Kennet & Avon Canal at Devizes. April 16th, 2005.

 Western Intersite Match.

Well I travelled all the way down to Sells Green just outside Devizes today for The Western Intersite Match and arrived at around 7am. First port of call was into the 3 Magpies pub for breakfast and the draw, and I have to say that it was a Top Breakfast and along with Coffee and top ups cost just £4.

As always it was nice to meet up with some old friends again and put a few faces to those that had previously been only names on a computer screen. One of the lads in our team had been kind enough to share his info with me via PM, and as I hadn’t ever seen the venue I really had no option but to go with it.

As a result of the draw Peg C1 saw me faced with a gap between 2 moored narrowboats at 14½ mtrs, and I fancied it for a few fish, despite it feeling like a winters day.

Looking up the towpath from my peg.

5 hard balls cupped in containing chopped worm and caster, and then just loose fed squatt over the top. A small piece of worm, caster or red maggot on the hook, caught me small Skimmers and Roach steadily for the first 2 hours until the occupants of one of the narrowboats opposite decided on a spring clean, killing it stone dead.

Just one small Perch 10 mins from the end was added after that, at which point the chap polishing the brass decided to lean over the end of the boat to watch my float !!

My weight of 3lbs 2ozs at the end of the match gave me 2nd in section, with Slider (Mark), on his home water winning it.
Unfortunately the team didn’t fare so well, finishing 4th on the day, but hey it was still a good day out in good company. 

Hartleylands Farm Fishery, Finches Pond. April 3rd, 2005.

Watching the weather forecast last night before Match of the Day, Maria remarked “Looks like being nice tomorrow, Why don’t you pop out fishing?”

Well no further invitation was needed, so 7am saw me loading the tackle into the car. I had decided to go down to Hartleylands Farm, as with 8 different lakes & ponds you can normally find somewhere to fish on even the busiest day. Well on arrival 6 of these were booked for matches, just leaving a choice of 2 of the smaller ponds, Finches & Woodside.


I popped up to Finches and with only 3 other anglers fishing at the far end settled on a swim to the right of peg 7. This is the narrowest point, being just 8mtrs to the far bank.

Bait owing to the unplanned nature of the trip, was to be whatever was in my holdall, which was 4mm & 6mm GOT Baits expanders and sweetcorn.

The rig was simplicity itself, an eyed series2 fox match, knotless knotted to 2½ft of 0·17 Carpteck with a Drennan Carp1 cocked with a no6 and a no10 dropper.

An underarm flick with a pinch of 4mm pellets and 6 grains of corn primed the swim and off I went. Within a couple of minutes the float slid away and a gentle lift contacted the 1st fish of the day which proved to be a fighting fit Mirror Carp of around 2½lbs.

The pattern continued for most of the session, the disruption caused by each fish necessitating refeeding and a patient wait till the next found the bait. Around 11am an angler who had set up next to me on peg 6 came round for a chat as he couldn’t buy a bite.
I ended up giving him one of my identical rigs and some corn, but for him it was not to be and he packed up at 1pm without so much as a bite.

I carried on getting fish probably every 15mins, and when I decided to pack up at around 2pm, the obligatory ‘Last Cast’ produced the best fish of the session at around 6lb.

A nice finish to an unplanned session with 21 carp for around 50lb+ of fish on a sunny spring day.