Saturday 30th December - Clevedon FWAC Blind Pairs, Paddock Lake Acorn Fishery, Kingston Seymour

So it was on to the last match of the year and one I always look forward to .... my Clubs ''blind pairs'' match. In years gone by it used to be held on Boxing Day but recently its been held on the first weekend after Christmas usually Sunday but as the first Sunday was New Years Eve Adie scheduled it for the Saturday. Not sure if this affected the numbers but only 10 attended.

Draw was 08:30 at the Fishery and Adie was able to put pegs in which were less affected by the strong winds although they did reduce during the day from an initial 45 mph.

We had to draw our pegs first and I was well pleased with 34, a bridge peg which usually produces. Then we had to dip into another tin and draw out a peg with a number on it. Two No.1's, two No. 2's up to 5. So both anglers who drew the same number would form a pair.
I was teamed up with all round nice guy Mike Pickering who drew peg 21, another bridge peg. Well pleased with that.

My peg 34 and sheltered from the wind.

On the other side of my bridge was Matt Roden on 35 who was paired up with Mark Walsh who more or less lives on the venue.....and does very well.

Three rigs today, one for dobbing bread along the middle of the bridge with the option to also fish full depth if required against the bridge or down the track in front of me, bottom of the far shelf full depth or shallower with bread and finally a right hand margin rig for the end of the bridge.

We were fishing 10:00 - 15:00 and on the all in I started on the bread 6'' off the bottom in the middle of the bridge, I fed nothing anywhere else to see how it went. 

Lifting the 6mm punched bread up and down slowly after a few minutes produced no indications at all until 20 minutes in when the float shot under and I missed the bite. The tow was taking me away from the bridge so not ideal. I think Matt also missed a few small bites and we both concluded it was going to be hard. A short spell went by and this time when the float shot under I connected with a 8oz carp. I persevered with the bread along the bridge at different depths but no bites whatsoever. Matt was now on the maggot or pinkie and had the odd blade silver fish.

Going across to the bottom of the far shelf 6'' off the bottom with bread produced nothing. Looking around I had not seen anyone catch a carp.

I fed my right hand margin with a few micro's for later and also fed some micro's and dead pinkies at the bottom of the far shelf and went over it with a dead red at full depth. Roach and a few small skimmers came on this line now and then but there were long periods of inactivity. 

It was the same all around the lake. We couldn't understand it as it had been mild for a couple of days.

It was around 13:30 when I saw Mark Walsh on peg 2 latch into a carp, he seemed to play it for ages and i thought it was foul hooked, but no it was a lump. Shortly afterwards next to Mark on peg 4 Mike Owens was also into one. 

Five minutes passed and blow me I had one but only about 3lbs at most. Mark and Mike went on to put a few more in the net before the all out. 

I just added a few more silvers from all lines, Matt did not have a single carp neither did 5 other anglers.

At the weigh in it was tight between Mark and Mike with Mark weighing 23lb 7oz and Mike 23lb 12oz so it would be tight as neither of their partners had carp.

It was tight but Mike Owens and Mark Bromsgrove ended victorious....

                 

1st Mike Owens (left) and Mark Bromsgrove 27lb 12oz

                   

2nd Mark Walsh (left) and Matt Roden  25lb 15oz

Here are a couple more pics and the weigh sheet......

Lee Williams

Me

I plan to give it another go next Tuesday on the Open Match.

In the meantime happy new year all.

Thursday 28th December - Roy Carter Memorial, Gloucester Canal, Hempstead

I booked into this match ages ago which was being run by Steve Long and Dave Clapton. I only knew Roy (who passed away a few years ago) through the Super League Matches as ended up being pegged next to him on quite a number of occasions. I enjoyed his sense of humour and his love of the sport. A true gent.
The draw was at 08:00 at the Widden Rugby Club in Gloucester with breakfast from 07:00.
Steve did his best to get a decent turnout and at one stage he had around 40 but on the day 27 actually fished. Some were probably put off by the weather but I was determined to attend.

When I got in the van at around 06:20 the temperature gauge indicated it was -3 and as I travelled through the estate the roads were sparking like a night sky full of stars due to the frost. Once I got on the main road it was fine and had been treated with salt.  The M5 was also fine but as I came off at junction 12 there appeared to be a lot more snow about. I pulled into the Rugby Club car park and it was like an ice skating rink but I stayed upright. As I entered the Club I could see some familiar faces from the Gloucester based teams, Diawa Gorden League and Sensas Lobby's who I fish alongside in the Gloucester Canal Spring League and the SW Super League. There were also a few hardened Gloucester Canal anglers that help teams out now and then. Breakfast obtained I sat with Phil Bendall and his dad for company and then Alan Jones picking their brains on the venues current form.

Due to the no shows Steve had to change things around a bit to make it as fair as possible and called the draw at 08:30 with fishing 10:00 - 15:00. Not sure how I ended up near the back of the que but I did. Not to worry I pulled out peg 52 with the scales and section board. This was the end peg and according to Alan Jones worth a few fish on the pole to my right short. I followed Dave Clapton to the parking area as I was unsure how to get there from the Rugby Club.

I parked up tight to brambles and my slightly larger belly due to all the Christmas food and drink caught a few of the thorns. I was soon loaded up and slowly shuffling down the icy lane towards the canal and a short walk to peg 52 under the swing bridge.
Steve Long came walking along and also put me right where to fish.

Very simple set up today.....
20 grm cage feeder across to the tins and a 2 grm float to fish at 2 o'clock where it was top 5 deep at 9 metres.
I had some of the new F1 Worm ground bait, liquidised bread, bread, dead pinkie, maggot, caster and worm.

All set up on Peg 52 upstream of the swing bridge just where the canal starts to narrow.

On the next peg I had Sensas Lobby's Jon Tocknell who had set up the same as me (I think all the anglers in the section did the same).

It was a bright sunny day as you can see from the photo's and comfortable enough temperature wise due to no wind.

I was just about ready when the ''all in'' was shouted and I cupped in 3 medium sized balls on the pole line with a few dead pinkies and casters.

Starting off with the liquidised bread and punch on the tip I had a little knock on my 4th cast put nothing positive. I stuck with the bread for the first 45 minutes without success. I wasn't feeling it with the bread so filed the feeder with neat ground bait and put on a dead red and a pinkie on the hook. I had a proper bite but did not connect on the strike and the bait was missing from the hook when I reeled in....bugger.

I put a few small offerings in the feeder but did not have another touch, it was now 90 mins into the match.

I had a look on the pole line with double dead fluro pinkie on the hook and after 10 mins or so the float dipped but did not totally submerge  but I struck anyway and was pleased to see the hollow 5 -8 elastic come out with a small bream on the end. I love fishing the pole in deep water. It was carefully played and was landed without any problem and around 1lb 8oz.

Most of the anglers I could see kept looking up and down to see if anyone was catching and bites seemed to be a premium. Jon shouted down to me asking what I had. He said he had 2 bream (didn't see him catch them) and an angler a couple up from him had 1.

I kept plugging away on the two lines during the remainder of the match. No sign of any more on the pole line but I was getting little twitches now and again on the tip. I did hit a few of them but nothing materialised.

At 14:25 I had a proper slow pull around (more like it) and was soon playing a proper bream. I landed  it just as another angler who had packed up walked by. Just the job on a slow day and though I was still in it.

I had one more twitch with 5 mins to go but nothing on the other end and bait was in tact.

Dave Micklewright who was not fishing walked down and said the angler in the middle of the old bend had around 12lb.

That was it so I packed up and headed up to weigh in.

The first peg in the section (47) did not weigh and then it was Andy Richings on 48. Andy had fished the tip all day 30 metres out for a few decent bream and smaller samples for 12lb 7oz.

Andy with his catch

Jon immediately above me managed a 3rd bream 5 mins from the end and done well to weigh 7lb 13oz.

My 2 fish went 5lb 5oz

A hard day, but we knew it would be

This is how my section looked

Back at the Rugby Club I bought a few raffle tickets for the sponsored prizes.

There was a peg draw for a bucket of ground bait and Andy Jayne won that.

Steve paid out the Section Winners first and I got mine by double default (£30).

Overall (paying top 3)

1st     Andy Richings Sensas Lobbys 12lb 7oz

2nd    Jon Tocknell Sensas Lobbys 7lb 13oz

3rd    Phil Bendall Diawa Gordon League 6lb 6oz

Andy with the Roy Carter Memorial Cup

I ended up 4th so pleased with that.

£204 was raised for the Stroke Association so well done to all.

Next up for me is my Clubs Blind Pairs Match on Saturday.30th Dec .....on a Commercial (oh dear, best start watching You Tube again).

Sunday 17th December - Clevedon Club Christmas Match, Acorn Fisheries - Paddock Lake

HO HO HO and a merry Christmas all.

This was my first match since the 12th November as I have been on holiday in Devon, the Caribbean and in Norther Ireland seeing family before Christmas.

Due to the match being held on a ''Commercial'' I had to replace elastic in my power top 2's as well as tie rigs and hook lengths. A visit to Cadbury Angling soon had me with all I needed for the ''dark side''. The gear will also come into play for our Clubs ''Blind Pairs match'' on the 30th December at the same fishery.

I had been following the match results on the lake and saw that a few carp had been caught ''dobbing'' bread. I have never done this before so spent a few hours watching how its done on You Tube. There were a few different approaches to this method but it was useful to watch.

The draw and breakfast was at the Bridge Inn half a mile from the fishery and I belief 31 were booked in but 29 turned up. We opened the match up to non members as long as they were happy to pay the addition £5 and quite a few did. A large breakfast was ordered and it was not worth waiting for, ended up leaving half of it. I sat with Mark Walsh to more or less lives at the fishery and does very well, so was able to pick his brains a bit as he fished a match on it the previous day.

Match Secretary Adie Baker was well organised and the draw began just after 09:00 with rising 10:30 - 15:30 then back to the Bridge Inn for the results and prize giving plus the raffle.
As far as the cash pay-outs were concerned there were 5 section pay outs, each £50 and then the top 3 would receive Meat Hampers, everyone else would receive a prize in the form of Christmas Fare (mainly alcohol lol).
I was about a third the way down in the disorderly due to the draw bucket but well happy when I opened up my peg card to reveal peg 6. I have had this peg a few times and done well of it. You can fish to the bridge and a couple of features in the corners.

Map of Paddock Lake, peg 6 bottom left hand corner

Next to me on peg 7 was Somerset Bagger Paul Purchase who like me prefers natural venues so we were both a bit out of touch with this carp fishing lark. To my right on the other side of the bridge, peg 40 was UK Carp Champion and England Carp Team member Mark Bartlett whose family also own the fishery. 

Maver Cadbury Angling Team mate Glenn Calvert wo won the match the previous day with 57lb (from peg 40 dobbing bread) came around to me and put me right on a couple of things concerning the peg as 37lb had come off it the previous day.....dobbing bread! Glenn was on peg 14 and Scott Smallwood who also fishes for us occasionally was on bridge peg 34.

The air was very still and there was a small amount of cat on our corner of the lake but soon went by the time we were due to start. Mark on the other side of the bridge did spend a bit of time clearing ice from his peg. I set up 3 rigs, one to fish bread against the middle part of the bridge, I had to put a dolly butt extension on so it was about 14 metres across. While I was plumbing up I could feel a fish rubbing up against the line. One for the middle at 11 metres and one for my right had margin. Micro's, dead maggot and eat pinkie plus the bread was in the bait tray.

I was ready when the ''all in'' was shouted but decided to go for a pee in the on site toilet as I was directly in front of the house.

On my return I pole potted in a few samples on my middle and margin lines before going across with a double 7mm punch of bread against the middle of the bridge and starting off 6 inches of the bottom. I hadn't shipped out properly when Paul next to me on 7 could be seen playing a fish straight away.  I had the rig bulk shotted with 3 no. 8 at this point and one number 10 dropper.  As soon as it settled the float sailed away and it was also carp on for me. The no. 11 hollow was just right and a 3lb fish was soon safely in the net, happy days. I looked around as far as I could see and didn't see any other early fish being caught. Mark on 40 was fishing right across into the corner of the bridge his side and I saw him bump a few early fish. I think about 30 mins went by before I had my second bite and I believe it was foul hooked as it came off half way across and didn't feel right. Another bite followed and I missed it, more of a liner.  I shallowed up a couple of inches and started to slowly lift and drag the bait towards the right hand side of the bridge and this brought me a few fish within a 20 min spell.  The angler on 39 had a couple of fish down the track and also missed a few bites (not surprised as I could see his elastic hanging out the end of the pole). Mark also had a few in the middle of the bridge, he was feeding and I wasn't.

I altered the shooting on my rig spacing them out to allow a slow fall and this worked better giving me more fish. I really couldn't see much being caught and by 2 pm thought I was in with a shout as I had 9 carp with the best part of the day to come. I had a look on my other lines briefly but not a sign so didn't waste any more time on them and went back on the bread across. I added another 6 fish before 15:30 some of them were 8lb ish and I had one just before the all out. 

I estimated I had around 60lb, 11 carp in one net and 4 in the other.

Paul on 7 had 3 carp and I think Mark had around 4 or 5.

While packing up Mark came around and said you must have about 30lb, I said no, 60lb plus. He said he kept missing bites as he was watching me....lol...

Keith May who was on island peg 1 came across to his van behind me with his gear and said...how many you got ...15... (how did he know that?), he said there had been a few fish caught on the island. I couldn't tell as my big furry hat that I wore during the match blanked my view to the island out.

3 of the 4 island pegs that were in did fish ok and my peg was in with them for the section money, it was tight but I did manage the section with 71lb 4oz, peg 1 had 60lb and peg 2 had 66lb.

part of my catch 

It also turned out I had won the match overall.

Scott down on bridge peg 34 also had a good day with 42lb plus but also lost 15 carp!!!!

Scott with his catch in his small landing net 

5 Section payouts of £50

A - Ivan Currie 71lb 4oz (Maver Cadbury Angling)

B - Tony Rixon 23lb (Mosella)

C - Darren North 39lb 8oz (PSV)

D - Glenn Calvert 14lb (Maver Cadbury Angling)

E - Scott Smallwood 42lb 10oz (Maver Cadbury Angling)

Top 3 receiving meat hampers

1st    Ivan Currie 71lb 4oz (Maver Cadbury Angling)

2nd  Adie Baker 66lb 15oz (Clevedon)

3rd   Keith May 60lb 10oz (Over 55's)

a good day and kept the wife happy

Given that there was a match on the previous day it did fish well. The weight sheets are copied below but quality not good.

Next match for me is the Roy Carter Memorial on the Glos Canal 28th December then Pairs Match on 30th.