Back on the River

Not had a chance to get on the river so I became a member of Ridgeway and booked in for their Sunday match at Swineford. I walked this match last year and it fished well with lots of chublets, chub and some bream.

The draw was 8:30 by the outfall, and big thanks go to Ridgeway legend Steve Dumbleton who runs the club, matches and had organised swim clearing on the Friday. My first duties were to explain to some Eastern European anglers that they could not fish here. Eventually the penny dropped and they headed off elsewhere. 

11 fishing today and I fancied drawing any of the last 5  pegs. Well as per my current draws I avoided them, I pulled a choice, 1 or 3. Well it was 3 for me, a steep peg but I hoped not a bleak fest like peg 1 would be.

I was surprised at how little flow there was, but then again I guess it’s been dry for ages. What flow there was was between 6m and 16m, and it varies and changes during the day. Past this the river was on its head. Set up a 6m whip with 3G rig 16 N10 to 0.12, a 3G bolo and a gbait feeder.  I mixed up some Sonubaits black roach and black river for the whip, and usual sweet skimmer and Thatchers for the feeder.

I had 10 chucks on the feeder and a quick look for just rattlers. Onto the whip where I was feeding the odd small ball of my gbait with casters and hemp. First swing in and caught in a tree… got the rig back but had to snap the line, it was turned into a 5m rig, no more tree problems after this. I started with caster on the hook, and it wasn’t long before I was getting hold ups from bleak and after a while the bulk was moved down and I had a no6, no 8 and no 10 next to the hook length. First hour was ok, maybe 2lb, bleak, dace, a roach and a perch. 

The second and third hours were better, more dace, but had to switch from caster to maggots on the hook. A few more roach and perch were also welcome. Ali Gibbs on peg 4 and Craig Pinker on peg 2 both said they were struggling and getting bleaker out.

Bites dried up other than bleak so I introduced some chopped worms in the gbait, this got me a few more perch and then I hooked what was probably a chub that took off at a rate of knots and snapped me. After this it was a struggle, the feeder line was dead other than bits and the whip and bolo was just odd bleak. My match ended quietly and I thought I had 7 to 8lb, word was everyone had struggled. 

The scales came down from peg 12, John (forgot his surname 🙈) was top with 8lb 12, and Matt Challenger had a little less. Ali had 4lb then my fish went 9lb 8oz, with Craig also having 4lb that meant I was top on the day. 

A lot tougher day than I expected, and had the bigger fish fed I would have been way down, but I got lucky today and enjoyed my day on the whip. Nice to be back on the river, but I’m now not fishing for a couple of weeks due to other activities. Hopefully so meaningful rain falls to improve the flow.

Viaduct Holiday

Another year another week at Viaduct Fishery with good mates.. fishing, beer and great banter what’s not to like. There was 11 of us this year, in one lodge was Martin Rayet, Gordon Cannings, Tony Witcombe, Mark Tanner and Hayden Withers. In my lodge was Glenn Bailey, Mike Nicholls, Geoff Francis, Gary Bowden and chief organiser Martyn Woodington. Due to the PVA bags on the lead dominating the carp fishing and it not being something I want to do I had decided to go all out for silvers, unless I drew a peg solid with carp. The silvers were coming out in the middle of the lake on Campbell so that’s where I needed to draw.

Saturday and Campbell open, met up with the lodge mates and got into the draw queue. I was a bit gutted when I drew out corner peg 132, but you never know so I was still going for silvers. My approach was same as my previous two opens here, gbait, casters, maggots and micro pellets. It’s a shallow peg here so 4x12 rigs with 16 SFLB to 0.12 fluorocarbon would do. I set up a carp rig for the end bank in case I needed to go for the section. I did get amongst the skimmers to start, steady and odd fish, but then it died. I had a look for carp but there was a nasty bramble under the water that messed that up and I gave that up. I ended with 25lb I think of skimmers for no good. Bit of a heavy night on the beer, I blame Gary Bowden for his bottle of rum 🙈🤣

Sunday open on Campbell and after a breakfast bap made by top man Geoff Francis I was soon drawing a peg from the coffee tin. No middle peg for me again, 121 on the top bank. The local silvers slayers said it hasn’t been great. Same approach but a 4x14 for out at 6m and 11m, and 4x12 for margins where I would feed caster. After a slow start when I hooked 2 carp my 6m line came to life and I had a nice run of skimmers here, but soon it died. Nigel Bartlett on 119 was getting odd skimmers but like me not bagging. My margins were poor for silvers and hooked a couple of carp. I went out to 11m for a few more skimmers but then it all died and I only caught a few late skimmers. I weighed 34lb of silvers which tied with Nige for nothing lol. Martin Reyat won the silvers with 53lb from 125. Tony Wittcomb won the match with 135lb on the teabag. Lovely curry on the night.

Monday was a teams match on Lodge. A bit of fun and banter, with random team selection. My team was Gary, Mike and Mark. I was on 66 a corner peg and can be very good. When I got to the peg was a bit gutted to see a pleasure angler on Carey had set up base camp right on top of the bank by my margin. Suffice to say my close margin never produced a fish. I set up to the fish paste at 11m and margin rigs for meat to my right by the tree and to my left by spiky grass. The paste started ok for me and had a few carp which was better than Glenn on 64, but Tony on 68 was flying! Eventually the paste died for me and Tony, and most were struggling unless they could catch in margins. Mike on 71 was bagging apparently and as my LH margin was messed up I went long down by the trees. I had a few carp but they didn’t stay and it died. I ended up getting an odd carp by the tree on meat, but was getting battered by Tony who was catching carp and ducks.

Tony won with 180lb and Mike was second with 177lb (chucked back some skimmers to have another net). Tony’s team won as well and mine were second so well done chaps. 

Tuesday open on Campbell… and I was gutted when I pulled 121 again! 

Short story, after 2 hours I had 1 skimmer and with Nige Easton and Rob Eagle bagging I was never going to get in the money. The lake was fishing hard and I thought I would go for the section money, so I got off my box and knocked up some paste and got a paste rig out. In an hour I had 4 carp and was amazed, but it soon slowed up as I then fouled too many. A look long in my left margin on corn produced a few skimmers and a 16lb carp. I ended up with 64lb and that was just enough to win the section and get a pick up. Howard Webb won with 92lb on the tea bag, Nige Easton had 48lb of silvers on 115. Quite a few beers and a takeaway I think.

Wednesday was an away day at Acorn fishery where I was definitely fishing for silvers. Lots of ide in here now and I planned to fish for them to start across in 3 feet of water. Balls… I drew peg 12 which is 17m wide and the only peg I could not fish across for ide!!! However, I drew this peg on the same match last year and had a lot of tench so was going to have to catch them and skimmers. 4x16 float, 0.13 to 16 GPM for 8m and top set plus one. I fed maggots as this was the way everyone has been catching. Well after an hour I was still waiting for a bloody bite! Martin Rayet on peg 13 was still waiting for a carp but a few silvers, Glenn on 10 was struggling, but pegs 1 to 5 were bagging. My maggot attack was not working, so I switched the long line to gbait caster and worm, this eventually got a few fizzes and signs of fish in the peg. It wasn’t easy but I had the odd skimmer, ide and small tench to end up with 23lb. That was enough to get me second in the silvers with Paul Faires winning with 29lb from peg 6. Gary Bowden won overall from peg 1 with 178lb beating Woody on peg 5 who had 135lb. We ate well in the Brent Knoll carvery later!

Thursday cost cutter open on Campell and I was chuffed to draw 126 which should be good for silvers, but had retired carp angler Martin Reyat on 125 also fishing for silvers and Mike Nicholls in 127 fishing for silvers. Carp were spawning in our margins today after the previous hot days. However, today heavy rain was forecast and it did arrive for a few hours. I stuck to my guns on gbait caster etc, and I was amazed to see fizzing on my top set plus 3 sections line to left and to right by a willow. Only trouble was I couldn’t hardly get a bite!!! It was frustrating as hell, Mike was struggling too, but Martin went down his margin and started to catch. I had fed caster to my left and corn and micro to my right. After a while I started to get a few but only on the corn, but I was always behind Martin. My last hour or so was poor but I did land a last cast carp of just under 15lb on my silvers rig which was nice. Martin had fished a brilliant match to win the silvers with 63lb, I had 43lb and Mike 31lb. I missed out on a pick

up as 46lb was needed, I should have had that. Tony won the match with 126lb on the teabag.

Well the fishing was hard this year, and I’m glad I went for silvers as I enjoyed that. But the teabag has dominated again, and it’s a bit tedious just fishing Campbell as a result. So we’ve all decided that as much as we love Viaduct and Somerton it’s off to pastures new next year. Our thanks to Steve, Helen and Matt for putting up with us for 12+ years and all the good memories, but it’s time for a change.

Viaduct Fishery Open Campbell Lake

Another chance to practice for my upcoming trip to Viaduct and to have another crack at the silvers. I was a bit tired Saturday morning after an evening watching Glos v Kent in the T20 cricket, it was a good evening out with family and a few beers.

The drive down on a Saturday always takes a little longer than a Sunday I feel, there was also the Royal Bath and West Show going on which added to the traffic. I still arrived in good time and got my pools paid and chatted to the other anglers, one of which was my Thatchers team mate Nick Ewers who told me he was fishing for silvers and reckoned that 115 was the draw. It was good to see Tom Thick who’ve I’ve not seen for ages, he hasn’t changed when it comes to banter lol. Got in the draw queue just behind Nick, and was soon putting my hand in the coffee tin. 112 was my home today, checked with Nick and he had got his choice 115! 

On my peg and I was quite happy to have anglers either side fishing for carp, a lad from the Southeast was on 113, Tim Martin on 111. Tom Thick was on 110 and so however the fishing went my entertainment was guaranteed… and it was. Nick was kind enough to tell me how he was going to approach his peg, he said he didn’t fancy my peg for silvers so much at the moment. My approach was much the same as last week, a couple of short lines, a couple at 11m, and a couple in the margin. 4x12 and 4x14 rigs with 16 SFLB to 0.12. 

Started at 10:30 and I fed my short lines and one long line to begin. It was Thatchers Green for gbait again, with micros, casters and maggots. I started short as last week, but this time I had a small skimmer first drop in. A bit more of a wait but then was into more skimmers, and at the end of the first hour I had 10lb, much better than last week. The second hour was more of the same really, although I did have to try my long lines to rest the short ones. For some reason the lines to my right were by far the better. Again like last week I did get a problem with losing the odd fish, but only one where the maggot went over the hook.

Hour three was slower, and my short line was no longer yielding bites. The long line had signs, I fouled two big skimmers and got them out, then fouled two more on the trot that came off. Frustrating but that’s just how it is here at the moment as the fish seem to be off bottom but not really feeding. I had about 28lb after three hours and was quite happy but was definitely a bit behind Nick. 

The wheels then came off, and the skimmers just shut up shop for everyone. I tried everything but nothing really worked and it was just random bites, a few little perch, an eel and a couple of skimmers from the margin. Lost two carp and landed one, but again they were not a problem. Nick was able to get the odd skimmer and I knew he would beat me, but I was not sure how the other silvers anglers had faired when the match was over, I had clicked 38lb. On the carp front it seemed Howard Webb and Martin Preston had done well. 

As the scales start weighing from 132 I had plenty of time to pack up and put the gear back in the van. By the time the scales got to me Nick was top silvers with 49lb and Rocky had 31lb,  and then with my fish going 37lb 6oz I was going to be second again. 

A nice little pick up.

Final results 

Overall

1. Howard Webb - 214lb 6oz - peg 127

2. Martin Preston - 163lb 14oz - peg 125

3. Tim Martin - 150lb 12oz - peg 111

Silvers

1. Nick Ewers - 49lb - peg 115

2. Tim Ford - 37lb 6oz - peg 112

3. Rocky - 31lb - peg 128

Well that’s it for the practice, certainly the silvers fishing is a bit tricky, and my two matches here have been quite different in how the fish fed. Just one final thing to practice for now…. Cheers!

Viaduct Fishery Open Campbell

Back to Viaduct today after no fishing last weekend due to a big family getaway to Westbay in Dorset. We had gorgeous weather and a lovely time with a few beers and a frisbee. Thought I had better get back to Viaduct to get a little practice in before my annual fishing holiday there. Throwing out a lead with a “teabag” is not something I have ever done and at this stage I would prefer to fish for the silvers. That said I’ll keep an open mind depending on the peg drawn.

I got to the fishery in good time and it was good to Steve and Helen Long again. It was a sold out match and with the top 2 silvers weights being paid I would need a bit of luck to get the better of the venue regulars. When I drew peg 125 I was quite happy, it’s usually a good silvers area and the strong wind would be blowing away from me helping my presentation. My only real trouble was Rob Eagle who’s one of the best silvers anglers here was on 127. 

My peg looking across to 117, that bank was really windy, they were all wrapped up whilst we sat in t shirts on our bank.

To my left on 124 was Bela Bakos, and on 123 was Roland Lucas.

I set up three rigs today, two were 4x14 with 16SFL B to 0.12 accu power, one was for fish top set plus sections and the other for 13m. I also set up a 4x12 for fishing the margins with same gear. I’d been told that the lake had not fished well the last week and Rob said 30 to 40lb would be a brilliant weight of silvers. I mixed some gbait which was Thatchers Green and Sweet Skimmer, and had pellets casters and maggots with me.

I decided to feed two short lines and two long lines. However, the short lines produced 1 roach all day and the margin 2 roach! I fed a little ball of gbait on the left far line and just some loosefeed on the right, hopefully if one was better than the other I could focus on that. Well it was a very slow start with me having 1 skimmer in the first hour, and by the end of the second hour I had added 2 more skimmers, all from the gbait line, so I fed this now on the right line. It was that tough that I joked with Bela that I could have fished for carp if he had been doing well, but he was not. At this stage Tim Martin and Martin Preston opposite were both catching well on carp.

I took a quick walk to see Rob, he had 7 skimmers but told me he had just started getting them after a blank first hour. I went back to my peg and within 10 minutes had a skimmer, then was soon into another one, both on double red maggot. Over the next two hours I caught skimmers fairly regularly, but topping up and resting the lines was needed and I had to try things out. The last two hours of the match got harder and harder for me. Frustratingly I pulled out of a couple when the maggot doubled over the hook, hooked a couple of carp too, I was hardly catching but I could see Rob was. My match ended with a last gasp skimmer which was nice.

I had 44lb on my clicker, but guessing these skimmer weights I knocked myself down to a possible 38lb. Rob was admitting to 45lb but I didn’t know what else was caught. Rob was soon weighed and he had 50lb 2oz, I knew I didn’t have that, but I was happy to see 45lb recorded for my two nets. Still the master beat me again like last year.

I ended up coming second in the silvers so a nice little pick up for my troubles. Well done Rob on another win, top angler. Overall Tim Martin won on 116 with 240lb on the lead, on peg 118 Martin Preston had 194lb to come second. Full weigh sheet below.

I’ve booked in for this Saturday coming as my last practice before the holiday. Weather forecast isn’t great this week, but some wind and rain might actually perk the fish up.

Tony Rixon Float Only League - Acorn Fishery

Managed to sneak in to this match as a stand in again and was looking forward to fishing Acorn again. Got some prep done Saturday morning and bought myself a few pints of maggots. Thought going out for a meal and a few beers the night before the match with family and friends would be ok, but I got in about 12:30 a tad tipsy. 

Got myself to H&H and a breakfast roll and hash browns was very nice. At the fishery and Tony got the draw underway after going through the rules, one new rule where you have to transfer the fish from landing net to keepnet, in other words you can’t drop the fish in with your hand. I then drew my peg, 32, oh dear! 32 is hardly ever used and I was in what was probably one of the worst sections with peg 31,30, 28 and 27 in with me. Martin Reyat on bridge peg 33 was likely to give me a battering but at least he was in another section.

As you can see I had the standard view of Acorn, goats and all. I’d spoken to venue regulars Gary Bowden and Bob Gullick and so had a bit of a plan. Ordinarily here I would fish for silvers but I thought I’d go for carp at first. Set up a 4x10 rig for banded pellet for fishing across by the boards, a 4x12 for my margin where I would feed maggots, also had a 4x16 for fishing down the middle with maggots.

Match started at 10:30 and I went across toss potting some 4mm pellets with a 6mm in the band. It was a slow start but I did get a couple of small carp but then every bite I got seem to result in a fouler. After an hour I had 3 carp for 10lb, next hour was just as tough and on my right James Matthews had only 1 carp and took a break enjoying an ice cream with his partner lol. I’d been feeding maggots at 7 metres and tried this and caught a skimmer and a couple of ide but no carp. Meanwhile Martin was catching well shallow on casters and had 70lb. I changed from pellets across to toss potting maggots, it got me a decent amount of bites, some ide and a couple of carp plus more foulers. It soon petered out.

Martin carried on catching shallow by the bridge then short and in his edge.

I was now clearly not going to compete in my section thought, as Dom Sullivan and Russ Peck had a few carp. I gave in to fish for silvers and had a good go on maggots at 7m. It wasn’t hectic but I managed to get some ide and a few skimmers before it died. I started loose feeding maggots across now with about 2 hours to go. This was steady and got me quite a few ide, skimmers and perch plus a small tench and a couple more carp. Match was over and I thought I had 25lb of silvers and 30lb of carp.

Tony came round with the scales and my section was being win by Dom. James had a better last half of the match getting a few carp shallow and in his edge. My silvers went 30lb 1oz and my carp 30lb 14oz. My overall weight beating just Martin Pettifer who had really struggled. Martin ended up with 147lb but got beat by Mat Shepard. Martin had 29lb 11oz of silvers in his weight too.  Picture below of 3 sections.

Tony was paying 2 in the silvers but I was beaten by Ben Brooks with 38lb and Paul Faires 32lb. They had fished for silvers nearly all match. I definitely could have got second but there you go I didn’t lol. Match was won by Paul Elms on rocket ship peg 5, think he had about 211lb . Not sure of the rest of the frame as I got on my way. An enjoyable yet tough day, I fed nearly 2 1/2 pints of maggots as I tried to make something happen, a few decent tench was all I missed. 

Tony Rixon Float Only Series - Plantations Fishery

Ho hum where to start this post… might as well get it out the way the Gas are going down after a complete shit show of the last 9 games. Still it’s only football and I’ll still be there next season at the very least for the social side lol.

I am not booked in for Tony’s series as I have a few weekends where I’m away, but when I saw him looking for a stand in for this match I grabbed it. Not been to Plantation for a long time and so was looking forward to it. I text Tony for any info, and the legend he is he gave me a good idea as did Mark Bromsgrove, thanks to both 😊. Not much time for prep and wouldn’t need much, I was going to use the rigs I had for Windmill last time.

Sunday morning was I feeling rough, my atrial fibrillation had kicked off about 3am in the morning and it is hard to sleep with a racing pounding heart. This condition continued as I drove down and paid my pools to Tony and I was hoping that it would go away. I enjoyed seeing lots of old faces and tried to talk to many as I could. The main lake and the horseshoe lake called Jubilee was in. I had been told Jubilee is not great unless you draw a couple of pegs. Well I drew peg 9 on Jubilee and it meant I could drive to my peg and I got to see a few pegs and the flyer on the point (not pegged).

I was in a 6 peg section and the payout was top two in each section. I had Ryan Jordan on corner peg 1 and through to Bela Bakos on peg 12, I thought Bela was favourite for the section as there were a lot of fish in front of him. My peg had the island just curving round and a lovely looking margin. As set up my heart returned to normal and I felt better again.

I set up a pellet waggler for the island, a 4x14 with 0.15 to 18 KKMB for fishing banded hard pellet at 13m. Also set up a slapping rig

The margin was about 3 feet deep, and I plumbed up in the little cut back which was 11m away. It was nice and flat and despite being reedy it was clean it seemed. 

I set a 4x12 Edge float up for the margin, with 0.17 to 14 XSH. Plan was to fish dead maggots and method mix groundbait. 

We started at 10:30 and I decided to start steady by feeding 4mm pellets via a toss pot at 13m. I tried to feed pellets to the island with the catty but the wind had turned and was now blowing in my face. It was a slow first hour for me with just two 3lb carp in the net. Bela had a few more and my neighbour on peg 7 Shaun Fillingham had 1 lump. The wind blew some scum into my peg and this coincided with me having a better second hour at 13m with a few more small carp, but I also managed to catch a couple slapping in the scum and they were much bigger fish. Unfortunately I lost one as the line had wrapped around the top set and we all know how that ends! However, this activity faded and soon I was failing to get a bite.

Tom Baker on 5 was doing well on the pellet waggler, I tried casting it without any loose feed and didn’t get a bite. But then neither did anything else get me a bite. At 2pm with 2 1/2 hours to go I fed gbait and maggots in the margin. Went back on the wag and had 1 5lb carp and nothing else. I had 45lb on my clicker. But it seemed I was falling behind now and I needed the margin to work. With 90 minutes to go I got a couple of indications and the reeds started to knock. I got one eventually and it was 8lb. A refeed and a long wait but then had another carp nearer the 10lb mark. I was fishing 5 dead reds on the hook, and wasn’t getting small fish problems. I had another carp but then lost 2 foulers. I changed to fishing worms on the hook and got 3 more carp on this. The last 15 mins it went quiet and the reeds had stopped moving, but with about 90 seconds left I hooked another carp. I played it out and landed it after the all out.

I thought it would be close between myself and Bela, but he was admitting to 90lb and I said 100lb, actually had 108 on the clicker..

Clayton Hudson was on scales duty and said Ryan with 64lb was top so far, then my fish went 108lb 10oz a nice bag with a couple of 12lb fish. Off to Bela and he was apologetic after his first net weighed a lot more than he had clicked. Lucky for me he fell just short with 106lb 15oz, and my final fish was the difference.

On the whole Jubilee lake fished well with Mat Sheppard winning the other section with 120lb from corner peg 25. Plus another 2 tons on that side.

My section board..

Well that was a pleasant day and got things mostly right I feel, lovely weather, and £80 for the section win. On the main lake Paul Elms had 140lb for top weight catching in his margin, Tony was a close second catching on pellet wag.  The fishery is in really good condition and the owner was a really nice bloke too, what’s not to like!

Looks like a warm week ahead, but don’t think I can fish as got plans again.

Tight lines!

Windmill Fishery Open

 In case you’re wondering I’ve not emigrated, but I’ve not been fishing for a month mainly because I just had lots of other activities and necessary chores. This Sunday was free though and despite windmill fishery results looking a bit moody I booked in. I did a bit of prep mainly beefing up the elastics as I assumed the fish would be pulling a lot harder now.

I was back in the old routine and had a brekky at Wetherspoons and was at the fishery car park by 8:40. I think there were 16 of us fishing today, and most wanted peg 20 that had won the last two matches. Well the first chap to draw (I didn’t know him) pulled out peg 20 so that was that lol. I drew peg 6 which I was OK with as it has options but hasn’t been great of late. A tough match was likely I thought especially with venue regulars either side of me; Shaun Townsend on 8 and Nic Sanders on 4, I didn’t fancy Nic’s peg and neither did he.

My peg is very shallow across and normally if there are any carp around they are easy to spot. Needless to say there were no signs whilst setting up. Still I set up a shallow banded pellet rig for flicking around peg across. A 4x12 with 0.15 reflo to 18 KKM B. I set a deep rig up for 11m 4x14 with 16 GPM to 0.13. Also set up a straight lead.

I had a left and right margin line but the left one was my main hope as John Osbourne told me he had a few lumps late here last match. A 4 x10 rig with 14 GPM to 0.15 in about 2 1/2 feet. A top set plus two sections got me where the bottom was nice.

We started at 10:30 and I fed my 11m line with some micro meat and corn. Then went over to the far bank with my pellet rig. Well I flicked it around from the corner and worked my way right, it wasn’t until I got to the little area of reeds that I got a bite, but didn’t hit it. In fact over an hour I had 4 indications but no fish. I tried the 11m line but never had a bite and was soon back on the pellet. Nice had one carp hooked in the tail from his margin, Shaun was getting the odd carp by casting a pellet waggler to the thick reed bed. 

My second hour was equally as non productive, a couple more missed bites on the pellet rig was my lot, but 2 1/2 hours in I had my first carp on the straight lead by the corner of the island, it was a one off. I sat behind Shaun for 10 minutes he was fishing the waggler and getting the odd bite and with an estimated 60lb was easily winning the match I thought and smashing me up and Jon Osbourne who was on peg 9 had ounces.

Back to my peg and I fed my LH margin with maggots by hand and tried my pellet rig by the corner where I had been feeding pellets for the lead. I managed to get a carp but it was another one off. With 2 hours left I tried the lead again and had 3 carp in 3 casts, then nothing again. But with about 90 minutes to go I tried my margins for the umpteenth time, RH no good, LH put 3 maggots on and woosh lovely bite and carp on and landed. Next drop in and the float shot under within seconds of landing. Two more followed but then it died so I rested it and tried the straight lead and managed another carp on this. Back in the margin and was pleased to get another quick carp. Match organiser Dave Haines stood behind me and watched for the last 20 minutes and I had a couple more carp including a 10lb common which spat the hook out as I netted it phew! I lost my first fish of the day a fouler 5 mins to go, and missed a bite 2 minutes to go. Match over.

Well like a lot of matches here it’s all about the last 90 minutes to 2 hours. In hindsight I guess I should have started on the lead, but was sure I would catch shallow as Shaun did.

Match winner was Shaun with a 135lb he caught late on meat short and in his margin.

Second Mat Tainton with a little over 73lb from peg 10.

Third was myself with 72lb. Last in the frame so well happy.

Shaun being weighed in by Chris Telling.

Not having fished for a while I thought I might be a bit rusty, so I’m happy today with what I caught and only lost the one fish. The carp seemed to have moved down the lake (wind was blowing away from the car park) as anglers to my right struggled with only a couple getting more than 40lb.

Hopefully fish again next week.

Bathampton Open Newbridge

Having missed the last match at Newbridge when quite a lot of bream were caught I was able to get onto this one. As I expected bream to dominate it didn’t take me long to get prepared this week. Saturday Wendy and I were out with others celebrating Paul Bensons birthday. Hospitality at Rovers was OK as was winning the quiz and getting a free bottle of fizz, the result of the match was very disappointing. After a large quantity of Guinness was consumed I remembered to set my alarm on my phone for 7am.

Sunday morning woke up and it was 7:25! Checked my phone and I had set the alarm for 7am for every weekday doh! Well I had to get a move on, and instead of breakfast I grabbed a Ginsters pasty from my local shop. I text match organiser Dean Harvey to tell him I was on my way. I drove steady through Kelston and was glad I did as the car in front of my hit ice and skidded and despite my slowing down I had a nasty skid too but controlled it. 

I was not too late for the draw as the pegs were being sorted. I had a few pegs I fancied drawing 18, 50, 52, 61, but most of all I wanted 59. I’ve never drawn 59 in my life and I had a feeling that there might be a few bream in this very deep peg. Rich Lacey who’s not had much luck lately with a few things drew 59, and I told him I fancied it. I drew peg 46 and I was really gutted as this is a narrow part of the river and not what I wanted. Got to the peg and as I thought I had to sit on top of the bank.

It was a beautiful sunny but frosty morning and I had lots of time to set up my one feeder rod with 0.15 to a 14. The angler on peg 42 was Jason Fearn and he had one rod set up too. We started at 10am and I had 6 quick casts on a 40g feeder then began with 3 red maggots on the hook. I started to get a couple of small fish bites and had 3 small roach. I then varied the hook bait with casters and worms and at 10:30 had a 14oz chub. I missed a couple more small fish bites and then all went quiet.

Tried to vary my hook bait and what I was putting through the feeder but no more bites were forthcoming. I had a visit from Darren Gilman and his wife and they told me Rich Lacey was the best at this stage with 4 bream but it was quiet for most on the bream front, but some anglers were getting regular bites from roach and chublets. Hmmm me and Jason were both struggling with Jason having 1 roach.

Another pair of visitors entertained me this mute swan and Canada goose, they enjoyed my bait even if the fish didn’t.

My match went from bad to worse, I just couldn’t get a bite and at 1pm I had not had any more fish and then managed to get the hook in my finger, Barb deep, ouch! After a few minutes of trying to get it out I realised that I was going to have to be tough and properly pull and push to get it out, success ouch ouch!!

Well I shan’t bore you anymore, cos I never had another bite and packed up 30 minutes before the end. Jason had managed 1 bream so fair play to him.

I got down to peg 20 where Derrick Cole’s had said he had a bream that might be 12lb. When he weighed in the bream went 9lb 7oz, still a big fish, but think Derrick has been taking lessons from Dean Harvey at estimating his fish weight 🤣🤣🤣

The winner today was Rich Lacey on peg 59, he romped the match with 18 big bream for 107lb, he put two bream on the scales and they were over 8lb each. Nice one Rich I had a feeling about the peg. As you can see it was very close for second and third with Warren just pipping Dean. Warren had some roach and a 7lb bream in the float, then added 5 bream on the feeder later.

Today’s start man Rich Lacey. Top man!

Well that’s probably my last time on the river for this season, shame I didn’t get on a few bream but that’s fishing. Good luck if you’re going out before the season ends 🤞

Angling Trust Winter League Final

It has been quite a few years since I have been in this final which is fished on the Fenland Drains and Decoy Lakes. My preparation was mainly done a couple of weeks ago, so no mad rush in the lead up. The final had 28 teams of 10 competing, with 5 anglers on the drains and 5 on the lakes. My Thatchers Preston Innovations team was:-

Drains - Andy Ottaway, Lee Trivitt, James Carty, Ian Paulley, Mike Marsden.

Lakes - John Harvey, Rob Jones, Luke sorokin, Paul Isaacs, Tim Ford

I was going to travel up with Paul Isaacs in his large van, but the day before Paul’s van had a problem and so I had to drive which was no problem. We drove up Friday afternoon and got to our pub / hotel just after 6pm, we met up with the rest of the team during the evening as they arrived. A few beers, a Chinese and a great night with the lads, all we needed now was a decent set of pegs.

Saturday morning and the cheapest breakfast of £6 for cereal, drinks, toast and full English! Andy Ottaway had left early to draw and as Paul and I drove to Decoy Lakes we found out are pegs, I was on Beastie 15, and Paul Elm 12. Driving Paul to Elm lake I walked with him to his peg (Paul had not fished Decy before), it was the end bank of a rectangular strip lake, and I told him it was a great peg. I told him that he would catch dobbing bread and would be ok. Off to my lake and found that I was on a mini island (they called it a spit) where two of us were facing into the main lake and two were facing the other way into a bowl. Carp were boshing around and the four of us were a little excited about our prospects. 

I had a nice island to fish to and an aerator and carp were topping all around the island. My neighbour on peg 15 was a young lad called Will Marchant, he said it was the first time he had seen a fish top in three matches at Decoy. I had a straight lead for popped up bread and a maggot feeder for the island. I had 2 pole lines at 14m one for pellet and corn, one for groundbait and maggots. I had 4x16 and 4x14 floats, and 16 GPM to 0.13 and 16 SFL to 0.11. The same rigs would do for 6m.  Now, the sad thing was that I had a lovely left hand margin with reeds where dobbing bread etc looked ideal… but I couldn’t fish it. Fishery rules are you can only fish up to the leg of the next platform, and peg 14 was between me and the reeds. See my picture showing this, arrow where I wanted to fish, but cross where I could not fish past which was 5 metres away. The lad on 13 Dan Bennett said it was the rule too, but thought it was unfair.

Dan was just around the corner of those reeds and it was a fancied peg apparently. See the picture of him behind me on the end of the spit.

The match began at 11:00 and I started on the lead and bread casting short of the aerator to start. A ten minute cast and no indication, so I cast a few metres further. Another 10 minutes and no indication so I was now already going close to the island. By this stage an odd early carp had been caught around the lake, Dan had a couple on bread, but Will and I were still waiting for a liner.

On the hour I had a tiny knock, then Will landed a 4lb F1. Ten minutes later I shipped the pole out with maggot and caught a little roach to save the blank. Back on the lead and needed a trick, so tried to ring Paul but he didn’t answer, as I put my phone down I looked back and my rod was bent in half, trick worked 🤣.  After a worrying time as this fish tried to get under the aerator it soon came in close and I was happy to land a 7lb carp. No more signs, so I went onto the pole but nothing on corn and just another roach on maggot.

I went onto the maggot feeder for an hour, didn’t get any carp but had two skimmers, a few roach and a Gudgeon. I didn’t feel this was right although John Harvey had said it would work, but the roach were feeding. Back on the bread and after a few chucks had a F1 and then a skimmer. I stayed on this longer than I wanted too as the sun was in my eyes and with the wind I couldn’t see my pole floats, in fact I couldn’t even see my tip at one stage and had to reposition it. 

I knew I was doing ok against the guys around me except Dan who was bagging on F1’s fishing to his right on the end of the spit. But I could see others on the lake were doing better. My 6m swim was full of roach despite feeding 2 pints of maggots I took a few of them as I could see the float here, but knew I needed carp so had to get on the lead as the corn line on the pole never gave me a bite all match sadly. No signs for me and with Will having a couple of F1 and skimmer on the pole (and now I could see it) I went back on my gbait and maggot line. I quickly had an F1, and knew I was ahead of Will but with about 30 minutes to go he hooked a carp on the pole. Eventually he netted a 10lb carp hooked in the tail and I congratulated him on landing it. I finally hooked another fish on the pole and as I shipped back the all out was called, a last minute skimmer was nice.

The guy off to my left on the other bank had seen about 25 carp top in his peg yet didn’t get any, he would end last in the section with 3 kilo, and the lad next to him with 7 kilo last but one. Behind me, peg 10 George Webb had 5 F1 for 8 kilo 775g, then Dan smashed the lake with 51 kilo of F1 on maggots. I weighed 8 kilo 450g and Will had 10 kilo 100g.  After this the weights just got better. Unfortunately take away Dan and the bottom 5 of my section came from my area of the lake. Clearly the topping carp were not feeding, maybe cleaning off leaches? But we were all left scratching our heads.

My fish today. Disappointed to only beat 2 people, but realistically beating 4 was the best I could have done. I never missed a bite on the tip and never lost a fish.

Paul had a great result coming second on his lake with nearly 30 kilos, all caught on bread in the first 90 minutes. 

Rob had a nice peg and was third with 30 kilos but John and Luke were in bad areas and only beat a few. On the drains our star was Andy who won his section with 193 fish for 5 kilo. Mike was 6th, but unfortunately James, Lee and Ian were all low down. That meant we ended in 17th place out of 28 teams, too many poor pegs but that’s winter for you. Barnsley Blacks won with local team Tackle and Bates runners up, well done to them very consistent performances.

We stopped for a bite to eat on the way home, Paul certainly had an appetite ordering two meals 🙈🤣. 

Well a bad result but I enjoyed spending time with the lads, meeting new anglers and a few others I had not seen for some time. Next got to try to get on the river before the end of the season!

Pleasure Fishing the Bristol Avon

The last couple of weeks have seen me working away, with last week me being in Holland. Weather was the same cold, damp and no sun. I hadn’t thought about fishing and so forgot to order any casters. There was a match at Newbridge which I forgot about and with no casters I was not going to compete. I hatched a plan to fish the lower Avon somewhere.

I was looking forward to getting back on the bank, and after watching the Gas win on Saturday was buzzing. I got wrapped up and loaded the van, then got a couple of pints of maggots from Premier Angling. Decided to stay here and fish the Crane, and pushed my trolley to the peg just over the cattle grid. This peg has a large Willow tree opposite that’s now badly damaged I assume from floods and wind, and so I set up a block end feeder for this. Also set up a 13BB crow quill for fishing about a third out.

I had about an hour on the feeder with no bites and then got snagged up and lost everything. I didn’t think it was worth setting up again so grabbed the float rod. Probably spent 45 minutes on this and was thinking this was not going to happen when a long way down the peg I hooked a chub. I was on 0.12 and pulled as hard as possible but it snagged me up. Onto 0.13 powerline, and hooked another chub in the same spot and this one also snagged me up. I then hooked one closer to me and got it out no problem, about 3lb. Nice to get one out!

I hooked what I think was a fouler as it was a dead weight and then it pinged off, this mead to a quiet spell. I then had a visit from my former school teacher and former match angler Roger Stone. Older anglers will remember Roger for sure, he told me he had not fished for 20 years and is himself 80 years old. Sad to say as we chatted and he asked me about certain anglers and I had to tell him many had passed away. Sadly I never had a bite whilst we chatted, but no sooner had he walked out of sight and I hooked another chub by the boat, and it was soon in the snag and gone. I tried fishing further out but I couldn’t get a bite there, the float had to be by the boat.

There’s lot of underwater weed and reeds on this peg, and to get the float to run down the side of the boat I had to cast further out and down and then slow it up to come in below the snags. I was going to keep trying and hope that a chub would swim out into the river, but I put a 0.15 hook length on now. That didn’t help much and I lost another 2 chub quite quickly one I got a lot further up to me but it still snagged me. They had all felt like decent size fish, so when I hooked the next one and it didn’t pull so hard I was hoping I could get it out. Success and a 2lb fish landed.

After a bit of a wait I hooked another chub, this one felt heavy and dead handy it swam out into the middle of the river. After a few nervous moments I got it in the net. It was my best one and probably 5lb. That was the last fish as a while later I snagged bottom and lost everything, an original topper float drifted off down river.

That was plenty of fun and not being a match I wasn’t worried about losing the chub. It would need a pole and Strong elastic approach sat next to the boat I think to keep the chub away from the snags.

Nice to hear the bream showed at Newbridge, with Jerry Pocock winning the match with 70lb. Think there were a few 50lb and plenty of back up weights. Shaun Townsend had 26lb of chub by the pumphouse to only beat one angler in his section. Dean Harvey had a bream of 8lb 14oz, huge!

One thing about today was despite the bitter cold I stayed warm, the Preston Celsius fleece is brilliant, and with my Sonubaits bobble hat I was toasty! Time to finish the prep now for the ATWL final next week, carp bingo for me need a draw 🙏🙏🙏