Wednesday 20th April - Bristol Feeder Canal

This was meant to be Round 3 of the Head to Head with team mate Leigh Wakefield. Unfortunately Leigh had other commitments so was unable to make it. Shame really as our H 2 H's are good fun and we enjoy the breakfast in the Feeder Rd Munch beforehand.

Long time friend Tony Humphries who joined us last week was also unable to make it.

I was always going to go whatever so it was breakfast for one when the Feeder Rd Much opened at 07:00.

I always go for the regular breakfast but noticed on the menu there was a "Slimming World"  breakfast, must enquire what that is next time.

I don't think mine would be endorsed by Slimming World

I was on the bank by 08:00 and decided to fish about 10 metres above where I normally go as I found a few snags halfway across last week.

Jason Bird who fishes the Bristol Docks System fairly regular fished the Canal last Sunday and let me know that he had a load of skimmers and roach for around 24lbs. In the days leading up to this the weather had improved and it seemed the migration from the Docks was in full swing.

In preparation for this session I cooked up a few pints of hemp and planned to just feed hemp and caster in ground bait in order to target the better fish. 

Ground bait was my favourite Sensas Black Lake, Gros Gardons Noire and a little Black Magic. Its an ideal mix for the Feeder Canal the Gros Gardons helps with binding the other two together especially if its mixed up the night before and then just dampened the next day before fishing.

I always have a decent number of rigs for the Feeder but always favour 1 gram and 2 gram in line Sensas In Line Floats which have a nice medium wire stem.

Although they are river floats they work well on the Feeder as it can tow quite hard at times and you need to hold back. I generally have two number 10's together below the olivette and another number 10 on the hook length about 6 inches above the hook.

Hooks I use are wide gape size 20's to 0.09 fluro carbon.

The wind today was spot on, just a gentle breeze but with intermittent sunshine and temperature forecast averaging 14 degrees.

I cupped in one big ball at 13 metres and one at 7 metres laced with more hemp than caster and started long with maggot on the hook.

It didn't take long to get my first bite long and of course it was a small dace. They always turn up first and can be a bit of a pain as they seem to get to the food before the roach etc. After a few more dace the bites dried up. I have found this to be normal on the Feeder and I just feed another ball and come in on the short line. 

I have also found it normal when I come in on the short line I get better quality fish early and it was the same today. First put in I had a nice 5oz roach which was extremely rough and ready to spawn.

Quite a few more roach graced the net and I just fished the line out before re-feeding and going out long again.

The long line gave me a few fish but not as prolific as when I came in short however it did come good from around 11:30. This was when the skimmers showed up (my first ones of the year on the Feeder). I absolutely love catching skimmers on light gear, the roach also came on the feed long.

Due to posting the Feeder Canal experiences on FaceBook and this Blog there has been a lot on interest on this venue and I we get visitors come down and have a look at what we are doing.

I had a few today .... A couple of drivers from Manor Scrap asking a load of questions about the methods I use, Lewis Walker a fellow angler who fishes Commercials a lot and an old P O Colleague Dave Poole who took me fishing back in the late 70's when I didn't have a car.

All in all I have had a brilliant day, loads of quality roach and skimmers for about 25lb.

No fishing this weekend or next week due to other commitments but I'll be back soon after that.

Sunday 10th April - Gloucester Canal Open, Slimbridge Up and Down

 I was pleased to see this match advertised on Diawa Gordon League's FaceBook page as I had nothing else on, Charlie Vallender was in charge.

The Slimbridge section of the Gloucester Canal is not used that much for matches. Access is good and there is plenty of parking now since the local Council have provided a large free car park, there is more parking directly over the Canal Bridge on the left hand side.

Team mate Sam Johnson and I booked in. Entry was £20 all in so very sensible and its only around 40 minutes up the road from me. Although it can be a very frustrating and challenging venue we both like it.

I was up nice and early and yet again had to scrape the frost off the van, when I started it up the temperature was -3 brrrrr, it was also going to be a bright day.

We made our own way up, I was first to arrive in the Council Car Park at 07:10 and there were only two other vehicles there, the draw was at 08:00.

Charlie arrived soon after as did the others, 33 names on the FB list but unknown to me there was one angler who pulled out. Plenty of regular Glossy Canal anglers present, some of which will be fishing the Spring League on the venue in a couple of weeks time.

I can't fish three of the four Spring League Matches so have stood aside this year but will try and fish as many of the Practice / Open matches.

Charlie got the draw underway bang on time and announced the fishing would be 10:30 - 15:30 so plenty of time to set up. 

Pegs 1 - 19 were above the bridge heading toward Gloucester and 20 - 33 below.

I drew peg 2 and was happy with that as last year in the Spring there were some decent nets of bream caught and there was plenty of cover across. Sam pulled out 18 so was also one from the end, both of us above the bridge.

Walking up the towpath we could see the water was fairly clear so we both predicted a hard match. Sam had a fair bit of room due to a couple of boats.

I carried on up to peg 2 and was pleased to see plenty of cover across providing shade.

I had Glossy regular and a fantastic bread angler next to me on peg 3 in the form of Brian Pollard, no one had turned up on peg 1 to my left!

Sam came up for a walk with 30 minutes to go and couldn't believe I was end peg apparently Charlie took out peg 1 due to an angler dropping out. Brilliant I thought, haven't had an end peg for ages.

My set up today was a small 20 gram cage feeder for across, 2 metres out from the far bank, one bread line one fishmeal line.

2 pole rigs today one at 14 metres where it was top 4 and a half deep, 1.5 gram float and 0.09 fluro carbon hook length to a size 20, 5 elastic. My other line was at about 8 metres where it was top 4 deep (just at the bottom of the near side shelf. 1 gram float, 0.09 fluro hook length to a 20, elastic was no. 6.

I don't normally use fluro that much but due to the clarity of the water I felt it was necessary.

Slimbridge is a lot quieter compared to Hempstead and Rea and there is a good bit of room between the bank and the towpath.

A group of rowers came down and the coach on a bike asked if it was a competition, I said yes above and below Slimbridge. Fair play to her she said ok well turn around and stay well above you.

Brian below me shouted the "all in" so I fed 4 feeder fulls of fishmeal with dead reds and dead pinkie across to my left, then fed my pole lines with 2 ball each of black lake and sived gardons noire with dead pinkie and a few casters.

I started off across on the feeder straight in front of me with the bread, double 7mm punch on a 16 to 0.11 hook length. I noticed Brian had fed bread on his short pole line but also started off the on bread across.

I had a few chucks on the bread and was expecting the tip to fly round but 20 minutes in not a sign. It was about then than Brian had a roach on the tip, always nice to get the first one in the net. I stuck it out for another 20 minutes but still no sign.

I went out on my long pole line and had a 10 minute look, nothing so just cupped in a few pinkie and caster on it before have a look on the fishmeal line. Another 15 minutes and not a sign, Brian had another roach on the tip. Looking down the line of anglers it appeared to be very quiet, no sign of landing nets going out.

Back out on the 14 metre line I had a lovely bite and netted a decent roach, blank avoided. Back out again and a small skimmer .... hooray. No more bites on that line so put another few pinkie in before coming in short.

It didn't take long before the float went under and it was a better skimmer which surprised me. Staying short I had a few dips of the float and bumped a few fish but they were very small.

The feeder lines produced nothing.

At the halfway stage Sam gave me a call and was struggling. He told me the angler on the end peg below him had a couple of decent skimmers within the first 45 minutes but had nothing since. He said everyone his end seemed to be having a hard day with many just sitting it out on the pole.

I got my head down and in the main just rotated on my two pole lines. I had another couple of skimmers, small roach and a tidy perch. The best approach I found was loose feeding very little and using a very small red worm on the hook.

Dave Micklewright came up with the scales and asked if I had more than 2lb, I said probably a bit more, he said you've pissed the section then.

I weighed 4lb 4oz, Brian next to me weighed a level 2lbs.

   I walked down and caught up with the scales and up until peg 17 I was top weight. James on 17 weighed

5lb 9oz, I ended up second best weight above the bridge.

The weights below the bridge were generally better but as you can see not that great.

At least I picked up my £40 section money which helped toward the cost of the day.

Overall.......

1st   James Allen 5-9

2nd  Andy Earl 5-7

3rd   Dave Clapton 5-5

Back on the Bristol Feeder Canal this Wednesday for the 3rd Head to Head with Leigh Wakefield and a visit to the Feeder Rd Munch for breakfast. 

Tuesday 5th April - Bristol Feeder Canal Head to Head with Leigh Wakefield Round 2

 We met on Feeder Rd again just before 07:00 and parked quite close to the ramp down to the Canal near Manor Scrap. A short walk up the road and we were at the Cafe for a good breakfast (it used to be Kelly's Cafe).

Although it is necessary to get up very early in order to park it does turn out to be a very sociable day out with no rushing. We do spend time talking to a lot of passers by. Some of them are also anglers and they do follow our outings when I post them on FaceBook, we are getting regular spectators now.

It doesn't take long to set up as the rigs we use from the week before generally only need a change of hook length.

When we finally got down on the Canal it was pretty calm, just a very light wind so out came my two 1 gram rigs, one to fish at 13 and the other at 7 metres.

I thought I had some dead reds in the freezer but didn't so only caster, pinkie, red maggot and a few worms. Instead of Sensas Black Lake and Gros Gardons Noire I used some Black Magic instead.

After mixing up and plumbing I put in 2 big balls on each line and took a walk down to Leigh who had already started fishing, it was bang on 09:00.

As I was talking to Leigh a guy came along the pavement above ....Tony Humphries who we have both know for years from our Bristol PO Angling Club days, Tony still fishes and does come to Ireland with a few of us each year. He had seen our posts and this blog and came down for a look himself, he may even fish with us next week.

After 5 minutes or so I walked back to my peg and Tony came down level with the Canal. 

First put in across I had a dace followed by a roach, Tony couldn't believe it. The line quickly died for some reason so I re-fed and came in on the 7 metre one. Another roach which was quite rough so they are getting ready to spawn.

I honestly thought I was going to have a good day on the roach but alas no. All I could catch was very small and I mean small dace. Looking down toward Leigh he was also struggling.

But .... you have to keep plugging away on the Feeder Canal and put in regular balls of feed.

The wind picked up and it became impossible to present long so was left fishing the short line most of the day. Lots of bites but hard to hit. Most of the time the float would sail away and the tip of the maggot or pinkie was just nipped.

One of our regulars .... Dave .... came down and stood behind Leigh, not long after he had a skimmer. This happened last week as well. At this point I knew Leigh would go into the lead.

Leigh was persevering holding the pole right across and snared a few decent roach late to increase his lead.

It was going to be a low weight affair today but Leigh took top honours with a level 8lbs to my 4lbs.

So it's 1 - 1 now !

Fishing an Open on the Glossy this Sunday then one day next week it's Head to Head Round 3.

Sunday 3rd April - Gloucester Canal Championship

 I booked myself and team mate Chris Hook into this match last Monday. It was £25 a ticket to be paid up front and an optional £5 Super Pool on the day. Bloodworm and Joker was permitted and I was asked if I wanted any. A match pack via Gloucester Angling Centre was £18.

At this point in time it was unknown as to what Sections would be used so we declined the BW & J. Our plan was to draw a bream peg lol .... but seriously were does the cost end?  With fuel prices and the cost of tackle now it is getting too expensive.

Chris and I met in our usual haunt for breakfast, McDonalds at Hardwick. 

We then headed for the draw at Widden Old Boys Rugby Club in Gloucester. 

50 anglers had booked in and paid. We soon discovered that the match was pegged from the Woods plus above and below Hempstead Bridge, plus a section at Simms. The famous ''bend'' either side of the Swing bridge was not in.

Had we know this then we would have probably got some BW & J as Hempstead Straight can be a very tough gig.

The payout was very good .........

The draw got underway at 08:00 and it was announced that Zander count and fishing was 10:30 - 15:30.

Chris and I were about 2/3rd's the way down the queue. When it was our turn I pulled out 24 and Chris 32, both of us on Hempstead Straight so not great.

After parking up and unloading I headed down the tow path.

Welsh International / Colmic Superstar / all round nice guy Nige Evans (you can pay me later Nige) was on peg 1 immediately below Hempstead Bridge. He was smiling at this point and asked were I was heading. Peg 24 I said. Just before the Car Wash then Nige said, you'll get plenty of bites on all lines there!

The angler above me on 23 was the first one past the Rowing Club and had lots of tree's opposite. It's a great peg for bream later in the Spring. I had one bush right over to my left so that would be the area I would concentrate on for the tip.

I only set up two pole rigs ....1 at 14 metres where it was top 5 deep with a 2 gram float to help combat any tow. My other rig was a 1.5 gram at 7 metres.

Both pole rigs had 0.09 hook lengths to 20 hooks.

Ground bait was Sensas leam and black lake.

I took a positive approach and cupped in 2 big balls on each line with dead pinkie, minced worm and I mean minced plus a few caster.

Starting off on the tip (20 gram cage feeder) with liqqy bread and a 7mm punch on a 16 hook I had a little knock second cast which was encouraging. The next few casts ..... nothing. 30 minutes in a proper wrap round and nothing on the other end when I struck. I thought it may have been a liner. 

10 minutes later I had a proper roach to get me off the mark.

The angler on 23 was now on the pole and had a couple of small fish using BW & J.

I had another couple of knocks on the bread but nothing positive so decided to switch to fishmeal ground bait and dead red / pinkie. I put in 4 cage fulls before going on my long pole line.

I was expecting a bite straight away but it didn't happen. I did stick to it for about 30 minutes before putting another small ball in. I came in on the 7 metre line and had a small perch.

Peg 23 was having a run of small fish long, they looked like small perch so not a good sign.

We were about 2 hours in now, the fish on 23 seemed to have dried up and I took a look with the ground bait feeder with a dead red and a dead pinkie on the hook. A very small knock on the tip after 5 minutes didn't connect and I brought back the bait all smashed. Small fish were topping occasionally right across so I guessed it was them having a go.  I put a small worm on trying to find something bigger but no joy.

Back out on the long line and a lovely sail away bite produced a hand sized skimmer plus a roach, encouraging but that was it.

I did keep feeding the long and the short line regularly but the 7 metre line was the best. I caught an eel just as Nige came down for a walk. A big boat had come through and as he was on a narrow part of the canal it messed up his peg so he re-fed and left it to settle.

I had another eel, a couple of perch a roach and ..... a small zander !!!

I weighed 3lb 7oz. Gary Townsend below me had 4lb odd of perch mainly caught short and peg 23 had 3lb. Chris had 3lb 9oz but our section had a couple of 6lbs so no coin today.

A lot of anglers struggled today.

Young Andrew Cranston won the match of peg 10 with 13lb plus. A lovely bag of fish on Blood Worm and Joker, he's a great angler.

Next up is Round 2 of Ivan Currie v Leigh Wakefield on the Bristol Feeder Canal this Tuesday.

Wednesday 30th March - Head to head Bristol Feeder Canal

 Last year myself and team mate Leigh Wakefield had a number of head to heads on the Bristol Feeder Canal. Leigh won the series quite convincingly. We both had some great nets of dace, roach, skimmers and bream. The posts attracted a lot of interest and a lot more anglers gave the Feeder Canal a go.

I had sneaky look a couple of weeks ago and managed a few roach but mainly small dace.

Leigh and I agreed to meet up today for the first head to head, Leigh had not been fishing for a few months and it this was confirmed when he opened his bait boxes. The contents from his last outing where still in the bait boxes and resembled badly gone off porridge! He still had 3 month old casters in a vacuum sealed bag and to be fair they looked ok. I gave him some maggots and pinkie.

We met at 07:00 on Feeder Rd and headed into Kelly's Cafe for a cooked breakfast. £5 for a full breakfast and a coffee or tea was great value. After a good meal and a catch up we headed to the Canal and we were set up ready to go by 09:00.

I went on my usual spot in front of Manor Scrap and Leigh went down 35 metres or so toward Avon St Bridge, he done well there last Spring catching plenty of skimmers.

I had my new Sensas Nanoflex 3900 seat box out for the first time so would it bring me some luck?

My ground bait mix was basically the same as a couple of weeks ago with the exception of team. Just the Sensas black lake and gros gardons noire. Its a nice stiff mix and smells great. If the canal is towing hard I recommend a bit of leam as well or sived mole hill soil in order to get the ground bait down to the bottom quickly in an average depth of around 6 to 7 feet.

The canal looked spot on today with a tinge of colour and there was a light wind, a few fish (dace were topping) .

I set up 2 x 1 gram rigs both with 20 hooks to 0.09 fluro, elastics were no.3 and no. 4.

13 metres takes you to just off the far shelf and 7 metres is down the track were it is slightly deeper.

I usually let the rigs run through very slowly at 13 metres and hold back harder down the track.

One ball went in on each line to start with laced with dead reds and caster plus a few live pinkies.

Starting off long I soon had a run of very small dace and after 20 minutes the size was not getting any bigger so re-fed and came in on the 7 metre line. A sail away bite almost immediately and and I though it was a skimmer but no .... a 4 oz perch, but at least something bigger than the dace. Staying on this line I did pick up better dace but they backed off pretty quick so re-fed and back out long.

More small dace, nothing unusual about this as the Feeder can take a while to respond, so its just a case of plugging away and keep feeding.

I couldn't see Leigh catching much and after 2 hours knew I was ahead but went down for a nose anyway.

Leigh said he bumped what he thought was a bream / skimmer but in general he wasn't seeing much action.

We do get a few regulars come down to watch us as well as locals. Some of the local's are real characters if you know what I mean !

One of our fans (lol), Dave does quite a bit of fishing on the canal was the first to arrive and we passed the time of day away for 30 minutes before he went down to Leigh. Not long after I could hear them shout up and I saw Leigh playing a good fish, a big skimmer around 2lbs. Bugger I thought ... but it was still only 11:30.

On my long line I had some better dace and a few small roach but it was hard work.

The 7 metre line came on all of a sudden and I had some proper stamp roach, great weight builders but you had to rest the line every 15 minutes and re-fed.

About 12:30 I had two big roach in consecutive put in's, one went over a pound and the other about 10oz.

I knew these fish put me back in front as Leigh was catching that much after his skimmer.

The last hour was very slow but when we packed up at 15:00 I knew I had double figures.

I weighed in Leigh first and he had 7lb 8oz

My net went 13lb 4oz.

So Round 1 to me. The nest head to head is Tuesday 5th April on the same venue. 

This Sunday 3rd April I am on the Gloucester Canal fishing the Canal Championships so a good draw is necessary.