12/01/25 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 27lb 7oz

Catch - 14 Carp

Weather - Freezing all week. Milder today.

Match - Teams of 4 (32 fish) - 2nd in section, 6th overall

Today was the first round of the Teams of 4 run by Ed Bryant. I was fishing for Tackle Den with Steve Broadhurst on Meadow, Andrew Black on Field, Alistair Tilney on Match Lake and I would be on Doughnut.

I had to feel for Gary as to ensure the match went ahead, he spent yesterday (Saturday) breaking the ice on all the lakes, only for it to melt away overnight!

Following a week of icy weather, we all knew it would hard, so I was happy enough to be handed p24, but I thought I might be on the edge of the fish, as P21 has been the form peg recently, with p18 not far behind. As it turned out the fish were quite well spread out, probably thanks to Garys ice breaking.

On the all-in I started against the far bank dobbin maggot, initially against the stick ups opposite and then off the end of the reed bed to my right, where I caught 2 carp in the opening 15mins.

I kept trying the dobbin rig and fishing on the deck tight across without success. I did have 1 carp on the straight lead & maggot off to my right in the ‘quiet’ water but couldn’t get another. After 90mins I had 3 fish and felt I was probably 2^nd or 3^rd on the lake.

Although I fed a couple deep water lines, I caught the remainder of my fish fishing on the deck tight across tapping in a few maggots and later pinkie, with a little Uzit crushed expander, darkened off with Black Bubblegum.

I had a spell when I lost a couple of foul hookers which prompted a switch back to the dobbin rig but I couldn’t get a bite so I stayed with the original rig.

With 30mins to go I could see Gary Townsend on p4 catching, but other than that I wasn’t sure where I was, and I hadn’t caught anything for the last 30mins.

Fortunately, the fish returned catching 4 more carp before the all-out, which proved crucial in what turned out to be a very tight section as I claimed 2^nd in section behind Gary.

As a team, we managed to avoid any complete blowouts, accumulating 15pts for 2^nd on the day and a good start to the series.

1.    46-14 – Glen Picton (Team 1,2,3,4) – p16 (Match)

2.    44-10 – Gary Townsend (Maver Black) – p4 (Doughnut)

3.    36-10 – Steve Brown (Maver Green) – p12 (Match)

4.    31-  5 – Andy Jane (Maver Green) – p5 (Field)

5.    29-14 – Jerry Wiggett (Maver Black) – p14 (Match)

6.    27-  7 – Ken Rayner (Tackle Den) – p24 (Doughnut)

1.    14pts – 4 Skinz

2.    15pts – Tackle Den

3.    16pts – Maver Green

4.    17pts – Maver Black

04/01/25 - Todber - Hillview

Weight - 71lb 8oz

Catch - 21 Carp

Weather - Overcast and cold. Breezy later

Match - Open (14 fished) - 6th overall

There were 14 of us for today’s Open run by Mark Poppleton. After a severe frost on Thursday night and a less severe frost last night no one was sure how the lake would fish, but more importantly the lake hadn’t frozen as the ambient water temperature was still high enough.

I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about drawing peg 51, halfway down the arm, as it can be a bit hit or miss in the winter and last week it didn’t fish well.

On the all-in I started on the straight lead and bread around various areas of the swim, but never had a bite in the first 30mins. Rob McCann to my right had 1, as did Adrian Drew on p49.

10mins after switching to the pole at 13m where I had fed bubblegum micros with some corn, pinging 4mm bubblegum pellet over top, with corn on the hook I caught my first fish. It was slow going but at least I was catching and by the halfway point I was up to 10 fish.

Adrian was slightly ahead of me, whilst Dave Brittan and Michael ‘Ginge’ Hall on p54 & p55 had both been catching quite well.

The next 90mins was very slow, as I only managed a couple of carp on the lead & bread. I had started feeding meat at 2+2 and micros and maggot just off the margins, but I had no bites until the last hour when I had 8 carp from the short meat line.

At the weigh in I beat Adrian and Rob, whilst I couldn’t beat Dave and Ginge as they took advantage of a ball of fish in the corner.

Despite the freezing weather, the fishing overall was pretty good.

1.    143-  0 – Tim Hadland – p48

2.    100-  0 – Michael Hall – p55

3.      91-  0 – Tony Gilbert – p38

4.      87-  0 – Mark Wynne – p46

5.      80-  0 – Dave Brittan – p54

29/12/24 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 56lb 12oz

Catch - 26 Carp

Weather - Cloudy with sunny period.

Match - Open (20 fished) - joint 1st overall

With the upcoming teams of 4 I booked into todays match. With 20 booked on, the pegging was going to be a bit tight and p21 was in the right area, although a little concerned as I was in middle of 5 anglers.

 
As I was setting up it was obvious there was a few fish in front of me, although the water was quite clear and hoped they would feed. On the all-in I tried dobbin bread across, but couldn’t get a proper bite, whilst Nigel Reeves to my left and Andy Fry to my right were catching straight away dobbin maggot. I tried catching on the deck by a clump of sedges tapping in maggot with a little

crushed expander, which produced 5 fish, but I wasn’t catching as quickly as Nigel, who got off to a flying start.
 
I did catch one carp dobbin corn skins, but it just wasn’t right and after an hour I set up a light 4x10 rig to fish maggot.
 
It was a relief to start catching and I spent the next 3hrs dobbin maggot along various areas of the far bank.
 
The last hour slowed down. I had fed maggot at 2+2 and at the bottom of the far shelf, but never had a bite, from either swim. Fortunately, I managed to catch a couple more carp, dobbin maggot, including one on the all-out.
 
At the weigh in, I knew I had been catching up Nigel, but thought he was just ahead of me, so was a little surprised when we both weighed the same to jointly win the match.
 

1.    56-12 – Ken Rayner – p21
1.    56-12 – Nigel Reeves – p22
3.    41-11 – Martin Pettifer – p7
4.    40-13 – George Organ – p5
5.    39-  3 – Gary Townsend – p19

28/12/24 - Todber Manor - Hillview

Weight - 129lb 5oz

Catch - 43 Carp, 4 Roach, 1 Perch

Weather - Grey, overcast and cold.

Match - Open (11 fished) - 5th overall

After a tough month of not catching a lot, I decided to fish todays open to get a few bites and looking at yesterdays result the bulk of the fish appeared in front of pegs 58 & 56 which were first and second with 486lb (Martin Rogers) & 446lb (Jack Stamp) respectively.

I wasn’t disappointed to draw p48 and speaking to Lee Jan who drew it yesterday, he weighed 262lb for 4^th mostly catching down the margin on maggot over micros.

I started at 4m on 6mm bubblegum pellet over 6s. After 45mins I had 11 fish and looking around it seemed to be on par with everyone else. I had an early look down my margin, but had no bites and my short pellet line was now fading.

As there were fish boshing by the island, I tried fishing the method, hooking 4 fish, but only netting 2 and by the end of the second hour I had added not a lot as I chopped and changed. In hindsight I was trying to force the peg too much, expecting 200lb+, when the fish weren’t really having it.

I wasn’t the only one struggling and decided to change tact slightly. I set up a new line at 10m, feeding 4mm pellet, instead of 6s and started catching again, but just as I thought I was lining a few up, the swim faded again. Fortunately, the margin swim started to show signs of life where I caught for the last 90mins fishing dead maggot over micros, although the last 15mins the fish had backed off.

Overall, the lake fished harder than yesterday, and I didn’t get my feed right and should have fished a different match, but at least I caught a few fish which was welcome.

1.    237-  0 – Tony Gilbert – p44

2.    184-14 – Alfie Rhodes – p54

3.    157-  2 – Adrian Drew – p49

22/12/24 - Shiplate - Hawthorns

Weight - 18- 0

Catch - 4 Carp, 1 Ruffe

Weather - North westerly gales. Cold, mostly sunny

Match - Winter League (14 fished)

I agreed to fill in for Luke Fothergill for this final round of the Winter League. I must admit I questioned why, as 50mph winds were being forecast. Fortunately, as we were on the canals, the north westerly would be mostly blowing from behind.

Peg 5 on Hawthorns was my home for the day and to be honest not a lot happened.

The far bank plumbed up horribly, not helped by the far bank shrubbery as I couldn’t get tight to the far bank. I did manage 2 carp dobbin bread in the first 15mins and thought it might be ok, however those fish were a false dawn.

I managed 1 more carp on maggot, fishing the bottom of the far shelf and 30mins from the end caught another carp in front of peg 6 on meat over micros.

Despite the tough run I’ve been on, I have always felt I’ve done OK, however today, it was obvious I had got something wrong as there was a 52lb to my left and 37lb to my right.

1.    124-  3 – Mark Poppleton – p7 (West Pool)

2.    117-  2 – Gary Flinders – p13 (WP)

3.      96-  4 – John Mills – p1 (WP)

4.      90-  9 – Mark – p5 (WP)

21/12/24 - Sedges - Tile Lake

Weight - 20lb 12oz

Catch - 3 Carp, 2 Skimmers

Weather - Mostly cloudy, strong westerly

Match - Uzit Bomb & Feeder League - rd 4 (33 fished) - 2nd in section, 15th overall

As the 4^th round of the league was postponed 2 weeks ago due to Storm Darragh, today was effectively the 4^th round (and the final round is now 1^st February).

I was lying 7^th in the league, but there are 5 of us on 5pts and I have the lowest cumulative weight, so today I really wanted to draw a corner and to put a decent weight in the net.

I was a little disappointed with p33, which to be fair is a decent section peg, but I was always going to be fishing for 2^nd as venue regular, Paul Homewood turned up on p31.

It rained heavily yesterday which meant today was going to be tough and I started the match cautiously, trying the lead & bread towards the island, then corn without success. In the meantime, Paul had caught a couple of carp and the writing was already on the wall.

After 30mins, I decided to try the pellet cone (80:20 mix of bubblegum micros and 2mm P-Nut pellet) and double corn and 10mins later I netted my first carp, which was a relief.

I had my 2^nd carp an hour later, again on the pellet cone and corn, but it was fair to say that it was hard going, and other than Paul no one else had caught a carp in my section.

As a backup I had fed groundbait and maggot at 16m in case I needed some skimmers, but I only fished this swim for 15min without success and I didn’t waste too much time trying, as I had already caught a carp, I wanted to concentrate on catching another one or two.

I tried pinging corn halfway to the island, but it was spreading too much in the strong head wind, so I switched to 6mm pellet. Unfortunately, I only caught 1 skimmer over this line. I also tried fishing the method tight to the island and unsurprisingly never had a bite.

With 30mins remaining I eventually caught my 3^rd and final carp, again on double corn and the cone. I did have another bite 5mins before the end on double corn, but it was only a skimmer.

As expected, Paul won the section with 47lb and I was pleased to finish 2^nd in section, which pushed me into 6^th in the league. Fingers crossed for a corner peg and a boat load of fish in the final round.

1.    82-13 – Pete Sivell – p39 (Tile)

2.    78-  3 – Jamie Cook – p9 (Brick)

3.    74-  4 – Dave Wykes – p40 (T)

4.    49-11 – Phil Phelps – p11 (B)

5.    47-  2 – Paul Homewood – p31 (T)

6.    46-10 – Chris Higgs – p27 (T)

15/12/24 - Lavington - Ellis Lake

Weight - 13lb 3oz

Catch - 7 Perch, 5 Roach, 2 Carp

Weather - Mild,mostly cloudy with sunny periods. Breezy at times

Match - Club Christmas Match (14 fished) - 12th overall

With 14 anglers, this Christmas match was always going to be tough one. P25 put me in an area I thought would be Ok and I at least avoided the shallower end of the lake.

 

Starting on the lead and bread produced a small carp straight away. With no further bites on bread or corn, I tried my 11m line where I fed a 50:50 mix of Black ReAct & Black Bubblegum groundbait, a few 2mm p-nut pellet and dead reds. This produced some roach up to 12oz and then another small carp.
 
The rest of the match was just a struggle. I managed a handful of perch to my right at 8m on maggot, but I really needed to catch some carp.
 
I had expected to catch by the island late on where I had been pinging 4mm pellet and corn, but never had a bite. In fact, I tried various areas of the swim without success.
 
By the all out, I was in a row of 6 pegs, that were bottom of the standings, so obviously the fish didn’t want to be in the area. My peg was 8ft at 6m and just over 9ft at 11m, which in hindsight was too deep and the fish didn’t want to come in too close the bank.
 
As it turned out the shallower end of the lake was the place to be.
 
1.    38-  1 – Tim Lynch – p11
2.    29-  6 – Martin C – p17
3.    25-12 – Terry Fell – p7
4.    23-  7 – Mark Cartwright – p5
5.    23-  4 – Tom Ince – p13