Staffs-Worc canal Botterham Lock-Swindon 16/10/11

This match was another Cradley Heath club match on the Staffs-Worc canal at Swindon and Botterham lock, normally when these two stretches are used the winner comes from Botterham lock as this pound contains a large head of Chub. The Saturday before our match some of our club members were on the Botterham stretch with weights of 18,14,13 and two 10lb weights of Chub you can see why it is the place to draw, not that Swindon is rubbish but it is more of what I would call normal with weights of silverfish on squatts & hemp with just odd Chub & big Perch. With this in mind we had decided to pay out as two separate matches and with 20 names down this had worked out easily with 10 pegs put on each, so we were all set and after a good breakfast in the Green Man pub in Swindon village we took the draw. I came out with peg 8 at Botterham and a day hunting Chub was the order of the day, my travelling partner Stav had pulled out peg 20 ( the end peg again!) at Swindon so I gave him my squatts as I was going all out Chubbing with worm, caster & big maggots. This was the first time I had even seen this stretch let alone fish it as every time we have had the two stretches over the years I have always drawn the short pound or Swindon, the short pound is what it says on the tin a short stretch above Swindon bridge with a few mooring in-between two locks with only enough room for 3-4 pegs but full of Roach and a few odd Chub. The last time we fished this stretch a couple of years ago I framed with 9lb odd of hemp Roach and two small 1lb Chub, at last this time I was walking past these pegs up and over the next lock as the pegs at Botterham are on the opposite bank and up too Chub heaven. The first 100m above the lock cannot be pegged due to overhead power cables then as you turn the corner the first peg (our peg 10) was on a set of reeds the rest of the stretch looks very Chubby indeed with lots of overhanging trees & bushes. I put my tackle down on peg 8 and went for a walk along the stretch to have a look at the two most famous pegs here the end peg by the cottage (peg1) and the green pipe peg (peg2), they both looked very good and it was the pipe peg that had won the match the week before with 18lb. At my peg I was told by John Morgan who had fished here the week before that he was 2nd with 14lb form somewhere in-between mine and Baz's peg to my left as they had only put 8 pegs up here last week, so at least we were in an area that had some form. My peg had two bushes on the far bank that was only 11m wide with a 1m gap in-between them that looked nice and fishy, I was only going to set up two rigs one for over and one for down the shelf in the deeper water away from the bushes so I could run the rig through when the locks opened.

Rig 1, for the far bank a Preston 4x10 pink float, 0.14 Silstar straight through to a size 2 Tubertini 175 hook and tight black hydro elastic through just in the top section of a power kit.

Rig 2, in the deeper water a 4x14 M.A.P pole stick for holding back with the same hook and line as above but black hydro through the top 2 of a power kit.

For bait I had got 1/2 kilo of worms, 1 pint of casters, 1 pint of hemp and a pint of big white maggots nice and simple I was going to fish hemp & maggot over and worm & caster down the track, Just before the all in the locks opened and the first of the days boats was on its way and I was shocked at the pace of the water with only around 300m in-between the two locks. I started on the deeper water rig but was unsure whether or not to feed and wait for the impending barge, well after around the first 40mins and 10 boats later we were all moaning how busy the canal was and no bites as you could hardly get the bait in the water. It looked like every boater on the canal was out today on the very unseasonal hot sunny day for October then all of a sudden like someone had flicked a switch and the boats stopped and we didn't get another one until the last 10mins of the day? very strange. I had a couple of gonks on the maggot before I hooked my first Chub which I managed to get away from the roots of the bushes only to pull out of it down the track as I had to double break down my pole due to the bank behind me falling away very steeply, never mind I thought there are plenty more where that came from, WRONG. To cut a long story short it fished crap I hooked what I thought was another Chub half way through only to ping out of it a second later leaving my rig up the bushes Great, it was like someone had poisoned the water with acid or something no one was catching there was only Ollie on the end peg (1o) with 3 Chub and John Crump on peg (1) with 2 chub and two Chublets the rest of us had nothing. I had a few gonks, 2 Perch and 4 Roach I couldn't believe it the first time I had managed to drawn up here and the Chub had failed to feed for what ever reason CRAP is the only word to describe it. John's fish on peg 1 went 4lb odd Steve on the famous pipe peg 2 had a 3lb Chub on the last put-in of the match (jammy git) to weigh 3lb 9oz then 5 DNW's on the trot, John Morgan who had 14lb the week before had 1 Roach first put-in then nothing for the rest of the of the match just 1 fish? My bits went 1lb 9oz then Ollie on the end peg (10) had 6lb 9oz for his 3 Chub & a few bits. Four anglers weighed in out of 10 lepers bath water or what! Down at Swindon BIG Ritchie had 2 Chub & a small Carp for 1oz short of Ollie with 6lb 8oz, my partner Stav was joint 3rd with Martin Yardsley with 5lb 15oz both of them small fish squatt weights. It was noticeable that all the money was won from end pegs on both of the stretches! This was one to forget for me.

Staffs-Worc canal Hinksford- Navi Sunday 9/10/11

This one was another Cradley Heath club match on the canal at Hinksford which has been good to me the last couple of times I have been there and I was hoping for more of the same, the only concern we had was that there had been a league match on the stretch the day before so the weights were expected to be lower than normal. I drew in-between two good pegs the cables and the bird feeding table, I started off having a few small fish on the squatt for the first couple of hours before having the odd better Roach on the hemp later on. The word on the bank was that the canal was fishing very hard after the day's before fishing and the unseasonal amount of boats for the time of year, it was strange to be fishing in a t-shirt in October and the boats were out in force one of the lads had fished the day before and said that we had more boats in the first hour than they had all day on the Saturday. There had been a big Chub caught up the top end by the bridge and JB was catching a few Roach on the hemp apart from that it had fished very hard, it turned out that it was John Babbington had caught the chub which was 4lb 6oz added to a few smaller fish won the day with 6lb 9oz loosing another 2 Chub. 2nd was JB with 5lb 10oz of hemp roach and my 4lb 11oz was enough for 3rd which I was happy with, in hindsight I should have gone back on the squatt for the last hour for a few more small fish instead of sitting on the hemp waiting for Roach that never returned after I had caught a few. There was weights of 3lb 14oz, 3lb 12oz, 3lb 10oz and 3lb but a few failed to break a pound when you consider I won the fur and feather with over 10lb and 4lb+ was needed for 10th in December in cold weather it had fished quite hard.

River Avon Pershore Sunday 2/10/11

This match was probably the best river match of the year with 3olb of Roach & Skimmers winning and 4lb needed for 10th place, this was a Cradley Heath club match on the left and right hand banks of the river Avon at Pershore. I was told by Stav that the stretch was full of Bleak and worth going for if they were in-front of you after he fished it two weeks before, did I listen did I heck! After spending an hour on the stick then a hour on the wagg trying to get through hordes of Bleak I decided to have a go on the feeder in an attempt to get some bait on the deck, I should have gone for the bleak after 5 hours of fishing my poultry 3lb 2oz was nowhere. Ade was easy winner from the first peg next to the bridge on the right bank with 30lb of big Roach and Skimmers on the wagg with hemp & caster, 14lb odd was 2nd of mainly bleak and another 14lb of roach on the hemp & tare was 3rd, there was a lot of good backing weights between 7 & 9lb. Stav had told me what to do and I didn't listen so it was my fault for not catching, he had 9lb odd for 4th of mainly Bleak! Two match's on the river Avon and the wheel's have come off big style!!!!!!!!!

River Avon Bredon Sunday 18/9/11

This was one to forget for me with no water in the river and running very clear I thought that the bream wouldn't feed as we had the next stretch adjacent to this a couple of years ago under similar circumstances which I won with 4lb roach on the pole/hemp and not a single skimmer/Bream was caught. So I set up for a scratching match with the pole as main attack but Shaun Waite next to me went shit or bust with a single feeder rod & groundbait attack, Yes you've guest it after around an hour his tip went around and bream no1 was in the net then next chuck the same response! My 2 Perch were now looking sick. Shaun went on to obliterate the match with 5 Bream for 16lb, Malcolm on the next peg had 2 for 6lb and 2nd, all I had was 3 perch which I threw back in disgust for a DNW after spending the rest of the match on the feeder in an attempt to try and sneak a Bream or two off the end of Shaun's shoal ( and failing miserably ). From Shaun downstream the next 14 pegs all failed to break the 2lb barrier with many only weighing in ounces then the last 3 pegs found a few silvers with 4lb, 3lb and 4lb respectively nearest to the car park where they must get a bit of feed from the odd pleasure angler. God I was bored spending hours staring at a motionless tip and to cap off a bad day I broke the number 5 section of my pole over £200 worth when I was pulling a log in closer I had hooked off the bottom, Great I love fishing!

River Severn Arley Sunday 11/9/11

Another Cradley match this one back on the Severn at Arley which to be honest fished very hard or crap to be truthful I had one barbel on a 8mm pellet then another barbel and a chub when I switch to the maggot feeder later in the match. When with around an hour of the match to go Shaun Watie walked passed on the way home after packing up early saying that there was only one other barbel caught on the whole of the match I thought he was pulling my leg, well it turned out to be true my 3 fish for 12lb 9oz was more than double the next weight which was Baz Robson with that one 6lb barbel and a lot of good anglers with 1lb odd or less of bits.

Larford Speci Lake Sunday 4/9/11

This was a Cradley club match on the Speci lake at Larford, this turned out to be a lot harder than we all imagined, this one was won by Bob (the bosun) Evans with 74lb and Steve Robson 2nd with 68lb. I was 3rd with 51lb with 2 carp on the pellet wagg early on nothing in the middle of the match then hooking 3 carp in the last 30mins on the pole & meat at 6m, the last 2 in the last 2 put-ins going around 23lb one around 15lb netted after the whistle.

The Riddings Folly Pool Sunday 28/8/11

This was another Halesowen club match on a new venue to me and most of the the club at the Riddings near Tamworth, after doing a bit of digging it became apparent that because of the pellet feed ban ( allowed on the hook only!) on the venue that meat, worm and casters are the main baits to take. I drew on the right-hand bank in a gap in-between one of the 3 lilly pad islands that run down the centre of the Folly pool which I must say is one of the most picturesque I have seen in a long time. I won this one with 78lb 4oz on the pellet wagg with a 8mm pellet on the hook and feeding 8mm cubed meat over the top using 4 tins of feed, I feed a worm & caster on the pole line at the start but never even picked it up after that, Martin Yardsley was 2nd with 53lb which I thought was a good result when the afternoon open match on the pool the day before was won with 64lb.

Clattercote res Sunday 21/8/11

I was hoping that this Halesowen club match fished better than when we came for a practise where I ended up with 1 carp and lost 2, well it didn't Steve won the match with 7 carp for 60lb, I had 3 carp for 26lb 12oz on the method for 4th on the day and one to forget as it's around 120 miles round trip from home twice for 6 bites in 10 hours of fishing. I for one will not be in a hurry to return here in a hurry!

Solhampton Kingfisher pool Sunday 7/8/11

This was a Cradley club match on the Kingfisher pool at Solhampton and I have caught a few fish from here in the past so was confident with a good draw that I could do well. I drew on the car park bank which is a good area the main man too watch was Kev Clarke on the end peg by the Duck pond. I caught fish from all over the peg from margins to 6m and up in the water on a combo of pellets and maggots, by the end of the match I weighed in 90lb 5oz for 2nd with Kev winning the match with 108lb ( a good angler on a good peg/ game over). Stav managed 78lb for 3rd but not enough to take the £1 side bet mini series so fron 2-0 down I had come back too win 2-3 and the golden nugget was handed over by Stav, ( that's 3 years on the trot mate must try harder!).

Playing catch-up.

Sorry I have not been reporting on my bolg for sometime but I suffered a great personal loss a few weeks ago on the 21st of August following the sudden death of my Mom, as you can imagine I have not been in the right frame of mind for writing about my fishing in the last few weeks. I will attempt to play catch-up and fill you in the best I can with just short reports to get back up to date.

R.I.P Mom I will miss you forever.