So ... on to the Turner 400. I have never fished the Thames before and when a few of the lads said they were interested I put my name forward.
Nomads team of 4 was.....
Mark Williams
Mike Withey
Rich Whitmarsh
me
30 teams had registered for the match so 120 pegged.
I did trawl the internet for information but there was not a lot out there. A couple of the guys who were fishing Staverton on the last match did give me so info though and it sort of matched up with what I had found out and been told by Nomads Team Manager Mike Martin-Davies.
The draw was at the Swan Pub in Radcot OX18 2XS and when I route planned it I found it was 71 miles from home. The draw was also starting at 07:30 fish so I was on the road by 05:30 to be on the safe side. Just as well I did as I came across a road closure north of Swindon on the A420 which delayed me ....... note to utility companies doing road works and closing roads.......
PUT UP DIVERSION SIGNS BEFORE YOU CLOSE THE FECKIN ROAD!
Thank you
Once back on the A420 it was a picturesque drive into Oxfordshire and I arrived at the pub right on the Thames by 07:15. The lads were already there and I tucked into a delicious specialist sausage bap and cup of tea.
In terms of our teams overall experience on the Thames and on a scale of 10 we were about a 4 at a push.
There were lots of local teams as you would expect so we were really up against it but ... you gotta learn some way.
Sections today were.....
A Radcoat up .....walk from the pub
B Radcot down .......walk from the pub
C & D Clanfied
Mark done the Captains job today and came back after the draw showing Rich on Radcot up and me Radcot down (peg 4 shortest walk), Mike and Mark having to drive a short distance to Clanfield but park behind your peg.
Steve Long (GBMV) pointed me in the right direction from the pub car park.
The Upper Thames here is a bit like Staverton but wider and shallower (just like Mike Martin-Davies said), very nice area. On the way to the peg I came across Shaun Bryan on peg 1, apparently it was a good area as was peg 2 and 3 with mine being ok ish. At the time there was little flow and Shaun said it probably would affect the fishing.
Roach would be the main target and 10lb would get you mega points.
When I get to my peg it did look nice, just around the corner from a marina mouth with over hanging willows. The bank was nice and flat and no need to get in the water.
I set up a 1 gram pencil float with number 11's strung out 3 feet below the bulk, 20 hook to 0.09. A 1 gram sensas carbon river float, again a 20 hook to 0.09 but bulk well down and a couple of number 10 droppers. Shaun also advised me to set up a 2 gram rig as well to a heavier elastic (no 6), my other top sets were no 4. Finally a waggler for right across as I was told chublets sometimes show.
On the ''all in'' I cupped in 8 balls of Gros Gardons and Noire with a few casters and hemp at 13 metres where the flow was plus 3 balls about 8 metres out where it was the same depth, about 7 foot.
Starting on the pencil rig with double caster I had 5 dumpy roach in 15 minutes then the bleak moved in. I started to spray hemp over the top hoping to fed them off, think I attracted more. Went out on the bulk rig and it was a bit better but my hook bait just kept getting ravaged before it hit bottom. I did overcome the problem a bit by putting the rig in well above my feed or well below it.
The roach did appear to reduce in size and I had a few dace as well. Coming in on the 8 metre line gave me a few perch so I fed some chopped worm which produced a small skimmer and a couple of roach but it was very slow. I had a look on the waggler but only caught micro chublets. I could see the angler below me and he appeared to be concentrating on a short line for most of the day. I did see him swing a few fish but not that many.
I re-fed my 13 metre line and nicked the odd fish but bumped quite a few right down the end of the peg. Switching up to an 18 hook made no difference and I became very frustrated with myself.
I thought i had around 3lbs but the scales said 4lb 6oz. Below me he weighed 6lb 6oz, above me 5lb 11oz, peg 2 had 11lb odd and Shaun on peg 1 won the 30 peg section with over 15lbs, he fished very well but gracious as usual saying he had a good peg but you still got to catch them.
Shaun with his section winning bag of mainly roach worth 30 points
My weight was only worth 9 points from 30.
Rich had 7lb plus for 17 points, Mike had 5lb odd for 17 points but Mark had 6lbs plus for a magnificent 26 points. 69 points in total which gave us 10th overall from 30 Teams.
Top 3 Teams as follows...
1st Wyvern Anglers 99 points
2nd Drennan Oxford Yellow 93 points
3rd Diawa Gordon League Gold 91 points
Top Team Wyvern Anglers
So on relection...yep done a lot of that and will be trying to up my game.
On the plus side Mark picked up 3rd in his section, well done mate
PS .... I did not take the photo, think he was jumping around for joy too much to get all his head in
No top weights recorded today as I left early in case the road closure was still in place.
Pic (bit of an angle though) showing points per team if you want to try and work the full positions out.
Enforced match fishing break now until the end of September then Bristol Commercial House League (I miss the first one) and Upper Thames Winter League.
If anyone locally is interested Colin from Premier Angling in Chippenham is running the following league once a month on Wednesdays through the winter.
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