Thursday 13/09/2012 - Bathampton Over 55's and Disabled - Huntstrete - Withy Pool

What a beautiful autumn day, the air being so very fresh, subsequently I was surprised there weren’t more anglers than the 23 booked in. However, we usually get more on Bridge than Withy Pool.

 

Walking around the lake all the indications were that it was going to fish hard, especially the Silvers (bright and flat calm). Peg 48 was taken by a far better angler (pictured right) than any of us in the draw queue. Into the draw bag and out comes peg 54. Left me thinking a penance for drawing so well yesterday. Peg 54 is one of the pegs behind the island, directly opposite the fish sanctuary, where you really need to fish a lead rod or perhaps waggler to entice out the resident Carp. So with the Silvers going to be hard to come by I decided I might just compete for them on this peg.

 

This peg is one of the shallowest pegs on the lake so with it flat calm I chose to fish a 4x14 Sensas Stainey and a rarity for me a 0.1 hook length. With an assortment of baits available I settled on the 4mm expander pellet to be fished over wetted 3’s at 10 metres. On the all in I kinder potted in a few 3’s and it wasn’t long before I had missed a bite and lost my hook bait. Out again same again, until I hooked a 2oz Skimmer. And that’s how it went for the first hour putting just ounces in the net and getting a match winning amount of frustration. Up went the 0.5 gram paste rig to be fished over the same line, but this time kindering hard 4’s. The upshot was over the next five hours I landed four Bream, losing one at the net, plus one Carp which weighed 9lb 8oz, luckily, my four Bream and few bits weighed 14lb 2oz for second in the Silvers, but my total 23lb 10oz left me nowhere.

 

For company I had Bob Warren on peg 53, who had a nightmare of a match losing much more than the 35lb he landed – unlucky mate.

 

The match was won by the affable Bath tackle dealer Dave Bacon (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 73lb 2oz from peg 60. Dave caught nine Carp and a few Skimmers fishing at 8 metres using CW&C with a piece of worm on the hook.

 

The Silvers was won by Andy Smith with 15lb 6oz from peg 70. Andy used his favoured waggler fished over GB and caster with single caster on the hook.

 

Full Result:

 

1.      Dave Bacon 73-02-0 peg 60

2.      Rich Coles 65-08-0 peg 61

3.      Paul Haines 51-08-0 peg 46

4.      Ray Bazeley 40-05-0 peg 42

5.      Harry Muir 37-01-0 peg 72

6.      Terry Bruton 36-08-0 peg 57

 

Top Silvers:

 

1.      Andy Smith 15-06-0 peg 70

2.      Mike Nicholls 14-02-0 peg 54

3.      Dave Poole 13-0-0 peg 56

3.      Brian Sheppard 13-0-0 peg 69

Wednesday 12/09/2012 - Avon Angling Top Five Open Match - Acorn Fishery - Paddocks

Missed the weekend fishing due to Darren Gillman’s Stag day out, hangover gone, back ache easing from the Karting (manic), it was back on the Boss box at Acorn fishery for the Avon Angling top Five Open. Luckily I had a breakfast at home as they don’t serve breakfast on Tony’s Wednesday matches. However, there were a few anglers that left the draw hungry.

 

In to the draw box and out came peg 12, I had to look twice as it is a flyer peg which I had drawn a few weeks back winning from it. However, this time peg 11 was also in, but luckily for me the Gimp arrived on it!

 

This peg is an out and out Carp peg. So I initially set up one paste rig for the RH margin. I was ready 45 minutes before the “all in” so set up a Ronnie rig for the caster – can’t help myself. On the whistle I started on the Ronnie rig with single caster fished over loose fed caster and was soon into a 2oz Perch followed by a Carp. That was it, up the bank with the rig spending the rest of the match on the paste rig. Starting on the top set I caught quite fast for half hour that was until Tom Ford but the voodoo on me by saying I would do 200lb today!! For the next hour I struggled catching the odd Carp. It was obvious that they weren’t really having a go today and were backing off the feed. Of course the temptation is to chase them along the bank which can end in tears as it is easy to chase then beyond the top five. I gradually worked my way along until the last hour when I was at the full distance, but still only catching the odd Carp. On the whistle I had 30 Carp to 8lb and a few accidental Skimmers and a Tench. My Silvers went 7lb 11oz and my Carp 110lb for a match winning total of 117lb 11oz.

 

I fed one pint of hard 4’s and about half pint of casters, using about 1 ½ pints of paste.

 

The match was won my Craig Edmonds (pictured right) with 43lb 12oz of Skimmers from peg 1. Craig caught on single caster fished over kinder potted caster, feeding about 1 pint throughout the match.

 

Full Result:

 

1.      Mike Nicholls 117-11-0 peg 12

2.      Glenn Bailey 99-0-0 peg 21

3.      Phil Harding 98-03-0 peg 15

4.      Mike West 91-08-0 peg 13

5.      Mash 90-07-0 peg 9

6.      Chris Winstone 70-08-0 peg 5

 

Top Silvers:

 

1.      Craig Edmonds 43-12-0 peg 1

2.      John Bradford 29-08-0 peg 11

 

Finally Trigger earned himself another £15 salvaging a pole section as per the attached video, kindly provided by Nick Brown.

Sunday 02/09/2012 - Avon Angling Open - Chiltern Trinity - Wild Marsh

Charlie’s Angels were assembled and ready for another series of the teams of fours. Other teams must have got wind on how strong we were this year and pulled out!! It’s a shame it was cancelled though, but Tony did the right thing as usual, eight teams isn’t quite enough and Tony would have only been left trying to find anglers to fill vacant places. Nevertheless, Tony is running the series as opens and Bela and I agreed to support them all.

 

The first match was at Chiltern Trinity – Wild Marsh. I really can’t make my mind up about this venue; it does have something that attracts me here. As I am writing I am thinking that I wouldn’t mind a pleasure trip down there as I am sure I would catch a good mixed net of big Skimmers and very fit Carp. I understand that John the owner has but a few thousand Tench in the Lake with plans for a big stocking of small Carp – whatever, I am sure I will be drawn back again.

 

I managed to get the last draw ticket away from Clayton Hudson. And yippee one of the pegs I would have picked – peg 9. I could expect big Skimmers and Carp from this peg.

 

Arriving at the peg the first thing I noticed was that the water colour was that horrible brown algae colour with patches of light brown where the bottom was being disturbed. I set up just two rigs a 0.5 gram paste float to be fish out in front at 11.5 metres where I had 9 foot of water, and a 0.4gram rig for the very deep 4 foot LH margin – simple.

 

I started by cupping in a big pot of 3mm soften pellet on both lines starting on the paste at 11.5 metres I missed a bite first put in. Second put in I caught and landed a 4lb carp – good start. That was it for an age even though I kept topping up with 3’s and 4’s. The fish on this venue usually give you clues by bowing over the pellet that they are about; however; today there wasn’t any sign of life. I then lost two Bream in two put ins. I don’t know whether they were foul hooked or not. I was now beginning to realise that perhaps the fish were up in the water more so due to the waters algae. So a quick look on the margin and the usual tell-tell sign that there were no big fish around due to the Motherless Minnows nibbling at the paste. I put a big worm over it to check and had a 2 oz Ronnie. So it was back out on the long line and another lost Bream. I switched to the worm hook bait and had three Bream losing another one bringing the total to 4 lost and three in the net. With an hour to go it was clear that the good pegs in this leg of the Lake weren’t fishing that well, so I stayed in the margin feeding 4’s over the paste hook bait until the float stayed still announcing the arrival of a Carp. In the last 20 minutes I landed two one being a 10 pounder. So in the six hours of fishing I landed six fish – one an hour equivalent.

 

My three Bream weighed in at 8lb (I would like to think that by lost Bream would have given me some Silvers coin) and my three Carp weighed in at 20lb 1oz for a second in section of 28lb 1oz.

 

The match was won by Adrian Clark (pictured right with his catch) with 63lb 5oz from Island peg 10. Adrian caught 15 Carp to eight pounds, catching half his weight on paste down to his RH margin up to the tree. When the margin swim died he switched to the pellet feeder over to the opposite bank with 8mm pellet banded hook bait.

 

The Silvers was won by Tom Thick (pictured right with his catch) with 19lb 5oz from peg 57. Tom caught on hair rigged 6mm pellet fish over loose fed hard 4’s at 14.5 metres. Tom feed about two pints through out the match.

 

Full Result:

 

1.      Adrian Clark 63-05-0 peg Island 10

2.      Steve Segar 56-03-0 peg 39

3.      Alan Oram 53-14-0 peg Island 3

4.      Mike West 39-03-0 peg 59

5.      Tony Rixon 35-04-0 peg 60

6.      Tom Thick 31-12-0 peg 57

 

Top Silvers:

 

1.      Tom Thick 19-05-0 peg 57

2.      Nick Collins 17-02-0 peg 19

3.      Chris Fox 15-0-0 peg 30

Thursday 30/08/2012 - Bathampton AA Over 55's and Disabled - Bridge Pool

With the Paralympics starting today its worth noting that match angling has good support from the disabled, as we do for the Coffin Dodger matches. There are of course many levels of disablements, some far worse than others. Bob Tilley (pictured right) is one such angler and finds it difficult at times, especially when landing fish. It is also difficult for him to manoeuvre around his peg which often leads to broken pole sections and has broken plenty in his time (but not as many as Mike Jones). However, Bob always manages to land a few fish as he did today from peg 5 landing 24lb 11oz of Carp and Silver fish, well done matey.

 

After a long night drying out my kit for today’s match it was into the draw bag and out pops peg 26. Happy with this as it is predominately a Silvers peg and I could do with a rest from the Carp critters.

 

However, I was concerned whether it would fish today as we had a lot of rain yesterday filling the Lake to the brim, adding some unusual colouring and also a full overnight moon.

 

Peg 26 is one of the deepest swims on the lake, but a 4x16 jolly just about severs ok, which was set up for the 9 foot of water and the Ronnie rig. I did set up a paste rig for the margin but that didn’t get much of an outing today. I started out in front by feeding a pot of CW&C at 5 metres and with a worm on the hook of the jolly rig started to catch a few small 4oz Skimmers. It was soon clear that the Silvers were going to be a struggle. I kept topping up the CW&C every hour but the fishing gradually got worse to the point I changed to the Ronnie rig with single caster. I had a few more small Skimmers, Ronnie’s and Perch, but often interrupted by Carp, losing four foul hookers and landing two for 19lb 3oz. I persevered with the Silvers with the Ronnie rig fishing single caster of loose fed caster until the end weighing in 14lb 4oz for second in the Silvers, with my total of 33lb 7oz leaving my 7^th overall.

 

The match was won by Ray Bazeley (pictured right with some of his 14 fish haul) with 93lb 3oz, Ray caught on a small pellet feeder fished to the point of the opposite island.

 

The Silvers was won by Andy Smith (pictured lower right with the match winner) with 17lb 5oz from peg 11. Andy caught on waggler with worm hook bait fished over Maracu GB laced with worms and micro pellet.

 

Full Result:

1.      Ray Bazeley 93-03-0 peg 28

2.      Terry Bruton 55-11-0 peg 16

3.      John Smith 45-0-0 peg 12

4.      Chris Rolfe 43-06-0 peg 9

5.      Bob Warren 37-08-0 peg 24

6.      Terry Church 36-06-0 peg 1

 

Top Silvers:

 

1.      Andy Smith 17-05-0 peg 11

2.      Mike Nicholls 14-04-0 peg 26

3.      John Bradford 13-04-0 peg 8

Wednesday 29/08/2010 - Avon Angling Open - Viaduct Fishery - Campbell

Today was our 42^nd wedding anniversary and the Special One let me out fishing. However, I think the anniversary Gods were against me today.

 

It’s all about making decisions and the first bad one the Gods lead me in to was changing my usual route to the fishery and going through Wells instead of Shepton. I was stuck behind a huge farm vehicle for most of the way.

 

I was then unusually lead in to the middle of the draw queue and drew the one of the two pegs I didn’t want peg 130 (the other is 131). These pegs aren’t especially favourable for pole fishing.

 

Had the Gods finished with me as before the all-in our friendly Coach Driver Martin Lenaghan bought a round of teas – thanks drive!

 

I had decided to go for the Silvers as I felt I wouldn’t win any overall coin from this peg. So I set up a hard pellet rig consisting of a 4x14 jolly with a hair rigged Mosella band and a similar rig set for the soft pellet. Finally, my reliable 0.4 gram paste rig. I intended to fish all the rigs at 9 metres.

 

Starting on paste through the kinder pot with a few hard 4’s I think I was first in the match to hook a Carp, which was soon lost as it was foul hooked breaking the hook length and float. So on with another 0.4 paste float and another Carp hooked, unfortunately the hook pulled free at the net and another float broken! Yet another paste rig connected and out again with paste and a 5 lb Carp was soon in the net. Then in two put in I lost two flying Bream – a pattern forming – the Gods weren’t finished with me yet. I had one more small Carp and decided to come in short to 4 metres with the hard pellet rig, which resulted in a couple of small Skimmers and one more small Carp. I tried the soft pellet over this line which had no impact. So on with the paste (it’s the same depth at 4 metres as it is at 9). I had been steadily feeding hard fours and I had a run of six decent Bream and another small Carp, before the swim died.

 

Then the heavens opened up and it was the worse I have seen in GB. It was very much like the tropical storms we use to get in Barbados, where you can hear it coming five to ten minutes before you feel it. I didn’t have an umbrella, but the old smelly Gortex did its job.

 

With ¾ hour to go I went back out long where I had earlier fed a pot of 4’s, out of desperation than anything else.  It was Carp o clock with one a bung to the end plus one flying Bream. My thirteen accidental Carp weighed in at 68lb 10oz and my seven Skimmers/Bream 16lb 9oz for a total of 85lb 3oz. It was mission accomplished as amazingly enough this put me first in the Silvers.

 

The match was won by Mash (pictured right - being straggled by the Silvers winner) with 165lb 7oz from peg 114. Mash caught all his fish on paste.

 

The anniversary Gods hadn’t quite finished with me, as driving back my usual way I found the roads flooded, but managed to get through even though some were turning around. It was a slow long drive back.

 

Full Result:

 

1.      Mash 165-07-0 peg 114

2.      Martin Lenaghan 163-10-0 peg 126

3.      Tom Thick 143-03-0 peg 135

4.      Mike West 120-07-0 peg 125

5.      Tony Rixon 110-0-0 peg 132

6.      Adrian Jeffery 106-6-0 peg 121

7.      Joe McMahon 105-11-0 peg 129

8.      Mark Poppleton 104-11-0 peg 116

9.      Martin Preston 100-14-0 peg 131

 

Top Silvers:

 

1.      Mike Nicholls 16-0909 peg 130

2.      Dave Roper 11-14-0 peg 111  

Saturday 25/08/2012 - Acorn Sponsored Open - Paddocks

I must admit I left it very late to book me and Bela into this match, with Bela making it in by the skin of his teeth – Friday morning in fact. I know Glenn Bailey was desperate to fish and he was well pissed-off (as was many others) when there was two no shows. I know one of our Coffin Dodgers Tom Newell didn’t make it, but had paid up front. I hope it wasn’t due to ill health.
 

After a Bev special breakfast (pictured right with the free spread she kindly laid on after the match – thanks Bev - nice ham), it was in to the draw bag where we were given a present from Cadbury Garden Centre – a Preston 3 pint bait box. With two ping-pong balls left I pulled peg 19, I wonder what the last one was. I wasn’t enamoured with the draw, as everyone I spoke to turn their nose up. That said it was the peg I drew on the inaugural match of the fishery.

 

Match organiser Mark Bartlett announced that the payout was:

Top three

Top two Silvers

Three sections of ten, paying one overall, one Silver.

 

Arriving at the peg I had decisions to make, looking along the section line I decide there were nine Anglers going for the Carp, which decided me to go for the Silvers for the section payout and if I was lucky enough I might get in to the top two Silvers.

 

I set up a Ronnie rig, a 4x16 jolly for the Skimmers to be fished down the track, a 0.5 gram paste float to be fished over the same line and a 0.3 gram paste float to be fished in the margin.

 

I did have an empty peg to my left, peg 20, however, it was up wind and because the strong wind was blowing in at me at 11 o clock it was going to difficult to fish this margin. After feeding half a pot of casters down the track (where I discovered that 20% were floaters) I started on the Ronnie rig, which accounted for nothing as the wind was buggering the presentation even though I had three back shot the float was moving too quick towards me. So it was out on the single caster where I needed to pimple the float well down to see a bite from the small Skimmers. I kept these coming on and off by kinder potting casters after every two fish, but because the casters wasn’t sinking fast enough the Skimmers were being disrupted by Carp. I stayed with this until the last hour when the swim died, so I potted in some CW&C which unfortunately had the effect of energised the Carp and small Perch. The wind changed completely around 100 degrees, so I switched back to the Ronnie rig with caster over caster and was completely battered by Carp landing twelve in the last 30 minutes.

 

My Silvers weighed in at 26lb 15oz and my Carp 31lb 15oz for a total of 58lb 14oz. As planned I won the section Silvers and as a bonus won the second overall Silvers for a half decent pick-up.

 

The match was won by Bob Gullick (pictured right) with 114lb 12oz from peg 40. Bob initially caught on hard pellet, later switching to soft pellet to keep the Carp coming. Then switched back to hard pellet in the last hour when the Carp switched on.

 

The Silvers was won by Craig Edmonds (pictured lower right) from peg 38 with 29lb 9oz. Craig caught on caster over caster down the track and didn’t have any Carp disruptor's, not netting one of the blighters.

 

I must say it was a well run match with the payouts well thought out – thanks to Mark Bartlett.

 

Finally I have to mention runner up Phil Harding who fell ounces short of winning, unlucky, especially as Phil went over the 70lb limit on one net. I couldn’t help noticing that he had two spare nets on the bank behind him – lesson learnt!

 

Full Result:

 

1.      Bob Gullick 114-12-0 peg 40

2.      Phil Harding 114-09-0 peg 10

3.      Mark Bartlett 111-07-0 peg 12

4.      Tom Mangnel 104-07-0 peg 6

5.      Rich Lovering 101-0-0 peg 4

6.      Rob Wotton 79-06-0 peg 18

 

Top Silvers:

 

1.      Craig Edmonds 29-09-0 peg 38

2.      Mike Nicholls 26-14-0 peg 19

Thursday 23/08/2012 - Viaduct Cost Saver - Campbell and Carey lakes

Back down for the Viaduct Skivers Match – also know as – The Cost Cutter.

 

Unbelievable, that’s the only description for this fishery with nine anglers breaking the ton and two breaking the double ton and one triple ton.

 

With two draw tickets left in the coffee tin – I pulled peg 132, the last peg was 111. I would have been happy with either peg. Arriving at the peg I was surprised to see how much the peg had changed, due the ever encroaching Willow tree. After cutting off a few of the smaller branches I was able to get in close enough to reach the bottom of the RH margin.

 

I settled for two rigs – both identical 0.4 gram paste floats. One set for the margin and the other 4 inches deeper to be fished at 2 o clock at 9 metres. I also decided to fish left handed, but abandoned that after getting in a bit of a pickle with the landing net and pole!

 

The water was dead calm, the skies bright and little sign of fish, so this decided me on an initial gentle approach with the feed. However, I started by putting a big pot of micro down the margin at 9 metres, but started out front with paste, kindering some micro. The upshot was I had had a very good first hour. However, the next three were very difficult. I did manage three Tench, two Skimmers and two Perch down the margin during this time. The last two hours were very productive adding 19 Carp for a total of 25 – all on paste.

 

My 25 Carp weighed in at 160lb 1oz and my Silvers 14lb for a grand total of 174lb 1oz. I just wished I could have had a similar productive middle three hours of the match – but that’s fishing.

 

The match was won by Jim Baines (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 306lb 15oz from peg 102. Jim caught on his favourite popped up bread fished up 3 foot and 3 ½ foot off bottom. Jim uses 1/9^th of a piece of white bread on a longish hair rig. Jim fed 4 pints of hard 8’s over the top throughout the six hours. Jim has now averaged 270lb over the last 8 matches – very impressive if you like fishing the lead.

 

The Silvers was won by Steve Tanner with 40lb 4oz from peg 127. Steve fished his margin with 8mm hair rigged pellet fished over loose fed hard 6’s. Steve fed about two pints catching Bream to 3lb.

 

Full Result:

 

1.      Jim Baines 306-15-0 peg 102

2.      Lewis Greenwood 275-08-0 peg 111

3.      Dan White 200-03-0 peg 124

4.      Mike Nicholls 174-01-0 peg 132

5.      R Hawkins 162-11-0 peg 126

6.      Bob Walters 162-06-0 peg 131

7.      Mike Smith 110-10-0 peg 114

8.      Rich Coles 108-02-0 peg 115

9.      Mr Scribble 105-06-0 peg 128

 

Top Silvers:

 

1.      Steve Tanner 40-04-0 peg 127

2.      Rich Coles 37-06-0 peg 115