Welcome to my fishing blog… December 2023
28th December 2023 & 1st January 2024 – Lady Luck Gives Me A Wry Smile
We have a two-match roundup here, which takes us into the New Year. So, a very Happy New Year to you all, and may your lines be tight and your nets be full. My match on Thursday 28th December was the Costcutter at Windmill Fisheries near Westerleigh. The weather forecast was for high winds and heavy rain later in the day so everyone wanted a peg with the wind off their back, with peg 25 being the favourite. With only 10 brave souls turning up for this one, we could afford to be spread out, although it didn’t seem that way. To everyone’s dismay, except mine… I drew peg 25, which looked like a mill pond… happy days!
I have fished this peg twice before, winning the match on one occasion but with the weather so out of sorts I wondered whether I would even get a bite today. What I didn’t know before the start was that a match was fished on this lake the day before and a winning weight of 25lb actually came from this peg. If I had known, I might not have put so much feed in at the start. Well, the wind was hitting the edge of the island but it wasn’t as bad as the wild hooley blowing down both sides of the lake, so my plan was to fish a maggle feeder and straight lead over to the island for the first hour. I set up a pole line at 11 metres straight out in front and another line at 8 metres slightly to my left, both intended for silvers.
My 2 edge lines looked the business and with a depth of over 4 feet, I was sure I could catch something from them later in the day. I planned to spend at least 3 hours of the match fishing these 2 lines as they were the most sheltered swims on the whole lake. So, on the all-in, I chucked out a maggle feeder toward the island and waited. After 30 minutes and a few chucks later, there were no signs of life so I changed to a bomb, fishing a single red maggle to a size 18 Guru hook tied to a 0.15 hooklength. I gave that 30 minutes too but with no bites or liners, that was the end of that. Next, I dropped a small ball of sweetmeal groundbait together with a few pinkles onto both the 11-metre and 8-metre lines. I then went over the 11-metre line, first offering a single maggle and then a single pinkle. I gave it 20 minutes before the wind began hampering the presentation.
I was now counting on catching something from the 8-metre line but with another 20 minutes spent on that and no signs of life, I decided to abandon both lines. It was time for a quick cuppa and an assessment of the situation. As far as I could tell nobody was catching anything from the 6 pegs I could see, so we were all in the same boat, so to speak. Well, it was now time to bring the edge lines into play, starting with the left-hand side swim, which has a dreamy line of reeds lining the bank. I started with a single red maggle on the hook, dropping a few reds over the top from a cadpot. Meanwhile, I kept scanning the whole length of the reed bed for any signs of movement, which might give away the presence of a carp. After 20 minutes of searching all I had to show were 3 small perch, so it was time to try the other margin to my right.
By now, the wind had picked up considerably with a few powerful gusts thrown in for good measure. My brolly blew inside out and would have taken off across the open fields if I hadn’t had it tied down. The rain was relentless and all I could think of at this particular moment in time was getting home and getting warm and dry. However, there were still 2 hours to go and I had just witnessed a carp being caught from both pegs 1 and 23, so I had it all to do. It was all of 4.5 feet deep up against the reeds on my right-hand side and so I started at full depth with a single red maggle on the hook. As I dobbed around, I noticed the reeds moving, which was at least encouraging.
I began dropping in a few reds via the cadpot just off the edge of the reeds and about 10 minutes later I finally hooked a carp. I had it on for all of 5 seconds before we parted company. I mean WTF! I wait all day for a carp and when I finally hook one I lose it. I just couldn’t afford to lose fish in this match and I reckoned it must have been foul-hooked, so I took 6 inches off the depth of my rig and tried again. The reeds were still quivering and it wasn’t the wind so there were definitely more carp at home here. After another tense 15 minutes had gone by I was in again. For feck sake! This one came off too! What the feck was going on?
I shallowed up by another 6 inches and carried on, this time getting closer to the reeds. I had a few indications before the float slowly slid away. I struck and was in again. I was sure I had this one but after about 10 seconds, this one also got away scot-free. A scale on the hook said it all. Another foul-hooker! It didn’t seem right but it became obvious that the carp were well up in the water so I shallowed up to about 24 inches. Time was fast running out now with only 45 minutes left on the clock so I had to fully concentrate on what I was doing and where the carp were moving about. Whenever I saw a reed move I placed my rig as close as possible. After doing this for about 10 minutes I was in once more.
Well, having lost 3 on the bounce the only thing going through my mind was whether I would land this one. With each passing second I began to feel more confident and after a few minutes had gone by I was certain that this one was positively hooked in the mouth. This was confirmed when he came to the top for a gulp of air. I was in no rush to net this fish thinking it might be the only one I get today. After what seemed like 10 minutes, the carp finally gave up and a chunky 8-pounder was now safely in the net. Phew! There were a couple of heart-stopping moments there… Now with less than 20 minutes left, I was desperate for another, especially as I had just seen Leighton Palmer on the next peg land his second fish. So, I just carried on doing what I was doing but apart from a few tantalising knocks and dinks on the float, I didn’t have any more proper bites.
At the weigh-in, I think my carp went 8lb 6oz and my 3 perch went 4 ounces. Now here’s the crazy thing. The payouts were for 1st and 2nd overall, 1st and 2nd in the silvers and 2 sections. My 4oz of silvers was joint second in the silvers pool so I picked up some mullah for that and more than I expected… happy days once more! I’m not sure what the other weights were as everyone seemed to quickly dissipate into the night. I think 50-odd pounds was top weight so I was well off the mark there. As I write this blog I still haven’t seen the final results posted on Facebook, so I’m still not sure how it all went in the end.
Well, with that caper firmly behind me, I was looking forward to the hangover open on the Kennet & Avon canal at Bradford-on-Avon on Monday 1st. I haven’t fished on this canal for years… here’s the report…
January 1st – Kennet & Avon Canal, Bradford-on-Avon
It was still dark and raining when I arrived for the draw in Moulton Drive, Bradford-on-Avon, where surprisingly, 20 bleary-eyed anglers had turned out for this match, which was spread over a long section of the canal due to so many moored boats. Legion club mate Jason Pitman and ex-Legionnaire, Paul Wyatt were already there together with match organiser and ex-club mate Rich Whitmarsh, who was collecting the pools money. For those who know, the canal was pegged from “Stinky Bridge” to the “Beehive” stretch with only 7 pegs on Moulton Drive itself. When I finally reached the draw bucket there were only 3 or 4 draw tickets left, from which I drew peg 6. This peg was at Stinky Bridge, so called due to its proximity to the Sewage Works. I was more than happy with that as you can drive up and park pretty close to the pegs.
As it happened, I was on an end peg in this section, not that it meant very much because everyone had lots of space and narrow boats between them. Worryingly, I had legendary match ace, Gary Etheridge for company on peg 5. My peg didn’t look particularly exciting with no features as such either on the far side or the near side. My plan was to start fishing down the “track” or centre of the canal, which was 5 feet deep at 7 metres. I also set up a rig for fishing at the bottom of the shelf at 13 metres, which was about 4.5 feet deep. My only other line was at 4 metres from the bank out to my left, which would only come into play should I struggle on the other lines.
My setup for the 13-metre line consisted of a number 5 elastic with a 0.3-gram pencil float to 0.12 mainline and a size 20 Guru barbless hook to a 0.8 hooklength. My setup for the 7-metre line was similar except for a number 7 elastic and a 0.4-gram pencil float. For the 4-metre line, my setup was exactly the same as for the 13-metre line except for a size 18 hook. The shotting patterns for each rig were pretty much the same with all the shot bulked at 10 inches from the hook with 2 number 11 droppers below. This would allow me to present the bait properly even when the canal began to run from left to right as the lock gates were opened.
My bait choices were punched bread, maggles, pinkles and worms. My absolute favourite groundbait for fishing on this canal is a 50-50 mix of dried, liquidised bread and brown crumb. I don’t go for the idea of adding gravel to the liquidised bread as I find the brown crumb is heavy enough to get the bread down and have it stay in place. I mix it so it’s quite stodgy, which forms a nice cloud as it descends. It also smells delicious! On the all-in, I cupped out a full, medium-sized pot of groundbait laced with a few pinkles to the 13-metre line and the same onto the 7-metre line. I didn’t intend to feed the short line unless it was to come into play later.
I put a 5mm disc of bread on the hook and explored the 7-metre line for the first 10 minutes. With nothing doing on that, I then tried the same bait on the 13-metre line but didn’t get any indications there either. It’s often usual to get a quick response to bread but after 20 minutes and still no bites from either line, it was time for a change. I put a single flouro pinkle on the hook and lowered my rig into the 7-metre line. This brought an instant response from a small roach, which was followed by another on the next put-in. Then nothing for the next 10 minutes so I went back out onto the 13-metre line with the same bait and had a small perch. I decided to change the bait to a red maggle and on the second put-in I latched onto a lovely perch of about a pound. I almost lost it as it shot under the overhanging vegetation on the nearside bank and my line got entangled in some brambles. After some careful manipulation, I managed to get the rig free and the perch swam out straight into my waiting landing net. Phew! A few heart-stopping moments there.
I was now off the mark proper with less than an hour gone and over a pound in the net. However, I couldn’t entice any more bites on the 13-metre line, so I was soon back down the track with pinkle on the hook. A few more fish had arrived now and I began catching small roach and perch steadily. I began feeding groundbait and pinkles via a small cadpot every 5-10 minutes to keep the bites coming, which worked a treat. Next, I hooked into a much better fish and lost it. I was sure it was a skimmer. With plenty of action now taking place, I decided to focus completely on this line, changing baits to see if I could prompt a bigger fish. Punched bread only produced a few micro roach and gudgeon, while pinkles were sorting out the better fish. Occasionally, a red maggle would produce a better-quality roach.
However, double pinkle proved decisive in attracting the odd quality skimmer, some of which were close to the pound mark. I had 5 of these. Regular feeding was essential to keep the bites coming and although I lost a few good fish, especially when the canal was towing hard, there were plenty of fish in the swim. Apart from the fishing, the boat to my right had its engine running for about 2 hours, which was really annoying as the fumes were choking me. Then with about 30 minutes to go, a boat came and stopped alongside it, waiting to get into either my space or Gary’s space. This one also had its engine running. Then a big boat with another smaller boat hitched to the side of it came along and parked the smaller boat in a space above and to the left of me.
FFS! With all this commotion going on, it’s not surprising that I didn’t get another bite in the last half hour. Well, that was it, match over. I reckoned I had about 6lb of fish, which I was relatively happy with even though I know I could have had more. Gary was admitting to 3 or 4 pounds of roach and said he didn’t have any skimmers. Anyway, as the scalesman came along he told us of a 23lb, a 14lb, and an 8lb weight from the early pegs, which dampened our spirits a little. Gary weighed in 6lb 6oz and I ended up with 8lb. We had no idea how the rest of the canal had fished until we got back to Moulton Drive. Once there, I was shocked to learn that everywhere else had only produced nets of around 3lbs on average. It appears all the better weights came from my section as we took all the top 5 payouts. I finished 4th on the day, although the result sheet showed me in 3rd place, which was an error. So a nice pickup and happy days are here again!
My next match is scheduled for the river but with it being bank high, this match has been cancelled. Instead, I’ll be going back to Windmill Fisheries on Sunday for some more frustrating and excruciatingly painful angling… keep you posted!
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10th – Kingswood RBL AC – Bitterwell Lake
17th – Alcove Xmas match – Whitehouse Farm
28th – Windmill Fisheries & K&A Canal
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