Sunday 01/03/2026 - Westerleigh Winter League - Round 7 - Taylor's and Shipp's

If you have not watched "Dirty Business" on Channel 4 - it's a must watch for anglers, and follow up by contacting your MP. That said the sewage system is intended for pee, poo and toilet paper only. So stop flushing other crap, this is down to us.

Only light rain today and signs of warming up. Wind still with us though.

My turn on Taylors and peg 20 for me. Happy with this one for a number of reasons, primarily because the wind would be off my back.

Good company with Nick on 19. With the Carp bunched up on the far left hand corner pegs 25, 23 and 22 decided to fish for silvers for any chance of coin. With the wind off the back set up a 8" Drake to fish the bar with maggot over loose fed maggot. A 4x16 Winter in full depth in 7 foot of water at top set plus one barrel, finally the short Ronnie rig.

Fed the deep line with with GB laced with some pinkies. No good loose feeding in this depth. First put in on a single LR had a decent Carp about 6 lb. Initially thought it was fouled but it was just fighting hard in the deep water. Umm, might have to switch to carp fishing - nope it was the only one caught on this line, later was to catch two F1's shallow. Had a nice run of small Skimmers and Ronnie's before picking up the Ronnie rig to rest the line. The Ronnie's were at last feeding catching some decent ones on single LR over the LR's. Switched between the two rigs adding some very small Tench on the deep line plus a 12 oz Perch. The last hour switch to fishing shallow - 3 foot - and was wishing I started it earlier as the catch rate and quality of Ronnie's increased. Even though I fed LR's onto the bar the waggler didn't get used as it was patiently waiting for Nick and Ricky opposite to catch there - it didn't happen.

My silvers weighed 14 lb 10 oz  and the Carp 9 lb 2 oz for 23 lb 12 oz and the silvers win, mission accomplished. Very rare to beat Nick, so had to give him the poke in the chest. Very enjoyable day.

Taylor's was won as expected from peg 22 by Paul Elm's (pictured with his catch) with 79 lb 10 oz. Paul caught over to the island at 16 metres with pellet and 14.5 metres with maggot. Well done matey.

Shipp's was won again as expected from peg 2 by Vince Shipp (pictured) with 77 lb 1 oz. Vince caught on his usual soft pellet and micro. He does have a knack of drawing this peg regularly. Well done matey.

The silvers was won on Shipp's from the dreaded peg 13 by matey Geoff Francis (pictured) with a lowly 3 lb all caught short until the Carp arrived taking him to third weight on the canal with 43 lb. Nice one.

Felt for Lee Waller fishing peg 17 where the wind was hacking into, he was fishing 13 metres down the edge, during gusts Lee could be seen walking round to the tree to recover his rig.

Back to the New Inn for a well earned pint with the usual suspects.

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 26/02/2026 - Over 55's - Silvers Pairs League - Round 5 - Acorn - Paddocks

Nice to have Kev Winstone back out after his hospitalisation. Needs to put on a couple of  pounds. Kev was like a kid with a new toy being so excited to be back out fishing.

Driving down with Kev there was something nagging at me. The penny dropped had my Carp pole instead of the silvers pole. Which meant the lightest elastic was the Drennan 9 to 11. My concern soon evaporated realising there are not many small Ronnie's so this elastic would probably do.

Bought my bait at the fishery. Have to say it was high quality 

Into the black bag and and peg 23 for me. It's a strange peg as it's in between to bridges and the middle of three pegs which were not occupied. It's like a small pond all to yourself.

Got to the peg and the SW wind was blowing in to the peg at 11 o clock. and landing in my peg with peg 24 being sheltered by the wind. I would liked to have fished the waggler over to the far bank to the corner but would have been passed peg 24 which was close to be fair. So thought about setting it up but finally decide not. Just two identical rigs 4x14 Winters one to fish caster at top set plus on barrel with a 18 hook and the other to fish two and a bit barrels with a 22 hook for double/single pinkie. Running both rigs through was disappointed to find both were going with the wind - towards me - hate that.

Fed half a pot of casters short and would loose feed a few throughout. Fed the long line with pinkie crammed in GB only enough to get the pinkie near bottom - thinking loose feeding them for full depth would bring up the fish especially the Ide.

Took a while to get my first Ide, after which I had a good half of the match catching decent skimmers, Ide and three Tench, just one coming from the short caster line - a 5 lb Tench on double maggot 😊. The last  2 hours was a struggle. only adding a couple of Ronnie's and Ide. Thought it might have been due to the arrival of Carp but didn't hook any.

I weighed 20 lb 12 oz for second section. Very enjoyable day slightly spoil by more rain late on.

The fishery fished exceptionally well with only one angler under 10 lb, plus one angler on peg 3 would have weighed 73 lb catching short with maggot over maggot had he not gone over in one net - twat.

My pairs partner Tony "Turbo" Ponting (pictured) won the match from peg 5 with 38 lb 5 oz. Tony caught on maggot over loose maggot at 10 metres down wind at 11 o clock initially catching Ide then small Tench. Both the Ide and Tench moving in and out moved in and out. Well done matey.

Back to the Prince of Waterloo for a pint with the usual suspects. Bloody diversion at Chew Magna though.

Weigh Sheet: Bit messy

Pairs Results : One match Left: Pays top 5

Sunday 22/02/2026 - Bela Attila Bakos Open - Westerleigh - Shipp's and Taylor's

Bela has lined out the floor of his van with artificial grass which included parts of a goal line! Just wondering how well the next football match went! Glenn would love this (pictured).

Bela has gone solo running the match today. Must say in nearly all went superbly well. A nice touch was his environment friendly peg cards made of corrugated cardboard ideal for recycling (pictured).  Well done looking forward to the next one.

As the bread is allowed in Bela's matches, decided to do some liquidised bread. Very long time since I done this, didn't know we had a new liquidiser. However, as it turned out won't be doing it again any time soon.

Into the draw bobble hat (another nice touch) and peg 12 for me - Oh, that's not normally in! However, peg 13 was left out. Happy with the peg for for the potential fishing, however, it's a right quagmire. All my gear now a bright red. Good company with Geoff opposite on 2 and Tim "Calamity" Ford next door on 11.

Peg 12 is a good small silvers peg, but can throw up some big Carp, that's what the bread was supposed to be for, that is, if they were at our end of the Pool - they weren't so no more about bread and bread rigs Ronnie nibbling. Just the two rigs fished in earnest - 4x12 Winter with a black sleeve on the tip and a long Ronnie rig.

Fed top set plus three barrels with GB laced with Pinkies and bread down the right in 3 foot of water - last mention of bread. The wind was hacking into my peg so the Ronnie rig was left in abeyance until better conditions. Had a few decent

Ronnie's and a 12 oz Skimmer, all on double Pinkie. It went a bit iffy, stayed a while on the line thinking it might be a Carp - alas not. The wind had eased a bit so tried the Ronnie rig with single Pinkie over loose fed Pinkie. Started well catching much smaller Ronnie's but the wind was hindering feeding - most of it going in the keep net!! Now here's a thing when the wind permitted sensible feeding the catch rate fell missing lots of bites, however, when increasing resulted in much more positive bites and higher catch rate. Stayed on the Ronnie rig for the remainder of the match.

The only match that I can remember at Westerleigh that I didn't hook a Carp of any description. My 50ish Ronnie's weighed 7 lb dead, for the silvers win. Love this type of fishing.

Shipp's was won by Martin Rayet (pictured with the silvers winner) with a decent weight of 76 lb 13 oz. Martin started slow, it wasn't until he started loose feeding caster that he started to catch on double maggot. He most probably pulled fish from peg 6 probably drawn by the sound of caters being fed. Well done matey.

Taylor's was won by tackle dealer Matt Challenger (pictured - yes that him smiling) from peg 22 with 59 lb 10 oz. Matt fished 16 metres using 6 mm hard pellet feed and banded. Well done Matey a good weight on the day. 

Matey Dave "Rodney" Monks won Taylor's silvers with 6 lb 3 oz from peg 21.

Back to the New In for a pint with the usual suspects and a few stragglers form the Bitterwell match.

Weigh Sheets:

Sunday 15/02/2026 - Westerleigh Winter League - Round 6 - Taylor's and Shipp's

Although we had rain once again today (rained all of my eight matches this year), think I must be getting use to it as it didn't seem too bad.

My turn on Shipp's and with the wind blowing down to peg 13 would have settled for pegs 2,1,13 (yes) and 11. Preferably avoiding 3 and 4.

Must stop thinking about pegs. Peg 3 for me and next to Andy on 4 and Dave on flyer 2, so good company.

Fished this peg recently and was surprised nothing came from either margin which is nice and flat but 3 foot deep. Nonetheless, set up a 0.3 gram RJ set to suit both sides. Next was a 4x14 Winter to fish just up the inside slope at top set and just short on middle at 5 1/2 feet. I set up the Ronnie rig which due to the wind wasn't used.

Really expected the top set line to produce well with double Pinkie over GB laced with plenty of Pinkie. Soon relised it was a poor choice catching a few quick Ronnie's before it died. Having tried the margin and realising my prediction, catching just one tiny Perch. Spent the rest of the match at top set plus three barrels fishing GB and Pinkie expecting to initially catch some F1's. Alas not, they haven't fed on the pool. Instead, and unusually the bigger Carp fed. In between catching the odd Ronnie had a 8 lb Carp so decided to up the hook length and soon playing a foul hooked munter which after careful playing it the hook pulled. I knew there was another Carp about as a few bubbles were apparent. Hooked it and played not as careful as the first being over confident with the hook length which bust on me - bugger. Potentially two big Carp not in the net. Had a couple of Skimmers before another few bubbles and a 4 lb Carp in the net. Had three decent F1's and another Skimmer late on just before the all out.

The Carp weighed in at 16 lb 3 oz and the silvers 3 lb 15 oz for a silvers win, with the total of 20 lb 2 oz getting me 5 points. Thinking now I might have under feed today. Really enjoyed it today, especially packing up in the dry for once.

Taylors was won by Ron Hardiman (pictured) with 21 lb 4 oz from peg 15. Ron fished long all match on the bar fishing pellet over pellet. Well done mate especially holding the pole at that distance for so long in gusting wind.

Taylor's was won by Lee Waller (pictured with his catch of decent Carp) with 47 lb 4 oz from peg 11. Lee caught on maggot over Kindered maggot from various lines - mainly long to the corner of each island. Well done matey.

Back to the New Inn with the usual suspects and yes they had some beer this week!

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 05/02/2026 - Over 55's Silvers League - Round Four - Bitterwell Lake

"Kites fly highest against the wind, not with it". Winstone Churchill - relevant for me today sat in the bloody freezing wind.

Bristol traffic is ridiculous and to think they want to build thousands of more house in South Gloucester and Bristol - nuts.

A few stand-ins today it was nice to see Jeff Surmon (pictured) standing in for Kev Winstone. We go back a long way and travelled together a few times - real gentleman and a very good angler who arrived next to me on peg 5.

We all knew we were in for a hard match. More rain and with higher winds than of late greeted us. As I was in A section knew I could be on the road bank where the wind was hitting it from 2 o clock. Hoping for pegs 8 through to 15 where the wind was least. Not to be peg 7 for me.

Set up the usual - large waggler to help beat the wind, 4x14 Winter to fish four barrels for Skimmers and expecting it to be really hard on this peg and with a bit of colour down the edge set up a 4x12 Winter to fish on the top set to target the Perch, which are plentiful in this lake. However, a bit of a quandary, knowing Perch tend to feed well for the first hour, will I miss out on any early skimmers. As the presentation on the long line was awful went for the early Perch with single Pinkie over kinder Pinkie. 

Had a great start catching small Perch for an hour. Switched the long line which I had fed with loose GB and Pinkie - had no idea where the feed was ending up. Had two bites a small Perch and a Ronnie. Had a go on the waggler with single white maggot, but as with the long line it was poor presentation, but had another small Perch and a Ronnie. Kept trying all the lines, but decided to spent most of the time catching Perch and did get a 10 ouncer for my efforts. Had a walk along the section and a few anglers had some early Skimmers - but not many. So seen the match out for the Perch.

My 40 fished weighed 3 lb 6 oz for three points. Think the right decision made to target the early Perch, my mistake was not sticking with it all match as I was only 4 oz from a pick up. Well done to my partner keeping us in contention.

The match was won by Andy Greenham (pictured with his catch) with 11 lb 12 oz from favoured peg 23. Andy caught at 11 metres fishing single Pinkie over Pinkie. Andy had a very lucky day as he also won guess the weight with the exact amount he caught. 

Weigh Sheets:

League to date after Four rounds:

Note: Now we are starting to use more than one substitute, need to clarify the following: Second Substitutes points will not count, however their section positions and weight will. Non points counting subs shown in red. NB: only one sub points only count.

Sunday 01/02/2026 - Westerleigh Winter League - Round Five - Taylor's and Shipp's

"A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty" Winston Churchill.

So my turn on Taylor's. The pool was flat calm - not a ripple, umm going to be hard for some. Into the draw box and peg 16 for me. Oh dear a peg that's had poor results all year, with some just breaking the pound!! Definitely going all out for silvers, especially as the pool has been recent stocked with 300 small Tench - thinking might be too early for them to show in any numbers.

It's beginning to feel like the 15 July started 20 days ago - St. Swithen's day - 40 days and 40 nights of rain. Another soaking coming our way today.

With it flat calm set up the 7" waggler to try the bar. The short Ronnie rig and a 4x14 Winter to fish top set plus three barrels.

Bait GB, Pinkie's, live and dead reds

Loose fed some Pinkies on the Ronnie rig line and some GB laced with Pinkie on the long line. Started long with double Pinkie and soon had a 1 lb and a bit Skimmer - good start. I noticed that the water had coloured up where I loose fed the Pinkie's so went over it with the Ronnie rig until the colour went - nothing. So started to feed the waggler line with LR's. Back out long again an had a few very very small Ronnie's and two Tench about 8 oz each. Had a go on the waggler the presentation was spot on but only foul hooked one Carp which came off. On hind sight should have fished in front of the bar in the deeper water. That said definitely wanted a bit of ripple to get some movement. Back on the Ronnie rig fishing at various depths catching the odd better Ronnie. Surprised I didn't catch some Perch, but did have a big Brown Goldfish and a decent size Crucian.

Weighed 4 lb 11 oz of silvers and the two Carp took me to 7 lb 7 oz winning the silvers but only beating one for 8 points. Would have settled for that at the start. The fish move around on this pool with some of the favoured pegs not producing.

Shipp's was won by Tony Mears (pictured) with 63 lb 1 oz from peg 11 which hasn't produced for a few weeks. Tony caught on maggot at top set plus 3 and 4 barrels. Well done matey - some say that Tony moaned them on.

Taylor's was won by Ricky Mills (pictured - been waiting to include this picture 😁) with 37 lb 7 oz from peg 22. Ricky caught at 16 metres up to the island on maggot and shorter to the aerator with meat. Well done matey especially as you fished the match with a really bad toothache - best of luck at the Dentist.

Back to the New Inn who had ran out of ale's and cider's - oh dear lager's all round then.

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 29/01/2026 - Over 55's Silvers Pairs League - Round Three - Acorn - Paddocks

"Don’t wish for health and wealth — wish for luck. On the Titanic, everyone was healthy and wealthy. Only a few were lucky". Winston Churchill.

With Kev Winston in hospital (now recovering at home) Martin Rayet stood in for him and luckily gave me a lift.

The Bridge Hotel for breakfast, enough said.

Arrived at the fishery to be greeted by a very cold SE wind. They say "Wind from the East fish feed least". I've always found the wind from the SE is worse.

As I was doing the recorded draw Tony Rixon pull peg 16 for me. Feed back was it wasn't the best but shouldn't get Carp trouble. However, I was happy with it for self preservation with the wind off my left shoulder. Plenty of room too. I really fancied the waggler and caster as the wind look perfect for fishing the far bank. So a 7" bodied Drake was erected. Shotting it up a Carp took the bare hook, another hook added! The only other rig was a 4x14 Winter to fish top set plus three barrels with one ballast barrel (just short on middle) and top set plus one which required another 3 inches adding to the depth.

Bait wise - casters, Pinkies and GB.

Fed both pole lines with GB laced with Pinkies and tried feeding casters over but  due to the wind was feeding Goats until got the pull back on the catty right - sometimes. Out with single caster and happy with the presentation three casts later had an indication next cast had a decent Skimmer. Way to go then. Next cast foul hooked a Carp. Reloaded a hook and a few casts later had to abandon the waggler due to the wind picking up. So out long with double Pinkie. Initially the float was slightly going with wind, but later with, this due to the increase wind. So had to determine where my GB and Pinkie feed was going - both ways I suspected. It wasn't long before had a Ide. Then on the drop hooked a decent fish and was sure it was a Carp, so pulled hard until I felt the "Mick Jagger" of a Tinca so slowed and carefully got a 3 pounder in the net - bonus today I think. Had a few more Ide cripes can't missed their bites - savage. Wind picked up so opened up the one barrel line which was towing very hard against the wind making easier to determine where the GB/Pinkie feed was going. Had a Ronnie followed by a big Skimmer, after a couple more Ronnie's went back out long for more Ide. So last two hours kept switch between the two lines adding Ide long and three more Skimmers short.

Weighed 15 lb 15 oz for section win and second overall. Learnt a bit for next match here.

The match was won by Tony Rixon (pictured) with 17 lb 9 oz from peg 31. Tony had  few down the middle but caught mostly Ide over tight to the far bank at 14 .5 metres loose feeding maggot and Pinkie with a maggot and Pinkie on the hook. Well done matey

Weigh Sheets:

Pairs Results after three matches: