Sunday 16th February - Clevedon Club Match, Main Lake Shiplate Farm

The press report at the end of this post and results gives you a good idea of the day. I was looking forward to this match especially as I had taken the tackle for a tour of North Somerset the week before and not taken it out og the car due to the conditions (even though I looked at 4 different venues!). I was not a well man either and coughed my guts up all day (which must have scared the fish). I drew peg 5 which has a large amount of open water and set to work with the popped up bread at the start. The last 3 matches when I have used this I have had a carp first cast, today was no different and within 10 - 15 minutes I had a 12lb - 13lb lump in the net. I had to wait until the last 15 mins for my 2nd one. In between I had a couple of skimmers and roach on the wag and caster. I did wait unitl the end to get the necessary pictures for the paper and then headed home to bed, been off sick ever since and today (Thursday just coming around).

Press resport as follows.....

Clevedon Freshwater Angling Club made their first visit of the year to Shiplate Farm Fishery which is situated between Loxton and Bleadon. The main lake was used for the match which allowed for plenty of space between competitors. A cold night with a ground frost and a clear blue sky were not what everyone wished for but after many weeks of rain it did make a welcome change for the anglers to stay dry. Favoured pegs before the draw were 1 and 15 as they border an area of the lake set aside for wildlife giving the anglers who draw these pegs plenty of options. Andy Hembrow when given a good draw does not make mistakes so when he drew Peg 1 the outcome was more or less a foregone conclusion. Andy attacked his swim fishing 14 and 16 meter pole lines with pellet to his far right hand margins for 63lb 6oz of quality carp more than doubling his nearest rival Lee Williams. Lee drew peg 30 but had to chop and change tactics during the match to keep the bites coming finally weighing 30lb 6oz which was made up of a good mixed bag of carp and silverfish. In third place and from the opposite end of the lake of peg 9 was Mark Bromgrove with 29lb 6oz. The top silverfish net of the day went to Rob Wotton with 18lb 8oz of quality skimmer bream from peg 4.

1st Andy Hembrow (2nd weigh)

1st Silvers Rob Wotton with some nice skimmers

Full results, I finished 7th so not bad.

That's it now for about 4 weeks, no fishing this weeked as I have a lot to catch up on before going back to work fully recovered (I hope), then it's off to Thailand for a 3 center holiday, can't wait. So next blog will prob be around week commencing 17th March (St. Patricks Day).