Thursday 08/11/2018 - Bathampton AA - Over 55's - Bridge Pool

Absolutely poured down all the way to the fishery, luckily that was all we had. I had a walk around the Lake finding the water the clearest I have seen it. There was no sign of fish except around pegs 21 and 33. These were only tiny Ronnies topping. It didn't look good for the fishing. Morning assembly was held by Chris Rolfe (less puritanical), good to see him back at the helm after his eye treatment.

Twenty one fishing today so a good turnout. Into the draw bag and out comes disc 6. Another painful day on a disabled platform then. For company I had "Medium Slice" Price on peg 7 and Dave Poole on end peg 4. My expectations were low for a days fishing. 

I set up one rig a 4x16 Winter which I tried to fish at top-set plus 4 barrels but found it too much pressure on my neck and shoulders and with them feeling better thought I wouldn't risk a set back, so decided on three barrels. I plumbed this around for a while and found that out in front was a bit of a trench which was 6 inches deeper than to my right and left. So choose to fish here. Started by putting a small ball of GB in with some DR's and with single DR on the hook and was expecting a quick Ronnie. When this didn't happen I was anticipating a hard day. Fifteen minutes in and I get my first bite a 1 lb Hybrid. The next bite was a decent Carp which I had under control when the hook parted. A quick inspection found a curly tail so the hook was either poorly tied or had been cut by the spade. I put the hook length in my box for an autopsy later. I thought this fish would have been invaluable and was a bit miffed, so I went for a sulk walk down to Tony Rixon who was catching the odd Skimmer but was getting lots of liners. So back in the saddle and after topping up with another small ball of GB I had a 1 1/2 lb Perch. I then had a run of Skimmers from 1 lb to 2 lb. I found the fish would only take a moving bait and if I left it on bottom I would get indications which at first thought it was from tiny Perch, but was liners from Skimmers, so I kept fishing on the drop and only leaving it on bottom for a minute or so. The wind was a problem, gusting at me from the SE and would suddenly gust in the opposite direction! I sometimes had tow against then tow with the wind. When the wind subsided I caught better as the bites were shy and quick. I kept a few Skimmers coming throughout with either double or triple DR's on the hook, also adding an F1 and a 5 lb Common Carp. With 30 minutes to go I up the feed and thought I had killed the peg, alas not I hooked and landed a 8 lb Common. With three minutes left I went back in and had another Skimmer before the whistle. I fed about 1/4 pint of maggot and 2 pints of GB all match.

My Skimmers weighed 25 lb 10 oz and my three Carp 14 lb 9 oz for a total of 40 lb 5 oz and a double bubble win overall and Silvers. Last time I drew peg 6 I won the Silvers with 18 lb so must be a good peg. Except for the wind it was a very enjoyable day's fishing.

The Silvers win was defaulted to Tony Rixon (pictured right with the winner) who weighed 19 lb 1 oz from peg 9.

It was back to the pub with the usual suspects and due to finishing earlier we missed the rat runners.

My autopsy on the hook length concluded the spade had cut the line as there was only two curly bits of line instead on seven+ which I normally tie.

Result:

1. Mike Nicholls 40-05-0 peg 6
2. Paul Haines 37-0-0 peg 21
3. Dave Wride 32-10-0 peg 29
4. Chris Rolfe 28-13-0 peg 14

Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 25-10-0 peg 6
2. Tony Rixon 19-01-0 peg 9
3. Dave Gillard 10-13-0 peg 8

Weigh Sheets: