Sunday 31^st August – A 3-Match Roundup Of Simulated Fishing Experiences

You wait all year for a bad match and then 3 come along at once!

Hi, and welcome to my latest blog. It’s been almost 3 weeks since I last put fingers to keyboard and that’s all down to my hectic jet-setting lifestyle…LOL! Actually, it’s down to a series of bad luck and mishaps together with some p*ss poor performances, or bad draws as I usually call them. My last 3 sessions really have felt like simulated fishing because I have gone through all the motions without the benefit of a climax… in terms of results. So here’s what I’ve been up to…

Sunday 17^th August – Kingswood RBL AwayDay Match, Top Lake, Windmill Fisheries

The Kingswood RBL club has an annual AwayDay match at a venue that we would not usually fish at any other time of the year. In the past, we have visited some pretty cool venues such as the Warwickshire Avon, the Dorset Stour, the river Wye and numerous commercials and country park lakes all over the South West, the Midlands and South Wales. These friendly “jolly boys’ outings” are free to fish as the club foots the bill for the cost of the day tickets. Back in the day, we used to organise a family coach trip for these matches with families spending the day at the beach, shopping, or sightseeing. So, Windmill Fisheries isn’t very far away, right? Well, sign of the times, with lack of interest and some members not willing to drive too far from home… and a few other reasons, we decided to stay local this time.

So we had booked the Top Lake for our match, which has 10 pegs and all the pegs were taken. I’ve only fished this lake twice before and most of the other anglers hadn’t fished it at all, so I was the “go to guy” for information on species, tactics and baits…LOL. We decided to pay 3 places for this match, the overall winner, top silvers and second. The overall and top silvers payouts would be the same, so there was an incentive to go for silvers only if anyone wanted to. As far as drawing was concerned, I wanted any peg that had a reed bed nearby, which is where the carp are. However, I drew peg 5, which didn’t have a reed bed, only a little overhanging bush, which no self-respecting carp would be seen dead under. I had drawn this peg once before, when we fished a silvers-only open match. I didn’t do well.

So, it was a loooong 6 hours, during which time those who had reeds caught carp and those that didn’t… didn’t. I ended up with about 2-3lb of small silvers and chucked back, having seen carp caught from several pegs and some decent skimbos caught from others. The winner on the day was Kev Murch with 34-05-0 (mainly carp) and the top silvers shout went to Leigh (longshanks) Wakefield with 7-12-0 of mainly skimbos. Third place went to Tony Welsby with 31-04-0. Well done to those guys. As far as AwayDay venues go, it wasn’t one of our best, so moving on…

Sunday 24^th August – Alcove Club Match – Georges Lake, Whitehouse Farm

There have been some big weights from this lake in recent weeks, so expectations were high. However, due to the water level being so low, we decided on a silvers-only match today. We had 12 anglers turn out for this one and I fancied drawing either peg 6, peg 1, or peg 18. I ended up with peg 14, which is in the middle of the right-hand bank. It’s not a winning peg unless you have a big shoal of skimbos out in front. The skimbos here go to over 2lbs and you need a lot of them to build a good weight. Well, I had a job to do, so I set up 3 rigs. One at 12 metres to my left, one at 9 metres to my right and a short whip rig for fishing at 6 metres to hand out in front.

My long line was for targeting skimbos, where I used paste and corn, but I only managed 6 or 7 medium-sized skimbos before hooking into a biggie of around 3lbs or more, which shot off like a carp. After gently coaxing the fish all the way back, the hook pulled just as I was about to net it. I distinctly heard cries of “shame” from all the onlookers. FFS! After that, the fish completely disappeared from this line for the rest of the session. Next, I went onto my 9-metre line, which was for targeting roach and anything else, with maggles and casters being the main offerings. It was soooo slow on this line and the quality of the fish it produced was pathetic. My whip line was much more productive and so I spent over half the match fishing this line, but I was up against it with Kev Murch on peg 12 latching onto some quality skimbos and Tony Welsby having it all his own way with quality chub from peg 10. Anglers on the opposite side of the lake seemed to fare quite well, too, with Steve Sewall putting some quality fish in his net and Mike Nichols finding some form from peg 3 next to the willow tree.

Well, it was one of those sessions where you work hard all day but have little to show at the end. A very disappointing result for me! I finished up with just over 7lbs and it’s fair to say I got well and truly hammered from all directions. Well done to Tony Welsby, who is at the top of his game at the moment, weighing in 24-09-0 of mainly chub for the win. In second place was Steve Sewall with a very close 23-15-0 and Kev Murch finished in third place with 20-09-0. It’s back to the drawing board for me!

Sunday 31^st August – Riverfest Qualifier – Bristol Avon, Jack Whites To Swineford

Going into this match, all the talk was about bream. Would they show or would they not? That was the question! Well, there were only 25 anglers on this one, but they came from far and wide. At the draw, the air was full of Welsh and Brummie accents. Former world champion, Clive Branson, managed to get a good shot of the back of my head while filming for his much-acclaimed Vlog and that is my only claim to fame this season…LOL. Well, I wanted to get into the draw bucket early ‘cos I wanted a good peg… and I got one. My fishing buddy, Jason Pitman, held back right to the very end and took the last peg, which was on the short wall at the Crane. He didn’t appear to be too overwhelmed with that pick. I couldn’t believe my luck when I realised I had drawn on the steps at Jackie Whites… whoopee!

So, drawing a good peg is one thing, but getting down to it is another. First, I handballed all my kit over the wall by the small car park opposite the breakers yard and then I walked round and into the field to get it all onto my barrow. Then it was a huff and a puff across the field to the blockhouse with the steps situated just in front. The steps were heavily muddied from the soil on either side and so I had to clear all this before I could safely get down them. As the water level was quite low, I had to precariously position my box on a small area of bank to the right of the steps so that I had enough of my keepnet in the water. Bringing everything down the steps a bit at a time was very time-consuming, but at least I didn’t have to get into the water like some of the other anglers had to.

I decided to try and keep everything as simple as possible and so I only set up a Crowquill float rig and a maggle feeder rod. Rain was forecast from 10am onward, so I had to be mindful of getting wet and muddy at some point and the whole area becoming slippery. WTF was I doing at my age? Teetering on the brink of a 5-foot-high river bank with my feet dangling over the edge… crazy! Anyway, I drew this very same peg about 4 years ago on one of the annual Poppy matches and came 4^th on the day with over 18lb of chub. I was hoping to repeat that today. Last time, I caught chub early on with maggles, just trotting a Crowquill float through the swim at 2-3 rod-lengths out and that’s how I started my match. I began catching right away, but it was only small dace and bleak that were there in numbers, ragging everything I put on the hook. After 30 minutes, I changed to a maggle feeder on the same line, but the result was exactly the same. Small fish were everywhere.

Now the rain started and fook me did it come down. A few flashes of lightning were thrown in for good measure, too. Thoughts turned to home…LOL.

So, it was now well into the second hour of the match and I still hadn’t located the chub. FFS, where were they? I changed the depth of the float and tried trotting down the middle of the river where there was a nice steady flow. It was a pouchful of casters for every chuck with maggles on the hook. But more bleak and dace was all I was getting. So, out went the maggle feeder on the same line and still bleak and dace. I gave that an hour before deciding to go right over with the maggle feeder. I searched all over the far side, getting as close to the overhanging trees as I dare,d but all I found was more dace and bleak. This wasn’t written in the script! So, I changed to a straight lead with meat and put the rig out into the middle of the river. I’m now thinking big chub or barbel. Suddenly, the tip shot round and just for a moment I thought I had a chub but it turned out to be a perch of around 8 ounces.

By now, it was still raining and I was soaked through and decidedly p*ssed off!

I’m now on desperation street, so on goes the bread… but nothing on that. I started loose feeding tares at 2 rod lengths out and tried fishing a tare on the hook. I gave it 20 minutes, but… nothing on that. So it was back on the maggle feeder at 2-3 rod-lengths out and I started piling in the casters and maggles in the hope some greedy chubbers would come and investigate. It didn’t happen. I did manage to catch a few quality roach by doing this and also a few better perch, but there were no signs of a chub or a barbel anywhere. With an hour to go, word came down the bank that no bream were being caught anywhere, but some good chub were caught… in my section! Just 2 pegs upstream, over 20lb of chub showed up for this lucky angler and the angler 2 pegs below also found some, although a much smaller stamp, but plenty of them. Both anglers were catching on the maggle feeder down the middle. WTF was I doing wrong then? Beats me!

Well, I just carried on doing what I was doing and ended up with about 6lbs of bits. I was well and truly annoyed with my performance and totally fed up. I was soaking wet and feeling utterly dejected, disappointed, depressed, disheartened and I was inconsolable. I began packing up with about 15 minutes to go and just for good measure, slipped in the mud. So, not only was I wet, I was also covered in mud. Luvverrly! (At this point, I was thinking… MUM! I want to come home!) Yes, it was sh*t day all round and I was so glad to finally get packed up. I didn’t want to hang around for the scaleman as I already knew I was well and truly beaten on both sides and not for the first time in the last couple of weeks. So, I chucked back and made my way back to the car and then home. Seems like Jason didn’t have a great day either, caned by the whip off the next peg.

So, well done to the 2 qualifiers (one weighed 25lbs and the other weighed 18lbs… I think) and good luck to them both in the final. I think this will probably be my last Riverfest qualifier. I’m just getting too old for all this clambering down the riverbank malarkey on ropes and wading into rivers. It’s absolute madness! However, that said, I will be fishing this year’s Poppy Appeal open, which will be on the same stretch of river… FFS!

Well, there you have it and so I’m now ready to turn the page on that episode and look forward to fishing with the “Hobnobs” on the Match Lake at Windmill Fisheries on Sunday… what’s the worst that can happen? Keep you posted!

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