The Sedges Autumn League Round 6 Sunday 22nd November 2015

A sudden drop in temperature a few days before the weekend made fishing very difficult - at least the wind had died down by Sunday! Lordy, courtesy of some good draws (they say) already had four section wins and could only be beaten by Matt Taynton if he won his section with more than thirty pounds - not a particularly difficult task under normal circumstances on Tile Lake.
Draw time arrived and Lordy picked out peg 26 in the middle of the far bank. Matt drew peg 29 so he and Lordy were in the same section. Right from the start it was obvious that the fishing was going to be difficult. What had worked a few weeks ago now did no good at all and all Lordy managed on the 6m line with worm was 2 perch for 1lb 6oz. However, he also put out the feeder with dead maggot and had a carp at the beginning and a carp at the end for 10lb. He also lost a very big eel right at the death and weighed in with 11lb 6oz. This won the mini section and the bankside section and so for the first time in 47 years of angling Lordy finally managed to win a league tournament - whoopee!

Peg 26 on Tile Lake

What's new at Fish & Field

 



 

 

 Get your Anchor leads and plummets from Fish & Field - Arlesey bombs and square leads - all at very competitive prices

Very popular with Carp anglers, The Source 10mm Fluro pop-ups and dumbells pack is well worth a look.

Not exactly new on the scene but now available from Sonubaits after some considerable time are the Fin perfect feed pellets

 

Fox have come up with Exocet and Camo Soft Steel Reel line for the Carp angler. It casts well even at 16lb breaking strain.

 

The Sedges Autumn League Round 5 Sunday 8th November 2015

Round 5 and we were back on Brick Lake again. The weather was not as kind and a stiff breeze was pushing the water up to the northern end of the lake. Lordy drew peg 11- an end peg and was told immediately that when it came to drawing he was a veritable Picasso! The windy conditions meant that he decided to set up a small cage feeder and a 1g Drennan Carp 5 pole rig with a 14 hook to 5lb line.
He gave the feeder half an hour and unusually got absolutely no indication whatsoever. Having fed caster and worm at 5.5m he put out the pole rig with a whole worm. It was not long before he was struggling with a good sized eel which gave him all sorts of fun getting it into the landing net. It was the first of three eels during the day. He then switched to the head of a worm and very shortly hooked his first carp of the day. He also tried 6mm Dynamite pro expanders and managed another carp and a lot of "shag under" bites which he missed altogether. It was the worm head however that did the business and he caught another 6 carp, the biggest being 15lb 11oz to finish with 75lb 15oz and first place.
Apparently only Matt Taynton - a customer of Fish & Field - can catch Lordy now so the final match on 22nd November on Tile lake should be a good'un.

Chris back at the Sedges

It's been quite a while since Chris has been to the Sedges for a match. This time he was guest of Glenfall AC for one of their club matches. He picked Lordy up at 6.15am and proceeded to Parkway Café for a customary breakfast and then on to the Sedges. Chris drew peg 26 and just for a change Lordy drew next to him on peg 28.
The weather was grey and cloudy with not a breath of wind - not the best conditions, a little ripple on the water suits the fishing better here - and it was a while before any bites came along. Chris fished shallow at 13m with as bunch of dead maggots feeding caster and soon had several bream. During the day, he managed to net just over 13lb of silvers, including a decent eel and four carp for 34lb to finish with 47lb 8oz. Lordy also managed to capture four carp but his weighed in at 21lb. His small offering of silvers which included an eel of about 3lb only gave him a total of 26lb.
Chris says he's going to Ivy House next week. This is good news for Lordy - yet another venue at which Chris can show him up!!

The Sedges Autumn League

Round three at the Sedges was on the Tile Lake and Lordy, having made two first places already in the last two matches drew peg 40 which is apparently an absolute flyer! Initial attempts to attract the carp on caster fished at five metres failed completely so Lordy decided to put out a feeder full of dead maggot and micro pellet as close to the first island as possible on his Drennan Puddle Chucker carp feeder rod. This produced a carp of about 5lb and another which proceeded to break him off! It took a couple of hours for him to try paste at 5m off to his left as nothing else seemed to work. He was surprised therefore to see the float shoot away almost immediately. He hooked and landed a mirror carp of about 11lb and within minutes has a "weigher" of 12lb 4oz as well. He ended the day with 12 carp for 82lb 1oz and came second in the match and in his section thanks to Sedges owner Jamie Cook who caught in the last hour to beat him by about 10lb.

Sedges Tile Lake. Peg 40 is on the other side off towards the log cabin in the background.

The fourth round of the league took place on Sunday 11th October back on the Canal Lake. Lordy drew peg 47 which has a very shallow far bank. Fishing double caster on a size 18 carp feeder hook with 0.13 power line and a Drennan crystal dibber float produced a perch of about 1lb within the first minute but fish were hard to find thereafter. He hooked and landed one of the small barbel and a couple of small skimmer bream before he decided to fish off to his right hand margin at about 5m. This produced a small tench (which was nice) on double caster. As he was fishing he heard one angler from the other side say he was catching on pellet. He switched immediately to a 6mm Dynamite baits Pro Expander and was rewarded with a small carp. He had to wait for the bites and found that feeding had to be very sparse or not at all but he ended up with four carp from the edge and a decent bream from the far bank to finish with 17lb 9oz. This gave him 3rd place overall but, more importantly, first place in his section.

The Canal Lake at the Sedges

Lordy's local club is fishing Tile lake next weekend and Chris Derrick is coming along as a guest. Watch this space for his performance report!

Deals at Fish & Field

The pike fishing "season" is upon us and at Fish & Field we have everything you will need for a day's piking from deadbaits to lures.

 

 

Need a new seatbox? This one is a limited edition from Preston Innovation is on a deal and comes with a box full of winders for your floats, a telescopic feeder arm and keepnet attachments supplied. A real snip of a price. Come and get one now while stocks last.

Fish & Field Sale

Coming to Fish & Field

 

One week only starting Saturday 3rd October 2015

 

Autumn Sale

 

A chance to buy some pre-Christmas Bargains

The Sedges Autumn League 13th September 2105

Brick Lake is a large rectangular item with 10 pegs either side. It is packed to the gunnels with carp, bream, tench, roach and eels and normally is a very prolific water. Guess what? On the day it fished like the fish had gone on holiday and the first few hours were very frustrating, especially watching the anglers on pegs 11 to 20 catching steadily. Lordy drew peg 6 and started with a paste line which produced nothing. He switched to a caster fed line at 5m using a worm and soon hooked and landed an eel of about 1lb. He normally screams like a little girl when he hooks one of these so he's getting better - he didn't even cringe as he grasped the snake-like creature!

With about 90 minutes to go he had about 3lb in the net and was just thinking that he was not going to catch any carp when his paste rig sank away and he hooked and landed a12lb 4oz common carp. Switching to a worm tail produced 4 more carp - all around the 10lb mark and a decent bream. This gave him 53lb 13oz and a surprising section win. Matt Taynton, a customer of Fish & Field was first with 71lb 7oz.

Tile Lake next!

The Sedges Autumn League September 6th

It really made a pleasant change to motor down to Bridgwater with the prospect of a fine sunny day ahead, not something we've had too much of recently. The Sedges Autumn League is a 6 match series, two on the Canal Lake, two each on Tile and Brick Lakes. It was the turn of the Canal Lake this time which does not contain large carp but rather a mixture of smaller species including chub and barbel.

Lordy drew peg 44 next to owner Jamie Cook on 45. He fished at 13m with the Drennan Acolyte Carp pole, a Drennan crystal dibber and 0.13 line to a size 16 Drennan carp feeder hook to nylon. Caster and worm were the preferred bait. A small skimmer bream right at the start was followed about 40 minutes later by an eel of about 1lb. It took another 40 minutes before Lordy hooked his first carp of the day, only to see it escape when his landing net became detached from the handle! Jamie in the meantime had not had a bite!

Eventually the peg became more productive but it remained hard work to keep the fish there. Lordy ended up with 6 carp, 2 barbel several skimmer bream, a perch and an eel for a total of 22lb. This gave him second place on the day with John Fuidge from Thornbury winning it with 23lb 5oz. Both him and Lordy won their league sections.

The next match is on Sunday 13th September on Brick Lake which should produce larger weights and involve an altogether different style of fishing. We shall see!

Oh, and if you're thinking the M5 would be clear now that the holidays are over, think again. It took two and a half hours to get home!!

The Sedges Top Two Tournament - 31st August 2015

Lordy qualified for the final after just two matches he felt pretty confident that he would at last manage to produce a good performance when it really mattered. He drew peg 35 - of which he was very satisfied - next to Vic Bush. He started with paste and within 15 minutes had been smashed twice and landed a common carp of about 6lb. During this time Vic had hooked and landed a carp in excess of 15lb!
Having given up on the paste he reverted to meat and caster but struggled to get anything going. A double worm resulted in a perch of about 2lb and a little session on the single caster resulted in about 20 small roach and skimmer bream. Two hours in and he went back to the paste. This time it was more successful as he landed 5 carp and an eel within the hour until he ran out of paste! He had maintained the caster and meat feeding and an 8mm cube of "Spam" soon got the carp going again.
He ended up with 16 carp, including a weigher of 12lb 8oz to finish with 98lb - a very enjoyable day's fishing. Bob Gullet won the day and Nick Fuidge and John Fuidge were second and third.

Next week? The Sedges Autumn league starts on the Canal Lake.

Mike at Hunters

Mike recently bought a new Korum 11ft waggler rod from Fish & Field and tested it out at Hunter's Lake which belongs to the Cross Hands Club.
Fishing at dead depth with 6lb main line and an 8mm krill pellet on a waggler set up he hooked and landed an 11lb 8oz Common carp - a personal best.

Nice one Mark

Another day at Ashlea Farm

Chris' brother in law, impressed by his younger son's exploits at Ashlea Farm took his older son there the other day and "just let him get on with it". Here are the results!

Sam fishing from the concrete peg at Ashlea Farm

A really nice bag of fish - roach, crucians and tench. Even better than these was the very welcome 5lb Mirror carp. Well done, Sam!

A 5lb Mirror!

New at Fish & Field

The Matrix Method Hair Rigs - a good range of hook sizes tied to good strength line.

 

 

Fish & Field's redesigned course bait section. All your bait needs.

A Day out at Burton lake

Chris and Lordy went to a Cross Hands AC lake near Burton last Thursday to check out the venue. Derek Higgs went along as well so that the other two would be able to find it!
The lake is well set out in quiet countryside with only a murmur of the M4 in the distance.

The Cross Hands Lake at Burton

Chris chose a peg opposite a nearby island and Lordy went further along the bank to a peg just between two islands. Chris chose to fish worm and caster using a well mixed guano mixture of worm, caster groundbait and goodness knows what else as a feed.

Looks good enough to eat!

Lordy went for the more orthodox pellet approach using Dynamite bait expanders and Swimstim 3mm green feeder pellets.
The lake is a fairly new build and as such is not a prolific fishery. It did remind Lordy of his early days, waiting for a bite (and missing it!). However, Chris managed to net two very nice tench, some roach and a few baby barbel.

The smaller of his two tench

The lake contains a lot of these baby barbel

Lordy managed four tench, a carp (which should not be in the lake) and a few baby barbel once he changed to a worm bait.
It wasn't the most energetic of days but apparently it fishes very well first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening, so fishing it in the middle of the day was probably not the best idea. Oh well!

Derek is keen - he carried on for at least an hour after the others left!

Some good deals at Fish and Field

Sorry it's been a while but as we said, cameras don't bounce and new technology takes a while to work with us!
Anyway, here are some new items and some good deals at Fish & Field-

 

These starter whips are ideal for young and old and will help any novice angler catch fish, and the angling bug.
Need a good box to carry your gear and for you to sit in style. This Diawa seat box has a detachable tackle section and attachments for all your add on items. All legs are fully adjustable.

 

If you really want to chill out whilst waiting for that run, the Chub recliner is great value and extremely comfortable.

New in at Fish & Field are the Shakespeare MACH range of pole rigs, hooks to nylon and rig line, all at very competitive prices.

Convenient packs of three

 

 

Fine wire hooks tied to MACH line - very reliable

Shakespeare rig line available in a complete range of strengths

 

 

 

5th July 2015 Shiplate Fishery

Shiplate Fishery is situated near Weston Super Mare and once found by Satnav is an absolute delight. It is well appointed with several canal lakes and a very impressive looking main lake. The pegs on the main lake are very spacious so match angler and carp specialist alike are well catered for.
Lordy went down there with his local club and drew peg 2 on the main lake - the only peg with an "easy" reach of one of the islands. He started at 6m fishing caster and worm and was soon catching an assortment of bream, tench, roach and perch. However, once the strong wind had died down he attempted to get across tight to the island using his Drennan Acolyte Carp pole at 14.5m on 8mm hard pellet. It took him a while to get comfortable at this distance (He's used to no more than 11.5m!) but very quickly had two or three reasonable sized carp in the net. The wind and rain returned which indicated time for lunch - a Twix and a drink of juice, but once the wind had died again he got out there again. By the end of the day he had 20 carp and weighed in with 117lb (and he actually won the match!)
Shiplate is definitely worth a visit.

Michael's Bag!

Following on from his venture out to Ashlea Farm the other day, Chris' brother-in-law Michael had another couple of sessions there. Both resulted in a good bag of fish.

That tench was a nice surprise

A day out with the nephew

Chris took his brother in law and his young nephew to Ashlea Farm the other day. It seems the young man had a very enjoyable time. Hopefully he will be going again soon.

 

 

Chris enjoyed himself as well, but then he always does when he's on the bank.

 

 

Gone Fishin'

 

 

 

 

 

The Sedges Top 2 Tournament Part 2

The second match at the Sedges was fished in good sunshine but with a North Westerly breeze. Chris drew Peg 39 which is an absolute flyer most times. However he was only able to hook one carp all day and spent most of the rest catching a lot of small roach for 13lb. With the carp weighing in at 5lb it meant Chris totalled 18lb. This means he will not be able to qualify for the final on August Bank Holiday. He was not downhearted however as it meant he can aim for the silvers on the next match using caster instead of maggot and he can open the shop on August Bank Holiday Monday!

Lordy picked peg 34 out of the bucket this time and initially he was a bit disappointed as last time other anglers struggled in that general area. However, he persevered and having fed about three pints of caster over the day and a lot of meat he hooked and landed thirteen carp, some bream (caught shallow) and three eels of about a pound each (and he didn't even scream like a big Jessie!). Come the weigh in and he was pleasantly surprised to find that he had come second on the day and had qualified for the final - for the first time ever!

Ashlea Farm 7th June 2015

It made a pleasant change to have a short trip to the match as Ashlea Farm lake is just up the road near Horton. The group of anglers from Cross Hands Angling Club were very welcoming and there was a lot of good natured banter, mostly centred on the performance of the lake in recent days. It all sounded promising.

Lordy drew peg 1 which meant he had a lot of open water in front, a channel to his left and a very nice looking margin to his right. His tactics for the day were to fish 11.5 m out in front, 5m to his left in the channel and over to his right tight to some lilies. The first hour was spent wondering why only one small skimmer had taken his 6mm expander out at 11.5m. A trip to the channel resulted in some very spirited chublets and a good sized roach on caster but initial trips to the margins remained fruitless until about three hours in to the match when he captured a small tench, a crucian and a carp of about 5lb. This particular carp led him a merry dance and at one point was 10m up the channel! At the end of the match he weighed in with just over 8lb.

Chris took up residence on peg 5 with a very good island chuck and promising margins. He initially went out 6m and was soon catching roach and skimmers. However, when he decided to go over to the island matters improved considerably. It took him some while to locate a spot tight to the island which was about 18" deep but once there he fed steadily and fished expander shallow on 0.15 power line and grey hydro elastic. Soon carp number one arrived which took him way off to his right around the island. Once in the net he shipped out again but had to wait some while before carp number two was netted. At the end of the match Chris had bagged six carp and a decent net of silvers to give him 37lb and first place.

If you wish to fish Ashlea Farm Lake you need to be a member of Cross Hands Angling Club. Details are on their web site or you can grab some at Fish & Field.

(Sorry there are no photos this time out - I was taking photos in the shop and dropped the camera. It doesn't work too well now and I still haven't told my children I've broken their Christmas present to me!)

New to Fish & Field this month

Dynamite baits have been pulling out all the stops recently and have enhanced their bait range. New to Fish & Field are two groundbait mixes - the XL range White Chocolate and Coconut and the Mega Margin Mix.

They have also introduced a range of ready to mix pastes - Red Krill, Betaine Green and Amino. These mixes are two for one - two portions of powder for one portion of water and are ready to use in about ten minutes.

Dynamite have also added to their liquid CSL by introducing Krill and Squid liquids.

Not to be outdone, Bait-Tech have finally brought out their Poloni boilies (freezer) and pop-ups.

On the tackle side of things Mosella Pole Rollers are available at a very reasonable £39.99. These have good extension to the legs and are a sturdy make.

There is a lot more Matrix (Fox) tackle in the shop. The latest is the Matrix rig case which has a rubber seal to keep your rigs dry.

For your Carp fishing needs

As you may have read on the carp section of the web site we stock items of bait for the carp angler from Sticky, Bait-Tech, Dynamite, Sonubait, Mainline, CC Moore and Korda, Here, in more detail is what is available.

Part of our new carp bait wall

Sticky

•  Pellets, Active Mix, Powder and Boilies (12mm, 16mm and 20mm) - Bloodworm and Krill
• Liquids - Cloudy Bloodworm, Cloudy Krill, Pure Krill and Aqua Amino
• Pure Natural Betaine 
• Pastes - Bloodworm and Krill
• Pop-Ups, Wafters, Dumbells,Liquids and Sprays - Vor-tex, Krill, Bloodworm, Signature, White Chocolate, Peach and Pepper, Buchu-berry and Pineapple and n'Butyric
• Glugs - Bloodworm, Krill and Vor-tex.

Bait-Tech

• Pellets - Marine Halibut (14mm,10mm,8mm and 6mm), Krill (6mm, 8mm ands the long awaited 14mm), Mixed Krill, Halibut Select and Super Attract Carp and the brand new Fishmeal Carp pellets.

Brand new from Bait-Tech

• Liquids - Sweet Coconut, Scopex, Strawberry, Green-lipped Mussel and Predator Plus.

• Big Bags,  Hemp, Chilli Hemp and Party Mix and the long awaited Growler Tiger Nuts.

• Tins -  Hemp, Chilli Hemp and Particle.

New from Bait-Tech - the Krill pellets in 8mm and 14mm.

Also new from Bait-Tech is the long awaited Poloni Groundbait - ideal for the carp and pleasure angler.

Dynamite

• Boilies - Monster Tiger Nut (15mm, 20mm), The Source (15mm, 20mm), White Chocolate 15mm, Spicy Tuna and Sweet Chilli 15mm, Robin Red 15mm and Halibut Marine Sea Salt
• Carptec Boilies - Strawberry,  Spicy Squid, Tutti Frutti, Pineapple and Banana, and Bloodworm
• Jars - Mixed Particle, Hempseed, Frenzied Feeder Maize and Frenzied Feeder Tiger Nuts
• Tins - Frenzied Monster Tiger Nuts and Frenzied Monster Chilli Tiger Nuts.

Sonubait

• Action Boilies - Crab and Crayfish, Pineapple, Strawberry and White Chocolate.
• Pop-ups - Code Red and Monster Tiger Nut
• Tins - Spicy Sausage Hemp, Hemp and Meat, Hemp + Krill, Hemp n' Tigers and Hemp n' Crushed Tigers.

Mainline

• High Impact Boilies - Peaches and Cream, Salty Squid and Spicy Crab plus freezer boilies
• Pop-ups - Clockwork Orange, Indian Spice, Hybrid, Cell, Activ-8, Grange (new!) and Pro-active Pineapple.

CC Moore

• Freezer boilies

Korda

• Goo - all flavours including "smoke" effect.

Windmill Fishery

Sunday 24th May 2015

Chris decided the other day that it was about time he visited Windmill Fishery in order to defeat his gremlins.(He's always struggled there!) Lordy had been to Ivy House the day before and had some expanders to use up so he went along as well. This was a good idea really as he had qualified last week for the semi finals of the South Gloucestershire show and therefore a practice session seemed on the cards.

Drennan keepnets available at Fish & Field

Chris drew peg 22 and Lordy drew peg 23 making it a neighbourly affair. Chris decided not to use his lead rod but stuck to the pole at 16m to get as close to the island as he could. In the meantime Lordy put an 8mm pellet on the straight lead in amongst the ducks (who consumed at least half of his pellet feed during the day) ands was rewarded with three carp fairly promptly. Over the course of the match he varied it between the straight lead and the pole at 8m using the leftover 6mm expanders to finish with 50lb 7oz and first place.(No longer the bridesmaid!)

No more the bridesmaid!

Chris varied it between 16m and 4m but it took him until the last hour or so to start bringing in the carp. He finished with 19lb 6oz.