Windmill Fishery Open

 First thing today, thank you Matt Bridgwood for your comment on my last post, great that your daughter is enjoying her football! That must be a fair few years since you last fished, Silver Dace is a distant memory sadly.

Back to the here and now, after a lovely and relaxing weekend away last week I was looking to get back out on the bank this Sunday. Originally I was going to fish Tony Rixon's float only league as a stand in for Mike Nicholls, but Mike has had to pull out of the league so no place for me. Luckily I got one of the last places going on Windmill Fishery open and so was at least fishing a local match. 

I grabbed a large breakfast at Wetherspoons Sunday Morning and got to the fishery in good time. There were 20 fishing today and not much space for some, so I was fairly happy to draw peg 18 as peg 17 was left out. I have drawn this peg a few times now, and in fact my last match on May 1st was here and I drew peg 18. That day I never caught a carp and managed to win the silvers with 10lb, so I had this in mind as I was setting up.

Once again the far bank looks very good for carp, with some reeds and a tree over the water.

My right hand margin also has some reeds in it and with nobody on the next peg I hoped this might come good later.

I set up a 4x10 rig for fishing hard pellet over with 16 KKM-B to 0.15, a 4x12 edge float with 14 XSH to 0.17 for the margin. As I was setting up I saw a few bubbles coming up in the deep water, so I decided to knock some paste up, and set up a rig for fishing it at 11m. Lastly I set up a 4x12 rig for fishing for the silvers if I needed to.

The match started at 10:30 and I began by feeding a pot of 4mm pellets at 11m, fed some 6mm pellets across to the island / tree. Out on the paste and it was a short wait for a proper bite and fish on, first drop and a 4lb carp. Next drop in and I had a longer wait for a bite, but one came but sadly it was a fouler and it came off. Next drop a longer wait and a missed bite, and this was the end of any life on the paste line despite a few more looks here. I went across to the island 14.5m and soon had a bite, lost a fouler, lost another fouler and then all quiet. I tried the straight lead over by the tree and had a good few liners but no bites. I went out on the pole but this time at 16m and tried a bit of slapping, no good, and then tried on the deck, no good. It was arm aching holding 16m so spent a bit of time on the lead for nothing.

Three hours into the match and still only got the 1 carp, I had a few goes at the silvers but it was clear to me I couldn't catch them fast enough, 2 rudd, 1 roach and 2 perch, not good. Back on the lead and there were a lot of carp by the tree and liners were plenty, finally the rod ripped round, after a brief tussle fish came off, hmmm. Next cast and the rod nearly pulled in, but as I played the fish it went everywhere and I thought it was fouled and as it nearly went round the island the hook pulled. Near enough the next cast another carp hooked me, I took my time and realised this was also not hooked in the mouth, but I got this one out, it was hooked in the dorsal fin and was about 7lb. All activity on the far side ended after this.

I was fairly cheesed off 11lb in the net and really not going to do any good. I had begun to feed 4mm pro feed Sonubaits pellets and corn into the RH margin, in about 3 feet of water and 2 feet off the reeds. The reeds hadn't knocked or moved all day, but with 2 hours to go I spotted a shaking reed. Out I went with double corn on the hook, I had to pull the rig into the right place to get the bristle visible as the bottom was sloping away. I was probably only in the right spot for a few minutes before the float shot under, decent fish hooked and did not go into the reeds, landed an 8lb carp. I frustratingly then had a 20 minute spell where I missed three bites. I kept topping up with pellet and corn and was soon into another munter, nice common close to 10lb. The margin was not full of carp, I would set the trap and sit and wait for a fish to come in, sometimes I just had the bite, sometimes the float waved about, but always it took about 10 minutes to get another fish in the swim. However, every fish was worth the wait as they were big and hooked in the mouth! The biggest may have been close to 15lb, and was a common carp. When the all out was called I was feeling a lot happier about the match and reckoned I had put around 65lb in the net in the last 90 minutes.

I hadn't a clue how I had done, mid match Dean Harvey had walked around the lake and told me it was fishing really hard with only venue expert Shaun Townsend on peg 2catching a few carp. The scales got to me fairly early this time, and Gerry and Mandy Welsh thought I had struggled when I put 2 carp and a few silvers on the scales, they hadn't spotted my other net lol. My final weight was recorded as 75lb 5oz.

As it turned out I had done enough to win, as I stopped Towner from winning another match here as he came second with 59lb 15oz. Third was Gerry Welsh with 37lb 15oz and fourth Dave Haines 37lb 10z. Silvers was taken out by John Osbourne on peg 24 with 15lb 8oz.

Here's the board. Tough for some today.

Well it seems the break from fishing didn't do me any harm, Windmill has certainly been kind to me this year and it was nice to get some big fish from the margin today. I doubt I will fish next weekend as I have to find some time to prep for the week away at viaduct fishery, definitely need more rigs, hook lengths and new elastics. 

Non Fishing

 I thought I had better put a post on my blog this weekend as I have not been fishing for a couple of weeks and next weekend I shall also not be fishing. Just got a lot of other things going on and will be back on the bank I hope 29th May.

Better explain what has kept me off the bank though. Well last Saturday was just an amazing day for me, my family, friends and fellow Gas Heads. A 7-0 win at home, to gain automatic promotion is simply the stuff of dreams, and I don't care what anyone says, it truly is a day I'll never forget. The celebrations went on long into the night down Gloucester road as the adrenaline seemed to keep the effects of Thatchers Gold at bay. Eventually I had to get home, and was glad to fall into my bed. I was booked in to fish Windmill the following day, but when I woke up and could hardly walk to the bathroom I knew I was going to have to give it a miss. I sent a text to Gerry Welsh to advise of my no show, it's the first time I think I have had to do that and was most apologetic. I did pop out to the fishery when I felt well enough to do do (just before 4pm) and saw a few fish caught and the weigh in. I offered to pay the peg fee / pools but Gerry wouldn't take it from and said I had a perfectly good excuse, Up The Gas!

This Saturday I was very happy to be attending a 1 year old Birthday celebration in Birmingham, along with my wife and two daughters. It was a celebration of the campaign "Her Game Too" reaching its 1 year. If you did not know "Her Game Too" is all about female fans trying to raise awareness of sexist abuse in the game and to help clubs put in reporting systems, and get more women and girls to watch and play football. They sell merchandise and raise money and all of the profits go towards grass roots football. My eldest daughter is one of the co-founders of the campaign and what she and the other girls have achieved in 1 year is simply amazing. As you can imagine I fully support the campaign as why would any father /  husband not want his kids and wife to feel comfortable and safe at a game of football. Unfortunately not everyone see's things the same, and the girls have had at times some quite terrible stuff to deal with on social media and even at games. However, they keep on going! They now have over 157 clubs partnered with them, Bristol Rovers and Bristol City of course, and some teams in the Premier League like Everton, Leeds, Brentford and more. They have many supporters and Calum Best (son of George Best) who is chairman of Dorking Wanderers Ladies team, contacted them some time ago to get involved. Yesterday he did the opening speech of the event and stayed and watch the FA Cup final with everyone.  With mentions in Parliament, TV, Radio and winning awards, this campaign and its growing list of supporters will only go from strength to strength. 

Apologies for the non fishing post, but as you can imagine I am a very proud Dad.

Windmill Fishery Open

 I have to start this blog by passing on my condolences to the family of Bob Sheppard. I imagine most people know that Bob passed away last Sunday, I am not entirely sure of the cause of his passing and will not speculate. When I was an apprentice at Bendix I got to know Bob well as a co worker, and he had just joined our fishing team which was a real coup. Bob kind of took me under his wing, and took me fishing on many pleasure and match events, he battered me every time we went, river, canal, lake it made no difference. I knew if I could eventually beat Bob I would be a good angler. We used to have to take a 2 week shut down at Bendix, and the first week we would go fishing. Bob chose the venues and told me a bit about them, we fished places like Jack Whites, Tockenham, Barton Farm, Conham, Bath town and many others. The first year he did me 5-0, the next year 3-2 and then I beat him the next year to which he said I have taught you too much. He was a very positive angler, never afraid of anyone, and if he beat you on the next peg he would let you know! We had some great laughs when he, Kev Boltz, Paul Lumbard and many more were in the team, many stories are not to be put in print! Sadly Bob took a different branch in life, and I saw a lot less of him. I will will remember him for the good times and the help he gave me to make me a better angler, RIP Bob.

This bank holiday weekend was / is a busy one for me, and I only had the chance to fish on Sunday. I would have loved to have gone to Rochdale to watch the Gas (what a win!) but I had Dad taxi duties Sat and Monday. I managed to squeeze in a match at Windmill Fishery on Sunday so I was glad of a local match. Windmill is now under new management with three very good guys now going to do their best to improve the venue for many anglers, Dave Haines, Dave Wilmott and Kev Winstone are the three amigos. I wish them well, and already they have managed to improve the track to the fishery and get the pot holes filled! They have a ton of work ahead of them but plenty of good ideas. Both Daves were fishing the match today, and they let Gerry Welsh carry on his good job of running the Sunday open. There were 20 anglers fishing so not many spare pegs, into the bucket and I pulled out 18, a peg on the end of an island and one I have won from before, but has been iffy for some time this year.

I set up my pole for fishing straight in front to the reeds by the island, about 15m away. a 4x12 with 0.15 to 18 KKM-B for hard pellet in about 20 inches of water. I also set up a slapping rig and a margin rig for meat, and a lead rod for chucking to the end of the tree. Simples I thought. I was slightly worried by the lack of carp activity, no signs of any fish boshing or feeding.. I had venue manager and expert Dave Willmot on peg 17 and Itsman Puskas on 19 who has won a match or two at this venue. I started on the pole to the island, Dave was on the pellet feeder and Itsman on the method feeder. I had a couple of indications and then eventually hooked a carp, soon came off fouler. The indications went soon after and I could not find any joy here. Dave had a couple on the tip, so I underarmed a lead to the tree and hoped for a few pull rounds. Well other than a couple of liners this was also a waste of time.

After 2 hours of trying to catch a carp I was still without one, and blanking! Dave had 4 carp now, but most on my side of the lake were really struggling. Shaun Townsend on peg 5 on the other side was catching carp on the island steadily, and I was now sure that the carp were all on that side. I got off my box and set up a silvers rig 4x12 with a 20 SFLB to 0.10 accu power. I had some maggots with me and started feeding these sparingly at top set just to try and get a bit of a days fishing. Dave Haines opposite on peg 8 had fished for silvers since the start and had 6lb already, so I was fishing for second in silvers at best I thought. I began catching small roach and perch by fishing full depth on the drop, after about 40 minutes of this I had a couple of rudd and I shallowed up and got a few more rudd, these are about 4oz on average and definitely the weight builders. Just as I thought I was going to get a decent weight of rudd they backed off, and it was hard work to catch but I persevered. Eventually this close line was gone, and I went out to 6m where I managed to find a few more rudd and roach, but again it became really hard and I was catching very little. I could see Dave had been struggling for a while, so I thought I might be closer, as result I decided not to go for any late carp that might show and instead went over to the island feeding maggots for the last 30 minutes. It was hard work, but I picked up a few more rudd, roach and a perch, maybe a 1lb 4oz. 

I pulled my net out to see what I had, I thought it was 9lb, Hainer said he had 12lb. After a while Gerry Welsh and Mandy got to my peg weighing in, I was surprised to see Hainer top silvers with 10lb 1oz, and John Osbourne with 9lb 15oz in second. I put my fish in the weigh bag and Gerry said straight away this will be close! I got the verdict with 10lb 8oz, making the effort to go long was worth it.

The match was won by my Thatchers PI team mate Shaun Townsend who drew peg 5 and was on the carp side of the lake, he had a whopping 199lb 2oz. A long way ahead of runner up Steve Upton on peg 9 with 68lb 6oz. The top 4 were all between peg 4 and peg 10, also known as the carp zone! My side of the lake was very poor, Dave Willmott did best with 46lb 14oz, on my left Itsvan chucked back 2 carp.

Picture of the overall winner and silvers winner wearing our new Sonubait gear lol.

Weigh sheet of all anglers today.

Good luck to the new management team, they have a lot of work ahead of them to improve the fishery, but they are on the case and I wish them every success.

Mike Nicholls Match at Westerleigh Lakes

 I have spent a few days away last weekend and this at West Bay, my family spent all week there and I took them and brought them back. As I was coming back Saturday I was quite happy to fish a local match on Sunday, would have gone to Windmill probably, but saw Mike promoting this match at Westerleigh and thought why not as I have never fished it. I spoke to Glenn Bailey who gave me some idea of the the approaches and depths of the two lakes, I made up some rigs, tied hooks and even put some new Preston Dural Slip elastic in my top sets. I had plenty of bait as I had got some Sonubait Pro feed pellets in 4mm and 6mm which will cover most of my commercial needs. Also got a new Preston Hardcase Polesafe which is the business.

Sunday morning and grabbed a quick McDonalds to keep me going for the day and got to the fishery 30 minutes before the offical draw time. The match was split into two with each lake effectively being its own match. I was told that the old lake was deep with a central bar and had mainly small carp in it, the new lake with 3 or 4 islands had some F1's and carp with some big carp up to 15lb. I got drawn peg 9 on the new lake, it looked nice with  two islands in front of me, but the locals told me it is not always the best. The water in my lake was very dirty, whilst the other lake was clear.

The picture below shows the island that was in front of me.

This picture shows the island that was off to my left a bit.

Rig wise I set up a mugging rig for any cruisers, but that never happened. A couple of 4x10 rigs one for banded pellet by the island points in about 2 feet of water max, another for the RH margin for meat. A 4x12 for fishing meat down the shelf in about 3 1/2 feet. With the match starting at 10:15 I was ready on time, opposite me was Lee Massey on peg 5, and on 7 and 9 were local anglers Marcus and Brad. Knowing the venue is not stuffed full of fish I started off cautiously, feeding 4mm pellet by toss pot on the point of the island in front of me at 14m, and off to the far left island at 14.5m. I put a 6mm pellet in the band for starters and tried both islands. It was not a great start for me to be honest, I did get an early 3lb carp out which was fouled, and an F1, but I lost 4 or 5 fish. The second hour was not much better, a carp properly hooked, a few more F1's and more lost fish. Lee had a decent 2nd hour and was well ahead of me. The third hour was shite and at the halfway stage I had 9lb on my clicker and was well down on my lake. Lee had done well on pellet, he was fishing the same depth as me but to find that he was was a metre off the island, where as I was much closer. I did see a big carp up to my left that I tried to mug, the float shot under and I hooked it, but after a few minutes I saw it was hooked in the tail, and at nearly 15lb eventually I pulled out of it as it took me for a ride. The lake switched off for a bit, and Lee struggled for a while.

My head told me to try something different, and I changed to maggots, potting maggots in to the left island point and 2 maggots on the hook. It was a good move and I hooked two carp straight away, both were hooked in the mouth, but both came off and the maggot had gone over the point on both. This was not going to be my day, I had now pulled out of about 10 fish, bloody frustrating. I kept going on the maggot and was rewarded with an hour of bites, with a few carp and F1's and at last a bit of decent fishing and not losing anything. Of course this died off, as seemed the norm on the lake, get a couple of fish then nothing. I saw a boil in my RH margin and went down there with meat, I had 2 F1's in quick succession, that was it, did get another later but no more. I had also fed meat way off to my left at 13m hoping for some late decent carp, I had 1 bite here first try and an F1, then no more.

The match finished at 4:15 and I knew I had not done any good today. Lee had clicked 60lb, and I had clicked 33lb. Brad on 11 said he had 25lb, but I knew he had more than me.

Lee did win my lake with 52lb 12oz, he just beat Paul Barnfield who was on favoured peg 2 with 50lb, and peg had 38lb. Brad got 3rd on our lake with 45lb. Silvers was 5lb 12oz.  My net went 29lb.

On the old lake Glenn won with 50lb, some on pellet, some on paste and some on maggot! Dave Haines had 12lb of mostly skimmers to win the silvers on there. To get the full results and peg by peg run down check out Mike Nicholls blog.

That was a bit of a tough day for me. Can't remember the last time I lost so many fish, had enough on the hook to win the match, but need to hook them in the mouth! Nice to finally fish here, it is tough at the moment, maybe with some more warm weather it will improve. Glad I went and gave it a go.

Not looking like I will be fishing next weekend, and need to see what I can get booked onto for the future.

Windmill Fishery Open

 Last weekend was a bit crazy, I travelled down to Winscombe after work on Thursday for a couple of nights away with my wife. We had a lovely walk on Friday on the "Strawberry Line" and then had a tour of the Thatchers Cider plant at nearby Sandford. It was really interesting and nice to try a few different ciders, and I bought a selection in the shop after. All told we walked 12 miles on Friday, and after a nice meal and few ciders I slept like a log!

Lucky I slept well really as I was up bright an early to go home and get ready to catch a train to London, I was off to Wembley to watch England, I was with my eldest daughter and her friends. My first time in Club Wembley, and was treated to some lovely food and drink, and got to meet a couple of legends, Ray Parlour and Paul Merson. Those two guys were very nice and chatted away to all of us for ages.

The day out was great, until I had to stop a man falling back down an escalator, unsurprisingly I was knocked over but managed to keep hold of him. He had a nasty cut on his head, could of been worse, I had a badly bruised leg where it landed on the edge of a step, but nothing more. Got home at 1am, and slept well again!

Back to this weekend, and it was back to Windmill again, though the last few days cold weather and hard frost was bound to make it hard I thought, this would be right. Another breakfast in Spoons, on my own this time, and then got to the fishery in good time, a dozen anglers had turned up. I paid my pools to Mandy Salter, and then saw her partner Gerry Welsh was not fishing, he was there but he was not well as he had been robbed and beat up in the week, needing stitches in his head. There are some horrible bastards around, get well soon Gerry.

I hoped to draw a peg at the bottom end of the lake pegs 10 to 14, but once again I managed to avoid them, I was on peg 6 which hasn't been great this winter, but it is a peg that should be good as it warms up as there is a nice shallow area by an island which is 16m away.

The hard frost was being melted by the sun, and I soon felt quite warm as there no wind and the sun is getting stronger. I set up a rig to fish at just past 13m in about 3 ft of water, 4x12 F1 pellet with 0.15 powerline to a 18 KKM-B for pellet. I also set up a shallower rig for tight over that I would also use for slapping. I also set up a couple of silvers rigs (as I was thinking that with some good anglers on good carp pegs it might be my best chance of coin) a 0.4g Shipper and a 4x12 Chianti.

We started just after 10am, on my left Paul Staite on peg 8, and on my right Steve Salter on peg 4 both started on the lead. I fed a small amount of 4mm pellets out at 13m, and 3 balls of groundbait off to my left at 11m. I shipped out with a 6mm pellet in the band and sat for 10 minutes without a sign, I decided to put a piece of corn on and after a few minutes I had a bite but never hit it. In fact in the first hour trying either pellet or corn I must have had a dozen bites and never hooked a thing, liners or small fish? Paul had a carp on the lead but not much had come out after an hour, but the air was blue down on peg 11 where Leighton Palmer was getting rather annoyed by the angler on 10 casting into areas that Leighton believed were his peg. I did have a chuckle to myself, lol. As I was blanking I tried the gbait line, I had a small roach first drop, then a 1 1/2lb+ skimmer next drop. Unfortunately I never saw another skimmer, and the small roach quickly petered out, and never came back.

I was back on the pole and the indications were few and far between, I also tried the lead as much as anything to see if I got any liners, and I did get a couple but no bites. Three hours in and I had been firing a few 6mm pellets across to the island and slapping but still nothing, and all of a sudden there were a few carp in the swim as I could see them. I caught my first carp just short of the island and it was about 8lb, it took a while for the carp to return but then I hooked one that swan into peg 7 and snagged me up about 9m out. I lost another carp, a fouler, and then hooked another that was fouled. This one was in the tail and after a long battle I netted another 8lb carp. I lost another fouler and then caught one slapping. With three carp in the net I was doing well, and things were looking up, but the sun had been replaced by clouds and the carp left the shallow water. The next two and a half hours were devoid of any fish activity, I could not get any indications on any of my lines, nor in the margins. For the umpteenth time I tried the 13m line again and I had a bite straight away, came back with a scale, next drop same result, grrrr. I picked up the slapping rig and nailed a carp, there were only 15 minutes left when I hooked it. Landed that one and went  back out and after a few minutes got another which I landed with 1 minute left. That was the end of the match, I thought I had 30lb of carp and my silvers.

It wasn't long before the weigh in started, and 28lb was best from the top end peg 25. Steve had 2 carp for 15lb 1oz, and my 5 carp went 29lb 9oz, my silvers 3lb 2oz, 32lb 10oz total. I wasn't expecting to do any good with that as expected to be beat by 10, 11 and 14, so I carried on packing up and didn't follow the scales. However, when I got back to the car park I was happy to find out I had come 3rd and last in the money.

1st Antonio Barson peg 10 44lb 12oz, mainly on the method feeder (allegedly in Leightons peg lol)

2nd Nick Sanders Peg 14 (again!) 38lb 11oz.

3rd Tim Ford Pe 6 32lb 10oz

4th Leighton Palmer peg 11 31lb 3oz (chip shop sausage).

Silvers was won by Tony Bailey with 11lb 11oz on peg 20.

Those last two late carp got me into the money today, I wish they had returned a little earlier. I know though I made a mistake by not fishing the slapping rig more when the fish first turned up, you live and learn. Still 4 matches here this year and 4 pick ups which is nice. 

A big thanks to Gerry and Mandy for running these matches, here they are pictured with Mandy's brother Steve who was pegged next to me. No fishing for me next weekend, as running a few errands.