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Lee Williams - Woolavy - A Day's Fishing., Bridgwater (2026)

01/06/2026

Chard Reservoir yesterday for a match, 31 or 33 of us, can't remember 👍.
Weather looked kind of settled with generally light winds, some cloud at times and sun at times. That's how it was, with the sun rather warm 🌞.

Met up at Millfield Cafe for the draw, plenty of 'drawbags' in attendance. Had the usual chat before the draw in which me and Dan ended up with two of the last four balls. I drew 39, Dan had 37 both on the lawn/field pegs, Chilly was another at the back end, he drew in the low 30s I think.

I was on scales assist with Martin Preston (P38) & I had matey Paul Purchase on peg 40, Mike Hosgood on 41, Dom on 42 and Bryn Thomas (proper Welsh name) on the end peg 43.

A sensible length of time to set up as we were fishing 10:30-16:30.
I set about tackling up a couple 12ft Middy Quartix feeder rods, a Guru bait up rod and my new Daiwa System whip, which I set up to fish about 4m to hand with the elasticated top.
I had discussed with a couple lads on Friday that I may just fish the pole if I had drawn on the field/lawn pegs, I even mentioned to Dan it could be good. Alas I didn't 😬.

As I had 5 kg of groundbait with me I mixed up 3kg of Bait-Tech Envy & Bait-Tech Pro Natural Sweet Fishmeal 😍, leaving the rest in the bag in case it was needed later. I soaked a pint of Bait-Tech N-Hance Banoffee 2mm pellets for the method and to go in the groundbait.
My other bait was maggots, h**p and worms. A few Bait-Tech Criticals also.

Well the match began, slowly. I balled half a dozen 'jaffas' in the whip line and chucked a handful of maggot and caster over the top before 15 bait up feeders of 'mix' went in at 40m, thought I had come back in from 50m as I felt it was too far 🤷.

The next hour to 90 mins was sat waiting, no bites on the feeders and in that time Mike and Paul had one or two skimmers each 🥱.
A look on the whip gave me 3 perch of 3oz each and I bumped something I thought may have been a skimmer. But I couldn't get any more bites.

Along the bank, in the other field there was plenty of banter kicking off with nobody safe 😂, even Martin, who was taking the slowness of the day in his stride. Dan to was struggling on Mart's left.

Over the next few hours things did pick up, Martin has the very occasional bream and lost a carp🎣. Bryn was getting a few stamp skimmers/hybrids on the whip while me & Paul started to get a few skimmers on the whip and occasionally on the feeder. I had reclipped back to 30m and boshed a dozen bait up feeders on this new spot. I even mixed up my last 2kg of groundbait, so 5kg mixed on the day, and used 😁. I seemed to be getting more skimmers on the whip, Paul more so on the feeder.

The last hour did slow a bit for us all, but Martin did have two of his 4 big bream (1 on the whistle). I had a 3lb bream late on. I thought it was close between me, Paul, Martin and Bryn on the end. Paul was adamant I was 4lb ahead of him 🤷.
I had 4 roach, 4 perch all of which were 3oz or less and perhaps 18-20 skimmer from 6oz to 1.25lb and the bream. So 20lb-ish.

Martin was rapid in packing up, two rods only. So he cracked on with weighing in 👏.
Bryn had near 6kg, Dom dnw, Mike a smidge under 5kg, Paul had a few grams under 8kg, I had 12kg+ and Mr Preston weighed his 4 bream for almost 8.5kg.
So a section win for me. Elsewhere Paul Greenwood over on peg 30 had done well as had Andrew Winter (Chilly) in the next field.

So back to the car park for the results and it had fished okay, but a complete lack of roach.
There had been a couple 20kg+ weights and a few circa 17/18kg.

Paul Greenwood won with 27kg 🥇.
Chilly had around 23kg.
Chris Parr was third with 18kg from the Dam wall.

I will post the results as/when/if they come through.

Overall it was a slower day than expected, and I think I should have set up the pole to fish rather than the whip as the skimmers never really settled and it was likely too shallow where I was (5ft). But it is a venue I am not completely familiar with regarding tactics, pegs and contours etc. But it is an enjoyable place to be.

Well done all the framers 👍🎣.

Next up is the CRT Pairs match on the Bridgwater/Taunton Canal on Sunday, but it's not guaranteed to be happening as there are 3 or 4 pairs shy of the numbers required.

Until next time, have fun 👍🙂

25/05/2026

Not much to say this week.
Saturday myself and Dan Minchington went Karting at Avonmouth, had a great time except I got s**t on by a seagull. It was a 50 lap max race. I managed 46 laps and Dan a couple less. Up against pros and drivers at least 3 stone lighter, it was really about us two as straight line speed for us was pants.
We'll definitely be going again 🛞🛞🛞💨.

Anyway after that we fished over Dunwear, only managed about 90 mins or a shade more as we were informed the lakes were closing at 3pm for spawning. I still managed a bite a chuck including a nice skimmer of a couple pounds, Dan had an eel 😍 along with roach and rudd. We both fished a waggler for a change.

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Yesterday Gabriel Skarba and I ventured to Summerhayes for the open. I'd already decided to fish for carp and Gabe silvers. The day before was apparently very poor with many struggling for bites especially round the far side. A bite would be the initial aim.
We chatted to a few guys we'd not seen for ages, like Jamie Rich and Jess Jordan, the last time I was there for an open must be 5yrs 🤔.
It was expected to be rather warm with temps over 30°c, and it was. Lovely 😍.

Into the draw and I was near the end of the 19 of us. I pulled out peg 15, a peg which is 17m+ across but used to be okay but not favoured for carp. Gabe was on peg 30, which can be okay if not slightly short of where he wanted.
No changing my mind though as I only had a few maggots to go with my 8mm meat and 4mm Bait-Tech N-Hance Banoffee Pellets, I also had some 2mm in the same plus a pot of 6mm & 8mm assortments for in the band. Some Bait-Tech Envy groundbait for the edges was mixed up.

Rigs were simple and had to be changed before the start as I forgot how shallow it is, so a 0.1g DT Floats Pinger for shallow at 16m, a DT Carbon Slim in 0.2g for on the deck in the same area. A 0.4g DT Margin Diamond for a few spots down the edges and by the next platform. Lastly another 0.2g DT Carbon Slim for meat at 7m 👌. Oh and a method feeder which had 3 minutes when I had a drink.

Well it took an hour for my first fish, a 6oz tench from my right edge. I also lost a couple foul hooked carp on the 16m line. Meanwhile I saw Daniel Squire on peg 1 catch a few as did my neighbour on peg 14 (Dan Target) who was fishing for silvers but getting carp on and off.

As the match progressed I started to get a few fish by swapping shallow and on the deck in and around my feed. Not hectic by any means and a 90 minute bite less period mid match didn't help 🥱, but nobody was 'sacking'.
I could see Gabe getting an odd skimmer here and there.

A solitary carp from next to the platform of peg 16 was a surprise as I could see fish under there every now and then when the ducks 🦆 🦆 moved off.
A couple better stamp carp from either edge (5-6lbers) were welcome with half hour left and I finished with two from my meat line and I mugged a little 2lber on my meat rig 😁.

My clicker showed 64lb, 14 or 15 carp I think it was I ended up on. Plus the tench.

I packed up and waited for the scales. We all expected Dan S to win. Well once they all arrived at me it was indeed Dan S winning with just over 70lb. Mr Target said he thought I had 100lb, but if I did I'd be knocked back to 80, but told him I had 64lb on my clicker, but there's a big difference between 3lb and 4lb guesstimates 😬.
Anyway my tench was 6oz and my carps rounded my total to a level 60lb. This was second on the day 👍🥈.
Gabe managed 18lb 4oz to win the silvers and qualify for the venue's silvers final in November 👏.

Results:
1st, Dan Squire (Nytro) 71-03.
2nd, Lee Williams (DT Floats/Bait-Tech) 60-00.
3rd, Dan Target (Summerhayes) 27-08.

1st Silvers, Gabe Skarba (Milo/Ringers) 18-03.
2nd Silvers, Alex Kerr (Summerhayes) 13-03.
3rd Silvers, Jamie Rich (Colmic/Bait-Tech) 10-11.

A nice change of scenery, I'll probably go back in a few weeks, maybe have a go on their Saturday silvers opens over the rest of the year plans/work permitting.

I was going out today, but didn't bother. So next up is Chard Reservoir on Sunday, it'll be cooler by then 👍.

17/05/2026

Today's write up will (hopefully) be short.

Last round of the Canal Teams of 4.
I was at Lower Maunsell 😬
Gabe was Charlton upstream 🤔
Dan was Charlton downstream 😐
Nick was in the Wides at Huntworth 👍
No end pegs or gaps again, we ended up with 4 gaps across the whole league of which one may have been an end peg 😞😐. Sometimes they help, sometimes they don't 👍.

Well one whip, a couple 's**t fish' rigs and a couple worm lines.

Well the match started ok, well kinda okay, with a few chunky-ish roach. Then it died a death.

4 pike between 1lb and 4lb from my worm lines and a baby of 3oz on single maggot.
I also had 3 perch of 1-2oz each on worms.

Some rain and an annoying upstream wind at time holding my rig up, plus a lack of activity meant it was a long day.
The last 3 hours were dire for myself, Lee Holliday and Ian Burton, catching less than a handful of fish between us 😞.

I ended up with the non counting pike and my little net of silvers weighed 525g which beat 2 or 3.
The section was won with just over 2kg by Happy I believe. Also there was only 1 tench was caught in the section.

Elsewhere Nick was 2nd in section but Gabe struggled to 8 points and Dan got 6.
We finished the day well down and dropped out of the overall top 5 by half a point.

Top weight was 16kg+ to Steve Bishop and 9kg+ was Adam Rich came 2nd on the day.

Well done to Colmic who won the league with Sensas Devizes in second, well-deserved 👍🎣 full results in pictures.

No idea when I am next out, it should be the 31st for a match at Chard Reservoir.

13/05/2026

Brief write up on Sunday's Canal Teams of 4 match.

I was at Creech downstream, middle of the section. I had three Marks to my left Mark Vigar, Mark Watts and Mark Affleck on the end peg, Mike Withy on my right.

Well I set up an array of tackle in the form of two whips and 4 topkits, I had bread, pinkie, maggots, caster, worm and some groundbait on the bait front.

Not a great start as blossom was covering my peg and also Mike's. Getting a whip rig in was not good, catching little white leaves was the issue.
I had a worm line across, a bread/slop/pinkie line down the middle and another line for bigger fish 13m downstream.

Well the day was slow, none of us seemed to be catching much, though Mark Affleck was doing the best.
I had about 13 fish all day and bumped a couple off.
Luckily I managed a big "1lb" perch on double worm across after 3hrs to go with the other bits I had (biggest 2oz).

Come the weigh-in we found out that Monkey on the downstream end peg had 5 tench and a perch, losing another tench. So he'd win the section, possibly the match.
My fish weighed 1.450kg and gave me 3rd in the section as Mark Affleck has 150g more, so 1.6kg of small fish.

The last two hours was absolutely dog sh... for everyone in the section, even though the blossom had drifted down to Dan Baldwin's peg and left me kind of clear for an hour.
Two of the other sections fished alright, a few tench and bream caught and quite a lot of small fish at Fordgate.

Team wise we had a poor day with 27 points, dropping us down to 4th in the league with one round to go, the top two teams are sorted, maybe 3rd as well. We could get 4th, could come 8th 🤷. Enterprise won the day with 8 points 🎣👏.

Dan had 2.450kg for 8pts, suffering the same fate as my last match there.
Gabe had 825g for 9 points, he lost a tench that cost him a couple extra spots, be we all lose fish.
Nick got 7 points with his 1.725kg, he was the wrong end of the section.
We've not had a great set of draws all series really.

The match was jointly won by Will Bates and Addie McTiffin with 8.800kg, Monkey was third. Well done all 👍🎣.
I added the section second money to our kitty by default.

Next week is the last round, we can't wait to have some time away from the venue for a while at least for me and Dan as we've got the CRT canal pairs qualifier next month.

04/05/2026

Yesterday was a Taunton AA club match at the picturesque Wych Lodge Lake. Somewhere I have only been once previous, and it was rather wet, cold and muddy then.

Only ten booked on, I think 12 is the max anyway.
A chat with the other guys fishing, great bunch of chaps 👍.
Pools paid and to the draw. Peg 6. Meant nothing, turns out it was the bench peg, rather inconsistent and with this in mind pegs 5 & 7 were left out. Peg 6 also had the least fishy looking margin of the whole lake. Pegs 1 and 12 are the flyers.

Short walk to my spacious draw.
The weather was due to be rainy later on in the day 🌦️, but thankfully it never arrived, and the winds were varied but light

Bait for the day was 6mm meat 😬, a few dead maggots both for the right hand edge. Some 4 & 6mm pellets for the pole at 13m in front and a pint of micro and various Bait Tech Wafters for the method feeder. Lastly a kilo of Bait-Tech Special G Meaty Margin Mix was mixed heavy for the edge.

Floats were a 0.3g DT Margin Diamond 👌 for the edge and a 0.4g DT Carbon Slim for pellets in front.

I started long with toss potted 4s and a 6mm pellet as hookbait. 15 minutes in I had my first carp, 8-12oz kind of size.
This carried on for a while, occasionally I'd put a bit of groundbait down the edge, but I just kept putting small carp in the net, actually I pretty much stayed on this for three hours, a couple losses and a chuck on the feeder over the pole line in front gave me the odd fish while I was having a drink or faffing with something or another 🙂.
The fish were between 8oz and at most 1.5lb for this spell, but I had around 30 👍🎣.

The second half of the match was mostly spent down the margin as in front had faded away, too slow as I could see Will Bate on p12 catching well and apparently pegs 2 and 3 were doing alright 🤷.
So other than the odd look in front or chucking the method over that line, I was fishing mostly meat on the hook and a little nugget of groundbait each drop. Bites were regular and the fish getting bigger with the odd 4-6lb carp and even one pushing double figures came to the method.
I did lose a few to hook pulls being right handed and fishing to my right with a bench behind me, plus a tree in the water.

Come the end of the match I had two nets, one for each 3hr part of the day. I had zero idea what I had caught, could be 60lb, could be 140lb. I hadn't clicked as I expected 30-50lb to be good. I'd also chucked back two little skimmers and a 1lb perch, all fell to maggots down the edge 😬.

Van loaded, waited for the scales.
By the time they got to me it was Will Bate winning with 76lb, Ian Burton winning the silvers with 4lb 12oz, 7oz ahead of Dan Baldwin.
My 3 weighs added up to 115lb 9oz. A nice day, probably 60+ carp 🤔.
This was enough to win as Trevor Stark had 62lb, Stan & Monkey 45lb+ each.

So a lovely day, great looking place and plenty of bites. The company was not too shabby either 😀.

Next up is the penultimate round of the Canal Teams of 4, it wasn't my week to fish, but I've been asked to by El Capitano, Dan Minchington 🎣. How it'll go is anyone's guess.

So until next time, have fun 😀.

28/04/2026

Sunday was the 4th round of the canal teams of 4 series.

Our Milo/Ringers Team was Dan Minchington, Myself, Nick Collier and Tom Slaba. Gabe was 'bank runner'.

The sections were Charlton (2 sections), North Newton and Fordgate upstream.

Well I was drawn one in from the far end peg at Fordgate, didn't know what to expect as that end was tough in the previous round it was used, 1.5kg was mega then 🤔.

For company, not that I could see him or anyone else, was Olly Nichols on the end peg.
Lovely weather, shorts and t-shirt were the order of the day, especially with little wind ☀️🌤️. And towpath traffic wasn't as bad as expected.

A 4m whip and 4 topkits assembled. The whip used a discontinued Drennan mini waggler (I snapped it packing up 😐), a DT Pinger for bigger fish across on worm/caster, A DT F1 Wire for down the track downstream at 10m, a DT Carbon Slim for top +2 over the whip line and a mega diddy float for baby rudd & maybe a bleak or two all over the peg.

Bait was a bit of groundbait mixed sloppy, some liccy bread, maggots, caster, pinkies and worms.

The match started ok with a fish a chuck for half an hour, a few of which were 2oz pommies, all caught on the whip with pinkie over bread mostly. Gradually they got smaller.
Olly was getting slightly bigger stamped fish and on his first look for tench/perch he nailed a decent tinca of maybe 4lb.

The rest of the day was spent mostly fishing for bites with an odd look for tench. These ventures across and downstream only gave me 4 perch of 2oz each.
But other than that it was mostly tiny rudd with the odd pommie, roach and better rudd.
I did hook a couple pike which were present, which obviously didn't help matters 🙄.

Come the all out the chap on my right (Mark Hollister) had 3 tench and a nice perch. Olly had 150 small silvers, but they were a relatively decent stamp to go with his tench. I estimated they both had around 15lb each. As for the rest of the section, which had some very good anglers on the venue, I didn't have a clue what they'd done 🙃.
Me, I thought I had over 4lb but not much more (2kg), could be good, could be crap 🤷.

Well it turned out that the section had been very good for stamp silvers (1-6oz) and there were four weights of 6kg+, a 5kg, a 4kg and 3kg. Only 3 people had tench (Olly, Mark and Monkey had one).
My 2kg+ only beat one in the section, thanks Adam 😬. And normal Colmic class shone through with Dan Baldwin getting an early birthday present of a section win ahead of Olly, they also were 2nd and 3rd in the match 👏.

Elsewhere it was Russell Hilton who took the top honours with a tench dominated 10kg+, well done matey 👍🎣🎣.
Our team had my 9pts, Tom had 10pts, Nick did well with 4pts and Dan was his consistent 5pts. 28 points and only beat two teams on the day, of which one was an angler short 😬😑.
Colmic won the day for the 4th successive round with 3 section wins and a 3rd. Mega consistent, very well done.

Full results and standings in the added pics.

An enquiry into what went wrong is underway 😬😅.
We still, just, remain 4th in the standings.
I'm not matrixed in for the next round, neither is Dan. So Gabe, Nick, Tom and Simon make the line-up as things stand.

This Sunday is a TAA match up at Wych Lodge, only my second visit ever so not expecting much other than an enjoyable day 🤞🤞🎣.

23/04/2026

Thursday match here at White Acres, Twin Oaks and Acorn were the waters today.

Third match in a row I was as far as possible from the bulk of the wind. I''d been drawn peg 17 on Twin Oaks bottom lake, not unhappy, would have been happier on 13 or 15 but definitely glad I wasn't on the back lake.

Got to my peg, not a sign of a fish, well just odd roach 🙄. 15 and back had a few near the surface and odd 'un boshing.
A waggler was set up, never expected to use it due to the wind, I didn't. A method for across. The same DT Margin Diamond rig for my edges and two DT Carbon Slims for banded pellets at 4m and around 12.5m which again was probably too far for the wind, but hey it wasn't unmanageable 🌬️🌬️.

Bait-Tech Special G Green was mixed up and some Bait-Tech N-Hance Banoffee 2mm pellets soaked for the feeder. Otherwise it was maggots, corn and worm for the edges and some 6+8mm pellets for the rigs in front.

Started short for one 2lb carp after 30 minutes 🎣. That was it for the next 90 minutes. Meanwhile peg 15 looked like he had every blondie in the lake in front of him, but they were just sunbathing just off the far bank. Peg 13 was getting a few fish on the lead and feeder, he fished that before the whole match.
Into the 3rd and 4th hours and I was getting the odd fish coming into the peg, both in the edges and out front. With that I began to put odd fish in the nets, two little carp on the feeder (2lb each). A couple lumpy blondies from the margins and a nice little spell of mostly stockies on the long pellet line. The short pellet line never gave me a fish other than the 1st of the day.
Two better fish around the 6lb mark came to my long line and I was seeing fish regularly in my right edge, good sign, but not so good as they're a bu**er to catch. I spent the last hour trying to catch them, managed only a couple 3lbers.

As the match ended, a quiet last hour wasn't what I hoped for and my two nets had 54lb between them clicked (40 & 14lb respectively). Peg 15 had packed up and left while 13 had a couple late lumps. On the back lake it seemed Graham Stokes on peg 20 had done best with circa 80lb.

Packed up quickish again (I like Mrs W. helping out 😘) and waited for the scales.
By the time they arrived Acorn had an 83lb and peg 13 on my lake 65lb. My fish duly weighed 55lb 15oz.
Graham had best weight off the back lake with 81lb.
So I was 4th on the day and a few beer tokens to collect in the morning, probs not enough to cover the alcohol bill for the week 🍺😁😬.

A few hours on Pollawyn tomorrow perhaps, before home Saturday and back on the B&T Canal on Sunday.

22/04/2026

Quick one today.
A little match arranged on Trelawny today, Nick Collier got me booked on at about 6pm last night, was unsure if I really wanted to fish as the wind was expected to be rather brisk with gusts to 60mph+ 🌬️🌬️.

Well I drew peg 32 and really didn't fancy it, off the back of the worst of the wind, but still hampered by it as it was all over the place.
Initially I only set up the pole. A DT Margin for the left edge along with 3 DT Carbon Slims. One for pellets at 6m and the other two are different depths towards the island using maggots (seemed sensible, wasn't given the wind).
I had some Bait-Tech Special G Gold for the edge, corn, maggots and worms for the hook and lastly 4mm Bait-Tech N-Hance Banoffee pellets for the relevant spot. Oh, some 2mm Bait-Tech N-Hance Banoffee pellets soaked for if I got off my box to set up a method.

The day started slow, yet my neighbour on p30 was catching on paste from the off (so were others).
I eventually started to get a few fish on maggots, but then the wind swung round just enough to make that line almost redundant. So 2.5hrs in I assembled the rod. That wasn't great either, 3 small carp on that.

A look down the left edge gave me a few little F1s, silvers, carp and carrassio but I was losing plenty, a rig change, hook change, laccy change etc, nowt helped 🤷😁.

I packed up at 3:20pm bored and unenthusiastic, plus thinking the match ended at 3:30pm, it wasn't, it was 4pm.
Not that it made much difference. I tipped back around 30lb or so, it looked like I was a way behind a few & wasn't enjoying it.

By all accounts the 20s had done well and so had Dave Cockayne on peg 16. But I never stayed for the results.

Twin Oaks and Acorn tomorrow 🙄.
Might be a dull day on the lead and feeder, perhaps an edge rig if the conditions allow.

20/04/2026

White Acres Match today, hoped to be in the teens on Twin Oaks as I had a nice few hours ok there yesterday. Or Acorn, I don't get to fish it that much.
Anyway peg 21 on the back lake of Twin Oaks, end peg with the wind hacking down towards the other end. I knew it was likely to be a famine. I don't get on with this lake.

I set up an array of short kits for shallow from DT Pingers and Jiggers, a deep pellet rig in the form of a DT Carbon Slim (I forgot how deep this area is), a DT Margin Diamond and another DT Carbon Slim for top 6 and maggots.

Bait was 4mm Bait-Tech Banoffee N-Hance Pellets, some of the same in 2mm for the method and some of the same range Banoffee N-Hance groundbait for the edges, short and the method. Maggot, corn, worms finished off the tray.

Well it was as expected, 90 mins for my first bite, one of two 3oz skimmers.
A little spell on the deck at 13m (really as far I could go, probs too far). Then one on the feeder while I put a new rig on with a longer lash.
A couple more little carp on a sliding float jobby before it went dead.

I slowly started my pack up with an hour to go.
Guessed I had 20-22lb, weighed 33lb for nowhere.
The match was won with 104lb from peg 3 on Acorn, 100lb from 15 Twin Oaks was second.
Graham Stokes won our section with 93lb from the other end peg, p33.

Weather looks rather windy over the next three days 🙄😐.
Will have a couple goes on a sheltered peg if I can find any.

01/12/2025

Happy December All🙃

Well it looks likes most lakes have started to fill. This means we have to tie new rigs and can't use the ones from the summer when levels were down. I make this point as many of us find the making of rigs a chore, I actually enjoy it but hooks less so.
Actually this has been the case over the last couple of weeks that when I have been out on the bank I have had to add extra line to rigs or I have re-tied some on the bank. Maybe I should have stored them ready for next summer? 🧐

Anyway I've only got out a couple of times as me and Mrs W went to the pub a couple of times instead 🍺🥃. The first fishing outing was a week back when myself, Si Maunder, Gabe Skarba and Dan Minchington had a leisurely few hours on the Campbell bank of Cary at Viaduct, a wag/feeder only session for us. We all caught a few skimmers and some roach, but it was tough at times (like everywhere else in the country) I had 26 skimmers, most on the feeder but the larger ones on the waggler with meat. We did have a good breakfast at Glastonbury Brewer's Fayre before we arrived 🍳🥓.
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I did have a pleasure session of a few hours at The Sedges on Brick Lake last Wednesday. With my line-added-rigs 😄 targeting silvers it was hard going, it took a couple hours to get a bite and I ended up with a few roach and a handful of skimmers to 2lb along with a couple of customary carp. During the session I added some line to a light carp rig and tried to catch some of them for more regular action, but this proved tough only managing 3 more carp and a tench. But it was a dry day and I had a nice chat with Graham Cox who'd fished further along from me.
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This last Saturday I covered for Simon Maunder on Pedro's Silvers League, this round was at Viaduct. The weather was meant to be dry mostly, it wasn't as dry as predicted and the wind was tricky.
After paying my dues the draw was done and I was on peg 118, not a peg I have fished more than once before, and that was years ago. Adam Palmer had it the day before on the venue's 3-Day Silvers Festival, he'd had 20-odd pound. The better pegs, and consistent pegs were 115 and 126/127 opposite.

I got to my peg and had Ian Grabham on peg 119, which I thought may be good. So we'd have a nice chat during the day, he's like me in that he tends to feed positive, so we'd have something to go by if it working.
I set up a lead rod for corn as a rest area when I wanted a cuppa.
2x 0.3g DT Pencils, one for my edges and one for corn/double caster off to my right at 14m.
My 2 F1 Wires in 0.4g I used at The Sedges had the line extension removed and would be fished at 6m & 14m in front.
Bait was maggot, caster, corn and a few pinkies. Bait-Tech Crushed Expander and Bait-Tech Special G F1 Dark had been mixed the night before in a 30/70 ratio, but only 3pts dry so I didn't go overboard.

Well it was hard going for most, I'd cupped 3 cups of groundbait and 1/2 cup of the live bait over the top at 14m in front, 1 cup of live bait with a nugget of groundbait down my right edge, 1/2 cup of caster with some corn at 14m off to my right which went biteless all day.
I started down my left edge for 2 twigs.
In fact it was a good 90 minutes or more before I had my first fish, a little roach from my 6m line, so I fed another spot to my left at 90 degrees under the bits of tree.
It was about then that Ian had a run of skimmers, 6 in 7 drops I think, but that was only after he'd had to put a new rig on as a roach pinched his original one 2nd drop of the match. He was also hooking the odd carp, odd carp means a few skimmers kicking around is my belief.

Me, well I was getting the odd roach and little perch but I was struggling so I chucked the lead/corn out and hooked a fish, but it was foul hooked and fell off. No more signs. Back on the pole for a solitary 6oz skimmer from my positive line in front. At this point Pedro over on 123 was doing well and even tempted a 3lb tench from his edge. Stu White on 124 was getting odd skimmers, while John Fuidge on 127 was on his way to 2 match wins at the venue in two day.
I decided to put 3 grains of corn on the lead rig to get some non-counting carp, just to occupy me. Alas I chucked it out, poured some tea and it was carp on. Safely landed and returned I drank my tea and went back on the pole.

With about 80 minutes to go I probably had 2-3lb in my net, Ian had 12lb or so and had a nice perch from his right margin. But he'd struggled the last 2 hours and was starting to chuck the waggler out and was getting the odd roach, he had to faff around as his wag had a crack in so was taking water on, he thought it was his shotting. He fixed this by changing his float.

The wind had dropped slightly and perhaps my 16m section should have been got out to go past my positive line.
I dropped in short and hooked a 3lb jumping skimmer, a loner it seemed. But a few more fish were seemingly getting caught, carp included, especially to Pedro on his short line.

My left edge gave me a chunky perch and a couple little roach, so I dropped in my right edge and promptly hooked a carp (I presume, I am telling myself that it was a carp) that was foul hooked and came off, so I re-fed and went long where another jumping 3lb skimmer was found, then a smaller 2lber from the same spot was netted 🙂. Ten minutes later another jumping skimmer from my short line was in the net then another skimmer from my right edge finished the match. So 5 stamp skimmers and 3lb of bits was what I ended on. I knew it would be close between Ian, myself and Stu White for 2nd in section behind Pedro, but I had Ian down as more than me, as did Ian.

I packed up, not much tackle, so didn't take as long as it could. Matt was doing the weigh-in and was round to Ian in no time, so we figured it had been hard, it had. John Fuidge had 30lb which was top on the day, but Stu had 15-03 and Pedro had 16-02. Ian equalled Stu's weight then my net weighed 15-09 only just giving me the second in section money. A mega tight section.

The match was won🥇 by John Fuidge, 30-09 from p127, Darren Duffield had 20-11 from peg 116 was 2nd 🥈and Martin Yardley's 19lb 12oz from 115 was 3rd 🥉.
Russ Peck won the GTW money (guess the weight).
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This week I may go to Viaduct for the open on Thursday if I am in the mood, Sunday is our club's Christmas Match at The Sedges on the canal lake, that is going to be tough for some, so I'll have to tie some rigs for me and Mrs W in prep for that.

Until next time, have fun 😘

Lee Williams - Woolavy - A Day's Fishing.

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