Category: Catch Reports

Had my usual walk around a flat calm Bridge Pool which which has been windless for some time which lead to think it wise to switch on the aeration. The water had once again gone clear. There seemed to be plenty of small Ronnie's topping on the bottom pegs which might be a way to pick up today especially  if they are the only fish to feed. The trees and shrubs are starting to show their autumn glory - pictured. However, without any sunshine it was to feel a bit nipply.A good turn out with 24 fishing. Dave picked my peg 25. This peg under Colin Golding leadership was one of regulars to go in and did produce some good Carp weight from the margins, but subsequently got left out because it was back in a bay and possibly affected peg 26 which nowadays is left out. For company I had Paul Barnfield on peg 24 and Tony Rixon on peg 27, so I knew I would be outgunned on the pole, so set up the waggler.

Whilst shotting up the waggler I cast out and once the waggler reached 12-o-clock a Seagull flew from behind me and into my line and as bad luck would have it the hook half hitched around it's leg and with some help from Tony (only after he videoed it) and Paul Clayton managed to land it and unhitch it. Luckily it flew off uninjured. If I was a seafarer I would consider this an unlucky omen!

With the water so clear I didn't think the Carp would come in to the margin, but still set up a 4x12 Speedy set to 3 1/2 foot to fish worm or a bunch of maggots. As per usual I set up the Ronnie rig and a 4 x16 Winter Titan to fish top-set plus three barrels which took me to full depth and level with Paul's platform!

I fed the margin with a pot of Micro, the Ronnie line with GB laced with caster and the longer line with two balls of GB laced with caster. I also pulted some LR's to the middle of the bowl.

I have a quick look on the Ronnie line with single caster which produced nothing, so out on the long line and missed a bite then foul hooked a Carp which was soon lost. After this I had a few micro Ronnie's, Skimmers and Perch whilst Paul Was bagging on decent Skimmers fishing 13 metres using worm over micro and chopped worm. I refed the line and re-tried the Ronnie rig and had a few Ronnie's but was getting plenty of shy touches which I knew was due to the diameter of the line being a bit heavy but I was reluctant to change incase I hooked a Carp. The two GB lines produced very little so spent the most of the match on the waggler catching the odd Skimmer to 12 oz and Ronnie's to 3 oz on singe LR. I kept trying the margin with either maggot of worm and did have two 12 oz Perch, with 30 minutes to go had a liner followed by the float going under and foul hooked a decent Carp which again was soon lost, stayed in the margin to the end and had one more liner which didn't develop.

No Carp, with my Silvers weighing 8 lb 6 oz which amazingly got me last in the Silvers payout by default, thanks to the waggler I think.

The match and the Silvers was won by Tony Rixon (pictured below with his both his net of Silvers and Carp) with 47 lb 13 oz from peg 27 which is the peg he practiced on a few days before! See his blog for further details.

Paul Barnfield was second in the Silvers just behind Tony with 18 lb 8 oz, but did lose a top-set which a small F1 pulled out due to loose fitting section.

Back to the Compton with the usual suspects and still managed to self isolate in the garden.

Result:

1. Tony Rixon 47-13-0 peg 27

2. Mark Tanner 34-03-0 peg 19

3. John Smith 33-08-0 peg 17

4. Paul Barnfield 18-08-0 peg 24

5. Rob Baker 14-14-0 peg 14

Silvers:

1. Tony Rixon 19-04-0 peg 27

2. Paul Banfield 18-08-0 peg 24

3. Kev Winstone 14-10-0 peg 3

4. Alan Smith 14-06-0 peg 30

5. Mike Nicholls 8-06-0 peg 25

Weigh Sheets:

Had my usual walk around the Pool, joined by Kev Winstone. It was clear to me it was going to fish hard, especially the far end pegs 30 to 34 and 1 to 5 absolutely no signs of fish. Unfortunately, my predictions were to proved true.

Hoping to avoid the pegs mentioned above, but NO, Dave Gillard pulled me peg 33. Not happy with this one, but happy to be out fishing. Another downside to these pegs you are in the shade all day and today I would be sitting opposite anglers with tea shirts and I would be in my fleece still feeling chilly. I think the fishing Gods are averaging out my catches.

I set up the usual - Paste float for the margin and one for top-set plus one out in front, Ronnie rig and a 4x16 to fish top-set plus three barrels. As it would be a question of scratching around for fish I thought about setting up a waggler, but foolishly couldn't be bothered. A lot more rigs that usual and expected to use them all.

So started on the long paste float hoping to catch a couple of decent Skimmers, but ended up catching small ones to 6 oz with very small pieces if paste. I did have one a pound. Then switched to the long lone line with the 4x16 with a 4 mm expander over micro and had a couple of Ronnie's so switched the line to chopped worm and caster before starting on the Ronnie rig with caster. This proved more productive catching a 2 lb Skimmer, some decent Ronnie's and Perch. I did pull put out a decent Perch I estimated to be near 2 lb fiddling trying to find my landing net. The line died indicating some bigger fish present to dropped the paste in and had four F1's before the line completely died. So last hope was the worm line which was poor, accounting for some small Perch and one Roach/Bream Hybrid of about 1 1/2 lb. About halfway through I went for a walk to warm up as much as anything. The Pool was fishing really hard. Went back and spent nearly three hours staring at the float hoping to catch fish that weren't in the peg. This is the point of the match where the waggler would have come into play! I had noticed a Carp swimming around on the surface for some time. However, last effort I shallowed up the Ronnie rig and added another section and with single caster on the hook feeding 6 casters a time hoping to catch some more better Ronnie's. I had a definite liner from a decent fish, so switched to paste and first dob in caught and landed a 10 lb Carp. Whilst playing it I notice another swirl over the caster feed, so couldn't waiting to get the paste back in and hey presto another positive bite, so I thought, anyway I missed it right on the whistle - bugger.

My Silvers weighed 11 lb 9 oz for one out of a Silvers pick up by default and my Carp net weighed 15 lb 12 oz for a total of 27 lb 5 oz for again just two out of an overall pick up. Fine margins one more Carp or one more Ronnie, either would have done for me.The match was won by Tony Rixon (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 106 lb 4 oz from peg 11. Tony fished 17. 5 metres to the island using hard banded pellet over loose fed pellet - see his blog for further details. Well done matey definitely have a weight advantage over the majority of the anglers. Well done matey.

The Silvers was won by Kev Winstone with 23 lb 3 oz from peg 16. Kev caught short up and down in the water using caster over caster. His catch consisted mainly of small Pech and Roach.One thing anglers are noticing at the moment is that it's very difficult catching fish on the bottom. I wonder if it's anything to do with all the Siltex that has been put in this Pool?

Back to HQ (pictured) with the usual suspects.

Result:

1, Tony Rixon 106-04-0 peg 11

2. Paul Barnfield 39-12-0 peg 24

3. Hughie Evans 38-12-0 peg 28

4. Chris Ollis 31-05-0 peg 14

5. Mark Tanner 29-15-0 peg 18

6. Mike Nicholls 27-05-0 peg 32

Silvers:

1. Kevin Winstone 23-03-0 peg 16

2. Paul Barnfield 22-04-0 peg 14

3. Pete Greenslade 14-04-0 peg 15

4. Gary Bowden 14-0-0 peg 1

Weigh Sheets:

First to arrived, so walked the whole complex and couldn't help noticing a vast difference from last match with fish feeding everywhere. Got to Bridge Pool where the Carp were having a right munch, which also meant their Skimmer Groupies would be feeding near by. The most Carp activity was between pegs 11 and 27 so any of them would do today and I had decided to fish for Carp - unless. Met with Kev Winston and told him a ton was on the cards today.

Dave Gillard drew me peg 15. I had to think for a second where I was going as Iv'e not been on these pegs for a long time. Happy with this and even though it has some Silvers form decided to target the Carp short, which would benefit the pole fencing with peg 16. Great company again with Tony Rixon on peg 15 - he would target the Silvers for sure and at 90 degrees was Chris "Squeaky Roller" Ollis, who also had the Silvers in his sights.Set up the waggler for fishing to the island at 17 metres with maggot over maggot, two paste floats, both on the top-set one out in front in 6 foot of water, just up the shelf and the other for both margins at the same depth for paste over potted micro and loose fed 4's.

Started by feeding the RH margin and out in front with a pot of wetted micro and pulted a few LR's over on the waggler line. Started out in front with the paste expecting a quick Carp, but not only nibblers. So picked up the waggler and with single LR on the hook had a couple of Rudd then the micro Perch showed up and wasn't upset when for some unknown reason the sliding float link managed to come off the line - a bit line the ring and rope magic trick - must discuss this with Dave Willmott. So set it up again which proved unnecessary as I decided to try the RH margin and didn't get another cast. First try in the margin and a decent Carp in the net. By potting a few micros and loose feeding 4 to 6 hard 4's over the top (which amused Tony) I had a great run of quality Carp. In between I was catch their groupies - some decent accidental Skimmers to Chris's dismay. I waited until the last Carp o'clock hour before switching to the LH hand side and had another decent run of more quality Carp - very pretty fish.

My accidentals weighed 17 lb 8 oz and my Carp 118 lb 07 oz for a match winning total of 135 lb 15 oz - a marginal victory. Great days fishing for a number of reasons - one notable was getting cooled off by the rain.

The Silvers was won by Tony Rixon (pictured above with the match winner) with an excellent weight of 42 lb 1 oz from peg 15. See his blog for the details but what he won't mention was how well he fished both short shallow with caster but especially when he started at 17 metres for the F1's - class act not many anglers can do this, catch brambles and still get the F1's out! No Bramble gate today.Back to the pub with the usual suspects to end a day when the Pool fished very well.

Result:

1. Mike Nicholls 135-15-0 peg 15

2. Tony Rixon 68-07-0 peg 15

3. Mark Tanner 53-0-0 peg 27

4. Paul Barnfield 48-12-0 peg 21

Silvers:

1. Tony Rixon 42-01-0 peg 15

2. Paul Clayton 22-09-0 peg 29

3. Dave Haines 19-06-0 peg 11

4. Chris Ollis 19-04-0 peg 16

Weigh Sheets:

Written by

Mike Nicholls