Thursday 19/03/2020 - Bathampton AA - Silvers Priority and Carp - Bridge Pool - Sponsored by Premier Angling

So with the over 70's having to go in isolation next week  I am thinking ways I could still go to the over 55's starting next week and still comply with the government's advice. It's going to be difficult because we have to think of others in the household who would be at risk if I caught it. That said Dave Gillard and the rest of us did all we could to minimise the risk of contamination. Dave looked good in his wifes Marigolds.

The draw being done for us again, I was allocated peg 27. Not my favourite for Silvers but I have won a few matches with Carp from it. The peg does throw up a few good Skimmer weights occasionally across the year, but at the present I was thinking not. I don't think Junior will want to draw for himself ever again as he was allocated peg 18 the one he wanted.

Found out the peg 26 wouldn't be in due to its close proximity to 27 which is a great help space wise. For company on 28 was John Smith alka Cliff, so good company. Behind me and in the next section on peg 24 was Premier Angling top salesman Tony Rixon so I won't be keeping an eye on him.

It's the first time I've been fishing and getting soaking wet without seeing a dimple of rain on the water. It must be very close to fishing in a cloud. The NE wind was bloody freezing. But unusually I was shielded from most of it by the opposite island.

I must say the island looked very tempting for the waggler so this was the first thing I set up. Two others rigs - a 4x16 to fish for Silvers at top-set plus three barrels and a 4x12 to fish around the margins if things got desperate - thankfully it didn't get used.

I started by feeding LR's over to the island to let the Carp know food was in close proximity. I then fed the Silvers line with a kinder pot size of wetted micro compacted in milled expander. It wasn't long before I was catching small Skimmers and the odd Ronnie. After topping up a couple of times the swim appeared to fade. I was getting some indications which I thought were either Carp or more likely F1's. This was confirmed when a few bubbles appeared. This was all I needed to abandon the freezing cold pole. So onto my beloved waggler, which I had set it to 4 foot deep - no plumbing for me. The way I fish these islands it to cast close let the float settle and if the float is shotted correctly it will show a fair amount of tip, I wait to see if any F1's are close in and prepared to feed in the clear shallow water, I then slowly pull the float away until just off bottom as indicated by the float dimping down, this is where I am likely to catch Ronnies and Perch. Somewhere in between I'm looking for the better Carp. What I have found is due to these island pegs being popular for the method feeder certain areas along the bank the bottom is slightly deeper and cleaner, so I'm looking for this area to concentrate on. However, my feeding today was bad - really bad, for some reason I couldn't judge the wind which I now think was affected by the island. I did get some LR's where I wanted, Of course you can chase your feed but not recommended on this peg as it's full of traps. I lost my usual one waggler per match on Bramble gate chasing feed. My casting wasn't great either having lots attempts to get the waggler where I wanted.

So first cast a Ronnie followed by lots of micro Perch. It took awhile to catch my first F1. Two small Carp followed and three 12 oz Perch. Things were going well. The line died which was the sign of the bigger Carp being inattendance. I increased the feed and with double DR's on the hook landed my first proper Carp. The upshot was I landed two more better Carp with one hooked in the tail which to my surprise tail walked around the corner of my peg. Three more F1's caught before thankfully the all out.

My Silvers weighed 7 lb 8 oz and my Carp 33 lb 7 oz for second in the match total of 40 lb 15 oz and that important second in section pickup. I have to say again the Drennan 12 foot Carp waggler rod is a superb rod.

The Silvers was won by Paul Clayton (pictured above) with 24 lb 7 oz from peg 19. Paul caught on his usual 4mm expander over micro and couscous. His bait tray pictured upper right - simples.

The match was won by Tony Rixon (pictured right with his small Carp catch)  with 44 lb 1 oz from peg 24. Tony did also have a net of quality Roach. See his blog for details.

The usual battle of the GAS and Shithead pursued with the GAS coming out on top with a 6 lb Bream sealing a late win for Cliff - pictured below right.

Most gave the pub a miss for obvious reasons.

Result:

Section A:
1. Hughie Evans 13-06-0 peg 3
2. Ray Bazeley 15-06-0 peg 5
Section B:
1. John Fry 17-08-0 peg 10
2. Rod Dufferty 31-11-0 peg 11
Section C:
1. Paul Clayton 24-07-0 peg 19
2. Tony Rixon 44-01-0 peg 24
Section D:
1. Paul Haines 13-15-0 peg 31
2. Mike  Nicholls 40-15-0 peg 27

The Premier Angling Voucher went to Wayne Storey.

Weigh Sheets: