Lock Down - One of my favourite venues

Well, how's it going everyone .... running out of jobs yet? Personally up until now I have kept fairly active doing my voluntary job, Clevedon Angling Club admin and projects, odd DIY jobs, oh and the wife's green house has arrived ..... a nice challenge from a flat pack kit, but it's raining today so a blog it is.

At this time of the year I am normally fishing the Bristol Feeder Canal which I re-discovered 4 years ago when I took early retirement.

It's not everyones cup of tea due to .....location, surrounding environment and parking (Mon - Fri),
but it offers great fishing in the Spring with roach, bream, skimmers, perch and dace in abundance.

The Feeder Canal is not controlled by any Club, all that's needed is an EA Rod Licence. It's approximately 1 mile long running from Totterdown Basin at one end of Feeder Rd up to Netham Lock at the other end where it meets the tidal Bristol Avon. Due to it being a Canal there is no ''Close Season'' restrictions.

Map showing location of the Canal

The Canal runs alongside Feeder Rd so it's a case of parking on Feeder Rd, over the railing or down a slipway onto a decent width grass towpath. Not all of it is fishable from the road side but in terms of parking and fishing I would suggest the following locations ......

Brandon Tool Hire 72 - 75 Feeder Rd. BS2 0TQ

Manor Scrap 59 - 61 Feeder Rd. BS2 0SH

Kellys Cafe 31 Feeder Rd. BS2 0SE

Netham Lock where the Canal joins the tidal Avon

Middle of the Canal from the Foot Bridge near Brandon Tool Hire down to Totterdown Basin at the end

End of the Canal at Totterdown Basin

Parking during the week is tricky due to the various industries in the area plus some people park on Feeder Rd and walk to Temple Meads Rail Station to avoid parking charges but if you get there by 06:45 it's fine. After 17:00 in the evening is fine as is Saturday and Sunday.

Under normal circumstances Kelly's Cafe opens at 07:00 during the week and does a great breakfast.

The Canal width is on average 14 metres but can be as narrow as 11 metres in places, average depth is 5 foot. The depth is fairly even all the way across. There is a nice bit of flow most of the time but it can vary due to activity down in Bristol Harbour and the Lock at Netham. I believe an ''operation known as scouring'' which is carried out once a month were by the flow is allowed to increase at a fast pace in order to flush away silt and it lasts about 2 hours.

Boat traffic is generally low with just the odd rower, canal barge or pleasure craft. It is regularly patrolled by the Bristol Harbour Master.

There are vast shoals of roach and bream in Bristol Docks, during the spring they move up into the Canal to spawn probably due to more weed and less salt content in the water. Some will move back into the Docks but you can still catch them up until September. Dace seem to be prominent all year round.

My preferred method on the Canal is the pole. It's not complicated and a 1 gram to 1.5 gram float will cover most situations. A number 3 or 4 solid elastic is ideal, main rig line of 0.11 and a hook length of 0.09 or 0.08 to a wide gape 20 or 18 completes the set up. There are very few snags in the Canal.

I normally set up 2 lines, 6 metre and 11 metres. Cupping in at the start with a couple of balls dark ground bait laced with dead reds, dead pinkie and caster is what I usually and then topping up depending on how the session goes. Sometimes you need to feed hard balls to get through the dace. 

Allowing the rig to run through if the flow is slow works fine but holding it still or back is better. When the bream and skimmers are in the peg then a small piece of worm gets the better fish.

Here are some photo's from sessions last year.......

Keep your gear parallel to the bank as there is the odd dog walker

Lovely days skimmer fishing

Angling friend Geoff Mortimer from Gloucester

Team mate Mike Martin

                         

Team mate Leigh Wakefield

Full details of my sessions on the Canal are on this Blog. I bumped into an angler from Castle Carey last year who came up to fish it after reading about it here.

I hope I can get on the Canal in the not to distant future, decision on allowing pleasure fishing coming soon following the Angling Trust submitting a plan to the Government.

In the meantime stay safe all.

Lock Down - My First Angling Club

Well with another 3 weeks of lock down announced yesterday and I fear there's more to come its going to be a while before we get back out fishing so here's another blog.......

I have been fishing for over 50 years now and if you count my membership of Sensas Nomads Match Group as a Club then I have only been a member of 4. I have very recently written blogs about Bristol P O and Clevedon Clubs so this one is about my first one, Gilford Angling Club.

Gilford in Co. Down Northern Ireland is where I grew up. It's a small village and at that time had a population of about 2000. There was a huge Spinning Mill which employed hundreds of people from a wide area making quality linen.

A lot of my family worked in the Mill before it closed. You didn't need a watch in them days as the Mill Horn was sounded at 07:30 calling the workers for an 08:00 start, then again when it was 13:00 informing them it was lunch time, 13:30 to let them know they had 30 minutes left and then again at 17:00 as it was home time.  My mother won a holiday to Spain for good time keeping around 1970. 

On the edge of the village there was the remains of a World War 2 German Prisoner of War camp which housed about 1,800.

If memory serves me right there were 5 places of worship, 2 Primary Schools, a Post Office, Hardware Store, Garage, Bookies, Funeral Directors, 2 Chemists, Police Station, Doctors, Blacksmiths and a few small Grocery Shops plus 6 pubs. It was located more or less halfway between Banbridge and Portadown and the Upper River Bann ran through it.

I started fishing around 10 years old with my younger brother and we progressed from a bamboo pole's to 6 foot fibre glass rods with a proper reels but still quite crude. As Dad had to take us he got into the sport as well.

The village had an Angling Club which had the fishing rights to about no more than 3 miles of the Upper Bann and also owned the rights to Kernan Lough which was trout only.
The Upper Bann in those days was primarily a game fishery, wild brown trout, salmon and dollagan (which are a variety of trout only found in Lough Neagh) had runs up the river to spawn at certain times of the year. Although there were lots of pools and rapids there were deep glides as well and you could catch perch, odd bream and pike, this was before the roach explosion on the Bann.

The bridge going over the Upper Bann in the village

We joined the Club, it was free for under 15's and didn't cost Dad that much, probably a £1 in those days. Most of the members Fly Fished with great skill and you would often see men at the weekend or after work in the summer walking through the village with a ready made up Fly Rod, Landing Net and a Canvas Bag over their shoulder.

Paddy Owens was the man in them days, great angler using a 10 foot split cane rod, walked everywhere.

My brother Leslie and I with a pike

The Club held a few competitions between 1st March and 31st October as that was the fishing season on their waters. It was a pretty informal affair. The Club nominated a "Captain of the Day" who would take charge of proceedings etc. We would meet at Fox's Pub near the town bridge to register and then off you would go, anywhere you wanted on the river. Prize's were for heaviest trout, heaviest bag of trout and heaviest pike. There was also the same prizes for the juniors and Dad donated one of his old Dart Cups as an annual junior prize.

I mentioned that it was pretty informal, well it was. Dad took us home for dinner during the competition and then back out again in the afternoon!

We just had the spinning rods so ended up using mepps, a gold one with black spots seemed to work well or just ledgering some worms.

I do remember one year I caught a lovely brown trout of around 2lbs in the morning and Dad having to drag me back home for dinner, didn't want to leave the bank and must have ate my dinner in record time. I did win a prize that day which got me well and truly hooked.

Unfortunately you had to kill your catch and bring it back to Fox's Pub for weighing at the end of the day. The adults would have a beer and we would have the bottle of lemonade and bag of crisps, lovely days.

The Club also held a few competitions on Kernan Lough which was stocked with rainbow and brown trout. It was an any method lake except no live bait e.g. worms. We used spinners or bubble floats with a string of flies on droppers which were quite successful much to the annoyance of the true Fly Fisherman.

Kernan Lough was about 3 miles outside the village so one of Dad's friends who had an old mini made 2 trips to take us up there. I remember one completion when I caught 2 rainbow trout within a few casts of each other on a mepp and never had another fish all day. To my surprise it was enough to come 2nd overall but 1st in the juniors.

My brother and I swimming in Kernan Lough

Once we both learned to swim we were allowed to go fishing on our own. I fondly remember long summer days when we would go out in the morning with nothing but a jam jar full of worms and Mum wouldn't see us until we were hungry.

Our dog "Lucky' was always with us

The Club also went down to Lough Muckno in Castleblaney which is over the border in Co. Monaghan for a few pike fishing competitions. I ended up in the local Doctors once when my foot went under a tractor wheel . The tractor was blocking our way out and a few of us were trying to push it to one side, luckily no broken bones. 

I loved that Club and it brought the community together even if it was only on the bank.

Stay safe all.

Lock Down - My time with Clevedon & District Freshwater Angling Club

It was back in February 2008 that I joined Clevedon Freshwater Angling Club. At that time the annual membership ran from 1st April - 31st March. I joined at one of their matches which was being held on the Main Lake at Plantation Fishery Kingston Seymour just outside Clevedon.

To be honest I was informed at my local tackle shop that it was an Open. I had phoned the Match Secretary who was Barry Fowler at the time to book in but when I turned up I was questioned regarding my membership. My explanation was accepted and I paid the principal sum of £3 for the rest of the year (31st March).

I didn't really do any good in that match as it was the first time I fished the place. The next month they had their final match of the season on the River Kenn in Clevedon (aka Blind Yeo). I had only fished the Kenn a few times but never at that time of year when the EA drop the level to around 3 foot and you have to stand above the knee in mud.

I drew about 4 pegs above Strode Road bridge and had a good day weighing in 12lb plus for 2nd in the match. I caught big roach, a tench and a bream on bread using the bread feeder and big flakes in conjunction with a waggler.

The Clevedon Club had a really good Match Programme which is why I joined them in the first place. There were on average 2 matches a month covering Commercial Fisheries as well as natural venues. The matches were well attended but were also very competitive especially on the Commercials.

A lot, in fact I would suggest all of the Sensas Thyers Match Team were also members of the Clevedon Club and would regularly feature in the top places. Commercial Fisheries although not totally new to me did initially present a steep learning curve but over the years I did do quite well learning from others.

When I went to the Clubs AGM in 2009 I ended up on the Committee and then attended the bi-monthly meetings that followed. I supported the Club by attending the vast majority of their matches and done my share of swim clearing on the Kenn.

The Clevedon Club had only the Fishing Rights on the Kenn when I joined but were also part of the North Somerset A A basically an association with Highbridge AA gave both Clubs access to each others waters. Highbridge AA had Apex Lake and Walrow Ponds I believe plus a stretch of the River Brue.

This relationship seemed to work well but then Highbridge AA decided to breakaway, why I am still not sure and at the time I didn't think the Clevedon Club worked hard enough to keep the partnership going.

I started doing my Blog in 2012.  Roundabout this time at the Clubs AGM when Officers were being proposed and elected it came to the role of Press Officer. Usually this position comes with the job of Secretary. I can't for the life of me remember who the Secretary was at the time but I volunteered to become Press Officer because I attended most if not all of the matches. I was promptly accepted into the role without any debate! There was little or no promotion of the Club at the time I took this role on.

Within a few weeks I sent in my first Press Report to a local paper the Clevedon Mercury, now called the North Somerset Times. It was a hard cold day down at Woodland Lake Trinity Waters on the outskirts of Bridgwater and I had actually won the match.
After sending it in I knew you had to wait a week or so for it to be published, that's if it got past the editor. A few days into the following week I had a phone call from the Match Secretary Barry Fowler all excited... Ivan, Ivan you've got half a page in the paper.

I was pretty chuffed but we only got half a page because most of the other sporting events were cancelled due to the weather. Angling Times and Anglers Mail also published the report.

The rest is history and I have been doing the press reports up until the present day.

The Club was offered Paddock Lake at Acorn Fishery on a 3 year lease which was voted through. We paid quite a bit for the lease and we were responsible for maintaining it as well plus running matches and collecting peg fee's. I found that it was the same few people putting in the time and effort painting bridges, repairing pegs and cutting grass. I was glad when the lease came to an end.

We also bought 4 acres of land in Portishead with a view to digging our own Lake, we still have the land and the dream is still there. We went down a partnership route with Portishead Town Council and a Developer in conjunction with other plans for the town. Myself and a couple of others spent many hours at meetings including full public meetings discussing the plans. Lets just say it didn't happened and thank goodness we were cautious.

In 2018 I was approached to become the Secretary which I accepted.

Since then I designed a modern website for the Club which was built by the son of one of the Committee  https://clevedon-fwac.co.uk  our Facebook page  Clevedon FWAC  has also been overhauled and I keep them up to date.

Last year I went through a lengthily process with the EA in order to get permission to place a number of Fishing Platforms along the Kenn. Numerous hoops had to be jumped through as well as getting prices to have the work done. The EA own the land and the final decision rests with the EA Estates Team. Believe me it's not that straight forsward when you border a triple SS1 area.

As Secretary a lot of work has been done with the EA Fisheries Team regarding stocking and access.

It's a busy role but one that I enjoy and this year my efforts and contribution to the Club has been rewarded with a Life Membership so looks like I'm in it for the long haul.

Stay safe all.

Lock Down - A few light hearted fishing memories and more....

Hi, I hope you are all well and following the Government Guidelines and looking out for others as well as yourself.

I want to keep the blog going which is quite difficult being as there is no fishing so here are a few light hearted fishing memories and more.

• I remember fishing in the Post Office National and representing the SW Region. The venue was the Bridgwater Canal in and around Runcorn. All of the teams were put up in a big Hotel. I remember arriving there and going to reception to check in. In the foyer there was a large ornamental pool. I couldn't believe my eyes when I walked in ... The Scottish Team were actually shotting their floats in the pool, some went a bit further catching goldfish ... I think alcohol was involved.

• Not long after I became a member of the Clevedon Club we entered a team in the Angling Times Clubman Competition. We got through the 1st round against Minehead and drew Chippenham and Caerfilly in the next round. The match was to be fished on a couple of Chippenham lakes. Heading up the M5 I was following Dave Baker who had his rod holdall on a roof rack. I didn't see the rod holdall come off the roof rack, all I can remember is saying to myself what's that in the sky or words to that affect! It bounced along the fast lane narrowly missing other traffic. He did manage to retrieve it but when he opened it at the lake all you could see was lot's of carbon splinters. Fair play he did fish and borrowed some kit to win his section.

• Before my wife and I had our own house we stayed at my mother in laws for a few months. I had just started fishing again and used to get the train to Bath from Bristol to fish the canal or get the bus out to Abbots Pool on the edge of Bristol. I must have left some maggots out in her conservatory and with the heat they somehow managed to escape! I didn't know this at the time but I did get it in the ear when she went out there one day, opened the door and was met by a cloud of blue bottles! My home brew also exploded in the conservatory after I bottled it too early!

• I meant to put this next one into one of my earlier Irish Fishing Memories from the past. When we stayed in Bailieborough and came back from one of the many heavy drinking evenings. Leigh Wakefield passed out and Dale Harvey shaved his chest. Leigh didn't realise it had been done until he saw himself in the mirror the following morning. All I remember him saying ''what the f%&k is Sharon going to say".

• Another Irish memory.. Fishing Lough Ramor one day it was pissing down and very windy. My mate Steve doesn't like the rain so put his brolly up. Next thing I know is the brolly lifts into the air and lands upside down on his feeder line. The brolly pauses before slowly sinking. Steve gives it a salute. Now known as the brolly peg.

• I fished Apex Lake down in Highbridge with another Clevedon Club angler, John Woolstencroft one day, must have been the spring. John always has a lot of tackle around him when fishing. He was packing up and dropped one of his reels in the water and it wasn't that warm. I was surprised he stripped off and went in diving several times. I was in stitches and managed to get a photo. He did get the reel eventually.

John comes up for air between dives

Best photo of his foot lol

• I remember coming back from Ireland once, 3 of us in the front and Dale Oldland in the back. We would have arrived in Holyhead around 01:15. Dale was actually asleep in the back with all the fishing gear plus the smelly nets as we had fished that day. We got pulled over for a security check and I'm not sure what startled the Security Officer the most .... Dale suddenly sitting up or the smell of the wet gear. He shut the door and waved us on.

I have been the Press Officer for Clevedon FWAC for some time and managed to get quite a few Match Reports into the local and national press, but you need a good headline.
Here are some that I have used and are a bit corny ...... winning anglers name first then the headline.

Ivan Currie
Currie on hot form
Currie turns up the heat

Adie Baker
Baker wasn't dozin

Chris Parr
Durleigh below Parr

The late Nick Harvey
Harvey Nicks it

Paul Faiers (postman)
Postie Paul is 1st Class
Red letter day for Paul
All the fun of the Faiers

Brian Slipper
No slip up's for Brian

Rod Wotten
Top Rod

Glen Calvert at Bullocks Farm
Glen is the Bullocks

Richard Heatley
Heatley wins in the cold

Adam Palmer (Royal Marine)
Adam takes command

Mark Bromsgrove
Bromsgrove makes his Mark
On the Mark

Mark Walsh
Top Marks for Walsh


The old ones are the best........

One day, two guys Joe and Bob were out fishing. A funeral service passes over the bridge they re fishing by, and Bob takes off his hat and puts it over his heart. He does this until the funeral service passes by. Joe then said “Gee Bob, I didn’t know you had it in you!” Bob then replies ” It’s the least I could do. After all I was married to her for 30 years.”

Stay safe all.

A look back - My time with the Bristol Post Office Angling Club

I joined the GPO as it was then back in April 1978 and after settling in joined the Sports and Social Club which had an Angling Club running alongside other activities.
The Angling Club had their own water (rented) on the Somerset Frome at Woolverton between Bath and Frome and were also members of the Bristol and West of England Anglers Federation who owned the fishing rights from behind Frys Chocolate Factory at Keynsham upstream to Swineford on the Bristol Avon. I can't remember the exact amount that was taken automatically from our wages each week at the time but it was no more than £0.20 for the Socal Club and £0.05 for the Angling Club. The basic wage at the time for a Postman was around £50 per week.

Still got the badge

The Angling Club had their own notice board in the canteen up on floor 3 of the Head Post Office in Cattle Market Rd behind Bristol Temple Meads Railway Station. On it was a map of the Bristol and West Federation waters plus one for the River Frome at Woolverton. I had really no idea where these locations were as I was fairly new to the area. There was also a list of Officers for the Club and competitions, usually about 6 per season. The Secretary at the time was Owen Edwards, Treasurer was Alex Lackie and the Match Secretary was Mike Birch.

The first one that I was able to fish was a match on the Fry's stretch of the Bristol Avon at Keynsham.
I didn't have any transport at the time and when I saw that the Fry's water at Keynsham wasn't too far away I thought about getting a taxi. I cannot remember how it happen but that same week on the Sorting Office Floor I came across Kevin Brown aka ''Brownie''. I had seen Kevin's name on the Match Results and he seemed to be doing well. After I got talking to him and explained my predicament he put me in touch with Owen Edwards the Secretary who kindly gave me a lift to the match.

In those early days all I had like many others was a float rod, reel, wicker basket, carryall, keepnet, landing net and a a few bits and bob's.
I can't remember if I actually caught anything that first match but I remember Kevin winning the match with 2 bream for 5lb odd caught laying on with a crowquill. What is that all about I thought.

Owen gave me a lift to quite a few of the matches before I had a car which was a Morris 1100, Reg No. KMR 176F, it had more filler in it than metal and a dodgy gearbox. Think I paid £200 for it.

As time went on and I was earning a bit of money through more or less unlimited overtime I upgraded my float rod to a Bruce and Walker XLS 12 foot, a new reel and a Diawa Black Seatbox (bit like the blue Shakespear ones) plus a ledger rod.

Being mobile now I went out to Woolverton on the Somerset Frome quite a bit, picking up Kevin or going with him and Ken Pollard.
It didn't take long before I won my first match and I always remember the weight....1lb 14oz made up of two roach caught halfway down the second field. Woolverton was a stretch of two halfs. Steady deeper water from the A36 road bridge down to a weir and then shallower water and pools. The weir pool or the little and big bay were the favourite places to draw.

Those trips out to Woolverton were enjoyable, the Christmas Match was about 30 pegs, tightly squeezed in as well, everyone got a prize. Some of the prizes were quite obscure.... Kevin who was a heavy smoker at the time won .... a smoke alarm lol.
The matches out there were well attended throughout the year but a lot who could not catch ended up leaving their tackle on the bank and going up the hill behind them to the Red Lion Pub. Some came back worst for wear and ended up falling asleep in there peg!

I learned to fish the stick float on that water and had a lot of success with decent bags of big roach, a few bream and then the chub appeared. Big perch were also a dominant species plus there were quite a few brown trout. My best pleasure session out there was 50lb of chub and bream from the weir pool.

Some old photo's I found of my catches at Woolverton.....

The Club also held matches on ..... The Bristol Avon at Keynsham and Chippenham, Lydney Lake, Sydney Canal (everyone blanked), Huntspill, Shearwater Lake, River Kenn and the Grand Western Canal in Tiverton.

I eventually became the Secretary of the Club when Owen retired which also made me a rep to the Federation were i also ended up as Treasurer for 15 years.

As a Club we held 24 hour matches on Shearwater lake, Bristol City Docks and Bullocks Farm Fishery raising money for children charities.

I ended up fishing for the Post Office S W Regional Team in the National Competitions up on the Bridgwater Canal at Runcorn and the Bristol Avon at Newbridge.

A few of us from the Club also done a feature at White Springs Fishery near Swansea for the Royal Mail Leisure Magazine.

   

The numbers in the Club dwindled due to Royal Mail (changed from GPO) stopped taking deductions  for the Club from pay but I managed to persuade the Kingswood and Hanham Royal British Legion to join forces with us to help pay the rent on the water which had gone up quite a bit.

I stood down as Secretary for the Club and Treasurer for the Federation, can't remember the year, must have been around 2007 and left the Club to join Clevedon and District Freshwater Angling Club, I am now the Secretary for them!

The Bristol P O Angling Club has now folded but some went across and joined the British Legion Club.

In it's hay day it was a great little Club, I was glad to be part of it.

Irish fishing adventures from the past Part 4 (final) - Arva Co. Cavan

When we were in Ballyconnell West Country anglers Kev Rowles and Nigel Franks were fishing a few miles south of us in the Arva Festival.
We decided to go there the following year but pleasure fish around the area instead of going into the Festival.
We stayed at the Breffni Arms Hotel in the town which was great. What we found though and because the Festival was on we were limited as to venues. Five or more venues are used in the Festival, some have split sections i.e. over two lakes due to access.

On the first day we fished Garty Lough which is a two minute walk from the Hotel right in the centre of town. Access is again a problem but you could get 5 pegs in aside the concrete jetty. We were told the roach fishing was very good so set up wagglers.

The lake was not that deep as far as we could see as the tops of lilies could be seen flapping in the breeze. Plumbing up we had about 4 foot. Loose feeding caster and hemp brought the roach in, lovely samples averaging 12 oz, never experienced roach fishing like it. In the years that followed we always pleasure fish this lough and last year it was even better with hybrids and skimmers also showing. We have had trout as well. Speaking to locals this was the only access to to lough.

Here are some photo's of Garty from over the past 4 years......

That first year in Arva we also fished the top end of Glasshouse Lough, the deepest part and usually good for bream. We had a few but not a lot despite fishing it about 3 days on the trot.

Steve was in to bream early but they didn't stay

Gulladoo Lough narrows fished well for roach on the pole or waggler. There is a good head of bream in the lower Lough but we didn't get any.

The Breffni Arms were we stayed was also the HQ for the festival so we could see the daily results, the following year we went back and fished the Arva International Festival for the first time.

An average of 70 anglers book into this event some of them are over the week before for the Gowna Festival and also stay on for the King of Clubs the week after. It's about 130 Euro to fish the festival over the 5 days and the money is very well spread out. 

Venues over the 5 days include, Glasshouse, Gulladoo and 3 area's of the Gowna system which is huge. Last year due to high water levels some other obscure venues were added. That 1st year I did pick up a couple of sections, the 2nd year another couple and last year a Lake win. Steve and Tony have also picked up so pretty good given that some of the anglers have been going to this area for 30 years.

You do get the odd bag of bream but it's the hybrids and the roach that make up most of the weights and at times it does turn into a fish race especially on Upper Gulladoo. The pole appears to be the dominant method if the weather allows fishing at full depth for the roach and half depth for the hybrids. Last year was horrendous with strong winds and I broke my No. 8 section.

You need to average about 12 kilo per day to end up in the top 10 but to be honest Section or Lake wins more that satisfy me.

The social side of the festival is a bit quiet and you don't see that many out and about as some really take it serious. Most of the anglers are from the Nottingham and North East of England but some French and Dutch also take part. 

We are planning to return this year but have delayed booking up due to the COVID 19 situation.

That conclude's a trip down memory lane concerning my Irish Fishing Adventures, let's hope there are many more to come.

Here's some photo's from our Arva Festivals....

no dip no weigh

my first Irish tench

A few too many!!!!!