Thursday 27/09/2012 - Bathampton AA - Over 55's and Disabled - Bridge Pool

Bob Warren and I had our usual breakfast at Asda. It’s not bad for the price.

 

I was looking forward to a rain free match, but unfortunately we had another heavy down pour sufficient to get everything soaked – again.

 

In to the draw bag and out comes disc 32. Pegs 34 to 30 don’t see the sun all day this time of year and can be cold – by the end of the match I was shivering. I drew this peg a few matches ago and had 140lb and very few Silvers, and as per the last match I had that very nice window fitter Paul Haines on next peg 33. The peg looked dead with no sign of fish, as did many of the pegs at this end of the Lake. However, there were a few Ronnie’s topping in the margin. So the Ronnie rig was set up and an optimistic Skimmer 4x16 jolly rig to be fished at 6 metres down the inside shelf. Finally the margin paste rig.

 

I decided to feed some CW&C inside some of my Skimmer GB at 6 metres but started on the single caster over loose fed caster. First cast I had a Ronnie which felt very cold. I carried on catching the odd fish which included some small Perch for about twenty minutes before the swim died. So it was out on the optimistic rig with worm and for ten minutes fish were pulling off the worm. I soon landed one of the culprits – tiny 2oz Skimmers. Once these critters drove me mad I went back on the Ronnie rig catching a few decent fish to 12oz. I then hooked and landed a 10 lb Common on this rig which took an age to land. This killed the swim so a change of tactics and it was soft 4mm expander over knubs of GB. This resulted in a bite a chuck from the tiny Skimmers, but adding very little to by weight. With now two hours remaining I switched to the paste in the margin, the upshot was I landed three more Carp losing one foul hooker and one at the net with the hook pulling free. My four Carp weighed in at 37lb 2oz and my Silvers 9lb 12oz for a total of 46lb 14oz. I was surprised to find that this put me second in the Silvers and third overall – happy days.

 

It looks as if we are now going in to winter mode for the Silvers.

 

The match was one by John Smith (pictured right with his catch) with 85lb 10oz (only because Bob Price threw back his Silvers to make room for more Carp) from peg 6. John fished 16 metres to the end of the opposite island catching his fish on either meat or 8mm banded pellet.

 

The Silvers was won by Rich Coles (lower pictured right with the overall winner) with 27lb 2oz. Likewise Rich tried CW&C and fail to catch. It wasn’t until he switched to soft pellet over micro that he caught hand size Skimmers throughout at 11.5 metres.

 

Full Result:

 

1.      John Smith 85-10-0 peg 6

2.      Bob Price 85-4-0 peg 18

3.      Mike Nicholls 46-14-0 peg 32

4.      Ray Bazeley 40-07-0 peg 14

5.      Dave Bacon 36-13-0 peg 15

6.      Terry Bruton 35-12-0 peg 4

 

Top Silvers:

 

1.      Rich Coles 27-02-0 peg 11

2.      Mike Nicholls 9-12-0 peg 32

2.      Andy Smith 9-12-0 peg 10

Sunday 23/09/2012 - Viaduct Silver League - Cambell, Carey and Lodge Lakes

Today saw the start of the Viaduct Silvers League and with 46 of the top Silvers Anglers in the South West (and some over from South Wales) fishing it was going to be a very competitive series. However, I think we have started the league a tad too early because the Carp were sure to be a bloody nuisance to all anglers. The weather forecast promised rain all day and they didn’t disappoint.

 

I was hoping for a draw on Carey, after a breakfast in Woody’s with “Two Chews” Bakos it was late into the draw bag and all the last four of us drew on Lodge, with me on peg 62. It wasn’t one of the pegs that figured in my pre-match thinking, or one I would have chosen. But that’s fishing and we have to make the most of the draw. Looking at the pegs in my section I was anticipating a second in the section as I didn’t expect to beat peg 59 which is also an end section peg.

 

Looking at the water colour it was quite clear a good Ronnie colour. So I choose not to fish GB but focus on the messy business (CW&C which because of the rain made it more messy than usual) and caster. So the first rig was a 4x14 Jolly to be fished at 6 metres with either caster or the messy business. Next was my Ronnie rig to be fished on the top set with single caster over loose feed. Finally I set up the 4 metre whip in case it got hard.

 

It was about now that Clayton Hudson decided to throw himself in to peg 66, but only after landing on his number 8 section, which did make a resounding crash. Luckily mate Bela came to his rescue lending Clayton one of his spares.

 

I started by potting in CW&C at 6 metres at 10 o clock, but started fishing on the Ronnie rig and started to catch small Ronnie’s. Looking around the Lake it was soon obvious it was  a slow start, so I was please when I had two 1lb Roach and one 2lb Hybrid in consecutive casts -  happy days – not - the next fish was a double Common Carp which broke my top two into two - Chinese fighting sticks. So it was out on the CW&C and was soon into another good Roach. Next put in it was another big fish; however, this time I played it until I confirmed it as another Carp, then hand lined it on the elastic until it came off.

 

Back on the Ronnie rig and another run of small Ronnie’s until the Carp arrived. It was impossible to feed caster without attracting the buggers. What made things worse they were disrupting the Silvers, making the Ronnie bites very iffy. After trashing the Jolly rig on yet another big Common Carp using double caster over the CW&C line I went out on the 4 metre whip and had a decent run of small Ronnie’s, it wasn’t long before I was playing yet another Carp which was very interesting on the whip as it took a while to determine the species. The upshot was that I hooked ten big Carp and weighed in 16lb 10oz of Ronnie’s – unfortunately with no Skimmers. As expected peg 59 won the section, however, I was disappointed not to beat the Monk swim peg 64 where Barry Fitchew weighed 21lb. I ended up with 3 section points.

 

The match was won by Phil Cardwell (pictured right) with 56lb 7oz from Lodge peg 70. Phil caught most of his fish on CW&C fed through his kinder pot, feeding about 1 pint casters and a MP of worms - Phil didn't "buy his fish" - well done matey. In fact most of the framing weights were caught on the messy business.

 

Full Result:

 

1.      Phil Cardwell 56-07-0 peg 70

2.      Tim Pallant 54-05-0 peg 80

3.      Steve Kedge 44-05-0 peg 125

4.      Stuart Barnet 43-14-0 peg 100

5.      Paul Green wood 41-01-0 peg 77

6.      Don Sutherland 33-15-0 peg 97

Sunday 16/09/2012 - Avon Angling Top Six Open - Paddocks and Dog Bone

Back down to Acorn for the second time this week for the Avon Angling Top Six Pole Open. With all 50 pegs in I was secretly hoping to be on the Dog Bone as I fancied an easy day on the Skimmers, as my “Karters back” is still playing me up. The Carp are also much smaller.

 

Into the draw bag where I found only two pegs left, out comes peg 30 on Paddocks. I was happy with this as I drew peg 31 a few weeks back and had a good day on the Silvers, plus “toning” it late on with big Carp.

 

Arriving at the peg I found peg 29 empty and peg 31 with Thyers Brian Slipper sky lining it. As I prefer to fish the margins on this venue I was disappointed to find the peg had no bank side cover from the resident sedges – just bare bank, each side. I plumbed up both margins and found the RH side six inches deeper, plus I had the extra room. The LH margin for some reason had a big shadow over it which kept moving!!

 

So the one paste margin rig for later in the match, hopefully only required after bagging on the Silvers! I set up my usual Ronnie rig, a Skimmer rig (4x14 Stainey) and finally a 0.5 gram paste rig for over the skimmer line at 4 metres. I didn’t get out the number six section as I don’t often fish that far out on this venue. I started on the Ronnie rig with single caster over loose fed caster and first cast hooked and landed a Carp. Hopefully that was the one hungry one out of the way. I then had a 3lb Skimmer – here we go then – not. So a switch to the Skimmer rig again with single caster hook bait over kinder potted caster and I was soon in my second and last Silver a 4oz Skimmer. I spent the next hour trying allsorts to catch Silvers, but to no avail. So out came the 0.5 paste rig to fish over the Skimmer line which resulted in one a foul hooked Carp luckily it was hooked under the chin so was easyish to land. That was it for the 4 metre line. So the last four hours or so I spent in the RH margin catching on paste over dripped hard 4’s, but it wasn’t frantic at anytime as I would catch two and then had a long wait before they sulked back. I think they were backing off due to the disturbance from playing them. I ended the match with 21 Carp which weighed 77lb 9oz and by targeted Silvers an embarrassing 3lb 4oz for a total of 80lb 13oz. I was surprised to find this put me 5^th overall, but 7oz out of the coin – bugger – I lost one at the net.

 

Bela had pulled end peg 9 on the Dog Bone a peg I would have liked. Bela did well from it catching 52lb of small Carp – but no Silvers which I thought was interesting. Likewise Bela was one of his Lake coin.

The match was won by matey Glenn Bailey (pictured right - pictures courtesy of Ray Bazeley) from peg 2 with 111lb 10oz. Glenn caught on his top six fishing paste over kinder potted hard pellet.

 

The Silvers was won by Tom Thick (pictured lower right) from peg 5 – Dog Bone with 32lb 10oz. The Silvers runner up Pete Wild was on adjacent peg 4.

Full Result:

 

1.      Glenn Bailey 111-10-0 peg 2

2.      Alan Oram 104-0-0 peg 7

3.      Tim Ford 98-10-0 peg 27

4.      Bob Gullick 81-03-0 peg 21

5.      Mike Nicholls 80-13-0 peg 30

6.      Craig Edmonds 80-09-0 peg 1

 

Top Silvers:

 

1.      Tom Thick 32-10-0 peg 5 Dog Bone

2.      Pete Wild 27-04-0 peg 4 Dog Bone

3.      Martin Rayet 24-06-0 peg 2 Dog Bone

Thursday 13/09/2012 - Bathampton Over 55's and Disabled - Huntstrete - Withy Pool

What a beautiful autumn day, the air being so very fresh, subsequently I was surprised there weren’t more anglers than the 23 booked in. However, we usually get more on Bridge than Withy Pool.

 

Walking around the lake all the indications were that it was going to fish hard, especially the Silvers (bright and flat calm). Peg 48 was taken by a far better angler (pictured right) than any of us in the draw queue. Into the draw bag and out comes peg 54. Left me thinking a penance for drawing so well yesterday. Peg 54 is one of the pegs behind the island, directly opposite the fish sanctuary, where you really need to fish a lead rod or perhaps waggler to entice out the resident Carp. So with the Silvers going to be hard to come by I decided I might just compete for them on this peg.

 

This peg is one of the shallowest pegs on the lake so with it flat calm I chose to fish a 4x14 Sensas Stainey and a rarity for me a 0.1 hook length. With an assortment of baits available I settled on the 4mm expander pellet to be fished over wetted 3’s at 10 metres. On the all in I kinder potted in a few 3’s and it wasn’t long before I had missed a bite and lost my hook bait. Out again same again, until I hooked a 2oz Skimmer. And that’s how it went for the first hour putting just ounces in the net and getting a match winning amount of frustration. Up went the 0.5 gram paste rig to be fished over the same line, but this time kindering hard 4’s. The upshot was over the next five hours I landed four Bream, losing one at the net, plus one Carp which weighed 9lb 8oz, luckily, my four Bream and few bits weighed 14lb 2oz for second in the Silvers, but my total 23lb 10oz left me nowhere.

 

For company I had Bob Warren on peg 53, who had a nightmare of a match losing much more than the 35lb he landed – unlucky mate.

 

The match was won by the affable Bath tackle dealer Dave Bacon (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 73lb 2oz from peg 60. Dave caught nine Carp and a few Skimmers fishing at 8 metres using CW&C with a piece of worm on the hook.

 

The Silvers was won by Andy Smith with 15lb 6oz from peg 70. Andy used his favoured waggler fished over GB and caster with single caster on the hook.

 

Full Result:

 

1.      Dave Bacon 73-02-0 peg 60

2.      Rich Coles 65-08-0 peg 61

3.      Paul Haines 51-08-0 peg 46

4.      Ray Bazeley 40-05-0 peg 42

5.      Harry Muir 37-01-0 peg 72

6.      Terry Bruton 36-08-0 peg 57

 

Top Silvers:

 

1.      Andy Smith 15-06-0 peg 70

2.      Mike Nicholls 14-02-0 peg 54

3.      Dave Poole 13-0-0 peg 56

3.      Brian Sheppard 13-0-0 peg 69

Wednesday 12/09/2012 - Avon Angling Top Five Open Match - Acorn Fishery - Paddocks

Missed the weekend fishing due to Darren Gillman’s Stag day out, hangover gone, back ache easing from the Karting (manic), it was back on the Boss box at Acorn fishery for the Avon Angling top Five Open. Luckily I had a breakfast at home as they don’t serve breakfast on Tony’s Wednesday matches. However, there were a few anglers that left the draw hungry.

 

In to the draw box and out came peg 12, I had to look twice as it is a flyer peg which I had drawn a few weeks back winning from it. However, this time peg 11 was also in, but luckily for me the Gimp arrived on it!

 

This peg is an out and out Carp peg. So I initially set up one paste rig for the RH margin. I was ready 45 minutes before the “all in” so set up a Ronnie rig for the caster – can’t help myself. On the whistle I started on the Ronnie rig with single caster fished over loose fed caster and was soon into a 2oz Perch followed by a Carp. That was it, up the bank with the rig spending the rest of the match on the paste rig. Starting on the top set I caught quite fast for half hour that was until Tom Ford but the voodoo on me by saying I would do 200lb today!! For the next hour I struggled catching the odd Carp. It was obvious that they weren’t really having a go today and were backing off the feed. Of course the temptation is to chase them along the bank which can end in tears as it is easy to chase then beyond the top five. I gradually worked my way along until the last hour when I was at the full distance, but still only catching the odd Carp. On the whistle I had 30 Carp to 8lb and a few accidental Skimmers and a Tench. My Silvers went 7lb 11oz and my Carp 110lb for a match winning total of 117lb 11oz.

 

I fed one pint of hard 4’s and about half pint of casters, using about 1 ½ pints of paste.

 

The match was won my Craig Edmonds (pictured right) with 43lb 12oz of Skimmers from peg 1. Craig caught on single caster fished over kinder potted caster, feeding about 1 pint throughout the match.

 

Full Result:

 

1.      Mike Nicholls 117-11-0 peg 12

2.      Glenn Bailey 99-0-0 peg 21

3.      Phil Harding 98-03-0 peg 15

4.      Mike West 91-08-0 peg 13

5.      Mash 90-07-0 peg 9

6.      Chris Winstone 70-08-0 peg 5

 

Top Silvers:

 

1.      Craig Edmonds 43-12-0 peg 1

2.      John Bradford 29-08-0 peg 11

 

Finally Trigger earned himself another £15 salvaging a pole section as per the attached video, kindly provided by Nick Brown.

Sunday 02/09/2012 - Avon Angling Open - Chiltern Trinity - Wild Marsh

Charlie’s Angels were assembled and ready for another series of the teams of fours. Other teams must have got wind on how strong we were this year and pulled out!! It’s a shame it was cancelled though, but Tony did the right thing as usual, eight teams isn’t quite enough and Tony would have only been left trying to find anglers to fill vacant places. Nevertheless, Tony is running the series as opens and Bela and I agreed to support them all.

 

The first match was at Chiltern Trinity – Wild Marsh. I really can’t make my mind up about this venue; it does have something that attracts me here. As I am writing I am thinking that I wouldn’t mind a pleasure trip down there as I am sure I would catch a good mixed net of big Skimmers and very fit Carp. I understand that John the owner has but a few thousand Tench in the Lake with plans for a big stocking of small Carp – whatever, I am sure I will be drawn back again.

 

I managed to get the last draw ticket away from Clayton Hudson. And yippee one of the pegs I would have picked – peg 9. I could expect big Skimmers and Carp from this peg.

 

Arriving at the peg the first thing I noticed was that the water colour was that horrible brown algae colour with patches of light brown where the bottom was being disturbed. I set up just two rigs a 0.5 gram paste float to be fish out in front at 11.5 metres where I had 9 foot of water, and a 0.4gram rig for the very deep 4 foot LH margin – simple.

 

I started by cupping in a big pot of 3mm soften pellet on both lines starting on the paste at 11.5 metres I missed a bite first put in. Second put in I caught and landed a 4lb carp – good start. That was it for an age even though I kept topping up with 3’s and 4’s. The fish on this venue usually give you clues by bowing over the pellet that they are about; however; today there wasn’t any sign of life. I then lost two Bream in two put ins. I don’t know whether they were foul hooked or not. I was now beginning to realise that perhaps the fish were up in the water more so due to the waters algae. So a quick look on the margin and the usual tell-tell sign that there were no big fish around due to the Motherless Minnows nibbling at the paste. I put a big worm over it to check and had a 2 oz Ronnie. So it was back out on the long line and another lost Bream. I switched to the worm hook bait and had three Bream losing another one bringing the total to 4 lost and three in the net. With an hour to go it was clear that the good pegs in this leg of the Lake weren’t fishing that well, so I stayed in the margin feeding 4’s over the paste hook bait until the float stayed still announcing the arrival of a Carp. In the last 20 minutes I landed two one being a 10 pounder. So in the six hours of fishing I landed six fish – one an hour equivalent.

 

My three Bream weighed in at 8lb (I would like to think that by lost Bream would have given me some Silvers coin) and my three Carp weighed in at 20lb 1oz for a second in section of 28lb 1oz.

 

The match was won by Adrian Clark (pictured right with his catch) with 63lb 5oz from Island peg 10. Adrian caught 15 Carp to eight pounds, catching half his weight on paste down to his RH margin up to the tree. When the margin swim died he switched to the pellet feeder over to the opposite bank with 8mm pellet banded hook bait.

 

The Silvers was won by Tom Thick (pictured right with his catch) with 19lb 5oz from peg 57. Tom caught on hair rigged 6mm pellet fish over loose fed hard 4’s at 14.5 metres. Tom feed about two pints through out the match.

 

Full Result:

 

1.      Adrian Clark 63-05-0 peg Island 10

2.      Steve Segar 56-03-0 peg 39

3.      Alan Oram 53-14-0 peg Island 3

4.      Mike West 39-03-0 peg 59

5.      Tony Rixon 35-04-0 peg 60

6.      Tom Thick 31-12-0 peg 57

 

Top Silvers:

 

1.      Tom Thick 19-05-0 peg 57

2.      Nick Collins 17-02-0 peg 19

3.      Chris Fox 15-0-0 peg 30