Thursday 17/03/2011 - Bathampton AA Silvers Championship - Huntstrete - Final Round Seven - Bridge Pool

St Patrick’s Day saw Harry Muir do an Irish jig and present a card to our good friend Andy Shield on his 53rd Birthday ( Andy pictured right reading good wishes!).

In to the draw bag and out comes peg 16. I was delighted with this as I have many fond memories of this peg. On peg 17 I had Martin Alexander and peg 15 the mad Irish man Harry Muir for company.

I set up the usual two rigs – 1 x 4x16 Jolly and a 1 x Ronnie rig. I started by pot feeding four big balls of GB at 7 metres and first put in had a Skimmer on the drop which came off shipping back – happy days – not. It took 15 minutes before I had a 4 oz Skimmer in the net. Looking around the fishing appeared to be slow. I concluded that the Skimmers weren’t going to feed as they are usually first on parade. So after an hour and four small Skimmers in the net it was time for the Ronnie rig with caster hook bait over caster. First cast I had an indication following this I had a run of Ronnie’s up to 6oz. However, I soon realised that the fish were up in the water so took 2 foot off the depth and started to catch a lot quicker. With two hours to go the swim died so switched to the maggot and kept the Ronnie’s coming albeit them being a lot smaller. Unconsciously I kept putting a caster on the hook instead of a maggot and didn’t realise until I didn’t get a bites – I don’t often fish maggot for Ronnie’s! I weighed 16lb which was enough for a match win.

I was fishing for third place in the knockout with Rich Coles and managed to double his weight. However, the Knock out was won by Bill Ferris (pictured right with runner up Bob Price) with 14lb to Bob’s 4lb.

Paul Barnfield and I (both pictured right) were leading the pairs at the start of the match which we maintain by weighing in a total weight of 25lb, giving us an overall points tally of 62. Runners up were Rich Coles and Harry Muir with 52.

The overall league was a close affair on the day between the top two with Paul Barnfield just keeping the lead he held all series from Paul Staite (both pictured right), but by just one point. With the win today I managed to sneak up the league table and finish 3rd overall.

1. Paul Barnfield 74

2. Paul Staite 73
3. Mike Nicholls 66
4. Mike Jones 60
5. Rich Coles 50
6. Bill Ferris 36

Full Result on the day:

1. Mike Nicholls 16-0-0 peg 16
2. Bill Ferris 14-04-0 peg 24
3. Pete Phillips 13-02-0 peg 26
4. Mike Jones 10-11-0 peg 30
5. Paul Staite 10-09-0 peg 31
6. Harry Muir 9-04-0 peg 15

No Carp weighed.

Many thanks for a great series goes to Bathampton AA, Mike Jones and Veals Tackle for providing many tackle vouchers.

Sunday 13/03/2011 - Boyd Valley Open

Driving the 1 ½ miles down Rye Down Lane to Boyd Valley Lake I had to bang on the brakes because a Deer had jumped through the hedge landing just in front of me. On seeing me It immediately jumped back through. On arriving in thewcar park the field behind the lake had four Deer (pictured right) grazing, good to see.

The venue has become very popular for the East Enders of Bristol because of the short travelling distance, coupled with the ever escalating cost of fuel. I will be back again next week.

The question for me was would I pull peg 8 again. The answer was no, because Steve O’Toole was running late so Dave Haines drew his peg first and out came my peg 8 (did Steve turn up, I thought I heard his voice!).

In to the draw bag and out comes in-form Carp peg 3, umm. Due to the over night rain the peg had a red pool of water along the front sleeper, I tried to perch my seat box away from it, but soon resigned to sitting in it. I set up my usual Ronnie rig and one Skimmer rig to be fished just down the inside shelf at 7 metres. I decided to feed my 3 mm expander pellet in hard ground bait to get it down on the bottom quickly to stop the Ronnie’s eating them on the drop. I started after the Ronnie’s by feeding the usual caster with caster hook bait, catching straight off fish in the 3 to12oz bracket. I did have a go for the Skimmers but had only one of 3oz, so decided to stick with the Ronnie’s for the remainder of the match and other than one 2lb 5oz Carp ½ hour to go I had caught Ronnie’s regularly through out. My Ronnie’s weighed in at 31lb 4oz, giving a total of 33lb 9oz for first in the Silvers and fourth overall.

The match was won by venue first timer Matt Taynton (pictured right with his catch) with 49lb 6oz from peg 9. Matt caught some early small Carp out in front at 7 metres. Matt later switched to both left and right hand margin with corn hook bait catching three quality Carp to 8lb in the last half hour or so.

Full Result:

1. Matt Taynton 49-06-0 peg 9
2. Lee Waller 38-04-0 peg 11
3. Leyton Palmer 36-04-0 peg 1
4. Mike Nicholls 33-09-0 peg 3
5. Bela Bakos 19-04-0 peg 2
6. Steve Jefferies 16-01-0 peg 5

Top Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 31-04-0 peg 3
2. Dave Haines 14-10-0 peg 4

Thursday 10/03/2011 - Bathampton AA Silvers Championship - Huntstrete - Round Six - Withy Pool

I am safe in saying that the conditions today seriously impacted the fishing of every angler. Primarily there was a strong to gale force South Westerly blowing at cloud level. However, at lake level it was a different story all together. The wind was converted to strong gusts hitting everyone at all points of the compass. This made holding the pole and presentation very difficult to impossible most of the time. I had a first today seeing a water spout which was formed on the surface of the lake and was approximately 12 foot diameter lifting the water some 2 foot. I was also amazed how fast the wind can change direction.

I was still in the Knockout with four of us left; I drew Bob Price who had drawn end peg 41. Bob said he was going to beat me with big Silvers – true to his word as it happened.

In to the draw bait container and out comes peg 43. Happy with this peg – normally! Martin Alexander said I could expect to catch Carp on this peg, we’ll see.

I had packed a feeder rod because of the expected high winds and in case I drew in the low sixties. But because peg 43 is narrow I left it in the car. I set up one Slimmer rig a 4x16 Jolly to be fished just down the self at 10 metres. Surprisingly as there was no appreciable tow it was just about the right weight. I also set up a short Ronnie rig – I can’t remember why now!! On the whistle I fed four balls of Skimmer GB laced with a few casters and pinkies at 10 metres. Out with single red maggot and - nothing. On to a single pinkie and I had a few 1oz Ronnie’s before I latched in to a 9lb “Barny” type Carp (short and plump). So Martin was right and I think the issue of Carp was to keep my Ronnie’s disappearing for long spells. I was struggling not only with being bite less but with the wind. It was so bad Steve Jefferies on next peg 42 packed up early. With 1 ½ hour left I had enough of pole fencing with the wind and went to the car and got the Feeder rod. It wasn’t very productive for the twenty minutes I used it, but it did give my arms a rest. My Silvers weighed in at 4lb 13oz for nowhere and my single Carp went 9lb 9oz for a consolation pick up of first in the Carp pool.

As predicted Bob Price (pictured right with his runner up catch) beat me very easily with 14lb 11oz of big Skimmers - well done matey. Bob now faces his good friend Bill Ferris in the knockout final who knocked out Rich Coles.

The match was won for the second consecutive match by Paul Staite with 24lb 14oz from end peg 60.Paul caught eight Bream on the pole using 4 mm soft pellet hook bait fished over and mix of micro and 4 mm expander.

Full Result:

1. Paul Staite 24-14-0 peg 60
2. Bob Price 14-11-0 peg 41
3. Harry Muir 13-15-0 peg 62
4. Mike Jones 10-09-0 peg 69
5. Chris Rolfe 8-13-0 peg 48
6. Paul Barnfield 6-05-0 peg 45

Top Carp:

1. Mike Nicholls 9-09-0 peg 43
2. Bob Price 7-07-0 peg 41

Wednesday 09/03/2011 - Carps AC Plantation Winter League - Round Three

More good news for The Sedges Fishery from Paul Locke who during a recent bagging pleasure session on Tile Lake found himself in the middle of a major restocking. Paul stopped fishing to witness the goings on and was amazed to see a large amount of big Bream up to 8lb being stocked. Returning to his swim and after a quick re-feed with micro pellet had an eight pounder first put in – so they must be dead easy to catch then!!

I had an ultimatum today from Leyton Palmer – “Complain about my driving again and you will be riding in the back of the van blindfolded”. So today ride was very sedate, even though Leyton was one out of the money!! Leyton found somewhere unusual for breakfast – Yatton Railway Station. I must say it was a tad expensive, but very good food. I really enjoyed my coffee, no heart burn today.

The weather forecast was for strong SW winds, which there was no sigh of at the draw. However, I was hoping for a draw on the far bank which would give the wind off the back. In to the draw bucket and out comes another peg with “island chuck” peg 8. Apparently this is a good Carp and Skimmer peg, but was fished the day before! For company today I had Dave Wride on peg 7. I decided on the same set up as the previous venue match and after feeding four balls of Skimmer GB at 11.5 metres the wind picked up and was blowing right in to me and it was gusting. I started on the long Ronnie rig with single caster over loose fed caster and didn’t have a bite. The wind wasn’t helping my feeding it was falling short and going all over the place. So put a small pot of casters in at four metres and tried the Skimmer line. It was soon apparent that my 7x 11 modified PB14 was far too light for the wind strength. However, didn’t bother to change as I was still expecting to bag up on Ronnie’s. I initially didn’t have a bite on 3 mm expander so switched to a single red maggot and had a run of Skimmers to 1 ½ lb but mostly 4 to 6 oz fish. I tried another pellet and hooked a 6lb Carp which gave me a right song and dance, so decided to stay with the red maggot. The swim died so I re-fed with three balls of GB and tried the short Ronnie line. First try I had a 1lb Ronnie’s followed by a 2lb Perch. But that was it on this line the fish wouldn’t come close enough. I tried the long Ronnie rig again and had a run of 2-3oz Ronnie’s. Back out on the Skimmer line and for some strange reason I kept foul hooking decent Skimmers just putting a few scales in the net! I wish I could see what was happening under the water. The fish then settled and another short run ob small Skimmers followed. Towards the end the wind died and for ¾ of an hour I had a 2oz Ronnie every cast plus a bonus 2lb Skimmer. Silvers weighed in at 27lb 6oz for second in the Silvers, adding the 6lb Carp my total weight was 33lb 6oz for 7th overall.

The match was won by Chris Davis (pictured right with some of his catch) with a massive 131lb 8oz from peg 4. Chris caught at 13 metres fishing hard banded 6mm pellet just off bottom. Chris fed 6’s and 8’s through his catapult feeding less than a pint all match.

The Silvers was won by Steve Dawson (pictured bottom right) from peg 33 with 28lb 10oz. Steve caught initially at 9 metres over GB then kinder potted soft pellet. After Steve had netted 10lb of Skimmers he swithched to the maggot at 4 metres down the right and had a good rest of the match catching quality Ronnie’s.

Full Result:

1. Chris Davis 131-08-0 peg 4
2. Darren Vowles 77-0 -0 peg 29
3. Bob Price 46-06-0 peg 18
4. Leyton Palmer 42-13-0 peg 38
5. Steve Kedge 39-06-0 peg 27
6. Dave Wride 38-10-0 peg 7

Top Silvers:

1. Steve Dawson 28-10-0 peg 33
2. Mike Nicholls 27-06-0 peg 8
3. Mike Jones 23-06-0 peg 19

Sunday 06/03/2011 - Viaduct Teams Of Five Winter League - All Lakes - Round Five - Final Round

It was encouraging for the team to arrive at Viaduct to find that due to a weighing error on the previous match our team Silverfox TM (motley crew pictured right) were promoted to first overall.

We were realsitic enough to realised that we would need another good draw to hold off some of the better teams. Captain Tom had done a great job so far with the draw bag. However, not quite so good today, but could we get our target points of 50 from it?

My turn on Spring Lake and Tom handed me peg 12. Not that impressed, but cheered up when the Captain advised me to forget trying to catch Carp! It's twice in three days that I found myself next door to my fellow Coffin Dodger Rich Coles occupying peg 11.

Rich and I discussed best approach and both set up the same - waggler, small feeder and one pole rig. I found my peg strange in that peg 16 is casting (legally) across me and Rich towards the island. It leaves you wondering how far you can fish out. I decide my maximum would be at 12 o clock level with peg 15. I started by potting in one small ball of particle free GB at 13 metres, starting on the waggler with double dead red fished over loose fed caster. I soon had two Ruff in the net whilst pegs 14, 17, 18, 19, 10 and 9 were all catching Skimmers. I then had a 1lb Skimmer but it was very hard. On to the pole and another 1lb Skimmer, followed by a few micro Ronnie’s. I kept swopping between the waggler and pole but struggled. I put this down to the bright conditions combined with flat calm water surrounding me. Those that were catching had some ripple. So with an hour to go I had some ripple form just beyond my waggler line so picked up the small feeder rod with double Pinkie and one semi-conscious red maggot on the hook and with the GB packed with Pinkies cast to the ripple. After fifteen minutes I had a liner and subsequent to this I landed six Bream to 3lb in consecutive casts before the wind, hence cover disappeared. I weighed 18lb 3oz for 10 points (I think) which was well satisfying from this peg.

The match was won by John Buckingham (pictured right) from peg 100 with 13 quality fish for 99lb 8oz. John fished the lead with 10 mm punched meat hook bait on a 12 inch hook length. John fed nothing all match as he was fishing well beyond feeding range.

The Silvers was won by Matt Parsons (pictured right sporting a fluffy goaty beard) from peg 128 with 45lb 12oz. Matt caught on the pole using 4mm punched meat hook bait fished over liquidized meat fed in GB.

Team wise Silverfox TM did make our target points with 52. However, it wasn’t quite enough to take the overall title as Somerset Angling (pictured lower right) who were one point behind us before the start, put in an excellent performance from a good draw, beating us in to second position overall by 13 points. That said the whole team were delighted to have picked up £450 for second. Mostly thanks to Captain Tom who came second overall individual – well done matey a great series for you.

Full Result:

1. John Buckingham 99-08-0 peg 100
2. Anton Page 94-0-0 peg 123
3. Chris Ware 92-08-0 peg 114
4. John Howell 85-03-0 peg 102
5. Tom Mangnal 78-02-0 peg 85
6. Clive Petite 73-03-0 peg 3

Top Silvers:

1. Matt Parsons 45-12-0 peg 128
2. Alex Murray 41-09-0 peg 5
3. Paul Greenwood 39-06-0 peg 99
4. Stu Foales 35-04-0 peg 97

Teams On Day:

1. Keyford 70
2. Somerset Angling 66
3. Maver Veals Blue 62
4. Amigos 57
5. Sensas Thyers 56
6. Silverfox TM 52
7. Mega Baits 52
8. Garbolino BVMG 47
9. Team Jinx 44
10. Team Viaduct 42
11. Viaduct Select 41
12. Langport AA 38
13. Somerset Magic 34
14. Westerleigh 34
15. Avon Angling (Select!!) 23
16. Viaduct All Stars 22
17. Maver Veals Red 19

Teams Overall (Final Position):

1. Somerset Angling 278
2. Silverfox Angling 265
3. Garbolino BVMG 251
4. Team Viaduct 251
5. Maver Veals Blue 232
6. Maver Veals Red 228
7. Keyford 227
8. Team Jinx 220
9. Westerleigh 215
10. Avon Angling 196
11. Viaduct All Stars 194
12. Sensas Thyers 194
13. Somerset Magic 180
14. Amigos 178
15. Mega Baits 154
16. Langport AA 147
17. Viaduct Select 144

Top Overall Individuals:

1. Will Bohne 79

2. Tom Mangnal 75

3. Steve Kedge 70

4. John Howell 64

5. Paul Greenwood 63

Back at the pub waiting for the results I heard the barman shout out "one Cappuccino" and guess who it was for - see right - and what's Deano got the Hobbit doing?

Thursday 03/03/2011 - Bathampton AA Silvers Championship - Huntstrete - Round Five - Bridge Pool

Firstly, bad news for Steve Jefferies, apparently he shouldn’t have picked up for second default in the Silvers in yesterday’s Carps AC match that should have been Bill Ferris. Some financial adjustment needed I think.

Credit where credit is due and I know I have said this before but here goes again, Mike Jones is running a great series – he has a very professional approach and looking forward to the Coffin Dodgers starting in March, which looks like a sell out already. (I hope that’s enough consolation for beating him in the knock out today).

This winter seems to be longer than any I can remember, 1 degree leaving home and 3 degrees travelling home add the NE wind chill and we were all bloody freezing. Nonetheless, it was a good turn out (see pictured right some of the anglers setting up) – except where was my pair’s partner? Apparently Paul Barnfield has just landed himself a job as a Ranger with Bristol Water – congratulations’ matey, will we see Paul again?

In to the draw bag and out comes peg 28 (North facing), reasonably happy with this, but would have preferred an end peg with plenty of room. I had Rich Coles on peg 27 and Paul Haines on peg 29 for company. I wasn’t sure how it was going to fish so I decided to fish as far out as the light conditions would allow, which was 11.5metres. Two rigs 1 – 4x16 Jolly for the long line and a Ronnie rig for close in which proved to be optimistic. On the whistle I fed three balls of my Skimmer GB but without any particles added. I feed a bit of hemp seed on the short line – waste of money!! I started on double dead red and had a bite first put in the fish was so small the elastic gave him its freedom. After a longish wait I swapped to a single wriggly red and had a 1lb Skimmer – that’s better. The upshot was the fishing was extremely hard and I had the odd Skimmer on maggot throughout, re-feeding at half time, adding fifty Pinkies or so (no Mr Jones I didn’t count them) and with two hours to go I latched in to a Tench which really helped me on the day weighing 3lb 7oz (picture right with a very cold angler) which earned me a £15 voucher. As I didn’t think I had broken in to double figures I was well pleased with my 12lb 10oz and second overall.

The match was won by Paul Staite (pictured right with his all Skimmer catch) from end peg 32 with 15lb 15oz. Paul caught all his fish on expander pellet.

With only one Carp caught the entire Carp pool went to Harry Muir (pictured bottom right unhooking his one and only Carp). It weighed in at 6lb 11oz.

Full Result:

1. Paul Staite 15-15-0 peg 32

2. Mike Nicholls 12-10-0 peg 27

3. Mike Jones 11-10-0 peg 24

4. Harry Muir 9-05-0 peg 7

5. Ray Bazeley 7-07-0 peg 16

6. Rich Coles 6-14-0 peg 26

Top Carp:

1. Harry Muir 6-11-0 peg 7

Wednesday 02/03/2011 - Carps AC - Bitterwell Lake

I was in two minds whether to go today, primarily because of the cold North Easterly wind, plus I had a match Thursday. Anyway I woke at 06:30 so decided to get up and get on with it even though the temperature had fallen to 2 degrees.

On arrival I was surprised to find a good turn out of 13 anglers. Because of the wind direction Steve Dawson suggest that the car park bank should be pegged instead of the road side. Good idea. I drew peg 2 which luckily enough out of the wind, between Stu Foale’s and Colin Golding on peg 1.

After my lesson on feeding during the last match on this venue at the moment I decided to fish for the Roach rather than go for the resident Skimmers and feed very carefully. I set up a 5 metre whip and my Ronnie rig to be fished as far as I could without unshipping which was 9 metres. I started by kinder potting in three maggots and twelve casters. Even after this small amount of feed I had to wait 15 minutes for my first ½ oz Perch! I then had my one and only Skimmer of about 1 ½ lb. I kept kinder potting a similar amount of bait regular and I irregularly caught Ronnie’s to 12 oz. I didn’t get any of the usual small Ronnie’s which is normally the case. I kept the better fish coming through out the match, catching the one Skimmer, twenty five Ronnie’s and two micro Perch for 14lb 3oz. This put my first overall and first in the Silvers.

John Smith came down to see how I was catching and soon realised that he had fed far too much – similarly, another lesson learnt.

I could see the anglers opposite shivering whilst we on the sheltered bank were sweating, albeit the sun was reflecting very bright in our faces off the mirrored surface of the lake.

Runner up was Chris Davis (pictured right with the biggest Carp of only two caught) with a late 8lb Carp added to his Silvers gave him 13lb 7oz.

Pictured right collecting his winnings from the Legend is Steve Jefferies who was third overall but picking up by default in the Silvers with 10lb 10oz.

Full Result:

1. Mike Nicholls 14-03-0 peg 2
2. Chris Davis 13-07-0 peg 15
3. Steve Jefferies 10-10-0 peg 13
4. Steve Dawson 8-08-0 peg 14
5. Bill Ferris 6-05-0 peg 9
6. Andy Gard 5-15-0 peg 4

Top Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 14-03-0 peg 2
2. Steve Dawson 8-08-0 peg 14