Sunday 29th April Clevedon Club Match cancelled but here's a blog from last year 'coaching at Trinity Wildmarsh'

This morning I woke up around 6:45 and could hear the wind howling and the rain beating against the window. I was still in bed at 7:00 when Mrs. C says ' are you not getting up to go fishing' my reply (and she nearly fell out of the bed) 'I don't want to', she had NEVER heard me say that before. I could just see a couple of us turning up at Bullock's Farm, have a breakfast and then go home. I decided to send a text to Steve Bonwick who was down to run the match today to see if it was still on. It didn't take long for a response - match cancelled due to adverse weather, another first for as long as I can remember.

So...... here is a good news blog from last June (and I was not fishing!).

I promised to take a friends son fishing for his birthday (he wanted to give itg a go) so arranged to pick him up one Saturday morning last June in Axbridge and we would head down to the Trinity Waters complex just outside Bridgwater. I planned on setting him up on Woodlands Lake in the hope he would get some carp up in the water on the pellet waggler, I would feed for him and he would hang on, that was the plan. On arrival there was a match on Woodlands but Wildmarsh a lesser carp venue was free, all I had was pellet and corn. A quick chat with Misha at the fishery suggested bream were coming out on the pellet. Wildmarsh was busy but we fould peg 48 to be fairly attractive with plenty of room either side. George the birthday boy was quite surprised at the amount of kit I loaded him up with!

I decided to keep the set up simple, 12' medium feeder rod, 4lb line, small method feeder with wetted micro and a 6mm banded pellet to a 16 Maver MT6, the banded pellet not buried inside the micro. I clipped up for him at approx 30 meters and showed him how to cast and tighten up. George was a natural and his concentration was amazing for a young lad who was probably more familiar with playing coumputer games or just chilling out (sleeping). Although in the pic below he does look asleep.



After about 10 minutes I could see there were fish in and around the swim, the 2 oz tip went into a gentle bend I told him to lift into it, if he had of made contact the fish would have come flying out of the water like a polaris missile from a submarine. Suitable words of advise were given and he was soon back out waiting for the next bite. A short while passed, tip went around and this was the result.

George's first fish and as you can see he is clearly delighted. Due to his early success he was soon back out waiting for the next bite and didn't have to wait long, skimmer after skimmer followed and then he lost a carp. He did have a carp about an hour before we packed up, carp and skimmer catch below.

A great days fishing for a 'first timer' Wildmarsh although a commercial fishery is a more natural lake, will definetly spend some time there this year, roll on the summer or did we have it a few weeks ago?

It's now 12:30 and still persisiting down, I might take a walk over to Acorn and Plantation to see how the anglers are doing in the Kev Perry Series about 2:30 also need t plan my next outing, maybe todays match will be rescheduled for next week. To all you hardy souls that fished today, well done and hope you dry out before next week, tight lines.



Sunday 22nd April Summerhayes open

This was my second visit to Summerhayes, the draw was 10:00 fishing 11- 5. Personally I much prefer an earlier start as I wake up about 0630 so I found myself taking the dog for a walk and then cooked a breakfast before heading down the M5 at about 0830. On arrival at the fishery a mug of tea was thrustin my hand and had a bit of banter with the locals before the draw. Longs Lake was pretty calm and there were a few fish showing, into the draw box and out comes ping pong ball 35 which is a reasonable draw but with 28 fishing today it was going to be tight. On peg 34 I had venue expert Bruce Hunt who I remember from my days on the Grand Western Canal at Tiverton, I think they had 0500 draws then and fished 7 - 12 to avoid the horsedrawn barge. Peg 36 was also occupied with a local angler called Jim I think. I set up a banded pellet shallow for 14 meters across, banded pellet for the bottom of the far shelf, a rig for fishing in the deep water 11 meters straight in front with soft pellet or worm and a paste rig for the inside (very limited margins).
On the whistle I fired over about 12 fishmeal 4mm pellets and went straight over on the shallow rig with banded 6 mm, second lift and drop I had a pasty carp about 2lb, the reeds were twitching all the time. Soon I had another but hooked in the tail then lost 3 on the trot so I left it for a while. Out on the 11 meter rig with soft pellet and kindercupped in some mirco's, 2 skimmers about 1lb and 2lb came within 10 mins of each other. The wind got up, the rain came and I was unable to fish the far bank all day, nothing in the margins on paste or worm then I had a small tench towards the end. All in all a nightmare day, peg 36 weighed in approx 23lb on paste mainly down the edge, pegs 38 and 39 blanked, Bruce to my right had 6 carp all on paste, quite a few others DNW. Bruce actually packed up 20 mins before the end. Not sure what the winning weight was as I left for home once I had packed up. I did speak to John Dursley at then end who I hadn't seen for years, he now owns and runs Enterprize Angling in Taunton, John was admitting to 10lb of silvers. The far end of the lake towards the motorway apparently had fished better which was also out of the wind.
Not the day I had hoped for but I will be back.
http://www.summerhayesfisheries.com/
Next week we have a Clevedon Club Match on Rushcombe Lake 'Bullocks Farm' (lets hope it's not), I really need a few fish and a bit of luck.

Sunday 15th April Windmill Fishery north Bristol

There was no club match on this weekend and as usual I tormented myself during the week regarding what to do. We had friends around Saturday night so there was sure to be drinking involved plus my daughter and her partner were coming around for Sunday Lunch at about 5.30. I finally rang Pete at Summerhayes to see if there were any spaces for his Sunday open but as he was holding the match on 'sellicks' he had to cap the anglers to 18 and yes you guessed it there were no spaces, serves me right for not booking in earlier. I had seen a few reports in Roy Garlands match press http://www.toppeg.co.uk/id12.html concerning a new fishery not far off the M32 towards Pucklechurch in north Bristol which is only about 30 mins up the M5 for me. They have a website http://www.windmillfishery.co.uk/ and according to the info hold Wednesday and Sunday opens. A quick look at the website and past fishing reports lead me to phone Terry the fishery manager  for a bit of info and within a few minutes I was booked in.The match lake is 32 pegs with plenty of room I was told and depths ranging from 5' to 11' so that was it sorted.

 I went to bed about 01.15 on Sunday morning and the alarm woke me up at 07.00 to be honest my head was not that great and I felt knackered, the spicy mexican dish that Mrs. Currie made and went down so well was also causing me a few probs but I'll spare you the detail. So after a piece of toast cup of coffee and some asprin I was loaded up and heading up the road at 7.45 for a 9.00 draw. I got there about 8.20 and met Terry the fishery manager, there were no other anglers around except for someone on the carp lake. I asked Terry were everyone was 'they'll be here soon, it's early yet go have look round'. The venue still looks a bit young but the design is great and there is plenty of room. To cut a long story short only 2 other anglers turned up Bill Ferris who I have heard of before and seen that he has done well on other venues, he is also a local, retired and spends quite a bit of time on this fishery. I think he won a club match on it the day before as well. The other guy was also retired and local. Anyway it was a day out and a bit of a knock up. We elected to fish in the more sheltered part of the lake as there was a bitter cold north wind and we spaced out 4 pegs apart, I was on peg 12 looking down the lake.

There was plent of water to go at. The locals told me to set up a straight lead to fish on the far shelf which was about 25 meters away which I did along with a banded pellet rig and a rig for fishing maggot at depth which was about 6' 13 meters out on a gravel bar 'simples'. On the whistle I went straight out like the other two on the lead with hair rigged lunchen meat and fire over a few 8mm fishmeal pellets. Within 10 mins the tip went around and a 3lb mirror was in the net, that was to be it for the remaining 51/2 hours although I did have a couple of skimmers about 10oz on the pole. Bill 'the mugger' Ferris caught his first carp after 2 hours and then had another 7 on worm (they didn't tell me that bit), he also had a 4 skimmers for 8lb again on the worm, the other local did not catch at all. Like I said it's a bit new but is owned by the Windmill Leisure Group who also are developing a Golf Materclass Course just down the road from the fishery. The fishery itself is being developed all the time with a tackle shop, cafe and toliets also planned. This will a very popular place very soon (bring some worm though lol). No club match next week either so will be booking into Summerhayes tomorrow,

Sunday 8th April Clevedon Club Match Woodlands Lake Chiltern Trinity

Today kicked of the Clevedon Club new events calander. The first match was on Woodlands Lake which is part of the Trinity Waters complex near Bridgwater. I have probably only fished the lake about 8 times over the past 3 years and have had mixed success, the most I ever weighed here was 58lb of carp up in the water for 2nd, I had a 1st back in February when it was freezing with 9lb and I have won the silver pool before with just over 22lb of skimmers. 19 Anglers today which was good given it was Easter Sunday and we had 4 new peple turn up as well. We were greated by the lovely Misha and her dad John with free tea and coffee just before the draw, they really make you feel welcome here and they put in an awful lot of effort and continue to develop the fishery.
08:30 draw and I pull out Peg 3, crap and not known for its bagging potential. A match was held on Good Friday and the top weights we were told came from the other end of the lake, great. To be honest my head was down and as Aidie Baker walked past me he made the comment ' you can't draw well on here can you Ivan' stating the obvious I know and was of little comfort. Anyway lets get on with it and keep it simple. 2 rigs straight in front at 14m, one with a banded maver16mt6 and one with a straight maver mt5, depth was about 10'. Margin rig for both left and right maver 14 mt5 for fishing the meat or paste and about 3' deep.
I was almost set up and Paul Faires came around for a walk, stopped by me and said this is not normally very good Ivan, or words to that affect, I was just getting over my mild depression as well! Must have been a tactic!!!!!
All in and I went straight out after baiting up all lines with mirco and 4mm, I had on of tescos finest prawns on the hook, after 10 mins the float dips and the 12 elastic leaves the pole slightly, an near 1lb roach comes to the top? After a while same again (on the prawn) but this time a 10oz skimmer! I had one foul hooked carp after and that was it for the 14 meter line. Kev Perry on peg 5 had a couple up in the water so I set up a shallow wag but after 30 mins an half a pint of 6mm and with nothing to show back up the bank it went. Paul Faires on 29 was having a field day catching carp up in the water on meat.
There was now just over 2 hours left and I started to see some bubbles in the left hand margin. First put in on meat I had a carp about 4lb, I stuck with it and had a few more including a zoo creature of about 8lb. I ended up assisting with the scales and there was only one set, it took ages. Anway Paul Faires won it, pic below with his catch and the press report is copied below. I ended up with just under 31lb, all in the last 2 hours or so, I finished in the top 10.

Clevedon Fresh Water Angling Club began a new series of events by holding a competition on Woodlands Lake which is part of the Trinity Waters complex at Chiltern Trinity near Bridgwater. Despite the Easter holidays 19 anglers competed in the variable weather conditions. The top half of the lake was bathed in sunshine and a light breeze while the anglers in the bottom half faced a head on chilly wind. On peg 29 was Nailsea Postman Paul Faires who had a red letter day and weighed in a magnificent 83lb 6oz, a first class performance. Paul pole fished luncheon meat up in the water at 13 meters straight in front feeding 4mm carp pellets for the majority o his catch although towards the end of the match he took a few fish from the lake margins.

Second on the day and from the opposite side of the lake was venue expert Andy Hembrow who caught on various methods and weighed in 54lb 8oz. Third and not far behind was Clevedon Match Secretary Barry Fowler who pole fished 13 meters out in front using maggot, worm and pellet on the deck for 53lb 11oz of which 21lb was made up of quality skimmer bream.

The next match is in 2 weeks time at Bullock Farm Kingston Seymour. Full details of Clevedon Freshwater Angling Club can be found at http://clevedon-fwac.webs.com/

1^st Paul Faires 83lb 6oz

2^nd Andy Hembrow 54lb 8oz

3^rd Barry Fowler 53lb 11oz

4^th Tim Lewis 53lb 9oz

2 weeks time we are on Ruscombe Lake at Bullocks Farm, not sure about next week yet.

Sunday 1st April 'a bit of fluff chucking'

Clevedon had no match on this weekend and as usual during the week I was pondering what to do. I thought I had convinced myself to return to Summerhayes Fishery again and fish the Sunday open as I was not that far away from the money last week and it had been my first visit. I had a really crap week at work and ended up playing catch up at home most of Saturday afternoon and to be honest couldn't be bothered to sort the gear out. Another factor was I only had just over a quarter of a tank of fuel due to the  madness during the week resulting in all my local Fuel Stations sold out!
I needed to get out by the water though so late on Saturday I decided a few hours fly fishing on Bristol Waters Barrow Tanks would be a change, its only 15 mins from home and did not need any bait either, the last time I fly fished was last September.
I got up at about 7 am on Sunday and was surprised to see a light frost, the skies were also clear so not great conditions. Barrow consists of 3 bowl type reservoirs, No.3 is off limit all year as thet are doing some maintenance but 1 at 30 acres and 3 at about 40 acres there is always plenty of room, full day is £14.50 with an 8 fish limit. I got there just after 8 am and paid the money at the self service ticket booth and headed for No.2, shoulder bag, net and rod n reel that was it (you keep thinking you have forgotten something).
Only 4 other anglers present all in a line so I guessed this would be the best area to pitch up as well, after talking to them, black buzzers, pheasant tails or small nymphs fished on an 18 to 20' leader was the best approach,only one of them had caught (a rainbow of about 4 - 5 lb but this would have been an older fish and not stocked this year).

Pictures below are looking to my left and straight across, what a match water this would make and I think Bristol Water would make more money as well!

I set up as advise with a floating line, 20' leader with a gold head on the point and a black buzzer ad a dropper, I only get in a mess if I attach any more droppers, you wouldn't want to get close to me either, an ear could quite easy be taken off.
After a while it was clear and due to the slow retrieve required the gold head on the point was too heavy as I was catching bottom so a change to a lighter fly a red buzzer done the trick. I kept looking around and nothing was being caught, at about 10 o'clock the guy to my left caught quite close in and just as he was about to re-cast, another angler also had one just after. I still hadn't had a pull at 10:30. A change to a green buzzer on the point and after quite a good cast saw me get a quick pull at distance but no take. Just after 11 am that was out right with a positive pull a strike and a rainbow was on jumping out of the water at the same time (a bream at summerhayes done this as well last week). After a short but satisfying fight and lots of 'please don't come off' he was mine, pic below. Not the biggest fish but satisfying never the less, at home it weighed 1lb 12oz before being cleaned and put in the freezer.

I had to leave at 12 noon as I promised my daughter a lift into Bristol but as I was not used to fly fishing my arm had had enough anyway.
Easter Sunday the Clevedon Club has a match on Woodlands Lake Trinity Waters, really looking forward to that and of course the Easter Weekend.