Thursday 18/11/2021 - Bathampton AA - Over 55's and Short Walks - Bridge Pool

BAA netted the Main yesterday to remove some of the silvers. Apparently about 1,000 lb of small silvers were transferred to Bridge Pool. The silvers were from 1/2 to 4 oz, not sure where the better slivers went! We didn't expect the stocking to impact todays fishing.

No time for a walk around just a quick look over the bridge, the Pool looked clear.

Twenty three fishing which leads to head scratching for the last best two pegs to put in. Think the stocking may help the bottom pegs.

Into the draw bag and out comes peg 10. Not particularly happy with this, but does has some advantage of being able to unload directly behind the peg. Arrived at the peg and found myself next to ex Bailiff John Fry peg 11.

The peg looked perfect for the waggler and F1's, but was a long chuck, wasn't sure with the light wind whether I could feed LM's far enough. I choose a 11" bodied Drake for a lazy lob cast. Both short and long Ronnie rigs were set up and roosted. The Long Ronnie rig was just OK in 8 foot of water. In case I set up a 4x16 Winter Titan to fish top-set plus three barrels. Having now plumbed around the bottom started off at 8 foot at top-set with a gradual reducing depth up to a very shallow at the island. I put the keep nets in which really showed how clear the water was.

Fed the long line with a smidgen of wetted 2mm micro (it seems the 1mm is becoming popular). The Long Ronnie with a nugget of GB laced with LP's and the short Ronnie with loose fed LR's round to my RH margin. Fired out some LR's on the waggler line and was delighted to find I could reach the island albeit sore knuckles. Started on the long Ronnie rig and started to get indications from small fish, landing a few Ronnie's of about 1 oz. Refed and went out on the waggler and had two F1's in two casts - good day coming up then. Added a few better Ronnie's and Skimmers' . With in half hour the wind had got up making feeding and fishing the waggler difficult even though I was now laying line on the bottom and still going with wind. So tried the Titan over the micro with double mixed Live's and had a 6 oz skimmer and one Ronnie - the light got difficult due to the water shimmering due to brightness. Tried the short Rig to no avail. Back on the waggler at three quarters over at full depth again with double hook bait over loose fed LM's and had a run of decent Ronnie's and a F1. I'm not sure what happened but it suddenly died - did I over feed it? Back on the long Ronnie and switched to very light feeding - three maggot's at a time and had a 1 lb skimmer and a few Ronnie's and a 4 lb Carp. Stayed with this for the rest of the match catching the odd silver. Glad to hear the all out as I started to get cold from the SW wind.

My Carp weighed 9 lb 12 oz and my silvers 11 lb 3 oz for the silvers section win - but it was a close call.

The match was won by Paul Haines (pictured with the overall silvers runner up) with 32 lb 11 oz of F1's from peg 8. Paul caught on the method to the point of the island on banded pellet. He caught both tight and off the island. I must say his casting was very accurate which is the primary skill needed with this type of fishing. Again a very tight frame. Well done matey pleasure to watch.

The silvers was won by Paul Barnfield with 17 lb from peg 28 with mainly skimmers caught at 13 metres with various hook baits including Pinkie over GB laced with dead Pinkies. Well done matey.

Back to the Compton with the usual suspects and a warm from the log fire.

Result:

Section A:

1. Phil Morgan 12-0-0 peg 31 (all Silvers - Rudd)

Silvers: Paul Clayton 7-0-0 peg 33

Section B:

1. Paul Haines 32-11-0 peg 8

Silvers: Mike Nicholls 11-03-0 peg 10

Section C:

1. Kev Winstone 31-02-0 peg 16

Silvers: Dave "The Whip" Poole 13-12-0 peg 21

Section D:

1. Jeff Grant 32-08-0 peg 24

Silvers: Paul Barnfield 17-0-0 peg 28

Weigh Sheets: