22.09.2019 - Trinity Waters

Todays trip was to Trinity Waters on Woodlands Lake, a favourite jaunt for many of the clubs anglers, a fine fishery with a good head of silvers and carp. Following the bright warm sunshine of Saturday today was a damp start and the forecast was for showers until lunchtime, so where as when I fished on Saturday with factor 50 on my slightly bristled head, today I was in my water proofs and contemplating the bobble hat.

I got to Trinity early to find Stroppy Steve and Grumpy John already there which was quickly followed by Tony Fry and the return of the Guru Tart who turned up in a bright green van that glowed brighter than the Northern Lights- who after a lengthy lay of due to a bad back was starting to ease his way back into the action. Looking Tango tanned and to be fair a few pounds lighter it was good to see him back.

Also returning to the fold after a few weeks away was Eric, Tax man Brian and Locky who also looked Tango tanned.

17 Anglers were booked into today which is a bit disappointing as we had 20 last week and 4 retuning regulars but could still only fill 17 spaces but well done to those who attended.

After a busy week for myself with decorating, pond maintenance, house moving and a fishing competition on Saturday I was knackered and could have done with a rest but never wanting to let others down I attended and thought shall I just go on the tip or pole and decided I would see where I would draw. The general chat was around last weeks away day where people caught most of the day but still had a few groans about catching too many , some times you can not please everyone.

I paid my fees and got a cuppa, booked my bacon roll then we were called for the draw and the golden peg was drawn at nos 24

Draw as follows

Peg

6 - Mario Tony
7 - Rich Coles
8 - Grumpy John
9 - Locky
10 - Mutant George
11 - Lord C
12 - Queenie
13 - Graham
16 - Tony Fry
24 - Stroppy Steve
25 - Me
26 - Tax man Brian
27 - Tungsten Dave
28 - Danny
29 - Shane
30 - Eric
31 - Guru Tart

It was in my opinion a strange pegging decision with Tony Fry all by his self with a third of the pond to himself whilst everyone else was crammed in; however I'm not one for moaning and just on with the task in hand.

I got to my swim which I think is a good silver swim and thought Id have a bit of a easy lazy day with 2 x 10m lines and 2 top 2+1 lines. Ground bait with dead reds and a few casters was my thought and 1 line with a few micros. My first put in with 2mm expander on the hook the float sailed away and out went the elastic. Now I chose my silvers elastic and 0.14 main line with 0.12 hook length, size 18 hook on all rigs and wasn't surprised that the hook length went.

I could see Queenie on the other side of the lake have a good carp on his first put and thought we could be on for a good day. However, looking around the lake there wasn't really too much action going.

My neighbour Stroppy Steve was also struggling for a while fishing on meat. I managed a few silvers on the 10m micro line but nothing on the others. Steve then switched to paste but only continued to upset his target fish by hooking a few up the backside. Then he switched to meet again short and started to catch a few decent fish.

On the other side of the bank I could see Graham have a few carp and George was playing one for a good 20mins but trying to force it and ending up losing the fish. Now when the draw was made and I saw that Queenie and Lord C were next to each other I just knew it was going to be non stop talking crap all day and I was right. Now I know women can talk, but these 2 take it to another level. However; the two of them were catching and Martin has been on fine form of late with either winning Silvers or Carp over the last 4 weeks and he was on it again catching silver after silver and winding up George along the way.

Up in the corner on peg 16 and looking like a lonely pleasure angler Tony Fry was bagging and every time I looked up he was into another.

As the afternoon went on I was struggling but managed a double carp whilst Stroppy Steve was now bagging and finally started hooking them in the mouth and he had a good final couple of hours.

After 6 hours of fishing, finally the all out hooter was sounded and what a relief for me as I had a really poor days fishing .

Results

Overall

1st - Steve Warren - 118lb - 14 oz
2nd - Tony Fry       - 87 lb - 12 oz
3rd - Steve King     - 83 lb - 12 oz

Silvers

1st - Martin Weston - 27 lb - 04 oz
2nd - Rich Coles      - 25 lb - 10 oz
3rd - Dave Tungsten - 22 lb - 04 oz

A good day for Stroppy Steve who one the overall and the golden peg so I'm sure he will be talking to his mate Grumpy John how much he won and the correct baits to use and not those pesky hard pellets.

A well done yet again to Martin for topping either the silvers or overall for the 5th week in a row, a man on form.

I was reported to me that the Guru Tart was back to his normal antics of losing his beloved Guru floats and was seen picking nuts from the near by tree in his peg so nothing has changed its as if he'd not been away.

Thanks again to those who attended and hopefully get a few more next week when we are fishing at Viaduct on Cambell Lake. Please book in with Shane 07824812895 to confirm attendance.

The XMAS match is on the 22nd December being fished on Woodlands and Ash. The cost is £10 and this needs to be paid before the 1st December please. If the fee has not been paid in full by this date then you will not be entered to fish the match. Tony Fry is taking booking - contact 07506472745

Todber 15.09.19

Todays trip was the annual clubs away day at Todber Manor. Now to be honest I did  a bit of research and visited the site on the previous Wednesday where there was a match being held. I walked around the lake and gained some good advice from some of the "resident" anglers who informed me that you want to be on or near the "spit" for good weights of 180lb plus but if you drew pegs on the 30 that you'll still catch but the fish were smaller; so again this was going to be about the draw. I discussed various methods and came away with some what I hoped would be useful information.

Detall had said that he would drive on the day but after seeing him on Saturday he told me he was going for a few shandies on Saturday night so I knew this would be a bit messy. I took his van and loaded up on the Saturday afternoon and dropped him home. Later on in the evening I saw a few Facebook pages of him out and knew he would be hanging and true to form when I picked him he was a mess and still intoxicated. So we made our way to Todber and stopped for a Macdonald's Bacon Roll - (never again, how do people eat that crap) and after a few coffees he was starting to sober up

We all met at Todber in good time and had a wander around the shop to buy some last minute essentials. It was a nice relaxed atmosphere where the mickey taking side bets had begun. I had been informed that Lord C had won the overall category for the last 3 away days and Queenie had always become second, was that going to change today as Lord C is on a fine run of form since the middle of August. Was he going to draw the favoured pegs to make it four in a row? The draw was done nice and early to give us a bit of time to set up.

The draw was as follows

Peg

35 - Sausage
36 - me
38 - Danny
39 - Dick
41 - Tungsten Dave
42 - Mr Grumpy
44 - Mario Tony
45 - Sharp Shopper
47 - Chairman Kev
48 - Jon Bradford
49 - Queenie
50 - George
52 - Stroppy Steve
53 - Lord C
54 - Tony Fry
55 - Shane
56 - Rich Coles
58 - Collin
60 - Bob
61 - Dave Allen

So the draw wasn't favourable for me but for Lord C and Queenie they were in the good areas again. We made our ways to the pegs and I had sausage for company on my left and Danny to my right. To my surprise  I didn't see Danny set up his pole but only a feeder rod which I didn't even know he had a rod. So within 10 mins Danny was set up and raring to go although he did moan that this is not a good silver peg and he drew the same peg last year.

Me, I was happy to be fishing a new venue and set up the feeder to the island, a top2 + 3 + a margin rig. On my tray was some micros, dead reds and some paste so a simple approach. The all in was shouted and I cupped in micros at 2 + 3 before casting to the island. Before I managed to cast I could see that Bob already had one on his pole and I thought this could be an eventful day. I cast to the island and before I put the rod down the line went taught and I was into my first Todber fish. This continued for a spell of an hour to the island before going quiet. The fish weren't big - about 3lb and a few stocky F1'S

I went on my 2 + 3 and continued to pick up Tench, skimmers and F1'S and when it went quiet I would rotate between the feeder and 2 + 3 whilst still feeding the margin. Everyone around were catching with sausage catching some nice skimmers and every time I looked over to Dick his elastic was being tested.

So the day went on and in the last 2 hours I thought Id try paste and that had a great affect with many fish being caught.

The all out was shouted and I had a massively enjoyable day just catching all day compared to my previous weeks disasters where I hadn't caught in the first 4 hours.

Lord C and Queenie did the weigh in and I could tell big weights were caught by the amount of time it was taken to get around. When It came to me 3rd from last to be weighed my sclaes totalled 111 lb my first ever 100lb + haul and was slightly disappointed with the amount of fish that I had caught but pleased with the haul.

Results as follows

Overall

1st - Lord C - 202 lb - 09 oz
2nd - Queene - 187 lb - 03 oz
3rd - Stroppy Steve - 170 lb - 08 oz

Silvers

 

1st - Rich Coles - 48 lb - 08 oz
2nd - Danny - 27 lb - 12 oz
3rd - Bob - 20 lb - 10 oz

So congratulations to Lord C again and commiserations to Queenie, always the bridesmaid and never the bride as his mate continues to batter him.

Again Rich Coles showed his silvers class with another fine haul and well done Danny for framing on the tip

Thanks to all the members that attended and to Tony Fry for collecting the fees, Lord C, Queenie and Danny for doing the long weigh ins

Next week is back to the popular Chilton Trinity Woodlands Lake venue, contact Shane to book in.

HLS Angling - Shiplate - 08.09.19

Todays gathering was at Shiplate on both the canal lakes. A gathering 16 members were booked in today on what was forecast to be a pleasant day with some sunshine and not much wind. The nights now getting cooler and sunny days who knew how it was going to fish. I got to the venue early as normally all lakes are busy and parking can be a bit tight.

I went to get my cuppa and have a sit down with last weeks grumpy champion John and the reformed stroppy Steve to chat about things that men chat about but mainly banded pellets. We wouldn't have looked out of place with a nice Thatchers while basking in the sunshine but a cuppa was suffice.

Due to parking issues the draw took place slightly later today and the start was put back til 10.15.

The Golden peg was draw which was nos 3 on West Pool. The rumour had it that West Pool was fishing much better than Hawthorne so that was the lake to get.

Draw as follows

Hawthorn

Peg

1 - Dick
3 - Simon Garbutt
6 - John
7 - Stan
9 - John Woolenscroft
10 - Kev
12 - Tungsen Dave
13 - Queenie
15 - Mario Tony

West Pool

1 - Shane
3 - Mutant George
6 - Stroppy Steve
9 - Danny
10 - Me
11 - Lord C
13 - Rich Coles
15 - Tony Fry

So off to the pegs we walked with me puling nos10 on Westpool so I was knackered before I started setting up with the long walk. George was sitting in the golden peg and was chirping at Danny like a new born sparrow. I had the joys of Martin one side and Danny to the other so I knew id be watching elastic either side of me.

Now I'm not going into my tactics or what I was doing as for the second week I didn't catch until the last couple of hours when I was well out of it so although I caught a couple of carp and a few silvers I didn't weigh and packed up early along with Rich Coles. In my opinion this fished poor and hard except a few pegs where Tony Fry had a good day and Lord C did well again. The man is on fire.

I helped with the weigh in and Tony has a good head of carp, Martin had a nice bag of silvers along with Danny and George although the quality of silver was more like those you catch on a proper canal as the bream just didn't show.

Onto Hawthorne and again the weights were really poor except Simon who used his Somerset Angling fishing insider knowledge to his advantage to weigh a great 147lb

Its a shame that many packed up early due to how difficult conditions were when really at this time of year the weights should be good.

Results

Silvers

1st - Martin 24lb 03 oz
2nd - George - 15 lb - 01 oz
3rd - Danny - 14 lb - 11 oz

Overall

1st - Simon - 147 lb - 11oz
2nd - Tony Fry - 87 lb - 06 oz
3rd - John Woolenscroft - 64 lb - 15oz

Well done to everyone who stayed and weighed in

Next up is the away day at Todber- There are a few spaces available for members if you want to attend. Phone Tony Fry to confirm your place.

Please note that next week we will meet in the car park where all nets will have to be dipped (even your fish net stockings Steve). Please leave in plenty of time to get there nice and early.



John discussing the one that got away again on banded pellet - He even bought his own mug

 

Results

 

 

Viaduct 01.09.2019

On a really sunny bright sunny morning saw todays gathering of 16 Anglers fishing on the "Scary" Cary Lake which hold a huge amount of large Carp and a good helping of Silvers. As this was on my second visit to the fishery I had a wonder around the lake and unlike my first visit when I saw a mass of black shadows all very shallow roaming around the lake this time was much clearer, with just a few fish showing. There are a few nice pegs around the lake and with the sun shining these were favourable however the ones in the shade were not so appealing. Peg 90 - 97 looked like the favourable pegs along with the over hanging tree in peg 74 and peg 81 was also a nice peg if it was fished properly.


A wander back to the gathering of fine men and some nice new vehicles on show with Mario Tony showing off his nice Audi. Dettal appeared on the scene carry the long lost Guru Tart who after a lengthy lay off with his bad back. Looking slightly trimmer than normal I thought to myself was he actually eating all the ground bait and sweet corn when he was fishing and now he wasn't he'd lost a few pound, much like his fishing I hear you say.

Dettal came strutting over giving the all I am - now he's working in  Somerset Angling and getting all the fishing tips he said to me, Queenie and Lord C that he was going to smash us up today. I thought enough of that nonsense and strolled to pay my dues to Stroppy Steve and a quick chat with his buddy Corner peg John who was in a confident mood.

I went back to the van to get my gear and Danny and George were at it like husband and wife - quarrelling that is. I had to look twice as I didn't recognise Danny who was sporting a new hair cut who pointed out he'd only had it done as he had to attend a family do the day before. Georges was still hobbling around on his peg leg - someone tell him to take that stone out of his shoe but he was in a good mood this week. A bit of friendly banter between the 2 is always the norm on s Sunday morning and George in defiant mood that he was going to stuff  Danny today and recoup some of his recent partings.

Martin took the honours of drawing the pegs and doing the draw and Danny taking the names so a nice team effort once again to get things rolling.

The draw took place and Golden peg was 97

 Draw as follows

74 - Stroppy Steve
77 - Tax Man Brian
78 - John Bradford
80 - Tony Newel
81 - Dettal
85 - Sausage
86 - Tony Fry
88 - Chairman Kev - or is he?
90 - Danny
94 - Lord C
96 - Queenie
97 - John Woolenscroft
99 - Tungsten Dave
100 - Dave Allen
102 - Mutant George
105 - Me


When I look at the draw from the last match many people were very near to the ones they had drawn before just the next peg along in many cases with Sausage drawing the same peg. With matches on the other lakes, the room was a bit limited again but we all got on with our task in hand. I had Stroppy Steve opposite me right next to the tree so I could see a few rigs going astray here and the possibility of a really stroppy Steve at the end of the match. Brian was opposite to my right and Mario Tony had a nice peg and these were the only ones I could see.

I decided that I was going to target anything today after initially thinking silvers; however I just totally messed up. I set up a top 2+1 to my left with ground bait laced with caster, top 2 plus 2 to my right a small pot of micros and at 13m which I didn't feed. The all in was shouted, 20 minutes in and I hadn't had a touch on the 13m line so went over the ground bait and nothing. I kept an eye on the micro line for any feeding but nothing so I just left it. Back onto 13m line and fed a bit of micro in a toss pot with some slop and within 30 seconds the float dipped and I was into a nice carp, after it taking me around the lake and I thought I had it under control it took off only for the hook to pull. So nearly 2 hours in I had 1 bite and no fish. I kept trying line but nothing, I had feeding fish on the 13m line but couldn't buy a bite. So in desperation after seeing Mario Tony on the tip catching well for the first few hours I decided some corn and micros in the margin. Straight away the float dipped and some pink dual core streaming out of the kit only to produce a perch of about 1.5lb.  Onto my right line and I had 2 small blades so after 3 hours I had 3 fish.

The next 1.5 hours produced absolutely nothing and in desperate times I thought I'll mix up some paste. So after finally getting my rig sorted and paste to correct consistency it was 3pm and only an hour to go, I thought about packing up however the last hour proved eventful. My first put in and I was into a fish and with 2 people behind me watching and me feeling the pressure not to lose it I successfully landed a carp t0 20+ lb  - my biggest ever fish and with a further 3 carp in the next 20 mins. I was hoping that was going to continue but I lost another fish before landing another on the all out.

Steve mean while was swapping between paste and pellet and was catching most of the afternoon and I thought that he'd have easily 200 + lb and Mario Tony who's afternoon seemed to be less eventful than the morning I thought he would be close to that figure as well.

Speaking to both after the match they reported that the fish weren't as big as expected but both put in fine performances even if Stroppy Steve lost as many as he caught; however it must be said, not a moan in ear shot.

Peg 105 - its in the shade all day so whilst other were basking in the sunshine I was freezing my pellets off,  maybe that why the fish weren't there so I felt it was a disappointing day with only the last hour producing for me but what a last hour it was with a total of 67lb - 4 0z. although ITS PROBABLY THE WAY I FISHED IT.

Results


Overall

 1st - Steve Warren - peg 74 - 160 lb - 10 oz
2nd -Tony Newell - peg 80 - 118 lb - 05 oz

 Silvers

 1st - Martin - Peg 94 - 49 lb - 09 oz
2nd - Dave Allen -  peg 100 -  38lb - 07 oz


Well done to everyone on a hard day and a mention to Dettal who was smashed up by all of those that he was going  to smash, sometimes the info you have in your head is not the right info, fish the swim not the info.

Now I have to mention John Woolenscroft as when I was packing up John walked by with his trolley which is very unusual as he's normally the last to pack up. I merely asked how he got on of which 20 minutes later after tearing my ears off with his constant moaning about being an experienced angler fishing for a total of 80 hours and not catching 1 single fish on the banded pellet and that Queenie could catch when foul hooking using the same method was just not fishing. A message for you John - if you were that experienced, why on earth did it take 80 hours to realise that this wasn't working for you but you persisted like a Remainer trying to end Brexit - get over it and move on. Why so bitter was it parting with that £1 or that finally you didn't draw a corner peg? What's worse he drove off quicker than Stroppy Steve hooking his next fish and didn't say well done!!


Contact Shane by Thursday if you want to fish next Sunday  - We are at Shiplate on the canals.



                                    Danny with his total winnings from George this years

 

 

Danny sporting his new hair cut and getting another nugget from his mate