Sunday 28th February 2016 - Landsend

21 Anglers entered to fish using 3 banks, 2 banks of match one on the specimen lake.   About a dozen took advantage of the breakfast facilities newly provided by Di and Mike,  and all agreed it was very good and would be using it regularly in the future.  

Mike sorted the pegging, treasure sorted the money, that left just the draw to be done and gear to be humped.   A north easterly blowing making it very cold, plus a match the day before, not the most encouraging conditions for big weights. 

I drew peg 18 with the King to my right (144lbs on Saturdays match) ad to my left Beaker Davis.   Horny tooted and the match got underway.   Dick Hurford on peg 1-3 the flyer has a carp in five minutes, then Beaker caught a tench, this was his first and last bite of the day.   I sat quietly eating a doughnut and watched my float go under, that was the first one missed.   Tonto on golden peg 24 started catching carp, but otherwise it was very slow.   I caught my first fish after two hours, it was a nice skimmer;  I played the waiting game, and was rewarded by eight more, plus a nice perch and two roach which weighed in at 20lbs3ozs, a good catch under the circumstances.

Most of the blokes just wanted to hear Horny toot for the finish, as it had been a cold cold grueller.   Well done to Tonto overall winner and golden peg winner,  that's two wins on the trot.

Next Wednesday its Viaducts Campbell, then Sunday at Trinity Woodlands.

                                 Get on the phone.   I shall be away from the 9th March for five weeks contact Tony  or Danny until I return. blog    Tony 07506472745    Danny 01278457022

                                       Chair Bob

Wednesday 24th February 2016 - Sedges Brick Lake

The ground was white over after a cold frosty night, I wondered if the fourteen members of "Dads Army" had turned out equiped for this?  The good thing was, no wind and a lovely sunny day, making it a much more comfortable day than of late

While Jamie sorted out his balls!! Denise made hot drinks for the lads, and Treasure collected the dosh, so all the buisness was sorted in time for the draw, and not a moan to be had;  I was sure I had brought George!!

I was drawn peg 12, between Tonto on my right, and John, the oldest swinger in town, on my left, so if they got lucky it could have been a splashy old time with the carp.  On the way to my peg I stopped to watch Kev assemble his box, after five attempts without success, I'm thinking this is a chap who once taught our kids, but it could have been showmanship, what an entertaner!

The match was won by Tonto with 89lbs 6ozs of carp, and the silvers by Robot Duck Pete with a good weight of 30lbs 10ozs.

Ross, our blog artist, has deserted us for a few days in the sun, so if the reports are late, may the blame lie heavily on his shoulders.

Sunday it's Landsend, and next Wednesday Viaducts, rearanged to Campbell

                                        See you there

                                                                Bob

Sunday 21st February 2016 - Shiplate main lake

We were fishing the main lake and everyone wants a high draw.   Seventeen got to the car park, unpacked, and made their excuses for not winning even before they started, obviously not full of confidence!!!   Treasure took the money, Steve sorted out the seventeen pegs to be used, and we were ready for the off.

I drew peg eight, not the best place for what I wanted, I just needed to try a bit harder.   Horny toots the all in, and I cup fed out towards the aereator, where I was assured some fish resided;  after 3/4 hour I decided  I had been told a lot of porkies, so I went back to five sections and more feed, and a few small fish obliged.  After another three hours I was desperate, so I mixed more groundbait, which I lumped in generously.  Good move I thought when a skimmer entered the net, but alas the carp turned up intent on ruining my light gear.  My end result was 6lbs12ozs silvers and 16lbs12ozs, not a bad day all things considered, I have to be happy with that.

The Shiplate gang weighed us in, and as expected peg 15 weighed in 94lbs 8ozs caught by Martin Great Western.  The silvers was won by The King with 32lbs 6ozs from peg 13, Bolton George on the golden peg 11 was second with 17lbs 12os.

The highlight of the day was Kev, getting his first monetary return with the club, coming second overall; well done Kev, it couldn't happen to a better bloke, I'm sure the pub landlord appreciated his windfall.

            Wednesday i'ts Sedges, and next Sunday Landsend so get your names in, pick up the phone.! 01278683243.

                                                            Chair Bob

Wednesday 17th February 2016 - Emerald Pools

Here we go again F Company "Dads Army" preparing to assault Sapphire and Ruby !!!!  George and I arrived first, and set about pegging, eight pegs per lake, it all looked pretty good, no rain as yet.

Back to the car park, and the lads were arriving with our Treasure, the bank manager, prepared to take anything he could  get his hands on for pools and fishery payments.   15 was the number for today, another good turnout considering the weather forecast.   It stayed dry for the draw and setting up, the rain came about midday, and persisted for the rest of the day, but this did not stop fish being caught, although some areas were difficult.

I drew peg seven, which was between Tivi Dave and Bolton George, a rose between two thorns?   The other side of George was Robot Duck Pete, you could call us the gang of four.   I shouted out the all in, and we got down to business.   This was a new area for me, I was told to expect the carp to take my gear into the stick ups.   It was very shallow, and the plan was feed caster fish maggot for silvers on the edge of the stick ups.  At the first put in of my float (just 3 No. 10s to cock it) my first carp sped off into the rushes, no gear lost, a miracle.   Tivi next to me started catching roach,and I got hopeful, sure enough a steady stream of roach and rudd entered the keep net, could this be a change of fortune I asked myself. 

Halfway through the match George pointed across the lake, and there was a pair of legs stuck up in the air, not to worry, it was only Kev doing his party trick to entertain the troops.   A polite inquiry about the state of his health brought the reply  "I'm okay I just fell off my box" out of his tree more like!!  

The match ended, and the weights were pretty good,  on our lake Saddler Barker from Walsall did well 31lbs 4ozs, I got 2nd with 29lbs 12ozs and won the silvers by default.  Bolton George was slaughtered on either side by Robot Duck and myself, I must say he lost half the tackle shop of gear, Steve the  Kedge will be rubbing his hands.

Sapphire was won by Dave Tunstall with 49lbs 8ozs , with the Sheriff Danny taking the silvers.

Sunday at Shiplate and Wednesday Sedges Brick.

                                       Cheers

                                                     Chair Bob (Acker to his mates)

Sunday 14th February 2016 - Trinity Woodlands

Trinity Woodlands..... a view from peg 23

This was my first outing in 2016 and when I arrived at Woodlands there were the early brass monkeys ready to brave the cold North Easterly wind. Kingy was there taking 50p for the Golden peg and Horny was giving Mr Pi some stick about not bringing his new white seat box into the mud. On the subject of mud, full praise for the Trinity people putting down wood chippings in the muddy areas. Far better treatment for their customers than some other places!!!

25 fished and my hopes were for a peg in the shelter of the hedge on the far bank, notionally pegs 6 to 15. So, out comes peg 23, a peg I’ve not enjoyed much in the past. For company, I had Horny Beards on peg 24, the Golden Peg, and Paul Bowyer on 22 ready with his trusty waggler. Last to arrive at his peg was Chairman Bob on peg 21 (his age so he says) with a new Preston seatbox, or should I say chairbox!!! Of course he received lots of encouragement and requests not to snore when he nodded off.

The chair....

Peg 23…..

Looking at my peg, I decided to fish two lines with the pole but not far out because it deepens quickly and the strength of the wind. Two rigs were set up for 5m out; one at depth and the other at ¾ depth. A 3^rd rig was set for the margins but this never got used. Finally, my main attack was a straight lead set up for 20m fishing a bunch of maggots. At the all in, I fed my pole lines and cast out the lead and catapulted a few maggots over the top. 5 minutes later my tip knocked around typically like a skimmer bite and I was surprised by a dopey, very golden coloured mirror, of about 4lbs. Another carp graced the net about 20 mins later then it went quiet and so I tried the pole line. At depth I didn’t get a bite on maggot or 4mm soft pellet. I tried up in the water and started getting small roach.

Paul Bowyer next to me started catching these small roach from the off and a few small skimmers. I saw Shane Western catch a few carp and heard Beardsy swearing at something. I did hear our chairman cuss when he lost his rig, elastic and all. Perhaps he had spent all his money on the new ‘armchair’ and couldn’t afford new elastic!! We also enjoyed the attentions of the resident swans, particularly Shane who, had them land in his swim.

The Swan, now christened Shane the Ugly….

I went out again with my depth rig and this time with strawberry flavoured soft pellets. There was a small dip of the float and a good size mirror entertained me on my size 4 elastic, but I won. I went back out on the lead and caught more carp. I did try the pole again but wasted too much time on small bits. In the end I spent most of the match on the lead, ending up with 9 carp. During the second half of the match, I noticed Phil was catching good carp down the edge and across from me, Brian Chivers on peg 15 was getting regular fish in his left hand margin. I hadn’t heard much from the rest of the lake and so I reckoned it was going to be Phil, Brian and me who would set the pace at the weigh in. When the scales got to Paul, the top weight was Kingy with 25lb. Paul put 28lb 17oz on the score sheet. My carp and bits went 49lb 2oz, but Beardsy started dancing when his carp notched 51lb 15oz. He reckoned the golden peg was his but we hadn’t noticed that the Welsh Wizard, Brian had caught more than we thought. He took the prize with 68lb 5oz. Rob Eagles took the silvers prize with 17lb 13oz.

A better day than expected for me. I will see you all on the 26^th after a trip to Portugal, in search of some sun. Tight lines!!!

Results…

Wednesday 10th February 2016 - Viaduct Lodge Lake

17 of F for Fish Company of Dad's Army turned out for their mid week drill.   Rods and poles inspected, a quick check for barbless hooks, and finally a look into ammo pouches, making sure no pellets were available. Right, kit inspected its ready for the draw.   Steve the Badger has selected the pegs, and we knew we would be nice and cosy with only two pegs not in use.   I drew peg 61 sandwiched between Tonto and Ninja Eric, so plenty of community singing and fun to be had, especially as opposite Tonto is brother Martin.

We had an extra half and hour fishing as the days are growing longer, so we fished 10-00 till 3-30.  At the all in there were rumblings of poachers on the lake taking fish from other swims. 

Tonto has peaked early again, but is at a long distance war with his brother, who claimed Tonto was using his ground bait.

My day started slowly, fishing into the wind, I amased a grand total of 3lbs 1ozs of silvers, but I was still reasonably happy.

At the finish Matt, son of Badger, and Colin made a quick good job of the weigh in.   The Welsh Mercenery Brian won by a distance, with Danny coming in second.   Bolton George "I'm not moaning" won the silvers plus my £1, John Barker coming in second.

A very good day enjoyed by all.  So pack up gear and back to barracks where envelopes were passed to the very LUCKY ones.   We then talked about the next batle, the war is never won!!!  

On Sunday next we visit Trinity, and on Wednesday its Emeralds.

                      Look forward to your company.

                           Chair Bob

Sunday 7th February 2016 - Sedges Brick Lake

After a moist Saturday, the HLS gang assembled to do battle with Brick Lake at Sedges. Unfortunately they had to overcome the very moist conditions at the lake....

However, 20 pegs and 20 anglers braved the cold windy day, with rain expected; sounds like another perfect day!!  The lads had their tea and coffee, and all the usual chat took place before we had the draw.  Peg 12 was the Golden Peg and Beaker Davis had the privilege.   I drew next door peg 11, which is generally a carp peg, not what I wanted.   I thought the hardest part of my day would be the trudge through the mud, this was wishful thinking because the wind blew strong and cold into my corner all day.   I decided, considering the conditions and peg, the tip with straight lead would be the best option, WRONG!!!  after 4 hours, one bite, one small  roach I decided to pack up, my only good decision.

When Horny tooted for all out at 3:00, I was ready with the paperwork, while Jamie did the weighing.  It became obvious that most of the fish were keeping to the middle of the lake, but some good weights were caught considering the conditions.

The full results below.

Wednesday 3rd February 2016 - Avalon Fisheries

It's was blowing a hooli; didn't look like another great day for the 16 well dressed lads of Dads Army at Avalon.  Good news, the wind is on our backs, the bad news is the strange colour of the water.

The draw was made, and names registered against  peg numbers, so off to the bank. I have drawn peg nine, not a problem:  on my right Tonto will be tossing out the feeder and resting, to my left Eric, another feeder man, leaving the pole line free.   I set up two rigs, one for out in front, the other for the margins with size 20/22 hooks, hoping for some bites.  The day started slowly, and reports from along the bank were the same.    Tonto peaked very early, catching a carp after two hours.   Eric and John to my left are still waiting for a bite, and it's now  Thursday afternoon!!!

Chris and his bearded friend started weighing us in and it was apparent no records were going to be broken.  Tonto was the winner by 1oz, the silvers went to Dave Tunstall with 2lbs 4ozs.   It was a really tough day's fishing, but it was the same for everyone, better days to come we hope!!.  

Full results below.

 Sunday it's Sedges  and next Wednesday Viaducts on Lodge, which is restricted the 15.

                                                Chair Bob

Sunday January 31st 2016 - Shiplate main lake

With the weather rather inclement, with strong winds and light rain, it looked like a typical tough winter day's fishing coming up.   The match was going to be decided by the draw bag;  the west bank out of the wind with comfortable fishing, the others cold and windswept.

The draw was taken, and as I wrote names against numbers it was bad news for me, I didn't have to open my slip to know I had peg 6a, putting me between the Sheriff and Tony Newall.   Horny sounded off sometime between 9-45 and 9-50 and we were underway.

Danny, fishing the waggler,  was into skimmers from the start, but as the wind increased and feeding became impossible, they dried up he struggled.   My peg was producing lots of small roach, but I did manage 7lbs of silvers, a slight improvement on recent weeks, but not good enough.

This was the fourth week of the golden peg, and for the first time it wasn't won, Steve the King will have to buy a money box to store the nugget in!

Dave Allen drew peg 15, he couldn'at catch carp so pulled in 15lbs of silvers instead.  Mike Davis on peg 1 kept on leting the carp escape, so he just missed out on framing.

So the end product of a tough but good day can be seen on the sheet  below.

Wednesday its Avalon with room for more.  Sunday: Sedges Brick; no more room