Sunday 13th October - Bristol Commercial House league Round 4 K & A Canal Bathampton and Claverton

The K & A in this League is usually fished after Christmas but after last year it was decided to put the 2 matches in the autumn instead. My Team Sensas Nomads were responsible for pegging it, this was left in the capable hands of Mike Withey, Rich Whitmarsh and Brian Melksham.

Prior to our squad meeting on the Tuesday we decided to peg it ''out of town'' i.e. Bath and in the main the Claverton area. Not many anglers would fish this area so it was a bit of a gamble.

Team manager Mike Martin and I decided to meet up on the Tuesday before the match and give it a go. So I got 2 day tickets and obtained the gate code for the Bathampton AA car park at Claverton although I wasn't quite sure where it was.

On the morning I did drive past it and had to be talked in by Mike but it was all good and a great facility in an otherwise limited parking area.
Mike suggested we go up towards the old Swing Bridge beyond Ferry Lane. The access down the side of a bridge leading to the towpath was a little bit of a challenge but overcome. It was a fair walk up to where we wanted to fish.

Mike set up about 4 pegs below the old Swing Bridge (which incidentally isn't there anymore but you can see where it used to be). and me 1 peg below. The Canal had a nice bit of colour to it and looked lovely. Bit of early boat traffic but otherwise ok and we both had a good day catching on everything and both of us ending up with about 7 to 8lbs.

Loved the session and lost 2 decent big fish one of which I think was a chub.

After the session we went to the squad meeting in Keynsham to share our experience and thoughts on pegging.

The guys were going to peg it late on Saturday afternoon due to boats continually moving.

Rich phoned me on Saturday evening around 19:30, he had just got back and sent the pegging plan.

Parking was going to be in in 2 places, Bathampton Village by the school and in the George Pub car park courtesy of the land lord (A & B sections) and then everyone else in the Bathampton AA car park so no stress whatsoever about parking which is really important these days.

The draw on Sunday was in the Crown at Keynsham where they really do look after the anglers before and after the matches. 

Team today was..... 

Chris Hook (c)

Sam Johnson

Rich Whitmarsh

Mike Withey

Brian Melksam

Me

Team mate Leigh Wakefield was also fishing but standing in for one of the Bathampton teams.

Mike and Rich were also in the ''Knock Out''

Team draw put us on....

A - Rich

B - Brian

C - Chris

D - Sam

E - Me

F - Mike

So I was in the same area I fished on the Tuesday and happy with that, even better when I got to my peg it was where Mike had been.

The canal had a lot more colour in it due to the continuous rain all week but I was fairly confident. To my right I had former Nomad Geraint Powell now fishing for Thatchers and to my left Kev Dicks Bathampton A. Leigh was also in my section end peg 6.

Fishing was 10:15 - 15:15 due to the loner walks.

I had already set up my rigs with hooks at home and they just needed some fine tuning. To be safe I set up 2 for down the track (4x14), 2 for across just off the shelf straight in front (0.3 gram) and 2 for the shelf left and right, 0.3 gram, one to 6 elastic and one with 5 elastic for bigger fish. Doubling up on the rigs would save time if I trashed any.

I fed some bread down the track to my right before going across left and right with choppy and caster, the worm was very finely minced and I would leave these line for an hour. Casters were catapulted across in front of me as Mike had caught well doing this. 

I had just put in my 7mm punch over the feed when I heard a splash to my left and saw Kev net a big skimmer so looked promising. I also soon had a skimmer but only about 6oz and bumped another next put in. I topped up with a small ball and this brought some roach, not big but very welcome. 

Boat traffic was quite heavy, makes you wonder where they all go!

I was keeping an eye on what was happening up and down the section as far as I could see and thought I was doing ok.

The bread line slowed so I fed a ball of ground bait down the track to my left with choppy and pinkie.

The first hour was nearly up so I had a look right across to my left towards the tree and had a good run of fish on maggot. After 20 minutes or so I topped up this line and had a look across to the right and had bites instantly mainly dace. Again didn't stay too long here and topped up before having a look on the caster right in front of me.....nothing. 

A look on the track line to my left produced a few small roach and perch but not fast and furious. Boats seemed to me getting worse and a load of canoes came up as well so decided the only place where the fish could find refuge was across by the tree.

I took fish from this area off and on the rest of the match, not big but at least I was putting fish in the net compared to others.

I ended up with 6lb 4oz which was enough to win my Div but was also the best weight across the 6 pegs. 

Full section board .....

The Canal fished well to be honest, here are the winning section weights (some by default)....

                    A Div                B Div

A                 5-11                   5-7

B                 8-5                     11-5

C                 7-0                     5-5

D                7-12                    5-3

E                 6-1                     6-4

F                 8-12                   10-8

As a Team we ended up with 14 point from 18 which is quite good and enough to win B Div.

Full results and match report courtesy of Vince Lunn..........(well done to Sam who took 3rd overall and Mike for getting through to the next round of the knock out).

Steve Kedge of Mosella Bathampton B won the match from peg D1 (downstream of Ferry Lane bridge) with 15 lbs 3 ozs. He fished bread down the middle to take 20 big skimmers up to 2lbs and roach. He had a few fish on castor over and also had a big perch on worm.

Matt Challenger of Preston Innovations Thatchers was 2nd from peg D3 with 14 lbs 4 ozs. He started on bread and had a 2 lbs skimmer first put in then had 6 smaller ones. He also caught on chop worm and castor and had some big perch and roach.

3rd S Johnson (Sensas Nomads) 13 lbs 13 ozs

4th N Johns (Mosella Bathampton A) 12 lbs 1 oz

5th J Pocock (Midland Spinner) 11 lbs 5 ozs

6th L Warden (M&N Electrical) 10 lbs 8 ozs

The 2 Mosella Bathampton teams tied for the win in A Div to gain a bit of ground back on Preston Innovations Thatchers.
In the B Div, Sensas Nomads won to slightly extend their lead.

On the day A div:
Mosella Bathampton A - 13
Mosella Bathampton B - 13
Preston Innovation Thatchers - 10

B div:
Sensas Nomads - 14
Midland Spinner - 13
M&N Electrical - 9

League positions:
A div
Preston Innovation Thatchers - 54
Mosella Bathampton A - 48
Mosella Bathampton B - 42

B div
Sensas Nomads - 53.5
Midland Spinner - 48
M&N Electrical - 42.5

Looking for match options next weekend...