Thursday 24/03/2022 - Ray's Rip Off - Windmill Fishery - Match Lake

This is what happens if you didn't head Ray's advice not to drive around to the back pegs. Bit of car cleaning required - be "whipping" out the hosepipe.

The road to the fishery is nearly impassable for a family car.

With the beautify spring weather staying with us with it was great to get out on the bank amongst the Hawthorne bloom.

With a good few anglers elsewhere today we were down to fifteen. Hoping for pegs 22, 24, 25 and 1. Would have liked pegs 2 and 3 too but not usually in because not considered suitable by the Methodist. Into the draw bag and find peg 5 staring at me - not happy tendency to be a Methodist peg, just cant get away from pegs 4 and 5. For company I had Dave "The Whip" on peg 4.

The lake was flat and bright thought the silvers would be hard to find.

Although it's not a great silvers peg still set up the Ronnie rig and a 4 x14 Winter Titan to fish at three barrels. Thought I better set up a 0.3 gram RJ Slim for the LH margin expectation wasn't high for this though and as it transpired didn't get wetted. I did sneak the section last time on this peg with a couple of decent carp on the waggler so that was the banker today - plus it makes it easier on the shoulders.

Started by feeding a ball of GB laced with Pinkie on both the Ronnie and three barrel lines, pulted some LR's over to the island. First cast on the Ronnie rig with single LR had small Ronnie which slipped the hook and went back. Took a long while to get the next Ronnie, the writing was on the wall so line abandoned and out at three barrels again with single LR and no indications. Line abandoned in favour of the wag and mag. Started to catch a few Ronnie's and  Rudd. Foul hooked a carp which came off about three pegs away!! A few cast later I properly hooked a 5 lb Common which just wouldn't give in - eventually netted. Having problems sinking the line to avoid the nasty skimming wind which wasn't strong enough to cause a ripple to break the surface tension which was holding the line up. The up shot was I landed three Carp losing four - two more were fouled and two broke me they were right beasts.

The silvers weighed 5 lb 7 oz one out of a silvers pick up, adding my carp took me to 24 lb 1 oz with those lost carp costing me - that's fishing and partly why we do it. Very enjoyable day in the sun though. Paste will definitely be in the bag next match here.

The match was won by Paul Haines (pictured with his catch) with 99 lb from peg 8. Paul caught on the method over to the island with expander hook bait. Well done matey

The silvers was won by Paul Barnfield (pictured with the match winner) with 10 lb 11 oz from peg 12. Paul's catch comprised mainly of two Bream and a Skimmer caught  at 13 metres using maggot.  Well done matey.

Back to the "Ringer" with the usual suspect. Sitting outside at last watching the sun gradually disappear over a beautiful Spring day out with a great  bunch of anglers.

Finally - Top Tip: How to beat glistening from the sun and ripple where no colour float is visible. Use a float with a plastic hollow tip and scrap off any paint so it's transparent. It will also glisten but much brighter than that caused by ripple thus becoming reasonably visible. Wait for the bright light to disappear - hopefully!

Result:

1. Paul Haines 99-0-0 peg 8

2. John Smith 46-12-0 peg 46-12-0 peg 1

3. Ray Bazeley 38-15-0 peg 7

4. Laurie Laing 36-05-0 peg 20

5. Pete Turner 35-07-0 peg 22

6. George Sumsion 26-05-0 peg 17

Silvers:

1. Paul Banfield 10-11-0 peg 12

2. Geoff Francis 7-12-0 peg 19

Weigh Sheets:

Sunday 20/03/2022 - Westerleigh Winter League - Round 7 - Taylor's Pool and Shipp's Canal

Bright sunny day with a slight nippy Easterly wind and with an overnight frost I thought it would still fish hard, especially Shipp's Canal. My last turn on Taylor's Pool. I didn't mind where I drew but wanted to avoid the two narrow pegs behind the island pegs 24 and 25, but 21 and 22 would be my pegs of choice.

Into the car boot draw and selected the nearest disc and was disappointed to see I had picked peg 25, bugger. I knew I wouldn't get into the top two overall weights so mind set to fish for silvers, you never know I might get one of the 12 big Bream. At least the Easterly was off my back rendering the peg flat calm, which wouldn't help with the skimmers and Ronnie's. Setting up a pair of Canadian Geese decided to invade a pair in my peg, it was bedlam.

For company I had the affable Lee Waller on peg 14, he's the fastest I've seen packing up his kit - amazing.

I fancied the waggler to fish off the end of the island which I set up three times as I kept hitting the overhead tree whilst plumbing it up. I found a way to finally cast it near where I wanted it. All this wasted time which left me struggling to set up in time but managed to set a 4x14 Winter Titan to fish around the peg. Due to the water levels being down 18 inches or so fishing the ledge on the island was a non starter. The ledge is narrow and drops straight off to full depth. The LH margin is similar. Started at top set plus two barrels just to the left over GB and Pinkie feed with single LR on the hook. It took a while to catch my fist fish - a 3 oz Crucian, followed by a few micro Perch and a 4oz skimmer. It went quiet until I hooked and landed a 2 1/2 lb Mirror carp. I had learnt that once a carp of this size has been over the feed the skimmers bugger off and become difficult to tempt back. So started another line with the same feed and hook bait at top set plus three barrels out in front and had a couple more small carp. The line died and tried to resurrect the first line to only catch more micro Perch. Time to try the waggler with single LR over loose fed same. Only two Ronnie's on this plus more micro Perch and a monster of about 4 oz! I was then bombarded by the Geese again and had to give the waggler up. I had to wait a while until they had stopped before getting five barrels out which I planned to fish up to the far ledge which was about 6 inches shallower than elsewhere. Same feed except I switched to double Pinkie on the hook and amazingly had a good run of small Skimmers. The Geese came back for another battle just managing to get the pole back before they hit it. They finally split back to pairs but both sets were making that awful honking noise, one pair to close to my right and the other pair just behind me. The noise went on and on so had to drive off the pair behind me in to Kev's peg - Lol. Peace and quiet for a while. I had another go on the waggler whilst I had a cup of Camomile tea. One of many casts went a bit wild and was heading for the tree on the island so whipped it back and instead going into the Bull rushes, felt a bit of a Moses. Spent the last knocking on the long pole. With both Lee and Glenn having 4 lb Bream I was always on catch up on silvers. Last put in had a 1 lb skimmer which was to make the difference.

My Carp weighed 10 lb 5 oz and my silvers 6 lb 14 oz for a total of 17 lb 3 oz which I must say I would have settled for at the beginning. I also had a default silvers pick up.

John my pairs partner did well winning Shipp's Pool with 17 lb 12 oz which now put us first overall with one match to go.

The match was won by John Clarke (pictured with Shipp's Pool winner John W - one Johnny short of a pack) with 48 lb 1 oz from fancied peg 22. John caught at 16 metres using expander hook bait over potted micro. Well done Matey.

Result:

Ship's Canal:

1. John W 17-12-0 peg 9

2. Ricky Mills 12-15-0 peg 2

Silvers: Bill Ferris 6-12-0 peg 4

Taylor's Pool:

1. John C 48-01-0 peg 22

2. Tony 27-15-0 peg 19

Silvers: John C 9-03-0 peg 22

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 17/03/2022 - Bathampton AA Winter Silvers Series Final Round Six - Withy Pool

Last round of the silvers pairs with Tony and me in second position by 2 points but with a better weight over Kev Winstone and Hughie Evans. So a chance to win even after a lot of abuse the night before from Kev. Into the draw bag and out comes peg 59 which I have fished before being beaten into second section by peg 66 which Kev drew, luckily Hughie drew next to me on peg 58 in the same section as Kev. Tony drew a peg 45 which he has won from so knew the peg well. So the scene set.

Hard frost this morning followed by clear skies was only going to lead to a hard day.

Decided to fish it the same as last match with two adjustments. First one was to set up the 4 metre wagglerised whip to fish at two barrels equivalent. I didn't do this last time as I was put off by it being stoney and shallow. The other adjustment was to feed GB at 13 metres instead of the 11.5 last match as I felt this was too close the shelf. Waggler set up the same and the 4x14 Winter Titan purely to plumb the waggler line, it wouldn't be use to fish with.

Fed one ball of GB on the whip line and two at 13 metres. Started on the waggler and had a run of 1 - 2 oz Ronnie's which I really kept coming for most of the match. I did have three small Skimmers on this. After refeeding another ball at 13 metres I tried the whip where I had been loose feeding some LR's and had a 12 and 6 oz Ronnie but couldn't keep them coming the feeding is very difficult to work out at the moment. Fed another ball on the whip line and back out on the waggler and kept a few more silvers losing two carp in the process. With the light so difficult I spent the last hour on the whip adding the very rare Ronnie. I was sure I had beaten Hughie and also Kev. Tony had been regularly netting fish so felt positive.

My silvers weighed 8 lb 10 oz for a section win and with Tony getting second in the match and section second with 12 lb 14 oz we had 3 points to Kev's and Hughie's 5 so we had won the league on weigh count back. We did have some help from Geoff Francis in one match - beer on the bar.

The silvers was won by Dave Wride (priceless picture of him smiling) with 14 lb 13 oz from end peg 42. Dave caught on the pole in the water.

Top overall weight on the day was Tony Rixon on peg 51 who took time out to fish 16 metres to the island with meat to snare two carp that weighed 22 lb.

Our over section was won by Pete Greenslade (pictured) with one carp weighing 12 lb 12 oz caught first put in from peg 60 next to me. UTG.

Back to the pub with the usual suspects. Looks like the weather is beginning to change at last.

Result (Silvers):

1. Dave Wride 14-03-0 peg 42

2. Tony Ponting 12-14-0 peg 45

3. Phil Morgan 11-10-0 peg 69

4. Paul Barnfield 11-04-0 peg 57

5. Tony Rixon 11-0-0 peg 51

6. Chris Rolfe 9-11-0 peg 44

Weigh Sheets:

Final Pairs Result:

Thursday 10/03/2022 - Plantation Fishery - Tony Rixon's Silvers - Main Lake

With nothing on local I managed to get in to Tony's silvers match at Plantation. Travelled with matey Glenn Bailey. With Tony having to earn an honest living it was left to Ron Hardiman to run the match which was well done I must say.

Into the draw bowl and out comes peg 11 - umm, not sure its a peg of choice but would be out of the wind. Monday's match it DNW'ed. I was also surprised that peg 12 was also in, occupied by the affable Lee Waller. Peg 11 is set 13 metres back from peg 8 back in a bay. Glenn had drawn well with peg 7 next to Pete Z, these two would have a bit of pole fencing to do - Diawa v. Preston - pole roller set up pictured.

The light on the water was awful so set up a white, red and black tip 4x13 MR rigs to fish three lines. The 4 metre whip was wagglerised which could be fished top set plus 2 barrels equivalent. My initial target would be the decent Ronnie's that reside in this lake. I fed a 11.5 metre line at 11 o clock (white tip) with half a cup of micro. Fed the whip line with one ball of GB with a smidgen of caster and Pinkie and started to lose feed a few caster over the top. First cast with single LR I had a 8 oz Skimmer - good sign. Had to wait 15 minutes before my next fish, a decent Ronnie. I was already feeling a struggled developing. In my panic fed three balls of GB at 10 metres at 2 o clock (black tip) and left it to cook whilst a look over the micro line with a 4 mm expander. No sign of a fish umm. Back on the whip and started to catch some small Ronnie's followed by a short run of skimmers to 2 1/2 lb - looking up! Fed again which left it to have a try over the long GB line and again not a sign of a fish - not even a Ronnie umm. Back on the whip and another short run of Skimmers. had stopped feeding casters in favour of LR's. Started to catch the odd better Ronnie but already knew any coin was far out of reach. Tried the long GB line again and had a 6 oz Skimmer (the only silver from a long line) I was getting indications so stayed on it until the culprit was captured a 7 lb carp which lead to unarmed combat in the landing net, line subsequently abandoned in favour of monking the match out on the whip adding the odd Ronnie and Skimmer. It would have been worth a trial of the wag and mag, so wished in was in the roost.

My silvers weighed 17 lb 8 oz so a good days fishing by any standard and in great company. Don't know why the Ronnie's weren't in this peg.

The match was won by Paul Faiers (pictured) with 42 lb 6 oz from peg 32. Paul caught short both to his right and down his left into the bay using maggot hook bait over small balls of GB and loose fed caster. Well done matey.

From the weigh sheets over the past few matches it appears the fish are flowing the wind moving from one corner to the other in accord with the change in wind direction.

No pub as Glenn had to get back quick to watch the Stiff Little Fingers. Heard of them but not listened to them so put them on this morning - bet Glenn doesn't know the words 😁. No my cup of tea.

Result:

1. Paul Faiers 42-06-0 peg 32 (caught short)

2. Mark Broomsgrove 37-14-0 peg 28 ( caught long)

3. Gary "Junior" Bowden 26-14-0 peg 1 (caught short)

4. Glenn Bailey 26-13-0 peg 7 (caught long)

5. Dave "Willy" Willmott (chip shopped) 25-04-0 peg 31 (moaned)

6. Andy Gard 21-07-0 peg 16 (nice net of Roach matey caught short)

Weigh Sheets:

Sunday 06/03/2022 - Westerleigh Winter League - Round Six - Shipp's Canal and Taylor's Pool

My turn on Shipp's canal and with a bitter NE wind blowing I was hoping to have it off the back. Had a walk around Shipp's with Bomber and Bill Ferris getting their perspective on each peg, can't beat experience.

Into the car boot and picked the nearest counter finding peg 11. Perfect for self perseveration as the wind would be blowing over the left shoulder. Happy enough with the draw too as it has some open water between the two islands - perfect for the waggler. The water levels are down on both pools and for this reason I think the carp have moved off the shallow areas where they would normally caught.

For company on peg 12 was up and coming drummer Bri Shanks.

Just one rig a 4x13 MR to fish top-set plus two barrels set to dead depth, further than normal so to fish away from the close in stoney bottom. the only other other things to set up was the waggler because of the wind I set up a heavier than needed 8" bodied Drake waggler. The plan was to fish for silvers on the MR over GB, later switching to mag and wag between the islands.

Started by feeding a ball GB with a few Pinkies and with single LR on the hook started to catch some very small Ronnie's and skimmers. The wind was blowing all over the place effecting the presentation having to keep shipping in, left and right to keep on station. After about 90 minutes I foul hooked a decent carp which shed the hook. In went another ball of neat GB keeping a few more silvers coming and one decent F1. I reckon I had 4 lb which would normally be enough to win the Pool silvers so eagerly picked up the waggler. Loose fed 6 maggots finding it difficult to gain any accuracy due to the ever veering wind. I was surprised to start catch small Ronnie's. I kept the feeding light at 6 LR's regularly, accuracy was very poor. I had a period where I was foul hooking carp - one about 8 lb and two smaller ones - all lost. With 90 minutes to go I took off about 12 " off depth and doubled the feed rate which resulted in three decent carp all in the mouth! All through the match I  had a pesky male Mallard take a liking to my float, he continuously kept pecking and lifting my waggler by the end of the match 25 % of the paint had gone - pictured! There were about 6 Mallards on the pool - all males!

My silvers weighed 5 lb 15 oz and my carp 14 lb 4 oz (carp catch pictured right) for a total of 20 lb 3 oz for a double bubble. Very enjoyable days fishing and was very glad I wasn't on the opposite bank, some really cold anglers around.

Both the silvers and top weight on Taylors Pool was taken by Ricky Mills (pictured with the other double bubbler) with 12 lb 3 oz from peg 21. Ricky caught most of his fish down his margin using either maggot or corn hook bait his silver catch consisting of one 3 lb 14 oz Bream.

Got my pairs partner back and after today's result are less than a lb behind the leaders.

Back to the New Inn to find they had no beers - what a dump this pub has become.

Result:

Taylor's Pool:

1. Ricky Mills 12-03-0 peg 21

2. Norman Ferris 8-15-0 peg 14

Silvers: Ricky Mills 3-14-0 peg 21

Shipp's Canal:

1. Mike Nicholls 20-03-0 peg 11

2. Glenn Bailey 7-04-0 peg 4

Silvers: Mike Nicholls 5-15-0 peg 11

Weigh Sheet:

Thursday 03/03/2022 - Bathampton AA - Winter Silvers Series - Round Five - Withy Pool

More rain, at least it was a tad warmer and less windy - a miserable dull day in offering though.

Bridge Pool looks far from recovering, its going to be months before its fishable. Apparently EA are going there tomorrow. Some sunny warmer weather will help.

With my partner away I was lucky enough to get allocated matey Geoff Francis who drew peg 69 and with Dave Wride and Tony Rixon in his section it was going to be third at best from his peg. However, Tony was in the worse section peg, but was to snare the resident 2 lb Perch sneaked from peg 66. Geoff did really well getting a section second.

Drew peg 44. Likewise expected to beat the pegs to my right but not the two to my left. I was between Kev Winstone whom was expected to win the section and Dave The Whip.

Usual three rigs set up:

4 Metre wagglerised whip

4x14 Winter Titan

8 inch drake bodied waggler

The peg is set back in a bay. Plumbing around at top set plus two barrels primarily for the whip found 6 foot of water, however, it very much up and down guessing it was rocks. I had to go the the right at 2 o clock to find a flat spot. Wasn't confident the whip would work. Plumbed at top set plus three barrels and found it 6 inches deeper but still a bit uneven. Plumbed around with the waggler and found another couple of feet at 20 metres (I often see anglers say they fished at 50 winds which is meaningless as reels have different spools sizes). Fed the two barrel line with a ball of GB laced with some offerings of Pinkie and Caster. Two more balls potted at five barrels for the short waggler line. Started on the three barrelled Titan and didn't have any indications, so picked up the whip and had a small Ronnie, however, it didn't feel right hooking the bottom a few times. Back on the Titan and had a run of small skimmers and Ronnie's, again wasn't happy with this short line so abandoned it in favour of the three barrel line where I fed another ball of GB. Had a run of small skimmers and Ronnie's but it didn't feel right. Line abandoned in favour if the waggler, initially fished over the five barrel line had a couple of 8 oz skimmers and some better Ronnie's. It felt right so would stay on this for the rest of the match. The five barrel line died so loose feed LR's at 20 metres to keep the odd fish coming. With 15 minutes to go I hooked a carp and knowing if landed it would be a guaranteed pick up, so played it steady finally landing a 15 pounder on the whistle. All fish caught on single LR's.

I claimed 8 lb but hoped for 10 lb of silvers, weighing 10 lb 14 oz for second in section. Playing the 15 lb carp was a waste of time as I had the same pick up without it! Proper fishing is this Pool and the sections are pretty close to being fair as it gets.

The silvers  was won by Kev Winstone (pictured with his catch) with 13 lb from peg 45. Kev caught at 4 barrels to his left with maggot hook bait over GB and later to struggled at 14.5 metres.

Paul Clayton had a nice day on the carp weighing 44 lb 2 oz from peg 71 which was top weight on the day with my one carp putting me second.

Back to the Compton with the usual suspects and stragglers.

Result (Silvers):

1. Kevin Winstone 13-0-0 peg 45

2. John Thompson 12-06-0 peg 66

3. Mike Nicholls 10-14-0 peg 44

4. Hughie Evans 8-14-0 peg 54

5. Chris Rolfe 8-04-0 peg 51

5. Dave Poole 8-04-0 - peg 43

Weigh Sheets:

Pairs Result (one match remaining):