Sunday 22nd April - Gloucester Canal Spring League Round 2, Castle Up / Down and Saul Junction

Not much prep needed for the 2nd Round as most of the gear and duplicate rigs were in tact from the week before. I did have a short session on the Bristol Feeder Canal on the Tuesday but the wind beat me. I did have around 4lb of dace and roach in a couple of hours so the Canal is coming to life again. I also made the decision to upgrade my trusty Sensas 854 pole to the 974 and as a result of a few phone calls I picked it up on the Friday. A big thanks to Simon Hebditch of M5 Angling, Dan at Cadbury Angling and Stu Redman for the advice and delivery of a great package and deal.

Tuesday also saw a well attended Sensas Nomads Team Meeting in the evening and we are well into planning for this years events with a new squad so onwards and upwards I hope.

Back to todays match and we had one change from the previous week bringing in Leigh Wakefield who has only fished the Gloucester Canal a couple of times and is still getting to grips with it (much the same as everyone else).
Once off the M5 I noticed there was a road closure on the A38 from Hardwick going south which was the road you would normally take to get to todays Sections.

Mark Treasure who organises the matches had to take a little while to sort things out prior to the draw and to be fair to him he did giving alternative directions from the other side of the Canal.
Chris came back with the draw and I was on 387 upstream of Castle Bridge (I was on the downstream end the week before). Looking at the previous weeks result of the peg it showed 1lb 9oz.
Leigh was on 432 (Castle Down) and ozs had come off that the week before.
Chris was down at Saul on 464 and Sam 363 way above Castle.
Fishing was 11:00 - 16:00 again and most of us drove to the parking area's in a ''follow the leader'' style through the lanes. A couple of wrong turns but everyone got there in the end.

As I walked up to my peg I saw the first bay and remember Shane Williams weighing in 20lb odd of bream and a couple of big tench a few years ago but I was past that point about 4 pegs upstream. The next bay was another 8 pegs away from me also so didn't think much would happen especially as there was a lot of bankside disturbance across with people renovating a house.
Same set up as last week on all fronts except I had 2 lines going at 8 metres left and right. Down the track at 13 metres it was slightly deeper than the previous week.

Sam text me before the all in showing me his peg....... only 2 boats in his Section and he was bang smack in the middle.

Sams peg, personally I would have got everyone to move left and right, not on.

My peg

I cupped in 4 big balls down the track of soil, leam and lake with some offerings and a couple of balls left and right at 8 metres. Started on the bread across on about 6 to 7 foot of water. Not a touch after 45 minutes. Went down the middle early with half a worm, the float sailed away and a Daddy Ruff was the culprit, little bastard. No more bites down the middle so came in on the inside. Snared 2 blippy roach. No indications either on the fishmeal across on the tip all match and only managed a couple of wasp perch down the track. I just cannot say anymore because nothing happened and either side of me were also struggling. I phoned Leigh and he hadn't had a touch all match so blanked.

I had a total of 6 fish for 2oz and thats with the wind blowing the net! That was also better than 4 others in the Section. Peg 386 to my left weighed 1 oz and 388 to my right weighed 3 oz!

Chris managed a few fish weighing 4lb 7oz and picked up 3rd in Section Money, Sam weighed 2oz and has been speaking to the Samaritans for 24 hours.

The Canal fished ''rock hard'' for most but a few big weights were thrown up.

1st   Dave Clapton, Misfits, peg 439,  57lb (2 pegs from where I was last week and an end peg)

2nd  Lee Trivitt, Thatchers, peg 438,  51lb 14oz

3rd   Tony Davis, Mix and Match, peg 360,  32lb 11oz

4th   Shaun Bryan, DGL Blue, peg 370,  16lb 6oz (lots of liners and 3 lost fish due to foul hooked)

Top Team today was Thatchers who done exceptionally well.

Shaun had one on the pole and the rest on the tip within the last hour or so

Here are the Section Boards, not a pretty sight.....

Looking for a match next Sunday so hoping theres a practice on the Glossy.

Sunday 15th April - Gloucester Canal Spring League Practice - Castle Section Up and Down

Earlier in the week I was pleased to see that Andy Jane of Sensas Lobbys was running a practice match on the Castle Section which is to be used for Round 2 of the League next week. The Castle Section is between the Pilot Inn and Saul Junction. I made Chris, Sam and Leigh aware but none of them could make it so it was just myself. I don't mind as I know a lot of the anglers in the Gloucester area now anyway.
The draw was in McDonalds at Hardwick which is easy for me as its just off the Motorway Junction.

I got there nice an early around 07:25 and paid up. 26 fishing today partically due to the start of the Kennet and Avon Spring League (27 Teams of 4 I believe). Andy said it was just as well due to parking issues down at access point.
Before the draw there was much debate about how to overcome the parking problem and I have to say fair play to Andy for coming up with a solution. Everyone to drive to the bridge which goes over the canal unload their kit and then drive back up to the A38 park up and a couple of others would ferry them back, in turn using the few spaces that were available. He did give people the option of having their money back but they all went for the plan.
I was about a third down the due and pulled out 441.
I followed Alan Jones of Diawa Gordon down to the Canal as I wasn't 100% sure where I was going and parked up before the bridge but had to move on as a home owner wasn't happy. I did get parked back up the road alongside Tim Frampton which meant a longer walk but saved on the shuttling.

I was soon on the tow path and heading down towards Saul Junction, it was a hell of a walk and discovered I was end peg! It still did not mean anything to me as I have never fished this Section. Gary Townsend was next to me on 440 and said the peg I was on can throw up a few bream as do the pegs below me towards a sunken barge. Happy days I thought.

I set up the same as last week with the exception of only one Feeder Rod not two. I took my time checking the depth on the far shelf and it was quite shallow. In the end I opted for approx 2 metres out from the far bank tins where I had around 4' to 5' of water.
Down the track at just over 13 metres it was just shy of a full match top 5, I love fishing in this depth of water. The same 2 gram float as last week with 0.10 fluro hook length to an 18 completed the rig.
I set up another rig (1.5 gram) for the edge of the near shelf at 8 metres same hook length and hook as down the track rig.
Fishing today was 11:00 - 16:00 and I was ready with time to spare.

As it was a practice match I decided on a different approach on the ''all in'' cupping in 5 balls of Black Lake mixed with Leam and Soil laced with red squat, dead pinkie and caster. 3 balls of the same went in on the 8 metre line.

I think Gary next door to me fed his Feeder Line first with Liquidised Bread before cupping in. He is a good angler and knows the Canal really well.

I started off on the Bread Feeder with a 6mm double punch on a wide gape 16. I re-cast about every 5 minutes at the start and then after about 20 decided to leave in a bit longer. This paid off and a solid pull around soon had me playing a bream, not a big one but at around 1lb 8oz very welcome. Another 2 followed on the bread before bites appeared to dry up about an hour and a quarter in. I decided to stay on the bread for a further 15 minutes and added a  couple of roach before picking up the pole for down the track.

Just like last week first put in on the long pole I had a small skimmer shortly after the float settled. Within the next 30 minutes I added a few roach, one quite chunky around 8 ozs. After 30 minutes and no more bites I had a look at 8 metres adding one blade roach. Gary next to me was getting a few small fish on the pole but they did not appear to be very big. Looking down the match length I could not see a lot of action.

Picking up the Feeder Rod again I cast out with a mix of dark fishmeal and chopped worm plus a few dead pinkies. Half a worm tipped with a pinkie saw me connect with another small bream after 15 minutes. I started to get liners but even with casting short had no more positive bites. I did latch onto a skimmer about a pound but it came off just before the net.

The long pole was tried again and I added some more roach, small skimmers and a perch on a bit of a worm. I did see Mark Treasure net a fish a few pegs down but couldn't see what it was. The good thing about this match was there was no bank walkers so you just had to keep your head down a plan on.

On the start of the last hour I decided to give the bread another go and managed to nick another couple of roach. After 30 minutes I stopped using bread and went back on the fish meal with plenty of chopped worm. A few more liners but no proper bites.  With 10 minutes to go I went out with just neat fish meal and double dead red on the hook and with 5 minutes to go the bait had barely hit the bottom when the tip flew round and bream on. A nice one at around 3lbs.

Shane Williams and Charlie Vallender came up with the scales and board. Shane thought it was between Mark Treasure and myself for the Section at least. I asked how many bream Mark had and he said 5 ...hmmm same as me.

Charlie done the weigh and call out 16lb 13oz for me.

Happy with that

I carried on packing up and headed back catching up with Mark who told me he had 15lb 14oz, I think he caught mainly in the last 90 minutes across.

The only other weight in our Section was Craig Fletcher who had 9lb 14oz.

When I got back to the bridge over the canal it appeared I had done enough. Those roach etch on the pole had done it for me. The best weight the other side was Rob McKenzie (also on an end peg) with a level 12lb.

Overall paying out top 2 plus the top 2 in Section (by default) .....

1st    Ivan Currie Sensas Nomads 16lb 13oz

2nd  Mark Treasure Diawa Gordon League 15lb 14oz

A Section

1st   Craig Fletcher 9lb 14oz

2nd  Gary Townsend 3lb 12oz

B Section

1st   Rob McKenzie Mix and Match 12lb

2nd  Neil Richards Diawa Gordon league 4lb 11oz

Weigh boards below.....

The bream appear to be in pockets getting ready to spawn. Warmer weather forecast this week so will be interesting next week.... or will it?

Sunday 8th April - Gloucester Canal Spring League Teams of 4, Round 1

We had already registered for this popular event prior to Maver ceasing the sponsorship deal with us and decided to go ahead as Cadbury Angling and prior to our first outing under the Sensas Nomads banner for the South West Super League which starts late May.
Normally there are 15 Teams of 4 but leading up to match day there was talk of 27!
By the time match day came around it was reduced to 24 with one Team pulling out at the last minute causing a bit of a headache for the organisers as the pegging had to be amended. Still 96 anglers on a natural venue is tremendous.

The draw was at the Gordon League Rugby Club where breakfast roll were available and not sure why but they seemed to be overwhelmed and understaffed due to the demand but delivered in the end so well done to them.
It was nice to meet up with some old faces again some who you don't see from one Spring League to the other.

All of us got there nice and early and sat with our forthcoming team mates (Sensas Nomads) who also had one team fishing the League. The draw was delayed due to the pegging amendments and finally got under way about 08:30. The match length today was upper Hempstead then Simms to Pilot. Chris came back with the draw with the following pegs.....
Chris Hempstead 13
Me below Rea Bridge 175
Sam 221 halfway between Rea and Pilot
Glenn 320 Pilot end

On the face of it Sam had the best peg with bream the target the rest of us would be scratching.

Fishing was 11:00 to 16:00 so plenty of time to get there and set up.

When I got to my peg I was familiar with the area as I had drawn around there last year and the year before most did struggle with better weights around the bend into the late 180's / 190's.
Set up today was the Feeder across about a metre from the far blackthorn hedge another Feeder across in the deeper water about 20 metres out, a top 5 2gram rig at 13.5 metres, 0.10 fluro hook length to a 20 wide gap hook and finally a top 4 rig at 8 metres, 1.5 gramm float, and the same hook length etc.
Ground bait was Dark F1 for the tip and Dark F1 with a 50/50 mix of leam and mole hill soil for the pole lines. I also had some liqqy bread.
to compliment the above dead red and dead pinkies, squat, worm and caster.
Prior to the all in Paul Bick who was on 173 came down to have a chat by the sound of it he hadn't fished in the area before.

Paul Bick sandwiched between 2 boats

My peg 175 (Maver gear will be phased out and to be replaced with Sensas)

On the all in I took my time feeding the 2 pole lines, 3 balls went in down the track and 2 at 8 metres, these were to be left for at least an hour. I could see the 2 other angers below me and they balled it.

I started off on the liquidised bread across with a 6mm punch on the hook and after 30 minutes did not have a touch which was a bit worrying but not a surprise. Looking up and down as far as I could see no early fish had been snared, again not a surprise.

I changed to the fishmeal mix in the feeder across with a few dead pinkies and dead red on the hook to see if that would make a difference. I did have one knock but nothing positive. After 1 hour 15 mins I went out on the track line with double fluro pinkie on the hook and as soon as the float settled it sailed away, I struck and the no.6 elastic came out about a foot, wasn't expecting that but it was a small skimmer around 5oz so blank avoided. Could not get another bit right away so after 15 mins put on a small piece of worm and result another small skimmer, wheres your mum and dad I was thinking.

At 12:46 I had a text from Glenn saying that 1 hr 45 min in he had only a bleak and others around him blanking. Sam also text me to say he had 5 roach and a small skimmer on the bread but a few bream being caught around him, which I knew would be the case.

With the track not producing I came in on my 8 metre line and the float had hardly settled when it went under, another small skimmer and that was it from that line....why.

The rest of the match I managed a small skimmer on the far bank tip and a couple more down the track, just did not seem to be fish in any numbers in the peg...why do you catch one and then nothing?

I knew the 2 anglers below me had one or two bream so well down the Section with my 6 skimmers but did not think they had caught much above me.

While we were waiting for the scales one guy came past me as he had blanked...he said it was the walk of shame lol.

When the scales came to me I recorded 1lb 6oz and that was 15th out of 24 so not good but not a disaster. Here is my Section weights.....

Sam ended up with 1lb 7oz

Glenn 1oz

Chris 3oz

What a nightmare but it fished terrible (bloodworm and joker not allowed).

Here are the rest of the weight sheets...

Top 3 on the day...

1st    Rich Hoskins DGL 39lb 3oz

2nd   Mick Nowicki GBMV 16lb 14oz

3rd    Paul Nicholls Sensas Silver 14lb 1oz

Team positions after the 1st round..

Also a mention regarding Sensas Nomads young gun Geraint Powell who won the upper Hempstead Section with 6lb 8oz.

Geraint with his catch including a bonus tench.

Well it was good to get out for a proper match, not sure about next weekend hopefully there might be a practice match arranged on the Glossie.

Next Spring League match is 22nd April.