River Huntspill Open Match.
Back to a Venue I remember fishing as a junior when the team champs where held they came by the coach load and it was double banked' those days sadly long gone and the water has changed a lot from the early days with most of the lower south bank now being sloped with bulrushes a long way out into the river which some what filters the water so not the chocolate colour of old. Traveling with team mate Don Sutherland we stopped at Hilltops for breakfast before making are way to Laburnham House for the draw, The First Match on the river this year meant no bait had gone in as such so it was any ones guess which area would fair best but with 50 fishing the match was spread from Gold corner down to withygrove, We were both early to draw and ended up with peg 36 and Don drew peg 32 so at least we were in the same section meaning we could get to are pegs early, We had drawn the only section on the north bank not to far from gold corner but with two end pegs to contend with we were going to be up against it as these pegs prove best for the first few matches until the fish are used to seeing some bait.
When I got to my peg I had to decided would it be best to perch myself on the edge of the bank of risk getting in knowing the clay can slope off steeply" After sitting on the edge for two seconds and the footing going straight in I had know choice but to try and get in the water. After 10mins knee deep I managed to get my seat box arrange so at least it was a start".
The pegs here are quite wide but with little wind I chose to set up an 11ft powerlite feeder rod with 5lb main line with a 20oz cage feeder to an 0.11 3ft hook length and a 16 B611 at the business end. Next up was a pole rig to fish at 13mts, The depth here was around 5ft and quite flat and my main line of attack here would be to target eels as they can be more reliable than targeting skimmers or bream I find.
As it was calm I opted for a 0.2g float on 0.11 to an 0.10 hook length and a size 20! B520, (Yep I had to make some off these hook lengths at home as I think I would struggle on the bank") For company I had team mate and fellow bloger Ivan Curry on peg 37 so we had a quid for the fun of it. At the start I cupped in some loose white maggot and casters on the 13mt pole swim then had ten chucks with my feeder filled with squatts which thankfully all landed on the clip in the right place so that was a good start' Starting with 6 squatt on the hook I had a 6oz skimmer first chuck followed by one of the same size the next cast, a couple of minutes later I had a drop back bite out of the blue and I had a better fish attached, after making a quick dash to the lilies I soon had it safely in the net turning out to be a bream of nearly 3lb" Quickly back out and a 1lb skimmer followed before the sun popped its head out and I couldn't get a bite despite trying different baits, After 2 hours I had to try the pole line where I had been feeding maggot and caster regularly, Starting on two white maggots it didn't take me long to get a bite and an eel of 8oz followed, Here we go' or so I thought but after 15mins just bumping another eel I couldn't get a bite so carried on feeding and switched back to the tip and double dead red maggot on the hook, a couple of small skimmers in the next hour was all I could manage. By now the wind had got up and I had to get a 0.6g pole rig out to try and pick up the trip which slightly downstream but again after one missed bite in 30mins or so I new they weren't there in numbers which I did expect really as its a bit early for it to work. I spent the rest of the match swapping between the pole and the tip and I had what I thought was a big skimmer after a lovely bite on the pole only for it to turn out to be a FRESH WATER MUSSEL" Which then came towards me and spat the bait out before drifting off..! ( I couldn't go a day without something happening") how Bizarre.. Ending the day with another eel and a couple more skimmers on the tip and squatt it was hard going for my first match on the river.
As I was sat in my little hole all day I couldn't see what was being caught around me and despite Don having a wander half way thought to say it was hard for most. Ivan had a hard day ending up with 2lb odd meaning at least I had a £1" the next few pegs below Ivan either went home or didn't weigh so I decided to weigh in end ended with 2kg 850g, As expected the end peg proved best with one having 8kg odd and the other 7kg odd, Further up towards gold corner on the opposite bank proved the place to be with peg 17 winning the match with 34kg and the next best 3 weights on the day were on the pegs opposite sides of him with 31kg and 27kg. This was always going to be the case today if you were lucky enough to draw on a few but you still have to catch them and Ile be hoping to draw in that area come next weeks teams of 10 match.
The pegs here are quite wide but with little wind I chose to set up an 11ft powerlite feeder rod with 5lb main line with a 20oz cage feeder to an 0.11 3ft hook length and a 16 B611 at the business end. Next up was a pole rig to fish at 13mts, The depth here was around 5ft and quite flat and my main line of attack here would be to target eels as they can be more reliable than targeting skimmers or bream I find.
As it was calm I opted for a 0.2g float on 0.11 to an 0.10 hook length and a size 20! B520, (Yep I had to make some off these hook lengths at home as I think I would struggle on the bank") For company I had team mate and fellow bloger Ivan Curry on peg 37 so we had a quid for the fun of it. At the start I cupped in some loose white maggot and casters on the 13mt pole swim then had ten chucks with my feeder filled with squatts which thankfully all landed on the clip in the right place so that was a good start' Starting with 6 squatt on the hook I had a 6oz skimmer first chuck followed by one of the same size the next cast, a couple of minutes later I had a drop back bite out of the blue and I had a better fish attached, after making a quick dash to the lilies I soon had it safely in the net turning out to be a bream of nearly 3lb" Quickly back out and a 1lb skimmer followed before the sun popped its head out and I couldn't get a bite despite trying different baits, After 2 hours I had to try the pole line where I had been feeding maggot and caster regularly, Starting on two white maggots it didn't take me long to get a bite and an eel of 8oz followed, Here we go' or so I thought but after 15mins just bumping another eel I couldn't get a bite so carried on feeding and switched back to the tip and double dead red maggot on the hook, a couple of small skimmers in the next hour was all I could manage. By now the wind had got up and I had to get a 0.6g pole rig out to try and pick up the trip which slightly downstream but again after one missed bite in 30mins or so I new they weren't there in numbers which I did expect really as its a bit early for it to work. I spent the rest of the match swapping between the pole and the tip and I had what I thought was a big skimmer after a lovely bite on the pole only for it to turn out to be a FRESH WATER MUSSEL" Which then came towards me and spat the bait out before drifting off..! ( I couldn't go a day without something happening") how Bizarre.. Ending the day with another eel and a couple more skimmers on the tip and squatt it was hard going for my first match on the river.
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