Welcome to my fishing blog… 

June 12th – Alcove Angling Club, Margaret’s Lake, Earthcott Green

Well, I’ve been thinking about starting a blog for many years and now I have finally got around to it. However, this blog is NOT… all about fishing commercial carp waters week in and week out… and it’s not about trying to emulate Mr Crabtree, bless him. Hopefully, it’s a simple fun-to-read blog from someone who loves fishing friendly club matches and a few ‘chance your arm’ open matches. If you don’t like my style of fishing or my style of writing then don’t read my blog… simples!

Here is my first account, which kicks off just before the start of a new 2022 river fishing season…

So, today I got up at the usual silly o’clock to be in good time for the 8am draw. I usually try to get to whatever venue I’m fishing around an hour before the draw, which allows time for getting all my kit out of the car, loading up my barrow, putting on some suitable clothing (eyeing up the competition), and having a chat with the lads.

After all the usual banter, the draw got underway and right on time at 8am. There is only one peg on Margaret’s Lake that I never want to draw and that’s peg 3. I’ve drawn it 3 times and I’ve struggled for bites every time. So, today I pulled out peg 15. This is not generally a match-winning peg and you don’t have an island chuck so it does have its limitations. However, the last time I drew it I did quite well with some nice size skimmers and ended up with double figures for a section win.

When I arrived at my peg I could instantly see that the problem today was going to be the wind. It was blowing from left to right with some very strong gusts just for good measure. I put my pole together at 13 metres and held it out just to see how the wind would affect the presentation. I was soon down to 8 metres and even that was going to be difficult. Settling for 8 metres, I set up a full-depth rig, which was just over 8 feet plus a couple of extra inches to counteract the wind.

The rig consisted of 0.5gm Chianti float (4×16) or simply 8 x no.8, with 0.15 Guru N-Guage mainline (5lb BS), 0.11 Guru N-Guage hooklength (3lb BS), and a size 16 Guru LWG hook. I also set up a similar rig to fish up in the water with a 0.3gm Chianti float and a size 18 hook. I have been using Guru N-Guage for my hooklengths for a little while now and I’m very happy with the strength and reliability. I’ve also been using Guru’s range of hooks, which I find pretty damn good. Elastic was 11 DuraSlip on both rigs.

Next, I set up a margin pole for fishing down the edge to both left and right. There are some real animals in Margaret’s Lake so you can’t be too shy when it comes to rigs. My choice today was a 0.3gm Chianti float, size 14 Guru GXSE hook (extra strong) to o.22 Guru N-Guage mainline and hooklength. Elastic for this bad boy setup is a 24 hollow. 

At the all-in, I cupped in a small ball of Sonubaits Supercrumb ‘Black Bream’, together with a few casters and maggots. I always tend to have a quick look down the edges early on but there were no takers. So, out onto the 8-metre line and after 30 minutes I still hadn’t had a bite. I cupped out a few more maggots and casters on this line and then decided to try up in the water with caster on the hook and loose-feeding caster over the top. This brought an instant response from a small roach. 

After another half hour had gone by, it became quite obvious that I was in for a hard day… again. Anyway, I stuck it out on the 8-metre line, adjusting the depth and trying various baits. Don’t you just hate it when nothing works! Over the next couple of hours, I tried up in the water, hard on the deck with maggots, casters, meat, hard pellet, expanders, corn and paste… NOTHING! It was time to give up and focus on the margins.

I cupped in a few 8mm pellets of meat to my right-hand side edge and dropped over the top with a single pellet of meat and the float instantly sailed away. A 1lb skimmer quickly came to the net followed by another in quick succession. We’re now into the last hour and I’m praying for a carp or two but it wasn’t to be. A change to expander pellet brought a couple of big roach and another decent size skimmer but that was the end of the match for me. I weighed in just 4-1-0 to come absolutely nowhere. In contrast, my best weight on this lake is 55lb but make no mistake, this is not a ‘bagging’ water by any stretch of the imagination and you really have to work at it to get a result.

The match was won with 23-4-0 by silvers ace Steve Dawson. It was just another day at the office for me and one where you needed double figures to get anywhere in the frame. Nevermind, I’ll be back again on this water very soon. Read my next blog entry if you think you can stand the excitement!

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January 2023

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June 2022

   12th – Whitehouse Farm, Earthcott Green

   19th – River Avon, Crane, Keynsham

   26th – Lido, Fishponds, Bristol

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