Pike Fishing on the Bristol Avon

With Short Day light hours and Christmas to prepare for an enjoyable way to make the most out of your winter fishing is a short session on the river lure fishing for pike,

So armed with a selection of lures both soft plastic and hard lures,
 I sent off on Tuesday to explore a section of the Upper Avon I had not fished before,
The river was in perfect condition slightly up with a tinge of colour,
Moving down stream fishing every 20 metres soon produced the first fish of the session a small Jack pike of around 4lb , on a gold Savage gear shad one of my old favourites sadly not made any more ,

Time to change to a fox replicate, 5’’5,    working my way back along the river the lure was hit by a bigger pike which put up a spirited fight making 3 runs down stream before I netted it, this one weighed just over 10lb a nice size for a small river,   
so well worth making the effort , will return to this section of river to try it for Chub in the new year,

 

Korum River Feeders on Test. Bristol Avon 18/11/2014

River

A quick visit to the upper Avon on Tuesday to perhaps catch a Barbel and to test the new Korum River Feeders ,

Met with mixed success while the river which happened to be flowing a touch too high proved a good testing for the river feeders I would be using ,

Fishing with a 12mm Halibut pellet and Sonu baits Hemp & Hali ground bait, produced a couple of small Chubb of around a 1lb plus a 2 lber, so not a blank and I will be back to re try the feeders in the near furture,

Korum 60gram River feeder

A Chubb of 2 lb ish  

Autumn Round-up

It's been a busy month or so for me. I've fished local rivers, lakes, rocky marks along the Devon coast, the Bristol Channel from the sea wall at Severn Beach and the famous Shambles Bank from the deck of Colin Penny's boat, Flamer IV of Weymouth. The fishing has been good with a whole host of species caught. Roach, chub, dace, a new personal best grayling, perch, bream, tench and carp to low double figures have all kept me busy on the rivers and lakes. Sea fishing trips have produced codling, bass, plaice, wrasse, my first turbot and first tope. I've also seen black bream, tub gurnard and blonde ray caught. All good fun and very enjoyable.

New personal best - My River Chew grayling

Sturgeon Fishing With Cascade Fishing Adventures. Fraser River, British Columbia, Canada. The Pictures (Part 3 of 3)

Some more pictures from my sturgeon fishing holiday on the Fraser River, British Columbia, Canada. Enjoy!

 

Mike with his biggest of the week, an eight footer that
weighed 315lb



Pikeminnow were used as bait



Moment of truth

Sturgeon Fishing With Cascade Fishing Adventures. Fraser River, British Columbia, Canada. The Pictures (Part 2 of 3)

Some more pictures from my sturgeon fishing holiday on the Fraser River, British Columbia, Canada. Enjoy!

 

CEJ and I lift a 211lb white sturgeon

 

White sturgeon often leap when hooked





Big baits for big fish

My 7 foot 4 inch sturgeon weighed 248lb

Sturgeon Fishing With Cascade Fishing Adventures. Fraser River, British Columbia, Canada. The Pictures (Part 1 of 3)

Some pictures from my sturgeon fishing holiday on the Fraser River, British Columbia, Canada. Enjoy!

 

Spectacular scenery

6 feet 6 inches and 167lb

Jeremy Wade was staying at the same hotel

 

Mist on the mountains

6 feet 10 inches and weighing 191lb

Sturgeon Fishing With Cascade Fishing Adventures. Fraser River, British Columbia, Canada

This is going to be tricky! How do I tell you about my amazing eight days of fishing for white sturgeon on Canada's Fraser River without going on and on and on and boring you all to death?! I could write for hours, but I'll try and keep it as brief as I can. Put simply, I wouldn't have changed a thing. From leaving home to getting back, the whole trip was fantastic, the flights, the hotel, the food, the place and it's scenery, the company and of course the fishing! Mike and I had opted to fish with Cascade Fishing Adventures, one of the many guiding companies based in Chilliwack, British Columbia. Every day we would be picked up from the hotel by either Marc (owner of Cascade Fishing Adventures) or his top guide CEJ, both of whom were great anglers and brilliant company. The boats and fishing tackle they supplied were top notch and we would spend between eight and nine hours on the river each day having a blast! From riding in the boat, to catching the bait, to checking out the awesome scenery and keeping our eyes peeled for bears, the whole experience had me grinning from ear to ear and that was before even catching a sturgeon. So, on to the fishing then! White sturgeon fishing is incredible! These fish scrap hard and for a long time, by the end of the holiday my arms and back ached but it was well worth it. Using baits fished on running lead rigs from the anchored boat, Mike and I were in to sturgeon from day one. I caught a few nice warm up fish of about 40lb or so but Mike struck in to bigger fish from the off and by the end of the day he had brought a 6 foot sturgeon, estimated to weigh around 100lb along side the boat for a quick photo. Day two produced my first 100lb plus fish and a 155lb sturgeon for Mike. Day three and the fish were getting bigger, I took the biggest at 6 feet 6 inches with a weight of 167lb. I was well chuffed and we weren't even half way though our holiday yet! The rest of the trip continued in much the same way as days one to three, we enjoyed superb fishing, some great weather (some not so great) and good times. I could wrap up this blog post now with a list of the fish caught, lengths, weights and the like, but a few of our days need a more detailed look, the first being day four. Day four was overcast, damp and chilly to begin, our guide for today was Marc and we were soon anchored with baits in position. Mike landed a 5 foot fish and then my rod was bent over in the holder by something we hoped would be a little larger. As I picked up the rod, braid was already disappearing fast from the reel and so Marc upped the anchor and put the boat in to reverse to follow the fish. This one felt very heavy and showed me who was in charge for ten minutes or so before I was able to gain a little braid back. With the fish about fifty yards off the back of the boat it decided to make one of the leaps that this species is famous for, hurtling itself in to the air and showing itself off, the entire length of the fish went airborne and what a fish it was, it looked huge! The battle continued for three quarters of an hour with the giant sturgeon making several more long runs and some spectacular leaps but I eventually got the better of it and it surfaced next to the boat, exhausted and ready for measuring and photographing. CEJ had been fishing near by and came over to help, the monster measured 8 feet and 10 inches in length and with a large girth an estimated weight of 403lb was given. What an enormous fish! Marc, CEJ and I lifted it for some pictures before safely releasing it back to the murky depths. An incredible day that saw me land a 6 foot fish later that afternoon too. Amazingly that fish wasn't the biggest one I hooked during our eight days fishing. Day seven saw me attached to a beast that CEJ confidently predicted as being bigger, but unfortunately it threw the hook after ten minutes. We'll never know just how big it was, but monster fish are seen and caught on the Fraser River every year. The biggest sturgeon Cascade Fishing Adventures have landed measured over 11 feet long and was estimated to weigh over 850lb! Sturgeon approaching 14 feet have been hooked and lost and even bigger ones seen. Mind boggling stuff! Day eight, our final day, turned out to be the best days fishing I will probably ever experience. With CEJ as our guide, Mike and I landed five big sturgeon for a combined total weight of 1194lb! Mike had the biggest at 8 feet and 315lb, my best for the day was 7 feet 4 inches, weighing 248lb. Incredible! What a way to end our holiday! Mike and I landed twenty seven sturgeon over the eight days, this included the pair of 8 footers and three over 7 feet in length. It's going to be a while before I top that I think?! I'm going to stop now but I haven't even mentioned the seals, the birds, the friendly locals, the enormous trains and the V8 powered trucks that everyone seems to drive. Oh, did I mention I met Jeremy Wade from ITV's River Monsters? He spent a couple of days fishing and was staying in the same hotel as us. We had a quick chat and he was happy to pose for a photo. A very nice chap. Right, I really must stop! I must give a huge thank you to Cascade Fishing Adventures, these guys are great, highly recommend! The Coast Hotel, the best place to stay in town and to Mike Cuff for his company. Below is a list of useful links and I will post more pictures on here in separate posts, keep a look out for them. To summarise, BEST HOLIDAY EVER! I will return!

Cascade Fishing Adventures - www.bcsturgeon.com
Coast Hotels and Resorts - www.coasthotels.com
Air Transat - www.airtransat.co.uk

Biggest of the trip - My 403lb monster sturgeon

A Day Wrecking With Spot On! Charters

 

It was touch and go whether the trip on Tuesday would go ahead with threatening north easterly winds

But after a brief chat to Ross the skipper Monday night he was willing to give it a go , so a rather early 5am start was on the cards to pick up friends Geoff and Roy for the trip to Brixham,

This was to be my first trip out on a boat for 30 years since having fished the Kent and Sussex marks when living in London,

We arrived at Brixham by 7.00 am and where soon off to the first wreck some 1hour and 20mins motoring time away and his boat does motor, a 10M Cougar Catamaran which he built last year,

We had all tackled up with 12oz ball weights and various shads  and started catching fish on the first drop , plenty of Pollack with a nice cod came to the boat, after 4 drifts it was off to the next wreck which pretty much how the day progressed ,

A Nice Pollock of around 9lb

By wreck three I decide to change to one of the new snowbee coailie pearl stinger skad lures and managed 4 Pollock from 9 to 12 pounds, there was also a number of Ling caught from this wreck on baited hooks and Shads , so in all a really good days sport the Skipper Ross worked really hard all day to put us over the fish and was there when ever anybody needed help so I will definitely be back for more, and even the weather was kind to us with a  hot sunny day and all most no wind ,

River Wye to the Rescue

It's been a summer of cancelled boat fishing trips for me, with inshore and offshore wrecking, a conger trip and flatfish days all called off due to strong winds. Very disappointing! It's lucky then that my visits to the River Wye have proved successful. Barbel to 9lb 5oz and chub to over 4lb have been keen to feed in less than ideal conditions, with the river very low and clear all summer. Usual tactics of a running lead with a smelly bait on the hook has produced the fish. Waggler or stick float has also worked for the dace and bleak. Information on the stretch of river I fish at Lower Lydbrook can be found at www.lowerwyefishing.co.uk The next time I post on here will be to tell you all about my trip to Canada. I fly in a couple of weeks to fish the Fraser River in search of white sturgeon. Cascade Fishing Adventures, my guides for the eight days, have already landed fish to over 700lb this year! Fingers crossed for some arm wrenching action!

A 9lb 5oz River Wye barbel

South West Super League Round 4 River Huntspill

After the Teams of 10 match on the River Huntspill, I missed the first Super League match due to work, so I was ready and raring for a chance to fish the 'Spill again!

Captain Hook, Glenn and a few more from the team met at Laburnam House Hotel for the breaky prior to the draw.

Sean, the walking wounded was helped onto his seat by his carer (Sam Johnson).

Hooky went off for the draw and came take with much better pegs than last week.......although not for Sean, how drew 63, the same peg as last week and a long walk with his knackered back!

I drew peg 76, the end section at Woolavington Bridge. I had Lee Trivett of Preston Innovations Thatchers to my left and Gary Etheridge of Garbolino BMV to my right. Luckily the wind wasn't as powerful as previous weeks although I wasn't counting my chickens just yet.........!

As the form normally goes the end pegs of these types of sections normally dominate but I thought I could put together a weight and get valuable points for the team.

I setup 2 feeder rods, one for ultra long range, the other to fish half way. I also setup to fish the pole at 13m with 0.4g and 0.6g rigs to hopefully target some eels and/or roach. Both tip rods were setup with braid for the bset possible bite indication.

On the call of 'all in' I put ten feeders stuffed with chopped worm and squatt on my long range line, followed by 5 feeders full on my short line. The pole line was given a half pot of white maggot and caster.
 I went out with a positive approach initially and went for a double dendro and maggot hook bait, I was rewarded within 15mins with a 10oz skimmer. I kept recasting regularly and alternating hookbaits and hooklength length to get bites, also twitching the feeder to wake up any fish in my peg.

As expected the wind picked up and although I could ping maggot over my pole line, presenting the rig was proving more difficult.

Half way through the match I got a call from fellow team mate, James Gunter, who couldn't fish due to work commitments! whilst on the phone to him I landed 2 skimmers plus an eel....a proper good luck charm! By now I had 5 skimmers, 2 eels and 1 roach but I couldn't see what else was being caught in my section so I just had to plug away! The bites got slower on the long line as did the shorter feeder line and so into the last hour I opted to swap between the long line and kept looking and topping up the pole line. I went on the pole for yet another look when the wind permitted. First put in was a proper 'Swimmer Eel' of at least 1.5lb, then next put in an 8oz roach!


I ended up weighing 7lb 11oz, which was good enough for 4 points. Lee next me had a couple of proper bream on the tip plus a good mixed bag on the pole for 14lb, Richard Aherne won out section off peg 80 with 16lb 6oz of skimmers, Lee was second and Clive Branson was third with 10lb of roach caught on the waggler. I needed one more decent eel for an extra point!

On the day, Don Sutherland finished 3rd individually, a result which helped us to a respectable joint 3rd on the day.

I cannot wait for the River Avon match in a months time!!

Individual:
1st.  Mike Withey (Sensas Cardiff Nomads) 29-2-0, bream and skimmers, groundbait feedered red maggot, peg next to Motorway bridge
2nd. Gary Webber (Preston Innovations Thatchers) 22-4-0
3rd. Don Sutherland (Maver Cadbury Angling) 21-2-0
4th. Andy Powell (Maver Lobby’s) 18-8-0
5th. Mark Brush (Daiwa Gordon League) 17-15-0
6th. Richard Aherne (Frenzee South Wales) 16-6-0.

Teams:
1st.  Preston Innovations Thatchers 53
2nd. Maver Lobbys 45
3=Maver Cadbury Angling 34
3=Daiwa Gordon League 34

League:
Preston Innovations Thatchers 185
Maver Lobby’s 166.5
Daiwa Gordon League 157.5.

A Blast From the Past. Bury Hill Fisheries, Dorking, Surrey

Its been over 15 years since I last visited Bury hill lakes in surrey, when I had previous lived in Reigate I fish the lake and the River Mole weekly ,
Today I was to fish the lake with friend Tony and we had decided to fish Milton one of three lakes that make up the complex which is mostly stocked with Tench , Crucians carp & rudd its lake of around 4 acres with an island in the middle and plenty of Lille pads,

Milton Lake

   We both opted to start on the float hoping for a crucian feeding pellet ,hemp & sweet corn next to a set of Lille pads, within a hour we had both had bites Tony landing a tench  my self losing one,
I went on to lose 2 more fish time for a change of tactics, I had been fishing light hoping for a crucian but as they where not playing ball I set up my feeder rod with a small method feeder and cast out close to the pads, this proved more successful , I landed 5 tench to 4lb over the next 2 hours by which time the rumble of a thunder storm approaching caused us to hastily pack up  and head for home,

One of Miltons Fighting Fit Tench

A Good Start to the New River Season

A Bristol Avon chub for Dan

The rivers reopened recently, so Dan headed to the Bristol Avon and I took a trip to the Wye. Dan targeted the chub on his club stretch with halibut pellet fished over pellet and hemp and tempted some nice fish to about 3lb. Two surprise trout also took a liking to his bait, providing some variety. My trip to the Wye was all about helping friend and customer Andy, to catch his first barbel and I'm pleased to report he did just that with a 6lb 14oz fish. Numerous chub to 2lb as well made it a day to remember for him. I obviously had to have a go myself and caught a brace of 9lb plus barbel before going on to land a personal best chub of 5lb 7oz. What a result! My dad was fishing too and he also managed barbel to 9lb 1oz and some nice chub. A great day for all of us!

 

Andy with his 6lb 14oz Wye barbel

Boats, Beaches and Bass. Seaton, Devon

Off to Seaton in Devon to try and tempt some bass! This small town is well known for the species whether targeting them from one of the local charter boats or from the beach. I had planned to do both to see which produced better results and unsurprisingly it was from the deck of John Wallingtons boat, Outcast II. Last years trip out with John had resulted in a great day and this time was no different. Between four of us we caught twenty five bass, a few pollock and two pouting. All the fish fell to lures with Red Gills, Sidewinders and bass wedges all doing the trick. A day out with John comes highly recommended and you can book by visiting www.devonbassprocharters.co.uk The day spent fishing from Seaton beach wasn't quite so memorable. Bass had been caught the previous evening from a mark known as Seaton Hole so Dave and I gave it go but only managed a small eel and a dogfish. Not really what we wanted but it was an enjoyable afternoon with great weather so no complaints from either of us.

New Species and Personal Bests

Pollock have been plentiful whilst wrecking

May has been a memorable month for me. I've enjoyed a couple of wrecking trips as well as an afternoon drifting the Skerries Bank and new species and personal bests have, I'm pleased to say, come my way. Pollock have made up the bulk of the wreck captures, I've seen plenty of double figure fish caught and been lucky enough to catch the biggest - a personal best of 16lb. The odd cod and a few bass were very welcome also, along with some whiting and pouting. The Skerries Bank produced my first ever plaice and red gurnard and other anglers on board managed whiting, dogfish, bass, mackerel and launce. My trips have been with Spot On! Charters of Brixham, Devon. Ross the skipper, is friendly, knowledgeable and not afraid to burn fuel in search of fish. He comes highly recommended! Visit www.spot-on-charters.co.uk for information about Ross and his fantastic new boat. Away from sea fishing and back with my feet on dry land I fished Cheddar Reservoir for pike. It was a lure only competition and although I didn't catch enough to worry the top spots I did catch a few small jacks. More sea fishing planned for next month and if we get decent weather I'll also be trying for a surface caught carp. That's not forgetting that the rivers reopen on June 16th, so I'll be digging the barbel gear out too and heading to the Wye. I'll tell you all about it next time.

Round Two of the Chew Valley Lake Evening League

On Wednesday afternoon, I had booked myself on to the 2nd round of the Chew Valley evening league , its a friendly competition  run over 10 evenings on Chew and this year Blagdon as a Floating line only Comp at 2 per month starting in April and at £25.00 for 4 hours fishing  is real Value ,
I had drawn to fish with Tim Wellman a friend and Customer who unlike me had fished chew a number of times this year ,
We started with  a drift off Nunnery point on washing line set up, I was using 2 red dawlbacks and a black booby on the point as Tim had said the fish where up in the water, after 2 drifts although we had spotted rising fish we had not had a take so Decided to motor down to Herons green bay  ,
on the first drift across we both struck in to fish ,
We carried on for the next hour drifting across Herons but only had a couple of knocks to show for our efforts so thought we should try a different tactic drifting right across to the far side bank our thinking being boat pressure might have pushed the fish in the cover this bank provides ,
the results where instant we had 7 more fish to the boat in the next 2 hours ,
a finish at 8.45pm gave me 6 fish for 16lb 4oz good enough for 3rd place on the evening with
 John Humpries  on 19lb for first and Andrew Hedger 17lb for second , so in all a great evenings fishing roll on round 3 which is the 14th of may , Contact Woodford Lodge o 01275 332339 for more details,

Tim in to the  last fish of the Evening

April Allsorts

This dogfish took a squid bait....

April has seen me try my luck at carp, general coarse, beach, pier and rock fishing. I was also meant to have spent a day boat fishing over the Skerries Bank, but this was unfortunately cancelled due to high winds. I've not caught a huge amount to show for my efforts but it's been enjoyable none the less. Highlight has to be the day spent fishing from rocks near Torquay which produced lots of fish to light tackle set-ups. Wrasse, pollock, mackerel and a single dogfish all provided fantastic sport. The coming weeks ought to provide me with something to write about as I have a couple of boat trips booked with Spot On! Charters of Brixham, Devon. If the weather is kind I'll be heading out in to the English Channel in search of cod, pollock, ling, conger and maybe some plaice and black bream too. My fingers are crossed for light winds! Check back to see how things turn out.


....whilst ragworm tempted the wrasse

Plenty More Fish in the Sea. Kingston Seymour Sea Wall 19/03/2014

A few hours on Kingston Seymour sea wall last night resulted in me catching fish - something I normally struggle to do there! I was there with Dave and Trevor and all three of us had caught small codling within minutes of casting out. The rod tips twitched all evening and although the fish were small, very small in fact, it was nice to be getting bites. I think we were all hoping a bigger specimen would show up and it was Dave who struck lucky by landing a nice flounder of about 2lb. I had a whiting for variety and we all packed up agreeing it had been very enjoyable. We all used similar tackle and bait, pulley and flapper rigs baited with worm and squid did the trick and long casts weren't needed, most fish fell to the rods cast short. All local marks appear to be alive with these small codling at the moment and with summer species showing already, it's a good time to get out and give it a go.

Not even big enough for a fish finger!

Trying for Tench

It was off to my club lake at Great Somerford on Tuesday with Jon and his dad, Tony. The tench have been coming out in recent weeks and there is always a good chance of quality roach, perch and large carp. We set up in swims not far from the car park at the deep end of the lake and baited up with Sensas 3000 Tench groundbait, laced with casters, sweetcorn and a few other tasty bits tench are fond of. Feeder and straight lead were our chosen tactics and it wasn't long before my alarm was sounding. After a good scrap a tench of about 4lb was in the net. A good start, hopefully more would follow. Unfortunately though, they didn't. Despite trying our hardest we struggled to tempt another and so we amused ourselves catching small perch and roach to pass the time. The day passed quickly and it was soon time to think about packing up. With only ten minutes to go Tony got lucky and hooked a tench, a fish of similar size to the one I had landed earlier. An enjoyable day but maybe the weather needs to warm up a bit before the tench really get on the feed. We'll give it another try when it does.
 

My lone tench

Dad Knows Best! River Wye, Courtfield, Lower Lydbrook 11/03/2014

New personal best - 6lb 2oz!

First post on here this year for me, so I guess I should start by saying a very belated Happy New Year to all who read my blogs. I hope it's a good one for us all! I've done very little fishing during the wet winter we've just endured and whilst the times I have been out have produced a few bites I've not felt the need to write about it. This weeks trip to the Wye though, is well worth tapping at the keyboard for. Due to the weather, this river like most has been unfishable since late last year and at its peak was carrying record levels of flood water. The village of Lower Lydbrook was under water and it is only now that the river has returned to a more normal state for the time of year. On Tuesday Dan, Steve, my dad and I found an extra couple of foot or so, a bit of colour and a strong current. Things looked good for a fish or two and so we settled in to our swims and quickly set up. Dad landed a barbel of 5lb straight away which got us all excited and eagerly awaiting more. A 7lb barbel was next, again to dad. Two further bites resulted in hooked fish but both were lost, again it was dad getting all the action. No one was surprised when dad hooked his fifth of the day, a barbel of about 4lb. Dan, Steve and I kept at it, trying a few different swims and chucking everything at the fish, including all sorts of different pellets, boilies and groundbaits, as well as maggots and caster. It was no good though and it was dad who was next in to a fish, again! A large chub surfaced and I was waiting with the net. As I lifted it up I realised just how large, it looked massive and on the scales it swung the needle round to over 6lb, settling on 6lb 2oz! A personal best for dad and the biggest chub any of us had ever seen. It truly was a monster and the pictures really don't do it justice. Bites dried up for dad after this but I don't think he minded too much after the day he had enjoyed. Don, the fishery owner paid a visit and whilst we were nattering about all things fishing my rod bounced in the rest and I hooked a powerful fish, after a fantastic fight I netted my first barbel of 2014, a fish of about 7lb. That was all the action for this trip, Dan and Steve unfortunately had to settle for a blank. I'm already booked again on this stretch in both June and July, so looking forward to that. For up to date information on the River Wye visit www.wyeuskfoundation.org and for more about the river at Courtfield, Lower Lydbrook take a look at www.facebook.com/lowerwyefishing

Spring is in the Air and Tench go on the Feed

After enjoying a day on the river last week and with a trip to the Wye booked for next Tuesday, I thought I'd try my luck on a stillwater this week and see what I could tempt on maggot fished on both the waggler and feeder. After arriving at 11.00am I soon baited a couple of swims with a bit of groundbait and a few casters. Conditions looked good, a very slight breeze, an overcast sky and the temperature remained mild throughout the day. Very spring-like! I fished the waggler at about twelve meters and dropped an inline maggot feeder a few feet beyond this. Bites were instant and some nice roach were the first fish to wet the net. Things went quiet for a bit before the quivertip of my feeder rod twitched and a hard scrapping fish was soon taking line off the reel. A surprise tench of about 2lb 8oz was the culprit and just added to the spring-like feel of the day. Next bite on the float produced another decent tench! Great sport on the light gear! Four nice perch followed, the biggest must have been about a 1lb. Bites did slow up after this flurry of activity and so I packed up, but with a smile on my face having enjoyed a great day.
    Next week sees Jon, Jon's dad, friend and customer Steve and myself all fishing the Wye at Courtfield, Lower Lydbrook. This part of the river has been unfishable all winter due to very heavy rain and high water levels, but as I write this the river is fining down nicely and we're all hoping that the barbel and chub will be hungry after not seeing a bait now for over three months. Mild March's in the past have produced excellent sport here, so our fingers are crossed for a good day. Check back next week for a full report.
  

First tench of the year

Making the Most of the Last Weeks of the River Season. Chub, Dace, Roach and Trout on the Bristol Avon

Kenny with a cheese paste caught chub

Like many of you I have been dying to get back on the river this winter. Bad weather has prevented anyone from doing much for months. So with an improvement in the weather forecasted I packed the car on Tuesday and was off to the Bristol Avon with friend and fishing guide, Kenny Parsons.

Upon arrival Kenny reported that even the half inch of rain on Monday night had pushed the river up! (If only we had been here yesterday). But we were here now so best give it our best shot.

We both set up trotting rods and fished with maggot. The river was coloured more than either of us would have liked but it was not long before we had a couple of chub to 2lb and a decent brown trout which fought very well in the fast current.

After lunch we decided to try feeder fishing in the slower section up stream. Focusing our attack with maggot, caster, bread and Kenny's famous cheese paste, we trekked to above the weirs to give it a go. The river here is around ten feet deep and much slower. Kenny started with bread and I tackled up with a groundbait feeder and caster. This produced a couple more brown trout, four small dace, a roach and star of the day - a silver sea trout. So not a bad day at all and well worth the trip. I'm off to the Wye in a couple of weeks so fingers crossed for a successful day then too.

A welcome sea trout of around 1lb 8oz 

Sensas South West Commercial House Winter League Round 6 K&A Canal

Here are the results from Sunday 5th January 2014, which was round 5 of the Sensas South West Commercial House Winter League, held on the Kennet and Avon Canal, from The George to Dundas.

At the start of the day, 3 teams in at the top of the B division were separated by on half a point!! So we needed a good result on the day and to beat the anglers in teams around us in the league to be sure of winning the league.


1st. Nathanial Johnson (Preston Innovations Thatchers B) 14-12-0, 15 skimmers, 5m pole and bread, three pegs past Dundas Aqueduct
2nd. Richard Whitmarsh (Sensas Wiltshire Angling) 14-4-0
3rd. Craig Pinker (D & W Builders) 8-2-0
4th. Rich Lacey (Maver Bathampton Invincible) 7-1-0
5th. Martin Rayet (Premier Angling Keynsham) 6-12-8
6th. Tim Ford (Preston Innovations Thatchers A) 6-12-0

Teams Division A:
1st. Preston Innovations Thatchers A 30.5
2nd. Maver Bathampton Elite 27
3rd. M & N Electrical 25.

Teams Division B:
Maver Cadbury Angling 24
D & W Builders 23.5
Frys 23.

Final League Division A:
1st. Preston Innovations Thatchers A 38
2nd. Preston Innovations Thatchers B 33.5
3rd. Maver Bathampton Elite 31.

Final League Division B:
1st.Maver Cadbury Angling 27.5
2nd. Frys 26
3rd. D & W Builders 25

Individuals:
Tim Ford 70
Liam Braddell 66
Mark Harper 64.5



So with a tense wait for all the results to come in and be counted up, it emerged we have won on the day again, which put us in an unbeatable position at the top of the B division and were crowned champions, what a fantastic result in our first year as a team and our first year competing in the Commercial House League. Roll on for new autumn when it all starts again!!!


Ivan, again wrote an excellent blog on his match:

http://ivansangle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/sunday-15th-january-commercial-house.html


Individual league winner, Tim Ford put his match report on his ever informative blog 'Cluckers Peg':

http://cluckerspeg.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/commercial-house-final-round-k-canal.html

Sensas South West Commercial House Winter League Round 5 K&A Canal

Here are the results from Sunday 5th January 2014, which was round 5 of the Sensas South West Commercial House Winter League, held on the Kennet and Avon Canal, from The George to Diggers.

As a team we fished a brilliant team match, with 3 sections winners, 2 2nd in sections and a 4th in section (I think) to win our division on the day and put us back at the top of the B division.

Results on the day are as follows:

1st. Neil Mercer (Maver Bathampton Elite) 13-2-0, 8lb of roach on pole with punch and bloodworm plus 5lb of skimmers on bloodworm from end peg at Diggers;
2nd. Vince Lunn (M & N Electrical) 8-9-0
3rd. Mike Withy (Sensas Wilts Angling) 7-14-0
4th. Rob Randall (M & N Electrical) 7-8-0
5th. Shaun Townsend (Maver Bathampton Invincible) 7-4-0
6th. Sam Johnson (Maver Cadbury Angling) 6-12-0

Division A Teams:
1st. Preston Innovations Thatchers B 32
2nd. Preston Innovations Thatchers A 28
3rd. Sensas Wilts Angling 26.5.
A League:
1st. Preston Innovations Thatchers A 32
2nd. Preston Innovations Thatchers B 29.5
3rd. Maver Bathampton Elite 25

Division B Teams:
1st. Maver Cadbury Angling 32
2nd. D & W Builders 23
3rd. Premier Angling Chippenham 22

B League:
1st. Maver Cadbury Angling 21.5
2= Frys and D & W Builders both 21.

Our team member Ivan Currie wrote a top blog for the day:

http://ivansangle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/sunday-5th-january-commercial-house.html

As did Tim Ford from Preston Innovations Thatchers:

http://cluckerspeg.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/commercial-house-round-5-k-canal.html