Sept 1991

Not fishing this weekend so here's a very quick step back in time again.

Sept 1991 saw the beginning of a Wed league called the Veals Classic League which was to be fished at Newbridge. I was lucky enough to have enough holidays at work to be able to book off the necessary Wednesdays, wouldn't be able to do that with my job now though! Round 1 saw me on peg 37 which is on the straight, I wrote in my diary "Fished like a prat, didn't do it right!". 3lb 12oz wasn't good with most anglers weighing 8lb+, I did though decide to watch Clive Branson next door catching on the pole and I had my eyes opened. Clive is a big bloke and he stood up fishing 11 mtrs of pole (they were heavy poles back then!) for 5 hours. I had to make up some new pole rigs as I was using all the wrong floats etc.

Saturday 7th saw me on an open match at Shearwater lake, I drew peg 1 on the roadside and once again showed my lack of ability on the pole weighing 16lb 4oz. I fed gbait for skimmers but only caught carp. The following day by contrast I fished the Bristol Docks at St Augustines, fishing gbait and caster I caught 9lb of roach to win my section! An 18 to 2lb was the only tackle I recorded using.

The next round of the Veals League saw me on peg 3 in the little field, a peg I knew little about but was told there were plenty of roach to be caught. I was drawn next to Jeff Reasons and we started the match differently, Jeff on the pole, me on the waggler. I only had a few bits on the wag but did lose a good chub. However, when I came in on the pole, with my new pole rigs, I bagged up feeding bronze maggot for roach at 11 mtrs. I managed 2nd in the section and a much improved performance from last time. I beat Jeff by a few ounces by the way!

Saturday saw me on another different venue, Durleigh reservoir, this was how it was years ago you didn't fish one commercial continually! I drew end peg 60 a massive walk for me and it was in the teeth of a gale! I set up a 4AAA waggler for 3.5 ft deep peg and fed balls of gbait and maggot by hand for 3 hours catching skimmers. The wind got so bad I chucked the feeder out which was a good move as I caught 5 bream! My total weight of 22lb 8oz was 3rd overall giving me £60. The following day was the first round of the Commercial House on the Avon and I drew Swineford, just a short walk to the gas pipe in the 3rd field. I will always remember this match! I was drawn actually on the gas pipe in amongst all the reeds and wasn't that happy, my girlfriend came to watch me for the first time, although she brought a book! After struggling for 2lb of bits on a wag in the fast water I tried fishing 4 mtrs to hand in the dead water behind the reeds. I had been feeding bronze maggot here and it was solid with eels, I could get a bite every chuck, then on one cast the whip bent over double and I shit myself! After about 2 minutes I saw the culprit, a bream of at least 5lb, and then it came off! I shouted every swear word I knew and my girlfriend was shocked, and a couple of pegs away Tony Rixon was pissing himself. A little later though I hooked another bream on the whip, this one about 3.5lbs and I felt a lot happier! When the scales came along I remember anglers being shocked at the amount of eels I had, my total weight was 12lb 5oz, I won the section and was 4th overall! I never expected to do any good from the peg before hand, it shows we never know what can happen. It was the practice for previous Nationals catching eels that helped me bag up on them. September was turning out to be a very good month for me and there was one weekend left, I'll save that enjoyable match for next time though!