30/01/22 - Todber - Hillview

Weight - 49lb 13oz (12lb silvers)

Catch - 9 Carp, 8 Skimmers, 1 Tench

Weather - Frosty start and bright. Became breezy later.

Match - Wiltshire Angling Open (11 fished)

Originally this match was supposed to be on the top lake of Whiteposts, however when we arrived the water level was down nearly 2ft and the general feeling was that with 11 anglers fishing, it would be hard, particularly as we had another frost last night. So, it was decided to move the match to one half of Hillview, with all the good pegs in, well most of the good pegs.

I couldn’t believe it when I drew p46, which was the last peg to be included as we couldn’t put everyone on to fish. I wasn’t happy and I am in urgent need of a new drawing arm.

As I was setting up, Abi called me to say Poppy (my blue staffie) had caught a fish from the local brook whilst on their walk. When I asked how big, Abi cheekily responded ‘bigger than your last catch’! Not quite the reply I was expecting, but fair. The fish was in fact a little 3oz chub.

I started off looking for carp by the island and after 20mins I had no indications whilst everyone else was catching. A switch to the 14.5m line where I fed BMG boosted micros and a couple of bits of corn, fishing a BMG 4mm expander, I started to catch a few skimmers and a couple of small carp.

Hardly hectic, but at least I was catching, although I was falling behind virtually everyone. It was just a shame there wasn’t a silverfish pool, as I caught a 2lb tench on the pole, plus a near 3lb bream on the straight lead and corn to go with my skimmers.

My original swim was slowing so I set up a new swim off to my left at 16m, feeding micros and I found a few more carp, although with 90mins remaining the wind picked up, which also coincided with a carp snapping my rig above the hooklength as it rolled around in the landing net.

I tried by the island again without success so spent most of the last hour fishing down the left margin fishing meat as I felt it represented my best option to try and catch up. Unfortunately, I only had 2 carp to finish with just shy of 50lb and 7^th overall.

My next match will be the Winter League on Sunday and I am really hoping for a decent draw.

1^st 110- 0 – Pete Neate – p51

2^nd  92- 8 – Ian Willetts – p52

3^rd  82- 8 – Mark Poppleton – p47

4^th  75- 0 – Banger – p54

23/01/22 - Todber - Hillview

Weight - 1lb 1oz

Catch - 3 Skimmers, 1 Gudgeon

Weather - Cold & cloudy.

Match - Winter League (48 fished)

The 2^nd round of the winter league and the team had some ground to make up after our poor showing in the last round. After sacking Henry for his abysmal drawing, Mark Poppleton got into the draw queue early hoping for a good draw, but it was nearly a repeat of our last draw!

It was my turn for the poor side of Hillview and my hopes for a peg with some space was dashed when I was handed p41, a peg that’s not normally in as it’s on the curve of the bank and you are virtually competing for the same bit of water with p40 and p42, particularly by the island.

Well, I’m not going to dwell on it too much as I had a skimmer after 90mins at 16m on maggot followed by a couple more and that was it. I couldn’t get a bite anywhere. A few silvers were being caught to my left, but I couldn’t catch over groundbait or micros long or over loose fed maggot short.

With 90mins remaining Dave Bruton (p41) only had a gudgeon, before catching 3 carp in 3 casts on the pellet feeder, leaving me as the only one not to have a carp. In the last hour I just sat it out on the straight lead either on corn or meat hoping for a carp to come round the island. They never did and I finished absolutely plumb last.

I have never caught so little at Todber. At least in the next round I will be in the better section of Hillview and hopefully in with the chance of catching some fish. My luck at the draw has got to change shortly as I have had 6 shockers from the last 7 matches.

As for the team our poor draw meant we had another disaster finishing 10^th again. Mark Poppleton has also been sacked from the draw!

Hillview A Section

1. Callum Dicks - 158- 9 - p52

Zone 1

Dwayne Seed - 38- 2 - p46

Rich Butler - 25- 6 - p38

Zone 2

Gary O'Shea - 15- 1 - p36

Scott Puddy - 12-4 - p34

Dave Bruton - 12- 4 - p42

Hillview B Section

1. Craig Edmunds - 178- 4 - p54

Zone 1

Phil Hardwick - 148- 4 - p49

Craig Gilroy - 146- 8 - p50

Zone 2

Steve Tucker - 76- 4 - p55

Matt Tomes - 71- 8 - p53

Ash C Section

1. Dan Squire - 159- 8 - p71

Zone 1

Paul Elmes - 106-15 - p73

Mark Wynne - 88- 3 - p72

Zone 2

Pemb Writing - 154- 1 - p70

Scott Russell - 65- 4 - p68

Homeground D Section

1. Joe McMahon - 216- 2 - p90

Zone 1

Sam Powell - 135-12 - p77

Alan Winsper - 80-10 - p88

Zone 2

Martin Pettifer - 12- 8 - p80

Martin Rogers - 10- 9 - p82

22/01/22 - Todber - Hillview

Weight - 13lb 2oz

Catch - 2 Carp, 3 Roach, 1 Perch, 1 Gudgeon

Weather - Frosty & bright start, clouding over later

Match - Open (28 fished)

After having friends around last weekend I was looking forward to getting back to Todber, with today’s match across Hillview and Homeground, however the week has been very cold with some hard frosts. This morning wasn’t quite as cold, however there was still some cat ice about.

P45 meant I at least avoided the 30s and it would give me a chance to see how this part of the lake was fishing as I was due to be in this section for tomorrow’s winter league. On arrival I had cat ice extending about 13m and decided to start on the pole at 14.5m and landed a carp on maggot after 20mins and thought I might get a few.

Alas, not, as I caught my next fish an hour later which was a 2lb perch and then a couple of small silvers. Needless to say, it was hard going with very little being caught except in the 50s.

Casting to the island didn’t produce so much as a liner, but I managed another carp on the pole to finish with 13lb, which was enough for 3^rd in section, only beaten by p47 & 48.

1st: Roland Lucas 136lb 8oz (90 HG)

2nd: Gary O'Shea 119lb 12oz (49 HV)

3rd: Greg Welsby 76lb 14oz (54 HV)

4th: Pete Neate 68lb 8oz (88 HG)

Silvers 1st: Matt Casey 13lb 8oz (82 HG)

Silvers 2nd: Ian Browncey 11lb 4oz (84 HG)

Silvers 3rd: Nigel Bartlett 9lb 10oz (50 HV)

Section A: Jason Powell 26lb 2oz (48 HV)

Section B: Lee Jan 30lb 0oz (51 HV)

Section C: Nick Ewers 35lb 6oz (78 HG)

09/01/22 - Todber - Homeground

Weight - 38lb 14oz (2lb 1oz - silvers)

Catch - 8 Carp, 8 Skimmers, 5 Roach, 1 Tench

Weather - Mostly sunny with a cool breeze

Match - Teams of 4 (12 teams)

Today was the Teams of 4, with 12 teams spread over Hillview, Ash and Homeground. My team included Mark Poppleton, Mark Wynne and Henry Smith, in what will be a very competitive league over 4 matches.
 
There were 2 sections on Hillview, 1 on Ash and 1 on Homeground, and then 2 sub sections of 6 within each section.
 

Unfortunately, the draw wasn’t kind for us, with Mark P on 42, Mark W on 56, Henry on 72 and myself on 84 Homeground.
 
P84 is really at the wrong end of the lake and the same peg Des Shipp packed up early from during the mid-week open. My section ran from 79 round to 87 and the expectation was 87 and 86 would be best and 84 bottom of the section.
 
Despite the colder conditions I felt I had nothing to lose and needed to be positive with my feed hoping to pull in some carp. Initially, I started cautiously on the lead & bread towards the point of the island, hoping for an early carp, but didn’t have a touch and then tried the maggot feeder for a roach.
 
After 20mins there didn’t seem to be any carp at this end of the lake as no one had caught. Therefore, in the spirit of being positive I fed 7 pouches of 6s to lay some feed down by the island and then kept pinging 6s every 5mins.
 
A switch to 13m off the right where I had fed a ball of BMGX & BMG boosted micros, produced roach on maggot or small skimmers on BMG 4mm expander. However, this line only lasted an hour and still no carp.
 
I had also been priming a pellet line at 14.5m to my left and caught a small carp after 10mins on hair rigged 4mm pellet. I thought, great I might catch a few, however that was the only fish I caught over this line, which I eventually binned with 90mins remaining.
 
At the halfway point I caught a carp on the lead and baninion boosted corn by the island, quickly followed by a 2^nd. As the match progressed the only place I could catch was on the lead and corn, despite trying different areas, but I seemed to be holding my own and felt I was doing ok except for p87 and Callum Dicks on p86 who were catching regularly.
 
As a throwaway line, I had been feeding meat on a short line. First drop in with 90mins remaining I hooked a carp, which came off after a few seconds, but I thought I would have another chance. Sadly, I never did, although felt I may have fed too much, but as Mark P said to me afterwards, I really had no choice on this peg.
 
With 30mins remaining I was lying 3^rd in section, but Gary O’Shea (p80) had 3 or 4 carp short on meat in this time. So, I finished 4^th in section, which to be honest I was happy with. As for the rest of team, Mark P caught below average stamp carp for 5^th and Mark Wynne incredibly only had 3lb for last in section in what was a barren area of the lake. Henry in the meantime pushed Des Shipp hard in his section coming 2^nd. As a team we finished 10^th on the day which was disappointing, and Henry is sacked from doing the team draw again – lol
 
Teams of 4 Winter League - rd1 - Full Result
1. Trigs Non-Rejects - 7pts (525- 7).
2. S.W.A.S - 11pts (459-14).
3. Wilts Angling - 11pts (457-12).
4. Vets - 11pts (450- 5).
5. Tackle UK - 12pts (205- 4).
6. Brutons Bungholes - 13pts (323- 5).
7. P.I.Thatchers - 14pts (154- 6).
8. Kingfishers - 15pts (313- 8.
9. Alans Angling - 17pts (208- 0).
10. Well Drawn - 17pts (162- 8.
11. Trigs Rejects - 20pts (223- 9).
12. PR Floats - 20pts (93- 8.
 
Section A (Hillview) - Zone 1
1. 129-15 - Andy Power (Vets) - p37
2. 109-14 - Trigger (Triggers Non Rejects) - p46

Section A (Hillview) - Zone 2
1. 41- 4 - Nick Ewers (Thatchers) - p34
2. 33- 0 - Steve Hutter (Tackle UK) - p36

Section B (Hillview) - Zone 1
1. 207-12 - Pemb Writing (Trigs Non Rejects) - p59
2. 170-11 - Ben Hagg (S.W.A.S) - p48

Section B (Hillview) - Zone 2
1. 118-14 - Vince Brown (Kingfishers) - p54
2. 84-12 - Scott Russell (Tackle UK) - p53

Section C (Ash) - Zone 1
1. 104- 2 - Des Shipp (S.W.A.S) - p75
2. 99-10 - Henry Smith (Well Drawn) - p72

Section C (Ash) - Zone 2
1. 147- 4 - Steve Martin (Wilts Angling) - p71
2. 140-10 - Bob Gullick (Vets) - p70

Section D (Homeground) - Zone 1
1. 159- 8 - Richard Butler (Alans Angling) - p90
2. 156- 0 - Fred Roberts (Wilts Angling) - p89

Section D (Homeground) - Zone 2
1. 122- 5 - Calum Dicks (Trigs Non Rejects) - p86
2. 55- 4 - Matt Culpin (PR Floats) - p87

03/01/22 - Todber - Homeground

Weight - 87lb 12oz

Catch - 22 Carp, 1 Bream

Weather - Grey and cloudy, with a light breeze.

Match - Open (46 anglers)

The last match of the festive break and the first match of the new year. 46 anglers turned up over Hillview, Homeground and even Firs was included as there was a club match on Ash. What this would mean was some tight pegging and poor draws.

I drew 79 on Homeground, which is Ok, but honestly just the wrong end of the lake. During the pairs match on Friday the fish had spread out and I hoped they still were as it felt a little cooler today.

Tactics were the same as Friday, straight lead and baninion boosted corn to the island, pellet/corn at 14.5m and meat short, this time at 3+2, rather 2+2. However, plumbing up revealed it was about 9in shallower this side of the lake and probably explained why the fish preferred to vacate this area of the lake in the winter.

Starting on the straight lead I had my first fish after 20mins and it was noticeable that it was slower than Friday for most, except for the high 80’s and p90.

Coming onto the 14.5m line which was primed with 4s and corn, only produced a couple of fish to corn and this line failed to produce for the rest of the match, which was a surprise, as I caught so well on it last match.

After 90mins some people had started to catch, including Pete Neate to my left who was catching short. As I was struggling to catch anywhere in my peg, I dropped in on my short line earlier than I wanted and promptly caught 7 carp up to 11lb in 45mins, before it died.

The rest of the match was a case of catch a couple of fish short, rest it, try to nick a fish either at 14m or on the lead (not always successfully), then catch another 1 or 2 fish short.

The short line improved a little for the last 45mins with another 6 fish, but I was falling further behind Nick Chedzoy to my right who caught on pellet long and meat short, who did well to win lake with 166lb. Seen it happen before on this lake, it sometimes feels like there is brick wall between the pegs.

As expected, the pegs to my right generally did better than the pegs to my left. To be honest, I may have and should have fed micros over my long line, when I realised that pinging 4s wasn’t working, however felt I needed to be positive and draw fish into the swim as I was in a poor area.

That said, I had a nice day. It’s not often you catch 87lb in winter and still come nowhere, as I finished 9^th (out of 15) on Homeground and 17^th overall.

1st: Trigger 202lb 14oz (49 HV)

2nd: Nick Chedzoy 166lb 14oz (78 HG)

3rd: Matt Rowe 151lb 10oz (90 HG)

4th: Dwayne Seed 149lb 0oz (88 HG)

5th: Dave Griffiths 139lb 2oz (48 HV)

6th: Roland Lucas 133lb 6oz (86 HG)

31/12/21 - Todber - Homeground

Weight - 139lb 0oz

Catch - 35 Carp, 1 Skimmer, 1 Tench

Weather - Very mild. Gusty wind, cloud and sunshine.

Match - Pairs (46 fished)

Originally this match was to be limited to 14 pairs, however, as is the popularity of this venue 23 pairs ended up booking in. My partner was Jack Stamp who preferred to be on Hillview, which meant I would fish either Ash/Homeground.

The draw put me on p87 (Homeground) and Jack on Hillview p52. Both our pegs were ok and we at least avoided some of the poor draws. Based on recent past results the fish have been balled up around p90, with p77, 88, 89 and 90 being the pegs to beat, however as it turned out the recent very mild weather meant the fish had spread out a little as the lake fished well.

At the start of the match, I caught a carp straight away on the lead and corn towards to the island but didn’t get my 2^nd for another 30mins. In the meantime, I fed micros and corn at 13m, but struggled to get a proper bite other than from silvers nibbing at the bait. Frustratingly Mark Poppleton (p86) who has had a good run of results here recently had started well on the pole, but I couldn’t catch.

The wind was proving to be a pain but seemed to be quietening down a little. I felt I had probably fed too many micros over the pole line, encouraging too many silvers into the swim so set up a new swim at 14.5m as the wind had eased slightly, feeding 4s and baninion boosted corn, pinging 4s over the top.

Whilst I built up the swim, I caught another carp on the lead, plus 2 more on a mini banjo feeder, but there didn’t seem to be many fish around the island and needed my pole line to start working. Fortunately, this new line came good, fishing a hair rigged 6mm kriller pellet or corn.

With 75mins remaining I dropped in on my short meat line and started to catch some better sized fish, but the wind had picked up again, necessitating a change to a heavier rig, as I started to foul hook fish as the rig was wafting around too much. I am glad I did as during the last 45mins I had 8 fish for 50lb which proved very useful, as I finished 2^nd on the lake, behind p90.

Jack won his section, and we won the pairs, tying on points with Ryan Shipp and Ricky Mills, but we had a better weight advantage, picking up £130 each. 

A great way to end the year. 2021 on the fishing front has been good, particularly in the last month where I've picked up 2 hampers and came 2nd in the Ivy House Winter League.

Overall really enjoying my fishing at the moment and hope the good form continues into 2022.

Have new year to everyone.

1st pair: Jack Stamp and Ken Rayner (23pts) 291lb 4oz (52 HV + 87 HG)

2nd pair: Ryan Shipp and Ricky Mills (23pts) 256lb 14oz (38 HV + 62 ASH)

3rd pair: Pete Neate and Dan Squire (20pts) 223lb 0oz (77 HG + 42 HV)

4th pair: Bob Gullick and Gary O'Shea (18pts) 262lb 12oz (66 ASH + 60 HV)

 
1.    152- 4 – Jack Stamp – p52 (HV)
2.    148- 6 – Eddie Green – p90 (HG)
3.    146-10 – Ricky Mills – p62 (Ash)
4.    146- 6 – Roland Lucas – p47 (HV)
5.    146- 6 – Pemb Wrighting – p50 (HV)
6.    146- 4 – Bob Gullick – p66 (Ash)