Sunday 20th December - Clevedon Christmas Open, Paddock Lake Acorn Fishery

Last year we doubled up with the SW over 55 Club for our Christmas Match but this year it was run as an Open. It did attract 34 anglers but with one dropping out we ended up with 33 which by today's standards is very good and just right on the 40 pegs available on Paddock Lake (one of our current waters). Payout was fr top 4 and 4 sections, 3 of 8 and 1 of 9. I had been looking at the results during the last 3 weeks from the Over 55 Club which regularly fish the venue and came to the conclusion that 30lb to 40lb would be needed to frame. The few times I had fished the venue this year under match conditions I had done well and from a variety of pegs. I had it in my head that I would want peg 6 or 40. The draw commenced on time (08:30) and I was about halfway in the rabble of a que. Some of those into the draw bag ahead of me looked not best pleased with their draw.... not me when I pulled out ping pong ball number 6 (the power of the mind is a wonderful thing especially from an Irishman)  and I had parked almost behind the peg as well before breakfast... happy days I thought.
I won off peg 6 earlier in the year but that was in the summer, I like the peg because there are plenty of options as well as space.

Peg 6

For company on peg 7 I had long serving club member Andy Law who enjoys coming to the odd match and done well on the Christmas Match last year. Andy had a spare peg to his left so the both of us had enough room. I set up 3 rigs, 1 for the far shelf right in the corner between the bank and the bridge where there was about 2' 6'' and a stretch of about 13.5 meters, 1 for the bottom of the far shelf straight across at about 12 meters where it was about 3' 6'' and finally 1 for up against the middle of the bridge where is was around 4' 6''.  My far margin rig also was good enough for my nearside which I did not target in the end. I had lot of different baits with me but only ended up putting micro pellet, 4's and live maggot on the tray.

The all in went about 5 minutes early which took Andy and I by surprise. No worries I was more or less there and took my time doing a few final adjustments before feeding all of my lines with micro and red maggots. For the first 30 minutes i had to fish in the shadow in the middle of the bridge as the sun was blinding me if I went across to the 2 lines straight in front of me. I had a couple of dips but did not connect with anything. The angler on the other side of the bridge on peg 40 appeared to be having the same problem. Kev Perry on 39 had 3 or 4 carp in the first 30 - 40 minutes though and was taking an early lead. The sun finally allowed more visibility for fishing straight across but it wasn't ideal and I had the float shotted right down. I tried the bottom of the far shelf first and drip fed a few and I mean a few more micros in, I wasn't sure if the float went under or not but struck anyway and the number 11 hollow came racing out, its been a while since I hooked a carp but took it steady and landed a common of around 3lb. Visibility became better as the sun went round and I got the odd knock before the float went under suffering a few foul hookers which I didn't land, just a couple of scales. I done a minor adjustment to the rig and caught a few more carp all around between 3lb and 4lb. Looking around I thought I was doing quite well as far as I could see and Kevin had slowed up. I started to get quite a few knocks but without the float disappearing so decided to shallow up. This made the difference and I had a good run of fish. At around 13:00 it went a bit quite so went all the way over on top of the shelf by the bridge and soon had one around 3lb but that was it from there. I knew the carp were moving along the bottom of the shelf so decided to stick it out there for the remainder of the match which was a good move putting a few more fish in the net as well as loosing a few along the way. Banded pellet in various sizes was the method, the maggot brought me nothing.

The all out sounded at 7 mins to 15:00 by mine and Andy's time pieces! Andy thought I had done enough but I wasn't sure as we couldn't see the bottom end of the lake very well.

The scales in my section (pegs 1 to 9) started on island peg 1, Bob Warren didn't have many fish but they were big fish and went 30lb 12oz, Nick Harvey also on the island done him by 2oz with 30lb 14oz, they were the best two weights off the 5 island pegs. My turn came and I knew I probably had more fish than the island pegs but they were a smaller stamp. Pleasingly mine went 45lb 8oz but Rich Lovering in my section on peg 10 done me by 2lb 8oz. 

My 45lb 8oz

As the weight sheets were handed over to Match Secretary Adie Baker on the bank I had a quick look and it was confirmed I had done enough for second place, those lost fish had cost me but Rich had probably lost some as well. 

 Winner Rich Lovering

We all went back to the Bridge Inn in Yatton for the prize giving, raffle and chip butties however the bread I had for bait was in better condition than the plastic stuff supplied  by the Inn. There were great raffle prizes alough I won bugger all! I did pick up £55 cash, £30 Tesco Gift Card and a bottle of plonk for 2nd place.

John Sallis and his partner took control of the raffle but there were so many prizes John lost the plot toward the end calling out ''green 652 pink'' wtf lol.

Well done to Adie and Steve for organising the match and thanks to Cadbury Angling and Reel Fun for donating prizes.

Top 4 as follows:

1st  Rich Lovering Cotswold Angling 48lb 

2nd Ivan Currie Maver Cadbury Angling 45lb 8oz

3rd Mike Owens Sensas Thyers 31lb 8oz

4th Nick Harvey Sensas Thyers 30lb 14oz

Here are the positions and weights on the day (one angler DNW)

There may be a knock up on the River Kenn on 27th Dec but it is unlikely I will fish as my daughter is home from Uni. The next match for me will be the Boxing Day Pairs on 3rd Jan which is on Paddock ;Lake again.

Peg 6 or 40.... Peg 6 or 40...

Finally folks have a great few days off over Christmas.

 

Somerset Teams of 4 - Taunton and Bridgwater Canal (Taunton end)

This match was scheduled for the River Tone but due to the heavy rain it was chocolate brown on the Wednesday so the decision to switch to the Canal was made.
I had never fished the Taunton end of the Canal but after making enquiries it was likely to turn out to be a roach match as most of the bigger skimmers and bream plus tench are at the Bridgwater end. Although I fished the Grand Western Canal the previous week I had to do a bit of prep as 4 of my rigs got trashed due to the strong winds. I enjoy fishing a canal, I think it is a great leveller. Our team was made up of captain Chris Hook, Sam Johnson, Lewis Walker and myself. Another Team tried to poach Lewis in the week.......cheek of it.
I met up by accident with Sam in MacDonald's in Taunton for breakfast, he also had a look at the Tone and said it appeared to be OK, not so sure the 'fast stretch' would have been though. A phone call from Chris around 07:50 telling us he had just woke up but was on his way.
I did not have a clue were the section were but fortunately Chris Parr had postcodes on display in the pub.

Chris arrived just in time for the draw and young Lewis done the honour's for us. I was in D Section at Creech St Michael wherever that was but no panic Sat Nav would get me there!
I let the stampead leave the car park first and programmed Sat Nav which gave me a travelling time of 12 minutes, no worries and headed back toward the M5, underneath it, then left turn toward Creech St. Michael, all the while Sat Nav updating me. The flag soon appeared and I turned of as instructed and then continued to go around the houses even though I could see the canal on the display I could not get anywhere near it. Went back on the main road to try and find someone to ask but as my mum used to say 'there was not a sinner about'. A phone call to Chris to see if he had Chris Parrs number to be guided in. Chris didn't but someone else said he did and gave me the number off his own phone. I called it and got some guy out of bed, not happy. Phoned Chris back and explained, checked the number again and yes I had phoned the number given! Chris managed to find another angler who talked me from where I was to the canal. I had to go up a lane and at the end was a car park, as I entered I saw one angler heading through a gate to the toe path, lovely. After I loaded up I went the same way, could not see another angler (I knew they were there somewhere). A walker came from my right and confirmed there were no anglers from where he had been so left it was then and after 10 mins who is on the end peg but Chris Parr who I was trying to talk to. Good effort but improvement required on directions. I had about 45 mins to set up and was pretty pissed off as well as hot and bothered.
I got to my peg (41) and it was a bit narrow compared to the rest and as such the canal was pulling a little faster left to right but it did look inviting.
I set up a punch rig for the middle which was really 'V' shaped and about 3 foot and two rigs for the bottom of the far shelf where it was about 2 foot intending to fish worm, caster or maggot in the hope of a bonus fish.
I was just about ready at 10 o'clock and feed two lines across, one at 12 o'clock with chop and caster and the other a bit longer at 2 o'clock with just caster. In went a cup of liqqy in the middle and I soon had a small roach, looking up and down the canal others were in to small fish quickly and using the whip (I don't have one). The roach kept coming on the punch and when they backed off a little I put on a maggot and got a few more regularly feeding small balls of liqqy. I did bump a decent fish about a pound but most were in the 2oz to 3oz range, I was happy with my lot.
After about two hours I was intending to try the far lines and had topped them up sparingly but a few swans came along and took a liking to the bait.

I did manage to shoo them on by putting the pole cup over them but the damage was done. I did top up the lines and had the odd look but nothing.
The middle it was then and looking up and down I thought I was doing ok and in the last hour I had the odd better roach putting out a 10mm piece of punch.
The two end pegs done 5kg plus and one peg from the end done 3kg 340grms. I was more or less in the middle and was happy with my 3kg 120grms compared to the anglers each side of me.

My section.

The top weight on the day was 6kg plus. We finished 4th out of 11 on the day with Sam having a section 2nd and Lewis weighing the same as me and also getting a section 4th. Chris was 6th or 7th in his.

Somerset Angling won on the day and Thyers Silver I believe are top of the league.

Once I found the place I enjoyed it.

No fishing this weekend and the week after its the Clevedon Christmas Match on Paddock Lake Acorn Fisheries.

Heads up ...........Clevedon Christmas Match

The popular Clevedon Christmas Match is on 20th December, details as follows:





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fjQQXdq9P4

Sunday 29th November - Tiverton Christmas Match Grand Western Canal

Its been nearly 4 weeks since my last outing, I did arrive back from St. Lucia on the 17th November but a combination of jet lag, going from 31 degrees to 5 and deciding to decorate a bedroom kept me away from the bank.
Team mate Sam Johnson and I fished the Tiverton match last year and really enjoyed it. It is one of the best traditional Christmas matches I have fished in a long time with really good quality prizes and a number of large hampers with turkey, ham and beef joints, the raffle prizes are just as good to. I had booked Sam and myself in via text but then two of Sam's mates Mark Thorn and Matt Colpin from the Weston Super Mare Club also decided to join us, they are not match anglers but decided to give it a go.
Draw and a hearty breakfast was at the Mid Devon Indoor Bowls Club in the town and much better than the Football Club last year.
Paul Elworthy Match Secretary gave the rules before the draw and mentioned that pike count.... remember this comment for later.
I was about a third the way down in the que, Sam was already near the front (he was excited). I drew 53 which was down near Manley Bridge, years ago this used to to be a great area in the early part of the season and I think threw up a tidy weight last year on the Christmas Match. Did not have a clue how to get there and sought the assistance of a local angler by following him out that way (approx 15 min drive). Fellow bloggers have mentioned the weather conditions on the day and in North Devon it was just as bad with strong winds and heavy showers.
After a 15 minute walk I arrived at my peg in a wooded area, bits were flying off the oak trees and was glad to get out of them and into a fairly clear spot.

Peg 53

There were about 3 anglers below me (these were the final pegs) and one above me just before a small bridge and a bend.

Looking downstream

Looking upstream

It is a lovely bit of canal and no boat trouble. Downside is it's quite shallow, I had just under 3' max in the middle and then it shallowed up very quickly to about 1' of the far shelf which did look inviting. All the other anglers around me were locals and most just sat up on rig for fishing a big piece of punched bread over liqqy in the middle, simples! We had seen them do this last year as well to good affect. I set up 2 rigs, one for the middle and one for the nearside and far shelf and fished at about a 10 o'clock angle to combat the wind. Liqqy went in on the middle line and caster and a few pinkies on the shelf, the water was surprisingly clear.

I was fishing an 8mm piece of punch and was surprised when the float dipped quickly and when I struck a see through roach of about minus 1oz flew out of the water. a few more followed and looking down the canal the 3 anglers below seemed to be getting the same stamp of fish. As I looked up the canal the angler above was just putting his landing net back down so was unsure what he had caught. After an hour I went across with red maggot and the float shot under, result a 3 oz roach, that'll do I thought and couple more followed and then it went dead. I re-fed and they came back and I had a few more then dead. The next 2 hours were very and I mean very quiet and it was the same above and below me. I did nick the odd small fish now and then. At about 13:45 I spotted some small fry jumping out of the water and thought perch or pike some feed half a cup of chopped worm in the middle and left it for 10 minutes. When I went over it with a small worm the float sailed away and a 4 oz perch was netted and couple more smaller ones followed then a small pike of about 6 ozs, it went dead again so re-fed and manage another small perch before the all out at 15:00. Oh how I wish I had fed and fished worm earlier.

Out of the 4 other anglers aside me I beat 3 of them with 920 grms, just over 2lbs in old money.

Word coming down the bank was it had fish hard all the way through.

As I was loading my car back at Manley Bridge Sam's mate Mark Thorn appeared, I asked how he got on. 1 kilo was the reply, I had a pike in my swim and couldn't get it with the plug! I said what do you mean a plug.... well he said pike count.....yes I said but you can't spin for them..... oh he said I didn't know. OMG.

Back at the Bowling Club I told Sam who looked at me with disbelief. Apparently Matt Coplin his other mate went to his van during the match and bolied the kettle for a cuppa! They said they didn't match fish.

I did not get the result sheets but the top 2 anglers had 3 kilo plus each (both locals), the next 2 had 2 kilos plus each then it dropped away so it did fish hard. 

Collectively we done well in the raffle and Matt (aka the kettle) had the last laugh by winning the last raffle prixe, an enormus turkey and all the trimmings... fantastic.

My prizes

Next up is the Somerset League Teams of 4 schedule for the river Tone on Sunday.

Sunday 1st November - Clevedon Club Match Paddock Lake Acorn Fisheries

Back on home waters again for the second week in a row. The draw times are now 08:30 due to the nights drawing in quickly and I was up in plenty of time just to load the car. I had done a lot of prep during the week tying rigs and ended up with a complete tray full which will suit a number of venues up to 6 feet deep.
A small breakfast in the Fishery Cafe with 2 additional portions of black pudding from Mike Pickering and Matt Roden (don't know what your missing).
Eleven booked in today (couple fishing Viaduct Silvers League and others tied up with domestic commitments). A Bristol Club were also sharing the lake with us but assigned pegs 6 to 20, we had 1 - 5 and 21 - 40 so plenty of room. Draw Master Kev Perry was in charge today and went with the majority going without a silvers pool but pay top 3, £70, £50 and £45. Draw went ahead on time and fishing was to be 10 till 4 so plenty of time. I was about halfway in the draw and was not really bothered where I drew but was hoping for peg 40 again but out came ping pong ball 36 which I never fished before but carp slayers Mark Walsh who just about lives on the venue said it can be a cracking peg. When I got there it did look nice towards the left hand corner and platform where the aerator was anchored to.

area recommended by Mark

As I was setting up Kev was making his way to peg 1 on the island and happened to say he was on my peg yesterday in Paul Nicholls Winter League Match and only had 4 fish all day for 16lb! I thought that may be good for me today.

I set up 4 rigs (just because I had plenty of time, one for the middle at full depth for soft pellet (never used it), 2 identical rigs for the bottom of the far shelf using banded pellet, same depth for nearside margins and a paste rig for nearside margins (never had a bite on paste). At the all in I fed (too many lines) far bottom shelf in two places, left and right margins and middle by aerator with soft 4's and micro. I did see some just go out straight away without feeding a mug an early fish while I was still feeding but six hours is a long time. First put in across the float dipped but did not connect but at least there was fish around.  Dropped it back in and away it went while still settling and a 3lb common was landed. Half a pole pot of micro and back out on the same line and soon had another of similar size. Next put in on the same line was a foul hooker and it tore off with the hook coming back and a 10p scale. Fed again with the pole pot but switched to my other far bank line and soon was playing a much bigger fish. It came to the net after what seemed a very long time and stayed deep.I don't like bigger carp and I get impatient, usually ending up loosing them. It was a nice fish of around 7lbs.

The weather was glorious for November but I was sat in the shade with a few layers on while everyone else was in polo shirts.

 Guys to my left enjoying the sunshine

Kev across on Peg 1 enjoying the sun but that's about all

Looking around now and then I could not see that many fish being caught although could not see around past Mark Bromsgrove on bridge peg 33.
I did switch back and forth between the two far shelf lines taking fish on a regular basis before things slowed up at around one o,clock. It was a this point a few fish could be see in the left hand margin by the pallet so decided to give it a go. The float did move from side to side but did not go under, just liners so I shallowed up and just dropped and lifted the bait drip feeding via the pole pot. This worked and I took three fish before loosing one and trashing the rig. I continued swapping between the two far lines and the left margin for the rest of the match and by the end felt I had done OK, Kev also believed I may have done enough.

I went and assisted Kev with the weigh in and we started at peg 22 and worked our way around. Lance Tucker who had won the previous days match put just over 90lb of big fish on the scales, I knew I did not have that much. Further on round Mike Owens on 31 had 65lb odd and I was thinking it would be close. My net went 75lb (although Mark Walsh initially said it was 74lb 16ozs!!! think he went to school on Sundays when it was shut) dead so knew I had done enough for second place and £50 so sixth pick up in a row now.


1st  Lance Tucker Sensas Thyers 90lb 14oz
2nd Ivan Currie Maver Cadbury Angling 75lb
3rd Mike Owens Sensas Thyers 65lb 10oz

Weigh sheet as follows:

That's it for a few weeks now as I am off to St Lucia for some chilaxing so will miss the next Somerset League Match on the Tone. I have already booked in for the Tiverton Christmas Match 29th November on the Grand Western Canal but hope to get out before that once I come back from the Caribbean.

Home Internationals - Newry Canal, N Ireland

Here is a nice little clip following the Home Internationals last week on the Newry Canal in N. Ireland only a few miles down the road from where I grew up. Great to see the continuous development and investment made.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxWq5YnzTIk

Saturday 24th October - Clevedon Open Acorn Paddock Lake

With my daughters 30th Birthday Party on the Sunday it was a case of whether or not to bother at all. I really need my weekly fix so despite the weather forecast turned up on spec at our Club Lake at Acorn Fisheries to fish what was billed as an 'open'. I knew there had not been many attending these matches but at least I would be fishing with a bit of company and I have got to know the water a bit more.
Saturday morning came and as I turned up at the fishery at around 08:30 Mark aka the 'paste' Walsh was already walking the bank looking where to peg it. Naturally he was surprised I had turned up as I don't normally fish Saturdays nor Acorn for that matter. I asked how many was fishing and he said 5 up until now including me. I wasn't bothered about the numbers, just glad to get out.
5 was the final number and with £15 a head there would not be much in the pot (was not bothered about that either). Mark did ring Adie to see if the peg fee could be wavered and it was so Mark decided to pay out top 2 and at £45 and £30 it was worth a punt. Then another debate started as to where it should be pegged and even so talk about using the top lake which we would have to pay for lol, mad I thought. Eventually common sense was applied and we used 5 pegs between 31 and 40 giving everyone plenty of room. I was last but one to draw and not that there was a big que so was quite please when peg ping pong ball 40 came out in my hand. I had won from this peg earlier in the year.
As we set up to fish 10 - 4 only one other pleasure angler turned up. The weather at the time was OK but dressed for the heavy down pours that was forecast later on.
Two top kits were set up, one across at 13 meters just up the far shelf and one for the middle in front of the bridge. My favourite straight lead rig was also set up just in case the wind got up along with the rain.
Three pegs down was venue expert Mark on 37, he has been doing well on the venue fishing short and his set up today was no different and I did see him mixing up some paste. He fishes short alternating between left and right. I was just going to use banded pellet across and soft down the middle feeding sparingly.
First drop in I had a carp across which was about 3lb followed by 3 more on the trot then I lost a few but in the first hour I had 6 fish to Marks nil, I could not see anyone else catching much either. The far line died on me and the rain came pelting down so switched to the middle feeding through a pole pot. It took a while for them to respond but the bites came but a little finicky. I was catching a much smaller stamp of fish but decided to stick with in. Mark started to catch some bigger munters short so his patience was paying off and I thought he was catching me up.
I did enjoy the day, there was plenty of bites and I coped with the wet.
Mark did take the £45 first prize with just over 70lb of munters and I was one or two fish away with 65lb plus and £30 for second which paid for the day, that's my fifth pick up in consecutive weeks.

Result sheet as follows (no other pic due to weather)

Ist   Mark Walsh Clevedon 71lb 14oz
2nd Ivan Currie Maver Cadbury Angling 65lb 14oz

Back on Paddock on Sunday for a Clevedon Club Match.

Sunday 18th October - Clevedon Club Match Brick Lake the Sedges Fishery

I made the decision quite early in the week to fish this match as there was nothing else on in the form of a river match. I have only been to the venue once and that was last year and on Brick Lake which we were fishing today. I drew Peg 9 last year and came 3rd with 103lb mainly on the pole but that was in the spring. Lance Tucker was next door to me then on 10 and he beat me by about 10lb and came second. Kev Perry won that match with around 145lb catching on pellet on the straight lead.

Kev had received a text from Match Secretary Adie Baker asking him to run the match as he was still busy after only just moving house. 13 had booked in and fair play they all turned up including another new member (from Surrey Kerry Pickering who was staying with relations down this way). Between Kev and Denise the fishery owner the pegging was sorted and draw organised. I was 3rd last to draw and out comes peg 9 so happy with that and wondered if it would be a repeat performance. I had end peg 10 in the corner to my left and was hoping it had been left out but new member Kerry turned up on it while I was sorting myself out, still plenty of room.

The blue arrow shows my peg.

Two pegs to my right was Dave Stevenson and next to Dave was Kev. Opposite me in the top right hand corner was Nick Harvey and directly opposite me across the lake was silvers basher Andy Devereux (prob spelt his name wrong again). I could see almost everyone except the anglers on my bank below Kev so would be able to judge how the match was going. I had planned to fish mini popped up bollies but not allowed at the fishery so bread would be the replacement. Due to me winning a recent match on the bread at Trinity a lot of the guys brought it today or were asking for a few slices from others. Two top kits set up today, both for banded pellet and both exactly the same for fishing at 13 meters where it was about 7 feet deep at 10:00 and 14:00. The 14:00 line fed with groundbait with dead red, hemp and micro the other line just 6mm and 4mm wetted pellet. The margins were too riskly due to the overhanging vegitation and looked too dangerous. Finally the straight lead for fishing bread or pellet.

The 'all in' was called at 10:15 so fed the two pole lines and went straight out on the bread up to the floating pipe that goes down the middle. There were a lot of fish topping and I could see a could went out on the waggler. I was expecting the tip to bang around fairly quickly but after 25 minutes it didn't!

Looking around no one was catching and just as I looked down again the rod was coming off the top of the keep net which I was using as a rest. I didn't land it as it snapped the hooklength just before the net and it was a right lump. Back out on the bread and not a touch after 20 minutes so changed to banded 11mm and no sooner had it settled when the tip went around in a slow but positive way and it was fish on. It was a good fish as well at around 10lb. I had a couple more smaller ones up until around 12:00 but it was not exactly action packed but then there was still not a lot being caught from what I could see. Gave the bread a try again for a change and a carp of around 6lb took it on the drop, this time I landed it. A quiet spell of around 20 minutes saw me go back on the pellet, all the time I was feeding both pole lines but no fizz to be seen.

It wasn't fast and furious but I was putting fish in the net up until around 14:45 when it went very quiet so tried the pole lines for 20 minutes and only manged a small skimmer so decided to see the match out on the lead. Paul Nicholls on the far bank was getting a few fish on the pole towards the end including one of 18lb plus!! Mark Bromsgrove below him was also getting a few.

The all out was called at 16:15 and Kev done the honours of weighing. I had 72lb 8oz which was top weight on my bank. The weights were better opposite with a couple of 60lb pluses. Mark Bromsgrove did well and put 90lb on the scales, immediately below him on end corner peg was Lance Tucker who had 72lb 12oz.

So I had 3rd place again. Top Silvers went to Andy Devereux by default.

Results as follows:

1st   Mark Bromsgrove Sensas Thyers 90lb 8oz

2nd  Lance Tucker Sensa Thyers 72lb 12oz.... check them scales please

3rd   Ivan Currie Maver Cadbury Angling 72lb 8oz

Silvers

Andy Devereux Clevedon 9lb 4oz

Weight sheet...

Sunday 11th October - Somerset Teams of 4 league River Parrett Langport

This is a great league and in it's second year, for me brings new venues and with 15 teams booked in makes it competitive as well. Another positive point is the money is very well spread out paying top 3 in the section.
The Parrett was a first for me, the only time I have really seen it is going over the tidal stretch on the M5 or while in the center of Bridgwater.
It was difficult to find information on the stretch we were fishing around the market town of Langport, I did search a few blogs and got some information but then came across the match results on Langport AA's website when there was a match between Taunton and Langport, here are the results.

Straight away I could see that a number of anglers fishing it used it as a practice match for a league the following week. There was a bit of a write up to go with the results and the river condition was not good with little or no flow and a lot of weed in some pegs as you can see a lot of anglers struggled, so not good.
Only a little bit of prep needed on the Saturday and also obtained my caster, maggot, worm an groundbait from Cadbury Angling http://www.cadburyangling.co.uk/
Draw was 08:00 at the Langport Arms Hotel right in the town and arrived in plenty of time to meet up with Sean, Don and Chris. It was very busy inside with lots of breakfasts on order and a bit like Faulty Towers with regard to service.
Captains went up for the draw and we went outside to sort ourselves out, I was on peg 8 and chris was on 19, best part was we could walk from the car park.

 

Shortest walk I have had on a river ever, looking back towards the car park from my peg.

There was a decent amout of colour in the river and a bit of pace, in fact it looked very good with lots of small fish topping.

My peg was an end peg upstream with the nearest angler about 100 meters away, so some advantage.

Upstream end peg 8 and looking down the early part of the section, 9 to 15 was upstream of me.

Simple set up today, 13 meters at full depth (approx 6 feet) with a 2 grm float where there was some area's of the bottom which were clean but a lot of streamer weed. 5 meter line down the inside with a small 0.80 grm float for fishing between two lots of bull rushes (where there was around 4 feet) with chopped worm for perch and finally a waggler for all the way across where I had about 5 feet of water. I mixed up a little bit of groundbait for cupping in with the chop and caster.

Looking down the match length below me a lot of guys had set up whips, pole and wags.

At the 'all in' I thought for a moment I was on the Avon as all the anglers below me balled in big jaffa's, around 5 each. I thought why! if you cannot get through the weed on the bottom what you doing putting bait on the deck or was I going to be battered. I decided not to follow suit and kept to my plan so cupped in 3 soft balls on the inside, loose fed caster in the middle and on the far side. Went across with the wag first and had a small chublet of around 2 oz immediately, several more followed and the odd small roach. kept this going for the first hour and from what I could see I was doing better than anyone below me. I tried the middle while still feeding across and got fed up after a while not being able to get a clean run through due to the weed. A look on the inside produced one small roach so went back on the wag for the rest of the day. Fish were not big but they kept coming despite a rubber dingy going through. I did get a bonus fish in the form of a 12oz perch at the end of the swim at around 2 o'clock. By the time 3.30 came and the end of the match I knew I had probably beaten the seven pegs below me but what about the others upstream that I could not see.

I walked up to see the weigh in and there were two 4 plus kilo weights and I wasn't sure I had that. The scales confirmed I hadn't but I was third in the section of 15 with 3kg 650grm so happy with that.

My section results sheet

Back at the Hotel Sean had also come third in his section and Don and Chris finishing in a reasonable position as well. Top weight on the day was Kev Perry with a high 5 kilo, followed by Lance Tucker with 5 kilo plus as well, both Sensas Thyers (Gold I think).

We came 3rd on the day so good result on a river we have not fished before. Seansa Gold and Silver finished 1st and 2nd Both Sean and I picked up money so thats my third pick up in three weeks.

Next week is a Clevedon Club match on the Sedges (Brick Lake).

Sunday 4th October - Clevedon Club Match Avalon Fishery

It was unusual to have another Club Match immediately after last weeks one at Trinity but Avalon is another big Commercial Fishery with lots of options. A text message from Adie on the Saturday morning asking for more anglers concerned me a little as he has had to cancel at times this year at the last minute. I text him to see what the risk was but he assured me it would go ahead. Numbers would have been impacted by the start of the Viaduct Silver Fish League but on the morning we had 10 so not a disaster in the current climate.
Another cold start saw me put the bread in the bait bag again, if anything it was colder than the previous week with the car temperature showing 5.5 just as I passed the Burnham on Sea junction on the M5.
On arrival at the fishery we were unsure who was running it as Adie ad recently moved house so no doubt was still busy with that. Rob Fogg took charge and arranged the pegging with owner Vic Bush and we had all the left hand bank looking down from the car park. I held back one from last and drew 17 which doesn't really mean anything to me as I only fish the venue when the Club arrange a match.

Peg 17 with the mist still clearing at around 10:15.

No one was below me so I had an end peg and on 16 I had recent new member Matt Roden who came third last week.

Simple set up today, straight lead across, pole at 13 meters for banded pellet plus two other rigs for 9 meters, one silvers and another banded pellet in case carp moved in.

At the 'all in' I fed my 9 meter line with groundbait which also had dead reds, micros and hemp in it, 3 big balls went in and I left it to settle. I had the straight lead clipped up for just behind the island using banded pellet and intended to loose feed pellet on the 13 meter line while waiting for the tip to go round. The truth is I spent the first twenty minutes or so squirrel fishing loosing a couple of hooklengths before I got the hang of it. I was getting lots of indications every cast but only had two wrap rounds, landed one which was a small stockie of about 2lb. After just over an hour I gave up on the lead and decided to stick to the two pole lines. First put in over the 9 meter line with worm the float sailed away and a 2lb skimmer was landed after lauching itself out of the water, another couple followed before I hit into a carp which almost bottomed out the number 10 hollow elastic. It was a right munter, a big ghosty of around 10lb, happy days. Matt next to me was not doing too well and had the elastic come away from the connectors on two of his top kits, he also had a spell squirrel fishing with the pellet wag, but I did get one of his wags back for him as it came past me during the match. I kept topping up with groundbait and while it was settling took a bream of about 3lb on the banded pellet at 13 meters, I lost a couple as well as they flew out of the water after being hooked. 

The groundbait line was by far the best and I kept adding carp from it on the worm as well as banded 8mm. It was hard to say how the match was going for everyone else as I could only see the two pegs up above me and I was confident I had more than them.

Vic came down and done the weigh in starting with me.

Part of my 57lb 8oz, 8lb of which was silvers

Matt on 16 had 14lb 10oz.

On 15 was new member Mike Pickering who had a PB Perch last week had a good day.

Mike with his 40lb 10oz

Andy Deaveraux who won the Silvers looked to be in contention again with 10lb 7oz

3rd in the Charity Match a couple of weeks ago Paul Randall had 15lb of Silvers so went ahead.

Silvers wise Rob Fogg soon put a stop to that putting 18lb of quality skimmers on the scales.

My old mate John 'the duck' Wolstencroft had a good day mainly on the pellet waggler and on a peg he has drawn before and done well. I must mention that just before the start of the match John had a pair of swans and six signets behind him in a drain immediately behind his peg so he does attract the birds (feathered variety), please to say he did not hook any of them. John had to do a couple of weighs and it did take me three attemps to get his pic, here they are.......

Attempt number 1

Attempt number 2

Attempt number 3....almost but not quite

All joking aside John did great putting 83lb 8oz on the scales for first place.

1st    John Wolstencroft 83lb 8oz

2nd   Ivan Currie 57lb 8oz

3rd   Rich Heatley 42lb 2oz

Silvers

Rob Fogg 18lb

Full results as follows...

 

Next match for me is next weekend on the River Parrot which I have never fished before in the Somerset Teams of 4 League.