, with last match pools being paid up front with entry fee. Please pay this by 1^st April 2014.  There will be an optional superpool on the last match.

To book a place, please call Paul Faiers: 01275 858984

Viaduct Silvers League Round 5. Sunday 2nd December 2013

Firstly, no blog for the last round, as I didn't have time when I got in and was off to London for a couple of days on the Monday morning, then to France to pick up a puppy, so its been a busy time and there was nothing much to write about, as this series continues in the disastrous vein it started.

Saturday night a few of us from work went out for a beer, so I was grateful to get a lift with Tony (Rixon) , as I doubt if I was under the limit for driving down.  After the usual decent brekkie at Shipham, I felt a bit more human and managed to shrug off the hangover that was threatening to take hold.

Tony only had to win his section to sew up the league, with one to go, he managed this and fair play, he has made the most of his draws and stuck to his guns, fishing for skimmers or tench, rather than being side tracked by roach.

I managed to pick out 101, I thought it might be just too far along, but it should produce some fish, 3 rigs set up, a 0.4g rig to fish at 14m, caster/maggot over groundbait, another rig to do the same at 11m, where it was 6" shallower and a rig set up with a 22 on 0.06 as the water looked clear. This would be fished at 8m off to the left.  A waggler rod completed the tackle set up.  On the all in I put 3 balls in on the 14m line, 2 on the 11m line and fed some caster at 8m, starting on this line. It was tough going, with just a couple of small roach to show for it, Trigger on 102 had an empty peg to his left (down to several no shows, a real pain when you're running a series) and he used this to his advantage, taking a couple of decent skimmers, a perch and a roach nearly 1lb, whilst I struggled to get a bite.

What followed was a frustrating time, as three of us in a row (Chris Davies on 100) hooked and lost decent skimmers, they seemed to be sat up in the water and wouldn't take a caster, maggot meant these lost fish.  It was like an outing of the Tourettes society it got that frustrating.  If I had the beauty of hindsight, I might well have weighed in a better weight, as in a quiet spell I decided to try the waggler a couple of metres beyond the pole line.  Straight away I had a decent hybrid on the drop, then a few roach and a skimmer, all this without feeding...... so thinking there were a few fish there feeding, I picked up the catapult, only fed a few casters and 3 or 4 maggots, but that killed the peg stone dead.  I can only assume that the fish were sitting out behind the groundbait and were happy there, until a few casters rained down on them and they disappeared quicker than Mike Nicholls when he has to get his wallet out.

I struggled up until the end then, just with odd small roach and 1 more skimmer for w weight of 8.05, which was 3 oz more than Chris on 100, bit nearly 5lb behind Trigger on 100, who had put 6lb in the net in the first 2 hours, whilst most others struggled.  At least I have a good idea that I buggered it up by feeding today, rather than a couple of the other matches, when I haven't been able to get my head round why its been such a struggle.  A tough but enjoyable match and now I have to steel myself for next week, R2 of the Landsend league, I'm on Speci lake, apparently the draw will be crucial!!

1. Gary O’Shea 23-02-0 peg 94
2. Lee Werret 20-0-0 peg 59
3. An-Ton Page 15-08-0 peg 118
4. Mark Brennan 14-09-0 peg 119
5. Richard Ahearn 13-02-0 peg 111
6. Craig Edmonds 13-0-0 peg 102

Landsend Winter League Round One, Sunday 10th November

I didn't spend ages preparing for this match, as I was wondering what had possessed me to enter this league, I really did think I may as well post the £86 it cost on the day, down the drain, I was expecting the same return on my 'investment'.  I didn't fancy lake 3, as it never seems to fish well when I draw it, so of course, when I went into the draw bucket, out comes lake 3, peg 70.  I have drawn this peg before in a short pole match and struggled, as its a peg that needs 14m to reach the spit where some small carp live.

At the draw there were a few comments as Ken (Rayner) has now set new standards for league organisers to be judged by, no more taking league records and weigh sheets to venues in asda carriers or plastic wallets 'borrowed' from work.  Ken has shamed us all, by having his documentation all neatly printed up and transported in a spick and span briefcase, to complete the shaming of the rest of us who run leagues, no stuffing the cash into old ice cream tubs, bait boxes or trouser pockets for Ken, no its a lockable cash box to complete the professionalism - just a shame that didn't carry over into his fishing.......  :-)  see his blog for the sorry tale.

With plenty of time to tackle up, even I was ready at the start, having had some advice on the peg from several anglers and quite varied the advice was, I stuck with the advice from Tony Rixon, as there aren't many anglers with a better record on the venue.  I had set up a pencil float to fish catch close in, a margin rig for fishing caster that was on 0.16 to 0.14 with a size 16  6313 Middy  hook.  A yellow topped small Daiwa float to fish across in about 3' of water, this was 0.18 to a 0.16 hooklength and a 16 Drennan carp hair rigger hook. A bit strong for this time of year, but the end bank has been eroded away and is a jungle of exposed tree and bush root and stumps.  Finally, a Carpa Chimp to fish caster or devils spawn to the weed bed.

I started feeding 3 lines, a short caster line, which apart from 2 roach, one of which dropped off swinging it in, was a waste of time. I fed some softened micros and caster at 7m to the weedbed and catapulted 4mm pellets across to the spit. The weedbed produced a couple of crucians before the tiny rudd moved in and were holding up even a 6mm devils spawn.  Over to the spit with a banded 6mm and I had a couple of carp, but they were small, one of them going into the silvers net as it was about 8oz.  The fish wouldn't stay in the baited area, I think there were odd fish coming out of the snags and roots, feeding, getting caught and then I had to wait for the next one to venture out. During a quiet spell I went back to the weedbed swim and had a 2lb carp and a F1, before once gain, the tiny rudd made it a pointless exercise.

One bit of advice was feed the margin heavily with caster, which I did from just after the halfway mark, I kept looking in there, but not so much as a twitch on the float.  By persevering with the line against the spit I managed to keep the fish coming, but they were small and coming slowly, I was sure Mark Poppleton on 68 was beating me.  I had ventured a little nearer snag city and lost a couple of fish and ended up having to remake the rig, the small carp are so quick they take you into the snags as you lift into them.

With 20 minutes to go, I had a fish nearer the 4lb mark from the spit, by far the biggest fish of the day so far and then with 15 minutes to go I saw a big swirl over the margin, I dropped double caster in and the float settled and went under, I was connected to the biggest fish of the day and it took me a few minutes to net it.  I quickly rebaited, dropped it back into the margin as my watch showed 4pm and I missed a bite, before I could get it back in, the all out was called.

I thought I had about 50lb of carp and 5 or 6lb of slivers (crucians and F1's), I was first to weigh and my 14 or 15 small carp went 35lb, the two bigger fish  went 14lb, if only they'd all have been that stamp.  My silvers went 8.04 which gave me 57lb odd, for second in section, behind Trigger who had a 70lb odd and it was third on the lake and top silvers weight. The silvers couldn't have been tighter, my 8.04 was followed by Alan Oram on 41, with 8.03, Anton Page had 8.02 and John Bradford a high 7lb.

I didn't stay and take down the results, as I was off out for a beer and a curry, which were both a bit sweeter after having a decent result on a venue that usually leaves me deflated and beaten.

Have a look at Ken Rayners blog for the results, once he's extracted them from his briefcase.

http://kenrayner-fishing.blogspot.co.uk/

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1)   Nick Collier 92.10 peg 31 

2)   Anton Page 85.02 peg 3

3)   Tony Rixon 81.09 peg 4

4)   Rod Wotton 71.07 peg 7 

5)   Tim Clark 67.09 peg 8 

6)   Chris Fox 40.01 peg 26

Silvers:

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

Viaduct Silvers league R3. Sunday 3rd November 2013

First trip out for my new (to me) van, I was tempted to get another Astra Sportive and looked at a couple of the 1.9 150PS versions, but realistically it's just too small, a squeeze for one and virtually impossible to get two and the ridiculous amount of gear we carry now.  I picked up Tony Rixon and was pleased to see that two lots of kit fit easily into a LWB Connect.

On the drive down and in the cafe, Tony said he fancied peg 78, as the favoured diagonal bank on Cary would be a bit exposed, something up with Tony's  influence on the drawbag today, he drew 119 and I drew slap bang in the middle of the diagonal bank on peg 100.  With the wind blowing into the bank, I did feel that I had drawn the right area on the wrong day and then compounded it by fishing it all wrong.

I guessed that a good 30lb+ weight would be needed to frame and set up to catch this, as with two poor results previously, the league and any chance of picking up in it are a lost cause.  A small cage feeder was set up, in case the forecast wind got up, a rig to fish at 11m (closer than I'd like, but didn't want to feed a line too far out and then not be able to fish it), the rig would also do for 14m if I could hold it there. A pencil float to fish short and a small diamond to fish the edge, hoping for hybrids or perch.  I also set up a waggler.

The short lines (topkit and 6m) produced nothing, not even a bite, even though I felt there was enough depth for them to give up a few roach, if nothing else, so no more about them.  The LH edge also was devoid of feeding fish and the RH edge  gave up two 4oz perch in consecutive put-ins and nothing else, not even a bite.

I think I overfed the peg, trying to catch 30lb+, instead of trying to coax a few fish out and had to switch between the 11m, 14m and waggler lines to keep the odd fish coming, where with hindsight, sitting it out on a long pole line for skimmers, or staying on the waggler and concentrating on roach would probably have given me a point or two more, but still not enough.

For results, see Tony's, Mike Nicholls or Clayton's blog.

Viaduct Silvers league Round 2. Sunday 20th October 2013

It was like groundhog day as Tony pulled up and we loaded my kit in the van for the second day running, off to Viaduct for a silvers match again.

I was disappointed to draw peg 59 on Lodge, dead opposite yesterdays peg.  a more cautious approach would surely be needed today?  I set up the same rigs as yesterday and had listened to Matt Tomes who drew the peg the day before and had caught roach, small hybrids and skimmers short.

I fed a line with groundbait and caster at 12m and the distance off to my left just with caster, also fed a 5m caster line to the tree and a margin line. Fir the second day running I caught a snag on the short line and trashed a rig, there are loads of submerged branches in Lodge it would appear. The other lines were slow and whilst Dan squires to my right was catching reasonable skimmers, I was catching skimmers that were 1-2oz, but the odd thing was that they are starting to turn bronze.  No matter what line I fished the fish were tiny, either that or 8lb+........

I persevered, but not matter what I did, I just couldn't get any quality fish, the biggest fish I had with 1 1/2 hours to go was 3oz.  The carp didn't help matters, no matter what line I fished, they were there and eating, whilst Dan and a couple of others, especially Mash on the end peg were getting carp, they were getting the decent stamp of skimmers in between.

With an hour to go I was close to packing up, but then had a roach which was nudging a pound, in perfect condition, is there a more lovely fish? By now I had used 25 hooklengths and landed 4 or 5 carp as well, when all of a sudden, with 25 minutes to go I had 4 decent skimmers on the trot, which just helped my belief that they weren't in front of me earlier. This took my weight from about  5 or 6lb to 12lb or so, before the carp moved back in and polished off another 5 hooklengths in the final 15 minutes. So 30 hooks gone and 4 or 5 carp landed, no wonder the skimmers weren't there.....

So two disappointing days, when I would have expected to do better, I probably fished too positively on Saturday, but that was a go for it day and Sunday, as Dan Squires fed 3 pints of maggot, maybe I fished too negatively. I think it was a hindrance rather than a help being on the same lake two days running.  As for Tony "I never draw a bad peg" Rixon, he mode the most of a good peg and won the match from peg 98 on Cary.

1) Tony Rixon 40.02 peg 98
2) Nick Collins 39.10 peg 111
3) Steve Mayo 37.06 peg 71
4) Mark Brennan 36.02 peg 129
5) Steve Kedge 36.01 peg 128
6) Bob Gullick 35.02 peg 78

Viaduct Silvers All Winners Final. Saturday 19th October 2013

After Wednesdays practice match, I was looking forward to this, a lift down with Tony Rixon and a breakfast at Shipham was a good start to the day, even if it was a squeeze in the van, as we had anglings new body builder, Trigger, sandwiched in between us.

I fancied a draw on Cary, but also thought that a weight from Campbell was well overdue, so where did I draw, Lodge......  in all fairness, it is a peg that has some silvers form, peg 69, so I did think I'd catch a few fish.  I had Tim Pallant on 68 for company and he was end peg, Nick Ewers on the other side on 70, also on 71 was Viaduct silvers specialist, John Green, so some tough competition.

I set up three rigs, one to fish short and two to fish at 11m, one standard rig with a bulk and two droppers, the other with a double bulk. I also set up a waggler and a margin rig, as I had time. the margin rig produced one small perch and the waggler a couple of small rudd, so no more about them.

In fact there isn't much to write about any of it, very slow, the whole lake fished hard and as it was a £750 final. I attacked the peg and fished for 40lb, which I though would be a minimum to win, probably more.

I fed 5 big balls of groundbait with CW&C in at 11m and started short, two decent roach in the first two put ins then I hooked a snag and that trashed the rig and killed the short line.

I only managed 4 proper skimmers the whole match, they came in two spells of two, after about 2 hours and in the last hour, although I did have one well over a pound that jumped over the rope that holds the aerator, the hook, obviously came out and stuck in the rope.

A miserable day and I tipped back just about double figures, not bothering the scalesman.

Winner from Cary, second from Campbell, both over 50lb, highest weight on Lodge was half the winners weight at 28lb.

I didn't get a result sheet so see Tony's blog.

Viaduct Silvers Open, Cary. Wednesday 16th October 2013

In preparation for two 50+ peg silvers matches at Viaduct this weekend coming, the all winners final on Saturday and the 2nd round of the silvers league on Sunday, I decided to fish this and after traveling down with convivial tackle dealer, Tony Rixon, I managed to pull out another peg that I wouldn't have chosen - 85.  What makes it worse is that Matt Tomes pulled 78, the peg he won the 1st round of the silvers from and Tony managed to back 102, one away from where he took 4th place in the silvers league - where do you sell your soul to draw like that!!!

Still, they may have moved and the Bridge Troll, Bobby G, managed 2nd in the silvers league from 86, so hopefully some fish in the area. I set up a cage feeder, in case the weather or more specifically the wind got worse, a rig with a pencil float to fish short, a NG Gimp to fish at 11m and a MW F1 slim to fish a double bulk at 11m, as I had time before the all in, I also set up a rig to fish the margin.

4 big balls of groundbait with caster and a little chopped worm went in at 11m, loose fed caster short, starting short, I had a couple of perch and roach, but the first half an hour soon went by with little to show for it.  Shipping out a worm head to 11m resulted in...... nothing, I was expecting a few bites, there were some pin prick skimmer bubbles out by the float.  A switch to maggot saw a few skimmers in the net, but mainly small ones, 2-3oz with a couple of 12oz fish.  The line was very slow, as was the short line, so a look down the margin was in order, I'd been feeding casters with a catty at about 10m towards 84, this produced a couple of perch and roach, but not the tench or big perch I wanted.

I decided to try the feeder and had clipped it up at 30 turns, first put in, the tip curled round I lifted into what looked like a skimmer bite and carp no1 swam off towards the aerator, relieving the rig of its hook.  Another hook tied on and back out, I tried the feeder for half an hour and missed 3 roach bites, so gave it up as a bad job.

Back on the pole and a large worm section over the 11m line brought a 31/2lb bream to the net, but it appeared to be a lonesome fish, as no more of this stamp were forthcoming. I swapped between the 11m and short line, feeding groundbait on both, taking odd fish, roach, skimmers, chub, eel, ruffe and perch, so a wide variety, but little quality until I had a big hybrid and then 3 skimmers on the short line.  By now the 11m line had the tell tale sign of carp, big circular patches of bubbles erupting over it, so I left it alone and fished out the short line until the end of the match.

It was a close match and my 30 minutes on the feeder might have cost me, as my fish weighed 26.07 for second in section, although I did get the section money by default, as Matt was joint 3rd..  For the 2nd match running, not too much carp trouble, will that continue? I hope so.

1) Steve Kedge 31.10 peg 97
2) Tony Rixon 31.06 peg 102
=3) Gary Etheridge 30.06 peg 105
=3) Matt Tomes 30.06 peg 78
5) Keith Mashedar 29.07 peg 99
6) Chris Fox 26.07 peg 85

Viaduct Silvers league Round 1. Sunday 6th October 2013

The unseasonal October weather promised sunshine and the lightest of breezes, hardly ideal conditions to herald the start of a silvers series.  Campbell lake has been particularly tough for silvers lately, although last Wednesdays match did hint that sport was picking up, that said, the consensus was pretty unanimous that to be that for a chance of framing, a draw away from Campbell, on Cary or Lodge would be necessary.

A nice treat this morning, a lift down from Tony (Rixon), especially as the time I got in on Saturday night is a little vague, after a trip into town to see Jimmy Carr, all the good intentions of coming straight home, were destroyed by the temptation of the City Center nightlife.

Into the draw tin and out comes 110 on Campbell........ WTF do I have to do to draw a decent peg!!  Still as its a series and the main thing is to get section points, so after collecting several commiserations (and some smug grins) on the way, I got to 110 and tried to plan out a way to score points from an unfavoured peg. I set up a small feeder and waggler rods, but they were packed away again at the end without either wetting a line.

This left my pole lines to consider, I set up a rig to hopefully catch some Tench down by the stump, although they haven't shown there for a while, a double bulk rig to fish over groundbait, with CW&C, a standard bulk and two dropper rig and a colmic pencil to fish caster close in.  I used an electric drill and groundbait whisk for the first time to mix my groundbait - why have I waited so long!!  A perfect mix that doesn't need riddling and in a fraction of the time, I'm now converted.

My bait tray was caster, worm, maggot as the main baits, I did dampen a few micro's and pump up some expanders and open a tin of corn, but given the conditions I was convinced putting any sort of pellet in would see the carp arrive in numbers.  On the all in I put 5 balls of groundbait on a line at 12m, off to my left, using the opposite corner point of the lake as a marker, loose fed caster short and cupped in some CW&C down by the stump.

Starting short, I managed a few small roach on maggot, as caster was a waste of time, a bite on it everytime, but when I managed to hook something on it, it was of the 3 or 4 to the oz stamp, the reverse of what you'd expect as the maggot fish were 1-3oz. After half an hour, I went out over the groundbait line and sat and waited, watching a motionless float, there was no indication of fish there, so I abandoned that and re-fed it with 2 more balls of groundbait.  I had a look down by the stump and missed a bite first drop in, dropping the rig back in and it shot under, this time a small tench safely netted.

By now I was behind Clayton (Hudson) on peg 111, who had managed to get three  tench so far and my hopes that the tench had re inhabited the stump in great numbers were sadly dashed, as for the rest of the match, the stump produced either a small perch or a carp that disappeared round the back of the stump.

At last, an odd bubble or two over the groundbait, so back out with the double bulk rig and three decent skimmers netted in half an hour or so, not dramatic sport, but clawing back some ground on Clayton and Nigel Bartlett on 112. Then the carp decided that they would muscle in on the skimmers party and either foulers or properly hooked carp made the line a waste of time.

I did try a line fed with micros at about 7m straight in front, first drop in with a 4mm expander saw a carp take it immediately, so that line was abandoned.  By now I was having some amusement, watching Clayton, it was like a well oiled bagging machine, sadly for him, it was carp after carp.  One 'carp' he was tussling with and pulling a bit hard popped up and was a tench, his sudden change of playing style to careful, allowed the tench to go around his platform legs, through his keepnets and provide a couple of minutes of  entertainment, but it was obviously well hooked as he safely netted it.

I found that by staying short, I was avoiding the worst of the carp, if I had set up a shallow rig, I could have caught a roach a chuck, but I stuck at the full depth rig and pieces of worm, as this produced at a slower rate, but with a tench, some skimmers and better roach, it was a better stamp of fish. Towards the end, the best way to get bites was feed a tiny ball of groundbait with CW&C every 10 put ins and a bigger ball of plain groundbait every put in.

So a disappointing draw and I honestly didn't have a clue what weight I had, due to the wide variation in fish sizes and sporadic catch rate, I was last in the section to weigh and had Anton page's 27lb to beat, I knew I didn't have that, but was pleasantly surprised to see the scales pull round to 22.13, which was 3rd in section.  Which given the weights in the section, I wonder now if I abandoned the skimmer line too soon, or if I should have tried starting a new one, but then the time spent doing that would have cost me some of the fish taken short.

Campbell weighboard below.

As predicted, the framers came from Cary and Lodge, maybe Campbell will keep improving and compete as the weather gets colder.

1. Matt Tomes 41-05-0 peg 78
2. Bob Gullick 40-03-0 peg 86
3. Paul Faiers 37-02-0 peg 69
4. Tony Rixon 36-09-0 peg 101
5. Andy Neal 35-07-0 peg 97
6. Ian Didcot 34-03-0 peg 100

Viaduct Open, Wednesday 2nd October 2013

A choice of two matches today, Landsend or Viaduct.  I've been doing a bit of thinking as regards my recent poor run and the need to try and embrace pellet fishing rather than treat it as a necessary evil, with that in mind, I chose Viaduct.

Todays match saw 12 of us on Campbell, so plenty of room and a few fish would surely grace my nets, the traffic was a nightmare and it took an hour and 20 minutes to do what is usually a 50 minute journey.  I was about 3rd into the draw tin and I can't say I was too pleased when 130 was staring back at me, the peg hasn't had a lot of form this year.  But I was still sure I was going to give it a good go and catch whatever it held.

I had come with the sole intention of fishing for carp, so two baits on the side tray, hard pellet and meat, I set up a rig to fish pellet at 14m, meat at 7m and a margin rig. To compliment this, I set up a full depth waggler and a straight lead.  On the all in I started on the waggler out towards the aerator, it took 40 mins to get a fish and no real indication or gut feeling that they were there.  Dropping onto the 14m pole line I caught a couple straight away where I had potted in some 6mm pellet at the start, but they were small fish and the bites weren't too quick in coming.   I had Paul greenwood on 132 for company and by now he was catching a few on the waggler, up towards 134.

The pole line did offer up a few signs of fish, a few bubbles, not exactly fizzing, the odd swirl and a couple of foul hookers, so into the box and out with a shallow rig, I hadn't set one up as it was flat calm and the colour has dropped out a bit.  I tried the shallow rig, just dropping it in, slapping and varying the depth, it didn't produce a single bite.  I had fed the margins either side and had a look in them, nothing, I wasn't too surprised I hadn't seen any indication of fish down to 129 or under the tree to my right.

The 7m meat line was also devoid of signs of fish, so I did pick up the lead rod and had one fish on it, but another small one (3lb).  With 2 hours gone I was struggling, so back on the 14m line and I managed a couple more fish, lifting and dropping, but the wait for a bite was far too long to compete with the pegs I could see bagging further down the lake.

Finally, with a couple of hours to go, the meat line produced a bubble or two, although the bubbles seemed to becoming slightly short of where I had fed, so I took a section off and dropped in with some meat, kinder potting about half a dozen pieces over the float. In the fifth and sixth hours, my clicker went from 45lb, to 118lb and two tench at the all out, a few better meat fish, but it was a long way behind the pegs further down the lake.

It was an interesting last couple of hours that flew by, as I tried to work out the feeding on the meat line, too little (3 or 4 pieces) and bites were very slow to come, too many (12-15 pieces) and the peg fizzed, the float jigged about and a foul hooker charged off.  I had been dropping it in from 4' and that also seemed to encourage the liners, so I found that 6-8 pieces put on top of the float with no splash, produced hitable bites from bigger fish.  A small consolation was beating Paul on 132, as the honours were reversed when we drew 131(me) and 132 a couple of months ago.

I was reasonably pleased with my performance, given that the fish were obviously shoaled up further down the lake, I'm sure I could have improved on my performance with the pellet, but not to the extent that would have more than doubled my weight.

Everyone who weighed (except Tim Pallant who fished for silvers), weighed over a ton, so I have gone further down the list than normal, to try and show the location of the fish in the middle area of the lake.

1) Scott Russell 280.15 peg 115
2) Dan White 232.06 peg 114
3) Dave Romain 197.02 peg 128
4) Roy Worth 180.13 peg 116
5) John Green 160.12 peg 112
6) M Skyme 145.15 peg 125
7) Chris Fox 128.02 peg 130
8) Colin (Burner or Barker?) 105.01 peg 126
9) Paul Greenwood 101.01 peg 132

Pegs 110 and 118 DNW

Silvers

1) Tim Pallant 34.10 peg 123
2) Scott Russell 13.13 peg 115

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Saturdays Results.

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

Silvers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sundays results.

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

Silvers

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


Overall Result:

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

Silvers

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

Viaduct Open, Silvers Only. Wednesday 25th September 2013

I must admit to not knowing much about Spring lake, which was the venue for todays silvers match, so apart from knowing the high teens are considered the best skimmer pegs, at least I couldn't get too depressed by the draw..... which saw me sat on peg 24.

I had spoken with Tony Rixon and he was fairly convinced that pellet would be the best bait for amassing a winning weight of skimmers, so I took 4 and 6mm pellet, some micros's, a few soft pellets, as well as worm and caster, topped off with a handful of maggots.

I set up a small cage feeder, a waggler and 3 top kits, one to fish banded pellet at 14m, another to fish worm/caster at 11m and a small Colmic pencil to fish caster short.  On the all in I put 4 balls of groundbait with CW&C in at 11m to the right, 3 balls of groundbait with a few micro's and 4mm pellets in at 14m and loose fed caster short.

Starting short on caster, saw a couple of roach in the net, then a perch, but it was slow going, they weren't there in any number and no fish visible coming up in the water for the casters. After 15 minutes I had a look on the CW&C line, no fizzing on either long pole line and the lack of skimmers was evident as the first couple of fish on worm were perch. A look on the 14m with banded 6mm pellet resulted in a totally motionless float and no signs of fish over the groundbait.

Back on the short line and more perch, then the float buried and the single caster had accounted for an unseen large cypry, which tore off at speed, round the point of the spit and the Colmic pencil exploded as it returned at full stretch of doubled 4 elastic.  Another rig went on and now the short line was as quiet as the long lines, so back out of the worm and two tiny skimmers were netted before another vermin took a liking to the worm and also the hooklength.

A switch to the pellet line saw the float dip and a 2lb+ skimmer netted, then 2 3oz skimmers before a double figure carp latched onto the pellet and instead of taking the hook, he decided to come in and wreck my small Drennan landing net, bending the arms completely out of shape.

This was then the way of things for the rest of the match, I am now 4 Colmic floats light in my float collection as they really don't stand up to the rigours of carp fishing and one Colmic thats had some surgery, I think I've saved it.  I lost about 20 hooks, as I managed to hook one or two silvers, small ones at that, before a double figure carp muscled in.  At 16.50 (match finished at 17.30) I had re hooked all my rods and kits and put the feeder out over where I had been loose feeding caster, this resulted in two small roach, before a vermin took the hook.  Next was the waggler, by now the vermin were swirling on the top for the loose fed caster, second cast, another large double hooked and hook gone, so both rods down. Next was the banded pellet rig, that didn't see any silvers action before a carp trashed it. The worm rig managed a 2oz skimmer before being relieved of its hook and tangled beyond repair, last rig with a hook on was the short caster rig, so a single maggot on that and it landed 2 roach before it too was hookless. The time now was 17.10, so 20 minutes to hook and lose 5 carp and that was enough, I really couldn't be arsed to put another hook on any of the rigs or rods that were still in a fit state, so packed away all my sodden gear - they didn't forecast the 2 hours of pouring rain!!

 My section was won from another lake, I really do think that sections should all be on one lake, as my 14.13 was a long way from the section winning 42.12, maybe a few more silvers might have got their heads down if there weren't so many carp about, but  three of the lowest weights were me and the pegs either side of me, so it appears that the skimmers weren't in residence.

1) Scott Russell  46.01 peg 18
2) Mark Poppleton 42.12  peg 38 
3) Dave Romain 29.14   peg 1
4) Tim Pallant 29.12 peg 5
5) Steve Kedge 29.09 peg 19
6) G Skarba  27.10 on peg 37

Avon Angling Open, Trinity Waters, Woodland. 22nd september 2013

I was looking forward to this match, but on the morning, with the warm still conditions, I wasn't convinced it would fish too well, this lake benefits from a ripple, as the fish do stay shallow for large parts of the year and with 25 anglers and no ripple, it was unlikely that the fish would stay feeding shallow for long.

I wasn't too bothered where I drew, except for 3 pegs on the top bank ( I have won and framed from both sides and the bottom bank, but have never won so much as a section from pegs 16-21).  My heart sunk as 19 stared back at me from the swimcard, slap bang in the middle of the top bank.  All of my instincts told me to go on one of the other lakes pleasure fishing, but I decided to give it a go and fish positively for carp.

The very slight skim on the water had pushed the algae bloom up to this end and there were far less signs of fish showing than the opposite half of the lake. I set up a rig which would suffice for the LH and RH margin, which due to the set back nature of the peg, is short, too close on a day without ripple and so it turned out, I didn't have a bite from either margin, not even a liner.

I set up the now obligatory meat rig, but decided to fish this at 11m, which was the bottom of a very slight slope. This didn't produce a bite either.

A shallow rig - no bites on that........

A full depth rig, to fish soft pellet over softened 4's, this produced a 4lb carp second drop in and that was it for carp, a couple of foulers which came off, but very little in the way of indications, even liners.  The line did produce a few skimmers, but most were dropping off due to having to break down twice. With 2 1/2 hours to go, I swapped topkits and landed a couple of skimmers before fouling a carp, which took the rig so far into the rushes to my right, that pulling to get it back, snapped the elastic.

With that, I packed up with an hour and 15 mins to go, went to the pub and the Indian, which was much more enjoyable than being sat on a peg which I knew I shouldn't have bothered with.  I spoke to Rich Lacey on peg 21 as I went, he had a carp, a tench and two skimmers, these pegs really benefit from a wind into them (but not in the winter) so as usual when he draws near me, we're in a poor area.

Listening to Rich and Tim Ford, returning to the rivers is becoming an attractive proposition, if only it wasn't for the long walks and fence climbing!!

With any luck, the weather will start to turn colder soon and the silverfish fishing will start to become viable, but at the moment its not consistent.

See Tony's blog for the results.

Avon Angling Open, Landsend. Wednesday 18th September 2013

The title says Avon Angling Open, but it was more a knock up really, with just 7 of us there, its madness really, 3 matches within a 15 mile or so radius, although one is a series.

I had both options covered today, i.e. to fish for silvers or carp, the silvers would be my preference, but if the peg was full of hungry carp I'd fish for them.  The draw seemed to settle it, as in form  Craig 'Trigger' Edmunds drew peg 11, with me as his nearest neighbour on 7, so a silvers attack it was.

I did set up a rig to fish pellet across, just in case, and a meat rig that would suffice for 5m and by shallowing up a float length, the near margin. A simple silvers rig consisting of a NG Gimp, with a 0.14 hooklength and a 16 Red Carp Maggot, with a bulk and two droppers to fish worm over groundbait/CW&C at 8m. The same rig would also let me fish short, where a couple of bonus fish usually come from during the match.

On the all in I fed two balls of groundbait with a few casters and chopped worm in at 8m, loose fed caster just in front of the keepnets and catapulted 6mm pellet to the far shelf (which was about 14" deep).  Second lay in of the rig and a 2½lb skimmer graced the net, taking half a small dendra. It was a bit of a false dawn as it took a while for the next bite, a small perch.  By now there were signs of carp on the far shelf and all through the match a huge mouth kept coming out of the water and sucking pellets from the mudline, the fish was a very big double.

It did tempt me and the pellet rig was swung into action and as the pole approached the far bank, the fish disappeared, I foul hooked one, that came off almost immediately and I knew that my island pellet dangling skills were no where near good enough to beat Trigger who was catching a few fish on peg 11.

Back to the silvers and swapping between the 8m line and the topkit kept a few small perch and roach coming. I topped up the 8m line with another ball of g/bait and left it 15 minutes, first drop in saw a big ide in the net, next put in another 2lb+ skimmer, then the vermin moved in, blowing and bubbling over the groundbait, I hooked and landed two who took the worm and foul hooked some. I spent the rest of the match short, catching perch and roach.

It was an interesting experiment to see how the fish reacted to groundbait, but it might just too early for the worm and caster to work properly, as my hard work for silvers was wiped out by Rod Wootton who managed to get a decent net of skimmers on 8mm pellet.  I did pick up the silvers by default, as Rod took second place behind....... do I need to say, Trigger!!

The results board had disappeared by the time I got back to the car park, but it was something like this:

1) Trigger, 140lbish peg 11
2) Rod Wootton 63lbish peg 21
3) Ron Hardiman 53lbish peg 5
4) Alan Oram 52lbish peg 15
5) Chris Fox 27.04 peg 9
6) John Bradford 15lbish peg 17

Silvers

1) Rod 28lbish
2) Chris Fox 18.04
3) John Bradford 15ishlb

MFS CL Match, Viaduct Campbell lake. Sunday 15th September 2013

Working what feels like 24/7, 7 days a week at the moment meant no preparation for this match, just as well the last match I fished was on the same lake, hopefully the same rigs would suffice and the waggler rod was already set up.

I assumed that it would be a bit of a fish race, so took 8mm, 11mm pellet, 8mm and 10mm meat.  As an after thought, I chucked a few slices of bread into a plastic bag.  It just goes to show that a bit of up to date information is essential, as the colour had dropped out and the fish had reacted to this.

I managed to pull out a short walk and I wasn't too upset with 112, although the match had been won from 125 the day before, for company on my left I had Roland Lucas who was also pleased with his draw, especially when 110 wasn't drawn.

I set up a lead rod, I had a few chucks with it in the first couple of hours, had a couple of tentative liners and one lost fish that I think was foul hooked, so it went where it usually does, up the bank and was forgotten about. I set up 4 topkits, one for the margin, which didn't produce a bite, so no more about that. A meat rig to fish at 6m, 0.2g MW slim to fish pellet at depth, but with a slow fall, at 14m and a paste rig, that did not get used,  A full depth waggler completed the set up.

I started on the waggler and it took 15 minutes before my first fish was netted, a lively common about 4lb, another half an hour on the wag produced nothing, so a quick look on the meat line produced a 7lb fish, but that too was a lone fish. After 2 hours I had another 4lber on the wag, making 15lb in two hours, not a good start, but I wasn't alone in struggling.

I got off my box, had a rummage in my gear and found a box of 6mm pellets, staring a new line at 14m towards 113, the 6mm produced an almost immediate result, 2 fish in two put ins, I had a run of fish taking me to about 60lb, before this line died off.  it was if the fish had moved through the peg, feeding as they went.  By now there was the odd bubble from the meat line, so I dropped in on that, feeding 4 pieces of meat through a tosspot, this produced several 8lb fish before a fouler killed the line off.  Back on the waggler and a fish straight away, then another, before a fouler (I assume) ripped the rod round, snapping the main line just above the hooklength ( I think it went over a sharp fin or something). With 15 minutes left, I went back on the 14m line and tangled the rig, so it was the meat line left, which saw another 8lb fish take the meat seconds before the whistle, being safely netted a couple of minutes after.

I had clicked 55lb for one net and 51lb for the other, once again I was out on this lake, but not by too much, as my fish went 114.10 for third and a section win. It was a close match, one of the closest I think I have fished on this lake, which is how it should be. Some of the names below are MFS forum usernames, as I don't know their real names. I have gone down further than the usual 6 just to highlight how tight the match was, no silvers payout, but even so the top weight was 3.03, they didn't feed.

1) Snoose 122.01 peg 125
2) Roy Worth 115.08 peg 116
3) Chris Fox 114.010 peg 112
4) Dave Britain 110.03 peg 119
5) B Richards 106.15  peg 131
6) Poolfodder 106.10 peg 127
7) Roland Lucas 105.04 peg111
8) Maver Callum 105.01 peg 114
9) Merce 104.09  peg115

Float Only Round 6, Viaduct. Sunday 1st September 2013

I've had a little break from blogging, it has been impossible to get up any enthusiasm after some pretty disastrous days, that combined with working far too much.  The disasters were drawing peg 119 on Campbell at Viaduct in a short pole match, no matter what bait I put on the hook (even 11mm pellet) it was ravaged by tiny roach and rudd.  I managed just 5 carp before packing up with an hour to go.

Next match was worse, Trinity Wildmarsh, I drew peg 20, a poor draw, but I had plenty of water to attack. I had decided to fish for carp, so set up a waggler for 8mm pellet, a lead rod complete with Preston pellet feeder and a rig to fish meat in the margin. After 3 hours without a bite or liner, I had a walk, went back to the peg and set up a rig to fish caster, 0.06 and a 22 hook, under a 0.3g pencil float, this also resulted in a motionless float. A blank, on a commercial in summer, another early bath as I packed up an hour early again.

Third depressing outing was the last in Clevedon's Saturday series, to be fished on a lake I like, the top lake at Acorn. A match win could see me win the series, after a win and a 3rd, but Mark Broomsgrove and Rod Wootton were also right in contention. Acorn had been suffering with low oxygen levels and had pumps and aerators running on all lakes.  As soon as I drew, I knew that my series was over, as Mark drew one end peg and Rod the other, as for me, peg 6 by the bridge in the narrowest part of the lake. I managed about 15lb, mostly skimmers, which is a poor weight from this lake, I only had 3 carp, they just didn't want to feed.

Anyway, back to the match in the title, I drew 114 on Campbell, in a strong section (of 5) with in form Tom Thick on 112, league contender Shaun Townsend on 111, Lewis Greenwood-King on 115 and Bela Bakos on 110. I can't recall drawing this peg before and I think Mike Nicholls took pity on me after my recent torrid times and gave me some advice on fishing the peg.  As I haven't got to Viaduct nearly as much as I would have wanted to this summer, I wasn't sure exactly what would work, so set up two wagglers, one shallow (not used), one full depth. 5 topkits, two for banded pellet shallow and full depth (not used), a meat rig for 5m, a paste rig and a margin rig for banded pellet.

My back has been playing up lately, so 6 hours of slapping a shallow rig, especially competing against youngsters like Tom and Lewis, was not on the cards. I started on the full depth waggler and in the first 45 minutes had 37lb on the clicker, it slowed down, just as I was thinking it wouldn't be too difficult to do 40lb an hour........  Lewis on my right was struggling, whilst I could see Shaun catching consistently, Tom was taking odd fish.

I had an early look into the LH margin and had one fish, an early look on the meat line was a waste of 10 minutes, so back on the waggler and I managed a couple more fish, but by now was falling behind Shaun and Tom had a run of fish from his margin. I rested the waggler line again and first dob in with paste had an 8lb fish, that was it, every other put in on the paste resulted in a liner. I tried the shallow pellet rig over the paste line, to no avail.  By now Lewis was losing his head as he foul hooked a fish virtually every put in, as was Paul Elmes behind him on Cary, as the whole venue was aware via Triggers running commentary.

I spent most of the last couple of hours in the LH margin, each time I was thinking 2 more minutes and I'll try the waggler again, the float buried. Tom thick by now was getting a fish a chuck fishing shallow and long, Shaun had been steadily catching, whilst the rest of us had quiet spells. I didn't catch a fish on meat, not sure why, plenty of others did and Shaun caught 50/50 pellet long and meat short, I didn't even have any 'bonus' silvers, my carp went 145.04 for third in section, behind match winner Shaun and match second Tom, for a double default section pick up.

Full Result:

1. Shaun Townsend 228-14-0 peg 111
2. Tom Thick 196-05-0 peg 112
3. Keith Masheder 180-06-0 peg 105
4. Mike West 172-0-0 peg 125
5. Tony Rixon 164-08-0 peg 95
6. Scott Puddy 161-03-0 peg 116

 Top Silvers:

1. Gary Etheridge 44-11-0 peg 86
2. Leon Hubbard 26-03-0 peg 99
3. Keith Masheder 22-13-0 peg 105