Bitterwell Lake Christmas Open

 It’s nearly a month since my last match which was a poor day at Windmill lakes. The river is still high and fast although probably now clear, and with no river matches I knew of I didn’t know what to do this weekend. A Quick look on Facebook and I saw Paul Isaacs was running an open on Bitterwell Lake on Sunday, and I thought that will do me.

I did a bit of preparation on Saturday and was able to tie some hooks whilst listening to the radio and enjoying an away Gas win. I was a bit tired after a lads get together on Friday night, so had an early night for a change. Still didn’t get a great nights sleep though, so was going to be groggy Sunday.

Well it’s still mild, at 10 to 12C and nice not to have to scrape the ice off the windscreen in the morning, so nice and easy to get the van loaded and off to Bitterwell. It’s been a few years since I fished a match here, Paul runs silvers matches on Tuesdays which are always well attended, but I’m always working. I really didn’t know where was a good draw today, but pulled out peg 4 on the road bank. Paul and Martin McMahon said it would be best fishing for carp on the tip. That was fine with me as I had rigged up two tip rods, one with a Preston ICS hybrid feeder, and the other a straight lead. 0.17 to 16 KKM B with a band.

I was basically in the middle of the lake, which generally I’d be happy with in winter as the carp tend to hole up somewhere out of the way of Bankside disturbance. I had my new Preston trays in use for the first time today, lots of space for bait etc with these. I wasn’t expecting a lot on the pole but did set up a couple of 4x14 rigs for fishing maggots at 7m, and pellets at 13m. On my right was venue regular Keith Turner, and my left fellow Gashead John Smith. 

We started at 10 and we all fed our pole lines and then went out on the tip. My feed pellets were 2mm Sonubaits pro feed, and I put a fluoro Bandum in the band.

My first cast on the hybrid was in the water for 19 minutes before a carp pulled the rod round. That was a nice start. The next cast gave me two little liners but nothing else. I had Paul Isaacs sat with me for a bit, and he told me I was casting bang on the distance he would choose. He saw me catch my first carp and then my second carp after 45 minutes. An hour gone and 10lb so a decent start with just 3 or 4 other anglers having a carp.

In the second hour I had a skimmer on the tip but nothing else, it seemed the carp had moved as Keith then had 2 carp in 2 casts. Smithy was still blanking. My third hour was poor, the tip was dead, whilst Keith had a few skimmers and a tench on the method feeder. Smithy caught a couple of small skimmers on the pole and I followed suit. I never had a bite at 13m, but at 7m I had a 2oz hybrid and then hooked a carp, but after a few minutes it came off and I was sure it had been foul hooked.

I hooked another carp out of the blue in the fourth hour, but just as it was in netting range the hook pulled out. With an hour to go I was probably in about 7th or 8th place, but 4 carp was the best it seemed. I cast the hybrid a bit further out (to where I saw a carp jump), and with 50 minutes to go had another carp. Then nothing again, tried the pole again for absolutely nothing. Back on the tip and with 15 mins to go I hook and land carp number 4, and with 5 minutes left I got carp number 5.

Match over and for me it had been all about the first and last hour. I thought I had 32lb, Keith 20lb and Smithy chucked back. I was just hoping my lost carp wouldn’t cost me. Didn’t take long to get weighed in, and my carp and 2 silvers went 35lb 14oz. 

My bag was just enough to win the day, beating Andrew Chivers opposite me, he caught 4 carp and some skimmers on bread on the lead. In third Paul Elms had 2 carp and 13lb of skimmers on pellet, that was top silvers on the day.

Thanks to Paul for a well run match, and for the breakfast roll, mince pie and a little Christmas spirit 😊.  Top 6 shown below..

1st Tim Ford 35lb 14oz peg 4

2nd Andrew Chivers 31lb 12oz peg 19

3rd Paul Elms 28lb 8oz peg 27

4th James Hennessy 24lb 13oz peg 12

5th Keith Turner 23lb 3oz peg 6

6th Kevin Winstone 11lb 14oz peg 10

This might be my last match of 2023, and if so I’d like to wish you a very happy Christmas and I hope you enjoy the festivities. 🎅🎅🎅

Ticking over

 Sorry the blog has been quiet again since the Poppy match. First off I went away the following weekend for a family celebration, near the Blackdown Hills in Devon. Lovely place, right out in the sticks with lovely views and walks. 

After that weekend I was looking forward to go fishing on Sunday. However, with sub zero temperatures I began to think about other options. The Commercial House Xmas match was on my radar, but it was on the canal outside of Bath, and that’s been rubbish for a few years now when it’s cold. Glad I didn’t go as only 8oz won the match (Andy Britt) and 3oz was 5th, hmmm rat tip! 

In the end I walked a few sections of the canal up at Horton just outside Devises. Thatchers were fishing the last round of the winter league here, and although the team had no chance of getting in the top 2 of the league they were still very competitive. They had a better day coming second, and Andy Ottaway won the match with 11lb, so good day for the lads. Congratulations to Diawa Gordon League and Devises for finishing first and second.

A few of my team had a curry in Devises where James Carty is their best customer. We were certainly looked after well and the food was great. From left, myself, Lee Trivitt, James, Ian Paulley and Andy Ottaway.

I won’t be fishing this weekend, forward planning on my part really, as on Saturday I’ve a bit of hospitality at Rovers followed by a party at the neighbours. Might have a thick head Sunday. Fingers crossed I can get on something the following weekend. 

Windmill Fishery Open

 Was hoping to be on the river again this weekend, but whilst working away in Germany this week I saw there was a weather warning for heavy rain in the UK. Dean Harvey said he was going to cancel his match, but the rain never got that bad and the river would have been better condition than last week.

I booked in for Windmill without knowing how it had been fishing but I thought with the recent mild wet weather it might be ok. I was feeling pretty tired from my business trip to Germany, as a result I didn’t do a lot Saturday but did at least sort my gear out ready for the lake.

After a McDonald’s I arrived at the fishery in good time, it was nice to see the many familiar faces again. The weather forecast was not looking good and I was hoping not to draw in the teeth of it. As I got my gear out of the van I saw straight away I had left my trolley at home doh! Luckily for me Nick Sanders said I could borrow his trolley after he had got his gear to his peg. I was hoping for a peg in one of the corners, but alas peg 6 came my way and that’s bang in the middle of the lake. A good summer peg usually.

I set up a straight lead with 0.19 to 16 KKMB and a small method feeder with same. With squally winds I was loathed to get the pole out, but I did get a top set and 2 sections out. I put together 0.4g float with 0.15 to 16GPM. 

We started at 10:15, I plopped the lead out off to the left to see what was about. 10 minutes and no liners, so I then cast it to the right of me, but the result was the same. I switched to the method feeder and cast to my right where there were a few reeds. On my second cast I had a small liner, so a sign at last, but then I had a liner most casts after this for an hour. No matter what I tried as bait I didn’t get a bite, even trying the lead again was fruitless. Just shy of 2 hours in and I finally had a proper bite, hooked a good fish that didn’t tear off. It came in fairly easy, and I had a job to lift it out of the water, probably about 13lb.

As you can see from the picture, I took a photo of the carp all alone in the keepnet. That’s because other than a couple of liners I never had another bite. Never had a bite on the pole either, and a set up for some silvers might have been a better option. Especially as on peg 4 Malcom Fitz won the silvers with 12lb, mainly 5 skimmers. I’d been in the wrong area for carp as hardly any were caught, also, opposite me Shaun Townsend and Leighton Palmer were both DNW’s, and those two are regular framers here. 

The corners of the lake were where the carp were, though winning on the day with 62lb Nick Sanders on peg 22 was just out of the corner. He was blanking after 2 hours, but by fishing his margin to his left he caught 7 decent carp. John Williams on corner peg 11 had 56lb, and in third place was Steve Upton on next peg 12 with 33lb. Andy Gard claimed runner up

In the silvers with 5lb from peg 9.

I think the weights were down today as most people couldn’t fish a long pole. Conditions were pretty bad most of the time. I was glad to get back home and have a warm shower! No fishing next weekend as have family plans, so I expect the river will be in better condition lol.

British Legion Poppy Match

 My return to the bank continues, after last weekend helping celebrate my Nephew’s 21st birthday I was always setting my sights on fishing the poppy match. I’m feeling much stronger and healthier now, and really am happy with my progress. In fact I was offered a short walk draw, but I turned that down and said I would take my chances. Truth be known I didn’t want to have to get over styles or fences, so a draw at Newbridge would be very helpful. It was nice catching up with a lot of anglers at the draw, we were all there to raise money for Poppy despite what the river was like, and it was very high, fast and coloured. After the citation read by Brian Lloyd the draw began, I pulled out peg 44, that was about peg 120 down the trees at Newbridge, happy with this peg as no styles and flat walk.

I was the second person at the rugby club gate, Dean Harvey was doing a poor impression of Houdini trying to undo the chain and locks. Luckily Warren Bates arrived and he knew the code and so I got the gates open. As I was putting the gear on the trolley Andy Gard pulled up and squeezed his van in by the entrance, he said “I don’t like walking too far Tim!” Lol.

A steady walk, slippery at times, got me to my peg. I was quite happy looking at it, a bit of slack to 6m, then pretty fast after that. I set up two feeder rods; one with a size 12 N50 and the other a 14, 0.17 powerline was my choice of hook length. I did set up a 5m whip for bleak, but that was a waste of time. As I was still setting up And Gard walked up from peg 51, he was walking back to his van to get his reels he had forgotten… remember Andy told me he didn’t like walking 😂😂

My groundbait was same as last time out, a mix of Sonubaits Sweet Skimmer and Thatchers original. 45g feeders would hold the bottom at 7m to 8m out. We started at 10am and on my second drop in I got a 3oz roach on dendra and maggot. On my fifth cast I had a nice bite and put the net under an 8oz hybrid. I thought I might catch a few of these today as they can show in dirty water, but alas I didn’t have any more.

I had an early visit from match organisers Ray Bazeley and Paul Benson, and I was able to catch a couple of small roach for their entertainment. They said at this early stage I was going well. After 90 minutes I think I had 5 roach, a small eel and the hybrid, but then went 30 minutes without a bite. I tried a lobworm tail for the first time and after a missed tentative bite I had a good bite next cast and hooked a fish that fought hard. I began to think I had a chub on, but then saw it was a skimmer, fighting so hard because it was foul hooked! I got it out which was a bonus as it was about 2lb.

Twenty minutes later and I’m into another good fish fighting well, but just as it got close in it came off. Was it another fouled skimmer I wondered? Sometimes in fast coloured water the fish can be off bottom and not pick up the hook bait. I was gutted of course, and even more so as bites tailed off again apart from the odd roach.

Tales from the bank were the river was fishing hard, Andy Britt had walked down from 2 pegs above me and said he thought I would frame with what I had! He said Nigel Wyatt at Chequers was best with 3 bream. My match was seemingly petering out, all manor of hookbaits not getting a response, so I thought get back on the lobworm tail. With 40 minutes to go I missed a bite, eel perhaps, next drop in and the tip started twitching about an inch, I left it thinking eel, but after 10 seconds I thought sod it and struck. Boom, into a bream for sure, it was hang on time as it kited down and inside. Everything held firm this time, and I slipped the net under a 4lb bream. 

I was hoping for a couple more, but that was my final fish of the day. I hoped I might have 8lb, and would win the section. My neighbours Steve Lovell and Harry had both chucked back. The man with the scales was Andy Pritchard, and he called out 9lb 1oz for my fish. That won the section as 1lb 5oz was next, Andy Britt.

Back to the results and Nige Wyatt was said to have had 5 bream, but after this I was being touted as second. Well after the usual long raffle and various auctions the top 10 was read out. 

Winner was indeed Nige Wyatt with 14lb 14oz, his first Poppy match win at the age of 71. Well done Nige!

In second place was me, so just missing out on the 6th win, but I’m not unhappy, as I’m very happy for Nigel.

Got to say a big well done to Andy Ankers on third place with 7lb 10oz of nearly all eels from the trees.

Top 10 here..

Huge congratulations to Ray for his efforts for this match, and all his helpers, supporters and the anglers. The amount raised is going to be close to £4000, far in excess of prior matches. As for me, well I’m happy as a pig in shit, I am just overwhelmed at getting back on the bank and catching a few. Thank you to everyone who said nice things to me today 😊😊😊

Clucker Returns

 It’s been a long time, over 3 months since I last wet a line, and that was at Windmill Fishery on July 16th. Since the op I’ve built up my strength and fitness (not near where I was but ok) and gone back to work, so why no fishing? Well I’m permanently at risk of hernias now I have stoma and so I have been told to not do any heavy lifting or abdominal exercise. Going fishing will certainly test that, and I’m waiting for a protective waist belt to be delivered which will hopefully get me back to normal. For now no heavy trolleys or lifting gear over styles.

Dean Harvey has been running Bathampton matches st Newbridge this season, and he has asked me a couple of times if I could fish, I decided on Friday I would give it a go as Dean said I could have a short walk, and Mat at Scott Tackle was able to supply me with casters and worms. I knew the river was high and so was only going to take a couple of feeder rods, river was .8m and dropping Saturday and it could be a really good match. Of course I went to Rovers Saturday (nice to see a win) and was getting worried as the rain fell heavy, so much so that my wife and I got soaked walking back to the car. I knew that was going to muck Sunday up.

Lovely extra hour in bed, and awoke to see a text from Dean that the river was now 1.2m high and up to me if I fished, well I was still going whatever. After a Golden Arches brekky I got to the river, and yep it was really going through and a nasty colour, but as I said I fished in worse lol! It was great to see Dean and the other anglers, and he called Mike Shellard and myself to draw first, peg 20, 24 and 30 were in the bag (24 the best). Mike got 30 and I then pulled 20, I was happy enough as I parked right behind it and it had a little bit of slack water for about 3m.

The match was starting at 9:30, plenty of time to set up. I mixed some gbait for the feeder, Sonubaits sweet skimmer, Thatchers and brown crumb. Set up two feeder rods with 45g Preston open end feeders, one had a 12 N50 to 0.17 and the other 8 N50 to 0.19. Obviously I am still a bit slow as I only just started on time.

A very gentle underarm swing dropped the feeder on the edge of the slack in 12 feet of water. I was going to have a few quick casts to get some bait in, but on the second drop I had a quick bite and felt a small fish on but it came off. I carried on with dendra and 2 maggots and had a couple more bites but no fish, I changed to 4 maggots and this got me my first fish a roach, not big at 2oz but still I’d caught. A few casts later I had small eel on the maggots and then a 1oz roach. I needed to get bigger fish so went back on the dendra, I was getting fairly regular bites, but missing a lot, but after 2 hours I had 5 roach and 3 eels for about 1lb 4oz.

I had tried a whole lobworm looking for a lump, but all that did was get rattling on the tip as the little fish chewed it up. Fishing smaller bits of lobby gave me a nice run of fish a few roach 2 chublets and another eel, I had only netted 1 fish so you can see they were not big fish, and I missed lots of bites even though I let them develop. 3 times fish were on then came off and 4 times the rod pulled right round and nothing. I think it was little eels.

I tried the whole lobby a lot more last hour for a lump but nothing doing, and it just seemed I had to take the small roach and eels. Come the end of the match I was happy enough having a decent day, no snags and no gear lost.

In my section Craig Pinker on peg 24 (bay of Biscay lol) had a couple of skimmers and 7 roach for 5lb 2oz to win the section.

 

My net of small fish went 4lb 5oz and I just needed one bonus fish really.

Winner on the day was Mike Weston on peg 44 who had 6lb 6oz which included a 5lb+ barbel. Nic Cole’s had 5lb 10oz on peg 56 and Craig was third. I was actually 4th and picked up second in the section (as Dean just paid out 3 sections) so a bit of coin was a nice surprise.

Talking to the other anglers and it seemed all had been catching small roach, though Derek Cole’s did have a few better ones. Craig was the only one to get a skimmer / bream. Once I got in the van to drive home I felt knackered, I guess it will just take time to get used to being on the bank, but boy was I happy to be back. That said not sure if I will be going next week, but the week after it’s the Poppy Match, I’ll be needing a disabled draw for that.

I’m still here

Just wanted to drop a quick update on myself as I have been absent from blogging for 6 weeks.

I had my operation on 28th July, and it was a bit longer than expected but at the end a success. I now have a stoma and for those not aware of that term, it means I have a colostomy bag. This I will have for the rest of my life. Some of you might have winced reading that, but it really isn’t a problem, and I needed the stoma to improve my quality of life. I’m looking forward to be spending less time sat on a toilet for starters!

To perform the operation I was cut open, a bit like filleting a fish lol, leaving me with a long wound that’s being a bugger to heal, and I’m currently wearing a dressing and on antibiotics to help the healing process. Until the wound is fully healed I’m a little held back on what I can do. Also as my abdominal muscles were obviously cut through this is an area of weakness, and I’m waiting to see my specialist nurses in a few weeks as to how I can work to get back to lifting stuff like fishing gear. I know this will take a while as two types of hernia are a big risk associated with this type of surgery, and I really want to avoid those. I’m only really able to walk for exercise, which means my upper body has really weakened, I’ll need to start all over again from the beginning when I am allowed to go back to the gym.

All being well I should be able to drive a car again from around 7th September and that is something I am really look forward to. I’m also starting working from home on reduced hours to get back into that, and am looking forward to seeing and hearing my colleagues again.

Last thing to say is a big thank you to those of you who have helped and supported me. Hope to see you on the bank soon.

Windmill Fishery Open

Some of you may have read the title and are thinking why has Tim not yet fished the river this season. Well I do love my river fishing but there’s not been any matches on my local Bristol Avon that I’ve been able to fish. My Thatchers team matches have been on the Stour in Dorset, and I’ve given them a miss due to the early starts and plenty of local lads to fish ( we won both matches so well done team). The urge to get back on the river will come, when there’s less boats, swimmers and paddle boarding.

Before I say anything else today, got to say I was gutted to see that Tony Rixon had his van and some fishing gear stolen, it’s every anglers worst nightmare. I hope he gets his stuff back.

Back to today, a good turnout of 19 anglers with a decent contingent from the Swindon area, including a very old team mate of mine Pete Philips. As always I’m open minded what to fish for on this venue, so entered the overall super pool as well. I fancied pegs from 8 to 18 as the wind was blowing down that end of the lake. I drew peg 22 which is deep and not got any shallow water to fish a pole into, rather be here in winter lol. I had John Williams on 21, Mick Gale was on 23, and Fishery management Kev Winstone on peg 24 not a fancied peg. With lots of wind and rain forecast tactics were going to be important, and I put a brolly up to keep me a little more comfortable.

My peg has a lot reeds opposite but it’s not safe to fish close to them for carp. A lot of anglers chuck the lead to the right of them in the only shallower water, I did set up a lead for here, but it was a last resort as it would be hook and hold. My two main rigs were my usual paste rig for 11m, and a 4x16 for fishing at 14m towards the reeds where I try micro, worm and corn.

I started on the paste at 11m and fed my usual 4mm pellets, there was no fizzing or signs for 10 minutes, then out of the blue my firs bite. I connected and shortly after a skimmer jumped out of the water, it stayed on and at nearly 3lb was a nice fish. I had another couple of near 2lb skimmers on the paste and a 3lb carp in the first hour. Looking around me not a lot had been caught. I stuck with the paste and whilst it was slow going there was the odd fizz and bite to keep me interested. Then I heard Shaun Townsend was emptying peg 16, so that was probably the winner. My paste line yielded a few more small common carp and skimmers before going dead after 2 hours.

The 14m line was tried but it was not successful, and I upped the feed here hoping to get some skimmers over it later. A couple more small carp on paste than nothing again. The wind and rain just kept on coming, and it made things difficult. With 2 hours to go I had my first bite at 14m, another small common took my worm hook bait. Next two drops same result, but then nothing. I did get a skimmer and 1 more carp here later but it was never great.

I preserved with paste as for the last 80 minutes I was getting little fizzes and bites…. But I was hooking absolutely nothing! Not even a fouler, it was doing my head in lol. Then with 15 minutes to go I had another 3lb carp, then a proper lad of nearly 12lb, then a 10oz skimmer and that was the end.

From what I could see I’d beaten all around me, but knowing that Shaun and Glenn Bailey had bagged I was struggling to get third. I thought I had 60lb, then Leighton Palmer on peg 1 said he had 70lb, ah well not looking good for coin today I thought. There was a set of scales either side of the lake and on my side they weighed from 12 up to 24. Glenn had 90lb on 14, Towner 160lb on 16, that was top 2. My silvers went 11lb 10oz and my carp 52lb 6oz, a nice round 64lb. Mick Gale on 23 had 11lb 1oz of silvers, and I was top silvers on our side of the lake but was even more surprised to find out that I was top silvers weight on the day!

The weigh sheets are below, I didn’t get many pictures as I didn’t want my phone to get wet, lovely weather for July. Not sure if this will be my last match for a while, or if I will go next week. But I have an operation on the 28th July which will keep me out of action for sometime. I’ve been waiting for this op for nearly 18 months, it’s related to my old operations from many years ago, and will hopefully make my life easier when it comes to toilet habits. Wish me luck is all I can ask, and thanks in advance.

 

Windmill Fishery Open

 After my holiday at Viaduct I had a weekend off and enjoyed the hot sun with my family. I’d really like to be fishing on the river at this time of year, but due to my recent dicky ticker and old war wounds I’m not confident of travelling far from home. With no matches on my local Avon that I was aware of and the team fishing the Dorset Stour, I elected to stay local and fish at Windmill.

Had the usual Wetherspoons breakfast, I was tempted by the cider on display but stayed stafe with the cranberry juice lol.

I arrived at the fishery in good time and was surprised to see a fairly empty car park. It seemed a lot of things had clashed for the regulars so only 8 anglers here today. Dave Haines pegged the match and put peg 1 to 14 in, so easy to park behind your peg. Peg 12 had won the last two matches and so that had to be the favourite peg with the wind blowing down that end. Paul Reed drew 12, and then I drew peg 1, bummer I thought, as far away from the fish as possible.

As I set up and looked at the peg I felt more confident, lots of room being an end peg, and an island chuck. It’s a deep area of the lake and can be good for fishing pole shallow, but I decided to fish shallow on the pellet waggler, two spots one by the island and one out past the bush on the point. Next a lead rod for the island, then three pole rigs, a deep margin, a shallow slipper and a paste rig. If you read my blog on paste fishing then you’ll know how I set it up. 

Match started at 10:30, I fed a decent pot of soften 4mm Sonu pro feed pellets at 11.5m and dropped in with the paste rig. I fed 6mm pellets to the island and 8mm pellets further out to the bush, so two places to try the waggler. It was a slow start on the paste, no fizzes or signs of fish, but I caught a 3lb carp after 15 minutes. It was then a wait for bites but when one came it was a skimmer and I was happy with that. A couple more small carp and probably had 20lb after the first hour, Mat Challenger on peg 3 had a few early carp but seemed to be struggling after that.

Second hour and a couple of skimmers and a few more 3lb to 5lb carp, and was now at 42lb 2 hours in. Third hour and the small carp were showing more and the skimmers had enough and went elsewhere. I was simply feeding 4mm pellets in my Preston paste pot and was getting fizzing and quickly getting indications. The fourth hour saw a change in the size of my fish, with a run of 7lb to 10lb carp and my clicker was going up fast. The wind was blowing nastily and did make feeding the island tricky, and caused a few tangles on the paste rig. 

I had a couple of visitors going into the last two hours, Kev Winstone and Leighton Palmer. I think my fishing suffered as I struggled to hold my pole whilst i laughed at their banter 😂 . After a great couple of hours the paste started to fade away, less bites, missing more bites and losing fish I hooked. The island was alive with carp feeding on my loosefeed 6mm pellets, and I couldn’t resist no more. I started on the pellet waggler with an 8mm pellet on a 16 KKM-B to 0.21 powerline. I’d forgotten to clip up so casting was a not great and then caught the grass, but pulled the pellet of it and the float buried! Tug of war commenced and I won this game. I hooked a few more but when a carp took me straight into the reeds and snapped the line I went back to the paste. It was not good with just 1 carp landed. Last 25 minutes I cast the lead over to the island and caught 4 carp and pulled out of two.

Match over, I checked my clicker, I had 176lb on it, but thought I might have over estimated on that. Bankside info had it that the angler on peg 14 had a big weight but the rest not much. Peg 14 was weighed first and had 165lb 14oz, mostly caught in close on pellet. I was hoping my clicking was not too much!  I was last to weigh and I was either going to be first or second. 

Fishery management were on hand to weigh me in, Kev Winstone was on the scales.

Dave Haines was on the board adding up.

My skimmers weighed first just over 14lb (top weight of silvers but no prize for them today). Then my 4 nets of carp went 176lb, exactly what I had clicked lol. With 190lb 13oz that meant I was the winner today. My best weight at this fishery and a very enjoyable day. I fished the paste exactly as I explained on my previous post, and fed around 2 pints of pellets.

The icing on the cake today was hearing my Thatchers teammates had managed to come first and second on the Stour, bringing them back into contention after a couple of bad rounds. 

No fishing next weekend due to a work event at Truck Racing, got to get on the river soon though!

Paste Fishing

 Having posted my blogs on my matches at Viaduct I received a comment from a person called Dave if I could explain how I fish it. Here goes Dave…

Firstly the way I fish paste has not really changed that much since I first tried a long time ago. In fact I remember when I first tried it, it was at Cider Farm Lakes. I was catching well across when my pole roller blew over and my pole snapped, all I could fish now was top set plus two sections. I tried fishing pellet here in the deep water and got plagued with foulers, that made me reach for a paste rig out of frustration. I was amazed how it worked and from a bad situation I think I got third place. That’s the day when I realised it was a method worth exploring.

There are many ways of fishing paste, this is my way and it works for me but there are many variations and it’s all about what you have confidence in. 

Firstly my paste itself, I make mine from Thatchers groundbait. When I get to my peg I tip some dry groundbait in a 3 pint bait tub then cover it with water and mix it in, it will be soupy in texture at this point. Ten minutes before the match have a look at it, if it’s too soggy and you can’t form a ball add a little bit more dry groundbait, if it’s dried out too much add a little water a bit at a time. Hard to explain without showing but I try to avoid to stiff and to sloppy lol.

Next what you feed, it’s simple for me, it’s always 4mm pellets, and I take a bag of Sonubaits pro feed pellets and put them in a bait box. I have fed these pellets straight from the bag, but I’ve also soaked them so they swell up. Skimmers seem to like the soaked pellets but I’ve got them over both. Some people I know have fed 8 to 10 pints of pellets in a match, but the way I feed I’ve generally never fed the whole bag.

My rig is very simple, I use some old Big H paste floats but I’m down to my last two 😢😢. I use 0.21 Powerline as mainline, then attach a hook length from the Preston pre tied 12 XSH to 0.17. You could fish 0.19 but I know that 0.17 won’t break my pole if I hook a fouler. No shot are put on the line.

Plumbing up is very important, with no shot on the line the paste has to set the float. I plumb to have about 3/4 of the bristle showing. But beware, plumbing and then fishing with paste may give a different result, this is due to silt usually, so be prepared to alter the depth first drop, it’s worth getting right. Also as your match progresses you will have to push the float up as feeding fish scour out the silt, so don’t fish too short a line above the float.

Now to get the paste out to your required distance you need a pole pot to put it in. The depth of the venue will have a big impact on where the pot goes. The position of the pot from the end of your pole is important to stop the rig from tangling as you ship out. Too close to the tip and it’s tangle time, too far away and it can make the line too tight and feeding tricky. Now this is important, when you put your initial pot of feed of pellets in with your cupping kit do not ship to the end of the pole. If you do this, then go out with your paste when you tip the paste pot over it will be short of the feed! Last week at viaduct my Preston paste pot down from the end of my pole by about the same length as my dolly butt. When I started I fed the pellets when I got to the end of the normal pole section, then when I shipped out with paste I shipped to the end of the dolly butt, tipped the paste out, then slid the pole back to the end of the normal section so my pole was above the float. It helps if you put the float in the right spot too, otherwise it will sink and only pop up when in the right place. You must avoid lifting the float jerkily, this will knock the paste off  the hook.

Now the fun part begins, trying to hit the bites. With carp you are looking for a very positive bite, a very fast movement on the float, usually the float disappears in a blink of the eye. Slow movements are usually liners and the float can go out of sight and reappear, if it’s sits well then it was a liner, if the float pops right up like the paste has come off then strike. It’s either a bite or the paste did come off.

Skimmers often but not exclusively give lovely lift bites. They can cause lots of liners and some are even bites sometimes, it’s suck it and see. Some days you have spells you pull your hair out missing bites, there’s not much you can do to change things other than how you feed. Obviously this is the hard part, sometimes big potting top ups are great, and other times filling your paste pot with feed pellets is great.

The size of your paste is again trial and error, I have used pea size up to a big 50p piece, but generally start on a pear drop size piece. Just get a piece of paste, lay the hook in it and then fold the paste over. I like a flatter end to sit on the bottom and point above the hook.

I think that about covers it, like everything else you do need to practice it. You can get some serious fizzing over your feed when fishing paste, when only odd carp are coming in sometimes you literally can watch the fizz heading towards your float, it’s quite entertaining especially when the float whacks under. I hope you can catch a few on the paste, like everything else it has its place on certain days. 

Viaduct Holiday Going Home Day

 Friday going home day, that meant no alarm and so I awoke naturally. Some of us had a last breakfast in M&M cafe and said our goodbyes to Mandy for another year. Back at the lodge I packed my bags and loaded the van, and then we decided to conduct an experiment! Gary had posed the question if you fill a bucket full of water and weigh it and then you put some fish in the bucket (and no water escapes) does the bucket weigh more or not? With no one sure of the answer (though thought it must weigh more) we set the experiment up, caught a few roach put them in the bucket of water, and yes, the bucket weighed more.

After this I wandered over to watch Martin, Chris and Mark pleasure fishing. Chris took my advice and fished paste on a top set on Carey, Mark fished his favourite pellet waggler, and Martin was on Lodge lake giving the paste a go with me passing on tips. Martin had not fished paste all week and had struggled on Campbell lake without it, we told him he needed to get the method in his armoury! He enjoyed himself in the end with plenty of skimmers and carp.

Can now confirm Martin is a paste head!

Chris had a lovely day catching many skimmers, carp and a few tench.

Mark got among the Carey carp, but they were crafty buggers lol.

Eventually I had to pull myself away and get going, I gave the keys back to Mat Long and said thanks and goodbye to him and his Dad Steve, I really need to try to get back for a few open matches I think. I’d had a great week, three second places, a top silvers weight and a team win. Caught nearly 900lb of fish over 6 days. 

Thanks to all the lads who made the trip so great, and to all the fellow anglers I met during the week. Special thanks to Woody for organising the holiday, we’ve discussed a few tweaks for next year, but Somerton residents will still have to put with us for a week 😂

Viaduct Holiday Day 6

 Last match of the holiday today and the Costcutter on Campbell. Forgot to put this photo on my day 5 post, it did get a little chilly some nights with a jacket required late on, but Glenn decided to improvise with a sheet lol.

With another very hot day forecast there was only one thing I was hoping for, and that was a peg in the shade. I was about halfway back in the draw queue and when I got to the famous coffee tin I was amazed to see nearly every peg drawn on the sunny bank. I was well happy when I pulled out 118 and a day in the shade was on, it’s also a nice peg with a bit of room as 117 is never used.

There’s an overhanging tree branch to my left where the day before Chris Ollis had 50lb of silvers.

There’s also an inviting looking margin which is behind the platform, I intended to fish this at top set plus one on my margin pole. Although Chris hadn’t caught a carp here yesterday.

As this was a cost cutter fishing for carp or silvers was ok as the payout is the same for both. After yesterday’s skimmer bonanza I was up for fishing for them again. I put up my faithful paste rig again for fishing under the tree and also at 11.5m, just a couple of inches difference in depth. A mugging / shallow rig was set up but not used, and a 4x14 edge float with 0.17 to 12 XSH. I had Glenn on my right on 119 which he didn’t fancy at all, Woody was on my left on 116. Adrian Jeffrey was back on this match and he had moved from one end bank to the other and was on 121.

I started the match on the paste under the tree, I had 3 quick skimmers and thought here we go, but that was the end of that. I’d already fed a pot of 4mm pellets out long so was soon out here fishing paste. The skimmers were feeding here and showing themselves by the fizzing. It wasn’t as good as yesterday, I missed lots of bites for some reason and it was frustrating at times, but I stuck with it. I was feeding very little trying to keep the carp at bay as I was happy catching skimmers but of course one or two carp put in an appearance. Glenn was really struggling to catch, and Woody didn’t have much either, but on 115 Gary Bowden was seemingly doing well catching carp and skimmers.

I guess it was about just gone halfway when the carp became more active and the skimmers moved off. I had no clue what was being caught further down the lake, but could see opposite was poor, so I changed tactics and upped the feed for carp. I caught a couple and then as the match went on I fed heavy by the tree with 4mm pellets and this brought the carp here too. It was those tricky to catch them, despite me not feeding regularly some carp were coming into the area shallow and knocking the line and the paste off. I did get a few carp here though. 

About 90 minutes to go I fed the margin with a big pot of micro pellets, left it for 15 minutes then had 3 small carp from there on double worm. Two skimmers followed so I fed again and tried elsewhere. Five minutes before the all out I hooked a decent carp in the margin, after getting it out of the danger zone I took my time with it. But it came off whilst playing it in front of the nets, it snapped the hook length, guess I should have been on 0.19. That was the end of the match.

With the weighing in starting at 110 I had plenty of time to pack up, and as Glenn had already gone home I popped down to see the others. Woody said he had about 80lb, but Gary was admitting to 180lb and worried that his skimmers in one net might go over the 50lb limit! When the scales got to me I weighed my skimmers first, they went 44lb 7oz. Adding my carp to this, my total weight went 160lb 8oz. Woody had 93lb and was chip shopped when Gary plonked 197lb on the board, his skimmers went 47lb 4oz so he was safe and won the match overall.

I was second overall so another pick up, silvers was won with 79lb 8oz by Rob Eagle, all on casters.

Final night and a meal at the Globe followed by a few beers back at the Lodge. There had been some debate about snoring in the other Lodge, with Martin Rayet saying he couldn’t sleep if room mate Mark Tanner got to sleep before him. He resorted to drastic measures to get some sleep…..,

The holiday had gone very fast but was as enjoyable as ever. No more matches but one more day to catch on in the next post.

Viaduct Holiday Day 5

 Wednesday and no open matches today, but the fishery management Steve and Mat Long, allowed us to use Campbell lake as long as we paid a peg fee. With nine of us we again decided for a friendly team match, teams of 3 of course today. The teams were determined by the pegs we drew, so as the anglers went round the lake each peg was A B C then A B C, hope that makes sense.  My team mates today were Mark Tanner on flyer 116, Glenn on 130 (next to where I was yesterday) and I was on 124. 124 had been awful all week but I had plenty of room with 123 and 125 left out, but still wasn’t too upbeat if I’m honest, and also it meant another day of frying in the sun with no shade. I was envious of those on the opposite bank.

For me it was a case of setting up the same rigs as the day before, but till now I’d not mugged a carp or caught more than one in the Campbell margin. Gordon was on my right on 126, he couldn’t get away from this area all week and really had poor draws, and Gary Bowden was on 121 and could see a lot of carp in front of him.

I decided to fish the paste at 13m today, and was well happy when my chosen spot began to fizz immediately and I had a skimmer first drop. A couple more skimmers and then my first carp, and this was my best start to a match this week. After the first hour I reckon I had 25lb of skimmers on paste and the one carp, but that was behind Gary who was getting plenty of carp. Still I ploughed on as the skimmers were ravenous and I was really enjoying catching them.

Another hour gone and a couple of carp interrupted the skimmers. Normally I get a phone call from Glenn if he’s struggling but not today, so I called him and he told me he was catching carp steadily, well done team mate, he was shocked when I said I had 60lb and 40lb of that was skimmers. I kept thinking the skimmers would disappear but they didn’t until after 4 hours when the carp decided to get in on the act. I did feed the margins but saw no signs so carried on with the paste.

I was on three nets for skimmers and two for carp when the match ended. A very busy day with just a couple of quiet spells, goodness knows how many times I shipped  in and out with my hands burning on the red hot pole 😂.

When the scales got to me Glenn was top with 227lb, Gordon struggled to get 81lb and then on my turn my carp went 97lb 12oz and my skimmers 107lb 10oz for a total of 205lb 6oz. Gary would surpass that with 215lb . We were the top 3.

Undoubtedly my best ever bag of skimmers and all on the paste. That made my heart skip a few beats too 😂

On the team front we had a mare… Glenn lost 6lb by going over in one net, and we’re not sure if Mark Tanner actually faced the right way catching 12lb of 116 🙈🙈. We lost the team match by 5lb 🙈🙈 that’s the way it goes.

As you can see the skimmers had a good munch today, and Lee Masey had 81lb of them on worm and caster.

Wednesday night meant curry night, not sure what was hotter the curry or the restaurant itself 🥵. Still we all enjoyed the food that’s for sure, and after 1 pint in the Unicorn we returned to the Lodge for more fun and banter.

Viaduct Holiday day 4

 It was Tuesday and we were fishing the open match on Campbell lake. The night before we had been debating where a good draw would be, and believed the wind would be blowing into 132 so that was the favourite. I was close to this when I pulled out 131 and with 130 left out (as only 16 fishing) I had a bit of room, also the lad on 129 “Rocky” was fishing for silvers. Howard Webb inventor of Sillybait was the one who got 132, a good angler and I already had him down as the winner in my head.

The day started badly for Woody when the axle on his motorised trolley snapped, meaning he had to borrow wheels of another angler once they had got to their peg.

The only downside to my peg today would be sitting in the sun with no shade, so a hot day ahead. I had now discounted fishing for silvers due to my previous attempts and it was all out carp. Only a few rigs, a mugger rig, paste rig 0.17 to 12 XSH and margin rig 4x12 edge with 0.17 to 12 XSH. Howard set up two lead rods and was clear on his approach, and he started well with a carp first cast! My paste approach appeared to be not so good as I had no fizzes and no bites for 35 minutes or so before a skimmer got me off the mark. Howard had another carp but wasn’t flying but then he kept nicking odd carp. I joked with him that I was known as the comeback kid but honestly I was just expecting a battering.

Two hours into the match and after a decent run on skimmers the carp started to slowly put in an appearance. But it seemed every time I hooked a carp so did Howard, and though I was catching I couldn’t make in roads on his lead of about 60lb (Howard’s estimate). About this time there was a load bang as Glenn’s 13m section snapped in half, ouch!

My peg got stronger as the match went on and I was really enjoying catching on the paste, I’d not had many foulers or lost fish, and had changed one hook length all match. Howard got snapped up twice and it did allow me to gain a couple of fish back. When the match finished I was really happy about the day, not only the fishing but the company as Howard was great to talk to.

Howard was first to weigh and had an impressive 197lb 14oz. My silvers went 25lb and when added to my carp I was surprised and a little gutted when I weighed 197lb 4oz, just 10oz between us. This lead Howard to say I was very nearly the comeback kid lol. As it turned out we were first and second on the day with Dave White 3rd with 180lb from in form peg 116.

Howard buying a new landing net after one of his broke.

Silvers weights were way lower today, with Luke Broderick needing just 36lb 13oz to win by just 11oz! Close all around today then!

All lodge mates were feeling a little jaded today and it was a much quieter night where we debated many things including snoring, some lodge mates were having their ears and sleep affected by unnamed snorers lol. Unfortunately for me I have been having some strange issues with my heart of recent, an was wearing a special heart monitor, during the night and early morning I suffered with a pounding and irregular heartbeat which caused me to be awake as it makes me breathless and feel uneasy. Hopefully the monitor will have picked that up and help the consultant to get to the root cause.

Viaduct Holiday day 3

 Monday meant our traditional Lodge residents match on Lodge lake. We were now joined by Mark Tanner for the rest of the week and Geoff Francis came just to fish this match. Over too much beer the night before I floated the idea of making this a team match, and that’s what we did. My team consisted of Geoff peg 68, Martin peg 71 and Gary peg 73, Gordon peg 53, I was on 64 on the monk peg and could see all of my team mates on the far side.

Having fished this peg a couple of times before and always had more than 100lb I was very happy. As the match was going to be decided on weight I only set up for carp, so a paste rig for 11m, banded pellet rig 11m down RH margin, and an edge float for the LH margin. I use 0.17 hook lengths on my rigs.

As you can see in the picture to fish the RH margin you need to fish inside of the monk. I began on the paste rig today, I had bites from the off from skimmers and was happy to put something in the net. Lee Masey opposite me on 66 had nothing in front of him and so went down to his margin and started catching carp straight away. I did manage a few small stocky carp on the paste but despite catching skimmers regularly I thought I had to go down to the margin to try to stay with Lee. This was ok to start with on banded pellet but I soon began to suffer liners and foulers. I tried shallow but never got a bite, back to depth and mainly foulers. Then I started to catch branches, and I soon realised this was probably my issue.

I could see that my team mates were doing well but I was letting them down, I spent far too much time in the margin chasing fish catching branches. I was having a torrid time not helped by Lee getting one a bung. I tried the paste again and managed 1 decent carp, and also found 2 carp in the LH margin, but it was not enough and I limped home having had a poor day. Had I had a rake I may have been able to clear the margin of branches and then caught the carp that were clearly there.

As it turned out my side of the lake had fished poor compared to the opposite side. That was in my team’s favour and we won the competition 589lb to 469lb.

Lee was easy winner with 209lb and fished a great match. He had a strange caterpillar nest behind him, which I believe belongs to a small eggar moth.

We retired back to the lodge’s enjoying the evening sunshine, we decided to stay there and ordered some takeaway food and sip on the beer we all had with us. Hard to put into words how relaxing it is sitting in the fantastic scenery surrounded by wildlife. It was the next day before we headed to bed.