Tuesday 28 September 2021

OK I'll give it another go........

 There have been a few people recently asking ''where's the blog''.... 

To be honest I couldn't be arsed (again) and after nearly 10 years of writing it became a bit of a chore, well that's how it felt and I suppose a run of poor draws and results also affected my enthusiasm. I have also been busy doing Angling Admin with Nomads and the Clevedon Club as well as carrying out home improvements plus a few trips away.

Looking back my last post was in early August and that was Round 5 of the S W Super League.

Since then I fished......

  • The final round of the SL at Newbridge and done crap.
I was drawn halfway down in the Tree's section and only had about 6lbs. The pegging was far from ideal with some anglers really close and others literally 100 meters apart due to lack of bank maintenance and boats moored up illegally. Mike Bernsten won the section easily with 24lb from the first peg under the railway tunnel. He had 4 good bream along with roach and perch. None of the team done any good and we left before the final presentation which is a bit rude to be honest but we did not enjoy the league this year. It's only teams of 4 but we struggled at times to get enough to fish due to family commitments. The venues are changing next year and will be more expensive. We won't be putting a team in, not due to costs but because of availability and numbers. I am looking forward to a summer off fishing leagues and will be happy to do my own thing.
  • The Lance Tucker memorial on the River Kenn.
Quite a few of us worked our socks off to clear the river of as much weed as possible in order to provide 55 pegs, the largest match on the Kenn for some time. A lot of anglers who knew Lance and had not fished for quite a while dusted off their gear and came along. All 55 pegs were filled and ran from the Outfall at the Sea to Kenn Rd. I drew peg 8 which is a good area but it fished rock hard. I managed a level 2lbs of small roach to win the section worth £50. Club Chairman Steve Bonwick won the match from peg 1 with 11 bream for 66lbs, 2nd was Dom Sullivan peg 3 with 43lb of bream and on peg 2 Des Shipp managed 3rd with 42lb. It was a great match and along with what Lance's family organised over £4000 was raised for a heart charity.




Steve had a great match


2nd place for Dom


Des not far behind, this is the 2nd time he has fished the Kenn, maybe he'll be back.


  • Llandegfedd 2 day festival.
I booked into this match because I didn't think I was going to Ireland the first week in September. The match was held over the August Bank Holiday weekend. I was on the boats each day in order to get to my peg. it was a well organised festival but I done pretty crap along with a load of others. you would get a few hybrids early and the odd roach and then nothing. I was confident in what I was doing as I had caught well during pleasure sessions, it's funny how even a 400 acre venue can switch off on match day. I will try and get back before the end of October when the fishing ends.


  • Ireland
Well what a week this was. There was no festival organised in Arva as Ireland opened up too late for it to be organised so 3 of us just went pleasure fishing and stayed at our usual place which is the Breffni Arms Hotel. I had a couple of 10lb days which was surprising but after that I had 4 days on the pole bagging, 45lb, 32lb, 28lb and  22lb in 4 hours after trying in vain for bream. Here's some photo's........












  • Commercial House League Round 2, Chequers, Jack Whites, Crane and Swineford 19th September (missed the first one due to being in Ireland).
I drew Chequers, the end peg upstream and was expecting bream, bream, bream but the whole of chequers fished hard. I ended up on the bolo down the middle and amassed a whole 3lb to take 2 points from 3. Lee Gregory was the best with 10lb of whip fish and Jeff Surman won the bottom section with 7lb. as a team we bombed out finishing last on the day in B Div, one to forget.


  • Commercial House League Round 3, 26th September, Huntspill.
This was supposed to be on the KSD but due to the drain being covered in duckweed was switched to the Huntspill. 
Team was Chris Hook, Sam Johnson, Leigh Wakefield, Owen Davis, Sean Partridge and myself.
We done well as a team tying with Bathampton for top spot in B Div. 5 of us picked up our section money, mine was by default. I drew between the motorway and railway bridges which was a hell of a walk. As expected the pegs nearest the railway bridge fished best with Derek Coles having a fantastic 31lb of bream. That meant my 4lb got the section by default in B Div. Sean won his section with 6lb, Leigh won his with 3lb and Owen and Chris narrowly missed out on theirs.
Purition bridge was the place to draw with Paul Purchase weighing in 101lb, Rich Lacey 85lb and Gary Webber 27lbs. 
There were some shocking weights i.e. ounces from some very competent anglers but that's a bream venue for you.
Sam and Chris are also through to the next round of the knock out.


Paul with part of his catch



Here is the full report from Vince Lunn......

The 3rd round of the Commercial House match was going to be fished on the Kings Sedgemoor Drain, but due to duckweed it had to be moved to the Huntspill.
The river was clear with bright conditions.
Winner on the day was Paul Purchase of M & N Electrical. Drawn peg C1 at puriton, he caught 26 bream of the straight lead at 20 metres out over loosefeed castors. He weighed in 101 lbs 0 ozs.
2nd on the day was Rich Lacey of Mosella Bathampton A. He was next to Paul on peg C2 and caught 23 bream on worm and castors, alternating between the feeder and straight lead. He weighed 86 lbs 2 ozs
3rd on the day was Andy Pritchard of Mosella Bathampton B with 55 lbs 11 ozs. He was on peg C3 and caught 14 bream on the feeder across on dead red maggot.
4th Derek Cole - Mosella Bathampton B - 31 lbs 15 ozs
5th Gary Webber - Preston Innovations Thatchers - 27 lbs 2 oz
6th Paul Issacs - Preston Innovations Thatchers - 10 lbs 15 ozs
Teams on the day;
A Div
M & N Electrical 13
Mosella Bathampton A 12
Preston Innovations Thatchers 11
B Div
Mosella Bathampton B 14
Sensas Nomads 14
Midland Spinner 8
League positions;
A Div
Preston Innovations Thatchers 42
Mosella Bathampton A 38
M & N Electrical 28
B Div
Mosella Bathampton B 42
Sensas Nomads 34
Midland Spinner 32
Knockout draw for the next round:
Rich Lacey vs Chris Hook
Matt Challenger vs Sam Johnson


So that's a quick summary of my fishing which has been a bit like a yo yo ...up and down.

I am looking forward to the rest of the Autumn and Winter fishing on rivers, this Sunday 3rd October I am at the Newbridge Open. With rain this week there may be a bit of colour in it.