River Thames, Walton, 10th October 2014

October 20, 2014

Happy Dangler (Rick) from Match Fishing Scene organised a quick knock up match on the River Thames at Walton on Thames a stretch by Waterside Drive. Link to the Map. I arrived to meet Malc, Simon and Shedders. Having missed my breakfast I decided to call Rick on his "mobile" to ask him to pick up a bacon roll for me. Two phone calls, nothing.

Rick arrived and I asked him whether or not he had received my calls, "no mate", Rick said... on investigation I'd been calling his home phone... oops, hope I didn't wake anybody.

Only six of us fishing today, Rick, Shedders, Hathers, Simon Pavey, Toplights and myself so the pegging and the draw was quite a simple one

The Draw
My draw for the day was peg 4, easy to get too, move the car, unload and walk across the road. A lovely looking peg with a potential cast into the slack water over by the black barges. There was some construction work going on the far bank so it wasn't going to be a peaceful day.

The Set-Up
I'd only brought rods with me, a feeder rod and my 13 foot float road. Bait was a simply maggots, casters and some worm. I'd mixed up some fishmeal and hemp groundbait the night before added a mix of pellets from left over fishery pellet packages including some halibut pellets.

The All-In
Set up was very quick as I'd travelled light and Rick had given us all enough time to set-up. On the whistle I decided to ball in 6 large balls of groundbait down the centre of the river in the hope of big bream moving in.

I was also feeding an inside line with maggots and casters which I'd plumbed up to 10 feet in depth.

Out on the feeder with a three to four foot hook length and 4 maggots on the size 14. I was leaving the feeder in for around 30 minutes a chuck. As I was mid way in the river I wasn't bothered by any of the passing boat traffic. I also wasn't bothered by any bites either!

2 hours pass by with nothing! I decided to try and cast right over into the slack water by the black barge. I changed the feeder for a heavier one with extra leads to try and hold the feeder over. A couple of casts and I made it, even bouncing off the barge on one cast. To my amazement the tip bounced away and I struck into a fish. The retrieve I thought I'd lost the fish, but a lovely River Thames roach came to the net.

I kept trying the far bank line but any passing boat traffic forced me to retrieve and I also could not hold position which resulted in a me finding a snag and loosing 3 feeders and lots of hook lengths.

I had two hours to go and nothing... switching to a worm hook bait for a bonus Perch or large bream I went over my groundbait mid river... nothing.

The float line was producing nothing either, so I decided to try the feeder close in... A number of bite and bumped fish was frustrating me until finally I nailed a nice Perch.

I was happy to hear the all out, the results would be mixed.

The Result
2 fish in six hours, not a lot to show for the effort and to top it all I weigh 15oz 8drams and 4th overall, not even a pound! I blame the weigh man, Shedders ;-)

Well done to Malc with 7lb 15oz, next was Simon Pavey with a lovely net of roach and Perch for 5lb 15oz. Third was Rick with a net full of tiny fish for 3lb 7oz.

Conclusion
It fished hard for some of us, with Hathers even heading home an hour early and mixed results of catches. The big bream never showed but hey, it was a day on the bank!

More Pictures...