It All Happens At Once"

Just to let everybody know I haven't given up fishing or my blog for that matter' but did hit a bit of a crisis" After having the house on the market for the last few month's without much interest all of a sudden along comes a cash buyer who puts in a decent offer and wants a quick sale, All well & good we thought until the people we were going to rent a property off of for the time being let us down at the last minute meaning not only did we have nowhere to go we had the added problem of finding somewhere which would also accommodate are rather large dog! It was a real struggle to tell the truth and as we were beginning to give up hope fortunately we have found a nice bungalow very near to were we are now. With everything rolling along at full pace we complete the sale of are house on the 1st of August but move into are new residence this weekend so I wont have chance to wet a line again this week but will be keen to get back on the bank the following weekend and get back to my blogging so good luck to those fortunate enough to at least be fishing' .      

River Huntspill (Somerset Super League Rd 2)

Back to the Huntspill today for the second round of the super league, With traveling Don picking me up I didn't have to worry about how much alcohol I had consumed yesterday but wasn't in any kind of state which was a good thing'

After the normal breakfast on route we made are way to Laburnham house for the draw, I fancied the winner would come from the sections below woolavington where most of the bait had gone in over the last couple of weeks as well as these pegs to produce better results than some area's? It wasn't to be for me though as I ended up drawing the top section of the river at gold corner which was pretty poor in the first round but you never know, Arriving at my peg the first main issue was the amount of weed present, Luckily for me my swim didn't seem as bad as some others so this year I didn't have to go swimming just to clear my swim although Andy Otterway from the Thatchers lot decided to take the plunge" I ask you' whats it all about when you have to resort to doing this just to clear your swim when there are other sections of the river which can be used and free of weed!?

 

 

First out the holdall was the feeder rod to fish toward the far bank in the slim chance of snaring a bream or some decent skimmers in the opening stages but after a brief chat with a few others this section failed to produce in the first round so with that in mind I was hoping the pole line would produce a few fish?

with plenty of time before the all in I assemble two pole rigs to fish past the nearside weed at 13mts as I didn't want to go any further as the forecast was for wet weather with the wind increasing from the south meaning it would be difficult to feed properly.

With around 5ft of water I had a heavier 0.4g rig on 0.13-0.10 and a size 20 B520 hook on one top and a lighter 0.2g slim patterned float on 0.11-0.10 to search through the lower depths.

At the all-in I fed a small pot of maggots & casters, (The casters I may add were from last week which were better than the fresh pint purchased yesterday which I had to throw away as they went grey and soft when I tried turning them"??) And then had a dozen chucks feeding a mix of casters, chopped worms & red Squatt's

though a 30g feeder before adding the hook-length and started the match with a bunch of squat's on the hook. I missed a couple of small twitches before having a 1oz rudd" the next 45mins as things didn't get much better as only two fish of similar size were added to the net. I had seen Gary O'Shea on the end peg of are section net a better fish but apart from that it seemed most were struggling including Paul Purchase next to me who was admitting to a few small fish. It was time to try the pole and starting on the lighter rig with a single white maggot I had a bite straight away resulting in a 12oz eel so a good start'? A few minutes later I hooked another around a 1lb but it shed the hook when I got it to the surface' not good! The Water colour at this end was a lot cleared probably due to the weed filtering the water? which meant fish may spook as it proved as I couldn't get a sniff after. I re-fed with another half pot before trying the feeder again.

30 bite-less minute later I was soon trying the pole again, I had a few small perch and some small rudd but it seemed the eel's had disappeared? Paul had managed a couple of eel's on his pole line but was also struggling for a few bites, it was fast approaching the halfway mark of the 5hr match and things weren't going to plan? I decided to loose fed small amount more regularly onto the pole line whilst desperately praying for a better fish on the feeder. I didn't happen so I was back trying the pole line but with the lighter rig set 6inches of the deck. it seemed to work as I added a few more rudd to 4oz and a bonus 12oz perch' to go with the one Paul Had snared on the feeder'. It seemed to be a case of catching a few fish before you had change depth and or rest it, The feeder line just didn't seem to be working as the guy below me spent most of the match on it without having much and although Paul had caught a few fish on it I didn't think he was that far in-front? In the last hour I decided to stick to the pole and keep a close eye on both of them on the tip, By swapping between fishing on and off the deck I was hoping for some late eel's , I had nothing to loose and decided to feed it a lot heavier with maggots and what I had of casters left via the catty and after a few more rudd and small roach with 20mins to go I hooked a better eel of a 1lb or so which this time I got to net' with 10mins to go I hooked another right swimmer" taking me towards the middle before I managed to stop it and get it back towards me, it felt a lot bigger than the last but after getting it a few meters from the bank it bolted around a couple of lily pads off to me left snapping my hook-length!" I soon added another but with only 2mins left I didn't have time for another bite. 

Nicky Collins wandered up add was admitting to 4lb odd I though I had around 5lb and Paul was admitting to the same so it would be close as expected really Gary O'Shea was winning the section when it got to us with off the end peg with 9lb followed by Dave Micklewright next door having 8lb odd, we didn't have that but it would be close between the rest of us, Their was a 5lb 15oz before it got to me and I finished up with 6lb 1oz before Paul ended the match with 6lb 6oz"

 4th in the section wasn't a bad result but the two lost eel's cost me but that's fishing, Back at the results and it seemed to be a carbon copy of the last match with those who seemed to have tried a few things have done better than those who have relied on just one method, Team match fishing to me is fishing as a team and discussing things to catch a few fish, Its seems if some just want to turn up and aren't bothered about being team members and with this in mind along with the costs involved I have decided to part ways with the team as such with regards to the future rounds of the Super league, Back to fishing my own choice of matches for the time being and at least I can only blame myself if things don't turn out right". The match was won by Thatcher's Gary Webber from below Wollavington with 29lb of bream & skimmers on the feeder on various baits from peg 99. Team wise Daiwa Gordon League lead the way after two rounds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

overall standings -

 

 

 

 

 

 

                               

 

 

        

River Huntspill Open Match (Sunday).

With a practice match scheduled before the next round of the Somerset Super League next weekend traveling Partner Don Sutherland and myself decided to give it another go, Arriving at the draw we found out their were 20 booked-in to fish and the match it was going to be spread in two sections below woolavington were I drew last week, or so we thought, but for some reason they had chosen to leave out the section I drew last week starting further down the river which not only means a hellish walk over uneven ground it now meant we would be fishing a section which wouldn't even be pegged in the league next week" Knowing this I probably wouldn't of even bothered to fish as it just seems pointless to me, Teams wonder why they struggle to get anglers to fish these team events and in my eyes this match had been set out for thier own benefit to go bream chasing further down the river but who knows? One things for sure, I'm Seriously considering the future of team fishing as the effort you need to put in just doesn't seem worth it or cost for that matter..

I fully expected with the way it was pegged end pegs would dominate or the swims further down towards the noted clapper' would produce, Into the draw and I Don & Myself were nowhere near them being on pegs 100 and me on 102. arriving at my swim my first job was to dig out a section of the bank in order to get my box anywhere close to the waters edge which had me sweating like a pig for starters" It seemed most were prepared just to spend the match fishing the feeder for bream and although I planned to do the same I wanted the back up line of a pole swim at 13mts which hopefully would produce some eels or silver fish should the tip not produce. I assembled two pole rigs 0.3g and 0.5g both on 0.11-0.10 and with size 20 B520 hooks ( A bit smaller than the norm then) to fish between 12 & 13mts as I was set back in a bit of a bay.

I started the match by feeding 15 feeder full's of ground-bait, chopped worm & Squatts over towards the far bank and cupped in some casters & maggots onto the pole line. this week I started on two dead red maggots and missed two bites in the first two casts' but then had a small roach, over the next 50mins I switched between various baits but all I added was an 6oz eel and was already getting board' I decided to give the swim another 6 feeder-full's of bait and try the pole line.

Starting on the lighter rig with single white maggot on the hook the float hardly had time to settle before I had my first eel again about 6oz. the next 4 put-in's saw me add 4 more eel's to 10oz before things went quite, I cupped in some more feed and had another go on the feeder but it just seemed motionless as I couldn't get a bite on it know matter what baits I tried on the hook. back on the pole and a couple more small eel's but it wasn't quick. by now the sky had blacken and the rumble of thunder was fast approaching' I got up for my bait brolley and asked the guy above me how he was getting on and he only had an 6oz skimmer at this stage. it wasn't long before we had a massive down pore of heavy rain, I tried the tip again and when I wasn't expecting it missed a bite on worm and maggot but that was as far as it went' after the rain had passed I tried the pole again but couldn't get a bite on it so it seemed the heavy rain had put pay to it for some reason as Mark Broomsgrove below me who also set up a pole and had a few early eel's was struggling for bites. the last couple of hours I kept switching between the two lines but only added a small perch on the pole in the last 20mins. I finished the day with around 11 eel's and a few bit's for just under 3kg but as expected the end pegs dominated with Mark Treasurer form Daiwa Gordon league on the first peg of the match length peg 95 taking the spoil's with a 22kg bag of bream and skimmers on the feeder, further down the last two pegs of the match produced second with 18kg odd and 9kg odd so my prediction was right but you still have to catch them. Back next week for the second round of the super league and although it looks like bream will dominate the top catches at least I got a better picture of what to expect on the pole lines should the case arise and I need to catch a few for team points.                

Viaduct Fishery Saturday Open Cambell Lake.

With the weather forecast good for the day it was back to viaduct for their latest Saturday match on cambell lake which seemed to be the best for producing the better catches at the moment. With 20 of us fishing it the whole lake was in use and for once I drew an area I fancied for a few fish peg 114 on the near bank, I had the option of the open water as well as what looked like a nice margin swim down to my left towards the empty pallet 113 which doesn't normally get pegged.

 

 

 

Although Giles Cochrane makes it work I didn't really fancy chucking the bomb and pellet around all day but did set it up, my main line of attack would be the short pole at 8mts with meat and along the inside margin with pellet. I set up a  4x12 rig for 8mts on 0.17-0.15 and an 14 PR478 hook and a 0.2g AS2 float to fish along the margin in around 3ft of water on 0.19 to an 0.17 hair rig hook.

 

At the all-in I fed a large pot of hemp to help to the fish on the deck with a palm-full of 7mm cubed meat added onto the 8mt line and began pinging a few hard 6mm pellets down towards the pallet, Everyone else seemed to start on the bomb but I chose to go straight on the short line with double meat on the hook. It didn't take long for me to hook my first fish and it was a decent size until as I reached for the landing net it bolted under the pallet and smashed the rig to pieces" Great start then..! luckily I had an identical rig set up so was soon trying again, after a coupe of foul hooked fish I switched to a big worm on the hook and safely netted a 4lb fish but they didn't seem to want to settle.

 

I tried the bomb for a while without a response and after an hour it was time to look down towards the pallet as already a few fish had been caught on the opposite bank as well as the lads either side of me taking some early fish on the bomb. Starting with a banded 8mm pellet feeding just a few over the top via a cad pot it was instant but the fish wasn't happy' bolting for freedom under the empty pallet shedding the hook and leaving me snagged up resulting in another trashed rig!!. with a new one attached I chose not to go as far to the pallet fishing only half way along the inside bank hoping to have time to react and get then out easier?

Nope" Another hooked fish but this time it managed to tangle me up tight to the bank in all the under water debris from the tree branches which had fallen in over time and I coudn't see' Another trashed rig and already I was decorating my side tray with broken floats so things certainly weren't going to plan. I chose to start a new line a metre off the bank into the open water giving me more chance of adding fish to the net rather than have them run me ragged! it worked for a while but the fish soon moved back towards the pallet where they felt safe but to be honest the elastic I had been advised to use down the edge on swims like this just wasn't man enough and will soon be coming out of my top kits! I spent the rest of the day pinching the odd fish off the 8mt line with worm over mainly hemp which were of good size but they were few and far between and I could see a few anglers catching well, A few more attempt's at getting fish out from down the edge seemed to go one fish one more smashed rig! so not an enjoyable day although I don't think I made the most of my swim, perhaps a longer pole line or the pellet waggler would have worked more in my favour but that's why its called fishing not catching' lol, I didn't trouble the scales today but estimated to have around 70lb odd which wasn't going to get me anything so got the kit packed away just having time to get the results before heading home. It turned out Chris Davis fishing his favourite peg 135 on the end bank ( he's draw it 3 times in a row!) made no mistakes catching all his fish on 6mm pellet feeding the same to finish the day with just over 200lb so well done to him.