Tuesday 15/10/2024 - Bitterwell Silvers Open

Geoff Francis joined me today at Bitterwell. It was going to be hard today with the lake still adjusting to the massive amount of rain over the past couple of weeks, close to a complete change of water.

I bought an umbrella some weeks ago and proving to be a good buy as its not got wet yet, as it didn't today. Bloody miracle considering the amount of rain we have had.

Twenty-one fishing today so interesting. Hoping not to be in the 20's, roadside would be my preference. Alas not, peg 28 again. Wasn't over keen on the draw to be honest. Geoff drew peg 9. Found myself between Keith peg 29 and Ricky peg 27. Clive found himself in the corner peg 30 and to be fair did well from it.

Always look for the positive's, the light wind was blowing my way. Would it make a difference? Thought the  waggler would work - but didn't. Caught some Perch up to the reeds on my Tench line plus five Carp. Caught some very small Skimmers at 10 metres on Pinkie fed in small tight balls of GB but for some reason would not increase in size or stay there very long which meant trying other lines with the same number of barrels. It was a right struggle.

Weighed a mere 3 lb 12 oz for 13th. There seems to be a lack of 1 to 3 oz Roach which are always ready to feed in difficult conditions and give bites for most of the day. There must be a Hornets nest nearby as a few of us had them around us - Pictured.

The match was was won by "the Butler in the buff" - Paul Issacs (pictured) with 13 lb 6 z from peg 12. Here's a thing, Ricky Mills said during the match that he thought Paul was catching some better Skimmers so was probably using expanders over micro, and that's exactly how Paul caught. Well done matey.

A shout out to Kai the young lad did very well coming second with 11 lb from peg 7. Maggot and GB at 13 metres apparently.

Back to the Holly Bush for a cider or two to check if I'm still allergic to it - I am - bugger.

Result:

1st Paul Isaacs 13lb 6oz peg 12

2nd Kai Hurley 11lb peg 7

3rd Les Harper 10lb 4oz peg 23

4th Ricky Mills 10lb 2oz peg 27

4th John Smith 10lb 2oz peg 20

6th Marc James Savigar 10lb peg 19

7th Clive Feddery 8lb peg 30

8th Paul Elmes 6lb 12oz peg 2

9th Tony Ponting 6lb 4oz peg 26

10th T-bone 5lb 5oz peg 25

11th Haydn Withers 5lb 4oz peg 3

12th Keith Turner 5lb 2oz peg 29

13th Mike Nicholls 3lb 12oz peg 28

14th Matt Drinkwater 3lb 9oz peg 17

15th Gary Morris 2lb 4oz peg 8

16th Pete Turner 1lb 8oz peg 23

17th Joanna Wingate 1lb 7oz peg 15

18th Marcus Murley 1lb peg 5

Geoff Francis dnw peg 9

Andy Edwards dnw peg 13

Dave Hulcoop dnw peg 21