Billy's Fishing Blog » Billys Fishing Blog October 1st

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Welcome to my fishing blog… October 2023

October 1st – Interclub Match With Silver Bream AA, Whitehouse Farm – “Little Billy Horner sat in the corner”

This is an annual interclub match with Silver Bream AA who host the return event at their Gall Pond, Tortworth. Not one of my favourite venues I must say, with tight pegging, crystal clear water and a general lack of fish. Anyway, they turned up at Whitehouse Farm with 12 representatives and we had 18, making it a 15-peg match on each lake. I wasn’t really bothered where I drew today, so long as it was peg 17 on either lake :). However, the hand of fate had other ideas and dealt me peg 11 on Margaret’s Lake. I wasn’t in any hurry to get to my peg…

I’ve drawn this peg a couple of times in the past and I’ve never done any good. It’s definitely NOT a match-winning peg on this lake. It’s a corner peg with deep margins and from my previous experiences, I have never seen any signs of carp down the edges, unlike pegs 13 and 14, which are permanent carp residencies. It’s one of the deepest pegs on this lake too so it’s probably a great peg in the darkest depths of winter. Well, my plan was to start short at 6 metres straight out in front for skimmers. I also set up a 9-metre line slightly to my left for when they backed off. These would be my 2 main lines of attack.

I set up a shallow rig for catching roach up in the water to my right-hand side next to a bush and as I had my trusty margin pole with me, I would just have a quick look in my left-hand margin throughout the match but only if it was slow elsewhere. I was sure it was going to be an out-and-out silvers match for me. For my short line, I chose a .3 gram pencil float rig set at just over 9 feet deep with a size 20 hook to 0.11 hooklength. Baits for this line was maggot, pinkie and caster over Sonubaits Black Lake groundbait.

For the 9-metre line, I chose a .4 gram Chianti style float with a size 18 hook to a 0.11 hooklength. It was a little less than 9 feet deep here. Bait choice was worm over groundbait and if that didn’t work then I would move over to my right and drop in some micros. I could then try expander pellets and maybe snag a carp if I struck lucky. So, that was the plan and at the all-in, I cupped out a Jaffa size ball of groundbait onto both lines. My first target was to be the roach next to the bush on my right. This was a light rig at just .01 gram and fished at 3 feet deep. Single maggot and single caster was the bait and I gave this 30 minutes, catching a few small roach and chub before it slowed to a standstill.

So, out onto the short line with a caster on the hook and a few roach quickly obliged before I had a skimmer of around 12 ounces. Then a few more roach and a good skimmer of about one and a half pounds showed up. Luverrlly… If I could get a few more of these I would be more than happy. Sadly, it was the only one of that stamp from the short line. Next, I chopped some worms and dropped a worm ball in over the 9-metre line. Then I followed through with a half a dendra on the hook. A small perch was first to snaffle the bait, as expected, followed by a skimmer of around a pound.

The swim was fizzing and so I knew there were a few fish about. My next put-in with a half dendra produced a Crucian of around 2 pounds. This was followed by a few small roach and then a big goldfish of about 2 pounds. After that, the swim began to die and so I topped up with more worm and groundbait before going back onto the short line. A few more roach were waiting for me plus another skimmer of about 6 ounces before the bites from this swim also began to fade away. A quick look down the edge with corn produced nothing, as expected. There were no signs of life at all so that was that for the edge swim.

With time flying by and lots of noises emanating from pegs 13 and 14, where all the carp action was taking place, I decided to move on over to my right-hand side at 9 metres. I hadn’t previously baited this swim and so I dropped in a large cup of micros, intended to attract the attention of any carp that might be lurking in the vicinity. I then baited up with a 6mm expander pellet and dropped it in over the top. I had a tentative bite immediately but missed it. On the very next drop-in, the float was gone in a flash and a carp was on. It wasn’t a big one but scrapped all the way to the net. I reckoned it was about 4 pounds. I spent the last 30 minutes or so trying for another one but it didn’t happen.

On the all-out, I reckoned I had about 8lbs of silvers and a 4lb carp for 12 lbs in total. Not a great weight but definitely the best weight I have had from this peg ever, so I was relatively pleased with that. I weighed in a total of 14lbs 4oz, missing out on a section by 6 ounces. The carp went 4lb 1oz, which meant I had 10lbs 13oz of silvers. As Tony Welsby’s silvers catch of 24lbs (plus a carp) was second on the lake, it appears I qualified for top silvers on the lake but it wasn’t worth anything as they only pay top silvers overall. That’s a bit strange really… they pay the top individuals for each lake but only one top silvers prize between the 2 lakes??? So, in this particular case, to win a lake you have to beat 14 other competitors but to win the silvers prize you have to beat 29 other competitors… is it worth going for silvers, I ask myself?

Well, I’m off to Bitterwell Lake again on Tuesday for another tortuous 6 hours. I just can’t seem to get my head around this place and I’m ready to give up trying. However, my next “proper” match will be next Sunday when I’ll be fishing on the river Avon at Keynsham. I’m really looking forward to it as it’s a Kingswood Legion vs. Alcove match… keep you posted.

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