Monday 26 March 2018

Landsend saturday open 24/3/2018

This place has to be my favourite venue, so as usual my weekly trip out dangling was at this picturesque fishery. I had promised to post Russ Peck some floats but didnt get around to it so it was a good excuse to deliver by hand. After a very nice breakfast, as usual, it was into the draw bucket and blow me if I didn`t get a peg past the gap in the island. peg 17. First time that end of the lake since some hippy was nailed to the cross. Well that`s how it feels lol. I was happy with that so off I trot with a little skip in my step. Slight exaggeration there. for company I had Richard (damned if I can remember his last name) on 19. And Mike Ducket on 21. Opposite was Beanie on 5 and I could see Russ through the trees on 11. But he wasn`t a happy bunny as he had it last week and struggled. $ rigs today/ A .15 shalla slim for against the island on 6mm pellet. A .4 slim carp rig for the bottom of the island shelf. It would also do as a meat rig at 7 meters. a .3 slim for silvers at 11 meters left and right of centre. And a .3 SS Margin for the pallets both sides. at the start I went across as it was fairly warm so I thought I might get something early shallow. It didn`t happen and after 30 minutes I switched to the bottom of the shelf. By now Mike had got off to a flyer and was getting decent carp on meat at 7 meters. The top end of the lake was struggling like me, so a rethink was in order. I started feeding 3 pieces of meat every ten minutes in the 7 meter line but left it for quite a while. Richard next to me swapped to the shorter line after struggling for 90 minutes tight over and that was his day sorted. it was solid in front of him and he caught constantly after that. I had a couple across at the bottom of the shelf but it was slow. My day was spent searching for fish. I did take carp on all lines but it was one at a time and just couldn`t get a steady rhythm going. Mike who had got off to a flyer slowed right up in the last two hours, but Rich just kept a good steady flow going. I tried my best to catch him but he was always 6 or 8 fish ahead. at the end the three of us were clearly going to take the spoils and i knew Richard has won by a good margin, but it was going to be close between Mike and myself. the scales came around to us and I was first to wiegh putting 11lb of silver and 73lb of carp for 84-13. Rich had a few silver but his carp took him to 114lb. Mike was last to weigh and had an all carp bag of 91lb. so its clear were the carp have moved to. They aint in 13 and 11 at the mo. Makes a change for them to be in different pegs. Steve Seager took top silvers with 19lb so he had a nice day too. Unfortunately I didn`t get the weigh sheet photo so my weight might not be spot on but ya get the drift.
P.S. thanks Russ Peck for the quid side bet. It was a pleasure relieving you of it.

Sunday 18 March 2018

So Simple , landsend winter league, final round.


It was the last match in this very well run series today, but after a terrible nights sleep, thanks to chronic reflux, I got up to be greeted by a blanket of snow outside. It was looking pretty bad so I thought id make a couple of calls to see if it was still on. After a reassuring message from Ken and Tony saying the roads were good around the venue, I packed the car and set off. My street was the worse part of the journey with a bit of a slide but once id driven carefully to the motorway at Magor it was ok the rest of the way.Got to Landsend and there was only 5 other cars there. Quite a few soft cock no shows today, but as the Match was prepaid it wouldn`t effect the payouts. I had already sewn up the series last round but today I was in the final of the knockout against Tony Rixon. And to be honest, with him on Match lake and me on Lake 3 I didn`t think I had a chance, but with the severe weather change it was impossible to say how things would turn out. A very nice hot breakfast was consumed. And it was draw time. Only 5 on my lake out of the usual 9, so plenty of room. I pulled out peg 51. Not a bad peg so I was told, but not one I`ve fished before.
 its 3/4`s the way up the left bank just passed the island gap. The other 4 anglers in my section all drew the first 4 pegs on opposite banks. So it was a lonely day for me apart from the odd call out to Rod Wootton who was my closest angler on 43. It was still snowing hard so first thing I set up was the trusty bomb rod. At least that gives you a chance to have a bait in and your hands warming at the same time. Three pole rigs.  .2 Shalla Slim to fish tight over to the island in about three feet. A welcome depth on such a cold day. A .3 Slim to fish the track in several places. And a .3 SS Margin to fish both both side margins against overhanging branches. Bait wise it was easy today. All I had in my sights was beating Tony so it was all out for carp were ever I drew and I only had meat and pellets to fish on my side tray. No need to go for silvers. It was still snowing and It didnt take long for everything to be covered in a sprinkling of the frosty stuff
At the start Fed all line sparingly and started on the bomb, as my hands had got wet and were freezing so they needed to be wrapped around a hot cup and stuck in my pockets for a while. Nothing happened for 30 minutes so it was time to push the pole out to the island. I slipped a 6mm banded pellet on and dropped it in. It  took a while but i finally got my first bite, that I duly missed. I dropped it straight back in the same spot and after about two minutes it went again. this time I connected to a nice skimmer. Blank saved. The next 15 minutes I hooked and lost two carp. And one destroyed my elastic by bottoming me out and letting the cold freeze it in the stretched position. The only thing I can describe it as was a pile of silly string down by my feet lol. A short while after and carp number one was netted. At this time a very nice surprise happened as two deer walk along the bank and stopped and starred at me. Not something I`ve seen before.As it turned out that was the start of a very nice, If cold day. I stuck on that line for the rest of the day on 6mm banded taking 19 carp in short spurts between quiet patches. The guys at the end of the lake all struggled. I was first to weigh in and I was pretty sure I had just topped the ton mark. And I was spot on with my guess as I weighed  106-03. the rest of the lake was tough with Lee Williams taking a couple of lumps and silvers for 27-10. As for the knock out, Tony had a hard day on peg 22 and lost every carp he hooked, but did get top silvers with 27-00 which gave him the silvers titled for the series. So that gave me the knock out win as well as the series overall, only dropping two points. Nick Ducket won Specie Lake section with 59-00. So to say I was happy is an understatement. My first win in a series for many years and against very good quality opposition. But saying that, I did have a golden arm and drew good pegs every round, but ya still gotta catch whats there. Full match results below. Ken Raynor will post the series results on his page and blog.




Sunday 11 March 2018

Landsend “So Simple” Winter league round 5

It was the last but one round in this years So Simple winter league at landsend. And as as I was in front coming into this round I was desperate for a good draw. I am in a long run of drawing at the car park end of Match lake, my section for the day, going back probably fifteen matches and just wanted to be past the island gap. The top two pegs, 13 and 11 are continually winning matches and I just wanted to draw one of them. After a breakfast I went into the draw bucket. Peg 1 comes out and my head dropped. It’s a peg I’ve drawn many times and never had a good weight from it. I’ve never seen it do any good in any match, so to say I was disappointed  was an understatement . Off of go to the peg and I see that the venue has had a severe trim with the end bank trees lopped off rally short. I set up four rigs. A .1.5 shalla slim to fish tigh to the end bank at various depths and the end of the island. A .4 slim to fish four silver with caste or red maggot at 13 meters straight out. Another .4 slim set for carp to fish the same line in case the silvers line attracted carp. And a .3 SS margin to fish under the bush to my right. I also set up the bomb rod incase I had a problem with a rig. It’s always good to have something in the water when your sorting rigs out. At the start I fed the long line with micros and casters and the edge rig to my right with meat, as I’d forgotten my favoured edge bait, corn. I started fishing the end bank at half depth with maggot and not feeding. After 15 minutes without even a sniff from a roach I swung across to the island for a bit. Nothing there either. So I went to full depth along the end bank, and put a banded 6mm pellet on. Again nothing happened. So I went back to the island. Still not a bite. Steve Sewell on 24 was in the same boat as me with nothing but Mark Leader on 22 had three by this time and was moaning he was catching carp and not silvers lol. I switched to the silver line with a single red on and after about 15 minutes the float finally went under. The number six elastic pulled out and kept going. Bugger, carp on the silvers rig. It was foul hooked but I did manage to get it in after a lengthy fight. Not big but hooked in the belly it scrapped like a demond. Back out for another 15 minutes but nothing else happed. I was hopping for skimmers but they just didnt wanna play. It as now close to two hours in and just one bite. So it was into the margin. After about five minutes I actually looked up and realised the it was possible, if I put a longer lined rig on I could get past the trimmed bush and swing a rig in close to the empty pallet next door on peg two. Being left handed would help but I’m a righty. So I put a few 6mm cubes of meat and a few 6mm pellets in a toss pot and dropped it in by the pallet. Five mintes later and carp number two in the net. Again not big but it was a start. Next drop another about 5lb this time. The next 15 minutes I lost two munters that both bottomed out my number 16 elastic. Over the next couple of hours I had 6 more but lost a few, with a couple taking me under the platform so it killed the peg for a while. I was hoping at this time I could maybe get 30 pound in the net with the last two golden hours to go, but I was ahead of this target. So with two to go I was ready for the catch rate to improve, but the opposite happened. I only had three Moreno in the last two hours and lost three.Mark had caught a few all on his silvers line and it was close between us. Steve had four carp and some good skimmers but he tipped his back without test in the scales. The rest of the lake I had no idea on. I was first to weigh in as I was the scales man. I hate that job. My solitary roach and my 11 carp went 57-05. And as I was really dissointed with the draw I ended up pleasantly pleased. The bush trim (no sniggering) helped, as the next peg pallet was the only place I could get bites. And before it was even seeable let alone fishable. Rod Wootton  was on peg 11 but really struggled for 29-8. Pete Nurse on 13 had mainly carp for 43-12. Mark Leader had a decent net of silvers to go with his carp and did me by a few pound with 63-00. So in the end my fobia about peg one was smashed. And the good result I wanted was achieved. I even managed to get through to the knockout final. So a good day. And if my maths is correct I think I’ve won the series with a match to go but that has to be finalised.so back here next week for the final round and knockout final against my old mate Tony Rixon. But with him on match lake and me on lake three I’m not too confident I can beat him. But a who knows. Full result sheets on Tony Rixon’s or Ken Raynor’s blogs.