10/08/25 - Manor Farm - Windmill

Weight - 38lb 2oz

Catch - 13 F1, 1 Carp, 1 Roach

Weather - Hot & sunny

Match - Tackle Den (20 fished) - 2nd in section, 8th overall

We had 20 today, which meant 13 on Windmill and 7 on Ash. When I arrived, I was surprised to see the water level was down by at least 2ft. This meant it was easier to set up in the water.

I drew peg 10 on Windmill, only 1 away from where I drew last year and it meant it was likely I would need to fish against the left-hand reed bed. I managed to get some information from a trusted source who advised pellet worked, although the winner last week caught over dead maggot late on down the margins and very little was caught shallow. Also, the top 3 all came from around the island or above.

Despite the drop in the water levels, it was still deep at 2+1 (5ft) and I couldn’t see any point fishing in deeper water, so I picked a couple of

spots left and right in 4-5ft of water.

As I expected the reed bed to be my main swim, I set up 2 paste rigs, 1 with 0.19 straight through to a size 12 acolyte power rigger hook in case there were carp in the area or I had to fish tight to the reedbed. The other paste rig had a 0.14 bottom to a size 14 B911.

I started the match a metre off the reed bed in 2ft of water on the heavy rig, feeding 4s with paste and caught 2 F1s, including a 3lber almost immediately. Bites then stopped, so I switched to the lighter rig which produced another 2 F1s, but that was it.

I had been feeding 4s at 1+2 in front of me, but didn’t have a bite all match here, which I was surprised about. I also tried the pellet waggler, catching 1 F1 and roach. Other than Andy Black opposite me who caught 1 carp, no one else caught shallow.

My reed bed swim was now full of small fish, so I tried pellet left and right but only managed 1 F1. This was turning into a real struggle.

I noticed the reeds knocking and felt I had no choice, but to get tighter to the reeds where it was 18in deep and fortunately still shaded from the sun. First put in resulted in a 7lb carp, soon followed by a couple more F1s.

With 2hrs remaining I had just over 30lb and thought a late run down my margins would put me in contention. Several cups of groundbait, dead maggot and micros were deposited down the right margin. I hooked 2 carp but lost them both. The shallow water combined with the bright flat conditions, meant the fish just wouldn’t settle and it was probably no coincidence that the only place I could catch was by the reed bed.

I had the best weight at my end of the lake, however, my section ran along my bank and I missed out on picking up the section money. As expected, the top 3 weights on my lake came from the top end, also Ash Lake fished quite well.

1.    81-  6 – John Brady – p3 (Ash)

2.    78-  9 – Darren Hibbert – p18 (Ash)

3.    59-15 – Cliff Dutton – p22 (Windmill)

4.    55-12 – Steve Venn – p24 (Windmill)

5.    54-10 – Alistair Tilney – p12 (Ash)

6.    52-11 – Vince Grillo – p14 (Windmill)