I usually fish during the week and try to have a practice session on the venue I am due to fish on the Sunday but not this week due to injuring my back while assembling a steel table on the Wednesday. Lots of pain killers and deep heat didn't get me quite match fit but good enough as long as I took it steady.
We usually draw at the Stothert and Pitt Rugby Club which also offers parking and access to the bottom part of the river. It appears the Stewards have move on and no one is prepared to do breakfasts etc. Not to worry though as a new draw venue has been found....The Riverside Inn at Saltford. What a cracking spot and friendly helpful staff as well as the mother of all breakfasts for £5.
The Riverside inn
A quick glance at the ''Section Boards'' Kev had prepared suggested there were 50 plus anglers fishing.
From our Team there was only myself and Chris due to two being ill and others had family commitments, but full Team for next week.
The draw was at 10:00 with fishing from 12:00 to 17:00 to avoid the rowing boats which usually are around a.m.
The draw started on time and I was around halfway in the que but got pushed back a bit due to being edged out by another line lead by Lance Tucker who took not notice of the abuse directed at him.
There were a few new faces in the draw around me and it was obvious they had not fished this part of the River before as they were asking about directions for parking.
Chris was way ahead of me in the draw and came back into the due to let me know he had drawn peg 3 in the little field at Newbridge, apparently 30lb plus came off it the previous week so he was off bream chasing.
I drew 79 which was not too bad as far as I was concerned, wouldn't have minded 74 but with a warm day forecast there may be the chance of idiots jumping off the old railway bridge into the water next to it so happy with my lot.
We were still able to park in the Rugby Club grounds for this Section, without this facility I can't see how you could access the water, good news.
It was a steady walk to the peg and I was able to get down in the water and set up my ''rigger platform''.
Peg 79
I could see most of the flow was just short of 13 metres out and it was quite steady so selected a 2 gram float to plumb up with and found it was about top 4.5 deep, a couple of run throughs and the float was spot on for running through and I had a 18 tubertini series 2 hook to 0.12 drennan fluro. I decided to keep the same line for my second rig and set up a 4 gram flat float to nail the bait on the deck and hold back hard with a 16 tubertini series 18 hook to 0.11 power. Finally a tip rod with a ''window feeder'' for fishing across although a couple of ''open enders'' were on my bait tray just in case.
The water was surprisingly clear so I added some black lake to my sensas match, gros gardons and brown crumb along with a little mole hill soil due to the depth. The mix felt great and I split it in half adding a good portion of hemp, caster and a big pinch of dead reds. I had plenty of worm but decided to hold back at the start until I saw how the match progressed.
I wasn't quite ready at the ''all in'' but around 12:05 lobbed in 10 big balls of ground bait on the pole line. They were solid and went in with a thud!
Picking up the 2 gram rig and at the end of the first run though the float sailed away and a roach of around 3oz was swung in. Noise does not bother them at all and the float buried every run though for the first 90 minutes. The roach were not massive but I was putting weight in the net. Then the pike moved in and I lost a few fish having to replace hook lengths. I topped up every now and then with small gold balls of ground bait. Sometimes this does not work but it did on this occasion and I started catch small hybrids, lovely little fish as well as the odd chublet. The chublets were a nice size but due to them being virtually hollow took up more room in the keep net rather than add weight.
I had a nice skimmer around 15:30 and went on the flat float with worm but no joy, false alarm and was soon back on the ''run through'' rig and added a decent perch of around 12oz.
A couple of bank walkers suggested the bream were not showing up at Newbridge with the best being 2 bream and most anglers admitting to around 7lbs.
I had a quick look across on the tip and managed a few small chub as well as hybrids but the rattles were hard to hit so was soon back on the pole adding 2oz roach.
All in all I had a great days fishing with bites galore, just a pity they were not a bit bigger. when the scales came to me they said what I thought I had, a low double figures and registered 13lb 9oz.
My catch
Above me there was a 16lb and a few pegs below there was a 20lb of roach and an 18lb which included a 5lb bream.
Back in the car park most anglers had 7 to 8lbs so the river fished brilliantly for small fish. Chris phoned me and said he weighed 12lb 9oz from peg 3 which included a 5lb bream on the pole. He also said Dave Micklewright had 15lb of roach in his Section.
Due to it getting late I didn't go back for the results but believe a low 20lb won the match.
Looking forward to next week and hopefully completely match fit.
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