13/11/24 - Shearwater

Weight - 37lb 5oz

Catch - 10 Bream, 1 Skimmer

Weather - Bright and sunny, light breeze

Match - Open (16 fished) - 4th overall

Another match at Shearwater, but only 16 this time which at least meant a few more spaces and hopefully better fishing.

My day didn’t start well when I realised 10mins after leaving home that I had left my big feeders at home and due to heavy traffic getting out of Melksham meant I arrived 30mins late. Fortunately, I spoke to Clayton who drew my peg, and I ended up on the lawns again, this time on the left side, with Clayton on the same peg as 2 weeks ago. There were also 2 pegs above the Boathouse, which was the better end in the last match and there were no cormorants or otters, so hopefully I thought I might catch a few.

As my rods were already made up, I managed to get set up in time and ready for the 15mins pre-baiting period. This time I decided not to feed too much groundbait or corn, instead 5 medium cage feeders of micros (80:20 mix of Bubblegum & P-nut – soaked in Project X), hemp, a few 4mm p-nut pellets, with a dusting of black re-act groundbait was deposited at 66m.

Whilst I let that settle, I cast a hybrid towards the buoy to my left with an 8mm orange wafter hoping for an early carp. After a 20 min cast, I reeled in to find a 3oz skimmer attached which promptly dropped off as I went to swing it.

The next cast was over the feed using 6mm pink wafter with some worm cloud. 12 mins later the tip went round and my first bream. After 90mins I was up to 4 before the swim died and then Clayton caught 4. The news was the 2 pegs above the boathouse had 4 & 5 bream.

After re-feeding, I tried a short (30m) line, but only had indications from small fish, so stuck with the 66m line. With 2hrs remaining I was starting to get bites within 3-8mins and it was looking good for a strong finish, however 3 cormorants turned up and I couldn’t get another bite for an hour.

When they disappeared, I re-fed and caught 2 more bream in the last 30 minutes.

In the end 4 of the top 5 came the lawn side of the lake, so the fish definitely moved from the last match with the top 2 coming from the other side of the boathouse, but overall a tough day for most with only 7lb (2 Bream) needed to win the Dam Wall section.

1.    53-  7 – Mike Brown – p16

2.    44-  0 – Rob Manns – p15

3.    42-  5 – Martin Rodgers – p6

4.    37-  5 – Ken Rayner – p13

5.    18-15 – Clayton Hudson – p14 

10/11/24 - Ivy House - Heron

Weight - 45lb 2oz

Catch - 34 Carp, 8 F1, 3 Gudgeon

Weather - Grey & overcast, brighter later

Match - Tackle Den (20 fished) - 2nd overall

Originally 23 had booked in and fortunately this dropped down to 20, which meant we didn’t need to put in the corners.

I drew p20, which if I couldn’t draw between p7-p11, I was happy with. After catching nearly 100lb last week shallow I knew it would be different today with so much pressure on the lake and the lake fished as I expected.

I still decided to start short on the expander, just in case, but 1 F1 after 10mins confirmed what I thought. So out to 15m at the bottom of the far shelf, tapping in 4mm fishery pellets covered in Uzit P-nut oil, with a hair rigged 4mm or 6mm pellet. I kept going for nearly 3 hours and knew I was ahead of those around, however it was slowing down and I decided to push up the shelf a bit more, but it wasn’t nearly as good as I hoped and I had a really bad 4^th hour, not helped by losing a fish where the elastic snapped at the connector (and yes I had checked it).

By finding a shallower area at 16m, I at least had a good last hour fishing maggot. To be honest I was a little annoyed with myself for that bad 4^th hour, because I should have caught at least 50lb to win the match.

Performance of the match should go to Andrew Black who is leading the club championship, ahead of me with one more match remaining, who decided to fish despite having a bad back. Due to his bad back Andrew couldn’t use a seat box so he fished in a fold up chair, armed with a feeder rod and a couple sections of pole, and finished the match 3^rd. Well done mate.

1.    46-15 – Pete Phillips – p14

2.    45-  2 – Ken Rayner – p20

3.    30-14 – Andrew Black – p23

4.    30-12 – John Brady – p8

5.    29-13 – Alistair Tilney – p17

09/11/24 - Sedges - Tile Lake

Weight - 58lb 8oz (7lb 8oz - silvers)

Catch - 6 Carp, 5 Skimmers, 1 Eel

Weather - Grey & overcast

Match - Uzit Bomb & Feeder League - rd 2 (39 fished) - 4th overall, 1st in section

The 2^nd round of the Uzit Bomb & Feeder league and we had one drop out so there were 39 anglers. Weather wise we had another day of grey overcast conditions with little wind, which was resulting in many fisheries suffering from oxygen crashes. So, it was no surprise to see the aerator on when we arrived.

I drew p37 on Tile again and again next to Karl Turner who had switched from p38 to p36. £1 side bet was soon placed.

It was noticeable the lake had gone a little clearer from 2 weeks ago. I had considered feeding groundbait at 16m as a back-up line, however I noticed a few skimmers topping in the area so I decided to catapult corn instead and only feed groundbait if I couldn’t catch on corn.

I had 2 lead rods, 1x light and 1x heavier rig, and a feeder rod which never got used.

Starting on the heavier rig with an 8mm pellet and a tea bag (2mm p-nut pellet) in the deep water at the bottom of the island shelve, hoping for an early carp. After a 20min cast I didn’t have a bite.

A switch to the 16m line soon resulted in a skimmer on corn. As for the island swim I had started feeding 8mm bubblegum pellet and fished a pellet corn (mixture of p-nut & bubblegum micros) and caught a 10lber on meat after an hour. However, I couldn’t catch another.

I caught another skimmer and an eel from the short line, but it wasn’t until I cast to the right of my feed by the island with the light rig that I caught another carp.

For the rest of the match, I just kept alternating between the 2 lines to keep catching. With ½ hour remaining I noticed peg 40 land another carp and to be honest I wasn’t sure whether he was ahead of me or not, but I was now struggling for a bite.

With 10mins remaining I tried double corn cast beyond my feed and 5mins later hooked a carp, which I eventually netted 7mins after the all-out. At 16lb 12oz it was certainly worth having as I managed to win the section, beating p40 by 8lb. Needless to say I was quite happy.

1.    97-  3 – Pete Sivell – p30 (Tile)

2.    79-10 – Paul Homewood – p35 (T)

3.    68-13 – Paul Tidball – p13 (Brick)

4.    58-  8 – Ken Rayner – p37 (T)

5.    57-  8 – Dave Romain – p25 (T)

6.    53-  6 – Dan Mitchington – p31 (T)

03/11/24 - Ivy House - Heron

Weight - 97lb 8oz

Catch - 45 F1s, 33 Carp

Weather - Grey & overcast. Light breeze.

Match - Open (6 fished) - 3rd overall

With not a lot on this Sunday, Ivy House made a late announcement they would be running an Open on Heron, so I booked in.

There were only 6 of us and Andy put in every other peg from p2 to p12. I drew p12 which was the one peg I didn’t want as it’s a corner peg that is rarely put in.

Speaking to Pete who was fishing the Winter League on the other lakes he said he caught shallow yesterday during a pleasure session. As I was unloading the car, I realised I left my shallow rigs at home, but fortunately I had a couple rigs I could adapt.

As it felt a bit chilly, I started at 14m fishing a hair rigged pellet, toss potting 4s. I caught a few carp, but it was obvious the fish were up in the water already as I struggled to get a clean bite fishing on the deck. Therefore, I switched to fishing a short pellet line, whilst I primed the shallow line at 11m with maggot.

I caught a couple more carp over the short line but couldn’t line them properly and switched to my shallow line. Whilst my rigs weren’t perfect, I was at least catching F1s mostly on an over shotted rig.

Whenever the line needed a rest I tried the short pellet line with limited success, which just left the margins. I fed the right margin with corn and micros as I wanted to target the better sized fish, but I realised a little late that maggot and groundbait was the better option. To be honest I should have come 2^nd but didn’t as I spent too long in the first hour trying to catch on the deck, I was a bit slow getting the feed right in the margins and I was unprepared to catch shallow.

Considering it’s the first week of November the lake fished really well, however, I expect it will fish differently when the lake is full next week.

1.    160-  0 – Dan Driscoll – p8

2.    106-12 – Rob McMann – p4

3.      97-  8 – Ken Rayner – p12

30/10/24 - Shearwater

Weight - 4lb 5oz

Catch - 1 Bream, 2 Skimmers, 3 Perch, 1 Perch

Weather - Cloudy, sunny later. Light breeze.

Match - Open (28 fished) - 17th overall

Managed to jump onto one of the few opens allowed at Shearwater run by Clayton and was more than happy to draw the boathouse on the lawns. However, we were met by an otter swimming around.

During the 15min pre-baiting period I deposited a good amount of groundbait, micros and corn at 61m.

After an hour I didn’t have a bite on the hybrid, but neither had anyone else on the lawns! As well as the otter we also had 2 cormorants for company, which were obviously unsettling any fish in the area.

As I couldn’t get a bite, I decided to feed a 25m line and fished a conventional cage feeder with dead maggot. This produced a couple of small fish and then a bream, but after that I struggled to get another bite.

For the rest of the match, I swapped between the hybrid and a conventional feeder at 61m for 1 perch, occasionally dropping in on the short line for a couple of small fish.

I tried waiting for up to 25mins on a cast on the long line and even tried fishing beyond 61m, but just couldn’t find any bream or carp.

A quiet day, where my section was won with only 23-15 (1 carp and 3 bream) and 4 of us only had a 1 bream, so not the area to be in.

In hindsight, I think I fed too much groundbait over my long line, it attracted too many small fish, which in turn encouraged the cormorants, but I still think I would have struggled.

1.    104-  8 – Andrew Pritchard – p15 (dam wall)

2.      69-11 – Zak Williams – p5 (road side)

3.      67-  8 – Jack Stamp – p9 (road side)

4.      40-10 – Steve Trevett – p11

5.      39-  3 – Mike Brown – p3

6.      31-15 – Andy Neal – p1

26/10/24 - Sedges - Tile Lake

Weight - 50lb 12oz

Catch - 6 Carp, 3 Skimmers, 3 Roach

Weather - Cold start. Warm & sunny, no wind

Match - Uzit Bomb & Feeder League - rd 1 (40 fished) - 8th overall, 2nd in section

Today was the first of five rounds of the Uzit Bomb & Feeder league at The Sedges, with a full house of 40 anglers over Brick and Tile lakes.

I drew p37 which was in a decent area on Tile, although p39 and p40 were going to be tough to beat for the section points.

As I felt skimmers might be important in this league, I had a little practice on the Wednesday before (on p22) just to sort out my rigs and play around with a few ideas. I ended up catching 30lb of skimmers, on dead maggot over groundbait and later on corn which proved to be really good. So, I had a plan, target the island to start and feed corn (covered in Uzit P-nut cloud) at 13/14m as a backup.

Well, it was a very slow start for everyone. I started on the tea bag and 8mm pellet, with 2x 15-minute casts, as I didn’t feel regularly casting a method was the right way to start. However, after no bites I tried the method and then the maggot feeder, eventually catching a 9lber after 1hr 40mins.

I kept plugging away but with 90mins remaining I had only added 3 roach, despite rotating methods and even trying my corn line without success. In my mini section of 5, Nige Jeffery (p36) had 1x 12lber plus a couple of skimmers, Karl Turner (p38) had 2 carp, Nick Chedzoy (p39) had 4 carp including a 15lber and Shane Padbury on p40 was struggling. So, no one was running away with it, and I knew it would be hard, but not this hard. As well as having every peg in, the bright flat conditions weren’t helping.

Returning to my short corn line produced a carp, which was very welcome and then in the remaining hour I caught a further 4 carp, plus 2 skimmers on corn and another skimmer under my rod tip on meat.

I must admit I felt I got out of jail in that last hour, and I was relieved to have finished 2^nd in section to Nick and a reasonable start to the league.

1.    104-10 – Jamie Cook – p33 (Tile)

2.      83-  0 – Luke Fothergill – p21 (T)

3.      78-  8 – Robert Dumitrescu – p23 (T)

4.      71-10 – Dave Romain – p10 (Brick)

5.      64-  8 – Chris Ware – p14 (B)

6.      63-  6 – Nick Chedzoy – p39 (T) 

20/10/24 - Ivy House - Kingfisher

Weight - 25lb 4oz

Catch - 12 Carp, 2 Skimmers, 1 F1

Weather - Rainy start, sunny later and very windy

Match - Tackle Den (17 fished) - 12th overall

After a weekend up north visiting the in-laws, I was looking forward to getting back out on the bank. However, during the week I came down with a heavy cold and was feeling very rough on Friday. Fortunately, I felt a little better for Sunday, although I was given a wide berth at the draw!

Todays, match was over both canals and having not fished either for quite a while I wasn’t sure which one I would prefer. I wasn’t disappointed with p41 on Kingfisher as it’s normally in a good area although with nearly every peg in, I knew it would be tricky.

With rain and heavy winds forecast, I thought I would start at the bottom of the far shelf, feeding micros and 4 to my left and groundbait (black bubblegum : Crushed Expander) and micros to my right. The intention was to leave the short lines for later.

Starting off on the left-hand swim with a hair rigged 4mm pellet, I caught a number of branches and debris on the bottom, which was frustrating, particularly as Matt Greaves to my left started catching short.

Moving to my right-hand swim feeding small nuggets of micros and groundbait, fishing a 4mm expander I only caught 2 skimmers, whilst Matt was still picking on the odd carp.

The forecast wind was blowing, but fortunately it was mostly from behind me, so I decided to try fishing the far bank at 16m, fishing a 6mm expander. I managed 3 small carp but couldn’t catch another after losing a foul hooker. There just didn’t seem to be any volume of fish in front of me and even my short line failed to produce whilst Matt continued to pick up the occasional fish.

As I was struggling and with nothing to lose, I started pinging 4s and eventually I started to catch on hair rigged 4s, netting 8 carp and an F1 in the last hour.

Overall, a frustrating and disappointing match. I couldn’t work how to catch early, although everyone to my right struggled as well, but either way felt I should have caught more than I did.

1.    67-11 – John Brady – p34 (Moorhen)

2.    62-  3 – Andrew Black – p45 (Kingfisher)

3.    53-  1 – Pete Phillips – p28 (M)

4.    49-11 – Alistair Tilney – p27 (M)

5.    46-  9 – Matt Greaves – p42 (K)