Looking back the last blog I wrote was over a month ago.
I have been out a few times since but haven't got on very well like many others during January / early February, I've also been decorating and helping my daughter move house.
January has been a tough month for most and I fished a small Open on the Gloucester Canal 16th January organised by Chris Jones. I think about 20 fished it and he pegged Hempstead Straight and Simms to Rea bridges leaving the bends out to make it fairer.
I drew 3 pegs upstream of Rea. it always looks nice here with plenty of far bank cover but it is the narrowest part of the canal. On the day we had bright sunshine and the water was gin clear. My section was won by NiGE evans with 8.5 ozs, 7 perch I believe. England Manager Mark Downes above Nige had 4 oz, the angler to my left had 1/2 oz, I didn't have a bite and packed up after a walk down to see how the others were doing. Towards Simms they were catching the odd small roach and I mean small.
I packed up early.
The match was won with 6lb from the straight and Chris who organised the match was second with 4lb 2 pegs above Simms.
My next outing was a small Club Match run by Weston Super Mare AA on the Axe at Bleadon Bridge. Only 10 fished and there were 5 of us above the bridge and 5 below. The river looked spot on to be honest but looks can be deceiving at times.
I drew one peg from the end upstream of the bridge and team mate Sam Johnson was above me on the end. We all had loads of room.
Well to say it was hard is an understatement. Halfway through I had a 15oz perch on the worm and maggot feeder, sam was still blanking at this stage and the angler below me packed up. Sam took a walk and when he came back said the angler immediately above the bridge had 6 roach and that no one below the bridge had a bite. He then went back to his peg and caught a 1lb 15oz perch on the worm.
and ......thats how the match finished. Sam one the knock up, I was 2nd and the guy who had the roach weighed 13 oz, no one else caught!!!!
My next outing was on the Warks Avon at Evesham on 30th January fishing a qualifier match. I drew peg 29 which was fast and shallow, I managed one roach, one chublet and a perch for 6oz, enough said.
Sam then persuaded me to fish the Upper Brue Championship in and around Glastonbury. I had never fished or seen the venue before. It was a wild day weather wise and I drew absolute garbage again. The peg was no more than 2 foot deep and snaggy. Did not have a bite after 4 hours so packed up early again for the second time this year which is very unusual for me.
My next outing due to decorating etc was on 14th February and I pleasure fished the River Kenn above Strode Rd. I finally caught some fish, not many but the best session this year, here is the FB post....
t’s been a tough few weeks match fishing with a few ounces or nothing at all coming to the net. Today was my first pleasure session for 2 months and I chose my local river Kenn which can be a tough gig on a good day. High tide was at 0530 so a nice leisurely start at 1000. I fished peg 34 and Tony Derrick was on 35. A fairly strong upstream wind made waggler fishing difficult but I persevered and managed 2 unseasonal tench, a perch and a roach. Tony fished two feeder lines and caught some nice stamp roach and a few perch including one that went 2.14 which is a pb for him. Not a bad day after all the cold water went in the river yesterday.
