Thursday 13/09/2012 - Bathampton Over 55's and Disabled - Huntstrete - Withy Pool

What a beautiful autumn day, the air being so very fresh, subsequently I was surprised there weren’t more anglers than the 23 booked in. However, we usually get more on Bridge than Withy Pool.

 

Walking around the lake all the indications were that it was going to fish hard, especially the Silvers (bright and flat calm). Peg 48 was taken by a far better angler (pictured right) than any of us in the draw queue. Into the draw bag and out comes peg 54. Left me thinking a penance for drawing so well yesterday. Peg 54 is one of the pegs behind the island, directly opposite the fish sanctuary, where you really need to fish a lead rod or perhaps waggler to entice out the resident Carp. So with the Silvers going to be hard to come by I decided I might just compete for them on this peg.

 

This peg is one of the shallowest pegs on the lake so with it flat calm I chose to fish a 4x14 Sensas Stainey and a rarity for me a 0.1 hook length. With an assortment of baits available I settled on the 4mm expander pellet to be fished over wetted 3’s at 10 metres. On the all in I kinder potted in a few 3’s and it wasn’t long before I had missed a bite and lost my hook bait. Out again same again, until I hooked a 2oz Skimmer. And that’s how it went for the first hour putting just ounces in the net and getting a match winning amount of frustration. Up went the 0.5 gram paste rig to be fished over the same line, but this time kindering hard 4’s. The upshot was over the next five hours I landed four Bream, losing one at the net, plus one Carp which weighed 9lb 8oz, luckily, my four Bream and few bits weighed 14lb 2oz for second in the Silvers, but my total 23lb 10oz left me nowhere.

 

For company I had Bob Warren on peg 53, who had a nightmare of a match losing much more than the 35lb he landed – unlucky mate.

 

The match was won by the affable Bath tackle dealer Dave Bacon (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 73lb 2oz from peg 60. Dave caught nine Carp and a few Skimmers fishing at 8 metres using CW&C with a piece of worm on the hook.

 

The Silvers was won by Andy Smith with 15lb 6oz from peg 70. Andy used his favoured waggler fished over GB and caster with single caster on the hook.

 

Full Result:

 

1.      Dave Bacon 73-02-0 peg 60

2.      Rich Coles 65-08-0 peg 61

3.      Paul Haines 51-08-0 peg 46

4.      Ray Bazeley 40-05-0 peg 42

5.      Harry Muir 37-01-0 peg 72

6.      Terry Bruton 36-08-0 peg 57

 

Top Silvers:

 

1.      Andy Smith 15-06-0 peg 70

2.      Mike Nicholls 14-02-0 peg 54

3.      Dave Poole 13-0-0 peg 56

3.      Brian Sheppard 13-0-0 peg 69