28/11/21 - Todber Manor - Homeground

Weight - 137lb 6oz

Catch - 40 Carp, 1 Roach

Weather - Bright & sunny. Cold NW breeze.

Match - Wiltshire Angling Open (7 fished)

With the upcoming Christmas match in 2 weeks and the teams of 4 Winter League in the new year this was my first chance to see how Todber was fishing in the colder weather.

Following Storm Arwen yesterday, today’s weather was much calmer although still very cold, which is probably why we only had 7 anglers today and all on Homeground. 

I drew p88, and with Mark Poppleton on p90 I thought we were all fishing for 2^nd. Fortunately, the NW breeze was blowing off my right shoulder and the trees behind meant I wasn’t feeling the cold too much unlike the anglers on the opposite bank. 

Starting on the straight lead with bread or corn, didn’t result in any bites, although I was getting liners so there were a few fish in the area. A switch to the maggot feeder produced a carp and then nothing. 

Fishing the pole at 13m only produced a single carp and a roach. So, after an hour I had 2 carp and was already behind Mark, although other than a few silvers no one else had caught. 

So, I decided to focus on the maggot feeder and keep plopping into the same spot in the deeper water off the island, feeding a few FA1 RTG’s with the maggot, with double maggot soaked in BMG boost on the hook. 3 hrs later I was up to c.32 carp, all caught on the maggot feeder. 

A brief look on the pole line and another swim off to my left where I had been pinging pellet & corn didn’t produce, so I stayed on the maggot feeder until the end of the match to finish 2^nd overall behind Mark. 

I got lucky with the draw today, as most of the fish caught were down this end of the lake, but it was still amazing to catch over a ton on a freezing day. 

1.    219- 0 – Mark Poppleton – p90

2.    137- 6 – Ken Rayner – p88

3.      65- 0 – Tim Martin – p76

21/11/21 - Ivy House - Heron

Weight - 45lb 12oz

Catch - 32 Carp, 12 F1

Weather - Bright & sunny. Cold northerly breeze.

Match - Winter League rd 4 (40 fished)

On Thursday I made my first visit to Chard Reservoir and had a really good day with Andy Seery, catching 11 Bream for c.36lb on the feeder. A tricky day as the fish weren’t feeding with confidence, but enjoyable none the less.

Today’s match was the 4^th round of the Ivy House Winter League and my turn for Heron (p7-p11 & p19-p23) on the long banks. With the forecast northerly breeze, I fancied sitting in the 20’s out of the wind, however drew p10 which meant the wind would be cutting across me right to left. Also looking at past results, p10 hasn’t featured in the main frame, with p11 being the dominate peg and p9 starting to come into its winter form, which is where league leader Chris Telling was sat.

Plumbing up revealed the peg started to shallow up at 13m and the depth was about 6in shallower from 13 to 16m. As I was setting up there was obviously a lot of fish

moving along the island and decided to start on the lead & bread hoping for an early fish, but nothing which was a surprise and it became obvious throughout the match that despite a ball of F1 sitting next to the island they just didn’t want to feed.

I also tried a little cage feeder with maggot on the hook, but again no takers, so came back to the 13m line where I had fed a 50:50 mix of Choc Orange and BMGX and some BMG boosted micros. After an hour I had 1 tiny (4oz) carp with Chris already on 6 and must admit I thought my chance of good points was evaporating.

Moving up the shelf to 14m, fishing a 4mm BMG expander and still feeding a tiny nugget of groundbait & micros produced a few fish, but the wind was a pain. A switch to a chimp rig sat better in the wind and by fishing a single maggot, just feeding maggot and micros I started to catch.

The wind meant I couldn’t fish comfortably beyond 14m, so every time I felt the swim was fading, I would restart a new one 1m to right of the last. With 90mins remaining I was about 5 or 6 fish ahead of Chris but then hit a sticky patch where I struggled to catch, allowing Chris to catch me up.

Fortunately, the wind dropped a little allowing me to fish at 16m and by alternating between 2 swims back on the pellet rig I started catching again in the last hour.

By the all out I felt there was 1 fish between Chris and myself, and fortunately the result fell my way as I won the section and lake, plus coming 2^nd overall. The result means I am now 2^nd in the league behind Chris with 2 rounds remaining.

1.    68-12 – Ian Millichip – p23 (Willow)

2.    45-12 – Ken Rayner – p10 (Heron)

3.    44- 8 – Chris Telling – p9 (Heron)

3.    44- 8 – Vince Shipp – p44 (Kingfisher)

5.    44- 0 – Stu Foale – p34 (Willow)

6.    39- 4 – Tony Rixon – p33 (Willow)

14/11/21 - Ivy House - Heron

Weight - 38lb 4oz

Catch - 24 Carp, 6 F1s, 1 Gudgeon

Weather -Grey and cloudy.

Match - Open (17 fished)

With a choice of fishing the Old Match Lake or Heron, I fancied Heron for a few bites, plus it served as some practice for next week’s winter league match.

I was happy enough with p6, as you have a long right-hand margin, however on arrival the lake had gone clear. Speaking to Andy he had stopped using the aerators overnight, which I don’t mind, otherwise it just circulates the cold water which has a real negative affect on the fishing.

With it being clear I didn’t think catching short was an option, although when I saw Dave Willmott on p2 do just that, I did wonder.

Initially I started on the lead/bread towards the island hoping for an early fish whilst I let my 14m swim settle after cupping in a small ball of BMGX:FA1 with BMG boosted micros. After 10mins and no bites it was time to try the 14m line, toss potting a nugget of groundbait and micros, fishing a 4mm BMG janner.

After an hour I had 6 fish and it was slow going, but other than Dave not much was being caught from what I could see. I had to keep chopping and changing how I fed, as well as gradually going longer towards to 16m.

Mike Ethridge to my left, had a good spell on the feeder mid-match, so I tried the maggot feeder for 2 carp and a mini banjo for none, but p6 isn’t a noted feeder peg, as you only have a small spit to aim at.

At the start after seeing the clarity of the water I had set up a maggot rig, with .10 bottom and 20 hook, but hoped I wouldn’t need it. However, halfway through the match I was struggling and picked up the maggot rig, which produced a few extra fish, but I still struggled for bites.

Going into the last hour was the best with 11 fish, as I switched back to the pellet rig, just feeding micros and then down the margin for last 20mins on maggot.

Overall, I finished 8^th and felt I should have done a little better, although to be honest I didn’t do enough to challenge the top 4 today.

1.    75- 8 – Jamie Dixey – p13

2.    60- 0 – Chris Telling – p17

3.    55-12 – Dwayne Seed – p19

4.    48- 4 – Mike D – p23

5.    44-12 – Dave Willmott – p2

13/11/21 - Ivy House - Kingfisher

Weight - 41lb 14oz (7lb 14oz - silvers)

Catch - 15 Carp, 10 Skimmers, 3 Roach

Weather - Mild and cloudy. Light breeze.

Match - Open (23 fished)

There were 23 of us today over the Old Match Lake and Kingfisher. I drew p40 on Kingfisher, which was only 2 away from where I was last Sunday.

Unlike last week I didn’t bother dobbin bread along the far bank as I wasn’t confident of catching that way, preferring to start at the bottom of the far shelf and looking around at those that were dobbin not much was caught.

Starting on corn to my left produced no bites after 10mins, so I switched to feeding a small ball of BMG boosted
micros, fishing a 4mm BMG janner and caught 5 carp and a skimmer over the first hour, which was more than anyone else, so a good start.

The remainder of the match was a bit of struggle, as skimmers, although welcome, replaced the carp during the middle part. Unlike last week, my short line, fed with BMGX and micros only produced a few skimmers and a decent carp.

At the halfway point, I tried pinging 4s off to my right, but this only produced 2 small carp on banded 4mm pellet. I also feed baninion boosted corn and micro hemp down the right margin and this only produced 2 more carp, so it was just a case of keep rotating swims to keep putting fish in the net, finishing with 2 carp and a skimmer in the last 10mins which proved useful, as I won Kingfisher and surprisingly came 2^nd overall.

1.    47- 6 – Jamie Dixey – p2 (OML)

2.  41-14 – Ken Rayner – p40 (K)

3.    35-14 – Tim – p13 (OML)

4.    35-10 – John Morgan – p8 (OML)

5.    35- 0 – Nic Baggot – p43 (K)

6.    27-10 – Elick Payne – p38 (K)

Silvers

1.    12-12 – Baz – p1 (OML)

2.    11-14 – Andy Lord – p44 (K)

3.    10-  0 – Glynn Loveday – p42 (K)

4.      8-  8 – Baggy – p4 (OML)

5.      7-14 – Ken Rayner – p40 (K)

07/11/2021 - Ivy House - Kingfisher

Weight - 44lb 12oz (silvers - 9lb 12oz)

Catch - 22 Carp, 14 Skimmers, 2 Roach

Weather - Sunny and breezy

Match - Winter League rd3 (40 fished)

Today was the 3^rd round of the Ivy House Winter League, which had been aborted last year due to Covid. Unfortunately, there were a number of anglers who couldn’t make this round or the rest of the league; however, Karen and Andy managed to get all the spaces filled so we had a full house.

 

It was my turn to fish Kingfisher and there were only 2 pegs remaining, 37 & 38, I drew 38, leaving the end peg for Chris Telling, which he seemed happy about! This has been a good area and I was pleased to avoid the mid-40s which would be more exposed to the wind blowing down the lake.
 
Following the first frosts during the week, the water had cleared a little and I expected a hard day, and I was really worried after 30mins of dobbing bread along the far bank for a small carp and a roach. This was the same for Chris, so it didn’t appear there was any concentration of carp in the area.
 
I had fed a ball of BMGX and fishery micros, boosted with BMG at 8m which was the deepest part of the swim. When it became obvious dobbing bread was a waste of time, I dropped in on the 8m line fishing a 4mm expander and caught a small skimmer straight away, but then bumped 3 skimmers. Being quite cold the fish were very tentative and my 9-12 hollow (as I was expecting carp) was just a bit too powerful, so I switched to a 9 dura elastic which was much better.
 
By feeding a small ball of micros and groundbait every put-in I managed to keep catching a few skimmers and a couple of carp over the next hour.
 
In the meantime, I started feeding at the bottom of the far shelf, micros and groundbait in front, and 4mm pellet/corn, flavoured with Baninion to my left. Once the 8m line died, I tried the left-hand swim with corn and caught a small carp, but the wind was making presentation difficult. A change to a heavier rig, improved presentation, but didn’t produce much from either of the far swims, which to be honest was a surprise.
 
I managed a few more fish from the 8m line, but it was slow going and felt I was now slipping behind Chris, as well as the anglers to my left.
 
With half the match left (2.5hrs) I needed to make something happen, so decided to start pinging 4mm pellet to my left at 14m and fed micros/corn at the bottom the left marginal shelf.
 
The left margin produced a couple of carp and decent skimmers, however my long pinging line really kicked into life for the last 90mins; fishing a 4mm hair rig pellet, produced c.13 carp and a big skimmer. The wind dropped a little which helped with presentation and by the all-out I thought I had about 30-35lb.
 
I slightly underestimated my weight and was genuinely surprised to weigh 44lb for 3^rd in section, which was only 2lb behind Chris, which was the other surprise. I could say lost fish cost me, but Chris lost a few as well, as the fish were quite finicky. John Morgan easily won our section dobbing bread!
 
Overall, I was happy with the result which has pushed me into 3^rd for the league with 3 rounds remaining.

1.    77- 0 – Phil Godding – p23 (Willow)
2.    74-12 – John Morgan – p47 (Kingfisher)
3.    69- 0 – Joe McMahon – p21 (Heron)
4.    62- 6 – Frank Donachie – p16 (Heron)
5.    61- 8 – Tony Rixon – p18 (Old match lake)
6.    60- 0 – Elick Payne – p33 (Willow)

31/10/21 - Ivy House - Heron

Weight - 84lb

Catch - 56 Carp, 26 F1

Weather - Rain to start. Sunny and windy later

Match - Open (15 fished)

After last week’s match I decided to go back to Heron Lake and with the clocks going back an hour, the match times were reduced to 5hrs.

On the drive down I really questioned my sanity as it was chucking it down and the roads were flooded in parts. Fortunately, shortly after the match started the rain stopped and it remained mostly sunny for the rest of the day.

I drew p4, which would mean the forecast strong wind would be blowing straight into me, but the real concern was the number of leaves in the swim which at the moment were mostly in p2 and p3.

Starting at 1+2 feeding 4s and fishing a 4mm expander, I was soon foul hooking fish, so quickly switched to feeding a small ball of micros flavoured with BMG boost juice. After a slow start, I started to catch well and with 3hrs gone was up to 60 fish.

However, those leaves were causing me problems, as I struggled to get the rig in and my margins which were my back up line were completely choked.

The 4^th hour of the match was a nightmare, putting only 6 fish in the net, I couldn’t really fish the pole, so tried a small banjo feeder tight to the island and a maggot feeder at 14m. Fishing the pole would have been a struggle, not least because of the wind, but because the glare from the sun was blinding.

Come the 5hr hour mark the leaves shifted slightly, although the margins were still blocked, but I started to catch on the short line again until the end of the match.

Speaking to Glyn on p2 after the match we both felt we missed out on 20-30lb due to the leaves. So, I was disappointed to finish 5^th, as I should have come 3^rd, or possibly 2^nd, but no one was
going to beat Dave today. Still great fishing for the time of year.

1.    141- 6 – Dave Willmott – p24

2.    108- 8 – Andy Dixey – p15

3.      99- 0 – Matt – p7

4.      94-12 – Mick O’Brien – p11

5.      84- 0 – Ken Rayner – p4