Sunday 23rd November - Commercial House League Round 4 Bristol Avon Lower Newbridge, Swineford and Crane Sections

A text 2 weeks in advance of this match showed the Team as Sam Johnson, James Gunter, Glenn Calvert, Lewis Walker, Leigh Wakefield and myself. With other team members busy, 1 due to family plans, 1 injury and 2 fishing Viaduct we are starting to build up a decent squad. I did make enquiries on the Wednesday to see if the match was still on the river due to all the rain and it was to be. On the day though Jack Whites Section was taken out and replaced by the Trees at Newbridge which was a good call.

All the Team except for Glenn were at the draw by 07:45, a quick phone call and we found out he was still in bed but would be on his way so pools paid for him. I was convinced I would draw Swineford, this would be a hard Section due to the shallow water and a full river. Sam came back and my name was against A12, yes, Swineford but at least it would be a short walk and we had the end peg but would it make any difference.

After unloading the car and passing all the gear over the gate with barbed wire wrapped around it (usually open) the banter started with Dean Harvey, Paul Barnfield (in his winter break from working at Chew for Bristol Water and Martin Barret. After a short walk down to the river it did not look too bad around pegs 1 to 3, Dean was on 3 and had a nice big slack which can throw up a bream weight in these conditions.
I had only one fence to negotiate and when I came to my peg it did look reasonable on the inside.

I set up my 13' 8'' Dutch Master with a 60 grm feeder for the middle, another feeder with a 30 grm for the inside and a 14 BB Crowquill, that was it.

The picture of the peg does not really show the pace of the river but those who know the river will be familiar with the landmark on the opposite bank.

On the all in I balled 4 in about two rod lengths out with chopped worm and caster, loose fed maggots could be fed upstream and as the depth was about 8' they would reach bottom within the slack. Out went the 60 gram feeder rig and I continued to recast every 5 minutes to keep the bait going in. End tackle was a Drennan Super Specialist 14 eyed hook to 0.15 power line. I had my first bite on 3 red maggots within 20 mins but missed it, Back out and another bite, hit it and a roach of about 5 oz was netted, next cast same again then I snagged and lost the feeder. I then tried the inside with the quill and second trot down had a small roach, another followed and then it went dead plus I kept snagging. After the first hour I had about 1lb. The next two and a half hours were a nightmare, not sure why but no matter what I used or were I cast I kept getting snagged and loosing end tackle. I persevered and kept the bait going in.
At around two o'clock I had a good rattle on the Dutch Master (5 oz tip), hit it and it went solid followed by a couple of thuds. Bream I thought at first but turned out to be a nice chub of around 2lb, happy days. I had 2 more puppy chub, a trout (doesn't count) and a decent perch in that last hour. I estimated I had between 4lb and 5lb.

The scales came to me first and there were a few comments about a nice net of fish for the conditions. Gerry Pocock said it was a decent weight of a sh*t peg. The needle stopped at 4lb 13oz. Above me was an 8lb but they were in B Div, above again was 6lb from one of the Bathampton Team who was in A Div, this ended up the best weight in A Div so I ended up with 5 points so job done for the Team. Most anglers in A Section weighed less tha 2lbs.

Back at the Rugby Club all of the Team came back except for Glenn who was picked up by his wife but we established he had a bad day. As a team we done really well, with a Section win, 3 seconds, a third and a last.

Team score sheet

We won A Div which was a fantastic result, we are still bottom but are only half a point away from the next team up and one point separates the other two team immediately above that. So two more matches left in the league both on the K & A Canal in the new year.

Top weight on the day was 15lb.

Sam and James said they were fishing the Grand Western next Sunday in the Tiverton Xmas Match, I was down in Devon today so popped in on the way home and got a ticket from Exe Valley Angling.

Looking forward to this as I have not fished this canal for about 20 years.