14/06/25 - Harescombe - Match Lake

Weight - 48lb 1oz. 

Catch - 15 F1, 14 Carp, 5 Skimmers, 5 Roach

Weather - Bright & sunny. Blustery at times.

Match - Summer League 2nd round (12 fished) - 3rd in section, 7th overall

The 2^nd round of the summer league and I really needed to make up for my first-round 4^th in section.

I’m still waiting to draw pegs 15 or 16, and today the first 2 pegs to be drawn were 15 & 16, so the wait continues. Instead, I drew p21 and immediately felt I was up against it as pegs 15 & 16 were in my section.

At the draw Gary mentioned the fish had been spawning and when I arrived at my peg there were still fish at it in the margins. On the all-in I immediately tried down my margins on paste catching 3 F1s/carp in 15mins, so a good start, but the margins soon died.

I had fed 2 shorts lines, left and right, one with pellet and the other with meat. The pellet swim didn’t produce, and I caught 1 F1 on meat.

Next, I fished paste against the island boards, feeding micros and after a slow start I caught a few F1s and carp, although the wind was a pain at times. I’ve never known a venue like Harescombe when it comes to wind, as it swirls around in the valley, blowing  one way and then the other almost simultaneously.

Another look down my margins produced a couple more fish on paste down the deeper left margin and a couple of better fish on meat from the right. However, roach were being troublesome.

I had a better run of fish from a 14m line on 4mm expander, but bumped a couple of skimmers, prompting a switch to a lighter elastic (but too late!).

In the meantime, I had fed more micros over my original paste swim by the boards and started pinging 4mm pellet to my left next to the boards, really hoping to pull in some better stamp fish. By bouncing between the 2 swims, I kept putting fish in the net, but still only stockies or F1s.

With 30mins remaining I felt I was lying 2^nd in section, but I was conscious Steve Brown on p19 had started catching some proper carp from his left hand shallow margin. I tried both of my margins but only caught 1 fish from the right.

I had hoped for a couple of fish over a short meat line, but didn’t get a bite which was a surprise and meat is not working the same as last year.

So back to the paste and I hooked a decent fish, but everything went solid when I brought the fish halfway across, snagging on some discarded kit losing the fish. I did catch 2 more fish before the all-out, but I was concerned the lack of any quality might prove costly, particularly as Steve netted another proper carp on the whistle.

At the weigh in, I’ll be honest I was bit gutted when Steve beat me by 1lb to claim 2^nd in section, behind Steve Partington on p16. It’s always close between Steve and myself and it was payback for Steve as I pipped him by 1oz last year for section.

Anyway, I was ruing bumping those 2 skimmers and that lost carp to a snag. Also, I think I was unlucky not to net any proper carp, as normally 29 carp/F1 I would expect to weigh between 55-70lb. I shouldn’t complain as I have been on a great run, but the last couple of matches have put me on the back foot. Well done to Lucas who deservedly won the match to lead the series with a perfect 2pts.

1.    92.10 – Lucas Hurcombe – p10

2.    65-  6 – Steve Partington – p16

3.    62-  9 – Ronaldo – p29

4.    52-10 – Jerry Wiggett – p5

07/06/25 - Harescombe - Match

Weight - 31lb 7oz

Catch - 11 Carp, 10 F1, 2 Skimmers

Weather - Bright & sunny, breezy and cooler later

Match - Open (16 fished) - 7th overall, 3rd in section

With the 2^nd round of the Summer League coming up next week and having not fished the Match Lake for 5 weeks I needed to get back in tune.

I was happy to draw p12, as I have done well off it in the past, however with 16 anglers’ booked on I knew it was likely to be tricky.

I started just off the boards fishing paste, feeding a few micros, hoping for an early carp, however it took 25mins before I did net a carp, but it was only a 1.5lb. A couple more carp and F1s followed but nothing of any size.

An early look over my short meat line, but never had a bite, so switched back to the paste line for a couple more fish, which eventually died.

I was hoping the far line where the bank had collapsed would be my banker, although the right side was a little deeper than I remember it being from last year at 2ft deep. I cupped in some meat and micros, and soon caught an F1, but liners and foul hookers were a problem, so I switched to fishing paste. This was much better, although I wasn’t catching as quickly as expected and I was still only catching a small stamp of fish.

As the left side of the collapsed bank was shallower, I fished meat. I tried varying my feed switching from micros to groundbait, but the fish just wouldn’t come in, in any numbers.

My short meat line produced 1 decent F1 and my margins proved to be fruitless. It was all a little frustrating and on the all-out I felt I had more questions than answers.

In hindsight, I tried to push the peg too hard as I felt I needed to catch some better stamp fish, when all I needed to do was to keep catching, regardless of the stamp of fish and potentially frame. Fortunately, and more by luck than judgement I managed to pick up the section money by double de-fault.

1.    56-  9 – Chris Cameron – p11

2.    51-  5 – Steve Partington – p25

3.    39-12 – Andy Pollard – p6

4.    36-11 – Chris Fox – p21

5.    33-  4 – Martin Pettifer – p19

05/06/25 - Lavington - Ellis

Weight - 55lb 12oz (22lb 8oz)

Catch - 10 Carp, 5 Bream, 5 Tench, 6 Roach

Weather - Cool & cloudy. Rained most of the day.

Match - Club (8 fished) - 3rd overall

We had 8 for the first evening match of the year fishing 6-9.

I drew peg 24 and to be honest I wasn’t happy as I could only fish my margins on a top kit thanks to a bush to my left and reeds to my right, and it was 4ft deep.

Over the last 12 months the silvers have been showing more, small carp have been stocked and some of the bigger carp have been moved into Merretts Lake. Therefore, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but still expected I needed to catch some proper carp to compete.

I started on the method to the island, with micros and a 6mm pink wafter. Over the next 35 mins I caught a couple roach, tench and small carp, which was encouraging.

In the meantime, I had fed 8mm meat and 4mm pellet left and right in 5ft of water at 2+2. When I switched to the short lines, I immediately caught a couple of big bream on 8mm meat and some small carp, with the left side being the best.

I stopped feeding the right-hand swim in favour of feeding the right-hand margin with micros and meat. I kept catching from the left short line, but the margin was disappointing only netting a bream and a tench.

A quick look on the method produced a couple of carp including a 3lber. Another try over the margin didn’t produce so with 30mins remaining I decided to feed 2 handfuls of micros and a handful of meat. 15mins later I went back down the margin on double 8mm meat, fortunately 2 carp for 15lb proved very useful.

I had the best weight my side of the lake, but the better stamp carp seemed to be on the opposite bank. Well done to Steve who managed the best evening weight, beating my previous record of 95lb.

1.    105-  4 – Steve Ince – p6

2.      59-  4 – Steve Musitano – p8

3.      55-12 – Ken Rayner – p24

4.      53-  0 – Terry Fell – p20                                   

01/06/25 - Rood Ashton

Weight - 22lb 10oz

Catch - 8 Carp

Weather - CLoudy with sunny periods, windy.

Match - Tackle Den (18 fished) - 9th overall, 5th in section.

A nice short drive for a change to Rood Ashton. With 18 booked in, it was nearly every peg in and with the strong wind blowing into peg 1, I fancied drawing the bottom end of the lake but ended up on p14 on the top bank with the wind coming off my back.

I started on the method feeder with micros and a little groundbait, fishing a 6mm orange or pink wafter, cast towards the island. It took 45 mins to get a bite and a further 3 carp followed over the next 30mins, losing a 4^th (and biggest) at the net.

I caught my 4^th fish on meat and straight lead at 25m where I had been pinging 6mm pellet. By the end of the 2^nd hour, I netted my 5^th fish back on the feeder and I thought I had a reasonable start.

Over the next 3hrs I never had a bite no matter what I tried. I had been feeding meat and micros down my right margin and just micros down the left. With an hour remaining I eventually had a bite on paste down the left margin but was a little slow to react and the fish successfully made it to a snag. 15mins later I had another bite on paste, and I was quicker this time and managed to net my 6^th fish. I never had another bite down the margin, which to be honest I couldn’t quite believe.

2 more carp on the straight lead and meat concluded what was a boring match, but at least I managed to top up my hooklength box! As expected, the bottom end of the lake and woodside bank proved to be best.

1.    85-14 – Steve Venn – p19

2.    72-  5 – Andrew Black – p4

3.    58-  4 – Matt Gale – p1

4.    47-  7 – Bobby Moore – p18

5.    42-  3 – Pete Philips – p21

6.    37-  7 – Matt Greaves – p2

31/05/25 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 42lb 11oz

Catch - 17 Carp, 1 Eel

Weather - Mostly sunny with cloudy periods. Breezy at times.

Match - Summer Series rd1 (12 fished) - 5th overall, 4th in section

The first round of the Summer Series and 12 had booked in. There will be 6 rounds alternating between the Doughnut and Match Lakes, with the first round being on Doughnut.

I wasn’t too disappointed with p4 and thought it would be a good section peg, and as it was only 14m wide it would be more comfortable fishing to the island, than some of the wider pegs in the cross wind.

I started across on corn, tapping in micros, but the wind had picked up a little, making presentation awkward. A switch to a heavier rig improved presentation, fishing worm over caster (as I still had loads left over from Tunnel Barn) and groundbait, I eventually caught my first fish after 45mins.

In the meantime, Allan Oram and Lucas Hurcombe either side of me were already 3 fish ahead. By sticking with the far line I caught slowly, but at least I wasn’t falling any further behind. I tried different feed patterns to catch more quickly and the most effective way to catch was to cut out the caster and just feed a small ball of groundbait with a few micros. Unfortunately, I realised this a little too late.

I had also been feeding meat at 2+2 to my right in 5ft of water and 2+2 to my left in 3ft of water. I caught 2 fish from the right and 1 from the left. However, due to the increased breeze the tow had picked up and I kept thinking I should switch to paste or switch to a heavier rig.

Based on how tight the section proved to be I was quite annoyed with myself, for being too slow to sort out my feeding to the island and not switching rigs/method over my short lines, as 2 more fish would have got me 2^nd in section, instead of 4^th.

So not the best start to the league and hopefully this will be my dropper.

1.    69-12 – Lucas Hurcombe – p2

2.    53-  0 – Arthur Hicks – p22

3.    45-11 – Steve Partington – p13

4.    44-  6 – Ronaldo – p11

5.    42-11 – Ken Rayner – p4