South West Superleague (River Huntpill)

I was really looking forward to this after last weeks section win I was feeling confident I could charm some Eel's on the pole line to pick some good points up for the team on the day should the feeder fail to produce. travelling on my own I did stock up on a warm breakfast before arriving at laburnham house for the 8.30 draw. We even had England Ace Callum Dicks fishing with us today, Fair play to him he had a meeting with some of the team in the week, Aswell as making a trip here, which un-fortunately I couldn't make & passed on some good information which had the guys in a good frame of mind. Captain Chris Hook gave us an early draw & I was hoping for one of the sections I had previously draw as although they haven't been that prolific I felt I would get good points. It wasn't to be as I drew the second section below Woolavington on peg 98,  All the talk before hand was of peg 99 as for some reason has been the best in the section each match & I new I was up against it when I found myself next to Thatcher's Gary Webber beaming ear to ear, He cant draw here can he, coz if I remember righty he had the end peg on my section last week! Lol. The end peg of the length was also in are section & that was taken by Sensas 88's Chris Parr who knows the venue really well so things were going to be a challenge".

When I arrived at my swim thankfully I could get the seatbox next to the waters edge as one I passed was a bit far off the water' It was quite nice as I could ship 13mts out just by using the higher grass bank behind me,

It looked spot-on with just a slight breeze but I've seen this venue change in minutes being quite exposed so made sure it was the same depth which turned out to be just over 5ft, the first two rigs were 4x14 & 4x16 wire wonders on 0.13-0.11 & 18 B520 hooks, A lighter 0.4g PB2 on 0.11-0.10 and a 20 B511 hook to fish dead depth or just off the deck for roach ect, That was it as far as the pole went & the only other piece of kit I had to set up was my 12ft feeder rod with 4lb main line & a 4ft length of 0.13 to a 16 B611 hook. I had loads of time before the start so made sure I had everything ready, even making a few more hook-lengths to add to the wallet just in-case I was sacking".

I started the day but cupping in some loose feed onto the pole line before having around a dozen or so chucks with the feeder full of chopped worm, casters & red squats targeting an area about 15ft off the far bank, It was a long chuck but not to far that I couldn't reach it should the wind pick up. I fed a bit more than normal at the start in the hope that if Gary had some fish in-front of him I may get the chance of a few with a decent bed of bait down should they be in the area.

Starting on the feeder after feeding the pole line again I started with 3 dead red maggots on the hook, A decent target bait should any fish be present, It was a slow start for all of us from what I could see with just the odd small fish caught, In the first hour despite going through different hookbaits I had managed just a 4oz skimmer & a 6oz roach but Gary wasn't catching as yet which was good news for me'. the chap on my right had come off the feeder after an hour & had managed a couple of small roach & a small Eel before I saw him playing a bigger Eel which he lost but got me excited as I now expected a few". I gave it another 20mins but with nothing added it was time to try the pole, Starting on double white maggot I hadn't realised how much the breeze had got up & was already struggling to hold the float still, I switched to the slightly heavier 4x16 rig which was set about six inches over depth to get some line on the bottom still enough to attract some Eel's? I don't like doing this as they tend to swallow the bait which can cause them to bite you off a lot easier but I had no choice, After 5mins I was just about to give up when Gary shouted & asked if I had any early signs, Bang on queue it went under & I had one but only about 4oz, I gave it another 20mins or so at 13mts but had to give up as it was beginning to hurt my side again & I didn't want to make things any worse, I dropped back to 12mts & had to sit on the pole to try and get the rig to sit still but it just wasn't happening, After another 10mins I had to have another rest as if anything the conditions were getting worse.

It was back on the feeder this time starting with a dead red maggot & a bunch of red squat , After a couple of minutes I had a nice positive slow pull round & found myself attached to a better fish, Thankfully it was a bream around 3lb so more than welcome" Back out on the same bait & soon after I had another of 2lb plus, Game on" or so I thought, Gary had cottoned on I wasn't fishing as far across as him so soon was re-spodding with his feeder at the same distance. In the next 20mins all I added was a hand size skimmer & a small perch before the inevitable happened, Gary started to catch & managed four in as many chucks, Rob Randell below him was also struggling having just the one smaller bream so we just had to sit & watch as the peg produced the goods again, When I new the fish weren't in the swim I again had half a dozen chucks with the feeder full of bait to try & draw some fish, I managed a couple more smaller skimmers of 6-8oz but couldn't connect with any more better fish, I did miss a couple of bite but when you sit their for so long with nothing then the tip moves its hard not to pick it up to early" I kept feeding the pole line all day but the wind just wouldn't let up, I did have another quick go at 12mts in the last hour but after two back breaking minutes it was soon back up the bank". I spent the last 45mins on the feeder & missed one more bite just minutes from the end but that was it, Gary had picked off the odd fish & I had him down as the section winner.

We had draw the scales today so it was up to me to weigh-in, Starting with Chris (Gappy) Parr he finished with 3 decent skimmers & a few bits for 11lb odd, Rob Managed 5lb odd before it was Gary's turn, He finished the day with 19lb odd before it was my turn, I finished with just under 9lb, Chap next to me had 15oz's, the next guy had 2lb odd before the chap on 95 had 22lb to win the section before the other end peg weighed 3lb odd, Not a bad result considering I expected to lose out to Gappy on the end & Gary on the hot peg' at the moment, Really gutted I couldn't fish the pole as leading up to this I was confident of catching a few Eel's to build a weight, just a few Eels would of made the difference for another point but very doubt full I would of had enough to catch the top weights & 5 out of a possible 8pts was still a good result considering , I'm sure if the conditions had stayed the same the bream/skimmers wouldn't have fed as much which would of produced a much tighter frame as nobody had a sign off them until the wind got going. That's it for this year as far as the Huntspill Go's yet again with the Superleague now moving onto the Bristol Avon for the last two rounds, Its a real shame their isn't more matches on here though the season as I'm sure they would be a few hardy souls to venture out, The walks are not as bad as the seem & most of the swims are nice to fish with the odd exception which could be left out. back at the results the plan for the rest of the lads to try the pole didn't quite work-out but most were catching on it until the wind ruined it for everyone, Never the less we still managed to finish 4th on the day with 40pts but Thatcher's Had another good result winning the day with 53pts to remain at the top of the League. On the individual front Mary leader fishing for Sensas 88 came out on top with 34lb odd from peg 60 above Woolavington ahead of that man Andy Power who just so happened to draw the same section" A enjoyable days fishing trying to milk what I could out the swim but would of liked to have known what the pole could of produced?.