Friday 28th Dec - Roy Carter Memorial Glos Canal & Saturday 29th Dec - Blind Pairs Acorn Fishery

Roy Carter Memorial

Team mate Chris and I booked in for this match as we do like the Gloucester Canal, no really we do, there I've said it. I don't know of any other venue in the West Country that is as challenging, frustrating or soul destroying. There are other words that would suitably describe it but today is the Sabbath so no swearing.

The match was organised as usual by Steve Long and Dave Clapton who do a great job and things run like clockwork. Draw venue was the Widden Rugby Club and when we got there about 07:45 there was a good turnout. Steve said he had 50 odd booked in. We sat down chatting away to a few angling friends and before we knew it a que had already formed and we found ourselves right at the back.
Nige Evans turned up and jumped the que in front of us. I told him off and and he offered me his place. I think he said he didn't want the Hempstead Bend as it was boring watching the tip....hmmmm.

Pegging today was from Hempstead Bridge to the early 60's below the new Swing Bridge so just about every peg was in.
We shuffled our way forward to the draw bucket, Chris pulled out peg 8 and I had 10, the Hempstead Straight so we were both fishing for Section wins. I had seen and heard reports that the roach and skimmers were showing on the pole in this area and it was pretty mild so we could get a days fishing...!

My peg card indicated I had the ''Board'' or should that say ''Bored''?

As I walked down the newly tarmac towpath Chris was already at his peg setting up and he said there were a few fish topping in mine, I did see a few blips on the surface but when I got to the peg they stopped.

As you can see....lots of features

Steve Long came down and started to set up on peg 9 and told Chris and I to go easy on him.

I cast the straight lead out across and it was very shallow, you needed to come out about 3 to 4 metres from the far bank to find any depth. I intended to fish the bread feeder across on one line and a fishmeal one on another. The Canal was towing a bit right to left. At 13 metres it was about top 4 deep and just a bit shallower at 6 metres. I set up a 2 gram for 13 metres due to the tow and a 1.5 for 6 metres. 0.08 hook lengths on both to a 22 as I didn't expect any big fish.

Ground bait for the pole lines was Black Lake and Noire with a little mole hill soil. I mixed a bit of really fine chop and some dead pinkie for 13 metres and just dead pinkie at 6 metres.

Well I could go through the match hour by hour but no point as I didn't have a bite or indication on anything. I did try for the full 5 hours despite the lack of action as a couple of decent skimmers would have made all the difference. looking up and down the canal nothing was happening for the majority of the match.

The angler below me blanked as well, Steve had about 6oz and Chris 2oz, I think top weight along the straight was 4lbs but that was an exceptional weight compared to most.

Remember that man ''Nige Evans'' who jumped the que and also said the ''Bend'' would be boring...well he only went and drew 47 in the middle of the Bend and won the match with 27lb of bream!!!

Nigel with his winning bag and a pic of the late Roy Carter when he won a Riverfest Qualifier a few years ago.

Nigel told me he thought he had the entire population of Glossy fish in his peg as he had liners all day.

Another good peg came 2nd, peg 62. Nick Harris had a few bream for 14lbs.

Third place went to Chris Jones with 9lb 11oz of peg 41 on the end of the straight.

Ah well never mind always next time and £350 raised for the Stroke Association, well done to all.

For those fellow anglers who self harm ..... I believe The Creel tackle shop in Gloucester is running an open on the Glossy 27th January but you need to contact the shop to book in.

Clevedon Freshwater A C Blind Pairs

We used to run this match on Boxing Day but lately its been held on the first Saturday after Christmas. It has been held on the River Kenn but recently its been moved to a Commercial. 21 anglers booked in and they all turned up which meant of ease of working out the results etc one angler who would be on his own would have their weight doubled. There was enough cash to pay out the top 2 pairs after deducting peg fees I think it was £160 for 1st and £120 or thereabouts for 2nd. I drew 21 which is a bridge peg and was partnered up with a guy on peg 3, don't know his name as we held the match as an open to boost numbers.

The weights have been more sensible recently due to the cold weather etc so 70lb would be enough on a good peg I thought.

Well I did get a few fish but it was hard going with 4 small carp on the bread and a few silvers on the maggot for 11lb 4oz. Paul Faiers on the other side. of the bridge had 13lb. Our half of the lake fished really hard with Lance Tucker having the best weight of just over 24lb.

Mark Poppleton had a good day on Island peg 5 netting 84lb so with his partner being Lance Tucker they took the spoils. Regular framer in Clevedon Club matches this year Mark Bromsgrove had 64lb off open 6 and with his partner Lewis Walker contributing 3lb they done enough to take 2nd place.

Well thats it for me until next Sunday when we have the 5th Round of the Commercial House League on the K & A around Bath. Its forecast to get colder and it will be interesting to see how its pegged as theres not much parking or space along the Canal in the town.

Happy New Year all and tight lines for 2019

Wednesday 19th December - Avon League, Melksham & Saturday 22nd December - Cadbury Open Acorn Fishery

Wed 19th
The Avon League was a washout. Colin had pegged the River at Melksham the previous day and it wasn't too bad although he made the decision to fish it instead of the Canal on the Monday I believe. Well it pissed down on the Tuesday and the river was very dirty and fast as I followed Kev Abigail to my peg in the ''Forest Section''. I was on 2 and he was on 1. Huge rafts of weed were coming down and the water was boiling. It was a bit slacker close in and quite deep so just decided to set up the one Feeder Rod and 45grm was enough to hold it a rod length out.
I was ready nice and early and walked up to look at Kev's peg. He had a much better slack and was setting up a pole as well. Just before I walked back to my peg a fish rolled close in.
When we started I soon became frustrated with the amount of crap hitting and sticking to the line, the lobby hook bait was also covered.

I guess it was less than an hour into the match when Nicky Johns walked up, none of the anglers in our section had caught, he walked up to Kev and I heard him say he had one small roach.
Soon afterwards Chris Ozone walked up he was the peg below me and said he couldn't hold bottom.

Into the 2nd hour and Nicky came for another walk, he said nothing had changed below us.

Well...I blanked, Kev above me weighed one roach for 1oz, Chris below me blanked, Dave Baker had 6oz I believe, team mate Mike Martin had one small dace and wait for it....Nicky Johns won the section with a 1lb plus. Apparently as the river continued to rise a bit of a slack developed on the end of his keepnet and this is where he snared a few roach on the lobby.

Top weights were 2 x 4lbs and a 3lb down the Scotland Rd end so league over for me now.

Sat 22nd
I was hoping to fish the Help for Heros match at Newbridge on the Sunday but looking at the weather forecast I just couldn't bring myself to sit in the wet and fish another flooded river. Just as well I didn't confirm my entry as I couldn't get enough worm. The weather forecast was dry on the Saturday so decided to book in for the Christmas Open at Acorn Fishery which is local to me. I hadn't fished there since last May and as my Club has a Pairs Match on it Saturday 29th Dec I thought it would be useful plus the weights have dropped to a more sensible level.

Before the draw we were given hot cider and mince pies, always taste better when your not supposed to have them.
18 booked in for the match which is a nice number over the 40 available pegs so we were well spread out. I drew peg 9 and although I don't fish here much I knew it was a good bank. A couple of mates put me right on how to fish it and off I went in the van (all 50yds) to park behind the peg.

It was only 11 meters across but a good 3 foot about a metre out form the rushes. I had a bread dobbing rig set up for this line starting off 6'' off the deck. Next rig was for the  bottom of the far shelf and a rig down the track, 5 sections where it was about 4 foot deep.

Didn't feed anything at the start and after a few minutes dobbing the bread I had an indication.
Had my first foul hooker across after 20 minutes and didn't land it. A few more foul hookers followed, all lost and frustration started to set in. Looking around I couldn't see anything being caught so hard fishing it was going to be.
I have to say it made a nice change and by altering depths and switching between bread and maggot I ended up with about 7 carp 3 roach and a crucian for 28lb dead which was enough for 5th overall but no cigar.

Weights as follows.....

I'm sure if a proper Commercial Angler had been on my peg they would have done a lot better.

I see the river at Newbridge fished quite hard for most on the Sunday but Paul Purchase managed 6 bream for 24lb plus, he's on great form at the moment.

Next up for me is the Roy Carter Memorial on the Glos Canal 28th Dec followed by the Clubs Blind Pairs Match at Acorn the day after.

Have a great Christmas and New Year all........

Sunday 9th December - Sensas Bristol Commercial House Christmas Match, K & A Canal Bath

I have to say this was a good Canal Match especially as the outcome was a bit unknown due to it not being Match Fished since last March. As usual it was well organised by Nicola and Mike Goodhind plus Andy Britt.

24 people booked in, I think there were a few other matches on hence the low numbers. Sections used today were the Tunnels, ''Darlington and Bathampton. The draw was at the Crown in Keynsham and I saw a lot of anglers picking up bloodworm. I didn't order any as I thought it was necessary plus £25 to enter the match and cost of raffle tickets plus other costs (breakfast, fuel, other bait) versus potential pick up appeared unbalanced (more than normal).

I really did not want to be at Bathampton as its fished pretty poor over the years compared to other Sections, very few skimmers and the big perch seemed to have moved.
I was near the end of the draw que and pulled out 23.....Bathampton up near the bend....bollocks.
As it wasn't a team match I thought just go for it and fish positive.

There was no arranged parking with the George Pub at Bathampton as mike said we should be OK as only about 8 anglers were up that end.
I did park OK in a lane by the Church along with Andy Curry and Nathaniel Johnson but there was a sign saying 4 hours only. A local boat owner said it didn't apply on Sundays so we took a chance.

My peg was up in the ''brambles'' area, it used to be good here fishing right across for perch and the occasional chublet but as I said earlier it has had no form in recent years.

Plumbing up right across I had about 3 foot about half a metre out from the brambles and a good 5 foot plus down the track so set up to fish across with caster and worm at 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock and the same down the track one a bread line and the other squat in ground bait to fish maggot or pinkie over the top.

In summary I had bites on all lines and baits but the best fish I had was a 8oz roach. The biggest perch I had was around 5oz and just kept picking up fish which went 20 to the pound. Even putting on half a lobby or dendra did not make any difference and to be honest I started to get bored. Shipping back parallel to the canal to avoid the bikers and walkers with an ounce fish did not seem worth it but I did persevere and weighed 4lb for my troubles. In my mini section of 5 young Andrew Cranston was best with 7lb 13oz, there were no skimmers caught as I predicted in our Section.

In the Section below us towards the Bathampton School Nathaniel John got his head down and had 12lb 8oz of small fish plus a small skimmer.

As I went back toward the van I heard that the Tunnels and Darlington had fished well with Skimmers showing. Back at the van there was no parking ticket so that was a relief.

On arrival at the Crown it appeared most people had a reasonable day. I spoke to Nicola who loves her canal fishing and was please to hear she managed a couple of good skimmers and bits for 6lb 3oz which gave her 12th overall.

Nicola with her catch today

The Tunnels gave the first 2 places overall with Dave Stiff having lots of skimmers for 18lb dead.

Dave with his 1st place hamper.

2nd place was filled by Steve Skelton with 15lb and 3rd Nathaniel Johnson with his 12lb 8oz.

4th was Jerry Pocock who had 10lb 10oz, I believe he was also in the Tunnels.

Former team mate Jack Jones managed 8lb 6oz for 5th place and that was after stripping off and going in to retrieve a couple of sections of his pole.....oh I wish there was a photo of that !

Andrew got his head down like he always does to win my Section

Here are the full results courtesy of Vince Lunn and the Sections are at the bottom.

So well down the list for me but my choice, could have fished shorter to catch more fish faster but stuck to my plan which didn't pay off but thats fishing.

Still, a very well organised and enjoyable day but give the parking situation in Bath I am concerned about the last two Commercial House Matches after Christmas with regard to access and parking for 48 anglers.

No fishing this weekend due to a late night on Saturday but Avon League match on Wednesday 19th at Melksham.

Sunday 2nd December - Angling Trust Upper Thames Winter League Final Round K & A Canal, Great and Little Bedwyn

Back to the Canal again this week for the final Round but a bit further out than last week and another new stretch for me. I done some research on the stretch during the week but could not find anything recent, the rest of the team did not know much about it either.
The draw was at Marlborough F C again and I made my own way there as Chris wanted a bit of a lie in after being out the night before so would get there by 8:00 on his own (with my squats).

As I travelled up the M5/M4 it was pissing down but a better journey than last Wednesday as little or no traffic. I arrived in good time, 07:15 for the bacon and egg roll. We were fishing for pride today as DGL and Thatchers had already qualified for the National Final.

Team today was...
Mark Williams (c)
Rich Whitmarsh
Brian Melksam
Paul Rigby
Mike Withey
Chris Hook
Steve Saunders
Me

Gary Etheridge had pegged the Canal on the Friday and when I spoke to him he said he had given everyone plenty of room but there may be a few long walks. All the Sections were posted up on Flip Chart paper but it might as well have been in Chinese as we did not know the area.

I was given peg C1 at ''Churches'', it was every man for himself in order to find how to get to the pegs. Fortunately as I walked out to the car park the first angler I asked was going to the same Section! I followed him out of the lane and onto the main road and after that I think we broke all the speed limits by a country mile, I had a job to keep up with him, CommunitySpeed Watch would have had a field day. Do not understand it.

It was a fair old drive to Great Bedwyn and i just about managed to park as some B Section anglers were also parked up, not sure if they were supposed to and there were a few moans.

I had a short walk to my peg C1 and it did look nice.

It was about 13 metres across but the furthest across I went was around 11 metres where I had about 2.5 foot, I had an even depth at 10, 12 and 2 o'clock so set up a 0.3 and 0.4 rig, one with a 20 to 0.09 and the other 0.10 fluro. Down the track it was 4 foot plus and I had two 4x14 rigs one with a 18 to 0.10 and the other a 20 to 0.08. I also set up a 0.5 gram pencil float with a 16 to 0.12 fluro to fish for perch in the track over worm. 

On the ''all in'' I fed my 10 and 2 o'clock far lines with caster and chopped worm, one ball each which was a mix of noire and molehill. Down the track at 10 o'clock I fed a big boy of neat choppy in soil. at 12 o'clock down the track I fed squat in noire and black lake. 

We were no more than 5 minutes in when I saw the angler to my right Ruben Guerra (DGL) net a decent fish, I didn't think he could believe it himself as he was looking around to see if we had seen him lol. 

I started off down the track in front of me with fluro pinkie and it didn't take long to get a bite. Lots of small roach followed in the next 30 minutes, about an ounce each if that. I re-fed both my 10 and 12 o'clock lines before going across to my 2 o'clock 11 metre line with a worm head. I had a perch of around 5 ounces straight away and plundered a few more including one of around a 1lb. I re-fed after 20 minutes before trying my other far bank lines and didn't have a touch. 

It was time to try the heavier rig down the track to my left. The rig had no sooner settled when the float slid away and the red 10 hollow came out. I thought it was a perch ..... but no a decent 1lb roach. Next put in i had a perch of around 12 ounces and then went quiet so I left it and put in more worm.  A look on my middle track line with red worm, pinkie or maggot produced the same sized mini roach so rest that again and got a few more perch across. 

Looking down the Canal as far as I could see (3 anglers) suggested that there was not a lot going on. I kept busy on all my lines and took fish fairly regularly. Pike moved in where I was catching the decent perch across, I hooked two of them on the worm and got bit off, my far perch line died due to this. I did have a good perch, about 1.5lb down the track along with a couple of skimmers and thought I had done OK.

My 6lb 2ozs was only good enough for 3 points, the Section had fished pretty good.

C Section

Heres how the rest of the Canal fished

So a great match really, the mild weather and spacious pegging must have helped.

Individuals:

1st    Andy Price Sensas Lobbys 19-4

2nd   Mark Brush Diawa Gordon League 17-0

3rd    Jack Jones P I Thatchers 14-0

2nd place Mark Brush, lovely net from a canal

Top 3 Teams on the day:

1st   Matrix Talisman

2nd  Diawa Gordon League

3rd   Garbolino Blackmore Vale

Top 2 overall to qualify for the National Final

1st   Diawa Gordon League

2nd  P I Thatchers

So well done to them.

Here they are then League winners, I have digitally enhanced them as much as I could, apologies!

Thank you to Simon Hebditch and all his helpers for a well run league, its appreciated.

Some facts...

Round 1, Thames Radcot, 150 min round trip, 4th in Section 8-14, Team mate Mark Whippet 2nd in match.

Round 2, Bristol Avon Melksham and Chippenham, 90 mile round trip 3rd in Section 5-2.

Round 3, Bristol Avon Melksham and Chippenham, 90 mile round trip, 2nd in Section 4-7 and a pick up. Team mate Mike Withey also 2nd in Section and a pick up.

Round 4, K & A Seend, 100 mile round trip, 1st in Section 3-14 and a pick up. Team mates Mike Withey and Steve Saunders also 2nd in Sections and pick ups.

Round 5, K & A Marlborough, 130 mile round trip, 6th in Section 2-09. Team mate Rich Whitmarsh 2nd in match.

Round 6, K & A Great and Little Bedwyn, round trip 140 miles, 6 in Section 6-02.

So although we finished bottom in our first year there have been some good individual results, looking forward to next year.

The previous day (Saturday 1st Dec) it was the Melksham Christmas Match. Team mate Steve Saunders won it, Rich Whitmarsh was 3rd and Section win for Mike Withey.

Steve aka ''Stretch'' with his 14lb winning bag

Next Sunday its the Commercial House Christmas Match on the K & A around Bath so looking forward to that.

Wednesday 28th November - Avon League, Upper Bristol Avon Chippenham

So onto the 2nd Round in Colin's League on the Bristol Avon around Bradford on Avon, Melksham and Chippenham consisting of 6 matches and 21 fishing. After the 1st round disaster at BOA where I blanked along with a few others surely it would be much better this time. It had been cold leading up to match day and there had been some heavy rain .... hmmmm

The draw was at the Brewers Fayre in-between the M4 junction and Chippenham town. It wasn't until 08:30 but in order to get there and cope with the traffic I left home at 06:15 and negotiated the heavy traffic on the M5/M4 OK arriving for breakfast at 07:15. i was the first one there which is not surprising as the rest except Mike Martin (Newport) all live a lot closer.

I drew peg 20 which was the last peg but one down on the Golf Course at Monkton Park, not sure what permanent peg this was but Colin said in was a ''good peg''......how many times have you heard that.
I followed team mate Mike to a parking spot as he was about 3 pegs away from me by the blue bridge. It was a easy walk on a tarmac path and no fences etc. The river was fairly clear and had a little bit of flow on the inside and at 13 metres. I had fished this area many many years ago with the Bristol P O Angling Club and had 35lb odd of bream and tench but I think it was much earlier in the year.

At the start the wind was not too bad and the forecast was for it to increase with some showers. I set up one 2 gram pole rig for 13 metres, a 8BB crow quill for the inside and a tip rod for across.

At the start I cupped in 4 big balls of chop and caster in a soil, gardons and noire mix and then came in on the crowquill loose feeding maggot. Fishing the quill did not seem right and presentation was difficult as the wind got up a bit plus the depth was all over the place further down the peg. I gave it 30 minutes but there was no sign of life at all. Going out on the pole gave me a small roach within 10 minutes but nothing for the next 15. I re-fed a small ball and had another roach straight away closely followed by 2 more then nothing, it seemed pretty dire. 

I was probably about 90 minutes into the match and I could see Nicky Johns above me who did not appear t be catching either.

Out went the feeder about a couple of metres of the far bank with lots of chopped worm and a whole dendra on a 14. It had only settled when I saw a positive knock on the tipping between gusts of wind. I decided to hit it and was met with a nice bit of resistance and a good thud. At first I thought it was a bream as it went deep but instead it was a good perch of around 2lbs. A slightly smaller one followed next cast and I thought I was in for a good day. Sadly I only had another few smaller ones despite trying different spots under the far jetty and up against the rushes. I still kept feeding my two other lines but nothing came from them.

Andrew below me had the scales and board and came up past me at the end as he was going to weigh from 11 down. He said he thought he had 5 or 6lbs wish and ended up fishing off the end of his long rod.

It took a while for him to come back down but the weigh sheet told me it had been really hard for most in the bottom half of the river. There were two 7lb weights and I knew I did not have that.

My mainly perch bag went 5lb 3oz

Andrew won the section by default as I was told the two 7lb weights framed and Gary Etheridge had won it with 8lbs so it looks like I came 5th on the day which I'll take and still keeps me in the running with 4 matches to go. The next one is on the 19th Dec at Melksham.

Here is the weigh board for our half of the river, as you can see its fished very hard.

This coming Sunday its the last round of the UTWL on the K&A at Great Bedwyn to Little Bedwyn. Our target is to stay off the bottom and maybe get a few in the frame, looking forward to it and another new venue for me.

Sunday 25th November - Angling Trust Upper Thames Winter League Round 5, Kennet and Avon Canal near Marlborough

I was looking forward to getting back out fishing again after being away the previous weekend although I did manage a fluff chucking session on Chew Valley Lake and caught 4 nice rainbows from the bank, well I saw bank I was nearly up to my arm pits in the chest waders as the level is so low. Trout fishing finishes on the 30th November so not sure if I can fit another visit in this week.

Back to today ..... I met Chris at Gordano Services again on the M5 at 06:30, it was meant to be 06:20 but he had to wake his partner up as he couldn't find her car keys in order to move her vehicle out of the way in order to get out so he was not popular. It was another fairly long journey for us to Marlborough Football Club, about 70 miles and we done it in just over an hour. The Football Club was easy to find and had plenty of parking plus a variation of breakfast rolls etc where available.

We finished 2nd in the last Canal Match and were looking to do well again. A few of the lads had fished the practice match the previous week which was quite hard and bonus fish (perch) were going to be needed to stand any chance of good points.

Team today was...
Mark Williams (c)
Mike Withey
Ian Stainer
Rich Whitmarsh
Paul Rigby
Chris Hook
Me

Sections today were Wooten Rivers, Brimdslade and Wolfhall and I had no idea how to get to any of them.
I drew E4 at Brimslade and fortunately Rich drew F8 in the same area so I was able to follow him. It was around 3 to 4 miles away from the draw but nice and easy and on arrival good parking and access to the Canal.
I was told I was on the peg that won the practice match the previous week (14lbs of big perch) but when I got there I wasn't. I was about 2 pegs away from it and the person who fished were I was today struggled plus on arrival a pleasure angler was setting up but moved off without any problem.
Diawa Gordon Leagues Dave Micklewright was on ''the peg'' but said someone had come down midweek and pleasure fished it.

13 metres got me across to the far bank but it was only a foot deep. While setting up there were a couple of swirls across with fry jumping out of the water and I thought it was perch chasing them. Turned out it was pike but I only discovered this toward the end of the match when I saw one, I had already wasted about an hour off and on during the match looking for perch across when I should have went down a line in the middle....lesson learned.

I had a good depth down the track, about 4.5 foot and at 11 metres about 3 foot so these were the areas to concentrate on besides my wasted far bank pike / perch lines.
I had plenty of bites all day but they were very small roach, best fish was a 5oz perch on my 11 metre line.

I ended up with 2lb 9oz which was only worth 3 points from 8 my worst result in this league. I know I made a few mistakes and hope to put that right next week I did have a plan but failed to execute it.

Dave Micklewright won the section by a country mile with 7lb 10oz. Dave had a couple of nice hybrids and a pound perch plus bits, think he stuck it out on the worm which was the right approach on his peg. The rest of the section weighed 4lbs down...

Rich done really well on the end peg in his section weighing 9lb 13oz, 3 big perch and some decent roach on the worm. This also earned him 2nd in the match just being beaten into 1st place by an ounce!

Rich Whitmarsh

As a team we done rubbish so hero to zero but we are not bottom and just about hanging on in 7th place.

Results as follows:

Individuals

1st   Nick Ewers P I Thatchers 9lb 14oz
2nd  Rich Whitmarsh Sensas Nomads 9lb 13oz
3rd   Mike Marsden Devizes 9lb 5oz
4th   Ruben Guerra DGL 8lb 2oz
5th   Mark Brush DGL 7lb 11oz
6th   Dave Micklewright DGL 7lb 10oz

Teams on the day

1st   P I Thatchers
2nd  DGL
3rd   Wyvern Anglers
4th   GBV
5th   Devizes AA
6th   Sensas Lobbys
7th   Matrix Swindon
8th   Sensas Nomads

DGL put in a great performance today and are winning the league by 2 points from P I Thatchers.

Back to the Canal again next week for the final round but different sections....Great Bedwyn to Little Bedwyn wherever that is.....but drawing again at Marlborough F C.

Sorry no photos today as camera on phone didn't want to work.

Wednesday sees me at Chippenham for the 2nd Round of the Avon League.

Sunday 11th November - Angling Trust Upper Thames Winter League, Kennet & Avon Canal Seend

I usually fish the ''Poppy Match'' on this Sunday on the Bristol Avon which is organised by Ray Bazeley and Team who took over from the late Bill Milton. The match has been renamed since Bills passing to the ''Bill Milton Memorial Poppy Appeal". Unfortunately due to us fishing the UTWL this year there was a clash of dates which meant I could not fish it.

The draw for todays match was at Spencers Club in Melksham with the Sections on the Canal about 15 minutes or so drive away towards Devizes. I had fished this Section of Canal before...once...but that was about 25 years ago at least.

Senses Nomads Team for today was....
Mark Williams (c)
Mike Withey
Rich Whitmarsh
Brian Melksam
Ian Stainer
Steve Saunders
Chris Hook
Me

As it was Remembrance Sunday and we would be fishing at 11:00 the Citation was read by Martin Barrett followed by 2 minutes silence at 08:00 before the draw. As an ex-service man I always wear my ''Dolphins'', Poppy and Irish Poppy Badge with pride.

Mark came back with the draw and I found myself on B1. I had no idea where that was but Steve was on A section again just one peg away from where he won the practice match the previous week with 20lb plus and said to follow him. We had a review of pegs and information was exchanged.

The journey to B Section was quite straight forward and on arrival there was plenty of parking. The canal was a few steps away as well. Talking to Andrew Chatterley while I unloaded the kit he said the Section fished hard the previous week with just over 4lb winning it. He suggested my peg was heading towards the better area i.e. A Section.

It didn't take more than 5 minutes to get to my peg, no fences or styles like last week.

The peg did look nice and although I was in between two boats I had plenty of room. There was a small bay opposite and it did look inviting as well as the far bank bush to my far left.

I was able to reach across right into the bay with 13 metres of pole but on plumbing up it was only about 6 inches deep. At about 11 metres I was in deeper water where it started to shelve off a bit and at 2.5 foot deep I decided on this far bank line at 12:00 o'clock plus either side including over to the bush. 6 slip elastic with a 0.3 gram float to 0.10 hook length to an 18. The Canal was quite coloured and I did expect some perch over there. The same rig was fine for the edge of the boats on my bank. But I decided to replicate the rig again but beefed up for the perch i.e. 16 hook to 0.13.

I also set up and identical rig to a 5 elastic and 0.08 hook length to a 20 in case skimmers showed.

Two track rigs about 5 foot deep, one 5 elastic to a 4x14, 0.09 hook length to a 20, the other 6 elastic, 0.70 gram round bodied float with 0.10 to an 18 for holding back if the canal towed hard. Ground bait was 50/50 Sensas Black Lake and Fine Canal Noire.

I was ready with 25 minutes to spare and just took it easy observing the water. The boat to my right was empty but the the one on the right occupied by a lady who confirmed she would not be moving but would be playing the violin! I said play me some Irish music when you get around to it, she laughed and wished me good luck.

I chopped up some worm and made up 5 small balls of ground bait containing 2 chopped worm and caster and 2 worm and squat. 

On the ''all in'' I fed across by the bush and at 12:00 o'clock with choppy and caster leaving the 14:00 line free. The 2 remaining balls of choppy and squats went in down the track straight in front of me. I also fed 2 lots of chopped worm and lobbys by the boats on my inside.

I thought I would start down the track and put on a maggot just to see if I could nick an early bonus fish. The float sailed away once it settled but I missed on the strike, it did look like a skimmer bite. Going back out it went under again and this time I hit it, a small skimmer about 4 ozs. After 20 minutes fishing the track I had about 8 fish, just the one small skimmer and some 1oz roach. A post went through so I fed another ball before going across to the left hand bush with a maggot.  The float went under straight away but it was a very and I mean very small roach which fell off as I shipped back. This happened again and again not helped by a stiff breeze. I did land some but they were about 2 or 3 to the ounce at best. 

I was now about 40 minutes into the match and had a look on the nearside choppy lines but not a sign.

Going back out down the track I had another small skimmer and a run of 2 to 3 oz roach. Glancing down to my left where the other anglers in my Section were I could see about 3 poles out but not the actual anglers, they all seemed to be fishing long. Mick Nowicki was on B2 and I had to walk down to him to free up 2 pole sections as they had jammed. He confirmed he was struggling.

I carried on concentrating and topping up the track over 3 places as the fish appeared to be a better stamp there. I bumped a good fish on the 2 hour mark, I think it was a perch and wondered if that would cost me.

Looking down as far as I could see the poles did not be going in and out as much as mine, I appeared to be busier (feeding and catching).

The violin started and yes she did play a couple of Irish jigs.....think I pulled!

I did look on the far and nearside lines now and then but stuck at it down the track netting a few decent roach and a perch.

The weighing in was started at peg 8 and I caught up with them at around peg 4. The weights were quite low and just over 3lb was best.

Overall it was a tight Section but I had just under 4lb to win it. Most had concentrated across on the far shelf looking for bonus fish, my gamble had paid off.

B Section board

I asked Andrew Chatts to take a photo for me but despite several attempts he still managed to chop some of my head off!

Back at the Club the Team gradually returned, Mike Withey was there before me and he had got 2nd in Section again, so did Steve Saunders. Our Team scorecard looked pretty good. Nice to have 3 ''pick ups'' as well.

Full match results as follows courtesy of Simon Hebditch...........

Individuals..

1st    Mike Bernsten GBV 12-13

2nd   Charlie Vallender DGL 12-9

3rd    Ruben Guerra DGL 11-00

4th    Steve Saunders Sensas Nomads 10-13

5th    Nat Johnson PI Thatchers 10-00

6th    Andrew Cranston PI Thatchers 9-3

Winner Mike Bernstein with a nice net of fish

Teams on the day....

1st    DGL

2nd   Sensas Nomads

3rd   P I Thatchers

4th   GBV

5th   Sensas Lobbys

6th   Devizes MG

7th   Matrix Swindon

8th   Wyvern Anglers

We are now off the bottom lying 6th out of 8 Teams, need to keep this going with a view to finishing mid table in our first year in this league.

No Fishing next weekend but back on the K&A the week after at Marlborough.

Sunday 4th November - Sensas Bristol Commercial House League Round 4, Lower Bristol Avon

After Wednesdays disaster I was looking forward to this match, the temperature on the Saturday night was very mild and it was going to be overcast all day Sunday with continuous light rain. We had DGL young gun Phil Bendall fishing for us today as Geraint was on the ABC Wye Winter League.

So Sensas Nomads Black squad for today was....
Chris Hook (c)
Sam Johnson
Leigh Wakefield
Rich Whitmarsh
Phil Bendal
Me

As a team we are not doing very well in this league but we have had some individual honours.

There were two sections at Swineford, two up the Crane and two down at Chequers. The Jack Whites section was left out as the banks are very unsafe now, pity as there is always a bit of pace and a few fish to be had. Most fancied Swineford, Chequers didn't fish that well last time and up the Crane would be a challenge in terms of distance and fences.

We were nice and early paying our pools and Chris managed to get the fishing changed by 15 minutes  as drawing at 08:00 and fishing 10:00 - 15:00 is a bit tight, so 10:15 - 15:15 it was.
The team draw came back and I glanced at the sheet which told me normal service was resumed for me in terms of the longest walk, C1 top end of the Crane.
Phil was on A1 the outfall peg at Swineford and headed off to get his head down on the whip. Chris was on B1 near the railway bridge then there was a huge gap before my peg C1, Sam on D1 just above the old Soap Works and Leigh and Rich at Chequers where you could drive to your peg.

Todays pegging guide

So we all headed off to our respective parking areas nice and early and this time due to no section in at Jack Whites I was able to park fairly close to the Scrap Yard which is in the lane to take you up the Crane section. The trouble is along this stretch of river is that unless you know the layout of your peg (and it can vary week to week depending on who pegs it) you need to take the kitchen sink. 

I headed up the lane with Sam and into the field over the slippery Cattle Grid with my one wheeled rigger platform barrow, nearly lost an ankle! The field was muddy and the mud and grass was sticking to the mudguard above the wheel making it hard to push. We came to the first fence and fair play everyone helped each other get the kit over the first obstacle. Sam's peg was comfortable and we exchanged a few words before I headed up to the second fence, again helping hands were appreciated but I still had a way to go. Part way up I left the barrow and just took the two holdalls up to the peg before coming back for the rest of the kit. I was now down to a t-shirt.

I had my second look at the peg and decided to prod the small ledge with a bank stick which was under water down a very high and steep bank to see if the mud would take a platform. It didn't seem too bad and some 40 minutes later I had everything down that I needed level with the water.

It was a long way down (probably further than that!)

Given the logistics of having all the gear to hand the pole stayed in the holdall but I am sure it enjoyed the long trek.

I opted for three running line set ups today, crowquill, waggler and feeder. From a fishy point of view the peg did look nice the plan was to loose fed maggot in front of the boat for a waggler line, crowquill down the middle over ground bait and loose feed and the feeder rod across to the boat if it got hard.

Plumbing up I had about 8 foot down the middle and it was the same across in front of the boat. There was a slight downstream wind but with an 8BB quill it did not affect presentation, on the business end I had a drennan size 20 match hook to 0.09. The waggler was a 3AA with an 18 wide gape hook to 0.10. Feeder rig was a 25gram to B520 16 to 0.12.

That extra 15 minutes to set up made all the difference to me and I was just about ready when the ''all in'' was shouted. Four big balls of Sensas River and Noire went in laced with pinkie, caster and hemp down the middle and two big pouch fulls of maggot across. I watched some footage of the Riverfest on the Saturday and was impressed by the way some anglers were feeding so set out to feed with discipline today. 

starting off on the crowquill with maggot on the hook it didn't take long to get my first dumpy roach. I was more than happy the way the float was running through as its a method I have not used for ages. The fish were really lining up and ''having it'' and i think over the first hour I had 30 fish. I soon got into a rhythm feeding down the middle with caster and hemp every other run through and in between feeding the far line with maggot. The second hour was better than the first and the fish showed no sign of backing off. On the two hour mark the wind dropped a bit and I threw the crowquill over near the boat on the maggot line just to see what was about. It was easy to see it against the black hull and it didn't take long for it to go under. There was quite a bit if resistance and at first I thought it was a big chub. Coming across the river it went deep and fought a bit like a bream. It was actually a perch touching 3lbs. What a fish and the net was used for the first time. 

It was great holding back the crowquill on both lines and my feeding discipline held out for the 5 hours. I cannot remember when I had a day like it. Another big perch was landed about an hour from the end and I was tempted to put the feeder across with worm but with almost a bite a chuck the risk was too great. the waggler and feeder rods were not picked up.

During the 5 hours I fed 2 pints of maggot, 2 pints of hemp and a pint of caster, thats a lot of feed for a November match but like I say they were having it big time.

I knew I had 20lb plus. Shaun Townsend came up with the scales from 2 pegs down as I had the board, he also said he had 20lb plus.

My net of fish went 24lb 14oz

Heres C Sections board (A and B Div) as you can see Shaun had 1lb more than me!

So back to the results and I was grateful for Sam coming back up river to help push the barrow back as I was flagging.

It soon became clear that the Chequers section had fished extremely poor. One of the sections was won with 3oz, the other just over 1lb and there were loads of blanks!

I got the section by default as Shaun just framed (they only pay the top 4) so I was 5th overall from 48 anglers.

Matt Challenger had a good day on the Chub a few pegs below the ''beach'', all on the waggler.

Matt with his Chub bag

Here are the full results courtesy of Vince Lunn.....

Individuals 

1 M Challenger Mosella Bathampton A 34 lbs 0 ozs (Chub below the beach)
2 I Stainer Sensas Nomads Green 29 lbs 7 ozs (skimmers boys hole)
3 D Harvey DW Builders 26 lbs 7 ozs (bream at Swineford)
4 S Townsend Mosella Bathampton B 25 lbs 14 ozs
5 I Currie Sensas Nomads Black 24 lbs 14 ozs
6 D Gillman Mosella Bathampton A 19 lbs 10 ozs

Teams
A Div on day
1 Mosella Bathampton A 17
2 Mosella Bathampton B 15
3 Preston Innovations Thatchers 14
4 Sensas Nomads Black 8

A Div League overall 
1 Mosella Bathampton A 67.5 
2 Preston Innovations Thatchers 65 
3 Mosella Bathampton B 54 
4 Sensas Nomads Black 47.5

B Div on day
1 Sensas Nomads Green 17
2 Stand & Deliver Promotions 16
3 DW Builders 13
4 M & N Electrical 7
1 Mosella Bathampton A 67.5
2 Preston Innovations Thatchers 65
3 Mosella Bathampton B 54
4 Sensas Nomads Black 47.5

B Div League overall
1 Stand & Deliver Promotions 65
2 DW Builders 58
3 Sensas Nomads Green 55
4 M & N Electrical 53

Well done to the Sensas Nomads green Team today and Mike Withey for winning his Section plus Ian Stainer for coming 2nd overall.

Swineford and the Crane sections fished exceptionally well with only 8 of the 32 anglers catching under 6lbs .... what a river.

Next match for me is this coming Sunday, Upper Thames Winter League on the Kennent and Avon Canal at Seend. It will be a very different day.....fingers crossed for perch and skimmers.

Thank you for all the support ....... the blog will continue...

Wednesday 31st October - Avon League Bristol Avon, Bradford on Avon

This League runs on one Wednesday each month October to March with a practice match in between each round. I believe it has been going for some time now. Gary Etheridge put me on to it back in the summer and I got the details and book in with Colin who runs Premier Angling in Chippenham and Keynsham. £90 paid up front for the series including pools means no money is exchanged on the day. Matches are held at BOA, Chippenham and Melksham with the K&A as a reserve venue if flooded.

Details as follows:

Parking for todays match was at Tythe Barn Bradford on Avon with breakfast in the Lock Inn up on the Canal. Team mate Mike Martin-Davies was also fishing and advised me to park up in Pound Lane to save on Parking Fees. Breakfast was at around 08:20 so I decided to leave home at 06:15 for the 1 hour journey up the M5, M4 and down the A46 int Bath then out to BOA.
Just as well I left early as the traffic was bad on the M5 due to road works and the M4 up to the M32 junction was rammed.

I did arrive in BOA at around 07:15 and Mike was not far behind me. With time to spare we walked along the river to look at the pegging. it was well spread out but the river looked pretty dire. There had been a hard frost, not much flow and lots of leaves on the water. We went as far as peg 11 and decided that out of all those pegs we wouldn't want 7 as it had a lot of dead water.

Back to the Lock in for breakfast and quite a few had turned up. 21 booked in for the league a lot of retired anglers and a few work shirkers.
While we were having breakfast the ''knockout'' draw was done and I had James Carty of P I Thatchers.
Draw time soon came around and Mike and I were near the back. I drew peg 8 and Mike 17. Not knowing the water I was informed by quite a few anglers that it was a chub peg. James who I was against in the Knockout was on peg1, a peg with a lot of form for small fish and a bit of a backwater from the main river.
Fishing was 11 until 4 so plenty of time. My main attack would be to start off on the bread feeder across under some trees, a waggler for fishing the same line and the pole down the middle over pinkie and caster with a few chopped worms.

I fully concentrated for the 5 hours trying everything but could not generate a single bite. I phoned Mike with 90 minutes or so to go and he had not had a bite either along with Andrew Chatterley. Word was it was fishing really hard with just the odd fish being caught.
The leaves were a tad frustrating but my peg was not as bad as some......

This was Andrews peg!

James done the business off peg 1 with over 200 fish for 12lb, Tony Scott and Kev Abigail and 6lb odd for 2nd and 3rd places. Kev was on peg 7 the peg we didn't want!

Not much else to say really, one to forget methinks.

Sunday coming in the next round of the Sensas Bristol Commercial House League on the lower Bristol Avon, think its warming up a bit.