Simple Match Fishing Forum

What a day on the river it was.  Some of the colour had dropped out but there was a tinge at high water when the match started - 18 inches on the colourometer but it dropped out as the tide ran down.

The bream and skimmers are not showing anywhere near what they were but the roach are hitting the peak and with the neap tide and an all match ebb the pole was always going to score well - and it did!
50 fished

1st Tony Anderson - Peg 86 - 48lb 6oz of prime roach on the pole with a number of fish over 1lb
2nd Adi Hindry - Peg ?? - 41lb 6oz of roach
3rd Chris Vandervleit 38lb 6oz - Peg 99 Chris had a bream and a couple of skimmers early doors on the feeder and then fished the pole for roach.  To go with his brand spanking new pink Bait-Tech T shirt that he turned up in, at the end of the match presentation as well as his brown envelope Chris was also presented with a brand spanking new pink disgorger
4th Reggie Bryanton Peg 124  with 38lb 1oz of pole caught roach

Sections -
Pegs 22 to 29 John Taylor peg 23 with 33lb 13oz
Pegs 47 to 54 Andy Moss peg 52 with 33lb 13oz - there were 2 other 28lb weights in this section
Pegs 61 to 67 Malcolm Runacres with 26lb 13oz
Pegs 69 to 78 Simon Newman with 20lb 14oz
Pegs 86 to 92 Steve Clark with 36lb 9oz - This section also had Simon Colclough weigh in 31lb 3oz which was 3rd in the section.  The lowest weight in the 7 peg section was 26lb 13oz and all the weights were roach!!!!
Pegs 93 to 99 K Redgrave with 30lb 11oz
Pegs 104 to 109 Mick Bartrum with 22lb 14oz
Pegs 124 to 143 Brian Gooch with 26lb 10oz.

All of the weights shown above were 95% all roach catches with the odd skimmer, perch and dace


What a river - If there is currently a better river in the whole country then I would love to fishing it. 

Me - 18lb 8oz of the tiniest roach you could imagine (for the Yare 1/2 to 2oz!).  In hind sight perhaps I should have ditched the 7 metre whip and fished the long pole but I was convinced the larger roach would show - they didn't.  But I have had a fish almost every put in, no frap ups and I finished the day on the same rig that started with, even the same hook!  Like a whirling dervish I was with the old G/B balls going out and roach coming in!

Of all 50 anglers - everyone weighed in and there were only 2 weights below 10lb - both on the Boards.

[move]IM SO JEALOUS ![/move]


Awesome fishing               

your starting to get a lot of interest now rich and with results like that what a river and all pegs seam to have fish on so it might be worth a trip like the good old days 4 in a van

I think that was the second from lowest turnout of the year Joff mate. The well known anglers have been coming for a few years now, but they don't always show when the feeder is doing the business, it is always a great leveller and even I can frame on the feeder given the peg and a bit of luck! A few years back as well as the Essex County boys we get Hotrods and now the Maver Team, Mark Pollard from Fox and Bob Nudd from Browning although they appear to have gone over to the dark side and fish Cross Drove for carp in the summer and even through some of the winter when it is open.

Some of the July/August local regulars are out and out feeder men and they tend to stay away when the roach really start having a go at this time of the year.

Hi Waveney,

It was a bit different yesterday, as teh colour was all but gone and the wind made presentation very difficult indeed. We were pegged either side of the pub and the downstream section didn't fish at all well.

I was on peg 54 and fished the 6 metres whip to hand even though I wanted to use the 10 metres line. The wind just wouldn't allow me to hold the pole out there and I was bumping fish hand over fist so the inside line was the main line of attack. I fed 6 balls at the start and a ball every fish thereafter; finishing the match with a level 14lb which was enough to win on the day (lucky me!). The vast majority of the guys sat on the feeder because of the wind, but they would have had to have been faster than Wyatt Earp tryign to hit those Roach bites. I must have lost 5lb off the hook with the wind blowing my gear all over the place when I lifted up. Had the wind dropped I was confiendt I could have put another 15lb on but it wasn't to be. Bit it's a fantastic river and only 45 minutes from my front door!! Many thanks for your updates and advice!!

Sorry about the typo's; trying to eat my lunch and type simultaneously doesn't work too well

Glad that you had a good day mate and well done on the result. You actually live nearer than me by the sound of it!

The colour in that river is a very strange thing it can come and go overnight almost but the slack tide probably didn't help it much. As I said in my report on Saturday match the Boards to the right of the pub wasn't the place to be! 3 or 4 weeks back though and it was the place to draw.

What size fish did you have by the way?

Cheers for the above; I had a clonker of a Perch that was about a pound and a quarter. Many of the roach were in the 4 to 6 oz bracket, with number around the half pound mark. The rest were the tiny ones that batter yr bait as it goes flying through them. The long pole would have done the business but presentation was the key and the wind gods were against me. Most of the guys went on the feeder and have probably been sectioned today as they were cracking up trying to hit those Roach bites! The guys either side of me weighed 3lb and 2.5lbs respectively so I was pretty chuffed, but came away knwoing there's still a lot to learn about fishing the river. To anyone who hasn't fished it.........yr missing a real gem...but hard work is rewarded with quality fish!

Out of interest what weight float do you need on an average tide to get the bait down on the pole?

I assume an olivette set up?

Im just going for a practice next week and need to get some rigs made up...

I dont think my commercial rigs are going to be the slightest bit of good but fortunately I fished the Shannon some time ago and have a good supply of bigger floats tucked away in the garage... (4 lads, a transit van, plenty of the black stuff... and tench to 7lb from a river pulling through at what seemed like 100 miles an hour - it was in flood all week!!!!).

They have the right ide in Ireland... one day we got up at 4am did some fishing and at 8am we got hungry. We drove into this little village looking for breakfast and ended up in the rear of a lawnmower repair shop drinking guiness..

Why a small villiage needed a lawnmower repair shop was one thing but the fact that it had a 'bar' in the back probably meant it had some trade!!

You can get away with 1.5 gramme if you are tucked around a bend and the tide is flowing the right way. The same peg 2 hours later on the other tide may need 5 grammes of flat float! I find that if that isn't enough then you should be on the feeder anyway. Either the straight feeder or the pole feeder.

When I went to Ireland with my mother and father in the 60's, my father was always very keen to the shopping . He did meticulous shopping lists - one for each shop. O'Malley's Bread, O'Briens meat, O'Flannagans milk and bacon etc etc. Going with him one day, he went in the front door of the first shop left his list with the assistant and went through to the back for a Guiness. When the shopping was ready he drained his pint and went on to the next shop following the same procedure! No wonder he was so keen to do the shopping!