April 2024 Part 2 – Away Days!

It was on 19th that I made my way up to Woodland View near Droitwich to have a practice session in preparation of the three dayer at the end of the month. One reason was I had not fished a “proper” commercial for carp for some time and I wanted to check out the new elastics I had bought from China, the second was I wanted to buy the fishery pellets in readiness as I would have enough to do on the first morning with collecting three days of peg fees and pools.

Making a relatively early start I arrived about 8:30 and duly paid the day ticket and bought my 2mm and 4mm pellets at the on-site tackle shop. It is easy to distinguish Woodlands pellets as they are a blue green colour like the water of the pools! I made my way up to peg 37 on Arles and set up a rig for the margin, one for 2+2 and one for 11m. The two non margin rigs were the same depth, so I had a “light” rig of 0.14mm to a 16 with a float taking 4 no 8 shot and a “heavy” rig of 0.16mm to a 16 with a float taking 0.5g.

Starting on the short line after cupping out a handful of micros to 11m and a large pinch on the 2+2 line it was very quiet, I fed some chopped worm and caster on the 2+2 line with some caster and started feeding a pinch of caster every put in. Eventually I began to get the odd bite but decided to try the long line which I had been feeding with catapulted micros and an expander on the hook to no effect. I brought the rig in and made some adjustments, flicking it out directly in front of me I was putting the pole together when the line tightened and a carp of 3-12 took the expander!

I continued at 11 m for a while and had another carp of 4-08.

Arles carp.

I had most success on expander on the 2+2 line with further carp of 5-04 and 5-00 with five small stockies, nine bream, four rudd, a roach and a perch for about 40lb in the four hours I fished. I came away pleased with the elastics and content that I had a plan for Arles.

No further fishing for me until the three day festival and of course on the Saturday it chucked it down, so much so that on Sunday on my way to the venue a lot of the roads were in a state of flood and it was not a pleasant driving experience. Worse still I knew that the rain would have adversely affected the fishing, so I would need to play things by ear as the matches progressed. Money collected, pegs allocated and weigh boards filled out we got on with the draw and the last peg left was mine. I was hoping for a peg in the high 20s or 30s but ended up on peg 5 (the board) which was upwind and hence flat for a lot of the time.

It was hard, very hard and with two hours to go I had four small fish, two carp a skimmer (blade really) and a perch. With Tony on peg 3 also struggling I decided to spend time down the margin, worm produced another small carp to take my tally to about 2lb. I then threw caution to the wind, put corn on and started to drip feed micros in every put in with just the odd piece of corn. The result was two late carp that took my final weight to a level 12lb and 4/5 in section.

Day two sees us split between Ghost and Back Deans, I was left with peg 38 on Deans with the board again! On looking at the section board it really was a deadly section – peg by peg- Carl Liddle (collector of many brown envelopes), me, Barry Gabriel (winner of many of our festivals and others), Pete Bailey (of Garbolino and many festival wins) and Rolly (Fishomania finalist and winner of many matches). I told myself realistically I was last and so decided to just have a pleasant day ignoring what others were doing. I set up four rigs – a margin one on 0.18mm to a 14, the 2+2 I used on practice and two long rigs one on 0.14mm the other 0.16mm both to 16s.

At the start I cupped in a ball of micros with some casters and a pinch of corn at 11m, a handful of micros mixed with caster and chopped worm on the 2+2 line and a half cup of caster and micros down my left margin. I ignored the right margin as there was a goose sitting on 4 eggs right next to where I would be fishing. I went straight on the 2+2 line with an inch of worm, within five minutes I had my first fish in the net, an bream of about two pound. Apart from a brief try on the margin line that produced a solitary F1 I spent the whole match on the 2+2 line apart from a short look-see on the 11m line. I had 23lb of carp over 2lb, 20lb of silvers, mainly bream and 41-08 of F1s and carp under 2lb for a 86-08 total. I was pleased with the day as I had been kept busy and I was even more delighted and shocked at the weigh in- see pic.

For me to have been that close to so many very good anglers was like winning!

The final day arrives and as is custom those who fished one lake on day two would fish the other on day 3 so I ended up on Ghost 16. The previous day we had strong winds coming off our backs or to our side but today the wind was just as strong but blowing directly into us. Once again with the board and once again next to Barry, who said (tongue in cheek) he would never speak to me ever again if I beat him again! Anyway no such chance of that happening. I must add that I set up a bomb rod each day and never picked it up! With the same rigs set up, worm didn’t work neither did expander other than me losing my first 4 fish (possibly foul hooked) and still blanking after 2 hours. Eventually I had a bream on the 2+2 line, but needed to use a heavier float (the 11m rig) to get presentation right, again I went down the margins alternating between left and right, feeding via a toss pot micros and 4mm with just two grains of corn each put in This got me a few carp and I ended up with 46-00 despite losing two in the last five minutes, making me 3/5. Overall the festival went well with me finishing 12/21 and after finishing the match at 3:30, we packed up, did the weigh in sorted the results paid out three days of brown envelopes and was out of the gate by 4:50.

April 2024- Part 1 The Bs continue!

With the forthcoming match at Boddington on the near horizon I took my self up there on Tuesday 2nd, mainly to check the water levels and confirm with the bailiff that he had all the details. I decided to go light and just took the whips, setting up on peg 38.

Unusually for Boddington it was like a millpond when I arrived so set up a 6m Chinese whip with a new float that had a long multi-coloured bristle with a sight bob on 0.14mm line and 0.10mm hooklength to an 18. The water was lapping the top platform and I had about 9-10 feet at 8m.

I started off with three balls of groundbait and loose fed over the top. It was slower than normal but plenty of bites, unfortunately the fish were predominately very small with just the odd better example. In the 3 or so hours I was there I had 60 roach and lost two lumps on the whip, the first probably a carp, the second a pike.

Saturday arrives along with the 47mph winds! To be fair it was very windy all day with certain periods that were worse than others and this caused problems with presentation for most. I was running the match and at the draw the last peg in the hat was mine – peg 38! Just where I had been in the week! I had intended to take the pole but with the projected winds I settled on the whips and a waggler rod. To cut a long story short I had 36 roach, lost a lump that was a pike (scale on hook) after a brief fight, had most of the fish in the first 2 hours and then struggled, a couple on the waggler but most on the whip. One of the comments on the day – “presentation was impossible with the waves, one moment the float was a foot out of the water next it was a foot under”. I did manage to sneak a couple of pictures at the calmest point of the day, at points the waves were crashing into the platforms and sending spray up in the air, particularly on the dam wall.

So Monday sees me continuing with the B theme – Burbrook, as I had booked into a match on the Sunday. As I had to collect the exchange ticket first I did not start until 9:30 and set up on peg 1. Plumbing up I had a full top kit in depth once past the initial margin shelf then it was consistent. I set up with a 0.10mm hooklength to a modern 18(explanation to follow) with a 0.6g homemade float. There were a couple of others fishing further down the other end also. I began with two hard balls of groundbait laced with casters at 8m and fed a swim to my right just over the shelf plus one to my right where I put in some chopped worm. By 1 o’clock I had caught 4 small perch all on maggot, one from the right and the rest out in front. I had lost a better fish with my only bite on the left and had two very small roach drop off on shipping back. At this point I decided changes where the order of the day, so first I put on an old style 17 hook which when you compare it to a modern day 20 is smaller! The modern hooks do not have any consistency of size across not just brands but also within brands! Secondly I put out three large pots of loose groundbait with just a pinch of caster on the 8m line. This seemed to work as between one and two o’clock I added 4 chub, a hybrid and a roach.

As the old adage goes – if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got! Change was needed and this is probably something I need to work on as I can be stubborn trying to make a method work!

Sunday arrives Burbrook is only small and the ten pegs that were in filled the place. The four left out were 1,6,11 and 14, either because they crossed other pegs or were in the process of being “desnagged”. I drew peg 13 which after being told by a regular that it was in the corner, which I thought odd as that I thought was 14, the match organiser then came around and indeed the regular was on the wrong peg so we shifted up one and finally on 13 I looked across and there was peg 1 about 20m away!

Setting up like on peg one I also set up a rig for close in (2+1) which was the same depth but used a light float for on the drop and a heavier margin rig for the left margin where I planned to put chopped worm, micro and caster. The match got under way and it was hard, after 2 hours I was blanking while the regular on 12 was catch small fish at mid depth. The light rig produced nothing but finally on my peg 1 rig I got a perch on a tiny piece of worm over my caster line. I had one perch from my margin line, so at 12:30 I cupped out three pots of loose groundbait and sat and waited. Maggot had not got me a single bite so I persisted with small pieces of worm then at 2 o’clock I had my first bite, a small chub. Twenty minutes later another came to the net along with another perch and roach. That was it, I missed three bites that I am sure were liners as the float shot under but nothing and no marks on the bait.

The match had been hard for all, with some only having one fish, with three left to weigh I was lying second with a level 2lb behind a single carp of 3lb, peg 2 then put 2-06 on the scales and Darren who was on peg 3 put 3-06 on the scales to make me 4th and one out of the money! Darren, who had lost a big fish earlier in the match said he had a last minute chub that swung it for him, proving you need to keep going right to the end.

My thoughts now turn to the three day event I am in charge of at Woodland View at the end of the month.

March 2024 – part 2, a BB finish!

h the Bowood season closed it was on the Saturday 16th that I find myself at the Glebe again for the second of the Maggotdrowners matches. The draw arrives and deja -vu, peg 26 sticks to my fingers again!

I decided to ignore the feeder, although I still set it up and went for a pole approach with the 2+2 line as my main attack and the 13m line as a back up for when I wanted to rest the close in line. Starting on the close line having deposited three balls of groundbait laced with 2mm expanders at 13m I introduced one ball and fed a pinch of maggot every put in. Small skimmers and roach along with huge gudgeon began to go in the net but it was not frantic. In the end I stayed on the 2+2 line all match apart from a 10min stint on the longer line that resulted in a missed bite. At the all out I had put 61 small silvers in the net along with approx 11lb of bream, the carp net(s) (nets as carp under 2lb go in a separate net) held five carp 10lb, 8lb, 2x 3lb and a 1lb baby! This gave me 18-11 of silvers, 25-10 of carp for a total of 44-05. This put me 5/10 in the section, 6/20 in the silvers, 11/20 in the carp and 12/20 overall, missing the silvers section money by 14oz. The day was made by Darren who had drawn peg 2, opened up his holdall and realised he had left his pole at home, just having top kits and a no 3 section plus a waggler rod. Undeterred he fished top 2 and later top 3 to walk the match with a superb all silvers catch of 76-05.

Darren talked me into fishing a local match the following Sunday at Pockridge Lake near Corsham so as I had never seen the lake I made my way there on Tuesday to see what it was like. The ubiquitous rain we have been getting had taken it’s toll on the paths, which are apparently used by the public and dog walkers, they were now a muddy quagmire.

I set up on what turned out to be peg 4 in the match and fished at 5m before going out to 10m to see the difference. I set up one rig- a homemade taking 0.6g to 0.12mm main line and 0.10mm hooklength to an 18 – this rig would cope with both swims with the depth of each marked on the pole with different color chinograph pencils. Starting cautiously I cupped in two small balls at 10m and one at 5m, then loose fed a pinch of maggot each put in (pellet is not allowed here until April). I was soon catching small roach at 5m but decided to see if I could get a better stamp so put a piece of corn on and the bites took ever so slightly longer to come but the stamp was much better. The same happened when I went out to 10m. I fished about 3 hours and had 38 roach and 6 rudd plus dropped a few more when swinging in for approx 8lb.

Sunday arrives and I draw peg 7 which turned out to be the point almost opposite Tuesday’s peg.

It was a funny peg as I had the island directly in front, to my left was a bramble lined margin and to my right and behind me I had a weeded margin. I had not bothered to bring a rod having already made the decision just to have a pleasant day on the pole. Starting at 2+2 directly in front was my main attack but also fed two lines at 10m about 5m apart, the right hand one with caster the other with chopped worm, I also set up a heavier rig for the margin in case carp showed plus a slightly heavier rig then the short line for the long line as insurance against the large perch that were reputed to be present. The all in arrived and the first two hours went to plan with a steady stream of roach and small skimmers coming to hand, then it stopped- just like a tap had been turned off. For the rest of the match I rotated through all the lines and had only 3 further fish, one a small perch caught on worm in the left margin and two roach. Strangely I could not get a bite on corn with the fish coming to double maggot. I dropped one fish of about 3oz trying to swing it when I should have netted it but other than that I didn’t lose any. At the weigh in I was weighed first as the match organiser was on 6 and had arranged to weigh me and then for me to weigh his fish. I ended up with 2-13-8 while he weighed 2-15-0! The match was one from the other end of the lake with 10lb, second also down the other end 6lb (both had carp I believe) and third was peg 4 with 4lb which was mainly 2 big perch.

The organiser had said he was thinking of putting another match on in a couple of weeks but this time at Burbrook Lake, Bromham which is less than 10 minutes from home, so I booked on to that one. The following Friday (Good Friday) sees me at Burbrook in gloomy wet weather on Peg 3 I believe, the near bank but towards the far corner. I only took my whips as I wanted to try out a new Chinese float. It was hard with it taking a bit of time to get bites, feeding caster into the 5 feet of water at the end of the 6m whip (Chinese of course!). Eventually I ended up fishing double caster for a small skimmer, a perch, five roach and a chub of about 10oz, for a weight of 2-3lb (no scales).

Easter Sunday sees me at the second of the Bs from the title – Blacklands. Fishing peg 4 I tackled it my usual way with chopped worm at 10m, pellet at 10m 5m away to the left from the worm (11 and 1 0’clock). Fishing a homemade Chianti style float taking 0.6g on 0.12mm to a 0.10mm hooklength and an 18. No groundbait is allowed at Blacklands so loose fed caster close in at 2+2 range and over the chopped worm line with loose fed pellet over the left line.

Basically to cut a long story short, I fished for 3 hours had four skimmers (3 between 1-1.5LB), 2 hybrids of 1lb+ and 2-2.5lb,1 perch and 22 roach. Most came from the worm line, one roach on the pellet line, although the last hour on the worm line saw me fishing double caster . I had made a mental note as I was catching and thought I had between 10 and 10.5lb.

I start of April with another BB- Boddington and Burbrook!

Meandering March 2024 Part 1

March arrives and it is not until the 6th that I am able to get to Bowood arriving at peg 10 with a frost on the ground, air temperature of -1C and fog! I was ready to fish by 9 and continued to 12:30, the fog eventually lifted and the day turned very warm and sunny, however the water was highly coloured with a max of 3 inches clarity. Anyway the usual set up was in place and by 10 am I had one micro perch that dropped off! There were two others in the top field and another regular, Bob, turned up and went on 9 as he assumed the other two had gone on the other bank and had been planning on going to the top field. While chatting the float started going against the tow, a strike and a solid resistance followed by a goodly amount of elastic came out. Unshipping slowly I finally put the net under a 3-08 bream hooked in the pectoral! I had a small bream of 1-12, five roach, 3 skimmers/blades and 6 rudd for a final total of 6-10.

With the close of Bowood approaching – it keeps the same close season as the rivers- I went on the last Sunday, thinking it would be busy, how wrong I was- I had the lake to myself! Back on 10 with the usual approach I managed to get another bream of 3-06, a tench of 3-00, 25 rudd, 4 roach and 3 skimmers for a 7-12 total.

However there was a point when I quickly unshipped the pole as the pike float bobbed and started to go then stopped. On finally retrieving the bait I find there was a piece of flesh cut out with almost surgical precision less than 5mm from my top hook.

There have been no reports of crayfish in the 10 years I have been going to Bowood and I have never seen one there. Showing the picture to Jackie in TK Tackle she was bemused at first but came up with the possibility of it being a catfish. The lake was design and built by Capability Brown and many of his lakes at that time had carp and catfish introduced, it is quite feasible that some offspring of the original fish may still be in the water as 80% of it is not fished. A thought to ponder!

I decided to go on the Wednesday and leave the last day of the season alone! Bowood 10 was the peg again but the wind was blowing very hard and the water had got very coloured with a couple of heavy overnight downpours. I started at 9 but packed up at 11:30 having to fish the last hour or so just using the top two of the pole as the wind was extreme. Seven roach, twelve rudd and seven blades finished my season for 1-03.

To review the season – I have again succumbed to peg 10 during the autumn and winter due to it being the deepest area and with bait going in it does hold the fish (possibly!). Anyway the initial outlay for a Bowood ticket of £205 may appear expensive but given it is only 3 minutes from door to gate it is convenient plus the 55 visits I made means each outing cost me £3.93 so it is financially worthwhile.

I netted 555lb 5oz of visit making an average of just over 10lb a visit. That breaks down in the following way Pike 17 caught for 168-05, seven over 10lb (18-11,17-06,14-04, 14-04, 13-00, 1`2-04 and 11-13), Tench 13 caught for 51-15, the best 5-06 with 6 between 4 and 5lb and 6 between 3 and 4lb, there were 82 bream weighed the best being 5-00 with five between 4 and 5lb, 35 between 3 and 4lb, 32 from 2 to 3lb and 9 from 1 to 2lb for a total of 234lb. That leaves 101-01 of other fish. I made 25 fewer visits this season, partly down to spending more time on matches and Gareth dragging me to the canal or river!

Who knows what next season will bring, if it follows the usual Bowood cycle it will be a tench year with few bream!

February 2024 – Part 2 the rise and fall…

With Gareth and family safely back in China I made preparations for a Maggotdrowners match at the Glebe on Saturday 17th. I had talked Darren into having a go and arranged to meet him at Moreton in the Marsh so he could follow me up to the Glebe as it was his first time. We arrived on time without incident and Darren drew peg 20 and I was on 26. My preparations had not been done that well as I realised that I had left my pole cup in the other bag when I had been out with Gareth, fortunately Darren lent me a spare. For some reason I forgot to take any pictures but I started on the feeder tight across and was patting myself on the back when the feeder was going down the same hole each time – a rare incident! Anyway a roach, skimmer and monster gudgeon made the way to the net by the time we reached the 30min mark while peg 24 had about 4 carp in this time.

The match had been split into two payouts- silvers only and everything counts -with each section getting a silvers and overall winner, you could win one but not both. I had set out for silvers as I wanted to see if I could get the usual bream of 1.5lb to 3lb feeding as being February I suspected the carp may be more bunched up. Hence, I had fished maggot on the feeder and had primed a long line at 13m and a short line at 2+2, the long line with groundbait, 4mm pellet and corn, while the short line received one ball of groundbait and a pot of micros with a few 4mm expanders and a few maggot. Tackle was unusual for me as the long line was normal with a 0.8g homemade float on 0.14mm line, a 0.12mm hooklength to a 16, the short line however was again homemade but took just three no8 shot spread in the last 3 feet again to a 0.12mm line and 16 hook.

The feeder was put up the bank and I had a look on the long line and began to pick up small skimmers of only an ounce or two on maggot or expander at 13m but although I was putting fish in the net along with one better skimmer of a pound it was not fast enough due to the size of the fish. So on to the 2+2 line again it was a case of small skimmers interspersed with the odd roach and gudgeon no matter whether I had maggot or expander on the hook, but expander brought the bites faster. I stayed on this line for the rest of the match but the fish were very small in comparison to the usual silvers at the Glebe. After three hours I hooked and landed a carp of around 8lb but it was the last 40 minutes when the silvers got pushed out by the carp. I caught two carp of a similar size to the first but then I managed to snap my hook off in the bank side vegetation and instead of just tying on a new hook I took the hooklength off and replaced it with a similar one but with a narrower gauge 16 hook – a big mistake as I lost three carp on the bounce as the gauge of wire was pulling through and not holding the carp. I managed one further carp of about 3lb. I was on the board for the weigh in and Darren had had a good day – sticking on the 2+2 line and feeding and fishing maggot he had caught consistently all day and ended up winning the silvers pot for the section. Looking at his fish I guessed I had caught a similar amount but mine were a great deal smaller. I ended up with 15-11 of silvers and my 4 carp went 29-10 that put me 6th overall, and 5th in the silvers.

Darren went home pleased with his day and looking forward to the next on 16th March! It was only at the end of the match that we discovered that Roy Marlow, the owner and ex-Likely Lad, had died on the bank the previous day, a true loss to angling.

Events and weather then conspired against me, with a recurrence of my dodgy knee and monsoon type weather at times I stayed in until the following Siunday when I packed the haversack seat and took a rod bag with a waggler and feeder rod up to the Stock Pond at Bowood on the premise that it would do me good and was the only place likely to be fishable. It was fishable but no-one told the fish!The main lake was muddy after all the rain and it looked as if they had opened the sluice as the water level was lower than normal. I squelched my way up to the Stock Pond and despite it only being 1C on arrival I expected to get a few bites- how wrong can you me – 9:30 to 11:30 fishing and not a bite on either waggler or lead. There had been one hardy pike angler on the main lake when I walked up but he had gone when I walked back.

Tuesday sees me pluck up the courage to go to peg 10 at Bowood, there was a lot of debris and large sticks on the platform and walkway which gave credence to the theory that the rain over the last week or so had risen the level to over the platform and the sluice had then been opened to alleviate the situation.

There was an undertow from right to left against the strong cold wind again a cold night and only 1C on arrival. I fished in my usual manner, the pike rod was untroubled but I did prevent a blank with 3 roach, 2 rudd, 2 skimmers/blades and a micro-perch for 0-06. Two other anglers came after me on the other bank but I did not see them catch, Oh for a period of settled weather! It has to be said that apart from one bite that took the float under the rest merely moved the tip a mm or so which meant I needed to concentrate hard on the float.

March means 14 days maximum of Bowood to end of season and then the return to the Glebe.

February 2024 – The big and the small

Well the month starts with Gareth and family spending some times at Newark (antiques fair and fishing) and Castleford (family and Rugby League match). In the few hours that he managed to get fishing he had some success.

Anyway on their return it was The Tuesday that I had my first excursion of the month as a dodgy knee required some rest and a visit to the doctors. So Gareth and I fished Bowood from 2:30 to 4pm, I plonked him on 10 and I had 9. Nothing much to write home about for me with 4 roach, 6 skimmers/blades and 15 rudd for 1-15. Gareth on 10 had about 50 silvers but my day was made when he had a run on the pike rod and he hit a fish that was keeping down and felt heavy, I suspected a good double but Gareth’s face was a pictuire when it surfaced and I subsequently netted it – a new PB of 17-05.

Wednesday sees us back at Bowood from 2:30 to 4pm only taking the pike tackle but with a very heavy water colour after rain there were no runs although there was fish moving. Next day following yet more rain we gave Bowood a miss and headed for the Marden at Hazeland, fishing any slacks we could find in the top field that was high and rising still with chocolate water. The third spot we tried Gareth had a Minnow on red maggot – we were just using leger rods and lowering our weights into the slacks.

Buoyed by the relative success of saving a blank I had a go in the same spot and had probably the smallest fish I have ever cleanly hooked – just about an inch long, I then had a second even smaller drop off probably just holding on to the maggot.

The weather prevented any real attempts at fishing over the next few days although Gareth had a go after the pike on the canal at Rowde without landing any although he hooked 3, but the Sunday sees us on the canal at Horton from 9:30 to 11:45 just fishing the whips. It was hard going, made even harder by the numerous canoes that were practicing for the Devizes to London race and paddleboarders! However we managed to scrape together 12 fish each, mine consisted of 8roach, 1 rudd, 1 gudgeon and 2 perch for 1-03 while Gareth’s 12 weighed 1-02!

Monday sees us back at Bowood with me on 9 and Gareth on 10. Fishing 2:15 to 4:15 but this time just taking the whips and the pike rods. Gareth fished a more conventional homemade chianti style float whereas I stuck with my Chinese varieties. Whip fishing resulted in 13 roach 11 rudd, 8 skimmers/blades and a micro perch for 3-06 after a slow start. Gareth went off like an express train but then slowed right up (probably a pike sitting there) and had 1-12 but he then had a pike of 9-06 which was , I suspect, the culprit of the slowdown.

I also had a run and the fish came in steadily rather than spectacularly, as it got closer I could see that the line had wrapped under its body safely netted it went 17-06! We speculated whether it was the same fish Gareth had but it was unlikely.

With their return to China due on Wednesday, Gareth had a couple more fruitless pike sessions, one at Bowood on the Wednesday morning and the other on Tuesday afternoon on the Canal at Froxfield where he did at least see a couple of pike but they just nudged the bait and were not interested in the smelt. Normal service now resumes after their safe return to China!

Zachary does it himself!

January 2024 Part 2 – A tale of a lake and a river.

With the imminent arrival of Gareth and family on the Saturday I took the advantage of going to Bowood alone armed with ice breaker (sash window weight and chain on rope), as several days of sub-zero temperatures had certainly frozen it. Arriving at peg 10 with -2C temperature I set to work but after 30 minutes of hard graft I was in no way near to being able to fish!

The nearside ice was opaque as it was a double thickness – the top layer had partly thawed then froze again so once I broke through the top layer there was a second layer below it! I have fished this peg when I have broken ice an inch thick and caught both silvers and pike but the last time I fished anywhere where it was this thick was in Finland and they were driving cars on it! I gave up after taking these and went home!

Picked Gareth et al up from Heathrow on Saturday evening and Sunday he was itching to get fishing but with Bowood frozen and the river out of sorts we decided to give the river (the Marden) a go at Hazeland, fishing the disabled area by the car park. Fishing for about an hour an three quarters I blanked on the float but Gareth on the straight lead managed to winkle out a small roach and dace.

Monday sees us fishing Bowood from 1-3pm. I was not hoping for much as overnight heavy rain and the melting of the ice did not bode well. In fact it was at least 18 inches up, heavily coloured with the inlet brook a torrent and added to that very strong winds. Needless to say we blanked without a bite!

Tuesday was a very short session on the Marden at Hazeland, just intro the section 1 field, both fishing lead in slacks after the flow had increased. I had a minnow and a trout while Gareth had a clutch of minnows in the hour or so we were there.

Various necessities prevented any further fishing until Friday fishing 9 to 12 Gareth on 10 and myself on 9. I fished my usual way with the same rig using a homemade float, 0.12mm line to a 0.10mm hook-length to an 18 and managed to put together 5 roach, 5 skimmers/blades and 27 rudd for 1-15, no runs on the pike rod. Gareth had 30 silvers for 1-10, but as we packed up he had a run on the pike rod and ended up with one of exactly 7lb.

Sunday sees us at Hazeland fishing by the boom, again Gareth on the lead had 4 roach plus a bonus chub of 1-12, while I saved a blank on the waggler with a solitary roach.

Monday – back to Bowood but another regular has beaten us to the favoured swims so we made our way over the other side of the lake and after the long walk Gareth settled on peg 19 (first peg after the island) and myself on 20.Fishing 9 to 12 again. Depth was the same as fishing the other side but Gareth had a steep drop off at 10 where he fished whereas my peg seemed to slope towards Gareth, so I opted on a flattish spot at 10m also. The wind was a bit cold but using the same rigs I managed 20 roach, 4 ski8mmers/blades, 7 rudd and a rare gudgeon for 2-05. Gareth had 27 roach and 3 rudd for 1-15. As he was reeling in a jack pike take a liking to his sardine but didn’t take it properly and the chance was gone!

So Tuesday 30th sees us back at Bowood for an afternoon session from 2 to 4pm.This time Gareth put me on 10 and he fancied 9. Usual tactics saw 7 blades, 2 rudd, 6 roach and 2 gudgeon for 1-03 was part of the catch- I also had a surprise bream of 2-05 which at one point made me think I had a pike on as it was moving so slowly. I also had two pike of 5-04 and 11-13. The larger pike came in very subdued, partly I think as the line was wrapped under it’s body, but it woke up once in the net Gareth managed to video the “fight”. Gareth had a similar run of silvers and a pike of 5-02.

A few days off now as Gareth and family go off for various visits elsewhere in the country, before more Bowood prior to returning to China.

January 2024 – A tale of two lakes

It has been a slow start to the new year with a heavy cold and weather conditions preventing me from going more than two times. First out was a visit to Blacklands, prompted by the weather conditions making the river unfishable and Bowood equally so for a variety of factors. Anyway the wife suggested going to Blacklands as it was close so who am I to argue!

Friday the fifth sees me on peg 4 on Heron lake at Blacklands, the first peg beyond the now overgrown bench peg! The water was very coloured and the slope down to the peg was quite slippery so I was happy to get down in one piece.There is a groundbait ban at Blacklands and I did not have any worms so my attack was going to be pellet and maggot/casters – these were the white maggots left over from Monk Hall back in September that had been stored in my bait fridge! I set up one rig on a top kit with a Chinese hollow elastic that equated to a 6-8, a chianti style homemade job to 0.12mm line and 0.10mm hooklength to an 18 barbless.

I primed two swims at 10m the left hand one with a decent amount of 2mm expanders and the right hand one with about 50 of the maggot/caster mix, there after I loose fed over the top of both lines. It was cold and the water very coloured so I was not surprised when I didn’t get an immediate response, however after two hours of inactivity I was stunned when the float went under with double maggot which produced a little hybrid of about 3oz. Ten minutes later I had another bite which I hooked but lost on the way in. A further ten minutes passed before a third bite produced a bream of about 2 to 2.5lb, I had inexplicably forgotten to put the scales in which I was to regret!

Another lost fish followed soon after before pulling out of a better fish possibly a carp but may also have been one of the big perch that frequent Heron. A lull followed and after a couple of cups of coffee the float dipped and I hit into a solid fish that I guided towards me slowly but with no great drama until it realised it was hooked and decided it didn’t like it – this was the start of a ten minute battle which ultimately saw me shuffle the carp into the net -just! It was too precarious to unhook on my seat so I took it up onto the flat grassy bank behind to unhook. My guess was it was between 15 and 18lb having weighed similar fish in the past, a quick photo and back it went, leaving me to have another cup of coffee and to take the decision to pack up and go which may appear strange but there is a reason behind my madness! Heron has very specific tackle requirements based on carp fishing but out of camping season they turn a blind eye so I can fish for the silvers, I don’t want to spoil the opportunity for others as if they see me on the cctv hooking/ landing carp consistently then they may change their mind about allowing silvers fishing!

Moving on to the Monday I ventured to Bowood peg 10 although I did have reservations given we had experienced a run of sub-zero temperatures overnight and day temperatures not getting much beyond 1C. On arrival it was -1C, the water was highly coloured with a max of three inches visibility in to it. The water from pegs 3 to 6 were covered in a layer of ice with the early pegs clear due to the flow of water coming into the lake from the tiny brook. All the pegs were covered with debris so the water had obviously risen over the platforms but now was some two feet below the platform so the sluice at the far end of the lake had clearly been opened to reduce the pressure on the dam at the end of the lake.

Having outlined my excuses you can guess what is coming! Fishing from 9:15 to 12:00 not a bite, no sign of any fish either on the pole or on the pike rod, even trying jigging a maggot under the platform, normally a blank saver with small fish, failed. So a trudge back up the hill fishless! Since then been a bit under the weather with a heavy head cold and have got to go to Heathrow next Saturday to collect Gareth and tribe who are visiting for a couple of weeks. Hope the fishing improves by then for him!

December 2023 Part 2 – Bah Rain!

Monday 18th sees me to return to Bowood but this time settling in on peg 7 as 10 was occupied! Fishing 9:30 to 12:15 it was fairly uneventful with my usual set up, no pike runs and twenty three small fish (20 rudd, 2 roach and a blade) for 1-10. The weather was not much help with the rain affecting the river and muddy water going into Bowood so on Wednesday I bit the bullet, or rather the wife suggested, I went to Blacklands.

Setting up at peg 16 which is to the right of the jetty the plan was to fish worm near the jetty and pellet straight out in front of me at 10m. One rig set up a home made egg style float with a yellow 1.7mm tip to 0.12mm Shogun and a 0.10mm Tornado hook-length to an 18 barbless. A handful of 2mm expander pellets was potted out on the 10m line and left to “cook” while I put about a dozen finely chopped up dendrabena worms with a pinch of home turned casters at the edge of the jetty, fortunately both areas were the same depth. It was a slowish start but eventually I had a bite on worm and a perch of about two ounces came in. The next hour was slow but steady with odd fish coming to the worm despite a topping up of worm after 40 minutes, all the while I had been firing out a few pellet every 5 minutes or so on the 10m line, then the float slipped under and I hit a better fish that turned out to be a small carp of about 1-1.5lb

Things then went very slow so I switched to the 10m line with a 4mm expander and had an immediate bite from a roach! Two more bites later and I hit another better fish- another small carp!

I carried on and by swapping between the two lines and also pellet, maggot and worm I ended up with 12 perch,10 roach 4 gudgeon, a blade and the two carp in the 4 hours for 6-05 on the clicker, stopping only when I hooked one of the proper carp that took me to my right and snapped me on a snag by the island.

At this point it may be worth commenting on my kit as you may have noticed me using various boxes and poles! I have the Octbox which is my main match box that I use when on matches and is the only box I have that I bought new, the box in the video is a second hand Matchbox that came without the base which is what I use when I don’t need a lot of kit and not walking too far. I have a complete Matchbox that again was second hand (or more likely fourth or fifth hand!) that I use for Bowood or when I need the base to hold things and can use an old Boss trolley that my son had. I also have a very old canal style stool that Gareth had that I use for odd occasions when I want a box style seat but need to walk a long way without a trolley. Poles – my main match poles are all second hand and about 20 years old a Garbolino Super League and a Garbolino Super Legion, the pole sections are interchangeable but Gareth also has a Super League and I have a third Super League as cover for replacement spares! I also have two Maver Metallica (one from new as I bought it cheap after being impressed by a second hand one I bought) – this is my main pole for pleasure work and Bowood, although I did use the Super Legion for Blacklands! I think I may have too much kit!

Friday 22nd sees me on peg 10 at Bowood for a session starting at 9:45 when the first put in was made and ending at 12:15. Two balls of groundbait and some 2mm expanders were the initial introduction and shortly a roach was deposited in the net, then the small rudd arrived and several were dropped off as they were not hooked but hanging on to the maggots, just as quickly as they had arrived it went quiet. I guessed a pike had been attracted by the activity so wound the pike rod in and put it just beyond my pole tip. Sure enough the pike float disappeared after 5 minutes and a strike produces a heavy thud of a decent fish. A couple of runs later I slipped the net under a pike of 14-04.

Back out on the pole I decided to leave the pike rod close to where I was fishing – just in case. Once again it was slow but the odd blade and small rudd kept the interest until another quiet spell, this time the pike float remained motionless but the pole float went under and I got that familiar feeling when I struck – a solid unmoving weight like the bottom, only, after a couple of seconds the bottom moves – yes a pike! Now I was on my lighter winter kit with a 20 hook and 0.10mm line so it was a bit of struggle but eventually I landed another pike of 5-02.

Back out again and the same thing happens, this time a pike of 8-06 which had at some point been attacked by something as it had a large wound across both sides of its back.

Both of these pike were hooked in the jaw on double white maggot, ignoring the sardine that was close by! I packed up at 12:15 as the weather looked ominous with 8 rudd , 6 blades and the solitary roach for 0-12 making a 28-08 total.

Then Christmas came and the rain made the rivers unfishable on my free days and Bowood would have been a waste. Indeed I was planning to have had a session on the Marden today as I write this as the river was just about fishable when I walked past it in town yesterday but three heavy downpours over night killed that and the river is not fishable, the Avon at Chippenham is flooding below the weir and getting close to the top of the field – roll on 2024. Happy New Year !

December 2023 – Bah humbug!

December arrives and as is usual at this time of year time for fishing is limited and often non-existent due to the weather. Anyway I decided to chance my arm at Bowood peg 10 on December 3 following a rise in temperature from -4C the previous day to the balmy heights of 3C. Setting up with a chianti style float on a 0.08mm hooklength to a 20 with spread shotting to investigate all depths – I got nado, zilch, not a sausage or as it is that time of year not even a pig in blanket! HOWEVER, the pike rod saw action having acquired a new batch of sardines with fish of 7-10, 14-04 and 5-08 in a session lasting only 2.5hrs.

The 14-04.

Rain on the Monday meant that on my return to peg 10 on Tuesday I was faced with water that looked like stewed tea and flowing! I did not expect to get any pike and was right! I did surprise myself as ten minutes in the float (a 1g Paster) disappeared and a rather shocked blade of an ounce came swinging in! That was i,t I had started at 9:15 but packed up at 10:50 knowing any further efforts were futile.

Weather and family visits then prevented any further outing until the 15th. I fished from 9:30 to 12:15 and by the time I left the three other anglers who were piking had blanked as I had with the pike. I was surprised to see the water still very coloured with a visibility down to about 3-4 inches despite a fairly dry period, this may have been partly due to the major construction work taking place to repair the bridge into the estate. I persevered with the light rig and size 20 but as usual could only get interest when using double maggot, ending with 12 blades, 6 roach and a rudd for a level 1lb.

Hopefully I will get out a few times before the end of the month but Merry Christmas to anyone who reads this!