August 2020 - Rod and Pole

August 31, 2020August 31, 2020

Parchay Match 29 August 2020

Approaching my swim and surveying it surroundings and trying to take in the dilapidated state it portrayed. My mind wondered back to the time when I was in the army. It was 1981 and I was doing basic training. We had in our troop a very odd person indeed by the name of Egan, his first name escapes me. Now trust me he was odd. Odd by character and odd by physique. He was a mixture of wit, intelligence and boarder line insanity. But the strangest thing about Egan was his appearance. He was tall and gangly with a rather large head and a very wide mouth, in fact he reminded me of one of the robots on the Cadburys smash advert from the 1970s.

Get a broom handle stick a pumpkin on top and you will have an item with physical attributes as Egan. Egan’s head proved a problem for his beret and his cap badge. The cap badge should be aligned over the left eye and the beret should slope from left to right. But not for Egan owing to the configuration of his head the cap badge would end up over his nose and his beret would slope on both sides from the middle like a roof top.

Now as time went on during this period of basic training all of us squaddies in the troop became aware of Egan’s inability to run and it was becoming a concern for the training staff. Well this one day the squad went out for a run and it was during this run that we had notice that Egan was absent. When we returned to the sports field we had set of from we noticed Egan with 2 PT instructors. The squad was ordered to sit on the grass while the instructors tried to sort out Egan. “right Egan all we want you to do is just run around the sports field and come back here”. Poor Egan this was well beyond his physical capabilities. “well get a move on Egan” Now what happened next has remained with me ever since.

Egan started running up and down on the spot with his long lanky arms motionless at his sides, his head was going from side to side and his wide mouth was opening and closing and he seemed to be taking in vast gulps of air. Someone in the squad remarked that Egan must be an alien and is unable to cope with our atmosphere. One of the instructors pointed his finger “go on Egan that way what the matter” But poor old Egan kept on running up and down on the spot and just kept making gulping noises. That was it, the other instructor got behind him and pushed him. That seemed to do the trick or so it seemed. With great gangling strides of he went head still going from side to side and his arms still motionless at side. This was the British army’s equivalent to Basil Fawlty alas after 50 yards he stopped. The poor fella just put his hands on his hips and start gasping, he just could not cut it when it came to running. “you’re not fit for purpose” yelled one of instructors. That was the very first time that I had ever heard that phrase. Now nearly 40 years on I am grabbing that phrase and using it to describe my peg bloody peg. Thanks to Dave Colley who lent me his reed cutter and Alan Jenkins who did the same with his weed rake and 30 minutes of my time the swim became just fishable and just fit for purpose.

**Unfit for purpose.** **The Egan peg.**

The Results

Position	Name	weight	peg
1^st	Dave Nash	21 lb	69
2^nd	Rob Dodd	20 lb 06 oz	86
3^rd	Ian Townsend	15 lb 12 oz	79
4^th	Paul Smith	9 lb 06 oz	80
5^th	Dave Gartenfeld	9 lb 04 oz	68
6^th	Dave Colley	8 lb 09 oz	78
7^th	Eric Searle	8 lb 02 oz	81
8^th	Alan Jenkins	5 lb 10 oz	77
9^th	Alan Bland	5 lb 07 oz	85
10^th	Pete Curnow	5 lb 01 oz	83
11^th	Bob Pascoe	4 lb 12 oz	84
12^th	Phil Dodd	4 lb 02 oz	82

Top spot went to Mr silvers basher himself Dave Nash with a good weight of 21 lb. Dave emloyed two and a meter whip with caster. 69 was Dave s peg.

**Bugger me where did all these come from.**

On peg 86 was 2^nd placed angler Rob Dodd with another fine catch of 20 lb 06 oz. 5 meter whip fishing caster over hemp did the trick for Rob.

**A smiling Mr Dodd with 2nd top weight.**

3^rd was Ian Townsend on peg 79 who used the pole and double caster to catch 15 lb 12 oz this included 2 nice size Tench. This was Ian’s first trip to this venue, a good result mate.

**A very pleased Ian with 3rd top weight.**

4th was Paul Smith who tempted out 9 lb 06 oz on waggler and caster. Also corn was used to eek out the better size fish. This all happened on peg 80.

Right behind Paul was Dave Gartenfeld with a respectable haul of 9 lb 04 oz from peg 68 . T op 2 plus 2 was used to obtain this catch. Now Dave actually managed quite a rarity indeed by landing a mirror Carp although weighing only 14 oz never or less quite a catch.

6^th place went to Dave Colley with a weight of 8lb 9 oz. Dave method corn and maggot on the whip from peg 78.

7^th top angler was Eric Searle on peg 81 with 8 lb 02 oz. Tactics used was whip with worm and maggot.

8^th went to Alan Jenkins on peg 77 with a weight of 5lb 10oz using whip and pole with caster. Fair play to Alan who struggled with the bank owing to his bad knees, He gave a stiff upper lip and carried on regardless. Good on yer mate.

Alan Bland the match secretary occupied 9^th spot with a haul of 5lb 07oz. The method employed was pole with caster worm and corn.

Yours truly managed 10^th placing. Now I am not one for whinging but it took a good 30 minutes to hack down reeds and to rake out weed to make my peg which was peg 83 fishable. And at this stage I would like to pay thanks again to Dave Colley for lending me his reed cutter and Alan Jenkins for lending me his weed rake. Nice one Guys. Any how I managed to obtain a weight of 5 lb 01 oz from using waggler and maggot.

Bob Pascoe found himself in 11^th place, fishing peg 84 he had a catch of 4 lb 12 oz. This was obtained from using top 2 plus 4 with maggot.

Number 12 was one Phil Dodd on peg 82 using maggot and waggler he managed to put on the scales 4 lb 02 oz.

**The standing so far before the last match,**

Okay guys the next match is at this venue again on Saturday August 12th.

So until then tight lines and don’t forget to change your clothes.

Pete C.

August 18, 2020August 25, 2020

Avalon Fisheries 15/08/2020

Driving along the road between Shapwick and Avalon Fisheries on the way to the match and thinking of the tactics that I should employ that would enable me not to obtain last place some thing in the distance caught my eye. It looked like a van parked at the side of the road. As I approached carefully I notice two more vehicles also parked up. Ha you bastards sheep rustlers I thought. My plan was to drive past at a speed quick enough to run one of the sods over and slow enough to get one of their number plates. But alas the situation was not so intense, as I drew up along side I saw the faces of three anglers from the Watchet club. Ian Townsend, Dave Searle and Dave Gartenfeld. A problem had occurred, poor Dave Gartenfeld’s car had thrown it’s rattle out of the pram and decided that forward or backward motion was not part of it’s task any more and took the option of buggering up the gear box all by itself. So an arrangement was made that Dave Searle would tow Mr Gartenfeld’s defunct car to the car park at Avalon Fisheries. I would lead the way and Ian would bring up the rear.

We arrived at the car park at Avalon and managed to push it in to a parking space. Unfortunately Mr G’s car took on all the characteristics of the Torrey Canyon. (look it up if you don’t know). The oil which was leaking from the car became a concern as to believe it could seep into the lake. So once again with human muscle we pushed it to the opposite side of the car park. However when the owner turned up and realized the situation he developed an expression of Why the f**k me. So with wheel barrow, spade, grit and gravel a barrier was built to avoid disaster.

The original parking space of Dave G’s car, which then had to be moved away to the other side of the car park. Note the green chairs that were placed to stop further parking. just to the right you can see the barrier of grit and gravel that was hastily built.

To cut a long story short and fair play to Dave G and in true spirit he decided to fish the match regardless.

The match has now finished and step forward Mr David Colley. Dave with kind heart and conscious took it upon himself to go to Bristol to get a trailer, come back to Avalon Fisheries load up Dave G’s car and drive to Watchet the abode of Mr G. Now bare in mind that Dave Colley lives in Bristol. So it is on this premise that every member of Watchet club gets down on one knee dons their cap and gives him grace. A true and fine gentleman indeed.

**Our hero the one and only Dave Colley.**

The results

1^st Was none other than the fishing Guru himself Rob Dodd. This guy acquired the coveted achievement of the double bubble. Top weight overall and top silvers. Rob fished his beloved method the pole. His silvers haul was acquired by fishing top 2 plus 2 with corn and worm. His carp came from the margins on corn. Rob occupied peg 16.

**Mr Rob Dodd the winner make what you want with this pose?**

2^nd was paste master and match secretary Alan Bland who fished mainly for carp but in his own words struggled. He put on the scales just a tad over 33 lb. He did have a descent bream which was slightly under 4 lb. His home for the match was peg 12.

3^rd was ex paratrooper Bob Pascoe on peg 6. Bob who normally fish for silvers managed to land a carp in the region of 10 lb. He had third top silvers haul of 18 lb 08 oz and 14 lb 12 oz of carp.

**Bob Pascoe at the weigh in who managed 3rd.**

4^th was Dave colley who fished mainly the feeder with maggot and pellet landed a creditable total weight of 31 lb 07 oz. From peg 5.

**Our hero Dave Colley weighing in with the help of fishery owner Vic Bush**.

5^th was Ian Townsend who on peg 4 (not the best of pegs) tipped the scales for 30 lb 07 oz. I believed he had a few carp in the margins.

6^th was Paul Smith who fished mostly pole at various distances with worm on the hook amassed a total of 26 lb 03 oz. This was achieved on peg 9

7^th was yours truly on peg 7. I was pipped by 2 oz by Mr Smith for a weight of 26lb 01 oz. My method was 7 meters straight out on the pole sloppy ground bait with corn. I managed to obtain 2^nd top silvers for a cash prize of a life changing amount of £8, yea.

8^th was Eric Searle on peg 13 had an all carp haul of 23lb 12 oz. Eric fished the pellet feeder.

9^th on peg 11 with an all silvers haul was Dave Nash, Dave employed mainly caster for bait for 15lb 03 oz.

10^th place went to Pete King who used mostly pole with maggot and pellet from un fancied peg 3

But managed to eek out 14 lb 04 oz in total

11^th was veteran angler Phil Dodd who was end pegger. Phil employed just the waggler on peg 17 and managed to weigh in 9 lb 05oz

12^th in the weights was Dave Gartenfeld with 4 lb 12 oz from peg 10. But to be fair Dave had other problems on his mind so we can’t read any thing in to this placing.

Dave Searle caught three small roach but did not bother to weigh in. Dave fished peg 14.

On a final note I want to say a big big thanks to this guy here. This is Jeff Sparks who was fishing the other match which was taking place on same lake. Jeff a good friend of mine took time out before the start of his match to pay me a visit and give me some very useful tips which helped me to gain 2nd top silvers weight. Thanks mate.

Next match is on Saturday the 29th of August on KSD Parchay. See you there.

Tight lines

Pete C.

August 4, 2020August 25, 2020

The Sedges Tile lake 01/08/2020

Do this, do that , use this method, employ that tactic, don’t fish there, but fish there. Not that bait but this bait, fish on the bottom, don’t forget the upper layers. Waggler, pole and feeder. OH BLOODY HELL. This was the advice given to me by very creditable and capable anglers before the start of the match. Well with all this information coming at me in all directions I employed the KISS tactic. KISS is an acronym used in the advertising industry and it stands for keep it simple silly. So I just used the pole. But while I was fishing away during the match my mind wandered to the time I was doing a course with the Open University way way back in the late 80’s.

Every 2 weeks the people in the local area who was on the course would meet up at Taunton College for evening lectures. It was at one of these lectures I became friends with a very well to do lady called Wendy Langley. Wendy was indeed very upper class but also had the very good grace to lower one standards considerably to talk to some one like me. In fact we became very good friends, but unfortunately Wendy is no longer with us. But one of my fondest memories of her was when she told me a true story of a problem that the Bridgwater and Taunton canal boating association in which she was secretary had on the canal. A situation a bit like my fishing experience that I was having. A seemingly complex situation at first but had a simple solution. The culprit was a gas pipe that went over the canal which was located just beyond Bowerings. It was to low for some of the newer boats to go under.

Bowering’s end on the canal near the docks.

So meeting upon meeting was set up about how to solve the problem. It was decided that a feasibility study at great cost should go ahead to see if a solution could be found. The conclusion was that the gas pipe could be relocated underneath the canal. So once again at great cost plans were drawn up and contractors were sought for the job in hand. The relevant people were contacted such as the council and the civil authorities for permission to close the footpath etc. Everything was set, a day had been chosen for the work to begin. However it then occurred to the people of the boating association that the gas board should be informed, well after all it is their gas pipe. The gas board was contacted and the situation was explained.

The people at the gas board was confused about the whole state of affairs and the pipe line itself. So to make matters come to light and to try to clarify the situation a senior gas engineer was dispatched to meet the members of the association at the pipe line on the canal. The engineer looked at pipe from different angles and decided that it was indeed a gas pipe line. He opened a brief case that he had with him and took out a map. With his finger on the map he followed the route of the canal until their position at which point he looked rather puzzled . “uhm strange, some thing odd here I have to go and make a phone call I noticed a call box on my way here won’t be long”. (1980’s no mobiles). The association members loitered around waiting for his return. “oy scuse me” came a voice from above. The members heads turned towards the top of the bank. It was the engineer who’d arrived back “ just found out, that pipe hasn’t been used for donkeys years it’s disused just cut it down and sell for scrap. See you”.

Now the morale of the story is, that if this gas engineer is still alive and is a angler with his simplistic approach he can give me advice any time.

The Results

First on the day was Eric Searle with a very good weight of 93 lb 09 oz His main tactic was pellet feeder. During the week he was so mixed in his thoughts about what tactics to employ in this match he forgot to have a hair cut. This hippy type creature fished peg 35.

**Eric (middle) looking at his fish being weighed knowing victory has been achieved.**

2^nd was paste maestro Alan Bland on peg 38. Owing to the wind conditions though he could not employ his favourite method hence he used a variety of other different baits and had a few in the margins. His weight was a chunky 73 lb 04 oz.

3^rd was Brum city supporter Dave Gartenfeld. In his own words, what ever bait he put on the hook the fish took it. Dave fished mostly the pole in the margins. Peg 40 was Dave peg his weight of fish was 64 lb 15 oz.

**Dave Gartenfeld pleased with his 3rd.**

4^th Rob Dodd achieved top four by way of once again having a cracking bag of silvers which came to 37 lb 01 oz. Rob had 80% of his fish on pole fished maggot. His total weight was 52 lb 09 oz from peg 24.

5^th place went to happy go lucky our one and only NHS hero Dave Colley who amassed a weight of 50 lb 10 oz. From peg 39. Pole and maggot was the tactic employed

6^th was Paul Smith on peg 23 who collected a total weight of 49 lb 13 oz. Maggot was his main bait on top 2 + 3.

7^th Bob Pascoe who used pole and corn on peg 27 done better than he expected by putting 43 lb 09 oz on the scales.

8^th was top sweet pea grower Pete King. Pole and pellet was the key to his weight of 38 lb 06 oz on peg 22.

9^th It was simple pole tactics at 12 meters with worm as the main bait for yours truly. The weight obtained was 35 lb 14 oz. Corner peg 21 was my home for the match.

10^th was feeder king Phil Dodd on peg 36 . Phil had a different approach today and employed the waggler for 33 lb 02 oz.

11^th with a very respectable catch of 31 lb 05oz was angling veteran Alan Jenkins. Mr J tempted his fish mainly with the pole on meat and maggot from peg 33.

12^th was none other than Dave Nash, this guy weighed in a total of 29 lb 10 oz from peg 32. Pole and red was the method.

13^th place went to out of sorts Ian Townsend, Ian who normally finds himself in the top half, caught most of his fish in the last hour. Fishing peg 26 his weight totaled 29 lb 10 oz. Pole and corn was what was used.

14^th place was taken by one Wally Adcock. Making a very rare guest appearance Wally fished for silvers and tempted 12 lb 13oz in to the net from peg 31.

15^th position went to newcomer Dave Searle, Dave struggled from peg 30 for a weight of 4 lb 07oz.

16^th was Dave Gartenfeld’s grandson Ashley Johnson. Ash had a challenging day of of peg 28 for a bottom weight of 3lb 04 oz, But promised grandad he will do better next time.

The next match is at Avalon (singles and points) on Saturday 15th August so see you there.

Tight lines

Pete C