Clucker Returns

 It’s been a long time, over 3 months since I last wet a line, and that was at Windmill Fishery on July 16th. Since the op I’ve built up my strength and fitness (not near where I was but ok) and gone back to work, so why no fishing? Well I’m permanently at risk of hernias now I have stoma and so I have been told to not do any heavy lifting or abdominal exercise. Going fishing will certainly test that, and I’m waiting for a protective waist belt to be delivered which will hopefully get me back to normal. For now no heavy trolleys or lifting gear over styles.

Dean Harvey has been running Bathampton matches st Newbridge this season, and he has asked me a couple of times if I could fish, I decided on Friday I would give it a go as Dean said I could have a short walk, and Mat at Scott Tackle was able to supply me with casters and worms. I knew the river was high and so was only going to take a couple of feeder rods, river was .8m and dropping Saturday and it could be a really good match. Of course I went to Rovers Saturday (nice to see a win) and was getting worried as the rain fell heavy, so much so that my wife and I got soaked walking back to the car. I knew that was going to muck Sunday up.

Lovely extra hour in bed, and awoke to see a text from Dean that the river was now 1.2m high and up to me if I fished, well I was still going whatever. After a Golden Arches brekky I got to the river, and yep it was really going through and a nasty colour, but as I said I fished in worse lol! It was great to see Dean and the other anglers, and he called Mike Shellard and myself to draw first, peg 20, 24 and 30 were in the bag (24 the best). Mike got 30 and I then pulled 20, I was happy enough as I parked right behind it and it had a little bit of slack water for about 3m.

The match was starting at 9:30, plenty of time to set up. I mixed some gbait for the feeder, Sonubaits sweet skimmer, Thatchers and brown crumb. Set up two feeder rods with 45g Preston open end feeders, one had a 12 N50 to 0.17 and the other 8 N50 to 0.19. Obviously I am still a bit slow as I only just started on time.

A very gentle underarm swing dropped the feeder on the edge of the slack in 12 feet of water. I was going to have a few quick casts to get some bait in, but on the second drop I had a quick bite and felt a small fish on but it came off. I carried on with dendra and 2 maggots and had a couple more bites but no fish, I changed to 4 maggots and this got me my first fish a roach, not big at 2oz but still I’d caught. A few casts later I had small eel on the maggots and then a 1oz roach. I needed to get bigger fish so went back on the dendra, I was getting fairly regular bites, but missing a lot, but after 2 hours I had 5 roach and 3 eels for about 1lb 4oz.

I had tried a whole lobworm looking for a lump, but all that did was get rattling on the tip as the little fish chewed it up. Fishing smaller bits of lobby gave me a nice run of fish a few roach 2 chublets and another eel, I had only netted 1 fish so you can see they were not big fish, and I missed lots of bites even though I let them develop. 3 times fish were on then came off and 4 times the rod pulled right round and nothing. I think it was little eels.

I tried the whole lobby a lot more last hour for a lump but nothing doing, and it just seemed I had to take the small roach and eels. Come the end of the match I was happy enough having a decent day, no snags and no gear lost.

In my section Craig Pinker on peg 24 (bay of Biscay lol) had a couple of skimmers and 7 roach for 5lb 2oz to win the section.

 

My net of small fish went 4lb 5oz and I just needed one bonus fish really.

Winner on the day was Mike Weston on peg 44 who had 6lb 6oz which included a 5lb+ barbel. Nic Cole’s had 5lb 10oz on peg 56 and Craig was third. I was actually 4th and picked up second in the section (as Dean just paid out 3 sections) so a bit of coin was a nice surprise.

Talking to the other anglers and it seemed all had been catching small roach, though Derek Cole’s did have a few better ones. Craig was the only one to get a skimmer / bream. Once I got in the van to drive home I felt knackered, I guess it will just take time to get used to being on the bank, but boy was I happy to be back. That said not sure if I will be going next week, but the week after it’s the Poppy Match, I’ll be needing a disabled draw for that.

I’m still here

Just wanted to drop a quick update on myself as I have been absent from blogging for 6 weeks.

I had my operation on 28th July, and it was a bit longer than expected but at the end a success. I now have a stoma and for those not aware of that term, it means I have a colostomy bag. This I will have for the rest of my life. Some of you might have winced reading that, but it really isn’t a problem, and I needed the stoma to improve my quality of life. I’m looking forward to be spending less time sat on a toilet for starters!

To perform the operation I was cut open, a bit like filleting a fish lol, leaving me with a long wound that’s being a bugger to heal, and I’m currently wearing a dressing and on antibiotics to help the healing process. Until the wound is fully healed I’m a little held back on what I can do. Also as my abdominal muscles were obviously cut through this is an area of weakness, and I’m waiting to see my specialist nurses in a few weeks as to how I can work to get back to lifting stuff like fishing gear. I know this will take a while as two types of hernia are a big risk associated with this type of surgery, and I really want to avoid those. I’m only really able to walk for exercise, which means my upper body has really weakened, I’ll need to start all over again from the beginning when I am allowed to go back to the gym.

All being well I should be able to drive a car again from around 7th September and that is something I am really look forward to. I’m also starting working from home on reduced hours to get back into that, and am looking forward to seeing and hearing my colleagues again.

Last thing to say is a big thank you to those of you who have helped and supported me. Hope to see you on the bank soon.

Windmill Fishery Open

Some of you may have read the title and are thinking why has Tim not yet fished the river this season. Well I do love my river fishing but there’s not been any matches on my local Bristol Avon that I’ve been able to fish. My Thatchers team matches have been on the Stour in Dorset, and I’ve given them a miss due to the early starts and plenty of local lads to fish ( we won both matches so well done team). The urge to get back on the river will come, when there’s less boats, swimmers and paddle boarding.

Before I say anything else today, got to say I was gutted to see that Tony Rixon had his van and some fishing gear stolen, it’s every anglers worst nightmare. I hope he gets his stuff back.

Back to today, a good turnout of 19 anglers with a decent contingent from the Swindon area, including a very old team mate of mine Pete Philips. As always I’m open minded what to fish for on this venue, so entered the overall super pool as well. I fancied pegs from 8 to 18 as the wind was blowing down that end of the lake. I drew peg 22 which is deep and not got any shallow water to fish a pole into, rather be here in winter lol. I had John Williams on 21, Mick Gale was on 23, and Fishery management Kev Winstone on peg 24 not a fancied peg. With lots of wind and rain forecast tactics were going to be important, and I put a brolly up to keep me a little more comfortable.

My peg has a lot reeds opposite but it’s not safe to fish close to them for carp. A lot of anglers chuck the lead to the right of them in the only shallower water, I did set up a lead for here, but it was a last resort as it would be hook and hold. My two main rigs were my usual paste rig for 11m, and a 4x16 for fishing at 14m towards the reeds where I try micro, worm and corn.

I started on the paste at 11m and fed my usual 4mm pellets, there was no fizzing or signs for 10 minutes, then out of the blue my firs bite. I connected and shortly after a skimmer jumped out of the water, it stayed on and at nearly 3lb was a nice fish. I had another couple of near 2lb skimmers on the paste and a 3lb carp in the first hour. Looking around me not a lot had been caught. I stuck with the paste and whilst it was slow going there was the odd fizz and bite to keep me interested. Then I heard Shaun Townsend was emptying peg 16, so that was probably the winner. My paste line yielded a few more small common carp and skimmers before going dead after 2 hours.

The 14m line was tried but it was not successful, and I upped the feed here hoping to get some skimmers over it later. A couple more small carp on paste than nothing again. The wind and rain just kept on coming, and it made things difficult. With 2 hours to go I had my first bite at 14m, another small common took my worm hook bait. Next two drops same result, but then nothing. I did get a skimmer and 1 more carp here later but it was never great.

I preserved with paste as for the last 80 minutes I was getting little fizzes and bites…. But I was hooking absolutely nothing! Not even a fouler, it was doing my head in lol. Then with 15 minutes to go I had another 3lb carp, then a proper lad of nearly 12lb, then a 10oz skimmer and that was the end.

From what I could see I’d beaten all around me, but knowing that Shaun and Glenn Bailey had bagged I was struggling to get third. I thought I had 60lb, then Leighton Palmer on peg 1 said he had 70lb, ah well not looking good for coin today I thought. There was a set of scales either side of the lake and on my side they weighed from 12 up to 24. Glenn had 90lb on 14, Towner 160lb on 16, that was top 2. My silvers went 11lb 10oz and my carp 52lb 6oz, a nice round 64lb. Mick Gale on 23 had 11lb 1oz of silvers, and I was top silvers on our side of the lake but was even more surprised to find out that I was top silvers weight on the day!

The weigh sheets are below, I didn’t get many pictures as I didn’t want my phone to get wet, lovely weather for July. Not sure if this will be my last match for a while, or if I will go next week. But I have an operation on the 28th July which will keep me out of action for sometime. I’ve been waiting for this op for nearly 18 months, it’s related to my old operations from many years ago, and will hopefully make my life easier when it comes to toilet habits. Wish me luck is all I can ask, and thanks in advance.

 

Windmill Fishery Open

 After my holiday at Viaduct I had a weekend off and enjoyed the hot sun with my family. I’d really like to be fishing on the river at this time of year, but due to my recent dicky ticker and old war wounds I’m not confident of travelling far from home. With no matches on my local Avon that I was aware of and the team fishing the Dorset Stour, I elected to stay local and fish at Windmill.

Had the usual Wetherspoons breakfast, I was tempted by the cider on display but stayed stafe with the cranberry juice lol.

I arrived at the fishery in good time and was surprised to see a fairly empty car park. It seemed a lot of things had clashed for the regulars so only 8 anglers here today. Dave Haines pegged the match and put peg 1 to 14 in, so easy to park behind your peg. Peg 12 had won the last two matches and so that had to be the favourite peg with the wind blowing down that end. Paul Reed drew 12, and then I drew peg 1, bummer I thought, as far away from the fish as possible.

As I set up and looked at the peg I felt more confident, lots of room being an end peg, and an island chuck. It’s a deep area of the lake and can be good for fishing pole shallow, but I decided to fish shallow on the pellet waggler, two spots one by the island and one out past the bush on the point. Next a lead rod for the island, then three pole rigs, a deep margin, a shallow slipper and a paste rig. If you read my blog on paste fishing then you’ll know how I set it up. 

Match started at 10:30, I fed a decent pot of soften 4mm Sonu pro feed pellets at 11.5m and dropped in with the paste rig. I fed 6mm pellets to the island and 8mm pellets further out to the bush, so two places to try the waggler. It was a slow start on the paste, no fizzes or signs of fish, but I caught a 3lb carp after 15 minutes. It was then a wait for bites but when one came it was a skimmer and I was happy with that. A couple more small carp and probably had 20lb after the first hour, Mat Challenger on peg 3 had a few early carp but seemed to be struggling after that.

Second hour and a couple of skimmers and a few more 3lb to 5lb carp, and was now at 42lb 2 hours in. Third hour and the small carp were showing more and the skimmers had enough and went elsewhere. I was simply feeding 4mm pellets in my Preston paste pot and was getting fizzing and quickly getting indications. The fourth hour saw a change in the size of my fish, with a run of 7lb to 10lb carp and my clicker was going up fast. The wind was blowing nastily and did make feeding the island tricky, and caused a few tangles on the paste rig. 

I had a couple of visitors going into the last two hours, Kev Winstone and Leighton Palmer. I think my fishing suffered as I struggled to hold my pole whilst i laughed at their banter 😂 . After a great couple of hours the paste started to fade away, less bites, missing more bites and losing fish I hooked. The island was alive with carp feeding on my loosefeed 6mm pellets, and I couldn’t resist no more. I started on the pellet waggler with an 8mm pellet on a 16 KKM-B to 0.21 powerline. I’d forgotten to clip up so casting was a not great and then caught the grass, but pulled the pellet of it and the float buried! Tug of war commenced and I won this game. I hooked a few more but when a carp took me straight into the reeds and snapped the line I went back to the paste. It was not good with just 1 carp landed. Last 25 minutes I cast the lead over to the island and caught 4 carp and pulled out of two.

Match over, I checked my clicker, I had 176lb on it, but thought I might have over estimated on that. Bankside info had it that the angler on peg 14 had a big weight but the rest not much. Peg 14 was weighed first and had 165lb 14oz, mostly caught in close on pellet. I was hoping my clicking was not too much!  I was last to weigh and I was either going to be first or second. 

Fishery management were on hand to weigh me in, Kev Winstone was on the scales.

Dave Haines was on the board adding up.

My skimmers weighed first just over 14lb (top weight of silvers but no prize for them today). Then my 4 nets of carp went 176lb, exactly what I had clicked lol. With 190lb 13oz that meant I was the winner today. My best weight at this fishery and a very enjoyable day. I fished the paste exactly as I explained on my previous post, and fed around 2 pints of pellets.

The icing on the cake today was hearing my Thatchers teammates had managed to come first and second on the Stour, bringing them back into contention after a couple of bad rounds. 

No fishing next weekend due to a work event at Truck Racing, got to get on the river soon though!

Paste Fishing

 Having posted my blogs on my matches at Viaduct I received a comment from a person called Dave if I could explain how I fish it. Here goes Dave…

Firstly the way I fish paste has not really changed that much since I first tried a long time ago. In fact I remember when I first tried it, it was at Cider Farm Lakes. I was catching well across when my pole roller blew over and my pole snapped, all I could fish now was top set plus two sections. I tried fishing pellet here in the deep water and got plagued with foulers, that made me reach for a paste rig out of frustration. I was amazed how it worked and from a bad situation I think I got third place. That’s the day when I realised it was a method worth exploring.

There are many ways of fishing paste, this is my way and it works for me but there are many variations and it’s all about what you have confidence in. 

Firstly my paste itself, I make mine from Thatchers groundbait. When I get to my peg I tip some dry groundbait in a 3 pint bait tub then cover it with water and mix it in, it will be soupy in texture at this point. Ten minutes before the match have a look at it, if it’s too soggy and you can’t form a ball add a little bit more dry groundbait, if it’s dried out too much add a little water a bit at a time. Hard to explain without showing but I try to avoid to stiff and to sloppy lol.

Next what you feed, it’s simple for me, it’s always 4mm pellets, and I take a bag of Sonubaits pro feed pellets and put them in a bait box. I have fed these pellets straight from the bag, but I’ve also soaked them so they swell up. Skimmers seem to like the soaked pellets but I’ve got them over both. Some people I know have fed 8 to 10 pints of pellets in a match, but the way I feed I’ve generally never fed the whole bag.

My rig is very simple, I use some old Big H paste floats but I’m down to my last two 😢😢. I use 0.21 Powerline as mainline, then attach a hook length from the Preston pre tied 12 XSH to 0.17. You could fish 0.19 but I know that 0.17 won’t break my pole if I hook a fouler. No shot are put on the line.

Plumbing up is very important, with no shot on the line the paste has to set the float. I plumb to have about 3/4 of the bristle showing. But beware, plumbing and then fishing with paste may give a different result, this is due to silt usually, so be prepared to alter the depth first drop, it’s worth getting right. Also as your match progresses you will have to push the float up as feeding fish scour out the silt, so don’t fish too short a line above the float.

Now to get the paste out to your required distance you need a pole pot to put it in. The depth of the venue will have a big impact on where the pot goes. The position of the pot from the end of your pole is important to stop the rig from tangling as you ship out. Too close to the tip and it’s tangle time, too far away and it can make the line too tight and feeding tricky. Now this is important, when you put your initial pot of feed of pellets in with your cupping kit do not ship to the end of the pole. If you do this, then go out with your paste when you tip the paste pot over it will be short of the feed! Last week at viaduct my Preston paste pot down from the end of my pole by about the same length as my dolly butt. When I started I fed the pellets when I got to the end of the normal pole section, then when I shipped out with paste I shipped to the end of the dolly butt, tipped the paste out, then slid the pole back to the end of the normal section so my pole was above the float. It helps if you put the float in the right spot too, otherwise it will sink and only pop up when in the right place. You must avoid lifting the float jerkily, this will knock the paste off  the hook.

Now the fun part begins, trying to hit the bites. With carp you are looking for a very positive bite, a very fast movement on the float, usually the float disappears in a blink of the eye. Slow movements are usually liners and the float can go out of sight and reappear, if it’s sits well then it was a liner, if the float pops right up like the paste has come off then strike. It’s either a bite or the paste did come off.

Skimmers often but not exclusively give lovely lift bites. They can cause lots of liners and some are even bites sometimes, it’s suck it and see. Some days you have spells you pull your hair out missing bites, there’s not much you can do to change things other than how you feed. Obviously this is the hard part, sometimes big potting top ups are great, and other times filling your paste pot with feed pellets is great.

The size of your paste is again trial and error, I have used pea size up to a big 50p piece, but generally start on a pear drop size piece. Just get a piece of paste, lay the hook in it and then fold the paste over. I like a flatter end to sit on the bottom and point above the hook.

I think that about covers it, like everything else you do need to practice it. You can get some serious fizzing over your feed when fishing paste, when only odd carp are coming in sometimes you literally can watch the fizz heading towards your float, it’s quite entertaining especially when the float whacks under. I hope you can catch a few on the paste, like everything else it has its place on certain days.