THIS PAGE CONTAINS MATCH REPORTS FROM THE LAST FEW YEARS AND MAY TAKE SOME TIME TO LOAD

Avon AC Club Xmas Match Sat 7th Dec 2019

Avon Angling Club held their annual Xmas Match today on the Bristol Avon in Melksham.
It was pegged at Sainsburys, Melksham Park, Scotland Road and Portman Road.

The frame weights came from the Scotland Road area where large numbers of roach are to be had throughout.

Top seven

1st Richard Whichmarsh (Hippy) 21lb 13oz of roach and a nice bonus 5 1/2lb bream!
2nd Gary Etheridge 21lb 3oz of roach plus a couple of bonus pound perch
3rd Steve Trevett 20lb 2oz of roach
4th Glen Witchard 19lb 1oz of roach
5th Graham Pearce 15lb 4oz
6th Bryan Haigh 15lb 3oz
7th Tony Scott 14lb 7oz

As always the club would like to thanks all those involved in making this such a great event. Spencers Club for hosting us, the Edwards family for sorting prises, Match sec Mark Crook and Robbie Kepner for pegging.

Match winner Richard Whichmarsh

***

20th July 2019 Avon Saturday Series Match Two

After the heavy rains of the previous day the river at Portman Road Green looked spot on for match two of our Saturday series. With the extra bit of flow and colour it was expected to fish well but that just didn't happen and only four anglers bothered to weigh in at the end.

It took just 6lb 12onz for Andy Pratten to win this one. Drawn just behind the car park fence, Andy alternated between fishing worm and caster over ground bait at nine meters for a mix of small fish, perch and a small two pound plus bonus bream.

Runner up was Gary Etheridge from Devizes with 4lb 2onz of pole caught small fish from a peg midway along the green.

Mark Crook was third with 3lb 9oz.

Top four

1 ANDY PRATTEN 6:12
2 GARY ETHERIDGE 4:02
3 MARK CROOK 3:09
4 BRIAN HAIGH 2:02

***

13th July 2019 Avon Saturday Series Match One

Round one of our Saturday series was fished the Bristol Avon at Portman Road Green. Despite the river being low with very little flow after the hot spell the river fished reasonably well in places.

Mick Withey took top spot with an excellent net of skimmers and perch for 15lb 4oz from peg 21 at the top end of the green. Mick fished the pole at 9 meters over ground bait in eight feet of water with caster on the hook and lose feed a good amount of hemp and caster.

Runner up was Devizes angler Gary Etheridge with 7lb 6oz of very small roach and bleak from behind the car park fence.

Mark Crook was third with 6lb 8oz skimmers and small perch taken on worm over ground bait at 11 meters.

Top Five
1 MICK WITHEY 15:04
2 GARY ETHERIDGE 7:06
3 MARK CROOK 6:08
4 BRIAN HAIGH 5:07
5 ANDY PRATTEN 2:09

***

King Billy v Avon AC 7/7/2019

Our first of two inter club match's with Bristol club King Billy was fished at Lacock's Abby Fields on Sunday.
Bright sunlight and clear water had the small fish feeding up in the water in good numbers for the first three hours. However with large numbers of people enjoying the good weather and swimming in the river above the match length it turned very coloured and put the fish off feeding.

First on the day was Melksham angler Shaun O'Neil with 10lb 6onz of small fish taken on stick float and caster from the point (peg 6)

Bob Ryan was second from the Conker Tree peg with an all small fish net of 8lb 2onz, again with stick float and caster

Third was Andy Pratten with 7lb 8onz. Andy had the only fish of over a pound on the day, a two pound plus chub to go with his bits.

Top six

1 SHAWN O'NEIL 10.06 AVON AC
2 BOB RYAN 8.02 AVON AC
3 ANDY PRATEN 7.08 AVON AC
4 MARK CROCK 7.06 AVON AC
5 GERRY POCOCK 6.08 KING BILLY
6 SHANE CASWELL 4.14 KING BILLY

***

Avon AC Club Xmas Match Sat 1st Dec 2018

Thirty four of our members turned out on Saturday to fish our annual club Xmas match on the river Avon in Melksham.
With the overnight rain the river looked almost spot on but the large numbers of skimmer bream that had been showing earlier in the season failed to show and weights were a little down on last year.

Drawn on the second peg from the end at Sainsbury's Melksham angler Steve (Stretch) Saunders took top spot with 14lb 11onz. Steve had two good bream and some perch on pole fished worm to take the winners hamper and £120 pools money.

Runner up was Robbie Kepner with 11lb 12onz of roach and perch from the middle of Portman Road green.

Third spot went to Richard Whitmarsh with 10lb 15onz of roach from the middle peg at Sainsbury’s.

Top six
1 Steve Stretch Saunders 14:11
2 Robbie Kepner 11:12
3 Richard Whitmarsh 10:15
4 Kevin Rowels 10:01
5 Ian Stainer 9:05
6 Glen Witchard 8:15

As always the club would like to thanks all those involved in making this such a great event. Spencers Club for hosting us, the Edwards family for sorting prises and Mark Crook for pegging.

Photo, Steve Saunders Avon AC Xmas Match winner 2018

***

11th Aug 2018 Avon Saturday Series Match Four

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An upstream wind greeted the anglers on the last match of the series, with the threat of rain and wind it was always going to be harder than the previous three matches. And with the Avon at Portman Road low, clear and with little flow the poor conditions resulted in the weights being lower than in previous rounds.

Bryan Haigh ended up winning the match off the same peg he won off in the 3 match - peg 32 at the bottom of Portman Road behind the garages with 9-5-0 of perch & roach. Starting off with a bombardment off 12 balls of groundbait at 8m. Fishing the maggot at the start he changed to caster to keep the roach coming, occasionally trying the elderberry and catching the odd better roach including one of 1-2-0. He also had 10 perch to 0-10-0 over the worm at 11m.

Second on the day from the armchair peg 25 was Andy Pratten (Gordon), who caught roach over loose fed hemp for 7-11-0 narrowly beating Marcus Crook on the day from peg 26 the same peg as two weeks ago with 7-9-0 of roach on the caster over groundbait.

Top Six
1 BRYAN HAIGH 9-5-0 (32)
2 ANDY PRATTEN 7-11-0 (25)
3 MARK CROOK 7-9-0 (26)
4 ALAN BROWN 6-0-0 (28)
5 PETE MILLS 5-8-0 (21)
6 MIKE WHITHY 3-8-0 (22)

After wins in round three and four it was Melksham angler Bryan Haigh who topped the serries.

Series top three

1 BRYAN HAIGH 30 POINTS
2 MARK CROOK 28 POINTS
3 ANDY PRATTEN 26 POINTS

The club would like to thank everyone who supported our anual Saturday series.

***

5th Aug 2018 Avon AC v King Billy AC
Inter Club Match. Lacock Abby Fields

Our second inter club match with King Billy of Bristol fished on the Bristol Avon at Lacock fished a little bellow par with water levels well down and very little flow.

Avon's match secretary Mark Crook was the only angler to record double figures with a winning 11lb 9onz. Mark took small fish on caster feeding hemp from a peg 100m up from the road bridge

Melksham's Sean O'Neill was second with 9lb 11onz of bits while Andy Pratten was third with 8lb 13onz

Top six

1 MARK CROOK 11:09
2 SEAN O'NEILL 9:11
3 ANDY PRATTEN 8:13
4 RICH SCHOLAR 8:02
5 RICH HILLS 6:10
6 STEVE SKELTON 5:07

***

28th July 18 Avon Saturday Series Match Three

With almost no rain in the past month the Bristol Avon at Portman Road Green was hardly flowing however the river still fished reasonably well. Fewer of the skimmers are showing but the roach, though generally small are starting to feed well on all baits.

Drawn at the first peg behind the car park fence, this week's winner was Bryan Haigh with 12lb 14onz of mostly small roach taken on pole fished elderberry. His weight was helped by two good size skimmers caught on worm.

Mark Crook was second with an all roach net of 12lb 3onz from a peg half way along the green. Mark fished caster on the pole at nine meters over ground bait.

Devizes angler Gary Etheridge was third with 8lb from the top end peg, 21 on the green.

Top Six
1 BRIAN HAIGH 12:14
2 MARK CROOK 12:03
3 GARY ETHERIDGE 8:00
4 IAN STAINER 7:11
5 BOB RYAN 6:04
6 ANDY PRATTEN 4:12

Match four of our Satuday Series will be fished on the 11th Aug, same place same time.

***

21th July 2018 Avon Saturday Series Match Two

Round two of our Saturday series was once again fished on the Bristol Avon at Portman Road Green. The river fished reasonably well again with roach, perch and skimmers showing in good numbers.

Avon AC match secretary Mark Crook took top spot with mixed net of roach and perch for 13lb 6oz from peg 31. Mark fished the pole at 9 meters over hemp and caster with caster or maggot on the hook and went home £100 to the good.

Runner up was Bob Ryan with 12lb 12oz of roach from the "arm chair" peg half way along the green. Feeding two pints of hemp Bob caught roach on tares fishing the pole at seven meters.

Brian Haigh was third with 11lb 15oz skimmers, roach and small perch at peg 21.

Top Six
1 MARK CROOK 13:00
2 BOB RYAN 12:12
3 BRIAN HAIGH 11:15
4 GARY ETHERIDGE 8:05
5 ANDY PRATTEN 6:11
6 MICK WITHEY 5:14

Match three in this Satuday Series will be fished on the 28th July, same place same time.
All members welcome

***

14th July 2018 Avon Saturday Series Match One

Round one of our Saturday series was fished the Bristol Avon at Portman Road Green. Despite the river being low with very little flow after the hot spell the river fished reasonably well.

Somerford Keynes angler Andy Pratten took top spot with an excellent net of skimmers and perch for 19lb 6oz from just behind the car park fence. Andy fished the pole at 9 meters over ground bait in ten feet of water with worm on the hook and.

Runner up was Swindon's Alan Brown with 12lb 5oz of skimmers, perch and roach from peg 21 at the top end of the green.

Bob Ryan was third with 9lb 15oz skimmers and small perch taken on worm over ground bait at 11 meters.

Top Five
1 ANDY PRATTEN 19:06
2 ALAN BROWN 12:05
3 BOB RYAN 9:15
4 IAN STAINER 6:10
5 BRIAN HAIGH 4:08

***

8th July 2018 Avon AC v King Billy AC
Lacock Abby Fields

King Billy's Gery Pocock won our first inter club match with the Bristol club fished on the Bristol Avon at Lacock. Drawing the first peg bellow the road bridge Gery fished caster under a stick float for a total of 19lb 13oz of chub and dace.

Runner up was Avon match secretary Mark Crook with 14lb 3oz of roach and dace from bellow the conker tree. Mark took most of his fish on seed baits.

Melksham's Sean O'Neil was third with 10ld 12oz of dace

Top Six

1 G Pocock 19:13
2 M Crook 14:03
3 S O'Neil 10:12
4 A Pratten 7:13
5 S Skelton 7:04
6 R Wills 7:01

***

26th June 2018 Club Evening Match Two

Match two of our evening series was again fished at Portman Road green where once again good skimmers showed throughtout the length.

First on the night was Melkasham's Bob Ryan 9lb 8onz of skimmers to a pound taken on pole fished caster over groundbait down the middle of the river.

Result
1 Bob Ryan 9:00
2 Gary Etheridge 8:07
Mark Crook 5.03

***

19th June 2018 Avon AC Evening Match One

Our first match of the new river season was fished on Tuesday evening at Portman Road green where good skimmers showed throughtout the length.

Devizes angler Gary Etheridge won with skimmers to a pound taken on pole fished caster over groundbait down the middle of the river.

Result
1 Gary Etheridge 12:03
2 Mark Crook 11:08
3 Bob Ryan 9:08

Our second match with be on Tues 26th June, draw Portman Rd 5:30

***

Avon AC Open Sun 25th Feb 2018

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Fishing was hard on the Avon at Scotland Road in our final match of the river season but a few roach were caught on punch bread in pockets.

Match result (top four)

1st Shaun O’Neill 9lb 14oz
2nd Dave Baker 6lb 14oz
3rd Steve Saunders 6lb 9oz
4th Alan Brown 3lb 9oz

***

Avon AC Club Pairs 27th Dec 2017

Due to flooding on the river Avon our Pairs match was switched to the K&A Canal at Semington. This meant we had a smaller turn out than usual and so the pairs element was dropped.

Top three
1 Martin Barrett 20:08 (Skimmers on pole and caster)
2 Mick Withy 5:12
3 Robbie Kepner 4:03oz

***

Avon AC Club Xmas Match Sat 2nd Dec 2017

Match winner (again) Glen Witchard

Forty four of our members turned out on Saturday to fish our annual club Xmas match on the river Avon in Melksham.
While the fishing above the town bridge was generally very tough, downstream proved to be much better with all of the top six weights coming from the area.

Drawn on the second peg at Sainsbury's Melksham's Glen Witchard made a small piece of club history by becoming the first angler to win this match for two years running.
Glen fished punched bread on a five meter whip to take 23lb 12onz of quality roach to 12onz and kept them coming by feeding liquidised bread.

At the very next peg downstream, Bradford angler Dave Baker finished just 10onz behind Glen with 23lb 2onz of good roach again taken on bread.

Third spot went to Martin Barrett with 17lb 10onz of small chub and roach from peg five at Conigre.

Top six
1 Glen Wichard 23:12
2 Dave (Granny) Baker 23:02
3 Martin Barrett 17:10
4 Steve Trevett 16:08
5 Tony Scott 16:04
6 James Carty 11:08

As always the club would like to thanks all those involved in making this such a great event. Spencers Club for hosting us and the Edwards family for sorting prises.

Steve Trevett with his net of 16lb 8onz of perch with a best of 3lb 5onz

***

Avon AC SCC Saturday Series Match Four Sat 13th Aug 17

The fourth and final round of our SCC Saturday series fished on the Avon at Whaddon fished much the same as in previous rounds with roach dominating the weights

Devizes angler Gary Etheridge took top spot with 16lb 3oz of roach taken on the pole at 13 meters with caster hook bait fished over ground bait.

Second place went to Sean O'Neil with 10lb 9oz. Fishing with worm on the pole Sean netted a bonus 4lb bream to go with his net of mostly perch

Club match secretary Mark Crook was third with 9lb 8oz of roach caught on hemp.

Top Six

1 GARY ETHERIDGE 16:03
2 SEAN O'NEIL 10:09
3 MARK CROOK 9:08
4 TONY GILBERT 7:13
5 STEVE ROGERS 7:05
6 BRIAN HAIGH 6:12

Mark Crook won the £100 series payout by just one point.

Top Three

1 MARK CROOK 29 point £100
2 SEAN O'NEIL 28 points £80
3 MICK WITHEY 23 points £60.

***

Avon AC v King Billy Sun 6th Aug 2017

With the River Avon at Lacock’s Abby Fields in just about the same condition as our last match on this cracking venue (low and clear) it's not suprising the weights were much as previous.

Drawn at the first peg bellow Lacock bridge Steve Skelton fished caster on a big stick float for a winning weight of 15lb 8oz of mainly chub.

Mark Crook was runner up with an all small fish catch of 14lb 9oz from peg three.

Third place went to Steve Rogers with 10lb of small fish.

All in all the river fished very well again given how clear the water was and only one angler failed to weigh in.

Top six

1 STEVE SKELTON 15:08
2 MARK CROOK 14:09
3 STEVE ROGERS 10:00
4 ANDY BRITT 9:14
5 PETE MILLS 8:06
6 SEAN O'NEIL 8:02

***

Avon AC SCC Saturday Series Match Three Sat 29th July 17

The river Avon at Whaddon was in much the same condition for round three as it had been for the first two rounds. Slow moving and clear, fishing again was tough.

Match secretary Mark Crook made good use of drawing end peg 36 by putting a winning 12lb 8oz of roach onto the scales for the win. Mark fished the pole at 11m over ground bait with maggot on the hook.

In second place just four pegs away at 32 was Sean O'Neil with 10lb 2oz of roach fishing the same method.

Third spot went to Westbury angler Mick Withy with 9lb 2oz

Top Six

1 MARK CROOK 12:08
2 SEAN O'NEIL 10:02
3 MICK WITHY 9:08
4 PETE TOWNSEND 9:02
5 ANDY PRATTEN 8:5
6 GARY ETHERIDGE 8:01

***

Avon AC SCC Saturday Series Match Two Sat 15th July 17

It was back to the river Avon at Whaddon for round two of our Saturday series of club matches and with less flow on the river than in the previous week, fishing was very hard.

Top spot on the day went to Richard Wills with 12lb 7oz. Fishing the pole at 11 meters over ground bait with maggot on the hook Rich had a bonus bream of 6lb 2oz to go with his 6lb odd of small fish to finish well ahead of the field.

Runner up was Steve Shears with 6lb 15oz. Drawn on the end peg, 36 Steve had small roach with a few better skimmers on the pole over ground bait.

Tony Scott was third with 6lb 9oz of small fish taken on the pole.

Top Six

1 RICHARD WILLS 12:07
2 STEVE SHEARS 6:15
3 TONY SCOTT 6:09
4 MICK WITHY 5:15
5 ADRIAN Mc TIFFIN 5:12
6 MARK CROOK 5:02

***

Avon AC v King Billy Sun 8th Aug 2017

Despite the river Avon running low and clear at Lacock’s Abby Fields some good weights were recorded in the first of our inter club match with King Billy AC of Bristol.

Melksham angler Bob Ryan, drawn just bellow Lacock road bridge took top spot with 17lb 9oz. Bob fished a Crow Quill float with caster to put five chub to 4lb and some small fish into the net for the win.

Tim Ford was runner up with an all small fish catch from the Conker Tree peg in the Abby Field weighing 16lb 1oz

Just one once behind Tim was Mark Crook with 16lb of small fish at peg four.

Top six

1 BOB RYAN 17:09
2 TIM FORD 16:01
3 MARK CROOK 16:00
4 GERRY POCOCK 15:08
5 PAT BRUSHNEEN 11:14
6 RICH SCHOLLER 8:11

***

Avon AC SCC Saturday Series Match One Sat 8th July 2017

Round one of our SCC Storage sponcered Saturday series was fished on a low and clear Bristol Avon at Whaddon. Despite not having the best conditions the river fished reasonably well with lots of roach being caught.

Melksham’s Bob Ryan took top spot with an all roach catch of 13lb 8oz from peg 35 in the third field. Bob fished the pole at 11 meters over ground bait in ten feet of water with caster on the hook and kept the fish feeding by lose feeding hemp.

Runner up was match secretary Mark Crook with 12lb 13oz of roach from peg 12 in the “horse shoe” field. Mark fished the pole at 13 meters over ground bait and lose feed caster and hemp

Ian Stainer was third with 9lb 14oz of roach again fishing the pole over ground bait.

Top Six

1 BOB RYAN 13:08
2 MARK CROOK 12:13
3 IAN STAINER 9:14
4 TONY GILBERT 8:02
5 SEAN O’NEILL 7:15
6 ALAN BROWN 7:05

***

Avon AC Evening Club Match Three Tue 4th June 2017

Match three was more of the same as previous Tuesdays at Conigre with only small fish showing and just a few signs that the roach will soon be feeding well on seed baits.

Winner on the night was Tony "4 star" Gilbert with 6lb 12oz from peg two. Tony fished the first half of the match catching bleek on the whip before swithing to a bulked float on catching small roach
Pete mills was second with an all small fish net of 4lb 12oz from peg seven.

Keith Lucus was third with 4lb 8oz from peg 15

Top Six
1 TONY GILBERT 6:12
2 PETE MILLS 4:12
3 KEITH LUCAS 4:08
4 ROBBIE KEPNER 3:09
5 MICK WITHEY 3:04
6 STEVE PARNEL 3:01

Next evening match will be Tue 11th July, draw at Conigre @ 5:30pm
All members welcome
Please book in with the match secretary, Marcus Crook 07980 623479

***

Avon AC Evening Club Match TwoTue 27th June 2017

Our second evening club match on the river at Conigre was almost a rerun of last Tuesdays match.
Once again it was lots of bites but small fish only.

Winner on the night was Steve Rogers with 7lb 9oz of bits from peg four. Steve alternated between stick float and pole fished close in with maggot hook bait

Steve Shears was second with another all small fish catch of 6lb 4oz from peg two.

Bob Ryan was third with 4lb 14oz from peg ten.

Top Six
1 STEVE ROGERS 7:09
2 STEVE SHEAR 6:04
3 BOB RYAN 4:14
4 MARK WHIPPET 4:12
5 KEITH LUCAS 3:15
6 ANDY PRATTEN 3:14

Next match will be Tue 4th July, draw at Conigre @ 5:30pm
All members welcome

***

Avon AC Evening Club Match 1 Tue 20th June 2017

Hot weather and low clear water on the Avon at Conigre were not the best conditions for our first match of the new season. However members found the small fish feeding well enough to have a reasonable few hours fishing. This stretch of the river is solid with very small chub and probably 90% of fish caught were chub of half ounce to ten ounce.

Drawn at peg two Keith Lucas fished a stick float and maggot to put a winning 8lb 2oz of small chub on the scales

With another all small fish catch was runner up Mick Withey with 6lb 12oz from peg 8

Match secretary Mark Crook was third with 5lb 14oz

Top Six

1 KEITH LUCAS 8:02
2 MICK WITHEY 6:12
3 MARK CROOK 5:14
4 PETE MILLS 5:05
5 BOB RYAN 5:04
6 ANDY PRATTEN 4:09

Avon AC Open Match Sun 26th Feb 2017

Open Match winner Martin Barrett with 8lb 13oz

Our last match of the season was fished on a very difficult river Avon at Scotland Road and Melksham Park.

Winner on the day was Martin Barrett with 8lb 13oz of mostly small roach taken on bread punch. Martin fished an eleven BB Crow Quill float down the middle of the river at the peg bellow Scotland Road footbridge.He kept the fish coming by regularly feeding liquidised breed.

Runner up was Mike Marsden with 6lb 4oz of roach and perch caught on the pole at 13 meters over ground bait.

Melksham's Bob Ryan was third with 4lb 13oz of roach and perch.

Results as follows

1 MARTIN BARRETT 8lb 13oz
2 MIKE MARSDEN 6lb 4oz
3 BOB RYAN 4lb 13oz
4 ANDY PRATTEN 3lb 8oz
5 CRAIG FLETCHER 2lb 15oz
6 GARY CROSS 2lb

***

Avon AC Pairs Match 27th Dec 2016

Our anual pairs match was fished on the river Avon at Portman Road and Scotland Road

Results as follows

1 MICK WITHEY 10lb 10oz (Mick won the £500 Golden Peg)
2 BRIAN HAIGH 7lb 8oz
3 MARK CROOK 6lb 14oz
4 PETE MILLS 6lb 12oz
5 IAN STAINER 5lb 15oz
6 ADRIAN McTIFFIN 5lb 11oz

Winning Pairs

1 MICK WITHEY and PETE TOWNSEND £150
2 PETE MILLS and TONY SCOTT £120

***

Avon AC Club Xmas Match 3rd Dec 2016

Match winner Glen Witchard with part of his 68lb of Bream

Top spot on the day went to Melksham angler Glen Witchard. Draw at the first peg bellow Black Bridge at Forest Glen romped to victory with a fantastic winning weight of 68lb 1oz. Fishing a cage feeder with worm and ground bait Glen netted 14 good bream and a few roach, skimmers and perch to carry off a Xmas hamper and £130 of pools cash.

Runner up was Salisbury man Steve Trevit. Steve drew the end peg at the bottom of Beanacre and fished a whip with maggot over small balls of ground bait. The small roach and dace kept coming through the five hour and Steve ended with a very good 21lb 1oz net of fish.

James Carty was third with 18lb 15oz of mostly roach from the top end at Sainsbury's

Top six

1 GLEN WITCHARD 68:01
2 STEVE TREVIT 21:01
3 JAMES CARTY 18:12

4 STEVE (STRETCH) SAUNDERS 17:11
5 STEVE SCHIERS 17:08
6 ROBBIE KEPNER 16:08

***

Avon AC SCC Saturday Series Match Four Sat 13th Aug

The fourth and final round of our SCC Saturday Series was fished on the river Avon at Whaddon were weights we very good given the conditions. This stretch of river contains large numbers of roach and despite the bright sunshine and river running low and clear some very good fishing was had by most.

Drawn second last peg in the "horse shoe" field, Melksham's Bob Ryan took top spot on the day with an all roach bag of 14lb 7oz. Bob fished the pole at 11 meters in 10 feet of water with caster hook bait. After feeding six large balls of ground baitat the off he kept the fish feeding through the day by lose feeding hemp and caster.

Drawn in the third field Craig Fletcher us the same tactics to take second spot with another all roach net of 12lb 11oz.

Marcus Crook was third with 12lb 3oz of roach again using pole fished caster over ground bait.

Top six

1 BOB RYAN 14:07
2 CRAIG FLETCHER 12:11
3 MARCUS CROOK 12:03
4 PETE TOWNSEND 8:00
5 JAMES CARTY 7:14
6 IAN STAINER 7:09

The four match series was won by Pete Townsend with 31 points

Series top three

1 PETE TOWNSEND 31 POINTS
2 MARCUS CROOK 29
3 ALAN BROWN 24

Avon AC would like to thank SCC Storage for their sponsorship of the series

***

Once again it was the small fish making up the bulk of the weights in our second inter club match with King Billy of Bristol. Fished on a low and clear Bristol Avon at Lacock all the competing anglers had a good days fishing with the top eight all making double figures.

Having won the previous match on this venue Melksham's Mark Crook was more than pleased to draw the very same peg and made no mistake in making the best of his luck. Fishing with a combination of whip and stick float with maggot hook bait Mark put 14lb 4oz of small fish in his net for the win.

Runner up was Sean O'Neil of Melksham with 13lb 7oz of roach taken on a stick float and seed bait from the Conker Tree peg.

Calne angler Nigel Smith was third with 13lb 6oz of small fish taken on the whip with maggot hook bait.


Top six

1 MARK CROOK 14:04
2 SEAN O'NEIL 13:07
3 NIGE SMITH 13:06
4 ANDY PRATTEN 12:11
5 KEVIN BOLTZ 12:07
6 ANDY BRITT 11:04

***

Avon AC SCC Saturday Series Match Three Sat 30th July

Fished on the Avon at Whaddon

Top Six

1 MARCUS CROOK 9:05
2 ALAN BROWN 9:01
3 ADRIAN McTIFFIN 8:10
4 STEVE TREVITT 8:08
5 IAN STAINER 7:03
6 CRAIG FLETCHER 7:02

***

Avon AC SCC Saturday Series Match Two Sat 23rd July

Fished on the Avon at Whaddon

Top Six

1 PETE TOWNSEND 17:13
2 MICK WITHY 11:14
3 ADRIAN McTIFFIN 9:09
4 ALAN BROWN 8:13
5 IAN STAINER 7:11
6 SEAN O'NEIL 7:05

***

Avon AC Evening Club Match 4 Tue 12th July

Melksham's Tony Gilbert won match four of our Tuesday evening series. Drawn at peg 30, Tony fished the pole at nine meters and alternated between caster, tares and worm on the hook for a winning weight of 7lb 13oz. His mixed bag included a bream of about four pounds taken on worm.

Runner up was Melksham's Rob Ryan with 5lb 13oz of roach taken on tares from the first peg behind the car park fence.

Weights here would be much higher on this stretch of the Avon but once again pike were a big problem taking lots of hooked fish in most pegs.

Top Three

1 TONY GILBERT 7:13
2 BOB RYAN 5:06
3 ALAN BROWN 3:10

***

Avon AC v King Billy Sun 10th July

The river at Lacock was as clear as tap water but water levels were better than in previous years for this annual inter club match with Bristol's King Billy AC. The extra bit of flow really helped and weights were better than last season.

With an excellent winning weight of 29lb from a peg above the Abby field was Avon AC match secretary Mark Crock. Mark fished a stick float with maggot and caught mostly chub and two barbel for nine pounds in the last twenty minutes was enough to run out top.

Second spot went to Keith Lucas of Melksham with a mixd net of 20lb 00oz from peg one bellow Raybridge. Again it was stick float and maggot that produced Keith's net of mostly small fish.

Third place went to Tetbury angler Pat Brushneen with 16lb 00oz of small fish.

Top six.

1 MARK CROOK 29:00
2 KEITH LUCAS 20:12
3 PAT BRUSHNEEN 16:00
4 TONY GILBERT 13:11
5 PETE MILLS 11:02
6 BOB RYAN 11:01

***

Avon AC Evening Club Match 3 Tue 5th July

Andy "Buddy" Praten from Somerford Keyness had a very comfortable win in our third Evening match fished on Portman Road Green. Drawn two pegs above the car park fence Andy fished caster on the pole at 9 meters to weigh in a very good 12lb 2oz of roach and skimmers.

Runner up was Melksham's Rob Ryan with 3lb 13oz of roach.

Top Four

1 ANDY PRATTEN 12:02
2 BOB RYAN 3:13
3 STEVE TREVITT 3:01
4 ALAN BROWN 2:10

Andy with his winning net of 12:02

***

Avon AC SCC Saturday Series Match One Sat 2nd July

Fished at Portman Road Green.

1 KEVIN ROWELS 8:04
2 PETE TOWNSEND 7:12
3 BRIAN HAIGH 7:06
4 ROBIN GUY 7:06
5 KEVIN ABIGAIL 6:06
6 ALAN BROWN 4:08

***

Avon AC Evening Club Match 2 Tue 28th June

Match Two of our evening series fished a little harder than the previous week with the river lower and clearer. Once again peg 21 at the top of the green was the place to be with Melksham's Rob Ryan weighing 7lb 6oz of mainly roach taken on a crow quil float with caster.

Tony Gilbert was second with amixed net of roach and perch for 5lb 6oz.

Most of the anglers had problems with pike taking hooked fish and Tony landed one of around 17lb which was returned unharmed. Should any of our members want some good pike fishing this stretch of the Avon is worth a visit. A good number of double figure fish have been seen here in the last two weeks.

Top Six

1 BOB RYAN 7:06
2 TONY GILBERT 5:06
3 MARK CROOK 4:12
4 ALAN BROWN 2:09
5 ANDY PRATTEN 2:01
6 STEVE TREVITT 1:15

***

Avon AC Evening Club Match 1

Tue 21st June

With a little extra water in the river at Portman Road Green members found the small fish feeding well enough to have a reasonable few hours fishing. In the first of our evening match series Melksham's Tony (four star) Gilbert had a clear win with an all small fish bag of 8lb 6oz. Drawn at peg 21 Tony fished maggot on the pole at 11 meters over groundbait.

Bob Ryan was second from peg 33 with another all small fish catch.

Top Six

1 TONY GILBERT 8:06
2 BOB RYAN 5:08
3 MARK CROOK 5:06
4 STEVE TREVITT 5:01
5 MICK WITHY 4:13
6 ANDY PRATTEN 4:09

Avon AC v Xmas Match Sat 5th Dec 2015

2015 Xmas match winner Kevin Rowels

With the Bristol Avon close to flood condition our annual Club Xmas match was switched to the K &A Canal. Unfortunately some of the strongest wind that many of the 52 club members have ever fish in made fishing very difficult. Fishing more than five section of pole almost impossible. Never the less some of the canals skimmers and perch showed up and everyone caught something.

Top spot on the day went to Devizes matchman Kevin Rowls. Drawn at the end peg at Whaddon, Kev put a very good 11lb 12oz of skimmers and perch on the scales to go home with his prize and 130 pounds of pools money.

Runner up was Bristol angler Kevin Boltz with 7lb 10 oz of skimmers from the Hillperton end of the venue.

Gary Williamson of Devizes was third with 6lb 10oz from a peg at Whaddon.

The top three all received hampers and everyone who fished went away with a prize.

Big thanks to Percy Edwards and wife Rose for sorting all the prizes and thank to Match Secretary Mark Crook and the guys who went out pegging and anyone else that helped make this a great event.

Thanks also to the staff of Spencer's Club for hosting us.

Top six

1 KEVIN ROWELS 11:12
2 KEVIN BOLTZ 7:10
3 GARY WILLIMSON 6:10
4 STEVE SHIRES 5:12
5 PETE TOWNSEND 5:09
6 STEVE TREVETT 5:02

Our Golden peg now stands at 500 pounds and a second one has now started

***

King Billy v Avon AC

Sunday 9th Aug @ Lacock

Our second and final inter club match with King Billy of Bristol again produced some decent fishing for the club members. Fished on an extremely low and clear Bristol Avon at Lacock’S Abby Fields it was small fish that made up all the weights.

First on the day was Calne angler Pete Mills who fished caster on a five meter whip for a mixed net of small roach, dace, and perch of 15lb. Drawn at peg four, Pete feed two pints of hemp seed to keep the fish feeding in front of him.

Second spot went to Melksham’s Sean O’Neil with 14lb 12 oz of small fish caught with stick float and maggot.

Andy Pratten was third with 12lb 1oz of small fish taken on caster fished on a four meter whip at peg three.

Top six

1 PETE MILLS 15:00 (AVON AC)
2 SEAN O'NEIL 14:12 (AVOV AC)
3 ANDY PRATTEN 12:01 (AVON AC)
4 JOHN NUTTALL 11:08 (AVON AC)
5 BOB RYAN 10:10 (AVON AC)
6 MARK CROOK 9:09 (AVON AC)

***

SCC Saturday Series Match Four

Sat 1st Aug 2015

The final round of our Saturday series was moved from Conigre to Portman Road where at last the fishing is showing signs of improvment.

Ian Stainer drew the current hot spot at peg 31 and made very good use of it with a winning weight of 23lb. Ian feed groundbait and casters at 11 metrs to take good quality skimmers on the pole.

Second was Mark Crock with 15lb of roach from the end peg. Mark fished caster on the pole at 9 meters over balls of groundbait.

Alan Hillier was third with 10lb of roach and perch from peg 21.

Melksham's Bryan Haigh was the series winner with a total of 26 points and takes home the £100 prize money.

Top six

1 IAN STAINER 23:00
2 MARK CROOK 15:00
3 ALAN HILLIER 10:00
4 ALAN BROWN 6:07
5 BOB RYAN 6:00
6 BRYAN HAIGH 4:05

Top three after the four match series

1BRYAN HAIGH 26 POINTS 54LB 2OZ
2 MARK CROOK 26 POINTS 36LB 6OZ
3 ROBIN GUY 22 POINTS

***

SCC Saturday Series Match Three

Sat 25th June 2015

A return to the Bristol Avon at Whaddon saw river conditions much changed after the heavy rain the day before. Round three of our SCC sponsored Saturday series looked like being a bream match but none showed and as before it was roach that made up all the weights..

Once again it was Melksham’s Robin Guy just came out on top with a winning weight of 11lb 6oz. Drawn at the bottom end of the third field Robin caught roach fishing maggot on the pole at 11 meters over balls of groundbait.

Second spot went to Westbury angler Mick Withey drawn in the horseshoe field with an all roach weight of 10lb 9oz. Again pole caster and groundbait were the order of the day.

Third was Mark Crook with 9lb 15oz of roach.

Top six

1 ROBIN GUY 1:06
2 MICK WITHEY 10:09
3 MARK CROOK 9:15
4 BRYAN HAIGH 8:10
5 PETE MILLS 7:00
6 ANDY PRATTEN 5:06

***

Avon AC Evening Club Match 6

The sixth and final match in our evening series fished at Portman road green was a case of more of the same as most struggled for bites.

One man had no such problems though on the night and won the match with pounds to spare. Salisbury angler Steve Trevitt has enjoyed some success in this series and this match made the journey up from Salisbury well worthwhile. Drawn at peg 31, Steve fished seed baits and was soon into a good bream. A switch to worm saw four more bream to five pound in the net before switching back to seeds and catching good roach and skimmers for a cracking weight of 29lb 8oz.

Mike Withy was second with a roach and perch catch of 4lb 8oz from peg 21

Bob Ryan was third with an all perch net of 3lb 7oz

Top six

1 STEVE TREVETT 29:08
2 MICK WITHY 4:08
3 BOB RYAN 3:07
4 TONY GILBERT 2:08
5 ROBBIE KEPNER 2:00
6 MARK CROCK 1:12

***

Avon AC Evening Club Match 5

Five weeks into the new season and the river's still running low and clear due to a lack of any meaningful rain. With the water barely moving and pike very active along the Portman Road stretch it's been hard work putting fish in the net.

Melksham's Tony Gilbert finnished top in match five with a roach and skimmer catch of 8lb 14oz. Fishing the peg above the car park fence, Tony feed and fished hemp on the pole at 14 meters for the win despite having several good roach taken by pike.

Peg 33 behind the car park fence was once again the place to be for perch. Mick Withy took second spot with 7lb 10oz of them all caught on pole fished worm..

Top six

1 TONY GILBERT 8:14
2 MICK WITHY 7:10
3 DAREN FLETCHER 4:14
4 STEVE TREVETT 4:11
5 KEVIN CHUBB 2:08
6 MARK CROOK 2:02

***

King Billy v Avon AC

Saturdy 12th July @ Lacock

The river at Lacock was as low and clear as anyone could remember and some swims that normally fish well had to be left out through lack of water. Despite this our annual Inter club with King Billy still produced some good fishing thanks to the small fish that are present here in large numbers.

Two anglers tied for top spot with Pete Mills and Shawn O’Neil both weighing 15lb 14oz. Both anglers had dace and small roach taken on the whip. Pete caught on caster from a peg in the middle of the Abby field and Shawn on maggot from the point peg in the field above.

Third place went to Melksham’s Mark Crook with an all roach catch from the bay in the Abby field. Mark fished caster on the pole at 11 meters over groundbait for his net of 13lb 10oz.

Shawn O’Neil almost took the golden peg pot standing at £500, he fell just one ounce short. Hard luck Shawn but it’s still there to be won.

Top six

1= PETE MILLS 15:14
1= SHAWN LGB O’NEIL 15:14
3 MARK CROOK 13:09
4 BOB RYAN 12:07
5 ANDY PRATTEN 10:05
6 ALLAN HILLIER 8:14

Pete Mills with his small fish catch of 15lb 14oz @ Lacock

***

Avon AC Evening Club Match 4

Match four of our evening series at Portman Road saw some improvement in the fishing even though the river conditions was much the same as previous weeks.

Drawing the same peg for the third time in four matches, peg 33 behind the car park fence, Salisbury angler Steve Trevitt made good use of the practice. A very good 11lb 6oz of worm caught perch and a bonus tench of around three pounds saw Steve take top spot. He once again fished the pole down the inside and feed chopped worm to keep the perch interested.

Tony Gilbert was second with a mix of perch and roach from the “arm chair” peg on the middle of Portman Road green.

Top six

1 STEVE TREVETT 11:06
2 TONY GILBERT 6:06
3 MICK WITHY 5:04
4 ANDY PRATTEN 3:12
5 DAREN FLETCHER 3:11
6 BOB RYAN 1:09

***

Avon AC Evening Club Match 3

With still no change to the river levels the fishing was as tough as ever. Once again it was maimly small perch making up the small weights. Mark Crook again took top spot. Drawn at the top end peg at Portman Rd green Makr fished maggot on a nine meter pole for a net of small roach and perch for 4lb 6oz. was second with 15 perch for 3lb 14oz.

Only four anglers bothered to weigh in.

Top Six

1 MARK CROOK 3:10
2 BOB RYAN 3:14
3 DAREN FLETCHER 3:03
4 ANDY PRATTEN 1:03

***

SCC Saturday Series Match One

Sat 27th June 2015

Round one of our Scc Sponsored Saturday series was fished between Forest and the end of Scotland Road where those lucky enough to be drawn just bellow Scotland Road footbridge had the best of the fishing. The top four weights came from the first four pegs bellow the bridge where the bream and skimmers started feeding late in the afternoon.

Winner on the day was Melksham angler Bryan Haigh with a very good 34lb 14oz. Bryan fished a 11 meter pole with caster hook bait and lose feed worm and caster.

In the next peg downstream Adrian McTiffin did pretty much the same thing for a weight of 19lb 4oz and second spot.

Pete Townsend from Swindon was third 12lb 11oz

Top six

1 BRYAN HAIGH 34:14
2 ADRIAN McTIFFIN 19:04
3 PETE TOWNSEND 12:11
4 ANDY PRATTEN 8:10
5 SHAWN (LGB) O'NEIL 8:06
6 IAN STAINER 8:04

***

Avon AC Evening Club Match 2

This second round match of our evening series was a case of more of the same. With almost no rain in the last seven days the river remains gin clear with very little flow and with the fish hard to find. Once again it was mainly perch taken on worm that made up what few fish were caught. This week Mark Crook swapped places with Steve Trevett for first and second.

Top Six

1 MARK CROOK 3:10
2 STEVE TREVETT 3:02
3 MICK WITHY 2:13
4 ANDY PRATTEN 1:05
5 STEVE PARNELL 1:04
6 BOB RYAN 1:02

***

Avon AC Evening Club Match 1

With the river running clear and with very little flow together with bright sunlight fishing was not at it's best.
It took Steve Trevett just ten perch caught on worm to win the first of this six match evening series. Drawn at the middle of Portman Road Green Steve fished the pole inside for a winning weight of 3lb 10oz.

Top Six

1 STEVE TREVETT 3:10
2 MARK CROOK 3:02
3 MICK WITHY 3:01
4 TONY GILBERT 2:11
5 BOB RYAN 2:10
6 KEITH LUCAS 2:03

Avon AC v Xmas Match Sat 6th Dec 2014

2014 Xmas match winner John Nuttell

(sorry about the quallity of the photo, must be that shirt causing the problem)

56 members turned out for our annual Xmas match fished on the river Avon between Beanacre and Conige and despite a hard overnight frost the river fished very well with double figures needed to make the top six.

Taking the £140 pools money and the winners hamper was Andover angler John Nuttall. Drawn at the top peg at Sainsbury's John fished bronze maggot under a stick float for an excellent weight of 22lb 10oz of roach and perch with several perch around the two pound mark.

Runner up was James Carty from Pewsey with a small fish catch of 18lb 1oz from the end peg at Beanacre. James fished the pole over ground bait with maggot on the hook for small roach, dace and chub.

Kevin Boltz of Bristol was third with 16lb 14oz from just bellow the green bridge at Scotland Road. Kev fished punched bread under a crow quill float for a net of good quallity roach.

The top three all received hampers and everyone who fished went away with a prize.

The club would like to thank Percy Edwards and his wife for once again doing a great of organising all the prizes, to Mark Crook for pegging and Robin Guy's help on the day

Thanks also to the staff of Spencer's Club for hosting us.

Top six

1 JOHN NUTTALL 22:10
2 JAMES CARTY 18:01
3 KEVIN BOLTZ 16:14
4 JIM ESCOTT 12:11
5 ROBIN GUY 12:05
6 ANDY PRATTEN 11:13

***

Avon AC v Salisbury Sun 28th Sep 2014

Bright sunny weather and a low and clear river were not the best fishing conditions for this annual inter club contest however with the large numbers of small perch in the river some reasonable fishing was had.

Drawn behind the car park fence at Portman Road Tony Scott of Melksham took top spot with a mostly perch catch of 10lb 14oz. Tony caught most of his fish close in with worm fished on the pole.

Runner up was Bath angler Craig Fletcher with 9lb 7oz of roach and perch taken on wagler fished maggot at peg one on Portman Road Green.

Melksham's Brian Haigh was third with 9lb 5oz of roach and perch from the end peg on Scotland Road.

Top six

1 TONY SCOTT 10:14
2 CRAIG FLETCHER 9:07
3 BRIAN HAIGH 9:05
4 ANDY PRATTEN 6:01
5 MARC CROOK 5:07
6 BOB RYAN 4:06

***

Avon AC v King Billy AC Away Sun 10th Aug

Once again this popular inter club contest fished at the Avon at Lacock provided some excellent fishing with the top six all into double figures.

Continuing his great run of results at this venue, Melksham's Mark Crook took top spot with a very good 20lb 8oz. Drawn on the first peg bellow the road bridge Mark fished a stick float for small fish on maggot before a change halfway through. Straight lead with a bunch of maggot brought three chub and two small barbell to the net to clinch the win.

Sean O'Neil from Melksham was second with 14lb from the "Stumps" peg in the Abby field. Sean fished maggot on a wagler and two good chub in the last ten minutes saw him finish just one ounce above third spot.

There was a tie for third with Andy Pratten and Bob Ryan both weighing 13lb 15oz

Top six

1 MARK CROOK 20:08 AVON AC
2 SEAN O'NEIL 14:00 AVON AC
3= ANDY PRATTEN 13:15 AVON AC
3= BOB RYAN 13:15 AVON AC
5 JERRY POCOCK 12:15 KING BILLY
6 KEITH LUCAS 10:10 AVON AC

***

SCC Saturday Series Match Four Sat 2nd Aug

The final round of our SCC sponsored Saturday series was fished on the Avon at Conigre and with the river just starting to rise most found it hard going and only two double figure weights were recorded.

Winner on the the day was John Bohain of Swindon with a very good 19lb 15oz of roach perch and chub. Drawn at the "boys hole" John caught roach on caster fished under a stick float before a late switch to fishing worm across on the pole saw three good chub and some perch added to his net.

Second was Melksham's Mark Crook with 10lb 7oz. Alternating between stick float and pole Mark caught mainly roach on caster.

Third was Swindon angler Pete Townsend with 9lb 4oz of bits taken on the pole at peg five.

Top six

1 JOHN BOHAIN 19:13
2 MARK CROOK 10:07
3 PETE TOWNSEND 9:04
4 ALEN HILLIER 7:12
5 GARY ETHERIDGE 6:12
6 BOB RYAN 6:11

Pete Townsend was the series winner with 30 point just two ahead of Mark Crook who had 28

As ever the the club wish to thank Mark Crook of SCC Storage for the generous support of the series.

***

SCC Saturday Series Match Three Sat 26th July

Round three of our SCC Storage series was fished at the Scotland and Portman Road sections of the Avon at Melksham. With the weather hot and bright and almost no flow on the river the fishing was rock hard. Just one angler managed to make double figures.

Drawn at the first peg on Portman Road Swindon angler Pete Townsend caught 10lb 10oz of roach on hemp, pole fished at 11 meters to take maximum points.

Bob Davis was second with 9lb 4oz of roach and perch taken on 13 meter pole with caster bait form the end peg on Scotland Road

Third was Melksham's Robin Guy with 8lb 6oz of worm caught eels and perch from the middle of Portman Road green.

The golden peg was not won and will be at over £400 in Saturdays round four match at Conigre.

Top six

1 PETE TOWNSEND 10:10
2 BOB DAVIS 9:04
3 ROBIN GUY 8:06
4 ANDY PRATTEN 6:11
5 BRIAN HAIGH 6:00
6 IAN STAINER 5:08

***

SCC Saturday Series Match Two Sat 19th July

Round two of our SCC Storage sponsored Saturday series was fished on a rising Bristol Avon at Whaddon were some of the best match weights in years were recorded.

Despite the river rising six inches in the first two hour some great fishing was had with roach feeding well for the first hour before the river coloured up and it became bream or nothing match.

Drawn in the "Horse Shoe" field was Swindon's Pete Townsend who had five good bream and a few roach for a winning 33lb 3oz. Pete took his fish on pole fished worm over ground bait.

At the bottom end of the match length Alan Hillier fished with pole with a flat float and netted about eight pounds of roach and three bream late on to take second with 24lb 5oz.

With two big bream in his last two chucks on the feeder Sean O'Neil was third with 22lb 13oz from a peg in the middle of the first field..

Marcus Crook was forth with 22lb 2oz and after two rounds leads the way with 19 points

Top six

1 PETE TOWNSEND 33:03
2 ALAN HILLIER 24:05
3 LGB O'NEIL 22:13
4 MARK CROOK 22:02
5 IAN STAINER 14:00
6 BOB RYAN 9:04

League to date after two rounds

1 MARK CROOK 19 POINTS
2 PETE TOWNSEND 18 POINTS
3 ALAN BROWN 13 POINTS
4 IAN STAINER 11 POINTS

The golden peg was not won and now stands at £391 for round three this Sat

***

Avon AC v King Billy AC Inter Club Match away at Lacock Sun 13th July 2013

The river Avon at Lacock once again produced some excellent sport for the members of Bristol's King Billy and Melkshams Avon AC in this popular inter club match.

Top spot on the day went to Avon AC match secretary Mark Crook with an excellent winning weight of 24lb 13oz. Drawn at the "stumps" Mark fished for small fish with caster on a whip close in before a switch to a wagler with worm fished across brought a three pound perch and some small chub.

Melksham angler Bob Ryan was second with 21lb 4oz of roach and dace all taken on stick float and caster from the "high bank" peg

Gerry Pocock was third with 19lb 10oz of chub from just above the road bridge

Top six

1 MARK CROOK (AVON AC) 24:13
2 BOB RYAN (AVON AC) 21:04
3 GERRY POCOCK (KING BILLY) 19:10
4 SHANE CASWELL 16:04 (KING BILLY)
5 LGB O'NEIL (AVON AC) 15:00
6 PAT BRUSHNEEN (AVON AC) 13:15

Team result (Top six from each )

AVON AC 69:11
KING BILLY 50:12

***

SCC Saturday Series Match One Sat 28th June

Round one of the club's SCC Saturday series was fished on the Avon at Scotland and Portman road where a feild of 20 members enjoyed some good roach fishing.

On the day the Scotland road section was the place to be with the top four all drawn there. The top three all fished a 12 meter pole over ground bait with maggot on the hook for all roach weights.

Top six

1 MARK CROOK 13:07
2 JAMES CARTY 11:04
3 ALEN BROWN 10:07
4 PETE TOWNSEND 9:15
5 GARY WILLIAMSON 9:14
6 ADRIAN McTIFFIN 9:11

***

Evening Club Match One. Tue 17th June 2014

Our first match of the new season was fished at Portman Road green on Tuesday evening.

Bob Ryan took top spot with a good tench a few skimmers for 9lb 14oz

Top three

1 BOB RYAN 9:14
2 MARK CROOK 7:02
3 ANDY PRATTEN 4:14

***

Reports on future matches will appear on this website in due course. In the meantime, don't forget to check the Match Dates page for details of all upcoming fixtures

Older Match Reports

Reports are listed in Date Order, with the most recent at the top. Please click on a link below to view the report's:

Match Reports Dec 2002 to Feb 2013

Avon AC Pairs Match 27th Dec 2013

With the Avon in full flood this club match was switched to the K&A Canal at Whaddon and due to the low turnout the Pair's element of the match was abandoned

As it turned out the canal fished very hard in the poor weather and weights were well on the low side.

Needing just 4lb to win, Gary Etheridge of Devizes fished maggot on the pole to catch small roach and one good perch.

Adrian McTiffin was second with 3lb 14oz while third place went to Graham Pearce with 3lb 11oz.

Top six

1 GARY ETHERIDGE 4:00
2 ADRIAN McTIFFIN 3:14
3 GRAHAM PEARCE 3:11
4 TONY (FOUR STAR) GILBERT 2:12
5 JIM ESCOTT 2:07
6 STRETCH 2:04

***

Avon AC Xmas Match 7th Dec 2013

Xmas match winner Nigel Smith (left) with runner up Steve Saunders

Fifty plus members turned out for our ever popular club Xmas match. Fished on the river Avon between Forest and Conigre. On the day the section at Sainsburys was the place to draw as this section produced the top two in the match.

Drawn at the top end of the section was Calne match man Nigel Smith who fished worm on the pole at 11 meters for a winning 16lb 10oz of skimmers, roach and several very good perch to over 2lb.

Just a few pegs downstream, Melksham angler Steve (Stretch) Saunders took 14lb 2oz of roach on a stick float and maggot hook bait to take second spot

Third place went to Melksham's Bob Ryan with a mixed net of skimmers, perch and roach from the top end of the Scotland Road section all taken on wagler fished maggot.

The top three all received hampers and everyone who fished went away with a prize.

After the results and prizes had been given out, retiring club secretary Percy Edwards was presented with gift from the club in recognition of his many years of service. Thanks must also go to Percy and his wife for once again doing a great of of organising all the prizes.

Thanks also to the staff of Spencer's Club for hosting us.

Top six

1 NIGEL SMITH 23:11
2 STEVE (STRETCH) SAUNDERS 16:10
3 BOB RYAN 14:02
4 SHAUN O'NEIL 12:15
5 KEVIN ROWELS 12:13
6

***

Avon AC v Salisbury Sunday 29th Sep 2013

A small turnout saw this interclub fished at Portman Road where fish were much harder to tempt than normal.

Just 8lb 7oz from Calne's Nigel Smith was all that was needed to take first place, Drawn at the "Arm Chair" peg, Nigel had a mixed net of fish taken on worm fished down the inside with the pole.

Fellow Calne angler Mick Loafy was runner up with 6lb 13oz of roach and perch from behind the car park fence.

Salisbury's Dave George was third with 5lb 1oz

Top six

1 NIGEL SMITH 8:07 (AVON AC)
2 NICK LOAFY 6:13 (AVON AC)
3 DAVE GEORGE 5:01 (SALISBURY AC)
4 BOB RYAN 4:05 (AVON AC)
5 STEVE TREVITT 3:07 (SALISBURY AC)
6 ANDY PRATTEN 2:10 (AVON AC)

***

SCC Storage Sponsored Open Sunday 8th Sep 2013

Drawn at the top end peg on the Portman Road section Paul Andrews fished the wagler for perch and roach before switching halfway through to pole fished hemp. The change paid off with a steady flow of four to eight once roach coming for a winning weight of 12lb 4oz

Also at Portman Road was match secretary Mark Crook who fished worm on a short pole for a mostly perch catch of 9lb 2oz for second spot.

Just two ounces behind was Meksham's Robbie Kepner with a mixed net of 9lb from peg ten at Conigre

Top four

1 PAUL ANDREWS 12:04
2 MARK CROOK 9:02
3 ROBBIE KEPNER 9:00
4 DAVE BAKER 8:05

Thanks again to SCC for suporting this match

***

Avon A C v King Billy Away Sun 11h Aug 2013

The Bristol Avon at Lacock was in cracking form were all the top six had double figures in this popular annual inter club match. Overnight rain added a tinge of colour and a little more flow to the river where the small dace and roach were caught in large numbers.

Drawn at peg one, Melkham's Sean O'Neil took top spot with an excellent 19lb 3oz. Sean fished stick float with caster to put around 14lb of small roach and dace in the net before finding to good chub late on to finish the clear winner.

Pat Brushneen of Tetbury was second with an all dace catch of 14lb 2oz. Drawn well bellow Lacock bridge Pat fished with stick float and caster and feed hemp to keep the fish coming for five hours.

Mark Crook was third with 12lb 9oz from the Abby Field. Mark fished a four meter whip and caught roach and dace on caster.

Top six

1 SEAN O'NEIL 19:03 (AVON AC)
2 PAT BRUSHNEEN 14:02 (AVON AC)
3 MARK CROCK 12:09 (AVON AC)
4 BOB RYAN 12:04 (AVON AC)
5 ANDY PRATTEN 11:02 (AVON AC)
6 RICHARD FAITHFUL 10:14 (AVON AC)

Team result (top three from each)

AVON AC 45:14
KING BILLY 23:15

***

SCC Saturday Series Match Four Sat 3rd Aug 2013

The fourth and final round of our Saturday series was moved to Portman Road due the crop at Conigre having not yet been cut.

In a very close match it was club match secretary Mark Crook who took to spot by just one once. Mark fished a whip at four meters at the peg just before the car park fence and put over 300 bleek into his net for a winning 8lb 12oz.

Runner up was Alan Hillier with 8lb 11oz of perch and roach. Alan fished the pole at eleven meters to catch perch on the worm and managed to find some roach on hemp late on.

Andy Pratten was third with 8lb 4oz of perch and roach from the first peg behind the car park fence

Top six

1 MARK CROOK 8:12
2 ALAN HILLIER 8:11
3 ANDY PRATTEN 8:04
4 JOHN BOHAIN 7:06
5 PETE TOWNSEND 7:04
6 MICK WITHY 5:03

With his win in the final match Mark Crook narrowly won the series with a total of 28 points from Pete Townsend on 27. Andy Patten was third with 25.

Avon AC would like to thank SAC Storage for there sponsorship of this series of matches

***

SCC Saturday Series Match Three Sat 27th July 2013

Round three of the SCC sponsored Saturday series was again fished at Portman Road where the venue continued to show good form.

Devizes angler Gary Williamson scored an impressive win with a mixed net of 18lb 12oz. Drawn at the first peg behind the car park fence Gary fished worm on the pole in the first half of the match catching perch, ells, and a good tench. A switch to fishing hemp for roach in the second half of the match saw Gary add around eight pounds of roach.

Runner up was Melksham's Bryan Haigh with 10lb 14oz of roach and perch from the top peg on the green.

Third spot went to Mark Crook of Melksham with 10lb 8oz from the "Arm Chair" peg

Top six

1 GARY WILLIAMSON 18:12
2 BRYAN HAIGH 10:14
3 MARK CROOK 10:08
4 ANDY PRATTEN 8:10
5 PETE TOWNSEND 8:08
6 ALAN BROWN 5:00

***

SCC Saturday Series Match Two Sat 20th July

Round two of the club's Saturday series was fished on the Avon at Portman and Conigre and given the lack of flow some reasonable fishing was had.

Top spot went to Devizes angler Pete Townsend with a weight of 15lb 4oz from a peg in the middle of the Portman Road section. Pete feed chopped word to tempt perch ells and a good size tench all taken on the pole with worm hook bait.

At the next peg Melksham's Bob Ryan fished caster on the pole at 10 meters to catch around 3lb of perch before catching some good roach on tares late on to finish with a weight of 10lb 11oz

Mark Crook of Melksham took third place with a 9lb 2oz net of perch and bleek from peg 10 at Conigre

Top six

1 PETE TOWNSEND 15:04
2 BOB RYAN 10:11
3 MARK CROOK 9:12
4 DUNCAN SMITH 7:03
5 BRYAN HAIGH 6:04
6 JOHN BOHANE 6:01

***

Avon AC v Chippenham v Calne Sunday 14th July

Despite far from ideal conditions the Avon at Melksham fished reasonably well with most of the anglers kept busy for the five hours of this annual inter club match. On one of the hottest days of the year sunscreen and pole fishing was the order of the day on the low and slow moving Avon at Melksham.

The match was pegged in three different sections and as in turned out the section behind Sainsburys was the to produce the winner where Calne's Nigel Smith fished worm on the pole at 12 meters to take two good bream and some perch for a winning 14lb 13oz.

Second spot went to Martin Dolman of Calne with 9lb of perch and ells from the Portman Road section, again Martin fished worm on the pole close in.

Once again it was a Calne man fishing the pole with worm that saw Gary Dodson's 7lb 14oz of perch and ells take third spot from the Conigre section.

Top six

1 NIGEL SMITH (CALNE) 14:13
2 MARTIN DOLMAN (CALNE) 9:00
3 GARY DODSON (CALNE)7:14
4 ANDY PRATTEN (AVON)6:15
5 MARK WOOLDRIDGE (CHIPPENHAM) 6:11
6 BOB RYAN (AVON)7:03

TEAMS (top three from each)

1 CALNE 31:11
2 AVON 19:07
3 CHIPPENHAM 6:13

***

Avon A C v King Billy Away Sun 7th July 2013

Yet again the Bristol Avon at Lacock was running low and clear and
weights were a little on the low side in this annual inter club match.
Fished from below Ray Bridge down stream to Lacock Bridge it was the
small dace that kept anglers busy with almost no "lumps" showing at all.

One man who did find a "lump" was Newbury angler Patrick Samuel who's
winning weight of 13lb 10oz included a cracking barbell of 9lb 10oz from
peg six. Patrick landed the barbell on his stick float and light hook
length while fishing for dace.

Shane Casswell of Bristol was second with 12lb 6oz of dace and small
roach taken on stick float and caster from peg three.

Tetbury man Pat Brushneen was third with another all small fish net of
10lb 3oz from peg eleven.

1 PATRICK SAMUEL (AVON) 13:10
2 SHANE CASSWELL (BILLY) 12:06
3 PAT BRUSHNEEN (AVON) 10:03
4 ANDY PRATTEN (AVON) 10:02
5 MARCUS CROOK (AVON) 9:10
6 JERRY (BILLY) 9:09

Teams (top five for each side)

KING BILLY 26:14

AVON AC 61:05

***

Evening Club Match Two. Tue 25th June 2013

The river at Portman Road Green is starting to show some better form as weights were far better than last weeks in our second Tuesday evening series of matches.

Melksham's Robin Guy took top spot with a mixed net or roach perch and skimmers weighing 10lb 14oz. Drawn at the top end of the Green, Robin switched between fishing worm and caster on the pole at 11 meters over ground bait and finished with just 8oz to spare.

Second spot went to Bob Ryan of Melksham with 10lb 6oz. Drawn behind the car park fence Bob caught perch, ells and skimmers with worm fished on the pole at 9 meters.

Gary Williamson was third at the downstream end peg with 7lb 15oz of pole caught roach and perch.

Top five

1 ROBIN GUY 10:14
2 BOB RYAN 10:07
3 GARRY WILLIAMSON 7:15
4 ALAN BROWN 3:03
5 ANDY PRATTEN 3:02

***

Evening Club Match One. Tue 19th June 2013

Our first match of the new season was fished at Portman Road green on Tuesday evening, the first of a series of six matches. With the river low and clear fish were hard to tempt with none of the big fish that came out this time last year showing.

Bob Ryan's 5lb 7oz of roach and perch was all that was needed to win from the "Armchair" peg. Bob fished with caster on the pole at nine meters.

Mark Wooldridge was second with 5lb 4oz of perch from behind the car park fence. Mark fished with worm on the pole close in.

Third spot went to Swindon angler Alan Brown with 4lb 8oz

Top five

BOB RYAN 5:07
MARK WOOLDRIDGE 5:04
ALAN BROW 4:08
KEVIN ROWELS 4:02
ANDY PRATTEN 3:14

***

Avon AC Open Sunday 24th Feb 2013

Our final match of the season saw thirty plus anglers turn out for this Melksham Open fished on the river Avon between Forest and Sainsbury's. On a very cold day fishing was a little better than could be expected with roach feeding on bread and a few of the rivers bream showing.

Taking top spot was Somerfords Keynes match man Andy Praten with a weight of 25lb 11oz. Drawn just bellow Black Bridge at Forest, Andy had two pound of small fish on the stick float fished down the inside on maggot before hooking the first of four bream. A late change to the feeder added one more big fish and a comfortable win.

Runner up was Tony Scott with 9lb 14oz of roach all taken on punched bread from the end peg at Portman Road behind the car park.

9lb 10oz was enough to give Richie Tomala third place with another all roach net taken on punched bread from the first peg on Portman Road.

Top six

1 ANDY PRATTEN 25:11
2 TONY SCOTT 9:14
3 RICHIE TOMALA 9:10
4 ALAN BROWN 8:05
5 NIGEL RUSSEL 7:14
6 PETE MILLS 6:14

***

Avon AC V Pucklechurch Sun 10th Feb 2013

The annual inter club match with Pucklechurch AC was pegged from the Green Bridge at Scotland road down stream to the weir in Melksham park.

Taking top spot was Pucklechurch member R Savage who fished an open end feeder from a peg on Scotland Road. Two good bream and a few bits gave him a winning 11lb 14oz

Runner up was Avon AC member Howard Adams. Fishing a few pegs away from the winner Howard had one bream and some bits for 8lb 7oz Pucklechurch angler

Kevin Boltz was third with 4lb 7oz

Top six

1 R SAVAGE 11:14 (PUCKLECHURCH)
2 HOWARD ADAMS 8:07 (AVON)
3 KEVIN BOLTZ 4:07 (PUCKLECHURCH)
4 BRYAN HAIGH 3:08 (AVON)
5 GERRY POCOCK 3:06 (PUCKLECHURCH)
6 BOB WHILTSHIRE 2:00 (PUCKLECHURCH)

Pucklechurch came out on top in the inter club contest

***

Avon Club Pair's Match Thur 27th Dec 2012

With the river Avon yet again in flood this annual pairs match was switched to the K &A Canal with 15 pegs at Seend Park and 15 at Semington.
With the very mild weather there were plenty of small fish to be had everywhere but the better sized skimmers were needed to make the top places.

Top individual on the day was Devizes match man Kevin Abigail with 18lb. Making the most of drawing the first peg at Semington, Kevin had skimmers to a pound on pole fished red maggot over ground bait caught at 11 meters.

Tony Gilbert of Melksham was second with 7lb 7oz of skimmers taken on pole fished worm, again from the Semington section.

Third spot went to Bryan Haigh with 6lb 10oz of skimmers and perch from the end peg at Seend Park

Top six

1 KEVIN ABIGAIL 18:00
2 TONY GILBERT 7:07
3 BRYAN HAIGH 6:10
4 STRETCH 5:03
5 = NICK SMITH 5:01
5 = ADRIAN McTIFFIN 5:01

Top three pairs

1 KEVIN ABIGAIL AND MARK WOOLDRIDGE 22:00
2 BRYAN HAIGH AND NICK SMITH 11:11
3 TONY GILBERT AND MICK WITHEY 10:10

***

Xmas match winner Tony Gilbert of Melksham

Avon Club Xmas Match Sat 1st Dec 2012

With the match being switched to the K&A Canal following last weekends floods, a smaller than normal turnout of 43 members headed for the towpath between Semington and Hilperton. And despite the very hard overnight frost that saw anglers breaking the ice at there pegs the canal fished reasonably well. Small roach were to be had all through the venue but the better skimmer bream that have been showing in the last week or so were very hard to tempt.

Melksham's Tony (four star) Gilbert, the winner of this match two years ago took top spot again with a winning 8lb 1oz. Drawn at the Hilperton end of the cannel, Tony fished pole with punched bread on a size 22 hook at just three meters to catch 150 small roach. A late switch to fishing red maggot at nine meters over ground bait produced half a dozen 6oz skimmers which was enough to see Tony pick up the winners hamper and £120 in pools money.

Swindon angler Pete Townsend was second with 6lb 13oz of small roach and skimmers plus a perch of 1lb caught late on. Drawn at Whaddon, Pete fished red maggot on the pole over ground bait alternating between nine and thirteen meters

Third place went to Trowbridge angler John Atkins who caught small roach and a few small skimmers on pinkies for 6lb 9oz at the Hilperton end of the cannel

Top six
1 TONY GILBERT 8:01
2 PETE TOWNSEND 6:13
3 JOHN ATKINS 6:09
4 KEVIN ROWELS 6:07
5 KEVIN ABIGAIL 6:03
6= DEAN ADAMS 6:00
6= HOWARD ADAMS 6:00

The golden peg was not won and now stands at (A) £269

Once again the Club would like to thank club secretary Percy Edwards and family for sorting the prizes. Also Robin Guy and Marcus Crook for pegging, and all whose efforts made this event one of the best of its kind in the South West.
Also a big thanks to the staff at Spencer's Club for their hospitality. Thanks again to all the members who turned out to fish and we hope to see you back again next year.

A HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR FROM ALL AT THE AVON ANGLING CLUB.

***

Avon & Chippenham Open Pairs Sun 21st Oct 2012

A good turn out of 58 fished this pairs event hosted by Avon AC of Melksham and Chippenham on the Brisol Avon, each club providing a peg for each pair of anglers. On the day Chippenham was the place to be with the water having run off a little more than in Melksham after the very heavy rain in the week.

The individual winner, Kevin Rowels of Devizes was drawn at peg one in Chippenham where he fished a flat float with worm on the pole at 14 meters over ground bait. Kevin had a good bream, a chub and a few good perch before changing to maggot fished on a lighter rig to add 9lb of roach to his winning weight of 19lb 7oz

Also at Chippenham was runner up Dave George of Andover who fished a wagler at the peg above the "Sea Cadets" to net 18lb 6oz of chub.

Mark Kimber was third with 15lb 13oz of chub and roach from the peg bellow the blue bridge in Chippenham.

In the pairs it turned out to be a good day for Kevin Rowels who not only won the individual payout but his partner Robbie Kepner's 6lb 7oz from the end peg in Melksham Park was enough to finish top pair with just 4 points.

Top six

1 KEVIN ROWELS 19:07
2 DAVE GEORGE 18:06
3 MARK KIMBER 15:13
4 ANDY POLLARD 14:12 (Top weight in Melksham)
5 MARK WOULDRIDGE 13:04
6 ANDY PRICE 11:09

Top four pairs

1 KEVIN ROWELS and ROBBIE KEPNER 4 points 25:14
2 DAVE GEORGE and DAVE TUCKER 5 points 23:11
3 STEVE FORD and ANDY POLLARD 5 points 18:01
4 MARK WOULDRIDGE and BRYAN HAIGH 5 points 18:00

***

Avon AC v Salisbury v Keynsham Sun 30th Sep 2012

This interclub match was like fishing two different rivers, while anglers pegged at Portman Road, Scotland Road and Sainsburys really struggled for bites those lucky enough to be at Beanacre had some excellent fishing.

One of the lucky ones was Bradford-on Avon angler Dean Adams who weighed a winning 18lb of chub roach and dace from a peg on the straight. Dean fished maggot under a stick float and feed hemp and caster.

Second spot went to Lavington man Graham Pearce who took 11lb 4oz of small fish from peg one at Beanacre. Graham fished a stick float down the middle with maggot hook bait.

Chippenham's Trevor Payne was third with three good chub and some bits for 12lb 7oz from the high bank peg at Beanacre.

Top six

1 DEAN ADAMS (AVON AC) 18:00
2 GRAHAM PEARCE (AVON AC) 12:07
3 TREVOR PAYNE (AVON AC) 11:04
4 STEVE TREVITT (SALISBURY) 9:12
5 BRYAN DERRICK (KEYNSHAM) 5:06
6 ANDY PRATTEN (AVON AC) 4:11

Avon AC won the team event with Keynsham runners up

***

SCC Storage Sponsored Open Sunday 9th Sep 2012

The river Avon at Conigre was the venue for for this sponsored open and some reasonable fishing was had by the small turnout of just a dozen anglers.

Making good use of drawing the productive "stick swim" Westbury's Mick Whithy fished with worm on the pole at 14 meters to weigh in a match winning 21lb 12oz. Mick had two good chub, three big ells and a lot of perch.

Graham Pearce of Lavington was second with 10lb 15oz of small fish taken on maggot and pole fished over ground bait.

Third place went to Robbie Kepner of Melksham with 8lb 1oz of small roach taken on pole fished caster over ground bait.

Top six

1 MICK WHITHY 21:12
2 GRAHAM PEARCE 10:15
3 ROBBIE KEPNER 8:01
4 JIM ESCOTT 6:10
5 PAUL ANDREWS 6:04
6 ADRIAN McTIFFIN 5:12

***

Avon A C v King Billy A C Inter Club Match away at Lacock Sun 12th Aug 2012

The river Avon at Lacock once again produced some excellent sport for the members of Bristol's King Billy and Melkshams Avon AC in this popular inter club match.

Top spot on the day went to Avon AC member Pat Brushneen from Tetbury who put 19lb 6oz on the scales. Drawn at peg four, pat fished a stick float with caster on the hook and caught small roach and dace all through the five hour match.

Vince Lunn of Billy was second with a 13lb 4oz mixed net of dace roach and good sized perch from the first peg bellow the road bridge. Vince fished a stick float down the inside with maggot on the hook.

Avon's Mark Crook was third with an all small fish net of 12lb 9oz from peg two. Once again a stick float with maggot on the hook was the successful method.

Top six

1 PAT BRUSHNEEN (AVON AC) 19:06
2 VINCE LUNN (KING BILLY) 13:04
3 MARK CROOK (AVON AC) 12:09
4 ADAM CARTER (AVON AC) 12:08
5 = MARTIN RAYETT (KING BILLY) 9:09
5= ANDY PRATTEN (AVON AC) 9:09
5= BOB RYAN (AVON AC) 9:09

Team result (Top six from each )

AVON AC 69:11
KING BILLY 50:12

***

Avon Club SCC Storage Saturday Series Match Four Sat 4th Aug 2012

The fourth and final match of the SCC Saturday series was switched to Portman road and Scotland road after heavy rain on Thursday made Conigre un-fishable.
Despite the river looking "spot on" members found fish hard to find.

Pegged behind the car park fence at Portman road, Melksham's Andy Pratten had a narrow win with 7lb 6oz of roach and perch taken on caster fished under a crow quill float.

Robbie Kepner was second with 7lb of skimmers form the top end of Scotland road. Robbie caught on the pole at 13 meters with maggot hook bait over ground bait.

Third place went to Bob Ryan who had 5lb 6oz of roach from a peg in the middle of the Portman road section.

Top six

1 ANDY PRATTEN 7:06
2 ROBBIE KEPNER 7:00
3 BOB RYAN 5:06
4 RICHARD FAITHFUL 4:06
5 PAT SAMUEL 3:08
6 MICK WITHEY 3:00

***

Avon Club SCC Storage Saturday Series Match Three Sat 28th July 2012

Match three of our Saturday series was fished at the "horse shoe" field at Whaddon, a section of the Avon noted for it's roach and large bream shoals. Sadly with the water running very clear on a bright sunny day no bream were caught and only the smaller roach made a show.

Luckily for Melksham's Bryan Haigh he didn't need the bream or roach as he put 18lb 14oz of big chub in his net for a runaway victory. Drawn at peg 21a Bryan fished worm on a 14 meter pole against the bushes on the far bank and feed chopped worm and caster through a bait dropper.

Melksham's Adrian Mctiffin was second with 6lb 14oz of roach from peg 26. Adrian caught on pole fished maggot at 13 meters and fished over ground bait.

Westbury angler Mick Withey was third with 5lb 1oz of roach again taken with pole fished maggot at peg 27.

Top six

1 BRYAN HAIGH 18:14
2 ADRIAN MCTIFFIN 6:14
3 MICK WITHEY 5:01
4 JIM ESCOTT 4:11
5 PETE MILLS 4:08
6 BOB RYAN 4:03

***

Evening Club Match Six. Tue 24th July 2012

The sixth and final match of this series saw a lower than normal turn out all pegged on the Portman road section. And at last the roach are starting to feed on seed baits, that's if you could avoid being troubled by the large numbers of pike feeding in the clear water.

Top spot on the night went to Melksham's Bob Ryan with an all roach net of 17lb 4oz. Bob fished tares on a size 18 hook with four sections of pole while feeding hemp at the "arm chair" peg midway along the section.

Runner up was Mark Wooldridge with 9lb 2oz of roach and perch from the first peg behind the car park fence. Mark caught on stick float with caster on the fishing hook down the inside.

Daren Fletcher was third with 4lb 7oz of pole caught roach.

Top six

1 BOB RYAN 17:04
2 MARK WOOLDRIDGE 9:02
3 DAREN FLETCHER 4:07
4 MICK WITHEY 3:14
5 ANDY PRATTEN 3:08
6 MARK CROOK 1:01

This season the winning weight of each of the six matches totalled 240lb 14oz. Last season it was just 39lb 2oz. It's good to have some water in the river again.

Thanks to everyone who turned out and made this a very enjoyable series.

***

Avon Club SCC Storage Saturday Series Match Two Sat 21st July 2012

Avon Club SCC Storage Saturday Series Match Two Sat 23nd July 2011

With most of the colour dropped out of the water and a bright sunny day, fishing was a lot tougher that of late on the river Avon at Portman road and Scotland road.

Runaway winner was Melksham's Robbie Keepner with 27lb 6oz of skimmer bream from just bellow the green bridge at Scotland road. Robbie fished the pole at 13 meters with a four gram float and switched between worm and maggot for hook bait while feeding small balls of ground bait through a pole cup.

Bryan Haigh was second with 11lb 11oz from a peg at the top end of Portman road. Fishing with maggot on the pole Bryan caught small fish before a change to worm produced a good bream, two ells and some perch.

Third spot went to Ritchie Tomala with an all roach catch of 8lb 6oz from the end peg at Scotland road.

Top six

1 ROBBIE KEEPNER 27:06
2 BRYAN HAIGH 11:11
3 RITCHIE TOMALA 8:06
4 GARY ETHERIDGE 7:14
5 JOHN ATKINS 7:11
6 ADAM CARTER 6:02

***

Evening Club Match Five. Tue 17th July 2012

Match five of our evening series again provided some good sport with some of the bigger fish showing on the Portman road and Scotland road sections.

Drawn just bellow the green bridge on Scotland road was Andy Pratten who fished the pole at nine meters to net a winning 16lb 5oz of good size skimmer bream. Andy fished red maggot over "balled in" ground bait and took fish up to one and a half pounds during the three hour match.

Fishing with an open end feeder and maggot on the hook from the peg above the car park fence was runner up Steve Palmer. His 15lb 4oz was made up of two tench, a bream and some smaller roach and perch.

Gary Etheridge was third with an all roach net of 10lb 5oz. Fishing at the bottom end of the Scotland road section Gary took his fish on hemp seed under a stick float fished down the inside.

Top six

1 ANDY PRATTEN 16:05
2 STEVE PALMER 15:04
3 GARY ETHERIDGE 10:03
4 BOB RYAN 6:10
5 MICK WITHEY 5:12
6 PETE MILLS 5:02

***

Avon AC v Chippenham AC v Calne AC.

Sun 15h July 2012

With the river Avon at Melksham carrying several feet of extra flood water our annual inter club match with Chippenham and Calne was switched to the K&A Canal at Whaddon where the canal's skimmers feed well and provided some very good sport for the 20 plus anglers that turned out.

Top spot on the day went to Calne angler Martin Doleman with 19lb 13oz of skimmer bream taken on pole and red maggot fished at 9 meters over ground bait.

Runner up was Avon AC member Kevin Rowels with 19lb 1oz of skimmer bream Kevin caught on worm fished on the pole at 11 meters over ground bait.

There was a tie for third place between Kevin Boltz and Darren Fetcher, both of Avon AC. Both fished the pole at 13 meters to catch 15lb 9oz of skimmer bream with Kevin catching on maggot and Daren on caster.

Top six

1 MARTIN DOLEMAN (CALNE) 19:13
2 KEVIN ROWELS (AVON) 19:01
3 = DAREN FLETCHER (AVON) 15:09
3 = KEVIN BOLTZ (AVON) 15:09
5 MARK CROOK (AVON) 12:07
6 ADRIAN McTIFFIN (AVON) 12:00

Team result (top five from each team)

1 AVON AC 74:10
2 CALNE 41:10
3 CHIPPENHAM 23:08

***

Evening Club Match Four. Tue 10th July 2012

Match four of the Tuesday evening series failed to maintain the excellent results seen in the first three rounds. With the colour dropping out of a river that was still flowing hard, flat floats and feeders were the order of the day.

Fishing the open end feeder with red maggot two pegs above the car park fence on Portman road green was Mark Wooldridge of Melksham. Fishing close, in Mark caught roach perch and a small bream, the only one taken in the match, for a winning 8lb 5oz.

Second place went to Avon AC match secretary Mark Crook with 7lb 15oz of roach form between the willow trees on Portman road green. Mark fished a pole at 11 meters with maggot hook bait over ground bait.

Andy Pratten was third from the end peg behind the car park with 6lb 5oz of roach taken on a crow quill float with red maggot on the hook.

Top six

1 MARK WOOLDRIDGE 8:05
2 MARK CROOK 7:15
3 ANDY PRATTEN 6:05
4 BOB RYAN 2:09
5 ROBIN GUY 2:05
6 ALAN BROWN 1:08

***

Evening Club Match Three. Tue 3rd July 2012

Match three of our Tuesday evening series was again fished on the Portman road and Scotland road sections of the river Avon but with a lot of the colour gone out of the river, unlike last weeks match, there was only one bream caught this time around.

That one bream along with some good roach was just enough to give Devizes matchman Kevin Rowels top spot with 11lb 14oz from the end peg on Portman road. Kevin fished maggot on a five meter whip over ground bait for the roach and a late change to pole with worm at twelve meters accounted for the bonus bream.

Runner up was Andy Pratten from Somerford Keynees with an all tench net of 10lb 10oz form just bellow the big willow on Portman road. Andy had his fish on the pole on the inside with worm hook bait over ground bait with chopped worm.

Gary Etheridge was third with 8lb 7oz of roach taken on wagler with red maggot hook bait feeding hemp.

The roach weights would be much higher but for the constant problems with pike taking hooked fish

Top six

1 KEVIN ROWELS 11:14
2 ANDY PRATTEN 10:10
3 GARY ETHERIDGE 8:07
4 BOB RYAN 6:15
5 DARREN FLETCHER 6:07
6 MIKE WITHEY 2:13

***

Evening Club Match Two. Tue 26th June 2012

Match two of our Tuesday evening series produced some of the best weights in years for a three hour club match. With the river Avon carrying extra water and colour it looked just right for bream and so it was with most anglers catching them.

Pegged just above the car park fence on the Portman road section was Westbury angler Mick Withey. Fishing the open end feeder with worm and maggot hook bait Mick took eight bream and some bits for an excellent winning weight of 27lb 11oz

Drawn on the peg above the "Steps" on Scotland road was runner up, Robin Guy of Melksham. Fishing with a flat float and pole at 11 meters with worm and maggot on the hook Robin caught bream and a few roach for 25lb 2oz

Third spot went to Chippenham tackle dealer Colin Gittens with 16lb 5oz of bream and roach alternating between feeder fishing and crow quill float.

Top six

1 MICK WITHEY 27:11
2 ROBIN GUY 25:02
3 COLIN GITTENS 16:05
4 BOB RYAN 13:11
5 KEVIN ROWELS 10:00
6 ANDY PRATTEN 5:09

***

Evening Club Match One. Tue 19th June 2012

This years opening match of the season fished at Portman Road Green was a huge improvement on the same match last season. With all the recent rain the river Avon looked spot on and the dozen members who passed on watching England in the footy had some great sport.

Drawing the "Golden" peg, (five), just bellow the big willow Devizes angler Kevin Rowels did the business and won the £500 pot along with the match pools of £85. Fishing worm on the pole at eleven meters over ground bait Kev took a good tench, three bream with roach and perch for a cracking 21lb 7oz winning weight.

Runner up was Gary Etheridge at peg two with 14lb 8oz of bream and roach taken on the pole with maggot and caster.

Richie Tomala took third with 11lb 4oz of roach, again on pole fished caster from peg one.

Top six

1 KEVIN ROWELS 21:07
2 GARY ETHERIDGE 14:08
3 RICHIE TOMALA 11:04
4 MICK WITHEY 8:09
5 JIM ESCOTT 7:12
6 ALAN BROWN 5:06

Avon AC Open Sunday 26th Feb 2012

A good turnout of over 50 lined up for our last open match of the season. With the river yet again low and clear and a overnight frost after a week of very mild weather the fish were hard to find for most. The previous ten days or so had seen good nets of roach being caught on breed but hardly any were caught in the match. So large fish were the order of the day and the Scotland road section was the place to find them.

Drawn one peg bellow the "steps" at Scotland road was Melksham's Bob Ryan who netted a good tench early on and three bream to six pounds in the final hour of the match for a winning 18lb 14oz. All the "lumps" were taken on 13 meter pole and caster hook bait over lose feed caster.

At the next peg was Bath match man Andy Ottoway who had two good bream late on to go with some perch. Andy fished the pole at 13 meters and feed caster and chopped worm and fished worm on the hook for his 9lb 14oz.

Third was Melksham's Robin Guy with 9lb 11oz from two pegs above Black Bridge. Fishing the pole with worm over chopped worm Robin had almost all perch with the best fish being over two pound.

Top six

1 BOB RYAN 18:14
2 ANDY OTTOWAY 9:14
3 ROBIN GUY 9:11
4 MARTIN DOLMAN 8:05
5 = STEVE SIMKINS 8:05
5 = STEVE PALMER 8:05

***

Avon AC v Pucklechurch AC Sun 12th Feb 2012

A cold clear Bristol Avon in Melksham was the venue for this years inter club match with Pucklechurch AC where a good turnout of 25 found the fishing good where the fish were shoaled up.

Roach taken on bread was the method on the day and Westbury angler Mike Withy put 17lb of them in his net to win from the top end peg at Sainsbury's. Mike fished with a crow quill float and punched bread down the middle of the river.

Runner up was Pucklechurch man Martin Rayet who fished punched bread on the pole and weighed in 15lb of roach from a peg at Scotland Road.

Melksham's Darren Fletcher was third, again with an all roach catch of 12lb 9oz from the Sainsbury's section.

Top six

1 MIKE WITHY 17:00 (AVON AC)
2 MARTIN RAYET 15:00 (PUCKLECHURCH AC)
3 DARREN FLETCHER 12:09 (AVON AC)
4 ROBIN GUY 12:00 (AVON AC)
5 KEVIN BOLTZ 10:15 (PUCKLECHURCH AC)
6 GARY WILLIAMSON 8:01 (AVON AC)

Teams (Top six from each club)

AVON AC 64:05
PUCKLECHURCH 33:08

***

Avon Club Pair's Match Tue 27th Dec 2011

At long last the river was in good condition for our annual club pairs match fished at Portman Road, Scotland Road and Sainsbury's.

After being runner up in club Xmas match, Swindon’s Pete Townsend went one better this time with an excellent winning weight 20lb 14oz of roach and skimmers. Drawn at the end peg on Scotland Road Pete fished bread punch under a crow quill float and feed liquidised bread and hemp on an inside line.

At the next peg was Melksham angler Daren Fletcher who also fished punched bread for 19lb 5oz of roach and skimmers and again feed liquidised bread on an inside line.

Third place went to Melksham’s Adrian McTiffin with 15lb 5oz of roach and dace from the top end of Portman Road. Adrian caught on a wagler float with Maggot and caster and lose feed caster down the far side of the swim.

Top six

1 PETE TOWNSEND 20:14
2 DAREN FETCHER 19:05
3 ADRIAN McTIFFIN 15:05
4 PETE MILLS 13:15
5 ROBBIE KEPNER 13:04
6 BRYAN HAIGH 10:10

Pair’s winners
1 PETE TOWNSEND & JOHN BOHANE 27:06
2 DAREN FLETCHER & TONY GILBERT 27:04

The golden peg's were not won and now stands at (A) £500 and (B) £116

***

Avon Club Xmas Match Sat 3rd Dec 2011

Xmas match winner Gary Williamson of Devizes

Sixty club members lined the banks of the river Avon from Forest to Conigre in Melksham for our annual Xmas match. Once again this season the river was running low and clear with little flow and still a good covering of weed on the bottom. All this and strong winds made the fishing very hard and weights were well down on last years event.

As has been the case all season it was the perch that gave a lot of anglers a chance to catch a few fish and at peg 39 on Portman Road Green, Devizes angler Gary Williamson managed to put 20 of them in his net for a match winning 12lb 13oz. Gary took his fish on the pole at 11 meters and fished with worm on a size fourteen hook and feed chopped worm through a bait dropper to keep the fish coming.

Drawn at the top end peg at Sainsbury's was Pete Townsend of Swindon who fished caster on a seven meter whip and feed hemp and caster to finish in second spot with 11lb 7oz of roach and dace.

Fishing at the next peg was Bradford-On-Avon man Howard Adams who fished with a crow quill float and caster hook bait for 10lb 4oz and third place. Again it was roach and dace with a few bleek making up the weight.

Top Six
1 GARY WILLIAMSON 12:13
2 PETE TOWNSEND 11:07
3 HOWARD ADAMS 10:04
4 KEVIN ROWELS 7:14
5 ROBBIE KEPNER 7:05
6 STEWERT WHITE 7:00

The golden peg's were not won and now stands at (A) £500 and (B) £95

Once again the Club would like to thank club secretary Percy Edwards and family for sorting the prizes. Also Robin Guy and Marcus Crook for pegging, and all whose efforts made this event one of the best of its kind in the South West.
Also a big thanks to the staff at Spencer's Club for their hospitality. Thanks again to all the members who turned out to fish and we hope to see you back again next year.

A HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR FROM ALL AT THE AVON ANGLING CLUB.

***

Avon AC & Chippenham AC Open Pairs Match

Sunday 6th Nov 2011

80 Anglers turned out to fish the first ever Avon and Chippenham AC pairs open match. With each club hosting 40 pegs, each pair had one angler fishing Chippenham and one fishing Melksham.

Top weight on the day came from a peg just above the Sea Cadets in Chippenham where Swindon man Pete Townsend put 23lb 4oz of chub on the scales. Pete fished with maggot on a wagler float across feeding three pints of magot.

Runner up with 21lb 6 oz was Tony Creech who again had chub taken on stick float and caster hook bait from "the point" at Conigre in Melksham

Alan Jones was third with 18lb 7oz. Alan had three good bream plus bits on pole fished caster over ground bait from the bushes at Forest Farm, Melksham

Top pair on the day were Phil Stone and Alan Jones of Diawa Goden League who both won there sections for an imprsive 2 point total

Top six individuals

1 PETE TOWNSEND (COLMIC TALISMAN) SWINDON 23lb 4oz
2 TONY CREECH (GARBOLINO BLACKMOOR VALE) 21lb 6oz
3 ALAN JONES (DIAWA GORDEN LEAGUE) 18lb 7oz
4 PHIL STONE (DIAWA GORDEN LEAGUE) 10lb 14oz
5 KEVIN ABIGAIL (GARBOLINO BLACKMOOR VALE) 9lb 10oz
6 MARTIN DOLMAN (CALNE) 8lb 10oz

Top Three Pairs

1 PHIL STONE & ALAN JONES (DIAWA GORDEN LEAGUE) 2 POINTS (two section wins)
2 JOHN BOHANE & PET TOWNSEND (COLMIC TALISMAN) 3 POINTS 27lb 10oz
3 IAN LIDDLE & STEVE PALMER (CHIPPENHAM) 3 POINTS 10lb 10oz

The event was a great sucses and will no doubt be run again next season.

***

Avon AC v Salisbury AC Sun 25th Sept 2011

The Avon at Sainsbury's and Conigre was the venue for this annual inter club match with Avon AC coming out on top just 9lb's clear of Salisbury.

Drawn at the top end of Sainsbury's was Salisbury angler Shaun Gumbleton who fished stick float and caster for a winning 15lb 4oz of bream, skimmers and roach.

Runner up was Terry Scott who had all small fish on a five meter whip and maggot for 12lb 1oz at peg one at Conigre.

At the next peg was Kevin smith who again had an all small fish catch of 11lb 10.

Top six

1 SHAUN GUMBLETON 15:04
2 TERRY SCOTT 12:01
3 KEVIN SMITH 11:10
4 MARK CROKK 6:03
5 JIM ESCOTT 6:01
6 ROB BULLOCK 5:12

Team result

AVON AC 35:15
SALISBURY 26:04

***

SCC Storage sponsored Open 11th Sep 2011

Sundays SCC Storage Open saw 25 anglers fishing the Bristol Avon at Portman Road, Sainsbury's and Conigre on the Avon in Melksham and despite the river still low and clear with very little flow some reasonable fishing was had.

Drawn at the end peg at Sainsbury's, Tetbury angler John Wright took top spot with 19lb 13oz. Fishing for small fish on the whip at seven meters John had a bream early on and a quick change to fishing the pole with chopped worm and caster saw him net another five along with some good perch to take home the £140 prize money.

Runner up was Liam Bradel with 12lb 3oz from peg two at Conigre. His all small fish catch of bleek, dace and tiny chub came to caster fished on the top three pole sections while feeding five pints of bait into the swim.

Bob Ryan of Melksham was third with 12lb from peg seventeen at Conigre. Bob fished worm and feed chopped worm and caster to net two good chub and perch to a pound all taken on a nine meter pole.

Top six

1 JOHN WRIGHT 19:13
2 LIAM BRADEL 12:03
3 BOB RYAN 12:00
4 ROBIE KEPNER 7:03
5 RICHIE TOMALA 7:02
6 DAREN FETCHER 6:09

The club would like to thank SCC Storage for there generous support of this match.

***

Avon Club SCC Storage Saturday Series Match Four Sat 13th Aug 2011

The fourth and final round of this popular individual mini league was fished on the river Avon at an improving Forest and Portman Road. After the recent rain the river had a tinge of colure which had the roach and even a few small skimmers feeding on caster or hemp.

Drawn two pegs above Black Bridge, Swindon angler Alan Brown fished caster up in the water on a five meter whip to put 13lb 3oz of roach and hybrid's in his net to take top spot.

Just five ounces behind the winner was Chippenham's Steve Palmer with 12lb 13oz. Steve had five good chub and some roach on the pole across from a peg just bellow the "hatches."

Robbie Kepner of Melksham was third with an all roach net of 9lb 5oz taken on long pole and hemp form the top end of Portman Road green.

Top Six

1 ALAN BROWN 13:03
2 STEVE PALMER 12:14
3 ROBIE KEPNER 9:05
4 NIGEL BARTLETT 9:04
5 BOB RYAN 8:07
6 MICK WITHEY 8:00

Final points after four matches

1 BRYAN HAIGH 30
2 MARK CROOK 22
3 ROBIE KEPNER 22
4 ALAN BROWN 20
5 PETE MILLS 19
6 NIGEL BARTLETT 19

Thanks once again to SCC Storage for there generous sponsorship of this event.

***

Avon A C v King Billy Away Sun 7th Aug 2011

The second of our early season inter club matches with Bristol's King Billy AC fished almost the same as the first match due to the river still running low and clear. Again very few large fish were caught and it was the plenty-full small dace making up most of the weights.

The winner on this popular venue was once again Melksham's Mark Crook with 13lb 10oz from Peg four. Fishing a five meter whip with maggot Mark caught small fish through five hours and went home with the pools money and the "B" Golden Peg pot of almost £380

Runner up was Calne angler Pete Mills with 10lb 11oz from a peg bellow the conker trees. Pete fished with maggot on a stick float to net two chub and a lot small dace.

Kevin Boltz of Bristol was third with 9lb 15oz of small chub and dace.

Top Six

1 MARK CROOK 13:10 (AVON)
2 PETE MILLS 10:11 (AVON)
3 KEVIN BOLTZ 9:15 (BILLY)
4 MARTIN RAYETT 9:07 (BILLY)
5 DUNCAN SMITH 8:12 (AVON)
6 NIGEL SMITH 8:09 (AVON)

Team result (Top six each team)

AVON AC 47:05

KING BILLY 38:10

***

Avon Club SCC Storage Saturday Series Match Three Sat 30th July 2011

Round three saw a return to the Avon at Whaddon where fortunately the roach are at last starting to show, particularly at the end of the third field.

Top spot went to Trowbridge angler Nigel Bartlett who weighed in 15lb 13oz of roach from the end peg in the third field. Nigel fished the pole at 11 meters over ground bait with red maggot and had fish to 10oz.

At the next peg was Melksham's Mark Crook who also fished the pole over ground bait with maggot for an all roach net of 13lb 10oz.

Third spot went to in form Melksham angler Bryan Haigh with 7lb 2oz of roach taken on the pole at 12 meters. Bryan's third place was enough to ensure top place in the four match series with 30 points and still a match to go

Top six

1 NIGEL BARTLETT 15:13
2 MARK CROOK 13:10
3 BRYAN HAIGH 7:02
4 JIM ESCOTT 6:10
5 PETE MILLS 5:11
6 ROBIE KEPNER 5:05

Point after three rounds

1 BRYAN HAIGH 30
2 PETE MILLS 19
3 MARK CROOK 18
4 ROBIE KEPNER 17
5 KEVIN SMITH 14
6 JIM ESCOTT 13

***

Evening Club Match Six. Tue 26th July 2011

Andy Pratten produced the best weight of this six match evening series in the finnal round fished at Portman Road green. Fishing a whip at five meters at a peg behind the car park fence, Andy had roach, perch and a bonus bream of four ponds all taken on caster for a total of 10lb 1oz.

Robin Guy was second with 6lb 5oz of roach and perch taken with pole and caster hook bait and Mick Withy was third with 3lb 15oz of roach.

Top six

1 ANDY PRATTEN 10:01
2 ROBIN GUY 6:05
3 MICK WITHY 3:15
4 KEVIN SMITH 3:12
5 ROB BULOCK 3:01
6 STRETCH 3:00

***

Avon Club SCC Storage Saturday Series Match Two Sat 23rd July 2011

Round two of the SCC Saturday series was fished on the Avon at Conigre where plenty of small fish feed at provided bites throughout the afternoon for most.

Getting his second straight win in the series was Melksham's Bryan Haigh with a winning 11lb 14oz. Drawn at the "stick swim" Bryan fished with worm on the pole at 11 meters and feed caster for a mixed bag of chub, roach and perch.

Match organiser Mark Crook was second with 11lb 7oz from peg one. Fishing a five meter whip with magot Mark caught bits and added a good chub of three pounds taken across on the wagler.

Robbie Kepner was third with 7lb 15oz of roach and chub from the "skinny swim." Robbie fished with caster on the pole at seven meters and feed hemp and caster.

Top six

1 BRYAN HAIGH 11:14
2 MARK CROOK 11:07
3 ROBBIE KEPNER 7:15
4 KEVIN SMITH 7:00
5 PETE MILLS 6:11
6 ROBIN GUY 6:05

Series leaders after two round (Points)

1 BRYAN HAIGH 22
2 = KEVIN SMITH 13
2 = PET MILLS 13
4 ROBBIE KEPNER 12
5 = MARK CROOK 9
5 = ALAN BROWN 9

Round three is at Whaddon on Sat 30th July

***

Evening Club Match Five. Tue 19th July 2011

Just as in the previous four evening match's, again it proved difficult to catch in the clear water, round five was more of the same with just four anglers bothering to weigh in.

One encouraging sign though is that the roach are starting to show on hemp in a few places and Melksham's Daren Fletcher took advantage with a winning 7lb of them with fish to a pound. Daren fished hemp close in on the pole two pegs above the car park fence and only started catching in the second half of the match as the light went.

Second was Kevin Smith with 5lb 2oz of roach and bleek from the end peg behind the car park.

Alan Brown was third with 3lb 8oz of roach from between the willow trees.

Top four

1 DAREN FLETCHER 7:00
2 KEVIN SMITH 5:02
3 ALAN BROWN 3:09
4 MARK CROOK 3:08

***

Avon AC v Calne AC v Chippenham AC

Sun 17th July 2011

A good turn out of 37 anglers fished the first round of the annual three club individual championship fished on a "gin clear" river Avon between Melksham Forest and Conigre.

Top angler on the day was Melksham man Robbie Kepner with 11lb 5oz of hemp caught roach. Drawn on the end peg at Sainsbury's, Robbie fished a seven meter pole with his hemp hook bait a foot off the bottom and had roach to 10oz.

Runner up was James Carty of Marlborough, James fished wagler and maggot at peg one at Conigre for a mostly small fish net of 10lb

Devizes angler Kevin Rowels was third with 9lb of roach from a peg at the top end of Sainsbury's, Kev took his roach on the pole at 12 meters and fished hemp up in the water.

Top six

1 ROBBIE KEPNER 11:05 (AVON)
2 JAMES CARTY 10:00 (AVON)
3 KEVIN ROWLES 9:00 (AVON)
4 JOHN WRIGHT 7:15 (AVON)
5 KEVIN WILLIAMS 7:02 (CHIPPENHAM)
6 MARK (GOLDEN PEG) CROOK 7:00 (AVON)

Team result (Top six from each team)

1 AVON AC 50:10
2 CALNE AC 24:06
3 CHIPPENHAM AC 23.04

Round two is at Chippenham on Sunday 24th July and round three will be at Calne on Sunday 14th Aug

***

Evening Club Match Four. Tue 12th July 2011

Twelve members turned out for round four of our evening series fished at Forest and Portman Road and most couldn't remember seeing the river so low and clear. So once again it was a real struggle to catch fish and average weights were just about two and a half pounds a man, well bellow the norm.

Fishing between the willow trees on Portman Road, Melksham's Robin Guy took top spot thanks to a three pound tench caught late in the match on pole fished worm. This along with a few small perch and a few hemp caught roach gave Robin a total of 6lb 2oz

Swindon's Alan Brown was second fishing the peg above the car park fence with 3lb 13oz. Alan fished chopped worm close in for small perch and added two eels late on.

Club match secretary, Marcus Crook was third with an all small fish net of 3lb 10oz from the top peg on Portman Road.

Top six

1 ROBIN GUY 6:02
2 ALAN BROWN3:13
3 MARCUS CROOK 3:10
4 ROB BULLOCK 3:08
5 BOB RYAN 2:13
6 COLIN GITTINGS 2:11

***

Avon A C v King Billy Away Sun 10th July 2011

Just as this time last year the Bristol Avon at Lacock was running low and clear and weights again were on the low side in this annual inter club match. Fished from below Ray Bridge down stream to Lacock Bridge there was a lack of better fish or roach showing and only two double figure weights were recorded.

Drawn at the end of the conservation area, Melksham's Marcus Crook took 278 small fish, mostly dace, fishing a six meter whip with maggot. Once the small fish had gone off he stepped up his tackle looking for big fish and managed to net a 4lb barbel in the last hour of the match to push his weight up to a winning 13lb 11oz.

Melksham's Sean O'Neill was second with one good chub and a lot of small fish for a weight of 10lb. Sean fished caster on a stick float and feed two pints of hemp at the "swing peg."

Third was Adam Carter with 9lb 7oz, again all small fish taken on stick float and caster.

Top six

1 MARCUS CROOK (AVON) 13:11
2 SEAN O'NEILL (AVON) 10:00
3 ADAM CARTER (AVON) 9:07
4 ANDY PRATTEN (AVON) 9:03
5 RICHARD SCHOLER (BILLY) 7:15
6 R FAITHFUL (AVON) 7:03

Teams (top five for each side)

KING BILLY 27:10

AVON AC 49:08

***

Evening Club Match Three. Tue 5th July 2011

Chippenham's Rob Bulock won the third match of this evening series with 6lb 12oz of hemp caught roach from a peg on Portman Rd green.

Jim Escott of Melksham was runner up with 4lb 6oz of roach and last weeks winner, Daren Fletcher was third with 3lb 12oz of roach and perch.

Top six

1 ROB BULOCK 6:10
2 JIM ESCOTT 4:07
3 DAREN FLETCHER 3:12
4 ANDY PRATTEN 3:01
5 ALAN BROWN 1:09
6 MICK WITHEY 1:00

***

Avon Club SCC Storage Saturday Series Match One Sat 2nd July 2011

Round one of this four match Saturday series saw a good turnout of twenty five club members fish a rock hard river Avon at Whaddon where the river was low, clear and lacked flow. The only fish to feed were small perch and a few even smaller roach. Just about everyone who managed to catch did so with pole fished maggot over ground bait down the middle of the river before changing to fishing chopped worm close in.

Winner on the day was Melksham's Bryan Haigh with a creditable10lb 15oz from a peg in the third field

Adrian McTiffin drawn at the "bream" peg in the second field was second with 8lb and Swindon angler Alan Brown was third with 7lb 2oz

Top six

1 BRYAN HAIGH 10:15
2 ADRIAN McTIFFIN 8:00
3 ALAN BROWN 7:02
4 GARY WILLIAMS 6:00
5 PETE MILLS 4:15
6 JIM ESCOTT 4:10

***

Evening Club Match Two. Tue 28th June 2011

Full result to follow

1 DAREN FLETCHER 4:05
2 COLLIN GITTINGS 3:00
3 DAREN REYNOLDS 2:04
4 MARK CROOK 2:02
5 PETE MILLS 1:15
6 ANDY PRATTEN 1:03

***

Evening Club Match One. Tue 21st June 2011

Members fishing the first of four Tuesday evening matches found the fish difficult to tempt on the Portman Road stretch of the Avon at Melksham.

The river was "tap water"clear and has a lot of silk weed growth on the bottom.

Just 5lb 1oz was all that Swindon's Allen Brown needed for top spot. Fishing the pole at 10 meters with chopped worm and worm on a size 16 hook, Allen netted a good bream and a few small perch to take away the £65 pools money.

Runner up was Robin Guy of Melksham with a tench and a few bits for a weight of 3lb 14oz

Third place went to Chippenham tackle dealer Colin Gittings with a net of small fish weighing 3lb 3oz.

Eleven fished

Top six

1 ALLEN BROWN 5:01
2 ROBIN GUY 3:14
3 COLLIN GITTENS 3:03
4 BOB RYAN 3:02
5 PETE MILLS 2:04
6 ROB BULLOCK 1:15

***

Avon AC Open Sunday 27th Feb 2011

With the river only just a few feet inside it’s banks this Avon AC open was always going to be a tough one. Only the Portman Road, Scotland Road and Whaddon sections were fishable with heavy feeders the being the order of the day in what was our final match of the season on the river.

On the day Scotland Road was the place to be with all of the top four being pegged there.

Taking top spot for the second year running was RAF Team Mosella angler Richie Tomala with 18lb 13oz. Drawn just bellow the “Steps” Richie found the going tough catching 3lb of bleek in the first few hours but a switch to open ended feeder fished across with worm hook bait produced four bream, the best of which was over five pounds.

One peg upstream of the winner was Swindon’s Mark Howes who fished open ended feeder across throughout to tempt two bream and an ell on the worm for 10lb 7oz and second spot.

Melksham’s Bob Ryan was third with one bream, a tench and a roach for 6lb 8oz Again it was feeder across but with red maggot as hook bait.

Top Six

1 RICHIE TOMALA 18:13
2 MARK HOWES 10:07
3 BOB RYAN 6:08
4 JAN VAN MAZYK 3:11
5 MARK CROOK 2:08
6 BRIAN HAIGH 1:8

***

Avon AC v Pucklechurch AC Sun 13th Feb 2011

The river looked to be in good condition for the twenty plus anglers fishing this annual inter club event and some reasonable weights were recorded.

Drawn on the end peg at the By-pass section opposite Sainsbury’s Devizes angler Kevin Rowels took top spot with an all small roach catch weighing 16lb 12oz. Kev fished with bread on a seven meter whip before switching to maggot for the final hour.

Melksham’s Robin Guy was runner up from behind the car park at Portman Road
with 12lb 9oz. Fishing the pole at ten meters for roach, Robin’s weight was helped by to good chub late on, the best of which went 4lb 13oz

Andy Pratten was third with a roach and perch net of 12lb 7oz from the top peg on the By-pass section. Andy caught his fish with stick float and maggot.

Top six

1 KEVIN ROWELS (AVON) 16:12
2 ROBIN GUY (AVON) 12:09
3 ANDY PRATTEN (AVON) 12:7
4 ROBIE KEPNER (AVON) 9:06
5 BRIAN HAIGH (AVON) 9:01
6 MARCUS CROOK (AVON) 7:03

In the inter club match Avon had a healthy win with its members making up all of the top six places

The Golden Pegs now stand at A £500 and the B Golden Peg at £243

***

Xmas match winner Tony Gilbert of Melksham

Avon Club Xmas Match Sat 4th Dec 2010

As the temperature improved on Saturday so did the fishing in this years Avon AC Xmas match fished on the river Avon in Melksham. From a field of 50 there were a dozen double figure weights as roach and chub feed throughout the river producing one of the best Xmas matches for some years..

Taking top spot was Melksham's Tony (four star) Gilbert with a cracking 23lb 8oz of roach from the last peg on the by-pass section. Tony fished punched bread under a stick float for three hours before changing to bronze maggot to keep the fish coming in the last two hours.

Ian Liddell from Chippenham was second with 22lb 6oz from a peg at Forest. Fishing with stick float and bronze maggot down the middle, Ian caught roach well for three hours before a change to fishing the pole tight to the far bank produced a few good chub.

Third place went to Southwick angler Colin Gittens with an all chub weight of 18lb 5oz from peg one at Conigre. Colin alternated between fishing a wagler and a maggot feeder and had most of his fish on bronze maggot.

Top Six

1 TONY GILBERT 23:08
2 IAN LIDDELL 22:06
3 COLIN GITTENS 18:05
4 ROBIN GUY 17:12
5 STRETCH 14:13
6 RITCHIE TAMARA 14:10

The golden peg's were not won and now stands at (A) £500 and (B) £217

Once again the Club would like to thank club secretary Percy Edwards and family for sorting the prizes. Also Robin Guy and Marcus Crook for pegging, and all whose efforts made this event one of the best of its kind in the South West.
Also a big thanks to the staff at Spencer's Club for their hospitality. Thanks again to all the members who turned out to fish and we hope to see you back again next year.

A HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR FROM ALL AT THE AVON ANGLING CLUB.

***

Avon AC v Salisbury Sun 26th Sep 2010

Just fourteen turned out for this interclub match so only the Conigre stretch of the Bristol Avon was used and the drop in temperature saw fishing a bit tougher than in recent weeks.

.Only Melksham's Robin Guy managed to make double figures with his winning 11lb 12oz net of fish from peg 15. Robin fished caster on the pole over hemp seed for a mixed bag of roach, perch, chub and small dace.

Second spot went to Trowbridge angler Mick Lloyd who had 9lb 6oz of chub and bits on the stick float from the cattle drink.

Bob Ryan of Melksham was third with 6lb 12oz of mostly small fish taken on stick float and caster from peg 13.

Top six

1 ROBIN GUY 11:12 (AVON)
2 MARK LLOYD 9:06 (AVON)
3 BOB RYAN 6:12 (AVON)
4 STEVE TREVETT (SALISBURY)
5 MARK CROOK 5:13 (AVON)
6 ANDY PRATTEN 5:07 (AVON)

***

SCC Storage sponsored Open 12th Sep 2010

Sundays SCC Storage Open saw 22 anglers fishing the Bristol Avon at Portman Road and Conigre in Melksham and it was Melksham’s Adrian Mc Tiffin that took top spot.

Adrian fished the first four hours for roach with hemp on the pole at eleven meters at the end peg at Portman road. A change of tactics in the last hour produced an ell, a few perch and a four pound tench in the final minute of the match for a winning 21lb 3oz.

Second place went to Westbury angler Mick Withy who weighed in 11lb 14oz of chub and perch taken on float fished worm from peg 23 at Conigre.

There was a tie for third between Melksham’s Jim Escott and Stretch from Bath, both on 9lb 14oz. Jim had mostly bleak from Portman Road and Stretch had perch and ells on worm from Conigre.

Top six

1 ADRIAN McTIFFIN 21:03
2 MICK WITHY 11:14
3= JIM ESCOTT 9:14
3= STRETCH 9:14
5 GRAHAM PEARCE 9:12
6 ADAM CARTER 9:07

The club would like to thank to SCC Storage for there support of this event

***

Avon Club SCC Storage Saturday Series Match Four

Sat 14th Aug 2010

The final round of this SCC sponcered series of matches was fished on an in form river Avon at Whaddon where the roach are starting ti show again.

A winning weight of 17lb 8oz saw Melksham angler Bryan Haige move form third place to first to take this years title. Fish with 14 meter pole over ground bait, with maggot hook bait, Bryan keept the roach coming stedaly at peg 27 and finished 5lb clear of second place.

Runner up on the day was Melksham's Adrian McTiffin with 12lb 1oz of roach from the bream peg on the bend. Again it was pole fished maggot over ground bait that did the trick.

Mark Wooldridge was third with 10lb 13oz of roach plus a good bream.

Top six

1 BRYAN HAIGHE 17:08
2 ADRIAN McTIFFIN 12:01
3 MARK WOOLDRIDGE 10:13
4 ALLAN BROWN 10:06
5 KEVIN ROWELS 10:04
6 RICKT TOMALLA 9:08

Top three in the series

1 BRYAN HAIGHE 31 points
2 ADRIAN McTIFFIN 29 points
3 GARY WILLIAMSON 25 points

Thanks once again to SCC storage for there generous sponsorship of this event.

***

Avon AC v King Billy Sunday 8th Aug 2010

It was a good day for the Goodhind’s as the Mr and Mrs pair from Bristol finished first and second in this inter club match fished at Lacock.

Drawn at peg two it was Nicky Goodhind with 12lb 4oz of small fish who took top spot. Nicky fished maggot on the whip in just two feet of water to finish over a pound clear of her other half.

Tied in second place were Mike Goodhind and Mark Crook of Melksham. Mike had good chub from the last peg before Lacock bridge which included a fish of over five pounds in his 10lb 10oz net. Mark was drawn in the bay in the Abby Field and had all small fish on the pole with maggot over ground bait.

King Billy came out on top with four members in the top six

Top six

1 NICKY GOODHIND 12:04 (KING BILLY)
2= MIKE GOODHIND 10:10 (KING BILLY)
3= MARK CROOK 10:10 (AVON AC)
4 ANDY BRITT 8:14 (KING BILLY)
5 KEVIN BOLTZ 8:01 (KING BILLY)
6 ADAM CARTER 7:15 (AVON AC)

Team result (Top six for each)

KING BILLY 47:09
AVON AC 38:07

***

Avon Club SCC Storage Saturday Series Match Three

Sat 31st July 2010

Forest Farm, Forest and Portman Road Green was the venue for round three of the SCC Storage series of matches which produced some good fishing except for the middle Forest section were weights were poor.

Drawn in the middle of the row of bushes at Forest Farm, Melksham's Adrian McTiffin had a clear win with 23lb 15oz. Starting off fishing down the middle for roach constant pike trouble made him change to fishing with worm on the pole at 14 meters. The move paid of with three bream and two tench, one over six pounds being put in the net.

Devizes angler Gary Williamson took second with 11lb 8oz of good sized perch from a peg at the bottom end of Portman Road green. Gary fished with worm on a 12 meter pole over chopped worm feed.

Gary Etheridge was third from peg one at the top end of Forest Farm with an all roach net of 9lb 15oz taken on stick float and caster.

Top six

1 ADRIAN McTIFFIN 23:15
2 GARY WILLIAMSON 11:08
3 GARY ETHERIDGE 9:15
4 ADAM CARTER 9:05
5 DAREN FLETCHER 8:10
6 KEVIN ROWELS 7:06

Top six after three rounds

1 GARY WILLIAMSON 25 points
2 = ADRIAN McTIFFIN 20 points
2 = BRYAN HAIGHE 20 points
4 ROBBIE KEPNER 16 points
5 = MARK CROOK 11 points
5 = GARY ETHERIDGE 11 points

***

Evening Club Match Six Tue 27th July 2010

At last the roach are feeding well at the bottom end of Portman Road green and all the weights in this sixth evening club match were made up of these red fins.

Winner on the evening was Mark Crook with 11lb 5oz of roach taken on pole and hemp seed from bellow the big willow

Runner up was Collin Gittins from the peg above, this time catching his 11lb 2oz of roach on pole with caster.

Robbie Kepner was third with 7lb 8oz of roach again taken with pole and caster.

Top six

1 MARK CROOK 11:05
2 COLIN GITTINS 11:02
3 ROBBIE KEPNER 7:08
4 VIC ABBOTT 6:06
5 PETE MILLS 5:04
6 DAVE BRIGGS 4:01

***

Avon Club SCC Storage Saturday Series Match Two

Sat 24th July 2010

Round two of the SCC Storage series was fished at a very much in form Bristol Avon at Conigre in Melksham where the top six were all in double figures.

Drawn at peg 18 was Melksham's Bryan Haighe who had a clear win with an excellent 18lb 4oz. Starting off on a wagler float Bryan caught small fish on caster steadily but a change to fishing worm on the pole in the final hour did the trick as he netted half a dozen good chub to 3lb 10oz.

Swindon angler Mark Howells was second with a mixed bag of roach, perch, chub and ells weighing 13lb 11oz all caught on the pole at peg five.

Just five ounces back in third was Melksham's Adrian McTiffin with an all roach net of 13lb 6oz taken on the pole at nine meters with seed baits.

18 fished

Top six

1 BRYAN HAIGHE 18:04
2 MARK HOWELLS 13:11
3 ADRIAN McTIFFIN 13:06
4 MARK CROOK 12:12
5 PETE MILLS 12:04
6 ROBBIE KEPNER 11:11

Points after two rounds

1 BRYAN HAIGHE 20
2 GARY WILLIAMSON 16
3 ROBBIE KEPNER 14
4 ADRIAN McTIFFIN 9
5 MARK CROOK 8
6 PETE MILLS 7

***

Evening Club Match Five Tue 20th July 2010

Fishing the end peg behind the car park at Portman Road green, Melksham's Daren won this evening match with 9lb 15oz. Daren Fletcher alternated between fishing for roach close in on pole and caster and fishing for perch with worm at 13 meters.

Runner up was Robbie Kepner who fished the pole at 9 meters to catch roach early on than switched to a 13 meter line with worm that produced an ell and a good tench late on.

Bob Ryan was third with 8lb 9oz made up of perch and a single tench all caught on worm close in.

10 fished

Top six

1 DAREN FLETCHER 9:15
2 ROBBIE KEPNER 9:07
3 BOB RYAN 8:09
4 JIM ESCOTT 7:10
5 COLIN GITTINS 7:03
6 ANDY PRATTEN 2:15

***

Avon AC v Calne AC v Chippenham AC Sun 18th July 2010

Match secretary Mark Crook with his winning 16lb 15oz of chub

A good turn out of 43 anglers fished the first round of the annual three club individual championship fished on the river Avon between Melksham Forest and Conigre.

Conigre was the place to be where Avon's match secretary Mark Crook had a narrow win with 16lb 15oz of mostly chub from the "stick swim" in the second field. Fishing wagler with caster and feeding caster Mark had half a dozen chub in the first two hours before switching to pole with worm and adding a chub of almost 4lb plus a few perch.

Kevin Boltz from Bristol was just 3oz behind the winner with an all perch net of 16:12. Kev fished worm on the tip down the middle and feed worm and caster at peg 12 at Conigre.

Vic Abbott was third with 11lb 9oz from the "cattle drink" at Conigre. Fishing with stick float and caster, Vic had one good chub plus a lot of small fish.

Top six

1 MARK CROOK 16:15 (AVON AC)
2 KEVIN BOLTZ 16:12 (AVON AC)
3 VIC ABBOTT 11:09 (AVON AC)
4 ADAM CARTER 10:05 (CHIPPENHAM)
5 DAVE BAKER 9:13 (CHIPPENHAM)
6 ALAN BROWN 9:05 (AVON AC)

Team result (Top six from each team)

1 AVON AC 70:03
2 CHIPPENHAM 52:14
3 CALNE 19:06

***

Evening Club Match Four Tue 13th July 2010

Four weeks into the season and still no rain to put flow and colour into the river so once again the weights were dominated by a few big fish.

Fishing at peg 28 bellow the big willow tree on Portman Road green, Melksham's Robin Guy made it two wins in a week. Fishing close in with worm on the pole Robin weighed in 9lb 11oz that included a tench of 4lb 14oz.

Robbie Kepner was second with 8lb 6oz from peg 29. Again it was worm on the pole that produced a good tench, an ell and a few perch.

Stretch from Bath was third with an all perch net of 6lb 6oz.

7 fished

Top six

1 ROBIN GUY 9:11
2 ROBBIE KEPNER 8:06
3 STRETCH 6:06
4 ROB BULLOCK 5:07
5 BOB RYAN 4:02
6 ANDY PRATTEN 3:12

***

Avon AC v King Billy Sunday 11th July 2010

With the Bristol Avon at Lacock running low and gin clear weights were lower than normal in this annual inter club match. Fished from below Ray Bridge down stream to Lacock Bridge there was a lack of better fish showing and no double figure weights were recorded, how ever there were an awful lot of small fish caught all through the river.

Making the most of a good draw at peg one below Ray Bridge, Andy Pratten from Somerford Keynes fished stick float with caster and feed hemp and caster to put over 150 small roach and dace in his net for a winning weight of 9lb 12oz

Melksham's Sean O'Neill was second with 9lb 6oz of small fish. Sean alternated between fishing caster and hemp on a stick float and feed two pints of hemp

Third was King Billy's Andy Britt with 8lb 3oz, again all small fish taken on stick float and caster.

Top six

1 ANDY PRATTEN (AVON) 9:12
2 SEAN O'NEILL (AVON) 9:06
3 ANDY BRITT (KING BILLY) 8:03
4 BOB RYAN (AVON) 7:10
5 ROB BULLOCK (AVON) 7:06
6 PAT BRUSHNEEN (AVON) 6:12

Teams (top five for each side)

KING BILLY 27:13AVON AC 41:00

***

Evening Club Match Three. Tue 6th July 2010

With no rain of any note since the start of the season the river fishing continues to be tough. Never the less there were still two double figure weights in this third of our evening club matches.

With three tench and some perch for 13lb 9oz, Melksham's Robin Guy took first spot by fishing with worm on the pole close in with lose feed worm and caster.

Gary Etheridge of Devizes was second with a good net of roach taken on tares and wagler weighing 10lb 9oz.

Third was Melksham's Daren Fletcher with 4lb 6oz of ells and perch again taken on worm on the pole close in.

10 fished

Top six

1 ROBIN GUY 13:04
2 GARY ETHERIDGE 10:09
3 DAREN FLETCHER 4:06
4 MARK CROOK 3:05
5 ANDY PRATTEN 3:02
6 BOB RYAN 2:14

***

Avon Club SCC Storage Saturday Series Match One

Sat 3rd July 2010

Round one of this four match Saturday series saw twenty one club members fish the river Avon at Whaddon where the river was low, clear and lacked flow. But despite the tough conditions some reasonable weights were recorded.

First on the day was Devizes angler Gary Williamson with 8lb. Drawn at peg 26 in the second field Gary fished the pole at 13 meters with red maggot over ground bait but strugled for just a few small fish in the first two hours. A switch to fishing worm on the inside then produced a cracking 5lb tench before adding a few more small perch late on.

Runner up was Bryan Haigh from Melksham with 6lb 7oz of small roach and perch. Brian fished the pole with maggot at 11 meters over ground bait and loose feed casters.

Melksham’s Robbie Kepner was third with 6lb 4oz of small chub taken on the pole close in with maggot and loose feed caster.

21 fished

Top six

1 GARY WILLIAMSON 8:00 / 11points
2 BRYAN HAIGH 6:07 / 9 points
3 ROBBIE KEPNER 6:04 / 8 points
4= AURTHER COOK 4:14 / 6.5 points
4= BOB RYAN 4:14 / 6.5 points
6= RICKY TOMALA 4:13 / 5.5 points
6= SHEAN O'NEIL 4:13 / 5.5 points

Round two is on the 24th July @ Conigre, draw Pig & Whistle 1:30

***

Evening Club Match Two. Tue 29th June 2010

Runner up was last week’s winner Andy Pratten with 8lb 4oz from below the willow. Like Colin, Andy fished worm and caster on the pole and also had a good tench.

Third spot went to Gary Etheridge with 7lb 1oz of small fish from a peg above Black Bridge.

12 fished

Top six

1 COLLIN GITTiNS 10:06
2 ANDY PRATTEN 8:04
3 GARY ETHERIDGE 7:01
4= ROBBIE KEPNER 4:06
4= PETE MILLS 4:06
6 BOB RYAN 4:05

***

Evening Club Match One. Tue 22nd June 2010

Members fishing the first of four Tuesday evening matches found the fish difficult to tempt on the Portman Road stretch of the Avon at Melksham.

Just 6lb 8oz was all that Andy Pratten needed for top spot. Fishing the pole across at The “arm chair” peg with chopped worm and worm on a size 16 hook, Andy netted eight perch, two small ells and a few bits for the win and a £60 pick up.

Runner up was Jim Escott with a mixed net of small fish taken from the peg behind the car park. Jim fished the pole close in with worm or caster.

Third place went to Rob Bullock with 4lb 6oz of small fish.

Nine fished.

Top six
1 ANDY PRATTEN 6:08
2 JIM ESCOTT 5:07
3 ROB BULLOCK 4:06
4 ROBIN GUY 4:01
5 COLLIN GITTENS 3:14
5 BOB RYAN 3:14

***

Huge Bream Catch From The River Avon At Whaddon

The five hour river match fishing record tumbled when club member Stewart White from Chippenham weighed in an incredible 294lb of bream after fishing a club match on the Bristol Avon at Whaddon on Sunday (13 Aug 2006)

The catch was made up of 57 fish to 7lb and were all taken pole fished worm over ground bait

See match reports for more

Club secretary Percy Edward presents Stewart White with this achievement award to mark his new UK five-hour river match record. The presentation was made after the clubs Xmas match.

Help For Hero’s Open Match Sun 9th May 2010

Fished on the K&A Canal at Whaddon this open match raised £281 for the "Help For Hero’s" charity.

The cold wind kept the weights down a little but there were still enough of the canal’s skimmer bream feeding to provide some reasonable sport.

Richie Tomala lead the way with 11:12 of skimmers taken on pole and big maggot over ground bait and went home with the £105 first place money.

Top six
1 RICHIE TOMALA 11:12
2 JOHN ATKINS 8:14
3 KEVIN ROWELS 8:03
4 ADRIAN McTIFFIN 6:01
5 LIAM BRADDELL 5:05
6 ROBIN GUY 4:15

After the match a raffle was held at the Pig & Whistle pub and the club would like to thank the following for donating raffle prizes in support of this worth while charity..

Cooper Avon Tires
Avon Angling Melksham
Veals of Bristol
Premier Angling Chippenham
Wiltshire Angling Trowbridge
Bernie's Bait Devizes
N5 Angling
Census UK
Melksham Tandoori

***

Avon AC Open Sun 7th March 2010

Our final match of the season on the river Avon at Melksham produced some excellent weights. With sections at Forest, Portman Road, Scotland Road and Sainsburys, only the Scotland Road section failed to produce a big weight.

First place on the day went to Devizes angler Richie Tomala with a cracking all chub catch weighing 37lb 2oz. Drawn at Forest, Richie fished the pole at 13 meters with maggot hook bait and lose feed two pints of maggot catching the bulk of his fish in the first two hours.

Runner up was Kevin Rowels of Devizes with 32lb 4oz from a peg at the top of the Portman Road section. Kev fished bread on the pole at 11 meters for a mixed net of chub and roach.

Bath angler "Stretch" was third with 20lb 13oz of roach from Sainsburys. Stretch fished a big stick float and maggot on the hook and lose feed maggots at a peg at the top end of the section.

Top Six

1 RICHIE TOMALA 37:02
2 KEVIN ROWELS 32:04
3 STRETCH 20:13
4 DANNY WILIAMSON 11:02
5 GARY WILIAMSON 10:09
6 PETE GILBERT 9:05

Richie Tomala with his winning weight of 37lb 2oz from the Avon at Forest.

***

Avon AC v Pucklechurch AC Sun 21st Feb 2010

With the river up and colored and an over night frost many of the twenty plus anglers fishing this annual inter club event found the going tough.

Avon member Andy Pratten however had a great days fishing catching over eighty roach on stick float and caster for a winning weight of 22lb 14oz. Drawn on the By-pass section opposite Sainsbury’s Andy feed hemp and caster to keep the roach feeding which included several fish over a pound.

Just a few pegs away from the winner was Melksham’s Jim Escott who took second spot with an all bleek catch weighing 11lb 5oz. Jim fished with maggot and a wagler float and feed maggot and caster.

Kevin Abigail was third with 8lb from a peg on Scotland Road. Fishing the feeder with worm and maggot Kev had a mixed net of roach, perch skimmers and a three pound tench.

Top six

1 ANDY PRATTEN (AVON) 22:14
2 JIM ESCOTT (AVON) 11:05
3 KEVIN ABIGAIL (AVON) 8:00
4 KEVIN ROWELS (AVON) 7:07
5 PETE HUMPHRIES (PUCKLECHURCH) 6:03
6 DAVE WEBB (PUCKLECHURCH) 6:01

Team result (top five from each)

AVON AC 58:05
PUCKLECHURCH AC 17:06

The golden pegs now stand at A £500 and B £184

***

Avon AC Pair's Match Sun 27th Dec 2009

24 club members turned out for the clubs annual pairs match fished on the Avon at Portman Road, Scotland Road and Sainsbury's. 24 hour of thaw conditions had the river come up two feet overnight, which made fishing a float difficult in a lot of pegs.

On angler who did put the float to good use however was Devizes match man Gary Etheridge. Gary fished stick float close in with bread to take 13lb 2oz of roach from a peg at Sainsbury's.

Drawn two pegs above Gary was Bob Ryan who fished an open end feeder with double red maggot to tempt two bream and some roach foe 12lb 14oz

Mick Withy of Westbury was third with 7lb 10oz made up of a good bream and some perch all taken on feeder fished worm at Scotland Road.

Top six

1 GARY ETHERIDGE 13:02
2 BOB RYAN 12:14
3 MICK WITHY 7:10
4 HOWARD ADAMS 6:11
5 CLIVE BABER 6:07
6 ROBIN GUY 4:03

Pair's result

1 GARY ETHERIDGE & DEAN ADAMS 16:12
2 BOB RYAN & ALAN BROWN 13:02

***

Avon Club Xmas Match Sat 5th Dec 2009

2009 Avon AC Xmas match winner Kevin Abigail.

For the third time in four years flooding on the Brisol Avon saw our 50 peg Xmas match moved to the K&A Canal at Whaddon and Hilperton.

With the combination of frosts and the influx of cold rain water into the canal the fishing was tough with the large skimmer population not feeding and almost no good sized fish being caught anywhere.

With small fish the order of the day, Devizes matchman Kevin Abigail claimed the winners hamper with 6lb 10oz of small roach and skimmers. Kev fished punched breed on a size 22 hook at 9 meters and feed liquidized breed to keep the fish coming from a peg at Whaddon.

Fishing at the Hilperton section of the match was Bristol's Martin Rayet who took second spot. Matin also fished punched breed for a weight of 6lb 2oz of tiny fish caught on the pole at 7 meters.

Melksham angler Adrian McTiffin was third with 5lb 9oz of small fish taken on pole fished pinkie at 11 meters from the Hilperton end of the match.

Top six
1 KEVIN ABIGAIL 6:10:8
2 MARTIN RAYET 6:08
3 ADRIAN McTIFFIN 5:09:8
4 PAUL ANDREWS 4:06:8
5 ADAM CARTER 4:01:8
6 KEVIN ROWELS 4:01

The golden peg's were not won and now stands at (A) £500 and (B) £120

Once again the Club would like to thank club secretary Percy Edwards and family for sorting the prizes. Also Robin Guy and Jim Escott for pegging, and all whose efforts made this event one of the best of its kind in the South West.
Also a big thanks to the staff at Spencer's Club for their hospitality. Thanks again to all the members who turned out to fish and we hope to see you back again next year.

A HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR FROM ALL AT THE AVON ANGLING CLUB.

***

Avon AC v Salisbury AC Sun 27th Sep 2009

With the river as low as anyone can remember for this time of year, angles from both clubs were expecting a very though match. Despite this there were still a couple of good weights recorded.

Pegged above the by-pass bridge, Salisbury's Steve Trevett fished a stick float with caster to catch four pound of small chub before changing to the whip to fish for bleek and ending with a winning 11lb 12oz

Steve Brown also of Salisbury was second from peg 15 at Conige with an all chub 10lb 15oz. Steve alternated between fishing the tip and stick float with maggot.

Third spot went to Avon's James Daniels with a good sized chub and just four perch all on the worm for a weight of 8lb 10oz from peg 17 at conigre.

Top six

1 STEVE TREVETT (Salisbury) 11:12
2 STEVE BROWN (Salisbury) 10:15
3 JAMES DANIELS (Avon) 8:10
4 SHAWN GUMBLETON (Salisbury) 7:01
5 DAVE BAKER (Avon) 6:04
6 JOHN GARNER (Avon) 5:04

Team result (top five from each)

SALISBURY AC 37:10
AVON AC 29:05

***

SCC Self Storage Open Sun 30th August 2009

A field of 34 anglers competed for the £200 first prize in this annual SCC sponsored match. Pegged between Forest Farm and the by-pass bridge, conditions were far from perfect with low, clear water and strong winds, but despite the conditions some good weights were still taken.

Drawn above the by-pass bridge, Kevin Rowels of Devizes won the day with a creditable 13lb 10oz. Kev alternated between the pole fished at 16 meters with caster over ground bait and fishing at 14 meters with worm over chopped worm which saw him land a good tench and some perch to add to his net of roach and bleek.

Fishing at the next peg down stream "Stretch" form Bath used similar tactics and also had a good tench taken on corn in his total weight of 12lb 2 oz

Gary Williamson was third with 11:13 of roach from peg two at Forest Farm. Gary caught on the pole and caster fished at 11 meters over ground bait

Top six

1 KEVIN ROWELS 13:10
2 STRETCH 12:02
3 GARY WILLIAMSON 11:13
4 ADRIAN MCTIFFIN 10:10
5 JOHN WRIGHT 10:06
6 ANDY PRATTEN 8:10

Thanks to Mark Crook of SCC for the generous sponsorship.

***

Avon Club SCC Storage Saturday Series Match Four

Sat 15th Aug 2009

The final round of the SCC sponsored Saturday series fished at Conigre saw a close finish to the individual league with just two points separating the top three.

Devizes match man Kevin Rowels won the match and the series with 17lb 7oz from peg 15. Fishing the pole over ground bait, Kev caught small fish on maggot before changing to a flat float fished at 16m down the peg to catch some quality perch and chub on worm.

Second was Swindon's Alan Brown with an all perch and ells net of 13lb from the "skinny swim" Alan fished worm on the pole over chopped worm at seven meters.

Third place went to local angler Robbie Kepner who had 9lb 7oz of small fish on pole to hand from peg one with maggot hook bait over loses feed.

Top six

1 KEVIN ROWELS 17:07
2 ALAN BROWN 13:00
3 ROBBIE KEPNER 9:07
4 PAUL ANDREWS 8:06
5 BRIAN HAIG 8:00
6 ADRIAN MCTIFFIN 7:13

Final league placing

1 KEVIN ROWELS 27 POINTS
2 ROBBIE KEPNER 26 POINTS
3 ADRIAN MCTIFFIN 25 POINTS
4 GARY ETHERIDGE 23 POINTS
5 KEVIN ABIGAIL 22 POINTS
6 ADAM CARTER 16 POINTS

The club would again like thank Mark Crook of SCC Transport for there generous sponsorship of this popular series.

***

Avon A C v King Billy Away Sun 9th July 2009

Our second match of the season against King Billy fished at the Abby Fields at Lacock again produced some excellent fishing. With the river fining down after the recent rain but still carrying some extra colour it was the bream that put in a show this time.

King Billy's Kevin Story took top spot with 26lb 1oz of bream from peg 11. Fishing the pole down the middle with worm and caster over loose feed caster was the winning method.

Second was Kevin Rowels fishing for Avon AC with an all roach net of 20lb 1oz. Kev fished the pole at 11 meters with maggot hook bait over 12 balls of ground bait.

Vince Lund was third with 18lb 4oz of small fish taken on the pole fished at just 4 meters with maggot hook bait and loose feed casters.

In the team result it was a comfortable win for King Billy.

Top six

1 KEVIN STORY 26:01
2 KEVIN ROWELS 20:01
3 VINCE LUND 18:04
4 GERY POCOCK 14:13
5 KEV BOLTZ 14:04
6 ANDY BRITT 11:05

Team's (top six from each club)

KING BILLY 96:02
AVON AC 66:10

***

Avon Club SCC Storage Saturday Series Match Three

Sat 1st Aug 2009

A field of 20 members fished round three on the Bristol Avon with sections at Forest Farm, Forest and Portman Road.

Drawn at Forest Farm, Melksham's Robbie Kepner took top spot with 14lb 8oz. Fishing the pole at 11meters over ground bait Robbie had over 10lb of roach on maggot plus a bonus bream taken on worm.

Devizes matchman Gary Etheridge was runner up with an roach and bleek catch of 13lb 10oz. Gary fished wagler float and maggot over lose feed hemp and caster and made the switch to fishing tares to find some better roach.

Third was Adam Carter with 11lb 4oz from a peg at the top of Forest Farm. Adam fished the pole down the middle with ground bait and caster for a good net of roach and a bonus bream.

Top six

1 ROBBIE KEPNER 14:08
2 GARY ETHERIDGE 13:10
3 ADAM CARTER 11:04
4 KEVIN ROWELS 10:12
5 MARK HOWS 9:01
6 RICKY TOMALA 8:04

Please note the draw for round four will be at 1:00 pm

***

Avon Club SCC Storage Saturday Series Match Two

Sat 25th July 2009

Round two of the SCC Saturday series was fished on the Avon at Conigre where the recent rains have improved the fishing at last.

Having drawn 17, the (b) golden peg, Melksham’s Adrian McTiffin made no mistake in claiming the £400 plus pot with a comfortable win 6lb clear of second spot. Fishing the pole with worm and caster Adrian had chub and perch for a total weight of 15lb.

Runner up was Devizes match man Gary Etheridge with an all small fish catch of 9lb 6oz taken on stick float and maggot from peg 15

Melksham’s Robin Guy was third with 7lb 10oz 8g from the cattle drink. Robin’s weight was helped by two good ells one of which was well over two pounds.

Top six

1 ADRIAN McTIFFIN 15:00
2 GARY ETHERIDGE 9:06
3 ROBIN GUY 7:10:8
4 KEVIN SMITH 7:10
5 BRIAN HAIG 7:08
6 KEVIN ABIGAIL 6:13

***

Avon AC v Calne AC v Chippenham AC v King Billy

Sun 19th July 2009

Almost forty anglers fished the first round of the annual three club individual championship on the river Avon at Melksham where the top six all recorded double figures.

Runaway winner on the day was Calne’s Gary Dodson with a cracking 38lb 13oz from a peg at Forest Farm. Starting off fishing the pole over ground bait with maggot for roach Gary quickly switched to a heavy rig and worm after seeing a bream roll in his peg. The switch produced seven good bream and comfortable win.

Avon’s Robin Guy was second with 10lb 14oz from peg eight at Conigre. After fishing a waggler with maggot for small roach and chub, Robin change to pole and worm after two hours and had a two pound ell and some good perch.

Just one ounce behind in third place was King Billy’s Kevin Boltz on peg ten at Conigre. Kev fished red maggot on the pole over lose feed caster for 10lb 13oz of small chub and roach.

Top six

1 GARY DODSON 38:13 (CALNE)
2 ROBIN GUY 10:14 (AVON)
3 KEVIN BOLTZ 10:13 (KING BILLY)
4 GARY WILLIAMSON 10:05 (AVON)
5 DAVE BAKER 10:03 (CHIPPENHAM)
6 PETE MILLS 10:01 (AVON)

Team result (Top six from each team)

1 CALNE AC 65:09
2 AVON AC 59:04
3 CHIPPENHAM 45:13
4 KING BILLY 10:13

***

Tuesday Night Sweep 14th July 2009

The six members fishing this sweep on the Avon at Portman Road found the river in top form as the “lumps” feeding despite the water being "tap water clear".

Fishing behind the Avon car park, Robin Guy had a carp of five pounds along with roach and skimmers for a winning 13lb 11oz. Robin fished the pole at ten meters over ground bait with red maggot on the hook.

Andy Pratten was runner up with 12lb 3oz. A bream of six pounds and a good tench plus some perch were taken on the pole at fourteen meters over ground bait and chopped worm with worm on the hook.

Third was Bob Ryan with two bream and some perch taken on wagler fished red maggot for a weight 11lb 6oz

Top six

1 ROBIN GUY 13:11
2 ANDY PRATTEN 12:03
3 BOB RYAN 11:06
4 MARK CKOOK 11:02
5 SHAUN O’NEIL 7:09
6 ROBBIE KEPNER 4:09

***

Avon A C v King Billy Away Sun 12th July 2009

This match started with low and clear conditions but saw the Avon at Lacock rise by six inches in the first three hour following the heavy overnight rain. Despite the rising river fish feed well throughout with large numbers of dace being caught.

King Billy’s Gerry Pocock took top spot with 19lb 3oz of mostly dace. Drawn at peg two Gerry fished a five meter whip in just three feet of water with caster on a size 20 hook and lose feed three pints of hemp and caster.

Second was Avon AC match secretary Mark Crook. Drawing the same peg as in last years match he bettered his previous weight by 12oz with 18lb 12oz from peg one. Fishing a stick float down the middle with caster hook bait and hemp and caster lose feed Mark had all small fish, again mostly dace.

Avon's Shaun O’Neal was third with 14lb 3oz which included a 5lb barbell at peg 22. Shaun lost a bigger fish first put in on his pole kit and despite stepping up the tackle still lost two more in the course of the match.

Top six

1 GERRY POCOCK (KING BILLY) 19:03
2 MARK CROOK (AVON AC) 18:12
3 SHAUN O’NEAL (AVON AC) 14:03
4 VINCE LUNN (KING BILLY) 12:05
5 DUNCAN SMITH (AVON AC) 11:03
6 MIKE GOODHIND (KING BILLY) 10:14

Teams (top six from each club)

AVON AC 72:15
KING BILLY 65:06

The golden pegs remain intact and now stand at (A) £500 and (B) £360

***

Evening Club Match Four. Tue 7th July 2009

Match four of the club’s Tuesday evening series was again fished on the early pegs at conigre and once again fish were hard to find.

Andy Pratten at peg five and Robbie Kepner at peg 10 tied for top spot with 5lb 7 oz each. Andy had a mixed net of perch, ells and roach taken on the pole over ground bait at seven meters while Robbie fished pole feeder close in with worm and had small chub and a barbell of about one pound in weight.

Third was Pete Mills with an all bleek net of 5lb 3oz taken on the wagler and maggot.

Top six

1 = ANDY PRATTEN & ROBBIE KEPNER 5:07
3 PETE MILLS 5:03
4 BOB RYAN 4:06
5 ABBY PONTIN 2:12
6 MARK CROOK 0: 01

***

Avon Club SCC Storage Saturday Series Match One

Sat 4th July 2009

Round one of this four match Saturday series saw twenty club members fish the river Avon at Whaddon where the river was low, clear and lacked flow. But despite the tough conditions some reasonable weights were recorded.

First on the day was Westbury match man Kevin Abigail with 8lb 12oz of roach. Drawn at the end of the first field Kev fished the pole at 9 meters with red maggot over ground bait and caught steadily through the five hours.

Runner up was Kevin Rowels from Devizes with 7lb 14oz. Again Kev fished the pole over ground bait but with caster or worm hook bait over twelve balls of ground bait.

Melksham’s Adrian McTiffin was third with 6lb 6oz of perch and ells taken on the pole close in with worm hook bait

Top six

1 KEVIN ABIGAIL 8:12
2 KEVIN ROWELS 7:14
3 ADRIAN McTIFFIN 6:6
4 ROBBIE KEPNER 6:00
5 ALAN BROWN 5:15
6 GARY ETHERIDGE 5:12

The golden pegs remain intact at A£500 and B£340

***

Evening Club Match Three. Tue 30th June 2009

Round three of this four match series saw some improvement in the fishing at Conigre and even a couple of barbell showed up. A fish of around six pound was lost at the net from peg three and one of just over a pound was taken at peg ten.

Top spot went to Bob Ryan at peg ten with 7lb 10oz of mostly good size perch, Bob fished maggot feeder on the pole and used red maggot as hook bait.

Robbie Kepner was second with a net of small fish caught on the pole and maggot from peg eight.

Third was Andy Pratten with 4lb 4oz of small chub from peg three.

1 BOB RYAN 7:10
2 ROBBIE KEPNER 4:05
3 ANDY PRATTEN 4:04
4 MARK CROOK 3:13
5 ROBIN GUY 2:00
6 SHAUN O’NEAL 1:14

***

Evening Club Match Two. Tue 23rd June 2009

It's some time since Conigre fished so poorly with the average weight from the match at just over one pound per angler and even then it was only the odd perch being caught.

2lb 10oz was all that Robin Guy needed to win. Drawn just before the cottages, Robin feed ground bait and fished with maggot hook bait on the pole for his net of small fish.

Bob Ryan was second with 1lb 13oz of perch and a few bits taken on stick float and maggot

Third was Abby Pontin with 1lb 5oz of perch taken on worm.

Top six

1 ROBIN GUY 2:10
2 BOB RYAN 1:13
3 ABBY PONTIN 1:05
4 ANDY PRATTEN 1:01
5 ROBBIE KEPNER 1:00
6 MARK CROOK 0:03

***

Evening Club Match One. Tue 16th June 2009

Members fishing the first of four Tuesday evening matches found the fish difficult to tempt on the Conigre stretch of the Avon at Melksham.

Just 6lb 14oz was all that Andy Pratten needed for top spot. Fishing the pole across at peg eight with chopped worm and worm on a size 16 hook Andy netted eight perch and a few small chub for the win.

Club match secretary Mark crook was just three ounces behind with 6lb 11oz of small chub and an eel from peg ten, all taken on the pole with worm.

Third place went to Robbie Kepner with 4lb 11oz of small fish.

Top six

1 ANDY PRATTEN 6:14
2 MARK CROOK 6:11
3 ROBBIE KEPNER 4:11
4 ROBIN GUY 4:02
5 PETE MILLS 3:06
6 BOB RYAN 2:02

***

Avon AC Open Sun 24h May 2009 K&A Canal

Despite bright sunshine and a busy towpath the K&A Canal at Semington was in fine form with skimmers feeding throughout the match length. All the top weights were taken by fishing maggot over ground bait with a pole at around 12 meters.

Top six

1 KEVIN ROWELS 22:03
2 GRAHAM PEARCE 17:06
3 ADRIAN McTIFFIN 16:09
4 PAUL ANDREWS 14:12
5 ROBIN GUY 12:10
6 KEVIN ABIGAIL 11:02

***

Avon AC Open Sun 8th March 2009

The river Avon between Forest and the By-pass produced some good fishing in this end of season open with Portman Road being the place to draw.

Malmsbury’s John Wright took top spot from a peg in the middle of Portman road green. Fishing an open end feeder down the middle with worm hook bait, John had two good bream, a five pound carp and some chub for a winning 16lb 11oz

Runner up was Chippenham’s John Garner with 11lb 6oz of roach, dace and chub from the top peg at Portman Road. John fished the pole at nine meters over ten balls of ground bait with red maggot as hook bait and caught steadily all day.

Third place went to Pete Townsend of Swindon with an all roach catch of 9lb from a peg above the By-pass bridge

Top six

1 JOHN WRIGHT 16:11
2 JOHN GARNER 11:06
3 PETE TOWNSEND 10:04
4 PETE MILLS 9:09
5 BRIAN DERICK 8:06
6 FRED PARKER 8:04

***

Avon AC v Pucklechurch AC Sun 22nd Feb 2009

This annual interclub match was fished on four different sections of the Bristol Avon in Melksham and despite the river looking spot on all for sections proved very difficult, particularly at Beanacre.

Devizes angler Kevin Rowels catch was the exception to the poor sport at Beanacre as he managed a match winning weight of 13lb 11oz from the end peg. Kev fished with maggot and pole over ground bait to tempt half a dozen chub and a few bits.

Second spot went to Alan Brown of Swindon who fished the feeder and worm from a peg on Scotland Road to catch four tench and a few small perch for 12lb 1oz

At the next peg Melksham's Robbie Keepner had two tench and a few skimmers, again on the feeder for a weight of 11lb 1oz and third spot.

1 KEVIN ROWELS (AVON) 13:11
2 ALAN BROWN (AVON) 12:01
3 ROB KEPNER (AVON) 11:01
4 KEVIN BOLTZ (PUCKLECHURCH) 9:09
5 JOHN BOHAIN (AVON) 9:00
6 JEFF AGIUS (PUCKLECHURCH) 8:07

TEAM RESULT (Top six from each club)

AVON AC 61:06
PUCKLECHURCH 30:13

Golden pegs now stand at (A) £500 and (B) £320

***

Salisbury AC v Avon AC Sun 8th Feb 2009

The river Nadder was carrying an extra foot of water after the snow melt but despite the fast pace most areas fished well and a string of double figure weights were recorded. Average weight for the nine lucky anglers below Harnham Mill was 12lb per man.

Top spot went to Avon’s Mark Crook with a cracking 29lb 6oz of dace taken from the small pool at Harnam Mill. Mark fished maggot on an 18 hook under a waggler float and fed three pint of maggot to keep the fish feeding.

Salisbury’s Frank Gumbleton was runner up with another dace net of 16lb 10oz on the whip and stick float close in from a peg at Long Bridge Elizabeth Gardens.

Steve Trevett took third spot with 15lb 13oz from the Brunel Road section. Steve fished an Avon float with maggot to net four very good chub and a few dace.

In the team event Salisbury just about came out on top (again).

Big thanks to Paul Barnard and all at Salisbury AC for putting on this successful event.

Top Six

1 MARK CROOK 29:06
2 FRANK GUMBLETON 16:10
3 STEVE TREVETT 15:13
4 MALCOM PEPPEREL 15:02
5 RAY RIDGERS 14:12
6 ANDY MITCHELL 13:11

Team result (top five from each club)

SALISBURY AC 76:00 - AVON AC 68:04

***

Avon Club Pairs Match Sat 27th Dec 2008

Peged on the Avon at Portman Rd, Scotland Rd and Sainsburys and with a hard overnight frost this was always going to be a tough one and so it was with the average weight barely two pounds a man. .

Never the less Yate angler Roger Walock managed to tempt 9lb 5oz of roach from a peg at Sainsburys and go home £100 better off. Roger caught on bread punch with a stick float fished mid river.

Runner up was Melksham’s Darren Fletcher with a mixed net of small fish weighing 5lb 7oz, again taken on bread fished under a stick float at Sainsburys.

Clive Baber took third place with 5lb 5oz of roach caught with bread and crow quill float.

Top Six
1 ROGER WARLOCK 9:05
2 DARREN FLECHER 5:07
3 CLIVE BABER 5:05
4 BRYAN HAIG 3:11
5 KEVIN ROWELS 2:13
6 BOB RYAN 2:06

Top Three Pairs
1 ROGER WARLOCK & JIM ESCOTT 10:01
2 DARREN FLECHER & TONY GILBERT 7:06
3 CLIVE BABER & BRIAN DERECK 5:08

Neither golden peg was won and are now worth (A) £500 and (B) £297

***

2008 xmas club match winner Alan Brown

Avon Club Xmas Match Sat 6th Dec 2008

For the first time in three years conditions allowed our Xmas match to be fished on the river Avon despite the fact it was still carrying an extra couple of feet of water. Add in a very hard overnight frost and this was always going to be a tough one. Over 50 members pegged at Beanacre, Portman Road, Scotland Road and Whaddon worked hard for bites and it was the large bream that sorted the top prizes in the end.
:
Drawn at the end peg at Whaddon's second field, Swindon's Alan Brown fished with worm and maggot on a pole feeder close in to find two good bream. He added a few pounds of roach for a winning 12lb 13oz.

At the opposite end of the Whaddon section John Bohane from Swindon fished the pole close in with worm. He also put two bream and a few small fish on the scales for a weight of 11lb 6oz to secure second spot. John hooked his second bream, a fish of around 6lb in the very last minute of the match.

Third place went to Chippenham's Stewart White with 10lb 3oz. Stewart had a flying start with a bream and a tench in the first hour taken on worm fished on a feeder across. However his peg at Scotland Road failed to produce a bite in the next two hours so a switch to the whip produced 3lb of bleek in the last hour.

Top six

1 ALAN BROWN 12:13
2 JOHN BOHANE 11:06
3 STEWART WHITE 10:03
4 ADRIAN McTIFFIN 8:09
5 BOB RYAN 8:03
6 GERRY POCOCK 6:15

There were large hampers for the top three and a prize for every member taking part

The golden peg's were not won and now stands at (A) £500 and (B) £280

Once again the Club would like to thank club secretary Percy Edwards and family for sorting the prizes. Also Mark Crook, Robin Guy for pegging, Alf Sparks for raffle and all whose efforts made this event one of the best of its kind in the South West.
Also a big thanks to the staff at Spencer's Club for their hospitality. (Had to be one of the best fisherman's breakfasts ever)

A thank you to Paula and Gordon of Whaddon Transport for your help on the day.

Thanks again to all the members who turned out to fish and we hope to see you back again next year.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR FROM ALL AT THE AVON ANGLING CLUB.

***

Avon AC Club Match Sun 5th Oct 2008

With a low turnout only the Sainsbury’s stretch of the Avon was needed for this club match and with the water low and clear the roach were tightly shoaled up.

Drawn in the middle of this stretch was Melksham’s Bob Ryan who won with an all roach catch of 17lb 5oz. Bob fished a stick float with caster on an 18 hook and feed hemp and caster to keep the fish feeding despite several pike taking the odd fish throughout the five hours.

Runner up was Andy Pratten of Somerford Keyness with a mixed net of weighing 13lb 4oz. Andy fished stick float and caught roach before switching to worm on a straight lead that produced a bream and some very big perch.

Third spot went to Melksham’s Jim Escott with 5lb 2 oz of roach taken with stick float and caster.

Top Five

1 BOB RYAN 17:05
2 ANDY PRATTEN 13:04
3 JIM ESCOTT 5:02
4 MATHEW PANG 4:08
5 MARK CROOK 4:02

***

Avon AC v Salisbury AC Sun 28th Sep 2008

Despite gin clear water and bright sun light some decent weights were had in this inter club matched fished on the Avon in Melksham.

Setting the pace was Wilton angler Steve Brown with a cracking winning weight of 31lb 8oz. Drawn at peg 15 at Conigre, Steve fished with stick float and maggot on a 20 hook and changed to wagler fished bread in the last hour for his all chub catch.

Runner up was Dean Adams of Bradford on Avon with 12lb 15oz of good perch taken on worm from a peg at Sainsbury’s.

Melksham’s Pete Mills was third with 10lb 10oz of roach and bleek from the top peg at Sainsbury’s.

Top Six

1 STEVE BROWN 31:08 (SALISBURY)
2 DEAN ADAMS 12:15 (MELKSHAM)
3 PETE MILLS 10:10 (MELKSHAM)
4 BOB RYAN 9:04 (MELKSHAM)
5 STEVE TREVITT 6:14 (SALISBURY)
6 MARK CKOOK 6:10 (MELKSHAM)

Teams Result (Top five from each)
AVON AC 46:00
SALISBURY 47:12

***

SCC Storage Sponsored Open Sun 31 Aug 2008

Sunday’s SCC Open was fished on the Avon at Melksham between Forest and Conigre and despite the lack of the rivers roach showing this season some good weights were still recorded.

Drawn at Conigre’s ever consistent peg "one", Melksham’s Robin Guy made the best of his draw with a 16lb 3oz net of mostly chub. Fishing a pole at sixteen meters with worm or corn as hook bait and feeding maggot and caster it took a fish of around 4lb in the final minutes of the match to secure top spot.

Second place went to Andy Pratten of Somerford Keyness with 14lb 9oz from peg 17 at Conigre. Andy had a bream of over 5lb and some bits taken on stick float and caster.

Roger Warlock of Yate was third with two bream and some good roach from the top end of the Sainsbury’s stretch. Roger fished the stick float with caster and had a few of the roach on tears.

Top six

1 ROBIN GUY 16:03
2 ANDY PRATTEN 14:09
3 ROGER WARLOCK 14:07
4 PHIL STONE 13:03
5 TERRY GATTY :11:13
6 KEVIN ROWLES 11:06

Thanks again to SCC Storage for there generous sponsorship of this event.

***

Avon Club SCC Storage Saturday Series Match Four

Sat 16th Aug 2008

The fourth and final round of the SCC Storage sponsored Saturday series was fished on the Avon at Portman Road and Scotland Road. Weights were lower than expected as the bream and skimmers failed to make a show.

Winner on the day was Melsham's Mark Crook with 13lb 3oz. Drawn behind the car park at the end of Portman road green Mark caught small fish on the pole at seven meters with maggot over ground bait and also landed a bonus carp of 5lb.

Runner up was Alan Brown of Swindon who weighed 10lb 6oz of tench, perch and ells using worm on the pole just over the pads from a swim just bellow the green bridge on Scotland road.

Third spot went to Somerford Keynes angler Andy Pratten who also had tench and perch on the worm fishing the pole just over the pads. Andy weighed in 8lb 9oz from a swim in the middle of the Portman road stretch

Top six

1 MARK CROOK 13:03
2 ALAN BROWN 10:06
3 ANDY PRATTEN 8:09
4 JOHN BOHANE 7:09
5 NIGEL SMITH 6:11
6 JIM ESCOTT 6:00

Series winners

1 ALAN BROWN 31 points
2 MARK CROOK 23 points
3 JIM ESCOTT 22 points

As ever the club would like to thank SCC Storage for there generous sponsorship of this event.

***

Avon A C v King Billy Away Sun 10th Aug 2008

The river Avon at Lacock’s Abby fields was in near perfect condition and well over half the field recorded double figure weights.

Drawn just above Lacock bridge, Pat Brushneen fishing for Avon AC took top spot with a fine net of good sized chub weighing 25lb 7oz. Pat fished with stick float and caster on a 16 hook and feed three pints of maggot and caster to keep the chub feeding.

Second was Avon AC match secretary Mark Crock with 18lb from peg one. Fishing worm on the pole at 9 meters Mark had perch to over two pounds to go with some smaller fish taken on stick float and caster.

Pete Mills was third with 14lb 5oz of mostly roach taken on the whip with caster hook bait.

Top six

1 PAT BRUSHNEEN (AVON AC) 25:07
2 MARK CROOK (AVON AC) 18:00
3 PETE MILLS (AVON AC) 14:05
4 ANDY PRATTEN (AVON AC) 13:03
5 STEVE SKELTON (AVON AC) 12:11
6 MIKE GOODHIND (KING BILLY) 12:02

Teams (top four from each club)

AVON AC 70:15
KING BILLY 38:01

The golden pegs remain intact and now stand at (A) £500 and (B) £215

***

Avon Club SCC Storage Saturday Series Match Three

Sat 2nd Aug 2008

The river Avon at Whaddon was the venue for round three and whilst there were some good weights recorded many found the fishing tough.

Melksham’s Robbie Kepner drew the end peg for the second time this season and for the second time had a comfortable win. Fishing caster on the pole at 11 meters over ground bait produced roach throughout the five hours for a winning weight of 17lb 2 oz.

Round two winner, Alan Brown of Swindon took second spot with a net of mostly ells and perch weighing 14lb. Alan fished worm on the pole at 14 meters and feed chopped worm and caster.

Third was Adrian McTiffin with 10lb 2oz of bits and one good bream all caught on the pole at 9 meters with maggot hook bait over ground bait.

Top Six

1 ROBBIE KEPNER 17:02
2 ALAN BROWN 14:00
3 ADRIAN McTIFFIN 10:02
4 BRIAN HAIG 9:00
5 JIM ESCOTT 7:04
6 KEVIN ROWLES 6:03

The golden pegs remain intact and now stand at (A) £500 and (B) £200

***

Avon Club SCC Storage Saturday Series Match Two

Sat 26th July 2008

Despite the river being low, clear and with very little flow on this sunny afternoon, Saturday’s second round match fished much better than expected. This was due largely to the number of pound plus ells that are being caught this season.

Pegged above the Black Bridge at Forest was Swindon’s Alan Brown who caught four ells and a good net of perch for a winning weight of 15lb 14oz. Alan fished with worm on the pole just over the pads on the inside and feed a kilo of chopped worm to attract the fish.

Runner up was Kevin Rowels of Devizes with 11lb 9oz of roach from the top peg at Portman Road.
Kev fished the pole at twelve meters over ground bait with caster on the hook and would have a lot more if pike had not been a problem.

Melksham’s Jim Escott was third with 10lb 13oz which included a good bream along with roach and ells from just bellow Black Bridge.

Top Six

1 ALAN BROWN 15:14
2 KEVIN ROWELS 11:09
3 JIM ESCOTT 10:13
4 ADRIAN (TIMEX) McTIFFIN 9:07
5 BOB RYAN 9:02
6 ROBIN GUY 8:02

***

Avon AC v Chippenham v Calne. Sun 20th July 2008

A field of over forty anglers turned out for this three way inter club contest on the river Avon at Melksham. Pegged between Forest Farm and the cottages at Conigre and with the river in good condition there were some good nets of fish taken from all parts of the river.

Top spot on the day went to Calne’s John Garner with 17lb 10oz from the first peg at Conigre. John fished the pole at 12 meters with red maggot on a size 18 hook and feed maggot and caster for a catch of good sized chub and a bonus bream.

Runner up was Avon AC man Adrian McTiffin with an all Perch and ells catch of 16lb 5oz from the bottom end of Portman Road green. Fishing a pole at 16 meters with worm on a 16 hook Adrian feed chopped worm to keep the fish coming.

Drawn at the Sainsbury’s section was Avon AC match Secretary Mark Crook who’s mixed net of fish weighing 12lb 4oz was enough for third place. Mark caught bits on red maggot a short pole before switching to fishing across at 14 meters with worm to find some good perch and a few ells.

Top six

1 JOHN GARNER (CALNE) 17:10
2 ADRIAN McTIFFIN (AVON) 16:05
3 MARCK CROOK (AVON) 12:04
4 JAMES DANIELS (CALNE) 10:11
5 PETE MILLS (AVON) 9:11
6 PAUL CADAGAN (CALNE) 9:04

Team result (Top five from each team)

1 AVON AC 52:14
2 CHIPPENHAM 44:05
3 CALNE 40:08

***

King Billy Away Sun 13th July 2008

Heavy rainfall over the last few days had the Bristol Avon at Lacock in flood conditions on Sunday so the match was switched to the K&A canal at Semington. Pegged from Semington bridge to just past the aqueduct there were no shortage of bites despite the constant boat traffic, cyclist and walkers out on this sunny day.

Skimmer bream made up most of the weights and the angler putting the most in his net was King Billy’s Kevin Boltz. Kev fished red maggot on the pole with a size 20 hook over ground bait for a winning weight of 13lb 2oz.

Second spot went to Dave Haines of King Billy with 8lb 9oz of mostly skimmers, again taken on pole and maggot.

Just one once behind Dave taking third place was Andy Pratten fishing for Avon AC with 8lb 8oz

Top six

1 KEVIN BOLTZ 13:02 (King Billy)
2 DAVE HAINES 8:09 (King Billy)
3 ANDY PRATTEN 8:08 (Avon AC)
4 GEORGE HOBBS 8:01 (Avon AC)
5 ROBBIE KEPNER 6:13 (Avon AC)
6 MARK CROOK 6:12 (Avon AC)

***

Evening Club Match Four. Tue 8th July 2008

The forth and final match of this evening series fished on the river Avon at Conigre saw the river carrying an extra foot of water but still produced some reasonable fishing.

Melksham’s Bob Ryan took first place with 11lb 11oz. Fishing a stick float with red maggot hook bait and feeding a pint of casters Bob had chub to over 3lb and a few bits from peg 17.

Runner up was Andy Pratten with 6lb 1oz of bits taken on the pole at nine meters at peg 21.

Robbie Kepner was third just one once behind with 6lb of small fish from peg 5

Top three
1 BOB RYAN 11:11
2 ANDY PRATTEN 6:01
3 ROBBIE KEPNER 6:00
4 CLIVE BABER 3:09
5 ABBY PONTIN 2:11

Final Top Three placing with best three results from four

1 BOB RYAN 29 points (30lb 4oz)
2 ANDY PRATTEN 29 points (26lb 0oz)
3 MARK CROOK 28 points

***

Avon Club SCC Storage Saturday Series match one

Sat 05th July 2008

This popular annual Saturday afternoon series sponsored by SCC Storage kicked of on the Avon at Conigre after it was decided that to switch the match away from Whaddon due to access problems.

A field of twenty-two club members had a reasonable days sport with some good-sized chub, bream and perch showing.

Putting two good bream on the scales plus some small fish was Pete Mills for a winning weight of 13lb 9oz from peg 21. Pete fished a pole at nine meters over ground bait with maggot hook bait.

Runner up was John Bohane with 11lb 7oz of chub caught with stick float and caster from the "skinny swim".

John Aitkin was third with 9lb 7oz of cracking perch taken on pole and worm from peg 26.

Top six

1 PETE MILLS 13:09
2 JOHN BOHANE 11:07
3 JOHN ATKIN 9:07
4 ANDY PRATTEN 9:06
5 MARK CROOK 8:06
6 BOB RYAN 6:10

***

Evening Club Match Three. Tue 1st July 2008

Match three was almost a repeat of the match two with Mark Crook winning once more from the same in-form peg one. This time Mark weighed in 22lb 4oz of good chub and a large bream on the stick float.

Second spot went to Andy Pratten with an all perch catch from peg eight. Andy fished worm on the pole over chopped worm for 8lb 6oz

Third was Robbie Kepner with an all small fish catch of 7lb 5oz

Top five

1 Mark Crook 22:08
2 Andy Pratten 8:06
3 Robbie Kepner 7:05
4 Robin Guy 6:06
5 Bob Ryan 5:12

***

Evening Club Match Two. Tue 24th June 2008

Our second Tuesday evening match fished on the Avon at Conigre was once again dominated by chub and club match secretary Mark Crook landed nine good sized fish for a winning weight of 24lb 8oz. Drawn at peg one Mark fished stick float with maggot hook bate to tempt the fish.

Runner up for the second week running was Melksham's Bob Ryan with 8lb 10oz of small chub, roach and dace all taken on stick float and caster from peg eleven.

Pete Mills was third with 7lb 10oz of small chub at peg two.

Top Five

1 Mark Crook 24:08
2 Bob Ryan 8:10
3 Pete Mills 7:10
4 Andy Pratten 4:02
5 Abby Pontin 2:15

***

Evening Club Match One. Tue 17th June 2008

Top spot went to Somerford Keynes match man Andy Pratten with a good net of chub weighing 11lb 10oz. Andy fished caster on the pole tight to the far bank at peg two.

Runner up was Melksham's Bob Ryan with 9lb 15oz of chub and bream on the pole from peg one.

Robin Guy of Melksham was third with 7lb 6oz of chub at peg nine

Top Five

1 Andy Pratten 11:10
2 Bob Ryan 9:15
3 Robin Guy 7:06
4 Abby Pontin 3:02
5 Mark Crook 0:03

Avon v Pucklechurch Sun 24th Feb 2008

A good turn out of almost 30 fished the river Avon at Melksham on Sunday with sections being spread between Beanacre to Conigre. The lack of colour in the water made some pegs really hard but never the less some good weights were recorded.

Winner on the day with an excellent 35lb 6oz was Melksham's Robbie Kepner. Drawn bellow the "burnt willow" at Conigre Robbie fished bread flake under a stick float and caught chub to four pounds.

Runner up was Stewart White of Chippenham with 18lb 12oz of chub and roach taken on the pole with caster as hook bait from a peg at Forest Farm.

Third was Brian Derek from Yate with 16lb 10oz of chub and roach caught on breed punch under a crow quill float, again for a peg at Forest Farm.

Top Six
1 ROBIE KEPNER 35:06
2 STEWART WHITE 18:12
3 BRIAN DEREK 16:10
4 PETE MILLS 12:05
5 ROBIN GUY 11:06
6 ROGER WARLOCK 10:06

Team Result (top nine from each side)
1 AVON AC 118:02
2 PUCKLECHURCH 37:07

The golden pegs were not won and now stand at A) £500 and B) £116

***

Salisbury AC v Avon AC Sun 17th Feb

River Nadder, Salisbury

Top Six
1 Bob Ryan 32:04 all chub/ waggler/ maggot - Deanery Meadow
2 Graham Pulling 17:02 dace - stick float/maggot - Churchfields
3 = Ray Ridgers 13:05 dace,roach - stick float/maggot - Harnham Mill
4 = H Adams 13:05 chub - stick float/maggot - Deanery Meadow
5 Paul Barnard 13:04 chub - pole/maggot - Churchfields
6 Jim Smith 13:02 chub - stick float/maggot - Elizabeth Gardens

***

Avon Open Sun 10th Feb 2008

A good turn out of over forty fished the river Avon in near summer like weather but as of recent weeks it was only the better fish that showed.

Drawn in the middle of the Scotland Road section, Swindon's Alan Brown fished the pole at 12 meters over ground bait with worm and red maggot on the hook. The method produced three good bream to six pound and a few perch for a winning 16lb 4oz

Melksham's Robbie Keepner took second place with 10lb 4oz from just bellow Scotland Road footbridge. Robbie's catch included a chub of over 4lb and a tench of 5lb both caught in the last half hour of the match.

Third with the only roach catch of the day was Eamon Byrne with 10lb 1oz from a peg behind Sainsburys.

Top six

1 ALAN BROWN 16:04
2 ROBIE KEEPNER 10:04
3 EAMON BYRNE 10:01
4 ROBIN GUY 9:06
5 BOB RYAN 8:09
6 NIGEL SMITH 7:11

***

Avon Club Pairs Match Thur 27th Dec 2007

Having had to switch the clubs Xmas match to the K&A Canal at Semington due to the river being in flood it was more of the same for this annual club pairs contest.
And the canal was in poor form after being iced over just a few days before. Never the less 23, sorry make that 22 members stuck at the task of putting what they could in their nets.

Individual winner on the day was Devizes angler Kevin Rowels making good use of the first peg on Whaddon side of Semmington Road Bridge.
Kev managed to tempt the odd small skimmer with red maggot or pinkie, pole fished at nine meters over ground bait for a total 4lb 14oz.

Melksham's Tony (Four Star) Gilbert was runner up with 3lb 13oz from the next peg, which included a bonus one-pound skimmer taken on worm over chopped worm again on a nine-meter pole line.

Pete Macey was third with an all small fish net of 2lb 10oz

Top Six

1 KEVIN ROWELS 4:14
2 TONY GILBERT 3:13
3 PETE MACEY 2:10
4 JIM ESCOTT 2:03
5 BOB RYAN 2:02
6 NEIL HOUNSELL 1:14

Top Two Pairs

1 KEVIN ROWELS & PETE MILLS 5:09
2 NEIL HOUNSELL & PETE MACEY 4:08

Neither golden peg was won and are now worth (A) £500 and (B) £88

May I take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy and Successful New Year from all at Avon AC.

***

Avon AC Club Xmas Match Sat 1st Dec 2007

Yet again heavy overnight rain forced a last minute switch for our popular Xmas club match. Having pegged a “spot on” river on Friday the match was hastily re-pegged on the K&A Canal at Semington and Hilperton after the river rose three or four feet overnight.

Winner on the day was Chippenham’s Stewart White with an excellent 14lb 14oz of skimmers to eight ounce’s. Drawn at the first peg past the aqueduct at Semington Stewart fished the pole at eleven meters with red maggot as hook bait on a size 20 hook. He kept the fish interested by feeding a half a pint of pinkie’s throughout the five hours.

Runner up was Bath match man “Stretch” who fished the pole close in and alternated between worm and red maggot on the hook. Stretch caught good-sized perch over the chopped worm and a few skimmers on maggot for a total of 12lb 2oz.

Third spot went to Kevin Rowels of Devizes who caught skimmers and small roach on the pole at eleven meters with red maggot on the hook. Kev feed ground bait and pinkie’s and finished with 9lb 5oz.

1 STEWART WHITE 14:14
2 STRETCH 12:02
3 KEVIN ROWELS 9:05
4 GRAHAM PEARCE 9:00
5 ROBBIE KEPNER 7:14
6 COLIN GITTINGS 7:09

The golden peg’s were not won and now stands at (A) £500 and (B) £70

Once again the Club would like to thank club sectary Percy Edwards and family. Also Jim Escott, Mark Crook, Robin Guy and all who's efforts made this event one of the best of its kind in the South West.
Also a big thank you to Devizes AA for the use of their waters at Semington.

Thanks again to all the members who turned out to fish and we hope to see you back again next year.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR FROM ALL AT THE AVON ANGLING CLUB.

***

Avon Open Sun 14th Oct 2007

With the river Avon running low and clear this was another difficult match for the competitors in this Avon Ac Open match fished at Forest Farm down to Portman Road Green.

Melksham’s Pete Mills needed just 7lb 1oz of pole caught roach to take top spot from the “Armchair” peg at Portman Road. Pete fished red maggot and lose feed hemp and caster at seven meters to keep the fish feeding.

Runner up was match organizer Marcus Crook of Melksham with an all roach net of 6lb 6oz. Fishing the pole close in Marcus feed and caught on hemp seed from a peg at Forest Farm.

George Hobbs of Tetbury took third spot with 5lb 12oz of mostly perch taken on float-fished worm.

Top six

1 PETE MILLS 7:01
2 MARK CROOK 6:06
3 GEORGE HOBBS 5:12
4 JIM ESCOTT 4:04
5 VIC ABBOTT 2.14
6 ANDY PRATTEN 2.11

***

Avon AC Club Match Sun 7th Oct 2007

The river Avon at Conigre looked in perfect condition for this club match but for most of the field it proved very difficult to get bites with just two or three pounds a man being the average.

Bucking the trend was Match organiser Marcus Crook of Melksham with a fine net of small chub taken on float fished maggot . Marcus used a stick float at peg 15 and a switch to a wagler in the last hour produced a fish a chuck to put a winning 15lb 14oz on the scales

Runner up with 9lb 8oz was Melksham’s Pete Mills. Fishing long pole with maggot hook bait Pete took three good chub and some bits from peg 25.

Bob Ryan fished stick float and caster for third place with 5lb 4oz of roach from peg 22

Top Six

1 MARCUS CROOK 15:14
2 PETE MILLS 9:08
3 BOB RYAN 5:04
4 NICK LOFY 5:3
5 NIGEL SMITH 2:15
6 TREVOR PAYNE 2:04

***

Avon Open Sat 8th Sep 2007

THERE was a fair turn out for the Avon open match fished on Sunday on the Avon at the Conigre and Forest stretches at Melksham.

Rob Kepner, of Melksham, won with a mixed catch of tench and roach weighing 14lb, taken alternating with pole-fished worm and caster from a peg at Portman Road

. John Wright, of Chippenham, was second with an all-roach catch weighing 9lb 7oz 8dm, taken on pole-fished casters, and Robin Guy, of Melksham, was third with a roach catch weighing 9lb 1oz, taken on pole-fished hemp.

Other placings: 4 Trevor Payne, Chippenham, 8lb 15oz; 5 Brian Hague, Melksham, 8lb 14oz; 6 Mark Wooldridge, Chippenham, 8lb 3oz.

***

Sat 8th Sep 2007 Avon Club Saturday Series
Sponsored by SCC Transport of Devizes
Match Four

Fished on the river Avon at Conigre the final round of this popular mini league series was hard work for most with only two double figure weights recorded.

Drawn at peg 24, Somerford Keynes angler Andy Pratten put together a good winning weight of 16lb 2oz. Fishing with stick float and caster Andy had good roach and small chub feeding hemp and caster and added a bonus 4lb plus chub in the final minuets.

Runner up was Melksham's Jim Escott with a small fish net of 11lb. Starting with stick float and caster Jim switched to wagler and maggot for the second half of the match to stay in touch with the fish.

Third was Robbie Kepner of Melksham with 7lb 3oz of pole caught roach from peg 5.

A very close finish in the league standings saw a tie at the top with Robbie Kepner and Gary Williamson both on 22 points, Robbie taking top place and the £100 prize money by weight.

Result on the day

1 ANDY PRATTEN 16:02
2 JIM ESCOTT 11:00
3 ROBBIE KEPNER 7:03
4 TIM SETTLE 6:15
5 BOB RYAN 6:08
6 ADRIAN MCTIFFIN 6:03

Final League Standings

1 ROBBIE KEPNER 22 POINTS (31:14)
2 GARY WILLIAMSON 22 POINTS (29:14)
3 KEVIN ABIEGALE 20 POINTS

No golden peg was won and they now stand at £500 and £30

Avon AC would like to thank Markus Crook and SCC Transport for their generous support of this series.

***

Sat 18th Aug 2007 Avon Club Saturday Series
Sponsored by SCC Transport of Devizes
Match Three

Once again the match was switched to the K&A Canal at Semmington and again it was the skimmer bream that dominated the weights.

Making the most of end peg 1, Devizes match man Kevin Rowles put 13lb 2oz of good skimmer bream in the net to win this third round contest. Fishing worm on the hook over ground bait and chopped worm Kev caught the bulk of his fish on the pole at 11 meters.

Tim Suttle of Bradford was second with 9lb 6oz of skimmers and roach again taken on the pole at 11 meters but with red maggot on the hook over ground bait and caster.

Third place went to Swindon's Alan Brown with 8lb 14oz of skimmers taken on maggots on the pole at 12 meters

The golden pegs were not won and now stand at £500 and £19

Top Six

1 KEVIN ROWLES 13:02
2 TIM SUTTLE 9:06
3 ALAN BROWN 8:14
4 BRIAN HAIG 7:00
5 GARY WILLIAMSON 5:06
6 KEVIN ABBIGALE 4:09

***

Sat 4th Aug 2007 Avon Club Saturday Series
Sponsored by SCC Transport of Devizes
Match Two

At last the river Avon was just about back to normal for this weekends second SCC Saturday series match. 20 plus club members turned out and fished from Forest Farm down to Portman Road and unexpectedly it was the Portman Road end that turned in the best weights.

Fishing on the downstream end peg behind the Avon car park, Swindon’s Alan Brown had a cracking days fishing putting together a winning weight of 20lb 15oz. Fishing a big stick float with maggot over ground bait Alan caught roach all day and even netted two good tench of three pounds a piece.

Runner up was Westbury match man Kevin Abigail with 17lb of mostly worm caught perch and eels on the pole at just six meters from a peg on the middle of the Portman Rd stretch,

Melksham’s Rob Kepner took third spot with an all roach catch of 14lb 4oz taken on long pole and caster over ground bait at a peg at the Forest Farm end.

The golden peg has now reached it's maximum of £500 so a second (B) Golden peg has been started which stands at £3

Top six

1 ALAN BROWN 20:15
2 KEVIN ABIGAIL 17:00
3 ROB KEPNER 14:04
4 GARY WILLIAMSON 11:15
5 PETE MILLS 11:05
6 DAVE BAKER 10:15

***

Sat 28th July 2007 Avon Club Saturday Series
Sponsored by SCC Transport of Devizes
Match One

With the river Avon in flood yet again this first round SCC sponsored Saturday series match was moved to the K&A Canal at Semington.
And yet again it was the canals skimmer bream that made up the bulk of the weights in what turned out to be a very good match.

Drawn at peg one at the road bridge end, Melksham's Adrian McTiffin made good use of the end peg putting 16lb 13oz on the scales. Starting off on pole and red maggot fished down the middle over ground bait Adrian took roach and skimmers to a pound. A switch to the long pole with worm over chopped worm kept fish feeding through the final two hours and he finished the match over 3lb clear of the field.

Second spot went to Melksham's Mark Crook with 13lb 4oz of skimmers and two good eels all taken on long pole and worm fished over chopped worm.

Melksham's Gary Williamson was third with an all skimmer catch of 12lb 9oz taken on long pole and red maggot over ground bait and caster.

Top six

1 ADRIAN MCTIFFIN 16:13
2 MARK CROOK 13:04
3 GARY WILLIAMSON 12:09
4 GRAHAM PEARCE 12:08
5 BOB RYAN 11:02
6 ROB KEPNER 10:07

The golden peg rolls over and is now worth £483

***

Sun 22nd July 2007 Interclub Match

Avon AC v Chippenhan v Calne v Salisbury

Heavy rain on Thursday night had the river Avon out of its banks by Friday morning so this popular interclub match was promptly switched to the K&A Canal at Semington. Many of the 45 anglers form the four different clubs found it hard going due to the large number of people and boats making the most of Sundays better weather but despite the tough conditions there were still some good weights recorded with a very close finish

First place went to Tetbury angler Pat Brushneen who weighed in 17lb 3oz of bream and skimmers. Fishing for Avon AC, Pat fished red maggot on the pole at 13 meters and lose feed casters to keep the fish feeding.

Second spot went to Salisbury man Ray Ridges with 16lb 9oz of skimmers, again taken on long pole and red maggot hook bait this time fished over ground bait

Calne angler K Moore was third with 15lb 8oz of mostly skimmers, again caught on long pole and red maggot over ground bait.

Top six

1 PAT BRUSHNEEN AVON AC 17:03
2 RAY RIDGES SALISBURY 16:09
3 K MOORE CALNE 15:08
4 GARY WILLIAMSON AVON AC 14:09
5 KEVIN ROWELS AVON AC 10:08
6 BOB RYAN AVON AC 10:04

Team Result

1 AVON AC 59:00
2 SALISBURY 39:11
3 CALNE 34:14
4 CHIPPENHAM 21:09

The Golden Peg will roll over and is now worth £465

***

Sun 15th July 2007 King Billy Away, Lacock (match two)

This was the second of our match’s against King Billy of Bristol fished on the river Avon at Lacock and once again there was some cracking fishing.

Pegged at the popular Abby Fields section where the river was carrying a few inches of extra water, conditions were near perfect for stick float fishing and the top three all fished this method to put lots of good quality roach in the net.

Winner on the day was King Billy’s Jerry Pocock with 20lb 8oz of roach from peg 4. Stick float with caster on the hook and hemp and caster loss feed kept the fish feeding through out the five hour’s

Doing exactly the same thing gave Avon’s Pat Brusneen 17lb 3oz though Pat’ catch was made up with mostly dace and small chub for second place

There was a tie for third spot between Mark Crook and Clive Baber both fishing for Avon and both taking 16lb 12oz of good roach again on the stick float.

Top Six

1 JERRY POCOCK 20:08 King Billy
2 PAT BRUSHNEEN 17:03 Avon AC
3 = MARK CROOK 16:12 Avon AC
3 = CLIVE BABER 16:12 Avon AC
5 JOHN GARNER 16:05 Avon AC
6 ROGER WARLOCK 14:06 King Billy

Team Result (top four from each club)

AVON AC 67:00
KING BILLY 49:12

The golden peg was not won and rolls over at £419

***

Avon Club Evening Club Match 4

Tue 10th July 2007

With the river at Conigre a little high and coloured weights were bellow normal

Fishing peg 18 Melksham's Robbie Kepner fished the stick float with caster to take 7lb 10oz of roach and finished a clear pound ahead of Melksham's Robin Guy who weighed 6lb 5oz
Andy Pratten of Somerford Keyness was third with 5lb 5oz

Top Five

1 ROBIE KEPNER 7:10
2 ROBIN GUY 6:05
3 ANDY PRATTEN 5:05
4 BOB RYAN 4:11
5 ABBY PONTIN 3:11

***

Evening club match's 2 &3 were cancelled due to high river levels.

***

Sun 24th June 2007 King Billy Away, Lacock

The river Avon at Lacock’s Abby fields was in fine form for this annual inter club match and the top dozen or so anglers all made double figures.

Winner on the day was Calne matchman Nigel Smith with an excellent 30lb 1oz from a peg just above the bridge. Nigel fished a stick float with red maggot and fed 3 pints of maggot and caster to take good size chub and roach throughout the five hours.

Runner up was Chippenham angler Stewart White with a very good 29lb 5oz of mostly roach.
Stewart fished the pole over ground bait with caster for hook bait from a peg in the top field.

Melksham’s Robin Guy was third with 19lb 13oz of roach taken on stick float and caster.

Top Six

1 Nigel Smith (Avon AC) 30:01
2 Stewart White (Avon AC) 29:05
3 Robin Guy (Avon AC) 19:13
4 Bob Ryan (Avon AC) 13:10
5 Pat Brusneen (Avon AC) 13:09
5 Andy Pratten (Avon AC) 13:09

Team result (top four)

Avon AC 92:13
King Billy 25:07

The golden peg pot was not won and now stands at £400

***

Avon Club Evening Club Match 1

Tue 19th June 2007

Just a handful of club members turned out for the first of four Tuesday evening matches to be fished at Conigre. With the weather cold and wet fish were had to find but this resulted in a very close finish with just one 1oz separating the top three.

Tying for first place were Robin Guy and Robbie Kepner with 7lb 9oz each.
Robbie fished pole and worm at peg 3 and took small chub and a few good perch while Robin fished red maggot on the pole over ground bait for an all roach catch at peg 5.

Third with 7lb 8oz was Mark Crook with one good chub and some bits taken on stick float and caster.

Top Five

1= Robin Guy 7:09
1= Robbie Kepner 7:09
3 Mark Crook 7:08
4 Andy Pratten 6:10
5 Bob Ryan 4:15

***

Avon Open Sun 27th May 2007 K&A Canal

15 Anglers turned out on this wet and windy day on the K&A Canal at Semington to fish this Avon Open match.

Despite the poor weather some good weights were recorded with the skimmer bream feeding well.

Top spot went to Melksham man Adrian McTiffin with an all skimmer catch of 14lb 12oz. Adrian took his fish using long pole with red maggot on the hook over ground bait.

Using similar tactics Bradford–On-Avon angler Neil Honusell was second with 13lb 10oz which included an ell of 3lb 14oz

Third place went to Kevin Rowels of Devizes with 11lb 1oz of skimmers.

Top Six

1 ADRIAN MCTIFFIN 14:12
2 NEIL HOUNSELL 13:10
3 KEVIN ROWELS 11:01
4 ROBIN GUY 9:10
5 BRIAN DERICK 8:14
6 PAUL ANDREWS 5:04
6 GARY WILLIAMSON 5:04

***

Salisbury v Avon AC Sunday 7th Feb 2007

Melksham's Pete Mills had a cracking days fishing on the river Nadder in Salisbury with 30lb 13oz of dace and chub to win this first ever interclub between Avon AC and Salisbury. Fishing with stick float and maggot on an 18 hook Pete kept the fish coming by feeding three pints of maggot.

Runner up was Salisbury's Tom Baker 16lb 10oz of chub taken on the wagler with maggot hook bait

Salisbury match secretary Paul Barnard was third with 16lb 6oz of chub and dace taken on the pole.

Top six

1 Pete Mills 30:13 Avon AC
2 Tom Barker 16:10 Salisbury AC
3 Paul Barnard 16:06 Salisbury AC
4 Matt Gentile 13:10 Salisbury AC
5 Denis Baker 13:06 Avon AC
6 Robin Guy 11:09 Avon AC

***

Avon Open Sunday 28th Jan 2007

The Bristol Avon was in reasonable condition for this Avon Open match fished at Portman Road and Scotland Road.

Fishing the end peg at Scotland Road, Melksham’s Snowy White took top spot with a 10lb 10oz net of good roach. Snowy fished a crow quill float with punched bread over ground bait and caught steadily down the middle.

Runner up was Vic Abbott of Trowbridge. Pegged at the top end of Scotland road, bellow the green bridge, Vic fished just the same as the winner to put 9lb 12oz of roach on the scales.

Melksham’s Clive Baber was third with 8lb 3oz from a peg on Portman Road. Fishing with stick float and caster Clive had two good chub and some bits.

Top six

1 SNOWY WHITE 10:10
2 VIC ABBOTT 9:12
3 CLIVE BABER 8:03
4 PETE MACEY 7:07
5 STAN BLACKBOURN 7:02
6 ROBIN GUY 5:11

***

Avon Club Pairs Match Wed 27 Dec 2006

With near perfect conditions on Bristol Avon the 26 or so member who turned out for this annual event had some cracking winter fishing.

Pegged at Forest Farm, Andy Pratten caught roach, dace and small chub for an excellent winning weight of 20 12oz. Andy fished a stick float with maggot and caster on a 18 hook and feed hemp and caster to keep the fish coming.

Runner up was Kevin Bamford who also fish stick float and caster for an almost all roach catch of 16lb 8oz taken from a peg at the top end of Portman Road.

Third was Kevin Rowels with 16lb 5oz of mostly roach taken from a peg at Scotland Road. Fishing the pole at 11 meters over "balled in" ground bait Kev kept the fish feeding with caster and fished maggot on the hook.

Top Six
1 ANDY PRATTEN 20:12
2 KEVIN BAMFORD 16:08
3 KEVIN ROWELS 16:05
4 BRYAN HAIG 15:06
5 ALAN BROWN 14:08
6 PETE MILLS 12:02

Top Three Pairs
1 ANDY PRATTEN & NIGE SMITH 25:04
2 ALAN BROWN & TONY GILBERT 24:10
3 KEVIN ROWELS & CLIVE BABER 23:15

The golden peg was not won and now stands at £373

***

Avon AC Xmas Club Match Sat 2nd Dec 2006

Robin Guy of Melksham, winner of the 2006 club xmas match.

With a week of heavy rainfall that saw the river Avon in flood this match was switched to the K&A Canal at Semington and Hilperton. This turned out to be a good move as over half the field of 68 club members managed to weigh in over three pounds and the top seven all had double figures.

Winner on the day was Melksham's Robin Guy with an excellent 19lb 6oz of good skimmers to over a pound from the Hilperton end of the match. Fishing the pole down the middle over ground bait with red maggot on a size 24 hook, Robin kept the fish interested by feeding a half a pint of pinkie throughout the five hours.

Runner up was Bristol matchman Kevin Boltz who again fished the pole down the middle but alternated between caster and worm on the hook. Fishing a peg at the Semington end Kevin caught good-sized skimmers and three very good perch over the chopped worm for a total of 15lb 6oz.

Peg next to Kevin was Third placed P Humphrey who caught skimmers and small roach on the pole with red maggot on the hook.

1 R GUY 19:06
2 K BOLTZ 15:06
3 P HUMPHREY 14:04
4 K ROWELS 13:01
5 A PRATTEN 10:04
6 N SMITH 10:00
6 G WILLIAMSON 10:00

The golden peg was not won and now stands at £349

Once again the Club would like to thank club sectary Percy Edwards and family, Jim Escott, Mark Crook and all who's efforts made this event one of the best of its kind in the South West.
Thanks also to all members who turned out to fish and we hope to see you back again next year.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR FROM ALL AT THE AVON ANGLING CLUB.

***

Avon AC Open Sun 15 Oct 2006

Sponsored by SCC Transport of Devizes

Sundays SSC sponsored open saw the river back to being low and clear but despite this some good weights were recorded from both the Forest and Beanacre sections.

First on the day was club match sectary Mark Crook of Melksham with a very good 24lb 7oz made up of three good bream and about 10lb of roach. All Mark’s fish were taken on a five-meter whip over ground bait with caster on the hook from a peg above the hatches at Forest.

Second spot went to Chippenham’s John Garner with 9lb 11oz of small fish from the end peg at Beanacre. John fished red maggot on the pole at 10 meters and feed chopped worm and caster to keep the fish feeding.

South Cerney’s Paul Rice was third with 9lb 5 oz from a peg above the Beanacre “S” bends.
Paul’s catch was made up of mostly small fish but included some very good perch taken on ledgered worm.

Top Six

1 MARK CROOK 24:07
2 JOHN GARNER 9:11
3 PAUL RICE 9:05
4 JOHN WRIGHT 7:04
5 CLIVE BABER 6:09
6 ANDY PRATTEN 6:08

***

Avon AC Club Match Sun 8th of Oct 2006

Fished from Sainsburys to the By-pass Bridge, this club match produced some good roach fishing with the river in near perfect condition.

Drawn just above the bridge, Melksham's Mark Crook took top spot with an all roach catch of 16lb 13oz. Fishing a five metre whip with caster on a twenty hook and feeding hemp proved to be the winning method.

Runner up was Bob Ryan of Melksham with 11lb 7oz of roach taken on tears fished under a crow quill float and lose feed hemp.

Third was Paul Rice with 7lb 7oz of roach taken on stick float and caster.

Top Six

1 MARK CROOK 16:13
2 BOB RYAN 11:07
3 PAUL RICE 7:07
4 JOHN WRIGHT 5:06
5 ANDY PRATTEN 4:00
6 TREVOR PAYNE 3:12

***

Sun 17 Sep 2006 Airsprung Home

This first ever inter club match between Avon AC and Air Sprung of Trowbrige produced some good fishing on the Bristol Avon in Melksham.

Drawn on peg one at Conigre, Melksham’s Robin Guy took top spot fishing stick float and caster for an excellent net of small fish weighing 18lb 7oz

Runner up was Vic Abbott with 15lb 12oz of roach, again using stick float and caster from a peg above the By Pass Bridge

Neil Hounsall was third with 13lb 8o z of mostly tench and ells fishing worm on the pole over chopped worm from a peg at Portman Road. Neil fished

The golden peg was not won and now stands at £288

Top Six

1 ROBIN GUY 18:07
2 VIC ABBOTT 15:12
3 NEIL HOUNSALL 13:08
4 STAN BLACKBOURN 10:02
5 ANDY PRATTEN 7:09
6 JIM ESCOTT 6:13

***

Avon AC Open Sun 10th of Sep 2006

Sundays Avon AC Open match was fished on the river Avon at Whaddon and with the river low and clear with very little flow and bright sunlight fish were hard to tempt.

Drawn on the end peg in the ‘horse shoe field’ Keith Notman took small roach on the pole at 10 meters over ground bait for a winning 8lb 2oz

Runner up was Nick Loafy with another small roach catch taken on the pole weighing 5lb 1oz

Vic Abbott took third spot just 1oz behind with 5lb, of small fish again on the pole.

Top Six

1 KEITH NOTMAN 8:02
2 NICK LOAFY 5:01
3 VIC ABBOTT 5:00
4 TONY GILBERT 4:12
5 NEIL HOUNSIL 4:04
6 J WILLIAMS 3:01

***

Sat 2nd Sep 2006

Avon Club SCC Saturday Series Match 4

The forth and final round of the SCC Saturday Series was fished on the Conigre stretch of the river Avon in Melksham and once again it was Devizes matchman Kevin Rowles topping the weights.
Drawn at peg eight, Kev fished with caster on a 22 hook and a seven meter pole over ground bait to take 12lb 6oz of bits and a bonus bream of about 4lb.
With four wins from four matches Kevin amassed an unbeatable 33-point for an easy series win.

Second on the day was Melksham's Tony Gilbert with 8lb 10oz of roach taken on hemp and a few worm caught perch all taken on the pole.

Third was Bob Ryan of Melksham with 8lb 9oz of roach and perch from peg five.

Top six on the day

1 KEVIN ROWLES 12:06
2 TONY GILBERT 8:10
3 BOB RYAN 8:09
4 MARK CROOK 7:05
5 ABBY PONTIN 6:14
6 GARY WILIAMSON 6:10

Final Mini League Table

1 KEVIN ROWLES 33 POINTS
2 GARY WILLIAMSON 23 POINTS (second on weight)
3 ROBBIE KEPNER 23 POINTS

***

Sat 19th Aug 2006

Avon Club SCC Saturday Series Match 3

The third round of this SCC sponsored mini league was fished on the Bristol Avon at Whaddon and once again it was Devizes angler Kev Rowles leading the way with a winning weight of 12lb 14oz. Drawn at the start of the horse- shoe bend Kev fished pole and caster to take small roach with a bonus bream and now has an unbeatable lead in the league with just one match to go.

Runner up was Gary Williamson of Devizes with 11lb 1oz of mostly caster caught perch

Melksham's Jim Escott was third 9lb 4oz of bits and a bonus bream.

The golden peg was not won and now stands at £268

The next match in the series is on Sep 2nd, draw at 1:00 Pig &Whistle pub

Top six on the day

1 KEV ROWlLES 12:14
2 GARY WILLIAMSON 11:01
3 JIM ESCOTT 9:04
4 ROBIN GUY 7:06
5 MARK CROOK 6:13
6 ROB KEEPNER 5:06

***

Rearranged Club Match Sunday 13th Aug 2006

Huge Bream Catch For Stewart

This rearranged club match fished on the river Avon at Whaddon only attracted 15 members but it's one that they won't forget in a hurry. And for Stuart White it was the match of a lifetime. The Chippenham angler amassed a staggering winning weight of 294lb 2oz of bream, breaking all sorts of records in the process.
Drawing a peg on the big bend in the second field, Stuart noted several bream rolling whilst setting up. So at the off he put in ten large balls of ground bait laced with chopped worm and casters at 12 meters and fished the pole over the feed.
First "put in" to the twelve feet of clear water produced a roach of 12oz but his second "put in" saw the first of an amazing 57 bream in the net.
Changing right away to a 3 gram float with .014 line right through and worm on a size 14 hook, Stuart kept the fish coming by lose feeding 3 pint's of chopped worm and caster.
Luckily, fellow club member Roger Warlock packed up after two and a half hours and provided another large keep net for the huge catch.
The last two-hour of the five hour match were his most productive and the fish were still feeding well at the final whistle.

Just 276lb behind the winner was Devizes ace Kevin Rowles with 19lb 10oz of pole caught roach from the last peg in the same field.

Third spot went to Melksham's Robbie Keepner with 8lb 12oz of roach

Top Four

1 STUART WHITE 294:02
2 KEVIN ROWLES 18:10
3 ROBBIE KEEPNER 8:12
4 ROBIN GUY 4:10

Stuart fishing the record breaking peg at Whaddon

***

Sat 5th Aug 2006

Avon Club SCC Saturday Series Match 2

The second round of this SCC sponsored four match mini league was fished on the Conigre stretch of the river Avon in Melksham and produced much better fishing than last weeks match at Whaddon.

For the second week running, Devizes angler Kev Rowles scored a convincing win with a weight of 20lb form peg one. Kev fished pole and caster to take small chub and roach throughout the five hours.

Runner up was Rob Keepner of Melksham who fished hemp on a five-meter pole to put 13lb 1oz of roach in the net.

Gary Williamson was third with 10lb 6oz from peg eight.

The golden peg was not won and now stands at £253

The next match in the series is on Aug 19th, draw at 1:00 Pig &Whistle pub

Top six on the day

1 KEV ROWlLES 20:00
2 ROB KEEPNER 13:01
3 GARY WILLIAMSON 10:06
4 ROBIN GUY 10:02
5 JIM ESCOTT 9:03
6 KEVIN ABIGAIL 9:02

***

Sat 20th July 2006

Avon Club SCC Saturday Series Match 1

Fished on the Bristol Avon at Whaddon, this SCC sponsored first round club match proved hard work for most of the 15 anglers. This stretch of water normally produces good bags of roach at this time of year but only a few were able to find them.

Devizes match man Kev Rowles had a comfortable win with 15lb 3oz of roach taken on pole over ground bait with pinkie as hook bait.

Runner up was Melksham's Rob Keepner with 8lb 1oz of roach, again fishing with pole over ground bait but with caster as hook bait.
Third place went to Melksham's Jim Escott with 6lb 5oz of small fist taken on stick float and maggot.

The golden peg was not won and now stands at £238

Match two will be fished at Conigre on Aug 5th

Top Six
1 KEV ROWLES 15:03
2 ROB KEEPNER 8:01
3 JIM ESCOTT 6:05
4 KEVIN ABIGALE 4:07
5 ABBY PONTIN 3:09
6 MARK CROOK 3:05

***

Sun 23rd July 2006

Avon AC v King Billy / Calne / Chippenham / Salisbury / Devizes

Fished on the Avon with sections at Beanacre, Sainsbury's and Conigre anglers from five different clubs enjoyed some good sport in this popular inter club get together.

The best of the action was at Conigre and Devizes match man Kev Rowels had a narrow victory at peg 23. Fishing pole with hemp and caster Kev took roach with a few better fish for a winning 15lb.

Not far behind was Vic Abbot of Trowbridge with 14lb 3oz of roach taken on stick float and hemp from the end peg at Sainsbury's

Third spot went to Melksham's Robin Guy with a net of mostly small chub from the cattle drink at Conigre for a weight of 12lb 7oz.

The golden peg was not won and now stands at £225

Top six

1 K ROWELS 15:00
2 V ABBOT 14:03
3 R GUY 12:07
4 K NOTMAN 11:04
4 P RICE 11:04
6 A PRATTEN 10:04

***

Sun 16th July 2006 King Billy Away, Lacock

This annual inter club match between Avon AC and King Billy of Bristol fished exceptionally well given this Sunday was just about the hottest of the year so far.
The small fish feed well throughout with everyone getting plenty of bites but Billy’s Steve Skelton managed to add two good bream to his small fish net for a winning weight of 19lb 3oz. Fishing peg 5 above the Abby field Steve took all his fish on short pole and caster, feeding hemp.

Andy Britt, also of Billy was runner up with a weight of 15lb 8oz of all small fish taken mostly on hemp on a stick float.

Third place went to Paul Lombard, again fishing for Billy. Paul fished pellet on a short pole to take 14lb 5oz of better quality fish including some nice roach.

King Billy won the team event by almost 15lb

The golden peg was not won and now stands at £196

Top six
1 STEVE SKELTON 19:03
2 ANDY BRITT 15:08
3 PAUL LOMBARD 14:05
4 PAT BRUSHNEEN 11:15
5 JOHN WRIGHT 10:07
6 MARK CKOOK 8:08

Teams Result
King Billy 59:06
Avon AC 45:08

Avon AC Club Match Sun 26th Feb 2006

Sundays club match was moved to the K&A Canal at Semington after the river Avon had been in such poor form over the last few weeks. It was a move that proved popular, as most anglers were able to get bites through out the day.

Taking top spot was Stan Blackbourne with an all roach catch of 11lb. Stan fished the pole and punched bread at about five meters and caught fish to 10oz steadily through out the five hours

Runner up was Pete Macey with an all skimmer catch of 8lb 14oz taken on long pole and maggot over ground bait

Third was Malcolm White who had mostly good perch fishing worm on the pole at four meters over chopped worm.

Top six

1 Stan Blackbourne 11:00
2 Pete Macey 8:14
3 Malcolm White 7:04
4 Jim Escott 4:04
5 Snowy White 3:08
6 Clive Baber 1:14

***

Avon AC Open Match Sun 19th Feb 2006

With the river carrying a few feet of extra coloured water fish were very hard to find for the twenty plus anglers fishing this Avon AC open.

It was no surprise that bream were to dominate the weights and making the most of a noted bream peg with a winning 28lb 7oz was Devizes match man Kevin Rowels. Drawn on the “steps” at Scotland Road, Kevin fished the pole at ten meters over ground bait to take seven good bream on worm and caster hook bait.

Runner up was Swindon’s Kevin Bamford who had one good bream and a few bits for a total weight of 5lb 14oz again on Scotland Road.

Third was Robbie Kepner of Melksham with an all bleek catch of 5lb 5oz from a peg on Portman Road

Top six
1 Kevin Rowels 28:07
2 Kevin Bamford 5:14
3 Robbie Kepner 5:05
4 Alan Brown 5:04:8
5 Brian Pollard 5:04
6 John Gardener 5:0

***

Avon AC Club Match Sun 29th Jan 2006

Despite the very cold weather fifteen members braved the conditions and fished this rock hard club match. Pegged on the river Avon between the footbridge at Scotland Road and the weir in the park only five anglers managed to catch.

Heading the lucky five was Melksham's Stan Blackmore with an all roach catch of 4lb 15oz. Stan took his fish on a crow quill float fished down the middle with bread as the hook bait.

Runner up was Calne angler Nigel Smith with four good perch taken on worm on the tip for a weight of 4lb 14oz

Third place went to Jim Escott with 2lb 8oz of small roach and skimmers taken with bread on a stick float.

Top 5

1 Stan Blackmore 4:15
2 Nigel Smith 4:14
3 Jim Escott 2:08
4 Stewart White 0:12
5 Snowy White 0:04

The golden peg was not won and now stands at £181

***

Avon AC Pairs Match Tue 27th Dec 2005

The 24 club members that turned out for the annual club pairs match found the Bristol Avon running low and clear after the over night frost, and fish were hard to find in many area's. Fortunately the rivers roach fed in pockets and some reasonable weights were recorded.

Drawn at the back of Sainsbury's Kevin Bamford took the top individual prize with an all roach catch weighing 12lb 12oz. Starting out fishing punched bread on the stick float and latter switching to caster Kev took fish of 4 to 5 oz steadily through the five hours.

Runner up was Melksham's Jim Escott with an all roach catch taken from the By-Pass weighing 10lb 4onz. Jim fished bread punch on a stick float and fed white crumb to keep the roach feeding.

Bradford's Dean Adams was third with 8lb 15oz fishing a peg behind Sainsbury's and again it was the roach making a show.

Top Five Individuals

1 KEN BAMFORD 12:12
2 JIM ESCOTT 10:04
3 DEAN ADDAMS 8:15
4 KEVIN ROWLES 8:11
5 STAN BLACKBOURNE 8:07
6 NEIL HOUNSEL 7:10

The groupings for the pairs were drawn before the match and the top three pairs on the day were as follows

1 A BROWN & K BAMFORD 13:08
2 S WHITE & A McTIFFIN 12:03
3 K ROWLES & T PAYNE 11:15

The Golden Peg was not won and now stands at around £166

***

Avon Club Xmas Match Sat 10th Dec 2005

This years match winner Adrian McTiffin

Once again over 60 club members turned out to fish this very popular Christmas match. And with the river in flood just two day before the decision was taken to switch the event to the clubs stretch of the K &A canal between Semington and Hilperton. This proved to be a good move as the skimmer bream and small roach feed well on the day and most anglers had reasonable days winter fishing.

Taking home the winners hamper and £100 in cash was Devizes angler Adrian Mc Tiffin. Drawn at the Semington end and fishing the pole at 11 meters, Adrian took good quality skimmers on worm and caster over ground bait for a cracking total weight of 20lb 7oz.

Runner up and at the next peg to the winner was Melksham's Clive Baber with another skimmer catch of 17lb 10oz. Clive fished with red maggot on the pole at 11 meters and kept the fish feeding with ground bait and squats.

Taking third spot was Bristol's Bob Sheppard who fished with squats on the pole at 10 meters over ground bait and squats to put 13lb of skimmers in the net form the Hilperton end of the match length.

Top six
1 Adrian McTiffin 20:07
2 Clive Baber 17:10
3 Bob Sheppard 13:00
4 Alan Brown 12:05
5 Robbie Kepner 11:07
6 Stewart White 10:00

The Golden Peg was not won and now stands at £140

Once again the Club would like to thank Percy Edwards and family, Jim Escott, Mark Crook and all who's efforts made this event one of the best of its kind in the South West.
Thanks also to all members who turned out to fish and we hope to see you back again next year.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR FROM
AVON ANGLING CLUB!

***

Avon Open Match Sun 30th Oct 2005

This Avon Open match was fished on a rising river but still produced some good weights.
Drawn at Sainburys, Melksham's Malcolm White toped the field with a winning weight of 13lb 9oz of roach plus one good bream.

Runner up, fishing just a few pegs along was Robin Guy also of Melksham who took 12lb of good roach on seed baits.

Third was Paul Rice with 8lb 13oz of bits and one good-sized bream from a peg at Scotland Road.

Top six

1 MALCOME WHITE 13:09
2 ROBIN GUY 12:00
3 PAUL RICE 8:13
4 PETE MACEY 7:14
5 JOHN WRIGHT 7:10
6 MARCUS CROOK 6:09

***

Avon Club Match Sun 09 Oct 2005

19 members turned out for this match fished at Whaddon and with the river still very low and clear, and air temperatures dropping fish were much harder to find than in recent weeks.

Melkshams Robin Guy was the only one to reach double figures and had an easy win with his weight of 12lb 14oz. Drawn at the end peg in the second field, Robin fished maggot on the pole over ground bait to catch roach down the middle of the river.

Runner up was Somerford Keynes match star, Andy Pratten with another all roach catch of 5lb 5oz taken on the pole.

Melksham's Marcus Crook took third spot with 5lb again with an all roach catch.

Top Six

1 Robin Guy 12:14
2 Andy Pratten 5:05
3 Marcus Crook 5:00
4 Clive Baber 3:08
5 Bob Ryan 3:05
6 Malcolm White 3:01

The Golden peg was not won and now stands at £89

***

SCC Transport Sponsored Open

Sun 18th Sept 2005

This years SCC open fished on the river Avon at Sainsbury’s, the By-Pass and Conigre produced a close finish and once again it was mainly the roach feeding.

Picking up the £115 first place prize money was Tony Cambridge who fished the stick float with caster on the hook at peg 3 at Conigre. Catching mostly roach, Tony managed to put 11lb 14oz. on the scales.

Second place went to Arthur Marshall who took 10lb 4oz of stick float caught roach from a peg at Sainsbury’s

Stewart White was third with four good chub and a few small fish taken on bread from peg 8 at Conigre.

Top Six

1 Tony Cambridge 11:14
2 Arthur Marshall 10:04
3 Stewart White 10:01
4 Marcus Crook 9:06
5 Kevin Dicks 7:10
6 Lee Hubbard 7:08

Once again the club would like to thank SCC Transport for their support of this even.

***

Avon Club SCC Saturday Series Match 4

Saurday 3rd Sept 2005

The fourth and final round of the SCC sponsored Saturday series was fished on the Avon at Conigre, which was in good form after the midweek rain.

Topping the field on the day was Melkshams Rob Kepner with a 15lb 2oz net of small fish. Drawing peg one, Robbie fished the whip with caster on a size 20 hook to catch small chub, roach and dace at 5 meters.

Runner up was in form Summerford Keynes match man Andy Pratton with a weight of 14lb 14oz from peg 19. Fishing the pole at 7 meters, Andy had three good-sized chub to go with his small roach and dace catchall taken on caster

Third spot went to Melksham's Marcus Crook with mixed net of fish weighing 10lb, which included a small barbell of just over a pound from peg 3.

Andy Pratten won the series with a total of 29 point and takes home £100 of the sponsor's money.

Top six

1 Robbie Kepner 15:02
2 Andy Pratten 14:14
3 Marcus Crook 10:00
4 Robin Guy 8:04
5 Adrian McTiffin 8:00
6 Bob Ryan 7:06

The club would like to thank Marcus Crook and SCC Transport for their support of this successful series.

***

Avon Club SCC Saturday Series Match 3

Saurday 20th August 2005

The Bristol Avon at Whaddon again produced some very good roach fishing in this third round SCC sponsored club match.

Drawn at the end of the second field, Melksham's Brian Haig took top spot fishing long pole over ground bait with red maggot on the hook. The method kept the roach and bits coming steadily for most of the five hours and Brian ended the match with a winning weight of 14lb 10oz.

Runners up spot went to match organiser Marcus Crook of Melksham with another all roach catch of 13lb 12oz. Again it was the long pole over ground bait with red maggot hook bait that produced the fish.

Third was Devizes angler Adrian Mc Tiffin with 12lb 3 oz of roach fishing the same method but with caster as hook bait

With one match to go Somerford Keynes match man Andy Pratten leads the series and look favourite to take the title

Top Six

1 BRIAN HAIG 14:10
2 MARCUS CROOK 13:12
3 ADRIAN McTIFFIN 12:03
4 ANDY PRATTEN 9:07
5 ROBIE KEPNER 6:15
6 ROBIN GUY 5:11

***

Avon AC Interclub Sunday 7th August 2005

Avon v King Billy v Chippenham v Calne

Fished at Portman Road and Conigre this annual inter club contest proved hard work for most of the 21 anglers taking part. Five of the top six were drawn at Conige where small fish were the order of the day.

Fishing the whip and caster on the hook, King Billy’s Kevin Boltz had a comfortable win with 9lb 7oz of “bits” from peg 14 at Conigre.

Runner up was Calne’s Nigel Smith with 6lb 4oz of mostly Perch taken on chopped worm from Conigers peg 21.

Match organiser Marcus Crook of Melksham was third with another small fish catch of 6lb 3oz from the “skinny swim” at Coniger.

Top Six
1 Kevin Boltz 9:07
2 Nigel Smith 6:04
3 Marcus Crook 6:03
4 Martin Doleman 5:14
5 Paul Rice 5:10
6 Clive Babber 5:06

The golden peg was not won and now stands at £70

***

Avon Club SCC Saturday Series Match 2

Saurday 30thJuly 2005

The second round of the SCC sponsored Avon club Saturday series produced a close finish on the Bristol Avon at Conigre. It took a good-sized chub late in the match to give Melksham's Robin Guy the win with a catch of 10lb 6oz from peg 10. Robin fished the pole with caster to take small fish but a switch to sweet corn on the hook in the last 30 minutes produced a chub of nearly three pounds.

Winner of round one, Andy Pratten was runner up. Andy fished the stick float and caster to take a mixed net of 8lb 12oz from peg 3

Third spot went to Adrian McTiffin with an all-small fish catch of 8lb 10oz taken on the pole and caster.

Top Six

1 Robin Guy 10:06
2 Andy Pratten 8:12
3 Adrian McTiffin 8:10
4 Jim Escott 7:08
5 Rob Bullock 7:00
6 Abby Ponting 5:01

Round three is on Saturday the 20th of August. Draw at the Pig &Whistle at midday.

***

Avon v King Billy away

Sunday 17th July 2005

VINCE NET’S GOLDEN PEG PRIZE

King Billy’s Vince Lunn made good use of his golden peg draw with a comfortable win in this second King Billy v Avon AC inter club match at Lacock. At peg 14 in the Abbey field Vince took mostly small fish with some better roach late on, for a total of 19lb 9oz. The bulk of his fish were caught on pole to hand, with maggot as hook bate. With the golden peg plus the match pool, Vince went home £300 better off.

Runner up was King Billy’s Kevin Boltz, with 13lb 10oz of all small fish taken on the pole from peg 5.

Third spot went to Avon’s Pat Brushneen, with another all small fish catch of 10lb 15 oz. Pat had his fish on stick float and castor from a peg below the bridge.

Top six:
1. Vince Lunn (King Billy) 19:09
2. Kevin Boltz (King Billy) 13:10
3. Pat Brushneen (Avon AC) 10:15
4. Gerry Pocock (King Billy) 9:02
5. John Garner (Avon AC) 8:03
6. Steve Skelton (King Billy) 7:14

Team result (Top six per team)
1. King Billy 62:02
2. Avon AC 42:14

Note, the golden peg pot will re-start at £50

***

Avon Club SCC Saturday Series Match 1

Saurday 2nd July 2005

Fished on the Bristol Avon at Conigre, this SCC sponsored first round club match produced some reasonable sport. With the small fish feeding well in every peg anglers were kept busy for the full five hours.

Bonus fish were hard to come by but Somerford Keynes match man Andy Pratten managed to find three large eels late on to finish with a winning weight of 14lb 9oz from peg 18. Andy started with stick float and castor on an 18 hook and feed hemp and caster to catch small roach and dace with the odd better perch. A switch to fishing the pole across in the last hour produced the bonus eels.

Runner up was Melksham's Marcus Crook at peg 1. Marcus took an all-small fish catch on the whip, fishing castor on a size 20 hook, for a total weight of 13lb 4oz.

Adin McTiffin was third with another all small fish catch of 11lb 14oz. Adin caught his fish with a short pole, fishing caster and feeding hemp and castor.

Top six:

1. Andy Pratten 14:09
2. Marcus Crook 13:04
3. Adin McTiffin 11:14
4. Robbie Kepner 11:03
5. Robin Guy 9:04
6. Roger Warlock 8:14

***

Avon Evening Club Match 2

Tuesday 28th June 2005

For the second week in a row Melksham’s Robin Guy had a comfortable win in this series of Tuesday evening club matches.
Fish proved much more difficult to catch this week but Robin still managed to weigh in with 10lb 6oz from peg five at Congre. All his fish were taken on pole fished with worm or sweet corn and included two good chub and a large ell.

Second was Andy Pratten of Somerford Keynes with an all-small fish net of 3lb 14oz from peg one. Andy fished long pole and alternated between sweet corn and caster on the hook

Third spot went to Chippenham’s Rob Bullock with an all-small fish catch of 2lb 14oz taken on stick float and caster.

Top Six
1 Robin Guy 10:06
2 Andy Pratten 3:14
3 Rob Bullock 2:14
4 Clive Baber 2:02
5 Bob Ryan 2:01
6 Marcus Crook 1:01

***

Avon v King Billy away

Sunday 26th June 2005

The heavy rains of the previous Thursday ensured that this stretch of the Bristol Avon at Lacook was in perfect condition for this popular inter club contest with King Billy of Bristol

Making the most of the conditions was Chippenham's Stewart White. Drawn on peg 4 Stewart fished the whip with maggot on the hook for an all-small fish weight of 19lb 9oz. Two pints of caster and two of hemp kept the fish feeding through the full five hours.

Runner up was Melksham's Marcus Crook who fished sweet corn under a wagler for a total of 14lb 10oz. Marcus took small chub with a few better ones from the stumps peg in the Abby field.

Vince Lunn fishing for King Billy was third with another small fish net of 14lb 3oz from an un-fancied peg above the Abby field.

The golden peg was not won and now stands at £180

Top Six
1 Stewart White (Avon AC) 19:09
2 Marcus Crook (Avon AC) 14:10
3 Vince Lunn (King Billy) 14:03
4 Rob Bullock (Avon AC) 10:11
5 Paul Rice (Avon AC) 10:06
6 Gerry Pocock (King Billy) 8:02

Team Result (top six per team)
Avon AC 63:04
King Billy 39:11

***

Avon Evening Club Match 1

Tuesday 21st June 2005

Fished on the river Avon at Conigre, the first of four evening matches produced some good fishing with chub, bream, roach, dace and perch all feeding after the very warm weather of the last few days

Taking top spot was Melkshams Robin Guy with a winning weight of 17lb 4oz form peg two. Robbins catch included four very good sized chub taken on pole and sweet corn as the light was starting to go.

Runner up was Steve Shears with a mix of small chub, dace and one good bream for a total of 11lb 2oz from peg one. Steve fished the pole across with pellet and caster.

Third was Andy Pratten with an all small fish catch of 6lb 15oz from peg 15

Top six

1 Robin Guy 17:04
2 Steve Shears 11:02
3 Andy Pratten 6:15
4 Rob Ryan 5:02
5 Rob Bullock 4:11
6 Mark Crock / Pat Brushneen both 4:08

* * *

Inter Club Match Avon AC v Pucklechurch Sun 27 Feb 2005

The last river match of the season proved to be another tough one and with the river running low and clear and temperatures only just above freezing, half the field struggled for bites.
Peged on the Scotland Road and By-pass sections it was competitors fishing the later that made the top places.

Top spot on this difficult day went to Melksham’s Tony Gilbert with an all bleak catch taken on pole and maggot. Tony managed to put a creditable 9lb 4oz on the scales from a peg behind Sainsbury’s car park.

A few pegs downstream was Andy Pratten of Somerford Keynes, who fished with stick float and caster to tempt small roach and perch. 5lb 12oz was enough give Andy second spot.

Third place went to Tony Hilbert who managed 5lb 8oz of bream and small roach, again from a peg on the By-pass.

Top Six

1 TONY GILBERT 9:04:0
2 ANDY PRATTEN 5:12:8
3 TONY HILBERT 5:08:8
4 SNOWY WHITE 4:00:0
5 D JONES 3:14:0
5 R SAVAGE 3:14:0

TEAM RESULT

AVON AC 26:15:8
PUCKLECHURCH 17:12:0

19 Fished.
The Golden peg was not won and now stands at £161

***

Avon OpenMatch Sun 20th Feb 2005

33 Anglers turn out for this Avon AC Open match fished on the Bristol Avon at Melksham. And with the river “tap water” clear, and a strong wind from the North East this was always going to be a tough one. At least half the field struggled to get a bite. Nevertheless a few managed to find the fish feeding and it was the bottom end of the Beanacre section that produced most of the action.

Drawn at the end of the "S" bends, Bath’s Kevin Dicks caught small roach on the float through out the five hour’s to record a very good winning weight of 13lb 12oz.

Taking second spot and drawn just one peg above the winner was Bristol’s Kev Boltz. Kev also fished a stick float to tempt 13lb 8o z of small chub to finish just 4oz off the leader.

Third place went to Melksham’s Jim Escott with an all-bleak catch of 8lb 11oz from a peg at Sainsbury’s car park.

Top Six

1 KEVIN DICKS 13:12
2 KEV BOLTZ 13:08
3 JIM ESCOTT 8:11
4 ROB BULLOCK 8:02
5 STEVE SHEARS 7:04
6 STAN BLACKBOURN 6:04

***

Avon Club Match Sun 30th Jan 2005

18 members turned out to fish Sundays club match on the river Avon in Melksham
With the river cold and clear fish were had to tempt and it took just four good fish for Chippenham’s Stewart White to take top spot.
Drawn at Scotland Road Stewart fished a groundbait feeder with worm and maggot and netted two good bream, a tench and a perch for a weight of 12lb 14oz.

Fishing the same section was Andy Pratten who fished a stick float and castor and weighed in 6lb 15oz with a good bream and a few roach.

Third place went to Melksham’s Snowy White with 5lb 11oz of roach and skimmers taken on float fished bread.

The golden peg pot was not won and now stands at £144

Top Six

1 STEWART WHITE 12:14
2 ANDY PRATTEN 6:15
3 SNOWY WHITE 5:11
4 JOHN GARNER 4:13
5 STAN BLACKBOURNE 4:03
6 MALCOME WHITE 3:14

***

Mon 27 Dec 2004 Avon Club Pairs Match

The clubs annual pairs match saw 26 members braving the very cold weather on the Avon at Scotland Road and the By Pass.

Winning by some way was Bradford's Neil Hounsel with a total weight of 11lb 8oz. Drawn on the Scotland road section Neil caught mostly bleek on the whip to lead the field by 5lb

Runner up spot went to Chippenham angler Stewart White with an all-small fish catch of 6lb 8oz from the By Pass section.

Melksham's Snowy White was third with 4lb 5oz

TOP SIX

1 NEIL HOUNSEL 11:08
2 STEWART WHITE 6:08
3 SNOWY WHITE 4:05
4 DAVE BAMFORD 3:12
5 PETE MACEY 3:11
6 KEVIN ROWELS 3:08

TOP THREE PAIRS

1 NEIL HOUNSEL & MARCUS CROOK 11:08
2 STEWART WHITE & JIM CAMBLE 8:00
3 KEVIN BAMFORD & BOB RYAN 6:01

***

Avon Club Xmas Match Sat 4th Dec 2004

Match winner Abigail Pontin receives his hamper from club secretary Percy Edwards

More than 60 members turned out to for the annual Christmas match fished on the river Avon between Beanacre and Whaddon.

With the river in good condition and the weather mild, some good fishing was had by most and over twenty weights over 5lb were recorded.

Taking home the winner’s hamper was Melksham’s Abigail Pontin with a winning weight of 22lb 7oz. Drawn at the first field at Whaddon, Abigale fished with bread and feeder to take eight good chub with the best fish being one of around 5lb.

Runner up was Mick Snudden with an all roach catch of 15lb 9oz, taken from a peg above the By-pass Bridge. Mick fished float and castor and feed heap and caster to keep the fish coming throughout the day.

Just 7oz behind was last year’s runner up Tony Gilbert with 15lb 2oz. Drawn at the bottom end of Beanacre, Tony caught small fish all day on stick float and castor.

There were large hampers for the top four and a prize for every member taking part:

TOP SIX

1. Abigail Pontin 22:07
2. Mick Sudden 15:09
3. Tony Gilbert 15:02
4. S. Blackboune 10:00
5. N. Smith 9:04
6. H. Adams 8:15

Once again the Club would like to thank Percy Edwards and family, Jim Escott, Mark Crook and all who’s efforts made this event one of the best of its kind in the South West.

Thanks also to all members who turned out to fish and we hope to see you back again next year.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR FROM
AVON ANGLING CLUB!

***

Avon Open Sunday 31st OCT 2004

With the Bristol Avon running high and coloured after the heavy rains some reasonable fishing was had by most of the 24 anglers taking part in Sundays Avon AC Open.

Because of the high water levels the match was pegged from the top of Portman Road down to the weir in Melksham Park.

On the day it was the Scotland Road section that produced the top three weights with Bristol’s Kevin Boltz taking top spot.
Pegged just above the brook Kevin took small chub, roach and bleak on the whip and maggot for a winning weight of 9lb 4oz and went home £100 better off.

Pegged just bellow the Green Footbrige, was runner up, Melksham’s Robin Guy with an all bleak catch taken on pole with maggot for a total of 8lb 7oz

Terry Gatty also of Melksham was third just three ounce’s behind with a mix of skimmer bream and roach weighing 8lb 4oz. Terry fished the ground bait feeder from a peg half way along the Scotland Road stretch.

TOP SIX

KEVIN BOLTZ 9:4
ROBIN GUY 8:7
TERRY GATTY 8:4
ANDY PRATTEN 7:14
MALCOMB WHITE 5:3
SNOWY WHITE 4:15

***

SUN 10th Oct Avon Club Match 2004

With the fall in temperature and a low and clear river, fish were much more difficult to tempt than in previous weeks.

All the top three anglers were drawn on the By-pass and Sainsburys section and with a winning weight of 5lb 12oz, Andy Pratten of Somerford Keynes was top man on the day. Fishing with stick float and caster Andy managed to find enough roach to win by a clear pound.

Runner up was Melkshams Marcus Crook with another all roach catch of 4lb 12oz, again taken on the stick float and caster.

And it was the same tactics that saw Paul Rice into third spot with 3lb 10oz

Top 4

Andy Pratten 5:12
Marcus Crook 4:12
Paul Rice 3:10
Steve Shears 3:08

***

SCC Transport sponsored Open

SUN 19 Sept 2004

The Bristol Avon at Melksham was again in fine form for Sundays SCC Transport Open with the roach making up the bulk of the weights.

Winner on the day was Melksham's own Malcolm White with a total of 18lb 8oz. Drawing on the Scotland Road section Malcolm caught good quality roach plus two tench on pole and maggot fished close in over ground bait.

Drawn a few pegs down from the winner was runner up Gary Etheridge of Devizes. Gary switched between long pole and the wagler to take 15lb 15oz of all roach. Gary took most of his fish on seed baits with fish up to 1lb 8oz. in weight.

Third was Bob Ryan of Melksham with a 13lb 15oz mixed bag of roach perch and a tench of over 3lb.
Bob fished the short pole with caster on the hook over lose feed hemp and castor.

The Avon Angling Club would like to thank our sponsor, SCC Transport for putting £100 into the prize fund.

Top six places

1 MALCOM WHITE 18:08
2 GARY ETHERIDGE 15:15
3 BOB RYAN 13:15
4 MAX WINTERS 12:01
5 ROBIN GUY 11:14
6 KEVIN BOLTZ 9:05

***

SUN 29th 2004 Aug Melksham Carnival Open

The annual carnival open match fished on the Kennet & Avon canal on Sunday produced some excellent sport for the 35 anglers taking part.
The best of the fishing was had at the Hilperton side of Whaddon Bridge where the skimmer bream feed well throughout the day.

After a close fought contest Swindon's Mark Hows took top spot with 18lb 7oz of skimmers fishing the pole over ground bait with castor or red maggot on the hook.

And the same tactics saw Chippenham's Dave Johnson into second place with another skimmer bream catch of 16lb 9oz

Third place went to Melksham's Terry Gatty with 16lb 8oz, just 1oz behind Dave

Top six
1 M HOWS 18:07
2 D JOHNSON 16:09
3 T GATTY 16:08
4 S SHIERS 12:12
5 K BOLTZ 12:11
6 G PEARCE 10:01

Top Junior was M PEARCE 8:13

***

Aug SCC Saturday Series Match 4

SAT 28th 2004

The forth and final round of the very successful SCC sponsored Saturday series was fished on the in form Whaddon section of the Bristol Avon this Saturday.

Leading the way with his second win in a row was Melksham’s Robbie Kepner with another all roach catch of 14lb 6oz. Robbie took his fish on the long pole, fishing caster on the hook over ground bait.

Runner up was Melksham’s Brian Haig again with an all roach catch taken on the pole with pinkie on the hook. After a slow start Brian weighed in 12lb 3oz.

Third spot went to Steve Sheers who weighed in with 7lb 2oz with the help of two good eels taken on the pole.

Top six on the day

1 Robbie Kepner 14:06
2 Brian Haig 12:03
3 Steve Sheers 7:02
4 Robin Guy 6:08
5 Adrian McTiffin 6.06
6 Bob Ryan 4:05

SCC Saturday series Winners (best three results from four matches)

1 Robbie Kepner 31 points
2 Bob Ryan 26 points
3 Robin Guy 25 points

The club would just like to thank Mark Crook and S.C.C. Transport for their support of this event.

***

SCC Saturday Series Match 3

SAT 21st Aug 2004

GOLDEN PEG JACKPOT WON AT LAST

Melksham’s Robbie Kepner went home from Saturday’s Avon AC Club Match almost £500 better off after winning the Club’s Golden Peg Jackpot.

Fancied peg 18 at Waddon was drawn from the hat as the golden peg and when Robbie picked out the same number at the match draw he knew he had a fighting chance of taking the jackpot.

With the roach feeding well on this excellent stretch of the Bristol Avon the match was a very closely run contest. Robbie took top spot by just 2 ounces from Devizes angler Kevin Rowles followed closely by Melksham’s Tony Gilbert.

Just about all the top weights were made up of roach taken by fishing the pole over large balls of ground bait with caster on the hook.

After three matches of the four now fished Robbie also leads the individual league which will pay out another £100 to the winner at the next Saturday’s fourth and final round.

TOP SIX

1. Robbie Kepner 15.01
2. Kevin Rowles 14.15
3. Tony Gilbert 13.12
4. Bob Ryan 11.14
5. Malcolm White 10.08
6. Brian Derrick 8.11

***

SUN 8th AUG 2004 . INTER CLUB

AVON AC / CHIPPENHAM / KING BILLY / CALNE

29 Anglers took part in this annual inter club contest fished on the Bristol Avon at Melksham.
A difficult down stream wind kept weights a little lower than expected but with the roach feeding well on most sections most competitors still had a good days fishing.

Leading the field was Chippenham’s Jason O’Dell with an all roach catch of 12lb 4onz from the Whaddon section.
Jason fished with caster on the pole at 12 meters over 6 large balls of ground bait to take fish to 8onz steadily through out the match.

Runner up and also pegged at Whaddon was Calne’s Simon Fear with 9lb 4onz of roach taken on Pole and caster over ground bait.

Avon’s Roger Warlock took third spot with an 8lb 13onz net of small chub and roach. Roger had all his fish on the stick float alternating between caster and seed baits from a peg at Conigre.

Once again the Golden peg pot was not won and it now stands at almost £400 going onto our next club match on the 21st of Aug

Top Six

1 JASSON O’DELL CHIPPENHAM 12:04
2 SIMON FEAR CALNE 9:04
3 ROGER WARLOCK AVON 8:13
4 BOB RYAN AVON 7:05
5 JIM ESCOTT AVON 7:03
6 TONY GILBERT AVON 7:02

Teams
1st Avon AC
2nd Chippenham AC
3rd King Billy (Bristol)
4th Calne AC

***

SUN 1st AUG 2004 KING BILLY AWAY

The second inter club match between King Billy of Bristol and Avon AC was fished on the Bristol Avon at Lacock on Sunday.
Once again it was the roach and small fish that made up nearly all the weights and with the river running very low and clear the fishing was reasonably good.
The majority of anglers taking part managed to put 5lb or more on the scales after five hours in the hot sunshine.

Continuing his run of good form Melksham's Robin Guy took top spot with a winning 12lb 3onz of good quality roach. Drawn on peg six Robin caught on the pole alternating between hemp and sweetcorn on the hook.

Runner up was King Billy's Kevin Boltz with a mixed net of roach, dace and small chub weighing 10lb 5onz. Drawn in the Abby Field at peg 16 on the fence line, Kev fished hemp on a short pole for the bulk of his fish.

Paul Rice of Tetbury was third with another good roach catch of 10lb 5onz, just one ounce behind second place. Paul was fishing the Stumps swim in the Abby field.

Top six

1 ROBIN GUY AVON AC 12:03
2 KEVIN BOLTZ KING BILLY 10:05
3 PAUL RICE AVON AC 10:04
4 ANDY PRATTEN AVON AC 8:13
5 STEWART WHITE AVON AC 8:12:5
6 GERRY POCOCK KING BILLY 8:0

TEAM RESULT (TOP 5 FROM EASH CLUB)

AVON AC 48:11
KING BILLY 37:7

***

SCC Saturday Series Match 2

SAT 25th July 2004

Round two of the SCC Saturday series was switched from Beanacre to Conigre due to access problems at the lower end of the Beanacre stretch of the Bristol Avon.

Making the most of the change of venue was Melksham's Robin Guy. Robin fish a stick float at peg 18 to take an all small fish catch for a winning weight off 10lb 2onz

Second was Rob Keepner with another all small fish catch of 8lb 6onz taken on stick float from peg 3

Adrian McTiffin took third spot with 5lb 15onz of small fish from peg 16

Top Five
1 R Guy 10:02
2 R Keepner 8:06
3 A McTiffin 5:15
4 G Williams 4:13
5 M Crook 4:06

***

SCC Saturday Series Match 1

SAT 17th July 2004

This year's series is sponsored by SCC Transport of Devises and the club would like to thank company director Mark Crook for his generous support.

The ever popular Avon AC four match Saturday series kicked off with the first match fished on an in form Bristol Avon at Conigre.

The opening match proved to be a very close contest with just a few pounds separating the top four and whilst small fish were caught in large numbers it was the odd bigger fish that made the difference to the top weights.

Fishing peg five, match winner Bob Ryan of Melksham fished caster on a short pole for a winning weight of 12lb 12onz. Feeding hemp and caster Bob took a net of small fish plus a bonus bream of about 4lb.

Runner up just 6onz's behind the winner was Brian Derrick from Yate. Brian fished a stick float with seed bates in peg 25 catching good Roach and one large Chub, for a total weight of 12lb 6onz.

Third place went to Melksham's Steve Shears who took 10lb 4onz of good quality Chub from peg 18.

Top six individuals:

1. B Ryan 12:12
2. B Derick 12:06
3. S Shears 10:04
4. A McTiffen 10:03
5. G Williamson 8:06
6. R Kepner 6:10

The next match in the series is on Saturday 24th July with the draw to be held at the Pig and Whistle pub at 1.30
The Golden Peg prize fund now at £333 is yet to be won, and will roll over to the next match.

***

SUN 27 JUNE 2004 KING BILLY AWAY

This annual Avon AC match against The King Billy Club of Bristol was fished on the popular stretch of the Bristol Avon at Lacock on Sunday. With the less than ideal conditions some reasonable nets of mostly small fish were taken.
Top weight on the day went to Avon's Rob Ryan with an all roach catch taken on hemp of 17lb 13onz. Rob had all his fish on the stick float from a peg just above the Abby Field.

Runner up was Avon's Mark Crook with 12lb 1onz of bits caught on the whip from peg 2 just bellow the out fall.

King Billy's Andy Britt was third with 10lb 12onz the included two good Chubb and a lot of small fish again.

The clubs Golden Peg Pot remains intact at over £300

Top six

1 R Ryan Avon AC 17:13
2 M Crook Avon AC 12:1
3 A Britt King Billy 10:12
4 K Boltz King Billy 10:4
5 C Greenslade King Billy 9:10
6 R Schollar King Billy 9:7

* * *

HOME TO PUCKLECHURCH

SUN 29 FEB 2004

A good turnout of 28 fished this popular end of season inter club contest on the river Avon at Melksham.
Despite low clear water and a cold downstream wind the weights continued to prove just how well the river has fished this winter, particularly for Roach.
The match was split into two sections with half the pegs at Portman Road and Scotland Road and the other half at the back of Sainsburts and the By- Pass.

Winner on the day with 13lb 7onz was Pete Macey with a mixed bag of Roach and Skimmers taken from the By-Pass stretch using a stick float with bread on the hook.

Pete was followed by Bob Shepherd with 12lb 14onz of mostly roach caught float fishing from the back of Sainsburys.

Third spot went to Kevin Rowels fishing at Scotland Road, Kevin took 9lb 9onz of small fish fishing the waggler and maggot.

The golden peg pot remains intact at £296

Top six

1 P MACEY 13:07
2 B SHEPERD 12:14
3 K ROWELS 9:09
4 I AGIUS 8:06
5 R SAVAGE 7:04
6 S WHITE 6:13

***

SATURDAY 27 DEC 2003
AVON AC PAIRS MATCH

The 29 club members that turned out for the annual club pairs match found the Bristol Avon in very good form despite the river still rising.
The roach fishing on the river in Melksham is getting better all the time but despite some very good nets of the red fins it was a cracking all bleak catch that took top spot.

Drawn at the back of Sainsbury's Stewart White took the top individual prise with his all bleek catch weighing 20lb 2onz. Starting out fishing punched bread for roach and only finding two in the first half hour Stewart switch to fishing the whip and maggot to catch bleek in a none stop four and a half hours of action.

Runner up was Howard Adams with an all roach catch taken from Melksham Park using float fished caster weighing 15lb 9onz.

Roger Warlock was third with 12lb 11onz fishing a peg next to Scotland Road footbridge and again it was the roach making a show.

It's worth noting that the best roach weighed was a fish of 1lb 10onz taken by Andy Pratten from the By Pass stetch.

Top Five Individuals

1 S WHITE 20:2
2 H ADAMS 15:9
3 R WARLOCK 12:11
4 J SUDBURY 12:4
5 R KEPNER 10:7

The groupings for the pairs were drawn before the match and the top three in match pairs were as follows

1 STEWART WHITE & T GILBERT 30:1
2 R WARLOCK & G POCOCK 21:3
3 H ADDAMS & S WHITE 18:14

***

Avon Angling Club Christmas Match 2003

This year’s winner was Melksham’s Darren Fletcher

65 Club members turned out for the annual Avon A C club Christmas match fished on a near perfect Bristol Avon in Melksham on Saturday.
Pegged from Beanacre right through to Whaddon the match was split into nine different sections and the top six anglers came from six different sections of the match.

This year’s winner was Melksham’s Darren Fletcher with a cracking all roach catch of 19lb 12onz. Drawn on the By Pass section Darren caught steadily for five hours with bread punch and stick float to carry off the top prize of a very large Xmas hamper and £140 in pools money.

Runner up was Tony Gilbert who also caught roach on the stick float from a peg next to the green bridge at Scotland Road. Tony weighed in 14lb 13onz.

Melksham’s Glen Wichard was third with another all roach catch of 11lb 6onz. Drawn at the top end of Portman Road Glen fished punched bread on the stick float to account for most of his fish.

Forth was Stewart White of Chippenham with 11lb 1onz. Fishing the top section at Beanacre Stewart caught mainly chub on the stick float with maggot on the hook while feeding hemp and maggot.

Bristol’s Hughie Evens managed the best weight at Whaddon of 10lb 15onz with a mixture of chub and roach to take fifth spot.

Sixth place went to Bradford’s Howard Adams fishing the bottom section at Beanacre and catching mainly small chub on the crow quill float for a total of 10lb 11onz

Apart from the top three all winning Christmas hampers every angler catching a fish received a prize back at Spencers club after the event. This must be the best club Xmas match in the South West and a big thank you must go to club secretary Percy Edwards and his family for making the event such a success through all there hard work and dedication. THANK YOU.

Thank's also to all the club members who supported the even this year and we hope to see you trying your luck again next season.

HAPPY CHRISMAS FROM AVONAC

***

Commercial House League Sun 28 Sept 2003

The Bristol Avon at Melksham produced a string of good weights in the first round of the Commercial House League with the top six all getting into double figures.
Despite the low clear water most of the 96 competitors managed 2lb or more with roach being the number one target.
Winner on the day with an excellent 18lb 15onz of roach was R Merret fishing the Conigre stretch.
Also fishing at Conigre was J Grant who finished runner up with a net of Chubb and roach for 18lb 12onz.
R Cooper was third with three good Chubb and some bits for 17lb 3onz.

Top Six
1 R Merret Bristol Angling Centre 18lb 15onz
2 J Grant Super Seal 18lb 12onz
3 R Cooper Fry's A 17lb 3onz
4 L Trivett Avon Aquatics 14lb 3onz
5 G Bailey Bendix 13lb 14onz
6 D Gilman Bendix 13lb 10onz

4th placed Lee Trivett with 14lb 3onz of Roach (and one small Pike) from Scotland Road.

* * *

AVON AC OPEN Sun 21st SEP 2003

Sunday's Meksham Open produced some reasonable fishing with Roach and small fish feeding well on both Forest and Conigre.
Topping the field was Chippenhams in form match man Stewart White. Fishing the Conigre stretch Stewart caught small fish on the whip through out the match for a winning weight of 11lb 7onz
Runner up was Brian Pollard pegged at Portman Road with an all roach catch of 10lb 7onz taken on hemp fished on the pole
Third spot went to B Trimby who also caught roach on hemp for a total of 6lb 6onz
Tony Gilbert was forth with 6lb 5onz of roach from a peg at Conigre

Top Four

1 S White 11:7
2 B Pollard 10:7
3 B Trimby 6:6
4 T Gilbert 6:5

AVON AC Saturday club match Sat 23 Aug 2003

The last of the Saturday afternoon club matches was fish at Conigree and with the river very low and clear some surprisingly good weights were recorded.
Drawing the 'Skinny Swim', Marcus Crook fished stick float and caster to tempt three good sized chub and a lot of small fish for a winning weight of 15lb 4onz.
Runner up was Bob Ryan with 11lb 10onz. Bob fished worm on the pole and caught one good chub, a dozen perch and some bits.
Third spot went to Roger Warlock of Yate with 7lb of small fish taken on the wagler.
Pat Brushneen was 4th with 6lb 14onz
Andy Pratten was 5th with 5lb 2onz

Marcus Crook with a three pound chub from his winning weight of 15lb 4onz

Sun 10 Aug 2003 Avon AC Inter Club Match
Avon AC v King Billy / Devizes / Chippenham /Calne.

This popular annual inter club event was fished on the Bristol Avon at Congree.
Making the best of peg 18, Melksham's Andy Pratten took top spot with the help of two good chub. Andy's total of 10lb 3onz was less than a pound ahead of runner up T Carr of Calne who netted 9lb 4onz. Third spot went to M Dolman of Calne with 7lb 10onz.
Mark Wooldridge of Chippenham was 4th with 7lb 6onz
S Fear was 5th with 5lb 7onz

* * *

Sun 3rd Aug 2003 King Billy Away Lacock
With rain in the week the Bristol Avon at Lacock looked spot on for this popular anual inter club event.
As it turned out only the small fish feed and Chippenhams Stewart (sweet corn) White cashed in on this when drawing peg two at the top end of Abby Feilds. Stewart fished pole to hand for a very good winning weight of 18lb 14onz made up of mostly small dace and roach.

Drawn at the opposite end of the Abby field Melksham's Robin Guy again had a small fish net of mainly roach for 12lb 3onz

Pat Brushneen from Tetbury took third spot with an all dace weight of 9lb 10onz

* * *

Sat 26 July 2003 Avon Club Saturday Series 2 Conigre
Roger Warlock topped the feild in Saturdays Avon Club match fished at Conigre with a winning weight of 6lb :10onz
Brian Haig was second with 5lb :12onz and Marcus Crook was third with 5lb:10onz

* * *

Saturday Match One 12/07/03

Saturday's match was one by Andy Pratten with a mainly chub catch of 7lb. Fishing at peg 8 at conigre Andy fished with stick float and castor on an 18 hook.
Runner up was Yate angler Roger Warlock with 6lb 5onz and Steve Crock was third with 5lb 4onz

* * *

Avon AC v King Billy Sun 29th June 2003

Avon Angling Club fished its anual match against Bristol club, King Billy on the Bristol Avon at Lacock on Sunday.
26 Anglers compeated in this popular event and desipte the bright sunshine and low water levels, some good wieghts were recorded.
Winner on the day was Billy's Kev Boltz with a Chub catch of 14lb 3 onz taken from the stumps peg in the Abby Feild.
Runner up was Avons Marcus Crook, fishing from the Golden Peg Marcus was just 4lb short of winning the Golden Peg pot that now stands at £152. His mainly all chubb catch wieghed 10lb 3onz
Third was Avon's Pat Brushneen with an all dace catch of 9lb 3onz

Top Six
1 K Bolt 14:3
2 M Crook 10:3
3 P Brushneen 9:3
4 P Rice 8:10
5 J Pocock 6:11
6 B Ryan 6:10

Avon AC ran out winners of the team event with 50lb to Billy's 30lb 12onz

* * *

Evening Club Match 1

The first Club Match of the new season was fished on the Kennet & Avon Canal at Semington on Tuesday 2003 June 2003. The results of the Top 3 finishers are as follows:
1) Bob Ryan (17lbs 8oz)
2) Andy Pratten (14lbs 4oz)
3) Denis Baker (10lbs 0oz)

* * *

Christmas Club Match Dec 2002

64 members took part in the Christmas Club Match this year (held on 07 December 2002 on the Bristol Avon at Melksham) and every angler managed a catch.

With the river running a little high and coloured, it was the Bream that were to dominate, and pegged two thirds along the Scotland Road stretch, Kevin Rowles made good use of his draw using a Groundbait Feeder for a winning weight of 38.3lbs.

Second spot went to local lad Robin Guy, with an All-Bream catch of 20.3lbs, taken with a Pole Feeder from a peg below the Black Bridge at Forest.

Third was P. Humphries of Pucklechurch, with an All-Roach catch of 12.15lbs, fishing at the top end of Scotland Road.

The full list of winning results is as follows:
1) K. Rowles (38.3lbs)
2) R. Guy (20.3lbs)
3) P. Humphries (12.15lbs)
4) D. Branton (11.2lbs)
5) H. Adams (8.2lbs)
6) S. O'Neil (8.0lbs)

Thank you very much to everyone who took part in the competition and made the day such a great success. Check out the Photo Gallery for a selection of images from the day.