The Return"

Sorry but a lot has gone on over the last few weeks some not so good but more of that in a bit, I did make a half hearted attempt back on the bank starting at Shiplate Farm main lake a few weekends ago, I say half hearted, When loading the gear in the motor I just didn't seem that keen still, I managed to draw my normal haunt of peg 6, Decided I was just going to target silvers with expanders or corn with ground-bait as that's all I had with me", As soon as the whistle went it all went tits up" My Cupping kit somehow snapped shipping the first ball out which caused it to sink" I made a bodge job of trying to fix my spare cup on with a piece of stick? Nope" The same bloody thing happened with the next ball! Well that was the icing on the cake really, I scraped together around 8lb of silvers but with two hours to go sitting in a sun trap on the hottest weekend of the year not putting much in the net I had enough & the kit was soon back collecting spiders again!"

I returned to the bank last weekend & to be honest I was really looking forward to it' Simply because it was an Open on the River Huntspill so a welcome break from the commercial scene. I've always enjoyed the challenge of either trying to catch bream usually on the feeder or targeting eel's on the pole, I always opt to fish for eels as I've never really seen massive weights of small fish from the pole lines & usually those who put a net of small fish together have to fish it for a long duration therefore missing out fishing for the bigger skimmers/bream on the tip & some of the eels are big' so soon add weight to the net. 

It was a good turn-out with 65 Anglers fishing the first open on the river since this time last year" I ended up drawing peg 100 below Woolavington bridge, Last year I drew this section on the last super league & peg 99 was the form peg framing in the first two matches, I had to contend with peg 101 also being the end peg of the match at are end but was keen to get going'. I had around a dozen chucks with the feeder full of bait before attaching the hook-length but it was a very slow start, We new are pegs hadn't been fished yet this year so the fish have to get used to seeing some of are baits" with my peg set back slightly I could only see the guys either side of me & the tip of the rod from peg 98 who had a few early bream in the first 30mins" I spent most of the match on the tip the pole line was slow with just one 6oz perch to show for it after a couple of attempts, I struggled to catch eels here last year for some reason & am convinced the don't like some areas. It was hard work but I plugged away for just under 12lb of skimmers with a couple pushing 2lb late in the day but did lose one slightly bigger when chatting to an old team made from my Thatcher's days who reminded me I had hair then" The section was won with 20lb but the pegs either side of me they finished with 3lb & 4lb so felt I had learnt a bit & fished a good match for a change" Lol, Stretch" Won the match from the end peg at Puriton with 31lb & 16lb made the frame so I wasn't far away.

I was back again this weekend firstly an attempt to fish a match on acorn fishery but planned to just fish worm an casters I had baby sat from last weekend, I thought I was onto a winner when I drew the peg I fancied, Peg 9, A nice short reach at 12mts, Perfect as well as plenty or margin, I cocked it right up! and struggled to put 37lb on the scales, Saying that peg 5 had 38lb peg 6 53lb & peg 11 similar to myself, Most of the fish seemed to be on the straight or up the far end which makes a change, It didn't help as I chose to fish around 6inches off the far bank due to the foliage, Big mistake as the fish were rooting against the shallower mud line which I should have gone & trimmed before we started to get tight to it. Lesson learnt".

Back to the Huntspill to fill in for the Maver Team for the latest round of the Super League, In all the years I have never had the privilege off an end peg in any league match but was happy when captain Chris Hook handed me peg 60, end peg at the top of woolavington this time which turned out to be a bloody long walk" The unfortunate part is it fished hard in the practice last week compared to other areas but some bait had now gone in so kept an open mind, Chris had been fortunate to draw peg 98 which won the section I was in last week but Ivan Currie had an even better result with an end peg one above where the match was won last week' so things looked hopeful for them? It was a fair old chuck to the far bank which I new I couldn't reach so opted to fish as far as I could comfortably cast which was around 25mts from the far side, I felt for the best result most of the better fish would come from this line to do well in the section so would be on it for most of the day? I did set up two pole rigs to fish at 13mts, One on the deck for Eel's & one to fish off the deck for roach ect, I had to be positive today so spodded out twenty feeder full's with a mix of chopped worm, Squatts & dead red maggots to get a carpet of bait down encase a shoal of fish approached from my right to try & hold them their? That's the theory anyway".

It took me 15mins before I feed some maggots on the pole line & started the day with dead red maggot on the hook, In the first 20mins I managed a tiny roach & a 2oz perch so it wasn't hectic' I was switching baits to try & get a response and after 45mins of the match gone I had a decent fish on, I got it over some weed it kited for & just as I went to get it to the net the feeder bounced & the hook flew out" Bye Bye 3lb Bream!". Marvellous.. At least I didn't lose it over the feed so kept my hopes up of a few more even though I wanted to cry" I kept hoping & did manage a couple of small 6oz skimmers among the tiny perch' & did manage a fish pushing 2lb & one close to a 1lb but after 2hrs decided to give it another quick five chucks with some feed before having a look on the pole line I had been feeding from the start, I was going to try the lighter rig to see what was in the swim but went straight on the deck to try & snare some eel's, Starting with maggot on the hook it took a matter of seconds to get a bite, Eel number one around 7oz, Then another & another" both of similar size, next put-in I had to weight a bit longer but had a slightly bigger fish around 12oz, A short wait again saw me add another around a 1lb then 5mins later one over a 1lb' this couldn't last surely? I gave it another 10mins but no more so was back on the feeder.

I spent the rest of the match giving it 30mins at a time on the feeder before having a quick look on the pole, oddly I never had another eel on the pole only some small perch & rudd, Thankfully I did manage to land a bream close to 3lb & some more 1lb plus fish later in the day & thought I had ended with around 14lb? Nigel Evans was admitting to 20lb but went on to win the section with 24lb of bream, skimmers & roach, The lobby's chap to my left weighed 17lb odd before I also finished with 17lb odd but lost out to him for second in the section by ounces costing me £50 along the way but again I had a really enjoyable days fishing, I couldn't see a soul all day let alone here anything so just got my head down working away for bites. Back at the results Chris (Gappy) Parr of the Sensas 88 mob did well to win the day next to Chris off peg 97 with 57lb of bream al on the feeder, Chris did ok though to finish 2nd in the section with 20lb & Ivan came back with an even better result winning his section with 31lb & finishing 2nd on the day, 19lb was 6th on the day so again not far away & the bream defiantly was costy' Really enjoyed the day again & looking forward to filling in again for them next week.

Back to the not so good news, My Lovely Wife Yvonne has been suffering with loss in her fingers so had an MRI Scan which has revealed she has a form of MS which wasn't good news, It looks like she has to go for an opp on her shoulder blades sometime soon after a visit with the specialist but that's about as much as we know at the moment, Doing this blog does take up some time & after a days fishing & I'm sure their will be some jobs I have to help with for her on my return home' I will do my best to update any matches I may be fishing asap but hope you can understand Yvonne will always be more important at the end of the day.