Welcome to my fishing blog… October 2023
October 15th – Alcove Club Match, The Lido, Fishponds – Mr Frosty Has A Laugh!
Well, I’m not usually one for hanging around on lake corners but that’s where I ended up again in my last match fished on the Alcove Lido in Fishponds, Bristol. Only 9 turned out for this one, which is not surprising considering how inconsistent the fishing is on this lake. Most of the time it’s pretty much a lottery with just 2-3 noted swims regularly producing the goods. However, today was different. Jolly Jack Frost paid us a visit during the night, which had us all guessing as to what was going to happen… and we all feared the worst.
With just 10 minutes to go until the draw, the usual suspects finally turned up and we were able to get on with the draw 🙂 I hung back until only 3 pegs remained in the draw bag, any of which I would be more than happy with. So, in we go and the trusty hand of fate delivered me peg 21. WTF? I didn’t know we had a peg 21 on this lake! Well apparently so. All the pegs were renumbered recently so I had to enquire about where I was going to be seated for the day. As it happens, I was drawn on “the concrete”, which is a corner peg and also where the winner came from last time. That only means there were some feeding fish there last time… nothing else. (In the image, the green dot indicates my peg and the red dots are where I fished).
Well, I haven’t fished this swim for decades. It used to be put in matches from the pump house side where we used to call it the “bay swim”. I’ll never forget catching three 2lb perch from it during a pleasure session all on a single pinkie in the middle of a very cold February. In the last Lido match, just a few weeks ago, the winner fished this peg and had 2 carp and a big tench plus lots of bits for 21lb… but what would it throw up today? With an eerie mist rising up off the water I wasn’t too confident but the Lido is very deep so maybe the frost hadn’t affected it… we’ll see.
As I plumbed up in the middle of the bay it soon became clear that my rigs were too short so I had to add another couple of feet of mainline to 2 of them in order to reach the bottom, which was 13 feet. I also set up a shallow rig as I noticed quite a few small fish topping under a nearside overhanging tree to my right. So, the plan was to fish hard on the bottom at 8 metres out in front and also to my left with caster, maggle and pinkle. My shallow rig could be used for fishing anywhere but especially for searching along the right-hand margin, where perch and rudd are sure to be.
On the all-in, I dropped in 6 loose casters with a single caster on a size 18 hook right out in front. I had a 0.5 gram Chianti style float on this rig with all the weight bulked at around 9 inches from the hook and 2 no.11 droppers. I gave it about 5 minutes before changing to a single red maggle on the hook, which got an immediate response from a 3oz roach. So for the next hour, I fished a single red and loose-fed single reds with a few casters and pinkles added occasionally. I didn’t use any groundbait today as the water was gin clear and because of the frost I thought it would be the kiss of death.
I picked up small roach and perch quite steadily until bites died after about 90 minutes. A quick look over to my left-hand side only produced a couple of very small perch so it was time to try the shallow rig. This consisted of a 0.2-gram pencil float with a size 18 fine wire hook and a single maggle. I started probing the edges and found some better quality rudd and perch at first but then they got smaller and smaller. So, after a while, I decided to go out with the deeper rig again and it seemed the rest had done it good, as I had a string of perch to 3 ounces. However, everything I was catching was relatively small.
I had seen Andy Pritchard slip his landing net under a decent fish but not much else was being caught although some carp were hooked and lost. With about 90 minutes to go, I thought I’d just keep plugging away as at least there were fish to be caught here albeit small but they all add up. Anyway, with about 30 minutes to go a carp rolled over in the far corner, so now I knew there was at least one quality fish close by. I picked up the short rig, baited up with a single maggle and went out to 13 metres, which was just short of where the carp had shown itself. I had a couple of rudd at first but then the carp decided he would join in the fun.
As I slowly shipped back, it dawned on me that not only was I on the shallow rig, but it was the lightest setup too with just 0.13 mainline and a 0.8 hooklength. Sh*t! Why didn’t I change rigs??? What a plonker! At first, the carp just bumbled about but then he realised that something wasn’t right and made a run for the middle of the lake. I had absolutely no chance of dealing with it as the hooklength gave way. It wasn’t a really big carp, only about 8-10lbs I’d say but it would have been a nice fish to end the day with. So, with just 10 minutes left, I carried on fishing the deep swim and I had one more micro perch and then it was time out.
As I began to pack away my gear, I suddenly realised how bloody cold I was, having sat in the shade all day. Those on the opposite bank were sweltering and taking clothes off while myself and Bruce, who was on the next peg to my left, was sitting in the freezing cold and putting extra layers on. One thing I did notice was how warm the fish were, especially those that I caught from the deep swim. So it’s going to take a few more frosts before the fish begin to switch off. Another thing I noticed was the two favourite swims, being “Smithies” and “The Pontoon” didn’t really produce.
The match finished up with one carp landed by Andy Pritchard who also had a tench and some bits for a total of 17-01-0 and a convincing win. Kev Murch was second with 6-3-0 and took the silvers prize and I was third (or second according to the weigh sheet) with 4-5-0. So a few handy beer tokens then 🙂 – I’ll probably pop out to The Clamp on Tuesday for a session prior to my next match, which is on Stathe Drain next Sunday with the Legion lads. As usual, I’ll keep you posted.
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January 2023
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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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