15/03/26 - Harescombe - Doughtnut

Weight - 32lb 15oz

Catch - 11 Carp, 1 Perch

Weather - Sunny start, cold and showery later. Windy!

Teams of 4 (40 fished) - 4th in section, 9th overall

The last round of the Teams of 4 and once again the weather was doing its best to ruin the day, with more wind and rain. Just feels like every round of this league the weather has deteriorated.

To win the league we (Tackle Den) had to overturn an 8pt deficit from Team 1,2,3,4, which was unlikely. So, we just wanted to maintain our 2^nd place from Maver Harescombe Green who were just 2pts behind.

We also had to recruit a super sub in the shape of Chris Cameron as Alistair was on a stag do, somewhere hot and sunny. So, thank you Chris.

The draw put me on p4, which hasn’t been great with 2x 9pts in the last 2 rounds.

Setting up the sun was out, but the wind was already gusty. On the all-in I tried dobbin maggot tight to the far bank, but the wind was making it difficult. A switch to fishing maggot at 13.5m and presentation was poor as the rig was pushing through the swim too quickly. Although I did catch a micro perch, I didn’t bother fishing long for the rest of the match. Instead, I switched to fishing the straight lead and double maggot (boosted with baninion and red dye), pinging maggot over the top, immediately resulted in a carp.

After 2hrs I had 5 carp all on the straight lead, but the following hour I couldn’t get a bite, In the meantime, both Cliff Dutton (p6) and Rob Kerslake (p8) started catching from their short maggot lines, with Rob doing the best.

Other than 1 lost foulhooker I couldn’t get a bite on my short maggot line. In hindsight (and after speaking to Cliff and Rob), I probably didn’t feed heavily enough.

Fortunately, I caught a further 2 carp on the straight lead, but both Cliff and Rob were now ahead of me. As I was struggling for bites, I decided to set up a new rig to fish meat down the right margin, a metre off the bank where it was 2.5ft deep, feeding 6mm meat and baninion micros, fishing an 8mm cube on the hook to help keep the rig as still as possible in the wind and tow.

I managed 1 carp soon after feeding, but it wasn’t until the last 15mins that they arrived, netting 3 carp for 10lb. This gave me 4pts and a section pickup that I was very happy with and a good finish to what has been a tough league for me.

As for team, we finished 2^nd on the day and finished the league as runners-up. Well done to Team 1,2,3,4 who comfortably won.

1.    71-14 – Luke Fothergill (Future Network) – p15 match

2.    67-13 – Mick O’Brien (Swinetown) – p13 meadow

3.    39-  7 - Rob Kerslake (Fintastic) – p8 doughnut

4.    37-  9 – Allan Oram (Future Network) – p16 doughnut

5.    35-  8 – Matt Shepherd (Future Network) – p9 field

6.    34-  9 – Simon Collins (4 tops) – p14 doughtnut

Teams on the Day

1.    Future Network – 9pts

2.    Tackle Den – 17pts

2.    Maver Harescombe Green – 17pts

4.    Team 1,2,3,4 – 18pts

4.    Fintastic – 18pts

Final top 4

1.    Team 1,2,3,4 – 9pts

2.    Tackle Den – 15pts

3.    Maver Harescombe Green – 17pts

4.    Future Networks – 21pts

08/03/26 - Hillview - Canal 2

Weight - 88lb 4oz

Catch - 30 Carp, 15 F1s, 2 Ide, 2 Tench

Weather - Cloudy, mild but cool breeze at time.

Match - Tackle Den (21 anglers) - 6th overall, 2nd on lake

There were 21 of us over canals 2,3 and 4. I was first into the bag hoping to avoid canal 2 as I’ve been on it a little too often recently, however I pulled p64 on canal 2.

As the weather has been milder, I decided to take a punt and focus on fishing meat, although I did bring some maggot and pellet just in case.

Starting by the aerator I caught a couple of carp and an F1, before switching to fishing tight to the far bank tapping in 4 cubes of 6mm meat and fishery micros. After 45mins I was up to 7 fish, before suffering a ‘dodgy’ period where I struggled to get a proper bite and the fish I was catching were on the small side.

A switch to fishing 4mm expander a metre off the far bank, tapping in micros resulted in a run of mostly F1s after a slow start.

After about 2.5hrs, Alistair on p68 was admitting to 45lb, whilst I had about 25lb and to be honest I thought I was fishing for 2^nd on the lake.

When the pellet swim faded, a quick look over a short meat line, only resulted 2 small carp. So back to the far bank and I still couldn’t get a proper bite, however by reducing the amount of meat to only 2 cubes and a few micros I started to put a run of fish together.

In the meantime, I started feeding meat and mircos down each margin, where I could use the same rig as I used across down the left side, but I needed a shallower rig for the right margin.

The right side started off the better, but soon faded, prompting a return back to the far bank, before trying the left margin. I managed 25lb in the last hour thanks to a better stamp of fish to finish 2^nd on the lake, behind John who fished maggot most of the day.

1.    155-12 – Steve Broadhurst – p83 (canal 4)

2.    122-11 – Andy Dixie – p92 (canal 4)

3.    120-  4 – John Pearce – p74 (canal 3)

4.      98-  4 – Terry Arnold – p95 (canal 4)

5.      92-15 – John Brady – p62 (canal 2)

6.      88-  4 – Ken Rayner – p64 (canal 2)

01/03/26 - Harescombe - Match

Weight - 9lb 13oz

Catch - 4 Carp

Weather - Drizzly start, dry later becoming increasingly breezy

Match - Teams of 4 (40 fished) - 8th in section

Round 4 (and penultimate) of the Teams of 4. As we were lying 2^nd we needed a decent draw to reclaim the lead from Team 1,2,3,4.

Well, we had a terrible draw whilst Team 1,2,3,4 had a favourable draw. As such, we didn’t realistically think we could win today and damage limitation was the order of the day.

As for me, I had p6 which has produced last and 2^nd to last in the last 2 rounds meaning I was likely in for a tough day.

Last weeks open suggested the fish had spread out from their normal winter haunts, so I was hopeful of a few bites, however the lake fished a lot harder than any of us expected.

Plumbing up revealed a nice even depth across, the issue was the wind that was blowing right to left. I tried for 45mins fishing across initially on expander and then maggot but I didn’t have any indications and the wind was just getting stronger and I just couldn’t get any decent presentation.

A switch to the maggot feeder or straight lead didn’t produce either and I wasn’t the only one who hadn’t caught yet!

I eventually caught my first fish at 8m on maggot. Surprisingly I never had another fish here, even trying the straight lead over the top to combat the tow.

My second fish came an hour later on the maggot feeder on the far bank.

I had also fed meat and micros to my left 2m off the bank. With an hour remaining I tried the swim without success. Returning with 15mins left I managed 2 carp to pull me from last to 8^th. I really could have done with the fish turning up a little earlier, as another 2 fish would have put me 5^th.

Overall, the lake fished really hard. I beat the anglers either side of me and I’m not sure what else I could have done. As for the team we suffered, with Steve Broadhurst being our only bright light as we finished 7^th on the day. Fortunately, we are still 2^nd in the league, but Maver Green are now only 2pts behind.

1.    74-  7 – Luke Fothergill (Future Networks) – p21 (Match)

2.    60-13 – Mick O’Brien (Swinetown) – p24 (Match)

3.    59-14 – Andy Fry (Team 1,2,3,4) – p6 (Match)

4.    54-12 – Tony Picton (Team 1,2,3,4) – p13 (Meadow)

5.    41-  2 – Elvis Randall (Matrix Talisman) – p9 (Match)

6.    40-  5 – Tom Driver (Fintastic) – p15 (Match)

Teams on the Day

1.    Team 1,2,3,4 – 9pts

2.    Swinetown – 14pts

3.    Matrix Talisman – 18pts

4.    Maver Harescombe Green - 20pts

League to Date

1.    Team 1,2,3,4 – 5pts

2.    Tackle Den – 13pts

3.    Maver Harescombe Green – 15pts

4.    Matrix Talisman – 19pts

15/02/26 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 20lb 12oz

Catch - 9 Carp

Weather - Wet start, dried up, then rain later

Match - Teams of 4 - rd 3 (40 anglers) - 4th in section, 10th overall

Round 3 of the Teams of 4 and I wasn’t feeling well after going down with a heavy cold on Wednesday. A few uncomplimentary comments at the café ensured I didn’t feel any better.

Yesterday was the first day of continuous sunshine this year. Alas, today’s weather was back to more rain and after a cold week it was expected to be another tough day.

At the draw, the team draw looked OK, with Andy probably having the toughest one on Field Lake. As for me, I was handed p20 which is on the edge of the hot pegs p16 & p18, but I felt I had a chance of decent points.

As we were setting up the rain stopped and the wind eased.

Plumbing up the far bank revealed it was 3ft deep, which was a little deeper than I would have preferred. The bigger issue was the inlet pipe in peg 1 where water was pouring in creating some significant tow around the lake.

I think Jamie Durrup on p2 declined Gary’s offer to turn off the inlet pipe (that is fed from the stream). Obviously realising his error, Gary was back an hour later to turn it off.

Due to the tow, I never had a bite in that first hour, whether at full depth tight across or dobbin maggot/bread. I even tried a mini hybrid and straight lead without success. In fact, the only anglers I could see catching were Chris on p16 and Allan on p18.

Although I hadn’t caught, I had foul hooked a couple fish that soon came off, so there were some fish in the area and I hoped they might feed in the last 90mins.

With 2hrs remaining I had 3 carp in the net tapping in maggot with So Simple multi bait red dye and baninion micros, tight across. I tried feeding groundbait but I wasn’t convinced it was working today.

I caught a further 3 carp on maggot from the far bank. To be honest I was a little disappointed I didn’t catch more, but felt the tow was making for difficult presentation. Also, I think the fish were just passing through the swim rather than stopping.

I had another carp on the maggot feeder and the last 2 came at 6m to my right on maggot. I did hook a carp 2mins from the end on the short line, but the hook pulled.

I was a little concerned that I had a smaller stamp of fish and they did weigh less than I expected, missing out on 3^rd place by less than 2lb.

The team had a couple near misses that meant we finished 3^rd on the day and we now lie 2^nd in the league.

1.    47-13 – Luke Fothergill (Future Networks) – p6 (Match)

2.    37-  7 – Chris Telling (Team 1,2,3,4) – p16 (Doughnut)

3.    34-  4 – Allan Oram (Future Networks) – p18 (Doughnut)

4.    29-  3 – Nic Baggott (Maver Green) – p11 (Meadow)

4.    29-  3 – Andy Fry (Team 1,2,3,4) – p9 (Match)

6.    28-  0 – Jerry Wiggett (Maver Green) – p1 (Match)

Teams on the Day

1.    Team 1,2,3,4 – 8pts

2.    Maver Harescombe Green – 15pts

3.    Tackle Den – 17pts

3.    Future Networks – 17pts

League to Date

1.    Team 1,2,3,4 – 4pts

2.    Tackle Den – 6pts

3.    Maver Harescombe Green – 11pts

4.    Future Networks – 12pts

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