Windmill Fishery Open

 Time to get back on the bank and a switch back to a commercial for a bit of carp fishing, which meant changing out a lot of the rigs, hooks etc from the recent weeks Trent challenges. Sunday was the only day I would go fishing so I was hoping for a decent draw at the venue to help me out. However, I woke up Saturday morning with pain in my lower back, it was that bad I could hardly get out of bed. I was supposed to be watching Rovers and so took a couple of Ibruprofen and battled on best I could. It got better as the day went on, but was still painful Sunday morning, but I managed to get the fishing gear into the van.

I had a brekky at Wetherspoons in Kingswood, no silly sights in here today lol and got to the fishery in good time for the 9am draw. I wasn't sure I would be able to push the trolley up the slope to the fishery, but match organiser Gerry Welsh and his able assistant Nick Sanders both said they would help carry / push my stuff, thank you so much! I drew peg 22  which I wasn't that chuffed with to be honest, but then I was told that there were some carp caught in the area on the previous day. The trouble with this peg is it has a large sedge reedbed opposite that comes out about 3 metres, so you cannot get to the far bank shallow water, and you have to apply a lot of pressure on any hooked fish to keep them out of the pesky sedge reeds. There actually is one tiny little area of bank but it is wedged in between the reeds and a bush / tree, a tackle graveyard i reckon.

With my back feeling sore I was thinking I don't want to be fishing a long pole in the wind, but it seemed I had little choice as the carp don't tend to be in close for a few hours on this venue. On my right on peg 20 was venue expert Shaun Townsend, he knows that peg well and it has a good clean far bank, and with an empty peg either side of him he was going to be tough to beat today. On my left was one of the fishery management team Dave Haines. I put a straight lead up in case that was all I was able to fish, and 3 pole rigs, a paste rig with 0.19 powerline to a 12 XSH, 4x10 carp shallow with 16 KKM-B to 0.17 powerline for slapping, and a margin rig for fishing corn.

I began the match shipping out to 13m and slapped the rig over a few times with a 6mm pellet, within a minute I had a carp on the hook, and landed it at 6lb. Shipped out slapped a few times and another carp hooked and landed. Shipped out slapped a few times and third carp in the net. Now this was a great start, but Shaun had warned me that this can happen here at present and then you start foul hooking them and then they drift off. Sadly for me Shaun was bang on, I went from being 3-0 up to going to 5-3 to the carp. Frustrating when you are only fishing a foot deep and the elastic gets pulled out and you think that must be in the mouth. I tried going shallower to stop the foulers but every time I did I never had a bite. All indications stopped and I was forced to get the 14.m section and go closer to the reeds and slap. This brought me some more fish but when the bites stopped I had to try something else and rest it. The paste line I had fed short was dead, but as the wind that had been strong started to ease off (and my back was OK) I thought I should plumb up further out and settled on 10m.

It was probably about 2 1/2 hours to go when I started to get indications and fizzes on the paste line, I was behind Shaun who was fishing long and swinging a rig to the far bank with pellets. I had a couple of 8 to 9lb carp and was thinking this would get better, Kev Winstone and Dave Wilmott (more fishery management) who were watching me also thought I had a chance of doing well. Sadly it didn't quite pan out like that, with foul hookers becoming a problem. I struggled the last 90 minutes of the match, couldn't get anything in the margin, slapping was not working and the paste was a frustrating time. With 10 minutes to go I hooked into another bite and threw the pole back to keep the fish away from the reeds, but it soon pulled all the pole out to 10m as I hung on to another fouler that made the pole look in danger of going bang and was up by Dave. This one though stayed on, but I knew it was hooked somewhere near the rear end and I took my time and a few seconds before the whistle netted it. It actually weighed 11lb 9oz and was hooked in the anal fin.

Nick Sanders did the weigh in and my fish went 83lb 13oz, Shaun easily surpassed that with 144lb 9oz to comfortably win the match, but I guess his back was aching fishing long for a long part of the match. Picture of the winner with his shorts that he split bending over, I'll leave you to decide what caused that lol.

In second was Matt Taynton who had just over the ton on peg 12, Matt did well but was also helped by having peg 14 empty as there was a mix up with an angler thought to be fishing not being there. Third was Gerry Welsh with 88lb from peg 1, and I was 4th getting a small return as last in the frame. The last gasp carp I had took me ahead of Nick Sanders who had 82lb 11oz, sorry Nick ;-)

Much like the overall winner, the silvers was comfortably won by Dave Haines with 15lb 4oz of roach, rudd, perch and a couple of skimmers, meaning I had winners either side of me lol.

All change on the gear front for next week, I am fishing the Turner 400 on the river Thames around Radcot. I've yet to draw a dent peg on those matches and end up scratching for bites, you never my luck might change. The back is still sore and not right so I may have to get it seen to if this carries on.

Angling Trust Division 1 National - River Trent

 After the poor draw last week on Newark Dyke I was really hoping to avoid that section this week, that was what I was mostly thinking on the drive up to Nottingham on Friday afternoon, positive thoughts lol. Well your mind does tend to wander when you spend a fair amount of time in traffic jams on Motorways.

We stayed in some digs in the center of Nottingham, bit tricky to find initially but well positioned for a enjoyable evening out, and it didn't disappoint. We actually found out during the evening the sections we were all going to be in. Another amazing organizational stroke of genius by the Angling Trust, they simply applied A section to the first anglers name on the team sheet, next one B, next C, well you get it. That probably meant quite a few captains going to A section, Mark Harper certainly did for us! As for me I was in F section, a split section between East Stoke and Sheldons, G was Newark Dyke and Geraint Powell was the lucky boy going there. 

Sections used today.

I was on peg 7 at East Stoke, peg 1 to 6 were in the first field and I was reliably informed many times that all those pegs would do well and likely beat all below them! Barbel were on the cards for most of those guys, with a near 50lb bag of them caught here last week. We were all on the inside of a big bend, and as I expected the river was deepest on the pole line and got shallower as you went across. On my right was a lad called Doug Jackson from Browning West Midlands team, he told me he lived 10 minutes from the river, so a proper local. He was a friendly lad and said we might struggle unless we latched in to any bonus skimmers, or maybe a barbel.

I set up 2 and 3g pole rigs for fishing at 11m, it wasn't a flat bottom with a big rise toward the bottom of the peg, and that had branches stuck on it as I caught a few! I also set up a 0.5 rig for fishing 4m to hand as I could see a lot of bits in close and they might be needed if things were poor. A Flat float, GB feeder, and block end were also put up. No waggler as the pegging was very tight where I was.

We started at 11am and I had a few chucks with the gbait feeder to get some bait in, then put 10 balls of gbait in on the pole line. Doug next to me put the GB feeder down the same line as me so I thought that must be good. I then fished to GB feeder until 11:50, all I had to show from this was one nipped maggot. Doug had a skimmer of 1lb first cast, handy fish. I went onto the pole and the first three runs down were all the same, float held up burst maggot no fish. Maybe bleak I thought, but no I caught a tiny dace and I mean tiny. I messed about with my shotting and depth and could just about catch the odd little dace but it was slow and hard to hook the odd bite I had. I came into the short line and caught 3 little perch and a couple of tiny dace, before it died. I was a bit shocked because there had been so many small fish there earlier I thought I would get some, but they obviously weren't happy in the clear water. Chopped worm caught me 2 perch, but of no size at all.

After about 2 hours I guess all I had was about 10oz in the net, upstream the anglers were struggling but all had a bonus, Paul Glenfield had caught well on the pole. Doug had added a couple of tiny fish to his skimmer, and all talk of the stewards was that it was fishing really hard. More time on the feeder was just wasted, as I never had a bite on either feeder all day despite giving it a good go. I had tried topping up on the pole and it would bring a few bites back but not for long. The inside would yield a few bites but they would go as quick and then it was just bites off minnows. About 90 minutes to go I had 2 roach in 2 drops on the long pole, just as I thought I was going to put a few in the net that really was the end of the pole line.

Not much more to say really, I guess I divided my time up between fishing for bits and a bonus, as soon as the bits moved off I tried for a bonus, the bits would never stay for long sadly. A struggle for me again, and at the end of the match both Doug and myself were saying we had 2lb. As you can imagine I was feeling very hot with no shade to sit in, there was a bit of a breeze at times which helped, but late on it went and it was a proper roasting. Team mate Andy Ottaway was sick and felt ill at the end of the match, am sure he had been affected by the heat.

The scales came down from peg 1 and as suggested I wasn't beating any of them!

Peg 1 had nearly 9 kilos of barbel, peg 2 5.5 kilo of barbel, peg 3 7kilo of barbel, peg 4 4 kilo of bits and skimmers, peg 5 nearly 5 kilo of skimmers and a barbel, peg 6 2.4 kilo. Apparently the top 4 or 5 anglers all had barbel jumping out of the water in front of them most of the day!

My bits went 1 kilo 100g, then I got beat both sides when Doug weighed 1kilo 120g lol. Below him there was another good angler Neil Parkinson who struggled to get 890g. Well I think I can live with that, if the locals can't catch! However, the next angler was a Barnsley Blacks lad who took 3kilo 750g, next angler had 560g.  Well there you have it, somehow the Barnsley lad did something amazing, apparently he had all small fish.  My weight was only good enough to come 33rd out of 49 in the section, so not great, and needed 2.5 kilos to get in the top 15. 

As a team we ended up 18th, which we were pretty pleased with. Andy Ottaway west best performer with 8kilo+ and second in his section, he had a big bream, few skimmers and 2 small barbel at Caythorpe. Martin Barrett had a nice day on the waggler with 5.5 kilo of dace to come 7th in section.

No surprise I guess Barnsley Blacks won again, Starlets second and Cadence Superteam 3rd. Pretty much the three best river teams in the country right there and they all put in many hours of practice.

There were some good individual weights, with the winner in A section having 36kilo 650g of bream, he had just 50g more than the second place angler!!! There were 5 pegs in A section that provided 5 of the top 10 anglers, a big shoal of bream there. 

Not my greatest two matches these last two weeks, and in the past I've always done OK on the Trent, but it was not to be this time. Like most rivers it needs some, well a lot, of rain, and hopefully some will come soon for the sake of all our struggling water environments.

Angling Trust Feeder National - River Trent

 I must begin this blog post by remembering Mervyn Topper Haskins who recently passed away. My first recollection of Topper was before I even knew who he was, I watched him fishing a Topper crowquill and bread at Jack Whites. I sat in amazement watching and wondering how he could cast a float underarm to the far side of the river, throw a ball of groundbait next to the float and then watched him extract fish I could only dream of catching. I was about 14 I think and not match fishing, he chatted to me a bit and was very friendly. It was only a few years later I realised who I had been watching. I fished against Topper and his Bathampton squad for Silver Dace, Bristol Amalgamation and Bristol Sensas in my early match fishing days. The rivalry between "us" and "them" was fierce, and Topper to me seemed to be a big strong character who could intimidate you by this and his reputation. When my team took Bathampton on he called us the young pretenders one day, so when we finally beat Bathampton to win the South West Winter League it was a big deal for us, Topper congratulated us. I also remember drawing next to him on a match at Conham, it didn't fish great where we were but I had a 6lb+ weight on the stick float to beat him, that was the day I thought to myself I've made it. Of course it was only one match, and I had tons more to learn, but it was a massive confidence booster for me to beat a river legend at the time. What Topper achieved and added to the world of match fishing in the past is huge, he won't be forgotten.

The picture below is how I remember the great Bathampton team that Topper assembled and captained.

The funeral of Topper is at the South Bristol Crematorium Thursday 11th August 3-45PM.

Some time ago Mark Harper asked the team who would like to be considered for the Trent Feeder National, and the Division 1 National. I put my name forward for both and was selected for both. I was happy as the Trent is a river that I do like to fish, normally lol.  The team drove up to Sutton on Trent on Friday and we were staying at a very nice pub in a village where we had some great food and a few beers. The team of 6 was a blend of youth and experience, Geraint Powell, Paul Isaacs, James Carty, Mark Harper, Martin Barrett and myself... OK bit light on the youth with only Geraint lol. We talked a lot of the next day, and that Newark Dyke where two sections were pegged would be tough. Mark joined a meeting and came back and told us the sections we were in, I was on the Dyke, yuk! Not too many beers then.

I was up at 6am Saturday morning, my fellow room mate Martin making me a nice cup of tea. Got to the draw and had a breakfast and then got to say hello to a few anglers I had not seen for a while. Mark then told us that last nights draw was only a mock up and would be done at the draw, he then asked me to do the draw. It was a bit of shambles it felt at the draw, and I was stood next to Tommy Pickering who was definitely getting cheesed off with things! When I got to draw I took the sheet back to the team and found out I was on the Dyke again lol. 

A few of us enjoying brekky before the draw.

Martin on the munch.

I got to the river, I was on peg 8 in B section, and just down from a power station. Opposite me was a weir, but the water was flowing down the other side and so I was not thinking this would be the best. The anglers on peg 9 and 10 were locals and said it would be tough, pegs 1 to 3 were expected to get bream, we would be fishing for bites. Our team plan had been basically around going for big fish, whist we could have gone for small fish without any practice we would not be able to beat teams who had been refining it. Luck, we would need lots of it. The picture doesn't show it, but the weir sill opposite me was covered in Canada Geese!

 I set up 3 feeder rods, one for a long chuck with block end feeder, this had 0.19 powerline to a size 12 XSH, an open end feeder with 0.15 to 14 N50, and finally a block ender with the holes expanded for fishing chopped worm short. As you can see no small fish set up!

This match was fished to many of the CIPS international rules, I could plumb up with a straight lead, but not use a lead in the match, hook lengths had to be minimum 50cm. We had a 10 minute prebaiting period, but the two lads below me didn't bother to prebait, I put 5 feeders in of gbait at 50m with not a lot of feed in it, and some chopped worm in short. Everything has to be fed in feeders, you cannot feed with a catapult or out of your hand. I started on the gbait line, obviously hoping for a skimmer or similar, I had no bites in 3 casts with maggots on the hook, and then I had a 1/2oz perch on a bit of worm. I had decided to give the feeder 45 mins at least, and I did just that but had not put anything else in the net. I couldn't see the anglers either side, but could see their feeders going in, and I could tell they were struggling too. What to do next, I decided to see if there were a few perch about and went out with a lobby tail on the short line. I had taps in the first two drops but nothing hooked, swapped to a dendra and caught another very small perch, I had another 4 small perch which were not going to get a lobby in there mouth. I wasn't going to get enough weight with these as it wasn't fast enough, so I went back to the gbait feeder.

Well the gbait feeder having been rested was still a non event, I even went down to lighter line and smaller hooks (going for smaller fish) and had a couple of tiny bites which weren't hooked. Time to fish for a barbel or chub on the blockend, but that never mustered a single bite all match. Despite my best efforts I only had bites and fish on the chopped worm, I did get a perch of about 8oz, and pulled out of another similar 20 mins to go. My finally tally was about 11 small perch and the 8ouncer. I wandered down to see the local lad below, he said he had 5 small fish for about 8oz and said he'd never had such a bad day! The scales came down from peg 1, and peg 1 and 2 had both had a bream and a few skimmers, but a big 3 kilo was the best of them, and not a lot after. The Ossett lad above me had 890g, he told me he lost a barbel 2nd cast, my perch went 670g, the lad below had 270g, and the next local had 850g which was mainly 1 perch, but he had also lost a barbel whilst fishing for small fish. Well it was certainly tough in my area, and 1kilo 220g was all that was needed to be 10th out of 33. I ended up 20th out of 33, so 13 people had a tougher day than me lol! My lost perch only cost me 3 or 4 points.

A quick check on the Whatsapp team chat and it seemed we had not done well so it was drive straight back home time. As a team we ended up 26th, and the team that won, Ringers (congrats), well they went with a small fish plan unless they drew on a flyer. To be fair the weights were better away from the Dyke, but not as big as normal. Here's how my team did:-

A: Martin Barrett 1kilo 750g  22nd (think the winner was on the next peg with 20 kilo, oops)

B Me 670g, 20th

C James Carty 1kilo 150g  14th (beat Alan Scotthorne off the next peg, bet perfomer today)

D Geraint Powell 3kilo 750g  21st

E Mark Harper 2kilo 460g  23rd

F Paul Isaacs 820g  32nd

I always enjoy the buzz of a National, there is the anticipation of what might be a special day, well that will have to be the same this Saturday. I hope I can avoid the Dyke this time and the team can get a better set of pegs.