Tuesday, 29 July 2025

27/07/25 - Ivy House - Old Match Lake

Weight - 61lb 13oz (8lb 10oz - silvers)
Catch - 17 Carp, 2 F1, 15 Skimmers, 2 Roach
Weather - Warm & cloudy.
Match - Tackle Den (22 fished) - 2nd in section, 5th overall

It’s been 12 months since I last fished the Old Match Lake and when I arrived, I saw the water level was down by over a foot and as a consequence the match was restricted to 5hrs, rather than the normal 6hrs.

We had 22 today, so every peg was in, plus 4 on the island of Willow, which meant it was likely to be tough going.

I drew peg 4, which was OK, and I had birthday boy Matt Greaves on p3. On the all-in I decided to focus on paste again, starting at 14m just feeding a few 6s in the pot and I got off to a great start catching 3 carp in the first 3 put ins, before suffering a couple of missed bites. Setting up a new swim a couple of metres to the right of the first, bouncing between the 2 swims helped me to keep catching for next 45 minutes.

I had been catapulting 8s between the island gap and fully expected the tip to go round when I tried the straight lead and pellet but 9I only hooked and lost one small carp throughout the match, so stuck with fishing the paste.

A switch to a short line (6m) produced another run of carp, before the skimmers arrived. To be honest, I was quite happy to stay on the skimmers during the middle of the match, even switching to my F1 paste rigs.

However, Matt started catching down his margin earlier than expected and I felt I needed to do the same before I fell too far behind. Unfortunately, I could only catch small skimmers and started wasting too much time trying to encourage carp into the margins, as they would come in but wouldn’t settle.

I decided to dump 2 cups of micros and a few 4s down the right margin. Whilst that settled, I went back out to my 14m line and started catching again, adding a couple more carp from the short line and 3 more from the right margin late on.

In the end the lake fished better than expected and I managed to pick the section by default.

1.    96-13 – Steve Venn – p7
2.    73-14 – Pete Philips – p20
3.    71-  6 – Andy Burns – p10
4.    63-  7 – Matt Gale – p16
5.    61-13 – Ken Rayner – p4
6.    56-14 – Simon Collins – p17

26/07/25 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 153lb 1oz
Catch - 65 Carp
Weather - Light cloud and sunny periods
Match - Summer Series rd 5 (12 fished) - 2nd in section, 2nd overall

The penultimate round of this year’s summer series and I needed a section win to give me a chance of claiming a top 3 position.

The draw put me on p24, which I was reasonably happy with it and league leader Lucas Hurcombe was on p23. Plumbing up had me a little worried, as the only ‘flatish’ spot I could find across was ½ metre off the far bank in 3.5ft of water. Lucas in the meantime had 18in tight to the far bank in 2 spots.

Following my recent success with paste (Blakes Prime Attrax) I decided this would be my focus. Starting across feeding 4mm attrax pellet, I was soon catching, and I kept on this line for 3.5hrs.

A quick look over my short line (2+2) only produced a couple of fish, but that did include a couple of 3-4lbers. The left margin only produced only 1 fish, so I was soon back on the long line and the rest did the swim some good, as I had another run of fish and was 4 or 5 fish ahead of Lucas.

With 90mins remaining, the far line was slowing down and switching back to my short line was still slower than expected and my margin was disappointing only producing one more carp, whilst Lucas started catching really well overtaking me.

I decided to big pot some pellet (micros and 4s) over the short line and move back to the long line, but I had a mare, missing bites and losing fish. I eventually got it sorted and started catching again, pulling back the deficit on Lucas.

With 30mins remaining I returned back to the short line, and it was much better this time as I caught some better stamp fish.

On the all-out Lucas was playing a fish and I felt that it would make the difference. Which it did, beating me by a pound! That’s the 3rd match on the bounce at Harescombe where I have missed out on winning by 1 fish. Needless to say, I was a little disappointed, but some great fishing nevertheless.

I’m still 4th in the series and need at least 1 of the front runners to mess up in the final round for me to claim a top 3 position.

1.   
154-  5 – Lucas Hurcombe – p22
2.    153-  1 – Ken Rayner – p23
3.    136-  5 – Steve Brown – p2
4.    117-14 – Arthur Hicks – p9
5.    111-14 – Allan Oram – p18

24/07/25 - Lavington - Ellis

Weight - 82lb 9oz (18lb 3oz - silvers)
Catch - 9 Carp, 11 Bream, 3 Tench, 3 Roach, 2 Hybrid, 2 Ide
Weather - Sunny with cloudy periods. Warm.
Match - Club (8 fished) - 3rd overall

This was the last evening match this summer, as its now getting a little too dark for the weigh ins at 9.00pm.

At least I didn’t draw p21, but that was only because it wasn’t put in (I think Martin took pity on me). Anyway, I drew the opposite side of the lake in the shape of p5, which I was happy with.

The left margin is deep at 5ft, whilst the right margin was at 3.5ft. I decided to feed the left margin first with meat and pellet, and the same again in another swim at 2+2 off to my right in the same depth of water so I could use the same rig, leaving the right margin until later.

Starting on the hybrid feeder to the far bank I was flirting with some overhanging branches and first cast caught a small carp. Second cast I caught the overhanging branches and lost the lot!

Switching to the left margin, I immediately started catching, mostly silvers with just the occasional small carp on 8mm meat, although I did lose a decent sized foul hooked carp. My secondary swim to my right only produced small silvers, so after an hour I stopped feeding it and started feeding my right-hand margin heavily with micros and meat.

The left margin kept producing during the second hour, regularly toss potting meat and 4mm pellet but as yet no proper carp and the right-hand margin only produced a bream, a small ide and tench.

With an hour to go I probably had about 40lb. I eventually caught an 11lber from the left margin. As for the right margin, I was still feeding aggressively with micros (feeding 3pts), 4s and meat and caught 5 carp on double 8mm meat to finish the match with 82lb, which was the best weight on my side of the lake.

However, the Ince brothers, Steve and Tom have dominated the evening matches this year claiming 1st and 2nd place – so well done to them.

As for me I was just glad to have a decent draw and a lovely evening’s fishing.

1.    111-  6 – Tom Ince – p24
2.    106-10 – Steve Ince – p22
3.      82-  9 – Ken Rayner – p5
4.      57-11 – Steve Musitano – p9

Monday, 21 July 2025

20/07/25 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 161lb 7oz
Catch - 62 Carp
Weather - Cloudy, breezy and light showers. Brighter later.
Match - Open (11 fished) - 2nd overall

Back to Harescombe on Doughnut lake. I drew p13, which normally I would be distraught about, however with the low water levels and the wind blowing up this end, there had been a few fish in the area.

Once I got my platform in place the far bank was only 14.5m away. It still plumbed up awfully, however I managed to find a spot that was 3ft deep, before it sharply shallowed to 6-9 inches deep.

I started fishing paste, feeding a few 4s and micros. It was slow going with only a couple of fish, however there were a lot of fish showing themselves in the shallow water.

So, I tried the paste in the shallow water only expecting to catch a couple of fish and ended up staying on this line for the next couple of hours. I only needed to feed a few micros with the paste to keep the fish coming. I think it helped it was cloudy and windy.

Eventually the far line went a bit iffy. I had primed a short line at 2+2 but I struggled to get a clean bite and felt the fish didn’t want to settle in just over 5ft of water.

Resting the far line proved beneficial as I had another run of run of fish, whilst I primed both margins.

Switching to the margins, produced a really good response initially, before I had to wait for bites, but generally the fish were a better stamp.

Overall, an excellent day’s fishing and I thought I might have broken the lake record, which was 137lb (although the evening record is 170lb). So, when I dumped 161lb on the scales I thought that was the win. However, Ronaldo on p20 weighed 164lb, so a massive well done.

Also pleased for Gary and Cathryn who have worked really hard to improve the whole of the fishery and it’s great to see the fruits of their labour coming to fruition, as the lake fished really well.


1.   
164-  2 – Ronaldo – p20
2.    161-  7 – Ken Rayner – p13
3.    126-13 – Jason Crump – p26
4.    117-11 – Nick Hancock – p1 

17/07/25 - Lavington - Ellis

Weight - 39lb 11oz (25lb 9oz - silvers)
Catch - 4 Carp, 8 Bream, 3 Hybrid, 2 Rudd, 1 Ide, 1 Tench, 1 Barbel, 1 Chub
Weather - Cloudy & muggy. Rainy start.
Match - Evening Club (11 fished) - 7th overall

We had 11 for tonight’s evening match and I somehow managed to draw p21 again (the same peg as last match where I struggled for 10lb) – I was not happy, as you can only fish the margins on a top kit and it didn’t plumb up well. The only change to my approach from last week was I searched a little wider to find a flat(ish) spot and found one to my right at 8m at 2 o’clock.

I decided to be quite aggressive with my feed as I felt it was the only way to pull fish into the swim. As well as 4x 200g tins of meat, I had 2pts of 4mm pellet and 3pts of micros – I wasn’t messing about.

On the all-in a half cup of meat and 4s was deposited at 8m and 4mm pellet to my left over a 2+1 line. Initially the meat line only produced silvers up to a pound including a rare barbel.

After 45mins I had my first bream and as the match progressed, I found it was best to cup in feed after each fish, continuing to pick up bream and some big hybrids.

The pellet line only produced a tench and a skimmer, as well as loads of small fish pecking at the bait. However, I did foul hook 2 carp, losing them both, which at least meant there were a few in the area.

Moving into the 2nd hour the pellet line was binned, and I started feeding the margins with micros and meat. Its wasn’t until the 3rd hour that I caught my first carp from the 8m line, soon followed by a 2nd.

As for my margin, I caught a couple more bream, eventually catching a couple of carp late on.

My the all-out I knew I would be nowhere near framing, as I just couldn’t find enough carp, although I was pleasantly surprised with my weight of silvers which was the 3rd best silvers weight on the night with Tom catching 30lb and Steve has 46lb.

1.    93-  3 – Tom Ince – p23
2.    91-13 – Steve Ince – p4
3.    77-  4 – Darren Biss – p27
4.    61-  0 – Terry Fell – p8

Monday, 14 July 2025

13/07/25 - Hillview - Canal 4

Weight - 122lb 10oz (17lb 8oz - silvers)
Catch - 31 Carp, 12 F1s, 30 Ide, 5 Perch, 3 Rudd, 1 Tench
Weather - Warm & sunny. Breezy early, but most calm.
Match - Tackle Den - (22 fished) - 1st in section, 4th overall.

A good turn out for todays match, meant we were spread over canals 2,3 and 4. 7 anglers on canals 2 & 3 and 8 anglers on canal 4. I drew p92 on canal 4, which meant I was at least in the shade to start the match, but also p92 & p91 (Kev Parry) were the only pegs without a spare peg either side.

I had what I thought was a simple plan. Fish short early, whilst priming a caster shallow line and finish on meat down the margins.

Starting on meat at 3m, produced a carp, an F1 and a couple of silvers for what was a slow start.

When I switched to the shallow line I started catching Ide, but I could see carp and F1 in amongst the feed, which was frustrating as I thought I was falling behind Kev who was catching on paste.

I tried various shallow rigs (overshotted isn't allowed) to try and catch those carp/F1, I even tried fishing a full depth rig tight the far bank fishing worm, toss potting caster, but very few carp or F1.

After 2 hours I only had 20/25lb, of mostly Ide. In the end I found the best rig was a RW1 dibber set at 8in with a short lash and gradually the ide were replaced by F1s, then carp.

In fact, I had a lovely couple of hours catching almost immediately as I dropped the rig in, after feeding 2 pouches of caster. I even managed to mug a couple of fish as I shipped out.

With 45mins remaining the shallow swim was slowing down, and I fully expected my margins to be solid. 2 quick fish on meat from each margin had me expecting more. However, it wasn’t as easy as I had hoped. In hindsight, I think I was fishing too deep at 3ft but I couldn’t get into any shallower water due to marginal weed. This prompted a return to the shallow swim, but it wasn’t the same.

On the all-out I was expecting John Drew on the end peg (p84) and Kev to have beaten me. However, I was pleasantly surprised to have won the lake, but a little annoyed I wasted time at the start trying to work out how best to catch properly, as I could have claimed 3rd or even 2nd overall. 

There was no beating Steve Broadhurst today easily won today.


1.   
189-  5 – Steve Broadhurst – p72 (canal 3)
2.    140-  2 – John Brady – p76 (canal 3)
3.    127-10 – Cliff Dutton – p82 (canal 3)
4.    122-10 – Ken Rayner – p92 (canal 4)
5.    104-  3 – Brian Duckett – p70 (canal 3)
6.      99-  2 – Kevin Parry – p91 (canal 4)

Best weight on canal 2 was Andy Burns with 66- 6.

12/07/25 - Harescombe - Match

Weight - 97lb 1oz
Catch - 30 F12, 21 Carp, 6 Skimmers, 1 Roach
Weather - Hot & sunny. Slight breeze.
Match - Summer Series rd 4 (12 fished) - 1st in section, 2nd overall.

The 4th round of the Summer Series and I really needed a section win to put me back in contention. So, we were all delighted to see Matt Hamilton at the draw who was subbing for Steve Brown.

I drew p15 and at least avoided Matt in my section. It was the first time I have drawn p15 (or p16) in 22 attempts! Although, I was pleased to draw p15 I was a little concerned, as only 18lb came off the peg on Thursday, also the breeze was blowing down the other end.

Paste was going to be my main attack; however I was conscious that this end of the lake tends to hold a smaller stamp of fish and set up rigs to fish the end bank with pellet or corn. As it happened, I only used 2 rigs of the 7 I had set up.

On the all-in I started by a clump of sunken sedges to my left catching an F1 and then my rig snapped around the float on my 2
nd fish, so not a great start. Once I sorted a new rig I restarted down by the sedges, but it was full of tiny roach and I never fished there again.

A new swim was set up by the boards off the end of the island. As it happened this swim proved to be my main swim, finding it best to cup in a mix of 2.5mm & 4mm attrax pellet. Whilst that settled, I would fish another swim along various points against the end bank catching a couple of fish, before returning to the island swim.

The first half the match saw me catching mostly F1s up to 3lb, although most were around 1-1.5lb. As the match progressed a few more carp put in an appearance, many of which were of a slightly better stamp and then some proper carp turned up late fishing next to the p14 pallet.

A really busy and hot day. Also, a massive thank you to Gary and Cathryn who came around with ice cold squash for everyone twice to help keep everyone hydrated. It was very much appreciated by all.

I was really pleased to have won the section as it pulls me back up to 4th with 2 rounds remaining.

1.   
99-  8 – Jerry Wiggett – p13
2.    97-  1 – Ken Rayner – p15
3.    94-  4 – Matt Hamilton – p5
4.    80-13 – Arthur Hicks – p21
5.    72-14 – Steve Partington – p29