Sunday 15/02/2026 - Westerleigh Winter League - Round 6 - Taylor's and Shipp's

Although we had rain once again today (rained all of my eight matches this year), think I must be getting use to it as it didn't seem too bad.

My turn on Shipp's and with the wind blowing down to peg 13 would have settled for pegs 2,1,13 (yes) and 11. Preferably avoiding 3 and 4.

Must stop thinking about pegs. Peg 3 for me and next to Andy on 4 and Dave on flyer 2, so good company.

Fished this peg recently and was surprised nothing came from either margin which is nice and flat but 3 foot deep. Nonetheless, set up a 0.3 gram RJ set to suit both sides. Next was a 4x14 Winter to fish just up the inside slope at top set and just short on middle at 5 1/2 feet. I set up the Ronnie rig which due to the wind wasn't used.

Really expected the top set line to produce well with double Pinkie over GB laced with plenty of Pinkie. Soon relised it was a poor choice catching a few quick Ronnie's before it died. Having tried the margin and realising my prediction, catching just one tiny Perch. Spent the rest of the match at top set plus three barrels fishing GB and Pinkie expecting to initially catch some F1's. Alas not, they haven't fed on the pool. Instead, and unusually the bigger Carp fed. In between catching the odd Ronnie had a 8 lb Carp so decided to up the hook length and soon playing a foul hooked munter which after careful playing it the hook pulled. I knew there was another Carp about as a few bubbles were apparent. Hooked it and played not as careful as the first being over confident with the hook length which bust on me - bugger. Potentially two big Carp not in the net. Had a couple of Skimmers before another few bubbles and a 4 lb Carp in the net. Had three decent F1's and another Skimmer late on just before the all out.

The Carp weighed in at 16 lb 3 oz and the silvers 3 lb 15 oz for a silvers win, with the total of 20 lb 2 oz getting me 5 points. Thinking now I might have under feed today. Really enjoyed it today, especially packing up in the dry for once.

Taylors was won by Ron Hardiman (pictured) with 21 lb 4 oz from peg 15. Ron fished long all match on the bar fishing pellet over pellet. Well done mate especially holding the pole at that distance for so long in gusting wind.

Taylor's was won by Lee Waller (pictured with his catch of decent Carp) with 47 lb 4 oz from peg 11. Lee caught on maggot over Kindered maggot from various lines - mainly long to the corner of each island. Well done matey.

Back to the New Inn with the usual suspects and yes they had some beer this week!

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 05/02/2026 - Over 55's Silvers League - Round Four - Bitterwell Lake

"Kites fly highest against the wind, not with it". Winstone Churchill - relevant for me today sat in the bloody freezing wind.

Bristol traffic is ridiculous and to think they want to build thousands of more house in South Gloucester and Bristol - nuts.

A few stand-ins today it was nice to see Jeff Surmon (pictured) standing in for Kev Winstone. We go back a long way and travelled together a few times - real gentleman and a very good angler who arrived next to me on peg 5.

We all knew we were in for a hard match. More rain and with higher winds than of late greeted us. As I was in A section knew I could be on the road bank where the wind was hitting it from 2 o clock. Hoping for pegs 8 through to 15 where the wind was least. Not to be peg 7 for me.

Set up the usual - large waggler to help beat the wind, 4x14 Winter to fish four barrels for Skimmers and expecting it to be really hard on this peg and with a bit of colour down the edge set up a 4x12 Winter to fish on the top set to target the Perch, which are plentiful in this lake. However, a bit of a quandary, knowing Perch tend to feed well for the first hour, will I miss out on any early skimmers. As the presentation on the long line was awful went for the early Perch with single Pinkie over kinder Pinkie. 

Had a great start catching small Perch for an hour. Switched the long line which I had fed with loose GB and Pinkie - had no idea where the feed was ending up. Had two bites a small Perch and a Ronnie. Had a go on the waggler with single white maggot, but as with the long line it was poor presentation, but had another small Perch and a Ronnie. Kept trying all the lines, but decided to spent most of the time catching Perch and did get a 10 ouncer for my efforts. Had a walk along the section and a few anglers had some early Skimmers - but not many. So seen the match out for the Perch.

My 40 fished weighed 3 lb 6 oz for three points. Think the right decision made to target the early Perch, my mistake was not sticking with it all match as I was only 4 oz from a pick up. Well done to my partner keeping us in contention.

The match was won by Andy Greenham (pictured with his catch) with 11 lb 12 oz from favoured peg 23. Andy caught at 11 metres fishing single Pinkie over Pinkie. Andy had a very lucky day as he also won guess the weight with the exact amount he caught. 

Weigh Sheets:

League to date after Four rounds:

Note: Now we are starting to use more than one substitute, need to clarify the following: Second Substitutes points will not count, however their section positions and weight will. Non points counting subs shown in red. NB: only one sub points only count.

Sunday 01/02/2026 - Westerleigh Winter League - Round Five - Taylor's and Shipp's

"A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty" Winston Churchill.

So my turn on Taylor's. The pool was flat calm - not a ripple, umm going to be hard for some. Into the draw box and peg 16 for me. Oh dear a peg that's had poor results all year, with some just breaking the pound!! Definitely going all out for silvers, especially as the pool has been recent stocked with 300 small Tench - thinking might be too early for them to show in any numbers.

It's beginning to feel like the 15 July started 20 days ago - St. Swithen's day - 40 days and 40 nights of rain. Another soaking coming our way today.

With it flat calm set up the 7" waggler to try the bar. The short Ronnie rig and a 4x14 Winter to fish top set plus three barrels.

Bait GB, Pinkie's, live and dead reds

Loose fed some Pinkies on the Ronnie rig line and some GB laced with Pinkie on the long line. Started long with double Pinkie and soon had a 1 lb and a bit Skimmer - good start. I noticed that the water had coloured up where I loose fed the Pinkie's so went over it with the Ronnie rig until the colour went - nothing. So started to feed the waggler line with LR's. Back out long again an had a few very very small Ronnie's and two Tench about 8 oz each. Had a go on the waggler the presentation was spot on but only foul hooked one Carp which came off. On hind sight should have fished in front of the bar in the deeper water. That said definitely wanted a bit of ripple to get some movement. Back on the Ronnie rig fishing at various depths catching the odd better Ronnie. Surprised I didn't catch some Perch, but did have a big Brown Goldfish and a decent size Crucian.

Weighed 4 lb 11 oz of silvers and the two Carp took me to 7 lb 7 oz winning the silvers but only beating one for 8 points. Would have settled for that at the start. The fish move around on this pool with some of the favoured pegs not producing.

Shipp's was won by Tony Mears (pictured) with 63 lb 1 oz from peg 11 which hasn't produced for a few weeks. Tony caught on maggot at top set plus 3 and 4 barrels. Well done matey - some say that Tony moaned them on.

Taylor's was won by Ricky Mills (pictured - been waiting to include this picture 😁) with 37 lb 7 oz from peg 22. Ricky caught at 16 metres up to the island on maggot and shorter to the aerator with meat. Well done matey especially as you fished the match with a really bad toothache - best of luck at the Dentist.

Back to the New Inn who had ran out of ale's and cider's - oh dear lager's all round then.

Weigh Sheets: