Thursday 23/05/2024 - Over 55's at Bitterwell Lake

Our second match at Bitterwell and have so far been unlucky on both, the first match we were faced with spawning Carp today it was a sudden change in weather with a cold South Westerly blowing.

Very clean fishery and easy walking to the pegs.

Into the draw bag and peg 21 it was. The peg is down the far end on the large platform. Happy with this as the wind was blowing into it. However, arriving at the peg it was bloody freezing.

As Carp counted today decided to have a back to front paste match. So set up a 0.3 gram paste margin float at top set plus two barrels. However, there was a lot of overhanging reeds which I tried to lift over out to clear an area  with the cupping kit, but the wind had other idea's so gave up getting really close. The other paste rig was a 0.4 g to fish the same distance out in front. Thought about the waggler as back up but the wind and light was against it.

Fed both lines with micro and a few 4's and first put in I was getting indications which resulted in foul hooking a Carp and two Skimmers all were lost. Finally a Skimmer in the mouth. Tried the margin for some time with the paste - getting nibblers until finally hooking a decent Carp which took me along the bank into the rushes, some good angling to get it out and in front, some bad angling shipping down too soon for it to go back in the reeds at my feet with the hook pulling - bugger. Four hours gone and the penny dropping - the paste on the bottom wasn't going to work for me today. Got the short Ronne rig out with single maggot over loose fed same and finally caught a few silvers up in the water on the drop. Lost a few foulers and one Carp just as the Dacron went over the end of the top set -. Duh - at least I was keeping Tom Ford amused as he sat through the last hour with me.

Weighed 13 lb 6 oz for section silvers. On hindsight should have gone on the Ronnie rig after fouling those first three fish.

The match was won by Haydn Withers (pictured with his catch) with 27 lb 12 oz from peg 25. Haydn caught a mix of Carp and Skimmers on maggot short on the pole. Well done matey two out of two - keep it up. Thanks for the cheese roll.

Back to the Ringer for a pint with good company.

Weigh Sheet:

 

Tuesday 14/05/2024 - Acorn Cost Cutter - Paddocks

A rare visit to Acorn for their cost cutter with Glenn Bailey. Nice to catch up with some of the regulars. Fancied peg 10 where the wind was blowing into. Into the bag of eyeballs and found myself on peg 31. Before the de-silting I would run to this peg, however, told this end of Paddocks has been fishing hard. Found myself next to Glenn who was on bridge peg 33, fancying his peg.

I gave the peg a good plumbing and had a really good margin to the left - nice depth and wide. So thought I would fish the short Ronnie rig over caster there, was expecting Carp to arrive at some time so set up a 0.3 gram paste rig. My target however, was the Tench so a 4x14 fished at top set which took me up the shelf by a couple of inches adding a barrel later if necessary to target the Skimmers. The far bank is a far far 20 metres so thought I would try the waggler even though the wind would make it very difficult.

Mixing up some GB it was amazing how hot the water was as were the fish.

Loose fed the Ronnie/margin line with caster and the Tench line with a mix of finely chopped worm and caster. Started on the Ronnie rig expecting some Ronnie's, Perch and perhaps a Skimmer or two, had just one bite a bootlace Eel - not looking good so far. Went on the Tench line with a piece of worm and had two 2 lb Tench in two put in's. Interestingly both were caught on the drop. After a bit of a wait and having probably over done the feed had two Skimmers. Subsequently it got hard. Had a quick look on the waggler with double LR's over loose fed same. First cast and the light splash of the waggler sent the Carp bow waving away. Had one liner before binning it, the wind was far too strong, felt that on the right day it could be a good method. Been feeding the margin continuously, so tried the paste - nothing. Time to go to the one barrel line over GB laced with LR's. Put the LR's in some GB to get it down to keep the fish on the bottom. Stayed there for the rest of match catching what looked like 2 lb Skimmers that weighed 1 lb. Seen a swirl in the margin so went over it with paste and after a couple of lost foul hookers and with 30 minutes to go made up a maggot rig up for further along the margin over kindered maggot and had a 11 lb 6 oz Common. Felt this would have been the the way to have fished the margin instead of paste.

The silvers weighed 11 lb 5 oz for a total of 22 lb 11 oz. which was a bit disappointing. However, the venue generally fished hard, probably due to post spawning and the changeable weather.

The match was won by Paul Faiers (pictured with the silvers winner) with 119 lb 11 oz from peg 10. Paul caught on maggot with 50 lb of his weight coming in the last hour from the margin. Well done matey.

The silvers went to Tony Whitcombe (pictured) with an impressive weight of 69 lb 9 oz of Tench. Tony caught at 11 metres fishing three maggots on the hook over 2 pints of loose fed casters. Well done matey not all about paste. Thanks for the pint.

Back to the Prince of Waterloo for a pint.

Weigh Sheets:

09/05/2024 - Over 55's at Bitterwell Lake - Silvers Only

With Hunstrete's Bridge Pool closed Dave Gillard has arranged for us to fish Bitterwell Lake for the rest of this year. Today's match was planned to be Carp and silvers however, the Carp were spawning which was a site to behold, didn't realise there were so many Carp in the lake.

At last some sunshine, been many months without it, giving us the feel good factor.

Drew peg 25 on the car park bank so would have sunshine all day. Found myself next to a first time acquaintance - "T-bone" which was interesting to say the least. I had a lot of reeds to my right which was a live with Carp thrashing away as they do. On two occasions felt the splashing.

Because of the numbers of Carp around me decided to just set up the waggler to fish maggot at 20 metres with a straight 7" Drake. The first hour went as planned catching Skimmers from 4 oz to 2 lb. Think I got carried away with the feed as the Carp arrived. So spent a couple of hours fishing all around the peg picking off the odd skimmer. The Carp were an absolute nightmare, being end peg on the match didn't help in this respect. The peg completely died and had cramp in legs so went for a walk around to Tim Ford who was catching some nice Roach short. The Carp had by now more or less stopped spawning and had a thought that perhaps the silvers had moved in for a spawn munch. So the last 45 minutes was spent on the short Ronnie rig. Did have a decent Ronnie and a good skimmer along with 4 more Carp taking my tally to 14 according to the empty hook racks.

Weighed 18 lb 4 oz for third in the match. As could be expected the weights were down due to the bright flat conditions and Carp spawning.

The match was won by Haydn Withers (pictured with his catch) from peg 23 which had won the last 3 matches with 21 lb 4 oz. Haydn caught on worm over mushy worm at 11.5 metres. Well done matey.

Runner up was matey Tim Ford (pictured) with 19 lb 7 oz. Tim caught short on maggot. His catch included some quality Roach and three small Tench. Well done matey.

John Smith's drawing arm again didn't fail him today, drawing the Carp peg!!

Back to the Ringer for a very welcome cold one, to finish a nice day all round.

This Jon Arthur issue for me is comparable to getting a red card and missing the angling equivalent to the FA cup. Simple.

Weigh Sheets:

29/04/24 - 02/05/2024 - Over 55's - Whiteacres Club Angler Festival

Fifteen of us this year. Me Geoff Francis and Chris Gay shared Lodge 4 on the side of Jenny's Lake. Nice position, clean but looking tired. No parking next to Lodge which was a pain in the ass.

First to arrive beating Jeff Grant by one minute. Was told by the management the cafe would be open for breakfast - NOT. So off to Morrisons for a decent breakfast with Chris Gay, Jeff and John Smith. Back to Whiteacres for a walk around. The Canal looked good with plenty of fish showing. Told they had transferred 1500 Carp from Trewaters, 1500 from Priory and a similar number of small Carp including F1's. Back to the club for a coffee!! We had early book in which was convenient. No one could be assed to go off site, so a Pizza in the club where you pay £6.20 for a pint sitting in the freezing cold - 11 degrees outside and the air conditioning was blowing more cold air!!

I had drawn Twin Oaks for the first match - as I'm not (yet) a Methodist it was the pellet waggler, which is wind condition dependant. So Geoff and me practiced it on the Sunday. We sat on pegs 7 and 9. Tony Pontin came down later and fished peg 2. We tried various things ending up we me showing Geoff the Ronnie rig. We had a great day catching Ronnie's to 1 lb and Perch to 12 oz on caster. Probably should had concentrated on the Carp but we wanted a day's fishing. We left Tony there - pictured just as he started to catch F1's short on pellet. Geoff and me walked down and back - going is OK but up hill on the way back.

We were joined by Glenn Bailey on Sunday night for a few days which was nice.

Festival day one drew peg 17 Twin Oaks - a flyer I'm told if the wind was blowing up that way. The wind was to be a nightmare which was blowing into the middle pegs slightly off my right shoulder. Limited to fishing the pole short and the margin, had set up the pellet waggler but due to the conditions never got used - I began to feel like a change of religion and joining the Methodist. Might get some info on how to fish it!! Tried down the margin with paste over GB then worm foul hooking two decent

Carp. Weighed 18 lb 7 oz of Silvers for last and 1 point - so a good start - not. The lake was won from peg 15 mostly on the method. I got a bit emotional to find that Butch whom I fished next to last year on the first match on Twin Oaks had passed away. He had "Willed" that some flowers be put on peg 16. So felt as if we were fishing together again this year. RIP matey.

Day two Trelawney for me peg 24 just in the wide bay. Thought the margin to my left would be ok for a few, alas not just got hammered on the paste by small silvers. Fished long with pellet then paste had a couple of small F1's it was fishing hard along our straight whereas around the corner Craig on the section end peg was catching well short on the pellet and method. Decided to switch to caster and at least had a day's fishing weighing 22 lb 5 oz for 5 points so  slight improvement. Most were fishing the Method on and off so not sure that would have helped me. However. if it wasn't for the bloody wind fancied the pellet waggler. I was bloody freezing and shivering come the end. The lake was won by Craig with 80 lb, he fished an excellent match switching between method to short pole. Well done matey. Too cold and wet to take for pictures today.

Day three Python and Acorn had fingers crossed for Acorn and very happy to draw peg 16. Walked it again! What a nice looking Lake - manicured. Fished what is now peg 18 many years ago on a rover match, think when it was first stocked. Not fished the paste end to end for a long while, use to be my go to bait, but got lead astray with silvers. So just set up two paste rigs one at top set plus three barrels which took me to the deepest part. The other paste rig for down the margin up to a few reeds in 2 1/2 foot of water at top set plus one barrel. Having been advised that the margins were good, fed there first with 4mm pellet, then the long line with 4's and

micro. Started down the margin with paste and expected some nibblers, but no a proper bite and a F1. Had a few and refed with micro and 4's and went out on the long line and the same more instant F1's which were averaging about 2 lb. So kept swapping between each line throughout after feeding. The long line started to produce Carassio's of 1 lb to 1 1/2 lb one a bung and the margin F1's when I switched to kindering hard 4's. I did have two Carp on the long line. Reckoned my 65 fish would go 120 lb. Weighed 113 lb 12 oz and had left a F1 in the net!

A lovely day's fishing for most on this Lake. This won the Lake and a decent pick up that paid for the evening meals.

Day 4 Jenny's which looking forward to fishing paste back to back. Heart sank when drawn peg 10. I've walked past this area of Jenny's many times and never fancied it. It just before the narrows with the wind funnelling through it making it very cold. Paste rig for margin to my right on top set and out at three barrels. Fed the margin and the long line as yesterday. After 2 hours the long line produce one Skimmer and the margin nibblers. Ricky Lale on peg 9 was emptying it on the method over to the point of the island. Had a tooth out 2 days before coming down and the cold was getting to it so turned by back to the wind and set up the Ronnie rig for caster over GB and caster. Had a nice days catching quality Ronnie's and Skimmers which were in a terrible state. As it was the last match put a load of DR's down the margin and it was nice to soon see Carp tails flapping about, however, too many arrived leading to 4 lost foul hooked big Carp on the paste. Should have started on this feeding little and often. Finished with 28 lb 10 oz of silver. The Lake was won by Ricky with 101 lb 10 oz adding a few better Carp down his LH edge later on corn.

Unfortunately the fishery want you to keep skimmers in the same net as the Carp for ease of weighing in which isn't good for them.

Geoff, Chris and me had some nice meals in the usual Indians in Newquay and the best burger I've had in the two Clomes. How Geoff managed a double Berger followed by a Sticky Toffee pudding I don't know. A shout out to Jake who came down to the cafe and ran it for the rest of the week, excellent service.

Overall the fishing was poor which wasn't helped by terrible weather. Rain and wind for most of the week. Finished 61 st  with 16 points. Only 13 points away from the winner making it a tight festival all round. Near misses for Chris Gay and Gary Bowden.

I would have liked to have fished Morgan Port with the lads on Friday but had to be home. Fond memories of fishing this pool in the day's of Janet who has long sold up " All in". However, the drive home was awful there was a fatality on the A30 which closed the entire road, diverting us along A30 to Plymouth up to Exeter.😡

Geoff and me will be going again next year and heard a rumour it might be three weeks later!?

Results:

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

Day 4:

Overall Result: