Open Match Bristol Avon - Swineford and Crane

 Ben Rendall had promoted this match on Facebook, and it was a free weekend so I could fish this match and get back on the river close to home. The draw was going to be at 7:30am with fishing 9:30 to 2:30, the earlier start is to try to avoid too many other bankside interferences. My only issue was I was out for a few drinks with my wife the night before and an early start wouldn't be conducive to a late night lol. In the end I didn't have a late night but had a nice time and a few beers with Shaun Townsend and Dean Harvey among others, both Shaun and Dean were fishing the match.

I got to the draw just a few minutes late so was happy with that, I hoped to draw a peg in the second field at Swineford, but although I got Swineford I got the first peg, one above the outfall. Back in the 1990's it was a chub flyer, but they are long gone, the peg was overgrown for years and not used, but it has more recently been used again. Jack Jones on peg 15 and Dave Micklewright on 17 were the guys who I thought should do the best today.

Got to the peg and as I thought I would need to wade a fair way out, Andy Cranston had lent me his chest waders so I could get in, thanks mate. A stream flows into the peg and there are reeds and lillies to watch out for.

I reckoned that 15lb to 20lb would be need to get in the money today, and the only way I could see me doing that off this peg was by catching some roach on hemp and tares, but there were going to be chublets and dace around too. I decided to only set up two float rods, as I got the rods out I thought something was missing, indeed, my Preston bag that holds my reels, feeders and running line floats. I was about the run back to the van and drive home but neighbour on the outfall Clive Feddery said he could lend me a reel, and next peg below Dean Harvey gave me a couple of wagglers, and finally Ben Rendall gave me another reel, thanks very much everyone!!! I had bolo floats on winders in my box and chose a 3g version which would be enough as the peg is no more than 6 ft deep, 0.12 accu power to a 16 N20 finished that off. For the waggler I had the same terminal tackle as I wasn't expecting any big chub.

I had to get my longs on my box to get it in the water with me, so I could get my keepnet and bait waiter positioned close to me.  Just before the start of the match Clive came down and wanted a pound side bet which of course I accepted.

I decided to start on the bolo feeding casters and hemp down the middle of the river to see what the reaction would be, I had three runs down with double maggot on the hook and no bites but then next cast I hit a bite and was surprised to feel a good fish on, it was obviously a chub and as soon as it was close I had to pull very hard to get it above the lillies. Luckily it was only about 1 1/2lb and I was able to get the better of it. That was a nice start and had me wondering if the chub were back in the peg, but alas it was a real one off. I gradually got more bites and more regular, the odd dace at first, but then a few roach. Unfortunately as bites increased fish came shallow as the bolo float olivette got held up. I tried the waggler but only caught a few tiny dace and bleak.

About 40 minutes gone and I was back on the bolo and put a tare on, first cast on this and a small roach. Then nothing, so back trying casters and maggots and even corn, but nothing was getting me past the the tiny fish. I stopped feeding casters and just fed hemp, on with the tare and had about 7 or 8 nice roach on this and I thought this could now be the fish lining up. Again they went, and I had to try other baits but it was frustrating trying to avoid the bleak. Feeding some casters with the hemp again seemed to bring a few roach back but that was shortlived. At one stage I was on the waggler trying corn and tares, but other than a couple of dace it was just  not right, maggots were obliterated. With a couple of hours to go I went for a quick walk, Clive had a few perch on the feeder and was bleaked out on the bolo, Dean had some skimmers and was on 12lb, with Ben saying he had 6lb. Andy Cranston had run to say he was getting some roach but that Jack Jones had 18lb.

I got back to my peg knowing I was not really gonna compete, so just thought I would see what I could go, I just fed hemp and tried tares, but after a few roach the peg went mental with bleak and dace boiling on the surface taking the hemp. Trying to hit dace bites on tares is not easy and more and more I opted for double maggot which would be a bleak or small dace every cast. I fed heavier and heavier, and was double pouching hemp and a dozen tares, it mattered not, there was a feeding frenzy of bleak taking everything lol. It was a shame those fish won't come in close, but on this peg the flow is further out, on the outfall I would have set up 2 whips probably and gone for dace and bleak all day (i had remembered by whips and whip rigs lol). I spent the last hour putting a fish in the net nearly every cast on maggots with the odd try on tare resulting in 1 small dace in half a dozen casts. I'm sure the roach were there but I just wasn't getting any bait down to them.

When the match was over I thought I had 9 to 10lb of fish, a lot of fish but nowhere near enough quality and not the roach I needed on tares. Still a busy day and I'm sure many people fishing up at Evesham this weekend would have like to have had 10% of my bites lol.

The scales came down from Dave on 17 and so I already knew I was only weighing in for the £1 with Clive, but I did nail that with my 10lb 13oz beating Clive's 5lb 4oz, thanks to using Clive's reel! I should say Clive's peg was full of pike today, and they were jumping out all over the place. It is a well known peg pike and they are fished for a lot, Clive managed to catch a lure today, but fair play he didn't try to weigh it it in even though it was very roach like lol.

Jack Jones ended up easy winner, on peg 15, think he had 26lb, some early dace, then three bream on the pole with some roach, and later on he had proper roach on hemp, a great performance that.

Andy Cranston was second on the peg in the reeds in my field, he had 19lb of mainly roach on casters over gbait and caster. Again a great weight (more than he will get at Evesham on Monday).

Dave Micklewright claimed 3rd with just under 15lb, one chub and lots of small stuff on the waggler, but he lost 3 chub.

Dean Harvey was 4th with some skimmers and early roach, but pike were a problem in his peg.

Top weight at Crane was 13lb by Shaun Townsend.

Nice to be out, a warm day, nice guys to fish against and I will hopefully draw a bunghole soon. Not fishing next weekend, then begins a busy period of team matches as winter leagues begin.

Quick update on some matches

 I've not been fishing these last two weeks, plenty of things on that are keeping me otherwise busy, but I'm planning on fishing a small open match next Sunday on the Avon, it will be on either Crane, Jack Whites or Chequers I think. If you are interested contact Ben Rendall for more details.

Thatchers have fished a couple of big team matches recently, neither of which I have been involved with, firstly the Division one National on the Grand Union Canal. It was a bad day for the team unfortunately, they struggled to catch the skimmers or bream needed and had one of the lowest positions for a long time. Andy Ottaway having the best individual result with a third in section. Big congratulations of course to the lads from Devises who won the event and had some great performances, with Rich Whitmarsh winning his section and framing I believe. Great result for them.

The second team match was today and it was the inaugural Angling Trust Feeder National on the Gloucester canal. The team had to be very clear on the rules, limit on bait, and gbait, length of shockleader, no mobile phones and certain other things. I was out walking when the results started to come in, here are how the lads did in their sections:-

A James Carty 8kgs 60g     3rd

B John Harvey 30kgs 890g 1st

C Nick Ewers  3kgs 380g   5th

D Mark Harper 340g          last

E Rob Jones     2kgs 160g   2nd

F Martin Barrett 3kgs 260g 4th

Despite the last place, the rest of the team had done enough to win the match with 35 penalty points! What they have also won is a trip to Italy to fish the world feeder championship, wow!!! Well done lads. Extra congrats to John Harvey for winning the match individually.

Lastly there was a match today at Newbridge today and it fished OK by the sounds of it with no runaway leader, I'm not sure who won it but I heard the little field fished well with a 16lb, 15lb and 14lb. Dean Harvey had a fun day on peg 49, landing a 10lb pike that doesn't count, and losing a 9-10lb barbel in a snag in close, gutted for him.

Lastly a picture of what I trod in when out walking and checking my phone for the results, what a plonker, hope it is lucky for me lol.

Final Round of the Superleague - Bristol Avon Newbridge & Chequers - The End of an Era

 After having an enforced weekend off previously I was back in the fold for the final round of the superleague, and I was in the Thatchers Blue team which was our highest placed team but some way off the top spot. Preparation was relatively easy as I still had plenty of rigs etc from the Riverfest, still I made sure I had everything and included some larger hooks for the feeder as I expected the river to have more colour with the rain we have been having.

I had a late alarm call on Sunday morning, this was due to the draw being at 9:30 and the venue Cadbury Heath Social club is very close to where I live. I scoffed a breakfast and caught up with my other 11 team mates and paid my pools. I was of course hoping for a decent peg with bream form, but alas hope was all I had as I ended up being given peg 105 just above the arch in the trees at Newbridge. This is a peg I have had before and not done amazing from, last week John Bohane had 7lb from the peg which he told me included a 2lb bream second cast. The positive was I thought my section had some worse pegs, but the ones around 90 on the stream would produce lots of small fish, 10lb to 12lb was what I thought would be OK.  On paper our team draw was not great and it was not looking good for a strong finish.

Got into the rugby club car park and was just about to set off when my path was blocked by Mike "Buzzer" Bernstein whose trolley went over before he had finished loading it, lol. I did say to him things could only get better as I gave him a hand picking the bits up.

After an easy walk down the side of the rugby pitch I was soon looking at my peg, the river had a nice colour I thought, and a little pace just perfect for all styles of fishing. I was in a tight peg from a point of view of trees and bushes but I could cast out overhead easily unlike a couple of anglers near me. As I was getting the gear off the trolley Mike Bernstein said I was on his peg, but I was sure I was on the right one. After a few calls we couldn't get it clarified but I was able to convince Mike I was right, which it turned out I was and Mike did apologise later, but no need to as it was a simple mistake.

It is a long chuck to the far bank, but those trees were likely to hold chublets, so I set up a 4AAA waggler set to 2 1/2 foot deep with 18 N20 to 0.11 powerline. A gbait feeder with 0.15 powerline to 14 N30 was readied for bream action, and three pole rigs, 1.5g pencil float, 3gm round bodied and a 4gm flat float. The bottom seemed flat at 11m and this would make fishing easier and my pole not being shipped into the path, meaning it was safe from dog walkers, bikers, etc.

The match started at midday and I put my usual 7 feeders of bait out about 3/4 over to put some bait down for the bream. then put 10 balls in at 11m and went straight in with my 3g rig to try to pick up some quality fish on caster. Things did not go to plan, not a bite on the caster and not a good sign, onto maggots and still no bites, in fact it was not until 12:25 I had my first fish a small perch on double red maggot. I did get the odd fish after this but had to swap between the 3g and 1.5g rigs. I think I had 3 more perch, 6 roach a few chublets and bleak. Like it normally does it died, and a quick phone call to Shaun Townsend who was 2 pegs up confirmed he had struggled too but had more fish than me. I didn't know how Mike was getting on (but he was in the next section) or how Nicky Johns above me was doing, but when Nicky chucked a feeder out I guessed he was struggling as he loves float fishing. It was an easy decision for me to get on the feeder quickly.

First chuck on the tip and the tip was bouncing before the feeder was anywhere near the bottom as a bleak had nailed the three red maggots. Same next cast so on with a worm, even this was grabbed as the feeder fell, but it got to the bottom intact I was sure. It was snaffled by a very small roach, and the next two casts it was small fish bites, I found this strange that bites were coming over my fishmeal mix, yet my pole line with no fishmeal had died. Anyway, I moved on to two dendras on the hook, and this produced no rattles, then after a short wait a nice repetitive drop back, the result was a 8oz skimmer. A few casts later and a 6oz skimmer was in the net but then I only had a little perch and a chublet, so I gave it a rest. I tried the pole and had a 4oz roach first drop in, but that was a false dawn with just one more perch here. Further rests and tries on the pole only resulted in one chublet so no more of this. Back on the feeder and I went straight on double worm again, a couple of fast chublet bites and then a slow bite which turned out to be my best fish so far a skimmer about 1lb 4oz. I gave the feeder a good go but just couldn't get any signs of bream or more skimmers. I was sure I was not doing well in the section and needed to get a bonus, but that might be late on so I tried the waggler. It was bites on this straight away from 1 to 2oz chublets and bleak, but after only probably 6 casts a wind knot developed that was about 25 yards back, I was able to continue with it but I had to punch the wag out much harder.

The dilemma for me was am I catching enough of these little fish to do any good, especially as I heard Rich Lacey had a bream and skimmers for good double figures. I stayed with the wag for 45 mins, then when it slowed gave the feeder another go for 20 mins but only had a chublet. Back on the wag and the rest helped as I caught quickly again and then it became hard work as the wind blew really strong upstream and I could no longer get 2 or 3 bites at the cherry. In my mind I was always going to fish the feeder again late on, and with 30 mins left it was time. After a couple of casts the rod was almost pulled in and nothing hooked, next cast similar bite and a 6oz chublet was the culprit. Couple more missed bites which was frustrating, but then a positive pull round and a better fish hooked, I thought it might be a chub as it fought quite well and not like a bream, but up popped a 2lb skimmer. I looked at my watch as I cast out after landing it, there were just 3 mins left, and that was that. Not a bad match after a poor start, I had not lost any better fish hooked, only had one pike attack, just felt I was a a few pound short of where I wanted to be, missing that bream, I thought I had 9lb.

I walked down to Mike and said I suppose you have battered me again, and he had! Mike caught on the caster on the pole for an hour and a bit, tried the feeder and had a bream 4th cast, he added a few more bream during the match he said. Above me Nicky Johns was admitting 4lb and Shaun 6lb, but after that I had no idea about the rest of the section. As I was last in my section I had to wait for the scales to get to me and then grimaced as I saw a 17lb and a couple of 9lb weights. I was relieved when my net was shouted at 10lb 7oz, and good enough for second in the section, just beating DGL legend Neil Richards who had 9lb 15oz. Full board below and my net, well don Rich on winning the section.

I drove back home, put the gear away and took the 10 minute walk to the social club where I could enjoy a few pints of Stella with the lads. My blue team had a section winner in Rob Jones, and two poor results so it was not looking good. Results I picked up on...

1st Mark Brush 84lb, end peg at Chequers 25 to 30 bream on the feeder. Fantastic days fishing.

2nd Rich Chave 33lb, end peg in little field, roach and 5 bream on bolo.

3rd Mike Bernstein 23lb.

The league winners were DGL again, they really are a very good set of anglers, I think they had another team in the top 3 as did Lobbys (apologies I think Lobbys were 2nd). In 4th and last in the money were Thatchers blue, yay. Chuffed with that as I was in the Thatchers team that came 3rd last year.

Now, the end of an era part needs to be explained... As ever on this match the venues for the next season are pretty much decided on, and they are Tamar lake (2), KSD (2), Dorset Stour and Gloucester Canal. There is no Bristol Avon match at all, and Newbridge has been in for as long as I have fished superleagues. It is a very sad situation, but the anglers who chose not to put forward Newbridge I am sure did so because they are not happy with the ongoing issues. As Dave Micklewright said to me, when we first fished Newbridge you might see one or two people walking up the bank, nowadays it is a lot more. Boats moor up where they like (they are not allowed to, but they do). I know 2 anglers who have had tackle broken by dogs off the lead and Eastern Europeans casting over them. Paddle boarders and swimmers are just an added bonus... The days when people used to say "ssshhhh that man's fishing" are very rare. Pissed up paddle boarders falling in, kids having fun and jumping out of boats in your swim are not pleasant. I am not saying these other people should not enjoy their time on the water, but with 60 anglers on the bank there will be issues. Anglers have had to make a choice, we've effectively been forced off the venue to protect ourselves from conflict I feel, it's virtually the end of match fishing on the river by me now. My skills and knowledge of the river are needed no more, I will have to transfer these and learn fast on new venues, with occasional pleasure fishing and the odd match on the river I hope (Poppy and commercial house). At least I have had a good 35+ years on the Avon.

No fishing this weekend, I'm off to the Rovers for a couple of games and some family stuff Sunday, then see what I can get on.