Sunday 27th November - Tiverton Christmas Match, Grand Western Canal

 Team mate Sam Johnson and I have fished this early Christmas match a few times now. It is always well run and the prizes are very good.

Sam travelled down the week before and picked up our tickets in Cullompton Angling Centre.

I contacted Russell Hilton to see if he knew where it was being pegged in order to get my bearings as I have been way out of Tiverton before and nearly got lost. Russell indicated that it would probably be from the town basin towards Tidcombe and sent me a couple of map images. He also said "you don't want to be in front of the houses at Tidcombe".

There had been a pairs match on the canal a few weeks ago and it fished pretty well with bream dominating but there had been a bit of colour then.

The Grand Western is a very shallow canal and in most places no more than 13 metres wide. Boat traffic is just about non existent. My tray of rigs for the Kennet and Avon would more than suffice so prep was minimal.

The draw was in the Canal Basin Car Park at 08:00 with fishing 09:30 - 14:30.

After meeting at McDonalds in Tiverton we headed off to the draw. 

After registering we found that 41 were fishing today and everyone could walk to the pegs from the draw.

The draw was done after someone called a random number between 1 and 41, 25 was called so the person against that number was first. As Sam and I were 19 and 18 we would be near the end.

Most fancied pegs 1 to 10 and at the start a lot of high numbers were coming out. By the time it got to Sam there was only one peg left in the basin, peg 2 and Sam got it, he was happy with that.

I was next and number 31 was given to me, not good, Tidcome in front of the houses. I had to walk past the decent pegs and passed Russell on peg 8, needless to say he was quite happy as a bream weight had come off it during the pairs match.

I got to my peg and it did look inviting but I was conscious of what Russell and others had told me. Basically on the opposite bank were gardens coming right down to the canal from bungalow's. The area was also full of ducks and swans waiting for the owners of the properties to feed them. The ducks were all over the place chasing each other etc.

The towpath here had a bit of wear but I was able to set up a platform in the water.

Angling journalist Dom Garnett took the photo

I plumped up with a 4 x 12 and found that down the track it was less than 3 foot deep so set up two identical rigs one with a number 4 elastic and the other with a 5 just in case big fish turned up, yeah right. Size 20 hooks to 0.10 completed the set up. Across it was around 2 foot deep about half a metre from the bank. Another 4 x 12 with a 4 elastic covered this area and that was it, simples.

At the start I put in a small amount of minces worm across to the left of the bush, loose fed pinkie right in front of me and another minced worm line to my right.

I then put a small ball of liquidised bread down the track to my right leaving in front of me and to the right free to see what happened.

First put in down the track over the bread with a 5 mm punch the float buried and a small roach about 3 ounces was caught followed by another then nothing. I put another pinch of bread in and had another then nothing. I gave it another 15 minutes and nothing.

A small ball of bread then was put in to my right and as soon as I went over it a slow sail away bite brought me a small skimmer. As soon as I hooked it you could see it. No more bites on that line after that.

Hmmmmm what to do.

I went over on the minced worm line a bit early but I had an immediate bite and had another roach around 4 oz, yes please I thought keep them coming. As with my bread lines, no more bites followed so re-fed more worm. A look across in front of me with pinkie produced nothing.

Dom Garnett was next to me on 30 and he was also struggling despite trying different lines. I was also ahead of the angler on 32 would as far as I knew only had a couple of blade roach.

Get your head down Ivan and win the section I thought.

The minced worm line across produced the most fish but you would feed, catch and then have to feed again wait 10 minutes and then nick another one. The middle didn't give me anything.

About 10 minutes from the all out Dom caught and landed a small pike which count in these matches.

Bugger I thought but then remembered he was in the next section.

When the scales came down to me I weighed 0.975 which was made up of about 20 fish, I certainly had the most in the section but not enough weight as a couple of the 1kg weights had perch.

As I walked back to the car park I had heard that Russell had a good day catching skimmers and bream.

I met up with Sam before he weighed, the basin area had fished poorly, Sam weighed 0.700.

Russell blitzed the match with over 9 kg, photo below.

Here are the weigh sheets and full results, I actually finished 15 from 41 so not too bad.

Sam got his section by quadruple default, unbelievable, lol.

Acorn fishery match tomorrow and then Commercial House Xmas match on the K & A Sunday.

Sunday 13th November - Bill Milton Memorial Poppy Appeal Open, Bristol Avon, Newbridge - Chequers

This match attracts anglers from all over the South West and beyond, even anglers who just fish Commercials most of the year come together to support this worthy cause. 

As usual the organisation was superb and lead by Ray Bazely and Paul Benson with support from a number of others who regularly give up their time to ensure the match is a success.

Team mates Sam Johnson, Leigh Wakefield and I bought our tickets some time ago from Rich Lacey who promotes the match and sells them during the Sensas Bristol Commercial House League.

I met Sam at McDonalds on the Bath Rd around 06:45 before going to the Somerdale Pavilion on the old Fry's Chocolate site at Keynsham which is a great location for the draw.

We met up with Leigh and paid our pools. 100 pegs today and completely sold out.

The pegs were well spread out with decent access and parking for such a huge match.

We thought there would be a big bream weight today and Newbridge would be the place to draw especially after the rain in the week. Some of the pegs at Chequers could throw up a weight as well.

Brian Lloyd from the British Legion read the citation and after the 2 minutes silence the draw got under way. Sam was early in the queue while Leigh and I were a little way back.

I drew 62 and initially I was quite excited but then thought you idiot its not permanent peg 62 at Newbridge your up the Crane which I didn't really want. Leigh was also up the Crane upstream of the High Wall. Leigh and I briefly caught up with Sam before he went and found that he was on permeant peg 59 at Newbridge 20 something in todays match and where I had a 31lb bag of bream and roach in a league match a few weeks ago.

It was only a couple of minutes drive for Leigh and I to park up before heading up the Crane. The only person ahead of me up the Crane was Dean Harvey and I caught up with him on the gate just before the Little Ash Tip field. We helped each other with the gear over the style. Dean had helped peg the match the day before and said we were both in the Big Ash Tip Field so another fence to go over. Dean was on 63.

Once I got to my peg I recognised it as I had 27 lb of roach from it a few years ago in a league match.

The bank was a bit steep but steps were cut out and I was able to get my platform in the water and set up nice and comfy. 

I had take the pole with me but it wasn't an option today so just set up a 4 gram bolo, 2 feeder rods, one maggot and one open ended.

The river looked spot on although a bit pacey.

I had already pre mixed up 3 kilo of ground bait consisting of Sensas black river, gros gardons noire and a little black magic. Before adding more water I put 4 pints aside for the open ended feeder before adding more water and a little lean for a real heavy mix to get it down to the bottom in the 9 foot deep swim.

8 balls laced with caster, hemp, dead reds and a little worm went in a third the way out followed by 6 feeder fulls of caster and worm just past the middle and downstream for bream.

I started on the bolo with the 16 foot rod and had a roach straight away on the size 18 B560 to 0.11. I started to spray red maggot up against the boat opposite.

I was catching fairly regular not huge roach but good weight builders if they continued to stay. I was surprised to see Ray and Paul come behind me about 40 minutes in. They watched me for a while and said I was doing it right as most of the others on the Crane were just fishing the feeder and not catching.

To my right going out a good rod length was a sunken reed bed and after about 2 hours while I was bringing a roach alongside it from downstream I had a pike attack. Pike count in this match but I had no chance of landing it took me back into the reed bed and bit me off.

This was the first of many pike attacks.

I put a few more balls in a bit further out to try and keep away from the reed bed on the retrieve and it worked for a while before the pike cottoned on.

Changing to loose feeding did give me some respite but also meant I had to trot further down the peg to connect with the fish.

I still had been spraying maggot across and took a look on the bolo, it was easy to cast the 4 gram rig across as the wind was light.

The float went under and it was a chub just over a pound. No more followed but I had some roach.

Up until the last 30 minutes I just chopped and changed the bolo down the middle and across. The last 30 minutes I put the maggot feeder across by the boat looking for more chub but it didn't happen.

I ended up with 11 lb 9 oz which was 2nd in the section to Jon Tocknell who had 12 lb 14 oz.

my bag

Jon Tocknell

Dean was making a few phone calls and found that the bream hadn't shown at Newbridge or anywhere else. The Tree's section had fished really hard as did Chequers.

I caught up with Leigh back at the van and he said he had 7lb odd helped by a small pike.

Back at the Club I spoke to Tim Ford briefly and when I told him my weight he said I might frame as they were paying the top 10.

Well I didn't make the top 10 but Jon did so got the section by default and ended up one out of the main money so 11th out of 100 isn't bad.

Sam done really well coming 2nd overall with 15 lb 12 oz.

Paul Issac's won from the Jack Whites section with 19 lb 1 oz and Kev Dicks was 3rd with 15 lb 2 oz from behind the pump house at Newbridge.

The top three, well done chaps

Results including section winners

Ray announced that over £2000 had been raised but today (Monday) I see that the figure now stands at £2780.

Up to fish a qualifier at Evesham on Wednesday and working on the River Kenn with a few guys on Friday doing repairs to pegs and pruning.

Sunday 6th November - Sensas Bristol Commercial House League final round, K & A Canal Bathampton - Dundas

In my opinion this has been one of the best series of the league for a few years. Although only 5 teams of 6 this year the contribution and support by everyone has made the 2022 league a great success.

A big thanks to Nicky and Mike Goodhind, Andy Britt and Vince Lunn for the behind the scenes work and organisation on the day of each match. Thanks must also go to the staff at the Crown Pub in Keynsham for hosting the draw and the results over 5 matches and the 37 Club in Puriton who hosted the first match on the Kings Sedgemoor Drain. 

A few new faces fished the league this year which is great to see and will help the league to continue.

Due to various issues which couldn't be helped my Sensas Nomads Team struggled for anglers this year but we were covered for each match thanks to Baz Bright, Jack Jones, Andy Cranston and Dave Lewis.

Team fishing isn't for everyone but although you always want to come back with good points this league isn't serious enough to get too annoyed if it doesn't work out on the day.

The league itself was very tight this year and there were some great individual performances. The Lower Bristol Avon fished its head off although some of the pegs at Swineford and Jack Whites are getting very dangerous which could put off new teams joining, something that needs to be looked at for next year.

The draw at 08:00 sharp worked well and with an amendment to the fishing times (1015 - 1515) gave everyone a chance to park and set up.

Todays match on the Canal was pegged as follows:

The George Bathampton A & B Section

A1 Start of bay

A2 White gate

A3 Flag pole

A5 Tree swing (rope)

B1 Opposite tree between boats

B2 start of bay

B3 after bay reeds

B4 before wires

B5 after wires

Claverton  C, D & E Section

C1 -C5 Claverton towards Bath around bend, all 5 in a row.

D1 Claverton towards Ferry Lane near bench

D3 This side of bay

D4 Far side of bay

E3 & E4 either side of wires

E5 Ferry Lane

Dundas Turning Bay towards Diggers F Section

F1 – F5

Our Team today was.....

Me, I drew B5 above the wires at Bathampton (end peg)

Brian Melksham who drew A1 start of turning bay opposite Bathampton School

Sam Johnson who drew C2 which is not a great area

Jan Van Myzak (our dutch international) who drew D4, can be a great peg

Leigh Wakefield drew E3, not bad

Dave Lewis F2 at Dundas, right area

Off we went to Bath then, not far from Keynsham but I have suggested if we fish the Canal next year we do the draw a bit nearer to the venu plus a lot of us had to go the long way around to avoid the congestion charge in Bath.

I parked in the George Pub Car Park in Bath which Nicky had kindly agreed with the Manager as long as we scanned our reg in before we left after the match.

Brian's peg looked great opposite the School and he has fished here a few times so I expected him to do well.

Due to moored boats the pegs were well spread out and in particular mine and Neil Mercers.

It was a nice morning but due to lash down with heavy rain later.

My peg was in-between 2 boats but still plenty of room and they didnt look as if they were going to move during the day.

I was surprised to see the water so clear which was likely to be a problem. A nice bit of depth right across for choppy lines (approx 2.5 foot), 3 foot at the bottom of the far shelf and about 4 down the track, the same rig done under the boat to my left.

Various canal rigs were already set up with the appropriate hooks to save time and no adjustment was required.

At 1015 I cupped in 2 golf balls of bread down the track, fed 2 choppy and caster lines tight across and a soft ball with dead pinkie at the bottom of the far shelf.

Starting off on the bread line with 6mm punch I expected it to sail under pretty quick ....... nothing, not a sign even by slightly lifting and dropping. 15 minutes in and still not an indication. I put a white pinkie on and still no response. I fed another pinch of liquidised and it didn't make any difference. When the bread went in you could almost see it on the bottom. I gave this line a good 30 minutes but no joy.

Going across on one of the choppy lines with a worm head the float sat motionless, I was now very concerned. Nothing on the other choppy line either so re-fed more worm.

Just over an hour had gone and I had a look at the bottom of the far shelf with a fluro pinkie. The float went under and a barely half ounce perch was swung in. Not a good sign and no more bites there after 10 minutes.

I went back over the worm line while the tow was pulling towards Bath and let a worm tail run through all the way down the peg against some reeds. Under it went first time and a perch of around 4 oz was netted. I had another 3 small perch while the tow remained.

2 hours had gone so I phoned Sam, he was also struggling. Neil came walking up from the peg below me and said he only had a couple of small perch, Nicky below him had one and the others below were struggling as well.

So section wise at this point I was doing ok. Given that everyone seemed to be having a nightmare I decided just to go all out for perch.

Finely chopped worm was fed on all lines including under the left hand boat and the worm dobbing began lol.

The lifting and drooping did work in a fashion as I ended up with 1lb 9oz which got me 3 points from 5. The section was won by Shaun Townsend with 3lb plus maily small roach and Paul Purchase had 2lb 3oz of mainly small roach late, the roach caught were small even by canal standards.

In A section Shane Caswell won it with 9lb 7oz of mainly roach and our man Brian done the business catching 8lb 11oz for second in section.

Leigh done the best in our team taking 4 points from 5 with 5lb 14oz, Sam had 2lb 15 for 3 points and Jan and Dave blew out giving us a total of 16 points which wasn't good.

I haven't seen the canal fish that bad for ages but without any colour it was always going to be hard. The only place there was colour was at Dundas and the top 4 weights came from there.

Vince Lunn was at Dundas and made no mistake catching just over 13lbs of nice skimmers and roach to win the match.

Vince with his catch.

Here is the match report from Vince from the leagues facebook page.............

The final round of the Commercial House League 2022 was fished on the Kennet & Avon canal from Bathampton through to Dundas.

The weather was overcast for most of the day with heavy rain at times. The canal was coloured at Dundas, which produced the top 3 weights in the match, but it was clear in the rest of the sections.

Only 6 anglers caught more than 6 lbs.

The winner of the match was Vince Lunn fishing for M & N Electrical, drawn on F4 at Dundas. He caught 6 skimmers from 6 ozs to 1 lb 8 ozs on the bread down the middle along with lots of quality roach. Then he caught more quality roach on red maggot over groundbait 3/4 across. He also caught roach, dace and bleak on castors right over. He weighed in 13 lbs 5 ozs.

2nd, on the next peg (F3) was Craig Pinker of Midland Spinner. He fished bread 2/3rds across and caught 7 skimmers and lots of small roach.

He then caught more small roach right over on pinkie having fed groundbait with dead pinkie and squatts in.

He finished with 11 lbs 1 oz.

3rd was Rich Lacey (Mosella Bathampton) from end peg F1. He fished bread at 5 metres and caught 3 skimmers from 1 lb to 2 lbs and some roach.

Then he put in some joker across and caught lots of roach and chublets. He weighed in 9 lbs 15 ozs.

4th Shane Caswell - Midland Spinner - 9 lbs 7 ozs

5th Jeff Surmon - Midland spinner - 9 lbs 1 ozs

6th Brian Melksham - Sensas Nomads - 8 lbs 11 ozs

Midland Spinner won on the day with 27 points which is only 3 points dropped.

M & N Electrical were 2nd with 21 points, whilst the league leaders Mosella Bathampton were 3rd with 16.5 points.

After the final round, only 8.5 points separated the top 4 teams, so it was very close.

Mosella Bathampton won the league overall with 123.5 points from M & N Electrical on 121.

Toby Bentham (M & N Electrical) won his section to claim the top individual over the series with 24 points.

Jeff Surmon (Midland Spinner) was 2nd with 23 points.

Nick Coles (Mosella Bathampton) and Sam Johnson (Sensas Nomads) had 21 points, with Nick taking 3rd place on weight.

Andy Richings had the biggest fish of the series with a 6 lbs 14 oz bream.

Top of teams:

Sensas Nomads: Sam Johnson

Mosella Bathampton: Nick Coles

M & N Electrical: Toby Bentham

Midland Spinner: Jeff Surmon

Teams on the day

Midland Spinner 27

M & N Electrical 21

Mosella Bathampton 16.5

Sensas Nomads 16

Crown 8.5

League positions

Mosella Bathampton 123.5

M & N Electrical 121

Midland Spinner 119

Sensas Nomads 115

Crown 53.5

Having a pleasure session on the River Kenn on Wednesday then the Poppy Match on Sunday.

Tight lines all.