Sunday 10th June Clevedon Club Match Durleigh Res

It's been a few weeks since I have gone coarse fishing and I was really looking forward to the match on Durleigh Res which is just outside Bridgwater. It is a massive venue with good stocks of roach and bream, there are also a lot of carp into high double figures. Carp would only count as a pound in order to make the match fairer as some anglers turn up with dutch master feeder rod and reels capable of casting 100 yds which in the past has paid off. I woke up to what looked like a reasonable day and arrived 20 mins before the draw at 0830. Usually by the time I get there it is already busy with anglers unloading but as I pulled into the car park there was only 6 cars, Steve Bonwick our Chairman was organising the day and said there were only 15 fishing. Just before the draw I looked around and there were a few new faces mainly Sensas Thyers guys who were quite happy to pay the £5 club memebership fee on top of the £20 entry in order to fish the match, most of them would have been familiar with the venue and they are a very capable squad. At this point the weather was still holding up. Looking at the venue the water levels were at normal winter level, I had never seen it so high for this time of year. Into the draw box and out comes peg 13! Listening to what the venue regulars were saying it sounded a reasonable area (I only fish Durleigh about once or twice a year).
Got to my peg and it looked great but due to the water levels I had to wade out a little way to get level or just back from some margin weed, you really need chest waders here. Then the moaning started about the pegging,some anglers did not even bring waders and the suggestion was for all to move down one. I was not happy but in the end there were a few agreed swaps.
Here is the view from my peg, I was sat on the platform at one point and Glenn Calvert made the comment 'Ivan thinks he is in Ireland'

There are similarities as here is a view from my peg on Lake Garidice last Sept.

Anyway I set up 2 feeder rods, one for fishing at approx 40 yds and the other about 30 yds. A mix of Green swim stim and bream 3000  with caster mirco and chopped worm added. Hook bait was to be dead maggot, worm and caster etc with usual combinations. First cast on the long line the 3/4 oz tip went right round and a 3 oz roach was in the net, a few more casts and I added some more small roach, an hour passed and no one was catching (you could hear the various remarks to confirm this). I did add a few skimmers but they were small. An hour into the match the rain came down and did not stop for the duration of the match. The winner was Chris Parr (Sensas Thyers) followed by Mark Bromsgrove (Sensas Thyers) and then Paul Purchase (Sensas Thyers), Weights were not that great though, I didn't get a picture of the winner but here is a pic of Tony G? a decent mixed bag on the day. I think he weighed in just over 10lb.

I done rubbish and only weighed in 2lb 15oz but there were others who done worse and packed up early.

Here is the press report with the full result.

Durleigh Reservoir just outside Bridgwater was the latest venue on the Clevedon Freshwater Angling Clubs match programme. Competitors were keen to target the large bream and roach population during the 6 hour match but high water levels and persistent rain turned the fish off and the majority of anglers struggled. Chris Parr made the most of a good draw and from peg 16 used a combination of fishing the feeder at distance with chopped worm and caster then later in the match waggler rod to catch a respectable 22lb 10oz of bream and roach for first place. Second was Mark Bromsgrove who from peg 9 fished the pole at 14 meters for a mixed bag of small fish for 10lb 14oz using similar baits. Third was Paul Purchase who was not far behind with 10lb 8oz of peg 4. If you would like to know more information about the club please visit http://clevedon-fwac.webs.com/

1^st Chris Parr peg 16 22lb 10oz

2^nd Mark Bromgrove peg 9 10lb 14oz

3^rd Paul Purchase peg 4 10lb 8oz

Further to the comment Glynn made about me thinking I was back in Ireland Paul Faires said at the end of the match 'it is like Ireland with all this fXXXXXg rain lol.

My brother who was over with me last weekend sent me these pics today of his work mate and sons who bagged up on bream in N Ireland last week, now this is more like it.



Tight lines.