Sunday19/08/2012 - Avon Angling Float Only League - Round Six- Viaduct - Campbell and Carey Lakes

It was back to Viaduct for the last in the Tony Rixon Float Only series. I have missed two matches and so well out of any league coin, so I could take a more relaxed approach to the match. This proved to be convenient as I pull peg 80 on Carey. The Lake everyone (except Bela) wanted to avoid as it is fishing below par at present. I have a bit of history with this peg the last time I fished it I really enjoyed the day so although not a pole peg for Carp I was thinking of an out and out Silvers attack. A way I could get a days fishing – hopefully. I really didn’t expect to pick up coin as there are only two Silvers payouts and pegs 124 and 125 on Campbell have been fishing exceptionally well for Skimmers.

I set up the Ronnie rig, a 4x12 jolly to be fished over to the spit at 11.5 metres, a 4x14 jolly to be fished out in front at 10 metres and finally I set up a paste rig to fish over the out in front line for any Carp or big Skimmers.

On the whistle I fed some CW&C up against the spit and started on the paste over a few micros. I started on paste because it’s a good tester of what’s in the peg. If there were Carp about I would soon know and if not the small fish would be nibbling away at the bait. First put in I hook a carp which fooled me in to thinking it had ran out in to the Lake only to find it was under my pallet -  I eventually lost the fish breaking my float. So on with another paste float to find the nibblers had arrived. So a switch to the soft 6mm pellet with kindered micro which started to produce a few hand size Skimmers, with a smattering of pounders. After an hour the swim started to fade with Ronnie’s arriving to torment me, so the awaited switch to the spit with worm which produced a quick response, but only from 2-3oz Ronnie’s. That it then out with the Ronnie rig for the rest of the match.

With two hours to go a bank walker said that pegs 24 and 25 were catching Skimmers with 20lb estimated as top. Umm, not quite there yet, but within striking distance, so I am now feeling I am in a fishing match, which is what it’s all about for me. I worked hard over the next couple of hours catching Ronnie’s, Hybrids, small Skimmers and Perch. With forty five minutes to go the swim went quite, until I hooked and lost a big Perch which blunted my Middy hook (back to the 808 me thinks). I lost another but smaller one next put in – then I changed my hook! In the last twenty minutes in became difficult because my pint of casters was running low.

I was one of the last to weigh in and I needed to beat 26lb 14oz for coin. I was optimistic, but fell 3oz short weighing 26lb 11oz. Still it was a memorable day, especially as I was third in the section with an all Silvers catch.

The match was won by Tony Rixon (pictured right) with 246lb 13oz from peg 115. Tony caught thrashing around with pellet …see his blog for the intricacies of the method.

The Silvers was won by Steve Evans (pictured lower right) with 30lb 11oz from peg 125. Steve caught Skimmers to 3lb using hair rigged hard pellet fished over hard pellet at 7 metres. I was please for Steve as he is the Gimp (the back room boy) of the league left to work out the points and pounds and ounces - not always fully apprieciated by league anglers, certainly can’t leave anything like that to Tony Rixon. Thanks matey.

Full Result:

1.      Tony Rixon 246-13-0 peg 115

2.      Shaun Townsend 231-06-0 peg 135

3.      Joe McMahon 197-03-0 peg 123

4.      Phil Harding 186-02-0 peg 112

5.      Neil Mercer 175-12-0 peg 111

6.      Tom Thick 136-0-0 peg 76

Top Silvers:

1.      Steve Evans 30-11-0 peg 125

2.      Martin Rich 26-14-0 peg 124

3.      Mike Nicholls 26-11-0 peg 80

Thursday 16/08/2012 - Bathampton AA Over 55's and Disabled - Withy Pool

I have missed a few of the matches on Withy Pool due to family commitments. As they say absence makes the heart grow fonder, so I was looking forward to today’s match, especially as a warm dry day was forecast.

Even though we had 24 fishing there were a few regulars missing, including a few of the disabled which meant a greater chance of drawing on one. In to the cloth bag and out comes peg 69 – yep a disabled peg, so a day of physical discomfort was in store. I was joined by Mike Keys on peg 68 and Terry Bruton peg 70.

I set up similar rigs as yesterday, except I planned to fish longer at 11.5 metres (the longest this year) and slightly further out in the RH margin so the paste floats were heavier at 0.5 grams and 0.3 gram for the margin.

I started by feeding a big pot of CW&C with a smidgen of wetted micro out at 11.5 metres and started to lose feed some caster on the Ronnie line whilst fishing a worm on the hook at 11.5 metres. It all started well catching a few small Skimmers and three decent specimens that was until the tiny Perch moved in. It must be the time of year, coinciding with the fry hatch I guess making them more active and hungry. In any case I rather leave for Darren Gillman on the Canal so I came in on the Ronnie line with single caster. It wasn’t until I shallowed up to two foot that I started to catch a few Rudd and then the Perch moved in again. So I decided to mix up some GB and lace with casters and fed four big balls out on the 11.5 metre line. Going over it with worm produced the same small Perch. I tried double caster, but the same again. Out with the paste and I had another decent Skimmer and lost a foul Carp. The wind had picked up making presentation out long frustratingly impossible. So with aching knees due to the restricted room on these platforms I had to get up and have a walk round. A few Skimmers and Carp had been caught around the Lake, back for a banana and more leg torture. This time I decided to pack up the long pole and concentrate the rest of the match in the margin (feeling a bit defeated) because of the ever increasing wind which had blown over the pole roller luckily with no damage. John Smith had the same but broke his number six section. I fished the paste in about three foot of water lightly feeding hard 4’s over the top. I was amazed when the float dipped and I was into my first Carp. I stayed on this for the rest of the match landing another six Carp to 15lb, losing three foul hookers.

My Silvers weighed 13lb 5oz and when combined with my Carp I had a match winning total of 76lb 7oz.

The Silvers was won by Rich Coles (pictured right with the match winner) from peg 42 with 26lb 11oz. Rich caught the majority of his fish on the CW&C fished at 10 metres. This included three Eels that weighed 10lb with one Eel estimated to be pushing the 5lb mark, a PB for Rich – never too old.

Finally, as we are unlikely to hear it from Terry Bruton I have to mention that he was battered both sides today sandwiched between 1^st and Brian Sheppard 5^th and Terry - DNW.

Full Result:

1.      Mike Nicholls 76-07-0 peg 69

2.      Chris Rolfe 59-02-0 peg 54

3.      Ray Bazeley 39-06-0 peg 66

4.      Paul Haines 32-14-0 peg 60

5.      Brian Sheppard 31-0-0 peg 71

6.      Bob Feltham 29-12-0 peg 46

Top Silvers:

1.      Rich Coles 26-11-0 peg 42

2.      John Bradford 15-06-0 peg 48

3.      Dave Gillard 13-06-0 peg 59

4.      Mike Nicholls 13-05-0 peg 69

Wednesday 15/08/2012 - Avon Angling Open - Acorn Fishery - Paddocks

Its family first, work second and then fishing. I have just spent the last eleven days supporting my son Mark in Brighton whilst we welcomed a new member of the family.

It was great to get back out fishing, especially as I had a lift with matey Glenn Bailey. We were dubious about the weather as heavy rain and gale force winds were forecast. On queue the heavens opened and we all got a right old drenching. But interesting enough it stopped as predicted with the sun out and the wind picking up I reckon I got dry quicker than I got wet!

Glenn drew early and was on peg 29, a peg I fancied for the Silvers. I was last to draw and picked out lonely peg 2. Happy with this until I found I had plenty of slayers in my section including the two Humpty’s from Bridgewater. I was fancying the peg for Silvers so set up two rigs for the caster. The Ronnie rig set for the margin and the usual 4x16 jolly for 4 metres out in front. Just in case it turned into Carp slaying match I set up paste rigs to fish over both the same lines.

For the second time now I had left my pole roller home and that nice man from down south on peg 4 – Dave Roper lent me one of his – thanks matey, it didn’t get used much.

After potting in some caster and micro at 4 metres I started on the Ronnie rig with single caster sparingly lose feeding over the top and as previous I was pestered by small Perch. I have come to the conclusion that if these are in the swim then there aren’t any great numbers of Skimmers about. I did double my previous Dace catch catching two. I did have a few Skimmers and f1’s, but it was too slow. So I tried the 4 metre line with caster and caught a Skimmer first put in – happy days – not. It went quite and fancied the kindered caster wasn’t getting to the bottom. So I mixed up some Gimps Gold and Sensas Magic and after adding some caster fed a hard ball. In over it with caster and a Skimmer first put in – happy days – not. The swim just erupted with fizzing and could not get a bite even after trying worn and paste over the top. I decided to feed another ball to see what would happen – the fizzing got even worse. After switching back to the Ronnie rig and catching a few more Silvers – mainly Perch and with four hours to go I decided to switch to Carp slaying in the margin with paste fished over lose fed hard 4’s. I caught Carp to 8lb steady to the end, but found it difficult to present due to the tow back towards me.

On hind sight I should have either fished for Silvers all Match or Carp slayed from the start as I fell between to stools. My Silvers weighed 12lb 11oz for third and one out of the coin. My Carp weighed 94lb 11oz for a combined total of 107lb 6oz for fifth overall two out of the main money and one out from a section win – this is as close you can get with out picking up coin.

The match was won by Paul Lock (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 115lb 13oz from peg 9. Paul caught at 5 metres and in his left hand margin using paste hook bait.

The Silvers was won by Phil Harding from peg 22 with 31lb 5oz. Phil caught on caster down the track.

Glenn Bailey weighed a credible 93lb 5oz from peg 29 (interestingly with no Silvers). Glenn was the highest weight from peg 22 to peg 40 which earned a section win and sixth overall – well done matey.

Full Result:

1.      Paul Lock 115-13-0 peg 9

2.      Mark Bartlett 113-08-0 peg 5

3.      Tony Rixon 111-11-0 peg 15

4.      Adrian Jefferies 111-05-0 peg 12

5.      Mike Nicholls 107-06-0 peg 2

6.      Glenn Bailey 93-05-0 peg 29

Top Silvers:

1.      Phil Harding 31-05-0 peg 22

2.      John Bradford 17-08-0 peg 40

3.      Mike Nicholls 12-11-0 peg 2

Thursday 02/08/2012 - Bathampton AA Over 55's and Disabled - Bridge Pool

I have missed a few matches due to holidays. It was good to be back fishing with the Coffin Dodgers on Bridge Pool. It was a good turn out with 30 fishing and to see Mel Ansty down on his annual visit from Manchester.

In to the draw bag and out comes peg 32. One peg down from where I was last match. Last match I felt that I stayed on the Silvers too long and yesterdays match the opposite giving up far too early. Try the compromise today.

I set up three rigs, a 4x16 Jolly for the CW&C to be fished at 6 metres at 12 0 clock. A Ronnie rig with caster over caster and the usual 0.2g paste float for the LH margin.

After feeding a pot of CW&C at 6 metres it was on to the Ronnie rig with single caster. It was soon obvious that the Ronnie’s were having a day off as all I could muster was two plus four tiny Perch (chasing this year’s fry hatch). So out on the worm and I had a decent Skimmer first put in, followed by a few more of the smaller ones. I didn’t have to wait long for a positive bite. I was beginning to think I was on for a great day on the Silvers when it went quite and all I could catch was small Perch. So I re-fed and had another, but shorter run of Skimmers. I then had a liner from a Carp and it was soon clear that the swim was being disrupted by this species. Only half hour gone, too early for the Carp me thinks so re-fed CW&C again and tried the caster up in the water for anything that swims. This produced bugger all. Out again on the worm and two more tiny Skimmers followed by more eager tiny perch. I wasn’t going to waste any more bait on this line. So after an hour it was in for the Carp – far too early.

The upshot was that I fished the paste steady dripping in hard 4’s for five hours catching Fourteen Carp, all Mirrors except one dark coloured Common. I lost three foul hookers and one slipped the hook – no breakages.

With thirty minutes to go the heavens open complete with thunder and lightening. The heavy rain softened the 4’s and I thought feeding these over the paste was a better option which I will try and remember for the next visit.

My Silvers weighed 11lb 8oz; I think I stopped fishing for them too early as only 14lb got in the frame. My fourteen Carp weighed in at 129lb (averaging 9lb). This gave me a match winning total of 140lb 8oz.

It looks as if the Carp have now moved out from between the Islands and occupied their old haunts in the thirties.

The Silvers was won by Bryan Sheppard (pictured right) with 21lb 12oz from peg 10. Bryan caught on worm fished over GB laced with chopped worm. Interestingly Bryan didn’t have any casters. So something to try next time perhaps.

Full Result:

1.      Mike Nicholls 140-08-0 peg 32

2.      Bob Price 92-12-0 peg 29

3.      Martin Alexander 69-04-0 peg 21

4.      Dave Bacon 65-07-0 peg 22

5.      Dave Poole 54-14-0 peg 1

6.      Terry Bruton 47-10-0 peg 13

Top Silvers:

1.      Bryan Sheppard 21-12-0 peg 10

2.      Pail Haines 15-03-0 peg 33

3.      Terry Bruton 14-02-0 peg 13

Wednesday 01/08/2012 - Avon Angling Open - Acorn Fishery - Paddocks

I watched some of the Olympic Swimming last night and thought some of the swimmers were disrespectful to the crowd who were cheering them on whilst some of the USA Swimmers wore their iPod head phones.

It was a nice surprise to see Pete Notton back out fishing. Pete caught 50lb which got him keen to fish again.

In to the draw bucket where there was only two left, one for me and the last one went to Tony Rixon. I pulled peg 15 and Tony peg 4. I think we would have both been happy with either peg.

The wind was blowing down the venue so I was hoping my empty peg would be down wind. Luckily it was.

I set up the usual caster rigs and paste rigs. One of each rig for the margin and one each to be fished at 3 metres. Starting on the margin caster rig I caught a menagerie of Silver fish straight off, unfortunately it only lasted an hour before I lost two big Skimmers (foul hooked me thinks). That seemed to be it as I could only catch small 1oz Perch. I had been feeding hard 4’s at 3 metres so tried the paste over it. There were a few Carp there but due to the wind the tow made presentation difficult with paste. I missed four bites or liners) before hooking my first small Carp. I had to give this line up as it became very frustrating; before I did I tried a worm over the top and missed a few perch tugs. So back on the margin caster and a few more Silvers, but it appeared that the swim was being disrupted by Carp. So on to the margin paste rig switching to feeding hard 4’s instead of caster. I caught the odd Carp, but it wasn’t until the last hour and half that I started to put a Carp weight together, with the last 30 minutes adding ten better Carp.

The tow is usually a lot stronger in the margins as it was today, with it strong enough to pull the paste off before it settled properly. The opposite is true in that the tow is not so strong down the track. It's all to do with the hydraulics and volume/mass of water.

My silvers weighed 11lb 6oz and my Carp 106lb 8oz for a total of 117lb 14oz. This put me fourth overall and a section win.

The match was won by Tony Rixon (pictured right with a polish catch) on peg 4 with 166lb 5oz. Tony caught … see his blog.

The Silvers was won by Craig “Trigger” Edmondson (pictured lower right with his excellent catch of hand size Skimmers) from peg 16. Craig caught down the track using caster over kinder potted caster.

Full Result:

1.      Tony Rixon 166-05-0 peg 4

2.      Adrian Jefferies 132-02-0 peg 10

3.      John Thompson 127-11-0 peg 7

4.      Mike Nicholls 117-14-0 peg 15

5.      Matt Tomes 89-06-0 peg 36

6.      Tom Thick 87-05-0 peg 12

Top Silvers:

1.      Craig Edmonds 41-14-0 peg 16

2.      John Bradford 20-04-0 peg 9

3.      Nick Collier 20-0-0 peg 27

Sunday 29/07/2012- Avon Angling Open - Sedges - Brick Lake

It was another good breakfast in Hilltops Café and Bela then headed off to Chiltern Trinity – doh – “where we going Bert” – Sedges! We finally arrived at our destination; I put it down to the Pinky Ponk Juice.

Nice to meet up with fishery owners Denise and Jamie again, I do miss fishing this venue regularly as I have in the past. Today saw the first time out for my new Boss tackle box, so was concerned about if it had the same luck as my previous box. So in to the draw bag and out comes peg 1. It looked as if the tackle box was going to get stuffed in to the back of the garage if I draw crap pegs like this. Peg 1 is an undesirable. No moaning as you have to take the rough with the smooth in this game and make the best out of it and try and get a days fishing.

Steve Segar came down to console me explaining that he had once caught a match winning 100lb of Tench from the swim – no consolation, but it did make me smile.

The wind was blowing over my left shoulder at 2 o clock, basically in to peg 20, which meant the swim was becalmed, which may be benificial if the wind picked up as forecast - it didn't.

I set up a 4x16 Jolly to be fished at 10 metres at 10 o clock for the CW&C, a paste rig for over the same line and a paste rig in to the end margin. I fed five balls of GB laced with chopped worm and Caster over the Skimmer line, flowed by a dozen or so hard 4’s in to the end margin.

Starting on the worm I had the float lift – excellent – missed the bite, drop in again same again, the float would not cock properly. I persevered until I caught the culprit a 2 oz Skimmer. I had to abandon the line because the small fish would not leave the bait alone. So it was out in to the end bank margin with paste cupped in with some 4’s. Once again the small fish were pecking away at the paste. Time for a rethink, so out came the Ronnie rig to be fish over small balls of GB laced with casters with single caster on the hook. I started to catch the small critters that were worm tugging on the 10 metre line. Blimey they were small, but with very few fish being caught around me I stuck with them. I kept testing the end bank for Carp but only found the nibblers waiting. That was until the last ¾ hour when I saw a blow and with the paste rig sitting motionless I was soon in to my first 10lb Common. This was followed by an 8lb Ghost Carp, then a 9lb Kio Carp and the last fish to be landed just after the whistle was a 12lb Common.

The Carp weighed a total of 39lb 3oz and my 200 odd plips adding 11lb 6oz for a total of 50lb 9oz for fifth overall and my 10 peg section by default. I must admit I was well pleased with this result, especially considering that Steve Evans on peg 2 blanked!!

The match was won by Martin Lenaghan (pictured right - is he asleep) from peg 10 with 103lb 15oz. Martin caught both in to his margin at 14 metres and out in front at 16 metres using 10mm banded pellet fished over loose fed 6mm pellet. Martin fed about six pints of 6’s.

The Silvers was won by Steve Segar (pictured lower right with the match winner) with 26lb 3oz from peg 3. Steve caught on meat fished over pellet at 13 metres.

Full Result:

1.      Martin Lenaghan 103-15-0 peg 10

2.      Pete Wild 68-13-0 peg 12

3.      Alan Oram 52-05-0 peg 15

4.      Mike Nicholls 50-09-0 peg 1

5.      Dave Roper 45-14-0 peg 13

6.      An-Ton Page 44-10-0 peg 6

Top Silvers:

1.      Steve Segar 26-03-0 peg 3

2.      Dave Roper 25-02-0 peg 13

3.      An-Ton Page 25-04-04 peg 6

Wednesday 25/07/2012 - Avon Angling Open - Lands End - Match and Specimen Lakes

After putting in a lot of effort in to yesterdays match in the blazing sun I was a little slow getting focussed on today’s match at Landsend. After a cool shower and breakfast in Shipman with two of my Coffin Dodger mates Ray and Paul it was in to the draw box and with only two tickets left, pegs 34 and 21 I was hoping it would be peg 34 as it does have a good record for the Silvers, but no peg 21 comes out a real Carp Slaying peg. Arriving at the peg I found myself surrounded by them all up in the water. Luckily, Tony Rixon arrived at peg 19 so hopefully Tony would keep them occupied as it was to be an out and out Silvers match for me as being realistic I cannot compete mentally or physically with the up in the water Carp Slayers and that is what you would need to do for any overall coin today (roll on winter).

Peg 21 does have a great LH margin accessible with a top set plus a bit of the number four. It also has a reasonable flat bottom with not too many snags to contend with. So two rigs, a margin Silvers rig for caster and worm (not a Ronnie rig) and a paste rig as the margins do offer some of the larger Skimmers to this bait.

I started by potting in some caster by now Tony was playing his first Carp! I think I was second to catch a fish, a 2oz Perch on double caster. It wasn’t long before I abandoned this as the tiny Perch would mash one of the casters on the drop and mash the other on the bottom, if I did hook one they often fell off. So on to the worm over the caster and similarly the small Perch were tugging off the worm. I did have a couple of 8oz specimens before I put the paste out. This lead to four decent Skimmers to 2lb losing two foul hooked ones at the net – this was a bugger because as at it happened these would have got me coin by default.

Time for experiments me thinks. So I got out a deep paste rig and another pole section to fish at five metre just down the inside ledge. It’s amazing how I could get fish fizzing over just the paste hook bait with no feed. I think they are feeding over the particles that fall away from the paste just above bottom as it took a while to get any indication. I did have one more Skimmer and a couple of Ghost Carp. Back in to the margins and in the last hour the Carp had arrived landing six more. My eight Carp weighed 47lb 8oz and my Silvers 11lb 8oz of a total of 59lb - no coin today.

The match was won my Tony Rixon (pictured above centre complete with his stalking/mugging attire – I thought he looked more like an Ice cream Man) with a new venue match record of 351lb 10oz from peg 19. See Tony’s blog on how he captured this many fish. Still the second best Angler in the South West - not ready for "Filp Flops" yet matey - well done - pleasure to witness.

I have had the pleasure of fishing next to both these venue match record holders and to be truthful there isn’t much difference between their rigs and methods. Tony will tell you he’s “Stalking” and Anton will tell you he’s a “Slapper”. Neither of them fed any bait (that’s the only part I like about this method). The difference between them for me is that Anton has the youth and the endurance strength. However, Tony has the smoothness and experience – done it all before. I must say I didn’t have a ripple from Tony’s peg when landing his fish, and I bet he used the same rig all day.

The Silvers was won accidentally by An-Ton Page (pictured right) with 28lb from peg 34. Anton caught Chub and F1’s shallow with 8mm banded hard pellet – slapping it around – sickening isn’t it.

Full Result:

1.      Tony Rixon 351-10-0 peg 19 (New venue match record)

2.      An-Ton Page 227-13-0 peg 34 (Ex record holder)

3.      Dean Malin 161-03-0 peg 5

4.      Tom Thick 158-0-0 peg 24

5.      Martin Lenaghan 129-05-0 peg 11

6.      Dave Roper 100-13-0 peg 15

Top Silvers:

1.      An-Ton Page 28-0-0 peg 34

2.      Martin Lenaghan 19-0-0 peg 11

3.      Joe McMahon 15-04-0 peg 36