Thursday 09/11/2023 - Bathampton AA - Over 55's and Short Walks - Withy Pool

Members can't get access to the fishery until 08:00, so with the draw at 08:30 we had the usual queue.

Seventeen fishing today so easier to peg three sections. The pool has gone clear due to the recent rain. No signs of feeding fish.

Peg 54 for me today. Thought I had an empty peg next door which would be desirable today, however, Mick Gale arrived next door and it was he that had the empty peg.

The North bank pegs - low 60's to the low 50's are all South facing and would have serious issues with the Sun today. Brought my old Sun glasses which helped with the Sun but could only see about 5 metres with them.

Set up allsorts except the feeder which on hindsight should have been the only thing I could use sensibly - stubbornness.

Started short on caster hoping for some decent perch - just indications so switch to LR's on the hook and caught about 12 small Perch which more or less cleaned out the line. When out 3 metres with GB and Pinkie and had a couple of small Ronnie's and a few more tiny Perch. The Sun combining with the wind caused silver ripple making visibility near impossible. Out to 5 metres with a very light rig had a couple more small Perch and a Ronnie. It was almost impossible to fish. Most of the bank was on the tip, where I should have been. Chucked the waggler out to 20 metres but it was a strain seeing it. I decided to pack up early to get on with the weigh in just as the heavens opened up.

I weighed 1 lb 12 oz for last but one.

The match was won by Andy Greenham from peg 42 (pictured with his catch) with 7 lb 6 oz. Andy had a few of decent Perch on caster and some small skimmers on Pinkie and GB. Well dome matey.

As anticipated it fished hard and if it wasn't for some decent Perch showing in most nets the weights would have been a lot lower. BAA netted out the small silvers last year which are just the fish to feed under todays conditions giving bites throughout the match.

Back to the Compton with a few of the usual suspects missing. However, we did get our spot by the  wood fire.

Pick up my prescription glasses Monday so won't bother fishing until then.

Weigh Sheets:

Sunday 05/11/2023 - Alcove AC - Poppy Match at Whitehouse Farm - George's and Margret's Lakes

Because I'm still learning about the venue was looking forward again to the unknown. Anticipated the silvers to be in the main frame. Really didn't mine where I drew - mainly out of lack of experience

Into the draw bag and out comes peg 19 on George's (pictured with the light starting to go, Roach now topping everywhere and the island trees looking beautiful in autumn colours). Couple of steps down to the platform, something that's needed at Windmill Fishery. Told is was the dam end so deep which scuppered a idea I wanted to try.

Waggler to fish 20 metres where it was 10 foot. A short rig and a two barrel rig. The water here gradually slopes off from 4 to 10 foot which should be good for the Skimmers.

Just Maggot and GB - Magic, Lake and fish meal for a binder.

The issue with the peg today was the Sun. Another week before picking up the prescription Sun glasses. I was awful. This meant initially fishing down Sun then move up Sun once it moved. Initially no way could I fish the waggler or fish too long. So started short and had a couple of 1 lb Skimmers and a 1 lb Gold fish, but mostly Ronnie's keeping them coming by topping up with GB laced with DR's. Had been loose feeding up Sun ready for the switch and on the move managed to keep some Ronnie's coming, pulling out of two decent Perch - as you do. Sun abated along with the odd light shower so switched to the long line again with GB and DR's for a couple more skimmers and Ronnie's. Did have a small Ronnie taken by a predator bringing it in - apparently no Pike in the lake so might be Perch. With all initial lines dead went out on the waggler over loose fed LR's for a couple of small Chub and a few decent Ronnie's, but over done the feeding and should have tried shallowing up - next time.

Weighed 13 lb 2 oz for the lake win. Very enjoyable except for the bloody Sun glare causing a headache.

Margret's Lake and the match was won by Kev Swanston (pictured with George's lake winner) with 19 lb 15 oz of Skimmers from peg 16. Kev caught on both the method and cage feeder with mainly pellet hook bait. Well done Kev excellent weight on the day.

What a nice quiet venue, can see why it's so popular for pleasure anglers.

Weigh Sheets:

 

Sunday 29/10/2023 - PSV Club @ Plantation - Main Lake

Glenn and me thought we would try Plantation Main with both silvers and Carp counting. We normally match fish it for silvers and hook loads of Carp - well I do.

The clocks changed overnight which will confuse my body clock for a few days. Woke to what looked like a full moon some beautiful views of it on the drive down. Topper Haskins would say that the fish won't feed after such a moon. He could be right.

Another bright and wind free day which is believed to be the reason the silvers aren't feeding properly especially the Roach at most venues. Wind also needed to get rid of the green film on this lake at the mo.  

I was hoping for a peg that has a platform or at least half of one. Peg 26 was drawn for me. Not quite a full platform but OK. For company on peg 27 Ron Hardiman and James D-0-G-G 777 on 24!

Only brought caster, maggot and GB to fish for the silvers. Three rigs - margin with caster for the big Perch, short Ronnie rig and a 4x12 to fish at 10 metres.

The upshot was for the first time ever at this venue couldn't get a bite on caster!! Resulted to maggot and caught very very small Ronnie's and Skimmers up to 4 oz by rotating the two lines. No Perch from the margin either. Even tried the waggler for not a bite!

Weighed 8 lb 9 oz of silver for nowhere. The only other thing worth a try was worm had I had any, but doubt if this would have made any difference as James next door fished it throughout the match.

Bela Bakos (pictured) won the match from peg 1 with 86 lb 8 oz. Bela caught mainly down his end margin at 13 metres just off the bank in 3 foot of water using a mixture of feed with meat hook bait - lifting and dropping. Well done matey. Found the above cutting when Bela found two river Tench!!

The silvers win went to Matt with 23 lb 12 oz from peg 2. Matt caught at 14.5 metres using worm over worm and caster. Well done matey.

As Glenn scraped his section it had to be a stop at the Prince of Waterloo. Food looks good.

Weigh Sheet:

Tuesday 24/10/2023 - Acorn Cost Cutter Open - Paddocks

I don't seem to get the time on Tuesdays to get down to Acorn with Gary and Glenn as much as I would like So today would be only the third time this year. The main attraction for me is the amount of quality silvers. However, with the autumn on us plus plenty of rain around didn't expect the Tench to make much of a showing.

Nice steady ride down with Glenn and it looked like it would stay dry for us. Gary was sorting his Colmic pole but still coming to terms how parallel butt sections work 😏

Drew peg 22 same as last time which I was more than pleased with. Found myself drawn next to Eddie on peg 23. Started to set up when Eddie realised he messed up the pegging and moved me to 21 otherwise a gap of 3 pegs. Very unusual for Eddie as he runs a good match, but can be a bit  grumpy if you don't have the right pools money.

Tench rig for the bridge, short 4x12 rig for 3 foot shelf and 4 x14 for full depth down the middle. Thought about the waggler but that was as far as it got.

Fed the Bridge with a smidgen of chopped worm and caster, starting short on single LR over maggot and had  three decent Skimmers and two decent Perch and an unwelcome 9 lb Carp. Time to try the bridge hoping for some Tench. Unusually foul hooked a Tench (slime on the line) and pulled out another. Landed two before it completely died but could still see activity over the feed which kept me trying the line in vain, whatever it was wouldn't pick up the hook bait. Had a few more skimmers short with the long line producing nothing. Added a 2 lb Perch and a few decent Ronnie's. Hour to go started a new line up to the bridge with the short rig with light feeding of maggot and had another Perch and some more Ronnie's. Put a bit of GB in with the hope for a Skimmer or two which brought a sudden unwanted change of small Carp and F1's adding about 25 lb - unfortunately no more silvers.

Silvers weighed 20 lb 10 oz all quality fish - lovely day's fishing plus second silvers pick up, total weight 53 lb 6 oz. Mid match nearly got off my ass to set up the waggler which I'm sure may have produced some Ronnie's, but can't be sure, here's to next time.

The match was won once again by Gareth Boycott (pictured with some of his catch) with 211 lb 8 oz from island peg 4. Gareth initially caught on pellet long over adding the lion's share later down his edge using maggot over kindered GB. Well done matey got it sorted.

The silvers was won by Joanne (pictured with the winner) with 26 lb 1 oz from peg 9. Joanne had a good few small Tench and Skimmers fishing down the middle with maggot and GB. Well done Jo.

Glenn finished 3rd from peg 5 with 149 lb 6 oz so a double bubble van and worthy of a pint on the way home in the Prince of Waterloo with Bob and Gary. End to another memorial day out with great company.

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 19/10/2023 - Ray's Rip Off - Windmill Fishery - Match Lake

With red weather forecasts across the country we got off lightly with a few light showers which became "the day of rainbows" - stunning, combined with Reed Warblers having a squabble and the thieving Robins, some days it doesn't matter whether you catch or not.

Some time ago at the Viaduct winter league Matt Taynton had won both the silvers and match and got paid for both (for some reason Bela and

me expected a drink - alas not!!). Matt is always dressed smart even at matches, as he was this day. However, he never wore a tie. He said it was because he didn't own one. So at the next match I gave him my NFA tie. He wears it quite often and is pictured proudly showing it off prior to a shoot dinner.

Peg 21 for me, which usually throws up some Skimmers. Thought is was going to be hard after the nights heavy rain. Tried the wag and mag for a tiny Perch and a foul hooked lost Carp. Again plagued with indications from tiny Ronnie's. The waggler didn't feel right so abandoned. Spent the rest of the match on the short Ronnie rig catching the odd Ronnie on single LR but was still missing loads of bites from the small fish - even with pinkie on the hook! Very few Perch about. It was hard. From what I could see very few silvers was coming out, so stuck with it until the last hour when the disrupting Carp arrived. Andy Greenham paid a visit just as I was landing a 11 lb Common on a 20 - 808 to 0.1 GLine. Swapped to 0.14 only to get broken on the next Carp!! Back on 0.1 and landed a 6 lb Carp before the all out.

Silvers weighed 5 lb 9 oz - all Ronnie's and the two accidental Carp going 17 lb, for 22 lb 10 oz for an unexpected section win!

John Smith (pictured with the silver winner) won the match from peg 23 fishing banded pellet up in the water over loose fed same at 13 metres for 78 lb 9 oz. Well done Matey - still a jinx though.

The silvers went to Paul Barnfield with 10 lb 15 oz from peg 25. Paul caught at his usual 13 metres with worm over chopped worm and micro. Close on the silver with three 10 lb weights. Well done matey 

Back for a curry at the Mughal Palace with the usual suspect - excellent.

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 12/10/2023 - Bathampton AA - Over 55's - Withy Pool - Silvers Only

BBC weather forecast - wet early drying up for the match, then more rain. Rain all day from either mizzle, drizzle or rain. It's the same people who are predicting half of Somerset will be under water by 2050 😄.

Drew peg 44 which is a good peg but the only one I have problems getting in and out of - needs a couple of proper steps. Nice to see a new platform on peg 40 well done BAA.

The Pool was flat calm which was a worry - really wanted some wind to get some tow going. Started short and once again the Ronnie's had shut up shop, so a few micro Perch and one lost small Skimmer. Out to 10 metres - again with GB laced with Pinkie with single LR on the hook. Had 4 tiny Skimmer's and a few small Ronnie's. It was really slow all round the pool particularly the pegs in my section. Luckily had set up the waggler which wasn't expected to be used. Spent the rest of the match on it with single LR over loose fed LR's. Managed to pick off the odd dumpy hand size Hybrids, three big Ronnie's to 12 oz and a 2 lb Skimmer, lost another foul hooked. The feeding was difficult as no response to little and often - so feed then wait and pick off a couple - repeat. Managed to keep Carp hooking down to three.

Really needed something to brighten up what was a very miserable day weather wise. Ray Bazeley and Paul Haines provided it, they were on pegs 43 and 42 separated by a tree. Ray hooked a Carp which headed towards Paul who unknowing hooked Ray's line. So we had Ray playing a Carp and Paul and Paul playing Ray. The Carp was lost leaving Paul and Ray playing each other. The tree was making it difficult for them to disentangle. Fell off my box laughing when Ray said to Paul "Let your elastic out" Paul replied "how the xxxx do I do that"?. Both losing rigs in the tree - so a clear draw, however, heard Paul say to Ray how did you manage to get back out fishing so quick!!

I weighed 9 lb for a section win.

The match win was shared by Shay Gillman peg 50 and Mike Gale 45 both with 18 lb of Skimmers - pictured.

Mick caught mainly hand size Skimmers fishing 7 metres on a long line with single Pinkie to a 22 to 0.06 hook length loosing feeding Pinkie. Nice net of Skimmers (pictured) which will be venerable to Cormorants.

Overall the Pool fished poorly which most fisheries are at the moment.

Back to the Compton with the usual suspects.

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 05/10/2023 - Ray's Rip Off - Windmill Fishery - Match Lake

Nice to see some of the driveway repaired, much smoother.

Peg 20 again for me, still learning how to fish it! Found myself between Rip Off and Any Peg. Decided to try for the Carp today on the wag and mag with a 8" bodied Drake a tad too large for distance and for fishing shallow but expected the wind to pick up, which it did. Also a 0.3 gram RJ for tight into the LH margin again with maggot. Set the short Ronnie rig up in case.

Soon found out my 0.14 hook length was under gunned loosing a Carp going full belt for the Reeds. Stepped up to 0.16 and after loosing a foul hooker landed three carp to 10 lb. After a bit of a wait hooked another Carp which was lost in the margin reeds due to my incompetency adjusting the drag in the opposite direction to that required 😒. Now drawing with the Carp 3 - 3. Was having lots of indications which I discovered later to be from small 1/2 oz Ronnie's. Luckily in between had six decent skimmers which decided me to abandon the Carp as I wasn't competing and fish for silvers with the Ronnie rig single maggot over GB and over last 45 minutes had a run of some decent Ronnie's and a bonus skimmer. With 3 minutes to go hooked another Carp which was played after the all out for it only to break my light rig hook length - it wasn't to matter - 3 - 4 to the Carp.

The Carp weighed 21 lb 10 oz and the silvers 16 lb 5 oz for second silvers pick up. Hindsight - should have fished for the silvers earlier.

The match was won again by Paul Barnfield (pictured with the silvers winner) from peg 10 with 140 lb 7 oz. Paul fished 13 metres with worm over chopped worm and micro. Well done matey.

I was pipped to the silvers by Andy Gard (pictured) with 17 lb 8 oz from peg 18. Andy fished down the middle varying his hook bait over GB and maggot. Well done matey.

Back for a curry with Geoff and a pint of draft Cobra - my favourite drink. Best curry I've had since Whiteacres.

Result:

1. Paul Barnfield 140-07-0 peg 10

2. Tony Ponting 115-0-0 peg 14

3. Paul Haines 78-10-0 peg 8

4. Leyton Palmer 73-11-0 peg 19

5. John Smith 72-04-0 peg 2

6. Geoff Francis 70-03 0 peg 6

Silvers:

1. Andy Gard 17-08-0 peg 19

2. Mike Nicholls 16-05-0 peg 20

One weigh sheet: