Yes folks it’s that time of year again The clocks go back, Bridgwater carnival approaches and Christmas as they say is just around the corner, But most important the winter league. The time of overcast drizzle, rain, wind and cold.
The first round of the Watchet winter league took place on Saturday the 26th of October 2019. The venue being Parchay on the Kings Sedgemoor Drain. This was a first in a series of nine matches stretching to the last one on February 22nd next year.
Fate
alas did play its part by family, work and other commitments which
decimated the field of anglers from a possible of nine to just four.
I myself was absent owing to work (PANTS!).
The
conditions was not exactly favourable with strong winds and rain
throughout the entirety of the match. The tow at the beginning was
flowing towards down stream but in the last hour and a half the flow
reversed. Owing to lack of numbers the pegging was such that one peg
was next to the car park near the fence, the other 3 angler were
pegged on the Bridgwater Bank on the first 3 pegs.
Paul
Smith had top weight of 20lb 12oz. This top bag consisted of all
roach, Paul who was a late arrival owing to the fact that he had
forgot his bait used caster, hemp and tares. He fished short pole and
whip. Paul fished the first peg in on the Bridgwater bank.
2nd
top rod was match secretary Alan Bland who had amassed a weight of
18lb. This consisted of 2 tench one of one of 4lb 14oz and another of
between 2 1/2 and 3lb. The rest of the catch was an equal amount of
roach and perch Most of his catch including the 2 tench were taken on
caster using the short pole. Permanent peg 85 was Alan’s spot.
3rd
place Eric Searle who just fished the pole had 16 lb to his name all
of small fish quite a good haul. Maggot was the main bait used Eric
was the on permanent peg 86.
Bringing
up the rear with never or less quite a decent weight of 9lb was Dave
Nash who had the car park swim. Dave fish the whip with caster and
hemp. Dave catch consisted of all smallish fish. One important point
to note was that Dave had to pack up early owing to work commitments.
This picture was taken by Dave Nash who fished the car park swim. From L to R Paul Smith, Eric Searle and Alan Bland
All in all the weights were better than expected considering the conditions, so well done guys. Next match will be at Pawlett ponds on Saturday 9th November.
Before battle commenced fishing veteran Tony Richards treated all competitors to a nice piece of chocolate and cream cake, This was in celebration of the angling stalwarts birthday, now owing to the fact that each and every member of the Watchet angling club are complete and utter gentlemen no one asked Tony’s age. Or is just the case that we had all forgot to ask. Thanks for the cake mate, from everyone.
The
weather was slightly chilly with more cloud than sunshine with the
odd incursion of a shower. There was an intermittent
breeze blowing from the
motorway towards the car park at the hut end. This
was also a pairs match.
The Winning Weight
First
on the day was none other than the top angler of the club Rob Dodd
who drew out peg 36 had a good weight of 94lb 03oz. Top rod used
his beloved pole, honestly I can never
ever remember him
using a rod. Rob fished varying distances using maggot and sweet corn
also dead red maggot. Little so and so also had the golden peg.
Eric who got 2nd place.
In
second place was my pairs partner Eric Searle another top angler
within the club a really good carp fisherman. Me and Eric drew out
pegs 17 and 34. We decided that Eric should have the latter peg. Eric
predominately uses the feeder in which he is master. Now when asked
what bait he had used he replied coco nut, a bounty (
look at the last blog
post and you see Eric when it comes to bait he uses code words). Some
members were about drag him off into the log cabin tie him to the
table and subject him to extreme torture. But Eric came clean, he
used hard pellet. He had also fished the pole in the margins where he
did lose a lot of foul hooked fish. Erics total weight was a very
reasonable 72lb 10oz,
Phil Dodd who was 3rd with 62lb 05oz
In
3rd
place was Phil Dodd, this guy likes to keep things simple and just
used the method feeder
with hard pellet fishing the far bank from peg 13 his creditable haul
came to 65lb 05oz,
All rounder Paul Smith with a catch that earned him 4th place.
At number 4 was good all rounder Paul Smith. Using the pole through out and starting of with maggot and ending the day with worm amassed a reasonable catch of 50lb 03oz. Paul had most of his fish in the middle but did have one carp in the edge and another across the far side. Mr Smith was on peg 10.
5th
place Alan Bland on peg 15 had a weight of 30lb 04oz. From the off
Alan fished the margins but struggled for bites. Using mostly corn
did land some nice size carp, he had the quality but lacked the
quantity.
Dave G after he was asked if he wanted his photo put on the website.
Placed
in 6th
was brum supporter Dave Gatenfeld. Dave who occupied peg 8
fished the far bank in to
the v shaped
bay with the method using pellet. His
total catch came to 26lb 02oz.
Yours
truly was 7th
on peg 17 now to say
bites was scarce was an under statement Aland Bland who was next to
me had smoked more fags during the match than I had bites. I managed
to put in the net 6 carp for a tolerable weight of 24.02oz. I must
admit my aim in matches is not to come last.
I
just pipped ex paratrooper Bob Pascoe on
peg 30 the silvers
guru took a weight of
23lb 13oz included in that was the top weight of slivers 14lb 09oz,
Bob told me before driving of home he
mostly used pinkie.
Mr Colley in fine spirits.
Dave
Colley was next with 20lb 09oz he was slightly disappointed but never
or less was in good spirits as you can see from the photo with his
only silver. Dave C fished peg 11, next time he is determined to kick
ass.
Next
at 10
was Bobs arch rival in the silvers world the one and only Dave Nash
peg 28.
His total was 13oz less than Bobs. Dave catch was thus
22lb. He had 2nd
top weight in the silvers of 6lb 05oz. His bait was caster and red
maggot. I know I had to buy them for him
Number
11 was birthday boy
himself Tony Richards. His weight was made up of 5lb 01oz of slivers
and 8lb of carp. For a total of 13 lb 01oz. Tony so called under
performed because he was full of chocolate and cream cake allegedly.
Peg 32 was Tony’s
peg.
In
the wooden spoon spot was angling veteran fishing on peg 37 Alan
Jenkins, he found it tough and could only put in the net a total of 3
lb. But Alan does leave a legacy in this match by giving out a very
good tip. Its this, when wanting to get water from a lake whilst
fishing on a pallet use a sponge in you landing net. Great tip Alan
thanks.
This
was the last match in the summer and autumn series until next March.
Next week is the start of the Watchet winter league kicking
of at Parchay on the KSD Saturday the 26th
oct
Hi and welcome to my first blog post on rod and line a report on the Watchet match that was fished on 05/10/2019 at The Sedges , Now the format for the match report and for future match reports was basically like the same set up you see on other blogs. Pictures of victorious anglers with their catches and of the gladiatorial match itself. Well as luck do have it, it wasn’t to be. This new website in some senses has taken on similar characteristics of BBC 2 Now what may you ask does this fishing blog has to do with BBC 2 I hear you all scream, well fishing brethren look at the video below.
A technical fault on both our opening shows, Watch the first part of this you tube video up to 0.48 unless you like playschool.
Could not understand why I needed an upgrade?
I had a phone call
on my mobile by EE and was told that I really did need an up grade.
So completely convinced Off I trundled to the EE shop to be told that
the new mobile phone that I was was going get was the envy of the
technological world, apparently it encapsulated the latest the latest
technology from the combined technical might of NASA and Microsoft.
Yea right.
So when I started to use the camera on the phone to take the usual sort of pictures that adorn other fishing blogs, everything seemed to be going to plan. I took photos of scenes of gladiatorial anglers in the car park, Photos of brick lake, victorious anglers oh and of course the picture of the results sheet. So far so good. Hmm.
Well When I to
down load the lively pictures of the Watchet match my mobile phone
with it’s latest electronic gubbins developed what seemed like a
crafty sense of humour, with all my efforts I simply could not
transfer pictures from my phone to my computer Well thanks then.
Hence next time I am taking a digital camera.
Well as the
saying goes the show must go on.
The weather for the
match was heavy cloud with the odd snippet of sunshine. A slight to
moderate breeze was blowing from the carpark end towards the canal
lake. But to start of with its was calm for the first hour. The
Winner was new kid on the block Ian Townsend who amassed top weight
of a 108lb 14oz Ian had peg 11 and had most of his fish was caught to
his right against the reeds on double corn.
2nd was
Eric Searle with a weight of 102lb 14oz Eric according to many of
the anglers present Eric was on the feeder what bait he was using was
a mystery.
Eric I truly
believe used to work either at Bletchley park with Alan Turing or
military intelligence. Let me explain, when you ask him how he
caught his fish he replies with code words. For example sweetcorn
might mean maggot or worm might mean paste, The pole might mean
waggler rod, or double caster might be the code word for banded
pellet. Only Eric knows what code words means what.
Paul Smith made
third place with a creditable weight of 65lb 4oz this included top
silvers weight of 22lb 5oz Paul had the majority of his fish on the
pole at varying distances on worm. A point of note with Paul who
was pegged next to me (he on 9 and yours truly on peg 8) hooked one
of the largest bream me and him have seen for a long time. You know
the scene hook a decent bream on the pole and it jumps out of the
water like a marlin. Unfortunately for Paul this creature of the deep
slipped the hook.
The guy who was in
number 4 position was our very own match secretary Alan Bland. Alan
was on peg 14 had a total weight of 52lb 9oz Alan had 5 carp which he
caught 4 of them on his beloved paste at a distance of 8 metres
straight out he had 2 in the first hour and 2 in the last He did have
one from the edge.
Now in 5th
place was a certain Pete Curnow (me) I was just pipped by Mr Bland
with a weight of 51lb 5oz The first hour on was on the tip and
switching baits and on the hour whilst using worm my first wrap
around a carp that had to be weighed. This beast tipped the scales at
14lb 9oz. But bites where at a premium and with about 2and ½ hours
to go I opted to fish meat in the margins and for me it was a get out
of jail card as I had another 5 carp.
Lying in the number
6 position was the ever improving Alan Jenkins with a weight of 38lb
4oz Alan had one of the corner swims, in his case peg1, Alan fished
the tip to the reeds and caught mostly on pellet.
Dave Gartenfeld in
7th and next to me had 36lb 4 oz. Dave had a carp of 13lb
6oz which was caught on the pole at 12 metres. He also took most of
his fish in the margins, the main bait being corn.
Next in the ranking
was the veteran Tony Richards Mr Bee man himself his final weight was
24lb 10oz caught mostly on maggot. 19lb 2oz of carp and 5lb 8oz of
small slivers.
In 9th
place was none other than the man himself the one and only Dave Nash
who was on the golden peg ( the rule of the club is that you can win
the golden peg obviously on the top weight over all or you can win it
if you have the top slivers net) Well Dave is one of the top slivers
angler in the club and it looked pay day for but alas with all his
skill could only muster 15lb 14oz of slivers
which beaten by
Pauls Smiths slivers haul of 22lb 5oz Dave had the corner peg number
10 and unfortunately for Dave owing to the wind direction, the modest
amount of green algae that was present decided to make a B line for
Dave swim so much so poor Dave could not at times get his float to
settle in the scummy water. Ha Ha Ha.
Last in the results
table but no means least was none other than Mr Bob Pascoe a devoted
slivers man but often plagued by carp to his utter annoyance. Mr
Pascoe was fishing of peg 6 and had a total weight of 19lb 2oz.
