Another Chilly Day

So on Sunday I fished a Sherborne Lake match which saw a very good turn out. 

A Few Turned Out For This One!

I had drawn Peg 23 in the bay and was a little gutted as it's not the deepest of pegs. I set up two rigs for fishing on the pole. A shallow rig consisting of a .40g Pencil float with a strung out shotting pattern to a 0.12 hook length and 18's Silver Bagger hook. The other rig was a 1.5g Euro Canal float with Ollivette and 2 droppers to the same hook length and hook.

My Peg For The Day

I planned to start on the deck feeding a pouch of hemp and caster every couple of minutes and try to pick up some fish early on. After 30 bite less minutes I had a look shallow  but again bite less. I was thinking on what to do as I changed hook baits and even struggled to pick up fish on single maggot. I battled on through and started catching Roach around 3-4oz's and a Skimmer around half a pound.

Up until the last hour I was sitting on 3lbs roughly. I just went for it and potted in 3 cups of hemp and a cup of caster with a few pieces of corn. After 15 minute's, slowly, Roach to 12oz's started showing. By the time I had netted the decent fish the whistle had gone. Seconds before it went the float sailed away and I had my second Skimmer of the day.

I estimated 8lb, which I was happy with considering a had a bite less hour and a half. I weighed in with 8lb 4oz's but I don't mind. It's a stunning venue! I will leave more pictures below.

The winner on the day was Nigel Garrett. He weighed in with over 20lbs of Roach and Perch. Nigel fished a 4m elasticated whip over hemp and caster mixed together (3 pint hemp to 1 caster). Despite numerous encounters with Pike, biggest in and around the 18-20lb mark, he still put together this match winning weight.

Nigel's Match Wining Weight. Over 20lb Of Roach And Perch. Top Work!

Here are some more pictures of Sherborne Lake and it's surroundings :)

Next Up For Me: League Match Final Round. 4 anglers with a shot of winning this league on the final day! Myself, Glen, Ian and League Organiser Jeff all have a chance to take the crown with just 5 points separating 1st and 4th! This is going to be an exciting match!

A Frosty Morning On The Stour

So after a week off on holiday and feeling pretty poorly throughout the whole week I braved the first frost of the year today and fished a Stalbridge Angling Winter League match. After my cuppa and some toast I loaded up the car and headed to the Stour. The thermometer in the car said it was 1c so I thought it would be hard fishing today.

Cold Toes This Morning Walking Through The Frosty Field

I arrived at river where a few early birds had already arrived and loaded up in the field ready. Normally when we fish upstream I draw the same peg almost every time so I was 2nd the bucket to try and reduce my chances of getting it again. I drew out peg 2 which I thought was good and it was confirmed that I drew it again! "Andy you've got that bloody bend AGAIN!" Never mind hey.

Looking Back Towards The Road With The Mill Pool On The Left

Just before we left the roadside we were informed that it was also the Pairs Match and that I was paired up with Bernie. We ventured across the frosty field to our pegs and I arrived to my peg. It was pretty sticky and soft so I am grateful to my box having decent sized mud feet.

Peg 2 For Me As Always

Bait for the day was maggot, caster, hemp and ground bait. My ground bait choice was, as always, Sonubaits Super Crumb River. I set up 2 rigs, both identical. 1 rig was for my 2 o'clock in the deeper water with the ground bait and the rig was for right in front of me which would be my hemp and caster line.

I Use Bait-Tech Super Seed Hemp As It Is Perfectly Cooked, Perfect For Loose Feeding Or Adding To Any Ground Bait. The Best Hemp On The Market!

The rigs were 1.5g Matrix Euro Canal floats with an olivette and 2 droppers tied to 0.13mm Power Micron. Hook lengths were size 20 Matrix Super Pole hooks to 0.10mm Power Micron. Elastics, 4 and 6 solids, again Matrix.

I Use Matrix Stay Fresh Solid Elastics In Size 4 & 6

I started off fishing at 2 O'clock over the ground bait while feeding my hemp line and after a few Roach I was beginning to get pestered by Minnows both on Maggot and Caster. I put up with this for an hour and a half in hope some Roach or anything besides Minnows turned up. Unfortunately all I could catch was Minnows despite feeding a lot of ground bait to try feed them off.

After 2 hours I went on to my hemp line and straight away I was in to a Roach of around half a pound. A few more smaller Roach, Rudd, Chub and Dace came along here and there and even Gavin the Gudgeon made an appearance. Fortunately no Pike showed up today which was rare. I have finished up catching a lovely Dace around 8" long which was great to see. 

The all out was called and after packing up I awaited the scales. Peg 1, Rich Fripp, weighed in with 4lb 2oz and I admitted to him that I had the same. Low and behold I weighed in with 4lb's exactly. We made our way back to the roadside to hear the results and after I loaded the car and changed shoes I joined everyone.

On The Day (Individually) 

Bernie was 3rd with 3lb 10oz

I was 2nd with 4lb

Rich Fripp won with 4lb 2oz

Pairs 2015 Winners

Bernie Ackland & Myself with a combined weight of 7lb 10oz.

So another trophy with my name on it. This is my 3rd winter league and I have manged to pick up a trophy in every one. My next Stalbridge match is the Memorial Shield which I won last from the same Peg I had today so I look forward to trying to defend that.

My next match is November 1st at Sherborne Lake and I look forward to fishing with the likes of Alex Murray, Nigel Garrett and many more of the familiar faces that I see in the tackle shop.

Tight Lines!

League Update

So the League is really hotting up now! The past two weekends  I have been out competing for points.

On the 11th we were at Avalon Fisheries. I have drawn peg 9 and to put it simply I fished poorly. I was beaten from both pegs next to me which helped open up the race for the League title. Both Trev and Ian caught on the tip and Pole to beat me. Definitely one to forget! grrr

So on to yesterday, Round 14 of 15 to be fished on Park Lake at Todber Manor. We would be fishing on the far side which for me has been a bad side. I have always draw between 30 and 34 (old pegs) and never done very off them. I've been given the bag for the draw and Rich drew Peg 2 for me (old peg 37!! 1 away from the flier!) which I was happy with.

Peg 37 For Me

I have got to my peg and set 4 rigs. 2 for across on the far bank, 6m line and an edge line. My plan of attack was to feed meat  to my left and at 6m heavy until the last hours and kinder pot meat across. Bait wise I had 8 tins of meat cut into 6mm and 8mm cubes and as an emergency back up I had 6mm pellets.

For Cutting Up Meat I Use The MAP Meat Cutter, Quick, Easy Dishwasher Friendly

I have gone straight across and caught 2 carp fairly quickly. Unfortunately only a few Carp after that. Few and far between but I have weighed in with 50lb for 2nd in section and overall!. Peg 38 won it with 98lb 4oz, well done Sandy!

Fishing was hard for most all day. Even the tip boys struggled! Trev ended up fishing the whip for Silvers!!!

Low weights on Park

So after the 14th round how do things stand? It is very tight with anyone of the top 4 in contention for the tittle. The final round is 8th of November at Avalon. Bring it!

A very tight table! We have our worst 2 results to be deducted off of this table

A Change Of Scenery

So on the 3rd and 4th I decided to fish the incredible Sherborne Lake. In the past big nets of Bream were very common but due to foot and mouth all those years ago the Lake had to be shut. This, I believe has caused the the Bream to go back to natural baits like Bloodworm, worms etc etc. Ever the optimist I decided to fish the afternoon on Saturday. It was sunny and we had a gentle breeze.

Peg 42

I arrived and I set up in Peg 42. I decided to fish here because all of the other pegs were flat calm and I thought that the ripple would help. I set up my 3.8m Horizon S Class feeder rod and Super Feeder 5500 reel and began casting around. I found that at 80 yards it was all silt and pulling back I found a clear spot. I clipped up and set up my marker sticks and began winding the line around them. I measure 72 yards which was comfortable. 

Bait Selection

What More Can You Ask For? This Was As I Left.

I mixed up some Sensas Explosive feeder ground bait along with a quarter of a bag of F1 dark to darken off the mix. While it was resting I sorted out my other baits and hook lengths. Shortly after I began putting out a big bed of ground bait. I started with 15 feeders full and fished over the top. I added softened micro pellets, some corn and a pinch of dead reds and casters.

Looking Down Towards Peg 1, Flat Calm

Half an hour in to the session I had a Roach around half a pound and a few more followed. I was hoping that these would draw the Bream in but unfortunately it didn't happen. I finished up with 12 roach all in and around the half pound mark. A great afternoons fishing despite not catching some Bream.

Made Some Feathery Friends

So on the Sunday I had awoken to thick fog and a cold Easterly breeze. Today would be a filler match, a change of venue and a change of faces. Like the league I am in I would be fishing with customers of TackleUk. I would be fishing alongside Chris Rowland, who hasn't long come back from a trip to Ireland catching Bream, Roach and some Tench. Also I would be fishing Gary Skarin who whom I know from working with his wife in my previous job, we actually first met at a then colleagues wedding of all places!

So 8am and draw time. I was hoping for peg 33 as a few Bream had been showing from there recently. I didn't fish the pegs that were put in for the match on the Saturday as I didn't want to pre bait the person swim for them haha. I drew 34 which I was happy with and I would have Gary Skarin as my neighbour for the day on 36.

A Rather Misty Peg 34

I set up 3 pole lines. I found the bottom of the shelf at 7m and fished a 1.5g Euro Canal float to an 0.10mm hook length and 18's Silver Bagger hook. I had 6' here  but the lake had a mean tow coming from the right to left. I would fish this until the sun broke through and burned the fog away. I planned to feed 4 balls of Sensas Lake with a quarter of F1 Dark on the deck with caster. Elastic was a solid 6 fitted in a match kit with a pulla bung.

I also set up 2 shallow rigs. Pencil series 6 .4g dotted down to the same hook length as above. I would fish Caster shallow on these rigs to hopefully put a good net of fish together as I know this can produce.

At the whistle I cupped in some ground bait and began loose feed casters short to build up the peg. After a slow start fish started showing. Nothing big but it was a start and I didn't see anyone else catching.

My 7m didn't produce much after an hour so I switched to my short line and began to catch some fish. I was slowly putting fish in the net and I was warming up to which was great as the easterly breeze was blowing in to our faces. I kept at it and I was catching steadily until the last hour when things went slow. I can only assume Pike were nearby as small fish were jumping out of the water just past my shallow line.

The whistle soon blew to end the match and I was shocked at how quick the match went. I guess it would if you fished mainly 6 hour matches 98% of this year so far then fished a 5 hour one. I estimated 7-8lb as I didn't have much in terms of quality.

The scales arrived and I weighed in with 10lb 2oz. Nothing to sing and shout about but a nice net of Roach and Rudd. I followed the scales down and out of the 7 that fished 5 weighed in with double figure bags. Considering Pike were clearly hungry and disturbing us for their breakfast I thought that was a good figure. Over 65lb of Roach and Rudd came out on the day.

I wasn't ready for the photo but hey ho, 10lb's 2oz Of Roach & Rudd

A nice days fishing with some of the TackleUk customers. A lovely, clean and tidy venue that is on the Yeovil & Sherborne membership (Applications only). Credit to the Angling Society and the Groundsman of Sherborne Castle.

Results On The Day, 65lb+ Of Roach & Rudd

So next up for me is: league match at Avalon Fishery :)

Dillington Open Pairs

So on Sunday Glen and myself teamed up to fish an Open Pairs match at the beautiful Dillington Pond under control by Ilminster Angling. Its a really nice and peaceful place to fish and it is full of Roach, Rudd, Tench, Bream, Skimmers, Chub and Perch.

24 pegs on the pond all of which can throw up a good weight of fish. Feeder tactics are popular here but Pole fishing shallow and on the deck can also produce. Depths vary throughout and can be anywhere from 5' to top 4 deep. I highly recommend that, if you live near Ilminster you look in to fishing here!

So after a hearty breakfast and cuppa tea we did the draw. I picked out B section and Glen drew my home for the day, Peg 1. Regulars informed me that this could be a hit or miss peg as the resident Chub the live by the tree don't always show up.

Glen was on peg 13 and to be honest it looked a nice peg. 2 edge lines of reeds and plenty of water out in front. We both set up at least 3 pole rigs and Glen set up the method feeder to target some Bream.

Peg 1, My Home For The Day

 I had good company for the day on Peg 2 and Peg 4. Jamie Rich, Against Men And Fish, was on Peg 2 and Scott Russell, TackleUk, was on Peg 4 and both came over for quick natter before the all in.

Jamie is also a blogger and blogs about matches, tackle reviews, interviews and his own opinions on the sport. A very good read, I recommend having a read. I will leave a link to Jamie's page at the bottom :)

Jamie Just Had To Take A Picture 

I set up 2 rigs to my left, 1 on the deck and 1 shallow. To my left I set up another two rigs to fish to the tree, one for on the deck and one at half depth as I planned to feed caster regularly.

I had mixed up 2 kilo's of Super Crumb Black for today and fed this to my left at 12m every 20-30 minutes in hope of some quality showing up. I was to feed Caster over the the top in hope to pick up fish shallow as well.

At the all in I fed some ground bait to my left and begun feeding to the tree by hand. I had no fish in the first half hour and then I started landing a few Roach. I picked up the loose feed and eventually started catching a few decent Roach and Rudd shallow but things soon died off. 

Scott mention that it may die off and bites will be missed and he wasn't wrong. I missed 15-20 bites in a row and then everything seemed to have stopped. Glen text me with an hour and a half left and said he was lucky to have 2lb. I replied possitively and said to keep his head down as the last hour could change and I wasn't wrong.

The whistle sounded to end the match and Glen had text me saying he had 3 Chub to 3lbs but lost a big Bream around the 5lb mark. Glen weighed in with 10lb 6oz's which was a great weight for his first visit and on the day what with 18 people on the pond.

I admitted to Glen and Jamie to having between 5 and 6lbs and I guessed correctly. I weighed in with 5lbs 6oz's. Jamie had 7lb 14oz and Scott had 8lb 4oz.

My 5lb 6oz Net

Jamie With His 7lb 14oz Bag From Peg 2

TackleUk's Scott Russell 8lb 4oz From Peg 4

Stuart Alford And His 8lb 2oz Bag

Frank's Individual Winning Weight Of 12lb 5oz

A great match and lovely weather for it too. It was very well organised and it was a credit to the people of Ilminster Angling. 

So next up for myself is my first match at Sherborne Lake this coming Sunday. Looking forward to it :)

Hope you enjoy the blog and like the new layout.

Tight Lines!

If you would like to view Jamie's Blog then please click the link below. His blogs are very good :)

Jamie's Blog's, Against Men And Fish

A return To The Sedge's!

On the 30th of August I fished Dillington Pond in a match to experience what it has on offer. I hear a lot about the venue in the tackle shop where I work and I have been meaning to try it. Arriving at the draw, cup of tea in hand, I was asked to draw the golden peg and was allowed to draw first being new on the scene. Like most of my draws this year I drew the "best peg on the lake". 

The change of scenery was good as I got to fish along side a few people I don't normally fish with like Ash (TackleUk), Jamie Rich (Against Men And Fish), Stu Alford (Ilminster), Robin Cox (Ilminster) and a few other customers that come in to the tackle shop.

Peg 19 For Me At Dillington

After a damp days fishing I manged 7lb 8oz of mainly Roach between 4 & 6 oz's. Not much in terms of quality but a nice change to catching Carp. Stu Alford won the match with 20lbs 10oz of Bream and Skimmers.

Stuart's Match Winning Bag

So yesterday, September 5th, I found myself up at silly o'clock to get to The Sedge's Fishery for a league match. Now the last time I was here I finally managed my first 100lb+ net of fish and a new match PB. That was on Brick Lake but we were on Tile for this round.

It was cloudy with a slight breeze and I was a little unsure on how to approach it. I drew Permanent Peg 38 and I was happy with that as I had 2 nice edge line's, Island chuck (as did everyone), and the warm wind blowing in to my bank from the right. I felt the water and it was very warm so I based my approach on that.

Peg 38 On Tile Lake

I set up an edge right for my right hand side to fish 8mm meat, I set up a shallow rig for the long pole, pellet waggler and method feeder.

The edge rig compromised of 0.16 Power Micron main line to 0.14 hook length of the same material. Hook was a Carp Bagger in a 14 size with a Drennan (Unfortunately ran out of edge floats from my sponsor who now are no longer producing them so I have changed to Drennan) Carp 3 float in .3gr.

Shallow rig was made of the same mainline and hook length but to a 18 Carp Bander hook banded via the knot less knot using a Series 2 Matrix float in .3gr,

My pellet waggler set up was 6lb reel line on a Ultron 3000 reel fitted to a 11' Carpmaster Float rod. I used the new Matrix Pre-Loaded Pellet Wagglers  and attached this via the new Matrix Pellet Waggler Attachments. Again the hook was a banded Carp Bander in a size 16.

My Tackle, Minus Rod & Reel, For Pellet Waggler Fishing

I also set up my 9' Carpmaster feeder rod with a 23g Small Evolution Method Feeder. 

At the all in I fired in 6 pouches of 8mm pellets to kick of my swim. Each pouch contained on 4 pellets and then I began casting in the pellet waggler. I was experiencing some problems in casting in that the wind was blowing the waggler to the left of my feed so I swapped to the 8gr. This made the difference as I was getting to my baited area.

After a slow first hour the bites started coming. I soon had 40lb in the net in the next 45 minutes so I upped the feed and this really got the fish going! It was fish after fish around the 5lb mark and I had 90lb on my clicker after 3 and a half hours so I was soon off the box and after another keep net.

I was still feeding my edge line in between catching carp. Then things started to go down hill. 2 catapult elastics busted on me and my topped up 8mm feed pellets were floating. I had no time to change elastics or go to the hut to buy pellet as I had the league leader in my section and I didn't want to leave my peg to long without feed going in. Thank fully I had my hook baits in another tub and hand enough to see me through.

2 hours left and I cupped in half a pot of meat every 20 minutes on my edge line and left it until the last hour. I topped up with fish on the pellet waggler until the last hour and then picked up the top kit.

I went down the edge and if the float didn't go under after 2 minutes I was leaving it. The float flew under seconds after settling and I was in to something big. When I eventually netted it after folding it in I ran to the scales to weigh it (No fish over 15lbs in keep nets, fishery rules). It came in at 13lb 8oz!

I went back down the edge but not a touch. I kept the pellet waggler line topped up so I could return to feeding fish. Sure enough the pellet waggler hit the water and the rod was nearly pulled out of my hand. Another big lump! I went on to land 4 more big Carp. 

With 10 minutes to go, I cast out again and hooked an angry fish. It went off like a rocket and it unfortunately came off. I reeled in, gutted that I had lost it, and luckily I had a pellet left on so I re cast and as soon as the waggler hit the water the rods bent around and another fish on. Line is pouring off the spool and seconds later my alarm for the all out went off. I had 15 minutes to land this fish. Luckily I managed to land it after 4 longs sprints to the Island! I could only just get it in the landing net and my 2 witnesses said that it was definitely over 15lb!!

I didn't realise but people on Brick Lake behind had stood behind and watched me throughout the match and afterwards came up to me and shook my hand. "that was some shift young man, let me shake your hand" one chap on holiday said and guessed I have over 150lb! My clicker said around 140lb but there was only one way to find out.

The scales arrived and top weight so far was Trev in the other section with 120lb. Ian, league leader, had between 60lb and 65lb of which I knew I had beaten with just 5 of my 6 huge carp! After a helping hand getting my 2 carp nets out and 4lbs of silvers I had weighed in with 155lb 6oz's!! A new personal best match weight and another section win.

I was very happy with that result. Now I the Trade Match on Wednesday to look forward too and then the next League match next Sunday at Summerhayes.

I was also asked about what tackle I use so I will leave a list below of the main pieces ie rods, reels, pole etc below.

Tight Line's All!

Main Tackle

Matrix All Weather Suit (Bib & Brace and Jacket)

Matrix Ethos Large Rod Holdall

Matrix Superbox Seatbox

Matrix 3m Carp Keepnets

Matrix 11' Carpmaster Float Rod

Matrix Nemesis 16m Pole

Matrix Aquos 4000 Front Drag Reel

Club Match, Shield Round 2 and a Double Whammy Weekend!

A nice big blog this time round. It's been a mad few weeks for myself which is why I haven't blogged. I have had so much tying to do it has been mad ha ha. Any way on to the good stuff...

A few weeks back I fished a club match at Todber Manor on Park lake. I drew old peg 31 as per usual. I seem to draw between peg 30 and 34 whenever I fish a match on Park. I don't know why it just works out that way ha ha.

I fished over to the far bank and pinged 6mm pellet for 3 hours to catch mostly F1's. I fed up a meat line at top 2 and 2 and an edge line to my left near some overhanging bank side shrubbery.

I was steadily catching some F1's and the odd Carp but after my second Carp everything went quiet. I managed a few more F1's before my alarm went off for 2 hours left. I came in on my meat line and didn't have a sniff for 5 minutes so I returned to the far bank. I had two more F1's and back to quiet.

An hour left I went down to my edge where I got bitted out by Roach. Finally a Carp did decide to have some lunch with 5 minutes left. Slightly frustrating but it happens.

I weighed in with 33lb 10oz which placed me 2nd which I won't grumble at. :)

You Can't Go Anywhere Without Pellet These Days

Local Paper Report For The Above Match

The weekend after was time for some action on the River Stour in the Dorset Shield, this time at Hinton St Mary.

I drew Permanent Peg 7 which I was happy with. Though I did regret leaving the rods at home as I had a lovely waggler chuck but left them at home to save room in the team mates vehicle.

Home For The Day

 

I fished at 13m in to the middle of the river which was just under top 4 deep. I also set up a shallow line as fish were topping everywhere! I set up an edge line for some Perch as well as I had nice lilly area to my right. I had the whip set up for 6m with hemp and caster which I would feed little and often.

I started by putting in 6 balls of the faithfull Super Crumb River. I fished straight over it with single caster and the float buried and 6 solid started streaming out. I thought I was in to a Bream as I had heard that the Bream had been coming out of this part of the river in recent days. But sods law it was a Pike and I got it near the net and it then decided to tail walk right over to the far bank. Thankfully the line broke half way across but the damage was done.

I picked up a few more fish from the 13m line and then went on to the whip. I baited up and shortly after the rig settling the float buried and I had a Perch of a pound and a half :) I flicked some hemp and caster out and went back in. After 5 minutes I had another fish, a mint Roach of around a pound.

Last hour I went to my right after the Perch. Unfortunately only fish around 5oz's were taking the worm. I did manged 9 of them so I shouldn't grumble. I weighed in 6lb 7oz for last in my 3 man section. Overall I think I came 5th or 6th out of 18 so not to bad :)

The ever faithful, The Super Crumb Range

Right then, this was the match I had been looking forward to for months. The Todber Manor Open! They had a Browning Open Day in the shop and the match rewards were to be handed out by 4 times World Champion Bob Nudd! And I can confirm he was wearing his faithful white cap as always. I swear he never takes it off lol.

So this for me was the biggest match I have fished in terms of the amount of people fishing it and payout. A big field of decent anglers on the day and I was happy to see some of the Tackleuk customers fishing as well as the 3 of us representing the company (myself, Ash and Scott).

I drew new peg 34 on Park. I will be honest, I didn't really want to draw Park lol. In my section was Simon Diment, who wanted to fish with only half his clothing on, and Ash my colleague. These were two I wanted to beat regardless of the overall result.

Home For The Day, Peg 34

I set up 3 rigs plus a spare, 2 for across on the deck for the F1's, 2 across shallow and 2 for down the edge to my left. 

Started by going over to the far bank and it wasn't long before I was into a carp. I kept pinging pellets over and soon all I was getting was line bites. I picked up my shallow rig and started slapping. I managed to net a Carp but after that not a touch. I returned back on the deck and I started catch carp at a steady pace. Not seriously bagging but putting together a nice weight.

Come the last hour and I went down to my left under the tree next to a hay bale hoping for some fish. Unfortunately not even a Roach! I left it and went back across. Unfortunately only 1 fish in the last hour.

Shortly after the all out the scales arrived. I weighed in 67lb 14oz's. I was happy with that and I thought I had done alright but then I had news of an 80lb+ weight in my section so I knew I didn't win the section. I packed up and drove back to the Tackle Shop to meet Ash and Scott and awaited the results. 

D section (Park Lake) was won by N. Fox with 47lb and picked up £50 from Bob Nudd.

Now here was a shock....

C section (Park Lake) was won by ME!! with 67lb 14oz. I picked up £50 from Bob Nudd

B section (Bottom White Post) was won by Anton Burns with 44lb who picked up £50 from Bob Nudd

Unfortunately I am not sure who won section A (Top White Post) or what the weight was :(

So overall I didn't know where I had come but a section win was very welcome. I forgot the section payout was by default!

On the day...

6th: Pete Neate with 69lb 2oz

5th: T. Can with 78lb 4oz

4th: Ben Dukes with 89lb 2oz

3rd: Steve Tucker with 91lb 12oz

2nd: Tony Gilbert with 95lb

1st: Scott Russell with 97lb 4oz

Well that 6th place beat me by a carp. I was shocked to hear that result when it was read out as I didn't think I had done that well but it meant I had finished 7th out 60 anglers. A year ago I wouldn't of come anywhere near that or had the confidence to fish a match like that.

7th place and a section win!! HAPPY DAYS!!

It was a great day and well run by John and his team at Todber Manor :)

Section Winnings Received From Bob Nudd MBE

So back to League action on Sunday. I arrived at around 5 past 8 at Todber White Post lakes to some of the guys clapping me on the result from Saturday. I am not sure if it was sarcasm or not but I took it as a serious well done and gave them a bow ha ha.

I drew peg 11 which is new peg 25. It weighed in 44lb on Saturday so I set up lite and kept feed down early on.

I set up a rig at 10m on the deck to fish pellet for anything. Also a shallow rig at the same distance just in case the fish responded to loose feed going in.

Then I set up a meat line at 5m and and edge line at top 2 and 1.

Bait was 8mm meat, 6mm pellet, Corn, dead reds and ground bait.

So started off by feeding a small pot of pellets on the deck with a 6mm banded hookbait. I was soon in to an F1 and shortly after a Skimbob. After that I only hand line bites. So I decided to pick up my shallow rig.

This turned out to be a good call as I started at half depth and fed 4 pellets every now and the whilst slapping. I was soon catching F1 at a nice steady pace. Then the carp moved in and I was catching quickly. After 2 carp the line bites started again so I shallowed up to 8" and it was nearly a fish a chuck. 

I kept the meat line topped up with 4 pieces now and then and soon my alarm for 2 hours went off. I picked up my cupping kit and cupped in 2 cups of ground bait loose down my edge every 20 minutes. In the mean time I kept feeding my 10m line and went in on the meat line. I had a carp rather quickly but that was it after that.

An hour left and I went down the edge with a big hookfull of dead reds. I had 4 Perch quickly and a Roach before I was soon in to the Carp. In total I had 5 from down the edge before I had to call the all out.

Bob, to my right, and Trev, to my left, had caught some fish so I was interested to see what weight they had. Bob had the same amount of fish as me in the last hour so I thought it would be close.

I weighed in with 57lb 4oz of which 21lb was F1's and those Perch ha ha. My descision to go shallow and fish for anything paid off as I won my section and finished first overall. Beating Trev and Bob also increased my lead over them now to 6 points. Unfortunately Glen didn't have a good day but still had some of the lads laughing and caught a few fish.

The Results On The Day, Like Saturday The Weight Came From The Bottom End

So lets see how the League is looking now after the above results...

My Second Section Win Of The Weekend Moves Me Up Two Places!

Next Up For Me: Stalbridge A.S Summer League Final Round, River Stour (Upstream)

My last blog had over 200 views! Thank you for reading everyone :)

Tight Lines!!!

Last Hour Down Edge Saves The Day!

Sunday 19th July saw me in action at Lands End Fishery in the league. My colleague Glen was having a swell time on holiday which meant I had the chance to close the gap between me and him to 1 point!

I handed out some dvd's to everyone as a good deed and just a little something to watch. Soon after I was given the bag to start the draw and I was given Peg 1, perminant peg 40 on the speci lake. This was perfect as Glen had the last time so I knew about the snags in the area.

Home For The Day, Peg 1 (40 Officially)

I set up a .4gr Pencil at 13m to ping pellets to catch F1's and Bream and also a shalla line at the same distance. 6m line was a .3 Series 7 for Meat and 12m line along side the right hand bank was a .3 Series 2 for loose ground bait with dead reds.

Bait for the day was 6mm & 8mm pellets, 8mm meat (thanks for the cutter Trev, you saved my bacon!), dead reds and 2kg's of Ringers Edge Ground Bait.

I started off on the deck and picked up a Skimmer. It was soon clear after pinging pellets that the fish were shallow as I had so many line bites. I swapped over to the shallow rig and started lifting and dropping and then slapping. I didn't have much success, lost 2 fish and bites were few. I did managed a flying Bream, A ROACH and a big F1 though.

2 hours fast approached and when my alarm went off I fed my 12m edge line 3 times at 20 minute intervals. I fished my 6m line while the fish settled at 12m but I didn't have a touch. The last hour arrived and I fed another pot of my mix.

Ringers Edge Is A Heavy Mix Perfect For Fishing Margins

I went in and within seconds I was in to a Carp and shortly after I was in again! I had re-fed and hooked something very angry as I just couldn't stop it and the hook pulled :( This happened twice annoyingly but hey ho we can't catch them all.

I ended up with 5 fish in the last hour to a rough guess of 25lbs. I couldn't see anyone in my section so I had no idea how I had done. 

The Scales soon arrived and I weight in with 54lb exactly. I was hoping this was enough for the section win as I really need to catch Glen! I also had the wind up merchant Mr Guppy  and Trev in my section all of whom are not far behind me so I needed to win,

Peg 2: Robbie. He weighed in with 20lb 2oz's which included an 18lb Carp!

Robbie with his 18lb Carp

Peg 3: Trev the tip master! Trev weighed in with 50lb which was great news for me! Enough for 2nd in the section?

Peg 4: Rich "Pops". Rich weighed in with 9lbs. 

Peg 5: Kieron, always greets me by swearing haha. 45lb's 4oz's for 3rd as it stood.

Peg 6: Pete. Treasurer! Pete weighed in with 12lb. I was nervous as everyone said he sacked up!?

So I won my section, Trev not far behind in 2nd. Just what I needed. Glen won't be happy!

Peg 7: Jeff, the main man. Kindly runs the league and loves the pellet waggler! There is your mention Jeff! :) 43lbs exactly.

Peg 8: Joe, Silvers legend. Joe weighed 12lbs 4oz

Peg 9: Sandy. Makes car parking spaces for himself lol. 13lb 2oz

Peg 10: Ian, End Peg Edge Master! 39lb 2oz

Peg 11: Bob, loves banter! 25lbs

Peg 12: John, drew the same peg as last time! 1lb

Jeff wins the seconds section and Ian closely in 2nd.

The league is looking tight now with 5 or 6 left now we have passed half way!

This is how it stands! So close and the Gap between me and Glen is now 1 point!

Next Up: Stalbridge Summer League match