Sunday 23/01/2022 - Westerleigh Winter League - Round 3 - Shipp's Canal and Taylor's Pool

Packing the car - no frost and appeared mild, that is until I got to the fishery where the temperature had dropped. I then got a message from Tim Ford who had just boarded a plane to Barbados felt I wanted to go especially as there is a T20 on Wednesday. I suggested it to the Special One, but knew it would be a no at the moment. Worked there in the Port for a while and would be nice to catch up with some friends.

My turn on Taylors Pool. Bill Ferris said I needed to be on the far bank where all the fish were caught short on Thursday due to it being iced over. Into the car boot draw and found myself holding peg 14. Only one of the two pegs I didn't want, the other being peg 15, this peg was taken by fishery owner Mark Taylor. Walking about you think there was no wind alas there was a tiny freezing cold damp breeze in our faces.

I set up the waggler and plumbed the bar and found just under 3 foot of water. Also set up a 4 x13 MR to fish at top set plus three barrels into the deep water, which doesn't really produce much in the winter. I fed the waggler line with LR's but found they had clumped up due to getting damp in the air which made feeding difficult and would result in me feeding far to much in the pursuit of accuracy. Fed the pole line with GB and Pinkie. Started on the waggler and was soon playing a small carp. Over the next hour I netted six when it died tried the pole with double Pinkie, hooked and lost a skimmer of about 12 oz. I did catch one 1/2 oz Perch and Ronnie before  abandoning the pole. The next four hours were a right misery catching just one Gold Fish. Come near the end my shoulders were playing up to the extent I couldn't pull the catapult.

I weighed 9 lb 12 oz for 6th in section. I think I may have fished it too hard for the conditions, definitely over fed it.

The match was won by Lee Waller (pictured with his catch) with 28 lb 2 oz from peg 26. Lee caught from the off fishing 14 .5 metres to the end of the island in 2 foot of water fishing triple Pinkie over Kindered Pinkie. Lee caught most of his fish during the first half.

The silvers was won by Ricky Mills (pictured with the match winner) with 3 lb mostly one Perch. Anyone want scaffolding done this is the lad to contact.

Back to the pub with the usual suspects and got a blanker's pint from Steve Rogers, thanks matey.

I've decided to not fish for the next 10 days in the attempt to get fit as it's affecting my fishing and probably undoing the physiotherapy.

Result:

Shipp's

1. Martin McMahon 17-01-0 peg 2

2. Norman Ferris 11-0-0 peg 1

Silvers: Ricky Mills 3-0-0 peg 12

Taylor's

1. Lee Waller 28-02-0 peg 26

2. Glenn Bailey 23-05-0 peg 21

Silvers: Andy 2-01-0 peg 22

Weigh Sheet:

 

Thursday 20/01/2022 - Bathampton AA - Winter Silver Series - Bridge Pool

Round two of the silver league. Hard frost and bright sunshine greeted us. Going to be tough day. Need a peg out of the sun or with some island shade me thinks.

Twenty four fishing today with two making up the numbers not in the paired up.

Into the draw bag and out comes peg 11. Not that happy as its tends to be more of and F1 peg than silvers. Plus the light during a winters sunny day is awful - pictured. The sun was to be out for most of the day and was worse for me for the most important first half on the match.

For company I had Hughie Evans on peg 10 who would suffer from the sun late on.

Pegs 10 and 11 is where the club stocked 1000 small F1's last week. Would it affect the silver fishing here?

Set up a 4 metre whip. Towards the island at about 13 metres was a nice dark shaded area where a yellow tip float would be perfect. Sadly however at the moment limited to four barrels. So a 4 x14 red tip Winter Titan was set up. I optimistically set up the yellow top waggler to reach the shade. The sun was so bad it was like casting blind fold, once cast and after shielding the eyes with the left hand I could just make out the float. I have to say my blind casting was spot on.

Started at top set plus three with the Titan with double Pinkie hook bait over GB with loose Pinkie feed. It wasn't long before I was playing a small F1. I had four on the trot plus one 4 lb Carp, alas no silvers. Having fed it a few times and had completely died. So Tried the blind waggler with single LR on the hook over loose fed LR's. My blind feeding was spot on too. I was anticipating catching some Ronnie's on this also, couldn't get a bite on it. The Ronnie's were not cashing bait today so waggler abandoned. Blanking on the silvers and with the sun moving over my first line I switched to four barrels at 10 o clock feeding micro and LR's. I had a couple of small Ronnie's and two 1 ln Skimmers - get out of jail. I had been loose feeding Pinkie on the 4 metre whip line so gave that a go and had a Ronnie and hooked a 12 ounce Ronnie and whilst between swinging or netting it, it came off - bugger  - bad angling. With no more bites on the whip spent the rest of the match on the three barrels line catch the odd micro Ronnie with more falling off than entering the keep net.

My few silvers weighed 2 lb 12 oz for 4th in section. My few carp weighed 7 lb 12 oz. Luckily my partner Tony Ponting won his section so not a complete disaster.

For the second time the silvers was won by Tony Rixon (pictured right - same picture as last match as he didn't look any older and had the same clothes on) from peg 6 with 15 lb which was miles ahead of anyone else. Tony caught at 13 metres with maggot over GB laced with Pinkie and caster feeding about 1 kg of GB. Tony had  some decent Skimmers in his catch pictured below.

Early days for the league so far is fairly tight.

Result:

1. Tony Rixon 15.00 peg 6

2. Kev Winstone 5-14-0 peg 14

3. Tony Ponting 5-06-0 peg 31

4. Hughie Evans 5-05-0 peg 10

5. Leighton Palmer 5-0-0 peg 19

Weigh Sheets:

Pairs Results to date:

Tuesday 18/01/2022 - Acorn - Cost Cutter - Paddocks

Text from Glenn Bailey asking if I wanted to go to Acorn. I had no plans to do so ,but decided to go even though we had the first full "Wolf" Moon of the year.

The lake was covered with a thin coating of ice.

My shoulders still playing up so no island draw for me which meant a draw more likely on a bridge. Into the draw bag and out comes peg 33 - yep a bridge peg. However, the ice would be easy to clear, my thinking was that the fish may had gone under the bridge for some cover. For company on peg 34 was  Dan Hurley and Jinx Ant P on peg 31.

Decided to fish one line all match which was top set plus two and a bit barrels up to the bridge mid span. So a 4x13 MR red top was set up. Kicked off with a small ball of kindered GB with some loose Pinkies. First put in I was getting some indications and foul hooked a carp which scaled me. Out again and hooked and landed a small carp. I then had a run of four Skimmers loosing one. The line completely died. Dan hooked an 8 lb carp which came under the bridge with my rig catching in his float. Bloody difficult playing a carp and the neighbours  white hydro elastic. I managed to get to my top set and then the elastic and got the break I was after. Dan manged to finally land it, well done to him.

Went for a walk around: 

Graham Smith peg 36 had around 30 lb all caught on crushed corn fished over to the island at about 11 o clock, but was now on the maggot down the track.

Tony Pontin peg 38 was playing a small carp but was struggling but getting the odd fish.

Neil Peg 40 was struggling

Dave Wride on peg 6 was catching the odd small carp and was now fishing down to pallet 7. He was moaning about Beany on peg 5 walking up and down to his bait bag. Dave was thinking of going over and moving the bag closer to his seat box!

Mike Chapman peg 9 (I drew this for him) had just cast his straight lead out with bread flake. Whilst eating a sandwich the tip went straight round and finally landed a double figure carp.

Glenn Bailey peg 11 had just landed a small carp and was getting some liners, so some hope here. Glenn was fishing tight over in 3 foot of water fishing maggot over kinder maggot.

Steve Warren peg 15 was catching well on 8 mm bread tight over 2 inches off bottom.

Kev Perry peg 19 was catching small carp over and moaning about their size!!

Paul Faiers peg 21 was catch Roach and Skimmers fishing Pinkie over loose fed pinkie at 3/4 over.

Ant P peg 31 had one 8 lb foul hooked carp and could only add another 1 oz.

Back to my peg and decided the only was to catch would be to fish over so got the long pole out with 0.3 gram RJ slim and after 5 minutes packed it away as it was too painful to hold. Well and truly beat today. It was clear walking around that fishing long was the key and as I can't do this at the moment will have to give the venue second thoughts until the warmer weather.

My three Skimmers weighed 2 lb 14 oz and my one carp 2 lb 8 oz for last in the match.

Steve Warren (pictured with the silvers winner) won the match with 51 lb 15 oz from peg 15. Paul Faiers won the silvers with 10 lb 9 oz from peg 21. Well done to both.

It appears that the fish have moved unusually into the far leg - pegs 12 to 22.

Result:

1. Steve Warren 51-15-0 peg 15

2. Graham Smith 45-06-0 peg 36

3. Glenn Bailey 30-13-0 peg 11

4. Dave Wride 30-11-0 peg 6

Silvers:

1. Paul Faiers 10-09-0 peg 21

2. John Mills 9-14-0 peg 17

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 13/01/2022 - Ray's Rip Off - BAA - Hunstrete - Withy Pool

Heavy frost on the car this morning - both inside and out! Minus 4 degrees.

Arrived and asked to walk round the pool to identify 13 pegs. Ray's instructions was to put in the car park bank and opposite, leaving out the North bank (too shallow close in) and behind the island. Noticed a few small Ronnie's topping on the walk. I also relised how much work the BAA committee put in to keep this fishery looking really nice - well done to all.

I didn't fancy pegs 41, 42 or 43 as they won't see the sun all day with the frost staying all day - pictured right towards the far frosted bank. 

In to the draw bag and out comes peg 41! Not what I wanted. Have fished this peg a few times over the years and have had good days in the summer but not so good in winter. The positive, it was an end peg. Great company with Pete Greenslade on peg 42.

I have had rod rings freeze over but today was very unusual and a first. During the first half of the match all my kit, including the pole went white with frost and later when it thawed ended up soaking wet during what can only be described as a beautiful sunny day! - by some!!! The rod rings didn't freeze because the water was warmer than the air. It was bloody cold, luckily I had the battery body warmer on for most of the day.

The peg is only about 13 meters wide, shelving up very quickly. Fancied the skimmers wouldn't be in this gully this time of year so would target the Ronnie's. As it was an end peg set up the waggler to fish down to my right at about 25 metres in to a bit of a bowl - still not pass the next pallet. On the pole line the light was awful so was forced to fish at top set plus four barrels to get the yellow top Winter Titan into the darker water. There was a narrow bit of light water closer in but reserved that for my new Drennan 5 metre whip reduced to 4 metre today - what a lovely piece of kit for the money - excellent value, and its no longer a virgin!

Started by feeding a knub of GB with a few Pinkies on the pole line and loose fed some casters on the whip line. Started with two Pinkies on a 20 hook and after 15 minutes didn't have a bite, so refed a bigger ball of GB (which had frozen) and Pinkie and picked up the whip with single caster and again didn't have a bite. So back out on the pole and had a few small Ronnie's. This soon died. So picked up the waggler and without any feed cast a single LR down the peg and had a bite first try, subsequently caught a few Ronnie's but again it died. Started to feed a few LR's and messed around with the depth and found 3/4 depth was perfect and had three hours catching the odd 2 oz Ronnie. Felt I got the feeding right. I had been loose feeding Pinkie on the whip line so tried that and had three better Ronnie's before that died. Went out on the pole where I had been topping up with GB which had attracted the smaller Ronnie's which were falling off due to heavy elastic. With 15 minutes to go I spied a carp rising down on the waggler line so fished that to the end catching more regularly than previously. No carp though. I did enjoy the match even though it was hard, which wasn't unexpected.

My Ronnie's weighed 6 lb 10 oz for a section pick up, so happy with that one. The only thing I now wished I had tried caster on the waggler line - next time - perhaps.

The match was won by Dave Poole from peg 63 (pictured with the silvers winner) with 14 lb 2 oz which included a 12 lb carp caught on waggler and single bronze maggot. It took a while to lake as Dave was using 0.1 hook length. Well done matey.

The silvers was won by Andy Greenham with 12 lb 14 oz from peg 45. Andy caught 50/50 11 metre pole and waggler. The waggler was fished with single caster over loose fed caster and similarly his pole line was fished with caster and GB. Well done matey.

Nice to see Steve Jefferies out again, certainly made his presence known 😎.

Made a nice change to have a match on Withy Pool, however, can expect it to fish much better in the warmer months.

Result:

1. Dave Poole 14-02-0 peg 63

2. Andy Greenham 12-14-0 peg 45

3. Pete Turner 8-02-0 peg 44

4. John Smith 7-12-0 peg 65

5. Mike Nicholls 6-10-0 peg 41

6. Steve Jefferies 5-14-0 peg 46

Silvers: 

1. Andy Greenham 12-14-0 peg 45

2. Pete Turner 8-02-0 peg 44

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 06/01/2022 - BAA Over 55's Silvers Pairs and Accidental Carp - Hunstrete - Bridge Pool

I have been having problems with my shoulders and hands and if it wasn't the start of the pairs I would have stayed home and rested

The match was to become the "day of the umbrellas". Chris Ollis Pictured with something growing out of his head!

Pairs drawn done behind closed curtains and paired with Tony Ponting - happy with this one. Twenty two fishing so two sections of 6 and two of 5. However, there was to be a good few complaints about the pegging which Dave said he would address for the next match. One angler missing with a sick note.

Into the draw bag and out comes peg 6. I was happy with this until I found out that pegs 3,4,5,6,7 and 8 were in! We never put pegs 4,5 and 6 in together. Plus the wind was hacking into my peg and just felt the silvers would not be in this narrow part of the lake, any fish would be shared with Turkey on peg 5.

I initially set up four rigs and because of the conditions the 4x14 Winter Titan was the only one to be used. Started at three barrels feeding a small ball of GB laced with Pinkie with double Pinkie on the hook and had a 2 oz Ronnie first drop in. A bit of wait for the next followed by a very welcome 10 oz skimmer. The line apparently died which lead to mistake one: Instead of staying on the same line I went out to four barrels feeding again catching a Ronnie straight away. This died so mistake two:

went out to five barrels to my left and had the same effect one Ronnie and nothing else. I felt I had broken a cardinal rule by not staying over the same line especially with the fishing being so hard. It became a right struggle trying all three lines catching and loosing the odd tiny Ronnie. The wind and rain had picked up with a strong gust bending the umbrella bank stick - pictured. Now totally pissed off no umbrella and shoulders and now neck playing up mistake three: I set up the Drennan light 10 foot feeder rod and chucked that as near as I could officially get to the gap and dead water where I suspect the fish where relaxing out of my tow. With a tiny GB cage feeder filled with GB and Pinkie I hooked a decent carp which broke me! I then had two quick F1's which isn't what I wanted followed by two tiny Ronnie's. I spent the last 20 minutes back at three barrels catching a small Ronnie and again losing a few, need a ZIM number 1 me thinks! Glad to hear the all out and quickly chucking everything soaking wet into the car.

My few silvers weighed 2 lb 4 oz for last but one in the section which was tight except for Paul Clayton on peg 7. Think I could have done much better had I stuck to the one line. Well done to my partner though. My two F1's weighed 2 lb 9 oz.

The silvers was won by Tony Rixon (pictured right - bugger would stop laughing) with 12 lb 1 oz from peg 15. Tony caught long and short with caster and GB - see his blog for in-depth details. 

Now for the Umbrella carnage:

My bank: stick bent

Dave Haines: Umbrella top blew Mary Poppins like over to the main lake.

Paul Claytons: bank stick broke in half

Kev Winstone: His new Umbrella is now in peg 27.

No pub for me, rushed home for a very hot bath. Now out to the garage to dry the stuff out.

Ray Bazeley is running a match on Withy on Thursday 13/01/2022. Book in with him.

Pairs Result to date: Note the weigh sheets were hard to read so weights subject to confirmation: Drop one result: No shows get 6 points - equivalent to last in section.

Weigh Sheets: Only posted for prosperity!!

Sunday 02/01/2022 - Westerleigh Winter League - Round Two - Taylors Pool and Shipp's Canal

Weather still mild but expected a gale later, which proved to be short lived.

Draw for the pairs done (pictured right) and I was drawn with John C who missed the first match and because his lake fished so bad we didn't loose much ground. It's hard to say which pair will win it this year - I'm going with Glen and Steve or Mark and Ricky. We'll see.

Had a walk around Shipps canal where I would be sat for 5 hours today and noticed how ochre coloured it was. I deduced this to be some run off from some of the work being carried out above the lake.

I didn't mind where I drew as all the pegs are hard, plus you can never predict where the carp will be. Into the car boot picking white disc 4. Plenty of room as pegs 3 and not in and peg 5 is about 30 metres away where Bri Shanks had drawn.

The wind was partially off my back and perfect for the waggler even though it's was only 14 metres wide. So set up with a 7" straight and had a plumbing setting cast around and didn't realise how far some of the stick-ups were out from the bank and lost the float breaking on the locking shot. So put the rod in the roost less a float and set up a 4x13 MR which was suitable for all around the peg as it was relatively flat. I also set up the Ronnie rig but after a few trials thought the wind would lead to poor presentation, so that was roosted for the entire match.

So three lines targeted - 1. Top set plus one barrel directly out in front 2. Top set plus two barrels at 11 o clock 3. Top set plus three barrels at 10 o clock.

What transpired was all about ounces, my poor weighing in and some bad luck. 

Started at two barrels with double Pinkie over GB laced with LP's and had a 8 oz carp followed by a few Crucian's, a skimmers and a few small Ronnie's before it died. In the meantime Bri Shanks had landed a 10 lb fouled carp, duh. So came on the one barrel fishing single LR over loose fed LR's and had a few more small Ronnie's, a couple of small F1's and a couple of Crucians - always tell them by their bites, or lack of them. I then hooked a 4 lb carp which is a high value prize on this lake so was carefully played to the net, buggering the short line in the process. Next line to bugger up was the three barrel one which I fed with GB with LP's and with single LR and a fluoro Pinkie hook tipper had some more F1's and Ronnie's. The line died so went on the rounds and couldn't get a bite on any lines. It looked like everyone was now struggling. With an hour to go I set up a waggler to be fished about 3 foot off the far bank and with double LR's on the hook over catapulted LR's and on second cast hooked a decent carp which again I played carefully for a few minutes before the hook pulled. I was convinced it wasn't fouled. Two casts later I hook another decent carp which again was played carefully and finally landed, the hook was in its chin so close enough. Three casts later I hook another decent carp which snagged me in the far bank losing the 808 - 20 hook and fish - bugger. Next cast I had a F1 which herald the end of a decent spell and just before the "all out" I hooked the snag which I manged to land and discard.

I really enjoyed the day and learnt some more about this lake. I weighed my silvers first which went 2 lb 1 oz just 1 oz behind the top lake silvers and my carp 18 lb 1 oz for a total of 20 lb 2 oz just 12 oz away from the lake winner and 7oz from second!! However, Mark Taylor came by and pointed out a 1 oz Ronnie in my net and instead of pleading with the scalesman to add the ounce for some unknown reason I put it back!! I wasn't that concerned as matey Glenn Bailey won our lake silvers, but would have been nice to share it!! 

The match was won by Martin McMahon (pictured with the silvers winner) with 27 lb 8 oz from peg 17 on Taylor's. Martin caught at 14 metres using 6 mm banded hard pellet over loose fed hard 6's.

Steve Rogers won the silvers from the same lake with a lowly 4 lb 1 oz from peg 25. Steve caught at 14 metres using Pinkie hook bait over loose fed Pinkie - he must have one hell of a catapult to feed Pinkie this distance in any shape or form of grouping!!

Back to the pub which was empty except for the usual suspects. I was mortified they only had bottled beers!! Oh, well better than none. As usual we had a right laugh.

Result:

Taylors Pool:

1. Martin McMahon 27-08-0 peg 17

2. Norman Ferris 8-0-0 peg 22

3. Steve Rogers 7-01-0 peg 26

Silvers: Steve 4-01-0 peg 26

Shipps Canal:

1. Brian Shanks 20-14-0 peg 5

2. John C 20-09-0 peg 9

3. Mike Nicholls 20-02-0 peg 4

Silvers: Glenn Bailey 2-02-0 peg 12

Weigh Sheet:

Year End Report - 2021

Covid Lockdown from mid December 2020 to April 2021!

April - 2021 - Roy Garland Bristol Evening Post Sports Journalist passed away. As far as I know this is the only picture of him fully armed with camera on the bank. Not a good start to 2021!

1 April 2021: Shiplate - Main Lake: First "official" match back after lockdown. The weather conditions were awful with a cold NW wind. Drew peg 9 so would be sat facing it all day, I was bloody freezing come the end, but did win the silvers with 34 lb.

25 April 2021 : Shiplate - Hawthorne's and Westpool: A rose between to very large thorns. Tom Thick winning Westpool and Matt Culpin winning Hawthorne's with his blaster caster approach witch left everyone standing. I did my usual fishing for the silver which I won from Hawthorne's.

18 May 2021: Acorn - Paddocks: The tree amigo's top three on the day. Yes they are holding up the winner. Great day especially the part in the Prince of Waterloo. Very memorable day with great friends.

6 June 2021: Westerleigh Winter League: The last match of this very hard league - both due to the high standard of anglers and the hard fishing. I did enjoy this league. To me its in between a venue close to fishing natural venues. Doing it again this year. I came join first on points second on weight to my pairs partner Martin McMahon.

12-17 June 2021 - Viaductors Holiday: There may be trouble ahead! I always managed to sneak off before the serious drinking began - Noisy buggers. Great week once again with Junior taking most of our money.

We had an away day to Todber - Homeground and with Martin " Boris" Rayet so far having a torrid time drew peg 90, so game over, he did have a slow worrying start, but came good to win the match with 384 lb. As there was no silvers pool then this was the place to get your best weight of the year, which I did with second place 275 lb.

18 July 2021: Tony Rixon's Float Only - Sedges - Brick and Tile: My highest silvers weight of the year from Tile Lake peg 29 with 43 lb 8 oz. I must say I was surprised to catch this many silvers from the peg especially when both sides were bagging carp with me only having one accidental. 

5 August 2021 Rays Rip Off's - Windmill - Match Lake: Pictured Dave "Willy" Willmott and Dave "Diddly Bonk" Haines. Willy clearing up regularly in the overall and Diddly the silvers. Well done to both of them. Both slowing in the winter though.

26 August 2021: Huntstrete - Bridge Pool: Bridge Pool is a difficult venue to get to understand with all the pegs different, which of course if the attraction for me. Chris Ollis pictured with his silvers winning catch of 28 lb 10 oz of skimmers proves there are plenty to catch if you can avoid the F1's.

11 September 2021: Dave Crookes Memorial Match at Huntstrete - Bridge Pool: Really pleased to win this match as Dave was a good friend of mine, we both worked at Airbus and use to meet up regularly in the café for a chat. Paul Barnfield won the silvers as he does regularly using copious amounts of worm and micro, certainty got this worked out.

10 October 2021: Windmill - Match Lake: Boris with his new posh stainless steel trolley. He went on to win the match with 147 lb from peg 25. I was next to him winning the silvers.

16/11/2021: Acorn - Paddocks: Dave Wride match winner pictured with the silvers winner, he really has this venue sorted during the winter winning again today with 111 lb 11 oz doubling the next weight! He catches on the pole in the water - seen him doing it so I know its true.

02/12/2021: BAA Over 55's and short walks - Hunstrete - Bridge Pool: Just say its a privilege to fish (and drink) with this motley crew. The match was won by Cliff and the silvers as usual by Barny.

Thanks to the following unpaid match organisers for running the various matches I fish: (with one of them taking home most of the winnings).

My Match Data 2010 - 2021: