Lewy's Lines

The motley crew! A good friend and work colleague Dugald Henderson has just retired from working life at Shell so we all decided to descend upon Dugald and his family at their home in the Isle of Wight. So why is this on my fishing blog?  Well, Dugald being a great sport and agreeing to let 9 of the team including families stay at there magnificent Grade II listed property on the Isle of Wight had also organised a full weekend of activities for us which included a half day out on the water with Rob and Black Rock Charters . Now I'm a little bit prone to sea sickness so I was filled with joy and trepidation for the chance to catch some fish of the back of a boat.  All precautions where taken including a very early alarm call to take my pills two hours before the charter.  Believe me, after a night with the Henderson's, free flowing drinks, that was a very tough call! We all gathered in the harbour at 8am and were warmly greeted by Rob and permission was granted to boar

Sunday morning and a few soar heads after a late night up drinking with the Lewy and Dean comedy duo!  No football this year, just plenty of burgers and sausages to go with plenty of salads, pasta and crisps... oh, I forgot beer and vino too... A few of us crashed on the couches in Pebs lounge which was appreciated.  It was definitely a race to get to sleep first as Dean's snoring was pretty much like a steam train! No comments about my snoring, I must not snore... ;-) The Draw At least today I knew I'd be on Yasi's lake, so what came out of the magical draw bag?  Yasi's Peg 6, an area I've not fished before. Set-Up No rods for Yasi's, only the pole required and again with plenty of time to set-up I plumbed up the following lines: Line to the far bank with around 12 inches of depth Line down the far and near shelf Line in the track, full depth and shallow Margin line on top 2 to my right I had 5 pints of casters left from yesterday after only

The annual 2 day event at Peb's place, How End Fishery.  The fishery is going from strength to strength with the fish getting bigger and more importantly, wiser.  Another event that I simply cannot miss as two days away with the lads, overnight BBQ and beers with everyone makes this weekend brilliant! I arrived at the fishery around 8am ready for the draw to be greeted by a load of the lads.  The weather was absolutely fantastic, definitely a T-shirt and shorts day! The Draw Dani's, Peg 15 came out of the bag for me, a great method peg!  My partner for the weekend would be Baz, but we still had a side bet of a golden nugget across the days! Set-Up No rushing around today, with a very easy all in at 10:30am, fishing until 4:30pm.  I set up a couple of pole lines to fish: Top 2 + 1 section for the near shelf 13 metre line at full depth and shallow The method rod came out the bag and that was me done!  I'd bought some casters, worms, mixed maggots, sweetcorn an

Finally Mark and I get to resume our mini competition but this time rather than match fishing we decided to go in the hunt of large carp. It was back to the venue where all of it started, Blue Bell Lakes in Peterborough. This would be my first time with the rod pod and buzzers and I was hoping to use a bit of my match knowledge to winkle out a few larger specimens.  I would also be relying on Mark to be my teacher for the day. Mark had kindly brought all the bait needed, boilies, hemp, maize, pop-up's and also had prepared some rigs for me.  We met at the fishery at 8am and it had changed since out last outing in 1997.  The small portacabin had been replaced by a custom built shop / come garage for the owners bikes, it looked fantastic. Blue Bell Lake was our pick for the day and as the wind was blowing down the lake we took the 3rd and 4th swim's on the left side of the lake. Set-Up Now I can normally set-up my match gear quite quickly, so you would have thought

Final day and we would be back on Bonsai.  A fish and chip night saw the local chippy being swamped with a massive order.  A few beers in the bar and an early night for some. Young Ryan was involved in the the 3 man lift, it can be found on Facebook somewhere. This is one of Nathan's party tricks and most new comers fall for it!  Ryan was in a position to win the festival yesterday, but he had set up on the wrong peg along with other misdemeanors was awarded 4 points instead of his section win.  It was all to play for as a number of anglers could win the festival. The Draw An earlier draw today so that people could get away earlier.  Peg 67 would be my lot for the day. Paul N had won the lake from this peg on Day 1.  I had Steve, Juzzy, Young Ryan and Paul N in my section today... a pretty tough section! Set-Up Again, the spirit of the festival came through with Paul N telling me exactly what he had done on day one, despite being in the same section as me.  Thanks m

Day 4 and after two section seconds and one section fourth I was doing ok in the standings, just ok mind you... A great night in the clubhouse with the lads and Neil with the game of killer taking ages on the pool table that we were quite late to bed!  The most amusing part of the night was Neil eating a £10 note that Juzzy was trying to bet with... The lads where rolling around laughing as Neil was chomping away on it to finally re-gurgitate it and give it back to Juzzy... The Draw Peg 13 on Beeches. A new lake to me both Beeches and Loco were in the draw and the promise of large fish was beckoning today. Peg 13 has a great right hand margin line with around 20 inches of depth and a nice platform for the fish to dine from. The spirit of the festival shone through today with Bigun coming over and telling me how to fish the peg, when to put the groundbait in and when to finally put a double worm over the groundbait. With no worms, Bigun came over with a handful of worms for m

Day 3 after a night in the curry house with the lads, luckily I offered to drive so had a very clear head this morning, others didn't fair so well today.  Again we would be drawing pegs from both Willows and Laurels, so I could be on the same peg if my unlucky drawing hand pulled it out again. The weather was definitely better, with some wind, causing ripple and it was overcast. The Draw Peg 52 Willows would be the home for the day.  A peg I've never fished before, so I was looking forward to the challenge. Set-up Pretty much open water ahead, with stick-ups to my right which ruled out the margin line. Luckily the left hand margin had been trimmed and was looking tempting. Fish were crashing about spawning to my far left so I set up a method rod to try and get over to them. Pole lines were: Top 2 and 2 Top 4 and 2 full depth and a shallow rig Margin on the left  Bait for the day was a before, fishery pellets and corn. All in Kindering in a ball of micro p