20/07/21 - Barston

Weight - 48lb 12oz (19lb 8oz - silvers)

Catch - 3 Carp, 1 F1, 22 Skimmers

Weather - Hot and sunny

Match - England Ladies Fundraiser (34 fished)

The 2^nd day of the England Ladies Fundraiser and I was feeling a bit tired after a restless night at the hotel, not least because my car alarm went off twice during the night, thanks to a couple of fly’s that got into the car when I was packing up yesterday at the Glebe!

At least my draw meant a short walk to p16, which after a couple texts, I found out I was also in the right area on what was forecast to be another hot day, but at least I was sat in the shade… to start with anyway.

I spent the first 20mins slapping at 16m hoping for an early carp, but no takers. So switched to a large method loaded 50:50 mix of kriller & red RTG’s, with an 8mm choc orange gofter at 40m. Unfortunately, still no carp, but I did catch a few hand size skimmers, plus a 2lber which nearly dragged the rod in!

With 90mins gone, I had only seen 2 carp being caught, so decided to try and catch some skimmers, targeting the carp later. Therefore, cupped in micros, a few 4s and corn at 13m at slight angle to my left. Within 15mins I noticed the swim starting to fizz and by fishing corn, tosspotting 4s and corn started to catch some skimmers up to 2lb. After 90mins and 19lb in the net the swim slowed, probably not helped by the fact I got a bit excited with my feed and probably had too many fish in the swim, but none of them taking the bait.

In the meantime, I had been pinging pellet at 20-25m but couldn’t catch on the waggler, but Simon Watford to my right had 4 already. I had also been pinging a few pellets at 16m and noticed a swirl, so I was back out on the pole at 16m and soon caught a carp, quickly followed by a 2^nd. However, the bright flat conditions meant the fish were shying away from the pole, although I managed another carp, a big F1 and a final skimmer.

I was really wishing there was a bit of a ripple as I really fancied the swim for a few more fish, but the conditions meant it was really tricky. In fact come the weigh in I was really surprised to find out I came 3^rd overall

Well done to Julie Abbott for organising the 2 days and raising some extra funds for the ladies team.

1. 87-  8 - Pete Bailey - p24

2. 64-  6 - Simon Watford - p18

3. 48-12 - Ken Rayner - p16

4. 43-10 - John Pearson - p26

5. 39-14 - Andre Grandjeans - p54

6. 39-  8 - Ken Portas - p22

19/07/21 - Glebe - Pool 6

Weight - 92lb (11lb - silvers)

Catch - 17 Carp, 11 Bream

Weather - Hot & sunny

Match - England Ladies Fundraiser (48 fished)

This was the 3^rd time fishing the England Ladies Fundraiser, fished over 2 days, firstly at the Glebe and second day at Barston.

I drew p89 on pool 6 and there were plenty of carp of the surface when I arrived and it looked like a mugging day. However, it wasn’t quite as simple as that.

At the start I mugged 4 carp in the 1^st 45mins, but they were very spooky and soon melted away. A switch to the feeder, fishing Kriller & CO2 RTG’s with an 8mm red pellet produced 7 carp before that swim died.

In the meantime, I had started to feed caster shallow, which can be a great tactic here, but all I caught was small skimmers. A switch back to the feeder produced another 4 carp, before the swim died again.

With 2hrs to go (5hr match) I felt I wasn’t catching quickly enough and hoped either my short paste line or margins would produce some much needed fish. Unfortunately, neither line produced as expected. I had fed my short line quite heavily with micros to pull the fish in, but only caught 2 carp and a couple of bream.

My margin was the most disappointing. I started feeding micros & corn, later switched to caster and then some groundbait to force the issue, but nothing worked. A few fish would come into the margin but wouldn’t stay and only I managed 1 carp and another bream.

As it happened the whole complex has fished hard by Glebe standards, with a number of DNW’s.

Disappointed to finish 4^th in section. In hindsight, I should have set up a bomb and pellet line, but fully expected either the short line or margins to produce.

1. 204-  8 - Sam Collett - p14 (pool 1)

2. 179-  0 - Matt Dawes - p68 (pool 4)

3. 171-  5 - Ken Portas - p80 (pool 5)

4. 138-  0 - Mal Dawes - p22 (pool 1)

5. 137-  0 - Carl Tamayo - p86 (pool 6)

6. 125-  4 - Russ Brooks - p81 (pool 5)

3. 1

18/07/21 - Woodland View - High Pool

Weight - 98lb 14oz

Catch - 45 F1's, 6 Carp, 19 Roach, Rudd, Skimmers

Weather - Hot & sunny

Match - Haines Summer Series - rd 3 (13 fished)

Today was the 3^rd round of the Haines league and 13 made the trip to Droitwich, many of whom knew the venue well. This was my first visit and the information received regarding the lake we were fishing (High Pool) which was the deepest of the lakes on the complex, which meant most fished short down the margins for F1’s and carp, plus shallow in the right conditions.

Peg 5 gave me a short walk, but an otter fence meant I would have to break down 2 sections at a time, which would be a pain if I started to catch long.

On the all-in, with loads of fish on the surface I tried mugging a few with an 8mm pellet, however with no takers I soon realised there seemed to be more F1s than carp. So, I switched to fishing short on pellet or corn, whilst I started to feed caster at 13m.

With no proper bites on the short line and it not feeling right, I soon switched to the margin

and caught a few roach and a couple of F1s on 6mm (blue ice) expander or corn. After 45mins I switched to the shallow caster line, fishing banded caster for the next couple of hours, mostly at 12in with a few at 8in.

Going into the last hour I felt I needed to catch some carp and hoped I could find a few down the margin. Whilst I caught a few, they were no bigger than the F1’s and I wasn’t catching as quickly as the shallow line, so I ended up back on the shallow line for most of the remaining hour.

By the end I was enjoying myself and wished it was a 6hr match instead of 5hrs. I felt I was close to 100lb and was pleased to weigh 98-14, which was good enough for 2^nd overall. Well done to Matt on winning, who had a better start than me and found a better stamp of carp down his margin, fishing meat over micros.

For a first visit I was really pleased, bar a couple of mistakes and would happily return.

1.119-  1 - Matt Banks - p7

2.  98-14 - Ken Rayner - p5

3.  95-  3 - Andy Eagle - p32

4.  88-  6 - Allan Oram - p11

5.  85-  0 - Cosmo - p24

 

 

 

 

16/07/21 - Lavington - Ellis

Weight - 57lb 4oz

Catch - 10 Carp, 1 Bream

Weather - Warm, sunny & still

Match - Club Evening (7 fished)

After 2 weeks without fishing, I was looking forward to getting back and tonight’s match was the start of a busy few days fishing Woodlands View on Sunday, then the Glebe and Barston for an England fundraiser Monday & Tuesday.
 
P22 tonight gave me a cast towards the end of the island, but casting was a little awkward due to an overhanging branch above my head, necessitating me to take a step to my right whenever I cast.
 
I started the match on a large 20g method feeder, with a 50:50 mix of Kriller : CO2 RTGs with some ‘rocks’ and a 6mm yellow gofter. I did try an 8mm gofter, but caught the smaller fish of the day, so struck with the 6mm. For anyone who has tried the RTG’s they are excellent for using on the method and ‘rocks’ add a little extra flavour and activity.
 
After an 1hr 45mins I had 7 carp and a 3lb bream, which was more than everyone I could see, so a great start.
 
Having fed meat to my left in 5ft of water and pellet (4s & micros) in the right margin I was hoping for a hectic last 75mins, but it ended up being really frustrating. I soon had a carp on the paste (kriller), followed 15mins later by one on meat from the left hand swim, both of which were of a bigger stamp than the feeder. However, I lost 4 on the bounce, 2 from the left and 2 from the right when the hook pulled for no particular reason. That said, some of the fish in this lake have small or damaged mouths, which means getting a decent hook hold isn’t always possible.
 
My last fish came 5mins from time on paste and the lake has fished harder than expected. Fortunately, my net weighed 57- 4 for a comfortable win, with Ollie coming 2^nd with 38-4 and Terry 3^rd with 37-14.

27/06/21 - Rood Ashton

Weight - 80lb

Catch - 17 Carp

Weather - Cool and cloudy

Match - Wiltshire Angling Open (16 fished)

I am not sure anyone was actually looking forward to this match, as the lake has been fishing hard. I drew p5 and with the NE breeze blowing right to left I quite fancied it.

The intention was for a simple match, fishing the method long, pinging 8mm pellet at 20-25m and maybe a few fish on the paste by the right-hand tree later.

First cast on the method loaded with So Simple RTGs (Krillers : Red) with a 6mm yellow gofter and the tip went round much to my surprise. As I was playing the fish under my rod tip the hooklength gave way and a 7lber made its escape much to my disappointment. I can only think it caught a root, of which there are many close in. Knowing it was likely to be a low weight affair I felt that fish would cost me.

Back out with the feeder, it was slow going and after 3hrs I had 5 carp, but lost 2 under the trees to my left and right which was frustrating as the peg is quite narrow and any fish that kited left or right were difficult to get back.

Adding a further 5m to the feeder line produced another 4 quite quickly, but it was obvious Kev Hanson on p2 was walking the match by casting a method to the island as every time I looked up, he was catching a fish.

After 4hrs of pinging 8mm pellet at 20-25m, I caught 4 carp on an 8mm red gonut pellet, but surprisingly those were the only 4 fish off this line.

Going into the last hour I caught 3 decent carp on the paste (blue ice:kriller) and 1 more on the feeder.

As expected, Kev easily won the match and that lost 7lber at the start of the match did indeed cost me 2^nd overall, as I finished 4^th, but managed to pick up the section money.

The lake fished better than expected; although fewer fish were caught the average size has increased. 

No more fishing for me for the next 2 weeks, due to family commitments.

1. 124-  0 - Kev Hanson - p2

2.   84-  8 - Steve Garnder - p14

3.   80-  6 - Ian Stainer - p7

4.   80-  0 - Ken Rayner - p5

5.   76-15 - Pete Neate - p19   

26/06/21 - Ivy House - Moorhen

Weight - 39lb 0oz (8lb 0oz - silvers)

Catch - 25 Carp, 17 Skimmers, 4 F1, 3 Roach, 2 Tench, 2 Perch

Weather - Warm & sunny

Match - Open (27 fished)

Today’s match was split over the Old Match Lake and the 2 canals, and I really wanted a draw on the Old Match Lake to put right some of the wrongs from last Saturday. So I was disappointed to draw p33 on Moorhen, which was in the same section as Kingfisher. Asking around no one knew how it would fish as a match hadn’t been held on the lake for some time, but the general consensus was that it wouldn’t compete with Kingfisher.

On the all in, I started short on 6mm pellet, 15mins later with no bites, moved to 13m and again no bites. I eventually caught after 30mins fishing paste across to the far bank, but the fish were only about a 1lb (which had been transferred from Heron) and from what I could see no one had caught any better sized carp.

After catching 5 carp across on paste, it was proving difficult and I knew I wasn’t catching quickly enough. At the start of the match, I had cupped in 2 balls of groundbait at 13m to my right in case I needed to go for some silvers. This line only produced 1 small carp on worm.

A new line off to my left tosspotting micros, again produced small carp, either on dead maggot, 4mm expander or worm, but I was at least getting a few skimmers in between the carp, although again they were mostly small.

A 5m line where I had been feeding micros produced more carp, plus a couple of better skimmers and tench, but the action was short lived and a new groundbait line (fed more sparingly) failed to produce anything other than a couple of carp.

In the last 90mins, if I had any hope of picking up in the silvers I needed some of the proper skimmers and started to feed corn and micros down the margins. Whilst I caught a couple of skimmers, I had more carp and finished the match well off the pace.

In hindsight I should have fished a better silver’s match and probably been more patient when trying to develop the various swims. The 13m micro line was probably my best swim, but I came off it as I could only catch 3-6oz skimmers in amongst the carp, when I should have stuck with it and waited for the better fish to turn up.

Jamie on p35 fished for carp all day, but only weighed 65lb to win our lake, but was 30lb off winning the section as the top weights for the section came off Kingfisher. Steve Partington on p33 won the silvers on the canals with 19lb, which included a number of decent skimmers late on down his margin. So I had the right idea, but just didn’t execute it properly.

1. 139-  0 - Elick Payne - p1 (OML)

2. 103-  8 - Steve Waters - p12 (OML)

3.   99-  0 - John Rodgers - p10 (OML)

4.   91-  6 - Baggy - p39 (Kingfisher)

5.   82-  6 - Andy Dixey - p15 (OML)

6.   70-  8 - Pete Bailey - p37 (Kingfisher)

Silvers

1.  37-14 - Ryan Shipp - p9 (OML) 

2.  19-14 - Steve Partington - p35 (Moorhen)

3.  17-  2 - Glynn - p2 (OML)

3.  17-  2 - Pete - p41 (Kingfisher)

25/06/21 - Lavington - Ellis Lake

Weight - 83lb

Catch - 12 Carp

Weather - Mostly sunny and not too warm.

Match - Club Evening (5 fished)

Only 5 for this evenings (3hr) match, so plenty of space. I was hoping to draw on the island so I could try out my new 10ft Free Spirit rod and wasn’t disappointed with peg 6.

As well as a small method, I also set a meat rig to fish 4.5ft. As for the margins, following some bankside work over the winter the right margin was now 4ft deep and to find anything shallower I needed to go 10m down my left where I found 18in.

I spent the 75mins on the tip by the island using a 50:50 mix of RTG’s Kriller & Red Devils, with a 6mm yellow or orange gofter, which produced 3 carp (losing 1), which was on par with everyone else.

In the meantime, I had been feeding my meat line and when I switched, had a further 7 carp up to 10lb on 8mm meat.

With 20mins remaining I lost a fish that took my whole rig as the line snapped above the float. Fortunately, 30mins earlier I had feed 2 pots of micros and corn down the left margin, and just as I was setting up a replacement meat rig I spotted a sizeable swirl. So out with the margin rig and double corn produced 2 more carp before the all-out.

My 12 carp weighed 83lb for a comfortable win, with Tom coming 2^nd with 44lb.

As for the rod, first impressions are very good.