13/11/24 - Shearwater

Weight - 37lb 5oz

Catch - 10 Bream, 1 Skimmer

Weather - Bright and sunny, light breeze

Match - Open (16 fished) - 4th overall

Another match at Shearwater, but only 16 this time which at least meant a few more spaces and hopefully better fishing.

My day didn’t start well when I realised 10mins after leaving home that I had left my big feeders at home and due to heavy traffic getting out of Melksham meant I arrived 30mins late. Fortunately, I spoke to Clayton who drew my peg, and I ended up on the lawns again, this time on the left side, with Clayton on the same peg as 2 weeks ago. There were also 2 pegs above the Boathouse, which was the better end in the last match and there were no cormorants or otters, so hopefully I thought I might catch a few.

As my rods were already made up, I managed to get set up in time and ready for the 15mins pre-baiting period. This time I decided not to feed too much groundbait or corn, instead 5 medium cage feeders of micros (80:20 mix of Bubblegum & P-nut – soaked in Project X), hemp, a few 4mm p-nut pellets, with a dusting of black re-act groundbait was deposited at 66m.

Whilst I let that settle, I cast a hybrid towards the buoy to my left with an 8mm orange wafter hoping for an early carp. After a 20 min cast, I reeled in to find a 3oz skimmer attached which promptly dropped off as I went to swing it.

The next cast was over the feed using 6mm pink wafter with some worm cloud. 12 mins later the tip went round and my first bream. After 90mins I was up to 4 before the swim died and then Clayton caught 4. The news was the 2 pegs above the boathouse had 4 & 5 bream.

After re-feeding, I tried a short (30m) line, but only had indications from small fish, so stuck with the 66m line. With 2hrs remaining I was starting to get bites within 3-8mins and it was looking good for a strong finish, however 3 cormorants turned up and I couldn’t get another bite for an hour.

When they disappeared, I re-fed and caught 2 more bream in the last 30 minutes.

In the end 4 of the top 5 came the lawn side of the lake, so the fish definitely moved from the last match with the top 2 coming from the other side of the boathouse, but overall a tough day for most with only 7lb (2 Bream) needed to win the Dam Wall section.

1.    53-  7 – Mike Brown – p16

2.    44-  0 – Rob Manns – p15

3.    42-  5 – Martin Rodgers – p6

4.    37-  5 – Ken Rayner – p13

5.    18-15 – Clayton Hudson – p14 

30/10/24 - Shearwater

Weight - 4lb 5oz

Catch - 1 Bream, 2 Skimmers, 3 Perch, 1 Perch

Weather - Cloudy, sunny later. Light breeze.

Match - Open (28 fished) - 17th overall

Managed to jump onto one of the few opens allowed at Shearwater run by Clayton and was more than happy to draw the boathouse on the lawns. However, we were met by an otter swimming around.

During the 15min pre-baiting period I deposited a good amount of groundbait, micros and corn at 61m.

After an hour I didn’t have a bite on the hybrid, but neither had anyone else on the lawns! As well as the otter we also had 2 cormorants for company, which were obviously unsettling any fish in the area.

As I couldn’t get a bite, I decided to feed a 25m line and fished a conventional cage feeder with dead maggot. This produced a couple of small fish and then a bream, but after that I struggled to get another bite.

For the rest of the match, I swapped between the hybrid and a conventional feeder at 61m for 1 perch, occasionally dropping in on the short line for a couple of small fish.

I tried waiting for up to 25mins on a cast on the long line and even tried fishing beyond 61m, but just couldn’t find any bream or carp.

A quiet day, where my section was won with only 23-15 (1 carp and 3 bream) and 4 of us only had a 1 bream, so not the area to be in.

In hindsight, I think I fed too much groundbait over my long line, it attracted too many small fish, which in turn encouraged the cormorants, but I still think I would have struggled.

1.    104-  8 – Andrew Pritchard – p15 (dam wall)

2.      69-11 – Zak Williams – p5 (road side)

3.      67-  8 – Jack Stamp – p9 (road side)

4.      40-10 – Steve Trevett – p11

5.      39-  3 – Mike Brown – p3

6.      31-15 – Andy Neal – p1

27/01/24 - Shearwater

Finally I got my car back from Volvo, only took them 6 weeks to replace an auxiliary battery!
 
I made a late decision to fish Shearwater, selecting a peg on the road bank, opposite the lawns. I took just the one rod, fishing a XR Banjo feeder at 60m, loaded with Uzit green Thatchers, micros, P-nut 4s.
 
After baiting up with 4 feeder fulls of bait, I had 5 Bream in the first hour. After that I had a couple of quiet spells and finished with 16 Bream up to 4-12 for 51lb, only losing the one fish. Using the new Uzit worm and pineapple clouds around my 6mm wafters, with the worm cloud being the best today.
 
It made a pleasant change, catching some nice fish and I think the first frost for over a week, plus bright calm conditions meant the fishing proved difficult and I didn’t see a single carp being landed.

22/02/23 - Shearwater

Weight - 2lb 2oz

Catch - 1 Bream

Weather - Mostly sunny, with cloudy periods. Westerly wind.

Match - Shearwater League (28 fished) - last in section.

Today I was guesting for Chris Ware who was recovering from a minor operation.

The draw put me 2 to the right of where I was on Saturday and whilst the peg blanked on Saturday, I still fancied it, and decided to repeat what I did on Saturday.

Well, the day didn’t go as planned. After feeding 7 feeders full of groundbait, micros & corn at 60m never produced a bite. After 2hrs I had my one and only bite at 80m on a 8mm orange wafter.

In the meantime Clayton Hudson, 2 to my left had 7 or 8 bream already and Vince Brown to my right had a 24lb carp and a couple of bream.

Unfortunately, Liam Collins to my left who was 3^rd in the league hadn’t had a bite. It was like we were in a dead zone. Liam eventually caught 3 with 90mns to go, but we ended up bottom of the section.

A disappointing day, when I even tried a conventional rig with dead maggot or corn, but just no bites. Still, it was better than working.

18/02/23 - Shearwater

Weight - 23lb

Catch - 8 Bream

Weather - Drizzle and light rain on & off all day. Strong westerly

Match - Angling for Heros charity match (33 fished) - 8th overall, 2nd in section

A couple of hours after agreeing to stand in for Chris Ware at Shearwater this coming Wednesday I became aware of an Angling for Heros charity match on Saturday so jumped on.

I love fishing Shearwater and like many was disappointed to see it closed during Covid. During this time there have been reports of fish being poached and loads of cormorants, so it would be interesting to see how it fished.

So far, this winter has been difficult as the fish appear to be tightly shoaled not helped by the recent freezing conditions. Today was a lot milder and there was a stiff westerly wind blowing into the dam wall, which hopefully meant the fish had spread out.

With 33 anglers the pegging was a little tight in areas, however I was happy to draw (p13) on the point opposite the dam wall.

On the all-in 7 feeders full of groundbait, micros, 4s and corn was deposited at 57m. Whilst that settled, I cast to 70m towards the buoys (75m) hoping for an early pull, which didn’t happen. After 30mins I went over the 55m line fishing an 8mm wafter and after a couple of funny bites switched to a 6mm yellow wafter and managed 3 bream over the next hour.

The following hour only produced 1 bream, which prompted a re-feed with a further 4 feeders full of bait.

From those I could see, Ian White to my right had caught a few bream and a 16lb carp, but Roland Lucas and Stu Burridge to my left were both blanking, and I couldn’t see much being caught on the dam wall.

I managed to a catch a couple more bream at 75m next to the buoys and only 1 over the re-feed. I had also fed a short line but never had a touch here.

My section ran from Ian who won the section round to my left and most of the dam wall, were I think only 1 or 2 anglers weighed, so an area to avoid on Wednesday.

The fish were obviously in the shallower water to my right, which meant I was on the edge and pleased to finish 2^nd in section and 1 out of the money – again!

Overall, it was nice to return as well as seeing more bream showing, which meant the cormorants hadn’t eaten them all!

1.    59- 1 – Louis Morris – p7 (boathouse)

2.    54-10 – John Moody – p30 (road bank)

3.    53- 8 – Matt Skyme – p8

4.    48-10 – Mark Leader – p35

5.    48- 0 – Ian White – p12