23/02/25 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 15lb 5oz

Catch - 10 Carp

Weather - Very windy and rain

Match - Teams of 4 (32 fished) - 4th in section, 18th overall

When I woke up I received a message from Andy saying his back had given out and he couldn’t fish! After a few phone calls he managed to persuade Simon Duke to fill in – Thanks mate, it was much appreciated as it saved us 9pts!

As for my match p18 was my home and to be honest I was pleased to avoid p12 & p15.

The wind meant fishing the long pole was out of the question, so I had to concentrate on the straight lead or feeder.

Following yesterday’s match, I was conscious about putting in too much feed, so started on the straight lead and maggot tight to the far bank catching 2 carp in the first hour. As not much was being caught expect on p21 (Andy Taylor) & p24 (Chris Telling) I stuck with the lead without success, before switching to a maggot feeder. This produced 4 carp but it was slow going, whilst p21 & p24 kept catching.

As well as the wind, the rain was now hammering down, making for a rather unpleasant day. I had heavily fed maggot at 6m as a throwaway line, dropping a maggot feeder over the top, but never had a bite all match.

With 2hrs remaining I was stuck on 5 fish. I tried a tiny hybrid feeder with groundbait and fishing dead maggot, without success. Therefore, I just decided to wait it out on the straight lead, adding a blob of Uzit Worm cloud to the double red maggot and managed to add a further 5 fish.

Have to say I was pleased to hear the all-out and thought I would finish 3^rd, however the average stamp of my fish was smaller than normal so I finished 4^th.

As a team, we finished 4^th on the day, whilst our nearest challengers finished 6^th and 7^th, which meant we have a 4pt lead going into the final round.

1.    66-  4 – Nic Baggott (Maver Black) – p14 (Meadow)

2.    35-13 – Jerry Wiggett (Maver Black) – p1 (Match)

3.    33-  6 – Andy Fry (Misfits) – p20 (Match)

4.    30-  7 – Chris Telling (1,2,3,4) – p24 (Doughnut)

5.    27-  5 – Alistair Tilney (Tackle Den) – p16 (Match)

6.    26-11 – Andy Taylor (Maver Green) – p21 (Doughnut)

Teams on the Day

1.    14pts – Team 1,2,3,4

1.    14pts – Maver Black

3 – 16pts – Fintastic

4 – 17pts – Tackle Den 

League to date

1.    9pts – Tackle Den

2.    13pts – 4 Skins

3.    14pts – Fintastic

4.    16pts – Team 1,2,3,4

22/02/25 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 11lb 8oz

Catch - 6 Carp

Weather - Sunny and breezy

Match - Open (15 fished) - 5th overall, 2nd in section

As it was the 4^th round of the teams of 4 tomorrow, I decided to fish todays open to stay in touch with the lake.

With 15 fishing today pegging was always going to be a little tight and I wasn’t disappointed to draw p21 (again!) although I was in the middle of a line of 7. However, with milder weather we all hoped the fish would have a bit of a munch.

Well, there isn’t a lot to talk about. I started across to the far bank dobbing maggot but never had a bite. I then tried tapping a few maggots and a tiny nugget of groundbait, which produced a fish straight away, but then I couldn’t get another!

The cross wind was making presentation difficult and I couldn’t get a bite over any feed, I just caught the odd fish across dobbing maggot.

Surprisingly the lake had switched off. Fortunately, my 6 carp were slightly bigger than Chris Telling’s 6 to claim the section by default.

1.    40-  0 – Ronaldo – p19

2.    18-  3 – Andy Fry – p5

3.    17-  9 – Chris Cameron – p11

4.    13-  1 – George Organ – p13

5.    11-  8 – Ken Rayner – p21

16/02/25 - Hillview - Canal 1

Weight - 75lb 6oz (4lb 7oz - silvers)

Catch - 34 F1s, 3 Carp, 11 Roach, 8 Ide, 1 Perch

Weather - Cold & cloudy, with an easterly breeze

Match - Tackle Den (20 fished) - 2nd overall

Last weekend, I was away up north visiting the in-laws so no fishing. Therefore, I was looking forward to today’s match as you usually get a few bites, although the cold easterly stream of weather continued.

When I drew p52 on Canal 1, my enthusiasm for the day just drained away as it’s normally a really poor draw and no one had any words of comfort. I did set up a light bomb rod to cast down towards the end bank, but fortunately, it wasn’t required.

As I expected to struggle for bites, I set up a light maggot rig (Steve Mustiano maggot 0.2g) with 0.09 bottom and a size 20 hook to fish down the track.

After feeding some maggot and fishery micros at 13m at an angle to my left, I tried dobbin bread along the far bank. I soon got bored of that and went over my 13m line tapping in maggot and a few micros.

To be honest the next 90mins was brilliant. After the first 2 put ins which produced 2 roach, I started catching small F1s (12oz) before the bigger F1s (3lb) turned up and I probably put 33-35lb in the net.

The rest of the match was a case of rotating around the peg. I had a little run of fish fishing tight to the far bank, then down by the pallet of p53 and then at 13m off to my right, before returning to the 13m left hand swim.

The last 2 hours it felt like it was getting colder, and the fishing was getting harder. I was also aware that Steve Venn to my left was slowly catching me up. Fortunately, after a quiet period, I managed to get a little run of fish over my 13m lines to just stay ahead.

Have to say I was a little surprised to have done so well from a ‘duff’ peg and it goes to show fish have fins, as the fish seemed to be spread throughout the canal today.

1.    78-11 – Matt Greaves – p44 (canal 1)

2.    75-  6 – Ken Rayner – p52 (canal 1)

3.    70-  2 – Steve Venn – p50 (canal 1)

4.    46-13 – Alistair Tilney – p8 (moorhen)

5.    39-  3 – Ian Barker – p16 (moorhen)

6.    37-  0 – John Brady – p12 (moorhen)

02/02/25 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 19lb 9oz 

Catch - 11 Carp

Weather - Bright & sunny with a cool breeze

Match - Teams of 4 - rd 3 (32 fished) - 6th in section, 9th overall

At least the weather was kinder than the previous 2 rounds today. I was handed p12 and to be honest it’s not good, as its nearly 18m wide, no cover across and plumbing up revealed 1ft of water dropping quickly away to 6ft. Add to the mix were very bright conditions, clear water and an awkward breeze cutting across me, I wasn’t optimistic.

On the all-in I tried the straight lead and maggot but couldn’t get a bite and was soon falling behind. I eventually caught my first fish after an hour at 14.5m on maggot over a little groundbait, toss potting maggot over the top, adding a further 4 fish, but it was slow going, not helped by the breeze. I tried the straight lead over the top for another fish and then the maggot feeder to make something happen without success. With an hour remaining I only had 6 fish in the net, which was the same as Gary Townsend next to me on p15 as we scratched heads on what to do next.

As one last throw of the dice I was back on the straight lead and double pinkie, cast tight to the far bank in front of peg 11. I had 5 fish in 5 casts then nothing until the end of the match.

6^th place wasn’t what the team needed, however, Alistair won Match Lake, Andy got 2^nd on Field and Steve was 3^rd on Meadow, which meant we finished 2^nd on the day to maintain our lead.

1.    59-  3 – Steve Brown (Maver Green) – p4 (doughnut)

2.    47-13 – Cliff Dutton (4 Skins) – p18 (doughnut)

3.    42-  7 – Ian Didcote (1,2,3,4) – p21 (doughnut)

4.    28-  5 – Brad Farrell (Swinetown) – p10 (doughnut)

5.    28-  0 – Alistair Tilney (Tackle Den) – p14 (match)

6.    26-  6 – Rob Kerslake (Fintastic) – p24 (doughnut)

Teams on the day

1.    11pts – 4 Skins

2.    12pts - Tackle Den

3.    15pts – Fintastic

Teams to date

1.    5pts – Tackle Den

2.    7pts – 4 Skins

3.    10pts – Maver Green 

01/02/25 - Sedges - Brick Lake

Weight - 34lb 8oz

Catch - 4 Carp, 1 Skimmer

Weather - Grey & cloudy

Match - Bomb & Feeder League - rd 5 (24 fished) - 2nd in section, 8 overall

This was the re-arranged final round, however we only had 24 fishing instead of 40. This meant 16 on Brick and 8 on one side (31-40) on Tile.

Coming into this round I was lying 6^th, courtesy of a lower weight and felt I needed to draw a corner to give me the best chance of winning my section and bolstering my overall weight to claim a top 5 place.

I was near the end of the draw queue with pegs 10 & 40 still in the bag but pulled p11. With Karl Turner on p10 and Chris Ware on p12, I had my work cut out to get any points. As such, I took a positive approach to the match and didn’t bother targeting the skimmers.

On the all-in I started on the pellet cone, fished towards the rope, trying corn, pellet and meat, however after an hour I was still bite less. In the meantime, Karl already had 40lb fishing against the end bank and I knew 2^nd in section was the best I could hope for, so I really needed a big weight to give myself a chance of improving my overall weight.

I had been pinging corn at 16m, and a switch resulted in 3 carp and a skimmer over the next 90 mins, which meant I was lying comfortably 2^nd in section.

Unfortunately, my 16m line just died. I also fed meat at 5m, which was very much a throw away line, which I gave 10min, but never had a bite.

This just left the far line, where I had been pinging 8mm pellet in an effort to pull some fish away from Karl, but as yet I only had a couple of liners. Chris in the meantime was slowly catching me up, netting a big carp and a few skimmers.

With an hour remaining, 8 pouches of pellet were fired onto the far line. 30mins later I caught a 10lber which was my last fish to secure 2^nd in section as Karl won the match.

As the weigh sheets came in, I knew I hadn’t done enough, but it wasn’t until I finalised the results, I realised how close it was, as there were 7 of us all on 9pts for 3^rd spot, however my lower weight aggregate meant I finished 9^th.

At the start of the series, I had targeted a top 10, so happy with 9^th, yet disappointed at the same time. I was the only one with the exception of Jamie Cook (fishery owner) not to have drawn a corner and based on the pegs I’ve drawn did as much as I could.

Well done to Paul Tidball for winning the series and I’m looking forward to next year’s series.

1.    87-12 – Karl Turner P11

2.    55-  8 – Paul Homewood – p35

3.    52-  7 – Dave Romain – p31

4.    49-11 – Steve Jackson – p10

5.    43-  5 – John Moody – p40 

Final league table below.