Sunday 14th November - Bill Milton Memorial (RBL Poppy Match) Bristol Avon, Newbridge to Chequers

 This is the biggest match of the year on the Bristol Avon. It did not take place last year due to COVID restrictions but thankfully it was able to go ahead this year in order to raise money for our service men and families who need support.

Ray Bazeley is the CEO and co-ordinator of this event supported by quite a few others who do a great job. A few years ago the event was renamed the Bill Milton Memorial following Bill's passing, Bill used to run the match and was very passionate about the cause.

I got my ticket weeks ago via Rich Lacey who was selling them on one the of Commercial House League matches.

4 of my Sensas Nomads Team fishing today, Chris Hook, Sam Johnson, Leigh Wakefield and myself.

With little or no rain for a couple of weeks we thought Swineford would be the place to draw in order to target the roach and chub. However it had also been very mild so anything could happen. Given the length of river that was pegged along with the variation in pegs you had to take everything.

I packed the pole, 2 feeder rods, 16 foot rod, 13 foot waggler and a 6 metre whip. Depending on where i drew I could lighten the gear down or on the other hand have to take the lot.

The Pavillon Club in the old Fry's Chocolate Factory development was the draw venue and we got there at 07:30 in plenty of time. A lot of the anglers were already there, some who don't fish that much but always support this match,  a few from well outside the area as well as those who fish the Bristol Avon on a regular basis.

Pegging for the match

Prior to the draw Brian Lloyd from the Legion Club read out the citation and there was two minutes silence. I am very proud of my time in the Royal Navy and wore my Submariners Dolphins, it was also lovely to see Sam wearing his Dads Dolphins. 

The draw then commenced and we were all fairly near the start of the queue except for Sam as he was right up there at the front.

We said before the draw that we would meet up after we had drawn but Sam was gone like Billy Whiz out of the car park, we didn't even know where he was going lol. Chris and I drew Newbridge, I was on 11 behind the Pump House (permanent peg 22a) and Chris was on 13 (permanent peg 24 a good chub area), Leigh was down in the Tree's by the Rugby Club (permanent peg 122 I think).

I got to Newbridge by 08:30 and was able to park a short distance from the Pump House. I took a look at the peg before unloading and decided it was not necessary to take the pole gear. It's a fairly steep bank here but you can get down in the water.

Jeff Surman was above me on 10, no one drew 12 so I had plenty of room. I had fished this peg many years ago but that was in the summer. a couple of boats were moored on the far side were most of the flow was but it was steady from the middle right across. I knew this was a chub and roach area, you need a bit of water on it with colour for skimmers and bream.

With that in mind I decided to set up a 4 gram bolo for down the middle, a 3AAA waggler for right across and a maggot feeder for across as well. Nice a simple. 

I had also pre mixed a bag of Sensas River and Gros Gardons so just had to dampen it down.

I had trees above me but setting up the platform in the water gave me plenty of room, however I was sat in the shade all day.

The rowers were out in force today, many under tuition, too many in fact and they do come very close on the near bank as there is a bend to my right but you just got to get your head down and get on with it.

I had the scales and board for pegs 11 to 20 so shouted the all in at 10:00. I was ready with 10 minutes to go.

5 balls went in laced with dead reds and caster down the middle were it was 12 foot deep, I didn't put in anything that wriggled on this line. 2 pouch full's of red maggot and hemp were also fed in the gap between the boats.

Starting off on the bolo with a single maggot I had an 8 oz roach first run through, lovely. The next few trots I missed bites towards the end of the run so put double maggot on. This made a big difference and the bites were very positive, numerous 3 to 4 oz roach were swung in. 

I got a good rhythm going feeding small nuggets down the middle and feeding across with generous amounts of maggot and hemp.

I took a couple of chublet's on the bolo so started to loose feed caster which gave me a few more, not big and they look heavier than what they weigh but worth having.

The bolo line produced well for nearly 2 hours and even though I was still catching, not as much as the first hour and you should never come off feeding fish I decided to give the far waggler line a go.

First cast the float buried and it was solid, a decent chub which took me down river into nearside reeds but got him out. A great bonus fish of around 2lbs. 

Sam rang me and asked where I was and how I was doing, he was at Swineford and said he was catching chub and roach on the crowquill.

Darren Gillman came walking along the bank (he wasn't fishing) and said my mate Chris on 13 was admitting to 10lbs. I thought I might have near that or just under at this stage. No more big chub showed but I did have a run of 10oz chublet's.

I was still feeding down the middle and swapped around between the bolo and the waggler every 15 minutes or so for the remainder of the match.

I had a great day's fishing on the running line fishing fairly positive with a B560 18 to 0.11 power line on both rigs. I only bumped a couple of fish all day.

I called the ''all out'' at 15:00 and packed up before starting at peg 20 to weigh in etc.

As I walked down there didn't appear to me much caught down the straight and the best weight before I got to Chris was Kevin Boltz with 7lbs. 

When I got to Chris and he pulled his net out I knew I had a bit more than him. Chris weighed 9lb 9oz.

I got Paul Randell to weigh my net which went 18lb 3oz so a section win at least.

My board

Today's catch, with the light fading fast and the overhead tree's its a little dark.

Word on the bank suggested there were a few huge bream weights down in the Tree's.

Back at the Pavilion the raffle, auction and prize giving took place, it was a shame not everyone came back but there was still a good attendance.

Sam done well at Swineford catching 26lb plus which got him 6th overall, Leigh also won his section with 13lb odd. Those bream weights did happen, here is the results (top 6).......

1st    Chris Parr 181-04 bream in the Tree's section 

2nd   Tony Goodland 98-04 bream in the Tree's section

3rd    Derek Cole 78-04 bream in the Tree's section

4th    John Smith 36-02 bream at Swineford

5th    Paul Purchase 34-11 roach and 2 pike which count on the Crane

6th    Sam Johnson 26-07 Swineford

I think I was about 11th overall, the best I have done in this event is 5th but felt I couldn't have done anymore.

It was a great event and when all the money comes in it will have raised in excess of £2000.

That's it from me for a few weeks as I'm off on hols.

Tuesday 9th November - Tuesday Tenners Open, Acorn Fishery Kingston Seymour near Clevedon

 During the week I usually fish somewhere on a Wednesday but this week I promised to go up my daughters and help her prepare to move house.

I was thinking of fishing the River Kenn but the tide was all wrong in order to get a full days fishing.

In the end I decided to book into the Tuesday Open at Acorn Fishery, yes it's a Commercial which I rarely visit but I do fish the odd match here over the winter period. I also made the decision to simply fish for silvers and planned just to use left over worm, pinkie, maggot and caster from the weekend. Plus the fact I'm not that familiar with carp fishing.

The draw was from 08:00 - 08:20 and Eddie Wynne was in charge. 

When I turned up I got the usual response .... are you lost, there's no flow here you know etc etc....

It's a very friendly crowd and 21 were booked in.

Quite a few would be going for the carp as they are regular slayers and fish here quite often but I did think I could compete for the silvers.

I already had a box of Commercial rigs made up and a wallet of barbless hooks that I made up just before the first lockdown.

Eddie pulled me out peg 2 on the Island, I also had the scales and board as peg 1 was not drawn. 

I know its a decent peg for carp but that didn't matter to me as I was already committed to go for silvers.

Even though I have fished here before I have never been on the Island. Plumbing up I had around 3 foot at the bottom of the far shelf straight in front. 11:00 at 11 metres it was a little deeper so put on another rig. I plumbed up another line 6 metres in front of me and it was just slightly deeper again so another rig. All the rigs were 4 x 14's with 20 hooks to 0.11.

That was all the lines I was going to fish as any more just confuses me.

A decent pot of chopped worm and caster went in neat on my 11:00 line, one ball of black lake with caster and pinkie in at 6 metres and one ball of black lake, chopped worm and pinkie at the bottom of the far shelf.

First put in across I only had to wait a few minutes for my first roach which was about 6 ozs. In the next 30 minutes I had a few skim bobs and a couple of stockie carp which are only a few ounces. I re-fed the bottom of the shelf and went on my 11:00 line. Another decent roach and a small skimmer but that slowed pretty quick so put a little more worm and caster in.

Having a look at 6 metres for the first time produced more roach and skimmers plus a 6lb carp which I landed on a No.6 elastic but not what I wanted.

I felt things were going along nicely but I could see Paul Faiers across on peg 18 net what looked to be decent skimmers on a regular basis.

On my second look at 11:00 the float went under quite quickly and I hooked what I thought was a carp and it raced off. I managed to turn it and got it under control. I was surprised to see it was a tench and a decent one at around 3lbs. The light elastic stopped it smashing me up and I was quite relieved to net it, back in contention I thought. I put another bit of choppy and caster in on that line and went back in the middle catching a skimmer. 

It was one of those days when you could catch a couple of fish, re-feed, rotate to another line, catch, re-feed etc but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I had another 2 tench from the 6 metre line and lost one.

I weighed 15lb 4oz which got me 2nd in the silvers. Paul won the silvers with 16lb 11oz mainly made up of carrissio carp which count as silvers, never seen these before.

So happy enough with that result.

Fellow Club mate Kev Perry won over all with 75lb of big munter carp.

Sunday 7th November - Newbridge Open Bristol Avon

 This match was organised and run by the Chequers Angling Club. Ben Rendall, Ben Matthews, Dean Harvey and Derrick Cole do a lot to keep the river matches alive and they are well supported.

Team mate Chris Hook and I booked in to fish this match along with 18 other die hards. It was a lovely mild day and no rain was forecast. On arrival the river looked in good nick with a decent amount of flow but the colour had dropped out of it.

A lot of anglers thought the bream would feed but I wasn't so sure but I did expect one or two to get caught.

At the draw I pulled out peg 7 and Chris had 13. Initially we thought we were on those permanent pegs which meant I would be halfway down the Little Field and Chris one peg below the bridge. Then we realised this was not the case as Dean and Derrick had spread us all out and these numbers were not on the respective permanent pegs i.e my peg 7 was actually permanent peg 30 and Chris was on permanent peg 49.

30 is OK but you need a bit of water on it and later in the year, Chris had a better chance of bream.

Peg 30 is nice and comfortable and I was able to get the platform in so sit in the water. There was plenty of flow straight across.

I made the decision to just set up the Ground Bait Feeder for 3/4 the way over on the crease and my 16 foot rod with a 4 gram bolo to fish about 13 metres out and down the peg.

There were plenty of rowers out on the water today and a lot of them were under tuition which is not great for anglers especially when they come in too close or just stop in front of you. It affects anglers more than fish though.

I balled it on the feeder line at the start, 9 big balls of chopped worm, caster and dead reds, 4 of the same mix went in on the float line.

Starting off on the float I had a decent roach second run through. The swim was about 12 foot deep at the start but shallowed up towards the end of the run. More roach followed and I started to feed hemp and caster every second run through. 

The roach were not that big, approx 2 ounces but I thought if I could keep catching them I would be in with a shout especially if the bream didn't put in an appearance.

After 2 hours the bite tailed off, I could get bites way down the swim by hold back hard but rarely hit them. The ones I did catch were very very small.

At this point I had a look on the feeder line with worm and maggot on a 14. I did get a few rattles but nothing positive until 30 minutes in when I had a 10 oz chublet.

I put in another couple of balls on the float line and this produced a few more roach but nothing spectacular.

I packed up thinking I may do around 7lbs.

The scales were coming up river and I walked down to see Warren Bates weigh below me (about 4 pegs downstream). Warren done 14lb plus and included a couple of big skimmers.

This was good enough to win the match as the fancied bream pegs did not produce.

Second on the day was Toby Bentham with 11lb 14oz (2 bream and he lost 2 as well)

Third was Jerry Pocock with 9lb 8oz.

The anglers up in the Little Field above Newbridge had a hard day, Paul Purchase won the section with 2lb 14oz.

Other section winners were...

Ben Matthews 9lb 3oz

Vic Bush 7lb 12oz

Richard Lacey 8lb 3oz

With no rain forecast before next Sundays Poppy Match (100 pegs) it's going to be hard. Chub and roach could dominate the leading weights.

Sunday 31st October - Commercial House League Final Round, K & A Canal, Bathampton to Claverton

 In the lead up to this match I was faced with a few problems, Sam and Chris found out a week before that they were unable to fish due to family commitments and work then Brian slid down a bank and injured his back. After phone calls and messages I managed to secure the services of 3 other anglers by the Wednesday evening before the match. I think that was quite an achievement given there was a Winter League Match on the same day, our match was on the K & A which is not everyones cup of tea and the weather forecast was not great.

So Team today was....

Me

Leigh Wakefield

Mike Withey

Dave Lewis (who is joining us next year)

Mark "Whippet" Williams (ex Nomads)

Steve "Stretch" Saunders (ex Nomads)

I didn't need to do a lot of prep as I already had a tray of Canal Rigs made up from the spring and just had to do a few minor adjustments.

A few more hooks were tied and some bread liquidised and that was it. I already had 5 match top kits with 3, 4 and 5 elastics in them and in good condition. All the river kit was taken out of my bags and rod bag although I did leave a waggler rod in just in case I drew a bay.

The pegging was done on the Friday, not ideal but it was always going to be difficult given the amount of boats on the waterway at the moment. A lot of detail was shared concerning the pegging and enough room left in order for anglers to move if boats moved (which is not unusual). Parking was also not a problem as the George Pub at Bathampton allowed the use of their car park and there was the anglers car park at Claverton.

The draw was at 08:00 in the Crown Pub in Keynsham again. If you get your Team Pools money in early then the earlier you can draw. I got our money in by 07:30 and we were last but one I believe to draw.

Our draw worked out as follows......

Me A3 (happy with that), Mark B7 (not bad), Leigh C4 (iffy), Mike D1 (unsure), Dave E5 (some form) and Steve F2 (prob too busy with boats).

Off we went and I headed off to Claverton via Odd Down and Brassknocker Hill to avoid the Bath Clean Air Zone as my van is non complaint (unless you pay £9), quite a few others went that way as well.

It had and was still pissing down but as I walked up the towpath it eased off and then stopped but the heavy umbrella in my rod bag enjoyed the ride!

I got to my section above Ferry Lane Bridge the other anglers were already at their pegs namely Vince Lunn, Andy Richings, Dean Harvey, Rob Manns and Nick Coles so a quality line up.

I got to my peg and was quite happy with it, a bit narrow at only 11 metres straight across but plenty of cover on the far side. I had a boat moored to my left and along with the narrow old lock just down stream any boat would go straight down the middle protecting my far side lines.

I had about an hour to set up so plenty of time. I set up a 4 x 14 with a wide gape 18 for down the track to my right using bread. I have used 20's before but bumped too many fish in the past so went for a more positive approach in conjunction with a 7mm punch. Another track rig was set up for using to my left with ground bait and a 20 hook. For straight across and at the bottom of the shelf another 4 x 14 with a 20 for fishing over ground bait. Finally a 0.4 gram choppy for fishing tight to the far bank vegetation in two places with an 18 to fish over chopped worm and caster.

I put 2 small balls of liquidised in first and then fed one choppy and caster line at 10 o'clock and a small ball of of ground bait with caster pinkie and finely chopped worm at the bottom of the far shelf.

First put in with the bread I had a bite straight away but did not connect. Back in again and a sail away bite ground me a skimmer about 10oz. No more skimmers but some dumpy roach quite often for about an 40 minutes. The first boat then came through so I re-fed my previous lines and put in another ball of bread. For some reason the roach on the bread line got smaller but I persevered looking for larger ones but after another 30 minutes took a look over the far bank line. 

It didn't take long, I was expecting perch but it was quality roach instead. I even had some chublet's as well as a few perch. This line lasted a good hour, it wasn't fast and furious but steady. I decided to rest it and re-feed before going out at the bottom of the far shelf.

More small dumpy roach and the odd small perch followed. I also fed another up on the shelf line at 2 o'clock for later on.

Looking down the canal I could just about see Rob and Dean and they did not appear to be that busy. Half way through the match I thought I had about 5lbs.

The boat traffic increased and there were a few holiday hire boats out with not so good captains but didn't really do me any harm.

My new far bank line gave me a bonus perch on a piece of worm and I lost a big fish as well after it bottomed out the number 5 elastic, it could have been a pike.

I ended up with a respectable 9lb 9oz.

My section fished really well and although mine was not the biggest weight I did win my B Div Section Money.

My full section weights, not bad for a narrow canal.

Team wise we had a poor day only taking 10 points from 18. Dave had a brilliant 12 lbs plus from Bathampton to win his section but the rest of the guys only managed 1 point each. 

Steve had a nightmare at his peg on the Bathampton Turning Bay with 8 boats churning up his peg, so absolutely no chance.

One of the boats in Steve's peg during the match.

Upstream of Steve, Mike has had about 3 bite's all day and he's been a Canal Pairs Finalist every year so something was wrong were he was pegged. Mark has been unlucky on B7 loosing 3 bream but still weighed 6 lb odd. Leigh was one peg away were he needed to be in C section.

Either side of the turning bay at Claverton there was a great battle between Mike Goodhind and Andy Britt with Mike coming out on top beating Andy by 1 oz to weigh 16lb 13oz and a match win.

Mike with his winning bag

Andy with his catch and just 1oz short

On a positive note our Team has had numerous section pick up's, a 2nd individual in a match plus Sam won the knock out and Chris was second. Leigh also finished 3rd overall as an individual in the League. I was only able to fish 4 of the 6 matches but have had 3 section wins and one by default.

Well that's the end of the League matches for another year. There is an Open at Newbridge on Sunday followed by the Poppy Match the week after.

Here is the full match report courtesy of Vince Lunn ......

The final round of the Commercial House match was fished on the Kennet & Avon canal at Bathampton and Claverton. There was heavy rain overnight until around 9am and then it was mild and windy with the odd shower. The rain really coloured the canal up at Claverton where it fished really well with 8 double figure weights. At Bathampton, the canal was clearer and only 1 double figure weight was caught there.

The winner on the day was Mike Goodhind of M & N Electrical with 16 lbs 13 ozs from the left hand side of the bay at Claverton. He fished bread at 5 metres for the first 3 hours, catching bream, skimmers and big roach upto 1 lb 8 ozs. After this he cupped in liquidised bread at 13 metres, but fished double red maggot over it and caught more of the same good sized fish.

2nd was Andy Britt of Mosella Bathampton A, who was also in the bay next to Mike. He caught 16 lbs 12 ozs, just 1 ounce less than Mike. For Andy, the bread didn’t produce much. He had to move to his 13 metre line early where he had put groundbait and jokers. He caught bream, skimmers and hybrids to 2lbs, alternating between red maggots and worms.

3rd was Shane Robinson of Mosella Bathampton B with 15 lbs 10 ozs. He was drawn 3 below Ferry Lane bridge which put him next to the wires. Fishing bread under a boat and then down the track, he caught bream and skimmers. He then caught roach and perch across on castors.

4th Dave Lewis - Sensas Nomads - 13 lbs 12 ozs

5th= Nick Coles - Mosella Bathampton B - 12 lbs 6 ozs

5th= Geraint Powell - Preston Innovations Thatchers - 12 lbs 6 ozs

Mosella Bathampton A put in a good effort to try to pull off an unlikely league win, as they had 16 of a possible 18 points on the day. Preston Innovations Thatchers just about done enough to win the A division though.

In the B division, Mosella Bathampton B and Midland Spinner both had 13 points on the day. Mosella Bathampton B won the division by 14 points.

The Individual winner of the series was Rich Lacey with 35 points.

2nd was Andy Britt with 32 points.

3rd was Leigh Wakefield with 28 points.

Teams on the day;

A Div

Mosella Bathampton A 16

Preston Innovations Thatchers 10

M & N Electrical 10

B Div

Mosella Bathampton B 13

Midland Spinner 13

Sensas Nomads 10

League positions;

A Div

Preston Innovations Thatchers 81.5

Mosella Bathampton A 79

M & N Electrical 54.5

B Div

Mosella Bathampton B 83

Sensas Nomads 69

Midland Spinner 64