Sunday 23rd February - Port Talbot Dock Open

With only 3 booked in for our Clevedon Club match on the River Kenn and a bad forecast our Match Secretary called it off. I booked in again for the Port Talbot Docks Open for the second week running despite a forecast of strong winds again.

Gloucestershire angler Tim Frampton contacted me via Facebook regarding the venue and after some messages back and forth he also booked himself in. Team mate Clive Branson done a road show last Friday night in Bristol and I bumped into Ben Rendall who also told me he fancied it. I gave him some info and he asked me to book him in. On Saturday 11 were booked in but this dropped to 10 on the Sunday morning.

The forecast was 45 mph westerly winds up until about 11:30 and then an average of 23 mph after that but the good thing was there was not much chance of rain.

Driving over it was quite difficult and the Prince of Wales Bridge and most of the M4 to Port Talbot was restricted to 50 and 40 mph. Last week the wind was stronger but a south westerly which was ok to be honest.

Bro's Cafe done the business again and Draw Master Steve O'Mara got the draw underway. One of the waitresses pulled out the Golden Peg which was peg 20 and worth £50 on top of the £80 first prize.
Venue virgin Tim Frampton pulled out peg 20 and had every chance of winning from there.

When it came to my turn I drew peg 6 which I haven't been on before but was told that its very deep close in and I wouldn't need a long chuck.

Paul Cole was on the next peg to my left (peg 8) and Steve O'Mara to my right was on 2 so plenty of room.
The peg was very comfortable and I was able to get the box right down in the water. There was a bit of a chop but more than manageable.

I bought a few bags of Clive's Gold Medal Ground Bait ''Black Bream'' on Friday night so mixed 2kg up with some left over green fish meal. I put enough aside for the feeder and then added leam to the remainder making up 8 big balls for putting in on the whistle laced with corn, dead reds and caster.

I had plumbed up one feeder rod at 20 turns and the other at 12, 4 balls went in on each line at the start.

Starting off on the longer line with 5 red maggots on a size 12 B560 it didn't take long to get a pull which I hit, result a 1lb skimmer. I was feeding caster and corn through the feeder and 20 minutes in after casting every 5 minutes I felt the swim was coming on nicely after catching a few hybrids. I stuck with the red maggots for the first hour just to keep putting something in the net pretty fast. 

Paul to my left was having a bit of a nightmare with his tackle, line breaking, line tangling within the reel etc.

I rang the changes by putting a worm on the hook tipped with a maggot or caster and the quality of the fish improved. A few baby bream appeared along with net skimmers. I had to compress the ground bait and particles in the feeder quite a bit to prevent in emptying part the way down and thus attracting roach which would hit the bait on the way down.

After a couple of hours Paul came up and asked if I had much. I said into the teens and he seemed surprised. He walked up to Steve and came back and told me he'd had quite a few bream and skimmers. No worries as still half the match left.

I was thinking about coming in on the short line when the tip went around and stayed there, bream on, lovely. I decided to simply stay on the longer line and upped the feed a bit. Good move as more big skimmers followed along with a cracking rudd. I lost two bream at the net after the hook pulled out, always a risk as you bring them up in the deep water and I thought that this would cost me.

I had a great days fishing and weighed 26lb 6oz. Clive easily won the match on the tip from peg 16 with 52 lb 2oz, Steve O'Mara was 2nd with 29 lb and Martin Thomas was 3rd with 28 lbs. 

So I narrowly missed out on a pick up.

Lovely net

One of the rudd

Clive with his winning bag

Steve had a nice net for 2nd place

Full results

Tim and Ben enjoyed their first visit to the dock and I think they will be back again, after all where could you go to have a bath provided behind your peg lol!

Hope to get out on the river on Tuesday so watch this space.

Sunday 16th February - Port Talbot Docks Match / Knock Up

Team mates Sam Johnson, Chris Hook and I booked in for this match at the beginning of the week. As the week progressed the weather forecast did not look good with ''Storm Dennis'' coming in from the Atlantic.
I tormented myself all week looking at different weather forecasts hoping for a change in the forecast.

14 were booked in and this was the limit due to another Club having a small match on the dock as well.
Chris decided to pull out on Thursday due to the extreme weather forecast, plus he had never fished it before. Sam and I hung on, I think we were both waiting for the other to say they weren't going. On Friday I had a text from Sam saying ''we've got to go now as I've got my bait''. That was it then, fully committed lol.

Steve O'Mara who organises the matches posted in facebook that the 14 booked in had been reduced to about 4 due to the weather. Fair play he told me it wouldn't be a problem if we cancelled due to the weather and the distance we had to travel.

We still said we'd go, mad or what!

Sam was making his own way over so I planned to leave home around 06:00. I left home and went on my usual route to join the M5 at Gordano but didn't get far due to the police blocking the road after a tree came down in the storm. I turned around and gave Sam a call saying what had happened, he was on the road heading up the M5 from Weston Super Mare. I told him I would take another route.

To be honest it was windy but not too bad for driving and there was the odd heavy shower.

I got to Bro's Cafe were the draw is held at 08:45 and Sam was parked up. A quick natter before going in for a great breakfast at 08:00.

Steve was already in the Cafe and confirmed there was only 4 of us. But....£45 for 1st and £15 for 2nd  plus another £45 in the golden peg. We drew for pegs 1 to 4 with the view we would decide were to fish in a row when we went over to the dock and a view to get the wind on our backs.

When we got on the bank fishing with the wind off our backs was not an option due to the height of the water, apparently the highest its been for 20 years.

I ended up on end peg 21, Steve on 20, Sam on 18 which was the golden peg and Chris Bradley on 16.

I only set up one feeder rod with a 45 gram feeder to punch it through the wind paired up with 6lb mono, size 12 B560 to 0.16. I was on a shallower peg than the rest but Steve advised me to go out 26 turns into the deeper water.

After we set up the dock level dropped about 3 foot and I ended up repositioning my box etc.

Here's a little clip showing the conditions, this was the calmest part of the day lol

With fishmeal ground bait combined with casters, corn, dead red and chopped worm I started off with 3 reds on the hook just to get a bite. 

The 2oz glass tip was OK for the job although it took a while to figure out whether or not to leave it slack or tighten up in order to see the bite. After a bit of trial and error I started to get some small fish up to 6oz, roach, skimmers and hybrids.

It wasn't fast and furious but the odd fish was going in the net. The wind was getting stronger and it was raining as well. Waves were rolling in and hitting me and the rod rest had to be brought up higher to avoid them.

Sam turned up behind me after a hour or so and said he only had one roach. I told him I had about 7 fish.

About 12:00 I started putting worm on the hook which brought on a run of net skimmers. It was a horrendous day but I was enjoying it.

A positive pull around and I connected with a better fish but it turned out to be an eel. 

At 13:00 the fish were responding better and getting their heads down and I lost what felt like a good bream when the feeder snagged in the nearside shelf rocks. I also noticed Steve was getting a few better fish, proper bream.

I started putting on bigger hook baits i.e 2 worms withe ends nipped off and tipped with a couple of casters. That seemed to make a difference and the bites became more positive. 

I plugged away and was rewarded with a proper bream followed by more skimmers. 15 minutes from the all out the reel line got tangled under the spool and that was it for me.

Chris was the first to weigh and had 9lb 10oz.

Sam had 5lb 7oz

Steve had a great net of quality bream for 31lb

I done better than I thought weighing 16lb 9oz

Despite the weather I was glad I went, it's a great venue.

Not sure about this week, keeping an eye on the weather, Club match on the Kenn next Sunday weather permitting as well as number of entries.

Wednesday 12th February - Pleasure session River Kenn

I was planning to go to Chippenham in order to target chub but the rain prior to today messed that up. My local River Kenn can take a bit of water due to being tidal and controlled by the sea gates so off I went.

High tide was at 09:00 so there was not much point in fishing until about 12:00. I set off from home around 10:45 in order to get a bit more maggot but could not get any due to both tackle shops being closed. I knew Zoe at Acorn Fishery had a key to the tackle shop (Cadbury Angling) and she does normally serve in Dan's absence but she wasn't there today. Still I had about 3/4 pint of red and some worm as well as lobby's.

Spent my maggot money on a sausage sandwich in Clevedon before heading down to the river at Strode Rd. I had a walk along the bank first and there were 2 anglers one on 34 the other on 33. Reg on 34 had a full annual tab the other with no ticket. Told me he couldn't get one due to the tackle shop being closed. We don't sell tickets on the bank but I wrote hi out a ticket on a scrap piece of paper due to there being no other anglers around and he was just lure fishing for a few hours, bollocking was accepted and he handed over £5.

I decided I would fish well upstream from them and decided on a peg in the dead reds between 37 and 38.
As I returned wheeling my gear past the two other guys Reg landed a jack pike on the worm.

Reg with his pike

I had my waggles rods already set up so it didn't take long to get organised in the peg and I was fishing by 12:15. Chris Ford soon came up for a look and then Kev Perry. They stood behind me willing the float to go under but it looked a waste of time. After 40 minutes Kev said I was unlikely to catch due to all the cold rain that had gone into the river the day and night before.

I kept feeding red maggot every cast and eventually the float went under about 20 yards downstream and a good fish was on. I netted a hybrid of around 2lbs, lovely. Plugging away and continually feeding and trotting, holding back I had another good fish. It looked like a big roach but in fact it was another hybrid with more roach in it than bream.

Chris and Kev walked off to have some lunch but Chris said he would be back. 

Around 14:00 I had a lovely perch up on the far shelf and then a small jack but it bit through the line just before I netted it.

Another 2 decent perch and a lost pike was my lot over the next couple of hours.

The river in the afternoon was spot on but I do think the cold rain had affected it.

an enjoyable day, thanks to Chris for taking the photo

Port Talbot Dock Open on Sunday weather permitting .

Saturday 8th February - short pleasure session River Kenn

I had a 4 hour session on the River Kenn this morning on peg 35 above Strode Rd. Bridge. Fished peg 7 on Thursday but only had one bite and lost a good fish after the hook pulled out. Only had one perch just under 2lbs before 10:30 then as the river slowed down (tidal) I managed 2 more decent perch, a 3lb pike, 5lb plus bream and a 2lb tench all on wag and mag. Meanwhile down on peg 15 Paul Tedman Whitemore had 2 bites on the lead and connected with one ... a 4lb 13oz chub which was witnessed. The Kenn can break you but can also bring you joy if you can tolerate standing in the mud this time of year. Wonder where the roach are?

Not bad ...about 15lbs

Pauls Chub, got to be a record for the River

No fishing tomorrow due to the storm but hope to get out mid week followed by the Port Talbot Open on the 16th Feb.

Sunday 26th January - Pleasure session River Kenn

We had a Club Match scheduled for the River Kenn today but with only 3 officially booked in and then one of those throwing a sickie Match Secretary Adie Baker had no option but to cancel it. Who would be a Match Secretary. As Club Secretary I done my best to encourage members who do not take part in our competitions but that idea failed.

I did consider going over to the Port Talbot Dock match but due to having a great day on the river last Thursday decided to return, plus Chris Ford had 9 tench down the bottom end of the river on Saturday.

High tide was just before 08:00 so I didn't rush over and eventually got there just before 09:00.

Paul Tedman-Whitemoor was already on the first peg above Strode Rd bridge, Scott Smallwood and Chris Burden were also on the bank but without any tackle. Scott was going upstream towards Kenn Rd and Chris was going to fish on the reeds 5 pegs above Paul. I was going to go down the bottom end but decided to go in-between Paul and Chris.

It was quite a bit tide and took until after 10:00 to turn and a further 90 minutes to settle.
2 wanglers set up the same as last Thursday and red maggot for feed and hook.

1 hour in and a small roach graced the net. I could see Paul below me and he wasn't catching, neither was Chris.
I kept putting the fed in every cast and eventually connected with a decent fish which was a perch around 1.5 lbs. Chris also had one on the tip and worm.

Soon after I heard Paul below me shout "bollocks" lol he had lost a decent fish which he didn't see.

To say it was slow was an understatement as it took another hour to get my next bite which was a tench but it done me at the net, then I said "bollocks" as well.

It was raining quite heavy at time and the red army were on the move dripping off the bait waiter.

I increased the feed to try and get a reaction and it worked. Hooked a big tench and played it for a few minutes before the hook pulled out in mid river.
One other roach around 4oz and that was it, called it a day around 15:00, Paul below had already gone.

Chris above me however persevered and had some nice perch on the worm using his long rod and centre pin reel method.

Chris with a nice perch.

No fishing next weekend but hope to get out in the week.

Thursday 23rd January - Pleasure session River Kenn

This time last year right through to the end of the season the River Kenn really came good producing decent bags of roach, hybrids, perch and lots and lots of tench.

While I had been away in Singapore and NZ the club had held a couple of matches on the river and although not big weights some bream and tench had been caught. I was going to fish the river on Wednesday but decided to give it an extra day to recover from the recent hard frosts.

The forecast for Thursday was good with high tide in the early hours of the morning meaning that the river would be flowing the right way all day.

I headed over to Cadbury Angling just before 9 a.m. to top up with red maggot as this was all I intended to fish with in conjunction with the waggler.

I was on the bank upstream of Strode Rd bridge in Clevedon by 9:30 and decided to fish the 3rd peg up were I had over 50lb of tench, roach and hybrids last February.  To fish it properly at this time of year you need to get down in the mud as the EA drop the level about 6 foot from December through to the end of March.

I simply set up a bait waiter on a bank stick for the bait and odds and ends to save climbing back up the bank, the keepnet to be used as a rod rest with another rod rest set up back from it to keep the rod out of the water and my landing net, simples. The mud was deep close to the bank but firmer a bit further out.

I set up 2 waggler rods, both with 3AA floats, one had a wide gape 18 to 0.10 and the other with the same hook but to 0.12. Plumbing up with a SSG I had 3 foot down the middle and 2.5 foot just off the far shelf.

As I şet up fellow Clevedon Club member Chris Ford came along. Chris probably fishes the river more than anyone and said a few fish had been coming out but not many. He was going down below the bridge to just fish with bread.

I started across just off the far shelf and loose fed a half pouch of maggot every other run through. The flow was spot on but even though I was holding back a little it was still dragging under now and then due the uneven bottom. I perceived and did strike everytime the float dipped.
30 minutes in one of those strikes met with solid resistance and that lovely thumping feeling when a decent fish is hooked in running water.
I played it carefully and when it first came to the surface I thought it was a massive roach, I had 2 over 2lb from the same swim last year. Even when I netted it I had to check. It was a hybrid but more roach in it than bream, a nice fish going 3lb.

I started to feed about 10 maggots every cast after that and soon had another one but more scaley and bream like compared to the earlier one, I was enjoying this.

I had been hand feeding the middle now and then and decided to have a look with the other rod, first trot down and a perch of around 1.5 lbs was hooked and landed, I lost another straight after so rested the like and went back across.

I adjusted the rig by taking the No.10 shot of the hook length and putting it above. This worked much better and the float dragged under less.

Well by getting the feeding right and swapping between the 2 lines I added 5 more decent perch, another hybrid, a small jack pike and 2 tench best one going 5lbs.

what a fantastic day

Chris below had 4 bream and a small carp on the bread, his best bream went 7lbs 10oz.

Sunday 19th January - Port Talbot Dock

First of all Happy New Year everyone.

Its been over 6 weeks since my last proper outing. Early December saw me spending 5 days up in Scotland followed by a flight to Singapore and staying 4 nights and then off to New Zealand arriving back home on 13th January.

I got over my jet lag fairly quickly and decided to get out on the bank somewhere. A small match was advertised on Port Talbot Docks via Facebook and I noticed from the list of names already down an old friend of mine Mike Endicott was going to fish. I contacted him after I had booked in and we agreed to meet up at Gordano Services near Avonmouth so he could follow me over. Team mate Sam Johnson also decided to go for the first time.

I suggested we all meet at 06:00 and take a steady drive over due to the forecasted hard frost.

I was up at 05:15 and it was flipping cold, minus 3 in fact which was a far cry from 31 in Singapore and up to 26 in New Zealand. When I pulled open the van door handle it just stayed out. Even the maggots didn't want to come out of the fridge.

Mike and Sam were already in the services when I pulled in just after 06:00. Mike was in his shorts!!!

A steady drive over the 2nd Severn Crossing and a drive through the Principality saw us arrive at Bro's Cafe for the draw and breakfast after one wrong turn. Water in the pot holes was frozen over and inside the Cafe was freezing as well but the breakfast was top dollar as usual.

Organiser Steve O'Mara got the draw underway there were 13 down to fish but I think 2 dropped out.
Mike and Sam drew a couple of decent pegs, 18 Sam and Mike 19 so chance of bream and skimmers if they fed. I drew 15 which is average I think (only my 3rd time on the dock). Regular Steve Shaw was on end peg 20 which we thought would win it.

Parked up aside my peg and as I was unloading the van I could see Mike still in his shorts and polo shirt. I had 5 layers on my upper body and 3 below.

This is Mike.
Mike is standing on frost covered grass.
It's minus 1.
Mike fished the whole match in shorts and polo shirt.
Mike is nuts!

I planned to simply fish the 5 metre whip and feeder short.
At 5 metres I had over 4 metres of water. My rig was a 3 gram Sensas Alberto float to 0.17 with 2 number 8's as bulk above the hook length. Hook length was 0.12 with a wide gape series 18 tubertini hook. Ground bait for the whip line .... Gros Gardons, River, Black crumb and heavy leam.
Feeder rig was a 30 gram with a B560 14 hook to 0.15. Ground bait was as above but no leam.

At the start I put 4 big balls in on the whip line laced with maggot, caster and hemp plus a sprinkling of corn. Starting off on the feeder at 25 turns it took about 15 minutes to get the first bite which was a 2 oz roach. A few more followed including a 6 oz hybrid. The fish appeared to have move in and were taking the bait on the drop, because they were quite small they were hard to hit and it became frustrating so the feeder rod went up the bank.

The whip line was full of fish, not big by any means but at least I could hit them. Corn on the hook did result in slightly better fish but a kept getting snagged in-between the rocks that make up the bed and side of the dock so had to stick with the maggot.

I feed small balls every other fish and thought I was doing ok judging by what was happening to my right.

The water was quite clear and pike were predicted to be a nuisance. I only had one on and did land it on the whip, a fish of around 6lbs but they don't count.

Weather wise it did turn out a nice day in the warm sunshine although it was difficult to see the float the last 1.5 hours.

The all out came at 15:30 and I was quite tired,  the back was aching a bit due to being out of practice.

Steve O'Mara won the match with 29lb made up with a few bream and skimmer off point peg 8, fair play to him. It was tight for the rest of the field.

Sam did well on his first visit coming joint 3rd.

my 16lb 12oz, an enjoyable day

Port Talbot Docks Match Fishing have their own Facebook Page, its only 1 hour 20 mins away, you can park behind your peg and theres always plenty of bites. I'll be back again soon.