Thursday 13/04/2023 - Over 55's - Westerleigh Fishery - Taylor's Pool and Shipp's Canal

Good turn out of twenty with three on the reserve list. I hate turning people away. Paying top two and one silver on each pool/canal.

We borrowed the silk draw bag and counters provided for Windmill by Kev Winstone. A story of the draw bag is emerging. The bag was given to Kev by Leyton Palmer and couldn't help noticing yesterday that the bag has a monogram on it - Umm - a converted item of silk under clothing?

As custodian of the draw I couldn't draw my own flyer so wanted either Tony Rixon or Paul Barnfield to draw for me, both refused, worried John Smith was going to step forward but was beaten to it by Pete Greenslade, giving me peg 10 on Shipp's. Truthfully not really worried where I drew. There was too much foraging in the bag for my liking.

Got to the peg and found Aiolos (the God of wind) was favouring me again directing it at 2 o clock as he has done for sometime - obviously not a fan of waggler fishing.

For company on peg 11 Marks "three counters" Tanner. After the match asked him what he had on his counters - "didn't use them today" was the reply!! Opposite on peg 4 would be the Canal winner - the side to be on today. 

Because of poor visibility set up a 4x14 wire Roob for top set plus two and a 0.3 gram RJ slim for the downwind margin and a waggler in case the wind dropped - it didn't. After plumbing relised that these rigs were wrong and couldn't be assed to changed them to a 4x13 MR and a Speedy for the margin - theses floats are 60% better in the wind. With the canal winner already identified and some other better pegs to contend with decide to initially focus on the silvers.

Fed the margin with some LR's and micro and the other line with a nugget of GB and Pinkie. Started on this line with triple Pinkie and had 5 F1's, three Crucians and three skimmers before the less eager fish for food to be fooled by my presentation the rig going with the wind and difficult to hold back - thought about changing the rig, instead picked up the waggler. Very difficult to feed had a dozen or so casts - one Ronnie and two foul hooked carp due to dragging too much line along the bottom to stay on station longer. Tried the long line again and it was hopeless with the wind - thought about changing the rig, instead went in the margin with single maggot over loose fed same. Caught micro Perch one a bung with the odd decent Ronnie. As the wind was mostly on my back decided to see the match out here. After catching two big F1's the carnage started with the carp moving in and some foul hooking following. The issue was the carp wanted the feed falling through the water but could not get them to munch on the bottom. So came up 6 inches to 3 foot and once the float settled cast again. Had a run of decent carp to 8 lb loosing a 15 lb fish which came straight the to surface and hung there, started the "walking the dog" and really thought it was a banker but it was just shy of the landing net when it woke up - hook pulled - bugger. Too many lost carp today but apparently so did most anglers so can't really claim a higher position than third on the canal.

Silvers weighed 5 lb 11 oz for canal silvers win, total weight 37-01-0. So a decent days fishing but back to the fine fibre tips in future - why oh why did I not change.

The canal was was won as expected by Tony Rixon (pictured with a lovey quality net of carp) with 70 lb 3 oz from peg 4. Tony caught on banded pellet long on various lines - see his blog for the finer details. 

Tony "smiler" Ponting (pictured) won Taylor's with 42 lb from peg 23.

Thanks to Mark Taylor for the use of his beautiful fishery.

Result:

Taylor's Pool:

1. Tony Ponting 42-00 peg 23

2. Glenn Bailey 37-07-0 peg 26

Silver: Shay Gillman 6-02-0 peg 16

Shipp's Canal:

1. Tony Rixon 70-03-0 peg 4

2. Kev Winstone 42-03-0 peg 8

Silvers: Mike Nicholls 5-11-0 peg 10

Weigh Sheets:

Sunday 09/04/2023 - Windmill Open - Match Lake

Back to Windmill and was hoping not to draw pegs 4 and 5. Had peg 5 Thursday and struggled. However, the chances of drawing it again are exactly the same = number of pegs ratio to one. If you draw peg five 20 times on the trot it's exactly the same odds as drawing it again the 21st time. 

So nearly last into the silk (worth having a good feel around) draw bag  and out comes peg 5. Not happy, thought about pleasure fishing Billy's Pool, but ended up fishing the match. Had great company between Tim Ford and Leyton Palmer. Expected Leyton to catch being near the gap on the end of the island peg 6, but not Tim on 4.

Thought about different ways of fishing the peg so set up a traditional link maggot feeder, same rig for long but went further out at 11.5 metres giving 6 inches up the far shelf and the Ronnie rig. The wind was totally different with the float going with the wind which would make things even more difficult.

Fed the long line heavy with chopped worm, casters and micro and the short line with GB laced Pinkie. Had a few chucks on the feeder to get some maggots on the shelf.

The upshot was caught a few small silvers short never had a proper bite long even though it was continually fed heavy - just pulls from micro Perch. Decided to start packing up with 20 minutes to go so chucked the maggot feeder hoping for some decent skimmers instead had two pulls from carp and some liners. Leyton struggled on 6 until the last 40 minutes when he put 10 lb of skimmers in the net - suspect that these had moved out of the gap. Tim struggled also. My predictions were unfortunately nearly right.

The match was won by Jason Pitman (pictured with the silvers winner) with 153 lb 13 oz from peg 12. Jason caught mostly on corn down his left hand margin at 6 metres. Well done matey.

The silvers was won by Matt Tainton with 17 lb 3 oz from peg 20. Matt caught fishing 16 metres over to the island fishing worm over worm and caster. Well done matey.

Bob the Bread (aka medium sliced Price) with a typical net of skimmers from gap peg 7 on - well bread what else.

Result:

1. Jason Pitman 153-13-0 peg 12

2. Jerry Walsh (Paste short)

3. Bill Knight 92-05-0 peg 14

Silvers:

1. Matt Tainton 17-03-0 peg 20

2. Leyton Palmer 12-02-0 peg 6

3. Kev Winstone 12-15-0 peg 3

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 06/04/2023 - Ray's Rip Off - Windmill Fishery - Match Lake

First stop Hungry Horace's followed by a bumpy ride down rocky road. Geoff and me had a quick look at the lake to see a few Ronnie's topping.

Kev Winstone was standing in for Ray today as his wife was coming home from hospital - good news. Kev had got some bingo balls for the draw. Unfortunately the balls were from a kids game and with most of us having to look at our wives at arms length we had a job to see our peg numbers.

Into a new silk draw bag with bigger disc's and found myself on peg 5. No that enthused. For company of peg 6 was Hubert (aka Handle bars).

Decided to fish for silvers and claim the £100 bounty on the 50 lb of silvers - Umm. I also have made up new design of Ronnie rig and wanted to try it out. Waggler set up with a 7" Drake. A 4x14 Winter to fish top set plus thee barrels and would be my skimmer line fishing worm over chopped worm/caster/DP's in GB. Finally my new Ronnie rig.

Fed a large ball of the skimmer mix and a small ball of GB laced with Pinkie on the short Ronnie line. Didn't bother feeding the waggler once again because of the bloody wind. It took a few put-ins to get use to the new rig due to the sensitivity could see indications before they actually took the single LR and striking too early. Had a good run and must say I was impressed with the rig and will be tying some more. The line slowed so topped up and tried the long line where initially the worm was being pestered by small Perch. Had a decent skimmer before it died, thought there might be carp about - alas not. Back on the Ronnie rig and kept a few coming and a bonus skimmer. The wind dropped so tried the wag and mag and did expect to catch some carp and skimmers, alas again not just a few Rudd. Very surprised not to even foul hook a carp on this peg. The skimmers are following the carp at the moment and knew that the chances of catching any numbers of skimmers was unlikely today. Stayed on the Ronnie rig to see the match out. Had managed to stay dry until the all out called and the havens opened - bugger - soaking again.

My silvers weighed 11 lb 8 oz 5th in the silvers and 38 lb 8 oz short of the bounty.

The match was won by Paul Barnfield (pictured with the silvers runner up) with 52 lb 8 oz from peg 11. Paul also won the silvers with 21 lb 1 oz. Paul no doubt used his favored micro, GB  and Micro approach. Well done matey - double bubbler.

Result:

1. Paul Barnfield 52-08-0 peg 11

2. Glenn Bailey 44-11-0 peg 1 (paste is back!!!)

3. John Smith 44-07-0 peg 10

4. Hayden Withers 42-03-0 peg 9

5. John Osborne 35-02-0 peg 3

6. Pete Greenslade 33-08-0 peg 23 (3 carp)

Silvers:

1. Paul Barnfield 21-01-0 peg 11

2. Hughie Evans 17-06-0 peg 6

3, Kev Winstone 13-02-0 peg 18

Weigh Sheets:

Sunday 02/04/2023 - Westerleigh Winter League - Round Seven - Final Round - Taylor's Pool and Shipp's Canal

My turn on Shipp's Canal. No silvers focus for me as Lee Waller and me were only 1 lb behind Bela and Steve from winning the pairs which is done on weight count only.

Had a walk around the canal and noticed that the dreaded peg 13 was alive with carp.

Lee drew well with peg 17 Taylor's and so did I with Shipp's peg 6. That said both Bela and Steve also drew well.

Arrived at the peg and it seems a long time since I've been down this end. Plenty of room as peg 7 not in this year. For company peg 5 was occupied by Steve Shears, we have drawn next to each other a few times this league. - he's no longer on my Jinx list.

In case it was hard got the waggler rod out for a 7" Drake, but noticed the peg was a bit of a bird cage so with Mark's permission cut a couple of branches down with Bela's saw. Had a small area for a clear cast but due to the wind went up the tree with practice casts so packed it away. Just two rigs - 4x13 MR to fish top set plus one barrel and a 0.3 gram RJ (love these floats) to fish top set down the RH margin. Absolutely lovely sloping margin and perfect for paste, but didn't have any!

Both lines to be potted with micro and fish either double LR's or 4/6 mm expander on the hook. Started on the long line (LOL) the very cold wind was blowing in at 11 o clock and was giving perfect presentation blowing the rig up the slight slope towards me. A great start in the first hour put 10 F1's and a small carp in the net. The wind dropped and change direction slightly. The line died. Went down the margin with expander, no bites. Tried double maggot and got pestered by micro Perch and the odd Ronnie - no carp around then  - yet. Started to loose feed micro whilst going back out long with maggot and had a run of skimmers and a couple of Crucians, no carp though. Back on the margin with double maggot and no bites - good sign, changed to expander and had three good size carp to 8lb. Made the mistake of too regularly kindering micro and had another carp losing four on the bounce. One snagged me (might have also been fouled), one tail walked landing on the line and two foul hooked due to the deep margin and the kindering. Balled up the micro and potted, things improved landing two more decent carp.

My accidental silvers weighed 5 lb 7 oz (second overall silvers) and the carp 45 lb 8 oz for second lake and overall 50 lb 15 oz. Two more would have got me first and more importantly the heaviest weight of the series. This went to Ricky Mills on peg 13 who had a good day on the carp including two Grass carp with one going 12 lb (pictured above - it's not a Chub), the only two in the venue!! Well done matey a beautiful fish. Lee did well and too and got us this years pairs. I also took the heaviest silvers weight over the league. My 18 points was off the pave this year, could have drawn better and buggered up peg 2 which I should have won from - see below for the league result.

Back to the Inn for the results all today's and overall framers pictured. Thanks to Mark Taylor for the use of his fishery and his excellent fishery management, the best mixed small fishery around - perhaps a few more silver though!!. Thanks to Bri Shanks for running the league once again excellent. Me and others are always sorry when this league ends. Cant wait for next year.

Result:

Shipp's Canal:

1. Ricky Mills 64-06-0 peg 13

2. Mike Nicholls 50-15-0 peg 6

Silvers: John Clark  8-01-0 peg 8

Taylor's Pool:

1. Matt Challenger 37-15-0 peg 25

2. Lee Waller 34-02-0 peg 17

Silvers: Mark Taylor 2-12-0 peg 20

Weigh Sheets:

Final League Results:

Thursday 30/03/2023 - Bathampton AA - Over 55's - Bridge Pool

Arrived in plenty of time for a short walk around. Although the pool has been dyed blue it's gin clear.

Paid my pools and waited to be called to the draw bag - No call!! Dave didn't write my name down so peg 29 was put in the bag which was subsequently my peg for the day. Wasn't sure about it, but felt due to fish issues you needed to keep away from the full depth and fish the margins. Being open water peg 29 would normally be good for the Waggler, so would be limited in this respect.

Walking to the peg noticed many dead Skimmers and Bream plus small Roach turning over. Found this very distressing. Got to peg 29 and fished out two Bream, a mistake because the horrid smell left on my landing net stayed with me all day.

The upshot was started short and had a quick run of about 12 Ronnie's dropping a 8 ouncer swinging - duh. That was it the peg died along with any enthusiasm. Tried allsorts adding another 1/2 ounce. I weighed 14 oz of silvers, which was 1 ounce above the average silvers weight caught by 23 experienced anglers. The rain had abated so took the opportunity to PUE (pack up early) and get the scales to weigh in. Most of the silver fish weighed were in very poor condition.

The match was won by Hughie Evans (pictured) with 16lb 11 oz from peg 19 which included a 12 lb Carp (the only one caught) plus some small F1's.

The silvers was won by Tony Rixon (pictured with the match winner) with 10 lb 1 oz from peg 10. Tony caught most of his fish down to the empty peg 11 platform in 3 foot of water. See his blog for for further details.

I just cant understand why the club has transferred silverfish from the other Pools into Bridge for them to die. The club need to find the reason this pool had gradually declined over the past 5 years or so to the state now where it is all but dead. Some questions from me that need answering.

Q1: What is the quality of the water running in between pegs 19 and 20?

Q2: What is the affect of continuing putting Siltex put into a pool that had no silt in it?

Q3: Why very few fish can be caught at full depth? Should samples of the solids on the bottom taken around the pool and analysis to determine its suitability for aquatic life.

Q4: Why no fish fry for some years?

I and many others have had some wonderful sport from this pool and it was heart breaking to come to terms that we will never see back to it's glory years in our life time.

Back to the Compton for a beer with very down hearted company.

Result:

1. Hughie Evans 16-11-0 peg 19

2. Dave Gillard 10-15-0 peg 14

3. Tony Rixon 10-01-0 peg 10

4. Andy Gard 9-11-0 peg 21

5. Chris Ollis 8-05-0 peg 31

6. Shay Gillman 7-10-0 peg 24

Silvers:

1. Tony Rixon 10-01-0 peg 10

2. Chris Ollis 8-05-0 peg 31

3. Shay Gillman 7-10-0 peg 24

Weigh Sheets:

 

Sunday 26/03/2023 - Westerleigh Winter League - Round 6 - Taylor's Pool and Shipp's Canal

Must have had a bit of rain then! My turn on Taylor's Pool, at least the lakes will be full. When is the wind going to do one and the global warming/climate change come back on the news?

All change, usually want to be in the far side where the prevailing winds are off the back. Today, however, the wind was from the NW, so pegs 13 to 17 would be best for the waggler. Into the car boot and disc 22 proved to be the nearest to hand. I have to say it's one of my favourite pegs on this pool. Today the wind would be blowing in at me at 11 o clock. For company had John on peg 23. Couldn't help noticing Bela had drawn a peg that would suit his long pole fishing.

Being well out of the individual points so the silvers would be the focus today. Set up the waggler and after a few trial casts relised it was going to be difficult to feed properly. Two rigs - 4x14 Winter to fish out in front short and a 0.3 gram Ryan Jordan Slim to fish down to the left margin, short.

Fed the margin with some micro and the other line with GB laced with Pinkie, tried feeding LR's on the waggler line and as expected the feed was being scattered to the four winds plus difficult to see where indeed the feed was landing. 

 Started short with single LR and had a few not unexpected small Perch followed by a nice run of Skimmers to 12 oz. Really enjoying it. The strange thing was the wind occasional switch to NE during this time couldn't get a bite. So during these periods switched to the margin with double DR on the hook I had been occasionally loose feeding. Four margin visits resulted in carp 2 small Common's, 2 big F1's, and one lost large carp which broke me, which might have been due to bad hook tying! Returning to the short line carried on catching Skimmers plus 3 small Crucians which if anyone's got any doubt's are carp. Other than the cold wind in the face had a lovely steady day's fishing.

My silvers weighed 13 lb 4 oz for the silvers win adding the few carp took me to 21 lb 6 oz.

The match was won by my pairs partner Lee Waller with 53 lb 8 oz from peg 2 on Shipp's. His weigh has elevated us to on 1 lb off the lead and one match to go - fingers crossed - looks like I will have to fish for carp then.

Looks like the carp have spread back out on Taylors and Shipp's canal has fished it's head off.

With one match left Bela is odd's on favourite to win the league - to be fair he has fished well, especially as we have now weened him off the bubby.

Back to the Inn for a beverage with the usual suspects.

Result:

Taylor's Pool:

1. Bela Bakos 49-03-0 peg 14 (14. 5 metres hard 4's over kindered 4's, catty later)

2. Steve 36-11-0 peg 20 (expander down the RH edge over 4's - 16 metres))

Silvers: Mike Nicholls 13-04-0 peg 22

Shipp's Canal:

1. Lee Waller 53-08-0 peg 2

2. Glenn Bailey 46-04-0 peg 6 (hard pellet over kinder p4's)

Silvers: Steve Rogers 7-10-0 peg 4 (maggot short)

All pictured below - trust me to be between the two biggest anglers.

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 23-03-2023 - Ray's Rip Off - Windmill - Match Lake

First stop Hungry Horace's, and a good start to the day and was to prove the best part. The weather was forecast to be awful, it was. Had a walk around the lake with Geoff Francis. Reached peg 16 and said to Geoff it was a peg that you definitely didn't want, hopefully it won't be in the draw today, peg 17 being a much better choice. Hoping for peg 25 which would again have the wind off the back - flat calm.

Into the draw bag and couldn't believe it as peg 16 stuck to my hand - In my opinion the worse peg on the lake. The wind was howling left to right so didn't think the waggler would be a choice and with the wind limiting the pole length set up a light feeder rod with a small cage feeder on a sliding link. Next was a 4 x14 RJ slim to fish three barrels down wind at 45 degrees just down the inside shelf. Had plenty of time so did set up the waggler and amazed how it sat on station. This was due to the very hard tow against the wind so counterbalancing. This gave me some optimism -  got to try and find some positives in this game.

Started on the pole fishing double DR's over potted micro and DR's. After 6 micro Perch the writing was on the wall. A small skimmer and a few Ronnie's before it died. Out on the wag and mag and again had a micro Perch a 12 oz Skimmer and a couple of Ronnie's. Then nothing. Tried the feeder and had a tremble from a 1/2 oz Rudd! Back on the pole adding a couple of small fish before calling it a day with 30 minutes to go. Dreadful days fishing which wasn't unexpected form this peg.

I weighed 1 lb 9 oz for last but one in the match. My weight is the highest from this peg for a while only because there has been 3 FOE's from it the last 3 matches when it was pegged! At least I persevered 😁. And to think I was concerned at only bringing 2 keepnets.

The match was won by venue manager Kev Winstone with 48 lb 12 oz from peg 25. Kev caught long on the pole with micro and maggot. Well done matey.

The silvers was won by Paul Barnfield with 19 lb 1 oz from peg 6. Paul caught on worm over potted micro and chopped worm at 7 metres. Well done matey. Paul fed about 1/4 kilo of worm.

Runner up in both the silvers and the match was John " Standing Man" Osborne pictured below with his net of silvers which he caught at 9 metres fishing double DR's over GB. John didn't hold back on the feed, feeding about 4 pints of GB. Well done matey.

Very limited on the photos due to the horrendous rain and wind. With all my kit soaking wet decided to miss the beer and Baps - miss the Baps!

No weigh sheets as they were readied for a paper mashe modelling.

Result:

1. Kev Winstone 48-12-0 peg 25

2. John Osborne 46-15-0 peg 19

3. Paul Barnfield 38-07-0 peg 6

4. Ray Bazeley 30- 04-0 peg 5

5 Geoff Francis 29-01-0 peg 9

6. Dave Haines 27-11-0 peg 20

Silvers:

1. Paul Barnfield 19-01 peg 6

2. John Osborne 18-04 peg 19