Riverfest Qualifier Bristol Avon Newbridge

There hasn't been amything from me for a while as I just have not been out fishing, and have had some quality time with the family. I spent a lovely weekend at Babbacombe when it was baking hot, and I got to swim in the sea a couple of times which is rare for me in this country. It was a wonderful break for myself and the wife.

Over the last couple of years I have found my opportunities to fish these qualifiers restricted to my local stretch of river, and going into one match means you do need that bit of luck at the draw and fish well. I have seemed to draw the trees section a few times and that's always a bit peggy so hoped to avoid that. It was a bit like pre covid times for me, I had a breakfast in Hanham Wetherspoons before rocking up to the draw and a good chat with many anglers queuing for the peg draw. The pegging was shown on the sheet as so...

The spare pegs were in case any boats had moored up overnight, luckily none hadn't I believe. There was though a great peg left out, 61 Norfolk Reeds, as a boat was in there when it was pegged and I fancied 59 and 63 to do well. I pulled out peg 32 ticket, which was 65, so close but yet so far I thought. It is right in the middle of the stretch and so was going to be a long walk, but since I am back to the gym these walks (on dry ground) don't faze me. It took me a time to get away from the draw as many anglers approached me to ask how to approach their peg and what were their chances.

When I got to my peg it was clear the heavy storms from the day before had put a little colour and flow into the river, making many anglers believe this would be a bream fest, but these things are rarely so clear cut in my experience, and I advised most anglers to take a pole to the pegs not just a feeder rod. That said I was in the middle zone and traditionally this is the highest weight zone and bream were expected to win it. My peg is wide and deep (about 14 feet) and used to be OK, but for many years now it is rare for the bream to drop down below 63.

From experience this area throws up bream on the pole line, and so I was going down the one line route, 13m for pole and feeder. I set up a grm float with 16 N20 to 0.12, a 4g flat float with 16 N30 to 0.13, and a gbait feeder with 14 N30 to 0.15. That was all I was going to go with and to be honest the 3g rig was only for catching some early small fish in my mind. My groundbait mix was done on the bank and I went with a mix of natural and a bit of fishmeal to encourage skimmers and bream. So Natural Lake and River, and Super Feeder. I split this up to allow for a heavy mix for balling / cupping and a drier version for the feeder.

There were some good anglers on good pegs and I was sure a decent weight would be needed today, 30 to 40lb. Had the river been clear then a bigger weight might win as the bream may be shoaled up. I began by balling in 16 balls today, plenty of casters, dead pinkie and chopped worms in there. The angler on 63 also gave it a few balls but not so much, would I pull some fish down past I wondered? I started on the 3g and had a dace first run down, then a chublet and then a small roach. I had regular bites was missing a few as I was fishing double maggot or caster trying to get the bigger fish, but the quality wasn't nothing special and the landing net was used once for a roach. As the quality did not improve I went out on the flat float trying worm and triple maggot but this accounted for small fish too. I tried a double caster and had a 4oz hybrid, then nearly an hour in I hit a very good fish that pulled a lot of 11 hollo red elastic out. It took a while to get this fish up and I was beginning to think it might be a pike, but finally glimpsed a bream, it was a good one around 6lb I think. A good start. Sadly no more followed this and I could only catch small perch or chublets. The guy above then had 2 big bream in the next hour to go ahead. I cupped in a couple of rich balls of feed, back on a worm hookbait and a few perch and then hooked a 1lb+ perch, but I lost it when shipping back some walkers wanted to get passed and I let the line go slack and it was gone.

My match petered away after the first hours with an almost blank third hour and it seemed the same for most people, with bankside talk of 2 bream being good. Try as I might I coud not coax anymore bream from my swim, the lad above had 2 skimmers and that was all. I nicked a few roach here and there and then sat out for the last hour for slabs to no avail. I knew I was beaten by the angler above and also James Carty on 56 had 3 bream, and then we heard that Andy Power on 77 had 4 late bream. I was still going to weigh in as you never know what the section money will be won with. However, after waiting a good hour and no scales and chatting to a few anglers I decided to chuck back as I was well overdue to getting to a 60th birthday party. Andy Cranston and Paul Purchase witnessed my fish, maybe 10lb.

I found out later that Powers won with 32lb, and my team captain Mark Harper was second with some bream and skimmers on the feeder from peg 7 with 27lb, the other qualfier from the bottom zone was Nick Chezoy who had the best day's catch in my opinion with 18lb+ of roach and chublets on the pole.

My only pic was my bream in the net. Not great I know and doesn't do it justice.

Well done to the three qualifiers and good luck in the final. I needed about 12lb to get the section money I think, so the lost perch and a few more bits would have been good enough, but I was there to qualify so it matters not.

That's it for another week, I am not fishing again this weekend, but will be back in two weeks fishing the superleague final round at Newbridge.

Update and 2002

 What is it they say, best laid plans and all that... I was not going fishing this weekend or the next, I was off to watch England v Sri Lanka ODI cricket this Sunday, and off for a long weekend next weekend. However, one of my daughters got a positive Covid test result this week and that meant the rest of us family were all going ot have to stay in our house and garden and self isolate. The good news is my daughter never got seriously ill and is now fine, and rest of us had all negative tests. Gutted to have to self isolate and miss some long looked forward to plans, but such is life. It now looks like I will be fishing next Sunday on the Superleague at Staverton / Bradford-on-Avon.

I have certainly enjoyed watching the England football team in the Euros, especially against Germany and Ukraine. My eldest daughter would definitely have been out watching with her friends, but we've ended up watching it together. 25 years we first watched the Euros together, although she was only a few weeks old back then, my wife is convinced it was me watching Euro 96 with the baby in my arms that got her into football lol. I'm looking forward to the game against the Danes, but even with such good England performances I am still nervous, but I give Southgate his due, he has these boys going really well. 

On the Superleague today I have found out that the match was won by Dan Squires off end peg A1 with 28lb, I assume some bream in that. Top team on the day was the Thachers Blue team, and with 28 out of 32 points they were able to go top of the league after two rounds. Sadly my Thatchers Green team had two lasts in section and finished nearly last, oops.

It has been quite a while since I looked back in one of my diaries and it was October 2002 when I last was looking. On Sunday 13th October I fished the Commercial House at Frys, I was on old peg 74. We had some rain and not being too far below Siston Brook I knew the river was going to colour up. I fished a gbait feeder 3/4 of the way over to begin with, I had 2 chub from here and then I couldn't fish here as the river coloured up too much. I switched to fishing down the middle where I had 10 eels and hooked another chub but I lost that one. 6lb 8oz was enough for 12 out of 14 points.

The following week and it was the ATWL at Newbridge, I was pegged down in the tree on 133. I remember this day as the river was just a little to pacey for the float I thought, and I reckoned on needing some bigger fish. I only set up the gbait feeder and fished it down the middle, but it wasn't quite as I expected. I had 2 skimmers and some hybrids, but no bream, but the roach were feeding. I basically had bites most casts but was struggling to hook them, double caster was the best hookbait. I had 9lb which got me third in the section, missing out on second by ounces. Team came 2nd so all good so far.

Sunday 27th October Commercial House was cancelled due to 90mph winds, in fact I drove to the draw at Bitton, only to find out that a few minutes after I got there a large oak tree was blown down into the road, makes you think how close that could have been. I had a rare day off mid week and went pleasure fishing at Conham on the Bristol Avon, Just set up a 6 no4 stick float with 18 to .10. I fed casters only and had a few roach, but the dace really came on the feed and came up in the water, I ended up with over 20lb. Would you believe it the following Sunday and the ATWL at Swineford / Crane was cancelled as the river was bank high. I did fish up at Newbridge for a while, never had a bite for 2 hours, then had 12 eels on lobworm.

The 2002 Poppy match was put onto the K&A canal and I was not really impressed by my draw on the first peg at Darlington Wharf by the bridge. I had a bit of a struggle all day, catching a few small skimmers and roach over gbait, and a few perch across on casters. I did hook a large fish on a pinkie which after a couple of minutes of playing I pulled out. Not 100% sure but think this match was won by Andy Ottoway. The ATWL was also put on the canal as the river continued to be flooded, I was just past Bathampton bend. The canal fished hard, there was no bloodworm and joker allowed back then. I caught small roach on pinkie over gbait at 3m and 10m for 3lb 2oz which was worth 5 points out of 8.

For my last match in November 2002 I had a complete change of scenery and went to Viaduct fishery and fished a match on Campbell lake. I was peg 124 and set up for the day was a waggler and a straight lead with 0.14 to a 16. I fished sweetcorn and fed 1 tin through the day, starting on the waggler but changing over to the lead as the wind made life tricky. Back then the carp were much smaller and biggest was 3lb, I finished with 72lb which was enough to win the match.

Two Matches on the King Sedgemoor Drain

 I am going to try to catch on the blog tonight, so first up will be a report on an open match on the KSD, and next the Super League round one on the KSD.

After returning from Viaduct on Friday, Saturday gave a small window of prep for the KSD as I was going to Tewkesbury to watch my youngest daughter dancing in the theatre, was a great performance and actually brought a tear to my eye. I was up at 6am Sunday to travel down to the 37 Club near Puriton where the local Sensas 88 anglers had done a grand job clearing pegs as well as getting the club to open for breakfasts and a beer after. I actually arrived a bit late and therefor missed most of my team mates and other anglers, the late draw though didn't bring me an end peg flyer, but peg 76 at Parchey, where I nearly always seem to draw. This early in the season I wasn't sure how the venue would respond, but Paul Purchase advised there had already been some decent catches.

I stopped on Parchey  bridge to look at the river, it was like a mill pond. 

My peg is past the first few barren bank pegs, and has some bushes and reeds on the far bank, I hoped that bit of cover might be work a bream or skimmer on the feeder, that was the first thing I set up and clipped it up, with 16 N30 to 0.13 powerline. I set up a whip but that was not right today and not worth mentioning any more. Also a 1g rig for fishing 22 to 0.08 at 8.5m, a 2g rig with 18 to N20 for fishing out at 13m. A rig for chopped worm off the edge of the lily pads was also set up but I never had a bite on this.

I cupped in some balls of Sonubait Black Roach, and lake containing pinkies, caster and hemp at 8.5m, then cast a big feeder out about 7 times, and wasted some worms lol.

I started on the 8.5m pole and put a big maggot on to see how the fish would react, I was happy to get some bites although the fish (mainly hybrids) were very small, an ounce was the biggest. My neighbours were not visible to me as I was between a couple of bushes and so I had no clue what was going on, though the guy to my left, Tony Twist, was on a feeder and styed on it for most of the day. I wasn't bagging and began to miss far too many bites, I put this down to the size of the fish and switched to a pinkie on the hook, it did improve the fish to bite ratio, but the fish stayed small. I was able to get bites till about 90 minutes in, then it properly slowed down and I gave the feeder 30 minutes, never had a bite on this at all.

I came back on the short pole and caught a couple of fish straight away and then nothing. I did try the long pole a number of times but all I managed here was 1 roach, so a another waste of time really. I could only catch a few fish on the short pole and then I would have to rest it, trouble was I couldn't get a bite anywhere else. However, with just over an hour to go I had a bite on the feeder and landed a skimmer of about 1lb 8oz. It was a one off, but about 5 minutes from the end of the match I had a real fast bite and the bait was gone. Probable a small perch, or maybe an eel, will never know, and the match was over. As people started packing up the bankside banter had some anglers with bream further up, but a lot struggling.

As it turned out I weighed in 2 kilos 350g about 5lb 3oz, and in my ten peg section that turned out to be third, beaten by the last two pegs in the section who would both pick up the section prizes. Weigh sheet below. As you can see the last pegs in the section were poor, and 83 is an end peg.

My net of fish.

Match winner on the day was Steve Priddle on the end peg further down stream from where I was, think he had about 8 kilos, Ben Matthews was second, and I think Mike Bernstein on the upstream end peg above the bridge had some bream for third. Apologies if I missed someone out!

Back to today and round 1 of the Super League. Up at 6am again, but felt quite tired as for some reason I had some problems sleeping. I was though at the club by 8am so in time for a breakky and the 8:30 draw. Thatchers have put 3 teams into this league (4 anglers in each team) and my team mates today were Mat Challenger, Rob Manns and Gary Webber. All of us hoping for decent end peg lol. Team draw done, and I wasn't best pleased when I found out I was one off the end peg on the barren bank by where I was last week. Based on last weeks result I was looking at a low point score I thought.

Got to the peg and found on my right  Mike Bernstein on the end peg, how does he do it lol. On my left DGL's Adam Palmer. My set up today was slightly different from last week, I discounted the long pole line, especially as the wind was smack in my face, I set the GB feeder up but wasn't expecting it to be great here, the 1g rig for the 8.5m pole line, as well as a lighter 0.5g. Also the chopped worm rig was assembled. I started the match by casting out the feeder a few times, had a disaster when I had too much grub in the feeder and when I cast out all the contents came out, yeh I know twat. Then cupped 3 balls of gbait in for my small fish line, and bait droppered some worm and caster in at 9m.

Starting on the small fish I was on the big maggot again and it was a poor start when I just could not hit a bite, so on with the pinky early and starting to catch little hybrids and odd little roach. I was happy with this or so I thought until I saw Adam swinging in fish much bigger than mine, clearly I was doing something wrong but I couldn't get the quality to increase. Mike gave the feeder a good go looking for an early bonus, he did have a few small fish on this but he gave it up when he caught a hanging basket lol. My barren far bank line then had a feature, as you can see in the picture, they hung around for about 20 minutes watching us anglers. My feeder line was where their reflections were.

My match wasn't feeling like it was going well, and then a pike grabbed a fish and eventually snapped the hook length. I rested the small fish and tried the worm early, I had a 2oz perch and 4oz chub on this. Another 20 minutes later and another pike strike, but after a tug of war the fish came back flying out of the water. Not long after this I saw a big swirl on the surface, and assumed it was the pike. Ten minutes later another swirl close to my small fish line start and thought that's not a pike, then saw it again and it was a dirty great tench. the small fish line died and I wondered if the tench was in the peg, so adjusted the worm rig and tried it here, alas no joy, and no joy over the worm. I never saw the tench again

The small fish returned over the gbait and I was able to continue putting small fish in the net for the first two hours, then it was like someone flicked a switch and all bites stopped. Adam also struggled now, and Mike did too, but he still sneaked the odd one as I could hear him moaning about pike which now was bugging him and he had about 8 attacks. I tried the feeder for nothing, but it was only half hearted really as I didn't think it would work in this peg. More tries on the worm only yielded 1 tiny skimmer and a little perch. Working both pole rigs and topping up with gbait brought odd flurries of bites from roach, hybrids and towards the end I did get a skimmer of maybe 6oz and my biggest fish. However, as the match came to the end Adam had another good run and Mike was still catching so I was pretty sure I was going to be chip shop sausage today thinking I had 4lb, with Adam saying he had 7lb

No catch shot as I forgot, but I ended up weighing more than I thought with 5lb 8oz. Still not enough as Adam had 7lb 5oz and Mike had 6lb 4oz on the end peg. Those two were first and second in section, and I was 4th as Paul Purchase beat mr by a few ounces with some skimmers on the feeder. Full weigh sheet below, 16 anglers on the board, but it is split into two sections of 8, so I had 5 points out of 8.

Back at the results and it seemed the three Thatchers teams had all done OK without being brilliant. 

DGL black were top with 24 points, then Thatchers Sonu and Devises had 23 points, then Thatchers Blue and Green (my lot) and DGL Gold had 22.. all very close for now.

1st today was James Carty of Thatchers with 17lb+ 3 bream and a hundred small roach

2nd Charlie Vallender 16lb+ 

3rd Kevin Dicks 13lb 8oz

This venue can be very peggy, and so to get a decent result today on the team front is good news. I cannot fish the next two rounds sadly, this is due to other commitments, but here's hoping the team can do well again.

Viaduct Holiday

Once again I was off for a week to Viaduct to spend 6 days match fishing and 6 nights eating and drinking. Eleven of us made it this year, in my lodge was Glenn Bailey, Mark Woodington, Gary Bowden, Geoff Francis and old father time himself Mike Nicholls. In the other lodge it was Mark Tanner, Gordon Cannings, Chris Ollis, Lee Massey and Martin Rayet. I had put new elastics in my power top sets, made some rigs, tied hook lengths and hair rigs and even cleaned my box. I felt pretty prepared and it was a delight to load my gear into the van, with room to spare for my clothes bag, food and drinks.

Set off Saturday morning to meet up with the rest of the lads for the first match, 13m max pole only on Campbell lake. I didn't really know where I wanted to draw as I had not been keeping an eye on recent weights and pegs, but when I was handed 124 I wasn't sure this was great but I thought it used to be good for silvers. I went for a set up of silvers and carp and see how things went to decide what to then stick with. A 4x12 F1 pellet with 16 GPM to 0.11 for fishing for silvers at top set plus 3 sections, a deep hard pellet rig with 0.17 to 16 KKM-B, a shallow rig and a paste rig all for 13m limit, at least that was the idea. My neighbours were Chris Ollis on 123 and Mike Nicholls on 125, Chris was going for carp whilst Mike silvers.

I began on the silvers line feeding some micro and corn, and shook some 6mm pellets out at 13m. It wasn't long before fizzing began on the silvers line, but no matter what I did or put on the hook I struggled to get a bite, and when I did get a bite I did not connect. Mike and his neighbour Stu White were both fishing for silvers and not really setting the world on fire at this stage. I moved out to 13m with an 8mm pellet in the band, I had fed a few times with the catty and again there were signs of fish in the swim. I still could not get a fish though I did foul and lose a couple. I tried shallow as I could see Joe McMahon on 118 catching shallow, this brought me one bite which pulled the elastic out, but again it was fouled and off it went taking rig and new elastic, bugger! I think it was about 90 mins in when I managed to catch a 4oz skimmer to break the blank. three hours in and nothing was happening for me, and with Chris having a couple of carp I needed to change as there were carp in the peg but I was not attracting them to the hookbait. On with paste and a change of feeding with a pot to try to get them down. First drop in and a bite, I struck and heard a crack, the 11.5m section of my pole had broken where it goes into the 10m section (an old slight damage come back to haunt me). It was easy to feel very down at this stage, not much in the nets, lost an elastic and now limited to fishing 10m for the rest of the holiday, but I carried on. Started again at 10m with paste and for the last 2 hours I had some fish in the peg at times, I was fouling more than I was landing, very frustrating, but I just couldn't see what more I could do.

I ended the match with 61lb 13oz which surprisingly beat half of the field but was 30lb off section money. The lake had fished hard, with Glenn winning when he had a good run on the paste in the last 90 mins.

1st Glenn Bailey 137lb peg 127

2nd Martin McMahon 127lb peg 121

3rd Gordon Cannings 98lb peg 119

Silvers 1st Stu White 40lb, 2nd Mike 25lb

Had a great night in the pub, though I was not to enamoured with my meal, think the fist night excitement led to a few to many pints, though I was lightweight and missed a couple, but my room mate Glenn decided to sleep on the couch rather than the bed due to an upset stomach... lol.

Day 2 Open match Lodge Lake

Up bright and earlyish and the sun was shining and it was going to be a hot one! I had some breakfast and then got stuck in the trolley queue.

Matt Long was doing the draw for us and pulled out peg 66 for me, yippee I have never drawn this peg before and finally got to fish it! In a complete reverse of last time on the holiday Woody was opposite me on 64, so we had swapped pegs, last time I came 2nd on 64 beaten by peg 53. I got set up and didn't see any point of silver rigs, so today there was a meat rig for the bush on my right, a hard pellet rig for out at 10 metres, and a hard pellet rig for the margins to my left.

Margin left looked like this.

As you may notice there was a lot of willow fluff on the water, and this was to follow me around at times this week, today at times I could not get the bait / rig to get through it.

I started short by the bush on my right with meat looking for an early carp, I did foul hook one briefly but other than that just had a roach and 2 skimmers. Went out to the 10m in front line where I was taking things easy with the feed, just toss potting 6mm pellets in after an initial small pot. I was more than happy to get 2 carp in my first two drops, hooked in the mouth and landed! However, it took me a while to get the next bite and carp but I was happy with my start whilst I primed the margin. Woody opposite was loosing a fair few carp on his paste rig, and when he did land one it was a fish of 1 to 2lb.

Things had remained quiet but then it seemed the wind changed slightly and I saw a few carp moving around for the first time, one carp was close enough to try to mug and I plopped my deep rig at it, nailed it, nice fish at about 11lb I reckoned. I had some more bites out in front, from fish in the 2lb to 3lb bracket and a couple of 6lb fish. Halfway through I had to look in the margin and I went down to the tree in the edge about 7m away. Fish were there, but they were these small ones, and even on 19 hollo they would shoot off towards the snags, and if fouled they got there. I took a few fish but had too many losses and realised I had made a mistake. I came back closer and refed, whilst also feeding by the spiky grass at a top set. A quick look out long again yielded one fouler which took me everywhere, and when I finally got it to the net the hook pulled.

My new margin lines were much slower than by the tree, but I was getting them out but pulling damn hard on my margin pole, I only had one carp by the spiky grass. I rested the margin as it was going away from me in the last hour, I tried the meat again by the bush and managed to snare one carp from here, others were there after, but not taking my bait. It was a roasting hot day and when all out was called I was quite pleased to take a long drink. All day long I had two pleasure anglers behind me fishing on Carey, and they had this contraption like a chimneysweep brush that they pushed out with their rig and feed on before tipping it all in. Amazing thing, went out about 30m.

Bankside banter was that I had done well with the number of carp I had, but Gary Bowden over on peg 61 had a good last 90 minutes on paste having some large carp, and in the end Gary won bith carp and silvers!

1st Gary 109lb

2nd Me 96lb 13oz

Silvers Gary 15lb 1oz.

We had a Sunday lunch delivered to us today, and unfortunately for me something in the meal disagreed with me, I had severe stomach cramps all evening and was unable to finish my drinks. I went to bed hoping the pain would subside, which it did a little, but I was to suffer a little from this for a couple of days.

Day 3 Residents match on Match Lake

Last year I won this match on peg 42, and I predicted that it would win the match again today, so I hoped I would draw it, but that honour went to Woody. I got peg 50 on the far side and was not so sure this could compete having Martin Reyatt on 49 and Glenn on 51, but Steve Long thought I might get a few on the pellet wag / lead to the island, I set both of these up. I also set up a 4x12 rig for fishing hard pellet at 10 metres (lol) and a 4x10 for pellet in the RH margin under  the cover of a tree.

I began the match fishing the 10m line, just toss potting in 4mm and 6mm pellets, and I was soon rewarded with a bite and a 2lb F1. Glenn was already into a carp on the paste. I had a lovely first hour and a bit catching on mainly 8mm pellet, mainly F1's with a couple of carp, when this really stopped after 2 hours I had 40lb, meanwhile Martin was on 1 or 2 fish and Glenn was also struggling. Onto the pellet wag which I had fed from the off, and had seen odd fish over there, I hooked 2 lost a fouler, landed a fouler, but the willow fluff had settled infront of me and the waggler could not be cast out. I tried the lead instead and had one on this but again the willow fluff did for me.

I really struggled through the middle of the match, but other than Woody on 42 the lake was fishing fairly hard, I just needed to get some fish late. Luckily for me I did get 4 decent carp from the margin line, and also got some more F1's on a new line at top set plus two on 8mm pellet. A good start and good end today and I was sure I was going to frame..

1st Woody 105lb 7oz peg 42

2nd Me 103lb 8oz peg 50

Silvers winner Mike Nicholls 21lb 9oz peg 43

That was a satisfying match, the win was there for sure had the willow fluff not prevented me fishing to the island. We retired to the Indian restaurant where I went for a safe chicken tikka to look after the old bowels, also stuck to red wine instead of cider and the combination worked for me. The red wine went down far too well actually, lol.

Day 4 Avalon Fishery open match

A scenic drive to Avalon and was pleased to find we were on the road bank, Vic Bush has continued to invest in the fishery with new road, parking bays, fencing etc. I got drawn peg 33 which has a little island on it and a couple of trees on the margin bank.

Clearly fish were spawning here and my peg in particular had lots of them, bubbles everywhere and I was feeling confident that some of these fish were feeding, I couldn't wait to start. I set up a paste rig for 10 metres, a paste rig for the LH margin, a pellet wag and straight lead for the island. On the all in myself and Gary Bowden went out on the paste, we had the same result, not a sign of a fish at all! Glenn down on 30 was also without fish on paste and was soon landing a carp on the pellet waggler. I picked up the waggler, and I should mention that this set up had been lent to me by Gary after mine was trashed the day before. I was soon had a carp in the net, and not long after had another. Gary was now thinking he had made a mistake lol!

Sadly my day went downhill after the first hour, my bites dwindled on the waggler and if I did hook a bite it was fouled, in fact I landed a common I reckon was close to 12lb hooked in the tail, it took some getting out mind! I went for a quick walk, Chris Ollis on my left had 1 skimmer, then Martin had 1 carp, and Woody had 5 on the lead. I went back and chucked the lead out, after a while I had a pull round and landed a little carp. I had a wait then another pull round but this was fouled and came off. Hooked two more that I am convinced were in the mouth but just came off reeling in. Then the best of the lot, I hooked a good carp and it found a snag solid, but if I let the line go slack it swam off, reel in and eventually solid. Something was preventing the carp from getting this side of the snag, and I pulled hard an lost the lot. The reel line was badly damaged and I had to cut a fait bit off.

Back on the pellet wag and had one out, lost a fouler, and then one went and found the same snag and I had the same result, losing the waggler and lots of damaged line. I set it up and tried again but failed to get any more carp. Into the LH margin and the float buried on the paste I pulled hard and the fish came off. A 15 minute wait and another, but this went through something and the 0.21 line parted not to far below the float. I never hooked another but was sure they were there, but did get a skimmer. I fished on after the whistle determined to get a fish out of the margin, 5 mins later got one on, and out of the den I was sure, then all went solid and fish gone, my hook was in some string. Not the best of days by any means and my 32lb was nowhere, mind you I beat my neighbours lol.

1st Lee Massey 75lb peg 40 carp on the lead

2nd Glenn 73lb 4oz

3rd Woody 67lb 11oz peg 38

Silvers winner Chris Ollis 7lb 4oz

Day 5 Short Pole match Campbell 

I woke up feeling good, and anyway why wouldn't you with a view from your bedroom window like this...

This match as ever is limited to top set plus 3 sections, usually a peg with some room is what you need to do well, peg 112 for me and with 113 left out I was quite happy with this peg. I had Glenn on 114 and young Ryan Jordan on 111.

After my last nightmare on this lake I was hoping to redeem myself, and was really hoping to avoid the foulers!!!! I decided on two rigs for top set plus two, a deep pellet and paste rig, for the margins either side I had rigs for fishing pellet one side and corn the other, seeing if either was better.

I had a very slow start on the pellet rig with just the odd small skimmer, Glenn was struggling on his paste line and looking around it seemed slow for most. I did get a couple of carp on hard pellet and that inevitably moved the few skimmers out, and with Ryan getting plenty of skimmers I knew I had to concentrate on the carp for the rest of the match. On Saturday the corners of this lake seemed devoid of carp, but today it was the opposite, and Dave Wilmott in 119, Woody on 123 were catching well, Paul Faires on 132 was also catching steady, the other corner peg 110 was occupied by Dave Haines who was concentrating on his silvers. It seemed that unless I could get a great run of fish together the section money was my best hope. I think it was around mid match that that I switched over to paste on the long line, even though Paste Master Glenn only had 1 or 2 carp but a fair few skimmers. A bit like Saturday I thought this was my best way of getting less foulers. Well it started OK, fish came to the feed, visible blows and fizzes, had to wait for a bite, and sometimes I would get liners as carp came in but no bite, but I would get the occasional fly under bite. Sadly hitting these "fly unders" was not easy as some were not bites. Frustrating as hell when you hook up on one and think you've got it in the mouth only for a few seconds later the carp swimming off to the middle of the lake at 50mph.

After the previous day where I landed a large carp hooked in the tail on the wag I had another epic battle when a large common was hooked in the same place. Quite how everything stayed intact was amazing, but 0.17 powerline and the size 12 XSH held firm! Then the little bugger went under the platform, via the side, I slackened off but it wouldn't come out and it had found a snag, gave a little tug and it moved a bit but still wouldn't come out, I couldn't pass the top set under the platform as it is too wide. But then a bit of luck it swam out of the front of the platform under my nets and I could pass the topset through and under a net, not as easy as it sounds though. After more faffing, pulling hard I got it out, phew! The fouling became worse and I decided to come off this line and concentrate on the margins. First look in the left on double corn and a tench, then hooked a carp but came back with a scale. The right margin was no good, back in the left and had a good double here, then straight away hooked another, this swam out nicely but then it was off. The hooklength had parted and I can only think it swam through a snag. I stayed in the margin far too long for nothing, but in the end decided I had to go back on the paste. It was a good move as I had a few more carp landing one as the match ended.

1st Dave Wilmott 235lb 5oz  peg 119

2nd Woody 226lb 4oz  peg 123

3rd Paul Faires 119lb 1oz  peg 131

Silvers was won by Ryan with 32lb 4oz of skimmers, and Glenn got 2nd with 26lb 2oz.

I weighed in 117lb 6oz for 4th place and another "just beaten" weight, but I did get the section money so happy days.

Most of the talk on the evening was of our ace carp slayer Martin Rayet, poor old Martin was having a right bad time of it, with not one brown envelope so far on holiday, and more chip shop sausages than Harry Ramsdens. In fact Lee Massey suggested Martins excellent "MR" floats should be rebranded to "HR" PMSL. Anyway Martin said he would give away his gear if he got battered tomorrow.

Day 6 Todber Manor Homeground Lake

This was the match where it was said that everyone would catch 100lb minimum, and the best peg in the solar system 90 was where it should be won from one, heard it all before but this place is a bit special. I lead the way from Viaduct to Todber, and was soon in need of the google map directions as the A303 was closed, going down the same roads as everyone else I came to a grinding halt in a big queue, a quick discussion and off down another smaller road and at least we were moving. Tony Rixon was fishing this match so I rang him to advise we would all be late. Everyone managed to get to the fishery and we said let's fish 11:30 to 17:30. I pulled out peg 88, and the famed peg 90 went to Mr Reyatt, well it just had to happen didn't it!

My peg I was told could be good for shallow fishing and for the method feeder, but Martin had coached us all on his short pole approach and I was going to start and focus on this, I did take the method feeder rod to the peg but it was kept in the bag to start. I set up a 4x14 rig for fishing top set plus one infront with hard pellet, and a rig for the margin for fishing meat over meat and gbait. On my left Geoff Francis had a nice corner margin with fish already in there, on my right was Mike Nicholls and next to him Glenn, basically those three were all fishing paste so I hoped I could catch faster than them.

When the match started most people started short, Glenn fished a bit further out and was quickly landing small carp, Mike getting odd ones, me struggling a tad to convert bites into fish. Martin was also having a slow start. After an hour I had 20lb on the clicker, for here that's poor, I went a section further out but this didn't help and things got worse for me as I watched all the paste heads catching. Since 30 mins into the match I had a nagging thought "get on the method", and 90 mins in I got off my box and got the rod out. I quickly soaked some Sonubait 2mm stiki pellets, and with my already mixed Thatchers green groundbait mixed these 50/50. A couple of casts to get the range and clip up, then on with a 6mm pellet and first cast carp, second cast carp, third cast carp. I then had a few non fish casts, so tried a bandum, nothing on this, so I cut off the band and put two dead red maggots on the hook, that was better. You can see the island I was casting too, I was chucking it to the left hand edge, not far from where that duck is standing lol.

Basically for the rest of the match I bagged up on the feeder, and as it went on the carp would be straight on the feeder as it landed showing themselves like piranhas! It was quite amazing to see, I've never seen anything like it before, Geoff was simply staggered by the sight. I had most bites within 10 seconds of the feeder landing, and sometimes I never needed to look at the rod tip as an explosion in the water by the island told me a carp was hooked. I also worked out that if I had not had a bite after 30 seconds I had to reel in and cast again. I got through a fair bit of bait like this, and when the match finished I had 5 keepnets in and arms were a little weaker than when I started. I was convinced that Mike and Glenn had both beaten me after I had given them a head start, but there was only going to be one winner..... drum roll please.

1st Martin Rayet 384lb peg 90 What a bloody weight!

2nd Mike Nicholls 275lb 14oz

3rd Me 257lb 14oz

There was no silvers prize today so sections went to Glenn 252lb and Gary Bowden 235lb. 

Geoff had his biggest weight ever at 160lb and thoroughly enjoyed his day out, some were enjoying less feeling too busy. Myself I loved it as something different, my biggest weight ever on rod and line and like any match angler I still had to try and find ways to catch faster and bigger fish.

On a personal note as this is a holiday I am never over concerned with my "winnings" but I aim if possible to get my pools money back, I managed this and a little bit more, with 4 pick ups out of 6 so really happy. I only got beat off the next peg once, by the old silver fox Mike on Todber, so again I was happy with that. The holiday is literally a laugh a minute, and the matches though fished hard by all are full of banter. It was of course a week made even better by the lovely weather, where did that now go, lol.

I still have another blog to do, as on Sunday I fished an open on the KSD as practice for the superleague, it was a bit grim.

Ivy House Lakes - Open Match Heron Lake

 Had a message in the week from Neil Mercer that a few of the lads from Bristol were going up to Heron Lake as it was Neil's birthday, Neil booked me into the open and that was my Sunday sorted. I also joined Neil and some other lads for a few ciders and a curry on Friday night, definitely had one too many but it was a laugh a minute all night.

Amongst other things on Saturday I met up with Mike Nicholls, Glenn Bailey and Geoff Francis at the White Heart in Bitton. It was great to finally sit in the sun with a few mates and a beer. After this I got home and got on making up some shallow rigs for the F1's in Heron Lake, as I assumed this would be the way to win.

Sunday morning up bright and early and with the weather forecast looking sunny I settled on a shorts and T shirt day, just made sure I had some sun tan lotion first lol. I got to the venue in good time and was all ready to go, got to draw my own peg today and pulled out peg 7, one next to where I drew on my first visit. It wasn't in my mind one of the better pegs where you have some room, but I was still looking forward to the day. Rig wise I decided to go with a few shallow rigs of varying depths (from the minimum allowed) and also a margin rig. Shallow rigs were Des Shipp Carp floats in 4x10 with 0.12 to 18 KKM-B with a band. On the margin rig I used a 4x12 F1 pellet float with 18 SFL-B to 0.12. I never bothered setting up any deep rigs, but I did set up the method feeder which was never used in the end.

I wasn't sure how to begin the match, but decided on the margins whilst feeding 4mm pellets out to 14m to get the fish shallow. I decided to throw corn to my left, and drop small balls of methodmix gbait and maggots into my right. I had a slow start but got bites in the margin so stuck with it thinking I was priming my shallow line. I think it was after about 30 mins I had to go out shallow as I could see Paul Elms, Dave Willmot and Simon Duke all catching shallow. I shipped out with the mid depth rig and gave this a go, no joy on it at all, so onto the deeper rig. This really wasn't much better, but I did get the odd indication. I tried the shallowest rig and finally I caught, a chub.. hmmm. Going deeper again I caught 2 carp of less than a pound. By now I was miles behind those anglers to my right, to my left wasn't great but I could see some fish being caught shallow. An hour and a half in and I finally caught an F1 shallow, and caught a couple more in the next 10 minutes. Just as I thought I was going to start getting them it was dead again. I switched back into the margins, although I caught a couple to the left on corn it was never great, but the RH margin on the gbait was better. I fished here with double red maggot and fed a ball of gbait in a Preston Cad pot with a few maggots too. I was starting to pick off the odd fish now, mostly carp but was still playing catch up. 

About three hours into the match all the guys to my right stopped catching shallow, and they began to really struggle. I carried on catching in the margin and was making a little headway. Simon started to catch in his margins in peg 6, but Dave Wilmott on 4 was struggling in his. I tried putting gbait into the left margin as I felt at times I needed to rest the right margin but was getting no signs elsewhere. Unfortunately the gbait in the left margin didn't work. Mike Etheridge on peg 8 was not catching in his margins, nor shallow, but he had a few deep short and long, and I realised I had probably messed up not setting up a deep rig. I carried on with the RH margin, but I was getting a little bit of trouble not getting proper bites, a change to corn on the hook worked sometimes.

Paul Elms started to catch again and was doing well it seemed, I took a few carp out of the left margin on corn over pellet feed, but again it died quickly. I realised that the fish in right side were coming off the bottom taking the maggots on the drop that I was potting in. I tipped some maggots into the gbait and just fed them like this, it did seem to improve my catch rate, but I had left it just a little to late. Once again I had really enjoyed the day, and trying to work out how to feed, what to feed, what hook baits and hooking the fish was all great fun, I like this sort of  fishing. Unfortunately I was pretty sure I was out of the running for a frame place due to my poor start.

The scales soon arrived and from peg 2 Paul was top weight with 107lb, Gordon Cannings had 50lb on 3 and then Dave Willmot 82lb on peg 4. Simon had 80lb and then my turn and I had 84lb. Mike had 60lb next to me, and then the next big weight was Joff Rogers on 11 who had 133lb and won the match.

Top 4 were paid out.

1st Joff Rogers 133lb peg 11

2nd Paul Elms 107lb peg 2

3rd Joe McMahon 102lb 8oz peg 14

4th Martin Rayet 93lb 10oz peg 16.

Some great anglers there, all very hard to beat!

I ended up in 7th place and so 9lb was all I needed to frame, those first 90 minutes did for me sadly, but I really enjoyed my day.

No fishing next weekend, hope you all enjoy the bank holiday weekend sun.