Sunday 7th July - King Sedgemoor Drain Open

 I had planned to go to Evesham but due to the Battle of Evesham Festival there were no matches there this weekend.

Paul Purchase had posted that the Super League Practice Match on the KSD was an Open so I booked into that along with team mates Chris Hook and Andy Thomas. We are not in the Super League this year.

I rarely fish the KSD, its a cracking venue and full of fish, access is also very good with flat walks.

Breakfast was at the 37 Club in Puriton and when I arrived nice and early I found that 27 had booked in. I was expecting more as 48 anglers fish the League. Chris "Gappy" Parr was in charge today.

3 sections of 9 today, one above Parchy Bridge, one below and one above Bradney Bridge.

The pegs immediately above Parchy Bridge are usually the best ones as are the ones below.

I drew peg 42 which was one from the end above Bradney, Chris and Andy were next to each other above Parchy. I felt I was the right end of the section but an end peg would be more favourable.

Parking at Bradney is fairly limited now due the the expansion of the Water Depot but with only 9 of us parking there it was OK.

When I got to my peg the inside was full of duckweed but a few scoops with the landing net soon had that sorted.

I was way down the bank again so shipping back with the pole would be at shoulder height.

I put a worm line in to my left but never went over it. Set up a cage feeder but never picked it up.

I basically used a hemp rig all day fishing at about 3 foot deep.

At the start I put a single ball of Sensas Lake and Gardons in at 5 metres but only had 2 very small roach over it.

Mark Broomsgrove who was on the end peg below me shouted up after 15 minutes asking if I had any bites, I replied 2 and he said he had 8 fish.

There were lots of small fish topping so I had a look on the light hemp rig (0.3 gram) with caster on the hook over where I had been pinging in hemp.

A nice rudd straight away which I netted.

It took a while to get into a rhythm and shipping back above me all the time was knackering. Finally I got it sorted and put a few casters in with the hemp. I soon had the fish lining up and caught some nice roach along with a few more rudd.

The wind changed direction and was blowing upstream so the duckweed that's down by Bradney Bridge came with it.

It was a bit of a pain on the light rig and on reflection I should have changed to a heavier one with an Olivetti to get through it.

When the rig went through it though I caught a silver bream which are good little weight builders. I think the duckweed provided a lot of cover for the fish.

The weed was more or less straight down the middle, the photo doesn't really reflect how bad it was.

Charlie Vallender was upstream of me and towards the end I could hear him casting out a waggler, probably to fish beyond the duckweed over to the far bank.

Come the end and given the conditions I had an enjoyable days fishing and guessed I had double figures.

The scales came down and I weighed 4kg 600 (just over 10 lbs in old money). Charlie above me done 5kg and Mark had the best weight in the section with just over 7kg. I was equal 3rd with Gappy.

Thanks to Kev Dicks for the photo

I didn't go back to the results. 

If I fished it again I would set ups heavier shallow rig as well as a waggler, it won't be much different when they fish the league match next week

I found out when I got home that Liam Braddell won the match with 7kg 300 the 2nd peg up above Parchy, Mark below me was 2nd and Charlie 3rd so double default pick up spilt between myself and Gappy. He was paying top 2 in each section £40 and £20 so we had £30 each.

Paul Faiers picked up mine and brought in around in the morning, I gave him 4 paste floats which he didn't expect me to have lol.

It's up to Evesham on Wednesday and a Club Match on Durleigh next Sunday.

Sunday 27th June - S W Super League Round 1 King Sedgemoor Drain

Here we go again, another year another Super League, doesn't time fly.

There was 16 Teams of 4 originally booked in for the League this year but at the last minute a Team withdrew. The pegging had already been sorted so the 4 sections of 16 remained and if you had a blank peg next to you that was just the way it was.

The 37 Club in Purition was the HQ and apart from wearing face masks everything else was near normal as opposed to the ''on line process'' last year.

Although it was big Sections of 16 there would be two Mini Sections of 8 for payout and points making it a tighter League.

Our Nomads Team today was....

Me, Chris Hook, Sam Johnson and Andy Thomas ( all that was missing was a Scotsman).

After a hearty breakfast the draw got underway with Dave Micklewright and Chris Parr in charge. We had put in our Team Sheet quite early and paid the pools so were about the 4th to draw.

No end pegs this time, Chris was in A Section (Bradney Up) on peg 2 and one up from where he was the week before. Sam was in B Section peg 21, I was on peg 39 in C Section and Andy on peg 55 above Parchy Bridge.

So apart from Chris who was near to an end peg the rest of us were middle diddle.

Personally after the practice last week I was not expecting big weights.

As I left the 37 Club the Devizes guys asked me where I had drawn.....another end peg I said.....well the response was FFFF£%&*@$!!!!!! .....then I said ...only joking lol.

No parking issues at Parchy Bridge and we rammed the car park as instructed to stop any paddle boarders etc.

I walked down the cycle patch to my peg and Dan Squire was below me on 38. Dan's response was ... there can't be many fish around here if you have drawn this area.  Err ummm last week I was 3rd don't you know.

I looked at my peg and the flat area was well down below the bank but it was in a bird cage which would cause problems casting the feeder. I set to work pulling down branches as best I could with a weed cutter and breaking them off and after about 30 minutes it was much better but still a bit awkward. I asked around for a saw but no one had one (I have ordered one now to keep in my bag).

My peg after some tree work

The peg did look nice with plenty of cover across and some lilies so I would target this for better fish. Same set up on all lines as last week, well it did work to a degree.

As fishing was from 11 - 4 there was plenty of time but it's surprising how quickly it goes.

8 feeder fulls went in at the start across, 2 balls went in at 13 metres and 1 at 5 metres. 2 gram rig long in case the tow picked up and a 1 gram rig short. I also baited up a tench line with worm and caster plus a little corn.

After 10 minutes feeding etc I started short and as expected a bite straight away, a small skim bob and as i brought it in a pike attacked it making quite a bite of noise. Dan heard it next door, so not a good sign.

I could hear Dan catching next door but my inside line was quiet but I persevered for 10 minutes and had a few small roach. The inside line died again quite quickly forcing me out long after 30 minutes. A small skimmer took the bait almost immediately. That was the only fish I had long.

Coming back short I had the odd bite and felt things would improve but not really.

My first chuck across with the feeder at 12:45 gave me a little pull which I hit and it was a bream, not huge but much appreciated.

Dan heard me land it and followed suit by going out across himself.

I had a few blades across but no bonus fish and only a few blades short. Thank goodness I had that baby bream.

At the end of the match the word on the bank was that it was a struggle in our section.

Ruben came up with the scales and he was best with 5lb 14oz which included two skimmers, he took the mini section.

My fish went 4lb 1oz which was 3rd best in the mini section so 6 points which was worth having from 8. Maybe I should have gone across earlier on the feeder?

Chris was 2nd in his section with 6lb 11oz so 7 points and a £40 pick up, Sam had 6lb plus as well but his section fished pretty well and had 4 points, Andy had 7lb plus but it was only worth 2 points which is hard to believe, had in been in the other half of his mini section he would have won it I think.

Anyway because of the new points system lots of teams tied at the top and we ended up with 19 points and 5th, the top team Gordon League Black had 24 so not a lot in it.

The match was won overall by James Carty with 17lb plus (4 bream) so well done to James (he's part Irish you know).

Back on the KSD for Round 2 next week and I may go back to Evesham on Wednesday.

Sunday 20th June - S W Super League Practice Match King Sedgemoor Drain

I had the choice of 2 matches today, a Club Match on the River Kenn or the Practice Match on the KSD. 

It had to be the KSD as the 1st Round of the S W Super League begins on the venue next Sunday. The Sensas 88 guys were running the match today and always do a good job in terms of organisation and swim clearing. The 37 Club in Woolavington were our hosts for the breakfast, draw and results so thank you to them.

Only 2 of the team of 4 were fishing today, Chris Hook and myself. 

There were around 50 anglers fishing and there was one section at Brandney Up and the others above and below Parchy Bridge.

Bream were likely to dominate the winning weights and Sensas 88's Paul Purchase had a nice bag on the pole on Opening Day. The KSD can be a bit of a fish race with roach, rudd, perch and pommies but the odd tench can feature as well.

After breakfast I was well done in the draw que with rich Whitmarsh behind me. Rich did comment that there were a lot of scales not drawn and he was sure I would end up with a set.

Chris Parr drew me ''green milk bottle top'' 13, Bradney Up, scales but it was an end peg so more than happy to carry the extra weight to an end peg. When Chris drew he also had Bradney Up and the first peg, so another end one.

Parked up after following Chris to Brtadney Bridge and there were plenty of good anglers in my section, well they all are in this League to be fair, all hardened natural venue anglers.

It was a nice easy walk up to my peg and looking at the KSD there appeared to be a tinge of colour in it but this can trick you because of the peaty bottom.

Got two my peg and it was very comfortable, clear of weed on the inside and so pads right across.

I set up a feeder rod, 2 short pole lines at 6 metres and 1 long at 14 metres. 

It was full top 4 deep in the middle and top 3 at 6 metres. I set up 2 identical rigs at 6 metres because it it turned into a fish race and you tangle up then you don't waste time setting up again. I have learned this from experience and it has cost me the section.

We had plenty of time to set up as fishing was 1030 - 1530.

At the all in 2 balls of roach mix went in short and 2 balls of skimmer mix went in with chop and caster long the 8 feeder fulls of fishmeal, chop and dead maggot right across.

Starting off short I was expecting a bite right away but nothing! Lifting and dropping brought a perch about 3 oz after 10 minutes. Loose fed pinkie over the top brought a very small roach and a pommie but it was painfully slow. 

After 40 minutes I went out long and had another small perch first drop then a stamp roach and it went quiet but stuck at it for 30 minutes before having a look on the feeder.

Gave the feeder a go for 15 minutes but no indication at all so came back in short, I had been loose feeding over the top of both pole lines.

Another small pommie short and then nothing, out long nothing, then I saw a big bream roll across just to the right of my far line feed so had to chase it.

After casting and within about 15 minutes it was bream on. A good fish of around 6lb was netted. It was still a bit rough around the head so they have spawned late on the KSD. Re-cast and had a skimmer around 1.5 lbs. 

I knew I was doing ok as I could hear anglers below talking to each other about how hard it was fishing.

I had a drop back and it was another bream. As I was playing it about 4 of the anglers below came behind me which was a suprise, not as big as the first bream but at 3lb defo worth having. The guys behind confirmed most others were struggling and off they went.

I still fed my pole lines but given what I knew my mind was made up to fish the tip the rest of the match.

It must have been about 30 minutes before the tip flew around and just kept going. I thought it must be a carp as there are a few in the KSD. The fish went downstream at a rate before I managed to turn it and then it came on the inside and still went down stream lodging itself in lillies. I cringed as I put pressure on it and thankfully it came out. Not sure how the 0.13 hook length held but it did. A good tench of 4lb plus, simply lovely as Mike Martin used to say. I was buzzing.

The rest of the match was very quiet but I did add the odd small skim bob and rudd.

Ended up with 15lb 2oz in old money which was more than enough to take the section.

As you can see it fished hard, couple of photo's of my catch below.....

Back at the 37 Club I first spoke to Ben Matthews who informed me my weight would get me 3rd overall, Ben was going to be 2nd from Parchy Down with Steve Priddle winning it from end peg Parchy Down. Mike Berntsen was 4th from end peg Parchy Up.

Full results below coverted to Kg ..... very European down in Somerset!

I am booked in for Evesham on Wednesday to try and qualify for the final again and then back on the KSD Sunday.

Sunday 12th July - S W Super League Round 2, King Sedgemoor Drain

Back down the KSD for the 2nd Round of the Super League.

The ''Zoom Draw'' which I received late Saturday afternoon put me back on A section this time A16 where the winner came from the previous week and a couple of pegs down so happy with that. Chris was also a few pegs down from last week on B3 as was Sam on C2. Both B and C have been tough. Mike who has now had his tag removed was officially permitted to venture out of the Principality and ended up on D11 at Bradney, also a tough area.

I done a full matrix peg by peg showing the weights from Round 1 as a guide, we also had some info on how our pegs were approached. The weather this week was completely different and we expected it to be a lot harder.

Warm sunshine, clear skies and little wind greeted us on the day of the match and a few tweaks were discussed when we met up at Sedgemoor Services on the M5.

After breaking the trolley down to go through the kissing gate at Parchey Bridge (good practice for the lower Avon) I only had a short walk to A16.

Above me was organiser Dave Micklewright and below me Steve ''Stretch'' Saunders (end peg) so if there were bream about he would have them on his favourite corn or worm.

My peg was down the bank a bit but other than that the same as any other with a few lilies either side 5 metres out.

My approach the previous week seemed to work so that would be my baseline for today. I did set up two identical short pole rigs in case I destroyed one (bagging up), both 1 gram with 20 hooks. One longer line at around 11 metres with a 2 gram and an 18. In addition I set up a 6 metre whip, waggler and feeder all of which were not used.
GB was Lake and Canal Black.

Fishing was 11 - 4.
Nets in at 10:45

I fed both pole lines first, 4 balls long and 2 short, plenty of hemp, caster and dead pinkie. A bit of chop was also put in long.

Starting off short I was ready for some fast and furious action....., 5 minutes later still waiting....oh dear, this was defo not in the plan. 10 minutes in and the float goes under and a small pommie, they've arrived. Well a few did then they went.
I could hear a bit of splashing either side of me from Dave and Steve but couldn't see due to bushes.

My short line was not productive at all so I fed a big pot of hemp and went out long.

That was better and a bite first put in. Quite a few roach followed and after that dried up I fed another couple of nuggets.

The inside line produced a few more roach and mommies but you would catch a couple, maybe four and that was it. Re-fed and back out long.
I had 4 skimmers one after the other just fishing beyond my ground bait. Not big but around 1lb plus each.

My day went like this, catch a few nearside, feed, go long, catch a few, feed, etc.

It wasn't fast and furious but I knew listening to what was going on it was fishing hard. I didn't get off the box all day and felt I was doing the right thing.

Ended up with 10-1 which was 2nd in the Section worth £60. 14lb won the Section from A1.

Here's my board....

Kev Bennett who won my Section also won the match, 2nd was Mark Bromsgrove with 14-5, 3rd Jake Fowles 13-13 and Liam Bradell with 10-12.

I was 5th overall so not bad out of 68.

So 3 matches in a row on KSD and 3 pick up's.

Team wise we blew out.

Very well done to Thatchers Sonubaits with a great performance on the day.

Lot's of public on the bank today dive bombing off the bridge, swimming, canoeing and sunbathing, nightmare for B and C sections.

Staverton this Wednesday, Clevedon Charity Open on the Kenn Saturday and Round 3 of the Super League Sunday at Staverton and Barton Farm.

Sunday 5th July - S W Super League Round 1, King Sedgemoor Drain

This very competitive League has 17 teams of 4 this year, all the venues are natural so there is definitely an appetite for this branch of the sport (in previous years it was teams of 8)
Although the planning takes place some months ahead final adjustments had to be made to comply with COVID-19 guidelines i.e........

Social distancing
Safe weighing in procedures
Electronic payment of entrance fee's / pools / payouts following the match
Emailing of team sheets
Draw via I T Conferencing
Results electronically

It did appear to be a bit of a challenge as some people representing teams were not used to or familiar with on-line banking etc but all sorted in time.

The draw was done via a ''Zoom'' Conference Call set up by Mark Treasure and Administered by Dave Micklewright with an attendance by Andy Jane and myself as adjudicators as well as calling out random numbers and letters.
The results of the draw were not sent out to team captains until 17:00 on the Saturday.

So in summary no mass meet up on the morning of the match, all admin done in advance and no cash handled. All competitors had to do was turn up at 09:00 on match day and go to their allocated peg.
The downside is it's a massive admin task for Dave.

Team for the day was ...
Ivan Currie (c)
Chris Hook
Sam Johnson
Leigh Wakefield

I had already notified the guys on the Saturday evening what peg they would be on but we still met up at Sedgemoor Services at 07:45 for a chat.

I was in A Sect peg 14.
Chris in B Sect peg B1
Sam in C Sect peg C5
Leigh in D Sect peg D9

We tried to work out the approach based on the previous weeks practice and what was caught within a few pegs of where we were today.
A plan had been worked out during the week and fine tuned as far as possible by Sunday.

I had never fished above Parchey Bridge before but based on the previous weeks match you wanted A1 to A3, my peg A14 did not appear to have any form.

It was a bit narrower than where I was last week and did look nice, but, they all do.

On my left was DGL's Martyn Howard who was also below me last week, to my right Ben Rendall and below him Mike Bernstsen, the end peg was Lee Trivett.

In was quite breezy and straight into our faces but I did set up a waggler just in case but never used it. A feeder rod for across but also not used. Long pole line with 2 gram and a 6 metre line with 1 gram.

Usual approach on the ''all in'' feeding pole lines and started on the 6 metre line first. As expected bites straight away and to cut a long story short apart from a brief spell long, brief due to the wind getting stronger I stayed short most of the match feeding regular balls of hemp, caster and pinkie. Lots of bites all day long from small fish and no pike trouble.

I didn't count them but must have had around 200 fish and weighed 15-4 which just got me last in the Section money.

Martyn to my left had a big 16lb, Ben 13lb and the 2 end pegs 20lb and 18lb.

So 15 points from 17 and a pick up, happy with that in a competitive Section.

Sam also done well catching 2 tench on the pole plus bits for 12lb odd and 3rd in section (15 points), Chris and Leigh not so good.

Todays winner Mike Bernstsen

League after Round 1

Steverton on Wednesday then back on the KSD again for Round 2 next Sunday.

Sunday 28th June - S W Super League Practice Match, King Sedgemoor Drain

This was the only practice match scheduled for this years S W Super League. It's great that the League is still going ahead and only possible due to a lot of organising behind the scenes, but more on that next week.

Today's match was organised by Ben Rendall, Kev Dicks, Ben Matthews and Paul Purchase so a huge thanks to them, not easy under normal circumstances never mind following COVID-19 guidance. Thanks also must go to the 37 Club in Puriton for allowing the draw to be carried out in their car park.

74 booked in 72 turned up.

Two access points today which were displayed on my van windscreen which also meant I had to wait until the draw had been completed. Not a problem as fishing was from 11:00 - 16:00.

I was draw in D Section, peg 35. I hadn't fished down that end before and followed Paul Purchase to the parking area. 

Team mate Chris Hook was also fishing today, he was in the same area but in C Section.

I stopped when I came to Chris who seemed pretty happy with his peg as he had drawn it before and won his section with 12lb last year.

The pegs here look very much alike with lilies on the inside and reeds and lilies across. 

A couple of wild swimmers went past on the far side while I was setting up, that's a new one for me!

My plan was 6 metre whip, 13 metre pole, waggler and feeder. 

We usually fish this venue a bit later in the year and it ends up a bit of a fish race on the whip. Roach, Rudd, Perch, Hybrids and Skimmers making up quite a few double figure weights.

Paul suggested that the early pegs in A section could throw up some bream weights.

On the ''all in'' I fed my pole line and planned to leave it for a good hour. Starting off on the whip feeding small nuggets of ground bait and caster I had a few small perch and blades straight away. I was throwing casters in regularly. it went quiet after 20 minutes so came up in the water a bit and nailed a hand sized skimmer, sadly that was the only one. Double fluro pinkie brought a couple of very small roach and then a small jack pike took the pinkie on the way down. I did land it and after that the whip line completely died. 

It was almost and hour and a half into the match so went out on the 13 metre line with two dead reds.

At this point the wind was off my back. I missed a sail away bite which may have been a liner as when I put the rig back in the same spot the float went under and I was playing a small bream no more than 2lbs.

Word was it was fishing hard down our end, I only added a few small rudd across on the waggler and a few wasp like perch on the pole. I had a tench line by the lilies but no joy. There were a couple caught on the day.

Here's my Section Board, I won it with 4lb 12oz worth £70.

The match was won by GBV Angler Steve Long with 21lb 11oz of bream on the tip off peg 2 so well done to him.

Young Andrew Cranston had 21lb 2oz off the next peg and Andy Power had 17lb for 3rd.

Back next week for the first round of the League, going to be hard.

Sunday 15th September - Bristol Commercial House League Round 2, King Sedgemoor Drain Somerset Levels

On to the 2nd Round of this friendly league. I missed the 1st Round which was at Newbridge due to being away in Ireland but the lads done well winning the Division with 16 points from a possible 18.

The league has only 7 Teams this year, 3 in A Division which are P I Thatchers, Mosella Bathampton A and Mosella Bathampton B. B Division is made up of Sensas Nomads, Midland Spinner and M & N Electrical. There is also a team of anglers who just want to fish and not take part in the league so the float alternatively between A and B Div to spread out the Section money. Its sounds complicated but it's not really and allows for 42 anglers per match which is OK but a far cry from what the League used to be like in terms of numbers.

The Draw was at the 37 Club in Puriton just off the M5 and its a good breakfast for £5.

Chris and Sam are in Ireland fishing the Carrick on Shannon Festival so Mike and I replaced them. As I was the only responsible person in the Team .... i.e. I had a pen it was down to me to fill in the Team Sheet and perform the draw. I was given specific instructions to draw peg 1 or 7 ... oh the weight of responsibility...... I came back with 3!!!!!

Question....... Is there a representative body that deals with bullying, harassment and verbal abuse in angling especially from fellow Team members?
My quick train of thought and thinking was to say .... you won too easy in the 1st match so as your Captain I thought you needed a bit more of a challenge. Hmmm .... not too sure this changed their minds.

A, B, C and D Sections were at Parchey Bridge, E and F at Bradney. Postcodes for the locations were provided but about a mile away from the parking due to the area the postcodes covered.

I drew E and Brian Melksham drew F so Brian followed me. We had the boards as well, so assisting the scales men.

It was a shortish walk to my peg and all on the flat, no gates either. Walking up it looked great and some hard grafting had been done cutting out the pegs which were all down a grassy bank to the water from the hard path.

Above me on E2 was Des Shipp who was guesting for Thatchers and on end peg 1 Nick Coles Bathampton B, below on 4 was Kev Dicks...no mugs here then.

I set up a 6 metre whip with a 3BB waggler on it, a waggler rod but slipped on the bank after setting it up, fell on my ass and broke the top after it hit my platform, this would cost me, not only for the replacement section but points as well. I also set up the pole at 13 metres with a 2 gram set up but never had a bite on it. Prior to Lee Warden arriving on peg 5 I saw what looked like bream blowing so set up a tip rod just in case.

My whole match apart from about 20 minutes on the long pole was spent on the whip. For the first few hours I was putting fish in the net. Roach, Hybrids, Perch and Dace. Lee Warden on peg 5 below were I had seen the bream blowing had one on the whip in the first 10 minutes and a couple of skimmers. Des above me was struggling on the whip and was constantly talking to Nick on peg 1 as he was also doing very well on the whip.
Des did do OK in the end by fishing the waggler across 4 foot deep in the gusting wind.

My peg slowed during the last couple of hours and by not being able to fish the waggler prevented me  from getting a few more fish but it may not have changed the overall section result.

My full Section Board

So 2 points from a possible 3 not a disaster and I had a nice days fishing.

Back to the 37 Club for the results and a catch up with the Team. Totting up the points we had 12.5 from 18 with Mike winning his section with a level 12lb and Rich winning his with 11lb 9oz.

I recorded the section weights as follows:-

          A Div          B Div

A       8-2              8-2

B       12-3            12-0

C       11-0            13-14

D       10-10          11-9

E       14-10          14-5

F        8-13            8-12

Pretty good and 25 out of the 42 anglers had over 8lbs.

Individuals on the day....

1st   Mark Harper 24lbs 12oz

2nd  Warren Bates sorry didn't get his weight

3rd   Rob Manns 15lb 10oz

Match Winner Mark Harper all on the whip from Parchey

Team results courtesy of Vince Lunn

On the day A div:
Joint 1st:Preston Innovation Thatchers & Mosella Bathampton A - 13
Mosella Bathampton B - 10

B div:
Sensas Nomads - 12.5
Midland Spinner - 12
M&N Electrical - 11.5

League positions:
A div
Preston Innovation Thatchers - 27
Mosella Bathampton A - 25
Mosella Bathampton B - 20

B div
Sensas Nomads - 28.5
Midland Spinner - 24
M&N Electrical - 19.5

Sunday 24th September - Bristol Commercial House League Round 2 - King Sedgemoor Drain Somerset

I missed the first round of this 6 round league due to travelling back from Ireland. The Team had done well winning the B Div plus had the individual winner and 2 section wins. 9 Teams in the league this year, 5 in A Div and 4 in B Div. The bottom team in A Div gets demoted and the top in B Div gains promotion at the end of the series. Its a 6 aside team event so 54 anglers in total.
I had to travel to London in a hire van Friday evening to stay with my youngest daughter and then move her to her new place in Harrow on the Saturday. I did get home around 8 p.m on the Saturday but was knackered.
It was up early to meet Leigh at the Clevedon junction on the M5 and he would follow me down to the draw venue in Puriton just outside Bridgwater.
Team Captain Chris just got back from Ireland the previous evening so he had a busy night switching his gear around and doing some prep.
Other team members fishing were..
Glenn, Jack, Leigh, Steve and myself.

Not many of the anglers in this league fish the King Sedgemoor Drain (KSD) but there was a match on the stretch we were fishing a couple of Sundays ago and it appeared to fish well with 25kg of bream winning it and good backing weights of between 5kg and 12kg.
I myself have only fished it twice and not done very well.

Nicola and Mike Goodhind with the help of Vince Lunn do a tremendous job organising the league but enlisted the help of Paul Purchase to peg the match out and close the sections off.

There was only 2 access points and Paul provided postcodes

Chris drew us peg 1 and I was in D section. Jack was in E so he put in the postcode to his phone and I followed him down to Bradney Bridge where there was plenty of parking.

So and 18 peg walk for me which was nice and easy, no fences and all on a flat path. As I got near my peg a couple of the other anglers who were already on their pegs said mine looked nice but it was covered in duck weed which had become stationary up against a big willow going out a third of the way across. 

It did look like a lawn and it took me a good 30 minutes to clear it with my landing net and using the landing net telescopic style in the pole.

The ''all in'' was at 10:30 and I was just about ready in time.

It was top 4 deep and 13 meters so had  a set up to cover this with a 5 elastic and 1.5 gram float, just under top 4 deep at 11 meters so had a similar rig and at 9 meters beside the edge of the tree top 3 deep. I had an 8 elastic for this with a 15 hook as I intended to just feed chopped worm here looking for a big perch or a tench. A feeder rod was also set up just in case.

3 big balls of Noire and black lake went in at the start on the 13 metre line and a big pot of chopped worm by the tree.

It didn't take long to get my first bite down the middle, a decent rudd of around 6 ozs. The first hour was going swimmingly with a fish a chuck and then the pike moved in. What a nightmare, they were almost jumping out of the water as I lifted the fish out too early than I would have liked dropping quite a few off as I could see the shadow of the pike coming behind them. Peg D2 was also having trouble.

I fed the middle again and went over the worm line but only had a small perch after 20 minutes.

When I went out in the middle again it was still fairly productive and decided to put in a half a cup of chopped worm. This brought some small skimmers on the feed along with a few hybrids, not big but worth having. At around 13:00 I bumped a good fish, could have been a big perch or a bream but I will never know, the elastic came out quite a bit for 10 seconds. Half an hour later I bumped another so stepped up to a 16 hook. I did not get any big fish but 3 skimmers around 12oz were very welcome.

In hindsight I should have fished the whip, was going to set one up but didn't have time, then again if I took time out during the match or started later I would have done better.

Kevin Boltz and Mike Withy came up with the scales and I weighed 11lb 15oz.

A nice net of fish which anyone would be happy with.

This weight was the worst in B Div section would you believe and well done in the overall section.

Look at these for weights from D Section........

I packed up and walked down to Jack in E section, he had done well weighing 16lb odd and won his section.

Back at the results the Team Scorecard was looking good even with my 1 point. Jack had the maximum 4 points and the other guys had 3 points each giving us 17 points. I was confident that would be good enough.

Our Team Scorecard, decent weights as well.

Jack picked up section money and Chris picked up his by default.

Results as follows.......

Individuals paying top 4

1st   Shaun Townsend 25lb 5oz

2nd  Paul Purchase 23lb

3rd   Andy Ottoway 21lb 14oz

4th   Ian Pauley 20lb 14oz

Teams on the day......

A Div

1st   Mossella Bathampton A

2nd  P I Thatchers B

3rd   P I Thatchers A

4th   Mossella Bathampton B

5th   DW Builders

B Div

1st   Maver Cadbury Angling

2nd  Stand and Deliver Promotions]

3rd  M and N Electrical & Sensas Nomads (tie)

Overall League positions after 2 rounds

A Div

1st   P I Thatchers B

2nd  P I Thatchers A & Mossella Bathampton A

4th   Mossella Bathampton B

5th   DW Builders

B Div

1st   Maver Cadbury Angling

2nd  Stand and Deliver Promotions

3rd   Sensas Nomads

4th   M & N Electrical  

Mike announced that out of 54 anglers there were 35 double figure weights which is quite outstanding for a natural venue.

Here are a few of the catches..........

Nicola Goodhind 12lb 14oz

Warren Bates 16lb

Rob Jones 14lb

Team mate Leigh looking up and thanking god for his 13lb 10oz

I was knackered when I got home and fell asleep with the dog.

Photo courtesy of Mrs. C

Next Sunday I am on the River Kenn fishing the Clubs annual Charity Open, details below.