Thursday 30/07/2020 - Bathampton AA - Over 55's and Short Walks - Bridge Pool

Hot day it was to be and was. Arrived early and walked around all three Lakes, they all looked dour especially Bridge Pool without any signs of feeding fish. On the walk I found this Fungi, I wish I knew more about such things - beautiful, in which case probably not edible.

I was hoping to be at the car park end as I have done my fair share at sitting in the the far end. Dave Gillard got the draw under way (Pictured right). I was well down the list and was happy when Dave called me peg 19. Was in good company with Tony Rixon on peg 18.

Three rigs set up - The Ronnie Rig, 0.5 gram paste float to fish top-set plus one barrel of the Drennan margin pole and a 0.3 gram paste rig for the LH margin at the same distance but attached to the Drennan 25 elastic which I love fishing - Adrenalin rush. At last the all in and only fed the 0.5 g line with micro and went straight over it with paste and hooked a Carp which caught me by surprised taking me into the fish refuge losing the lot. These refuges are a hindrance to the fishing and provides limited protection from predators. The tiny Rudd like sitting on top of it though - not one of the better decisions and need taking out. Sounded like Tony was also battling with his refuge. New 0.5 rig setup and next put in another Carp of about 5 lb which I did get out - sad sight as it was very dark and blind. I persevered with this line but no more fish not even nibblers which was worrying. I started to feed the caster and with single caster on the Ronnie rig had one singe bite a large Perch which came off. I couldn't even catch a Ronnie, so this was abandoned. I spent the rest on the match in the margin loose feeding hard 4's - first four put-ins accounted for four F1's - blimey these fish are quick 0-60 in a millisecond. It slowed but kept adding the odd F1 and some better Carp. The bites had completely dried up and stay on this too long. It wasn't until the last 15 minutes (though I had another 45 minutes) that I chanced going down towards the refuge and added another three F1's before the all out. Should have kept a closer eye on the time.

My Carp and the one accidental Skimmer weighed 54 lb for a match win. I'm now convinced that this Lake need an increase in fish stocks preferably 3-4 lb Carp which will encourage the larger Carp to feed, which they are not doing at the moment.

The Silvers was won by Dave Haines (pictured right with the match winner and below with his catch of Skimmers) with an exceptional weight of 29 lb 4 oz from peg 29. Dave caught short on caster over caster. It appears the Skimmers are shoaled up on pegs 29, 30 and 31.

What glorious weather for a pint in the pub garden - now what happens in a pub garden stays in a pub garden - however, did you know Cliff spends a lot of time in Keynsham pubs. I know Geoff Grant would make a plump Rat but you won't see one climb a drain pipe quicker. 

Result:

1. Mike Nicholls 56-0-0 peg 19

2. Dave Haines 41-05-0 peg 29

3. Paul Barnfield 38-10-0 peg 1

4. Pete Greenslade 38-03-0 peg 24

5. Harry Muir 36-08-0 peg 7

5. Rob Baker 36-08-0 peg 21

Silvers:

1. Dave Haines 29-04-0 peg 29

2. Hughie Evans 17-04-0 peg 4

3. Dave Gillard 14-06-0 peg 31

4. Kev Winston 14-0-0 peg 30

Weigh Sheet:

Tuesday 28/07/2020 - Acorn Cost Cutter - Paddocks

I arrived early but still 4 or 5 ahead of me must be camping over night.  Met up with matey's Rich Coles and Paul Lock both from Bridgwater. They each have ten digits but mostly on one hand. Rich said the wearing of masks has been a God send in Bridgwater as it makes the local totty look half tidy.

Mike Chapman drew me peg 36 - view from pictured. I haven't drawn this for some time and appears from results it's not been producing. Arrived at the peg and it was noticeable that the wind was blowing quite hard left to right causing some decent ripple. You never know what to expect with the pegs topography so got a paste rig out and had a plumb around. Because of the wind I choose to fish down wind to the right and found the margin very shallow which continued for at least a metre out from the bank. I did have a few fish attack the plummet - hopefully good news. I had also set up a 4x12 to fish 4mm expander over micro at top-set plus two, also set up the Ronnie rig but thought it wouldn't work very well because of the wind. I started by feeding the long line with a small amount of micro but started in the margin without any feed to see if they rather have paste instead of plummet. I had plenty of liners and managed two quick Carp before it went quiet. Fed the margin with one pot of micro and tried the long line with expander. Some more liners and plenty of fizz but nothing to strike at, so decided to try the Ronnie rig with maggot over maggot and as expected the wind was too much for it - rig two abandoned along with any hopes of Silvers.The margin it was to be then for the rest of the match. I'm blowed if I didn't  get a 11/2 lb Perch on the paste. The upshot by light feeding hard 4's over the top of the potted micro I had a steady match catching some decent Carp to 10 lb. I was expecting a good last hour but that stayed steady also, so nothing manic which can happen at this venue. The wind helped this peg today, it was noticeable that once it subsided I couldn't get a bite.

My 23 Carp weighed 113 lb 14 oz and my few Silvers 1 lb 14 oz (mostly Perch) for a third overall total of 115 lb 12 oz. Certainly would have settled for that at the start.

The match was won by Mark Walsh (pictured upper right) with 164 lb 10 oz from peg 5. Mark caught in his LH margin fish corn over corn. Well done matey.

The Silvers was won once again by Incognito (pictured right) with 42 lb 3 oz from peg 12. Eddy caught on 6 mm hard pellet over potted 4's. feeding about three pints throughout.

Result:

Weigh Sheets:

Sunday 26/07/2020 - Tony Rixon's 13 Metre Pole Only - Chiltern Chilton - Woodlands

Thank God for Physiotherapist, back much improved but still being cautious. 

Nice steady drive down the M5 more or less inside lane all the way. I had a walk around the Lake and didn't fancy the far side only due to the difficulty now setting up the box after the work done moving the bank back due to erosion. I would recommend that all the trees/bushed that are sat right on the edge of the near bank are removed otherwise the same will happen there and is already sever undercut exposing roots. I decided on the peg of choice and took a picture from it - peg 2 - not drawn it yet.

P. Rick had planned for us to draw our own pegs but lost the draw cards on his peg selection walkabouts so we were back to Judith's bingo wheel. Wheel of fortune spun and out comes peg 26 for me. No emotion being on the preferred bank was enough for me. Good company with Paul Elmes on peg 27 who I could hear but not see and Mark Broomsgrove on peg 25 who I could see and hear. Great company.

Had a chat with Mark who had committed to fishing for Silvers all match. I thought about it but decided against fishing long, so Carp short and perhaps the accidental Skimmers might join in the fun. So set up two paste rigs - one for top-set plus one which took me just up the shelf out of the silt. The other one for the right hand margin. Bait tray paste, hard 4's and micro. I did give Mark some hooker casters.

So fed the usual one pot of micro on both lines and started on the "longest line" with paste and had a Carp second put in. Next was a 3 lb Skimmer followed by a Eel that I believe would have been a PB but lost it in debris on the bottom. For the next hour I couldn't get a bite except from debris on the bottom which Mark and I had a good laugh over - some pictured right. No Mark I didn't weigh them in as all foul hooked. Mark was doing very well on the Silvers and it was obvious that the Lake was fishing hard for Carp. So as boredom started to set in I set up a Ronnie rig to fish caster over caster. I had a good hour catching small Silvers. Come the fourth hour I started to foul hook Carp on this rig. So thinking I was too far behind on the Silvers I switched back to the original plan and fished paste down the margin changing to loose feeding hard fours. I had a great last 90 minutes albeit frustrating. I landed 9 decent Carp to 18 lb and lost 8. One snagged me in the corner tree roots, another broke the line (probably damaged  by the roots), the third I lost trying to rush it in to catch the last one before the all out. The other five were foul hookers with no chance of getting them out. So two Carp lost due to losing concentration leading to  poor angling, but in my defence they were on the large size and hard fighting.

My 9 Carp weighed in at 73 lb 14 oz and my Silvers 10 lb 2 oz for an 84 lb total. I was hoping this might get me a default section and was surprised it got me 4th overall pickup. I think had I carried on with the Silvers I would have secured a second Silvers by default. So all pools covers.

The match was won by Ryan Shipp (pictured upper right) with 123 lb 10 oz. from peg 2!! Ryan fished the full 13 metres fishing his favourite caster over caster shallow. Fishing this way Ryan catches everything including Silvers so has his pools options open. Well done matey, Dad did well too.

The Silvers was won by Mark Broomsgrove (pictured right with a quality mixed bag of Silvers) with 28 lb 12 oz from peg 25. Mark caught on worm over chopped worm in lashings of GB. A memorial day as we had a right laugh. Well done matey.

We have all anticipated a bite just as the all out is called and stayed those extra minutes. Paul Elmes did this today and landed a beautiful double - pictured right. Paul correctly returned the fish -  Paul did sneak in the Silvers by default fishing meat.

This weeks matches:
Tuesday Acorn
Thursday Hunstrete - hope it fished better, been right off lately
Sunday Landsend - Hoping for Lake 3.

Result:

1. Ryan Shipp 123-10-0 peg 2
2. Ryan Jordan 105-08-0 peg 23
3. Vince Shipp 89-12-0 peg 20
4. Mike Nicholls 84-0-0 peg 26
5. Ricky Mills 80-08-0 peg 3
6. Tony Rixon 64-0-0 peg 22

Silvers:

1. Mark Broomsgrove 28-12-0 peg 25
2. Ryan Shipp 24-06-0 peg 2
3. Paul Elmes 15-10-0 peg 27

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 23/07/2020 - Shiplate Farm - Cost Cutter - Main Lake

Happy Birthday Mum, Thank you.

Back to Shiplate for the cost cutter and stopped near to the fishery to take a picture across to Brent Knoll and Hinckley Point - a lot to take in. It's a nice area to spend the day especially the fishery. It's one of those fisheries where it's so pleasant it doesn't matter if you don't catch anything - which by the way is near on impossible. The usually friendly greeting from Goldilocks. - but where's the Gamekeeper, always worth knowing where he is and if he's got his gun.

Nineteen booked in and today and I was able to draw my own peg again. Out comes peg 14 on the far bank. The regulars will tell you that the far bank is the better bank. However, I do like the near bank, so probably doesn't matter where you draw it's up to the fish where they want to be and feed. For company I had match organiser Gary Flinders on peg 14 B and Rich on peg 13 A. Junior had drawn sought after peg 15.

Had a chat with Gary who was on the peg that won the Silvers on Sunday and said he would fish for them. I said that even though the Lake hasn't been fished since Sunday the Silvers wouldn't feed especially as extra cold water has gone in and I would fish for Carp. It's funny how things turn out and today was more proof that fishing is not prescriptive as the complete opposite transpired.

I set up two paste rigs - one to fish top-set plus one barrel of the Drennan margin pole and one for the margin gunned up with 0.22 and 25 Drennan elastic - no prisoners. Hard 4's and some micro on the table. Started by potting in one pot of micro on both lines as a kick starter and planned to drip feed the 4's over the top for the remainder of the match.

First put in I had a Skimmer on 18 mm piece of paste. Five more in consecutive put-ins, but was suffering missed bites. So I decided to reduce the paste size to 9 mm which was an improvement and no longer accidentals!!! In the first hour lost one foul hooked Carp and put 30 lb of Skimmers in the net. So head down and was having a great match until the Carp decided to have a munch and totally buggered the Skimmer fishing for an hour. In that time I lost a right lump which broke me, three more foul hookers landing five Carp and a PB Grass Carp which I estimated to be 12 lb (my only other Grass Carp was 1 lb!). However, having got the species confirmed by Rich was returned immediately and counted as 8 lb! For me a good bit of fishery management as "ALL LIVING CREATURES LIVES MATTER" .

I managed to get the Skimmers back and had a bonus 2 lb Perch - rather the Carp sloped off. However, with 30 minutes to go I lost my mind and put a pot of 4's in and hooked another Carp which broke the rig at the connector and couldn't be bothered to put on another rig so spend the rest of the time in the margin and had one Ronnie!

My Slivers weighed 82 lb 12 oz and my six Carp 61 lb 4 oz for a total of 144 lb. This put me first in the  Silvers and fourth overall. I'm sure if the Carp hadn't arrived and/or I hadn't put that pot of 4's in I would have done the ton - that's fishing. Nonetheless a great days fishing and another memorable day with great company.

The match was won by venue expert Gary Flinders next to me on peg 14 B (pictured right) with 178 lb 12 oz. Gary started on the method over to the island whilst he primed his 14.5 metre line to fish shallow later. After a few on the Method and a few shallow he switched to 5 metres with 8 mm pellet and didn't look back catching well including some big Carp (judging by the blaspheming all round was also losing some lumps). Well done matey and thank you got pulling my nets out.

Next match Sunday at Chiltern Trinity - Woodlands.

Result:

1. Gary Flinders 178-12-0 peg 14 B
2. Gary Bowden 154-11-0 peg 15
3. Colin Fellows 147-12-0 peg 1
4. Mike Nicholls 144-0-0 peg 14
5. Tony Rixon 126-09-0 peg 10 (Again)
6. Lee Williams 111-02-0 peg 5

Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 82-12-0 peg 14
2. Andy Fry 30-14-0 peg 7
3. Tony Rixon 21-14-0 peg 10 (Again)

Weigh Sheet:

Sunday 19/07/2020 - Tony Rixon Float Only - Shiplate Fishery - Main, Hawthorne's, Squircle and Westpool Lake

Cancel my planned first visit to this well kept fishery due to my bad back, so was really looking forward to it today even though still not fully fit. I'm wondering if I ever will at my age. Met up with the fishery owners "The Game Keeper" and "Goldilocks" for a chat, both pictured left distancing in the Lodge. Garry Flinders is now starting to help out and running the matches which can only be good for all.What's noticeable there is always some an improvement to this fishery on every visit. I should have asked if the mobility scooter is for hire?

It was nice to see Shay Gillman out fishing, looks like he's invested in a lot of new tackle. Hope to see more of him now I've rejoined Golden valley Fishing Club.

Today we were able to draw our own pegs and I was hoping to draw any end peg on any Lake. So into the dipper with the much rested drawing arm and out comes peg 2 on Westpool and a desired end peg. I've drawn this peg a few times so know it well. Really pleased with it especially as the wind had swung round to the North blowing into my end. Good company with John Fuidge on peg 3. Matey Bela arrived and had the other end peg 15.

I normally have the first hour fishing for Silvers to see whats responding but unusually decided to to just fish paste all match and let John Fuidge have them to himself. So just two paste rigs one that suited both margins and as the wind was light one to fish top set on a long line at full depth - simple.

The match started by potting in micro out in front and down the LH margin. Went out in front and had a Carp first put in. Whilst playing it Joe McMahon who was om Main 10  came over and told me I had left my car door open and unlocked - thanks matey. I carried on fishing not wanting to miss the first knocking which can be very productive on any fishery. When I got to 5 Carp, 5 Skimmers and 5 Chub I rushed back to the car and found the car was locked once Joe had closed the door, so a rush back to the peg. It looked like it was fishing hard so stride picked up. I was expecting the long line to dry up but found that I was still catching well and for a period could have been at Todber. Started to feed the LH margin and out in front lightly with hard fours as I expected the margins to produce once the long line faded. I was lucky the long line lasted for 4 1/2 hours. So tried the margin expecting to add some bigger fish than I was catching. Well they were there, but found the float just swirling around washing the paste off. I lost a couple of foul hookers trashing two rigs in the process. So fed the RH side with some old casters and lost one foul hooker. The up shot was in the last 90 minutes I only added 5 Carp 2 from the LH margin an 3 out in front and two Skimmers and one more Chub (I have tried catching these Chub on conventional Chub bait - maggots etc.. but they only appear to respond to fishmeal baits. I fed about 3/4 pint of bait all match.

My 50 Carp weighed 159 lb 7 oz (averaging 3 lb 3 oz) and my skinny Silvers 10 lb 2 oz. for a second overall weight of 169 lb 9 oz. What was noticeable I caught a 10 lb Carp which took half the time to land than the 3-4 lb fish!

The match was won by Russ Peck (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 262 lb 2 oz from fancied peg 1 on Main. Russ caught at 13 metres using pellet over banded pellet. Well done matey. I heard after the match that Ricky Mills was asking around for paste lessons.

The Silvers was won by George Woodhead with 82 lb 8 oz (just short of the current match record) from peg 14B main. George caught short on pellet over banded pellet.

Back again Thursday for the cost cutter on Main.

Weigh Sheets:

Result:

Thursday 16/07/2020 - Bathampton AA - Over 55's and Short Walks

A number of lads, in particular John Smith asked where my boy friend was. Meaning of course Geoff Francis - "was he under the thumb"? I explained that for some while Geoff had been promising himself a van. So a week or so before the lock down he traded his car in. So the new purchase stood more or less idle for 3 months. It certainly didn't have any fishing tackle in it, the reason for the purchased. Just as the lock down ended his neighbour bought a mobile home and drove it for the first time back to his home only to crash into Geoff's van causing significant damage. So today it's still in the repair shop and expected to be finished in two weeks time.  I'm sure we will see him out soon.

Arrived early and had a walk around to free up the back a bit. which is gradually getting better. The Pool looked dour with no signs of fish. A hard day in the offering, especially with 25 fishing, this match becoming ever popular being local for most.

A new attendee today - Mark Tanner. Unfortunately didn't draw well and had a baptism of fire.

I will be glad when I can blame myself for the draws as I was given peg 33 which is the wrong end for me. However, on the positive it was an end peg and would be in the shade all day. Arrived at the peg to find the aerator running (pictured) which switched off at 09:00. Opposite I have returnee Kevin Winston (pictured).

Three rigs - Short Ronnie for caster over caster, a 4x16 to fish top-set plus three barrels with 4 mm expander over micro.and a margin paste rig.

I fed the long line which I started on with 4 mm expander whilst I loose fed caster on the Ronnie line. I had a run of small fish - Tench, Skimmers and Ronnie's, but was missing bites from tiny Skimmers and Perch. The peg gradually faded so refed and tried the Ronnie rig. I had a good 15 minutes catching small Ronnie's, Perch and Rudd quickly until it went quiet and soon had an F1. I switched to paste and had another six and a 6 lb Carp whilst still lightly feeding caster. I thought I was in for a good day until I hit the two hour mark and all seem to die. I went for a walk and sure enough everyone was struggling. Back eased so tried the long line again and had a 4 lb Carp. Tried the Ronnie rig this time with maggot and had a 1 lb Chub making six species in the Silvers net! Decided to sit the last three long hours out on the paste adding just one more F1 during which time rigor mortise had set in.

My Silvers weighed 6 lb 8 oz and my Carp 22 lb for a total of 28 lb 8 oz for a fourth overall pick up. A number of DNW's down this end leading with suggestions that sections would be fairer especially as the number of anglers are increasing (pictured above - some anglers chewing the post match fat)

The match and the Silvers was won by Paul Barnfield (pictured right) with 19 lb of Silvers and 24 lb 12 oz of Carp from peg 28. Paul caught all his fish on worm over micro at 13 metres. Well done on hard day.

The usual suspects plus three were all eager to get in the pub garden for our first after match pint since lock down - great end to the day. On the way home I could have been excused in my thinking the toure de Somerset had started.

Result:

1. Paul Barnfield 43-12-0 peg 28
2. Tony Rixon 37-14-0 peg 8
3. Paul Haines 33-04-0 peg 31
4. Mike Nicholls 28-08-0 peg 33
5. Rob Baker 27-02-0 peg 15

Silvers:

1. Paul Barnfield 19-0-0 peg 28
2. Hughie Evans 17-12-0 peg 14
3. Paul Clayton 13-07-0 peg 16
4. Dave Haines 11-08-0 peg 24
5. Wayne Storey 11-02-0 peg 7

Weigh Sheets:

Tuesday 14/07/2020 - Acorn - Cost Cutter - Paddocks

Two weeks ago got in the shower dropped the soap bent down to pick it up (not recommended in some institutions) and put my back out - bloody agony. Subsequently cancelled my matches, contacted the Doctors and spoke to a receptionist who made an appointment for a Doctor to call me. Without video I did my best to explain the areas of pain. It ended with the Doctor asking me what I thought it was! I did and an appointment was made to actually see a Doctor which as I write is pending this Friday. Well every day the back has had some improvement and decided that sitting around wasn't the thing to do so thought I would try fishing the Acorn Cost Cutter.

Twenty nine fishing today.

I was hoping to avoid the Island pegs due to not being able to park behind the pegs. Mike C dipped me peg 18 next to where I was last match. Not far to struggle to the peg. For company I had Keith Ray on 19 and Paul Lasson on peg 16.

I struggled to get the box into the car but got help from Andy Gard and Keith Ray - thanks. I decided that twisting my body wasn't an option, which meant no unshipping onto a roller which I had left home. This left just fishing either straight out in front or to the right side where I could side saddle the box. This meant limiting myself to using top-sets. I set up two paste rigs - one for the margin and the other for in front, plus the Ronnie rig to fish either in front or to the RH side with maggot. I was hoping to catch Silvers throughout the match which to be honest wasn't going to happen on this peg plus at the moment the big Tench which are mostly holding up under the bridges are winning the Silvers, so only one Silver payout to go at - if that. However, there were a couple of things I wanted to try out so decided on a bit of a trials day. Nothing to say on these as neither worked on this peg, but still not fully discounted.

I started on the Ronnie rig with single maggot over loose feed, the writing was on the wall for Silvers as all I could catch was tiny 2 - 4 oz Carp. What was interesting was the behaviour of the Carp to the loose fed maggot. They obviously wanted them but not at the cost of spending a long time in the keep net! As I said I messed around trying things, it was obvious it was fishing hard. The upshot was it wasn't until two hours to go that I tried the paste down the margin fished over micro and loose fed hard 4's that I started to catch the odd Carp. The ones I was catching were some of the larger ones in the Lake so found it hard on the back lifting the landing net. By now I was miles behind both sides and thought about an early bath but after a little walk I went back and carried on. Come the last hour what was noticeable that our three pegs were fish sharing catch two or three then they would move. The Carp never really settled all day.

My Silvers and little Carp weighed 7 lb 4 oz and my Carp 95 lb 3 oz for a 6th overall weight of 102 lb 7 oz. If I had fished for the Silvers as normal down the track I could have perhaps added another 10 lb to this weight. However, the best part of the day was this morning finding my back no worse for wear, so trying again Thursday.

The match was won today's neighbour Keith Ray (pictured upper right) 144 lb 13 oz from peg 19. Keith caught most of his fish down his LH margin using either expander or maggot hook baits over micro and maggot. Keith was only 4 lb over his estimated overall weight. Well done matey did well from that peg particularly how close our pegs were.

The Silvers was won by Incognito (pictured) from yet another Bridge peg this time 34 with 29 lb 5 oz of Tench. Eddie caught on hard pellet over hard pellet feed.

Matey Glenn Bailey arrived with his new tackle box which looks like it's going to be lucky as he drew peg 11. However, We planned to have our first pint on the way home but because his new box had some dirt on it had to rush home and get the cotton wool buds out.

Result:

1. Keith Ray 144-13-0 peg 19
2. Paul Lasson 121-12-0 peg 16
3. Bob Smith 114-08-0 peg 13
4. Ray Cooper 110-03-0 peg 27
5. Paul Faiers 105-05-0 peg 33
6. Mike Nicholls 102-07-0 peg 18

Silvers:

1. Eddie Wynne 29-05-0 peg 34
2. Andy Gard 26-13-0 peg 21

Weigh Sheets: