Monday 19 August 2019

Sunday 11th Aug - SW Super League, Wed 14th Aug - Staverton, Sunday 18th Aug - SW Super League

Bit of a catch up and just a summary as I have been really busy between outings so here goes.......

Sunday 11th Aug - 1st visit of the year to Newbridge drew peg 56 so a long long walk, balled in at the start like everyone else and caught very small roach for 30 minutes if that at 13 metres not a lot else to say and 2 points from 7.
Old friend Dean Harvey won the match from the favoured little field with 29lb from peg 5. He did have 3 good bream late in the match but also caught chublets and roach plus a big eel on the pole.
Chris Parr was 2nd in the match from the same area but on peg 3, Chris had 24lb , load of roach on the pole plus skimmers and a decent bream. 3rd was the consistent Charlie Vallender who had 20lb from a peg down in the 60's.
Our man Clive Branson won his section with a well earned 15lb of roach from end peg 130 down in the trees. Sam Johnson also had a pick up coming 2nd in his section.
Team wise we finished 5th on the day.


Wednesday 14th Aug - went to the usual match at Staverton and despite the rain the river was ok, perhaps with a little more flow. Drew peg 6 for the first time and had a lovely day on the pole catching roach, chublets, perch and hybrids for 9lb 2oz. Gerry the organiser won the match with 12lb from peg 1, 3 bream on the tip.

Sunday 18th Aug - Final match S W Super League at Newbridge. Team had the same draw and I was on the same peg again .... long walk.... so lightened up a bit on the gear.
Had a big skimmer 20 mins in followed by a few perch and chublets for 3lb 14oz sharing 2 points with Gary Cross who had the same weight.
Clive won his section again with 10lb odd from a peg in the 70's.

The little field there up the top weights again with Neil Richard weighing just under 28lb from peg 7. Chris Parr was 2nd with 25lb from the same peg he was on the previous week. 3rd was his team mate Mark Bromsgrove with 21lb from the top of the straight.

DGL won the league, Thatchers 2nd and GBV 3rd.

We finished one from bottom.

It is a well run league and thanks to Dave Micklewright and Ditch for all their hard work.

On a personal note I have had a nightmare year to date and understandably falling out of love with Team fishing a bit. We won't be fishing the Upper Thames Winter League this year as we have lost 3 anglers to other teams in the last 6 months plus a couple of others have mobility issues and its a big gap to fill so there no point struggling. It is nice to see anglers progress but it is at the expense of other teams and in turn will affect the number of teams entering these popular leagues. We will be fishing the Bristol Commercial House League (teams of 6) between Sept and December.

As for next years leagues who knows but doesn't look good at the moment.

Hopefully back at Staverton Wednesday then a free weekend to prep for Ireland.





Monday 5 August 2019

Wednesday 31st July - Staverton & Sunday 4th August - Port Talbot Docks

Staverton,

Back to Staverton for the popular Wednesday afternoon / evening match. I drew peg 21 this time and when I got there I knew it was the peg that Tony Gilbert was on when we had a Super League Match a few weeks ago. Tony weighed 8lb plus for 2nd in the section. I had to do a bit of gardening again as there were lots of lily pads right in front of me. Took about 20 minutes but worth it.
I was only going to set up 2 waggler rods and a block end feeder so didn't take long.

All the flow was right across and when testing the waggler rigs the flow pulled it into the far bank more alongside some trees. It was a nice run down and a long trot was able to be had.


Plumping up I had about 6 foot right across but it shallowed up towards the end of the trot so fished a few inched off the bottom. The other wag was at half depth. Wind was quite strong at times and changed from upstream to in your face but i was able to cast hard into a gap across sink the line and the flow took more control of the float than the wind so was able to present ok.

I decided on the Gary Etheridge approach and just feed and fish maggot to catch anything that swims.

Starting off on the shallow set up I had some small barrel chub straight away which is typical for the venue. Bites were fairly regular and I was putting fish in the net.

Around the half way mark I decided to feed further downstream as well which was a good call as I started to catch a few roach and in the final 30 minutes 2 puppy chub.



I ended up with 8lb 11oz for 3rd in the match beaten by a 10lb chub catch and Gary who won it with 15lb. Gary had 2 big bream and some bits. I think he lost a couple of bream as well. They seem to follow him around at the moment but fair play to him.


Port Talbot Docks

I could have fished a Super League Practice Match on the Bristol Avon at Newbridge on the Sunday but having seen how it fished the previous Sunday on a Riverfest Qualifier and along with some of the comments from those who took part decided to give it a miss and return to see my Celtic Cousins across the bridge in South Wales to join Clive Branson and Clive Roberts on Port Talbot Docks.

I drew peg 14 this time which was in an area known as the board and was told to expect pike trouble. Team mate Clive R was next to me on 13 and Clive B drew 21 which was an end peg with bream form. He is doing very well at the moment, last week he was 2nd in the Riverfest Qualifier picking up £260.
At 6 metres out it was a little shallower than last week but still very deep. Rig from last week adjusted so didn't take long.
2 feeder rods set up again same as last week.
Starting off on the longer feeder line I skimmers straight away and a few roach after balling in a bucket of ground bait. Clive was catching short on the pole but I couldn't make it work properly so went on the short on the feeder.
In summary bites all day, had 5 pike on didn't see one of them. Had the fight of my life with a nice 5lb 5oz mullet, first one I have every caught as well as a small bass. Ended up with 24lb plus so doubled my weight from the previous week.


Clive B won the match with 62lb of bream with Steve O'Mara 2nd with 53lb off the next peg.
Lots of 20lb plus weights.

What a venue, I will definitely be back.

No midweek match this week but Newbridge on Sunday...could be a bream match as rain is forecast.