Sunday 27th December - Clevedon Blind Pairs, River Kenn

 14 Booked in for this match and everyone turned up despite the weather. Storm ''Bella'' hit us the night before and dumped a load of rain across the West Country. When we arrived for the draw the Kenn was dirty and pushing through quite a bit plus it was pretty cold. Shame really as the day before the river was spot on.

Match Secretary Adie Baker paired up the pegs above and below Strode Rd Bridge and when my name was called out I was given peg 22 not bad at all under normal river conditions. I was paired up with the angler on 38, another decent peg and Dale Sutor had that. A quick chat with Dale and off we went.

I was expecting to have to stand in the mud but the river was only a couple of feet below the bank so decided to stay out of the water.

I had a big overhanging tree to my right so this would be where I looked first. Loads of debris coming down but in addition to the feeder rod I set up a 6bb crowquill to inch it down the inside. Worm and maggot would be used but also had a pint of caster just in case.

The line and bait had to be cleaned off every time I reeled in and after 2 hours not an indication on anything. 

A couple of bank walkers confirmed it was fishing hard with just the odd small roach caught plus reports of a small tench above Strode Rd.

Jeff Beasley below me on 20 had 2 small roach at 5 meters and Barry Fowler 4 pegs above had 4 roach on the stick float.

The second half of the match I went right across with the maggot feeder where there was a bit of a slack and positioned the rod more or less vertical to avoid the weed coming down. 

I had one of the maggots mouthed when I brought it in and that was the only evidence of fish in the swim. 

So .....blankity blank for me along with half the field, my partner Dale had one small roach.

Andy Law came walking up with the scales and couldn't believe I had blanked. Andy did as well but his partner John Sallis had caught a bream and a small carp, that would be the winning pair then I thought.

Back at the results John and Andy were indeed the winners picking up £60 each. John had been on 36 and after walking the bank having a moan he went back to his peg and put the straight lead out down the inside with 4 maggots on an 18 and caught the bream, small carp and a roach.

John Sallis with his winning bag

The winning pairs John and Andy

Full results as follows....

1st John Sallis & Andy Law 6lb 8oz

2nd Kev Perry & Matt Davis 1lb 9oz

3rd Steve Bonwick & Paul Nichols 12oz

Well that's it for 2020 despite the ''lock downs'' I have fished more than ever and it's been a busy year blogging.

The highlight for me this year was qualifying for the Evesham Festival in my first season of trying, I hope to give the qualifiers another go this year.

I was booked in for the Roy Carter Memorial on the Glossy tomorrow but that's been cancelled by the CRT, given the guidelines I was not able to go out of my tier 3 area anyway.

It looks like i will be under house arrest in North Somerset for a while now so will try and fish the rivers Kenn and Axe plus Acorn Fishery over the coming months.

Happy New Year to all my readers.

Sunday 13th December - Clevedon Christmas Match, River Kenn

 The last match I fished was on the 1st November due to Lockdown 2 and then the tier system suggested you were not to travel outside your tier if you were in tier 3 which I was in unless it was necessary. Well that was my interpretation of the guidance, I know others had a different view.

The last 6 weeks I have been pleasure fishing the River Kenn twice a week, usually Wednesday and Sunday. I have had a couple of blanks but covered most of the lower river and had some decent bags of roach, perch and tench. Maintaining the Club's FaceBook Page and Website has also kept me in touch with other anglers and catches. Chris Ford another Club angler has also put a lot of time in on the venue and kept me up to date on how he has been getting on.

26 were booked in for this match but there was one no show. I thought there might be a few more decide to stay home as the weather was awful and to say the banks were muddy is an understatement. The river is also at winter level so most had to get in the mud. Scott Smallwood provided a few old For Sale Boards to put down and stop the boxes sinking too far in the mud.

The match was pegged from 1 down by the sea wall up to the last peg in Kenn Rd Car Pk section, peg 53.

Match Secretary Adie Baker had the organisation all under control in line with Angling Trust and Government guidelines. 

Pay-out was top 5 and 5 sections (by default) plus Christmas Fare prizes.

Names drawn out from one bucket and a peg number from another was the format of the draw. 

My name was about the 8th to be called out and was quite happy when peg 47 was given to me. Its the end peg in the Car Park Section, no one below you for about 300 metres downstream and out of sight. Chris Ford had a nice bag of tench and perch out of it a few weeks ago but also struggled more recently on the same peg as did I when I fished a few pegs above him. But....an end peg is not to be sniffed at and it was only a short walk from the draw.

Due to all the rain and the steep bank down to the peg I had to use a rope to get the gear down and stay upright at the same time. 

Looking upstream from my peg

All my rods were already made up so it didn't take long to get organised once I had the box sorted.

2 waggler, 1 6BB avon and a maggot feeder. Bait was simply red maggot, pinkie and a few worms. 

In my section upstream of me I had Mike West from Fry's, Dan from Cadbury Angling, Paul Faiers and specimen angler Chris Burden. The two pegs above the Foot Bridge had not been fishing that well recently and Paul was on a downer from the off but said he would give it an hour or so.

I shouted the ''all in'' at 10:00 and started feeding a few maggots down the middle were it was about 4 foot deep. Experience over the last 6 weeks has taught me to keep plugging away at it on the waggler as it can take a while to get a bite.

After an hour I hadn't had a touch but wasn't too worried. There was no sign of life at all, none of the usual signs of small fished topping to escape predators, I gave it about another 40 minutes and picked up the 20 grm maggot feeder. I have caught bonus fish on this method quite a bit as has Chris Ford.

With a fluro pinkie and two red on a 16 I had a pull round 3rd cast and it was fish on. It felt like a tench but as it got closer I could see it was a half tidy perch, that'll do. A few more casts and another bite but did not connect.

Paul came down and sat behind me for a while. He had already been on the phone to a few other anglers and said Lance Tucker had a big bream and Paul Randall on 22 had a tench, he suggested I was lying 3rd at the moment with my 1lb plus perch. I felt some resistance and a nod on the rod while reeling in but got bitten off, prob a jack going for the maggot. Paul had not had a bite, he went soon afterward and headed home to watch the football!

Tony Derrick then appeared, he was not fishing today but had walked the whole match length and said most were blanking but Chris Ford on 40 had a couple of tench and lost one.

With about 30 minutes to go another spectator arrived and said a couple of flounders had been caught.

I didn't have a bite in-between hooking the jack pike but always hoped for another perch or tench, couldn't understand why the roach did not feed as conditions were perfect.

I called the ''all out'' at 15:00.

I was the only one to weigh in my section and the perch went 1lb 4oz. Chris, Paul and Mike didn't have a bite all day and Dan chucked back a 1/2 oz roach which could cost him the section if I framed.

Back at the Car Pk the results came in. Lance Tucker won the match with one bite and one bream for 7lb plus. Apparently he did not get down in the mud and had trouble landing the bream as his landing net only just made it! Must have been sweaky bum time. 

Chris Ford was not far behind and that lost tench cost him. Chris and I were discussing the possible outcome of the match a few days ago and said it would be a shame if bream showed as it would be hard to catch up with roach and perch.

My solitary perch got me 4th overall, £40 and a £25 Tesco voucher.

Full result as follows, some sections were allocated on on lucky dip due to the amount of blanks. Dan was drawn out to win E Section so justice done hence why I put him down for 8 drams which he chucked back.

1st Lance Tucker, one bite one bream for 7lb 2oz peg 10 (photo below)

2nd Chris Ford two tench and two perch 6lb 8oz peg 36

3rd Julian Moss 2lb peg 34

4th Ivan Currie 1lb 4oz peg 47

5th Matt Davis 12oz peg 24

A sect Adie Baker, drawn out

B sect Paul Nichols drawn out

C sect Paul Randell 10 oz

D sect Lee Smallwood 11 oz

E sect Dan Hurley 8 drams

Lance with his match winning bream.

Looking ahead the only match on the horizon is the Roy Carter Memorial on the Gloucester Canal 29th December but will have to see what the tier rules are approaching that date.

Sunday 29th November - River Kenn

 We had a lot of rain overnight on the Friday into Saturday and when I looked at the river on Saturday morning there was a fair bit of flow and colour plus weed coming down off the moors, the level was still 2 foot below normal level.

High tide on Sunday was nice and early which meant the river would flow toward the sea all day and with light winds from the north west it would be spot on.

I looked at 3 different sections before finally deciding on peg 11 down the bottom end. There were a couple of anglers setting up around pegs 36 and 38. This area had produced a huge roach for Simon Carvallo on the Thursday fishing waggler and red maggot and weighed in at 2lb 10oz which is one of the biggest roach reported for some time. Ironically Simon only had 2 bites all day due to our first hard overnight frost.

Simon with his specimen roach following a break from filming ''Peaky Blinders''

I really have enjoyed my enforced break from match fishing, no need to do lots of prep, don't need to take the kitchen sink and fishing locally gives me more time on the bank. The bait bill is also significantly reduced as well.

I set up a 6BB crowquill and a 3AA waggler and that was it.

Groundbait with hemp and caster down the middle and loose fed maggot across 3/4's.

There were quite a few small fish topping trying to escape perch and jacks so at least there were a few fish about.

10 minutes in I had my first bite on the waggler and after that I had regular bites swinging in 2 - 3oz roach plus the odd 6oz one. The middle wasn't great as the pace of the river slowed and dropped a further foot during the day.

I pulled out of 2 better fish during the session, I think they were perch but ended the day with 38 roach, 1 hybrid and 1 perch so happy enough.

There was a nice 8lb plus net of roach on the day from 36 but the catch of the day has to go to Chris Ford who fished peg 51 for 5 tench, 9 big perch and 27 roach plus a 5lb pike, all on the maggot. Chris sent me a photo of his perch and tench.

I did look at this area first thing......oh dear, wrong decision.

The Kenn has been fantastic so far this year, lots more anglers on the bank with some great catches.

Wednesday 25th November - River Kenn

 I fished  the Kenn the previous Sunday and blanked, not a bite. Unbelievable as it was the same peg I fished the Sunday before and had a double figure net of roach as did most others on the day. During the week prior to last Sundays session it fished its head off including giving up a bag of 9 tench. That was my second blank on the river this season but that's the Kenn for you.

I went back again today even though based on reports received it was still fishing hard. I decided on the second peg above Strode Rd Bridge, peg 34, normally a good winter peg and less than a 5 minute walk from where you park. This was the first time I had fished this section since last March.

On arrival I could see that the EA had dropped the level by about 2 foot but the flow was steady. 

I decided on a waggler line halfway between the middle and the bottom of the far shelf where it was about 5 foot deep. I set it a few inches over depth it order to simply trip it though or hold back towards the end of the run down.

The water was also gin clear and I could see all of the 4 metre keep net.

A 3AA waggler on 4lb line, 0.11 hook length and a size 18 B611 hook. 2 number 8's and then 2 number 10's spread out completed the set up.

Feeding about 6 red maggots every run down I kept plugging away and was bite less after 90 minutes. I feared the worst again but then out of the blue the float slide away and ''tench on''. A lovely fish around 4lbs.

A few more runs down and not a bite then .... a decent roach, lovely.

After this it wasn't manic but I had regular bites especially at the end of the run.

Well pleased with how I fished today and felt I got the approach and rhythm just right. Thanks to Chris Ford for the photo.

Never give up!

Sunday 15th November - Roach fishing on the River Kenn

 It was meant to be a Clevedon Club Match on the Kenn today but Lockdown 2 cancelled that.

Looking at the weather forecast it wasn't too clever but looking ahead to the earlier part of the week it did not improve. I was returning from getting bait at Cadbury Angling on the Saturday and coming back into Clevedon I saw a car parked up on the bridge aside the Kenn Rd Car Park section so pulled over to check the angler out.

It turned out to be Paul Randall. Paul was fishing just above the Footbridge trotting an avon float 3/4 the way across using 8mm punched bread on a 10 hook!!! He was also feeding liquidised bread with a little brown crumb in it and the float was going under every run through. Not massive roach but in the 4 oz range, lovely.

The river was up at its normal level and the tide was spot on for the weekend so decided I would fish on the Sunday.

When I woke up on the Sunday morning just before 07:30 I could hear the wind and the rain outside, bugger...so had another hour in bed.

At 08:30 it was much better so was up and out of the house at 09:15.

I decided on the car park section and settled in on peg 51 nice and close to the water. The wind was an upstreamer but the flow was such that it did not present a problem running and avon float through, a 6BB was perfect with a bulk 2 x no.8 as a dropper between the bulk and the hook which was a size 18 to 0.11.

I had a pint of caster still in a sealed bag from 3 weeks ago and they were ok when washed off. I also had a pint of hemp and some reds. I decided given the temperature and the colour to mix up some ground bait, a 50/50 mix of senses river and gros gardons.

Two egg sized balls went in at the start and it was a roach first run through. Bites, bites and more bites followed and then after an hour or so ceased. Small fish were jumping out of the water so big perch or pike had moved in.

They came back after a while and I had a thoroughly enjoyable session. I lost a big fish at the end of the trot when it broke the hook length, big tench or perhaps a pike. 

Feeding regular nuggets of ground bait laced with hemp and caster was key today. Trotting a float through and holding back is a great method on the river when conditions allow, this section is definitely worth another visit soon.

Best net of roach I have had on the Kenn this year.

Winter on the River Kenn, some advice and tips.....

The Kenn can definitely try your patience and is affected by the tide, the way the water is controlled through the sluice and out to the sea, the clarity of the water and wind direction. There's another challenge coming up soon ..... usually around early December the Environment Agency drop the water level as part of their flood prevention plan. Normal summer levels are around 6 to 7 foot but when the EA drop the level in the winter the depth is half that and on the right day the fishing can be fantastic.

Fishing from the bank can be awkward due to being too high or too far away from the water so standing in the mud is unavoidable from most pegs. Waders are advisable but personal safety must be paramount. If you do choose to wade or stand in the mud be aware of the tide times and keep moving your feet so as not to get stuck, go with a friend if you can.

Pegs 2, 3 and 4 have a very hard gravel like bottom close to the bank so you can get your box set up in the water. Pegs 22 and 23 on and just above the bend are also pretty firm close in as are the early pegs below Strode Rd bridge. Up above the bridge there are also a couple of pegs that you can put your box in due to the rushes dying back. 

Bread can be a killer bait after the first frosts and especially when the water is ''gin clear''. Buy a few cheap  medium sliced white loaves, cut the crusts off and put the slices through a liquidiser. Leave the white breadcrumbs in an open bag to dry out for a couple of days then put them through the liquidiser again. For even finer crumb freeze it then defrost it and liquidise again. Feeding squeezed small balls of bread by hand and then fishing a small flake or 7mm piece of punched bread over the top of the feed on a wide gaped 18 or 16 hook can get you some quality fish, roach, hybrids and bream. The bread is usually fished in conjunction with a waggler or small avon float but on the right day and the right swim a small cage feeder can also work.

A few years ago I was fishing with Committee Member Scott Smallwood in the Car Park section. Scott fished the bread all day using a whip and caught 76 lbs, 66 lbs which was bream and they were big un's, here's a few of them from that day as well as 48 lb of roach he caught on the bread up by the motorway.

 

Of course conventional baits like maggots and caster also work but feed sparingly. You also need to think about your hook lengths and size of hook. I have used Flurocarbon line for hook lengths but generally speaking the Preston Power Line in 0.10 has the right low diameter and strength to land just about anything in winter. I usually settle for an 18 or 20 hook. The Kenn tends to have a bit more flow in winter which allows you to trot long usually 2/3rd's the way across and the key is to feed little and often especially when it's cold.

I fished peg 8 a couple of winters ago in January and was continually trotting a waggler down the peg just loose feeding red maggot. I done that for about 3 hours without a bite and was thinking about calling it a day when the float went under...bream..6 more followed the best going 8 lbs 10 ozs.

Bream can still be caught on the feeder but scale down, a small cage feeder is best and don't put too many free offerings in. Due to the low water levels the bites will be really positive.

Quite a few years ago we stocked some chub but they rarely show. Some small ones have been caught on lures but last winter Paul Tedman-Whitemoor had a 4lb specimen from peg 15 using the straight lead, he only had 2 bites all day but what a reward.

The bigger perch also feature more in the winter. Specimen angler Chris Burden targets them by feeding liquidised bread with coriander in it. His theory is that this attracts the small roach and the bigger perch move in on them. Chris trots an avon type float over the top of this with a lob worm on a big hook. Here is Chris with one of his nice perch caught using this method last winter.

Over the last few winter season's the tench have fed even on the coldest days and there have been some spectacular catches of them. Peg 22 on the bend and the pegs immediately above Strode Rd bridge appear to be the most productive. Nothing complicated just a simple waggler and feeding little and often with red maggot. Bigger fish such as roach and hybrids also seem to mix with them. Here's some catches from above Strode Rd from last winter.

So...don't let the cold weather put you off, think a bit differently and persevere. The section above Kenn Rd bridge is rarely fished as is above the motorway, why not give it a go, you never know.

Tight lines,

Ivan Currie

Secretary

Sunday 1st November - Bristol Commercial House League, Final Round K & A Canal, Claverton / Limpley Stoke nr. Bath

 5 days late with the blog due to managing to get away to Cornwall for a few nights before Lockdown 2 started so here is a summary of my last match.....

Glorious weather with a Bullfinch sat on a post, Cornwall's North Coast

The league managed to finish before the latest restrictions thanks to the great work done by Mike and Nicola Goodhind, Andy Britt and Vince Lunn. The staff at the Cadbury Heath Sports and Social Club were also outstanding allowing us to use their facilities within the guidelines. Team Thatchers and Bathampton performed the weighing in throughout which made life a little easier on the bank. 

I think overall Team Thatchers had one ''blow out'' during the series but it did not stop them topping the A Div table with 83 points, 16 points ahead of Bathampton A who had 67 and my Sensas Nomads Team relegated to B Div next year with 65 points.

In B Div it was a much closer finish with any of the teams capable of winning but in the end M & N Electrical came out top with 73 points followed by Midland Spinner with 72 and Bathampton B with 70.

Thatchers Paul Issac's had a great league ending up top in his team, biggest fish, top individual in the league and knock-Out winner.

Team mate Leigh Wakefield and I had a practice session on the Canal on the Wednesday prior to the match   trying different methods. Leigh concentrated on bread and I used ground bait and dead pinkie / caster / choppy / maggot.

Leigh had some quality roach and I had a real mixed bag on what would have been D section in the final match.

Chris Hook had to work on the Sunday so we brought in from the Red Corner ....Mark aka ''The Whippet'' Williams.

Going into the match we knew we could not win A Div but as we were 3 points ahead of Bathampton A hoped we could retain the lead and stay up. 

Sadly that didn't happen as already reported above. We had a few things that went wrong on the day.....

On the way to the canal from the draw Brian Melksham's van broke down and he was unable to fish despite some valiant effort's to get it going. Mark lost 2 decent fish which would have seen him win F Section at Limpley Stoke (he still finished 6th overall with 7lb plus), the end pegs in that section beat him. Sam in B Section had a terrible day (the whole section fished crap as it did last year) only able to catch tiny roach. I was in A Section, not too bad a peg but next to a boat that played loud and I mean loud music for 4 hours. I caught ok before they started up and then only adding the odd small fish to weigh 4lb 2oz, Tim Ford had 4lb 11oz and Andy Britt who I needed to beat had 7lb plus off the end peg. Leigh done ok in C section with 5lb 11oz and 2 points.

Leigh's 5lb 11oz

The only highlight (and that's a massive understatement) of the day was team mate Mike Withy winning the match from E section with a massive 32lb 12oz, yes you read that correctly, I believe it could be a record weight from the canal in this league.

Mike with his catch

So not our day ..but...2 individual match winners and we did smash it out of the park on one match.

Pleasure fishing now for a few weeks so will be giving the River Kenn a go this weekend, some Flyfishing at Chew and maybe take a look at the Bristol Feeder Canal.

Sunday 25th October - Bristol Commercial House League Round 5, Bristol Avon Swineford to Chequers

 I didn't get out pleasure fishing on the Wednesday due to the bad weather and I noted that the Somerset Frome went up a couple of feet on the same day. More rain followed and the River Level Guage at Saltford showed a steady rise each day which meant it could be a difficult river for the match.

The pegging was publicised on the Saturday with a few comments indicating it would be a Feeder Rod match for most.

I only put in 2 Feeder Rods, a Long Rod and a Whip.

Sensas Nomads Team today was...

Me

Sam Johnson

Chris Hook

Leigh Wakefield

Brian Melksham 

Leigh Wakefield

The draw as usual was at the Cadbury Heath Sports and Social Club with all COVID Rules being adhered to and Mike Goodhind had also completed a Risk Assessment which kept us fully legal.

Going into this round we were the bottom of the 3 teams in A Div but only 3 points away from Bathampton A. Our main objective today was to try and claw back those points.

I thought I had paid the team pools quite early but we ended up about 5th in the draw!

On paper our draw looked good.

Brian was on the outfall at Swineford, Mike top end of the Crane, me in the middle of the Crane, Sam 2 pegs above the Cattle Grid and Chris and Leigh down at Chequers with Leigh on the end peg. When Leigh saw where he was he got all excited as word was this would produce the winner.

I parked up OK and headed up the Crane quite easily with the lightened up gear. One fence to go over but with assistance no need to break down the trolley as a few guys gave me a hand to lift it over.

My peg C2 looked ok with a slack 2 rod lengths out and for once I was not fishing off a high bank.

I had about 90 minutes to set up so no rush.

As I set up my Feeder Rods, one for ground bait feeder and the other for maggot feeder I notices a few blips close in on the surface...bleak so I set up a 5 metre whip. The long rod was not really and option due to an over hanging tree to my right. 

Ground bait was a mix of River and Magic. 

On the all in at 10:00 I put 8 feeder fulls of chopped worm and caster a few rod lengths out slightly downstream and then started on the whip fishing about 2.5 foot deep loose feeding maggot.

Straight away I was into bleak, some of them were sizeable fish plus I had a few small dace as well.

I stayed on this for just over an hour and felt I had about 2lbs.

A exploratory cast with the feeder and 2 worm half's produced a couple of knocks. I hit a couple of them and the culprits were dace. I gave it 30 minutes and came back on the whip, I had been feeding this line while on the tip. They were still there and I gave it another 20 minutes before going back on the tip.

Darren Gillman was walking the match length and stayed with me for a short while. He told me there had been 3 bream caught in my section by Nigel Wyatt but other than that anglers were struggling. He watched me swing a few dace and suggested I could do double figures of them. He walked on up past me and when he came back he said they were struggling above me as well.

I went back on the tip and Sam called me. He had a couple of small skimmers and was also getting missable bites on the tip from dace. Sam also told me Leigh had 5 bream! After he hung up my tip went around and it was bream on.

A nice fish of around 5lb was netted which would put me right up in the section at that point.

Around 20 minutes later another decent bite and bream number 2 was netted, a lot smaller, probably 2lbs.

I swapped between the whip and the feeder the rest of the match, no more bream on the tip just a few bigger dace and roach but loads more bleak on the whip.

I thought I had about 8lbs but when weighed the scales went 12lb 8oz.

This easily won my A Div Section as well as the whole Section.

I phoned Sam before packing up and he had managed a few more bream weighing 23lb and a section win.

Leigh phoned me, he had 21 bream and was waiting to weigh.

I caught up with Mike and he had won his B section so things were looking good.

Back at the Social Club our guys gradually came back. Well I was overwhelmed tbh. We only dropped 1 point from 18 winning A Div by a country mile and clawing back those points.

We all picked up cash today either sections or framing.

Leigh won the match with 57lb 7oz, Sam was 2nd and I was joint 4th.

Leigh with part of his winning catch

All in all a cracking day for us.

Last round next Sunday on the Kennet and Avon Canal which could prove interesting.

Sunday 18th October - Frome AA Open, River Frome Lullington

 I had booked into this match a few weeks before as there was nothing else on and with the chance of a bit more water in the river it could fish OK. 

I fished the second of the rejuvenated Frome AA Opens back in September when the water was low. 6lb won the match assisted by a big bream and I picked up a section by default with just under 3lbs.

A few of the guys in the Club had been out clearing more swims, taking out fallen trees and putting a new gate on the entrance to the Factory Field where the matches have been fished. 

08:30 Draw in Lullington Lane and when I arrived there were a couple of familiar faces giving it a go, Mike Shellard and Tony Scott. I think there were around 18 booked in.

I was second to be drawn and ended up with a short walk to peg 4 right behind the Factory on the opposite bank commonly known as ''Canteen Corner''. 30 years ago this peg on a bend used to throw up big bags of roach in the winter and I think the highest weight was around 42lbs.

Back in the day there was a wall instead of the metal shuttering and it was a lot deeper right across. When the sun shone on the water you could see a rocky bottom so very very shallow. The deepest part was down the middle at around 2.5 foot, the depth was the same under the near bank trees.

The bank wasn't great so I went back to the van and got my waders to get in the water and take my box down to use as a table and to attach a bait waiter.

The pole was out of the question today so set up a small 3BB avon, 2BB stick and a maggot feeder.

I loose fed caster and hemp down the middle and also fired some under the trees. 

Starting with maggot on the hook it was minnow, minnow and more minnows no matter how many maggots I put on. 

I had a couple of trots down under the trees which was a bit dodgy due to risk of snagging in the low hanging branches plus I couldn't always see the float.

More minnows but I did take a few small chublet's no bigger than 2 ozs.

Tony Scott came up for a walk and was experiencing the same but also said someone below was catching chub and had lost a few as well. Tony said he was just going to go back and sit on a lobby for chub.

I persevered and took a roach and a couple of dace as well as a trout before the all out.

Quite a frustrating day and a bit disappointing to be honest but it was the same for a lot of anglers.

I weighed 1lb 10oz (without the trout). 

5lb 12oz won the match (chub), Mike Shellard had a mixed bag for 5lb 9oz and Tony nailed a chub plus his bits for 4lb odd and third.

Ah well.....

Pleasure fishing somewhere on Wednesday and the 5th round of the Commercial House League on Sunday (Bristol Avon, Swineford and Crane).

Sunday 11th October - Bristol Commercial House League Round 4, Bristol Avon Rotork and Newbridge

 Round 3 on the KSD saw us crash big time so today we were looking to recover some points.

The heavy rain the previous weekend and the early part of the week suggested it would be a bream match, of course not for everyone but a few decent weights were predicted.

I tried to get some information on the pegging but this was not available until the morning of the match. It turned out one section on Rotork was on Rotork and the rest above and below Newbridge so there would be a long walk for those drawing E and F sections.

Normally the Trees down by the Rugby Club are in but Network Rail are working down there so it is all closed off.

I drew peg A4 at Rotork and have not fished this area for about 25 years. As far as I am aware Rotork is free fishing. Given that its free what do you do if there is someone in your peg when you arrive? From what I saw there are not that many pegs and to be honest the ones that I saw are high off the bank and narrow. There are a few that you can get down into the water but they are steep, given the average river anglers age these days who's going to take the risk.

The good thing about Rotork is that you can park close to your peg so its not all negative.

Shane Caswell who was on A3 suggested mine was a better peg as was team mate Mike's on A5 who was fishing for the Hospital Team today.

When I saw my peg I was not that overjoyed with it tbh, I was way up off the water and when I put my 4 metre keepnet in there were only 3 rings in the water!

The river looked spot on and there were only a couple of options, feeder and bolo. I did set up two feeder rods one with a 3oz tip for the middle and the other with a 2 oz tip for 1/4 the way out, a 4 gram bolo would be run over the same line.

No messing about today, 4 balls of gardons and leam for the inside and 6 of magic and river for down the middle ''splodoush''.

The first 20 minutes were uneventful on the bolo, not a bite. I put an extra couple of inches on the depth and held in back as best I could, when I was able to do this the float sailed away and for about 30 minutes I put some roach and chublets in the net. I did miss quite a few bites due to having to strike awkwardly because of an overhanging branch and the amount of line between the rod tip and the water because I was so high up on the bank, shy biting dace were also culprits.

I made an exploring cast with the feeder and to my surprise nailed a small bream first cast on a full dendra and 2 maggots.

Shane came down the bank from the peg above after 90 minutes and asked how I was getting on I told him what I had, he said he was really struggling.

After he went back I saw a big bream roll right across so I stuck with the feeder for 2 hours only getting a single perch, no other bites.

Vince Lunn and Andy Britt also came up for a walk to see what was going on as they were really struggling.

I chopped and changed between the both feeders and the bolo the rest of the match getting a few more roach but they were very small.

I weighed 5lb 9oz for 2nd in my A Div section just being pipped to first place by a pound.

Shane Caswell above me pulled a rabbit out of the hat in the final 35 minutes catching 2 big bream and a big chub on the feeder in consecutive casts for 15lb 9oz.

Shane Caswell aka Dynamo

I did the board when Vince weighed in Shane. On it there is a section to record big fish. I knew one of Shane's fish was being weighed separately and though it was the chub. I recorded 6lb 3oz and wrote chub next to it. Well .....back at the results he got asked so many questions about that huge chub lol and we kept it going for a while, I even said he caught it on a black slug .... 

Up on peg A1 Derek Coles had a good day on the bolo catching over 20lb of roach, dace and chublets.

5 of our team ended up with 2 points each and 1 had 1 point. I knew we would finish 2nd on the day in A Div which we did clawing back quite a few points which now leaves us 3 point to catch up in order to achieve 2nd place in the league.

As predicted there were a couple of big bream weights.

Paul Issacs took over 60lbs from peg 59 and not far behind was Lee Warden with 49lbs from peg 46.

3rd Derek Coles with 20lb 10oz

4th Shane Caswell 15lbs 14oz

5th Clive Branson 15lb 2oz

6th Graham Hunt 13lb 8oz

Back on the Kenn this Wednesday trying to help someone catch fish on this moody river then the Frome AA Open on Sunday.

Wednesday 7th October - Pleasure session River Kenn

 The River Kenn is almost at its winter level at the moment i.e about 3 foot below normal ( depth should increase again soon). After the recent heavy rain there is a slight tinge of colour and its running off nicely although once the tide turns there is some nuisance weed coming down. I decided to fish peg 3 today approx 10:45 - 15:30. Fished chopped worm and caster in the feeder 3/4 the way across and slightly downstream whilst feeding maggot on the waggler line down the middle. After more than 2 hours feeding the waggler line I was itching to run a float through. First trot down and a nice 4oz roach took the bait, quite a few followed and it was nice to see them.

Chopped and changed throughout the session for a nice bag of bream, hybrid, roach, rudd and perch. 

The river really is in great form at the moment

Should be spot on at the weekend and next week. Thank you to new member Tony Derrick for taking the photo.

Commercial House League match at Newbridge this Sunday.

Some great new this week........

Ben Matthews and Ben Rendall are planning to run a big money match next year with qualifying rounds over 6 matches in order to bring a quality BIG RIVER MATCH and PRIZE for SW based anglers. Keep and eye on Facebook for more info, I will also post any forthcoming details on this Blog. Well done guys.

Wednesday 23rd September - Pleasure session River Kenn

 I don't usually go on the Kenn if the tide is not right. In previous posts about this river I have emphasised the importance (as far as I am concerned) of fishing when the river is flowing the correct way toward the sea. High tide today was 11:47 so it would be backing up before 11:00 and it would take it until about 14:00 to turn and run off.

The weather forecast was mixed as was the wind strength and direction, also important if you intend to fish the waggler.

I settled in on peg 10 (gradually moving up river session by session). There was an angler on peg 4 with two carp rods out with wafters on the hook looking for big bream.

Two wagglers again, one for the middle tripping bottom and the other for 2/3rds across again tripping bottom. Both with B611 size 18 hooks to 0.11 power line.

Maggot would be loose fed in the middle and caster across.

It was really slow for the first hour with only one small tench across. I had been feeding the middle on a regular basis and just began to have a look on that line when Club Match Secretary Adie Baker came along with his dog. While Adie was there I took another tench, some perch and some roach which surprised him.

After an hour down the middle I went back across and picked up more roach, perch and a couple more tench. Thats the way it went for the rest of the 5 hour session just swapping between both lines.

Ended up with 5 tench, a small carp, numerous perch and some good roach. Loved seeing the roach turn up and about time to.

A lovely days fishing and better than I expected.

King Sedgemoor Drain on Sunday.

Sunday 20th September - Bristol Commercial House League - Round 2, Bristol Avon, Newbridge, Swineford & Crane

 I had a phone call on the Wednesday from Brian Melksham informing me he had van problems and would not be able to make it. Fortunately he arranged Rich Whitmarsh to step in if needed so we went with that.

There was meant to be a Section on Ben Rendall's Chequers stretch but this was cancelled due to a 14 metre tide which would have reached this Section at around 11:00 ish.

We ended up with 2 Sections on Newbridge, 2 at Swineford and 2 up the Crane. Parking can be a real issue on any natural venue these days, Newbridge was fine but Swineford is now limited for some reason. Thankfully Brian Lloyd who is Secretary of the Bristol and West Federation managed to get permission from the farmer to park in the field. Down on the Crane Section and around the Marina the Council have put yellow lines down so not quite sure how that worked out but I didn't hear any horror stories.

Todays Sections

The individual Knock Out started today and I drew team mate Chris!

Team today was...

Me

Chris Hook

Sam Johnson

Leigh Wakefield

Jan Van Mazyk

Rich Whitmarsh

The draw and breakfast was held again in the Cadbury Heath Sports and Social Club with appropriate safety measures in place.

We got our team sheet in nice and early again and were first to draw.

Rich was on A7, Jan B4, Leigh C1, Me D5, Sam E2 and Chris F6. On paper it looked ok and we all set off, fishing was 10:30 - 15:30.

As Leigh and I were at Swineford we walked down to his peg together for a look. Hmmmm not that many options and if the chub didn't show across then it would be small fish which would not compete with the pegs below him.

Two kissing gates later, unloading and loading the gear and a long walk I arrived at my peg which was actually 4 pegs above Bitton Railway Bridge.

I think its fair to say I was a long way down to the water from the top of the bank but at the bottom when you actually got there I was able to set up ok on a flat area. A bit of light pruning and chopping back reeds was required but once you were settled it was fine.

Most of the flow was nearside to middle. The flow was not that fast but steady enough. Plumbing up with a 3BB wire stemmed avon float I had about 5 foot a few rod lengths out. A waggler across under a tree gave me the same depth. A maggot feeder was also set up as there was a fairly strong downstream breeze.

Just as I was halfway through setting up I had a message from Rich who was fuming and that's putting it mildly. The Rowing Club directly opposite him where driving in steel pylons, in order to build a new boardwalk and launch area. When I spoke to him the noise was horrendous, he was not happy and they would be there all match. I tried to console him as best I could.

On the all in I put 4 balls of Black Lake and Gros Gardons in about 8 metres out laced with caster, hemp and dead reds. Starting off on the wire stemmed avon it did not take long to get my first small roach. I was tripping the bottom a bit and had to continually check the line due to the downstream breeze. Lots more small roach followed but they were not taking the float completely up so after 20 minutes I shallowed up slightly and bingo under it went. In order to let it have a decent run through I didn't check the line as much but did keep it fairly tight.

During the first hour they were not that far out and putting in a small nugget of ground bait every couple of casts kept them coming.

As the morning went on the boating activity on the water increased including a couple of guided nature tours on 6 man inflatables, of course we had the paddle boarders as well but they kept out of the way.

Two hours in and i hit a proper fish at the end of the trot. I thought it was a chub but turned out to be a 2lb bream. Now under normal circumstances you would lobby a feeder out but due to the clear conditions I decided it was lost and in any case the way I was feeding and fishing if there was any more I  would get them on the float.

Well I didn't get any more bream but the roach and the odd dace kept me busy for most of the match despite two wild swimmers coming up and down plus one of them decided to jump off an old pontoon just downstream of me, no feckin respect.

Nicky Goodhind came along just before the end and told me most people around me were admitting to 10lbs, I said I might have 12lbs.

When the match was over and I packed up I walked down with Andy Britt who was weighing in, starting with Derek Coles who was on D7, end peg. Derek weighed 12lb 15oz, all roach. Paul Issac's was next to weigh and also had small fish for 12lb 12oz. Me next and I weighed 12lb 10oz.

Lovely days fishing on the float.

Our A & B div section was really tight, here is the weigh sheet.....

So...2 points from 3, beaten for the Section by 2oz ...

Back at the results the team did not do well.....but fair play to Rich was winning his Section given the circumstances.

Given the above I am through to the next round of the knock out against Kevin Boltz on the KSD next week.

Full report on the match from the Groups FB Page courtesy of Vince Lunn.........

The 2nd round of the Sensas Commercial House League was fished on the Bristol Avon at the Crane, Swinford & Newbridge (42 pegs). The river was clear and it was a warm bright day.

Swinford and the top section of the Crane were the places to draw with 15 double figure weights from the 21 anglers in these sections. The other 3 sections produced only 1 double figure weight. The top 4 all came from Swinford.

Vince Lunn of M & N Electrical won the match from peg 12. He caught around 80 small fish on a 5m whip with maggot, before fishing the waggler with maggot & castor and catching mainly 2 to 5 oz chublets for most of the day. Later on he caught 3 bigger chub to weigh 16 lbs 2 ozs.

Kev Boltz and Craing Pinker were joint 2nd with 14 lbs 7ozs, with both fishing for Midland Spinner.

Kev was on peg 6 and caught around 200 fish on a 5m whip with hemp and castor. This was roach, bleak, dace and around 5 lbs of decent perch.

Craig was on peg 17 and he caught roach at 14.5 metres on the pole over groundbait. He then fished the waggler shallow to catch chublets and some decent chub.

In the A division, Preston Innvoation Thatchers won by 3 points to take a nice 7 point lead overall.

In the B division, M & N Electrical won on the day to take the lead by 1 point from Midland Spinner.

Individuals

1 V Lunn M & N Electrical 16 lbs 2 ozs

2= K Boltz Midland Spinner 14 lbs 7 ozs

2= C Pinker Midland Spinner 14 lbs 7 ozs

4 S Townsend Preston Innovations Thatchers 13 lbs 10 ozs

5 R Manns Preston Innovations Thatchers 13 lbs 4 ozs

6 D Cole Mosella Bathampton B 12lb 15ozs

Teams

A Div on day

1 Preston Innovations Thatchers 15

2 Mosella Bathampton A 12

3 Sensas Nomads 9

B Div on day

1 M & N Electrical 14

2 Midland Spinner 12

3 Mosella Bathampton B 10

A Div league overall

1 Preston Innovations Thatchers 29

2 Mosella Bathampton A 22

3 Sensas Nomads 21

B Div league overall

1 M & N Electrical 27

2 Midland Spinner 26

3 Mosella Bathampton B 19

Todays winner Vince Lunn who obviously had a change of clothes for the catch photo...