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.