Sunday 11^th May – Kingswood RBL Club Match – K&A Canal, Bradford-on-Avon

Before I begin my report, I would just like to thank everyone for the amazing birthday messages I received. I was truly humbled by the volume and sincerity, and I’m very grateful to you all.

So, last Thursday, 8^th May, I was at Windmill Fisheries again… I know, I know… but I still haven’t qualified for the Costcutter final and I’m getting desperate now… lol. We had 11 turn up for this one so the pegs were well spaced out. Payouts were announced for first overall and top silvers plus 2 sections. With this lake, it’s anyone’s guess where the best weight will come from on any given day although peg 10 has been delivering the goods on recent matches. Today I drew peg 6, which I was kinda happy with. The only anglers I could see from my position was Andy Greenham on peg 16, which was virtually opposite and John Smith on peg 25 at the end of the lake. So I wouldn’t have much idea about how it’s fishing around the lake, which is very often a good thing.

I didn’t have any preconceived plans about how I would fish today although worm, paste and meat were on the bait menu. I decided on a worm line at 10 metres over to my left and a paste line at 8 metres over to my right. My right-hand edge would be my meat swim and the left-hand edge would be my “anything goes” swim. I also set up a bomb rod for fishing bomb and maggle out into open water as there was a gap between the islands opposite me and fish were topping there. On setting up, I noticed a lot of carp cruising on and just below the surface so I spent the first 30 minutes of the match trying to mug them… unfortunately, they had other ideas. So next, I cupped out some chopped worm mixed with Scopex groundbait to my 10-metre line and then some groundbait and pellets to my paste line.

While I waited for all that to settle, I lobbed out the bomb and maggle. Well, I gave that 30 minutes with nothing but a liner for my troubles so I gave up on that approach. It was then a case of going through the motions, trying each line in turn to see if I could get any kind of response. Finally, I did! On my worm line I had a positive bite and when I struck it was like a ballistic missile had been launched as a 2-pound skimbo became airborne for a couple of seconds. I had 2 more over the next 40 minutes and missed quite a few very tentative bites. Then it all went a bit quiet so I tried the paste line again. Nothing doing there and so I decided to start feeding my right-hand margin with micros and meat. So, this is what you have to do on this match lake, just keep trying each line until you finally, or maybe not, get a bite.

More than 3 hours had gone by before I foul hooked a carp over my worm line. I lost that one but I did land my first carp on worm about 10 minutes later. I added 2 more within the hour and then I tried the paste line with a pellet and bingo! I had another one there but no more indications so it was back onto the worm line. No more to be had there either and so back onto the meat in my right-hand edge and another one caught there but I had no more fish in the last hour. I finished up with 5 carp averaging just under 6lb each and 3 big skimbos for a total of 36-14- 0. Well my 8-3-0 of silvers was easily enough to take the top silvers prize today, so happy days are here again.

Sunday 11^th – Kennett & Avon Canal

Despite all the boats, the cyclists and the walkers, it was nice to fish the canal for a change. We were pegged on the Moulton Drive stretch of the canal for this one and we were well spread out due to the many moored boats. I drew peg 2, so I didn’t have too far to walk, which is just as well as my back has been playing up lately. I did however, have to do some work on the bank so that I could get my box stabilised and fish in relative comfort. The tow path was quite narrow so everything had to be carefully placed and out of harm’s way. I’ve already had a pole section broken by a jogger on the B&T canal not so long ago and I didn’t want to go through that again. (My new Matrix MTX 3 has arrived but I won’t be using it on any canal).

So, I decided to keep everything as simple as possible today and just set up 2 rigs only. The first one was for fishing at 6 metres with punched bread. My groundbait consisted of 50% liquidised bread and 50% brown crumb. The rig for this line comprised a 4×10 (0.15g) pencil float, 0.11mm (3lb BS) mainline, a size 20 Guru GSFP hook tied to a 0.09mm hooklength. The top kit has a no. 3 elastic fitted. My other rig was virtually identical except for the hook size, which was an 18 Guru GSFP and the elastic was a no.4. This rig was for fishing at 10 metres, when the water had settled and no more boats were on the way.

On the all-in, I cupped out a small ball of groundbait to the 6 metre line and went straight over it with a 5mm pellet of bread. I got an instant response from a 6oz roach. Lovely start! A few minutes later I had a nice skimbo of around 8 ounces and then a steady stream of small roach. I did have a couple looks on the longer line but the stamp of fish was the same so I just stayed on the short line for most of the day. The fish stopped coming to bread about halfway through the match and so I changed to a single pinkie on the hook and managed to find a few more small roach to see me over line. I’m not sure why the skimbos were a bit reluctant to feed as they are the real weight builders on this canal. Well, I ended up with 3-9-0 and third on the day.

So, a bit more wonga in the pocket to round off quite a rewarding week. Well done to Jon Amato who won the match comfortably with a nice net of skimbos and roach for 6-8-0. Well, it’s back to Windmill again for me tomorrow and yet another chance to qualify for the Costcutter 500 final. Will I? Won’t I? Who the fook knows! Keep you posted…

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