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.