Thursday 04/07/2013 - Bathampton Over 55's and Disabled - Withy Pool

It was a toss up whether I went down to Viaduct or went to the Over 55’s at Withy. Withy won out simply because I was knackered from yesterday and didn’t fancy the long lonely drive.

 

After picking up matey Bob Warren and a breakfast at Asda (this is where Bob takes you if he’s paying)!

 

As expected the water level was down. But there is still a few billion gallons left! In to the draw bag and out comes peg 5 (not really the 9 is missing off the platform). I didn’t know what to think about the peg only it was nearly opposite the peg I would have picked – peg 49.

 

The fishing ay Withy has changed over the last few years from small hand size Skimmers and Ronnie’s to much bigger Silver fish. So you have to change your approach to target this stamp.

 

I had the choice of two approaches; CW&C for the Silvers or paste for Silvers and Carp. The choice dependant on the peg I drew. The decision on peg 59 was going to be paste only. These pegs along the North bank are very shallow on the inside, especially with the water lever down, so no margin swims here. That said I did set a paste rig up to fish in 2 foot of water at 4 metres. This rig didn’t get wet. This left the one paste rig to fish at 9 metres out in front a 0.5 gram float was my choice for 6 foot of water.

 

On the whistle I fed a half pot of 4’s at 9 metres and followed up with a two day old piece of paste. I then had a fruitful hour catching two hybrids, four Skimmers, four Bream (to 3 ½ lb) and one Carp. It then went quiet even though I was topping up through the kinder pot with hard 4’s with every piece of paste. It surprising how much you can feed like this. I was waiting so long for a bite that the paste came off so I changed to a whole Dendrabena, the biggest in the container. First try I foul hooked a Carp (so they are there then). The same next put in – bugger.  I then added another four Carp in to the net. I thought 5 was enough in the shallow water so got a third net out. All the while I had been topping up with the big pot of hard 4’s after each fish and by changing back to paste I landed another five Carp, losing one due to a combination of a bit of bad angling and a crafty Common Carp.

 

My Silvers weighed 14lb 2oz and my Carp 85lb 10oz for a grand total of 99lb 12oz. This put me first overall and third in the Silvers.

 

The Silvers was won by Gentleman Dave Bacon (pictured right with the match winner) with 20lb of Skimmers and Bream from peg 67. Dave caught most of his fish on the GB feeder.

 

Full Result:

 

1.      Mike Nicholls 99-12-0 peg 59

2.      Chris Rolfe 92-10-0 peg 54

3.      Mike Jones 66-13-0 peg 44

4.      Andy Shields 65-12-0 peg 73

5.      Terry Bruton 45-08-0 peg 61

6.      Terry Church 42-04-0 peg 66

7.      Bob Warren 40-02-0 peg 60

 

Top Silvers:

 

1.      Dave Bacon 20-0-0 peg 67

2.      Alan Jones 16-01-0 peg 49

3.      Mike Nicholls 14-02-0 peg 59

4.      Bill Ferris 14-0-0 peg 68

 

Weigh Sheets Follow:

 

 

 

Wednesday 03/07/2013 - Avon Angling Open - Acorn Fishery - Paddocks

It was off to Acorn again with fellow paste buddy Glenn Bailey. It’s no surprise to me that we both fish the bait differently and I mean totally different. Glenn fed 7 pints of 4’s today and I fed ½ pint, plus our paste is totally different. It goes to show how different we all fish on commercial’s compared with river and canal fishing.

 

After breakfast it was in to Tony’s new draw coffee tin and out comes a peg with a zero at the end. So would it be 10, 30 or 40 – all good pegs. Yippee, it was peg 10, the best of the bunch. I was very happy with this peg as I had plenty of room. For company I had Barry Fitchew on peg 9. Barry fished for Silvers all day with maggot over maggot and caught Skimmers steady throughout (pictured right with his net of fish) for second in the Silvers.

 

Within 20 minutes I was set up with two paste rigs, one for the LH margin and the other at full depth at top set plus one.

 

On the whistle I started by feeding a few 4’s in to the margin and the paste was immediately being attacked by Silvers – Umm. I then caught a 3lb Tench. So I decided to get a 4x12 jolly out and have a go with caster over caster which resulted in two more Tench and a handful of Skimmers before it went quiet. So back out on the paste with hard 4’s and I had a run of mid size Carp, before it went iffy with liners. This drove me mad for a while so switched to the longer line at 4 metres kindering just a five 4’s and amazingly the swim started to fizz. Again I was getting liners even though I wasn’t feeding much at all. So I stopped feeding and caught Carp steady for a couple of hours. The upshot was that I kept a few Carp coming by switching between the margin and 4 metre line. But I hadn’t caught anywhere near as much as I had thought I would from this swim – I was a tad disappointed. Luckily the Lake hadn’t fished as well as it could with my Silvers weighing 11lb 2oz and my Carp (about thirty) 104lb 15oz for a second overall weight of 116lb 1oz.

 

The match was won by Tony Rixon (pictured right with the Silvers winner) from peg 1 with 148lb 13oz. Tony caught on…see his blog for further details.

 

The Silvers was won by Phil Harding with 30lb 3oz from peg 33. Phil caught on worm over caster down the track.

 

Full Result:

 

1.      Tony Rixon 148-13-0 peg 1

2.      Mike Nicholls 116-01-0 peg 10

3.      Jamie Dyte 114-04-0 peg 3

4.      Gabriel Skarba 112-15-0 peg 22

5.      Martin Alexander 112-03-0 peg 5

6.      Tom Thick 96-05-0 peg 40

7.      Glenn Bailey 96-02-0 peg 29

 

Top Silvers:

 

1.      Phil Harding 30-3-0 peg 33

2.      Barry Fitchew 26-07-0 peg 9

3.      John Bradford 13-04-0 peg 38

 

Weigh Board Follows:

 

 

Sunday 30/06/2013 - Viaduct Top Six Open - Campbell Lake

I had planned to have another visit to Summerhay’s today but when I heard that the draw was 11am, in another words an afternoon match  - much too late for me, so I switched to the Viaduct top six match on Campbell – which was a sell out and more with 24 pegs in!

 

After breakfast in Woody’s (Bela loves his sausages – he is a expert in this type of grub) it was in to the coffee tin and out comes peg 117. I was about to become one of the elite anglers that has fished this peg as it isn’t normally NOT pegged – a overflow peg! That said when arriving at the peg I was wondering why its not pegged, as there were plenty of signs of fish – I wasn’t left wondering for too long!

 

Bela drew peg 111.

 

I set up two paste rigs – one for both margins and a one for long out in front at not quite 6 metres. I started with paste in the kinder accompanied with a few hard 4’s. After two liners I was playing a 10lb Common which infiltrated every swim I planned to fish before it gave up. Next put in I had a Tench followed by a 2lb Perch – Umm! And that was it on this line for the next 5 hours and 30 minutes – other than Ronnie’s pestering my paste. In to the left hand margin and I had two more Tench as I did from the RH margin – no Carp. Swapping between the two margins I had a total of six Tench. I wasn’t sure whether the paste wasn’t doing the business or I had chased the fish out of “Ronnie bay”, so I set up a meat rig and soon discovered that it was the latter as all I got was Ronnie’s bites. So back on the paste in the RH margin and I hook a near 3lb Perch, however, as I was playing it my number four fell in the lake and as it was float I decided to play and land the Perch before recovery – mistake.

 

After landing the PB Perch I couldn’t see my number 4. I thought about asking Bela to go in for it but remembered that we had already had the "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" moment last year, which went something like this:
Bela: "Lost my number six in the lake".
Me: "Why didn't you go in for it".
Bela: "No".
Me: "It's not very deep"
Bela: "NO"
Me: "The waters not cold"
Bela: "NO"
Me: "Number six is expensive"
Bela: "NOoo, I CAN'T SWIM".
Me: "Pussy".
So as I wasn’t really catching I decided to go in the Lake after it. After stripping down to the knickers and temporarily joining the flip-flop brigade (Martin McMahon kindly loaned me his as the peg was surrounded by brambles). Peg 117 is very high off the water something I didn’t take into account before going in. In I went tearing my arm on the brambles, but found the water temperature like bath water, after retrieving the section after this was when I discovered I couldn’t get out, but once again Martin came to my rescue and pulled me out – thanks matey. The rumours as to why I had gone in the Lake was that  I had lost a plummet - twats! Once I had carefully explained to the Special One why my Knickers were wet she insisted I had  bath before getting in to bed with her.

 

I did have three more Carp before the end by persevering with the paste. My four carp weighed 22lb 13oz and my Silvers 18lb 11oz for a total of 41lb 8oz for not last!

 

The match and the Silvers was won Craig “Trigger” Edmonds (pictured right sporting his new hair loss style with his net of Tench) with 36lb of Tench and a total of 152lb 1oz from peg 120. Craig caught all his fish on 8mm meat loose feeding about 2 ½ tins throughout. The Tench were caught in his LH margin and the Carp out in front at 6 metres. Craig kept the fish coming by switching between the two swim.

 

Full Result:

 

1.      Craig Edmonds 152-01-0 peg 120

2.      Lee Werret 150-13-0 peg 135

3.      Paul Elms 131-05-0 peg 113

4.      Kevin Moulton 122-08-0 peg 128
5.      Paul Greenwood 116-09-0 peg 115

6.      Joe McMahon 102-15-0 peg 118

 

Top Silvers:

 

1.      Craig Edmonds 36-0-0 peg 120

2.      John Bradford 31-09-0 peg 121

3.      Tony Rixon 3002-0 peg 123

 

Weigh Sheet Follows:

 

Saturday 29/06/2013 - Hillview Open - Moorhen and Heron Lakes

Son Steve wanted another trip to Hillview which is just north of Tewkesbury and is a very popular fishery at the moment for the Brummies and Welsh. It’s the commercial fishery I first fished and with it only an easy 50 minute drive up the M5 I amazed more of the Bristol lads don’t pay a visit – lots to learn from the regulars.

 

You always get a warm welcome form the lads and Keith Hill the owner – but he is taking your money. After a breakfast and a chat with Two Metres Groves and Top Kit King it was in to the woolly hat, its OK I washed my hands after as Keith has been using his hat for at least twenty years! And out comes Top Kits favourite peg 22 on Heron (a view from the peg pictured above). Terry came round and explained where he did and where he didn’t catch. As it happened he was spot on.

 

Steve drew peg 8 on Moorhen causeway.

 

I initially set up two rigs a 4x12 Jolly to fish soft pellet or meat at 4 metres at one o clock and a 0.2 paste rig to fish the margins. The LH margin looked the business but Terry said he didn’t catch there, but I kept an open mind, but as I said he was spot on as I didn’t have a Carp from it.

 

On the whistle I fed a pot of casters down the dead LH margin and started to loose fed hard 4’s down the Left, Terry’s banker and mine!  However, I started on the soft pellet at 4 metres kindering hard 4’s. The upshot was that I was being tortured by Silvers. Wherever and whatever I tried I was being ragged. So bugger it I set up the Ronnie rig for caster over caster (I don’t know why as there are no Silvers pool here). I had Ronnie’s, Rudd, Skimmers and loads of Perch every put in. After an hour on them it went a bit iffy an indication that the Carp may have arrived, so it was into the RH margin and I did have a run of Carp, the Black original ones which no doubt I caught all those years ago it’s nice to see they are still here albeit the mouths are much smaller! With two hours to go I did have a run of bigger Carp and was expecting to do a good weight – doesn’t this always happen as it went quiet for the next half hour only adding another three Carp – this was a bit disappointing.

 

My Silvers weighed 26lb 6oz (an ideal venue to have a Silvers pool) and my 10 Carp weighed 56lb for a total of 82lb 6oz for 9^th overall.

 

The match was one by Andy Newton (pictured right with some of his bucketed fish) from peg 39. I must say I was impressed with his fishing. Andy caught in both his margins and at 4 metre fishing soft pellet over loose fed micro (I nearly got it right). Andy did have a Carp that must have been close or over 20lb down his RH margin.

 

Full Result:

 

1.      Andy Newton 120-10-0 peg 39

2.      Steve Ford 113-0-0 peg 19

3.      Billy 111-08-0 peg 31

4.      Corky 104-11-0 peg 33

5.      CC 104-04-0 peg 3

6.      Lee 102-06-0 peg 35

 

Weigh Sheet:

 

 

Wednesday 26/06/2013 - Amalgamated Summer Wednesday League - Round One - Tockenham

I decided this year to fish the Amalgamation Fisheries Summer Open Wednesday League. With three matches on Tockenham Reservoir , three on Sabre Lake and two on Pawlett Ponds with the first today on Tockenham. The league is run by Andy Smith and is a sell out although there was a few missing today who are fishing a festival down at Whiteacres.

 

In to the draw bag and out comes permanent peg 28. Which meant nothing to me, only that it wasn’t on the dam wall where I was told you needed to be. Andy Smith said it was OK, but someone whispered in my ear that Andy says that about all the pegs! Arriving at the peg I found I was in a bit of a corner of a big bay. With loads of sedges to my right which I was sure would contain a few Carp although I thought I would be suicidal to fish there. I didn’t fancy it much for Silvers as I was well away from the main body of the Lake. Then to compound my bad luck Steve “The Scud” Jefferies arrives on peg 27. So it was to be a ear battering to my left and a rig bashing to my right. I got both!!

 

I set up:

 

The waggler to fish at depth with caster on the drop over caster.

The 4x16 Jolly (in 7 foot at 10 metres) with soft pellet or caster

The GB feeder to chuck anywhere.

A paste rig to fish over the soft pellet line.

A paste right for the dreaded RH margin.

 

The upshot was that the Wag, Feeder and long paste rig caught nought. The only way I could catch Silvers was with 3mm expander over loose fed hard 4’s, but couldn’t hold them there for long as the water was extremely clear (I could see down 3 feet). I did have a 1 ½ lb Roach.

 

With 13lb 6oz of Silvers in the net I was going nowhere in terms of framing. Then with 1 ½ hours to go I seen the Sedges move in the margin so a nervously placed ball of paste went in and the float buried. However, I wasn't prepared for this and took me a adrenalin fill two minutes to get more pole on, luckily it swam out of the Sedges and a 9lb beautifully scaled Common was in the net. My luck wasn’t to hold out because I lost the next two, with one Carp bottoming out my 22 elastic taking the entire rig. However, I did land the next two 9 pounders both Commons and just before the whistle I pulled out of another even though I had managed to persuade it to swim out on the Sedges – bugger. So the score was three all.

 

My three Carp weighed 26lb 12oz taking the total to 40lb 2oz for fifth overall. I was happy with this result from the peg, but those lost Carp cost me a win.

 

Scud (pictured right - he was so exhausted from his unceasing chatter that he fell a sleep holding his 14lb Common) did more damage to me than the Carp; driving home I had a throbbing headache.

 

The match and the Silvers was won by Malcolm Ockwell with 58lb 6oz from Dam wall peg 40. Malcolm caught all Skimmers on the pole using caster over caster in GB.

Finally we all got home late because some low life pinched the scales from the dam wall section. The moral is don't leave scales on a peg that is not drawn.

Good news for Mr Osborne on peg 25, I retrieved your Diawa top set with a part of a number four. I will bring it to the next match - forsaking my salvage rights!

 

Full Result:

 

1.      Malcolm Ockwell 58-06-0 peg 40

2.      B Black 43-08-0 peg 19

3.      Mike Jones 43-04-0 peg 44

4.      Gary Davis 42-12-0 peg 20

5.      Mike Nicholls 40—02-0 peg 28

6.      Dave Bacon 35-04-0 peg 33

 

Top Silvers:

 

1.      Malcolm Ockwell 58-06-0 peg 40

2.      Mike Jones 43-04-0 peg 44

3.      Gary Davis 42-12-0 peg 20

 

Weigh Sheets Follow:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday 23/06/2013 - Avon Angling Open - Landsend - Match and Sidney's Lakes

After a wonderful week fishing at Viaduct it was down to earth at Landsend. That said I was looking forward to it as it was another short pole match. This time it was the top 6. Back with travelling with Bela – yep can still eat a large breakfast quicker than I can eat beans on toast.

 

In to the draw box and out comes peg 61 on Sidney’s Lake (Third Lake). A change for me as during the winter I am usually on either 50 or 51 – it must be going to fish on these pegs today then

 

This Lake is venerable to the wind and as it was horrendous to say the least, it was back (or forward) to October.  Arriving at the peg I was disappointed to find that the peg was being badly effect by the gusting wind – bugger. The opposite pegs were relatively clam in comparison. Opposite me once again on this lake was Rip Off Rixon and the first thing he did was take out the front peg plank (pictured right note the Monk cut) and he didn’t put it back. The water level was down about 12 inches which meant we would have less than three foot! I did have some tree cover down to my left but I felt I was the wrong side of it today – needed to be down wind. Still I was optimistic and having set up two paste rigs and the Ronnie rig I was eager to get started.

 

I started on the paste at 6 metres and missed a bite first put in over a few micros. Next put in again with paste and a few micros I was soon netting an 8lb Ghost Carp. Having broken my landing net last week I had bought a new one, but as it was the first time I used it I found it wasn’t as deep as the old one plus a lot heavier. Anyway, as I was putting the fish in the keep net it jumped out of the net landing on to the edge of the keep net it was 50/50 as to where it ended up; as luck would have it was back in to the Lake! There were a few swear words around. I then had a torrid time trying to present paste in the ever increasing wind. I decided to try what I thought was my banker swim down to the tree with paste, only to find the water towing towards me. Through out the match even though I tried it from time to time I didn’t have a bite in the banker.

 

I decided to stop sulking about the lost fish and decided to go back in to autumn mode to suit the weather and set up a 4x14 Jolly to fish with the meat in the least wind effected part o the swim by fishing at 10 o clock and holding back the float. It was like starting a new catching a few F1’s, Crucian’s and one decent Skimmer. Perhaps the Lake Silvers might be a safer bet then. Of course as soon as you think this the Carp arrive. The upshot was that I caught 12 Carp up to 8lb really steady until the end, with the odd Silver taking part.

 

My Silvers weighed in at 10lb 10oz and my 12 Carp 46lb 11oz for a total of 57lb 5oz for Lake 2^nd Silvers and a 5^th overall and a section pick up by default.

 

The match was won by Rip Off (pictured right with his catch) from peg 50 with 97lb 13oz. As usual Tony got it right from the off catching on meat… see his blog for the gory details.

 

The Silvers was won by Flip-Flopper Matt Tomes (pictured lower right with the match winner) with a decent weight of 32lb 8oz from peg 19. Matt initially caught on the soft pellet and later switching to caster over caster. Matt fed a little less than 1 pint.

 

Full Result:

 

1.      Tony Rixon 97-13-0 peg 50

2.      Shaun Townsend 72-10-0 peg 65

3.      Steve Wynne 63-1-0 peg 20

4.      Tom Thick 60-10-0 peg 10

5.      Mike Nicholls 57-05-0 peg 61

6.      Bela Bakos 56-05-0 peg 21

 

Top Silvers:

 

1.      Matt Tomes 32-08-0 peg 19

2.      Tom Thick 24-12-0 peg 10

3.      John Bradford 20-08-0 peg 1

 

Weigh Sheets Follow:

 

 

Friday 21/06/2013 - Viaduct - Charlie Barns Cost Cutter - Match Lake

This was supposed to be organised by Charlie Barns unfortunately Charlie was poorly so it was left to me! Anyway there was only five of us plus a part timer Tim Ford who had to leave lunch time.

 

I like Match Lake as it has much smaller Carp and loads of F1’s and big Skimmers. It was pegged so that everyone had a island chuck I pulled 52 and was happy with this as I just couldn’t face another day of being Carp battered. So a definite day for the Simmers I was thinking. So I set up the one rig a 4x12 Jolly as it is only three foot deep to serve two swims (just) one for the messy business CW&C and the other soft pellet over micro. I fed both swims and started on the soft pellet and was soon being Ronnied out. So switch to a big piece of worm on the other line and soon had a decent Skimmer and a small Tench only to be Ronnied again. After re-feeding both lines I found the F1’s took a liking to the worm line adding a few more Skimmers as well. So back on the pellet where the Ronnie’s were waiting for a falling bait.

 

Bugger it I set up a paste rig and went over the pellet line and had a run of big Skimmers and Tench with a smattering of F1’s. Because the Lake it so shallow it can be difficult to hold the big Silvers in the same swim which I finally suffered with two hours to go so had an easy remainder on the day fishing the top set in the margin catching the odd Tench, small Carp and plenty big f1’s.

 

My Silvers went 30lb 14oz taking my total to 65lb – F1’s do not count as Silvers at Viaduct because they got plenty of Silvers not to do this. So I came first in the Silvers and third overall.

 

We were all mugged by the local Dude (pictured right with a nice net of f1’s and below with the Silvers winner) who weighed 83lb 9oz of mainly F’s. The Dude caught initially on the waggler and later in his LH margin, both with hard 8mm pellet.

 

Mark tanner had some bad luck (again) as I am sure he would have won the match if he could have fished the whole match on the waggler, but unfortunately the Willow shucks fill his swim binding his running line in the rid rings – his swim looked like ice with snow on the top!

 

Full Result:

 

1.      Dan “The Dude” Squires 83-09-0 peg 44

2.      Glenn Bailey 70-05-0 peg 40

3.      Mike Nicholls 65-0-0 peg 52

4.      Mark Tanner 59-13-0 peg 50

5.      Martyn Woodington 59-13-0 peg 42

 

Top Silver:

 

1.      Mike Nicholls 30-14-0 peg 52

 

Well that’s it for our annual fishing holiday, which we all thoroughly enjoyed so much we have booked again for next year. It wasn’t all about the fishing as we did have some great food in the local area. I especially enjoyed the small Indian Restaurant and the Carvery. We were amazed how much Glenn “Baby Bela” Bailey was eating as can be seen from just two of his meals pictured below. Apparently he doesn’t  get cooked for at home, certainly made up for last week.

 

I must say that when Viaduct management Steve and Paul do work and maintenance they do it right. A great fishery which has lakes that suit all types of angling. We have already booked for next year.