Right, I'm going to type this weeks Wednesday report very quickly to lessen the disappointment !
After months of walking past the Small Lake at Sumners pond, with it's lovely looking edge pegs with bushes and trees in the water, we had a free week and booked a little 12 peg match on it (as that's all the pegs there are) !
Having never fished the lake before I didn't really know what to expect but with tales of carp, big chub and loads of roach present, I made the decision to target the carp and having drawn in the middle of the lake on the front bank decided to fish 4 different lines, one in the edge each side with Paste, one straight out in front of me at 11 metres with Paste and another at 2 o'clock at 8 metres with........................Paste ! So, if it worked I could well be weighing in for hours but if it didn't I'd be doing a bit of walking. To my left I had Dorking old boy Terry Harrison (actual age late fifties, mental age about 12) so at least I'd have an interesting day.
After a heavy frost the night before, the match started slowly for everyone but it soon became clear that there were a lot of carp in the corners with Dave Johnson in the top right corner catching well, as was Marcus in the top left and Donald in the bottom left. After an hour I had my first fish on the longer line, a carp of about 3lb. However the next hour was fishless as those fishing for roach were catching a few, along with the odd chub but by halfway you could tell that the first three were going to be the three I mentioned earlier.
Being the closest peg to the cabin, the call of the Pasty was finally too much to ignore and with Pasty in hand I went for a quick wander around the Silver Lake to have a chat with my old Leatherhead team mate Chris James who taught me a lot about match fishing many many moons ago, infact I still have some of the floats he made me for fishing the River Mole over 30 years ago ! I also used the opportunity of a walk to check on my bush pegs for next weeks final round of Steve Gardener's Silvers League - they all looked fine to me and all I have to do now is draw one !
Back at my peg (which I'd rested for 45 minutes), I had a chub of about 2lb and then when I was sitting there, not really paying attention I nearly had the pole pulled out of my hands and I soon netted a skimmer of about 2lb that was firmly hooked in the left hand. Despite trying the other lines, I never had a bite on any of them and my final fish, another small carp came with about 15 minutes of the match remaining.
In hindsight if I'd taken a few pints of casters with me and fished for roach all day I could have had a nice days fishing but wouldn't have won anything, I would however have caught more than my 8-11-0 !
Result
Dave Johnson 84-11-0
Marcus Page 57-7-0
Donald Garnish 56-3-0
Brian Wharton 27-2-0
Don was actually my "Man of the Match" as he was tucked in the corner with Steve Gardener and Terry Harrison very close to him either side and the only place he could really fish was by a tree in the water to his left. The only place he could get a bite was against the bank almost inside the tree and although I did spend a fair bit of time taking the micky as he lost a few fish, he did do incredibly well to get as many fish out as he did - Well Done mate.
Sunday sees us back at Willinghurst for the final round of the Willinghurst Masters and it would be nice to end the series with at least one decent result, so fingers crossed for a decent draw.
Have a good weekend and I'll see you next Monday !
JPZ's from Marukyu - "The Dogs Danglies"
Jordan Whitby with a PB Carp of 18lb from Newdigate
Maggotdrowning.com
Exclusive Pictures
Fred Davis with his personal best chub of 7-2-0 from the River Lea
and his 6-8-0 tench !
Neil Humpage with part of his 89-10-0 match winning chub catch from the River Wye
Mike Spragg with his personal best Barbel from the The Wye, a whopping 10-1-0.
Davey P's Locker - Tackle I would recommend
Drennan Lake Floats - I used to use these floats for crucians and have recently started using them again for my silvers fishing, The cane bristle makes them especially sensitive.
I use this hook for nearly all my carp fishing from Size 10's with paste, 14's with the knotless knot on the lead and 18's for Hook in the loop rigs and they have never let me down.
How smart are this lot - Andy May and his wife with some of the motley Total fishing.com crew. There is a small pond just out of the picture and they fished a small sweepstake between the wedding ceremony and the reception ! Andy May won, Haisman was last - no change there then !
Myles Levy and his mate Chris with a 59lb catfish from France.
When I was writing in the Angling Times I promised some friends that I would try and get "Fish Cakes" mentioned in an article. However, as I was sacked before I could do so, I thought I'd put them on here ! So Mick and Karen Jones, here they are as promised !
At least one member of the Baxter clan can catch fish ! Young Dylan with a 4lb bream.
Hathers at Stafford Moor - Let this picture be a lesson to you all, those last couple of drinks the night before are never a good idea !
World Exclusive !!!!!!!
Andy Toplis playing a fish.
Ryan Hughes with part of an 80lb bag from White Springs Fishery in Wales
Mick Bull wont have received many points for this dive - but having just won the Fisho Final and £25k I don't think he really cared !
Another exclusive for Pikey's Progress - Terry Molloy not talking ! Oh yes and with a decent River Thames Pike.
OK Own up - who lent Mick The Bookie some fish to pose with ?
Martin Harper with a superb 8lb tench from Farlows Lake
Young match star Tony Curd with an 11lb barbel from the River Kennet - he didn't say where, these spessy hunters are so secretive !
Total Fishing's Justin Laundon with a fine net of fish from Lindholme Lakes
Fred Davis with 3 chub over 5lb and a small one from the River Lea.
http://www.carpvader.com/index.asp
Jeff Moors took part in the recent Catfish Challenge and caught this one - more of a "kitten" than a cat really !
And here are some proper ones that the winners had.
BNF - with part of a near 100lb haul from the Glebe
Scone - Angling writer, float maker and all round good egg !
"Hathers" with his 3-8-0 roach from Timsbury Manor - some claim it was really a hybrid, I couldn't possibly comment !
"Fordy on the Telly" with 40lb of prime River Kennet chub.
.........and this one weighed 5-2-0
Alan Dove with a small Skimmer Bream of 15-8-0 from Walthamstow Reservoir
Fred Davis plied Alan Dove with coffee all day then when he went to attend to a call of nature caught this one with his gear !
Colin Ormston (Billy no Fish) with the reason that some anglers still fish rivers !
Phil Stone (Pebs) with a fine net of roach and rudd from Witherington Farm
Total Fishing.com ventriloquist Gary Haisman with his two new dummies - Billy No Fish and Pebs.
