Back on the River

Not had a chance to get on the river so I became a member of Ridgeway and booked in for their Sunday match at Swineford. I walked this match last year and it fished well with lots of chublets, chub and some bream.

The draw was 8:30 by the outfall, and big thanks go to Ridgeway legend Steve Dumbleton who runs the club, matches and had organised swim clearing on the Friday. My first duties were to explain to some Eastern European anglers that they could not fish here. Eventually the penny dropped and they headed off elsewhere. 

11 fishing today and I fancied drawing any of the last 5  pegs. Well as per my current draws I avoided them, I pulled a choice, 1 or 3. Well it was 3 for me, a steep peg but I hoped not a bleak fest like peg 1 would be.

I was surprised at how little flow there was, but then again I guess it’s been dry for ages. What flow there was was between 6m and 16m, and it varies and changes during the day. Past this the river was on its head. Set up a 6m whip with 3G rig 16 N10 to 0.12, a 3G bolo and a gbait feeder.  I mixed up some Sonubaits black roach and black river for the whip, and usual sweet skimmer and Thatchers for the feeder.

I had 10 chucks on the feeder and a quick look for just rattlers. Onto the whip where I was feeding the odd small ball of my gbait with casters and hemp. First swing in and caught in a tree… got the rig back but had to snap the line, it was turned into a 5m rig, no more tree problems after this. I started with caster on the hook, and it wasn’t long before I was getting hold ups from bleak and after a while the bulk was moved down and I had a no6, no 8 and no 10 next to the hook length. First hour was ok, maybe 2lb, bleak, dace, a roach and a perch. 

The second and third hours were better, more dace, but had to switch from caster to maggots on the hook. A few more roach and perch were also welcome. Ali Gibbs on peg 4 and Craig Pinker on peg 2 both said they were struggling and getting bleaker out.

Bites dried up other than bleak so I introduced some chopped worms in the gbait, this got me a few more perch and then I hooked what was probably a chub that took off at a rate of knots and snapped me. After this it was a struggle, the feeder line was dead other than bits and the whip and bolo was just odd bleak. My match ended quietly and I thought I had 7 to 8lb, word was everyone had struggled. 

The scales came down from peg 12, John (forgot his surname 🙈) was top with 8lb 12, and Matt Challenger had a little less. Ali had 4lb then my fish went 9lb 8oz, with Craig also having 4lb that meant I was top on the day. 

A lot tougher day than I expected, and had the bigger fish fed I would have been way down, but I got lucky today and enjoyed my day on the whip. Nice to be back on the river, but I’m now not fishing for a couple of weeks due to other activities. Hopefully so meaningful rain falls to improve the flow.

Viaduct Holiday

Another year another week at Viaduct Fishery with good mates.. fishing, beer and great banter what’s not to like. There was 11 of us this year, in one lodge was Martin Rayet, Gordon Cannings, Tony Witcombe, Mark Tanner and Hayden Withers. In my lodge was Glenn Bailey, Mike Nicholls, Geoff Francis, Gary Bowden and chief organiser Martyn Woodington. Due to the PVA bags on the lead dominating the carp fishing and it not being something I want to do I had decided to go all out for silvers, unless I drew a peg solid with carp. The silvers were coming out in the middle of the lake on Campbell so that’s where I needed to draw.

Saturday and Campbell open, met up with the lodge mates and got into the draw queue. I was a bit gutted when I drew out corner peg 132, but you never know so I was still going for silvers. My approach was same as my previous two opens here, gbait, casters, maggots and micro pellets. It’s a shallow peg here so 4x12 rigs with 16 SFLB to 0.12 fluorocarbon would do. I set up a carp rig for the end bank in case I needed to go for the section. I did get amongst the skimmers to start, steady and odd fish, but then it died. I had a look for carp but there was a nasty bramble under the water that messed that up and I gave that up. I ended with 25lb I think of skimmers for no good. Bit of a heavy night on the beer, I blame Gary Bowden for his bottle of rum 🙈🤣

Sunday open on Campbell and after a breakfast bap made by top man Geoff Francis I was soon drawing a peg from the coffee tin. No middle peg for me again, 121 on the top bank. The local silvers slayers said it hasn’t been great. Same approach but a 4x14 for out at 6m and 11m, and 4x12 for margins where I would feed caster. After a slow start when I hooked 2 carp my 6m line came to life and I had a nice run of skimmers here, but soon it died. Nigel Bartlett on 119 was getting odd skimmers but like me not bagging. My margins were poor for silvers and hooked a couple of carp. I went out to 11m for a few more skimmers but then it all died and I only caught a few late skimmers. I weighed 34lb of silvers which tied with Nige for nothing lol. Martin Reyat won the silvers with 53lb from 125. Tony Wittcomb won the match with 135lb on the teabag. Lovely curry on the night.

Monday was a teams match on Lodge. A bit of fun and banter, with random team selection. My team was Gary, Mike and Mark. I was on 66 a corner peg and can be very good. When I got to the peg was a bit gutted to see a pleasure angler on Carey had set up base camp right on top of the bank by my margin. Suffice to say my close margin never produced a fish. I set up to the fish paste at 11m and margin rigs for meat to my right by the tree and to my left by spiky grass. The paste started ok for me and had a few carp which was better than Glenn on 64, but Tony on 68 was flying! Eventually the paste died for me and Tony, and most were struggling unless they could catch in margins. Mike on 71 was bagging apparently and as my LH margin was messed up I went long down by the trees. I had a few carp but they didn’t stay and it died. I ended up getting an odd carp by the tree on meat, but was getting battered by Tony who was catching carp and ducks.

Tony won with 180lb and Mike was second with 177lb (chucked back some skimmers to have another net). Tony’s team won as well and mine were second so well done chaps. 

Tuesday open on Campbell… and I was gutted when I pulled 121 again! 

Short story, after 2 hours I had 1 skimmer and with Nige Easton and Rob Eagle bagging I was never going to get in the money. The lake was fishing hard and I thought I would go for the section money, so I got off my box and knocked up some paste and got a paste rig out. In an hour I had 4 carp and was amazed, but it soon slowed up as I then fouled too many. A look long in my left margin on corn produced a few skimmers and a 16lb carp. I ended up with 64lb and that was just enough to win the section and get a pick up. Howard Webb won with 92lb on the tea bag, Nige Easton had 48lb of silvers on 115. Quite a few beers and a takeaway I think.

Wednesday was an away day at Acorn fishery where I was definitely fishing for silvers. Lots of ide in here now and I planned to fish for them to start across in 3 feet of water. Balls… I drew peg 12 which is 17m wide and the only peg I could not fish across for ide!!! However, I drew this peg on the same match last year and had a lot of tench so was going to have to catch them and skimmers. 4x16 float, 0.13 to 16 GPM for 8m and top set plus one. I fed maggots as this was the way everyone has been catching. Well after an hour I was still waiting for a bloody bite! Martin Rayet on peg 13 was still waiting for a carp but a few silvers, Glenn on 10 was struggling, but pegs 1 to 5 were bagging. My maggot attack was not working, so I switched the long line to gbait caster and worm, this eventually got a few fizzes and signs of fish in the peg. It wasn’t easy but I had the odd skimmer, ide and small tench to end up with 23lb. That was enough to get me second in the silvers with Paul Faires winning with 29lb from peg 6. Gary Bowden won overall from peg 1 with 178lb beating Woody on peg 5 who had 135lb. We ate well in the Brent Knoll carvery later!

Thursday cost cutter open on Campell and I was chuffed to draw 126 which should be good for silvers, but had retired carp angler Martin Reyat on 125 also fishing for silvers and Mike Nicholls in 127 fishing for silvers. Carp were spawning in our margins today after the previous hot days. However, today heavy rain was forecast and it did arrive for a few hours. I stuck to my guns on gbait caster etc, and I was amazed to see fizzing on my top set plus 3 sections line to left and to right by a willow. Only trouble was I couldn’t hardly get a bite!!! It was frustrating as hell, Mike was struggling too, but Martin went down his margin and started to catch. I had fed caster to my left and corn and micro to my right. After a while I started to get a few but only on the corn, but I was always behind Martin. My last hour or so was poor but I did land a last cast carp of just under 15lb on my silvers rig which was nice. Martin had fished a brilliant match to win the silvers with 63lb, I had 43lb and Mike 31lb. I missed out on a pick

up as 46lb was needed, I should have had that. Tony won the match with 126lb on the teabag.

Well the fishing was hard this year, and I’m glad I went for silvers as I enjoyed that. But the teabag has dominated again, and it’s a bit tedious just fishing Campbell as a result. So we’ve all decided that as much as we love Viaduct and Somerton it’s off to pastures new next year. Our thanks to Steve, Helen and Matt for putting up with us for 12+ years and all the good memories, but it’s time for a change.

Viaduct Fishery Open Campbell Lake

Another chance to practice for my upcoming trip to Viaduct and to have another crack at the silvers. I was a bit tired Saturday morning after an evening watching Glos v Kent in the T20 cricket, it was a good evening out with family and a few beers.

The drive down on a Saturday always takes a little longer than a Sunday I feel, there was also the Royal Bath and West Show going on which added to the traffic. I still arrived in good time and got my pools paid and chatted to the other anglers, one of which was my Thatchers team mate Nick Ewers who told me he was fishing for silvers and reckoned that 115 was the draw. It was good to see Tom Thick who’ve I’ve not seen for ages, he hasn’t changed when it comes to banter lol. Got in the draw queue just behind Nick, and was soon putting my hand in the coffee tin. 112 was my home today, checked with Nick and he had got his choice 115! 

On my peg and I was quite happy to have anglers either side fishing for carp, a lad from the Southeast was on 113, Tim Martin on 111. Tom Thick was on 110 and so however the fishing went my entertainment was guaranteed… and it was. Nick was kind enough to tell me how he was going to approach his peg, he said he didn’t fancy my peg for silvers so much at the moment. My approach was much the same as last week, a couple of short lines, a couple at 11m, and a couple in the margin. 4x12 and 4x14 rigs with 16 SFLB to 0.12. 

Started at 10:30 and I fed my short lines and one long line to begin. It was Thatchers Green for gbait again, with micros, casters and maggots. I started short as last week, but this time I had a small skimmer first drop in. A bit more of a wait but then was into more skimmers, and at the end of the first hour I had 10lb, much better than last week. The second hour was more of the same really, although I did have to try my long lines to rest the short ones. For some reason the lines to my right were by far the better. Again like last week I did get a problem with losing the odd fish, but only one where the maggot went over the hook.

Hour three was slower, and my short line was no longer yielding bites. The long line had signs, I fouled two big skimmers and got them out, then fouled two more on the trot that came off. Frustrating but that’s just how it is here at the moment as the fish seem to be off bottom but not really feeding. I had about 28lb after three hours and was quite happy but was definitely a bit behind Nick. 

The wheels then came off, and the skimmers just shut up shop for everyone. I tried everything but nothing really worked and it was just random bites, a few little perch, an eel and a couple of skimmers from the margin. Lost two carp and landed one, but again they were not a problem. Nick was able to get the odd skimmer and I knew he would beat me, but I was not sure how the other silvers anglers had faired when the match was over, I had clicked 38lb. On the carp front it seemed Howard Webb and Martin Preston had done well. 

As the scales start weighing from 132 I had plenty of time to pack up and put the gear back in the van. By the time the scales got to me Nick was top silvers with 49lb and Rocky had 31lb,  and then with my fish going 37lb 6oz I was going to be second again. 

A nice little pick up.

Final results 

Overall

1. Howard Webb - 214lb 6oz - peg 127

2. Martin Preston - 163lb 14oz - peg 125

3. Tim Martin - 150lb 12oz - peg 111

Silvers

1. Nick Ewers - 49lb - peg 115

2. Tim Ford - 37lb 6oz - peg 112

3. Rocky - 31lb - peg 128

Well that’s it for the practice, certainly the silvers fishing is a bit tricky, and my two matches here have been quite different in how the fish fed. Just one final thing to practice for now…. Cheers!

Viaduct Fishery Open Campbell

Back to Viaduct today after no fishing last weekend due to a big family getaway to Westbay in Dorset. We had gorgeous weather and a lovely time with a few beers and a frisbee. Thought I had better get back to Viaduct to get a little practice in before my annual fishing holiday there. Throwing out a lead with a “teabag” is not something I have ever done and at this stage I would prefer to fish for the silvers. That said I’ll keep an open mind depending on the peg drawn.

I got to the fishery in good time and it was good to Steve and Helen Long again. It was a sold out match and with the top 2 silvers weights being paid I would need a bit of luck to get the better of the venue regulars. When I drew peg 125 I was quite happy, it’s usually a good silvers area and the strong wind would be blowing away from me helping my presentation. My only real trouble was Rob Eagle who’s one of the best silvers anglers here was on 127. 

My peg looking across to 117, that bank was really windy, they were all wrapped up whilst we sat in t shirts on our bank.

To my left on 124 was Bela Bakos, and on 123 was Roland Lucas.

I set up three rigs today, two were 4x14 with 16SFL B to 0.12 accu power, one was for fish top set plus sections and the other for 13m. I also set up a 4x12 for fishing the margins with same gear. I’d been told that the lake had not fished well the last week and Rob said 30 to 40lb would be a brilliant weight of silvers. I mixed some gbait which was Thatchers Green and Sweet Skimmer, and had pellets casters and maggots with me.

I decided to feed two short lines and two long lines. However, the short lines produced 1 roach all day and the margin 2 roach! I fed a little ball of gbait on the left far line and just some loosefeed on the right, hopefully if one was better than the other I could focus on that. Well it was a very slow start with me having 1 skimmer in the first hour, and by the end of the second hour I had added 2 more skimmers, all from the gbait line, so I fed this now on the right line. It was that tough that I joked with Bela that I could have fished for carp if he had been doing well, but he was not. At this stage Tim Martin and Martin Preston opposite were both catching well on carp.

I took a quick walk to see Rob, he had 7 skimmers but told me he had just started getting them after a blank first hour. I went back to my peg and within 10 minutes had a skimmer, then was soon into another one, both on double red maggot. Over the next two hours I caught skimmers fairly regularly, but topping up and resting the lines was needed and I had to try things out. The last two hours of the match got harder and harder for me. Frustratingly I pulled out of a couple when the maggot doubled over the hook, hooked a couple of carp too, I was hardly catching but I could see Rob was. My match ended with a last gasp skimmer which was nice.

I had 44lb on my clicker, but guessing these skimmer weights I knocked myself down to a possible 38lb. Rob was admitting to 45lb but I didn’t know what else was caught. Rob was soon weighed and he had 50lb 2oz, I knew I didn’t have that, but I was happy to see 45lb recorded for my two nets. Still the master beat me again like last year.

I ended up coming second in the silvers so a nice little pick up for my troubles. Well done Rob on another win, top angler. Overall Tim Martin won on 116 with 240lb on the lead, on peg 118 Martin Preston had 194lb to come second. Full weigh sheet below.

I’ve booked in for this Saturday coming as my last practice before the holiday. Weather forecast isn’t great this week, but some wind and rain might actually perk the fish up.

Tony Rixon Float Only League - Acorn Fishery

Managed to sneak in to this match as a stand in again and was looking forward to fishing Acorn again. Got some prep done Saturday morning and bought myself a few pints of maggots. Thought going out for a meal and a few beers the night before the match with family and friends would be ok, but I got in about 12:30 a tad tipsy. 

Got myself to H&H and a breakfast roll and hash browns was very nice. At the fishery and Tony got the draw underway after going through the rules, one new rule where you have to transfer the fish from landing net to keepnet, in other words you can’t drop the fish in with your hand. I then drew my peg, 32, oh dear! 32 is hardly ever used and I was in what was probably one of the worst sections with peg 31,30, 28 and 27 in with me. Martin Reyat on bridge peg 33 was likely to give me a battering but at least he was in another section.

As you can see I had the standard view of Acorn, goats and all. I’d spoken to venue regulars Gary Bowden and Bob Gullick and so had a bit of a plan. Ordinarily here I would fish for silvers but I thought I’d go for carp at first. Set up a 4x10 rig for banded pellet for fishing across by the boards, a 4x12 for my margin where I would feed maggots, also had a 4x16 for fishing down the middle with maggots.

Match started at 10:30 and I went across toss potting some 4mm pellets with a 6mm in the band. It was a slow start but I did get a couple of small carp but then every bite I got seem to result in a fouler. After an hour I had 3 carp for 10lb, next hour was just as tough and on my right James Matthews had only 1 carp and took a break enjoying an ice cream with his partner lol. I’d been feeding maggots at 7 metres and tried this and caught a skimmer and a couple of ide but no carp. Meanwhile Martin was catching well shallow on casters and had 70lb. I changed from pellets across to toss potting maggots, it got me a decent amount of bites, some ide and a couple of carp plus more foulers. It soon petered out.

Martin carried on catching shallow by the bridge then short and in his edge.

I was now clearly not going to compete in my section thought, as Dom Sullivan and Russ Peck had a few carp. I gave in to fish for silvers and had a good go on maggots at 7m. It wasn’t hectic but I managed to get some ide and a few skimmers before it died. I started loose feeding maggots across now with about 2 hours to go. This was steady and got me quite a few ide, skimmers and perch plus a small tench and a couple more carp. Match was over and I thought I had 25lb of silvers and 30lb of carp.

Tony came round with the scales and my section was being win by Dom. James had a better last half of the match getting a few carp shallow and in his edge. My silvers went 30lb 1oz and my carp 30lb 14oz. My overall weight beating just Martin Pettifer who had really struggled. Martin ended up with 147lb but got beat by Mat Shepard. Martin had 29lb 11oz of silvers in his weight too.  Picture below of 3 sections.

Tony was paying 2 in the silvers but I was beaten by Ben Brooks with 38lb and Paul Faires 32lb. They had fished for silvers nearly all match. I definitely could have got second but there you go I didn’t lol. Match was won by Paul Elms on rocket ship peg 5, think he had about 211lb . Not sure of the rest of the frame as I got on my way. An enjoyable yet tough day, I fed nearly 2 1/2 pints of maggots as I tried to make something happen, a few decent tench was all I missed.