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:

Tuesday 03/10/2023 - Bitterwell Lake - Silvers Open

With Acorn - Paddocks closed for maintenance Glenn, Gary and me decided to try Bitterwell which has been fishing well for silvers, primarily due to the hard work of Paul Issac's. Paul was away this week Carp fishing in France, which left the running of the match in the capable hands of Martin McMahon.

Arrived in plenty time. The general feeling it wasn't going to fish quite as well as previous, with overnight heavy rain and bright sunlight possibly wouldn't help matters.

22 booked in which is a few more than usual.

Drew peg 29 - end peg near the corner peg and next to matey Glenn on peg 28. Must admit had concerns about being pestered by Carp.

Set up the Ronnie rig, a 4x14 Titan to fish long, 4 metre whip and a 7" Drake waggler. The upshot was the waggler, Whip and Ronne rig product little or nothing. Had to go out four barrels to catch and after a torrid time hooking Carp found the feeding pattern far to late. The last hour found feeding GB laced with maggot with single on the hook immediately hooking a Carp followed by a couple of silvers before having to repeat the pattern - bit frustrating, but interesting.

Lost a 4 lb Tench due to pulling it out of the reeds for the sharp reeds to cut through the elastic - bugger. Hooked 10 Carp and weighed 12 lb 10oz of mainly decent skimmers for just under halfway. Didn't come away disappointed as felt learnt a few things. Nearly picked up the guess the weight though - first column in the weigh sheet.

The match was won as expected by Des Shipp (pictured with the runner up) with 35 lb from peg 17. See how Des caught on his FB page. Well done matey.

Runner up from peg 25 with 34 lb 14 oz (2 oz behind Des) was Adam Palmer (pictured with his lovely net of skimmers). Ads caught mostly at 6 metres using caster hook bait over GB laced with a few casters and maggot. Well done - both these anglers class acts.

Weigh Sheet:

Sunday 01/10/2023 - Alcove Interclub - Alcove AC v. Silver Fish AC - Whitehouse Farm - Margret's and George's

Weather set fair for a decent days fishing. Twenty minute drive to Whitehouse Farm for me. 

Thirty fishing which now day's is a good turn out, very hard to find local matches with this number of anglers. Fifteen anglers on Margret's and 15 on George's.

No preference where I drew as I'm a novice on this venue and don't really know which are the better pegs. So Georges peg 10 for me. Arrived at the peg which looked really fishy, plus a small island opposite - WAGGLER UMMY. Told it was the home of some large Carp, however, it would be silvers for me with 0.1 hook length for protection!

Set up two pole rigs one short, one at 9 metres in 4.5 foot of water. The one waggler rod with a 6" Drake all with 20 Tubertini 808 hooks.

The upshot was although a few fish were caught on both pole rigs the lion share by far came from the waggler and maggot and very enjoyable it was too. Once my casting was switched to over the left hand shoulder didn't hook any more trees behind or any of the island bushes. Caught all match until last few minutes. Netted allsorts, Chub to 3 lb, Skimmers to 2 lb and Ronnie's to 12 oz. Wonderful days fishing. Only the one hook length stolen by a Carp.

Weighed 28 lb 8 oz of silvers for both the lake win, silvers win and third overall.

The match was won by Russ Baker (Silverfish a/c - pictured with the match organiser Tony who was overall runner up) with 30 lb 7 oz from Margret's peg 13 catching Carp on the method 3/4 across to the island. Well done matey.

Very enjoyable day for all with a really friendly bunch. Met Alan Jenner whom I last saw at work on the day I retired - 17 years ago.

Having a go at Bitterwell Tuesday with Glenn and Gary.

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 21/09/2023 - Ray's Rip Off - Windmill - Match Lake

Autumn definitely here. Showers on and off all day. Hungry Horace always a good start to the day. Week day traffic around the Windmill area is awful. Felt for those trying to get to work.

Peg 20 for me - not my favourite, my draw explained with John Smith arriving at the next peg 19 - bloody Jinx.

Silvers it would be - short rig and the waggler - simple. Live red Maggot and GB only baits used.

Had the usual start with small Perch - one a bung. After an hour they usually had enough and started to catch some Ronnie's to 3 oz. The line gradually petered out, so on to the waggler and had a few Rudd but feeding brought the Carp into the peg foul hooking a few - frustrating. Back on the short line, few more Ronnie's until the Carp arrived. The mistake of the day deciding to have a go for them on the paste loosing one, landing one about 10 lb, the margin was far too deep for it really. Last half hour went back on the waggler which produced my only Skimmer and a few more Ronnie's. No sign of the Carp so could feed properly, think the Carp had vacated the far bank in favour of the usual late munch in the margins. Had I switched to waggler instead of chasing Carp would have definitely picked up second silvers as only 1 lb out!

Weighed 9 lb 14 oz and the the Carp 13 lb 1 oz.

On the weigh board today was Jeff "Grunty" Grant, whilst weighing in John Smith there was some banter with John tying Grunty's hood pull strings around his mouth to shut him up - very effected and painful - pictured!

The match was won by Paul "I haven't got much" Haines (pictured) with 100 lb 9 oz from peg 16. Paul was suspected of fishing the method to the far bank. Well done Matey.

Hughie "Not going to fish worm today" Evans pegged next to me on peg 21 fished worm at 14 .5 metres for a great bag of Skimmers (pictured) to 3 lb. Well done Matey nice to see.

Weigh Sheets:

What can be better than a HH breakfast to start the day - a Himalayan curry at the White Hart - Bridgeyate on the way home. Geoff and me have wanted to try it it out and must say didn't disappoint - £15 for a Gurkha Chicken, rice and Nan included so also reasonably priced.

Sunday 16/09/2023 - PSV Club - Charity Match - The Heart Foundation - Acorn Fishery - Paddocks

Booked in with Glenn, Glenn pulled due to family party out so did I, booked in again when Bela offered me a lift. I really wanted to fish it as the club was giving it's respect to anglers who recent passed away, especially friend and neighbour Bob Warren.

We stopped for breakfast good to see that Bela hasn't lost it - eats twice as much as me twice as quick - impressive. Fond memory's returning today. Nice to meet up with a few old faces, nice surprised to see John Bradford fishing - must be some silvers in here then!

Rained more or less all day. Peg 22 for me - happy with that as plenty of silvers - well greens - felt like had my own little pond. Loads of Carp on show though. Set up a 0.3 float to fish up to the bridge with three barrels. Also set up a short Ronnie rig and a paste RJ bullet for the LH edge.

Fed chopped worm, caster and DR's on the Bridge line stayed there until the last hour landing 24 Tench to 4 lb and a couple of Skimmers. Pestered by Carp. Tried the Ronnie rig for small Silvers - not a bite. Last hour had a play with the paste and the feeding. Found little feed produced the most "hooked" Carp.

Weighed 55 lb 10 oz of Tench for the silvers win - the accidental Carp weighed 61 lb most of them caught whilst fishing for the Tench for total of 116 lb 10 oz. Very enjoyable day.

Felt for Matt Williams who weighed 43 lb of lovely Skimmers only to get his net disqualified for going over the 40 lb limit which has no concession - unlike the Carp limits which are much easier to estimate. I wondered if the limit was reduced to say 30 lb with a 10 lb concession before disqualification would have made a difference to Matt's thinking. With these drop dead limits the approach for anglers is to aim for the limit - I know this from experience.

Bela (pictured with the silvers winner) won the match with 173  lb 5 oz from peg 3. Bela caught mainly down his margin on expanders over micro. Well done matey.

So double Bubble van and back to Bar-Garage for a celebratory Pinky Ponk.

Informed the rest of the  Paddock (pictured) will be completed at the end of the month - weather permitting.

A big thanks to Pete Uzz (pictured) for running the match - a great job. However, can't  help thinking it's getting to him 😂.

Don't have the results sheets as soaking wet.

Result:

1. Bela Bakos 173-05-0 peg 3

2. Ross Hartley 161-0-0 

3.Eddie Wynne 151-08-0

4. Darren North 149-02-0 peg 19

4. Mark Walsh `49-02-0

6. Johnny Page 146-06-0

Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 55-10-0 peg 22

2. Chris Szakacs 49-04-0 peg 40

3. Maddy Jorden 26-14-0

Thursday 14/09/2023 - Bathampton AA - Over 55's and Short Walks - Withy Pool - Silvers Only

Perfect early Autumn day. However, the water level was down and flat calm which it has been for a couple of weeks now and would probably effect the fishing.

Peg 49 for me today. I was concerned about the previous state of the peg but need not had worried as Bathampton has down a great job repairing it (pictured) - credit where credit is due.

Found myself between Layton and Barny so stereo moaning. Luckily had some paracetamol with me and found them essential towards the end of the match.

The peg can be a good Ronnie peg so set up a to hand rig and the 4 metre whip. Set up to fish top set and three barrels which was restricted due to the fence behind.

Started after the Ronnie's with caster and could only catch small Perch. After 15 minutes knew they weren't feeding so went on the longer line with caster laced GB with double on the hook and had a couple of hand size Skimmers and more Perch. Hooked two big Skimmers which for unknown reason came off as did two 1 lb Skimmers - now right cheesed off. Put in a large pot of caster and again double caster and first put in hooked a decent Eel which bit through the 0.1 line. Estimated I had now lost 8 lb of fish - that's fishing. The Carp now entered the fray just couldn't feed which out immense fizzing, if fished over meant a new hook length. Waited for the fizz to stop and get a couple of small fish. It was a question for feeding minimal amount around the peg for a couple of small fish, had 6 lines going but still couldn't completely avoid the Carp. Hardly had any Ronnie's which were absent from all of the keepnets today - needed some wind badly.

I weighed 7 lb 4 oz and beaten both sides by Leyton on 6 mm banded pellet fishing a 14 elastic!! Couldn't bear to see him losing the small fish so loaned him one of my top sets with a number 3 in. Barny the other side did is usual humongous worm and micro feeding resulting in in hooking circa 12 Carp braking a top set and loosing rigs and elastic - it's ok his second in section would pay for it all 😁.

The match once again was won by Rob Baker (pictured) with 23 lb 5 oz from peg 57. Rob used the feeder throughout the match, initially with a large cage feeder loaded with GB and micro and later shorter on the method - both with double maggot hook bait. Rob didn't have any Carp problems which was interesting. Well done matey.

Back to the Compton with the usual suspects, nice to see Pete Greenslade back complete with his bionic knee.

Weigh Sheets: