28/05/17 - Viaduct - Campbell

Weight - 77lb 4oz (13lb 13oz - silvers)
Catch - 12 Carp, 12 Skimmers, 2 Roach, 1 Tench, 1 Hybrid
Weather - Warm and mostly cloudy.
Match - Tony's Float Only - rd 1 - 26th out of 40, 5th out 5 section

I was really looking to the first round of 6, of what will be a very competitive series. Today we were at Viaduct, with 20 anglers on Campbell and 20 on Cary. I couldn't believe I drew Campbell again on p114, next to were I was on Thursday and were I came 4th in Norm Sterrys match a few weeks again. So confident of a good days fishing, particularly since I have had in excess 130lb in my last 3 visits.

My section ran from 110 to 114, with Dan White, Bela Bakos, Rich Lacey and Paul Elmes in my section.

On the all-in I started on the meat short and only had a roach. This was not a good sign. I eventually landed a carp, all 1.5lb of it, before I eventually landed a proper carp, but it was really slow. In fact everyone was struggling and the white willow fluff was causing problems for many, although I couldn't use that as an excuse for my struggles.

I had a couple of carp on the waggler and managed to pick up a couple of carp on the meat line in amongst a few skimmers. With 2 hours left I wasn't that far behind Paul on p113 and shaun Townsend on p115 who had a lot of silvers to go with his couple carp.

It was those last 2 hours that I started to fall behind and I couldn't work out why. The short meat line never really got going, but it was my margins that was really frustrating and probably why I tried to push my short meat line too much. I fished the right hand margin in the same way as Thursday, i.e. feeding heavily with caster (since I still had 4 pts left over from the Glebe) and meat, but all I was getting was bitted out of roach. I eventually caught a few decent sized silvers, but no carp. Shaun on the other hand was catching decent sized silvers, plus carp from his margin.

My left hand margin which was shallower, only produced roach bites, so with 2hrs to go fed groundbait, but didn't worked. So I fed a lot more, which did bring the carp in and I managed 3 carp on meat or worm, but it was painfully slow by comparison with those around me.

Have to say I was bitterly disappointed with the way the match went. Speaking to a couple of anglers who have fished the peg recently also commented that have struggled to catch whilst those around them have caught. To be honest I think I just fished it badly trying to force the peg.

Oh well that's my dropper out of the way! Next round is in 2 weeks at Lands End, fingers crossed for a decent draw.

1st 197-13 - Tony Rixon (Mosella) - p88

2nd 187- 6 - Shaun Townsend (Mosella) - p115

3rd 160-15 - Dave Evans - p81

4th 154- 5 - Neil Mercer (Mosella) - p123

5th 151- 5 - Joe McMahon - p124

6th 140- 8 - Shaun Kitteridge (Thyers) - p121

Silvers

1st 29-13 - Shaun Townsend (Mosella) - p115

2nd 21-11 - Paul Faiers (Thyers) - p132

3rd 16-12 - Glenn Calvert - p129

4th 14- 4 - Neil Mercer (Mosella) - p123

5th 13-13 - Ken Rayner (Colmic/Marukyu) - p114

27/05/17 - Sedges - Tile

Weight - 37lb 8oz
Catch - 4 Carp, 7 Skimmers
Weather - Cloudy start, sunny later, but windy
Match - Coops/Guru Series - Final Round - 2nd in section, 8th out of 14

This series hasn't gone that well for me, due to a couple of iffy draws and some poor decisions, although I think its fair to say the venue has been quite patchy and not fished as well as it could. This was probably the reason why we had 6 no shows, which upset a few people and is a match organisers nightmare for a whole host of reasons.

Anyway, I drew p35, which I felt would be at the wrong end of the section since the wind was blowing into p31 where it was expected Jamie Parkhouse would win the section, if not the match.

Following the mini heat wave, it was noticeably cooler today, but still fancied it to catch shallow on the pole. Starting on the meat feeder (as I caught a few better fish on it in the last round) the wind was blowing the feeder away from the island and I need to punch the feeder to get it close enough. This wasn't working, so switched a hybrid feeder which was a easier and I was able to put it down the side of the island. Unfortunately, it didn't produce, in fact the venue owner and league leader, Jamie Cook was to my left on p36 and he only had 2 carp after an hour fishing the feeder.

After an hour a switch to the short meat line produced a couple of skimmers and then an 11lb carp, before it dried up. The next 3hrs proved to be a real struggle, the only fish I had was on the shallow pellet line at 14.5m, but the wind had also picked up making any sort of presentation difficult. One severe gust of wind caught the pole dragging it to my right. I wasn't quick enough and the pole tip caught the water, whilst the gust continued to push me and my no3 section (no4 section on other poles) snapped! Gutted! Nothing to do with the pole, the same gust of wind also nearly blew my top kits out of the pole roost. Thanks to Mark for lending me a spare section I was able to continue, but my head was gone for a short  while as I was seriously pissed off.

Once I got myself together, I tried catching down my margin but with no bites over the regularly fed meat, decided to cup in 2 pots of micros/4s originally mixed up for the feeder, down the edge. Fortunately that had the desired effect and caught 2 carp.

As expected Jamie Parkhouse won my section and came 2nd overall and surprisingly I finished 2nd in section, as everyone struggled in the wind. The more sheltered side of the lake was the place to be.

Well done to Jamie Cook, Martin Heard and Bob Gullick who framed in the league and all received Guru goodies. Also thanks to James Cooper for running the series.

1st 129- 2 - Mike West (Somerset Carpenters) - p29
2nd 116-12 - Jamie Parkhouse - p31
3rd 104- 8 - Martin Heard (Mosella) - p40
4th 101- 9 - Jake Alden - p30
5th 82- 4 - Paul Tidball - p28
6th 72-12 - Mark Poppleton (Colmic/Marukyu) - p25

25/05/17 - Viaduct - Campbell

Weight - 136lb 7oz (24lb 14oz - silvers)
Catch - 14 Carp, 22 Skimmers, 5 Tench, 3 Roach, 1 Hybrid
Weather - Very warm and sunny
Match - Cost cutter - 1st out of 35 - silvers, 7th overall

I had intended on fishing a match at Alders Farm Friday for a Marukyu event, however I had to pull out due to a 2nd interview for a promotion at work.

Instead of cancelling my holiday, I shifted it to Thursday so I could fish here and with the first round of the float only series starting Sunday, thought it would be a good excuse to have a days fishing. I also had 10pts of caster left over from the Glebe and didn't want to waste them.

Steve was resting Cary, because it hasn't been fishing well recently, which meant Campbell and Lodge were in today. Obviously everyone wanted Campbell and I was more than happy to pull 115.

With Sunday in mind, the lead rod stayed in the bag, preferring to focus on the pole. Starting short on meat I soon had a decent skimmer, followed by a decent carp and during the first 45mins had another carp and about 8lb of skimmers and tench, so a great start.

In the meantime I feed caster long in preparation for catching shallow. When I switched to the shallow rig I excepted the elastic to be ripped out of the pole. Alas, I gave it 10mins, without a bite and not to be tried again!

I had also started feeding caster and meat down both margins, catching tench, skimmers and the occasional carp down the right hand margin on meat. Strangely the left hand only produced roach.

Since I was building a decent weight of silvers, decided to pot in some caster at 11m, which did produce a few fish, but wasn't as prolific as expected.

The remainder of the match was spent swapping between the margins and short meat line, which started to produce more carp later in the match.

A really enjoyable day, where I managed to qualifier for the silvers all winners final, which to be honest was a relief because in the last 12 months I have finished 2nd, 5 times.

1st 178- 2 - Norm Sterry (Fabtrays/marukyu) - p111
2nd 176-14 - Phil Wilkins - p118
3rd 167-10 - Tony Gilbert (Preston) - p116
4th 157- 2 - Chris Wells - p127
5th 137- 3 - Mark Hollister - p110
Silvers
1st 34-14 - Ken Rayner (Colmic/Marukyu) - p115
2nd 26- 3 - Rob Eagle (Viaduct) - p123
3rd 17-15 - John Bradford - p68
4th 17-10 - Dan Bowen - p126

21/05/17 - Glebe - pool 3 (uglies)

Weight - 32lb 10oz
Catch - 4 Carp, 3 Perch
Weather - Warm and sunny, breezy
Match - Ivan Marks Memorial - day 2 - 44th out of 91, 2nd in section

So onto the second day and with more anglers booked in today, it meant foundation lake would be included, which no one wanted. Well I avoided foundation, but drew p59 on Uglies (pool 3) and looking at yesterdays result 27lb came off it, with DNW's from either side, which suggested a difficult day lay ahead.

Fortunately for me the peg to my right (p60) wasn't in today, so at least I had a little more space. However, uglies by name ugly by nature, the day was really hard work and not much to write about, so I've just put loads of photo in the blog instead! And loving the XL colmic rollers, which came in very handy today.

I started the match on the feeder, firstly with corn and then 8mm pellet, without success. During the week I received 2 tubs of Marukyu 8mm band um type pellet to try, in krill and scopex flavours. To make something happen I tried a krill pellet and caught a 4lb carp - result. However that was the only fish I caught on the feeder.

As expected the fishing was hard, with very little being caught, with angler to my left yet to catch and the angler on p61 had 2 carp. The rest of the match was just trying to catch, on the lead, waggler, short pole line and margins - nothing, not even an indication.

Fortunately at the half way stage I mugged an 11lber as it swam past me at 5m, but these fish were easily spooked and it was difficult to spot them due to amount of 'white' water in front of me.

The most exciting period of the match was a 10min spell 30mins from the end, when I mugged another carp. As soon as I netted that one, I immediately mugged another which came off at the net. Unbelievably I immediately hooked another and again this one came off! Bugger, I wasn't happy because with so few fish being caught that might prove costly. Fortunately I managed to mug another almost immediately and this one was safely landed.

I couldn't tempt another in the last 20mins and was glad for the end of the match. Those lost fish did prove costly, since the section was only won with 39lb, but at least I managed to pick up 2nd in section.

A great weekend, where in excess of £3,000 was raised for a number of charities. Also Ivan Marks widow presented all the section payouts over the 2 days and the winners trophy to Jarrad Smith who won the match from p30 on pool 1 with 181-10.

1st 181-10 - Jarrad Smith - p30 (pool 1)

2nd 158- 7 - Mick Wheatley - p7 (pool 1)

3rd 149- 3 - Paul Taylor -p10 (pool 1)

4th 148-14 - Nick Massp - p25 (pool 1)

5th 138- 6 - Rich Bedder - p5 (pool 1)

6th 133- 3 - Andy Kinder - p16 (pool 1)

20/05/17 - Glebe - Pool 8

Weight - 87lb 10oz
Catch - 21 Carp, 3 Perch
Weather - Showery, gusty wind, cool
Match - Ivan Marks Memorial - day 1 - 11th out of 81, 1st in section

I haven't fished the Glebe for nearly 2 years and was looking forward to getting back to this fabulous fishery, just wish it was a little closer.

This weekend was the first day of the Ivan Marks Memorial, where the winner was decided my the angler with the biggest single weight over the 2 days. Whilst the winner could come from most lakes, everyone really wanted pool 1. So into the draw and pulled 114 on pool 8, which is effectively a stock pond and not normally included in matches. Although I wasn't likely to win the match from here, I still had the section to go for.

The pool has 10 pegs on a rectangle lake, 5 on each side and there were 5 of us, 4 in the corners and 1 in the middle. The only information I could get regarding the pool was it was full of small fish and there were some proper lumps up to 20lb.

My peg put me in one of the corners and the first job was to clear all the rubbish from the corner! Well I had plenty of time, because we had 2.5hrs to set up, not even I need that long.

The first rig out of the box was a long line pellet rig to target the many fish showing themselves on the surface. However as we got closer to the 11.30 start time, the weather closed in, becoming more cloudy, the wind picked up and a rain shower shortly before the start pushed the fish down.

Other rigs were 2 margin rigs to accommodate the differing depths, to fish expander's or corn. Finally I had a rig to fish the bottom of the slope at 11m where it was 5ft deep, although I hoped I wouldn't need it, because I wasn't convinced the fish would want to feed on the deck..

On the all in, hemp and corn was deposited in the right hand margin and I started on my left

at 4 sections on 6mm expander over 6mm amino+ pellet and corn. With no bites after 10mins, I switched to the right hand margin and was immediately rewarded with a double figure carp. However this was my only fish during the first hour, which was a surprise bearing in mind the lake was suppose to be full of small fish. The other anglers had all caught, but generally it was a quiet start.

Time for a change of tact, so cupped in 4 & 6mm amino+ pellet at the bottom of the slope and feed 6s & corn down the left bank at 13m. By swapping between the 2 swims, I started to catch, with the margin swim being the most productive catching on 6mm expander.

With 2hrs of the 5 hour match remaining, I started to struggle which coincided with the weather really closing in with heavy winds and rain. Ideally I wanted to go further down the end bank to follow the fish as they backed off, but the wind meant that would be difficult. Instead decided to pot in some caster and corn, fishing worm over the top. 3 perch later, I had no choice but to suck it up and fish longer down the end bank, potting in some 6s and corn at 15m.

With an hour to go I had a few more fish from the bottom of the slope, but they really didn't want to be in the deep water and other than the big carp at the start of the match I never had another bite down the right hand margin.

As suspected fishing 15m down the end bank was difficult in the wind, which fortunately eased a little and I found it best to pot in 6mm pellet, fishing corn over the top. Although I had to wait a little longer for bites, the stamp of fish was better.

Throughout the match I couldn't tell who was winning the lake, because it was nip & tuck with the 2 corners to my right. With 3 fish in the last 10mins I thought I may have enough, since both anglers had a quiet last hour. However with only a minute to go one them was attached to a rather large carp, which turned out to be a 15lb ghostie.

Fortunately a last good hour where I caught some better stamp fish, proved enough to win the section. As suspected the better weights came from pool 1, but generally the venue didn't fish as well as expected, but the weather has horrible at times.

1st 167- 0 - Andrew Williams - p22 (pool 1)

2nd 145-12 - Mark Fox - p47 (pool 3)

3rd 111-10 - Dave Doane - p17 (pool 1)

4th 106- 6 - Jon Preedy - p10 (pool 1)

5th 101- 2 - Steve Porter - p16 (pool 1)

6th 98-11 - Russell Shipton - p4 (pool 1)

13/05/17 - Sedges - Tile Lake

Weight - 68lb 5oz (10lb 1oz - silvers)
Catch - 6 Carp, 7 Skimmers, 1 Eel
Weather - Mostly sunny and southerly wind
Match - Coops/Guru series - rd 4 - 6th out of 19, 2nd in section

With no fishing last weekend, I was looking forward to getting out again and catching a few. So far this series things just haven't clicked the way I would have liked them, which meant any chance of claiming a top 3 position had gone. However there were still 2 matches to go and an opportunity to sort out those things that hadn't clicked, namely my feeder fishing and catching short on meat.

Speaking to Jamie at the draw, he said the bream had started spawning again and a difficult day was likely, with the carp gouging themselves on spawn.


Drawing p28 looked like a decent area with the wind blowing into that end of the lake. As for the section Jamie Cook was on p26, Dave White p27, Mark Wynne p29 and Jim Jenner in the corner on p30, so a tough section.

Looking at the peg and breeze, it looked like today would be a day to catch shallow, well that's what I thought. As such a shallow rig was set up for the pole, as was a waggler. So far I haven't had much luck on the method feeder and instead decided to try the meat feeder to see if that would make a difference. Finally I had a meat rig to fish short and rig to fish for skimmers which I hoped wouldn't be required.

On the all in I started on the meat feeder, but it wasn't until the 30th minute that I had my first carp an 11-12lber. A second of similar size was put in the net after an hour, but it was painfully slow.

Dave had managed 1 carp shallow and Mark had 2 shallow on the pole, which made me think today was definitely a day to catch shallow. I had kept pinging pellet, but never had a bite on either the pole or waggler, although the wind was starting to pick up blowing down the lake making fishing both methods difficult, it was a surprise that I couldn't catch. In fact neither Dave or Mark caught any more shallow, very strange.

With 2.5hrs gone and no further fish, I decided to cup in some groundbait at 11.5m. Well that proved to be a waste of time with only 1 8oz skimmer. I kept rotating between the shallow lines and the feeder and when I had 2 quick fish on the feeder I thought at last they had arrived, again I was disappointed with no more bites. This was proving really frustrating.

My first drop in on the short meat line, produced an immediate bite, which turned out to be a near 2lb eel, followed immediately by a skimmer. In the meantime Dave still only had 1 carp and Mark had a couple on the feeder/lead, however Jamie was beginning to run away with it fishing the feeder, which also proved he didn't need a corner to catch.

Another try on the short meat line didn't produce, but wind meant the lake was now towing and my 0.3g carrat just wasn't right, so changed to 0.5g powetrap which sat better, but still no more bites. I had also noticed small fish, probably motherless minnows, playing keepy uppy with my meat as I was throwing it and wondered how much was actually getting to the bottom. To combat the little blighters, I started cupping 10 bits of meat which seemed to help, because with 75mins left I caught a decent skimmer, followed by another and then a carp which weighed 12lb 4oz.  I had another, lost foul hooker and ;landed a couple more skimmers, but with 20mins left I couldn't get another bite.

I had also feed the margins, initially with meat and then with groundbait, but never had a bite all match.

By the all out Dave had long since packed up, Mark had the same number of carp as me, but not the quality, surprisingly Jim struggled in the corner and Jamie had over 100lb, which meant I was 2nd in section picking up the section money by default.

Pleased with the result on what was a difficult day for most. Surprisingly the pegs on the opposite bank out of the wind proved to be best.

1. 144- 7 - Martin Hear (Mosella) - p38
2. 114- 2 - Jamie  Cook (Sedges) - p26
3. 114- 1 - Paul Tidball - p39
4. 91-15 - Bob Gullick (Mosella) - p25
5. 79-10 - Tom Mangnall (Mosella) - p36
6. 68- 5 - Ken Rayner (Colmic) - p28

Silvers
1. 12- 4 - Bob Gullick (Mosella) - p25
2. 10- 1 - Ken Rayner (Colmic) - p28
3. 9- 8 - Vic Bush (Mosella) - p37

29/04/17 - Viaduct - Campbell

Weight - 133lb 4oz
Catch - 21 Carp, 2 Skimmers
Weather - Cool easterly wind, mostly sunny
Match - Norm Sterry Open - 4th out of 55

With 55 anglers booked in there were 3 lakes in, Campbell, Cary and Lodge. Everyone wanted Campbell and I was pleased to draw p114, which was definitely in the right area, so at least I should have a days fishing.

On arrival the wind was blowing off my back, which I was quite thankful for, because it was cold. Either side of me was Phil Hardwick on p113 and Lee Pesticcio on p115, which meant not much room for margin fishing but still set up a rig just in case and mixed up some groundbait.

On the all in I had an 8lber almost immediately short on meat, but no more followed, so switched to the pellet at 14m. I had been pinging Marukyu Amino 6s, but was disappointed with the lack of response, eventually landing another 8lber and then a skimmer.

Lee had caught a couple long on pellet and Phil had started catching on the waggler, which meant after 2hrs I was falling behind, as it become obvious the fish really didn't want to come in on the pole line. I kept pinging pellet over the long pole line, periodically trying it, but never had another fish so abandoned it with 2 hours to go.

After 2hrs a switch to the waggler and 8mm amino pellet produced a couple of carp and the majority of the next 4 hrs was spent fishing the waggler or the straight lead and 8mm meat. Using red meat coloured with Marukyu very berry boost, definitely caught me more fish than standard meat. Also unlike the anglers around me I kept my feed reasonably light feeding only 3x 8mm pellet at a time. As the match progressed I pulled back the deficit against Phil & Lee and started to pull ahead.

Overall, the lake wasn't fishing that well, probably because it has been cold this week with overnight frost. Rumour had it that Cary was fishing even harder, which meant if I could keep going there was a chance of framing. The margins hadn't produced at all, so that was soon forgotten about. I had also kept feeding meat at 5m line and so far hadn't tried it since the start of the match, mainly because I kept catching mostly on the lead or waggler. With 4mins to go I netted a fish and decided to have a look over the meat line before the end of the match. Fortunately with 30secs left I hooked a 10lber which proved critical getting into the frame and a £100 pick up.

1. 144-15 - Phil Weaver - p121

2. 138-13 - Steve Shaw (Mosella) - p110

3. 135- 4 - Shawn Wilson - p85

4. 133- 4 - Ken Rayner (Colmic/Marukyu) - p114

5. 129- 5 - Dave Romain (Viaduct) - p123

6. 126- 1 - Alex Murray (Mosella) - p116

Silvers

1. 43- 3 - Phil Weaver - p121

2. 21-11 - Alex Murray (Mosella) - p116

3. 20- 4 - John Fuidge (Thornbury) - p66

4. 18-12 - Craig Edmunds (Mosella) - p70

5. 16- 2 - Chris Fox (Maesknoll) - p132