Lewy's Lines

The previous night those already at the fishery went to the Lymington Arms for a beef dinner with Jo and Paul and the draw for teams.  Herbie had sacked last years captains and new captains assigned, you can imagine my surprise when my name came out to be a team captain. I drew from the 4 pint pots and drew Shedders, Pete Merce, Pat Pritchard and Hainsey, what a team! The day when the rest of the lads would descend on the fishery and the chance to have a Champions League match with all three lakes in the draw. I had popped out early in the morning to grab some more cash and toast for the lads.  It was an early start and I managed to get back to the fishery before 8am, however my "entry speed" into the fishery had been captured on CCTV together with the large cloud of dust I'd created.  By the time I would get to the draw I'd been identified by Herbie as the culprit and was in for a surprise fine! The Draw Rolling draw and of course we were the last lodge to

That time of year is on us once again, time to drive down to Devon and the brilliant Stafford Moor fishery to see Paul and Jo and witness the work they've untaken since last years trip.  We would not be disappointed. An early morning start saw me getting to the fishery at 9am to be welcomed with a hug, from Jo, not Paul and a cup of coffee.  Behind the tackle shop the new lake is taking shape, the roads around the fishery vastly improved together with plenty of great parking at the lodges.  Paul and Jo have also built an area with electrical hook ups for caravan and motorhome owners.  Great job guys! I was first at the lodge so plenty of time to unpack both the fishing gear, clean the worms, prepare some ground bait and get the food and beer supplies ready. Today, Herbie had organised a knock up match for 3 hours which allows you to get your gear sorted for the week and also to figure out where it all is after the winter storage. The Draw Taners and Woodpecker pegs were

Another opportunity to get some silvers practise in before the 'Moor and back to Sumner's fishery with Hathers and crew. After learning from last week, the match plan today if the peg allowed it, was to have a single long line that would be fed heavily from the off and left to settle, a waggler line and 5 metre line for the roach. Today's weather was pretty horrid and the car was showing 2 degrees as I arrived at the fishery.  The wind was a nasty north easterly and blowing straight down the lake. The Draw Peg 12 which is permanent peg 21 the far end of the right hand bank and today somewhat sheltered from the wind. Set-up As per the match plan 14.5 metre pole line straight ahead towards the peg opposite.  Close in lines to 5 metres including a margin line and the waggler rod out of the bag. Bait list today, maggots (red/white) and casters including some ground bait for the long line. All-In Hathers came round to collect his peg markers and with all the o

First outing for 2018 and some much needed practise ready for my week at Stafford Moor.  So today I was out with the MFS lads at Sumners Fishery, Horsham on the match lake. My last visit here was back in 2012 however that was a carp match and I had a fantastic day recording my PB match weight at the time. As usual it was great to see a lot of the lads I'd not see for a while despite much Mickey taking as I'd prepared a bacon sandwich for our match organiser Hathers. The weather was pretty mild around 10 degrees with a gentle south westerly wind even though the day before it had rained for most of the day. The Draw Peg 16 which is permanent peg 30. Set-up Looking at my peg I decided to fish four pole lines, two would be fed negatively and the others positively.  So I opted for two lines at 14.5 metres at 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock positions, the other two lines would be at 5 metres.  I also managed to find the same depth on all lines so one rig would cover th

The last match of the year for me and an outing to Lawn Farm near Cambridge with the Facebook Angling League guys.  Lawn Farm has been quite kind to me this year although the very cold weather lately made me think that today would be a tough day. I'd pinged Amer Jawad who is a regular at Lawn Farm for some advice as I'd not been on the bank for a few months to get some tips.  Amer certainly helped my day, so thanks Amer! The Draw A couple of no-shows, although the best no-show was Glen who thought the match was on the Sunday, not the Saturday!  Luckily Paul Law who was getting a lift from Glen arrived with another angler.  On the plus side at least Glen didn't turn up at some ungodly hour at Paul's place on the Sunday! Peg 27 came out the bag for me which I was happy about.  The peg is on the spit at the back of the lake and gave me open water and the island to go for. Set-up Peg 27 happened to be Amer's favourite peg so the advice that came through I fo

I'm very lucky to have another masterclass with Bob Nudd.  Big thanks to the good lady who bought me this surprise present.  This would be my second time out with Bob. Bob called me well in advance to discuss what I'd like to do for the day.  First option was going to be a river somewhere as I tend to mainly fish commercial venues my other option was to learn to fish a big natural water fishing at distance using braid for big bream. So the day was set and the location agreed upon was Gunwade Lake, Ferry Meadows in Peterborough. I called my fishing buddy Mark up to see if he wanted to come along too which was very timely as he'd just had a day with Bob and his father in-law. We met Bob in the car park and took our gear down to Pegs 39 and 40 so not too long a walk. Set-Up - Rods and Reels Big casts, heavy rigs need substantial gear.  I was using a 13 foot Daiwa Tournament RS Feeder rod coupled with a Daiwa Cast'izm 25 QDA  loaded with guru Pulse

Day 2 of the festival.  A great night out with some of the lads in Epping at a fantastic Turkish restaurant where the food came in absolute abundance which wasn't helped by Simon pilling more and more food onto my plate! For a change heads were reasonably clear and we arrived to a beautiful overcast day at the fishery.  Section winners yesterday were Stephen Daniels, Chris Vandervleit, Andy Gregory and Paul Law so these lads would be wanting a great draw and to be in a section preferably without the others! The Draw Once again Chris let me draw for him, mainly as he was holding the bag with the pegs in them.  Out came peg 36, something which he was very happy about! My draw, I'd be on Peg 7, again on the right hand bank although with a great margin line clear of other anglers to my left.  Colin Bartlett, fishery owner drew peg 8 next to me.  Now there is a rule that if you draw next to Colin it's a fiver, not the normal pound so we I had to do well. Set-up A sim