Wednesday 28th December 2016 - Sedges Tile Lake

It was a white over today, I was first to arrive, and I could not see the other side of the lake it was so foggy!!  I thought I might be fishing alone, but no, eight of the hardy fellows eventually put their paws into the draw bag.   The biggest surprise I had was, my eight names matched the chaps who turned up!   But no surprise I failed to catch 2lb, and I will get more earache when Bend It finds out.

Danny drew the Golden Peg 39, but for once had to settle for second to Rob Eagle for silvers,  Roger winning overall with Kev coming second.

On a day when fish were hard to come by, the sun came out and for myself a warm pleasant day, even the resident King Fisher did a fly past in the sun showing off its colours.   What more can one ask for on the last week of the year.

               On Sunday we are fishing Sedges Brick, and next Wednesday its Viaduct's Match Lake.

                      Pick up the phone PLEASE

                              A Happy New Year to ALL and everyone who reads this Blog.

                                                    Chair Bob

Wednesday 21st December 2016 - Sedges Brick Lake

Fifteen of the lads turned out on a cold but dry day, for which we were thankful.   No Treasure, so I took care of the business, and Danny helped with the draw.   Kev drew the Golden Peg number 3, and I had peg 5 with Ninja Eric to my left.   No complaints, so I shouted all in and battle commenced; it was more like a minor skirmish for me, but I did catch a few fish.   I actually thought I had not done to badly, until I helped with the weigh in, and found that nasty Sheriff weighed 14lbs with the help of a nice tench, had won the silvers convincingly.   Peter continued his good run with a commendable 73lbs 4ozs, mainly of scaleys.   Sausage Bowyer was second with 65lbs.   Bend It kept telling everybody how I had amassed 7lbs in my last three matches, I say "beware of the tormented angler after a couple of good draws"!!!

Well done everyone, we return here on Tile on Wednesday 28th, and Sedges Brick on New Year's Day, do I have to say January 1st?

                              I wish you all the Seasons Greeting

                                              Chair Bob

Sunday 18th December 2016 - HLS Xmas Match at Emerald Pools

As the earth completes another circle around the sun, it was also time for another fur and feather outing for the master baiters of the HLS club. For the second year the venue was at the Emerald Pools but before that, the wonderful 37 club hosted us for breakfast, the draw and later for the prize giving.

All of the anglers turned up apart from Dave Allen who broke down at the Nunney Catch roundabout. I hope the Little Chef breakfast was as good as ours, Dave. Hard luck, Mate. We also had an appearance of Santa's Little Helper from Bolton and there were no complaints.

We were using all three lakes, Sapphire, Ruby and Emerald. I had never fished this venue before but the lads said there were plenty of fish. The temperature had dropped 5 degrees over night and the morning greeted us with a fog. I think we were in for a day of hard, winter fishing. At the draw, I pulled out Sapphire 7 and looking at the pegging map I didn't have far to walk from my car.

Sapphire 7

There was about 3ft of water all over the swim. I had Rob Eagles on my right who was not happy with the small swim he had. I didn't have anyone to my left so I decided to fish predominantly on the left. I decided on 3 pole lines; one and two at 11m and 13m towards the Sapphire sign. The third was in the left hand margin. I also set up two tip rods to fish in the gap ahead of me. One rod with a simple lead and size 20 hook. The other was the same except with a banded hook. The rods saw minimal action with no bites so I won't say any more of them.

I decided to keep the baits simple with maggot and 4mm expanders on the hook and micros and groundbait for feed. At the all in I fed the 11m and margin line with a small ball of groundbait and the 13m line with a small offering of micros. I started on the 11m line and was surprised to get bites straight away from rudd and roach. I alternated this with the two other lines but didn't get a single bite on them all day. So, concentrating on the 11m line I continued to get bites but they had become finicky and hard to hit. Maggot was the better bait and feeding a few micros every put in, the rest of the day continued in the same vein. I did get bonuses of 3 small carp and a small tench. At the end of 5 hours my efforts gave me a total of 9lb 7oz.

During the day I could see that Baz Morgan on peg 1 was finishing strong after a blank couple of hours. Tony Fry on peg 3 had got a few carp which gave him 2nd on the lake. Paul Bowyer on peg 4 was catching a few along with specimen sized leaves. Chairman Bob was also having better luck with the leaves than fish. And Rob, next to me did manage to catch a few.

And so, after a pleasant day and company, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Tight lines for the future and don't forget the AGM on Friday 6th January at the 37 Club; 7:00 for 7:30 start.

The results for the 3 lakes are below, followed by some pics back at the prize giving.

Emerald

Ruby

Sapphire

Wednesday 15th December 2016 - Sedges Brick Lake

There were 13 smartly turned out men at muster, all keen and ready to go.  Denise made the hot drinks, and Jamie and I selected the pegs to be fished, peg 12 being the Golden Peg.

All the business was done and all set for the draw.   The brothers Tonto and Spod were drawn opposite each other, with Flo the dog watching out for any unfair play.   I had Baz to my right and Kev to the left, some good company for the day's fishing.  I am getting boring or idle, it was 11 metres straight in front with maggot and pinkie, but it seemed to be working as I caught small fish from the off.   Disaster, after an hour my seven section, which was recently repaired by George, decided to break in half, George swore he bought the very best glue at POUNDSAVERS?!!    Anyway it was back to 7 metres, to build a new swim, which started producing after a while.   A good day's fishing,  resulting in 10lbs 8ozs of silvers.   Not good enough to beat the other side of the lake, where Mike touched off Pete by ounces, with 12lbs 12ozs of small fish.    Tonto won overall with 33lbs.   3-30 was rather late to finish, it's not good weighing in when it's half dark.

Sunday it's the Fur and Feather, we are meeting at the 37 Club at 7-15 for breakfast, with the draw at 8-30, fishing 10-00 until 3-00 pm.  Back to the 37 Club for beer, buffet and prizes, and the usual lot of old Bull carp talk of fishermen's tails .   Let's have a good day of fun and entertainment.

         There are matches booked for both Wednesday the 21st and 28th December at Sedges.

                PLEASE give me your names if you want to fish

                                          TA

                                                Chair Bob

Sunday 11th December 2016 - Trinity Woodlands

We were graced with a fine day and no wind, so everyone was keen to get on with fishing.   There were nineteen fishing.     The peg numbers were selected and Golden Pegs numbers 10 and 17 were drawn; Danny took control of the draw and Treasure did the money business, it was nice to stand back and let others get on with it.

After the draw I was told I had peg 32, a short walk, which was just what I needed.   On my left was John Davies, and to my right Treasure.   Horny tooted and the match got underway.  Again I kept it simple,  with just one swim out in front, a pencil float, 20 hook, and maggot and pinkie for bait.   Surprise surprise I got bites from the off, but with fish that made whitebait look very big.   Still it was a busy little day, and I did hook a few bonus, just to help the cause!

That nasty little Sheriff drew a Golden Peg and was doing well again; I had not forgiven him for winning everything last Wednesday.   Back to the match, I could see the Wizard catching and GWR beside him too.   George was having his usual day,  looking into the sun but still catching.

A short toot and it was match over, GWR Martin was in charge of the weigh, and I was quite surprised at my 7lbs 14 ozs, which was good for second silvers, but nasty pants had done it again by a distance, weighing 15lbs 2ozs of silvers, well done Danny.   The overall was taken by Martin with 40lbs 1oz.  I must say I noticed a lot of fish lost;  Oh what might have been!!

            On Wednesday it's Sedges Brick, and next Sunday it's the Fur and Feather at Emeralds.   We meet at the 37 Club at 7-15 with breakfast being served. The draw at 8-30, fishing 10-3.   Afterwards back to the 37 Club for beer, buffet and prize giving.

                               Enjoy it all

                                               Chair Bob

PS:  AGM  at the 37 Club 6th January 7.00. 

Wednesday 7th December 2016 - Viaduct Lodge lake

What a difference three days can make! from all the arctic clothing and ice breaking to 14 degrees and a very pleasant day.   I was first on the scene, so a walk round the lake was a must;  I noticed some renewed platforms and lots of tree cutting back had been done.  Thanks Badger, I am sure the lads appreciated your efforts, its a good investment.

Daddy Badger was looking after us today, his first question was "how many"? My reply was "how the heck do I know" it could have been 8 or maybe 12.   I do wish my lads could use the phone and save me some embarrassment, anyway the final count was 11 fishing.   Steve was mumbling while making out the tickets and drawing the Golden Peg which was 68, I think it was a good natured mumble as I was taking a lot of abuse about how many fingers I had, and questioning my education.

Treasure meanwhile collected the money and completed the business.  We made the draw, Danny getting the Golden Peg.   I thought it was going to be a bad day when George drew his peg and said "I AM HAPPY WITH THAT"!!  which was a first for our George.

I drew peg 60 and set up just one rig to fish pinkie and maggot at 13 metres, hoping for bites on my 20 hook.  I had another senior moment finding I had left my keepnets  at home, but Steve lent me two saying "you never catch any fish to put in them anyway" nasty.

I had Ninja Eric on my left and Tonto to my right, with Spod and The Sheriff opposite.  It was Danny on the flyer who caught from the off, but after a couple of hours I believed I was in front, only for my bites to stop.   I caught very little from then on.  Danny kept catching and took the loot.  A few carp were caught late on, and Wizard Brian won overall

                 It was again another great day out, thanks lads.

                                On Sunday we are at Trinity, and Wednesday next Sedges

                                                            Keep catching

                                                                     Chair Bob

Sunday 4th December 2016 - Emerald Pools

This was going to be interesting, 20 of the lads turned up to fish an ice rink?  There were lots of jokes and discussions about what to do, and the end result was, 16 of us hardy souls were going to break the ice and fish, we must have been mad!!!

It was really a lot of fun, we launched a small boat with Rear Admiral Horny Blowers Beard aboard armed with a 10 foot scaffold pole.   A few able bodied anglers hauled him around the lake, while he beat 10 bales out of the ice, my only regret I had no camera.

George and I had pegged out, so everything back to normal?   It was all on the draw.  There was two numbers left in the hat 14 and 3, Danny got 14 and won the match, I had 3 and packed up early; there's just no justice.

The first half hour was spent hauling out ice with landing nets, but we were all set for the toot at 9-45, mainly because it was going to be very simple.

Before the end I took a walk over to see Danny,  just to remember what fish looked like.  Danny had a smirk on his face saying "what fish" as he hauled in another.   I hate smirking especially as I had to part with another nugget.

         The full outcome of an interesting day is recorded below.

                          Next up it's Viaducts Lodge, followed next Sunday by Trinity Woodlands.

                                          Temperature rising, I hope!

                                                   Chair Bob

Wednesday 30th November 2016 - Avalon Fisheries

It was white over and -4 when I arrived at the car park expecting to be fishing on my own, and wondering what the hell I was doing there.  I underestimated the brave lads of Dad's Army!!! Tungsten was already there, and we ended up with eight fishing.

Chris was looking after us today, but no Treasure, his car is in hospital.   I did the business and selected the pegs, the Golden Peg was 11 which drawn by Tonto again.   We were rewarded for turning out with the sun shining and fish caught on what became a very pleasant day.   It was never going to be huge weights, but that bad old Sheriff managed 10lbs to win from peg 13.  He has accumulated quite a few of our nuggets of late, which is not good for my Karma.

Thanks lads for a rather special day, and also many thanks to the three who came and rescued my No 4 section from the murky depths.

                                  I am looking forward to Sunday when we fish Emeralds,

                                                     and next Wednesday at Viaducts Lodge Lake