Wednesday 30th January - Avon Winter League Round 4, Bristol Avon, Bradford on Avon

Given the weather forecast I was not looking forward to this match. The draw was at the Lock Inn near the Tythe Barn which doesn't open until 08:30 but it takes an hour to get there from home plus you need to get there early to avoid paying for parking and allow for traffic through the M5 road works and the congestion around the Almondsbury Interchange (M5/M4).
So....the alarm went off at 05:40 and I set about defrosting the van at 06:00, the temperature gauge was registering  -4 degrees. All sorted by 06:20 and I was on the road arriving in Bradford on Avon at 07:35. A few anglers were already there and I walked along to have a look at the river. It was a bit pacey but not dirty just a bit grey looking and still very cold with ice in the puddles on the path. Those of us that walked the bank agreed it would probably be chub or bust.

Walking along the canal to the Lock Inn it was completely frozen over and we were soon inside tucking into a decent breakfast with an open coal fire. Most came to the same conclusion......what are we doing here?

Sensas Nomads Team mate Mike Martin-Davies and I were almost at the back of the draw que and when I got to draw I notices all but one of the early pegs had gone which generally fish a lot better. Couldn't believe it when I drew peg 3 in the first 7 peg section. Not that I know much about the peg although I did draw it 2 years ago in the summer but much different today.

So a short walk to the peg and to be fair Mike and Colin (the organiser) stopped and suggested I go for chub across.
The peg is in a small copse with overhanging trees so a bit of pruning with a weed cutter soon cleared a few low hanging branches.

First thing I set up was a tip rod for fishing across with a small 20 gram cage feeder with a size 14 B520 to 0.13 for fishing bread discs and Liqqy. I also set up a crow quill for a just under halfway across and intended to loose feed caster over this line.

I was also told there were some big perch in this area so set up a 3 gram flat float to fish over chopped worm. I had just plumed up at 10 metres and was letting it run through to see what adjustments were needed when I hit a snag and lost the lost. It was now 10 minutes to the all in so decided to park the pole for the time being.

On the all in I did put 2 balls of ground bait laced with caster towards the middle and started off with a 10 mm punch across with the liqqy feeder. I made several casts in the first 15 minutes just to put some bread cloud and particles in the water before easing off a little. About 30 minutes in I had a rattle and a drop back bite which I missed. The same happened next put in, they were proper bites and I thought they may be roach hitting the large bread disc so scaled down to an 8 mm. Casting to the same spot the tip bent over within a minute and I was soon playing a big fish. It fought hard in the current and when I git it to the middle I was conscious about the snag where I lost the flat float earlier. I managed to guide it up stream and was glad I set up the 4 metre landing net. It was a great chub and must have been at least 5lbs. The fish was probably my best chub and I was shaking (with the cold and the experience).

Back out again with the 8 mm punch and I left it for about 10 minutes before the tip dropped back and another fish was on. This one was half the size of the first one and came in a bit easier.

I had another bite next put in but didn't connect.

No more bites were forthcoming on any lines for the rest of the match on any line, I even fed some choppy close in and put a straight lead over it with worm but nothing, the crowquil line was also barren.

A couple of bank walkers suggested it was fishing very hard with Kev Boltiz reportedly have 4 chub.

The scales came up from peg 7, the last peg in my section and 2lb 14oz was best, one chub which Nicky Johns had at 14:45, odd single chub had also been caught. Dave Baker above me on peg 2 said he had 2 chub and thought he might have 5lbs, I new my fish would go 6lb plus.

My fish went heavier than I thought and registered 7lb 6oz

I was please to win the section and my first pick up in this league. Gary Etheridge on the favoured peg 1 had 100 fish including a 12oz perch for 2lb 4oz, so definitely caught the most fish in the match.

The match was won by Chris Ollis with 4 chub for 10lb 8oz.

Second was Kev Boltz with 4 chub for 9lb 1oz.

Third was Steve Palmer with 8lb 4oz (chub)

So I think I was 4th out of the 21.

The Upper Avon is fairly new to me, only really fished it properly the last 6 months in the Winter League and this League but learning all the time.

Having a weekend off from fishing but will get out again midweek somewhere.

Sunday 27th January - ''The Creel Open'' Gloucester Canal

Some time ago I noticed on facebook that ''The Creel'' Fishing Tackle Shop in Gloucester were running an Open on the Canal. With nothing else on team mate Chris Hook and I booked in with Paul Matthews at the shop.
Paul told me a lot of anglers who originally booked in were dropping out but he hoped for 25 for definite. The draw was at the Pilot Inn with £6 payable in advance but Paul kindly paid ours up front.

The pegging was going to be from Rea Bridge to the Pilot Inn but due to clear conditions it was going to be Tanker Bay, Hempstead Bend and the 60's at Netheridge.

I had been to the Pilot Inn before but only for a drink after a match and I have to say the breakfast was pretty good. There was a reasonable turnout of around 26, many I had not seen before. A lot of them knew me though from my Blog.

Just before the draw it was announced there would be payouts as follows:

Top 1 £110
5 Sections of £60 (default)

I thought that was pretty fair as the ''Bend'' was always likely to throw up the top weight so in that Section there would be 2 pick ups from 5 anglers (overall winner and default section) and the rest would be fishing for £60 in the other sections.

I gave Welsh International a bit of stick last time for pushing in front of me just before Christmas so he let me go in front of him this time even though he was behaving himself today and qued up like everyone else.
Into the draw and I pulled out peg 62, not too unhappy about that as its in the middle where the old bend used to come out but in the old arm there was a small Club Match going on. Chris drew 61 and was disappointed as he thought the Club anglers would be directly opposite him. Nige drew 44 so just out of the Bend and said it was useless. I could see his point as he would find it hard to compete with 47, 48 and 49. Nige did say to me 64 would be likely to win the section where I was.

At least my peg had plenty of water in front of it

Chris on 61 was OK as well as the Club anglers had not pegged right down to the mouth of the old arm so no one was going to be fishing in front of him.

The wind wasn't too bad in our section and I was able to cast right across to the far brambles with a front loaded feeder for fishing with fishmeal and dead pinkie plus a few casters. I set up another tip rod for fishing just past the middle, 25 grm for liqqy and punch. Only one pole rig, 11 metres where it was just under top 5 deep. 1.5 grm with a 20 wide gape to 0.10 fluro. For the pole line I was trying a new sweet mix today.

It was going to be bream or bust today, I have draw around this area quite a few times and never seen a big weight on the pole line, so a bit of a waiting game was ahead.

I fed 4 feeder fulls right across and cupped in 3 small balls on the pole line before starting off on the bread feeder with 8mm punch on a wide gape 16.

Blog follower Chris Hammond came down on his bike and said I was in a decent area.

About 10 minutes in I started getting liners, I hear the angler below me on 63 also say he was getting liners as was peg 64. A few fish around then which is something at least. I soon had a more positive twitch and hit it. It didn't feel that big but fought pretty good, ended up with a decent roach around 10oz, probably the biggest I have had from the Glossy. A few more liners followed until just before the 30 minute mark I had a proper pull round and hit it resulting in a small bream just over 2lbs. More and more liners followed and another proper bite about 45 minutes in saw me get another decent roach. Next put in I had a bream on but it became unhooked just before the net and I didn't have a bite on any line after that, even trying a couple of new ones. I think what I should have done was stop the feed and just fish a straight lead.

Everyone in the section caught but Mike Blakemore on end peg 64 done the business with 9lb 13oz just as Nige predicted.

Mike Blakemore, section winner

My net went 3lb 4oz but firmly believe there was more to be had

Chris had a couple of skimmers and roach beating me by 4oz

Jason Wellington had a few fish late for 8lb 6oz from a peg that we wouldn't want

Netheridge Section Board

The match was won by organiser Paul Matthews from the Bend with 30lbs 5oz so well done to him. 

Winner Paul ( I didn't take this photo)

Second and the Bend section by default was former Maver Team mate Dave Hoskins also on the Bend with 24lb 13oz.

and Nige who said his peg was a waste of time...well it was really but he still managed 23lb 15oz on the pole, at least he had a days fishing.

Nice day but no cigar

11lbs was top weight up at Tanker Bay and I believe there were about 5 DNW's.

Thanks to The Creel and the Pilot Inn, enjoyed it.

Next match for me is the Avon League at Bradford on Avon this Wednesday, looks like its going to be  cold.

Sunday 20th January - Chippenham Open, Upper Bristol Avon

With all the League Matches over now until the Spring I put a message out on Facebook asking if anyone knew of any River Matches on. A response came back pretty quick informing me of an Open Match at Chippenham. That'll do for me, its a decent bit of river with good access. Team mate Mike Martin-Davis was also going.

Draw was at the Brewers Fare in Chippenham with breakfast at £9.50 a go but you could help yourself to as much as you wanted and they make anglers welcome. Mike and I were sat having breakfast and in walks fellow Clevedon Club member Paul Randall, didn't expect to see him there. He showed me photo's of 6 tench he had on the previous Wednesday from our own River Kenn.

Chippenham AA Match Secretary got things underway at 08:30 but we were at the back so couldn't hear him very well but I noticed Paul has somehow managed to get near the front of the que.

There were not many pegs left by the time I got to the draw bag and I ended up on 87 which is on Island Park in the middle of the town. I had never fished this part of the river before and luckily I had the postcodes of the available car parks. I was informed in was an armchair peg by the life buoy and to expect chublets across by some tins on the waggler.

I ended up parking in Wetherspoons car park which was more or less in the right area and only a short walk into the park. As I got into the park Paul Randall was already there on the last peg (90) just upstream of the town bridge. 89 was in, 88 was not taken and then me by the life buoy, Devizes ace Kev Rowles was on 86 and another angler on the last upstream peg 85.

It was a cold day with a ground frost during the night but not unpleasant. I had a brief chat with Kev before setting up. The flow here is affected by a tilting wear just downstream the other side of the bridge so the flow goes from quite strong to almost stationary.

A 3AAA yellow top waggler was sufficient to get all the way across where is was about 7 foot deep. I also set up a long rod with a crowqull for trotting the middle and the pole at 11 metres with a 1 gram rig.

I catapulted maggot across, fed some caster in ground bait down the middle and choppy and caster on the pole line.

Starting off on the waggler I had a chublet about 5oz first trot down holding back slightly. A couple more followed within the next 20 minutes but further down the swim. I was hitting a bit of fine weed towards the end of the run so shallowed up a bit. Four more chublets were caught in the next 30 minutes but it was hard going. I didn't see Kev above me catching much at this stage.  Had a quick look on my other two lines but no life at all. I was told there was perch to be had here so stuck it out on the pole with worm for a while without success. 

The waggler line was the only place I could get a bit and managed a few net roach plus more chublets up to 8oz at best.

I did keep feeding the other two lines but couldn't get a bite at all. The waggler line also appeared to have died on me.

It must have been around 1 o'clock when Paul Randall came behind me and asked how I was getting on. ...........

Me:  about 3lbs. How are you doing 

Paul: you don't have a spare keepnet do you

Me: no, why

Paul: I got about 50lbs and am a bit worried about too many fish in the net

Me: (to myself) fff&*%@!

Me: I have got one in the van but I'm sure you'll be OK

Paul: Yes they are getting smaller, haven't had any more 5lb er's. The guy above me has a couple as well.

and ..... back he went.

I did persevere and added a couple more chublets. I did see Kevin above me net a few fish and they looked bigger than mine. 

At 2 o'clock I decided I was going nowhere so decided to pack up and go and sit behind Paul, I tipped back around 3lbs at the end of the match.

He had another 4 bream while I sat behind him and was getting quite a few liners. He ran out of ground bait about 20 minutes to go so put on a block end feeder with maggot and still went on catching.

The scales came up and I gave them a hand to do about 4 weighs, Paul ended up with a level 69lbs.

what a result for Paul who does not fish that much competitively.

The upper part of the river fished hard with Island Park producing the best weights, so right Section and perhaps wrong peg or wrong angler on the peg?

Results..

1st     Paul Randall 69lbs

2nd = Kev Rowles & Len Baldwin 13lb 4oz

4th     Kev Abigall 10lb 8oz

5th     Jim Bone 7lb 14oz

32 fished

Back on the Gloucester Canal next Sunday for an Open.

Thursday 17th January - Silvers Match Plantation Lakes Kingston Seymour

Paul Faiers made me aware of a series of silver fish matches on Plantation Lakes and then I had a text from Tony Ripon inviting me to take part so I booked in.

18 fishing today I think and I had a reasonable peg with plenty of room but think I messed up some how, still don't know what I did wrong as most anglers had double figures.

Ended up with 7lb of mainly roach for last but one and.....I was next to the winner with 26lbs.

Not a lot else to say really.

Sunday 13th January - Sensas Bristol Commercial House League, final round Kennet & Avon Canal Bath Town to Bathampton

After last weeks round I took responsibility to order the Bloodworm and Joker for our 2 Teams as young Andy Cranston who got it for us was not fishing the league this week. I ordered it from Taffy's up in Bolton, I have had it from him before and its been very good. 12 packs duly arrived by courier on Thursday morning and it was pretty good. The cost worked out at £8 including the postage so reasonable enough. Problem was I had to spend the next few days spraying it in order to keep it in good nick....oh the responsibility.

Tim Ford was in charge of pegging for the match and after last weeks match which was rock hard  Tim was going to get as many pegs as possible in the town area. He did well and after pegging out on the Saturday posted in advance how he pegged it.

A1 to A8 long pondB1 to B4 horseshoe B5 to b8 malt house C1 to C6 malt house C7. C8 Richardson bayD1 to D4 Richardson D5 to d8 tunnels Top tunnel not pegged E1 meadow farm to old lock
F1 past old lock F8 near white gate by George pub 

One thing did concern me though was parking although Tim did suggest that anglers double up in the town area's.

The Crown in Keynsham was open for this weeks draw and I got there about 07:30 with Sam after a stop off at McDonalds just in case the cook didn't turn up which has happened before. First priority was to collect the money for the worm which was soon settled.

Our team Sensas Nomads Black today was....
Chris Hook (c)
Sam Johnson
Leigh Wakefield
Rich Whitmarsh
Mike Martin - Davies - special appearance and debt collector
Me

Our other team, Sensas Nomads Green was .....
Mark Williams (c)
Mike Withey
Jeff Sibley
Nigel Saunders
Paul Rigby
Kevin Morris

The draw was done and Chris came back with us on peg 1, Marks team had peg 2.

I was in C Section so headed off to Pultney Gardens in Bath to park up aside the canal. Leigh was in B Section (same parking area) so was going to follow me, on the way out Jeff Sibley said he was in C and didn't know where to go so he followed me as well.

Parking on arrival was tight, I did find a couple of spaces and drove past them to turn around and in the meantime Paul Purchase nicked my spot so ended up parking way up a hill. It was OK to be honest as the downhill walk with the trolley was painless and I would bring the van down at the end.

I waited on the Horseshoe pond where Leigh was and waited for him to come around. I knew the peg so gave him a few tips before heading off to mine.

My peg was on the end of a wider bay and it did look quite inviting.

Plumbing up I found the deepest part of my peg was top 7 out where it was about 4 foot and into the bay to my right. A 4x14 with 0.08 to a 20 would be spot on for this area and intended to start with bread here. Straight across in front of me I had 3 foot a metre out so chose that line for joker feed and set up a 0.3 gram rig with 0.09 to a 20. Finally a full 13 metre line in the middle of the bay, 4x14 set up similar to my short line. I didn't go to the left as Jeff was next to me and the pegging was quite tight. Andy Britt came down with the Section Board to fill in the names, he said I was on the ''flyer'' so no pressure.

There was some strong gusts of wind and it kept changing direction so I had plenty of line between the pole and the float.

On the all in I cupped in 2 balls of liqqy  on the short line and then fed choppy and caster on the long line and a ball of joker in leam and soil across.

Starting off on a 6mm double punch it didn't take long for the float to go under and soon had a dumpy roach. The bread line was performing well and I had a bite a chuck for the first hour and a quarter popping up with little balls of bread on a regular basis and also feeding the other two lines.

Resting the bread line after it went quiet I went long into the bay with a maggot and had a roach straight away then the wind blew the pole hard left and the rig got snagged in the far bank thorns so had to re-rig. I did have a couple more roach but the wind was too difficult so re-fed for later. Going across on my joker line with pinkie I had a small chub and a couple of nice roach.

Andy Britt came down for a walk and said all above me were struggling and asked what weight I had, I said about 2lbs, he said I was pissing the section.
I carried on putting the odd fish in the next from the 3 lines and then Darren Gillman came up for a walk from the Section below me, he said he only had about 8 small fish.

My bread line went completely dead so I potted in some joker and left it for 20 minutes nicking the odd fish straight across. When I did go back on the short line with double bloodworm I had a good run of fish. Two hours from the all out it went rock hard and I only added 1 perch and a ruff.

From what I could see I thought I had done OK but there were 2 pegs in our Section which were the other side of Bathwick Hill bridge and they can be pretty good.
Walking up to meet the scales one of those pegs had 5lb plus but that angler was in B Div, I was in A.
When it came to me I had a level 4lb which did win A Div Section.

Happy enough with my catch in a tough area the lowest weight being 6oz

Leigh came up from B Section to see how I got on, he had won his Section as well catching where I told him to fish.

Leigh had 8lb 8oz

Heading back to the road we also learned that Sam in A Section had also won his with 8lb 10oz which also meant he won the ''Knock Out'' so well done to him.

Back at the pub the team sheet was completed and heres how it turned out...

So 3 Section wins from 6 and the known hard areas lived up to their reputation.

Senses Nomads Green had a good day with 2 section pick ups ( Mark by default) and Kevin coming 2nd overall with 12lbs

Nomads Green capt Mark Williams with his bag (B2).

Kev Dicks won the match from the Tunnels with a nice bag of fish for 17lbs

Kev Dicks

Full results as follows courtesy of Vince Lunn...

Individuals
1 K Dicks Mosella Bathampton A 17 lbs 0 ozs
2 K Morris Sensas Nomads Green 12 lbs 8 ozs
3 P Purchase M & N Electrical 8 lbs 14 ozs
4 K Boltz Stand & Deliver Promotions 8 lbs 11 ozs
5 S Johnson Sensas Nomads Black 8 lbs 10 ozs
6 L Wakefield Sensas Nomads Black 8 lbs 8 ozs

Teams
A Div on day
1 Mosella Bathampton B 17
2 Sensas Nomads Black 16.5
3 Mosella Bathampton A 14
4 Preston Innovations Thatchers 11.5 

B Div on day
1= M & N Electrical 17
1= Sensas Nomads Green 17
3 Stand & Deliver Promotions 12
4 DW Builders 11 

A Div League overall
1 Mosella Bathampton A 93.5 269 lbs 8 ozs
2 Preston Innovations Thatchers 93.5 252 lbs 15 ozs
3 Mosella Bathampton B 87
4 Sensas Nomads Black 78 

B Div League overall
1 Stand & Deliver Promotions 94
2 Sensas Nomads Green 84
3 M & N Electrical 81.5
4 DW Builders 81.5

Not a bad day for us really and I finished 10th overall individually after missing the first match.

Big thanks to Mike and Nicky Goodhind, Vince Lunn and all the peggers for a great league.

Tuesday 8th January - Pleasure session River Kenn Clevedon

Quick summary..

Fished peg 8 near the sea wall from 11:00 - 15:30
High Tide was just after 08:00 so when it finally turned at 10:30 I had flow all day which is important.
Only had 1.5 pints of maggots with me and 2 waggler rods but only set up one. I was targeting roach today.
Due to the level being dropped for the winter it was only 5 foot deep down the middle but I decided to fish across on the shelf where it was 4 foot.
3AA Waggler with number 10's as dropper and 3 as bulk.
Took ages to get a bite and it was a big slab. Bites were hard to come by and I only missed a couple. Only had one roach and the best bream was 8lb 10ozs.

Angler 2 pegs above me didn't have a bite.

What a day in January on my local river.

Sunday 6th January - Sensas Bristol Commercial House League Round 5, K & A Canal Bath to Claverton

I met team mates Chris and Sam as usual in McDonalds Brislington on the outskirts of Bristol as the Crown Inn Keynsham where the draw was can be a bit hit and miss. It was just as well we did as we arrived at the Crown just after 07:30 for the 08:00 Draw and it wasn't open so not sure what happened. The draw was moved to McDonalds on the Bristol Rd in Bath so not a problem as we would have had to travel that way to fish.

Thank you to Andrew Cranston who dealt with all the bloodworm and joker orders for us and the other teams, it was good quality and a fair price. As a team we divided up our packs and then went in for the draw. Sections used today were The Tunnels, Darlington, Meadow Farm, Bathampton and Claverton. Like most of the country the weather during the week was not the best but Saturday night saw no frost and at 06:30 when I headed out the front door it was 5 degrees forecasting to rise to 8 during the day.

The small McDonalds was packed and very busy with money changing hands for bait and pools by the 8 teams of 6 I could hardly hear myself think, goodness knows what the staff thought as I don't think they expected it.

Our Team Sensas Nomads Black today was...
Geraint Powell
Rich Whitmarsh
Chis Hook
Sam Johnson
Leigh Wakefield
Me

I think Geraint done the draw for us and I was allocated E6 which was at Bathampton which I didn't fancy as its fished pretty rubbish lately. Surprisingly I parked OK aside the church but it is a bit of a risk as it states only 4 hours permitted and nothing to say it does not apply on Sundays.

I was soon at my peg with the help of Mike Withey (Sensas Nomads Green) as my tyre on the barrow was nearly flat.
E6 was up toward an area called the wires which is supposed to be OK. Space between pegs was very generous so I hoped to have a good day.

I started off by feeding 2 small balls of joker in leam and soil across at the bottom of the far shelf and started on the bread punch at 5 metres just down the slope on the near shelf.  After 20 minutes no bites were forthcoming on the punch so that rig went on the roost for the rest of the match. I fed some really fine chopped worm by the boat to my right before going down the track to have a look with a fluro pinkie where I had fed nothing. There was a slow sail away bite, it was a very small perch which fell off shipping back. I had another look own the same line for 15 minutes but no sign of life at all. 

Steve Skelton to my right on E5 didn't appear to be having any luck either , he was the only other angler I could see. Things were not going well.

I went across on my joker line with double bloodworm and after about 5 minutes the float dipped ever so slightly so I struck, too early and missed it. Next put in no problem a better bite and a small and I mean small perch was dragged across the top of the water. I put a little joker down the track to my left for a look see later on. I had another 3 or 4 small perch across but it was by no means fast and furious. 

It must have been around the 2 hour mark when Andy Cranston came for a walk from E7. He asked if I had caught and looked surprised when I said yes. I think Andy said he had about 5 small perch for about 2 ozs and headed off down the bank to see how the other were doing. Just before he came down the boat to my right had started the engine to charge the battery and the owner was cutting up timber with a circular saw. I had another small perch before he came back. He said everyone was really struggling in our area with some guys blanking.

The canal was quite dirty with lots of debris floating in mid water which made presentation difficult at times. Then a load of paddle boarders came up, about 20 of them. I had never seen this before on the K & A around Bath, it is really getting harder to fish in peace.

One of the many paddle boarders

I added about 4 or 5 small perch from the bottom of the far shelf and couldn't get a bite anywhere else.

The all out was called and I went looking for the board as I had the scales. The angler on the end E8 had the board and was already by Andy C as he had blanked. Look at this for a weigh board and this was not untypical across the whole match length except for A Section in the Tunnels and Darlington.

Steve Skelton had a 2lb bream out of the blue plus a small skimmer 1 hour from the end which actually got him 4th overall in the whole match!!! My 7oz was good enough for a Section win in A Division.

Rich Lacey won the match with 13lb plus from peg 1 in the Tunnels followed my team mate Mark Williams Sensas Nomads Green with 8lb plus from peg 2 in the Tunnels, 3rd was Liam Braddel with 7lb odd from Darlington.

Geraint in our team was one out of the money with 2lb 9oz but picked up his section by double default.

Sam is also through to the final of the ''knockout'' next week and up against Darren Gillman.

On the Team front Thatchers are still winning A Div and my team Nomads Black are bottom. Nomads Green are 3rd or bottom in B Div.  I think we will probably have a different format on the Team front but needs debate.

Mike Goodhind who runs the league assisted by his wife Nicky said he was standing down after the final match next week so not sure if anyone will take on the job for this year.

A couple of our squad were up on the Gloucester Canal day and done very well.

Andy Thomas won the match with 11lb 1oz of roach.

Andy with his winning bag today

and Steve Stretch Sanders was 2nd with 10lb 2oz

I think this is his happy look

So back on the K & A again next week....oh dear!