27/07/23 - Lavington - Ellis Lake

Weight - 69lb 10oz

Catch - 11 carp, 2 Roach, 1 Tench

Weather - Muggy with sunny periods.

Match - Club (5 fished) - 1st overall

Only 5 this evening due to some being away and holidays. I drew p9, which doesn’t have an island chuck so kept the feeder rod in the car.

Plumbing around revealed a weed bed slightly to my right at 6m. I managed to clear out some that was a little closer and down my right margin, however the weed bed proved to be a pain.

Instead of my usual plan of fishing 3+1 left and right left in 5ft of water, I had to go 4+1. Any fish hooked to my right I hoped I could pull around the weed bed, although a small tench did manage to bury himself in it! There were also lily pads to my left and I decided to stay clear due to the risk of fish snagging me up.

On the all in, I fed both swims with ½ cup of mostly 8mm meat and 6mm pellet. First drop in on the right swim and the float

had barely settled before I hooked and landed a carp. This was quickly followed by a second and I thought we would be in for a mega evening.

Unfortunately, I lost the next 2 fish, which I think were foul hooked, although I think 1 of them was a proper lad hooked under the chin.

So, I finished the first hour with those 2 early fish, the second hour only produced a further 2 carp, although I had a couple of lovely looking roach.

In previous matches I have kept both swims topped with regular small amounts of bait. However, it was obvious there were a number of silvers/tiny carp in the swims and I found it was best to

cup in a ¼ cup of bait to feed off the silvers. As a result, I needed to open a fourth tin of meat.

Going into the final hour I abandoned the right-hand swim and instead started feeding my right margin, simply because I didn’t have a left margin to target. I had 5 fish from my original left swim and only 2 from the right margin although I lost 2 from the margin due to the weed.

So, a frustrating evening due the weed, but I caught some lovely fish including a 10lb ghostie.

1.    69-10 – Ken Rayner – p9

2.    63-  8 – Terry Fell – p18

3.    34-  3 – Steve Musitano – p23

26/07/23 - Todber - Hillview

Weight - 440lb

Catch - 124 Carp, 1 Roach

Weather - Warm, sunny start, rain later.

Match - Garbolino Clubman Qualifer (75 fished) - 6th Overall, 2nd in section

I have to say the qualifying criteria or name of the Garbolino Clubman competition probably needs reviewing, as its not strictly a ‘clubman’ competition as there were several ‘open’ anglers, including myself fishing. My view is I’m not good enough to compete in the Fisho or Maver qualifiers as there are so many other really good anglers who are able to fish much more regularly than me and this competition is at least a chance to compete in a national competition.
 
To qualify for the Barston final I needed to win my section and I was more than happy to draw with p48, with my section running from p48 to p54. However, Dave Wilmott turned up on p49 and it’s usually very close between us when we fish Ivy House, although he has beaten me on the last few occasions, particularly on Heron lake.
 
After my 2 practice matches, I had a plan of attack in mind, which revolved around paste. I could have gone down the pellet route, which if the venue fished exceptionally and over 500lb was needed would be quicker. However, I have a lot of confidence fishing paste and based on recent results felt confident of doing well on it and felt if I got it right 25 fish per hour was possible. So that was my target.
 
On the all-in I started at 2+1, but soon came back to 1+1 when I realised, I wasn’t fishing where I plumbed up! After an hour I had 24 fish despite having a 10min spell where I was foul hooking fish, losing 5 on the bounce, so I cut back on the feed (6mm pellet) which was much better. I also trashed 2 rigs that snapped around the eye, which also slowed me down.
 
Going into the 2^nd hour I started down the margins, alternating left and right on a top kit plus a short no.3. Again, I had periods where I suffered from foul hookers, but when I got the feed right or even stopped feeding altogether, I got bites instantly and by the halfway point was up to 75 fish.
 
The 4^th hour proved to be a struggle as I couldn’t get a clean bite and got more foul hookers. Switching to fishing off the end of my keepnets during the final hour produced another 30 carp to finish with 124.
 
Come the all out I had got through 7-8pts of paste and less than 2pts of pellet.
 
I was the first to weigh in our section and 440lb was a PB 5hr match weight and also very briefly the record Clubman match record, so really happy. Dave was next and he had the same number of nets. With his last net Dave needed 58lb and so far his biggest net was 55lb, however he saved the best to last to weigh 64lb and 446lb in total, beating me by 6lb.
 
Well done to Dave, but I must admit I was gutted to miss out by such a tight margin. I was also 1 out of picking up in the main frame, as 620lb won the match. There were 3x 500lbs and Dave was 5^th, which meant I at least picked up the section money by default.
 
On reflection you start thinking about what I should have done different. To be honest I was annoyed to have 2 lost fish because of the line snapping around the float eye during the first hour, as it shouldnt have happened. I also lost a few fish and should have switched swims a little sooner than I did. That said, Dave lost a few fish and had problems with foul hookers, so its all swings and roundabouts. 

 

23/07/23 - Avalon

Weight - 99lb 4oz

Catch - 15 Carp, 1 Skimmer

Weather - Breezy start. Light shower throughout the day

Match - Steve Martins Series (13 fished) - 3rd overall

The penultimate round of Steve’s summer series and league leader Tony Gilbert couldn’t make it, however I managed to find him a replacement in the shape of Mark Poppleton. In hindsight, not sure why I did that – lol!

Today’s weather forecast was to be dry and breezy, so I was hoping to have a chance to dry out my kit which was still wet from yesterday. Well, there were more showers, albeit light, than expected.

Leading up to this match the lake had been fishing well, although after yesterday’s rain, I wasn’t sure how it would fish and I decided to focus on paste. I did take a pellet waggler rod, but I never got it out of the bag due to the strong breeze blowing down the lake.

Today’s pegging was on the island, which meant some big gaps in the pegging, so p12 in the middle of 5 anglers wasn’t ideal.

Starting on a cage feeder with 8mm pellet tight to the island produced 2 carp in the first 20mins, but nothing in the following 20mins.

Switching to the 13m line where I had fed a mix of 4s & 6s, catapults 6s over the top, I started on an 8mm pellet which produced a skimmer. A further switch to paste was better as I soon caught carp up to 11lb over the next couple of hours.

The last 2hrs proved to be quite tricky, as the fish seemed unsettled, foul hooking a couple. I had tried to pull back to 12m, without success and I also fed quite a bit of pellet down my left margin for only 1 carp. Those that caught down their margins had at least 1 space peg.

As the 12m line wasn’t working I pushed out to 14.5m and started a new 5m line. Fortunately, the 14.5m produced a couple more fish in the last 45mins, although I never had a bite over the short line.

Come the weigh in I had underestimated what I thought I had and was surprised to weigh 99lb which was enough for 3^rd and consolidated my 2^nd place in the league. Mark came 4^th overall, allowing Tony to maintain his lead in the series. I can’t make the final round at Lodden as I will be on the flight back from Kefalonia after my honeymoon, however Steve Musitano has agreed to step in for me, so no pressure at all Steve!

1.    124-  6 – Pete Ball – p6

2.    101-  4 – Noddy – p5

3.      99-  4 – Ken Rayner – p12

4.      69-13 – Mark Poppleton – p10

5.      68-  8 – Nick Veale – p16

22/07/23 - Todber - Homeground

Weight - 250lb 2oz

Catch - 70 Carp, 2 Roach, 1 Catfish

Weather - Wet & windy

Match - Open (14 fished) - 5th overall

Back to Todber for a final practice before Wednesday’s Garbolino qualifier and we were all on Homeground. With the forecast for wet and windy weather I was hoping to be able to park behind my peg, but instead drew p86, 1 away from where I was last Wednesday.

As soon as we started setting up the rain started and stayed with us throughout the whole match, so an uncomfortable day for everyone.

I started on the paste at 2+2 and struggled to get going, catching only 16 fish in the first hour, which set the tone for the rest of the match.

I don’t think I have sworn so much in a match for a long time, due to rig failures, and trashing 5 rigs for various reasons and I’ve never had so many foul hookers either.

My margins produced the majority of my fish again on paste, but they just wouldn’t settle for long.

Unlike Wednesday I decided to try pellet and soon trashed that rig when I pulled out of a foulhooker. Fortunately, I had a few on meat, before having to go back out to my 2+2 line on paste, even catching a mini catfish, a number of which have been caught recently from the lake.

It’s a bit mad to say that I struggled having weighed 250lb, but it is all comparative. The top 4 all came from the pegs with space, so in hindsight I didn’t do as badly as I thought, but I would really welcome a ‘proper’ flyer, particularly on Wednesday.

1.    415-  6 – Jack Stamp – p82

2.    382-14 – Ash Tomkins – p89

3.    368-  6 – Mark Cannings – p83

4.    324-  6 – Martin Rodgers – p91

5.    250-  2 – Ken Rayner – p86

19/07/23 - Todber - Homeground

Weight - 308lb 12oz

Catch - 91 Carp, 1 Skimmer, 1 Roach

Weather - Warm & sunny

Match - Open (12 fished) - 3rd overall

As I’m due to fish the Garbolino clubman next week, I decided some practice was required as I haven’t fished here for a while. Today was about sorting out my elastics and rigs, and then on Saturday I plan to put into practice what I have learned, before the main match on Wednesday.

We were all on Homeground and I drew p85, not ideal as the wind was blowing into the corner of 76 and 91. I had intended to fish pellet (and set up rigs), however when speaking to a couple of anglers in the car park it was mentioned that paste was working. Therefore, I decided to fish to my strengths and see whether I could catch quickly enough on paste.

It would be an interesting comparison as Jason Crump (p86) would be fishing pellet, although he started on meat, which in hindsight he admitted was a mistake and could have cost him 3^rd place, and Sean Coleman (p84) who was also fishing paste.

Plumbing up I decided to focus on 3 areas, 2+2, 1+2 off the end of keepnets and my right margin which plumbed up nicely with a 2ft of water, tight to the bank.

The first hour I got off to flyer catching 25 carp at 2+1, despite me nearly buggering it up by feeding too much. After an hour this line was slowing, so I tried fishing shorter which didn’t work and then down my margin which got going eventually. Consequently, my catch rate slowed before picking up again and by the halfway stage (2.5hr) I was up to 50 carp.

The right margin proved to be really good as I got a bite within seconds of the paste hitting the deck and kept it going by feeding 4s every time I hooked fish, but it didn’t last as it slowed up with an hour remaining.

I had kept feeding my short line as a backup which didn’t produce as expected. I tried the left-hand margin which was shallower than the right without too much success. To kick start my swims I introduced micros which killed the margins. In the end I resorted to trying my 2+2 line, before the fish finally returned down my right margin. It was also noticeable the stamp of fish was getting smaller; I suspect due to a slight shift in the wind which meant it became flatter in front of me.

As I struggled in the last hour, I fell short of what I should have had, although I did pick up a few ideas for next time. As expected Pemb won and Simon was 2^nd, so I was more than happy to pick 3^rd place, behind those 2.

Comparing my approach with others, I think the weather forecast for the coming week might help me as there is likely to be less emphasis on shallow fishing and hopefully paste will be the way to go if it turns into a low weight affair, well low weight by Todber standards.

1.    390-  8 – Pemb Wrighting – p88

2.    373-  8 – Simon Stacey – p89

3.    308-12 – Ken Rayner – p85

4.    258-  6 – Sean Coleman – p84

16/07/23 - Ivy House - Old Match Lake

Weight - 93lb 0oz (12lb - silvers)

Catch - 17 Carp, 15 Skimmers, 5 Roach

Weather - Blustery, sunshine and showers

Match - Open (25 fished) - 1st overall

A good turnout of 25 split between the Old Match Lake and half of Willow. P5 for me, which is a peg I like, as you can reach the bottom of the island shelf at 16m, although it hasn’t been great recently. I also expected it to be little harder fishing following the recent rain and cooler weather. In fact, today, felt like a typical day in April rather than July.

I started on the feeder for the 1^st half an hour and then paste short without success. As I couldn’t catch any carp, I decided to switch to catching a few silvers. Fishing with expanders were too easily nibbled by small silvers and I ended up fishing a hair rigged 4mm pellet at 5m & 11m, just feeding 4s.

With 2.5hrs left (6hr match), I had 12lb of skimmers and 2 carp. The skimmers had been replaced by roach and the carp had become more active, so I decided to try paste and immediately caught over the 5m and 11m line. I even tried at 16m where I had been pinging pellet, which produced a couple fish but that was hard work, particularly with the blustery wind.

I had also been pinging 6s to the right-hand tree for 3hrs and surprisingly all I got was indications from silvers.

The carp I was catching were a small stamp, mostly 3lbers, however I thought I had caught up with those anglers I could see. Fortunately, by feeding my left margin heavily with 6s the better carp eventually turned up. As I couldn’t catch by the right-hand tree, I decided to throw 2 handfuls of micros down the right margin on my top kit with 30mins remaining, which immediately brought in the fish. I lost a couple of fish, but those last 45mins produced 7 carp for 47lb all on paste.

Come the weigh I knew I had the best weight on my side of the lake, but it wasn’t until I got to the car park that it was confirmed I had won.

It’s a bit strange to say I struggled, but I did and it wasn’t until the last 45mins that I felt I was in a chance of a pick-up, let alone win. It is one of the reasons why I like Ivy House, it can be a frustrating and hard venue, but you are never truly out of the running and whilst there are good areas of the lake, the winner can come from anywhere.

1.    93-  0 – Ken Rayner – p5 (OML)

2.    83-  8 – Ryan Brushneen – p21 (W)

3.    76-12 – Ricky Mills – p27 (W)

4.    74-  0 – Jason Robinson – p24 (W)

5.    72-  8 – Vince Shipp – p7 (OML)

Silvers

1.    31-  4 – Ricky Mills – p27 (W)

2.    19-  0 – Lionel Legg – p15 (OML)

3.    16-  0 – John Hewson – p26 (W)

4.    12-  4 – Dave – p12 (OML)

5.    12-  0 – Ken Rayner – p5 (OML)

13/07/23 - Lavington - Ellis Lake

Weight - 58lb 3oz

Catch - 11 Carp

Weather - Cool, but sunny

Match - Club (10 fished) - 1st overall

A little cooler that the last evening match 2 weeks ago and with recent heavy rain the expectation was it would be a little hard.

I was happy with peg 7, as you have shallow water off the point of the island, although I had to clear out a bit weed before starting.

As per the last match I fed 2 swims left and right at 2+3 potting in meat. Whilst that settled, I started on the feeder and surprisingly didn’t have a bite after 30mins of trying.

Switching to the pole I eventually caught a 1lb carp on 8mm meat after a missing a couple of dinks from what I assume were silvers or small carp.

Moving into the 2^nd hour I manged 2 better fish from the left hand swim, before catching another 2 from the right hand swim.

In the 3^rd hour I had another 3 fish from the right hand swim and 3 from left margin where I had fed micros and meat, including a 10lber netted a couple of minutes before the end. Fortunately, that fish was enough to win.

1.    58-  3 – Ken Rayner – p7

2.    50-  9 – Steve Musitano – p5

3.    50-  7 – Terry Fell – p21

4.    36-  7 – Steve Ince – p27

09/07/23 - Rood Ashton

Weight - 93lb 3oz

Catch - 19 Carp

Weather - Mostly sunny, breezy, 1 shower

Match - Match Den (18 fished) - 1st overall

A nice short trip to Rood Ashton and I hoped it would fish better than when I was last here in April. There were supposed to be 20 fishing today, however a van breakdown reduced our numbers to 18.

Peg 4 for me which was the same peg as I struggled from the last time I fished here, so I was a little disappointed. Starting on a 20g method with micros and orange 6mm wafter at 40m produced a bite after 15mins, but the hooked pulled at the net.

With no more bites on the feeder, I tried paste at 12m where I fed 4s and I lost another carp at the net, before eventually netting a 12ozer and that was it after an hour. The second and third hour I only managed to add a further 4 on the method.

Other than 1 lost fish on the feeder to an unseen snag I didn’t catch anything during the fourth hour and news was filtering down that the lake was fishing hard with 30-40lb being the best weight from my side of lake.

Fortunately, a few fish turned up down my margins in the last 2 hours, catching on paste over 4s under the left-hand branches and double 8mm meat over meat (feeding 3 small tins) tight to right hand margin. The paste produced more fish, however the fish on the meat were a bigger stamp. 

So at least I had an enjoyable finish to the match and to be honest I was a little surprised to have won as I expected the far bank to have fished better than it did.

1.    93- 3 – Ken Rayner

2.    70- 6 – Matt Greaves

3.    55-15 – Terry Arnold

4.    55-10 – Dan Barnet

5.    52-  0 – Steve Venn

07/07/23 - Ivy House - Old Match Lake

Weight - 106lb 0oz (15lb 8oz - silvers)

Catch - 22 Carp, 14 Skimmers, 1 Perch

Weather - Warm and sunny

Match - Twlight Open (13 fished) - 5th overall

After a long hard week at work, I was looking forward to this twilight open, fished 3.45 – 8.45, which should have been renamed the skivers open, as there were 13 of us at the draw.

The form area has been around the top end of the lake around pegs 8 & 9, but I just wanted to avoid the low teens, so was happy enough with p1 which is a steady peg.

Starting on the method to island produced 2 carp in the first 30mins, however I couldn’t get as tight as I wanted due to overhanging vegetation and didn’t bother for the rest of the match.

I had fed 4s at 3+2 slightly to my left and caught a few skimmers, but no carp. So, I tried down the end bank on corn or paste, but just got pestered by silvers, even catching a perch on paste, so I didn’t waste too much time here.

Back to the short paste line produced a few skimmers, but only 1 carp. I had also been pinging 6s at 14m to fish shallow, which was unsuccessful. However, I noticed some fizzing so decided to try paste and caught straight away. It seemed the carp preferred to settle further out.

I set up a new short line slightly to my right feeding 4s, as I felt the carp would prefer to settle further away from the end bank and kept catapulting 6s over the long line. A pattern emerged where I would catch a couple of carp before catching a skimmer and then swap to the other line. 

After a slow start I had an enjoyable match and speaking to those that framed they all fed more bait than me, so I do wonder whether I should have been more aggressive. That said the average stamp of my fish was a little below the average, probably because the bigger stamp followed the wind down the other end.

1.    175- 0 – Matt Hamilton – p2

2.    161- 0 – Dwayne Seed – p9

3.    130- 0 – Jamie Durrup – p8

4.    118- 0 – Chris Telling – p12

5.    106- 0 – Ken Rayner – p1

02/07/23 - Ivy House - Old Match Lake

Weight - 61lb 2oz

Catch - 14 Carp, 2 Skimmers

Weather - Sunny, stong westerly

Match - Steve Martins Summer Series (15 fished) - 8th overall, 3rd in section

The 3^rd round of this summer series. As I was lying 2^nd, I wanted a decent draw to consolidate my position. However, when I pulled p13 I wasn’t happy, as it struggled in yesterday’s match and it rarely features other than for silvers, plus I was in the middle of 3, with Tony Gilbert on p12 and Martin Pettifer on p14. Chatting to Martin we realised we drew the same pegs last year in this league and struggled then, so today was about damage limitation.

After having a chat to myself, I decided to be positive and focus on just 2 swims. 3+2 to fish paste and the feeder by the island. I did try the margins, but with pegs in either side I didn’t waste too time.

I started on the method, feeding micros, casting every 2mins to build up some bait. I caught my first carp, all 8oz of it after 30mins. With an hour gone I had a proper carp, quickly followed by another on a 6mm yellow wafter, before 3 ducks turned up and I couldn’t get another bite. I had no choice but to stop feeding, whilst I tried the short line without success.

10 mins later the ducks had had their fill, so I started back on the feeder and the bloody ducks returned. This time however one of them snaffled the wafter, which provided some amusement for those around me. It eventually broke me, but at least I never had any more problems with ducks!

At the halfway point (of a 5.5hr match) I probably only had 10lb. The feeder line took a little time to get restarted after the duck invasion and by casting every 2mins started to get a few fish.

I occasionally switched back to the paste line where I kept feeding 4s, hoping the carp would rock up like they did last week. Although I caught a couple, the short line was disappointing and I reverted back to the feeder.

Tony managed to catch late down his margin on dead maggot to maintain his lead in the series. As for me, coming halfway in the match was probably the best I could have hoped for as the majority of the weights came from the opposite bank. Fortunately, I’m still 2^nd in the league, so damage limitation achieved.

1.    149-10 – Steve Martin – p6

2.    112- 8 – Nigel Reeves – p18

3.    111- 7 – Andy Eagle – p8

4.    100-14 – Dave Martin – p9

5.      92- 1 – Tony Gilbert – p12

01/07/23 - Ivy House - Willow

Weight - 50lb 0oz (11lb 15oz - silvers)

Catch - 5 Carp, 11 Skimmers, 2 Roach

Weather - Mostly sunny and breezy

Match - Open (20 fished) - 13th overall

As there were 20 booked in for today, 14 were on the Old Match Lake and 6 on the island of Willow. A little disappointed to draw p19 on Willow, as it’s a boom or bust peg, but typically it’s not the best.

When I got to the peg, I actually thought it might be OK as there was a bit of breeze, some cloud and the heat of the previous couple of weeks had disappeared.

After an hour it became obvious it would be hard, as I had nothing short on paste or on the feeder/straight lead to the spit. Mark next to me on p20 also struggled to get going eventually catching on the ‘teabag’ next to the island.

Not much was being caught anywhere, so I decided to try for skimmers at 13m, fishing an expander over 4s. Inevitably I hooked a carp on the 2^nd put in. After that I caught a few skimmers, before the line faded a little, so I re-fed and tried my other lines without success.

When I went back out to the 13m line I noticed some bubbles, which I felt were carp so tried paste. This produced 3 carp within 30mins, losing a 4^th when the elastic snapped as I pulled on the elastic. Not happy but I thought there would be a few more waiting for me. Unfortunately, I only had 1 more, plus a couple more skimmers, despite trying all areas of the swim.

In the last 2hrs I was just going through the motions, hoping the carp would turn up over one of my lines, which they never did.

Willow fished harder than expected, as I ended up 3^rd on the lake and wished I had fished properly for silvers instead.

1.    220- 3 – Anthony Flint – p7 (oml)

2.    154- 0 – Stitch – p2 (oml)

3.    122- 0 – Baggy – p9 (oml)

4.    121-12 – Carl Mulford – p10 (oml)

5.    101- 2 – Mark Poppleton – p20 (w)

Silvers

1.    33- 3 – Phil – p3 (oml)

2.    26- 7 – Smiffy – p16 (oml)

3.    22-10 – Phil Gooding – p15 (oml)

4.    1-15 – Ken Rayner – p19 (w)