Saturday 29th August - Wychavon Championship, Warks Avon, Evesham

 I left it a bit late fishing only 3 of the qualifying matches to try and get a place in one of the BH Finals at Evesham that form part of the Festival. My only other visit to Evesham was back in January when we tried to qualify as a team but failed.

As luck would have it my last 2 qualifiers saw me joint first in my section and a section plus zone win in the final one earning my place today.

4 of the team today fishing for a share of the  £7,000 prize money, Mike Martin, Clive Branson, Kevin Ellaby and myself.

The draw today was at 09:00 with fishing 11:30 - 16:30, 80 pegs so my biggest match of the year and in some very good company concerning angling hero's and others with massive achievements.

Prior to attending the event you need to completed and return a registration form recording who you fish for etc. You also could record any significant achievements! As I didn't have any angling ones I was tempted to write ''married to the same woman for 42 years'' but that probably would be a bit risky!

There had been a lot of rain prior to the match and I had been keeping an eye on the gauge up at Evesham. On the Friday the river was still rising, not a lot but it was a lot colder than of late so not good. The level was predicted to stabilise on the day of the match.

On arrival there was a good buzz about the place and I took a look at the river by the Ferry with Mark Brush of DGL and who also had a lot of experience here. It was fairly pacy and had a lot of colour in it. Mark suggested it would be an out and out feeder job with perhaps pegs 1 and 2 plus the Ferry Meadows being the favourite place to draw, in other words bream.

We queued up to select our peg from the matrix. Clive B was first in the queue and blow me didn't he end up with 35 which is a great draw for chub and it would suit him with his favourite waggler tactics if the conditions allowed.

I was about halfway to draw and when it came to my turn my lucky letter and number was still there so why not ..... ended up on 61, 63 was the peg to draw in this area really but I was told I had the best peg in my section which was 57 - 61. 

The peg was literally a few metres from where I had parked so plenty of time to set up.

A quick phone call to team mate Sam Johnson back in Weston Super Mare gave me a few tips on top of the ones I had gained after the draw.

On the inside line, 5 metres out the pace of the river looked OK so I set up a 2 gram bodied float but soon decided this was too light and put it back on the winder. I set up a 4 gram flat float instead which took a bit more shot in order to hold it back properly but it went through nice. A b560 18 hook to 0.11 was put on the end as you can get tench in this area. It was also nearly top 4 deep and a nice clean bottom.

I only set up two other rods, a ground bait feeder and a maggot feeder.

To my right on 62 was Rob Wootten and to my left young Dan Chalk being coached by his Dad Trevor.

When the match got under way I bait dropped 3 lots of chopped worm and maggot on the pole line, didn't feed anything elsewhere.

Starting off on the pole with double red looking for an early perch gave me one first run through. I say run through but very slow and holding back then letting go ever so slightly.

Around me and looking down the match length it looked like most were putting in the ground bait feeder.

About 15 minutes in I had a small pommie, only a blade but still something in the net.

Due to the pace of the river I put in another lot of chop and maggot which instantly gave me another perch about 4oz. 

Bank walkers informed me Andrew Murphy above me had a 3lb chub first put in, at this point I didn't know that he was in my section.

Still, a long way to go and get your head down I thought.

A better perch of about 8 oz came at the end of the first hour and word from passers by suggested it was fishing rock hard. John Tocknell who was walking the bank indicated I was doing OK.

A decent eel was hooked at the end of my run, at first I thought it was a big perch or a tench, I was praying it didn't bite me off. Safetly netted and unhooked as it was just in the bottom lip.

I managed a few more perch and baby roach up to the halfway mark before it went dead on the inside so decided to go out on the maggot feeder about a quarter out.

A little rattle first put in suggested there was something about and then a good pull round on about the 3rd cast and another eel. I didn't mind as I couldn't see anyone below me doing any good. 

I had a small skimmer 20 minutes or so later and that was it on the maggot feeder, I had a half hearted look with the GB feeder but felt it was maggot or nothing.

I had been feeding the pole line with maggot while out on the feeder, just firing a few maggots in upstream.

I managed to add some gudgeon, ruff and micro roach on the inside which gave me a total weight of 3lb 4oz. The section was won with 4lb, but I beat the pegs either side of me. Just needed a couple more eels so close!

Here is the final results, given my weight and peg I didn't think I done too bad overall and will definitely be trying to qualify for next year.

Well done to team mate Clive Branson for coming 4th overall today.

I'll probably fish the last Staverton match this coming Wednesday followed by the first match in the Commercial House League at Newbridge next Sunday.

Sunday 23rd August - Frome AA Open, River Frome (Somerset), Oldford.

 When I was up at Evesham last Wednesday I asked Gary Cross if there were any matches on this weekend, he told me Frome AA were running an Open and he was going.

I knew they had their first match in years a few weeks ago and it fished hard with a single bream winning it. I had nothing else on and I'd rather fish a match than go pleasure fishing if possible.

I made some enquires and managed to get the organisers number in turn getting the final space. They were only putting in 16 pegs due to some trees coming down. Laurie Magee and a few others from the Club are trying to get the matches up and running again on the Frome but a lot of work needs to be done cutting out swims.

I used to fish the Frome a lot 25 years ago, it's really a winter venue and has a good head of chub, roach and perch.

I found the draw location OK, a field just off Lullington Lane. The draw was 08:30.

Remember when we used to draw by the side of the road or in a field.

Only one gate to get over and everyone helped each other get the gear over.

While I was waiting for the draw I managed to glean a bit of info although given the nature of the river every peg could be different, its a proper Mr, Crabtree water. There was some flow and a tinge of colour so I hoped the roach would feed.

Laurie got the draw underway and started with the person who was last to book in ... me.

Permanent peg 19 was my fate and a fairly long flat walk. I couldn't see what the other pegs looked Like as I went across the field corner to corner.

My first impression was ... not a peg you would run to.

No cover across and it looked very shallow with marginal weed. There was a bit bed of stick up just downstream covering 3/4 of the river.

Plumbing up with a 1 gram float I had about 4 foot down the middle and a clean bottom. 20 hook to 0.10.

It was about 18'' deeper 5 metres out and I had a over hanging trees just below me. I also used a 1 gram float for this line as well but put on an B611 18 to 0.11 to target perch with worm.

A 2bb stick was also set up but not used.

I cupped in 3 balls of roach and river laced with hemp and caster and then put in 3 bait droppers full of choppy on the inside and left it.

Starting of on double maggot down the middle I had a 2 oz chublet straight away. After that it was minnow alley the bed of the river must have been black with them.

After 15 mins I fed another ball and had a 3 oz roach and then a few micro chublets before getting pestered by minnow.

I took a look on the inside with half a dendra and the float sailed away....err...minnow wtf!

Double red...minnow! 

I thought there has got to be perch under that tree so fed more choppy.

Heavy loose feeding with hemp down the middle got me more minnows but now and again using double caster I had the odd small roach, and I mean small but bigger than minnows.

Looking down to pegs 20 and 21 I didn't see much action so just got my head down.

The worm wasn't working on the inside so drip fed red maggot which gave me a few gudgeon and after the halfway match snared a 4 oz perch, about time I thought.

Another followed shortly after and I also had one down the middle.

With 20 minutes to go I looked down to see the angler on peg 21 net a good fish.

The scales came down to me and best in my section was 1-10

I weighed 2 - 12, peg 20 had 3 - 12.

The fish that I saw the guy on 21 net was a bream of around 5lb boosting his weight to 6 - 4 and enough to win the match.

Gary Cross was second with 4 - 12.

I ended up with my section money by double default !

Full results below...

No plans to fish this week just doing prep for the Wychavon Final at Evesham on Saturday.

Wednesday 19th August - Evesham Festival Qualifier Warks Avon Evesham

 I wasn't sure if I could attend this last chance qualifier as I had a number of jobs lined up outside and had to get them done in-between some very changeable weather that was forecast.

Team mate Sam Johnson had already booked in by the Monday morning when I spoke to him so I got my finger out and excelled taking out a number of fence panels, levelling and painting some decking plus driving the Community Bus for half a day. I was able to book in just in time.

I kept an eye on the weather for Evesham and it changed every time I looked. On the Tuesday evening it was evident that we were going to experience a lot of heavy rain.

As I drove over the town bridge in Evesham on the Wednesday morning I could see the river was very brown. It had been raining all the way up and there seemed to be no let up.

I met Sam in Weatherspoons before going on down to Hampton Ferry for the rolling draw. With the government discount a full breakfast came to £2.49. We discussed options as usual and Sam had already walked the river by the town bridge on the way through, he said it was a bit pacey as well as coloured.

After breakfast Sam went off to get more maggot in the local tackle shop and I went straight to the draw.

DGL's Mark Treasure was unloading his car when I got there and must have had about 7 or 8 ready made rods.

A good number of anglers had turned up for this last chance qualifier, 67 in total! Of course some had already qualified for both the Saturday and the Sunday BH matches, some one of the days and others like myself and Sam none. Both of us have only had 3 cracks at it to be fair.

We had a good look at the river by the ferry and the pace was ok but its deeper here. Sam suggested there would be a few bream caught in the Ferry Meadow between 63 and 71.

I didn't see him go in front of me at the draw but he came down the queue after he had drawn and told me he was on 75 just out of the meadow area.

When I came to the draw matrix I picked the same as the last match, A5, which turned out to be peg 84.

I could tell it was not a good peg by the response from other anglers and Andy Cranston was in my Section on the end peg 87 which is supposed to be a great draw.

Pegs 83 to 87 had to drive so far and then trolley the gear to the pegs as the gate alongside the Rugby Club could not be opened.

I parked alongside Andy and he informed me 84 was probably the worst peg on the Section, a telephone call to Mike Martin confirmed it wasn't great...ah well.

As you can see in the photo it was a bit wet!

I had a bit of slack between the bank and 8 metres out so set up a 4 gram flat float to target perch over bait droppered worm.

2 feeder rods were also set up, a 30 gram open ender for the middle and a 25 gram maggot feeder for across and down the edge later.

Ground bait for the middle was magic and river 50/50.

I was set up with an hour to go, fishing was 12:30 - 17:30

At the start I just fed two lots of worm at 8 metres and nowhere else.

Starting off with double maggot over the worm the float buried within 5 minutes and i had a 1oz roach. Nothing more for about 10 minutes and then a perch about the same size. I had a few more dips on the float but connected with nothing on the strike. I did persevere for about 20 minutes but was going nowhere. I could here feeders being cast out into the middle of the river from other anglers. My peg in the middle was not that deep, it was deeper on my nearside.

I thought I would try a chuck downstream about 5 metres out with the maggot feeder. Second chuck a good rattle and a 4 oz chublet another one followed the next cast. 

The angler on the peg below me seemed to be chopping and changing a lot which suggested he was searching around for fish.

In that first 2 hours I had a few dumpy perch as well as more chublets, some going 6oz. On the halfway mark I lost a big eel which bit me off at the net.

Sam gave me a call just after and said he had a couple of pounds, I told him I might have 4lbs.

The second half of my match was pretty good, some nice roach, 2 decent eels, more chublets and some stamp roach and hybrids. I thought I might do 6 or 7lbs.

There is only one set of scales to weigh in all the anglers at Evesham so it was a long wait.

Talking to the other anglers in my Section they were admitting to 4lbs ish and Andy on the end peg 5lbs.

When the scales came to me and I pulled my net out the comments were... lovely net of fish, best Ive seen off that peg.

The scales registered 9lb 13oz resulting in a Section win, Sam suggested it was also good enough to qualify.

The results gradually came through and yes for a Section win as well as a qualifying place. You could choose to fish on the Saturday or the Sunday. I have chosen the Saturday, well chuffed.

Sam also won his Section today.

A big bream weight off in form peg 1 won the match, other main weights were also bream.

Some of my other Nomads Team mates will also be fishing that day.... Mike Martin, Clive Branson, Kevin Ellaby.

Lets hope for a good draw.

Sunday 16th August - Evesham Festival Qualifier Warks Avon

 With nothing else on Sam and I decided to head back up to Evesham to try and qualify for one of the days over the BH Festival.

This would be my 3rd visit to the venue. I was part of the Nomads Squad back in mid January for a Team Qualifying match, the river was a bit out of sorts then but I did land a 2lb chub which gave me good points in the section but as a team we failed to qualify.

My next visit was last week when I fished the Veteran's match (over 60's) and this has already been reported on. 

Back to today......

I met Sam up at Weatherspoons in the town centre and went down for the rolling draw by the Ferry about 8:45. The draw process is as follows (payment to fish the match is done by the day before and on line), you line up and then pick your peg number which is on a disc turned upside down from a grid with letters across the top and numbers down the side. I was about a third the way down the line up and when it came to me to choose I picked A5 which turned out to be 41 only a few pegs down from where I was on the previous Wednesday. 

There had been a match on the Saturday but 41 was not in but 40 had weighed 4lb odd. The river today had a bit of pace on it after some rain overnight and a very slight tinge of colour.

Plenty of time to set up as the match was 12 - 5.

The peg did look nice but I got a varied and indifferent information from some of the regulars...... don't bother with the waggler, waste of time, just fish the maggot feeder for perch and eels....hmmmm.

I did set up a deep and shallow waggler, maggot feeder, stick float and short pole for worm on the inside at 5 -6 metres. 

This short pole line did seem clean while plumbing up but when it came to the all in and after bait dropping in worm and maggot and running through with a hook it was totally different. About 4 hooks lost in snags within the first 15 minutes. I did catch one perch before giving up on the line.

Local angler Howard Kaye who wasn't fishing came behind me a suggested I fish the waggler over depth 3/4 the way over as the hybrids may feed.

I went on this line feeding maggots every run through as well as feeding another line about 13 metres out.

Howard came back after 30 minutes and said the guy up on 35 had some good chub already. By this time I had a few small roach and dace. He said stick with it.

A look on the stick float line now and then brought nothing but I kept feeding it.

I was adding the odd small chub, roach and bleak on the deep waggler but 2 hours in I hit something much bigger. I did think it was a chub but soon saw it was a good hybrid about 1lb. 

More bites followed from small fish and I had a few razor blade pommies but at least I was putting something in the net.

I had another 2 hybrids which were smaller than the first one at around 8oz each plus some 4 oz perch.

At the ''all out'' I felt I had fished a good match but had no ideal how I done in the section as I couldn't see anyone else.

Turned out I was equal 1st in the section with 4-7, one more small roach or chublet would have done it and perhaps I should have gone on the maggot feeder which could have attracted more hybrids. Still a pick up on my 3rd visit.

Leigh Gardner won the match easily with 21lb plus of skimmers and hybrids caught on a small ground bait feeder from peg 45. 

Leigh Gardner

Darren Fisher who was on peg 35 ended up 2nd with 15lb plus of chub on the waggler.

Back up again tomorrow (Wednesday 19th) for the last qualifier. 

Wednesday 5th Aug Staverton Open, Sunday 9th Aug S W Super League Final Round, Wednesday 12th Aug Evesham Vets

 I have dragged myself to the Laptop to do this ''catch up'' blog, 

Staverton Open 5th August - I drew peg 11 again for the 3rd time. Its an absolute shite peg with a big snag in the middle just down to the left. It's also quite weedy on the inside line and shallows up before the end of the trot down the middle. The previous visit to the peg saw me loose 2 big chub in the snag after hooking them on the waggler across and under a bush despite standing up on the box to try and bully them over the snag.

You can catch chublets across for a while but the tend to back off and your left scratching around. Roach have been rare at Staverton this year and nothing changed this time. A few small ones caught on caster didn't fill me with any renewed confidence but I carried on just trying to put something in the net which wasn't much.

I ended up with less than 3lb. Tony Scott got the Section by default with just over 3lbs as Team Mate Leigh Wakefield was in our Section down around peg 6 I think and came 2nd in the match with 6lb plus so well done to him.

There was another 6lb plus weight that came first, it fished rock hard.

Leigh's catch

Sunday 9th August S W Super League Newbridge and Chequers - A Section was put in on Chequers as British Rail were meant to be doing some work on the railway line that runs along the Tree's at at Saltford.

Team mate Sam Johnson walked the Chequers stretch on the Saturday and told me it was mayhem with Paddle Boarders, Boats of all descriptions, Swimmers and Sunbathers. He went on to say anyone on A1 - 3 would have a nightmare, great.

Later on in the afternoon the draw was sent out and I was on A2 FFS!!!

We met in McDonalds as usual on the Sunday morning and my head was down, I didn't want to be there, can't remember feeling this negative before.

It got worse after I parked up at Chequers Pub waiting for the gate to open. I was about to walk to the peg to have a look at it when Mark Brush and a few others came back after walking the bank and asked if I had a petrol trimmer .... what!

Walking on to my peg I found it overgrown and rushes going about 5 foot out from the bank.

You can imagine my despair, I rang Sam and told him I was thinking of going home. Anyway I set about clearing the peg with a heavy bank stick and my weed cutter. 40 minutes later and a lot of sweat I had cleared it but still not in the right mind to fish. 

By the time I had tackled up and settled in I was only just ready, baring in mind I got to the peg at around 09:15 and it was an 11 o'clock start.

My set up was 2 wagglers, deep and shallow for across, a maggot feeder and 2 pole rigs, one 2 gram and the other 1.5 gram.

Ground bait mix was Lake, Gros Gardons and a little bit of River laced with caster and hemp.

Rather than ball it I cupped in 2 at 13 metres were the flow was. Starting off on the pole with the 2 gram I ran a maggot through a few times with a bite which was a bit worrying.

I was firing maggot and hemp across by the boats but in the end did not need to fish this line.

A change to caster on the hook was like flicking a switch as I had a good net roach.

Using double or single caster and feeding small nuggets of ground bait regularly with the pole cup brought me bites for most of the day.

I had the board and Dean Harvey took the scales as the guy who had them didn't want to weigh in!

The end pegs A17 and 16 dominated the Section with bream. I was happy with my 13 points from 17 weighing 13lb 8oz.

On paper it looks like I had a good days fishing .... well....yes and no.

It was nice to catch some roach for a change but once more the water way was too busy.

Wednesday 12th August I decided to fish the Vets match at Evesham.

The draw put me on 36 which I was told was a great peg for chub .... if they feed. In summary they didn't and I weighed 2lb 15oz, the Section was won with 3lb 11oz. It did fish hard as Evesham does with the winner having 7lb odd.

Well that's a quick catch up, no more League matches until the Commercial House starts on 6th September.

Sunday 2nd August - S W Super League Round 4 Bristol Avon Newbridge

The draw was performed as usual on the Friday evening via a Zoom Conference Call, I assisted again along with Simon Greening from Sensas 88. Mark Treasure was in charge due to Dave Micklewright being in Ireland. It was all kept under wraps until it was released around 5 p.m on Saturday.

Sam was on A7 in the Trees, I was on B11 which was upstream of the old Newton St Loe Railway Bridge, Chris on C15 which was around the upstream end of the straight and Leigh had D2 which was a good peg behind the Pumphouse.

We all met up in McDonalds Emery Rd Bristol which is the first time we have been able to do this for a while. While having a chat about the pegs it came to light Leigh had no waders or wellies so he went home to get them as we had plenty of time.

As I walked up the bank to my peg I passed Andy Britt who had started to get out on the bank again after his heart operation so it was good to see him. Andy was on B10 and one which I fancied. I also like B9 Neil Richards was on. Andy suggested I was on one of the worst pegs at Newbridge, great. 

The peg just downstream of the bridge was spare due to the risk of jumpers and swimming but as I went under the bridge and out the other side I found that the peg immediately upstream of the bridge was mine.

The rowers were on the water and on the bank there was some sort of organised walk so a tad busy. On the next peg upstream to me was waggler maestro Gary Etheridge.

The peg itself was fine once I got my rigger platform in the water.

Set up was 2 wanglers, one deep at around 6 foot and the other 4 foot, a 6 metre whip (not used), feeder rod and 11 metre pole (top 4 deep, 2 gram float).

8 balls in at the start laced with dead reds, caster and hemp at 11 metres and straight on it. A flurry of very small roach on the maggot, switched to caster and a better stamp but still small for Newbridge. I bumped quite a few as well not sure why as the hook was a drennan 20 match hook. Anyway the bites stopped completely after 40 minutes which is not unusual. 

Picked up the feeder rod and punched a maggot feeder under the far bank trees nothing the first 3 casts then a 5 oz perch. Only a few rattles after that so picked up the shallower waggler rod.

I had a chublet first cast and to cut a long story short I stayed on the waggler more or less the rest of the match just taking the odd look on the pole line now and again but didn't get a single indication.

I thought I might push 10lbs but was way out with the scales showing 5lb 9oz, not too far out then.

But.....given that youths were jumping off the bridge all day not bad and I ended up with 9 points from 17.

Apart from Andy Jane in my Section with 39lb of bream it fished hard especially on the pegs I fancied the other side of the bridge.

My Section Board

As a team we done OK finishing 5th out of 17 on the day.

Leigh done well weighing in 13lb plus to finish 2nd in section and 6th overall.

Leigh with his mainly chub bag caught on the waggler

Team points on the day and cumulative

Section winners and top 6

Final round next week, same venue although A section will be at Chequers.