Sunday 22^nd September – K&H RBL AC Club Match – Staverton On A Rainy Day

Another 2-match report this week with the little matter of the Costcutter 500 final to go through first. As expected, it was a full house and as always with Windmill Match Lake, there were going to be winners and losers decided by the draw. In fact, the match was basically won at the draw. With a northwest wind blowing up the lake, we were quite sure the carp would be holed up on pegs 24, 25 and peg 1. We weren’t far wrong. So, into the drawbag I go and out comes intense shock and horror as I pulled out peg 3.

In my previous Windmill match, I drew peg 4, so I had a good idea about what to expect. That said, I think peg 3 is a much better peg than peg 4 as there are plenty of reeds on the far side and there were carp in them there reeds! The only problem was… it was blowing a hoolie up the lake, making it impossible to fish right over at 16 metres. I did try for about 5 minutes and then began shortening my pole to what was a manageable length, which turned out to be 9 metres. Undeterred, I chucked out a maggle feeder toward the reeds and lost that one, even though I had clipped up earlier.

The wind was blowing the reeds over onto the water so it wasn’t possible to get close enough, not with a feeder nor with a straight lead. So, my fishing was limited to my 9-metre line, a 6-metre line and my right-hand margin. I didn’t consider my left-hand margin as it’s disputed territory, if I remember correctly. Anyway, I expected John Smith was going to struggle on that peg without any interference from me. On the all-in, I cupped out some chopped worm and micros onto the 9-metre line and then started on the 6-metre line with meat. Well, I faffed about with meat short and shallow, short and deep and didn’t get a sniff.

With the waves crashing all around me…lol, I couldn’t tell whether there were any signs of life on my 9-metre line but I had a look anyway. There wasn’t! Top bank runner, Gerry Welsh came round and told me that Mat Taynton was catching on peg 9. That’s a good peg and has consistently thrown up some good weights this year. Mat was catching on the feeder and it looked like he was running away with it. That was until, Kingswood RBL club mate, Kev Murch, sorted himself out on peg 25 and began putting a serious weight together. Watching Kev catching down his left-hand edge was like poetry in motion.

Meanwhile, back on my barren peg and now 2 hours in, I still hadn’t had a bite. So, I cupped out more choppie to the 9-metre line and began loose-feeding a few 8mm pellets of meat to my right-hand edge. Well, I chopped and changed, as you do, and finally, I had a 5-pounder on worm from the 9-metre line. Great, but we’re now well over 3 hours in and I was praying for a miracle. Well, if 2 feisty 5-pounders in over 4 hours is a miracle then we’re all doomed. I had another look on the 9-metre line and lost one so it was time to get my finger out and get down the edge.

I was half expecting to get some indications right away as I had been loose feeding for most of the day but after 30 minutes there was nothing. It wasn’t looking good. I decided to drop a ball of Scopex into the margin, which was laced with some finely chopped meat. That seemed to do the trick as 5 minutes later I had a 10-pounder on the end of my rig. I really needed that fish, which had just doubled my weight. So, I dropped more loose feed and a little loose Scopex into the same area and within minutes I had another good fish of about 8 pounds. The problem now was I was quickly running out of time.

At this stage, I was pretty certain that Kev had the winning weight and Mat would probably be second. I had no idea who else was catching but I knew that the anglers on both sides of me were having a hard time of it. So, into the margin again and another big beast was waiting for the meat, only I lost this one after quite a tussle. I went straight back in and hooked another 8-pounder. Then with 10 minutes left on the clock, I hooked and lost another biggie. FFS! I desperately needed another big fish but the whistle beat me to it. Well, that was it for me. I finished up with 36-3-0. Losing out on a section win by 14 ounces.

Well done to Kev Murch for pulling it off with 77lbs and well done to Mat for taking second place and to Tony Rixon for coming third from unfancied peg 12. All in all, it was a great competition and I hope they run it again next year.

River Avon, Staverton

I was fishing here just a week ago with half a dozen of my Kingswood Legion clubmates and scraped into second place. However, today, I was tired and not feeling very enthusiastic as only 6 anglers had turned out again. The weather forecast was for rain all day and they were spot on. It was definitely a day for hunkering down under the brolly and going through the motions. I had drawn on permanent peg 34. It was another chubby-looking peg but I felt I was on the wrong side of the willow tree, which was directly opposite. If I had been drawn on peg 35, I could have trotted a Crowquill Avon float or waggler under the tree but because of my position, I was unable to do that. I had thought about using my pole to get under the overhanging branches but then I had no room to strike at bites so I gave up on that idea.

Instead, I plumped for a maggle feeder approach down to my left in a small gap between 2 trees and a pole line at 9 metres. It was 11 feet deep at 9 metres so I had to use some stiff groundbait to get the feed down. All the heavy rain we have had over the previous 24 hours hadn’t really affected the river. It had a nice colour and was running at a gentle pace. So, I started with the maggle feeder and began catching small gudgeon. It’s amazing how these little critters can pull the tip round, which certainly kept me on my toes. Well after 30 minutes, I had 6 or 7 gudgeon and so it was time to take a look on the pole line.

I had already fed a couple of balls of worm groundbait with chopped worm and maggle and began catching… more gudgeon. I was catching gudgeon on maggle, worm and bread and it was beginning to look like a gudgeon match as others were also falling victim to the gudgeon onslaught. After an hour and a further dozen gudgeon in the net, I cupped out a big cup of choppie in the hope I could tempt a few perch or even a skimbo. While I waited for that to settle I chucked out a bomb and meat but after 15 minutes I didn’t get any enquiries, so it was back on the pole. I baited up my size 16 hook with a whole worm cut into 2 pieces and lowered it in.

I had 2 perch in quick succession but they were only 3-4 ounces a piece. I kept topping up the swim with more worm, groundbait and maggles and began catching a variety of fish from small roach, bleak, perch, gudgeon, minnows and even a rudd. There just wasn’t anything of any size to help bump up my weight and so in the end I had to settle for a mediocre 2-3-0. In-form Kev Murch won the match having tempted 3 decent chub on corn for a total of 6-13-0. Ian Swanborough also found a few chub, and although they were much smaller, they helped him to secure second place with 4-15-0. Exciting stuff eh?

So, the desperate search for a match win to help offset losing my winter heating allowance continues… lol! Well, there’s no match for me on Thursday as the Windmill Match Lake is booked out to a club. Instead, I’ll be heading over to Whitehouse Farm to see what’s going on. We have an interclub match there on Sunday 29^th, across both lakes, so I need to get some much-needed practice in for that one. Keep you posted!

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