Sunday 27th December - Clevedon Blind Pairs, River Kenn

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

John Sallis with his winning bag

The winning pairs John and Andy

Full results as follows....

1st John Sallis & Andy Law 6lb 8oz

2nd Kev Perry & Matt Davis 1lb 9oz

3rd Steve Bonwick & Paul Nichols 12oz

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

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

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

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

Happy New Year to all my readers.

Sunday 13th December - Clevedon Christmas Match, River Kenn

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Looking upstream from my peg

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3rd Julian Moss 2lb peg 34

4th Ivan Currie 1lb 4oz peg 47

5th Matt Davis 12oz peg 24

A sect Adie Baker, drawn out

B sect Paul Nichols drawn out

C sect Paul Randell 10 oz

D sect Lee Smallwood 11 oz

E sect Dan Hurley 8 drams

Lance with his match winning bream.

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