Tuesday 3rd May - Head to Head Round 4 Bristol Feeder Canal

 Had to squeeze in a Tuesday session for Round 4 of the H2H with team mate Leigh Wakefield as I'm off on holiday again this week.

Leigh was currently 2 -1 in front so needed to do the business today!

I arrived to park on Feeder Rd at 06:40 and took a walk over to have a look at the water before Leigh arrived. Looking down to where we usually fish I was astonished to see 2 anglers setting up. One was just downstream where I normally fish and the other was bang on where Leigh sets up.

Leigh arrived and I told him the news, there is plenty of room though so it was a case of going further down or go up from the slipway.

We walked down the towpath on our way to the Feeder Rd Munch for breakfast. The angler on Leigh's usual peg recognised me as he reads these blogs. It was Gary Skuse and he had been following our H2H's with interest. "I suppose your going for breakfast first" he said, lol, of course I said.

I said I'd make him famous, so took a photo.

Gary's Dad was on the other peg.

We walked down toward Avon St. Bridge and there were plenty of options but decided to go up above the slipway as it was a shorter walk and we wouldn't disturb Gary and his Dad coming down with our gear.

Next it was into the Feeder Rd Munch for a fry up and very nice as usual.

Cars unloaded and then it was onto the Canal. We decided on 2 pegs and tossed for who picked first.

I won the toss and chose the peg just upstream of the slipway as it had a nice overhanging tree across.

Leigh went up about another 35 metres and also had vegetation across.

After setting up my 3 usual rigs I walked up to Leigh and gave him some caster, hemp and maggot (I do look after him).

Started off cupping one ball in at 13 and one at 7. There were fish topping and the colour looked spot on. The canal was flowing toward the City and it was quite strong.

Started off holding back across with the 2 gram rig at 13 and run it through time and time again for 20 minutes or so, not an indication so cupped in another ball and fished at 7.

10 minutes and not a sign of anything, seriously! Re-fed the 7 metre line and went back out at 13 with a 1 gram rig. Float sailed away, hit the bite and it was a daddy ruff, not a good sign.

I kept looking up to see how Leigh was doing and he also seemed quiet.

Just before the end of the first hour I hit a bite across and the number 3 elastic came out quite a way. Skimmer I thought, no, a dace foul hooked in the belly, ffs.

I re-fed both lines and took a walk up to Leigh. He had a few roach but in the main he was struggling.

I did get a a couple of roach short but the bites were few and far between. 

At 13 metres you could see the float tremor but not go under, small dace or ruff.

I couldn't work out what was wrong and tried coming off the bottom on both lines and going a few inches over and holding back.

A few perch graced the net along with a few more roach and dace but bites came out of the blue. If you fed and went over it straight away you would get 1 or 2 bites and then it would go dead. The bites I had were seldom sail away ones.

Dave Morgan who comes to watch us occasionally came down and said it had fished hard over the weekend, I did get a net roach while he was there.

Just before packing up Gary Skuse and his Dad came up and Gary said he had caught 5 - 6lbs of roach fishing top kit plus 2 over hemp and maggot.

We packed up at 3 p.m.

I weighed Leigh first and he had just over 4lbs.

I didn't think I had that much and the scales proved me right. I weighed just over 3lbs.

So ... he's now 3 - 1 up, not good.

A nice day though and you had to work hard for the bites.

I also done a litter pick and half filled a black sack after some of Bristol's finest visited the venue at the weekend.

Off on holiday now so no fishing unit 15th May when I am fishing an Angling Trust Canal Pairs Qualifier on the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal with team mate Chris Hook.

Wednesday 20th April - Bristol Feeder Canal

This was meant to be Round 3 of the Head to Head with team mate Leigh Wakefield. Unfortunately Leigh had other commitments so was unable to make it. Shame really as our H 2 H's are good fun and we enjoy the breakfast in the Feeder Rd Munch beforehand.

Long time friend Tony Humphries who joined us last week was also unable to make it.

I was always going to go whatever so it was breakfast for one when the Feeder Rd Much opened at 07:00.

I always go for the regular breakfast but noticed on the menu there was a "Slimming World"  breakfast, must enquire what that is next time.

I don't think mine would be endorsed by Slimming World

I was on the bank by 08:00 and decided to fish about 10 metres above where I normally go as I found a few snags halfway across last week.

Jason Bird who fishes the Bristol Docks System fairly regular fished the Canal last Sunday and let me know that he had a load of skimmers and roach for around 24lbs. In the days leading up to this the weather had improved and it seemed the migration from the Docks was in full swing.

In preparation for this session I cooked up a few pints of hemp and planned to just feed hemp and caster in ground bait in order to target the better fish. 

Ground bait was my favourite Sensas Black Lake, Gros Gardons Noire and a little Black Magic. Its an ideal mix for the Feeder Canal the Gros Gardons helps with binding the other two together especially if its mixed up the night before and then just dampened the next day before fishing.

I always have a decent number of rigs for the Feeder but always favour 1 gram and 2 gram in line Sensas In Line Floats which have a nice medium wire stem.

Although they are river floats they work well on the Feeder as it can tow quite hard at times and you need to hold back. I generally have two number 10's together below the olivette and another number 10 on the hook length about 6 inches above the hook.

Hooks I use are wide gape size 20's to 0.09 fluro carbon.

The wind today was spot on, just a gentle breeze but with intermittent sunshine and temperature forecast averaging 14 degrees.

I cupped in one big ball at 13 metres and one at 7 metres laced with more hemp than caster and started long with maggot on the hook.

It didn't take long to get my first bite long and of course it was a small dace. They always turn up first and can be a bit of a pain as they seem to get to the food before the roach etc. After a few more dace the bites dried up. I have found this to be normal on the Feeder and I just feed another ball and come in on the short line. 

I have also found it normal when I come in on the short line I get better quality fish early and it was the same today. First put in I had a nice 5oz roach which was extremely rough and ready to spawn.

Quite a few more roach graced the net and I just fished the line out before re-feeding and going out long again.

The long line gave me a few fish but not as prolific as when I came in short however it did come good from around 11:30. This was when the skimmers showed up (my first ones of the year on the Feeder). I absolutely love catching skimmers on light gear, the roach also came on the feed long.

Due to posting the Feeder Canal experiences on FaceBook and this Blog there has been a lot on interest on this venue and I we get visitors come down and have a look at what we are doing.

I had a few today .... A couple of drivers from Manor Scrap asking a load of questions about the methods I use, Lewis Walker a fellow angler who fishes Commercials a lot and an old P O Colleague Dave Poole who took me fishing back in the late 70's when I didn't have a car.

All in all I have had a brilliant day, loads of quality roach and skimmers for about 25lb.

No fishing this weekend or next week due to other commitments but I'll be back soon after that.

Tuesday 5th April - Bristol Feeder Canal Head to Head with Leigh Wakefield Round 2

 We met on Feeder Rd again just before 07:00 and parked quite close to the ramp down to the Canal near Manor Scrap. A short walk up the road and we were at the Cafe for a good breakfast (it used to be Kelly's Cafe).

Although it is necessary to get up very early in order to park it does turn out to be a very sociable day out with no rushing. We do spend time talking to a lot of passers by. Some of them are also anglers and they do follow our outings when I post them on FaceBook, we are getting regular spectators now.

It doesn't take long to set up as the rigs we use from the week before generally only need a change of hook length.

When we finally got down on the Canal it was pretty calm, just a very light wind so out came my two 1 gram rigs, one to fish at 13 and the other at 7 metres.

I thought I had some dead reds in the freezer but didn't so only caster, pinkie, red maggot and a few worms. Instead of Sensas Black Lake and Gros Gardons Noire I used some Black Magic instead.

After mixing up and plumbing I put in 2 big balls on each line and took a walk down to Leigh who had already started fishing, it was bang on 09:00.

As I was talking to Leigh a guy came along the pavement above ....Tony Humphries who we have both know for years from our Bristol PO Angling Club days, Tony still fishes and does come to Ireland with a few of us each year. He had seen our posts and this blog and came down for a look himself, he may even fish with us next week.

After 5 minutes or so I walked back to my peg and Tony came down level with the Canal. 

First put in across I had a dace followed by a roach, Tony couldn't believe it. The line quickly died for some reason so I re-fed and came in on the 7 metre one. Another roach which was quite rough so they are getting ready to spawn.

I honestly thought I was going to have a good day on the roach but alas no. All I could catch was very small and I mean small dace. Looking down toward Leigh he was also struggling.

But .... you have to keep plugging away on the Feeder Canal and put in regular balls of feed.

The wind picked up and it became impossible to present long so was left fishing the short line most of the day. Lots of bites but hard to hit. Most of the time the float would sail away and the tip of the maggot or pinkie was just nipped.

One of our regulars .... Dave .... came down and stood behind Leigh, not long after he had a skimmer. This happened last week as well. At this point I knew Leigh would go into the lead.

Leigh was persevering holding the pole right across and snared a few decent roach late to increase his lead.

It was going to be a low weight affair today but Leigh took top honours with a level 8lbs to my 4lbs.

So it's 1 - 1 now !

Fishing an Open on the Glossy this Sunday then one day next week it's Head to Head Round 3.

Wednesday 30th March - Head to head Bristol Feeder Canal

 Last year myself and team mate Leigh Wakefield had a number of head to heads on the Bristol Feeder Canal. Leigh won the series quite convincingly. We both had some great nets of dace, roach, skimmers and bream. The posts attracted a lot of interest and a lot more anglers gave the Feeder Canal a go.

I had sneaky look a couple of weeks ago and managed a few roach but mainly small dace.

Leigh and I agreed to meet up today for the first head to head, Leigh had not been fishing for a few months and it this was confirmed when he opened his bait boxes. The contents from his last outing where still in the bait boxes and resembled badly gone off porridge! He still had 3 month old casters in a vacuum sealed bag and to be fair they looked ok. I gave him some maggots and pinkie.

We met at 07:00 on Feeder Rd and headed into Kelly's Cafe for a cooked breakfast. £5 for a full breakfast and a coffee or tea was great value. After a good meal and a catch up we headed to the Canal and we were set up ready to go by 09:00.

I went on my usual spot in front of Manor Scrap and Leigh went down 35 metres or so toward Avon St Bridge, he done well there last Spring catching plenty of skimmers.

I had my new Sensas Nanoflex 3900 seat box out for the first time so would it bring me some luck?

My ground bait mix was basically the same as a couple of weeks ago with the exception of team. Just the Sensas black lake and gros gardons noire. Its a nice stiff mix and smells great. If the canal is towing hard I recommend a bit of leam as well or sived mole hill soil in order to get the ground bait down to the bottom quickly in an average depth of around 6 to 7 feet.

The canal looked spot on today with a tinge of colour and there was a light wind, a few fish (dace were topping) .

I set up 2 x 1 gram rigs both with 20 hooks to 0.09 fluro, elastics were no.3 and no. 4.

13 metres takes you to just off the far shelf and 7 metres is down the track were it is slightly deeper.

I usually let the rigs run through very slowly at 13 metres and hold back harder down the track.

One ball went in on each line to start with laced with dead reds and caster plus a few live pinkies.

Starting off long I soon had a run of very small dace and after 20 minutes the size was not getting any bigger so re-fed and came in on the 7 metre line. A sail away bite almost immediately and and I though it was a skimmer but no .... a 4 oz perch, but at least something bigger than the dace. Staying on this line I did pick up better dace but they backed off pretty quick so re-fed and back out long.

More small dace, nothing unusual about this as the Feeder can take a while to respond, so its just a case of plugging away and keep feeding.

I couldn't see Leigh catching much and after 2 hours knew I was ahead but went down for a nose anyway.

Leigh said he bumped what he thought was a bream / skimmer but in general he wasn't seeing much action.

We do get a few regulars come down to watch us as well as locals. Some of the local's are real characters if you know what I mean !

One of our fans (lol), Dave does quite a bit of fishing on the canal was the first to arrive and we passed the time of day away for 30 minutes before he went down to Leigh. Not long after I could hear them shout up and I saw Leigh playing a good fish, a big skimmer around 2lbs. Bugger I thought ... but it was still only 11:30.

On my long line I had some better dace and a few small roach but it was hard work.

The 7 metre line came on all of a sudden and I had some proper stamp roach, great weight builders but you had to rest the line every 15 minutes and re-fed.

About 12:30 I had two big roach in consecutive put in's, one went over a pound and the other about 10oz.

I knew these fish put me back in front as Leigh was catching that much after his skimmer.

The last hour was very slow but when we packed up at 15:00 I knew I had double figures.

I weighed in Leigh first and he had 7lb 8oz

My net went 13lb 4oz.

So Round 1 to me. The nest head to head is Tuesday 5th April on the same venue. 

This Sunday 3rd April I am on the Gloucester Canal fishing the Canal Championships so a good draw is necessary.

Bristol Feeder Canal, 1st session Sunday 20th March 2022

 Summary......

My earliest visit to the Bristol Feeder Canal and didn’t really know what to expect. 

As I drove into Bristol at 0800 I could see the tide was in so a good chance it would run off early in the session. Fished approximately 0915 to 1515. Wind was a pain and the flow was all over the place due to lock gates opening and closing. 

I fished 2 x 1 gram rigs, one at 13 meters and one at 7. Both had 20 hooks.

I fed small balls of Sensas Black Lake, Gros Gardons Noire and a little Leam laced with dead reds and pinkie fishing red maggot on the hook. The bait was over 2 weeks old but looked ok.

I had my first bite within 10 minutes and then started catch very small dace just off the bottom. When the flow picked up I put another 4 inches on the depth and to be honest could have done with a 2 to 2.5 grammer float at times in order to hold back harder.

I was surprised when I had a dumpy roach at 7 metres.

Managed quite a few small dace some stamp roach and a couple of perch for around 6lbs. 

Nice to see a few roach showing early and it can only get better.

The mid week session will begin week commencing 28th March and with the temperatures on the up the skimmers will move in.

Easter Sunday 4th April - Bristol Feeder Canal

 I was up on the Gloucester Canal last Wednesday with team mate Leigh Wakefield and was also joined by Dan and Toby. We all fished Castle Down and just took Feeder Rods. Toby had the best catch with 3 bream and a tench, I had 2 bream, Dan had a bream and a big rudd and Leigh had 1 bream.

Leigh and I are having a bit of a competition each outing so after he done me the previous Sunday on the Feeder Canal it was 1 - 1.

Back to today and I had arranged to meet team mate Andy Thomas on the Feeder Canal as he had never fished it before.

I was up early and it was -1 degrees at 06:45, the windscreen needed to be scraped.

My robins were also up early and as I opened the garage one flew past me and landed on my boot socks waiting for his breakfast, they are definitely getting braver.

can you spot the robin?

Robins fed I headed into Bristol, as I got to the Redcliffe area the temperature was 2 degrees.

As I parked up on Feeder Rd. Leigh turned up which was a surprise, he said he might be down later in the morning but managed to sort out a few things giving him an opportunity to come early. Andy also arrived about the same time so it was 3 Team Nomads in a row down by Manor Scrap.

The sun was up and the sky was clear but the canal had a bit of colour in it.

My rigs were all ready with hook lengths on them so didn't take long to set up. 1 x 1 gram to a drennan 20 to 0.09 and 1 x 1.5 gram to a tubertini red 20 to 0.09.

My ground bait mix today was 50/50 Sensas Noire and Gros Gardons with a little fine mole hill soil. Two lines as usual 13 metres and 9 metres. Started off with one ball on each line to feel my way into the session. 

It was a bit slow but I could see Leigh swinging in a small fish. 15 minutes or so in I had my first bite, a big bullhead, not a good sign. More bullheads followed which was concerning. I walked up to Leigh who told me he had bumped a roach first put in and was also catching bullheads plus small dace, hmmm. Andy was still settling in setting up as I advised.

Going into the second hour I started to get some dace so a little better. I was cupping in ground bait laced with dead red and dead pinkie. The canal tow was all over the place and running hard at times due to a number of boats around. The boats don't affect the fishing but the tow does.

A few roach showed in short spells and went as quick as they turned up.

Leigh came down and said he was struggling, he had also bumped what he thought was a bream.

I was building up a nice weight but it wasn't fast and furious. Andy came down for a walk and said he was getting some nice net roach using caster on the hook and a mix of frenzied hemp and canal black.

In the last 30 minutes the roach came back and I also had a small skimmer and a half tidy hybrid.

We called it a day at 14:30.

No scales were used but I estimated Andy had 12lb fish of quality roach, I had a mixed bag weighing around 9lb and Leigh had about 3lbs.

Nice bag for Andy

2nd place for me today but its now 2 - 1 to me in Ivan v Leigh

Leigh's bag

Still a nice day out in good company and it was good to meet a couple of Ivans Angle followers who passed by and well as old pal Les Williams aka Chub Head.

It's going to be a cold one this coming week but probably end up on the Glossy on Wednesday.

 

Wednesday 22nd May - 5th Session Bristol Feeder Canal

We had a squad meeting on the Tuesday evening and Mike asked me if I was going on the Feeder Canal the following day. I replied ''I think so''. I had sort of planned to go but the weather didn't look that great. Mike said he would go, so I said yes. I think it was the draw of the quality breakfast in Kelly's Cafe rather than the fishing to be honest.

We met at 06:30 down by Manor Scrap on Feeder Rd. After Mike parked up he asked if Geoff from Gloucester was already fishing. I said wouldn't think so as he has a painting job on. Turns out there was an angler already on the bank fishing where Geoff normally sets up.

We walked down and sure enough an angler was already there minus his landing net, keep net and a few other bits and pieces. Understandable really as he had travelled up from Castle Carey and arrived on the Canal at 05:30 so must have left home at 04:30 !
I hear you say why?....... Well, get this he had read my Blog and decided the Feeder Canal was worth a go. Didn't get his name but he had already lost a bream and had a skimmer.

Mike and I wandered on down the Canal and went up the steps to the road were we could smell the breakfast cooking in Kelly's.
We were in there at 06:45 and tucking into a feast by 07:00.

On the bank again and fishing by 08:20. Mike went up toward Clarks Wood and I set up by Manor Scrap.
Usual set up and lines as well as ground bait.

I had a fairly quick response and soon had a few roach which were nice and clean. Dace also followed but then for some reason the Daddy Ruffe moved in and I couldn't catch anything but them. I came off bottom and things did improve a little. It took regular top ups on both lines and loose feeding caster seemed to draw fish in.

I ended up with a real mixed bag, roach, ruffe, big gudgeon, perch, dace, hybrids and a skimmer. I lost a big bream half way across and bumped another so there were a few about still but I think most have returned to the docks after spawning.

Mike had a mixed bag as well but no bream.

Back up on the Gloucester Canal this Sunday for the Angling Trust Canal Pairs Qualifier with Team Mate Chris Hook. We won it last year and came 5th in the final up in Stafford so fingers crossed this weekend.

Wednesday 22nd May - 4th visit to the Bristol Feeder Canal

Team mate Leigh Wakefield asked me last week if I was fishing the Feeder the following week as he had the week off work. I said yes, Wednesday again. He knows the score with getting there early to park up so it would be an early start for him as he lives just outside Chippenham.

When I arrived about 06:15 Geoff Mortimer was also there parked up and waiting for me. I told Geoff last week that I would be fishing. Time went on a bit and it wasn't until 06:50 that Leigh turned up. Basically he couldn't turn off the Bath Rd. were he thought he could and ended up going around the long way. Anyway he managed to park up immediately behind me.

Off to Kellys Cafe next for breakfast and despite me warning Leigh about the size of the monster breakfast he ordered it ..... and he finished it the same time as mine which was half the size, but he was impressed.

As we unloaded our vehicles down by Manor Scrap a couple of guys in high viz vests were on the canal bank and next thing we know they had a boat. Turns out they were going to carry out a survey on the foundations of one of the buildings that borders the canal on the far bank. We decided to go upstream out of their way. Leigh settled in just about Clarks Wood Yard and had a few bushes across. I went 2 pegs up with Brandon Tool Hire behind me and also had a bit of greenery, Geoff went a couple of pegs up again just below the Footbridge.

The Canal was a very dirty colour with a fair bit of debris floating around. The tow towards the city was fairly strong.

I set up a 1 gram and a 1.5 gram rig, both would do the bottom of the far shelf and the track. 20 hook on the 1 gram and a 18 on the 1.5. It was about a foot shallower up this end compared to were I normally fish but still a decent depth.

Usual ground bait mix, black lake and pastoncino with a little leam this time along with the usual particles.

It did take a while to get a bite, Leigh was having little or no indications either but I did see Geoff net a few fish early.
After 30 minutes or so I did start to get a few bites across but they were only small dace and the odd small perch.
I fed across fairly regularly with small balls of ground bait and this gave me a positive response and a run of dace followed but it was by no means manic.

Geoff came down for a walk and said he had been getting mainly dace down the track loose feeding hemp with maggot on the hook.  I had been topping up my track line but started to fire a few casters and a bit of hemp in as well.

The flow started to back up which suggested there was a tide this morning, I didn't check but that's what it looked like. Tourist barges started to come up and down as well so the locks were opening and shutting at the river end.

I managed a skimmer followed by a decent roach across between a couple of boats going past but after that my far line went dead.
look down the track suggested there was some fish around. Geoff came back down and said he bumped a bream as had Leigh, so they were about.

I saw Leigh shipping his pole back very carefully and knew he had a bream on, it took ages for hime to get it in on the light elastic but patience paid off and luckily no boats came past at the same time.

Nice fish touching 4lbs

The latter half of the session I spent more time down the track and had a good run of roach but felt I hadn't got the feeding right. I did miss a lot of snatching bites but those were small dace.

Geoff and I packed up at 15:00, Leigh was going to fish on until after the rush hour and then go and see his mum but he weighed in along with us.

Geoff had 9lb 8oz (and was also asked to be a witness to a car crash behind him lol)

I had a level 7lb

Leigh had just over 8lbs, he had a big skimmer to go with his bream about 20 minutes to go.

The Bristol Feeder Canal is an interesting venue at this time of year. I have a match on the Glossy on Sunday and may well visit the Feeder again next week.

Wednesday 15th May - 3rd visit to the Bristol Feeder Canal

Came back on Sunday after 10 days away cruising from Montreal Canada to Boston USA. The flight back was only 6:30 but it has been hard to get back into a proper sleeping pattern.

I text Geoff Mortimer from Gloucester to let him know Mike Martin and I would be fishing the Feeder today and he said he would be down. This would also be Mike's first visit to the venue. As usual it would have to be an early start in order to get a parking space so I suggested to Mike that we meet up at 06:45 at the latest and then go down and sample the delights of Kelly's Cafe, this seemed to make the early start more attractive to him.

I woke up wide awake at 04:00 and cat napped until 05:30, I was on the road by 06:00 and arrived on Feeder Rd by 06:30. Geoff was already parked up eating his cereal but when informed we were going for breakie he said he would come along for a cuppa. Mike soon arrived and parked in Short Rd just around the corner from us.

As the Cafe didn't open until 07:00 we took a walk along the bank. As Geoff and I were updating Mike on the venue I noticed a big swirl under a tree upstream of us. Geoff said it was probably a rat but there was another swirl. On close inspection bream could be see among the roots of a tree which had some weed on them. To say there was quite a few was an understatement, some proper slabs were rubbing themselves up against the vegetation and they were obviously spawning.

We left for the Cafe with a degree of excitement.

Even more excitement followed when we saw the prices and choice in the Cafe. I went for the large breakfast and Mike went for the Monster aka food shop for a family of 4 for a week.
Our order was quickly served and very good it was too. Mike definitely was hungry as he finished his the same time as I did mine.

We were on the bank by 07:45 . Geoff went in on the same spot as the other week as did I. Mike went in just past the access slipway so peg nearest the spawning bream but still about 50 yards from them.

Usual set up for me as well as the ground bait mix. It took 30 minutes or more to get my first bite which surprised me and that was a small dace. Mike however got a decent slab halfway across and added another 2 in the first hour or so. I think he lost one as well.

I eventually started to put a few fish in the net but was getting plagued by tiny dace just snatching at the maggot or pinkie. I suppose I was hitting 1 bite in 10, very frustrating.
2 hours in I had net skimmer and a couple of chunky roach holding back hard.

Looking down I could see Geoff adding quite a few fish including the odd netter. Mike's line had slowed.

The flow was changeable during the day and you had tp keep altering the depth and shot to get a bite.

We called it a day at 15:00.

Mike had top weight, 14lb plus.

Geoff had a nice bag which weighed 11lb

I was 2nd runner up with 7lb 6oz

No match this weekend but Mike and I are going bream slaying on the Glossy, then I am back on the Feeder Canal next Wednesday.

Wednesday 1st May - 2nd Visit to the Bristol Feeder Canal 2019

Warning before you read on this post comes with a warning..... there is a photo of me with fish, hard to believe I know but it had to happen sooner or later.

The alarm went off at 05:45 in order for me to set off from home by 06:20 at the latest to park up where I wanted in Feeder Rd. A quick stop into Budgens to grab a bacon, sausage and egg muffin roll followed by a good run into Bristol arriving at Feeder Rd at 06:50. Loads of space and parked up opposite the Canal down by Manor Scrap where I wanted to fish.

I was just starting to set up and saw another angler with a trolley load of gear walking towards me. Turned out it was Geoff Mortimer from Gloucester who I have met a few times on the tow path of the Glossy and he also follows this blog. Geoff said he set off from home at 05:00 and took a breakfast in a nearby Cafe after parking up not far from me.
An exchange of tips and the approach needed Geoff headed down the towpath and started to set up about 3 pegs away from me.

I had plenty of left over bait from the weekend, caster, worm, dead reds, reds and pinkie. I also had a bit of Lake and Leam left but also mixed up a bit of Lake and Pastoncino.

I set up my 2 usual rigs, a 1 gram and a 2 gram with a 20 on the light rig and an 18 on the other.

Although I usually bait up the track and a 12 or 13 metre line I decided to just bait up the long line leaving the track negative.

The Canal looked pretty good, rain was forecast but not much and its wasn't cold either.

I fed 4 big balls at 13 metres to start off with and went over it straight away with the light rig. I was about 2'' over depth and held it back a little. On the second run through the float slide away and it was a nice skimmer. This was much different to the previous week when it took me 30 mins to get a bite.

I soon had another decent skimmer which indicated a good day was to be had. Just before 09:00 the traffic on Feeder Rd was backing up a bit towards the city centre, I hooked into a bigger skimmer and the No.4 elastic was well stretched. As I played it someone in a car behind me shouted out ''go on Ivan, better than the Gloucester Canal''. I have no idea who it was lol.

Geoff took a walk up to see how I was getting on and I landed another good skimmer while he was there. At this point he had roach and dace, no skimmers.

The first half of the morning up to about 11:00 was brilliant and then it slowed a bit but there was fish still in the swim.

I played around a bit with the depth and added good roach and dace. Just before 12:00 I hit a really good fish which must have been a bream. The elastic bottomed out and then the hook came away.

Geoff started to get a few skimmers and had a decent bream around 13:00.

I packed up just after 14:00 but Geoff carried on for a bit longer.

Geoff had the best fish of the day and text me to say his total catch weighed 26lb odd

I can't complain about my day, absolutely love it and Geoff was good company.

My catch, what's not to like

Thats it from me for a couple of weeks but will be back on the bank week commencing 13th May.

Tuesday 23rd April - 1st visit to the Bristol Feeder Canal 2019

I had intended to get up and be on the banks of the Canal by 07:00 but a 6 mile waterfall walk in Wales the previous day put paid to that and I woke up around 08:00 so too late to get a parking space along Feeder Road. I decided to go in the afternoon instead hoping that a few spaces might become available due to people leaving the area after an early start.
Arriving in the area around 13:15 I found a couple of spaces, not on Feeder Rd itself but in ''Short St'' opposite the Burger Van. I was on the bank down by Manor Scrap at 13:30. There were 4 other anglers up by the popular old SWEB building but no one down my end.

The Canal had a steady flow towards Bristol Docks so set up a 1 gram rig to a 20 tied to 0.10 fluro, another rig was set up similar to above but was 2 grams as the flow can pick up from time to time. both set ups had no. 4 elastic.

Ground bait mix was Black Lake and a sprinkling of Pastincino with a bit of chopped worm, dead pinkie and a few casters. Two balls went in down the middle and two across at 12 metres, depth was the same on both lines.

Starting off on the far line with maggot things were not looking good for the first 30 minutes and then a change to pinkie go me a small dace following my a dumpy roach. A look down the middle produced nothing so re-fed a small ball. Back in the 12 metre line gave me another roach and after that the bites just kept coming. I left the middle as the far line was most productive with net roach and dace.

I kept potting in golf sized balls and around 15:30 had my first skimmer which was around a 1lb. I upped the amount of worm in the ground bait as well as a bit of addition pastincino and it must have been like ringing the dinner bell. Until I packed up at 18:00 I had a run of more skimmers, baby bream, hybrids and roach.

A great session and thanks to Phillip Yenug for taking the photo.

The Bristol Feeder Canal is open all year and is free to fish. Best time of the year is from April to June.

Sunday 13th May - ''knock up'' Bristol Feeder Canal

A couple of weeks ago I received a message from Will Gibson who has fished the Feeder Canal quite a bit over the last 2 years asking if I was going to organise another ''knock up''. Will told me the Canal had been fishing quite well with 6lb nets of dace and roach commonplace. I had a look at my diary and found that 13th May was match free so sent out a text to the usual contacts and 10 positive replies came back although later reduced to 9. So it was on.

On the Friday morning (just gone) I decided to go and have a few hours on the Canal to see if the fish were actually there and migrating up from the City Docks.
I had about 4.5 hours down near Manor Scrap and had loads of bites netting big roach, dace and skimmers. I didn't weigh them but well into double figures. Most of the fish were caught down the track on 1 gram - 2 gram floats to 18's on 0.10 fluro over a mix of Sensas Gros Gardons, Noire and leam. Hold back hard was the best approach with pinkie or maggot on the hook.

A busy few hours 2 days before the ''knock up''

I was looking forward to Sunday not just for me but for the guys who were turning up and thought 15lb - 20lb would be needed to win.

I was up early and called into McDonalds in Bedminster for a breakfast roll and coffee on the way finally arriving outside Brandon Tool Hire Feeder Rd at about 07:10, the draw was at 08:00 so I set about pegging out. No pleasure anglers in sight so all good so far as you cannot close the stretch as its free fishing.

Just as I finished pegging out mate Steve arrived as did a pleasure angler but he went in below our last peg so no worries. Steve and I started carrying our gear across the road to the Canal to save time and the others started to arrive. 

I made it £15 all in paying 1 section of 5 £25 and 1 section of 4 £25 (luck of the draw) plus 1st £45 and 2nd £40. So almost 50% chance of a pick up.

I had the last peg left in the bucket and it was peg 9, end peg in our match but with 2 anglers now immediately below me not really, but I still got ribbed about the ''end peg''.

We were scheduled to fish 09:30 - 14:30 but as everyone was read at 09:15 the ''all in'' was called. In went 4 big balls of chop, caster and dead pinkie with a sprinkling of hemp down the track at 11 metres and 2 of the same further across at 13 metres. I had 3 rigs set up today, a 1 gram, 2 gram and 2.5 gram. The latter 2 rigs had 18's to 0.12 fluro and the 1 gram rig a 20 to 0.10 fluro. The 11 and 13 metre lines were more or less the same depth so marked up with tippex as you need to keep adjusting due to the level fluctuating during the day.

Starting down the track on the 1 gram rig it took a while (15 - 20 mins) to get my first bite ( I was beginning to have my doubts) which turned out to be a 2oz roach, phew I thought as it was looking dire. Leigh next to me started on the tip across hoping for a bream as they have been caught during the past week.  I started to put a few bites together and connect with a few fish, not big but more than I could see looking up the stretch. 

Lots of rowers appeared along with a few boats so it was difficult at times to keep the rig in the water for any length of time for a while. I nicked the odd fish now and then usually after topping up with a ball of ground bait. 

It was not fast and furious by any means and after 2 hours it appeared to switch off completely. At this point Leigh above me hadn't caught on anything.

A guy came up walking the bank and told me the 4 or 5 pleasure anglers below me hadn't caught but they had quite a few bream the previous week!

Around the 3rd hour Steve came down and said he only had a small chub and that most were struggling, not having a fish.

I just kept swapping lines and rigs all day getting the odd small fish and ended up with 3lb 5oz which was good enough on the day.

cannot believe how bad it fished after Fridays good bag?

Above me did not improve either during the day, results as follows:

1st     Ivan Currie  3lb 5oz (peg 9)

2nd    Jeff Surman 1lb 13oz (peg 5)

Section 1 - 5 by default Chris Hook 1lb 3oz (peg 4)

Section 6 - 9 by default Leigh Wakefield 10oz (peg 8)

Think thats it for the Feeder Canal this year.

Next Sunday I am fishing for one of the Sensas Nomads Teams on the K & A Canal, no idea where.

Sunday 25th March - Bristol Feeder Canal ''Knock Up''

I had arranged this ''Knock Up'' a week earlier but heavy snowfall meant it had to be cancelled. It was re-scheduled for the following week and 8 confirmed they could fish. There used to be a Thursday evening series of matches on the Canal quite a few years ago but none since. It is a cracking venue which runs into the City of Bristol Docks and its proper Urban Fishing. I usually fish it during the week while the River Close Season is on and have had some cracking bags of Roach, Dace and Bream. If you search my Blog down the left hand side and click on Feeder Canal you will see the evidence.
The draw was at 08:00 on the Feeder Rd which runs alongside the Canal so the kit simply had to be taken across the road, no need for trolleys. Entry fee was £15 paying 2 Sections of £20 and 1st £45 and 2nd £35 so a 50% chance of a pick up as Sections by default. Fishing was 09:30 - 14:30.

There were a couple of pleasure anglers further down the Canal and they had only caught a couple of dace so not looking good.

The colour looked spot on but no sign of fish

There was much debate prior to the ''all in''.

At the start I fed the track and up the far shelf with a couple of balls of ground bait filled with hemp and caster plus a few dead pinkies. The flow towards the City noticeably increased and the 1 gram and 2 gram floats suddenly became the wrong choice so upgraded to a 2.5 gram. Normally you get an indication pretty quick on this venue and sometimes its a job to get through the small dace. No such problem today it soon became evident it was going to be rock hard.

It must have been 2 hours in when Team Mate Sam Johnson sounded a cheerful chuckle netting a small dace. Up until that point no one had caught. 

As time went on and it did ...there was no bites to be had and everyone but Sam was blanking. 

It almost went right to the wire before Jeff Surmon had a dace about 5 minutes from the all out.

That was it, fair play they all stuck it out.

Sams dace went 2 ozs and Jeff's went 1.5 ozs. We had to have a luck dip for Section pay out and Adrian Dennis and Leigh Wakefield were the lucky dip winners.

Sam with his winning fish worth £45

Despite the seriously poor day they were all keen to give it another go in April, I will give it a try before the next ''knock up'' though.

Not sure what I am doing over Easter if anything, there are a couple of matches on. I have been out fly fishing up Chew Valley Lake and managed 2 on a cold windy day so might go for another visit.

First 2 of the season.