Welcome to my fishing blog… October 2023
October 8th – Legion v Alcove – River Avon, Crane, Keynsham – A Damn Good Whipping!
Sunday, October 8th was the date for the KRBL AC interclub match with Alcove AC on the river Avon at Keynsham. The Kingswood Legionnaires were down on numbers, due to the late summer holidays, by at least 4 or 5 members. So, we had 12 contestants in total. The river looked a little sluggish and the colour was more like the tea my missus makes… weak and lacking in substance. Still, fish were topping, the weather was unusually warm and we had a job to do.
Those in the know fancied the higher numbered pegs, which is where the bream live and even if they didn’t show today at least you would know they are probably there. The higher numbered pegs are also home to a good head of better quality roach and I had plenty of casters, hemp and tares to tempt them. So, into the draw bag and my trusty hand of fate delivered me peg 5… Sh*t… Bo**ocks… and ar*eholes! This is a small fish peg and one that I would have to work hard at to make any headway.
Okay, on surveying the peg, I decided to set up a 12-foot feeder rod for the maggle feeder in case it got really tough. I wanted to set up a waggler rod but the overhanging tree above me, complete with a variety of floats and feeders attached, was a bit of a sign not to. Instead, I set up a Crowquill Avon float, which would allow me to swing the rig out underarm and explore various depths. My final rig was a 4.5-metre whip with a 0.2 gram pencil float and a size 20 fine wire hook.
So, the main plan of attack was to start short at around 7 metres, fishing 3 feet deep in 4 feet of water with caster and maggle. Plan B was to feed hemp and tares down the middle and fish tares on the hook. If this didn’t work then I would switch to caster over hemp on the same line. The final plan was the old trusty maggle feeder for whatever swims. On the all-in, I threw in about 6 castors and flicked my rig over the top. I had a 3-ounce roach right away.
I carried on with this for an hour catching roach and a few chublets of various sizes but as the hour drew to a close the fish were beginning to get smaller until I couldn’t get any more bites. I began loose-feeding maggles now and I baited up the mid-river section with hemp and tares in preparation. I began catching steadily on maggles so I continued with this for another hour. Although the majority of the fish were small bleak and tiny roach I was getting a bite at very put-in.
Anyway, the bites began tailing off as the end of the second hour approached so it was time to try the tare line down the middle. Well, I gave it 20 minutes and not a sniff. I tried fishing at various depths but there were no takers so I started introducing casters. After about 10 minutes I had a better roach on caster but I couldn’t get any more despite giving it another full 20 minutes. It was obvious I was wasting valuable time fishing down this line so out went the maggle feeder.
On the second cast, I got an indication but missed it. On the very next cast, I caught a small roach and thought I could probably do better going back on the whip. So, it was onto the whip again and some careful loose-feeding with maggles and a single red maggle on the hook. This brought a steady run of bites but many were lightning-fast dace and bleak bites. However, I decided to carry on with this method as at least there were still fish in front of me. I then had a couple of useful perch to add to my tally but time was fast running out now.
In the last hour, I had very few proper bites and I had to chase the fish about as they moved up and down in the water. I had a feeling that there were pike lurking about although I didn’t actually lose any fish to pike. With about 40 minutes to go, I hooked into a really nice fish, which seemed like a big perch. Now I was worried. At that moment I wished I was using a pole as the elastic would cushion any deep runs. This fish was not giving up easily and after a couple of fast deep lunges, we parted company. The 0.11 hooklength gave out.
Well, a match wouldn’t be a match for me without losing at least one quality fish now would it? After that episode, I really struggled for bites and didn’t put another fish in the net. I reckoned I had about 4lbs, which is about par for the course here at this time of year. Anyway, the scalesman said I had 5lb 9oz, which was okay but it was 6 ounces short of Ian Swanborough’s weight who was next door on peg 6 so I thought I had lost the section. Anyway, at the reckoning, Andy Pritchard (Alcove) on peg 2 returned some quality caster-caught roach for a weight of 9-6-0 to win the match.
Dave Manning (Alcove) on fancied peg 12 was second with another roach net of 7-13-8. Ian Swanborough (Legion) was third with his 5-15-0, which meant I took the section. Ian Brice (Legion) took the other section. Team results: K&H RBL AC – 28-14-0. Alcove AC 26-13-8. So a close call for the Legion but another river win under our belt. I hadn’t fished the whip for a while so it was a nice change for me fishing to hand. My next match with the Legion is on Stathe Drain, down Taunton way but my next match with Alcove is next Sunday when I’ll be revisiting the Lido… oh no! As usual, I’ll keep you posted.
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January 2023
February 2023
March 2023
April 2023
May 2023
June 2023
July 2023
August 2023
September 2023
October 2023
8th – Interclub – River Avon, Crane, Keynsham
15th – Alcove Club Match, The Lido, Fishponds
22nd – K&H RBL AC Club Match, Stathe Drain
31st – Bitterwell Lake Silvers Open, Westerleigh
November 2023
December 2023
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