Sunday 28th January - Clevedon Club Match, Main Lake, Plantation Fishery Kingston Seymour

I had some bad news from our Team Captain Chris Hook on the Friday evening. Chris had received a letter from Maver saying they would no longer be supporting us. I was not totally surprised but gutted for Chris as he has managed the account with them since 2006 and the deal we had with them was very good. I have closed our Team Facebook Page now but not without thanking Maver for their support over the years first. Views within the Team are mixed but whats done is done and I don't think we are the only Team to be dropped. What happens next remains to be seen but we will do our best to continue in some form.

So... on to today. I was hoping to fish the Taunton Open on the River Tone but the rain in the week suggested it would be in flood so I booked into my Clubs Match at Plantation Lake just outside Clevedon.
I have fished it a few times but not within the past 2 years or so. Not many matches are held on it and if so only in the winter. Apart from the carp there is a big head of skimmers, roach and specimen perch.

At the Club AGM this year a rule was passed that allows you to invite a non member friend to fish a Club Match but only once during the year. Team mate Sam Johnson asked if I could book him in which I did.

We met in the Fishery Car Park for the draw and 16 were booked in but one dipped out. We had the whole lake so there would be plenty of room. Match Secretary Adie Baker had it all well organised as usual. The wind was quite gusty and I fancied a peg up the top end of the lake 16 or 17. Those pegs were not in but I did pull out 19 which was right at the top of the lake with an island chuck.

The wind was blowing across left to right so I set up the pole at 8 metres to fish 2 lines with a 4x14 to 0.10 hook length and an 18 hook. I planned to fish soft pellet over micro. A small method feeder was set up to fish to the island. 

Both pole lines were fed on the all in and then a chuck with the method tight to the island. 

After 10 minutes and the second chuck the tip slowly went around and I had a big skimmer on a white wafter. A few liners later I got bored and went on the pole. It didn't take long for a bite and it was a quality roach. From what I could see the action was pretty slow both sides of the lake so just stuck on the pole drip feeding micros through the pole pot. I was quite happy catching roach but really wanted the skimmers. They finally arrived just over halfway through the match and were taking the pellet mainly on the drop.

Word came around that Lance Tucker down on the other end of the lake on peg 38 was having a good day.  

I did get a carp on the pole, a decent one at that, over 5lbs but that was the only one.

I had a busy match and enjoyed it but came no where.

Lance did win the match by a comfortable margin made up of 10 carp and a great bag of silvers.

Here is the weight sheet......

Just look at those weights, average per angler worked out at 31lb.

Well the gears all cleaned up now as I am away all of February so next outing will be in March and hopefully we will have sorted out the Teams future plan. On a personal note I would also like to thank those Teams who have approached me as well as putting out a welcome hand for my Team mates.

Sunday 7th February - Clevedon FWAC Plantation Lake Winter Series

I was not part of this three match winter series as I could not fish them all. I did turn up on the River Kenn hoping to target the bream and big roach but did not even get the kit out of the car as it was in full flood and went home to do a few jobs instead.
I did turn up an hour before the Clevedon Match finished to take some pictures for the Press Report. Most anglers were struggling due to the weather, here's the report for the local paper.

Clevedon Freshwater Angling Club continued with the second match of their Winter Series at Plantation Fishery Kingston Seymour. Despite the threat of storm Imogen which was beginning to make its presence known 20 hardy souls attended looking to gain or increase their points following the first match a couple of weeks ago. Due to the wind direction and strength presentation of bait with a float was extremely difficult resulting in most of the anglers reverting to ledgering techniques in order to keep the bait still. Drawing a peg with an island feature is an added bonus at this time of year as the fish tend to shoal up within the marginal cover they provide. Club stalwart and Life Member Kev Perry drew favoured peg 4 which had the end of an island straight in front of him. Kev used the feature and his experience to the full putting 70lb 14oz of carp together using a simple popped up bread approach which was enough for first place. Almost directly opposite Kev on peg 31 which provided the winning weight in the first match was Simon Carvallo who used a method feeder and pellet approach for 63lb 12oz of carp up to 5lb and second place. Third on the day was consistent angler and Royal Marine Craig Tucker with 51lb 12oz. The Club would like to thank Plantation Fishery for the use of their lake.

 Kev landing carp number 17 of 19

Simon Carvallo was only a couple of carp behind but pleased with 2nd place

1st    Kev Perry 70lb 14oz

2nd   Simon Carvallo 63lb 12oz

3rd   Craig Tucker 51lb 12oz

4th   Mike Owens 49lb 2oz

5th   Dan Dymond 46lb

6th   Mark Birdseye 31lb 6oz

Press report - Clevedon Club Match Sunday 2nd February Main Lake Plantation Complex Kingston Seymour

I didn't fish this weekend due to youngest daughter home from Uni and it was her birthday. Here is the press report I submitted for the above match.

Clevedon Freshwater Angling Club continued with their winter programme and held the latest match on the popular Main Lake on the Plantations Complex Kingston Seymour. A break in the weather was forecast which in turn made it a sell-out event. Competitors began to question the accuracy of weather man as the first few hours were not that comfortable due to the cold wind and rain. The conditions did improve though and as they did the fish made an appearance resulting in one of the most closely fought contests on record. As usual pegs with a cast to an island were the favoured areas. On peg 4 was Club stalwart Kev Perry who used straight ledger or method feeder tactics to net 58lb 4ozs of quality carp. Immediately next to Kev on peg 5 and not far behind him was all-rounder Lance Tucker with 58lb 2ozs, all carp using similar methods. Third place went to in-form angler and Match Secretary Adie Baker who was pegged on the opposite side of the lake on 28 with 57lb 12oz. Mike Owens was not that far away either producing 56lb 9ozs of peg 32. The top silverfish weight went to Mark Bromsgrove with 9lb 13oz of roach and skimmer bream.

                                                      1st Kev Perry 58lb 4oz

                                                  2nd Lance Tucker 58lb 2oz

                                                 3rd Adie Baker 57lb 12oz

Sunday 29th December Clevedon FWAC Boxing day blind pairs Plantation Main Lake

I believe when I first joined the Clevedon Club back in 2008 the Boxing Day Pairs Match was held on Boxing Day. I was never free to fish on Boxing Day itself so it was a welcome change when it was moved to the first Sunday following. I spent a few hours drying out my gear from the last match just before Christmas and sorting out a few rigs for the pole and hair rigs for the straight lead. The alarm went off around 06:45 and I got up striaght away as I was looking forward to getting out for some fresh air. The car was part pre-loaded so it was just a case of having some breakfast and load up the remainder of the gear. I looked outside and it was white with frost, one of the hardest I have seen this year so started the car up to de-frost, the temperature said -1 but it felt a lot colder and it was difficult to open the rear doors.

This was the temperature at home

As I headed towards Clevedon and Kingston Seymour there was a noticeable improvement and it had risen 2 degrees (get the shorts out, not).

Match Secretary Adie Baker was in the car park with a couple of other guys when I parked up around 08:00. Adie had a full house of 22 anglers and anyone that wanted to fish was accommodated. 22 Pegs on the lake is just about right. At 08:30 the draw was called and Adie set the ground rules, 2 sections of 11, if you won your section you would get 1 point and so on so the pair with the lowest points would win. Payout would be for the top 3 pairs and fishing 10:00 - 15:00. Pairs were indicated on the peg cards. I was about the halfway mark to draw and this is what came out.



I had peg 1 and the scales plus paired up with whoever drew peg 27.

It didn't take too long to find out who I was with as I heard the dulcet tones of Darren Vowles (aka Nuddy) asking who had peg 1. Darren looked pleased to have drawn with me, neither of our pegs were what you would call match winners but on a very cold day like it was a few surprises might be thrown up.



Here is a map of the Lake, as you can see Darren had an important island chuck on 27, I had open water set back and a bay, 43, 42,41 and 40 are not used.

Peg 1 can be iffy and unpredictable but Paul Nichols done 3rd off it with 19lb odd in the previous weeks Christmas Match fishing a small method feeder across to what was peg 42. Darren also pointed out where to fish and so did Paul as he was heading to his peg, fair play to him.

This was my view looking across the peg, the target area was to be in line with the cone and slightly to the right of it about a meter out from the bank as there was a lot of snags.

The water was very clear, it also doesn't help when there is a footpath immediately behind the area you are going to fish. I set up 2 pole rigs at 13 meters for fishing at 10:00 and 14:00, one with white hydro and one with maver no.5, 4 x 14 floats, to 0.11 and a 0.10 hooklength to a drennan wide gap 18. I had a small method rod set up as well for fishing to the cone area with micro's and banded pellet. It was about 09:45 when I decided to go to the car and get my drennan soft feeder rod in order to set up a straight lead for bread. I was just about ready when the all in was called. Brian Slipper was to my left on peg 3 and Mark Walsh was on 39. I fed both pole lines with the same, dead mag, micros and a little green swim stim. Neither of those lines were used during the match although I did top them up a few times, the method was not used either.

On the straight lead rod I put on some double punched bread on the hair rig, the hooklength was about 6'' to a 16 drennan wide gape and cast toward the cone. Soon after I had what looked like a liner, the next few casts were the same. About 30 mins in a more positive pull round (not a wrap round) came and I hit it, it went solid an soon an angry carp was on the other end going all over the place. It did not take long to control it and soon it was in the net, about 5lb in weight. I probably brought it in too quick (this was only my 3rd carp since June due to concentrating on the rivers. I went back out to the same spot and had a few more liners which was encouraging. Another 30 mins passed and this time I had a proper wrap round which nearly took the rod out of my hand. I had only been leaving the bait out for about 5 mins and shaking it off as a way of gently feeding the area. This carp was only around 2lb and came in quite easily despite the fierce bite. At this point I had not seen anyone else in my area catch so decided to stick with it. As I was looking around I could see Brian to my right was fishing 16 meters as I checked his float it dipped and he was into a carp which he landed after about 5 mins on light elastic. Mark Walsh also took one out in front of him about 11 meters. I had another half-hearted bite shortly after the lead hit bottom, I struck and due to the amount of line still sinking I thought it might just have been a liner until I took up all the slack and had a right lump on. I took my time with it and netted it just before the keep net about 2 feet under the surface, lovely. It was about 12:30 now and I had 3 carp, the liners had stopped so decided to take the lead off and put on a very small cag feeder with liquidised bread in it, nothing, no indications either after about 4 casts. Back out with the striaght lead and a wrap round and carp number 4 was netted, another good fish. Mark caught another and so did Brian, I added another 2 to finish up with 6, I guessed for about 30lb ish, happy with that and no one else around me had anywhere near that.

Adie came down from peg 4 to help with weighing in, he told me Paul Faires up on peg 8 had bagged up and apparently his partner for the day Kev Perry had a few fish on peg 25. We weighed me in first, 28lb 5oz, so not far off my estimate.

My 28lb 5oz

Brian to my left ended up with the 2 carp for 7lb odd, Adie had I think a couple more pound than me off peg 4, Rod Wotton had 15lb odd on 5, Rob Fogg had 1 carp. We then came to Paul Faires on 8, whi had a perch 2lb 2oz and then 2 weighs for his carp, caught on the wag with caster and bread on the straight lead for a total weight of 83lb 4oz.



Paul with his final weigh, his partner Kev, weighed in 44lb 12oz, bread on the straight lead.

Nick Harvey up on point peg 19 also done well putting 73lb 3oz of carp in the net on hard pellet fished to the island, unfortunetly his partner Rich Lovering blanked.

Nick with some of his lumps

I finally heard Darren my partner ended up with 2 carp, his section fished really hard, I thought we had missed out.

Back in the car park Adie done the results, it was no surprise Paul (left) and Kev had won it, here they are, all smiles, fair play, maximum points in their sections.



2nd Pair was Rich Healey (left) and Mark Bromsgrove, pic below.

Darren (Nuddy) and I sneaked in 3rd pic below.



A well run match, hard but fair. Next up for me is the Commercial House League next Sunday on the Kennet and Avon Canal.

Happy New Year to all.

Cadbury Angling Silverfish Open Sunday 10th March Plantation Lake

I was really looking forward to this match, this was the 4th one to be run since Christmas and organised by Toby from Cadbury Angling, I was unable to fish the previous ones but they had been very popular.
I thought I was prepared but I wasn't, mentally I was shot, been in a NEBOSH Course all week (and this week) with 3 hours homework and revison each night, wife has been away so looking after the house and dog who is on heat, youngest daughter has new boy friend, oldest daughter going for her first home oh and work work still goes on - how did this happen?

I tied a few rigs on the Friday night, cleaned up the gear and preloaded the car, bait was caster, maggot, corn and some groundbait pre mixed, soft pellet looked at but decided not required - wro ng decision.

Anyway on arrival a great breakfast with some know fishin colleagues and few faces I had not seen for a while. Steve Mayo turned up (pic below), great angler who had won the last few of these matches, I remember Steve and Des Shipp taking Moorlands Farm apart when there was no Commercials down this way.

The draw was called and I pulled Peg 8, not bad and the right side of the lake. On my right was carp slayer Andy Hembrow, not sure how he would go for silverfish but I soon found out.

I set up 3 pole lines, 1 short and 2 at 13 meters 10 and 2 o'clock, 20 hook to 0.08 and a 4 x 12, thats as technical as it gets. I saw Andy prepare so soft pellets and then I started to question my decision not to take them. Up to my left was Toby and Simon Carvello, again in the right area for silvers.

I cupped in quite a bit of groundbait with a few dead reds at the start and soon hand a few roach, I glanced down and could see Steve Mayo and Paul Nicholls next to him landing a skimmer each first put in, Andy next door was still without a fish, hmmm.
That was all to change, Andy started to catch on soft pellet at steady interval and they were decent skimmers at a 1lb or over, his orange elastic just kept coming out all day, it was a true masterclass.
I just continued to catch small fish, no skimmers altough I did have a big crucian. My weight went between 8 and 9 lb, was off the mark, on our side of the lake, peg 1 DNW, Paul Nicholls had 14lb odd, Steve Mayo on 5 had 21lb, Andy Hembrow 34lb odd, me as stated above, Toby 10lb odd and Simon 14lb odd

Here is Andy with his quality net of skimmers

That's all folks, I am taking a couple of weeks off fishing as I have exams to sit although I may do some fluff chucking. By the way great result Jamie at Summerhayes.



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.

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.

Sunday 30th December - Clevedon Pairs Match Plantation Main Lake

This was the last match of the year, 22 of us attended (full house for this lake). To be honest I nearly sent a text to Barry our match secretary about 6 a.m. asking if it was still on due to the severe weather we were having in North Somerset. Got up again at 7 a.m for a 8.30 draw and it appeared to have blown over so off I went. This was a pairs match and to be honest there were various forms of understanding as how it was going to be run, section points or weight. Barry had put together the pairs numbers on the peg cards so it wasn't until you drew did you know who you were with. I drew 32 which is not normally pegged and my partner was Mr. consistent, Rob Wootton but Rob had drawn 24, so there was not much chance of framing ah well head down and get on with it. It was a hard day with skimmers not feeding just roach and the odd perch. I had very few options, I could have chucked to an island diagonally but that would have been taking the piss and infringing on peg 31 and 39 so I just stuck it out in front. Bumped a few perch with the small hooks and weighed in just over 5lbs of roach but beat the pegs either side of me.

Anyway here is the press report which covers the match...

Clevedon Freshwater Angling Club held their last match of 2012 on the Main Lake at the Plantations complex Kingston Seymour. Twenty two hardy souls attended despite the gale force winds and hail that occurred during the night, during the day it remained cold and mainly dry. This was a random pairs completion with angler only finding out who their partner was after the draw. Kev Perry and Rich Lovering won the day with a combined weight of 65lbs 11oz.

Rich had 34lb 1oz and caught carp down the nearside margin of peg 23 on pellet while Kev put together 31lb 10oz of carp of fancied peg 7 fishing a varity of baits at  16 meters, he did well in the windy conditions. Second was the pairing of Mark Bartlett and Dave Smart who collectively weighed 40lb 11oz. Mark was on peg 28 and professionally poached some fish from the island opposite peg 29 from Glen Calvert. That didn’t seem to bother Glen as he took third place with his partner Adie Baker for a total weight 39lbs 4oz. The Club would like to wish its members a happy new year and tight lines for 2013.

1^st Kev Perry and Rich Lovering 65lbs 11oz 

2^nd Mark Bartlett and Dave Smart 40lb 11oz

3^rd Adie Baker and Glen Calvert 39lb 4oz

My camera packed up as well so unable to get a pic of the pairs but heres one of Kev which just about sums him up.... (pic from Chris Foxes Blog)

Happy New Year all, off to a David Bowie tribute act in a pub tonight (gettin too old for this).

Clevedon Club Match 11th Nov - Plantation main lake

What a hard day, the results and press report below give an overview of the day. I drew peg 1, not great, had 3 carp for 18lb which was good on the day, some anglers DNW and some packed up early.

Press report......

Rod Wotton and Andy Hembrow enjoyed a head to head battle during the latest Clevedon Freshwater Angling Club competition held on the main lake of the Plantations complex at Kingston Seymour. Both of them were pegged opposite each other and both fished the same method which was the pole at 14 meters with pellet on the hook and spraying regular helpings of pellet to attract quality carp throughout the five and a half hour match. Rod took an early lead in the first couple of hours but Andy was soon catching up and at the end there was only a couple of fish between them. Rod weighed in 138lb 4oz and Andy put 133lb 14oz on the scales. Their nearest competitor was Kev Perry with 56lb 7oz, after that the weights dropped dramatically with the majority of anglers struggling. Glenn Calvert won the silverfish prize with a mixed bag for 16lb 4oz caught on chopped worm.

Rod Wotton

1^st Rod Wotton 138lb 4oz

2^nd Andy Hembrow 133lb 14oz

3^rd Kev Perry 56lb 4oz

Silvers – Glenn Calvert 16lb 1oz

Clevedon Charity Match Report for 7th October

As stated previously I was unable to fish this event but Chairman Steve Bonwick and Scot Smallwood sent me so info for the press resports.

The event was held to support Cancer Research UK and was a complete sell out, 40 pegs spread over two lakes at the Plantation Fishery Kingston Seymour. The match was also sponsored by Ecolab, Cadbury Angling and Veals of Bristol. I believe there were 20 pegs on each lake and overall individuals paid out on each lake with runners up which is fair.

Big Carp man and Commercial Match angler Mark Barlett won off the main lake with just over 162lb of carp mainly on the pellet waggler with Brian Slipper second with 152lb caught on the pole shallow.
On the smaller lake (formally Horseshoe) seasoned all rounder Kev Perry won with 74lb, Kev caught long down the margins on meat and paste, second was Paul Nichols with 41lb.

Each year money is raised by asking people to guess the winning weight with 50% of the takings going to the person who guesses the nearest. P Hill guessed 162lb 5oz and won £235.

Overall the event raised £625.

Winners pictured below, Mark on the left Kev on the right.

Not sure if we have an inter club with Frys AC on the Avon this comming weekend if we have I'll be there.

Sunday 8th January 2012 - Clevedon Club match Plantation main lake, Kingston Seymour

I generally look forward to fishing the main lake at Plantations, in the past it has been pretty good to me. My best ever match weight here was 98lbs of carp in January 2009 on the straight lead and corn. What made it even more special was the lake was covered in thick ice on arrival and had to be broken with a rowing boat before we could start fishing. I only came second on the day, Craig Tucker won with 137lb of the next peg on straight lead and bread.
Today was a full house, 20 fishing even though there are 40 pegs. Mark Walsh turned up on spec but had to be turned away, so he headed off down the road to Bullocks Farm. Quite a few of the Sensas Thyers guys turned up (also Clevedon Club members) along with some other very capable anglers so drawing the right peg (whatever that looks like) is always important. So having paid the annual Club membership fee of £5 and £20 to enter the match including pools I was looking to get a few quid back today.
Match Secretary Barry Fowler was in charge of proceedings (Barry gets a lot of stick but he does a good job, plus I don't see anyone else volunteering to organise the events). Into the scrum around the draw bucket, manage to get my hand in and out comes peg 25, 26 was not in, neither was 24 and I had the choice of an island chuck. To be honest I was quite happy and didn't waste much time getting to the peg. I had Paul Faires to my left on 27 and Glenn Calvert to my right on 23, both very good anglers and usually hard to beat.

View from my peg

Glenn was always going to go for silvers given that he was in a bay with no island chuck, Paul's peg did have a lot of form for carp just of the point of the island and in front on the pole for skimmers and roach.

I set up a small method feeder for use with a hair rig, a waggler to fish banded pellet and one pole rig to fish for silvers at 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock at 13 meters. At the all in I feed a small amount of wetted micro and a few casters on the pole lines then out went the method with wetted mirco in the mould and  piece of corn on the hair rig. After 10 mins the liners started and again and again after each cast for the first 30 mins, I heard Paul on 27 was experiencing the same. Next cast the hair rig was left outside the mould which resulted in a half hearted but positive pull round and a 3lb plus common was in the net.

Ah ah cracked it, how wrong could I have been. After another fruitless hour the method rod goes behind me and I try the wag with 8mm banded, I had been firing out 8mm over to the island as I had noticed some fish blowing and even coming to the top. Casting was awkward because of the trees behind me and it wasn't long before I snapped off after catching a branch on the cast. Out comes the pole with double dead red and I bump a decent skimmer, back out and I foul hook a carp which comes off, things are starting to go wrong. The anglers I could see were not catching a lot so I refocused and after a few more put in's had one of the Planataions big perch about 2lb (they have been caught 4lb and over). I continued to catch the odd roach and small skimmer but by now I could see Glen on 23 doing quite well on silvers, Paul on 27 was also sticking to the pole and getting a small roach each cast.

It was quite hard and catching 1oz or 2oz roach was not the action I was looking for so I tried the method and wag on the odd ocassion but not a sausage.

The highlight of the day was watching John Woolsencroft (prob wrong spelling of his surname) try to land a duck after hitting it on the back with his method feeder, I managed to get the camera out in time although he was a bit far away to zoom in properly, judging by his sign language to me he does not appear to be happy (lol)

Anway the weather was kind and it was great to fish the first match of the year, I didn't trouble the scales too much with 7lb 14oz, either side Paul and Glen weighed in around 12lb of silvers, had I stuck to the pole would prob have not been that far away from them.

The other side of the lake fished much better with Richard Healey wining the match.

1st Richard Healey 57lb 5oz peg 4 or 5

2nd Dave Baker 33lb 4oz peg 30

3rd Mike Owens 31lb 12oz, not sure which peg

Silvers

1st Mark Bromsgrove

2nd Paul Faires

Next Club match is 22nd January, back on Plantations, need to sort myself out and stick to a plan.