Windmill Fishery Open

Happy New Year! It’s been a few weeks since I last fished, 1) because I spent New Year’s in Tenerife and 2) because I didn’t fancy fishing given the river levels and temperatures. The weather was lovely in Tenerife and I even got to see dolphins and whales on a boat trip. 

Getting back home I had another chesty cough and blocked nose, about 5 times in a year now, which also kept me off the bank. Midweek working up in Yorkshire I felt like I wanted to go fishing, the temperature was coming up and lakes thawing out. With no river matches on that I could see I booked in for Windmill. Then the weather changed and got cold and I was thinking it was going to be tough.

After watching the Gas win (been a while) and a few celebratory drinks I was looking forward to Sunday. A quick breakfast to fuel me and then off to the fishery. 12 fishing today, not surprised by the low turnout as it was absolutely freezing! Nick Sanders did the draw and I pulled out peg 23. I had to be happy with this as it seems the carp are this end of the lake, and on Thursday Kai Hurley had 53lb off it for fourth. Being the shortest walk I was soon at the peg.

First obvious spot to fish to was the island reeds, just to the right as the angler on 25 can cast to the end of the island. I had a lead rod for here, and pole at 16m with 4x12 in about 3 1/2 feet of water, 0.11 to 18 GPM.

I also had a 4x16 rig for fishing two 14.5m lines in the deep water. 

Lastly my 16m rig would do for fishing next to margin reeds at 12m, it was a float length deeper here.

With only 12 here I had lots of room, with Gary Bedford on 21, Antony Bright on 25, bang opposite me on 1 was Jon Osbourne. We started at at 10:15, thirty minutes later Mr Bright has a carp on method feeder, and two chucks later another. Soon after Jon had a carp and lost one on the long pole in deep water. I’d been dobbing various areas without a sniff, nothing on my deep swims. A hour in and I had my first bite from 16m, 15 seconds later it came off.

Another hour or so and no bites, Gary had 2 carp and John 2, but on peg 3 Gerry Welsh had 30lb dobbing. Eventually I got bored and despite 5 layers was feeling the cold, so I went for a walk. Other than Gerry and John Williams on 6 (which won on Thursday) not much was caught, even the likes of Shaun Townsend were blanking. What was noticeable was that a few anglers had carp moving in the reed, but my reeds were empty. I returned to the peg and still couldn’t get a bite anywhere, I was a bit fed up as clearly there were carp this end but I was avoiding them. The margin line was dead, and so I started to loosefeed maggots here with a catapult to try to make something happen.

Just after 1:30pm I hooked a carp on double maggot in the margin. Landed a 5lb fish and then realised I had not put my keepnets in, so thought I better put one in! Next drop in the margin and waited about 15 seconds for the float to go under, carp number 2 was soon in the net, a nice 9lb common. Next drop in missed a bite, but soon attached to carp number 3 and another 7lb in the net. At this point Leyton Palmer sat on the bench by me, he saw me hook and shortly afterwards pull out of a carp. Luckily it was well away from the margin and I was soon into another carp.

By 2:30pm and with an hour to go I had 47lb on my clicker, and Glenn Bailey and Dave Haines had also been watching me. The margin line then died, not really surprising considering the great spell I had. I’d tried toss potting, fishing further away but no more bites. I tried my other lines to rest the margin, but no bites anywhere. I decided to sit it out in the margin for the last 20 minutes (finishing at 3:30pm), but there were no signs. Just as I said to Jon “is it all out yet” my float dipped and as I struck the all out was called by Nick… “fish on!”. A nice 8lb mirror to end the day. 

I had the scales and had to weigh from peg 11 back to me. It wasn’t going to take long. Gary on my right had 3 carp for 23lb 11oz and that was the best until I weighed 55lb 4oz.

Winner today was Gerry Welsh with 60lb 11oz, all caught dobbing, well done Ger!

I was second, and third was John Williams with 33lb on peg 6.

Silvers was jointly won by Paul Barnfield and Mat Tainton with 4oz. I think the lakes silvers have been decimated, the clue being 14 cormorants on site.

I was happy to get home and get warmed up, and reflected on a poor day brightened up by a wonderful hour. Don’t think the temperature got much above 3C today and in my book any result in winter is a bonus. I was glad I finally found the fish and didn’t pack up which did briefly go through my mind lol!

Philtone Teams of 4 Acorn Fishery

 Hope everyone reading this has had a great Christmas and is looking forward to the new year. Neil Mercer has run this match for a number of years now albeit on different venues. There were 20 anglers split into five teams of four anglers, my team was captain Mark Bromsgrove, Ricky Mills, Jamie Brown and myself. Mark was the only angler who fishes Acorn regularly, and I was next after my few matches back here in the summer fishing for silvers. 

I picked up my Thatchers team mate Andy Ottaway who was in one of the other teams, this would be his first visit to Acorn. We all met up at 8am at the Bridge Inn for breakfast and a good chat. The draw was soon done and from my teams envelope I pulled peg 40 a bridge peg, Mark was the other side of the bridge on 6, Ricky on 25 and Jamie on 15. My section ran from me back to peg 29.

It was cold and low cloud meant there was a tiny bit of drizzle now and then. However, I could still easily see the anglers on the island including Martin Reyat on fancied peg 5.

It wouldn’t take long setting up and based upon what my captain said I had 3 rigs. A 4x16 for fishing at 9m in the deepest water, a couple of 4x12 rigs one for 12m and one for against the bridge, both at around 3 1/2 to 4 feet deep. I had 18 GPM to 0.11 powerline on all rigs. I was going with maggot as my feed today but did have some corn and micro ready to try.

We started at 10:15 and it was really slow it seemed, my 12m opening gambit spot didn’t yield a single indication. I moved to 9m in the deep water straight in front, but nothing doing here either, so tried the 9m line next to the bridge which was my banker. This time I had a bite and hooked a decent fish, but I soon realised it was fouled and after playing it for a good 5 minutes plus I pulled out of it. Back to the bridge and liner, then another bite, hooked it and this fish charged off under the bridge. After a few minutes everything went slack, line had snapped just below the bulk so clearly the fish had found the underwater stanchion, think it was fouled too. Third time lucky I hoped, and indeed I was hooked up again to a smaller carp that was hooked in the mouth, but it came off as I was about to net it.  Not the best of starts then!

At this stage Mark in 6 had netted a few fish, Freddie Harper-Wojtyla had missed 1 bite on 38, but Steve Spencer on 36 had a few carp from fishing down his margin. By the bridge had gone quiet and so tried back in front of me, I had my one and only bite here, lost another fouler. Finally just after the hour I had my first carp in the net at 5lb, soon followed by a 4lber, both from the bridge. 

Had to rest it and go round my swims for nothing at all. Then about 2 hours in hooked a good carp than swam away from the bridge and up to Freddie. Luckily I just managed to turn it and get it under control, a nice 8lb common hooked in the mouth. It was a one off and I was really struggling, so went round the swims again. Three hours in and get my first bite at 12m, fish hooked and took off under the bridge, this was really pulling and I was just waiting for the line to snap when I saw the fish boil nearly in peg 7. Somehow the line held, after pulling the fish a long way from the bridge I finally thought it was safe to break down to the top set. Eventually got the net under the carp, it had been hooked in the pectoral fin and was a double figure common.

With 2 hours to go Freddie got his first carp, but mine and Marks pegs really switched off, Mark had double what I had but he couldn’t get a sign now. I managed to catch just two more fish, both tench about 3lb each. Freddie had a couple more carp and tench to end better.

Scales were coming to me last and it was getting quite dark so no pictures today. My section was being won by Steve Spencer with 52lb, my fish went 33lb 11oz which was just enough to get me second in the section, my biggest carp was weighed at 11lb 5oz. 

Back at the Bridge Inn Neil did the results. 

1st on the day Martin Reyat 104lb peg 5

2nd Neil Mercer 103lb peg 9

3rd Jamie Brown 93lb peg 15

On the team front my team had tied for first with Neil’s team, but we lost out on weight by 9lb. My consolation was taking the biggest fish prize and a tenner lol.

There was a match at Newbridge today and I expected it to fish well for bream, it did with 56lb, 54lb, 47lb and 44lb.

Next fishing for me is I don’t know just yet, will see in a couple of weeks.

Happy New Year!

Premier Angling Open - Bristol Avon Crane

It has been 3 weeks since I last got out fishing, and that was on the canal and not inspiring. I didn’t want to fish the Commercial House Xmas match on the canal as I thought it would be rubbish. I made the right decision as only 1oz won the match, the venue is devoid of fish once a frost happens.  This weekend was really my last chance to fish before Xmas, and when I saw Premier Angling advertising this match I booked in.

I travelled back from Yorkshire Saturday and getting home late meant I was going to do no prep. Sunday morning I grabbed the gear, chucked some gbait (sweet skimmer and black river) in a bucket and loaded my van. When I got to Premier Angling I picked up the bait I had ordered and paid my pools. There had been a couple of late drop outs so it was 17 fishing. A few old faces had booked on and it was good to see them, the likes of Mike Shellard, Clive Feddery, Andy Greenham, Lee Gregory, plus a very young face in Kai Hurley. I drew peg 2 which meant I was in the lane.

My peg was one I have fished probably ten years ago, the bank is reinforced by an old radiator and a big piece of metal which is right behind you. The bank is flat but it’s awkward. The river was still running fast but the colour was ok, there was no chance of me fishing a float here, so I just put one feeder up. A 60g Preston open ended feeder was my starting gambit. I went to tie a hook but realised my heavy line was still in my shed… so I walked back to the shop and bought a spool of 0.17 powerline (which I have a box of in the shed 🙈). 

I started the match casting the feeder about 2/3 over by the tree with 3 red maggots on the hook. Second cast and a nice drop back bite, landed the 6oz fish but was still blanking as it was a trout lol!

Still no need to worry as two casts later I was in again and this time it was a better fish, it was nice to land a 2 1/2lb chub so early. Next cast I had an 8oz chublet, then a few casts later a 1 1/2lb chub. By the end of the first hour I had added a roach and a skimmer and was really enjoying the unexpectedly good start. I had another skimmer about 1lb, and then Graham Hunt came for a chat, I had another skimmer and then pulled out of bream whilst he was there. Although I lost the bream in close it brought an end to my bites.

It was at least an hour later at 12:30 and exactly halfway through the match when I had my next bite. It was on treble caster and was a good chub of 3 1/2lb. That was a bite out of the blue and with no more signs I switched to a maggot feeder on the inside. That got snagged up, so I decided to cast it over the gbait line to see if I could find a chub, it’s something that works for me now and again. At 2pm I had a bite and as I played it Graham was back and said he thought it was a bream, he was right, 4lb+. This turned out to be my last fish, although I did have a bite on my last cast I didn’t see it.

I thought I had about 16lb and word on the bank was that would win it, below me Mike Jeffries on end peg had a bream and a couple of skimmers. It didn’t take long for the scales to arrive as there wasn’t lots caught it seemed, Gerry Welsh on the cattle grid was top in our section with 5lb. The guy above me Paul blanked, then my fish went 18lb 8oz. Mike below had a 10lb 8oz his bream was near 6lb. 

Back at the shop and I was announced as the winner with Mike second, so a good draw today at last. There was a couple of 6lb weights and 4’s. Other than John Osbourne getting 4lb of roach there were hardly any caught, chub and skimmers took the money today. A big thank you to Kieran and the guys at Premier for running this match, and for the tackle voucher.

Also a big thank you to my wife for my Sunday roast, what a great end to the day 😃.

Finally a good result this autumn / winter on the river, a few more days like that would be nice. That said my next match will be just after Christmas, at Acorn fishery. Which just leaves me to wish you all a Happy Christmas!🎅 

Upper Thames winter league final match

 Today was the last round and I was looking forward to playing my part on the river at Newbridge. Errr maybe not. The heavy rain of last weekend put the river up to near record levels and caused panic among some. Heavy rain was forecast again Wednesday and so the team captains decided to move the match to the Gloucester Canal. Game over for me and Shaun Townsend, and our team mates who are regular Glos canal anglers replaced us in the team. I was happy to fish the river, but many of the fields were flooded and access could have been a problem, so I couldn’t argue with the decision. We were 2 points in front of DGL and so had to do well.

There was nothing for me to fish, and I arranged to watch some friends singing at the Midland Spinner with Shaun and friends. We were keeping a close eye on our team WhatsApp for results, with fingers crossed. As the lads started to advise their respective results it was looking good, and eventually we saw we tied top on this match with 31 points with DGL but they took top by having 1 more section win. This though meant we had won the league overall by 1 point with DGL coming second.

The lads who fished today celebrating.

Myself and Shaun celebrating the win.

As you can tell we are all over the moon, and everyone contributed to the win. Our squad might be half the size of DGL but we showed we are still a capable squad. 

Well done to everyone who took part in the league, it was fished in great spirit and that’s what matters.

Hopefully I’ll get back fishing soon. Cheers 🍻 

Commercial House Final Round K&A Canal

The lead up to this match for me was one of concern for how it would fish, as everywhere seems to be fishing pretty hard on natural venues. Blanks on the river and blanks on the canal, with my team not in contention I was not feeling the slightest excitement for this match lol. 

I was the first of my team to arrive at the draw, so started filling out the team sheet and as the lads arrived took the pools money. As usual we were going to be last to draw, so young Charlie Isaacs was just going to take the last number and see what sections we got. There were four sections at Bathampton and two at Claverton, I was given F section peg 5 which was at Claverton, I was going to be 2 pegs past the Ferry Lane bridge, might be ok.

Managed to get to the parking field with no van issues this time, Dave Lewis was looking perplexed as he had left his keepnet and landing net at home! I helped him out with a landing net, and eventually he got a keepnet from Jon Tocknell. It’s a bit awkward getting to the towpath but  with 2 anglers per trolley it was easy. I finally got to my peg and couldn’t believe it when I saw Mike Kent on peg 6, that’s all 5 rounds in the same section, twice next peg and I was next peg to him in the Poppy.

Set up my std 4 x 14 bread rig with 18 PR 311 to 0.08, same size rig for bloodworm down the track. A 0.3g rig for bloodworm at top set and across. Also a positive rig for caster / chopped worm.

I started a few minutes late, plopped some liquidised bread in at top set plus two, some joker in the three lines. Twenty minutes in and I had not had a bite on the bread, neither had Mike or Dave Lewis on 7. However, on 8 Steve Skelton (who had to move up a peg due to moored boat in his peg) was getting a roach a chuck and on 9 so was Craig Pinker. The writing was very much already on the wall. Thirty minutes in and I caught a tiny perch on a top set to save the blank but no other bites. Searching my other lines I took another 2 perch, now I had an ounce lol.

After an hour Mike had a couple of bonus chublets across on caster, then Dave started to catch chublets 2/3 across over gbait and squatt. My caster and choppy lines were biteless. After three hours I had 6 tiny perch and it was clear I was off the fish, below the bridge was tough too. Word was the whole canal was fishing awful and Steve and Craig were probably first and second. Thinking I was never going to get enough little perch I gave the caster and worm lines a good chance, but it didn’t happen.

One hour to go and out of the blue three roach on bloodworm from across, ten more of them in the last hour would be brilliant I thought. Stupid idiot not another bite!! What a pile of 💩 

Andy Britt had the scales and said when he pegged the match Steve’s peg was the only one that he saw fish topping in. Craig on 9 had 4lb 10oz, Steve on 8 9lb, Dave on 7 3lb 21/2, Mike on 6 1lb 6oz and then me 8oz…. Well just to rub salt in the wound I was plumb last in the section as on the other side of the bridge Jon Tocknell had 11oz, guess I should have stuck with the bloodworm. Well that just about sums up my poor autumn, pretty pants lol!

Well done Steve an easy winner today, lots of roach, some chublets and perch.

Craig Pinker was second and young Kai Hurley was third with 3lb 3oz in E section and Dave Lewis 4th.

On the team front in A division Sensas Nomads carried on the good form and were champions, well done lads! In B division Sensas Lobby’s dominant display meant they were runaway winners, an awesome result.

My teams poor performances continued today, but I felt most sorry for Shane Robinson who was getting an odd bite from roach but his peg was infested by leaves..

The knockout winner was Andy Powell and the individual league champion was Dave Lewis. As Dave said to me he had drawn the fish every round, but you still got to catch them Dave and you did. Think he was a bit shocked by his win, though Jeff Surmon and I thought it was funny!

Some good news today was that my Thatchers team on the ATWL had a great day, they won the day and had the top 3 individuals! We are 3 points ahead of DGL with two rounds to go, one on the canal and the last one on the Avon at Keynsham. 

No fishing for me next weekend, hopefully the break will do me good 😂.