Irish fishing adventures from the past Part 3 - Ballyconnell Co. Cavan

Following on from Part 2 the next Angling Centre we tried was Ballyconnell in Co. Cavan our first visit there was back in 2012. The obvious place to stay was the Anglers Rest which is a Guest House, Pub, Restaurant and for a while had a Tackle Shop as well. Irish Bait and Tackle (Maggot Farm was just up the road as well.

The Anglers Rest is owned by Irish International Francis McGoldrick and his family.

Ballyconnell is quite a small town but there are some fantastic fishing to be had in the surrounding loughs, namely Brackley, Bunerky and the famous Garadice which is only a short drive away. The Woodford River also known as the Woodford Canal runs through the town and forms part of the Shannon Erne Waterway. Enniskillen to the North is about 18 miles up the road.

Access to the Loughs in this area is pretty good but like most venues in Ireland you can only get access to a very small percentage of the shore line.

In the beginning and due to the weather we concentrated on Garadice Lough, the Church Shore section were there are lots of good pegs and you can park alongside most of them.

The hybrid fishing on the tip was fantastic and we had the odd dog roach and big skimmer but no proper bream.
I think we had bags of between 30lbs and 40lbs from Garadice which more than satisfied us.

Dale H netting a skimmer on Garadice

Turtle also got among the fish

On that first visit the weather improved from the middle of the week and Francis recommended Burneky Lough. This was prior to it being used in the World Pairs and access was a bit limited. Once you were on the shoreline it was fine, the walk wasn't that bad to be honest. It's a huge Lough with only a B type road if that running alongside it.

How big?

The roach fishing was fantastic, proper sized fish and we had some lovely days on the waggler. Mr. Pike also gave us a bit of trouble.

Some of the roach Steve and I had

I fished the Woodford River a couple of times and had some nice hybrids on the pole holding back with a 12BB Crowquill. Dale and Turtle fished down near the Lock and had plenty of roach.

I think we stayed with Francis twice, bumped into Bob Nudd and Baz Smith one night as they were fishing the World Pairs which was on the same week.

We always had our evening meal in the Anglers Rest, the food especially the steaks are superb. We did have the odd pint in the bar but used two other pubs up the road. One was a Sports Bar run by two young guys who told us a story about the previous owner. Apparently he had Sky Sports via a rouge device and painted the pint glass icon in the bottom of the screen with tippex! That was until he got caught lol. We used to play darts in there during the week but they had a band on at weekends. It was mainly for younger people to be honest but Dale managed to befriend a few of the older ones after practising his First Aid skills on one of them after he some how spilt his head, god knows how.

Turtle getting stuck in to a meal in the Anglers Rest. He was on a diet that week, no chips but had garlic bread instead!!

Molly Maguires pub was were we usually ended up and on a Friday and Saturday they had a duo or single singer, Country and Western. The first thing I noticed was a gun and a couple of hand grenades over the bar and as you looked around the walls there was more memorabilia about a certain illegal paramilitary organisation commonly known by 3 letters!

One of the duo's at Molly's

During that time property in the area was really cheap. On the opposite side of the river from the Anglers Rest there were blocks of apartments totally empty and they hadn't long been built. In fact I remember an advert in the local paper offering buy one get one free!

It is a lovely area with another angling centre Ballinamore just down the road.

Irish fishing adventures from the past Part 2 - Inniscarra Reservoir Co. Cork

Following the publication of Part 1 I was astounded concerning how many people had contacted me and telling me their own stories about Bailieborough . A lot even stayed at the same B & B and some even knew a couple of my mates that I went with.

I have also been sent a few more photo's ....

Steve with one of the nice brown trout we caught from Ramor

Turtle was self isolating back in the early 90's

Dale O with one of the many pike that troubled us on Drumkeary

Me out on Ramor 

OK so here's Part 2.......



In my previous post I wrote about my adventures around Bailieborough. I'm not sure how many times I went there but it was quite a few. I think we stopped going there after Brid and John were away when we wanted to go one year and we booked into the Bailieborough Hotel which wasn't quite the same plus a couple of our regular Watering Holes had closed as well.

It was decided to give Inniscarra Reservoir a try down in Co. Cork. I think 6 of us went, Steve Vernon, Tony Humphries, Dale Harvey, Andy Bryant aka Turtle, Leigh Wakefield and myself. Although these were more recent than the trips to Bailieborough my memory is a little cloudy about them so here goes.

I think we went twice but it could have bee three, the first time we went from Swansea to Cork which was a 10 hour overnight sailing. It was a a bit of a wreck and by the sound of the crew's accents was a Russian operation. Although there is free travel for both Irish and British Citizens between the two countries you are advised to take some form of photo ID. The van I was in got waved through the check point prior to boarding but the other van got stopped and Dale didn't have any ID, he was allowed to proceed eventually. The Ferry stopped running after the first trip so the second time we went Fishguard to Rosslare.

The route from Cork Harbour to where we were staying in Macroom took just over an hour as opposed to the 3.5 hour trip when we had to drive from Rosslare.

When we first went it was just pleasure fishing and we stayed at Coolcower House which is an old style country house, I think two sisters ran it.

The house was at the top end of the reservoir and about 2 miles south of the town of Macroom. The gardens went down to the reservoir and it did look nice but you could see lots of tree stumps in the water. I have read reports from anglers who stayed there catching lots of big rudd on the waggler shallow.

There was a lot of Dutch anglers staying at the house, they had come over to fish the Festival staying for at least two weeks. They got the travelling right, most of them flew over as Cork Airport was 30 minutes away and they hired a couple of vehicles, their tackle was driven over by two of their mates.

At the house they had plenty of bait fridges in a shed. I remember we had order a lot of worm because at the time Inniscarra was throwing up big bags of skimmers and bream as opposed to the mainly roach nets of the present day. We put our worm in the fridges and they all died! Still not sure why as I keep worm in the bait fridge at home no problem. The Dutch guys kept theirs outside without a problem and from what I remember it was very hot as I nearly lost my lips through sun sores as the week went on.

The main fishing area on Inniscarra is around the village of Coachford 20 minutes from where we were staying. We had to pick up our bait from O'Callaghans Bar in the village as they were the main agent. When we went to pick up our bait we were told where we could fish due to the Festival being on. At this time access was a bit of a problem, the access has now been improved following the World Feeder Angling Championships held there in 2014.

We managed to fish the Graveyard, Garden Centre and some other section during that first week. it was lovely fishing. Lots of skimmers and some bream. It was all feeder fishing and corn seemed to be the best bait on the hook.

One of the local anglers also told us about a lough joining Inniscarra but there were not many swims. no problem Dale went into a hardware store and bought a saw. Fair play he opened up a few more allowing all of us to fish together. It was that quiet there Dale and Turtle left their fishing gear in the bushes for the following day.

While fishing the Garden Centre Section one day a carp broke the surface a rod length out continuously between Steve and I. I believe on the the same day I saw my first otter in Ireland swimming from our bank across to an island.

On the evening of that first trip we drank in the bar at the guest house with the Dutch guys, they can drink. After talking to them we decided to go back the following year and fish a festival.

I think the second time we went we stayed up in the town of Macroom in the Lakeland Hotel, maybe we stayed there twice, it was OK and there was a bit more life about the place but compared to Bailieborough it was quiet. There were live bands at the weekend and people used to come and stay there just for the Friday or Saturday night.

I had a family holiday travelling around Ireland a few years after and the Hotel had been turned into some kind of Hostel, looked run down.

The Festival was great although the only downside was Steve had to drop us all off to our sections due to only taking one big van making him late getting to his. Even when we were dropped off it was quite a walk and over fences etc. 

The draw was in O'Callaghans Bar every morning as well as the results at the end of the week. I done ok for my first Irish Festival picking up 2 sections but the Dutch guys cleaned up. I remember one of the Glamorgan Rebel Anglers Mal Entwhistle telling me I had done well for my first time. The next time I saw Mal was last year when I first went to fish Port Talbot Docks.

Most anglers appeared to stay in the Coachford area but at the time accommodation was limited.

We used to eat out in various establishments in the evening. Dale must have been hungry then as he ate two Chinese starters and mains.

Dale ready for his mains!

It was a nice place but I have no intention of returning at the moment.

Irish fishing adventures from the past - Part 1, Bailieborough Co. Cavan

Well with no fishing for a while I thought a few posts about my fishing adventures in Ireland wouldn't do any harm so here goes Part 1 of not sure how many .... as you will see it wasn't all about the fishing.

Not long after I joined the GPO as a Postman back in 1978 I became aware that they had an Angling Club (perhaps I'll do a blog about that in the near future). I didn't have a car at that point but the Secretary at the time Owen Edwards would give me a lift to the monthly competitions. It was a great Club and I made quite a few friends some of which I keep in touch with to the present day.

In the mid to late 80's, two of them Mike Endicott and Dale Oldland (Dale worked at Comet but relations / friends of members could also join) had made a few visits to Ireland for a weeks fishing staying at a B & B in Bailieborough Co. Cavan. Personally I had never heard of the place but I was assured the fishing was very good.

Come the 15th March to the 16th June there was a full close season in them days for coarse fishing i.e. no option to fish still water or canals like we do now (with the exception of the current COVID 19 situation). Mike and Dale usually went in late May.

My regular fishing mate Kevin Brown aka ''Brownie'' and I decided we would join them one year.

Well known Bristol match angler Ray Bazeley who worked part time in Veals Fishing Tackle shop at the time also ran an angling tour company in partnership with Mike Salisbury the owner called Topline Tours and it was through them that we booked our trip.

Mike and Dale must have travelled by car when they went on their own but because there were four of us we decided to hire a van. I hired one locally, it was some sort of Toyota with the gear change on a stick coming out of the steering wheel. It wasn't that big with 3 seats in the front but done the job as one of us travelled in the back (not sure that was legal at the time). Equipment wise we only had a seat box (plastic Shakespheare type) each, a rod holdall (one float rod and one tip rod plus bank sticks and landing net handle), a carryall plus a keepnet, waders and clothes.

Setting off on the Friday evening I picked "Brownie" up first and I always remember Val his long suffering partner helping him carry his tackle out to the van and then having words with him as he had taken the washing up bowl to mix his ground bait up in!

After two more pick ups we set off to Holyhead to catch the 3 a.m Saturday morning sailing to Dublin via the A5 after coming off the M42 Motorway stopping for a couple of pints before the pubs shut. I couldn't do that now and back then we had been at work all day as well! The song The Long and Winding Road springs to mind as that what it was up through mid to north Wales.

Arriving at the Holyhead Ferry Terminal (after stopping for a snack in an all night garage plus a few pee's in the hedge) there were numerous boarding lanes all full of vans and anglers, it was a great atmosphere. Lot's of Midland and Northern England accents.

I can't remember what Ferry Company it was but once on board there was more festivities due to the bar being open and a live band, yes at 3 a.m. unbelievable. In them days you could buy Duty Free and we topped up on a few things. Brownie was the only one who smoked so we bought our allowance and he bought them off us, more on that later.

When we arrived in Dublin it was a nightmare trying to get through the city, no mobiles with maps or sat nav's then and road signs were few and far between. Once you were out of the city heading up the N3 it was fine. The N3 in places was barely an ''A road'' and it took up about 2 hours to get to Virginia were I first saw the mighty Lough Ramor. We drove down to it's shore by a pub, it's now developed into the Lough Ramor Hotel. As I walked along I came across a Tackle Shop Owner from the Bedminster area of Bristol, Bob Talbot, how spooky is that. Bob and his mate were on their way back to Dublin to catch the day ferry home and he had stopped off for a bit of fishing while his mate was sleeping hung over in the van.

We carried on for another 10 miles and arrived in Bailieborough which was typical of most small Irish towns. Mike and Dale directed me up Kells Rd to our B & B called ''Drumlin" run by John and Brid Halloran. Brid gave us a very warm welcome and set about making us breakfast. John was a local police sergeant and was out on duty (just as well methinks hic!). Hearing my Northern Irish accent and Brownie informing her his mother was from Waterford ensured we instantly bonded with her.

Brownie, Mike and I

We quickly settled in and then headed down town to Raymond Lloyds to pick up our pre-ordered bait. Raymond was a real character, nothing was a problem and he dropped in the odd famous anglers name during the conversation, Frank Barlow being one of them who was also a frequent visitor to the area. Raymonds shop sold all manner of things from garden plants and equipment, fancy goods, toys, hardware and fishing tackle. If he had to do a stock take it would have taken months. Raymond was on the local Tourism Committee and down a lot to attract business to the town.

I can't remember where we went to fish first but over the week we had some great catches. We fished Lough Ramor, Skeagh, Castle and Drumkeary. The key was to fish the same swims 2 days running at least to draw the fish in on the bait.

It was a fantastic week and in the years following can't remember how many our group got bigger and one year 8 of us went in an old VW 17 seater mini bus, Still not sure how it got us there but it was cheap.
The guys who went over the years including those mentioned above were...Steve Vernon, Tony Humphries, Andy Bryant (aka Turtle because he hasn't got a neck, ex rugby player), Dale Harvey, Adrain Dennis, Leigh Wakefield, John Rowsell, Andy Hill.

I remember one year we fished Lough Ramor down in the Town section and as you looked along the line of anglers everyones rod was bent over. Big hybrids were plentiful and among them big bream. My best catch on Ramor was 109 lbs of hybrids caught on the feeder using a Silstar Traverse X rod with what must have been a 4 to 5oz built in tip (still got that rod), they were taking it off the rod rest and fought all the way to the net. The clutch actually went on my Mitchell 300 that week due to the abuse.
Ramor also had big wild brown trout in it and we used to catch loads and take them to the pub for the locals. On one occasion my tip went around and then I saw my feeder coming out of the water and a big brown trout on the hook, amazing.
That same year when we were weighing in one day a few Travellers came down and wanted the fish. I said no but to get rid of them gave them a hybrid for his fathers tea.

Me with a good bag from Ramor

One year only Steve and I went, the weather that week was awful but we were averaging 60 lbs a day.

Castle Lake did produce but only on certain pegs, Skeagh was steady enough but limitations regarding swims, Drumkeary was good but you needed to walk around to the far side through gorse were it was more productive.

One for the ladies, Brownie with a bream

We always went down to the pubs in the evening after a massive 3 course meal, there always seemed to be something going on. Although we visited most of the pubs our most frequent visits were to Kangley's and the Town and Country. Plenty of live music and talent nights plus we there there for .... and I know you're getting excited now ..... the first ever live showing of the video to Campaign for the  Pot Holes to be dealt with ... doesn't get any better than that! Well it did actually, one evening when talent night was on in the Town and Country, it was a bit of a rough old pub, everyone was pissed, the guy on stage was singing Its not the leaving of Liverpool for the 3rd year running, Brownie was telling everyone at the bar his mum was from Waterford and when I asked him what he wanted to drink he said ''I'll have a Guinness and a double Jameson. Will you now I thought, so I got him a Guinness. I went to the toilet and there was a guy pissed out of his head lying in the urinal laughing while his mate was pissing on him, unbelievable. Kangley's also had the added attraction of the Irish Sun Barmaid of the Year serving.

Tony, Steve and I with one of the many pints

I have mentioned Kevin (''Brownie'') a few times now but he was a laugh on them trips. Getting back to the duty free cigarets which we got on his behalf. He was a bit of a chain smoker in them days and I rarely took a photo of him without one in his mouth, one year I believe he smoked the entire duty free allowance of how ever many there was of us. Another time we caught the day ferry across and after arriving in Holyhead early ''Brownie'' went off to the pub with a couple of others. Later that evening after coming out of the pub he was as sick as a dog bringing up his stomach contents in the gutter, he blamed it on a bad pint of Guinness from Holyhead!!!
The next morning the contents of which he deposited on the road was cleared up, Bailiborough had a Street Cleaner who was also a character and looked like Freddie Boswell from the comedy series Bread you have to be a certain age to remember that, but here's what Freddie looked like....

The normal photo of Brownie with a fag in his mouth

The police used to go around the pubs at closing time telling everyone they had to leave. John our guest house owner was on duty one night and as he came around he gave us the nodd to stay there, others went out the front door and came back in via the back lol. John did come out with us one night and we didn't get back to the B & B until the early hours he was well pissed and got the Irish Whiskey out for a night cap which must have lasted another hour or more.

Another couple of funnies......

Andy aka Turtle always used to be in a room on his own because he farted so much but he would usually come in to someone else's room before going down for breakfast, do a silent one and then leave with a smile on his face.

Tony used to share a room with Brownie who was ex RAF and later Navy. Brownie gave Tony some advice ''don't bend over me to wake me up or I might strangle you''.

Saturday morning down in the town. Farmer and his wife come to town to do the shopping in a tractor with bucket on the front like a JCB. Farmer sits in the tractor and follows the wife up and down the shops, she comes out and puts the shopping in the bucket.

Drunk guy in Dicey O'Rielly's pub one night complaining that he got caught drink driving a few days a go. Another asks him how he was getting to work, ''driving'' was the reply!

Those trips to Bailieborough were fantastic, not experienced anything like it since.

In the years that followed I travelled to Coachford Co. Cork, Ballyconnell Co. Cavan and more recently Arva Co. Cavan so more memories to come.

Sunday 22nd March - Port Talbot Dock Open / Knock Up

Prior to this match I fished the Tuesday Open at Acorn Fisheries and had 10lb odd of silvers and 19lb of carp. Didn't do any good as I was again down the wrong end of the lake but more importantly I began to question myself as to why I was there in the first place. The draw was done under strict conditions but not everyone was keeping what I think is a safe distance.

Steve O'Mara who runs the Port Talbot Dock matches posted that he was ''self isolating'' due to feeling under the weather and would not be running a match this weekend but invited someone else to come forward and run in.
I wasn't planning on going over so told Steve I was not available.

Team mate Chris Hook phoned me around Wednesday and asked if there was anything on this weekend and I told him about the situation over Port Talbot and said I was just thinking of trying the Bristol Feeder Canal pleasure fishing.

On the Port Talbot Dock facebook page there were quite a few guys interested in fishing the dock so I let Steve know that I would run it. After a number of texts and messages between us I was all set up to run it.

12 eventually booked in and the draw was done in the car park area aside peg 8.

On the drive over I began to question myself again as to why I was travelling .... was it necessary?
Speaking to a couple of others they had the same thoughts.

I collected all the entry fee from everyone via a pole cup on the end of a long bank stick in order to keep a safe distance and had latex gloves on.

I briefed everyone at the start concerning some basic health and safety rules to reduce risk and also performed the draw for all, I would also do the weigh in plus record the weights.

I have to say everyone co-operated 100%.

I was last but one to draw and blow me I ended on peg 6 for the 3rd time over my 8 attendances at the dock.

Two feeder rods set up as per previous visits and the same approach which has seen me frame 3 times now.

At the start small roach (I say small but they would be more than welcome anywhere else) were hitting the bait just after the feeder hit the bottom and on the way down. You need the skimmers and bream to win at the moment so instead of 3 dead reds I changed over to worm and that made a difference. You had to wait a bit longer for the bite but it was the only way. My skimmers were not that big (around 4 - 6oz) and I needed some better quality ones but they didn't come to me.

You would get a run of them and then they would back off and despite trying a different line I found them hard to find bites were also a bit finicky.

It was a lovely bright sunny day but the north easterly played its part in keeping weights down but everyone enjoyed the day out.

I was paying top 4 as that what Steve tries to do as well as the £50 golden peg but that was carried over.

I didn't take any photos of the weigh in as I was already doing 2 jobs and it would have delayed the process but Clive Branson captured most of the day via his Vlog and I have attached the link below....

https://youtu.be/9EdgEGJFpVU

Also attached is the weigh board

As you can see it was a close affair with only ounces separating the top 4, I ended up 5th but 6lb off the pace.

Well that's the last match blog done for a while until the situation improves with this virus. I have decided to follow what my conscience is telling me and stop for now.

I may post the odd bit of news from the past to keep the blog going.

Dydd Sul 15fed Mawrth - Dociau Port Talbot yn taro i fyny

It was back to the Principality for a "knock up" at Port Talbot Docks. I booked in quite early in the week and there appeared to be little interest mainly due to the weather forecast. The forecast did improve and a few more added there names to the list giving us 8 in total.
Given the quality of the breakfast at the draw, the fishing and access I do find it a bit strange that more people don't give it a go.

As Clive Branson was fishing I messaged him to bring me a couple of bags of Gold Medal Black Bream Mix (2 for £5). It's a lovely mix and does appear to bring fish into your swim, a lot of the guys who fish Port Talbot use it now.
I had already done my feeder mix the night before which was 1.5 kg of the above mix with 1 kg of dark fishmeal. The other spare 0.5 kg of black bream was mixed with leam on the dock for balling in.

Steve O'Mara done the draw for everyone to reduce any cross contamination, he also done the draw for the ''golden peg'' worth £50 which was peg 16, a great peg. One of the last to book in, Jan Van Mazyk had that one!

As there was only 8 of us we were well spread out from peg 1 to peg 20 so huge amount of room and you could sneeze and cough your heart out.

I did fancy anything from 16 onwards but was drawn peg 6, one I have had a few weeks ago and I done OK from it.

When we got to the dock the level was up a bit and probably due to a ship coming in at some point. The ship was actually docked alongside the cement work opposite our pegs.

Where I was a lot of anglers fish behind the boards but I like to get in the water, it takes a while to set up the box due to the rocks on the bottom and there is only a small ledge but once your in its much more comfortable.

I had the whip with me but never set it up due to the stiff breeze so 2 feeder rods it was. Both 30gram feeders one with size 12 B560 and the other a 14 in the same pattern. 20 turns out on one, 15 on the other, simples.

We were fishing 10 til 4 today as the afternoon forecast was favourable so no rush. Last week there was a few 30lb plus weights so needed a few proper bream.

9 balls went in on the short line and I started off on the longer line with 4 maggots on the size 12 just to see what was about.

After the first hour I only had about 4 small skimmers and a roach so things were looking hard. The anglers to my left and right (they were the only other 2 I could see) also appeared to be struggling. 

At this point I decided to put on half a dendra worm tipped with a caster and sit it out to see if there were any better fish around, I had been putting chop and caster through the feeder.  It seemed to do the trick and a run of better skimmers followed but the action was far from hectic.

2 hours must have went by and any action there was slowed so I came in on the short line with the 14 hook. Just double dead reds on the hook and had a bite immediately. There were no bank walkers so it was hard to judge how it was fishing. The guys left and right were not catching a lot and the fish they had were the same stamp as mine.

It was a case of swapping lines and baits just to get a bite but they were hard to hit.

The scales came from end peg 20 where Alan Godrich was leading with 22lb odd. 

Mine weighed 19lb 15oz

 End peg 1 Mick Fraser had over 25lb so won the match.

The view was there was a high concentration of salt in the dock after the ship came in and then went back out. 

Not a bad day though for the middle of March and the weigh sheet shows everyone had a few fish.

Sunday 8th March - Evesham Festival Team Qualifier, Warwickshire Avon

A call was put out some time ago to my fellow Team mates asking if anyone was interested in fishing this qualifier. I put my name forward but said I was happy not to be selected if anyone who was an Evesham regular wanted to fish. Never seen the venue before and from what I know its quite tricky.

It turned out no one else fancied it so I ended up going to loose my Evesham virginity!

A couple of conversations with Mike and Sam saw me do quite a lot of prep as depending where you draw you need a range of methods at your disposal.

The kit I prepped and took up was....
Pole, and a range of float options from 1.5 gram up to 6 gram, a few flat floats up to 6 gram as well.
Long rod with an array of bolo and avon floats.
Stick float rod x 2 and stick floats
Feeder rods x 2

Team today was ....
Clive Branson (c)
Mike Martin-Davies
Chris Smith
Sam Johnson
Me

16 Teams of 5 were booked in but a team dropped out on the Friday evening for some reason. The top 5 would qualify for the August BH weekend team festival match. This would also be my biggest match in terms of numbers since last September and there was certainly going to be plenty of talent on the bank.

There was a match on the Saturday and it threw up a few 9lb and 8lb weights and was probably the first proper match on the venue this year due to the floods.

I followed Sam up the M5 and then off to Evesham where we stopped at the Town Bridge to have a look at the condition of the river, this was a shallow area ad it was paced but ok.
On to Weatherspoons for breakfast and met up with Clive and Mike.

There was a rolling draw at Hampton Ferry from 09:00 and fishing 11 - 4. We were last to draw and it didn't appear to be very good according to Clive and Mike.

I ended up on peg 45 which I could walk to from the car park. I was told it was a shallow ish area and a range of options were advised, ended up taking everything but the walk was on a hard path, you couldn't drive to the peg due to the soft ground.

Sam was dead opposite where we parked up, peg 63, a much deeper area and apparently can chuck up some bream, it did look nice and he was well please as he had qualified for a match before from this area.

Clive was on 79 and he did fancy his peg. Mike was down in the town on 29 an area he knew and Chris also in the town on peg 9.

When I got to my peg it was quite pacey from about 11 metres out. Plumbing up straight in front at about 8 metres I had about 7 foot but then as I went left downstream it shallowed up. An overweighted 6 gram flat float was set up to fish straight out in front with maggot or worm and a 5 gram bodied float to run down the peg a bit more toward a nearside bush. A DH 7 x no. 4 stick was put on the long rod in order to ease over the shallow bit toward the end of the run on the inside. 45 gram feeder for the middle and a small 30 gram cage for the inside.

There was a discussion about taking bread the evening before the match as we believed that's what won the match on the Saturday so luckily I had some liqqy in the freezer,

The plan was to try the bread for the first 20 minutes or so and I did that using the cage feeder down the inside with a 6mm punch. Most others around me were lobbing out the feeder in the middle.
20 minutes gone not a touch so continued with the bread in the feeder but put a fluro maggot on the wide gape 18 hook. I had a little rattle and struck but the pinkie came back ragged, prob a bleak or small roach. I had another knock on this quite quickly but did not connect with anything when I hit it.

It gave me a bit of confidence that there were fish to be caught and I was aware you would not need much for decent points.
An hour went by and no more indications.

I put a couple of hard balls of GB in on the same line (river and gros gardons plus a little leam) with choppy and pinkie before going out on the 45 grammer down the middle. 30 minutes or so went by and no indications, I couldn't see anything being caught either side of me. I came in on the inside feeder line again with just a few pinkies in the GB and one on the hook and had a positive knock which I hit. It was a decent fish and was really please to land what looked like a 2lb chub so possibly mega points for the team, I was buzzing.
Sam rang me and said all he had was a few little roach and bleak.

As the match went on I had a look on the pole and running line rigs but it wasn't right so went back on the 2 feeder lines. Sam rang to see if I had anymore which I hadn't but told me he just had a small tench!!

I missed another bite while a guy stopped behind me talking which I wasn't very happy about, he fooked off after that.

The angler above me then netted a small chub from the middle so I had a go on this line for quite a while .... nothing.

With an hour to go I gave Sam a call and he only had another tench, a better one this time, unbelievable but fantastic.

15 minutes or so from the end the angler above me had another chub, I did not add anything more to my solitary chub.

And.....that was it, match over.

In the end my section of 15 fished poor, my chub went 2lb 3oz which got me 11 points from 15 so team job done. Sam weighed 6lb 10oz to take 12 points from 15 being beaten by bream weights in the meadow in front of the Cafe.
Chris done the next best with 6 points and Mike 4 pants from a snag pit. Clive blanked which shows how hard it was, the draw gods were not good.

We finished 12th from 15 so missed out on the BH festival match this time.

Full results and weights below.

Well done to DGL who had a great result.

Hope to pleasure fish my local river on Wednesday and then Port Talbot Docks on Sunday.

Tuesday 3rd March - Acorn Open, Paddock Snake Lake

Quick summary.....

Looking ahead the best day of the week was going to be Tuesday but with the tide wrong on the local river and also it was still a bit of a mess I decided to go along to the Tuesday Open at Acorn Fishery run by Mike Chapman.
I haven't done any good for a long time on this venue and a lot of the guys who fish it go twice a week, Tuesday and Sunday so they are ultra familiar with the pegs.

I had a look at my carp top 2's and the elastic was err...rotten so decided I would just fish for silvers.

I did get there in plenty of time but missed the draw as I was waiting down at the site office where it used to be done but Mike put another 3 ping pong balls in the bag and I drew out 27 which is pretty rubbish if you wanted carp this time of year but no worries for me.

3 lines today, 6 sections straight out in front, 7 sections down to my right a meter out from the bank and 7 sections at 2 o'clock all lines had the same depth, about 3.5 foot. Two top kits with 6 elastic, one with a 4x12 and the other 4x14  as the wind was blowing up a bit. Size 20 wide gape hook on both rigs.

Dead chopped worm (that's another story) with caster and pinkie and Clive Bransons Black Bream mix for ground bait.


I settled in and began carefully preparing my 3 lines with a small ball on each.

I picked up fish, skimmers, roach, perch and a couple of small tench off and on during the 5 hours. I did loose what I think was a couple of bigger tench which may have made a difference.  It was an enjoyable day and made a change from chucking the feeder out which is all I have done so far this year.

I weighed 9lb 9oz, 17lb won the silvers by organiser and venue regular Mike Chapman off island peg 2.

1. Ant Piekielniak 40-00 p35.
2. John Andreas 37-04 p40
3. Mike Owens 33-13 p15
4. Mike Chapman 28-14 p2
5. Bob Smith 21-06 p13
6. Eddie Wynne 19-00 p7
Silver's
1. Mike Chapman 17-00 p2

So a nice day and it stayed dry for once.

Prepping now for the Team Qualifier with Nomads at Evesham on Sunday.

Sunday 1st March - St. Davids Day Open, Port Talbot Dock

I did intend to fish my local river in a knock up today but knew at the start of the week it would be a mess after looking at the forecast so back across to the Principality to fish my current favourite venue with my Celtic Cousins.
I let good friend Steve and team mate Chris know that I was going over and they also booked in. Then towards the end of the week Jack Jones messaged me saying he was thinking about booking in as well and after talking to me he did. So 3 more newbies to the venue. I also had another angler contact me asking about the venue for a friend of his so word is getting around about this fantastic deep water venue.

The 3rd storm in as many weeks threatened to put a few off but all 13 who were booked in turned up. It was 1 degree when I left home and hail stones were lying on the windscreen. During the drive over there was a bit of wind in places as well as more hail but it was an improving forecast later in the day.

Draw was in Bro's Cafe as usual and a hearty breakfast was very welcome. Prior to the day the plan was to fish 6 hours but due to the cold etc it was reduced to 5.

Golden peg today was end peg 20 and newcomer Jack drew that, I had already put him right on how far out to fish and I did fancy his chances. Chris and Steve were also on decent pegs toward the end of the line up. I drew 13, not a peg I have had before during the 5 previous visits. Team mate Clive Branson told me it was a great summer peg .... err it's fecken March!!!
Anyway, job to do and 4 pay outs today.

Two bags of Clive's Gold Medal Black Bream mix were already mixed up but I scooped out 5 hand fulls to mix with leam for balling in.
Two feeder rods set up, same as last week, 25 turns and 15. Bait tray dead reds, corn caster, live reds and worm.
It was cold but the wind was manageable.

Ready to ball in, rock to keep the bowl on the box

Right hand side

Left hand side. The other side of the big jetty is where Clive won last week with 53lb, organiser Steve O'Mara was on it today, peg 16

On the whistle I put all the balls in sort of halfway between my 2 lines with a view to fishing just either side of them. 

Starting off on the longer line with 3 reds and caster and dead reds in the feeder it took about 30 minutes to get my first knock which I missed, I also missed the next few bites as well. The wind was getting up and straight in my face, bloody cold. 

I eventually snared a roach followed by a few more, one or two I didn't see the bite.

Looking left and right no one was catching and then 45 minutes or so in a few landing nets were going out but they were not big fish.

The second hour was a little better and I had a couple of skimmers on the short line, it was still slow either side of me as well. The water wasn't cold but there was a lot of cold water coming in from a few rivers and it was a brackish brown colour which seemed to put the fish off feeding.

I added a few small fish here and there but in the final hour I unclipped and went out a bit further which brought me a few little hybrids and roach on double live reds.

When the all out was called I wasn't sorry as I was shivering with cold and my fingers could barely squeeze the ground bait into the feeder.

I packed up and walked up to see the weigh in. Clive had already weighed by the time I got to the scales and he had weighed 6lb. It appears the whole dock had fished hard, worst I have seen it.

I weighed 7lb 6oz which was enough for 3rd overall, really....

Hard to see the fish but then again there wasn't much in the net anyway.

As I predicted Jack won the match off the end peg which was also the golden peg but with 10lb, Chris managed 4th.

It was good to see Paul Cole picking up 2nd with just over 8lb on the whip after his nightmare last week.

Jack with his wining envelope plus £50 for the golden peg

Full results as follows plus a summary of the match from Steve O'Mara.....

Hi lads, quick report for today's St Davids Day match.

Windy, cold and rain were the main theme of the day. Difficult conditions above the water were not the main factor for the results though. Below the surface, the fish were not playing either. Anglers reporting plenty of liners was evidence of the presence of the fish, but they were reluctant to get their heads down and feed. The water was very coloured, and usually, a good sign that the fish will get amongst the bait, but not today.

Bristol angler Jack Jones won the match on his first-ever visit to the dock. Not only that, he had drawn the golden peg too.

Jack had drawn peg 20 (end peg on the day) and brought 10lb exactly to the scales. A mixed bag of bream, roach and eels made up the catch and was enough for the win and a golden peg cash bag of £50.00 as well as the match.

Second place went to Swansea angler Paul Cole. Fair play to him, he decided to whip fish and also caught a few bream roach and eels, for 8lb 5oz. Paul admitted he was about to leave the match and go home due to the conditions, but glad he stuck to it. Well done Paul.

Third and fourth places also went to Bristol-based anglers.
Ivan Currie with 7lb 6oz and Chris Hook with 6lb 12oz respectively. So well done to the Bristol lads taking 3 of the 4 places on St Davids day...ouch..

Will try and get out in the week then it's a Team Qualifer Match with Nomads at Evesham next Sunday.

Stay warm all....