Thursday 11/04/2019 - Bathampton AA - Over 55's - Bridge Pool

Usual stop for breakfast at Hungry Horaces - very good. Arrive in plenty of time for Geoff and me to have a walk around. No sign of any fish except feeding Carp down the far end near the aerator. I thought it was going to be hard for the Silvers - I was right, they seem to have shoaled up either for spawning or areas clear of the recent Siltexing.

Not last into the draw bag, this was reserved for Chris Ollis who was still in bed nursing a hangover. Last but one then peg 11. Happy with this because I have been patiently waiting to draw pegs 11 to 8 to fish the wag and mag over to the island. So this was set up first, settling for a Drake yellow top waggler -3 lb Maxima - 0.14 GLine h/l - and a Tubertini 808 size 18. I also set up a 4x16 Winter Titan to fish top-set plus four out in front.

I started by feeding some maggots over to the island to make sure I could get them where I wanted. That sorted I fed a small ball of GB and loose micro and with 4 mm expander on the hook I was expecting a bite straight away - it didn't happen it took 10 minute before I started to get indications which was either small fish or liners. After five strikes I at last caught a blade Skimmer. Looking around it was fishing hard. So put a decent pot of micro in on this line to watch for any signs of feeding fish. I Picked up the waggler and with single LR on the hook caught a F1 first cast, so stayed with this for the rest of the match. Nothing showed over the micro. The F1's aren't very big 8 oz to 1 1/2 lb but do fight very hard especially on the strike running deep under the island and along it. I also got to understand some of the stranger bites. In between the F1's I caught the odd 2 lb Skimmer. I ended up with 4 decent Skimmers and 30 F1's and a very enjoyable day on the waggler, plus I only hooked the overhanging vegetation once. I fed about 3/4 pints of LR's.

My Silvers weighed 10 lb 8 oz for third in the Silvers and my F1's 27 lb 8 oz for a second overall 38 lb. So both categories covered.

The match was won by Tony Rixon (pictured right with some of his catch) with 115 lb 9 oz from peg 1. I was surprised to be told by Tony that he started on expander and micro, however, it didn't last long before he soon switched to his favourite banded 8mm pellet fished over hard 4's to catch some decent Carp. See his blog for me details.

The Silvers was easily won by Enigma (pictured right with the match winner - by the look on Tony's face I wondered what part of his anatomy Enigma had grasped) with 34 lb 2 oz from peg 27. Steve had a slow start on expander. Things vastly improved once he switched to maggot over loose fed maggot. Steve fed about one pint of maggots.

Geoff did well from peg 5 landing three Carp but got mangled around the island four times!

It was back to the pub with the usual suspects - plus three! Most of us had been in the sun all day which continued in the pub garden.

Finally, Mike Jones got called away before the end and tipped back 10 lb of Silvers and Greens even though he had the scales. I think the penny dropped sometime later. Old age doesn't come alone.

Result:

1. Tony Rixon 115-09-0 peg 1
2. Mike Nicholls 38 -0-0 peg 11
3. Steve Dawson 35-04-0 peg 27

Silvers:

1. Steve Dawson 34-02-0 peg 27
2. Paul Haines 15-08-0 peg 29
3. Mike Nicholls 10-08-0 peg 11

Weigh Sheets: