Bank holiday Landsend open

Landsend fishery was today's location for another of Tony Rixon's well run knock ups. Arrived nice and early so had plenty of time for one of the scrummy breakfasts. A good turnout with 19 fishing, spread across match and top lakes and I pulled peg 3 from the bucket. A decent peg with the island easily reachable at 13 metres. Got to the peg and was greeted with the sound of carp crashing around everywhere, spawning like crazy. But strangely it was very quite in my peg. Wasn't too displeased with that. Personally I've not seen them like this before. Quite a sight. Set up four rigs today. A shallow rig for slapping and mugging. A .15 slim to fish banded pellet across in 18 inches of water. A .2 margin mugger to fish meat or corn both sides, and a .3 slim to fish meat down the middle. For company I had Alan Oram on peg 1, Russ Peck on 5. And through the trees on the island I could just make out where Rod Wooton and Craig Trigger Edmonds were opposit on 19 and 21. I could also just see Tony Rixon's pole sticking out to the island on peg 11. A nice draw with 3 empty pegs to his left, draw bag!!!. At the start I put in a big pot of 8mm meat at 9 metres and some corn and meat down the margins, and pinged some pellets to the island. Out to 9 metres to start on meat and had my first carp after 5 minutes. Then I lost two in two drops and that line went quite. Stuck with it for another half an hour but never had another bite. Tony was catching a fish a bung shallow to the island from what I could tell, and Trigger and Anton Page on 7 were also catching shallow. I went out to the island and had one first drop. Followed quickly by another decent fish. Russ was flicking a long line shallow and was hooking and loosing a few. Alan seemed to be struggling for anything. I tried shallow tight over but the reeds had been flattened my the amorous goings on by the carp and I couldn't get close enough. I did get a carp, F1 and a tench but it wasn't realy working. So it was back on the depth rig were I picked up the odd fish. This is were I made a big mistake. I was watching people catching shallow or at depth across to the island and I kept on it too long when it wasn't realy working for me. It slowed up and I spent too long waiting for something to happen. After a quite middle two hours a swiche'd back to the meat line and caught straight away. Should have done this earlier. Hindsight is a great thing. I stuck to this line for most of the last two hours with the odd look across where I did get a couple more and one lump from my margin and also mugged a couple. I ended up with about 18 carp and guessed about 100lb. Alan wieghed first and after a good last couple of hours fishing shallowon pellet and meat close in he put 104-12 on the scales. Mine went 110-13 and Russ wieghed 90-08. Anton was next with 190-08, and then it was the turn of the Bristol bagger Tony Rixon who had 5 nets in and put 294lb on the scales for a win by over 100lb. Well done mate!!. It fished it's nuts off with more than half the anglers hitting the ton mark.

1st Tony Rixon 294lb
2nd Craig Edmonds 196-14
3rd Anton Page 190-08

Hillview sunday open.

After a chat with Gabe Scarba yesterday it was off to Hillview for another crack at getting a decent wieght. It seams every time I go there it fishes poorly with low weights, and today turned out no different. With almost every peg on the venue being used, as there were pleasure anglers, 28 in the open, and a hastily arranged club match because of yet another double booking stuff up at Windmill fishery, it looked like it could be hard. The Windmill fishery organisation is little short of farcical at times as he had booked a club match on the same day as 6000 scouts would be using all the facilities. Even stranger as I thought there were opens there every Sunday. They realy need to get their act together. Anyway, I drew peg 45 on the first canal and apart from Gabe opposite me on the second canal I didn't know anybody else there. And by the accents of most they all seemed to be from the Islamic principality of Birmingham. 4 rigs today. A dibber for slapping or mugging. A .2 slim for 6mm banded hard pellet over 4s at 12 metres against the far side reeds. A .3 slim for maggot at 2+1. And a margin rig to fish maggot or corn in the margin. But after 5 goes in the second half of the match that line was biteless so no more on that. Started across on pellet and fouled a small carp in the wrong end that i just netted before the hook pulled out. Back in and two lost fish in a row spooked them for a while. 15 minutes before my next fish, a decent carp, then an F1. But bites were very sporadic . A couple of bites or a fish hooked or lost and they would disappear for a while. The guy to my left had stuck on the top 2 line on maggot from the start and started to get a few smaller samples so I followed suit. I took a while before I caught but after a few tiny skimmers and one decent carp that went dead and stayed dead for the remainder of the match. But looking around everybody was struggling for bites. I'd only seen Gabe get the odd fish. So most of the rest of the match was spent across on the pellet line. I did get three on the dibber rig shoved right against the plastic bank eight inches deep after I saw them slurping. But with the fish doing a Benny Hill impersonation, chasing each other around endlessly and crashing through the reeds it turned out to be a very difficult day. But it was hard all over. At the end I guessed I'd had 40lb and was close as the scales went to 37 dead, for a section win. Just shows how bad it fished. Gabe managed to win his section too with 41lb, so a bit of coin going down the M5. Didn't get the full results as I just wanted to get away worried about what the holiday traffic would be like, but as far as I k ow it was won on the lake with 70 odd pound and a mid 50 was second. Overall it fished bad. Off to Landsend tomorrow for one of Mr Rixons knock ups. Let's hope for a better day.

Windmill Sunday open.

After not bothering to go yesterday, and I recon I made the right choice as it was horid outside, I thought I'd give Windmill another go. 20 fishing today so a decent turn out. Into the box and peg 23 finds itself stuck in hand. It's a peg where you can reach the island at 16 metres and seeing I was giving my new  Map 901 pole a run out for the first time I was quite happy with the draw. Had a few comments about how it would explode on a decent fish but after a play with it, it feels pretty strong. For company I had my old work colleague John Clark to my right on 22 and Kevin Jeffries on 24. Bob bread Price was on 25 and I could just make out Welshie Neil Morgan on 27. A few fish were showing tight over so a .15 slim was set up to fish pellet in 15 inches of water. A .2 slim was set up to fish meat or corn down the margins and a .75 slim to fish pellet or corn over pellet in 8 feet at 2+2. Glad I went for a heavier float as it was towing hard. I also set up a bomb rod incase the wind got up, which was surprisingly missing. Happy days. At the start I feed my closer lines then went straight over at 16 metres with a cad pot of 4mm's and a banded 6mm. A whole five seconds went by and the float disappeared. Time to see what the pole could do. Always nervous trying a pole for the first time so I didn't give it to much, and seeing as I was a fouler I just slowly played it in. First fish in the net at around 4lb. Happy boy now lol. Next drop in same result but this time it came off. Ten minute's later a better fish found its way to the net, but then it went quiet. John had one by now but Kevin, who couldn't get close enough to the island was fishless. I stuck with this line as there was the odd fish showing but they just weren't having it. But the lake was very quite. Two hours in and I'd only had four and bites were a premium. John had a couple more fishing corn over to the island. Kevin had a couple fishing short of the island and a few silvers. Then I went Two hours with nothing but two missed bites. I'd tried the closer lines but there was just nothing happening, and it seemed the same for everyone. With two hours to go I dropped back in on the 2+2 line and had two in quick succession on banded corn. The margins were tried but even though there were fish knocking the stick ups they wouldn't look at the bait. I chucked the bomb over to the island with an 11mm pellet on as the wind had got up and managed one after about 15 minutes, but that was the only bite. So it was back on the 2+2 were I stayed for most of the last hour taking just one more. At the end I had my only silver of the day, a decent skimmer last drop in. I guessed I had 35lb and was very close as I put 34-12 on the scales for fourth on the day. John had a tough day and managed 26-5. All in all it fished hard with top weight only in the mid 60's, with a few dnw. As they say ....must try harder.

Luke Pester 65-07-0 peg 11
Martin Rayett 50-12-0 peg 20
Neil Morgan 44-07-0 peg 27
Stuart Barnett 34-12-0 peg 23
Jon Clark 26-05-0 peg 22
Geoff Francis 22-02 0 peg 10

Top Silvers:

Dave Willmott 14-10-0 peg 8
Mike Nicholls 14-08-0 peg 1
.

Chilton Trinity short pole series round one

This was the first of four matches where top kits plus three sections was the limit. To say I've not done well at this venue is an understatement as I've bombed out every visit here, and today was no different. So this blog will be short. Drew peg 23 and found the hard wind blowing into me from a 10 o'clock angle. it was hard enough to make holding the short pole very difficult and presentation was crap. Only 8 bites and three carp to show for my efferts today. Two on paste and one on shallow pellet for 18lb 14ozs. I sat all day watching the guys on the opposit bank catch all day. Top wieght on the day should have been organiser Tony Rixon but after going g over the 70lb limit in one net by 25lb that net was disqualified and that cut his total back to 58lb 1oz. Oooops...I got a spare clicker if ya need one lol. Over 90lb down the plug hole. So first on the day was Joe McMahon with 145-11. Top silvers went to Joe's dad Martin  McMahon with 16-8. All the top weights were taken from the sheltered parts of the lake mainly shallow on pellet.

1st  Joe McMahon 145-11
2nd Bob Gullick 137-9
3rd Tom Mangnal 120-4
4th Emma Drysdale 100-1

Silvers 1st Martin McMahon 16-8
2nd Mike Nicholls 13-12

Windmill fishery Sunday Open

Got talked into going here today By Craig Challingsworth. Said I'd never come here again as I had been let down on two matches that were advertised yet cancelled. Two weeks in a row. But what the hell, it's a match. 21 fishing today so a pretty good turn out. And the added bonus was the weather was gonna be very good. When I left it was still 25C. Into the draw bag and out comes number eight. Not been here for at least 12 months so I had no idea where it was or what to expect. It was down the far bank in front the second island, so fishing tight over was a no goer as its about 25/30 metres wide. The wind was its usual pain in the ass blowing left to right but at the start it was manageable. Craig was on 6 and my old mate Darren Ninxy North was on 11 to my left. Mike Nicholls was on 4 I think but I guess he would be ronny bashing I guess. Three rigs were set up. A .5 slim to fish banded pellet at 9 metres. A .3 slim to fish maggot at 2+1 range in case nothing was happening and I went for bits. But this rig wasn't used so no more on that. And a .15 slim to fish the margins either side on corn or pellet. A bomb rod was set up for the chuck to the island which I thought would be my best attack. Fed my lines at the start and by the time I pick my bomb rod up to chuck it out Craig was already landing one taken in 6 inches of water tight to the island at 16 metres. Well to say it went badly to start with is an understatement. Craig continued to catch and the guy Between us also had a couple but me and the three anglers to my left were struggling. Only a couple of liners got me twitching but it was about 90 minutes in before my tip went round and the first carp was netted. But that was it for now so I came in on the 9 metre line and straight away the float buried but I missed it. Dropped it back in and it went again but this time I put a nice  6 lb  fish in the net. False dawn as the wind suddenly changed around and blew a hooly between the islands at a rate of knots. Made it almost impossible to hold the pole still and that line never produced another bite. Craig,  meanwhile, was sheltered by the island and carried on fishing 16 metres shallow no problem and kept catching. A try in the margins for a while never produced a bite so it was back to the island on the bomb, but I changed up to an 11mm pellet and that seamed to do the trick. I stayed on that line mostly, trying the other lines occasionally, for most of the second half. At the all out I thought I might be around 60lb. Bella Bakos was top wieght on the far bank with 75lb. Didn't get a photo of the wiegh sheet so I'm a bit vague of the exact weights. Darren had 45lb that was mostly caught in the last 90 minutes down the edge. My net went 68-10 which was good enough for third on the day, one out the money. The guy next to me had 68-3, so that was very close. Craig put 95lb on the scales and claimed top spot on the day. Well done mucker. All in all it was ok today and the weather was fab so no complaints about that.

1st Craig Challingsworth 95lb
2nd Bella Bakos 75lb
3rd me with 68-10

Top silvers went to the old gladiator Mike Nicholls with 17lb.

Acorn Saturday open

After a phone call from Craig Challingworth last night we decided to give Acorn a go today so it was  30 drive to the land of the Holy and with the weather looking good I was hoping for a good draw. Got there in time for a breakfast only to find for the second time in a week the kitchen wasn't open. Bugger again. No food on me so it was either eat pellets or diet for the day. The later won out. 9 fishing today and with two late arrivals pegs 34 and 31 were put in. I did well off 34 last Monday so drawing it again would be nice. Well bugger me I pulled it out again. Smug look on face. Got to the peg and there were fish everywhere. Slurping and cruising. Across by the bridge the water was already coloured up. Could be good. For company i had Steve Sewell on 31, and could see Mick Walsh over on18. The only other angler i could see, as the rest were behind me, was Craig down at the end of the island on 9. Three rigs today. A .15 slim to fish pellet over against the grassy bank by the bridge in 15 inches of water, and also about ten metres to the left by the stick ups. This rig would also do to fish the margin just around the corner to my left.  A .4 slim to fish pellet at 2+1 straight in front. And a .15 mugger to fish 2 1/2 feet of water in the margin to my right with corn over maggot. At the start I feed both margins and threw a few pellets to my short line. I went over to the far side with a kinder pot of 4mm's and  a 6mm on the band. And started catching almost immediately. To cut things short I spent most of the first three hours across on the long lines getting a fish, feeding then moving to the other long line. I had about 25 fish by then but alot were so the smaller veriety. Things slowed up then so it was a look on the 2+1, line with 6mm pellet again, and had a better fish first drop. Had a couple more there before trying the right margin, but it was just small carp of about a pound or small F1's there and I had to wait for bites. I did try that line a few times but it wasn't very productive. Craig was struggling down on 9, and Steve Sewell was catching but they were small fish including alot of the stickies that were recently put in. But Mick had been catching regularly and I thought we were very close.  Look in the left margin ,again on the trusty 6mm pellet and the float buried straight away and a nice 7lb carp was netted. And next drop another of the smaller stamp. Then ten minute with nothing so it was back on the 2+1. The last two hours it was a case of switching lines from 2+1 to the left margin picking off fish. With the average size getting better I was slowly building a good wieght. With 45 minutes to go I had to borrow another net. Kiss of death for 20 minutes then it went mad in the margin and I couldn't get my rig in quick enough. The last 15 minutes producing 6 carp. At the end I had about 50 carp and a few F1's and thought I had about 150lb. The scales came around and my borrowed net went 40lb which was pretty good for 25 minutes work. Then my second net went 73lb, put back to 70 because I went over the limit. The other two nets including silvers took my total to 174 - 8 and the win. Steve put 62lb on the scales and Mick opposite had a good net of 153 - 5 caught mainly in the margin. Glad he slowed up at the end lol. Craig had 88 - 11 which were mainly caught in the second half from the margins. Can you see the pattern here? Degsy Williams on peg 7 put 116 - 3 on the scales. Got to say the weather has alot to do with the way it fished today with the warmer temps turning the fish on the feed. Overall it fish realy good. Might have to give it a go again next week. Hope the bloody kitchen will be open. Off to Windmill tomorrow, a place I realy don't like, but Craig talked me into it.
1st me 174-8
2nd Mick Walsh 153-5
3rd Degsy Williams 116-3
4th Craig Challingworth 88-11

Acorn Open.

Had my sights on fishing Harescombe today but it was booked up so it was off to Acorn instead. Got there in time for a cooked breaky only to find the kit hen wasn't open. Bugger. No breaky, no sarnies. Gonna be a tough day with no food lol. 22 fishing so it was almost every other peg. At least one empty peg next to every angler. Into the bag and ping pong g ball 34 comes out ( smile on face ). With the wind d promising to get strong it could be a difficult day. Four rigs today. A .15 slim for over to the far bank at 12 1/2 metres amongst the bridge iron work on pellet. A . 4 slim for pellet at 2+1 in front. A other .4 slim for 2+2 for corn to the left at a 10 o'clock angle. No bites on that so no more mentions of it. And a .15 mugger for my right margin toward the bridge. Started with a kinder pot of 4 mm and slipped a 6mm in the band and lowered it in. Ooooosh , it hardly broke the surface and shot away. Number one in the net. Next drop in same thing. Smilling again :-). Over the next 40 minutes I put ten carp in the net. Then I lost two in quick succession and the fish vanished. So a look on the 2+1 pellet line and sat on that for 20 minutes with no bites. Serious need of a few silvers in this place. It seems it's carp or nothing. Back over on the long line and it was still quiet. It started taking quite heavily, so 90 minutes in and I took a look in the margin where I had been feeding g maggot. Slipped a piece of corn on and 30 seconds later and I was I to a decent t fish. It was solid in there with 8 fish in ten drop ins. Then it died. No reason why. Guess too many to quickly. So it was back on the 2+1 where I got two more. 20 carp in the first 3 hours. Then suddenly the rain got real heavy and the wind switched  around  blowing through the gaps by the sheds. And that's when it all changed. The fish just vanished. I had a barren spell for 30 minutes, no bites anywhere. The guy the other side of the bridge on 33,  who was struggling was now catching. But at least the wind change made fishing long alot easier. Had a few more over long, and a couple more on the 2+1 pellet line but it wasn't anything like the first three hours. So I decided to change my short pellet line to maggot and that did bring me three late carp. In total I put 28 in the net that went 87lb dead.
First on the day was Bob Gullick87-8 with 91lb caught on soft pellet over micros on peg 9.
I was second.
Third don Don S? 82-7 from peg 7.
All in all it fished OK.

Landsend, Tony Rixons knock up

LooDown the M5 to Landsend again today. Must be the excellent breakfast that drags me down there. 28 turned up for one of Tony's well run matches. Two lakes used so split into two separate matches to make things fair. I to the bucket and out comes peg 5. A nice narrow peg at only 13 meters which suits me fine. Alot of faces I didn't know today so excuse me if names don't fit pegs. Rod Wooton had this yesturday and had a good net of margin carp and plenty of silvers so I was hoping fof a good day. Three rigs, a .15 slim for shallow pellet to the island. A .4 slim for meat at 2+2 and a .4margin slim in 3 1/2 feet right and left against the weeds. Started on meat and had a nice carp after ten minutes followed shortly after by a nice but small ghosty. That line went quiet so it was over to the island. Not much happening over there and bites were not forthcoming. Did hook and loose one but I think it was a fouler. Things not going to plan. Started to drip a few 4mm's in at 2+2 to my left to see if the silvers where playing but after trying that, something I hadn't planed on doing it was obvious the silvers just weren't having it. So it was a case of swapping around again. The carp by the island weren't having it properly and fouling was a problem. Did manage a few plus the odd F1, but I gave up on that list e with 90 minutes to go. So I stuck with the meat line e and margin that didn't produce a thing. Had a couple more carp and a nice bream in the last 90 minute but that was it apart from a couple more lost foulers. Totaled 42lb for nowhere today. Not exactly over the moon as I was expecting g alot more. Top wieght my side of the lake was only 56lb.

The lake and match up was won from peg 16 by Gary Oshea with103-4.
Second Tim Clark peg 15 with 85-5.
Third Leon Hubbard peg 13 with 83-15.
Shows were the fish are at the mo.

Top lake
First Tom Mangnal 102lb
Second Pail Faiers 90-4
Third Bob Gullick87-8

Landsend Saturday open

After a week off last week it was the first of three comps this weekend. Only 7 fishing today so a bit disappointing. After noshing down a very nice breakfast I pulled peg one out. Of the 7 pegs in today it was the one I would have chosen last. Wrong end and wrong side of the lake from where most matches are won from lately. I didn't stay around after the match as I was suffering a bit. Got to the peg and was met by a fierce wind blowing right to left so fishing long was gonna be hard. But I started off on the meat line at 2+2 with a .4 slim and had a nice eight pounder after about ten minutes. Followed after another 20 minutes by a small ghosty. Then nothing so I tried along the end bank at the bottom of the shelf on pellet fished on a .15 slim with banded pellet. Had a small carp but bites were just not coming. The wind was making presentation very hard. Then I tried again the reeds across to the island with the same rig. Same problem, too much wind slapping the tip around. There were fish there as I could see them when I fired pellets across. Back to the end bank and I managed to snare a couple but also lost several in the snags. Lost a rig to so had to set up again. All the time I was drip feeding meat and a few 4mm pellets under the bush to my right for the last couple of hours. Watching the reeds getting a hiding across to the island I got another top kit out and set up a dinner to fish shallow. Had to stick it right into the reeds but I did get a couple out. So it was just a case of switching around trying to find fish. When the wind did die down a i got bites long. A few more small carp and F1's where netted. So then I thought it was around  3-30 so it was time to try under the bush. Dropped in with meat and had a carp straight away. Then a couple of perch and a good skimmer. But I started foul hooking carp including a couple of lumps that both took rigs. One under my platform and one that headed for peg 24's platform. Did get another out before my rig was trash. Then to my surprise after 30 minutes in the edge the all out was called. Got that wrong. I was an hour out on my guess of the time. I ended up with 12lb of silvers and 42lb of carp ( I think ). Rod Wooton next to me had a very good last hour taking a few lumps down the edge. He ended up with 85lb ish including 35lb of silver. Cheers Rod, that gave me the silvers pool by default. Top wieght was 104lb. At the other end of the lake. Back tomorrow for another go.