Thursday 29/10/2020 - Silverfox Local - Bradley Stoke - West Country Water Park

I believe this is the first match at this venue since it opened some 35 plus years ago. A few of us here today fished that match which I think was won by Vic Bush with one Carp, Tony Rixon had a stickleback and I had an early bath, vowing not to return. However, Just after the lockdown in June it was one place that was open so we had a knock up with plenty of Carp and big Roach caught and agreed to hold a bigger match come Autumn. Firstly, some difficult negotiation on peg fee that is normally £10. Managed to get it down to £6. Then there was the banks which aren't designed for fishing so we were limited to 24 pegs which still needed some work done to make it safe and comfortable plus some weed cutting. Thanks to Dave Haines and Mark Tanner for their hard work (video - weed cutting).

Because I was uncertain how it was going to fish in some areas and wanted everyone to have something to fish for decided to split the match into 4 sections of 6 paying top Silver and next highest weight in each.

All 24 pegs taken up early with some reserves. A few had been out practicing and had caught plenty of Roach - believe it or not some on Hemp and Tares!!

I got the draw underway with Ray Bazeley the retired Bingo caller drawing the pegs. Last two in the bag was peg 6 and 16. We all were hoping to be either in section A pegs 1 to 6 or in the Carp park. Alas Dave Willmott managed to magic peg 6 leaving peg 16 for me, obviously not where I wanted to draw. One advantage of this fishery is you can drive behind all the pegs. For company I had Stu White on my right and Dave Haines on the left. The water close in was very shallow and looked stoney, so decided to put the box in the water and after extending the legs and leveling the box I had a test sit and had a sinking feeling with the box legs sinking in to the clay until the box bottomed out. So back up on the bank with a ton of clay it was.

Knocked up some GB, set up a waggler and a 4x12 both set at the uniform Lake depth of 4 foot 6 inches. Started by feeding the waggler line with Caster and a ball of GB laced with caster and DR's at top-set plus two barrels. The wind was such that the tow against was like fishing a river so the waggler had to be dragged through and on some occasions picked up weed and with no bites went on the pole and had a few small Ronnie's up to 1/2 oz and one 1 /2 oz Carp, topping up regularly, After having 30 fish and the peg dying I decided to pack up at 13:00 and sort out the Money with Mike the owner and have a walk around to take some pictures. As expected sections B and C were fishing terrible.

I always weigh in and had 15 oz.

Hughie Evans (pictured with his catch) had the highest Silvers weight of 16 lb 10 oz from peg 3 which included a Roach of 1 lb 14 oz. Hughie caught on a 3 metre whip to hand with a small waggler rig. He fed some GB, Hemp and caster catching on DR's. His catch mainly consisted of small Ronnie's catching throughout the match.

The highest weight was caught by Steve Jefferies (pictured with a typical size Lake Carp) with 77 lb 7 oz from peg 2. Steve caught short at top-set pus two using worm hook bait over kindered GB/Caster and chopped worm.

All the fish were in excellent condition.

I think if I organised another match a change in the pegging would be necessary and limited to 18 which would allow leaving out the far bank pegs (pictured above). Nonetheless, I think most anglers found it interesting some vowing not to come back though!!

Thanks to everyone that supported this match.

Finally spare a thought for John Smith 2nd in both Silvers and overall and didn't pick up!

Result:

A Section:

1. Hughie Evans 16-10-0 peg 3

2. Steve Jefferies 77-07-0 peg 2

B Section:

1. Ricky Mills 2-09-0 peg 9

2. Tony Rixon 17-10-0 peg 12

C Section:

1. Stu White 3-12-0 peg 15

2. Lee Massey 6-04-0 peg 13 

D Section:

1. Paul Barnfield 7-07-0 peg 24

2. Martin Rayet 35-11-0 peg 23

Sunday 25/10/2020 - Matt Culpins Autumn League - Round Four - Summerhayes - Longs and Sellicks

Back to Summerhayes for the last time in the league 😁. Summerhayes Fishery is in deep, deep Bridgwater, it's also under the M5 motorway, so because the motorway traffic was heavy it was impossible to hear todays Banjo dueling. Pete the fishery owner is pictured right proving to Matt Culpin that he has only 5 digits per hand (no thumbs!).

Second to be be called my peg by Matt, all fingers crossed for Sellicks, alas not peg 10 on Longs, at least there was some fish caught in the area last match with matey Mark Broomsgrove getting third in section with 42 lb. For company I had Kev Perry around the corner on peg 12 and Steve Howell on peg 8, however, not much communication because we were close to the motorway and any conversation lost to the traffic.

My platform was more of a pier as it was well out over the lake, so any margin fishing meant a stiff neck. The opposite bank had collapse and was a good 16 metres away, would have suited Tony Rixon fishing on the mud bank - not for me though - spending a lot on my physiotherapy and not sacrificing my fishing longevity for a few quid. Plenty of Carp topping around the corner on the far bank opposite Kev, the wind was such I could run the waggler up to the bank so set that up with a light float but didn't get used as the wind veered and increased. It set up a 4x12 and plumbed around and best depth I could find was 2 1/2 feet which was at top-set plus one barrel. I found the silt unusual being very thin and unable hold up the smallest weight on the hook. The further I went out the shallower it got. I did plumb up at three barrels where it was 3 inch shallower. The margins were perfect for on both sides for me, so set up a paste float and a 4x12 Speedy (love these floats) for maggot down both edges. So plenty of scope to while away the day - very important on Longs at the moment.

I started short on one barrel with 4 mm expander on micro and didn't have any indications of fish being present so switched to three barrels with identical feed and hook bait. I started to get tiny indications which I believe was bottle top Skimmers. I did have one 10 oz and lost two foul hookers. It was very slow but persevered with the micro and soft pellet. Two hours in I still only had the one fish and suddenly out of the blue landed four decent Carp in the space of 20 minutes. I then foul hooked a couple so switch to the worm and had another three Carp. I thought I was in for a good day, but the Carp disappeared  as quickly as they appeared. I spent about an hour around the margins only to have one liner down to peg 11 pallet. So about an hours catching today and four in anticipation.

My seven Carp weighed 30 lb 1 oz and with the lonely Skimmer ended up second in section with 30 lb 11 oz. Tony Rixon won the section with 46 lb. If only I had another burst or the margins produced! That's fishing.

The match was won by Sam Powell (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 81 lb from Sellicks 21. Sam caught over in 10 inches of water using double maggot over potted GB laced with micro.

The Silvers was accidentally won by Martin Rayet with five Skimmers weighing 8 lb 6 oz from Sellicks peg 5. Martin snared them on 6 mm hard pellet to runner up Jess Jordan's despair who had fished hard all day for Silvers using all the appropriate baits and feed.

Result:

1. Sam Powell 81-05-0 peg 21 Sellicks

2. Dave Romain 64-06-0 peg 2 Sellicks

3. Lee Masey 52-10-0 peg 37 Longs

4. Tony Rixon 46-01-0 peg 7

Silvers:

1. Martin Rayet 8-06-0 peg 5 Sellicks

2. Jess Jordan 7-0-0 peg 19 Sellicks

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 22/10/2020 - Bathampton AA - Over 55's and Short Walks - Bridge Pool

Had my usual walk around a flat calm Bridge Pool which which has been windless for some time which lead to think it wise to switch on the aeration. The water had once again gone clear. There seemed to be plenty of small Ronnie's topping on the bottom pegs which might be a way to pick up today especially  if they are the only fish to feed. The trees and shrubs are starting to show their autumn glory - pictured. However, without any sunshine it was to feel a bit nipply.

A good turn out with 24 fishing. Dave picked my peg 25. This peg under Colin Golding leadership was one of regulars to go in and did produce some good Carp weight from the margins, but subsequently got left out because it was back in a bay and possibly affected peg 26 which nowadays is left out. For company I had Paul Barnfield on peg 24 and Tony Rixon on peg 27, so I knew I would be outgunned on the pole, so set up the waggler.

Whilst shotting up the waggler I cast out and once the waggler reached 12-o-clock a Seagull flew from behind me and into my line and as bad luck would have it the hook half hitched around it's leg and with some help from Tony (only after he videoed it) and Paul Clayton managed to land it and unhitch it. Luckily it flew off uninjured. If I was a seafarer I would consider this an unlucky omen!

With the water so clear I didn't think the Carp would come in to the margin, but still set up a 4x12 Speedy set to 3 1/2 foot to fish worm or a bunch of maggots. As per usual I set up the Ronnie rig and a 4 x16 Winter Titan to fish top-set plus three barrels which took me to full depth and level with Paul's platform!

I fed the margin with a pot of Micro, the Ronnie line with GB laced with caster and the longer line with two balls of GB laced with caster. I also pulted some LR's to the middle of the bowl.

I have a quick look on the Ronnie line with single caster which produced nothing, so out on the long line and missed a bite then foul hooked a Carp which was soon lost. After this I had a few micro Ronnie's, Skimmers and Perch whilst Paul Was bagging on decent Skimmers fishing 13 metres using worm over micro and chopped worm. I refed the line and re-tried the Ronnie rig and had a few Ronnie's but was getting plenty of shy touches which I knew was due to the diameter of the line being a bit heavy but I was reluctant to change incase I hooked a Carp. The two GB lines produced very little so spent the most of the match on the waggler catching the odd Skimmer to 12 oz and Ronnie's to 3 oz on singe LR. I kept trying the margin with either maggot of worm and did have two 12 oz Perch, with 30 minutes to go had a liner followed by the float going under and foul hooked a decent Carp which again was soon lost, stayed in the margin to the end and had one more liner which didn't develop.

No Carp, with my Silvers weighing 8 lb 6 oz which amazingly got me last in the Silvers payout by default, thanks to the waggler I think.

The match and the Silvers was won by Tony Rixon (pictured below with his both his net of Silvers and Carp) with 47 lb 13 oz from peg 27 which is the peg he practiced on a few days before! See his blog for further details.

Paul Barnfield was second in the Silvers just behind Tony with 18 lb 8 oz, but did lose a top-set which a small F1 pulled out due to loose fitting section. 

Back to the Compton with the usual suspects and still managed to self isolate in the garden. 

Result:

1. Tony Rixon 47-13-0 peg 27

2. Mark Tanner 34-03-0 peg 19

3. John Smith 33-08-0 peg 17

4. Paul Barnfield 18-08-0 peg 24

5. Rob Baker 14-14-0 peg 14

Silvers:

1. Tony Rixon 19-04-0 peg 27

2. Paul Banfield 18-08-0 peg 24

3. Kev Winstone 14-10-0 peg 3

4. Alan Smith 14-06-0 peg 30

5. Mike Nicholls 8-06-0 peg 25 

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 15/10/2020 - Silverfox Local - Westerleigh - Shipp's Canal and Taylor's Lake

Second match of my fortnightly local matches. This week seen us at Westerleigh which is a short drive for most. A good turn out and probably had one too many at 17 anglers with plenty of more interest. Because the two lakes have totally different stocking I split the match into two - paying top two and one silver on each Lake, so money spread around. I got Bob Price aka "Bob the Bread", "Medium sliced Price" and recently due to winning at Bitterwell with one fish - "One Bite Bob" to call the draw.

Left to last and Bob called me peg 16. For company I had "Three spikes" - Kev Winstone on peg 15. The weather was perfect for a walk in the country, but not conducive to fishing - bright sunshine and a light breeze. Due to these conditions it was going to fish hard.  Therefore the peg was crying out waggler and maggot to me. So this was assembled. As back up if the fishing got manic I set up a 4 metre whip which sat on the reserve bence, finally the Ronnie rig.

I started by feeding maggots to the middle and fed a small ball of GB on the Ronnie rig line. Started on the Ronnie rig with a single LR and didn't have any indications so after 15 minutes picked up the waggler again with single LR and first cast hooked a 1 lb Carp which came off near  the bank - that's ok plenty more - not. I struggled to hit bites which I think were small Carp as I had a couple without any indication on the float. However, I was catching the odd Ronnie and small Skimmers. I kept hooking something on the bottom so had a spell at half depth and again had a 1 lb Carp first cast and a few more especially once the sun went behind the clouds. Again missing a lot of bites. I was now realising the my choice of waggler was wrong and as fate would have it and even though I was fishing shallow hooked a snag and lost yet another waggler, so set up a 4 x 14 to fish top-set plus four barrels with one barrel behind to speed unshipping (me pictured right - like a coiled spring). I started by Kindering a pinch of GB with LR's and started to catch Carp to 1 lb and started to catch up Kev and Bill who were well ahead at this point but left it far too late and couldn't catch either of them - so got it wrong today.

My Carp weighed 15 lb 12 oz and my Silvers 3 lb 11 oz for third on the Lake weight of 19 lb 7 oz and a Silvers pickup by double default! I must say I did enjoy it today and can't wait to go back and get it right first time.

The match was won by Ryan Jordan (pictured above) with 56 lb 10 oz from peg 3, just piping John Clark on the next peg by 2 oz! Ryan caught over to the island with pellet.

The Silvers overall was won by Bill Ferris with 9 lb 6 oz from peg 18. Bill caught on maggot over loose fed hard 4's!

Dave Haines had a lovely net of Small Crucian's from Shipp's peg 6 weighing 15 lb - pictured right.

Back to the Old Inn with the usual suspects - tap on the window barman comes out takes the order and deliveries to the garden - nice not standing at the bar.

Finally; Thanks to Mark Taylor for loaning us his Lakes for the day.

Result:

Shipp's:

1. Ryan Jordan 56-10-0 peg 3

2. John Clark 56-08-0 peg 1

3. Pete Greenslade 39-10-0 peg 11

Silvers: Dave Haines 6-09-0 peg 6

Taylor's:

1. Kev Winstone 29-10-0 peg 15

2. Bill Ferris 24-02-0 peg 18

3. Mike Nicholls 19-07-0 peg 16

Silvers: Bill Ferris 9-06-0 peg 18

Weigh Sheet:

Sunday 11/10/2020 - Matt Culpin's Canal League - Round 3 - Shiplate Farm - Hawthornes - Squircle - Westpool

Travelled with Junior today who was stand in for Two Pots. He arrived early as he thought he would try being a parking attendant. He organised one van and gave it up for a walk around the fishery with me. Plenty of water in them since the rains. However, like a lot of venues it has seriously affected the fishing. The fishery has now been sold and the new owner was in the Game Keepers Lodge and was introduced as Adam, no sign's of Eve but hopefully a new beginning for the fishery.

Got in early with the pools payment and was third to be called his peg which was Westpool peg 5. The peg is the last in the narrows and felt I needed to be nearer to the middle of the Canal. Peg 4 was empty as its very close to  both pegs 5 and 3 which was occupied by Mark Broomsgrove, the other side was my name sake Paul Nicholls (must be related somewhere along the lineage) who was first in the wide's so was sat 3 metres or so behind me.

Usually on the canal there are plenty of signs of feeding fish, but not today which was worrying. I set up two margin rigs one paste and the other for maggot. My main line would be top-set plus one barrel with a 4 x12 which is where I started with 4 mm expander over micro and had a blow straight away which soon faded and my worries were confirmed when after 15 minutes hadn't had a bite or an indication - it was fishing harder than I thought possible. So with the Carp not feeding I was hoping the Silvers might be free to have a go so switch the line to maggot and GB. I did have a few tiny Ronnie's and Skimmer's but it was slow, but on this canal they can switch on in the second half, so stayed with it. I kept feeding both margins with the appropriate feed in hope some would arrive at some point. I started to get bored waiting for a bite from a tiny Silvers so started to set up all sorts including 11 metres to fish the far bank which only lasted a few minutes as I was getting indications from from very small Silvers. I decided to stay with the Silver line and with an hour to go I hooked and landed a 12 lb Carp. I was hoping this was the start of Carp o clock. so fed the margins a bit heavier and upped the maggot feed on the Silver line, which might have been a mistake as by the end of the match I had hooked six foulers loosing the lot. I did had a swirl in the margin but by time I loaded a rig it was gone, so amazing I caught nothing from the margins where I expected the fish to come and feed in the warmer water. Paul next door did well and was winner our Canal with 63 lb. Paul (pictured upper right) fished a tidy match catching over with pellet then down the track with meat but only managed one form his margin. He also had more than his share of foulers.

My few Silvers weighed 5 lb 4 oz and my one Carp 11 lb 15 oz for a total of 17 lb 3 oz, which unbelievably got me middle section, which shows how bad the canal fished. On hindsight I think I should have set up the waggler (about the only thing I didn't set up) as I think it might have given the presentation the Carp need, but won't know now!

The match was won by Mike Ducket (pictured right a sleep - haven't got a picture of him with his eyes open yet, with the Silvers winner) with 167 lb 12 oz from Hawthorne peg 3. Mike caught on meat over micro from his margin.

The Silvers for the third time was won by Jess Jordan with 16 lb 14 oz from Hawthorne peg 13. Jess caught on maggot over GB laced with finely chopped worm.

Well done to both.

Result:

1. Mike Ducket 167-12-0 peg 3 Haw

2. Tony Rixon 133-12-0 peg 7 Haw

3. Dave Romain 11-12-0 peg 9 Haw

Silvers:

1. Jess Jordan 16-14-0 peg 13 Haw

2. Dave Ings 12-04-0 peg 8 Squirc

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 08/10/2020 - Bathampton AA - Over 55's and Short Walks - Bridge Pool

Due to dead tree felling on the Bridge the usual car park was closed so we parked at the far end. I was hoping this to be an omen for me to draw away from the high and low numbers. Bridge Pool was full due to the recent non-stop rain (pictured right). Due to this I was expecting it to fish poor, but it was to fish better than I thought.

Good turn out of 21 considering an expected morning full of rain. Due to the tree work we had to leave out pegs 18 and 17, this would make peg 19 a good choice.

Dave Gillard called me peg 15 happy with this, I must start parking this end every match! For company I had Whitebaiter Dave Haines on peg 14 and Hughie Evans on peg 16. I love fishing the waggler on pegs where the F1's live, however, the wind was weird swirling all over the place, but was promised that the wind would subside so set up the waggler. The water looked clear so set up a deep 4 foot margin rig for paste or worm, lastly I set up a 4x18 jolly with a triple bulk to fish top-set plus three for Skimmers.

I started by feeding both margins with micro and the Skimmer line with micro and LR's and fed a pouch on the waggler line. Started on the Skimmers with double LR's on the hook and caught a few small Skimmers and an F1 probably before anyone had a bite. By time others started catching the peg died except for tiny Perch. Wasn't disappointed as I was eager to pick the waggler up, which I did. I was soon catching some decent Ronnie's and the odd F1, but the wind was murdering accuracy of the loose feed so had to cast where I fed. When I got a decent grouped feed I caught an F1 or a small Carp. The waggler died for the Ronnie's so knew the Carp were about, so shallowed up and had an indifferent hour landing two decent Carp and losing two round the island and two at the net with the hook pulling due to the force needed to stop them going around the island - bugger. During this spell I foul hooked a decent Skimmer in the dorsal fin. I carried on catching Ronnie's and the odd F1 until I had a Bramblegate, losing the lot - lose a waggler every time I fish these pegs! So had a quick look in the margin with paste with no indications I reset-up the waggler and carried on with that until an hour to go and went in the margin with worm over micro and had two more decent Carp losing a couple of fouler's. It wasn't until the last 15 minutes that the wind fell flat calm and was tempted to pick up the waggler, but glad I didn't as, just before the all out hooked and landed another decent Carp.

My Silvers weighed 10 lb 14 oz and my Carp 37 lb 9 oz for a match winning total of 48 lb 7 oz.

The Silvers was won by my Apprentice Kev Winstone (pictured right with the match winner) with 29 lb 4 oz from peg 21. Kev caught short using caster over caster. Well done matey. His catch below less his three spikes - Lol:

It was back to the Compton for the usual suspects.

Result:

1. Mike Nicholls 48-07-0 peg 15

2. Paul Haines 40-07-0 peg 7

3. Jeff Grant 40-0-0 peg 6

4. Hughie Evans 34-06-0 peg 16

Silvers:

1. Kev Winstone 29-04-0 peg 21

2. Paul Barnfield 16-12-0 peg 32

3. Hughie Evans 15-04-0 peg 16

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 01/10/2020 - Silverfox Local Opens - Windmill Fishery - Match Lake

Apparently Tockenham Reservoir, owned and managed by Amalgamation Fisheries has had an explosion of Zebra Mussels rendering the Lake completely clear and the fish hiding from predators, leading to very few fish being caught in daylight hours. John Smith went pleasure fishing there recently and only managed 4 lb shallow on the wag and caster!!

With the Autumn now upon us meaning travelling to and from matches in the dark, its time to run some local matches. The first today was Windmill being only a short drive for the regulars. News to follow on the next venue.

Before getting the draw underway we had a guided tour of Geoff Francis's new Connect van - perfect for fishing. Nice to see Geoff out again.

With a few regulars unavailable we were reduced to 13, which gave us plenty or room. With yesterday raining all day and little to no wind and bright sunshine today I didn't expect the fish to be responsive. I carried out the draw and was left peg 8. Not my preferred peg as I do like the pegs in the twenties. however, plenty of room.

I set up the 0.3 gram paste float which only had two outings and confirmed my suspicions that the paste season is coming to an end. The Ronnie rig was set set and again only accounted for four or five small fish the water was rather clear - due to lots of rain and no wind. I started on the 4x14 at top-set plus two at full depth of about five foot - really nice to fish a venue with some water in it! I fished double DR's on the hook over potted micro and DR's and caught a 7 lb Carp first put in. It went quiet for a while then started to catch small Skimmers some hand size but one went 2 lb so a good start. for some unknown reason it died. There were plenty of Carp topping on the far island got off the box and set up the waggler. The wind wouldn't be kind but was just fishable with some line on the bottom. I had three more Carp on this and some more Skimmers and Ronnie's using a single LR over loose fed mixed LR's. I had a short walk and as expected it was fishing hard. So went back and thrashed the waggler some more for more small Silvers, but no Carp. With an hour to go (Carp o clock) I came back on the 4x14 and had a run of small Skimmers and added five more Carp topping up with micro and DR's after every Carp. Most of the other anglers caught Carp well during this time.

My Silvers weighed 11 lb 9 oz for the Silvers win and my Carp 46 lb 15 oz for a match winning total of 58 lb 8 oz. So double bubble. Me pictured with the runner up in both pools - venue professional Dave Haines.

It was back to the "Bells" for a pint with the usual suspects. Used my corona NHS app check in for the first time. Seems strange wearing a mask until shown to a table with waitress service. No sign of any students.

Result:

1. Mike Nicholls 58-08-0 peg 8

2. Dave Haines 28-12-0 peg 23

3. John Smith 24-12-0 peg 5

Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 11-09-0 peg 8

2. Dave Haines 11-06-0 peg 23

3. Ray Bazeley 9-0-0 peg 14

Weigh Sheet: