A few hours in the Sun

 My weekend was well and truly turned on its head on Thursday. I had been preparing to fish the River Tone Two day festival, bait ordered, groundbait sorted, whip rigs etc, and then we had a lot more rain than was forecasted and the river went right up high. Organiser Simon Garbutt reluctantly had to let everyone know the match was off, this was the third attempt to fish this and each time flooding has wrecked it. The only consolation for me was that I would be able to watch Bristol Rovers again on Saturday and see the lads. I had a great away day last weekend at Stevenage watching the 4-0 win with my eldest daughter and her friends, didn't get back home to about 11:40pm. lol. Anyway back to this weekend, and the late cancellation left me in a bit of a dilemma with a fair bit of bait and no idea of any matches to fish. I decided to go on the Avon but would decide Sunday.

I still was undecided of where to fish when I got in my van, I tried to ring Warren Bates who I thought might be at Newbridge, but I got no answer so I stopped at Swineford. I knew the river was going to be pacey so not float fishable, but was hoping the colour would be OK. I took a bit more gear this week, rod hodall, box, net/bait bag and my accessory bag, and I decided to carry it rather than dick around with the trolley being loaded and unloaded for the gates. That wasn't one of my better ideas, I'm not 25 anymore and the gear weighs a lot more than it used to! I got to the outfall and had a few minutes breather whilst looking at the river, as I resumed my walk I thought I might fish a peg in this field as wasn't sure I could get much further lol. Just my luck then that there were anglers in those pegs, I managed to huff and puff my way to peg 15 and was probably a 1lb lighter than when I started the walk.

It was certainly going through a bit and just a bit more coloured than I would have liked for chub, so I decided on a 2 pronged feeder attack. groundbait and caster at about 14m out and a maggot feeder further across. I went with a Sonubaits sweet skimmer and and some crushed hemp mix, a 14 N50 to 0.17 powerline. I kicked this off with a big feeder to get some bait in there but with three maggots on the hook, it took 30 mins to get a bite that didn't develop. Two casts later and a drop back bite and I nailed a chublet.

It was quiet after this and I gave my team mate Martin Barrett a call to see how he was doing up river at Melksham, he was having a struggle too. As we talked I had a really big drop back and felt a fish on but then it was off straight away. I gave it 90 minutes on this but didn't have another fish but did miss a couple of small bites. Warren then rang me back to tell me he had a couple of bream and roach up at newbridge and he had made the better choice of venue I felt. I switched over to the maggot feeder and needed 50g to hold further across the river with a bow in the line. This was a bit slow to begin with, but I really wasn't that worried, it was just lovely being on the bank today in wonderful sunshine.

Eventually I had a really good bite on the maggot feeder, but did not connect, and when I reeled in all three maggots were gone. Two casts later and another missed bite, this time maggots smashed. I wasn't fishing a long hook length so I was a bit surprised to not find a fish on the end. All went quiet after this, and then on one cast I caught the hook in my finger (I was casting underarm) and straighten the hook out, ouch. I decided to change down to a 16 hook and but stay on 0.17. First cast on this and I had a fish, but not a real one, see picture lol.

Eventually I had another bite and this time the fish was on, it felt quite decent in the flow and I was really pulling hard, but when it popped up it was only a 1 1/2lb chub. Next cast and I had another chublet about 12oz.

I had another couple of missed bites which was annoying, and then when I snagged and lost the hook decided to call it a day and get prepared for the walk back. Not a lot of fish action today, may have had some more had I stayed on later but I wanted to get back to watch the League Cup final.

My team competed in the Angling Trust Winter League Final yesterday, 5 anglers at Decoy Lakes and 5 on the drains. Unfortunately the draw bag was very unkind to the lads on the lakes and the drains were not great. Shaun Townsend had 1 carp and 4 roach, he had Tom Scholey next peg and he had 1 perch. Andy Ottoway had a 10g perch 90 seconds before the end of the match on the drain, and in his section there was 1 blank and 6 anglers with 10g!! Geraint Powell's peg had been pleasure fished the day before and he came last in his section with the lad next to him was next to last. The tale of woe would continue, and only Kev Bennet had a decent day it seemed. It was the team's worst final ever and they ended 25th out of 27 teams, with Barnsley winning again. Very peggy place (as I know only too well from a prior experience on the lakes) and I guess it says something about the venues when Browning Ossett came last on the day, they got to the final by winning their winter league and beating Barnsley....

I believe I am booked in to fish a match at Newbridge this Sunday, there seems to be a fair bit of rain in the forecast this week, hopefully only light, so it will probably be a feeder match looking for bream, I will need to hit more bites though lol!

Man Against The Elements

 Would you believe that the last time I actually fished was January 9th when I won an open match at Windmill Fishery. I don't mind missing a bit of a fishing at this time of year if the weather and water conditions are not great, and sitting in the sun sipping rum is much more appealing. However, I was really itching to fish again this weekend knowing that Sunday was my only opportunity to go for another two weeks. The weather forecast was horrendous and I decided that rather than try to get on a match and maybe have the wind in my face, I would fish the river somewhere. I went with my wife to watch Rovers on Saturday and Glenn Bailey and Shaun Townsend were also there, and Shaun told me the river had been pants and he wasn't going on it till the last week or two. Hmmm that was not what I wanted to hear, but as I had purchased a pint of casters and maggots they weren't going to be wasted.

I've got to be honest when I woke up Sunday morning and heard the wind I wasn't feeling so keen on going. Not long after the rain began and I was really not sure this was going to be a good idea! The desire to go fishing was greater though and I decided to do one of my limited tackle approaches and get up to Swineford. I mixed some Sweet Skimmer and brown crumb up in my shed and popped that into my Preston EVA grounbait bowl along with my maggots, casters and some worms. In my little Preston Hardcase accessory bag (I've had this for about 7 years) I had my feeders, reel, some hooks, line, disgorger, scissors and a drink and a bit of grub. I took my 12 foot 6 Supera with 2oz tip, landing net and pole and that was it. When I got to Swineford the rain and wind was nasty and I could see by the direction that getting on a peg in the second field would give me a little protection from this, I got in 17 and the willow tree on my left would give a little respite from the elements. The river was clear but I was expecting a little colour to come in it as I fished, my view from the bank.

My minimal set up, everything I took with me is in this picture, I found a branch and used that as bank stick + rod rest. 

As I was threading the line through the rod eyes (I use some 8lb Korum line) I realised I had no glasses with me, but luckily I can still do things just about without them even if it takes me a little longer. I attached a 28g open end feeder with 0.17 powerline to 14 N50. It was just gone 11am and I had my first cast, I spent 25 minutes of regular casts down the middle to get some casters in and then had 35 minutes of waiting longer for a bite. I never had a bite on this, but no matter I thought this might come good later with more colour, but now switched to a 40g large maggot feeder. With the wind swirling around it makes just holding the rod at times tricky, well that's my excuse for the first cast going to far and over the branch in the water lol. Somehow I got everything back but had to tie a new hook length as it had gone curly. My first three casts in the water were uneventful, but on my fourth I had a hell of a drop back, but no fish attached and the bait was not touched. Next cast and after a short wait another drop back and before I could pick the rod up it pulled back round, fish on! I had to reel in a lot of line from the bow and I think I was a little slow on the uptake, and soon enough the fish was off and must have hit a snag as the line was snapped halfway back, grrrrr.

Next cast and the feeder rolled a couple of times so I decided to reel it back in soon after, as I was reeling back in the rod went over, what the hell? I had something on but it was fighting funny and not like a chub just slow, then it was gone. I thought must have foul hooked something, but then I sw the hook was gone, I reckon it was a pike went for the three spinning maggots on the hook and it bit me off. I was a bit naffed off having to tie another hook on straight after the other. A couple of casts later another decent bite and fish on, I was giving this one no quarter and even though it was trying to get further across I had it away from the snags, no further issues and a 2lb+ chub was panned, blank avoided.

The next few casts were all quiet and it seemed there was no chub fest going to happen, and I was thinking that this was going to be a one fish day. Out of the blue I had another bite and was attached to another chub but this one was much heavier and I was pleased to keep it under control in that first 8 or 10 second nervous tug of war. I gave it a fair bit of stick to keep it from going downstream and it was soon popping up and in the net. This one was a lovely bronze colour and I would have said it was a 4lb chub which is up there with the biggest I have had.

I think it was just a few casts later when I hooked another chub but sadly this one just came off for some reason, ah well chub 2 Tim 2. I wasn't giving up despite my hands being cold and everything being soaked, a couple of swans came up looking for food and I obliged them with some casters which they smashed down in no time. The flow was picking up and I needed to go to a 45g feeder to help keep everything in a place.

Things were quiet and I was thinking of going back on the groundbait feeder until I could take no more of the weather, but then another bite came and again the tug of war ensued! Again I got the fish away from the snags, but it was a good one and made me back wind on a few occasions, when it popped up the first time on the surface it looked bigger than the last one. When in the net I could see it was my best chub ever, and picking it up to get the hook out it was really heavy. I have no scales so can't be certain, but I would have said it was going to be a 5lb fish, very thick and fat bodied.  Being on my own and trying to protect the phone these are the best pictures I could take sadly.

I persevered with the maggot feeder, but then had a snag with damaged the hook length. It was 2pm and I thought this was the time to call it a day and pack up, so I never got to try the caster line after all. The swans were chuffed though with all the bait I gave them, and I 'd like to think I have helped them through the winter a little bit.

Walking back with the wind and rain my face was a challenge but other than my hands I was feeling warm and was oh so happy with my catch today. It just goes to show that having a bit of get up and go, or damn stupidity to go out in this weather, you can get a reward. Had I stayed at home I would have not had my biggest chub today and not had another memory to add to the collection. I cannot fish next weekend with more travels for football and a birthday, but then weather permitting I'll be fishing the River Tone festival and that will be my next blog post.

Back in Blighty / 2003

 Sorry there has been no blog for a few weeks but I was doing my best to keep myself to myself and not catch covid prior to going o holiday. It was a stressful couple of weeks in the lead up to going on holiday with one thing and another, many forms to fill out and documents to get. Then three days before my wife and I have the PCR tests and wait for the results.... Thankfully we were both negative and allowed to go to Barbados. Virgin were great at the airport checking that you had done everything right, as when you get into Barbados they require many things to allow you to have a normal holiday. I was very happy when I finally got into the hotel and had a rum punch to celebrate.

I stayed at the same place I did two years ago, and other than having to wear a mask when walking around the hotel everything else was pretty much the same. Daily temperatures rose to 30C max and 24C was the lowest at night. We often had some short showers but they didn't stop our enjoyment of the facilities. As an added bonus of our holiday England were playing T20 cricket against the West Indies in Barbados at the Kensington Oval, we watched the fourth game and saw England win. I wore my Bristol Rovers shirt and got to meet some other Gasheads who had travelled to watch all 5 T20 games, I also got to meet some city fans and we made each other laugh is all I will say lol. Really glad I went to the cricket, great views and fun, and great atmosphere.

I met another angler at the hotel I was staying at, his name was John and he came from Harrogate and fished the river Ure (we spotted each other wearing our fishing hats lol). John showed me some pictures of cracking fish from the river, perch to 4lb, 6lb chub and a near 20lb pike. It was great to meet to John and his wife Sue, and we made friends with many other people here too and that made the holiday even more special. We will be going back to Barbados that is for sure, absolutely love this place.

Looking up the beach to where the sunbeds are (John and Sue walking in front).

Sunset viewing time from the balcony.

Jason Roy was fielding right in front of us and took a great catch, he also smashed a few runs later.

Preston Innovations well travelled white cap, never gets hot in the sun, stops my bald patch from getting burnt too!

I got back home Friday morning and was all over the place after little or no sleep on the night flight, and even Saturday I was a bit light headed and need to get back into UK time and routine. I did think about fishing the river somewhere on Sunday, but the weather forecast for lots of heavy rain overnight and strong winds put me off and I wimped out. Hopefully I will get to go somewhere next Sunday whatever the weather!

Going back to 2003 now and it is 3rd August fishing an open match on Viaduct Campbell Lake. I drew peg 112 and never really got going on the day, having just 6 carp in the first 4 hours on paste, when I tried to make the margins work I hardly did, and instead people started bagging on the pellet wag and it was a smacked arse with just 58lb. Two weeks later I was back again but this time I was on Lodge Lake peg 62, not great usually. I had a steady first 2 1/2 hours catching fishing pellet on the deck, then an hour with nothing. I'd kept feeding and the carp returned but were up in the water and I caught shallow till the end of the match. My weight of just uner 84lb got me the section money.

I had some time off and my next match was one on a new venue for me called Sedges (very well known now). The match was being run by Jerry Pocock as a King Billy open match and would be a friendly affair. I had to ask Tony Rixon for some advice on the venue and he told me there were lots of skimmers and carp in there but to only fish pellets for everything. I had a really interesting day and one that showed me the power of pellets. Fishing a 4x16 rig with a 14 to 0.16 on the deck I caught skimmers quite quickly, and I would get the occasional carp. I then missed a few bites where the float seemed to go under at 45 degrees, I got the message in the end that there were some carp shallow. I would catch a few then they would go, so I would go back on the bottom until I had liners and then go shallow. It was as I said an interesting day, and to my right Kev Boltz had come to catch the skimmers and bream with groundbait and casters and worms, he only about 4 or 5 skimmers all match. My final catch was 185lb, which included 44lb of skimmers. Catches like that these days don't raise eyebrows at some venues, but back then it was by far my best day on a commercial fishery and would be for a while.

I had a couple of matches at Hill View in Tewkesbury and in both attempts I didn't catch very much at all and fed too much on one of the matches. Pretty sure it was also on one of these days when I was fishing the margin and had the pole laid on the reeds. I looked away and then heard that noise of pole on reed, looking back I saw the pole being pulled in, I instinctively jumped and grabbed the end of the pole as I landed in the lake. I dragged myself out soaking wet, and landed the carp. I think it was Andrew Murphy next to me who said he had never seen anything like it and was pissing himself.

Looking forward now, I have managed to get myself booked in for the two day festival on the River Tone in Taunton, this is taking place the last weekend of February. I have only fished the fast water stretch once (in summer) and never fished the tidal part, so I'm going with a big lack of knowledge other than I know chub are needed on the fast stretch and roach on the tidal part, so I am hoping to draw fliers lol. I have been saddened to see on social media that a large stretch of the Tone has been "landscaped" by the Environment Agency. They've basically removed all trees and vegetation and turned it into a ditch, claiming it was needed to stop flooding. I think it's a complete disgrace and in keeping with the environment agency who seem to be doing, well I don't know what, because they are letting all the water authorities pour raw sewage into our rivers for years now. If you are interested to read about the fight against river pollution etc, and are on twitter look up Feargal Sharkey (yes the singer from years past) and also RiverActionUK.  We need to up the anti on these organisations, rant over.