Tuesday 21st February - Pleasure Session River Tone, Taunton

Fellow Clevedon Freshwater Angling Club mate Scott Smallwood has a month off so contacted me about wanting to fish the River Tone down in Taunton as he had only ever fished it once before many years ago and he had seen the catches I had from the free stretch near B & Q. The weather forecast and conditions looked good for Tuesday 21st so I arranged to meet up with Scott in Clevedon at 07:30. As we drove down the M5 it was raining quite hard but the nearer we got to Taunton it began to clear up. It only took us about 30 minutes to get to junction 25 and then a 5 minute drive to the back of B & Q where there was access to the river.
We parked up and had a walkabout first and the river looked in mint condition, a little clear but plenty of pace. I pointed out a few swims to Scott and he choose one upstream of the picnic bench, I went down to my favourite swim in the Copse.

Importantly we both had nice long trot. The stick float was going to be the set up today and I also set up a tip rod for the bread as there are some good chub in the stretch. I advised Scott to continually loose feed as there is a good head of small fish around.
We both got going and I was into fish straight away. A mix of roach, dace, chublets and bleak. A good pouch full of caster and hemp was fired in every trot and after 30 minutes I had my first chub, a nice fish of around 3lbs and a lovely fight on the slim rod. It literally was a bite every run through and another chub soon graced the net,
I started to get pike trouble with one sizeable fish attacking the fish in the keep net. It was biting the metal rings and twisting and turning like a great white shark in a frenzy. Even knocking it on the body with the landing net handle did not deter it, I almost netted it at one point before it disappeared.
Scott came down to see how I was getting on and said he had 2 big chub and lots of small fish which he found hard getting through. He too was having pike problems. Seeing me swing a chublet of around 8 ozs he asked how many of them I had as it appeared my fish were of better quality.
Scott went back to have another crack and I continued to catch although the pike were really starting to be a nuisance and I did manage to land one after the hook some how got caught in one of its fins preventing it from biting the line.
Towards the end of the session I gave the tip a try with bread flake and liquidised in a small feeder.
This made a good difference and I had some good roach and 3 more decent chub.
It truly was a great session. I ended up with around 15 lbs of chub, 10 labs of mixed silvers and a pike of around 5 lbs. Scott had 2 nice chub and about 8 lbs of silvers.

my 5 chub

Mixed silvers and the pike

Scott with his bag

All in all a great day on a free stretch of water, must get back there before the end of the season.

Wednesday 16th November - Pleasure session River Tone, Taunton.

Summary of 4 hour pleasure session as follows.....

Fished the free stretch near B & Q and McDonalds just off the M5 motorway junct 25.
Water was very low and clear but had some pace.
Pegs are limited this time of year due to the vegetation on the banks but chose a peg with a nice run in a small copse.
Only set up a 4 No. 4 stick float rig on running line.
Fed caster and hemp down the middle and used double caster or maggot on a drennan forged 18 hook to 0.11 power hook length.
Had bites all through the session ending up with approx 15lbs of Chub, Roach, Dace, Bleak, Perch and a Grayling. Best chub was around 3lbs.

The peg

Nice mixed bag

Hope to make more visits during the winter.

Sunday 25th January Somerset League Teams of 4 - River Tone Taunton

This was my second call up for the Teams of 4 League and my second visit to the River Tone. I last fished it before Christmas when I managed second in section with just under 5 kilo's of mainly roach. The river was still quite high and running fast but at least it was clean. On the Saturday I dug out a couple of old 6BB and 7BB Topper Floats and set them up on winders to save time on the day, tied a few hooks and got 3 pints of maggots Cadbury Angling. Team mate Sam informed me the draw was at 8 a.m. in the Princess Royal Pub near the Cricket Ground in Taunton with breakfast available and meet up at 7.30. This meant me leaving at 6.30 and I got there about 7.25 ordered breakfast (bit steep at £6.75 but good) and waited for Don, Sam and James to arrive. Don was next to turn up, he order breakfast as well but when it came it looked more like an autopsy. He clearly did not enjoy it.

James and Sam arrived, they had looked at the river on the way down and had food in McDonalds. Report was the river looked spot on, happy days.

The draw was done and Sam came back with the Team pegs, I was on 27, I was on 28 last time and it was down by McDonalds near the M5 motorway. Did not get too excited by this as where 27 was last time the angler had a very short trott and only weighed 2 kilos. I made my way to the peg and was surprised to see it had been moved upstream giving a longer trott but down a steep bank so standing up for 5 hours would be the case. There was plenty of room as the 8 peg section was split into 2 lots of 4 anglers. When I was setting up and getting comfortable I noticed at eye level a rodent hole directly behind me so was hoping there would not be a big rat who had been well fed from McDonalds scraps.

Rodent hole!

There were 2 pegs above me but I couldn't see ther anglers until they came down for a chat before the 'all in', both were locals and informed me I was on a decent peg (heard that beforel). They both walked downstream to have a look at peg 28 which I couldn't see either, it was great to have so much room and no boats to contend with, there was a footpath behind me but not close to the bank, I was more or less down in the water so no concerns about pedestrians. The 2 guys came back up had a quick nose at what I had set up, 2 rods, one with a 6BB Crowquill Avon the other with a 4BB wire stem stick, after both bulks on each rod I had a No. 6, very simple and would give me full control on the pacey river.

A nice long trott

On the 'all in' I threw in a good handfull of maggot to the middle, waited a minute and then threw another few samples. A cast slightly downstream toward the far bank with the Crowquill, held it back until it got to the middle and began to control it, holding it back and letting it go, it was spot on. I suppose it travelled for about 30 meters before the float buried in the 4 foot of water, at first I thought it was a snag before the rod tip started to thud gently. In the fast water I played it safe and did not rush, my reward was a chub of around 2lb.

First fish

I continued to trot down the middle while feeding the nearside but it was a bit bollie. After another few trots I started to catch roach, decent ones at that and I had regualar bites and the odd fish bumped over the next 2 hours. A few looks down the inside brought some small grayling but they all count.

 First Grayling

During the second half of the match it was not hectic but I did net about 5 good chub, the most productive part of the swim was right at then end and I did loose a couple.

At the weigh in I had 10kg 700grms, 23lb 9oz in old money, the 8 peg section was won with 10kg 800grms but I was second and good team points. Sam and James done well in their sections and I was 4th overall and £60 in the wallet. As a team we came 2nd out of 8 on the day, 3 of us picked up coin.
I enjoyed the Tone and will be back asap.

 My bag on the day

Just come back from a weekend in N Ireland, no fishing but eyed up a couple of places to do some wild river trout fishing. Hopefully having a pleasure session on the River Kenn tomorrow (Sunday 8th Feb).

Well done to Ireland today in Rome.

Sunday 11th January - Commercial House League final match, K & A Canal Bath to Limpley Stoke

So the final round of the league was upon us and we were lying bottom of A Div but only just by less than 2 points. We left after the draw in a positive frame of mind and a can do attitude. Bloodworm and Joker was obtained again via Bristol Angling Center and there was plenty of it. I drew B Section which fished poor in the previous weeks match but it is what it is. I forgot my Barrow legs and handles so parked with James Gunter who drew A Section and piggy backed some of my gear onto his trolley and carried the rest to his peg before borrowing his trolley for the final leg, which was ok. In my Section was Tim Ford who I met part way along B Section and had been pegged under electric wires so a bit of a shuffle took place as well as an exchange of words with a boat owner who wanted to moor in Tim's knew peg. Thankfully common sense prevailed and everyone was happy.
I got to my peg B7 and was inbetween two boats, one vacant but a young couple in the other. The female came out to empty the ashes from their stove, it was very cold outside and she had a very tight top on.... get the picture..... I didn't.

So set up was simply bread rig down the track, chop worm and caster under the nearside boats and one point across on the far bank, joker helping on bottom of far shelf in two places.
I had a 4oz roach on the bread first put in a boat came through and that was it, I will summarise the rest of the match by simply saying I struggled everywhere with every rig and bait ending up with 2lb 2oz for 2 points from 6.
See Tim Fords blog for his report on the Section and overall, well done to Tim who picked up the biggest fish prize in the league and won the individual. http://cluckerspeg.blogspot.co.uk/
Back at the Rugby the Team slowly arrived, Don had 8lb at Limpley stoke for 4 points from 6! Sam had 6lb odd for 5 points, Lewis won his section with 1lb 10oz!!!! and spookly enough met Noel Emunds who was walking along the Towpath.

Noel Edmunds re-action when he saw Lewis fishing skills

Collectively we did not do enough to escape going into B Div next year, needed an extra 0.5 points! ah well.

It has been an enjoyable league and very very well organised with good banter.

Next up for me is Somerset Rivers League on the Tone down at Taunton, lets hope we don't get much more rain.

Sunday 7th December Somerset Teams of 4 River Tone Taunton

The Team had registered for this League but this was the first time I was asked to fish. It's a new League this year made up of 8 Teams of 4, venues have been the King Sedgemoor Drain, Bridgwater and Taunton Canal and the River Parrot as well as this one on the Tone. I have never fished the Tone before and only seen it if driving down the M5 or through Taunton town itself. Team captain Chris Hook had never fished it either but the word was big chub with some roach, dace, grayling and trout were plentiful.
Draw was, 8 o'clock in the B&Q Car Park. Sat Nav took me into the right area but spent a few minutes trying to find B&Q. On arrival a catering truck was parked up doing breakfast rolls etc, I think he thought he had won the lottery as he could not keep up with orders and even gave up charging for tea and coffee. It was almost like the old days surrounded by hardened river anglers and a draw out in the open.
Section locations were explained but to be honest it might have well dekivered by a non english speaking china man.
I drew D Section and it was split, 4 pegs either side of McDonalds with a good gap inbetween. The section was only a short drive away and was fairly easy to find. In my part of D Section I had Riverfest Qualifier Roy Carter and Senas Thyers Captain Lance Tucker the other angler was from local team Amigo's.
The walk to the peg was easy and through a small copse, the river was pacy but I did have a long trot.

My office for the day

Set up was a light feeder rod as I was thinking of a bread attack but never used it all day, I also set up a 2BB stick for the inside line but never used this either. The rig I used all day was a 4BB wire stemed avon trotter, 4BB as bulk and No. 8 dropper, hooklength was 0.10 to a drennan wide gape 18. I had 1pint of caster and 2 pints of bronze. Depth down the middle was 3' max and about 6'' less down the edge and far side.

At the all in I catapulted about 20 bronze down the middle and fed some caster down the inside. First trot down I had a small roach and this continued for about 20 mins. A look down the inside and with the float held back hard a small graying came to the net. I started feeding a bit heavier down the middle and it did bring a better stamp of roach and a couple of 8oz chub. The wind kept changing which made presentation difficult and on reflection I should have put on a heavier stick float...but... I had bites most of the day and thoroughly enjoyed the 5 hours. I had no idea how anyone else was doing.

Roy Carter came down with the scales and said he did not have that much, when he saw my net he said it would probably be the best up this end of the section. My weight was 5 kilo 300 grms (11lb in old money) and was the best at my end of the section. 

Weights were slightly better downstream and I ended up 3rd in the section overall but somehow managed to pick up £10.

Team Captain Chris Hook won the match with over 11 kilo made up of decent chub, as a Team we came 4th on the day. I must go back to the Tone again.

Next up is the Clevedon Christmas Match this weekend on the Paddock Lake at Acorn (our own fishery).