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GirlingAS Blog - "On the Bank"

This blog is about members days out pleasure fishing. If you had an exceptional day or a disastrous day we want to hear about it.

This applies to Full members and Associate members, let the Secretary know how you got on and we will publish it here.

Read on…

Wednesday 5th of August – Peg 35

We have added a ninth peg in the lock stream peg 35, access is from peg 34 and the platform is mounted on the end of the old concrete mooring. The inlet of the stream is just to your right and you can reach the concrete mooring easily with a pole. It’s a little awkward at the moment as the platform is mounted in front of a very old Willow tree that we plan to remove at the next bank clearing session.

The Secretary fished the peg on the pole and found 5 foot of water directly in front of the peg on “top 2 plus 2”. He had some nice Roach and a 2lb eel but after a couple of hours a succession of boats that the users could clearly not steer meant that he headed home early.

Lock Stream Pegs;- The nine pegs opposite Fladbury Island are completed and ready to go. The first five pegs (27-31) are mounted a little higher off the water as winter pegs ideal when the river is up. There are four pegs mounted on the old mooring (pegs 32-35), these pegs are mounted lower and are deeper on the inside. The two end pegs (pegs 34–35) are the only pegs on the fishery without steps. These Lock Stream Pegs are ideal for the Pole in winter and available for Associates on match days.

Friday 9th August - Dan’s back in peg 24 – 10lb BARBEL

With the River rising and pacey Dan (Hopkins) fished peg 24 again, last week fishing meat on the Bomb he had an 8lb Barbel.

He was back again for more but this time on a rising river he had his first 10lb Barbel, heard that he was over the moon with his first double.

The fish are there and come out when conditions are right. This catch has given plenty of “food for thought” for the match anglers using Maggots.

Dan’s day in peg 24, Friday 2nd August

With the River up about a foot Dan (Hopkins) fished peg 24. He had a nice Chub and pulled out of a couple more and then had an 8lb Barbel, thanks for the photographs.

Quality fish have been hard to come by in matches so far this season and it’s obvious that we need a bit of colour for the river to produce.

TBF over 50’s Tuesdays

The Secretary (Frank) and Treasurer (Pete) have started fishing the TBF over 50’s matches on Tuesdays, it’s quite competitive, see how we get on.

- Tuesday 21st May 2019 – TBF over 50’s.

This week it was “New” or “Extension”. Frank fancied another go at “New peg I” where he caught 70lb down the right margin in the last 3 hours.

You’ve guessed it, Pete drew the peg, Frank was on “New peg 42”.

Pete went straight down the right margin but caught most of his 51lb casters shallow saying “they wouldn’t pick up down the margin”.

Frank went long to the island, both margins and open water. The guy to the right had a corner peg that had won the pool on the last match (Peg 40), the guy to the left fished “top two plus one” all day. After an hour with the guy to the left catching regularly close in Frank switched and finally started catching F1’s close in feeding micro’s and casters alternating corn and expanders on the hook. Strangely they wouldn’t settle on one bait and many were foul hooked, he couldn’t get a bite down the margin.

After the match everyone was commenting on the foul hookers and around 60lb won the pool. Pete weighed 51lb and Frank weighed 35lb.

- Tuesday 14th May 2019 – TBF over 50’s

With the Secretary on holiday last week we missed last Tuesday, see what this week brings. Apparently recent results show casters shallow producing.

Pete drew on “New” pool, Frank was on “Club” Pool. Pete was on the middle of the bank and quite fancied it, Frank was on peg 13, a (right) corner peg with lots of options. Interestingly, we have Club Pool next match.

Pete went long to the island weighing around 25lb on pellet down.

Frank had left and right margins, a deep margin and up and down top two plus four. In addition he set up the bomb to the island and the next platform on the right bank. There were cruisers all over but they wouldn’t be mugged. Trying Corn all options then meat all options he finally started catching after an hour and a half on banded 8mm pellets on the 2+4 line down feeding micro’s and Casters. After two 4lb Carp it went quiet. The bomb was next but again they wouldn’t pick up. Anglers all around the pool were struggling. He never had a bite in the margin and finished with 15lb all from the 2+4 down line, it has to fish better for our match on the 25th May.

- Tuesday 23rd April 2019

We both drew “New Pool”. Frank drew noted peg 1, Pete drew not far away, not great.

Pete weighed 51lb of 2+2 and margin Carp.

Frank’s peg had too many options trying the vacant stage to the left, over to the island, open water and over to the floating island. After two hours of struggling he threw corn and micros to the right margin and immediately 3 large Carp appeared. The first took him straight into the nearby Lilly pads. Tackling up with 18 elastic and 0.19 straight through to a 14 hook he caught 3 to 5lb Carp on Corn for the rest of the session for 70lb. 5lb Carp were coming to the net in 20 seconds, a real eye opener and despite the commotion the Carp kept coming. The match was won behind peg 1 with 126lb.

- Tuesday 30th April 2019

We drew for “House”, “Extension” and “Club” pools.

The Saturday earlier we fished a club match on “House” in a raging gale, Frank was on record peg “House 29”, that day Pete was on corner peg 28 and struggled. Before the Whistle one of the guys went wading in peg 21 looking for lost pole sections, the match was won in peg 22 down the margin, peg 30 was second.

Unbelievably both drew “House”, Pete drew “House” Peg 29 and Frank had the waded peg 21 next to the winner which today was vacant, interesting.

Pete had generally big Carp on 2+2 weighing 51lb on Corn and Pellet.

Frank could only catch small Carp down the margins but finished well on top 2+2 on Corn feeding micros heavily on a light 4x16 rig with a spread shot of 3 number eights and two elevens last 4 inches from the hook weighing a disappointing 32lb. Peg 30 (second last week) won the pool with over 100lb.

Another session at Retreat Farm

- Saturday 15th September 2018

DD and DO had a free day and decided to have a go at Retreat Farm, that’s our next match on 29th September.

Apparently they were impressed with the venue, with pegs in the channel and main river having wooden platforms and concrete steps and you can park behind the first 15 or 16 pegs. With the River down at the moment their keepnets only just reached the water, so bring a long net. We heard that the pegs around the start of the channel was fizzing with fish.

We don’t have all of the information but we heard that DO chucked the groundbait feeder all day for around 3lb. DD chucked the waggler catching small Dace for a similar weight. Both came away saying that this is a Pole venue. An earlier visit found around 6 foot at 3 rods out, interesting.

Another Session in peg 24

- Wednesday 12th September 2018

The Secretary had a free day and had a mid-day session in peg 24. The river was very clear and the Dace would not come near enough to use the whip.

So starting on the big Stick with all of the shots in the bottom third he started catching Dace and lots of Perch one rod out.

After about 2.5 hours he had about 6lb, a couple of Pike had disrupted the swim and it had gone quiet. Running 2 reds through on a 20 red maggot hook to 2lb line the float dipped and something heavy was on. It made several lunges towards the weir taking about 50 yards of line then started to come back. At first thinking it was another Pike but after 5 minutes he could see it was a very fat Barbel. Hard to judge the weight in the water. Then it hung there for minutes, wouldn’t come up, occasionally lunging down again. When nearer the surface you could see it was obviously a good fish pushing double figures. It finally broke the surface, a very good fish unfortunately when it broke the surface it made a huge lung down and broke the hook link. That was it, time to pack up and go home.

A days practice at BAA Retreat Farm – Monday 23/7/2018

With the change of venue on 29th September to BAA Retreat Farm on the River Severn the Secretary was gagging to have a day there before the match.

The venue;- Retreat Farm has superb pegs, with concrete steps and platforms, the far pegs are in the main river and near to the access the pegs are opposite Bevere island in the lock channel. There are about 12 pegs in the channel then another 4 in the main river that you can park behind, but half a mile of pegs in all. The BAA handbook says “Bream and Carp”.

Directions;- M5 Junction 5 right along the A38 past the Chateau Impney. Down to the island staying on the A38 take the first exit (Ombersley) and over the A38 on the A4133. Straight on over the island at Ombersley and over the river Severn at Holt Fleet now looking for a left turn “School Lane” at a painted island. Down to the tee Junction and left onto the A443. Take either of the two Grimley left turns and take the Grimley Village sign. Down this lane you come to a sign in the middle of the road, left is a dead end into Grimley and the “Wagon Wheel Inn”, take the right turn this is Camp lane. After about a quarter of a mile you see the first left turn at a Retreat Farm sign, go down the lane to a gate on the left with a BAA sign just before the Bevere Island sign. Go through this left gate and close the gate. There is a heavy chain and lock hanging over the gate post.

Progress;- The Secretary fished the mouth of the channel opposite where the main river goes left around the island approx. peg 11 from the access. Taking ground bait, bronze and red maggots left over from the weekend

Ground Bait Feeder;- He set up an open ended ground bait feeder with a 20 hook and starting with a 3ft tail chucking 3 rods out. With no bites in the first 15 minutes he started spraying some maggots over the top. The feeder was getting to the bottom quickly so seemed not too deep. That did the trick and after reducing the tail to 18 inches a steady stream of Dace and Roach hit the net, but no skimmers. After about an hour with ground bait running out he decided to try the bomb.

Bomb;- Catapulting maggots over the bomb the bites died. Don’t think the maggots were getting down, they were certainly coming to the ground bait.

Waggler;- He set up a loaded waggler locked with 2x number 6 and 5 number eights and two tens down. Plumbing 3 rods out (the feeder line) he found 6ft depth. Surprisingly the waggler was moving through the swim, it had looked like there was no flow. The problem was the Dace were having it before it got anywhere near the bottom, shallowing up to 3 ft he was hitting small Dace taking it immediately it hit the water. Loose feeding heavier got some bigger Dace interested.

What did we learn;- We can all park behind your peg. The ground bait feeder drew the silvers in but perhaps you need to chuck to the middle to find the Bream. A maggot feeder could score but perhaps after balling it in first. The waggler shallow will get you lots of bites but you won’t build a decent weight. How about the pole with an olivette down in the steady flow?

What don’t we know;-

What we don’t know is how shallow it gets further up the channel nearer the lock and where are the Bream, in the main river, are they in the channel?

Next visit;- The Secretary plans to have another go soon this time in the channel, peg 3 or 4 looked nice. Going to try the ground bait feeder to the middle backed up later with the maggot feeder plus the pole with an olivette at around 11mts.

A morning in peg 24 – 19/7/2018

The Secretary managed a few hours in peg 24, the Thursday morning before the 5th Aggregate match, the river was a little down and quite clear. Normally the flow hits peg 25 and boils beyond peg 23 but today the flow was moving away from peg 24 with very few boils. The flow seemed to fluctuate and there were times when there was no flow a rod out from the bank.

Setting up an 8 number 4 shouldered stick float rig with all of the shot in the bottom half and a second rod with a bait dropper he found about 7ft one rod out. It’s a super peg with steps and a platform in the shade, good flow close in and hopefully some Chub under your feet. Before he started he noticed sprats jumping out of the water all over, the Perch were very active in the clear water.

Feeding maggots and Hempseed from a bait dropper he went 15 minutes without a bite, not a good sign. The fish

eventually turned up one rod out in the flow but it was evident that the swim was full of perch. One Perch about 12oz chased a Dace against the keep net, the Dace had no chance. After an hour he reverted to loose feeding upstream and started catching regularly down the edge.

After three and a half hours he had a mixed bag of Skimmers to 10oz, a little Barbel about 10oz, half a dozen Roach to 6oz and lots of Dace and Chublets on double maggot on an 18 hook. But it was the Perch that made up the weight with over 20 Perch from 6 to 10oz for a total of about 12lb. No Bonus fish but that’s not surprising in the clear water on a very bright day, perhaps the Chub were upstream in peg 25 where there was considerably more flow.

17th June 2018 - A new member’s first session

Simon joined this year and fished the Fladbury Cup match, he struggled a bit, but undaunted he was back the next day determined to catch some fish. Hanked 3 good Barbel all around 7lb each and a 10lb bag of mainly Chub. See the photo in the gallery.

8th May 2018 - A productive day at Barston Lane

The Sunday Canal League are not official Girling AS matches but with six of our guys fishing this series we will be reporting on their progress under the heading of "News" or "Blogs".

Last season the Sunday Canal League was based on the "Dolphin AC" stretch of the GU Canal at Hampton Road Solihull. The stretch has a car park either end and we found the opposite end at Barston Lane to be the most productive although overall we were generally disappointed because we know that it can produce exceptional bags of Bream and Roach.

This year some of the guys have purchased season cards and Frank, Darren O and Darren D went for a pleasure session Bank Holiday Tuesday 8th May. It was a glorious sunny day following the hottest bank holiday Monday on record.

Frank got off to a disastrous start finding a puncture on his trolley. There was no way he would lug his Maver 4000 box up the bank (these are bloody heavy) so it was back home to replace the wheel.

Back on the bank Both of the guys had got off to a flyer, Darren D had had a small Carp and it was a fish a chuck with both potting half a dozen reds every put in over regularly introduced ground bait.

Henry who runs this stretch had said many times that the Dolphin AC guys use the punch. Frank had already made up his mind to go for it and experiment with "different sizes of punch, feeding after a quiet 5 minutes", that was the plan. Frank dropped into peg 70, this peg had won the previous match. Feeding squeezed golf ball size liquidised bread with a 6mm punch his first fish was a Bream over 3lb. For the first two hours it was Skimmers and Roach almost every chuck but the swim died as the sun got higher. No surprise as he was fishing in 2 foot of water. Coming back a section fishing in just over 3 foot of water the swim never really got going. It didn't help with both the punch and the liquidised bread deteriorating in the heat.

The other guy's swims were more sheltered from the sun and continued to catch on Maggot over groundbait, Darren D was flying with a fish a chuck going into the fifth hour. Darren O had run out of groundbait and his bites had slowed.

We packed up and it was clear the two Darren's in the shadier pegs fishing maggot over groundbait had bagged up. Darren O had an estimated 15lb and Darren D had close to 20lb. Frank had the biggest Bream but had around 8lb after a quiet 2 hours in the full sun.

In the previous eight Canal League summer matches last season the maggot and groundbait approach appeared to rule and after this summer session we havn't changed our minds, may be different in the winter. It was clear that the fish were moving on to the groundbait and bites reduced without groundbait.

Dolphin AC fish the punch, perhaps we are doing something wrong when we fish the punch?

This season the six Girling AS guys plus a couple more are fishing BAA Canal venues, throughout the summer, should be interesting. We don't plan to include the series results, but we will be reporting on how our guys get on and see if there's anything we can learn from these summer canal matches.

31st Jan. 2018 - An eventful day out at Fladbury after the January 2018 Floods

Since Christmas the river had been on the fields twice & unfishable. Frank & Brian were gagging to get out to fish Fladbury and to see if any of the pegs were damaged. It sounds crazy but after all that work to make robust pegs last season we wondered if the steps & platforms would cope with the worst that could be thrown at them.

Around this time last year we discovered that many pegs were damaged, peg 24 in particular had he bottom stage swept away.

We had agreed to meet in the café in Studley at 8am, the traffic was horrendous & we were both late. At Fladbury the field was very soft, Brian drove straight to peg 18 to glue the peg number on the top slab. Frank didn’t make it that far, stuck in the mud & digging a hole around peg 8. Brian walked back to help & with slabs under the front wheels we managed to get going parking on the thick grass by the pylon. Brian then couldn’t get any traction to pull away from peg 18, we fetched the slabs again & managed to heave him out, not a good start.

We wondered about the fishing. We never got to see the far pegs, Frank liked the look of peg 2. The colour was reasonable, not that thick sandy colour, definitely dropping out with a steady flow on the inside. We both thought we would catch although we had a strong downstream wind, at times almost gale force to contend with. We left the cars where they were and Frank dropped into peg 2 standing on the staging in about an inch of water. He was in to Roach straight away a rod & a half out using an 8x4 stick float with spread sixes & 2 number 8’s down with double reds on an 18 hook, third fish was about 12oz, a pale fish, looked like it had never been caught.

Trevor Gladding said hello on his way to check out Fladbury island after the floods.

Brian dropped into peg 4 and started catching smaller fish down the edge. We both had problems with a strong downstream wind blowing the float into the bank. Brian tried peg 11 but couldn’t see the float with the sun then dropped into peg 1. Frank lost a couple of rigs in the reeds due to the wind. That’s when the weather took a turn. The sky went black & we had half an hour of freezing wind & hail, we sheltered in the car.

Sitting there we both wondered if we would be able to drive up the slope & out of the field. The hail stopped & we gave it another go. Now with a freezing wind & ripples like the north sea it was difficult to get a bite. After another lost rig we gave it up & decided to check out the pegs.

Encouragingly there was no storm damage to the pegs, all of the new steps & platforms were undamaged, most still under water. There was lots of large debris around especially pegs 17 to 23, a shovel & a broom next week should sort them out, that was the plan.

We unlocked the gate & had a run at the slope, we both made it out, with both cars covered in mud we drove home to get cleaned up. An eventful day, the river should be perfect in a couple of days after a month of being out of sorts, that’s if we don’t get more rain.