Sunday 29/05/2016 - Tony Rixon's Float Only League - Viaduct Fishery - Campbell and Carey

Bela and I stopped at Cannards Well for breakfast, after which we decided to give it a wide berth in future – enough said.

It’s a nightmare running these leagues with anglers dropping in and out. That said Tony “Two Nets” had planned on equal 8 section of 5 anglers but miss counted once again and we ended up with 41! If Tony was a bit more organised and tidy with his match register (pictured right) like his results secretary Steve Evans with his results pages – then?

The first round of any league is always full of anticipation as everyone wants to get off to a good start. For me my aim is to try if possible to pick up every round rather than worry too much about point scoring. I think most anglers were hoping to be pegged on Campbell as it has been fishing best of late and there was less spawning activity compared with Carey. In to the coffee tin and out comes peg Campbell 111. First objective achieved, I would rate this peg in the top 30% over the two Lakes so a days fishing should ensue. However, in terms of my five peg section I would rate it last as I fishing against in form pegs 115, 114, 112 and 110. For company I had Dave Evans on 112 whose back I would see for most of the day and Blakey on peg 110.

I set up three rigs: a 0.4 Paste rig to fish long at 10 metres (the wind was a skimmer hampering presentation) in the shallowest water I could find which was at 11-o- clock. A 4x12 Roob for meat at 4 metres, finally a 0.2 corn/paste float to fish behind me to the right up to a small stump with either paste or meat.

I fed the 4 metre line with ¼ pot of 6mm meat which I would subsequently loose feed the occasional 8mm over. Fed the behind margin peg with a full pot of hard 4’s. I started on the long paste line feeding hard 4’s through the kinder pot and I was soon playing a 10 lb Common, followed by three more Carp soon after. Every time I would feed the paste and 4’s together through the kinder pot which wasn’t right as I soon found out, foul hooking the next four Carp. So leave it alone for a while then. So on the meat line and had another Carp first try on 8mm meat hook bait. I then had three Skimmers two of them weighers and a 3lb Tench. The swim slowed so out on the paste with similar feeding pattern and another run of Carp, buggers came up again but if you don’t feed it completely dies so the pattern was set by switching between the two lines I kept the odd Carp coming. Time to try the margin initially with meat which was getting hammered by tiny fish until I had three Tench two 4oz one’s stocked last April and another 3 pounder. Come the last hour I was holding my own in the section but as expected I then had to suffer watching both Dave and Blakey bag up whilst I slowed. I tried the meat rig long over the pellet/paste line to no avail. Then switched the paste over the meat and hey-presto I started to catch Carp and Skimmers quite quickly. Unfortunately I left it too late so one to try earlier next time.

My Carp weighed 91lb 2oz and my accidental Silvers 12lb 8oz for a total of 103lb 10oz for section third but an all important second in Silvers pick-up, my apologies to those that were targeting Silvers. Interestingly my weight was 15^th in the match – top 30%.

The match was won by Dave White form Carey peg 109 with 25 Carp for 204lb. Dave explains how he caught in the short video below.

The Silvers (and my section) was won by Blakey with 25lb of Tench and Skimmers. Paul also explains below how he caught today.

Full Result:

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 26/05/2016 - Harescombe Fishery - Cost Cutter - Match Lake

I had planned to go for a pint with the lads after last night match but because I was so cold I decided to get home to bed as I had to be up early for today’s match. Luckily I didn’t pick-up as I would have be obliged to go.

Last night it was six degrees and come weigh in today it was twenty degrees!! What’s that all about.

I love this fishery as everything is about right from an on-site breakfast, the lads that fish are all very amicable and then there’s the great fishing, loads of bites – for those that fish for bites1! Well to done Andrew Price.

The turn out was down a bit today for some unknown reason with twelve fishing. After the usual natter it was into the draw bag and out comes peg 4. I found myself sandwiched between Stuart Graham (who’s been getting fishing lessons on how to catch 20lb of Barbel form his Fiancée) and Rob Turley on Chubber peg 2. For me no emotion over the peg as I have been here before I don’t seem to be able to get to the far bank pegs these days – it will happen.

The Lake colour was spot on with plenty of fish topping – especially in Stuarts peg! I was expecting it to fish well.

The usual two rigs was set-up. I started on the F1 float close in with semi-hard pellet hook bait over potted pellet, this usually produces some quick F1’s and Skimmers, but not today. After fifteen minutes I only had two Skimmers. So over to the far bank with meat over pellet where I was pestered by small Skimmers, far too slow, so the pole was broken down – not to be fished again. For 80% of the remaining match I spent in the Left hand margin catching Skimmers and F1’s averaging 2lb steady with 6mm meat hook bait over pellet.

Alan Oram had been catching well on peg 29 but struggled seeing his float due to the white foam that could not be dispersed by he light winds. I thought he had beaten me but on inspection at the weigh-in his fish were smaller than mine.

The match was won by Terry Girdlestone (pictured upper right with his catch) with 88lb 13oz from the same peg as he won it from last week – end peg 14. Terry caught on ….the same as last week.

His fellow “Bell Ringer” Roy Liddell (both pictured right) came third with 69lb 1oz from peg 22.

Nice warm day (in many ways)  .

Full Result:

1. Terry Girdlestone 88-13-0 peg 14 (again)
2. Mike Nicholls 76-06-0 peg 4
3. Roy Liddell 69-01-0 peg 22
4. Alan Oram 58-11-0 peg 29
5. Stuart Graham 50-02-0 peg 6
6. Ralph Hillier 48-04-0 peg 8

Weigh Sheet:

Wednesday 25/05/2016 - Windmill Fishery - Evening open - Match Lake

With the Special One out with her “Girls” I had to fend for myself for food, so I planned to go to The Folly, so why not fish the Windmill evening match. So after a Chicken, Gammon and Mustard Pie, chips and peas it was early to fishery to either have a nap or a walk round the fishery. I chose the latter. Plenty of action with regards to the forth coming Scouts weekend at the venue where they expect 4,500 Scouts. Dave Haines will be there organising the fishing activities – God help them!!

Eleven booked in which was a good turnout considering the weather conditions. In to the draw box and out comes peg 28.I was happy with this because it was the shortest walk plus a good margin peg, which I was hoping for as I planned to fish paste front to back. With the draw at 17:10 we only had twenty minutes to get to the peg and set up. So the one 0.3 Gram paste rig erected.

The bitter wind was blowing into my bank albeit slightly off my right shoulder, from the NE wind I think. So I elected to fish the Left hand margin. A few Sedges to the left was subsequently treated to a hair cut.

Started on the paste and within ten minutes I was playing the first fish of the match an 8lb Mirror. A good match was on the cards – NOT. That was it except two small 4oz Carp. Both Steve Jefferies and I was bloody freezing cold due to the wind I reckoned it was about six degrees – as Steve said it was like a February day at the end of May!

With half hour to go I decided to pack up as I was freezing cold and had no more clothes to put on. I went and watch John Fuidge on peg 26 who I thought was winning the match and I was right.

I weighed 8lb 8oz for nowhere; at least I could look forward to getting some bites tomorrow at Harescombe Fishery.

As predicted John Fuidge (pictured right landing one of his Carp) won the match with 50lb 10oz from peg 26. John caught on 8mm meat fished over 6 mm potted pellet fished at 14.5 metres just up the far shelf. I Thought John fished a tidy tight match, well done matey.

I won’t be back on an evening match until the weather warms up.

Full Result:

1. John Fuidge 50-10-0 peg 26
2. Neil Mercer 42-04-0 peg 2
3. Dave Willmott 37-04-0 peg 24

Weigh Sheet:

Sunday - 22/05/2016 - Windmill Fishery Open - Match Lake

It was another local match for Bela and me at the Windmill Fishery, with seven of the twenty anglers breakfasting in the Beefeater. Nice and leisurely.

The car park has been enlarged and rolled flat so a lot more space out of the mud.

In to the draw box and out comes peg 1. I was happy with the location until I got to the peg to find that the Bankside sedges have really grown which limits visibility down each side of the peg . Terry needs to get these out quick as they will soon take over the fishery. The nearest you can get to the margin is now 1 ½ metres where there is 4 foot of water – not ideal. There was plenty of colour in the water so I was expecting a good day nonetheless, surprisingly for this fishery – no wind. I suspected that this might be detrimental to the fishing – I was right.

Unusually for me I set up four rigs with only the Ronnie rig catching today as the Carp and Skimmers failed to show. I ended up fishing caster over GB which resulted in a good first hour catching three Crucian’s, one Tench and a 1lb Perch. It then went tits-up for the next three hours and forty minutes just adding the odd Ronnie and Rudd, until I added one decent Skimmer. To say it fished hard is an understatement with four DNW’s at my end of the Lake.

No sign of any Carp my Silvers weighed 14lb 8oz for second in the Silvers by 2oz!

The match was won by Luke Pester (pictured right) with 65lb 7oz from end peg 11. Luke initially caught shallow at 14.5 metres shallow with 6mm banded over loose fed 4’s. However, most of his fish came to the straight lead down to his end bank catching on banded 8’s over minimal feeding of 6’s.

The Silvers was won by Dave “The Magician” Willmott with 14lb 10oz from peg 8. Dave caught mainly Rudd short on maggot over loos fed maggot.

The pictured on the right is of Welshman Neil Morgan landing a one of his Carp that helped him in to third place and last on the pools.

Full Result:

1. Luke Pester 65-07-0 peg 11
2. Martin Rayett 50-12-0 peg 20
3. Neil Morgan 44-07-0 peg 27
4. Stuart Barnett 34-12-0 peg 23
5. Jon Clark 26-05-0 peg 22
6. Geoff Francis 22-02 0 peg 10

Top Silvers:

1. Dave Willmott 14-10-0 peg 8
2. Mike Nicholls 14-08-0 peg 1

Weigh Sheet:

Thursday 19/05/2016 - Harescombe Fishery - Cost Cutter - Match lake

It was back to Harescombe with my Apprentice Pensioner Geoff Francis. It was another reasonable turnout today with 18 entrants. After the usual breakfast it was into the draw bag and out comes “unlucky for some” peg 13 – which was to leave me out of pocket. Second time this term I have drawn the peg and it is looking even worse for wear with the far bank wooden piling collapsing and each side margins similarly collapsing leaving no bank side cover or an even bottom (pictured below). Nonetheless I was optimistic until Mr. Jinx - Terry Girdlestone arrived on peg 14. Matey Geoff was on next peg 11.

I set up the usual two rigs with the 4x10 Yoof being suitable for both the RH margin and over (after adding 6 inches) to the tilting piles.

I started shirt on he F1 rig with 4mm semi-hards over pellet and had a good first 30 minutes catching six Skimmers and five decent f1’s and as per usual the swim died. Not to worry keep loose feeding the margin and try over with meat over 2mm pellet. Plenty of bites ensued but very few fish graced the net, but plenty of missing meat. The bites were from Silvers I did have a couple of Skimmers and F1’s. In the meantime Terry had caught very little fishing conventionally so he switched to the mechanical method namely the “Jig-rig” and Terry started to catch an F1 every few minutes. I tried the F1 rig a few times I even opened another line at top-set plus two to no avail. So back out over to the piles and whilst shipping out and for no apparent reason my number 4 snapped clean in half – bugger. I did have a spare and reluctantly put it on but this only produced one more F1 and another load of missed bites. I decided to bin the long line and sulk in the margin. The upshot was that in between catching Skimmers I added some decent F1’s to 3lb. Terry had bagged throughout the match so we were all fishing for the remaining two coined places.

I finished the match with 17lb 13oz of Skimmers and my Carp weighed 43lb 14oz for a total of 61lb 11oz to scrape in to third spot. I was delighted with this from this peg.

As stated Terry Girdlestone (pictured right with his third weigh) won the match from peg 14 with 102lb 14oz mostly caught at 12 metres. Terry explains how he fished the Jig-rig in the video below. I personally couldn’t fish this method as you don’t strike at bites with the method being much mechanised! It won’t be long before there are control wires running up the pole to operated the pre-programmed feed pot and to automatically strike at any movement probably control by a smart phone App! I wonder what Max Winters would make of these types of fishing. That said I am happy to compete with it using traditional methods.

Full Result:

1. Terry Girdlestone 102-14-0 peg 14
2. Jason Powell 67-06-0 peg 21
3. Mike Nicholls 61-11-0 peg 13
4. Stuart Graham 61- 03-0 peg 23
5. John Smith 60-07-0 peg 18
6. John Wood 50-12-0 peg 7

Weigh Sheet:

Sunday 15/05/2016 - Tony Rixon's Short Pole Match - Chiltern Trinity - Woodland Match Lake

Bela and I started in Hillview café which is closing in October 2016. Shame, there is chance that they may open another café closer to Bridgwater.

First match in Tony’s short pole match (top-set plus three). Twenty five fishing today, one more the usual. Into the draw box and out comes peg 17. This peg is probably the deepest on the Lake. I was initially happy with this I have won the section from the peg in a previous match. You need to catch Carp to stand any chance of winning this league of which I was hoping to improve on my second overall last year, especially as Trigger wasn’t fishing this year! Arriving at the peg where the chilly wind was blowing into I noticed that the RH margin where I had caught previously had overgrown too much for me to clear plumbing up I had five foot in the margin so I decided to ignore this side, instead to concentrate on the LH side, which still needed some clearing to get closer to the bank, that said there was loads of snags from the bank side shrubs and trees, which was to trash four rigs!

I set up the usual Ronnie rig – caster over caster and a 0.4 paste float over hard 4’s both for the LH margin. Starting on the Ronnie rig I caught small versions from the off – Skimmers, Ronnie’s, Rudd, Hybrids. I decided to stay on this until either neighbour – Martyn Rayett or Adrian Jeffery’s started to catch Carp, which in Adrian’s case wasn’t too long. So in I went with the paste only for it to get nibbled to death in quick time. It took a while to hook and land two decent Carp; meanwhile the four pegs to my right were bagging on Carp and with the Skimmers not showing I decided to go back after the Ronnie’s. However, they were very small. I decide to put one more section on the pole where I found a ledge that was six inches shallower than the top-set line. First put in with the paste and I landed another decent Carp – got it sorted then – not - as I only had one more Carp from this line on paste. I was miles behind for any Carp coin so decided to fish the last two hours for some Silvers coin. Luckily I did have a 2lb Tench and two 8oz Perch to help things along.

I finished the match with the four Carp weighing 22lb 4oz and my Silvers weighed in at 13lb 12oz for a second in the Silvers pick-up and a total of 36lb. Not what I was anticipating.

The match was won by Joe McMahon (pictured upper right with some of his catch) with 145lb 11oz from peg 33. Joe explains how he caught in the short video below.

The Silvers was won by Joe’s Dad Martin (pictured lower right with son Joe – double first for the family today) with 16lb 8oz from peg 24. Martin caught short on caster.

Tony Rixon had an off day having forty six pound in one net and a disqualifying net of 95lb in the other. I think there must have been some distraction close by!!

Full Result:

Weigh Sheet:

Thursday 12/05/2016 - Harescombe Fishery - Coast Cutter - Match Lake

Back to Harescombe and after yesterdays walk where I got absolutely soaked I was looking forward to a dry day, which is what we got, albeit the nippy wind has returned from the North West.

After the usual breakfast and natter, first in to the draw bag and out come peg 30. Without doubt there are worse pegs but with all the rain over the past two days and the weir was running harder than usual which isn’t a good sign. The NW wind was also blowing hard in to me. For company on peg 29 was Roy Morley and on peg 3 was Stuart Graham. I set up the usual 4x12 F1 float to fish short and the 4x10 Yoof for both margins. Whilst checking the F1 float is was clear the presentation would be difficult with the water from the weir running to my left back towards the weir, plus the wind was blowing it towards me. The Yoof wasn’t much better so a hard anticipated. Plenty of colour though!

I started short on the F1 float with 4mm semi-hards on the hook. However, the decision was where to feed which I don’t think I got the first pot right because I started to catch two metres from the feed. I had a good first twenty minutes catching six F1’s and six Skimmers.

A noise similar to a dull bell ringing was coming from Roy on peg 29. Roy had a hard plastic pot on the end of his top set and was tapping out hard fours through drilled holes in the pot using a float called a Rattler (I think). I found it most distracting. This is no way to fish.

Then for some unknown reason (at the time) I couldn’t get a bite. I tried both margins where I had been loose feed a small amount of pellet with the semi-hards on the hook and struggled to catch the odd F1. It appeared to be fishing hard all round the Lake probably due to the influx of the cold rain water. Because of the awful presentation on the F1 Float I decided to stay in the relative calm of both margins. It wasn’t until the last forty five minute that the fish decided to feed in numbers. Was it time of day? The wind had dropped? The weir had slowed allowing the float to change direction? Who knows except that I doubled my weight during this time, adding two nice Barbel.

I finished the match with 46lb for third overall which on hindsight I was pleased with.

The match was won by Terry Girdlestone with 62lb 12oz from peg 21. Terry explains how he caught in the video below.

A first for John Wood (pictured right picking up his winnings from fishery manager Andrew Price) gaining his first pick-up at the venue with 40lb 10oz which included 20lb of Chub all caught on maggot from three quarters. Well done matey.

Full Result:

1. Terry Girdlestone 62-12-0 peg 21
2. Tony Rixon 61-14-0 peg 24
3. Mike Nicholls 46-0-0 peg 30
4. John Wood 40-10-0 peg 6
5. Stuart Graham 33-14-0 peg 3
6. Terry Jones 31-02-0 peg 23

Weigh Sheets: