Commercial House Round 3 Bristol Avon Newbridge, Pleasure Session on Apex and other news

Well my work life balance is still not right and I seem to be playing catch up all the time something drastically needs to change but not sure what. The 3rd Round of the Commercial House League held at Newbridge was a couple of weeks ago and for the first time my team Maver Cadbury Angling had a full squad. The objective is purely to stay in A Division for next year. The river was a little pacey and coloured following a couple of days of rain but not high. The chances were the bream would respond well to the condition. I drew down in the trees (again) on permanent peg 140 and was reasonably happy with this as the bottom end of the section generally fishes better for roach but would they feed. When I got to the peg it was very fishable on the pole line at 11 meters and OK for a feeder down the middle but nothing else. A 3 gramme rig at about 15 foot deep looked and performed well when setting up and a 30 gramme feeder held bottom in the middle, that was the set up and all I could use. Rowing boats were a right pain and the worst I have seen so far this year, they just don't seem to give a monkeys and come right in close despite plenty of room down the middle. At the all in 10 balls went into the swim on the pole line a 4 down the middle laced with choppy and caster. It took about 10 runs through on the pole to get a bite and when it happened I bumped a decent fish. 15 minutes or so passed and I had a few roach towards the end of the trot through but it just did not feel that roach were going to respond in any numbers. I had a couple of chucks on the feeder like the anglers either side of me but boat traffic meant it did not stay out for any length of time. I ended up with 3lb 14oz of roach, the Lobbys angler below had 9lb made up of one big bream caught 15 mins from the end and a few roach, Liam Bradell above me had one big skimmer and a few roach for 6lb odd. I ended up 4th in my A Div Section of 6 so not too bad and felt I had made the right decision on the team front. Captain Chris Hook won his section on the straight with 15lb made up of a couple of bream and bits.

Chris Hook

Sam Johnson had 28lb odd of bream and was 2nd in his Section he also picked up 5th overall.

Sam Johnson

We the had a couple of bottom in sections which gave us 4th in A Div overall beating Thatchers B and Bathampton Elite, happy days and gave us a much needed lift. On the downside we are still bottom in A Div overall.

Tim Ford (Mr Bristol Avon) won the match on the day with 51lb of bream from the little field., thats 2 wins out of 3 in the league so far.

Sunday just gone I had a pleasure session on Apex Lake just pole fishing for skimmers, it was a blustery day and difficult to present the bait due to the tow but I did end up with around 12lb of skimmers up to 2lb.

I was reading Tim Fords Blog at the weekend and was sad when I read the news that Bill Milton had passed away in hospital. I had known Bill for around 20 years and met him when I was Treasure of the Bristol and West of England Anglers Federation. As Tim said he was a salwart in terms of organising the annual Poppy Match and used to read out the Ode of Remembrance prior to the draw with his medals proudly displayed on his jacket. He loved his fishing (natural venues) and used to go to Ireland most years.

Bill with a nice net of skimmers from 2008 while fishing the 2008 pairs match at Tockenton Res (pic from Amalagamated Fisheries Website).

Its the Bristol Avon again this coming Sunday 9th November for the Poppy Match and I am sure Bill will get a mention and be part of many anglers thoughts during the 2 minute silence.