Sunday 25/02/2024 - Alcove Club - Whitehouse Farm - Margret's Lake

I can remember when we looked at the weather to see if we could expect rain, now day's we check to see if it will be dry. Another match in the rain. At least think I have mastered the application of the brolly.

Manage to get a spare place on the clubs winter league.

Into the draw bag ably held by Steve "Enigma" Dawson and pulls peg 17. Like I have said before don't know the venue well but told it was a feeder peg. Must admit it looked good for Chub over to the island. However, it would be the waggler for that. Also set up the long Ronnie rig and a 4x14 to fish top set plus three barrels.

Fed the Ronnie rig with a small nub of GB laced with DR's and the long line a big pot of the same fed loose and pulted a few LR's out towards the island, it was obvious the wind wouldn't be my friend on the waggler. Started on the Ronnie rig - no bites. Out on the long line loads of bites form small Ronnie's which wasn't quick enough to get a weight, so back on the Ronnie rig and suddenly loads of bites from small fish at least they weren't coming off. Did hook a decent fish which was either a F1 or a Perch which came off - which might have been fouled. It was apparent that the GB was attracting the small Ronnie's which were getting to the hook bait first. So reasonable excuse to pick up the waggler with the hope of some Chub. Alas no Chub but started to get some better Ronnie's to 4 oz. Spent the rest on the match on this with Single LR on the hook. I really enjoy waggler fishing as I did today trying to pre-empt the wind direction and speed - also learnt how to fish the waggler over head with the brolly up which means getting the height of the brolly just right.

My net of silvers weighed 10 lb 3 oz for 2nd pick up with Enigma piping me in the silvers by 2 oz. Which I had some caster - next time.

Steve also catching on single red maggot over loose feed short on peg 9.

Pete Watkins won the match with 13 lb 5 oz from peg 13. Pete sat it out on the method feeder for the one Carp. Well done both - pictured.

Now for another kit dry out .

Weigh Sheet:

Sunday 18/02/2024 - Westerleigh Winter League - Round 6 - Taylor's and Shipp's

My turn on Taylor's Pool which after overnight heavy rain causing the pools rise about 1 1/2 foot. It was suppose to be dry today, but at 2 pm we had a right down pour, little did I know my car window was left open - duh - going to take some time to dry the driver seat out.

Into the car boot taking disc nearest - peg 22. Good peg if you can fish 14.5 metres. The pool definitively designed with the larger angler in mind! As I was out of the league placings decided to fish for silvers whatever peg. However, peg 22 is the deepest peg on the pool, and due to the cold rain being on the bottom in the deepest areas expected the silver fish to be more likely to be in the shallow water.

For company on peg 23 was Ricky Mills of the Mills Scaffold fame.

Plumbed up finding the water shelves off steeply from bank to top set to 7 foot. It was going to be difficult to find shallow water so set up the waggler to get to 17 metres, the short Ronnie rig, a 4x14 Winter to fish top set and 4x16 to fish at full depth about another 6 inches at various lengths.

Fed small amount of GB laced with DR's on a line close in to the right down wind and the top set line. Started on the latter really strange fishing that deep so close in, can see every indication. Had a decent start catching  small Ronnie's and pesky small Perch. It slowed up and the culprit an F1 was soon in the net. F1's are a nuisance if they come are over your feed, find it's a question of leaving the line a while before refeeding. Onto the Ronnie rig and another good start adding five 3 oz Tench and more small silvers. However, couldn't fish as close in as I would like because of a snag. Caught two more F1's before trying the top set line again which was slow adding a couple of small Skimmers. Changed the Ronnie rig to the left which was better stayed there until cup of tea time so having previously fed the waggler line had a cast on it and had one bite which was missed the single LR was sucked right out!! Tried again but the Ducks were being a nuisance, only had to pick up the catty and they were there waiting. I tried the full depth rig at two barrels for nothing, so spent the rest of the match on the Ronnie rig.

The 3 F1's weighed 4 lb and my silvers 10 lb 12 oz for the silvers win. Pleased with that off this peg. Might have given the waggler longer as sure there were Skimmers out there. I did leave 2 Ronnie's in my keep net so lost 2 oz.

Our pool was won by Ricky (pictured with his catch of Carp) with 55 lb 1 oz from peg 23. Ricky had a few long over to the island on hard pellet, a few down the middle on meat and later long down his edge again with meat catching some of the better Carp.

An amazing 104 lb 3 oz came off Taylors peg 8 caught by inform Bela Bakos. Again with meat at 13 metres our three lines. Meat seems to be the inform bait. Too messy for me.

Back to the New Inn with the usual suspects, where I spent all my winnings. Great company.

Weigh Sheets:

League to date:

Pairs to date:

Thursday 16/02/2024 - Dave Gillard's Over 55's - Silver Pairs - Round 4 - Farleigh Woods

Today on 16 February 2024 I got sunburnt!! The heat didn't come from being trapped in by CO2 but directly from the Sun which appears to me to be getting hotter.

With the sad news that the Hunstrete complex is closed due to unconfirmed issues. It's felt that the complex is continually having issue with it closing most years for some reason or other. Subsequently, we have decided to find other venues. So today we fished Farleigh Woods which was arranged by Chris Ollis who got us an advantageous peg fee. Well done matey.

Nice to Gary Etheridge out standing in for Tony Rixon.

Pulled peg 18 which happened to be the peg Chris and I were chatting on before the draw and I did say I wouldn't mind it today - funny how these things turnout. However, like most of the pegs near any car parking were extremely muddy - not for tackle tarts.

Chris said there were lots of small fish -mainly Ronnie's and Skimmers since I last fished it. So set up the long Ronnie rig, 4 metre whip and two 4x12 winter's - one black tip, the other yellow so to combat the every changing light in 4 1/2 foot of water. The upshot was me wasting too much time trying to catch to hand. Just couldn't get the fish to come any shorter than top set plus 3 barrels, which was to be a pain. Also I could only catch on one line long on the yellow tip. Caught Ronnie's 1/2 to 2oz steady on this line with single Pinkie over GB laced with Pinkie. The last 30 minutes had three bonus fish - 8 oz Perch, 1 lb Hybrid and 1 lb Skimmer. Was this the time of day or because I changed my feeding - who knows?

Weighed 8 lb 7 oz for section win and 4th overall. Glenn was second in section so double Bubble van.

The Crayfish catch went to Hughie Evans, one monster.

The match was won by Kev Winstone (pictured enjoying a pint with Glenn) with 17 lb 6 oz from fancied peg 2. Kev caught some decent Skimmers fishing two lines at 14.5 metres with red maggot hook bait over GB with particles and lose feeding caster over the top. Well done matey.

Runner ups were Barny and Haydn both with 10 lb 7 oz from pegs 13 and 22. Hayden pictured with his net of Skimmers caught at 11 metres.

We stopped in the Stag and Hounds for a pint. Decent pub.

Weigh Sheets:

Pairs League to date:

Sunday 04/02/2024 - Westerleigh Winter League - Round 5

Chatting with Geoff over our Spoon's breakfast, he wanted to avoid pegs 15,16,and 17 on Taylor's, whereas I thought peg 8 on Shipp's would be good today as winds to 44 mph forecast and is down in the corner providing some shelter. However, we both got are wishes with Geoff on 25 and me on peg 8! My inbuilt compass unusually let me down as the wind was a SWW and blasting into my corner. Because of this it was going to be uncomfortable but expected some fish to be there, especially as shotting up I foul hooked a fish - hate this, one that won't be in the keepnet.

The island opposite was giving some shelter around peg 7, so set up the waggler which I discovered was practically unusable mainly due to the veering gusts, not being able to see where the loose feed was going and trying to fish out Ricky's top set!

Spent the match on either the short Ronnie rig and a 4x14 in 4 foot of water heavier than I would normally choose but necessary due to the conditions at top set plus one barrel. The presentation for both was awful but second put in had a 7 lb Ghost Carp on maggot over GB, going to have a good day then - not. I struggled the rest of the day catching a few Silvers, adding some Crucians and F1's. It wasn't one of my better matches. The peg isn't really conducive for a Ronnie rig as very shallow in close.

Silvers weighed 5 lb 14 oz which was reasonable for the conditions and the Carp 13 lb 14 oz for a 7 point total of 19 lb 12 oz (weigh sheet wrong) which was half the weight I had last time!

Our lake was won by Ricky Mills (pictured with Taylor's Pool winner) with 75 lb 7 oz from peg 6. Ricky caught at top set plus two fishing meat over loose fed meat, feeding about 1/2 tin. Well done Matey.

Bela Bakos won Taylor's with the highest weight from it so far this year with 44 lb 14 oz from inform peg 14. Bela caught at 13 metres onto the bar with maggot, switching to the deeper water at 11.5 metres with worm over chopped worm and sloppy GB. Well done Matey.

Geoff was runner up on Taylor's - seen weighing in.

Back to the New Inn to watch Arsenal Ladies beat Liverpool cheering up Glenn.

Weigh Sheets:

League to date:

Pairs to date:

Thursday 01/02/2023 - Bathampton Over 55's - Silver Pairs - Round 3 - Withy Pool

Was looking forward to the match, obviously not for the quality of the fishing, but for the quality company.

Drew peg 61 which can be an OK peg, at least will be able to see my float. For company had Nigel the Bailiff and Chris Rolfe round the corner.

Won't bother to mention my rigs set up as never had a bite on the pole short, medium or long! So after 2.5 hours was blanking. So went out to 25 metres on the waggler in 7 footish of water feeding LR's with single on the hook and after 30 minutes had my first bite which was struck at prematurely in my haste to not blank. At least the bite gained some enthusiasm. Could not believe I couldn't catch on the pole so kept trying it on and off. The upshot had 4 small Skimmers and one Ronnie all on the waggler. Must admit the fish to save the blank brought back that feeling we can't bottle.

Weighed 3 lb 8 oz for last but one in the section. Luckily my partner Phil who was also in my section did the business coming second with 4 lb 4 oz.

The match was won by Tony Rixon (pictured with hands approaching his sleeping position) with a remarkable weight of 19 lb 9 oz from peg 45. Tony caught long with maggot over GB with minimum add caster and dead Pinkie. Well done Matey nice to watch.

BAA are to net the Pool for stock assessment. Don't bother, just look at the weigh sheets. Pairs averaging 20 lb after 6 weigh in's!! 

Weigh Sheet:

Results of the pairs to date: