Sunday 8th March - Clevedon Club Match Paddock Lake Acorn Fishery Kingston Seymour

I had not been out fishing for a few weeks and was thinking of fishing the River Kenn or Tone when a text came through for a second time from Match Secretary Adie Baker. I decided to support him by booking in for the match as I appreciate how hard he works to organise the Clevedon events.

I do not have a great track record on this venue and theres not much to say. Here is the Press Report and the Weigh Sheets, not rocket science to work out that it was a difficult day unless you were on them.

Clevedon Freshwater Angling Club – Match report for Sunday 8^th March

Clevedon Freshwater Angling Club held a match on their home water, Paddock Lake at the Acorn Fishery Kingston Seymour. The lake was shared with a visiting club from Bristol which meant most of the pegs were taken. Anglers with a bit more room than others were likely to benefit and that’s exactly what happened. Mike Owens fishes the venue on a regular basis and made no mistake when he drew in form peg 6, he had the shortest walk and plenty of room as well as a bridge for a feature. Mike fished soft pellet on the long pole and fed micro pellet for a match winning 78lb 14oz of carp to 5lb. Second place went to Lance Tucker on peg 21 which also had a bridge as a feature and fished a similar method to the winner to catch 10lb of silver fish and 54lb of carp. Nick Harvey had plenty of room on island peg 1 and used a variety of baits to catch carp on the pole totalling 36lb. Top silver fish weight went to Match Secretary Adie Baker with 18lb 2oz.

 Mike Owens

Weight Sheet

This Saturday 14th March I am fishing the Lower Avon Champs at Newbridge (bream bonnanza!), Team Captain Chris Hook is also fishing so a draw on the straight would be good down to 55 ish.

Update

Browser fixed, pics now attached to the 2 previous posts,

Sunday 8th February - Pleasure session River Kenn

I had bought a £50 Clevedon Freshwater Angling Club ticket for the 14 / 15 season which gave me unlimited access to Paddock Lake at our Acorn Fishery as well as the River Kenn and River Avon from Swineford to Jack Whites. This was the first time I had used it! Next season I will just buy ther River Ticket at £20.
I was looking forward to fishing the Kenn which can be fantastic at this time of year for roach if you can put up with the mud. The Environment Agency lower the level by up to 6 feet leaving 2 foot to 3 foot of water when the tide is out but it runs all day. I called into Cadbury Angling on the Saturday afternoon and picked up 2 pints of red maggot, this is all I intended to take. The guys in the shop said high tide was around 09:30 for the Sunday and it was not going to be significant. The tide is important on the Kenn, when it pens up the river moves the opposite way then pauses for a while before running off, during this time you rarely catch much. Another angler in the shop was also picking up bait intending to fish the river as well but appeared to be going down near the sea wall. This area is ok and you can stay clean but dog walkers can ruin your peg throwing sticks and balls in, plus the golf course is on the far bank, at times you need a helmet!
I headed out of the house around 08:45 and a short 15 minute drive took me to the Cross Water area where the old River Kenn runs into the Blind Yeo (aka the Kenn). There was a nice bit of pace here and I was tempted but thought it might be a bit early to fish this spot, the fish usually migrate up to this area in March to spawn. I headed off to Kenn Road in Clevedon and decided to fish the Car Park stretch, nice and peaceful.
Gear was placed over the gate and two trips saw me ready to set up below the footbridge. The bank at the waters edge was not too bad and I set up my box on a big metal plate that had been put there a number of years ago to stop you sinking in the mud. I thought the tide was starting to run off but while setting up the one rod with a 3AA waggler with a No.8 and two No. 10's as droppers, hook length 0.10 powerline to an 18 drennan maggot hook it started to back up (penn) and flow the other way. I set up anyway and got nice and comfortable. I had about 3 feet down the middle and across about 2 feet.

 Ready to go

I fired in about 10 maggots on both lines before my first cast at this point the water was more or less still meaning it was high tide. I was surprised when the float went under after about 30 secs and a decent roach was on, it gave a good fight and I soon had a good 10 oz specimen in the net. Another 3 smaller samples followed around 4 - 4 oz in as many casts, happy days. The river seemed to pause for quite a while and it took about 30 mins for the flow to go the right was and I did not get any bites during the pause and after the few early roach.
As soon as it did flow with a bit of pace I caught 4 decent perch one after the other, best one was around 1.5 lbs. A cold spell seemed to come in and it was very errie with mist coming in off the sea and another blank spell of about 20 mins started. I kept the feed going in and eventually started to pick up roach again for the rest of the session, I packed up around 3 p.m. as it was freezing.
Pulling my net out I estimate I had around 10 lb and was happy with that. As I got back to the car to load up another Clevedon Angler pulled up, can't remember his name but he fishes natura; venues as well. he had been down the bottom end and only had 2 roach, he also said another angler in the same area was struggling (must have been the guy I saw in the shop on the Saturday) as well. Needless to say he was surprised I had caught so much.
I will try and get back on the Kenn before the end of the season and possibly try the Cross Water area. I also remember there was a good 50lb bag of roach from the Kenn last March in the closing week of the season. I am also drawn to the Tone as well. Its fantastic to have good natural venues on your door step. I urge anyone else to take advantage.

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 4th January - Commercial House League Round 5 Kennet and Avon Canal Bath to Limpley Stoke

It was great to be back on a natural venue after a couple of outings over Christmas on Commercials. The Canal can be difficult and challenging in many respects, parking, boats moving, walkers, dogs and cyclists to name but a few. Everyone in the Team ordered a match pack of joker and bloodworm via Callum Dicks at Bristol Angling Center and I have to say the quanity and quality was superb.
I was drawn on E Section which was above Bathampton inbetween the village and the big turning bay, I had a peg about halfway which based on last years experience I was happy with. A quick get away from the draw with a 15 minute drive into Bath and out to Bathampton secured me a good parking space. The Canal has permanet moorings with people living on boats all year round, most have cars as well so take up a lot of space on the narrow road.
I quickly got to my peg and as usual pegged between two boats on a Duck Ramp.

peg E16 the duck ramp

I had to place my box on the 'duck ramp' as the boat to my left had the back door right on the rear of the boat. This meant that I could not shipo back parallel to the canal in one go as the top of the pole would hit the boat to my left, It was going to be a case of breaking the pole down 2 or 3 sections at t time depending on the distance fished.

So to keep it simple 3 rigs today, far shelf at about 12 meters where it was around 3 foot deep (chop and caster at 10 o'clock, joker a, track at 6 meters straight in front and at 4 feet with punch and then joker when it died, finally under the nearside right hand boat with chop and caster. I had Roy Carter to my left and Neil Mercer to my right.

view up the towpath before normal people got out of bed

As usual on the 'all in' lines were feed and I started on the bread, a few quick fish, not big but roach around 2 to 3 ozs, I did notice Neil Mercer net a couple which I found out later were skimmers caught down the track on punch. I stuck with it but it soon died on me. I re-fed this line with joker and a few caster, put on a maggot and the float sailed away and a 4 oz roach was swung to hand. I continued like this for about 90 mins putting fish regular in the net but by then the traffic on the towpath behind me was increasing and you had to be very careful when shipping back. A look over on the far shelf brought some more roach and I just kept swapping between the two lines for the rest of the match. The nearside boat line gave me nothing.

On the 'all out' it did not take long to pack up and I was quite happy with my day. I had the scales so started at the top of the Bay and as last year these pegs really struggled, Paul Pitt was the end peg in the bay and weighed just over 11 ozs, Richard Witmarsh done well to put together just over 5lb of very and I mean very small roach. Roy who was immediatley above me had 6lb 11oz, he has a habit of sneaking a few fish without being noticed. Next was me and my net went 6lb exactly (not too worried as Roy was in another Div. Neil weighed 8lb 11oz, those skimmers had done me.

E Section weights

I ended up with 5 points from 6 for the second successive match so Team job done. Back at the Rugby Club the Team gradually came back and it was a mixed bag of results. Glen had over 6lb at Limpley Stoke but was in the Section where the better weights always come from but got 4 points. Out of 6 Teams in our Div we came 4th which was not good enough to get us off bottom position overall. With one match to go iot looks like its B Div for us next year!

Glen an I both pick up our section money by default so £60 each.

Vinny Lunn won the match on the day with 15lb which consisted of a 4lb bream. Final match in the League next Sunday, back on the Canal.

Super League dates have also come through now so looking forward to that again although some way off but inbetween there is the Viaduct teams of 5, not sure how many of these I will be asked to fish.

Sunday 28th December - Clevedon Boxing Day Pairs Acorn Paddock Lake

24 Booked in for this popular match with most people glad to get out of the house after Christmas. For the first time the match was open to anyone and attendance on the day was made up of 14 Clevedon members and a mix of SW Over 55's and the odd one from here and there.
Based on the lake form from the week before it was expected to be hard especially with a hard frost and a bright sky.

A cold and clear Paddock Lake at 08:30

After a bit of faffing around the pegs were sorted, ping pong ball 6 had a dent in it so was taken out and replaced by 2, 2 being the new 6! Some registered their draw some did not, I checked and was paired up with John Page, John drew 37 and I was on 18, not a good draw. Last weeks Christmas winner Mark Walsh was to my left on peg 21 (another bridge peg!) and Mike Owens was immediately to my right on 19. I had plenty of room but it did not matter in the end.



Partner John Page setting up across on peg 37

I started off on the bread punch across just off the far shelf and had a couple of dips but no take, Mike next to me had a foul hooker first put in but it didn't stay on. After 20 mins still searching with the bread across I had a carp on but the way the float slid away I knew it was foul hooked needless to say it was only a brief bit of excitment. Looking around not much was happening, Simon Ryell on 15 was also not doing any good but he did keep warm after getting some pussy.



Simon and his furry friend

I could see Club Chairman Steve Bonwick getting a few fish up on peg 12 and Mark Walsh and Mike Chapman had some either side of the bridge other than that it was very very slow.

I took a small skimmer from the middle (foul hooked) for 10oz, Mike next to me had a perch for 9oz, Simon and the cat had 2 carp for 3lb 8oz, Mark on the bridge peg had 13lb 4oz.

Walking round watch part of the weigh in I got this pic of Dave Stephenson with his catch of 30lb plus.

Dave Stephenson 33lb 8oz



There were two weigh boards, one was all over the place so did not hang around for them to be sorted out as John and I had no chance, John weighed 11lb 14oz. Match Secretary Adie Baker sent me the results.

1st Nick Harvey and Martin Alexander 64lb 2oz

2nd Dave Stephenson and Geoff Stone 46lb 11oz

3rd Brian Slipper and Steve Bonwick 41lb

Next up for me is the 5th Round of the Commercial House League this coming Sunday on the K & A Canal at Bath.