Thursday 27/06/2024 - Windmill Cost Cutter 500 Open - Match Lake

After just a few day's of Summer it was back to Autumn with overcast skies and a cold gusting wind. Would it be too much to ask to be on the far side and any number less than 16? 

Dave Haines had locked himself out of his van, I was able to help out with a pen and some of Avon Anglings left over swim cards, which was enough to get us started.

Into the draw bag and peg 23 it was. One of the better pegs in the twenties, but arriving at the peg found the wind howling into it at 11 o clock and with it 8 foot deep at one barrel and the margins almost unfishable due to the reeds it was going to be a rough day - hate the wind. Decided to clear as much bankside vegetation as I could down to the right which gave some cover from the wind. I was soon in fleece and Gore-Tex whilst opposite Barny was in tea shirt well sheltered from the wind. Found myself next to the Jinx - Ray Bazeley on peg 22.

Set up the maggot feeder - had one Perch on it, binned it. Tried the top set plus one barrel, but the presentation was awful with the rig being blown into me. No idea where the GB feed was going. The upshot fished the margin with the short Ronnie rig for most of the match in between the wind blowing the rig into reeds. Had about 130 fish - Perch, Rudd, Ronnie's and some tiny Skimmers. Just couldn't get any bonus Skimmers. Landed one small Carp with another three doing me in the reeds.

Silvers weighed 10 lb 3 oz and my one Carp 4 lb 13 oz. Third in the silvers - needed a bonus - bloody wind buggered the peg for me.

The match was won by Barny (pictured above baiting up) with 86 lb 1 oz from peg 1. Barny caught on his usual of worm over humongous amount of micro and chopped worm. However, he didn't catch until the last quarter of the Match, which seems the way on this venue. Well done matey.

The silvers was won by Shay Gillman (pictured with the match winner) with 13 lb 15 oz from peg 3. Shay started on the small fish short, later switching to 11.5 metres catching some better Skimmers on Maggot and GB. - well done matey.

Matey Geoff Francis came second qualifying for the 500 final by default with 61 lb 13 oz from peg 12 catching down his edge with double corn mostly caught in the last hour. Well done matey.

Geoff and me shooting off for our usual Thursday Indian.

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 20/06/2024 - Over 55's at Bitterwell Lake

Sad news of the passing of Malcolm Murfet. Born again he would be named Mr. Bathampton. The club was his life. Lots of fond memorise of Malcolm who did a lot for charities often donating anonymously. I can give one example now without fear of a bollocking. I ran the Bathampton Juniors, running Saturday matches regularly on the K&A Canal (chose this venue for safety reasons). Every Friday before the the match I would get a call from Malcolm enquiring how many was fishing. Most times it was around 40. I would get a return call later to go round his business where he would give me two sacks of prizes. He always said the pressures on you now to make sure they all catch. It was bloody hard work complying with his wishes. Nonetheless, they all went home with something from rods, reels, whips and loads of terminal tackle. It was pleasure to have known Malcolm and liked his forth rightfulness. I have included a pictured of him which I know he would hate any publicity once again helping a young lad with a gift of a pole. RIP.

If you do a search "Malcom Murfet " here search you will find some contribution from him - interesting funny read fishing in Ireland.

Back to Bitterwell for the over 55's - at last some proper weather. Bloody traffic around this area is awful.

Into the draw bag and peg 24 again it was. Learnt a bit last time so hopefully some it it will help today. Good company with Phil on peg 23 who was suffering from back pain and should of given it a miss and Barny on peg 25, hopefully will learn a bit from him on worm fishing.

Set up - the long Ronnie rig and a 0.3 gram RJ Slim to fish up to the reeds to my left. GB, casters and maggots and a few worms on their last legs due to the heat. 

Fed both lines with caster and loose dry GB. Thought I would start in on the RJ rig up to the reeds this time with the margin pole with single caster. Shipping out spied a Carp supping up the GB still floating on the surface so lowered the rig over it and took it straight away. One double in the net in first 5 minutes. Tried feeding some more dry GB but no sign of another but did had a 2 lb Tench - good start. From then on it was a question of switching between the two rigs adding 2 more smaller Carp, 2 more Tench and a few Skimmers plus about 5 lb of Ronnie's to keep me active in between feeding. With 30 minutes to go fed some chopped worm on the RJ rig with a piece of worm on the hook which produced three Skimmers in the last knockings. I did loose a Carp in the middle of the reeds and was amazed to get the complete rig back - conclusion - RJ floats are indestructible.

Silvers weighed 22 lb 8 oz and Carp 26 lb 2 oz for a match winning total of 48 lb 10 oz. Second in the silvers to Andy Greenham.

Andy (pictured) drew peg 29 weighing 33 lb 10 oz comprising 6 Tench to 5 lb and lots of Skimmers to 3 lb. Andy caught on meat mostly down his margin feeding 6 mm fishing 8 mm on the hook. Well done matey.

Excellent fishing on a well kept fishery.

Weigh Book:

 

Bristol Golden Carp Angling Association - Minute Book

Bob "The Bread" Price gave me a book which was rescued from Colin Goldings House. It contains the minutes of the meetings of Bristol Golden Carp Angling Association. The book has 263 pages and covers the years from April 3rd 1939 to 3rd July 1950 - which includes the second world war period. 

As some one that still uses pen and ink I was most impressed with the quality of the hand writing and the long forgotten English language, wonderful how the meetings are closed with the words "in Harmony and Peace" - heart warming compared to today's standards.

There is too much to put on here but if anyone local to me wishes to read it contact me.

Post war they were running 200 peg matches on the Bristol Avon.

Note the comment re - Otters.

Thursday 13/06/2024 - Windmill Fishery - Cost Cutter - Match Lake

Not been here for a while. The access road is much improved. Originally had 22 booked in but a few cried off most probably because of the awful weather. I had six layers on and was still cold.

Hoping for any peg except 21 to 18 which have in recent times been awful, however, they do throw up the occasional decent weight. In to the draw bag and peg 19 it was - duh. I think the way it fishes depends on the wind and with it gusting down the lake it was going to be hard. Good company with Ray Bazeley on peg 20. We both knew we were on no hopers - but you never know. We both laughed when the whistle went the wind started to increase considerably.

Only hope of a pick up from the peg was silvers, so set up from them. The wind prevented the use of the waggler so just set up a maggot feeder in the hope of a couple of decent skimmers over. The short Ronnie rig for the small fish and a 0.4 gram RJ to fish top set plus three barrels for skimmers both theses rigs fished over LR's over GB.

Had a couple of casts on the maggot feeder whilst the GB feed on the two rig lines settled. No signs, so on to the long rig and had five Skimmers to 3 oz!! Refed the line which subsequently died. On to the Ronnie rig and basically sat with the cold wind off my back catching very small Perch and the odd Rudd and Ronnie for most of the match knowing it would be difficult to beat three or four big skimmers. Did have a Common Carp on the maggot feeder after being pestered by small Perch on the maggot feeder during a tea break.

Weighed 5 lb 10 oz of silvers and the one Carp 3 lb 12 oz for nowhere.

The match was one by the migratory angler Tony Rixon (pictured with the silvers winner) with 67 lb 8 oz from peg 17. Tony caught three on a full depth pellet waggler in open water and later at three barrels on meat over loose fed meat. Well done matey see you here next year.

Silvers was won by Andy Gard with 10 lb 3 oz from peg 25. Andy caught short out in front on caster and maggot hook bait over GB. Well done matey.

Glad to get in the car and get the heater on - some scientist believe we are entering a mini ice age - now seems more likely than global warming.

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 06/06/2024 - Dave Gillard's Over 55's - Bitterwell Lake

After being away for a few days, plus the day of the match had to stop off on the way for a blood test. So all a bit of a rush. No bait but luckily Geoff Francis got me 2 pints of reds, had some GB and that was it - plenty!!

During navigating South Gloucestershire's nightmare traffic had a text from Geoff saying it was peg 24 for me - knew it was a good area for skimmers., but more interested that I could park quite close to the peg.

Arrived to being told that I was on the peg Des Shipp had broken the lake record on the Tuesday with 86 lb. Apparently my bait fell well short of what Des fed! Great company with Pete Turner on peg 25, phone calls have all but diminished since he sold the Brewery.

Currently having issues with my sternocleidomastoid muscle which is effecting rotation of my head which would be uncomfortable fishing the pole, so only set up the long and short Ronnie rigs and the waggler enabling me to sit up straight.

Started down the side of the reeds on the short rig - maggot over loose feed. Second put in hooked a Tench which broke me in the reeds. Changed to 0.14 hook length to 20 hook. Landed 2 quick Tench after a tussle in the reeds. Made the mistake thinking more Tench would appear - alas not except one foul hooked lost Carp. Out on the waggler tried up and down only to catch very small Ronnie's which weren't that easy to catch. Up the feed to see if I could persuade the Carp to have a go, they didn't seem interested. The lake was fishing hard. I did have another try with the waggler later but it wasn't working. With two hours to go gave up the short Ronnie rig for the long and mixed up some GB which was fed loose with some LR's. started to catch the odd decent Skimmers and in between Ronnie's. Started to enjoy it. Fishing this way wasn't effecting my neck either. The Skimmers appeared to like the loose GB and loads of it - not that I had that much!

Weighed 17 lb 14 oz of silvers for second overall silvers.

The match was won by Chris Gay (pictured) with 39 lb 7 oz from peg 23. Chris initially fished for silvers on the worm, later fishing down his LH margin to add 4 decent Carp on worm over GB. Well down matey.

Kevin Winstone (pictured) took the silvers with 23 lb 14 oz from peg 27. Kev caught long fishing worm over worm, caster and GB. Well done matey.

Andy Greenham had a nightmare on peg 21 battling with Tench and Carp in his LH margin to such a degree had to call Paul Issacs out for a rig rescue.

Geoff and me finished the day with a curry and a pint of draft Cobra.

Weigh Book: