Wednesday 30th March - Viaduct Spring Lake

The mid-week gang of 14 journeyed to Somerton to fish the original Viaduct lake. Des Shipp has been organising a series of matches on Spring Lake recently and there have been good catches of silvers. It was the same for the HLS mob with the majority of nets were filled with silvers rather than carp. Peg 3 was the exception with 42.09lbs of carp to take the overall win. Peg 12 was the silvers winner with 29.02lbs.

Sunday is Avalon. Ring Tony or Danny to book a place.

Wednesday 23rd & Sunday 27th March - Landsend & Shiplate Canals

It has been a busy week and none more than for our Treasurer Tony, who has been moving house. Well done for getting me the score sheets and please us all know when you're having the house warming!!!!!

Landsend Score Sheet

Obviously George wasn't complaining and that man Barker did the Silvers business again.

Shiplate Canals

Hawthorns proved a difficult challenge with only 5 weighing in and Steve King the only one finding a reasonable weight of carp. Westpool was closer with much closer weights but Martin Western found the carp for the overall place.

Sunday 20th March 2016 - Trinity Woodlands Lake

Back to Chilton Trinity and Woodlands lake. My last visit was successful but cold and I was expecting the same NE wind today so plenty of layers.

19 anglers turned up and Martin Western took a walk around the lake and chose the pegs, deciding to emit the end pegs and peg 32+ up in the left corner. Most of us congregated in the hut and paid monies to Tony and Steve. The golden peg was drawn; number 10. I wanted a peg on the north bank just because I can't remember the last time I fished from it. Plus, it would be warmer!! So, of course, peg 24 stuck to my fingers. I have had pegs in that corner so many times that it wasn't surprising I had a mini strop in the hut. Bolton boy drew the golden peg and predicted he would be taking home the box of nuggets. Our mission was to stop him. When I got to 24, I had Martin Western to my left and Rob Eagles to my right. Stan had the good corner peg, 22.

The big question was, would Rob Eagles get out his magic waggler?He did. I decided I would have a go on the waggler too. Well, at least the activity would help keep me warm. In total, I set up a lead rod, the waggler, and pole to fish 6 & 13 metres. Soft pellet and dead maggots were to be my main bait. To cut a long, cold 6 hours, I had no bites on the lead and one small skimmers at 6 metres on the pole. The wind made it hard work with a pole at 13m.
All the activity came on the waggler at 15 metres. Fishing double maggot on a size 18 and feeding a few maggots around the float, I started to get some bites. I had a couple roach and skimmers when I hooked into something much heavier and solid. I couldn't decide if it was a good bream or a dopey carp. I was an eel. A slimy, ugly thing of about 2lb.

Martin on Peg 25

Despite the cold, there was plenty of banter, mostly directed at George on the golden peg and his lack of fish. Steve King was having and interesting day, foul hooking most of the fish in his swim. But then Martin, next to me, foul hooked 3 carp, one of which decided to visit me and swirl by my feet. He managed to land one on the carp and had 5lb 12oz for a total of 14lb 3oz. Rob Eagles waggler magic was deserting him today and he decided not to bother the scales.

Rob on Peg 23

By the time the all out came, I was wondering how and why I had stayed the duration. My meager few went 6lb 1oz. Starting with the scales at peg 30 and working backwards, Shane started things off with 11lb 15oz. Dave and Danny had 20lbs ish nets with Danny taking the lead.Stan had four carp and a few bits for 25lb 3oz, second place. The only other significant weight was Steve King with the best silvers weight of  9lb 10oz.
So, a cold and hard day on the water. Let's hope Shiplate Canals are kinder to us next Sunday.

Wednesday 16th March 2016 - Emerald Pools

Most of the Wednesday crew were all in the car park for 8.15 ready for action on a fine morning!

Danny, George and Mike set off to peg the 2 lakes, Sapphire and Ruby. I collected the cash before deciding  we would fish 7 on each lake to make 2 separate matches.

The draw was made at 9 and everyone set off in fine spirits, hoping with the nice weather, we would all be rewarded with a good days fishing.

I drew peg 13 { unlucky probably} with Tonto Coombs to my left, and Graham to my right. I had the same peg as my last visit to Emerald, so with that success in mind decided to use the same tactics; 11 metres on the pole fishing 4mm punched meat. Tonto was fishing the usual tip method to the same small island!!Graham using the same method into open water.

All in at 10 am, and within 5 mins my float buried out of sight. Hey ho I thought, off we go then. This continued for the next 3 hours, mostly all action and none stop .But then things went down hill, bites came to a halt and nothing new would encourage the fish to feed.

I thing Roger must have fallen a sleep because there was little action coming out of his swim. Graham was catching the odd carp & silvers. Eric on peg 12 had been very quiet early on in the day, but then he came with a mighty 3 hour  late burst. Every time I looked up, around went his tip with another carp. I couldn’t see Pete Cook hiding  behind a bush on peg 16,but I knew he was catching well all day as I kept watching his landing net entering the water.

4 o clock came around, so the all out. Danny & I prepared for the weigh in. We decided to start in Sapphire weighing in Brian Chivers on peg 1with 15lb 3oz. Simon Garbutt on peg 3 had a fantastic catch of silvers with mostly quality roach weighing in the winning weight of 37lb. Mike Bendell on peg 9 weighed a respectable 34lb 14oz.

Then on to Ruby – Bolton boy was first to weigh with 39lb 3oz.His only concern was would he take the nugget from Danny boy! He did by 4oz.Eric weighed in the winning catch of 58lb 7oz.His late action proved to be a winner. Pete Cook weighed in a close 51lb 3oz. John Barker like Simon weighed in a credible net of silvers to win the silver prize with 22lb 10oz.

An excellent day for everyone with a total catch of just over 420lb. Thanks to you all for your help.

Next venue Trinity Sunday 20^th{few places left}

Weds 23^rd Landsend

{07506 472745}

Catch up Sunday

Tony    

News from Bob and Marilyn

Bob and Marilyn have contacted me to say that if you receive a strange email from them, it's spam and that they are both ok.

Sunday 13th March 2016 - Landsend Fishery

After the latest match reports and a cold Saturday night, I was expecting a hard day. And, after I got out of my car and went ass over tit on some ice I truly learnt the meaning of hard!!

Tony and Danny were in the portakabin with the owner Mike Duckett decided where to peg the 17 of us as to be the most fair, considering how the lakes had been fishing. A few of the other guys were filling themselves with breakfast in the newish Landsend café. The decision was made and we were going to fish three sections; the south bank of Speci lake and the north/south banks of match lake. The Golden peg was drawn, peg 7, and that was then drawn by Dave Allen but he wasn’t expecting to pick up the pot. I picked out peg 27 and had no idea of its pedigree so I set off around the back of Speci lake in ignorance and soggy backside from my earlier fall. Four other anglers joined me on the lake with Tony Fry to my left on 25, Tony Newell on the right, peg 29, then Danny and the corner Rob Eagles.

Peg 27

At the peg, I made an immediate decision to fish for silvers. Three rigs were set up to fish the margins, 8m and 11m all with small Nick Gilbert floats and size 18 hooks to fish dead maggots, 4mm & 6mm expanders and corn. The expanders and some micros were soaked in strawberry flavouring. I decided the only feed I’d put in was a few micros and maggots from a toss pot, every put in.

On the horn I went onto the 8m line with dead maggot. Seconds later a splash to my right told me that Tony Newell had hooked a good double on the far bank. Alas for Tony the fish came off at the net. My first bite was a slight dip of the float and I was wondering if the fish were too small to give a good bite but it did turn out to be a 4oz roach.  I had a slow procession of this size of fish from this spot until a large common decided to get in on the act. But, as per Tony, I lost it at the net. So, the first three hours were spent waiting for these small roach and skimmers. I was able to take in the activity around me and it was clear that Rob Eagles was doing well as his rod and waggler were in constant motion.

After the clock went past 1:00pm, I decided to try my 11m line and was immediately rewarded with large skimmers, bream and crucians. This was productive for a hour until a big lump muscled in and snapped my light hooklength. I alternated between these two lines and a quick dabble in the margins until the end of the match catching a few more but nothing like that first hour on the 11m line.

South Bank of Speci Lake

In the last hour of the match, voices could be heard from the match lake and I guessed it was those who were not catching had got bored. At the all out, us on Speci lake were weighed first. Tony Fry put the first weight on the board with 10lb 11oz, I was next up and posted 14lb 1oz. Tony Newell was surprised when he put 14lb 2 ½oz on board. Danny registered 15lb 10oz and Rob Eagles had a great net of silvers at 32lb and one carp to total 38lb 10 ½oz. (PS: Rob tells me he doesn’t like the nickname ‘Big Bird’…… So, we’ll go with ‘Bald Eagle’ instead).

The scales moved onto match lake while I put my gear away and I met them again on the north bank. Horny Beards was nervous that he might lose a £1 to Tony Fry but luckily his carp and bits went 11lb 4 ½oz beating Tony by 9 ½oz. Steve King then put 31lb 5 ½ oz on the scales to win that section. The south bank section had been won by Martin Western with a net of 46lb 14oz.

Wednesdays match is at Emerald Pools and Sunday is at Chilton Trinity. Phone Tony or Danny for bookings.

The Entertainer!!!!

As we all know, the HLS guys enjoy the vocal talents of our head choir master and chairman. However, it has come to light that his famous renditions are not so welcome at the Viaduct grand opera house.
After performing his 5 hour repertoire on Lodge lake recently, other visitors to the arena asked the manager of the establishment for their money back or quieter times in the future.
So, unfortunately the great tenor Pascoe was given the yellow card and told to 'button it' in the future!!
I'm sure his version of 'Tie me Kangaroo down Sport' will not be criticised while fish for a Great White in Perth. Get yer prawns out Bobbie!!!

Wednesday 9th March 2016 - Shiplate Hawthorns Lake

What a start to yet another wet Wednesday outing.

70 MPH North Westerly gale force winds, was not what anyone needed to enjoy a days fishing, as 11 out of the 14 booked in discussed tactics before the kick off.Im guessing the 3 no shows looked at the forecast, and decided to stay at home!

The draw was made at 8.45 and Pete Cooke drew peg 15.I did see him give  Bolton boy a smile to say beat that Georgie... the £1 is in the bag!!!

I drew peg 7,Danny on 8, George on 9 ,and Bend it Bendell on 6.All in at 10,and the wind never stopped beating us up all day. Most  starting catching skimmers, crucians and roach from the start, with the carp coming a little later in the day.

After only catching 1 carp up to 1pm John Newell decided enough was enough and went home to a hot toddie and a warm fire!!! {good choice John}

Pete Cooke was “ billie no mates” all day as he had no angler near him except John Barker on peg 12.But a great result for Pete winning overall with 44lb 12oz.

Sherriff Danny took the silver honours again with 12lb 1oz.

Despite all the bad weather no gear was lost or broken......except Mr Bolton himself who again broke another part of his pole. A little to often I would say!

Well done to all the lads, a good day despite the adverse weather conditions with 200lb caught on the day.

Thanks to Steve for weighing us in.

Next match  Sunday 13^th – Landsend

Wednesday 16^th – Emerald Pool

{07506 472745}

See you all Sunday

Tony

Sunday 6th March 2016 - Trinity Woodlands

Another good turnout of 24 anglers, for what became a tough test for most on a very cold day.   I must say thanks to George for getting my gear out of the car and loading my trolly, while I got the guys and the paperwork ready with Treasure, prior to the draw organized?

Misha made hot drinks, and answered questions about baby Lily, there was a good social atmosphere all round.

The draw got underway, and the golden peg was drawn by Little John who does not enter.   I was last to draw and got peg 28, with peg 31 left for the latecomer Bagger Meakin!!   There seemed to be gear everwhere with another match on Ash Lake, but all went well.    Horny tooted and things got underway; to my left I had Big Bird Eagle, and on my right was Pete Robot Duck;  in fact most of the Silver anglers were on this bank.   I was not very confident, my mind was more on holidays, but I was mostly thinking what Marilyn, the wife, would do to me when I got home;  I left her with no central heating, the boiler refusing to play, and no logs brought in for the woodburner, I'm dead.

Back to the match, there was a lot of naughty talk coming from the far bank, Shane seemed to be having a busy day, he was pulling in some lumps.   It semed Tonto had come for a restful day, not taking equiries.   At the end most had caught a few fish, the weights are on the resuts sheet.

Wednsday next its Shiplate Hawthorns, and Sunday Landsend, enjoy your fishing ,I'm off to the sun and warmer climes, see you all on my return. Treasure and Danny will acept help, and I wil be reading the blog!!!!

                                    Good Fishing

                                                     Chair Bob

PS: May I say on all our behaves, that we wish Bob and Marilyn a great holiday in Oz!!! From Blogman

Wednesday 2nd March 2016 - Viaduct Campbell Lake

Gale force winds!!!!!  But this did not deter 13 of Dads Army from their weekly parade.   We were on Campbell not Spring to accommodate others, who I hope were appreciative.

This blog will be short as I am still recovering from the gales, the amazing part is there was no gear lost, and no one retired early.

The weights were okay favouring pegs 123 to 128, needless to say I drew peg 130, and struggled to catch 5lbs 8oz of silvers.  Bandit on 131 caught 4lbs10ozs.  The top weight was 73lbs 10ozs by Treasure, and the silvers went to the Sheriff of Nottingham with 21lbs 0ozs.  No hard luck stories or complaints, well done to all, medals will be presented.

Next Sunday it's Trinity, this will be my last for five weeks, so best behaviour  and plenty of help for Treasure and The Sheriff, who will be organizing and taking names.

                                                    Chair Bob