Sunday 02/09/2012 - Avon Angling Open - Chiltern Trinity - Wild Marsh

Charlie’s Angels were assembled and ready for another series of the teams of fours. Other teams must have got wind on how strong we were this year and pulled out!! It’s a shame it was cancelled though, but Tony did the right thing as usual, eight teams isn’t quite enough and Tony would have only been left trying to find anglers to fill vacant places. Nevertheless, Tony is running the series as opens and Bela and I agreed to support them all.

 

The first match was at Chiltern Trinity – Wild Marsh. I really can’t make my mind up about this venue; it does have something that attracts me here. As I am writing I am thinking that I wouldn’t mind a pleasure trip down there as I am sure I would catch a good mixed net of big Skimmers and very fit Carp. I understand that John the owner has but a few thousand Tench in the Lake with plans for a big stocking of small Carp – whatever, I am sure I will be drawn back again.

 

I managed to get the last draw ticket away from Clayton Hudson. And yippee one of the pegs I would have picked – peg 9. I could expect big Skimmers and Carp from this peg.

 

Arriving at the peg the first thing I noticed was that the water colour was that horrible brown algae colour with patches of light brown where the bottom was being disturbed. I set up just two rigs a 0.5 gram paste float to be fish out in front at 11.5 metres where I had 9 foot of water, and a 0.4gram rig for the very deep 4 foot LH margin – simple.

 

I started by cupping in a big pot of 3mm soften pellet on both lines starting on the paste at 11.5 metres I missed a bite first put in. Second put in I caught and landed a 4lb carp – good start. That was it for an age even though I kept topping up with 3’s and 4’s. The fish on this venue usually give you clues by bowing over the pellet that they are about; however; today there wasn’t any sign of life. I then lost two Bream in two put ins. I don’t know whether they were foul hooked or not. I was now beginning to realise that perhaps the fish were up in the water more so due to the waters algae. So a quick look on the margin and the usual tell-tell sign that there were no big fish around due to the Motherless Minnows nibbling at the paste. I put a big worm over it to check and had a 2 oz Ronnie. So it was back out on the long line and another lost Bream. I switched to the worm hook bait and had three Bream losing another one bringing the total to 4 lost and three in the net. With an hour to go it was clear that the good pegs in this leg of the Lake weren’t fishing that well, so I stayed in the margin feeding 4’s over the paste hook bait until the float stayed still announcing the arrival of a Carp. In the last 20 minutes I landed two one being a 10 pounder. So in the six hours of fishing I landed six fish – one an hour equivalent.

 

My three Bream weighed in at 8lb (I would like to think that by lost Bream would have given me some Silvers coin) and my three Carp weighed in at 20lb 1oz for a second in section of 28lb 1oz.

 

The match was won by Adrian Clark (pictured right with his catch) with 63lb 5oz from Island peg 10. Adrian caught 15 Carp to eight pounds, catching half his weight on paste down to his RH margin up to the tree. When the margin swim died he switched to the pellet feeder over to the opposite bank with 8mm pellet banded hook bait.

 

The Silvers was won by Tom Thick (pictured right with his catch) with 19lb 5oz from peg 57. Tom caught on hair rigged 6mm pellet fish over loose fed hard 4’s at 14.5 metres. Tom feed about two pints through out the match.

 

Full Result:

 

1.      Adrian Clark 63-05-0 peg Island 10

2.      Steve Segar 56-03-0 peg 39

3.      Alan Oram 53-14-0 peg Island 3

4.      Mike West 39-03-0 peg 59

5.      Tony Rixon 35-04-0 peg 60

6.      Tom Thick 31-12-0 peg 57

 

Top Silvers:

 

1.      Tom Thick 19-05-0 peg 57

2.      Nick Collins 17-02-0 peg 19

3.      Chris Fox 15-0-0 peg 30