31/01/2010 - Hillview Open

I was struggling to find a match this weekend and it crossed my mind to fish the last Commercial House on the K&A Canal. However, after hearing:

• The top framing weights were all dominated by Pike - all from the same section at Darlington.
• Paul Barnfield was arrested for swearing because he lost a Pike – I would have been bang-up for swearing because I hooked one!!

Steve Hutchinson had his number 6 section ran over by a cyclist, who didn’t even bother to stop (Drennan Icon pole – irreplaceable). I have seen groups of Mountain Bikers reaching speeds of 25 mph along the K&A Canal!

Dave Haines was pegged so close to the back of a boat that he couldn’t unship along the canal (to avoid the heavy public traffic) – hang on who’s told Dave about adding sections and un-shipping!

Tim Ford wrote that the “John Rennie” is still allowed to travel the K&A even though the Canal wasn’t designed for this size of vessel. Come on British Waterways sort this out, won’t be long before this vessel burst the bank along one of the higher sections of Canal due to the high water pressure.

It amazes me how much doggy do do’s you have to negotiate around each and every peg. Nothing worse than dipping you butt section in a bit of soft stuff – I have re-named the sections between Darlington Wharf and Bathampton Bay - Dog Shit Alley.

Then there is the high number of end pegs that often wins coin – irrespective of the angler fishing them.

Then there is the “Crusty’s” and their Junk Boats, what a bloody eye sore on the Avon Valley – Then there’s the wood chopping, engine running etc, etc... Apparently because the Canal has been frozen over, there is plenty of evidence as to where they dispose of their sewage!!

The bait bill might be as much as £20 – that done it.

All of the above soon knocked some sense in to me. Bela and I decided to go to Hillview Fishery complete with my £2 worth of bait. Mr Rixon - no bank walkers allowed here during a match!!

Well as expected the bloody ice was back with vengeance. Considering the weather Keith has been getting a good turn out and that was the case today. Keith decided that Canals 1, 2 & 3 would be the best bet. So after one of the best breakfasts for many a Sunday it was with tradition at Hillview that all competitors go out and break the ice before the draw using a Paddle boat as the ice breaker. The boat is pulled down each side with a follow up team breaking the marginal ice (The very short video – bottom shows how it’s done, you can't see me as I was managing the whole affair). Apparently when the venue first froze over Keith put son Dave in one of the paddle boats and towed him with his 4x4. Unfortunately this didn’t work too well with boat turning over and Dave having to quickly get to the bank before he froze.

I drew peg 59 on the second Canal, which is middle bias to the far end. I do like this Canal but would have preferred to be at one of the ends today. I soon cleared the remnants of the ice and could fish the entire swim (it helps when you can walk round to the far bank). After making a few enquiries on the current methods, it was Terry Homer that put me “nearly right”. I set up two rigs - one set at 2ft 6inches for the far bank, this depth put the rig about 2 foot off the far bank (as recommended by Terry). I also set up a 0.3 g Jean Desque through wire float for down the track at 6 metres at 11-0-clock. I changed both hook lengths to 0.1mm to 20 Tubertini 808. I started by feeding some micro (not wetted as it’s not allowed on this venue) with 6 Maggots’ over and the same down the track. Starting down the track with red Maggot I had a 4oz Fantail first put in. I caught small Crucians, Fantails, Goldfish and small Carp steady for the first hour – none were bigger than 12oz. When it slowed I switched to 3mm pellet which kept the small fish coming. I then had a 2lb Carp. I tried over to the far bank a couple of times but had only three bites with one turning in to an 8oz Carp. In the last hour I decide to stick to the track swim, which was very slow so I opened a can of corn (22p). As usual I cut my finger on the tin. The swim came alive again and I caught steady to the end during the last 45 minutes. This venue is renowned for a tight frame with one fish usually separating the top six, so I was cursing that I didn’t swop to corn earlier and thought this might have cost me – and it did. I weighed 24lb dead which put me 6th overall and ounced out of the money. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the match and will be back there soon with Bela who also had a good match weighing 20lb 10oz, all maggot caught fish.
The match was won by Dave Huggins (picture right – apologies for the quality, but the camera was extremely cold) from peg 47 (first Canal) with an incredible 71lb. Dave caught all his fish on sweet corn over Kinder potted sweet corn.
Full Result:
1. Dave Huggins 71-0-0 peg 47
2. Garry Clark 37-06-0 peg 70
3. Andy Fry 25-0-0 peg 72
4. Nigel Seabright 24-12-0 peg 56
5. Terry Homer 24-03-0 peg 53
6. Mike Nicholls 24-0-0 peg 59