07/06/25 - Harescombe - Match

Weight - 31lb 7oz

Catch - 11 Carp, 10 F1, 2 Skimmers

Weather - Bright & sunny, breezy and cooler later

Match - Open (16 fished) - 7th overall, 3rd in section

With the 2^nd round of the Summer League coming up next week and having not fished the Match Lake for 5 weeks I needed to get back in tune.

I was happy to draw p12, as I have done well off it in the past, however with 16 anglers’ booked on I knew it was likely to be tricky.

I started just off the boards fishing paste, feeding a few micros, hoping for an early carp, however it took 25mins before I did net a carp, but it was only a 1.5lb. A couple more carp and F1s followed but nothing of any size.

An early look over my short meat line, but never had a bite, so switched back to the paste line for a couple more fish, which eventually died.

I was hoping the far line where the bank had collapsed would be my banker, although the right side was a little deeper than I remember it being from last year at 2ft deep. I cupped in some meat and micros, and soon caught an F1, but liners and foul hookers were a problem, so I switched to fishing paste. This was much better, although I wasn’t catching as quickly as expected and I was still only catching a small stamp of fish.

As the left side of the collapsed bank was shallower, I fished meat. I tried varying my feed switching from micros to groundbait, but the fish just wouldn’t come in, in any numbers.

My short meat line produced 1 decent F1 and my margins proved to be fruitless. It was all a little frustrating and on the all-out I felt I had more questions than answers.

In hindsight, I tried to push the peg too hard as I felt I needed to catch some better stamp fish, when all I needed to do was to keep catching, regardless of the stamp of fish and potentially frame. Fortunately, and more by luck than judgement I managed to pick up the section money by double de-fault.

1.    56-  9 – Chris Cameron – p11

2.    51-  5 – Steve Partington – p25

3.    39-12 – Andy Pollard – p6

4.    36-11 – Chris Fox – p21

5.    33-  4 – Martin Pettifer – p19

05/06/25 - Lavington - Ellis

Weight - 55lb 12oz (22lb 8oz)

Catch - 10 Carp, 5 Bream, 5 Tench, 6 Roach

Weather - Cool & cloudy. Rained most of the day.

Match - Club (8 fished) - 3rd overall

We had 8 for the first evening match of the year fishing 6-9.

I drew peg 24 and to be honest I wasn’t happy as I could only fish my margins on a top kit thanks to a bush to my left and reeds to my right, and it was 4ft deep.

Over the last 12 months the silvers have been showing more, small carp have been stocked and some of the bigger carp have been moved into Merretts Lake. Therefore, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but still expected I needed to catch some proper carp to compete.

I started on the method to the island, with micros and a 6mm pink wafter. Over the next 35 mins I caught a couple roach, tench and small carp, which was encouraging.

In the meantime, I had fed 8mm meat and 4mm pellet left and right in 5ft of water at 2+2. When I switched to the short lines, I immediately caught a couple of big bream on 8mm meat and some small carp, with the left side being the best.

I stopped feeding the right-hand swim in favour of feeding the right-hand margin with micros and meat. I kept catching from the left short line, but the margin was disappointing only netting a bream and a tench.

A quick look on the method produced a couple of carp including a 3lber. Another try over the margin didn’t produce so with 30mins remaining I decided to feed 2 handfuls of micros and a handful of meat. 15mins later I went back down the margin on double 8mm meat, fortunately 2 carp for 15lb proved very useful.

I had the best weight my side of the lake, but the better stamp carp seemed to be on the opposite bank. Well done to Steve who managed the best evening weight, beating my previous record of 95lb.

1.    105-  4 – Steve Ince – p6

2.      59-  4 – Steve Musitano – p8

3.      55-12 – Ken Rayner – p24

4.      53-  0 – Terry Fell – p20                                   

01/06/25 - Rood Ashton

Weight - 22lb 10oz

Catch - 8 Carp

Weather - CLoudy with sunny periods, windy.

Match - Tackle Den (18 fished) - 9th overall, 5th in section.

A nice short drive for a change to Rood Ashton. With 18 booked in, it was nearly every peg in and with the strong wind blowing into peg 1, I fancied drawing the bottom end of the lake but ended up on p14 on the top bank with the wind coming off my back.

I started on the method feeder with micros and a little groundbait, fishing a 6mm orange or pink wafter, cast towards the island. It took 45 mins to get a bite and a further 3 carp followed over the next 30mins, losing a 4^th (and biggest) at the net.

I caught my 4^th fish on meat and straight lead at 25m where I had been pinging 6mm pellet. By the end of the 2^nd hour, I netted my 5^th fish back on the feeder and I thought I had a reasonable start.

Over the next 3hrs I never had a bite no matter what I tried. I had been feeding meat and micros down my right margin and just micros down the left. With an hour remaining I eventually had a bite on paste down the left margin but was a little slow to react and the fish successfully made it to a snag. 15mins later I had another bite on paste, and I was quicker this time and managed to net my 6^th fish. I never had another bite down the margin, which to be honest I couldn’t quite believe.

2 more carp on the straight lead and meat concluded what was a boring match, but at least I managed to top up my hooklength box! As expected, the bottom end of the lake and woodside bank proved to be best.

1.    85-14 – Steve Venn – p19

2.    72-  5 – Andrew Black – p4

3.    58-  4 – Matt Gale – p1

4.    47-  7 – Bobby Moore – p18

5.    42-  3 – Pete Philips – p21

6.    37-  7 – Matt Greaves – p2

31/05/25 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 42lb 11oz

Catch - 17 Carp, 1 Eel

Weather - Mostly sunny with cloudy periods. Breezy at times.

Match - Summer Series rd1 (12 fished) - 5th overall, 4th in section

The first round of the Summer Series and 12 had booked in. There will be 6 rounds alternating between the Doughnut and Match Lakes, with the first round being on Doughnut.

I wasn’t too disappointed with p4 and thought it would be a good section peg, and as it was only 14m wide it would be more comfortable fishing to the island, than some of the wider pegs in the cross wind.

I started across on corn, tapping in micros, but the wind had picked up a little, making presentation awkward. A switch to a heavier rig improved presentation, fishing worm over caster (as I still had loads left over from Tunnel Barn) and groundbait, I eventually caught my first fish after 45mins.

In the meantime, Allan Oram and Lucas Hurcombe either side of me were already 3 fish ahead. By sticking with the far line I caught slowly, but at least I wasn’t falling any further behind. I tried different feed patterns to catch more quickly and the most effective way to catch was to cut out the caster and just feed a small ball of groundbait with a few micros. Unfortunately, I realised this a little too late.

I had also been feeding meat at 2+2 to my right in 5ft of water and 2+2 to my left in 3ft of water. I caught 2 fish from the right and 1 from the left. However, due to the increased breeze the tow had picked up and I kept thinking I should switch to paste or switch to a heavier rig.

Based on how tight the section proved to be I was quite annoyed with myself, for being too slow to sort out my feeding to the island and not switching rigs/method over my short lines, as 2 more fish would have got me 2^nd in section, instead of 4^th.

So not the best start to the league and hopefully this will be my dropper.

1.    69-12 – Lucas Hurcombe – p2

2.    53-  0 – Arthur Hicks – p22

3.    45-11 – Steve Partington – p13

4.    44-  6 – Ronaldo – p11

5.    42-11 – Ken Rayner – p4

Tunnel Barn - Over 50s Festival

Having enjoyed a couple of previous trips to Tunnel Barn I decided to book into this year’s 3 day over 50s festival, sharing a cottage 10 miles away with Matt Greaves. We also had the added bonus of a pair of peacocks on the grounds.

We both knew it would be tough fishing against a number of venue regulars and F1 specialists, but we were both up for the challenge.

I set myself the target of trying to finish 60^th out of 120 and if possible to pick up some money along the way.

 

Sunday - Practice Open

Weight – 87lb 10oz

Catch – 63 F1, 8 Carp, 2 Skimmers, 1 Perch

Weather – Warm and sunny

Position – 5^th overall (66 fished)

In preparation for the festival Matt & I had researched the pegs, likely weights and tactics. Leading up to the event meat had been dominate, but was losing its effectiveness, being replaced by maggot and caster. Matt also found out that worm was catching, so a 1/2 kg was sourced prior to leaving.

I had already decided against using maggot, mainly because I had tried it twice on recent visits and got pestered by small fish. Therefore, my intention was to concentrate on caster and if necessary, worm.

As this was a practice match, I thought I would try something different, namely paste and if I blew out it wouldn’t be tried again.

I have been playing around with my paste mix and come up with a mix I’m really happy with – Uzit GLM & Betaine:Crushed Expander:Crushed Halibut Pellet, mixed in a 3:2:1 ratio. Also, as I would be fishing for F1s my rigs had been refined from my normal carp approach.

When I drew p6 on Canal I was told it was a good area, but other than that I’ve never fished the lake before.

On the all-in I fished 2 swims, left & right at 3+1 at the bottom of the shelf, feeding a couple of fishery 4mm pellet and started catching well for 30mins, before having to move up the shelf to avoid the increasing liners.

In the meantime, I had been feeding caster to the far bank and at the halfway point felt I needed to at least try it. To be honest the response was disappointing only catching a couple of fish. Simon Dukes, 2 pegs down was catching a few fish across but wasn’t any quicker than me on the paste.

So, I stuck with paste, rotating between a new bottom of the shelf swim at 1+1 and both margins until the end of the match.

I knew I had beaten everyone on my side of the lake, but the section was split down the middle, so I got beaten for section by a peg on the opposite bank. However, when I got back to the club house I found out I came 5^th overall to pick up £75 for the last framing place. Have to say I was quite pleased with myself.

1.  115-10 – Chris Hale – p21 Club

2.   95-  1 – Rich Kings – p16 Canal

3.   93-14 – Steve Parry – p15 Club

4.    92-13 – Pete Rice – p21 Canal

5.    87-10 – Ken Rayner – p6 Canal

6.    83-  4 – Jack Arblaster – p25 High

Monday – Day 1 – High p21

-      Day 1 – 5pts – 32- 7

-      Day 2 – 3pts – 44-13

-      Day 3 – 5pts – 12-12

Weight – 32lb 7oz

Catch – 18 F1, 2 Carp, 6 Perch, 1 Skimmer

Weather – Sunny, cloudy periods. Breezy at times

Position – 5^th in section, 108^th overall

After yesterday’s success I was looking forward to the draw and pulled p21 on High Pool, another lake I haven’t fished before. Asking around revealed it wasn’t great, and yesterdays practice open only produced 24lb.

When I got to the peg I actually fancied it for a few, until I plumbed up. It was at least 6ft (I stopped plumbing after 5ft) down the middle. Also, the island was 16m away and the far shelf was quite narrow, fortunately I managed to find a small flat spot which was 2ft deep.

On the all-in I started across tapping in a few micros with a 4mm expander and caught 2 F1s before the liners started.

A switch to the paste over a couple of short lines was disappointing as the swim was just too deep and I struggled to get a clean bite. A switch back to the far bank, feeding a ball of paste slop with micros and caster fishing worm on the hook, resulted in 10 F1s, although it was slow going.

In the meantime, I had fed caster down the middle priming a shallow line, but didn’t get a bite despite trying various shallow rigs.

So, I persisted with the paste rigs down the margins and by the next pallet.

A tough day and to be honest I was a little deflated, particularly after yesterday.

1.    124-11 – Neil Carless – p8 House

2.    120-15 – Dave Chapman – p15 Canal

3.    114-14 – Wayne Harding – p3 Canal

4.    108-  4 – Steve Parry – p33 New

5.    107-  3 – Leon Seabright – p2 Extension

6.    103-13 – Jason Jones – p1 Canal 

Tuesday – Day 2 – House p10

-      Day 1 – 3pts – 61-15

-      Day 2 – 2pts – 77-12

-      Day 3 – 2pts – 47-  5

Weight – 77lb 12oz

Catch – 43 F1, 2 Carp, 4 Perch, 1 Skimmer, 1 Roach

Weather – Warm and sunny

Position – 2^nd in section, 26^th overall

I really didn’t want to see High Pool again and was relieved to draw p10 on House. It has been a great peg, although it hasn’t been quite as dominate in the last couple of weeks.

With it being bright and sunny with very little breeze I wasn’t convinced I would catch shallow, which proved to be the case catching only 1 F1. Therefore, I expected to catch most of my fish short or down the margins, as the island was 20m away.

Starting on paste at 2+2 I caught a couple of fish. It was steady rather than quick and I was conscious of wasting too much time. I tried pellet over the same line, but didn’t have a bite, so it was back to paste.

My section ran from p10 round to p27, which meant I could only see 3 anglers from my section and felt I was in danger of falling behind p16, however the 2 pegs to my left were really struggling.

The slight breeze had pushed the scum into my peg, and I noticed a few fish moving around by a clump of reeds 10m to my right that hadn’t been cut down, casting a small patch of shade. I started pinging caster and caught 4 F1 on the overshotted rig, mainly to get under the scum, fishing tight to the bank under the reeds. However, each fish was smaller than the last.

The scum wasn’t as thick a metre off the bank and plumbing up revealed a flat bottom and 2 ft of water. By fishing worm and tosspotting 20/30 casters I started catching some proper F1s and I had a purple patch of 45mins where I was catching quite quickly.

As a backup I tried feeding caster on a top kit, but all I caught was small fish. However, resting my reed swim would result in another run of fish when I returned.

Eventually the reed swim slowed down. I could still only catch small fish on my top kit. Fortunately, my left margin at 1+1 where it was much shallower, I managed another run of fish on paste.

Overall, I was really pleased with how the match went and confidence restored. I thought I might have won the section as everyone was admitting to 50-60lb, however p27 dumped 90lb on the scales and I finished 2^nd for another pick up.

1.    144-  1 – Steve Parry – p29 Extension

2.    124-14 – Dave Chapman – p11 Top

3.    115-11 – Steve Daley – p21 Jennys

4.    114-  7 – Wayne Harding – p15 High

5.    114-  1 – Harry Billing – p9 Club

6.    112-11 – Andy Benwell – p30 Top

Wednesday - Day 3 – Club p7

-      Day 1 – 5pts – 61-  6

-      Day 2 – 6pts – 21-  5

-      Day 3 – 4pts – 34-  7

Weight – 34lb 7oz

Catch – 27 F1, 3 Carp, 4 Perch, 3 Skimmers

Weather - Cloudy, sunny, light shower and breezy

Position – 4^th in section, 83^th overall

Peg 7 on Club today and when I saw the previous results for the peg I was a little disappointed, as I had hoped to have a strong finish.

Harry Billing won the section from p9 yesterday on paste. As it happened, I had a chat with him yesterday to get a feel for how he fished paste. I think what came out of it was I need to be a bit more frugal with my feed.

When I got to my peg it was only 11m wide with reeds opposite and narrower than the pegs on the opposite bank.

I started on the paste and caught a few fish, but it wasn’t as quick as I had hoped, although looking around it seemed to be a quiet start for most. In attempt to catch more quickly I tried pellet over my paste lines but only caught a couple of skimmers and a small F1, so soon changed back to paste.

After an hour I switched to fishing worm over caster tight to reeds and was pleased to pick up a few better stamp F1s. I had kept my paste line top up, but it was slow going so I ended up spending most of the middle part of the match fishing worm across.

In the last hour I concentrated on trying to catch short and struggled just picking up the odd fish, although 4 better stamp fish on paste in the last 15mins was nice.

I finished 4^th in section. Whilst pleased to have got the best section points from the peg, I was a little disappointed as 3^rd only weighed 36-15 and 2^nd 40-13 which was achievable.

1.    121-15 – Carl Lee-Hopps – p29 Extension

2.    103-  0 – Richard Kinnersley – p30 Top

3.    101-  7 – Richard Knowles – p42 New

4.    100-  4 – Wayne Ainsworth – p19 Club

5.      98-  1 – Paul Brandrick – p31 House

6.      94-  1 – Graeme Block – p23 Extension

 

Summary

Overall, an enjoyable 4 days, finishing 61^st and just missing my target of finishing under halfway.

A few better decisions would have got me a couple more points, however putting it into context 2 poor draws didn’t help me.

Following the practice open I was confident I would catch on paste on day 1 and ultimately came undone by the depth the peg. To be honest it did knock my confidence, but looking at the results the peg didn’t produce in the festival.

Day 2 on House was definitely my best day, producing the highest weight and points score from the peg. As for day 3 I managed the highest points score from the peg, but felt I should have got more from the peg.

It’s been a learning curve and I have already booked in for next year.

14/05/25 - Todber - Whiteposts

Weight - 88lb 10oz

Catch - 30 Carp

Weather - Warm & sunny.

Match - Garbolino Clubman Qualifer (41 fished) - 1st in section

I decided to try my luck again at qualifying for the Garbolino clubman at Barston. I didn’t fish it last year, but the year before I missed out of by 4lb after weighing 446lb for 2^nd in section!

As there were only 41 fishing, we were spread over Hillview and both lakes at Whiteposts. I would have preferred Hillview but drew p27 on the bottom lake at Whiteposts. It was 4 years ago when I last fished this lake (and p27) and I don’t have fond memories, as I had torrid time due to lost rigs and fish to the line of reeds.

On arrival at my peg the wind was blowing into it and I quite fancied it, however I wasn’t sure how it would fish as its usually the toughest of the 2 lakes at Whiteposts.

As the swim was no deeper 2ft, I only set up 3 pole rigs, 1 to fish paste down both margins, another paste rig to fish at 8m, a meat rig and finally a method rod just in case.

On the all-in I fed some micros and 4mm pellet down by a lily bed to my right and the reeds to my left. Whilst that settled, I started on meat at 8m, but didn’t have a bite after 10mins, before I noticed the bottom being churned up by the lillies. First put in on paste (U-Zit GLM & Crushed Expander) by the lillies quickly produced my first fish. Another followed soon after before the swim went quiet.

Back on the meat, I hooked 2 carp and lost them both, so I switched to feeding pellet and fishing paste instead, as I felt it would sit better in a skimming breeze.

After an hour I had 6 carp for about 18lb and looking down the lake not much was being caught, confirming my thoughts that this would be a tough match.

After 3hrs I was up to 70lb, rotating between the 2 margin swims and the 8m line. However, the following 2hrs the lake just shut down, as I couldn’t catch over any of my swims. I even set up a new swim to fish meat and cast the method to the far bank but never had a bite.

In the end I had to go longer down the left bank catching a further 6 carp all on paste.

On the all-out I was fairly sure I had the won the section, which I did as 2^nd weighed 62lb. As it happened, I won the lake. As expected, the top weights all came from Hillview.

1.    250-14 – Jason Crump – p54

2.    203-14 – Malcolm Fowler – p39

3.    186-12 – James Bowen – p37

4.    178-  6 – Paul Smith – p40

5.    171-14 – Andrew Palmer – p42

6.    164-14 – Simon Stacey – p46   

04/05/25 - Harescombe - Match

Weight - 54lb 11oz

Catch - 16 Carp, 4 F1

Weather - Sunny with cloudy periods, cool northerly 

Match - Pole Masters Final (18 fished) - 1st overall

So, to the final and at last I drew an end peg in the shape of p29 and it gave me a chance.

Yesterday the angler on this peg didn’t weigh in and looking at past results the peg hasn’t won in the last 2 months, but it’s usually worth a few fish.

On the all-in I went straight out on paste (50:50 Uzit GLM: Crushed Expander) feeding a few 2mm p-nut pellet to the corner of the island. Second drop in I caught a 5lber. After 75mins I probably had 20lb, which settled the nerves and was a good start.

As usual the 2^nd hour was quiet so I fed a small ball of crushed expander and 2mm p-nut

pellet at 10m to my right in open water. Whilst that settled, I caught a couple of carp on meat, either side of the spillway before the swim went quiet.

When I switched to the 10m line, I was expecting some skimmers on 4mm expander, but was pleasantly surprised to net a decent carp, soon followed by another.

Everything was going smoothly until I hooked my 3^rd carp from the 10m line which was larger than the first 2. Unfortunately, the hooklength caught the lip of the spillway as it dived right losing the fish. I then lost 2 of the next 3 carp when fishing meat, the hook pulled out of one and the 3^rd I lost the whole rig on a snag.

After regaining my composure, I caught another carp from the 10m line, a couple from the spillway and 2 more from a newly opened short meat line.

In the last 90mins I had started pinging 4mm bubblegum pellet to the corner of the island and spent most of the last hour fishing paste to add a further 18lb or so. On the all-out I hooked a 4lber, which I lost at the net and thought that would cost me.

I could see all of my section and was fairly confident I had at least won the section. It wasn’t until I started following the board that I realised I could win, which I duly did picking up £660 and a trophy.

I was really pleased to have won, which top offs what has been a really good 12 months fishing. Huge credit has to go to Gary and Cathryn for running the event and making Harescombe a great venue to visit. It will only improve under their stewardship.

1.    54-11 – Ken Rayner – p29

2.    49-14 – Nick Franklin – p8

3.    48-  1 – Simon Duke – p25

4.    47-  5 – Andy Pollard – p20

5.    47-  1 – Steve Brown – p15

6.    35-11 – Ronaldo – p14