08/02/26 - Hillview - Canal 2

Weight - 62lb 6oz

Catch - 20 Carp, 5 F1, 4 Ide, 1 Perch

Weather - Cloudy, rain late on.

Match - Tackle Den (21 fished) - 1st on lake, 3rd overall

With 21 of us, we were equally spread over canals 2, 3 & 4. As usual everyone wanted canal 3 or 4, however I found myself on canal 2 for the 4^th time recently. At least this time I was at the better end in the shape of p67.

It was nice to be setting up in the dry and there was no wind. Well, the wind stayed away, but the rain came with 2hrs to remaining.

On the all-in I decided to try corn, tapping in fishery micros hoping for an early mug carp. Fishing at 11.5m by the aerator I caught an F1 and then a 5lb carp 11.5m at the bottom of the near shelf towards the end bank. By switching between the 2 swims, I caught a further 4 carp, before the swims dried up.

A switch to dobbin bread along the far bank proved unsuccessful. Next, I tried tapping in

maggot, again against the far bank, but it just didn’t feel right.

Since I had already caught on corn, I decided to set up a new rig to fish corn against the far bank over micros, reasoning that presenting a target bait would be better for the carp. And so it proved as I had a run of fish switching between swims either side of the aerator, with the right-hand swim being much better.

I did have a spell where I foul hooked and lost 3 fish on the bounce, which was frustrating, so I just rested the swim. I caught a few silvers and an F1 over a short maggot line, however the line didn’t do much else. I also started feeding micros next to the pallet of p68 and caught a couple more fish on corn.

My last fish was a 5lber on maggot late from the left margin.

I’ve had a lovely day, constantly switching swims to keep the fish coming and it was a pleasant surprise to catch so well on corn.

1.    125-  0 – Andy Black – p82 (canal 3)

2.      63-10 – John Brady – p70 (3)

3.      62-  6 – Ken Rayner – p67 (2)

4.      51-  4 – Roy Booth – p86 (4)

5.      41-11 – Darren Lawrence – p61 (2)

6.      40-  5 – Michael Triggs – p96 (4)

07/02/26 - Todber - Hillview

Weight - 37lb 0oz (3lb 8oz - silvers)

Catch - 7 Carp, 14 Skimmers, 1 Roach

Weather - Showery and breezy

Match - Open (19 fished) - 4th carp only

We had 19 anglers booked on today and the pools would be paid out 50:50 silvers and carp, with the top 3 in each. However, I assumed this would be top 3 silvers and top 3 overall. As there was no section payout it meant a decent draw was more important.

P52 down the arm of the lake was neither here nor there. It can be OK for carp, but generally not the best for silvers.

On the all-in I started on the pellet cone with baninion boosted corn and netted a 5lber within 10mins. My next fish arrived 30mins later on a mini hybrid cast to the far bank, loaded with So Simple Top G and Crushed Expander, and 3 dead maggots on the hook.

With no more carp after an hour, I decided to try my silvers lines. 14.5m fed with baninion micros and corn, and 11.5m at an angle to my left fed with groundbait (BMGX : GCS) with dead maggot.

I initially tried corn at 14.5m hoping for some proper skimmers, but only had 1 hand size skimmer, plus a couple more on 4mm expander. The 11.5m line only produced a few hand sized skimmers or maggot and I was going nowhere fast.

With 2hrs remaining I decided to focus on the carp, catching 5 more on the straight lead (3 on corn and 2 on bread).

At the weigh-in I discovered it was the top 3 carp weights, rather than the normal total weight. Had I realised I would stayed focused on the carp, as I finished 4^th in the carp only weights, 2 or 3 fish short of framing.

Top Carp Weights

1.    68-12 – Michael Hall – p43

2.    49-  0 – Amanda Rowett – p46

3.    41-  0 – Matt Skyme – p60

4.    33-  8 – Ken Rayner – p52

Top Silvers Weight

1.    26-  0 – Toby Burrell – p57

2.    15-  0 – Rocky – p59

3.    12-  0 – Dan Squires – p54

4.    11-  8 – Mark Wynne – p36

01/02/26 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 24lb

Catch - 8 Carp, 1 F1

Weather - Bright start, showery later.

Match - Teams of 4 - rd 2 (40 fished) - 5th in section, 18th overall

The 2^nd round of this teams of 4 and I at least made this round without incident. Have to say a big thank you to Trevor Halliday who stepped in during the last round at very late notice and the team won the 1^st round.

Today’s draw put me on p14 (old p18) and to be honest I was happy with that although the peg struggled last week. The hot pegs were to my left and when I saw Steve Brown (p16), Chris Telling (p18) and Ronaldo (p20), I knew it would be difficult to beat them.

On the all-in I started dobbin bread along the far bank and had 2 carp in the first 10mins. Sadly, the next hour didn’t go as planned as the next 3 fish all came off and the air turned a little blue!

I tried tapping in maggot tight to the far bank using a light strung out rig and at half depth, but couldn’t get a proper bite, whilst the pegs to my left (particularly Chris) were catching. The only other person I could see catching was Cliff Dutton on p8, although it sounded like he was foul hooking a few.

Next, I tried fishing a metre off the far bank that is usually good for a few bites but I only caught 1 carp. I had another on the straight lead and maggot, but I just felt I was on the edge of the fish as I couldn’t get a run together.

I persevered with tapping in maggot and a little groundbait (So Simple Top G : Crushed Expander) against the far bank but I still couldn’t get a proper bite. I even tied a new rig with a bulk and 4” inch hooklength, and had a fish straight away, but again couldn’t get another, although I did lose a foul hooker.

A final throw of the dice was a 6m line to my right at the bottom of the near shelf, fed with maggot where I caught 3 carp late allowing me to claim a few more points.

So, a tricky and frustrating day, finishing with 5pts (out of 10). Fortunately, as a team we didn’t have any blow outs and Steve won Meadow Lake, which meant we finished the day 2^nd, maintaining our lead in the league.

1.    63-15 – Chris Telling (Team 1,2,3,4) – P18 Doughnut

2.    55-  4 – Matt Greaves (4 skinz) – p6 Match

3.    53-15 – Steve Broadhurst (Tackle Den) – p11 Meadow

4.    53-14 – Luke Fothergill (Future Networks) – p3 Match

5.    53-  1 – Andy Fry (Team 1,2,3,4) – p15 Match

6.    49-  8 – Alistair Tilney (Tackle Den) – p24 Match

Teams of the Day

1.    Team 1,2,3,4 – 13pts

2.    Tackle Den – 15pts

3.    Maver Harescombe Green – 18pts

League to Date

1.    Tackle Den – 3pts (27pts)

2.    Team 1,2,3,4 – 3pts (28pts)

3.    Maver Harescombe Green - 6pts

24/01/26 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 26lb 14oz

Catch - 11 Carp, 1 Perch

Weather - Grey and windy. Showers later.

Match - Open (8 fished) - 3rd overall

At least I managed to make it to the venue this week, having suffered a tyre blow out last week,after hitting a pothole.

Only the 8 of us today and Gary decided to peg us on the ‘sheltered’ side of the lake due to forecast gale force winds.

It was my first time fishing the lake since Gary had re-pegged the lakes, reducing it from 28 to 21 which is better and we now have pathways to the pegs that will help keep the kit a little cleaner.

I drew peg 16, which was between old pegs 20 & 21, so the right area. The problem was the wind. As I set up the wind was roughly from behind and the trees offered some shelter. Unfortunately, the wind switched slightly and began blowing from a more southerly direction, effectively up the lake, left to right.

On the all-in I tried fishing tight to the far bank, but the wind was already proving difficult, not helped by the fact I had to fish with a short lash to fish under the branches.

I tried fishing in the slightly deeper water a metre off the far bank, but presentation wasn’t good and a switch the straight lead and pinkie resulted in a tiny perch, but no carp.

Chris to my left already had a couple of fish dobbin maggot, however with less overhanging foliage he was able to fish with a longer lash.

During the occasional periods where the wind dropped a little I was able to stick my dobbin rig under the branches, tight to the far bank fishing 14in deep I could catch a couple of fish mostly on double pinkie or maggot before the wind became too much.

I then switched to the straight lead for 1 carp, but felt I needed to feed some bait and switched to the maggot feeder 2m off the far bank, adding a dash of So Simple Top G smog to the maggot in the feeder. At one point I had 3 fish reasonably quickly, but it was obvious dobbin under the trees was best.

I struggled in the last hour when the wind picked up again and I managed to snap my no5 section!

A frustrating day where I knew I could have definitely doubled my weight if I could have fished properly.

1.    49-  5 – Chris Cameron – p17

2.    33-  9 – Allan Oram – p21

3.    26-14 – Ken Rayner – p16

17/01/26 - Lavington - Ellis

Weight - 50lb 5oz (42lb 7oz - silvers)

Catch - 14 Bream, 2 Hybrid, 1 Roach, 3 Carp

Weather - Bright, sunny, light breeze

A rare pleasure session at my club water and the intention was to target the silvers.

Although the water temperature was only 5c I've ended up having a lovely day.

I fed swims at 10m left and right in 7ft of water, with small balls of groundbait (So Simple BMGX : GSC mixed 2:1) with a few micros boosted with BMG and maggot.

My rig had a 0.09 bottom and size 20 F1 pellet hook attached to no8 black slip elastic.

By bouncing between the 2 swims I managed to keep the fish coming.

11/01/26 - Hillview - Canal 4

Weight - 35lb 6oz

Catch - 8 Carp, 4 F1, 1 Perch

Weather - Lakes stilled ice over, became increasingly mild and windy

Match - Tackle Den (15 fished) - 4th overall, 2nd on lake.

The first Tackle Den match of the year and we were at Hillview on the Canals 2, 3 & 4.

Although the weather forecast was for much milder conditions, there would be gale force winds and still the expectation of breaking ice. As a result, we had a few dropouts, with only 15 fishing, which meant we were now on Canals 3 & 4.

I was quite pleased to draw p87 on canal 4, as it meant I wouldn’t be at the windward end of the lake where the wind would blow any ice.

After breaking the ice, creating a channel to the far bank I set up my rigs. On the all-in I shouldn’t have been surprised the ice was shifting already. I started across tapping in a few maggots and soon caught an F1, by which point my channel had nearly closed up.

The ice was already clearing from the pegs to my right, and a pair of ducks arrived. So, I started feeding maggot on the ice letting the ducks break the rest of the ice for me. In the meantime, I caught a perch and a small carp on maggot fishing next to the p88 platform. Surprisingly these were the only fish I caught here.

After an hour the ice had pretty much cleared my swim, however the issue was the wind had picked up making presentation on the pole difficult to the point I couldn’t fish tight to the far bank, so I concentrated on fishing the deep water in front of the pampas grass.

Since I was struggling to get a bite on the pole, I thought I would try the straight lead catching a carp on maggot, but it was much slower than expected and I only had 1 more carp late on. I even tried dobbin bread and then maggot, but the wind was a problem and I didn’t have any bites.

With an hour remaining I probably had 15lb, level with Luke and Pete to my left, whilst Matt and Simon were both ahead of me. The wind dropped slightly so I concentrated on the deep water in front of the pampas grass, tapping in maggot and started to get some regular bites, having a strong finish the match, catching 2 carp in the last 5mins allowing me to sneak into 2^nd on the lake. The best rig fishing 0.09 bottom to a 20 F1 pellet hook and 8 elastic.

1.    44-13 – Matt Greaves – p91 (canal 4)

2.    40-15 – Andy Bartlett – p73 (canal 3)

3.    35-10 – Andy Dixie – p82 (canal 3)

4.    35-  6 – Ken Rayner – p87 (canal 4)

5.    34-  2 – Simon Collins – p89 (canal 4)

10/01/26 - Harescombe - Match

Weight - 10lb 13oz

Catch - 5 Carp, 1 F1

Weather - Cold & sunny. Swim iced over

Match - Winter League - rd 6 (14 fished) - 9th overall, 4th in section

Another cold week and the final round of the Winter League on Match Lake. After another freezing night the question was had the lake refrozen after defrosting the previous day. On arrival pegs 15 & 16 were covered in ice, but otherwise the lake was clear.

Match results during the week suggested the majority of the fish had been caught in the early numbers, so I wasn’t sure where I wanted to draw. Normally I would have been over the moon to draw p15, however I needed to break the ice and the peg has struggled in the last 2 matches.

Breaking the ice was relatively straightforward, although I was concerned about creating too much disturbance and only broke the ice to the bridge. I didn’t bother breaking the ice towards the point of the island, as I expected the ice to melt away when the sun came out. Sadly, this was a mistake, as the ice started to reform in the area I had cleared whilst I was setting up and the temperature during the day didn’t get above 3-4c and there was no wind to help the melting process.

On the all-in I started at 10m over a small ball of groundbait, fishing a single pinkie or maggot, but I couldn’t get a bite. Eventually, I caught my first fish on maggot after 2hrs fishing further towards the bridge but couldn’t catch as quickly as Phil opposite on p16 as the fish just didn’t want to come my side of the lake.

A switch to fishing a 4mm expander, produced a couple of better stamp fish and with an hour remaining, Allan on p14 thought I might be leading the section. Unfortunately, I only had 1 fish in the last hour, really regretting not breaking the ice towards the island as I needed somewhere else to go.

I finished the match 4^th in section, dropping from 3^rd to 7^th in the league which was disappointing.

Well done to top 3 Chris, Nigel and Allan. This series just hasn’t gone my way, with some difficult draws and even when I drew spot-on, I couldn’t fish my peg as I wanted.

1.    27-12 – Phil Stone – p16

2.    27-10 – Andy Fry – p2

3.    24-  0 – Rich Churchill – p6

4.    20-11 – Allan Oram – p14