Bathampton / Bristol & West Pairs

Round 4 of this 6 match series, round 3 was last Sunday which I missed recovering from the National. Myself and Rich Lacey were now just one point behind Ivan Curry and Dave Lewis and so we wanted to make sure we had a good day today. This round was split with one section at the trees, Salford and one section at Swinford, that meant we had to be drawn by 7:30 so it was an early start But I made it with lots of time to spare today! As usual, I left it to Rich to do the draw and he kindly pulled out Swinford for me permanent peg 17, which was one below where I was the last match here when I won. Rich himself Had drawn the end peg at the bottom of the trees which can be good for roach, But the top pegs in his section I felt would be hard to be as there’s more roach up there.

Gave a lift to Jerry Pocock who like me was at Swineford again. He and Nick Coles were on the same points as me and Rich, but I didn’t fancy Jerrys peg today.

One good thing about my peg is that for a large part of the day it would be in the shade. Some people call it the chub peg as over the years it has produced many chub, but definitely better from Autumn. Derek Coles had it last match and had 7lb of roach and tiny chublets.

I set up a crowquill today that was far too heavy for the depth but I wanted to get through the bleak, 14BB went on! A 16 and 0.12 fluorocarbon finished it off. A 4AAA waggler with 16 to 0.13 powerline, and a lead rod threaded up but not used.

I was set up way before the 10:30 start so had a wander around, had Alan Mapston on 15 and Mike Weston on 19. End peg was Ivan Currie and we all fancied him to win the section from there as he’s on fire at the moment.

I began by throwing 6 balls of Sonubaits black roach and black river with some hemp and caster in it. Then I had an early look on the waggler which I was just about to give up on when I hooked a chub, but after 5 seconds it had shed the hook. Another 15 minutes of catching bleak / tiny chublets was enough and I had a go on the crowquill over the gbait line. Well it was just as bad here tiny bleak grabbing the hookbait, and when I did get below them the roach were minuscule. However, as I found last time you do need to try to keep going and the better fish turn up.

Two hours gone I went for a walk as I had about 2lb, around me most were saying 2 or 3lb so it was tough. By regularly feeding small balls of gbait I began to get less bleak and the roach were now a better stamp and I started to enjoy it. Not long after Jeff Surmon came along and sat behind me. Jeff should be fishing but he recently hurt himself in a fall and is recovering, but he’s on the mend. 

Jeff sat behind at the time I was catching best so I think I entertained him lol, but seriously we had a good chat. I did start to have some pike problems and lost about 5 hook lengths, but after that the pike went. I carried on catching odd roach till the last 40 minutes when the flow slowed up, less bites and missing most of them! I was reluctant to try the waggler as every time I found a punch of maggots across the surface exploded with fish and they were still tiny. But I needed to do something and so I cast the crowquill across the river. The hook bait got to the bottom which surprised me, and then it went under. I had a 6oz chub, the next three casts produced identical fish, missed a couple of bites then had a roach and that was the all out.

My immediate thought was I should have tried that earlier, but it’s easy in hindsight. I reckoned I had doubles, Jeff said 11lb.  I had a fair wait to find out as Ivan had the scales and had to mountaineer to get out the peg. Ivan had 14lb of roach etc and had done well, Mike above me struggled and had to move peg when a moored boat came loose and stuck in front of him, he had just under 5lb. My fish went 11lb 14oz, a lovely second half of the match, just missing a couple of chub.

 As it turned out I came third at Swineford beaten further upstream by two ounces, but luckily for me the angler was fishing it as an open, meaning I got 9 points out of 10. Here’s my board from Swineford.

No bream caught here today, hence why Dean Harvey came last I guess 🤣

Below is the board from the Trees, only 1 bream caught by Deans partner Derek Coles, but Derek only weighed 1 bream as everything else swam out of a hole in his net 🙈. Rich did well because as expected the other end of the section was much better for roach and Graham Hunt moaned on 15lb 8oz to win.

Results were back at the Swan, we were all glad of a cooling pint! I’d got the section money which Dean kindly paid me mostly in coins, 🙈🤣, but the bar staff were pleased to get them. You could the anglers who had caught a lot of small fish by the state of their clothes, Ali Gibbs one of messiest 😬

Dean tried to do a quick tot up of the overall points, but he forgot his abacus and didn’t get it right. I reckon Rich and me are in the lead, 4 points ahead of Ivan and Dave, with Jerry and Nick just a couple of points behind them, it’s still all to play for.

One thing I forgot to mention when I got my bait Saturday, I walked through the front door and dropped the bag of maggots which split. I shouted to Wendy to help but she took one look at the maggots and couldn’t help lol. I ended up getting them rounded up with a dustpan and brush, and Wendy did help by grabbing me a couple of bags. Fingers crossed I got them all 🙈😆

Well there’s no significant rain in the forecast and the river is going to be very low and slow or almost stopped soon. No fishing for me this weekend, up to Newbridge for round 5 the week after. 

Division 1 National Aire & Calder Canal / New Junction Canal

Some time ago a team was assembled from my Thatchers squad for the National. I didn’t know the venues but put my name forward if required, and I was needed as it turned out. I ended up being one of the five anglers who would be fishing the Aire & Calder, the other five on the new junction. These canals are near Goole and it is a 200 mile drive to get there for me, more for many of the team. It was decided to not practice and instead focus on not getting relegated lol.

I spent some time researching my venue and found a few good videos to give me some idea. It’s a wide shipping type canal with depths up to 14 feet. Skimmers, bream, roach and perch were the target species. The section draw was done in the week and I was drawn D section around Great Heck, but my 48 peg section was actually split into 3 separate parts of the canal so 6 end pegs and who knows how similar the fishing would be. I did a lot of prep and had my groundbait mixes decided on. 

Met up with the team and we had a great curry in a place called Howden (maybe they make the kitchens there lol). A relatively early night for me at midnight after a bit of refreshment.

The next morning I hoovered up the Premier Inn breakfast and was raring to go. Martin Barrett did the team draw and we were soon off to our pegs. I had to drop Rob Jones off to his section first as his van had broken down on the way up. It was a nightmare for Rob and we all felt for him. Got to my part of the canal and it was just a 10 peg part, most anglers were telling me it was not good.

Looking up the canal, the first peg was not far past the gate, I was a few more pegs down.

My peg, no features here just tins. Note the calm water which I knew was not going to last long.

I had been told the night before that the wind would make pole fishing impossible in places, so after getting my gear ready I put my tip rod up first. I cast a lead out and clipped up about 5m off the tins where I was happy with the depth. A cage feeder with 16 N20 and 0.11 powerline was my chosen tackle. Groundbait was Thatchers Green and F1 Green. By now the wind was really getting up, I got a couple of top sets and three more sections of pole out. Bit of a waste of time the pole as you will read.

We started at 11am, I fed some gbait on the pole and then cast the feeder out, rather than quick casts just feeding, I left the feeder in for 2 minutes. Second cast and I had a bite that banged the tip and dropped back, fish on. Felt like a skimmer as I reeled it in with no trouble, but about a third the way out it started fighting and banging on the rod. Got it under the rod tip and another bang and the hook pulled out. Oh dear I thought…. I’m guessing it might have been a hybrid but never saw it.

The next twenty minutes brought odd indications but then a 10oz skimmer settled the nerves. I had another smaller skimmer, but on the hour decided to get a quick look at the pole line, 1 bite 1 tiny perch. Back on the feeder and I had 3 skimmers in the second hour but then it died. 1 more perch on the pole was my last fish on that line.

The wind got worse, I really had to work hard to cast the feeder accurately. The wind was blowing all sorts of crap on the inside of the canal and it kept catching my line. All I had for the next 2 hours was a perch and a Ruffe. 

Going into the last hour I knew I had to sit on the feeder, there was always the chance a few skimmers would feed. At 3:15 I had one, then with 25 minutes to go I had three in three casts. All on red worms and the bites were not shy. Match over, 9 skimmers.

As is often the case the scales arrive quickly and had come from the far end peg who was leading with 3.29 kilo. My fish went 2.98 kilo and that was enough for second in my ten pegs as the other end peg was third. As you can see in the snapshot below it was tough in these 10 pegs.

I saw later that the first ten pegs were really tough and I beat all of them, but the middle 28 peg area was much better and 18 people there beat me, so I ended up with 20 penalty points. To be honest I was really happy with my result given the weights around me, and the lost fish probably cost me 5 points only. I had enjoyed battling the wind and trying to trick the skimmers.

Sadly the team didn’t have a good day, although many had some nice catches they weren’t in the best areas. We ended 30th and had avoided relegation.

Congratulations to Barnsley on another win, and also to DGL coming third beating many local teams.

I should have been fishing round three of the pairs at Newbridge today but had asked Shaun Townsend to cover for me. He and partner Rich Lacey both had a few bream and both were second in their respective sections, so we are in the top three at the moment. Round 4 next week.

Now time for some sleep 🤣🤣🤣

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 did 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 top 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.