Thursday 23/02/2023 - Over 55's - Silvers - Bitterwell Lake

First stop Hungry Horace's with Geoff Francis, still one of the best breakfast about. Due to illness we were down to 14 so 2 sections of 7. Paying the top two in each.

On to the draw platter and one left, peg 29. Paul Issac's had fished it the day before and had 32 lb. Didn't want to hear that, but was on the side of the lake where most of the fish are, however, the best befit was being out of the wind and an overcoat warmer than the opposite bank. Vic Bush on peg 23 won Tuesday's match with a near 50 lb of mainly big Tench.

For company on end peg 30 Paul Barnfield and on peg 28 Martin McMahon.

Simple set up a 4x13 MR to fish at top set plus 3 barrels or 4 which was the maximum with out breaking down, with the depth being similar, finally the 8" waggler.

Fed the long line with micro and some crushed expander and the short line with GB laced with Pinkie. I decided to catapult three small balls of micro out on the waggler line which on refection might have been the wrong thing to do as likely to attract the carp.

Started short on double Pinkie and soon had a small Ronnie, quickly followed by a big skimmer which was probably foul hooked as it came off nearing the net - bugger. Out again and another skimmer 2 1/2 lb this time the hook was imbedded in the pectoral fin so was netted. Had a couple of 3 oz skimmers and Ronnie's before it died. Went out on the longer line with 4 mm expander kindering in micro and crushed expander and couldn't get a response, however, I'm sure I didn't give it enough time. Out on the waggler with double maggot over loose fed the same and had a a 2 lb Tench and some more small Ronnie's and a 1 lb Skimmer. Chris Ollis was doing well on peg 27 on the waggler and corn, so copy catted and hooked a decent Tench which slipped the hook close in - very usual to loose these tis way - bugger. Next cast had a 5 lb carp which was bloody landed!! Out gain and had two quick positive biting skimmers. The line died after this and tried switching between corn and maggot. Very slow for the Ronnie's but did get some catapult practice on the corn, definitely all the kernels need to be of the same weight and size. Back on the pole and had a couple more skimmers and Ronnie's.

I weighed  9 lb 15 oz for fourth, however the fish lost wouldn't have improved my placing, but would have been satisfying to have them in the weigh net.

The match and section B was won by Chris Ollis (pictured with his net of quality Tench and skimmers) with 21 lb 7 oz from peg 27. Chris caught most of his fish on the waggler and corn fished over loose fed corn and caster. Well done matey nice to watch.

Section A was won by Andy Greenham (pictured with his net of silvers) with 9 lb 5 oz from peg 15. Again most of Andy's fish came to waggler and corn.

Thanks to Paul Issac's again for the support and weighing in and presenting the sections winners with a Preston Polo shirt. Thankfully he only needed Medium size, a different result could have required marque size.

Next match 09 March 2023.

Back to the Ringer with the usual suspects where the topic of Bridge Pool came up. There was a consensus that until more fish is stocked a new venue should be considered, that is, unless Withy Pool is made available.  

Result:

1. Chris Ollis 21-07-0 peg 27

2. Martin McMahon 17-08-0 peg 28

3. Paul Barnfield 15-08-0 peg 30

4. Mike Nicholls 9-15-0 peg 29

5. Andy Greenham 9-05-0 peg 15

6. Paul Haines Peg 24 & Hughie Evans peg 13 9-0-0

Weigh Sheet:

Sunday 19/02/2023 - Westerleigh Winter League - Round 4 - Taylor's Pool and Shipp's Canal

My turn on Taylor's (pictured from peg 25) looking towards the end where the fish are "balled" up at the moment so hoping for pegs 17, 19, 20, but definitely not pegs 14, and 15.

Was forced to draw first because of being the oldest, believe there is a law against this! The heart sunk when I pulled peg 15 for the second time. Definitely my bogey peg. So my drawing so far this series is peg 2, 2 Shipp's and 15, 15 Taylors. So a balanced set of draws one may think. Found myself next to Steve again, a broken man by the end, both calling each other a jinx.

Set up two short rigs, but the bottom was all over the place and just didn't fancy theses lines at all, a margin rig for the LH side it is a nice margin on this side of the Pool. Finally my banker a 8" small bodied Drake waggler.

The upshot was I had 1 lb 2 oz of tiny Perch in the margin and one lost 4 oz Roach. The short lines produced nothing but didn't fish them for long as no confidence it would produce. Spent most of the match on the waggler but with the sun and wind in our faces it was hard to find the waggler once you took your eyes of it. Had 6 small carp on the waggler with double LR's over loose fed the same. I didn't get the feeding right fed a bit too much and due to the varying wind did a bit of scattering!

I weighed 10 lb 4 oz for halfway in section. The sooner the fish spread out the better.

The match was won by Bela "Fish Magnet" Bakos (pictured with his catch of small carp) with 44 lb 4 oz from Taylors end peg 17. Bela caught at 14. 5 metres and a bit more when JC wasn't looking kindering 3.8 mm hard pellet with Mainline banded hook bait. Some say that when he doesn't have any 4's he writes 4 mm on 6 mm pellet", apparently it convinces the fish. Well done mate nice to watch.

The other framers pictured below. I do believe Martin McMahon is smiling!!

Back to the New Inn with the usual suspects. I'm beginning to like not picking up, once again had all my drinks paid for. It's debateable which if the most financially beneficial!

Next match 12 March 2023

Result:

Taylor's Pool:

1. Bela Bakos 44-04-0 peg 17 (hard banded pellet 14 .5 metres)

2. Brian Shanks 26-07-0 peg 26 (hard banded pellet 13 metres)

Silvers: Brian Shanks 4-12-0 peg 26 (hard banded Pellet)

Shipp's Canal:

1. Martin McMahon 31-09-0 peg 6 (hard banded pellet 14 metres)

2. Glenn Bailey 23-10-0 peg 10 (maggot/hard banded pellet 14 .5 metres)

Silvers: Steve Rogers 7-08-0 peg 4 (maggot short)

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 16/02/2023 - Bathampton AA Over 55's - Silvers Pairs - Round 4 - Withy Pool

Last week as we were planned to be on Shipp's Canal I was conscious that the bread punches would have to go in the box. As it happened ended up on Taylor's so no bread required so thought I would feed the birds - o'dear left the bread home - 8 and 6 mm bread punch was with me though. This week turned 3/4 pint of scrumptious home made casters and yes, left them home - bugger. Really needed on some pegs here. Get a grips I say.

Driving passed Bridge Pool which looked like yet another issue - thought to be a bottom Algae? Anyway it looked awful - fish gasping. Why issues with this pool so often?

All week I have been trying to fill pairs places managed to fill a couple. Come this morning a message from my partner that he couldn't make it due to sickness from Oysters on Valentines day - should have use Viagra it's safer. So a last in section before starting.

Into the draw bag and out comes peg 64 - point peg. The water was very clear which was a worry. For company on peg 65 Hayden Withers - one of the affable club Bailiffs. Can't remember fishing this peg before. Popular with the pleasure anglers because of it's proximity to the car park.

Set up a short rig and a 4x14 winter to fish 4 barrels and a 8" small bodied Drake waggler. Fed the long line with micro and some ground expander, and the short line down wind with GB laced with Pinkie. Started short with either a single LR or double Pinkie and had a decent run of small Skimmers and Ronnie's. Having pillaged this line went out long with 4 mm expander and couldn't get a bite - umm. Decided to abandon the pellet and switch around 10 degree's to the right and fed GB and Pinkie. I also opened another short line in front which would have been loose caster feed but instead it had to be LR's. Caught a few better Ronnie's and Skimmers to 8 oz on this line. So tried the long GB line with Pinkie and LR's resulting in some very small fish. I did foul hook three small Skimmers. A very short spell on the waggler at 25 metres produced nothing. It occurred to me that the fish out in the deeper water were sat dormant and the fish that wanted to feed had come into the shallower water. So spent the rest of the match switching between the loose fed short line and the GB line adding fish steady.

What turned out to be the last put-in of the match tried to swing a 3 oz Ronnie because of the eagerness to get back out for another which came off tangling the rig - so more haste less speed. I remember fishing next to Kim Milsom at Durleigh Reservoir, the thing then was to wade out to the knees and fish the 4 metre whip with hand fed GB and maggot for small Skimmers. I was swinging most of my fish of course if a fish falls off it goes straight back in the lake. Kim netted everyone one of his fish irrespective of size, he said he always netted his fish suggesting I should do the same. So a lesson I have never adopted - yet. From memory I weighed 22 lb and Kim 29 lb.

I weighed 11 lb 2 oz which was about was my estimate for second section.

The match was won once again by Tony Rixon with 20 lb 4 oz from point peg 46 (his quality catch pictured above). Tony fished caster short for quality Roach and Perch - see his blog for more details. Dave Wride was next door peg 45 fishing maggot and GB for 18 lb 15 oz. Well done to both (pictured).

Back to the Compton with the usual suspects - Two Gulps Gillard was living up to his name on the Doombar which was scrumptious.

Result:

1. Tony Rixon 20-04-0 peg 46

2. Dave Wride 18-15-0 peg 45

3. Kevin Winstone 16-09-0 peg 40

4. Mick Gale 13-0-0 peg 59

5. Andy Gard 12-04-0 peg 42

6. Mike Nicholls 11-02-0 peg 64

Weigh Sheets:

Pairs Result After Round 4:

Sunday 12/02/2023 - Westerleigh Knock-up - Taylor's Pool and Shipp's Canal

The plan was to fish Shipp's Canal with 10 anglers, however, we had 11 booked in so it was decided to split the match between the two pools - 6 on Shipp's and 5 on Taylor's. Payouts adjusted accordingly.

Into the draw bag and out comes peg 22 on Taylor's. I would normally run to this peg, but since the big freeze over the fish have shoaled up at the other end vacating their normal island haunts.

Found myself between Norman "Winter Paste" Ferris and Phil Coulam whom I've not seen for some time. He amazed me today with the amount of equipment he set up around him in such a short time. Nice to see him again.

Thought the waggler the best option so set that up first and a short rig for the silvers as suspected the two Shipps down the right end would clean up today.

Started on the waggler with single LR on the hook fished over loose fed LR's and had two small Carp. It then slowed down and what surprised me that I couldn't catch any silvers on it. On to the short line with double Pinkie over GB laced with the same. One small Carp and one micro Perch. Meanwhile the two Shipps were bagging at 14.5 metres. For the first time for years set up the full 13 metres of the Colmic 808 which didn't quite get me far enough up the far slope, but was hoping for some Skimmers over GB and Pinkie. Fished this for an hour for one lost carp and Ronnie. Packed that up. Spent the rest of the match on the waggler catching the odd occasional small carp in pairs and one Skimmer. Difficult to work out the feeding, should have tried shallow.

Finished with 11 carp and 12 oz of silver for 13 lb 13 oz.

As expected the Shipp's (pictured) emptied it, both catching 55 + lb with only 1 lb between them. It looked like all the silvers were also down their end. Interestingly Vince caught on soft pellet and Ryan on maggot and GB.

Tim Ford won Shipp's canal with 27 lb from peg 11. Tim fished banded pellet over 4's. See his blog for further details.

Bill Ferries won the silvers with his usual net of small Ronnie's fishing short with maggot and GB.

Martin McMahon was runner up on Shipps with 21 lb 11 oz all caught on hard pellet in the last 30 minutes!!

Weigh Sheets:

Sunday 05/02/2023 - Westerleigh Winter League - Round 3 - Taylor's Pool and Shipp's Canal

Left home in plenty of time only to turn round as forgot to take my medication, which would be needed as my turn on Shipp's Canal. Thanks to Glenn for checking on reason for my lateness.

Three left to draw, Brian said "I suppose you want peg 2 same as last match" "Yes please, is that it there"? Yes say's Brian and it was to his surprise. More over both Ricky and Brian drew the same pegs 1 and 4. Amazing. Mark Taylor believed since the big freeze over the fish had moved to the other end of the canal. Similarly the carp had moved away from around the island on Taylor's

Overnight frost, bright sun and flat calm was going to make it difficult some cover would be good. So it would mean concentrating on fishing down to the bush on the right, which since Mark done some bank clearing is now shared with peg 1 meaning fishing about a metre away from each other (pictured). Thought about this thinking it would be detrimental to peg 2. However, don't think this is necessary the case. It has improved peg 1 and probably peg 2 as the fish would just back off instead of playing F1 ping pong.

Set up a 0.3 gram RJ Slim (great floats can stand on them and they still work!) for the bush, and a 4x13 MR to fish in at top set plus 2 barrels where I caught some decent carp last match or any other distance as the flat bottom if reasonably flat. Because of the  conditions thought the waggler would be useful over to the island where it is flat up to 2 metres from the island. No need for thrashing the line under as it was flat calm. Used a Drake slim bodied 6 inch which was perfect. Love these floats. Some more arriving today.

Fed the bush with some micro and LR's and GB laced with Pinkie on the short line. Fed a few LR's over. Started down to the bush with single LR and had a 2 lb mirror first put in. Followed by a chunky F1. Then lost a carp in a snag, not sure if I sunk the pole deep enough. I wan't quite with it today in this respect. Ricky started to catch let the the ping pong commence. Tried the short line with a bunch of Pinkies and was disappointed not to get a bite - meanwhile Bela over on peg 10 was emptying it - suppose it helps if the peg been rested for 4 years! Back to the bush and started to put a few F1's in the net loosing a couple more better carp. Ricky was landing his better carp, think it was my poor concentration that was doing me. Out on the waggler and had 2 1/2 of Ronnie's in 15 minutes before landing another F1. As we know F1's disrupts the silvers more than other carp. Added two small carp before fishing down to the bush for the last10 minutes. Instead should have stayed on the waggler.

Weighed 21 lb 10 oz for fifth on the canal. A tad disappointed with this result, but wan't that focussed today. Nonetheless thoroughly enjoyed the day. The bigger carp appear to have moved down the canal. Both Pools fished well with it being close for points one of the lost carp would have been nice.

Back to the Inn with the usual suspects - glad I didn't pick up today as a fair few there! Well done to the framers.

Result:

Taylors Pool:

1. Martin McMahon 59-09-0 peg 20 - (15 metres banded 6's over 4's)

2. Vince Shipp 36-13-0 peg 19 - (14. 5 metres 4 mm expander over micro,hard 4's)

Silvers: Joint Mark Taylor and Lee Waller 1-10-0 pegs 17/23

Shipp's Canal:

1. Bela Bakos 35-04-0 peg 10 - (14 metres banded 6's over 4's)

2. Ricky Mills 26-11-0 peg 1 - All from the bush corn and maggot)

Silvers: Bill Ferris 5-06-0 peg 3 (caught short) hand fed GB and maggot hook bait)

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 02/02/2022 - Bathampton Over 55's Silvers pairs - Round 3 - Withy Pool

One no-show, so peg 71 taken out again. Might be worth taking out peg 48 next time as it's fishing poor. 

Predicting the wind on Withy Pool is impossible it can blow in three directions at the same time - hard to believe but witnessed by me today - hate the wind, ask Glenn Bailey.

We had a new draw recorder to day - Tommy Winstone - pictured.

In to the draw bag shaking the bag around a disc bounced up and landed in my hand - must be a good one then, nope peg 40 again - carp corner. That said it's one of the better ones in a very poor section. One problem with this peg is no platform so have to set up in the mud and stones  - pictured. The second issue it the very stony bottom which goes our a fair distance causing hook and line breakages, making plumbing up difficult to decided the depth to set.

Set up exactly the same as the first match, but wasn't going to bother with the waggler. However, just purchased a new Shimano 2500HG reel and wanted to try it out with a modified waggler I made up - a Drake with a 2.5 mm diameter Drennan glow tip glued in.

Fished an almost identical match as previous, only difference landing two beautiful 12 oz Roach and a lost decent Perch which would probably have given me the same weight as last time. Four Ronnie's on the waggler but the wind made it too difficult. Signs of carp but didn't hook any this time 😀The hybrid waggler proved very sensitive and the reel - really pleased with it, especially the quick retrieve. Only negative was the deep spool which needed loads of backing before putting on the 3 lb Maxima - still the best line by a mile.

Weighed 8 lb 8 oz for a section win. My partner Clayton had a decent weight but was knocked back to 4 points by ounces. Unlucky matey. Current standings below.

The match was won by Tony Rixon (pictured with others collecting coin) from end peg 60 with 15 lb 1 oz. Tony caught at 11.5 metres using caster - see his blog for the finer details.

Result:

1. Tony Rixon 15-01-0 peg 60

2. Paul Barnfield 12-08-0 peg 45

3. Glenn Bailey 11-03-0 peg 41

4. Chris Rolfe 10-03-0 peg 55

5. John Smith 9-13-0 peg 64

6. Kev Winstone 9-08-0 peg 44

Weigh Sheets:

Pairs Result after three rounds: