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
Mosella Bathampton B 83
Sensas Nomads 69
Midland Spinner 64
Another good read
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