Thursday 28/11/2024 - Windmill Cost Cutter - Main Lake

Some say my kit and car is very tidy. Now this van (pictured) tidiness is totally alien to me. Guess who's van it is. Two clues it's not Tony Rixon, but the most consistent angler at Windmill. He nearly got knocked over by the spare tyre falling out of the van.

At the last match here everyone blanked! And after a heavy overnight frost this morning most of us were wondering what we were doing here. At least there was little wind chill factor.

I have been trying not draw in the 20's for over a year, so had the last peg and found peg 22 staring back at me. However, pegs 23 and 21 wasn't in the draw, so plenty of room. So fairly happy for a 20's peg for once.

The talk was there would be loads of blanks, so went negative setting up the feeder, but found I had left all my maggot feeders home. Luckily Phil Morgan and Gary Bedford helped out, nice to so Gary back after a 15 year lay-off. A good angler who's done his apprenticeship.. Decided instead to fish a very small cage feeder with GB and Pinkie for an early silver. 

Also set up a 4 x16 Winter to fish top set plus three barrels and a short Ronnie rig. Neither of these rigs got wet. Started on the small feeder with triple Pinkie on the hook and had an instant bite a small Ronnie which fell off swinging it. Out again and one missed bite with damaged Pinkie. Had a liner, so feed some LR's over to the reeds and immediately the reeds started to move and with blanking after 45 minutes set up the waggler and second cast had a Carp which was played very carefully. The rest of the match was a question of catch three instant Carp then a dwell. Kept adjusting the depth from full to one foot off. It was noticeable as the match progressed the fish got bigger. Got pissed off with three Moorhens that came out of the reeds bending them down in the area being fished, so had to switch about to avoid the reeds, but wasn't always possible losing some tackle. The last 30 minutes was manic catching four big Common Carp to 12 lb. Fed just under half a pint of LR's, with double DR on the hook.

Weighed 113 lb 7 oz for the match win. Thanks to the Robin fed throughout for shitting all over my kit. The venue fish extremely well considering recent results. Lovely days fishing on my favourite method. Plus the drive way was much improved.

The silvers was won accidentally by Phil "Fuzzy" Morgan (pictured with the match winner) from peg 24. Phil catching a 2 lb 2 oz Skimmer on the waggler fished at full depth on maggot. Well done Matey.

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 14/11/2024 - Over 55's - Main Lake Silvers and 4 oz Carp Only

Out if the blue Tony Rixon decided to run a match on the Main Lake at Hunstrete. The match was soon full of Over 55's with 21 booking in. Sorry 22 Tony forgot himself!! We were all looking forward to getting together again - some for the company, some for the fishing, some for the pub, mostly for all three.

Very misty and damp this morning. The lads ready for the draw - pictured.

Had a look at the revamped Bridge Pool for the first time. (picture of the Pool looking towards the old peg 19 - no island), Pool now island free. For me a much better fishery for this. Well done BAA.

With regards to the fishing most of us didn't know what to expect. The word was you needed to be at the carp park end. Personally, thought 10 lb might win with 5 lb back up weights.

Into the draw bag and peg 16 which is twined with 15 and are very close. Carp anglers like these pegs when they go with mates. Delighted when Dave "The Drain" Lewis arrived on 15. Still the "Drain" as he's come out of retirement.

The water was very clear which decided me to fish the 4 metre whip and waggler. Mixed some GB, LR's and fat Pinkies on the tray - simples.

A lot of big leaves on the Lake today which were being moving around by the light varying wind. So started by feeding some LR's on the waggler line at 25 yards and hand fed some GB and Pinkie on the whip line. Due to the lack of colour set up the pole and pot so I could feed the GB loose on the whip line. Had a few Ronnie's and five 4 oz Carp. The leaves cleared and went on the waggler and ad a few on that but felt the whip was much faster. Spent most of the match on this and had a good middle match until the wind blew leaves over the line so back on the waggler. Back on the whip and hooked a big fish which made mincemeat of my whip rig. Set up another which wasn't the same. At the same time Dave who was probably beating me at this point stopped catching. The last hour was hard for both of us. Switch to Pinkie on the waggler and sneaked out a few more Ronnie's until the reel line tangled - no sure why, investigation to follow.

Thought I might have 12 lb, weighed 11 lb 11 oz for a second section by default which was a pleasant surprise. Beat Dave by 14 oz which was pulled back in the last hour. A number of anglers had considerably over estimated their weights today, easily done if you base weight on numbers of small fish and get the average weight wrong, were they 2 oz or 3 oz? Really enjoyed today especially fishing with Dave, both our type of fishing, we've had enough of Carp fishing.

The match was won by Kev Winstone with 23 lb 7 oz from peg 18. Kev caught at 7 metres on maggot hook bait over GB and caster feed. Well done matey. Thanks for the default. By Tony's body language thought he had beaten you 😁.

Thanks goes to Tony Rixon for once again running a great match with the sections groupings spot on. Hope there's more matches on this lake as it suits me.

Nice to see Glenn Bailey out helping with the weigh in - only there for the cider!

Interesting to note the further from the car park the better the fishing.

Weigh Sheet:

Sunday 10/11/2024 - Ron Hardiman's Open - Westerleigh - Taylor's Pool and Shipp's Canal

First stop Wetherspoons Staple Hill. Geoff and me agreed that it really doesn't matter where you draw on this venue, the winner can come from any peg, which the wind and aerators will help decide. Currently both our favorite venue.

Into the draw bag and peg 24 on Taylor's it would be then. Happy with this as it's a peg I've not fished. However, don't think it's won a match yet but has framed a few times. Glad there was no silvers pool today, being a tight corner peg didn't think it looked favorable in that respect. The peg of one option - see picture. Simple set up one 0.3 gram RJ Slim. Plumbed along the edge and luckily found a flat spot at top set plus three barrels, but had to put four barrels on to reach the fence roller so no need to break down. However, whilst plumbing a short line caught the reeds and for the first time ever broke a Ryan Jordan float (wonder if he does repairs?).

Started on triple maggot on a 20  (yes the LR's were fat Pinkie size) over kindered DR's. First two Carp were small and foul hooked and lost. Switch to 7 mm over maggot and had two quick decent Carp for 10 lb and one small one back on maggot. Fed a tiny bit of meat and didn't have a bite for an hour or so. There was a temptation to go longer but refrained as felt would just move the fish further along and out of reach and probably only get a couple more before that line died. Decided to knock up some GB and put a small ball down the left margin. I thought the water coloured up there but didn't bother to adjust the depth of the rig to fish over it, instead fed some loose GB with DR's on my "stick to line". The response was instant catching decent F1's and the odd Carp to 3 lb. Still had the issue of catch a couple before a short dwell. Seem to like the GB including a small Tench. Didn't want the match to end as I was catching up with the one's that had been doing well from the start.

Weighed 44lb 14oz for 4th on Pool. Happy with this from the peg if only fed GB earlier, pretty sure it wasn't to do with the time of day. Really enjoyed the day with some great anglers.

The match was won by Scaffolder Ricky Mills (pictured) with 108 lb 3 oz from peg 3, beating Steve Rogers (bread) peg 1 by 11 oz! Ricky caught on meat at top set plus three barrels. Well done matey.

Once again overall the pools fished very well, this down to Mark Taylor's fishery management.

Back to the New Inn for a very welcome pint of Doombar.

Weigh Sheets:

Tuesday 05/11/2024 - Bitterwell Silvers Open

South Gloucestershire Council closed Henfield Road for a week last week. Today hoping to see the fruits of my council tax with some improvement to traffic flow left and right at the traffic lights. Alas not they caused a weeks traffic chaos to install a few kerb stones. It also looks like the traffic light settings has been changed causing a long queue there now.

Geoff booked us in for this match. My bloody cough is very exhausting. Only one day's rest from Sunday's match and having had a great day's pleasure fishing last Thursday here on the waggler and maggot made the decision to just set that up and fish all match - right or wrong.

Paul Issac's was concerned with the low water oxygen and had been running the aerator all night and throughout the match. It a similar problems on many fisheries at the moment - high pressure, no rain and no wind for weeks - well since I bought my umbrella!!

Hoping to be down the shallow end alas Peg 3 for me. Happy with this, had tackle dealer Matt Challenger on peg 1. Set up a 7" drake stepped yellow top waggler - 3 lb Maxima reel line and 0.14 GLine (in case of a decent Tench) to Tubertini - 808 - 20. That was it really as I didn't want to flip flop between methods.

Fished the waggler up and down in the water all though catching the odd small Skimmer and Ronnie and one small Hybrid on single LR over loose fed same. I mark the line with a black marker pen so I can get back to full depth without re-plumbing. Had a walk around and it was the same for everyone I chatted to - fishing extremely hard. Had been missing lots of bites from small fish so spent the last knockings on single Pinkie over loose fed same, hitting more bites. 

Weighed 2 lb 2 oz which wasn't last😁.

The match was won by regular Martin McMahon (pictured) from peg 29 with 11 lb 8 oz. Martin caught on expander over micro at 10 metres. His catch included three Tench.

The fish seemed to be only feeding in the corner (more oxygen?) as Matt Challenger (pictured) was runner up from adjacent peg 1 with 10 lb 13 oz. Matt had one Tench and some better skimmers.

And finally back for a pint with Geoff.

Weigh Book:

Sunday 03/11/2024 - Alcove Club - Whitehouse Farm - Margret's

Now here's a thing, me and the Special One have avoided the Covid virus for 5 years. Two weeks ago we had out winter Covid jabs, next day we go down with Covid. No longer contagious but both have a lingering cough. Think we had it mild due to the jabs we've had.

Back to Whitehouse Farm for their Poppy match. Not many from RBL this year. Hoping to be on George's, but due to the low turn out of 13 we all fished Margret's. Pulled peg 7 again, not a great silvers peg unless the Chub have a go. I seem to draw pegs in doubles, so plenty of pegs still to fish. Next to Pete Watkins again peg 8.

My target was Chub on the block end feeder and triple maggot hook bait. It's a bit of a long chuck at about 33 metres. Started on this. If the Chub are about can expect a response straight away. So the writing was on the wall early no indications except from a tiny Perch. I kept trying, but knew as the day went on the likelihood of them turning up would diminish. Ended up fishing at top set plus three barrels catch small Ronnie's on Pinkie and GB. Did have a small F1.

Weighed 5 lb 6 oz which was less than half the weight I weighed last time on this peg. It's very much a Carp peg for the Methodist. Pretty sure the Chub are down the other end which doesn't get pegged very often. Not much energy today still match fit yet.

Once again Pete Watkins (pictured) won the match on peg 8 fishing the method tight to the island. Pete landed 5 to 7 lb for 49 lb. Fair play sitting it out for 6 bites. Well done matey.

The silvers was won by John Amato (pictured with his peg guard dog) from peg 13. John caught on 4 metre whip with maggot over loose fed slop GB. His catch included some F1's and a big Goldfish. Well done matey.

Weigh Sheet: