Thursday 29/09/2016 - Viaduct Cost Cutter - Campbell and Carey

Me and Glenn Bailey off to Viaduct, Glenn for a practice drawing for Saturdays All Winners final and me practice for Sundays Silvers League first match. First stop The Junction Café in Castle Cary. The traffic was bad so we arrived just four minutes before the draw.

I had brought all the usual Silvers bait and as a back up put in some paste – just in case. I was hoping to avoid any of the Carp pegs, so Carey would be good.

A good turn out with 34 fishing spread equally over Campbell and Carey, with separate match payouts on each lake. I often over diagnose things such as why is this Thursday match so popular it can’t be for the payouts, perhaps it’s the great fishing and a decent number of angers to compete against.

In to the draw coffee tin and out comes Campbell peg 114. One of my favourite pegs as it is predominantly margin fishing. I now let my heart rule my head and decided to forget the Silvers to the extent I left all the Silvers bait locked in Glenn’s car and just took paste and hard 4’s to the peg. As it transpired this was a big mistake and it wasn’t all hindsight but bloody foolish.

So one paste rig set up that would suit both the margin at 4 metres and out from the bank at 9-o-clock at 5 metres. I chose here because a Carp snapped at the plummet.

So started on the 5 metre line with the paste over kindered hard 4’s and had 7 Carp in 7 put-ins. Going well me thinks, then it died so done a “two Pots” and dumped a big pot of 4’s in and tried the margin which I had previously fed with 4’s and had a fish straight away a small Common which are the quickest animals on earth, within a nano second they are in the brambles, but with the Drennan Margin pole, 20 elastic and 0.20 I could give as much as they were giving. However, if you hook one of the 3lb Commons in the tail you got as much chance of getting it out as you have of getting Bela out of the café halfway through his breakfast – NONE. I love this type of fishing – not for the faint hearted and those with I love my pole syndrome. I then started foul hooking which caused a few rig disasters and a couple enforced walks along the bank – all good fun. I then noticed some blow on the 5 metre line so went in and had a decent Skimmer. So decided to have a go for them by using a smaller piece of paste and had a nice little run until the sun’s glare came over the line. So spent the rest of the match fishing the margin which gradually got better, however, they weren’t really having it with too many foulers. The margin here is quite deep in comparison, so prone to fouling.

My few Silvers weighed 15lb 2oz and my Carp 75lb 9oz for a total of 90lb 11oz. Now if I had my Silvers baits I would have definitely picked up in the Silvers on Campbell as only 20lb was needed. Heart over head, should have known only Nigel Bartlett would be fishing for the Silvers. I’m looking forward to Sunday’s Silvers match, no compromising fishing.

The match was won by Electrician Nick Merry (pictured upper right with some of his catch) with 204lb 11oz from Carey 74. Nick caught off the end of the tree fishing 6 inches below the float with hair rig banded 6mm pellet fished over loose fed 6 mm’s. Nick caught steady all day feeding 2 pints of 6’s. Well done matey.

The Silvers was won by Nigel Bartlett (pictured right) with 42lb from peg 111. Nigel caught at 4 metres over initially GB and soft pellet later swapping to worm and caster which produced some bigger Skimmers until the "Water Pigs" arrived.

I bet a lot of anglers can name the angler who owns these contraptions (pictured t bottom), it’s not Gary Etheridge. I find the thing intriguing.

Full Result:

1. Nick Merry 204-11-0 peg 74
2. Byron Woodsford 192-02-0 peg 132
3. Chris Fox 171-13-0 peg 116
4. Ian Willietts 15109-0 peg 119
5. Roy “Hybrid” Worth 148-06-0 peg 130
6. Keiron 148-06-0 peg 105

Top Silvers:

1. Nigel Bartlett 42-0-0 peg 111
2. Ken Rayner 20-14-0 peg 77

Weigh Sheets:

Colin Golding's Scrap Book - 1950 to the Present Day - Page Four

Granddad second picture at the back next to picture holding a trophy.

Colin Golding's Scrap Book - 1950 to the Present Day - Page Three

Golden Carp alone had 1,000 members in the Bristol area  back in 1954 and there were at least 15 clubs just as popular.

I think the top picture was taken from the cattle grid on the Crane. Terry Church mentioned and Terry Bruton winning the Juniors!

Many years later I was to win the Browning Cup.

The next picture the way they dressed back then reminds me of a Spaghetti Western!

Colin Golding's Scrap Book - 1950 to the Present Day - Page Two

Sunday 25/09/2016 - Windmill Open - Match Lake

First visit with Bela was the Beefeater where I left my Banana behind. Into the draw box and out comes peg 2 – a golden peg! Really fancied the peg as it has a great RH margin.

I set up the Ronnie rig – caster/caster, a 4x16 Jolly to fish the top-set out in front in 5 foot of water with 4mm expander over the Gabe and finally a 0.15 Paste rig to fish into the wind on my right in 30 inches of water (perfect depth I’m thinking).

For company on peg 3 I had the “Wozzy” Stuart Barnett. I was surprised to see a float maker not having any floats with him as he started to chuck some sort of feeder system about. I thought of asking Stu for some lessons, but first cast he hooked a Duck, then the Island in fact in the first 15 minutes he lost five hook lengths. He declined the loan of one of the floats he just made me!!

Because it was a Golden peg I was tempted to go out and out for the Carp, but sensibility prevailed and decided to fish it as I normally do. So I fed a ball of neat Gabe on the top-set line and started to heavily (compromise here) loose feed the RH margin with caster. Starting on the expander I was soon regularly catching four to the pound Skimmers. I kept topping up for the first couple of hours until it slowed. Tried the Ronnie rig but only snared few Rudd. Thinking the Carp might have moved in I tried the paste which sat there until it was blown off the hook. So I sacrificed this, the Ronnie line for Carp and started to heavily feed pellet. Back put on the Skimmer line and could catch the odd fish. I kept trying the paste which only resulted in two Carp. So time for the Banana walk without a Banana. From what I could gather 60 lb was winning it. I was well behind this and didn’t think I could catch up even if I had a last blast so settled down to catch the 4 oz Skimmers. I was continually joined by Mr. Rat and his gang feeding on my poorly fed bait.

I reckon I had 90 Skimmers which weighed 15lb 12oz for a Silvers win (pictured upper right). The two Carp weighed 12lb 4oz totalling 28lb.

As it transpired I made the right decision to initially fish for the Silvers because the Carp didn’t really have a go in the margins today.

The match was won by the Black Hose bouncer (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 140lb 6oz from end peg 10. Martyn caught at top-set plus two using 8mm meat over loose fed meat. Well done matey.

Full Result:

1. Martyn Rayett 140-06-0 peg 10
2. Chris Davis 98-11-0 peg 28
3. Nick Saunders 71-03-0 peg 9
4. Dave Haines 68-13-0 peg 17
5. Stuart Barnett 61-05-0 peg 3
6. Martin McMahon 47-13-0 peg 32

Top Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 15-12-0 peg 2
2. Nick Saunders 9-13-0 peg 9

Weigh Sheet:

Colin Golding's Scrap Book - 1950 to the Present Day - Page One

Colin Golding a True Legend of Match Angling here winning 100+ peg matches from the age of 14.As I publish each of Colin's scrap book pages please let us know if you recognise anyone in the various pictures through my "comments" facility.

Double right click to get the full page and zoom in for the small print.

Thursday 22/09/2016 - Amalgamation Autumn League - Round Six - Tockenham Reservior

Usual Stop in Miss Piggy’s and a Pig One devoured, the best breakfasts for sometime.

Disappointing turn out with only 13 fishing. On the car park bank today which according to the pegging scheduled before the start of the series the Dam wall would be pegged which was once again left out. This meant there would be some difficult pegs in the draw. In to the ASDA bag and out comes peg 30. Not happy with this peg as you are looking along the bank 90 degrees to the angler on peg 31 who is facing out into the Lake (pictured right). Plus the inside is shallow for a long way out.

I set up the Normark Feeder, a 3 metre whip and the 10 metre pole with a 4x16 Jolly. Whilst my next door neighbour Scud Jefferies and I were clipping up the feeder the writing was on the wall as he could cast well past me and I was accused straight off for fishing his swim. So very limiting. What got my goat I was looking towards the Dam wall and could see four great pegs with no one on them.

Had a chuck on the feeder with GB laced with caster and triple dead red on the 16 hook. Didn’t take long to get bored as it just sat there. So went on the whip over GB laced with caster with caster on the hook and had a few Perch but no Ronnie’s. So decided to chop some worm and put it out on the 10 metre line in with the GB and caster. This produced a run of small Perch. Really struggling. So decided to sit it out on the feeder which I think was a mistake as I just got bored waiting for a 1oz Perch to finally pick up the hook bait. I did have some excitement hooking a Carp which went in to the Sedges losing the hook length.

I finished the match with a lowly 6lb 8oz beating only four anglers all of which would loved to have been on the Dam wall.

The match was won by Mark Bellringer (pictured right) who took advantage of his end peg to catch 32lb 4oz on the GB feeder. Well done matey.

Full Result:

1. Mark Bellringer 32-04-0 peg 33
2. Hughie Evans 27-09-0 peg 20
3. Steve Jefferies 19-04-0 peg 31
4. John Smith 19-0-0 peg 24
5. Mike Jones 16-08-0 peg 25
6. John Osborne 15-14-0 peg 22

Weigh Sheet:

Sunday 18/09/2016 - Windmill Open - Match Lake

Bela and I went for the usual for breakfast in the Beefeater where we were joined by jokes galore Chris Davis.

Fifteen fishing today so reasonable turn out. In to the draw box and out comes peg 16. Fished it before in winter I remember doing well in both Silvers and Carp but couldn’t remember exactly how I did but it wasn’t relative to today’s match because it was autumn.

There was no one on the end bank which would help. Arriving at the peg there was Carp everywhere sucking and swirling along the end bank and margins. Not a good sign I’m thinking.

Set up a margin PC paste float, a 4x14 Jolly to fish top-set plus three for Skimmers on expander over the Gabe and of course the Ronnie rig.

Fed a ball of the Gabe on the long line and started to loose feed the caster for the Ronnie rig. No sooner I had fed the Carp were swirling over both lines. So reluctantly went on the margin paste and hooked a Carp first try which was a Common that wasn’t going to give up and fair play got released with the hook pulling out. I then foul hooked the next two Carp which got no where near the net. I then had four commons in the mouth which reached the net. It then slowed even though there were still loads of Carp swirling all over. So out on the Skimmer line and had a 4oz Skimmer one a bung on 4mm expander. Kept topping up with the Gabe and which kept the Skimmers coming. Tried the Ronnie rig with caster but it wasn’t happening with only a couple of Ronnie, Perch and Rudd to show for it. However, I was continually picking up residual hay from the remainders of broken up hay bale placed in the end bank margin. I decided to abandon the Ronnie rig for another day and kept feeding the margin with caster and wetted micro. Back out on the Skimmers and had a couple of decent Skimmers. However, I kept being distracted by the Swirling Carp so tried the paste again only to foul hook Carp which over the match totalled seven. Back on the Silvers which now had slowed so fed some micro which energised the swim catching a few more 4oz Skimmers and a couple of Crucian’s. Time for the banana walk, Chris gay on the next peg was claiming 70lb and Bela and John Clark 50lb, John Barker was reckoning on 8lb of Silvers, so still all to play for. In to the margin with paste and I was still getting frustrated by the swirler’s. With 90 minutes left the Carp decided to feed properly subsequently I had a decent run of Common Carp which took an age to land. The Mirror Carp were twice the size and half the time to land and with too many Commons it slowed me affecting my overall weight.

My Silvers weighed 17lb 3oz for first in the Silvers and my Carp went 105lb 10 oz for a total of 122lb 13oz for third overall with the Commons and lost Carp costing me a double bubble.

Another great days fishing and only 15 minutes from home and the pub!

The match was won by Chris Gay (Quiffy pictured right with some of his catch) with 154lb 8oz from peg 18. Chris caught most of his fish in his RH margin with corn over corn. Chris would have had more if he hadn’t broken his number six section of his Maver pole. Well done matey the pick up wasn’t quite enough for a new section, but helped.

Close behind Chris in second place was Bela with 145lb 3oz from the peg 22 which I had on Thursday’s match.

Full Result:

1. Chris Gay 154-08-0 peg 18
2. Bela Bakos 145-03-0 peg 22
3. Mike Nicholls 122-13-0 peg 16
4. John Clark 108-1-0 peg 20
5. Chris Davis 75-02-0 peg 25
6. John Osborne 52-09-0 peg 9

 Top Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 17-03-0 peg 16
2. John Barker 14-04-0 peg 26

Weigh Sheet:

Thursday 15/09/2016 - Rays Rip Off - Just Turn up- Windmill Fishery - Match Lake

I wish every day could be like todays. A wonderful autumn day as confirmed by the expanse of Spider webs with their beads of dew (pictured right).

Hungry Horace was the first stop with Two Pots and the Downend Heavy weight Rayett went for the full Monty. Same breakfast as first served twenty odd years ago – excellent by today standards.

I choose Windmill over The Dave Crookes Fishery because once the Silvers retire after three hours you have the Carp to keep you going.

Considering it was the inaugural Rays Rip-off he had good support. Going to be popular as the fishing is terrific. Martyn Rayett sorted the pegs but forgot to put flyer peg 4 in the draw good job Dave Haines wasn’t there. I suggested to Terry he change peg 4 number to 3A! In to the draw box and out comes peg 22. Happy with this even though you now need to set up on the grass due to the Sedges taking over the peg. Get this sorted Terry!

The match payouts are 50/50 Silvers and overall – perfect I think.

I decided to fish half the match for Silvers and the final half for Carp in anticipation of a double bubble. So for starters the Ronnie rig was erects followed by the 4 x 14 Jolly to fish top-set plus one in five foot of water (probably ¾ depth). I started loose feeding caster on the Ronnie rig and potting the caster on the longer line. Caught Silvers right away on the longer line but they were mainly small Perch after 30 minutes I switched to the Ronnie rig and once again was catching Perch. So I pumped some 4mm expenders and went back to the car and got some Gabe GB. The GB was planted on the long line and as expected started to catch 4oz Skimmers. Swapping between to Ronnie and GB line I kept the Silvers coming. Trev “Bunk-off” Bakos put in appearance and watch me for a while. He went for a walk at half time so switched to the paste. And by time he got back I had netted ten decent Carp and playing the eleventh which I pinged out of. The swim went quite until Jinx Trev moved to the next unsuspecting angler. The last hour was frantic adding another ten Carp with the last one being about 14lb. Unfortunately for me I put it in the wrong Carp net.

My Silvers weighed 18lb which I thought was going to be enough for a Silvers win and my total went 157lb 7oz for a match win had I not put the last Carp in the wrong net as I had 89lb disqualified. First time for everything. As it happened I finished second in the Silvers to Dave Willmott who had 20lb of accidentals on meat. The match spoils went to “Two default Pots” who weighed 147lb (pictured right with the Silvers winner - lucky buggers).

With the lowest Carp weight being 126lb look forward to the next match in two weeks.

Full Result:

1. Mike Nicholls 157-07-0 peg 22 – Disqualified
2. Glenn Bailey 147-0-0 peg 26
3. Martyn Rayett 143-02-0 peg 18

Top Silvers:

1. Dave Willmott 20-04-0 peg 6
2. Mike Nicholls 18-02-0 peg 22
3. Ray Bazeley 15-06-0 peg 10 

Sunday 11/09/2016 - Windmill Fishery Open - Match Lake

A sleepless night after being battered and bruised during yesterday bike ride with Geoff Francis – calamity – last of the simmer wine etc…

Nice leisurely breakfast in the Beefeater with Bela and Geoff Francis. By the looks of things I faired better than Geoff.

Sixty Two matches since the beginning of the year and taking into account travel, bait, peg fees and pools I am now 88p up on the year, who says you cant make money from fishing!!

Nineteen fishing today, not a bad turnout. Into the draw box and out comes peg 6. I didn’t mind where I drew because whatever I was going to fish for Silvers because of my injured left shoulder and right rib cage.

For company on peg 7 was Mr “Medium Sliced” Price who tried to back his van up and over but only managed the up (pictured right). The water had plenty of colour which suited because I was only going to fish a maximum length of top-set plus one. Sixteen metre thrashers carry on I say.

The Ronnie rig was set-up, plus a 4x14 Jolly to fish at top-set plus one down wind at 10-o-clock. Fed the long line with caster which is where I started. I had a couple of hours catching all-sorts of Silvers – mainly Perch. Once it slowed I went on the Ronnie rig with caster over loose fed caster, where I managed to keep some Silvers coming. At half match I was aching so much I went for a banana walk around the fishery. I reckoned I was currently winning the Silvers Back in the saddle and found the Silvers had slowed significantly, but preserved. At ten to three I hooked a Carp on the long line which luckily was landed. Out again and hooked another Carp, but wasn’t as lucky as it broke the hook length. On to the Ronnie rig and another Carp lost along with the hook length. It was now time to set up a paste rig to fish down the inside shelf. Time was now three o clock. In the next half hour I put 52lb of Carp in one net, the next hour and half another 47lb in the other net.

I finished the match with 99lb 4oz of Carp and 14lb 4oz of Silvers for a total of 113lb 8oz for a double bubble Silvers and match win (me pictured right accepting the prize money from Fishery Manager Terry)

Full Result:

1. Mike Nicholls 113-08-0 peg 6
2. Martyn Rayett 97-0-0 peg 27
3. Luke Pester 85-04-0 peg 32
4. Bob Price 82-05-0 peg 7
5. Keith Builder 64-11-0 peg 10
6. Bela Bakos 63-06-0 peg 23

Top Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 14-04-0 peg 6
2. Dave Haines 11-07-0 peg 3
3. Dave Willmott  10-10-0 peg 26

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 09/09/2016 - Amalgamation Autumn Silvers League - Round Six - Tockenham Reservoir

Breakfast in Miss Piggy’s with pegger outer Dave Poole. I went for the Pig One excellent, no wonder it’s away busy. Dave had put the pegs closed signs up on the Sunday but sensibly went by permanent peg numbers (where they existed). We were allocated the far bank down along the dam wall. I then went through all the risks with Dave – signs tore down and pleasure anglers on the pegs. Dave rushed off to check.

Arriving at the fishery and yep signs missing and two pleasure anglers on our pegs – one moved with no fuss and the other stayed and surprisingly it was Bernard Jones a good river match angler in the day and a Amalgamation committee member. We didn’t insist he move as we need to keep on the right side of committee members.

We were expecting 18 today but with Coffin Dodgers holiday season now here we were down to 15. Mike Jones was today’s organiser standing in for Andy Smith – expect a few hiccups then – Mike spent 30 minutes working out the payout based on every possible scenario – his head was spinning. PS: Happy birthday Mrs Jones hope Mike wasn’t too late home with the flowers!

Time for the draw bag, not an ordinary bag but a Pensioners draw bag – expensive and with a tight opening allowing only one hand at a time (pictured right). My sort of bag. In I go and out comes peg 48 – Scales - plus next to the pleasure angler - Bernard. Is it psychological or is it the fact the Bernard had already baited up and had 12 Skimmers in his net that leads you to think your not going to get the best out of the peg?

A bit of swim clearing before setting up the Normark feeder, a 4 metre whip and the Ronnie rig. The weather looked a bit threatening (pictured right) but stayed dry but windy. The water was like tap water so clear you could see down 2-3 foot. This Lake is deep but the topography is all over the place – lots of big stones. Probably because the Lake was dug by hand!

I fed a ball of GB on the top-set plus one line for the Ronnie rig in 6 foot of water. But started on the mesh feeder at 30 metres, Blow me I had a 1 ½ lb Skimmer as soon as it hit bottom. Bag up time – Not which was it for the next fidgety 15 minutes I didn’t have any indications whatsoever. As there were a few anglers I could see on the feeder I decided to fish for Ronnie’s until I saw then catching. I started to feed hemp and caster over the GB watching the bait slowly sink out of vision. I had a run of small Ronnie’s and  two 12oz Perch, but I think because of the bright skies and water clarity it was hard keeping the fish in the swim. The fishing was hard and only going to get harder. I then hooked the preverbal Carp which put paid to the Ronnie line. So I tried the 4 metre whip up and down in the water only adding a handful of Ronnie’s to 8oz. With about 7lb in the net it was time for the Banana walk the purist anglers were all struggling on the pole with Hughie Evans doing best with 14lb of Skimmers on the feeder. Hughie had only set up two feeders – why two – well that’s what some Pensioners have to do in case they forget where they put one.

Back to the peg and out went the feeder. I do like twitching back but was finding this difficult because I supposed of the stony bottom so added another 5 meters to the clip and had 20 minutes of catching 8-12 Skimmers one a bung. The bites were un-missable. It went quite again. So on went another 5 metres to the clip and sensed the water wasn’t so deep, another but shorter run of Skimmers followed. On went another 5 metres to the clip and I had a 3lb Skimmer on the Whistle.

My Ronnie’s went 6lb 15oz and my Skimmers 17lb 8oz for a match third of 24lb 7oz.

As I suspected Hughie (pictured right) won the match with 31lb 4oz from peg 53. Hughie caught on the GB feeder fished at 40 metres using the usual various hook bait combos. Who would deny Hughie his first math win since his return to match fishing – it certainly won’t be his last. However, if anyone finds a feeder on or near this peg its Hughie’s. Well done matey the cap you lent me wasn’t you lucky one then!!

Result:

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 01/09/2016 - Bathampton AA - Over 55's and Disabled - Dave Crookes Fishery - Bridge Pool

After a couple of weeks away with the Special One it was back to the Thursday matches and choose to fish the Coffin Dodgers at the Dave Crookes Fishery.

Woke up early as usual and as it was such a beautiful morning left early but didn’t beat Mike Jones to the fishery. Start of autumn which is my most favourite season.

The twelve quid paid in and into the draw bag and out comes peg 4. No emotion but not one of the pegs I would have chosen. End peg today so that should be OK for attracting Carp!!

Three rigs today; a 4x16 Jolly – 0.12 bottom to18 – 808 to fish single dead red over GB at 10 metres. A 4x16 Jolly – 0.14 bottom to 16- 808 to fish at top-set plus one just down the inside shelf for caster over caster. Finally the Ronnie rig for caster over caster.

I fed all the caster lines and fed two large balls of GB laced with a few dead reds on the 10 metre line where I started on a single dead red and caught four decent Skimmers before it went to small Skimmers. The up shot was I caught skimmers of various sizes on this line, small Perch on the short line on caster and I had to switch to maggot on the Ronnie rig to catch the odd Perch, tiny Skimmers and Rudd. I did loose two decent Skimmers on this line, one was foul hooked.

I hooked a big Skimmer which changed to a Tench then to a 2lb Carp. I landed one other Carp a 4 pounder. I did have two foul hookers, so not too bad.

I finished the match with 21lb 8oz for third overall those lost Skimmers costing me first spot today.

The Herons are becoming a nuisance with two of us being attacked whilst playing fish. You certainly wouldn't want one of their beaks in the side of your head. Also it's definitely a misconception that they only eat small fish, I saw them take two 2lb Skimmers.

The match was won by Paul Barnfield (pictured right) with 23lb 3oz from peg 14. Paul caught mainly Skimmers on both soft pellet and maggot over micro pellet.

Full Result:

1. Paul Barnfield 23-03-0 peg 14
2. Steve Dawson 22-12-0 peg 32
3. Mike Nicholls 21-08-0 peg 4
4. Pete Greenslade 20-07-0 peg 16
5. Mike Jones 17-14-0 peg 6
6. Chris Rolfe 16-04-0 peg 18

 Weigh Sheets: