27/11/22 - Ivy House - Heron

Weight - 27lb 9oz 

Catch - 23 Carp, 4 F1s, 4 Gudgeon

Weather - Sunny, cloudy periods and no wind.

Match - Winter League - rd 2 (50 fished) - 7th out of 10 section

The 2^nd round of the Ivy House Winter League and my turn for the ‘bad’ pegs on Heron, so a decent draw was required to consolidate the last rounds 3^rd in section. I would have been happy with most pegs, but p24 was at the bottom of the wish list, coming last in the first round.

Its not a great feeder peg, as you only have the corner of the island and 16m of pole doesn’t reach the far shelf. The only good thing was I had some space to my left in the corner.

 
There seemed to be a few fish moving around, particularly in front of 2,3 & 4 (in my section) and hoped I might catch a few.
 
As the water looked a little clear, I decided to start cautiously, trying the lead and bread, then expanders over micros at 16m and then the maggot feeder. However, after an hour and 1 tiny carp in the net, the wheels were falling off.
 
I eventually caught a couple of fish on the maggot feeder, but it just didn’t seem right, not least because those that were catching on feeder were using small methods. I was also having trouble trying to find a spot clear of snags and debris which wasn’t ideal.
 
A switch to fishing at 16m slightly to my right with maggot over micros & groundbait produced a couple of decent F1s and carp. However, action was short lived as I started catching tiny carp and gudgeon – never a good sign.
 
Changing the maggot feeder to a mini method, with groundbait and micros, and maggot on the hook, produced another run of fish and I felt if I could keep going, I might be able to salvage some points
 
The final hour was a struggle, however. A short line fed with pellet didn’t produce a bite, a maggot and micro line off to my left towards the corner where it was a foot shallower, resulted in a carp first put in, followed by another tiny carp and then nothing. Even tried the margin without success.
 
Eventually managed a couple more carp and F1s, back out at 16m on maggot, but it was slow going.
 
In the end I was disappointed to finish 7^th in section. In hindsight I should have come at least 5^th. The first hour cost me a couple of fish, where I should have fished the method and then maggot on the pole. That said, the number of tiny carp and gudgeon I caught showed there wasn’t many fish in the area.
 
1.    105- 6 – Gary Knight – p37 (Kingfisher)
2.     91-14 – Steve Waters – p10 (Heron)
3.     77-12 – Rob Guppy – p7 (Heron)
4.      73- 6 – Mark Poppleton – p8 (Heron)
5.      72- 9 – Mick O’Brien – p34 (Willow)
6.      67- 6 – David Strafford-Way – p20 (Willow)

20/11/22 - Covey - Match Lake

Weight - 41lb 14oz 

Catch - 20 F1s, 8 Carp

Weather - Chilly start, mostly sunny with blustery showers

Match - Open (13 fished) - 3rd overall

Only 1 match this weekend and I had hoped that there would be an open on Heron Lake at Ivy House in preparation for next week’s winter league, however that was switched to Saturday, which I couldn’t make.

Therefore, I jumped onto a match organised by Phil Wilkins at Covey. Only fished Covey once before about 2½ years ago and apparently the F1s and carp had grown on a bit. Results from last week match showed 80-90lb won on paste! Personally, I couldn’t see that happening again as this week the weather had turned much colder with plenty of rain.

I drew p2 which won last weeks match, although I was told p3 wasn’t in and I didn’t have that luxury today as with 13 anglers fishing it was nearly every peg in.

Having left 2pts of maggot at home I would have to stick with expanders and corn. I started across, tight to the concrete boards on 4mm expander, hooked 1 fish that came off. In the meantime, Phil next to me on p3 started catching down his margins (which I didn’t expect to work) and Pete Neate on p5 netted a couple of carp on the paste!

I soon switched to the margin and had a good 50mins, catching F1s and a couple of carp on corn over micros, mostly from the right-hand side. So, after an hour I probably had about 15lb.

Fishing tight across just didn’t seem right and after 5mins came back to 14m fishing at the bottom of the far shelf fishing a 4mm expander over a nugget of BMG boosted micros on a strung-out rig.

I spent the next couple of hours here, although I had to switch elastics from a 9 dura to 4-8 hollow as I pulled out of a couple F1s shipping back. I think the issue was the platforms are a little high off the water and the angle of the elastic meant it was just pulling the hook out of the lightly hooked fish.

As the match progressed the fishing just got harder, and I needed to move along the bottom of the far shelf to stay in touch with the fish. A heavy shower didn’t help, and my hands were freezing by the time it passed.

Going into the last hour I had tried my short line without success and really felt fishing maggot here would have been better and I regretted forgetting them, particularly as Kev Hanson on peg 1 was catching well on them.

That last hour was tough going for everyone. Fortunately, I manged a couple more carp from the far line and then a 2-3lber in the last 5mins from the short line to pinch 3^rd overall, only beaten by the 2 end pegs.

Overall, an enjoyable day.

1.    70-12 – Joe Sheppard – p16

2.    59- 8 – Kev Hanson – p1

3.    41-14 – Ken Rayner – p2

4.    40-12 – Matt Skyme – p4

5.    35-  8 – Lee Jan – p14

13/11/22 - Ivy House - Willow

Weight - 38lb 4oz (7lb 10oz - silvers)

Catch - 3 Carp, 26 Skimmers

Weather - Mild, bright and sunny.

Match - Winter League rd1 (50 fished) - 3rd in section

The first round of the Winter League and 5 sections of 10, so a really good turnout on what turned out to be another unseasonably mild day.

The section draw was completed on Tuesday and I was very pleased to miss the section of death, which included several potential league winners.

My rotation meant I would start on Willow Lake and the draw put me on p19 – a proper boom or bust peg and to be honest I didn’t fancy it as it was very bright and flat. What little breeze there was blowed left to right out of the corner.

I spent the first 45mins looking for a carp, catching 2 skimmers on 6mm pellet at 6m, but no bites on the straight lead or feeder. Tim next to me on p20 had 1 carp on the feeder and this was the only carp caught from the anglers I could see. Therefore, I decided to target the skimmers, catching best at 14m on 4mm expanders, feeding a nugget of micros. I tried hard pellets, but just had to wait longer for the same sized fish, which were a little on the small side, so I stuck with expanders.

After 2hrs this line was beginning to fade and there was no sign of the bigger skimmers. I briefly tried my short line which I kept topped up with corn, the straight lead cast to the spit where I kept pinging 6s and down the left-hand bank, but never had a bite.

In the meantime, pegs 24 & 26 opposite both had a carp a piece. With no carp of my own I decided to have one last look over my silvers line that I had topped up with a ½ cup of micros. 2 small skimmers were netted before the swim went quiet and I hooked a carp of 6lb, which was very welcome, but that line had now died.

As I couldn’t get a bite on corn over my short line, I moved a few metres to my left, feeding 6s instead. A rotation of swims didn’t produce anything and with 45mins of the match remaining I felt I needed to do something different and dumped a load of leftover bait (groundbait, micros and corn) 2m off the right-hand margin in 2ft of water.

As that settled, I netted a 9lber from my short pellet line and then with 15mins remaining caught a 14-15lb carp from the margin swim on double corn to make me feel much happier.

In the end I was really pleased to come 3^rd in section and felt I got out of jail on a lake that fished a lot harder than expected. As expected, the top 2 in section came from the pegs behind me.

1.    128- 6 – Mike Etheridge – p12 (old Match Lake)

2.    121-10 – Joff Rogers – p9 (heron)

3.    107- 4 – Jon Arthur – p3 (old match lake)

4.      85- 2 – Steve Waters – p14 (old match lake)

5.      82-10 – Jamie Durrup – p4 (heron)

6.      79- 4 – David Stafford-Way – p10 (heron) 

12/11/22 - Ivy House - Kingfisher

Weight - 59lb 2oz 

Catch - 25 Carp, 3 Skimmers, 1 Crucian

Weather - Mild, mostly sunny

Match - Open (8 fished) - 4th overall

I had the choice of a silvers match on the Old Match Lake or an open on Kingfisher. Having not fished Kingfisher for a while I fancied a change. P44 isn’t normally the best, however with the very mild weather I was hoping to pull in a few fish. 

On the all-in I started dobbin bread across to the far bank, catching 1 carp, but with no more after 10mins I switched to fishing corn tapping in 4s. It was only when I started feeding a small nugget of micros boosted with BMG that I started to catch consistently at the bottom of the far shelf for the next couple of hours before it faded. 

I tried the bread again without success, so set up a new swim at the bottom of the far shelf, switching to 4mm expanders. This produced another run of fish before this faded again.

So far most of my fish were on the small side and I felt I needed to catch some better sized fish to consolidate my good start. My short corn line and deep left margin only produced 1 carp and a skimmer, which was disappointing, particularly as Roy on p46, who after a slow start, was catching really well on his short line. 

To make something happen I started pinging pellet at the bottom of the far shelf and started feeding by the p43 pallet. Both lines produced catching the better sized fish from with the pallet swim, whilst the long pinging line still produced the smaller stamp of carp.

Overall, I was pleased with a good start, but I probably spent too long trying to catch short and should have gone down to p43 pallet at least 30mins earlier.

1.    77- 0 – Roy Booth – p46

2.    69-14 – Andy Lord – p41

3.    64- 4 – Baggy – p48

4.    59- 2 – Ken Rayner – p44

6/11/22 - Ivy House - Heron

Weight - 52lb 8oz

Catch - 23 Carp, 20 F1s

Weather - Sunny start, heavy rain, then dry later.

Match - Open (20 fished) - 5th overall

A full house on Heron today, which would be a useful sighter for the start of next weeks Winter League. Since my last visit 2 weeks ago Andy has topped up the lake, meaning the marginal shelf is no longer exposed. It also meant no one knew how well it would fish.

I was happy with p10 as it’s a peg I have done well off it in the past.

I decided to start on a mini method to the island, but never had a bite on pellet or dead maggot, although to be fair I only gave it a couple of casts. A quick look over my short line didn’t produce either and looking around everyone else seemed to be struggling.

After an initial slow start, I eventually started catching some decent F1s and carp at 16m as it starts to shelf up towards the island on 4mm expander toss potting 4s with micros. I was catching well until the heavens opens and it rained hard for nearly 90mins or so. It was so bad I was struggling to see the float and had to take a shot off.

I had been pinging pellet to my right at 13m and caught 3 quick F1s, before they backed off and my short line didn’t produce, so I spent most of the match at 16m. However, it was fading a little towards the end and I retried the shallow line without success. A switch to maggot produced a couple of quick fish but I couldn’t keep it going.

I only needed a couple more fish to claim 3^rd overall, although I didn’t help myself when I missed the net with a decent F1. I really needed to have caught better on the shallow line, as the top 2, both caught well either on pellet or maggot late on.

Overall, the lake fished well, and it was nice to have a few bites, particularly after yesterday.

1.    74- 8 – Simon Dukes – p11

2.    60-12 – Jamie Dixey – p7

3.    58- 8 – Kev Hillsden – p22

4.    58- 0 – Mike Etheridge – p13

5.    52- 8 – Ken Rayner – p10

5/11/22 - Ivy House - Old Match Lake

Weight - DNW (tipped back 7-8lb)

Catch - 1 Carp, 4 Skimmers, 3 Roach

Weather - Rained most of the day and blustery

Match - Open (15 fished)

I didn’t fish last weekend as I had friends over and was looking forward to a double header this weekend. Although I wasn’t looking forward to sitting in the rain.

With 15 of us all on the Old Match Lake, it meant I was happy with p10 as it offers a little room. However, recent results suggested that this end of the lake hasn’t been fishing well, but I still fancied it for a few.

Starting short hoping for an early carp and I soon caught a skimmer on corn. I couldn’t fish the pole towards the island due to a strong wind blowing down the lake, therefore I tried the lead and bread or corn towards the island which didn’t produce a bite.

At one point I thought I might catch a few silvers on dead maggot over micros and groundbait, but the action was short lived. I did hook a decent carp but I got it on my top kit too quickly and it ended up breaking me as it made a run and I couldn’t get my top kit back on the pole quickly enough.

I simply struggled for a bite, I tried putting in 6 pouches of 4s towards to the island to try and trigger a response but nothing.

I did manage 1 carp late down the left bank, but that was it. Lee opposite me only had 2 skimmers until he netted 2 carp in the last hour down his left margin, so there appeared to be very few fish at this end of the lake. That said, the whole lake fished poorly, probably due to the large amount of water that has gone into the lake and the fish just haven’t settled yet.

Definitely one to forget.

1.    52- 8 – Joff Rogers – p8

2.    33- 8 – Baggy – p11

3.    28-14 – Chris Timms – p12

4.    26- 2 – Andy Burns – p18

5.    24-14 – Steve Waters – p2

Silvers

1.    13- 0 – Steve Waters – p2

2.    12- 0 – Baggy – p11

3.    11- 8 – Joff Rogers – p8

4.      7- 0 – Andy Burns – p18