29/08/16 - Lands End - Match

Weight - 161lb 3oz
Catch - 36 Carp, 2 Ide, 1 Crucian
Weather - Warm & sunny
Match - Open - 1st out of 17

Today was Garry Wall's Memorial match, who was fondly remembered for fishing paste and not being afraid to give them a pot or 2 of bait!

With 17 fishing Tony put 12 on Match and 5 on one side of Johns Lake. My draw put me on p15, which I was happy with and on arrival there were plenty of carp on the surface, although as usual as soon as you put in your keepnets 10mins before the start they soon disappeared.

On the all in I immediately went out on the long line pellet rig, hoping for a few early fish and after an hour was up to 6 caught on 6mm pellet, but the fish were becoming increasingly difficult to catch in the 9 inches of water by the island. In fact during the second hour I couldn't catch, trying my now reliable paste without success, I even tried depositing some hemp & meat which has worked in the past, but not today. There were plenty of fish showing, but these are very cute fish who have seen it, done it and brought the T-shirt.

Up to now I had been feeding 2 lines, left and right along the island, but decided to just concentrate on the one towards the point of the island, catapulting 6s. 

In the meantime I had been feeding 4s left and right at 4 sections, at the bottom of the near shelf, but so far other than small silvers nibbling at the 6mm pellet I had nothing. Eventually at the beginning of the third hour I caught my 7th carp down the left hand side on pellet. A switch to the gonut paste and my match started to gather pace.

The right hand swim didn't produce, so switched to feeding 6s down the right hand margin were it was a foot deep. The rest of the match was a case of switching left and right, and occasionally trying the long line by the island. The left hand swim was definitely the best, probably because it was a little deeper, which meant the fish were happier to hang around.

During the last hour I added 12 carp to finish the match strongly and I thought I might have 140lb. As it happened I had a little more than expected and a great way to finish a really successful weekend.

1. 161- 3 - Ken Rayner - p15
2. 149- 4 - Allan Oram - p46
3. 119- 5 - Mike West - p41
4. 118- 2 - Joe McMahon - p19
5. 118- 0 - Tony Rixon - p1
6. 115-15 - Rod Wootten - p42

Silvers
1. 13- 5 - Rod Wootten - p42
2. 9-10 - Dave Wescott - p7
3. 5-15 - Pete Nurse - p22

28/08/16 - Viaduct - Cary

Weight - 134lb 3oz
Catch - 14 Carp, 3 Skimmers, 1 Roach
Weather - Mostly wet!
Match - Float Only Series - rd 6 - 12th out of 40 (1st in section)

Today was the last round of the Float Only series and I was lying 14th in the league, which meant I was out of contention for the overall pay outs, although I did have the highest silvers weight of 28lb 10oz which was worth £50. However I didn't expect that to stand by the end of the day since 30-50lb has been winning silvers on Campbell recently.

I was really hoping for a draw on Campbell, because it has been fishing very well. However I have only drawn the lake once in the last 10 matches, so the law of averages should have been on my side. Well not today, as I ended up on Cary again, but at least p85 was a decent draw. Having said that this bank has been very hit and miss recently, although with the wind blowing my way I was confident of a few fish.

My section ran from p76 to p85. For company I had John Bradford on p81 and Alex Nadin on p86. At the moment I have a lot of confidence in Gonut paste and decided to fish it in a similar way to when I came 2nd 2 weeks ago from p99.

I deliberately left my waggler rods in the car to concentrate on the pole, mainly because the carp are so big in this lake you tend to get loads of false indications and very few weights are taken on the waggler at the moment.

On the all in a pot of micros and 6s were fed at 14m. Starting at 5m hoping for an early carp, I had a few knocks but no proper bites, so switched to the 14m line after 20mins.

Almost immediately I had a carp, followed 10mins later with another of 15lb 10oz (see picture) which lead me a merry dance! It wasn't too keen on being photographed either!

A couple more carp followed but it was slow going, which was expected. A switch to a pellet rig produced a skimmer on 4mm expander, but again bites were slow. I did hook 2 carp, losing both of them, the first broke me at the net and the 2nd managed to pick up a branch so I was playing the fish and the branch. Although the fish eventually freed itself there must have been damage to the line because that one broke me as well - doh!

The rest of the match was reasonable simply, if not a little frustrating with a few lost fish. I kept catapulting 6s, at one point I was feeding 2 pouches to get the fish on the deck, which produced a couple more fish.

Some very heavy rain during the middle of the match  resulted in my pellet turning to mush and my paste to liquid. That was soon resolved and I kept catching.

The only disappointing part of the match was fishing the margins, where I had been feeding pellet. First put in resulted in a carp, but then I couldn't get a proper bite, because the swim was full of small silvers. I tried meat and pellet as well without success, but felt I should have done better. I did hook another carp down the margin, but the line snapped around the float, which was a surprise, since I have never had a problem with the float before.

The last hour proved to be the most productive catching 4 or 5 carp. I knew I had beaten everyone along the top bank, but other than John I couldn't see anyone else in my section. When the scales arrived 86lb was the best weight, which meant I won my section.

As expected I didn't hang on to the best silvers weight with Glenn Calvert catching 32lb, but Paul Faires managed 33lb to take the £50.

Overall a good series for me, were I probably finished10th-12th and picked up 5 of the 6 rounds. Unfortunately 2 dodgy draws at Lands End probably cost me the chance of a top 6 finish. Well done to Trigger who easily won the series.

1. Craig Edmunds - 230lb 6oz - peg 128
2. Steve Tucker - 223lb 9oz - peg 132
3. Tony Rixon - 196lb 12oz - peg 129
4. Nick Brown - 191lb 4oz - peg 110
5. Fred Roberts - 188lb 15oz - peg 121
6. Dan White - 183lb 14oz - peg 118

Silvers
1. Paul Faires - 34lb 2oz - peg 111
2. Glen Calvert - 32lb 3oz - peg 124
3. Leon Hubbard - 24lb 5oz - peg 112
4. Mike Nicholls - 20lb 6oz - peg 103

27/08/16 - Lands End - Match

Weight - 127lb 6oz (7lb 10oz - silvers)
Catch - 24 Carp, 3 Skimmers, 2 Roach
Weather - Warm & muggy
Match - Open - 2nd out of 12 (3rd in silvers)

During the week I received 2 bits of good news, firstly my job role will be changing, which means going back to being a Financial Adviser and secondly Mark asked me to join the Colmic Team, along with Nick Merry and Mark Wynne. So hopefully exciting times ahead.

After no fishing last weekend, I was looking forward to the next 3 days over the Bank Holiday weekend. p19 was my home for the day, so not a bad start. For company I had Russ Peck on p17 and Nick Merry on p21.

As you can see from the photos the water levels are down quite a bit, which meant the far island shelf was covered with less than a foot of water and it was here that I started fishing the Gonut paste. A handful of 4s were also fed left and right at 4m.

I had 2 early fish across, but the fish soon spooked and it became a struggle to get proper bites, despite being able to see the fish in the swim. A switch to the short lines produced 2 skimmers, but I was soon back on the long paste line and started to pick up a few fish although it was slow going.

Early indication suggested Mark Poppleton on peg 1 was leading the way and I wasn't too far behind. A switch to pellet proved unsuccessful and a discarded rig off the end of the island was proving problematic, so I resorted to getting the boat out to clear it.

The island swim became increasingly difficult to get a proper bite and the short lines only produced 1 more skimmer. In the meantime, the grapevine suggested that Dave Wescott on p11, Dave Ings on p15 and Russ on p17 were all catching, which meant I was slipping down the field.

At the half way point I started feeding 6s down the right hand margin where it was a foot deep and it didn't take long for the tails to start showing. I also started feeding pellet down the track at 8m which produced loads of fizz but no fish all match.

The last 2.5hrs were spent mostly switching between the margin and the island. In fact the margin saved my match, because they were a bigger average stamp than those caught from the island, all on paste. It also meant I started to catch up with Russ and Dave.

By the all out, we all thought Mark had won, but beyond that Russ and I thought it would be close. Dave Wescott had 25 carp, but said they were small. Russ thought he had about 110lb and said Dave Ings had more.

Fortunately the weigh in fell in my favour sneaking 2nd overall.

1. 135-12 - Mark Poppleton - p1
2. 127- 6 - Ken Rayner - p19
3. 111- 2 - Dave Wescott - p11
4. 108- 0 - Russ Peck - p17
5. 94- 8 - Dave Ings - p15
6. 86- 9 - Nick Merry - p21

Silvers
1. 15- 1 - Ray White - p24
2. 12-11 - Mark Walsh - p5
3.  7-10 - Ken Rayner - p19

14/08/16 - Shiplate - Squirle Pool

Weight - 56lb 4oz
Catch - 107 Carp, 71 (Goldfish, Roach, Rudd, Skimmers, Perch, Chub)
Weather - warm & sunny
Match - Float Only rd 5 - 22nd out of 40, 2nd in section

A trip to the Copper Kettle in Weston for breakfast which was very enjoyable.

At the fishery you have to say the owners have done a great job maintaining the fishery and we had sections on all 4 lakes, 3 sections on the main lake, 2 sections on the Hawthorns and West Pool and 1 section of 5 on the Squirle Pool which is effectively a stock pond. Ideally I would have preferred a draw on the Main Lake, but ended up on the Squirle Pool, which meant I would at least have plenty of bites.

My draw put me in a corner and was told there were plenty of small carp up to 2lb, as well as loads of goldfish and silvers. I really wasn't sure how to attack it and not people were either because its not match fished that often, but the match record for pool is approximately 60lb.

My section included Mike Nichols, Shaun Townsend, Martin McMahon and Adrian Jeffery, but I couldn't see anyone due to the foliage and the island.

I thought that by trying to target the better sized carp would be the best way forward, so set up a paste rig to fish on the top 3, plus a couple of shallow rigs to fish either margin again on the top 3, either with worm or hair rigged 6mm pellet.

Starting on the paste on the top 3 in 3ft of water, I had 3 carp for 1.5lbs, not the quality I was hoping for and I go the feeling it was right, because some fish were swirling on the 4mm pellet being feed, which encouraged me to switch to the margins immediately.

Fishing 6mm pellet down the right hand side where it was 1ft deep, finishing the end of the first hour with 25 fish, but it was starting to slow a little, so switched to the left margin where I had been feeding caster (mainly because I still had 3pts left over from yesterday), plus some sloppy groundbait again from yesterday that never got used. By fishing a worm head I caught more silvers, but was catching quicker than the pellet swim and the slop definitely brought in the carp, because I would get a little run of 4 or 5 carp after each ball, before the silvers returned.

The problem was I couldn't see anyone so was unsure how I was doing, but could hear that Mike was catching, so just kept going finishing the 3rd hour with 100 fish.

Unfortunately the wheels fell off a bit during the 4th hour, the left hand margin was only producing silvers and the right hand swim was proving difficult as well. Down the right the margin slopped up to 9ins deep and I moved further up the shelf but struggled to get bites on the pellet despite seeing fish in the swim. After a couple of changes decide to stop feeding 4s and switched to toss potting slop/caster fishing a worm and it was like flicking a switch because I started to catch carp quickly including a of 2lber, a monster for this lake.

By switching left and right I kept the fish coming but the right hand side was fading. I tried further down the right at 10m, without much success.

By the all out I really wasn't sure what weight I had and was pleased with 56lb, but was surprised by the size of the fish because I was hoping for more carp in the 1lb bracket. Mike Nichols got it right on the day weighing 71lb for the section fishing soft pellet. If I was to fish the match again I would have had a soft pellet rig to fish in the deeper water and I should have probably fished slop down the right hand side a lot soon. An enjoyable and different day. Certainly a sharp contrast to catching munters from cary.

1- 222-14 - Craig Edmunds - p14 (main lake)

2- 208-12 - Bela Bakos - p6 (hawthorns)

3- 142-12 - Jason Radford - p15 (main lake)

4- 132- 0 - Glenn Bailey - p14b (main lake)

5- 129- 5 - John Fuidge - p2 (main lake)

6- 108-14 - Tom Mangnall - p13 (hawthorns)

Silvers

1- 22-14 - Paul Faires - p12 (main lake)

2- 16- 8 - John Bradford - p5 (main lake)

3- 15- 6 - Paul Blake - p10 (main lake)

4- 14- 0 - Craig Edmunds - p14 (main lake)

5- 13-12 - Nick Chedzoy - p9a (main lake)

6- 11-14 - Nick Ewers - p6 (main lake)

13/08/16 - Viaduct - Cary

Weight - 158lb 1oz (15lb 9oz - silvers)
Catch - 14 Carp, 11 Skimmers, 1 Tench, 1 Roach
Weather - Cloudy start, sunny later. Light breeze.
Match - Open - 2nd out of 20 overall (2nd in silvers)

With casters, worms, expanders and groundbait I was hoping for a day on the silvers to hopefully qualify for the all winners silvers final or failing that I had some of Andy Seery's Gonuts paste to try - it's very red!

With a fully booked Cary, 20 pegs were put into the coffee tin of dreams. I was first in and found myself  on p99 where 114lb came off it last Saturday fishing the tip. I did consider just setting up the tip and nothing else but that would drive me insane. So also setup a paste rig, a pellet on the deck rig and finally a skimmer rig to fish expanders or worm.

The intention was to spend an hour looking for carp and depending on the response I would make a decision about whether to concentrate on the carp or silvers.

Feeding a small handful of 6s at 6m, I started on the paste landing 3 carp (losing 2, 1 of which pulled the elastic through the side puller - doh!) and a big tench, which the chap next to me fishing for silvers was too impressed about - lol. On the hour mark I had my 4th carp at 14m where I had been pinging 6s. Staying at 14m a further 2 carp were landed, plus a big skimmer, losing 2 others which shed the hook mid flight!

The fishing became more difficult during the middle part of the match, managing 1 carp on the tip fishing the conker. With no more bites from the carp a switch to the soft pellet rig produced a few skimmers up a pound, plus another carp, but it was slow going.

In the meantime Matthew Gronow on p96 had started to catch on the tip, fishing with a PVA bag and by the half way point was up to 7, the same as me. The problem was he kept catching and was soon ahead of me.

A couple more tries on the tip didn't produce so that was abandoned for the remainder of the match, concentrating on the 14m line. By continually pinging 6s, the fish started to settle properly and  in the last 90mins I had fewer liners and more proper down the plug hole bites, catching mostly carp up to 14lb with the occasional decent skimmer, slowly making back the deficit on Matthew. A brief look on the 6m line didn't produce, but did manage one carp from the left hand margin.

With 2mins to go the float buried and thought this fish would make the difference. However I was hanging onto the end of 14m's of pole whilst the fish was attempting to make its way across the lake. I thought it was foul hooked and it eventually turned when the all out was called. Fortunately the carp was hooked properly, it was just a very angry double figure common landed 10mins after time.

Matt was admitting to 15 carp, but only had a few silvers, so it was going to be close. As it turned out that last carp swung the decision my way, beating Matt by 5lb, but I couldn't beat Neil Gaff on p90 who finished with 178lb fishing the pole to the end bank.

There was also a bit of a bonus when the results were announced because I came 2nd in the silvers as well to and a double bubble pay out - yay.

As for the paste, very happy with it. It mixes up lovely with a nice smooth texture and I caught mostly when mixed to a very soft consistency.

1- 178- 0 - Neil Gaff - p90
2- 158- 1 - Ken Rayner - p99
3- 153-14 - Matthew Gronow - p96
4- 136-14 - Martin Preston - p87
5- 135-13 - Roland Lucas - p77
6- 120-13 - Gareth Gronow - p109

Silvers
1- 26- 5 - James Rock - p105
2- 15- 9 - Ken Rayner - p99

07/08/16 - Fishponds

Weight - 215lb 11oz
Catch - 34 Carp, 2 Skimmers
Weather - Warm, sunny and windy
Match - club - 2nd out of 8

A better turn out for our club for this match, but still disappointingly low, however I do enjoy fishing our club lake and hoped for a good day.

With a strong wind blowing and the fact the sun was out I fancied a draw where there would be plenty of ripple so I could fish shallow, whilst everyone else wanted the hot peg 5 which has been dominating matches recently. That honour fell to Andy Lord, whilst I had peg 12 which put me in a more sheltered part of the lake.

Having fished the peg a number times in the past its usually paste or pellet at 8m and down both margins, it rarely produces fishing shallow. Its funny how some days you have a preconceived idea of how you will catch and it never works out the way you expect.

On the all-in I started on the paste to my right. Not a bite after 10mins. A switch to 8m produced a few knocks and 10mins later I had a small skimmer. This really wasn't going to plan. Gilly on p10 got off to flyer catching down his margin, yet I was struggling for a bite. A switch to the full depth pellet rig, fishing 8mm pellet produced another small skimmer and eventually a carp, but after an hour I was really struggling with just the 1 carp in the net.

Due to the direction and strength of the wind there was some ripple at 13m to my right, so decided to start feeding 8s hoping to draw a few fish in shallow, leaving the margins until later in the match.

Starting on a long line, swinging the rig into the ripple I started to pick up a few fish, slowly at first, but as the match progressed I started to add some fish into the net on a regular basis, making up the 7 carp deficit on Gilly.

As the fish became more confident the long line rig was replaced with a slapper rig and was still catching quiet quickly, until about an hour from the end when the action slowed down. To be honest I didn't expect the shallow line to last as long as it did, which was a bonus, because a look down the margins in the last hour proved to be a lot slower than expected, although still managed to add a few more fish before the end on paste.

1st - 247- 3 - Andy Lord - p5
2nd - 215-11 - Ken Rayner - p12
3rd - 205-14 - Paul Lewis - p16
4th - 194- 4 - Andy Bradley - p14

06/08/16 - Viaduct - Cary

Weight - 38lb 10oz (15lb 11oz - silvers)
Catch - 34 Skimmers, 2 Roach, 2 Carp
Weather - Hot & sunny, becoming breezy
Match - Open - 3rd in silvers, 19th out of 27 overall

Today of the first match on Cary since the lake had been closed following the oxygen crash and a quick walk around the lakes suggested the best pegs would be around the aerators since there was a lot of carp basking enjoying the sun in the area. Lodge lake was also in today and to be honest that was my preferred draw, hopefully on a nice skimmer peg so I could qualify for the Silvers all winners.

Peg 86 was home for the day and I felt I could be at wrong end of the lake today, but you never know and there were a few fish on the surface. The real decision was paste or meat and since I wanted to try and keep it simple settled on paste. I did cut up a tin of meat just in case but it mostly didn't get used.

I also had a bucketful of groundbait for down the edge for later in the match were I hoped to catch late.

On the all in a half cup of 4s & 6s was deposited at 14m and I started on the long line shallow rig with meat swinging at a couple of the cruisers with no joy. A short stint with the slapper rig didn't yield anything either, so it was on to the paste rig a little earlier than expected but soon found myself attached to a carp, which was followed by a 13lber 15mins later. Perhaps today will be a good day. Unfortunately not. After an hour the whole lake appeared to have shut up shop. Those that had caught early, weren't catching any more.

A brief look on the lead didn't produce and I simple couldn't get a proper bite on the paste despite quite a bit of fizzing. The carp appeared to be quite content swimming around on the surface and not feeding.

I had already set up a skimmer rig just in case and reasoned since no one I could see was catching if I could get a few skimmers then at least I was slowly building a weight and I was expecting the carp to switch on later.

After an initial slow start trying to sort how best to feed I started catching skimmers up to 2lb mostly on 4mm expander with a few on worm, pinging 6s over the top. For some reason pinging 4s was quite as effective and for 2hrs or so I was enjoying myself before the action started slow.

I had already started feeding groundbait down the left hand margin, but only got knocks from silvers, so that proved to be a waste of time. A new paste swim was set up at 8m to my left, where I hooked 2 carp, but they both fell off. I also hooked and lost another carp on the full depth pellet rig at 14m with 8mm pellet. Other than that I just couldn't get a bite on anything.

A few people caught carp late on and any hope I had of doing well in the section evaporated and even if I had landed those 3 lost carp it wouldn't have made a difference. Today I was simply in the wrong area. The anglers either side of me has 3 & 4 carp respectively, with the better weights coming from the other end of the lake.

1. Dave Cockayne - 135lb 7oz - peg 74
2. Martin Preston - 129lb 10oz - peg 105
3. Nigel Easton - 114lb 14oz - peg 99
4. Roland Lucas - 113lb 3oz - peg 81
5. David Simpkins - 99lb 2oz - peg 64
6. Jamie Parkhouse - 92lb 11oz - peg 103

Silvers
1. Dan Squires - 42lb 7oz - peg 77
2. Rob Eagle - 26lb 6oz - peg 70

3. Ken Rayner - 15lb 11oz - peg 86

31/07/16 - Avalon

Weight - 47lb 12oz (15lb 10oz - silvers)
Catch - 5 Carp, 16 Skimmers, 1 Roach, 1 Rudd
Weather - Sunny & windy later
Match - Float Only rd 4 - 9th out of 40 overall, 2nd in silvers, 2nd in section

The 4th round of the Float Only series and a tough day was expected with 40 anglers on the lake in flat sunny conditions, although it didn't stay flat for long.

Peg 7 put me on the end of the first island and I was told it was a decent peg. My section ran down to peg 1 (Dave Hodgson P6, Tim Ford P5, Neil Mercer P3 and Joe McMahon P1).

After the practice match 2 weeks ago I had a clearer idea of how I was going to approach today and bar a mistake with my feeding it nearly worked.

On the all in 2 balls of over wetted groundbait (I didn't want an active mix) was fed at 10m to my left with caster & 4s, and unlike 2 weeks ago I didn't feed any chopped worm. Whilst that settled I started on the waggler & pellet cast towards to island, as was Bob Gullick opposite. Despite fish moving around the island, either of us caught.

After 30mins it was time to try the 10m line after dumping some pellet & paste at 14m. Fishing worm at 10m, an 8lb carp was landed after 10mins and then I had a run of skimmers ranging from 8oz up to 2lb, which probably put me ahead in the section. However like everyone else the middle hours of the match were challenging!

I preserved with the waggler for a while losing a couple of hooklengths as I got too close to the reeds. I did hook a fish which snagged me before I could do anything, but eventually I flirted with danger once too often casting the waggler down the side the island only to get snagged on an underwater branch losing the whole rig. I didn't bother setting it up again, mainly because those that were catching on it in my section were all commenting on how small the carp were and they were being caught infrequently. I reasoned if I could get my long paste line to work and then my margin I might be able to catch better sized fish making up ground on the rest in my section particularly Tim who managed to keep catching the odd fish throughout.

In between fishing the waggler I caught a couple more skimmers off my 10m line, but it was slow, so I set up another line to my right which produced a couple more skimmers.

The long paste line was a disappointment. Although I caught 2 skimmers, in hindsight I don't think I fed heavily enough in the 6ft deep swim.

Towards the end of the match I concentrated more on the left margin where I had been feeding 4s & 6s. By fishing paste tight to the bank in 3ft of water, I hooked 5 carp, landing 4. The lost carp I think was fouled by the way it was swimming around.

By the all out, Tim was admitting to 50lb, whilst Neil & Joe were admitting to 30-35lb. Dave had a bit of torrid day getting proper chip shopped. I thought I had about 40lb, however the carp were a little heavier than I thought and ended up pushing Tim quite close for the section. 2nd in the silvers was a nice consolation though and my 4th pick up in the series.

1st 115- 7 - Paul Elmes - p9
2nd 82- 5 - Glenn Bailey - p36
3rd 81-13 - Vic Bush - p23
4th 72-10 - Bela Bakos - p14
5th 72- 4 - Tom Mangnall - p24
6th 64-10 - Tony Rixon - p11

Silvers
1st 26- 8 - Paul Faires - p17
2nd 15-10 - Ken Rayner - p7
3rd 15- 2 - John Fuidge - p40
4th 13- 8 - Bob Gullick - p42
5th 12-12 - Tony Rixon - p11