Back on the River

Not had a chance to get on the river so I became a member of Ridgeway and booked in for their Sunday match at Swineford. I walked this match last year and it fished well with lots of chublets, chub and some bream.

The draw was 8:30 by the outfall, and big thanks go to Ridgeway legend Steve Dumbleton who runs the club, matches and had organised swim clearing on the Friday. My first duties were to explain to some Eastern European anglers that they could not fish here. Eventually the penny dropped and they headed off elsewhere. 

11 fishing today and I fancied drawing any of the last 5  pegs. Well as per my current draws I avoided them, I pulled a choice, 1 or 3. Well it was 3 for me, a steep peg but I hoped not a bleak fest like peg 1 would be.

I was surprised at how little flow there was, but then again I guess it’s been dry for ages. What flow there was was between 6m and 16m, and it varies and changes during the day. Past this the river was on its head. Set up a 6m whip with 3G rig 16 N10 to 0.12, a 3G bolo and a gbait feeder.  I mixed up some Sonubaits black roach and black river for the whip, and usual sweet skimmer and Thatchers for the feeder.

I had 10 chucks on the feeder and a quick look for just rattlers. Onto the whip where I was feeding the odd small ball of my gbait with casters and hemp. First swing in and caught in a tree… got the rig back but had to snap the line, it was turned into a 5m rig, no more tree problems after this. I started with caster on the hook, and it wasn’t long before I was getting hold ups from bleak and after a while the bulk was moved down and I had a no6, no 8 and no 10 next to the hook length. First hour was ok, maybe 2lb, bleak, dace, a roach and a perch. 

The second and third hours were better, more dace, but had to switch from caster to maggots on the hook. A few more roach and perch were also welcome. Ali Gibbs on peg 4 and Craig Pinker on peg 2 both said they were struggling and getting bleaker out.

Bites dried up other than bleak so I introduced some chopped worms in the gbait, this got me a few more perch and then I hooked what was probably a chub that took off at a rate of knots and snapped me. After this it was a struggle, the feeder line was dead other than bits and the whip and bolo was just odd bleak. My match ended quietly and I thought I had 7 to 8lb, word was everyone had struggled. 

The scales came down from peg 12, John (forgot his surname 🙈) was top with 8lb 12, and Matt Challenger had a little less. Ali had 4lb then my fish went 9lb 8oz, with Craig also having 4lb that meant I was top on the day. 

A lot tougher day than I expected, and had the bigger fish fed I would have been way down, but I got lucky today and enjoyed my day on the whip. Nice to be back on the river, but I’m now not fishing for a couple of weeks due to other activities. Hopefully so meaningful rain falls to improve the flow.

Viaduct Holiday

Another year another week at Viaduct Fishery with good mates.. fishing, beer and great banter what’s not to like. There was 11 of us this year, in one lodge was Martin Rayet, Gordon Cannings, Tony Witcombe, Mark Tanner and Hayden Withers. In my lodge was Glenn Bailey, Mike Nicholls, Geoff Francis, Gary Bowden and chief organiser Martyn Woodington. Due to the PVA bags on the lead dominating the carp fishing and it not being something I want to do I had decided to go all out for silvers, unless I drew a peg solid with carp. The silvers were coming out in the middle of the lake on Campbell so that’s where I needed to draw.

Saturday and Campbell open, met up with the lodge mates and got into the draw queue. I was a bit gutted when I drew out corner peg 132, but you never know so I was still going for silvers. My approach was same as my previous two opens here, gbait, casters, maggots and micro pellets. It’s a shallow peg here so 4x12 rigs with 16 SFLB to 0.12 fluorocarbon would do. I set up a carp rig for the end bank in case I needed to go for the section. I did get amongst the skimmers to start, steady and odd fish, but then it died. I had a look for carp but there was a nasty bramble under the water that messed that up and I gave that up. I ended with 25lb I think of skimmers for no good. Bit of a heavy night on the beer, I blame Gary Bowden for his bottle of rum 🙈🤣

Sunday open on Campbell and after a breakfast bap made by top man Geoff Francis I was soon drawing a peg from the coffee tin. No middle peg for me again, 121 on the top bank. The local silvers slayers said it hasn’t been great. Same approach but a 4x14 for out at 6m and 11m, and 4x12 for margins where I would feed caster. After a slow start when I hooked 2 carp my 6m line came to life and I had a nice run of skimmers here, but soon it died. Nigel Bartlett on 119 was getting odd skimmers but like me not bagging. My margins were poor for silvers and hooked a couple of carp. I went out to 11m for a few more skimmers but then it all died and I only caught a few late skimmers. I weighed 34lb of silvers which tied with Nige for nothing lol. Martin Reyat won the silvers with 53lb from 125. Tony Wittcomb won the match with 135lb on the teabag. Lovely curry on the night.

Monday was a teams match on Lodge. A bit of fun and banter, with random team selection. My team was Gary, Mike and Mark. I was on 66 a corner peg and can be very good. When I got to the peg was a bit gutted to see a pleasure angler on Carey had set up base camp right on top of the bank by my margin. Suffice to say my close margin never produced a fish. I set up to the fish paste at 11m and margin rigs for meat to my right by the tree and to my left by spiky grass. The paste started ok for me and had a few carp which was better than Glenn on 64, but Tony on 68 was flying! Eventually the paste died for me and Tony, and most were struggling unless they could catch in margins. Mike on 71 was bagging apparently and as my LH margin was messed up I went long down by the trees. I had a few carp but they didn’t stay and it died. I ended up getting an odd carp by the tree on meat, but was getting battered by Tony who was catching carp and ducks.

Tony won with 180lb and Mike was second with 177lb (chucked back some skimmers to have another net). Tony’s team won as well and mine were second so well done chaps. 

Tuesday open on Campbell… and I was gutted when I pulled 121 again! 

Short story, after 2 hours I had 1 skimmer and with Nige Easton and Rob Eagle bagging I was never going to get in the money. The lake was fishing hard and I thought I would go for the section money, so I got off my box and knocked up some paste and got a paste rig out. In an hour I had 4 carp and was amazed, but it soon slowed up as I then fouled too many. A look long in my left margin on corn produced a few skimmers and a 16lb carp. I ended up with 64lb and that was just enough to win the section and get a pick up. Howard Webb won with 92lb on the tea bag, Nige Easton had 48lb of silvers on 115. Quite a few beers and a takeaway I think.

Wednesday was an away day at Acorn fishery where I was definitely fishing for silvers. Lots of ide in here now and I planned to fish for them to start across in 3 feet of water. Balls… I drew peg 12 which is 17m wide and the only peg I could not fish across for ide!!! However, I drew this peg on the same match last year and had a lot of tench so was going to have to catch them and skimmers. 4x16 float, 0.13 to 16 GPM for 8m and top set plus one. I fed maggots as this was the way everyone has been catching. Well after an hour I was still waiting for a bloody bite! Martin Rayet on peg 13 was still waiting for a carp but a few silvers, Glenn on 10 was struggling, but pegs 1 to 5 were bagging. My maggot attack was not working, so I switched the long line to gbait caster and worm, this eventually got a few fizzes and signs of fish in the peg. It wasn’t easy but I had the odd skimmer, ide and small tench to end up with 23lb. That was enough to get me second in the silvers with Paul Faires winning with 29lb from peg 6. Gary Bowden won overall from peg 1 with 178lb beating Woody on peg 5 who had 135lb. We ate well in the Brent Knoll carvery later!

Thursday cost cutter open on Campell and I was chuffed to draw 126 which should be good for silvers, but had retired carp angler Martin Reyat on 125 also fishing for silvers and Mike Nicholls in 127 fishing for silvers. Carp were spawning in our margins today after the previous hot days. However, today heavy rain was forecast and it did arrive for a few hours. I stuck to my guns on gbait caster etc, and I was amazed to see fizzing on my top set plus 3 sections line to left and to right by a willow. Only trouble was I couldn’t hardly get a bite!!! It was frustrating as hell, Mike was struggling too, but Martin went down his margin and started to catch. I had fed caster to my left and corn and micro to my right. After a while I started to get a few but only on the corn, but I was always behind Martin. My last hour or so was poor but I did land a last cast carp of just under 15lb on my silvers rig which was nice. Martin had fished a brilliant match to win the silvers with 63lb, I had 43lb and Mike 31lb. I missed out on a pick

up as 46lb was needed, I should have had that. Tony won the match with 126lb on the teabag.

Well the fishing was hard this year, and I’m glad I went for silvers as I enjoyed that. But the teabag has dominated again, and it’s a bit tedious just fishing Campbell as a result. So we’ve all decided that as much as we love Viaduct and Somerton it’s off to pastures new next year. Our thanks to Steve, Helen and Matt for putting up with us for 12+ years and all the good memories, but it’s time for a change.