Wednesday 11 February 2015
Tuesday 10 February 2015
Sunday 8th February - Pleasure session River Kenn
I had bought a £50 Clevedon Freshwater Angling Club ticket for the 14 / 15 season which gave me unlimited access to Paddock Lake at our Acorn Fishery as well as the River Kenn and River Avon from Swineford to Jack Whites. This was the first time I had used it! Next season I will just buy ther River Ticket at £20.
I was looking forward to fishing the Kenn which can be fantastic at this time of year for roach if you can put up with the mud. The Environment Agency lower the level by up to 6 feet leaving 2 foot to 3 foot of water when the tide is out but it runs all day. I called into Cadbury Angling on the Saturday afternoon and picked up 2 pints of red maggot, this is all I intended to take. The guys in the shop said high tide was around 09:30 for the Sunday and it was not going to be significant. The tide is important on the Kenn, when it pens up the river moves the opposite way then pauses for a while before running off, during this time you rarely catch much. Another angler in the shop was also picking up bait intending to fish the river as well but appeared to be going down near the sea wall. This area is ok and you can stay clean but dog walkers can ruin your peg throwing sticks and balls in, plus the golf course is on the far bank, at times you need a helmet!
I headed out of the house around 08:45 and a short 15 minute drive took me to the Cross Water area where the old River Kenn runs into the Blind Yeo (aka the Kenn). There was a nice bit of pace here and I was tempted but thought it might be a bit early to fish this spot, the fish usually migrate up to this area in March to spawn. I headed off to Kenn Road in Clevedon and decided to fish the Car Park stretch, nice and peaceful.
Gear was placed over the gate and two trips saw me ready to set up below the footbridge. The bank at the waters edge was not too bad and I set up my box on a big metal plate that had been put there a number of years ago to stop you sinking in the mud. I thought the tide was starting to run off but while setting up the one rod with a 3AA waggler with a No.8 and two No. 10's as droppers, hook length 0.10 powerline to an 18 drennan maggot hook it started to back up (penn) and flow the other way. I set up anyway and got nice and comfortable. I had about 3 feet down the middle and across about 2 feet.
I fired in about 10 maggots on both lines before my first cast at this point the water was more or less still meaning it was high tide. I was surprised when the float went under after about 30 secs and a decent roach was on, it gave a good fight and I soon had a good 10 oz specimen in the net. Another 3 smaller samples followed around 4 - 4 oz in as many casts, happy days. The river seemed to pause for quite a while and it took about 30 mins for the flow to go the right was and I did not get any bites during the pause and after the few early roach.
As soon as it did flow with a bit of pace I caught 4 decent perch one after the other, best one was around 1.5 lbs. A cold spell seemed to come in and it was very errie with mist coming in off the sea and another blank spell of about 20 mins started. I kept the feed going in and eventually started to pick up roach again for the rest of the session, I packed up around 3 p.m. as it was freezing.
Pulling my net out I estimate I had around 10 lb and was happy with that. As I got back to the car to load up another Clevedon Angler pulled up, can't remember his name but he fishes natura; venues as well. he had been down the bottom end and only had 2 roach, he also said another angler in the same area was struggling (must have been the guy I saw in the shop on the Saturday) as well. Needless to say he was surprised I had caught so much.
I will try and get back on the Kenn before the end of the season and possibly try the Cross Water area. I also remember there was a good 50lb bag of roach from the Kenn last March in the closing week of the season. I am also drawn to the Tone as well. Its fantastic to have good natural venues on your door step. I urge anyone else to take advantage.
I was looking forward to fishing the Kenn which can be fantastic at this time of year for roach if you can put up with the mud. The Environment Agency lower the level by up to 6 feet leaving 2 foot to 3 foot of water when the tide is out but it runs all day. I called into Cadbury Angling on the Saturday afternoon and picked up 2 pints of red maggot, this is all I intended to take. The guys in the shop said high tide was around 09:30 for the Sunday and it was not going to be significant. The tide is important on the Kenn, when it pens up the river moves the opposite way then pauses for a while before running off, during this time you rarely catch much. Another angler in the shop was also picking up bait intending to fish the river as well but appeared to be going down near the sea wall. This area is ok and you can stay clean but dog walkers can ruin your peg throwing sticks and balls in, plus the golf course is on the far bank, at times you need a helmet!
I headed out of the house around 08:45 and a short 15 minute drive took me to the Cross Water area where the old River Kenn runs into the Blind Yeo (aka the Kenn). There was a nice bit of pace here and I was tempted but thought it might be a bit early to fish this spot, the fish usually migrate up to this area in March to spawn. I headed off to Kenn Road in Clevedon and decided to fish the Car Park stretch, nice and peaceful.
Gear was placed over the gate and two trips saw me ready to set up below the footbridge. The bank at the waters edge was not too bad and I set up my box on a big metal plate that had been put there a number of years ago to stop you sinking in the mud. I thought the tide was starting to run off but while setting up the one rod with a 3AA waggler with a No.8 and two No. 10's as droppers, hook length 0.10 powerline to an 18 drennan maggot hook it started to back up (penn) and flow the other way. I set up anyway and got nice and comfortable. I had about 3 feet down the middle and across about 2 feet.
Ready to go
I fired in about 10 maggots on both lines before my first cast at this point the water was more or less still meaning it was high tide. I was surprised when the float went under after about 30 secs and a decent roach was on, it gave a good fight and I soon had a good 10 oz specimen in the net. Another 3 smaller samples followed around 4 - 4 oz in as many casts, happy days. The river seemed to pause for quite a while and it took about 30 mins for the flow to go the right was and I did not get any bites during the pause and after the few early roach.
As soon as it did flow with a bit of pace I caught 4 decent perch one after the other, best one was around 1.5 lbs. A cold spell seemed to come in and it was very errie with mist coming in off the sea and another blank spell of about 20 mins started. I kept the feed going in and eventually started to pick up roach again for the rest of the session, I packed up around 3 p.m. as it was freezing.
Pulling my net out I estimate I had around 10 lb and was happy with that. As I got back to the car to load up another Clevedon Angler pulled up, can't remember his name but he fishes natura; venues as well. he had been down the bottom end and only had 2 roach, he also said another angler in the same area was struggling (must have been the guy I saw in the shop on the Saturday) as well. Needless to say he was surprised I had caught so much.
I will try and get back on the Kenn before the end of the season and possibly try the Cross Water area. I also remember there was a good 50lb bag of roach from the Kenn last March in the closing week of the season. I am also drawn to the Tone as well. Its fantastic to have good natural venues on your door step. I urge anyone else to take advantage.
Saturday 7 February 2015
Sunday 25th January Somerset League Teams of 4 - River Tone Taunton
This was my second call up for the Teams of 4 League and my second visit to the River Tone. I last fished it before Christmas when I managed second in section with just under 5 kilo's of mainly roach. The river was still quite high and running fast but at least it was clean. On the Saturday I dug out a couple of old 6BB and 7BB Topper Floats and set them up on winders to save time on the day, tied a few hooks and got 3 pints of maggots Cadbury Angling. Team mate Sam informed me the draw was at 8 a.m. in the Princess Royal Pub near the Cricket Ground in Taunton with breakfast available and meet up at 7.30. This meant me leaving at 6.30 and I got there about 7.25 ordered breakfast (bit steep at £6.75 but good) and waited for Don, Sam and James to arrive. Don was next to turn up, he order breakfast as well but when it came it looked more like an autopsy. He clearly did not enjoy it.
James and Sam arrived, they had looked at the river on the way down and had food in McDonalds. Report was the river looked spot on, happy days.
The draw was done and Sam came back with the Team pegs, I was on 27, I was on 28 last time and it was down by McDonalds near the M5 motorway. Did not get too excited by this as where 27 was last time the angler had a very short trott and only weighed 2 kilos. I made my way to the peg and was surprised to see it had been moved upstream giving a longer trott but down a steep bank so standing up for 5 hours would be the case. There was plenty of room as the 8 peg section was split into 2 lots of 4 anglers. When I was setting up and getting comfortable I noticed at eye level a rodent hole directly behind me so was hoping there would not be a big rat who had been well fed from McDonalds scraps.
There were 2 pegs above me but I couldn't see ther anglers until they came down for a chat before the 'all in', both were locals and informed me I was on a decent peg (heard that beforel). They both walked downstream to have a look at peg 28 which I couldn't see either, it was great to have so much room and no boats to contend with, there was a footpath behind me but not close to the bank, I was more or less down in the water so no concerns about pedestrians. The 2 guys came back up had a quick nose at what I had set up, 2 rods, one with a 6BB Crowquill Avon the other with a 4BB wire stem stick, after both bulks on each rod I had a No. 6, very simple and would give me full control on the pacey river.
On the 'all in' I threw in a good handfull of maggot to the middle, waited a minute and then threw another few samples. A cast slightly downstream toward the far bank with the Crowquill, held it back until it got to the middle and began to control it, holding it back and letting it go, it was spot on. I suppose it travelled for about 30 meters before the float buried in the 4 foot of water, at first I thought it was a snag before the rod tip started to thud gently. In the fast water I played it safe and did not rush, my reward was a chub of around 2lb.
During the second half of the match it was not hectic but I did net about 5 good chub, the most productive part of the swim was right at then end and I did loose a couple.
At the weigh in I had 10kg 700grms, 23lb 9oz in old money, the 8 peg section was won with 10kg 800grms but I was second and good team points. Sam and James done well in their sections and I was 4th overall and £60 in the wallet. As a team we came 2nd out of 8 on the day, 3 of us picked up coin.
I enjoyed the Tone and will be back asap.
Just come back from a weekend in N Ireland, no fishing but eyed up a couple of places to do some wild river trout fishing. Hopefully having a pleasure session on the River Kenn tomorrow (Sunday 8th Feb).
Well done to Ireland today in Rome.
Rodent hole!
There were 2 pegs above me but I couldn't see ther anglers until they came down for a chat before the 'all in', both were locals and informed me I was on a decent peg (heard that beforel). They both walked downstream to have a look at peg 28 which I couldn't see either, it was great to have so much room and no boats to contend with, there was a footpath behind me but not close to the bank, I was more or less down in the water so no concerns about pedestrians. The 2 guys came back up had a quick nose at what I had set up, 2 rods, one with a 6BB Crowquill Avon the other with a 4BB wire stem stick, after both bulks on each rod I had a No. 6, very simple and would give me full control on the pacey river.
A nice long trott
On the 'all in' I threw in a good handfull of maggot to the middle, waited a minute and then threw another few samples. A cast slightly downstream toward the far bank with the Crowquill, held it back until it got to the middle and began to control it, holding it back and letting it go, it was spot on. I suppose it travelled for about 30 meters before the float buried in the 4 foot of water, at first I thought it was a snag before the rod tip started to thud gently. In the fast water I played it safe and did not rush, my reward was a chub of around 2lb.
First fish
I continued to trot down the middle while feeding the nearside but it was a bit bollie. After another few trots I started to catch roach, decent ones at that and I had regualar bites and the odd fish bumped over the next 2 hours. A few looks down the inside brought some small grayling but they all count.
First Grayling
During the second half of the match it was not hectic but I did net about 5 good chub, the most productive part of the swim was right at then end and I did loose a couple.
At the weigh in I had 10kg 700grms, 23lb 9oz in old money, the 8 peg section was won with 10kg 800grms but I was second and good team points. Sam and James done well in their sections and I was 4th overall and £60 in the wallet. As a team we came 2nd out of 8 on the day, 3 of us picked up coin.
I enjoyed the Tone and will be back asap.
My bag on the day
Just come back from a weekend in N Ireland, no fishing but eyed up a couple of places to do some wild river trout fishing. Hopefully having a pleasure session on the River Kenn tomorrow (Sunday 8th Feb).
Well done to Ireland today in Rome.
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