Sunday 27/04/2014 - KP Series - Round Three - Acorn Fishery - Paddocks

Travelled with Glenn Bailey today and breakfasted in the Acorn Café. There appears to be some different/new young girls cooking the breakie.

I was in A section today which is probably the fairest section but the least populated with fish! I was hoping for ant peg between 19 and 13 as the wind would be off my back. In to the draw box and out comes peg 14. Contented with the draw although the far bank was out of bounds for me because it was a section too far.

I set up two Silver rigs one 4x12 Jolly for the LH margin for caster and a 4x16 Jolly to be fished at 5 metres at 11 o clock for dead maggot over GB laced with Pinkie. In support I also set up a margin paste rig and similarly to be fished at 12 o clock at 5 metres.

On the all in I fed the GB line and fed a few wetted 4’s on the 5 metre paste line. However, I started on the caster rig in the LH margin and had s few Ronnie’s and Perch before netting a 2lb Tench. I started to miss bites which I think were either small Perch or small Ronnie’s. I then lost another Tench at the net which I almost scooped. I then followed this mishap with another lost Tench – bugger. I had a little sulk then tried the RH margin with paste which wasted half hour as I caught nowt. Back on the caster and found that this swim was producing nowt.

Out on the GB line with maggot line and as have happened previously I didn’t catch many Silvers just 4 small Skimmers with two dropping off.

With 3 hours left I spent it on the paste rig at 5 metres and caught 8 decent Carp kindering soaked 4’s after every fish. During this period the heavens opened up with torrential rain, Hail stones and thunder and lightening and continued for the rest of the match and all the way home!

My eight Carp weighed 28lb 10oz and my few Silvers 3lb 15oz for a total of  32lb 9oz. This left me 4^th in section. I wish I didn’t bother with the Silvers and fished 5 metres all day. Lesson learnt – I doubt it.

I had Tom Thick in the knockout and got flattened. An opportunity missed.

The match was won by Russ Peck (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 82lb 2oz from unfancied peg 4. Russ caught all his fish long to the far bank in 15 inches of water. Russ fished worm, soft pellet and maggot hook baits over wetted micro. Russ fed 2 pints and found pieces if worm the best hook bait.

The Silvers was won by Eddie Wynne with 12lb 4oz from peg 16. Eddie caught down the far shelf using pieces of worm over CW&C.

Full Result:

1. Russ Peck 82-02-0 peg 4
2. Glenn Calvert 68-12-0 peg 7
3. Lewis Jones 61-0-0 peg 33
4. Tom Thick 56-08-0 peg 25
5. Dom Sullivan 47-09-0 peg 32
6. Rob Fogg 46-04-0 peg 9

Top Silvers:

1. Eddie Wynne 12-04-0 peg 16
2. Paul Fairers 11-09-0 peg 34

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 24/04/2014 - Bathampton AA - Over 55's and Disabled - Bridge Pool

Breakfast in ASDA with Bob Warren and once again Wendy warmed Bobs butter!

A good turn out with 32 fishing making pegging easy with peg 20 and 2 left out. Having had a look at the water colour it didn’t look too good to me with a few bubbles coming up which obviously wasn’t fish, so what was it?

In to the draw bag and out comes peg 9. OK, but it’s the first time it’s been match fished since being piled. So a long bare bank margin for me today.

I set up a caster 4x12 Jolly for the margin and caster over caster, amazingly I didn’t have a bite on this for the first time ever on this venue. I set up a 4x16 Jolly for soft pellet over pellet, some 4’s and micro. This worked well for 20 minutes putting 4lb 12oz of small Skimmers in the net. Then for unknown reasons my swim completely died adding only one small perch to the Silvers to the end. What’s wrong I ask myself?

I spent 4 ½ hours in the margin trying to catch a Carp on various baits using my 0.3 gram Silverfox PC paste float. It took until the last hour before I hooked and landed a 17lb Common Carp. I landed a second 8lb fish with 30 minutes to go then broke on what I think must have been a foul hooker. That was it what a miserable days fishing. That said I did better than most with plenty of DNW’s.

Dave Bacon had a very expensive day, firstly crashing into Andy Smiths car and then breaking a number 6 section on his Diawa pole.

The match was won by John Smith (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 105lb 14oz from peg 24. John caught shallow at 14.5 metres using banded 8’s over lose fed 6’s. John’s weight was comprised 13 Carp.

The Silvers was won by Barry Fitchew with 16lb 13oz from peg 1. Barry caught on caster over caster at 5 metres out in front.

Full Result:

1. John Smith 105-14-0 peg 24
2. Alan Jones 50-15-0 peg 25
3. Mike Key 44-01-0 peg 18
4. Dave Bacon 41-06-0 peg 15
5. Dave Bruton 35-14-0 peg 6
6. Bill Ferris 30-11-0 peg 16
7. Mike Nicholls 29-12-0 peg 10

Top Silvers:

1. Barry Fitchew 16-13-0 peg 1
2. mike Jones 14-12-0 peg 32
3. Bill Ferris 13-04-0 peg 16

Weigh Sheets:

Sunday 21/04/2014 - Avon Angling Pole Only Top Six League - Round One - Chilton Trinity - Woodlands

Bela is now back fishing; however, he had a late night out with Stella so I offered to drive the Thunder-drone. First stop was Hill Tops Café. Bela couldn’t decide between the “Bertie” Buster or the largest breakfast, Over the “Roof”. The big breakfast it was then, plus one of my sausages.

Arriving at the fishery it was clear that the near bank wasn’t the place to draw is you didn’t want to suffer hyperthermia, a bitter North Easterly was blasting the higher number pegs. In to the draw container and out comes peg 19. I was happy with this peg although Chris Fox tried to put me off, explaining that the guy who fished the peg Friday DNW’ed.

For company on peg 20 I had Mike West the Wedmore pellet blaster. Half way through the match Mike said he thought the sun might break through. Five minutes later it went pitch black unable to see my float. What happened next is shown in the picture below. Mike’s predictions are at least as good as the BBC.

Bela drew peg 29 facing smack into the wind. Stella had fooled him to thinking it was a warm day until mid match when Bela realised he was dressed for summer and not a winter’s day. Bela retired early from the match to the warm Thunder-drone, DNW’ing!!

I set up two rigs the usual Ronnie rig and a Silverfox PC paste float for the LH margin which was ideal for my type of fishing.

I started on the Ronnie rig with single caster over loose fed caster expecting a bit from a Silver first put in. However, do indications at all a bit of a worry. The I hooked a 8lb Carp in the tail which because I was high and back from the Lake edge I had a nightmare trying to land it, but land it I did. I had another two Carp this time in the mouth. With still no sign of any Silvers I switched to the paste over loose fed hard 4’s and landed a four Carp. All this in the first hour of the match and with 35lb in the net I did the maths and realised that this wouldn’t continue. I was right for the next two hours I didn’t have another Carp with the Ronnie’s turning up I fished for them for twenty minutes and put 2lb 9oz in the net. Carrying on with them wouldn’t win any coin. On the walk around the Lake before the draw I had noticed that there were more than normal fish feeding on the bottom with very few splashing around up in the water as usual. And where were the Ronnie’s earlier on. The answer they were down the shelf in the bottom where the Carp had sloped off to. I think the cold winds that have been blowing over the past week or so had cooled the margin.

So I jumped up and set up a full depth paste rig and in the last ninety minutes added another six Carp. If only!!

My 13 Carp weighed 75lb 3oz giving a total of 77lb 12oz for a section win and fifth overall.

The match was won by Paul Elmes (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 111lb 9oz from peg 6. Paul caught most of his fish from his RH margin using pellet over pellet.

The Silvers was won by Tom Mangnall with 26lb 8oz from peg 11. Tom caught decent Skimmers on 6mm expander over hard 4’s and 6’s.

Full Result:

1. Paul Elmes 111-09-0 peg 6
2. Craig Edmonds 107-14-0 peg 13
3. Chris Fox 85-15-0 peg 7
4. Steve Seagar 78-15-0 peg 8
5. Mike Nicholls 77-12-0 peg 19
6. Tony Rixon 72-05-0 peg 9

Top Silvers:

1. Tom Mangnall 26-08-0 peg 11
2. Joe McMahon 13-12-0 peg 17

Weigh Sheet:

Thursday 17/04/2014 - Coffin Dodgers Day Out - Emerald Fishery - Ruby and Sapphire

Ray Bazeley organised another match at the very popular Emerald Fishery for the Coffin Dodgers. This time we had the back banks of both Sapphire and Ruby. Ray and I travel with Paul Haines and had a great breakfast at the Hill Tops café.

Alan the Fishery owner was waiting for us to ensure we had enough room for our 14 Dodgers – he made another couple of pegs was made available if needed, plus had fenced off out pegs.

It really didn’t matter where you fished as we were all in for a great days fishing. In to the draw container and out comes peg 10 on Ruby. The peg was two down from the corner which was reserved for John Smith. There are a few islands dotted about but luckily I had open water and a bare margins both sides.

I was looking forward to plumbing up as I had fished Ruby two times whilst waiting for the match to start on Emerald, but have yet to plumb. I set up two Ronnie rigs one for on the bottom which I was surprised to find six foot of water and the other 30 inches. I also set up a margin paste rig set to 3 foot which is where I could hold up the plummet because the margin was quite steep running down quickly to full depth. I had made up some experimental paste but didn’t expect to fish this much, but to concentrate on the Silvers.

The weather wasn’t up to much and we were lucky that we all had the wind off our backs, plus some shelter from the conifers behind us on Ruby. There wasn’t much sun today either which could only help.

I started on the full depth Ronnie rig with caster over caster. This didn’t last long as the fish were up in the water in a flash. So in to the shallow Ronnie rig and I started to catch Rudd and Ronnie’s to 8oz. This was interrupted by the odd small accidental Carp. After an hour I started to get pestered by the motherless Minnows which were a sign that the decent Silvers had backed off.

So I thought I would try my paste where I had been feeding some soaked 4’s and it was manic catch a small Carp (up to 1 ½ lb) a bung. However, the Motherless was becoming a nuisance because they were pecking off the loose bits of the soaked 4’s. So I changed to hard 4’s which improved it no end. It was a Carp a bung and as the match progressed the Carp got bigger up to 3lb. With 10 minutes to go I had only three bullets left in the magazine and missed two bites catching a Carp with the last piece of paste. For the last five minutes it was back on the shallow caster and I caught one more Carp for a total of 90.

We throw more bait away than at the fish so it's always satisfying when you just run out of bait and win the match. 

My Carp weighed 157lb and my Silvers 18b 8oz for a total of 175lb 8oz which left me first overall and second in the Silvers.

The Silvers was won by John Bradford (pictured right with the match winner) with 40lb 6oz of Roach and Rudd, all falling to caster shallow.

As expected and as the weight sheets show everyone had a great days fishing. Thanks Ray.

Full Result:

1. Mike Nicholls 175-08-0 peg 10
2. Dave Bacon 114-14-0 peg 13
3. Rich Coles 94-02-0 peg 5
4. John Smith 84-12-0 peg 8
5. Andy Shields 78-04-0 peg 11
6. Dave Gillard  67-08-0 peg 14

Top Silvers:

1. John Bradford 40-06-0 peg 3
2. Mike Nicholls 18-08-0 peg 10
3. Ray Bazeley 17-00-0 peg 7

Weigh Sheets: (One sheet pegs round wrong way and weights not summed)

Sunday 13/04/2014 - KP Series - Round Two - Acorn Fishery - Paddocks

I travelled again with Glenn Bailey. After a walk round paddocks with Gordon Cannings it was time for the draw, this time cycling round to C section and out comes peg 23. My first thoughts were I had drawn a bridge again. I should have known better as that was peg 22 reserved for moaning Bob Gullick “I didn’t want to draw here”!!

So one away from the bridge it was then. I had drawn Paul Lasson’s in the knock out who had drawn peg 40 so I was resigned to being knocked out today on the first round.

Peg 23 is one of the shortest to reach across at 11.5 metre out in front.

I set up a 4x12 Jolly for across and a 0.3 Silverfox PC for the paste also across. I set up a 4x16 Silverfish rig for down the track and a paste rig for the same line albeit at a different angle.

I fed the Silvers line with a small ball of GB laced with some dead reds and casters. I followed up with a few soaked 4’s over the track paste line.

My main attack today was the far bank as the forecast was for light winds; well that was how it started!! I decided to start this time on caster over caster and first put in with a single over some kindered I hooked and landed a 4lb Carp on the drop. Next put in the same result this time an 8 lb Carp, again on the drop. The swim died so I switched to micro and soft pellet which produced nought. Out with the paste over the same line and I had two more quick Carp.

The wind had gotten up making presentation and holding the pole difficult and painful. I tried the Silvers line and had a 4oz Skimmer and that was it from this line.

The upshot was the wind got stronger and colder as the match progressed and during the next five hours all I could do was hook and lose an F1. It proved to be a difficult match for me even though I tried various other lines including down to peg 24 pallet. The wind was proving just too difficult for me.

My four Carp weighed 16lb 2oz for a total of 16lb 6oz for last but one in the section. That said every cloud has a Silver lining. Amazingly I just managed to get through the knockout and Glenn Bailey although he was LAST in the entire match picked up £35 for a section Silvers by default with 3lb 7oz!!

The match was won by Dom Sullivan (pictured right with the Silvers winner) from peg 10 with 85lb 6oz. Dom caught over to the far bank using 6mm expander fished over GB and later down to peg 11 pallet again using GB feed with Dendrabena on the hook.

The Silvers was won by Paul Faiers from peg 15 with 10lb 7oz. Paul fished double Pinkie over neat GB on a far and near line. There was some loose feeding of casters.

Full Result:

1. Dom Sullivan 85-06-0 peg 10
2. Russ Peck 69-08-0 peg 36
3. Tom Thick 51-13-0 peg 34
4. Bob Gullick 51-12-0 peg 22
5. Nigel Vigus 46-08-0 peg 38
6. Glenn Calvert 45-0-0 peg 13

Top Silvers:

1. Paul Faiers 10-07-0 peg 15
2. Tom Thick 10-04-0 peg 34
3. Bob Gullick 9-08-0 peg 22

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 10/04/2014 - Bathampton AA - Over 55's and Disabled - With Pool

After a Flying start breakfast with Bob Warren at ASDA where the lovely waitress Wendy melted my butter - for the toast, it was off to Withy. With the school kids home for Easter holidays the roads were very quiet.

We had 31 fishing today so plenty of pegs that are normally left out would be in the draw. I left it late to draw with only two counters left in the bag. I pulled peg 38, where’s that? This peg is not normally in but I wasn’t too worried as I have always fancied fishing it.

You can never choose your peg but you always choose how you fish it. I decide quite wrongly that it would be an out and out Carp attack neglecting the Silvers. I set up a full depth 0.5 gram Silverfox PC paste rig to be fished at six metres at 1-o-clock. I set up another 0.15 gram paste rig for the RH margin.

I started on the deep rig with paste over a few half hard 4’s and a dash of micro. I started to get indications from Silvers straight away spearing a few small Skimmers, landing a 2lb fish. So much for ignoring the Silvers. I quickly set up a 4x12 jolly margin caster rig and a 4x16 jolly to fish over the 6 metre paste line. Fishing half hard 4’s on the hook I caught a few more tiny Skimmers and one about 1 ½ pound. Because I was kindering 4’s I had a swirl from a Carp up in the water which appeared to kill the swim.

I had been feeding casters in the margin and tried paste over it initially and had a 12lb Carp first put in. After this I struggled for a bite for the next 3 hours as did most anglers I could see so went for a walk to ease the stiff legs.

I came back and tried all the swims again and foul hooked a 8ox Ronnie on the paste in the margin which fell off. So I switched to caster and believe it or not I foul hooked a Carp which came off. I did have a couple of Ronnie’s before with 15 minutes left I tried the paste which resulted in another 12lb Carp.

My Silvers weighed 5lb 10oz and my two Carp 25lb 2oz for a total of 30lb 12oz for 5^th overall and last in the money.

I now wish I had fished for Silvers in my normal way before going for the Carp – bugger.

The match was won by Paul Dicks (pictured right) with 148lb 4oz from peg 61. Paul caught 16 Carp shallow on the pellet waggler as did 2^nd and 3^rd placed anglers.

The Silvers was won by Barry Fitchew (pictured right with his catch) with 14lb 3oz from peg 35. Barry caught short at 5 metres fishing caster over GB.

Full Result:

1. Paul Dicks 148-04-0 peg 61
2. Paul Haines 98-14-0 peg 47
3. Bob Price 46-06-0 peg 48
4. Harry Muir 30-13-0 peg 74
5. Mike Nicholls 30-12-0 peg 38
6. Martin Alexander 28-02-0 peg 53

Top Silvers:

1. Barry Fitchew 14-03-0 peg 35
2. Gary Sage 12-14-0 peg 54
3. Mike Jones 9-0-0 peg 58

Weigh Sheets:

Sunday 06/04/2014 - KP Pole Only Series - Round One - Acorn Fishery - Paddocks

With Bela still into his DIY I teamed up with Glenn Bailey for the KP Acorn League which started today, which is to be fished on Paddocks. With 30 booked in there wasn’t going to be much elbow room. On the way down the talk was about how poor the venue has been fishing with both of us wondering whether we had done the right thing fishing the league. That said there was very little else on that will attract a field of 30 anglers where Silver fish count. I said to Glenn that out of the 35 or so times I have fished Acorn I had yet to draw a bridge peg which would be ideal today.

After breakfast and parting with a week’s pension we had a walk around the venue. There wasn’t much sign of fish with the wind blowing strong but steady up the lake – prevailing winds. It was time for the draw and out comes peg 40 yippee a Bridge peg at last and hopefully a “Gullick” run on them to follow.

I set up a 4x16 Jolly to be fished 5 metres to my left at full depth down the inside with maggot over GB laced with maggot and casters. After leaving it for an hour I half heartily tired it but didn’t have a bite but didn’t give it long because the tow was quite hard towing the float away at a rate of knots

I set up another 4x16 Jolly to be fish full depth with 3mm expander over micro at 5 metres along the bridge. I started on this and after kindering a few micros I lost a foul hooked a Carp 12 inches from the surface. I couldn’t get a bite at full depth just liners from fish high up in the water. I tried the shallow 4x12 jolly I had set up for the LH margin for caster with a 3mm expander and had another foul hooked Carp. The wind was so strong that it was buffering against the bridge making presentation very difficult so I abandon this line as I was only going to get frustrated.

Before the match after I had plumbed up the LH margin I put a stone on the bridge to mark the position for feeding (pictured right). I did this because the margin is continually running off to full depth making it otherwise easy to feed either too high up or too low down in the margin. It was time to try the 4x12 caster rig in the margin and with a single caster fished over a smidgen of loose fed caster. I soon had two Perch in the net followed by a 2lb Tench followed by a couple of small Carp. I then started to get liners from fish up in the water which lead to more foul hooking. I tried all depths but the Carp wouldn’t take stationery hook bait. I continued to get frustrated with the liners.

It was time to try my 0.3 gram Silverfox PC paste float. First put in I had another Tench and two F1’s. I decided to stick with the paste to the end of the match adding another 3lb Tench and 12 small Carp.

My Silvers weighed 10lb 10oz for second in the Silvers and my Carp 22lb 14oz for a total of 33lb 8oz for a section second and sixth overall.

I came to the conclusion that there are still plenty of Carp in the venue but they seem at the moment only willing to take micro falling through the first two foot of water. Something for me to bear in mind for the next match.

The match was won by Andy France (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 43lb 8oz from peg 25. Andy caught on expander pellet fished over tossed micro and 4’s to the far bank fishing 2 foot deep.

The Silvers was won by Andy Gard with 14lb 8oz from peg 33. Andy caught on either maggot or caster fished up to his bridge fished over GB.

Full Result:

1. Andy France 43-08-0 peg 25
2. Bob Gullick 41-15-0 peg 34
3. Mark Bartlett 39-02-0 peg 18
4. Louis Jones 38-07-0 peg 23
5. Kev Perry 38-0-0 peg 21
6. Mike Nicholls 33-08-0 peg 40

Top Silvers:

1. Andy Gard 14-08-0 peg 33
2. Mike Nicholls 10-10-0 peg 40
3. Paul Faiers  10-02-0- peg 28

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 03/04/2014 - Coffin Dodgers Day Out - Emerald Fishery - Emerald Pool

The Coffin Dodgers decided to have a day out to catch some fish, so Ray Bazeley organised a match at Emerald Fishery on Emerald Pool. We met up at Hillview café before I pegged out the match for 16 of the regular Coffin Dodgers.

The match was run on the same basis as the usual CD matches with the match only costing £12.

In to the draw bucket and out comes peg 6 which was the first peg over the bridge on the far side where Tim Clarke was on the second match I fished where he framed, so happy with the peg. The peg is in a sort of corner up against the foot bridge.

I set up two identical Ronnie rigs – one full depth (four foot) and one half depth. Chose two swims one out in front for GB laced with Hemp, micro and casters. The other swim was to my right away from the bridge for lose fed caster over caster.

We had the usual warm up before the draw on Ruby Pool and caught plenty of Carp and Ronnie’s.

On the whistle I fed the GB line with an egg size helping and started lightly lose feeding caster on the RH side. Second put in with the full depth rig I hooked a Golden Tench of about 2lb. I followed this with another two Tench before pulling out of the fourth with my rig ending up in the tree. So my shallow rig was converted in a full depth rig and carried on fishing this time catching Hybrids from 4oz to a 1lb every cast. I continued feeding throughout both swims. Once the GB line slowed I switched to the caster line again at full depth and carried on catching this time including Roach from 10oz to 2lb!! Lovely Jubbly.

I kept switching between the two lines throughout the match once one line became iffy due to incorrect feeding. I basically caught regularly all match only interrupted by six small Carp two of which were Crucian’s.

My Silvers weighed 99lb 2oz for first in the Silvers (if Crucian had counted they would have put me over the Silvers ton – bugger). My six small Carp weighed 10lb 3oz for a match winning total of 109lb 3oz.

Bob Price was the only DNW only because his estimated 35lb of Silvers wouldn’t have put him in the coin.

It was an amazing match and we all left the venue happy, wet and knackered. I was surprised we didn’t lose one of us due to all the fish catching exertion.

Full Result:

1. Mike Nicholls 109-05-0 peg 6
2. Dave Bacon 96-0-0 peg 2
3. John Smith 95-0-0 peg 7
4. Rich Coles 87-06-0 peg 14
5. John Bradford 82-05-0 peg 10
6. Ray Bazeley 73-05-0 peg 9

Top Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 99-02-0 peg 6
2. John Smith 82-14-0 peg 7
3. John Bradford 68-14-0 peg 10
4. Rich Coles 64-14-0 peg 14
5. Ray Bazeley 61-12-0 peg 9

Weight Sheet: