Wednesday 16th June - Staverton Open

 With the amount of time and effort I have put in to my local Club water, the River Kenn most people expected me to go there on opening day. Looking at the weather forecast I felt it would fish hard plus it would be very busy.

The Staverton Open's are very popular and the fishing is comfortable and you can park behind your peg. The weights are not mega and you need just into double figures to win.

The draw is at 14:00 with fishing 15:00 - 20:00, entrance is £15.

30 anglers turned up today which is one of the largest turn outs I have seen, usually it's around 20.

Team mate Leigh Wakefield also turned up as we have a Super League match on the venue in a months time. Former Cadbury Angling boss Dan Hurley was also in attendance.

I drew peg 35 which is one I have never fished before and Leigh was on 40 so not too bad with plenty of cover across.

Plumbing up down the middle it was quite shallow and just under match top 3 deep. Across under the tree's it was only about 4 foot.

2 balls of choppy and caster went in down the middle and I started on the waggler at full depth feeding hemp and maggot. As expected some small chub lets came quickly in the bright sunshine. I was expecting a few better fish as the float travelled under the branches of over hanging trees but it didn't happen. 

40 minutes in I went on the pole and second trot down the 2 gram float sailed away, 6 elastic came out ....but it was a 4 oz perch. No more followed and after 20 minutes went back on the full depth and half depth waggler the rest of the match.

I had a few bites and kept putting small fish in the net.

I sort of knew it was fishing hard immediately below me as I could hear the anglers chatting to each other.

After 18:00 the sun went in and I had a couple of better chublets and roach and at the end though I might have around 3lbs.

When Kev Grant came along with the scales I weighed 4lb 12oz.

Rich Chave who has a good record on the venue won the match in the last 30 minutes catching 3 decent chub. The good thing is I was in his section and picked up the £30 section by default!

Richard with the 3 chub that got him out of jail.

Kev Bennet took 2nd place with a mixed bag.

Dan was on 23 and had 2 chub for 6lb odd but lost a load which is tragic as that was the golden peg worth £200.

Weigh sheets below......

King Sedgemoor Drain on Sunday for a Super League practice match.