Evening session on Chew Thursday 24th April

The weather was looking good for an evening session on Chew Valley Lake but untl you get there and due to the huge expanse of water and the surrounding mendip hills you never know until you get there. I arrived about 5:30 pm and it was reasonably calm from the Lodge Bank but I did fancy going back to Wick Point more or less opposite the Lodge and a 10 minute drive further around the Lake. Temperature was ok ish but soon drops so the deeper water at Wick Point would be an advantage.

I had fished there a couple of weeks a go with a floatng line and a 15 foot leader without any trouble so was surprised that on the retrieve I kept dragging in weed. I did persevere but after an hour took the orange blob of the point and put on a booby with 2 black buzzers as droppers fishing 'washing line style' and up in the water.

Second cast I had a take, missed it at first but had a second take immediately afterwards which I hit resulting in a very good scrap with a nice rainbow that went 2lb 15oz. The time was now just after 7 pm. No more takes until just after 8 pm when I had a take more or less at full distance which I was not expecting. The line tightened fully and a huge fish jumped out of the water, I estimate it to be around 5lb - 6lbs. Due to the tension and not being able to slacken off it broke the leader (8lb breaking strain). It was getting dark so no time to set up again. Two other anglers beside me blanked so I must be doing something right.

Here is the fish and the return. Ready for gutting and put in the freezer.

No planned fishing this weekend due to an all day wedding on Saturday with a late night unless I get out for another evening session on Chew on Sunday. Next match for me is Avalon the following Sunday.

Sunday 20th April - Clevedon Club Match 'The Sedges Fishery' near Bridgwater

I would not normally fish over the Easter Holiday period but with the wife on lates it would be rude not to. This was the clubs first visit to the Sedges as well as a first for me. I scanned various pieces of information on the internet as well as their site http://www.thesedgesfishery.co.uk/ but it did not really tell me what I wanted to know so a picked the brains of fellow blogger and club member Lee Williams (http://woolavy.blogspot.co.uk/) prior to the match and on the day, thanks Lee. On the way down via sat nav I passed the entrance first time as its just behind a small industrial estate and the signage to me was not that obvious (or perhaps should have gone to spec savers).

On arrival I parked up and in front of me was basically two big square ponds and a canal type lake at the back of them. There was lots of activity as there was another match on and 14 visiting anglers from the midlands down on holiday who were also staying in the caravans located on site. It looks like the owners live on site as well in one of those really nice wooden lodges, I think its a Hoff type home. Overall the whole complex is very well maintained and the owners very friendly, greeted with a cuppa on arrival. 14 booked in today which is good for a BH weekend with a few faces who do turn up now and again but good to see them as everyone pays a minimum of £20 this year to join the club instead of £5 but they get to fish the rivers Kenn and Bristol Avon for that as well as organised club matches, there are a various combinations of club membership see the club website http://clevedon-fwac.webs.com/ for details.

Fishing today was 1015 - 1615, into the bucket and out comes ping pong ball No.9 which to me did not mean anything so a quick chat with Lee again who told me it had carp form but silvers as well. To honest mixing between carp and silves does my head in and just perfer to fish for one or the other, hooking a carp on very light elastic is not best use of time and bumping off silvers on heavier elastic just fustrates me. There was a fairly strong breeze on our lake (Brick, the other is called Tile so must have been an old brick works site at some time) but the top end where I was had some shelter so not as bad. Next to me on end peg 10 and a very nice margin bank was Sensas Thyers captain Lance Tucker and on peg 7 (8 was left out) was another Sensa Thyers angler Brian Slipper. Opposite me was Adie Baker on end peg 11 with a similar good margin to Lance. Their was plent of room between pegs which is another plus.

As I was setting up the other anglers were arriving to fish their pegs on Tile Lake, a chap looked over and said 'alright' in a strong Bristol accent, 'your Ivan Currie arn't you', turned out it was a blast from the very long past by way of Paul Swain who also used to fish the Bristol Post Office matches back in the day when we only fished rivers or the odd estate lake, now fishes with Carpenters Arms AC. Paul also said he follows this blog, thanks mate and was good to see you again.

Set up today was simple, straight lead with banded 8mm, nearside margin for paste, 13 meters at 2 o'clock for silvers with caster and 13 meters out in front with banded pellet at depth. On the 13 meter line I had about 8 foot, margin was around 4 foot. Silvers line and margin not fished all day. All lines baited up and began on the stright lead to start with about a third the way across, looking around most had opted for this appoach. After about 10 minutes I had a positive pull round and soon a 5lb carp was netted so nice start, I lost the next one, think it was a foul hooker but soon had another, a nice ghostie. I stayed on the lead for about 2 hours, on reflection too long and put about 30lb in the net. Lance had not far off that either and also picked up a few on the pellet waggler. As soon as I went out on the pole I started catching at regular intervals and had a great days fishing. I also picked up a flying bream about 2lb, a 3lb tench and 2 massive eels giving me a silvers net of 9lb odd.

At the all out the heavens opened and we had hail as well so no pics from the match this week including weight sheet as this turned into paper mache. The weight limit per net on this fishery is 100lbs, had I had one more fish I would have been over, will take another to the peg next time, the fishery supply all nexts including landing nets.

So my carp went 96lb plus my silvers which gave me 105lb 12oz my biggest weight for years. Lance next to me done 111lb 14oz including a siverfish in his carp net (owner not happy). Adie opposite Lance weighed 121lb 3oz but the overall top weight was Kev Perry with 130lb 3oz all on the straight lead. Only a couple of fish separated to top four anglers and look at the silver weights.

1st Kev Perry 130lb 3oz
2nd Adie Baker 121lb 3oz
3rd Lance Tucker 111lb 4oz
4th Ivan Currie 105lb 12oz

Silvers
1st Chris Parr 41lb 9oz
2nd Barry Fowler 34lb.

Thursday 10th April 1st session on Chew

I managed to get home from work a little earlier than usual so decided to go Fly Fishing for the first time this year. Barrow Tanks is just up the road from where I live (15 mins away) but can fish very hard with fish sometimes only responding during the last 30 minutes before dusk. Chew Valley Lake is only 20 minutes away and I had a lot of sucess there last year both from the boat and bank, the fish are a better size as well. So off to Chew it was and I got there just after 4 p.m. Its £16 to fish from the bank from 3 p.m. to dark and you can take 4 fish. I had intended to fish off the Lodge bank but due to the wind one of the Rangers suggested I go right around the far side on Wick Point. No idea where this was but managed to find it after a 15 min car journey stopping half way and asking for directions. When I got there the wind was up and more or less in my face and it was cold. Rangers advice was to fish a medium or sinking line with an Orange Blob and then Buzzers as droppers. One guy was leaving when I got there, he had 2 fish which were caught at 8.30 a.m. and then nothing all day...hmmmm. Another guy also turned up, he had been fishing at Blagdon Lake all day and caught 2 pike! He said he had not seen a trout caught. Ah well. After a quick chat discussing tactics he suggested I set up a flaoting line with a 15 foot leader and that way f the fish came up in the water I would just have to change the Orange Blob to a Booby. The water was quite deep close in so not much point in killing myself trying to cast out into a facing wind. I was fishing by 4.45 p.m. and had my first take just before 5, the other guy was walking the bank looking for a more sheltered spot when I hit into the fish (I think he was surprised). After a good scrape the rainbow was netted, and went 4lb 2oz on the salter spring balance, lovely and caught on the Orange Blob. I persevered in the cold wind, the other chap went home about 7 p.m. fishless, just after he went I moved down where he was (as it was deeper) and had a fish second cast, Orange Blob again and it went 3lb 4oz. By 8 p.m. I was too cold and it was getting dark so headed home. By 9.15 p.m. I had the fish cleaned and cut up into 5 portions, put in the freezer and had a shower. Chew is a great water and glad I made the effort. Here are the fish just before cleaning...

Might try and get back one evening this week, if not it's a Club Match on the Sedges Fishery Easter Sunday.

Sunday 6th April - Clevedon Club Match Woodlands Lake Trinity Waters

I was in two minds whether to fish this match and was thinking of going 'fluff chucking' on Chew as I have not been out this year yet but looking at the weather report it would not have been much fun so booked in for Woodlands. I was determined to put a decent weight together and simply focus on one or two methods instead of messing around between carp and silvers. So the plan was pellet, meat on the pole and bread for the first hour on the straight lead. On arrival it turned out only 6 were booked in, this was due to the Kev Perry Series of 6 matches starting on the Clubs Paddock Lake, I think there could be one other clash but not sure. Weather was not as bad as forecasted and in fact most of the day was ok ish. Adie put us all in a row (no spare pegs inbetween just like it used to be)on the car park bank with the wind mainly coming from behind. I drew 29, Mark 'the paste' Walsh was next to me followed by Adie, then Rich Heatley, Lee Williams and John Wolstencroft. Fishing was when we were all ready which was 09:45 until 15:30 just in case in hammered down as forecast. I had on line at 14 meters for banded 8mm pellet, a shallow rig for the nearside margins which would also act as an up in the water rig and and a heaver rig for the margins just in case a few munters moved in. I cast out the popped up bread on the all in and kept feeding the 14 meter line with 6 mm pellet with the catty (continuously) the margins had been fed with mirco and a little meat. After about 10 mins I had a liner so cast out again a bit shorter and had a pull around almost straight away, I got the fish into the margins and it snagged me so one nil to the carp. Back out again and I had another after 15 mins, netted successfully this time and 5lb to my credit. One more followed before the first hour was up. Mark next to me was fishing paste short and feeding micro, lot of fizzing in his peg (skimmers) and he caught a few early on. The weather was quite mild and there were the odd fish topping. I had been loose feeding at 14 meters for an hour by this stage so went out on the shallow rig to have a look. The float dipped a few times but nothing on the end when struck, a fish came to the top and I must have put the pellet right on it's nose and soon an F1 of about 2lb was in the net. I went out with the 'at depth' rig and had a few fish, tench, skimmers, roach and decent carp but foul hooked and lost quite a few. Mark next to me had a mid match spurt on the paste but it died off, I could see Adie catching but he too did not land everything, foul hookers and the hook pulling out. I just stuck it out on the 14 meter line for the rest of the day. First to weigh was John Wolstencroft, John had a decent match catching in the margins during the latter half. Here is John with part of his catch and a big munter which weighed around 12lb.

and here is his munter...



Next to weigh was Lee, he had 3 weighs in total and did win the match, part of his catch below

Rich and Aidie were next but did not take a pic for some reason but Rich said he had only 20lb but had more than double that and Aidie had 90lb odd.

Mark even though he had a poor second half did well and included this 15lb munter.



I was last to weigh and included a 12lb - 13lb munter in my 88lb odd bag, part of my catch below.



So the weather was not as bad as forecasted and we all had a good day, here is the weigh sheet...



In summary....

1st Lee Williams 117 -06

2nd Adie Baker 90 - 08

3rd Ivan Currie 88 - 08

4th John Wolstencroft 78 - 04

5th Mark 'the paste' 67 - 01

6th Rich Heatley 52 - 03

494lb between 6 anglers!

Readers of this blog might remember I mentioned John Wolstencroft got a personal number plate for his new Audi, here it is....