Here is how my couple of days in the SW went
A 5 hour plus drive in rain and a snarled up motorway network didnt get things off to a good start , then once arriving in Keynsham our state of the art sat nav system decided to take us to Bath , christ it is so hilly down there !
. The hotel was top class with a couple of pubs opposite and the village looked resplendant so jobs a good un and off we set to have a look at a couple of sections , the condition of the river and to watch the "millions" of anglers practicing !!!! (why oh why was this allowed ???). Kevin Dicks was pegging the Newbridge section and reckoned the river was around 12 inches up , it certainly had plenty of colour in and was pushing through plus word was plenty of bream had been caught from various sections that day !
Back to the hotel a quick shower and it was off for a couple of pints and a meal in the pub ...... a couple of hours later the rest of our squad met up who,s wives wouldnt let them out for the day
and a dozen more pints were supped ...... in the very same pub !
Woodhouse kept texting me about Robin Van Persie and catholic priests ?
anyways it was now late so back to the quiet hotel !
Saturday morning arrived and there was a proper buzz , morrie88 hadnt slept a wink thinking of the flyer and all the bream he was going to draw on
Bath race course is possibly situated on the highest hill in the SW , im sure i could see Manchester 200 mile away in the distance ?
. As usual we were the very last to draw and i ended up with dreaded G section which not only was never going to win crappity smack all it was crappity smacking miles away in the middle of crappity smacking nowhere !
. Half an hour later after passing hundreds of lost anglers having same sat nav problems we pulled into Staverton horse racing stables , a lovely looking stretch of river (decieving
) a drive down the race gallops and park right behind your peg and very helpful stewards
. My peg G50 was only just 16 mtrs wide 8ft deep and very pacey. Set up a 2.5 gram rig for running through a 1 gram chopworm / scratching rig for the inside an 8 gram flatfloat rig and a small feeder / bomb, lobbie rod ....... nice and simple as word was 4lb could be worth proper good points. The match went so quickly it was unreal , 14 balls of gross gardons / roach noire with hemp , casters and a few dead pinkies were balled in @ 12 mtrs and a few chopped worms/ lobbies in soil cupped in @ 6 mtrs that was it !
I had a few early small perch on the inside but thoroughly enjoyed myself catching roach inching the 2.5 gram rig through over the g/b loose feeding 8 /10 bronze maggots and same of hemp every few fish , adding a section on also brought a few extra fish as did resting the peg now again
, it was strange however not being able to see another angler all match because of the jungle we were in !
. The scalesman arrived and word was 1kg was brilliant !
my weight went 2 kilo 200 (5lb ish) the lad to my left had a 2 lb plus eel plus some nice perch for 2kilo 400 and the lad on the end peg to my right had a cracking net of roach mostly caught on tares last hour to win the section with 4kilo 600
he was in Chavey,s team and a smashing bloke
. I managed 6th in the section with 45 points , no money won but a fantastic couple of days , a lovely days river fishing and a proper buzz
A massive thanks to my team mate young Dave Mcmanus , he is a very talented lad with a big future in our game who,s enthusiasm and demeanour rubs off on all our team
Dave drew end k section ...... now it seems this section was pegged wrong , J51 and K51 were next to each other ???? dave had a 1 hour plus walk (2mile plus !!!) to K10.
Well done Dorking (again ! ) Mullarkey and Vanderashandy,s Maver Image
and Chavey,s Garbolino Blackmore Vale
Lastly massive thanks to captain Chris and M C Bumbag Bazza