The BBC weather was forecast to be horrendous, but who
believes the BBC for anything! Nonetheless they were right in this instance
with 40 mph gusting winds and heavy intermittent rain.
Geoff Francis picked me up at 07:00 planning to have
breakfast in the Bridge Inn which opens at 08:00. We arrived early so looked
for a Wetherspoons but the nearest was in Portishead. So the Bridge Inn it was
and very nice waitress it was too.
I was amazed as many as 12 anglers turn up in such bad weather. If possible I was hoping to draw a peg out of the wind,
which would have been on the far bank. It wasn’t to be as peg 4 stuck to my
hand (peg 4 last Thursday). Arriving at the peg firstly the bank really needs
some maintenance, uneven and with a rail sleeper in front meant the nets were
hanging over it. The wind was horrendous and blowing in to me. I set up the
Ronnie rig to fish down wind to my right close in to get some shelter. The
other rig was a 4x14 F1 to fish as long down wind as far as the wind would
permit which was top-set plus three. I fed some micro and a smidgen of 2mm expander
over the long line but started on the Ronnie rig. I had three quick Ronnie’s on
caster over caster before it died! So out on the 4mm expander and I started
initially to catch some Ronnie’s then the Skimmers moved in. I then had a great
day catching big Skimmers regularly until a Carp moved in which luckily I
removed into the keepnet. I had some more Skimmers and another quiet spell
followed until I hooked and landed another Carp of about 9lb, subsequently, a
few more Skimmers until 14:00 when I had to surrender to the wind for ten
minutes. The Skimmers had gave up allowing the Ronnie’s to get a look in, but
we all know what a bugger it is catching these on soft pellet especially in a
force 10 gale. So I spent the last part on the match on the Ronnie rig and
caster adding another 2lb to the net.
I finished the match with 32lb of Silvers (pictured upper
right) and 12lb 8oz of Carp for a grand total of 44lb 8oz which put me first in
the Silvers and fourth overall.
I really enjoyed fishing the venue after some 3 years.
Really need more matches here as it is full of quality fish.
The match was won by Steve Sewell (pictured right with the
Silvers winner) with 70lb 8oz from peg 27. Steve caught on the method and
waggler – for details see his blog.
Full Result:
- Steve Sewell 70-08-0 peg 27
- Lance Tucker 65-04-0 peg 7
- Mark Birdseye 45-04-0 peg 5
- Mike Nicholls 44-08-0 peg 4
Top Silvers:
- Mike Nicholls 32-0-0 peg 4
- Brian Slipper 14-12-0 peg 12
Weigh Sheet:
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