Hillview Fishery Holiday

The blogs been quiet of late which is either down to my being very busy or downright idleness, probably a bit of both! Not got on the river yet but was supposed to be today for the pairs series, but I got a stand in as I was out with friends the day before and didn’t want to be driving early, and the heat in the week had took a bit of toll on me especially on Friday when I had my atrial fibrillation flare up and I could barely move of the sofa. Still all good now.

If you have read my blog for a while you’ll know that for many years every June a group of us have gone to Viaduct Fishery. However, last year we decided to have a change and go to Hillview Fishery near Tewkesbury. Two of our group decided to stay at Viaduct but we had 12 anglers off to Hillview who were Martin Rayet, Lee Masey, Haydn Withers, Gary Bowden, Gordon Cannings, Glenn Bailey, Mark Woodington, Mark Tanner, Tony Witcombe and newbies Ady Hill and Bob Gullick. Most of us were expecting Martin, Bob and Lee to smash it up, myself I’ve not fished it this time of year so wasn’t expecting to do well but enjoy and learn and maybe get lucky lol. Buying 14 tins of meat a week before the holiday was a bad idea when the day after my purchase the fishery banned meat. 🙈🤣

The van was packed and I drove to the fishery Saturday morning to be greeted by Fishery owner Keith Hill and his son Steve, as well as Huggy who runs the onsite tackle shop and is the chief piss taker 😆. My first cooked breakfast of the holiday went down well, and I was soon at the drawbag. Peg 56 on canal 2, not the best said Mr Rayet, it’s a peg I’ve drawn before but in the winter. I was quite surprised how different the peg looked, and the canals in general had been landscaped / had work done on them to stabilise them. My rigs for the canal were 4x10 for fishing margin, top set and top set plus one. 0.13 hook length with 16GPM. With meat banned I was going down a corn and micro approach. Had a local lad to my right and he fished short all day and so I thought I was doing something right. It was though a very slow start for most people. After 2 hours I had 8lb, and that was ok on my canal, literally no bites whatsoever. As the match went on I began to get some fish in the margin to my left, decent F1’s mainly, but after a bit of a run it slowed down the last hour. I weighed 60lb which was second on my canal to Mr Rayet who had 68lb. Canal 3 and 4 fished better with 112lb best.

Once packed up I went to the lodge and got all my stuff in the room, I was sharing with Glenn again, but we had the box room so it was a little bit of a tight fit!

View from van of Heron Lake.

After a few beers in the onsite bar we went to Tewkesbury for food and a few more beers. A local gentleman was our taxi driver, three trips to get us there, then three back. Let’s just say that we had to get the loading right to prevent the car from bottoming out 🤣

After an over the top first night out it was a bit of a strain to get up and out for some. I woke up to find no Glenn, he’d abandoned ship and slept on the sofa due to my snoring. Bob Gullick enjoyed the other sofa as he couldn’t sleep due to Mark Tanners snoring.  So some tired faces at breakfast, but we were looking forward to a match on the lakes. I think there was 23 fishing today, I drew peg 3 on Moorhen which is a corner peg, Huggy said it can be ok and there are some F1’s in the RH margin. I had Trevor Chalk on peg 5 in the other corner, we’ve known each other for years as river anglers. I went down a caster and worm line top set plus one, and the RH margin for corn and micro. The plan was plunder what I could on worms then empty the margin…. Well much like the day before there was nothing happening for many. Only Trev was catching, mainly silvers on caster, but odd F1. Much earlier than planned I went in the margin, I had indications here and the odd F1 but lost a few foulers. But I just couldn’t catch elsewhere and ended up sticking it out in the margin for the odd decent F1. At least I was sat in a T-shirt today, but that was the only good thing as I came last but one on the lake with 53lb. Peg 11 won with 109lb and 83lb was needed for the section money, Trev had 70lb, a nice net of fish but no coin either. I was a bit confused as to what I was doing wrong but assumed it was my feeding.

Another night in Tewkesbury was mostly spent in the Wetherspoons, cheap beer, cheap food but not a lot of it (food that is). Our merrymaking continued in the Lodge, but the other Lodge inmates gate crashed and destroyed most of our snacks!

Monday and today we had our own match on the first two canals. I drew peg 44 on canal 1, and I was feeling a bit nervous as I had Lee and Bob either side who were going to fish banded casters shallow. Not a method I have ever fished, so I went my own way. Fishing soft pellet across tapping in micro and 4mm fishery pellets. Same 4x10 0.13 and 16 GPM. I couldn’t get in tight as there were lots of saplings that would be rig magnets in the wind. 

I started by fishing across threw a bit of corn short and fed some maggots in my edge for a change. The first couple of days it had been noticeable that catches were mainly made up of F1’s and the carp were not feeding. We put this down to the recent spawning activity. Today was not much different but I did catch small (less than a pound) carp which kept me interested. However, I was getting severely beat up by Bob and Lee who both were catching F1’s shallow tight over. Eventually I decided to have a go at it, but I had it all wrong and it coincided with the fishing becoming much harder. I did manage to get 2 carp in the margin and a few F1 short.

I ended up with 55lb of small fish as pictured. Bob won with 98lb and Lee was second with 96lb, proper battering and clearly I had drawn the right area. I had headed straight to Bob after the match and she showed me the rigs he was using and some tips. It was a real learning experience for me. Unfortunately I didn’t really have the rights rigs, but a couple would do. 

After the match I had a bit of luck when the blind pairs was announced and I had won with Lee. We did this every day for a bit of fun.

Bobby G showing us he’s not too shabby at darts either!

We headed to Tewkesbury for a curry and very nice it was too. Tony had a real hot dish that nearly made Lee cry when he tried it. The Hillview team and taxi driver had also joined us and we had a great night.

Back at the Lodge and we had to get two teams sorted for the team match. Mr Rayet and Gary Bowden were elected as captains, after a coin toss Martin had first pick and like school kids we were picked one at a time! I was on Gary’s side. The banter went up another notch!

It was a beautiful start to the day on Tuesday, but weather had been stormy and showers were forecast.

After the draw was done I was heading to peg 72 on canal three which was a really good one. However, once again I had Bob on the next peg on 70, on my other side was Gordon. I was going to try the banded caster shallow method and said to Bob it was the master versus his apprentice lol. Well I had to give it a go. I set up a small dibber with 0.13 to 18 KKMB for fishing between 6 inches and a foot. A 4x8 for fishing 18” deep, same hook etc. short and margin rigs were also made up. I had some lovely reeds to fish to that just had to hold fish.

The match started and I fed some casters to the reeds, shipped out my 18 inch rig dropped it in and within 2 seconds the elastic was pulled out. Good start. The next three drops were similar but then I fouled one, so I went out 9 inches deep on the other rig. Same response with the fish pulling the elastic out of the pole. It was interesting that I was catching mostly carp, and looking around most people were catching fish. Suffice to say Bob was bagging like a machine, at times he said he couldn’t catch any faster than he was. Bob was getting more F1’s though and thought I was ahead of him. I had also switched to 0.15 hook length as I was catching carp.

The wind started to get up and it slowed me down as I couldn’t feed and hold the pole. Bob had a quiet moment, plus he lost two sets of elastic, but he had another great run. I had to ask Glenn to get me some more nets, but even then I chucked back a decent hybrid and 3 tench. I carried on catching better when the wind dropped, and at the end knew I had a good day.

I over estimated what I had in my nets, and Bob underestimated. Meaning he had 175lb to my 172lb. But Tony had a better day with 196lb on 77 on our canal.

But it was really all about the team, the bragging rights went to Martins team by just 3lb. My silvers and Simon Shilton who had joined us but went over the net limit cost us the bragging rights 🙈. But all good fun.

We had a BBQ tonight which was cooked by chef Bowden who did a great job. Chilling out in fishery bar area after a belly full of food.

Wednesday was the fishery open match, I drew on Moorhen lake peg 15. To cut a long story short I endured another bad day on this lake foul hooking fish on everything I did. Not that I had many bites, just 42lb and last but one again. Frustrated with myself as I just didn’t know what I was doing wrong. Still a few beers later and all was good.

Thursday the weather was shocking, we lost a number of the lads who decided on an early finish. Five of us remained, we watched TV until the rain stopped and then we walked the fishery looking for the best areas out of the wind. We settled on the end bank of Heron lake and did a rover. Mark Tanner had first choice and took end peg 30, was second and couldn’t decide between the other end or the middle, in the end I went on peg 28 in the middle as the other end had been poor this week. Martin then came and sat on peg 29 and so I was expecting another lesson today 🙈.

I grilled Martin as much as I could and kept my eyes on him as I could easily see him. I went with a 4x12 rig to fish caster at topset plus two sections, a 4x12 for topset with corn and micro, and a margin rig. The lake was towing quite hard and lighter rigs were no good.

We started at 12:30. It was a slow start for most except Mark on 30 who was catching on pellets. I was getting some silvers on caster but it wasn’t fast enough, but I stayed here until I saw Martin catch a F1 on his topset. I took that as my cue to try it, and very soon I was rewarded with an F1. The next three hours whilst not prolific were ok as other than Mark people were struggling. However, Gary on the end peg I didn’t choose then caught a load of big F1’s in his margin and he was obviously going to be the runaway winner. Martin was getting chip shopped but then in the last hour he caught some carp in his margin, whilst everyone else slowed up. The final result below, other than Gary it was very close. I finished upbeat that I had beaten Martin and by fishing next to him had learnt some more. Wether I can put this into practice for future matches here we will see!

To be honest I can’t even remember what we did that night I was so knackered, but I do remember drinking a glass of wine watching TV with Mark falling asleep on the sofa snoring, which was my cue to go to bed!

Although the fishing had been a bit tougher than expected everyone had agreed we would go back again next year, and having a good choice of bars and restaurants in Tewkesbury is good. It was a great time with a great bunch of blokes with so many laughs. Not everyone has been in the best of health, but I know that the time they had was a real tonic for them. I look forward to next year.

Best sort out some river gear now, and I am also fishing the Division 1 National on the Aire and Calder canal near Goole later in July. 

Westerleigh Float only summer League

 A few weeks ago Tony Rixon asked me if I could stand in for him on this league, and as it happened I could. I was away from Monday on holiday in Nice and got back late Friday. Never been before but had a great time there and went to Monaco where the preparations for the Grand Prix were underway.

Back to the fishing, I knew I was going to be on Shipps lake with a lot of good anglers but was hoping I could get a good result for Tony. Into the drawbag and I pulled out peg 13, it’s the near end corner of the lake and not really what I fancied. However, Ricky Mills was kind enough to give me a run down on how he recently caught 76lb from here, the main thing was be patient waiting for the fish!

The view from my peg, an island which I could reach with 16m and a swinging pellet rig.

Left hand margin, where I would end up fishing towards peg 12.

Right hand margin, very over grown and not allowed to do any gardening so couldn’t get in tight.

I started fishing meat at 13m in the deep water, not had a bite here. Had fed meat top set plus one and tried here for nothing. Tried mugging the very odd fish I saw but they were not interested. Tried slapping a pellet about not a sign, tried swinging a pellet to the island and not a bite..

Four hours in and I had a roach on my short meat line to save the blank. I had been feeding pellets up towards a bush by peg 12 and finally I saw a couple of carp here. I had 2 carp by using my swinging pellet rig (keeping the pole away) but the fish drifted away. I had been feeding dead maggots in my RH margin which was my banker and had a carp here with 90 minutes to go. I can’t say I had a great finish, it was tricky, but a lot better than the first 4 hours. I took another carp from by peg 12 and 4 more from the RH margin. I did lose 3 foulers which was annoying. 

Well match over and I knew I wasn’t going to be getting any money as Towner on peg 1 had told me during the match that Nick Sanders on peg 6, Ron Hardiman on 5 and Paul Elmer on 3 had all caught well mainly mugging. There were clearly a lot of fish up there.

I ended up weighing 47lb 7oz which put me 5th in the 10 peg section, beaten by the aforementioned three anglers and Towner who had 68lb on peg 1. Well done to Nick winning our lake with a great 145lb.

It was a stifling hot day and for most of it I was in the sun, so I was glad of a bit of shade at the pub and a couple cold beers. 

SWO55 and Disabled club Acorn Fishery

 I have had had a busy few weeks with family activities and was happy to see the South West Disabled and over 55 club were taking guests on their match, a message to Eddie Wynne and I was in. It was too late to order bait locally but I managed to get some at the fishery. I was hoping to fish for silvers but would fish for carp if I drew in the fancied area.

I grabbed a breakfast roll at H&H cafe before heading to the fishery. Even though I arrived in good time I was still last to pay the pools which meant I would be last to draw. I grabbed some maggots and casters and dipped my nets, then I took the last ball in the hat, peg 21. This is a bridge peg and I had plenty of room to my left, on 19 was good friend and venue expert Gary Bowden. Gary was not happy with his draw and reckoned there were not enough carp in the area, there were a few showing as they were having a go at spawning.

I thought the peg plumbed up nice, nice flat area by the boards opposite, where I set up 4x8.  A 4x10 for fishing the second shelf across to the bridge and top set plus short 4. 4x14 for fishing 11m in the deep water. All rigs had a 16 SFLB to 0.11. I did have a rig for the LH margin same as across.

We started at 10 and I started across by the boards on maggots as Paul Faires had told me yesterday he only caught the ide like this. Well I had just 1 ide here and lost a couple of carp. I wondered if the spawning had pushed the ide away. I moved to the 11m deep lines and started by the bridge where I had been feeding a bit of maggot and caster. I was soon netting an ide, back out and another. I settled into a routine of toss potting in bait by the bridge and straight out in front, the plan was change between the two if I needed to rest a line. For the best part of 2 hours it worked well catching on double maggot, mainly ide but also 1 perch and 3 little tench. But then both of these lines slowed up and it was time to go elsewhere.

Gary had taken a few early carp but had switched to silvers fishing worms, he started to catch well as I had slowed up. My left hand margin yielded a carp on my first and later next two drops on caster. The top set plus one was a slow burner but then I took 3 skimmers and a 1lb 1/2 tench but then had to move again. I went to the bridge on the second shelf feeding just maggots in a toss pot and straight away I was into ide. I had a good run of them, plus 3 perch all around a 1lb and a small tench. When I hooked and landed a carp it was pretty much fatal for that line.

Dropping back short I took another run of ide before it shut up. LH margin and pulled out of skimmer, but then had a lovely tench that was 31/2lb to 4lb. Next drop a carp.

The last 25 minutes was spent playing carp on whatever line I tried lol.

Match over I had 41lb of silvers on my clicker but usually I over estimate so said to Gary I had 35lb and he said he had the same. The scales were to prove me wrong! Gary had a good 41lb of silvers, but then mine went 53lb 13oz, my first net was 35lb (limit 40lb) and I had clicked 25lb, oh well I got away with it, and clearly the ide are weighers!

Result of the Southwest over 50's and Disabled match fished on the Paddock at Acorn Fishery today 21 fished.

1. David Stephenson                123-01 p13

2. Brad Sowden                         119-08 p9

3. Steve Howell                           93-15 p1

4. Gary Bowden                           88-14 p19

5. Fred Welsh                               86-00 p5

6. Graham Smith                         72-07 p36

Silver's 

1. Tim Ford                          53-13 p21

2. Sue Faiers                               45-01 p4

3. Gary Bowden                           40-00 p19

4. Joanna Wingate                      34-05 

Well that was a great days fishing and the rain stayed away, in fact I got a bit sunburnt late on! Next week I’m fishing Westerleigh league standing in for the maestro Tony Rixon.

Tony Rixon Float Only Series - Plantation Lakes

After a couple of weekends of no fishing I was wondering where to go on Sunday. Lucky for me I spotted Tony Rixon looking for a couple of stand ins for his first match in his float only league. I fished the same match last year as a stand in drawing on Jubilee lake. I spent some time Saturday morning putting my gear together for carp fishing on pole and pellet waggler. Then off I went to Rovers to see us win our last game at home 4-0, at least the last few months have been decent!

I went to H&H cafe on Sunday morning for a breakfast roll and as ever it was decent. Then on to Plantation and arrived with lots of time to spare in time to have few chats. Pools paid and draw done at 9am peg 32 stuck to my mitt, this is on the match lake.

Got to my peg and had a little island to fish a pellet waggler against. Trouble was so could Pete Nurse on peg 38 and Matty Tainton on 31, though he did fish away to the right.

Also had a long margin to fish down to as off to my left is a bay which was not pegged. The margins are quite deep at 3 feet and I set a 4x12 Preston Edge float with 12 XSH-B and 0.18, this would do for topset plus one and 13m. I also set up a slapping rig for hard pellets and a 4x12 for topset plus in front.

I started the match on the pellet wag, it was a bit awkward than I thought casting and despite being clipped up it was easy to catch a twig or a bramble. After an hour I had 2 carp and had lost 2 wagglers, and with Pete’s waggler landing fairly close I decided to sack it off. Mat also had 2 carp on it but it wasn’t happening for us.

I decided to get some early feed in on my close margin line, I fed micros and gbait here. I then went down further to 11m and started slapping a pellet about.  It was a bit tricky with foliage and overhead tree branches being caught. I had to reduce the rig length to help. I got two carp here and then no signs at all. I went to 13m which was as far as I dared because of some brambles in the water a little further down. Didn’t get any more signs though.

A look on my short margin fishing with 5 dead reds and some fish were there. Turned out it was skimmers. Unfortunately the swim was full of  twigs, I thought I got most of them out but no, they were everywhere. I did 4 good skimmers from here, but lots more twigs. Whilst fishing here I pinged some 6mm pellets to 13m in the hope of attracting some carp. When I went down there with my slapping rig I nailed a nice 9lb common, again a one off.

I was kind of struggling mid match, Mat was now doing well on skimmers and I think I messed up not having a proper rig out in the open water for them.

Back at 13m and nothing shallow, but decided to try my deep rig with dead reds here, my thinking was I might see if any carp were in the spot deeper. The rig didn’t move for 10 minutes and I was just going to ship back when the float buried. I was attached to a decent fish that thankfully swam out into the lake. I thought it might be fouled as it went on some crazy runs, but it turned out to be a near 15lb common. There were 2 hours to go and I decided to pot in micros, pellets and dead reds at 13m as I felt I needed to catch here. 

Catching just a big skimmer after 30 minutes here didn’t get my confidence up. But a few more carp did put in an appearance. A couple of foulers lost, two more took me into snags (I retrieved an empty groundbait bag full of water and shiteon one), but had a couple more decent carp 9lb+

Match over and I knew Mat had beat me as he had a few late carp from where he was catching skimmers, but Mat wasn’t in my section. Mat won his section with 88lb (including 33lb of skimmers) pipping Tony who had 82lb on the pellet wag (he lost 4 wags).

My silvers went 11lb 14oz and when added to my carp I had 80lb 6oz. I was second in the section picking up £55 as Vic Bush on the opposite side of the lake had 89lb 7oz, that was also the top weight on the day. 

Weigh sheets below and generally it was a bit of a tough day, especially in some areas. It was a close affair in most sections with just one or two fish making the difference. I enjoyed it, a case of being patient and some lovely big common carp.

Not fishing the bank holiday weekend, but hopefully will be the week after.

Hillview Fishery Open

No fishing last weekend as Wendy and I were in Wales for the weekend, though I did pop back early to see a rare black crowned night heron on the Avon at Newbridge! 

The long Easter weekend meant fun, a good start seeing another Rovers home win, 2026 has certainly been an easier watch at home! Decided to go back to Hillview again on Sunday and give the canal another go. Keith Hill was back from his holiday and was happy to see me again. Canals 2, 3 and 4 were in today and whilst I don’t really mind where I draw most people said canal 3 was the place to be. I was second in the woolly hat and I pulled out peg 92, same as 2 weeks ago!

Today I was going to concentrate on fishing meat which has done quite well here, and as the wind was quite horrendous I was going to fish it short. In fact to save any calamity I only got top sets and a short no 4 out of hold-all. Rigs were lighter than last time after some advice from Martin Rayet, 4x10 with 16 GPM to 0.13. The plan was topset for meat, topset plus short no4 in margins. The right margin is much deeper than the left in this peg, but the left side has a lot of roots / weed. 

Starting at 10:30 I began on the top set and had a Rudd on the drop on my meat. Next drop a 5lb carp. Nothing else so I tried a new line more to the left and had a 1lb carp. It was painfully slow, no indications just a very odd bite out of the blue. It seemed a slow first hour for my canal. The odd person risked fishing a long pole, whilst they caught a couple of fish it didn’t seem much better so I still kept the pole packed away safely.

Three hours in and all I had was about 20lb at most and was definitely last on my canal. I tried pellets as a change but that was no good and been in the margins for a couple of fish and a few silvers. I was hoping of course that the fishing would improve but it was just as hard and I had about 30lb with just over an hour left. I was thinking it was going to be a DNW today! However, my margins finally came alive with the RH side being nice and steady. Then I ended with 3 carp from the LH side in maybe 7 minutes as the float buried each time before the bait got to the bottom.

I had certainly reduced my deficit on the other lads on my canal in the last hour but no more. Once again peg 95 won my canal, he had 106lb mostly caught in his margin on meat. I had 73lb and the lad on 90 had 78lb. The other end of the canal there were two 87lb weights. So last on the canal, sticking to meat short probably cost me more fish, but my new pole is still intact lol. That said second place went to John Drew on canal 2 with 144lb on meat short, whilst the winner on canal 3 had 153lb on pellets. 

My lack of time on commercials and here is showing, getting into the top end of the results is going to take some time and effort, but getting bites and catching fish is going to keep me going back for a while.

Hillview Fishery Open

With no fishing last weekend and no fishing for me next weekend I was really wanting to get out for day in this nice weather. Wasn’t really sure where to go, and expected to be pools fodder wherever lol. In the end I planned to go to Hillview at Tewkesbury, a place that is always given me a warm welcome and lots of fish. I booked on and the match was on the canals. 

I got to the fishery in good time and grabbed some breakfast and paid my pools. I didn’t recognise anyone but all the other anglers were friendly, but there was one lad called Keith Bilder who I half recognised as he used to live in Bristol. He was fishing here for the first time for a long time just like me.

The lodges are looking very good, and later this year I will be staying in one for the annual fishing holiday (moved from Viaduct for a change).

I drew peg 93 which is on the back canal and in the shade of the big fir trees to start. A lad called Colin was on the end of the canal peg 96 and on 91 was a lad called Charlie. The pegs have got plastic platforms now and it’s only about 12m to reach the far bank. This would be a nice easy work out for my latest acquisition, a Preston Superium X95 pole 😊. It really is a beautiful pole.

Rigs today were a 4x14 for fishing a top set with meat with 0.13 to a 16 GPM. 4x12 for my margins and the far bank, I used a mixture of 0.13 to 16 GPM and 0.11 to 16 SFL. 

I started the match fishing my top set with meat it was very slow but I managed 3 or 4 small carp before bites completely stopped. I was feeding maggots down to my RH margin but didn’t want to go there just yet, so went across to the far side feeding fishery micro pellets and soft pellet on the hook. I had a nice 45 minutes here catching the odd carp and F1, but liners were a problem from the carp swimming up down the far bank off bottom. Just as I thought I was going to have a nice time on this line it died, a tiny tench and ide signalling the carp had moved.

The meat line was still bite less so onto the RH margin with maggots. Plenty of bites from silvers, ide, perch and little tench. When I thinned them out I got one F1 but nothing else. Back across on pellet and another run of fish which didn’t last long. I seemed to be doing ok on my canal from what I could tell, but over on canal 3 the two anglers on 70 and 72 were catching well i thought.

Mid match was slow and it seemed to be the same for many, if I could get 1 or 2 fish from any line I was lucky. I decided to start feeding my LH margin at top set plus one with micro and meat just because the maggot didn’t seem to keep the fish in the swim. I kept trying short meat line but I couldn’t get a bite, doing something wrong maybe?

I spent the next two hours working the two margins and the LH meat and micro was getting better with carp up to 5lb. With just over 30 minutes left I had to put another net in, but had left it in the van, Colin lent me one which was good of him. However, the dreaded extra net syndrome hit me big time! My RH meat line went from nice clean bites to lots of liners and lost two foulers, maggot line dead. I had just one carp and one F1 in the last 30 minutes whilst Colin had at least 6 carp and Charlie had 4. Talk about gutted 🙈🙈🙈

It wasn’t long before Steve and Huggy arrived with the scales, Colin had 112lb which I knew I couldn’t beat, my silvers went 10lb and along with my carp I had 96lb. Clearly the last 30 minutes had cost me as Colin won our canal. Well done to John D who had 123lb all on meat (they call him the meat master) to be top weight. I had a chat with John after and he told me he used to fish for Seymo Aquarians who used to be a top river team. We mainly talked about our river experiences, what a great bloke. 

Every canal needed a ton to get the section so it fished well.

I always thought it would be difficult for me to do well today but I was close, definitely enjoyed it and will go back. All the weights are on the board below.

Bathampton open Bristol Avon Newbridge

My last chance to fish the river this season and I was able to fish a match being run by Ben Rendall at Newbridge. Bream had been coming out to pleasure anglers and so most people were expecting a decent day. Saturday was spent changing my gear from carp to river bream and I put some 6lb line on my new Centris 420 reel. Got everything done and managed to get down the mem to see the Gas win 2-1, a few bream Sunday would make it a great weekend!

Sunday morning I grabbed a Greggs on the way to the river and arrived in good time. There were 20 of us fishing today, Ben put peg 1 in the little field on permanent peg 3 and peg 20 was permanent peg 50. I drew peg 19 so was on permanent 49 hoped this would be ok, but I did fancy the end peg which was what Pete Mills had. 

It didn’t take long to set up as I just set up a feeder rod with a 14 to 0.15. Groundbait as usual brown crumb, sweet skimmer and Thatchers. A 28g feeder held the bottom pretty well. We started at 10:30 and I spent the first 20 minutes casting regularly to get some bait in. Starting with three red maggots on the hook I soon caught a small roach, after the first hour I had three small roach, Pete had 1 bream. The second and third hour were devoid of any fish activity! I went for a walk and below me Jason Fearn was struggling despite trying running line tactics.

With just under two hours to go I had a lovely bite, pulled round and dropped back, and I was sure I was attached to a bream. Now this would be interesting as sometimes the bream do feed late and it can be good. Alas I soon realised this was a chub but at nearly 3lb it was still welcome, but my bream dream was shattered and no more bites till 3pm. I had a big drop back bite and connected with a big fish, I had to back wind quite a bit. I wasn’t sure what I had hooked but started to get it back towards me, as it got closer to my bank it surfaced and I saw it was another chub and I really had to pull hard to get it to come to me and stay out of the margin snags. It was a fat chub, which weighed later at 5lb 4oz. Next cast I missed another drop back and that was the last bite. (Picture below by ace photographer Derek Coles 🤣

I wasn’t going to weigh in but I wanted to weigh the chub, my total weight was 8lb 11oz that was second in my section behind Pete who had 3 bream and chub for 14lb. Jason had 2lb 8oz and below him Graham Hunt 8lb 3oz of chublets on the waggler. 

Overall the match won by Jeff Surmon on peg 1 with 46lb of bream. Well done mate!

2nd Jan Mazyk 42lb from permanent peg 30 again bream.

3rd Derek Coles 34lb of bream from peg 38.

Warren Bates and Shaun Townsend both had 20lb+ catching mainly on the float.

Biggest bream was 8lb 15oz caught by Ben Rendall, Dean Harvey also had a big bream 8lb 6oz.

Well I was a bit gutted not to draw on a few bream but the big chub was a lovely fish to end my river season on. 

Angling Trust Winter League Final

The last few weeks for me have all been about getting ready for this final and preparing for fishing on a commercial fishery called Rookery Waters. 25 teams of 10 were competing this year and the fishing was as ever in Cambridgeshire on the drains and lakes. 5 of my Preston Innovations Thatchers team would fish the drains and 5 the lakes. We were allowed to pick which commercial fishery we were going to and with my Welsh teammates Rob Jones and Luke Sorekin happy to go to Decoy Lakes, Shaun Townsend and myself went for Rookery, leaving Float Fish Farm for Andrew Mann.

Towner picked me up Friday morning and we started the 3 1/2 hour drive to Rookery to see the lakes. After the section draw in the week Towner knew he would be on Jay which is a snake lake, I could be on either Raven (snake) or Magpie an open lake with a central island where some pegs are on. Towner had drawn up a matrix of every pegs match weights and this allowed us to see the flyers. The recent mild weather had it appeared moved some of the fish around so nothing was guaranteed.

We stayed in March and it was great to have a night out with the boys a few beers and a curry. Next morning Andy Ottaway left early to draw our peg set, and soon after 8am I was going to Magpie 16. Looking at the matrix this had two good weights and two average but I was happy, Towner had missed the flyers but was on a peg which seemed better than average.

When I got to my peg I had lots of room to my left and a sunken boat creating an island at 16m. X marks my peg.

There was what appeared to be an island (later told it was a semi sunken boat) at 16m and the locals told me that would be where I would have to go for bites. Trouble was the wind was getting up and was blowing from left to right.

Off to my left on the point of the island was old team mate Geraint Powell who fishes with Starlets. I’d been told the day before that his peg and the one around the corner were the flyers.

I set up a dobbing rig but with the lake coloured wasn’t sure if I would try it. A 4x12 for the margins but never had a bite on these, a 4x14 for top set plus two which was 4 1/2 feet, a 4x12 would work but I thought it was too windy. I shipped out to the boat to find it was about 6”’deeper than the top set plus two line, so used a 4x14 here too. I left a fair bit of line above the float as my pole was being blown around. I did set up a maggot feeder to use by the boat in case the wind got worse but never picked it up.

We started at 11 and I shipped out to the boat and toss potted in a few maggots. I fished to the left edge as the middle had plants and twigs which I didn’t want to hook up on. After about 5 minutes I had a bite and hooked a fish which swam out nicely and then came off. Back over again fed a few more maggots and hooked another fish, landed a 2lb F1. Over the next hour I had a struggle getting odd bites with my pole being bent like a banana and hooking fish that were off the bottom. After hour 1 I had three F1’s, had lost about 5 and lost one rig which blew into the plants. 

Hour 2 was just as frustrating and I had tried fishing off bottom, half depth and dobbing, a couple of Rudd a couple of F1’s and more foulers. Clearly lots of F1’s in the peg but I wasn’t working it out!

Mid match I rang Towner, I said I had 10lb and he said he didn’t have that. Everyone was losing foulers it seemed. I tried feeding a bit heavier to get fish to go down on the bottom it gave me a couple of F1,s but then died. I was really worried that I was cocking up a great peg as everyone I could see was catching the odd fish and Geraint especially doing well getting out fouled carp lol. My one thought was stay positive they might come on the feed late for me.

With two hours to go the wind dropped and I was able to fish to the middle of the boat, it was a tiny bit shallower here. It started slow but then I had a great hour catching F1’s and was clawing my way back into the match. All of a sudden it slowed and it was back to odd foulers, so weird! My last hour was OK but not as much as I hoped for, I took two F1 on the short line one in the mouth one in the tail, and a few from 16m. Match over and I hadn’t had a carp and don’t think I hooked one, it was all F1’s. Whatever I weighed I was sure I had lost the same off the hook, Geraint said he was the same.

My fish went 23 Kilo 925g about 53lb, this got me 5th in the section an ok result but I feel I should have done better. That said a local angler in my section told me he drew my peg last week and said he fished it the same had 70lb and lost at least that in foulers. Typical of winter fishing the fish were in certain areas, Will Raison in my section beat two anglers with 8 kilos, if he can’t catch there’s no fish in his peg. Here’s my section sheet.

Towner had a great last hour to end with 26 kilos also coming 5th in section so steady enough. Andrew Man on Float Fish was 5th, on Decoy Rob 3rd but Luke never had a bite and blanked. Having blanked there myself in the past I knew how he would be feeling, gutted for him. The lads on the drains had all done steady and our penalty points were 60. This put us 9th just 1 point off 8th which was the last team payout. Diawa Dorking and Barnsley both had 58 points and 55 points was 4th so it was very close. Congratulations to Geraint and his Starlets team who won convincingly, local team Tackle & Bates were second.

Weather permitting I will get one chance to get on the river next week for a bit of feeder chucking! 🤞

Westerleigh Lakes Open Match

Fishing has taken a back seat for me for a few weeks. Mainly because I just couldn’t be bothered to get soaked and cold, and obviously the rivers are not match fishable. However, I’ve got the Angling Trust Winter League Final next Saturday and so I wanted a chance to use some new elastics and rigs and Westerleigh was just the ticket.

Most of my prep has been done for a few weeks and so Saturday it was nice to see a Rovers win 😃.  Went to Emerson’s Wetherspoons for breakfast on Sunday where Martin Reyat, Freddie Wojtyla and Shaun Townsend also filled their bellies. Shaun likes to hide his breakfast beneath pepper 🤣.

There were 19 people fishing today so one lake would have 10 anglers and the other 9, this would be random depending on the last peg not drawn. I was happy to draw peg 11 on Shipps canal, a peg I’ve won off before in winter. However it would depend where the carp were shoaled, and top bagger Martin Reyat was on peg 5 with 6 not drawn and would be hard to beat if the carp were that end of the lake I thought.

I made three rigs today, a 4x10 for against the left hand island at 13m, a 4x12 for near the right hand island, and a 4x14 for fishing in the deep open water. All rigs had 16 SFL to 0.11 accu power. I was pinning my faith in maggots today and decided not to dob bread. On peg 12 was evergreen Mike Nicholls who would fish for silvers, on peg 10 was Chris who normally fishes with PSV he told me. 

We started at 10:30 and I fed all my lines with maggots and started over by the left hand Island. It was just roach here, as was the other island, as was the deep water. Hmmm, kept toss potting in maggots to try to get the roach full. After an hour I managed to catch a 2lb F1 from the RH island but it was a one off. Chris had managed a couple on meat and I was thinking I had made a mistake not bringing any.

Halfway through the match and not much had been caught my end of the lake, I was probably best with three F1’s. Mat Tainton on 8 had a few carp and Martin after a terrible start was now getting the odd fish. About 2 hours to go the RH island swim came to life I caught 3 F1’s and 2 carp, plus I pulled out of 2 carp that I think were fouled.

It went quiet after this and I also managed to hook a branch and trash a rig. 

Chris had a similar run but more carp, on meat but then his swim also went quiet. Try as I might I couldn’t catch in the deep water despite trying it all match. I did get an F1 from the LH island which was the only one there, and 5 mins before the all out I hooked another carp from the RH island which I landed before the all out. 

With the top 2 and 1 silvers being paid on each lake I knew I was not going to pick up as Martin 76lb and Mat 54lb had both caught well. Chris had just under 30lb and then I had 43lb which was more than I thought as I think the F1’s were decent size. Mike took the lake silvers with 7lb.

Weigh sheets below…

Well done Matt Challenger on winning the other lake catching mainly on pellets.

It was nice to fish in dry conditions and a bit milder, but the wind was in my face blowing through the gap just to keep me cool lol. I hope the weather stays mild this week which will surely help the carp feed next weekend, fingers crossed!

Westerleigh Lakes Open Match

Had a message in the week from Mike Nicholls asking if I wanted to fish a match at Westerleigh. As the river was wrecked and I hadn’t fished Westerleigh for a couple of years I thought why not. With me fishing the ATWL at the end of February I need to get my head and my gear around carp as I’ll be fishing a lake, did quite a few top sets with Preston Hybrid elastic, I like the green 11, and did some rigs and hook lengths

Had a nice time out Saturday that culminated with a lovely meal at the Beirut Mezze in Bristol. The picture is the sharing starter. 

Woke up before the alarm Sunday morning and headed to the new Wetherspoons at Emerson’s Green where I met Martin Rayet. He had a large breakfast and for the first time ever I had a small, I was still feeling full from yesterday 🙈.

Got to the lakes and paid my pools to Mark Taylor, the match was being run as two separate matches, so each lake would pay out top 2 and top silvers. I hoped to draw Shipps lake (some call it the canal lake) as this has been producing better than the main lake. I got my wish by drawing peg 1, but the carp have been up the other end I was told. Rang Glenn Bailey who I knew had drawn this peg a few weeks ago and he told me what he did and that he had to wait 3 hours to get a carp. Hopefully I wouldn’t wait so long!

Lots of options on this peg with an island and some open water that was about 5 1/2 feet deep.

Also a bush on my right side margin, you’ve only got a little bit of it to fish to from this peg but a definite fish holding spot. On peg 2 was the latest addition to the pensioners list Tony Rixon. I’d won the coin toss as to who of us would be on the scales, so I thought at least I had beat him at something lol.

I made up three rigs; a dobbing rig for by the island (thanks to Bela Bakos for giving me a couple of slices of bread) with 0.13 powerline to 16 GPM. My deep rig was a 4x14 F1 maggot again with 0.13 to 16. My last rig for the bush was a 4x12 but I used 0.11 to 16 SFLB, I went a bit lighter here as I was expecting a few F1s. Bait choice was maggots.

We started at 10:15 and I began by feeding maggots on top set plus 2, top set plus 4 and the bush. I then went dobbing bread by the island. I dobbed bread all along the island and all I got was roach bites. I felt there were no carp here so tried my deep water swims. I could get the odd bite but this was also from roach.  After an hour I had a handful of roach as did Tony, further up the lake Bela, Vince Shipp and Mike Nicholls had netted some carp / F1. I plugged away just catching the odd small roach, Tony managed a couple of F1s and then I finally got an F1 from the bush. 

After three hours I had 2lb of roach and the F1, and was really thinking I should set up a light roach rig and go for the silvers prize. Then I foul hooked and lost a carp on my top set plus 4 line. Ten minutes later I had another carp on and landed this one as it was hooked in the mouth about 5lb. Next drop a 4lb carp hooked in the dorsal and next drop a 7lb carp in the mouth. That little run was great but that line died and I had to rest it. My top set plus 2 line was useless and I couldn’t get a fish here. But then the margin bush got me an F1 and small carp.

Last hour and I was still thinking I was miles behind those at the other end of the lake. Tony had a few F1’s but he was missing a few bites and lost a few foulers. I had dropped the top set plus 2 and rotated the margin and top set plus 4, feeding maggots by toss pot and increasing what I fed if the roach were in the peg. I had another F1 and carp from the margin, and another couple of carp and a decent F1 from my long line. Match over and I thought I might have 40lb if lucky. 

Whilst packing up Bela said he only had 20 odd pound as did others, except for Mike Etheridge on 8 who had caught well and I would probably be second. I was weighed first and my roach went 2lb 5oz, my carp and F1s 39lb 14oz, so 42lb 3oz. My carp net picture courtesy Tony.

Tony weighed 21lb 12oz and wasn’t impressed by his next peg battering, picture courtesy Tony 😂.

Bela was correct and I did end up second on the lake quite comfortably, with Mike running out an easy winner on peg 8 with 64lb 8oz all caught on dobbing bread. Silvers was won by Mike Nicholls who …. See his blog.

The main lake was harder, Mark Taylor also caught on bread but near the bottom. Martin Rayet got a dozen F1 for second and Andy Gard won the silvers with just 1lb 7oz.

Well I was very happy to get amongst the fish today and it was good to get some elastic pulled out. After the match carp were eating the slices of bread that were thrown in the lakes proving that they were there all the time.