26/01/25 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 46lb 12oz

Catch - 22 Carp

Weather - Very wet and windy

Match - Teams of 4 (32 fished) - 1st on lake, 2nd overall

The 2^nd round of the teams of 4 and I don’t think anyone was looking forward to it due to the forecast wind and rain. Fortunately, I was handed p21 on Doughnut, which although only 5pts came off it in what was a very tight match in the last round, I was very happy as I won from here last month.

The wind however was a concern as I wanted to fish tight to the far bank and overhanging branches were likely to be an issue. As we were setting up, I did get the pole out, shipped out as far as 13m and thought no, this isn’t going to work and put it away except for 3 sections. I did try the pole after an hour for 5mins, but it was towing badly making for poor presentation, so the remaining 3 sections got put away, which was just as well as the some the gusts were very strong, even lifting Chris Telling’s (p15) out of the water.

I started on the straight lead and maggot, catching 2 carp after 20mins. With no further bites, I tried a mini 20g banjo feeder, with a 50:50 mix of Uzit Crushed Expander and Black React groundbait, and double maggot, cast underarm to avoid those branches.

At the halfway point I was up to 13 carp and fairly confident I was winning the lake, however bites on the feeder were becoming less frequent.

I had started feeding small balls of groundbait and maggot at 5m by hand, as a back-up. A switch to fishing a maggot feeder over the short line resulted 2 carp, before returning to the far bank for a further 2 carp.

In the last 40mins I managed 4 more fish from the short line and maggot feeder to win the lake.

As a team, we managed 8pts to win the day and put us in the lead of the series.

1.    48-  1 – Tom Driver (Fintastic) – p3 (match)

2.    46-12 - Ken Rayner (Tackle Den) – p21 (doughnut)

3.    29-  5 – Andy Taylor (Maver Green) – p10 (doughnut)

4.    26-  7 – Allan Oram (Maver Green) – p14 (meadow)

5.    24-  8 – Rob Kerslake (Fintastic) – p18 (doughnut)

6.    24-  4 – Chris Telling (1,2,3,4) – p15 (doughnut)

Teams on the day

1.    8pts – Tackle Den

2.    9pts – Fintastic

3.    11pts – Maver Green

Teams to date

1.    3pts – Tackle Den

2.    6pts – 4 Skins

3.    6pts – Maver Green    

19/01/25 - Hillview - Canal 4

Weight - 57lb 3oz

Catch - 15 Carp, 5 F1, 8 Rudd, 5 Ide

Weather - Cold & cloudy

Match - Tackle Den (21 fished) - 5th overall

The first match of 2025 for the Tackle Den group and presentations of last year’s matches were made. Well done Andy Black for winning the aggregate league who was too good beating me with one match remaining.

We had 21 today over canals 2, 3 and 4. Peg 88 put me in the middle of canal 4 and not being familiar with the lake I had a quick chat with John Drew on p90 who confirmed we should catch.

Plumbing up revealed a lot of unseen trailing vegetation along the far bank and something to be aware of.

I started as usual dobbin bread across resulting in only 2 small rudd. I soon got bored of that and started tapping in micros and fishing 4mm expander, fishing a metre off the far bank.

It was slow going, but at least I was catching. When the action stopped, I tried a new swim fishing tapping in maggot and caught a few more fish before I started getting harassed by tiny rudd, which prompted a switch back to tapping in micros and fishing 4mm expander.

I stayed on the pellet for the rest of the match catching from 2 swims on the far side. I did catch a few fish over a short maggot line, but it wasn’t as good as the far line and I never had a bite from my margins.

Overall, today was a little frustrating due to the fish swimming up and down the canal at mid depth, which did result in a few foul hookers and to be honest I didn’t feel I got it completely right today, as I should have caught more.

1.    79-  6 – Andy Burns – p94 (canal 4)

2.    72-  1 – John Brady – p69 (canal 3)

3.    66-15 – John Drew – p90 (canal 4)

4.    66-  5 – Andy Black – p77 (canal 3)

5.    57-  3 – Ken Rayner – p88 (canal 4) 

18/01/25 - Todber Manor - Hillview

Weight - 148lb 8oz

Catch - 46 Carp

Weather - Cold and cloudy

Match - Open (20 fished) - 2nd overall

Mark Poppleton ran another open and it was a full house with 20 anglers. Like everyone, I wanted to avoid drawing in the 30s and was very pleased to end up on p54.

On the all-in I started on the lead and bread, as 2 weeks ago p55 came 2^nd catching mostly on the lead. I didn’t have any bites, but did have some liners and thought the fish may already be over my 13m pole line which I fed with micros and corn.

Switching to the pole was extremely frustrating as I struggled to get a proper bite, only landing 1 carp and losing 4. The peg is one of the deepest on the lake and I just felt the fish were hovering above the feed. In the meantime, I could see p52 & p53 down the arm of the lake catching well and Phil Hardwick on p55 had also caught a few long on the deck. I kept pinging pellet over the 13m line and did try it later in the match but I still couldn’t catch.

After an hour I only had 1 carp in the net, before switching to the left-hand bush at 11m, fishing at the bottom of the shelf where I had been pinging 7mm meat (flavoured in Uzit A-Krill cloud). By toss potting meat with some bubblegum micros, I had 8 fish very quickly to put me back in the race.

Over the next 3hrs I added a further 30 fish. Come the last hour the left-hand swim was slowing up and I felt I needed to have a good last hour to catch Dan Squires on p52 and Tim Martin on p50.

I started feeding meat at 2+2 and caught a few better stamp fish. I also dumped a cup of micros and meat down the right margin. Half an hour later it started clouding up and 5 fish in the last 15mins proved very handy.

I must admit it was nice to catch a few fish, particularly after last month’s struggles.

1.    171-12 – Dan Squires – p52

2.    148-  8 – Ken Rayner – p54

3.    107-  2 – Tim Martin – p50

4.      96-  8 – Dave Brittian – p60

5.      72-14 – Sean Taylor – p53

6.      64-  0 – Mark Poppleton – p57

12/01/25 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 27lb 7oz

Catch - 14 Carp

Weather - Freezing all week. Milder today.

Match - Teams of 4 (32 fish) - 2nd in section, 6th overall

Today was the first round of the Teams of 4 run by Ed Bryant. I was fishing for Tackle Den with Steve Broadhurst on Meadow, Andrew Black on Field, Alistair Tilney on Match Lake and I would be on Doughnut.

I had to feel for Gary as to ensure the match went ahead, he spent yesterday (Saturday) breaking the ice on all the lakes, only for it to melt away overnight!

Following a week of icy weather, we all knew it would hard, so I was happy enough to be handed p24, but I thought I might be on the edge of the fish, as P21 has been the form peg recently, with p18 not far behind. As it turned out the fish were quite well spread out, probably thanks to Garys ice breaking.

On the all-in I started against the far bank dobbin maggot, initially against the stick ups opposite and then off the end of the reed bed to my right, where I caught 2 carp in the opening 15mins.

I kept trying the dobbin rig and fishing on the deck tight across without success. I did have 1 carp on the straight lead & maggot off to my right in the ‘quiet’ water but couldn’t get another. After 90mins I had 3 fish and felt I was probably 2^nd or 3^rd on the lake.

Although I fed a couple deep water lines, I caught the remainder of my fish fishing on the deck tight across tapping in a few maggots and later pinkie, with a little Uzit crushed expander, darkened off with Black Bubblegum.

I had a spell when I lost a couple of foul hookers which prompted a switch back to the dobbin rig but I couldn’t get a bite so I stayed with the original rig.

With 30mins to go I could see Gary Townsend on p4 catching, but other than that I wasn’t sure where I was, and I hadn’t caught anything for the last 30mins.

Fortunately, the fish returned catching 4 more carp before the all-out, which proved crucial in what turned out to be a very tight section as I claimed 2^nd in section behind Gary.

As a team, we managed to avoid any complete blowouts, accumulating 15pts for 2^nd on the day and a good start to the series.

1.    46-14 – Glen Picton (Team 1,2,3,4) – p16 (Match)

2.    44-10 – Gary Townsend (Maver Black) – p4 (Doughnut)

3.    36-10 – Steve Brown (Maver Green) – p12 (Match)

4.    31-  5 – Andy Jane (Maver Green) – p5 (Field)

5.    29-14 – Jerry Wiggett (Maver Black) – p14 (Match)

6.    27-  7 – Ken Rayner (Tackle Den) – p24 (Doughnut)

1.    14pts – 4 Skinz

2.    15pts – Tackle Den

3.    16pts – Maver Green

4.    17pts – Maver Black

04/01/25 - Todber - Hillview

Weight - 71lb 8oz

Catch - 21 Carp

Weather - Overcast and cold. Breezy later

Match - Open (14 fished) - 6th overall

There were 14 of us for today’s Open run by Mark Poppleton. After a severe frost on Thursday night and a less severe frost last night no one was sure how the lake would fish, but more importantly the lake hadn’t frozen as the ambient water temperature was still high enough.

I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about drawing peg 51, halfway down the arm, as it can be a bit hit or miss in the winter and last week it didn’t fish well.

On the all-in I started on the straight lead and bread around various areas of the swim, but never had a bite in the first 30mins. Rob McCann to my right had 1, as did Adrian Drew on p49.

10mins after switching to the pole at 13m where I had fed bubblegum micros with some corn, pinging 4mm bubblegum pellet over top, with corn on the hook I caught my first fish. It was slow going but at least I was catching and by the halfway point I was up to 10 fish.

Adrian was slightly ahead of me, whilst Dave Brittan and Michael ‘Ginge’ Hall on p54 & p55 had both been catching quite well.

The next 90mins was very slow, as I only managed a couple of carp on the lead & bread. I had started feeding meat at 2+2 and micros and maggot just off the margins, but I had no bites until the last hour when I had 8 carp from the short meat line.

At the weigh in I beat Adrian and Rob, whilst I couldn’t beat Dave and Ginge as they took advantage of a ball of fish in the corner.

Despite the freezing weather, the fishing overall was pretty good.

1.    143-  0 – Tim Hadland – p48

2.    100-  0 – Michael Hall – p55

3.      91-  0 – Tony Gilbert – p38

4.      87-  0 – Mark Wynne – p46

5.      80-  0 – Dave Brittan – p54