A very busy week for me, I was working up in Nottingham Monday to Wednesday, it is a place I really do like to visit as I like the river Trent and the city itself. I stayed in a hotel next to the Embankment which brought back some good memories. Thursday out for a family (my birthday) meal as on Friday I had to take my youngest daughter back to University, and when I got back home I sorted my fishing gear for Sunday. Saturday after seeing my relations, I was then off to watch Rovers with my wife and daughter, then out in town for a meal with my wife.
A hectic time, so I was up up at 6:30 Sunday for the CH match, I loaded the van confident I had all I needed. I got to the Cadbury Heath Social Club for the draw, hmm nobody here, that was I found out, due to the draw being at the Crown in Keynsham, lol. Lovely breakfast in there, and I was quite humbled by the many anglers wishing me Happy Birthday. Shaun Townsend and Ben Rendall had pegged the match and when the draw was done Shaun knew exactly what pegs we were on. I was going to peg 19 at Swineford, which I was happy with but expected I would have to fish well to beat everyone in what is a good section.
I got to the peg and then remembered how steep it is, definitely not a pole peg (which I did recall as I didn't bother to take the pole to the peg). It was going to be a waggler, crowquill and feeder set up for me.
I had to borrow a long bank stick and old bait waiter of Sam Johnson who was on peg 17, this was because I could not get my box in and would have to stand up fishing. The river here is just about at its widest and the flow is pretty much down the middle and is at a standstill at present further across. My plan was to feed casters, maggots and hemp all down the middle, and fish a waggler and crowquill with the gbait feeder as back up. My floats used today were a 4AAA Preston waggler and 12BB crowquill.
On the waggler I set up strong gear, 0.15 to a 16 as I didn't want to lose any chub I hooked in the cabbages, 0.13 to 16 on the crowquill was as light as I dare for that. Feeder wasn't even picked up today so no more of that. I was pretty much set up and ready with 25 mins to go and I walked down to see Sam, as I saw him and his set up it dawned on me that.... once again I had forgotten a vital piece of equipment, my keepnet. I ran down the bank asking every angler in vain if they had a spare net, but alas no. I ran all the way back to my van, drove home, grabbed the net and a couple of long bank sticks, drove back to Swineford and then ran / walked back to my peg. I had a bit of grief / encouragement from Towner, and Mike Withey clapped me as I passed him, the gym work helped me and I got fishing just a few minutes after the 10:15 start, though I was sweating like a pig.
I began the match on the waggler with double maggot, and the first three casts were biteless, but then a fast bite which was a 3oz chublet. Next cast another chublet, and the next. The first hour was really very nice, fishing 3 feet deep I was getting chublets from 3 to 6oz and had just 1 roach and a small dace. I did have a pike grab a chublet, but with the gear I had on I pulled the fish out of the pikes mouth. Just after the hour the chublets disappeared, and now any bites I had were from little bleak, and I was now slowing up. I picked up the crowquill and I could get bites on this from small roach, but really a bit too small really. Also the little bleak still managed to grab the bait as 12BB did not put them off lol! I had a few roach on tares, but they were the same small size.
I tried the waggler again and it was still just bits, so back on the crowquill and I upped the feed of caster and maggot. Another run of small roach and the odd better one, but the wind was now blowing strong upstream and the float was struggling to move with the low flow. The bits seemed to go, so I tried the waggler again and had three chublets straight off, then a few casts without bites, then a couple of better roach and 12oz chub, then nothing. I think the clear water was spooking the chublets off when I caught them and so it was a case of swapping between the wag and crowquill, resting the upper and lower layers as I did. I caught more roach in the last 2 hours as the chublets went right off, although I did catch 2 chublets on the quill, and caught some small ones by casting right across in the slack water. During the match I had caught on double maggot, double caster, tares, and it was a case of changing these around as well as changing depth on both rigs. I had a really enjoyable day, an old fashion float fishing day, stood up and cranking the fish in. The pike took 2 fish but I won both times, it even jumped out trying to take another. It was though all in all a day that brought many days of yesteryear back to me, and I couldn't ask for more on my birthday.
I had no clue of what had been caught in my section, but knew that team mate Shaun Townsend had a good weight of chub in the next section, so I thought I might be struggling without any bonus chub myself. Sam had to walk to about peg 29 to find Kev Dicks, who was all on his own, to weigh him in, 17lb of roach on the pole for Kev, cracking net. Craig Pinker on the last peg in the second field had 10lb, then my turn and I had 16lb 1oz, really happy with that. Sam above me had 10lb and the next couple of anglers had less, so I was second in the section.
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