Wednesday 30/09/2015 - Amalgamation Summer League - Round Seven - Sedges Fishery - Tile Lake

It was my turn to drive picking up Glenn earlier this morning for an early 09:15vdraw. First stop Hilltops café where the talk was about Bristol Rovers win last night away to Hartlepool – up the GAS.

In to the draw post box and out comes peg 21, which is far side corner peg. This peg has won plenty of matches with Carp this term mainly on the method cast to the point on the end bank. Not for me though. However, it’s also not a fancied Silvers peg which is what I really wanted to fish for – bugger. I set up two Ronnie rigs one short the other long, a 2x16 Jolly to fish 6 inches up the inside shelf in front at top set distance which was a top set depth, finally a 0.3 PC paste float to fish ay 11.5 metres along the end bank.

The weather was glorious although a bit too bright for the Silvers to feed, that said the brisk nippy wind was gusting into me at 11 0 clock which was going to make presentation difficult, but hopefully provide some cover.

Two Saturdays ago I fell on my left shoulder which has been painful for sometime, but has gradually eased. However, today I slipped and stop myself falling by falling on my left hand which set the arm off again, making it difficult to fish long. – Bugger.

I started by feeding the 4x16 Jolly line with some clumped wetted micro and with a semi-hard on the hook I had five small Skimmers in as many put ins. It then died probably due to a maraudering Carp. I had been loose feeding caster down wind to aid presentation, so had a go on the short Ronnie rig with single caster and had a couple of small Ronnie’s I then I hooked a decent Tench, only to have it beat for the hook to ping out. Next put-in another Tench (I think) must get this one out – bugger it snagged me breaking the line well above the hook length – Ugh. The swim became difficult catching the odd Ronnie. I re-fed the long line with more pellet. Back on the Jolly this time double caster over caster and I hooked and landed a 8lb Common Carp – Not what I was expecting – later I foul hooked a Carp which herald the end of this line. Back on the Ronnie’s adding a few more, but they weren’t playing hard enough making it difficult. My arm was aching so stretched the legs only to find that the pegs on our side were fishing hard. I went back and had ago for the Carp on the paste long. The arm was OK shipping out but painful lifting and dragging back. The issue I had was the wind was so strong that it was blowing the float into the end bank whilst the strong under tow was dragging the paste down into the deeper water. The upshot was I struggled for Silvers and Carp giving them both 50% of my time catching two more Carp on the paste foul hooking another four.

My Silvers weighed 4lb 8oz and my three Carp 17lb for a total of 21lb 8oz.

On hindsight I should have fished for Silvers more as it only took 6lb to pick up coin – O if only I had landed those Tench … I also should have fished the paste down the bottom of the shelf over to the end bank as I think there were too many uneven stones and bricks in the shallow margin – next time – perhaps.

The match was won by Glenn Bailey (pictured right with some of his catch) with 71lb 9oz from peg 35. Glenn caught using Two Pots and paste at 13 metres.

The Silvers was won by John Barker (pictured right) with 9lb 11oz of Roach and small Skimmers fishing at 7 metres.

Full Result:

1. Glenn Bailey 71-09-0 peg 35
2. Pete Greenslade 49-12-0 peg 40
3. M Bellringer 49-06-0 peg 39
4. Steve Jefferies 45-06-0 peg 28
5. Bob Price 43-01-0 peg 38
6. Paul Haines  31-11-0 peg 37

Top Silvers:

1. John Barker 9-11-0 peg 25
2. John Osborne 6-11-0 peg 29
3. Alan Jones 6-10-0 peg 32

Weigh Sheets:

Sunday 27/09/2015 - Windmill Fishery Open - Match Lake

Because Bela is having back problems we decided to fish locally at Windmill Fishery. The problem was to find a somewhere to breakfast. I asked around without success, I then remembered that the Travelodge hotels had breakfast facilities with the Beefeater. So goggled it and found that the Beefeater at Emerson Green was open for breakfast from 07:00, perfect as it is 5 minutes from home and the fishery. We arrived at 07:30 and ordered our breakie which took about 15 minutes to arrive; in the meantime Bela was working out how to use the toaster, Duh! I have to say that the breakfast was worth every penny at £8 – All Bela could eat-ish – but he didn’t feel sick. Best tasting breakie I have had for at least 3 months which was also a Beefeater, but don’t eat there at night!!

Of course we arrived early and had a look around. It looks as if some of the Lakes need some TLC and another 3 foot of water. The Match Lake also needs a top up but looked OK.

Shaun Townsend told me last week he had caught 30lb of Skimmers pleasure fishing on caster. So I decided to target Skimmers where ever I drew – not that I know the water as it is the only second time I have fished it.

In to the draw box and out comes peg 6 – no emotions except I was next to Trev who was on peg 8.

Because the water lever is well down I set up the seatbox in front of the platform. – Unsatisfactory as over the six hours I gradually sunk forward.

I set up a 4x14 Jolly to fish at 7meres at 11 o clock into the skimming wind. This was a catch all rig to fish semi-hards and caster over wetted micro and caster, followed by the Ronnie rig to fish at top-set plus one down wind to the right with caster over caster.

I fed the 7 metres line with half a pot of micro, starting on the Ronnie rig with caster over caster on the top set. I was pleasantly surprised how many Ronnie’s were feeding – one a chuck on single caster. After an hour and about 6lb in keeping I had a go on the semi-hards over the 7 metre line and caught Skimmers from 2oz to 1lb consistently. I stayed on this line until the last 40 minutes catching Crucian’s to 1lb and Ronnie’s up to 1lb. On the 40 minutes I noticed some caster air bubbles coming up over the Ronnie line so I set up a 0.3 gram PC paste rig set to 3 foot and caught seven Carp before the all out.

My Silvers weighed 22lb 10oz (pictured right with my catch) for first in the pool and my seven Carp weighed 30 lb for a fifth overall eight of 52lb 10oz. Just being piped by Bela for fourth spot who was in agony after the match with his back.

The match was won by Kevin Jefferies (pictured upper centre with the runner up (on the golden peg - unlucky) and the Silvers winner) with 103lb from peg 24. Kevin caught initially on hard pellet shallow - hook length depth at 17 metres and later in the margin with the same bait.

Bela and I agreed that we had a great day out with the fishing much improved since my last visit – we will no doubt be back. I thoroughly enjoyed the day – another one to remember. Home in ten minutes - well nearly!!

Full Result:

1. Kevin Jefferies 103-0-0 peg 24
2. Steve Dawson 73-14-0 peg 10
3. John Clark 59-10-0 peg 36
4. Bela Bakos 57-10-0 peg 8
5. Mike Nicholls 52-10-0 peg 6

Top Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 22-10-0 peg 6 
2. Trev Bakos 11lb 10oz peg 8 (another hour and I would have beat the old boy – Umm)

Thursday 24/09/2015 - Harescombe Fishery - Cost Cutter Open - Match Lake

I travelled today with the affable Tony Rixon, who arrived 5 minutes early still with plenty of time for a large breakfast – like being with Bela in this respect, double Black Pudding for the driver.

I just can’t understand why this fishery isn’t sold out for every match, it’s brilliant, especially with a tenner pools which is only two quid more than a day permit. That said we did have five up from Bristol.

After Tony’s round table piss take it was into the draw bag – me first and out comes peg 25. Hang on I thought there was only 24 pegs. Not now as peg 25 has been salvaged from the landslide. Arriving at the peg I was slightly concerned that the end bank was far too close to the platform (pictured right). Nonetheless it really doesn’t matter where you draw on this Lake as there are so many F1’s in the Lake. Apparently this bank hasn’t been fishing so well as the car park bank – I can’t understand why this should be so.

I set up three rigs: A 4x12 Jolly for down the inside shelf finding one foot less than the other two pegs I have fished so far, so not completely re-salvaged. A 4x10 Yoof recommended to me at Landsend by the Yoof Trigger. Not as good as the Drennan Chop wire stem because the bodies are far bigger and the wire stem although very stiff the smallest rubber tends to slide around wasting time to re-adjust, overall not a bad substitute. Finally I set up the Ronnie rig to fish at 12 inches deep, long lining to the end bank. All rigs to have a 6mm meat hook bait.

Starting on the Jolly at top-set plus one over micro I started catching F1’s straight away. Because I wasn’t sure where I would bag I started loose feeding hard 4’s down my LH margin, similarly over to the muddy end bank and caster down my very short RH margin – all hand fed. Unusual for me to have four swims in play.

The upshot was I didn’t stay with the longer first line long enough being distracted by Carp slurping up the muddy end bank where I caught some proper Carp on the Ronnie rig but couldn’t keep them in reach as they would quickly back off. I caught most of the Carp down to the Left and plenty of Silvers down to the Right over the caster including Chub, Barbel, Hybrids and Skimmers ending with just 9 species this time out – no Perch or Rudd!

I thought I was well out of it today; however, it is very difficult to know what you have in custody (a few ex police about today). I was surprised that my nets went 99lb 10oz with the last fish pinging off costing me third place.

Excellent days fishing, it doesn’t get any better in my opinion. Back in two week time. Tony has booked a Sunday match so watch his blog for details.

The match was won by “floorman” Adrian Clark (pictured right with the runner up) with 122lb 12oz. Adrian caught mostly on the method feeder chucked to his end bank with banded hard pellet and eyes shut. Adrian did have some on the pole enabling him to say he caught some properly.

Full Result:

1. Adrian Clark 122-12-0 peg 14
2. Tony Rixon 117-0-0 peg 9
3. Stuart Graham 100-14-0 peg 3
4. Mike Nicholls 99-10-0 peg 25
5. Stuart Barnet 97-04-0 peg 6
6. Terry Girdlestone 91-04-0 peg 12

Weigh Sheet:

Sunday 12/11/1978 - Angling Times Winter League - A Division - Newbridge, Saltford and Kelston

It was touch and go whether I made the match as I had been working away and unknowingly drank some of the local water which laid me up in my hotel for two days before I could even think of making a dash for the airport and home. During the second night I drank 7 litres of bottled water. I was beginning to think I had Malaria. Make it home I did and straight to the Doctors who took blood samples etc... Apparently I can now drink the local’s water as I am supposedly immune. No chance.

Armed with a full toilet roll I decided to fish the match, against the Special Ones advice.

The weather had changed from gales to a dull misty frosty day with the air temperature well below freezing. The river had turned that bright green which can mean either all or nothing in terms of the fishing. Captain Colin Golding came back with the draw and I pulled a peg opposite the rowing club at Saltford the end section on the day. Spot on for the conditions, but a fair old walk from the Bird in Hand Car Park.

For company I had the Stick and Waggler maestro Edie Shortman (that’s what he kept telling me) up stream of me. I can’t remember who was below.

The first thing I did was look for a bolt hole to share with my toilet roll and found the big old Oak tree ample cover (it’s still there – the tree that is.

The section is known to throw up Skimmers to 1 ½ lb so set up a 3AA home made peacock waggler with 2lb Maxima reel line to 1lb Maxima hook length, followed by the Normark feeder rod with 3lb reel lone and 1 1/2 lb Maxima hook length (Maxima lone excellent then and excellent now). I started on the feeder with brown crumb and caster with double bronze maggot on the hook and first cast hooked a 1lb Skimmer. Whilst playing the fish to the bank the rod rings started to freeze up so much I couldn’t wind the Skimmer close enough to net. As it was the first fish and perhaps the last I was desperate to land it so kept picking the ice off the rod rings. Thank heavens for barbed hooks as I hand lined it the few remaining feet to the landing net. Good points I was thinking. I picked the ice from the rings and cast again and another Skimmer but this time it was impossible to play it because of the ice and it came off.

Eddie Shortman was fishing the waggler over loose fed maggots and started to catch Skimmers. I couldn’t understand why his rod rings weren’t freezing as much as mine, perhaps it was the bigger rings on the waggler rod. So I switched to the waggler and had a couple of 1lb Skimmers but I was still suffering  with the iced rings and getting frustrated because there was plenty of Skimmers willing to feed but I was losing too many. After the third call of nature I walked up to Eddie and watched him. Back in those days it wasn’t considered sportsman like to ask anglers how they were catching. Eddie’s rod rings weren’t freezing as bad as mine and was able to fish well and getting plenty of bites. Back to the Oak tree and back on the waggler frustratingly landing a few more Skimmers. I was well and truly beaten come the end by Eddie - he didn’t mention it once!! Whilst waiting to be weighed in and to Eddie’s credit he did introduce me to Glycerine. It wasn’t the total answer for him but enough to win the match. Monday morning I was down Veals for a bottle. I think there are other substances that can be used nowadays. Luckily poles don’t freeze.

I reluctantly concede that Eddie Shortman was one of the best river waggler anglers around at the time and there were plenty.

My few Skimmers weighed in at 5lb 7oz which did gain me 6^th overall picking up enough coin to fund some more toilet rolls. I have never been back to Egypt since and never will.

Full Result:

Thursday 17/09/2015 - Tony Rixon Cost Cutter - Avalon Fishery - Match Lake

Two Pots driving today and arrived 6 minutes late. Drive to Shipham café took us through Chew Magna to the Airport and down the A38. Steady easy drive - nearly. Café was unusually quiet. We arrived at the fishery 15 minutes before the draw.

In to the draw bag and out comes peg 1. As most of the anglers lucky enough to be walking to the other end of the Lake pointed out that at least the walk was short!

I remember Tony Rixon saying that when he drew the peg a few weeks back he wished he had fished for Silvers. No brainer for me. I set up a 4x16 Jolly finding that the peg is about a foot shallower than most of the other pegs I have fished, thinking I could get away with a 4x14, but stuck to the bigger float. This Lake is unusual in that it is near enough the same depth per peg two inches form the bank to the other bank, so no real margin to speak of. However, I suspect if I could fish 16 metres down to the end bank I might have found a more fishable margin. I also set up the Ronnie rig but was doubtful that the Ronnie’s would feed.

Whilst sorting the bait I spill some water on to the semi-hard 4’s making most of them mushy. Luckily I could pick out a few to start with and luckily the sun came out drying out some more. I thought I would do the Ronnie test and was soon convinced I was right; they weren’t coming out to play. So on to the Skimmer line starting by fishing at 10 o clock at top-set plus 3 with semi-hards over micro. As expected I was soon in to a foul hooked Carp which wasn’t on long. I then had a run of small Skimmers and Hybrids before hooking an enormous Carp which bored me to a stand still, I have to confess that when it surfaced trying to swim through my keepnets the heart started race it was near 20lb than 15lb, I suddenly wanted to land it, alas not the hook pulled trying to tip his head upwards. I did land two small Carp soon after.

I had the usual visit from the Gimp who was struggling to catch Silvers. With two hours to go I had another visitor, this time Ziggy from peg 5. He said that he was top Silver weight with 15lb with Tony Rixon having switched from trying to catch Silvers to Carp. I started to smell blood so switched to top-set plus one which was a distance I could now loose feed. I had a good run of small hybrids to 6 oz on semi-hards plus a few bonus bigger Skimmers. I kept them coming until the heavens opened up drowning me for the second consecutive day.

My two tiny Carp weighed 5lb and my Silvers 26lb 8oz for second in the Silvers loosing put to Tony who had switched to catching Carp … on worm!!!

The match was won by Two Pots (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 172lb 12 oz from peg 20. Glenn caught on paste over soaked 4’s at 13 metres. His weight was made up of just 24 fish.

The Silvers was won by Tony Rixon (pictured right) with 34lb 5oz from peg 16…see his blog for further details.

Full Result:

1. Glenn Bailey 172-12-0 peg 20
2. Mike West 134-12-0 peg 9
3. Gary Flinders 129-07-0 peg 23

Top Silvers:

1. Tony Rixon 34-05-0 peg 16
2. Mike Nicholls 26-08-0 peg 1
3. Ziggy 17-0-0 peg 5

Weigh Sheet:

Wednesday 16/09/2015 - Amalgamation Summer League - Round Seven - Canal

My turn to pick up Two Pots I even got his enormous tractor wheel and metal North Sea platform in the car. First stop Hill Tops café, where two Jumbos were devoured.

We arrived in plenty of time to have a wonder round. The Sedges open was down a couple of anglers no doubt put off by the BBC weather –The BBC has sacked the Met Office – I think the BBC are the one’s that should be sacked from forecasting weather. We could have been in for some right down pours luckily for us they got it wrong again. That said apparently over the previous few days Sedges have had plenty of rain with all three Lakes now brimming.

In to the draw letter box and out comes peg 59 which is just about on the causeway between Tile and Brick Lakes so I could fish longish without unshipping.

I set up a 4x10 Drennan Chop for the far side tight in which was just over 11.5 metres so fished the 13 metre section for the first time. The same rig sufficed for both margins at 30 inches. The second rig was a 4x14 Jolly, heavier than usual  as the peg was deeper than previous pegs – indications that I am gradually moving to the near end where all the fish appear to be and is the deepest part of the Canal (for me still to confirm).

Two Pots drew the match end peg 54 and had a moan because he wasn’t on flyer peg 64 again!!

John Barker came down for a chat and thought 7 to 10 lb would win the Silvers as the Canal has been difficult over the past week or so.

I fed the far side with a few casters and then went in at 5 metres with the jolly with 4mm semi-hards on the hook over micro. This approach usually produces a few decent Skimmers, alas today it only gave up five tiny Skimmers to 3oz. John’s predictions I feared would materialise.

Probably too early but I panicked over to the far bank with double caster and foul hooked two decent Carp. I then had a menagerie of Silvers – Crucian, Skimmers, Ronnie’s and Perch. I decided to try worm hook bait which resulted in me foul hooking three decent Skimmers, not landing any of them – bugger – a sign that the fish weren’t feeding properly. The swim died and had a head fit and mixed up some GB mixed with worm, micro and casters I potted this in to the far bank swim – end of swim and after a dower period of no bites wasn’t fished again. I had been feeding a mix of micro and casters down both margins. The RH margin produced nothing, whilst the LH margin accounted for four more foul hooked Carp a 1 ½ Perch and a few more Skimmers and Ronnie’s all on single or double caster. I switched to semi hard 4’s and landed a decent Skimmer and three Common Carp which fought well above their 3lb weight.

My Silvers weighed 10lb 12oz for first in the Silvers and when they added my Carp weight of 11lb 8oz this gave me a second in the match weight of 22lb 4oz

The match was won by Glenn Bailey who had slimmed down to one pot today (pictured above centre with the Silvers winner) with 26lb 4oz consisting of mainly 7 Carp, Glenn caught on hard pellet with only one fish caught on paste!

John was right the venue fished very hard today with the flyer pegs not producing.

Packing up in the rain my breath was compensating for the first time since last winter.

Full Result:

1. Glenn Bailey 26-04-0 peg 54
2. Mike Nicholls 22-04-0 peg 59
3. Dave Bacon 20-06-0 peg 43
4. Alan Jones 19-03-0 peg 51
5. John Barker 12-11-0 peg 62
6. Dave Poole 11-07-0 peg 63

Top Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 10-12-0 peg 59
2. Alan Jones 8-10-0 peg 51

Weigh Sheets:

Overall League before today's match:

Sunday 13/09/2105 - Landsend Open - Specimen and Macth Lakes

After a great Saturday afternoon out with Bela and Geoff Francis I woke a few times in the night for obvious reasons, so felt a bit lethargic in the morning. Bela arrived on time as usual. We had breakfast in Shipham which wasn’t up to the standard for a number of reasons. Dean Malin was in the café holding court about various aspects of his life that can’t possibly be put in to print – he was well in form and off to fish in the Shiplate Farm league.

When I booked in I understood that Walters Lake was in the hat however, PSV had booked it so we over spilled on to Specimen Lake instead which I was hoping to avoid. That said I wasn’t enamoured about fishing Match Lake either.

In to the draw tin and out comes peg 18. Sandwich between the Gimp (DNW) on peg 19 and Bela on peg 16 (he reckoned he had put 100lb in each net so disqualified himself, hence DNW) – Umm!!

My peg for the day is an out and out Carp peg so I set up three rigs. A 4x12 Jolly with 0.16 hook length to fish at 10 metres with soft 4mm pellet/6mm meat (left over from Thursday). A 0.4 gram paste float to fish over the 10 metres line once the Carp arrived in numbers (this didn’t happen so it didn’t get a wetting). Finally a 0.3 gram PC pastes float to fish on the top-set down to the right hand margin.

Starting on the semi-hards over hard 4’s at 10 metres I had the usual few Silvers including two nice Crucian Carp. As anticipated it wasn’t long before a few small Carp took an interest. The upshot was that the Silvers had pissed-off and the Carp weren’t there in numbers so it was a question of picking off the odd Carp. I persevered out long for half the match switching to the paste in the margin for the remainder. Again there wasn’t enough competing Carp to line them up. However, I did have four doubles on the paste which boosted my weight.

My Silvers weighed 6lb 8oz and my Carp 86lb 4oz for a 6^th overall tally of 90lb 12oz (one out of coin).

The match was won by Craig Edmonds (pictured right with some of his catch) with a huge weight of 311lb 5oz from peg 13. Craig caught on 8mm hard pellet fish both long and short down his end margin fished over hard 6’s. He also caught on 8mm meat short at 5metres out in front.

The Silvers was won by Clint Wojtyle (pictured right with his net of Skimmers) with 36lb 1oz from peg 37. Clint caught on soft pellet over micro on one line and on corn over micro on his other line.

Full Result:

1. Craig Edmonds 311-05-0 peg 13
2. Tony Rixon 256-09-0 peg 3
3. Steve Segar 147-01-0 peg 39
4. Andy Hembrow 11-05-0 peg 15
5. Paul Elmes 134-01-0 peg 24
6. Mike Nicholls 90-12-0 peg 18

Top Silvers:

1. Clint Wojtyle 36-01-0 peg 37
2. Paul Faiers 33-02-0 peg 22

Weigh Sheets: