11/12/22 - Ivy House - Kingfisher

Weight - 3lb 3oz

Catch - 3 Skimmer, 3 Roach, 1 F1

Weather - Freezing, snow showers

Match - Winter League rd 3 (39 anglers) - 9th overall, 4th in section

The 3^rd round of the Winter League and we were in for some very wintery conditions. There was talk about cancelling this round, however with no reserve date (there will be next year) it was set to proceed and ice breakers would be required. Unfortunately, the scheduled snow showers, arrived sooner than expected and were heavier than expected. Consequently, only 39 fished out of 50.

I had to take it steady on the drive and did wonder what I was doing! However, I arrived early to give myself plenty of time to break the ice, drawing p41 which is good area – it was just the shame about the ice.

After spending just over an hour, I managed to break a 4m section along the far bank and then a metre wide channel.

I started by dobbing bread along the far bank and then corn over micros by the left-hand tree in the hope of snaring a lucky carp. After 45mins and no bites it was time to switch to fishing for bites, i.e. a size 20 to 0.09.

Starting at the bottom of the far shelf, feeding pinkie and loose groundbait (black lake : Black intelligent); an hour later I had managed to catch 2 small roach, so at least I avoided a blank.

I managed a hand sized skimmer by the left-hand tree on maggot, but that was the only fish I caught from there.

With 90mins remaining I was still sat on 3 fish and decided to feed a golf ball of groundbait to the left of where I had been fishing. 20mins later I had 4 bites in 4 put ins all on pinkie, resulting in 2 skimmers, pulling out of a 3^rd at the net and an F1.

No more bites followed, so fed another golf ball of feed. Unfortunately, with 30mins remaining a heavy snow shower started which was settling on the pole and was creating a slushy surface layer, making it difficult to settle my rig. I did manage a roach but felt there was more to catch.

I had the best weight at my end of the lake, but the bulk of the roach and skimmers were further down the lake, with 3x weights of 4lb+ pushing me into 4^th in section. It could have been worse, as 1 whole section of Heron blanked (probably not helped by having the diffuser on the day before) and the Old Match Lake was won with 1oz! So, a really hard day, but if you caught a fish, it was worth mega points and I jumped from 23^rd to 11^th in the league. I just need 2 decent draws to push me into the top 8.

1.    14-12 – Jon Arthur – p20 (willow)

2.      7-15 – Jason Crump – p22 (heron)

3.      6-13 – Steve Waters – p32 (willow)

3.      6-13 – Steve Martins – p21 (heron)

5.      4-14 – David Halliday – p48 (kingfisher)

6.      4-13 – Andy Burns – p26 (willow)

04/12/22 - Ivy House - Heron

Weight - 14lb 4oz

Catch - 8 Carp, 4 F1s

Weather - Heavy Cloud, cold north easterly wind

Match - Open (14 fished) - 13th overall

14 of us on Heron Lake and hopefully a few bites, although the colour had dropped out of the lake due to the recent cold weather.

I drew p17, which isn’t the best area, but I hoped it might be OK as I wouldn’t be sharing the corner of the island with p19.

Well, it was hard. After trying the lead and bread hoping for an early bonus without success I switched to fishing a single maggot over a nugget of groundbait & micros, and soon caught a few fish at the bottom of the far shelf.

At the halfway point I only had 9 fish in the net, but then the north easterly breeze strengthened a little blowing straight at me making presentation a little awkward, as well as making it feel really cold. I had nothing for the next 90mins, trying all areas of the peg. In the meantime, Dave Willmott was catching well on p20 fishing at 16m on maggot and Louise next to me on p16 (who decided today was a good day to come back fishing after 7 months off!) who was catching on the method to the island.

In the last hour I managed another 3 fish from the far shelf, but I was miles off the pace and continued my poor recent form at Ivy House.

In hindsight and speaking to those that caught I think I should have fed more maggot, but, I still wouldn’t have framed.

1. 67-  0 - Dave Willmott - p20

2. 61-  0 - Jamie Dixey - p10

3. 59-  4 - Rob Guppy - p2

4. 37-  8 - Gary Knight - p23

03/12/22 - Todber - Homeground

Weight - 193lb 14oz

Catch - 50 Carp

Weather - Cold, cloudy, north easterly breeze

Match - Open (11 fished) - 2nd overall

I decided to have a practice at Todber in preparation for next week’s Christmas match and I’m glad I went as I learnt a few things after nearly messing up a very good peg in the shape of p91.

There were only 11 of us, so we were all put on Homeground and it was nice to see the water levels back up to normal.

I started on the lead & bread to the island and had a carp straight away, netting a 2^nd after 20mins. I tried the pole and expander over micros and 4s at 14m, but lost 4 in 4 put ins, and wondered if it was going to be one of those days.

I tried catching at ¾ depth, without success and went back down on the deck eventually catching a couple but falling behind Ben Bentley next to me who was catching well at 14m, so quite frustrating.

I also tried the maggot feeder across to the island and caught 2 immediately, but again struggled. So, after 2hrs I probably had 10 fish for 30lb and was a long way behind most.

Fortunately, I managed to get it sorted and started to catch well at 5m on meat. As a back-up I potted ½ pot of micros and meat down the left margin. 5mins later I could see the water clouding up and first drop in resulted in a 9lber. This place is just bonkers.

The rest of the match was a case of rotating between the margin and 5m line, switching when ever 1 line needed a rest.

In the end I was pleased to have come 2^nd, but to be honest had I switched to meat sooner I could have won the match, so plenty of lessons learnt for next week. However, looking at the weather for this coming week it’s going to be very cold.

1.    214-  8 – Greg Welsby – p78

2.    193-14 – Ken Rayner – p91

3.    191-  0 – Sam Williams – p89

4.    163-  8 – Simon Stacey – p87