Sunday 5 November 2017

September / October 1998

No fishing for me this weekend which meant I have had a couple of lie ins and got a few jobs done. The 5th round of the w/l is going on today in the K/A canal up around Melksham, so I'll have to read Ivan Currie's blog to see how it fished and how the team did. I did given Glenn a quick call and his section was all level with about 2lb being best with a couple of hours to go.

Sunday 13th September I found myself fishing the final match of the Superleague on the Gloucester canal. a venue quite frankly I struggled and still struggle with. This day was no different and I managed to catch 3 fish, 2 eels and a skimmer on the feeder for 2lb 15oz. I came halfway in the section and thanks for coming, team were 3rd on the day and that meant we ended the league 3rd overall which was not too bad considering the standard of angler.

The following weekend I went out on my 30th birthday for a bit of pleasure fishing at Newbridge. Not sure what peg as I didn't record that in my diary, but the river was low and clear. I fished the waggler and caught 2 chub, some pups and dace, not one roach, for 12lb.

A couple of weeks later it was the first round of the Commercial House which was fished on the Bristol Avon at Swineford and Crane. I got a corker, peg 16 int he second field at Swineford. I began the match on a long rod with crowquill, 20 to 1.7lb Bayer. Feeding maggot and hemp I had a few roach and dace and a bonus 2 1/2lb chub. The long rod was used not because of the depth but because of the weed in front of me, and it kept the chub out of the weed. I also fished a maggot feeder right over with a 16 to 2lb maxima, and I had 5 small chub on this. It was a good start as I won the section and came 3rd on the day with 13lb 1oz, the team came 1st so it was happy days.

4th October and the ATWL kicked off on the same bit of river, but this time I got a poor peg in the Long Ashtip field (back then this field was pretty poor). It was a hard match with just a few roach and perch coming out on the crowquill 2/3 over, but after 2 hours bites became really hard to come by. A few perch on the feeder on worm were all I could muster. I ended with 3lb 3oz which beat everyone in this field, but was hammered by anglers past it, 7 out of 11 points for me was job done but the team had a few bad uns and we were 3rd on the day.

Round 2 of the Commercial House and once again I was pegged at Swineford, long walk this time up to peg 27 (same peg I had this year). I fished a stick float with caster and hemp on a 20 to 0.10 and had a few small fish but nothing great, when I hooked a big pike I tried my best to play it out, they counted back then, but it did me. This also killed the peg completely, I had a couple of casts on a gbait feeder which was a waste of time it seemed, and first cast back on the stick I hooked a good fish. Turned out to be a 3 1/2lb chub and was virtually my last fish. My weight on the day was only 4lb 15 1/2oz and that got me 12 points from 14, that weight would be last in the section every time now, which just shows how much the fishing has improved. Team won on the day so we were flying after 2 rounds.

Sunday 18th October, same bit of river for round 2 of the ATWL. I got given A1 which was the peg on the Outfall at Swineford, not a peg I really fancied as the conditions were not great with the river pacey. It was not quite right on the crowquill and at the time bream were not showing on this peg, so I cast a maggot feeder slightly above the outfall where there were some trees. I had lots of bites on this from 2oz dace, and chublets of the same size. I did manage two chub of 12oz each but it was small fish otherwise. I remember enjoying the day working hard and concentrating on getting the set up right to hit as many bites as possible. 8lb 3oz was my final tally and I was only beaten by one person in the section. Team performance was a repeat of round one as we were 3rd again.

The following week the Com House was cancelled after a bad storm brought 90mph winds and heavy rain which caused the river to burst its banks. I popped up to Bitterwell lake to use some of the bait I had already purchased. I fished a waggler with an 18 to 0.10, 1 no 8 and 3 no 10 down the line feeding casters. Best hookbait was double red maggot and I caught mainly skimmers and 5 small carp for about 25lb.


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