Tuesday 11th January - Tuesday Tenners Open Acorn Fishery Kingston Seymour

The tides on the River Kenn were not right for a bit of local river fishing so it was back to Acorn Fishery for this friendly match.

I booked in with Mike Chapman the evening before as I believe its always best to let organisers know in advance if you can.

I was there nice and early (07:45) for the draw which takes place around 08:15. There was a fine drizzle but it was mild and most were expecting it to fish well. Most of the regulars were there and I soon got talking to a chap who reads my blog and who also knows "Turtle" who travels with me to Ireland fishing. 

As we were talking the draw was done and I was informed I was on Island peg 1. Judging by past form it was not great but I though with the mild weather it would still produce a few bites.

There were only 3 of the 5 Island pegs in, 1 (me), 3 Kev Perry and 5 Bob Smith. With Bob fishing here most weeks (sometimes twice) I thought he would at least beat Kev and myself. Last time I fished here I was on 5 and won the match with 70lb.

The fishery had been well used of late with a couple of matches over the Christmas period plus every Sunday and Tuesday. There has also been a bit of wet weather so the pegs were a bit muddy despite the substantial platforms.

I have never been on this peg before but knew carp are caught on the nearside point to my right so plumbed up down this edge which was about 2 foot deep.

Right across at 13 metres against the rushes I had just over 2 foot which would be my bread sobbing area.

At 2 plus 3 it was around 3 foot plus to my right in the bowl area so planned to fish 2 area's here for silvers as no one was on 35.

So ... bread and corn for dobbing across and pinkie in ground bait for silvers and maggot for nearside edge, simples.

On the all in I fed my silvers lines with Sweet Fishmeal and a bit of Thatchers Original plus dead pinkie and finely chopped worm.

I went straight across with the bread fishing about 4 inches off bottom. I got indications within minutes and soon had a foul hooker on which at first seemed pretty placid but then took off around the corner to my right and came off.

Back out again dobbing and more liners. About another 20 minutes went by and I had another foul hooker on, how do they manage to get hooked in the tail ?. 

I was just about loosing patience with the bloody thing when it started to give up and I eventually netted it. A good fish of around 7lbs.

Another 2 carp came and were more straight forward, one about 3lb and the other about 2lb. I estimated I had 12lb in the first hour so on target.

Glancing around I couldn't see much being caught.

I decided to rest the sobbing line and have a look for silvers, it didn't take long for the float to bury and net a 6oz roach, much prefer catching these. More roach followed plus a skimmer before the bites dried up so re-fed and went dobbing again. 

No indications at all from carp on the bread or corn skin so after 20 minutes back to the silvers and fed a bit of maggot down my right hand edge for later.

I had a few more skimmers (not big) and roach fairly quickly but again they backed off. A couple of looks down the edge produced nothing. 

I heard Graham Smith behind me talking to Paul Faiers and saying Bob on 5 was having a few. At this point I more or less decided to go for silvers the rest of the match.

I was happy getting a few bites and opened up another silvers line in front of me just feeding pinkie.

Come the end my carp went 11lb and my silvers just under 6lb, neither was any good.

Bob on 5 had the best silvers net with 14lb 11oz made up of a lot of Carasso which count as silvers. Paul was 2nd in the silvers with 11lb plus which included 3 tench off peg 40.

The best carp weight was Chris Gay who I believe caught late of peg 14. Chris won the match with 44lb 5oz.

Full results as follows ....

1. Chris Gay 44-05 p14
2. Paul Faiers 41-07 p40
3. Dave Wride 36-00 p31
4. Bob Smith 26-13 p5
5. John Thompson 23-05 p24
6. Graham Smith 22-07 p37
Silver's
1. Bob Smith 14-11 p5
2. Paul Faiers 11-12 p40

The 2 day River Tone Festival which was scheduled for this weekend has been put back again due to river levels and I can't make the new date in February. I am however going to a match on the Gloucester Canal instead with team mates Chris Hook and Sam Johnson. 

Please let the draw gods be good to me.

Sunday 9th January - Weston Super Mare match, River Axe, Bleadon.

 Happy New Year all.

I did venture out on my local River Kenn on the Wednesday before this match and never had a bite. There were a lot of other anglers on the Kenn who had the same experience, but ....that's the Kenn as they say! Too much water coming off the Moors, an overnight frost and a high tide didn't help.

Team mate Sam Johnson and I were meant to be fishing the River Tone 2 day Festival this weekend but it was put back until next weekend due to the high river levels.

Sam who is Secretary of the WSM Club invited me to his Club's match on the River Axe which I fished last January before Lock Down and had a great day on the roach fishing the whip so was looking forward to it.

Sam pegged either side of Bleadon Bridge and I did favour the downstream section as this is where I had 28lb of roach. Sam had fished upstream of the bridge last Sunday and had a lovely day. High tide was at 11:30 but unlike my local river Kenn the Axe still flows the right way when the tide is coming in.

At the draw I picked out P2 which was where I favoured. 

Rain the day before and overnight had put the river up, fast flowing and coloured but Sam was confident we would catch.

Above me on peg P1 was Dominic Sullivan who said he had walked the stretch the day before and there were loads of fish topping but today there wasn't a sign of any.

I had a platform to set up on but the river would eventually cover it when the tide came in.

All of the area behind me would be under water (lucky I was a submariner!)

I set up 2 x 6 metre whips with 3 gram rigs (just in case one got trashed) and a 4BB Crowquill for trotting down the middle. Mixed up a bit of Gros Gardons and Noire to get the bait down quickly in about 4 foot of water.

We started at 10 o'clock and after 20 minutes without a bite Dominic shouted that it was not looking good as did the guy below me as they had no signs either.

About 15 minutes after that Dom had a small roach on the running line.

The angler below me also had a roach and then foul hooked what looked like a skimmer, hmmm not good.

It took me another hour to get my first bite and I missed it plus the next one. By now Dom was catching regular and the angler below was getting the odd roach by laying on.

Another 20 minutes must have gone by before I hooked my first roach on the crow quill rig but it didn't feel right as the float was too light. I got off my box and put on an 8BB one which performed much better and I had a roach soon after I stepped up.

Due to the tide coming in you had to constantly alter the depth.

I had a bonus small bream just under 2lbs right at the end of the trot which surprised me but very welcome.

Putting in the odd ball of ground bait with chopped worm and caster brought me a few more roach toward the end of the match but I knew I was out of it really. Word on the bank was the upstream pegs were really struggling. Sam actually rang me at the halfway point and said he had not had a bite.

Dominic ended up with 11lb plus of nice roach to win the match.

2nd place also came from the end peg in my section and that went to Darren Greenwood with 10lb plus.

I ended up with 4lb 14oz (5th overall) the two weights above me were 5lbs plus so not that far away after a poor start.

The best weight above Bleadon Bridge was 5lb 2oz was Jason Fern helped by a 2lb bream.

If I fished the same peg under the same conditions again I would set up a straight lead as well or a maggot feeder. I'll be on the Axe again in 2 weeks time.

Tomorrow I'm back on Acorn Fishery to sample the dark side again as the tide is all wrong to fish the Kenn the next Saturday and Sunday is the 2 day River Tone Festival down at Taunton.

So it's pretty busy on the fishing front at the moment.