Lewy's Lines

Second night in Sailsbury and a few of us headed to the fantastic indian that deserves a Michelin star, Anokaa !  The evening events were to prove very late for the hardcore few, I ducked out a bit earlier than normal. The next morning a very hungover Andy Gregory heads down to the breakfast area and declares, "I want the worlds largest breakfast", "but no tomatoes, no eggs...."  It was hilarious. No forgotten keys today, although we had to deal with the official retirement of Animal from Match Fishing.  Luckily he'll still be going to Stafford Moor, but he will be missed by the lads! The Draw Today we'd be fishing the Outer Snake lake, all 16 of us.  I drew Peg 15 on the Outer Snake with Sconey and Deano as neighbours Set-Up Again, all pole today, so the lines would be. Far side bank at around 13 metres Margin to my left 5 metre line Bait was the same as yesterday. All-In The plan was to fish the far bank in multiple places, feed my 5

Another year of facebook messages asking, "Is it Withy yet?"...  Most of us all arrived on the friday morning and lunchtime where the consumption of Stella, Cider and other beers started.  To say that by the time the taxi's arrived to take us all into Sailsbury we were mostly pickled! Year in year out we of course ended up in YOYO's drinking through the menu and then back to the Kings head with splinter groups heading to the vodka bar next door.  The result, well the next morning there where plenty of hangovers, yours truly included. Two mini buses got us all back to Witherington Farm Fisheries ready for the draw.  Unfortunately Animal had forgotten his car keys and unable to get his gear out of the car had to head back to the hotel, now there is a nomination for the dildo award right there! The Draw As per usual, Sconey had the draw all sorted with no fuss.  The only thing going wrong was the knackered stapler... ;-) Peg 7 on Cottage would be my home for t

There have been quite a few articles about needing to get young people involved in Angling, so when asked if you'll take someone fishing for the first time, how could I refuse? The New Fisherman! So, it was Samuel's 7th birthday and his Mum, Lianne was asked by Samuel if he could go fishing.  A quick message on facebook and we sorted out a date when I'd be back in Teesside to get him out on the bank. The Gear Where do you begin with regards tackle for a new angler?  Well Korum provide some great kits for beginners, a float, ledger and pole outfit. I decided to get the Korum Float Pack Starter kit .   The only change I made was replacing the 6lb line for some 4lb line which I had plenty of. Fish safety is number one, so I grabbed an old landing net head and handle to add to the kit and some other floats, shot, a towel, rod rest, bank stick, some more ready made hooklengths and bait tub.  The gear was ready! The Venue We needed a venue that was local and was s

The final day and the week had flown by!  All the anglers where split into four seeding groups.  Those leading the seeding group selected an envelope which revealed the lake the seeding group would be fishing on. Needless to say I was currently in the last seeding group and Col K had picked Woodpecker for us. The Draw Peg 12 on Woodpecker, a great draw.  Herbie came over and explained how I needed to fish todays match for a good result. Set-Up Pole Lines: 12 metres towards the point of the island 7 metres at 2 o'clock Feeder line down to peg 13 a couple of metres off the island The key to Woodpecker is the fact it is was originally made up of 8 smaller lakes.  Target fishing the deeper areas where the lakes used to be joined. All-In A beautiful day lay ahead of us.  Herbie's advice was to put in two balls of groundbait with no loose offerings in on the Island line and one ball on the 2 o'clock line and fish the feeder for the first hour to let the lines

Today I was looking forward to fishing Tanners.  The weather was a lot better today, calm, sunshine a far cry from yesterdays horrid day. The Draw Peg 11 today, a very short walk from the Lodge of Plenty, neighbours for the day Colbrad and Col K. Set-Up 6 and 12 metre pole lines.  The waggler rod came out too.  I had swims in front on me and also margin swims to my right and a tree line pointing towards peg 12. All-In The long pole line was fed with two balls of groundbait.  A small cup of chopped worm on the tree margin line.  I kicked off the 6 metre line with a nugget of groundbait with single red maggot. As previous days I could not get the short line working at all... so I had a quick look on the tree margin line, float dipped and fish on... another big carp which ended up in the net after about 10 minutes. Col K hooked a landed a large bream, around 3lb in weight on the waggler. Colbrad was also fishing the waggler and getting a few fish, so I followed there lead

Shocking weather Day 3 and I'm dead last on the leaderboard.  Today the weather forecast predicted that we would be getting battered by winds gusting between 50 and 70 mph!  Of course the rain would be with us too... Waking up in the Lodge of plenty we were greeted with horrible weather! The Draw My lake for the day would be Oak, the carp had been showing on previous matches so I wanted to avoid the corner where most of the carp where... Peg 13 unlucky for me, Carp corner! Set-Up The wind was so bad the pole option was going to be short only so the feeder rod was the only real option of the day.  Pole lines would be margin to my left and keep net line. All-In I selected a feeder line that was around 18 metres, groundbait and double red maggot.  Again opting for a negative approach therefore I'd leave this feeder in until the first bite indication.  5 minutes on the clock and the tip wrapped round... yet a lovely none counting carp! This repeated itself for th

After a bad start to the festival I was looking forward to fishing Willow Lake behind the new tackle shop.  Willow had been fishing well so far this week so was expecting a good day despite the weather. The Draw Peg 8 on Willow was my lot for the day.  It was the middle of the far bank.  Neighbours would be the Scottish C@£$, Col K and Shedders. Set-Up Pole lines at 6 metres with a "99" double bulk rig and a waggler for fishing to the sunken island. All-In The weather lady had predicted the rain would stop at 12pm which for once, was right and the whistle for the all-in also stopped the rain! After the previous day I opted for a negative approach on feeding and had selected three areas on the 6 metre line, cupping in nuggets of groundbait over each line. The plan was a per Animals cracking victory yesterday on Willow and to take a couple of fish from each swim, before topping up and moving to the next.  Best laid plans and all... Thirty minutes in and the 6 met