pontoir sept 07

After the disappointment of Callac my next chance to fish would only be a few hours long because of slipping behind the work schedule and wanting to watch some rugby. With this in mind I decided on Pontoir which is the Plan d'eau for the nearby town of Cleguerec. I have fished it years ago but without much success, just a few small roach & rudd if my memory is ok. The venue is about 8 acres of water and includes well kept leisure and picnic facilities. A road runs alongside one bank so access is easy. On this side the grass bank is reinforced with small boulders. There are two islands, again reinforced with boulders, quite uniqiue in some ways. Also the lake is tree lined so I needed to be careful where I set up in relation not just to these trees but to the shadows they cast. In open water I could see a black tip best so I set up a 4 x 12 jolly
with 8 's and 10's strung out. The water was coloured and about 2 metres deep at 10 metres. I cupped in a little groundbait laced with caster and began on red maggot.After just 10mins the float was under and I was into my first roach of around 6 ozs. 3 more roach of similar size followed fairly quickly then things dried up a bit , so as I'd been feeding caster I decided to try one on the hook. Almost immediately I was into a much better stamp of roach with fish between 8 to 14 ozs coming regularly.For just a short while it was one a go but bit by bit bites faded away and I finished this 2 1/2 hr session with 26 roach which I estimated would have gone around 15lbs. A lovely evenings fishing as all the fish where scale perfect. The only problem with this venue is that on beautiful evenings such as this, half the little town wants to dog walk, stroll or jog around it which doesn't help the fishing. I am also suspicious that one of the more beautiful joggers may have been the angling correspondent for Femmes Fantastique et Feminine magazine, or even a secret agent for the Amigos. I think I translated correctly when she explained that French womanhood had no interest in those poncy rugby stars but dreamed only of meeting a Terminator.

plan d'eau Callac

Whenever we are in Brittany I always have to try and consider HG and this visit, also her mum Milly. Milly is not like mothers in law are supposed to be, she is a real love and has a sense of humour. Her passion is gardening and as HG and I share that passion, when we spotted a plant sale at a town called Callac we were on our way. The bad news was that we arrived a couple of hours too early so had some time to kill. The people in the small bar we visited were very friendly but its difficult to sit drinking coffee for 2 hours so we decided on a spin. Purely by chance we stumbled upon the town's Plan d'eau and it looked truly magnificent. There really is so much fishing to be had in Brittany that it is easy to become blase about new venues but this one really did look good. I would guess around 15 to 20 acres with excellent access , tree lined with a path going all the way round. It was an interesting enough venue to make me return a couple of days later. It was a drive of nearly an hour but I was fairly excited about this one. I chose a swim on the car park side and at 11 metres had about 2.5 metres depth, I mixed a little groundbait laced with caster and fed two orange sized balls. It didn't suprise me to get a bite first put in but I pulled out of a small roach.What did suprise me was that it was an hour before I got my next bite , blank avoided, but just a tiny roach . By this time a family arrived with an extremely ugly hunting dog and the whole family took turns to encourage or chastise this wretched creature at the top of their voices which completely got on my nerves. This and the fact that the fish were not co operating made for a hugely dissapointing afternoon. The final tally of 4 roach and 2 rudd was all I could muster, but I still think this venue has potential and I may have caught it on an off day.

Langport league rd 6

Langport league round 6 and its down to the Langport Arms for the final showdown . The Terminators lie 3 rd in the league and are in the ko final vs Yeovil Nomads ( A team I used to fish for in the Drennan League and have many happy memories of) We fought our way through the paparazzi and the adoring guppies for the draw. But first I had the unhappy task of having to make a formal complaint about the Trotters . 6 matches and they have not picked Del Boy , Rodney or uncle Albert once and I am sure you will agree that if they are prepared to travel from Peckham they should get to fish! Mind one or two anglers have said they are sure Trigger and Boycy have been in their sections. At the draw Shaun handed me peg E4 which was pretty much where I did not want to be , but in truth I blew the top individual place last match so I felt fairly indifferent about it. Looking around the rest of our draw there was not much comfort there either , with no end pegs. The only consolation was that the Nomads had not drawn that well either. There is no doubt in my mind that Nomads are a better side than us but anything can happen on the day. With this in mind it was always my intention to fish in a positive manner . I fished for bream and tench for the first 2 hours , worm and caster over chopped worm produced just a flicker of hope with a couple of skimmers early on , but they just were not the stamp fish I was looking for. I also lost a 10 oz fish due to fishing too heavy an elastic .The big fish or two that I was looking for never came and the only bream to show came to Nick Collins which was enough to win the section and 2nd in the match. second in section from the end peg was Steve Lovell with 2 kilos+ of small fish followed by Ashley Tomkins of Focus with just short of 2 kilos. I weighed 1 kilo exactly and was beaten by Danny Blunn of the Nomads by just 90 grams. I had not enjoyed my match but thats how matchfishing is.
The venue had again fished poorly with quite a few weights under a kilo . But at least the weather was a bit better. I did beat my Amigo , Mark Vigar , but the bottom 4 in the section were all in a row so I had to make do with 4 pts. Maybe if I had fished for small fish from 10 o clock a couple more pts could have come my way but I had taken the positive route and it had not worked. Congratulations to Team Focus on winning the league and unlucky Nomads who lost by a single point . Nomads beat us easily in the knockout and no compaints they were far the better team . We really only had a punchers chance if the big fish fed on the day .Dodge Duval found a few big fish to win with 4 kilos + and odd tench where caught in B section but it was a pretty wretched match .Nigel Easton won the individual and very much deserved to as he had no real flier pegs. The Terminators finished a creditable 3rd and bets and bragging rights over the Amigos are secure this year. On a personal note I enjoyed the series but I still struggle to get the enthusiasm I used to. Thanks to the organisers and the sponsors for a superbly run series and to all the other competitors whose company I have enjoyed. Hope to see you all next year.

pont samoel

Most villages in France seem to have their plan d' eau or little lake. My adopted village of Silfiac is no exception and has the beautiful lake of Pont Samoel. The embarrasing thing is that each time I fish there I catch very little . This , despite tales of huge tench and perch which in fact are true and supported by photos by the locals . On one of our trips Vince Stuckey had a good tench of nearly 3 kilos. However when I decide to have a go it always seems to end in disaster. I have actually blanked here once while fishing the dam wall and a couple of years ago I lost a roach that I estimated to be not far short of 2 lbs. The lake is as picturesque as could be imagined but the water is gin clear and shallow at the top end. It deepens towards the dam but I am struggling to find 2ft of water in the swim I have chosen. I fished the waggler at around 25 metres but struggled to feed accurately as the wind was northwesterly and in my face . Despite this I was hopeful that roach and maybe one of those elusive tench would come my way. The sun was strong and combined with the clear water I soon got the feeling that again it just was not going to happen . I did catch the odd rudd and roach but nothing of any size and was unable to put 2 bites together. In this situation I was not too hard on myself because I was only here due to the fact that it was convenient as I had such little time. Because the fishing was so poor my mind began to wander towards the final round of the Langport league. I do not really think that we can overcome the leading teams to win the league but the KO Cup might just be a possibility , should we draw well and fish well on the day. Also in my thoughts is whether or not I should try to influence team tactics or with my form on Stathe keep my mouth shut. Either way I am grateful to the Chief in particular because without his encouragement and bullying I am sure I would have given up matchfishing last year, his enthusiam has helped a lot and although he never mentions Chris I know he is aware that I struggle to be "up for it " much of the time. We , of course , must always be aware that the sex and glamour is a big part of matchfishing's attraction , the hedonistic partying and the guppies. How can we lead normal lives with the kind of adulation we recieve. Only this week " Girlie Tarts " magazine have be demanding that the Terminators should be their Calander Men for 2008 whether we win the cup or not! The magazine's angling correspondent "Sizzling Suzzana " wishes to talk to the team at sunset on the Stathe drain. See you there next week.

Langport league rd 5

After practising in the week on Stathe Drain I began to get a feeling that I may be beginning to understand a little about this venue. During practice on Friday I was getting a bite a chuck and a couple of methods seemed to be working quite well. However I am long enough in the tooth to know that practice sessions can be counter productive at times , giving too much confidence . With this in mind I was determined to keep options open . After the last round any sense of real competition between us and the Amigos seemed over as they are now 9 points adrift with just two rounds left. Also the good draws that I've been enjoying have meant that I was top individual in the league with 34 pts from 36. Far more important for me is the £260 from the pools so far!! Going well or not I still hate fishing Stathe , but when acting skipper Vince handed me peg A2 I was fairly confident I would be ok in this peg. I was pretty sure that A1 would win the section but last week Rob Eagle had 3 kilos + of small fish from this peg I was pretty confident I could do a job here. I also hoped that , as he had stood in at the last minute, Brian Read would get a good draw. Bri actually drew a very average peg which yielded him 4 pts. I had Scott Cousins on my left on A1 and for the 3rd time in my section Amigo John Buckingham on my right . The first thing to mention was the wind , vile was the only way to to describe it, just sub gale and straight in our faces. I cupped in some choppie and fished over it for 30 mins. This produced just a small rudd and a ruffe. All the time I was feeding hemp , caster and a little maggot to my right just over middle . Switching to this line I caught a small skimmer and 2 small roach then nothing. Everyone around also seemed to be struggling so I kept plugging away feeding lightly by cup plus a little hemp by catapult. Well it all ended in abject disaster, I had a few small fish for 700 grams . Although the section was very tight I just could not conjure up a few extra fish to give me decent points. The only person I beat in section was my Amigo which was some consolation , but 3 lousy points was hopeless. I blame no one but myself I just did not get it right! Scott duly won the section with 1 Kilo 700 followed by Dicky Bull with 1 Kilo 050 gr. Nigel Easton was 3rd with 950 grms, very close but still a disaster for me . I did not enjoy my day's fishing, but as my mum always says, worse things happen at sea. The good news was that Dickybob had won his section using the worms I had donated to him before the match. I was delighted for Dicky as he has had a poor run in the league this year. Unfortunately Vince's nightmare is ongoing as he collected another 2 pts today. He just cannot seem to get a good draw right now! But at least it means I am not dropped for the final round. With just 24 points I feared we may be last on the day but to my amazement we not only ended 5th but knocked tabletoppers Focus out of the cup , putting us in the final with Yeovil Nomads . It will be a lot of fun on the final day as Focus and Nomads are joint top of the league. I lost the individual lead in the league and am now joint top with 3 others. The team remain 3rd and we are suffering from vertigo from the height. As far as the individual win is concerned I do not think there is any loot on it, only bragging rights and the probability is that one of the leaders will get an end peg and win it. I blew it today , that is obvious. Given a choice I would much rather win the knockout with the team than the individual. Wish us luck and end pegs ! The Amigos finished last and are now bottom of the league. For all the banter we know they will be back next year with a variety of cunning plans to put us in our place. But for the meantime the bragging rights are ours! Nick Collins won the match with 4 kilos from the same peg I had won the previous round.

Lanport league round 4

When the league matches are on the river I am out of bed on the morning of the match bright eyed and bushy tailed, really looking forward to the day ahead. With todays match at Stathe it is really just going through the motions. I really do not want to be there.But be there I must so its off to the Arms for the draw and another run in with those Amigos. They are really up for this one as they historically do well here and had pulled 4 points on us last time out. I am so out of touch with this venue I have little or no confidence in what I am doing here. My only hope is an end peg somewhere and I may even cock that up. The draw I really fancy is E8 a nice short walk and the chance of lumps or hemp fish. God really is on my side this year and to my utter amazement my 40 to 1 shot E8 is thrust into my hand by skipper Shaun. I did at first suspect a wind up as I have seen this stunt pulled before by duplicating the ticket of the flyer and handing one to the entire team. But no I really have drawn E8 , end peg of the match so I gave the ticket a tender kiss and set off for Stathe .Part of what makes this peg a flier is that not only is it end peg but it runs into a thick weed bed which extends some 30 metres to the right. Also because of easy access it gets fished and sees bait regularly unlike many other areas. I set up a pole and a whip with the intention of fishing 2/3rds across on choppie worm and inside on the hemp. Just after the off I am joined by an old mate , Barking Brian Read . Now Brian is kindly going to fish the next round for us as Russ and Shaun are on holiday. Brian is without doubt the most naturally talented angler I have ever met. He is superb technically but his watercraft and ability to read the water is even better. He lay down behind me for a while and chatting to him is always fascinating. He also said I drew better than Billy the Kid and Rolf Harris and had better win from here.! As far as the match went I bullied 4 good bream +skimmers and a few hemp fish to win with 9kilos 170 grms .I lost 1 in the weed plus a foulhooked fish at the net. The few hemp fish I just caught while resting the other line.I am fairly sure that every other angler would have won off my peg so it is almost embarrasing. I just seem to be rolling in bream slime and pools money at the moment. Second in section was Mark Hollister who was next to me and nicked a bream while I wasn't looking.I did not walk with the scales this time because a group of bullocks seemed too interested in my kit, so I do not know who was third. Team wise it was a good day for us. Russ again coming up trumps with 2nd individual and the Chief a handy 7 points. Despite poor Vince having a nightmare 2 pointer we finished 2nd on the day with 32 points.The Amigos were close to meltdown and finished very low down, saved only by Chris Sandfords section win. I have never known an angler quite like Chris , something odd seems to happen to him every time he fishes. He once battered me at Stathe from the next peg fishing a waggler all over the swim while everyone else was fishing and feeding tight on the pole. Today a cow jumped into the water near him and was there for ages whislt a herd from the far bank stampeded over to look at it. This sort of thing doesn't seem to faze Chris as with all this going on he caught 4+ kilos of small fish despite the attention of a pike as well. If ever the space shuttle disappears from the radar it will almost certainly land in his swim. Another angler to mention is Steve Bishop of Team Focus, he fished a brilliant match ! Nearly 6 kilos of roach! Magic! Another thing to mention , an excellent angler like Al (puppy ) Dunn who was last in section. Thats Stathe !! Its a lottery, get lucky!

Langport vs Taunton

With the first 3 rounds of the Langport league on the river over it is now time to turn attention to Stathe Drain. To be honest this venue is far from my favourite . I'm not entirely sure why I have not enjoyed my fishing here but it is certain that I have totally lost the plot . In recent years it has been one disaster after another and I really cannot remember a decent result. With this in mind you can imagine my dismay when this year it was decided that 3 rounds would be here. I almost decided to ask the skipper whether it was possible to be considered just to fish the river but that is really not on . No ! dont be a primma donna , get on with it and try to sort it out! With this in mind I had a couple of practice sessions which taught me absolutely nothing. The problem I have with this venue is that I do not really understand the amounts of fish of the various species, their response to a variety of conditions and also how they react to matchfishing pressure. This interclub match at least gave an opportunity to fish under match conditions prior to the league match. At least the practice sessions had allowed me to make one or two decent rigs and my rough matchplan was to fish for lumps for at least an hour whilst feeding caster and hemp , hoping to catch on these baits sometime later in the match. The draw was organised with each team drawing odds and evens. This was either done for the sake of fairness or to keep Amigos and Terminators apart. The conditions on the the day were frankly awful from a fishing point of view , exceptionly sunny and bright and the water level had dropped about a foot and lost its colour. I drew peg 28 above the railway bridge which I thought would be as good as any barring end pegs . To my right was Ian Brewer who I have known for thirty years, but have never got to know well. On my left was a blank peg and then Amigo Mark Vigar. On the whistle I cupped in some chopped worm 3/4 the way across and began feeding hemp on the inside. I had one tiny skimmer on the choppie then nothing. The hemp line produced not a touch. Its already turning into a Stathe disaster and by the halfway mark I have caught next to nothing. People around me are also stuggling and some are fishing the whip and catching a few tiny fish. I then decide to fish a lighter rig over and to my supprise get a 4 oz skimmer first put in , followed by 4 tiny skimmers and a roach. Then the float goes down and I am into a lump. It tears off to my right and I stop it and turn it I am now optimistic that it will come out and I keep it high in the water and put as much pressure as I dare on it. Just as I feel that I am somewhere near in control it goes solid in midwater. Snagged! Nowhere near any visible weed but snagged solid . I release pressure then re exert pressure but its just solid. No feel of any fish now so I know I must just exert pressure until something happens. The rig flies back at me and thats that. I hate this bloody venue! The rest of the match ticked by with me trying all sorts to catch but nothing happens. Another Stathe disaster to add to my collection, I weigh in a paltry 470grms and wished I had stayed home and had some teeth out or sat in the greenhouse with a thick jacket on. The good news is that fellow Terminator Russ Farley has won and it is his first win, I am really chuffed for him. He had 2 tench plus bits for 5 kilos+. Generally the drain has fished very poorly with ours the worst section , won with under a kilo by Mark Vigar next to you know who. I think I must have been in the bottom 3 in the entire match About par for Stathe and me. We just do not get on!