26/07/16 - Barston

Weight - 34lb 12oz
Catch - 35 Skimmers, 1 F1
Weather - Mostly cloudy, but warm and light winds
Match - England Ladies Fundraiser

A new venue for me and one I have always wanted to fish. Today was a fundraiser for the England Ladies team which had originally been scheduled for the Glebe, but following an outbreak of KHV has closed for a short period.

Travelling up with Chris Fox and Tony Rixon was mostly uneventful and we had a decent breakfast at a local Beefeater/Premier Inn. At the draw there were 60 anglers, which meant we were evenly spread around the main lake. Mark Poppleton had given me a run down of the pegs to draw and those to avoid. Unfortunately p106 was on the avoid list, plus my 10 peg section started with me going done to the famous p124. In other words there was little chance of picking up today, with the section in theory getting better the further down the section.

Mark drew p104, so at least I knew someone and Jason Adlam was on my right. I always said that if I didn't drew a flyer then my target for the day was to just enjoy myself and hopefully have a day either on the skimmers or F1s, since the carp seem to be localised to certain areas of the lake.

2 methods feeders were set up, 1 heavy to cast as far as possible and a lighter one to fish at 20/25m over loose fed 8s. 2x poles rig 0.4g and 0.2g were set up to fish at 14m in 4ft of water with pellet. The final rig was paste down the margin, since today's match would be fished between 11.30 - 5.30, I was hoping for some zoo creatures to turn up late on.

After feeding 4 balls of F1 green with some 4s and corn at 14m, I started on the heavy method hoping for an early tug. On the 3rd cast I had one, but it fell off shortly afterwards and I think it may have been a F1 rather than a carp.

Have to say I do tend to a get a bit bored fishing the tip, but after that fish loss I felt obliged to have a couple more casts on the method, but to no avail.

So with nearly an hour gone, it was time to switch to the pole, where I had been pinging 6s over the top. After an initial slow start I started picking up some decent skimmers up to 3lb on the lighter rig and banded 6s (due to the flat calm conditions), but it wasn't long before I had to change to the heavier rig and 4mm expander, as the wind picked up slightly I had some ripple to fish into. It was noticeable that when ever the ripple disappeared, getting a bite became harder, but generally I was enjoying myself.

When ever bites slowed, I fed a soften ball of groundbait and maintained pinging 6s over the top. Switching to the method only produced a skimmer and a F1. Due to the flat conditions I did change tact to fishing the straight lead (which I found out after the match was catching further down my section), but no joy. So a case of the right tactic, but no fish to appreciate it.

The last 90mins proved to be the most difficult. The lake in front of me had gone flat calm, whilst most of the anglers opposite were all catching carp down their margins in the ripple.

My margin didn't produce a single bite and I did feed a lot of pellet to try and draw them in. My only regret was not setting up a proper pellet waggler rig to fish over the 8mm pellet, since Mark in the 45mins probably put 30/35lb into the net to win his section.

Mark playing a last minute carp to win his section

Overall a really enjoyable if not long day. The weights that beat me in the section all had carp and my gut feeling was there weren't many carp in my area of the lake. Even Mark only caught a couple of them late. Perhaps I could have weighed more had I stayed on the tip, but I probably wont have enjoyed it as much.

24/07/16 - Trinity Waters - Woodland

Weight - 7lb 13oz - silvers (31lb 2oz - total)
Catch - 53 Skimmers, Roach, Rudd & Perch. Plus 3 carp
Weather - Muggy & showery
Match - Open - 1st out of 21 - silvers (14th overall)

Have to say this lake is turning into a bit of bogey water for me, I seem to do OK for silvers, but struggle to catch any number of carp.

I was pleased to draw p11, which gave me an empty peg to my left. Clint Wotlyla was on p13, which meant it was never going to be a quiet day and Adrian Jefferys to my right on p10.

Before the start I cleared out the right hand margin, which was solid with roots and branches, whilst I cleared out most of the debris there were still a few bits left, which I only snagged up on a couple of times. Fortunately the left hand margin was a lot clearer.

To be honest I didn't fish a good match today. I tried shallow at various depths, as well as a long line rig without success. A look down the right hand margin on paste, where I had seen a fish swirl, presumably grubbing around the bottom which had been disturbed when I cleared out the roots. However one small skimmer and lots of nibbles from silvers was all I could muster.

After an hour and no carp I decided to go back down the right margin again where I had kept feeding 4s with a semi-strong rig fishing worm. This produced a number of small skimmers, plus a few better sized perch. I started feeding caster which was a mistake, since it just encouraged more tiny rudd into the swim. Fishing caster on the hook was pointless, so struck with worm which was a bit more hardy.

I kept the long shallow line topped up which didn't produce, as well as a 10m paste line where I had 2 carp.

The left margin was fed with meat & hemp. I hooked a carp, but it did me around the front leg of the pallet. Clint caught 2 carp on corn from the other side of the pallet losing a 3rd.

A change to the worm rig down the left hand side produced more perch, plus a carp, but it was mostly small roach & rudd.

By the all out, I wasn't particularly pleased with my efforts, but was surprised to have won the silvers with sure a low weight. In hindsight I should have set up a pellet/meat rig to fish on the desk to pick up carp and hopefully a few better sized skimmers.

1st 108-15 - Tony Rixon - p15
2nd 88- 4 - Clayton Hudson - p24
3rd 74- 6 - Martin McMahon - p2
4th 70-10 - Jason Radford - p26
5th 68- 5 - Joe McMahon - p18
6th 65- 2 - Dave Evans - p20
Silvers
1st 7-13 - Ken Rayner - p11
2nd 7- 5 - Steve Seager - p27
3rd 6-10 - Clint Wotlyla - p13 

22/07/16 - Rood Ashton

Weight - 33lb 4oz
Catch - 8 Carp
Weather - Warm, sunny evening
Match - Airsprung AC - 6th out of 10

At last a warm sunny evening at Rood Ashton, however the fishing didn't live up to expectation.

When we arrived there were a number of pleasure anglers dotted around the lake and pegs had to be put in around them. No big deal as there was plenty of space, but everyone wanted peg 1 by the carp park, because there were a lot of fish moving around, probably helped by the breeze blowing into this end of the lake. Failing that anywhere on this bank would do, because most of the recent matches had been won along here.

The draw put me on p7 which today was on the top bank between the trees, which didn't have much of a margin as you can see from the photos, however it was a good peg.

After my last visit, I came armed with groundbait and meat again, feeding groundbait down the right hand margin and meat to my left under the trees.

Starting under the tree using a large toss of meat, I had my first carp after 10mins. Although I had no further bites, I wasn't concerned initially because the first hour can be slow, however I didn't net my 2nd carp for an hour. In fact no one seemed to be catching much, the lake had completely switched off.

Well that wasn't strictly true because the 2 pleasure anglers to my right on the other side of trees were fishing the lead using floating crusts, a hooklength 3 times the depth of the lake and buzzers! I could here the slurp, slurp, slurp of the carp trying to whittle down the lump of bread, before hooking themselves and the buzzers going off - loudly!!!

Back to my peg and I kept feeding groundbait down the right hand margin on my top 3, but cut back when it became obvious the fishing was going to be hard. I had a couple of fish from the right, but the majority came from my left were I was just feeding meat.

I also set up a new swim at 13m, however without success. I really was turning into a hard match.

The problem I had as lost fish. I think most of them were hooked properly, but with strong elastic (16 dura hollow) to pull the fish from the snags and lightly hooked fish I pulled out of a few. This point was evidenced when I landed a 7lber, when the hooked pulled just as I netted the fish. They really weren't having it properly.

Must admit I was glad to hear the final whistle and most of the best weights came from the car park bank.

1st 48- 0 - Ian Willetts - p9

2nd 47- 8 - Mark Poppleton - p4

3rd 40- 4 - Rich Whitmarsh - p3

4th 39- 4 - Tom Ince - p2

5th 37- 0 - Steve Martin - p5

17/07/16 - Avalon

Weight - 22lb 7oz (10lb 9oz - silvers)
Catch - 9 Skimmers, 9 Perch, 2 Roach, 1 Rudd, 2 Carp
Weather - Hot & sunny
Match - Open - 3rd out of 34 - silvers (20th overall)

Todays match was a practice for the forthcoming Float Only round in 2 weeks and I was looking forward to getting amongst the venues skimmers and carp. With a scheduled draw for 9.30, there were a few of us still sat in the café at Lands End due to a match on match & speci lakes, plus half of todays match turning up for breakfast, which just goes to show how popular Di's breakfast are.

The draw was completed 15mins later and I found myself on peg 16 and was told it was a decent peg. However having only fished the venue twice previously 15 years and 4.5 years ago, today was about trying to formulate some form of plan. I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do following conversations with Tony and Matt Challenger (Scott's Tackle), ending up with a kilo of worm, caster, pellet and paste.

On the all in 3 balls of groundbait with chopped worm, caster & pellet were deposited at 6m & 13m, plus a pot of 4s & 6mm pellet to my right at 13m. Because I was late to the draw I was in a bit of rush sorting my kit out and didn't actually start fishing for 10mins after the all in.

Starting on the waggler with 8mm pellet towards the island, I managed 1 hybrid and lost a carp, but that was it for 45mins. Certainly frustrating as there were carp milling around the feed, but trying to get one to take the bait!

A switch to the 6m line and I was soon catching small skimmers and perch on worm, but it was slow going. The 13m line wasn't much better either, but managed to keep picking up odd fish.

Jason Radford to my left had a slow start on paste or pellet, but started slapping pellet, catching a couple of roach, before latching into a 4lb bream. Sometimes there is no justice. My swim was fading, so decided to try something different, because I didn't want to leave thinking what if. So decided start pinging 6s at 14m, fishing 6mm pellet. I managed 1 roach, plus an 8lb carp, but nothing else followed, so potted in more groundbait/pellet to hopefully pull in some skimmers.

The last 2 hours proved to be a bit of a nightmare, I couldn't catch any silvers. The pellet waggler didn't produce and neither did the margins. The only fish I caught was a carp on paste at 14m to my right where I had kept potting pellet.

A disappointing finish and as the weigh in progressed I was beginning to regret not setting up a caster swim to catch rudd/roach on my top kit, as it became evident the silvers hadn't fed. I thought I had about 10lb and it was looking like I was in with a chance of framing.

Paul Faires was leading with 21lb, half of which was "whitebait", because his groundbait/worm swim had died. 12lb was 2nd and by the time the scales arrived there were a couple 9lb weights. 10lb 9oz put me into 3rd and that's were I stayed although Bela ran me close with 10lb 4oz.

An unexpected pick up, but they all count. Also hopefully a bit clearer on how to approach the match in 2 weeks.

1st - 125- 2 - Tony Rixon - p24
2nd - 86-15 - Tom Mangnall - p11
3rd - 70-14 - Steve Skelton - p28
4th - 69-12 - Dave Romain - p44
5th - 65- 0 - Steve Seager - p20
6th - 63- 5 - Nick Chedzoy - p32

Silvers
1st - 21- 8 - Paul Faires - p35
2nd - 12- 0 - Ziggy - p37
3rd - 10- 9 - Ken Rayner - p16
4th - 10- 4 - Bela Bakos - p6 

16/07/16 - Lands End - Johns (no3) Lake

Weight - 108lb
Catch - 23 Carp, 6 Roach, 2 Skimmers, 1 F1
Weather - Most cloudy, warm & muggy
Match - Open - 1st out of 12

Dave Wescott was very pleased with himself for persuading Mike to have todays match on No.3 lake today instead of Match lake. I wasn't too bothered which lake we were on, but after sorting the pegs, I didn't want 45 or 46. So was disappointed to be on 46 and thought any chance of a pick up was unlikely, particularly since Rod Wootten was next to me on 45. Opposite on p66 was Dave Hodgson, so there was plenty of banter going around!

As you can see from the photos Mike has given the islands a much needed hair cut so at least we could fish tight to the islands.

As we were setting up there were a few fish showing themselves shallow and was hopeful of catching shallow, but decided to start fishing off the point of the island with paste, only feeding a pinch of 4s with the paste.

Must say I got off to a flyer, catching 7 carp, including a couple of double figure fish in the first hour, whilst everyone else appeared to be struggling. As expected action slowed down and over the next 2 hours only netted 2 more carp, both on paste.

During this quiet
spell, I tried fishing 6mm pellet over 4s at 6m to my left and at 11m, but only managed a handful of roach and 2 skimmers. I also tried fishing pellet shallow or slapping at passing fish, but they really weren't interested. Fortunately I couldn't see anyone else catching, although the grapevine suggested that Mark Walsh on p70 was catching.

At the half way point I decided to ditch the pellet rigs, focusing on paste by the island and meat down the margin. The intention was to keep rotating the 2 swims, however I just kept catching by the island. When it did go quite I managed 2 carp on meat down the margin, but these were the only fish I had down there. In hindsight I should have probably switched to paste down the margins.

A brief spell at 6m on meat only produced 1 lost foul hooker, so I didn't spend too long on it, simply because the paste line just got stronger, although towards the end of the match the average size of fish were getting smaller.

By the all out, it sounded like it was between Mark and myself, although Paddy Curry on p58 was admitting to catching a few. As it happened we were the top 3 on the day and we all caught on paste. Dave "the paste master" Wescott finished 4th.

Pleasantly surprised to have framed, let alone win from this peg, but confidence is high at the moment and its amazing the effect this can have. Long may it continue.

1st - 108- 0 - Ken Rayner - p46
2nd - 85- 0 - Mark Walsh - p70
3rd - 66-13 - Paddy Curry - p58
4th - 60- 6 - Dave Wescott - p55
5th - 56-15 - Rod Wootten - p45
Silvers
1st - 14- 4 - G.Sparks - p62
2nd - 9- 8 - Dave Wescott - p55
3rd - 7- 0 - Chris Fox - p42

10/07/16 - Lands End - Match

Weight - 157lb 4oz
Catch - 28 Carp, 5 Roach, 3 Skimmers, 1 Hybrid
Weather - Warm, humid & occasional shower
Match - Club - 1st out of 9

Another disappointing turn out for my club, but thanks to Ade Crawley for guesting bolstering our numbers by one. Due to the poor attendances I cancelled our other away matches and haven't booked any matches for next year. A real shame, but there is no point organising matches if they aren't going to be supported.

Back to today's match, it was down to me to sort out the pegs and draw. I ended up with the last peg being peg 5, which has been a noted silvers area. With no silverfish pool today, it was certainly not my first choice, however on arrival there were loads on carp on the surface in most swims.

I've recently struggled to catch carp from the islands at Lands End and today was an ideal opportunity to sort out my approach and feed. Watching Trigger and Tony who are the best at this style of fishing, both make it look easy which is frustrating. So rigs for today were a long line/swinger rig, a conventional shallow rig to fish the top shelf of the island as well as slap for any passing fish, a light pellet rig to fish 2+2 left and right and finally a meat rig to fish left and right down the margins.

I started long lining for the many carp showing themselves, but only managed 1 before they started to shy away beyond pole range. A try tight to the island only produced liners and 2 lost foul hookers and after 40mins I was getting a little frustrated.

Therefore decided to switch to my 2+2 lines where I had been feeding 4s, fishing a banded 6mm, whilst catapulting pellet to the island hoping the fish would settle. The short line proved to be a bit of bonus with 3 big skimmers and 3 carp.

After a slight adjustment to my shallow rig I started to catch slapping at the groups of carp that were swimming past, even managing one on my top 3. As the match progressed I kept feeding pellet by the island where the fish became more settled and by alternating between the island and slapping at passing fish I kept catching.

The last hour was a bit disappointing as I switched to the meat down each margin, hoping for better sized fish, but only caught 3, losing a further 3.

Overall happy to have sorted out a few things, which should give me a bit of confidence next time.

1st - 157- 4 - Ken Rayner - p5
2nd - 62- 1 - Ade Crawley - p18
3rd - 59- 0 - Glenn Putterill - p13
4th - 47- 7 - Andy Lord - p11

03/07/16 - Lands End - Match

Weight - 47lb 6oz (28lb 10oz - silvers)

Catch - 17 Roach, 15 Perch, 11 Skimmers, 4 Carp, 1 Hybrid, 1 Rudd

Weather - Warm & sunny

Match - Float Only - rd 3 - 4th out of 5 section, 2nd out of 41 - silvers

The 3^rd round of the Float Only Series and after my poor draw last round I could do with a good draw to put me back in contention. Initially I was happy enough with p21, that was until I saw who was in my section Paul Elmes on p18, Trigger on p19 and Tony Rixon on p24 – section of death! With fish moving around in front of Paul and Trigger I thought we were all fishing for 3^rd section.

However, I had to be positive because I really needed a decent section result. Starting across by the island on paste, I had 1 carp, but nothing else. I deliberately didn’t feed anything other than the paste and few 6s hoping the carp would zero in on the target bait. All I got was loads of liners and no proper bites. A switch to pellet resulted in 2 hooked fish, both of which came off. This was getting frustrating.

After 45mins I decided to dump a cup of pellet by the island to see whether that would settle them. In the meantime Paul had got off to a flyer and Trigger wasn’t far behind. A switch to fishing 6mm banded pellet at 4 sections to my right over 4s soon resulted in a decent skimmer, quickly followed by another. In fact over the next 45mins/hour I had 9 skimmers up to 3lb, plus a few roach, by switching left and right at 4 sections. Nearly 20lb of silvers put me back in the race for section, but bites started to dry up.

A switch back to the island and I still struggled to get a proper bite. All the time I was falling further behind Trigger and Paul, and any thoughts of doing well in the section had all but evaporated.

So at the half way point, I had a decision to make, keep trying for carp, which I felt would turn up and settle later in the match albeit too late or stick with the silvers and hope for a pick up. An easy decision in the end.

My short pellet swims produced another decent skimmer, but with no further bites, I decide to switch to feeding caster and set up a new rig. I soon caught small perch and roach on single caster, plus another skimmer, but it was hard going.

A new pellet swim was set up at 6m, which produced 2 carp, but no skimmers. A further 2 more swims where started by the pallet to my left and at 11m, but neither produced any of those now elusive skimmers. I knew both Allan Oram on p6 and Matt Tomes on p7 had caught silvers and hoped I had done enough.

Allan was first to weigh and there was no way I had 35lb. Matt was second weighing 27lb. I thought I had at least 25lb so knew it would be close. As it turned out those small caster fish turned out to be invaluable beating Matt into 2^nd by 1lb 4oz.

An enjoyable, if not a little frustrating day. Trigger won the match again. Have to say watching him fish, he makes it look so easy which is a little annoying! Although he did struggle with the island foliage.

1st - 206- 6 - Craig Edmunds - p19
2nd - 144- 4 - Neil Mercer - p1
3rd - 127-11 - Paul Elmes - p18
4th - 126- 3 - Joe McMahon - p11
5th - 113- 5 - Tony Rixon - p24
6th - 108-13 - Steve Tucker - p16
Silvers
1st - 35-10 - Allan Oram - p6
2nd - 28-10 - Ken Rayner - p21
3rd - 27- 6 - Matt Tomes - p7
4th - 17-15 - Paul Faires - p39
5th - 17- 0 - John Fuidge - p34
6th - 14- 6 - Martin Rayet - p45

02/07/16 - Lands End - Match

Weight - 60lb 9oz
Catch - 12 Carp, 2 Roach, 1 Ide, 1 Tench
Weather - Mostly sunny & gusty wind
Match - Open - 5th out of 10

I was only here a few weeks ago, but with all the rain the bankside foliage had grown on. Speaking to Mike over breakfast, it looks like this will his last year doing the shows, something about getting too old for it. For all of this week he is Hampton Court. He also mentioned that hopefully there will be an injection of silvers during the autumn, just in time for the Winter League.

As for today the sun was shining and the forecast was for a dry day - well that would make a pleasant change.

My home for the day was peg 7, which I reasonable pleased with. My intention was to target the carp, but there is always the chance of silvers from this peg. I was also using today as a bit of a practice for tomorrows Float Only series and wanted to try a few different things including the use of groundbait.

Next to me p5 was Russ Peck and we were both quite pleased to see carp moving up and down the island. On the all in I went straight over to the island fishing and catapulting 6s. After 30mins I had 3 carp and a tench, before it became difficult.

I tried fishing meat over the pellet which didn't work, I cupped groundbait in by the reed bed on the island but only managed 1 carp, it was proving to be really frustrating. Russ was having the same issues and trying different ways for feeding, but we would only catch the odd the fish and not necessarily in the mouth.

A switch to fishing soft pellet down the track over 4s only produced a small roach. Fishing double caster to the right hand pallet over caster/meat only produced a roach and a carp.  My early lead was soon eroded and I was going no where fast.

Since the majority seemed to be struggling for bites, decided to stick with fishing various points along the island. Russ and I were matching each other fish for fish and the last hour was definitely the best, but by the end we both thought we would struggle to make the frame today.

My 60lb ended up being the best weight on this side of the lake, although it could have been more if it wasn't for an unseen snag claiming a couple of my fish, however the other side of the lake proved to be the place to be.

1st - 86-8 - Mark Walsh - p13
2nd - 83- 0 - Rod Wootton - p24
3rd - 74- 6 - Eric Fouracre - p19
4th - 67- 1 - Rich Heatley - p21
5th - 60- 9 - Ken Rayner - p7
Silvers
1st - 24-10 - Eric Fouracre - p19
2nd - 20-12 - Tony Thick - p1
3rd - 10- 8 - Rich Lovering - p3