Silverfox Match Angling: Thursday 05/02/2015 - Veals/Bathampton AA Silvers Championship - Round Two

Thursday, 5 February 2015

Thursday 05/02/2015 - Veals/Bathampton AA Silvers Championship - Round Two - Bridge Pool

Glenn Bailey and I had a walk around the various pools at Huntstrete yesterday, for two purposes. Firstly, to see how fishable Bridge Pool was due to the ice covering. Secondly, to encourage Glenn to buy a BAA membership. There was a couple of pleasure anglers there who had earlier broken the ice but by the time they got their gear out it had re-frozen. I explained this to Mike Jones who said John Fry (BAA Bailiff) was going to visit the complex later to decide whether it was fishable or otherwise. As I had not heard to the contrary I arrived at the venue, the match was on.

With thick ice I didn’t want to draw peg 25 which is set well back so it would have taken Jeff Capes to throw a shot far enough. In fact I didn’t want to draw this section again as history tells us that when this area is iced over it can be blanking country!

I was hoping to draw peg 32 (change of heart). This was because of the Bream that has been moved from the Main Lake. My thinking was that these fish lived and fed in 3 to 5 foot of water and with Bridge being generally much deeper their swim bladder would take them to the shallower parts of the Pool – higher and lower peg numbers. I think my theory proved correct

In to the draw bag and out comes peg 21. Umm, the exact section I didn’t want, but one of the better pegs in the section.

Arriving at the peg and having a couple of swings on my ice breaker – a 4lb Lump Hammer (pictured upper right) I realised because of issues with my Rotor Cuff I would only managed to clear enough ice to put a keep net in the water. I did have offers from a couple of very kind anglers – Tony Rixon and Dave Gillard, two anglers you would choose to shot put for you. Luckily matey Dave Wride on the next peg helped me with half his wheel barrow on a piece of rope (action shot pictured right). The further out Dave went the thicker the ice it was 1 inch thick (pictured right – the North east winds blow into this area). We managed to clear to 5 ½ metres – enough for me!!

I started by kindering a knub of GB laced with Pinkie and with Pinkie on the hook I landed a 8oz Skimmer second put in. Within thirty minutes I had three Skimmers and three Ronnie’s – good start. The peg then died. By halfway I hadn’t had another bite. However there were three anglers in the section to still have a bite!!

My body joints started to seize up so I went for a wander. Many were struggling but some were catching big fish with Mike Jones estimated to have four fish for 17lb, plus fish topping in these pegs.

Reluctantly back to my purgatory where I could only add another two Ronnie’s. It didn’t seem to matter what or how I fed the result was the same!! I was laying section second until on the Whistle Paul Barnes landed a big Skimmer – bugger.

I weighed 2lb 10oz for third in section – about right.

The match was won by Mike Jones (pictured right - my pile of shiny ice seen over Mikes shoulder) with 25lb 7oz from peg 31. Mike caught short on his favoured Diawa whip. Mike caught over laced up GB using maggot hook bait. Mikes catch included a 5lb 11oz Tench and a 5lb 1oz Bream.

Finally, Glenn was impressed enough to join BAA.

Full Result: