Sunday 27/02/2022 - Westerleigh Winter League - Round Five - Shipp's Canal and Taylors Pool

My turn on Taylor's Pool and having walked around I was hoping for peg 22 which was the peg least effected by the nasty SE wind.

Oh dear wheres' my pairs partner? On my own again!

Into the car boot draw and out comes peg 26. For company I had Mark Taylor on 25. This is a noted carp peg which is fished over to the end of the island which looked like 16 metres to me. Obviously out of my pole reach but not the waggler. However, due to the wind hacking down the channel between me and the island lead to concerns about waggler presentation. Set up it up and plumbed around with the BB shot and found it about 2 foot deep. Decided to set it to 3 foot and fish off the island to try and get some better presentation. Also set up a 0.3 RJ Slim for the RH margin and a 4x13 MR black tip. Fed the top set plus two barrels with a ball of GB with some offerings for the silvers. Started on the Wag and Mag and after 20 minutes had to give it up due to the wind and presentation. So decision made to fish for the silvers. So over the GB line with a single LR and had a small 11 oz Carp followed by a 2 oz Crucian. Had a Ronnie and for a reason I have yet to understand started to foul hook small 4 oz Skimmer with most coming off. Had a couple in the mouth and one about 1 lb. To try and reduce the amount of foulers moved out to three barrels and plumbed dead depth. Fed another ball of neat GB with some micro and six LR's and with again single LR on the hook and had a run of small skimmers but was still fouling the odd one - very frustrating. Fed the line again and tried the margin with an LR over Pinkie and caught small Perch which really didn't add much to my overall weight. Back to the three barrel line when I heard Glenn say he just caught a 4 lb Bream (12 "Lids" recently stocked) so wiping out my silvers weight. I struggled on catching the odd small fish. Then heard Glenn say he just had a 5 lb Bream - bugger. I then relised as he was also catching carp and that he would either come first or second, so now enthused for a default silvers pick up got my head down as Mark and John had also been catching silvers. Didn't catch much in the last half hour as the sun was over my line so spent the rest of the match catching small Perch in the margin.

My carp weighed 13 oz and my silvers 6 lb 5 oz for indeed a default silvers pick up and surprisingly 3 points.

The match was won by stand in Joe McMahon (pictured right) with 44 lb from peg 21. Joe had plenty of room as the next peg was 17! He fished at 16 metres to the bar catching regularly 1 to 2 lb carp on banded 6 mm pellet over loose fed 4's - must have been chatting with his old man. Well done matey, hope you didn't leave anything behind!!

The silvers was won by Glenn Bailey (pictured with his Lids) with 12 lb 10 oz from peg 22. Glenn also caught at 16 metres with maggot hook bait over potted maggot. Well done matey.

Result:

Shipp's Canal:

1. Ricky Mills 27-12-0 peg 9

2. Martin Mc Mahon 18-04-0 peg 5

Silvers: Kev Winstone 2-03-0 peg 7

Taylor's Pool:

1. Joe McMahon 44-0-0 peg 21

2. Glenn Bailey 26-05-0 peg 22

Silvers: Glenn Bailey 12-10-0 peg 22

Weigh Sheet:

Thursday 24/02/2022 - Ray's Rip Off - Bathampton AA - Withy Pool

Driving in to the complex noticed some scaffold poles and wooden planks - for Bridge Pool platforms? Bridge Pool still looks a bit off colour.

Another good turn out which included matey Geoff Francis making a come back after a two year lay-off from commercial matches. Another returnee was Shane Lovell both very popular anglers.

Once again the weather was predicted to be awful with high winds and heavy showers. So thought I would love a peg out of the wind or off the back, thinking pegs 51 to 59. First into the draw bag and out comes peg 51. Definitely going to be sheltered but hasn't so far produced much even though it's a popular peg for pleasure carp anglers. Plenty of room as the only peg behind the island today. Happy days. For company and the only angler I could see was "three gulps" Gillard on peg 54. Peg 51 platform is half under water and uneven, so took a while to get the seat box settled in. Umbrella erected as rain already started.

Shoulders some what better but hands still an issue. Set up the waggler primarily to try for carp over caster feed towards the channel during the last hour. The 4x13 MR to fish top set plus two barrels in 6 foot of water and the 4 metre whip with a 2BB waggler with 5xno12's shot down the line to fish over the MR rig line.

Fed the whip/pole line with GB laced with Pinkie and caster. Started on the MR with single LR. It didn't take long to catch a 1 oz Ronnie. I then had a good hour catching Ronnie's to 3 oz. Fed again and switched to the whip and surprisingly had a run of small Skimmers to 8 oz - thought it would have been the other way round. Stayed on the whip until the last hour topping up the GB feed four times. Extremely heavy hail stones arrived but lasted just five minutes. On to the waggler towards the gap where I had been feeding caster regularly for look see for a carp. Alas, more small Ronnie's as the light got bad switched to a shorted line with maggot feed putting a few more Ronnie's in the net. Once again would have been very enjoyable day except for the bloody weather conditions.

I weighed 12 lb 12 oz for a match win. No carp caught.

Runner up was Paul Barnfield (pictured with the match winner) with 9 lb 9 oz from peg 68. Paul dripped caster and GB through a kinder pot.

Spare a thought for John Smith who once again drew peg 71 - he was bloody freezing.

Back to the pub with the usual suspects including Geoff Francis who luckily remembered it was his round 😁.

Result:

1. Mike Nicholls 12-12-0 peg 51

2. Paul Barnfield 9-09-0 peg 68

3. Shane Lovell 7-14-0 peg 45

4. Dave Gillard 7-13-0 peg 54

5. Paul Haines 7-08-0 peg 55

6. Paul Clayton 7-03-0 peg 57

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 17/02/2022 - Bathampton AA - Winter Silvers Series - Withy Pool

Looks like all but a few Sea Gulls have gone from Bridge Pool - hopefully not too long a road to recovery.

Twenty two fishing today. Great job Dave's doing keeping the pairs going by juggling reserves for absentees. Hopefully I'll get a decent "Ringer" for my partners absence next match!

Another windy day. Looking around the Pool I wanted to be on the North bank where the wind would be off the back, plus additional shelter from the trees. Definitely didn't want peg 71 where the wind was gusting into from all directions.

Into the draw bag and out comes - yes peg 71, worse still Tony my pairs partner turns up on the next peg 70. Moan over as these are the best two pegs in a very difficult section. So expected 1 and 2 points from us which would be good enough on the day.

This peg is known for its small Ronnie's which I'm not adverse in catching. Set up a 4x13 MR and plumbed up at top set plus two barrels to only find five foot an additional barrel took me to six foot. Thought the Ronnie's might prefer the shallower water albeit the waters looked a bit clearer so set up the 4 metre wagglerised flick tipped whip which took me nicely to the two barrel line. John Smith fished it last match and had 7 lb 12 oz on the waggler failing to catch short, so that was set up.

Fed one large ball of GB with a few particles at two barrels. Started on the whip with single LR. The wind was atrocious with the the float going with wind far too fast and was surprised it didn't seem to bother the fish as I had five 1 - 3 oz Ronnie's in 5 casts. I loose fed a few casters over the top and next cast was trying to play a carp and was surprised I had it on for 20 seconds before the inevitable. Decided to pot a second ball of GB anticipating the carp had devoured the first.  New hook length and out again and couldn't get a bite. So Potted a ball at top plus tree barrels. whilst that settled tried the waggler which presented good considering the conditions the issue was feeding - it was going everywhere, only had a couple of small Ronnie's on this plus a lot of missed bites. On to the three barrel line with the MR and had three small Skimmers and some more Ronnie's. I was again playing a carp which was possibly fouled as it wasn't on long. This line had now died. Tried the whip again and had a few more but it was really slow and now the bloody sun had arrived making this line hard to fish. It then poured down to erected the brolly for it to do a "Mary Poppins" and got scagged. The trolley also decided to go off road and luckily got stopped by a sapling. Rain stopped and decided to spend the rest of the match on the waggler fishing it down wind in to the bay to my left. Single LR over loose fed same and was soon adding some better Ronnie's. Made a mistake of loose feeding some casters which attracted a carp hooking one which I played for abut 10 minutes and started to think I would land it but once close in the shallow water it broke me. This again seem to bugger the line up, but kept to feeding LR's to the end catching spasmodically. The little and often wasn't working, it was feed and fish out. My hands were glad to hear the all out.

I weighed 7 lb 12 oz for second in section my partner weighed 9 lb 5 oz of mainly small skimmers to win the section so mission accomplished. This has put us to the top on weigh count back.

The match was won by Paul Barnfield (pictured with the runner up - introductions unnecessary) with 19 lb 2 oz from fancied peg 54 in the narrows. Paul caught mainly on caster over caster both over to the island and down the track. His catch mainly consisted of Roach and included a 3 lb Bream and a specimen Roach of 1 lb 14 oz. Well done matey.

There was some quality Roach caught today with Dave Haines (pictured) catching 15 lb of quality fish on the 3 metre whip on maggot from peg 63.  There are loads of these quality fish in the Pool, however, the small fish tend to get the bait first.

Back for a pint with the usual suspects fro a warm around the log fire. Glad I don't have a match Sunday had enough of this weather.

Result:

1. Paul Barnfield 19-02-0 peg 54

2. Tony Rixon 15-06-0 peg 56

3. Dave Haines 14 10-0 peg 63

4. Alan Smith 1209-0 peg 45

5. Bryan Derrick 12-04-0 peg 66

6. Kev Winstone 9-08-0 peg 41

Weigh Sheets:

Pairs After Match Four:

Sunday 13/02.2022 - Westerleigh Winter League - Round Four - Shipp's Canal and Taylor's Pool

Glenn Call in the week and said had I seen the weather forecast for Sunday, told him not to worry they always forecast worse scenarios - not this this time is was far far worse, high winds and rain all day - good for discipline. Seven layers, three being Gore-Tex and I was still cold. Every time I felt like a pee I would get up and pee on my hand surprisingly hot. I hate brambles but not today they were giving me some shelter from behind.

Looking around no one was going to be entirely out of the wind. With my turn on Shipp's I was hoping for pegs 1 to 5 and perhaps 7. The best peg for me is 2. Brian placed the discs in the boot of his car, shuffled, picking the nearest and was delighted to have disc 2 - happy days. Glenn was also happy with his peg 1.

A few anglers asked if it was float only league today - it is!

The wind was blowing more or less down the canal towards our pegs and too strong for the brolly so had to hunker down. Mark Taylor had installed some rollers behind all pegs to stop angler damaging the Otter fence which was dead handy for me.

Mark came past and said the pleasure anglers fish the lead between the island and the aerator - well off the island, this encouraged me to set up the waggler - as suspected it was too optimistic for the conditions so it just sat in the roost getting wet. Two pole rigs - 0.3 gram RJ to fish down to the margin bush at top-set plus 2 and a bit barrels and a 4x13 MR to fish top set plus one barrel out in front. Started the MR on single LR over GB with miniscule amount of Pinkies. I didn't realise how hard it was towing against but soon had a 1 oz Ronnie on the drop and relised I had the wrong top set - a double top two so switched to single top set. I had a few more Ronnie's to 2 oz when I foul hooked a small carp which came off. I fouled another three noting it was all in the same place, the penny dropped I was towing into them over my feed which was about 3/4 metres form where I was potting. So let the rig go through catching the odd silver on the drop however, when it reached the feed spot, held back stick float fashion and started to get small carp and F1's in the mouth. Had decent run of F1's and a 1 lb Skimmer which have recently been stocked by Mark. After topping GB, which I did three times I would try the bush adding the occasional F1 and small carp on double LR's over kindered micro and a few LR's. The most productive line was over the GB so kept switching back there and keeping a few more F1's and small carp coming. The last hour was focussed down to the bush in anticipation of catch one or two bigger carp, instead just adding the odd F1 and was much slower than expected.

My silvers weighed 2 lb 9 oz and my carp 24 lb 12 oz for a total of 27 lb 5 oz fro a double bubble. If it wasn't for the conditions it would have been very enjoyable, but memorable nonetheless.

The silvers was won by default by Ricky Mills - for all tour scaffolding needs (pictured with the match winner) with 2 lb 4 oz from Taylor's peg 15.

No pub for me as all the kit was soaking.

Result:

Taylor's Pool:

1. Steve Rogers 20-05-0 peg 17

2. Kev Winstone 11-01-0 peg 14

Silvers: Ricky Mills 2-04-0 peg 

Shipp's Canal:

1. Mike Nicholls 27-05-0 peg 2

2. John Clarke 17-08-0 peg 11

Silvers: Mike Nicholls 2-09-0 peg 2

Weigh Sheet:

Thursday 10/02/2022 - Ray's Rip Off - BAA - Huntsrete - Withy Pool

Drove past Bridge Pool, 50% less Sea Gulls and the colour looking better. However, I think it shouldn't be until the Spring before its open again for matches, testing it with the pleasure angler catches - or not first. I would like to think that BAA will publish the findings of the EA results of their investigations as to the causation.

Sixteen fishing today, so just about right for the pegging. I was hoping to be in the bowl. Into the draw bag and accidentally pulled two discs stuck together, both returned and in again and out comes peg 55, quite close to peg 54 which has previously thrown up some decent silvers  and was occupied by matey Chris Ollis, who is definitely suffering from "Barny Ear" - talking to myself for most of the match.

Both the shoulders and hands felt a bit better today but still decided to use the pole for plumbing and feeding only, so set up a 4x13 MR plumbed to 11.5 metres and top set plus three the line of the 4 metres whip. The whip was to be my initial attack followed by the waggler on the longer line. Fed three balls of laced up GB on the longer line and one ball on the whip line. 

It took a while to get my first Ronnie on the whip followed by three hours of steady fishing loose feeding casters over the GB. I had a couple of Skimmers losing one foul hooked of 2 1/2 lb, might had got it out on the pole! I topped up with another ball and tried the long line with the waggler which died very quickly after catching three small Ronnie's. Cast the waggler around over to the island and had three more Ronnie's. Back on the whip and a few more small Skimmers and decent Ronnie's. Fed again - now three balls and tried the MR rig over the short line and had a little run before going back on the whip to the end. Even though I tried caster all fish were caught on single LR's.

I reckon I had more than last match, thinking 15 lb +. As per usual after taking the keep net off the bar pulled it in some to pack away the box etc.... what I did't realise in doing so had torn the keep net - pictured. Come the weigh in I pull the net in to see the small Ronnie's escaping. I was left with only the fish above 3 oz. I weighed 12 lb 5 oz for 3rd overall - bugger definitely a match win gone - just one of those things we have to contend with - my first time though. Its not the fact of not winning that concerned me, but not knowing what I would have weighed.

With no Carp caught the match was won by Paul Barnfield (pictured with the runner ups) with all silvers catch of 14 lb 8 oz from peg 66. Paul caught on both waggler and 13 metes pole using caster and maggot hook baits over GB. Well done matey.

Once again the pool fished well with Roach to 1 lb caught.

Back to the pub with the usual suspects - nice and quiet - for a while.

Result:

1. Paul Barnfield 14-08-0 peg 66

2. Chris Rolfe 12-12-0 peg 46

3. Mike Nicholls 12-05-0 peg 55

4. Paul Clayton 11-05-0 peg 45

5. John Smith 7-12-0 peg 42

6. Dave Haines 7-09-0 peg 58

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 03/02/2022 - Bathampton Winter Silvers Series - Withy Pool

With Bridge Pool closed due to an Algae issue we were moved to Withy which to be fair due to the quality Roach fishing would be much more appropriate for the silver series. However, it was very upsetting to drive past our beloved Bridge Pool to see its sorry state - pictured - at least the Sea Gulls are having a fill.

With twenty fishing it would be difficult to peg but, Tony and me had it sorted - almost. Sorry Pete.

We all wanted to draw in the bowl preferably one of the two flyer point pegs. Into the draw bag and out comes peg 59. Happy with this as it was an end peg and just into the bowl. However, my section ran to one past the car park point peg 66 which was occupied by Tony Rixon, so he was favourite to win the section. It wasn't to turn out this way. The other point peg was drawn by my pairs partner. For company on peg peg 58 was Paul Haines who broke his waggler rod tip in tree branches which were just behind him.

Haven't used my Colmic 808 due to not being able to buy spare top sets, but found my Drennan number 3 fitted perfectly so decided to use that today as its a superior pole. These pegs along the North bank are shallow close in and don't drop off until about 11.5 metres. So with my shoulders still an issue I decided I would feed with the pole and fish the waggler over it. I set up a 4x14 float just for plumbing purposes. As the wind was predicted to increase I chose an 8 inch Drake bodied waggler, usual 3 lb Maxima main line and 0.14 GLine hook length to a no 20 Tubertini 808 hook - some big carp in this Pool.

Potted three big balls of GB laced with caster and Pinkie and fed a few casters over the top at 11. 5 metres. Started on the waggler with single LR and basically caught Ronnie's from 1/2 to 10 ounces throughout the match with it slowing in the last hour. Topping up the GB just the once. The pole was only use for GBing.

I weighed 13 lb 13 oz for section second with Chris Ollis (pictured) winning the section aided by a lovely near 2 lb Perch.

The match was won by Tony Ponting (pictured with his pairs partner) with 20 lb 6 oz from point peg 46. Tony initially caught short at top set plus two and later at 11.5 metres to keep quality Roach coming using maggot over GB.

Nice to see not one carp landed. The Pool fished really well.

Result:

1. Tony Ponting 20-06-0 peg 46

2. Paul Barnfield 19-04-0 peg 43

3. Dave Wride 17-05-0 peg 44

4. Chris Ollis 14-11-0 peg 66

5. Mike Nicholls 13-13-0 peg 59

6. Tony Rixon 13-02-0 peg 65

Weigh Sheets:

Silvers Pairs To Date: