Avalon Fishery Xmas Match

It seems quite a while since I have wet a line although it was only a couple of weeks. I wasn't even sure I would be going this weekend due to the mother-in-law still being in hospital, but by Thursday it was decided I would go. I fancied a bit of maggot fishing but both Harescombe and Hill View advised me their matches were fully booked. Tony Rixon advised me of the Avalon Fishery Xmas match and so I called Vic Bush and got in.

Set the alarm for 6am Sunday morning, and it was pleasantly mild again as I loaded the car. I got myself to Shipham for breakfast where there were plenty of anglers already tucking in. One of them was Craig Edmunds who told me 10 years ago the birds were all over him, now he said he can't pull a bird for toffee! After a bit of banter I was on my way again and got to Avalon with time enough to get all the gear out and onto the trolley. Vic announced he was paying the top overall weight and the top silvers weight only, with all the other money gone into the prizes. Not a clue where I wanted to draw and so when I stuck my hand in the woolly hat and pulled out 32 I was looking for advice. Most people said OK but not really where the main carp weights had been showing. That said what I do like about this venue is that you're never sure of where it will be won.

Got to the peg and passed a couple of top class anglers on the way, James Cooper and Tom Magnal who would be hard to beat. I had plenty of room to my left but a tree in the water made it tricky to take advantage of the space, the next angler to my right was Phil Dodd on peg 30. The lake was flat calm at this stage but the forecast today was for some wind and showers. I had a little island opposite me but was advised to avoid fishing to the end due to snags.

I set up a 10ft Preston mini carp rod for the straight lead with a 16 PR36 to 0.16 for fishing a hard pellet. I also set a stumpy 5AAA waggler just in case the wind stayed OK with again 0.16 to 16. Two pole rigs were assembled, a 4x20 with 0.12 to 18 PR434 for 13m and 8m, also a margin rig with a 4x14 to 0.16 to 16. On the all in I fed some micro pellet at 13m, some 4mm pellet int he margin and pinged a few 8mills out to the island and to a spot in the open water. As the wind had picked up (why does it do that?) I chucked the lead out to begin with and hoped I'd get a lucky resident carp. It didn't happen for me but in the first 30 mins I think I saw 3 carp landed on the tip. Without a sign I had an early look on the 13 micro line, but after 20 mins here trying soft pellet or maggot I was still waiting for a bite. On the other side of the lake on peg 19 Mike West had lost 2 carp from his margin, so I took a look in mine, I snagged up every time here so I plumbed up a little further out and refed it.

Back out on the lead and bang on the hour mark the tip flew round, a small carp of about 2 1/2lb was landed. I cast back out with renewed hope but it seemed like a one off as the tip stayed still. Everything was quiet and from what I could see nothing much was happening, I decided to start throwing maggots by hand out to about 8m hoping to draw a few small fish and maybe a carp or two later. Around the second hour mark the wind dropped a little and so I decided to give the waggler a little go, throwing it out with an 8mm pellet on I wasn't sure what would happen. The wind was still a pain but on my third cast I had a bite but didn't connect. I then took a call from Glenn Bailey and wedging my phone in my hood (as it was now raining) I carried on with the wag and after a few minutes had another bite and hooked one. This fish wasn't massive but it was fighting a bit weird,when I did net it I could see why I had hooked it under the chin, it was about 4lb. I gave the wag another 15 mins and lost a fouler when I never even had a bite, but the wind then got so bad I had to stop.

The lead was not working for me, and I seemed to be reeling in twigs most casts which is not what you want. I tried the 13m pole line again but nothing and I never did have a bite on this all day! Dropping in on the 8m line with double maggot I was happy to see the float go under and pick up a 4oz hybrid, not long after I had a 4oz roach. A few more smaller roach and then time to rest it as bites were really at a premium. Three and a half hours in and I had another pull round on the tip, I'd cast a bit more to the left which seemed to avoid the twigs. This carp was safely landed and was about 4lb. Again nothing else and I felt the carp were up in the water but I couldn't fish the wag as the wind was a nightmare. The maggot line produced a couple more small roach and then I bumped something, maggot over the hook, damn. Within a few minutes of doing this I had a positive bite and caught a 1lb+ skimmer. I then went without a bite for a while but I felt there might be a better fish and stayed on it, I was proved right as hit a bite and a decent amount of elastic came out but after about 6 or 7 seconds it came off. There was no reason for it, but this is the way things can go in winter with fish not feeding positively.

Everything went dead after this, and even when the wind did drop a bit the wag only produced 1 indication. Mike West had now lost 7 carp from his margin (none in the net) and I decided to give mine the last 30 minutes solid. With about 15 mins to go I had a proper bite and was attached to a very good fish, I pulled steady thinking it would just swim out in the open water. Bad angling on my part I didn't see where the fish went and should have pulled a lot harder, it got near the next pallet and I was snagged up solid. It turned out the carp had put my hook into a piece of wood (an old part of the platform) which was about 3 foot below the surface. Gutted it felt a proper un, and I never had anything else. As the match ended the wind dropped, why does it do that?

The scales came down from peg 48, and top weight was Tom Magnal with 24lb, The guy to my left had 5lb+, my silvers went 3lb 4oz and my 3 carp went 11lb 5oz for a total of 14lb 9oz. Phil Dodd to my right had taken 2 decent carp on the feeder and weighed 13lb 12oz. The top weights were :-

1st Eric Fourace 28lb 13oz (10 small carp from peg 5)
2nd Dereck Beard 26lb 15oz
3rd Tom Magnal 24lb
4th Steve Fouracre 23lb 1oz
5th Rob Dodd 18lb 14oz
6th Me 14lb 9oz

Matt Challenger won the silvers with 8lb 4oz, this was mainly made up of two decent bream.

Vic and his wife had put on some lovely soup and bread, and home made mince pies. The prizes were also top notch with rods and hampers for the top performers, I was really chuffed to pick up my prize, kept the wife happy too!

Well that is it now until after Christmas, not sure when I will be going again as I do have a busy Christmas hol, hopefully I'll sneak out at some stage. Anyway here's wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas, hope you have a good one and drink eat and be merry.

January/February 1997

Fishing has taken a back seat, last weekend I was full of cold and my sinuses were playing up, I'm still coughing and bunged up today. The mother-in-law had to go in hospital for a 6 hour heart operation this week which has been a bit stressful, and I have purposely not booked any matches for now. To be honest I wouldn't have been in a fit state to fish Sunday after a day on the lash watching Rovers yesterday. It was a great day out with the wife, youngest daughter Emma and her boyfriend Mitch, and good friends Glenn Bailey, Paul and Andrea Benson and organiser Mark and Bern Jefferies. Starting at 12:30 at the ground and ending about 10:30 at the Essex I was not very steady on my feet.

Picked up another diary today as we move into 1997, December 1996 had been very, very cold, so much so that the Avon in Bath froze over! Temperatures climbed a little and I decided to pleasure fish the river in Bath near Norfolk Crescent. I had a nice day on the waggler fishing maggots and catching 10lb of dace, it was a day when I had to vary the depth to keep bites coming, and try to hit them. I took a walk downstream towards the end of the day, and just above the green bridge was Kevin Boltz who was also fishing a waggler. However, unlike me Kev had not caught a single dace but had 25 chub for about 60lb fishing 5 feet deep. Most matches were cancelled this weekend, with the Avon at Melksham froze over and the canal ice was 4" thick.

The following weekend we had the first night without frost for 3 weeks, I pleasure fished the Avon up at Laycock with Des Shipp and Steve Mayo, none of us had a bite! On Saturday 18th I was back at Moorlands Farm for their winter league, I drew peg 15 on Moors pool. It was a difficult match with the corners dominating, I only had 1 small carp of a 1lb but some roach and 2 small skimmers on worm and maggots got me 6lb 13oz for 12 points out of 19, my 4 man team were 3rd on the day and 2nd overall in the league at this stage.

With all this cold weather fish on the river were shoaling up, and if you were on them you would sack up big time (just like Kev Boltz). Bream appeared on the shallowest water on the top of chequers straight and people were catching up to 40 of them on waggler and caster. The Rod Hill Memorial match was being fished on the Avon around Keynsham and so a draw at Chequers would be handy, of course I didn't draw there! I drew a peg at Jack Whites (downstream of Siston Brook) in the cow drink, a peg I've had before. It was an out and out feeder day for me, and I had just 1 bite all day, thankfully I connected with the fish and landed a 3lb 4oz chub. That was handy as nobody else in the section caught and so I picked up 1st and 2nd section money lol! Chequers was the place to be and lots of bream were caught down there.

The following weekend was a double header at Moorlands, the w/l on Saturday was dreadful for me. 3lb 8oz from peg 40 on Meadow and only 10 points from 19. Sunday and I fished an open on the venue and drew peg 15 on bank pool. I really wasn't happy with this peg, it is on the end of the pool and your hemmed in by the anglers around you, and the wind was blowing into my face. As I was setting up though the wind turned around completely and was now off my back! I decided to set up a waggler and a maggot feeder as well as the pole, but the waggler was my main method fishing with just 3 no 10's down the line and and a 20 to 0.10. It was a slow match and everyone was struggling but I thought it might be my lucky day when I managed somehow to land a 6lb carp hooked in the tail. Five more carp and 1 big skimmer later and I weighed 21lb 11oz to come 2nd overall. I was back here two weeks later for the last round of the w/l and I drew peg 7 on Moors. Straight away Des and Steve told me this peg had a hidden feature, a gravel bottom around 6m out and that I should find this and fish over it. Plumbing up and dragging a plummet around it was easy to find the gravel patch. I used a heavy 1/2grm float with 18 to 0.12 and fed casters lightly, on the hook double caster or double red maggot did the business. I had a nice steady days fishing, ending with 17 carp for 49lb 13oz, and that was enough to win the match. It was a great day as the team came 2nd on the day and 2nd overall, and I picked up nearly £300 as a result!

Saturday 22nd February and I Was on the K&A canal at Limpley Stoke fishing a seniors and juniors pairs match, sadly I cannot remember the junior I was paired with. However, he would have been happy as I won the match with 4lb 7 1/2oz and we won the pairs too! I had 4 skimmers on punch and some gudgeon on pinkie.

I hope I can fish a match next weekend before Xmas, but I've just remembered I need to get my no 5 section fixed!

ATWL Final Round K&A Canal Bath

Phew, what a week. Work was especially busy and a tad stressful at times, but Tuesday night my eldest daughter wins two tickets to the PDC players championship darts at Minehead on the Friday, and that meant I was going. Drive to Taunton, pick up daughter, drive to Butlins, get tickets and find were VIP's sat on the same table as the darts players families right next to the walk on. Really enjoyed it although I was sober, next time I go to darts I will have a few bevvies!

Saturday and went by train to Exeter with the wife and former fishing team mates Paul Benson and Mark Jefferies. Surprised the daughter who did not know we were going and she burst into tears of joy, how I kept it a secret the day before I never know! Watching the Gas in the stand was a pleasure, they played well and the strong wind and rain were kept well away from me. Same couldn't be said for Benz and Podge who were stood in the open exposed to the elements, I think I may have mentioned it once or twice after as they dried out in the Wetherspoons and we got wetter inside lol!

After all this fun I was looking forward to day 3 of the long weekend on the last ATWL match, this time bloodworm and joker were allowed. It was forecast to be windy with very strong gusts and a draw out of the wind would be nice, the town was pegged today with 4 sections down there, good fishing but peggy as hell. John Harvey did the team draw and he came back and gave me D5, which was end peg at Darlington. Sounds good, but there were 3 pegs in the tunnels which can be very good and would definitely be sheltered.

Got to Darlington and nearly lost the car door as the wind ripped it from my grip, hmmm. Pushed the gear past the gate, and onto the towpath, peg D4 was just as you got to the towpath and was sheltered from the worst of the wind, my peg a mere 50 yards along was in the wind, hmmm. It was bad, very bad and I decided that other than top sets only my short no4 and 5m section were being gingerly removed from the holdall. I tried to get everything as close and as tight to me as I could. The picture doesn't do it justice, the video below may, but believe me it got much worse towards the end!!!

My options were severely reduced by my limited length of pole, but I set up in hope of a few fish as I was sure a decent weight would be needed in this section. I assembled a 0.4g punch rig, a 0.4g bloodworm rig for top set, a 0.5g for chopped worm and a 4x18 rig which didn't get used. I could only see Steve Hutchinson on peg 4, he was able to put a brolly up, had I done the same I would have flown across Bath ala Mary Poppins... Forty mins before the start and the fuel boat comes down, he's slowing down in my peg and churning up the canal a treat (see video). He refuels the boat to my left and goes on his way churning it up again. Plenty of colour now but hopefully it would calm down before the start.

 10:30 arrives and I do my best to feed a ball of bread on my long line top set +2, then a bit of joker on my topset line. Starting on a large punch I never had a bite, but the presentation was piss poor with the top foot of the canal towing with the wind. I tried a smaller punch and caught a few small roach, but it was all wrong and I was missing bites due to presentation. I stuck the rig 3 inches over depth and put a pinkie on, the float was bobbing up and down in the breakers but I did see it go under and a 2oz roach was netted, and I took a few more although it was not really fast. I stuck on a big red maggot to see if I could increase the quality, and it worked as I hit a skimmer of about 1lb but sadly it was a loner.

After about an hour the boat on my left moved off giving my peg another churn up. I fed some more bread and now some chopped worm to my right, the small roach, gudgeon and odd little perch were soon back over the bread and it was a good battle of the elements. Of course it died about 20 mins later when the boat returned and moored up again in the same place only facing a different way, more churn, fer fecks sake!!!  I dropped in on the top set and was catching little roach on pinkie, would you believe it was even hard to present the rig right here. I did get a couple of net perch of this line, 4 ouncers. I was thinking about what to feed on my long line when the John Rennie came through, huge boat this and it gave the peg another churn. Once it had all settled down I feed a decent amount of joker and caster just to the left of my bread line (down wind!).

It was probably around now that my no4 and 5 section were picked up by a gust and landed against the wall behind me, somehow they did not break. Had a look on the chopped worm line and had an immediate response with 2 perch and 2 ruffe, but then nothing, so a refeed and back to the top set which would be alright for a few quick fish and then nowt. I wanted to feed a bit of gbait but alas I'd not mixed any, and trying to pour some into my mixing bowl was futile as it was blown out before I could wet it, hmmm.

A boat came down and the owner said she was going to moor in front of me, I explained politely that she wasn't but she could at 3:30pm. She wasn't happy and as the rear of the boat was in front of me here husband opened the throttle (ask Mat Challenger he saw it happen!), more churn!!

The wind was now gusting with increased strength and I was a tad concerned, my pole roller had been knocked over by a large piece of insulation board, no idea where that came from, and bits of wood were being blown of a boat to my right towards me. I had to remove the stake from the bottom of my keep net as it was being blown clear of the water with the fish losing vital oxygen. Holding on to my pole 2+2 was becoming almost impossible, I took off the 4x18 rig and put on a 0.7g rig for fishing over the joker. Fishing about 4 inches over depth it was quiet at first, but with about an hour to go I had a little flurry of bites, a near 8oz roach and a 8oz skimmer were netted with great difficulty and unhooked with even more difficulty as everything was being blown around. N

I had some barren spells and some when the float kept going under with little roach, I think if I could have fished longer I would have caught a lot more, but it would have been folly to do so. About 5 minutes from the end, as the darkness and worsening winds made me think hell had arrived, one major gust managed to snap my no 5 section in my hands. OK I give up time to pack up.

I was trying to keep a brave face on things but knew the tunnel pegs would beat me. In fact Paul Purchase won the match from the tunnel with 16lb 8oz, he only had 14lb of that in the first hour, big skimmers on bread! Jammy git lol!  Next to him Nicky Johns had a high 7lb thanks to a bream which pulled the elastic out of his pole when he was trying to get his brolly out. My weight of 5lb 10oz was much more than I thought, and meant I was 3rd.

Back at the results and some lucky anglers had enjoyed a peaceful day, others had endured the wind, but I can assure you had the match been pegged further down Darlington today it would have been carnage. Top 4

1st Paul Purchase 16lb 8oz
2nd Vince Lunn 15lb 5oz (end peg Richardsons, no wind)
3rd Shaun Townsend 14lb 13oz (end peg Long Pond  he said "I won't catch 1lb out of this peg it is shit!")
4th Colin Dance 14lb 5oz (on his own in horseshoe pond, a lot of big roach all caught on top 4)

Team wise Thatchers won on the day by a single point from Bathampton and that meant Thatchers won the league. Top individual was John Harvey and Liam Braddell won the knockout.

I was a tad peed off after, I feel luck has really deserted me this Autumn on the winter leagues, despite having some good days often it has been a challenge. However, this happens in fishing and things will change again I am sure.

I think after today I deserve one of these..

Commercial House Round 4 - K&A Canal

It was positively warm Sunday morning without the strong northerly wind, OK it was cold and there was ice on my car but it was still warmer than yesterday. Got to the draw with a bit of time to spare today and so had an egg & sausage bap whilst chatting to the lads. Plenty of ringers in today, with Dave Stiff, Paul Barnfield, Chris Ollis (yes really) and a young lad called Andrew Cranston (look out for him one for the future).

There was no bloodworm allowed today because this match was supposed to be on the river, but on Weds it was decided to put it on the canal. After seeing how hard everywhere fished yesterday I was thinking today could be a toughie unless you drew well. Team draw was done by Mark Harper, and he put himself on a great peg, one past the swingbridge up past Bathampton bend. I was in D section at Meadow Farm, and had 3 end pegs in the section so was up against it. Got to the canal and Rich Candy is on the flyer on the Bath side of the bridge, Tony Gilbert on the flyer t'other side of the bridge. Andy Britt was on 7, and I was on 8 with Martin Reyatt was on the end peg of our section on 9. Andy was gutted and said we were in the worst bit, it was narrow here only 10m wide, meanwhile Martin had a lovely bit of decking to fish up against and I fully expected him to beat me. Any said he though Vinny Lunn would win the match, I made a counter prediction that Mark Harper would win, and also that I'd get 1 point!  My peg below, with the sun in my face.

Setting up today was quicker without B&J rigs, a bread rig of 0.4g with 18 PR311 to 0.07, a caster rig 4x10 with 0.08 to 18 PR311, a worm rig with 14 B611 to 0.14, and finally a small fish across rig 4x12 with 20 PR311 to 0.07.

Just before the start Martin wandered down and had a pee behind me, there was a tree swing cut back in and so it was a safe place to pee. As soon as Martin vacated I took my turn to empty my bladder, but (I blame it on my woolly hat) I turned round the wrong way and smacked my head into a tree. Ouch, it hurt, really hurt and soon after I had a small egg size lump appear, plonker! Never mind if I can see two floats I might do better.... I shout the all in, cup in a decent ball of bread just past 4m, and some worms down to a boat, then a few casters were potted across. I started positive with an 8mm punch and lowered the rig in, it drifted to the right with the tow and didn't dip. I lifted it out and repeated the process, and did it again, 3 drops with the same punch no indication. I dropped the rig in above where I cupped my bread in and as the float was settling it shot under, my strike was met with firm resistance, skimmer. I held the pole and very slowly shipped back, by the amount of no4 elastic out this was a decent fish. I broke down to the top 2, turned to get my landing net, looked back to the water and saw a 2lb fish below my top set. I then saw my rig fly up in the air and the 2lb skimmer laid flat for a second or two as if to say "look at what you could have won" and then twitched and swam off. I did shout out in anger, think it was the lump on my head made me do it.  Never mind where there is one skimmer there is sure to be...... none! That was it, not another bite, and I mean not another bite on small punch or anything.

Thirty mins in and I fed a cup of bread 9m up the canal on the same depth, this was a good move in that it avoided the blank, I took a 1oz roach and 7 pairs of eyes, and after an hour that was it. I got up for a walk, Martin only had 6 fish and was struggling like me, but to my right Andy and Mat Challenger had skimmers and the other anglers had roach and small skimmers. I was 3lb to 4lb behind already. Now when you can't get a bite and you've not got b&j and you're 3lb behind big fish are probably all that will claw it back. I tried my worm line and caster lines all to no avail, also biteless. I was loose feeding a few casters to another part of the far bank and I did get a dink there but no more.

Feeling bored, fed up and with a muzzy head (not helped by staring into the sun) I decided to put bread in against the far bank and use my 4x12 rig with punch. This was a good switch as I could get a bite a chuck here from five to the ounce roach!!!! I tried a bigger punch and that was no good at all, a 2mm punch was the only way to get a bite. I fed 2 chopped worm swims way off to the left and right, one fed heavier than the other in the hope of nailing a perch. Back to the bread across for more pairs of eyes. I settled into a rhythm, catch 10 see through roach and then have 15 mins looking for a perch. I did manage a 4oz perch on my caster line, a 4oz perch on the worm, and managed to foul a 2oz perch in the dorsal fin. That was how my match panned out and I knew I was beat up.

Martin had managed to catch a dozen perch against the decking and was glad he had them, 4lb 6oz, My sprats went 2lb 1oz. I was chip shop sausage when Andy Britt put 4lb 1oz on the scales and then Matt won the section with 4lb 15oz of skimmers. Matt told me he hardly had a fish after the first 25 mins!!! Sadly my prediction came true and I had 1 point for the team, I did beat 2 in the B div but that was scant consolation. Even Rich Candy on his flyer managed to beat me and he packed up 1 hour early getting the time mixed up, PMSL!!!

I also got my other prediction correct with Mark Harper winning with 11lb 12oz of mainly roach up to 12oz on bread then casters, a lovely net of fish there. 2nd was that excellent angler Paul Purchase with 6lb 8oz, young Andrew Cranston came 3rd with 6lb 6oz, Mike Kent 34th from Darlington with 6lb 4oz. Bathampton won on the day and now lead the league with the next two matches being on the canal in 2016.

What a shite league I have had so far, it is by far my worst since, well I cannot even remember lol! My day got even better when I got home to find the electrics in my shed weren't working despite no fuses or trip switches blown, so I fumbled around in the dark and managed to trip up over my trolley. Feck me what a day.

Next week back on the canal for the last ATWL with B&J.

Bob Gullick Birthday Bash - Sedges

Some time ago I received a message from Bob Gullick asking if I would like to fish a match at Sedges to celebrate his 50th birthday. It was to be a silvers match on Brick Lake and with a free brekkie and tea and cake thrown in how could I refuse!

Got to say I have not been feeling to well this week and when I awoke 5:30 Saturday morning and heard the howling wind and sleet I was thinking I really would rather stay in bed. However, it would be poor show to let Bob down so I got on with it and put on lots of extra layers. As soon as I started to load the car I knew winter had arrived, gloves and woolly hat were also needed.


Here's a picture of Bob and his birthday cake which tasted very nice.

Bob and the 19 invited anglers all met in Parkway Cafe in Bridgwater, there were loads of drawbags and great silvers anglers in there. I had a nice breakfast and most people went for the normal size, but Dom Sullivan had the large and it was a big un!!!  At the fishery and the cold Northerly was hammering down the lake, pegs 6 to 10 and 11 and 12 looked the calmest, with the other end and especially 18 to 20 looking really rough. I pulled out peg 3 which I didn't fancy one bit, the skimmers aren't usually here in numbers and the wind would make life very awkward, but with £40 for the 4 peg section it was worth a shot. My section was Russ Peck on peg 2, Alan Oram on peg 4 and Dom Sullivan was on peg 5 and I thought he was favourite.

I kept the set up very simple, a 0.8g wire stem float with 0.10 to 18 PR412, and a medium feeder with 0.128 exceed to 16 PR412. Although the wind was bad I felt I could fish between 11 and 13m so plumbed up here, it was deeper by a few inches at 11m. This little video clip shows what the wind was like before the match.

When the hooter went to start I fed some micros at 11mm, 3 balls of gbait at 13m and then cast the feeder out with double maggot on the hook. It was a slow start for me, but Dom had an early small skimmer and over on 17 Gary O'Shea had a tench first cast on the tip. After about 25 mins I snared a 1oz roach on the tip and I did miss another bite probably from a roach. After 40 mins I had no more so picked up the pole and tried a soft pellet over the micros, nothing, not a bite. Right onto a red maggot on the hook, a bite and a little 2oz skimmer which I tried to swing and the wind blew it off the hook. Over the 13m line and nothing not a bite. Back over the micros and I had a tiny roach  but nothing else,

Nicky Ewers on peg 1 had 2 skimmers on the tip, and although Russ and Alan were biteless on it I decided to give it another go. It was more difficult to cast precisely as the wind was getting stronger so bad casts had to be retrieved, but when I landed on the spot within a couple of minutes I had a positive bite and struck. There was a decent fish attached but not a skimmer, probably a bloody carp, but as there was £20 for the top carp weight I played it carefully. When the fish popped up and I saw it was a tench I was dead happy, and in the net it went. Next chuck and the tip flies round again, another tench? Not this time sadly, it was a carp. I played it carefully and it came in slowly but then decided it wanted to see Alan Oram and soon after the hook length parted. That knocked the feeder on the head and I rested it again.

Back on the pole and everything was rock hard, I had to go well over depth as the trip was bad. A little roach and a tiny skimmer from the micro line and nothing from the gbait line, in fact I never had a bite at 13m so no more of that! Alan then had a decent skimmer on the pole and lost a carp. At this stage I was winning our section.

The rest of the match was rock hard, Alan got an eel and was close to my weight, Dom fouled a skimmer and was also close. All I managed was another little skimmer and a rudd on the feeder, and a couple more tiny fish on the pole with pinkie. To be honest I was really getting cold and couldn't wait for the end of the match to come. At the all out it was clear it had been a struggle for all.

Jamie came up with the scales Nick had 3lb on peg 1,  Russ had 12oz, my tench and bits went 3lb 2oz, Alan's 2 fish went 2lb 14oz and then Dom weighed 2lb 12oz. Ken Rayner was pleased to tell me with a chuckle I'd won the £40 with my lowly weight lol!

The silvers winner was local ace Eric Fouracer who had 3 bream on the feeder for 8lb+, just beating Matty Toomes who had just a few decent skimmers on the pole. Accidental (not so accidental) carp winner was Ken Rayner with 6 carp on the lead for 40lb. Ken was on peg 19 and chucked into peg 20 as Dave Roper never bothered to fish the peg. It was good to warm up with a cup of tea and a piece of Bob's birthday cake, and Bob had won his section (4 corners of lake) so had some birthday money. I did ask Bob if he could move his birthday to July as it would have been a bit warmer lol! Thanks for the invite Bob, I hope you enjoyed your birthday.

Fishing again tomorrow the Commercial House on the canal up at Bath, hope I get a lot more bites tomorrow!