Bathampton Pairs

I missed the first match of this series which was at Newbridge, partner Rich Lacey and super sub Ben Rendall getting a few fish but missing bonus bream. Today’s match was split one section at the Trees at Saltford and one at Swineford, payout is done on this match as two separate matches effectively.

I watched the England match the night before but never had a drink so was totally sober to make sure I was able to get up and cope with the heat. A 7:30 draw time meant not loads of sleep, but still same for everyone who watched England win. Rich has always drawn and I let him do it again, we were last but one pair to draw. Rich put himself a few pegs below the arch at the trees, and me A7 at Swineford. I didn’t know what peg it was until I got to the bank. I helped Jerry Pocock by taking him to Swineford, he was downstream end peg and a fair walk in this heat below the gas pipe!

When I got to the peg I was on permanent 16, so one above where I pleasure fished last week, Derek Coles was on that peg. My peg needed a little bit of bank digging to get box level, but no trouble with casting here.

I set up the same bolo as last week with 18 to 0.12. A 4AAA waggler with 16 to 0.13. A 4m whip for bleak that were topping everywhere, and I didn’t put a tip rod up but it never got used.

I was ready early but match started at 10:30 so had a little walk to see Derek below me, Jan Mazyk and Mike Weston above me.  Sun tan lotion applied and ready to go! I threw 7 balls of gbait (Sonubaits black river and black roach) with caster and hemp in downstream about 16m, not great flow here as better over in this peg. I fed the waggler with maggots and that erupted.

I tried the waggler for some early bomber chub and I did get two but it was bleak central. Onto the bolo and it was even worse than last week as the bleak were here big time! I was soon on the 4m whip trying to get some bleak, trouble was they were small and I missed a lot of bites as they couldn’t get a maggot in there mouth. Bolo was still bleak, waggler still bleak..

90 minutes in and I was frustrated that I couldn’t get bleak lined up on the whip and no dace or roach on my other lines. All I could do was plough on and try and feed the little buggers off! Eventually the bolo did calm down a bit, but the fish I caught below the bleak were not the size I had last week, maybe the heat had an impact? I heard a commotion below me and went to see Derek, he had a run in with a boater who decided to turn his boat around in front of Derek and nearly took his net out! Suffice to say words were exchanged by both!!! Derek was struggling to with the bleak but was getting the odd roach.

Going into the last two hours things improved as I lined a few roach up on the bolo, but then I heard Mike Weston had three bream so I thought I needed some chub. Onto the waggler and after a bit of thrashing my triple maggot hook bait started to avoid the bleak and I hooked a chub about 1lb and soon after had another. The last hour I was feeding two pouches of maggots to try to feed the little fish off, and by persevering with the wag I would eventually get a bomber chub in between the bleak. It was great to see a bend in the rod and other than one bumped fish I never lost one. Such a great end to the match after a frustrating first few hours.

My weight was recorded at 18lb 12oz and that was too weight at Swineford. Mike was second and Ivan Currie third off the outfall with a big perch, bream and bits. Weigh sheets below.

The Trees fished quite well with the top weights being made up of bream, well done Dean on the win! Rich had a good day getting a couple of bream and skimmers on the pole but nothing on the feeder.  A win for us on the day as a pair but Jerry Pocock and Nick Coles, and Ivan and Dave Lewis after a good first match are still doing well. 

I can’t fish the next match because I’m fishing the Div 1 National on the Aire and Calder canal near Leeds, so have drafted team mate Shaun Townsend as my sub, he should be able to moan a few on the hook 🤣

Back on the Avon

A free Sunday and an opportunity to get a few hours on the river pleasure fishing. Decided to go to Swineford and got my gear together and remembered everything including plenty of water. As I was pushing my trolley across the field I was still thinking about which peg to fish, the peg one below the Gas pipe was in my thoughts but I ruled it out as it was hard going pushing the trolley in the sun at 10:45! I passed a few anglers in the first field, and I kept going to old permanent peg 15. Took a look but went to 18 and it looked a bit easier to fish. 

I was only gonna set up one rod a 13ft Normark Titan 2000 with a 5g bolo with a 16 to 0.12 fluorocarbon.

I mixed up some Sonubaits Black River, Black Roach and a bit of brown crumb. The plan was add casters and hemp and a bit of corn, made 6 balls up and threw them in downstream about 18 metres out. Top ups would be small regular balls as I was sure loose feeding would bring in bleak. My first half dozen trots were ok with roach and dace, but then the bleak moved in. The bleak were a nightmare and even when I pushed all the bulk to the top of my hook length they were still grabbing my hookbait. Trying corn on the hook which was part of my plan, brought a few fish but as the day wore on it was no good.

Had a friend turn up and she enjoyed my gbait and loose feed lol.

I persevered with caster on the hook as every time I got a bait past the bleak I had a roach. I then hooked something rather large, it stayed low and steadily moved across the river, then a bit more purposefully. I could see my float was near the far side trees so stopped back winding and held on and the fish was gone. I assumed it had snapped me but the hook had pulled out, will never know what it was.

I carried on catching bleak and roach, but did have dace, a few perch and some Gudgeon which are always nice to see.  I caught up on a snag and decided to change to 0.11 Powerline and the fish kept coming. It was enjoyable and I stopped fishing at 4pm so had about 4 1/2 hours fishing. Felt like I had about 15lb, a few 6oz roach but mostly 2 to 3oz fish. Would have had a lot more probably if there were no bleak, as you can imagine a 5g bulk and a 9 inch hook length isn’t the most refined roach set up 🤣

My best effort of a catch shot.

As I was packing up I noticed this great big hook on the bank and a swivel, not sure what set up this is used for. 

Next Sunday it’s the second round of the pairs league, one angler at the trees at Saltford and one at Swineford. 

Hillview Fishery Holiday

The blogs been quiet of late which is either down to my being very busy or downright idleness, probably a bit of both! Not got on the river yet but was supposed to be today for the pairs series, but I got a stand in as I was out with friends the day before and didn’t want to be driving early, and the heat in the week had took a bit of toll on me especially on Friday when I had my atrial fibrillation flare up and I could barely move of the sofa. Still all good now.

If you have read my blog for a while you’ll know that for many years every June a group of us have gone to Viaduct Fishery. However, last year we decided to have a change and go to Hillview Fishery near Tewkesbury. Two of our group decided to stay at Viaduct but we had 12 anglers off to Hillview who were Martin Rayet, Lee Masey, Haydn Withers, Gary Bowden, Gordon Cannings, Glenn Bailey, Mark Woodington, Mark Tanner, Tony Witcombe and newbies Ady Hill and Bob Gullick. Most of us were expecting Martin, Bob and Lee to smash it up, myself I’ve not fished it this time of year so wasn’t expecting to do well but enjoy and learn and maybe get lucky lol. Buying 14 tins of meat a week before the holiday was a bad idea when the day after my purchase the fishery banned meat. 🙈🤣

The van was packed and I drove to the fishery Saturday morning to be greeted by Fishery owner Keith Hill and his son Steve, as well as Huggy who runs the onsite tackle shop and is the chief piss taker 😆. My first cooked breakfast of the holiday went down well, and I was soon at the drawbag. Peg 56 on canal 2, not the best said Mr Rayet, it’s a peg I’ve drawn before but in the winter. I was quite surprised how different the peg looked, and the canals in general had been landscaped / had work done on them to stabilise them. My rigs for the canal were 4x10 for fishing margin, top set and top set plus one. 0.13 hook length with 16GPM. With meat banned I was going down a corn and micro approach. Had a local lad to my right and he fished short all day and so I thought I was doing something right. It was though a very slow start for most people. After 2 hours I had 8lb, and that was ok on my canal, literally no bites whatsoever. As the match went on I began to get some fish in the margin to my left, decent F1’s mainly, but after a bit of a run it slowed down the last hour. I weighed 60lb which was second on my canal to Mr Rayet who had 68lb. Canal 3 and 4 fished better with 112lb best.

Once packed up I went to the lodge and got all my stuff in the room, I was sharing with Glenn again, but we had the box room so it was a little bit of a tight fit!

View from van of Heron Lake.

After a few beers in the onsite bar we went to Tewkesbury for food and a few more beers. A local gentleman was our taxi driver, three trips to get us there, then three back. Let’s just say that we had to get the loading right to prevent the car from bottoming out 🤣

After an over the top first night out it was a bit of a strain to get up and out for some. I woke up to find no Glenn, he’d abandoned ship and slept on the sofa due to my snoring. Bob Gullick enjoyed the other sofa as he couldn’t sleep due to Mark Tanners snoring.  So some tired faces at breakfast, but we were looking forward to a match on the lakes. I think there was 23 fishing today, I drew peg 3 on Moorhen which is a corner peg, Huggy said it can be ok and there are some F1’s in the RH margin. I had Trevor Chalk on peg 5 in the other corner, we’ve known each other for years as river anglers. I went down a caster and worm line top set plus one, and the RH margin for corn and micro. The plan was plunder what I could on worms then empty the margin…. Well much like the day before there was nothing happening for many. Only Trev was catching, mainly silvers on caster, but odd F1. Much earlier than planned I went in the margin, I had indications here and the odd F1 but lost a few foulers. But I just couldn’t catch elsewhere and ended up sticking it out in the margin for the odd decent F1. At least I was sat in a T-shirt today, but that was the only good thing as I came last but one on the lake with 53lb. Peg 11 won with 109lb and 83lb was needed for the section money, Trev had 70lb, a nice net of fish but no coin either. I was a bit confused as to what I was doing wrong but assumed it was my feeding.

Another night in Tewkesbury was mostly spent in the Wetherspoons, cheap beer, cheap food but not a lot of it (food that is). Our merrymaking continued in the Lodge, but the other Lodge inmates gate crashed and destroyed most of our snacks!

Monday and today we had our own match on the first two canals. I drew peg 44 on canal 1, and I was feeling a bit nervous as I had Lee and Bob either side who were going to fish banded casters shallow. Not a method I have ever fished, so I went my own way. Fishing soft pellet across tapping in micro and 4mm fishery pellets. Same 4x10 0.13 and 16 GPM. I couldn’t get in tight as there were lots of saplings that would be rig magnets in the wind. 

I started by fishing across threw a bit of corn short and fed some maggots in my edge for a change. The first couple of days it had been noticeable that catches were mainly made up of F1’s and the carp were not feeding. We put this down to the recent spawning activity. Today was not much different but I did catch small (less than a pound) carp which kept me interested. However, I was getting severely beat up by Bob and Lee who both were catching F1’s shallow tight over. Eventually I decided to have a go at it, but I had it all wrong and it coincided with the fishing becoming much harder. I did manage to get 2 carp in the margin and a few F1 short.

I ended up with 55lb of small fish as pictured. Bob won with 98lb and Lee was second with 96lb, proper battering and clearly I had drawn the right area. I had headed straight to Bob after the match and she showed me the rigs he was using and some tips. It was a real learning experience for me. Unfortunately I didn’t really have the rights rigs, but a couple would do. 

After the match I had a bit of luck when the blind pairs was announced and I had won with Lee. We did this every day for a bit of fun.

Bobby G showing us he’s not too shabby at darts either!

We headed to Tewkesbury for a curry and very nice it was too. Tony had a real hot dish that nearly made Lee cry when he tried it. The Hillview team and taxi driver had also joined us and we had a great night.

Back at the Lodge and we had to get two teams sorted for the team match. Mr Rayet and Gary Bowden were elected as captains, after a coin toss Martin had first pick and like school kids we were picked one at a time! I was on Gary’s side. The banter went up another notch!

It was a beautiful start to the day on Tuesday, but weather had been stormy and showers were forecast.

After the draw was done I was heading to peg 72 on canal three which was a really good one. However, once again I had Bob on the next peg on 70, on my other side was Gordon. I was going to try the banded caster shallow method and said to Bob it was the master versus his apprentice lol. Well I had to give it a go. I set up a small dibber with 0.13 to 18 KKMB for fishing between 6 inches and a foot. A 4x8 for fishing 18” deep, same hook etc. short and margin rigs were also made up. I had some lovely reeds to fish to that just had to hold fish.

The match started and I fed some casters to the reeds, shipped out my 18 inch rig dropped it in and within 2 seconds the elastic was pulled out. Good start. The next three drops were similar but then I fouled one, so I went out 9 inches deep on the other rig. Same response with the fish pulling the elastic out of the pole. It was interesting that I was catching mostly carp, and looking around most people were catching fish. Suffice to say Bob was bagging like a machine, at times he said he couldn’t catch any faster than he was. Bob was getting more F1’s though and thought I was ahead of him. I had also switched to 0.15 hook length as I was catching carp.

The wind started to get up and it slowed me down as I couldn’t feed and hold the pole. Bob had a quiet moment, plus he lost two sets of elastic, but he had another great run. I had to ask Glenn to get me some more nets, but even then I chucked back a decent hybrid and 3 tench. I carried on catching better when the wind dropped, and at the end knew I had a good day.

I over estimated what I had in my nets, and Bob underestimated. Meaning he had 175lb to my 172lb. But Tony had a better day with 196lb on 77 on our canal.

But it was really all about the team, the bragging rights went to Martins team by just 3lb. My silvers and Simon Shilton who had joined us but went over the net limit cost us the bragging rights 🙈. But all good fun.

We had a BBQ tonight which was cooked by chef Bowden who did a great job. Chilling out in fishery bar area after a belly full of food.

Wednesday was the fishery open match, I drew on Moorhen lake peg 15. To cut a long story short I endured another bad day on this lake foul hooking fish on everything I did. Not that I had many bites, just 42lb and last but one again. Frustrated with myself as I just didn’t know what I was doing wrong. Still a few beers later and all was good.

Thursday the weather was shocking, we lost a number of the lads who decided on an early finish. Five of us remained, we watched TV until the rain stopped and then we walked the fishery looking for the best areas out of the wind. We settled on the end bank of Heron lake and did a rover. Mark Tanner had first choice and took end peg 30, was second and couldn’t decide between the other end or the middle, in the end I went on peg 28 in the middle as the other end had been poor this week. Martin then came and sat on peg 29 and so I was expecting another lesson today 🙈.

I grilled Martin as much as I could and kept my eyes on him as I could easily see him. I went with a 4x12 rig to fish caster at topset plus two sections, a 4x12 for topset with corn and micro, and a margin rig. The lake was towing quite hard and lighter rigs were no good.

We started at 12:30. It was a slow start for most except Mark on 30 who was catching on pellets. I was getting some silvers on caster but it wasn’t fast enough, but I stayed here until I saw Martin catch a F1 on his topset. I took that as my cue to try it, and very soon I was rewarded with an F1. The next three hours whilst not prolific were ok as other than Mark people were struggling. However, Gary on the end peg I didn’t choose then caught a load of big F1’s in his margin and he was obviously going to be the runaway winner. Martin was getting chip shopped but then in the last hour he caught some carp in his margin, whilst everyone else slowed up. The final result below, other than Gary it was very close. I finished upbeat that I had beaten Martin and by fishing next to him had learnt some more. Wether I can put this into practice for future matches here we will see!

To be honest I can’t even remember what we did that night I was so knackered, but I do remember drinking a glass of wine watching TV with Mark falling asleep on the sofa snoring, which was my cue to go to bed!

Although the fishing had been a bit tougher than expected everyone had agreed we would go back again next year, and having a good choice of bars and restaurants in Tewkesbury is good. It was a great time with a great bunch of blokes with so many laughs. Not everyone has been in the best of health, but I know that the time they had was a real tonic for them. I look forward to next year.

Best sort out some river gear now, and I am also fishing the Division 1 National on the Aire and Calder canal near Goole later in July. 

Westerleigh Float only summer League

 A few weeks ago Tony Rixon asked me if I could stand in for him on this league, and as it happened I could. I was away from Monday on holiday in Nice and got back late Friday. Never been before but had a great time there and went to Monaco where the preparations for the Grand Prix were underway.

Back to the fishing, I knew I was going to be on Shipps lake with a lot of good anglers but was hoping I could get a good result for Tony. Into the drawbag and I pulled out peg 13, it’s the near end corner of the lake and not really what I fancied. However, Ricky Mills was kind enough to give me a run down on how he recently caught 76lb from here, the main thing was be patient waiting for the fish!

The view from my peg, an island which I could reach with 16m and a swinging pellet rig.

Left hand margin, where I would end up fishing towards peg 12.

Right hand margin, very over grown and not allowed to do any gardening so couldn’t get in tight.

I started fishing meat at 13m in the deep water, not had a bite here. Had fed meat top set plus one and tried here for nothing. Tried mugging the very odd fish I saw but they were not interested. Tried slapping a pellet about not a sign, tried swinging a pellet to the island and not a bite..

Four hours in and I had a roach on my short meat line to save the blank. I had been feeding pellets up towards a bush by peg 12 and finally I saw a couple of carp here. I had 2 carp by using my swinging pellet rig (keeping the pole away) but the fish drifted away. I had been feeding dead maggots in my RH margin which was my banker and had a carp here with 90 minutes to go. I can’t say I had a great finish, it was tricky, but a lot better than the first 4 hours. I took another carp from by peg 12 and 4 more from the RH margin. I did lose 3 foulers which was annoying. 

Well match over and I knew I wasn’t going to be getting any money as Towner on peg 1 had told me during the match that Nick Sanders on peg 6, Ron Hardiman on 5 and Paul Elmer on 3 had all caught well mainly mugging. There were clearly a lot of fish up there.

I ended up weighing 47lb 7oz which put me 5th in the 10 peg section, beaten by the aforementioned three anglers and Towner who had 68lb on peg 1. Well done to Nick winning our lake with a great 145lb.

It was a stifling hot day and for most of it I was in the sun, so I was glad of a bit of shade at the pub and a couple cold beers. 

SWO55 and Disabled club Acorn Fishery

 I have had had a busy few weeks with family activities and was happy to see the South West Disabled and over 55 club were taking guests on their match, a message to Eddie Wynne and I was in. It was too late to order bait locally but I managed to get some at the fishery. I was hoping to fish for silvers but would fish for carp if I drew in the fancied area.

I grabbed a breakfast roll at H&H cafe before heading to the fishery. Even though I arrived in good time I was still last to pay the pools which meant I would be last to draw. I grabbed some maggots and casters and dipped my nets, then I took the last ball in the hat, peg 21. This is a bridge peg and I had plenty of room to my left, on 19 was good friend and venue expert Gary Bowden. Gary was not happy with his draw and reckoned there were not enough carp in the area, there were a few showing as they were having a go at spawning.

I thought the peg plumbed up nice, nice flat area by the boards opposite, where I set up 4x8.  A 4x10 for fishing the second shelf across to the bridge and top set plus short 4. 4x14 for fishing 11m in the deep water. All rigs had a 16 SFLB to 0.11. I did have a rig for the LH margin same as across.

We started at 10 and I started across by the boards on maggots as Paul Faires had told me yesterday he only caught the ide like this. Well I had just 1 ide here and lost a couple of carp. I wondered if the spawning had pushed the ide away. I moved to the 11m deep lines and started by the bridge where I had been feeding a bit of maggot and caster. I was soon netting an ide, back out and another. I settled into a routine of toss potting in bait by the bridge and straight out in front, the plan was change between the two if I needed to rest a line. For the best part of 2 hours it worked well catching on double maggot, mainly ide but also 1 perch and 3 little tench. But then both of these lines slowed up and it was time to go elsewhere.

Gary had taken a few early carp but had switched to silvers fishing worms, he started to catch well as I had slowed up. My left hand margin yielded a carp on my first and later next two drops on caster. The top set plus one was a slow burner but then I took 3 skimmers and a 1lb 1/2 tench but then had to move again. I went to the bridge on the second shelf feeding just maggots in a toss pot and straight away I was into ide. I had a good run of them, plus 3 perch all around a 1lb and a small tench. When I hooked and landed a carp it was pretty much fatal for that line.

Dropping back short I took another run of ide before it shut up. LH margin and pulled out of skimmer, but then had a lovely tench that was 31/2lb to 4lb. Next drop a carp.

The last 25 minutes was spent playing carp on whatever line I tried lol.

Match over I had 41lb of silvers on my clicker but usually I over estimate so said to Gary I had 35lb and he said he had the same. The scales were to prove me wrong! Gary had a good 41lb of silvers, but then mine went 53lb 13oz, my first net was 35lb (limit 40lb) and I had clicked 25lb, oh well I got away with it, and clearly the ide are weighers!

Result of the Southwest over 50's and Disabled match fished on the Paddock at Acorn Fishery today 21 fished.

1. David Stephenson                123-01 p13

2. Brad Sowden                         119-08 p9

3. Steve Howell                           93-15 p1

4. Gary Bowden                           88-14 p19

5. Fred Welsh                               86-00 p5

6. Graham Smith                         72-07 p36

Silver's 

1. Tim Ford                          53-13 p21

2. Sue Faiers                               45-01 p4

3. Gary Bowden                           40-00 p19

4. Joanna Wingate                      34-05 

Well that was a great days fishing and the rain stayed away, in fact I got a bit sunburnt late on! Next week I’m fishing Westerleigh league standing in for the maestro Tony Rixon.