26/03/23 - Lavington - Ellis Lake

Weight - 36lb 8oz

Catch - 4 Carp, 3 Roach, 1 Bream

Weather - Heavy overnight rain. Cool, cloudy with sunny periods

Match - Club (6 fished) - 2nd overall

Only 6 for this club match and heavy overnight rain would likely mean another tough match. I drew p27, which is a good summer margin peg, but with 12ft of water and an overhanging tree preventing me from casting tight to the island I wasn’t sure how it would go.

On the all-in, 2 balls of groundbait with micros and dead maggot was deposited at 11m, plus meat and micros at 8m to my right where the slope was less severe.

Starting on the method with micros and a 6mm yellow wafter I cast as tight to the island as I dare. 3mins later the tip whacked round and a 6lber was safely netted.

A switch to the 11m swim produced a couple of small roach and then a 3½lb bream, but bites were at a premium.

I kept rotating swims and started feeding my margins, but I couldn’t get a bite for nearly 2hrs. I eventually caught a 13lber at 8m and then 2 carp on the method with 30mins remaining.

So, another tough day, not helped by the weather.

1.    69- 4 – Tim Lynch – p23

2.    36- 8 – Ken Rayner – p27

3.    30- 5 – Martin White – p9

25/03/23 - Ivy House - Old Match Lake

Weight - 17lb 14oz

Catch - 3 Carp, 1 Skimmer, 1 Roach

Weather - Mostly sunny, cloudy periods, strong westerly

Match - Open (10 fished) - 4th overall

The weather leading up to this weekend had cooled down from the previous week with plenty of rain which had a big impact on the fishing. 

I drew p16 which hasn’t been great recently, however with the strong wind off my back I at least would be able to fish the pole and hopefully catch a few.

Starting on the straight lead and corn, produced a few liners between the islands, but no fish. Neither did fishing at 14m over micros with corn or pellet.

As the carp didn’t seem to be feeding as I only saw Joff on p18 catching, I thought I would catch a few silvers and fed 2 balls of Intelligent Sweet Black with micros and dead maggot at 13m. Well, it appeared the silvers didn’t want to feed either as I only caught 1 skimmer and a roach after 3hrs fishing.

I kept pinging pellet and corn to the island and eventually caught 3 carp on a small method and 6mm yellow wafter. Thinking the carp may at last start feeding, groundbait was fed down the right margin and micros/corn down the left. I never had a bite. In fact, at the end of the match I scooped my margins with my landing net and the bait was still there so nothing came into feed.

So, a really tough day, where one more carp would have put me 2^nd overall. I’ll be glad when this weather settles down.

1.    43- 1 – Joff Rogers – p18

2.    20- 0 – Alistair Tilney – p7

3.    19- 5 – Phil Gooding – p9

4.    17-14 – Ken Rayner – p16

Silvers

1.      5-13 – Baggy – p12 (mostly roach)

2.      4-14 – Phil Gooding – p9

3.      4- 5 – Darren Wright – p5

18/03/23 - Ivy House - Old Match Lake

Weight - 58lb 12oz (5lb 13oz - silvers)

Catch - 11 Carp, 10 Skimmers, 1 Hybrid

Weather - Mostly sunny.

Match - Open (10 fished) - 1st overall

After spending 4 enjoyable nights in Iceland, I was looking forward to today’s match at Ivy House and drew p9 which meant no island chuck.

The recent mild weather seemed to be having an effect as I noticed a few fish moving down the end bank as I was setting up. So, on the all-in I fished double corn over toss potted mircos and had an 8lber within 10mins. As it happened this was my only fish from the end bank despite trying a couple of times throughout the match.

After an hour I had only added 1 skimmer on expander at 14m, however the sun had brought a number of carp to the surface, which prompted me to set up a mugging rig and 6mm pellet. The fish didn’t really want to feed and were a little spooky, but I managed to catch 7 carp all to my left as they drifted between an empty peg 8 and me.

In between chasing the ‘cruisers’ I had a few skimmers on expanders at 14m.

The last 90mins proved to be a lot slower than I expected. I had hoped the fish would get their heads down. Instead, the wind picked up and the fish seemed to drift out of the swim. I did catch 1 carp at 16m on 4mm pellet and 2 on corn over micros down the left-hand margin, but I didn’t think it was enough to beat Chris Timms on p7.

To be honest I was a little surprised to have won as I thought Chris had comfortably beaten me, however I think a combination of smaller stamp fish and a couple of loses allowed me to win.

It was also nice to feel like spring was on its way.

1.    58-12 – Ken Rayner – p9

2.    53-14 – Chris Timms – p7

3.    51-15 – Mark Poppleton – p3

4.    38-  6 – Neil Richards – p5

Silvers

1.    24- 0 – Neil Richards – p5

2.    12- 9 – Matt Tainton – p10

3.      9-11 – Phil Gooding – p14

05/03/23 - Shiplate - West Pool

Weight - 100lb 1oz

Catch - 22 Carp, 1 Roach

Weather - Grey and cold

Match - Open (12 fishing) - 2nd overall

I fancied going somewhere different this weekend and settled on Shiplate, which is a venue I wish was a little closer as its just over an hour’s drive from home.

There were 12 of us over Hawthorn and West Pool, so plenty of room. Peg 13 on West Pool for me and the general feeling from those I asked suggested it was an average draw. Steve Howell who was on peg 11 thought peg 2 would be difficult to beat as it had quite a bit of room today.

I was told by a number of people that maggot was the way to go and that is how I expected to catch. There was a match on the main lake which was due to start 30mins after ours and when our match started there was still anglers walking along the far bank, so decided to start down the middle feeding maggot and leave the far bank alone.

After 40mins I hadn’t had a bite, although Steve had a couple of fish doing the same. Switching to fishing tight across, I initially tried an expander which was being nipped by silvers, but I got the feeling there were a few carp about and tried dobbing bread, which produced a roach!

I then tried 7mm meat over a few micros and stayed on this for much of the match, fishing a 4x10 strung out rig, alternating left and right between the bush and the reeds. By feeding quite lightly I managed to keep the fish coming and avoided foul hookers, which can be a problem on this lake.

As the match progressed it was noticeable the average stamp of fish was reducing from 5-6lb to 3-4lbers. With 30mins remaining the swim was slowing so switched to a short (8m) meat line which produced 2 carp and a final fish from the right-hand deep margin.

I beat those around me, however as expected p2 won the lake. So overall I was pleased to have finished 2^nd overall, but to be honest a little annoyed to have not picked up as the pay out was top weight and top silvers on each lake. The silvers money on both lakes was won with accidentals, 5lb on West Pool and 14oz on Hawthorns.

That aside, I had a lovely day’s fishing and looking forward to going back.

1.    110- 6 – Dave Stevens – p2w

2.    100- 1 – Ken Rayner – p13w

3.      97- 0 – Matt Shepherd – p12h

4.      95- 0 – Alan Quantrill – p7h