27/09/26 - Harescombe - Match

Weight - 46lb 7oz

Catch - 11 Carp, 5 F1, 2 Skimmers, 2 Roach, 2 Rudd

Weather - Cloudy, breezy and showery

Match - Open (9 fished) - Last!

The last day of my holiday (or should that be 2 weeks off work, as it hasn’t felt like a holiday) and I decided to return to Harescombe. 

On Friday I fished my club water and caught this PB Carp of 20lb 12oz on Kriller paste.

 
Back to today and peg 19 would be my home and the wind was blowing right to left which proved to be tricky at times.
 
I decided on a simple approach of pellet and corn, with maggot and worm as a back up, leaving my paste rigs at home.
 
On the all in I started across by the island on corn, tapping in a baninion 4mm pellet. With no bites a switch to a 4mm expander resulted in my first fish after 20min. After an hour I was up to 2 fish and not concerned by the slow start, however I had a horrible 2hrs, losing 3 fish and not putting any in the net.
 

I really couldn’t understand why I wasn’t catching, as everyone around me were!
 
To make something happened I started feeding heavily with maggot, but small silvers were proving a pain and soon reverted back to feeding pellet.
 
Eventually I started to catch on hair rigged 4mm pellet, towards the p18 platform where I had been feeding 4s. When this slowed, I had another run of fish back towards the island where I had been pinging pellet, fishing a 6mm pellet.
 
I had kept feeding pellet at 5m and down the right margin, but struggled for a bite.
 
My last action was feeding Cocosquid groundbait with micros in the shallow left hand margin fishing worm over the top. In fact I wish I had tried it sooner, although my poor start meant I was unlikely to challenge the frame.
 
A strange day and the first time I have come plum last at Harescombe.
 
1.    175-10 – Chris Cameron – p1
2.      87-  2 – Mark Thorne – p16
3.      81-10 – Phil Stone – p24
 
 

20/09/26 - Witherington Farm - Cottage

Weight - 90lb 7oz

Catch - 15 Carp

Weather - Warm & sunny

Match - Tackle Den (21 anglers) - 4th section, 6th overall

I wasn’t due to fish this match, as I was supposed to be on a cruise ship sailing around the fjords of Norway. However, on the day we were due to travel I went down with covid and was feeling very unwell. Gutted was an understatement, but hopefully we should get most of our money back through the insurance.

Today we had 21 anglers, with 11 on Selwood and 10 on Cottage, which left few spare pegs and a tricky day ahead.

I drew p9 on Cottage and reasonably happy, as I had an island chuck and plenty of space to my left and John Brady to my right on p10.

Plumbing around revealed 18in at 13m, 32in at 6m and 33in at 10m by the reeds to my left. Tight to the bank only revealed 12ins, before it quickly dropped off to 33in.

Starting on the method to the island didn’t produce and after 30mins switched to fishing So Simple Kriller paste over dampened kriller 4s by the reeds to my left.

This produced 2 carp within 15mins, catching a 3^rd soon after on the straight lead and 8mm red pellet by the island where I had

been pinging 8s.

The following 2hrs proved to be difficult, as I couldn’t add to my total. I kept pinging pellet to the island and surprisingly I couldn’t catch on the tip. I also tried fishing at 13m, but in the shallow water it didn’t feel right and liners were a problem. I did hook 2 fish at 6m, losing both, 1 was foul hooked and the other found a snag.

In the meantime, the anglers on the other side of the lake were all ahead of me, probably helped by the wind blowing towards that end. Fishing meat or expander proved unsuccessful and ultimately decided to stick with fishing paste.

Eventually I caught a carp at 6m and another at 8m to my left. A brief look fishing tight to the bank with paste or worm didn’t feel right as it was just too shallow for the fish to settle and didn’t waste too much time trying to make it work.

I kept picking up the odd fish from the 6m line and switched back to the 10m line by the reeds.

Moving into the last hour the reed swim was slow and decided to dump a ½ cup of 4s and micros, and in the last 30mins manged 5 more carp, feeding a ½ cup of feed after every fish.

On the all out I thought Andy Burns would win from corner next to the aerator, which he did. Steve Broadhurst opposite on p3 was admitting to 15 carp (although he wasn’t sure) and Vince Grillo on p4 had 11 carp (that included 3 10lb+ fish).

As it turned out, I finished on the wrong side of a very close result, but I was still pleased with my performance at my end of the lake.

1.    143-10 – Matt Greaves – p16 (Selwood)

2.    110-14 – Cliff Dutton – p6 (Selwood)

3.    110-15 – Andy Burns – p15 (Cottage)

4.      96-  5 – Steve Broadhurst – p3 (Cottage)

5.      91-  5 – Vince Grillo – p4 (Cottage)

6.      90-  7 – Ken Rayner – p9 (Cottage)

06/09/26 - Windmill

Weight - 57lb 6oz

Catch - 10 Carp, 1 Skimmer, 1 Roach, 1 Perch

Weather - Warm & sunny. Breezy later.

Match - Tackle Den (14 fished) - 4th overall

To be honest I haven’t enjoyed my matches at this venue and its probably not helped by the fact I’ve yet to draw a decent peg.

Unfortunately, that theme continued as I ended up on p16, a peg I drew back in April and looking at recent results for the last 6 weeks it hasn’t featured, so I wasn’t overly optimistic.

I wasn’t sure whether to use meat or paste and was told both were still working and had both on the side tray, along with dead maggot just in case.

I knew the first half of the match would be tricky and then it was a case of hoping for a few fish late on. With this in mind I decided to just focus on 1 swim towards the corner of the island in nearly 3ft of water at start, fishing meat or expander over micros and 4s. Other than a couple of liners, I didn’t have a bite.

On the hour mark I caught my first carp on the straight lead and a so simple red 8mm pellet tight to the corner of the island.

90mins later I hooked my next carp on dead maggot fishing tight to the far bank but lost the fish as it buried itself in the reeds.

Other than Steve Venn on p11 I saw very little being caught and just hoped a few fish would turn up down the margins. Also, at the halfway point of the match the wind started to pick up making it increasingly difficult to fish across to the island and it was an easy decision to start focusing over my short lines.

I had been feeding kriller 4mm pellet and micros down the right margin, dead maggot and micros down the left and 8mm meat at 2+2 at angle to my right.

With an hour and 40mins remaining I caught my 2^nd carp on kriller paste down the right margin, followed by a couple more.

To rest the swim, I tried my meat line and soon caught another carp, but the wind was causing the lake to tow and to be honest I wasn’t happy with my presentation, so I decided to dump micros and 4s at 2+2 to my left to paste later.

The left margin which was shallower than the right was a bust. I tried fishing dead maggot and paste, but other than one lost foul hooker I only caught a couple silvers.  

Therefore, the last hour was spent mostly down the right margin and the short paste line to have a strong finish to the match. It was just a shame there wasn’t a little bit more action early on.

In the end I was pleased to have weighed 57lb and to come 4^th from the peg.

1.    69-13 – Vince Grillo – p1

2.    67-  2 – Cliff Dutton – p21

3.    66-15 – Steve Venn – p11

4.    57-  6 – Ken Rayner – p16

5.    45-  5 – Dave Keen – p7

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