Press report - Clevedon Freshwater AC Match 24th Nov Apex Lake

I did not fish this match due to the Commercial House League - here is the press report for local papers

2 wins on the trot for Mark

Mark Bromsgrove won his second match in successive weeks when Clevedon Freshwater Angling Club visited Apex Lake in Highbridge for their latest competition. A hard overnight frost affected the fishes willingness to feed on this shallow lake and the luck of the draw was important as fish shoaled up in certain areas. On form angler Mark Bromsgrove who won the previous match at Plantation Lakes used a variety of hook baits and light feeding to attract a match wining 28lb 8oz of skimmer bream. Second place was filled by seasoned silverfish angler Paul Faires who weighed in a similar mix of fish for 16lb 4oz. Simon Carvello returned to competitive angling after a long break to fill third place with 11lb 10oz.

Sunday 24th November - Commercial House League round 4 Bristol Avon Swineford to Jack Whites

The weekend before this match I took part in another knock up with a few of the Fry's AC guys on the Bristol Avon at Fry's, I do like this stretch as it's deep water and there is always a chance of a big bag of bream. I drew the drugs peg again lol (see the blog a few weeks ago) but all the evidence this time had been removed, harvested and perhaps smoked (Dean Harvey always seems to have a full tobacco box for his roll ups!). The water was clean but running at pace. I fished the pole again and had a few roach and dace but should have set up a running line as the fish were towards the end of the peg. My heart wasn't in it as during the session I had a phone call informing me a cousin had passed away in N.Ireland. Derek Coles won the knock up with just over 4lbs of small fish. When they demolish the old factory there will be better access to the river so hopefully it will attract a few more anglers.

The old chocolate factory before Kraft bought it and moved operations to eastern Europe.

A day trip to N. Ireland in the week for the funeral meant I was chasing my tail a bit towards the end of the week and did not prepare for this weekends match much.

A text from captain Chris Hook assured me of my place and on paper we did have a full Team, 6 anglers, the last 3 matches in this league only 5 turned up for various reasons. A new youth member by way of Lewis Walker from Bristol joined us which is good for the future although a cold day on a river with a potential long walk may not be the best way to introduce a guy who fishes Bristol Docks and Commercials more regularly, but.... you have to start somewhere. Sunday came and at the draw we had a full team but we were concerned for a bit as Paul Nichols was running a bit late (but he made it). Sam Johnston done the team draw and we had peg 8. Sections were allocated, I was on D8 up the Crane which turned out to be a relatively short walk with the boatyard opposite and the peg was very comfortable.

The river was running with a bit of pace but I did have a crease about 6 meters out and some slack towards the inside so set up the pole with a 5 gram float and found that it was about 6 foot deep. It was a bit of a bird cage so could not set up a running line with a crow quill which would have bee ideal. A maggot feeder and straight lead were also set up. The plan was hemp and caster on the inside with the odd red maggot and feed some nuggets made up of sens magic and noire.
On the whistle I could hear the angler above me balling it in but decided on a softly softly approach as there had been a hard frost. First trot down with the pole and maggot, the float buried and a small roach was swung in a few more very small ones followed but at least I had fish. After an hour I had about a pound but was enjoying it, you can't beat fishing the pole on running water. To cut a long story short I did not use the other rods as I though it best to stick with the pole, I have fished this area before and never caught any chub over by the boats and the flow was all wrong in the peg anyway. I upped the feed towards the second half of the match and fished caster which brought a few better roach and one perch.
At the all out I thought I had about 3lbs. When the scales came I looked at the weights for my division and 6lb 1oz was winning, I weighed 5lb 1oz (maybe should have upped the feed sooner but it was one of them days when if you made a mistake with the feed it could be the end of the bites for you. I remained in second place until Derek Coles weighed 7lb odd. So third in the section was OK for team points.
As I walked back to the car in the marina my team mates Sam and Baz were loading up, both had poor days, I also heard Paul and Lewis had not done that well. A phone call from Chris confirmed this but he had also finished third in the section. So for the first time we fielded a full team we blew it!
The Avon has fished very well this year and my return to the river has been rewarded with a couple of wins along with section wins I have also learned a lot fishing alongside more seasoned river anglers.
The match was won with 20lb plus of roach and 18lb odd from Tim Ford for second, see Tim's report on the match at    http://cluckerspeg.blogspot.co.uk/

Next league match is on the Kennet and Avon Canal on 5th January which I am looking forward to. In between there is a Clevedon Club match next Sunday on Woodlands which I am still thinking about or a visit to the River Kenn and a couple of Christmas Matches.

The team Maver Cadbury Angling is still being developed  http://www.cadburyangling.co.uk/ and I love being part of it.

Good news for Inniscarra - press release

Inniscarra, Co. Cork to host the World Feeder Championships 2014 November 15th, 2013 | by Nancy Hearne Jack Tisdall of the National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland NCFFI writes:

It has just been confirmed to me that, finally, the funding has been granted for the work to go ahead on access works for Inniscarra, Co. Cork in order to host the World Feeder Championships 2014. When the works are completed on this project we will see for the first time in Ireland’s history a World Championship coarse angling venue to rival the best in the World. There will be over 200 unbroken pegs which will also mean that we can bid for more World and European events into the future thus creating a venue along the lines of what Rugby and Football have with the Aviva Stadium. We would like to give our sincerest thanks to everyone who made this happen as at times there had to be much consultation and negotiation along with some interference from others outside this Federation. We would like to thank are very own Tommy Lawton and Der Casey who were invaluable in this process and never gave in. We would also like to thank the members of the local community group who supported the NCFFI every step of the way. Much thanks also goes to the local TD’s and Councillors along with the various Minsters and their departments. This event would not be possible without the support of Inland Fisheries Ireland and Cork County Council. NCFFI

If anyone reading this has ever been to Inniscarra Lake Co. Cork you will be aware of the access problems. The news release from the National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland is fantastic news, its a fab venue.

Press report - Clevedon Club Match 10th November Plantation Lake

Top marks for Bromsgrove
The latest Clevedon Freshwater Angling Club Match was held on the man lake of the Plantation complex Kingston Seymour. All available places were filled early in the week due to the popularity of the venue and the prospect of a dry day at the end of a very wet week. Anglers did have a day of bright sunshine and reasonable temperatures but the cold rain on the Saturday affected the fishes willingness to feed, it also made them shoal up in various pockets across the lake so it was a case of drawing in the right area on the day. Mark Bromsgrove does have a knack of drawing a good peg and on this occasion drew peg 7 which has produced the most fish over the last three years. Mark pole fished pellet for a match winning 78lb 4oz of carp up to 6lbs. Second on the day from peg 39 was Rod Wooton who also fished pellet down the margins for a carp net of 61lb 4oz. Some way behind the top two was Lance Tucker who put together a mixed net for 36lb 8oz. The best silverfish net went to Paul Faires with 15lb 8oz.

Mark Bromsgrove

Sunday 10th November - Poppy Match Bristol Avon, Newbridge and Crane

A busy Saturday and not getting to bed until 1a.m. was not the best way to prepare for this match, luckily I did prepare my gear Friday night as the wife was working until 10 p.m. The draw was at 8 o'clock so getting there by 7:30 was a must in order to park, register, sort out pools and have a breakie. I arrived in good time and met up with Steve Vernon who I go to Ireland with, hardened river anglers gradually drifted in and the rugby club was soon full. Ray Blazely was the main organiser (he has the right voice for a match like this and... people respond which is what you need). I also shook hands with Tim Ford, fellow blogger and 5 times winner of this match which is one of the biggest in the SW. Anglers across the West Country and South Wales support this very worthwhile cause. So after buying £5 worth of raffle tickets and paying £5 for the ticket that was my contribution, £10 in all to the charity. £15 in pools were also duly paid. The line up for the draw was on time but before it took place Bill Knight of the Kingswood and Hanham Royal British Legion read out the citation and we had 2 mins silence. I believe all 120 tickets were sold but not everyone turned up due to the rain we had towards the end of the week and all day Saturday.
At the draw I pulled out Peg 21 at Newbridge, also copped for the scales. Wasn't sure where this would be as the pegging was different to the permanent pegs. Access was good as you can drive down to the river and park up, its a flat walk then. I arrived at my peg by 8:40 so plenty of time to set up for a 10:15 start. I was on Newbridge straight and permanet peg 38, not great even when the river is spot on. The river wasn't up that high but very pacey and there was little or not slack in my peg.
The next peg down was extremly close, I hardly ever moan about pegging and to be honest it would not have made any difference on the day but give the amount of river we had there was not need to peg that close.

My peg up on the bank, next anglers gear can be seen the other side of the bush, the following pic shows it better, I could see his pole tip through the bush to the left.

The peg was up on the bank about 5 feet but I did manage to stand on a piece of bank sticking out lower down after breaking up some dead nettle stalks to stand on and prevent me from slipping in!

Two feeder rods were set up, 35g open ender and a straight lead, I also set up a 5g pole rig to fish at 6 meters. Groundbait was 3 kilos of Sensas Magic, Noire and brown crumb with plenty of caster and hemp mixed in.

On the whistle I balled in 5 babies heads at 6 meters and a couple in mid river. First hour I spent down the middle, not a touch and plenty of leaves etc snagging on the line. I switched to the pole to have a look but to be honest it was too pacy and with such a short trot pointless so that went up the bank. Out with the striaght lead on the pole line and after an hour had a knock but missed it. Next cast same again and a 1oz roach was swung in. Nothing more so back out in the middle, still nothing. Bank walkers were saying the same thing everyone up this end was struggling with just the odd small roach. At 12:30 I decided to stick with the striaght lead down to the bush using pinkie on an 18. In the end I had 4 roach, a gudeon and a perch. My neighbour downstream had 2 x 1 oz roach. The section was won with 3lb 12oz 8 drms. As you can see from the Section results below it was hard.

The better weights as you can see came from the bottom end of the section where there were bends in the river creating some slack water.

Prior to the draw I said to Tim Ford low double figures would win it, he agreed. The match was won by seasoned river angler Jerry Pocock with 11lb odd, there were a few 9lb weights following.

See Tim Ford blog for the full results and his view of the match  http://cluckerspeg.blogspot.co.uk/

Over £1000 was raised on the day which is brilliant. Ray Blazely and Team done a great job so well done guys.

Sunday 3rd November - session on River Kenn

I was keen to get out this weekend whatever the weather as a result of 2 weeks away on holiday. There were no open river matches on (although I have been looking at options on the upper Thames for the future) so a text to Dean Harvey earlier in the week in order to see if the Frys river die hards were going to have a knock up on the Bristol Avon at Fry's, a reply back from Dean on the Friday confirmed that there was to be no 'knock up', the weather forecast was not good so I expect that had something to do with it. I ordered some caster anyway from Cadbury Angling http://www.cadburyangling.co.uk/ but was still unsure were to go, my thoughts were the Bristol Avon at Jack White, the River Kenn or Apex Lake at Highbrige. I didn't do any tackle prep as I am still decorating my youngest daughters bedroom. Sunday came,07:30 alarm, weather a bit blowly but more or less blue skies, the River Kenn it was to be. I stopped in Davis Lane near the motorway and climbed over a couple of stiles to look at the river, hardly any colour at all which was a bit of a surprise give the rain we had but the level had also been dropped by the EA. Wind was having a go and a cormorant gave me a fly past so decided to look down the bottom end. To cut a long story short I settled on peg 5, it was still blowly so decided just to set up a tip rod. Peg 5 is very firm and you can get down in the water without sinking into mud alough that did not stop me getting a boot full of water when setting up my box (doh), nice start. I mixed up about 2 kilo's of groundbait, a mix of Sensas Noire, Sensaa Match Blend and brown crumb. Caster and hemp to be put through the 20g feeder with 0.13 hooklength to a drennan size 18 feeder, simples. All set up with the view of swapping the hookbait between caster, worm and maggot or a combination. First cast and I joined the polish community with a 'krackoff', how did it happen? Set up again and cast two thirds over.

Set up on Peg 5 

I left it for about 2 mins, wound in an re-cast, immediate response to double maggot and a 5oz pertch was in the net, over the next hour a few more followed, the wind was making it difficult to see the bites.



View across from Peg 5

I was starting to get some wrap round bites but the maggots just came back smashed so I tighten right up after casting and started to get a few small roach which was ok but they were only about 1oz to 2 ozs. I ut in 3 big balls of groundbait down the middle at about 12:30 just in cast wind dropped and the pole could then be an option.

I kept plugging away casting across and managed a couple of nice hybrids plus odd perch on the worm. Caster on the hook was snatched on the drop and I did not have a chance of hitting the bites on the tip.

A guy came along dressed as a Ray Mears or Bear Grylls look alike with 2 black gun dogs (thanks for standing behind me on the high bank mate), I unpolitley told the dogs were to go in his company but he still stayed there. 'You catching silvers mate' yes I said (what else would I catch on the Kenn unless a 1,000 carp have been stocked). He remained for about 10 mins trying to have a conversation with me even though it was blowing a gale and I had 2 hoodies on.

At about 2 o'clock I cast the feeder down the middle where I had balled in and had another hybrid followed by some small roach, lots of bites. I can honestly say I have never had so many bites on the Kenn as I did today, had I been able to use the pole or waggler I would have bagged up. Just after 3pm I called it a day after a hail stone shower.

This was the result of my efforts, approx 5lb of bits. Not bad and a pity I could not fish the float.

Next Sunday is the Poppy Match on the Bristol Avon, got my ticket from Veals during the week and had a catch up while I was there with Jeff Reasons, 120 pegs and should be a sell out, pegging is  Newbridge and Crane section.

Really looking forward to it and perhaps need to have a lucky handshake with Tim Ford who has won it 5 times!!!