Cooler water temperatures are good news for anglers

There have been significant numbers of corixa active among the weed beds especially around Nunnery in Villice Bay, and North Shore. Bank anglers have done well off Woodford and Walley Banks.

Early morning is still the best though there have been a few moving fish late in the evening. A large restocking has taken place from the net cages. The fish are spreading well across the deeper areas of the lake and proving fairly easy to tempt by almost any method that keeps the flies near to or on the surface.

Red and Claret dries and the washing line technique with Diawl Bachs suspended between brightly coloured Boobies are particularly effective at present.

The Bristol Water Team Challenge was fished last Sunday when eight teams of six anglers from local clubs fought it out in friendly fashion catching a total of 39 rainbows in all.

There were 35 limits and no blanks. Nomads took the trophy for first place followed by Kingsbridge Heavyweights with Blagdon Fly Fishers third. John Levis took the best fish of the week with a fine 8 lb 8 oz brown trout from a boat in Villice on a size 14 Diawl Bach.

The good sport enjoyed last week by the boats at Blagdon continued at Top End but few fish have been taken from other parts of the lake. Although it may seem a long row up to Wood Bay and Rugmoor it can be worthwhile as there have been good catches in his area. Most boats have been fishing at anchor with buzzers or nymphs but the water is fairly shallow here so be careful not to fish too far down or with sinking lines.

A few fish have come to boats at Butcombe and Cheddar Water. Bank fishermen have been finding things very tough with most of the south shore nearly impossible to fish because of the extensive weed beds. Mike Hatton took a nice 5 lb 6 oz rainbow fishing from the bank.

The Barrows had another fairly good week with some decent catches and also a few better fish. All three tanks are worth fishing. Few fish to be taken during the day except deep down but some evening and morning activity Chew produced a total of 821 fish last week averaging 1 b 10 oz toped by a brown of 8 lb 8 oz and rainbow 3 lb 8 oz with 79 limit bags. Blagdon produced 304 fish averaging 2 lb 8 oz topped by a brown of 4 lb 5 oz and rainbow 5 lb 6 oz with 13 limits. The Barrows yielded 141 fish averaging 1 lb 10 oz topped by a brown of 1 lb 12 oz and rainbow 2 lb 0 oz.

Sport was difficult on the Wessex Water trout fisheries last week although Clatworthy still produced some sport with a total catch of 189 fish at a rod average of 2.1.

Fish were caught mainly from the bank at Westcott. There is plenty of fresh water flowing in now so these areas should be good holding spots for fish. Sedges, Buzzers and Red Tags are working well. Hawkridge produced a total catch of 95 fish at a rod average of 1.6. At Sutton Bingham fishing remains slow although plenty of fish are showing.

The water temperature is still at 90ºc so the fish are reluctant to feed properly. The fish taken have mainly come to Buzzers and Diawl Bach.The best four fish catch was caught by Mike Burton while Dave Smith took the heaviest fish of 3 lb 0 oz.

The Dynamite Baits match at Sedges produced mixed results. For in form Warren Bates of Keynsham it was another good day with a winning catch of carp weighing 71 lb 6 oz taken on long pole fished double caster for an easy victory.

Runner up spot went to Alan Crawley of Jewson Antbait with another carp catch weighing 49 lb 12 oz taken on pole fished pellets. He was followed by Chris Wills of Daiwa BAC with a mixed catch weighing 38 lb 10 oz with Gary Bedford of Sarfix SW a close up fourth with a carp catch weighing 38 lb 0 oz. Mike Fergusson of Dynamite Frys MG took the silver fish prize with a mainly skimmer catch of 13 lb 6 oz.

The fourth round of the Float Only League at Landsend Fishery provided top class sport with carp feeding well. Top honours on the day went to Eric Wynne of Maver Veals with a fine net of carp weighing 127 lb 10 oz taken on long pole fished pellets. Clive Edmunds of Avon Angling took second prize with another carp catch weighing 112 lb 7 oz taken on pole fished pellets. Anton Page of GOT Baits finished a close up third with another carp catch weighing 111 lb 0 oz also taken on pole fished pellets. The silver fish award went to Colin Dyer of Langport with a chub and perch catch weighing 16 lb 1 oz taken on pole fished casters. Other placings: 4. Brian Shanks Avon Angling 91 lb 9 oz; 5. Gary Etheridge Devizes 87 lb 7 oz; 6. Rod Wooten Dynamite Frys MG 85 lb 9 oz. League Leader: Tony Rixon Mosella 27 points.

The Wednesday Open match at Viaduct Fishery again produced outstanding sport with the top six all topping 140 lb. Top honours on the day went to Ray Hayward of Frome fishing for Viaduct Select with a great carp catch weighing 214 lb 6 oz taken on long pole fished pellets.

Tony Sexton from London took second prize with another carp catch weighing 175 lb 7 oz taken on pole fished pellets.

Ron Young of Maggots End clinched third prize with a carp catch weighing 172 lb 12 oz taken on pole fished pellets. Paul Cardwell of Viaduct took the silver fish prize with a mixed catch weighing 54 lb 14 oz. Other placings: 4.

Tony Whitcombe Mosella 155 lb 1 oz; 5. Lee Werrett Fox Match 152 lb 6 oz; 6. Clive Woolley Avon Angling 142 lb 9 oz.

Competitors enjoyed good sport in the Chippenham evening match fished on Monday on the Bristol Avon at Chippenham.

Rob Bullock from Chippenham carried off top prize with an all roach catch weighing 10 lb 10 oz taken on pole fished hemp. Gary Williamson from Devizes took runner up prize with another all roach catch weighing 9 lb 10 oz taken on pole fished casters.

Third prize went to Guy Manners of Chippenham with an all chub catch weighing 8 lb 3 oz taken on legered worm. Other placings: 4. Mark Wooldridge Chippenham lb 15 oz; 5. Alex Hyde Chippenham 7 lb 8 oz; 6. Steve Palmer Chippenham 7 lb 3 oz.

Fish proved very hard to tempt in the Calne evening match fished at Hazeland on Tuesday.

Tim Carr was the exception taking top prize with an all perch catch weighing 4 lb 4 oz taken on pole fished chopped worm. Nigel Smith took runner up spot with a mixed catch of small chub and gudgeon weighing 1 lb 11 oz taken on pole fished red maggots.

There was a tie for third place between Simon Fear of Calne and Nigel Hiscocks of Devizes both taking weights of 1 lb 6 oz. Simon took an all roach catch on pole fished red maggots while Nigel took an all gudgeon catch using the same tactics. Other placings: 5. Rob Bullock Chippenham 1 lb 4 oz; 6. Steve Simkins Calne 12 oz.

Weights were fairly even in the Wilts Angling Open evening match fished on Thursday at Rood Ashton. Steve Martin of Frome clinched top prize with a carp catch weighing 69 lb 8 oz taken on pole fished paste.

Tony Gilbert of Melksham pushed the winner all the ay to finish a close runner up with a carp catch weighing 68 lb 0 oz also taken on pole fished paste.

Pete Neate of Holt completed the frame in third place with a carp catch weighing 63 lb 8 oz also taken on pole fished paste. Other placings: 4. Sean Rhodes Trowbridge 61 lb 0 oz; 5. Matt Skyrme Trowbridge 59 lb 0 oz; 6. Jamie Smith Frome 55 lb 8 oz.

The Bristol Avon at Chippenham was again in good form for the Chippenham match fished on Saturday. Mark Wooldridge of Chippenham chalked up another fine win with an all roach catch weighing 17 lb 0 oz taken on waggler fished bronze maggots.

Steve Palmer of Chippenham took runner up prize with another roach catch weighing 12 lb 8 oz taken on pole fished hemp. Kevin Williams of Chippenham took third spot with a mixed catch f roach and perch weighing 11 lb 10 oz taken on waggler fished bronze maggots. Other placings: 4. Dave Johnson Calne 9 lb 2 oz; 5. Alex Hyde Chippenham 8 lb 14 oz; 6. Pete Collins Chippenham 6 lb 2 oz.

Hazeland fished much better on Sunday for the inter club match between Calne, Chippenham and Avon. Individual honours went to Trevor Payne of Chippenham with a mixed catch of chub, bream and perch weighing 21 l 9 oz taken alternating with legered luncheon meat and casters for an easy win.

There was a tie for second spot between Dave Scoble of Calne and Shane O’Neill of Avon both taking weights of 11 lb 6 oz.

Dave took an all chub catch ob pole fished worm while Shane took a mixed catch o chub and bream on stick floated red maggots. Other placings: 4. Martin Dolman Calne 8 lb 12 oz; 5. Guy Manners Chippenham 6 lb oz; 6. Simon Fear Calne 6 lb 4 oz.

Fish were hard to tempt in the Lavington match fished on Sunday at Baldham Mill.

Graham Pearce from Lavington clinched top prize with a mixed catch of dace, roach and gudgeon weighing 5 lb 6 oz taken on pole fished red maggots.

Runner up spot went to Kevin Morris of Devizes with a mixed catch of roach, dace and perch weighing 2 lb 12 oz taken on pole fished pinkies.Don Keates of Hilperton took third prize with a mixed catch of roach, dace a gudgeon weighing 2 lb 1 oz taken on pole fished red maggots. Other placings: 4. John Cooper Lavington & Graham Bevan Rowde 1 lb 3 oz; 6. Chris Brown Worton 1 lb 2 oz.

Competitors enjoyed excellent sport in the Wilts Angling Open match fished on Sunday at Waldorfe Castle. Ian Willetts from Bradford captured top prize with a carp catch weighing 86 lb 10 oz taken on pole fished paste.

Mick Gunning from Trowbridge clinched second prize with another carp catch weighing 74 lb 4 oz taken on pole fished paste.

Third prize went to Terry Fell from Devizes with a carp catch weighing 55 lb 12 oz also taken on pole fished paste. Other placings: 4. Pete Neate Holt 55 lb 7 oz; 5. Darren Fordham Devizes 43 lb 10 oz; 6. Dave Bancroft Trowbridge 39 lb 14 oz.