Sunday 05/05/2013 - Avon Angling Open - Chiltern Trinity - Woodlands

Day two of a double header weekend, this time Chiltern Trinity – Woodlands. Breakfast was at Hilltop café and a good breakfast it was, plus I had a surprise encounter meeting up with Colin Wilkinson a team mate of old, he didn’t look much difference except his gray hair – you certainly wouldn’t believe he’s 70 – a great river angler and still fishes the Warwickshire Avon.

 

In to the draw bag and out comes peg 32 – again as I drew this last time I was here. Still plenty of room and a decent Silvers and Carp peg. For company on next peg 31 I had match organiser Rip-off Rixon (it’s not what Bela calls him). There was a match on the small Lake behind making the causeway very busy as pictured right.

 

For some reason I have always struggled to catch Silvers in the deep water, so I only set up the Ronnie Rig and a paste rig, both to be fished in the LH margin.

 

I chose to start on the Ronnie rig with single caster over loose fed caster. The problem with this Lake it is absolutely rammed with Motherless Minnows which are difficult to avoid at the best of times. Being surface feeders they rarely feed on the bottom so I fished very close to the bank which did help to some degree. I caught small Skimmers, Rudd and Ronnie’s regularly for the first hour thoroughly enjoying myself until I hooked a Carp. I kept on but the swim had slowed because the next fish was also a carp. So it was time to change to the paste. This resulted in eight decent Carp to 16lb. The eleventh fish which was another decent Carp snagged me breaking the hook – bugger. The paste bait was then being munched by the Ronnie’s so it was back out on the caster until it went quite again with the paste accounting for another four Carp. The last fifteen minutes was spent of the caster finding that the better Silvers had moved in – bit too late.

 

My Silvers weighed 11lb 4oz and my 14 Carp 70lb 6oz for a total of 90lb 10oz. This put me 7^th overall picking up second in the Silvers in what was a very close match as the result bare witness. That lost Carp cost be second place overall, but I guess everyone lost a Carp or two.

 

The match was won by Tony Rixon (pictured right) from peg 31 with 134lb 2oz. Tony caught see his blog….Three quarters through the match I did have him deep sighing again! But his last hour was very productive.

 

The Silvers was won by John Bradford (pictured right with the other half of the fishing business empire) from peg 2 with 17lb 2oz. John caught on both long pole with soft pellet and in his RH margin with caster.

 

Full Result:

 

1.      Tony Rixon 134-02-0 peg 31

2.      Kevin Moulton 98-05-0 peg17

3.      Craig Edmonds 97-10-0 peg 22

4.      Glenn Bailey 95-04-0 peg 8

5.      Joe McMahon 93-06-0 peg 13

6.      Vic Bush 92-13-0 peg 29

7.      Mike Nicholls 90-10-0 peg 32

8.      Shaun Townsend 90-04-0 peg 28

 

Top Silvers:

 

1.      John Bradford 17-02-0 peg 2

2.      Mike Nicholls 11-04-0 peg 32

 

Weigh Sheets: