28/12/08 - Fishponds

Weight – 7lb 12oz
Catch – 3 Bream, 2 Roach.
Weather – Cold, bright, easterly wind.
Water Temp– 5.0c > 5.0c

After the festive period I needed to go fishing, just to get out of the house. I had some maggot in the fridge so decided to go to my club water. The only problem was the cold weather, the temperature hadn’t got above 4c in the last couple of days and the wind made it feel even colder. I almost reconsidered going and tried to convince myself that it didn’t matter if I caught, but of course it did.

I doubted whether the carp would feed, but hoped the roach & bream would.

Whilst setting up my pole rigs, I chucked out the lead with double sweetcorn and a small tea bag filled with 6mm pellet, towards the aerator. Initially I set up 2 pole rigs, a 1g Jean Francios at 13m, with .08 bottom & 22 silverfish hook and a 4x16 chianti with .13 bottom & 18 B911 which I intended to use 12m 2o’clock to my right along the bottom of the marginal shelf.

2 balls of groundbait were cupped in on the 13m line and a little micro pellet & 3 bits of corn to my right. With no bites on the lead, I switched to the 13m line, but after 30 minutes with no bites I was beginning to wonder whether I had made the right decision to come fishing, however despite the cold it was a lovely day.

I needed to catch a fish, so decided to start feeding maggot tight to the marginal reeds, hoping for a rudd, but I only had 1 small roach for my efforts. I had tried topping up my long lines, but still nothing by 2 o’clock, so I decided to pack up. After pulling out my keepnets, I thought I would have 1 last put in on the 13m line and bugger me the float dipped. Expecting a small roach, it became immediately obvious I was attached to something a little more substantial. A few minutes later a near 3lb bream was safely netted. A few minutes later I had a 2lber on the lead & double sweetcorn. Now I was interested again.

I couldn’t get another bite, so I topped up the 13m with a small of groundbait, plus some maggot and tried my right hand swim, but again no bites, so another top up with a little micro pellet & corn. Back on the 13m line a lift bite and I hooked a carp, unfortunately I only managed to hang on for a few minutes before the hooklength gave way.

With the sun close to setting, I switched back to the right hand swim and missed a sitter of a bite, fortunately I connected with the next one, which resulted in a 2½lb Bream. A small roach on the 13m line was my last fish before I had to pack up or freeze.

Although it was freezing I enjoyed the day and at least I managed to catch something. Speaking to Steve at Viaduct he confimed the recent weather has really knackered the fishing with many struggling for a bite. With the final round of the Veal’s Winter League next Sunday, a good draw will be required.

21/12/08 - Lands End - Sydneys Lake

Weight – 13lb 14oz
Catch – 53 Roach, 12 Bream, 8 Carp, 2 Rudd.
Weather – Mild, cloudy, breezy start
Water Temp – 8.0c > 9.0c
Match – Lands End Winter League - rd 3– 16th overall - 2nd in section

The 3rd round of the Lands End Winter League meant I would be fishing Sydney’s Lake, which is the 4th and newest lake on the complex. There are loads of small carp (1-2lb bracket), plus large number of small roach & skimmers, so hopefully loads of bites and I expected 50lb or so to win.

Pete Sivell did his usual £1 side bets with as many people as he could, but with myself he’s getting frustrated by the fact I keep beating him, particularly off the next peg, which I have done for the last 5 times. In his determination to beat the "jinx" he suggested a £2 side bet, which I accepted.

We drew next to each other again, Pete drew 75 and I had peg 78. Ideally, I would have preferred a peg at either end of the lake, however peg 78 was as central I could get, so I felt I was up against it. I really needed good points today to make up for the poor result in the 2nd round.

Initially I decided to feed 3 areas, 6m and 13m in front of the gap between the islands with micro pellet & maggot, and micro pellet & corn tight to the island.

I started at 6m on single maggot and was soon catching small roach. After 30 minutes I had 17 and except for peg 72 (end peg) there wasn’t much else been caught. After a quick look on my other lines & re-fed and decided to keep going on my 6m line. However I needed to make a decision, because I felt the rigs I had set up were too light in what was a gusty breeze. Plus my 6m rig was set up for carp, not roach (roach 4x12, .13 bottom, 20 red maggot hook, doubled 6 elastic).

So more rigs were set up. The 6m line now had a jolly 4x14, 10 bottom, 22 silverfish hook & 5 elastic, which provided much better presentation.

90 minutes gone and my 6m line was drying up. I had started to pick up some small skimmers, probably thanks to the micro pellet, but I was having to wait too long for bites. I needed to change tact, because a few carp were now being caught, particularly Adrian on peg 72, which meant I was now fishing for 2nd in section.

I had been feeding maggot & micro pellet down the margin and 1st drop in on expander produced a carp, soon followed by another. Now I was back in contention.

The remainder of the match saw me rotating swims to keep the fish coming, including a brief look on the waggler fished into the island gap, but this didn’t produce anything other than small roach. In the end I caught most of my silvers on the 6m line and most of my carp in the margins.

At the all out, I hoped for 2nd in section and the weigh in confirmed I had, in what turned out to be a very tight section, with 2x 12lb, 11lb 4oz and 5lb 2oz coming last. Adrian won the section with 24lb 7oz, which makes 3 section wins out of 3 and is now leading the league. I’ve jumped from 18th to 12th.

More importantly that’s another 2 quid from Mr Sivell. Fair shout to him though he did send me a text saying well done, but I probably need to watch my back in case he pushes me in!

1st Adrian Clarke 18pts
2nd Andy France 17pts
3rd Nicky Collier 16pts
4th Mike Duckett 15pts
5th Pete Nurse 13.5pts
6th Clint Wojtyla 13pts
12th Ken Rayner 12pts (27lb 14oz)

14/12/08 - Ivy House - Small Lake

Weight – 7lb 7oz
Catch – 8 Roach, 4 Rudd, 2 Bream, 1 Mirror Carp, 1 Perch.
Weather – Cold, cloudy and calm.
Water temp – 6.0c > 6.0c
Match – Glenfall Xmas Match – 3rd overall

As well as being our Christmas match, this was also the final of the knockout competition, where Andy Lord, Kev Millard and myself had qualified.

Upon arriving, the ice had obviously melted away from 2 days ago, however following yesterday’s heavy rain meant the platforms were underwater and the lake was very coloured, thanks to the nearby brook bursting its banks.

Speaking to Andy, who regularly fishes here whilst having breakfast suggested we needed to draw in the deeper open water, instead of the island pegs. So I drew peg 21, which was an island peg, but it is also a peg I won from in our Christmas match 2 years ago with 40lb.

I also spoke to Vince Shipp last Sunday, who suggested fishing over micro pellet was catching the carp, however the extra water and colour was a concern. A hard match was anticipated, so 3 small balls of groundbait went in at 6m with some pinkie & caster, plus micro pellet at 14m, before I started on the lead & double corn towards the island, which was about 20m away.

After 15 minutes, no bites on the lead, the 6m line, again no bites and the 14m line no bites. Nearly an hour in and I was still fishless, but so were most others, except Graham on peg 3 who had a few roach.

Eventually I caught a rudd on the waggler next to the island, but now I wasn’t sure what to do. My 6m silverfish line had failed and to be honest I didn’t expect it to suddenly come to life. I topped up my 14m line with little more micro, but I had to make a decision about my waggler line. Initially I had set up the waggler with .13 bottom and 18 B911 for carp, but it was becoming obvious that none were feeding, yet I felt the island would offer me the best chance of catching a few. I preserved a little longer, but eventually decided to change down my hooklength to .10 bottom and 22 B911, simply because I had a couple of bites on the drop.

A switch to the 14m yielded a 1lb skimmer and I was continually feeding 3-5 casters on the waggler line hoping to pull in some roach and maybe the odd carp.

The skimmer was the only fish to come off my 14m line, but I decided to move my 14m swim to my right so it didn’t interfere with my waggler line, which was slowly coming to life.

My new 14m swim produced a 2lb skimmer and a near 3lb carp in successive put ins, but then nothing. This was the story the remainder of the match, I would have a run of fish, then I would have to switch tactics. I even tried the margins, however without success.

The last 45 minutes proved a real struggle for everyone, including myself. At least I couldn’t be accused of not trying, I kept trying to keep the fish coming. In the end I expected my waggler line to get stronger, but trying to get my tactics right in the 1st 2 hours ultimately proved costly.

As for the knockout, I beat Andy who only weighed 3lb 10oz, but Kev had 9lb of roach to claim the free annual club membership. Graham Beever on peg 3 won the match with 11lb of quality roach.

12/12/08 - Ivy House - Small Lake

Weight – 8lb 9oz
Catch – 19 Roach, 17 Perch, 1 Mirror Carp
Weather – Lake iced over, cloudy, becoming milder.
Water temp – 4.5c > 4.5c

My clubs Christmas match is due this Sunday at Ivy House Small Lake, plus it is the final of our knockout competition, so I decided a little practice was required.

Ivy House is 1 of those venues that if it was properly managed it could be a great fishery and would attract more & bigger matches. However the owners aren’t prepared to put any real effort in, which is a real shame.

When I woke up I was expecting a frost, but instead there was light drizzle, so I was hopeful the lake wouldn’t be iced over. When I pulled up at the lake, it looked flat & ice free, however closer inspection revealed a thin layer of water on top of 2" thick ice, which proved difficult to break.


I eventually managed to create a channel at 7m, where I had 5ft of water and only set up the 1 rig - Jolly 4x12, .08 bottom and a 22 silverfish hook. Feed was also simple, red maggot and some red atomic cloud, which I fed via a tosspot.

After 15 minutes I was wondering if I had done the right thing by fishing, then I had a bite, which I missed. A couple of roach soon followed, before I hooked something more substantial. After 10 minutes I eventually landed a 4lb 2oz carp, which was a bit of a handful on the light kit, the ice and clear water.

I continued to catch roach up to 10oz, but more & more micro perch were showing. Because I only had the 1 swim to target, I wanted to be cautious about what I fed, but felt tosspoting 3-4 maggot wasn’t positive enough, hence fewer roach were showing. So I decided to mix a little Match Blend groundbait. Although I had to wait a little longer for bites I started to catch roach again, which is useful tactic to know for Sundays match.

I was pleased with how the session went, however I wished I had some pinkie, because I missed bites and lost fish due to the smaller fish hanging onto the end of the maggot.

The weather forecast is for milder weather so with any luck I will be able to leave the icebreaker at home!

07/12/08 - Viaduct - Spring Lake

Weight – 5lb 1oz
Catch – 79 Roach, 10 Rudd, 9 Bream, 1 Motherless Minnow
Weather – -5c overnight. Lakes iced over. Sunny & cold.
Water temp – 4.5c > 4.5c
Match – Veals Winter League – rd 7 – 31st overall, 10th in section

After last weekend’s disappointment, I was hoping for a good draw. Spring, Middle, Cary & Campbell were in, but everyone was hoping for a decent silverfish peg because of the ice.

I drew peg 4 on Spring, which Paul Garrett suggested I sit on the tip for carp, assuming I could reach the island! Unfortunately I couldn’t, otherwise I really fancied my chances. Instead I had to target the silvers, but the catch was I had Des Shipp on one side and Nicky Collins on the other. An England international and a silverfish venue expert, I felt a battering coming up and just hoped the ice would melt so I could get to the island.

I set up 2 lines, 6m feeding pinkie and 13m feeding black lake/mussel & squid with caster.
I was never going to match Des or Nicky by copying them, so I had to work hard to find a way of catching better quality fish. I did catch plenty of fish, but had too many small roach. If I had been able to practice I would have changed my approach slightly, by feeding small balls of groundbait more frequently, I also wouldn’t have fed liquidised hemp which seemed to attract too many tiny roach, instead of the skimmers.

In the end Des weighed 13lb and Nicky 8lb, but the main weights came from the corner pegs 6 & 7 (Andy Lloyd won the match with 94lb) plus there was 4 big silverfish weights (28lb-33lb) from pegs 17-20 in the deeper water.

Overall the day difficult for most, with a total of 10 blanks, mainly from the ice free Middle Lake. Cary was only won with 15lb and Campbell with 23lb.

1st Mike Nicholls – Charlies Angels - 87pts
2nd Chris Davis – Westerleigh – 85
3rd Ryan Shipp – Westerleigh – 77 (222-5)
4th Vince Brown – Sedges Mosella – 77 (182-3)
5th Adam Palmer – Sedges Mosella – 76
6th Jon Gray – Somerset Angling – 75.5
7th Eric Fouracre – Sedges Mosella – 75
8th Tim Pallant – Maver Veals Blue – 71.5 (158-2)
9th Mark Broomsgrove – Sensas Thyers – 71.5 (119-7)
10th Tony Rixon – Avon Angling – 71
21st Ken Rayner – Maver Veals Red - 56

28/11-30/11 - Stafford Moor

For the first time ever, the last thing I wanted to do was spend a long weekend away fishing at Stafford Moor. The stress of work etc, meant I felt like absolute crap, however I had to fish rounds 5 & 6 of the Veals Winter League, which normally I would relish.

On Friday I practised on Woodpecker peg 32, fishing the lead & trying for the first time the "tea bag". I didn’t have to think too hard about the fishing and finished with 6 carp for 41½lb, 5 on the lead and 1 on the full depth waggler.

Saturday saw me on Tanners peg 34. I finished with 12lb 11oz of silvers, however in what was a very tight section, I was only 3lb away from coming 4th overall in the silvers. Had I struck with catching the silvers for the whole match I would have probably come 5th in section instead of 2nd to last. I spent too long searching for a carp that weren’t feeding in very cold conditions.

Sunday I was on Woodpecker peg 8, which wasn’t a great draw and it was even colder overnight, than the previous night. My silver fish line only yielded small roach, so I spent more time than I should have trying for a carp, simply because it didn’t require too much thought. Again, had I been up for it and concentrated I would have probably come about half way in section.

I am really disappointed with this weekend, not just because I was ill, but I have now slipped to 21st in the individual league and I have absolutely no doubt had I fished to my full potential I would have done much better, particularly on Saturday.

23/11/08 - Lands End - Johns Lake

Weight – 1lb 9oz
Catch – 7 Roach, 5 Rudd, 5 Perch, 1 Bream.
Weather – Cold overnight, strong northwesterly wind, showers
Water temp – 8.5c > 8.5c
Match – Lands End Winter League – rd 2 – 27th overall, 5th in section

Today simply topped off a really crap week. Suzanne is still struggling to find another job, I’m struggling to hit target (and I really need the £3k kicker), as well as having my balls chewed over an incident at work.

I don’t think I have been under so much pressure for a very long time, so all I wanted was a nice day fishing.
Peg 41 is a good draw and usually worth a few fish. However, as I was setting up the wind suddenly increased and it was difficult to hold 8m of pole, let alone the required 14m. The wind was blowing straight into my corner and with a clear lake the prospects were for a difficult day.

I caught most of my fish, fishing into the near corner on caster, but I couldn’t get any quality fish. I even tried the tip, but only caught a small skimmer. Not much was being caught, in fact my section was the worse on the day, being the most exposed to the wind. On all 3 lakes the sections were won from the sheltered ends.

Although I finished 5th in section, I nearly fished 3rd. Russ Peck on peg 42 and Andy Bryant on peg 51, both had late carp on maggot to add to Russ's 1lb 8oz of bits and Andy's single 1oz perch!

To add insult to injury, I managed to jam pole sections 6 & 7 thanks to a bit of super glue, and then I managed to break it! More expense.

Oh for a bit of good fortune and not just with the fishing.

16/11/08 - Lands End - Johns Lake

Weight – 10lb 4oz
Catch – 2 F1, 1 Common Carp, 1 Roach.
Weather – Cloudy, mild, occasional drizzle, breezy.
Water temp – 10.0c > 10.5c
Match – Open 22th overall, 11th in section.

I should have known I was in for a bad day, when the wheel snapped off my space shuttle trolley at the lake. So that meant 2 trips to get my kit back to the car. Not happy.

Johns & Sydney’s lake were in for this match. I drew peg 54, which is an average draw and I wanted to try a few slightly different things in preparation for next weeks Lands End Winter League. I would normally approach this match fishing caster, maggot & corn, fishing for bites, but today I wanted to feed more pellet (4mm expander & micro pellet), mainly because fishing maggot on Johns lake results in tiny roach.

I started fishing tight to the island hoping for an early carp. In the meantime I feed some micro pellet, 4mm expanders and caster at 14.5m just off the end of the island. After 15mins, I hadn’t caught so switched to the 14.5m line. I soon caught a F1 on corn, but that was my only fish for a couple of hours.

Other than peg 55 not much was being caught, probably due to the tricky wind. It seemed my swim was devoid of fish, until I noticed a fish roll in an area of my peg I hadn’t feed. 1st drop in the new area I caught a F1 on corn, I fed 4 bits of pellet, 10 mins later I caught a carp, At last! Sussed it. Eh no. A couple of missed bites & a bumped fish and then nothing. I was really frustrated, I even tried firing caster at the point of the island, but 1 lost foul hooked carp was all I had to show for it.

It seemed as though the fish were backing off the feed, yet peg 55 had caught & won the match with 35lb (and not fishing particularly well!) feeding, as did peg 59 opposite.

I am here next week and the weather forecast is for a cold snap by the weekend. So I think a patience, tight feeding regime will be required.

09/11/08 - Lands End - Match Lake

Weight – 12lb 7oz
Catch – 18 Roach, 6 Perch, 2 Carp, 1 Tench, 1 Bream.
Weather – Heavy overnight rain. Cloudy, rain & strong winds.
Water temp – 9c > 9c
Match – Lands End Winter League – rd 1 – 16th overall, 2nd in section.

The Lands End winter league is to be run over 8 matches and originally there were to be 48 anglers over 4 lakes. In the end only 3 lakes are to be used with 36 anglers, although a couple couldn’t turn up for the 1st round. The eventually winner will walk away with £550, with 7th place receiving £50.

Speci, Match and Johns Lake were in for today and with heavy rain and wind forecast, I wanted to draw the more sheltered Speci or Match Lake, which I duly did with peg 24.

The wind was from behind, so at least that would make fishing the pole more comfortable, but the real concern was the clarity of the water and the fact peg 1 opposite hadn’t been drawn, which would mean the fish would back off too easily.

At the start I fed a small ball of groundbait with pinkie & caster at 14.5m in open water and immediately started fishing 13m at the bottom of the shelf, hoping for a mug fish. A roach 1st put in on maggot was soon followed by a small carp, before I decided to feed a few bits of caster.

A switch to my groundbait swim produced small roach, before a 2lb tench put in appearance. Not much else was being caught so I kept plugging away, concentrating on the open water and 13m margin swim, occasionally trying under peg 23 pallet.

With 90 minutes left, I was still catching odd fish mostly on pinkie, but felt I needed some better quality fish. I decided to leave my open water swim and spend more time fishing along the margin to the tree, up & down the shelf. I caught another carp up the shelf, plus a decent perch, as well as a 1lb plus roach at the bottom of the shelf. There were fish beyond the tree, but I couldn’t reach them due to the tree and with no one on peg 1 I couldn’t get them to come back.

To finish 2nd in section was a good start, but Pete Sivell isn’t happy with me, because this is now the 5th time on trot that I have beaten him off the next peg!

The next round will be in 2 weeks and I will on Johns Lake.

02/11/08 - Lands End - Johns Lake

Weight – 16lb 0oz
Catch – 13 Roach, 3 Carp, 2 Perch, 1 Bream, 1 Tench.
Weather – Cold & cloudy. Northerly breeze.
Match – Veals Winter League – rd 4 – 25th overall, 6th in section.

Peg 55 on Johns Lake. At least it wasn’t one of the middle pegs, but it hadn’t shown much form recently. In the last winter league Kev Perry managed 18lb for 4pts, so if I could walk away with 10pts, I would be happy.

A quick chat with Rod Wootton told me to fish 16m to the point of the spit, fishing up & down the shelf. I feed caster, 4mm expanders and later micro pellet. I also set up a line at 11.5m in open water, feeding chopped maggot, hoping for some silvers.

Despite a tricky wind, I had most of my fish, feeding at 14.5m and fishing at 15-16m, on maggot, plus a 3lb bream on pellet. The silver fish line only produced a few small roach and even those weren’t coming regularly, so I had no choice but to concentrate on the longer line. I did try the margins, however without success.

Tony Rixon was on peg 54 and beat me by virtue of a few more silvers, weighing 17lb 3oz. His swim was more sheltered from the wind, which made for better presentation. He did lost a few carp, which were foul hooked, I tried not to look pleased!

In the end I achieved my target of 10pts, which keeps me in contention in the individual league, although the team is still struggling and it doesn’t look like we will be retaining the league title this year.

Overall the weather meant weights were generally lower than expected, but I still feel there are areas I can improve on, particularly with the Lands End winter league starting next week. I biggest problem is my feeding, I struggle to keep my hand out of the bait box!

1-Chris Davis - Westerleigh 53pts
2-Eric Fouracre - Sedges Mosella 49
3-Rod Wootton - Sartan Club AC 48
4-Ryan Shipp - Westerleigh 47 (184-12)
5-Ken Rayner - Maver Veals Red 47 (88-3)
6-Tim Pallant - Maver Veals Blue 45.5
7-Mike Nicholls - Charlies Angels 45
8-Anton Page - Sarfix South West 42 (200-4)
9-Adam Palmer - Sedges Mosella 42 (79-7)
10-Tony Rixon - Avon Angling 42 (70-8)

01/11/08 - Lands End - Match Lake

Weight – 6lb 8oz
Catch – 9 Perch.
Weather – Frosts all week. Cold cloudy & breezy. Rain later.
Match – Open – 5th overall, 1st in silvers.

Following last week’s match, I wanted to try a few different things in preparation for tomorrows Veals Winter League, such as feeding groundbait for the silvers.

I drew peg 1, which is normally a good draw, but with a cold wind blowing into the peg, combined with the clear water, I wasn’t confident.

I feed groundbait at the bottom of the far shelf, a small amount of caster & corn at the bottom of the point of the island and I initially fed nothing along the margin.

The guy on peg 24 opposite wrecked his swim, by feeding far too much at the start and I hoped he would push the carp over towards me. Usually if there are any carp in the swim, I would expect to have a few liners, but nothing.

My groundbait swim didn’t produce a single bite all match. I caught some early perch from the point of the island and later 16m down the margin. I tried an open water swim, feeding ½ cup of feed at 14m, plus chopped maggot at 11m, but no bites.

The margin swim turned out to be the best. Initially I was fishing a carp maggot rig & a corn rig, but had most of my fish on a light .10 bottom and 22 hook and just hoped I didn’t hook any carp.
I knew I beaten pegs 4, 22 & 24, but I was really surprised to win the silvers with such a low weight.

1st 40lb – Anton Page – peg 13
2nd 18lb – Mike Duckett – peg 18
3rd 17lb – Rod Wootton – peg 11

26/10/08 - Lands End - Johns Lake

Weight – 4lb 8oz
Catch – 7 Roach, 2 Carp, 2 Bream, 1 Perch.
Weather – Rainy start, becoming clearer & breezy.
Match – Open – last!

There are some days, when it just doesn’t happen for whatever reason or you have to hold up your hands and say I got it wrong. Fortunately I very rarely do so badly.

28 anglers turned up for this match on Johns & Sydney’s lake. I drew peg 46, which isn’t ideal, but I fully expected to catch a few, so much so I only set 3 rigs, 2 carp rigs & silvers rig. I soon found myself setting up new rigs to try & catch.

So why such a bad day? I may have overfed the swim and I probably wasn’t patient enough, but either way I should have caught more than I did.

I would rather get it wrong today than in next week’s winter league.

1st 130lb – Bela Bakos - peg 68 - maggot/shallow
2nd 79lb – Rod Wootton - peg 58 – pellet
3rd 61lb – Vince Shipp – peg 70

19/10/08 - Lands End - Johns Lake

Weight – 33lb 9oz
Catch – 15 Roach, 6 Carp, 2 Crucians, 2 Bream, 1 F1, 1 Rudd.
Weather – Bright, sunny & flat calm start. Later became cloudy & cooler.
Match – Veals Winter League – rd 3 (23rd overall, 4th in section)

Everyone wanted to draw Johns or Sydneys Lake and I found myself on peg 68 on Johns Lake. Pressure on! Peg 68 is 1 of the better pegs on the lake and prompted Mike Duckett to say this could be my year to win the league the way I was drawing!

The problem with drawing a good peg is to making sure you take advantage. Initially I set up 3 swims. 6m to my right feeding caster & hemp for silvers, 9m to my left next the reed bed and 14m at the bottom of the shelf by the point of the island.

On the whistle I fed 4mm expanders & corn at 14m and started fishing next to the reed bed with double corn without feed. After 10 mins I caught a 4lb carp. A switch to the long pole line resulted in another carp and a F1, but the action didn’t last long.

A switch to the silvers line only resulted in small roach and I found myself going no where whilst Vince Brown on peg 70, Andy Lloyd and Vince Shipp opposite were catching all be it crucians with the odd carp.
90mins to go and I’m still behind those I can see expect Clayton to my right. I kept rotating baits and managed to snare another couple of carp, but I needed a change.

I had left the island alone so far, but decided to cup a small amount of feed tight to the point of the island and slightly to the right next to a small bush. There was a good depth tight to the island so I was confident of catching, but like on my other lines the bait (pellet or corn) was being nipped by small roach, which made fishing caster pointless.

10 minutes to go, I really needed a carp. A switch back to the point of the island and the float eventually buried, carp on & landed. 5 minutes to go, try the weed bed or back to the point of the island? I decided on the point of the island and the float buried again and I landed a near 9lb carp, which was my biggest of the match.

14lb in last 10mins was a big bonus and proof if needed that you should never give up. The weigh in started with Andy on peg 41, who weighed 30lb, next was Vince Shipp who won the lake with 53lb. As the scales moved round I realised I had done well and wondered whether I would have enough to beat 30lb. When the scales arrived my silvers net weighed 3lb 5oz, which meant I needed my 6 carp to weigh more than 27lb, which they duly did. Vince Brown was last to weigh and missed out on beating Andy by 8oz.

As a team, we continue to struggle, but individually I am now lying 2nd overall, and perhaps Mike was right?

1-Chris Davis-Westerleigh 40
2-Ken Rayner-Maver Veals Red 37
3-Ryan Shipp-Westerleigh 36 (159-5)
4-Mike Nicholls-Charlies Angels 36 (65-9)
5-Rod Wootton-Sartan Club AC 34 (128-7)
6-Eric Fouracre-Sedges Mosella 34 (80-12)
7-Julian Heaven-Norfolking Good 33
8-Vince Brown-Sedges Mosella 31 (108-6)
9-Dave Downton-Team Veals 31 (69-3)
10-Tim Pallant-Maver Veals Blue 30.5

18/10/08 - Lands End - Match Lake

Weight – 6lb 9oz
Catch – 6 Perch, 2 Roach, 1 Tench, 1 Bream, 1 Chub.
Weather – Cool, a little breezy, cloudy periods.
Match – Open (13th overall)

Well I couldn’t believe it when I drew peg 11 again, I nearly ran to the peg. Incredibly Mike drew peg 13 as well.

Like the last couple of times, I decided to largely ignored the silvers and concentrate on the carp. Unfortunately this time the carp didn’t show.

On a separate note, Suzanne has lost her job, which means hards times ahead and a reduction in my fishing activity. As well as forfilling my obligation to the Veals Winter League, I have decided to concentrate on Lands End for the rest of the winter, including fishing the Lands End Winter League, which starts in 2 weeks. Fortunately my bait bill will low, but more importantly I do pick up over 50% of the time when fishing here, so hopefully my trips will pay for themselves.

12/10/08 - Lands End - Specimen Lake

Weight – 18lb 1oz
Catch – 3 Carp, 2 Chub, 2 Perch, 2 Rudd, 1 Bream, 1 Roach.
Weather – Bright, sunny & flat clam.
Match – Open (19th overall, 8th section)

The Specimen and Match Lake were in for this open, which would serve to be a practice for next weeks Winter League.

I drew peg 32 on the Specimen Lake and my main catching area would be 16m down the margin next to an overhanging tree. For this match I decided to ignore setting up a silvers rig and concentrate on the carp.

After 90 mins, things had been going well, with a couple of carp and silvers on double caster, tight to the margin. However as soon as the sun moved around, my swim was no longer in the shade and I began to struggle quite badly.

I tried in the open water and at the bottom of the shelf, trying different baits, but had very little. With an hour to go, my swim started to show signs of life again, with a few foul hooked carp, which I managed loss.

Steve Mayo on peg 31, started to catch tight to the island and eventually won our lake with 60lb.

I was disappointed not to have caught more and losing 6 carp was frustrating, but flat bright conditions meant the carp weren’t feeding properly. My side of the lake fished worse than the other side, so most will want to draw peg 33 to 40 next week.

I don’t think I did too much wrong today, in fact I was really happy with how I set up my rigs.

11/10/08 - Lands End - Match Lake

Weight – 49lb 10oz (13lb 4oz - silvers)
Catch – 10 Perch, 8 Carp, 2 Tench, 2 Chub, 1 F1, 1 Bream, 1 Roach
Weather – Bright, sunny & flat clam.
Match – Open (3rd overall, 2nd in silvers)

The current financial crisis could be biting very hard, following the announcement of a restructure at Suzanne work, which may mean cutting back on the amount of fishing. Time will tell – soon.

I haven’t fished Lands End for about 7 months, but I usually fish here regularly during the autumn & winter. On some days it can be a bit of a tough nut to crack, but what I like about the place is if you cant catch carp, there are usually a few silvers to target, like roach, rudd, chub, ide, bream and perch.

Today’s match was on Match Lake and I drew peg 11, which won last weeks match with 60lb+.
October is suppose to be the month of change, but here I was sat at my peg in a T-shirt on a bright windless day, which resembled a hot summers day.

Because the peg had some carp form, I decided to concentrate on the carp. I had plenty of water to attack and to be honest had too many options. After plumbing around decided to feed caster/corn and brown atomic cloud to the margin on peg 12, caster/corn at the bottom on the shelf in front of me, micro pellet/corn at the bottom of the shelf in front of peg 10 and finally 4mm expander & corn under the pallet of peg 10.

peg 12 margin

The margin in peg 12 was the best area to start, fishing double caster or corn, feeding via a tosspot. I picked up a couple of small carp, plus some decent silver, but I had to wait for bites and alternated up and down the shelf, but with the bright conditions I was just pleased to be catching.

Mike Duckett was on peg 13 and was getting plenty of liners fishing at the bottom of the shelf by the island. Both of my bottom of the shelf swims, only produced a few liners, but I was sure the swim would pick up later in the session. I kept feeding all my swims with a little bait, but I also started feeding hemp & caster by catapult tight to the island hoping either for carp or chub.

When I tried tight to the island I quickly caught a chub, then a perch, but the swim soon slowed, although I did manage another carp and a chub later on.

With 2 hours left, my bottom of the shelf swim, started to show signs of life and I started to catch a few carp on corn, including a 9lber. Unfortunately, I was also losing a few, most of which were foul hooked, because the fish hadn’t properly settled, probably due to the unseasonably warm day.

After such a long period from when I was last here, I was pleased to come 3rd overall. Rod Wootton won from peg 22 with 63lb, Martin Leneghan was 2nd from peg 6 with 60lb, which included 14lb of silvers. Like me, Martin was targeting the carp and his silvers were tench, crucians, skimmers and 4lb+ bream.

Mike West got the muppet award for chucking back 12lb of silvers, which would have won him the silvers prize by default. However Martin had been winding him up all match and suggested I had 30lb of silvers and Mike knew Martin had more then him.

05/10/08 - Bullock Farm - Carp Lake

Weight – 26lb 0oz
Catch – 7 Roach, 4 Carp.
Weather – Heavy rain to start, later cloudy
Water temp – 12.5c > 12.5c
Match – Veals Winter League – rd 2 (15th overall, 4th in section)

It’s the 2nd round of the Winter League and its absolutely hosing it down. The forecast was for the rain to stay all match.

I wanted to draw Rushcombe or Match Lake, but definitely not Carp Lake, so it was no real surprise when I drew peg 19 on Carp Lake. 3 out of the last 4 years I have been on carp lake and frankly getting a bit fed up with it.

When I arrived at my peg, Clayton Hudson who was fishing peg 6 on Match Lake had already set up his pole rollers in my peg. This is the only problem with the venue, it is a little tight.

I fancied my peg for a few carp. I had the end of an island to target, some open water and the pallet in front of peg 20. The recent heavy rain had an obvious effect on the water, being 2c less than last week, so a cautious approach was required.

At the start I cupped a pinch of 4mm expanders and micro pellet on the end of the island and then fished different areas of my swim hoping for a mug carp, which unfortunately never materialised.

Tim Clark (peg 21) and Steve Fouracre (peg 6) had both landed carp quite quickly either side of the reed bed, but other than that not much was being caught.

I also fed a small ball of groundbait at 4m, plus regularly loose fed caster, hoping for some silvers, if the carp didn’t show. When I switched to this line I started to catch the odd roach on caster, before it went quite and I hooked a carp of about 3lb. After 10 minutes I managed to land it, which was a real bonus. Although I periodically tried to reignite this line it didn’t take off again, probably because there wasn’t enough open water for the roach to settle.

By this time the rain was coming down hard and the wind had increased. Fortunately the forecast rain stopped all together after 2hrs and the wind and dropped away. I had been sparingly cupping caster, micro pellet & 4mm expanders, into my island swim and my open water swim, whilst catapulting 4mm expanders into the left hand pallet swim.

My float was set to a mere dimple and by feeding via toss pot, rotated my open water and island swim, I managed a couple of carp on 6mm expander, as well as losing 2 when the hook pulled.

The last hour was the most frustrating, I thought I needed 1 or 2 more carp to guarantee good points, but it never came. I even tried up the right side of the island, where there were fish moving around up there and I had a few liners, but they simply weren’t taking the bait, despite trying paste, worm, corn, caster & pellet.

Tim Clark on peg 21, managed to hook 18 carp, but landed 2! He should have walked the match, but the fish kept diving into the reed bed. To be honest he was pulling too hard.

In the end I thought I had about 18-20lb and as we were weighing in, there were a few people who had 5/6 carp for 20lb or so and I thought I would finish ½ way in the section. As it happened my 4 carp were closer to the average stamp and went 23lb 9oz, plus my 7 roach (2lb 7oz), meant I finished 4th in the section, as well as winning my 5 peg mini section and collecting £40.

Maver Veals Red finished a disappointed 10th on the day and lay 8th overall. In the individual league I am currently 3rd overall.

25/09/08 - Bullock Farm - Match Lake

Weight – 10lb 14oz
Catch – 9 Roach, 4 Carp, 2 Fantail, 2 Bream, 1 F1
Weather – Foggy start cold start, later warm, sunny and flat calm.
Water temp – 14.5c > 15.0c
Match – Open – (15th out of 24)

I ran a practice open on Bullocks Match Lake in preparation for the 2nd round of the Veals Winter League. All 24 of us were on the 1 lake, which wasn’t ideal, but unfortunately I couldn’t split it over 2 lakes.

I drew peg 6, which again wasn’t ideal. I would have much preferred any of the car park or chicken shed pegs.

I finished the day with a disappointing weight. I couldn’t get the silvers to feed properly, probably because in hindsight and speaking to a few others I could have fed more caster and switched the micro pellet for groundbait. Having said that I wasn’t in the best area for silvers.

Normally you can get a few carp and they are usually bigger than average, but not today. I was glad when the match finished.

24/09/08 - Bullock Farm - North Pool

Weight – 47lb 6oz
Catch – 14 Roach, 12 Carp, 3 Rudd, 1 F1, 1 Crucian, 1 Fantail.
Weather – Foggy start cold start, later warm, sunny and flat calm.
Water temp – 14.5c > 14.5c

Autumn has definitely arrived. A cold foggy started, officially ended what little summer we have had.

Originally wanted to fish the match lake, but this was closed so I settled on North Pool, simply because I fished Rushcombe not that long ago, I don’t like the Carp Lake and I had not fished North Pool for a while.

Being quite busy, I ended up on peg 23, at the back of the complex. I had a spare peg either side of me, so I had a little room to try a few things. My peg is only 10m wide, so I concentrated fishing left and right.

The fishing was generally difficult, with the odd fish being caught from each swim, mostly on pinkie. I couldn’t get a run together, but not many fish being caught anywhere.

I had been feeding both margins. The left margin I feed quite heavily with caster & 4mm expanders, whilst the right margin was feed more cautiously with the same bait.

I had periodically tried my margins without success, but they finally arrived in the last 90 mins, when I had 9 carp, mostly from the right hand margin.

18/09/08 - Trinity Waters - Wildmarsh

Weight – 13lb 12oz
Catch – 12 Roach, 11 Bream
Weather – Warm, sunny & flat calm.
Water temp – 16.0c > 16.5c
Match – Veals Winter League – rd 1 (20th overall, 3rd in section)

15 teams of 4 and most people wanted to draw Woodlands Lake, which is the carp lake.

Personally I fancied an open water draw on Wildmarsh Lake, which had 3 sections of the 4 sections. At the draw my wish was granted and I found myself on peg 30, which was on the end of spit and I had loads of water to attack. I really fancied myself to get good points.

As the match organiser I had to put the time of the match back ½ hour, due to some confusion regarding the pegging, unfortunately a couple of people didn’t understand the pegging.

At the start of the match, the real concern was the weather. It was bright & very calm, so I decided on a cautious approach and only cupped in 1 ball of groundbait, plus a little bit of chopped worm & caster at 13m. I also feed some 6mm expanders and small balls of groundbait at 25m, anticipating that I would catch most of my fish on the waggler, particularly after Wednesdays practice session.

Initially I tried to catch short for some early roach & rudd, but one had 1 bite after 15mins, so I quickly switched to the long pole. I had set up 2 rigs to fish this line. 1 light rig with .10 bottom and size 20 silverfish hook to fish caster & maggot, plus a heavy rig with .11 bottom and a size 18 B911 to fish worm & double maggot.

As the match progressed I caught most of my fish on the light rig with single caster, a few on the heavy rig & worm. I periodically tried the waggler, but only caught 1 skimmer, which was a real surprise.

With 90 mins left, I knew I was doing well, the only anglers I could see catching were Des Shipp on the far bank and Dave Downton to my right. However my swim seemed to have dried up. I tried going to 14m without any real success. I didn’t want to kill my 13m swim completely, so I decided dump a full cup of maggot, caster & chopped worm at 13m at 2 o’clock, hoping to catch a few eels.

20 mins later, 1st drop in with double maggot, the float just kept going under and I caught a biggest fish of the day, a 2½lb skimmer. In fact the last hour I managed another 4 skimmers from both my pole swims and was really confident of good points.

In the end I was 3rd in my section, beaten my anglers who both had single carp to go with their silvers weight. I did try for carp down the margins, but never had a bite and I didn’t waste too much time looking, since there was very few carp being caught on Wildmarsh. All the carp weights came from Woodlands, with the best weight being 61lb.

As well as coming 3rd in my section I was also 3rd in the silvers.

17/09/08 - Trinity Waters - Wildmarsh

Weight – 24lb 6oz
Catch – 12 Roach, 9 Rudd, 8 Bream, 3 Perch, 2 Eel, 1 Carp, 1 Barbel
Weather – Rain at start, then mostly cloudy. Mostly flat calm.
Water temp – 16.0c > 16.5c

With the forthcoming 1st round of the Veal’s Winter League looming, I needed some practice at the venue. Sundays practice open had been won with about 40lb and the general consensus was there was bites for everyone.

Trinity Waters evokes very polarised views about whether it should be included in the Winter League, because the fishing can be challenging. As expected many of those that struggle to catch are not prepared to work for their fish. Personally I like to venue, set in a lovely location, John & Sue have worked hard to continually improve the fishery.

Wildmarsh is a 70 peg lake, which will have 3 sections of 15, which meant there was a 75% chance I would drew there on Sunday. The other lake, Woodlands would be dominated by carp and would effectively look after itself, so it made sense to practice on Wildmarsh.

I few days earlier I received a call from my best mate, Jim, when we realised we hadn’t got together for nearly 9 months, he decided to come along with me for the practice session. Since most pegs had a tree between them, we settled on pegs 44 & 45 because the vegetation was less dense, so at least we could have chat, whilst we fished.

The winter league would be float only, so I really wanted to get the waggler sorted, because if I drew Wildmarsh in the match I felt the waggler would give me an edge since most anglers would only fish the pole.

I set up a loaded 8g-enser-dream waggler, with 5 x no.6 bulk 2 foot from the hook 4 no 10 droppers, fishing in 7 foot water. I feed 6mm swim stim expanders, plus small balls of groundbait laced with chopped worm, caster & 3mm pellet. Whilst the fishing was never hectic, I caught skimmers up to 2lb 12oz mostly on half a worm at 25/30m.

I also had a few fish on the pole at 12m, but felt I probably overfed the swim from the start, cupping 4 balls of groundbait with caster & chopped worm. In hindsight, I should have started a little more cautiously.

As part of my practice session I also tried the margins, but only managed 1 carp about 6½lb and a barbel.

This was a really enjoyable session. The weather conditions were hardly ideal for catching skimmers, but I finished confident with the waggler and hoping for an open water draw on Sunday.

14/09/08 - Stafford Moor - Tanners

Weight – 19lb 12oz
Catch – 39 Bream, 28 Roach, 1 Hybrid, 1 Rudd.
Weather – Warm & sunny. Very light easterly breeze.
Water temp – 16.0c > 16.5c
Match – Stafford Moor Pairs – Day 2 – (64th overall, 10th in section)

Following yesterday’s match, Mike and I were effectively out of contention for the pair’s competition, so I wanted to at least have a few bites.

I drew peg 32 on Tanners but the wind had switched around and was blowing into pegs 18 & 20. It was also very bright and flat, so prospects weren’t looking good.

I started looking for carp on the full depth waggler and lead, but other than a couple of liners I had no carp. I had set up a silverfish line at 8m, feeding groundbait and micro pellet, but most of the fish were small. I also tried setting a line at 14.5m just feeding pellet. I caught a few decent skimmers, but wished I had some 6mm pellet instead of the 8mm.

Overall I was going no where, I had a banging headache and to be honest lost focus on what I should be doing, because it became obvious most of the fish were being caught at the other end of the lake, with 120lb winning the lake & my section from peg 18.

13/09/08 - Stafford Moor - Woodpecker

Weight – 35lb 0oz
Catch – 5 Carp, 2 Bream, 1 Crucian
Weather – Rain to start, later warm & sunny. Light breeze.
Water temp – 16.0c > 17.5c
Match – Stafford Moor Pairs – Day 1 – (26th overall, 6th in section)

There were 42 pairs at the draw and you had to choice whether to draw from 1 of 2 bags. Tanners & Pines was in 1, whilst Woodpecker & Joseph’s was in the other. I drew Woodpecker 4 and Mike Etheridge drew Tanners 36. Mike definitely had the better draw, whilst my peg had been fishing well recently, so I felt we had half a chance of doing well.

Following advice from Andy, I decided on a 3 pronged attack. The straight lead towards the point of the island, pellet waggler in open water and finally the pole towards the point of the spit. I decided against a silver fish line, because it was reported there was a number of carp in the area and I didn’t want to be distracted from catching carp.

The flat, bright weather had its effect, I caught most of my fish on the lead, 1 fish on the pole, but no carp on the pellet waggler, despite feeding 8pts of pellet. I was convinced the fish would arrive, but they never did.

At the weigh in it became obvious I had draw at the wrong end of the section, the major weights came from peg 6, 10 & 12. Even the pegs opposite me in the bay (32-36) didn’t fish. James Cooper on peg 36 struggled for 39lb.

Mike did Ok on Tanners, unfortunately peg 36 fishes better when the wind is blowing and he finished 4th in section. This meant we were effectively out of the running for day 2.

Could I have done better? Probably not, I worked hard to catch what I had and the weights around me reflected the fact the fish weren’t feeding. The only thing I should have done was try a pva bag.

06/09/08 - Rolfs Lake

Weight – 3lb 10oz
Catch – 33 Perch, 2 Roach
Weather – Mostly cloudy, rain later
Water temp – 17.5c > 17.5c
Match – Total Fishing Individual Qualifier

Due to a minor operation, I couldn’t fish last weekend so was really looking forward to today. I had spent most evenings during the week tying hooklengths and rigs and felt confident of doing well.

When I arrived, the surface of the lake was black with fish, which was a surprise considering the heavy overnight rain. General consensus was the lake would probably be fish hard.

The lake had been split into 4 sections, based on form. I drew peg 29, which was in the 4th and worst section. Pegs 10, 13, 25 & 34 were in my section and I could at least keep an eye on everyone except peg 34.

Based on my previous visit, I decided to try the waggler at full depth, fishing the worm, hoping to pick up the off carp and silvers, whilst feeding my short line and margins.

In the end the lake fished really hard. I caught perch on worm, particularly in the margins, but they were mostly about 1oz and I was going no where fast. Although I had periodically tried meat & corn, without success, with only 90 minutes left, all I needed was a couple of carp, but it just wasn’t happening. I briefly hooked 1 on paste, before the hook pulled, but 10 mins to go I hooked another. This 1 I think was hooked properly, but it broke me on its 1st run – not happy. A missed bites next cast suggested the fish might have arrived all a little too late.

I only needed 3rd in my 5 peg section to qualify for the final, so I was really disappointed to finish 4th.

I had decided on an aggressive feeding approach and on reflection that wasn’t suitable, I should have adopted a more cautious approach, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. The problem was for whatever reason the lake fished very hard and only 78lb was needed to win. Had the lake fished normally, then perhaps my tactics would have worked.

27/08/08 - Rolfs Lake

Weight – 19lb 8oz
Catch – 3 Carp, 1 Perch.
Weather – Warm, hazy sun.
Water temp – 19.0c > 19.0c
Match – Open.

In preparation for the forthcoming qualifier of the Total Fishing Championship, I decided a practice session was in order. Having never seen the venue before I needed a feel for the place.

In preparation for the forthcoming qualifier of the Total Fishing Championship, I decided a practice session was in order. Having never seen the venue before I needed a feel for the place.

I met Mark & Nick in the car park, which was situated next to a very well presented lake. The 3 of us took a walk around the lake and there was loads of fishing topping. I was surprised not to see more colour in the water, but I was assured the colour was normal, since the lake was spring fed.

My peg was 23, one away from Mondays winning peg 22. I fed steadily in the margins and planned to target here later in the match. I started at 6m on paste, feeding only via a tosspot. An hour in, I hadn’t caught anything, despite a few liners and a swim resembling a jacuzzi, which was frustrating and a little surprising.

I managed my 1st carp after 2hrs 40mins on meat from the margin. I nearly missed the bite, due to boredom. I kept rotating methods, managing a couple more carp. Fortunately I wasn’t the only one struggling, the anglers either side of me only caught 2 carp apiece.

The winning weights came from the other end of the big lake with 197lb winning. I came 10th out of 16 and the pegs I beat were on my bank, so it seemed obvious for what ever reason the fish weren’t in my part of the lake.

Sometimes the best sessions are those that you struggle in. I made the classic mistake of thinking I would catch over 100lb, when the reality is these carp are quite cute. Speaking to some of the regulars it transpired the carp were taking small baits, mostly punched meat, although you had to feed a lot to get the carps head down. Ultimately my 9pts of 6mms may not have been enough. The regulars fed 4mm and in higher quantities.

The positives from the session were the lake didn’t fish well at all. It appears the lake doesn’t take pressure, because there was a match on Saturday and Monday. With a more refined approach I am confident I would have caught more.

17/08/08 - Fishponds

Weight – 117lb 8oz
Catch – 14 Carp, 3 Bream.
Weather – Windy, showery start, then mostly sunny.
Water temp – 18.5c > 18.5c
Match – Club - 2nd

I finished this match, thinking what do I have to do to a win at the moment? I’m fishing with confidence, got some good section results and frames, but no out right win.

Today was a club match, where 13 members turned up. Heavy overnight rain could make things interesting and a strong wind blowing into peg 1, meant many thought that Graham would walk the match.

My peg was 18 at the other, more sheltered end of the lake. I always fancy a few on paste at this lake and that was my main attack. Kev, who is one of the best anglers in the club, was on peg 20 to my right

My main swim was 11m to my left at the bottom of the shelf in front of peg 17. Due to the heavy overnight rain, I decided on a cautious approach. Therefore I fed a few 8 & 11mm pellets via a tosspot, with my paste, every put in. It wasn’t long before I started to catch, as was Kev who was matching me fish for fish.

2hrs in, I had a slight lead over Kev and felt I leading overall, but I began to have dodgy middle part of the match. Thoughout I tried the margins, I did catch 1 on 11mm pellet, but then lost a couple, which trashed my rigs. I then couldn’t get a bite over my main swim and when I did I seemed to foul hook a couple. The final insult was I landed a fish on a new rig, next put in I got a bite and when I struck there was no rig attached.

Whilst I was struggling, Kev kept catching and with 2hrs left (of a 6hr match) was 4 or 5 carp ahead of me. I had also noted Roger on peg 13 started catch well.

Time to really concentrate! I felt my main swim needed an injection, so a cup of pellet went in and this seemed to help and I started to catch again. More importantly I was catching Kev.

On the whistle I landed my final fish, but thought Kev had beaten me. In the end Kev weighted 121lb 13oz, which was a lot closer than I thought. Roger was 3rd from peg 13 with 90lb. The surprise of the day was Graham on peg 1 who struggled and finished DNW.

I was pleased with the weight, which normally would be good enough to win here, but I was also disappointed with the middle part of the match, where I fished like a muppet and feel I should have won.

16/08/08 - Bullock Farm - Rushcombe Lake

Weight – 43lb 14oz
Catch – 152 Carp
Weather – Windy, cloudy and odd shower.
Water temp – 17.0c > 17.5c

Took 11 year old Chaz fishing. Decided Rushcombe Lake at Bullock Farm would be the ideal place to catch a few and get him used to landing and unhooking fish by himself.

This was my first time fishing this lake, but knew it held loads of small carp. Today would also serve to be a good preparation for the Veals Winter League in October.

My initial plan of attack was to fish at 3m on the deck, fishing over groundbait and then the fish the bottom of the far shelf at 11m, feeding 4mm expander and corn.

I started at 3m, but soon found myself messing around with elastics and rigs. Eventually settling on a 16 B911 under a 0.1g caster float, fishing 6ins deep attached to a no. 6 elastic. A small dryish nugget of groundbait was immediate attacked by hordes of goldfish. Double maggot seemed to be best and I quickly caught a colourful bag of fish.

Chaz in the meantime was also catching a few on the waggler, including a few bigger carp up to 12oz, as was I.

After a couple of hours I wanted to try the far bank. Again, initially I tried fishing on the deck, but after 10 mins it became obvious this wasn’t going to happen. More messing about with the rig and I eventually settled on fishing tight to the far bank fishing in 1ft of water. A kinder pot if 4mm expanders and corn, every other put in, saw me catch proper carp in the 4-12oz bracket. Corn seemed to be the best bait, expanders just weren’t durable enough.

The better fish were definitely on the far side, but it was obvious there was a lot of smaller fish to be caught close in.

10/08/08 - Stafford Moor - Tanners

Weight – 39lb 5oz
Catch – 7 Carp
Weather - Mostly bright, but windy.
Water temp – 19.0c > 19.0c
Match – Stafford Maniac Final – 12th overall

The 14 man final and £2000 for the winner. I drew peg 8.

At the draw names were drawn from a hat to decide on the order. I was number 9 and during the draw I had been keeping a mental note of the pegs left. Fortunately peg 13 had gone, but unfortunately the favourite pegs 3 & 36 had already gone, as had my peg from yesterday peg 18, which I fancied another bash at. When it was my turn, pegs 9 & 11 were still in the bag, but alas I had to settle on peg 8, which was a disappointment.

This peg can throw up us some weights, but recent form suggested I could be in for a struggle.
There was a strong wind, blowing right to left and I felt the only way to catch would be on the lead and possibly the pole down the edge. I also set up a pellet waggler in case the wind dropped.

Coming into the final, I felt confident and bizarrely this is largely down to the recent credit crunch. Rather than spending loads on bait and trying to cover all options, I have settled on mostly targeting carp and being more single minded in my approach.

However, law of averages says you going to blow out at some point and my time had arrived in this match.

After an hour I knew I wasn’t winning anything. Pegs 3 & 36 were sacking, peg 9 & 11 were also catching. I tried everything, fishing past the bar, between the island, on top of the bar and in front, but I could only pick odd fish.

Hugely disappointing, because I would have liked to have at least put in a challenge. In the end I don’t think anyone was going to beat Dave Wykes from peg 3, which has been the form peg recently. Simon Jones on peg 36 ran him close and Rory on peg 13 did really well (although I would never admit it to his face – I never hear the end it).

At the draw, as soon as Dave drew peg 3, I felt no one would beat him. The weather conditions and the peg perfectly suited his style of fishing.

09/08/08 – Stafford Moor - Tanners

Weight – 85lb 2oz
Catch – 17 Carp.
Weather – Wet, wet, wet.
Water temp – 19.0c > 19.0c
Match – Staffo-maniac qualifier – 8th overall, 1st in section

As usual with big matches, I am like a little kid at Christmas waking before the alarm. On this occasion I was up at 4am and on my way by 5.45am, arriving ½ hour before the 8am draw.

Everything was prepared, except some pole rigs, but with plenty of time to set up I reasoned any pole rigs could be made up to suit the peg. To qualify for Sunday’s 14 man final I needed to be in the top 2 of my section and 79 anglers had booked in.

I drew peg 18 on Tanners, which meant my 11 man section was between pegs 13 and 30. Anglers in my section included Matt Parsons (who came 2nd in last years final by 1lb), Dave Stockton, Harry Billing, Steve Lockett, Simon Hembridge, Ray Hayward, plus a few others whose names I didn’t know.

To be fair, I quite fancied my peg if the fish were there. It was in a corner and at the opposite end of the normal flyers on the "lawns" and the 30’s. There is a tree on the right hand bank and the branches extend a long way across a channel where a fresh water spring runs in.

As I was setting up there were a few fish moving under the branches, so I was hopeful of catching a few.
As it happened I was speaking to angler, whilst waiting to draw who had fished peg 18 the day before and he lost a few fish under the branches. With this in mind I set 2 pole rigs straight though to .19, size 14 hook, hair rigging 11mm pellet. The 2 rigs were simply to accommodate the difference in depth from the mouth of the channel to the shallower water further up the channel.

I also set up a lead rod, a pellet waggler and a full depth waggler, to fish further along the right hand bank, but I didn’t expect to catch on the float due to the incessant rain and wind, although I was largely sheltered from the worst of it. I also set up 3 spare pole rigs in anticipation of losing a few.

I started immediately under the tree, without feeding, hoping to catch an early mug fish, but had nothing, so I was soon switching to the lead fishing along the bank. An hour in I’ve got 1 carp. At the half way stage, Andy came along and according to him my 5 carp was good, although someone in my section was admitting to 6 or 7 carp an hour before hand and I knew Ray on peg 13 had caught a few.

The problem I had was to fish my peg properly, I had to turn my back to the rest of the lake, so I really didn’t know what was happening, but Andy reckoned 15-20 carp would do today, so my target was 15.

I kept trying the lead and occasionally the waggler, further along the right hand bank, but I had very few indications and I found myself concentrating more and more on the pole. I had left the shallower swim further up the channel alone, because I wanted the fish to settle in the shallower water and it appeared to be working.

Fishing further up the channel meant I had to get the fish away from the snags quickly and throwing 14m of pole behind me into open water, which made things a little tricky.

Going into the last hour I felt was probably 3rd. I had abandoned the lead swim, which had only produced 3 carp, preferring to concentrate on the 2 channel swims and occasionally trying the near margin. There was certainly a few fish around now, particularly in the shallow water, but they weren’t feeding properly and I was suffering a number of line bites, but importantly I was still catching the odd one. In the last 15mins, 3 carp found their way into the net.

In the minutes after the match, the most fish anyone was admitting to in my section was 14, I had 17, but was concerned that a few of my carp were below the average stamp, so I may still struggle to qualify.

Dave Stockton weighed 77lb, which I thought would win, Ray on peg 13 was admitting to 13/14 carp, but I thought he had more. My 1st net containing 10 fish went 45lb, my 2nd net containing 7 carp weighed 40lb. With only peg 13 to weigh in, I had qualified! Question was would I be 1st or 2nd in section. Ray weighed 71lb much to Dave Stockton’s relief.

I was really pleased to have qualified. In hindsight you could say I timed the match perfectly, effectively qualifying in the last 15 mins.

03/08/08 – Stafford Moor - Tanners

Weight – 88lb 2oz
Catch – 14 Carp, 4 Bream, 3 Roach.
Weather – Cloudy, breezy, warm start. Rain later.
Water temp – 20.5c > 20.0c
Match – Open – 11th overall, 3rd in section

I decided to fish the open at Stafford Moor, fished on Tanners and Woodpecker to practice for next weeks Staffo Maniac weekend.

Peg 5 on Tanners was OK, however it hasn’t shown any recent form, although I was confident of catching a few I felt I could be struggling to win any money. Peg 5 is also a bit of jinx peg for me, I never seem to do very well off it. I had the end of the island to target, but the problem was there was a number of snags, plus any hooked carp either went around the island or dived behind the bar shredding your line.

The previous day I have tied loads of hook lengths so at least I was fully prepared. Rig wise I had set up 2 pellet wagglers, 1 skud, a lead rod and finally a margin pole rig.

90 minutes into the match I had 1 carp & 1 skimmer, both on the tip and I was beginning to wonder if it was going to be 1 of those days. I had lost 3 carp, which broke me on the bar, and I lost a couple of hook lengths on the snags – frustrating times.

I had to concentrate on the lead, because the wind was quite strong and the fish didn’t seem to want the pellet waggler, despite varying the depth. I kept feeding 8mm pellet and eventually I started to pick up fish. As soon as I hooked a carp, I had to hold the rod high to ensure I didn’t lose any fish on the bar.

In the last 2 hours the rain came down and kept coming. The only good news was the wind had dropped and I managed to catch a few late on the waggler, but I had to cast tight to the island to get a bite. At least I had an opportunity to practice my casting.

As for my margin line, it only produced 3 roach on 11mm pellet!

At the end of the match, I knew I wouldn’t frame. James Cooper on peg 3, which was the form peg and today’s golden peg worth £300. James had caught well throughout the match on the tip, however a 4lb carp jumped out of his net, which James felt would cost him. Pegs, 34, 35 and 36 had all caught well and from what I could see peg 36 would be James biggest challenger.

James was the last to weigh in (peg 1 did not weigh). I was surprised to weigh as much as I did and so far only peg 11 was beating me for the section. Top weight on the lake was peg 36 with 150lb. James weighed 148lb, so that lost carp cost James £300. Fair shout to him, he took it really well (on the outside anyway).

As for my match, I was disappointed to lost fish the way I did, but when I held the rod high on the strike, I didn’t lose any more. My weight was the best from peg 5 in the 2 months, so really pleased with that.

Confidence is high – just hope for a decent draw next weekend.

27/07/08 – Fishponds

Weight – 258lb 7oz
Catch – 33 Carp, 3 Bream.
Weather – Hot & sunny.
Water temp – 22.0c > 22.0c

A busy social weekend catching up with some friends meant my fishing trip was limited to an evening session.
I decided on a simple day, fishing paste and settled on peg 16 which is a usually productive corner peg. When I arrived in the afternoon, it was hot and still, with carp just cruising around on the surface, so I wasn’t sure whether they would feed straight away.

I settled on a single paste rig, made up of .19 line straight though to a 12 carp feeder hook, fishing in 5 foot of water just past the marginal shelf and an open water swim slightly to my right.

The session started better than anticipated and most of my fish came from the left margin with a few fish from my open water swim, when I wanted to rest the margins. During the 1st half of the session I lost a few fish, mainly due to being lightly hooked, it wasn’t until later the carp started to feed properly and the number of loses reduced.

As I started to catch consistently I was feeding a handful of 8mm pellet in both swims whilst playing each fish, which allowed a short period for the fish to settle again over the baited area.

1st hr = 44lb, 2nd hr = 30lb, 3rd hr = 38lb, 4th hr = 46lb, 5th hr = 53lb 5½hr = 47lb.

The fishing just got stronger and stronger as the session progressed and I ended up finishing slightly early after a carp dived underneath my platform, trashing my rig. It was starting to get dark and I was more than happy with my day.

The carp do run on the big side and my catch included 5 doubles up to 12lb 10oz, which means it doesn’t take long to build a good weight. However 258lb is now a personal best weight, beating my previous best of 230lb from Stafford Moor.

18/07/08 – Stafford Moor - Tanners

Weight – 65lb 3oz
Catch – 12 Carp, 4 Bream, 1 Tench, 1 Roach.
Weather – Wind & rain.
Water temp – 19.0c > 19.0c
Match – Residence - 2nd

Peg 13 wasn’t exactly the drew I wanted, but I did have the advantage of effectively having an end peg, plus the wind wasn’t quite as fierce as at the other end of the lake.

I set up 2 pellet wagglers, a skud, a lead rod and finally the pole to fish the margins, so I wanted cover all eventualities. I felt the only way to compete with the pegs on the lawns and in the 30s was to feed aggressively and pull some fish into my swim.

In the first 20mins 3pts of 8mm went in on the waggler line, in front of the island.

I didn’t catch until 45mins in and I then had to keep rotating methods to keep catching the odd fish. Feeding towards the island was difficult due to the strong cross wind and increasingly heavy rain. I lost a few, either due to being foul hooked or some of them were hooked around the face, so they weren’t really having it.

Throughout I had been feeding both margins. In the last 2 hours I started to concentrate in the margins. The right hand side proved best under the pallet, where I caught 4 carp, whilst the left margin produced 1 carp. Bait was a hair rigged 11mm pellet – I had to discourage the skimmers somehow, but still managed a few.

With 10 minutes to go, Andy came around. I was surprised to hear my 12 carp was jointly leading. The weigh in started at peg 34 (peg 36 wasn’t drawn) so by the time the scales came to me 63lb was winning. I wasn’t sure

I had enough, but was pleased to weight 65lb. The only other weight to beat me was 77lb from peg 8.

Overall, I was really pleased to finish 2nd since I worked really hard to get the most from the swim. In total I fed 13pts of 8mm & 6pts of 11mm.

17/07/08 – Stafford Moor - Woodpecker

Weight – 74lb 5oz
Catch – 100 Bream, 5 Crucian, 4 Roach, 1 Tench.
Weather – Cool wind, sun & cloud.
Water temp – 19.0c > 19.5c

Decided on a days silver fish fishing. I settled on Woodpecker, because I wanted to catch a few Crucians which go over 2lb and beat my best Stafford Moor silver fish weight of 67lb.

Peg 24 offers 7ft of water at 4m, before it gradually shallows up towards the island. So 4 tennis balls of micro pellet, groundbait and corn went in at 4m.

I had set up 2 rigs, 1x 1.5g polar ice with the olivette 10cm from the hook and 1x 1.0g polar ice, shotted more conventionally with 2x no. 9 droppers. After 40 mins I started to wonder whether I had chosen the right peg, because I only had 3 fish in the net, however my the end of the 1st hour I was up to 10 fish, mostly on the light rig.

As the session progressed the fish started to come more regularly and after 90mins I was exclusively using the heavy rig. Initially I had to mess around with the feeding and found a handful size ball every 2nd fish was best. Hook bait was corn.

I experienced a bit of a dodgy 4th hour, but by keeping the feed going in the fish came back.

1st hr = 10 fish, 2nd hr = 17, 3rd hr = 23, 4th hr = 16, 5th hr = 25, 6th hr = 19.

I didn’t catch as many Crucians as I hoped, but once the skimmers arrived in numbers, nothing else stands a chance. In the end it was a great session and best previous best silver fish weight from Stafford Moor.

16/07/08 – Stafford Moor - Woodpecker

Weight – 82lb 5oz
Catch – 15 Carp, 12 Bream.
Weather – Warm, sunny and slight breeze.
Water temp – 18.0c > 19.5c
Match – Fish & Chip Open - 9th overall, 2nd in section

Over 40 anglers were booked in for this mid week match, so both Tanners and Woodpecker were in. I drew peg 6 on Woodpecker, which was OK, but I felt I was fishing for section rather than framing.

Whilst setting up, a numpty turned up to fish peg 5. I queried this with him, since I felt he should have been on peg 4, but after a bit of a discussion he was sure he was on peg 5. I knew there was a few fishing the match so I thought that Andy might have jammed a few pegs in.

I set up 2 pellet wagglers, a full depth waggler, a lead and a pole rig for the silvers in case I was struggling. On the all in I fired my 8mm pellet towards the island, the numpty on peg 5 managed to spray his pellet all over the place, but after 10mins he caught 2 carp. Oh please, don’t let me get done by a numpty.

After 2 hours I had 9 carp switching between the waggler and lead, whilst numpty continued to feed every inch of his swim. He even managed to feed Mikes swim on peg 36 and I had to tell him to stop casting into my swim! Not a happy chap.

The fishing started to get harder and from what I could see I was doing OK. Peg 36 was catching (as expected) and I was aware that peg 22 was sacking, but neither was in my section. The middle part of the match started to prove frustrating. I couldn’t get the fish to settle and I was losing fish, mainly as a result of foul hooking.

The 1 thing I have found with Woodpecker is unless you are on a flyer then you can suffer from blank spells. I decided to set a silver fish line at 5m, but this never took off at all. Most of the skimmers I caught were in 4-6oz range and they weren’t coming quickly enough, so whilst I periodically tried the silvers line during the middle period, in total I only spent 20 minutes trying for silvers

In the last 2 hours I concentrated on the island, but I could hear peg 8 starting to catch (I had trees either side of me so I couldn’t see), so I needed a few more carp. I did catch a few more, but had I caught enough? My concern was a couple of my carp were smaller (3lb) than the average 5-6lb.

Peg 8 weighed 85lb to win my section, which meant I came 2nd and missed out on £50. I let my feeling be known to the numpty on peg 5, because in transpired he should have been on peg 4. How hard is it to remember a number?

The match winner came from peg 3 on Tanners, whilst the best weight on Woodpecker came from peg 22 with 207lb on the tip for 2nd in the match. I finished 9th overall.

15/07/08 – Stafford Moor - Tanners

Weight – 81lb 6oz
Catch – 16 Carp, 4 Roach, 1 Bream, 1 Hybrid.
Weather – Cloudy, windy, drizzle & cool.
Water temp – 18.0c > 19.0c

Another crap day of weather!

I wanted to practice the waggler on Tanners and decided to fish peg 34, because I had never fished this peg before.

To cut boring story short, I struggled in the wind and would have caught more had I brought a lead rod, but the purpose of the session was to get confident with the pellet waggler.

Jon fished Pines peg 14 and caught 103-12 of silvers, which is an absolutely brilliant weight. He had loads of skimmers, plus a number of tench.

14/07/08 – Stafford Moor - Joseph’s

Weight – 82lb 4oz
Catch – 24 Bream, 12 Carp, 3 Roach.
Weather – Cloudy & cool. Tried to drizzle.
Water temp – 17.0c > 17.0c

At last, a week at Stafford Moor. This is now the 4th year I stay for a week with Dave Downton, Mike Etheridge and Jon Andres.

After arriving straight from Bullocks Farm the night before I wasn’t in any rush to get fishing. Well may be a little.

I settled on peg 4 on the dam wall. I started on the shallow pole, but I wasn’t happy. The water was clearer than I would have thought and it appears there had been a lot of rain in the previous week.

Therefore, I tried the pellet waggler, because I didn’t feel the fish were happy with a pole over their heads. Whilst I caught a few, it was hard work. Fish were topping, but actually getting them to feed was a different matter. As a back up I started to set up a margin line, both left and right. The left hand margin was 3ft deep, whilst the right hand margin was 5ft.

As usual I prefer to use paste in the margins. Initially the left margin didn’t produce, whilst the right margin produced skimmer, after skimmer. Eventually the left margin came good with 3 carp, but overall the fishing was difficult.

Jon fished peg 6 on the pole shallow and caught 67lb, Dave had 60/70lb from peg 38 and Mike had a few from an edge peg 12.

13/07/08 – Bullocks Farm – Match Lake

Weight – 26lb 3oz
Catch – 4 Carp, 4 Fantails, 3 Bream, 3 Roach, 1 F1, 1 Crucian
Weather – Sunny and calm.
Water temp – 18.0c > 18.5c
Match – Glenfall Club Match - 3rd

Moment of truth, I have sacrificed 2 days of my Stafford Moor holiday to fish this match, because I wanted to get though to the final of the knockout competition.

I drew peg 2, which was not a good start. I was stuck in the corner of the lake, with no features to fish to, other than the margins. My corner was likely to be busy, with the car park behind me and the left hand bank also serviced as a walk way to the adjacent carp lake, so I was apprehensive how I would do.

I had drawn Roger in the knockout, who drew peg 3, so at least I could keep an eye on him.

I started in the open water, but it became obvious the bright calm conditions were going to have an effect. With an hour gone, I only had a couple of fish and was already using my light right (.11 bottom & 18 B911) and maggot. Fortunately everyone I could see was struggling, but I was aware a few anglers on the other side of the lake had caught carp.

I had tried my margins but I had too much foot traffic, which was worse on the left hand side. As the match progressed, I managed the odd fish from the open water and knew I was ahead of Roger, but a decent carp would make a difference.

Left Margin

With 90 mins to go the grapevine suggested no one had sacked up, so a couple of carp, could mean a chance of framing. I had been feeding my margins, quite heavily, and decided to concentrate here until the end of the match, fishing paste.

Right Hand Margin

The left margin didn’t produce a single carp, everything came from the right hand margin. In the last 30 mins I had 3 carp, so they eventually arrived.

I knew I had beaten Roger so I had at least got though to the final of the knockout, but the question was had I done enough to frame. In the end it was a very tight frame, 28lb won, 26lb 11oz was 2nd and I finished 3rd.

Talking after the match, most people seem to have gone down the route of feeding lightly, which was completely the opposite of what I did. Towards the end of the match was throwing in a handful of micro & 4mm expanders. Make ‘em feed!

11/07/08 - Bullocks Farm - Match Lake

Weight – 54lb14oz
Catch – 13 Carp, 8 Bream, 7 Fantails, 5 Roach, 2 F1, 1 Crucian
Weather - Sharp shower to start. Mostly sunny, with odd light shower. Increasingly windy.
Water temp – 18.0c > 18.5c

Managed to get Friday off work, which meant I had 1 day to practice for Sunday’s match and 1 day to prepare for a week’s trip to Stafford Moor.

As with most pegs on the Match Lake at Bullocks Farm, peg 21 had the usual features, in this case reeds bordered by wood panels.

My intention for today was to put what I learned last week into practice. I started at 11m in the open water, after feeding micro pellet & expanders.

After 15mins I probably had 6lb in the net, which was a great start. However, as the session progressed the fish didn’t seem settled. I was soon feeding a pot of pellet and then switching to the near read swim on paste. In the end I was feeding the open water swim by a toss pot, but I would only feed once I hooked a fish, by turning the pole. This seemed to work, but only for 3 or 4 fish at a time, before having to switch to another swim.

In the last 2 hours I concentrated on the paste. I had left the far reed swim and the margins alone, but still feeding to build the fishes confidence. This paid dividends with a number of carp, although I lost a few due to hook pulls. I got the impression the fish weren’t feeding confidently and I was only lightly hooking them.

There was a 7 peg knockout on the lake, which was won with 31lb, so I was really pleased with my final weight.

05/07/08 - Bullocks Farm - Match Lake

Weight – 38lb 5oz
Catch – 13 Fantails, 11 Crucians, 9 Carp, 4 Bream, 3 Roach.
Weather – Sunny start, became increasingly blustery with odd showers
Water temp – 18.5c > 20.0c

I decided to visit Bullocks Farm, with the intention of practising for a forth coming club match next weekend.
Bullocks Farm is a small venue with 5 lakes. Although most would consider it to be a pole venue, many pegs don’t offer much room behind, which means breaking down the pole 2 or 3 times. Today I was on the match lake and I settled on peg 25, which is situated on the island. The swim offered some protection from the forecast wind & rain, but it was also a peg I had never fished before.

Bullocks is 1 of those venues I personally find difficult to fish without a practice session prior to a match. The lake is not a big weight venue, but should offer plenty of bites from fantails and crucians. There are also carp to over 10lb, although in recent years there are many more carp in the 1lb to 3lb bracket.

The normal approach is to set up an open water swim for the crucians and fantails and then fish for the carp in the margins. Typically you need to fish reasonably light for the crucians & fantails and as such I set up a drennan roach 4x12 float, with .11 bottom and an 18 B911. The margin rig was a big H 4x10, .17 line straight though to a 12 carp feeder hook, fishing paste.

The session started in frustrating manner. I concentrated on the reed bed to my left, but the fish when hooked were driving straight into them. Stepping up to .19 line didn’t improve matters either. At 1 point I even got into a boat, to recover a snagged rig and to do a bit of swim clearing!

Even my open water swim was proving frustrating, with lost carp and struggling for bites. The last time I fished here feeding micro pellet & caster proved successful, because I was able to catch roach in amongst the fantails & crucians to keep the weight building, but that was last October. I couldn’t get to the tackle shop in time to buy some caster, so I was relying on still feeding micro pellet, but this time with 4mm expanders. After my early fish loses, it became obvious the carp were prepared to feed in the open water swim, so I changed my hooklength up to .13 bottom & a 16 B911.

After 2 hours I had caught very little, mainly because I was determined to make the reed swim work. Time to concentrate on the open water swim. Earlier on I had initially fed a pot of pellet and then a tosspot over the top, but this lead to the fish rushing around and producing loads of liners. So 10 minutes before switching to the open water swim I potted a full pot of micro pellet & 4mm expanders. On the hook I used 6mm expanders, flavoured with strawberry or peeler crab (and it stinks).

I started to catch well, but I had to dot the float down to get confident bites from the fantails & crucians, although 1 small carp pulled the pole down, whilst I briefly looked away. As the session progressed I got into the rhythm of feeding a pot of pellet, fishing the feed out, then feeding another pot. But instead of fishing straight over, I would spend 5/10mins fishing for the carp. I did manage 2 carp from the reeds, but ended up ignoring it because I was wasting too much time. I had been feeding the right hand margin and a caught a few carp, but still managed to find a few snags from sunken tree roots.

At the final weigh in I managed 38lb 5oz, including 19lb of silver which was my 2nd best weight from this lake. After the poor start I was pleased with the end result and the practice session proved to be very useful.

Lessons learnt – its always difficult to assess a session when pleasure fishing and the weather meant not many anglers turned up, but I was happy that I sussed the open water swim, however based on past experience I think I will still set up a light rig for the open water, just in case the fishing becomes hard. If I drew this peg again I would probably dismiss the reed beds and concentrate mote on the right hand margin for carp.