Thursday 04/08/2011 - Bathampton AA Over 55's And Disabled - Withy Pool

After a breakfast at ASDA with Bob Warren, it was off to Withy Pool for today’s Dodgers match. In to the draw box and out comes peg 50 AGAIN!! Only joking, the Coffin Dodgers have been banned from fishing it in a match – anyone know why? Apparently we can still pleasure fish the peg.

The peg I actually drew was peg 48. If you walked the Lake it would be one of the pegs you would fancy as it is out on a point. However, I have drawn it a few times and have always struggled. I think the reason is below the surface, it appears to be very stony with a shallow shelf a fair way out. I had a good think about the peg and couldn’t come up with anything different from the last time I fished it. So it was a Ronnie rig with caster, a 4x16 Jolly to be fish just up the shelf at 7 metres for the Skimmers and a paste rig – 0.75 gram float to be fished over the Skimmer line. Some say I am frugal with my bait, so not to disappoint I decided to use the 6mm meat I didn’t use in yesterdays match for the Skimmers. On the whistle I fed a pot full and started after the Ronnie’s with caster and caught straight off, unfortunately they were ½ oz fish, I did have a 4oz Perch before I gave it up – exact repeat of the last match I was on this peg. So out on the meat and I had a nice quick run of 3 – 4oz Skimmers, which kept me occupied for an hour or so until the swim went quiet, which can be an indication that the Carp are mooching around. So out went the paste switching the feed to hard 4’s fed with the paste through the kinder pot. After I had a dice with two foul hookers I hooked and landed six Carp in succession. I then lost one at the net and that was it for the Carp. However, I was getting what looked line bites, which didn’t appear to be Carp. This kept me going until I found out what it was; I foul hooked a big Bream re-stocked from the Main Lake. I then had another in the mouth, followed by another smaller one. I must say that the Bream looked in much better condition than they did when housed in the Main Lake (vermin to revered) and have taken on a silver healthy look. Up to this I reckon I had about 10lbish and I was surprised to find that these new inhabitants had boosted my Silver weight to 19lb 12oz for second in the Silvers. My six Carp weighed in at 51lb 8oz for a winning total of 71lb 4oz.

The Silvers was won by  Bath Tackle Dealer Dave Bacon (pictured top right) from peg 60 with 35lb 14oz of Bream and Skimmers. Dave caught on traditional Bream fishing method – Ground bait feeder and red maggot. I think this is a Silvers record for this Lake.

As I have said before it's important for our sport that we support these local tackle shops, which are under threat from cheap Chinese goods sold on the Internet. Remember you get the full invaluable service from these shops - including a cup of tea.

Full Result:

1.      Mike Nicholls 71-04-0 peg 48
2.      Ian Sheppard 56-04-0 peg 66
3.      Rich Coles 47-12-0 peg 54
5.      Dave Bacon 35-14-0 peg 60
6.      Pete Phillips 31-10-0 peg 69

Top Silvers:

1.      Dave Bacon 35-14-0 peg 60
2.      Mike Nicholls 19-12-0 peg 48