Tuesday 24th May - Pleasure session Gloucester Canal Purton

I had been thinking of paying a visit to the Purton section of the Gloucester Canal for a couple of weeks as I had seen reports of some good catches and know from speaking to team mate Lewis Walker that the area around the old Log Ponds is particularly good for bream.
I got some more information from Shaun Bryan at the match on Sunday concerning the exact location and what to use etc. I was told the area is very popular with pleasure anglers and some of the carp boys so set the alarm for 05:30. I actually woke up at 05:24 so straight out of bed and freshened up and was heading out the door at 06:15 stopping in the local garage for a Gingsters and a drink.
I arrived in Purton just after 07:00 and parked where Shaun had told me, right by the second swing bridge (downstream). Access is straight onto the tow path but was not sure how far I had to walk as apparently on match days you can drive along the canal a bit to a parking area. I suppose it was about a 20 minute steady walk before I could see some red marker buoys in the distance indicating were a sunken barge was, i knew by reading up on the area that this sunken barge was in-between the two old Log Ponds so nearly there.
Shaun had recommended fishing by the first pond if I could. I soon got to it and there were no other anglers around. A well worn swim told me that i should fish in that spot and I could see that a bivvy had flatted an area of grass on the other side of the tow path.

I was sat to the right of the first Log Pond, these ponds were used for storing logs off the barges after entering the canal from Sharpness Docks on the Bristol Channel (Severn) before being transported up to Gloucester). There were boards across the front of it stopping boats from entering.

It did look nice with the reeds and the lily pads.

In this photo you can just about see the red marker buoys further down identifying were the sunken barge is.

I had my pole and two feeder rods with me but decided to just set up the one Feeder Rod to see how it  went. I had a pint of caster, almost a half pint of pinkie and red maggot, tin of hemp and about a quarter kilo of worm. I dug out a 2kg bag of fishmeal ground bait from my store at home as Shaun recommended I use this. 

I mixed it up on the bank as I had all day. 

Feeder set up was simple, 6lb main line, 12lb shock leader, 25 gram cage feeder, 0.13 hook length to a forged drennan 16. Plumbing up with the straight lead it was not that deep across so decided to clip up about 12 feet this side of the lilly pads were it dropped off a bit.

I was ready to fish by around 08:20.

I baited up with two half's of a large dendra worm and waited 5 minutes, nothing, so recast, just as i was about to reel in toward the end of the second 5 minutes the tip literally flew round and I connected with something solid and we parted company within seconds. When I reeled in the hook length had been broken. I believe it was a big carp so stepped up to 0.15 hook length and a forged 14 hook. About 15 minutes passed when I got a drop back bite on the tip, I hit it and I knew it was ''bream on''. it put up a strong fight and when it cam to the top I could see it was a big old beast of around 5lbs and deep, deep bronze.

Another good fish followed almost immediately and at around 4lbs. 

There was a nice bit of colour to the water and I could see a couple of brown shallow bars when the sun hit the water in the area i was fishing. It was not weed so not sure what it is. I had a run of perch over the next hour, not bad fish and at about 5 ozs a piece they would be very welcome in a match. 

I was casting about every 10 minutes now as I like to be busy and need to draw fish into the swim. At around 10:30 I had a run of good skimmers averaging about 2lbs followed by a nice hybrid which turned up about 11:30.

From this point I left the worm out a bit longer and my patience was rewarded with more big 'daddy' bream. I had varied the hook bait adding caster, pinkie or maggot to the whole dendra and swapping around seemed to have worked.

I also caught a nice tench (my first one from the Gloucester Canal) and it put up a great scrap, it was around 3lbs.

In the end i had a good last hour before calling it a day at 14:30. I managed to get a cyclist to stop and take a few pictures, they are ok and gives you some idea of the quality of the fish.

My tench

One of 12 bream

Total net full, did not want to spread them out as it was too hot.

So in summary......

12 bream

5 skimmers

1 tench

1 hybrid

8 perch

50lbs to 60lbs in total.

I did not fish hard, it was a pleasure session and I am sure I could have done better if i had really got my head down.

If you want to fish this venue, day tickets can be purchased on the bank at £4.50 if you get approached.

To find the parking at the venue postcode for Sat Nav is GL13 9HU. Please do not drive down the private road, park by the bridge.

Sunday 22nd May - Teams of 4 Gloucester Canal final match.

This has been a well supported 'Spring League' on the Gloucester Canal with 16 Teams of 4 taking part. Different Sections have been used for each match with the first one starting at Hempstead and the final one today ending up from Saul Junction and below to Splatt.
There have been good weights throughout the matches but there also have been some awful area's resulting in blanks for quite a few anglers. Due to family commitments I have only been able to fish two out of the four.
Personally I like the Gloucester Canal even though it's very peggy and if your not on the bream at this time of year then it can be a very long 5 hours. I have not fished it that much over the last couple of years and when I did it was for the odd 'open' or Super League match but I am picking up a fair bit of information as I go so hopefully it will stand me in good stead for the future.
Todays Team was Chris, Sam, Sean and myself and we all met up at the Gordon League RFC for the draw. As a Team were were near the end in the draw and Chris came back with 465 for me which was at Saul Junction an area that I had fished before plus there was plenty of parking. Due to most have to drive 7 plus miles and some long walks the fishing was 11:00 - 16:00.
I got there in plenty of time and parked up alongside Shaun Bryan who recognised me from my Facebook posts and this Blog. Shaun was on 462 and said we might be just in the bay. That's what I was hoping for as last year anyone above 460 (back towards Gloucester) struggled.
I got to my peg and was pretty happy, not in the middle of the bay but in a wide enough area. On my right was Gary Cross on 463 (Sensas Thyers 88) and on 464 was Sensas Strike rod Mark Jones who won the last match with 30lbs odd of bream.

I had a big willow opposite which would act as a marker for the feeder, i intended to start of with bread as it has served me well before on this canal, a just under top 5 deep rig 14 meters in front of me and a just under top 4 rig 11 meters at 2 o'clock.

When the all in was called 4 big balls containing chop worm and caster were put in on the 14 meter line and 2 containing dead pinkie and chop on my shorter line.

Most anglers who fish the bread give it and hour and I intended to do the same. A double 9 mm punch went not a 16 forged hook to 0.11. I had clipped up 2 meters short of the far bank. Leaving it no longer than 5 minutes before recasting I had my first bite 15 minutes in and missed it. Same again next cast, they were only small twitches so guessed they were roach. I did hit the next small bite and netted (just in case) a roach of around 4 ozs, at least I was not going to blank which is a real possibility here. Mark to my left soon had a bream so there were some around. About 11:45 the bread went in the bag and I filled the feeder up with chop and caster and put 2 dead fluro pinkies on the hook. Not long after casting Gary shouted up to me asking if I had caught yet, I said a small roach and looked down at the tip to see it slowly going around. The bite was hit and I had a bream on. it was carefully played in the deep water and it was a relief to net it. Bit of a scabby fish that had not long finished spawning and at around 4lbs, nice one.

Looking up and down the bank as you do to see what's happening I turned towards Gary whose rod was bent just as a boat was passing through, he did have a bream on but it came off near the net and his re-action was predictable. He actually lost another 2 straight after.

To my left I could see the odd fish being noted across about 4 pegs so it was starting to get interesting. 

I added a small skimmer about 4 ozs along with another roach before trying the short pole line at around14:00. First put in the float sailed away but did not connect. Second and third put in's gave me two small perch about 4 to 5 ozs each on dead red. i had a look on the 14 meter line but nothing. from around 14:30 I decided to stick t out on the tip as Gary had caught a few bream and Mark added another.  40 minutes from the all out the tip flew around ( I had half a dendra on) and I was soon playing another bream. This one was a little smaller and too came to the net. Well that was it for me, I guessed I was out of the coin but would get good Section points.

After packing up I caught up with the scales heading my way at peg 463 to see 5 bream for 20lb 5ozs which was the best so far. Next to weigh was Mark on 464 and I was surprised to see his 4 bream weigh 9lb 2oz, I thought he had more than that.

I was next and my couple of bream and bits went 8lb 14oz.

Result of my efforts.

Gary ended up with over 12lbs but those 3 lost fish cost him.

As expected the whole Section was a mix of results with the early numbers failing to find bream as I thought they would. In terms of my position I was a credible 5th.

After making a few phone calls to my Team colleagues it was establish that Sam had a couple of skimmers, Sean had a bream and Chris had blanked so we all headed home instead of going back up to Gloucester. Gary had said Lance Tucker had caught 8 bream so I guess he would have won the match individually. 

Diana Gordon League were holding the top tow positions going into the last match and I would be surprised if this had changed much.

Going pleasure fishing somewhere Tuesday and then back to the Bristol Docks Thursday evening.

Thursday 19th May - Bristol City Docks evening 'knock up' Baltic Wharf

This was my 4th time fishing with the Bristol City Docks Match Group. We were a few short due to some being on holiday but it's an evening out with like minded people and I continue to be impressed with the venue.
Most of us got there well before the 18:00 draw on the dockside so we were heading to our pegs a little earlier than usual. I drew in the middle, peg 18 and was fairly happy with that given the weights that have been coming from this end. There was a couple of boats moored up so peg 20 was put in for a change and apparently it's a bit shallower than the others.
I have not been on the docks any other evening but Thursday nights is a bit busy on the water with small sailing boats, rowers, paddle boarders, the ferry and the tourist boat.

A lot of people use the facilities in Bristol City Docks

By 18:30 everyone was ready, I had two top 5 rigs set up with 2.5 grm floats, one a yellow top the other orange to cope with the light conditions. It was dry at the start but fine horrible rain came in as forecast later. Not much of a tow either way tonight but the surface of the water changed from choppy to calm to choppy etc. To be fair to the guys they have been giving me advice on how to fish the venue but I have still not cracked it. A few evening sessions on my own is needed to sort myself out.

I put plenty of caster in at the start via 5 big balls of ground bait. I had a small roach first put in and missed a few bites straight after, it looked like dace were snatching at it on the way down. I fished probably 11 to 12 meters all night and only ended up with 1lb 8oz which was disappointing although Dave Clutterbuck next to me on 17 also struggled but weighed in around 4lbs despite both of us altering the depth during the three and a half our session.

I could see Merv Sivell up on 16 adding good fish now and again and Pete Ellis next door on 19 had a cracking bream around 21:00 just before we put the spotlights on.

On the night Dave Willmott on end peg 20 had a cracking session weighing in 12lb odd of mainly perch using maggot over hemp and caster at 5 meters to take the money.

1st    Dave Willmott 12lb 1 oz

2nd   Merv Sivell 11lb 1oz, good mixed net of 2 bream, and a big perch that went 2lbs.

3rd   Pete Ellis 9lbs 14oz (including a 4lb bream.

Merv with his 2lb perch..... looks like they both have the same facial expression.

Looking forward to next week and I must not fish so far out (like they told me!).

Gloucester Canal on Sunday for the last match of the Spring Series, think we are at Saul Junction.

Monday 16th May - 7th visit to the Bristol Feeder Canal

After sorting my fishing gear out on Sunday I was keen to get back on the bank and particularly on this fantastic venue. Usual early rise to get parked and was in my chosen swim by 06:45. I had to mix the ground bait up from scratch so after sorting out two rigs for fishing the track (12 meters out) as well as setting up a light Feeder Rod I did not start fishing until just after 07:45. I was in Central Bay again so was hoping for a few bream today.
I adopted a positive approach and cupped in 6 big balls with plenty of caster and hemp and left it to settle. Starting off with a small cage feeder with liquidised bread and a big piece of flake on a 14 cast into the bay and about 2 meters from the brick wall of the far bank i intended to give it an hour re-casting every 5 minutes.
20 minutes in I had a big drop back and hit it. At first it did not feel that big but by half way across the fish started to resist and I could see it was a decent skimmer of around 2 lbs as it came near the surface. Happy days I thought but apart from a few rattles that was it on the tip.
The sun became quite bright an hour in and the reflection of the corrugated wall of the warehouse opposite made it difficult to see the float, red or yellow top it did not make that much difference, to make things worse my eyes started to water.  The sun eventually moved around after 20 minutes and the eyes dried up. I had been striking at odd dips of the float and did manage a few dace on maggot but they were not very big.
I decided to re-feed and this brought instant results in the shape of a roach around 1lb 4 - 6 ozs. More roach followed falling to single or double caster and holding back slightly in the slow tow towards the City.

My best roach

Switching hook baits between caster and maggot I kept the fish coming for the next couple of hours. I  then had a visitor in the shape of Tony Rixon from Veals who had come down to have a look to see how I was getting on, I know he has been following the posts on the Feeder with keen interest. While Tony was there I did not catch that much but he could see how the fish were responding once ground bait was cupped in.
About an hour after Tony went team mate Ian Hudson came down while he was passing through the area. I did catch quite well while Ian was there and he was keen to have a go himself so we are arranging an outing in the near future.

Just over 12lbs in total

Next outing is Thursday evening on the Bristol City Docks 'knock up' then Gloucester Canal on Sunday.

Saturday 14th May - pleasure session DURLEIGH Res near Bridgwater

Did not decide to fish today until late yesterday afternoon. I had more than a pint of caster in the bait fridge along with half a pint of red and a tin of hemp, the compost heap provided plenty of red worm.

The Reservoir does not open until 8 am so half a breakfast on the way down the M5 in the Services. On arrival in the car park at the venue there were about 8 vehicles and after going up to the Lodge to get a day ticket (£7.50) I noticed there where a few swims across on the far side so made the decision to fish the first one immediately at the end of the dam wall.

On the way across a Canada Goose mum was out with her two chicks.

It did not take long to set up as I only intended to fish the Feeder. Ground Bait was a Sensas Lake base with Sensas Roach and Brown Crumb to bulk it out a bit. I also soaked some maggot to make them floaters for the hook. The peg was just as I like it and was able to get down in the water.

I clipped up at a distance of about 50 yards picking the flag pole of the sailing club as my marker. You would think it would be fairly deep near the dam but I had no more than about 6 feet. First chuck with a feeder full of caster and hemp I had the rattle on the tip indicating small fish attacking the bait. I hit it anyway but did not connect. The second cast was more successful connecting with a small skimmer of around 4 ozs.  This continued for about 30 minutes and I decided to put 3 casters on the 14 hook which resulted in a nice steady pull round of the tip and I hit what I knew to be a bream. It was soon netted and a nice fish of about 3 lbs. There was a nice ripple on the water which was helpful as it was warming up a bit with the sun coming out behind the decreasing clouds. 

Bringing in a small fish the line went solid and I had a pike bite through the line after a short tug of war. This happened another 3 times during the 6 hour session (never had this before at the venue).

Fed up with small fish I put a double red worm on and this brought me another slow but sure pull around. Connecting with the fish it held bottom for  few seconds and then just moved very slowly. it felt a heavy fish and took its time to co-operate with me. When I got it near the net I could see its was a decent bream of between 4 and 5 lbs. Netting it I could see it had just finished spawning as it was very scabby and rough. 

Swapping hook baits and compressing the ground bait more in the feeder brought me a few more skimmers and decent roach up until about 13:00 and then the ripple went leaving the surface flat calm.

Decent fish were hard to come by but I kept adding 4 oz roach and skimmers up until 15:00 when I ran out of caster.

There was no one close by to take a pick of the catch so had to make do with this shot after putting them in the landing net.

Some more outings next week before the Bristol City Docks 'knock' up on Thursday and Gloucester Canal match on Sunday.

60th Birthday - how did that happen!

Well there was no fishing over the weekend and so far this week due to my 60th Birthday celebrations. What a great few days it was to with a couple of days in one of my favourite locations this side of the Irish Sea, the Brecon Beacons.
Great family and friends meet up for a meal and a few beers.

Love the cake as well which was made by a local lady in Nailsea where I live.

Bristol City Docks 'knock up' tomorrow night (Thursday), at least it will only be dark for an hour now the nights are drawing out.

Angling Times featured the Bristol Feeder Canal this week with yours truly.

Tuesday 3rd May - 6th visit to the Bristol Feeder Canal

With a fair bit of left over bait from Sunday it made sense to use it up fairly quickly (that's my excuse for going fishing) and head for this prolific little venue which just seems to get better and better as the weather improves.
The usual early start to get parked was necessary and on the way in the roads around Bristol seemed quieter than normal, I guess it was because of the Bank Holiday week. Feeder Rd which runs along the length of the Canal was less busy as well but the skies above Central Bay where I decided to fish were not.

I had my usual 2 top 4 1.5 grm rigs set up, one with a yellow top the other with a red. In addition I brought my 10 foot Puddle Chucker Feeder Rod to fish the bread into the bay for the first hour. My ground bait mix was much lighter today, just Sensas Lake and fine Black Crumb not mixed too wet as the tow was very slow toward the City Centre.

I cupped in 5 large balls down the loaded with a few pinkies, caster and hemp and began on the bread with a very small cage feeder. I did get a pull around early but did not connect, other than that it was just small knocks.

Going down the track with the pole at around 08:20 I was surprised I did not get a bite first time but after a few runs I cupped in a small ball and that was it, the bites came and had a roach of around 4 ozs for my first fish. I was doing well putting lots of fish in the net. At around 09:30 I hit what looked like a dace bite and the No.4 elastic came out at pace, a good skimmer was on and i took my time bringing it to the net, lovely jubbly. The next two put in's I am sure I bumped another couple (bit like last week). 

I upped my feed and better roach came on, I had roach up to 10 ozs. it must have been 11:15 fish when I had my second skimmer and slightly better than the first one, it put up a good fight and I had an audience behind me on the pavement (no pressure). It was safely netted and you could tell it was ready to spawn.

More roach and dace followed along with a perch of around 6 ozs an a big ruffe. 

At around 12:15 I heard a shout behind me '' hows the luck of the irish'' and turned to see an old colleague, Mike Endicott with his grand daughter. Mike came down along the path and sat with me until I packed up at around 13:15.

I pulled my net out for Mike to take some pictures and we bot agreed I had close to 20 lbs.

Here are the pics Mike took, not exactly David Bailey quality but gives you some idea of the the quality of the fishing at this much ignored venue.

Bristol City Docks Match on Thursday night, need to get a better light set up (job for tomorrow).

  

Sunday 1st May - Gloucester Canal Open Castle Section

I had a call from Team Captain Chris Hook at the end of the week informing me there was an Open on the Gloucester Canal this Sunday and did I want to fish it. Chris and Lewis were going up to practice for the Spring League Match next week (I am away so cannot fish). I do like the challenge of the Gloucester Canal and confirmed I would go.
Draw was in McDonalds Bristol Road Gloucester so met up with the guys for a breakfast wrap and coffee.
None of us had fished the Castle stretch before and we were not sure were to go after the draw. Normally postcodes are given to aid those unfamiliar with the Section parking but we had to rely on locals to guide us in. As there were only 24 fishing today there were two parking locations either end of the Section.
DGL organiser Mark Treasure was paying 4 Sections of 6 and top 2 overall. Lewis was pretty near the front of the draw que while Chris and I were toward the back. Lewis came back not very happy with his draw, it did not make any difference to Chris and I as we had no idea which pegs were good or bad. I drew 381 while Chris pulled out 375 so we were both at the same end. Fishing was 10:30 - 15:30.
Walking to our pegs back toward Gloucester we passed a few pegs which where in a wider part of the canal and two bays. Where Chris was headed locals said good bream weights came from his area at the same time last year.
My peg, 381 had plenty of room and about 5 empty pegs to my left and 2 to my right due to moored boats on the far bank.

My plan to toady was very simple, pole line at 11 meters and top 5 deep (due to the stiff breeze). Cupped in 4 balls of chop and caster with a few dead reds and left it for 90 minutes starting on the bread with the Feeder casting about 3 meters short of the far bank.
I did not let the Feeder stay out too long and was re-casting every 10 minutes. I had a few small knocks on the tip at around 11:00 which was encouraging but they were not positive. 10 minutes later I had a positive slow pull and connected with what I knew was a bream. It was soon netted and was around 2 lbs plus (big skimmer really). Happy days I thought but no more indications in the next couple of casts. Just as I was thinking of trying the pole line the tip rattled and I though what the hell hit it I was rewarded with a skimmer of around 1 lb. I gave it another 15 mins on the tip but nothing. Going on the  11 meter line the float just sat there motionless but I stuck with it trying various hook baits. I had a few dips but did not connect with anything.
By 13:00 I was back on the tip with chop and caster and did try various hook baits but nothing at all.
Going back on the pole after 30 minutes the float sailed away and I hooked a small eel, but most welcome. That was it for me.
Looking up and down as far as I could see during the match there did not seem to be that much action.
Anglers who had the weigh scales walked passed me to start at peg 374 and then come back down. When they came back to me my 2 fish and the eel went 3 lbs 8 ozs the best so far ( at this point I did not realise I had won the Section).

My Section winning bag (lol)

Chris caught up with me a said Lewis had gone home not weighing while he had 1 lb 12 ozs.
We walked down toward the parking area catching up with the scales to see Shane Williams put over 20 lbs on the scales with 3 bream and 2 big tench. Shane caught on the Feeder with hardly anything in the ground bait.

Shane with his catch.

Heres how the 2 Sections at my end fished.

As Chris and I were waiting for a Bridge Swing in order to head home Mark Treasure phone to say I had won my Section and he would keep the money and give to Chris for me next week.

Shane would have won the match overall with his bream and tench bag.

Well not sure where to fish Tuesday or Wednesday but Bristol City Docks evening match on Thursday.