Tunnel Barn - Over 50s Festival

Having enjoyed a couple of previous trips to Tunnel Barn I decided to book into this year’s 3 day over 50s festival, sharing a cottage 10 miles away with Matt Greaves. We also had the added bonus of a pair of peacocks on the grounds.

We both knew it would be tough fishing against a number of venue regulars and F1 specialists, but we were both up for the challenge.

I set myself the target of trying to finish 60^th out of 120 and if possible to pick up some money along the way.

 

Sunday - Practice Open

Weight – 87lb 10oz

Catch – 63 F1, 8 Carp, 2 Skimmers, 1 Perch

Weather – Warm and sunny

Position – 5^th overall (66 fished)

In preparation for the festival Matt & I had researched the pegs, likely weights and tactics. Leading up to the event meat had been dominate, but was losing its effectiveness, being replaced by maggot and caster. Matt also found out that worm was catching, so a 1/2 kg was sourced prior to leaving.

I had already decided against using maggot, mainly because I had tried it twice on recent visits and got pestered by small fish. Therefore, my intention was to concentrate on caster and if necessary, worm.

As this was a practice match, I thought I would try something different, namely paste and if I blew out it wouldn’t be tried again.

I have been playing around with my paste mix and come up with a mix I’m really happy with – Uzit GLM & Betaine:Crushed Expander:Crushed Halibut Pellet, mixed in a 3:2:1 ratio. Also, as I would be fishing for F1s my rigs had been refined from my normal carp approach.

When I drew p6 on Canal I was told it was a good area, but other than that I’ve never fished the lake before.

On the all-in I fished 2 swims, left & right at 3+1 at the bottom of the shelf, feeding a couple of fishery 4mm pellet and started catching well for 30mins, before having to move up the shelf to avoid the increasing liners.

In the meantime, I had been feeding caster to the far bank and at the halfway point felt I needed to at least try it. To be honest the response was disappointing only catching a couple of fish. Simon Dukes, 2 pegs down was catching a few fish across but wasn’t any quicker than me on the paste.

So, I stuck with paste, rotating between a new bottom of the shelf swim at 1+1 and both margins until the end of the match.

I knew I had beaten everyone on my side of the lake, but the section was split down the middle, so I got beaten for section by a peg on the opposite bank. However, when I got back to the club house I found out I came 5^th overall to pick up £75 for the last framing place. Have to say I was quite pleased with myself.

1.  115-10 – Chris Hale – p21 Club

2.   95-  1 – Rich Kings – p16 Canal

3.   93-14 – Steve Parry – p15 Club

4.    92-13 – Pete Rice – p21 Canal

5.    87-10 – Ken Rayner – p6 Canal

6.    83-  4 – Jack Arblaster – p25 High

Monday – Day 1 – High p21

-      Day 1 – 5pts – 32- 7

-      Day 2 – 3pts – 44-13

-      Day 3 – 5pts – 12-12

Weight – 32lb 7oz

Catch – 18 F1, 2 Carp, 6 Perch, 1 Skimmer

Weather – Sunny, cloudy periods. Breezy at times

Position – 5^th in section, 108^th overall

After yesterday’s success I was looking forward to the draw and pulled p21 on High Pool, another lake I haven’t fished before. Asking around revealed it wasn’t great, and yesterdays practice open only produced 24lb.

When I got to the peg I actually fancied it for a few, until I plumbed up. It was at least 6ft (I stopped plumbing after 5ft) down the middle. Also, the island was 16m away and the far shelf was quite narrow, fortunately I managed to find a small flat spot which was 2ft deep.

On the all-in I started across tapping in a few micros with a 4mm expander and caught 2 F1s before the liners started.

A switch to the paste over a couple of short lines was disappointing as the swim was just too deep and I struggled to get a clean bite. A switch back to the far bank, feeding a ball of paste slop with micros and caster fishing worm on the hook, resulted in 10 F1s, although it was slow going.

In the meantime, I had fed caster down the middle priming a shallow line, but didn’t get a bite despite trying various shallow rigs.

So, I persisted with the paste rigs down the margins and by the next pallet.

A tough day and to be honest I was a little deflated, particularly after yesterday.

1.    124-11 – Neil Carless – p8 House

2.    120-15 – Dave Chapman – p15 Canal

3.    114-14 – Wayne Harding – p3 Canal

4.    108-  4 – Steve Parry – p33 New

5.    107-  3 – Leon Seabright – p2 Extension

6.    103-13 – Jason Jones – p1 Canal 

Tuesday – Day 2 – House p10

-      Day 1 – 3pts – 61-15

-      Day 2 – 2pts – 77-12

-      Day 3 – 2pts – 47-  5

Weight – 77lb 12oz

Catch – 43 F1, 2 Carp, 4 Perch, 1 Skimmer, 1 Roach

Weather – Warm and sunny

Position – 2^nd in section, 26^th overall

I really didn’t want to see High Pool again and was relieved to draw p10 on House. It has been a great peg, although it hasn’t been quite as dominate in the last couple of weeks.

With it being bright and sunny with very little breeze I wasn’t convinced I would catch shallow, which proved to be the case catching only 1 F1. Therefore, I expected to catch most of my fish short or down the margins, as the island was 20m away.

Starting on paste at 2+2 I caught a couple of fish. It was steady rather than quick and I was conscious of wasting too much time. I tried pellet over the same line, but didn’t have a bite, so it was back to paste.

My section ran from p10 round to p27, which meant I could only see 3 anglers from my section and felt I was in danger of falling behind p16, however the 2 pegs to my left were really struggling.

The slight breeze had pushed the scum into my peg, and I noticed a few fish moving around by a clump of reeds 10m to my right that hadn’t been cut down, casting a small patch of shade. I started pinging caster and caught 4 F1 on the overshotted rig, mainly to get under the scum, fishing tight to the bank under the reeds. However, each fish was smaller than the last.

The scum wasn’t as thick a metre off the bank and plumbing up revealed a flat bottom and 2 ft of water. By fishing worm and tosspotting 20/30 casters I started catching some proper F1s and I had a purple patch of 45mins where I was catching quite quickly.

As a backup I tried feeding caster on a top kit, but all I caught was small fish. However, resting my reed swim would result in another run of fish when I returned.

Eventually the reed swim slowed down. I could still only catch small fish on my top kit. Fortunately, my left margin at 1+1 where it was much shallower, I managed another run of fish on paste.

Overall, I was really pleased with how the match went and confidence restored. I thought I might have won the section as everyone was admitting to 50-60lb, however p27 dumped 90lb on the scales and I finished 2^nd for another pick up.

1.    144-  1 – Steve Parry – p29 Extension

2.    124-14 – Dave Chapman – p11 Top

3.    115-11 – Steve Daley – p21 Jennys

4.    114-  7 – Wayne Harding – p15 High

5.    114-  1 – Harry Billing – p9 Club

6.    112-11 – Andy Benwell – p30 Top

Wednesday - Day 3 – Club p7

-      Day 1 – 5pts – 61-  6

-      Day 2 – 6pts – 21-  5

-      Day 3 – 4pts – 34-  7

Weight – 34lb 7oz

Catch – 27 F1, 3 Carp, 4 Perch, 3 Skimmers

Weather - Cloudy, sunny, light shower and breezy

Position – 4^th in section, 83^th overall

Peg 7 on Club today and when I saw the previous results for the peg I was a little disappointed, as I had hoped to have a strong finish.

Harry Billing won the section from p9 yesterday on paste. As it happened, I had a chat with him yesterday to get a feel for how he fished paste. I think what came out of it was I need to be a bit more frugal with my feed.

When I got to my peg it was only 11m wide with reeds opposite and narrower than the pegs on the opposite bank.

I started on the paste and caught a few fish, but it wasn’t as quick as I had hoped, although looking around it seemed to be a quiet start for most. In attempt to catch more quickly I tried pellet over my paste lines but only caught a couple of skimmers and a small F1, so soon changed back to paste.

After an hour I switched to fishing worm over caster tight to reeds and was pleased to pick up a few better stamp F1s. I had kept my paste line top up, but it was slow going so I ended up spending most of the middle part of the match fishing worm across.

In the last hour I concentrated on trying to catch short and struggled just picking up the odd fish, although 4 better stamp fish on paste in the last 15mins was nice.

I finished 4^th in section. Whilst pleased to have got the best section points from the peg, I was a little disappointed as 3^rd only weighed 36-15 and 2^nd 40-13 which was achievable.

1.    121-15 – Carl Lee-Hopps – p29 Extension

2.    103-  0 – Richard Kinnersley – p30 Top

3.    101-  7 – Richard Knowles – p42 New

4.    100-  4 – Wayne Ainsworth – p19 Club

5.      98-  1 – Paul Brandrick – p31 House

6.      94-  1 – Graeme Block – p23 Extension

 

Summary

Overall, an enjoyable 4 days, finishing 61^st and just missing my target of finishing under halfway.

A few better decisions would have got me a couple more points, however putting it into context 2 poor draws didn’t help me.

Following the practice open I was confident I would catch on paste on day 1 and ultimately came undone by the depth the peg. To be honest it did knock my confidence, but looking at the results the peg didn’t produce in the festival.

Day 2 on House was definitely my best day, producing the highest weight and points score from the peg. As for day 3 I managed the highest points score from the peg, but felt I should have got more from the peg.

It’s been a learning curve and I have already booked in for next year.

14/05/25 - Todber - Whiteposts

Weight - 88lb 10oz

Catch - 30 Carp

Weather - Warm & sunny.

Match - Garbolino Clubman Qualifer (41 fished) - 1st in section

I decided to try my luck again at qualifying for the Garbolino clubman at Barston. I didn’t fish it last year, but the year before I missed out of by 4lb after weighing 446lb for 2^nd in section!

As there were only 41 fishing, we were spread over Hillview and both lakes at Whiteposts. I would have preferred Hillview but drew p27 on the bottom lake at Whiteposts. It was 4 years ago when I last fished this lake (and p27) and I don’t have fond memories, as I had torrid time due to lost rigs and fish to the line of reeds.

On arrival at my peg the wind was blowing into it and I quite fancied it, however I wasn’t sure how it would fish as its usually the toughest of the 2 lakes at Whiteposts.

As the swim was no deeper 2ft, I only set up 3 pole rigs, 1 to fish paste down both margins, another paste rig to fish at 8m, a meat rig and finally a method rod just in case.

On the all-in I fed some micros and 4mm pellet down by a lily bed to my right and the reeds to my left. Whilst that settled, I started on meat at 8m, but didn’t have a bite after 10mins, before I noticed the bottom being churned up by the lillies. First put in on paste (U-Zit GLM & Crushed Expander) by the lillies quickly produced my first fish. Another followed soon after before the swim went quiet.

Back on the meat, I hooked 2 carp and lost them both, so I switched to feeding pellet and fishing paste instead, as I felt it would sit better in a skimming breeze.

After an hour I had 6 carp for about 18lb and looking down the lake not much was being caught, confirming my thoughts that this would be a tough match.

After 3hrs I was up to 70lb, rotating between the 2 margin swims and the 8m line. However, the following 2hrs the lake just shut down, as I couldn’t catch over any of my swims. I even set up a new swim to fish meat and cast the method to the far bank but never had a bite.

In the end I had to go longer down the left bank catching a further 6 carp all on paste.

On the all-out I was fairly sure I had the won the section, which I did as 2^nd weighed 62lb. As it happened, I won the lake. As expected, the top weights all came from Hillview.

1.    250-14 – Jason Crump – p54

2.    203-14 – Malcolm Fowler – p39

3.    186-12 – James Bowen – p37

4.    178-  6 – Paul Smith – p40

5.    171-14 – Andrew Palmer – p42

6.    164-14 – Simon Stacey – p46   

04/05/25 - Harescombe - Match

Weight - 54lb 11oz

Catch - 16 Carp, 4 F1

Weather - Sunny with cloudy periods, cool northerly 

Match - Pole Masters Final (18 fished) - 1st overall

So, to the final and at last I drew an end peg in the shape of p29 and it gave me a chance.

Yesterday the angler on this peg didn’t weigh in and looking at past results the peg hasn’t won in the last 2 months, but it’s usually worth a few fish.

On the all-in I went straight out on paste (50:50 Uzit GLM: Crushed Expander) feeding a few 2mm p-nut pellet to the corner of the island. Second drop in I caught a 5lber. After 75mins I probably had 20lb, which settled the nerves and was a good start.

As usual the 2^nd hour was quiet so I fed a small ball of crushed expander and 2mm p-nut

pellet at 10m to my right in open water. Whilst that settled, I caught a couple of carp on meat, either side of the spillway before the swim went quiet.

When I switched to the 10m line, I was expecting some skimmers on 4mm expander, but was pleasantly surprised to net a decent carp, soon followed by another.

Everything was going smoothly until I hooked my 3^rd carp from the 10m line which was larger than the first 2. Unfortunately, the hooklength caught the lip of the spillway as it dived right losing the fish. I then lost 2 of the next 3 carp when fishing meat, the hook pulled out of one and the 3^rd I lost the whole rig on a snag.

After regaining my composure, I caught another carp from the 10m line, a couple from the spillway and 2 more from a newly opened short meat line.

In the last 90mins I had started pinging 4mm bubblegum pellet to the corner of the island and spent most of the last hour fishing paste to add a further 18lb or so. On the all-out I hooked a 4lber, which I lost at the net and thought that would cost me.

I could see all of my section and was fairly confident I had at least won the section. It wasn’t until I started following the board that I realised I could win, which I duly did picking up £660 and a trophy.

I was really pleased to have won, which top offs what has been a really good 12 months fishing. Huge credit has to go to Gary and Cathryn for running the event and making Harescombe a great venue to visit. It will only improve under their stewardship.

1.    54-11 – Ken Rayner – p29

2.    49-14 – Nick Franklin – p8

3.    48-  1 – Simon Duke – p25

4.    47-  5 – Andy Pollard – p20

5.    47-  1 – Steve Brown – p15

6.    35-11 – Ronaldo – p14

03/05/25 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 26lb 6oz

Catch - 11 Carp

Weather - Sunny, cool northerly which got stronger

Match - Pole Masters Qualifer (18 fished) - 6th place

Today was the qualifier for the Pole Masters. There were 18 anglers on Match Lake and 18 on Doughnut, with the top 9 from each lake going through to the final. I would have preferred Match Lake, however I was a bit late booking on which meant there was only space on Doughnut.

Since booking in Doughnut it has been fishing hard for some reason, it’s like it hasn’t recovered properly from the winter, although a match last week showed weights had started to improve.

I have to say when I drew p14 I was pretty deflated as it’s in the worst area of the lake and I felt I would struggle to qualify. When I arrived at my peg, the wind was blowing from behind down towards the opposite end of the lake and compounded my feelings. The only crumb of comfort was I at least had spare pegs either side of me and the northerly breeze might make it awkward for the anglers fishing down each side of the lake to fish the far bank.

Plumbing up the far bank and I couldn’t find a flat spot as it was 6in deep tight across, quickly dropping away to 5-6ft!

Fortunately, I managed to find a flat spot at 2+2 slightly to my right in 5ft of water where I fed crushed expander and 2mm p-nut pellet.

On the all-in I tried slapping a pellet along the far bank, as I could see fish swimming in the shallow water, but there were no takers. I even tried swinging the rig into the very shallow water with corn on hook but still couldn’t get a bite. Then the ducks arrived and cleaned out the pellet that I had pinged across which told me the fish weren’t feeding and I didn’t bother fishing there again. Besides the wind was increasingly becoming more troublesome.

I also tried fishing corn and pellet in 3ft of water where I could find a ‘flatish’ spot at 15m, but the wind was making presentation difficult and I was beginning to fear the worst.

After 1hr 40min I eventually caught my first fish from my 2+2 line on 4mm expander. The following 2hrs were uneventful. My second fish came from my left margin on meat where I found a flat spot in 3ft of water a couple of metres off the bank.

In the meantime, I had switched to feeding meat and micros over my 2+2 line. For the remainder of the match, I alternated between my margin and 2+2 catching everything on meat.

I was relieved to have qualified in 6^th place.

1.    41-  4 – Ronaldo – p19

2.    38-  5 – Nigel Reeves – p17

3.    37-13 – Andy Jane – p21

4.    26-14 – Allan Oram – p24

5.    26-  9 – Steve Partington – p20

6.    26-  6 – Ken Rayner – p14

01/05/25 - Harescombe - Match

Weight - 45lb 12oz

Catch - 11 Carp, 4 F1, 8 Skimmers

Weather - Hot & sunny

Match - Open (17 fished) - 4th overall, 1st in section

Having just returned from 4 nights away in Pembrokeshire with Poppy (the Staffy) loving running around the various beaches we visited, I still had a few days remaining of my holiday and decided to book into todays affordable open as a practice for the forthcoming Pole Masters.

I drew peg 5 again and to be honest I wasn’t that excited about it as I felt you needed some shallow water to fish into on what turned out to be the hottest day of the year.

I was drawn next to Luke Seabrook on peg 6 and knew he would fish pellet up and down against the boards on the island. I decided to take a contrary approach, focusing on paste and meat, so it would be a useful benchmark to see the best approach.

On the all-in I started straight across on paste, feeding a few 2mm p-nut pellet and on the 2^nd put-in caught a 5lber. After an hour I had another 2 and 15lb in the net for a very useful start. As very little was being caught around the lake I was happy to stick with the paste, but after that first hour I wasnt getting any indications.

A switch to fishing 4mm expander over crushed expander a metre off the far bank resulted in a couple of small skimmers, plus a couple more smaller carp.

The 2^nd half of the match was a case of rotating swims to keep putting fish in the net, catching a few F1s and carp from the left margin on meat and a couple more carp on paste from the far bank. The shallower right margin was a waste of time, catching only 2 skimmers and it was full of small silvers gorging themselves on spawn.

In the last half an hour I struggled to catch, whilst Luke did and to be honest, I thought he had beaten me, however my good start proved decisive.

1.    53-  1 – Phil Auger – p17

2.    51-10 – Tony Rixon – p9

3.    50-  2 – Jerry Wiggett – p15

4.    45-12 – Ken Rayner – p5

5.    43-  7 – Steve Rich – p23

24/04/25 - Tunnel Barn - Extension

Weight - 60lb 11oz

Catch - 57 F1/Carp, 3 Perch, 1 Skimmer

Weather - Cool start, sunny with a light easterly.

Match - Over 50s Qualifer (27 fished) - 12th overall

I decided to fish this Over 50 Qualifier and with the majority of qualifiers being in the Midlands or north of the Midlands, Tunnel Barn was the closest to me at just over 2hrs drive.

Not all the tickets were sold for this match, so the match was pegged just over Extension and New lakes. My draw put me on p5 Extension, so only 2 away from where I was on Sunday, and to be honest I was a little disappointed, despite some saying it was a great peg.

My job was made even tougher when Neil Machin turned up on peg 7.

Plumbing up revealed the peg was deeper than p7, plus the margins had metal tins which made the margin little deeper than I would have preferred.

On the all-in I started on pellet at 3+1 and caught 8 carp/F1 in the first hour so I felt I was doing OK. When the pellet line faded a switch to fishing 6mm meat down the left margin or right-hand short line only produced a couple of fish.

The 2^nd hour was much slower, as I struggled to make anything work. I had primed a shallow caster line, which produced a couple of fish but no more. I then tried 4mm expander down the right margin over micros for a couple more fish. A switch to maggot, produced quicker bites, but the fish were tiny, so the maggot only got used for 10mins.

The shallow caster line eventually started to produce in the 3^rd hour, although I had to get closer to the reeds than I wanted to which did result in 2 lost fish, but at least I was now catching mostly on an overshotted rig at 18in.

Moving into that last 90mins I started feeding 2 meat lines left and right at 1+1 at the bottom of the shelf, finding it best to alternative between swims after each fish.

The margins were the biggest disappointment, as I only caught small F1s and not many of them.

By the all-out I knew I wasn’t close to qualifying, but an enjoyable day regardless and the more I fish the venue the easier it will hopefully be to make the right decisions.

I beat the 2 anglers to my left but not the 2 to my right which are the better pegs. Overall, I don’t think the venue fished as well as I had hoped or expected.

Well done to Barry for qualifying, as I know he puts in a lot of work ably assisted by Paul Holland.

1.    103-14 – Barry Robson – p23 ext

2.      97-  4 – Des Shipp – p36 ext

3.      95-12 – Steve Daley – p44 new

4.      94-  6 – Carl Hopps – p38 ext

5.      87-14 – Dave Willmott – p26 ext

6.      86-15 – Jason Gooch – p31 new