AT WL Prac, Bristol Avon

This was my first ever trip to this stretch apart from the odd walk along its banks with the dog a few years ago, I had always fancied a trip there and was pleasantly surprised when B15 stuck in my mitt at the draw. When I got to my peg I had around 20m of width with most of the flow across, there was a tree overhanging just downstream of my peg and I fancied it for a few perch. I set up my platform and soon noticed that there may be a problem in the form of the local rowing club as they were obviously training and boats were up and down like a fiddlers elbow. Unperturbed I carried on and after mixing my ground bait I started to set up my top kits, my plan was to fish a long pole line for Roach, a short line with chopped worm and also I set up a waggler to fish across and downstream of where I was sat. My first rig was a 1.5g float on 0.12 to a 0.08mm bottom and size 20 on no.5 elastic and the other 2 Roach rigs were all the same apart from the floats, with a 1g pencil and a 0.6g nevis also getting set up. The inside rig was a 0.7g FP500 float on 0.14mm main to a 0.12mm bottom and a 16 wide gape match, due to the amount of weed I had this set on 10 solid elastic and I also chucked a weed rake out to 13m in front and to 10m under the tree as the plummet would not settle properly. My long pole line was at 14.5m to avoid the weed and find some flow so at the all in I cupped 10 balls of groundbait containing pinkie, caster and hemp out to the spot. I went straight over the top with my heavy rig double bulked and was rewarded with 4 fish in 4 puts before it got a little harder, then it was a case of catching a couple of fish and then changing something. After about 2 hours I had 30 fish for around 4lb when the rowers stopped, the wind picked up and my swim turned into an unfishable layer of pond weed.

The only way that I could get to fish was with the waggler, so that I did for small roach, chublet and bleak for the rest of the match. Over the last 3 hours I caught about a pound of fish due to being unable to present bait and I caught best when I dragged my float under the pond weed.

My match finished with a credible 5lb 1oz unfortunately only good enough for 3^rd in section with a big 6 and a big 7lb weight both coming from further upstream to my right. I did however; beat the pegs to either side so that made me feel better considering the duckweed ruining my day. Always next week, the team had a reasonable day with a section win and a few other pickups.

AAF Gp2 Mt 1 K&A canal, Bishops Canning

My alarm went off at 4am for this match so that I had enough time to get to the venue and peg the match length. However, I still had enough time for a breakfast and also a quick dash with a couple more pegs that I needed to add to the end of the match length when a couple of extra people tipped up without booking in. I had peg B7 pulled out of the bag with my name on and I knew straight away that I would be up against it, I briefed Pez and Dave the best I could remember on their pegs and then travelled down to my peg.

The swim was a standard straight bit of canal, I had the bend to my right that usually contained a few better skimmers so I was hoping that perhaps one or two of them might stray as far as me, however, due to the recent frosts the colour had dropped out of the water drastically and I was in two minds as to even try for them. I set up a bread rig, 4ft deep at 4m, 0.12mm mainline to a 0.08mm bottom and a 20 B511 with a 0.6g pencil float and no.5 elastic through 3 sections. I also set up a deck squatt rig of a 0.1mm mainline, 0.07mm bottom and a 22 B590 with a 0.3g Classic 6 on no.3 elastic and an on the drop rig that consisted of the same line and hook but a slim browning float and no.2 elastic. I had a small overhanging bush at 14 m to my right so I set up a worm rig for that line on Pink Reflex elastic, 0.14mm mainline, 0.12mm bottom and a 16 wide gape match under a 0.5g FP500 float; this was also the same depth as under my keepnet so a second worm line was planned for there. I had a bit of time left after mixing my groundbait and prepping my caster, so I set up a skimmer rig and a bread rig for in the reeds on the far bank, the skimmer rig was 0.12mm mainline to a 0.1mm bottom and an 18 wide gape match under a 4X16 Chimp on No.5 elastic. The bread rig was the same as the close in rig but under a 4X12 float and no.3 elastic.

Before I knew it the all in was upon me and I potted in a Satsuma of licky with a bit of loose bread in on my 4m line, and then I shipped across to my 11.5m line with 4 balls of groundbait laced with squatt, dead pinkie and a few caster. I then dropped my bread rig in at 4m and awaited results, after 40 mins I had had 25 fish all on bread but had over fed the swim (again) so decided to try the squatt line, before I started on this line though I fed 10 worms and a pinch of caster under the tree. Back on the squatt line and I was straight into fish, however, at 25 to the pound I was going nowhere fast and decided to concentrate on catching a skimmer after the guys to either side of me had one. This proved to be the worst thing I could have done and over the last couple of hours I managed a couple of small perch on the worm lines and some small roach that hung themselves on big maggot.

The match was over before I knew it but not before the heavens opened and soaked us all, I had managed to catch 1.560Kg but this was only enough for 6^th out of my 11 man section. I had not been far off with only a pound needed for 3^rd in section but targeting the skimmers was not the way to go, as a team Dave and I had blown out but Pez continued his run with a 3^rd in section from a tricky area so not all was lost. Still next month it is the Bristol Avon at Chippenham!!!

AT Upper Thames WL, Rd 2 K&A Canal, 16/10/2011

As you can see from the picture I was the first recipient of the ‘infamous’ Pink Flamingo, this was for an indiscretion earlier in the year but I digress, back to the fishing. At the draw Barry came out with G4, this put me around the area that I had been on last week and the speculation around the team was that it was the peg that won it last match. On walking along the section I finally found my peg, 2 along from where I wanted and in front of next to no cover and the same problems with the lack of depth over to look forward to. As I thought that I would be off the fish so to speak it made my mind up for me that I would be concentrating on small fish for the day, I plumbed the same bread rig as last week at 4ft deep and then set up a deck squatt and an on the drop squatt rig both plumbed up at 13m in around 2ft of water. My reason for this was simple, hopefully the boats would not go that far over to get around the corner, sound in theory but only time would tell.

My squatt rigs were 0.1mm Cenex to 0.07mm Cenex and 22 B590 hooks on no.2 or 3 elastic, the deck rig was a 0.3g Classic 6 and the OTD was a 0.1g Browning slim. I also set up a worm rig and a shallow bread rig but I hoped that I would not need to use either. On the all in I cupped in a small ball of licky at 5m and 2 balls of groundbait with some loose squatt at 13m and I started on a 5mm punch on the short bread line. Same as last week it did not take long for my first fish and I soon had around 20 in the net, but then the first boat of the day came through and coloured the water up stopping the action almost immediately. I fed my worm line and then started to work the long line but it was hard work in the shallow water and we were not helped by the number of boats that were taking full advantage of the Indian summer. The 2 pegs to my left were easily running away with the section as they both had skimmers in the bag by the half way stage but I was steadily catching fish at around 20 to the pound so the weight was steadily growing. I had a couple of looks on my worm line and also across at 14.5m in the shallow water with bread but my best line was the 13m groundbait line. I finished with over 75 fish for 3lb 15oz and a 4^th in section so it was as expected. The team managed a 4^th on the day with some good results and some not so good ones but the best news for me was that the Flamingo found a new home.

Browning Sponsored Anglers Match, Colemans Cottage 12/10/2011

This was Browning Andover’s first trip to this event and we were all looking forward to it, none of us had seen the venue but funnily enough even though we had all set off at different times from different places we all meet up at the same services on the route across. I had left the house at 4am, picked John up at 5am; we had a couple of stops on the way there and still arrived with loads of time for a second breakfast before the draw. The draw was an interesting affair, but finally I ended up heading for peg 25 on Wood Lake, it was on the side of a point and I had a small bunch of lilies at about 15m, a small sparse bush to my left margin and a tuft of reeds in my right margin. I had not repaired my pole or had anybody look at it; however, I borrowed a few sections from Dave G but decided against using them unless I was struggling. I set my stall around the pellet feeder to the lilies, a 5m pellet line and corn down the edge, the thinking being that if I was going to catch one of these tactics should do it for me.

The pellet Rig was a Frenzee FP500 on 0.16mm to a 0.14mm bottom and an 18 B911 hook to start, this was set on yellow Reflex hollow elastic and a small kinder cup was put on the tip of my tension puller kit. My Corn rig was a 0.2g FP850 float on 0.18mm mainline and a 0.16mm bottom to a size 2 Tubertini 175. Finally my pellet feeder was set on a Force 10ft Carp Feeder and a Black Magic 030 Front drag reel, 8lb mainline and a 0.20mm hooklength with a 16 QM1 and micro bait band. For bait I had 1pt softened 2mm, 1pt softened 4mm carp pellets, 2pints Hemp, a tin of corn and a few expander pellets. At the all in I shipped out with my pellet rig and a 4mm expander on the hook, I tipped in a small nugget of pellet mixed together and awaited events. Within 2 minutes F1 no.1 was on its way to the net and this was followed by a string of skimmers, with lots of fizzing happening I decided to try scaling down my hooklength as the water was very clear and cut back on the feed. This worked to some extent with a couple of F1’s finding their way to the net but the guys around me were all catching proper carp so I needed to find a way to catch them to catch up. I cast out the pellet feeder to the lilies and fed some pellet and corn by hand down each edge, I had a couple of small F1’s on the tip but noticed fish mopping up all my feed down the edge. I had a look on the corn rig but they would not settle and the angle of the sun was causing them to spook too easily so I decided to rotate around my other lines for a while.

Up until the start of the forth hour I had around 30lb in the net with a couple of small carp succumbing to the pellet feeder and short pole but I was going nowhere fast, it was at this point I decided to concentrate on the margins as I had been watching fish mooching about for most of the afternoon. I tried the corn rig and had a quick fish but it did not feel right so I got off my box and set up a margin paste rig, this transformed my match and by getting into a rhythm of hooking a fish, feeding both sides then concentrating on the opposite side I was able to start to amass a weight.

By the end of the match I had arm ache as the fish were so fit but I ended up with a respectable 118lb, this put me 4^th overall on the day.

The day was finished off with getting to play with the new Z12 pole,  a small meeting, some food and a raffle that saw me win a new rod (When you’re on a roll!!) before the small 3hr drive home. Everybody had a great day and I cannot wait till next year.

AT WL Prac K&A 09/10/2011

This round was held along the Seend Park and Bowerhill stretch of the K&A around Melksham, with 60+ anglers booked in it would be a good day and a good indicator for the actual round next week. Breakfast was in the form of a bacon roll and a coffee at the draw and a good old chat was had with the rest of the team around tactics. I drew peg 63 and this was 4 from the end peg at the good end, just off the bream pegs. I thought I would be in for a good day and after negotiating the stile at the end of the field it was a short 5 minute stroll to my peg. I had a bramble dangling in on the far bank so thought that this would be a good place to start however, when I pulled my pole out of my bag I discovered that whilst I had been practicing on the Dorset Stour earlier in the week A Cow that I had thought missed my pole bag actually hadn’t!! I had an 8 inch crack along the 14.5m pole section that was straight through to the inside of the section and on inspecting the rest of the pole there was a lesser one on the 13m section aswell. This was a disaster as I now had only 11.5m of pole that I could happily use until I could get it checked out, this on top of the fact that I was supposed to be getting my Squatt of John from his local shop and he had turned up with ½ and ½ squatt and sawdust, I had let him sort it out.

So my plan was set for me, bread short, bread long worm down the track and pinkie on the wag if it was going to be one of those days. I set up a 0.6 DC14H on 0.12 Cenex with a 0.08mm bottom and a size 20 B511; this was balanced with No.5 elastic through 3 sections and plumbed up at 5 sections out. My next rig was a 4X12 KC Karpa F1, again on the same line as the  first rig but this time it was plumbed up at 11.5m so I set it on No.3 elastic to try and stop any fish I hooked from splashing too much. My worm rig consisted of a 0,5g Frenzee FP500 float on 0.14mm Cenex Line with a 0.12mm bottom and a size 16 Drennan Wide Gape Match hook, this was set on pink Reflex Hollow Elastic and was plumbed up down the track to my left and right. I did not set the waggler up at the start as I did not want it to distract me from the job at hand but it was already set up in a ready rod bag behind my peg.

At the all in I fed a Satsuma of Bread on my 5m line and started over the top of it straight away, this line was solid after only 5 minutes and after 30 minutes I had 30 fish in the net including a net skimmer, the size of fish had reduced drastically and the guy in the peg to my right was losing skimmers so I decided to reefed the inside and start a worm line. This had a negative effect on the inside line and even the small fish became hard to catch, boats suddenly became a problem with numbers of them chugging straight over the top of my worm line and the lock action moving whatever bait I had put in around loads. So I had a quick look on the worm and then fed my far bank bread line, no sooner as I had put the feed in but I had three boats line up for the bend to my right and this put all of them over my bread line in less than 3 feet of water!! And so the pattern was set with the boats and locks wiping out any feed I put in so I got off my box and put up my waggler rod.

I started loose feeding pinkies across towards the branch and proceeded to trot the float through the swim, it gave me a few fish but nowhere near enough to be competitive, so after an hour or so (plus losing my rig and teddy in the far bank) I added a half extension to my 11m section and re plumbed and fished bread on this new line.

It was solid with roach of 20- 25 to the pound but I was able to get a fish a put in and I stayed on this to the end. At the all out I had caught around 70 fish only 2 had seen the net so I would have been happy with 3 ½ - 4lb, the boats had been a nightmare as was not having enough pole, I would have gone across another section to get away from them if I could and I think this would have been worth another pound, I had 4lb 6oz and this was enough for 4^th in my section of 6. The pegs to my right all beat me with a 9lb, 22lb and 6lb respectively, both the pegs to my left had small 4lb weights so I think I was at the end of the skimmers. As a team we learnt alot, saw some fish and worked out a loose plan for next week so we shall have to wait and see.

AT WL Rd 1 River thames, 02/10/2011

This match coincided with the hottest October in donkeys and we were pegged along fields that were used as park land by the locals, the drive up was uneventful and I had John on board the fishing mobile again so I was really happy when we both drew at Lechlade. I had peg A1 which was just downstream of a building called the round house, the peg numbers had been drawn on Lollypop sticks so finding the swim was the first problem. I found a pleasure angler sat in mine so I asked if he would mind moving upstream slightly and he did laughing as he watched me try to figure out the best place to set up my box. I decided to sit in the water slightly but it left me sat in the left hand extremity of a cattle drink with a 4 foot concrete wall next to my left ear, there was A2 at the other end of the cattle drink 25 yds away but with the lack of flow that was plenty far enough. He had a wooden bridge just downstream of his peg with a rope swing, and there were signs of people all around us (empty cider bottles and general litter).

On plumbing up I found about 7 feet down the middle of the river and 6 feet under the far bank willows at 16m, so I set up the same rigs as last week for the middle line with a 1g Classic 2 for bagging, a 0.8g DS14 for trotting through and a Inter 1 for Hemp. I also set up a 1.5g modified Trio for fishing worm across and also a small waggler on a 4m whip and a waggler rod for down the peg. At the all in I fed 8 balls of ground bait on my 13m line and proceeded to start catching small dace quickly before the bleak appeared and my day mainly consisted of finding the best way to present the bait that the dace would take before the bleak. I found that by feeding a small ball of ground bait I could get a quick run of Dace before the Bleak would return and I would have to top up again. The worm line only produced a few small dace slower than on the Main line and I also spent some time looking for bleak on the whip. I found a size 18 hook best with a single pinkie and was feeding small nuggets of sloppy Super cup every cast on the whip line saw catching very quickly.

It would have been a nice day if it had not been for the people who decided that this was the area that they would waste their day in the sun swimming and jumping off the bridge.

It certainly made things interesting, and the fact that several people further downstream had problems with people stealing kit out of carryalls and holding top kits for ransom for money or water and basically being obnoxious really ruined my day. I ended up with 7lb 4oz that was enough for third in section but I hope that I never have to go there again when the sun shines!!!!!!!

Withy TO4, 01/10/2011

This was my first match in the TO4, and my team captain for Browning Andover Blue, John had decided that I could fish Cottage and that I would be doing the team draw after my current run of drawing form. After a decent bacon and egg butty and picking up my bait for Sunday I drew myself out peg 14, the rest of the team draw was not great either but I would see what we could do. I had the Island at about 20m away just to my right, a nice margin to my left and alot of open water. I set up a pellet feeder on my Force 10ft bomb rod with a 0.19mm hooklength and a 16 QM1 to present a 6mm pellet, this I clipped up tight to the island and I used a pellet feeder so that I could cast into all the reeds in the margins. I plumbed around the swim and found a depression at 13m, this I decided to make my main swim and plumbed up a pellet rig that consisted of a Tubertini Delta on 0.15mm mainline to a 0.13mm bottom and a 18 B911 on yellow reflex Elastic. I also set up a Paste rig consisting of a Big H paste float on 0.19mm to a 0.17mm bottom with a size 5 Tubertini 175 hook, this was set on Red Vespe Hollow to try and control the fish that I was hoping to catch. I also plumbed up a margin paste rig that consisted of a Modified float line and hook were the same as the long line paste rig but the elastic was Green Preston Hollo. Finally I set up a dobbing rig that could double up as a margin rig for hard pellet or corn/ meat; it consisted of a 0.2g Frenzee FP 800 on 0.17mm mainline with a 0.15mm bottom and a 16 Pr36 with a bait band on a hair rig.

At the all in I started straight on the long paste rig to try and mug an early fish as I had foul hooked one whilst setting my pellet float right, this however was a non starter and I found myself rotating through my pellet, paste rig and pellet feeder within the first hour to no avail. I had seen a couple of fish come in on a waggler along the bank so I was off my box and pulled the pellet wag out. In 30mins I had no bites and lost a float in the island so it was back to rotating and come hour 3 things were getting desperate. At this point I was getting the odd indication over my pellet line and fish were showing just beyond it whenever I kinder potted in so I set my dobbing rig at 12 inches with a changed hook and a 6mm expander pellet on the hook. I filled my kinder cup with pellet mix, dropped it from a height and then dropped the pellet into the swim a few times exploring around, 2 minutes later carp no.1 was on its way into the net. This happened again about 10 minutes later but then the fish backed off, I set the waggler back up but this time with a loaded insert waggler, it took another hour but carp no.3 was on its way into the net. Then it was back to rotating and feeding the margin but all I managed up until the last 30 mins were 2 foul hooked carp both from the long line so I decided to try and catch another carp shallow. It worked and I landed a near double with 2 minutes left on the clock and that was it for me. I ended up with 6 Carp, a skimmer and a roach for just over 34lb, but this was enough for 4^th on the lake so not a bad result, the team unfortunately did not do as well and we ended up well down. Still with plenty of rounds left we can easily claw it back.