Thursday 29/08/2013 - Bathampton AA Over 55's and Disabled - Withy Pool

It was my 43^rd wedding anniversary today, however I had forgotten! But lucky me, so had the Special One – Phew!!

 

Mike Jones wanted me to clarify that since coming out at Tockenham (out of the Lake that is) that he has switched back to Y Fronts. So no more piss take please.

 

The Huntstrete venue was very busy today which goes to show how good the pleasure fishing can be.

 

It was another good turn our including Charlie “I’m not going to Withy again” Barns. So Mike had to select a few “Experiment” pegs which were 35, 40, 52 and 65. In to the draw bag and out came peg 35. Probably the best of these experimental pegs. I won from it some time ago with three big Carp. It is also the aerator peg which BAA has been quite rightly constantly running due to low oxygen levels. It certainly had attracted a lot of small Silvers which looked like this year’s batch. With the water level low but now appeared to have stabilised I set up the box next to the platform close to the water this allowed me to get the keep nets right into the water plus I like fishing close as possible the water.

 

I put in three nets which raised some eyebrows and a bit of piss take. I did this to spread any Carp out as they are now in the main double figure fish. An example for some anglers I think. If you take the nets use them all.

 

It doesn’t take much of an angling brain to see it is a Carp peg. That said I had decided to fish for the Silvers with the Ronnie rig, but set up a paste rig for the RH margin for later.

 

I started reasonably well catching 2 to 3oz Ronnie’s and some Perch on single caster. I kept an eye on the anglers I could see to see if any of the big skimmers were being caught because it would have mad what I was doing fruitless. I was interrupted by three foul hooked Carp coming in to investigate matters. With a hour to go I thought I was just short of 10lb so went for a Banana walk up to Mike Jones who said he had a few Ronnie’s weighing over 10lb but some big Skimmers had been coming out in the late 40’s. Martin Alexander was blanking on peg 40! Decision made I changed to Carp in the margin with paste landing four Carp losing one which I managed to get round the lily pads but let it escape once it reached the aerator!

 

My four Carp weighed 43lb 14oz and my Silvers 8lb 6oz for a total of 52lb 4oz for 6^th overall. There’s no doubt that that had I fished for Carp all match I would have finished higher in the frame.

 

I think from all the experimental pegs today my peg 35 is the only one worth pegging on a regular basis.

 

The match was won by John Fry (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 104lb 7oz all Carp catch from peg 49. Inexplicably John lost 14 Carp! John caught on meat over pellet.

 

The Silvers was won by Alan Jones with 20lb 6oz from peg 47. Alan caught some big Skimmers by initially catching on worm over micro then later switching to worm over caster.

 

Full Result:

 

1. John Fry 104-07-0 peg 49
2. Terry Bruton 74-15-0 peg 44
3. Chris Rolfe 72-02-0 peg 54
4. Andy Shields 60-08-0 peg 66
5. Ray Bazeley 59-04-0 peg 46
6. Mike Nicholls 52-04-0 peg 35

 Top Silvers:

 

1. Alan Jones 20-06-0 peg 47
2. Pete Turner 17-05-0 peg 59
3. Mike Taylor 15-06-0 peg 48

 Weigh Sheets:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday 26/08/2013 - Avon Angling Open - Windmill Fishery - Match Lake

I have intended to fish Windmill Fishery for some time and when Tony Rixon said he was going to organising an open there this Sunday Bela and I jumped in. Being a new local venue close to the Ring road it has attracted a lot of attention. Unfortunately, the feed back has so far been derogative, especially with regard to design, with one end being three foot deep and the other twelve foot. That said I believe in assessing a fishery for myself. So today was that opportunity. I do like the challenge of fishing new venues and new pegs. However, that does mean taking sufficient types of bait for both Silvers and Carp.

 

Also today Bela and I found ourselves in a new breakfast café, in the small precinct at the end of the Kingsway. We were told we could get a good breakfast there. However, the day got off to a bad start as we were served with the worse breakfast that I can remember. The sausages were white inside, which some how ended up on Bela plate, which he didn’t even notice. The fried egg tasted of old cooking fat. And during the match I had terrible acid indigestion.

 

After walking around the venue (pictured right see website https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8#fp=2332ad6da73a67be&q=windmill+fishery) it was time to pick up a swim card from the floor. Peg 10. Nice to not know if the pegs are any good or not, but apparently it had some Silvers form.

 

So the plan was to feed softened micro at 9 metres for Skimmers (and perhaps Carp) using a 4x16 Jolly probably a bit too heavy a float for 3 ½  foot of water but the was a bit of a blow on up towards the other end of the Lake. This float picked up the flow in the opposite direction to the wind giving great presentation.  I set up the Ronnie rig to fish at 4 metres with maggot over lose fed GB. Finally I set up two paste rigs to fish over both Silver lines in case the Carp arrived.

 

So with the plan in place and the all in shouted I fed the 9 metre line, but started on the Ronnie rig loose feeding small balls of GB. All I could catch on this was tiny Rudd, Ronnie’s, Perch and Skimmers – 4 to the ounce!! This wasn’t going to win any coin. So after feeding a big ball of GB this time laced with dead maggot I had a look over the Skimmer line with soft 3mm pellet. All I could get is indications from tint fish – fry size.

 

So it was time to have a walk round and see what was happening. I looked as if the Silvers wasn’t really feeding plus I had drawn at the wrong end as some Carp were being caught from the middle to the opposite end pegs.

 

Back to the peg and I caught a Carp on the Ronnie rig and later another on the soft pellet line and that was it except for these tiny fish pecking away at the hook bait. My two Carp weighed 9lb 12oz and my net of fry 1lb 10oz for a total of 11lb 6oz.

 

The match was won by Gordon Cannings (pictured right with some of his catch) from peg 8 with 77lb 15oz. Gordon fished at 10 metres initially using soft pellet over micro and later switching to 6mm meat hook bait feeding meat with the micro. Gordon fished a focussed match catching steady all through. Well done matey.

 

The Silvers was won by Adrian Jeffery (pictured lower right with his catch) with 7lb from peg 4. Adrian caught short using meat feed and hook bait all through.

 

The match stats are that 18 anglers fished with only 11 weighing in. I think the fishery design is probably beneficial for the fish stocks, but not conducive for match fishing because of the variable depths and the fish shoaling up depending on natural phenomenal, such as wind, temperature and air pressures. I also think is could do with some further stocking. I must say that Terry the fishery manager is so enthusiastic that I can only see it improving. I would suggest that some bankside/margin vegetation might help with splitting the fish up a bit particularly in the corners.

 

Full Result:

 

1. Gordon Cannings 77-15-0 peg 8
2. Kevin 47-03-0 peg 26
3. Pete Wild 46-06-0 peg 2
4. Tony Rixon 39-11-0 peg 24
5. Shaun Townsend 37-02-0 peg 28
6. Rod Wotton 16-06-0 peg 13

 

Top Silvers:

 

1. Adrian Jeffery 7-0-0 peg 4

 

Weigh Sheet:

 

 

Wednesday 22/08/2013 - Amalgamation Summer League - Round Five - Tockenham Reservior

The second visit in the Summer League to Tockenham Reservoir (pictured right looking from the dam wall). Whilst driving to the match I had that left something behind feeling, then going up Tog Hill the penny dropped I had forgotten my feeder rod. I decided to press on regardless. After breakfast with Barry Fitchew in Miss Piggies (small and friendly) it was off to the draw.

 

I was hoping for a draw on the dam wall however; in to the draw bag and a peg two away from where I was last time stuck to my hand, peg 26. I would have been happy about it had the next peg 27 not been in as I knew from previous experience that it is an out and out Carp area. That said I did expect to catch a few Skimmers on the pole, but believe it or not I didn’t have one Silver fish, not even an indication of one – unbelievable from a venue full of the blighters!

 

So I started with the Silver rig a 4x16 Jolly, which lasted half hour with out a bite on soft pellet over initially GB and then hard fours followed by softened micros until I hooked my first Carp. After about three or so minutes I lost the lot, fish and rig which broke 0.18 G-Line on the connector knot. After some deliberation I decided to retire the Silvers line and put paste over it. Unbelievably it just sat there which is unusual because if Carp aren’t about you do get some nibbling from the small Silver fish. Alas the float just sat there. So from previous experience I decided to give both margins a try with paste over hard 4’s. Second put in the RH margin I hook and land an 8lb Common which appeared to be quite annoyed with being interrupted during its dinner. The upshot was I landed four Common Carp and lost two foul hookers, as their scales testified (even their scales fight like hell) and lost two in the mouth that broke me. The biggest weighed 17lb 8oz which took me 15 minutes to land having to ship back on five times. The fish here fight like demons as many anglers will testify today with plenty of poles being broke. My four Carp weighed in at 52lb 6oz for third overall.

 

I was glad to hear the final whilst but not as glad as Mike Jones who was walking around soaking wet in his wife’s Knickers carrying a broken number five section which Mike had just recovered from the Lake. Mike had drawn the peg he wished for – point peg 23. Alas he put in a dismal performance on this flier landing a few Skimmers and Ronnie’s losing ELEVEN Carp on maggot.

 

The match was won by Malcolm Ockwell (pictured right with some of his Carp) from next peg 27 with 70lb 13oz. Malcolm tried allsorts to catch Skimmers but failed with most he tried, it wasn’t until he went in to his RH margin fishing double Dendrabena over GB that he caught six Carp and a few Bream. Once Malcolm went in to his margin it appeared to cut the fish off from my swim. Malcolm landed one Carp that regurgitated a small Perch (pictured lower right).

 

The Silvers was won by Dusty Barrett (pictured lower right with his travelling partner and match winner - I lost two Carp bigger than these!) with 53lb from Dam Wall end peg 41. Dusty caught at 11 metres on the pole using double caster over GB laced with the same. Dusty feed about 1 ½ pints of casters and 1 ½ kilos of GB, feeding mostly through his kinder pot after every two fish or so.

 

Full Result:

 

1. Malcolm Ockwell 70-13-0 peg 27
2. Dusty Barrett 53-0-0 peg 41
3. Mike Nicholls 52-06-0 peg 26
4. Gary Davis 51-0-0 peg 36
5. Bob Black 42-10-0 peg 23
6. Pete Greenslade 34-04-0 peg 25 

Top Silvers:

 

1. Dusty Barrett 53-0-0 peg 41
2. Gary Davis 45-08-0 peg 36
3. Bob Black 42-10-0 peg 23
4. Pete Greenslade 34-04-0 peg 25

 

Weigh Sheets Follow:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday 15/08/2013 - Bathampton Over 55's and Disabled - Bridge Pool

After picking up matey Bob Warren and breakfast at ASDA it was in to the draw bag. It was good to see two new members especially Geoff Grant. We usually let new comers pick up coin on their first match, I don't know what went wrong today Geoff!

After yesterdays match I was knackered so I was hoping for a day on the Silvers so drawing peg 26 was spot an and out and out Skimmer peg.

 

So with the Ronnie rig and Jolly set up I set about catching Silvers initially on the soft pellet over wetted micro at 5 metres in the deepest swim on the Pool. I managed to get a lot of fizzing, but no bites, not even a liner. So it was on to the Ronnie rig with caster and I started catching small 1oz specimens but very slowly. So back on the Jolly and I did have a few small Skimmers but again it was really slow. I persevered with the silvers until the last 45 minutes where I set up a paste rig and managed to foul hook six Carp landing two of them. The margins are very steep, hence deep the probable reason for the fouling.

 

I was glad to hear the all out managing to put a measly 8lb 2oz of Silvers and 18lb 12oz of Carp for a total of 26lb 14oz, looking at the Silvers caught it felt as if I fished a different match!

 

The match was won by Rich Coles (pictured right with some of his catch) with 138lb of Carp from peg 24. Rich caught in his RH margin fishing paste over allsorts of feed.

 

The Silvers was won by new triple bypassee Charlie Barnes (pictures right with one of his 5lb Bream; it was actually 4lb 14oz and lower right with the Match winner). Charlie caught on Lidl corn fished over caser and corn. Charlie fed 1 ½ pints of caster and 2 pints of corn!

Full Result:

 

1. Rich Coles 138-0-0 peg 24
2. Ray Bazeley 87-07-0 peg 11
3. John Smith 72-08-0 peg 19
4. Mike Jones 72-0-0 peg 30
5. Chris Rolfe 50-11-0 peg 13
6. Pete Phillips 48-06-0 peg 5

Top Silvers:

 

1. Charlie Barnes 28-02-0 peg 7
2. Chris Rolfe 20-13-0 peg 13
3. Mike Keys 19-14-0 peg 17

Weigh Sheets Follow:

 

 

 

 

Wednesday 14/08/2013 - Avon Angling Top Six Open - Viaduct - Campbell Lake

Another sell out for the ever popular short pole matches. This time the top six. Today I travelled with paste matey Glenn Bailey and after a breakfast in Woody’s it was in to the draw tin. The first couple of try’s I pull two tickets stuck together with both lots being return until I pulled a single ticket. Yippee, peg 121 for the first time. The numbers on times I have seen anglers weigh in vast weights of Tench from this peg from the margins with me wishing I had drawn it. Many times these Silvers were accidental whilst in the search of Carp. So hopefully it was today my turn.

 

As I had only had paste I set up two rigs one to be fished at 5 metres out in front and two more for both margins, initially top sets only.

 

I started by feeding a full pot of wetted 4’s at 5 metres and  the same size of pot with wetted micro into the RH margin whilst loose feeding the LH margin.

 

I started out in front and found it quite. So it was in to the LH Margin and a Tench first put in, then I lost a foul hooked Common Carp. Back in only to find that the small Silver fish had moved in making impossible to keep the paste on for long. Over to the RH margin and another couple of Tench until once again the Ronnie’s pestered me to oblivion. Although I kept trying the margins I could only add another two Tench and three Skimmers. The upshot was I spent too much time buggering around trying to catch Tench when they never had a chance of a look in. Much harder bait like corn or hard pellet might have improved things, but I doubt it.

 

By kindering wetted micro at 5 metres with paste I kept a few big Carp coming in and out from trying the margin. I landed about 19 for a total of 137lb 14oz and my disappointing Silvers 13lb 14oz. For a total of 150lb 15oz. Hindsight tells me I should have concentrated on the Carp today. However, I did finish up 5^th in Silvers and 7^th in the match plus a section pick up by default thanks to Phil Harding.

 

The match was won by Tom Thick (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 230lb 1oz from peg 111. Tom caught on banded hard 6mm pellet fished over 4 mm pellet. Tom fed about 2 pints of hard 4’s through out the match.

 

The Silvers was won by Joe McMahon from peg 123 with 30lb of mainly Skimmers with a smattering of Tench, Joe caught out in front and down his LH margin using 8mm meat over meat.

 

Full Result:

 

1. Tom Thick 230-01-0 peg 111
2. Paul Greenwood 201-02-0 peg 115
3. Phil Harding 184-0-0 peg 118
4. Lee Werrett 180-03-0 peg 112
5. Craig Edmonds 172-06-0 peg 134
6. Glenn Bailey 162-09-0 peg 135
7. Mike Nicholls 150-15-0 peg 121

 

Top Silvers:

 

1. Joe McMahon 30-0-0 peg 123
2. John Bradford 22-14-0 peg 130
3. Lee Werrett 17-03-0 peg 112

 

Weigh Sheets Follow:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday 11/08/2013 - Avon Angling Open - Landsend - Match and Specimen Lakes

After Thursday cost cutter match my hands were really playing up and thought about giving this match a miss, but by Saturday and after a few Pinky Ponks with Bela I was up for it albeit, Silvers short.

 

After the usual breakfast in Shipham café where Clint Wojtyle was seen suffering with a real bad hanger-over. Just the smell of bacon and egg was enough for him today.

 

In to the draw tin and out comes peg 3 on match Lake again. I was on this peg last match here and found it difficult to net Carp as I was too high off the water. However, Mike Duckett had top the lake up so it was much better. With a Silver pool on each Lake that would be my target. In any case with the top Carp slayers on top pegs it was the only likely way to coin for me.

 

So I set up a 4x14 Jolly for the soft pellet and 6 mm meat and a paste rig for the bigger Skimmers. The plan was to feed and fish meat at 5 metres at 10 o clock (wind was right to left) and soft pellet over GB or micro at 12 o clock and the line for the paste. During the winter I did catch some big Skimmers over GB on maggot but was a bit concerned about feeding it in the summer as the Ronnie’s and soft pellet can be frustrating. On the whistle I fed 5 pieces of meat and a tester size nugget of my Skimmer GB. Starting on the 3mm soft pellet resulted in a couple of quick bites both missed. Hen I had a couple of small Ronnie’s. Umm, as I suspected. So I took 3 inches off the depth and tried the meat line and caught two better Ronnie’s followed by an 8lb Common Carp. I then noticed some fizz over the GB and went over it with the paste and had another Carp. Not going to plan then. Looking around there was plenty of Carp being caught but very few Silvers. So I decided to not feed this line and fish paste for the rest of the match. This worked as the Carp disappeared nearly) and I had a good run of big Skimmers and one plump Crucian. After landing my eleventh Skimmer I sat there for an hour without another Silver fish (a few Carp still wanted to play though) I was by now pretty sure that was going to be it for the Silvers (I didn't feed a thing for 4 hours), so for last 1 ½ hour I had a pleasure session playing around with various feeding patterns and feed. The Carp seem to like the meat especially when falling through the water.

 

Why is it that anglers fishing next to me end up chucking them selves in? This time it was the turn of Craig “Trigger” Edmonds who lost his top set with a fish on and did a sort of Spiderman leap in to the lake. Trigger learnt the same lesson as me “look before you leap” as I could see he would find it difficult to get out because of the high platforms and he did (see picture right). Trigger had to go in for a second time to retrieve his keep net that had fallen in. An-Ton opposite was also itching to get and asked Tony if he could get in to clear the island of vegetation. Tony agreed providing he did everyone’s, so for once Anton stayed dry.

 

My Silvers weighed 21lb 9oz and my nearly accidental 17 Carp weighed 67lb 8oz fro a total of 89lb 1oz and a Lake Silvers win – so mission accomplished.

 

The match was won by Dave Roper (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 176lb 13oz from Specimen corner peg 32. Dave initially caught shallow long out to the tree using banded pellet and later at 6 metres in to his RH end margin using meat.

 

The Silvers was won by John Green from Specimen peg 26 with 36lb 12oz of Skimmers. John caught on soft pellet over micro.

 

Full Result:

 

1. Dave Roper 176-13-0 peg 32
2. Dean Malin 163-09-0 peg 29
3. Tony Rixon 160-11-0 peg 15
4. Craig Edmonds 148-11-0 peg 5
5. Beanie 145-14-0 peg 33
6. Anton Page 135-04-0 peg 18

 

Top Silvers:

 

1. John Green 36-12-0 peg 26
2. Mike Nicholls 21-09-0 peg 3
3. Jamie Dyte 15-06-0 peg 36

 

Weigh Sheets Follow:

 

 

 

Thursday 08/08/2013 - Viaduct Cost Cutter - Campbell and Carey Lakes

I am now the proud Granddad of my first Grandson – Oscar Lee – I am gradually getting use to the name! With the visit down to Brighton to help out son Mark for a week, plus a couple of hospital appointments I was itching to get back to the bank, so choose to go down to the Viaduct cost cutters and Skivers match. The match attracted another good turn out of 30 +.

 

I was hoping to have a day on the Ronnie’s as my hands are still a problem. So Carey Lake would be my choice. So the coffee tin was kind to me putting me on peg 99.

 

Arriving at the peg I could see plenty of feeding Carp – down and up in the water, which isn’t what I expected or wanted as it is a good Skimmer peg.

 

So two rigs – the Ronnie rig for caster over caster and a paste rig to be fished at 7 metres – simple.

 

After feeding the 7 metre line with a pot of wetted micro I went in after the Ronnie’s catching one before I noticed loads of fizz over the 7 metre line. So I plonked the paste over it only to foul hook a double figure Common Carp which played bedlam with the swim which ended up breaking my number two and braking off under the platform.

 

Not the start I was hoping for. Dan White on peg 97 thought it hilarious. However, “He who laughs last laughs longest” Dan similarly broke his top set on a fouler and then broke two landing net heads and a landing net handle – not to worry Dan picked up £15!

 

Out again with the paste and I had three big skimmers before I hooked and landed a 13 lb Common Carp. After re-feeding with micro and after sitting over loads of fizz with paste for no return (hard pellet might have been better here today) I concentrated the rest of the match on the caster catching Ronnie’s and small hybrids to 6oz. I enjoy this sort of fishing as it is busy plus you aren’t playing the beast of Carey for an age. Late on I did have some fizz over the caster so plonked some paste over it and buggered the swim for while whilst I played a 12lb Mirror Carp. This forced mw to start another Ronnie line which produced well, adding a 3lb Tench shallow on caster.

 

Ronnie’s weighed in at 34lb 11oz and the two pesky Carp 24lb 12oz for a total of 59lb 7oz. I must say I did enjoy it today the Ronnie’s are gradually getting bigger and hopefully it won’t be long before the are beating the Skimmers to the coin.

 

The match was won by Paul Homewood (pictured right with the Silvers winner) from peg 123 with 230lb 10oz. Paul caught on hard pullet over pellet.

 

The Silvers was won by Paul Lock with 68lb 9oz of big Skimmers from peg 116. Paul caught at 5 metres using paste over softened 4’s. His fat mate Rich Coles made a spectacle of himself by dropping his £200 pair of glasses in the water. Rich is so dependant on them that he spent the rest o the match facing the wrong way – see the weigh board. Any way a great weight of Silvers Paul.

 

Full Result:

 

1. Paul Homewood 230-10-0 peg 123
2. S Russell 229-07-0 peg 132
3. Roy 223-08-0 peg 125
4. M Rogers 190-05-0 peg 135
5. Dan White 187-15-0 peg 97
6. Nicky Ewers 184-08-0 peg 81

Top Silvers:

 

1. Paul Lock 68-09-0 peg 116
2. Paul Homewood 57-12-0 peg 123
3. Paul Greenwood 54-14-0 peg 77

Weigh Boards Follow: