Sunday 19th August - S W Super League Final Round, Bristol Avon, Newbridge

Final Round today of this popular league and a big thank you to Dave Micklewright, Simon Hebditch, Mark Treasure, Mark Harper, Andy Jane and all the pegged outer's plus the Club Houses and Pubs which have accommodated us for the draws and results afterwards. It is very much appreciated, well done. If you need any help next year please ask.

Newbridge has been a bit temperamental lately probably due to the changeable weather, lack of flow and clear conditions. Rain during the week made no difference as the ground just soaked it up.

Sensas Nomads Team today was....
Andy Thomas (c)
Rich Candy
Mark Whippet
Mike Withey
Rich Whitmarsh
Chris Hook
Sam Johnson
Me

There was some fishing royalty today.... Des Ship and Andy Power fishing for P I Thatchers.

A lot of fish have been showing in the ''trees'' section by the Rugby Field and I did fancy it. Andy came back with the draw and I found myself on G5 (permanent peg 112) in the ''trees''. The weights had been coming from the higher numbers but happy enough. I parked up by good fishing pal Dean Harvey who pegged it out the day before and he said I had a bit of room.

It was a relatively short walk to the peg as opposed to last week. The peg was nice and clear and a good bit of room to ship back the pole without it sticking out on the path behind so no passers by sky lining me.

Nice and tidy today or as my Welsh Team mates say tidee

The flow, what there was of it was just shy of 13 metres so set up a 2 gram running through rig and a 3 gram flatty. Depth was match top 4.5. While setting up the wind was not too bad so set up a waggler for across and a feeder rod with a 20 grammer with a B520 size 14 to 0.13.

Ground bait was a 50/50 mix of Sensas Lake and Dark River with a pint of Leam and half a pint of mole hill soil.

10 balls were made up for chucking in at the start laced with hemp, caster and a bit of chopped worm.

I started off on caster with the running through rig and hit a small skimmer first run though only to have a rower come up the inside across my line and the fish was lost...bastard I murmered plus a few other adjectives. I had 8 roach in the next 40 minutes before going out on the flat float with double caster as this method seemed to have worked well lately. I had a decent perch first put in which was ok but usually a bad sign. A few more perch followed, not big by any means but at least something was going in the net. I was loose feeding caster and hemp over the top and when I changed to my running rig I was able to nick the odd small roach but it was very slow.

Giving the pole line a rest I picked up the waggler. The wind had got a bit stronger at this point but casting hard and tight I was able to combat it slightly and caught a few barrel chub, bleak and roach.

It was hard to say how the section was fishing as no one came past, if they did they couldn't get to me anyway. I was catching on the wag but didn't think it was great so persevered with the flatty again picking up the odd fish on double caster but it was a waiting game and thought there had to be better fish in the peg somewhere.

I picked up the feeder at 3 o'clock and put half a dendra tipped with a maggot filling the feeder with a little bit of chop and caster in quite dry ground bait. I had not fed my feeder line at the start so expected it to take a few casts before any indications were seen. Third cast and a gentle pull round saw me connect with a small skimmer of around 10oz my biggest fish of the day so far. boat traffic got a bit busy again so had to put the tip right down to the water. 15 mins later I had another decent bite and landed a better skimmer of around 1lb. That was it so decided to stick with this method until the all out at 4.30. I had 5 more before the end and was somewhat relieved as prior to 3 o'clock I felt I was going nowhere.

Nicky Ewers and Gary Cross came down with the scales and board from the earlier numbers in the section and were admitting to a couple of pound or so each. I said I though I had 6lb or 7lb.

I walked down to G7 which was end peg in the section and Dan Squire was saying he only had a couple of pounds, he weighed 5-10!

Andy Pollard was next on G6 and he was admitting to 6 / 7lbs, correct he weighed 7-1.

I was next and when I pulled the net out thought it should go at least 8lbs. Better than that as Nicky called out 10-9.

Heres how my section board looked, well happy with that.

Back in the car park I met up with Mike Withey and Andy Thomas. Andy had also won his section with 7lb odd so £60 section money each.

I headed back to the Crown at Keynsham for the results and the weights coming back overall were not great.

The top 3 individuals were really close.

1st     Andy Power P I Thatchers 13-15

2nd    Mike Bernsten GBV 13-12

3rd     Andy Powell Sensas Lobbys 13-2

I would have been in the top 10 / 12.

Teams on the day..

1st     GBV

2nd    DGL and P I Thatchers

4th     Sensas 88

5th     Sensas Nomads

6th     Sensas Lobbys

Final league ..

1st     DGL

2nd    P I Thatchers

3rd     GBV

4th     Sensas 88

5th     Sensas Lobbys

6th     Sensas Nomads

Not the finish we wanted but its our first year as a new team and we are up against some quality.

But ...... its the taking part that counts...... bollocks to that!

Sunday 12th August - S W Super League Round 5, Bristol Avon, Newbridge

Back at Newbridge again for the penultimate round of this popular league. We had quite a bit of rain prior to the match and more was forecast so we were hoping there would be a bit of colour in the river.
Draw was at the Crown in Keynsham again but due to last weeks staffing problems with breakfast Chris, Sam and I met up in McDonalds on the Bath Rd in Bristol. We got to the Crown in plenty of time and met up with the others and picked up my 2nd in Section money from the previous week from Mike Withey.

Team today was...
Mike Withey
Rich Whitmarsh
Rich Candy
Chris Hook
Sam Johnson
Leigh Wakefield
Andy Thomas
me
Mike Martin-Davies ...bank runner

56 anglers today but one made up team of 8 to boost numbers but their points would not count.

Draw done I found myself on D2 which is permanent peg 52 which is a long walk but I thought worth going to. Fishing today was 11:30 - 16:30. Parked up OK and headed downstream dressed as if it was winter. Once I got to my peg it was down to polo shirt.
Above me and the first peg in my section was Welsh International Nigel Evans. Also in my section was another incredibly talented angler Andy Power.

My peg looked OK and I was able to fish from the bank as opposed to getting in the water last week but just as well I took my 4 metre keepnet.
Plenty of ground bait today and a mix of Sensas River, Roach, Black Crumb and Leam. Tackle Shop set up as I had plenty of time.....
Crowquill
Waggler
Feeder
3 gram Flat Float
2 gram Running through Float

To be honest I don't really know this section of the river as I have never drawn it. I did learn that Nigel was on a form peg especially for the pole.
I had top 4 deep rigs at 13 metres which was quite nice. I did intend to start on the running through rig and then sit on the Flat Float to see if there are any bonus fish about.
The river had a bit of flow but not any colour.

14 big balls went in at the start on the pole line and 4 down the middle laced with dead reds, caster and hemp.
I had 30 fish (roach, perch and hybrids) in the first hour and a quarter before the bites dried up. I let the rig run down as far as I could to see if they had backed downstream when the float buried and when I struck loads of elastic came out. It did feel like a bream but soon discovered it was a jack pike about 3lbs that must have take a roach straight away after it had been hooked. I was just letting it swim around when the phone went. It was Sam who told me he only had 8 fish and was struggling. The pike eventually bit the line.
Mike came along and said I was more or less level with those around me. I picked up the waggler and went right across and started to pick up barrel chub and chunky bleak fishing about 4 foot deep and spraying maggot. A couple of better chub around 8oz were good weight builders.

I had been feeding caster on the pole line as well so after 40 minutes had another look on the light rig. Nothing, no sign of life at all. Picked up the Flat Float and put half a dendra on. Put it in, held back and it sailed away. A perch of about 6 ozs. That'll do I though then nothing more after 20 minutes so back on the waggler picking up odd fish. I kept checking the pole line and re-balled but no joy.

On the all out I thought I had about 7 to 8lbs....I wasn't far off.

7lb 4oz so bang on with my estimate

Heres what my section looked like

Section winner Nigel Evans with some quality fish, all on the pole

Back at the pub it was clear we had not done very well and quite a few of the team did not come back. Shame really as the pub had laid on complementary sausages and chips.

Results as follows:

1st    Tim Ford 18lb 8oz   P I Thatchers

2nd   Paul Nicholls 15lb 15oz   Sensas 88

3rd    Nick Chedzoy 15lb 5oz   P I Thatchers

Teams on the day:

1st    P I Thatchers

2nd   DGL

3rd    GBV

4th    Sensas 88

5th    Sensas Lobbys

6th    Sensas Nomads

League to date:

1st    DGL

2nd   P I Thatchers

3rd    GBV

4th    Sensas 88

5th    Sensas Lobbys

6th    Sensas Nomads

Tim with his winning catch taken from the first peg in the little field See his blog http://cluckerspeg.blogspot.com

So the final round is next week, again its at Newbridge.

My results lately have been mediocre so need a decent result as does the team.

Sunday 5th August - S W Super League Practice, Bristol Avon Newbridge

Quite a few booked in for this practice match at Newbridge which hosted a River Fest qualifier the previous Sunday when 153lb won it.

A number of our Team fishing today....

Mike Withey
Rich Whitmarsh
Andy Thomas
Chris Hook
Me

Draw was at the Crown in Keynsham, usually pretty good but breakfast a bit disorganised.

We had to pay an additional £1 today in order to cover the cost of a parking charge at the Rugby Club in Saltford which is also the access point to the ''trees section''. I  am sure if Bathampton AA put their mind to it a car park could be developed for anglers use, not only for matches but for pleasure anglers as well. There is currently no safe place to park in the area as far as I know.

The match length had been pegged out the day before by Lee Trivet who had also provided anglers with plenty of room. I drew peg 21 which was somewhere in the mid 40 permanent peg area so not too bad.

It was already warming up but the walk was OK, all on the flat and no fences.
I got to the peg and looked at it ...thought oh bollocks....it was a long way down the bank to get to the water so the Rigger Platform would need to be set up and unshipping back with the pole at an acute angle of 60 degrees would not be much fun either.

Just as well we had plenty of time to set up, fishing was 11:30 - 16:30.

There were a few rowers about which were going all over the place but they usually are off the water by lunchtime.....hopefully.

I took a bit of time sorting out the platform as I usually slide in halfway through the match, cries for help would go unnoticed due to the distance between pegs.

2 pole rigs and a feeder for today, not much point setting anything else up as there was little flow and deep on the inside and middle. No flow across so not much point in a waggler.

Depth at 11 metres was good enough for a top 4 rig with about 2 foot between pole and float. A 1 gram was just right and pick up what flow there was. 18 hook to 0.10. At 13 meters it was a bit deeper about top 4 and a half, could have done with a short no. 4 section really to ease any swinging (fish that is not swinging like your thinking of). A 2.5 gram was chosen with a 16 to 0.12.  The feeder chuck was just downstream in the middle.

On the all in I balled 14 big ones in between the 2 lines. My mix wasn't right and should have put some leam in it, will sort that out for next week. In the mix I had corn, hemp, caster, dead reds.

6 feeder fulls of chop and caster were put in as well with green F1.

Starting at 11 metres with the light rig it was a bleak first put in then a few more ..couldnt get through them. I decided to give them a break of 10 minutes while I took the hook out of my keep net followed by my trousers then my t-shirt...no going well you might say!

New hook length sorted and back in business .... more bleak.

Picked up the heavier rig, shortened the depth a bit put on double caster and had a few roach followed by perch. Unshipping was difficult with the pole having to be raised high in the air causing a slack line after hooking fish resulted in a few losses. You can't afford to loose fish early at Newbridge as they tend to back right off quickly. I hooked a decent skimmer and it spat the hook out at the net. This happened with a couple of nice roach as well.

After an hour the bites dried up so went out at 13 metres after adjusting the depth again. Bingo a couple of skimmers and some lumpy perch. Double caster was doing the trick still but after catching a small chub it spewed out a load of corn.

Corn on the hook did not get any interest at all. Nigel Wyatt came down (he was pegged up near the Pump House I think) asking what I had saying it was fishing hard but Warren Bates had around 8lbs. It was about the halfway mark and I just plodded on after topping up the feeder line for a look later on. I took the odd fish on the pole now and then, tried the feeder a couple of times but not a sign.

I did enjoy the day but that bank behind me was a real hinderance and knew it cost me a few pounds. I also made a couple of school boy errors swinging fish so have had a word with myself.

Dean Harvey came down with the scales and said it had fished hard, he hadn't done that well.

My fish went 5lb 14oz but it should have been more like 10lbs 

I went back to the pub for a pint, not many had come back and after hearing the main weights left for home as my dog was on her own.

1st      Neil Richards 20lb (little field)

2nd     Rob Jones 16lbs 6oz (trees peg 122)

3rd     Phil Bendall 16lb 5oz (peg 88)

Warren Bates and Dave Clapton both had 16lb 3oz so a tight 2nd to 5th.

2nd placed Rob Jones, nice bag of fish (courtesy of his FB page)

As I write this team mate Mike Withey had contacted me saying he has some money for me £20 for 2nd in Section....happy days.

Sunday 29th July - S W Super League Round 4, River Huntspill

Bit of a late blog due to having a bit of a DIY workload and Community Bus commitment this week.

Back on the Huntspill then for the 3rd Sunday in a row. Heavy rain and strong winds were forecast so as a team we decided on an all out Feeder approach as we had nothing to loose. Top positions in the League are gone for us so we are just going for individual glory in the form of pick ups if we can.

Team was.....
Mark Williams (c)
Rich Whitmarsh
Rich Candy
Leigh Wakefield
Martin Bendall
Mike Withey
Steve Saunders
Me

It was blowing up a bit on the way down the M5 along with heavy showers. Leigh and I met up with Rob Jones in the Services and he too was going for a Feeder approach.

The draw was at the 37 Club Woolavington.

Mark came back with the draw and I found myself on 86 which was the Section below Woolavington Bridge. It had not fished that well in the previous weeks. Leigh was in the next Section down on 89 so we both had a fairly easy walk.

When I got to my peg there was one more in just before the copse, after that there was a 50 yard gap. Fortunately the peg below me was not drawn. It must have been put in to accommodate a Hospital Team in order to boost the number of anglers fishing.

The wind was off our backs on this bank so not much effort was needed to chuck a 30 gram feeder tight across (42 turns), I had a line down the middle as well. It didn't take long to set up the 2 Feeder Rods. Usual fishmeal ground bait with choppy, caster and dead reds.

I fed the 2 lines with 6 feeder fulls each before starting right across with half a dendra and a dead red on a 14 to 0.13.  Most other anglers in the section appeared to do the same. 

It took about 30 minutes to get the first indication, just a rattle from a small fish. I hit the bite but nothing. Next cast I had a slightly more positive indication in the form of a slight pull and a drop back on the 2.5 oz tip. Hit it and a positive thud in the form of a bream. Not big, more of a skimmer around 1.5 lbs.  15 minutes later another one, slightly bigger. Lee Green DGL to my right also had one but was not casting as far as me. In the next hour I had another 2 small bream and just kept plugging away but unfortunately no more bream although I was getting the odd liner.

Lee to my right managed a few quality roach on the pole and hemp late to pip me by a few ounces.

They look bigger than what they weighed

Heres how my Section finished, I only needed one proper bream to pick up.

Chris Parr on the first peg in did really well on the pole catching quality roach, hybrids and small skimmers to win the Section.

Heres how our Team Sheet looked, not good.

Overall the River switched off compared to the previous week with only 20lb needed to win.

Top 3 individuals on the day....

1st     Martin Barrett 20lb

2nd    Matt Parsons 17lb 11oz

3rd     Steve Long 16lb 10oz

Teams on the day.....

1st     DGL

2nd    GBV

3rd     Sensas 88

4th     P I Thatchers

5th     Sensas Nomads

6th     Sensas Lobbys

League position to date...

1st     DGL

2nd    P I Thatchers

3rd     GBV

4th     Sensas 88

5th     Sensas Lobbys

6th     Sensas Nomads

Practice Match Sunday 5th on the Bristol Avon at Newbridge, league match the week after.