30/08/26 - Woodland View - Hay

Weight - 88lb 2oz

Catch - 23 F1, 16 Carp, 8 Roach, 4 Rudd, 3 Skimmers

Weather - Sunny, with cloudy periods. Blustery.

Match - Tackle Den (18 fished) - 5th overall, 3rd on lake.

We had 18 today, split evenly over Hay and Barley lakes. The information I had received was to fish short with pellet and shallow on maggot. Also to draw in the middle of either lake. I drew p16, towards the far end of Hay.

As we had a lot of rain yesterday, I started cautiously at 5m feeding 4mm fishery pellets boosted with So Simple Baninion, hair rigging a 4mm pellet. This resulted in a steady start resulting in about 20lb in the first hour, before the swim faded.

A quick look down each margin only resulted in 1 fish and to be honest I wasn’t happy with my rigs and switched them around.

The following hour I caught shallow on maggot, putting another 20-25lb in the net. The wind was making feeding difficult and presenting a rig was tricky at times, but I caught a few decent stamp F1s in amongst the roach and rudd. The swim faded after an hour.

During the middle part of the match, I lost my way a little trying to work how best to catch. Eventually, I started catching mostly F1s down the margins on 6mm pellet, plus some better stamp carp off the end of keepnets again on 6mm pellet over 4s.

I had to keep rotating swims to keep fish coming and it was steady rather than hectic.

By the end of the match, I was enjoying myself and wished we could have fished a 6hr match instead of 5.

At the weigh in I thought I had 90-100lb, hoping I would be closer to the 100lb mark. So, I was a little disappointed to have overestimated by as much as I had. With a little more venue knowledge I am sure I would have caught at least 100lb, however the anglers either side of me weighed 36lb & 27lb so overall I shouldn’t be that disappointed.

1.    95-  8 – Darren Lawrence – p10 Hay

2.    94-12 – Matt Greaves – p13 Barley

3.    94-  9 – Cliff Dutton – p4 Hay

4.    92-15 – Steve Broadhurst – p9 Barley

5.    88-  2 – Ken Rayner – p16 Hay

29/08/26 - Ivy House - Old Match Lake

Weight - 40lb 10oz (9lb 2oz - silvers)

Catch - 17 Carp, 2 F1s, 21 Skimmers, 3 Roach

Weather - Rained most of the day, breezy at times.

Match - Open (6 fished) - 4th overall

There are some days when you wish you hadn’t bothered and today was definitely one of those.

I had decided earlier in the week to fish Saturday and Sunday, staying at home Bank Holiday Monday. By Thursday, the weather forecast was for rain and after a few dropouts there were only 6 booked into the match. I had thought about staying at home Saturday and fishing Monday instead, but in the end I decided to stick with my original plan.

As there were only the 6 of us, we were all on the café bank and I fancied a draw at either end. Well, I drew p4, smack in the middle and to be honest I didn’t fancy it, as I felt the fish would just back off to the far bank.

As for the rain it never stopped all match, just as you thought it was going to stop it would re-start heavier than before.

Since there were only the 6 of us, I decided to keep it simple and focus on the pole and not bother with the feeder. Besides the ‘teabag’ boys were on pegs 1 & 2 and hoped I would have the pole line to myself.

Plumbing up on revealed 2ft of water, with 2.5ft at 5m and only a foot in the margins, thanks to the water levels being down nearly 2ft.

I started at 14m, tapping in fishery 4s boosted with So Simple Sludge and a 4mm in the band. I soon caught a small carp, but it was slow going. A switch to kriller paste produced another small carp, but I struggled to get another, as I was getting little knocks and the culprits soon revealed themselves when I netted a small skimmer.

A switch to fishing a 4mm expander, produced more smaller skimmers and another small carp, but I wasn’t going anywhere quickly, falling further behind pegs 1 and 2. I was really wishing I had stayed at home.

I fed micros and corn down my left margin. I soon noticed a swirl over the feed and tried double corn and the float shot under striking into thin, however I suspected small fish. A switch to paste resulted in a skimmer, confirming my suspicions.

Trying a different swim at 14m didn’t improve matters, so I decided to concentrate fishing a 5m line feeding 4s and my margin, hoping some of the proper units would turn up late in the match.

The margins didn’t produce anything other than a couple more skimmers and towards the end of the match I filled it in with micros, 4s and corn, which just encouraged even more silvers into the peg, but sadly no carp.

My short line produced a few carp and skimmers on 6mm pellet, but I lost a couple of foul hookers. A switch to paste helped, catching a few better stamp carp and skimmers, however it was all too slow.

Generally, the lake didn’t fish as well as it has recently. I just think the bulk of the fish moved to the other side of the lake.

1.    104-  2 – Mitch Rowland – p8

2.      79-  4 – Richard Rogers – p2

3.      72-  0 – Allan Smith – p1

22/08/26 - Harescombe - Match

Weight - 98lb 8oz

Catch - 23 F1, 21 Carp

Weather - Warm & sunny

Match - Summer Series (rd 6) - 3rd in section, 3rd overall

The final round of the Summer Series and there was an outside chance of claiming 3^rd, but I needed to win my section and for Gary Townsend to come no higher than 3^rd in section.

However, drawing p24 wasn’t great, plus I had league leaders Andy Jane (p20) on what has been the best peg on this bank recently and Steve Brown on p16 which can be good, but to be fair has been inconsistent. Andy Pollard (p18) subbing for Arthur was also in the ‘section of death’.

Whilst setting up I took the water temperature, which was 18c and nearly 3c less than Thursday and being the shallowest peg on the lake at no more than 27ins I was a little concerned about catching. As a result, I set up a 2^nd pellet rig with a lighter 0.12 bottom to an 18 B911 to hair rig a 4mm pellet to hopefully improve my chances of catching in the early part of the match.

On the all-in I fed baninion 4mm & micros by the island and started down my left by a clump of sedges catching a small carp straight away on a 6mm baninion pellet. Bizarrely this was my only fish here all match.

Fishing kriller paste by the island produced a couple of F1s, before catching a couple more F1s down my right margin on 6mm pellet over 4mm baninion pellet.

With an hour gone I was up to 6 fish but felt it was too early to push my margins, so switched to my lighter pellet rig, bouncing between 2 swims just off the island, I had about 40-45lb of F1s and small carp over the next 2.5hrs all on 4mm pellet, before both swims slowed up.

Moving into the 2^nd half of the match I was conscious that I needed some of the better stamp carp and tried my margins again on pellet. Surprisingly, I caught very little and tried forcing the swims by feeding more heavily with micros but had very few signs of fish moving in.

In the end I started catching well on paste at 2+2, plus a few extra fish by the pallet of p23 feeding lightly with micros and a few 4s.

By the end of the match I felt I had fished a good match and was pleased with my effort, however I was a little concerned that I had too many F1s (which are resident at this end of the lake) and not enough better stamp carp, that might cost me and it did.

In the end I finished 3^rd in section finishing the league in 6^th. Well done to Andy, Steve and Gary for framing.

1.    147-  7 – Andy Pollard – p18

2.    117-  6 – Andy Jane – p20

3.      98-  8 – Ken Rayner – p24

4.      93-  6 – Elvis – p3 

 

20/08/26 - Harescombe - Match

Weight - 123lb 9oz

Catch - 20 Carp, 17 F1s, 2 Roach, 1 Barbel

Weather - Cooler, sunny with cloudy periods and showers

Match - Open (13 fished) - 1st overall

As I haven’t fished this lake for 4 weeks, I decided to fish todays Thursday open in preparation of the final round of the summer series on Saturday to get back in touch with the venue.

Heavy overnight rain, the first in about 2 or 3 months, woke me up at 3am and I couldn’t get back to sleep so I was feeling a little tired at the draw. We also had some rain forecast during the day and I think Gary was hoping for more than we actually got.

Back to the draw and I was on p11 which is OK. On the all-in I tried kriller paste across to the island but only had 1 small carp after 15mins, so cupped in some baninion 4mm pellet and micros. Whilst that settled, I tried fishing a 6mm baninion pellet over 4s at 2+2 but didn’t have a bite and I suspected the fish might want to feed in shallower water and soon switched to fishing in 2ft of water, at 2+2 left and right.

After a slow start, both short pellet lines improved 90mins into the match catching some chunky F1s and a surprise 2lb barbel,

with the right-hand swim being the best.

By the halfway point, the pellet lines were slowing, prompting a switch to fishing paste by the island where I had been pinging pellet. This resulted in a couple of fish, but it wasn’t as good as I had hoped for and for about 30mins my catch rate dropped as I tried to work out the best way to catch.

With 2hrs remaining I noticed some fish moving in the shallow water (12in) down the right margin towards the p12 platform. By fishing paste, feeding a few micros and 4s, I kept catching until the end of the match, including a 20min spell where I caught 4 carp for 24lb which was very useful. Surprisingly my left margin was useless and full of tiny roach. 

By the end of the match I knew I had done well and fortunately finished with a comfortable win.

1.    123-  9 – Ken Rayner – p11

2.      89-13 – Jerry Wiggett – p1

3.      86-  7 – Gary Townsend – p15

4.      85-  4 – Rich Powell – p3

5.      77-  4 – Mick O’Brien – p20

16/08/26 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 65lb 5oz

Catch - 19 Catch

Weather - Warm & summy

Match - Tackle Den (15 fished) - 4th overall

We had 15 at the draw today, which meant several pegs would have anglers either side, so drawing a peg with space would be ideal.

 

Initially I was happy to draw p15, before realising the pegs either side were in, which meant catching short or down my margins which was going to be tricky. It at least meant I would have an opportunity to try my new pole (Matrix XTR 700) at its full length, fishing the far bank.
 
On the all-in I tried tapping in 4mm baninion pellet, fishing a 6mm on the hook. After 10mins of liners and no fish, I switched to paste without success.
 
I tried fishing pellet shallow, before losing the rig to overhanging branches. Next, I tried fishing an 8mm pellet on a bulk down margin rig tight to the far bank but again loads of liners and no fish.
 
I had fed micros and 4s on a top kit where it was 4.5ft, but never had a bite, which was not a surprise as I felt it was too deep, but could not find a flat spot in shallower water.
 
With nearly an hour gone and nothing in the net, I had to rethink my approach, especially as the lake clearly wasn’t fishing well despite Simon and Paul both catching either side of me.
 
The turning point came when I opened a tin of corn, fished on the margin rig tight to the far bank tapping in a few micros; that brought my first fish on the hour mark, followed by five more during the second hour.
 
The third hour was less productive when I tried to catch shallow, but the fish were not feeding confidently, so I went back to fishing corn and micros on the far bank, alternating between two swims to keep bites coming while trying, unsuccessfully, to catch Paul, who was making full use of his spare peg.
 
I tried the top-kit swim a couple more times, but it only produced one carp, and the margins produced nothing, which was not really a surprise.
 
At the weigh-in it was clear the whole lake had fished hard, perhaps because of the weather. Anyway, I was a little surprised, to finish fourth overall with 65lb 5oz.
 

1.    86-11 – Paul Stafford – p16
2.    83-14 – Pete Phillips – p19
3.    70-  4 – Vince Grillo – p8
4.    65-  5 – Ken Rayner – p15
5.    62-  5 – Simon Collins – p14
 

 

09/08/26 - Rood Ashton

Weight - 7lb 5oz

Catch - 52 Roach, 51 Carp

Weather - Hot & sunny

Match - Tackle Den (16 fished) - 2nd in section, 12th overall

It was a nice short drive to Rood Ashton with Tackle Den and on arrival I could see the lake was down about a foot, which meant some pegs would be very shallow.

At the draw, everyone wanted pegs 18 to 21, as that was where the fish had been showing. With that area likely to dominate, Steve decided to pay out the winners of four sections only.

I drew p2 which was about as far from the fish as I could be. I was then told that my peg in recent matches had produced no more than 25lb, so my enthusiasm was in short supply while setting up.

On the all-in, I started on the method to the island, but I could feel the feeder plugging in the silt. Needless to say, I had no bites. I also tried the straight lead at 25m, where I had been pinging 8s, but that didn’t produce either.

After an hour, Pete on p1 had one carp, Vince on p3 had a couple of small fish, and Simon on p4 had yet to catch.

So, I decided to try catching some roach. Before leaving the house, I had grabbed a bag of dead maggots from the freezer, although live maggots would have been better.

By feeding small balls of groundbait (Coco Squid : Crushed Expander) with dead maggots at 4m, I started catching baby carp among the roach. A whip would probably have been better, but at least I was catching and I hoped for a few carp in the final two hours.

With two hours remaining, Pete netted his third carp and Simon caught his only carp, so it was time for me to try for one myself.

I had kept pinging pellets over the 25m line, but I never had a bite.

I also started feeding 4mm pellet down my left margin. Fishing an 8mm pellet over the top brought no response, so I big-potted micros and 4s and tried paste, but this only encouraged the small fish. Any decent fish in the area would have pushed them out of the swim. So I switched back to 8mm pellet catching one baby carp, and then, 20 minutes from the end, some elastic came out of the pole — but the fish was only about 1lb.

Pete won our section by catching against the end bank and next to the reeds. So well done to him. Surprisingly, I came 2nd in section, with Vince weighing 3lb and Simon 5lb.

Fair to say, the lake did not fish well, with only one weight over 100lb and my part of the lake fished the worst.

1.    107-  9 – Shaun Hodges – p21

2.      56-  5 – Pete Philips – p1

3.      49-12 – Darren Hibbert – p20

4.      46-  8 – Andy Burns – p5

5.      43-  5 – Andy Bartlett – p19

08/08/26 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 91lb 6oz

Catch - 27 Carp, 1 F1

Weather - Warm & sunny

Match - Summer League rd5 (12 fished) - 3rd in section, 6th overall

This was the penultimate round of the summer league, and I really needed a good result to put myself back in contention for a top three finish.

I drew p5, which has been a good peg, although recently it hasn’t produced quite so well, however I still fancied at least 2nd in section from it, as I expected p1 to win after dominating this side of the lake over the last couple of weeks.

Sadly, the first two hours were appalling, putting only three fish in the net. I started across by the island in 2ft of water, tapping in a few 4mm baninion pellets with a 6mm pellet in the band. I soon caught an F1, but despite fish being in the swim I could not get a proper bite and lost a foul hooker. I then tried paste over the same line, losing another foul hooker and the one I did hook properly pinged off at the net.

Fishing tight to the far bank in 8ins of water was also fruitless, losing another fish. I then tried the method but lost another one!

Next, I tried a shallow rig and netted a foul hooker, but I was going nowhere fast.

Meanwhile, Steve on p1, Arthur on p7, and Gary (who was lying 3rd in the league) on p10, were all catching and at least 20lb ahead of me.

I had been feeding 4s and micros on a top kit+1 and had caught one carp early on Kriller paste. When I returned to that line, I finally had a run of fish. I still managed to ping out of a couple fish, and after speaking to others after the match it seemed we had all suffered the same problem: the fish were snatching at the bait rather than taking it confidently.

When I needed to rest the short swim, I tried the margins with either paste or 8mm pellet but only picked up a couple of fish. I could see fish coming into the margins, but they spooked out just as quickly and wouldn’t settle.

Another go across on the shallow rig didn’t last long, as my 14m section folded! Just as well I will be collecting my new Matrix XTR 700 later this week.

Back on the short line, it began to fade with an hour to go, so I fed a new swim 6m to my left and alternated between the two swims until the end.

By the all-out, I knew Steve had won the section and I was sure I had overtaken Gary. As for Arthur, it was much closer than I expected, and unfortunately, I missed out on 2nd in section by 2lb.

1.    272-  4 – Andy Jane – p17

2.    150-  5 – Steve Brown – p14

3.    132-  6 – Steve Partington – p1

4.    123-11 – Elvis – p15