Sunday 25th April - Gloucester Canal Spring League Round 1

 I am not sure where to start on this one to be honest and have forced myself to write about it.

34 Teams of 4 fishing this League, normally there are around 15 Teams. Due to COVID restrictions everything was done on line. WhatsApp group, emails, bank transfers, PayPal and a Zoom Draw were all used and I have to say to great affect.

The draw was not released to Team Captains until Saturday evening. I was out at a friends house and when I received ours (Sensas Nomads A) I was gutted.

Sam Johnson was on peg 33, Hempstead Straight which is dire.

Leigh Wakefield on peg 59 below the Swing Bridge at Netheridge, shite.

I was on peg 460 above Saul Junction, worse than not very good.

Chris Hook had the best peg, an end one at Splatt (below Frampton on Severn).

It did spoil my evening and I knew we were in trouble.

McDonalds at Cribbs Causeway just off the M5 was the RV point on Sunday morning at 07:15. We were not allowed to be on the bank before 08:00 and fishing was 11:00 - 16:00. We had a good old natter and a moan about our draw but what can you do, it was not in our control. I had a feeling my 2 cheese and bacon flatbreads would be the highlight of the day!

We headed up the M5 to our pegs around 07:45. When I parked up at the Rowing Club at Saul Junction there was quite a few anglers already there. Walking up the bank the angler on the end peg in the bay was Dan Squire, second angler in was Mark Brush and the third angler in was James Carty. All were in what I would say are the best pegs where the bream normally reside. In all the years I have fished the Glossy I have never drawn them but where I was heading I have drawn 4 times at least so I know how crap it is.

I knew even though the section money is well spread out I would have no chance.

Lots of crap on the water surface today and a stiff downstream wind. One feeder rod, 1.5 gram rig at 6 metres and a 2 gram rig at 11 metres.

At 11 metres I put in one ball of lake and team with dead pinkie and a few caster, at 6 metres the same mix with a few bits of chopped worm and caster.

I started off on the bread feeder which may have been a mistake. No indications in the first hour and then at 12:10 a little rattle which I hit and managed a small roach.

The angler to my left caught a roach 30 minutes in on the feeder and was ecstatic as he had not blanked. I must say I was relieved as well when I caught.

Rotating all my lines every 15 minutes or so I did not have another indication, unbelievable. 

Phone calls between each other during the match did not tell a good story but Chris managed a few skimmers.

As expected in my section the end pegs and in the bay dominated the section.

Leigh blanked in his, Sam had 10 ozs and I had 4 ffs!!

Chris managed 4lb 2oz and won his section so our initial assessment of our draw was spot on.

Mark Treasure and his team done a great job plus Kev Forty and Liz Stone.

Well done to all who caught fish and won a bit of dosh. 

We are rotating sections for future matches so I will be in D Section and hoping for a decent peg but if you look at D Section weights below they were quite low.

No surprise that we are 3rd from bottom in the league so its over for us already, we'll just go all out now for individual wins. Next round is on 9th May and that's my birthday.

I'm sure Mike Martin was looking down on us laughing his head off ..... Mike was not a fan of the Glossy.

Individual and section results below.......

GLOUCESTER CANAL SPRING LEAGUE RESULTS SHEET ROUND 1

INDIVIDUAL WINNERS

	NAME	TEAM	WEIGHT
1	Andy Powell	Sensas Lobbys Red	27lbs 1oz
2=	Mark Gaylard	Sensas Lobbys Green	18lbs 11oz
2=	Adrian McTiffin	Sensas Devizes	18lbs 11oz
4	Dave Boyle	Gowna Dreamers	18lbs 9oz
5	Dan Squire	Sensa 88 - B	18lbs 2oz
6	Ed Bryant	Maver Harescombe	14lbs 8oz
7=	Mark Brush	DGL Black	13lbs 12oz
7=	Paul Nichols	Sensas 88 - A	13lbs 12oz

SECTION WINNERS

		NAME	TEAM	WEIGHT
A1	1	Pete Goulding	Team Hereford	10lbs 8oz
	2	Liz Grant	Misfits	6lbs 3oz
	3=	Matt Hodgetts	Browning Central	5lb 6oz
	3=	Mick Nowicki	GBMV	5lb 6oz
A2	1	Paul Nichols	Sensas 88 - A	13lbs 12oz
	2	Tony Davies	Mix and Match	12lbs 7oz
	3	Paul Waddington	DGL Blue	10lbs 1oz
B1	1	Paul Passmore	Drennan Oxford	5lb 5oz
	2	Mark Dowery	Gowna Dreamers	4lb 9oz
	3	Shaun Bryan	Diddymen	3lbs 4oz
B2	1	Iain Jennings	DGL Avon	8lbs 11oz
	2	Ian Pauley	Sonubaits Thatchers	8lbs 7oz
	3	Troy Weaver	DGL Gold	8lbs 6oz
C1	1	Owen Robinson	Drennan Oxford	9lbs 6oz
	2	Ian Croxton	Browning WM Xitan	8lbs 1oz
	3	Mark Bromsgrove	Sensas 88 - A	7lbs 12oz
C2	1	Mark Brush	DGL Black	13lbs 12oz
	2	James Carty	Thatchers Sonubaits	11lbs
	3	Lee Seabrook	Maver Harescombe	6lbs
D1	1	Chris Hook	Sensas Nomads A	4lbs 3oz
	2	Paul Purchase	Sensas 88- A	4lbs 1oz
	3	Craig Wilesmith	DGL Avon	3lbs 8oz
D2	1	Neil Pickering	Sensas Lobbys Black	8lbs 9oz
	2	Mike Blackmore	Glevum Old Boys	8lbs 1 oz
	3	Andy Pollard	DGL Black	7lbs 9oz

Sunday 18th April - Clevedon Club Match, Apex Lake Highbridge

 There was a big match on the Gloucester Canal today but as I had already booked in for my Club Match I decided to continue with that.

This is my personal opinion / views, not the Clubs.......

How can you be charged a peg fee over and above the cost of a day ticket for a match? 

On top of that why did shopping trollies have to removed by from pegs as well as cutting reeds in order that the booked pegs could be fished?

It beats me or i must be missing something!

The match was well attended with 22 taking part and Adie our Match Secretary done a good job trying to keep everyone within the COVID guidelines.

A few had been down on the lake during the week and had to wait a long time for a few bream, I think about 30lb was best.

I had fished the lake a long time ago, probably 8 years.

Into the bag and I was give peg 30 just on the edge of the bowl and where the lake starts to narrow going up towards an Island.

Got to my peg and the reeds narrowed right in front of the platform. No chance of setting a tip rod up at an angle so set about cutting them. Ended up slicing my finger on one of them and Matt Davis came to the rescue with plasters, so not a good start and by the time I was ready the match had already started 10 minutes. 

I had a fishmeal feeder line at 40 turns and 2 pole lines at 13 metres, 11 o'clock and 2 o'clock prepped with sensas lake and choppy with dead pinkie.

Starting off on the feeder I was casting a bit chac handed as the plaster on my finger was getting in the way. Eventually I got a rattle and swung in a small skimmer so off the mark.

Kev Perry was next door but I couldn't see him and was asking for updates lol.

I had a good roach next which actually hooked itself as I didn't see the bite!

Paul Smith was on the other side of me on 29 and lost a decent bream at the net, so there seemed to be a few fish about.

I persevered with the tip for just over an hour without adding any more fish. Coming in on the pole at 11 o'clock the float sailed away in less than 4 foot of water and the 5 elastic shot out. It was a small skimmer about a pound. 

Swapping between all my lines through the gruelling 6 hours I didn't see much action at all.

Looking down toward the bottom end of the lake I couldn't see much action at all, if any so knew it had been hard for a lot. In fact Match Organiser Adie did not have a single bite.

Kev next door to me sat on the tip all day and ended up with around 6 or 7 baby bream for 18lb plus which wa enough to win the match.

Kev with his winning bag

Full results as follows..

1st         Kev Perry 18 - 11

2nd       Mark Bromsgrove 16 - 14

3rd        Mark Bartlett 10 - 01

4th        Simon Carvallo 9 - 06

5th        Paul Smith 8 - 12

Pleasure fishing Wednesday on the Bristol Feeder Canal and then the start of the Gloucester Canal Spring League on Sunday (another hard match).  

Wednesday 14th April - another "catch up'

I have continued to fish twice a week with mixed results.

The weather has been a nightmare and I've gone from wearing shorts in glorious sunshine and 16 degrees to being wrapped up like I was going to climb Out Everest and scraping the ice of the van windscreen. Of course the weather ups and downs also affected the fishing.

The Bristol Feeder Canal did still produce but nowhere near what it was like back in late March / Early April. Bream and skimmers did not show and the roach where a bit on the scarce side since Easter Sunday when team mate Andy Thomas had around 12lbs plus of stamp roach on the caster.

Leigh was with me on the Feeder on the 7th April and managed 3lb plus and I barely had 1.5 pounds but it was cold. So cold the skin cracked on my hands.

what a difference compared to a few weeks ago

The following Sunday I went up on the Gloucester Canal to fish Castle Down and Clevedon Head Water Keeper Matt Davis asked if he could tag along. Matt had never fished the Glossy before and I did tell him it could be tough. "TOUGH" is a understatement. I did not have a bite and Matt had one bite but failed to connect as the hook length that I gave him broke! ffs!

Team mate Sam Johnson was also present but mainly fished the pole for around 3lb of roach.

The Glossy is rock hard at the moment, there have been a few matches on it but the results have been dire. We start the Spring League up there on 25th April so hope it improves.

Yesterday Leigh and I continued with our head to head series which stood at 2 all. Leigh persuaded me to go to Coopers Lake in Late for the 5th round. I had not been there before but he said it was full of skimmers and roach. Its a small Park Lake and the fishing is free.

Leigh gave me the choice of the 2 pegs away from the public. I picked the right hand peg and picked his brains a little to supplement info I had already gleaned from another old friend Ian Swanborough.

I spent the first hour and a bit on the waggler and had a few roach while waiting for 3 pole lines which I had fed to settle. Leigh only set the pole up and had a slow start but he was a few skimmers ahead of me before I picked the pole up.

After 5 minutes going over my left hand line the float sailed away and I had a small skimmer around 8oz. More followed on my 13 metre lines but you needed to rotate and lightly feed. When I fed it was a small ball of black lake with a few caster and dead pinkie and when I fed the same line later on in was loose feed only.

My short line to my left produced 2 better skimmers at around 1.5 lbs.

In the end I had 8.5 lbs to Leigh's 6 lbs so took the lead in the head to head again.

I feel I am fully employed at the moment as it's quite busy doing the Secretaries role for Clevedon Freshwater Angling Club, working on the river Kenn most Friday's,  joint Treasurer for Sensas Nomads Match Group as well as ordering and receiving Sensas products plus Team Captain, oh and fishing twice a week.

Would I have it any other way?

I guess you know the answer to that one.

First match of the year is this Sunday with Clevedon on Apex Lake Highbridge then back on the Bristol Feeder Canal the following Wednesday for the next head to head with Leigh.

Easter Sunday 4th April - Bristol Feeder Canal

 I was up on the Gloucester Canal last Wednesday with team mate Leigh Wakefield and was also joined by Dan and Toby. We all fished Castle Down and just took Feeder Rods. Toby had the best catch with 3 bream and a tench, I had 2 bream, Dan had a bream and a big rudd and Leigh had 1 bream.

Leigh and I are having a bit of a competition each outing so after he done me the previous Sunday on the Feeder Canal it was 1 - 1.

Back to today and I had arranged to meet team mate Andy Thomas on the Feeder Canal as he had never fished it before.

I was up early and it was -1 degrees at 06:45, the windscreen needed to be scraped.

My robins were also up early and as I opened the garage one flew past me and landed on my boot socks waiting for his breakfast, they are definitely getting braver.

can you spot the robin?

Robins fed I headed into Bristol, as I got to the Redcliffe area the temperature was 2 degrees.

As I parked up on Feeder Rd. Leigh turned up which was a surprise, he said he might be down later in the morning but managed to sort out a few things giving him an opportunity to come early. Andy also arrived about the same time so it was 3 Team Nomads in a row down by Manor Scrap.

The sun was up and the sky was clear but the canal had a bit of colour in it.

My rigs were all ready with hook lengths on them so didn't take long to set up. 1 x 1 gram to a drennan 20 to 0.09 and 1 x 1.5 gram to a tubertini red 20 to 0.09.

My ground bait mix today was 50/50 Sensas Noire and Gros Gardons with a little fine mole hill soil. Two lines as usual 13 metres and 9 metres. Started off with one ball on each line to feel my way into the session. 

It was a bit slow but I could see Leigh swinging in a small fish. 15 minutes or so in I had my first bite, a big bullhead, not a good sign. More bullheads followed which was concerning. I walked up to Leigh who told me he had bumped a roach first put in and was also catching bullheads plus small dace, hmmm. Andy was still settling in setting up as I advised.

Going into the second hour I started to get some dace so a little better. I was cupping in ground bait laced with dead red and dead pinkie. The canal tow was all over the place and running hard at times due to a number of boats around. The boats don't affect the fishing but the tow does.

A few roach showed in short spells and went as quick as they turned up.

Leigh came down and said he was struggling, he had also bumped what he thought was a bream.

I was building up a nice weight but it wasn't fast and furious. Andy came down for a walk and said he was getting some nice net roach using caster on the hook and a mix of frenzied hemp and canal black.

In the last 30 minutes the roach came back and I also had a small skimmer and a half tidy hybrid.

We called it a day at 14:30.

No scales were used but I estimated Andy had 12lb fish of quality roach, I had a mixed bag weighing around 9lb and Leigh had about 3lbs.

Nice bag for Andy

2nd place for me today but its now 2 - 1 to me in Ivan v Leigh

Leigh's bag

Still a nice day out in good company and it was good to meet a couple of Ivans Angle followers who passed by and well as old pal Les Williams aka Chub Head.

It's going to be a cold one this coming week but probably end up on the Glossy on Wednesday.