25/10/26 - Tunnel Barn - House

Weight - 42lb 3oz

Catch - 22 F1, 2 Carp, 1 Tench, 1 Perch

Weather - Sunny, but gale force winds

Match - Tackle Den (19 fished) - 3rd overall

I was due to fish Saturdays match at Harescombe which was cancelled and to be honest I wasn’t disappointed as the weather was awful as Storm Boelo blew through.

At least today the rain had stopped, but the wind hadn’t and with gales forecast trying to catch shy biting F1s would be interesting. Also with all the rain that fell yesterday it was no surprise the water temperature had dropped below 10c.

I was looking forward to today’s match but I really wanted to draw anywhere other the dam bank as I have previously drawn pegs 8,10 and 14 twice. Surely the law of averages would be with me, but no, p10 found its way into my hand. I’ll be honest I spat my dummy out a little, as it hasn’t been the best area recently and I was also concerned the wind would blow the fish out of this area of the lake.

Once I settled down and sat at my peg, the wind was blowing mostly off my right shoulder, whilst the good pegs all had the wind blowing into them and Vince on p29 in particular looked cold and uncomfortable.

On the all-in I started on 4mm expander over fishery micros boosted with So Simple BMG at 6m. After 45mins I had 5 F1s and a Tench resulting in a decent start.

The following 90mins was a struggle as I switched to fishing red maggot in different areas of the swim but couldn’t get a run going. Eventually, I started catching at 5m in 4ft of water, 

although it was slow going.

I had kept feeding maggot off to my right in 3ft of water, that produced a few bigger F1s, plus a 3.5lb carp, but it didn’t take off as I expected and I felt the fish preferred to be in the deeper water.

This meant my margins didn’t produce much either, although I fed groundbait down my right margin late on, catching one big F1 and was left wishing I had tried this sooner as I could see swirls as some fish had started moving in.  

Well done to Matt Greaves for winning the match from p12 who sorted out his feeding better than I did. Needless to say, the wind ruined the fishing for most resulting in lower-than-expected weights.

1.    62-10 – Matt  Greaves – p12

2.    44-  1 – Pete Philips – p16

3.    42-  3 – Ken Rayner – p10

4.    38-15 – Paul Stafford – p5

5.    35-  6 – Vince Grillo – p29

11/10/26 - Rood Ashton

Weight - 38lb 1oz

Catch - 6 Carp, 3 Roach

Weather - Cool & cloudy

Match - Tackle Den (17 fished) - 2nd in section, 5th overall

Originally, we had a full house of 21 booked in. Fortunately, a couple of late drops out reduced the field to 17, but it still meant there would be a few poor pegs in the bag and the fishing would be tricky.

Peg 14 for me and I wasn’t happy, as it’s a peg I’ve had a few times and since the water levels were still down about a foot, I knew today would be a struggle.

Plumbing up revealed 16in down the margins, but everywhere else was only a foot deep, plus the water temperature was only 12c which confirmed my fears.

Setting up I was little more optimistic as there were fish moving around, although mostly to my right. After 30mins I caught my first fish on a tea bag and 8mm pellet (covered in Top G Smog) casting slightly to my right, halfway to the island.

I tried the method cast to the island, but the feeder plugged in the silt, so I didn’t bother doing that again.

After 4hrs I added another 2 carp on the straight lead and 8mm pellet, which was on par with others in the section, although Pete and Steve to my left had yet to catch.

As I expected a hard day, I had fed maggot over a short line, hoping for some roach, but I only caught 3. To make something happen I had also been feeding maggot at 13-14m, fishing a light bomb over the top and maggot on the hook, and despite a few fish showing themselves I couldn’t get a bite.

A switch to pinging micros, ably assisted by the wind over the 13-14m line, fishing corn or meat also failed to produce a bite.

With an hour to go, I noticed the silt turning over down the left margin where I had fed baninion micros and 4s. I immediately switched, fishing Top G paste and caught an 8lber. Surprisingly I never had any more signs down either margin.

Back to the 13m line, I decided to try fishing paste and fortunately caught 2 more carp before the end.

Stuart won my section also with 6 carp, but his were definitely bigger than mine, so I had to be content with 2^nd in section.

1.    82-  8 – Matt Greaves – p4

2.    49-13 – Stuart Sutton – p12

3.    48-  2 – Andy Burns – p2

4.    44-10 – Darren Hibbert – p21

5.    38-  1 – Ken Rayner – p14

10/10/26 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 47lb 4oz

Catch - 12 Carp, 1 Perch

Weather - Sunny & breezy

Match - Open (12 fished) - 2nd in section, 7th overall

No fishing last weekend as Abi & I stayed over at friends, so it was obvious I would be doing a double header this weekend.

With the upcoming Winter League at the end of the month, I decided to fish the open on Doughnut Lake. Its fair to say summer is now over, with a cool week leading up to this weekend, it meant things are on the change, however paste was still working. The question was would it still?

The draw put me on p5 not a great area, although with a forecast westerly wind, I expected it to blow from behind. It didn’t, it blew left to right for most of the match, which made fishing the far bank awkward.

On the all-in I started off cautiously, tapping in 4mm (and a few micros) baninion pellet 2m off the island in 2.5ft of water, catching a carp after 30mins on expander. I’m sure I would have caught more, but presentation was difficult in the wind.

I noticed a few fish moving along the island and since the water levels were still down, it was only 12-18in deep. A switch to toss potting a small ball of groundbait (So Simple Top G) and a few micros in the shallower water, fishing either worm or dead maggot, brought fish to the feed, but hooking them in the mouth was a different matter, which was frustrating, although once again the wind wasn’t helping.

I did catch a carp on the method cast to the island, but of the anglers I could see we were all struggling.

I had been feeding 4s and micros over a 2+2 line and caught a carp on Top G paste, bring my total to 3 carp after 3hrs. Fortunately, I kept catching the odd carp on paste and despite trying the far bank on both the pole and feeder I couldn’t add to my total.

I also started feeding meat and micros down my left margin, catching 2 carp, but I should have caught a couple more, as where I was fishing was in a slightly different spot to where I had plumbed up at the start of the match. I only realised when I hooked and lost 2 fish. A senior moment and when I replumbed, I had a proper bite – doh!

I also fed pellet and corn down my right without success.

My original paste line had faded and re-fed a new swim to my left, catching 2 carp before the end of the match.

At the weigh-in Stitch won my section from p1 with 56lb, however the top 4 weights came from the other side of the lake. There just wasn’t many fish my side, as the weights either side of me were 23lb & 13lb.

1.    119-  3 – Chris Cameron – p12

2.      80-  5 – Mick O’Brien – p14

3.      78-  2 – Nigel Reeves – p18

4.      75-  7 – Mark Thomas – p20

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