April has been a very disruptive month so far, on return from Yorkshire we have been hit by a cold bug that has been going around (not Covid) that has been very similar to the sinusitis I get when my hay fever kicks in and has proven difficult to shake off. That together with boiler servicing and radiator replacement has meant that it was not until Tuesday 11th that I was able to get out. Due to the vagaries of the UK visa system Gareth’s wife,Wendy, had to leave the country for her visa to remain valid! So she set off to the US to visit friends along with Zachary, leaving Gareth behind as he would be starting work again before her return. So it was the day after her departure that Gareth, who was on holiday for the week, and I left early and set off for Woodland View near Droitwich as I was due to run a three day festival for MFSReborn at the end of April on the venue.

Arriving shortly after 8am we bought our tickets and pellets (lots as I wanted to have them ready for the first day of the festival so I was not scrambling around) and headed for Back Deans on the advice of Adrian the manager, settling on two adjacent pegs (35 and 36). We both set up a margin rig, one for 2+2 distance and one for the 11m line. I tried different approaches and shotting patterns but ended up with 19 F1s, 7 bream and 1 small carp of 2lb for 33lb-ish. Gareth fished a similar way but managed to find more carp and got his margin working to end up with approx 65lb. We were the only ones there all day, possibly as the projected rain that did arrive put people off!

Thursday saw us set off mid morning to Viaduct in Somerset with the intention of fishing from midday to the late afternoon. Arriving at about 11:30 we were faced with an almost full car park and anglers everywhere. The quietest pool was Lodge with just 4 people on it (2 left after an hour!) so we parked ourselves on 58 and 59. We set up just two rigs – a close in/margin rig and one for 11m. It was slow by any standard and I struggled to get 19 skimmers and two roach for about 7lb whereas Gareth found some carp later on close in and ended up with about 23lb, the biggest carp going 8lb.

Friday sees us at Horton on the K&A canal for a short session using 4m whips. Unfortunately the canal has not yet recovered from the canoe races that take place during April and we struggled despite the area usually being prolific.Gareth managed only two fish, a gudgeon and a perch but missed several bites. I began on a pellet (for the hell of it and I knew there were skimmers there) and had one skimmer of about 6oz and a perch of 12oz on the maggot!

Sunday sees us back on the K&A at the Top Lock at Seend, a short pound that I had not fished before but was hoping for more action as it was not where the canoes had been.Gareth fished the 4m whip and I decided to use a 3m whip, fishing from 10 – 12:30 when the boats started to become more frequent and the canal was like a tidal river on the ebb.

Once again it was a slow start but we began to get a few bites and I ended up with 4 skimmers, 2 gudgeon, a roach and a perch of about 12oz for around 2lb. Gareth had more fish but they were smaller for a similar weight.

Next up is the three day festival at Woodland View that I am charged with running, hopefully I will be able to report some decent sport next time!