Sunday 11th December - Bathampton AA Christmas Match, Bristol Avon and Kennet and Avon Canal

I found out about this match by chance last weekend. I just happened to mention to Dean Harvey at the end of last weeks match did he know if there was anything on the following week and he informed me about the Bathampton Christmas Match so I thought why not and booked in with Kev Dicks straight away. I was told you could fish the river or canal and there was also an option to enter a pairs competition. As I did not have a partner I just told Kevin I would fish the river.
Later on in the week I had a call from my Maver Team mate Lewis Walker asking if I wanted to pair up with him but he wanted to fish the river. I said ok so the canal it was for me.
After a late draw at the Crown Pub in Saltford Lewis was heading to a peg on the river at Newbridge at the top end of the straight and I was on my way to peg 1 just over the aqueduct at Dundas which is on the A36 the other side of Bath.
The turnout was not great with 10 on the river and 6 on the canal.
The canal anglers were Rich Lacey, Sean Townsend, Kev Dicks, Darren Gillman, Nicky Goodhind as well as myself (no mugs here then).
I had not fished this section of canal for about 25 years and thought the big beeches turning bay would throw up a bream weight, not so sure about the other pegs.
My peg did look quite ordinary and I was it between 2 boats with a concrete bank on the far side.
I had just set up when the guy from the boat to my left said he needed to move up a little towards me in order to make a bit of room between his and the next boat down to set up a stall as his wife was selling home made crafts and scarfs.
I told him there was a match on and we compromised meaning I only had to move up a few feet and had enough time to adjust.

my peg today

I had plenty of room on the bank but set up my rollers more or less in line with the canal as its a busy tow path.

Nice and simple today, one rig for straight across at 14 meters just up the far shelf, another for the bottom of the far shelf at 10:00 and 14:00 and a final one for down the middle, 10:00 and 14:00. Size 18 hooks for the far shelf rigs and a 20 for down the track, all to 0.10 fluro and 4 x 14 floats as the canal does tow a lot. The bait tray was the same as last week, squats, pinkie, maggot, worm and bread.

Rich Lacey was the only other angler I could see (peg 2). Rich called the ''all in'' at 10:30 and I fed my up on the shelf and bottom of the shelf lines with chopped worm, caster and squat, two pots of liquidised bread went in on my track line and this is were I started with 5 mm punch on the hook. not much happened straight away but I did catch a glance of Rich netting a fish, he shouted down it was a roach. 

I started lifting and dropping the punched bread and it brought a sail away bite connecting with solid 

resistance and that thump thump of a skimmer bream. It was a decent one at around 11/2 lbs but spat the hook out as I was trying to net it, not happy. I put in again and soon was playing another and did net it although a bit smaller than the one I lost.
The bread line came alive but only small fish obliged. The end of the first hour was nearing now and Rich said he was struggling, he also said the guys in the turning bay were also struggling.
Boat traffic was quite heavy and one actually stopped and moored up opposite me ending the option to fish up on the shelf. A group of guys got off and headed up the pub.
I fed the two bottom of the far shelf lines again and stayed on the bread for another 15 mins or so.
First look on my 10:00 line with double pinkie I had a good bite and bumped a decent fish. Back out again and hit another positive bite and ended up nervously playing a big perch with an audience of kids behind me. Safely netted it was around 11/2 lbs.  I rested the line and had a look on the other getting a couple of tidy 6oz roach. Word was others on the canal were finding it hard so given that the fish appeared to be responding to the chop, caster and squat I upped the feed rate and rotated the two lines at the bottom of the far shelf for the remainder of the match getting lots of small roach and more bonus perch on a full maggot.
15:30 came and I knew I had a tidy weight but after last weeks guessing game couldn't call it.
Rich said he had around 4lbs and he thought I had at least 8lbs.
The scales came down our way and top weight above us was Darren Gillman the other side of the turning bay with over 8lbs.

Darrens roach bag

Rich did weigh 4lbs plus so he was spot on. When I pulled my net out the guys were surprised at the size of my perch.
My total weight went 11lbs 7oz. Darren took these pic for me.

I had done enough to win the canal section but wasn't sure how Lewis has got on. Rich had told me earlier on that Dean Harvey was admitting to 40lbs of bream at Newbridge.

Back at the Crown Pub it turned out the river had fished really well with two 60lb plus weights. Lewis my partner had just over 10lbs.

Results as follows:

1st River - Warren Bates 66lbs 6oz including a 10lb 6oz barbel (peg 36)

2nd River - Dean Harvey 62lbs 8oz (peg 38)

3rd River - Derek Coles 27lbs (peg 18)

1st Canal - Ivan Currie 11lbs 8oz (peg 1)

2nd Canal - Darren Gillman 8lbs plus (peg 4)

Pairs winners...

Sean Townsend and Dean Harvey

Next week is the Clevedon Clubs Christmas Match at Acorn Fishery and I am giving it a go (not fished a Commercial for a year).

Sunday 4th December - Bristol Commercial House League Christmas Match, Kennet and Avon Canal, Bath.

I was unsure wether to fish this match due to family coming around in the evening but with youngest daughter home from London for the weekend ... she could assist my wife prepare the meal etc so booked in with Nicky the previous weekend.
Only 25 turned up for this match, I think a few more were booked in but due to the cold weather some had decided to stay under the duvet. There was a frost overnight so had to defrost the car at 06:30.
On arrival at the Rugby Club tucked into my favourite black pudding and sausage bap with brown sauce (its an acquired taste) and a tea. Wanted another tea but fishing on the town stretch in Bath with lots of walkers etc there is nowhere to pee.
Talk before the draw was that the Canal would be rock hard today and Kev Dicks turned up with bloodworm and joker that had been ordered by a few. It was good quality Polish stuff and some were very excited when they opened the little paper parcels containing them while having their breakfast.
I have used it a few times myself but done just as good with normal squats, pinkie, caster and worm.
Entry was £20 which included Xmas Fare prizes and Kev ran a £5 super pool which I entered.
I was about halfway in the draw que and when it was my turn I pulled out peg 7. Nicky told me it was   on the ''Long Pond'', I had no idea how to get there but after taking various bits of advice (some good, some ridiculous) i established that I needed to head for Pultney Gardens so Sat Nav it was.
Arrived no problem at all and parked up on the hill leading to the canal towpath. The road was white with frost and therefore very hazardous under foot.
It was only a short walk to the canal but hard to find the white peg card in the frosty grass (thanks Vince Lunn for your assistance).

 

my view towards Bath (bit frosty)

tunnel my left leading to a lock and Horseshoe pond

Nicky Goodhind passed me on her way towards her peg and said that my peg was where Nige Evans had 14lb odd the other week and peg 6 were young Cal was Tim Ford has his match winning 15lb odd. I said to Nicky its a different day today with the frost and clear bright conditions.
I had not fished this part of the canal before but was very please with the draw. There was plenty of room and far bank cover in the form of brambles.
3 rigs were set up today, a 4x14 for the track at 9 meters in about 4 foot of water for fishing the punch, same set up but for fishing at 13 meters at 10:00 and 14:00 just at the bottom of the far shelf in about 3 foot of water and a little chop float for fishing up on the far shelf about a meter out from the bank where it was around 2 feet deep. All rigs had 20 hooks and 0.10 fluro.
On the bait tray was red squats, pinkie, red maggot, worm and bread.
At the start I fed a small pot of liqqy bread and then cupped in chop and caster on the far shelf and fed my two other lines with squat and caster in a mix of black lake and noire.
Starting on a 4 mm piece of punched bread I expected the float to sail away. It didn't. Glancing down to you Cal on 6 he was already swinging in a small roach which he caught short on bread. I persevered but after 20 mins on the bread I had not had a single indication. Cal however had about 5 by this time!
I picked up my far shelf rig and put a fluro pinkie on, the float buried straight away and to my surprise it was a small chub of around 4 ozs. I took a few more chub on this line before it went quiet due to a boat coming down and the lock opening making the swim a bit like a jacuzzi with bubbles and whirl pools everywhere. I waited until the boat had come down and passed and re-fed all my lines. the bread line was fed with chop and caster with a few squats.
I started again on my 10:00 line where I took, dace, gudgeon, bull head, roach and perch but they were quite small but at least I was putting fish in the net. Young Cal was struggling now.
I took a look again on the far shelf and was soon back catching chublet's, a few were net fish as well.

It must have been around 13:00 ish when Nigel Wyatt came down the towpath for a walk from upstream (this is unusual). He asked how I was getting on and I said I thought I had around 8lbs. Nigel said that up above they were all struggling and he had only had a few bites but Jeff Surman in Horseshoe Pond had a couple of big chub (2lbs odd a piece). He walked on down to see the others and on return said others down their were also struggling.
After he went my peg switched off on all lines and for the remainder of the match I only caught the odd small fish which would cost me.
At 15:00 the ''all out'' was called and while I was packing up Mike Goodhind came down and said the favoured ''tunnels'' area was dire today and that an otter had now taken up residence which accounted for the poor fishing. his section was won with 5ozs!!!! The ''Richardsons wharf area had also fished poor for most.
The scales came up and Vince Lunn was the best in our area with 6lbs 13oz after that it was 2lbs 15oz.
My net went 5lbs 15oz, I had a lot of fish but the chub tend to be a bit hollow.

Not bad for a cold day

Back at the Rugby Club it was clear a lot had really struggled and i don't think that blood worm and joker made any difference.

Top 6 as follows:

1st   Jeff Surman 8lbs 11oz, well done mate

2nd  Shane Caswell 8lbs 4oz

3rd   Vince Lunn 6lbs 13oz

4th   Ivan Currie 5lbs 15oz

5th   Kev Dicks 5lbs 5oz

6th   Sean Townsend 4lbs 6oz

As they only paid top 3 I was just out of the main money but got my section by default plus 10 cans Thatchers, 18 cans of John Smiths and a big box of biscuits.

Followed by Christmas Dinner when I got home and few beers.

Back on the Bristol Avon next week at Newbridge for the Bathampton Christmas Match.

Sunday 27th November - Bristol Commercial House League Round 4 Bristol Avon Newbridge to Saltford.

I had only fished one of the 3 previous matches in this long standing league due to holidays and was looking forward to getting back on the river following the heavy rain and flooding last weekend into Monday. I had not seen the river but word was it was very clean with a bit of pace and a tinge of colour. The Newbridge section would be the place to draw today with bream the main target.
At the beginning of the week we were one angler short but Sam managed to convince Mark Thorne to come along and help us out. Mark is primarily a commercial angler and had not fished the river before. After captain Chris Hook sent the team sheet out in the latter part of the week it was quickly followed by another amendment with Steve Hutchinson replacing Sean Partridge. At least we had a full team of 6.
I did fancy the Norfolk Reeds area but Chris came back with the team draw and I found myself on F3 which is about halfway along in the section know as ''the trees'' at Salford and walkable from the Rugby Club where the draw was. Not too bad an area and usually plenty of roach.
When I saw the river for the first time I was pleasantly surprised. It looked very fishable and the pole would be an option depending on my peg.
Space between the pegs appeared to be quite generous although Thatchers Tony Gilbert was not that far away on F4 (I do seem to be drawing the same section as Tony, 3 times in the last 4 matches).
My peg was fine as far as pace of the river was concerned and a 3.5 gram float was able to cope along a crease on the bank side of the main flow at 11 meters. Depth was just over top 4 so I set two identical rigs up top 5. Yellow and red tipped float and a 5 and a 6 elastic. Two feeder rods also set up, dutch master with a 40 gram and my trusty drennan with a 30 gram. Both had wide gap 14 hooks to 0.15 power line.

At 10:00 5 balls laced with chopped worm, caster, hemp and squats went in on the pole line. I decided not to put any feed in on the feeder line (halfway across) until I saw how the pole line went. 

After a couple of trots down I had a 4 oz roach on double red maggot which was encouraging. I added a few more roach over the next half an hour and then topped the line up with another small ball of ground bait. A few better roach were caught and worth netting. Tony came up to see if I was catching and said he only had a couple of small roach so I knew I was ahead of him at this point anyway. Soon after the angler upstream of me came down for a walk and was admitting to around 2lbs. I think we were about 2 hours into the match. The fish seemed to be a little bit further out and down the peg more so topped up again with two small balls. I caught a few more decent roach on pinkie but it was painfully slow. 

I guess it was around 13:00 when I picked the tip rod up and filled there feeder with plenty of worm and caster and half a lob worm on the hook. I was re-casting every 5 minutes or so and missed a drop back bite after 20 minutes. Another bite came next cast and I connected with a solid force that slowly started to move. It turned out to be a decent skimmer bream about 2lbs or slightly less.

Regular casting and lots of chopped worm brought me two perch around a pound each over the next 11/2 hours. I did miss another rattle of the tip due to being distracted by a dog walker behind me.

I did have a look now and again on the pole line but decided to finish the rest of the match on the tip. 

5 minutes before the ''all out'' at 15:00 i had what looked like a slow pull on the tip. I hit it on the second indication and thought I had a bream but it turned out to be a tidy eel of a 1lb plus.

After packing the gear up I walked downstream to meet the scales. Lance Tucker had just weighed 7lb 9oz and the next best with 4 anglers still to weigh was 4lbs odd. I wasn't sure I could beat Lance.

Tony was next to weigh and had 2lb 12oz. I knew he had had a bit of a mare today as he kept swapping methods all day trying to find some fish.

When I pulled my net out I knew it would be close between Lance and I. It was, my net went 8lbs 3ozs.

Those feeder caught fish gave me the edge in a tough section

I caught up with the scales for the last two anglers who had struggled so my section win was confirmed.

F Section weigh board

Back at the Rugby Club the rest of the team met up. Chris won his section up at Newbridge with 13lbs of bream, Lewis was second in his section as was Steve. Sam and Mark had barely a pound each and finished bottom in theirs.

There were a couple of decent bream weights up the Newbridge end as I expected.

Individuals .......

1st    Rob Mann  60lb 13oz

2nd   Rich Lacey 35lbs 01oz

3rd   Paul Purchase 30lbs 12oz

Teams......

A Div 

1st   Thatchers B

2nd equal...M&N, Mosella A, Mosella B

5th  Thatchers A

B Div

1st   Sensas Nomads

2nd  Maver

Not sure about 3rd and 4th places 

Next Sunday back on the canal in Bath for the Commercial House Christmas match.

Sunday 20th November - Angling Trust SW Div Winter League, Kennet and Avon Canal Bath / Bathampton

This was the final round of the Angling Trust Winter League in the SW and was held on the town sections of Bath as well as 3 sections at Bathampton.
I was guesting again for Sensas Nomads who are a great bunch of lads and who take their fishing seriously. When I was asked to fish for them I did not think I would be able to make all the dates but I did and just going into this last match I was equal 4th individually, Rich Whitmarsh was 6th and a number of others in the team were in the top 15 out of 40 anglers, pretty good performance I would say.
As a team we were lying in 3rd place and had no chance of wining the league overall. The experience of Mosella Bathampton and Preston Innovations Thatchers was evident throughout the matches although we did upset the apple cart on the 5th round when we won the day by a convincing margin.
The town sections through Bath were the favoured area's to draw and I managed to be allocated peg D3 in an area known as the ''tunnels'' down stream of Darlington Wharf. I think the area is called Sydney Gardens. I had not fished this section before but checked my understanding of where to go before leaving the Rugby Club. I parked easy enough and headed down to Darlington Wharf, through the tunnel under the main road and then into what I can only describe as the ''Victorian'' past. It was very quaint and a bit like stepping back in time with little bridges and a park area. My peg did not look that spectacular but Paul Purchase who was on D2 told me he won a match off it the previous year with 14lbs of skimmers (apparently all caught in the first hour on bread).

 

You can see why the section is called the ''tunnels''

Due to the variation in with of the canal in this area and with the bridges and tunnels we virtually all had end pegs.  The towpath behind us was quite narrow so had to be careful due to the walkers and cyclist's. 

set up was simple for me today with just 3 rigs. Two identical rigs for down the track at 10:00 and 14:00 just in case I trashed one (4x14 to an 18 to 0.08) and one for halfway up the far shelf at around 11 meters (a drennan choppy float to an 18 to 0.10).

On the ''all in'' at 10:00 I fed a small pot of bread on the 10:00 line and a half pot of chop and caster with a few squats across.

Starting on a piece of 5mm punch down the track I had a bite straight away and missed it, this happened for the next 3 or 4 put ins before catching a roach around 2ozs.  I had quite a few of these fish on the bounce and as I glanced down towards Paul and Tom Moratti I could see that they were having a similar stamp of fish.

I suppose it was 30 mins in before I had a proper fish which pulled out the no. 3 elastic about a foot. a decent roach of around 8 ozs was the culprit and it was safely netted. Just as I put it in the net i could see Tom netting a decent fish as well.

I had a few more proper roach over the next hour before latching into a skimmer of around a pound....had they arrived? 

Well some did and I had about 5 of them, still on the 10:00 line. They were not big but most welcome.

The 10:00 line then slowed up so went across on the far shelf and managed a couple more tidy roach. A boat went through and seemed to have killed the line so I re-fed and went in on my 14:00 line which I had not fed. A small ball of ground bait and squats with pinkie on the hook soon had me adding more small roach. I had kept looking towards Paul and Tom every so often but they did not appear to be catching as much as myself.

For the remainder of the match I just keep swapping around all 3 lines and picked up fish throughout.

I estimated I had around 7lbs.

When the scales came to me they registered 8lbs 2oz which I was happy with and don't think I could have had much more from the peg. 

My 8lbs 2ozs (almost looks as if I am carrying out a bodily function).

Tom and Paul above me had 6lbs and 7lbs plus respectfully.

Rich Lacey and Nigel Evans were in our section but not in the ''tunnels''. They were at Darlington Wharf and had better weights of 9lbs and 10lbs.

My section board...well done to Nigel

Back at the Rugby Club the results started coming in and the section nearer the town had fished well and as expected. Tim Ford made no mistakes and took 15lbs from 'A' section winning the match overall.

Organiser Mark Harper showed me the section by section results and they would have put a lot of rivers to shame with double figures required to win most sections and good backing weights.

Individuals on the day.....

1st    Tim Ford 15lbs 12oz

2nd   Nigel Evans 14lbs 12oz  same section as Tim.

3rd    Mark Harper 12lbs 4oz

League overall....

1st    P I Thatchers

2nd  Mosella Bathampton

3rd   Sensas Nomads

4th   Jerrys

5th   Amalgamation

Over the series of 6 matches .......

Senses had 3 individual winners

Won a round on the canal

Approx 8 sections winners

We had a good few anglers in the top 1/3 individually

Certainly something to build on for next year and thank you for making me welcome.

Huge thanks to Mark Harper and those who assisted with pegging etc. I enjoyed it tremendously.

Wednesday 16th November - Pleasure session River Tone, Taunton.

Summary of 4 hour pleasure session as follows.....

Fished the free stretch near B & Q and McDonalds just off the M5 motorway junct 25.
Water was very low and clear but had some pace.
Pegs are limited this time of year due to the vegetation on the banks but chose a peg with a nice run in a small copse.
Only set up a 4 No. 4 stick float rig on running line.
Fed caster and hemp down the middle and used double caster or maggot on a drennan forged 18 hook to 0.11 power hook length.
Had bites all through the session ending up with approx 15lbs of Chub, Roach, Dace, Bleak, Perch and a Grayling. Best chub was around 3lbs.

The peg

Nice mixed bag

Hope to make more visits during the winter.

Sunday 13th November - Bill Milton Memorial (Poppy Match) Lower Bristol Avon

The 'Poppy Match' as its traditionally known has been re-named as the Bill Milton Memorial (in honour of Bill who ran this match before he passed away just over a year ago) and is held on Remembrance Sunday with all ticket money (£5) being donated to the Royal British Legion. In addition money is also raised and donated as a result of a raffle and sponsorship. It is a fairly unique event as anglers who generally fish for pleasure or at club level support the event alongside the regular river match anglers. It does draw anglers from across the West and South West of England as it is probably the biggest match on the Bristol Avon with 100 pegs.
Ray Bazley and his Team of helpers have been running the event for a few years now and they do a grand job.
The pegging was from Newbridge (Bathampton AA water) to the end of the Tree's and then from Swineford to the end of Jack Whites (Bristol and West Federation water).

A pegging guide was provided as a hand-out to minimise questions and save everyone crowding around a map.

I met up with Maver Team mate Sam Johnson and good friend Steve Vernon at the Rugby Club for breakfast and paid my £15 main pool, £5 super pool and bought £10 of raffle tickets. The draw was at 08:00 with fishing from 10:00 - 15:00. Just before the drawn Brian Lloyd from the British Legion read the citation and we had 2 minutes silence. Ray announced and confirmed that pike did count if caught by accident. Most anglers were favouring a draw at Swineford or Jack whites. I was about a third the way down in the draw que and was hoping I did not get a long walk today. Sam was a bit nearer the front and drew 68 below Bitton Brook which is a hell of a trek across 3 or four fields and kissing gates! Steve who was in front of me drew a couple of pegs above Bitton Brook.  I pulled out 24 which is permanent peg 51 at Newbridge which was a long walk but at least it was fence free.  I knew there had been some decent roach weights come out from this area in the Winter League so was happy enough.

I was at my peg by 08:45 so enough time to set up. Upstream of me was Thatchers Captain Mark Harper on 23 who has drawn in this area quite a bit lately.

The peg was comfortable with a lower piece of bank and allowed me to get down near the water with ample room.

I set up a feeder rod (never used all day), a crow quill for down the middle (never used all day) and one pole rig to fish 7 sections out, depth was just over top 4 deep with a 2.5 gram float to a drennan 20 maggot hook to .10 drennan flurocarbon hook length. 7 sections out there was a nice bit of flow and the bottom was clean, it did shallow up towards the end of the trot. 

The water was very clear despite the bit of rain we had but the flow was a lot better compared to previous weeks, it was a bright sunny day.

On the "all in" I put in 8 balls on the pole line. I had a right old mix of offerings in the ground bait which included...squatt, hemp, caster and chopped worm.

While setting up I had seen no sign of fish but first trot down I had a sail away bite and swung in a 4 oz roach. Off and on during the first 30 minutes more roach followed and then I hit something solid which stayed deep. I thought it was a bream. it stayed deep for a while and when I managed to see it I thought it was a trout but when it turned I knew it was a pike. The 5 elastic done its job and I managed to play it to the net after about 5 to 10 minutes. It had taken a single pinkie and was hooked right on the edge of its lip. How that 20 hook held I don't know, it was around 2lbs...happy days.

The disturbance did not appear to have spooked the roach and I carried on getting a few along with a small skimmer of around 8 ozs. 

I guess it was towards the end of the second hour when I was bringing in a small roach that pike number two had a go and it just kept hanging on. This was a much longer battle and at one point I think the no. 5 elastic bottomed out. It did make a dive for some nearside cover but managed to get it out and netted it on the third attempt. The small roach it had went for some how done a loop the loop around its mouth and snared it! So... I got the pike and the roach. the pike was decent one and worth having at around 5lbs. 

Just before the halfway stage Mark came down for a walk (unusual I thought) and said he had around 5lbs of roach.

I carried on fishing the same line all day putting in a few balls now and then and kept the fish coming at irregular intervals. I did loose another two pike with one completely clearing the water and shaking the hook out.

At the "all out" I was happy with my performance and had a days fishing if nothing else.

The scales started at 21 and each section was 5 pegs. 11lbs was best when it came to me, I knew I had more than that but there was another angler in the section below me.

My total weight went 17lbs 10oz, the pike were weighed separately and went approx 7lbs together.

My catch

The angler below me had been on the feeder most of the day and weighed 12lbs 14oz of small fish. In the next section Sean Townsend was in the highly sought after Norfolk Reeds peg and had a few bream for 23lb 8oz. Well at least I had won my section and it was thought I might also frame as word was the other parts of the river had not fished so well.

My section and the section below

It turned out the angler on permanent peg 36 (Newbridge straight) had 9 or 10 bream so that would be hard to beat today.

Back at the results I met up with Sam and Steve. Sam had done 14lb 12oz of small fish and Steve 7lbs plus. Sam thought he had been beaten by 1/2 oz for his Section but turned out he had won it.

Barbel had showed for a few anglers at Jack whites but not the dace, Swineford and the Crane had fished hard so I was hopeful of framing.

The angler who had the bream at Newbridge won the match but.....had not done the pools as he only pleasure fishes.

Results as follows:

1st   Terry Ellis,   32lbs 4ozs

2nd  Sean Townsend, Mosella Bathampton 23lbs 8ozs

3rd  P Knight 18lbs 9oz (barbel)

4th  Bill Knight, Legion Club, 18lbs 2ozs (barbel)

5th  Ivan Currie Maver 17lbs 10ozs

6th  Nigel Evans, Thatchers, 14lbs 121/2 ozs

7th  Sam Johnson, Maver, 14lbs 12oz

So and enjoyable and profitable day....

£20 section

£115 main pool

£70 super pool

Sam picked up in main pool as well.

and ... shed loads raised for the British Legion.

Next match for me is Sunday on the Canal at Bath guesting for Sensas Nomads in the last ATWL match.

Sunday 6th November - 5th Round Angling Trust Winter League SW, Kennet and Avon Canal (Waddon and Semmington)

So ...onto the 5th Round of the Winter League and I was continuing to guest for Sensas Nomads.
I had not fished the K & A Canal for 2 years or more and never fished the Sections for the 5th Round Match. The guys in the Team gave me some idea of the rigs to set up but I felt more info was needed so contacted Diawa Gordon Leagues Shaun Bryan who had been fishing an adjacent section in the Upper Thames Div Winter league and won his Section the previous week.
I had a good chat with Shaun who gave me some pointers and much needed advise which was greatly appreciated and gave me a bit of extra confidence.
The draw was at Spencers Club in Melksham and the Upper Thames Div were drawing there as well so it was a bit busy in the car park.
Mike Withey was captain today and came back with the draw showing me on D4 with parking at the Chicken Farm (so Currie goes to the Chicken)....not a clue where that was but followed team mate Rich Whitmarsh who was in F Section.
We travelled out of Melksham towards Trowbridge and the fields were still white with frost, temperature gauge on the car was showing -1 and it was a bright morning so going to be rock hard. Rich informed me I was in a good Section but the wrong end.
It was a fairly easy walk to the peg but the gap between the waters edge and the hedge behind was more or less the width of the tow path which is not good due to the runners, walkers and cyclists.
To be fair my peg looked ok when I arrived and I was able to set up using my large Rigger Platform with the long legs out into the water a bit giving me more room behind, this platform has been invaluable.

Peg D4

I set up 3 rigs...2 for down the track at 14:00 and 10:00 where there was around 3 foot of water, top kits had No.4 and No.3 elastic with a 4 x 14 and a 0.75 gram float, hook lengths were 0.08 and 0.09 to size 20 and 18 hooks. A small choppy float (0.5 gram) was set up on the third rig for fishing across in 18 inches of water with a 5 elastic to an 18 to target perch. I was ready about 5 mins after the all in.

On D5 I had Jerry Pocock and on D3 Nicola Goodhind who was right beside a barge. Upstream from Nicola was Tony Gilbert on D2 who I had just pipped the previous week and on D1 Shaun Townsend.

My bait tray had ...bread, caster, squats, pinkie, maggot and worm.

When I started the canal was towing left to right and I started on the 4 x 14 rig down the track and it wasn't long before I had a bite from a see through roach. I looked down to Nicola and she had her landing net out but could not see what she had. Jerry below me was catching the odd small fish 3/4 the way across as well so at least something was feeding.

45 mins into the match I lost a decent fish with the No. 4 elastic out about 18 inches, I thought it was a perch so feed a little worm (not too much). 10 minutes later I did have a perch around 8 oz which was very welcome and felt at this stage I was ahead of Nicola and Jerry. I rested my two lines down the track every 20 minutes or so and kept the small fish coming along with a few 4 oz skimmers. The line across on the far side produced nothing although in hindsight I probably did not give it long enough but that's Team fishing, I felt the risk of just sitting there watching a motionless float was not worth it.

During the day the canal towed quite hard at times in either direction and in a very cold spell when the sun went in it switched off completely. Jerry walked the bank a bit and made a few phone calls and told me everyone was struggling and I seemed to be doing ok but D1 and D2 had a couple of better fish and were admitting to around 3lbs.

I managed a run of small fish in the last hour on various baits fishing over depth and holding back hard and I was fairly confident I had more than Nicola and Jerry.

I had the board today and Jerry had the scales. Shaun had a net of small fish but a decent perch and his net went 3lb 3oz, Tony had less fish but better quality and weighed 3lb 13oz (bigger perch), Nicola weighed 9oz, her peg was a bit of a nightmare as she had to ship back over the tow path and more or less straight up into a high hedge. When I lifted my net out I thought i had the most fish so far and they went 2lb 14oz, Jerrys went 1lb 2oz. 

So a third in section, not a disaster and I thought nothing more of it.

my Section board.

Back at Spencers Club the team met up and were in jubilant mood. We had 3 win their Sections, 2 Section seconds, 2 Section 3rd and a 1 point for bottom (to be fair Brian Melksham should not have fished due to his injured back). It also turned out Jeff Sibley had won the match with 4lb 1oz and I was just last in the money with 4th picking up £70.

I have calculated that as a Team we picked up £330!

We also won as a Team on the day..... get in.

Our Team sheet

Results as follows:

Individuals on the day.....

1st   Jeff Sibley (Sensas Nomads) 4lbs 1oz

2nd  Tony Gilbert (Preston Thatchers) 3lbs 13oz

3rd   Shaun Townsend (Mosella Bathampton) 3lbs 3oz

4th   Ivan Currie (Sensas Nomads) 2lbs 14oz

Teams on the day.....

1st  Sensas Nomads

2nd Preston Thatchers

3rd  Amalgamation

4th  Mosella Bathampton

5th  Jerrys

Teams overall....

1st   Preston Thatchers

2nd  Mosella Bathampton

3rd   Sensas Nomads

4th   Jerrys

5th   Amalgamation

Oh and by the way......Shaun (Bryan) won his section again on another part of the canal...brilliant.

Poppy Match next Sunday so back on the Bristol Avon which will be low and clear.

Sunday 30th October - SW Angling Trust Winter League Round 4 Bristol Avon Newbridge

Guesting again for Sensas Nomads. There was a couple of new faces this morning as I think the Welsh contingent were on the Wye.
08:00 draw this morning due to the clocks going back and a limited breakfast at the Rugby Club due to them having a late one the night before.
Access to the pegs at Newbridge is uncomplicated with only two points and no fences or styles. The draw was on time (it always has been), Mark Harper runs a tight and efficient ship.
The table of results to date came round before hand and I was pleasantly surprised to find that individually I am lying joint 4 along with a few other anglers including Nomads Rich Whitmarsh.

Individual positions after 3 matches

Richard came back with the Team Draw and announced I was in A Section Peg 3 which is in the little field right hand bank upstream of the road bridge. I have never drawn there before but a couple of the guys said I would win the Section from that peg and gave me a few tips.

Parking was straight forward and a short walk to my peg. In my Section I had Tony Gilbert (Thatchers but fishing for Jerry's), Mike Goodhind (Amalgamation), Warren Bates (Bathampton) and Lee Trivet (Thatchers). All good river anglers hmmm.

My peg did look nice and I was able to get down in the water which makes a change after the high banks I have had in the previous weeks.

Most of the flow was on the far side but there was an awful lot of leaves coming down. I still set up a maggot feeder and a waggler just in case and two top 5 set ups fishing to hand with 1.5 gram and 1 gram floats. Depth on the pole was no more than 10 feet and covered the area were the flow was on my bank.

very comfortable thanks to my Rigger Platform

By the time I was ready it warmed up and I fished in a T Shirt all day!

On the ''all in'' I lobbed 8 big balls in on the 5 to 6 meter line full of chopped worm, hemp and caster. It took about 10 trots down before I got my first bite on red maggot which was a small Chublet around 3 ozs. The first 20 minutes was far from fast and furious but after that it was a fish a chuck or a bite most trots down for the first 3 hours. The flow on the nearside was varied due to the lock gates further upstream opening and closing for the boats, when the flow picked up bites were more positive. I thought I was doing OK but due to no bank walkers and limited vision I had no idea how anyone else was getting on but decided to stick to the pole line. I did throw in a golf ball sized ball of ground bait every 10 minutes which kept the fish in the swim but there was a fair bit of pike activity as well, One actually cleared the water and there were many swirls on the surface. Because I was fishing to hand I managed to get the fish out without any pike takes.

It was a glorious day and even a Hot Air Balloon was up.

I was glad when the ''all out'' was shouted at 15:00 as my arm was aching. I had a great days fishing catching Chublets, Dace, Bleak, Perch and Roach but only needed to net about 5 or 6 of them. I knew I was into double figures but not sure by how much.

Tony on A1 was first to weigh and he had a good net of quality skimmers and some big roach, I had nothing of the size that he had. His net went 17 lbs 1 oz and I thought I had not done enough.

Mike was next and weighed just over 7lbs.

I was next and when pulling my net out thought I had around 15 lbs. Lots of gasps when Lee called out 17 lbs 7 ozs 8 arms !

My 17 lbs 7 ozs 8 drams...busy day

Warren below me had a creditable 11 lbs plus and Lee who knew he was up against it from A5 weighed 8 lbs 7 ozs.

My Section Board

While loading the car Darren Gillman asked me what I weighed....I said 17lb 7ozs completely forgetting about the 8 drams. He said Tim Ford had 17 lbs 7 ozs 8 drams and this appeared to be the best weight on the match according to the jungle telegraph. It wasn't until Tim drove up to me and stopped that the penny dropped and I remembered my correct weight.

Back at the Rugby Club the other Team members had not so good a day.

Individuals on the day...

1st    Tim Ford and Ivan Currie both 17 lbs 7 ozs 8 drams (£160 each including £50 section money)

3rd    Tony Gilbert 17 lbs 1 oz

Teams on the day.....

1st    Bathampton

2nd   Thatchers

3rd    Nomads

4th    Gerrys

5th    Amalgamation

League to date.......

1st   Thatchers

2nd  Bathampton

3rd   Nomads

4th   Gerrys

5th  Amalgamation

5th Round next week on the Kennet and Avon Canal out Devizes way..been a while since I fished there.

Wednesday 26th October - Pleasure session River Kenn

Summary of the session as follows:

Fished 10:00 - 15:00
Peg 34 which is immediately above Strode Rd. Bridge in Clevedon.
River had a little bit of flow and was going in the right direction due to the high tide earlier in the morning.
The previous days rain had put a little tinge of colour in the water for the first time in months.
Bait was left over red and bronze maggots plus some 3 week old worm and about 1 kilo of left over ground bait from Sunday.
Fed 4 balls of chop and a few maggots at the start using the pole cup at 13 meters which is about mid way across the river.
Used my usual 1 gram float to 18 hook on 0.12 fluro carbon hook length, 5 elastic.
Had roach after 20 minutes up to 8 ozs.
First bream came after 2 hours and the other two around 13:00 and 13:30, roach came fairly steady in-between.
I had approx 10 lbs of quality roach and the bream averaged about 5 to 6 lbs each.
I used no more than about half a pint of chopped worm and approx quarter pint of maggot, all the ground bait was used.
Due to being on the river once a week now dog walkers are getting to know me and control their dogs a lot better, in fact they shout out hello and I have used them to take pictures of my catch.
This has been my best year on the Kenn since joining the Clevedon Club in 2008.

Sunday 23rd October - Angling Trust Winter League Bristol Avon, Swineford, Crane and Jack Whites Sections

Guesting for Sensas Nomads again today and my fourth Sunday on the trot fishing the Bristol Avon. During this period we have had no rain to speak off so to draw some where with flow is crucial.
After last week I just wanted a fairly easy walk and when the Team draw was done I was more than happy with A2 at Swineford (permanent peg 4).
When I pulled up in the Lay-by opposite the Swan Pub Dean Harvey last weeks winner with 40lb of bream from permanent peg 6 was already unloading his van. I did say to him ''you haven't have you" and with a raw smile he said ''yes'' then no. He did say to me when I told him what peg I had it would be worth a go.
A nice flat walk found me at my peg within about 15 minutes. When I looked at it I thought this is going to be difficult given the gradient down to the water and only a small ledge.
Apparently 12 lbs came off it last week on the whip and I was told to concentrate on this for team points. I set up the pole at ''top 5'' with a 1.5 gram float to an 18 hook on a fluro hook length. Depth on this line was around 5 foot. I also set up a tip rod and a crow quill set up on running line for down the middle (5BB).
For company on A1 I had Nick Johns who I thought would win the section if the bream did not show give the form the peg has had over the past few weeks and the class of angler on it. Below me on A3 and the bream peg from last week was Rich Lacey.
Due to the access to the water it took me all of the 2 hours to set up and get comfortable.

It was a long way down

On the ''all in'' 4 tennis ball sized balls went in on the 6 meter line and then 6 feeder full's of chopped worm and caster 2/3rds the way over. 

Starting off on the 6 meter pole it took a few trots down to get my first bite which I missed. The maggot came back just nipped. Same happened again time and time again in the opening 10 minutes. A switch to caster brought a sail away bite and a small dace and I mean dace was swung to hand. More dace followed in the first hour along with numerous missed bites. The dace were quite small so I upped the feed (hemp and caster in small nuggets of ground bait) and this seemed to bring on some roach although they were not big they were better than the dace.  I continued this approach for the rest of the match and never picked up the feeder or the crow quill. 

I did have about 5 net roach and the rest were swung due to the size.

I could hear Rich below me chucking the feeder out now and then and swapping to the float so thought the bream had not showed. I could not see Nick above me and still thought he would walk the Section.

By the ''all out'' at 15:30 my arm was aching. The flow had not been consistent due to the lock opening for the boats above us and the wind had been making presentation difficult off and on during the day. 

I had the scales...again and walked down to James Carty on A5 who had the board.

James weighed first and had a chub of around 2lb in his net of 11 lbs 8 ozs. Next to weigh was Glenn Bailey who had one of the most comfortable pegs I have seen a real armchair peg. Glen had 12 lb of quality roach to take the lead. Rich was next to weigh and I already knew he did not have any bream. That time spent looking for the bream cost him as he weighed 4 lbs 6 ozs.  I weighed next, I was thinking I had around 8 lbs due to the size of fish but was pleasantly surprised to register 10 lbs 5 ozs.

Prior to Nick weighing he said he had a poor day due to the flow coming back at him, I have heard all this before but he was not telling lies and weighed 7 lbs 7 ozs.

my 10 lbs 5 ozs

my section weights

So top 3 quite tight and beaten by anglers with either a bonus on quality fish. Should I have tried the tip? Don't think so and once again the Section was within my grasp (about another 10 fish).

Overall results as follows:

On the day....

1st   Andy Ottaway 25 lbs 4 ozs (Jack Whites)

2nd  Sean Townsend ...did not get his weight

3rd  Kevin Boltz 19 lbs 10 ozs

Teams

1st  Thatchers

2nd Bathampton

3rd Gerrys

4th Nomads

5th Amalgamation

League to date...

1st  Thatchers

2nd Bathampton

3rd Nomads

4th Gerrys

5th Amalgamation

Prior to the match I was lying 14th overall, hopefully I have improved on this after today.

Round 4 is at Newbridge next week and there is still no rain forecast.

Friday 21st October - Pleasure session River Kenn

Short session today...summary as follows.
Fished upstream of Strode Rd bridge 13.45 to 17.20
Very warm and bright, water still very clear, flow going the wrong way for most of the day.
Only had old bronze and red maggot to use up.
Fished 13 meters with usual 1 gram float set up on long line.
With the exception of 2 perch all the other fish were roach up to 6 ozs.
Last hour was most productive when the sun went down.
Ended up with approx 6lbs 7lbs which was good given the conditions and my bait over less than 4 hours.

lady who took the pic while walking her dog cut my head off

Quite a few anglers on the river today.

Tuesday 18th October - Pleasure session River Kenn

Quick summary of today's pleasure session on the River Kenn above Strode Rd.
Fished 1030 to 1500
Peg 38
Bright, sunny, windy.
Fished 13.5 meters with 1 gram float, 0.12 Fluor hook length to 18 hook.
Cupped in 4 balls of chop and caster at the start, topped up frequently with caster and hemp via pole cup only.
Fished floating red maggot or double caster for a 3lb tench and 12lbs of quality roach.

Sunday 16th October - Commercial House League Round 3 Bristol Avon, Swineford, Crane, Jack Whites and Fry's Sections

I seem to be spending a lot of time on the Bristol Avon at the moment but I do enjoy fishing it despite the ups and downs, highs and lows that the draw gives me. Up until the end of December I will be on it most weeks.
I missed the first two rounds of this league due to being on holiday and was looking forward to the third. A text from Captain Chris Hook in the week asked me to try and get another angler as we were one short. We do need more river and canal anglers in the team as we have struggled this year but where do we get them from... if anyone can help or if anyone is interested please let me know. Anyway a phone call to Clevedon Club stalwart Scott Smallwood soon had the gap filled, maybe he will come on board as he likes his natural venues. Full team was ... Chris, Sam, Lewis, Rob, Scott and myself.
With only a small amount of rain on the Saturday I knew it would not affect the colour of the river so could be hard going (again). Draw was done on time (08:30) so plenty of time to get to the pegs, with fishing 10:30 - 15:30. We did not have a great draw as a team.. peg 6. Chris and Lewis were at Swineford, Rob and I up the Crane, Sam at Jack Whites and Scott at Frys, we also had the scales.
My hike to C6 meant that I had to negotiate  two fences. It was OK as anglers gave each other a hand to lift the barrows over in one.
When I got to C6 I found I was up on a high bank again but the flow was at 13 meters so not too bad. An overhanging branch directly above me was just enough to stop my top 5 hitting it. Lots of line was hanging from the branch so another angler must have had a frustrating day.
Set up was very simple, 3 gram float on the pole as the flow was quite pacey, crowquill set up on the running line and a tip rod.

There was quite a bite of activity on the boat opposite as well as a young child shouting hello to me out of a window most of the day. More boats were moored either side of the one opposite, there is a whole community living on the river now and it appears to be increasing year on year.

At the start 10 Balls laced with hemp and caster went in at 13 meters and 4 down the middle. Beginning on the pole at 13 meters the float was just right for the pace of the river and I had a bite straight away and carefully swung a small chublet to hand watching the overhanging branch above me. I had a run of roach then for a while around 2oz to 3oz and then the light changed making it difficult to see the yellow topped float. A red pole top sleeve was put on which helped for a while but the light changed again and I was fishing blind again. 

I had a few runs through with the crowquill and had a few better roach towards the end of the trott before the bites dried up.

The sun had moved around a bit allowing me to come back on the pole and I added a few more roach, netters this time along with the odd perch. 

The second half of the match was a real struggle, the wind prevented me from fishing the crowquill properly and the persistent ever changing light conditions was a night mare. I did try the odd chuck with the tip across to the boat but not an indication at all.

I did do better than I thought I had and the peg was definitely worth a lot more on a duller and overcast day.

Here are the weights in my Section (A and B division).

So for the second week in a row I was ounces away from better points in my division!

The walk back was not good as I was last to pack up after doing the weigh in and had to break down the gear to get over the two styles.

Back at the results Sam had won his Section and Scott was second, the rest of us not good.

I had to rush off as my daughter was going back to London but here is a link to Tim Fords blog which gives his view of the match and results.......

http://cluckerspeg.blogspot.co.uk

Back on the same Section on Sunday fishing for Cardiff Nomads in the Winter League, pleasure fishing the River Kenn in the week.