After a few weeks off I was finally back fishing. Actually last weekend I spent an evening with Paul Benson doing a charity ball for two cancer charities; Orchid and Macmillan, and it seems we will raise nearly £3000 in total. Back to today and I was indebted to Martin Reyatt who called me Monday night to ask if I wanted to fish this match. At the time I was struggling to find a match and I thought great a days roach fishing. Buying some bait in Avon Angling the anglers in there all were telling me the carp had shut up shop and the roach and skimmers were the best bet. That was fine by me, a day of lots of bites!
Of course come the morning of the match we were greeted by Frosts, although not in the Jolly Sailor in Hanham for brekkie where it was very toasty! Onto the venue and the draw and I lent my Preston hat to Martin for the draw, and pulled out peg 12 for Martin and peg 3 for me. I was in a Bathampton sandwich with Andy Britt on peg 4 and Kev Dicks on peg 2. I was told the roach would feed better opposite me in the reedy pegs, but I was happy we'd catch them anywhere. I set up 2 pole rigs for roach at 4 mtrs, a 4x14 Drennan Roach at depth with spread shot and 20 to 0.09, a Preston Silvers 0.2grm float for half depth with the same hook and line. I had 0.6grm pencil float for out at 13mtrs, and that was it.
I started the match feeding some micros and dead maggots on two lines at 13 mtrs and started on the depth caster rig at 4mtrs. An hour into the match I was still waiting for my first bite, but Kev Dicks had taken 4 carp on a method feeder. It was fishing very hard, and 30 mins later I was off my box setting up my 10ft Preston mini carp feeder rod. I tied 0.14 to a 16 B911 hook and cast a piece of corn out on a straight lead for 20 mins for nothing. Kev had caught another carp or two and I knew I had to feed some bait on the tip, but with no gbait I opted for a small maggot feeder, filling it with about 20 magggots and some micros. After about 4 casts I had a wrap round and soon landed a fouled carp! Twenty minutes later a properly hooked carp was landed soon followed by another. Unfortunately this line then died on me, and I spent 2 hours with nothing on the tip or the pole.
Andy Britt with two tiny roach decided to pack up with 2 hours to go, and just before he left I had a couple of liners on the tip and then a carp, double red mag seemed best on the 8" hooklength. I had 3 more carp and a chub after this though frustratingly the last three casts produced 3 liners but no bites, still I hadn't lost a fish all day so can't complain.
It was clear Kevin had soundly beaten me with 12 carp on the method, and Mat Tainton on peg 10 had 10 carp on the pole, but it would be close for third between Martin Reyatt and myself. The scales went around and for many it was clear it had been a tough day with very few silvers feeding, and happily my 24lb 12oz managed to scrape 3rd and last in the frame. The final result was :-
1st Kev Dicks 44lb
2nd Mat Tainton 38lb
3rd Me 24lb 12oz
4th Martin Reyatt 18lb
Top silvers on the day with 7lb was Joe McMahon.
To sum up I got it all wrong as the roach did not feed, but to be fair I have never ever before not been able to catch roach at this venue, and yet I ended the day without a bite on the pole! Not one skimmer was caught today, and just 2 chub came out, I am glad I got off my arse to set up the tip rod, and changed my brain to carp.
Sunday, 19 February 2012
Sunday, 5 February 2012
I ain't breaking the ice! Not in 1992 either.
I admit it, I bottled it this weekend. I hadn't been that well all week and then the wife got really ill, and I couldn't see the point of driving on ice to then break ice and all that shit! So I stayed at home and looked after the wife and watched the football. I think I made the right choice, cos I just read Tony's blankers blog, lol! Fair play to all those who did go out today.
March 1st 1992 and I found myself driving to Oxford for the Ray Carter memorial match on the River Thames. This was a big team match, 80 teams of 6 anglers (yep 480 pegs!). I was pleased to be handed a peg at Clifton Hampden that I was told had bream form. When I got to the peg I was told by a local that the bream had been hammered during the week on the pegs in my area and he didn't think they would show. Unfortunately this area was notorious for holding no small fish and so I sat on a groundbait feeder for most of the match. I used 1.5lb maxima with a 20 hook and double red maggot and cast 3/4 the way across. I had my first bite after 2 hours, a small bream, my 2nd bite exactly 1 hour later, a small bream, and my 3rd bite exactly 1 hour later, I missed! That was it! 5lb 11oz gave me 74 points out of the 80, mega points for the team and we had some good results and came 3rd overall. The bream fed well in other sections with the top individual weight being 87lb.
I next endured two poor matches, firstly 3oz on a heavily flooded Warwickshire Avon, and then 1 bream from Saltford on the Topline Tours open match at Newbridge. I had a couple of pleasure fishing sessions at Bitterwell to cheer myself up, catching 15lb of roach on the wag the first time, then next time out only 5lb and I watched Tony Rixon catch 15lb of mainly skimmers on the pole. On the last day of the season I packed up on a Docks match and then sat on a mooring for 2 hours in front of the Chequers pub at Hanham on the Avon and took 7lb on the pole including a 2lb chub.
Thursday 19th March and off on the Veals trip to Northern Ireland on the Bann. If I recall we used to arrive after a night of no sleep, dump stuff at the hotel and then on to the Bann. My first day and I bagged an impressive ..... 2lb 11oz. Well it was 4 big roach! As the trip had a decent overall payout and it was decided on weight I needed a lot of luck now to do any good. If my memory serves me correctly this was the trip where Dave Haines, Mike Kent and myself hardly slept as we had a disco in our hotel! Day 2 and we were off to a completely different place, the river Blackwater at Verners Bridge. I drew right next to the bridge itself, and on my bank the wind was in our faces but the bridge afforded me some shelter. As we were setting up a storm came out of nowhere and terrific rain and winds battered us, well not me as I stood next to the bridge along with a few others! When the storm passed the old boy below me (other side of the bridge) went back to his peg only to find his glasses had been blown in, and he had to fish the feeder as he couldn't see his float! I went all out for bream and the win on my peg, with a big Thamesly open ender, size 12 Drennan Specimen hook to 3lb maxima hook length. First cast and I hooked the bottom, but then it came towards me. Eventually the end of a plank of wood surfaced, and Mike Kent leant out and grabbed it and then we pulled it out! It is the biggest thing I have ever caught. The rest of the match thankfully was better, I started catching roach and the odd hybrid on the feeder, and then in the last 2 hours decent skimmers. I finished with 77lb 15oz and won the day, I think Andy Floyd came 2nd from 2 below the bridge with 60lb+ of roach on the pole, though he had lost a few in the field behind him as the wind blew them off the hook as he swang them in!
Day 3 was a write off, the river had risen 3ft and was chocolate and I only had 1 roach and 1 gudgeon. Still one great day, and three cracking nights was well worth it. Apologies but I do not recall who won overall as I slept through the results on the ferry (I slept for about 20 hours straight!), probably Mr Rixon won it, well that might cheer him up after his blank today.
No fishing again next weekend due to a big night out raising money for cancer charities Macmillan and Orchid.
March 1st 1992 and I found myself driving to Oxford for the Ray Carter memorial match on the River Thames. This was a big team match, 80 teams of 6 anglers (yep 480 pegs!). I was pleased to be handed a peg at Clifton Hampden that I was told had bream form. When I got to the peg I was told by a local that the bream had been hammered during the week on the pegs in my area and he didn't think they would show. Unfortunately this area was notorious for holding no small fish and so I sat on a groundbait feeder for most of the match. I used 1.5lb maxima with a 20 hook and double red maggot and cast 3/4 the way across. I had my first bite after 2 hours, a small bream, my 2nd bite exactly 1 hour later, a small bream, and my 3rd bite exactly 1 hour later, I missed! That was it! 5lb 11oz gave me 74 points out of the 80, mega points for the team and we had some good results and came 3rd overall. The bream fed well in other sections with the top individual weight being 87lb.
I next endured two poor matches, firstly 3oz on a heavily flooded Warwickshire Avon, and then 1 bream from Saltford on the Topline Tours open match at Newbridge. I had a couple of pleasure fishing sessions at Bitterwell to cheer myself up, catching 15lb of roach on the wag the first time, then next time out only 5lb and I watched Tony Rixon catch 15lb of mainly skimmers on the pole. On the last day of the season I packed up on a Docks match and then sat on a mooring for 2 hours in front of the Chequers pub at Hanham on the Avon and took 7lb on the pole including a 2lb chub.
Thursday 19th March and off on the Veals trip to Northern Ireland on the Bann. If I recall we used to arrive after a night of no sleep, dump stuff at the hotel and then on to the Bann. My first day and I bagged an impressive ..... 2lb 11oz. Well it was 4 big roach! As the trip had a decent overall payout and it was decided on weight I needed a lot of luck now to do any good. If my memory serves me correctly this was the trip where Dave Haines, Mike Kent and myself hardly slept as we had a disco in our hotel! Day 2 and we were off to a completely different place, the river Blackwater at Verners Bridge. I drew right next to the bridge itself, and on my bank the wind was in our faces but the bridge afforded me some shelter. As we were setting up a storm came out of nowhere and terrific rain and winds battered us, well not me as I stood next to the bridge along with a few others! When the storm passed the old boy below me (other side of the bridge) went back to his peg only to find his glasses had been blown in, and he had to fish the feeder as he couldn't see his float! I went all out for bream and the win on my peg, with a big Thamesly open ender, size 12 Drennan Specimen hook to 3lb maxima hook length. First cast and I hooked the bottom, but then it came towards me. Eventually the end of a plank of wood surfaced, and Mike Kent leant out and grabbed it and then we pulled it out! It is the biggest thing I have ever caught. The rest of the match thankfully was better, I started catching roach and the odd hybrid on the feeder, and then in the last 2 hours decent skimmers. I finished with 77lb 15oz and won the day, I think Andy Floyd came 2nd from 2 below the bridge with 60lb+ of roach on the pole, though he had lost a few in the field behind him as the wind blew them off the hook as he swang them in!
Day 3 was a write off, the river had risen 3ft and was chocolate and I only had 1 roach and 1 gudgeon. Still one great day, and three cracking nights was well worth it. Apologies but I do not recall who won overall as I slept through the results on the ferry (I slept for about 20 hours straight!), probably Mr Rixon won it, well that might cheer him up after his blank today.
No fishing again next weekend due to a big night out raising money for cancer charities Macmillan and Orchid.
Sunday, 29 January 2012
January / Feb 1992
No fishing for me this weekend as I had 2 parties to attend this weekend and didn't fancy getting up Sunday morning! As it turned out the weather took a turn for the worse and I had a quick walk down Frys where 7 anglers had 5 bites between them, with Leon Hubbard winning with 2 bream for 9lb, and a 6oz roach being enough for 2nd!
My first match of 1992 was an open at Conham on the Avon, I drew poor and it took me an hour to get a bite on the stick float. I took 15 dace and 1 roach in the next hour and then not another bite. The footbridge swim dominated this match with 22lb of hybrids, but 17lb of chub, and a 17lb of dace showed in other areas. The following day I was trying my luck on a Docks open match and once again managed to avoid the bream pegs by drawing Avon Street. I had a lowly 3lb 6oz of roach, dace and perch on the pole and caster. My poor start to the year got worse the following Sunday when I blanked from peg 67 at Newbridge on the ATWL, my section was won with 8oz. The river was coloured and pacey but hard frosts had killed it, and half my team blanked meaning we had a disaster and came 10th on the day!
A week later and Conham once again was not being nice to me, 2lb 6oz of dace and a sea trout on the wag was all I could muster. Sunday was the Commercial house and I had a nice walk to about 3 pegs below the New Fence up the Crane. I stuck to a waggler approach for most of the day and had 2 bites for 2 small chub which weighed 2lb 4oz. That was worth 10 points out of 14. I remember this match well as walking back down with the scales one angler in the whole section had caught a roach, in fact he had about 10 of them. I remarked "How the f*ck did you catch them?" as back then a roach above the long ashtip in winter was almost unheard of. The angler in question was a young lad about my age from Yate, a certain Des Shipp. 30b of bream at Swineford won the match and 25lb of them came off the New Fence peg.
The weather got colder during week commencing 20th Jan, down to -6C at night and another grueller on the ATWL looked likely when I drew the 1st peg in the Long Ashtip. For nearly 2 hours I never had a bite, but fishing a little maggot feeder with 22 to 0.1 I caught 7 roach and 2 gudgeon for 1lb 7oz. 8 section points was OK, and everyone who beat me had a chub, the team only came 4th on the day and were now down to 3rd overall. What a crap month Janury was, and then on the 1st Feb I blanked in a Conham open match, oh boy! Finally things perked up on the last round of the ATWL which was fished up at Limpley Stoke and Avoncliff. I drew 3 pegs below the sewer which was not normally a great area but bream were a possibility. The river was clear and I decided to start on a crowquill with punch bread feeding white crumb, this produced a dozen small fish for less than a pound. I then fished a feeder over the top of this and had two bites, both resulting in 4lb bream. I weighed 9lb 1oz which was 2nd in the section and 6th overall, I think Keith Firks won the section off the sewer I asked Keith what he had caught on and he replied "punched chittling". As a team we finished on a better note winning the day and ended up 2nd overall.
My winter of discontent continued on the following Saturday when I threw back 2 roach after 5 hours on a peg a few pegs above Saltford weir, whilst 50lb's came from Kelston point. Sunday and the Commercial House on Frys, can't say I was really looking forward to this one! I drew peg 13 and had 1 skimmer and 2 tiny roach for 1lb 10oz. However, this was pretty good, I wrote in my diary "Everbody in the bay caught skimmers, everywhere else everyone blanked, near enough!" My team Bendix A won the league and I was 3rd Individual over the whole league. As the rest of February was absolutely dire for me I will mention just one more match. The Upper Avon Champs on 23rd Feb which was won by Andy Floyd. Andy had a day that he and most others who were there will never forget. Andy drew at Scotland Road and fished a feeder to begin with, but he had no bites and noticed his hookbait and feeder was covered in gunge. So he fished the waggler over the top feeding caster with 2 red maggots on the hook he caught ......17 bream, 3 perch, 2 tench and 1 chub for 76lb. Now that is proper river fishing!
My first match of 1992 was an open at Conham on the Avon, I drew poor and it took me an hour to get a bite on the stick float. I took 15 dace and 1 roach in the next hour and then not another bite. The footbridge swim dominated this match with 22lb of hybrids, but 17lb of chub, and a 17lb of dace showed in other areas. The following day I was trying my luck on a Docks open match and once again managed to avoid the bream pegs by drawing Avon Street. I had a lowly 3lb 6oz of roach, dace and perch on the pole and caster. My poor start to the year got worse the following Sunday when I blanked from peg 67 at Newbridge on the ATWL, my section was won with 8oz. The river was coloured and pacey but hard frosts had killed it, and half my team blanked meaning we had a disaster and came 10th on the day!
A week later and Conham once again was not being nice to me, 2lb 6oz of dace and a sea trout on the wag was all I could muster. Sunday was the Commercial house and I had a nice walk to about 3 pegs below the New Fence up the Crane. I stuck to a waggler approach for most of the day and had 2 bites for 2 small chub which weighed 2lb 4oz. That was worth 10 points out of 14. I remember this match well as walking back down with the scales one angler in the whole section had caught a roach, in fact he had about 10 of them. I remarked "How the f*ck did you catch them?" as back then a roach above the long ashtip in winter was almost unheard of. The angler in question was a young lad about my age from Yate, a certain Des Shipp. 30b of bream at Swineford won the match and 25lb of them came off the New Fence peg.
The weather got colder during week commencing 20th Jan, down to -6C at night and another grueller on the ATWL looked likely when I drew the 1st peg in the Long Ashtip. For nearly 2 hours I never had a bite, but fishing a little maggot feeder with 22 to 0.1 I caught 7 roach and 2 gudgeon for 1lb 7oz. 8 section points was OK, and everyone who beat me had a chub, the team only came 4th on the day and were now down to 3rd overall. What a crap month Janury was, and then on the 1st Feb I blanked in a Conham open match, oh boy! Finally things perked up on the last round of the ATWL which was fished up at Limpley Stoke and Avoncliff. I drew 3 pegs below the sewer which was not normally a great area but bream were a possibility. The river was clear and I decided to start on a crowquill with punch bread feeding white crumb, this produced a dozen small fish for less than a pound. I then fished a feeder over the top of this and had two bites, both resulting in 4lb bream. I weighed 9lb 1oz which was 2nd in the section and 6th overall, I think Keith Firks won the section off the sewer I asked Keith what he had caught on and he replied "punched chittling". As a team we finished on a better note winning the day and ended up 2nd overall.
My winter of discontent continued on the following Saturday when I threw back 2 roach after 5 hours on a peg a few pegs above Saltford weir, whilst 50lb's came from Kelston point. Sunday and the Commercial House on Frys, can't say I was really looking forward to this one! I drew peg 13 and had 1 skimmer and 2 tiny roach for 1lb 10oz. However, this was pretty good, I wrote in my diary "Everbody in the bay caught skimmers, everywhere else everyone blanked, near enough!" My team Bendix A won the league and I was 3rd Individual over the whole league. As the rest of February was absolutely dire for me I will mention just one more match. The Upper Avon Champs on 23rd Feb which was won by Andy Floyd. Andy had a day that he and most others who were there will never forget. Andy drew at Scotland Road and fished a feeder to begin with, but he had no bites and noticed his hookbait and feeder was covered in gunge. So he fished the waggler over the top feeding caster with 2 red maggots on the hook he caught ......17 bream, 3 perch, 2 tench and 1 chub for 76lb. Now that is proper river fishing!
Sunday, 22 January 2012
Landsend League
I was guesting again today and as this match was a random draw I could be on any of the first 3 lakes. I arrived after the draw time (mainly to being behind a big queue of other anglers having brekkie at the fountain cafe) and there were 4 pegs left in the hat 2 good and 2 not good, I pulled out 34 which I was happy with. However, Tony Rixon reckoned I might find it tricky due to the wind.
I walked down the steps to peg 33 and immediately noticed not only the "landscaping" but also the howling wind. I set up a straight lead using a Preston 10ft mini lead rod, and 0.14 to 16 PR36. Pole rigs were limited to just two today, a 0.6g Preston PB Inter float (round bodied wire stem) which would do for most of the swims I could fish, and a 0.3g PB Inter for across if the wind dropped. I used 0.12 and 18 hooks.
I decided to feed two lines at 9mtrs, one with casters and one with soft pellet. I did the same at 13mtrs hoping the wind my drop to try here later. Over the 9mtr caster line and I hit a perch first drop in, which came off halfway back in! A couple of small roach were then followed by a 7lb carp which got me thinking there could be a few about. This line went dead so I refed it and tried the pellet line but this never produced a bite. Very quickly 90 mins had gone by and I was struggling on the 9mtr lines with no bites and strong wind. The guy on 33 had taken a few on the feeder and so I put the straight lead out, first over the 13mtr lines, and then right over and up the side of the island. All for 1 small liner!
Until about an hour to go I had not had a bite since the first 90 mins, but I then missed a bite on soft pellet at 9mtrs. I had earlier fed some more casters over to the point of the island at 14.5mtrs and tried this with no success, though I could only try it for a few minutes due to the wind. However, as Mike Duckett on peg 31 was catching across (and the wind snapped his pole) I stuck to this long line and as luck would have it the wind started to ease off. In the last 30 mins I had a perch, a double figure carp, and got snapped. I dropped the rig in after the whistle to see if they had turned up and a 8lb carp confirmed it, bugger!
It had not been a good day and my total weigh of 20lb 4oz was not good enough for an coin. Tony Rixon peg 32 won the lake just beating Mike Duckett (who had been blank after 3 hours) and read all about it on Tony's blog because there was a lot of laughter going on over there! Phil (Fabio) Harding won the silvers with 21lb from peg 38, mostly skimmers on soft pellet.
I can already feel the shoulders and back aching, bloody wind!
I walked down the steps to peg 33 and immediately noticed not only the "landscaping" but also the howling wind. I set up a straight lead using a Preston 10ft mini lead rod, and 0.14 to 16 PR36. Pole rigs were limited to just two today, a 0.6g Preston PB Inter float (round bodied wire stem) which would do for most of the swims I could fish, and a 0.3g PB Inter for across if the wind dropped. I used 0.12 and 18 hooks.
I decided to feed two lines at 9mtrs, one with casters and one with soft pellet. I did the same at 13mtrs hoping the wind my drop to try here later. Over the 9mtr caster line and I hit a perch first drop in, which came off halfway back in! A couple of small roach were then followed by a 7lb carp which got me thinking there could be a few about. This line went dead so I refed it and tried the pellet line but this never produced a bite. Very quickly 90 mins had gone by and I was struggling on the 9mtr lines with no bites and strong wind. The guy on 33 had taken a few on the feeder and so I put the straight lead out, first over the 13mtr lines, and then right over and up the side of the island. All for 1 small liner!
Until about an hour to go I had not had a bite since the first 90 mins, but I then missed a bite on soft pellet at 9mtrs. I had earlier fed some more casters over to the point of the island at 14.5mtrs and tried this with no success, though I could only try it for a few minutes due to the wind. However, as Mike Duckett on peg 31 was catching across (and the wind snapped his pole) I stuck to this long line and as luck would have it the wind started to ease off. In the last 30 mins I had a perch, a double figure carp, and got snapped. I dropped the rig in after the whistle to see if they had turned up and a 8lb carp confirmed it, bugger!
It had not been a good day and my total weigh of 20lb 4oz was not good enough for an coin. Tony Rixon peg 32 won the lake just beating Mike Duckett (who had been blank after 3 hours) and read all about it on Tony's blog because there was a lot of laughter going on over there! Phil (Fabio) Harding won the silvers with 21lb from peg 38, mostly skimmers on soft pellet.
I can already feel the shoulders and back aching, bloody wind!
Sunday, 15 January 2012
Commercial House Rnd 6 K&A Canal
Final round of the Commercial House today and the canal was my destination once more. Two sections were from the George to up past Bathampton bend (as normal) but the next 4 sections were Claverton and then Diggers out to Warleigh. These last 4 sections had not been fished much but are not as good as they used to be. Team draw done and I was on the last section from Warleigh bridge back towards Diggers, yuk! I got away fairly early from the draw and managed to get a parking space in the lay by, I think I would have been better parking in Diggers as that hill was a test coming back!
As I walked the section and arrived at my peg I was really pleased, I had some really good cover over in the form of brambles which helps as this part of the canal has no far bank depth. I pulled out the same rigs as last week, no surprise there then! With the 4x14 roach for use on the punch, the 0.4 grm and 0.2grm for bloodworm. A caster rig and a chopped worm rig were also put up, but as I never had a bite on these two rigs there is no more to say!
The angler to my right was Richard Lacey, he was fishing for Bathampton Red and as his team were in 2nd place I had to beat him, on my left was Thatchers young star Nathaniel Johnson. We were soon all feeding our liquidized bread, jokers, casters, etc and I fed heavily with my licky as I was hoping for a few bonus skimmers. Then the moment of truth as I slipped on a 4mm punch of bread, and then for 5 minutes nothing. Then a bite and a 3oz hybrid, next chuck roach and the next and the next. It was going to plan for me, the float was burying very quickly and I was catching a nice stamp of roach. 40 mins in and I was thinking a really good weight could be on the cards, and then I had a cast without a bite, and then not another bite! It was madness, I'd gone from getting bites on the drop to dead stop, it never showed any sign of slowing up. I just didn't get another bite on the punch from a roach, although a silly perch did prove the roach had gone. I reckoned I had taken 2lb on the punch, whilst my neighbours had struggled for ounces.
Although the punch had ended abruptly I assumed the roach would be pigging out on my joker, ummm wrong! It was a real hard task to raise a bite even on a bloodworm, and all my lines against the brambles were useless bar one which gave up 5 tiny fish all day. A line at 11mtrs to my left produced a dozen or so fish during the day but that was it, I can't say anything very interesting about the last 4 hours!
I had gone for a walk during the match and I could see I had been winning the section early doors, but I was concerned about my lack of fish after the initial burst. However, everyone in my section had endured a very tough day and my lowly 2lb 15oz was enough to the win section, with Rich Lacey coming second with 1lb 14oz. Nathaniel was trying to look on the bright side having only caught 11oz! I was obviously on a few roach, but I wonder if my positive feeding helped me make the most of the feeding spell?
Back to the results at the rugby club and the team sheet was looking good, we had all done well and were joint top on the day with Bathampton, and so of course that meant we won the league, yay! My team consisted of Martin Barrett, Mark Brennan, Liam Braddell. Gary O'Shea and Andy Power, although today the Power went to Viaduct and his flyer went to super sub Mick Hurst who just missed out on the frame.
On the day Nathan Hawke left the baby at home and caught some chub up at Ferry Lane for 7lb+, just a few ounces behind him at Diggers was Liam Braddell who had 3 big perch (and lost 2), and then came Gary O'Shea with a big 6lb which included a big skimmer, perch and chub from next to Nathan. The legend that is Roy Carter was 4th with 5lb 12oz just past Bathmpton bend, and last in the money was Kev Dicks.
The B division was paralysed by Dave Tippets team, they had already won the league before the day started, no surprise that Kev Boltz featured in their team. Well done lads.
The knockout winner was Paul Purchase, runner up Andy Ottoway.
Biggest fish with a 6lb 2oz Barbel was me!
Individual champion was a bloke who drew some half decent pegs, that'll be me again! Before the piss taking starts I should say I won't pick up any money for this. That's because when the league started I never expected to fish all the matches as I have been waiting for an operation since September, and so I never entered the individual pool money. So in 2nd place taking the money was Thatchers A leg end Leigh Trivett. Well done Lee, or is it Leigh, any chance of a pint mate?
Well done to Mike Goodhind, Vinny Lunn and Mark Harper for running a smooth league, I look forward to fishing it again next year.
As I walked the section and arrived at my peg I was really pleased, I had some really good cover over in the form of brambles which helps as this part of the canal has no far bank depth. I pulled out the same rigs as last week, no surprise there then! With the 4x14 roach for use on the punch, the 0.4 grm and 0.2grm for bloodworm. A caster rig and a chopped worm rig were also put up, but as I never had a bite on these two rigs there is no more to say!
The angler to my right was Richard Lacey, he was fishing for Bathampton Red and as his team were in 2nd place I had to beat him, on my left was Thatchers young star Nathaniel Johnson. We were soon all feeding our liquidized bread, jokers, casters, etc and I fed heavily with my licky as I was hoping for a few bonus skimmers. Then the moment of truth as I slipped on a 4mm punch of bread, and then for 5 minutes nothing. Then a bite and a 3oz hybrid, next chuck roach and the next and the next. It was going to plan for me, the float was burying very quickly and I was catching a nice stamp of roach. 40 mins in and I was thinking a really good weight could be on the cards, and then I had a cast without a bite, and then not another bite! It was madness, I'd gone from getting bites on the drop to dead stop, it never showed any sign of slowing up. I just didn't get another bite on the punch from a roach, although a silly perch did prove the roach had gone. I reckoned I had taken 2lb on the punch, whilst my neighbours had struggled for ounces.
Although the punch had ended abruptly I assumed the roach would be pigging out on my joker, ummm wrong! It was a real hard task to raise a bite even on a bloodworm, and all my lines against the brambles were useless bar one which gave up 5 tiny fish all day. A line at 11mtrs to my left produced a dozen or so fish during the day but that was it, I can't say anything very interesting about the last 4 hours!
I had gone for a walk during the match and I could see I had been winning the section early doors, but I was concerned about my lack of fish after the initial burst. However, everyone in my section had endured a very tough day and my lowly 2lb 15oz was enough to the win section, with Rich Lacey coming second with 1lb 14oz. Nathaniel was trying to look on the bright side having only caught 11oz! I was obviously on a few roach, but I wonder if my positive feeding helped me make the most of the feeding spell?
Back to the results at the rugby club and the team sheet was looking good, we had all done well and were joint top on the day with Bathampton, and so of course that meant we won the league, yay! My team consisted of Martin Barrett, Mark Brennan, Liam Braddell. Gary O'Shea and Andy Power, although today the Power went to Viaduct and his flyer went to super sub Mick Hurst who just missed out on the frame.
On the day Nathan Hawke left the baby at home and caught some chub up at Ferry Lane for 7lb+, just a few ounces behind him at Diggers was Liam Braddell who had 3 big perch (and lost 2), and then came Gary O'Shea with a big 6lb which included a big skimmer, perch and chub from next to Nathan. The legend that is Roy Carter was 4th with 5lb 12oz just past Bathmpton bend, and last in the money was Kev Dicks.
The B division was paralysed by Dave Tippets team, they had already won the league before the day started, no surprise that Kev Boltz featured in their team. Well done lads.
The knockout winner was Paul Purchase, runner up Andy Ottoway.
Biggest fish with a 6lb 2oz Barbel was me!
Individual champion was a bloke who drew some half decent pegs, that'll be me again! Before the piss taking starts I should say I won't pick up any money for this. That's because when the league started I never expected to fish all the matches as I have been waiting for an operation since September, and so I never entered the individual pool money. So in 2nd place taking the money was Thatchers A leg end Leigh Trivett. Well done Lee, or is it Leigh, any chance of a pint mate?
Well done to Mike Goodhind, Vinny Lunn and Mark Harper for running a smooth league, I look forward to fishing it again next year.
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