Wednesday 27th February 2019 - Avalon Fisheries

This weeks challenge, and indeed it was, came in the shape of Avalon Fisheries. 

Eleven turned up for this one and it was decided to peg the left bank from Peg 22 back to Peg 10 to avoid early pegs and the right bank that has not produced in recent matches.

One of our newest members Claude drew Golden Peg 16 and got off to a good start with a carp and a bream on the long pole. Dave T on Peg 18 was also quick of the blocks netting a decent skimmer and bits one a chuck. From zero to 20 degrees cannot be the best formulae for success but some managed better than others and George made the most of end Peg10 to win Overall with an impressive 20lbs 1oz of skimmers. Another end Peg 22 produced 13lbs 10oz and Silvers default win for Mike the Wag.

Titch grabbed second Overall with 3 carp for 17lbs 3oz off Peg 11.  Dave T filled the Silvers runner up spot off Peg 18 with 10lbs 8oz of skimmers and roach. Other notable mentions include Danny with 14lbs 10oz, Rich Coles 14lbs 5oz and Claude 13lbs 3oz.

Well done to all the winners and losers.

Next week its Trinity, if I don't know your coming, call or text  on 07821542178

Sedges Sunday 24th Feb

Todays Task was to master the large Brick lake at the Sedges. After hearing that there was another match on Tile I aimed to get there by 8 to get some nets. On my arrival most of the normal participants were already there unloading their vehicles and netted up.

When I left home this morning it was on the cold side and getting slightly foggy, however by the time I got to the lake the fog had cam in and was just above freezing so hat on and many layers added only to find that I had forgotten my bib and brace so I was going to get messy if I was to catch. A lovely nice warm cuppa soon warmed me up.

I met Sharp Shopper Shane who was collecting the fees and I managed to find a few small silvers to pass his palm, again the last to pay was tax Man Brian who still failed to ay my 50pence from last week and I could see him digging deep to finds that final 50p,

Mario Tony had returned from his trip to the Algarve and the Guru Tart has returned from his short break to Gibraltar. He showed me a photo of him and an ugly monkey but I wasn't sure who was who, but was funny to hear that his cigarettes got stolen by the monkey and kindly distributed in small parts on the floor.

A couple of members that I hadn't previously met fished today Durham Roger and Nuclear Stan.

So with 18 fishing and after a bit of moaning, it was decided to remove 2 peg numbers from the draw. Pegs 1 and 20 were removed. The fancied pegs were the corner pegs of 10 and 11 which Nuclear Stan drawing 10 and Danny on 11. I drew peg 12 which meant I had Danny on one side and the Guru Tart on the other. Now the issues of forgetting bib and brace was that these also had my ear plugs in so I knew Id be in for ear ache today.

Pegs for today on the far bank closest to Tile Lake were Queenie on 2, Lord C on 3, Dave Allen 4, Tax Man 5, Mario Tony  6, Tony  N 7, Durham Roger 8, Quiet Rich 9, Nuclear Stan 10, Near Bank Danny 11, Me 12, Guru Tart 13, Last Hour Dave 14, The Stig Ross 15, Eric 16, Sharp Shopper 17, Mutant Tirtle George 18, Sausage Paul 19.

So the hooter sounded for the all in. By the time I was getting my second ball of ground bail out Nuclear Stan went off like a missile and was already into a lump on the tip. And after playing to the crowd he finally landed a nice carp. Just as he landed that Quiet Rich also hooked into a carp then not long after  Tony N netted.To my Right Danny went out 13m and was soon into the Bream then another then another. I had to wait 2 hours for my first fish with a little skimmer. By now the sun was starting to shine through and it was warming up nicely so of came those layers I put on earlier came off and I sat there In a Tee Shirt for the remainder of the match. I couldn't see much else going on but I could tell Queenie was catching as he didn't stop talking.  Nuclear Stan was still catching on the tip as I seen him bag carp nos 2 and 3 before noon. At about 12.30 on our side of the bank we just couldn't get bites - although Danny had a nice 14lb carp and then lost another before netting a 6lb common.

The Guru Tart was moaning like a goodun, he quoted "I've never blanked here before"," If I don't catch a fish in the next 5 minutes I'm giving up" - Oh I crossed my fingers so hard, then bang - he hooked into a carp, a small 4lb but a fish is a fish.

It was strange as after such a positive start, well for Danny on our side, it just died and not many fish were caught, however the other side seemed to be stacked. I think if Danny had gone on the tip to the margins he would have bagged but a true pro and fishing for silvers.

I couldn't wait for the all out so with 15 minutes to go I had had enough and started to pack up as did most on our side and a couple on the other. Rumour had it that Queenie was bagging and Dave Allen did well for silvers.

So the standings were as follows

Overall

1st Queenie - 53 - 5
2nd Nuclear Stan - 31-8
3rd Roger 15-10

Silvers

1st Dave Allen - 18-12
2nd Danny - 7-0
3rd The Stig Ross - 6-3

Next week we are back at Summerhayes on Longs - Don't forget to book your place with the Tart

Pics of today below

 

Bit foggy to start

 

Starting to clear

 

Nice fish Danny 14-2

 

Results

Wednesday 20th February - Viaduct Cary

Viaduct on Cary was the latest venue for the Dads Army and, just for a change, the weather was borderline perfect!

Today the regulars were joined by Roger Coombs who I understand had been calling Bob in New Zealand to book on this match and this was John's last match for a while, so on behalf of all the lads we wish him a quick recovery.

Steve (our host) pegged us all around the lake this time so plenty of space for everyone. Mike drew me the Golden Peg on 102 with Rich Coles on 105, Brian on 100, Mustard 98, Dave T 96, Danny 94, Mike 88, George 86, John 85, Dave Harvey 81, Bill 78 and Roger 77.

Mike and Rich were soon off the mark using waggler tactics and Brian landed an early carp on the long pole. For most it was a sluggish start and George was surprisingly predicting an early bath but Rich was landing some good skimmers and Mike had a few fish before Bill and I joined the party. Having smashed my pole up the previous day at Summerhayes, when my dog ran after some ducks wrapping her lead around my pole roller and taking that and my pole with her leaving two sections smashed to pieces. Bill to the rescue overnight and I was able to compete after a fashion.

I caught for most of the match and lost a big skimmer near the end which cost me dear. Rich added two big carp (29lbs 6oz) to his bag of quality skimmers (23lbs 4oz) and was a convincing overall winner with a combined weight of 52lbs 10oz. Bill grabbed second with 38lbs 14oz. Mike took the silvers by default with 22lbs 5oz and Danny and I tied for second with 21lbs 4oz.

Well done to everyone else and thanks for coming.

AVALON NEXT WEEK Call/Text me on 07821542178 please if I don't know your coming!

HLS Trinity Sunday 17h

May I thank those who thanked me for doing this blog last week. Many of you follow Against Men and Fish; fabulously written blogs by Jamie Rich; however my blogs wont be as long as his as he has plenty of time to write them as working for the Environmental Agency isn't so challenging -.

My wife asked who was going to be there today and I told her Queenie, Guru Tart and Dettal to name a few, she reached into her handbag and passed me a gift, "You'll need these" she said, I looked and found some ear plugs in my hand. It turns out that she does listen to me after all.

So this week we were at Trinity and with the temperature improving, most angler were optimistic. I thought Id get there early to take a few photos and to my surprise there were many anglers already there. Now with valentines just a few days ago I thought that there may be a bit of love in the air, how wrong was I. It started off well with the Guru tart shaking my hand and saying well done on  my first blog. Well that was as friendly he was for the rest of the day. Then I met my so called mate  "Dettal" Larkham - well he was worse than worst case of premenstrual that you could imagine, I'm guessing he didn't get too much loving last night.

I paid my fees to Sharp Shopper Shane whom I was glad to see he had recovered from his bout of man flu and I was asked to collect late comer Tax Man Brian pools - who incidentally owes me 50 pence- interest rates apply Brian at 200% per day!! 19 people had been booked in for today and fortunately Mario was sunning himself in the Algarve so the Carp prize would go to someone else.

After all the abuse it was a pleasure to speak to Mutant Turtle George - yes I really did type that, he was on fine form telling his stories of him and Fred Dibnah. Now George has had his illnesses with bad eyes and club foot but I think he over stepped the mark when his new found treatment and cheaper version of Viagra was a rub of Vic's into his lower regions - how it made me laugh and wince at the same time.

So onto the draw and Queenie had his drawing arm on fire again with the guaranteed flier of peg 17. I drew peg 7 which was nice platform but I knew this area hasn't been great of late. Today I had the pleasure of the chuckle brothers to the left and right of me both of whom were not happy with there draws.

For the first time this year I actually managed to set up early and take a few snaps and managed to get some tips from Lord C

So the hooter sounded and it wasn't long before elastic was streaming out from all around me n the opposite side of the bank, mainly Danny getting into those little blades, The far side of the bank opposite seemed to be producing all the decent fish and only small stuff on my side. Conditions were nice but the odd gust and swirling wind did produce presentation problems at times.  Lord C couldn't buy a bite on the tip and went to the pole line picking up the odd silver. Sausage had an expensive day ahead as he had to call his wife to bring his margin Pole for Peg 2and then she went shopping - ow. I bet he wished he'd fished the River Brue today.

There was still loads of verbal harassment from the Guru Tart and Dettal towards the Sharp Shopper and me but thankfully it went quiet for a while, until the Tart started catching the odd carp, I think he was actually casting a lead pipe on top of the carp and stunning them by the large splashes being made from each cast.

Throughout the day it was a pleasure seeing most people catch and elastic coming out of the poles even if the odd fish got away. The all out hooter sounded but queenie was still playing a fish and fortunately for him he landed this one.

Lord C started the weigh in and it was a close encounter for silvers and carp with pay-outs to top 3 of each discipline

Well done to Queenie in winning overall and Dave Allen for the silvers.

Next week we are at the Sedges on the Brick Lake

We are still investigating the criminal act of the severed pink pom pom from the Guru Tarts hat. I carried out DNA on my scissors and no pink fluff there so more checks next wee so get cleaning your tackle.

                                                        Cracking view this morning

                                                                  
                                                                  Mothers Meeting

                                                        My view across to Danny

Wednesday 13th February 2019 - Summerhayes Longs Lake

Eleven turned up for todays match and we got under way at 10 sharp. A much milder and calmer day of late so plenty of optimism from most. Brian drew Peg 2, Danny 8, Dave T 10, Rich 16, Eric 18, John 20,George 24, Bill 26 (Golden Peg) Dave H 28, Jeff 32 and Nigel 34. 

From the start Dave T started catching skimmers but generally it was slow going every where else. Bill "Sunny Eyes" was enjoying having the sun on his back for a change and caught carp steady from the far side. Danny and John packed up early and it was slow for most in the last hour.

Overall

1st Bill 62lbs 11oz Golden Peg Pot £11

2nd Brian 43lbs 5 oz

3rd Rich Coles 35lbs 7oz

Silver 

1st Jeff 9lbs 7oz

2nd Dave T 6lbs 5oz

Next week the Wednesday Match is Viaduct Cary. Please let me know if you are coming.

Jeff 07821542178

Sunday 10th February 2019 - Avalon Fisheries

Please welcome our new blogmeister, Nige Coram.....



So this is my first blog for HLS, please don’t feel offended if I say something that you feel is offensive, it’s all meant in light hearted fun.

May I say thanks for Ms Queen I mean Mr King for the past couple of years doing this blog, true to tradition his post just like Royal Mail often arrived late but better late than never.

So today’s match is at the peaceful Avalon fisheries, well it was peaceful then Phil the “guru tart” arrived after having met Mr Larkham for breakfast allegedly, looked like Shaun had more than one in his over tight suit.

I arrived with my new mate (cold sore the size of a golf ball on the lip) with a torrent of abuse from the queen and lord c - Callum Dicks just doesn’t deserve this.

So with the Northerners being the last to pay (again) it was all in for the draw. Today with 15 fishing and pegs 1-4 omitted we used both sides of the lake. I was honoured to pick the golden peg which was peg 21 - a flier and a sure bet for any angler. 

Now I go fishing to get away from the moaning of her in doors, or so I thought but the  guru tart was bitching about being on peg 5, now except my sarcasm here but no one else put their arm in the bag and pulled out that number so maybe look a bit closer to home when having a little strop and Eric moaning about being on the “wrong side of the lake” and what shocked me most was Mr Larkham (Detol or wet wipe is his new name now) not saying a thing even though he caught nothing the last time he fished this side and he had the wind direct in his face he just trotted off with his trolley. 

I managed to have a quick chat with Mario and he was pleased with his peg as he won from the same peg last time out. The hooter went and most people were on the tip and in we went. Now I drew peg 12 and had nothing on 13 and nice island in front of me. Straight to the island and within a minute a nice carp to 8lb. Second chuck 3lb mirror and I’m thinking this could be a rewarding day. Well that’s the end of that dialogue as apart from a decent skimmer not much else happened. 
Rich was my mate to my right for the day and he also started off brightly but again ended up a damp squib. At least the sun was shining and no ice had to be broken. 

So the hooter sounded for all out and the first person I see parading down the bank is the guru tart telling me how he had 8 but lost 3 - fish that is not stone. So to the  weigh in  - again fish we are talking about here- Phil weighed in 34-2, Eric 44-14 and Mario Tony 45-2. 
So the moaners - Not you Mario - actually had  great day on their fliers but onto the real fishermen - Ross “the stig” Baker  11-8, George “the teenage mutant Turtle” who’s found a little bit of form of late unlike his beloved Bolton - 10-5 and Danny ( I'll stay here all day today) 6-15.

So well fished everyone and I look forward to seeing you at Trinity next Sunday, hopefully Shane will feel better as I miss his bargain basement deal information,  hopefully Brian will return quicker than any of us getting a tax rebate and hopefully Jeff can peel himself away from Summerhayes for the day. Tight lines

HLS Shiplate main lake 3/2/19

Shiplate main lake 3/2/19

Sorry for the late blog but this week has been one from hell!! Anyway we went back to one of the best lakes in somerset !!  but the first thing was to defrost my car as it was -8 in Frome!! then the 2nd thing was to get out of my driveway which was hard work as it is a mile long !!! and the 3rd was to make my way to this venue which was a bit scary at times ...only to find it solid with half inch think of ice ..which was a pain ...

I was gutted to be honest as I love this lake and the silver fishing is fantastic ... so I paid my pools and  had a chat with the guys and Phil said we only had 11 as a few called of at the last minute .

So into the draw bag and I got peg 3 but I didn't think it would matter what peg you had today as it was going to be rock hard ...

So I cut out the ice and after 5 hours I had blanked … that's about all I can say but it wasn't all bad news as I had to watch Lord c catching in the last 3 hours and he did well ..and won on the day ….(good lad!)

We only had 4 that caught today so they made up the framers ..ha what a day ..

1st overall Martin 8-8 peg13

2nd overall Phil 1-1 peg 12

1st silvers George  3-14 peg14

2nd silvers Paul 0-13 peg 5 

And the rest of us blanked !!!  So a big well done to the 4 that got bites ...

Lastly I have some sad news ...no good news !! this is my last blog .. .hooray you all say !!! sorry to say but it is a time issue... well a lack of time for me !!! 

So if anyone else wants to do the Sunday blog then please speak to Ross  ..

So this week it is Avalon see you there ..

HLS Angling Dad's Army - Wednesday 6th February 2019 - Summerhayes Longs Lake

"Can you help while I am away?", says Bob

"Ok, how long?", says I

"6 weeks", says Bob

You can imagine my surprise when I found out from last weeks Blog that its a permanent posting!

Well let see how it goes.

Danny and I met up early doors for the match on Longs and between us we formed a plan of who does what etc

Mike B recruited a new member from the car park called Claude and that swelled the attendance to 12, perfect for Longs after the recent weather with plenty of space for everyone. Rich Coles drew the Golden Peg on 28, Mike on 39, me on 37, John on 35, Claude on the flyer that is 33, Brian on 23, George on another flyer peg 19, Dave H on 17, Bill (Suns in my eyes) on 12, Eric on 8 and Danny on "crap" peg 2.

We started at 0945 and Claude and Danny were catching from the off but it was slow for Mike and I on the fancied car park pegs that usually do the business this time of year. That's how it remained for 6 hours and we didn't really need scales to confirm who had done the business. 

Congratulations to the winners on a hard day!

Overall

1st Claude on peg 33 with 59lbs 5oz caught at 16 metres on bread and corn

2nd Eric on peg 8 with 49lbs 2 oz

Silvers

1st Danny on peg 2 with 11lbs 9oz skimmers 

2nd Rich on Golden Peg 28 with 9lbs 11 oz

Others overall

3rd Danny 35lbs

4th Bill (Suns in my eyes) 30lbs 13oz

5th Rich 26lbs 13oz

6th Jeff 26lbs 10oz

7th Dave H 23lbs 9oz

The good news is we are back on Longs next week to do it all again!

Call me on 07821542178 if you haven't booked on yet