Sunday 18th April - Clevedon Club Match, Apex Lake Highbridge

 There was a big match on the Gloucester Canal today but as I had already booked in for my Club Match I decided to continue with that.

This is my personal opinion / views, not the Clubs.......

How can you be charged a peg fee over and above the cost of a day ticket for a match? 

On top of that why did shopping trollies have to removed by from pegs as well as cutting reeds in order that the booked pegs could be fished?

It beats me or i must be missing something!

The match was well attended with 22 taking part and Adie our Match Secretary done a good job trying to keep everyone within the COVID guidelines.

A few had been down on the lake during the week and had to wait a long time for a few bream, I think about 30lb was best.

I had fished the lake a long time ago, probably 8 years.

Into the bag and I was give peg 30 just on the edge of the bowl and where the lake starts to narrow going up towards an Island.

Got to my peg and the reeds narrowed right in front of the platform. No chance of setting a tip rod up at an angle so set about cutting them. Ended up slicing my finger on one of them and Matt Davis came to the rescue with plasters, so not a good start and by the time I was ready the match had already started 10 minutes. 

I had a fishmeal feeder line at 40 turns and 2 pole lines at 13 metres, 11 o'clock and 2 o'clock prepped with sensas lake and choppy with dead pinkie.

Starting off on the feeder I was casting a bit chac handed as the plaster on my finger was getting in the way. Eventually I got a rattle and swung in a small skimmer so off the mark.

Kev Perry was next door but I couldn't see him and was asking for updates lol.

I had a good roach next which actually hooked itself as I didn't see the bite!

Paul Smith was on the other side of me on 29 and lost a decent bream at the net, so there seemed to be a few fish about.

I persevered with the tip for just over an hour without adding any more fish. Coming in on the pole at 11 o'clock the float sailed away in less than 4 foot of water and the 5 elastic shot out. It was a small skimmer about a pound. 

Swapping between all my lines through the gruelling 6 hours I didn't see much action at all.

Looking down toward the bottom end of the lake I couldn't see much action at all, if any so knew it had been hard for a lot. In fact Match Organiser Adie did not have a single bite.

Kev next door to me sat on the tip all day and ended up with around 6 or 7 baby bream for 18lb plus which wa enough to win the match.

Kev with his winning bag

Full results as follows..

1st         Kev Perry 18 - 11

2nd       Mark Bromsgrove 16 - 14

3rd        Mark Bartlett 10 - 01

4th        Simon Carvallo 9 - 06

5th        Paul Smith 8 - 12

Pleasure fishing Wednesday on the Bristol Feeder Canal and then the start of the Gloucester Canal Spring League on Sunday (another hard match).  

Press report - Clevedon Freshwater AC Match 24th Nov Apex Lake

I did not fish this match due to the Commercial House League - here is the press report for local papers

2 wins on the trot for Mark

Mark Bromsgrove won his second match in successive weeks when Clevedon Freshwater Angling Club visited Apex Lake in Highbridge for their latest competition. A hard overnight frost affected the fishes willingness to feed on this shallow lake and the luck of the draw was important as fish shoaled up in certain areas. On form angler Mark Bromsgrove who won the previous match at Plantation Lakes used a variety of hook baits and light feeding to attract a match wining 28lb 8oz of skimmer bream. Second place was filled by seasoned silverfish angler Paul Faires who weighed in a similar mix of fish for 16lb 4oz. Simon Carvello returned to competitive angling after a long break to fill third place with 11lb 10oz.

Sunday 14th July - Apex Lake

Having probs with blog hence late post.... hope this works.

There was a Clevedon Club Match on the Top Lake at Acorn Fisheries on Saturday (part of the Saturday Series), I had not fished any of the previous ones so did not bother, I tend to do a lot of running around on Saturdays in order to free time up to fish on a Sunday. John Wolstencroft (who has been mentioned many times on my blog) sent me a text during the week asking if I fancied meeting up down at Apex Lake. I was thinking of the middle or lower Bristol Avon but thought that'll do as it is one of my favourite lakes (not a commercial). I rolled into the car park just before 7:45 as arranged, John was already there and more or less loaded up. Colourful as ever he proceeded to tell me about a Magistrates dog breaking his number 6 section down Viaduct last week and I gather Steve Long had to intervene before the Magistrate went for a swim, We decided to fish the early pegs adjacent to Apex Drive, the wind would be in our face and little or no trouble from dog walkers, kids, cycles etc. So Barrow load up and off we go, not, my wheel had a flat. John took my pole holdall and I forced the rest around to the pegs taking a breather every so often. I went and got the car after getting to the peg. Pegs 1, 2 and 3 were vacant so I plumbed for 2 and John settled in on 3. There was only a light wind and temeratures were around 20c, lot of fish topping and the odd swirl from carp, I would not be bothering with them though and set up 2 top 3's which were identical except for the float tip clour, one red and one yellow/greenish. Depth the same at 13m and 14m right and left of me, nice and easy.0.13 mainline and 0.10 hooklength to a 18 Drennan Silver Fish. Bait was caster, maggot, hemp and 6mm soft pellet, GB was 50% Noire and 50% Fishmeal.

Before fishing John had 2 mishaps, reel spool went in the water and despite dredging with his landing net only found a cash box with something rattling inside and a fe plastic bags but more about this later. He then dropped his flask and smashed it, second one in 2 weeks!!!

So eventually we were fishing, I was going all out for silvers and John was to do the same but have a lok for carp later on in the day. After 2 hours we both had fish but nothing of any size, I was catching long and John much shorter, it was a mix of small skimmers and roach. In the 3rd hour we both bumped better fish (bream), I finally got one about 2lb on double soft pellet but no more followed until I fished worm and a better fish of around 3lb was had. Chopping and changing brought more fish at intervals but they were not getting their heads down.

Here is John concentrating down the edge on 10mm meat, he caught a roach on it, not sure if he had enough bait here!

We both had action most of the day and it was great to keep it simple and tradional, John ended up with 4kg 10 and I had 6kg 20, here are the pics of our catch.

As for the spool retrieval well, John did strip off, here he is getting ready to dive, I know he is fond of ducks but getting this close maybe a step too far, what a body.

Here he is almost underwater, he took several dives and did manage to get his spool back, well done mate, plus a pair of sun glasses, a bolt rig and more plastic bags, oh and I think there is some evidence of webbing between those toes, lol, good luck at Shackles next week John. What a great day.

Sunday 6th January - Apex Lake pleasure session

With no Club Match on this week up I was undecided what to do up until the Saturday. During the week I was thinking about fishing the Saturday Open at Acorn as the wife was working or book into Summerhayes for the Sunday Open. I really wanted to fish for some proper Silvers though and finally narrowed my choice down to two venues, Apex Lake in Highbridge or the River Kenn. I bought some caster, maggot and groundbait from Cadbury Angling on the Saturday afternoon, I had some worm and dead reds at home so I was fully armed for a pleasure session.... somewhere.
I fancied the upper reaches of the Kenn up by the Cross Waters and took a look on the way home from the tackle shop. It looked fairly good, nice clour but just a little too pacey with the old River Kenn coming into to it and the ditch opposite also in full flow due to all the water draining off the moors, by Wednesday it would be spot on if it remained dry, I will be back though befor the end of the river season. That was that then, Apex it was.

Alarm went off 06:40, got up 07:50, well no rush today. Even when I was packing the car I was still being drawn to the Kenn! A short trip down the M5, 7.5 degrees and a bit foggy, arrived in the lake car park at 09:00 ish. On arrival there were loads of guys about, car boots open, it looked like there was a match on. Upon further examination it was loads of guys out 'twitching' bird watching. I asked one of them what were they looking at / for, he replied some kind of birds name, he could see I looked puzzled and then said a big f*****g angry gull to you lol.

I decided to fish in the narrow part of the lake nearest the sea, John Wolstencroft and I had done well in this area before. There were only 3 other anglers on the lake, 2 piking (didn't know there were pike in here) and 1 carping, all on the far side and down towards the boating lake end so plenty of room.

I was fishing by 10:15, 1 rig fished at 12:00 and 14:00, same depth approx 5', 4 x 14, with 0.13 main and 0.10 trace with a drennan 18 silver fish, thats as technical as it gets, oh and fished at 14m.

Groundbait mix was Sensas Nore and Greem Stim. 2 cup fulls in on both lines with caster and a few dead reds. Straight out at 12:00 with a live maggot and I was in to a small skimmer straight away, same secon put in, 3rd put in bumped a good bream.

Tried the 14:00 line, nothing and did not get a bite from it alL day.

I re-fed a little more GB and went back out with double caster, skimmer and a few more but bumped another good fish. Trouble was my lightest elastic was Preston Blue Hollow, I left a top 3 at home with  No.5 pure latex.

Anyway I had bites all day on varous baits and all from the one line. Finished the day just after 15:00, managed to persuade a passing youth to take the pic below, he seemed a bit reluctant or was he thinkin of running off with the camera. I ended up with just over 12lb but should have been around 20lb had I had the right elastic.

Club Match next Sunday on Woodlands Lake Trinity Waters.

Saturday and Sunday 13th / 14th October River Kenn and Apex Lake

Saturday;
I got a call on Friday to inform me that the Clevedon Inter Club Match with Frys AC had been cancelled due to the Avon being in full flood. It was the right call as the banks can be dangerous under normal conditions.
My wife went to Weymouth with her mum and brother for the weekend so I planned to go out somewhere on both days.
I fancied fishing the River Kenn again after my success a few weeks ago and didn't think the river would have been affected that much by the recent rain. I was also toying with fishing Bristol City Docks at Baltic Wharf or Apex Lake in Highbridge.
After doing a few odd jobs on the Saturday morning I headed down to Cadbury Angling and picked up some caster and maggot, I already had plently of worm and groundbait. I had intended to go the long way round to the shop to look at the river on the way but decided against it, surely it would be fishable. Wrong!
I got to peg 5 and could not believe it, the river was rushing through and at the lowest I had ever seen it. I was going to go on one of the local lakes but saw 2 big fish move above the outfall. That was it, I tackled up with just the feeder and fished a whole worm on a 14. It was hard work with all the weed etc but I did manage an eel about 1 hour in. Soon after I caught a glimpse of someone on the bank behind me and did not take that much notice until I heard something along the lines of..... '' never seen the river so low but there is a mad irishman fishing peg 5'', I turned around and it was John aka 'the duck' Wolstencroft! I caught 1 more eel while John was there.
John was looking for somewhere to fish on Sunday and after a short debate we agreed to meet at Apex the next morning for a days silver fishing. John went off about his business, I stayed until 2.30 and packed up.

Sunday;
Up bright and early on the Sunday morning at 6.30 to meet John in the car park at Apex at 8.00. I looked out and the car was covered in frost, bugger! I let the dog out and to be honest it did not feel too bad.
On the drive down the M5 the temperature changed between 2 and 2.5 degrees. I got here about 8.00, John was already there and unloaded ready to go, he had not been out for a few weeks either. A quick chat about where to fish and we decided on going around the back of the lake, I pitched up on 29 and John on 30, the pegs did not appeared to have been fished recently.
Both of us took a simple approach today, a light feeder set up for the first hour, 1 pole rig (although John set up 2 the only difference being elastic strengths). 18 hooks and 0.10 hook length. Feed would be caster in a dark groundbait mix and worm, caster, maggot on the hook.
We started fishing around 10 with both of us cupping in some caster etc, john was fishing 11 meters, I opted for 14.

View of my peg

First cast in with the feeder I got knocks straight away which I was not expecting, there was hardly andy ripple and we had a bright blue sky. John also had bites straight away and was soon putting a small skimmer in the net. I soon followed with a skimmer and some roach but they were hard to hit. After an hour John out the pole out and I could see he was getting bites every put in but was bumping a lot of fish due to the size of them. I stayed on the tip for another 30 mins or so and put a decent 12oz roach in the net.

Out on the pole line around 11:15 and I to got bites straight away, caster and crumb were put in with via the kinder cup and a proper ball via the pole cup every 20 mins or so. I soon had quite a few skimmers and som better samples, it was great to fish a match top 3 with a preston blue hollow elastic, proper fishing. John also ha a few better samples. We both had to chop and change hookbaits to keep the fish interested but they did respond to feed every time.

We packed up around 4.00 and just after an isolated heavy showerm the wind had picked up as well.

John weighed just over 13lb, pic below.

No ducks today for John but there was a grebe on a suicide misson in his peg toward the end of the session.

I weighed in just over 20lb and only beat John due to having some better samples. My camera has been playing up and John took this pic of me while I was looking down, he had another reason for taking the pic too quickly as he was probably still dizzy after falling of my platform backards!

Apex Lake is on the North Somerset Anglers tab, it's not a commercial and there is a good head of silvers in it as well as carp, it is a great winter venue and has easy access, most pegs have platforms. The average depth is around 5' to 6'.

All in all a great day, thanks for the company John.

Next Sunday we are due to fish an interclub on the Avon at Swineford, river conditions permitting.

Sunday 20th May Clevedon Club Match Apex Lake Highbridge

Well I am kackered! Went to Twickenham yesterday to watch Ulster play in the Hineken cup, we got slaughtered but there was much merryment! Up at 6:30 this morning to allow enough time to sort the tackle (and me) out and also to call into Olivers in Clevedon for some maggot, I had some pellet and worm.
Anyway here is the press report and pics, I got beaten into 2nd place by a carp, it was a struggle but enjoyed it never the less.

Clevedon Freshwater Angling Club headed down the M5 again to hold the next leg of their match programme, this time it was on Apex Lake at Highbridge. New member and local resident Kevin Lawer made a good impression on his first outing with the club winning with a total weight of 9lb 7ozs. Kevin catch consisted of one good carp which was caught in the first hour on the method feeder and some small bream which he caught later on the pole at 13 meters off peg 39 using maggot. Second on the day with 8lb 11oz was club press officer Ivan Currie who caught skimmer bream consistently through the day using a pole at 13 meters with red maggot on the hook and feeding dry ground bait with a small amount of mirco pellet and maggot. Third was the winner from a few weeks ago John Woolstencroft with a sing carp for 8lb. The next match is Monday 4^th June at Acorn Fisheries, for more details go to http://clevedon-fwac.webs.com/

1st Kev Lawer

2nd (himself) Ivan Currie

3rd (and not a duck in sight) John Woolstencroft

Right, it's 20:25 and bedtime for me!

Not sure what I am doing next week.

Clevedon v Fry's Sunday 19th February Apex Lake Highbridge

Those people who stayed inside today looking out would have presumed it was a pleasant day - not so if you are fishing a lake half a mile from the Bristol Channel with a cold wind blowing up it all day into your face and you are sat in water nearly up to your knees. I have warmed up now thanks to a large Jamesons.
Not sure how today ended up as an interclub but it did with 13 anglers from Clevedon fishing against 13 from Fry's AC. We end up fishing with Frys a few times a year and the two clubs also do a ticket exchange, they are a good bunch but man do they talk all day and take the p**s out of each other.
Although there had been a frost I was looking forward to the match as I have caught on the venue in cold conditions before but that was mainly pleasure fishing, today would be different due to the majority of the pegs being put in.
Match Secretary Barry explains the pegging before the draw and who is responsible for weighing etc, the majority of us do not have a degree in 'barry speak' so chairman Steve Bonwick gave an alternative version. Fishing would be 10:30 - 16:00. Into the sensas draw bucket and out come peg 24 bugger top end of the lake with not much winter form. The favourable areas were always going to be the wider bottom end of the lake pegs 1-6 or in the 30's.
I get to my peg and to be honest it didn't look too bad, no platform though so had to extend the legs on my box which when leveled meant my feet would be in the water all day.

view from my peg

On 25 I had Bristol Docks ace and Dynamite bait backed Pete Sivell and on 23 was Match Secretary Barry.

Small cage feeder with dead red or pinkie or caster was to be the main method today and I also set up a pole line at 8 meters, no farther out due to the wind, the depth more or less all the way across was about 5 feet. To cut to the chase I had 3 fish all on the feeder for 4lb 5oz, Pete won the section with 6 fish for 5lb 2oz and Barry didn't have a bite. The best weight on the bank directly opposite us was 3lb 2oz.

Overall the match was won in the first 30 mins by Rob Garland (Fry's) with 3 carp on bread, he added a few skimmers for a total weight of 28lb 8oz pictured below.



Second with an all skimmer net was in form Clevedon angler Adie Baker with 20lb 11oz and third was Fry's AC Brian Derrick with a mixed bag for 12lb 15oz.

1st Peg 35 Rob Garland 28 - 08

2nd Peg 5 Adie Baker 20 - 11

3rd Peg 4 Brian Derrick 12 - 15

Total weight Clevedon - 43 - 08

Total weight Frys 41 - 7

1st outing of 2012 - Apex Lake Monday 2nd January

I wasn't really sure whether or not to fish over the New Year long weekend or even where to go but bought some maggot and caster plus some bream 3000 from Cadbury Angling on New Years Eve just in case, I had some worm plus various pellet, corn and some green swim stim in my bait store at home. In my mind I was thinking Apex Lake would be a good choice as I have had some decent winter bags there in the past but just don't seem to get around to fishing it as often as I would like. After a relaxing day on the Sunday due to waking up with a mild hangover I went to bed and set the alarm for 7:20am on the Monday. Got up within 10 mins of the alarm going off and looked out to find the weather did not appear to be too bad. By 08:45 I was in the car park unloading the car, The wind was typically blowing towards the housing estate from the sea and the temp guage in the car stated 6.5 degrees, the wind made it feel a bit colder. I decided to put all the bream fishing best practice and theory to the test and fish into the wind, I settled on Peg 3 which has plenty of water in front of it. On the way round I noticed one angler was fishing in the 'no fishing zone' but did not ask how he was getting on. Another angler was on Peg 6, he had been there about 2 hours with nothing to show and suggested most anglers had been struggling of late. I looked at his end rig and saw a 10mm white hair rigged bolie being buried in among some groundbait, I didn't suggest to him that his chances of any action would be limited. Back to Peg 3 I decided it would be a one rod attack and set up my trusty 11.5ft drennan medium feeder rod with a 1.5oz tip, 3lb reel line, a small cage feeder and a 3 foot trace of 0.10 preston power line to an 18.
I mixed up some bream 3000 and swim stim, 50/50. On the bait tray was 1/4 pint of dead reds, 1/2 pint caster and 1/4 live reds plus I cam across some near death pinkies in the bottom of the carry all.
Cast out 3 times with a few casters and pinkies in the feeder at about 35 - 40 meters and clipped up. After about 20 mins a skimmer about a pound is safely snared by 2 dead reds, the bite was postive and set the scene for the rest of the session. Within a few more casts a decent skimmer about 2lb graces the net again on 2 dead reds, the the heavens opened and the wind got worse but with my head down still concentrating on the rod the tip goes around and stays there, carp me thinks but no, picking up the rod the typical feel of a good bream and a real beauty at around 4lb. Two other anglers turned up opposite me with their backs to the wind and brollies up, very comfortable but only saw them catch one fish between them in the 4 hours I was there. I continued to catch skimmers every so often and missed a few bites as well. On one occasion I cast out and before the feeder hit the water the rod was suddenly pulled skywards, I found myself playing a duck, the line was screaming of the reel and in an effort to stop the reel double handle going around I cut my index finger and brused the nail, the duck escaped non the worse for wear unlike me, that was worth £250 on you've been framed! I packed up at about 2:30 but no one was about to take a picture of me with the catch so just quickly laid them out on the grass and took a snap before returning them safely to the water, overall a good days fishing which is often the case when not properly planned and done on the spur of the moment. Overall the fish weighed between 25 - 30lb. Apex Lake is controlled by North Somerset AA, day tickets can also be purchased in most local tackle shops and Veals (the old Thyers shop) is open in Highbridge on Sunday mornings I believe. I will certainly be back to Apex soon.