Riverfest Qualifier Bristol Avon Newbridge

Annual attempt to qualify for the Riverfest final, which this year is on the River Trent. The pools were paid directly to the Angling Trust, and Kev Dicks was the local organiser who had booked the Riverside pub at Saltford. The organisation was good, a bacon roll and cup of tea (after booking in with the pub) and then all stayed outdoors. Kev drew the pegs for everyone (bar himself and the two other helpers) and it was done in alphabetical order. I got given peg 46, which turned out to be permanent 104 , this is a peg in C zone which is in the trees and just to the right of the arch. It certainly isn't a great peg or area, and rarely frames so it was a tough draw, I expected the end pegs to do well and maybe also the stream on peg 90.

The rain the day before had given the river a nice bit of colour and flow, and I thought this might encourage the skimmers / bream to feed, and so the section could be better than normal and I thought 20lb would be needed.

I was positive in my set up today, a 3g pole float with 18 N20 t0 0.11, and a 4g flat float with 16 N30 to 0.13. Only other thing was a feeder rod for groundbait feeder with 14 to 0.15.

The match started at 12:30, yes you read that right, the reason for the late start is it allows all of the rowers to clear off, and to be fair we didn't see many if any after the start. I put some bait in on the feeder line with a big feeder, and then put 14 balls on the pole line which contained casters and hemp to start. I went straight in on the pole with a caster, but as ever I couldn't get a bite on it, swapped to maggot and started to get bites, the fish though were small and all swingers, little roach, chublets, and poxy bleak. I kind of already knew I was struggling after an hour and I put some more balls in with worms and more casters. I started to catch a few better fish, but these were perch of 2oz to 3oz so not what you really want. Soon I had Dave Haines sat behind me watching, and we had a good chat as I struggled on, though I did get a chublet about 10oz on the pole while Dave was behind me. He said my neighbours Steve Vernon and Mark Brush were both struggling too. More info came up from Jerry Pocock, he said the anglers down at the end were all catching well on the pole and had 8lb+ at least.

I gave the feeder a go, but this was mainly a waste of time with just odd chublet taps. so I piled some more worm and caster in on this and came back in on the pole. I had a small hybrid of 6oz first drop and then a couple more chublets before the bites stopped again, more top ups on this line and back on the feeder. Whilst on the tip I saw a huge pike come out of the water, Dave didn't see it but saw the huge boil on the water it left behind. Dave went off to watch someone catching better than me, and not long after he had gone the rod was nearly dragged in! I grabbed it and thought this must be a chub, but soon realised it was a pike. Whether it was the monster I had seen I do not know, but this was big and as they don't count I pulled hard, then everything went slack, but the pike hadn't broke me. It had actually bit right through the fish, never had the before, and here's a picture of what I swung out lol, just the head with one eye missing.

Back in on the pole trying my best to catch better fish, but they weren't there, in fact reports were the river was fishing poor for bream and the bottom of my zone was the best place. I did have a good run of roach on the pole for an hour, they just turned up and were quite easy to catch, but not great in size. I then had a tangle on the rig, but got on with it and carried on catching until a jack pike struck and that was enough of that. Sat it out on the feeder till the end of the match hoping for a few pull rounds but it was not to be.

I decided to weigh in to see what I had, and the scales gave me 6lb 8oz, nowhere near enough but at least some roach seem to be showing now, and there are lots of chublets about. Steve DNW, and Mark Brush had 5lb 4oz, so not great but we all tried hard to catch elusive skimmers and bream. Though below Mark, Geraint Powell caught 2 skimmers and 2 chub in the last 40 minutes to add 7lb to his weight for a decent 11lb which would win him the ten peg section.

My zone was won by Paul Purchase who was 4 off the end peg, he had 20lb 8oz all on the pole, roach, chublets, and a few small skimmers, he also won the match with that weight, well done Paul. My zone below and you can see the weights were good at the bottom.

The other two anglers going through to the final were Rueben Guerra who was on end peg 1 and had 2 bream, chublets and roach on the pole for 16lb and won zone A (and came 2nd overall), and Kev Dicks who had 2 late bream on the feeder to go with some chublets and won B zone with 12lb. This was quite a shock as everyone expected this zone to be the best with bream showing, but they simply did not feed and most weights were poor. Anyway, well done to those three and I wish you all the best in the final.

Superleague Round 3 - Bristol Avon Staverton

Superleague means no early start, so I was up at 7 anyway as I could hear some banging music, this turned out to be a rave going on 6 miles away up by Swainswick would you believe. It only takes me about 30 minutes to get to Staverton so I had some time to get a bit of food at home, and a garage stop for a bit more for later. As mentioned in my previous blog I knew where I was going, peg 31, but as I hardly ever fish here I didn't know what the peg looked like till I pulled up alongside it (you can park behind your peg at Staverton). I'd dipped into Facebook to find some weigh sheets from the previous opens here, other than an 11lb roach net on one match it hadn't been great with 5lb next best and a lot of poor / DNW's. Still I had a job to do for the team, and as we were joint leaders in the league every point would count.

There were quite a few pandocks in close, as you can see in the first photo. But across there was some nice tree cover and a gap to cast right over to the bank.

Whilst peg 29 is known as one of the best pegs for chub on this stretch (and Ivan Currie was sat on the peg) I was still confident that my peg would hold some too. I set up the waggler for fishing across, a 3AAA version with a 18 N20 to 0.13. Pole rigs for roach fishing included a 1gm pencil float and a 4x14 for fishing hemp, and I also set up a chopped worm rig for fishing downstream, but other than 1 tiny perch that will not be mentioned again.

On the all in at 11am I cupped in 4 balls of gbait at 13m and picked up the pencil float (all the while I fed a few maggots across) I had a few runs down and never had a bite, then a couple of missed bites, so I took off the maggot and put a pinkie on. I had bites on this, but it was not good as I was mainly catching little bleak just above the gbait. Took me 30 mins to get a little roach so it was not going well as you can tell. I also had to be very careful when shipping out, if I dropped my rig into the water a minnow would grab the bait, so I had to hold onto the hook, put the pole together and then drop the rig and ship out fast. It was all rather hard work for little reward, but I then had a couple of 2 ounce roach and felt like I was just getting a few more of them and less bites from "shitters". On the hour mark bites were tailing off, so time to top up and rest I thought, so I picked up the waggler rod. There had been fish taking the bait on the surface so I set the wag at 2 feet and cast out, it was a bite a chuck, but as can be the case with bleak and little dace hooking the fish is harder. Still it was something to work at and I was glad to see the float going under.

I gave the waggler 30 mins, as the small fish soon backed off after a few being caught, time to go back on the pole. I had a roach first drop on the pinkie, but nothing else. Onto the hemp rig, maybe they have switched onto the seed, first run through a bite and a 4oz roach, yes! Errr no, that was it lol. The pole line despite being nurtured with my loose fed hemp just would not come to life. Back on the waggler and a couple of chublets straight away then nothing, I soon found I had to cast as close to the far bank as I could to get one of them. Now I like to think I am quite adept at casting a waggler, but there was a gusty wind which for the most part was an annoying down streamer, but occasionally the wind would drop or go from behind. Halfway through Steve Rodgers came behind me to watch me, I put my first cast of the day into the tree on the right (when the wind dropped) and I said to Steve why does that always happen when someone is watching. Well somehow I got the rig back, just needed to replace a couple of dust shot. A few more casts and then a bite and I hit a chub, it was on for all of 3 seconds and was headed under the tree when it came off. I thought it had snapped me but the hook pulled out, damn. I just wondered if the hook had weakened after I had got it out of the tree, so I changed it. Steve wandered off as I couldn't catch for toffee after this.

After trying the pole again and getting some half hearted hemp bites but no fish I had about an hour and a quarter to go, I reckoned I might only have 2 1/2lb so I had to gamble on the waggler and chub hunting. I upped the feed and kept alternating where I cast the waggler, sometimes at the far bank, sometimes down the peg to the tree cover, all tricky casts and I caught the tree a few more times in my efforts to get tight in, I had to as the wind would pull the float off line quickly, or I let a lot of line out and had a big bow. Neither are great and I missed a few bites due to the bow. I had a couple more chublets though and a 4oz roach. Thirty minutes to go and I hit another bite and felt good resistance, this fish did not charge off but held its ground and I played it into the middle of the river where I hoped it would stay. Of course these chub aren't daft, it started to swim towards me quickly and I had to wind down really fast as it headed into the pandocks on my right, shite. I grabbed the landing net as I eased the pressure off, then pulled like mad and the chub popped up on top a pandock and I scooped it, looked like maybe 2lb. The last 30 mins I really thought I might hook another chub, but it was not to be, just a couple more little barrel chublets.

Match over, and I thought I had 5lb. Nicky Collins above me thought he didn't quite have 5lb, he had a 1lb chub and lots of small fish, but he had lost a chub 10 mins to go. Ivan thought he had 4lb+ on 29, no chub had shown for him. The scales had to come up from peg 1 so it was a long wait for them, but that time was spent in great conversation with Nicky and Ivan, both of them are such nice blokes, not to mention great anglers. Ivan had 4lb 8oz, my fish went 5lb 8oz, and Nicky then had his net called at 5lb 8oz also.  My section of 17 was won by Martin Barrett with 10lb 9oz, which included a 5lb bream, and in fact the top 3 in my section all had a bream apparently. Martin was at the end of his tether though early in the match, picking up some bad snags he had lost 3 roach rigs, and the only rig left was his chopped worm rig, suffice to say first drop on it he had the bream. My catch today.. (thanks for the photo Kev Bennet)

My section sheet below, I ended up joint 6th in the 17 peg section, the one chub I lost certainly cost me 3rd in section if it was a  1lb, but we will never know. Team wise I was the best points scorer, so we were back to "pants" ah well! Individual winner today was Dave Micklewright with a great 51lb of bream at Barton Farm. Next week Riverfest qualifier at Newbridge, a decent peg will be required.

Update, despite a disaster of only 31 points in the team today, and coming 14th out of 17... we are still 3rd in the league, 5 points off 2nd, and 21 points off first, so still got a chance.

Bathampton Open - Newbridge

Unusually for me a double header this weekend, with a riverfest qualifier on Newbridge next weekend I wanted to get on the river to get back in the groove. Kev Dicks advertised this match on facebook etc, but sadly only 8 people turned up, still it would do for me. My gear is still not with me and I have to make trips to my parents to get my gear. However, work has started on my house, with old falling down garage and shed pulled down, new surface laid, and now my workshop is being built. Fellow angler Ben Rendall is doing the job, with Kev Dicks and Warren Bates also assisting. This time next week I hope to have my gear with me again.

Back to the fishing, Kev ran the match on the same hours as riverfest is planned. 10 am draw fish 12 to 5pm. At the field the other anglers were, Ben Rendall, Jerry Pocock, Nigel Evans, Mike Martin-Davies, Andy Cranston, Mike Shellard  and Kev Dicks. Pools paid, draw done, and I was heading for peg 10 in the little field, with nobody below me I had plenty of room. Ben was above me on peg 7. It has been a while since I have fished 10, would have loved if the river had plenty of colour in it as bream are in the area, but sadly the river was pretty much stood on its head most of the time, and it was clear but not worryingly clear in my opinion. With no flow on the river I opted against setting up float rods, but did set up a feeder rod with 14 N50 to 0.13. Three pole rigs, a 1.5g pencil rig with 20 N40 to 0.09, 2g bodied float with 18 N40 to 0.10, and finally a 2g with 18 N20 to 0.13 for holding still.

To begin the match I balled in 12 jaffas of my usual Sonubaits river, lake, bit of black roach and my faithful brown crumb. I went in using caster on the hook, but three run throughs were biteless then I had a bleak, errrr. Stuck a maggot on and had a dace, then a small roach. Things became difficult already and I had to pick up the pencil float as I was missing bites. It was better for a couple of roach and dace, but then tiny chublets and bleak became a real pain. Even with a bulk pushed down and droppers all next to the hook length it was hard to get past them, but occasionally I had a better fish. Things though got worse, the bleak went and so it seemed had everything else! 90 minutes in and I couldn't get a bite, potting more bait in had no effect either. Perhaps some bream had moved in (I wish) so I dropped the feeder over the pole line, 30 minutes of nothing other than a 4oz roach. I tried the heavy pole rig with a worm on, and I was just about to give it up when I had a bite down the peg, turned out was a 1lb skimmer. No more followed.

Glenn Bailey rang me 2 1/2 hours into the match and I told him I was struggling with about 3lb. I was now in danger of losing faith, but I gave the pole / feeder line a rest and caught a few bleak at 7m where I had been feeding a few maggots, a few were there but after I caught about a dozen they weren't happy. Team mate Geraint Powell had been sat behind me for a few minutes when I then went back on the feeder, I had 3 small perch in three casts on a worm and red maggot so at least some bites, and then it went quiet next cast, then the tip went round nice and steady and the rod hooped over. I had a bream on and it felt a good one, river bream always give a good account of themselves and so I was glad when this one went in the net, maybe 5lb. Where there's one there's more... not this time, the feeder line went real quiet after this. Geraint told me that Mike Martin-Davies had a bream and skimmer on peg 16, but not much else was caught at this stage. 

I had a bit of a struggle until the last 40 mins really, Mike had 2 bream now and I thought I was a long way behind so stuck it out on the feeder and I had a skimmer of over a pound to renew my interest. Then a 8oz perch and then a perch of just under a pound in three casts. In the last 20 minutes I had a couple more bites and landed two eels, one had to be 1 1/2lb and was my last fish. As you can imagine they were all taken on worm hookbait, and it was nice to get a few species in the end. I thought I had 12 to 13lb.

Weights as I know them..

Peg 1    Nigel Evans 10lb 2oz (a bream and a very big perch)

Peg 4    Jer Pocock 8lb (lots of small roach)

Peg 7    Ben Rendall 10lb 2oz (roach and chublets)

Peg 10  Tim Ford  14lb 12oz

Peg 16  Mike Martin-Davies 14lb 10oz  (sorry Mike!)

Peg 24  Mike Shellard think it was 23lb+ (4 bream + perch)

Peg 30  Andy Cranston just under 10lb of roach

Peg 34  Kev Dicks.. Not sure what Kev had but maybe 7lb

As you can see the old man himself Mike Shellard won, and I came 2nd which was worth £50. Compared to many places that was good fishing and some decent weights. I suppose it was mission accomplished as far as catching some fish and practicing, with roach not really playing ball a bonus or two will be needed in this zone next week.

Tomorrow I am on the superleague at Staverton, peg 31.

Superleague Round 2 - King Sedgemoor Drain

Another week of lockdown, well lesser lockdown I suppose you could call it. I've been out for a coffee but not yet ventured to a pub, I am really hoping my gym opens at the end of the month so I can start  to get back in condition, I've walked about 20 miles this week, but it is still not hard work like going in the gym, but nice getting out. Last week my final result winning the section yielded £80, and I was 5 oz off the top four and a frame place. Sadly the Thatchers teams had a bad day, with my four doing the best and only coming 9th I think, oops.

Once again I was waiting eagerly Saturday evening to hear what peg I had been allocated, hoping for an end peg. Well the draw put me as far from an end peg as possible, number 8 in the 17 peg B section. However, I looked at the results from the last match and saw Andy Britt had caught 8lb from this peg and had come 4th in the section (he had a bonus tench with some small fish) and in fact the area had fished OK for the odd bonus fish. I was quite happy as I do like to have a go for bonus fish.

I arrived at Parchey at 8:30 am on Sunday and was greeted by some of my team mates; Martin Barrett, Liam Braddell, James Carty, Mat Challenger, Nathaniel Johnson and in my team of 4 Andy Power. You are not allowed to be on the bank before 9am, so it was nice to catch up and then make my way on the short walk to my peg. Peg 1 in my section was just down from the road bridge, these first four or five pegs were quite poor last week, but end pegs are usually good, so we would see.

Got to my peg and found I had Bathampton angler Nick Coles on peg 7, I've known Nick since I was about 16 when we both fished for Silver Dace. On peg 9 was Gary Cross a local angler who was fishing for Sensas 88. The nature of this league is that there are many good anglers in your section, far too many mention today and it was going to be a close affair I thought. The bright sunshine and lack of wind most likely meant it would be a much harder match than last week, so weights might well be lower this week.

My peg did look nice across with a bit of cover, so I had to set up a gbait feeder for over there. Beyond that my rigs were just pole related, a 1g pencil rig with 20 N40 to 0.09 fluro carbon for fishing at 8m. A chopped worm rig for by the pads not a sniff on this... A 1.5g for fishing at 13m with 16 N20 to 0.13, and same float but with 20 N40 to 0.10.

We started at 11am, I fed 4 balls of Sonubaits black roach and lake at 8m, some F1 dark and brown crumb at 13m, and then put some feederfuls across. I think I fed more bait on the feeder than the others around me, as I could already see Nick and below him Rich Whitmarsh swinging fish in on whips. I had not set up a whip as I thought it would be hard and a pole offered better presentation, and also becuase I left the whips at home. Onto the 8m line and unlike last week I managed to get a few bites, it was slow not and I cuaght nothing big to start just less than an ounce roach, hybrids, perch, or ruffe, but after not getting a small fish last week I was happy. Nick had a pike grab his secind fish, and then a few minutes later the pike struck again and it was not what Nick wanted. I had not had a pike strike as yet, but 10 minutes later Gary below me hooked a decent fish, a bream he thought, but no it was a pike! Gary did well to land this pike on an elasticated whip, but my god, it sounded like he was making some sex noises as he tried to land and get the pike out, which he did and estimated it to be 10lb, but they don't count of course.

After an hour I was still managing to get bites in close, still hard work but I thought just keep taking them, and my neighbours were now struggling after the pike attacks. My swim really slowed and I was thinking of changing swims when I hooked a better fish, this turned out to be a skimmer of about 12oz, a nice bonus. This fish though had seemed to have unsettled the swim and I had to try my other lines. Worm by the pads, nothing, feeder nothing, 13m pole line 1 roach. I was soon back in at 8m and was pleased when the float went back under again. I could only get bites on a pinkie, and like I say they weren't hanging themselves, but a few tiny hybrids and  a roach came before it stopped again.

Halfway through the match and it seemed the river was fishing really hard, most anglers had caught a few in the first hour and now were struggling bar the lad on end peg 1. I was still able to get a run of 4 or 5 small fish when I tried the 8m line, and I was throwing a few pinkies over the top and cupping the odd ball of gbait in. Every time I rested this line though I just could not get a bite elsewhere. On the short line it was mainly ruffe with an occasional hybrid and rarer roach. I did see a fish top out past where I was fishing and I swung the rig out towards it, the float held up and I swung in a 2oz roach, I suppose you could say I mugged it lol!

The wind which had be non existent now blew up and went left to right, this made presentation absolutely awful as the river was hardly towing before and the float could not be held still. If I caught a fish it was as the float settled, and I did get another skimmer about 6oz, and some roach about 2oz. Then I had my first pike strike and it snapped me up and this line died proper, and I had to fish the remaining 40 minutes for big fish on the feeder, It didn't go round for me, but Nick next door had one about a 1lb. Match over.

I can honestly say I was feeling very hot and tired from the heat and intense concentration, but I had enjoyed working hard and for some reason I had been able to put fish in the net when many others had struggled to get a bite in the last two hours. The scales came up from peg 1 where the angler here Mr Wood from Sensas Lobbys had 8lb 7oz, next to him Neil Richards had 6lb 6oz (5lb in the last two hours as it seemed people swimming and jumping in the river pushed the fish up to him).

I was pleased to weigh 4lb 9oz which did beat my neighbours and I was hoping for a top half finish in the section. However, the section really was tough and I was staggered when I ended up 3rd in the section, just beating Martin Barrett who had a bream and weighed 4lb 6oz. I was pleased to have got great points for the team.

Social distance picture of my fish.

My B section board

I am pretty sure my team of four have won the day, as Gary Webber was 2nd in section, Andy Power 3rd and Andrew Cranston 4th, so looks like 60 out of 68 points. That should push us up the league a bit after our dismal 35 points last week. I'm fishing both days next weekend, Saturday an open at Newbridge and Sunday Superleague round 3 on the river at Staverton and Barton Farm. Be good to be back on the Avon.

Superleague Round 1 - King Sedgemoor Drain

Another week working from home, a little bit more lockdown easing and the pubs open Saturday night before this match. I wasn't tempted to go to the pub at all, I stayed at home an enjoyed a nice bottle of Sauvignon Blanc.

This team match event has been kept going by some good thinking by some of the anglers on how to manage it with social distancing. It was reduced from teams of 8 to 4 to help teams with less anglers (s some don't or can't fish due to Covid risks). It also meant team captains pay the pools money by bank transfer to the league organiser (I myself paid my pools by bank transfer to Mark Harper), and the draw is published on Saturday evening. It is a bit strange having the knowledge of your peg the night before (those big money final anglers will know the feeling, how they sleep I don't know) and I was going to peg C16, this was one of an end peg at Parchey, should be a good peg in the section of 17.

Sunday morning and I drove straight to my section parking as there is of course no need for a gathering. The league rules stipulate nobody is to be on the bank before 9am, and no keepnets to go in the water until 10:45, with fishing 11 to 4. All very good and sensible, with scales and boards dropped off on pegs 1 and 2 (and we had a cradle for weighing).

I had to walk 33 pegs which was nice and I enjoyed saying hello to anglers as I walked up the bank. My neighbours for the day were Chris Rushton on the end peg, and Nathaniel Johnson who was fishing for one of the other Thatchers team. I should say that my team of four had Gary Webber, Andy Cranston and Andy Power, so I was in with some real quality anglers. My peg was easier to get in and fish than last weeks, with plenty of room for casting, and with a hedge opposite it gave me some nice cover. 

The pads inside were a bit of a pain, but luckily Nathaniel lent me his cutter and I was able to cut a channel out with it which would be required to land any decent fish. Picture of Nat looking thoughtful, but more of this later on.

Getting set up, I set up just one rig for small fish at 6m, a 1gm rig for next to the lily pads for fishing worm and caster. A 1gm rig for fishing at 11m in about 11 feet of water, and a feeder rod for fishing across. I was all ready for the 11 start with about 4 minutes to spare. At 11 I began by casting some feeders full of worm, caster and gbait across to the far side to lay down a bed of feed. I then fed some balls at 11m, the w&c by the pads, and finally a few balls at 6m for my small fish line. By the time I picked up my small fish rig Nat and Chris were already catching small fish, so I was confident of a few bites. Ummm no, didn't get a single bite here in 15 minutes, well that was my mind made up already to fish for better fish, and I never picked the small fish rig up again.

I quickly tried the feeder in case an early bream was there, but 5 or 6 casts were uneventful. I tried by the pads, a couple of dinks and nothing happening, here, in fact never had a bite here all day. Just over an hour gone and I am blanking, great. Onto the 11m pole line, I started positive with double red maggot, the wind was horrendous but I was able to present a bait by putting some line on the bottom. I was pleased when the float went under, even a little surprised, and a 6oz hybrid got me going. Back out again and a little wait before a real nice slow bite, and something a little better fought back. It was a skimmer that might have been 2lb, and all of a sudden I was back in the hunt. Another little hybrid before things slowed, so I refed and wasted some time on the pads before quickly going out on the long pole again.

I had a small hybrid again on double maggot and missed what seemed to be tentative bites, I put a maggot and pinkie on and was rewarded after a short wait with another slow bite, this time I hit into a much better fish. I shipped back a couple of sections and played the fish away from the feed, but making sure I kept it away from the pads. It was heavy and deep, I was sure it had to be a bream and not a tench, my no 8 elastic was just about right for this it seemed. Eventually with the old ticker going a few beats faster I managed to slip the landing net under a 5lb bream. Now with 8lb in the net I thought that is big points, as last week there was only one double figure weight here (Andy Power on the end peg). I therefore stayed with positive fishing. About 20 minutes later I hooked another bream on the pole, but after a minute I realised it might be fouled and then before I could do anything it was in the pads and it came off. I pulled the rig out of the pads and there were 3 small scales on the hook. Inevitably this slowed things down on the pole and I had to rest it. Trying the feeder again and it was just not happening, not a touch.

Back on the pole and a 1lb skimmer and a hybrid, then nothing.... Rest it, come back 2 small hybrids then nothing... rest it, come back 2 hybrids then nothing!!! I think it was about 2 hours to go when I tried the feeder again, and this time on my first cast I had a bite and landed a 1 1/2lb skimmer. Next cast a twitch, bigger twitch and pull round, nothing. Next four casts the same getting obvious liners but nothing taking the hookbait. Then next cast a nice pull round and bream on, about 3lb this one. I must admit I thought I was going to empty it now with so many liners before, so you can imagine my shock when next cast the tip never moved, and it never did again for the rest of the match, fish swimming through the peg???

I managed to catch the odd small hybrid on the pole but just as earlier no more than 2 at a time. When the match finished I was happy, just the one lost fouled bream, and I think I made the right choices today by going positive due to being close to the end peg.

Mark Wippit Williams was on the scales and he started weighing from peg 17, Chris next to me had just under 8lb of small fish, but he did lose a big fish that he played for over 5 minutes. My fish went 16lb 10oz, and then Nat had 3lb 3oz having struggled after an an initial flurry of small fish. Nat then got chip shopped when Paul Purchase had 10lb 1oz ( a bream, couple of skimmers and a big eel). 

Picture below of the section board, and I was very happy to win the 17 peg section, with Nigel Baker coming second with 14lb 4oz. A couple of anglers really struggled to catch, there were a few other anglers who managed a bream or two, and Sam Johnson had two tench.

At this stage I have no idea how my team did, but it doesn't sound great really as they all struggled. I think I might have come 4th overall, as I heard Mike Bernstein had 20lb of small fish on A2, with Lee Trivett having 18lb of small fish on A1, and there was another 18lb in that section. I expect they pay 3 overall, but hopefully the section money payout is good, but I don't know lol! Still after a few poor results it is nice to finally get something in the bag, a decent draw is definitely a must at this venue, some excellent anglers struggled today for a a couple of pounds. I'm here again next week, so need a bit of luck again.