Thursday 29/03/2012 - Bathampton AA Over 55's and Disabled Match - Bridge Pool

Today saw the start of the increasingly popular 2012 BAA Coffin Dodger matches, which has been sold out for some months, with potentially 34 anglers on the books. It’s going to be interesting if all turn out!!

After a jam doughnut and a rendition of Happy Birthday to celebrate Bob Price 74^th birthday it was in to the cloth draw bag with the floppy draw tickets. Out comes peg 25, which has so far this winter produced very few Silvers, but it does have a good summer Carp record. With the Silvers league over I could target this species from their normal margin habitat. So I set up the usual Skimmer, Ronnie and margin Paste rigs.

Waiting for the all in could smell something that took me back to my teenage years, which was wafting over the Lake from apparently the Main Lake. – Cannabis!! I have always liked the smell, finding it much better than tobacco or cigars.

On the whistle I fed a pot of 50/50 mix of caster and micro pellet at 9 metres for the Skimmers and started loose feeding the Ronnie swim with caster. Starting after the Ronnie’s resulted in a 3oz Hybrid and a few missed bites. So the Ronnie’s were not going to put in an appearance, I started feeding hard 4’s in the margin instead whilst I went out after the Skimmers with soft 3 mm Sensas expander. The first two puts resulted in hooking two big Skimmers, both coming off – bugger. I then got frustrated with small Skimmers nicking the pellet with what appeared to be un-missable bites. I then couldn’t believe that I hooked another two big Skimmers which also shed the hook. I was the had a nervous half hour not being able to pull the pole back in fear of losing a fish (a bit like a dart player not being able to let go his darts). I came to the conclusion that the fish were up in the water and those that I had lost may have been foul hooked. I then had a good spell of catching Skimmers to 1 ½ lb at various depths. The Skimmer line died, so I re-fed and tried the margin with paste which resulted in one lost Perch of about 8oz. The margin water was so clear that I had lost confidence in catching Carp here. So out again after the Skimmers and once again I lost two more Skimmers, only be teased by more of youthful ones. I tried all the usual baits – maggot, corn, caster and worm. I did have a couple on worm and caster. I don’t like feeding chopped worm as it can kill the swim, but as I was now struggling I fed six Dendrabena with another pot of caster and with a piece of worm on the hook I had a Skimmer – happy days – NOT. For the next hour I was plagued by tiny Perch. So I had to try and recover the swim feeding caster and micro whilst I tried the margin again, which produced nothing. Out again and I had a run of four biggish Skimmers on double caster. With ten minutes left I went back in the margin with paste and had my first bite on it, a 2 ½ lb Tench which I pulled out of at the net – bugger. I reckon I lost 10lb of Silvers off the hook today – very unusual and probably signs that they were hanging around up in the water and not really feeding. One thing I did notice was that the new Skrettings 2.4 mm pellet appears to sink only for them to subsequently resurface. Wonder if they are suspending off the bottom, I will have to look in to this.

My Silvers weighed in at 21lb 12oz for second in the Silvers being beaten by Bob Feltham off the next peg by 12oz!!

The match was won by organiser Mike Jones (pictured right) with 57ln 14oz from peg 7. Mike started after his usual Silvers but after finding this unproductive went out on the waggler with banded 8mm pellet catching four Carp shallow and two on the deck.

The Silvers was won by Bob Feltham (pictured rlower right with his great catch of Skimmers) with 22lb 8oz from peg 24. Bob fished at 5 metres (because he broke his Maver pole again) soft pellet fished over micro, softened hard 4’s with a bit of Green swimstim GB.

Full Result:

1.      Mike Jones 57-14-0 peg 7

2.      Andy Shields 34-09-0 peg 3

3.      Harry Muir 30-10-0 peg 9

4.      Paul Haines 27-12-0 peg 14

5.      Alan Jones 26-10-0 peg 18

5.      Terry Bruton 26-10-0 peg 28

Top Silvers:

1.      Bob “MD” Feltham 22-08-0 peg 24

2.      Mike Nicholls 21-12-0 peg 25

3.      Alan Jones 19-04-0 peg 18

4.      Bob “Most improved Silvers Angler” Price 19-0-0 peg 15

Sunday 25/03/2012 - Brian Shanks "Rip Off" - Westerleigh - Old Lake

Woke early this morning – didn’t everyone? I wish we had a constant time throughout the year as it takes me an age to adjust. Bela and I choose to fish a local match today as the price of fuel is getting prohibitive for a double header weekend. Once again Bela and I arrived early at Westerleigh, but it gave me chance to re-familiarise myself with the permanent pegging. I do like this venue as it is a varied and mature fishery and you can fish reasonably short with all baits effective on their day.

In to the draw bucket and out comes peg 15 – a good peg especially as flyer peg 1 was left out (Brian was worried he wouldn’t draw it). Brain recommended that I fish half way to the island which was about 6 metres – happy days – and use light elastic - wrong!!

I set up a margin rig for 6mm expander hook bait, a new 4x12 “Stainey” and a 4x12 Jolly. Starting on the Jolly after feeding some micro through the kinder with 3mm expander on the hook I was soon into small Tench, F1’s, Ronnie’s and Skimmers. The swim went quite so I tried the Stainey to see if I could land my first fish on one. First put in I hooked a good Carp which took me all over the place with my “Soft Elastic” – tucked up again by Rip Off. The Common Carp finally “Platformed” me, costing me another of my new floats. So two floats down, two lost fish and still waiting to catch a fish on one - are they unlucky? I did land three on the Jolly and two down the RH margin – losing a foul hooker on the whistle. My Silvers weighed in at 15lb 2oz and my Carp 30lb for a total of 45lb 2oz for third overall.

As suspected Brian Shanks (pictured right with his Carp catch) won the match with 56lb 8oz from peg 9. Brain fished hair rig hard 6’s fished over loose fed hard 4’s.

Runner up was Bob Warren (lower pictured right with his Carp catch) with a similar catch with 50lb 12oz from peg 19. Bob caught ob soft pellet and paste.

The match result was quite close and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it with the wonderful spring weather contributing, plus the pint Brian bought for us at the New Inn on the way home thanks matey can’t wait for the next match on this venue.

Full Result:

1.      Brain Shanks 56-08-0 peg 9

2.      Bob Warren 50-12-0 peg 19

3.      Mike Nicholls 45-03-0 peg 15

4.      Ron Hardiman 37-02-0 peg 6

5.      Bela Bakos 28-0-0 peg 2

5.      Darren North 28-0-0 peg 11

Saturday 24/03/2012 - Paul Garrett Memorial Open Match - Viaduct Fishery - Campbell, Carey and Lodge Lakes

Bela and I were hoping to fish this match subject to Bela having a day off work, and that’s how it was. We arrived early at the fishery after the usual Breakfast at Canards Well. Due to the good response Campbell, Carey and Lodge were in the draw box. Beal drew peg 85 on Carey and for myself I was on 113 on Campbell. As I only had the pole it was going to be difficult to win coin in either the Silvers or Carp. However, I was hoping for a days fishing at 11. 5 metres, which took me, level with the platforms each side of me as 113 is set right back and perhaps some Munters later down the LH margin. I set up one of my new Sensas SA2 – “The Stainey” 4x14 floats with 0.18 main line and 0.14 bottom and low and behold it did was in said on the body, taking 4x14 shot – unusual these days. I also set up a paste float for the margin. However, I wasn’t convinced this was going to with today as the water was so clear in close, certainly much clearer than Carey which looked decidedly murky.

I had decided on a soft pellet attack fished over a kindered hard 4’s and wetted micro. Whilst shipping out for the first time, I noticed that Tom Mangnall on peg 128 was in to his first fish as was most on the anglers on the opposite bank – most being caught on the lead. It wasn’t long before there was only a few of us left on the pole. I wasn’t far behind as I hooked a Carp first put in only for the elastic to break taking the whole lot – new float and all. I can’t understand this as it is only two years old – I might complain to the tackle shop on Monday! So I reset up with a 4x14 Jolly and Next put in I hooked another Carp only to get “Platformed” losing my hook length, how frustrating, particularly as it’s the smallest platform on the venue!!

Josh Garrett on next peg 114 was catching well on the lead and I was really hoping he would win today – how fitting would that have been.

For the next half hour or so I did land five 8lb Carp. After which I had three Tench and a few Skimmers – happy days – not long lived as my regular kinder potting brought another two small Carp. So in to the margin and as expected it really didn’t work as there is very little cover left there now and another two very small Carp on paste. For the remaining three hours I relay struggled adding very little to the whole.

It was clear that the Lake was fishing its head off with Carp coming out all over. There are many of us that begrudge giving up the pellet for the Viaduct Winter League, but it certainly rest the fish resulting in a right “Duffers Fortnight with over 20 ton weights today. But not me, my Silvers was a lowly 12lb 2oz and my few Carp 61lb 10oz fro a no so grand total of 73lb 12oz, but still a days fishing by many standards

Unfortunately Josh didn’t quite catch enough for overall win that was left to Tom Mangnall with 229lb 6oz. However, Josh (pictured right landing one of his Carp on the pole) did frame in fifth spot with 171lb 3oz. Most if not all of the fish fell to hard banded pellet fished over pellet.

The Silvers was won by Steve Jackson (pictured right) with a respectable weight of 60lb 10oz of mostly Skimmers caught short, again of hard banned 6mm pellet fished over loose fed 6’s.

Full Result:

1.      Tom Mangnall 229-06-0 peg 128

2.      Ray Hayward 190-15-0 peg 119

3.      Dan Squires 179-02-0 peg 132

4.      Gary Mewdell 171-14-0 peg 112

5.      Josh Garrett 171-03-0 peg 114

6.      Roy 159-14-0 peg 99

Top Silvers:

1.      Steve Jackson 60-10-0 peg 126

2.      Martin Preston 35-12-0 peg 94

3.      Nigel Bartlett 31-08-0 peg 110

4.      James Cooper 25-04-0 peg 56

Thursday 22/03/2012 - Bathampton AA Silvers Championship Presentation Match - Withy Pool

With the Silvers Championship over Mike Jones organised a Silvers Championship presentation match, the format to include Carp, similar to the Coffin Dodger matches.

I have been suffering with a nasty irritating cough over the past week hardly getting any sleep, inherited from my twin Granddaughters, so I wasn’t 100% today.

In to the draw bag and out comes disabled peg 67, this a point peg where you can fish in to the main bowl of the Lake, so fishing long might be the right attack. But not for me I settled on a maximum of 11.5 metres for the Skimmers with my 4x16 Jolly set up. The only other rig I set up was my Ronnie rig to be fished to the left with caster over caster.

I started by feeding the long Skimmer line with a pot of 50/50 mix of micro and caster and started feeding the caster line which I started on giving the Skimmers chance to settle. This only produced one missed bite so I kept feeding the caster here whilst I gave the Skimmers a chance to get in the keep net. I was soon in to Skimmers from 3oz to 2lb, but it was slow, as all the anglers seemed to be suffering similarly (I could see most anglers from my swim). I re-fed the Skimmer line and went back to give the Ronnie’s one more chance. I was pleasantly surprised to find they had arrived eager to frustrate the hell out of me with what may appear to be missed bites (it might have been the vibration form my cough). Once I hooked one they were well worth catching ranging from 3 to 8oz.  When it slowed I would try the Skimmers but although I knew it was a waiting game for these I couldn’t help think “I could have had a Ronnie by now”. So knowing dam well that I wasn’t giving the Skimmers a fair crack of the whip, it was back on the Ronnie’s far too soon. I was rewarded with a 3lb tech over the Ronnie line. I noticed that Bill Ferris was doing well on loose fed maggot so decided to put a pot in over the Skimmer line. Still being over occupied by the tormenting Ronnie’s, unfortunately it wasn’t until the last ten minutes that I put triple maggot over the Skimmer line and hooked a 3lb Skimmer which slipped the hook at the net, which amused some anglers. I had a gut feeling that this would cost me and it did – first Silvers place. My Silvers weighed in at 19lb 4oz for second in the Silvers and fourth overall.

The match was won by Ray Bazeley (pictured right with the Silvers winner) from peg 58 with 30lb 2oz. Ray’s catch included two Carp to 14lb and two Bream. Ray also caught on maggot.

The Silvers was won by Terry Bruton on peg 47 with 19lb 15oz. Terry caught short fishing maggot over maggot.

Full Result:

1.      Ray Bazeley 30-02-0 peg 58

2.      Bill Ferris 21-10-0 peg 68

3.      Terry Bruton 19-15-0 peg 47

4.      Mike Nicholls 19-04-0 peg 67

5.      Dave Poole 17-08-0 peg 49

6.      Mike Owens 16-01-0 peg 66

Top Silvers:

1.      Terry Bruton 19-15-0 peg 47

2.      Mike Nicholls 19-04-0 peg 67

3.      Dave Poole 17-08-0 peg 49

Sunday 18/03/2012 - Avon Angling Open - Chilton Trinity - Woodlands

With a quick detour through inner Beirut for Bela to do the Mothers day thing, it was off to the Hill Top Café. Bela went for the “Over the Hill” breakfast, complete with half pound of Liver and onion rings!!

The match was on Woodlands Lake and I was thinking it was a bit too early in the year for the venue – well for me. As long as I didn’t draw a corner peg I was going for the Silvers with Ronnie’s – for some reason I just can’t catch the resident Skimmers on this venue. In to the new draw box and out comes peg 28 – not a corner peg. However, I did have reservations as the wind was blowing in to my bank which only got worse as the match progressed. Mid match nature decided to also add freezing cold rain. I set up the Ronnie rig and 4 metre whip and reluctantly the Skimmer rig to be fished at 10 metres. On the whistle I fed a small ball of GB laced with Pinkie at 10 metres at 12 o clock. I followed this up with half a cup of micro at 2 o clock, loose feeding the Ronnie line with caster.

Starting over the GB with double dead red resulted in nothing. Not to worry, over the pellet line with 3mm expander pellet on the hook, which also resulted in nothing. Not to worry out with the Ronnie rig with caster and it was Motherless Minnow every put in. So it was out on the 4 metre line again with caster and once again it was Motherless Minnows, that was until I hooked three Carp on the all of the taking ownership of my 16 808 hook. I decided to feed CW& C over the GB line and try and feed off the Motherless with lashings of micro – mistake they loved it and it only got worse, such that I had to hide the hook bait until I cast!! I tried the worm and allsorts of other desperate measures to catch Silvers – it didn’t happen so I set up a paste rig for the RH margin and watched the Motherless to their Piranha trick of attacking the paste in vast numbers vibrating the float until it was all worn away. The wind was taking its toll on my eyes so I had to rest them by turning my back on the swim. Whatever I tried it was a motherless or tiny Rudd. I did pack up early weighing in a mere 5lb 10oz (Mr Avon Angling insisted that a picture be taken of my catch - pictured right) of mainly Motherless, well it was Mother Day. I thought I could net 10lb plus of Ronnie’s which is usually enough for coin, which was true for today.

The match was won by Bryan Shanks (pictured right with his catch) on peg 15 on the opposite bank with 97lb. Bryan caught on 8mm hard banded pellet, either at 16 metres up in the water or down his LH margin. Bryan fed hard eights on both lines.

The Silvers was won by Shane Casswell (pictured lower right) from peg 26 with 14lb. Shane caught on worm fished over chopped worm, cater and GB. Shanes catch also included a 4lb Tench.

Full Result:

1.      Bryan Shanks 97-0-0 peg 15

2.      Martin Lenaghan 75-14-0 peg 10

3.      Tony Rixon 56-0-0 peg 24

4.      Tom Mangnall 36-04-0 peg 29

5.      Mike West 32-11-0 peg 11

6.      Ron Hardiman 31-08-0 peg 14

Top Silvers:

1.      Shane Casswell 14-0-0 peg 26

2.      John Bradford 10-12-0 peg 33 

Thursday 15/03/2012 - Bathampton AA Silvers Championship - Bridge Pool - Round 7 - Final Round

Month after month we hear criticism from Government and the Media of Banks for not lending to small businesses. Why don't they - simple:

"A Banker is someone willing to make you a loan if you present sufficient evidence that you don’t need  it."

I am amazed that Politicians are unaware that Bankers are adverse to risk with their own money but frivolous with everyone else's!! After all Bankers don't want to risk their obscene bonuses.

Back to the fishing:

So with Dave Wride in the Bahamas having all but sewn up the Individual league thanks to his impressive 54lb on Withy, I was left with only being able to draw with Dave on points, needing 34lb to beat him on weight. I realised it was a “Bridge” too far, but that wouldn’t stop me trying. First of all I needed a good draw. Having accomplished that by pulling peg 18 (I have plenty of history with this peg), although pegs 4, 8, 16, 24 and 26 would also have done, it was left for the venue to fish extremely well. Unfortunately it only fished very well.

I was fishing against John Smith in the knockout final, John had pulled peg 25, a good Carp peg. I knew John would struggle for Silvers on the peg.

The other chance of coin was winning the Pairs with my partner Mike Owens, who had drawn peg 32. I did pay a quick visit to Mike before the whistle with some advice (Mike’s first series on the venue).

I had Ray Bazeley opposite me on peg 17, which can be also a good Silvers peg on its day.

I set up a Ronnie rig which I scaled down to 0.1 mm line (on reflection this was unnecessary). I then set up my usual 4x16 Jolly to be fished as far as the bank behind me would allow – 10 metres. I decided to go positive even though the weather was almost freezing fog, feeding a pot of micro with a good measure of caster. Ray went one better feeding two big pots of GB some 4 metres from my swim. I started well catching small Skimmers with two that went 1lb each on soft pellet. I then hooked and landed a 2 ½ lb Tench. After one hour I started to realise I might have over done the feed – so did Ray! Fish were hard to come by. I tried the Ronnie rig with caster over loose fed caster which didn’t produce anything. So I made up my winter jolly and knocked some of my Skimmer GB. Mixing in a few Pinkies I opened up another swim at 10 o clock, where I had another run of Skimmers and a few small Ronnie’s on double Pinkie. After feeding another nugget of GB with Pinkie the swim slowed. So it was back over the first line again with expander – the struggle continued. I kept swapping between the two lines nicking the odd fish, until I fathomed out the feeding pattern which was again winter type, feeding ten micros after every fish. Luckily I did have a very productive last hour. I thought I might have 20lb and was surprised to weigh 25lb 8oz. not enough top beat Dave Wride but enough to win the match which you really can’t do much more. So I gladly settled for joint overall, second by weight count back – that 54lb disserved to take the title on its own.

As I suspected John Smith struggled, but did get the most out of his peg with 12lb.

Luckily my pair’s partner fished well, following our team plan. Mike weighed in 16lb 1oz for a section win and fourth overall, giving us the pair’s title.

The accidental Carp was won by Terry Bruton from peg 15 with a lonely 15lb Common.

The surprise of the day for me came form Dave Haines (pictured right with the match winner) who came second in the Carp pool with one or the smaller ones weighing in at 5lb 11oz.

My thanks to Mike Jones and Chris Rolfe for running a superb league and of course not forgetting BAA for providing a wonderful well managed venue and Veals Fishing for their sponsorship. I am already looking forward to next years series.

Full Result:

1.      Mike Nicholls 25-08-0 peg 18

2.      Mike Jones 19-08-0 peg 26
2.      Paul Haines 19-08-0 peg 24
4.      Mike Owens 16-01-0 peg 32
5.      Paul Barnfield 15-08-0 peg 14
6.      Terry Bruton 13-12-0 peg 15

Accidental Carp:

1.      Terry Bruton 15-0-0 peg 15

2.      Dave Haines 5-11-0 peg 33

The final League positions will be published on the BAA website in due course.

Sunday 11/03/2012 - Landsend Individual League - Specimen, Match and John Walter Lakes

Bela and I were guesting once again in the Landsend Individual League.  Bela was on Specimen Lake and I was filling in for Fabio on John Walters Lake.

Into the draw box and out comes peg 51 again. This peg likes me for some reason, for me – I coming to terms with it! Two rigs 4x12 for the LH margin at 5 metres – one Ronnie caught on this one, so no more of this. And a 4x14 to be fished at 10 metres at 12 o clock and at 11.5 metres at 9 o clock with 5 inches off the depth. Both lines to be fished with 4mm expander over dry frozen micro. There were a lot of small rings showing very similar to rain drops which I though were either small Skimmers or Ronnie’s, so I decided to mix up a bit of GB and put a knub in at 5 metres at 1 o clock, only because this had exactly the same depth as the longer line.

Starting on the 10 metre line with expander I started catching Skimmers and with five hand size ones in the net and a couple of tint Crucian’s I hooked and landed my one and only Carp which weighed 7lb. Now with an hour up the swim slowed, so I tried the 11.5 metre line again with expander which surprisingly only produced a couple of 2oz Ronnie’s. I did keep trying this line in anticipation, but to no avail. Out again on the 10 metre line and I kept a few Skimmers and the odd Crucian’s coming up to 14:00 when the sun started to pierce the morning mist and the all but the Ronnie’s disappeared. With Carp coming out from most swims I decided to focus on the Silvers for the rest of the match, which meant getting the Ronnie rig out to fish at 4 metres with caster. Loose feeding caster I kept a few coming but the feeding had to be perfect to keep them in a catchable place. I kept trying the 10 metre line but it was all but dead. I finished the match on the Ronnie rig. My Silvers weighed in at 22lb 9oz, adding the sole 7lb Carp took my total to 29lb 9oz, which was well down the Lake section. John Bradford had drawn peg 70 and thought he had much more than me, however, the Gimp only managed 19lb so I went home with the Lake Silvers. I was surprised to discover that my Silvers were also good enough for fourth overall in the Silvers.

Paul Haines (pictured right with some of his catch) won the Lake from peg 58 with 77lb.

The match was won by Trigger from peg 32 with 105lb. Trig fished both hard and soft pellet long at 2 foot deep. Incidentally Trig and Partner are expecting their first Triglet this coming Friday – best wishes matey.

The Silvers was won by Nigel Bartlett (pictured lower right with the match winner) with 42lb 10oz from peg 35. Nigel caught at 16 metres fishing caster over caster feeding about ¾ of a pint all match. His catch made up of mainly Chub and Perch.

This was the final match of the league which was won by the Gorilla in the mist (pictured lower centre, waiting for one of the female of the species), who was pegged opposite me on peg 61 making the most of his peg as usual. See Tony'sblog for the full leage positions.

Full Result:

1.      Craig Edmondson 105-0-0 peg 32

2.      Mark Poppleton 95-15-0 peg 34

3.      Nick Duckett 93-13-0 peg 15

4.      Mike West 93-03-0 peg 31

5.      Paul Elmes 90-08-0 peg 29

6.      Bela Bakos 87-09-0 peg 27

Top Silvers:

1.      Nigel Bartlett 41-10-0 peg 35

2.      Alan Oram 23-10-0 peg 11

3.      Tom Thick 22-10-0  peg 33

4.      Mike Nicholls 22-09-0 peg 51

Thursday 08/03/2012 - Bathampton AA Silvers Championship - Withy Pool - Round 6

Another Fallow Deer (thanks to Martin Preston for pointing out my wrong assumption re Roe Deer) was on display on the hill behind the pegs in the 50’s.

The draw for the final four in the knockout put me against matey Rich Coles, who subsequently drew peg 45, which has a reasonable history for Skimmers, but not as late.  Again any peg not beginning with 5 would be fine for me, out comes peg 62. This peg has a good recent history for section wins so I couldn’t really ask for more, but debateable whether I would beat Rich from it. It looks as if my draw arm has at last adjusted to new the draw tickets and tight draw bag.

Peg 62 is last peg on the far bank so an “ender” with a reasonable amount of room. I had Paul Staite for company on peg 61. The last time I drew this peg I won the match with Carp, as it tends to be a reasonable winter Carp peg. Also you need to fish long to get down the inside shelf so I took the Normark feeder rod with me. On Andy Shields advice I set up the usual Jolly to be fished at 11.5 metres and the feeder to be fished at 20 metres, both out in front. I started by feeding 50/50 micro and caster on the pole line but started in the GB feeder with a 3mm soft pellet on the hook. First cast a Ronnie snatched it off on the drop, so I switched to triple maggot, which sat there for five minutes before I gave up on it and went on the pole with soft pellet. I started to catch small Ronnie’s and Skimmers (1 to 2oz) quite regularly and was quite happy doing this as no one appeared to be catching. After two hours it slowed up after which I hooked and landed two big Skimmers in consecutive put-ins. It then went quite and I didn’t have a bite for half hour so I put in two big pots of 50/50 caster and micro and sat over it with soft pellet. It was very slow and I was beginning to think I had buggered the peg. I kept trying the feeder to rest my hands which again ended up with an impatient nothing. Back on the pole resulted in another two big Skimmers, but not much else. I decided to fish out the last 15 minutes on the feeder which lasted four minute, before I was back on the pole. This time I put on a big worm and had a 3oz Perch – not a good sign – so out again with worm and just before the whistles I hooked and landed another big Skimmer (4 pounder). My Dad always said it is only a Bream if you can’t pick it up in one hand! My Skimmers and Ronnie’s weighed in at 20lb 2oz for a section win and first overall. My 4lb Skimmers won the biggest fish prize – happy days.

Unusually Rich Coles struggled off his peg managing only 3lbs odd. So in to the knockout with John Smith who knockout Terry Bruton off the next peg.

My pair’s partner Mike Owens drew well with peg 49 and got a section second, which hopefully now puts us back in the lead of the pairs.

Ray Bazeley (pictured right with the match winner) won the accidental Carp with the smallest Carp in the Lake.

Full Result:

1.      Mike Nicholls 20-02-0 peg 62

2.      Chris Rolfe 15-15-0 peg 59

3.      Dave Wride 14-05-0 peg 46

4.      John Smith 13-04-0 peg 73

5.      Mike Jones 10-03-0 peg 69

6.      Bob Price 9-05-0 peg 56

Accidental Carp:

1.      Ray Bazeley 3-15-0 peg 57

2.      No One!!

Sunday 04/03/2012 - Viaduct Teams of Five Winter League - Final Round - All Lakes

We arrived at the Canards Well for breakfast only to find that they were closed. Bela was well pissed, so it was flat out to the Globe Hotel for the cold buffet and the environmental unfriendly plastic brown sauce plastic packets.

Team Captain TM arrived with the team draw and I don’t know why he had his cheesy grin on show as he had drawn the same peg as the first match when we came last!! As it was my turn on Carey I was handed peg 90, followed by a bollocking from Bela for stating the peg I didn’t want on the drive down!! I wasn’t the only one to have this foresight, as Tony Rixon was hoping not to draw peg 21 – and he did.

Peg 90 does not suit my style of fishing as it requires 16 metres of pole to be fished into the end margin. I am not sure anyone could have fished that long today with the high gusting winds. As it was my first time on the peg I had a good think about how to approach it. I decided that I could forget team points as the draw wasn’t going to lift us up the league. I was laying 9^th overall and needed a Lake win to stand any chance of getting in the frame. So I thought the Silvers super pool would be my only chance of picking up any coin. So it was the pole with a 4x14 Jolly to be fished at 7 metres (wind and hands limited) and the small GB feeder at 25 metres. I started on the feeder with double maggot on the hook and after 20 minutes this had produced one sucked maggot. So I spent the rest of the match on the pole. I had fed a whole pot of caster on this line and with single caster on the hook I had three missed bites before I landed my first 1oz Ronnie. The reliable Ronnie’s kept me interested for quite some time – missing bites, bumping off, falling off and landing the odd one. The sun came out and the 12 o clock swim was unfishable, so it was round at 10 o clock where I had another caster swim on the back burner. Again it was Ronnie’s having a cautious look. It wasn’t until the last twenty minutes that the Skimmer put in an appearance landing six before the whistle, bumping two. I think the Skimmers were hanging loose up in the water until the wind picked up late on and pushed them down on the feed. It was all too late for me. My Silvers weighed in at 8lb 2oz for a mere 4 points (I think). If the match finished an hour later I would have ….. so would everyone else!! I did have my personal best Ruffe which I estimated to be 2 oz. The current Ruffe record is 5oz and 4 drams.

The team didn’t improve on the last result on the peg with 29 points, 1 less. However, we weren’t last. Team wise we ended the league in 12^th spot, which based on the draws we had was about fair.

The match was won by Dave Roper (pictured right - last seen trying to recover his keep net from his peg) with 135lb 12oz from peg 97. Dave caught on the straight lead with meat hook bait.

The Silvers was won by Vince Brown (pictured right) with 23lb 12oz of Skimmers from peg 18. Vince caught on the pole at 14.5 metres fishing caster over caster.

Top individual was Ray Hayward with 85 points – averaging 17 points per match out of a possible 19. Ray today fished peg 2 on Spring Lake and fished the lead all match for two Carp.  I really don’t know how he does this.

Full Result:

1.      Dave Roper 135-12-0 peg 97

2.      Des Shipp 134-09-0 peg 113
3.      Jason Radford 93-01-0 peg 86
4.      Steve Kedge 83-13-0 peg
5.      Bob Gullick 80-03-0 peg 127
6.      Paul Housewood 78-02-0 peg

Top Silvers:

1.      Vince Brown 23-12-0 peg 18
2.      John Moody 20-05-0 peg 43
3.      Dean Malin 20-02-0 peg 68

Top Teams on the Day:

1.      Thatcher’s Youth 70 points

2.      Somerset Angling 69
3.      Dynamite Baits 67
4.      Awa-Shima 67
5.      Viaduct Select 67
….
16. Silverfox TM 29

Final League Position:

1.      Thatcher’s Youth 335 Points

2.      Somerset Angling 308

3.      Moaning Maggots 304

4.      Viaduct Select 297

5.      Garbolino 264
6.      Maver Red 262
…
12. Silverfox TM 224

Top Individuals:

1.      Ray Hayward 85 Points
2.      Tony Rixon 80

Thursday 01/03/2012 - Bathampton AA Silvers Championship - Bridge Pool - Round 5

With a foggy start which soon became a glorious spring day, with us all stripping off our winter clothing. Rich Coles was down to his under pants at one stage whilst he took off his Long Jones – Horrible site.

Chris Rolfe and I had a walk round the Lake and both decided that any peg would do except pegs 2, 3, 32 and 33 (opposite pegs). In to the new draw bag, with the new crappy draw paper pegs (now stuck down instead of stapled, no wonder I couldn’t find the double stapled ticket) and out comes peg 3 – I couldn’t believe it, especially when Chris arrived on peg 33. I wasn’t too concerned, until Dave Wride arrives on flyer peg 4 and less so Mike Jones on end peg 2, which is a far worse Silvers peg (good for Carp though!!). Dave wasn’t about to share any of his Skimmers. Dave was using some new GB (pictured right with his bag of GB) recommended to him by Tich. I am not surprised it was recommended as the small bag cost Dave £6.99, Tich must be on commission. But don’t get spending it yet matey, as Dave thought it was rubbish and is taking it back for a refund – man after my own heart.

I set up the one rig a 4x16 Jolly to be fished at 10 metres at 12-o clock with maggot over GB and a swing round to 10 o clock (as close as I could reasonable get to Dave’s swim) needing to swallowing up by 3 inches for expander over micro. Starting on the double red over a tangerine ball of GB laced with a few casters and Pinkie, I sat there bite less for 15 minutes watching Dave catch Skimmer after Skimmer. I decided to switch to the micro line where I had fed a half cup. I was straight in to small Skimmers which lasted about two hours before it got difficult, but not until I had lost three consecutive Skimmers (6oz). In the meantime I had converted the GB line to micro and did pick up a few more tiny Skimmers on this line, but wherever I put the pellet I was plagued with micro Ronnie’s which would only “chew” at the pellet, hardly able to pull the float under the surface (it only takes a number 12 shot to do this), more often than not they would fall off any way. This was the recipe for a very frustrating last three hours of the match – bloody hard work. I tried all sorts of hook bait including single Pinkie, but it was only the soft pellet they were interested in, following down the hook bait from about two foot from the bottom. I weighed 12lb 10oz, which I must say, is a weight I would have more than settled for at the start. This put me third in the section (but picking up the coin by double default) and sixth overall. I had drawn my pair’s partner Mike Owen in the knockout who had 10lb 5oz, also for third in his section, needing only a few more ounces for a section win.

The match was won by Terry Bruton (pictured right with his catch) with 25lb 15oz from peg 5. Terry had some quality Roach and Skimmers, plus a bonus 3lb Tench on white maggot fished over white maggot. Terry loose fed about 12 maggots every put in at 5 metres to the LH tree.

Full Result:

1.      Terry Bruton 25-15-0 peg 5

2.      Bob Price 23-06-0 peg 18

3.      Rich Coles 22-08-0 peg 10

4.      Dave Wride 19-12-0 peg 4

5.      Alan Jones 14-10-0 peg 17

6.      Mike Nicholls 12-10-0 peg 3

Accidental Carp Pool:

1.      John Smith 6-04-0 peg 14

2.      No One!

Biggest Silver Fish:

Dave Gillard – Tench 3lb 6oz Peg 31