Saturday 11/09/2021 - Bathampton AA - Dave Crookes Memorial Charity Match - Bridge Pool

Because Dave Crookes was a long time good friend I have wanted to fish this match for some time but for various reason couldn't. Dave and I joined the BAA committee at the same time through the affiliated clubs. Dave representing the RAF and me MST. Dave was a natural angler but didn't regularly fish matches, when he did he often framed. I would love to win this one in his memory.

Because there were two matches today, ours on Bridge Pool and a 24 hours Carp match on the Main Lake I arrived to a packed car park . I had a walk around the Pool with Dave Gillard. Apparently some heavy rain last week had knocked the colour out, so expectation was for it to fish hard.

Back to the draw and it was a nice touch by the BAA committee to lay on bacon and sausage rolls and hot drinks - all FOC - well done to them. Cant beat the smell of bacon especially cooked out doors. Pools paid - raffle tickets purchased - no more on this one. The draw put me on peg 19, the peg I had last match here and got frustrated because I couldn't see the float due to the sun shining on silver flotsam. For company I had matey Kev Winstone on peg 18 who would be difficult to beat especially if he listened to my advice!

Any peg on this Pool with cover hold F1's. I have noticed that BAA have trimmed some of the islands which is OK but please leave the margins overgrown, otherwise we won't be able to catch the F1's in any numbers. Won't catch these fish on a mud bank. As can be seen from the picture above peg 19 had plenty of margin cover and therefore holds plenty of F1's - the problem is encouraging them out from the reeds to feed.

Two paste rigs - one for out in front and one for both margins just in front the reeds in 31/2 foot of water at top set plus three barrels of margin pole. Also the Ronnie rig in case I couldn't see the down the margin. Started out in front with the paste over a pot of micro and as expected the same as previous match plenty of nibblers. So quickly abandoned after feeding some DR's in GB for the Silvers as back up. Went down the RH margin which felt as if it wouldn't produce. So round to the left with paste over micro and kindered hard 4's and could just about see the float and had a couple of F1's before the sun squeezed through the trees and hindered my vision. So thought I would try the Silvers with singe LR over the GB and loose fed LR's. I fished this for an hour which accounted for 8 lb of Silvers. I felt I had a chance to frame in the Silvers, but wanted to go for the win. So back in the margin but the sun was a pain, so set up the waggler to fish further down to the end bank where visibility was far better. With double LR over loose fed LR's I had two quick big F1's before I was pestered by small Perch. Luckily the sun had moved on and I could go back to the margin paste rig. This resulted in spells of catching F1's catch two and the shoal backed off. Late on I caught two small Carp and two better ones, the largest coming just before the whistle. Kev had caught a very similar amount of fish as me so it was going to be tight.

My silvers weighed 8 lb 2 oz, The four carp 30 lb and the F1's 24 lb 12 oz for a match winner weight of 62 lb 14 oz beating Kev in to second spot by just 3 lb 2 oz which was the difference between our Silvers weights!

I usually give my trophies to the junior for recycling, however for sentimental reason I will be keeping this one in the office. 

The Silvers was won by Paul Barnfield with a low weight of 14 lb 4 oz from peg 14. Paul Caught at 13 metres using his worm hook bait over chopped worm and copious amounts of micro. Well done matey.

Back to the pub with the usual suspects and a nice end to another memorable day mainly thanks to Arron Britnell, James Buckle and the rest of the BAA committee.

Result:

Weigh Sheet:

Thursday 23/01/2020 - Bathampton AA - Silvers Priority and Carp - Bridge Pool

I decided to have last weekend off, mainly due to not fancying any of the venues at the moment. So today I was looking forward to getting out again on the Bathampton Silvers thingy. The weather promised to be dry with light winds - Yeh. I had a walk around the pool and found it dour with no signs of fish. That said the colour was about about the same, even though the Pool had been iced over.

Numbers gradually growing back now at 15 and hopefully next match we will have a couple more with 20 about right.

In to the draw bag and out comes peg 24. For a while I have been fancying this peg, but didn't choose a peg today on walkabouts. Nonetheless happy with this. I was in good company with Ray Bazeley on the left and Glenn Bailey on the right.

Last match the Skimmers didn't show with it being a Ronnie match. I expected it to be the similar today.

I set up too much really, probably because I had plenty of time to the all in: The Ronnie rig - not used. The waggler - three casts then retired. The 4x10 maggot dobbing rig. Finally a yellow tip 4x16 to fish top-set plus three barrels at 10 0'clock.

I decided to start long and keep it tight with minimum feed, comprising some Pinkie in a large grape size tight ball of GB to start with double Pinkie on a Tubertini 808 no 20 to a 0.14 GLine - heavy line but if I hook a lump I want to get it out - so a compromise which can be changed at anytime. It took 15 minutes before I hooked my first 12 oz Skimmer. I then had a good run of Skimmers from 2 oz to 2 lb topping up after every fish with tight nuggets through the Kinder pot. After an hour the line faded so I started to feed loose GB and Pinkie again through the kinder - all on the same line. I started to get the odd Ronnie but it was slow, so went back to the hard nuggets and had a F1. I have noticed that the F1's tend to feed in a frenzy above the feed and probably the cause of the Skimmers moving off. I had another F1 before resting it and tried the double red live maggot dobbing down the right with the float set at three foot. I had a couple of F1's before switching back to the long line where I had some more Skimmers. The line died again leaving me with the quadery as to whether the hard nuggets, the loose feed or just too much caused the F1's to venture in. I spent the last hour dobbing maggot and had some more F1's losing a Carp of about 8 lb.

My Silvers weighed 10 lb 6 oz and my F1's 9 lb 6 oz totaling 19 b 12 oz for first in the Silver section and third overall. So a nice days fishing.

Hugie Evans (pictured upper right) won the match with 31 lb 4 oz of Carp from peg 19 fishing maggot hook bait over caster long down his RH edge towards the tree.

The next best part of the day spent with some of the usual suspects back at the pub.

All the Silver section winners pictured:

Result:

B Section:
1. John Fry 10-14-0 peg 8
2. Paul Barnfield 8-14-0 peg 10
C Section:
1. Mike Nicholls 10-06-0 peg 24
2. Hughie Evans 31-04-0 peg 19
Section D:
1. John Smith 12-14-0 peg 27
2. Paul Clayton 12-12-0 peg 29

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 09/01/2020 - Bathampton AA - Silvers Priority and Carp - Bridge Pool

First of the Winter Silvers Priority matches kindly sponsored by Premier Angling. Thirteen of us fishing today due to a few missing for numerous reasons. So two sections with the highest Silver weight winning the section and highest Carp/Silvers weight runner up - all devised by organiser Dave Gillard.

Second into the draw bag and out comes peg 14, happy with this one as conditions allowing can be a great waggler peg, albeit F1's. Arriving at the peg and found the conditions perfect for the waggler plus it was very mild with  just enough wind. So F1's in would be then.

I set up a small feeder, a small bodied waggler and a 4x14 Winter Titan F1 to fish top-set plus four barrels. I fed the pole line with GB laced with caster, but started on the feeder and had a 2 oz Perch on the drop first cast. I then had a drop back with both pinkies missing - F1 methinks. So Feeder retired early and after feeding some LR's over I tried the pole in case there was some Skimmers about and after five small Ronnie's on the single caster I had to pick up the waggler and had an F1 first cast on single DR. After which I had a few Ronnies and that's how the day went a few F1's followed by Ronnie's. I did lose two proper Carp foul hooked landing one about 4 lb. A perfect day except for the horrendous downpour with an hour to go during which I didn't have a bite!

My Silvers weighed 4 lb 4 oz and my F1's 25 lb 9 oz for a match winning total of 29 lb 13 oz which only got me second in section.

My section was won jointly by newbie Glenn Bailey and oldie John "Cliff" Smith (pictured upper right) both with 7 lb 8 oz of Silvers made up mainly of small Roach.

Paul Clayton had the highest Silvers weight of the day from peg 30 weighing 8 lb 3 oz.

The Premier Angling tackle voucher was drawn by another newbie Kevin Winston (pictured right).

Back to the pub with the usual suspects and some newbies. Another memorable day.

Result:

Section A:
Silvers:
1. Glenn Bailey 7-08-0 peg 6
1. John Smith 7-08-0 peg 4
Carp:
Mike Nicholls 29-13-0 peg 14

Section B:
Silvers:
1. Paul Clayton 8-03-0 peg 30
Carp:
Paul Turner 21-01-0 peg 21

Weigh Sheet: Ringing wet:

Thursday 21/03/2019 - Bathampton AA - Club Match - Sections Only - Bridge Pool

First stop for Geoff and me was the usual Hungry Horaces for another decent breakfast. Geoff commented on how light the traffic was travelling to the venue - lack of temporary traffic lights I think.

We arrived in plenty of time for me to have my traditional walk around the Lake. The Brown colour had started to fall out especially down the far end. I must say I did fancy peg 3 today as it would have plenty of room. What was most noticeable for once in many days - NO HIGH WINDS.

Eighteen fishing today so two pegs to be pulled - 19 and 4 were chosen - peg 3 looking even better.

Last but two into the draw bag and out comes disc 6. Happy with this especially as Withy Pool was closed so the road behind would be quiet. For company I had Curly Jones on peg 7 and Dave Poole on peg 5. Peg 6 is one of the easiest peg for rig selection - just the one 4x16 Winter Titan to fish top-set plus four out in front. I also set up the waggler in case.

Started by feeding a nub of GB with loose micros and with a 4 mm expander on the hook had a 1 lb Skimmer first put in, followed by four more - blimey didn't expect this but always worry when this happens as you can end up sitting for the next four hours without a bite. Luckily this didn't happened but it was obviously going to slow. I steadily kept a few Skimmers coming and a couple of Tench. With two hours to go it really slowed so switch the same line to Pinkie in GB with loose fed over the top. Whilst this settled I had a go on the waggler towards the end on the island with single LR on the hook over loose fed same and had an F1 first cast. I had two more of these before I lost three munters that decided they would go round the end of the island. Waggler abandoned. Back on the pole with double Pinkie and caught the odd Skimmer, Ronnie and a decent Perch. The swim was starting to come alive again just before the all out. I now wish I hadn't given the Waggler a try.

I finished with 24 lb 4 oz of Silvers and a total of 27 lb 11 oz for a Section win. I thoroughly enjoyed today especially the bit about the no high winds. me pictured right with todays catch.

The highest Silvers weight went to the Enigma (pictured upper right with his catch) from peg 15 with 28 lb 12 oz. Steve caught very similar to myself except he switched to maggot, just lose feeding and switch lines going further out to thirteen metres finding the up-shelf which kept Roach and Skimmers coming. Well done matey.

Geoff Francis also won his section so it was double bubble car today and a good turn out at the pub afterwards.

This was the end of the winter series which was to say the least interesting. Thanks to Dave Gillard for running this series. The Coffin Dodgers starts up next Thursday but this year being jointly run by Dave Gillard (07948 522403) and Ken Morgan.
  
Result:

A Section - Mike Nicholls 24-04-0 peg 6
A Section - John Fry 22-07-0 peg 3

B Section - Steve Dawson 28-12-0 peg 15
B Section - Ray Bazeley 30-12-0 peg 14

C Section - Dave Wride 25-0-0 peg 18
C Section - John Smith 27-08-0 peg 16

D Section - Geoff Francis 7-14-0 peg 27/26
D Section - Ken Morgan 7-08-0 peg 30

Knock Outs:

Tony Rixon
Mike Nicholls (Also rans)
Pictured right with runner ups.

Weigh Sheets: (Tony Rixon's tantrum pencil)

Thursday 07/03/2019 - Bathampton AA - Club Match - Sections Only - Bridge Pool

With Geoff working I was on my own today, so home cooking today - porridge. Arrived and had a look at the Pool and which still had a tinge of brown in it. The wind was fairly strong and was forecast to get stronger - and it did - gale force in fact. Only a few pegs out of the wind - 14, 21, 24 and 26. The pegs that would be most affected would be pegs 15, 18, 28,29 and 30 so hoping to miss these.

I was in the all-so-ran knockout final with Hughie Evans who had drawn peg 24. So I fancied his chances as the wind was not so bad on this peg.

Into the draw bag and out comes peg 28. There was a shout of redraw, due to not enough pegs in the bag, however, no drew necessary as it was sorted. This peg is probably one of the better Skimmers pegs, but today would be affected by the high winds. For company I had Enigma on peg 29. Peg 26 was occupied by Dave Wride.

I set up the waggler for the open water as a back-up to the 4x16 winter Titan. I had planned to try fishing expander over GB at top-set plus three. So started on this and had a great twenty minutes catching four Skimmers and an F1. Subsequently the peg completely died, which I suspects was due to a number of reasons, but primarily the wind had got up so bad I couldn't hold the pole rendering the presentation awful. I had a go on the waggler over the pole line which was a relief from fighting the wind with the pole. The presentation wasn't too bad either. I had four small fish on this. A gust of wind then took all my bait tubs and GB bowl over behind me. I did recover the GB bowl but could not find all my bait tubs!! It was now a question of picking up my bait from the ground! Throughout the day I spent quite some time collecting and fishing out various bits of fishing kit. I mixed up some more GB and switched to maggot at top-set plus two. As the wind was driving in at me from a 11 o'clock direction making things very difficult. I did hook my biggest Skimmer of about 2 lb on this line but it proved to be a question on losing my pole or the fish, no contest - pole safe. I had two small fish and one 10 oz Skimmer before the welcome all out was called.

My Silvers weighed 5 lb 5 oz with my total weight being 6 lb 5 oz. Second in the section Silvers but more important I beat Hughie by 2 oz. I'm getting tired of my matches being plagued by the wind. This is the fourth match that I've had to fight with the wind which has seriously affected my weights. Hope this changes soon - climate change. It was a seriously tough match fir me today.

The match was won by John Fry (pictured right) with 21 lb 6 oz from peg 8. John caught mostly Skimmers at top-set plus two slightly down wind to his left using expander hook bait over micro. well done to him.

Result:

A Section - 1 - Tony Rixon - 18-15-0 peg 3
A section - 2 - Dave Gillard - 4-06-0 peg 7

B Section - 1 - John Fry - 21-06-0 peg 8
B Section - 2 - Allan Oram 24-06-0 peg 11

C Section - 1 - Paul Barnfield 9-07-0 peg 16
C Section - 2 - Hughie Evans 14-11-0 peg 24

D Section - 1 - Steve Dawson 7-04-0 peg 29
D Section - 2 - Dave Wride 17-14-0 peg 26

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 21/02/2019 - Bathampton AA - Club Match - Sections Only - Bridge Pool

Geoff and I had our usual breakfast at Hungry Horaces. Today seemed better than usual, was it the spring like weather or just cooked differently. With the school run on holiday it was an easy drive to the fishery. Why don't all kids walk to school like I had to!

Bridge Pool having a recent waste of money siltexing had now turned a brown colour - probably an Algae. I didn't fancy it at all and didn't know where the best pegs would be today but would be happy with peg 14.

As can be seen from the video below I had drawn Cliff who was downunder with his wife on holiday so fished against his stand in Cliff Rolfe!

Late into the draw bag and out comes peg 15 - near enough I'm thinking. For company I had Hughie Evans on peg 14 and Mike Jones on peg 16 who, when he wasn't fighting with the opposite innocent brambles was knocking my top-sets with his very long whip.

I set up the usual 4x16 Winter Titan to fish at top-set plus four barrels at 11 o'clock and a light waggler to fish over to the end of the island. I started on the pole with single maggot over GB laced with Pinkie which just sat there whilst Hughie was catching decent Skimmers short on soft pellet. I reckon he had 8 lb in the net before I had my first fish - a micro Ronnie. I persevered with this line by topping up regularly, which only resulted in more tiny Ronnies. With no signs of Skimmers I was only left with section second to fish for, so picked up the waggler rod. With single LR on the hook fished over loose fed half and half caster and LR's started to catch some better Ronnies. In and out I kept feeding the pole line which didn't show any sign of Skimmers. The upshot was I spent the rest of the match on the waggler and towards the end started to catch some F1's mixed in with the Ronnies and a 1 lb Perch. I must admit I enjoy this type of fishing. The varying wind was a bit of a nuisance at times.

My Silvers weighed 7 lb 1 oz and my F1's 8 lb 14 oz for a section second of 15 lb 15 oz. Plus I beat Cliff Rolfe on the knockout.


The match and the Silvers was won by Tony Rixon (pictured right with his Skimmer catch) with 20 lb 12 oz and 32 lb 4 oz overall from peg 5. Tony caught on GB and casters. See his blog for the details...

Geoff finished joint second overall with 18 lb 6 oz from peg 6.


Result:

A Section - Tony Rixon 20-12-0 peg 5
A Section - Geoff Francis 18-06-0 peg 6

B Section - Steve Dawson 11-08-0 peg 10
B Section - Mike Nicholls 15-15-0 peg 15

C Section - Dave Gillard 8-15-0 peg 24
C Section - Ken Morgan 18-06-0 peg 21

D Section - Dave Wride 13-08-0 peg 28
D Section - Ray Bazeley 11-10-0 peg 30

Keynsham Angling Voucher - peg 4 - Pete Greenslade

Weigh Sheets:

Today's Video:

Thursday 07/02/2019 - Bathampton AA - Club Match - Sections Only - Bridge Pool

Geoff and I had another enjoyable breakfast in the Cafe opposite:

We arrived at the fishery in plenty of time. Everyone commented on how milky the water looked in Bridge pool. It was evident that the Pool had been Siltexed once again. The Siltex appeared to be suspended in the cold water. Another waste of club funds.

Chris Rolfe has stated that he won't be running this years Coffin Dodgers matches which start in March 2019! Shame.

Into the draw bag and out comes peg 16. Happy enough with this peg as it is the narrowest peg on the Pool. However, the wind was howling through the peg which would make presentation very difficult if not impossible at times.

I set up a red top 4x16 Winter Titan to fish top-set plus four. And due to the siltexing  I wasn't sure if the fish would be on bottom so set up a 4x12 WT to fish halfway up the far shelf. Both lines would be with pinkie either with or without GB.

I started on the deep line which was at 2 o'clock by feeding a knub of GB laced with Pinkie and with the same on the hook started to get bites from small Ronnies, unfortunately most of them were falling off. I did change to a lighter elastic which didn't cure it. I'm not sure why this happens, but certain it's not anything to do with me or tackle, my thinking is they are very small and don't take the hook bait properly. I persevered with this line and occasionally got the float to go against the wind. I wanted to try over but the wind and sun prevented this for some while so had to stick catching the odd very small Skimmers and Ronnie. Once the sun moved on and the wind dropped I did go over and caught a few more Ronnies and four F1's. If only I could present I would have had a lot more. Today the environmental conditions conspired to turn a decent peg into a right struggle. A third way in to the match Dave Wride on peg 19 had an early bath for a FOE.


My four F1's weighed 4 lb and my Silvers 4 lb 11 oz for second in section weight of 8 lb 11 oz. My section was won by Chris Ollis (pictured right) with a nice net of quality Perch and Roach weighing 9 lb 4 oz from peg 24. I was envious of him having the wind off his back.

The match and silvers was won by Tony Rixon (pictured right with his Silvers catch) with 15 lb 14 oz from peg 29. See his blog for the details...

Result:

A Section: 
1. John "Cliff" Smith 9-04-0 peg 7
2. Paul Barnfield 8-14-0 peg 4

B Section:
1. Steve Dawson 10-08-0 peg 10
2. Hughie Evans 6-01-0 peg 8

C Section:
1. Chris Ollis 9-04-0 peg 24
2. Mike Nicholls 8-11-0 peg 16

D Section:
1. Tony Rixon 12-12-0 peg 29
2. Ray Bazeley 9-02-0 peg 30

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 24/01/2019 - Bathampton AA - Club Match - Sections Only - Bridge Pool

Geoff and I had our usual decent breakfast at Hungry Horace's. iIn arrival I had my usual walk around the Lake. There were some signs of fish on peg 7, otherwise it look a bit dower.

This series got even more complex today with another knockout for the losers from the first knockout, of which I was one. Draw done and I am to fish against Enigma (Steve Dawson).

So into the draw bag hoping to draw 7. Well not far away with peg 5 you think. Alas not as this peg is narrow due to the opposite island. Peg 7 is in open water. What was good I could keep an eye on Enigma who was on peg 4. The other side on peg 6 was mumbler Paul Haines.

I initially set up the usual rig for the typical depth, a 4x16 rig. However, this peg must be the shallowest on the pool so was able to use a yellow tipped 4x14 F1 Winter. I plumbed up in the deepest part which was at 10 metres into dark water. I didn't bother over as the pool is so clear I thought it would be unproductive, so the one rig fished in the same spot all match was the plan - there was not really anywhere else to go. Geoff Francis had drawn peg 24 so I walked around to him and gave him a couple of pointers.

To be honest I wasn't expecting much from the swim and anticipated coming last in section if not last in the match. Last match one Roach was caught from it. So I fed a small ball of GB laced with some Pinkies and with double on the hook sat there for an hour without any indication. Meanwhile Enigma was catch 1 - 2 ounce Roach regularly. Ray Bazeley had also started well on peg 7 catching some decent Skimmers. The writing was on the wall. I then broke the blank with a small Ronnie. Approaching the end of the second hour I had a decent Skimmer followed quickly by another. It then died again. I decided to feed the Pinkie and GB loose which seem to switch the peg on providing a few more bites than I had been getting. Another two Skimmers and some Ronnies before it died again, this time for a very long hour. With 45 minutes to go I had another two Skimmers before the all out.

I was happy with how I fished the peg with it due to my tenacity than anything else. I weighed 8 lb 14 oz for second in section and third overall in the Silvers! More importantly I beat Enigma in the all-so-ran knock out cup. However, Enigma did go home with a smile as he won the Keynsham Angling donated £20 voucher raffle for those that don't pick up on the day.

My section and the match Silvers was won by Ray Bazeley (pictured upper right) with 12 lb 15 oz from my fancied peg 7. Ray caught on maggot over GB fished at mainly 11 metres.

The overall weight was caught by Geoff Francis from peg 24 with 17 lb 13 oz (pictured right - happiness is with a cider in the hand)

Result:

A Section 1st Ray Bazeley 12-15-0 peg 7
A Section 2nd Mike Nicholls 8-14-0 peg 5

B Section 1st Chris Ollis 8-04-0 peg 15
B Section 2nd Alan Oram 9-11-0 peg 8

C Section 1st Tony Rixon 11-06-0 peg 16
C Section 2nd Geoff Francis 17-13-0 peg 24

D Section 1st Paul Barnfield 6-12-0 peg 29
D Section 2nd Dave Gillard 7-7-0 peg 27

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 10/01/2019 Bathampton AA - Club Match - Sections Only - Bridge Pool

Today was the start on the BAA post Christmas matches being run by Dave Gillard (pictured right - someone put a thumb mark on my camera lens hence the poor quality)

The matches are based on 4 sections of 5 with two payouts - First coin goes to the highest Silvers section weight and second to the highest combined weight Defaulted - interestingly different.

First Geoff and I stopped at Hungry Horaces, we both agreed it was a good-un. It appears that it's the time of year when the temporary traffic lights are brought out of storage. Keynsham and surrounding roads are littered with the dam things.

Dave did the draw for the knockout and I drew Steve Tanner. Into the draw bag and out comes peg 24. Not one of my winter favourites. However, there are many worse pegs. My five peg section was 16, 18,19, 21 and 24. Peg 16 would have been my Silvers choice and 21 for Carp.

I set up a 4x16 Titan to fish at top-set and four barrels at 10 o'clock for Skimmers/Ronnies over GB and maggot. A 4x12 to fish over to the Island and down the RH margin in the hope of catching Perch that are sometimes caught on this peg. As I had time I set up the waggler to fish out in the open water, I now regret not giving it a try.

On the all-in I fed just the GB line and with a big live red maggot on the hook tipped with a flouro Pinkie it took a while to catch my first Ronnie. After re-feeding I had a run of small Skimmers, this lead me to think I was going to have a good day. Unfortunately, after a couple of re-feeds the swim completely died. I tried switching the same rig etc...round to 2 o'clock never had any indications from here. So back on the previous line and after a long wait I foul hooked a decent Skimmer which came off - bugger. A few small Ronnies followed, ony for the swim to completely die again. So thought I would try the Perch rig, first over to the island, which is very shallow, add the gin clear water the line was soon abandoned. So now down the right side but this time I fished close to full depth with maggot over kindered maggot. I started to get indications which I thought was Perch. After missing some indications I hooked a 5 lb Carp which I was glad to finally net - it's amazing watching them fight in the clear water. I added two F1's on this line but no Perch. I tried the original line again to no avail. So I spent the last half hour down the right and with 5 minutes to go I was getting indications and struck into fresh air twice. I was sure it was F1's having a play. Missed another indication on the whistle. Very frustrating as another F1 would have got me through the knockout which I lost by 14 oz to Steve - well done to him.

My Silvers weighed 5 lb 12 oz with my Carp taking me to 13 lb for highest section weight and a second section pick up.

The highest Silvers and overall weight went to Dave Wride (pictured upper right with his 31 lb of Skimmers) with 54 lb 4 oz from peg 28. Dave caught in the water using expander hook bait over pellet.

It was back to the pub with the usual suspects including "Cliff" (pictured right - incase anyone wondered)

Result:

A Section - Mike Jones - 10-12-0 peg 7 Silvers
A Section - Chris Rolfe - 1-08-0 peg 6 Combined

B Section - Tony Rixon - 20-04-0 peg 14 - Silvers
B Section - Dave Gillard - 0-02-0 peg 10 - Combined

C Section - Allan Oram - 8-08-0 peg 16 - Silvers
C Section - Mike Nicholls - 13-0-0 peg 14 - Combined

D Section - Dave Wride - 31-0-0 peg 28 - Silvers
D Section - Steve Tanner - 13-12-0 peg 26 - Combined

Top Weight on Day: Dave Wride - 53-04-0 peg 28

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 16/03/2018 - Bathampton AA Open - Dave Crookes Fishery - Withy Pool

The following message received from Dave Bruton (Terry’s Son) please circulate to all Coffin Dodgers new and old:

Hi Mike
Hope you are good? Just wanted to give you an update on my dad!
The last couple of weeks he has not been good and keeps falling over and now had his license taken away! I don’t think he will ever be able to fish again! I would also like to thank you and the lads at Hunstrete for looking out for him over the years and making it so he could fish! Please can you let the lads know and thank them from me for all what they have done
Cheers
Dave

Back on Withy again!! Nineteen booked in so we could be more selective on which pegs to put in. However, it’s such a hard venue to peg.

“Just in time” Chris Orris – some say he’s either been to the Happy Eater or has auditioned for Hi-Di-Hi. Later his new acquisition was to blow off in the wind to reveal what some thought was a scull cap!!

We were all hoping for peg 57 where the better Silvers fish appear to have been corralled by the “Black Death”.  The fish are also shoaled up on  the now defunct peg 50.

Into the draw bag and out came a peg which I recorded with the scribes noting I was next to Dave Poole. Two minutes later I had forgotten which peg it was, but seen Dave Poole heading off so followed him. Luckily he had the weigh sheet so peg 59 it was – thought it had a 9 in it!!

Opposite on peg 49 was Dave Gillard (view from my peg) who did invite me to cast over to the old peg 50. However, even though the visibility was much better there I would stick to the bounds of my peg.

Not the peg I would have chosen simply due to the wind once again being in my face combine that with the tree line and sun I couldn’t see any sort of coloured float top – I tried them all settling on a red top waggler with a dash of white on the top. As for the pole I had to fish 11.5 metres round at 10-o'clock to reach an area giving some sort of visibility.  My expectations weren’t high as the peg hasn’t fish that well so far this term. My thinking was to fish for Ronnie’s until the last hour then up the feed in the anticipation of a Carp or two.

I set up the 11.5 metres of pole with a 4x16 and fed two large balls of GB laced with maggot but started on the waggler and started as expected catching small Ronnie’s on maggot over maggot. The presentation was good but I would say for 25% of the time I couldn’t see my float. Feeding was equally as difficult due to the gusting veering wind. I’ve had enough of the winds through this winter. I kept plugging away on the waggler for a couple of hours until it slowed then switched to the pole where I could get a bite every put in from tiny ½ oz Ronnie’s, most of which were coming off shipping back – very frustrating. Decided to put a lot of caster over this line and revert back to the waggler.  The fish had returned so kept on with this until I had another go with the pole with a single caster and caught/lost more small Ronnie’s and one 4oz Perch. The small fish certainly like the ground bait, but guess this size of fish is not the preferred fodder of Cormorants. I could see Carp starting to show over between the ropes to the left of old peg 50, so time to up the feed. The Ronnie’s switched off which I was hoping was due to Carp, if it was I didn’t catch one. My loose feeding was awful spreading far too far which wasn’t conducive to focusing a Carp on my hook bait.

I weighed 7lb 12oz for third Silvers and picked up second by default. I wish I could have used the pole properly, next time I will definitely employ a corn and micro line.

More ribbing followed back at the pub from Dave “last gasp” Gillard who hooked his usual last 10 minute Carp.

The match and Silvers was won by Tony Rixon from flyer peg 57 with 47lb 14oz which included 27lb 1oz of Silvers (27lb of quality of silvers pictured right - If only these were in every peg!). For how Tony caught see his blog…

Overall the Pool fish terrible with some swims nearly devoid of catchable fish.

Result:

1. Tony Rixon 47-14-0 peg 57
2. Dave Gillard 16-0-0 peg 49
3. Martin McMahon 13-11-0 peg 47

Silvers:

1. Tony Rixon 27-01-0 peg 57
2. Mike Jones 9-03-0 peg 63
3. Mike Nicholls 7-12-0 peg 59

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 22/02/2018 - Bathampton AA - Open - Withy Pool

First stop for Geoff and me – Hungry Horace’s. Two freshly cooked Speedwell’s soon devoured.

A biting Easterly wind and a ground frost greeted us at Withy Pool. First visit here for Geoff, so waked him round pointing out the pegs to avoid and the ones not. I told him I fancied peg 57 which surprised Geoff as it is a narrow channel between bank and island. I have only fished it the once and had my best days Roach fishing on this Pool weighing 26lb of quality.

We all said our farewells to fellow Coffin Dodger – Charlie Barnes with a minute’s silence. Gone but will be talked about for years to come, most of the South West Match Anglers has a story or two about him.

Into the draw bag and out comes peg 45, and Geoff peg 57!!! I was happy with my peg even though it’s in open water there was some cover from the wind which would have been better if it was off my back instead of in my face as it was freezing. For company I had Gas Head Peter Greenslade on the left and on the other side Shit Head (pictured upper right).

This peg is one of the deepest on the Pool so set up a 4x16 to fish at 10 metres just keeping the black top in the white water. At last I could fish the waggler properly – yippy. Because of the wind and the depth I clipped on a 10 inch loaded bodied waggler to fish as far as the catty and wind would permit.

I fed the pole line with GB laced with dead Pinkies and fed the waggler line with live maggot, but found I couldn’t get the distance I wanted. I had a couple of casts with the waggler and found presentation very good holding station well. On to the pole to have a quick look with single maggot and found I was getting tiny indications which I thought was tiny Ronnie’s, which proved correct landing two and a small Skimmer. Meanwhile Mike Jones opposite had been playing a Carp for ten minutes. I felt the pole and GB wasn’t going to produce today so picked up the waggler with intentions to fish it all match. Meanwhile I would loose feed the pole line – can’t help myself sometimes! The up shot was I had a really enjoyable waggling day catching Ronnie’s to 3oz and hand size Skimmers and Hybrids. I did try the pole line and found the fishing exactly the same as with both the GB and loose feed. The Skimmers certainly wouldn’t come in close. I fed about ¼ pint of liveish reds all through the match. I was very pleased I was beating Shit Head until ten minutes to go when he caught and landed a large Carp (pictured right). More humble pie to eat at the pub. WELL DONE MATEY.

I finished the match with 12lb 10oz of Silvers and not one sign of a Carp. This was good enough for a Silvers win and fourth overall (pictured upper right).

The match was won by my “back in the day” angling hero Mike Jones (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 37lb 4oz from peg 69. Mike caught five Carp landing three on his favourite waggler and maggot approach.

Geoff fished caster and had a great first hour, but unfortunately struggled for the remainder of the match.

Back to the pub with the usual suspects to round off another great day out with like minded people (pictured right).

Full Result:

1. Mike Jones 37-04-0 peg 69
2. Dave Gillard 19-14-0 peg 43
3. Ray Bazeley 14-0-0 peg 40

Top Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 12-10-0 peg 45
2. John Fry 6-12-0 peg 67
3. Martin McMahon 6-03-0 peg 73

Weigh Sheets: