WADE ON WATER with Richard Wade
ANGLERS feared the worst at Lychgate Fisheries before the mid-week Open as the lake was mostly still covered in ice and had been frozen since the weekend.
But that didn’t put off the inform Suzi Smith.
Drawn on peg 69 and fishing her favourite pellet feeder and constantly swapping hook baits she managed to catch a superb 94lb 12ozs of carp to record yet another win.
Despite still breaking ice an hour into the match Ian Shirley, eventually started in style, landing five carp in his first five casts.
Fishing legered bread on peg 58 he finished the day with 44lb for second place.
Mick Wilson had to abandon his plans to fish for small fish as carp kept taking his bait.
He landed seven carp which boosted his catch to 43lb 6ozs for third place.
After weeks of struggling Shackerstone’s open match fished along the Barton Road length, turned into a “fish fest” as everybody taking part caught something.
Singing fisherman John Gamble finally had something to sing about with his first win of the season.
John landed a superb 1lb 14oz perch and a small roach to finish with 1lb 15ozs.
Andy Morton came second with a 1lb 5oz catch of small roach.
Kev Milne finished third with 9ozs of small perch.
Higham Lane Fishery’s Saturday Open was won by Clive Oliver who recorded his first win of the season with a 22lb 11oz catch on legered sweetcorn from peg 11.
Mick Linnett used similar tactics to finish second place with 18lbs. David Kent was third with 12lb 7ozs. A bumper turn out for Lychgate Sunday Open was greeted by rain, wind and more rain, but at least the ice had gone.
Mark Sidwells made a perfect start catching two carp in his first two casts.
He went on to win from peg 63 with a 48lb 2oz catch taken on feeder fished bread.
The evergreen Terry Brindley pole fished maggot on peg 68 to land 31lb 8ozs for second place.
John Harvey finished third with a 31lb 2oz catch.
Ice covered much of the lake before Tuesday’s Mill on the Soar Open, not surprisingly sport was slow.
Wayne Smith took the honours landing four bream and a small carp from peg 4 to weigh 9lb 3ozs.
A single 4lb 5oz carp was enough to put Tom Watt in second place with Dave Cleaver finishing third with 3lb 12ozs of small fish.
The ice breakers were out before the start of Maynes Lakes Wednesday Open and again catches were lower than normal.
Tony Simonetti pole fished bread towards the island to catch 16lb 14ozs of carp to record the days top catch.
Results; Pool One, Section One: Alan Wilson 16lb 3ozs from peg 32.
Section Two, Tony Simonetti from peg 35.
Pool Three, Section Three; Dave Bolton 3lb 9ozs from peg 10.
After spending the first half of Saturdays Lychgate Fisheries Open fishing bomb and bread Steve Brindley decided to switch to pole fishing maggot.
Despite plenty of signs of fish in his peg he hadn’t caught one, but the change paid off and he caught steadily for the rest of the match to finish up with a winning 66lb 10oz catch.
Mid-week winner Suzi Smith again used Pellet feeder tactics which resulted in a 23lb 6oz catch for second place.
Higham Lane Fishery have open matches every Thursday and Saturday, draw 9am.
Lychgate Fisheries have open matches every Saturday and Sunday, draw around 9am.
Shackerstone have an open match this Sunday, draw 8am at the Rising Sun.
Brookfield have an open match at Stoke Golding this Sunday, February 5th, draw 9am.
Mill on the Soar have an open match every Tuesday, draw 8.30am.
Maynes Lake’s have an open match every Wednesday, draw 10am.
Lychgate Fisheries have an open match every Wednesday, draw 9am.