Air Ambulance Open Bristol Avon Staverton and Barton Farm nr Trowbridge

This was my first trip out on a river this season. I had intended to fish the local River Kenn but work has been too busy for me lately due to covering 2 jobs including nights away from home. The match was a Charity Open but also a practice for the next SW Super League match this weekend on the same waters. 5 of us attended the match as none of us had really seen the venue before let alone fish it. Draw was at the brand new Trowbridge Town Rugby Club which apparently cost £3m and what a great facility it is execept no licence after 4 p.m. on a Sunday so the results were back at the Kings Arms pub. 63 Anglers booked in, there were only 2 access points, Bradford on Avon Railway Station for Barton Farm and a Racecourse Farm for Staverton. 3 of us drew Staverton and Nicky Collins lead us to the access point. On the Staverton water I have never seen such quality pegging and swim clearing on a river. Each peg had a scaffold pole in the ground with a black number on a yellow background and you could park behind every peg. The bank was flat and strimmed, quality or what. The Barton Farm access also had a concrete path all the way along the river. A few stars were on the bank, ex world champ Clive Branson, regular river angler Richard Chave and the Thatchers guys. As I drove to my peg (22) I could see the far bank had a lot of trees but the width did vary from peg to peg, Nicky Collins peg looked a dream and apparently held big chub. A local angler above me said bream also showed from time to time. The Wednesday match on the same stretch was won with 17lb roach. Here is my peg looking straight across and downstream.

So a fairly bare far bank but there were fish topping although very small. Plumbed up on the pole at 13 meters and found I had about 12', 1.5 grm rig ran through quite nice as this is were the flow was. 3AA waggler was ok for the far bank starting at 4' deep, feeder also set up but not used. Weather not ideal as very bright and warm but just enoyed being on the river again. On the all in I could here others balling in either side of me and beyond, I decided to cup in 4 balls of magic and noire laced with pinkie, caster and chopped worm. Decided to leave this line alone and went on the wag loose feeding caster right across. Bleak, bleak, more bleak followed but the a few small roach started to show and at least I was putting fish in the net. After an hour and 15 I went on the pole, first trot down the float buried and a 4 oz roach was netted, more followed but it died after about 30 mins, I re-fed and went back on the wag. This is how it went for the whole match. I weighed in 4lb 4oz, guy above DNW, local angler below had 5lb 5oz. Team mates Don and Sam on the same stretch weighed 5lb odd and 2lb 10oz, best in our stretch was 9lb (Richard Chave) but futher up Gary Etheridge had 12lb 6oz of small fish. Down at Barton Farm Team mate Jame Gunter also had 4lb odd but captain Chris Hook had 2 bream and some bits for 12lb 5oz enough for 4th on the day and £100. It is a cracking venue and looking forward to Sunday, team meeting was last night and we have a plan lol, lets see.

Sunday 15th June - fluff chucking at Hawkridge Res

I had not been out for a couple of weeks due to a weekend in London with the wife and as part of a birthday gift and a thank you from our daughters for various bits and pieces we have supported them with. Saw the Committements in the West End, fab show. So back to today, no club match scheduled and a day to early to go out on the river I was some what torn what to do. A fairly busy day on Saturday meant I had little time to prep or get bait so a bit of fly fishing it was to be. I had planned to go on Chew but decided after I got in the car to head down the M5, off at Bridgwater and out to Hawkridge Res where I had some success last year. Bank fishing is good and it goes very deep a few paces out. Not in any rush I took a steady drive down and got there around 09:00, had a chat with the Ranger who said bank results were mixed due to the bright weather and the water was christle clear but he said I should get a few fish. I headed away from the Lodge, driving down to the next lay-by and parked up, a step over a low wall and I was on the bank. Two other guys where there but had not had a pull in the hour they were there but fish were showing on the top. The far bank looked inviting and there were no other angler so I walked around to the far side through some woods and carried on until I was more or less opposite the Lodge. Given the clear water and the fish not wanting to come that close I set up with an 18' leader, Booby on the point (which floats) and then a Black Buzzer and a Green Dawl Bach as droppers meaning I would be just fishing under the surface. It took an hour to get my first pull but it was half hearted and did not result in a take. The wind was coming down the lake which made it difficult to keep a tight line so I had to cast at 2 o'clock. About 11:30 I saw a fish rise in front of me about as far out as I could cast, a quick retieve and back out to where it showed resulted in a take as soon as the Booby hit the water, a nice rainbow about 3lb. I moved up towards the Dam a bit and could see a couple of guys out in a boat doing a quick retrieves which meant they must be on lures, they were getting a few fish as well. I change the Booby to a little gold head Hares Ear to get the flies down in the water to have a look. First cast and about 5 rod lengths out while pulling back a little faster than I had been resulted in a very agressive take on the Dawl Bach and the fish headed toward the middle of the lake. I managed to get it under control and as it came close I could see it was a decent brownie. Got it in and it was a lovely fish, weighed later on it went 3lb 14oz, best on I have had. I chopped and changed flies the rest of the day and finally had my 5 fish limit at 14:15 which I was happy with, back was killing. Heres the 5 fish, when weighed together came to 17lb 5oz not bad and freezer topped up again.

May try and get on the Kenn one evening this week but new job is full on at the moment. If not its the Bristol Avon at Barton Farm near Trowbrige for the practice match which is also a charity event prior to the next round of the SW Super League so some prep to do.

Sunday 1st June - South West Super League Gloucester Canal

This is was the second year Maver Cadbury Angling entered the SW Super League, the Team finished in a reasonable position last year, I did not fish for the team until September so this was my first year in the competition.

The league consists of 8 Teams of 8, teams entering this year are....
Diawa Gordon League
Sensas Thyers
Garbolino Blackmore Vale
Preston Thatchers
Maver Lobys
Cardiff Sensas Nomads
Frenze SW
Maver Cadbury Angling

Venues are Gloucester Canal, Bristol Avon Staverton, River Huntspill (2), Bristol Avon Newbridge, Bristol Avon Crane, 6 in total and spread out over the summer with a few practice matches as well.

The Team met at McDonalds, Quedgeley just off Junct 12 M5 for breakfast, not an enjoyable experience but I ate it, I say it as I was not totaly sure what it was. Then it was off to Gordon League Rugby Club for the draw. Apart of Hempstead the venue is still a bit of an unknown to me so I wasn't really bothered where I was placed as the main objective was to try and beat 7 other anglers in the section. I drew peg 30 at Sims bridge and followed team mate James Gunter to the parking spot, I only had a short walk and there was plenty of bank space above me to separate my gear from all the walkers, runners and cyclists. The far bank had cover as well. Fishing was 11:00 - 16:00. Based on instructions give I set up the pole at 5 meters to fish at 10:00 and 14:00, depth here was top 3 so nice and compfortable, another pole line was set up for 11 meters straight out in front. Last but not least the feeder for fishing across. Groundbait was a mix of Fishmeal, Noire and Black Lake, I had plenty of worm and caster alog with mag and pinkie.

At the all in I fed all my pole line quite heavy and then went across on the feeder with chop and caster with 3 pinkies on the hook, during the first hour and a half I had 1 perch, 1 ruff and 1 bootlace for about 5 oz. It was difficult to say but I could see anyone else catching so stuck at it topping up the pole lines with loose fed caster and maggot for the line at 12:00. I had a small roach and another few perch, bank walkers indicated the section was fishing rock hard with 2lb being the best weight after 3 hours! I came in on the short pole line and had a small eel followed by another small perch. There were plenty of boats going up and down as well as rowers but heres a massive jolly boat full of Sunday after noon drinkers that came down the canal and you needed to make sure your keepnet was secure.



With an hour to go and just after this big boat had passed I decide to stick it out on the feeder for the rest of the match, I had one more small perch and missed a tiny bite.

At the weigh in there was one Did Not Weigh, Tony Davis Cardiff Nomads had 2 bream for 7lb odd, the there was a 2lb 9oz followed by me with 14oz for a Section 3rd, happy with that. Here is the section weights and shows how hard it was.

Back at the Rugby Club most of the Team had come back which is always a good sign, Ian Hudson was 2nd in his section (Hempstead) with 9lb odd, Chris and Sean had also come 3rd in their sections and Sam fourth I think, total points around 36 with one of the team blanking. Overall we came 4th on the day, not bad and not a disaster by any means. Maver Lobbys won the day so fair play to them.

Top weight was 19lb ish

No fishing next week, off to London for the weekend.