Silvers Open, Plantation Lakes, Thursday 30th December 2021

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Silvers Open, Plantation Lakes, Thursday 23rd December 2021

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

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

Acorn Open, Saturday 18th December 2021

 Second of my winter opens on acorn, these matches have a 50/50 payout, overall and silvers.  I drew 21 - after last weeks winter league had thrown up an unexpected weight from here, I was hopeful, but it was't to be, I gave it 30 minutes fishing for carp, before switching to silvers, they were hard to come by but at least I had a few bites, I think the weigh sheet shows the fish were bunched up.  Beaten for 1st in the silvers by Joe - just the 1oz in it!

Hopefully it'll fish better next open.

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

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

Acorn Winter League, Round 2, Saturday 11th December 2021

 Onto section B this round, it's consistently the second best section behind A, but that's not important, as it's section points that are being fished for and the payouts are sections only.

In B section over the last couple of years peg 15 and 22 have been the consistent form pegs, so thought I would have to beat them to win the section.  I caught all my fish on one line, tight across in 20" of water toss potting maggots.

Was happy to have beaten Paul on 15, but just couldn't compete with 21/22, well done to Kev on 21, it's not been a decent draw for a while now.  Really need some decent draws in the coming rounds.

Rons Silvers League, R1, Shiplate Farm, Sunday 5th December 2021

 Was looking forward to getting back to Shiplate today, after the success of yesterday, wasn't too upset with my draw, as 22lb had come off it the day before, so was expecting a few fish.

Turned out to be a tough day, 0.08 and 22's came out of the box, a negative and a positive line fished, but really struggled for bites, even at the end I couldn't say what I could have done to catch more.  shame, not a good start to the league.

Shiplate Silvers league, Shiplate Farm, Saturday 4th December 2021

Fished this as a stand in, drew peg 10, which I did wonder if it being a bit closed in by the island, would be OK, I might have preferred a peg in the open water. 

Simple set up, a bulk shotted rig and a strung out rig - it seems the days of catching commercial skimmers on heavy and double bulked rigs are gone, the light strung out rigs seem to be the ones that catch most fish now.

I struggled for 90 minutes, my first fish was a roach after 80 minutes, I then had a skimmer at 14.5m and stayed there for the rest of the match catching skimmers around the 2lb mark on dead maggots over GB, lovely days fishing and nice to win on the day.

Team of Three, Final Round, Shiplate Farm, Sunday 28th November 2021

 Final round and really only pride to fish for, I would have liked to see the canals pegged differently, as I was in the middle of the 'bunches of three' and that as you can see from the sheet was not where you wanted to be....  A real struggle and I wasn't sorry to see the back of this league which has not been kind to me.

Acorn Open Saturday 27th November 2021

 First of my winter opens today, what a day to pick storm Arwen certainly made things tough... I was expecting most to cry off, but we did have 10 hardy souls who wanted to fish

I pegged it to try and keep the wind off most anglers backs, so the not the usual spaces between pegs, as its equal payouts by default, I fished maggot short all day and managed to take the silvers (equal overall/silvers payouts in these winter matches) with 3.15.....

Ivy House W/L - Stand -In, Sunday 21st November 2021

 Standing in for someone today - no idea who, Kingfisher for me, great I like it, but bloody hell, my last 9 draws on there including this one have been 47,48,45,46,45,37,43,47,43 - a bit of variety would be nice.... 

I think my achievement was beating those either side, but too far away from the winners....  I've only added the weigh sheet sheet for my lake.

Acorn Winter League R1 Saturday 20th November 2021

 First round of the Acorn winter league, after finishing 2nd last year (and I'd been hopeful of a win but the last round fell foul of Covid lockdowns) I was hoping for a good start and wasn't desperately upset to draw peg 1.  Well it was a struggle and this will be my dropper!!

Teams of Three, R5, Shiplate Farm Sunday 14th November 2021

 My turn on match lake and amazingly I was handed 15, a peg I'd never seen before, but it is an end peg with a bit of space.

Approach was waggler and lead, with just a margin pole set up, as I felt an edge and a short line would be enough, with waggler being my main approach.  Simple bait tray, 6mm and 8mm pellets, a few expanders, meat and maggots.  I had time so I set up a method and did some micros. 

Started on popped up bread, didn't spend too long chucking it round the peg, thought the colour and the temperature would suit pellets and a bit of feed.  I pinged pellets on the waggler line and had a couple of fish, then the indications stopped, the fish were rolling past the marker board peg 15 can't fish past and no one on peg 0 to push them back my way.  The did come back and drift away again in spells, I had odd fish on the waggler and the lead.

I tried the method up the end bank, not as much as a liner, I'd fed a short line with meat, never had a bite on that and I did manage a low double down the edge on 8mm pellet with 30 minutes to go.  Frustratingly lost a double on the lead, the hooklength broke, just after landing another low double, so I can only assume it got damaged, that probaly cost me two places.

Enjoyable day on the waggler mainly, fed about 3/4 pint of pellets for 85.02 which was third on the lake and 4th overall, so frustratingly one out of the money, but a big improvement on the last four matches....

1. Joe McMahon 110.12 Main Lake 14

2. Russ peck 92.02 Main Lake 12

3. Paul Nichols 85.03 Westpool 5

4. Chris Fox 85.02 Main Lake 15

5. Brian Slipper 83.06 Main Lake 8

6. Steve Howell 77.11 Westpool 15

Sedges Silvers Open, Monday 8th November 2021

 First trip to Sedges since the cafe and tackle shop has opened, a nice job, breakfast was nice and lovely clean toilets, shame that was the best bit of the day.

I really expected this to be a day where a few bites would be on offer, how wrong can you be.  I drew peg 23, I travelled down with Tony, he drew 29, I just cannot think of anything to write, neither of us had a bite.......  Can it get much worse!

Ivy House Winter League. Sunday 7th November 2021

 Fished this as a stand in, I knew I'd be on either the Old Match Lake or Willow, OK with that.  Drew 26 on Willow,  I had a bad start as I'd pick up the wrong ready rod holdall in the garage and didn't realise until I opened it and found two lead rods and no waggler.  As it turned out, the wind probably meant I wouldn't use it to effect anyway.

Set up one of the bomb rods to fish bread at the start, also a dobbing rig to dob bread up the edge, neither of which produced a fish.  I had a spell catching small skimmers on soft pellet, but it seemed like there were no carp around, I did manage to get two decent carp up the edge in the last 20 minutes, far too little to late.

Another day of underachievement and I felt the draw had contributed, as a few commented that 26 hasn't featured for a while now.

Teams of Three, R4, Shiplate Farm, Sunday 31st October 2021

 Hawthorn for me today, I knew the lake before hand, just the peg to be drawn on the day.  Bob Gullick had said before hand, you don't want peg 2 or 15, I was handed 2......

Struggled to catch I think I beat two on the lake, around 11 am I started to get a terrible headache, feeling sick and generally unwell, stayed fishing to the end, no idea how.  Got home and took a covid test, that was clear, my Mrs thought it might have been a migraine

Not sure I could have done much more even if I was 100%, but I would surely had had a couple more fish.

Acorn Open, Saturday 30th October 2021

 Last of the summer opens and the optional series today.  I was looking OK for a third place in the optional series and last in the money, first and third already taken

Disappointing turnout again, this is a great fishery and there aren't any openings for Sunday opens on here.  10 fishing so a bit of space, I drew 38, which was next to Gareth Boycott on 49, who had second in the series tied up.

Simple set up, rigs for across with pellet and maggot, another for down the shelf and a edge rig.  It was tough going, pellets were a waste of time, so I fished maggots on all lines, but soon realised even that was unlikely to be competing with the pegs further round the lake.  Gareth on 40 was suffering the same fate and Rich on 6 was finding the same thing, so 3 of us on the wrong side.....

I ended up fishing maggots on the bottom of the near shelf to catch tench, skimmers and carp, but not enough of any of them.  Mark Broomsgrove beating me to the last in the money in the series, as I only managed to put 48lb on the scales, pegs 40 and 6 DNW.

1. Martin Rayet 171.12 peg 1 

2.Des Shipp 91.00 peg 9

3. Laurie Lang 72.00 peg 11

4. Mark Broomsgrove 72.00 peg 3

5. Craig Challingsworth 69.02 peg 5

6. Dave Haines 64.00 peg 15

Silvers

1. Kev Perry 24.11 peg 13

Optional Series

1. Martin Rayet

2. Gareth Boycott

3. Mark Broomsgrove

Darby's Pairs, Ivy House, Sunday 24th October 2021

 Ivy House for a pairs match organised by Jon Darby, one of the pair on the Old Match Lake and Willow, the other on the canals.  Fishing with Tony Rixon, we'd already drawn straws putting me on the canals, and Tony on the other lakes.

Tony drew peg 2, which can be OK and me on 48, not the peg of choice on the canal, but I'd usually back myself to catch a few off any peg on Kingfisher (the canal I was on), although the competition was tough.

Only a pole, so a few rigs, one for across with banded pellet, too deep really on the far side, I couldn't find any little shelf or area that was shallower.  A rig to fish caster short, another for the edge and two for down the track, one with a bulk and one light rig strung out.

I'm not going waffle on, I struggled, the worst day I have ever had on that lake, I had one bite across, whilst peg 49 had a few, pegs 47 and 46 were also struggling.  I tried short and that was OK if I had wanted to catch roach, but there was little else feeding there.

By now peg 49 had come down his track and was catching, whilst my float remained absolutely stationary.   I tried a line with negative feeding and another positive, neither worked, I was running out of ideas, this may well have been one of those days when I might have been better served just sitting on one line waiting for a bite, but I find that pretty much impossible to do, especially when others are catching.

It didn't even get good at the end, battered off the next peg (49) who weighed 70lb to my 17lb, I was close to being last in the whole match and I still have no idea what I could have done to change it, the lake was won with over a ton from the the area I would have chosen.  

I didn't get the result sheets at the end, as we left with both seats in the van empty handed...  Well done to the winning pairs and onto the the next match!

Mystery Teams Of Three, The Glebe, Saturday 23rd October 2021

 A while back I stuck my name down for a mystery teams match at The Glebe, which was being organised on Maggotdrowning (forum), for the competitors it was as simple as turn up and draw a peg, just like an open, the pegs were allocated to the teams before the draw I believe so it was pot luck who you fished with.

Nice early start for the drive up tp the Glebe, its about 130 miles, but a large part of that is motorway, so not too bad at 2 hrs 15 mins.  Got there in plenty of time, as the event was a team event there was no individual payout, so I ran a superpool, which 2/3's of the field entered.

I haven't really had a chance to get to the Glebe for a few years, shame as it's a great fishery, so I had pestered Mark Poppleton for some info, which helped to cement the thoughts I had and a simple plan was formulated - hard pellets, corn and dead maggots.

Draw done and I must admit I didn't know who I was fishing with, so just my match to concentrate on, peg 7, not one I have heard of as a much revered draw, but I was sure there would be fish to be caught off most pegs.  

Set up two 10' Daiwa Tournament feeder rods, on with a straight lead and one clipped up across with a 4 square feeder,  A 12' Daiwa waggler rod with a straight waggler under which was a 0.16 hooklength and 16 PR36 with a hair rigged band.

Poe rigs were a margin rig (just in case, never expected to catch on it), a skimmer rig in case it was hard, a Malman Roob for corn short, that had a 16 Kaizen to 0.17, two pellet rigs (again, Roobs), one with LWG to 0.15, the other a 18LWG to 0.13.  

Started at 6 joints with a banded 6mm pellet, toss potting a few in, nothing, not even a liner.  Reluctantly I picked up the feeder rod and put a 6mm Coppens in the band, filled the cage with micros and dropped it just short of the far bank (think it maybe too shallow tight in).  I had two fish for about 7lb in a couple of casts, I'd started pinging a few pellets 3/4 the way across and saw some fish moving about.  Happily chucked the feeder up the bank and had a nice couple of hours fishing the waggler with either a 6 or 8mm pellet in the band, fishing at full depth with just one No8 at half depth.

With a couple of hours to go, it slowed up, I started feeding corn at 6 joints, the put the feeder over the waggler line, this time with two worms, had a couple on this, before trying the corn line, this was frustrating, one skimmer and 4 lost foulers - unusual when fishing corn.  I had another look on the waggler, nothing, I had now wasted an hour swapping and changing trying to find the fish again.   I fe a line at 14.5m and fished the pellet rig with the 0.13 hooklength over it, This brought me 4 more fish in the last 30 minutes. I should have done it for the last 2 hours, I'm sure I should have had 125-140lb from the peg.

I weighed 97.09 which was enough to win individually and my team mates (forum names) Can't Compete and Kev Coke were second in the team result, so a successful day.  Team winners were, Peter, 90's Gear and Stewie74 who pipped us by one point.  Thanks to Whisker for organising and all who took part for a match fished with a great atmosphere.  (And I finally got to meet Neil of the Nene).

Penultimate Summer Open, Acorn, Saturday 16th October 2021

 For various had a few dropouts on this match, so more of a 10 peg knock-up than a real open, but there was still the optional series to fish for.  Last match in this series, I drew peg 1, couldn't believe it when I drew it again, another trip over the bridge onto the island.

Unbelievably, Martin Rayet drew peg 5 again, he's never off it!!

On peg 3 I had my old mate Paul Faiers, he was going to fish for silvers, a bit risky as I only pay one in the silvers and you can win both.  I set up two rigs for across, identical except one with a 18 LWG tied with a band in a hair, the other with a 20 LWG to 0.13. One rig for the RH edge, another for the LH edge which is deeper and a strung out rig for where I could find 3' of water.  Plenty of fish moving around, so I didn't set up a rig for on the deck.

Started across with a 6mm banded pellet, toss potting 4mm, had a couple of liners a small carp on it, it didn't seem right, switched to a 4mm in the band, that brought a few small carp, far too small.  I switched to the maggot rig and that did get a response from a couple of better fish, but it was slow going.  I'd been flicking a few maggots on the 3' deep line and went over that with the light strung out rig and a red and a white maggot on the hook, I had a couple of tench and some skimmers, along with a couple of carp, enough bites to keep me at it and it seemed to be fishing hard for most.

I did try the RH edge much earlier than I would usually, I had a instant fish from it and then nothing.  Back across and I had  run of carp around the 1lb mark, but I'd need to get some of their bigger brothers to do any good.

I hadn't seen any sign of activity in the LH edge, but it was a couple of feet deep, so the fish don't always give themselves away in that depth.  The last 80 minutes I spent down that edge, think I may have underfed it at one stage as the bites dried up, but the net I started with 80 minutes to go had 40lb in at the end, the quiet spell I suffered was costly, as my 121.14 was third on the day.

1. Gareth Boycott 136.05 peg 9
2. Glenn Calvert 133.02 peg 38
3. Chris Fox 121.14 peg 1
4. Martin Rayet 116.06 peg 5
5. Glenn Bailey 97.09 peg 15
6. Joe McMahon 96.13

Silvers

1. Paul Faiers 31.15 peg 3

2. Dave Haines 21.12 peg 40

Ivy House Open, Sunday 3rd October 2021

 Over two lakes today, old match lake and willow, I didn't fancy drawing the bank by the speci lake, so where did I draw, 32, one peg away from where I dismally failed to weigh in in the spring festival.

Travelling partner Tony, drew peg 2 which I would have taken in preference to mine.  I did set up a method, a straight lead and a waggler - the two lead rods went away at the end unused, as I thought my best chance of picking up was fishing for silvers and I did expect the OML to produce the winning silvers weight, but decided to give it go, as for me it would be a bit of an unknown, not having fished for silvers on willow before.

Started well catching roach short on caster, then the sun came out and spoilt that, I had fed two skimmer lines, one with GB/maggot and another with micros.  Well I had a frustrating few hours, my bluetooth headphones were flat, so had to listen the the GP from the speaker on my phone (turned right down so as not to upset anyone).  But the biggest frustration was that there were skimmers in the peg, I was missing bites and foul hooking them.  I tried lighter rigs, heavier rigs, not feeding GB, corn on the waggler (not a bite on it) and I was pretty stumped, the one thing I didn't do was persist with expanders, which turned out to be a mistake.

I the last 30 minutes the trees and bushes behind me cast a shadow on the water and the roach came back, I had some decent fish (up to 10oz) amongst the smaller specimens, but felt I'd fall a long way short.

As it turns out there wasn't a big silvers weight from OML (17.12 being top silvers on there) and John on peg 31 to my right weighed 24.14 to my 17.10, he'd sat it out on expanders and caught plenty of hand sized skimmers  - patience is a virtue I am yet to learn..... (likewise having confidence in soft pellets!)