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.
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