Easter Weekend - Acorn Fishery and Gloucester Canal

Good Friday - Acorn Fishery Open, Paddock Lake

Fellow Clevedon Club Committee Member Rob Fogg organised this match in partnership with Mark Bartlet. They capped the entry at 27 and it was to me a friendly open with a few little trophies for the winners, the money was well spread out as well.
On the day of the match there were 3 no shows and as fart as I know they did not contact Rob or Mark to say they were not attending.
I fished this match because.... the wife was away for the weekend and I am fishing the Cadbury Angling Shop evening matches on a Thursday through May and June so wanted to get a feel again for the venue.
Ping Pong Ball 40 stuck to my hand and I was OK with this as it was a bridge peg which I have had before.
Maver Cadbury Angling Team mate Glenn Calvert was also fishing and happy with his draw which was peg 9.
Some of Marks carpy mates were also fishing using and not used to participating in a match.

my peg and the ''chickens come to Currie''

I had just brought hard and soft pellet with me and only set up 3 rigs, far, middle and margin, it does not get any more technical than that.
It was a really slow start with everyone looking around to see who was not catching (most of us).
My first fish hooked itself really as the banded pellet was taken by a fish right over against the far bank and it tore off under the bridge but I managed to get it back under control and net it fairly quickly.
The angler on peg 5 on the island opposite was getting a few fish now as was peg 4, it was still slow elsewhere.
Going into the second hour I had a couple more fish across but then had a foul hooker which I played to my right and started breaking down my sections as it tired. I put my number 8 and 9 section down at the side of the box and then had to turn to my right to prevent the fish going under the pallet on peg 39. As I turn my body my foot landed on my number 8 section and it smashed big time.
I had to fish the remainder of the match short and only added a few more fish loosing a couple of foul hookers along the way. I knew I had come nowhere.
Ben Hodder who was bagging on peg 5 only got credited with 27lb odd as he went over the 70lb net limit on his second net....he would have weighed 100 lbs.
That paved the way for Glenn on peg 9 to take the honours with 64 lbs.

I ended up with 26lb 10oz and felt I would have been there or thereabouts had I not broken my pole.

1st Glenn Calvert 64lb 10oz
2nd Kev Hewitt 62lb 15oz
3rd Dom Sullivan 55lb

Silvers...
Mark Bartlet 9lb 5oz

All the winners with Glenn centre, Easter Eggs also given

so.... broken pole section.

Glenn had a look to see if his diawa section would fit but it didn't.

I posted on Facebook to see if anyone could help me out.

Nigel Evans offered to repair it and bring it on Sunday as he was fishing the Gloucester Canal but he lives in Portcawl and I couldn't get over there.

Simon Hebditch of Sensas M5 organised for Ian Spanswick to bright me a spare no.8 section on the Sunday as he was also fishing the match.

I had a look at an old Maver Pole I had in the garage and blow me the no.8 section on that just about fitted perfectly so I was up and running.

But...what a great help via Facebook.

Easter Sunday - Gloucester Canal Teams of 4 Spring League.

15 Teams of 4 entered this league run by Diawa Gordon Leagues Mark Treasure and Dave Micklewright. We fished it last year and allow very hard enjoyed it, really friendly bunch from all over.

Our Team was Chris, Sam, Lewis and myself. The draw was at Gordon League Rugby Club and the Sections used where Hempstead to Rea.

The draw got under way and Chris came back with our pegs. I was on the upper section at Hempstead (H11), Chris had 49 (Hempstead bend), Lewis was somewhere further down at Hempstead below the New Cut and Sam down at Rea.

my peg H11 above Hempstead Bridge

3 set ups today.....

Tip across, 13 meters down the track top 5 deep, 11 meters to my right on the near shelf where it was top 4 deep.

F1 dark and leam for the pole lines and F1 dark for the feeder.

The bridge keeper was busy all day with a flurry of boats going up and down and the lock gates 19 miles away at Sharpness must have been opening and shutting as well as the tow was very strong but the 2 x 1.5 gram floats did ok.

I had a small blade on the tip quite early but on reflection did not give the tip long enough and lacked confidence using it as it is such a waiting game and your always wondering if there are any fish on the pole lines.

I did catch on both pole lines but they were small fish so kept trying the tip now and then. I had one good wrap around but did not connect.

At 14:00 with 1 hour 30 mins to go I decided to stick it out on the pole lines as the 2 anglers above me had done well on the tip so had no chance of catching them up.

This was a good decision as at 14:15 the float buried on the 13 meter line and it was bream on, a good fish around 31/2 pound. I added a couple more small fish and a bootlace eel.

I ended up with 4lb 12oz which was 8th in my 15 peg section so not a disaster.

me with my ''get out of jail'' bream

Sam text me to say he was off home and not going back to the results, he sent me his weigh board which shows how hard it was at Rea.

I met up with Chris who had done OK coming 4th in his Section with 14lbs, he had a good day and only missed out on some coin by 1oz.

Chris with his catch from peg 49, caught on the tip and pole

Lewis did not come back either as he had a bit of a mare with some anglers in his section blanking.

Here are the results......

Teams on the day...
1. DGL Gold
2. DGL Red
3. Preston Thatchers
4. Misfits
5. DGL Blue
6. Drennan Oxford
7. Sensas 88
8. Sensas Strike
9. Sensas Lobbys
10. GBV
11. Maver Cadbury Angling
12. Harescombe
13. Mix and Match
14. Maver Harescombe
15. Devizes

Top 2 individuals...
1. A Jones 35lb 10oz (bream on the tip)
2. L Stone 24lbs 10oz (bream on the tip)

The next round is 30th April but Glenn is standing in for me as I will be on my way back from Cuba.

Hope to fish the Feeder Canal in Bristol during the week.