Lychgate Leg-Ends
Saturday Match Results
Saturday 27th August
Everyone wanted to draw the bowl today - it was solid - fish everywhere, like soup !!!
there was only ever going to be 1 peg to draw and that was 55, when feeder specialist Liam Yeomans drew it, we all knew he was never going to get a better chance of qualifying. first chuck to the water inlet, tip goes round, 5lb in the net. i truly though the writing was on the wall when i left - i even told him where the spare nets were as he "only" had 2 with him.
fast forward 5 hours
i meet Colin Chapman in the car park, he has broken his 4 and 5 sections trying to stop a fish, had to swim after his top kit and threw back 6 carp as Terry was admitting to 10 carp and he was confident the bowl had been emptied. Terry had fished paste down the middle on peg 38 for 11.5lb of silvers and carp on top to weigh 61lb 4oz. Dobber Dale then weighed 27lb 12oz complaining about fish everywhere but unable to get them to take a hook bait (they do not normally eat dog biscuits or marshmallows here). Then my dad put 36lb 14oz on the scales from peg 47. 4 lost fish a couple of foul hookers and fish feeding everywhere but not on hook bait !
Geddes weighed in just out of interest and ounced Dale by 2oz - he thought he only had 20lb ! Steve Zseli and Graham Statham did not bother to weigh as they had struggled for bites, so onto the bowl and expected mega weights. Jon Courtney's biggest fish was a perch @ 2.5lb, Bronc did not bother but said it was like fishing in a washing machine - there were that many fish in front of him ! Yoey had 17lb
what a weird day ??? a bit damp at times too
1st Terry Brindley, peg 38 - 61lb 4oz pole/paste
2nd John Bates, peg 47 - 36lb 14oz pole/corn
3rd Geddes Murray, peg 74 - 27lb 14oz pole/paste
roll on tomorrow !
Saturday 20th August
as i sit here, thinking about what to write, watching the olympic closing ceremony i cannot get the hope out of my mind that my sleep pattern will return to some sort of normality. at least until the para olympics start !
a weekend affected badly by the weather, especially on saturday. poles being pushed and pulled all over the place by rogue gusts of wind. heavy showers at times and then red hot sunshine at others. carbon being shattered and smashed, some by fish and some by Aidie Holland's backside - see it's not just Dom !
Lycho is filling up nicely with another 2 qualifiers this weekend. a convincing win on saturday from Steve Zseli and then from Colin Chapman on sunday, but from the same peg - 63.
1st Steve Zseli, peg 63 - 76lb 3oz pole/maggot
2nd Paul T Twigger, peg - 53lb 8oz pole/paste
3rd Mark Sidwells, peg 2 - 47lb 1oz pole/corn
the weather caused a few lost fish and a change of tactics too. Steve scaled down for bites and then proceeded to catch decent carp at @ 8 metres out. Mark's peg was badly affected by the wind and was forced to fish on just his top 2 - even in between his keep nets at times. now considering he lost 10 fish it's a case of what could have been - AGAIN !
Saturday 13th August
if my fishing carries on like it is i will be taking up birdwatching, photography and snooker ! What a load of rubbish, carp feeding in front of me for over 4 hours and i manage to get 2 out and lose 7 - what's going on ???
Steve Brindley did not have that problem and he had a convincing win to top his Lycho account to a full 5lb. fishing corn to either margin on the island of peg 45 he landed carp steadily through the match.
The Yomeister was convinced that he had finally qualified for Lycho and i maybe led him on slightly when i told him the best weight was 36lb - sorry Yoey !!!
you cannot be disappointed with a 2nd though especially with 22 on the lake - well done !
has Andy Findlay's bubble has finally burst ?
it was no surprise when he drew another end peg but the canal section did not really fish today. still, 6 wins from 8 is still not too shabby
1st Steve Brindley, peg 45 - 70lb 4oz pole/corn
2nd Liam Yeomans, peg 63 - 44lb method/corn
3rd John Davies, peg 42 - 36lb 10oz pole/maggot
4th Kevin Dales, peg 62 - 34lb 10oz pole/corn
5th Richard Wells, peg 38 - 33lb 4oz pole/corn
i was not the only one to lose fish, but it is becoming a significant feature of fishing at Lychgate - if you can keep the losses down you are in with a chance of a big weight and a decent frame !
Saturday 6th August
A busy Weekend at the office about 50 over the 2 days and a few fish to boot !
Saturday was a scorcher, flat calm, sunbathing weather and a few crispy bodies at the end of the match. the fish did not really want to play and those with a bit more depth of water and space seemed to do better. having said that there was at least 1 (Steve White) that tipped back enough fish to frame - oops !
classic schoolboy error !!!
Dan Eaton, fresh from his parkers festival managed to cast enough times into the water to land enough for a relatively comfortable win. he cast into the tree and reeds enough to throw his rod up the bank, but by this time he had already caught enough.
1st Dan Eaton, peg 55 - 48lb 12oz method/corn
2nd Kev Clark, peg 62 - 33lb 14oz pole/pellet
3rd Terry Brindley, peg 38 - 30lb 10oz pole/paste
4th Steve Cotton, peg 71 - 21lb 1oz pole/corn
5th Steve Brindley, peg 26 - 18lb 2oz pole/corn
Saturday 30th July
Oh how i would like to be a fly on the wall on the next Cheylesmore AC outing !!!
John 'Gibbo' Gibbs will have a certain satisfaction in "telling" my dad John Bates that he has qualified for Lycho 2017
John drew peg 56 and had to ask where it was as it had been that long since he drew in the bowl, he lost a few but managed to get @ 14 small carp out for a very close (8oz) win over Paul Gardener who was also drew in the bowl.
It was pretty close all the way down the order with lost fish proving costly for many
1st John Gibbs, peg 56 - 54lb 4oz pole/corn
2nd Paul Gardener, peg 63 - 53lb 12oz pole/corn
3rd Steve Cotton, peg 46 - 41lb 6oz pole/pellet
4th Steven Zseli, peg 62 - 31lb 8oz pole/corn
5th Jim Spradbury, peg 35 - 28lb 10oz pole/pellet
6th Jon Courtney, peg 77 - 28lb 8oz method/corn
7th Kev Carter, peg 13 - 27lb 14oz pole/paste
with another 5 weights over 20lb an odd fish here or there made a massive difference
Well done John.
Saturday 23rd July
A mixed weekend !
good fishing for some, hard for others.
the weather played a massive role - Saturday, still air, scorching hot and every carp on the lake sunbathing making catching conditions near impossible.
Saturday Bruce Robinson booked his place for Lycho 2017 taking the number of qualifiers to 15 out of 35 available spaces.
Steve Brindley did not start catching until the last 1/2 hour and if the match had of been 15 minutes longer the result would have likely have been very different !
1st Bruce Robinson, peg 35 - 47lb 2oz pole/pellet
2nd Steve Brindley, peg 7 - 39lb 10oz pole/pellet
3rd Uncle Mick Wilson, peg 55 - 31lb 4oz pole/pellet
4th Graham Statham, peg 65 - 27lb 10oz pole/pellet
Saturday 9th July
A busy couple of days but the fishing results this weekend have been overshadowed by the sad loss of Barry Bennett. Plenty retelling of tales and stories before the draw, Barry certainly touched an awful lot of lives locally.
R.I.P. Big Man.
1st Andy Findlay, peg 45 - 46b 1oz method/meat
2nd Jonny Harvey, peg 76 - 43lb method/pellet
3rd Daniel Eaton, peg 68 - 40lb pole/pellet
4th John Varley, peg 79 - 38lb 2oz method/meat
Saturday 2nd July
12 months ago the temperature hit 37 degrees - overcoat and waterproofs today !
the fishing was hard but they say that when the going gets tough, the tough get going - or something like that. as it was it was a close run thing with the carp not really willing to feed in numbers and generally only small silvers happy to have a munch - Jamie Horler had over 70 roach !
Terry Brindley sat it out for the carp and managed to get 5 out from peg 41- pole and pellet into open water the method and qualification for Lycho to boot. Colin Chapman perhaps should have won having lost too many fish - again and Kev Dales seems to be making the frame on a regular basis these days - especially when his dad is not here !!!
1st Terry Brindley, peg 41 - 25lb 2oz pole/pellet
2nd Colin Chapman, peg 71 - 22lb 10oz bomb/pellet
3rd Kev Dales, peg 26 - 20lb 14oz pole/pellet
interestingly fish seemed to start to feed better as the match wore on - Terry Sanderson had 3 carp in the last 10 minutes. he started to ping pellets and fish the bomb. as he did not have to collect his wife until 6pm he decided to stay on - i left at 5.10 and he had had 18 carp in 2 hours - solid !!
just imagine if you had done it an hour earlier, Terry !
probably will not work at all today but the later start hopefully will work in our favour - fingers crossed
Saturday 25th June
Another 20+ turnout today saw another really close competition. i am not sure whether the best plan of attack is beef up the tackle, reduce the number of bites and take care with trying to convert every hooked carp into a netted fish or scale down, fish for anything that swims and pray you get the carp in.
i am not convinced there is a happy medium at the minute
one thing for certain is the carp are starting to move all over the lake and you will NOT win with silvers alone. methods or baits do not seem to matter much either. the fish are there and at some point they will take your bait - it is then up to you to try and get them out - good luck !!!
1st Steve Brindley, peg 56 - 46lb 8oz pole/pellet shallow
2nd Suzi Smith, peg 38 - 42lb 7oz pellet feeder/meat
3rd Doggin Dave Hurlesden - 41lb 12oz pole/meat
4th Terry Sanderson, peg 45 - 37lb 13oz pole/cheese
5th Seth Cotton, peg 9 - 33lb 11oz pole/maggot
6th Steve Smith, peg 76 - 31lb 2oz method/corn
7th Colin Chapman, peg 22 - 29lb 6oz pole/paste
these 7 lost 36 - yes 36 fish between them - explanations on a post card !!!
John Bates and Terry Sanderson both lost top 2's but luckily my dad had Colin sat next to him and he went in to get it for him - what a nice man. Terry was not so fortunate, so if you come across a top 2 with purple hydro in it - sell it
Dan Eaton also lost tackle and stripped of to get it - it was a float !!!
they are not all in Jerusalem !!! please remind me Sarah what is it you see in him ?
Saturday 18th June
People must have heard that the fishing should be getting better - 25 turned up to fish the match this morning, it was like another Lycho final. i will be needing a bigger car park soon !!!
with such a turn out i spread everyone out over the whole pool and while i maintain this is the right thing to do there were some areas that were unfancied and some that some wanted to avoid completely. as it turned out the winner and 6th came from one side of the canal, 2nd from the other, 3rd from the straight, 4th from the bowl and 5th from between the bridges ! just proving we have no idea where the winner will come from as they are all fliers
not quite as close as the last couple of matches but weights improving steadily again.
1st Kev Dales, peg 22 - 67lb 12oz pole/pellet
2nd Mark Sidwells, peg 13 - 51lb 10oz pole/maggot
3rd Steve Smith, peg 77 - 49lb 8oz pole/pellet
4th Charlie Thackrah, peg 63 - 44lb 7oz pellet feeder
5th Suzi Smith, peg 42 - 35lb pellet feeder
6th Steve Brindley, peg 35 - 34lb 8oz pole/corn
Kev wanted a later start to get better weights - he was quite happy with the result though. He couldn't make the late start tomorrow as he is having a lie in and opening all his father's day gifts !!! just a shame his dad, Lol, could not witness his qualification as he had an appointment with a thai masseuse (allegedly).
local angling personality and star, Aaron Morton is planning a sneaky visit tomorrow as is Shaun Weed. it is father's day and they are expecting a smaller turnout so they can qualify with less competition. the lengths that people will go to.
12 draw tomorrow, kettle on @ 11
thanks.
Saturday 11th June
A really interesting weekend !
difficult fishing - as usual
fair - extremely
close - definitely
super stars - of course
lost fish - obviously
Lychomania - another 2 new qualifiers !
with only 35 places available for Lycho 2017, we are off to a flier, 6 matches and 6 qualifiers - including 2 new names !!!
Saturday, we thought it was going to be tough following the spawning activity all week and then the overnight rain. so much so that Uncle Mick Wilson put a tenner up for the best silver fish only net !
Jamie Horler's ears pricked up and 5 hours later he put 2 carp and @ 200 little perch, roach and skimmers on the scales for a brilliant 24lb 12oz. the carp came down the edge and he concentrated his efforts there for the last 2 hours otherwise who knows how many fish he could have had ! as it was, he only won by 6oz from Ray Brunt, who also had over 7lb of skimmers.
1st Jamie Horler, peg 63 - 24lb 12oz pole/maggot
2nd Ray Brunt, peg 2 - 24lb 6oz pole/pellet
3rd Suzie Smith, peg 35 - 20lb 14oz pole/meat
Saturday 4th June
The lull following the busy weekend last but what a funny week ! a few eyes have been opened at the sheer volume and size of some of the carp swimming around in the pond but will they feed properly at the minute - NO !!!
its really tough and incredibly frustrating. i think a few more days like today will see the fish lining up to spawn but in the mean time when a shoal of anything up to 30 big carp swim over your bait and mill around for an hour clearing every scrap of food but not a single bite - what is going on ?!?!?
Steve Smith rounded a fine week of with a 2nd yesterday and a then a win today and Mark Sidwells won yesterday. both won their respective matches easily but the backing "weights" were very close
Mark Sidwells, peg 66 - 31lb 10oz
Steve Smith, peg 71 - 16lb 14oz
Albert Bray, peg 55 - 16lb 11oz
Jamie Horler, peg 44 - 14lb 14oz
Saturday 21st May
i couldn't leave it much longer - i bet Jacko has been checking every 5 mins !
Well done - we always knew you could do it :-)
3 early fish on the method and then a run of fish on the pole and paste but a barren spell for the last hour let Uncle Mick on the next peg run close and if the match had finished at 3.30 rather than 3.15 the result could well have been different - but that is history and Jacko is in Lycho 2016.
the bream were conspicuous by there absence, they are spawning and it made the carp the only viable target. some real edge pigs are starting to creep around - uncle mick had 1 of 14lb today and Guy's 5 fish went over 34lb !
they are not all big fish as Lee Hanson had 9 for his 34lb but what it does mean that if you lose a couple of fish it could be anything from a missed 6lb or 30lb - and on a close day that will make a massive difference !
1st Dave Jackson, peg 63 - 45lb 14oz
2nd Mick Wilson, peg 65 - 44lb 3oz - mainly paste
3rd Guy Hope, peg 41 - 34b 9oz - mainly paste
4th Lee Hanson, peg 22 - 34lb 2oz pellet feeder
5th Marc White, peg 58 - 30lb 8oz pole/worm
well done Dave (about time)
Saturday 14th May
a good turnout, 25 on the lake just a pity the fish did not want to come out and play !
i was watching the carp in the back lake and they were scoffing, and i mean SCOFFING swarms and swarms of tadpoles, great sheets of them !
not many people will be using those i thought !
As it was it was "Mr Hovis", John 'Nobby' Clarke using his staple, that topped the frame today. BIG pieces of flake hook bait, over liquidised bread the method, half a dozen carp and a hybrid the result. i think the normal amount nobby feeds covered any tadpoles in 3 or 4" of crumbs so the carp had no other choice of what to eat. he hooked his last and biggest fish 5 minutes before the end and landed a near double just after the whistle. faultless timing - zero to hero !
He did, however, commit the cardinal sin of not paying his £2 and did NOT qualify for Lycho - oops !
1st Nobby Clarke, peg 22 - 26lb 10oz pole/bread
2nd Mick Linnett, peg 38 - 25lb 13oz pole/pellet
3rd Mick Smith, peg 80 - 21lb 5oz pole/maggot
4th Jim Spradbury, peg 45 - 20lb pole/pellet
5th Andy Findlay, peg 76 - 18lb 9oz method
lost fish on a day like today proved very important and when someone like Andy can lose 4 properly hooked fish on the rod - ANYONE can lose a few !!!
Saturday 7th May
a good turn out and very much a match of 2 halves, not a lot between the top 2 and not a lot between the next 3 BUT quite a gap in between !
it was even warm enough to see Dave pikey Jackson for the first time of the year and sure enough - he caught a pike !!!
Stretch Armstrong followed on from his salmon run in the week and had a lovely net of fish from all over peg 35, 10 good carp and around 5lb of silvers all on worm were just enough to secure top spot from Jamie Horler. Jamie was the other end, on 63, in the bowl, also on worm but all on his top 2 down the edge !
Jamie had 8 carp (beasts - 2 went 17lb 1oz !) and 1lb of silvers
1st Dave Armstrong, peg 35 - 64lb 11oz pole/worm
2nd Jamie Horler, peg 63 - 59lb 15oz pole/worm
3rd Jon Courtney, peg 41 - 22lb 15oz feeder/maggot
4th, Ian Shirley, peg 52 - 22lb 6oz pole/various
5th Jason Perks, peg 66 - 19lb 14oz pole/maggot
i have had a few calls about the match tomorrow, 11 o'clock draw and i honestly think we will beat the current best of the year so far Mick Smith's 85lb odd - right man on the right peg, warm night tonight, plenty of bait - the carp are ready to eat
Saturday 23rd April
Darren Milne promises me a birthday party and doesn't even show up - what is happening in the world ???
i know i am getting older but i seriously do not know how Terry manages to sit with 16 metres of carbon for the bet part of 5 hours. i finally found some fish but had to go to almost 17 metres for the last 45 minutes and i am knackered - i have had to have a lie down and some paracetamol. i know he has more "ballast" than me, but i salute you sir !!!
the hard overnight frost did us no favours at all today and it was not until the last hour when the wind dropped and the sun shone a bit that the fish fed. i truly think that another hour and we would have seen an awful lot more fish. this being the case i am really hopeful for tomorrow's late starter. i did not peg the bowl at all today.
Valleys vultures, Mick 'Oz' Linnet and Jim Spradbury made their first visit of the season today and they stormed the leader board in style. Jim's biggest of the day almost smashed his pole but even if he had got it in it would not have counted as canada geese are banned ! Mick struggled with foul hookers but managed to chop and change between the pole and feeder to get 6 carp out along with a nice little tench to win and qualify for Lychomania - well done Mick. My dad, John Bates was second for the second time this month and even he says he should have done better having lost 6 carp !
1st Mick Linnet, peg 73 - 33lb 8oz pole/feeder
2nd John Bated, peg 22 - 23lb 8oz pole/maggot
3rd Jim Spradbury, peg 31 - 19lb 7oz pole/pellet
4th Mick Smith, peg 45 - 17lb 6oz pole/pellet/maggot
5th Paul Bates, peg 68 - 15lb 10oz pole/meat
6th Colin Chapman, peg 26 - 15lb 7oz pole/paste
quite a few fish lost today and some lumps amongst them, some bream showing and a few bites to be had. things starting to look up a bit ?!?!?
Saturday 16th April
another tough day at the office but what on earth is happening with the weather ??? i got a bit of a sun tan on wednesday, almost drowned in torrential rain yesterday and then frozen today. not sure if it was snow falling heavily or hail falling softly, what ever it was it was white and cold !
Cashpoint Bronc started the year as he finished off the last - moaning, no surprise there !!! peg 2, moan, fish too long, moan, too windy, moan - you gotta love him ! then he catches a few fish and everything is all rosy again. at least his winnings will go towards mrs bray's new clutch
1st Albert Bray, peg 2 - 28lb 13oz pole/meat
2nd Suzi Smith, peg 29 - 21lb 6oz feeder/maggot
3rd Steve Smith, peg 69 - 10lb 13oz feeder/maggot
i hope lost carp are not going to be such a player again this year but it is not looking good so far. Steve lost 4 in the last 1/2 hour and lost 3 carp, 2 foul hookers and 1 that took me round the island around to peg 82. i played another for @ 25mins - hooked fair and square in the tail - a beast about 18-20lb - unfortunately it wouldn't go in my net and when i tried for the 3rd time it decided it had had enough and broke my hook length - i very nearly swore.
i did manage to have @ 50 fish, 11 different species, loads of bites but nothing bigger than 8oz and when you could put a saddle on some of these fish swimming around, you need an awful lot of silvers to compete !
Saturday 9th April
who was going to "Rule The World" on Grand National day ? only ever going to be 1 winner today - Uncle Mick Wilson.
fishing various baits on the pole into open water and down to the tree on peg 41 he landed 9 carp, lost 4 or 5 and managed another 6 species of silvers too ! i think everyone fancied the bowl with the wind and weather early doors but the wind strengthened and made things more difficult on there, the straight too was really tough. everyone lost fish and admitted to at least 2 each but the top 3 all came from between the bridges.
there were a lot of fish showing all over, up in the water. the pike were spawning again and the carp are munching eggs and cleaning off from their winter slumber. water temperature is now 11 degrees so as the carp wake up more and finish their clean off they will be looking for a more meaty bait, i think, i hope !
Yoey lost 2 lumps at the net so ANOTHER lycho qualifier slips through his fingers.
1st Mick Wilson, peg 41 - 30lb 4oz pole/maggot
2nd Mick Dobilo Smith, peg 81 - 19lb 8oz pole/pellet
3rd Liam Yeomans, peg 36 - 17lb 12oz feeder/corn
Saturday 2nd April
Jonny Harvey should look pleased with himself, a double maggot pike, first match of the year and qualified for Lycho to boot - awesome !!!
well done Jonny
a great turnout, some decent weather later on after the early rain, a really close match but the fish did not really want to know too much about bait.
the pike were spawning in the bowl and there are a couple of real crocs amongst them (not my shoes before anyone starts). one hen fish must be pushing 25lb+
the carp were following them around just munching the eggs as they were being laid. the water in front of me was like fish soup but could i catch - no ?!?
1st Jonny Harvey, peg 81 - 14lb 2oz pole/maggot
2nd Lol Dales, peg 22 - 14lb pole/pellet
3rd Paul Bates, peg 56 - 12lb 13oz pole/maggot/meat
4th Suzi Smith, peg 52 - 10lb 7oz feeder/pellet
5th Terry Brindley, peg 47 - 10lb 6oz pole/maggot
6th Gaz Kitching, peg 35 - 9lb 15oz pole/corn
only 4lb between the top 6 and everyone lost fish, some foul hookers - the pike i landed was hooked fairly and squarely in the tail only 5 minutes before the end but i did lose 4 carp so my luck balanced out - as usual. Lol Dales took the bragging rights - AGAIN as Kev tipped back rather than weigh.
"what did you have Kev ?"
"11-12lb as a guess, just 3 carp."
"oops ! classic schoolboy error !!!"
all honours go to Jonny though for today, like he said - better than going to work !
thanks to everyone
Sunday Match Results
Sunday 4th September
Lychgate vs Rushfields Miracle Baits
Apparently we are a nation of dog lovers, well after today i think that there are the best part of 30 chaps and chapesses that would happily commit caninicide and as for their owners, i think they should have been drowned at birth. after 3 hours of incessant screaming and barking, i had to go for a walk as i could not concentrate due to the noise - i was 150 yards away, up wind ! i feel really sorry for Taxi Mick and Rick Ablitt as they were directly aside them, i truly believe i would have had to leave for a while.
anyway, to the fishing - a frustrating day for many, to say the least. Steve Gregory sat on form peg 65 and watched the fish all day in the gap. Shaun Moss, Marc White, Steve Oswick and Paul Paul 'Valentino' Spittlehouse all admitted to losing at least 8 up to 13 fish while others really struggled for any bites at all. i think the volume of rain yesterday coupled with the cooler night made the carp shoal up a bit more than usual. plenty of fish seemed to be in the section between the bridges but below on the canal things were tough until the end pegs. but onto the scores :-
1st Mark Sidwells, peg 45 - 89lb 12oz pole/pellet/corn
2nd Suzi Smith, peg 63 - 73lb 2oz pellet feeder
3rd Shaun Moss, peg 73 - 53lb 2oz pole/corn
4th Pete Jubbs, peg 12 - 49lb 8oz pole/pellet
5th Steve Oswick, peg 38 - 47lb 10oz pole/CORN
6th Andy Findlay, peg 5 - 41lb 6oz method pellet
split into 2 sections of 12, alternate pegs, canal & between the bridges and bowl & straight.
it was close, very close, but..............we won !!!!
Lychgate 77 points, 361lb 6oz to Rushfields 79 points and 323lb
we smashed it and another of Steve Gregory's plentiful supply of £20 notes sits next to the last one
bring on the return leg !
Sunday 28th August
Better day, better weather, better turn out and better fishing !
similar pegs to yesterday and fish all over the place again but a few more seemed to stick to the hooks today - except for Danny, who estimated at least 100lb coming off - oops ! you are out of practice Danny
as it was it was another Brindley 1, 2 with the bowl producing a few fish today, actually quite a few - enough for Steve today to beat the current best for the year with a brilliant 120lb - AND a yellow card as he had underestimated the size of his bigger fish. 8 fish for 67lb odd, including 1 of 11b, pushing over the 60lb net limit.
there were a few big fish caught today with Paul T Twigger having 1 near 13lb and losing 1 bigger, Marc White landing 1 that would have been closer to 15lb !!!
1st Steve Brindley, peg 65 - 120lb 8oz pole/pellet
2nd Terry Brindley, peg 55 - 87lb 4oz pole/paste/pellet
3rd Danny Ross, peg 47 - 78lb 4oz pole/pellet
4th Dobber Dale, peg 45 - 74lb 14oz pole/corn/pellet
5th Jonny Harvey, peg 73 - 73lb 8oz pole/pellet
with over 40lb only making 10th, the top 8 averaged almost 77lb !
get in !!!
well done everyone who fished today. lets hope it fishes as well tomorrow. the draw is @ 9am. Steve Gregory and Shaun Moss are coming down for a play before next sunday so that is 2 good pegs gone !
Sunday 21st August
1st Colin Chapman, peg 63 - 79lb 14oz pole/paste
2nd Terry Brindley, peg 7 - 71lb 4oz pole/paste
3rd Steve Brindley, peg 65 - 71lb 2oz pole/pellet
incredibly close and if the match had gone on for another 15 minutes it would probably have been a different result. loads of lost fish all over the lake. large groups of carp feeding all over the place - hoovering up huge quantities of bait almost the instant it hits the floor and then as soon as its gone they move on for some more from somewhere else. bigger carp have been landed today with the average probably closer to 7lb each than 5. some much bigger fish gracing the net too. very fit and very healthy they just do not give up.
well done to Steve and Colin on qualification
Sunday 7th August
Dan had topped his tackle box back up and drew end peg 22. after a slow couple of hours the fish turned up in numbers and left again, 1 after another all with bits of tackle !!! an estimated 25 (TWENTY FIVE) lost fish later almost as much as the previous day was put on the scales ! At the other end Steve Brindley found a few carp willing to feed and the complete opposite to Dan, managed to land far more than he lost !!!
1st Steve Brindley, peg 79 - 81lb 2oz pole/corn
2nd Dan Eaton, peg 22 - 47lb 12oz pole/corn
3rd Paul Gardner, peg 40 - 42lb 4oz pole/meat
4th Steve White, peg 16 - 38lb 14oz method/pellet
large numbers of carp were lost today all over the lake and would have made enormous differences to the weights. if we can learn to tame these fish, ton plus weights will be common and probably not making the frame !
some are getting a bit big too - a carp angler did friday and saturday nights and managed a total of 35 carp, the biggest just over 16lb and another 19 doubles ! He also got broke twice and lost as many as he landed so it is not just the match lads ! one even made it through the bridge on 79 away from 45 - stop that train !!!
the carp anglers are targeting the bigger fish with boilies and bigger lumps of meat.
Sunday 31st July
When Alfred Hitchcock wrote about "The Birds" i think he had today in mind - ducks, geese, chickens, unfortunately all played their part
Terry Sanderson reckons he would have had 100lb if it were not for some of our feathered friends and Dom lost a section or 2 and i am led to believe a goose was involved somewhere along the line.
The birds are hiding out of sight and then when you ship back or play a fish they are on your bait immediately. pick a catty up and they watch where it lands. i swear some can hear a pole cup pushing through the air and rinse it out if to cup water in at your peril !
Anyway, the fishing - probably the best set of weights of the year so far - fish everywhere, some being caught, some being lost and some just laughing at us and then spitting the hook out, running for the nearest cover, smashing tackle to pieces or just waving while eating every morsel of bait except that on the hook !
1st Bruce Robinson, peg 2 - 89lb 12oz pole/pellet
2nd Paul Morris, peg 77 - 63lb pole/paste
3rd Steve Brindley, peg 71 - 61lb 14oz pole/pellet
4th Jonny Harvey, peg 56 - 60lb 12oz pole/pellet
5th Terry Sanderson, peg 42 - 59lb 4oz pole/corn
another 5 weights over 40lb and the lowest weigh was 30b !!!
Sunday 24th July
Sunday a little cooler, a bit more overcast and a bit of a breeze made for better catches and a really close match.
Saturday Bruce Robinson booked his place for Lycho 2017 taking the number of qualifiers to 15 out of 35 available spaces. Steve Brindley did not start catching until the last 1/2 hour and if the match had of been 15 minutes longer the result would have likely have been very different
Sunday Specialist Dan Eaton made it back to back sunday wins in a really close match. he caught the bulk of his catch tight against the reeds on the long pole into shallow water on 71. Colin Chapman sat on peg 74 and was fishing the same but while Dan only lost a couple Colin had a 'mare - 11 lost fish - oops !!!
1st Dan Eaton, peg 71 - 59lb 14oz pole/pellet
2nd Bruce Robinson, peg 31 - 58lb 8oz pole/pellet
3rd Lee Mushy Farmer, peg 2 - 56lb 2oz pole/pellet
4th Colin Chapman, peg 74 - 50lb 10oz pole/pellet
5th Steve Brindley, peg 35 - 48lb 2oz pole/pellet
it's days like this that make weighing a pleasure - 2 other 40lb weights, seeing Bruce's face when he had been bounced, hearing tales of lost fish, not bothering with a silver fish line (Steve had 13lb odd of silvers). every one counts on days like this.
it is not true that Steve White has sold his and Suzi's fishing tackle at the car boot after a couple of bad (by their standard) matches
Sunday 10th July
1st Steve Brindley, peg 71 - 77lb 6oz pole/pellet
2nd Steve Smith, peg 45 - 76lb 8oz pellet feeder/meat
3rd Suzi Smith, peg 41 - 58lb 1oz pole pellet
the section between the bridges and the straight are holding huge amounts of fish at the minute and there are some really big fish creeping around. a carp angler had 5 doubles to 17lb on saturday night from peg 84 - beef up that elastic !!!
Sunday 3rd July
What a difference a day makes !
still a close run thing but the top 10 today ALL had weights better than the winning weight yesterday and fish coming from all over the lake. 1st from the canal, 2nd the straight, 3rd and 4th from between the bridges and 5th from the bowl. it really does not matter where you draw, there are a few fish to be found.
today there were an awful lot of fish in the top layers of water, some sunning themselves but some willing to snap at a slow sinking bait past their noses. a few early mugged fish set Steve Brindley up to continue his fine sunday form.
Steve landed a carp @ 5lb on the whistle while Aaron Morton lost one which ultimately cost him qualification on his 1st visit of the year !
1st Steve Brindley, peg 12 - 77lb 8oz pole/pellet
2nd Aaron Morton, peg 74 - 74lb 11oz pole/pellet
3rd Paul T Twigger, peg 81 - 62lb 4oz pole/pellet
4th Colin Chapman, peg 46 - 43lb pole/paste
5th Suzi Smith, peg 65 - 38lb 12oz pellet feeder/maggot
Sunday 26th June
No streakers today - phew !
but with another 20+ fishing along with some new faces perhaps summer is finally on the way ?!?
another really close day but it was cheese king Terry Sanderson, who moaned like a good un when he drew his peg - 26, i am not sure why, but he did not fancy it - everyone else did !!! after 3 hours or so he had only got 3 carp in the net and was considering packing up. a good job he didn't as after a very busy last hour he put enough on the scales to win and book his place in Lycho 2017. he can also put his winnings towards a new top 2 to replace the one from yesterday.
the top 3 weights came from the brook side of the canal section - which was probably the least favoured section to draw - this venue will bite you on the backside every time you think you have it sorted.
1st Terry Sanderson, peg 26 - 53lb 12oz pole/cheese
2nd Dave Jackson, peg 22 - 50lb 14oz pole/maggot
3rd Steve Brindley, peg 29 - 47lb 12oz pole/pellet
4th Terry Brindley, peg 45 - 40lb 6oz pole/pellet
5th Colin Chapman, peg 56 - 37lb 8oz pole/paste
there were some big fish landed, several touching double figures but it was predominantly smaller carp that made the weights today.
another four 30lb+ weights too !
please can you ensure you throw any unused/unwanted bait into the water rather than leaving it at home in the kitchen as it tends to escape. it is a very understanding wife that allows you to do this once let alone twice in a month.
Sunday 19th June
Results have been improving steadily this month so today had a lot to live up to and although i say it myself i think it did !
only 2 1/2 weeks ago i won with just over 18lb Steve Brindley qualified today with a cracking 92lb 6oz and qualifying for Lycho 2017 too.
there are still huge numbers of fish hovering around your baited area, looking like they are going to clean up every scrap of food but actually refusing to eat anything. then suddenly you cannot go wrong and have 3 or 4 fish in as many puts ???
there were great shoals of carp all over the lake this morning so we spread out again to try and take advantage and everyone had a few fish. some lost a few too !
1st Steve Brindley, peg 68 - 92lb 6oz bomb/pellet
2nd Paul Morris, peg 77 - 66lb 10oz pole/paste
3rd Steve Smith, peg 2 - 65lb 8oz pellet feeder
4th Joe Mckenna 'snr', peg 38 - 48lb 10oz pole/paste
5th Liam Yeomans, peg 65 - 46lb 8oz method/corn
well done Steve.
the lowest weight was 27lb this afternoon and this included the best part of 10lb of silvers !
another good weekend - how long until the 1st ton of the year ? Wednesday ???
fingers crossed
Sunday 12th June
A real international feel to the turn out and a proper peg to peg battle which went right to and finishing after the whistle with silverfish proving important again. Craig Owen made his long awaited return, drew a flier and then proceeded to lose more than he landed, breaking 2 top 2's into the bargain - ouch !
there were dozens and dozens of carp up in the water and Craig tried to make up his own fish with the amount of scales that he bought back. Franco lost six proper fish, always best to stop them before they swim around the island 3 pegs away Jeff drew peg 37 and had the bridge all to himself AND the reedbed which has been heaving with fish BUT he had left his long pole at home - oops !
the Brindleys returned from a successful week in white acres and yet again came away with prize money.
But the winner, hooking a last second carp and landing it after the whistle was the Italian Stallion Dom Tiramisu of JD Tackle. Dom started on maggot catching a few skimmers early along with a nice ide, switching to pellet and finally paste. it was this 6lb of silvers along with the last gasp carp that put Craig into 2nd place.
1st Dom Tiramisu, peg 71 - 38lb 6oz pole/maggot
2nd Craig O'Wen, peg 68 - 33lb 3oz pole/meat
3rd El Tel Brindley, peg 31 - 27lb 14oz pole/paste
4th Steve McBrindley, peg 35 - 24lb 12oz pole/corn
5th Suzi Smith, peg 9, 22lb 9oz pellet/feeder
lost fish again cost Andy Findlay at least a frame place but strangely enough he did not want to put his £2 in for Lycho - tight arse !
overall an enjoyable weekend
thanks
Sunday 5th June
The lull following the busy weekend last but what a funny week ! a few eyes have been opened at the sheer volume and size of some of the carp swimming around in the pond but will they feed properly at the minute - NO !!!
its really tough and incredibly frustrating. i think a few more days like today will see the fish lining up to spawn but in the mean time when a shoal of anything up to 30 big carp swim over your bait and mill around for an hour clearing every scrap of food but not a single bite - what is going on ?!?!?
Steve Smith rounded a fine week of with a 2nd yesterday and a then a win today and Mark Sidwells won yesterday. both won their respective matches easily but the backing "weights" were very close.
Steve Smith, peg 77 - 49lb 8oz
Suzi Smith, peg 62 - 21lb 2oz
Guy Hope, peg 37 - 20lb 10oz
Jamie Horler, peg 68 - 19lb 13oz
Sunday 22nd May
it was only yesterday that i teased Steve Brindley that he had lost his mojo - what does he do today ??? WIN
pellet shallow from peg 58 towards the deeper water and then a couple down the edge later on
a bit ominous with only 3 matches left until Lycho and Steve is getting back into winning ways :-)
1st Steve Brindley, peg 58 - 56lb 2oz pole/pellet
2nd Paul Gardener, peg 46 - 43lb 6oz pole/paste
3rd Bruce Robinson, peg 26 - 39lb 11oz method/boilie
4th Steve Smith, peg 63 - 30lb 8oz pole/paste
5th David Markham, peg 5 - 27lb 9oz pole/pellet
6th Daniel Eaton, peg 52 - 27lb 5oz pole/meat/maggot
i seem to be doing well with people not collecting their winnings this weekend Dave, Steve and David, still it will fill a couple more holes with tarmac :-)
Sunday 8th May
i wrote this last night -
"i have had a few calls about the match tomorrow, 11 o'clock draw and i honestly think we will beat the current best of the year so far Mick Smith's 85lb odd - right man on the right peg, warm night tonight, plenty of bait - the carp are ready to eat
just call me mystic Paul !!!
probably the best match of the year so far. good turnout, fish everywhere, not eating, eating, really close match, lost fish, big fish, you name it it happened today. even Richard Wells came out for the day - you can tell summer is coming. Taxi Mick's best is history and Terry Sanderson won ON THE POLE - must have been solid !!!
Terry committed the cardinal sin and did not pay his £2 to enter for Lycho - some lame excuse about fishing at Makins - blah blah blah
weird thing is the winning bait list looks like a shopping list from morrisons ! anyway, well done Terry - great day.
1st Terry Sanderson, peg 45 - 92lb 4oz pole/ cheese
2nd Richard Leatherland, peg 7 - 90b 2oz pole/ meat
3rd Suzi Smith, peg 62 - 83lb 13oz method/ bread
4th Lee Wheeldon, peg 26 - 64lb 9oz pole/ corn
5th Dave Armstrong, peg 71 - 58lb 13oz pole/ worm
ok, so you don't get worms from morrisons but you get the idea
with 2 other weights over 50lb it looks like summer is coming - make the most of it as they will probably be spawning next week
with new personal best Lychgate match weights for Dickie, Lee and Yoey, things are definitely looking up
Bank Holiday Weekend
not too bad all around, and for once the fishing has been better than the weather, actually, that is not too hard though, the way it has been !
we have had over 30 different anglers fishing the 3 matches over the Bank Holiday, a new qualifier for Lycho, a few new faces, a few lost fish, a few creeping back out of the woodwork to try and sneak qualification, a few trying to get a feel for the place having been in hibernation all winter and the first yellow card of the year !
i think we might start needing some bigger landing nets too. 2 fish today have been lost that would not fit into landing nets - not just me then - oops/phew !
a good weekend for Steve "drawbag" Brindley and Ian Shirley with 3 and 2 podium places respectively, a quality 'all silver' near 17lb from Jamie Horler and one of the best carp nets so far for mush dog millionaire Lee Farmer. Mushy did get a yellow card though for having over 60lb in his net.
Saturday
1st Jim Spradbury, peg 31 - 25lb 5oz pole/pellet
2nd Dominic Limoncello, peg 36 - 17lb 4oz pole/pellet
3rd Jamie Horler, peg 2 - 16lb 12oz pole/bronze maggot
Sunday
1st Ian Shirley, peg 2 - 45lb 9oz pole/pellet
2nd Steve Smith, peg 45 - 36lb 15oz pole/pellet
3rd Steve Brindley, peg 22 - 32lb 11oz pole/pellet
13 fished and the bottom weigh was near 19lb
Monday
1st Lee Mushy Farmer, peg 2 - 73lb 1oz pole/meat -
QUALIFIER
2nd Steve Brindley, peg 68 - 48lb 14oz method/pellet
3rd Ian Shirley, peg 41 - 34lb 3oz pole/pellet
Mushy broke his cupping kit with an hour to go and reckons it cost him a possible ton as he only had 1 fish in the last hour.
Sunday 24th April
a good turnout and there were a few fish for everyone today all over the lake - hopefully things are starting to wake up and spring has sprung
even though it was cold there were bites in bursts for most. still lost fish figured heavily with Lee admitting to 8, Dickie 4, Danny 6 and even Jonny Harvey, who has "never lost a fish at Lychgate", lost fish too !
some of the pics below show the health of the fish and anyone who hooks one will tell you that they are pretty fit ! the bream are starting to show too and with plenty of these around the 3lb mark they are fantastic weight builders.
1st Stretch Armstrong, peg 22 - 51lb 11oz pole/worm
2nd Lee Wheeldon, peg 68 - 45lb 8oz pole/worm
3rd Ian Shirley, peg 45 - 39lb 6oz pole/corn/caster
4th Dickie Leatherland, peg 26 - 30lb 12oz pole/pellet
5th Jonny Harvey, peg 35 - 27lb 1oz pole/pellet/corn
6th Jamie Horler, peg 12 - 26lb 5oz pole/maggot
7th Bruce Robinson, peg 77 - 25lb 4oz method/boilie
another 3 20lb+ weights so things are not as bad as the weather
Sunday 17th April
did i mention the weather yesterday ?!?
today starts @ -2 degrees and ends up 15 degrees and sunny. did the fish want to feed or sunbathe - guess !
Jonny Harvey reckons the place is easy - fished 2 matches, a 1st and a 2nd, picked up the thick end of £100 and not lost a fish !
i am sure this will change - but make the most of it
Steve Brindley found a few fish that were willing to feed, mainly by throwing a method feeder toward the bridge on 46 and landing enough to secure a relatively comfortable win. Dickie Leatherland, conversely decided to lose most of his (losing 7 !!!)
1st Steve Brindley, peg 45 - 51lb 12oz method/pellet
2nd Jonny Harvey, peg 63 - 26lb 13oz method/corn
3rd Bruce Robinson, peg 56 - 26lb 2oz pole/bread shallow
on the whole though a really difficult weekend
Sunday 10th April
the first late start and quite a success - although i say it myself
even winner "grumpy" Steve Smith said he almost enjoyed it !!!
with 22 on the lake i sort of feared the worst a bit with how the fish had been behaving but after 5 minutes Suzi had landed a beast and Lee had snared one too. on my way out i saw Terry landing one too.
Lost fish were a major part of the day with everyone except Aidie losing at least 2, Dan Eaton admitted to 7 !!!
1st Steve Smith, peg 53 - 38lb feeder/dead maggot
2nd Dan Eaton, peg 69 - 37lb 10oz pole/dead maggot
3rd Suzi Smith, peg 73 - 34lb 1oz feeder/maggot
4th Lee Wheeldon, peg 52 - 29lb 6oz pole/maggot
5th Aidie Holland, peg 55 - 28lb 2oz bomb/bread
a good turnout, plenty of bites, a few fish, some right lumps too - perhaps spring is on the way ?!?!?
so for all of those who have chores on a sunday morning, church, lie in or just nursing a sore head, its a late draw next sunday, 11am and then fish from 12 till 5 - get in !!!
Wednesday Match Results
Wednesday 7th September
i have been teasing Jonny Harvey that he has lost his touch - guess what - he rediscovered his mojo today and qualified for Lycho ! after beating the pensioners at Maynes for the last couple of weeks he decided to give the old farts at Lychgate a beating today !!!
corn and pellet down the edge was the method, beating Terry Brindley by a couple of fish. it was a pretty close run affair but generally the section between the bridges is the place to be at the minute.
1st Jonny Harvey, peg 35 - 58lb 14oz pole/corn
2nd Terry Brindley, peg 38 - 47lb 12oz pole/pellet
3rd Richard Wells, peg 66 - 43lb 10oz pole/corn
4th Suzi Smith, peg 76 - 41lb 10oz pellet feeder
5th Shaun Weed, peg 58 - 38lb 12oz corn/feeder
i managed to land a carp that was towing a waggler around and the line trapped around my feeder - only bit of luck i had today and the only carp that got within a foot or more of my hook !
Even Dobber Dale managed to catch a carp today
Wednesday 31st August
Apologies for the delay in the write up - i did not want the Miracles to get too much info for sunday
not that it helps much anyway !
King of the Corn, Rich Wells made it 2 wednesdays running with his corn and pellet approach. admitting to @ 40lb we all knew how good at estimating he is, pushing Dobber Dale into 2nd place.
the bowl did not really fish well, loads of fish but not willing to feed. put a maggot on and mugged by little fish. i have never seen as many small fish as this year. i had @ 250 in 2 hours - if this is your thing, they are there to catch but it is unlikely that you will win anything as the carp seem to be growing before your eyes !
1st Richard Wells, peg 35 - 64lb 10oz pole/corn
2nd Dobber Dale, peg 41 - 51lb 6oz pole/pellet
3rd Bruce Robinson, peg 68 - 48lb pellet feeder
There is NO OPEN and NO AVAILABILITY for day tickets this sunday due to the home leg of the Lychgate vs Rushfields annual jolly.
Bank Holiday Monday 29th August
After the lord mayors show or what ?!?
unfortunately, there was no bank holiday bonanza for everyone today, but with 28 fishing on the lake that was never likely to be on the cards. Lots of fish sunbathing, following each other around - almost look as if they are going to spawn ???
in fact, checking the weights, it fished pretty much half as well as it did yesterday - weird !
some fish were lost (as usual), some by human error, some from dodgy tackle and some just doing their thing !
it was refreshing to hear that Andy Findlay had learnt something from the last time he fished peg 13, put it into practice today - and then won. he fished an oversized pellet feeder to the far bank towards peg 14. Pete Richards would have pushed him an awful lot closer if he had not spent quite so much time battling with the foliage on the far back
1st Andy Findlay, peg 13 - 53lb 8oz pellet/feeder
2nd Pete Richards, peg 22 - 43lb 2oz pole/pellet
3rd Mark Sidwells, peg 40 - 40lb pole/corn
4th Gaz Harper, peg 63 - 37lb 2oz pole/corn
5th Steve Brindley, peg 55 - 35lb 14oz pole/pellet
6th Ian Shirley, peg 68 - 34lb 2oz pole/corn
not a lot to choose between anybody, the odd fish here or there ? a run of silvers whilst the carp are not playing ? a lost fish ? a broken pole elastic ? a spat hook at the net ?
Shaun Moss made the journey down from ooop north for a bit of info for the Miracle boys who are visiting next sunday, i do not think he learned an awful lot today !!!
because of the visit there will NOT be a match next sunday and the pond will be closed to day tickets
Wednesday 24th August
Fish fish everywhere and not a beggar will feed properly - not in my peg anyway ! i think my dad has got the right idea - golfing on a wednesday now !
Mark Russell lost a few from peg 36 last time he came so he made some proper rigs this time. he was really pleased when he drew 38, only 2 away from before - there have been loads of fish on 38 and a big weight has been threatened for a while.
today ?
are you having a laugh !!!
the fish won 11 : 7. next time mark
Richard "the corn" Wells used a meagre 6 tins in his margin assault and a carp on the whistle made all the difference. the fish want to feed in the shallowest water possible - to the point where you think it impossible for fish to swim - they just go in on their sides - its amazing to watch.
1st Richard Wells, peg 68 - 67lb 4oz pole/corn
2nd Andy Findlay, peg 62 - 63lb 6oz method/pellet
3rd Albert Bray, peg 55 - 46lb 8oz pole/corn
everyone caught a few, everyone lost a few but it was tougher perhaps than it should have been. i have started to put some water back in so at least the margins should be a little deeper by the weekend !
Wednesday 17th August
another frustrating day, fish all over, eating everything you put in EXCEPT your hook bait. seemingly devoid of fish 1 second and then a gang of 20 carp turn up in stealth mode, churn it up, eat everything and then disappear like ninja's !
lost fish important again, at least it is not just me, but, if you manage to control the losses you are in with a chance - which is exactly what Dave Jackson did ! the last time he drew peg 63 he qualified for Lycho and he has done exactly the same again - your odds will be slashed if you draw it in the final Jacko !!!
he was so excited to have won he left all his nets behind, at least they will be dry by the next time he goes fishing (probably next May)
1st Dave Jackson, peg 63 - 44lb 12oz pole/corn/paste
2nd Suzi Smith, peg 45 - 36lb 14oz pellet feeder
3rd = Paul Bates, peg 42 - 29lb 10oz pole/corn
Liam Yeomans, peg 56 - 29lb 10oz method/corn
Joey thinks he should get 3rd outright because he caught a tench - no way, been a long time since i have framed and i am above you purely for alphabetical reasons
Wednesday 3rd August
the first qualifier of a new month and a new qualifier - well done Paul T Twigger.
there was an awful side wind today and holding a long pole was difficult to say the least. lots of fish were lost as the wind whipped around pulling elastics the wrong way and breaking hook lengths.
Twig drew form peg 56 and made hardly any mistakes, losing only 2 fish all day. paste at around 7 metres was the method and a stream of carp made it an enjoyable day, even more so that he took a £ of taxi Mick and beat form man Bruce into another 2nd place.
unfortunately, Bruce had a quiet last hour but still managed a more than respectable net on the day, on the plus side though nobody got a picture of him swimming after his rod as it got dragged in by a fish while he was day dreaming !!!
1st Paul T Twigger, peg 56 - 77lb 12oz pole/paste.
2nd Bruce Robinson, peg 77 - 61lb 4oz method pellet
3rd Suzi Smith, peg 65 - 49lb 14oz pellet feeder
almost half way to a full Lycho complement
Wednesday 27th July
We all know a few things about the place and the pegs :-
peg 65 can be a very good peg
the venue appreciates space between the pegs
Andy Findlay is an above average dangler !
Put all 3 together and you are fishing for 2nd place - especially when there is nobody else fishing on the bowl.
you have still got to catch them though and Andy made no mistakes. it was actually his 5th win in a row - a feat not many have matched, it was also the first ton plus weight of the year. A couple of people sat and watched the masterclass - dropping the feeder onto a small (very small) area of bare bank and sliding into the waters edge and catching tight, right up against the bank in very shallow water, fishing the same spot all day. Bill and Martin were impressed !!!
if the kids up at Partridge Lakes, on the Preston Innovations event get a display like this next week they are in for a real treat.
top bombing all around - well done to "The Fin"
1st Andy Findlay, peg 65 - 108lb 8oz pellet/method
2nd Bruce Robinson, peg 74 - 70lb 4oz pole/pellet
3rd Terry Brindley, peg 68 - 51lb pole/pellet
Wednesday 20th July
been a busy few days !
big turnouts for the last 3 matches, mowing, tidying up, repairing and replacing pegs so it was nice to see a few fish today.
no 'Jonah' Robertshaw and the carp come out to play
The last 3 matches have seen decent winning weights but unusually the back up weights have been a bit behind - but not today ! the carp are all over the pond, the bowl is heaving with fish but the majority are in the upper layers.
Rich Wells qualified today in a close run affair, taking the lycho final to 14 qualifiers so far and £400 toward the final.
1st Rich Wells, peg 26 - 74lb 6oz pole/corn
2nd Steve Smith, peg 55 - 73lb 4oz pole/pellet
3rd Paul Bates, peg 69 - 70lb 12oz pole/pellet
Just a reminder - it is Barry's funeral tomorrow followed by his wake. not really worth going back to work so i am having a knock up, draw at 3, fish 4-9. everyone is welcome, £15 all in. if today is anything to go by, tomorrow evening will be awesome.
Wednesday 13th July
A really unusual day today, normally it is very even, very fair and the fish feed all over or not very much. Well today it was not like that in the slightest - 22 fishing the match and 21 struggled, really struggled, the other 1, Andy Findlay emptied it !!!
pegged on 22 but throwing a pellet feeder down towards 21 Andy caught steadily for much of the day. he actually caught more than the rest of the frame. if the truth be told he caught more than the majority of the rest of the match put together. that is 3 matches on the bounce for Andy - he is certainly finding some form.
loads of fish up in the water, cruising around showing no interest in eating, bumping into your line and foul hooking themselves. then after the whistle they decide the time is right to eat and it is 1 a chuck - just ask Joe Mckenna 'snr' - if he had caught like he did during the match like he did after the match he would have gone home £150 better off !
1st Andy Findlay, peg 22 - 73b 13oz pellet feeder
2nd Charlie Thackrah, peg 46 - 24lb 12oz pole/pellet
3rd Steve Smith, peg 58 - 22lb 7oz pellet method
4th Suzi Smith, peg 26 - 16lb 8oz pellet feeder
5th Joe Mckenna 'snr', peg 77 - 15lb pole/paste
Wednesday 6th July
we did not get close to the heady heights and bumper weights of 12 months ago but it was another close match and another new, first time qualifier - you may have heard of this one though, it was Andy Findlay !
The Fin had a good day all around - used less than £2 of bait, picked up some japanese matting for his pond, a new pair of crocs, a days work building a gate post AND qualified for Lycho 2017 !!!
1st Andy Findlay, peg 38 - 45lb 9oz method/meat
2nd Richard Wells, peg 26 - 38lb 6oz pole/corn
3rd Paul Bates, peg 31 - 36lb 2oz pole/pellet
4th Suzi Smith, peg 35 - 35lb 13oz pellet feeder
pleasure anglers were fishing in the bowl and on the straight so i pegged everyone on the canal. there are plenty of fish around but seemed not to be feeding properly today. i almost had enough scales from foul hooked fish to make up another carp. they have spawned and are on the mooch and i think in the next few matches we will see some decent weights, some consistency and some big fish.
someone had a proper lump yesterday - 21lb 4oz - the 1st "20" of the yseason. he was fishing from peg 67 on bread on the lead. i am glad it was not me on the pole, i think i would still be playing it now.
Wednesday 29th June
i cannot believe the weather - it felt more like March than the end of June today ! the rain started 5 minutes before the draw and did not finish until almost 6pm
Andy Findlay walked into the caravan and announced that he had come to win and qualify today. I did say the other day that Paul Gardner had won some serious bragging rights but then Terry Sanderson won on sunday - Fin's phone has not stopped ringing !
the man wants to qualify for Lycho this time
the wind and rain made presentation difficult at best today but there were still a few fish to be found. Suzi sat in the teeth of the weather all day and the direction of the wind made it virtually impossible for any shelter to be found, its a good job she was catching and with Andy catching the other end it was going to be close
1st Suzi Smith, peg 58 - 57lb 7oz pellet feeder
2nd Andy Findlay, peg 35 - 51lb 12oz method/meat
3rd John Bates, peg 55 - 36lb 13oz pole/pellet
so with a month gone, we have 10 qualifiers for Lycho 2017 - only 25 spaces left and with 4 brand new qualifiers already it looks as though it will be an interesting match again next year.
Wednesday 22nd June
What a weird day !
Fish all over the place but nothing wanting to eat then suddenly with 90 minutes to go all hell breaks loose (in my peg anyway !!!). not that it did me any good though - i just could not get them out, some were real monsters - i got 1 out @ 12lb and lost 2 others at the net that would have been 15lb each - i nearly swore ! if they were the only 2 i lost i would still have been in with a shout but hey ho a VERY frustrating day !!!
i would love to sit behind someone on peg 42 and watch how they feed, play the fish, where they play them, how many they lose - might need a lesson off Yoey.
actually, it was not just me - there are some big fish swimming around who get very angry when hooked ! some of these fish are breaking .20 hook lengths and bottoming out purple hydro - they are not stopping for anyone.
Another tight run affair and another new qualifier today in Paul Gardner, he drew peg 38 and after losing his first 4 on the pole he reached for the bomb and corn while he had a rethink, his tip went round - again and again !!! some made good their escape as far as the safety of the bridge but enough were put into the net to secure some serious bragging rights along with a Lycho place for next year.
1st Paul Gardner, peg 38 - 41lb 5oz bomb/corn
2nd John Bates, peg 35 - 33lb 4oz pole/pellet/meat
3rd Mick Wilson, peg 68 - pole/pellet/paste
4th Dickie Featherland, peg 45 - pole/corn/pellet
Wednesday 15th June
If i thought it was close at the weekend........... !
the rain had put a few off and although it was still hard but the amount of cruising fish is amazing. there were bites to be had, a few fish for most and the almost inevitable lost fish. i truly believe that when these fish sort themselves out, finish spawning and settle into a routine we will have some huge weights.
no new qualifiers today as Suzi topped the pile - just !
she did not even bother to get her pole out as she did not want to get wet so sat comfy under her brolly all day watching her tip go round !
1st Suzi Smith, peg 63 - 36lb 9oz pellet feeder
2nd Paul Bates, peg 45 - 35lb 14oz pole/maggot
3rd Dickie Featherland, peg 42 - 34lb 13oz feeder/pellet
4th Terry Brindley, peg 58 - 30lb pole/paste
i lost fish, Dickie did and Terry also, so when the tale of the scale says a decent skimmer separated the top 3 - silvers are still playing an important part - if i had known just how close it ws i would not have been shaking the little perch and roach off to try and get to the carp quicker - hey ho !
Wednesday 8th june
A bit of love action going on - good to see after last year when the carp did not spawn. the smaller carp are going for it and the bigger carp are thinking about it, a few steady days and they will get it all over and done with - fingers crossed.
the fishing was always going to be tricky with all the activity but a few were caught and we have another qualifier - just !!!
1st Suzi Smith, peg 73 - 43lb 12oz pellet feeder
2nd Mark Sidwells, peg 68 - 42lb 8oz pole/pellet
3rd Terry Sanderson, peg 66 - 37lb bomb/pellet
it was red hot and there were fish cruising everywhere - there are loads and loads and some of them are pretty big !
Wednesday 1st June
1st day of summer, who are they trying to kid ???
first match/qualifier following 'THE' event and after seeing the weather i was surprised that anyone wanted to fish, i was seriously considering having the day off so i actually took the dog with me ! We were even graced by an appearance from Daz Milne who wanted to put it right after monday.
10 people fishing so we could spread out and have loads of room, we fished the bowl, straight and in between the bridges. a quality field really struggled, carp bashing everywhere but not willing to feed - again. i drew the bowl and fished my normal maggot - a good perch, a decent bream, 3 skimmers, @ 20 perch, a gudgeon, a few roach, rudd and 2 carp - i did not lose any proper fish today so at least that was good news.
1st Paul Bates, peg 63 - 18lb 2oz pole/maggot
2nd Terry Sanderson, peg 69 - 13lb 14oz pellet feeder
3rd Suzi Smith (money again), peg 45 - 12lb 15oz pole/pellet
4th Andy Findlay, peg 41- 11lb 8oz pellet feeder
Taxi Mick said to me on monday that you will never win anything with silvers but they got me over the winning line on a really tough day today with qualification in the bag for 2017 - woo hoo !!!
what of Daz, i hear you ask ?
he lost 8 carp from peg 38 - plenty enough for a convincing win - but not today !!!
Wednesday 25th May
Another good wednesday turnout and fish showing pretty much everywhere. i wanted to draw peg 66 and guess what was left in the box :-)
i really fancied my chances, especially after landing a carp in the first 5 minutes. fish showing and feeding on my pole lines - i was going to bag up - NOT ! the second week in a row i had loads of fish in my peg that seemed to be feeding but they would not take a hook bait ???
as it was there was only 1 bagger today and that was Simon Brown, fishing his 1st Lychgate match on only his 2nd visit he hardly put a foot wrong - qualifying for Lycho in the process. meat on the pole and some quality carp found the net through the match. behind Simon it was very close with not a lot separating the next 5.
1st Simon Brown, peg 55 - 63lb 8oz pole/meat
2nd Mick Bodily, peg 2 - 39lb 2oz pole/pellet
3rd Albert Bray, peg 63 - 34lb 4oz pole/pellet
4th Rob Hollis, peg 41 - 33lb 7oz waggler/maggot
5th Andy Findlay, peg 38 - 32b pellet feeder
Bronc had a lovely net of fish - including near 15lb of silvers, all on the long pole and expander. after a few pretty barren weeks, the bowl is showing some consistency with 3 different pegs winning the last 3 matches.
40 qualifiers for Lycho now - its gonna be a good one !
Wednesday 18th May
with only 5 matches left now until the inaugural Lychomania a few are creeping out to try and qualify - nothing like leaving it late !!!
a good turn out, a few new faces, a few old faces, good banter at the draw, drew a peg i really fancied and then when i get to my peg its full of fish - running a fishery is all about days like this i thought.
there are carp absolutely everywhere - i am going to empty it - i think to myself, woo hoo. HA ! what do i know - nothing :-( i land a small skimmer within seconds and actually put it back because i had only bought 2 nets and obviously i was going to need both of them for carp - what an idiot !!!
Jonny Harvey, coming back into form, thrashed us all with some 'proper lads', 8 carp for 46lb 12oz off peg 2, but when you consider 2 of them probably only went 3lb between them it gives you the general idea ! imagine what he would have weighed if he had not lost the other 9 ?!?!? pellet feeder was his method as he could not get them to take a bait on the pole line.
i weighed first timer Fred Bates next and his 1st words were that i owed him 12 floats - he now realises that Lychagte carp pull back a bit - peg 36 is a rig graveyard at the best of times but when they are under the bridge keeping out of the rain you need riot gear on - better luck next time :-)
there were loads of carp all over the lake - they look like they are feeding, they are going through all the motions but NOT taking a hook bait - weird. i reckoned if i had only caught 1 out of every 10 that swam past me i would have weighed over 300lb - but that is fishing (purgatory).
1st Jonny Harvey, peg 2 - 46lb 12oz pellet feeder
2nd Ian Shirley, peg 63 - 23lb 7oz pole/pellet
3rd Uncle Mick Wilson, peg 58 - 20lb 8oz pole/paste
4th Lee Mushy Farmer, peg 76 - 19lb 5oz pole/meat
lost fish were again a feature of the day - even Mushy lost 3 at the net that were properly hooked.
oh, it rained - lots !
Wednesday 11th May
the virtual 24 hours of rain did not do us much good - but it did give us a really close match.
Andy Findlay turned up today and said that there was plenty of time for him to qualify for Lycho - confidence for you or what !!!
misplaced confidence if today was anything to go by :-)
Ian Shirley turned out to be the one to beat today, 5lb odd of silvers on the worm and then carp on the meat over pellet. Ian did not lose a single fish today so his win was very much deserved.
Martin Thompson was a close second with me completing the frame. Martin got smashed 3 times and lost another couple while i lost a bream and also a carp that i think was foul hooked - any of which would have made a big difference. my net included 15lb of quality silvers while Martin also landed a top 2 kit fully rigged up !!!
1st Ian Shirley, peg 26 - 34lb 5oz pole/meat
2nd Martin Thompson, peg 47 - 33lb 4oz pole/meat
3rd Paul Bates, peg 45 - 29lb 9oz pole/maggot
there are only 2 wednesdays and 2 weekends left to try and qualify for the Lycho final on Monday 30th May.
IF YOU ARE NOT IN IT YOU WILL NOT WIN IT !
Wednesday 4th May
well all good things must come to an end and so did my winning streak - with a bump ! i was really looking forward to it aswell but the frost did us no favours - AGAIN. even Mushy bought me no luck, he sat behind me for an hour today and he learnt NOTHING, except to never ask me to repair any pole sections.
one good thing was that Suzi won and finally we saw a smile back on her face
she had got 7 carp in the net after 90 minutes and we all thought we were in for a right day but that was pretty much it ! the sun came out, warmed the water up a bit and the fish shut up shop until the last 30 minutes - AGAIN !!!
i told Bruce i had got 11 so he packed up and went home early - i had got about 11 but there were 2 chub, a big perch, a small skimmer and my biggest carp was about 10oz - oops - sorry !
Uncle Mick (3 plus 2 skimmers) and Terry (3 plus 1 loss) both caught their carp in the last 20 mins - don't ever pack up early Brucie ! Ian even had one on paste shallow as he had ran out of ideas.
1st Suzi Smith, peg 35 - 30lb 10oz pellet feeder
2nd Mick Wilson, peg 36 - 16lb 9oz pole/maggot
3rd Terry Brindley, peg 45 - 14lb 3oz pole/pellet
Wednesday 27th April
with the exception of fog, today we have seen every type of weather imaginable. even thunder and lightening !
-3 overnight and a crap forecast, so when only 7 turned up to fish, unfortunately i was not too surprised !
but my 1st 2 chucks on the feeder resulted in 2 lost carp so i was hopeful that i might be able to sneak a few in - but no ! again, unfortunately, i was not alone - it was awful, actually it was not that good
by the end everyone had caught - just. there were a few lost fish, a few foul hookers but hard is the understatement of the year so far.
1st Paul Bates, peg 41 - 11lb 7oz pole/maggot
2nd Terry Brindley, peg 73 - 11lb 2oz pole/paste
terry had 2 carp and a perch, i had 2 carp which were smaller but i had a pound or so of silvers which made it 3 wednesdays in a row for me. i would have preferred 60lb but a hat-trick is a hat-trick
Wednesday 13th April
i think this is the last time we listen to Terry Brindley for ideas on where to fish. "there were loads of fish between the bridges yesterday"- well they were not there today, at least they were not prepared to eat. a few cruising, a few sun bathing and a quite few mouthing broken reeds and slurping at the surface.
i drew peg 36, fished on maggot on the pole virtually all day and had plenty of bites but from what i do not know. Terry on 2 fished pellet and again lots of bites but little reward. skimmers ? roach ? crucians ? ghosts ? or just fresh air ?
i managed to mug 1 cruising carp along with 3 others off the bottom along with a good bream and a few silvers to sneak the win
1st Paul Bates, peg 36 - 21lb 8oz pole/maggot
2nd Suzi Smith, peg 41 - 13lb 2oz pole/pellet/corn
3rd Terry Brindley, peg 2 - 11lb 13oz pole/pellet
Wednesday 30th March
We have another Lycho qualifier - woo hoo !
after a couple of near misses and a classic schoolboy error Zach Phelps made no mistake today. after a cold night, frost and then bright sunshine, nothing really wanted to play at all, except, unusually grass carp - nightmare !!!
lost fish again played their part but it was Zach who lost only 1 and made the most of a really tough day.
peg 36 was the draw again - that is a 3rd and 2 wins in the last 3 matches - mmmmm
1st Zach Phelps, peg 36 - 11lb 13oz feeder/corn
2nd Ian Shirley, peg 65 - 10lb pole/maggot
3rd Suzi Smith, peg 47 - 7lb 14oz pole/maggot
nice hair Zach
