06/10/24 - Rood Ashton

Weight - 86lb 12oz

Catch - 17 Carp, 2 Roach

Weather - Cloudy and breezy. Rain late on.

Match - Tackle Den (11 fished) - 3rd overall

For various reasons we were low on numbers today, which at least meant there would be fewer poor pegs in the bag. The good news was we could still drive round the lake, helped by loads of wood chipping being laid down in the worst affected areas during the previous rain. The question however, was, would the forecasted rain later in the day start before or after the match?

I drew p18 on the far bank opposite the island, but I would have preferred p20 or p21, but with the wind blowing into my bank I was hopeful.

I started on the method cast ¾ of the way towards the island. I didn’t wish to cast any closer due to the various snags by the island. After 3 casts on the method without any indications, I wasn’t convinced the feeder was the right approach, so switched to an 8mm red pellet and a tea bag covered in p-nut oil, resulting in my first carp. The 2^nd hour was better adding another 5 carp, mostly on 8mm meat covered in a-krill cloud and a pellet cone with bubblegum micros.

The 3rd hour was disappointing with no more fish. In the meantime, I had been feeding meat and 4mm pellet at 11m, but only caught a couple of roach and a crayfish, so I started feeding meat and micros down the right margin.

Fortunately, the fish returned over the far line adding another 4 fish, plus 2 from the right margin, but roach playing around with the bait were being a real pain.

With 45mins remaining, I felt I was behind all 3 anglers to my left and needed to get rid of the nuisance roach and catch some margin fish. So, I opened another tin of meat and fed both margins, just as the rain started. The right side was still full of roach, however 5 fish from the left margin in the last 30mins for 30lb was really useful to win my side of the lake and finish 3^rd overall.

1.    134-15 – Pete Phillips – p6

2.    100-  7 – Matt Greaves – p2

3.      86-12 – Ken Rayner – p18

4.      83-13 – Andrew Black – p4

5.      78-  8 – Dan Barnett – p21

  

05/10/24 - Harescombe - Doughnut Lake

Weight - 96lb 8oz 

Catch - 52 Carp

Weather - Bright, sunny and breezy at times

Match - Open (9 fished) - 2nd overall

As it was a while since my last visit to this lake, I was looking forward to returning. I wasn’t too concerned where I drew and ended up on peg 23. As I wasn’t sure what would work, particularly after the cold start to the day, I fed 2 swims at the bottom of the far shelf in 6.5ft of water. 2mm p-nut pellet and corn covered in p-nut cloud was deposited out in front and a ball of GLM : Crushed Expander to my left.

As it happened, I never went over the groundbait swim, as I kept catching by toss potting corn and micros, fishing corn on the hook, catching 14 carp in the first 90mins before the swim began to fade.

I knew I was slightly behind Steve on p20 and felt I needed to change tact. A switch to fishing the far bank again fishing corn over toss potted corn and 2mm p-nut pellet I kept catching, although the wind at times was a pain and I’m sure I left 10-20lb behind.

Come the last hour I needed to rest the far line and so I tried meat down the marginal slope, but in hindsight I wish hadn’t. I struggled to get a clean bite, netting only 3 fish, losing another 3, and wished I had set up a line at the bottom of the near shelf.

By the all-out I thought I was ahead of Steve on the fish count, however he had caught a few 4-5lb fish which made the difference and so took the win.

An enjoyable day and other than the wind a pleasant day weather wise.

1.    109-  8 – Steve Partington – p20

2.      96-  8 – Ken Rayner – p23

3.      77-  5 – Liam Coombley – p21

4.      69-13 – Mick O’Brien – p14

29/09/24 - Manor Farm - Ash Lake

Weight - 51lb 9oz (9lb 13oz - silvers)

Catch - 10 Carp, 2 F1s, 21 Skimmers

Weather - Cold start, mostly cloudy, rain later

Match - Tackle Den (17 fished) - 6th overall, 3rd in section

With 17 today, we had 10 on Windmill and 7 on Ash. At least it meant we would have more space than we had the last time we were here in June when we had 22 all on Windmill.

Being the bigger lake, Windmill was likely to produce the winner, but I wasn’t too disappointed to draw p15 on Ash. I had no idea whether it was a decent draw, but it looked OK. Plumbing up revealed 7ft of water from 8m and remained flat out to 13m. To be honest I didn’t fancy catching in that depth and found 2 areas left and right at 11.5m in 5ft of water. I also had a small, submerged bush to my right.

The match could be split into 3 parts. The first 2 hours I tried catching on 6mm p-nut pellet or 4mm bubblegum pellet, over 4mm bubblegum pellet, but only caught a couple of small skimmers. I also caught an F1 and a skimmer on the method, but I was going nowhere. In the meantime, Steve to my right was also struggling, but almost everyone else seemed to have caught a couple of carp or F1s.

As I couldn’t catch any carp or F1s, I really needed to put some fish in the net and hope for a late charge. Therefore, I decided to cup a ball of Uzit Natural Re-Act and GLM (mixed 2:1), with bubblegum micros and some dead reds at 11.5m. Double dead red maggot was best and by topping up every 2^nd fish with a nugget of feed via a toss pot, I managed to keep this line going for 90 mins or so, but with 2hrs remaining I really needed to catch some carp and F1s.

I had been pinging 4s to my left in 3ft of water and meat by the submerged bush. The meat swim was a bust, hooking 2 fish, but losing both as the hook pulled on 1 and I got broke by the other. Therefore, I set up a new swim to my right at 11.5m again pinging pellet in 3ft of water

By alternating left and right, fishing a hair rigged 6mm p-nut pellet, I caught some big F1s up to nearly 6lb, plus a couple carp. I knew I had the best last hour on the lake, but felt I needed another 30mins and that’s how it worked out missing out on winning the lake by 7lb.

1.   90-14 – Steve Chandler – Windmill Lake

2.    71-  2 – Cliff Dutton – Windmill

3.    58-13 – Matthew Gale – p5 Ash

4.    56-  6 – John Pearce – Windmill

5.    56-  4 – Bobby Moore – p18 Ash

6.    51-  9 – Ken Rayner – p15 Ash

14/09/24 - Harescombe - Match Lake

Weight - 34lb 3oz

Catch - 12 Carp, 4 F1, 6 Skimmers

Weather - Cold start, sunny all day and a strong breeze

Match - Summer Series rd 8 (14 fished) - 5th overall, 2nd in section

When I signed up for this summer series, I felt a top 3 position would be good as there were a number of good local anglers competing.  

Today was the final round of the series and I was lying 2^nd behind Andy Jane who had the same number of points as me but had a better weight advantage. Regardless of today’s result I was at least guaranteed 2^nd place, but I obviously wanted to win if possible.

I drew p14 and was happy with my draw as I fished it in the first round claiming a section 2^nd. Andy drew p15 which is the end peg on my bank and in the other section. To be honest I thought I had a chance of winning my section and hoped Andy would finish no better than 2^nd.

Setting up, there was a stiff breeze blowing left to right down the lake, which could make fishing the far bank difficult. We also had a couple of cold mornings recently and a tricky match was expected. I still decided to focus on fishing meat (covered in Uzit A-krill cloud) as I have done all series, but had some 4 & 6mm expanders, plus maggot just in case.

On the all-in I started on meat at 3+1 to my left and managed 1 carp, an F1, plus a couple of skimmers in the first hour, which was par with those around me.

The next couple of hours were a struggle. I had an early look across to the island, toss potting a few cubes of meat with p-nut micros, but the wind was proving to be a nightmare as I couldn’t get any decent presentation and when I could keep the rig still, I couldn’t get a bite. In the meantime, Mark Saunders to my left on p12 had managed to catch a few fish across and was ahead of me, plus Andy was now catching down the end bank and was probably leading his section.

In an effort to make something happen, I fed a little groundbait (a 50:50 mix of black bubblegum crush expander) with micros at the bottom of the far shelf, fishing a 4mm expander I caught a couple more skimmers, plus 2 small carp. I tried maggot but only caught a tiny skimmer, so stuck with expanders.

With 2 hours remaining I only about 8lb. Fortunately the wind had dropped, and I could now fish the island, and at last I started to catch on meat. As a back up I had fed meat on a short line and down my left margin. The short line didn’t produce, but to be honest as I didn’t have anything to lose, I was being quite aggressive with my feed in the hope of catching some bigger carp.

As for the margin I only caught 2 fish and struggled to catch from the island swim in the last 30mins resulting in a disappointing end to the match. I had hoped to have won my section, however although Mark had fewer fish, he some chunky F1s caught shallow on caster to claim the section win.

In the end it didn’t matter as Andy won his section and the match to claim the series win, so well-done Andy.

Overall, I was pleased to claim 2^nd and £280. The fishing has been tough at times, however it’s a lovely venue, with brilliant owners who just want to improve the fishery.

1.    60-  6 – Andy Jane – p15

2.    44-  7 – Steve Partington – p18

3.    38-  1 – Mark Saunders – p12

4.    36-  4 – Luke Seabrook – p20

5.    34-  3 – Ken Rayner – p14

Series Top 3 (after droppers)

1.    Andy Jane – 9pts (372-  4)

2.    Ken Rayner – 10pts (320-  8)

3.    Steve Brown – 12pts (287-  2)

01/09/24 - Shiplate - West Pool

Weight - 257lb 8oz (15lb silvers)

Catch - 52 Carp, 14 Skimmers, 1 Tench

Weather - Cloudy and muggy. Rain later

Match - Open (9 fished) - 4th overall, 2nd on lake

After seeing there was an open being run at Shiplate over the canals I decided to jump on as I enjoy my visits. Sadly, there were only 9 of us and a decision was made to split us over both canals, rather than putting us all on the 1 lake, mostly because Steve Howell didn’t want to be surrounded by too many people. At least it would mean lots of space and hopefully bites.

I drew p2 on West Pool, which is a peg I have always fancied drawing. There was a reed bed to the left where I decided to fish GLM paste, although my main attack would be 8mm meat covered in A-krill cloud.

On the all-in I had thought about starting across on the far bank with meat, however there were a couple of pleasure anglers on the main lake who were doing a lot of walking between their pegs as they were setting up. Therefore, I decided to start by the left-hand reed bed whilst the pleasure anglers settled down and started fishing.

After an hour I probably had 50lb of carp, plus 10lb of skimmers and a single tench, and a much better start than I expected. I found feeding 6mm p-nut pellet was better than micros, probably because the swim was nearly 3ft deep.

A switch to fishing across on meat, which proved to be troublesome. On 3 occasions I managed to snag on underwater roots, which required me going around and pulling them out. Once the swim was cleared, I caught, but I didn’t feel it was quick enough. I also lost a complete rig, when the elastic snapped on the puller, which was annoying as I only checked the elastic last week, but obviously not closely enough.

A quick try down the right-hand margin in 18in of water, fishing meat over GLM groundbait and bubblegum micros resulted in a good run of fish that were a better stamp than those I was catching across. In fact, I never went back to the far bank again.

After 3hrs (6hr match) I probably had just over 100lb. Back down the left-hand paste swim, I had a really good spell for 30mins before I started foul hooking.

The remainder of the match was a case of alternating between the 2 margins swims, where feeding 6s down the left was still best and toss potting groundbait/micros, plus a couple of cubes of meat was best down the right.

I had the occasional look over a 2+2 swim fed with meat, where I caught a couple of carp, but the 2 margins swims were definitely best.

I was pleased to weigh 257lb and a PB for the venue, where I ran venue expect Kirt close, missing out on the lake win by 20lb and was left ruing my bad 2hr hours, but still a great days fishing. As it happened Hawthorns fished even better!

1.    309-  7 – Gary Flinders – p3 (Hawthorns)

2.    298-  8 – Dave Cockayne – p5 (H)

3.    279-12 – Kirt Pinkett – p6 (West Pool)

4.    257-  8 – Ken Rayner – p2 (W)

Silvers

1.    21-  8 – Ron Stark – p9(W)

2.    15-  0 – Ken Rayner – p3 (W)

3.    13-10 – Golly – p11 (W)

25/08/24 - Hillview - Canal 1

Weight - 71lb 10oz

Catch - 25 F1s, 7 Carp, 6 Tench, 4 Roach, 1 Skimmer

Weather - Cool, cloudy and windy.

Match - Tackle Den (21 anglers) - 6th overall, 3rd in section

Todays match was over Moorhen and Canal 1, and everyone wanted Moorhen as it was likely the winner would come from here. Therefore, I was disappointed to draw p49 on canal 1 and a strong breeze blowing right to left down to Matt Greaves on p41 was going to be a challenge.

As I didn’t know which lake I would be fishing and I’m not in touch with the venue, I brought 4pts of maggot (in the hope of catching shallow on Moorhen), meat and corn. Having done well on meat recently I decided to start on this and see where the match took me.

As the wind was likely to increase during the match I decided to start across on 6mm meat, but soon switched to 8mm meat, toss potting meat and fishery micros. After an hour I had 9 F1s of varying sizes for about 15lb and a good start, matching Jason Crump on p47 who was fishing maggot short.

The 2^nd hour was a disaster. I managed to snag my rig on a root requiring a new hooklength, snapped another hooklength when a fish broke me and then a loose thread in my landing net somehow managed to wrap around my rig when I netted a fish, requiring a new rig.

Eventually I got back into a rhythm, however the wind was getting stronger. I had been feeding meat short and to be honest I was disappointed with the response and soon converted it to a short maggot line.

Due to the wind I also switched to fishing maggot across and catching F1s shallow, however the wind was just becoming impossible, and I had no choice but to fish short.

My maggot line produced a couple of F1s before they disappeared, which prompted a switch to my left margin (downwind) fishing meat. I soon added some proper carp and F1s before the swim died. Moving back to my short line, it was now full of small silvers and even feeding maggot heavily I couldn’t feed them off.

I had hoped for a strong last hour (5.5hr match) but it was slow going. The left margin produced the occasional fish and I eventually had to fish longer towards p48 platform catching my best fish of 8lb. I also caught a few fish down my right margin on 6mm expander.

Come the all-out I was a little annoyed with myself as that poor 2^nd hour cost me a possible section win, although the wind didn’t help either. In hindsight, I should have set up a pellet line when I realised the short maggot line wasn’t going to work.

As expected, the winner and second place came from Moorhen in the windward corner of the lake and Matt won our lake.

1.    96-15 – Steve Venn – p1 (moorhen)

2.    96-  6 – Andrew Black – p19 (moorhen)

3.    83-  3 – Matt Greaves – p41 (canal 1)

4.    82-  4 – Jason Crump – p47 (canal 1)

5.    73-13 – Cliff Dutton – p3 (moorhen)

6.    71-10 – Ken Rayner – p49 (canal 1)  

17/08/24 - Harescombe - Match

Weight - 51lb 4oz

Catch - 16 Carp, 15 F1s, 4 Skimmers, 1 Perch

Weather - Warm and mostly cloudy

Match - Summer Series (11 fished) - 3rd in section, 3rd overall

The 6^th round of this series and unfortunately as usual with any league there were a couple of no shows that weren’t doing well in the league. This meant we only had 11 fishing today and a decision was made to remove a peg from each section, leaving one peg not drawn.

I was disappointed to find myself on p20, which was further compounded when Andy Jane drew p18 and Steve Brown on p15. Looking at past results, p20 has never been higher than 3^rd in section and plumbing up I realised why. Ideally you want an area with 18in of water, to catch the better stamp carp. I found 1 spot about 2ft deep tight to the far bank, but the margins were slightly deeper.

On the all-in I had a good start fishing meat (covered in Uzit A-krill cloud) at 3+1, netting 5 decent F1s and a small carp in the first 40mins. The next 30mins was a struggle, but I eventually started catching tight to the boards again on meat, including a big F1 which was weighed separately at 4lb 9oz.

I also managed a couple of fish from the short line, which I kept topped up when I needed to rest the far swim. After 3.5hrs, things were looking good. I could see Lucas catching on p24 and probably winning the section, I could also see Steve catching, but noted he was netting quite a few small fish. More importantly, I was probably 25lb ahead of Andy, who I needed to beat to strengthen my position in the league.

Moving into the last 90mins I was conscious I really needed my margins to produce to maintain my position but struggled. I tried paste down the right-hand margin as this was the deepest and meat down the left. The paste failed to produce, which was a surprise as it produced quite well last week, As, for the left margin I only caught a couple of small stamp carp.

I kept picking up fish from the far bank, which were now carp, but other than a 3-4lber they were a small stamp.  

In the meantime, Andy had started catching down his margins where it was only a foot deep amongst the sedges netting some much better stamp carp.

Come the all-out I was nervous about what Andy had, although he had fewer fish than me, the stamp of fish meant he was catching me up. Unfortunately, Lucas beat me from p24 and those better stamp fish for Andy, including a 5lber on the whistle meant he won the section.

Fortunately for me I just managed to beat Steve to finish 3^rd in section. Mixed emotions, if I’m honest, 3^rd in section was probably the best I could expect from the peg, but I was disappointed as Andy is now leading the league, due to a higher aggregate weight advantage.

With 2 rounds remaining, hopefully this round will be one of my droppers.

1.    59-  2 – Andy Jane – p18

2.    56-12 – Lucas Hurcombe – p24

3.    51-  4 – Ken Rayner – p20

4.    50-  6 – Steve Brown – p15

League Standing

1.    11pts – Andy Jane (371-5)

2.    11pts – Ken Rayner (337-9)

3.    16pts – Steve Brown