Sunday 26th January - Pleasure session River Kenn

We had a Club Match scheduled for the River Kenn today but with only 3 officially booked in and then one of those throwing a sickie Match Secretary Adie Baker had no option but to cancel it. Who would be a Match Secretary. As Club Secretary I done my best to encourage members who do not take part in our competitions but that idea failed.

I did consider going over to the Port Talbot Dock match but due to having a great day on the river last Thursday decided to return, plus Chris Ford had 9 tench down the bottom end of the river on Saturday.

High tide was just before 08:00 so I didn't rush over and eventually got there just before 09:00.

Paul Tedman-Whitemoor was already on the first peg above Strode Rd bridge, Scott Smallwood and Chris Burden were also on the bank but without any tackle. Scott was going upstream towards Kenn Rd and Chris was going to fish on the reeds 5 pegs above Paul. I was going to go down the bottom end but decided to go in-between Paul and Chris.

It was quite a bit tide and took until after 10:00 to turn and a further 90 minutes to settle.
2 wanglers set up the same as last Thursday and red maggot for feed and hook.

1 hour in and a small roach graced the net. I could see Paul below me and he wasn't catching, neither was Chris.
I kept putting the fed in every cast and eventually connected with a decent fish which was a perch around 1.5 lbs. Chris also had one on the tip and worm.

Soon after I heard Paul below me shout "bollocks" lol he had lost a decent fish which he didn't see.

To say it was slow was an understatement as it took another hour to get my next bite which was a tench but it done me at the net, then I said "bollocks" as well.

It was raining quite heavy at time and the red army were on the move dripping off the bait waiter.

I increased the feed to try and get a reaction and it worked. Hooked a big tench and played it for a few minutes before the hook pulled out in mid river.
One other roach around 4oz and that was it, called it a day around 15:00, Paul below had already gone.

Chris above me however persevered and had some nice perch on the worm using his long rod and centre pin reel method.

Chris with a nice perch.

No fishing next weekend but hope to get out in the week.

Thursday 23rd January - Pleasure session River Kenn

This time last year right through to the end of the season the River Kenn really came good producing decent bags of roach, hybrids, perch and lots and lots of tench.

While I had been away in Singapore and NZ the club had held a couple of matches on the river and although not big weights some bream and tench had been caught. I was going to fish the river on Wednesday but decided to give it an extra day to recover from the recent hard frosts.

The forecast for Thursday was good with high tide in the early hours of the morning meaning that the river would be flowing the right way all day.

I headed over to Cadbury Angling just before 9 a.m. to top up with red maggot as this was all I intended to fish with in conjunction with the waggler.

I was on the bank upstream of Strode Rd bridge in Clevedon by 9:30 and decided to fish the 3rd peg up were I had over 50lb of tench, roach and hybrids last February.  To fish it properly at this time of year you need to get down in the mud as the EA drop the level about 6 foot from December through to the end of March.

I simply set up a bait waiter on a bank stick for the bait and odds and ends to save climbing back up the bank, the keepnet to be used as a rod rest with another rod rest set up back from it to keep the rod out of the water and my landing net, simples. The mud was deep close to the bank but firmer a bit further out.

I set up 2 waggler rods, both with 3AA floats, one had a wide gape 18 to 0.10 and the other with the same hook but to 0.12. Plumbing up with a SSG I had 3 foot down the middle and 2.5 foot just off the far shelf.

As I şet up fellow Clevedon Club member Chris Ford came along. Chris probably fishes the river more than anyone and said a few fish had been coming out but not many. He was going down below the bridge to just fish with bread.

I started across just off the far shelf and loose fed a half pouch of maggot every other run through. The flow was spot on but even though I was holding back a little it was still dragging under now and then due the uneven bottom. I perceived and did strike everytime the float dipped.
30 minutes in one of those strikes met with solid resistance and that lovely thumping feeling when a decent fish is hooked in running water.
I played it carefully and when it first came to the surface I thought it was a massive roach, I had 2 over 2lb from the same swim last year. Even when I netted it I had to check. It was a hybrid but more roach in it than bream, a nice fish going 3lb.

I started to feed about 10 maggots every cast after that and soon had another one but more scaley and bream like compared to the earlier one, I was enjoying this.

I had been hand feeding the middle now and then and decided to have a look with the other rod, first trot down and a perch of around 1.5 lbs was hooked and landed, I lost another straight after so rested the like and went back across.

I adjusted the rig by taking the No.10 shot of the hook length and putting it above. This worked much better and the float dragged under less.

Well by getting the feeding right and swapping between the 2 lines I added 5 more decent perch, another hybrid, a small jack pike and 2 tench best one going 5lbs.

what a fantastic day

Chris below had 4 bream and a small carp on the bread, his best bream went 7lbs 10oz.

Sunday 19th January - Port Talbot Dock

First of all Happy New Year everyone.

Its been over 6 weeks since my last proper outing. Early December saw me spending 5 days up in Scotland followed by a flight to Singapore and staying 4 nights and then off to New Zealand arriving back home on 13th January.

I got over my jet lag fairly quickly and decided to get out on the bank somewhere. A small match was advertised on Port Talbot Docks via Facebook and I noticed from the list of names already down an old friend of mine Mike Endicott was going to fish. I contacted him after I had booked in and we agreed to meet up at Gordano Services near Avonmouth so he could follow me over. Team mate Sam Johnson also decided to go for the first time.

I suggested we all meet at 06:00 and take a steady drive over due to the forecasted hard frost.

I was up at 05:15 and it was flipping cold, minus 3 in fact which was a far cry from 31 in Singapore and up to 26 in New Zealand. When I pulled open the van door handle it just stayed out. Even the maggots didn't want to come out of the fridge.

Mike and Sam were already in the services when I pulled in just after 06:00. Mike was in his shorts!!!

A steady drive over the 2nd Severn Crossing and a drive through the Principality saw us arrive at Bro's Cafe for the draw and breakfast after one wrong turn. Water in the pot holes was frozen over and inside the Cafe was freezing as well but the breakfast was top dollar as usual.

Organiser Steve O'Mara got the draw underway there were 13 down to fish but I think 2 dropped out.
Mike and Sam drew a couple of decent pegs, 18 Sam and Mike 19 so chance of bream and skimmers if they fed. I drew 15 which is average I think (only my 3rd time on the dock). Regular Steve Shaw was on end peg 20 which we thought would win it.

Parked up aside my peg and as I was unloading the van I could see Mike still in his shorts and polo shirt. I had 5 layers on my upper body and 3 below.

This is Mike.
Mike is standing on frost covered grass.
It's minus 1.
Mike fished the whole match in shorts and polo shirt.
Mike is nuts!

I planned to simply fish the 5 metre whip and feeder short.
At 5 metres I had over 4 metres of water. My rig was a 3 gram Sensas Alberto float to 0.17 with 2 number 8's as bulk above the hook length. Hook length was 0.12 with a wide gape series 18 tubertini hook. Ground bait for the whip line .... Gros Gardons, River, Black crumb and heavy leam.
Feeder rig was a 30 gram with a B560 14 hook to 0.15. Ground bait was as above but no leam.

At the start I put 4 big balls in on the whip line laced with maggot, caster and hemp plus a sprinkling of corn. Starting off on the feeder at 25 turns it took about 15 minutes to get the first bite which was a 2 oz roach. A few more followed including a 6 oz hybrid. The fish appeared to have move in and were taking the bait on the drop, because they were quite small they were hard to hit and it became frustrating so the feeder rod went up the bank.

The whip line was full of fish, not big by any means but at least I could hit them. Corn on the hook did result in slightly better fish but a kept getting snagged in-between the rocks that make up the bed and side of the dock so had to stick with the maggot.

I feed small balls every other fish and thought I was doing ok judging by what was happening to my right.

The water was quite clear and pike were predicted to be a nuisance. I only had one on and did land it on the whip, a fish of around 6lbs but they don't count.

Weather wise it did turn out a nice day in the warm sunshine although it was difficult to see the float the last 1.5 hours.

The all out came at 15:30 and I was quite tired,  the back was aching a bit due to being out of practice.

Steve O'Mara won the match with 29lb made up with a few bream and skimmer off point peg 8, fair play to him. It was tight for the rest of the field.

Sam did well on his first visit coming joint 3rd.

my 16lb 12oz, an enjoyable day

Port Talbot Docks Match Fishing have their own Facebook Page, its only 1 hour 20 mins away, you can park behind your peg and theres always plenty of bites. I'll be back again soon.