Thursday 14/02/2019 - Plantation - Tony Rixon and Paul Faiers Silvers only - Main Lake

We were promised a bright sunny and warm Valentines day and that's exactly what we got. Anyone not convinced of global warming would have been today with how hot the sun felt.

First stop for Geoff and me, the Bridge Inn for breakfast. This in't one of my favourite places to eat. The black tea was OK.

A quick walk around the Lake with Geoff which revealed nothing. Tony limited the match to weight chasing 16, whereas I think 19 to 20 would acceptable. Into the draw box and out comes peg 1. This happened to be permanent peg 1, which would have been one of the last three of choices. At least a short walk, but it is outside the toilets and the entrance to the fishery which meant plenty of visitors for me today. For company I had the affable Paul Barnfield, who managed to get through the match without too much moaning. The other side on peg 16 was someone new to me and spent most of the time on his mobile.

Out of sympathy Tony said my peg was black with Roach - Yea right. Still with this in mind I set up the Ronnie rig, but was concerned that the Ronnies might not come in close enough, so as backup I set up the 4 metre whip with a home made small waggler. Both to fish six inches off bottom. Final rig was a 4x12 Winter Titan to fish at 10 metres at full depth which meant my pole went across the toilet path, so eyes and ears open in case.

Set up so had a walk up to Two Pots peg and noticed something interesting on his bait tray.  asked him what it was (pictured right) "Dead Maggots" Hum, you decided. Apparently Tim Ford gave them to him - what are friends for! Like to see him feed these in a catapult.

To get in coin from this peg  thought I would have to catch Ronnies short. But first I tested the peg at 10 metres by feeding GB laced with maggot. With single on the hook I had a Ronnies straight away and kept this up for half hour but realising it was far too slow I went on the Ronnie rig with caster - nothing so switch to loose fed maggot and caught two 3 oz Ronnies the longer line was more productive, so abandoned this and after feeding a ball of GB on the whip line fished this for an hour or so catching Ronnies much quicker. The swim slowed but was rewarded with a 2 lb Skimmer. After 10 minutes without a bite made the decision to fish the match out on the 10m metre line with the hope of more Skimmers. I was finding the fish had moved up in the water so shallowed up. I then chose to feed a mix of loose maggot and GB with a hard ball so feeding all areas. I found that the fish would only take a moving bait (I was now wishing I set up the waggler). I lost a bit of time working this one out but started to catch a mix of Hybrids, Ronnies and Skimmers to 1 lb regularly and was enjoying the fishing and sunshine. Unfortunately I lost 4 to 5 of these pounders without reason. I thought the match was ending at 16:15 so half hour before the all out I re-fed only to hear the all out at 15:45!! Duh.

I weighed 20 lb nearly exactly just missing out on a pick up by a pound or so. As seen by the weigh sheet it was a very close affair. No point on dwelling on the lost fish which probably cost be first or second. The Silvers are in excellent condition which is more than I can say about the one Carp caught - My guess angers using barbed hooks.

The match was won by Dave Wride with 24 lb 8 oz from peg 10. Dave caught on the pole in the water using his favoured soft pellet and micro/hard 4's approach.

Runner up was Paul Faiers (pictured right) with 22 lb 9 oz from next peg 12.

Geoff and I decided to stop on the way home for food, so choose the motorway route unfortunately there had been a fatal accident in the ring road rendering all of North east Bristol gridlocked. Anyway we managed to circumnavigate most of it arriving at our Curry House dead on opening time. Geoff got me off a four months waggon with a pint of draft  Cobra - my favourite - Geoff Valentine pictured right. Excellent curry.

Result:

1. Dave Wride 24-08-0 peg 10
2. Paul Faiers 22-09-0 peg 12
3. Andy Gard 21-13-0 peg 5
4. Mike Jones 21-05-0 peg 15
4. Shawn Kitteridge 21-05-0 peg 8
6. Mike Nicholls 20-0-0 peg 1

Weigh Sheet:

Tuesday 12/02/2019 - Bitterwell Silvers Only

I had heard that the fishery had been fishing OK for Silvers, plus I have been wondering what the stop for lunch thingy was all about. So a call to Ken Morgan to be advised to just turn up, draw 08:30.

The weather is forecast to becoming mild over this week, however, there was a hard frost to clear from the car before setting off this morning on the five miles or so to the fishery. I arrived in plenty of time finding a good few already there. In fact Ken ended up having to accommodate 19 anglers. Booking in might be necessary in future me thinks.

After paying my £10 pools which also includes the lunch time snack ablely prepared by Danielle. The rules are you have to leave your peg but can feed before you set off.

I knew I was up against it with Enigma fishing as its his home ground. However, he did up date me which was very useful as I haven't been here for a few years. Apparently you can no longer win with Roach alone, instead needing some of the better Skimmers/Bream now in residence. 

In to the draw bag and out comes red milk bottle top 30. This put me halfway along the car park bank. My thinking was I would rather be on the opposite side because I would either have the sun in my eyes or wind or as in this case both initially. Th peg had a high bank behind me so without a high roller I would need to unship, which isn't a real problem. I worked out it adds 3 to 4 seconds to the shipping out time.

I set up the waggler with a straight light waggler, which didn't get used. I fished all day using  4 x12 Winter Titan which I fished at 10 metres at 1  o'clock. On the all in I fed a small ball of GB with some Pinkies and with a single on my 20 hook it wasn't long before I was catching tiny Ronnies. I kept topping up with loose GB and Pinkie and found the Ronnies got a bit bigger. It went quiet and soon was losing my first Skimmer. Out again and I had one weighing about 1 1/2 lb followed by one of 3 oz. The Ronnies moved back in so ending my very short run of Skimmers. Lunch time, so I opened another line with a large ball of GB  before going to the cafeteria. Danielle had prepared pasta and Bolognese with some garlic bread and a welcomed cup of tea. Very nice too, I heard she was a good cook. Back in the saddle and found it very difficult to get the Ronnies back, so spent some time sitting over the other line with bigger baits in hope of another Skimmer, it didn't happen, all I could add was another 2 lb of Ronnie Roach before the end.

I was surprised my fished weighed in at 7 lb, which put me second overall. The Lake didn't fish that well due to the weather conditions being against us, plenty of DNW's on our bank

As I expected Enigma won the match (pictured upper right with his catch) from peg 20 with 10 lb 8 oz. Steve caught at 11.5 metres initially with pellet over micro catching some Skimmers to 3 lb and after lunch due to the Carp moving in switched to maggot over GB.

Result:

1. Steve Dawson 10-08-0 peg 20
2. Mike Nicholls 7-0-0 peg 30
3. Steve Tanner 3-09-08 peg 17

Weigh Sheet:

Sunday 10/02/2019 - Windmill Open

I have started to take the weather forecasting with a large pinch of salt. There is definitely evidence of the forecasters stating a worse case scenario. As was the case today. Lovely day to be out in the country.

Met up with Geoff Francis at the Staple Hill Wetherspoons for breakfast - again warmish, so not too bad.

It was nice to Tim Ford and Glenn Bailey joining us today both quality angles, didn't expect the paste to work. This took as to 12 fishing today, so plenty of room for some!

Into the large wooden draw box to draw the golden peg, which was peg 10 - a chance here for someone. In again and out comes peg 3 mine for the day. Not that good a peg especially for Carp, but you never know.

The water level is right up, in fact the highest i've seen it, and lapping at my feet!

The wind was blowing off my RH shoulder so would be great to fish the waggler over to the island which was about 20 metres. So I started to ring up the rod for the midsection to break in my hand with little to no load on it. This is the second time this rod has broken, noticeably in the exact same place in the midsection which is the section that should take most load. Umm. In 50 years of waggler fishing I have only broke a rod twice - THIS ONE!

Next was a black top 4x14 Winter Titan to fish at top-set plus four for anything that swims. I started with single LR on the hook fished over LR's and wetted micro. I had an indication right away, then a missed bite followed quickly by a foul hooked Carp which came off. That was it for any signs of Carp, but started to get bites from small Ronnies. So I decided to fish for them, so set up the Ronnie rig and with Pinkie in the GB and single Pinkie on the hook I had a run of very small Ronnies. Unfortunately, every time the sun appeard the fish disappeared! So I started another Silver line over the longer line by feeding a big ball of GB. So by switching long in the sun and short in the gloom I kept athe Ronnies and the rare small 4 oz Skimmers coming until half hour to go when all lines died.

My Silvers weighed 7 lb 14 oz for first in the Silvers. Most of the Carp came from the high peg numbers.

The match was won by Keith Builder (pictured upper right with the Silvers winner) with 77 lb 10 oz from inform peg 22. Keith caught mostly at 11.5 metres using corn hook bait fished over hard fours. Keith fed about one pint of 4's and a smidgen of corn.

Considering recent weather conditions and the poor results from other fisheries the lake fished OK.

Result:

1. Keith Builder 77-10-0 peg 22

2. Dave Willmott 47-11-0 peg 18

3. Nick Saunders 35-0-0 peg 1

4. Tim Ford 31-07-0 peg 16

Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 7-12-0 peg 3

2. Bill Ferries 6-08-0 peg 23

Weigh Sheet:

Thursday 07/02/2019 - Bathampton AA - Club Match - Sections Only - Bridge Pool

Geoff and I had another enjoyable breakfast in the Cafe opposite:

We arrived at the fishery in plenty of time. Everyone commented on how milky the water looked in Bridge pool. It was evident that the Pool had been Siltexed once again. The Siltex appeared to be suspended in the cold water. Another waste of club funds.

Chris Rolfe has stated that he won't be running this years Coffin Dodgers matches which start in March 2019! Shame.

Into the draw bag and out comes peg 16. Happy enough with this peg as it is the narrowest peg on the Pool. However, the wind was howling through the peg which would make presentation very difficult if not impossible at times.

I set up a red top 4x16 Winter Titan to fish top-set plus four. And due to the siltexing  I wasn't sure if the fish would be on bottom so set up a 4x12 WT to fish halfway up the far shelf. Both lines would be with pinkie either with or without GB.

I started on the deep line which was at 2 o'clock by feeding a knub of GB laced with Pinkie and with the same on the hook started to get bites from small Ronnies, unfortunately most of them were falling off. I did change to a lighter elastic which didn't cure it. I'm not sure why this happens, but certain it's not anything to do with me or tackle, my thinking is they are very small and don't take the hook bait properly. I persevered with this line and occasionally got the float to go against the wind. I wanted to try over but the wind and sun prevented this for some while so had to stick catching the odd very small Skimmers and Ronnie. Once the sun moved on and the wind dropped I did go over and caught a few more Ronnies and four F1's. If only I could present I would have had a lot more. Today the environmental conditions conspired to turn a decent peg into a right struggle. A third way in to the match Dave Wride on peg 19 had an early bath for a FOE.


My four F1's weighed 4 lb and my Silvers 4 lb 11 oz for second in section weight of 8 lb 11 oz. My section was won by Chris Ollis (pictured right) with a nice net of quality Perch and Roach weighing 9 lb 4 oz from peg 24. I was envious of him having the wind off his back.

The match and silvers was won by Tony Rixon (pictured right with his Silvers catch) with 15 lb 14 oz from peg 29. See his blog for the details...

Result:

A Section: 
1. John "Cliff" Smith 9-04-0 peg 7
2. Paul Barnfield 8-14-0 peg 4

B Section:
1. Steve Dawson 10-08-0 peg 10
2. Hughie Evans 6-01-0 peg 8

C Section:
1. Chris Ollis 9-04-0 peg 24
2. Mike Nicholls 8-11-0 peg 16

D Section:
1. Tony Rixon 12-12-0 peg 29
2. Ray Bazeley 9-02-0 peg 30

Weigh Sheets:

Sunday 03/02/2019 - Windmill Open

Snow is now ice. After arriving at Wetherspoons the temperature had dropped significantly as shown right.

I met with Geoff for breakfast. Amazingly the food was hot - a new microwaver?

Arrived at the fishery and we were the only two there. Brad arrived and we persuaded him to help break the ice on peg 22 for us. Another angler arrived and decided to go back home. The ice was 30 mm thick and took some breaking. Geoff did  great job, such that I let him fish the one and only swim. However, he did invite me to fish next to him. After two bite less hours it was off to the pub.

Thanks to Brad for clearing the swim "For one bloody Skimmer".

Video of Ice Breakers Geoff and Brad:

Thursday 24/01/2019 - Bathampton AA - Club Match - Sections Only - Bridge Pool

Geoff and I had our usual decent breakfast at Hungry Horace's. iIn arrival I had my usual walk around the Lake. There were some signs of fish on peg 7, otherwise it look a bit dower.

This series got even more complex today with another knockout for the losers from the first knockout, of which I was one. Draw done and I am to fish against Enigma (Steve Dawson).

So into the draw bag hoping to draw 7. Well not far away with peg 5 you think. Alas not as this peg is narrow due to the opposite island. Peg 7 is in open water. What was good I could keep an eye on Enigma who was on peg 4. The other side on peg 6 was mumbler Paul Haines.

I initially set up the usual rig for the typical depth, a 4x16 rig. However, this peg must be the shallowest on the pool so was able to use a yellow tipped 4x14 F1 Winter. I plumbed up in the deepest part which was at 10 metres into dark water. I didn't bother over as the pool is so clear I thought it would be unproductive, so the one rig fished in the same spot all match was the plan - there was not really anywhere else to go. Geoff Francis had drawn peg 24 so I walked around to him and gave him a couple of pointers.

To be honest I wasn't expecting much from the swim and anticipated coming last in section if not last in the match. Last match one Roach was caught from it. So I fed a small ball of GB laced with some Pinkies and with double on the hook sat there for an hour without any indication. Meanwhile Enigma was catch 1 - 2 ounce Roach regularly. Ray Bazeley had also started well on peg 7 catching some decent Skimmers. The writing was on the wall. I then broke the blank with a small Ronnie. Approaching the end of the second hour I had a decent Skimmer followed quickly by another. It then died again. I decided to feed the Pinkie and GB loose which seem to switch the peg on providing a few more bites than I had been getting. Another two Skimmers and some Ronnies before it died again, this time for a very long hour. With 45 minutes to go I had another two Skimmers before the all out.

I was happy with how I fished the peg with it due to my tenacity than anything else. I weighed 8 lb 14 oz for second in section and third overall in the Silvers! More importantly I beat Enigma in the all-so-ran knock out cup. However, Enigma did go home with a smile as he won the Keynsham Angling donated £20 voucher raffle for those that don't pick up on the day.

My section and the match Silvers was won by Ray Bazeley (pictured upper right) with 12 lb 15 oz from my fancied peg 7. Ray caught on maggot over GB fished at mainly 11 metres.

The overall weight was caught by Geoff Francis from peg 24 with 17 lb 13 oz (pictured right - happiness is with a cider in the hand)

Result:

A Section 1st Ray Bazeley 12-15-0 peg 7
A Section 2nd Mike Nicholls 8-14-0 peg 5

B Section 1st Chris Ollis 8-04-0 peg 15
B Section 2nd Alan Oram 9-11-0 peg 8

C Section 1st Tony Rixon 11-06-0 peg 16
C Section 2nd Geoff Francis 17-13-0 peg 24

D Section 1st Paul Barnfield 6-12-0 peg 29
D Section 2nd Dave Gillard 7-7-0 peg 27

Weigh Sheets:

Sunday 20-01-2019 - Windmill Open - Match Lake

Short drive match today at Windmill Fishery. First breakfast at Wetherspoons - Staple Hill with Geoff Francis. A first today a warm breakfast, must have a new microwaver.

Twelve of us today so well spread out except pegs 6,7,and 8. The air temperature wasn't too bad and luckily the NNW wind was very light. Into the large wooden draw box and out comes peg 7. Happy with this one as it has open water so I could use the waggler sensibly. Geoff drew peg 25 and for the umteen time his peg was golden. Must be a few bob in it by now.

For company I had Mark Summerhayes on peg 6 and Dave Willmott on 8. Dave decided to set up the waggler, it was a 30 years old Daiwa Poker and weighed such that it would need a double handed strike. It was obvious he's not used it for  few years.

I also set up the waggler to fish the open water with maggot over loose fed LR's. The only rig was and a 4x14 Winter Titan to fish DR's at 10 metres over micro and DR's. I fed the pole line with  smidgen of micro and DR's but started on the waggler, but found feeding difficult to judge with the light wind changing continuously. I had the waggler dotted right down and was difficult to see, this was to prove essential due to the shy bites. I was soon playing my first small Carp. The wind and I got to grips with the feeding and I had a great couple of hours catching Carp between 2 and 3 lb. During this time I also had two decent Skimmers. The swim died a bit so I tried the pole to only have one tug which was probably a small Perch. I binned this line and stayed with the waggler for the rest of the match catching small Carp, two better ones and another three decent Skimmers. A great days fishing on the waggler. I fed about 1/2 pint of DR's all day.

My Carp weighed 74 lb 6 oz and my five Skimmers 11 lb 10 oz for top Silvers and my overall weight of 86 lb was good enough for the match win. So another double bubble. My Silvers pictured upper right.

Geoff didn't win the golden peg but picked up first Silvers by double default!!

The Lake fish really well in comparison to a lot of venues. Maggot was the most productive bait.

It was back to the pub with Geoff and Dave W for a cup of tea.

Result:

1. Mike Nicholls 86-0-0 peg 7
2. Keith Builder 65-10-0 peg 22
3. Garry Walsh 58-10-0 peg 18
4. Geoff Francis 54-05-0 peg 25

Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 11-10-0 peg 7
2. Gerry Walsh 3-03-0 peg 18
3. Geoff Francis 2-11-0 peg 25

Weigh Sheet: