I knew the river at Newbridge would be a totally different compared to last week as we had very little rain but as always I was looking forward to it as were the rest of the lads. Looking at the water levels during the week it was going to be low but hopefully have a bit of flow remaining.
Team today was....
Myself
Chris Hook
Sam Johnson
Leigh Wakefield
Mike Withey
Brian Melksham
We were meant to have the draw etc in the Cadbury Heath Sports and Social Club but due to a problem it was switched to the Crown Pub in Keynsham which was closer to Newbridge.
When I got to the pub I bumped into Ryan Couch from over Pontypool way and who fishes Llandegfedd quite a bit as well as the Brecon Canal. He was fishing for Bathampton B today, I think most anglers in the SW and a bit beyond have now fished for Bathampton A or B.
Sam assisted with collecting the money as the pub is a bit on the small side and team members were split up at different ends. When Mike Goodhind called the Team Captains up I was alongside Brian Melksham who rubbed my belly and said you've had a McDonalds this morning, I do need to loose a few pounds.
Mike explained the pegging which is listed below and also said the farmer who was not happy with the way we parked at Newbridge last week had cut the grass for us alongside the river in order to park safely and it gave us more than enough room with going onto his field so fair play to him.
With A to C Sections parking at Newbridge and D to F parking at the Rugby Club there would be no parking issues.
A1-A6 Small field
A7 Below bridge
B1 & B2 Pump House
B3 Cattle drink
B4 Peg 30
B5 Peg 32
C1 Peg 39
C3 Peg 44
C4 Peg 46
C5 Peg 48
C6 Peg 50
C7 Peg 52
D1 3 pegs short of bridge
D7 Stream
E1 Peg 101
E7 Tunnel
F1 Below tunnel
F5 Peg 118
F6 Peg 120
F7 Peg 122
We were last but one to draw and it was not a bad set of pegs on paper. I was on A3, Sam B7, Chris C4, Leigh D1, Brian E5 and Mike F2.
So off we went with the aim of getting a few fish in the net during the first couple of hours on the pole and take it from there. When I parked up Mike Weston was in my section again, 3rd time in 3 weeks and low and below Ryan was on A2 just above me.
In my section I had Shaun Townsend (Hostpital Team) on A1, Ryan (Bathampton B) A2, myself A3, Nick Coles (Bathampton A) A4, Matt Challenger (Thatchers) A5), Mike Weston (M & N) A6 and Craig Pinker (Midland Spinner) A7. So a pretty good line up.
I did fancy A1 and A7 would do the business today.
The peg I was on today, A3 looked OK and I rang Chris who has drawn it numerous times for some guidance. I set up the pole to fish at 13 metres with a running through 2 gram rig and a 4 gram flat float. I also set up a 3 gram bolo float on the long rod to chase the fish down the peg as necessary as well as a feeder. Ended up not using the feeder or the flat float..
It's a fairly shallow area and the flow does vary a bit when the lock gates are opened and closed on the Great Western Cut. A lot of anglers ball it in at Newbridge but I favour cupping it in rather than ring the dinner bell for the pike as well as the roach.
5 big balls were cupped in laced with everything, caster, hemp, dead red and chopped worm.
Normally the response is pretty quick but it took 6 or more run throughs with the 2 grammer to get the first bite which I missed!
I nailed the next bite and it was a small hybrid around 4oz. A few roach turned up and they were not bad at around 3 to 4 oz.
I started to loose feed hemp and caster but this brought the bleak in and they were taking the bait on the drop. I decided to stop doing this and concentrate getting the bait on the bottom by feeding another ball and moving the olivette 18 inches from the hook with an 8 and 10 below.
This worked a treat and I caught more hybrids and better roach holding back hard, inching it through and then hold back again. I made a few school boy errors by swinging fish that should have been netted and had a word with myself after the 4th catch and release.
I had a decent half of the match on the pole but while still getting bites they tailed off a bit.
Picking up the bolo and fishing the middle of the river loose feeding plenty of hemp and caster with double caster on an 18 I had a good hour plus catching chublets, hybrids, roach, perch and gudgeon while still topping up the pole line.
No one was walking the bank (which I like) so i had no idea how the section was fishing. a phone call from Sam and Chris suggested the river below me was fishing hard.
The match finished at 3:15, I had the scales so packed up pretty quick. Just as I was finishing off packing away Mike Weston came up and said the anglers blow me were admitting to 4 to 5lbs each, I though i had maybe 5 to 6lbs. Mike walked past and came back to say Ryan had around 4 to 5lbs and Shaun has had a nightmare.
I walked down to Craig on A7 to start weighing as he had the board. Craig said he struggled but still weighed 5lb of bleak, Mike on 6 tipped back. All of us under estimated our nets as you can see from my section board below, me more than most (9lb 12oz) I was well happy to take the whole section but more importantly maximum of 3 points for the team.
My catch above
Sam called me just as I finished weighing and asked how I got on, he had also won his section. He also asked how Matt Challenger got on as he had Matt in the knock-out. Sam's 7lb plus got him through.
He also said Leigh had done well catching over 20lbs!
Back at the Crown Pub I collected the results, I knew Brian wasn't coming back as I saw him heading towards Bath.
Here is the Team sheet, not bad at all ......
Although Chris was 2nd in his section he picked up the section by default due to Andy Richings winning the match. So a good day with 5 of us picking up cash again, Leigh was 2nd in the match and our team won our division. Sam and Chris are through to the final round of the knock-out so with way you look at it one of our guys have won !
I would have been 7th overall as well.
Leigh with his 2nd placed bag.
That man Andy Richings can draw and made no mistake from a bream area weighing 26lb plus.
Not sure who took his photo but they need to go to specsavers.
I am thinking of pleasure fishing Llandegfedd on Wednesday and perhaps a Clevedon Club Match on the River Kenn next Sunday.
Here is the full match report and results courtesy of Vince Lunn .....
The 4th round of the Commercial House match was fished on the Bristol Avon at Newbridge. The river had a little bit of colour and it was mild with bright conditions.
Winner on the day was Andy Richings of Mosella Bathampton B with 26 lbs 9 ozs. Drawn on peg 44 he caught 3 to 4 lbs on the pole and then had 6 bream on the feeder 2/3 rds across, with worm on the hook.
2nd was Leigh Wakefield of Sensas Nomads with 20 lbs 8 ozs. Drawn around peg 77, he fished the pole over groundbait at 13 metres and caught chublets, roach and skimmers on red maggot. He then fished the feeder over the same line in the last 2 hours and caught 2 bream.
3rd was Rob Jones of Preston Innovations Thatchers with 16 lbs 7 ozs. He was on peg 107 and caught 2 bream on the flat float along with 2 big roach and some small fish. He caught them on worm and dead maggots.
4th Rob Manns - Preston Innovations Thatchers - 13 lbs 2 ozs
5th Tim Ford - Preston Innovations Thatchers - 12 lbs 10 oz
6th Andy Britt - Mosella Bathampton A - 9 lbs 14 ozs
Preston Innvoations Thatchers dropped only 1.5 points on the day to extend their lead in the A division. In the B division Sensas Nomads won, to close the gap on the leaders Mosella Bathampton B.
Teams on the day;
A Div
Preston Innovations Thatchers 16.5
Mosella Bathampton A 11
M & N Electrical 7.5
B Div
Sensas Nomads 15
Mosella Bathampton B 13
Midland Spinner 8
League positions;
A Div
Preston Innovations Thatchers 58.5
Mosella Bathampton A 49
M & N Electrical 35.5
B Div
Mosella Bathampton B 55
Sensas Nomads 49
Midland Spinner 40
Knockout draw for the next round:
Sam Johnson vs Chris Hook
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