Wednesday 29th June - Evesham Festival Qualifier, Warks Avon

 Back up the M5 again, off at Tewksbury and on to Evesham for another bash at qualifying. We (Sensas Nomads) have also a Team in on the venue this coming Sunday 3rd July so it's important to stay in touch with the water.

The forecast was light rain showers and a fresh breeze but on arrival the wind was quite strong and blowing downstream.

As I was early I walked up from the Ferry up to pegs 35 and 36 to have a look as these have been the in form pegs, the early 50's looked nice as well.

The river had a nice flow on it as usual but very low and clear.

I spoke to Nomads Team mate Kevin Ellaby while waiting for the draw discussing options for Sundays match. Kevin has a fair bit of experience on Evesham.

For a change I was in the first quarter of the queue for the draw and when it came to my turn A5 was still there. I was going to pick another disc but decided to stick with A5 (Sam picked it in my absence last Sunday and drew a flyer). Could it happen again?

Well not too bad to be honest as when Diane turned the disc over it revealed peg 52. Now from my experience so far peg 52 hasn't featured that much lately, it used to but I believe 50 and 51 are the pegs to draw in this area,

With 50 anglers fishing just about every other peg was left out so 51 was free above me and 53 below, Kev Ellaby was on 54.

I got some advice from venue expert Leigh Gardner before heading off to my peg. He told me it was very shallow across with pandocks coming out a fair way but deep in the middle and the inside. 

Peg 50 won the match last Sunday 10lbs so I was in the right area.

When I got to my peg it did look nice but due to the clear water you could see the pandocks on the far side coming out quite a bit.

The wind had more or less stopped at this point so I set up a 3AAA waggler at full depth down the middle, it was about 6 foot deep. I had 2 x No.10's as bulk and another 4 strung out below. 18 B611 hook to 0.11 power line as if I managed to hook a chub they would head straight into the pandocks.

Another waggler (same) was set up at 3 foot deep for fishing the same line or closer to the tree.

Next I set up a 20 gram maggot feeder with a size 16 B611 to 0.13, animal gear for fishing to the snags.

My perch inside line was quite deep, almost match top 3 at 5 metres, the bottom was nice and clean. A 1 gram float went through lovely, a size 18 B560 was at the business end to 0.12 fluro.

Finally a hemp rig at 11 metres.

Starting off I bait dropped in 2 lots of choppy, a few casters and red maggot on the inside and then fed some maggots across as well as pinging a few grains of hemp at 11 metres.

I am conscious of keeping the feed going in on all lines and it can be hard to discipline yourself to do this but I am improving.

I started off on my inside line just inching a maggot through. Second or third trot down a small perch was hooked so up and running. I was getting bites at then end of the trot and felt i was over stretching a bit so put another section on. Much better but wanted them closer so fed another half bait dropper full.

I put another inch on the depth and held back a bit harder, bingo a better perch short and gave me a bit of a run around, a nice fish about 10oz.

I had more small perch and then just before the first hour was up hooked another better fish which took me out into the middle. The 6 elastic done the trick, I knew it wasn't a perch. Lucky as well I had a 4 metre landing net. Chuffed to bits when I netted a chub just under 2lbs, you don't get many of them on the inside.

Another bait dropper went in and I managed a few more perch but by 13:20 the line had died.

I had been feeding the other lines so had a look on the deep waggler line down the middle. The wind had got stronger again but by casting downstream, holding back hard and then controlling it as best I could I managed a couple of small roach.

Time and time again I trotted down and it must have been another hour before I got a bite on the drop, thought it was a bleak but then the line tightened right up, chub. thank goodness I had the strong gear as he went into the pandocks, but not for long. Another nice fish just under 2lbs fish.

The hemp line produces nothing all match.

Another look now and then on the inside gave me nothing more.

A cast with the maggot feeder to the snags gave me 2 more perch, only about 3ozs each but welcome.

The last 2 hours I just swapped around while keeping the feed going in.

A couple more puppy chub were caught, one on the maggot feeder one on the shallow waggler.

Bank walkers suggested it was fishing really hard.

At the end of the match Kev asked me what I had and i said about 5lb plus, he said he had the same.

When the scales came down I walked up to peg 50 to see him weigh in, the best weight from peg 1 to 50 was 8lb 6oz (Mark on 50 weighed 4lb odd).

I ended up with a level 8lb which I was really pleased about, Kev below me weighed 7lb 7oz.

Not a bad effort

Mark Newman on peg 61 (which never wins) had 2 tench !!!!! and ended up with a combined weight of 10lb 7oz and he was in my section.

Luckily he won the match so it was a £40 section win by default.

I ended up joint 5th equal but they pay top 4 on a Wednesday.

It was a really tight match, just one more chub would have helped.

Results and weigh board below.....

1    Mark Newman 10-7

2    Rob McKenzie 8-06

3    Tony Davis 8-03

4    Mark Valentine 8-01

Team match on Sunday which will be rock hard with just about every peg in.

Sunday 26th June - Clevedon Club Match River Kenn

Team mate Sam Johnson was heading up to Evesham today to try and qualify for the August BH Festival but I had already committed to supporting my Club on the River Kenn.

New Match Secretary Robb Fogg was in charge of proceedings.

There was only 12 of us today as a couple had dropped out due to family commitments.Rob had us spread out more or less every other peg from 6 to 22 so there would be plenty of room for everyone.

When we met in Kenn Rd Car Park for the draw it was pretty windy and the forecast was for it to increase as the day went on. Fishing was to be from 1030 - 1630 which is a long day on the Kenn if its hard (and we know it can be).

I pulled out peg 13 which is a reasonable enough area and after parking in Long Acre Close which is adjacent to the river it was a very short walk.

I had my pole gear, waggler rods and a feeder rod, all options covered.

On arrival at my peg it was pretty calm due to being protected from the high bank opposite.

Due to the conditions I did set up a waggler for fishing across at the bottom of the far shelf where it is around 6 foot deep. The plan was to fish red maggot over maggot on this line. The feeder rod was set up with a small cage feeder and a B560 16 hook to 0.11to fish about 2/3rd's across but slightly downstream.

2 x 1 gram pole rigs were also set up to fish at 13 metres where it was around 7 foot deep. 1 rig had a drennan 20 to 0.10 fluro and 6 elastic, the other a B611 size 16 to 0.12 fluro for fishing worm or sweetcorn, elastic was a 12 hollow.

Sam rang me from Evesham before the "all in". He was laughing and I sort of knew what was coming ... let me explain. I have usually picked disc A5 from the draw matrix board at Evesham and I spoke to Sam at the end of last week and I said pick A5. Before he could say anything I said you've picked A5 and you've drawn peg 36 the current flyer. He was still chuckling away and confirmed I was right. I said your bound to frame from there and said we'll speak after the match.

At the start of my match I cupped in 3 balls of Sensas Black Lake and Gros Gardons laced with dead reds, a few casters and a little choppy.

Starting on the feeder with worm and fishmeal ground bait I fed some maggots across on the waggler line while waiting for a bream. Several casts later it just wasn't happening on the tip although I did get a very small slow pull which was probably a liner. I gave it 40 minutes before picking up the waggler.

The wind was picking up now and although I could get the waggler across ok and have some control over it feeding was hopeless. I gave the waggler up after I went squirrel fishing in a bush opposite.

It was over an hour into the match now and I picked up the light pole rig and put a maggot on the 20. I was long lining with the rig due to the wind and it was ok, it was just the odd gust that messed me up presenting.

It must have been about 20 minutes before I had a blade roach but at least I was up and running. 

I was fishing about 2 inches over depth and had a few small lift bites which gave me some more small roach. I fed another soft ball and shallowed up a bit but didn't have a bite after doing this so went back to just over depth again. Boom another bite straight away and a small skimmer.

We haven't seen small skimmers on the Kenn for ages so it was nice to see.

I put a small worm head on and I had a sail away bite on the drop. A good fish and the 6 elastic came rushing out. I did play it out in the middle but when I broke down it livened up again and done me in the rushes, it felt like a big perch.

I decided to put some neat chopped worm and caster in and picked up the heavier rig with a tail of a worm on the 16 hook. Instant response and a net roach.  More roach followed averaging around 3 to 4 oz.

Team mate Chris Hook who was not fishing came along the bank and said there was only a few small fish caught below me. He walked up to the other end and when he came back said the guy on the end peg to my left had a big tench and some roach. While Chris was there I had a few more decent roach on the worm.

A couple more guy's I know came walking along the bank and confirmed most were struggling.

It did slow up but I put another few roach in the net before the "all out".

Rob walked past me to weigh in from peg 6. When he came to me the best weight was 1lb 2oz.

I weighed 3lb 8oz so at least I would get the Section.

My catch.

Paul Randell upstream of me on peg 11 weighed a level 3lb. He caught small roach short on the waggler.

End peg upstream of me Dave Nash weighed 6lb 7oz, most of that weight was a tench.

Full results as follows....

1st     Dave Nash 6lb 7oz

2nd    Ivan Currie 3lb 8oz

3rd     Paul Randell 3lbs

A Section Kev Perry 1lb 2oz

B Section Rob Fogg 1lb 2oz

So a nice little £60 pick up.

Had there been a bit of colour in the water less bright sky and less wind it would have fished much better (we don't want much do we).

Back to Sam at Evesham ....... he rang to say he just sneaked in to qualify coming 3rd overall with 7lb plus and a £145 pick up, lovely job mate.

I'm back up Evesham on Wednesday and fishing the team qualifying match the following Sunday.

Wednesday 22nd June - Anglers Choice Qualifier, Warks Avon, Evesham

 I headed up the M5 again to Evesham after booking in on the Monday evening via Score Fishing. I still left home at 06:45 even though registration is not until 09:30 and the draw 10:00.

Just as well I did as the rail strike clearly had an impact on motorway traffic but it was a steady run up and I was in Wetherspoons for breakfast at 08:20. 

It was going to be a scorcher today with temperatures forecast around 27 degree's so wanted a bit of shade.

When I arrived at Hampton Ferry I had a chat with Tony Davis who is a mind of information on the venue. The attendance today was a healthy 40 anglers with 2 qualifying places up for grabs in the Evesham Festival at the end of August. Anglers who qualified could choose the Saturday or the Sunday match.

I was near the end of the draw queue (don't know how that happened) and I could hear some of the better pegs being drawn. I picked my usual A5 disc as it was still there and Diane turned it over to reveal peg 81!

"Bollocks" I thought, didn't want to be down there as it has been absolutely dire, it's ok when there's a bit of water and colour in the river. Last Sunday there was a dnw on it. The only bonus was it's an end peg.

When I got to the peg it did look lovely but looks can deceive down this end of the match length, there was no shade either so just as well I was covered in factor 50.

It's quite deep as well so the waggler rods stayed in the holdall.

Set up was a 2.5 gram at 13 metres with a drennan 20 carbon match to 0.10 fluro, 5 elastic, a 1 gram for 6 sections out trotting down the edge for perch, B560 18 to 0.12 fluro, 6 elastic, a strung out hemp rig, 4 x 14 for fishing anywhere depending how the match went. Finally a maggot feeder.

I mixed up some Sensas Black Lake and Gros Gardons Noire to get the bait down in the middle as it was top 4 deep but I would long line it fishing top 5. At 6 sections out it was about match top 3 deep and I would fish top 4 again long lining it to cover more water.

12:00 came and I fed half a pot of choppy and caster down the edge and 2 balls of the same down the middle. 

Starting off short I had a small perch first put in, only about 2 oz but was off ...

It took a while to get the next bite but a better perch this time at around 8oz, keep coming I thought, and they did. I kept lightly topping up and caught quite a few perch right down the peg between 2 and 4 ozs.

Just over an hour and a quarter had gone and I had a look down the middle on a worm head. The float went under like a skimmer sail away bite but it was a small perch. Some more followed and I bumped one so changed up to a B560 18. Much better but I made two school boy errors swinging the perch in only for them to drop off.

I feel I am really disciplined with my feeding at the moment on all lines and know when to rest them as well.

At just over the halfway stage the bites on both lines slowed up to next to nothing so had a look on the maggot feeder, not a bite after 20 minutes so went back on the pole lines to try and snare some more perch.

The hemp rig with maggot short produced some very small roach and nothing else.

During the last hour and a half I don't think I had a fish and was sweating in places I never sweated before, 2 bottles of water were also finished.

Even though the match finished at 17:00 it took until about 18:15 for me to weigh in. 

Drennan Oxfords Paul Passmore was above me on peg 79 and I watch him weigh 5lb 8oz but he had a big perch, I didn't think I had that.

I was correct, a pound short and 2nd in the section again in two matches.

No catch shot as it was too hot.

Top placings, qualifiers and section winners below.....

I do think I am progressing at Evesham, just need to draw better as well.

Clevedon Club match on the River Kenn this Sunday.

Sunday 19th June - Evesham Qualifier, Warks Avon, Evesham

 Not done much blogging recently which is due to being away on a few holidays..... Isles of Scilly end of April, Med Cruise early May and a cruise on the Danube going through Hungary, Austria and Germany.

But I'm back now and looking forward to a fair bit of fishing.

I didn't go out on the "glorious 16th" but did walk the bank on my local River Kenn taking photo's etc to promote the Club (Clevedon Freshwater Angling Club).

I needed a River Match at the weekend and as usual there was nothing on locally so booked into the Evesham Qualifier on the Sunday.

I have been going up there the last couple of years and although the fishing can be challenging it is also addictive.

I already knew the result of the Thursday and Saturday match before I arrived so had some up to date information. My knowledge of the water is improving and if you ask a question to some of the locals information it is usually forthcoming.

I was well prepped up for this match and left home around 06:45 for a steady drive up the M5, off at Tewksbury and then on to Evesham.

Wetherspoons opens at 8 o"o'clock and I got there just as they opened. Breakfast over and it was down to Hampton Ferry for the draw. Last year the draw was at 09:00 but it has been changed this year to 10:00 with registration from 09:30.

I caught up with Clive Branson who has just returned from 6 months in Thailand and a few others while we waited for the draw down by the Ferry. The rain on Saturday had freshened the river up and there was decent flow.

There was a good turnout of 60 anglers today.

I was about 2/3 rd's the way down the queue and when I got to the draw matrix A5 was still there (I usually pick this, don't know why but it's been good to me now and again).

The disc was turned over and I found myself heading to peg 21, never fished it before.

21 is the peg directly above Evesham Town Bridge and not known for its form as its not usually put in.

It was a very short walk to the peg from the van and looking around I knew it was not going to be quiet. Traffic on the bridge was heavy, lots of people out walking behind me as well as Children's Play Area and the rowers were out. But ... hey ho get on with it.....

Brian Pollard was on peg 20 just upstream and told me that my peg can be snaggy so it wasn't getting any better.

To be honest I thought the peg looked ok, there was cover across and I could trot under the bridge as well.

I set up a waggler at full depth across, it was only about 4 foot deep and not snaggy at all. Another waggler was set up around 3 foot deep, this would be my main line of attack.

A 4 x 14 strung out rig was also set up at 13 metres. I only had around 5 foot of water but was going to long line it and fish 3/4 depth. I would start of the wag and mag across and loose feed caster and hemp down the middle. A maggot feeder was also assembled to fish anywhere in the peg.

The all in was at 12:00.

I started off at full depth across and it took a while to get my first bite from a 1/2 oz chublet. 20 minutes in a barrel of a chub was hooked just as the float went under the bridge.

I was getting into a good rhythm feeding both lines and was reasonably positive with the feed. 15 more minutes or so passed before the waggler went under again and it was another small chublet. I tried the shallower waggler and had another chublet first trot down and way under the bridge. 

I could see that Brian above me was fishing the pole but wasn't catching much.

I decided to carry on with the waggler line up until about 13:30 before going on the pole and in the remaining time I added a couple of small perch.

I picked up the pole as planned and just let the rig run through at the pace of the river. Although I was feeding caster and hemp I put a maggot on the hook just to see what was about. It didn't take long to get a small perch followed by a chublet. Lovely I thought, I've got this sussed! Some anglers behind me who were not fishing but watching the match said I had good skills .. lol ... cheers guys...... (I'll pay you later).

No more bites but kept feeding both lines.

A quick look on the maggot feeder across got me another perch (didn't even see the bite).

Back on the waggler swapping between two depths produced the odd small fish, blade roach and micro chublets.

A couple more fish were caught on pole but nothing big.

Into the last hour I felt I had to make something happen so upped the feed on the waggler and included some hemp. To my surprise I had a number of small fish on the trot, dumpy perch and chublets.

When the all out came I knew I hadn't got much and was surprised to weigh 3lb 11oz missing out on the mini section by 10 oz.

The full results board is below as well as the top placings and section winners.

I'm back up to Evesham again on Wednesday to have another go.