Welcome to my fishing blog… August 2026
Sunday 16th August – A Cunning Plan Or A Work In Progress?
Well, I’ve just about had it with “cunning plans” as they never seem to work… as I planned them. From now on I’m going to be “the man with no plan”, much like the “man with all the gear but no idea”. Yes, I’m publicly beating myself up again over my latest performances, but as you know, you just can’t possibly get it right every time, unless you’re an angling legend, which I’m not. I’m just an average angler, but at least I can take a little comfort in knowing that there are many of us and so I’m in good company. Okay, enough of all this gibberish, here is the news…
Thursday 6th August – Windmill Fisheries Costcutter
Well, because I’ve qualified for the final, I’ve been doing the mess-around on these latest Windmill matches and today was a right old mess-around on peg 12. This peg can throw up a good weight, if you’re prepared to go tight to the reeds on the left-hand side, but I didn’t want to lose any rigs or end up with a broken top kit and so I avoided the temptation. Instead, I fished out in front at 9 metres with worm and down my right-hand edge with meat. It was a really hot day and many of the fish were just cruising on or just below the surface. They were not really feeding, but having said that, Andy Greenham on wonderful peg 14 did manage to snare a couple of foul-hookers shallow. Well, I had to wait almost 2 hours before I had my first fish, and that pretty much set the scene for the rest of the match.
When it’s like this, you can only hope that the catch rate will improve as the day moves on, but it didn’t really improve at all, at least not for me. 
On my 9-metre line, I fished worm over Sonubaits Fishmeal Worm groundbait for two small perch, one rudd and one tiny foul-hooked skimbo. What a waste of time that proved to be. Finally, in the last hour, the carp moved into my right-hand edge and began stirring up the mud. I was straight on them and landed 3 in a row, including a big fat mirror that must have been well over 12lbs, but then they backed off never to be seen again. A quick look with meat over my unbaited left-hand edge got an instant response from a 5-pounder, but it was all too little too late as we hit ‘timeout’ soon after. I ended up with just under 30lbs for nowhere.
The match was won by Lionel Legge from peg 6 with 119lb. The middle pegs seem to be producing lately as Tony Wittcomb on peg 8 came close with 105lbs. However, the unluckiest man of the match award goes to Kev Murch, who was on in-form peg 25. Kev had fish coming steadily all day long and had well over 150lbs come the weigh-in. Unfortunately, one of his nets was disqualified as he had gone well over the 55lb limit. He actually had 65lb in the net and so lost it. Kev has yet to qualify but would have done so in style… bad luck mate.
Sunday 9th August – The Clamp – Silvers Only Match
This was an Alcove AC club match, which was held on the Clamp, which is situated near Coalpit Heath. It’s a small lake with 14 pegs and with the levels being so low, all the shallow pegs were left out for this one. You still had to plumb around to find anywhere near 2 feet or more of depth. My favourite peg on this lake is peg 12, but today I drew peg 10, which under normal conditions I would have been more than happy with, but because it’s a corner peg, nearest the outlet, I wasn’t exactly jumping for joy. I did find a depth of around 20 inches out in front at 8 metres, but my inside line to my right was only about 12 inches deep with about 6 inches of dead leaves on the bottom. My left-hand edge was a no-goer from the start as I could clearly see the bottom.
Needless to say, rigs had to be light with a no. 6 elastic on my 8-metre rig and a no. 4 on my inside line rig. Both rigs consisted of 0.13 mainline, 0.2 and 0.1 pencil floats, and size 18 hooks to 0.08 hooklength. My plan… yes, a plan… was to fish chopped worm and caster on the 8-metre line, using small pieces of worm or single caster on the hook. Groundbait was a 50-50 mix of Fishmeal Worm and Sweet Skimmer. For my inside line, I fished with maggles on the hook and just loose fed maggles sparingly. I could see Kev Murch on peg 8, Don Searle on peg 9, which are the 2 end pegs and almost always produce some good weights. Jason “Bagger” Pitman was on peg 11, which is another good peg.
Our main quarry today were the F1s, which are now pushing 2lbs a piece. There are a few tench and chub in the lake too and some cracking hybrids, but it was the bigger skimbos I was gunning for. On the all-in, I cupped out a medium-sized ball of groundbait, laced with choppie and casters, to my 8-metre line. I would leave that for a full hour while I concentrated on the whip out to my right for some roach. After an hour, I had close to a pound in the net and so it was time to take a look at the 8-metre line with worm on the hook. I didn’t get a bite on worm… or caster… or maggles on this line, so an hour was wasted on that. Meanwhile, Kev had caught an F1 and Don was finding a few small skimbos.
So far, it wasn’t going to plan. It was now time to attack my right-hand inside line with maggles. I began catching quite steadily, but the fish were very small and dead leaves were a real problem. I seemed to be forever clearing debris from my hook, but if I shallowed up I couldn’t get a bite and so I had no choice but to keep on doing what I was doing. That is, until I stopped getting bites down the right-hand side. As the bright sun came over the lake, the bites were getting fewer and fewer. I spent the last hour using a 4.5-metre whip here, there, and everywhere, in desperation. I finished up with 4-02-0 of small silvers for nowhere. Jason won with 7-06-0, which included some decent skimbos. Well done to him and another quid lost…FFS!
Sunday 16th August – The Away Day To End All Away Days!
Well, at least as far as the River Kenn is concerned, that is. OMG! What a hard day it was on Clevedon’s River Kenn. This date was what used to be known as the Kingswood Legion’s “Jolly Boys’ Outing”. This annual event used to be a well-organised coach trip to somewhere new and wonderful. Over the years though, it has been downgraded to everyone making their own way to a particular venue with the club footing the bill for the peg fee. Before this match we had heard stories of bream in the 8-9lb region coming out recently together with some nice tench, but despite most of us spending the majority of the 5 hours in pursuit of such quarry, none actually appeared. Instead, we were greeted with 1-2 ounce roach and a few very shy skimbos.
With 10 fishing, we decided on 2 sections of 5 plus pay the top 3 positions. According to reports, permanent peg 26 was the peg to draw, but I drew peg 5, which is permanent 22. However, when I arrived at my peg, I was quite happy with what I saw. I had a nice overhanging Willow tree to my right, a reed bed right over and a little bush to my left. I decided to fish a line at 11.5 metres, which was 12 feet deep, with worm and caster. I also set up a rig for fishing at 6 metres to my right, just under the tree and to my left, next to the little bush. My main approach, however, would be a groundbait feeder right over with corn on the hook. I wanted bream… and I wanted them badly!
So, here was the plan… LOL! I would spend the first hour on the feeder right over. If that didn’t produce, then I would spend the next hour fishing worm and caster at 11.5 metres, hard on the deck. If that didn’t work, then I would try under the tree with maggles and if that didn’t work, then a little dabble down by the bush on my left. Sounds like a good plan, right? Well, none of it worked. I spent the 4th hour back out on the feeder for nothing. So, I spent the last hour trying to salvage something by fishing a slow-sinking line by the little bush and finally caught 3 tiny roach and a skimbo for 4 ounces. Yep! 4 ounces! What a way to spend the day. Nevertheless, the scenery was nice.
The top worm wobbler on the day was that man, Jason Pitman… again, who finished up with a mixed bag of bits totalling 1-10-0 for a clear victory. There was a tie for second place with 13 ounces apiece… FFS! Plus, I lost another quid to the maestro and at this rate I’ll be bankrupt before the end of the year… LOL! Honestly… you couldn’t make it up!
Well, that’s my round-up of awe-inspiring events covering the last 2 weeks. On Thursday 20th, I’ll be back at Windmill Fisheries and for some strange reason… I can’t wait. Keep you posted!
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