Thursday 04/11/2021 - Bathampton AA - Over 55's and Short Walks

Due to the electronic gates not opening until 08:00 and the draw being at 08:30 there was no time for the usual walk around. However, with a light frost for the past three days we were prepared for a difficult day. The frost didn't put anyone off with twenty two fishing. Second into the draw bag and out comes peg 17. I haven't fished this peg for some years, in fact the last time I fished it was on the day of Chris Ollis's first visit who drew peg 18, he's been a regular every since with mate Paul Barnfield. The peg has changed and changed again since then with a tree growing and recently being removed. For company I had Pete Greenslade on peg 16 and Dave Wride on peg 18. I will be able confirm in fact if Dave Wride does catch “on the pole in the water”! 

The first thing I noticed about my peg was the Sun’s reflection on the water. A bit disappointed that this would restrict me, not being able to fish anywhere from 11 0 clock around to my right. Although the peg is not a noted silvers peg I had planned to target them for first half the match and F1’s and carp for the remainder. However, with bright Sun and clear water the F1’s may not want to venture into the shallower marginal waters.

Three rigs, short and long Ronnie rigs and a 0.3 gram RJ slim for down the LH margin at two and half barrels set at 3 foot plumbed to the second shelf. Due to the Sun I didn’t bother setting up the 4x16 Winter Titan which was to prove a be a big mistake. 

I fed all lines, the two silvers lines with GB laced with LP’s and the margin with a mix of semi-conscious reds (S-CR’s). Started on the long rig with double Pinkie and after an expected waited caught a small Perch. Even though I was fishing in 7 foot of water I started to loose feed Pinkies and started to catch Ronnie’s on the drop. If I left the bait on the bottom it would result in a Perch. I did have three 4 oz Skimmers leaving it for a while but most of the time I was busy laying the rig in for the drop catches. I fed some more laced up GB and tried the short rig, but didn’t have a sniff so it was retired blanking. Everyone was struggling; however, Pete next door was catching the odd decent Skimmer which I put down to his peg being in the shade. I tried the margin fishing double LR’s over kinder S-CR’s, missed a bite straight away and sure it was an F1, it was, I had one next drop in. The problem with these fish in clear water is they dart off very fast taking any fish nearby away with them, so it’s a bit of wait to get them back, so in the meantime I went back on the Ronnie rig which by now was very hard only adding one or two silvers before going back down on the F1’s. With 90 minutes to go I had six F1’s in the net and was playing another when it got caught on something. I could see the fish hook in its’ mouth lying on the top of the water trapped in what looked like string. I got up to rescue the fish but by the time I got to it, it was gone. My hook was left stuck in the string. So I managed to get hold of it and pulled it all out, including lots of hooks, lines and sinkers. In fact it looked very much like the straw netting (pictured right) to contain hay bales for anti-Algae measures. Surely this should be removed once it’s finished its usefulness? This lead to a poor last knockings due to foul hooked fish. I lost six in this period and I don’t know why. The light was bad with the sun now reflecting off the trees. The Sun had now moved on from the right so I thought of setting up a Winter Titan to fish to the right, tried one of my rigs to test visibility with again poor visibility, so didn't bother.  Dave Wride had done well on the F1’s but not from his margins, catching mostly out long in the deep water with maggot – on the pole in the water.

My silvers weighed 5 lb 9 oz and my carp 9 lb 14 oz for 15 lb 7 oz and no pick up today with those pesky foul hookers costing me a section. I really got it wrong today by not setting up the long rig to fish at full depth to my left.

The match was won by Jeff Grant (pictured top right wallowing in his glory back at the pub) with  25 lb 2 0z from peg 29. Geoff caught on the method with maggot hook baits. Well done Matey.

The silvers was won by Tony Ponting (pictured) with 11 lb 12 oz from peg 30, also on the method and maggot hook baits. Well done. This area produced some of the best weights today to the feeder.

Back early to the pub with the usual suspects, the only advantage of winter fishing times.

Result:

Section A:

1. Harry Muir 16-07-0 peg 4

Silvers: John Smith 5-12-0 peg 33

Section B:

1. John Fry 16-07-0 peg 6

Silvers: Kevin Winstone 8-03-0 peg 10

Section C:

1. Dave Wride 23-12-0 peg 18

Silvers: Pete Greenslade 9-07-0 peg 16

Section D:

1. Geoff Grant 25-02-0 peg 29

Silvers: Tony Ponting 11-12-0 peg 30

Weigh Sheets: