Thursday 28/04/2022 - Bathampton AA - Withy Pool - Over 55's and Short Walks

Thought I would be the first there this morning only to be beaten by "Just Like That" Granty - pictured

Cold this morning again - bloody NE winds.

Good turn out with 25 fishing, which meant pegging would be difficult. Soon sorted.

Into the draw bag and out comes first time in the draw peg 50. No emotion. For company had fellow Gas Head John Smith in the gap peg 51.

Could reach the far bank with a stretched 13 metre, but settled for two barrels as going to fish for silvers. Did set up a paste rig for the RH margin which was tried once but the carp don't usually come put from the sanctuary gap. Set up the long and short Ronnie rig and a 4x13 MR to fish initially at one barrel then later two.

Fed the long rig with GB laced with Pinkie and loose fed LR's down the RH side for the short rig. With single LR on the hook I had a good start on the long rig catching mainly 4oz skimmers with a smattering of Ronnie's. It died so put double Pinkie on the hook which totally revived the peg, stayed with this hook bait for the rest of the match. Kept the laced GB going in which kept them coming. Slowed so tried the short rig which was slow but did had a few Rudd and tiny Perch before abandoning it in favour of the long rig. It slowed so went over it with the MR at one barrel, later opened two lines at three barrels to keep the odd skimmers and Ronnie coming by swapping around. It was necessary to fish over the line as soon as you fed then leave and feed the other line. I did catch a few on the drop soon after feeding, definitely following the hook bait down.

Meanwhile John had been doing battle with the decent size carp in the gap only loosing three, as John found out you can't use line clips on this peg.

My silvers weighed 18 lb 5 oz fro second in the silvers. Very enjoyable trying to keep some fish coming for the 6 hours albeit slow at times.

The match was won by John Smith (pictured with some of his catch) with 58 lb 6 oz from peg 51. John caught on both pellet waggler and the method fishing 8 mm banded pellet in to the gap. Well done matey good contest between you and Geoff Francis.

The silvers was won by Mike Gayle (pictured with the match winner) with 19 lb 12 oz from peg 59. Mike caught long with worm over Chopped worm and GB and later catching some quality Roach on caster up and down in the water. Well done matey.

Back to the Compton with the usual suspects.

Result:

1. John Smith 58-06-0 peg 51

2. Geoff Francis 55-04-0 peg 45

3. Paul Barnfield 53-04-0 peg 58

4. Pete Greenslade 40-04-0 peg 42

5. Ray Bazeley 33-09-0 peg 40

6. Chris Ollis 32-14-0 peg 59

Silvers:

1. Mike Gayle 19-12-0 peg 59

2. Mike Nicholls 18-05-0 peg 50

3. Paul Barnfield 13-09-0 peg 58

4. Tony Ponting 8-02-0 peg 65

Weigh Sheets: