Sunday 24th February - Clevedon Club Match Woodlands Lake Trinity Waters

What a cold day it has been so understandable that a few did not turn up leaving only 9 of us to pitch our witts against the elements. I nearly did not make it myself due to slipping down a ladder yesterday afternoon while trying to prun some trees, fortunetly only bruised ribs and my pride was hurt. Mrs C did look after me calling me a few names at the same time oh and she also said ''I suppose you'll still be going fishing tomorrow'' too right.
Anyway back to the match, Aidie Baker booked us all in an Misha took food orders as well as providing the usual cup of tea or coffee on arrival. Due to the cold we fished 10:30 - 16:00. I drew peg 14 which is on the far side of the lake but you really need to be around halfway. Rich Heatley who won the last match here a few weeks ago drew the same peg again so he was happy (for a change). 3 pegs to my left I had Chris Fox, 2 pegs to my right was Kev Perry, above him 2 pegs away was Brian Slipper, more or less opposite me was Rich Heatley.

View from my peg

Rich Heatley opposite with the wind in his face

I had loads of various baits today but only fed sparingly, neat groundbait stright out at 13 meters, left and right hand margins with small amount of micro and dead read. No activity all match from the margins. At the all in I started out with popped up bread cast half way across, so did Kev but he was using lickly bread in a small feeder with a short hooklength. Kev had a carp first cast, I had a few liners, Brian Slipper up on 10 had one as well using bread. I stuck with the bread and had one on about 11:15 then it came off (foul hooked I think), the Misha came around with my tea just as I was playing another, I had it nearly at the net but it came off as well so Misha got the blame. Kev next door stayed quiet, Chris to my left was also struggling, Brian up on 10 was putting fish in the net at regular intervals and continued this all through the match. I chopped and changed all day between the pole and the lead, I did put a few silvers in the net on dead red but Chris was going all out for roach on the wag using caster and was catching quite a few all be it small. I decided to sit it out for carp on the bread as I was not going to catch as fast as Chris, I knew Brian was well ahead, Rich opposite me also had a few carp and Kev still only had 2. I did have a flurry of activity for about 40 minutes where I put 3 carp in the net but it wasn't enough today.

Brian won the match with 55lb odd, pic below

Rich was 2nd with 39lb dead, pic below (this boy is getting too smug)

Kev got 3rd overall but due to only paying top 2 and a silver he picked up the silver place - pic below

Top 6 results from 9 anglers

1st    Brian Slipper 55lb 4oz

2nd   Rich Heatley 39lb

3rd   Kev Perry 24lb 3oz

4th   Ivan Currie 14lb 5oz

5th   Barry Fowler 8lb 6oz

6th   Chris Fox 4lb 9oz (all roach on the wag and caster)

Silvers

Kev Perry 7lb 14 included a big F1 which did not please Chris, I am sure he will comment, check his blog http://maesknollmatchangling.blogspot.co.uk/

Press reportfor Anglers Mail and North Somerset Times as follows...

Brian uses his loaf

Clevedon Freshwater Angling Clubs latest match held on Woodland Lake Trinity Waters near Bridgwater was a predictable low turnout due to the cold weather. Despite the cold temperatures and snow flurries during the match some respectable weights were put together. Leading the way was Brian Slipper who from peg 10 caught some quality carp on popped up bread fished just off the bottom at regular intervals, he also added a couple using the pole at 14 meters with soft pellet for a total weight of 55lb 4oz. Richard Heatley was second from peg 23, a peg he drew only 4 weeks ago and won from so he knew exactly what to do and caught 39lb of carp using maggot on the hook fished at 9 meters up on the lake shelf. Kev Perry got off to a flying start catching a carp first cast on the bread but that was it for a few hours until he added another along with 7lb 14oz of silver fish on the pole fished at distance which was good enough for the silver fish prize.

Sunday 17th February - Plantation Lake Open

As it was my first week back at work following my holiday plus I had a few surprises to deal with namely travelling to Crawley on the Tuesday, back home then return to Crawley on the Wednesday afternoon, all day in Crawley on the Thursday with an overnight then Portsmouth on the Friday it meant I had not thought much about where to fish on the Sunday. A phone call from Paul Nicholls on the Thursday soon sorted that and he asked if I wanted to fish an open on Plantation Main Lake. I thought why not as there had been lots of rain and the River Kenn was out of sorts with the level well down. It was also a 09:00 draw which meant a bit of a lie in as I went to a race night on the Saturday night with some friends.Breakfast was also available from 08:00 and it would appear Karen who ran the Cafe at Bullocks Farm has moved to take over the Cafe here. I took breakfast at home though to get a few extra z's in.
On arrival all the usual suspects were there and I think there were 16 in all so plent of room, normally the maximum is 20. Only matches are permitted on this lake in the winter period as it is very popular with pleasure anglers April - Oct ish. The map below gives some idea of the pegs, not all are pegged in a match due to some being very tight and others not fishable anymore.

Paul put all the pegs in a hat and just lobbed them in the air, one fell at my foot so that was mine, on opening I saw I had Peg 23 which is not good although I had seen reports of Rich Lovering catching a few down the edge, however as the payout was top 3 plus only top in silvers my decison was more or less made. A conversation with Glenn Calvert suggested down the left hand edge was worth a look.

I guess one good thing about the day was I had plenty of room, the nearest angler on my left was on 18,  Rich Heatley and to my right on 25 Paul Faires.

View from my peg

Left hand margin

Simple approach today, Silvers out in front on a couple of lines at 13m and 2 area's along the left margin. Silver lines baited up with caster and groundbait and micro and caster / dead maggot. Margin with micro and 4mm pellet. While I had been away Cadbury angling had organised a couple of Silverfish Matches on the lake, both had been won by Steve Mayo with 20lb odd. Today was very bright and cold so difficult.
At the all in I tried the line at 12 o'clock and after 5 mins had a small skimmer about 12oz, trhe 15 mins later a better one around a 1lb. I kept feeding small amounts but if I had only knew that they had been catching better with just cupping in groundbait I might have done a lot better as the bites started to back off, I should have clocked what was going on as I had several roach from area's I didn't feed. I tried the margin a few times but not so much as an indication. Lance Tucker was bagging carp off peg 27 on a small groundbait feeder with pellet (this peg has a lot of form with a decent island chuck). I saw Rich Heatley catch a few down his left had edge and Nick Harvey next to him on 17 started to catch, a peg that does not alway produce that much by way of carp but he was going well catching in open water. All this helped me decide to stick with the silver line and apart from the odd roach I had a decent skimmer about 3lb. About 30 mins from the end a carp took me on a merry dance on 6 elastic and match top 3 but landed anyway.
As the scales came around top silver weight was 8lb 4oz and there was only 4 other anglers plus me to weigh. I weighed 8lb 12oz, I knew Paul next door had a few silvers, he weighed 8lb 6oz, Lance on 27 had all carp for a match win and Glenn Calvert on 31 had a few small carp and weighed just under 8lb in silvers. So.... for a change I made the correct decison, results as follows....

Overall
1st   Lance Tucker 92lb 10oz peg 27
2nd  Brian Slipper 76lb 12oz peg 8
3rd   Nick Harvey 52lb 8oz

Silvers
Ivan Currie 8lb 12oz peg 23

Next week we have a Clevedon Club match on Woodlands Lake Trinity Waters.

Getting back to normal (unfortunetly)

After 10 days in the Middle East I was hoping to wet a line on the River Kenn for a few hours but it didn't happen. I guess I was spoilt over the last couple of weeks with glorious sunshine and temperatures of 25 degree's. Bit of a change now with continuous rain and a high of 5 or 6 degrees. I did check my gear out yesterday and it does need some maintenance so hope to get out somewhere next weekend. The 7 day cruise was great visiting 3 ports in the UAE and Muscat in Oman, it changed my view on these countries and we could learn a lot from them, no tax, minimum crime and  very clean. Mind you to the south was the Yemen and to the North East was Iran and Iraq. On the cruise we had great company in the evenings by way of a couple from Dublin so the craic was great. The 2 days we had in Dubai before coming home was also fantastic staying at the Atlantis on 'The Palm', it also had an excellent aquarium, here are some pics, hope to get out next week whatever but not sure where yet, the Kenn on the gravels is beckoning me though.

One of the Blues Bro's ready for dinner

Muscat Oman

Tallest building in the world the Buri Khalifa in Dubai, went up 140 floors in less that a minute

View from the top

Our hotel

Never far away from the fish, did look into some game fishing but they wanted 500 dollars for 4 hours!

Spot the wife (I am dead if she reads this)

Well for those of you who went out today I hope it was worth it, dry out soon.



Getting back to normal

I had hoped to have a few hours on the River Kenn today but given the weather I decided to sort my life out at home after 10 days in the Middle East where the sun was shining all day and a very comfortable 25 degrees. It was a fantastic holiday visiting 3 ports in United Arab Emirates and Muscat in Oman. What a civilised place it was and has changed my view on that part of the world, mind you across the gulf was Iran and Iraq and to the south Yemen, I have no intention of checking these destinations out just yet. We actually flew over Baghdad to get there and return home!!!!
The cruise lasted 7 days with the last 2 at the Atlantis Hotel on the Palm, the hotel also had a fantastic aquarium. On our dinner table at night we had a couple from Dublin so the craic Here are some pics

Well one half of the Blues Brothers is ready for dinner

Sunday 3rd February - Clevedon Club Match Plantation Main Lake

Not long back from the cruise and Dubai, Adie Baker our new Match Secretary sent me a report regarding the match while I was away. Here is the press report based on the detail given.

Clevedon Freshwater Angling Club met on Sunday 3rd February for their latest match, fished in bitterly cold conditions at Plantation match lake Kingston Seymour. The top weights were well spread out around the lake which is unusual for this time of year. Andy Hembrow continued his fine form with 77lb 15oz of carp from fancied peg 8 on the long pole with pellet, Rob Wotten was an honourable 2nd from peg 19 with 46lb 4oz also fishing pellet, Rich Lovering was 3rd from peg 5 catching some big carp at distance on the tip for 42lb 15oz. Glen Calvert, another angler who is rarely out of the frame was 4th on the day with 28lb 2oz from peg 38 and included quality perch up to 3lb, 23lb of Glen’s weight was made up of silver fish.

The next Clevedon Club match is 24th February at Trinity Waters, Bridgewater, 2013 Match Calendars are now available at Olivers and Cadbury Angling.

Pictured below is Glen with his quality perch and silvers, very nice.