20/04/25 - Tunnel Barn - Extension

Weight - 59lb 10oz

Catch - 46 F1/Carp, 6 Perch

Weather - Cold windy start, warmer later

Match - Tackle Den (18 fished) - 2nd overall, 1st in section

As I’m due to fish the Over 50s Qualifier here on Thursday, todays match was going to be useful sighter. Leading up to today meat had been very dominate, however there were signs that meats effectiveness was waning. So, as well as some meat, I also brought 4pts of white maggot, plus some expanders. I also found out the lake had been fishing hard with only 70lb winning yesterdays match.

The draw put me on p7 which was the end of the main island. Plumbing up revealed a clear shallow spot to the right of a reed bed that I wanted to stay clear of, as it looked like a tackle graveyard. As it was a cold start, I decided to start across by the island tapping in maggot and started to catch small carp, F1s and a few perch. I also pulled out of a few fish as my elastic was too strong for the size of fish which were smaller than expected, which prompted a switch to a long kit from short kit which helped.

Despite catching, I just felt I was going nowhere as I couldn’t catch anything bigger than a pound. My 2 meat lines on a top kit +1, left and right didn’t produce a bite. I had also been feeding maggot over a 5m line but very surprisingly didn’t have a bite here either (or later in the match when I tried).

I also tried a shallow line feeding maggot, but only caught 2 fish and I really was going nowhere. To be fair an awkward cross wind was making it difficult to group my feed.

A change of tactic was required, so I moved back to fishing the island, but this time tapping in micros and fishing a 4mm expander. My first fish was a 4lb carp, soon followed by some smaller carp and F1s with occasional better fish. Must admit I thought why didn’t I try this sooner!

The island swim proved to be quite productive, which was a relief, although I didn’t help myself when I managed to tip back a 4lb F1 as the end of my landing net handle caught the overhead wiring (that ran along this bank) as I tried to put the fish in the net – I was fuming.

After chuntering to myself for a bit I was conscious that I needed to catch quicker, which meant trying to make my short lines work. Although, I couldn’t catch on meat in my margins I thought it was worth trying in the deeper water and set up a new rig to fish at 1+2 off to the right which produced some decent F1s and carp.

Late on my margins eventually produced some small F1s on meat from the left and pellet or maggot from the right.

By the all-out I didn’t feel I had fished a good match, as I struggled to work out how best to catch and thought young Nicholas opposite who had caught mostly shallow had beaten me, as well as Paul Stafford on p11.

Fortunately for me I had a little more than I thought to finish 2^nd. In hindsight, I would have fished a different match as I should have caught more, but lessons learnt for Thursday.

1.    76-10 – John Brady – p31

2.    59-10 – Ken Rayner – p7

3.    58-  0 – Paul Strafford – p11

4.    57-10 – Nicholas Wilson – p21

5.    51-  1 – Bobby Moore – p17 

19/04/25 - Harescombe - Match

Weight - 61lb 3oz (9lb 14oz - silvers)

Catch - 10 F1, 9 Carp, 15 Skimmers, 1 Roach

Weather - Cool & showery start, brighter later. Blustery breeze.

Match - Open (8 fished) - 1st overall.

After having last weekend off with friends, I was looking forward to today’s match.

There were only 8 of us today, probably because it was easter Saturday, so I was not fussed where I drew, but peg 5 wouldn’t have been my first choice as it hasn’t been the best area recently, but at least we all had plenty of space today.

On the all-in I started two 3+1 lines left and right, fishing 6mm meat covered in Uzit A-krill cloud. After 50mins I had 2 F1s and 2 skimmers.

I then switched to fishing 4mm expander (flavoured with project X) over small nuggets of micros with some groundbait (crushed expander and green re-act) a metre off the island. I had considered fishing tight to the island, but the breeze was making presentation awkward.

I was little concerned when all I could catch was skimmers, but decided to stick with it for the next 2hrs hoping the carp/F1s would turn up later. Other than 1 small carp and 1 lost lump, it was all skimmers, whilst Steve Partington on p10 and Lucas on p25 were now catching and pulling ahead.

In the meantime, I had kept both my short meat lines topped up and when I dropped in on them, I had a big skimmer from each swim and must admit I thought – oh dear!

Fortunately, the carp and F1s turned up with the right-hand swim being the stronger. With 75mins remaining, I sacked off the left-hand swim to concentrate on the right that was now producing some better stamp carp during the last hour.

I had also started feeding meat and micros down the left margin, which produced 4 F1s, and groundbait down the shallower right margin which only produced 1 fish.

At the all-out I thought that Lucas opposite had beaten me, but those early skimmers proved crucial as I put nearly 10lb of them on the scales to win the match with 61lb.

1.    61-  3 – Ken Rayner – p5

2.    57-  9 – Lucas Hurcombe – p25

3.    54-  0 – Nigel Reeves – p15

06/04/25 - Manor Farm - Island Pool

Weight - 54lb 3oz (7lb 9oz - silvers)

Catch - 18 F1s, 3 Carp, 9 Skimmers, 2 Tench

Weather - Cool start, sunny all day, cool NE wind.

Match - Tackle Den (18 fished) - 1st overall

If I’m being honest, I wasn’t looking forward to this match as I was expecting 20 anglers (which turned into 18) all on Island Pool which would be tight and it was likely to be a difficult match, as recent results have been won with only c.50lb with fewer anglers fishing.

On arrival, the north easterly breeze was blowing into the car park end of the lake and I quite fancied drawing in the breeze, so was pleased to draw p37, although I had to put my hoodie on as it was a bit cool in the breeze.

The peg meant I didn’t have an island chuck, but I had a long margin into the corner and just hoped the car park would be quiet.

Having never fished the lake before I set up the straight lead and feeder rods straight away, as we never have long enough to set up with these matches and I needed time to familiarise

myself with the contours of the lake. I managed to sort out most of my pole rigs before the all-in and was a little relieved the lake wasn’t as deep as expected, but at 6ft it was deep enough.

So, I started on the pellet cone with corn on the hook cast 20m as I finished sorting my pole rigs and the tip went round and a F1 was netted. Staying on the pellet cone for the rest of the hour I caught a 7lb carp and another F1.

Come the 2^nd hour I switched to fishing at 13m where I had fed 4mm bubblegum pellet and by tapping in 4s with a hair rigged 4mm pellet caught 5 F1s and a skimmer. However the wind was being a pain, and the tow had picked up, which meant the start of the 3^rd hour was a struggle.

As the tow and wind was proving problematic, I decided to just fish for bites, switching to a 0.5g chimp rig at 11m, over micros and groundbait (crushed expander and black bubblegum) fishing a 4mm expander.

By feeding a nugget of micros and groundbait every 2^nd fish I started catching a few skimmers and the recently stocked 6oz F1s. As time went on, I caught the odd better sized F1 and a bonus 1.5lb tench.

With 2hrs remaining I knew I was doing OK, although I could see Andy Burns on p32 catching well down his margins.

I had already had an early look down my left margin next to p38 platform, where I had been pinging pellet without success. Due to the wind I decided to introduce corn as well.

My next try resulted in a bite straight away, which promptly came off. The next put in did produce a carp, before the swim went quiet.

I had also started feeding meat (covered a-krill cloud) at 2+2. After a couple of decent skimmers, I hooked what I was hoping for - a proper carp. It was a double figure fish and everything was going well, until it decided to go on a little run and the hook pulled!

I then lost the next 3 carp, 1 the hook pulled fishing the margin and the other 2 were fouled hooked (1 down the margin and the other over the short line). Needless to say I wasn’t happy. Fortunately, I managed to successfully net another carp, plus a couple of decent F1s.

Not quite the finish I was hoping for, but I had an enjoyable day. Andy was admitting to 35lb and I thought I had 40lb. As it was, we both underestimated, but I was pleased to have won on a day which proved to be tricky for most.

1.    54-  3 – Ken Rayner – p37

2.    42-  2 – Andy Burns – p32

3.    36-10 – Pete Philips – p25

4.    34-11 – Cliff Dutton – p24

5.    26-15 – Ian MacDonald - p5

05/04/25 - Harescombe - Match

Weight - 29lb 14oz

Catch - 6 Carp, 3 F1, 4 Skimmers

Weather - Cool start, warm & sunny later, but gusty NE wind

Match - Open (16 fished) - 5th overall

With the improved weather and fishing I was looking forward to todays match, and you always get a warm welcome from Cathryn and Gary.

 
The 20s has been the place to draw recently, however I ended up with p18 with the wind blowing down the other end.
 
I started across tight to the island tapping in a few micros, fishing a 4mm expander and caught a carp almost straight away. Sadly, I couldn’t get another and looking around it was fishing hard, not helped by a gusty north easterly wind, which to be honest was proving to be a pain throughout the match.
 
I eventually caught my 2^nd carp on the hour again on 4mm expander over a little groundbait and micros at the bottom of the far shelf, but I was struggling to string any fish together.
 
I had a bit of purple patch half-way through when I managed to catch a couple of carp/F1s over a short meat line, and later in the match picking up the occasional fish as I rotated swims.
 
To make something happen I had started pinging 4mm pellet to the island and managed a decent carp shallow on pellet, but it was a loner.
 
Finally, I had fed my margins with meat and micros, catching 1 carp from the right margin in amongst the sedges, losing a 2^nd. To be honest at the end of the match I felt I hadn’t made the most of the margins, as I should have caught at least 1 or 2 more fish which would have pushed me in the main frame.
 
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised to claim the section money thanks to a couple of decent stamp carp.
 

1.    47-  4 – Andy Pollard – p15
2.    34-12 – Allan Oram – p11
3.    31-  1 – Gary Townsend – p22
4.    30-13 – Richard Rogers – p29
5.    29-14 – Ken Rayner – p18

30/04/25 - Todber - Hillview

Weight - 190lb 14oz

Catch - 62 Carp, 3 Carassio, 1 Bream

Weather - Cold start, sunny with a cool breeze

Match - Open (26 fished) - 4th overall, 2nd in section

I decided to jump onto this open ably run by Andy Weston to get back in tune with the venue with the Garbolino qualifier next month. Also c. 5000lb had been removed from the lake and it would be interesting to see how this had affected the fishing, but I was looking forward to getting a few bites.

 
With 26 booked in drawing a peg with space would be ideal and I was pleased to draw p60, as it’s a peg I’ve never drawn and p61 wasn’t in. The only concern was the wind, which was blowing into the other end of the lake and later in the match the wind turned quite cold.
 
As p60 is probably the best feeder peg on the lake, I started on a small method, loaded with bubblegum micros and a 6mm orange wafter, whilst I primed by short line with meat.
 
Dave Brittian to my left on p59 got off to a flyer catching short on pellet and was 3 or 4 fish ahead of me after 15 minutes. I decided to stick with the feeder, hoping Dave would slow down and after 2hrs I probably had 80lb in the net, but I still felt I was behind Dave.
 
Although I was still catching on the feeder, I was concerned the average stamp of fish was smaller than those Dave was catching. I had maintained my feeding over my short line (3+2), but when I switched, I couldn’t catch nearly as well as expected and ended up fishing shorter at 2+2, but I never felt I got this right.
 
Fortunately resting the feeder line had helped as I kept catching and then started my margins with meat and micros.
 
In the end I started catching better stamp fish down the right margin on meat, only switching back to the feeder when I needed to rest the swim.
 
The last 45mins slowed down which necessitated a move to fish longer down the margin, which resulted in a few extra fish, which meant I managed to overhaul Dave’s early lead.
 
Come the weigh in I was pleased to finish 4^th overall, picking up the section money. The top 3 all came from the windward end of the lake. It was also nice to feed some bait, feeding 3 tins of meat and 2pts of micros.
 

1.    288-  2 – Rich Butler – p54
2.    232-  4 – Fred Roberts – p50
3.    227-  8 – Rich Yeo – p49
4.    190-14 – Ken Rayner – p60
5.    179-12 – Tim Martin – p55
6.    177-  4 – Nigel Purchase – p51