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!

Langport league rd 3

Round 3 of the league and I regret, the last on the river. We duly met at the Arms and being top of the league the lads were in fine fettle with the banter. I was also very pleased that the Amigos seemed much more chipper and were dishing out plenty of abuse themselves despite being bottom. I had practised a few times on the river but the rain in week washed out the way I had intended to fish. I was drawn peg A1 which is the first peg below the town bridge. The river was down a little but coloured and pacey. End pegs had been a real bonus in the previous match ,so now I'd got one it was up to me to do the business. I also knew that Weston man Ron Stark had won the section from this peg on the previous match with bream. God again was smiling at me because this is also the shortest walk of all and I was going to give it some serious groundbait which I'd got to carry. On my left was Chard Remain's Dave Lawrence who I have known for years and get on well with , so a chat from time to time would be in order. I had weighed everything up and decided that I was going for it , so in went 15 babies heads of varying stiffness. I started on the whip and had a roach first put in followed by a chublet of about 250 grms. The first hour went OK but not catching very quickly , I was getting the odd better fish on the 2grm rig, holding back hard. I was just thinking about a look with the feeder when I was into a bream on the whip. The fish kicked hard in the flow but I felt pretty much in control . Bringing it towards the net I then realised just how much the river had dropped because I was struggling to get the net to it. Right on the rim of the net the hook pulled out. It lay just out reach for a moment before swimming off. Oh Golly Gosh ! Fiddlesticks I politely exclaimed. I uttered a few more polite sentiments when I realised that the rig was trashed when I pulled out. It is times like this that I wish I still smoked , a fag would make me feel so much better. I did have a bacon buttie which HG had kindly made for me so I pigged that back before changing rigs and assembling a 4 piece landing net handle. What a wally I am , I should have spotted that I needed it. Having lost the bream I spent a fruitless 45 mins on the feeder. The weed flowing down made feeder fishing difficult. Back on the whip and still breamless I chugged away, catching steadily but never fast. In the back of my mind always that escaped bream and that it would cost me something. 11/2 hours from the end I had another go with the feeder but it was really difficult now with more and more floating weed coming down .I had a couple of small fish on the feeder but with 1 hour to go decided it was the whip for the rest of the match. shortly after going back to the whip I hooked another bream. Determined not to lose this one as well I played it very carefully, slowly but surely taking control the fish was becoming tired. I was watching the line so intently I failed to see a big raft of weed which hit the line. Despite my best efforts the fish and weed raft became one entangled mass and it came off. The polite words were almost a scream now but the bottom line was I had now lost 2 and I was gutted. I did manage to strangle a smaller one of around 2lbs + a good hybrid but on the whistle I was not a happy chappie. I knew very little about how the rest of the section had done but as I'd got the scales I would soon find out. Amigo John Buckingham weighed 3 kilos + from the end peg downstream for third in section most of this weight being a single bream. A few other people had single bream but Dicky Bull had more smaller fish with his for 2nd in section with 3kilos + . I suppose I should have been pleased with a section win and 3rd individual with 6kilos + but in truth it was a match lost rather than a section won. Amigo Mark Vigar won the match with 8 kilos and I lost 2nd place by a few grams. Losing big fish nearly always costs and this was no exception .We also had an indifferent day team wise with 26 points and lost our place on top the league. The Amigos had done well and have made up some ground. The next 3 rounds are on Stathe Drain which is probally my least favourite venue in the county. Wish me luck. At least the £87 quid winnings made me feel a bit better . I even bought the Amigos a drink.

Langport league rd 2

Langport league round 2 and the team are at the Arms eager for the next round and lying in ambush to bait any unsuspecting Amigo who may pass by. The Chief and Russ seemed to be in animated conversation about something so I slide over in case its team tactics that I should know about. Alas nothing of the sort only the price of Thatchers cider being discussed. I once asked the captain about tactics and he replied that he thought they were little mints you could buy from One Stop. I was hoping to avoid the top 2 sections because this time of year the pike are often so active it gets like fishing in a crocodile pit at the zoo. The bottom 3 sections are not as bad normally. God smiles on the righteous and I draw C6 at Coombe. I know this area reasonably well and there is just one peg in the section that I do not want. I think its C5 but I am not sure. Alas when I arrive at the peg its the one I did not want. I am not going to make pitiful excuses before the match and oddly enough I had came second in the match from this peg last year. I had fished the peg in exceptional circumstances when a huge raft of floating duckweed ruined most of the section and there were loads of roach hanging around the edge of it, allowing me to fish shallow and catch 5 kilos. The reason I do not like the peg is because it is wider than most of the section and its on the inside of the bend. It catches the wind a bit more and the bottom is uneven . I suspect the shelf goes out further here and its very deep, plumbing it up I found it was all over the place. Add to that that its a very uncomfortable bank you can see I am not thrilled to be here. On my right is Chard Remain's skipper and slightly reformed lager lout Jamie Rich. Jamie recently appeared on the Al Murray show in Pub of the Year. On my left is Trotter's Pete Edwards I do not know Pete very well but he seems a very agreeable sort of guy. Peg 1 in the section is favourite for a few bream if they show and I am sure that bream mugger Darren Kempson will not hesitate to go for them. I set up 2 whips ,a pole and the feeder . On the whistle I put in 5 babies heads on the inside plus 2 3/4s over. I was expecting a bit of a struggle but nothing like this , just 5 tiny roach in the first hour . The feeder failed to get me out of jail either, no one that I could see was setting the world alight but everyone had at least 3 times what I had. I could not really see Jamie on my right because he was hidden in the boondocks. However Jamie always counts his fish and I'd heard him take his shoes and socks off ages ago so he must be past 10. Drizzle now turns to heavy rain and I consider a newspaper over my head and a Hamlet cigar. Last year I won the 1st match and then came last in the following round, looks like a re run. The second hour improves very slightly . I feed in a different way and fish further down the peg. It is not how I had planned to fish but needs must to make a bite or two.I was supprised to see both anglers on my left investing a lot of time in fishing for a bream. With this in mind I kept plugging away hoping just to sneak off the bottom of section if they failed to snare one. By the end of the 3rd hour I thought I'd got a kilo and bites were beginning to come, but the fish were very small. Switching to caster , I had a run of slightly better fish + a chublet of 250 grms then they backed off and it was back to maggot and tiny fish . The last hour was no time to experiment, a small fish every put in and hope for the best. Steve Lovell weighed nearly 5 kilos from peg 8 and Jamie 2.5kilos nextdoor.It was a relief when my weigh went 3 kilos+ .To my supprise that beat the next four anglers on my left but we had heard that the bream strangler on peg one had done the business and sure enough Darren had 8kilos of them for 2nd in the match.This gave me 7 section points for which I was grateful but I still could not figure out that awful start especially when other people caught well early then faded out. I really mulled this one over , good recovery or bad match plan? Not sure! Wayne Buckingham was my Amigo to beat and mission accomplished.Weston's Mick White did the donkey work for his team by winning with 17kilos +. The biggest plus was the team result all the lads had done well and without a section win we had come second and were now top of the league. Terminators top ! unbelievable! The Amigos had a wretched time and where last on the day and are now last in the league I was slightly concerned that they seemed genuinely a bit fed up . They will bounce back .They always do, but for now they had to endure plenty of mickeytaking.

Langport league rd 1 2007

The Langport League is an annual six match series fished in the summer on the Rr Parret and Stathe drain . It has been running now for 13 or 14 years. I wrote its constitution and chaired the inaugural meeting, since then I take no credit whatever for its enduring success. In the league's early years I fished for successful teams but for the last 7 or 8 years I have fished for the Terminators. The Terminators , I believe , have been last in every year bar one , that does not bother me or any other member of the team as far as I am aware. We all do our best and when the wheel eventually falls off , have a laugh about it . I am also the member of the team that drinks the least which is a position of some novelty for me. The team consists of skipper Shaun Gamble, Keith (The Chief ) Dowdell , Dickybob Webber, Vince Stuckey, new boy Russ Farley and myself . Sadly we lost our other team member Dave "Grandad " Taylor who died after a long illness on June 16 th. Grandad was a super character and family man and I wish circumstances had allowed me to get to know him better. As I have previously mentioned we have not been the leagues most successful team over the years but without doubt are the thirstiest and nicest looking. Voted sexiest team in league by Girlie Tarts magazine for the last 7 years. We are all still available for modelling contracts and Girlie talk shows for reasonable fees. The other thing to mention is the deadly rivalry that has existed between us and a team called the Amigos. This rivalry has escalated in recent years due to some quite outrageous bets, contentious transfers and new signings.There are also attempts to nobble the opposition by getting them plastered on the night before the match. I generally keep aloof from these goings on because I am too old for this nonsense and I do not think my marriage would stand this kind of behaviour. So , on the morning of the match we duly assembled at the Langport Arms .Our team looked in reasonable order with the exception of Dickybob who had had a late night .On the plus side the Chief had shaved off his Ricky Gervais beard because Russ said he looked like an armpit with teeth. It was a very nice touch that a minutes silence was observed for Grandad and the team wore black armbands. I was drawn D3 in the new section of Calders field , upstream of the normal E section.I had absolutely no idea how this section was going to fish because I could not remember the last time it had been matchfished. On my left was ex boxer Ron Mortimer, Ron is getting on a bit now , but has been the only Weston Super Mare team member to threaten me with violence unless I stop suggesting that their team behave improperly with donkeys . On my right was Amigo new signing John Buckingham who I have known for years and of course I have known Ron for donkeys years .I think the river took us all a little by supprise it was certainly faster than I had anticipated. I liked the look of the swim , it is narrow for the Parret , deep and even paced. I fed 8 babies heads at the off and began with a 2grm jolly on a 7m whip. The first 45mins went very well in deed as despite the fact I was not catching quickly . I was getting the odd good skimmer and hybrids. I was enjoying my match except for the weather and settling in to a nice rythm when out of the blue I was into a real lump. To be honest this is not the sort of fish you want on a whip in 12 ft of water of this pace and when I saw it briefly for the first time I thought it was a tench.( need new glasses ) I did not think it was coming out on this tackle but I stayed calm and just put a little pressure on when I thought I could . To my supprise the fish eventually tired and up popped a very dark bream of some 2.5 kilos+ . Gently into the net and what a bonus. I then faced a dilemma , I was going well on the whip , but were there more bream? I made a decision . 15mins on the feeder to look for one. I did not get any response so back to the whip. Things went very well for the next 1 1/2 hrs as I picked off some good hybrids and roach but in the back of my mind was when to have another look on the feeder. At about the half way mark my mind was made up for me as odd bream began to show in the section. Despite being confident that I was well ahead of all the anglers I could see there was still time for it to turn into a bream catching contest and my early lead could be wiped out. I then put a couple more balls in and committed totally to the feeder . After a long wait for a response the tip fell back and I had a bream of about 1 1/2 kilos . This I thought gave me about 7kilos in total. I gambled that this would give me good points in the section and stayed with the feeder . This produced another couple of kilo fish and two more lumps . At weigh - in the scales registered 13 kilos 600g to easily win the section. My match had gone very smoothly and I was pleased with how I had fished (for a change) Alan Diamond was 2nd in the section with 4 small bream for 5kilos + . 3rd was Scott Russell with an excellent 4 kilos+ of small fish. Scott seems to be in good form these days , catching well wherever he goes. Back at the Arms I hear that I have won the match and just as pleasing the team are 2nd with 31pts ,well ahead of the dreaded Amigos. I pick up £87 for the win and after buying the team a drink leave them to torment the Amigos mecilessly.

Birthday on the Blavet 2

I always like to go fishing on my birthday. It is perhaps a statement of being independant from working for a boss or a company. So whatever day it falls or however much business pressure there is, I try to go fishing This year I decided on a leisurely day feeder fishing outside the Connextion showroom on the Bar le Blavet stretch. After a huge storm during the week the river had gone the colour of oxtail soup in places but this colour was now beginning to drop out. I had two pints of the casters I had turned during the week, plus some worms that I dug , so I decided it time to get serious about bream fishing. I mixed about 3 kilos of stiffish groundbait and laced it with half the casters. I balled this in just past the middle then made a dryer mix to go in the feeder. This area really is quite consistant and I go here expecting to catch bream rather than just hoping. With these favourable conditions I was not in the least supprised to start catching fairly quickly and during the 4.5 hour session I had about 40lbs of bream & hybrids , best fish around 2kilos. This is a good but not exceptional return from this area and to be honest I was rather hoping for a bit more but the swim faded in the last hour. The end of a pleasant break but I must begin to explore a little more.

Birthday on the Blavet 1

The first week in June HG and I usually spend in Brittany and this year I had bumped into an old friend Marcel le Boule. It was agreed that Marcel would pick me up and we would go and fish Guerledan. To our supprise, when we arrived the water level was so high it was nigh on impossible to gain access to fish. So for this reason we ended up back at Bon Repos. The river was a bit quick but a 2 gr jolly seemed to cope ok, the problem was getting bites I am beginning to wonder where all the roach and skimmers have gone. I managed just one roach of about 6 ozs in the first 1 1/2 hrs and Marcel had a skimmer and a few bleak. Marcel had the first bream after 2 hrs then lost another. I had trashed three rigs on a snag and feeling pretty fed up changed to the feeder. I had one bream of about 1 1/2 kilos within 10 mins and Marcel had another and lost another on the pole. Just before packing up time I had a bream and a big hybrid which gave a narrow victory for les anglais. Not the most exciting short session but nice to see Marcel again. He yet again nobbled me for a few feeders and some casters but in return explained where I could find the best red worms I have seen for years. What goes around comes around! so they say.

Lac de guerledan day 5

Day five and it is my turn to choose again . I decided to go for Guerledan , after yesterdays disaster I felt we just needed to catch a few fish. Guerledan has been very consistant and after really heavy rain overnight I was unsure about the river. On arrival we were a bit dissapointed to find that the lake had risen a bit and that the swims were a bit more difficult to fish. However, after yesterday , none of us felt like charging around looking for somewhere else to fish so with wind and light rain in our faces we settled down to fish. The Chief had drawn first and chose the swim that Roger had done well on three days ago . Roger drew second and I was supprised when he opted for the middle swim. This meant that I had drawn last choice every day! Suspect maybe? Two very dodgy characters I might add. Anyway I had to fish the same peg as before but this time I decided on the feeder. The main reason for going with the feeder was the persistant heavy drizzle , I do not enjoy fishing the pole in wet conditions, the joints often stick and its just a pain keeping things dry and organised.I put out about a kilo of groundbait laced with caster and hemp through the feeder. It does not happen very often but the tip went round while I was tightening up. Bingo! Bream first chuck! For the first hour things went very well I was catching steadily and thought I was keeping up with the Chief . The second hour was not quite as fast but I thought I had about 15lbs in the net. Roger was really struggling in the middle but I was enjoying a neck and neck battle with the Chief. Then disaster struck , Roger decided to pack up and come the other side of me. I did not mind that but explained that he had disqualified himself from the 5 euro bet , to which he replied something quite unprintable. Just as he passed I had unhooked a bream and left the rod lying on my right , whilst fiddling with the keepnet, I looked round and the wheel of Rogers trolley had snapped my line. I had to gear up again cursing the clumsy sod under my breath while claiming a foul. I had also lost my clip marker and while I was making the rod up again Roger was merrily feeding his swim. To be honest I doubt it made much difference but my swim just was never the same , bites just faded away to nothing. At weigh in Chief put a hefty 43lbs on the scales while I was nowhere near with 27 lbs. Roger came with a late run and weighed 24lbs, not fantastic but still almost 100lbs between us. The following day was due to be the last fishing day but the weather was so appalling we went to the pub instead. All in all some good days fishing with two good mates but the weather got us all down a bit , the " summer " of 2007 was on us. Modesty almost prevented me mentioning who won the overall points ( despite drawing last everyday )
A good week even if the draw was a bit dodgy. Maybe see the rascals again next year,

May Diaster

Day four and it is Rogers turn to choose again. In fairness to Roger the swims he really wanted to fish did look nice. But the weather had turned quite nasty by now with a cool northwesterly blowing down the valley. To be honest three consecutive days fishing is enough for me and I was contributing very little by way of ideas. We decided to try and get on the other side of the lake to get out of the wind and rain. I am always a bit grumpy but even Chief seemed a bit down, Roger is always his cheerful self provided he can throw a feeder into water and he is in peaceful surroundings. The upshot of this is that we end up on the outlet of the dam. the water is like tapwater and after 2 hours none of us has had a touch. Time for a beer. we get days like this.

bar le blavet may o7

Day three and it is Chiefs turn to choose so we are off to the famous Bar Le Blavet stretch. Sadly there is no longer a bar of that name, Gildas died of cancer last year after a short illness. He , along with his wonderfully kind wife Cathy were so good to the anglers that visited . He is sadly missed, it is just not the same anymore. This stretch is where it all began one evening when I caught 100lbs of bream for the first time, that was 14 years ago. The Bar is now a boulangerie but there are many anglers who have enjoyed tremendous fishing here over the years and will always remember this as the Bar le Blavet stretch. We drew for pegs and Chief chose the downstream peg. I drew last ( hat-trick ) so I was on the upsteam peg as Roger sat in his favourite spot with the factory fans behind him . The river is fairly wide and averages about 2.5 m deep. It certainly is not beautiful here among the factories. I decided today to fish the feeder . Enough of Roger collecting our 5 euro notes that easily, today would be an out and out feeder battle. Balling in at about 30 metres we all decided to attack . The Chief was the first into action with a bream after 20 mins. After 30mins I was encouraged by a line bite and 10 mins later had my first fish on worm and caster. After a couple of hours it was clear that there going to be no 100lbs+ catches today but we were all catching a few bream. I got the feeling that the fish really did not want to settle and several that I caught had the spawning "sandpaper " feel. Now ,. I think the Chief likes taking us here to gloat about past glories and it is true that he got the drop on us a couple of years ago by catching right across. However the bream today are being caught just past the middle and with 1 1/2 hours to go I could not pick a winner. At the end The Chief seemed confident that he had shaded it and weighed 26lbs + . Roger just short of 20lbs and my 10 small bream + 2 eels went 33lbs. Something I had noticed was that the sky colour had changed to an ominous dark pink with deep purplish clouds, I did not like the look of that at all. On the way home Roger & Chief took some revenge by buying kebabs from a roadside stall. They know bloody well I am on a diet, still I guess that is what mates are for.

Lac GEURLEDAN MAY O7

The second day of our break and it is my turn to choose the venue and I have opted for the top of lake Guerledan. This magnificent lake is some 6oo acres I am told and was created by flooding the valley Hydro electric power is generated at the dam end. On arrival we drew for choice of swims , Roger won again and chose the swim furthest from the inlet . Chief drew second and to my surprise chose the middle peg leaving me on the peg nearest the inlet. Roger and the Chief opted for the feeder but I went with the pole again . Plumbing up I had about 3.5 metres at 13 metres out. I chose a 1.5gr jolly to 012 with o1o hooklength . The bottom is fairly flat so I put in 8 stiffish balls laced with caster . Almost immediately I got a response and was catching decent skimmers and hybrids on red maggot. Looking around I could barely see Roger but Keith seemed to be really struggling he also seemed more interested in his new gadget , the camcorder . I was still going steadily, so kept my head down and was enjoying it. When after about two hours Chief said he was switching to the pole I thought I must have got it right when he explained that he felt his swim was better pole fished but that Roger was sacking up on the feeder. Could not get the logic of that but carried on anyway . To add to the skimmers and hybrids, I was now getting some good size roach and the odd bream to 3lbs. The swim began to die a bit so I reballed with another 6. They certainly liked that and I was now going well and I put a good few in the net in the last 1 1/5 hours. I knew I had a goodish weight and had seen off the Chief but how had Roger fared? Well he had sacked up ! weighing in just a fraction short of 50lbs of skimmers , hybrids and bream to 4lbs. Chief ran up the white flag and returned about 20lbs of skimmers while I weighed in 38 lbs. A good day on a venue I rather like, more than 100lbs between us with no prebaiting and no prolonged wait for fish to arrive. Still got to get some coin from Roger the splodger, the crafty old devil is having it too easy. Another day tommorow!

bon repos Rr BLAVET may 07

Each year for the last 12 or so I have travelled to Brittany in early May for a weeks fishing and a total break from work. Roger Coombes from Bridgwater has accompanied me on every trip joined by various other friends. Joining us for the last 4 years has been Keith ( the Chief ) Dowdell. The format for our days fishing is a lie in , lunch at leisure then kick off at 2.30 ish. We take it in turns to choose the area to fish , draw for choice of swims and have little side bets on the outcome. Today it is Roger who will choose and we go to Bon Repos . Roger draws first and chooses the upsteam peg .Chief draws second and sits in the armchair peg in the middle and I get the downsteam peg. Normally I would be more than happy with this but there is a snag. My swim is a bit of a parrot cage to say the least and I do not have the time or equipment to improve it much. For this reason I am more or less obliged to fish the pole, so I set up a 1.25g jolly to 08 shogun hooklength and a b611 sz 18. I blagged some groundbait from Chief because he had a mountain of it and I was feeling lazy. I put in 6 babies heads at about 12 metres and one in short on the shelf. Both Roger and the Chief opt for the feeder and the Chief is first on the scorecard with an early bream. 1 hour in and I have not had a bite, I am sratching my head a bit because usually there are plenty of roach and skimmers here. The chief lands another bream but I am still biteless. Going into the third hour I am still biteless but I hear Roger land a fish and can feel my grasp of a 5 euro note slipping painfully away. Out of desperation and to rest arms and back I come in on the inside line and to my supprise the float slips away. It felt a decent sized fish but I pulled out, not my day! By now Roger and Chief were catching odd bream, skimmers and hybrids but its tough going. I still cannot get a touch at 12metres and the flow has increased slightly. Back on the inside and voila at last a skimmer of a pound. Chief has a camcorder now and insisted on filming the event but at least I have made him wait to use it . He really is becoming a Mr Gadget but a few minutes later he realised that he had left the cooker on back at the cottage so he was off to turn that off and its courgette and tomato crisps for supper. Mr Gadget, Mr Pastry! what next? Back to the fishing and I start to make the odd bite and catch a few fish. 12 to be precise. Chief is back now and catches a few more but Roger is being very cagey. At weigh in, Roger estimates 15lbs and weighs just over 24lbs Chief weighs in 18lbs and I feel I may just get the nod with those late fish but alas 12ozs short with 23+ lbs. Slow start but Roger is off with the loot and we are on the way to the pub.

Nuelliac bridge 15 april 07

After such a good days fishing as yesterday on the Mayenne it is often difficult to get motivated to go again the next day , however having got on well with work this week , due to the brilliant weather I decided on a final shot at the Blavet. On arrival at the bridge it was obvious that things had changed in just the few days since I had enjoyed such good roach fishing. The water was much clearer , the flow reduced, and less fish movement by far. On the plus side it was windless and overcast again , so this time I opted for the waggler just to fish further out and pick up a bit more flow. I set up a 3aa peacock insert fishing 08 shogun hooklength to sz 18 b611. Fishing up in the water at about a metre I immediately started catching small roach . These tiny fish began to become annoying so I stopped feeding any maggot and just fed caster & hemp instead.
Swopping things about a bit with depth and shotting patterns did not really improve things much as the majority of fish were still small. I had the odd better roach and a chub of around a pound plus a couple of those big dace that Chinese Fred catches but I can not. All in all not as good as the last time I was here and glancing at my watch I thought about another ten mins would do . The next cast produced not the usual small fish but a solid thump on the rod tip and after a couple of lunges a hybrid not much short of 2lbs was in the net . Nice end to the best fishing break I have had for ages I
thought , still time to put it in again ( actress to the bishop ) another almost indentical fish, well I never! Someone smiling at me? Well sometimes all the water runs in your ditch ! I put it in again and down went the float , the next couple of minutes were spent testing an ABU 1044 in reverse gear and my mind trying to work out what I had hooked , too quick for a bream or probally a tench , my mind set on a good chub or a carp or possibly a foulhooked pike or zander. After quite a few quick runs the fish thumped hard close to the far bank for some time before I finally took control and was
supprised to see a hybrid of possibly 4lbs plus. HG and I struggled to get a photo of this fish due to camera playing up ( discovered spare batteries in case 2 days later )
This trip has been a bit like writing my own scripts, time for home and a bottle of red.

river mayenne april 07

When I was a young man I was often shocked about how sentimental older people were about friends and family that had died. I understood grief and loss but always struggled to understand the sentimentality. When Chris died so young I understood
completely.Part of the grieving process for me is to go to the places where we went together and to remember the great times and wonderful friendship. The very last time Chris and I fished together was on the Rr Mayenne in the town of the same name in Normandy. That day we had enjoyed good fishing and of course endless banter. I always knew that I would return here and HG and I made the 3 hr drive from Brittany. We booked into the same hotel and ate at the same little Italian restaurant that Chris and I had discovered by chance. I found this comforting, coping with grief is a personal thing. It was some supprise then, that the following day having looked at the very swims we had fished and fully intending to fish here I suddenly felt I could not fish there, so opted for a spot further downstream beside a small hotel. HG was very kind even though I was messing her around a bit. The swim I chose eventually had more to do with convenience than looking " fishy " in fact as HG drove away I thought how hopeless my watercraft has become , 100 metres above a weir, 60 metres wide no nearside tree cover at all and no fish moving whatsoever. What was I thinking! Now my experience of this river is that , up to now , but on the basis of just 4 visits , the best coarse fishing river I have ever fished. It is different from the Blavet in that it is tree lined on both banks , although a towpath runs behind the trees on one bank in this area . It is also a tributary of the great Rr Loire. The colour is also very different having a slate grey hue as opposed to a sort of clear vinegar look of the Blavet. Looking upsteam I again thought how much better the swims further up looked but HG would need to find me , so I was stuck with what I had chosen. At least the weather was kind , overcast, warm and windless , also the banks were flat and the access easy so if I blanked, well so be it. Plumbing up I found a gentle slope of around 2.5 m at 8 m out to 3m at 12m where I intended to fish . The bottom was obviously silty as the plummet kicked up bubbles. A few bleak began to top now but of greater encouragement something slightly bigger in the middle of the river. I cupped in a little groudbait and on first run down was pleased to find more flow than expected. Fishing red maggot slightly overdepth and held back , the first 1/2 hr produced not a touch , then down it went and a 12oz skimmer was in the net. The next hour produced just 3 more of a similar size plus odd bleak on the drop, irritating little sods at times. Hour 2 was much more productive as a succession of quality skimmers to 1 . 1/2 lbs came to the net just on the 2 . 1/2 hr mark the Ist bream arrived , followed quickly by a couple in successive put ins. I then had a bite on the drop and hooked and pulled out of a fish of maybe a pound and a half, but what it was intrigued me. I had just seen a vivid silver flash before it jumped out of the water and pulled out. The next thing I knew a swim that seemed to heading towards a bagging session had just died a death. With not a touch for fully 20 mins I decided to re ball with groundbait. While making up the mix I had left the top set in the water in front of me and the next thing I knew elastic was streaming out, bloody hell! whats going on ? Well it turned out to be a sea trout almost certainly the same fish that I had lost earlier and a new addition to my specimen list ( at least not a turtle ) A few more balls of groundbait and it was back to bagging , the bream were not big and I had a chub of 2lbs plus a roach of 1lbs and 1 1/2lbs . Its been brilliant fishing each time I have been here, HG and I slipped the fish back carefully rather than weighing but making a guess at each fish size we estimated around 55lbs in 4 1/2 hours fishing. Excellent lovely river.

nuelliac bridge april 07

Strange things happen to my friend Chinese Fred. For a start he is not Chinese and his name is not Fred . but that is what he is called and each year he spends a couple of weeks at our cottage with his wife Judy. Once whilst fishing the Blavet, he caught a terrapin which promptly bit him . He claims to have caught a foul tempered turtle but I am sure it was a terrapin because I have seen one or two around. Almost as odd is the fact that Fred once caught 15 lbs + of big dace from the Nuelliac area of the river. Now I had never fished this part of the river because I never really liked the look of it here. By chance Heather and I had some time to kill one day and walked the towpath for half an hour. Upon our return , like all anglers, I could not resist a peep over the bridge. Unbelievable! Solid with roach , chublets and what I was fairly sure were big dace. I just love dace fishing so 7 0 clock that evening found me modifying a lightish rig of .5 gr to 07 shogun line and a sz 20 b511. I was not in the least suprised to start catching straight away and what a beautiful spot on a glorious evening. The dace that I had hoped for were not forthcoming but scale perfect roach to a pound + more than made up for that . It is not that often that all seems to go to plan but this really was good fishing the only little blot on the evening came when a french chap and his girlfriend were struggling to get their small boat out of the water. I must admit to being sorely tempted to ignore them but knew I had to do the right thing and offer assistance, obviously irritated that I would have to leave my fishing. I offered to take them to the nearest farm to get a tractor but he explained that he was the local farmer and lived only a short distance away, so I was able to carry on catching fish. In just the 2 hours before dark I had 40 roach , 3 dace, 3 bleak, 2 rudd , 1 chub and 1 hybrid for around 15lbs . A lovely evenings fishing in beautiful , peaceful surroundings.

bon repos Rr Blavet sun 08 04 07

Its not often that I get to fish on three consecutive days but heading towards the Bon Repos stretch of the Blavet this sunday morning felt like heaven, A beautiful part of the river, beautiful morning, Heather more than content as there is a traditional french market just up the road. The only downside was a few twinges of stomach pain which I was confident would go later. Heather dropped me off at my swim and the river looked spot on , if just a little quick. I decided to pole fish for roach, loose feeding caster and hemp at 12 metres I set up a 1.5 gram jolly 012 mainline to 08 . Almost unbelievable! 1 hr in not a touch. Heather arrived back and still nothing . Just to add to my woe , stomach pain increasing now and then. Then voila ! first fish ! a tiny roach
followed almost immediately by another. Was this a start! Absolutely not. I struggled and scratched around in the slacker water at 9 metres for 5 roach 1 skimmer and a bleak . A small pike was following the fish in. I began to get the " not my day " feeling when this was confirmed by searing stomach pain bad enough to force me to pack up. Heather had to drive me home and I was ill for three days. think I over indulged the mussels and found a bad un.

07/04/07 canal nantes a brest Gourec

I have always found chub to be difficult to locate on the canal and river systems , so when I came across what appeared to be a couple of classic looking chub pegs just above the campsite at Gourec, I knew it would not be long before I would be tempted to investigate. I only had a couple of hours to fish but in these small enclosed swims
that is often plenty. The swim I chose had overhanging trees down into the water where debris had accumulated ; it really did look fishy. It was deeper than I imagined
at approx 2.5 metres with a steady flow and the wind was once again easterly it was also a very bright evening . I kicked off with a 1.25 jolly 014 to 010 shogun hooklenght , hookbait was red maggot and again I loose fed caster and just a few red maggots. It look longer than expected to get a first fish , some 20 mins, then a small roach and a bleak in successive casts. Then nothing for a further 20 mins , not the start
I was hoping for. I had a couple of 6 oz roach in the next 10mins but still no sign of the chub . At this point I decided to introduce a little groundbait, there was no immediate response but some 15 minutes later a tentative bite produced a hefty lunge towards the debris, could this be the elusive chub? afraid not! after a few minutes a bream of some 4.5 lbs was in the net. The next three put ins produced two slightly smaller bream then nothing for a further 20 mins. By this time light was fading
I added a smaller bream of around 1.5lbs and a skimmer of 12 ozs, a rudd and a bleak
just at the death . 15 lbs in two hours thats ok !

Gourec april 07

Clear skies and warm sunshine are often not the conditions that are best for fishing, but the canal at Gourec looked really attractive, the water had that clean sparkling
look and the waterboatmen were all over the surface. I have often passed this part of the canal but never fished it. I did not fish the towpath side but instead went into the town and found a way to the far bank, No walking involved here as Heather dropped me off within yards of the bank. Winter in Brittany has been a wet one and the canal had quite a flow on it , however, it was slightly slacker on the inside, the wind was easterly and upsteam , though not cold. I set up at about 10 metres with a 1,5 gram
float . I was looking to catch roach and began steadily loose feeding caster and red maggot . The swim was just over a metre deep which was a little less than I had hoped for, but ok. After 1/2 hour I was biteless , not encouraging ! My first fish came by accident, as I was mixing a little groundbait I left the bait in the water under my feet and hey presto! a tiny perch, only a corporal this little chap, just big enough for 2 stripes. Still no response at 10 metres so I fed a little on the inside line and immediately had a small hybrid. Having now mixed the groudbait very stiff I fed two medium sized balls at 10 metres. The effect was instant , a 10 oz roach right at the front of the swim, cracked it then? afraid not. 10 mins ticked by before my next fish a roach of 6 ozs. Still at least I had a pound in the net. The next hour went fairly well and I was able to pick off odd roach and bleak but never catching on successive casts.
Coming slightly inside and holding back much harder the next hour was very productive
with good roach coming steadily if not fast. Just as I began to think a good weight was possible the swim completely died on me , any efforts to improve the situation were not helped when I was suddenly mugged by a spaniel , who despite the protests of his owner took a liking to my groundbait , with this determined little mutt crashing about in my kit plus the owner standing on the skyline I lost interest in the fishing but chatted happily to the chap , who himself was an angler and gave me some information about the area. When he left I did pick off a few more fish and ended the day with 24 roach ,
13 bleak, 2 hybrids, 1 rudd, 1 perch for approx 8 lbs, not exciting but a very pleasant
days fishing.

Bon Repos Rr Blavet feb 22

For reasons not worth talking about I was late to begin fishing , despite promising myself at least 5 hours to have a good chance of a bream catch my day had left me just 3 hours of daylight. On the plus side it at least looked like being a lovely evening for the time of year, this is a really beautiful stretch of the Blavet , not far from where the river enters the huge lake Guerledan. Days of rainfall had swollen the river and extra pace and colour convinced me that feeder fishing for bream would be a good bet ,with the shortage of time in mind I mixed about 2 kilos of stiff groundbait laced with caster and fed and set up just one feeder rod. I began with a 30g feeder which would just hold bottom at about 20 metres, with the colour and flow I felt confident in the mild conditions. Just 10mins into the session the tip dropped back and I was in to a good fish. Bloody hell ! it came off, no apparent reason it just did. I reassured myself
that this was no problem , the set up was ok and more would follow! How wrong can you sometimes be , despite all sorts of modification to the rig , plus various re grounbaiting techniques not another touch. With less than an hour of daylight remaining I set up the pole at 8 metres to try and avoid the blank. Would you believe it, good roach very first put in . I finished the day with 19 roach and 9 bleak for between 4 and 5lbs. A little annoyed that I missed a good hour or two on the roach.

Bon Repos Rr Blavet feb 22

For reasons not worth talking about I was late to begin fishing , despite promising myself at least 5 hours to have a good chance of a bream catch my day had left me just 3 hours of daylight. On the plus side it at least looked like being a lovely evening for the time of year, this is a really beautiful stretch of the Blavet , not far from where the river enters the huge lake Guerledan. Days of rainfall had swollen the river and extra pace and colour convinced me that feeder fishing for bream would be a good bet ,with the shortage of time in mind I mixed about 2 kilos of stiff groundbait laced with caster and fed and set up just one feeder rod. I began with a 30g feeder which would just hold bottom at about 20 metres, with the colour and flow I felt confident in the mild conditions. Just 10mins into the session the tip dropped back and I was in to a good fish. Bloody hell ! it came off, no apparent reason it just did. I reassured myself
that this was no problem , the set up was ok and more would follow! How wrong can you sometimes be , despite all sorts of modification to the rig , plus various re grounbaiting techniques not another touch. With less than an hour of daylight remaining I set up the pole at 8 metres to try and avoid the blank. Would you believe it, good roach very first put in . I finished the day with 19 roach and 9 bleak for between 4 and 5lbs. A little annoyed that I missed a good hour or two on the roach.

Valvert 02/01/07

Venue- Valvert - Noyal Pontivy, Brittany.
Many French towns and villages have their own lake or plan d" eau and Valvert is fairly typical although I must mention that it is one of the few locally that can be fished on a general licence without the need of an additional day ticket and is open all the year round. I would estimate the lake at between 4 - 6 acres. fairly shallow , 1- 2 metres with the deeper water at the car park end. In summer and autumn there is often margin weed which can be troublesome. It is a venue I have fished on a number of
occasions and it seems fairly consistent. We have been grateful for this little lake when the Blavet has been flooded or out of sorts. In May 06 Vince Stuckey of Langport had a superb 17 kilos of skimmers, bream and tench. But that was May and the reality I face is a chill wind facing me and the threat of a soaking. To be honest this was a last chance to fish on this visit but I felt the odds were against me and I feared a blank, the wind howled into my face as I set up 11metres of pole. Ideally I would have opted for 13 metres but in this wind 11 was likely to be a handful. I carefully mixed a half kilo of sensas etang and set up a 0,4 fly barbetta float 012 to 08 hooklength shogun line and size 20 b511, elastic was a lightly tensioned 4 , this is as light as I like to risk here as have encountered some bream tench and hybrids that certainly do not mind mixing it a bit. Well time to have a go. I cupped in two smallish balls of groundbait laced with just a few casters and maggots and huddled against the first shower of the session. The shower was much worse than the apparent threat and I cursed my decision to fish. Just to add to my misery a group of teenagers arrived in the opposite car park and began the usual wheelspin and braking tricks with which I am sure you are all familiar. They then got out of their vehicles and began messing about on the kids slides, added irritation ! For company I had about 5 French anglers all fishing for predators. The first 15 mins were spent trying to hold on to the pole and I was tempted to feed another shorter line, however as I mulled this over the wind dropped just a little and the rain eased, even better! The float lifted a little. Bingo! A bleak, not exciting but blank avoided. Over the next hour 3 more small fish followed still not exciting but bites, I was feeding very frugally by cup and with such little response felt my options were very limited. I do not know why the youngsters opposite were making such a noise but one scream was so loud that I looked across, looking back, no float and the elastic tensioned nicely on the strike and a 12oz skimmer was guided to the net. 6 more followed steadily until the last fish pulled out at the net. The light was fading now and Heather arrived with some seriously calorie laden confectionary. French patisseries! Bunter cakes! Chris and I were both addicts! To be honest the session was better than I expected the weather did sort of improve and I suppose nearly 6lbs of fish in these conditions is ok. The French anglers returned, one of them proudly carrying a pike of no more than two pounds, someones supper was assured. After a short but friendly chat with them it was back to the cottage to make sure that French wine standards are being maintained. Well it is a tough life but someone has to do it and I look forward to my next visit.

Viaduct fishery

I decided to fish the Viaduct at Somerton. Ian Parsons and Steve Long have made an excellent coarse venue of these fomer trout lakes and a silver fish match on a Saturday
was very appealing . I considered having another go on the Isle but Saturday was far more convenient this weekend than Sunday. I am also aware than the likelihood of doing well was remote, it is not a case of being unduly pessimistic but there are some very good anglers who fish this venue regularly and they would be very hard to beat.
Arriving at the venue I at first thought I must have got the day wrong as there seemed to be very few people about. I was very dissapointed to learn that only
8 anglers were there, but with the weather looking reasonable I drew peg 81 on Cary lake. With so few fishing , pegs were left out , leaving generous room for everyone. I had sought the advice of Steve Kedge because he is in such good form this year and also a very genuine guy. Steve was of the opinion that fishing fairly short, line to hand was likely to be my best option and to also have a look at 13 metres.
On the whistle I cupped in 3 hens egg size balls of groundbait laced with a little hemp and caster and began loose feeding caster on the 3 metre line. 1/2 hour on the long pole
produced just a few small fish and a lot of problems with very small fish, even a switch to double caster did not stop the little blighters having a go on the drop . bulking the shot helped a bit but things were very slow. I then switched to the short line but with a very poor response I was concerned that all was not well even at this early stage and did not like the fact that there was no wind on the water because I was being sheltered
by the spit of land that extends around 20 metres into the lake. I kept feeding the 3 metre line, moving shot around, changing depth and varying my pattern of feeding but alas all I could muster were odd roach and rudd , after 1 1/2 hours of this I got the
distinct feeling that I really was going nowhere but such is my lack of recent experience
here I did not really know whether to change tack or keep faith in what I was doing.
2 1/2 hours in I did get a bonus tench of about 2 lbs but still no pattern of bites.
I added very little in the next hour except odd roach and a 1 lb perch, odd forays to the 13m line produced just odd small skimmers so I tried putting a section on the inside line and upping the feed rate, still very little response. a look on the 13m metre line did produce a 1 1/2 lb skimmer but I just could not string bites together. The remainder of the match just ebbed away and I was forced to accept that I had got it wrong on the day. A 2 lb skimmer on the whistle was nowhere near enough to get anywhere near and sure enough a paltry 10 lbs 14 oz was all I could muster putting me 6th out of 8 . Pretty dismal but c.est la vie . Nick Collins won with 23lbs 60z followed
by Dave Roper with 21 lbs 1 oz. Generally the venue had fished very well and I can only plead incompetence for my poor result. Must try harder!

hollowlegs round 5

I have decided to create this site in memory of my best friend Chris Patten. If any information helps any other angler I am certain Chris would have been delighted.
For anyone who did not know Chris he was a very talented angler and a wonderful
friend to many people. He died of cancer just 46 years old and I have missed him every day since. After his death I became very depressed and more or less gave up fishing although I have forced myself to go now and then, this new year I am determined to go more often.
It was reading Jamies blog and a good weather forecast that prompted me to book in to the 5th round of the hollowlegs league on the river Isle. Heather my, wife was pleased that I wanted to go, so Saturday was spent rounding up a bit of bait and tying a few hooks. Right up until the evening I was unsure if I really wanted to go but the thought of seeing old friends was reassuring.The draw was at the Crown Ilminster and it really was good to see around 20 people most of whom I know. I drew peg 126 at Isle
Brewers and was told it was a real flyer, it occured to me during the drive to the peg that the last time I fished the river I had drawn this very peg and had won the teams of 4 with a very low 8lbs of roach when the river fished badly. Above me on a peg that had recently produced a big roach weight was Neil Dring who knows the river well and has a good record on the river, below was Rockin Roy Fowler on peg 128 another regular who would know the peg well and how to fish it. My peg is the crown of a bend and from that experience a few years ago I knew the most likely roach hideout would be well up the peg. The shallow swim is no more than 2ft deep at the neck boiling in the middle with a smooth glide far bank and fairly narrow. normally I would have have opted for a short line but because I was fairly sure that I would be catching small fish quickly and the likelihood that pike would menace the fish at some stage I opted for an unusual approach. 4.5 metres to hand, I knew this compromised
control and presentation to some extent but felt that to build a competitive weight and avoid as much pike interest as possible catching quick to hand was vital, pulling out of fish especially at the last moment and the tree above me would look like a christmas tree. Dream start, the peg is solid roach and my 1 grm jolly hardly trots a foot before burying , a few adjustments to depth and shotting and I am reasonably happy with
things catching good stamp roach, a trouble free first hour I estimate a thumping 8lbs
in the net I know it cannot last . I have never heard of 30 lbs + roach weights on this river. After about an hour my first problem comes from a most unlikely source, an odd looking bite provided a thumping response and elastic streaking upstream , chub my immediate thought, good bonus but instead up pops a 12oz roach hooked in the tail. gently, gently guide towards the net but alas hook pulls out, rig in the tree. new rig takes a while to shot up and get right, some momentum lost. A steady 2nd hour
but one or two bonus 12oz ers . 3rd hour becomes a bit frustrating . I am bumping a few
now and am catching much smaller stamp of fish also first pike strike arrives. A group of people arrive with children and a black labrabor, they are very noisy and begin throwing things into the river so the dog jumps in some 20yds above my peg .They stayed for nearly an hour and certainly did not help my cause. Soon after they had gone I suffered 2 more pike strikes one of which ended with the rig up the tree again,
2 hours to go and the dream of a big weight began to fade , however I still knew that there was a stack of fish in front of me. It seemed to me that there was more than one
pike and they were lying in the slacker water, it was at this moment that I made a decision to fish the shallow boil in front of me to try to avoid these pike. I knew it was a gamble but yes, final answer ? Chris , yes final answer! shortening the rig to 4 m I fished further down the peg and upped the feed drastically. After a poor initial response it was tempting to risk the slacker water but my first attempt produced a 3oz roach followed by a tail walking 4lb pike , no, definitely fish the boil. After 30 minutes of intense feeding the swim suddenly responded , a good run of roach was followed by 3 successive 12oz fish and a steady last hour . I knew I had a good weight but would hate to have to estimate it. It suddenly occured to me that I was also on a golden peg and a win would be worth £200 . I had also drawn the scales but the other 3 I was due to weigh in had
had bad days and left. All 3 are good anglers but caught very little. Why the fish are so tightly packed at this time I have only guesswork to go on. I had to be weighed in by the next section . Digger Denslow had 7lbs + and Neil an excellent 19 lbs 1oz .I felt fairly confident after seeing Neil weigh that I certainly was in with a shout but 2 weighs and 29 lb 10 0z was a genuine shock to me , my best weight on the river ! Just 5lbs short of the all time record weight and I am led to believe the best ever roach weight. I know I did not really fish that well but what a way to start a blog , a new year and thanks to all in the Crown afterwards . Neils 19lb 1oz was easily 2nd and Martin Heards 8lb+ of dace chublets and roach put him 3rd. I endured a lot of banter about winning the golden peg
on my 1st visit in a long while but it was all lighthearted.

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